Myanmar is spiralling deeper into humanitarian catastrophe, the UN’s top human rights official warned on Friday, as escalating military attacks, crippling aid restrictions and collapsing international support push millions toward starvation and despair.

Attacks with short-range drones killed at least 395 civilians and injured 2,635 between February 2022 – the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine – and April 2025, the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission (HRMMU) reported on Thursday.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres on Friday reiterated his call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, warning that the humanitarian crisis has reached “horrific proportions” and that the world must not let the suffering of Palestinians be overshadowed by other regional conflicts.

The first delivery earlier this week of urgently needed medical goods to enter Gaza in months will provide scant relief to the enclave’s people, who continue to be shot and killed in their search for food, the UN World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday.

FLORIANOPOLIS, Brazil, Jun 26 (IPS) - Living with her neighbours, getting to know them and chatting with them is what Lucila Neves enjoys most in the community orchard of Portal de Ribeirão, a neighbourhood in the south of Florianopolis, considered the most sustainable of Brazil's 27 state capitals.

UNITED NATIONS, Jun 26 (IPS) - The Trump administration announced on June 23 that a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Iran had been reached following 10 days of conflict between the two nations and the United States’ bombardment of three nuclear sites in Iran. The establishment of the ceasefire will return focus back to the conflict between Israel and Palestine and the ongoing humanitarian crisis.

UNITED NATIONS, Jun 26 2025 (IPS) - United Nations member states this week reiterated their commitment to the prevention of genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity—at a time when world powers are failing to meet these obligations.

UNITED NATIONS, Jun 26 (IPS) - The demand for cobalt and other minerals is fueling a decades-long humanitarian crisis in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). In pursuit of money to support their families, Congolese laborers face abuse and life-threatening conditions working in unregulated mines.

MALÉ & JOHANNESBURG, Jun 26 (IPS) - A meeting of parliamentarians in Malé, the Maldives, pledged to provide an enabling environment for emerging women leaders by supporting them and promoting a political culture rooted in mutual respect, inclusivity, and equal opportunity.

BHUBANESWAR/AHMEDABAD, India, Jun 26 (IPS) - As Deviben Dhaundhaliya, 45, a streetside seller of artificial jewelry, waits for her husband Devabhai to arrive and help her shift their iron-frame mobile ‘shop’ to the Bhadra Fort open-air marketplace in Ahmedabad city, she tells of how “as heat increased, my wares started melting under the direct exposure to the sun, or they got discolored.”