News headlines in 2022, page 289

KARACHI, Jan 19 (IPS) - Two years after Michelle, 15, was kidnapped, sold, forced to convert to Islam and married to a stranger, relatives still ostracise her.

Urgent action is required to prevent further deterioration of the economic, security and political situation across the Occupied Palestinian Territory, the UN’s Middle East envoy, Tor Wennesland, told the Security Council on Wednesday. 

UNITED NATIONS, Jan 19 (IPS) - The official start of free trading under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) in January 2021 moved a major continental aspiration closer to reality.

The UN Secretary-General on Wednesday said he was “delighted” to learn that “a demonstrable effort to make peace” in Ethiopia is finally underway, according to information relayed to him by the African Union High Representative for the Horn of Africa. 

More than half a million people have lost or been pushed out of their jobs in Afghanistan since the Taliban takeover, the UN International Labour Organization (ILO) said on Wednesday.

Last year joined the list of the seven warmest years on record, the UN weather agency said on Wednesday, and was also the seventh consecutive year when the global temperature has been more than 1°C above pre-industrial levels; edging closer to the limit laid out under the 2015 Paris Agreement on Climate Change.

Nairobi, Kenya, Jan 18 (IPS) - The ominous warning came in 2019 through an anonymous message on her mobile phone to stay away from a man she met on social media.

Although international action over the past 25 years has led to the release of more than 170,000 boys and girls recruited to fight, more remains to be done, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said on Tuesday. 

Omicron continues to sweep the world, but cases seem to have peaked in some countries, which gives the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) hope that the worst of this latest wave of COVID-19 is over. 

MADRID, Jan 18 (IPS) - The Asia-Pacific region is experiencing growing inequality even while registering impressive economic growth and poverty reduction. Such sharp inequalities continue to be persistent in the region, with nearly 2 in 4 people still unable to afford a healthy diet.