Netanyahu admits Israel behind pager attack in Lebanon

Latest news bulletin | November 11th – Midday

At least three killed in Israeli strike on Gaza's Nuseirat refugee camp

Satellite images show China working on nuclear reactor for new warship

Slackliners set world record, balancing at 2,500 metres high between hot air balloons

Macron and Starmer lay wreath at Paris' Tomb of the Unknown Soldier on Armistice Day

Latest news bulletin | November 11th – Evening

Protesters at COP29 call for an end to war in Gaza

World record set at extreme Antarctica Ice Ultra race

Thousands of Serbians demand prime minister's resignation following deadly roof collapse

Latest news bulletin | November 12th – Morning

At least 22 killed in Lebanon and Gaza strikes as Israeli defence minister rejects ceasefire

Latest news bulletin | November 12th – Midday

Russian warship armed with hypersonic missiles trains in English Channel, state media reports

Latest news bulletin | November 12th – Evening

Tyrannosaurus Rex of London's Natural History Museum, a model like no other

German auto and engineering workers to get 5.5% wage rise after union negotiations

Aliyev criticises Western nations' stance on fossil fuels at COP29 opening speech

Latest news bulletin | November 13th – Morning

Global education is facing a critical moment amid severe setbacks. Millions of children are out of school, learning levels are falling, and millions are leaving school without the skills they need. New out-of-school figures reveal that global progress in reducing the number of out-of-school children has been just 1 percent since 2015, leaving 251 million […]

The eastern region of Baalbek, Lebanon was believed to be a “safe zone” for residents, and refugees who had been displaced by the increased hostilities across the country. That changed on October 29, when an Israeli airstrike on the region resulted in over sixty casualties, including two children. On October 30, the Israeli Defense Forces […]

“Ixe! If it wasn’t for solar energy, we would have closed down, you can be sure. We had to stop due to the pandemic on 15 March 2020, but the energy costs were fixed,” said Erika Cazuza, administrative and financial manager of the Brazilian Cooperative of Rural Producers of Monteiro (Capribom). Ixe is a word […]

  Matthias Schmale is the Assistant Secretary-General, UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Ukraine. Schmale brings more than 30 years of experience in humanitarian and development work. He previously served as Senior Adviser to the UN Development Coordination Office’s regional team for Africa, as Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator (a.i) in Nigeria, and in several high-level […]

At just 11 years old, with a heavy heart, Louis  peered up at his parents and said goodbye. He was leaving his small village in northern Benin to live with his uncle in Parakou, where the schools were better. Ever since, Louis has continued to make sacrifices to pursue a strong education and a better […]

On November 6, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced that the second round of polio vaccinations in the Gaza Strip has been completed. A total of 556,744 children under ten years of age received the mOPV2 vaccine along with a dose of vitamin A to ensure immunization. However, due to rampant hostilities from the Israeli […]

The ongoing, escalating violence in Lebanon forces millions of Lebanese civilians to face daily bombardment, repeated orders of evacuation, routine destruction of critical infrastructure, and limited access to basic services. With the death toll and rates of displacement on the rise, humanitarian organizations fear that the upcoming winter season is expected to exacerbate these harsh […]

Scripture isn’t shy about the unpopularity of the gospel. The message of the cross is called “foolishness” and a “stumbling block” (1 Corinthians 1:23). Christ Himself is called “a rock of offense” (Romans 9:33). Jesus simply told His followers that the world would hate them (John 15:18–20). But what makes the gospel so repulsive to the world?

God’s love for sinners is a well-documented historical fact. Its verification doesn’t hinge on the consensus of theologians, nor does its validation rest on something we feel. The apostle John points us to the cross as the consummate and undeniable proof of divine love.

Why do bad things happen to good people? The fundamental problem with that common question is that it’s back to front. The right approach is to ask why good things happen to bad people. That question reflects an accurate reading of Scripture and an honest evaluation of ourselves.

Election is the highest expression of God’s love to sinful humanity. Some people hate this doctrine. They fight against it, try to explain it away, or claim it’s not fair. Some even claim it is a form of tyranny, or that it is fatalistic, or that it violates the human will. But in reality the doctrine of election is all about the eternal, inviolable love of God.

"God told me." "The Holy Spirit laid it on my heart." "The Spirit is compelling me." Those phrases and others like them are frequently thrown around the church today without giving many people pause. In fact, it seems the Holy Spirit’s primary role is laying burdens on believers and compelling them to deliver specific, timely messages to the church.

You have undoubtedly heard people say things like, “God is calling me to the mission field,” or “God led me to attend this college,” or “We feel God wants us to get married.” Perhaps you have even said such things yourself. Christians who use expressions like those often mean they have had an impression or a strong feeling that they interpret as a disclosure of the divine will.

