News headlines in October 2024, page 2

On Monday Israel’s parliament (the Knesset) voted in favour of legislation targeting the UN agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA), which could effectively bring its operations in the occupied Palestinian territories to a halt. Here are five things to know about the bills, and the potential consequences, if they go into effect.

“Catastrophic levels of acute food insecurity” bordering on starvation are expected to impact hundreds of thousands of people in coming months, driven principally by violence and conflict. Five hunger hotspots are of particular concern: Haiti, Mali, the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT), South Sudan and Sudan, UN agencies said on Thursday.

PORTLAND, USA, Oct 30 (IPS) - Alarmistsmainly politicians, economists and wealthy elitesare announcing that the world's demographic sky is collapsing. The world's demographic sky is not collapsing but simply changing.

UNITED NATIONS, Oct 30 (IPS) - Although classified as a compact tropical cyclone and considered one of the smallest in the North Atlantic, Hurricane Oscar has caused considerable damage in eastern Cuba since it made landfall on October 20, 2024. Cuban authorities have confirmed that the death toll has risen to seven, in additional to the damage in infrastructure. Communications and relief efforts were greatly impeded by a nationwide power grid blackout, which continues on in much of Cuba at the time of publication.

NAIROBI, Kenya, Oct 30 (IPS) - Some of the creeping impacts of this triple crisis are possibly the most debilitating: Africa is the most severely impacted region by desertification and land degradation, with approximately 45% of its land area affected. In the Horn of Africa and the Sahel alone, it imposes food shortages on more than 23 million people. Just last month, more than 700,000 people were affected by floods in Central and West Africa, and tens of millions in southern Africa are facing drought.

As tensions mount between Pristina and Belgrade, the UN’s top official in Kosovo called for “responsible leadership” from all parties to protect human rights and foster constructive political dialogue.

The UN General Assembly on Wednesday once again urged the United States to end its economic, commercial, and financial embargo on Cuba, renewing a demand it has made annually since 1992.

Education, health care, humanitarian and social services, camps for displaced people, including in times of armed conflict. These are just some of the services that the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) has been providing Palestinians since the agency began operating in 1950.

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights on Wednesday emphasized the importance of sustaining the momentum for change sparked by recent student protests in Bangladesh and subsequent resignation of the former Prime Minister, speaking at the end of a two-day visit to the country.

Countries gathered in Colombia to work on a treaty to end plastic pollution must strive for “an ambitious, credible and just” deal that responds to the needs of communities everywhere, including some 20 million waste-pickers, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said on Wednesday.