News headlines in October 2022, page 2

Handling heavy machinery is not one of the first skills that comes to mind when we think of UN peacekeepers, but construction skills are an important component of the blue helmets’ competency toolkit.

MAZOWE, Zimbabwe, Oct 29 (IPS) - With homemade tents scattered about, hordes of artisanal gold miners throng parts of Mazowe village in Zimbabwe’s Mashonaland Central Province, where they have cut down thousands of trees to process gold ore.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres has reaffirmed his “unwavering commitment” to agreements aimed at ensuring that grain and fertilizers from Ukraine and the Russian Federation reach global markets at the speed and price needed to avert a global food crisis and ensure food security.

A two-day meeting of the UN Security Council Counter-Terrorism Committee in India has ended with the adoption of a document committing Member States to prevent and combat digital forms of terror, notably using drones, social media, and online terrorist financing.

Throughout Syria’s civil war, women have risked their security to mediate the various conflicts that have affected their communities. Since international efforts to end the fighting have stalled, their role has grown in importance.

Kinshasa, Oct 28 (IPS) - Director of Education Cannot Wait (ECW) director Yasmine Sherif said that she was “deeply moved” by the resilience of children she met during her week-long visit to the Democratic Republic of Congo, where more than 3 million children between the ages of 6 and 11 are out of school. However, there was a desperate need for funding.

CARACAS, Oct 28 (IPS) - Thousands of Venezuelans who have crossed the treacherous Darien jungle between Colombia and Panama, or who have made the perilous journey through Central America and Mexico to reach the United States, have found themselves stranded in countries that do not want them, unable to continue their journey or to afford to return to their country.

PHNOM PENH, Oct 28 (IPS) - Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen walks into a diplomatic minefield these days. He supports UN resolutions against Putin but does not want to jeopardize the long-standing friendship with Russia. At the same time, he tries to be less dependent on the West, both economically and politically.

Oct 28 (IPS) - The Horn of Africa is facing its worst drought in 40 years. Scientists suspect that a multi-year La Niña cycle has been amplified by climate change to prolong dry and hot conditions.

GENEVA, Oct 28 (IPS) - The organisational is personal. Every day since the two of us were asked back in 2020 to co-lead the process of culture transformation at UNAIDS, the United Nations organisation which drives global efforts to end AIDS, we have both felt at our very core how crucial it has been to get it right.