The United States has threatened to impose tariffs on any country providing oil to Cuba, increasing pressure on the island nation following a decades-long trade embargo and the US seizure of Venezuela’s leader Nicolás Maduro last month. Venezuela had been the main supplier of oil to Havana but Washington has been ratcheting up pressure on […]
Meanwhile, UN agencies confirmed the deaths of three Palestinians from Guillain-Barré Syndrome (GBS), a rare auto-immune disease that can cause sudden muscle weakness and even paralysis. Before war erupted in Gaza in October 2023, only a handful of cases surfaced every year. Mass casualties now the norm “Hospitals are overwhelmed by mass casualty incidents, with […]
“Fuel is the backbone of survival in Gaza,” said the statement. “Without fuel, these lifelines will vanish for 2.1 million people.” UN humanitarian workers stressed that fuel powers everything from hospitals and water systems to bakeries and ambulances. Without a steady supply, “maternity, neonatal and intensive care units are failing, and ambulances can no longer […]
Mr. Guterres’ stark assessment came during a press conference on the second day of the weeklong UN Ocean summit, known as UNOC3, where hundreds of government leaders, scientists and civil society representatives are gathered on France’s Côte D’Azur. Their mission: to confront the escalating emergency facing the world’s oceans. Greed is a ‘clear enemy’ “We are […]
Published ahead of the Human Rights Council’s upcoming session, the report highlighted the worsening situation since the military coup in 2021, which derailed Myanmar’s democratic transition and ignited widespread armed resistance. In the years since, military forces have targeted civilian populations with airstrikes, artillery bombardments and other forms of violence, while anti-military armed groups have […]
Speaking at a high-level open debate in the Security Council on protection of civilians in armed conflict on Thursday, UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Tom Fletcher described a grim picture of accelerating harm, disintegrating norms and growing impunity. “The scaffolding built last century to protect us from inhumanity is crumbling,” he said. “Those who will die […]
Addressing a high-level debate of the Security Council, António Guterres said that oceans and seas are “sending a clear SOS,” as maritime spaces face escalating pressure from both traditional threats and new dangers – including piracy, armed robbery, trafficking, terrorism, cyberattacks and territorial disputes. “From time immemorial, maritime routes have bound the world together,” he […]
Since September 2023, some three million Afghans have returned – many having been forcibly deported from neighbouring Pakistan and Iran. Often, they arrive exhausted, disoriented, and stripped of their belongings. “They return to a homeland that is dramatically unprepared to receive them,” warned Arafat Jamal, the UNHCR Representative in Afghanistan. UN agencies have stepped in […]