News headlines in August 2024, page 14

Aug 08 (IPS) - A new UN Cybercrime Treaty, which is expected to be adopted by the UN General Assembly later this year, is being denounced by over 100 human rights activists and civil society organizations (CSOs) as a potential tool for government repression.

The treaty is expected to be adopted by a UN Ad Hoc Committee later this week and move to the 193-member General Assembly for final approval.

BANGKOK, Thailand, Aug 08 (IPS) - Following persistent and determined efforts, Africa has achieved a breakthrough in advancing the establishment of an African credit rating agency (ACRA), with the proposed launch scheduled for December 2024.

NAIROBI, Aug 07 (IPS) - Climate change-related extreme weather jeopardizes Kenya's development agenda; even though it contributes very little to global warming, it is marked as a high-risk country by development banks.Kenya contributes less than 0.1 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions every year, yet development banks have flagged the East African nation as a high climate risk. This is due to extreme weather changes that are increasingly threatening the country's development agenda, widening socio-economic inequalities, and deepening rural poverty and hunger.

GENEVA, Aug 07 (IPS) - From 11-year-old Chinese skateboarder Zheng Haohao to 16-year-old American gymnast Hezly Rivera, several children have reached the pinnacle of world sport at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

KATHMANDU, Aug 07 (IPS) - In the rural village of Khardariya in the Dang district of Nepal, access to clean water is a major issue. Villagers depend on one poorly managed well for drinking water, cleaning, and feeding livestock.

Aug 07 (IPS) - CIVICUS speaks with Darío Iza Pilaquinga, president of the Kitu Kara People of the Kichwa nationality of Ecuador, about a historic court ruling that applied a constitutional provision recognising the rights of nature.

KINGSTON, Jamaica, Aug 07 (IPS) - The International Seabed Authority (ISA) Assembly meeting concluded last week with no mining authorized, an unprecedented number of States calling for a moratorium or precautionary pause and a new Secretary-General elected.

Senior UN officials on Wednesday warned of the consequences for protection of women and their rights in conflict zones, amid recent decisions to close or shrink peacekeeping and special political missions.

Last month saw another extreme weather milestone with the world’s hottest day on recent record registered on 22 July – yet another indication of the extent to which greenhouse gas emissions from human activities are changing our climate, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) reported on Wednesday.

Recent developments in Gaza, the wider Middle East, and Sudan, have highlighted the complexities of emergencies in the World Health Organization’s (WHO) vast Eastern Mediterranean region, officials from the UN agency said during a virtual media briefing on Wednesday.