Aerial view of a landslide caused by tropical storm Megi, which hit the village of Kantagnos in Baybay town, Leyte province, Philippines, on 13 April 2022. Photo: Bobbie Alota / AFP / Getty Images

Storm Megi death toll rises as hundreds of thousands displaced in Philippines, nearly 2 million residents affected 

By Akanksha Sharma 14 April 2022 (CNN) – The death toll in the Philippines from tropical storm Megi has risen to 76 while hundreds of thousands of others remain displaced, authorities in the country said Wednesday. Many of the deaths came in landslides and floods caused when the storm made landfall on Sunday, battering the eastern […]

Population of Japan and annual population growth rate, 1950-2020. Graphic: Worldometer

Japan population plummeted by 640,000 in 2021 for biggest drop on record – People aged 14 or younger accounted for a record-low 11.8 percent

15 April 2022 (The Japan Times) – Japan’s population totaled 125,502,000 as of Oct. 1, down 644,000 from a year earlier to mark the biggest decline on record in the rapidly graying nation, government data showed Friday. The population dipped for the 11th consecutive year, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said. According to […]

Thousands of Sri Lankans demonstrate against President Gotabaya Rajapaksa in Colombo, Sri Lanka, on 9 April 2022. Protesters demanded Rajapaksa’s resignation, saying neither he nor members of his family could be trusted to steer the country out of its deepening economic crisis. At the Galle Face Green on Colombo’s waterfront on Saturday, students, teachers, lawyers, actors and architects – many of whom said they were protesting for the first time – chanted “madman Gota” and “Go home Gota”, in a reference to the president’s nickname, as they gathered under a blistering sun. Photo: Al Jazeera

Drugs running out, surgeries cancelled as Sri Lanka’s health system buckles – “This will result in a catastrophic number of deaths”

By Devjyot Ghoshal and Uditha Jayasinghe 12 April 2022 COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (Reuters) – Rosanne White was first diagnosed with cancer eight years ago and lost a kidney. After the cancer returned five years ago, an oncologist in Sri Lanka’s commercial capital Colombo started her on Bevacizumab last May, a treatment she was responding to. […]

Smoke billows from a fire at Ghazipur landfill, in New Delhi, India, late Saturday, 9 April 2022. Photo: Kamal Kishore / PTI

Fire at Delhi’s Ghazipur landfill site again, weeks after major blaze was doused — “Waste, plastic, cloth … once it catches fire, it keeps burning”

10 April 2022 (The Quint) – A fire broke out at the Ghazipur landfill in East Delhi on Saturday night, 9 April, officials stated, about two weeks after a major fire broke out at the same site that required almost 50 hours of firefighting operations to douse. This fire, however, was put out within three hours and there was no casualty, as per […]

A haze caused by dust covers the capital Nicosia, in the southeast Mediterranean island of Cyprus, on Monday, 4 April 2022. The World Health Organization (WHO), the U.N. health agency, says nearly everybody in the world breathes air that doesn't meet its standards for air quality. WHO is calling for more action reduce fossil-use use that generate pollutants that cause respiratory and blood-flow problems and lead to millions of preventable deaths each year. Photo: Petros Karadjias / AP Photo

Millions dying across the world due to poor-quality air that 99 percent of world’s population breathes – “After surviving a pandemic, it is unacceptable to still have 7 million preventable deaths and countless preventable lost years of good health due to air pollution”

By Jamey Keaten 4 April 2022 GENEVA (AP) – The U.N. health agency says nearly everybody in the world breathes air that doesn’t meet its standards for air quality, calling for more action to reduce fossil-fuel use, which generates pollutants that cause respiratory and blood-flow problems and lead to millions of preventable deaths each year. The […]

FAO Food Price Index (left) and FAO Food Commodity Price Indices (right), January 2021 - March 2022. Graphic: FAO

The FAO Food Price Index makes a giant leap to another all-time high in March 2022

8 April 2022 (FAO) – The FAO Food Price Index (FFPI) averaged 159.3 points in March 2022, up 17.9 points (12.6 percent) from February, making a giant leap to a new highest level since its inception in 1990. The latest increase reflects new all-time highs for vegetable oils, cereals, and meat sub-indices, while those of […]

A woman uses a candle inside her house during a power cut in Colombo, Sri Lanka, on 30 March 2022. Many parts of the crisis-hit country faced up to 13 hours without electricity due to a shortage of foreign currency to import fuel. Photo: AFP

Power cuts in Sri Lanka could continue into May 2022 – Nation experiencing worst economic spiral since independence in 1948

COLOMBO, 31 March 2022 (The Straits Times) – Sri Lanka’s power minister said on Thursday (31 March 2022) that power cuts could continue into May, as many parts of the crisis-hit country currently face up to 13 hours without electricity due to a shortage of foreign currency to import fuel. Pavithra Wanniarachchi said that a […]

A body of a woman, who according to residents was executed by Russian army soldiers, lies on the street, amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine, in Bucha, in the region of Kyiv, Ukraine, 2 April 2022. Photo: Zohra Bensemra / REUTERS

Human Rights Watch report on atrocities in Russia-controlled areas of Ukraine: Summary executions, rape, and other grave abuses – “The cases we documented amount to unspeakable, deliberate cruelty and violence against Ukrainian civilians”

3 April 2022 (Warsaw) – Human Rights Watch has documented several cases of Russian military forces committing laws-of-war violations against civilians in occupied areas of the Chernihiv, Kharkiv, and Kyiv regions of Ukraine. These include a case of repeated rape; two cases of summary execution, one of six men, the other of one man; and other cases of […]

Futures prices of West Texas intermediate crude oil and lithium, May 2021-March 2022. Graphic: Bloomberg

A world that’s more expensive is starting to destroy demand – “A renewed spike in gas prices would see demand destruction become more widespread”

By David R Baker, Allison Smith, and Sheela Tobben 27 March 2022 (Bloomberg) – Prices for some of the world’s most pivotal products – foods, fuels, plastics, metals – are spiking beyond what many buyers can afford. That’s forcing consumers to cut back and, if the trend grows, may tip economies already buffeted by pandemic […]

Tokyo Tower is illuminated only in the lower-half part in response to the government’s request to save electricity in Tokyo, Japan on 22 March 2022. Photo: Issei Kato / REUTERS

The future of energy will require bigger sacrifices from citizens – “If you don’t want to act on going 1 degree lower for climate change, do it against Putin”

By Stephen Stapczynski and Shoko Oda 25 March 2022 (Bloomberg News) – Not since the late 1970s have governments around the world been under so much pressure to ask their citizens to cut energy consumption for the greater good. The need for more energy conservation has snowballed: The war in Ukraine is forcing Europe to curb […]

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