THAILAND: Bangkok Braces for Month of Floods

As the Thai Airways flight descends into Suvarnabhumi International Airport, passengers pull out cameras to snap pictures of flood waters rising inexorably and predicted to inundate the capital city by the end of the week.

AFRICA: Gov’ts Fail to Invest in Hungriest, Poorest Regions

For millennia, people have coped with drought in the Horn of Africa, comprised mainly of drylands. Yet today, more than 13 million people there are starving because of political instability, poor government policies and failure to invest in the world's poorest people, say experts here in Changwon.

SUDAN: Bombing the Homeless

Hawa Jundi sat on the ground outside a makeshift shelter where she and her family now live. A violent storm was moving in and lightning streaked toward the earth as the wind began blowing hard against the tarpaulin tied to a frame of sticks.

World Bank Reveals Crippling Donor Dependency in West Bank, Gaza

The World Bank drew attention to the ongoing devastation wrought by one of the world's longest standing conflicts with the publication Monday of a report documenting high levels of donor dependency in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Biofuels, Speculators Driving Food Price Surges

A new report on global hunger pinpoints factors at the heart of spikes in food prices it says are exacerbating the unfolding food crisis in the Horn of Africa.

SOMALIA: Rape – The Hidden Side of the Famine Crisis

When Aisha Diis* and her five children fled their home in Somalia seeking aid from the famine devastating the region, she could not have known the dangers of the journey, or even fathom that she would be raped along the way.

Somalia’s Al-Shabaab Vows More Attacks

Al-Shabaab has vowed to carry out more attacks in Mogadishu following a vehicle bomb blast that killed scores of people in the Somali capital.

Give Women the Seeds and They Can Feed the World

If women farmers were given more tools and resources, the number of hungry people in the world could be slashed by 100 to 150 million.

US: Expanding Network of Drone Bases To Hit Somalia, Yemen

As Somalia undergoes its worst famine in six decades and Yemen slides into civil war, the administration of President Barack Obama is expanding its network of bases to carry out drone strikes against suspected terrorists in both countries, according to reports published in two major U.S. newspapers Thursday.

Palestinians Face Large Cuts in U.S. Aid

With a vote on the Palestinians' status at the United Nations scheduled for next week, the Barack Obama administration has made its opposition to any upgrade of Palestinian status in the world body quite clear.

SOMALIA: Armed Militia Grab the Famine Business

Armed groups are withholding aid and preventing Somali famine refugees from leaving camps to ensure the continued supply of food by aid agencies that they are presently selling on the open market.

SOMALIA: Food Aid Stolen From Famine Victims

Masses of food meant for famine victims in Somalia are being stolen, an investigation has revealed.

Watchdogs Blast Ethnic Cleansing in South Kordofan

On Jun. 19, Angelo al-Sir, a subsistence farmer from a small village east of Kadugli, capital of the oil-rich South Kordofan state in Northern Sudan, saw his pregnant wife, two of his 10 children, his nephew and another relative killed in an airstrike in broad daylight.

HAITI: Patchy Healthcare Adds to Miseries of Women and Girls

"I just gave birth on the ground...I had no drugs for pain during delivery," one Haitian mother tells Human Rights Watch (HRW) in a report released Tuesday that says a year and a half after the country's devastating earthquake, women and girls are still facing gaps in access to available healthcare services necessary to stop preventable maternal and infant deaths.

Haiti’s Earthquake Victims: ‘Abandoned Like Stray Dogs’

Eighty thousand tiny houses dot the countryside near this coastal city, located just west of the epicentre of the Jan. 12, 2010 earthquake that killed some 200,000 and displaced over one million.

OP-ED: Expanding Deserts, Falling Water Tables and Toxins Driving People from Homes

People do not normally leave their homes, their families, and their communities unless they have no other option. Yet as environmental stresses mount, we can expect to see a growing number of environmental refugees. Rising seas and increasingly devastating storms grab headlines, but expanding deserts, falling water tables, and toxic waste and radiation are also forcing people from their homes.

LIBYA: No ‘Mission Accomplished’ Claimed in Washington Yet

While the apparent end of Muammar Gaddafi’s 42-year reign over Libya was greeted with considerable satisfaction here Monday, no one was prepared to declare "mission accomplished", particularly given the looming questions around what happens next.

Evidence Mounts of War Crimes Unfolding in Sudan

Witnesses reported that attacks continue on civilian populations in Sudan, even as the United Nations calls for a thorough investigation into violations of international law carried out in South Kordofan state in June.

SOMALIA: Massive School Dropouts As Famine Continues

Jamaal Abdi, an eight-year-old boy at the Badbaado camp on the outskirts of Mogadishu, would like to have an education. He has his own dreams for the future.

SOMALIA: City in Need of More Aid

The shelling and gunshots, once a common sound in Mogadishu, no longer ring out in the city's streets. The surprise withdrawal on Aug. 6 of the Islamist extremist group Al Shabaab from their stronghold in Mogadishu has meant that people now move about the city, for the first time in two years, without fear of constant attack.

Q&A: Climate-Driven Migrants Raise Thorny Legal Issues

As the effects of accelerating climate change ripple outward, pushing millions from their land and homes, experts warn that international human rights and refugee law needs to catch up to the reality on the ground if migrants are to be given adequate protection and support.