 Hello, you're watching the International Daily Rwanda by People's Dispatch where we bring you some of the top stories from around the world. Let's take a look at today's headlines. UN wants Afghanistan crisis of unparalleled proportions. Ukrainian government bans opposition political groups. South Africa halts Amazon project on sacred land. Canada's CP rail imposes lockout amid strike. In our first story, the United Nations has described Afghanistan's situation as a food insecurity and malnutrition crisis of unparalleled proportions. The Ministry of Public Health has estimated that nearly 13,700 newborn babies and 26 mothers have died since the beginning of 2022. Health workers believe that a lack of access to hospitals, poverty and poor diet are causing the infant mortality rate to rise. According to the United Nations, a shocking 95% of Afghanistan's population does not have enough to eat. The figure for female-headed households is nearly 100%. Acute malnutrition rates are high in 28 out of 34 provinces with 3.5 million children in need of nutritional treatment. Malnutrition and diseases like measles and tuberculosis have put over 1 million children at risk. Almost 800 children in a hospital in Helmand were there because of acute malnutrition. Meanwhile, Afghan banks have limited cash withdrawals and payments to the country are routinely blocked. The illegal seizure of Afghan central bank reserves by the United States is set to make the crisis worse. More than 24 million people require life-saving assistance. Many are being forced to sell their organs and even their children as families struggle to survive. Analysis by Save the Children indicates that up to 121,000 children could have been exchanged since August 2021. Eight groups are still finding it difficult to move funds into Afghanistan. Despite the easing of US sanctions, international banks remain reluctant. This issue of over-compliance has repeatedly halted critical aid in other cases including Iran and Venezuela. Ukraine has issued a ban on the activities of major opposition political parties. These groups have been accused of having links with Russia. President Vladimir Zelensky has also announced a merger of all TV channels. The move has been justified in the name of implementing a unified information policy under martial law. The broadcast of Russian channels is already banned in the country. Among the parties banned is the opposition platform for life which holds 39 seats in the parliament. It has rejected the ban as illegal and has vowed to challenge it in court. It added that the authorities were relying on intimidation and repression instead of political dialogue and compromise. The opposition platform for life has a substantial base among the Russian-speaking population in East Ukraine. Party leader Viktor Medvedchuk has been charged with treason and was put under house arrest after Russia's invasion. Most of the other banned parties are left-wing and have opposed Ukraine's membership to NATO and the European Union. The current political dispensation has been accused of being intolerant to any such opposition. Right-wing and neo-Nazi groups are also very prominent in the political sphere. Much before the war began, Zelensky banned the activities of at least three TV channels for links to opposition parties. They were owned by a member of the opposition platform for life. Ukraine's Communist Party was also banned under the 2015 de-communization laws. It was also targeted for taking positions in favour of Russia's annexation of Crimea and the independence movements in Donetsk and Luhansk. The South African court has stopped the construction of Amazon's headquarters on sacred land. The High Court's Western Cape Division has ruled that work be halted until there is meaningful consultation with affected people. Judge Patricia Colliott stated that the fundamental right to culture and heritage of indigenous groups were under threat. Specifically, the Khoi and Sa first nations peoples. The communities were the earliest inhabitants of South Africa. The Sa people were hunter-gatherers for tens of thousands of years before joining the Khoi and becoming pasteurist. The Gorinkhai Kona Khoi-Kon Indigenous Traditional Council or the GKK TIC and the Observatory Civic Association approached the High Court in January. They demanded a halt on the construction of Amazon's Africa headquarters, spread over 70,000 square metres. The case named the project's developer LLP Trust, the city of Cape Town and Western Cape Province. It also included a group of Khoisan people called the First Nations Collective or FNC. The group was in favour of the project due to the possibility of jobs. Amazon's headquarters would be accompanied by the construction of a hotel, retail, offices and homes. However, the site would lie at the confluence of Sacred Black and Lisbeak rivers. The GKK TIC alleged that the consultation process had only included the FNC. The project would have also involved filling parts of a floodplain. Environmental experts concluded that the plans had not fully considered the potential climate change impacts. And finally, the Canadian Pacific Railway has shut down its services in retaliation against a worker's strike. Organised by the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference, over 3,000 workers staged a walkout on March 20. The strike was authorised with a 96.7% majority vote after months of failed contract negotiations. Talks mediated by the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service ended last week without an agreement. CP rail workers are demanding better wages and have rejected proposed cuts to benefits and pensions. Before the union could issue a formal 72-hour strike notice, CP rail announced a shutdown of services last week. It also initiated a lockout of workers on Sunday just as the strike began. Teamsters has accused the company of showing complete reluctance to negotiate at the bargaining table. A key issue raised by the workers is CP rail's insistence on having a unilateral say on work rules. It is pushing for federally mandated reset breaks for rail workers intended for work at home terminal to away from home terminal. The union is also resisting work arrangements that would have one person train crews that would burden all workers. Teamsters argues that the company's control over work rules could extend the time spent on route up to 32 hours at a stretch. CP rail is Canada's second biggest railway operator and is a major transporter of grains and chemical fertilisers.