Tropical forest losses rise in 2022 despite pledge to end them
Reuters The world lost an area of old-growth tropical rainforest the size of Switzerland last year, as deforestation of the Brazilian Amazon continued unabated, a forest monitoring project report said on Tuesday. Global Forest Watch, which is backed by the non-profit World Resources Institute and draws on forest data collected by the University of Maryland, […]
Number of internally displaced people hits record due to war, climate change
Geneva, SwitzerlandReuters The number of internally displaced people reached a record 71.1 million worldwide last year due to conflicts such as the war in Ukraine and climate calamities like the monsoon floods in Pakistan, according to data published on Thursday. The Geneva-based Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre said that figure represented a 20 per cent increase […]
More than 8,500 children used as soldiers in 2020: UN
Updated: 10.15am (AEST)New York City, USReuters More than 8,500 children were used as soldiers last year in various conflicts across the world and nearly 2,700 others were killed, the United Nations said on Monday. UN chief Antonio Guterres’ annual report to the Security Council on children and armed conflict covers the killing, maiming and sexual […]
Updated: COVID-19 drives 40 per cent spike in number of people needing humanitarian aid, UN says
Updated 9pm (AEDT)New York City, USThomson Reuters Foundation The coronavirus pandemic is pushing the number of people worldwide who need humanitarian assistance to survive to new highs, the United Nations said on Tuesday, dramatically increasing the ranks of extreme poverty in just one year. One in 33 people will need aid to meet basic needs […]
Two pastors among seven killed by Islamist militants in eastern DRC
World Watch Monitor Two Congolese pastors were among the seven Christians killed in attacks by an Islamist militant group in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo earlier this month. Six Christians, including Rev Kausa Kaule Yosua and his daughter, 27-year-old Masika, were killed in the 10th and 11th November attacks by members of the Allied Democratic Forces on […]
27 church members among dead in DRC after raid; Islamist militant group ADF believed responsible
World Watch Monitor In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, dozens are feared killed as armed men believed to be Islamist militants from the ADF group stormed the eastern town of Beni, in the volatile province of North Kivu, on Saturday. According to local sources, the assailants, in great number, attacked the city by surprise […]
Death toll from latest Ebola outbreak in DRC now tops 90
The death toll from the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has reached 92 amid 137 confirmed and probable cases, the World Health Organization said on Friday. The news followed confirmation that the virus had reached the city of Butemno, near the Ugandan border, where it has claimed three lives. UNICEF, the […]
Two people killed every day in North Kivu in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
World Watch Monitor Civil society organisations in eastern DRC have reiterated their call to President Joseph Kabila to stop the ongoing killings, which have claimed more than 2,500 lives in three years. Until late 2017, the North Kivu region had enjoyed a period of relative calm before violence resumed with the killing of dozens of civilians by […]