A new report from UN Human Rights Council-mandated experts monitoring Belarus on Friday said that authorities have been committing widespread human rights violations, some amounting to crimes against humanity, as part of a systematic campaign to silence political opposition.

The UN Secretary-General on Friday called on the international community to urgently scale up funding and diplomatic action to ease the suffering of millions of Sudanese facing hunger and displacement as rival militaries continue battling each other for control.

Ukrainian authorities said on Friday a Russian drone strike with a high explosive warhead struck the former Chernobyl nuclear power plant overnight, damaging a protective shield which was built following the 1986 disaster in order to prevent further radiation leaks.

A dire displacement crisis is escalating in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo as M23 rebels make headway while aid routes are cut off, UN humanitarians warned on Friday.

Feb 13 (IPS) - The climate crisis is severely endangering human well-being. While the climate security nexus is omnipresent in national security strategies and on international institutions’ agendas, political responses remain insufficient and are often problematic. Among other issues, related policies often struggle with siloization or a focus on symptoms instead of root causes.

UNITED NATIONS, Feb 13 (IPS) - Tourism is back – and stronger than ever. With 1.4 billion international tourist arrivals recorded globally in 2024, the sector has bounced back to pre-pandemic levels, signalling a recovery from its worst crisis.

UNITED NATIONS, Feb 13 (IPS) - The Trump administration’s decision to dismantle the US Agency for International Development (USAID), the US government’s primary channel for humanitarian aid and disaster relief, is expected to have a devastating impact on the world’s developing nations.

The 2025 Budget Request, under the former Biden administration, amounted to a staggering $58.8 billion in US foreign aid for this year.

Cacao, sugar and butter are part of the recipe for chocolate, more specifically, Peace by Chocolate – a company started by the Hadhad family, who fled to Canada long before the brutal 13-year-long war in Syria came to a close last December.

As the clock ticks toward 2030, parliamentarians gathered at UN Headquarters in New York on Thursday to assess the state of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) – and the verdict was anything but unanimous.

More than 825,000 people who were displaced within Syria have returned to their areas of origin since December, the UN humanitarian affairs office, OCHA, said on Thursday.