News headlines in 2023, page 16

Countries across the world need to work together to ensure there is a “global commitment to fight corruption” according to the head of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

Over half a million people have been displaced in Myanmar amid a surge in fighting between the military and armed groups that stated in late October and has spread to over two-thirds of the country, the UN humanitarian affairs office reported on Friday.

As Haiti faces a situation of “absolute brutal violence”, the deployment of a multi-national security support mission is awaited with hope, the UN’s top humanitarian official in the country said on Friday.

The UN Security Council began an emergency meeting at 10 AM New York time to discuss the catastrophic situation in Gaza. This follows Wednesday’s urgent letter by Secretary-General António Guterres - one of the most powerful tools at his disposal - urging the body to help end carnage in the war-battered enclave with a humanitarian ceasefire. Follow our live coverage below...

Young climate advocates at COP28 in Dubai on Friday said they will not sit idly by while climate change threatens their futures. They demanded that government policymakers put the needs of the world’s nearly 2 billion children first – their voices and ideas can help rescue the planet.

As intense Israeli bombardment of Gaza and fighting with Palestinian armed groups continued to impede aid operations, reports on the ground of children begging for water and people cutting down telephone poles for firewood indicated that “society is about to break down”, UN humanitarians said on Friday.

Amid ongoing bombardment in the Gaza Strip, UN agencies and humanitarian partners continue to provide desperately needed food, water, healthcare and other services to the more than two million people living there.

More people were killed due to homicide than armed conflict and terrorism combined in 2021, with an average of 52 lives lost per hour worldwide, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) said in a report published on Friday.

DUBAI, Dec 08 (IPS) - A record-breaking drought is unfolding in the Horn of Africa, where millions of people are trapped in the world’s worst acute food insecurity emergency. Food insecurity and malnutrition in West and Central Africa are on track to reach a 10-year high as coastal countries edge even closer to the debilitating effects of climate change.

DUBAI, Dec 07 (IPS) - For the first time at COP28, faith has a pavilion alongside science, technology, nations, and philanthropy, allowing religious leaders from all over the world to discuss the potential for using spiritual merits to protect the earth from climate change.