If God is still speaking to His people today—particularly through mental impressions and premonitions—how can believers exercise discernment when it comes to interpreting and applying these divine messages? Put simply, how is following the private, subjective “leading” of the Lord any more reliable than gazing into a crystal ball?

In Ephesians 3:16–19, Paul prays that believers would be “strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man” in order that they might understand the “love of Christ which surpasses knowledge.” In other words, it takes a lot of Spirit-supplied strength for us to catch even a glimpse of God’s love—and when we do, we’ve only scratched the surface.

“In the world you will have tribulation” (John 16:33, NKJV). Those words from our Lord are almost a truism—something so obvious it need not be stated. We are all intimately acquainted with the troubles of this life. On a personal level, we physically decay with each passing moment, even if we’re healthy (2 Corinthians 4:16). On a societal level, we see the effects of sinful decisions all around us. John MacArthur observes, “We are watching our country [America] freefall into godless darkness, sexual perversion, gender insanity, crime of all kinds, the breakdown of law and order, family destruction, and above all, the constant flood of lies and efforts to silence the truth.” In light of this individual and institutional decay, even Christians may be tempted to despair.

The doctrine of man’s depravity, of all the cardinal biblical truths should never need to be defended. The empirical evidence for man’s sinful nature is irrefutable and ubiquitous. It is the inescapable reality of life.

Education Cannot Wait (ECW) has delivered quality education to children in crisis “against all odds,” ECW Executive Director Yasmine Sherif said at the United Nations today. “And you can imagine the odds. We are seeing more armed conflict, a growth of climate-induced disasters and the biggest refugee movement since World War 2.”  Education Cannot Wait’s […]

Amid unprecedented global challenges and a growing list of countries in crisis, there is an existential threat to decades of development gains—with the global community marked by intensified armed conflict, forced displacements, and the debilitating effects of climate crises. One in five children worldwide lives in or flees from conflict. The number of crisis-affected children […]

Parliamentary representation by women in Pacific Island countries remains stubbornly low at 8.4 percent. Yet women leaders across the region have been meeting every year for the past four decades to discuss goals and drive action to address gender inequality and the most pressing development challenges in the Pacific. One of the critical issues discussed […]

Sarah Strack is Forus Director

Climate change is driving a mental health crisis and accelerating eco-anxiety. Dr. Emma Lawrance is leading Climate Cares, Imperial College London, a centre dedicated to research on climate change in mental health. The researcher spoke to IPS about the need to address this growing concern.

The struggle for women’s right to decide in Latin America and the Caribbean, for their access to legal, safe and free abortion continues in the region, with some countries fully criminalising it, others with severe regulations, and a few guaranteeing better conditions, while threats of regression persist. This Saturday 28 September marks, as every year, […]

Last week, UN member states adopted the Pact of the Future – and its two annexes: the Global Digital Compact and the Declaration for Future Generations. These action-oriented documents are envisaged to counter emerging threats to development and acceleration of progress on Agenda 2030. Nonetheless, there remains little political prioritization of reproductive justice on this agenda. […]

When the weather is bad, the residents of the Litoral neighborhood in Manzanillo, Cuba, are forced to evacuate their houses. When it’s calm, the sea penetrates the foundations of houses, leaving them vulnerable. Now the community is getting together to restore the mangroves and improve the environment to return their homes to safety.

Reem Alsalem, the UN Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women and Girls, calls prostitution a “system of violence” that does not benefit society at all, especially the women and girls forced into this system. Alsalem spoke at the Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute in New York on Wednesday, October 2, to discuss her special report […]

Countries around the world are experiencing low birth rates. In 2022, more than one hundred countries, representing two-thirds of world’s population, experienced fertility rates below the replacement level of 2.1 births per woman. Fertility rates below the replacement level were relatively uncommon in the distant past. But today, many of the countries with sustained rates […]

When I joined CIVICUS in 2019, I came in with two decades of work on influencing and monitoring public policies through grassroots and global activism. Joining CIVICUS as Secretary-General felt familiar, like returning home after a period of separation. My first international role in 2006 – as Campaign Director of the Global Call to Action […]

On October 11, the United Nations (UN) and its affiliated organizations hosted a conference discussing the increasingly dangerous and exploitative environment that plagues the internet and what can be done to protect children from being exposed to it. Speakers at this conference detailed the developing technologies that threaten children, such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), which […]

  Our world has witnessed unprecedented levels of economic development. The advance of our technological capabilities continues unabated. Our financial resources continue to grow. Yet, as of last year, an estimated 750 million people live in extreme poverty. Extreme poverty is defined as living on less than $2.15 per day. Roughly 60% of the world’s […]