The decision by Ecuador to forcibly enter the Mexican Embassy on Saturday and arrest a former vice president of the Andean country on corruption charges represents a breach of international law, the UN Secretary-General has said.

OSLO, Norway, Apr 06 (IPS) - In the deserts of Gujarat, something remarkable is happening. On my recent visit i saw hundreds of trucks moving under the warm Indian sun. Thousands of hardworking young people from all corners of Bharat, as Indians now often call their nation, are turning around the previously empty and harsh landscape.

With the largest hospital in Gaza largely destroyed and out of action, access to healthcare has now become “totally inadequate” following six months of brutal fighting between Israeli forces and Palestinian militants, said the World Health Organization (WHO) on Saturday.

When the Genocide against the Tutsis in Rwanda began in April 1994 Eric Eugene Murangwa was a footballer at one of the country’s top clubs. Although he is a Tutsi, he was protected by a member of the notorious Interahamwe, responsible for killing hundreds of thousands. Ahead of the 30th anniversary of the genocide, marked on 7 April, Mr. Murangwa shared his extraordinary story with UN News.

The destruction wrought across the Gaza Strip by Israel in the six months since the massacre of Israeli and other citizens by Hamas on 7 October 2023 makes for grim reading – over 33,000 people killed and, according to the World Bank, over one million Palestinians are without homes, close to 90 per cent of health facilities have been damaged or wrecked and schools have been destroyed or turned into shelters for the newly homeless.

UNITED NATIONS, Apr 06 (IPS) - As the humanitarian crisis in Gaza drags into its sixth month on Sunday, April 7, the UN Secretary-General calls for a “true paradigm shift” in the delivery of humanitarian aid.

MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay, Apr 05 (IPS) - The fact that Senegal’s election took place on 24 March was in itself a triumph for civil society. That an opposition candidate, campaigning on an anti-establishment and anti-corruption agenda, emerged from jail to become the continent’s youngest leader offered fresh hope for democracy.

ROME, Apr 05 (IPS) - Climate change is exacerbating inequalities between and within countries, disproportionately affecting poor households in rural areas. In fact, we know that more than half of the resources of the poor – a large part of whom are small-scale farmers - are lost due to climatic hazards. This has negative impacts on the incomes of these people and their ability to meet their essential needs, including food.

BANGKOK, Thailand, Apr 05 (IPS) - Over four billion people will take to the polls in 2024 as 76 countries are set to hold elections. In Asia, this includes populous countries such as Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Pakistan, and Russia.

UNITED NATIONS, Apr 05 (IPS) - As the world commemorates the 30th anniversary of the landmark International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) held in Cairo in 1994, one lingering question remains: Has the world progressed - or regressed - in implementing some of the recommendations in the Programme of Action (PoA) approved by 179 UN member states.