UNITED NATIONS, November 21 (IPS) - As the digital landscape continues to expand and integrate into various aspects of daily life, humanitarian experts have raised concerns about the associated risks, particularly as artificial intelligence (AI), online anonymity, and the absence of effective monitoring frameworks heighten the potential for abuse and harassment. Women and girls are disproportionately affected by digital abuse, facing heightened risks, with nearly half of them worldwide lacking effective legal protections.

UNITED NATIONS, November 21 (IPS) - The 193-member General Assembly (GA), the UN’s highest policy-making body, has long been the repository for scores of long-winded outdated resolutions accumulated over several decades– and lying in cold storage.

WASHINGTON, D.C & SRINAGAR, November 21 (IPS) - A new independent evaluation of the Global Environment Facility’s food systems programs says they are delivering strong environmental and livelihood gains in many countries but warns that a narrow focus on farm production, weak political analysis, and shrinking coordination budgets are holding back deeper transformation.

BELÉM, Brazil, November 21 (IPS) - Jyoti Kumari missed her online classes again today. Her father, a vegetable seller in West Delhi’s vegetable market, had to go to work, taking with him the only smartphone the family uses. Kumari has been taking online classes since November 11, when the state government declared a shutdown of all elementary schools due to air pollution hitting the “severe” category.

The United Nations outlined how it intends to advance one of its most comprehensive system-wide reform efforts in decades, as Under-Secretary-General for Policy Guy Ryder presented the UN80 Initiative Action Plan. The plan brings the Secretary-General’s major UN80 reform proposals into a single, coherent structure to streamline efforts that will make the UN system deliver better.

Seventeen civilians, including women in labour and patients receiving care, were slaughtered inside a Catholic Church-run health centre in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) last week.

On the scheduled final day of COP30 in Belém, tense negotiations are stretching into Friday afternoon as divisions persist. Amid the ongoing talks, one message is cutting through the noise: there is no climate justice without gender equality.

A South African flag-coloured King Protea flower – symbolising hope and regeneration – is the chosen logo for this year’s G20 Leaders’ Summit, taking place on African soil for the first time.

Do higher living standards in developing countries have to mean more polluting, fossil-fuel dependent industries? Or is a low-carbon alternative possible? As the world grapples with climate change, economic inequality, and rapid technological shifts, next week’s Global Industry Summit will tackle these questions, bringing together governments, business leaders, and innovators to shape solutions that balance prosperity with sustainability.

Ongoing attacks and airstrikes attributed to Israeli forces in Gaza continue to kill and maim people of all ages in the shattered enclave despite an agreed ceasefire, UN agencies said on Friday.