News

With science at the forefront of the opening day of the Third UN Ocean Conference (UNOC3), UN News boarded a 111-year-old Norwegian tall ship on the French Riviera to meet 50 science students, along with a host of lecturers and citizen scientists fresh from a 46-day expedition. Fueled by satellite data from the European Space Agency (ESA), their invaluable observations echo the urgent call to understand and protect the world’s oceans.

The worsening humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip has reached “unprecedented levels of despair,” the UN said on Monday, amid more reports of people being killed and injured near newly-established distribution sites. 

Despite its wealth of natural resources and potential, Central Africa continues to face serious challenges, from political instability to growing humanitarian needs.

The head of the UN-backed nuclear watchdog has raised fresh concerns over Iran’s failure to fully cooperate with inspections, warning that this is preventing independent verification of its nuclear activities.

With the Mediterranean glittering in the background, UN Secretary-General António Guterres opened the third United Nations Ocean Conference on Monday, delivering a blunt indictment of humanity’s fractured relationship with the sea.

They drift unseen, but everything depends on them. Plankton – the ocean’s lifeblood – regulate the climate, feed the seas, and shape life on Earth. Off the French Riviera, scientists are racing to unlock their secrets before the hush of their decline echoes across the planet.

Whether it’s their first time or a routine part of their life, menstruation has become a nightmare for women and girls in Gaza. The conditions they are forced to endure – displacement, overcrowded shelters, and lack of basic hygiene – have turned a natural biological process into a monthly ordeal.

The US Government’s announcement of sanctions against four judges of the International Criminal Court (ICC) on Friday has been condemned by Volker Türk, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, as “deeply corrosive of good governance and the due administration of justice.”

As world leaders gear up for the third UN Ocean Conference in Nice, one policy expert is making waves with an ancient marine organism he believes could help feed the planet, clean the air, and transform coastal economies. 

The Ocean is in deep crisis. Factors such as acidification, declining fish stocks, rising temperatures and widespread pollution are contributing to a catastrophic decline in biodiversity: over half of marine species are at risk of extinction this century.

As hostilities rage in Sudan, access constraints and devastating funding cuts are isolating rape survivors and pregnant women from essential health services, the UN sexual and reproductive health agency UNFPA said on Thursday.