The ongoing escalation of the conflict in Myanmar, more than three years after the military takeover, is severely affecting people across the country, with spillover effects in the region, two senior UN officials told the Security Council on Thursday.

UN officials launched assessment visits to Gaza and its agencies will resume night-time aid deliveries on Thursday after a 48-hour pause following Israeli forces killing seven World Central Kitchen relief workers in a convoy delivering food in the enclave, where intense Israeli bombardment and ground operations continue.

Some of Haiti’s gangs have bigger arsenals than the police as criminal groups are becoming “stronger, richer and more autonomous” by using arms trafficking to fuel their growth, according to UN experts.

NEW YORK, Apr 04 (IPS) - Climate change is the defining crisis of our time––it is the ultimate equalizer from which no one is immune. The Earth's ecosystems are on the brink of collapse, threatening biodiversity and human societies in unprecedented ways at a global scale.

PORT LOUIS, Mauritius, Apr 03 (IPS) - Ameenah Gurib-Fakim, PhD, Former President of the Republic of MauritiusThe title of this piece is not my words.

It’s from the President of Turkey calling for a reform of the United Nations Security Council.

It has since become a motto in the UN reform campaign encapsulating the shared resentment at a global system that gives the five Permanent members – The P5 of the UN Security Council – the United States, France, Britain, China and Russia – unfair and often destructive veto powers that undermines the very ideals for which the UN was established.

HO CHI MINH CITY, Apr 03 (IPS) - In recent months, several European representatives embarked on trade missions to Vietnam. German President Steinmeier visited Hanoi in January. The Netherlands sent Prime Minister Mark Rutte, with the Dutch royal couple, King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima, soon to follow suit. Notably, the Netherlands stands as the most significant European investor in Vietnam.

NEW DELHI, Apr 03 (IPS) - Agriculture in India need not 'gamble' with the monsoons if accurate weather and climate forecasts are proactively made available to farmers, according to the results of a new experimental study conducted by the University of Chicago.

WASHINGTON DC, Apr 03 (IPS) - Japan chaired a rare, high-level UN Security Council meeting on nuclear disarmament and nonproliferation on March 18.

Although the meeting underscored the urgency of addressing the growing threats posed by nuclear weapons, it also highlighted the chronic divisions among key states on disarmament and nonproliferation issues.

SINGAPORE, Apr 03 (IPS) - Asia has about 60% of the World’s population but only about a third of the world’s arable land. This region additionally has some of the most economically active countries with increasing urbanisation and a growing middle class. Asia is also home to some of the most affected countries by climate change. For these and other reasons, food security in Asia affects global food security through many inter-links. A new book, “Food Security Issues in Asia”, edited by Paul Teng and with multiple authors, explicates many of the key issues continuing to cause food insecurity in Asia as well as discourses on exciting developments. Through its twenty-seven chapters, the book, published by World Scientific Publishers Singapore was launched on 27 March 2024 in Singapore by Ambassador Ong Keng Yong, former ASEAN Secretary General.

MASERU, Lesotho, Apr 03 (IPS) - In the journey towards gender equality and justice, recent decades have seen strides made, yet the road ahead remains treacherous. In the race to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030, attention is turning to the role that over five hundred public development banks worldwide could play.