Breaking News

Ghana has recorded 372 more novel Coronavirus cases, making the total case count 3,091, the Ghana Health Service (GHS) has stated. As of May 7, 2020, nine more patients have recovered and discharged making the total number of recoveries 303. The death toll, according to the GHS update is still 18. According to the Ghana Health Service, a total of 137,924 tests ...

In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic,United Nations agencies called on Wednesday for South-East Asian governments to show compassion to boats full of vulnerable people adrift in the Bay of Bengal and Andaman Sea. 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 ...

Lockdowns, travel restrictions, resource cutbacks and other measures to curb the spread of the new coronavirus are putting victims of human trafficking at risk of further exploitation, while organized crime networks could further profit from the pandemic, according to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). New analysis from the agency shows that the crisis is having an impact ...

Burundi’s Attorney General Sylvestre Nyandwi has urged politicians not to incite violence following several clashes, some involving machetes, between governing party supporters and those backing the opposition. There have been attacks in various parts of the country ahead of presidential and parliamentary elections due to be held in two weeks. At least two people have been killed in recent days. ...

The sentencing to death of a Nigerian driver via Zoom is “inherently cruel and inhumane”, Human Rights Watch has said. It comes after Nigeria issued a death penalty ruling using the video chat app because of the coronavirus pandemic. Lagos judge Mojisola Dada sentenced Olalekan Hameed to death by hanging for the murder of his employer’s mother. The hearing lasted ...

Russian army medical personnel sent to fight the coronavirus outbreak in Italy are heading home. Defence minister Sergei Shoigu said the teams would start to leave on Thursday, according to Interfax news agency. Russia sent equipment and 100 soldiers in March as the outbreak threatened to overwhelm northern Italy. The deployment provoked controversy in Italy, as many saw it as ...

Since COVID-19 broke out in December 2019, it has continued to spread across the globe unabated, with countries at different phases along the curve. Public health emergencies worldwide, such as the COVID-19 pandemic and its devastating impacts, affect women and men differently, but take a disproportionate toll on women. Even more so in conflict-affected countries and post-conflict contexts, where the ...

Former President John Agyekum Kufuor has stated that Africa can only avoid a total collapse of its economies from the COVID-19 pandemic if intensive social distancing measures are practised. He added that Africa will only achieve the necessary behavioural change if people can trust the information they have access to. “Our governments need to invest in trustworthy information and communication systems. This ...

The United Nations Childen’s Fund (UNICEF) welcomed the landmark move by Sudan’s transitional government this week to criminalize female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C), with a three-year jail sentence for offenders. “This practice is not only a violation of every girl child’s rights, it is harmful and has serious consequences for a girl’s physical and mental health,” said Abdullah Fadil, UNICEF Representative in Sudan. Sometimes called ...

A new UN report finds that some 19 million children were displaced within their own countries due to conflict and violence in 2019, more than in any other year, making them among the most vulnerable to the global spread of COVID-19.  According to the “Lost at Home” report, published on Tuesday by the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), there were 12 ...