News headlines in 2023, page 198

KARACHI, Pakistan / NAIROBI, Kenya / LUXEMBOURG CITY, Luxembourg, May 03 (IPS) - The finance sector’s role in the current global crises – notably climate, biodiversity, and food security – is significant.

Polluting activities and environmentally-destructive practices for short-term economic gains have catapulted us to our current untenable situation. We're ‘sawing off the branch we’re sitting on’ by sacrificing life-giving ecosystem services for profit, and that branch is sagging and splitting under our weight.

The number of people who need urgent food, nutrition and livelihood assistance rose for the fourth consecutive year in 2022, due to conflict, climatic change, and COVID-19 impacts, the UN and partners said in a report published on Wednesday.

There must be accountability from the Israeli Government following the death of Palestinian hunger striker Khader Adnan, two independent UN human rights experts said on Wednesday, referring to the mass arbitrary detention of Palestinians as “cruel” and “inhumane.”

On Wednesday, a large group of UN-appointed independent human rights experts expressed concern over the possibly imminent execution of three members of the Howeitat tribe in Saudi Arabia, urging authorities to stop the process.

Human rights provide the “best antidote” to prevent conflict and instability, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, told the Security Council on Wednesday.

The development of an El Niño climate pattern in the Pacific Ocean this year is more and more likely, with dangerously high temperatures and extreme weather events expected, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said on Wednesday.

Fighting in Sudan must stop now before the conflict and the spreading humanitarian catastrophe further ravage the country, and the region, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said on Wednesday.

BRATISLAVA, May 02 (IPS) - While there is no established causal relationship between climate change and tuberculosis (TB), studies have begun to highlight the potential impact its effects could have on the spread of the disease.

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa, May 02 (IPS) - There’s a now familiar groan every time the lights go out in South Africa. Due to a critical shortage of electricity, the national power utility institutes a daily regimen of scheduled power cuts.

Three imprisoned Iranian women journalists - whose reporting helped spark the revolution surrounding the death of Mahsa Amini in police custody - are the recipients of an award that celebrates press freedom, the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) announced on Tuesday.