News headlines in 2022, page 226

ZÁRATE, Argentina, Mar 31 (IPS) - Three giant concrete cylinders with inflated membrane roofs are a strange sight in the industrial park of Zárate, a world of factories 90 kilometers from Buenos Aires that heavy trucks drive in and out of all day long. They are the heart of a plant that is about to start producing energy from agro-industrial waste, for the first time in Argentina.

Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, Mar 31 (IPS) - Activity in the streets of Zimbabwe’s second city is testimony to a thriving informal sector where thousands of people eke out a living selling all sorts of wares.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres on Thursday urged private investors businesses, cities, states and regions, to do more to cut harmful greenhouse gas emissions, launching a new group of experts to help with realizing a net-zero future.

The UN and partners on Thursday launched a $1.7 billion Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP) for South Sudan, to meet the needs of some 6.8 million vulnerable people this year. 

Tokyo, Mar 31 (IPS) - Women and girls in the Asia-Pacific region were adversely impacted due to COVID-19 pandemic responses – with marginalized women and girls’ access to sexual and reproductive health rights (SRHR) and gender-based violence (GBV) services profoundly affected.

A new UN initiative aims to promote greater inclusion and acceptance of transgender children, and to advocate for their rights.

“Arboviruses” might not be something most of us are familiar with, but for almost four billion people, they’re a deadly threat – which is why the UN health agency on Thursday, launched a plan to prevent them from causing a new pandemic.

GENEVA, Mar 31 (IPS) - For more than one month now, the entire population of Ukraine has been enduring a living nightmare. The lives of millions of people are in upheaval as they are forced to flee their homes or hide in basements and bomb shelters as their cities are pummeled and destroyed.

As the world focuses its attention on the war in Ukraine, the UN reminded the international community on Thursday to remember Afghanistan as it kicked off a pledging conference to save the lives and livelihoods of those in the landlocked country.

The World Entrepreneurs Investment Forum (WEIF 2022) closed in Dubai on Wednesday with participants adopting the ‘UAE Declaration’, which calls for greater collaboration, integration and connectivity across the Arab world and a strong focus on women entrepreneurs to help achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030.