Category: Entertainment

Africa\ Democratic Republic of the Congo\ 19 March 2022: In Drakpa village, Djugu territory, Ituri province, Cooperative for Development of the Congo militia members entered an IDP camp and killed fourteen displaced people using machetes, including seven children. Source: Actualité

Nigeria\ 02 March 2022: In Mafa LGA, Borno state, a fire of unidentified origin broke out at the Mun Al-Barnawi IDP Camp, destroying hundreds of temporary shelters, foodstuffs and other valuable items. Firefighters eventually extinguished the fire. Source: Daily Trust

South Sudan\ 14 March 2022: In Juba, clashes between the two rival Anyak and Murle communities in the Mahad IDP Camp resulted in at least three people getting slightly injured. Source: Radio Tamazuj

Sudan\ 19 March 2022: In El Geneina city, West Darfur state, a fire broke out at the Shelter Centre for the Displaced in El Zahraa School which is no longer used for educational purposes. A 13-year-old child died and two others suffered burn wounds. Livestock were killed and the property was damaged. Sources: Radio Dabanga I and Radio Dabanga II

Asia\ Myanmar\ Since the beginning of March 2022: In Mobye and Nan Mae Khon townships, along the southern border of Shan and Kayah states, roadblocks by State Administration Council (SAC) forces have prevented food and emergency supplies from reaching more than 10,000 IDPs taking shelter in the jungle, posing risks of starvation. Source: Radio Free Asia

08 March 2022: Between Letpandaw and Kanthar villages, Yinmabin township and district, Sagaing region, artillery shells from SAC forces hit a monastery where IDPs were taking shelter, killing five elderly people as well as a 30-year-old woman and her two male children, aged seven and nine. Another five elderly IDPs received gunshot wounds. Source: Radio Free Asia

08 March 2022: On the outskirts of Letpandaw village, Yinmabin township and district, Sagaing region, SAC forces set fire to makeshift tents sheltering IDPs. Source: Radio Free Asia

Europe\ Germany\ 06 March 2022: In Duesseldorf city and region, North Rhine-Westphalia state, an 18-year-old Ukrainian female refugee was raped by an Iraqi man and a Nigerian man, both holders of Ukrainian citizenship, onboard the Oscar Wilde hotel ship that is being used to accommodate people fleeing Ukraine. Sources: Polsat News, Sahara Reporters and The Independent

Greece\ 01 March 2022: Off the coast of Mytilene town, Lesbos island, North Aegean region, three men and three women were found dead by the Greek coastguard. Source: The New Arab

Poland\ As reported on 14 March 2022: In an unspecified location, after crossing the Poland-Belarus border, police stole the SIM cards and power banks of four Sudanese migrants, and pushed them at gunpoint towards a barbed wire fence in an isolated part of a forest. One man was wounded when he was thrown into the fence by the guards. Later, all four were taken to a garage by Belarusian border guards where a Belarusian soldier assaulted them, telling them to go back to Poland and threatened to kill them if they returned. Source: The New York Times

As reported on 15 March 2022: In an unspecified location, a man sexually assaulted a 19-year-old Ukrainian female refugee, after luring her in by offering her shelter online. Police have since arrested the perpetrator. Source: Sahara Reporters

Ukraine\ 16 March 2022: In Zaporizhzhia city, municipality and oblast, Russian rockets targeted civilian areas and objects, including the Zaporozhye-2 Railway Station, where thousands of Mariupol IDPs have been taking shelter. Source: The New Arab

19 March 2022: In Mariupol city and raion, Donetsk oblast, Russian forces bombed the School Of Arts Nr. 12, where some 400 IDPs — including women, children and elderly people — were taking shelter. Sources: New Age and The New Arab

Middle East and North Africa\ Egypt\ Early-March 2022: In Cairo, 31 Eritrean migrants — including a disabled woman unable to hear or speak — were forcibly deported by Egyptian authorities. Source: The New Arab

As reported on 25 March 2022: In Aswan city and governorate, a group of 50 Eritrean migrants — including three children under the age of seven and a baby, who have been detained since early-2022 — are faced with an imminent risk of forced deportation. Source: The New Arab

Libya\ 12 March 2022: Off the coast of Tobruk city, Butnan district, Cyrenaica region, at least 19 people went missing and potentially drowned after their boat, which was carrying a total of 23 people towards Europe, capsized. Three others were reportedly rescued by the Libyan coastguard. One body was retrieved. Sources: The New Arab I and The New Arab II

Mediterranean Sea\ 26 March 2022: The NGO ship Ocean Viking rescued 128 people from an overcrowded dinghy. Two of those on board were found dead. Extreme weather conditions prevented the NGO from recovering one body. Source: The New Arab

Morocco\ 14 March 2022: Off the coast of Tarfaya town and province, Laayoune-Sakia El Hamra region, at least 44 people — including 16 women and two infants — drowned as they were travelling on a boat with 17 others for the Canary Islands. Source: The New Arab

