Global Issues

The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has raised alarm over the killing of two contracted workers delivering clean water to families in the Gaza Strip.Read the full story, “UNICEF ‘outraged’ by killing of Gaza water truck drivers, urges investigation”, on globalissues.org →

Globally, most people say they want two or more children, but many are having only one, or none at all. According to a senior UN economist, fears of a demographic timebomb are unwarranted.Read the full story, “Why lower fertility does not have to mean economic decline”, on globalissues.org →

A UN peacekeeper has been killed and three others injured after a UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) patrol came under fire in southern Lebanon, the mission said.Read the full story, “UN peacekeeper killed and three injured in southern Lebanon attack”, on globalissues.org →

UNITED NATIONS, April 17 (IPS) - Roughly six months after the ceasefire in the Occupied Palestinian Territory went into effect, the humanitarian situation in Gaza remains precariously fragile, despite a relative decline in hostilities. The crisis, marked by ongoing Israeli airstrikes and shelling, continued blockades on humanitarian aid, and widespread displacement, has pushed the majority of Palestinians in Gaza to the brink. Amid the vast scale of needs, basic services are increasingly strained, and humanitarian experts warn that the situation could deteriorate further in the coming months unless sustained aid and funding are secured. Read the full story, “Gaza Crisis Deepens as Aid Restrictions and Ongoing Strikes Strain Humanitarian Operations”, on globalissues.org →

ROME, April 17 (IPS) - The headlines are wrong about food prices — but right to be afraid, very afraid. Walk into a supermarket in Chicago, Berlin, or Mumbai today, and you will not find the shelves stripped bare or the prices dramatically higher than last month. Despite weeks of alarming headlines about commodity markets, food inflation in most major economies has risen only marginally — a tenth or two-tenths of a percentage point between February and March of this year. In the United States, food inflation moved from roughly 2.9 percent to 3.1 percent. In Germany, from 0.8 to 0.9. In India, from 7.8 to 8.0. Read the full story, “The Grocery Bill Is Calm – The AgriFood System Is Not”, on globalissues.org →

SRINAGAR, India, April 17 (IPS) - As war in the Middle East ripples through global markets, policymakers, economists, and industry leaders gathered in Washington this week to agree that economics is no longer separate from geopolitics. It is now its core instrument. Read the full story, “Global Shocks Push Geoeconomics to the Center Stage at Foreign Policy Forum”, on globalissues.org →

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia, April 17 (IPS) - Across the continent, GDP has risen on the back of more workers, more capital and a commodity super-cycle, rather than through genuine gains in productivity and innovation. Too little labour has moved out of subsistence agriculture into higher-productivity manufacturing and modern services. Read the full story, “Africa’s Future Depends on Innovation, Data, and Frontier Technologies”, on globalissues.org →

NAIDIRI, FIJI, April 17 (IPS) - Climate change is no longer a distant threat. Across the Pacific, it is a daily reality reshaping coastlines, livelihoods, and the delicate balance between people and the environment. But in a region long defined by resilience, solutions are not being invented from scratch. They are being remembered, strengthened, and scaled. Read the full story, “Bridging Knowledge Systems: How Pacific Communities Are Reclaiming Climate Solutions Through Nature”, on globalissues.org →

Across war-torn Sudan, women and girls “are telling a consistent story of continued experience of danger, and risks for gender-based violence” whether when fleeing to safety or arriving at displacement camps, a senior official with the UN reproductive and sexual health agency UNFPA said on Friday.Read the full story, “Sudan: Three quarters of women feel unsafe as war rages on”, on globalissues.org →

The choice of the tenth UN Secretary-General, who will take office in January 2027, could shape global diplomacy, the response to crises across the world and the direction of the multilateral system for the next decade.Read the full story, “Gender, geography and powerbroking in play in race for next UN chief”, on globalissues.org →