World News in Brief: Haiti funding cuts bite, civilian suffering intensifies in Myanmar, Belarus deaths in custody alert

World News in Brief: Haiti funding cuts bite, civilian suffering intensifies in Myanmar, Belarus deaths in custody alert

Ongoing violence is compounding the country’s food crisis, disrupting local food production in critical areas such as the commune of Kenscoff and the Artibonite department, often considered the breadbaskets of Haiti. While the UN and its partners are responding “wherever and whenever possible,” UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said this Wednesday that humanitarians have only been […]

First Person: How many more children must die before the world acts?

First Person: How many more children must die before the world acts?

Juliette Touma, the director of communications for the UN agency for Palestine refugees, UNRWA, has visited Gaza several times during and before the war and has been reflecting on the children she has met there and in other conflict zones. “Adam has been on my mind lately, more so than usual. I met Adam years […]

World News in Brief: Inter-ethnic violence in Syria, Indigenous Peoples’ rights, global information security

World News in Brief: Inter-ethnic violence in Syria, Indigenous Peoples’ rights, global information security

The violence erupted two days after a Druze merchant was abducted on the highway to Damascus. The incident marks the latest episode of sectarian bloodshed in Syria, where fears among minority groups have surged since Islamist rebels toppled former dictator Bashar al-Assad in December and installed a new caretaker Government, which is gaining increasing international […]

World Horse Day: Honoring humanity’s oldest and most loyal companion

World Horse Day: Honoring humanity’s oldest and most loyal companion

UN News visited the farm to mark the first-ever World Horse Day, established this year by the UN General Assembly. By creating the Day, Member States sent a clear message: animals deserve to be treated with care and respect. A faithful companion From ancient battlefields to modern therapeutic programs, horses have been by humanity’s side […]

It’s time to finance our future and ‘change course’, Guterres tells world leaders in Sevilla

It’s time to finance our future and ‘change course’, Guterres tells world leaders in Sevilla

António Guterres issued his clarion call noting that sustainable development powered by international cooperation, is now facing “massive headwinds.” Addressing the opening session of the 4th Financing for Development Conference (FFD4) in baking hot Sevilla, Spain – basking in record high June temperatures – the Secretary-General noted multilateralism itself is also feeling the heat, while […]

LIVE: World leaders in Sevilla launch ambitious push to finance the future

LIVE: World leaders in Sevilla launch ambitious push to finance the future

From rising debt and shrinking investment, to the aid funding crisis and struggles to meet ambitious development goals, the global financial system is failing the people it’s supposed to serve: that’s the challenge facing world leaders gathered in Spain’s sweltering southern jewel of Sevilla this week, as the  UN’s 4th International Conference on Financing for […]

UN80 Initiative: What it is – and why it matters to the world

UN80 Initiative: What it is – and why it matters to the world

“This is a good time to take a look at ourselves and see how fit for purpose we are in a set of circumstances which, let’s be honest, are quite challenging for multilateralism and for the UN,” says Guy Ryder, Under-Secretary-General for Policy and chair of the UN80 Task Force. Known as the UN80 Initiative, […]

Asia is warming twice as fast as the rest of the world

Asia is warming twice as fast as the rest of the world

While there are records which exist to be broken – Olympic ones, for example -these monthly temperature extremes are not medal worthy. And yet, China was not the only Asian country to set a flurry of new highs in 2024. The continent is warming twice as fast as the global average, according to a report […]

‘One Earth, One Health’: Yoga Day provides respite in a tumultuous world

‘One Earth, One Health’: Yoga Day provides respite in a tumultuous world

This powerful message of International Yoga Day, observed annually on 21 June, reverberated through UN Headquarters in New York on Friday as hundreds gathered to embrace the ancient, holistic practice. A familiar tradition now each year, the North Lawn once again transformed into an open-air yoga studio overlooking the East River.  Following a stretch of […]

World News in Brief: Global investment plunges, hurricane season in Haiti, rising cholera and hunger in South Sudan

World News in Brief: Global investment plunges, hurricane season in Haiti, rising cholera and hunger in South Sudan

Their latest data shows that the outlook for international investment this year “is negative”, a sharp course correction from January, when “modest” growth seemed possible. The reasons for this range from trade tensions and tariffs whose main effect has been a “dramatic increase in investor uncertainty”, said UNCTAD Secretary-General Rebeca Grynspan. She said that investment […]

World Refugee Day: telling their stories

World Refugee Day: telling their stories

While hotspots include Sudan, Syria, Afghanistan, Ukraine and Palestine, displacement affects every region of the world. In the lead-up to World Refugee Day, Friday, the UN is spotlighting the importance of solidarity with refugees through support, solutions, and the power of storytelling. Zahra Nader: Reporting from exile Ahead of World Refugee Day, UN News spoke […]

Shaping a better world at Expo 2025 in Japan

Shaping a better world at Expo 2025 in Japan

The UN is taking part alongside more than 150 countries and organizations at the global gathering, which carries the forward-looking theme: Designing Future Society for Our Lives. The UN Pavilion is divided into four areas; a timeline in the first area explains the history of the UN and its agencies, whilst the second – the […]

World News in Brief: ‘Indifference and impunity’ in Sudan, ICC judges speak out against sanctions, respiratory diseases overlooked in Europe

World News in Brief: ‘Indifference and impunity’ in Sudan, ICC judges speak out against sanctions, respiratory diseases overlooked in Europe

Tom Fletcher noted that over 30 million people require humanitarian assistance. Moreover, with famine declared in multiple places and over 14.6 million people displaced, Sudan represents the largest humanitarian crisis in the world. “Again and again, the international community has said that we will protect the people of Sudan. The people of Sudan should ask […]

The world pledged to end child labour by 2025: So why are 138 million kids still working?

The world pledged to end child labour by 2025: So why are 138 million kids still working?

There are 10,000 children in Madagascar who, like Tenasoa, work in the largely unregulated mica industry. The silicate is used in paints, car parts, and cosmetics – to add a “shimmer” effect.  Alongside parents and grandparents, these children toil in dangerous conditions, inhaling harmful dust particles and entering structurally unsound tunnels. Many of them have […]

World News in Brief: Global growth slows, deadly Ukraine attacks, Haiti hurricane hunger risk, legal migration for refugees

World News in Brief: Global growth slows, deadly Ukraine attacks, Haiti hurricane hunger risk, legal migration for refugees

Growth is projected to weaken to 2.3 per cent, or nearly half a percentage point lower than expected at the start of the year, according to the Global Economic Prospects report. “The global outlook is predicated on tariff rates close to those of late May prevailing,” it said. “Accordingly, pauses to previously announced tariff hikes […]

‘Jerusalem is not for sale’ Palestinian President Abbas tells world leaders at UN Assembly

‘Jerusalem is not for sale’ Palestinian President Abbas tells world leaders at UN Assembly

President Abbas underscored his commitment to peace and the two-state solution, as well as the path of negotiation to achieve them, reiterating that peace in the Middle East cannot be realized without an independent Palestinian state, with East Jerusalem as its capital. “We have always fully and positively engaged with the various initiatives of the […]