Occupied Palestinian Territories\ 01 March 2022: In Beit Fajjar village, Jenin governorate, West Bank, Israeli forces killed two Palestinian men, aged 18 and 22, during a raid at the Jenin Camp. Sources The New Arab I, The New Arab II and The New Arab III

15 March 2022: In Nablus city and governorate, West Bank, Israeli Border Police raided the Balatah Camp. Palestinian residents responded by throwing rocks at them. A man aged 16 or 17 on a motorcycle allegedly shot at the police and the police returned fire, shooting the man in the head, chest, stomach and arms. He was pronounced dead at the Rafidia Surgical Hospital. At least three other Palestinians were wounded following the raid. Sources: AP, Haaretz and The New Arab

15 March 2022: In Area C, East Jerusalem, West Bank, Israeli soldiers shot and wounded a 20-year-old Palestinian man during a raid at the Qalandia Camp. He died after he was admitted to a health centre. Six other Palestinians were wounded during this raid, all of whom required to be hospitalised. Sources: AP and The New Arab

21 March 2022: In Area C, East Jerusalem, West Bank, Israeli soldiers raided the Qalandia Camp, where they clashed with local youths, wounding eight Palestinians. Source: The New Arab

Syrian Arab Republic\ As reported on 10 March 2022: Update: In Rukban area, along the Syria-Jordan border, Rif Dimashq governorate, the US Embassy in Jordan has failed to respond to calls to evacuate a four-month-old infant from the Rukban IDP Camp for medical treatment for a congenital malformation. Source: The New Arab

Since mid-March 2022: In Rukban area, along the Syria-Jordan border, Rif Dimashq governorate, a severe shortage of food has hit some 10,000 IDPs of the Rukban IDP Camp amid a Syrian Government crackdown on smuggling routes that has prevented the entry of food supplies into the camp. Source: The New Arab

Tunisia\ 18 March 2022: Off the coast of Nabeul town and governorate, at least 20 people drowned following a shipwreck whilst en route to Italy. Their bodies were recovered by the Tunisian coastguard between 18 and 19 March. Sources: The New Arab I and The New Arab II

Source: Insecurity Insight

GENEVA— A full 99 percent of people on Earth breathe air containing too many pollutants, the World Health Organization said, blaming poor air quality for millions of deaths each year.

Fresh data from the UN health agency showed that every corner of the globe is dealing with air pollution, although the problem is much worse in poorer countries.

“Almost 100 percent of the global population is still breathing air that exceeds the standards recommended by the World Health Organization,” the agency’s environment, climate change and health director Maria Neira told reporters.

“This is a major public health issue.”

In its previous report four years ago, WHO had already found that over 90 percent of the global population was affected, but it has since tightened its limits, it said.

“The evidence base for the harm caused by air pollution has been growing rapidly and points to significant harm caused by even low levels of many air pollutants,” WHO said.

While UN data last year indicated that pandemic lockdowns and travel restrictions caused short-lived improvements in air quality, WHO said air pollution remains a towering problem.

“After surviving a pandemic, it is unacceptable to still have seven million preventable deaths and countless preventable lost years of good health due to air pollution,” Neira said.

WHO’s study provides air quality data from more than 6,000 cities and other settlements across 117 countries — representing around 80 percent of urban settings.

In addition, Neira said WHO used satellite data and mathematical models to determine that air quality is falling short basically everywhere.

The poorest air quality was found in the eastern Mediterranean and Southeast Asia regions, and Africa, she said.

The findings were alarming, the organisation said, and highlighted the importance of rapidly curbing fossil fuel use.

WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus stressed that worries over soaring energy prices, due in part to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, should help propel change.

“Current energy concerns highlight the importance of speeding up the transition to cleaner, healthier energy systems,” he said in a statement.

“High fossil fuel prices, energy security, and the urgency of addressing the twin health challenges of air pollution and climate change, underscore the pressing need to move faster towards a world that is much less dependent on fossil fuels.”

The report provides data on concentrations of dangerous particulate matter with a diameter of between 2.5 and 10 micrometres (PM10), and particles with a diameter of less than 2.5 micrometres (PM2.5).

PM2.5 includes toxins like sulfate and black carbon, which pose the greatest health risks since they can penetrate deep into the lungs or cardiovascular system.

And for the first time, the report also provides ground measurements of annual mean concentrations of nitrogen dioxide (NO2), a common urban pollutant, which is associated with respiratory diseases, particularly asthma.

The report found problems related to particulate pollution were far worse in poorer countries, but that most cities had trouble with nitrogen dioxide.

While the air in 17 percent of cities in high-income countries fell below WHO’s air quality guidelines for PM2.5 or PM10, less than one percent of cities in low and middle-income countries complied with the recommended thresholds, the report said.

Out of the around 4,000 cities across 74 countries that collected NO2 data, measurements meanwhile showed only 23 percent of people breathed annual average concentrations of the gas that met levels in WHO’s recently updated guidelines.

Source: NAM NEWS NETWORK