World News in Brief: School shooting in Canada, cholera outbreak in DR Congo, evacuations in Gaza

World News in Brief: School shooting in Canada, cholera outbreak in DR Congo, evacuations in Gaza

António Guterres was “saddened to learn of the tragic shooting in Tumble Ridge, British Columbia,” his spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said at the daily news briefing. “[Mr. Guterres] extends his deepest condolences to those affected and his sympathies to the Government and people of Canada,” Mr. Dujarric added. Two crime scenes According to media reports, the […]

From lunch tray to lifelong health: WHO sets global standards for school meals

The UN agency’s new global guidance on evidence-based policies and interventions shows that healthy food in schools can help children develop healthy dietary habits for life.  “The food children eat at school, and the environments that shape what they eat, can have a profound impact on their learning, and lifelong consequences for their health and well-being,” […]

In the Amazon, a school becomes a beacon of climate resilience

On a sandy riverbank, a modest school crowned with a solar-paneled roof tells a different story – one of resilience, ingenuity, and hope for the next generation. A school built for the future For three years, the Maria Naura Gouvêa Municipal School has been living out one of COP30’s central themes: adaptation. Its flood- and […]

Sudan: As children continue to suffer, school remains a distant hope

Sudan: As children continue to suffer, school remains a distant hope

After more than two years of civil war, more than 25 million people are now acutely hungry and at least 20 million require health services urgently. The UN World Food Programme (WFP) also warned that displaced families in some areas have not received any aid for three months, as it announced that for the first time, […]

80 million more children benefiting from school meals, WFP reports

80 million more children benefiting from school meals, WFP reports

The number of children receiving school meals through government-led programmes has gone up by 20 per cent since 2020, found the latest edition of the WFP’s flagship biennial report The State of School Feeding Worldwide. Now, nearly 80 million more children are able to enjoy nutritious meals at school, bringing the global total to approximately 466 million. […]

Gaza: With a suitcase for a school bag, classrooms have become shelters

Gaza: With a suitcase for a school bag, classrooms have become shelters

“We carry a bag of clothes instead of a school bag,” she told UN News. Diana and other students shared their eagerness to get back in the classroom, speaking from schools that have been converted into shelters for Gaza’s displaced, where most of the 2.3 million Palestinian residents have been forced to move multiple times […]

Desks become beds as Haitian school shelters people displaced by violence

Desks become beds as Haitian school shelters people displaced by violence

The classrooms at Anténor Firmin school in Hinche in central Haiti are no longer studiously quiet. Once a place of learning, it now echoes with the sounds of babies crying, water containers clanking, and voices murmuring through the night. Over 700 people displaced by violence are crammed into the crumbling compound, sleeping on floors where […]

Four children dead in ‘horrific’ attack on school bus in Baluchistan: UNICEF

Four children dead in ‘horrific’ attack on school bus in Baluchistan: UNICEF

The attack which left others wounded, took place in the district of Khuzdar, about 250 kilometres south of Quetta, Balochistan’s provincial capital. The area has long been troubled by separatist insurgency and militant activity. Deadly journey The school bus, which was reportedly transporting students to a Pakistani military-run school, was completely destroyed in the explosion […]

New horror in Gaza as double strike on school shelter kills 30

New horror in Gaza as double strike on school shelter kills 30

The UN agency for Palestine refugees, UNRWA, maintained that Israeli forces hit the school in Al Bureij, Middle Gaza, at around 6pm on Tuesday and again at 10.20pm. “The school sustained severe damage and a fire broke out in the shelter, making it difficult to evacuate the casualties. Residents had to open a hole in […]

Child abuse affects brain wiring

Child abuse affects brain wiring

Impaired neural connections may explain profound and long-lasting effects of traumatic experiences during childhood For the first time, researchers have been able to see changes in the neural structures in specific areas of the brains of people who suffered severe abuse as children. Difficulties associated with severe childhood abuse include increased risks of psychiatric disorders […]