The UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet on Friday expressed alarm over the killing of at least nine protesters by security forces in Sudan a day earlier, including a 15-year-old child.

MADRID, Jul 01 (IPS) - While the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) Summit ended in Madrid on 30 June with net commitments to double spending on weapons and to increase by eight-fold the number of troops in Europe, the total of hungry people worldwide now marks an unprecedented record.

A week since the US Supreme Court overturned a landmark, 50-year-old judgement guaranteeing access to abortion, top UN-appointed independent experts urged United States lawmakers on Friday to adhere to international law that protects women’s right to sexual and reproductive health. 

Following a week of discussions and events in Lisbon, Portugal, the UN Ocean Conference concluded on Friday, with governments and heads of state agreeing on a new political declaration to Save Our Ocean.

The situation for women is so desperate in Afghanistan that they are committing suicide at a rate of one or two every day, the Human Rights Council has heard.

The UN migration agency on Friday deplored the deaths of at least 20 migrants in the Libyan desert and renewed its call for stronger migrant protection along the Chad-Libya border. 

SANTIAGO, Jul 01 (IPS) - A Chilean government plan seeks to ensure connectivity in remote areas, in a first step to address a deep digital divide among the country's inhabitants that includes a lack of access to technology and digital education deficits, exposed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Veteran UN aid coordinator Najat Rochdi on Friday signalled grave concerns about rising humanitarian needs across Lebanon linked to the global food and fuel crisis, which are affecting “everyone, everywhere”.

DOMINICA, Jul 01 (IPS) - In the twin crises of climate change and biodiversity loss, the changing climate often eclipses the loss of ecosystems and species in funding and awareness.

CHICAGO, USA, Jul 01 (IPS) - The writer is Chair of the CGIAR System Board From the worst drought in four decades threatening famine across the Horn of Africa to extreme heat in South Asia, the war in Ukraine and the unequal pace of pandemic recovery, global food systems are under extraordinary pressure.