News

Earth just had the hottest August on record, according to newly released weather data.

The Security Council meets top of the hour to mark 25 years since the 9/11 attacks, with a briefing on counter-terrorism as ambassadors take stock of a threat that has morphed dramatically since resolution 1373 built the council’s counter-terrorism machinery in 2001. Briefers are expected to zero in on militants’ growing use of artificial intelligence, drones and encrypted platforms for recruitment and attack planning. Members are also set to adopt a presidential statement – the Council’s first on terrorism in five years – after reportedly tense talks over references to specific groups and new tech language. 

Terrorist groups are recruiting, raising money and even planning operations through propaganda that is now “embedded” in every stage of their work, a new UN report warns – and governments are struggling to keep pace. 

At least 46,000 people have been displaced since renewed fighting last week between Houthi rebels and pro-government forces in southwestern Yemen, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) reported on Friday. 

The head of the UN’s climate body has warned that treating global warming as a partisan issue is dangerously out of step with reality, as he set out a stark account of the economic toll climate change is already inflicting on Europe.

A drone strike on the protective structure at the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant could have endangered the safety of millions of people, UN Development Programme (UNDP) Administrator Alexander De Croo told reporters via video link from Kyiv on Thursday.

On the heels of reported Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia on Tuesday and the capture of another key port by the militants on Yemen’s Red Sea coast – including the seizure of eight UN vehicles from a key aid hub there – the Security Council is meeting on Thursday at 3pm in New York to discuss the latest developments.

Twenty-five years ago, the heinous terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001 against the United States claimed thousands of lives and represented “an assault on humanity itself”, the UN chief said on Thursday.

Independent human rights investigators voiced deep concern over growing risks to both civilians and South Sudan’s political transition following their latest fact-finding mission to the world’s youngest nation – their 14th in a decade. 

When the creek beside Taudibura Garo’s school in Papua New Guinea floods, the water doesn’t stop at the gate. It rises through the pit toilets – making the school unsafe – sending the 16-year-old and her classmates home without being able to finish.

Nepal’s call for financial compensation following recent deadly floods underlines the need to help countries that contribute the least to climate change – but are increasingly grappling with its most lethal consequences, the top UN official in the country said on Wednesday.

Since the Taliban returned to power in 2021, the plight of Afghans has only deteriorated, with millions impoverished while authorities violate basic human rights daily.