Global Issues

APEX, North Carolina / SAN FRANCISCO, California, April 8 (IPS) - Let the race begin! April 1st was the deadline for candidates to be nominated for Secretary-General. Was it a coincidence that the deadline was April Fool’s Day? Judging by the quality of the official candidates, we suspect so. Read the full story, “The Race Is On: Who Will Be the Next UN Secretary General?”, on globalissues.org →

PORTLAND, USA, April 7 (IPS) - As stated in Hamlet, “Thou know’st ’tis common; all that lives must die, Passing through nature to eternity.” Although death is inevitable for all living beings, human mortality, which is expected to reach approximately 64 million individual deaths worldwide in 2026, is not evenly distributed across populations. Read the full story, “Inequalities in Human Mortality”, on globalissues.org →

TOKYO, Japan, April 7 (IPS) - As tensions surrounding Iran deepen and uncertainty spreads across global energy markets, Japan is once again confronting a structural weakness: its heavy dependence on Middle Eastern oil. Read the full story, “Japan and Kazakhstan Draw Closer as Iran Crisis Reshapes Energy and Security Priorities”, on globalissues.org →

MOROGORO, Tanzania , April 7 (IPS) - At Mazimbu village, not far from Tanzania’s Sokoine University of Agriculture (SUA), Stephano Jaka still remembers the night he trapped and killed a rat that had been feasting on his maize cobs – stored in a meticulously woven basket designed to protect grains from rodents. Read the full story, “Cambodia Unveils Statue Honouring Tanzanian-Born Bomb-Sniffing Rat Magawa”, on globalissues.org →

SYDNEY, April 7 (IPS) - Bangladesh is scheduled to graduate from the least developed country (LDC) status in November this year after more than half a century. Bangladesh joined the UN club of LDCs in 1975 and consistently met all three graduation criteria – per capita Gross National Income (GNI), human asset and economic vulnerability – since 2018. Read the full story, “The Political Economy of Bangladesh’s LDC Graduation”, on globalissues.org →

BANGKOK, Thailand, April 7 (IPS) - Rising seas, intensifying storms, saltwater intrusion and shifting coastlines are the lived realities of Pacific communities today. Families are making difficult decisions about whether to stay, adapt or move. Some communities have already relocated. Others are preparing for that possibility. Many are determined to stay for as long as possible on lands that hold ancestral meaning and identity. Read the full story, “From Dialogue to Delivery: The Pacific’s Climate Mobility Moment”, on globalissues.org →

Hostilities continue across the Middle East, with ongoing strikes, rising civilian impacts and mounting pressure on critical infrastructure and humanitarian services. Attention is also turning to New York, where the Security Council is expected to vote on a Bahrain-led draft resolution concerning the situation in the Strait of Hormuz. Meanwhile, displacement remains high, aid access is constrained, and economic and security impacts continue to ripple far beyond the region. Stay with us for live updates from across the UN system. App users can follow coverage here.Read the full story, “MIDDLE EAST LIVE 7 April: Conflict continues as humanitarian and economic pressures mount”, on globalissues.org →

For 25 years, the world has made significant progress in advancing women’s right to health, particularly in sexual and reproductive care. Women are living longer than ever before – but they are not living better.Read the full story, “From misdiagnosis to medical bias: Why women are living longer but not better”, on globalissues.org →

The UN Security Council has failed to adopt a resolution aiming to boost security in the Strait of Hormuz as the critical shipping corridor remains largely closed to global trade and the transport of humanitarian aid, with war continuing to rage across the region. Read the full story, “Security Council: Russia and China veto resolution on Strait of Hormuz”, on globalissues.org →

Over 180 people are feared dead or missing in the latest shipwrecks on the Mediterranean, according to the UN migration agency, IOM.Read the full story, “World News in Brief: Death on the Mediterranean, displacement in Afghanistan, ‘One Health’ summit”, on globalissues.org →