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As months of conflict continue to devastate communities across Lebanon, families are being left without shelter, healthcare and other essential services.

The UN human rights chief Volker Türk on Wednesday condemned new threats from Nicaragua’s co-president Daniel Ortega to hinder civil rights and prevent dissenting individuals and groups from participating in elections.

Flash floods have killed at least 26 people across eastern Afghanistan, including 23 in the mountainous province of Nuristan, where homes, markets and roads were swept away and search teams continued looking for people reported missing.

The Security Council meets this morning to debate critical minerals — the lithium, cobalt and copper powering the clean energy transition. Demand is set to triple by 2030. The question: will this mineral wealth build peace and prosperity, or fund conflict and corruption? Follow live updates throughout the day.

The world’s shift to clean energy is driving huge demand for critical minerals such as lithium, nickel, cobalt and copper. 

Independent UN human rights experts on Tuesday condemned the M23 armed group’s “reign of terror” over territory it controls in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), calling for an end to the Rwanda-backed group’s sexual torture and violence against civilians.

The UN General Assembly closed its first ever High-level Meeting on road safety on Tuesday by adopting a sweeping new declaration aimed at halving road deaths by 2030 – over the sole objection of the United States.

The United Nations again called for restraint as war ramps up in the Middle East, underscoring the need for dialogue and an end to attacks on “vital infrastructure” across the region.

Why are critical minerals suddenly at the centre of global politics?

Amid intensified deadly Israeli attacks in Gaza, the UN chief and top officials condemned the killings while a surge violence rocked the West Bank and aid agencies scrambled to help Palestinians.

Global hunger declined for a third consecutive year in 2025 showing that progress is possible, but gains remain fragile and far too slow to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by the 2030 deadline.

The Security Council is holding its monthly debate on Syria amid reports of an Israeli attack in occupied territory and discussions of a multi-national oil pipeline to counter the closure of the critical Strait of Hormuz – still the focus of the ongoing US-Iran war. The meeting follows UN independent investigators’ findings that security conditions remain fragile in the south as António Guterres heads to Damascus for his first visit to the country as Secretary-General.