Category: World

Beset by millions of bamboo-chomping beetles, almost every shelter in the vast Rohingya refugee camps of Cox’s Bazar, in Bangladesh, needs replacing. With just over four months to go until the beginning of the monsoon season, the race is on for IOM, the United Nations migration agency which is managing the camp, to provide families living in the worst-affected temporary… Read More

UNDP/Babu Raja Shrestha Mushrooms are nutritious, do not require soil in which to grow, and represent a high value crop in the mountainous Asian country. However, the soil-free growing method does require a steaming process in a drum, using firewood. The practice has led to deforestation and an increase in harmful climate change-inducing carbon dioxide. But now solar water heaters… Read More

Thirty-three-year-old Junaid Hafeez, a lecturer at Bahauddin Zakariya University in Multan, was sentenced to death – despite last year’s landmark Supreme Court ruling in which Pakistani Christian Asia Bibi was tried and condemned to death by hanging for blasphemy but was later acquitted. “The Supreme Court ruling in the Asia Bibi case should have set a precedent for lower courts… Read More

Tadamichi Yamamoto, head of the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), underscored that peace is the only solution to ongoing conflict which has resulted in more than 100,000 casualties over the past decade.  “As I told the Security Council last week, whatever the outcome of the presidential election may be, peace will be the issue of paramount importance to the new administration,” he… Read More

The whereabouts of former Xinjiang University President Tashpolat Tiyip have been unknown since his detention in 2017. “The Chinese authorities have indicated to us that Mr. Tiyip is being tried on corruption charges, that a lawyer has been hired by his relatives, and that he has not been sentenced to death,” the experts said. While any proceedings against Professor Tiyip have… Read More

Unsplash/Dan Freeman Rapid industrialization over the past 30 years and subsequent urbanization and intensification of agricultural production in the southeast Asian country, has resulted in the over-exploitation of natural resources and the loss of habitat on a massive scale.  While many impoverished Thai people benefitted from the development, the Eastern Sarus Crane became a casualty, as did the Spoon-billed Sandpiper… Read More

Tadamichi Yamamoto, head of the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), updated ambassadors on developments since voting took place in late September.  “When the election is completed with credibility, it will become a milestone in the history of establishing a representative political system of the country”, he stated.  Mr. Yamamoto explained that preliminary results are yet to be announced as stakeholders want to ensure the electoral process was as transparent and credible as possible.  “Whatever the… Read More

The amendment to the Citizenship Act gives priority to Hindus, Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians resident in India before 2014, but excludes Muslims, including minority sects.  “Although India’s broader naturalization laws remain in place, these amendments will have a discriminatory effect on people’s access to nationality”, Jeremy Laurence, a spokesperson with the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), said on Friday. … Read More

The first element of concern outlined by Khaled Khiari, was the resumption of missiles testing by DPRK, more commonly known as North Korea, which include the launch of two projectiles on November 28, and the announcement of a test which some analysts believe, he said, were designed to further North Korea’s nuclear programme. Further announcements by State media include references… Read More

The development – announced by UN emergency relief chief Mark Lowcock – means that $2.6 million will be made available for the small Pacific island, where health providers have been reportedly overwhelmed. 87 new cases in past 24 hours “As of this morning, 4,819 measles cases have been reported to the Disease Surveillance Team since the outbreak started, according to… Read More