Global Issues

WASHINGTON DC, Apr 25 (IPS) - Artificial intelligence provides amazing potential for advancement across fields, from medicine to agriculture to industry to the entertainment business, even as it generates significant concerns. AI can also improve the efficiency of energy production and use in ways that can reduce greenhouse gas emissions.Read the full story, “AI Policy Can't Ignore Climate Change: We Need Net Zero AI Emissions”, on globalissues.org →

BRATISLAVA, Apr 25 (IPS) - As the refugee crisis on the Belarus/EU borders approaches its fourth year, a crackdown on activism in Belarus is worsening the situation for migrants stuck in a “death zone” as they attempt to leave the country.Read the full story, “Conditions Worsen for Belarus Migrants Stuck in Death Zone on EU Border”, on globalissues.org →

A top Human Rights Council-appointed expert has welcomed the decision by all health authorities in the United Kingdom to halt the routine use of puberty-blockers offered to children as part of gender transition services, amid a sharp increase more widely in the number of teenage girls seeking such treatment and concerns that it might disrupt brain development.Read the full story, “Gender therapy review reveals devastating impacts on teens”, on globalissues.org →

Across the United States, “heads are rolling” at the top of some Ivy League universities amid a campus-wide crackdown on students protesting Israel’s war in Gaza, shining a spotlight on the question of freedom of expression worldwide, said UN Special Rapporteur Irene Khan.Read the full story, “Amid campus crackdowns, Gaza war triggers freedom of expression crisis”, on globalissues.org →

Unexpected blistering temperatures across Gaza have added to the daily misery faced by the enclave’s people and sparked new fears of disease outbreaks amid a lack of sufficient clean water and waste disposal, UN humanitarians said on Thursday.Read the full story, “Gaza: Heatwave brings new misery and disease risk to Rafah”, on globalissues.org →

The war in Gaza continues to cast a dark shadow over the wider Middle East region, in particular Syria where a series of strikes and attacks are exacerbating an already dire humanitarian situation, the UN Special Envoy for the country said on Thursday.Read the full story, “Syria crisis intensifies in shadow of Gaza war”, on globalissues.org →

Digital technologies and algorithm-driven software - especially social media - present high risks of privacy invasion, cyberbullying and distraction from learning to young girls, according to the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization’s (UNESCO) latest Global Education Monitor (GEM) report released on Thursday.Read the full story, “UNESCO report spotlights harmful effects of social media on young girls”, on globalissues.org →

The General Assembly designated 22 April as International Mother Earth Day through a resolution adopted in 2009, but the roots of the Day go back to the 1970s.Read the full story, “Stories from the UN Archive: UN proclaims world’s first Earth Day”, on globalissues.org →

The ongoing crisis in Haiti is having a “massive” and “devastating” impact, with over half the population acutely food insecure and more than one million staring at emergency levels of hunger, a senior UN World Food Programme (WFP) official said on Thursday.Read the full story, “Senior UN aid official urges comprehensive response to Haiti crisis”, on globalissues.org →

The international community must take immediate action to end the wave of sexual violence being carried out against women and girls in Sudan, two senior UN officials said on Thursday.Read the full story, “World News in Brief: ‘Barbaric’ sexual violence in Sudan, Haiti’s transitional council in place, rights experts condemn Iran rapper's death sentence”, on globalissues.org →