The UN Secretary-General has strongly condemned the killing of a Tunisian peacekeeper serving with the UN Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic, MINUSCA.

The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has voiced deep alarm at the growing number of children killed, injured and displaced in the occupied West Bank, as violence continues to escalate.

The UN Special Envoy for Syria on Wednesday called on the country’s caretaker authorities to make the transition to democratic rule inclusive, warning that transparency, rule of law and fair elections – particularly for women taking part – remain key concerns.

Flags at all UN offices in Yemen are flying at half-mast this week following the death of a World Food Programme (WFP) staff member who had been arbitrarily detained by the Houthi de facto authorities in the north since last month.

The repression of mass protests in Bangladesh last year that toppled longtime prime minister Sheikh Hasina left as many as 1,400 people dead in just 46 days – the vast majority shot by security forces, UN human rights chief Volker Türk said on Wednesday.

NAIROBI, Feb 11 (IPS) - Today is the International Day of Women and Girls in Science and a time to take stock of progress, successes, and setbacks towards open and gender-inclusive science. Gender equality remains elusive in science, as only one in three scientists is a woman. Not only do these inequalities hold women back, but they also limit scientific progress.

PESHAWAR, Pakistan, Feb 11 (IPS) - Pakistan’s once-thriving trout fish farming industry, a vital source of livelihood for communities in the country’s mountainous northern region, is now on the verge of collapse due to the devastating impacts of climate change.

Feb 11 (IPS) - The global commitment to fair climate finance is at a crossroads. COP29 concluded with a disappointing New Collective Quantified Goal on Climate Finance (NCQG), leaving developing nations at risk of being left behind. With the U.S. withdrawing from the Paris Agreement and slashing development aid, prospects for more ambitious fair climate finance are getting out of sight.

WINDHOEK, Namibia, Feb 11 (IPS) - Communities in the Kavango West region of northern Namibia have firsthand experience of the severe impacts of climate change. The dry, cracked soil and emaciated livestock provide a constant reminder of the lack of access to water in this part of the country.

HARARE, Zimbabwe, Feb 11 (IPS) - Many in the West, of the political right and left, now deny imperialism. For Josef Schumpeter, empires were pre-capitalist atavisms that would not survive the spread of capitalism. But even the conservative Economist notes President Trump’s revival of this US legacy.