BHUBANESWAR, India, Aug 25 (IPS) - When 11-year-old Mitali Padhi hugged her childhood friends to say goodbye, she felt a deep-seated foreboding.

Finding solutions based on peace and development is crucial for the future of the nearly seven million forcibly displaced people from Sudan and South Sudan, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi, said following a three-day visit to the two countries.

BANGKOK, Thailand, Aug 25 (IPS) - Over the past two decades, the Asia-Pacific region has made remarkable progress in managing disaster risk. But countries can never let down their guard. The COVID-19 pandemic, with its epicentre now in Asia, and all its tragic consequences, has exposed the frailties of human societies in the face of powerful natural forces. As of mid-August 2021, Asian and Pacific countries had reported 65 million confirmed coronavirus cases and more than 1 million deaths.

This is compounded by the extreme climate events which are affecting the entire world. Despite the varying contexts across geographic zones, the climate change connection is evident as floods swept across parts of China, India and Western Europe, while heatwaves and fires raged in parts of North America, Southern Europe and Asia.

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka, Aug 25 (IPS) - The desperate scenes at Kabul airport of Afghans trying to flee and the image of the US Airforce flight taxying down the runway with people scrambling to climb on, is an image that will be etched on our minds forever.

Aug 24 (IPS) - A smartphone app in Fiji is helping users to not only eat better but to help grow food that will contribute to a more nutritious diet.

The vast majority of people with high blood pressure, or hypertension, – a serious medical condition that significantly increases the risks of heart, brain, kidney and other diseases – live in low and middle-incomes countries, a World Health Organization (WHO) report released on Wednesday has revealed.

Negotiations are underway to bring 500 metric tonnes of urgently needed medical supplies into Afghanistan, senior regional officials with the World Health Organization (WHO) said during an online briefing on Tuesday. 

Progress towards resolving Syria’s decade-long conflict has reached an impasse, the chief United Nations mediator told the Security Council on Tuesday, as an uptick in fighting throughout the country led to some of the largest civilian displacements in a year.

NEW YORK, Aug 24 (IPS) - In 2020, Brazil, Paraguay and Bolivia faced their worst drought in half a century. The Atlantic Basin saw 30 named storms – the most recorded in a single year. Two category 4 hurricanes achieved an unprecedented feat by making landfall in Nicaragua.

A resurgence of Bubonic plague in Ituri province in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is putting young lives at risk, the UN Children’s Fund, UNICEF, warned on Tuesday.