Indigenous Peoples have the ancestral wisdom to guide humanity towards a more sustainable use of the Earth’s resources, yet they are systematically discriminated against and excluded, UN rights chief Volker Türk warned on Monday.

The world is “woefully off track” to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by the 2030 deadline, top United Nations officials said on Monday, as ministers and policy makers gathered in New York to examine how countries can get back on track and make the transformative development agenda a reality.

The journalist Evan Gershkovich should be immediately released following his arrest by Russian authorities on espionage charges in March, UN-appointed independent human rights experts said on Monday.

Polish authorities are investigating all potential sources of infection after some 29 cats were found to be infected with the influenza A virus, similar to those found in birds, the UN World Health Organization (WHO) reported on Sunday.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres said on Monday that he deeply regrets Russia’s decision to terminate the Black Sea Initiative, in effect ending a “lifeline” for hundreds of millions worldwide facing hunger and spiralling food costs.

For 96 hours, the orders kept coming. By the end, 287 people were dead, 387 women and children had been raped, and 13 villages in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) had been robbed of any sense of normalcy.

Warring factions in Sudan must respect international law, protect civilians, and stop targeting relief and aid workers, the United Nations top humanitarian official urged on Saturday, as the conflict reached its three-month mark.

UNITED NATIONS, Jul 14 (IPS) - As the 2030 deadline for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) looms, Education Cannot Wait's director Yasmine Sherif warned, "We are failing the promises we made on everything in the sustainable development goals, but especially on education because, without education, we cannot achieve any of the other sustainable development goals.”

ESPERANÇA, Brazil, Jul 14 (IPS) - Zé Pequeno cried when he learned that the heirloom seeds he had inherited from his father were contaminated by the transgenic corn his neighbor had brought from the south. Fortunately, he was able to salvage the native seeds because he had shared them with other neighbors.

BRATISLAVA, Jul 14 (IPS) - A report released this week has highlighted how continuing criminalisation and marginalisation of key populations are stymying efforts to end the global HIV/AIDS epidemic.