News headlines in 2021, page 181

BRATISLAVA, May 26 (IPS) - China is one of the worst places in the world for media freedom, according to the global media watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) which ranked the country 177 out of 180 in its latest World Press Freedom Index. In the report, the group warned that Beijing is taking “internet censorship,  surveillance and propaganda to unprecedented level,” and had “taken advantage of the Covid-19 pandemic to enhance its control over online information even more”. China is also the world’s biggest jailers of journalists with more than 120 journalists and what the group calls “defenders of press freedom” currently detained.

The COVID-19 pandemic is worsening the already difficult situation of older refugees across Latin America, according to a joint assessment published on Wednesday by the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, and the NGO HelpAge International. 

A call to use Africa’s rich cultural and natural heritage as a catalyst for growth and transformation is “the right appeal at the right time”, the UN chief told a three-day forum on the continent’s future held online on Wednesday. 

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet on Wednesday urged Libya’s unity government and European Union (EU) countries to act to protect migrants making the dangerous crossing in the central Mediterranean Sea. 

The UN Security Council met behind closed doors on Wednesday to discuss the derailing of Mali’s transitional government following the apparent forced departure of both the President and Prime Minister on Tuesday, by the leader of last August’s military coup.

In response to the apparent forced landing of a commercial passenger plane in the Belarusian capital, Minsk, the International Civil Aviation Organization, ICAO, convened an urgent diplomatic meeting on Thursday. What is ICAO saying about the incident, and what powers does the agency have? 

JAKARTA, Apr 07 (IPS) - Residents of Ngadirejo village in Sukaharjo regency, Central Java province, had often found themselves helpless when their wells dried up or water flooded through their homes. But thanks to a national campaign called Program Kampung Iklim, known by its acronym ProKlim, they now have solutions to this flooding that generally occurs because of a lack of adequate water catchments.

Violent conflict, terrorism and human rights abuses continue in Syria as its besieged population suffers economic destitution, displacement, detention and abduction, the UN’s Special Envoy for the country told the Security Council on Wednesday. 

NEW YORK, May 26 (IPS) - It has been one year since the police murder of George Floyd, an outrage that resonated around the world. The killing forced people to the streets, in the USA and on every inhabited continent, to demand respect for Black lives and Black rights, proving that protest was essential even during the pandemic.

MONTREAL/VICTORIA, Canada, May 26 (IPS) - Over the past 75 years, there have been many UN Security Council (UNSC) resolutions acknowledging Israel’s violations of international law, including a Resolution under Chapter VI of the UN Charter, that could have addressed, if implemented, the plight of the Palestinians.