Australian researchers find simple, cost-effective desalination method
SYDNEY — Australian researchers say a simpler and cheaper method to remove salt from seawater using heat could help combat what they call “unprecedented global water shortages.” The desalination of seawater is a process where salt and impurities are removed…
Trillions of cicadas pop up in parts of US
It’s an emergence that’s been more than a decade in the making. Trillions of cicadas that have burrowed underground for 13 or 17 years are now emerging in parts of the Midwestern and Southern United States. And, VOA’s Dora Mekouar…
Pakistan launches communication satellite with Chinese assistance
Washington — Pakistan’s space agency on Thursday launched its second satellite in a month from a launch site in China’s northwest Sichuan province. According to Pakistan’s Space & Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (SUPARCO), PakSAT-MM1 is a high-power multimission satellite designed…
Situation in southern Gaza ‘horrific and apocalpytic’: WFP
Matthew Hollingsworth, WFP Country Director in Palestine, warned that with limited access to the south “we will no doubt see what we saw happen in the north in the first months of the war”. Mr. Hollingsworth recently spent 10 days…
UN official urges DPR Korea to halt missile activities and return to dialogue
At 10:45 PM local time on 27 May, the DPRK, also known as North Korea, conducted what it described as “the launch of reconnaissance satellite Malligyong-1-1 aboard the new-type satellite carrier rocket” from the Sohae Satellite Launching Station. According to…
UN humanitarian flight takes vital medical supplies to Haiti
The international airport had been closed due to rampant gang violence in the country. The flight carried nearly 15 metric tonnes of medicine and medical supplies to be added to the resources of the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the…
Top UN relief official in Ukraine deplores deadly strikes in Kharkiv
The attacks occurred in the city’s Novobovarskyi district late on Thursday. At least three people were killed and a further 16 injured, according to media reports. The repeated missile strikes caused significant damage to residential buildings. They also affected rescue…
Sudan: as millions face famine, humanitarians plead for aid access
In a bleak assessment of the dire situation in Sudan where conflict is in its second year, the heads of 19 global humanitarian organizations issued an alert that further obstacles to providing aid “rapidly and at scale” will mean that…
UN human rights chief sounds alarm over rising violence in Burkina Faso
Allegations of responsibility point to both armed groups and State actors. “While armed groups are presumed responsible for the vast majority of incidents and victims and should be held accountable, I am also deeply disturbed that security and defence forces…
Gaza: Children are starving amid persistent aid access obstacles, warn UN agencies
The alert from the World Health Organization (WHO) follows the finding that more than four in five children “did not eat for a whole day at least once in the three days” ahead of a food insecurity survey. Hunger snapshot “These…