After six months of lockdown, the Namibian government ended travel restrictions and curfews on Friday, in light of a drop in new COVID-19 cases. But Namibia’s economy, which depends heavily on wildlife tourism, has taken a major hit during the period, and the future of the country’s wildlife reserves, otherwise known as conservancies, is far from certain.

Despite efforts to break the global cycle of panic and neglect seen throughout multiple disease outbreaks, the UN health agency chief said on Friday that the new coronavirus has shown that the world was “woefully under prepared”.

While deep distrust persists among warring parties in Syria, a “faint but real ray of hope” emerged with the convening in Geneva of the Constitutional Committee after a nine-month hiatus, the top UN envoy helping chart a path out of the near decade-long conflict, told the Security Council on Friday.

The Belarus Government should end “violent crackdowns” and “increasing repression” against protesters who are still contesting the result of last month's Presidential elections, UN deputy rights chief Nada Al Nashif told the Human Rights Council on Friday.