In East Africa, where 23 million people are facing hunger due to the food crisis and famine-related deaths have begun, major disasters could occur if the international community does not take action.

According to United Nations (UN) data, approximately 23 million people in countries such as South Sudan, Somalia, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Sudan, Burundi, Kenya, and Uganda are in urgent need of food aid. The people of Somalia, who have been struggling to survive in the harsh conditions caused by the civil war that has been ongoing for nearly 26 years, are once again facing a major crisis after the drought disaster in 2011 that claimed tens of thousands of lives.

In Somalia, where a "national disaster" was declared last week due to drought, it was announced that 110 people have died from hunger so far. The UN states that 6.2 million people, nearly half of the country's population, are in need of food assistance.

In South Sudan, which has rich underground resources and fertile land but is in the midst of a major food crisis due to civil war, 4.9 million people are awaiting urgent aid.

South Sudanese people, unable to meet basic needs such as food and medicine, continue to seek refuge in neighboring countries. The number of refugees in neighboring countries has exceeded 1.5 million.

In Ethiopia's eastern and southern regions, 5.6 million people are reported to be in urgent need of food aid; so far, education has been suspended in 578 schools, and 228,000 students are unable to attend school due to the drought.

In Kenya, one of the countries most affected by the drought, 2.7 million people are awaiting support due to the drought and the decline in harvest.

In Burundi, where economic and political instability prevails, 1.5 million people; in Sudan, 3.6 million; in Djibouti, 200,000; and in Uganda, 1.6 million people are in urgent need of assistance.

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The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) report revealed that the Israeli occupation cost the Palestinian budget $47.7 billion between 2000 and 2017.

During a press conference held at the UN's Geneva Office, Mutasim Elagraa, one of UNCTAD's economic experts, stated that as long as the Israeli occupation continues, the losses to the Palestinian economy will keep increasing.

Approximately 600,000 Israelis live in settlements established in the occupied Palestinian territories, despite opposing UN resolutions.

The report, prepared using scientific research by the commission, provides evidence of systematic "racial discrimination" carried out by Israel against the Palestinian people, with clear and detailed documentation of these practices.

The report highlights that Israel's primary method in implementing its racist policies is the fragmentation of the Palestinian people. It also notes that the application of racist policies varies depending on the region where Palestinians live. According to the report, Israel aims to conceal its racist policies from international scrutiny through these different methods.

The report emphasizes that Israel, through its policy of fragmentation, seeks to stabilize its racial dominance over Palestinians and weaken their will and capacity to form a unified and effective resistance.

For the approximately 300,000 Palestinians living in Jerusalem, there are special laws in place. Through these laws, Israel enforces a "demographic balance" policy, demolishing the homes of Palestinians in Jerusalem or forcing them to leave the area.

According to the report, Israeli Military Laws are enforced on the 4.6 million Palestinians, with 2.7 million living in the West Bank and 1.9 million in the Gaza Strip.

The report also notes that Palestinians are subjected to various forms of "inhumane treatment," a practice that continues to be routinely carried out.

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UEFA proposed postponing EURO 2020 by one year due to the threat of the coronavirus during a meeting with its 55 member associations. This proposal was accepted by the member countries, the European Club Association, and FIFPro, representing the players.

The Norwegian Football Federation was the first official body to announce the tournament's postponement by one year, making the announcement via its official Twitter account.

Meanwhile, news of another postponement came from South America. The Copa America, which was scheduled to be held in Argentina and Colombia this summer, has also been postponed to 2021.

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Paolo Miranda, a nurse working in the intensive care unit of the only hospital in the small town of Cremona in Italy's Lombardy region, is making history by documenting the coronavirus pandemic through photographs while battling it on the front lines. "Everyone calls us heroes, but I don't feel like one," says Paolo Miranda. Like all his colleagues, Miranda has been working endless 12-hour shifts over the past month: "Of course, we're professionals, but we get tired too. It feels like we're in the trenches, and we're very scared," he adds.

These are exhausting days for Paolo and his team. However, they are united and support each other. He mentions that sometimes they cry for the patients whose conditions do not improve because they feel helpless, unable to help.

In such moments, the rest of the team comes together to comfort the nurse who is feeling down and tries to make them laugh.

Over the past four weeks, 3,000 people have lost their lives in Italy.

What has touched him the most during this pandemic is seeing people die alone because their families are not allowed to be near them due to the virus.

Paolo says, "Every day, we find something new—pizzas, sweets, cakes, drinks. The other day, we received a thousand espresso capsules. We can say that we're cheering ourselves up with the carbs." Despite the joy from these gifts, Paolo admits that he feels overwhelmed when he comes home after his shift, constantly waking up throughout the night even while sleeping.

No one knows how long this pandemic will last, but one thing is certain—they will need a long vacation once it’s over.

