For most nicotine users today, their first experience with the drug is a flavoured product – making it easier, and more appealing, to try.

Starving Gazans continue to be deprived of aid as international relief efforts are being severely constrained by the Israeli authorities, the UN humanitarian affairs coordination office OCHA said on Friday.

May 29 (IPS) - CIVICUS discusses the devastating impact of palm oil extraction in West Papua with Tigor Hutapea, legal representative of Pusaka Bentala Rakyat, an organisation campaigning for Indigenous Papuan people’s rights to manage their customary lands and forests.

UNITED NATIONS, May 29 (IPS) - The humanitarian situation in Haiti has deteriorated significantly in the recent weeks as rates of violence, hunger, and displacement soar amid a severe lack of funding. As armed gangs continue to seize more territory in the capital, Port-Au-Prince, as well as in areas in the Artibonite and Centre Department, humanitarian organizations have found themselves unable to keep up with the growing scale of needs.

MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay, May 29 (IPS) - While headlines often focus on crises, inequality, or instability, they rarely highlight one of the most powerful tools for transformation: development finance. Can money change the world? Yes—if mobilized with strategic vision, sustainability, and equity.

ABUJA, May 29 2025 (IPS) - Greenpeace Africa earlier in May brought together over 40 Nigerian civil society groups in Abuja to launch the Climate Justice Movement, the first of its kind in the country. The goal is to unite various climate efforts nationwide and address the severe impacts of climate change on Nigeria and the African continent.

BHUBANESWAR, India,, May 29 (IPS) - While a rise in temperature brings an uncertain future for the olive ridley sea turtles, the efforts of international conservation organizations that ban the trade in turtle meat, leather, and shells; the Indian government; coast guards; and village volunteers, including fishermen, have made a huge difference in ensuring their continued existence. Even young village children are eager to do their bit to make sure the turtles survive.In November,  tens of thousands of male olive ridley sea turtles (Lepidochelys olivacea) start congregating on just five kilometers of nearshore in Odisha in eastern India. They wait for the females of the species to arrive.

GENEVA / NEW YORK, May 29 (IPS) - Rumors circulating at UN Headquarters suggest there is little appetite for ambition at the Second World Summit for Social Development, set to take place in Doha on 4-6 November 2025.

A glimmer of hope for peace in Ukraine has been overshadowed by a devastating new wave of Russian attacks, UN officials told the Security Council on Thursday, warning of soaring civilian casualties and a worsening humanitarian crisis that could derail a diplomatic end to the war.

The UN’s urban development agency estimates that an astonishing 2.8 billion people worldwide lack access to adequate housing, secure land, and basic water and sanitation services – that’s around 40 per cent of the global population.