ADDIS ABABA, September 16 (IPS) - As increasingly frequent droughts and devastating floods are affecting agricultural productivity, leaving millions of people food insecure in Africa amid a lack of climate finance, the African Development Bank (AfDB) has committed USD 11 billion to support various climate-resilient and infrastructure projects in rural areas.

ATLANTA, USA, September 16 (IPS) - In a long past due move, the UN General Assembly voted 142-10 to approve a plan called “The New York Declaration” that hopes to revive the long dead Two State Solution for Palestinian Independence.

BANGKOK, Thailand, September 16 (IPS) - Over the past two decades, foreign direct investment (FDI) has been the single largest and most stable source of external development capital in Asia and the Pacific (see Figure).

A senior UN humanitarian official in Pakistan has warned that “the needs are huge” as massive floods across Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Gilgit-Baltistan continue to leave millions homeless, destroying vital crops and pushing fragile communities to the brink.

Venezuelan migrants in Ecuador contribute an estimated $900 million each year to the country’s economy, yet many remain trapped in informal work and vulnerable conditions, according to a new study by the UN International Organization for Migration (IOM).

In South Sudan, “systemic government corruption” and “brazen predation” on the part of political elites have created a human rights crisis that must be urgently addressed, the UN Commission on Human Rights in the country said in a new report issued on Tuesday.

Every year on 16 September, the UN celebrates the international community’s success in healing the ozone layer and brings attention to what more can be done to protect the planet.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres has urged world leaders to “get serious – and deliver” as they begin arriving in New York for the high-level week of the 80th General Assembly.

As bombs continue to fall on Gaza City as part of Israel’s intensifying military operation, families with starving children are being pushed southwards from one “hellscape” to another, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said on Tuesday.

Amid reports of intensifying bombardment in Gaza City overnight, the Middle East crisis took centre stage at the UN on Tuesday, starting at the global body's Geneva headquarters, where Israel rejected allegations of genocide by an international panel of independent human rights investigators. The development came ahead of an urgent debate at the Human Rights Council prompted by Israeli strikes on Hamas political leadership last week in Doha. UN News app users can follow live here.