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The Blue Whale, also known as the Great Blue Whale... During the early days of whaling, smaller and easier-to-catch species like the sperm whale were heavily hunted, leading to a significant decline in their populations. As a result, whalers turned their attention to the much larger blue whales. In 1864, with the introduction of steam-powered ships and harpoons specifically designed for hunting large whales, blue whales became prime targets. Over the next century, until the International Whaling Commission banned their hunting in 1966, the global population of blue whales plummeted to less than 1% of their numbers from 100 years prior.

Listed as an endangered species on the International Union for Conservation of Nature's (IUCN) Red List since it was first included, blue whales remain a species under threat. According to a 2002 study by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada, the blue whale population is estimated to range between 5,000 and 12,000 individuals, dispersed across at least five distinct groups in the world's oceans. Despite being protected, factors such as marine pollution and the increasing ocean traffic that interferes with their calls, making it difficult for them to find mates, pose significant threats to the recovery of the blue whale population.

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The Yellow Vest protests, which began on Saturday, November 17, 2018, in France, quickly spread to neighboring countries such as Italy (known as *gilet gialli*), Belgium, and the Netherlands (*gele hesjes* in Dutch). The yellow vest was chosen as a symbol because, since 2008, French law has required all drivers to carry high-visibility vests in their vehicles. As a result, these reflective vests became common, inexpensive, and symbolic during the protests.

The protests were fueled by several factors, including rising fuel taxes, high fuel and motor vehicle taxes, the repeal of the wealth tax in 2017, austerity measures, traffic penalty cameras, globalization, and neoliberalism.

The protesters' demands included the reduction of fuel and motor vehicle taxes, improved living standards, the resignation of President Emmanuel Macron and his government, an end to unpopular austerity measures, government transparency, and accountability to the working and middle classes.

The methods used in the protests included civil disobedience, erecting barricades, blocking traffic, rioting, vandalism, arson, and looting.

As of March 27, 2020, the protests were still ongoing. The toll included 10 civilian deaths, over 2,841 injured civilians, and more than 1,000 injured police officers.

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Since June 2019, Australia has experienced the largest bushfire in its history, covering approximately 8 million hectares. The fires, which primarily began in the southeast of the country, destroyed more than 2,500 buildings and resulted in the deaths of 28 people and over 1.1 billion animals.

It is believed that the fires were caused by prolonged high temperatures and months of drought across the island nation. The fires even spread close to the capital, Sydney. In the aftermath, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) estimated that around 1.25 billion animals had perished. Additionally, approximately 2,000 homes were rendered uninhabitable, and many towns were left without electricity and internet access. The Insurance Council of Australia reported that the damages exceeded 700 million Australian dollars.

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Since mid-August 2011, Syria has witnessed a bloody civil war. This conflict began on March 15, 2011, with peaceful public protests against the regime, which were met with a harsh response from government forces. By August, the situation had escalated into a devastating war involving multiple factions.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) has recorded 380,636 deaths by name since the conflict began. Of this number, at least 115,000 are civilians, including 22,000 children and more than 13,000 women.

According to SOHR, the death toll was around 370,000 by March 15, 2018, the first anniversary of the conflict (the number has increased further from 2018 to 2020). As for non-civilians, SOHR reports that at least 128,000 regime forces or regime-affiliated fighters (both domestic and foreign) have been killed.

However, these statistics from SOHR do not include certain aspects. The figures do not account for those who died due to government torture, those who went missing or were kidnapped during the war. It is estimated that around 88,000 people have died due to torture.

SOHR stated: "Due to significant secrecy by the warring parties concerning human losses and the difficulty of accessing some remote areas in Syria, SOHR could not document all these deaths."

The United Nations (UN) estimates that aside from human casualties, the conflict has caused $400 billion in damage to infrastructure, hospitals, schools, private and public properties. Additionally, it is known that more than half of the population has been displaced, both within the country and abroad, due to the conflict.

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As of April 6, 2020, the number of deaths due to the coronavirus (Covid-19), which originated in Wuhan, China, has reached 73,801 globally. There are 1,328,786 confirmed cases worldwide, with 277,295 recoveries.

In Turkey, as of the same date, it was announced that a total of 649 people have died from the coronavirus, with the total number of confirmed cases reaching 30,217. Of the current cases, 1,415 patients are in intensive care, with 966 of them receiving respiratory support.

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On January 22, 2019, a group of Venezuela's National Guard attempted to stage an armed uprising against President Nicolas Maduro in the San Jose Cotiza area of northern Caracas.

According to official reports, at around 3 a.m., 27 National Guardsmen attacked a military outpost in the town of Petare, seizing the weapons stored there. They then moved to Caracas and subsequently released a video on YouTube calling for an uprising against Maduro.

Shortly after, National Assembly President Diosdado Cabello announced that the coup attempt had been suppressed, with the group neutralized, captured, and detained.

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