KARNAL, India, Sep 17 (IPS) - United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is expected to make a strong pitch to world political leaders at the U.N. Climate Summit in New York on Sep. 23 to accept new emissions targets and their timelines.

KAMPALA, Sep 17 (IPS) - When Abudu Zikusoka was a small boy his father would bring people to their home in Ndesse village in Central Uganda's Mukono district. He would watch as they packed the family's harvested coffee into sacks and then loaded it onto their bicycles.

PARIS, Sep 17 (IPS) - If former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg had used the Vélib' - Paris' public bicycle sharing system - to arrive at the headquarters of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development here Wednesday, he might have sent a stronger message about the need for cities to be "empowered to take the lead in combating climate change".

RAMALLAH, West Bank, Sep 17 (IPS) - The UN agency for Palestinian refugees has launched an ambitious recovery plan for Gaza following the 50-day devastating war between Hamas and Israel which has left the coastal territory decimated.

UNITED NATIONS, Sep 17 (IPS) - A widespread perception exists that developing countries must make a choice between tackling climate change and fighting poverty. This assumption is incorrect, according to the authors of a new report on green growth.

PENANG, Sep 17 (IPS) - As the United Nations hosts a Climate Summit Sep. 23, the lingering question is whether the meeting of world leaders will wind up as another talk fest.

UNITED NATIONS, Sep 17 (IPS) - On Sep. 23, I have invited world leaders from government, business, finance and civil society to a Climate Summit in New York so they can show the world how they will advance action on climate change and move towards a meaningful universal new agreement next year at the December climate negotiations in Paris.

WASHINGTON, Sep 17 (IPS) - U.S. combat troops may be deployed against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) if the strategy announced by President Barack Obama last week fails to make substantial progress against the radical Sunni group, Washington's top military officer warned here Tuesday.

SALELOLOGA, Samoa, Sep 17 (IPS) - Rural farming families in Samoa, a small island developing state in the central South Pacific Ocean, are reaping the rewards of supplying produce to the international organic market with the help of a local women's business organisation.

ROME, Sep 17 (IPS) - The number of hungry people in the world has declined by over 100 million in the last decade and over 200 million since 1990-92, but 805 million people around the world still go hungry every day, according to the latest UN estimates.