Jun 23 (IPS) - CIVICUS discusses the closure of offices of the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) in Mexico with members of Integral Human Rights In Action (DHIA), a Mexican civil society organisation (CSO) that promotes and defends human rights in contexts of mobility.

SEVILLE, Spain, Jun 23 (IPS) - Can the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development (FFD4) be a turning point? The stakes are high. The international financial system—so important to each and every one of us—feels out of reach and resistant to change, because it is deeply entrenched in unjust power imbalances that keep it in place. We deserve better.

UNITED NATIONS, Jun 23 (IPS) - Nearly four years ago, the Taliban took control of Afghanistan and issued a series of edicts that significantly restricted women’s rights nationwide. This has resulted in a multifaceted humanitarian crisis, one marked by a notable decline in civic freedoms, stunted national development, and a widespread lack of basic services.

NEW YORK, Jun 23 (IPS) - Afghanistan is burdened with one of the highest rates of child wasting globally, with 3.5 million children under five years suffering from a severe form of malnutrition, leaving them dangerously underweight and unable to grow or thrive.

SAN FRANCISCO, USA, Jun 23 (IPS) - Twenty years ago, one day in June 2005, I talked with an Iranian man who was selling underwear at the Tehran Grand Bazaar. People all over the world want peace, he said, but governments won’t let them have it.

BLOOMINGTON, USA, Jun 23 (IPS) - Asia is heading towards more extreme weather events with a possibility of heavy toll on the region’s economies, ecosystems, and societies, says the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).

LONDON, Jun 23 (IPS) - A deal between the US and Iran is possible if Iran’s bottom line -- its right to nuclear enrichment -- and Israel’s bottom line, guarantees that Iran will never have a nuclear bomb are met. This “win-win” outcome would require Donald Trump’s personal engagement. With weapons turned to plowshares, Trump would be considered for the Nobel Peace Prize.

UNITED NATIONS, Jun 23 (IPS) - When billionaire Elon Musk, a former short-lived advisor to President Donald Trump, was mandated with the task of decimating the federal bureaucracy and laying off thousands of staffers, he was famously pictured carrying a hacksaw to symbolize his cost-cutting agenda.

In a world grappling with growing crises, deepening inequalities, and eroding trust in global institutions, the United Nations has launched an ambitious effort to strengthen how it serves people everywhere. The UN80 Initiative, unveiled in March by Secretary-General António Guterres, is a system-wide push to streamline operations, sharpen impact, and reaffirm the UN’s relevance for a rapidly changing world.

In front of a multimedia exhibit at United Nations Headquarters entitled “Reviving the Spirit of San Francisco,” Secretary-General António Guterres welcomed home the UN Charter which was signed in 1945 in the Californian city.