NEW YORK, August 7 (IPS) - The contamination of pharmaceutical medicines through toxic excipients is killing many and harming others. The UN agencies for health and drugs and crime warn that systemic vulnerabilities in the global supply chain have been exploited to introduce industrial-grade toxic chemicals into medicines, harming thousands of people, including children.

UNITED NATIONS, August 7 (IPS) - The humanitarian situation in Haiti has deteriorated significantly in the past few weeks, with the United Nations (UN) underscoring a growing list of abuses committed by armed groups, including killings, kidnappings, and sexual violence. The gap between the vast scale of needs and the supply of available resources has widened, leaving millions of Haitians in dire need of humanitarian support.

VIENNA, Austria, August 7 (IPS) - On 16th July this year I was at the University of Chicago, attending a Nobel Laureate Assembly, and visited the site where at 15:25 PM local time on 2 December 1942, the nuclear physicist Enrico Fermi achieved the first self-sustaining atomic fission chain reaction.

Acute malnutrition among children in Gaza has reached the highest levels to date as hunger continues to deepen in the enclave, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported on Thursday.

New evidence suggests mistreatment remains common in maternal and newborn care, with new research across four countries finding that 60 per cent of vaginal exams were done without consent, according to the UN World Health Organization (WHO).

Hungry civilians are reportedly eating animal feed as women and girls face a “gender emergency” in war-torn Sudan, UN officials said on Thursday.

Extreme heat is breaking records around the world, with wildfires and poor air quality compounding the crisis, according to a report from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) released Thursday.

In Africa’s Sahel region, deepening violence and poverty – driven by displacement, hunger and terrorism – are stripping women and girls of their right to safety, education and a viable future.

Countries agreed Thursday to form a new climate negotiating bloc to advocate for the unique needs of nations without direct access to the sea. The decision was reached at the Third UN Conference on Landlocked Developing Countries (LLDC3), currently under way in Awaza, Turkmenistan.

The international community must provide greater support to Afghan women and girl returnees from Iran and Pakistan who face increased risk of impoverishment, early marriage and growing threats to their rights and safety.