News

The wildfires burning across Europe and North America highlight the urgent need for action now – as climate change, land-use pressures and human activity make severe fires more likely in the future. 

Independent UN experts on Wednesday called for urgent action to support Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh after reports indicated two boats carrying more than 500 passengers may have capsized off the coast of Myanmar in mid-July.

The United Nations Secretary-General said on Wednesday that he plans to convene fresh talks on Cyprus to resolve the decades-long division on the Mediterranean island, stressing that the moment calls for rebuilding trust between its two communities. 

Violence in the occupied West Bank is worsening as the Israeli Government continues to approve new settlements, while settlers and Israeli security forces have “often” acted together to attack local Palestinian communities, the UN’s human rights office (OHCHR) warned on Wednesday.

The UN emergency food agency appealed for immediate funding on Wednesday, warning that deepening hunger is undermining the response to an Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) that has now infected more than 3,200 people.

From the peaks of Mount Olympus in Greece to the shores of the “D-Day” beaches in France, 25 cultural or natural landmarks from across the globe have been newly inscribed on the World Heritage List, updated annually by the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

Climate-driven disasters are reaching “nightmare proportions” due to humanity’s “addiction” to fossil fuels, a top UN official warned on Tuesday.

A woman is stopped for buying groceries alone. The shopkeeper who served her is slapped and hauled in for questioning. A teacher is turned away from her own classroom for the wrong cloak.  

Years of progress in tackling HIV, viral hepatitis and sexually transmitted infections (STIs) are at risk of stalling, leaving millions of people without access to life-saving prevention, testing and treatment, the World Health Organization (WHO) has warned.

A job advert can hide a criminal network, and a single click can lead to a nightmare. Hundreds of thousands of people are trafficked every year on the promise of legitimate work abroad, only to be held captive and forced into online scam operations.

Regional tensions are mounting as the US-Iran war continues and a rising number of Israeli attacks are threatening Gaza’s fragile October ceasefire that ended two years of war with Hamas. Security Council members are hearing updates on Tuesday. Join our live coverage.

As the world marks the 75th anniversary of the Refugee Convention, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) has launched a global campaign urging governments, organizations and individuals to renew their commitment to protecting people forced to flee war, violence and persecution.