News headlines in 2023, page 146

Despite some progress, billions worldwide still lack access to safe water, sanitation, and hygiene; a situation exacerbated by water scarcity caused by conflicts and climate change. On Tuesday, the High-level Political Forum (HLPF) discussed the key role of water in reaching the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Twenty five countries, including some of the world’s biggest economies, have halved their poverty indices, but lack of post-COVID-19 pandemic data obscures the situation facing almost a billion people globally, a new United Nations-University of Oxford study has found.

UN-appointed independent human rights experts on Tuesday called for the Government of Bangladesh to end all harassment against representatives of the human rights organisation, Odhikar, and to ensure respect for due process in legal proceedings.

The UN’s top human rights official urged respect for religious tolerance on Tuesday as Member States gathered in Geneva in response to the recent burning of the holy Quran in the Swedish capital.

Life-saving assistance to millions in northwest Syria is at risk after the UN Security Council on Tuesday failed to adopt either of two competing resolutions to extend cross-border aid delivery from Türkiye.

The pointe shoes were a testament to unfulfilled hopes. They belonged to a young ballet dancer from Bosnia and Herzegovina whose life was forever changed by the brutal conflict that broke out in the heart of Europe at the end of the 20th century and were on display at the UN Headquarters in New York to educate visitors about the horrors of war and genocide.

At eight billion strong, the “human family is larger than ever”, but leaders are failing in efforts to ensure a peaceful and prosperous world for all, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said in his message to mark World Population Day on Tuesday.

As conflict continues to rage in Sudan, UN humanitarians expressed alarm on Tuesday at a surge in the number of people fleeing across the border to Chad.

CARACAS, Jul 10 (IPS) - Hundreds of thousands of children and young people, and thousands of their teachers, drop out of regular schooling in Venezuela year after year, and most of those who remain go to the classroom only two or three days a week, highlighting the abysmal backwardness of education in the country.

MADRID, Jul 10 (IPS) - A quick glance at the current European political map would clearly show how far the extremist ideology has been installed in European countries –those who still wave the French Revolution’s flag of “Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité.”