This refrain echoes through centuries of struggle—from the plantations of Saint Domingue to the besieged neighborhoods of Gaza, from the mineral-rich soil of the Congo to the burning plains of Southern Africa.
(New York) –The United States should not forcibly transfer migrants to Libya, where inhumane detention conditions are well-documented, including torture, ill-treatment, sexual assault, and unlawful killings, Human Rights Watch said today [9 May 2025].
Based on numerous media reports citing US officials, the Trump administration may be poised to imminently deport an unknown number of detained migrants to Libya.
(UN News)* — The UN agency for Palestine refugees, UNRWA, has strongly condemned the forced entry by Israeli security forces into three of its schools in occupied East Jerusalem, describing it as a violation of children’s right to education and safety.
WFP Video | Gaza faces severe shortages of food, water and medicine. (file)
According to the agency, heavily armed personnel entered the schools in Shu’fat refugee camp on Thursday [] while classes were in session, forcing more than 550 Palestinian girls and boys – some as young as six – out of their classrooms.
(UN News)* — Students displaced by the war in Gaza have been channeling their anguish into art in psychosocial support sessions provided by the UN agency that assists Palestine refugees, UNRWA.
UN News | Fatima Al-Za’anin, a displaced Palestinian girl from Beit Hanoun (Gaza), speaks about her drawings in an art exhibition organized by UNRWA in Gaza City as part of its mental health and psychosocial support services.
Their paintings and drawings range from a portrait of an esteemed Palestinian poet and family members killed in conflict, to a sky blackened by thick smoke – and a child crying in front of his mother’s corpse.
(UN News)* — Grim details emerged on Wednesday of Israeli airstrikes on a UN-run school in Gaza sheltering 2,000 displaced people, which reportedly killed 30 Palestinians sheltering there.
The UN agency for Palestine refugees, UNRWA, maintained that Israeli forces hit the school in Al Bureij, Middle Gaza, at around 6pm on Tuesday and again at 10.20pm
“The school sustained severe damage and a fire broke out in the shelter, making it difficult to evacuate the casualties. Residents had to open a hole in the wall to evacuate the dead and wounded,” UNRWA told UN News.
KARACHI, Pakistan, May 8 2025 (IPS)* – Just after the young couple arrived at Al-Sayyed Shabistan, a quaint guesthouse in Taobat, on April 30, soldiers showed up, urging them to leave—war, they warned, could break out any moment.
This village is half in India and half in Pakistan. In Pakistan it is called Chilhana; on the Indian side, it’s called Teetwal. Credit: Zofeen Ebrahim/IPS
In recent months, Somaliland has become a subject of intense, unprecedented interest for the Western media.
Somaliland National Army, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
As Israeli and US officials scramble to find a destination to forcibly relocate Gaza’s population from their shattered homeland, the little-acknowledged, unrecognised breakaway statelet is increasingly viewed as an attractive option.
(UN News)* —The reported Israeli proposal to deliver humanitarian supplies through hubs controlled by the military would be a breach of the core principles of neutral, impartial and independent aid delivery, the UN said on Tuesday .
“It appears to be a deliberate attempt to weaponize the aid and we have warned against that for a very long time. Aid should be provided based on humanitarian need to whomever needs it,” said Jens Laerke, spokesperson for UN aid coordination office, OCHA.
Rome, 5 May 2025 — The recent outbreaks of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) in Europe and the introduction of an exotic virus strain into the Near East underscore the urgent need for early detection and enhanced biosecurity measures to minimize the impacts of the disease, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
GENEVA,6 May 2025 — A global report published by the World Health Organization (WHO) highlights that the underlying causes of ill health often stem from factors beyond the health sector, such as lack of quality housing, education and job opportunities.
Credits: iStock / JP Tinoco | Impoverished neighborhood “favela” clinging to a steep hillside in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
The newWorld report on social determinants of health equityshows that such determinants can be responsible for a dramatic reduction of healthy life expectancy – sometimes by decades – in high- and low-income countries alike.
HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 