World News in Brief: Rights chief calls for calm in Comoros, DR Congo update, northern Ethiopia beset by ‘multiple crises’

World News in Brief: Rights chief calls for calm in Comoros, DR Congo update, northern Ethiopia beset by ‘multiple crises’

Incumbent President of the island archipelago off the east African coast, Azali Assoumani, was re-elected for a fourth term.   However, the turnout was reportedly only 16 per cent and opposition parties denounced the elections as “fraudulent”, according to media reports. In a statement released by his office (OHCHR) on Wednesday, Volker Türk called on…

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UPDATED: Injured patients ‘waiting to die’ in northern Gaza as last hospital shuts down, amid rising 'catastrophic' hunger levels

UPDATED: Injured patients ‘waiting to die’ in northern Gaza as last hospital shuts down, amid rising ‘catastrophic’ hunger levels

The latest grave assessment from the World Health Organization (WHO) came after UN teams reached Al Ahli Arab hospital and Al Shifa hospital on Wednesday, amid reports of intensifying ground operations by Israeli Defense Forces and continuing airstrikes in the Gaza Strip, in response to Hamas’s 7 October terror attacks on southern Israel.  “Patients were…

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Ukraine: Civilians bear ‘unbearable’ toll amid ‘unrelenting’ attacks

World News in Brief: UN ‘committed’ to aid Ukraine, blue helmets exit northern Mali, Chad update

That’s according to Humanitarian Coordinator Denise Brown, who led a convoy at the weekend carrying aid for around 1,000 civilians to Chasiv Yar, just six kilometres from the frontline in the Donetsk region. The UN aid coordination office OCHA warned on Monday that civilians are facing “daily attacks” along frontline areas in the east and…

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Ethiopia: Northern aid access improving but some areas still hard to reach

Ethiopia: Northern aid access improving but some areas still hard to reach

Associate Spokesperson Florencia Soto Niño​ told correspondents at the regular noon briefing in New York that aid distribution had expanded in the Afar, Amhara and Tigray regions, but some pockets remained that have not yet been accessed. Relief for 3.8 million people  “Since the Cessation of Hostilities agreement in mid-November, more than 127,000 tons of…

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