Representatives from countries around the world are working together to reduce mercury pollution and protect people and the planet, at a major international meeting which got underway on Monday in Geneva, Switzerland.

Sudan’s hunger crisis has deepened further, with new UN-backed analysis confirming that famine is underway in parts of Darfur and Kordofan, where fighting and sieges have cut off entire communities from food and aid.

Roughly 1.7 billion people are living in areas where crop yields are failing due to human-induced land degradation – “a pervasive and silent crisis that is undermining agricultural productivity and threatening ecosystem health worldwide.”

UN teams rushed to northern Afghanistan on Monday after a powerful 6.3 magnitude earthquake struck overnight, just two months after a massive quake devastated the east of the country. Details are still emerging from the latest emergency where initial reports indicate at least 20 people have been killed and hundreds injured.

With global hunger rising and millions struggling to secure their next meal, world leaders gathered in Doha on Monday for the first high-level meeting of the Global Alliance Against Hunger and Poverty.

BANGKOK, November 2 (IPS) - Speaking to IPS on the sidelines of the International Civil Society Week in Bangkok (November 1–5), Amitabh Behar, Executive Director of Oxfam International and a passionate human rights advocate, highlighted his concerns about rising inequality, growing authoritarianism, and the misuse of AI and surveillance. Yet, he expressed optimism that, even as civic spaces shrink, young people across Asia are driving meaningful change. He also shared his vision of a just society—one where power is shared, and grassroots movements lead the way.

BLOOMINGTON, USA, November 2 (IPS) - Strengthening Indigenous land rights will protect more forest in Brazil’s Amazon and avoid large amounts of carbon emission, according to new research released ahead of COP30.

The UN Secretary-General expressed solidarity with Jamaicans on Sunday struggling to cope with the devastating aftermath of Hurricane Melissa.

Against a quiet morning sky, the flags of the United Nations and the State of Qatar rose together in Doha on Sunday, ahead of the Second World Summit for Social Development.

BANGKOK, November 1 (IPS) - It is a bleak global moment—with civil society actors battling assassinations, imprisonment, fabricated charges, and funding cuts to pro-democracy movements in a world gripped by inequality, climate chaos, and rising authoritarianism. Yet, the mood at Bangkok’s Thammasat University was anything but defeated.