News headlines in 2022, page 195

URBANA, Illinois, USA, May 09 (IPS) - Around the world, commercial fertilizer prices are soaring, pushing farmers and countries into a frenzy. In addition, soaring fertilizer prices are sparking fears of inflation, food supply shortages and food insecurity. There are several reasons that have contributed to the rising fertilizer prices including the Russian-Ukrainian war and the global pandemic.

PORTLAND, USA, May 09 (IPS) - People require food, with more people requiring more food and less people requiring less food. Despite that self-evident relationship, most governments appear reluctant to accept the intimate link between the supplies of food and the numbers of people and continue calling for the further growth of their populations.

The 15th session of the Conference of Parties (COP15) to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), kicked-off on Monday, in the Ivorian capital.

The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) joined religious leaders and others on Monday in signing a landmark joint appeal for climate-responsible finance “as a moral imperative towards children”.

Nearly 20 million people in Afghanistan – almost half the population – are facing acute hunger, humanitarians warned in a UN-backed report, published on Monday.  

Under the guise of preventing money-laundering and cutting off terrorist financing, a new law in Nicaragua further restricts the functioning of civil society, “contrary to the country’s human rights obligations”, the spokesperson for the UN human rights office (OHCHR) said on Monday.

NEW YORK, May 09 (IPS) - “I first think about my children. They are why we were forced to leave - because our children are always our first concern.”

These are the moving words of Victoria, who fled the brutal war in Ukraine with her two daughters. Her eyes welling up with tears, she recalled their dangerous journey from Ukraine. She and her two school-aged daughters were forced to leave behind everything they have ever known.

NEW YORK, May 09 (IPS) - Dr. Alon Ben-Meir, a retired professor of international relations at the Center for Global Affairs at New York University (NYU), taught courses on international negotiation and Middle Eastern studies for over 20 years.A revised Iran nuclear deal based on the 2015 JCPOA could provide the basis for a new Biden administration strategy that would limit Iran’s nuclear program to peaceful purposes and ensure that Tehran’s public pronouncement that it is not seeking to acquire nuclear weapons becomes a de facto reality.

Secretary-General António Guterres said on Sunday that he was appalled by an attack on a school in Bilohorivka, eastern Ukraine, where many people were sheltering from the ongoing fighting.

Chisinau in spring – the chestnut trees are in bloom, music pours from sidewalk cafés, and young people are everywhere. Although it seems peaceful in the capital of Moldova, if you listen, you can hear everyone speaking about the war, discussing the latest news from Ukraine and exchanging alarming prognoses.