News headlines in 2023, page 142

For 96 hours, the orders kept coming. By the end, 287 people were dead, 387 women and children had been raped, and 13 villages in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) had been robbed of any sense of normalcy.

Warring factions in Sudan must respect international law, protect civilians, and stop targeting relief and aid workers, the United Nations top humanitarian official urged on Saturday, as the conflict reached its three-month mark.

UNITED NATIONS, Jul 14 (IPS) - As the 2030 deadline for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) looms, Education Cannot Wait's director Yasmine Sherif warned, "We are failing the promises we made on everything in the sustainable development goals, but especially on education because, without education, we cannot achieve any of the other sustainable development goals.”

ESPERANÇA, Brazil, Jul 14 (IPS) - Zé Pequeno cried when he learned that the heirloom seeds he had inherited from his father were contaminated by the transgenic corn his neighbor had brought from the south. Fortunately, he was able to salvage the native seeds because he had shared them with other neighbors.

BRATISLAVA, Jul 14 (IPS) - A report released this week has highlighted how continuing criminalisation and marginalisation of key populations are stymying efforts to end the global HIV/AIDS epidemic.

NEW YORK, Jul 14 (IPS) - We all know and agree that patience is a virtue. It is indeed. With one exception.

In the face of a child’s suffering, impatience is the highest virtue. Or as we say in the spirit of Education Cannot Wait: “We must be unapologetically impatient” in our collective goal to reach 224 million crisis-affected children and adolescents with quality education.

AMSTERDAM, Jul 14 (IPS) - The dangerous state of global climate has reached a new low as a World Metrological Organisation (WMO) analysis reveals. It confirms a known obvious: human activities continue to worsen conditions that have changed our planet’s climate.

The UN human rights office (OHCHR) on Friday said it was very concerned over reports of police in Kenya using excessive force to quell protests this week which have left dozens dead and injured.

The World Health Organization’s (WHO) cancer research agency on Friday classified the commonly used artificial sweetener aspartame as “possibly carcinogenic to humans”, although another UN committee reaffirmed that there was a safe daily level of consumption.

The international community must act now to protect future generations from the scourge of conflict-related sexual violence, the UN’s advocate on the issue, Pramila Patten, told the Security Council on Friday.