The UN Secretary-General on Friday outlined a five-stage plan to provide lifesaving aid to the stricken population of Gaza, making clear the organization will not take part in any scheme that fails to respect international law or basic humanitarian principles.

Five days – that is how long it took Dah, a 14-year-old prospective mother from Côte d’Ivoire, to give birth. The child was stillborn and she developed obstetric fistula.

Millions of people in Syria continue to face mortal danger from unexploded munitions, disease and malnutrition and more international support is urgently required, senior UN aid officials said on Friday.

Long-awaited food supplies have been looted in Gaza overnight while being transported to desperate communities in the war-torn enclave, UN aid teams reported on Friday.

CHAMPAIGN, Illinois, May 22 (IPS) - When pioneering agronomist and father of the “Green Revolution” Norman Borlaug set out to breed a disease-resistant, high-yielding variety of wheat, he spent years laboriously planting and pollinating different specimens by hand. He manually catalogued every outcome until he landed on the variety that would transform farming and avert famine. The result was even greater than expected: it is estimated that he saved more than a billion people worldwide from starvation.

DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania, May 22 (IPS) - As delegates prepare for the third United Nations Ocean Conference (UNOC) in Nice, France, momentum is building around ocean governance, finance for marine conservation, and an urgent shift toward a regenerative blue economy. Ocean advocates say the world is at a critical juncture—and the next few weeks could shape the future of marine protection for decades.

May 22 (IPS) - I was researching the role of the church in addressing contemporary issues such as gender-based violence, climate change, and social justice when I came across the #ChurchToo movement—and I got really excited. Not because the stories were easy to read (they weren’t), but because this movement was a bold, necessary conversation that faith communities could no longer ignore.

DOMINICA, May 22 (IPS) - The 2025 Human Development Report warns of slowing human development progress, with disparities between rich and poor nations widening. It’s highlighting both the challenges and immense potential of artificial intelligence to improve lives.The United Nations Development Programme’s 2025 Human Development Report (HDR) says crises such as the Covid-19 pandemic have contributed to ‘the flatlining of decades of progress in the Human Development Index,’ with Latin America and the Caribbean facing unique challenges and opportunities.

LILONGWE, May 22 (IPS) - Women in fishing communities in Malawi's lakeshore districts of Nkhotakota and Mangochi are frequently targets of sexual exploitation for fish, a practice commonly known as 'sex for fish.' A recent report by the Malawi Human Rights Commission (MHRC) has unearthed disturbing accounts of women being coerced into transactional sex to access fish from male boat owners, exposing a widespread violation of their rights.

LONDON, May 22 (IPS) - The new pope, the latest in a line dating back almost 2,000 years, was quickly subjected to a very modern phenomenon: no sooner had Pope Leo XIV delivered his first address than people started trawling his social media history for clues about his views. In the context of an ongoing culture war, the fact that far-right grievance entrepreneurs were quick to decry the new pope as ‘woke’ seemed reason enough for progressives to welcome him. But for civil society and the global human rights community, it’s how Leo acts that matters.