PESHAWAR, Pakistan, Mar 29 (IPS) - Pakistan and Afghanistan, the two remaining polio-endemic countries, have joined forces to eradicate poliomyelitis by vaccinating their children in synchronised campaigns.

UNITED NATIONS, Mar 28 (IPS) - The health situation in Yemen has severely deteriorated and is critical, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has reported.

UNITED NATIONS, Mar 28 (IPS) - The United Nations has begun negotiations for a new legally binding treaty for the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological resources in the world's oceans – nearly 64 percent of which lie beyond national jurisdiction.

ROME, Mar 28 (IPS) - The recent Brussels massacre has created a short term reaction, which ignores a long term projection. All the debate is now about security, police reinforcement, new military strategies, as if terrorism can be solved just as a matter of public order.

GENEVA, Mar 28 (IPS) - African countries have been active in concluding international investment treaties. According to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), as of end 2013, 793 bilateral investment treaties (BITs) have been concluded by African countries, representing 27% of the total number of (BITs) worldwide.

LILONGWE, Malawi, Mar 28 (IPS) - The first successful test-flight of an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) or drone was an unhindered 10 km journey from a community health centre to the Kamuzu central hospital laboratory in the capital Lilongwe. Local community members watched with excitement as the drone rose into the sky, after being launched by the United Nations Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) and government of Malawi at the area 25 health centre.

GENEVA, Mar 27 (IPS) - Argentina signed an agreement in principle on 29 February 2016 with four "super holdout" hedge funds including NML Capital Ltd, Aurelius Capital, Davidson Kempner and Bracebridge Capital. Buenos Aires would pay them a total of about 4.65 billion dollars, amounting to 75 percent of the principal and interest of all their claims of Argentina's bonds that were defaulted on during the 2001 debt crisis. This deal would allow the return of Argentina to the international capital market after more than 15 years of exclusion.

VILLETA, Paraguay, Mar 26 (IPS) - "I worked in many companies, in construction, fertilisers, chemicals, but none of them were as good as this one," said Dario Cardozo, who works in the Angostura Agroindustrial Complex (CAIASA) grain reception facility.

UNITED NATIONS, Mar 25 (IPS) - When some of the world's major nuclear powers meet in Washington DC next Friday, they will be shadowed by the rising terrorist attacks-- largely in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

UNITED NATIONS, Mar 25 (IPS) - The Catholic Medical Mission Board (CMMB) - a leading international nonprofit health non-governmental organisation (NGO) – has pledged 500 million dollars to help implement the UN's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)-- with a specific focus on maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health.