The World Food Programme (WFP) has run out of food in the Gaza Strip as Israel continues to block the entry of all humanitarian aid into the enclave, home to over two million people.

The number of desperate refugees fleeing conflict in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and seeking safety in Burundi continues to rise, placing immense pressure on aid agencies struggling to cope with an escalating crisis amid dwindling resources.

NEW YORK, Apr 24 (IPS) - The Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development (FfD4) will bring world leaders together to forge a new international consensus on how to finance a better future for all. Yet, in practice, the first drafts of its outcome reveal a glaring omission: people. Despite rhetoric about inclusivity, the drafts are strikingly weak on social issues, as if financing and macroeconomic policies exist in a vacuum, detached from the lives they impact.

PORTLAND, USA, Apr 24 (IPS) - In much of the past, few people lived alone. At the start of the 20th century, one-person households were relatively rare and are estimated to have accounted for less than 10% of all households worldwide.

Apr 24 (IPS) - CIVICUS discusses Ecuador’s presidential election with Jorge Tapia de los Reyes, Coordinator of the Democracy and Politics Department and the Political Funding Observatory of the Citizenship and Development Foundation (FCD). FCD is an Ecuadorian civil society organisation that promotes participation, citizen monitoring and open government.

UNITED NATIONS, Apr 24 (IPS) - As gang violence in Haiti continues to target civilians and critical infrastructures, humanitarian organizations and the Haitian National Police (HNP) have found it increasingly difficult to manage the growing scale of needs. The United Nations (UN) and its partners fear that Haiti will approach a nationwide collapse due to numerous shortfalls in funding, a widespread lack of essential resources, and rampant insecurity.

Apr 24 (IPS) - CIVICUS discusses Ecuador’s upcoming elections with Jorge Tapia de los Reyes, Coordinator of the Democracy and Politics Department and the Political Funding Observatory of the Citizenship and Development Foundation (CDF). CDF is an Ecuadorian civil society organisation that promotes participation, citizen monitoring and open government.

VARKALA, India, Apr 24 (IPS) - Varkala is an area with unique geological and geomorphological heritage. But its fragile cliffs are also affected by severe weather and high waves during the monsoon season. Activists say rampant and illegal tourist infrastructure and climate change are putting this dramatic landscape at risk.From the top of the cliff, the beach down below appears like a box of sand, with people scattered on it like tiny ants. This is Varkala, arguably the most sought-after coastal tourism spot in Kerala, India, right now.

NEW YORK, Apr 24 (IPS) - The ongoing civil war in Sudan is tragic, but the greater tragedy is that if the international community sits on its hands and does nothing to stop this horrific war and prevent further escalation of the conflict, it will come at an unfathomable price

NAIROBI, Apr 24 (IPS) - The majority of African countries are yet to commit 15 percent of their GDP to funding the health sector, despite the growing disease burden weighing down the continent and two decades after the coming into force of the Abuja declaration on health sector funding.