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As families uprooted by the war in Lebanon begin to return home following a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hezbollah militants, UN humanitarians warned that needs remain “staggering” for devastated communities. The situation is dire in Gaza too, where the enclave’s people are struggling to survive “relentless bombardment and deprivation”, says the UN aid coordination office, OCHA. Deadly airstrikes have continued in Syria, meanwhile, linked to the regional escalation, while at UN Geneva, a special meeting has been planned to mark the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People. UN News app users can follow here.

Pay packets around the world rose 1.8 per cent in 2023 and continued their positive trajectory in this first half of this year, rising by 2.7 per cent on the back of a strong post-COVID global recovery, the UN International Labour Organization (ILO) said on Thursday.

The message, from second graders and octogenarians to imams, rabbis, young changemakers and the King of Spain, was clear: “we need peace and mutual understanding now more than ever before”, according to more than 1,800 participants at the UN Alliance of Civilizations 10th Global Forum, which concluded on Wednesday.

The ceasefire agreement in Lebanon represents “the first ray of hope for peace” in the regional war “amidst the darkness of the last few months”, the UN Secretary-General said on Wednesday in Lisbon, Portugal.

Ongoing hostilities across Syria are intensifying an already dire humanitarian crisis, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has warned, amid reports of a deadly airstrike at the Ad Dabousiyah border crossing with Türkiye.

The Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) has filed an application for an arrest warrant against Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, Commander-in-Chief of Myanmar’s armed forces and Acting President, alleging his involvement in crimes against humanity targeting the Rohingya population.

In an age when social media dominates global information sharing, an alarming two-thirds of digital content creators are publishing unverified information to millions of followers, a landmark survey by UN educational and cultural agency UNESCO revealed on Wednesday.

The latest report from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) reveals significant gaps in Afghanistan’s ability to address substance use disorders, highlighting urgent issues with access, resources, and infrastructure.

Recent days have seen alarming signs of further escalation in the war in Ukraine, a senior UN official warned the Security Council on Wednesday, appealing for greater efforts to bring an end to Russia’s full-scale invasion of the country.