UNITED NATIONS, Dec 08 (IPS) - Israel’s nuclear presence in the Middle East is best characterized as “the elephant in the room” -– an obvious fact intentionally ignored with deafening silence. Read the full story, “A...
Half of all people who contract and die from COVID-19 globally are people with a disability, according to a sobering new report that calls on Australia to urgently prioritise disability inclusion in its development and pandemic aid...
Indonesia must overhaul its trade policies to avoid a hunger and poverty catastrophe over the next few decades, with experts predicting the demand for food in the largest archipelago in the world will quadruple by 2050, according to ABC...
Displaced, Dec 07 (IPS) - Over the past two years, the global refugee response has been tested. The world is being rocked by the greatest pandemic in over a century, while waves of refugees have fled from Afghanistan, Myanmar, Belarus,...
VILNA, Dec 07 (IPS) - Independent journalism has come increasingly under attack in Belarus, as the country has become a regional hotspot of media repression. Lately, as many as six media outlets have closed shop to ensure the security...
Conflict, climate change and COVID-19, have created a perfect storm of challenges facing refugees, displaced people and their hosts, UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi, told the Security Council on Tuesday. Read the full...
Forty countries now have best-practice trans fat elimination policies in effect, protecting 1.4 billion people from this deadly food compound, according to a report released on Tuesday by the World Health Organization (WHO). Read the...
With the world now facing the highest number of violent conflicts since 1945, Secretary-General António Guterres on Tuesday urged countries to step up support for UN peacekeeping operations across the globe, and the thousands who serve...
The spark of the idea for Little Amal was genius in its simplicity — it was merely “to go for a walk,” explains Tracey Seaward, one of the producers of the activism-inspired travelling theatrical spectacle. “The heart of the project was...
One of the most memorable news stories during the UK’s first national lockdown in 2020 was the government’s dramatic last minute U-turn decision on providing free school meals during the holidays. Famously, the footballer Marcus Rashford...
By Allison Master Assistant Professor of Education, University of Houston, Andrew N. Meltzoff Professor of Psychology, University of Washington, Sapna Cheryan Professor of Psychology, University of Washington Peer-reviewed research...
Climate change doesn’t just damage the world’s natural resources and wildlife — it also has lasting impacts on the health of human beings, disproportionately affecting women and girls. Ahead of the United Nations Climate Change...
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, said on Tuesday that the human rights situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory has become “disastrous”, with severe infringements occurring effecting some four million...
Dec 07 (IPS) - Mukhtiar’s heart sank when he saw the grisly incident of lynching of a man in the industrial city of Sialkot, in Punjab province. Read the full story, “Time for Public Conversation, Justice after ‘Blasphemy’ killing in...
Plastic pollution has become pervasive in agricultural soils, according to a new report released on Tuesday by the UN agriculture agency, posing a threat to food security, people’s health, and the environment. Read the full story,...
The global environment has a remarkable ability to recover — forests can regrow, rivers can replenish, the air can clarify, and soil can regenerate. But countries have to facilitate this recovery; otherwise, the economic status quo that...
Leveraging the power of the Internet while tackling the risks of cyberspace is the focus of a UN meeting underway in Katowice, Poland, this week. Read the full story, “Internet Governance Forum promotes inclusive digital future for...
Landfills turn into looming mountains of trash, fast fashion piles up in deserts, and plastic pollution collected on beaches gets dumped back into the ocean — it’s clear we’re not managing our waste well at all. The majority of global...
Australia, rightfully, encountered a lot of negative press in 2021: from being the only developed nation on the World Wide Fund (WWF) for Nature’s list of deforestation hotspots, to news of catastrophic ecosystem collapse, a less than...
Overrun health sectors and vaccine hesitancy will likely see Papua New Guinea and Vanuatu among the last countries in the world to reach high levels of vaccination against COVID-19, with new research suggesting the nations will have...
Aotearoa New Zealand pledged a further NZ$9 million to the COVAX facility Wednesday, a move that will allow the vaccine equity fund to boost the supply of COVID-19 vaccines to low- and middle-income countries and brings the nation’s...
Conservation is about protecting that which sustains life on Earth — the rivers that flow with fresh water, the soil rooting crops in place, the forests and marinescapes that release oxygen. Framed in this way, conservation seems like an...
The “blah, blah, blah” that Greta Thunberg uses to describe vague climate pledges by political and corporate leaders seemed to be on display at the TED Countdown in Edinburgh, Scotland , in October, when Ben van Beurden, the CEO of...
Digital violence is increasing globally and it doesn’t discriminate. Everyone is at risk of the form of abuse that includes non-consensual sharing of intimate photos, cyberbullying, cyberstalking, doxxing, sextortion, online harassment,...
South Africa is currently in the midst of an unemployment crisis and the country's unemployment rate is currently the highest on a global list of 82 countries, according to Bloomberg . This is a result of the country's economic...
