UNITED NATIONS, Apr 28 2025 (IPS)* –The Trump administration’s hostile attitude towards Western Europe—and the threat to pullout of the 32-member military alliance, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) – signifies the danger of losing the longstanding protection of the US nuclear umbrella over Europe.
Credit: Federation of American Scientists (FAS)
Jana Puglierin, director of the German office of the European Council on Foreign Relations, was quoted as saying: “Trump may, or may not, want to leave NATO officially, but he has every means to undermine NATO”.
The organization was born on April 4, 1949, when foreign ministers from 12 nations came together in Washington, D.C. to sign the 1100-page North Atlantic Treaty.
(UN News)* — After suffering almost 18 months of deadly bombardment, displacement and lack of access to basic services, the embattled people of Gaza face yet another challenge: the threat of insects and rodents.
UN News | Environmental health workers from UNRWA spray insecticides amongst shelters for displaced people.
One displaced woman told UN News’s correspondent in Gaza: “In all camps, we suffer from biting insects, especially fleas,” adding that:
“our children suffer from severe pain due to itching and stinging.“ We tried to treat it in simple ways, but the right medicines are not available at the medical centre.”
(UN News)* — The biggest UN aid agency in Gaza on Tuesday [condemned the two-month Israeli blockade that has left families eating barely enough to survive amid daily bombings – and the sick and injured without lifesaving medical help.
“The siege on Gaza is the silent killer of children, of older people,” said Juliette Touma, spokesperson for the UN agency for Palestine refugees, UNRWA.
(UN News)* — Surviving on one meal a day and stretching out rapidly dwindling food rations have become a desperate reality in the Gaza Strip, where humanitarian aid has been blocked for nearly two months.
Both the UN agency that assists Palestine refugees, UNRWA, and the World Food Programme (WFP) report that food stocks are now exhausted, even as supplies of lifesaving assistance pile up at border crossings waiting to be brought in.
Humanitarians continue to warn that hunger is spreading and deepening in the enclave, amid the blockage, access constraints, ongoing Israeli military operations and a rise in looting.
GENEVA (UN Refugee Agency)* –As violence escalates and humanitarian needs intensify across Colombia, UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, warns that years of progress in protecting and integrating displaced populations risk being lost, and the most vulnerable – children, women and displaced families – will pay the highest price.
Refugees and internally displaced populations may be forced to move again in search of safety and stability, while returnees will not find conditions to settle again.
Colombia hosts one of the largest uprooted populations in the world, with over 7 million internally displaced people, nearly 3 million Venezuelans refugees and migrants, and more than 500,000 Colombian returnees.
(UN News)* — With humanitarian aid in decline, the international community must shift its focus from short-term relief efforts to inclusive policies that support both refugees and host communities.
PAHO/Karen González Abril | Venezuelan refugees make their way to the Colombian border town of La Guajira.
In 2024, 122 million people were forcibly displaced — a number expected to rise in the coming years, according to Bob Rae, President of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), addressing a meeting on the pressing issue in New York on .
As population movements become much more complex due to wars disproportionately impacting civilians, climate disasters, hunger and poverty, 70 per cent of refugees live in low to middle-income countries.
People across Latin America fleeing violence face movement restrictions, exploitation, and asylum barriers, according to a new report by Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), the Danish Refugee Council (DRC), and partners through the ProLAC initiative.
Refugees and migrants from all over the world reach Necocli in Colombia on their journey in search of protection and a better life. Photo: Jess Wanless/NRC
One in four families interviewed for the report said that their lives would be at risk if they returned to their place of origin.
CARACAS, Apr 25 2025 (IPS)* –Reduced to a marginal oil producer over the past decade, Venezuela has suffered another blow as United States president Donald Trump ordered punitive measures to blockade and further restrict the country’s oil exports.| En español
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Oil extraction in the Orinoco Belt, southeastern Venezuela. The crude extracted from this rich basin is very heavy and requires blending with diluent oil for refining—a process previously handled by U.S. company Chevron, which must now cease operations in the country. Credit: PDVSA
(UN News)* —Xochimilco, nestled in the heart of Mexico City, is home to the ‘chinamperos,’ farmers who have used indigenous techniques to grow food for centuries. Today, their way of life is under threat from environmental degradation, urban expansion and climate change.
The chinamperos get their name from ‘chinampas,’ the human-made islands of floating gardens on which they farm. It was the Aztecs who discovered that, by layering mud, plants and branches on shallow lake beds, they could create highly fertile plots of land.
HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 