Rights : Power shortages deepening crisis in Gaza, warn UN experts (PRIV)
(Kanaga Raja, Geneva)
Longstanding power shortages have deepened the humanitarian crisis for the two million residents of Gaza, and Israel, as the occupier controlling the entry and exit of goods and people, bore the primary responsibility for the deterioration of the situation, a group of United Nations human rights experts has charged.

United Nations : Nuclear ban approved, now what? (PRIV)
(IPS, New York)
More than seven decades after the deployment of deadly atomic bombs in Japan, the UN has passed a historic treaty banning nuclear weapons around the world.

Mideast : Water use innovations "crucial" to face climate change (PRIV)
(IPS, Rome)
In the Near East and North Africa region, the per capita renewable water availability is around 600 cubic metres per person per year - only 10 per cent of the world average - and drops to just 100 cubic metres in some countries, the United Nations warned.

Opinion : Is religion the new colonial frontier in international development? (PRIV)
(IPS, New York)
A decade ago, it was difficult to get Western policymakers in governments to be interested in the role of religious organizations in human development.

Latin America : Mexico's methane emissions threaten the environment (PRIV)
(IPS, Mexico City)
Mexico is in transition towards commercial exploitation of its shale gas, which is being included in two auctions of 24 hydrocarbon blocks, at a time when the country is having difficulty preventing and reducing industrial methane emissions.