PORTLAND, USA, Sep 05 (IPS) - The chances of a child dying before reaching age five years have dropped substantially worldwide during the recent past. However, a significant divide remains among countries as well as within regions in the chances of children dying.

The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has condemned the execution of five prisoners by Hamas, the de facto authorities in Gaza, in a statement released on Monday.

Migrants who return home often face significant obstacles in rebuilding their lives. When her situation in Egypt became too difficult, Fatima decided to move back to Sudan, her homeland. With the help of the UN, she has started a small business, and is providing for her family.

KATHMANDU, Nepal, Sep 05 (IPS) - There are many ways the UN can have a sizeable role in promoting the engagement and participation of youth and helping them becoming a central pillar of a new way of doing policy-making.

FORTALEZA, Brazil, Sep 05 (IPS) - The increasing productivity with which humankind generates waste has gained at least one sustainable counterpart: the extraction of biogas from landfills, a growing activity in Brazil.

Regional authorities in Egypt, the host country of the 2022 UN climate conference (COP27), are ramping up initiatives designed to improve the country’s environmental credentials, and speed up its transition to a low carbon economy. The event will begin on 4 November, in the Egyptian resort city of Sharm El-Sheikh.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has reported an increase in the levels of mental disorders amongst the population of the Gaza Strip, especially among children, many of whom were already in need of mental health services and psychosocial support.

CARACAS, Sep 03 (IPS) - Venezuela is preparing to replicate the experience of Special Economic Zones (SEZs), a mechanism with which more than 60 countries have tried to draw investment and accelerate economic growth, while under its avowedly socialist government a "silent neoliberalism" is gaining ground.

Thousands of Senegalese have been forced to flee their homes and seek refuge in The Gambia, after clashes broke out earlier this year, in parts of Senegal occupied by separatists. The UN is providing psychological support for many of those displaced, who are coping with the fact that a return home is an uncertain prospect.

NEW YORK, Sep 02 (IPS) - As we approach this year’s Transforming Education Summit, global leaders can and must prioritize expertise and mobilize political will to support efforts to ensure inclusive and quality education for all, especially girls. This is at the heart of Sustainable Development Goal 4 in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, as well as the commitments made in the Charlevoix Declaration and the G7 Declaration on Girls’ Education.