SAN FRANCISCO, USA, May 02 (IPS) - Eight years before the U.S.-backed regime in South Vietnam collapsed, I stood with high school friends at Manhattan’s Penn Station on the night of April 15, 1967, waiting for a train back to Washington after attending the era’s largest antiwar protest so far.

WASHINGTON DC, May 02 (IPS) - The most powerful court in Latin America and the Caribbean, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, is preparing to clarify the obligations of States in relation to climate change. In its upcoming Advisory Opinion, the Court must articulate ambitious standards for respecting and protecting the human rights of environmental defenders in the context of the climate crisis.

UNITED NATIONS, May 02 (IPS) - After over two years of extended warfare in Sudan, humanitarian organizations have expressed fears of an imminent collapse as widespread hunger, displacement, and insecurity ravages the population. With tensions between the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) having reached a new peak in 2025, it is imperative that Sudanese communities in the most crisis-affected areas have unfettered access to life-saving aid.

NEW YORK, May 02 (IPS) - World Press Freedom Day 2025 - Pressures on the press are piling up. Like an avalanche gaining speed yet unnoticed by most people in the valley below, freedom of the press is being relentlessly trampled over - despite the valiant efforts of a few.

More than a month after two powerful earthquakes devastated Myanmar, the country is spiralling deeper into crisis as continued military attacks, obstructed aid access and widespread displacement leave nearly 6.3 million people in urgent need.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres is following developments in Syria, where fresh fighting in the capital Damascus and elsewhere is threatening fragile efforts toward peace and political transition.

The UN refugee agency (UNHCR) warned on Friday that a worsening funding crisis is placing refugees – who cannot return home due to war or persecution – in increasing danger.

Countries must do everything to ensure that free and independent news reporting can thrive, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said on Friday in a message to mark World Press Freedom Day.

"After losing my leg in the war, I returned to photojournalism not just for work, but because I have loved photography since childhood," said Palestinian reporter Sami Shahada.

Two months into a devastating aid blockade of Gaza food has run out and people are fighting over water amid relentless bombing, the UN’s humanitarian affairs coordination office (OCHA) said on Friday.