DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania, November 5 (IPS) - At dawn in Manzese, a dusty township on the outskirts of Dar es Salaam, silence hangs where the sounds of commerce once roared. The township, usually crowded with street cooks, vegetable vendors, mechanics, and motorcycle taxis snaking through the morning rush, stood eerily empty. Shutters are pulled down, wooden stalls abandoned, and the air is heavy with the smell of burnt rubber. For five days, the township’s bustling economic life has been paralyzed—leaving residents unable to buy food or access basic services.

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia / ABUJA, Nigeria , November 5 (IPS) - Three decades after the first Climate COP, the multilateral climate process – which was intended to serve as an instrument of justice and a guardian of the planet’s atmosphere – has fallen far short of its goals.

VICTORIA, British Columbia, Canada, November 5 (IPS) - At COP15, the developing countries were calling for the temperature to not rise above 1.5 degrees and they ignored the Copenhagen Accord which agreed to 2.0 degrees

As the Second World Summit for Social Development continued in Doha on Wednesday, governments warned that global progress risks stalling unless social protection, equality and peace are prioritised – and backed with political and financial commitment.

Civil society networks and private sector leaders crossed paths in the buzzing corridors of the Qatar National Convention Centre, a reminder that social development is not just debated in meetings rooms – it touches jobs, families and futures.

UN agencies are stepping up relief operations to help civilians fleeing the escalating violence in Sudan’s North Darfur state, where fighting has triggered widespread abuses and mass displacement, Deputy UN Spokesperson Farhan Haq told reporters in New York on Wednesday.

The UN is ready to support Sudan and South Sudan in resuming talks on the disputed Abyei border region, the Security Council heard on Wednesday.

Around 2.2 million Cubans remain in dire need of assistance across the eastern provinces of Granma, Santiago de Cuba, Holguin, and Guantanamo as the after effects of Hurricane Mellisa continue, UN aid workers said on Wednesday.

The push to put social justice at the heart of global policymaking took centre stage at the Second World Summit for Social Development on Wednesday, as leaders gathered for a high-level forum to drive coordinated action in delivering the newly adopted Doha Political Declaration.

To South Sudan, where aid teams warn that an already severe food and nutrition crisis could get worse without urgent humanitarian relief.