Tag: Children

Child pneumonia spikes in Pakistan’s smoggy winter

LAHORE, Pakistan, Feb 2, 2024 (AFP) – In a Pakistan paediatric ward, a chorus of infant coughs and straining lungs is the toll of a frigid winter, compounded by choking smog and lagging vaccination rates. “Please pray for him,” the mother of four-month-old pneumonia patient Ibrahim begs a nurse in Lahore, delicately arranging a blanket around ventilator tubes piping air in and out of his heaving chest. The eastern megacity is blanched every winter by […]

UN panel to grill Russia on fate of Ukrainian children

By Agnès PEDRERO GENEVA, Jan 22, 2024 (AFP) – Moscow will be asked to explain at the UN on Monday what has happened to thousands of Ukrainian children believed to have been forcibly sent to Russia since its 2022 invasion. The United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child — 18 independent experts — is set to examine Russia’s record over two days, as part of a regular review. Their lengthy list of concerns […]

Meta sued by New Mexico for child exploitation on Facebook and Instagram

SAN FRANCISCO, Dec 6, 2023 (AFP) – The US state of New Mexico filed a lawsuit Wednesday accusing Facebook and Instagram of being a “breeding ground” for predators who target children. The new suit comes less than two months after dozens of US states accused Facebook and Instagram owner Meta of profiting “from children’s pain,” damaging their mental health and misleading people about the safety of its platforms. In total more than 40 states are […]

Meta sues to block FTC’s proposed privacy settlement changes

SAN FRANCISCO, Dec 1, 2023 (AFP) – Meta filed a lawsuit late Wednesday arguing that US regulators planning to change the terms of a 2020 privacy settlement are overstepping their authority and should be stopped. The Silicon Valley tech giant, known as Facebook when the $5 billion settlement was made, said that aspects of the Federal Trade Commission’s very structure violate the US Constitution, making its proceeding against Meta unlawful. Meta contended in a filing […]

Climate crises drove 27 mn children into hunger in 2022: charity

NAIROBI, Nov 28, 2023 (AFP) – Extreme weather events in countries vulnerable to climate change drove more than 27 million children into hunger last year, Save the Children said on Tuesday. The figure represented a sharp 135 percent increase over 2021, the UK-based charity said in an analysis ahead of the COP28 climate summit opening in Dubai on Thursday. It said children made up nearly half the 57 million people pushed into crisis levels of […]

Violence erupts in Dublin after school knife attack

By Peter MURPHY DUBLIN, Nov 23, 2023 (AFP) – Protesters on Thursday fought running battles with police, torched vehicles and looted shops in Dublin, after three young children were injured in a knife attack outside a school. Police in riot gear stood guard on the streets in the Irish capital as crowds taunted them with chants and set off fireworks. Near O’Connell Bridge, over the River Liffey, flames rose from a torched car and bus, […]

Beckham says Messi at Inter Miami is ‘our gift to America’

By Pitcha DANGPRASITH MUMBAI, Nov 15, 2023 (AFP) – David Beckham told AFP in an interview on Wednesday that his Inter Miami franchise signed Lionel Messi as “our gift to America and the MLS”. Former Manchester United and Real Madrid midfielder Beckham, speaking on his first ever visit to India and in his role as a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, admitted he still has to pinch himself when he sees the Argentinian World Cup winner on […]

South Asia worst in world for water scarcity: UN

NEW DELHI, Nov 13, 2023 (AFP) – More children in South Asia are struggling due to severe water scarcity made worse by the impacts of climate change than anywhere else worldwide, the United Nations said Monday. “A staggering 347 million children under 18 are exposed to high or extremely high water scarcity in South Asia, the highest number among all regions in the world,” the UN children’s agency said in a report. The eight-nation region, […]

S.Sudan floods leave 1.6 million children at risk of hunger: UN

NAIROBI, Nov 6, 2023 (AFP) – More than 1.6 million children aged under five will suffer from malnutrition next year in South Sudan, following a surge in waterborne diseases due to flooding, the UN’s World Food Programme said Monday. The world’s newest nation has endured deadly conflict, natural disasters, economic malaise and relentless political infighting since it won independence from Sudan in 2011. As flooding becomes an annual affair in some parts of the country, […]

US states accuse Meta of profiting ‘from children’s pain’

By Glenn CHAPMAN SAN FRANCISCO, Oct 24, 2023 (AFP) – Dozens of US states on Tuesday accused Facebook and Instagram owner Meta of profiting “from children’s pain,” damaging their mental health and misleading people about the safety of its platforms. “In seeking to maximize its financial gains, Meta has repeatedly misled the public about the substantial dangers of its Social Media Platforms,” argued a joint lawsuit filed in federal court in California. In total more […]

Record number of children attacked and killed in DR Congo: UN

KINSHASA, Sept 30, 2023 (AFP) – The Democratic Republic of Congo is on track to see record numbers of children killed, maimed, kidnapped or sexually assaulted in 2023 for the third consecutive year, the UN said on Saturday. The number of “grave violations against children” in the conflict-racked country is estimated to be more than 1,700 for the first half of 2023, said UNICEF, the United Nations children’s agency — which marks a 41 percent […]

Children of couple that fled Britain put into Pakistan state custody

ISLAMABAD, Sept 12, 2023 (AFP) – Five British-Pakistani children brought to Pakistan by a fugitive couple wanted over the death of a 10-year-old girl in Britain were taken into the custody of state protective services on Tuesday, police said. Surrey Police in Britain said last week the welfare of the five children was “a priority” after Sara Sharif was found dead with multiple injuries in her family home in August. They believe her father Urfan […]