The battle for land reform in South Africa is a hugely emotional one that has been ongoing for decades since the end of apartheid. In short, in the early 1900s , Black people in the country were forcibly removed by colonisers from their...
It’s been three years since over 70,000 Global Citizens, artists , and global leaders came together at the FNB Stadium in Johannesburg, all united behind one mission: to honor Nelson Mandela’s life, legacy, and dream of ending poverty,...
Here we are. Almost a year after the first COVID-19 vaccine was given in the UK, after more than a year of citizens and organizations pleading with world leaders to guarantee vaccine equity, and after repeated warnings by the World...
December rewards are here! And that means all new chances to win exciting rewards when you take action with us to defend the planet, defeat poverty, and demand equity. By taking actions like emailing representatives, calling on...
Development Agencies and the “New Normal” December 1, 2021 In this blog, we map key trends and changes in the development landscape and highlight the implications of these changes for the future of ODA. These findings were presented at...
Kenya, a country so loved by tourists for its beautiful tropical weather, spectacular coastline, and gorgeous wildlife sceneries, is also known for its impressive array of globally renowned athletes — athletes who have wowed the world...
A Poll of Education Officials in 35 Countries: Three Reasons the Idea of a “Learning Crisis” Isn’t Getting Traction December 1, 2021 With half of kids in low- and middle-income countries unable to read a simple story by the end of...
The Benefits and Challenges of Developing and Revising Health Benefits Packages: Insights From Technical Experts in Eleven Low- and Middle-Income Countries December 1, 2021 We worked with the Joint Learning Network (JLN) Efficiency...
Over half of all people currently employed in Australia’s federal parliament have experienced bullying, sexual harassment or sexual assault, a damning, much-anticipated review into the nation’s parliamentary workplace culture has...
Four Big Questions for Biden’s Pick to Lead DFC November 30, 2021 Back in August, President Biden nominated Scott Nathan to serve as CEO of the US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC). This week, Nathan will finally have...
MDB COVID-19 Crisis Response: Where Did the Money Go? Publication November 30, 2021 The pandemic and its economic impact have been a revealing test of the multilateral development bank (MDB) system and of individual MDBs. Although...
Understanding Education Policy Preferences: Survey Experiments with Policymakers in 35 Developing Countries Publication November 30, 2021 Foreign aid donors and international organizations supporting education in developing countries...
Bad versus Better Ways to Leverage Private Investment in the Global Fight for 1.5 Degrees November 29, 2021 While hopes for mobilizing private finance for climate response were boosted by the investment firms managing a collective $130...
By Anthony Zwi, professor of global health and development at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) There is global concern and widespread alarm at the discovery of SARS-CoV-2 variant B.1.1.529, which the World Health Organization...
The latest COVID-19 variant to rise to the level of concern was named on Nov. 26: Omicron. You might be wondering why the new strain sounds like a Marvel supervillain and, no, it doesn’t have anything to do with its extraordinary powers....
African Countries Will Continue to Face Tough Choices on COVID-19 Vaccines: We’ve Developed a Toolkit That Can Help November 29, 2021 African countries will continue to face tough choices on COVID-19 vaccines—we’ve developed a Toolkit...
Economics & Marginalia: November 26, 2021 November 26, 2021 Illness and the prospect of this nu variant has put something of a dampener on my mood, but you know what cheers me up? Every year, without fail, the DI crew unearth a...
At least 27 people, reportedly including 17 men, seven women, one of whom was pregnant, and three children, died while attempting to cross the English Channel on Wednesday. The International Organization for Migration , an agency...
Earlier this month, the last apartheid president of South Africa, FW de Klerk, died aged 85. His death has brought with it a storm of commentary about apartheid and the legacy it left behind, a legacy that continues to shape everyday...
Editor’s note: This article deals with the subject of online abuse, sexual harrassment, and assault. Resources for support can be found at the end of the article. Online gender-based violence takes many different forms, all of which have...
Collecting Evidence to Inform COVID-19 Vaccine Procurement Decisions Publication November 26, 2021 Vaccines are key to controlling COVID-19 in Africa, but available supplies across the continent remain extremely low—in most countries,...
Young women bore the brunt of the COVID-19 pandemic’s economic repercussions across Australia, a new report suggests. The report, Changing the Trajectory: Investing in Women for a Fairer Future , found three in five job losses (60%)...
Earlier this month, a 16-year-old teenager in Kentucky made global headlines when she was rescued after using a hand gesture she learned on TikTok, designed to signal for help in potentially life-threatening situations. A bystander, who...
By Emeline Wuilbercq LOYA, Ethiopia, Nov 25 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) — When Genet's father died four years ago, it cut short her fledgling studies, forcing the 12-year-old Ethiopian girl to drop out of school and take a babysitting...
Violence against women has been described by the United Nations as a "shadow pandemic" — with all types of gender-based violence (GBV), particularly domestic violence, intensifying amid COVID-19. In Nigeria, according to the UN...