News headlines in June 2023, page 22

MADRID, Jun 02 (IPS) - There is a tangled trafficking web that has been woven across the Sahel, which spans almost 6.000 kilometres from the Atlantic Ocean to the Red Sea, and is home to more than 300 million people in 10 countries: Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, The Gambia, Guinea, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, and Senegal.

ABUJA, Jun 02 (IPS) - New research shows that Black mothers in the United States disproportionately live in counties with higher maternal vulnerability and face greater risk of preterm death for the fetus, greater risk of low birth weight for a baby, and a higher number of maternal deaths.

The “lack of unity and action” in the Security Council “does little to slow the negative trajectory on the Korean Peninsula”, Rosemary DiCarlo, Under-Secretary-General for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs, said on Friday, following Pyongyang’s failed military satellite launch earlier this week.

Artificial intelligence (AI)-powered spyware and disinformation is on the rise, and regulation of the space has become urgent, according to UN-appointed independent rights experts.

The United Nations on Friday appealed for sustainable funding for its agency that supports Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, which is on the brink of financial collapse.

As the crisis in Sudan enters its second month, UN agencies and partners warned on Friday that the conflict between rival military groups since mid-April is fuelling an increasingly “desperate” situation for civilians, especially in the nation’s capital.

Millions of women and girls across the United States have suffered an alarming deterioration in access to sexual and reproductive healthcare, following the US Supreme Court decision overturning the constitutional right to abortion in June 2022, UN-appointed independent rights experts said on Friday.

More than two weeks after deadly Cyclone Mocha hit Myanmar, aid access is uncertain, disease is spreading, and a major food crisis remains a very real threat, the UN said on Friday.

The trafficking in illegal narcotics, precursor chemicals, timber and wildlife, people and illicit goods across Southeast Asia is being tackled thanks to the support of the specialized UN agency focusing on drugs and crime.

LONDON, Jun 02 (IPS) - On May 24, Sri Lanka President Ranil Wickremesinghe arrived on a three-day official visit to Japan, his second visit to the country, having attended the State funeral of former prime minister Shinzo Abe last September.