Category: Pacific

After making landfall on the eastern island of Samar, the eye of the Category 3 typhoon, known locally as Ambo, continued with maximum sustained winds of 125 km/h, with gusts of up to 165 km/h, to the island of Masbate before wreaking havoc northwest towards mainland Luzon – where some 60 million people are under extended COVID-19 quarantine.  As Typhoon… Read More

The appeal aims to help thousands who are stranded in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, the Russian Federation, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.  It was launched virtually by more than 100 representatives from donors, embassies, migration experts and Governments, together with senior IOM staff in Vienna, Moscow, Nur Sultan and other regional capitals. Dramatic transformation The advance of the new coronavirus is dramatically transforming… Read More

Twelve people reportedly died and more than 1,000 fell sick after styrene leaked from the LG Chem plant near Visakhapatnam, in Andhra Pradesh state, on 7 May. Styrene is used to make plastics, but it can also cause cancer and neurological damage. It can also harm reproduction and its impacts may go unnoticed for years after exposure. “The latest disaster… Read More

“Nobody should be subjected to administrative or criminal sanctions for taking part in a peaceful protest, even if the regime governing protests requires an authorization”, said the three Special Rapporteurs. The experts – Clement Nyaletsossi Voule, Special Rapporteur on the right to peaceful assembly and association; David Kaye, Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion… Read More

It suggests that the temporary shutdown of activities due to the crisis, as well as reduced traffic on the seas and demand for marine resources, could give oceans the “much-needed breathing space” to recover from pollution, overfishing and the impacts of climate change. Healthy oceans are intricately linked to achieving sustainable development in Asia and the Pacific, said Armida Salsiah… Read More

At least 14 people were killed, including two newborn babies, when gunmen attacked a maternity hospital in the capital, Kabul, that morning. UNAMA expresses shock and revulsion at today’s terrorist attacks at a #Kabul maternity hospital and a funeral in #Nangarhar, causing significant civilian casualties. UN in #Afghanistan calls for those responsible to face justice and offers condolences to victims… Read More

Amidst the destruction of the of COVID-19 pandemic, the United Nations chief expressed concern over a lack of “sufficient solidarity” with the world’s developing countries, that need support in responding to the worst economic and social crisis in generations.  Read More

The International Organization for Migration (IOM), the Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) said that thousands of lives may be at stake if the stranded people are unable disembark. Those at sea include hundreds of Rohingya, ethnic communities from Western Myanmar who faced persecution that was likened to ethnic… Read More

Self-discipline, effective measures, and testing Stephan Klingebiel, director of the UNDP Global Policy Centre, Seoul, by UNDP Stephan Klingebiel is Director of UN Development Programme’s (UNDP) Global Policy Centre in Seoul, which fosters partnerships between the Republic of Korea and the developing world. He puts the country’s success down to self-discipline, effective measures and testing. “Just a few weeks ago,… Read More

A woman in Viet Nam makes environmentally-friendly biomass briquettes, a biofuel substitute to coal and charcoal cooking fuel., by UN Photo/Kibae Park Although a changing climate affects everyone, it is the world’s most vulnerable people, and especially women and girls, who bear the brunt. They are more likely than men to suffer from the social, environmental and economic impacts of… Read More