A family from Myanmar’s Kayah state heads to the Thai border to seek safety. Top news of the day | Friday: Gaza, Myanmar, temperature records, obesity UN
The main news of the day in the UN and in the world: a tenth child has died of hunger in Gaza, violence in Myanmar, an uncharacteristically warm February, more than a billion people are obese.
Famine in Gaza
The World Health Organization reported Friday that a tenth child has died from malnutrition and dehydration in Gaza. Reports of the death of children came from the Kamal Adwan hospital in the north of the strip and Al-Shifa in Gaza City. However, according to the UN Relief Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), the amount of humanitarian aid arriving in Gaza in February was only half of the January volume. But even in January, the UN notes, not enough humanitarian aid was received. Most residents of the sector do not have enough food, the situation in this area is assessed as “crisis”.
Crisis in Myanmar
The U.N.’s top human rights lawyer, Volker Türk, told the Human Rights Council on Friday that the crisis in Myanmar caused by the 2021 military coup has worsened in recent months. Turk cited confirmed data that more than 4,600 people have been killed by the military since February 2021. The actual death toll is likely much higher, the High Commissioner said, citing witness statements. Hundreds of Myanmar civilians have been executed, including by burning alive. More than 20 thousand oppositionists, including about 4 thousand women, are in prison.
February weather
In February, intense heat was observed in the Southern Hemisphere, where the summer season has now ended, and high temperatures atypical for winter were recorded in the Northern Hemisphere. According to experts from the World Meteorological Organization, temperature records were observed around the world. Preliminary estimates show that across much of Europe (excluding the north) the average February temperature was at least 2 degrees Celsius above normal. The weather station in Lviv in western Ukraine recorded a new February record – the temperature rose to almost 17.8 degrees.
Obesity data
According to a new study, more than a billion people, or one in eight people on the planet, were obese as of 2022. Since 1990, global obesity rates among adults have more than doubled and among children and adolescents they have quadrupled. Also, according to researchers, in 2022, 43 percent of adults in the world were overweight. The WHO chief stressed that achieving global goals to combat obesity will require evidence-based measures and the collective efforts of governments, society, health institutions and the private sector.