News stories by Helen Clark

WELLINGTON, New Zealand, February 16 (IPS) - 2026 has begun on a deeply troubling note. International law, long regarded as the backbone of global peace and security, is being challenged in ever more brazen ways. Core principles of sovereignty and restraint are being flagrantly breached.

NEW YORK, Sep 23 (IPS) - This week's United Nations General Assembly marks nearly 20 years since the body first resolved to restrict bottom trawling on the world's seamounts, submarine mountains that rise thousands of feet above the sea floor and comprise some of the most biologically rich marine ecosystems on the planet.

UNITED NATIONS, Feb 22 (IPS) - Fifty years ago, one in every three people around the world was living in poverty. It was against that backdrop that the United Nations Development Programme, UNDP, was founded in 1966.

Ever since, UNDP has been a leader in working for a more fair and prosperous world for all. We have worked with governments, civil society, the private sector, and philanthropy to empower people and build resilient nations.

NEW YORK, Mar 25 (IPS) - On Tuesday, leaders of five large emerging economies – Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, known as the BRICS – will gather in Durban, South Africa to discuss harnessing their formidable resources on behalf of faster development progress in Africa and elsewhere.

HANOI, Vietnam, Jul 27 (IPS) - Agent Orange (AO), often called the ‘last legacy’ of the United States war in Vietnam (1955-1975), has popped up again thanks to its manufacturer Dow Chemical’s controversial sponsorship of the Olympic Games.

HANOI, Vietnam, Jul 15 (IPS) - Conservative attitudes toward women die hard in Vietnam, as seen in the country’s worsening sex ratio at birth (SRB). Yet, social mores have relaxed sufficiently for women to tune in to late night TV talk shows to learn about the acceptability of one-night stands.

The restaurant Thuy Linh sits by one of Saigon’s black, soupy canals at the edge of District Three. Though operating in an area already full of restaurants and cafes it doesn’t struggle for business.

As Vietnam’s big cities are increasingly deluged by floods, the infrastructure cannot keep up.

Vietnam will be one of five nations most affected by climate change. Worst-case scenarios see large parts of the low-lying and flood-prone Mekong Delta area, which produces much of the nation’s rice crop, flooded.

Think of a world where rich nations did not fund what was popular but instead collaborated to solve the developing world’s most pressing health needs.