World News in Brief, deadliest year for migrants, Syria refugee support crisis, Shamima Begum appeal

World News in Brief, deadliest year for migrants, Syria refugee support crisis, Shamima Begum appeal

Nearly 8,600 people on the move died in 2023, a 20 per cent increase from 2022, according to the UN agency’s Missing Migrants Project online platform. It details the global movement of people risking their lives to escape conflict, economic crisis and natural disasters, including drought and flooding linked to climate change. IOM says the…

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World News in Brief: Climate change in the countryside, Yemen polio drive success, development and peace

World News in Brief: Climate change in the countryside, Yemen polio drive success, development and peace

The Unjust Climate report highlights the reality that every year in low and middle-income countries, female heads of households in rural areas suffer significantly greater financial losses than men. On average, female-headed households lose eight per cent more of their income due to heat stress and three per cent more due to floods compared with male-headed households….

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World News in Brief: Another month of extreme heat, Sudan exodus continues into Chad, Zero Discrimination Day

World News in Brief: Another month of extreme heat, Sudan exodus continues into Chad, Zero Discrimination Day

Summarizing the state of the climate, the month ended with extreme heat in the southern hemisphere where it’s summer, while high temperatures atypical of the northern hemisphere winter prevailed. Parts of North and South America, northwest and southeast Africa, southeast and far eastern Asia, western Australia and Europe, all saw record-breaking temperatures, either on a…

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World News in Brief: UNRWA investigation updates, new recruits for Haiti-support force, gun battles in Chadian capital

World News in Brief: UNRWA investigation updates, new recruits for Haiti-support force, gun battles in Chadian capital

The UN Secretary-General received an update on Wednesday from the Office of Internal Oversight (OIOS), which launched an investigation last month following allegations that a handful of UNRWA employees were complicit in Hamas’s October attacks that left almost 1,200 dead in Israel and 240 taken hostage. So far, investigators have reviewed initial information from a…

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World News in Brief: Air travel boom erases COVID dip, ‘disturbing’ new anti-LGBT bill in Ghana, rights abuses in Crimea

World News in Brief: Air travel boom erases COVID dip, ‘disturbing’ new anti-LGBT bill in Ghana, rights abuses in Crimea

Civil aviation organization ICAO said that the numbers for the first quarter of 2024 indicate that airlines will sustain the return to profitability recorded in 2023. “The commitment of Member States to aligning their pandemic responses with the guidance developed by the ICAO Council has been crucial to the recovery of their air services,” said…

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World News in Brief: Fighting continues in DR Congo, Russian anti-war campaigner harassment, LGBTQ rights

World News in Brief: Fighting continues in DR Congo, Russian anti-war campaigner harassment, LGBTQ rights

Stéphane Dujarric told correspondents at the regular press briefing in New York, that during the clashes, two rockets landed close to the UN peacekeeping base in Kimoka, about four kilometres northwest of Sake town, in North Kivu. No casualties on the UN side were reported, he said. The UN mission, MONUSCO, “remains deeply concerned by…

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World News in Brief: Fresh Ukraine attacks condemned, Gaza healthcare, DR Congo needs escalating

World News in Brief: Fresh Ukraine attacks condemned, Gaza healthcare, DR Congo needs escalating

The latest strikes in the centre and south occurred on the eve of the solemn commemoration marking two years of war and one day after deadly attacks in the Donestsk region, located in the east. ‘Grim reality’ unchanged Denise Brown, UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Ukraine, took to social media to voice her condemnation. “Today’s attacks…

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World News in Brief: Ukraine attacks in Donetsk, ‘forever chemicals’ dumped in US, benefits of multilingual education

World News in Brief: Ukraine attacks in Donetsk, ‘forever chemicals’ dumped in US, benefits of multilingual education

Briefing journalists in New York, Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric cited the UN humanitarian affairs office, OCHA, which said the damage had occurred after a water filtering station was hit. The city had a pre-war population of 220,000 people, now reduced to 90,000.  The attacks also caused civilian casualties and damage to civilian infrastructure on both sides…

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