WASHINGTON, Aug 12 (IPS) - United Nations officials and human rights organisations have characterised Israeli attacks on civilian targets during the IDF war on Gaza as violations of the laws of war.

UNITED NATIONS, Aug 11 (IPS) - The world's 52 small island developing states (SIDS), some in danger of being wiped off the face of the earth because of sea-level rise triggered by climate change, will be the focus of an international conference in the South Pacific island nation of Samoa next month.

ALEPPO, Syria, Aug 11 (IPS) - The single, heavily damaged supply road remaining into the rebel-held, eastern area of the city is acutely exposed to enemy fire.

BANKE, Nepal, Aug 11 (IPS) - Barely 100 km north of Nepal's capital, Kathmandu, the settlement of Jure, which forms part of the village of Mankha, has become a tragic example of how the country's poorest rural communities are the first and worst victims of natural disasters.

CAIRO, Aug 10 (IPS) - Magda Ibrahim first learnt that she had endometrial cancer when she went to a clinic to diagnose recurring bladder pain and an abnormal menstrual discharge. Unable to afford the recommended hospital treatment, the uninsured 53-year-old widow turned to what she hoped would be a quicker and cheaper therapy.

WASHINGTON, Aug 09 (IPS) - U.S. President Barack Obama's authorisation of limited military action in northern Iraq, announced in a national television address late Thursday night, has so far received support – albeit highly qualified in some cases -- from across the mainstream political spectrum.

WASHINGTON, Aug 09 (IPS) - Though West Africa's massive Ebola outbreak may be dominating the spotlight within the global health community, HIV/AIDS remains an enormous issue for Africa as a whole - a sentiment that Washington officials made clear this week in their discussions of legislative and technological setbacks plaguing progress in fighting the epidemic.

ILE À VACHE, Haiti, Aug 08 (IPS) - Calm waters lap the shore beneath stately coconut palms. Mango trees display their bounty alongside mangrove forests. Goats graze peacefully on hillsides.

VIENNA, Aug 08 (IPS) - Austrians call it "UNO-City". The United Nations calls it the Vienna International Centre (VIC). Both names give a hint of the scale and scope of the U.N's headquarters in the Austrian capital, but not the full story.

HARARE, Aug 08 (IPS) - Mavis Gotora from Mabvuku high-density suburb, in Zimbabwe's capital, Harare, walks up and down, as she persuades one passer-by after another to board the private taxi cab she drives.