GENEVA, Aug 09 (IPS) - For the first time in its contemporary history, Colombia has a left-wing government. The presidency of Gustavo Petro, who took the reins August 8, marks a significant break from the political status quo. He also represents a stiff test for U.S. influence in Latin America.

SYDNEY and KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 09 (IPS) - The world economy is on the brink of outright recession, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The Ukraine war and sanctions have scuttled recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres has called for amplifying the voices of Indigenous women, which is critical to achieving a just future for all people.  

After three days of deadly fighting, the Security Council held an emergency meeting on Monday to assess a fragile truce between Israel and Palestinian Islamic Jihad militants in Gaza.

Greater investment in State institutions is critical to counter peace and security challenges in Africa, a senior UN official told the Security Council on Monday. 

The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination opened in Geneva on Monday to review anti-discrimination efforts being done in seven UN Member States.

MADRID, Aug 08 (IPS) - Nothing – or too little – has changed since Hollywood started producing its spectacular western movies. Rough men, ranchers, mercenary killers, saloons, cowboys, guns, gold fever, the ‘good sheriff’… and the ‘bad indians”. Those movies were anything but fiction–they were real history.

The UN labour agency, ILO, says it is becoming increasingly concerned about working conditions in Iraq, where temperatures have soared to 50 degrees Celsius in recent weeks.

The UN sexual and reproductive health agency, UNFPA, is leading efforts to protect women and girls’ rights to give birth safely and live without gender-based violence, according to a statement issued on Monday.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres condemned a recent attack on a nuclear power station in southern Ukraine during a meeting in Tokyo on Monday with the Japan National Press Club.