Category: Pacific

It’s three o’clock in the afternoon at the Lunalilo Home, a residential and day care centre for elderly people nestling at the foot of a dormant volcano on the outskirts of Honolulu, the capital of the US state of Hawaii. Novena Sanchez, originally from the Philippines, busies herself looking after the kupuna, the Hawaiian term for older people, who have… Read More

When the shutdown happened it felt a little sudden, because it began on January 23, the same day I came to my parents’ home for a visit. In fact, there was no time to respond. I felt the epidemic was very serious at that time, but I didn’t anticipate how long it would last. At that time, I thought that… Read More

As Sikh worshipers gathered for morning prayers, news reports said that Islamic State militants stormed the temple, where attackers killed a guard and caused people to flee for shelter before a lengthy siege that turned dozens into hostages and left 25 dead, including a child. “Attacks against civilians are unacceptable and those who carry out such crimes must be held… Read More

UN News travelled to the island archipelago, as part of an International Labour Organization (ILO) project, called Dignity at Work, and spoke to the Governor of Hawaii, David Ige Why are the Sustainable Development Goals important to Hawaii? Hawaii is the most isolated island community on the planet, 2,500 miles from the nearest landmass, and we see the impacts of… Read More

China’s experience in containing the spread of the new coronavirus could serve as a lesson for other countries now facing the COVID-19 pandemic, a senior official with the World Health Organization (WHO) has told UN News in an in-depth interview.  Read More

MYTH BUSTER: Q: Is wearing rubber gloves while out in public effective in preventing the new #coronavirus infection? A: No. Regularly washing your bare hands ??offers more protection against catching #COVID19 than wearing rubber gloves. pic.twitter.com/UDBkodbHO0 — WHO South-East Asia (@WHOSEARO) March 17, 2020 WHO Total number of cases in South-East Asia Region. (As of 17 March) Dr. Poonam Khetrapal Singh, WHO… Read More

While more than 153,00 cases of the respiratory illness have been recorded globally as of Sunday, it is on the decline in China, demonstrating that the course of the outbreak there has been altered, according to WHO Representative in the country, Dr. Gauden Galea.   “It is an epidemic that has been nipped as it was growing and stopped in its tracks. This is very clear from the data that… Read More

“Journalists working for the BBC Persian Service and other Farsi-language news outlets outside Iran have faced threats, criminal investigations, unlawful surveillance, freezing of assets, defamation and harassment by Iranian authorities”, five UN Special Rapporteurs said in a joint statement.  “Several journalists have also been targeted for going public about the harassment, and seeking protection from the UN”. According to the… Read More

“The developments endorsed by this resolution are the product of more than a year of unprecedented US diplomatic engagement with the Taliban, in coordination with our partners in Afghanistan, the region, and around the world”, said Cherith Norman Chalet, the US Acting Deputy Permanent Representative. The agreement with the Taliban calls for the fundamentalists to severe ties with international terrorist… Read More

Mrs. Clinton delivered the keynote address at the meeting of the Group of Friends of Women in Afghanistan, held barely two weeks after the signing of a peace deal between Washington and the Taliban.  The agreement calls for the insurgent group to participate in intra-Afghan peace talks which were to begin that day. It also covers a timetable for the… Read More