News

Our news page provides you with a round up of UN news related to economic development, humanitarian aid, climate change, and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). You will find the summary of news articles together with a link to the news source.

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Ukraine: Civilian casualties mount, as war enters second winter

21 Nov 2023

At least 10,000 civilians, including over 560 children, have been killed and more than 18,500 injured since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February last year, the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission there said on Tuesday.

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Gazans have ‘no options’ for safety as offensive continues

20 Nov 2023

In Gaza, where two UN-run schools received direct hits over the weekend amid intensified fighting, the plight of civilians continues to worsen as heavy rain falls across the enclave.

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UN urges dramatic climate action as records keep tumbling

20 Nov 2023

With global temperatures soaring and greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) reaching unprecedented levels, dramatic climate action is needed to steer the world away from runaway climate change and align it to the objectives of the Paris Agreement, a major UN report has found.

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Child deaths from wasting are predictable and preventable: WHO chief

20 Nov 2023

Worldwide, 45 million children under five are wasted, meaning they are dangerously thin for their height, and roughly one million die each year from the condition, the Director-General of the World Health Organization told the Global Food Security Summit held on Monday in London. 

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War and health crisis in Gaza a ‘recipe for epidemics’ warns WHO

20 Nov 2023

The thousands of injuries sustained by civilians across Gaza combined with a burgeoning public health crisis is a ‘recipe for epidemics’, the World Health Organization’s emergency response director said on Monday.

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‘This must stop,’ UN chief says as deaths, displacement ripple across Gaza

19 Nov 2023

Spikes in casualties, attacks on schools and shelters, including the death of a UN worker, and crippling fuel shortages blocking aid deliveries rippled across Gaza over the weekend, as the World Health Organization (WHO) helped to evacuate 31 babies in critical condition at the besieged Al-Shifa Hospital and the UN chief called for a humanitarian ceasefire amid the ongoing Israel-Palestine crisis.

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From the Field: Transforming lives in Darién jungle

19 Nov 2023

A rising number of migrants are attempting the dangerous journey across the Darién jungle spanning the Colombia-Panama border. For Etzaida Rios, 35, the impact of providing hope and help runs deep.

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Restricted fuel deliveries curtail aid efforts in Gaza amid fresh attacks on schools

18 Nov 2023

UN agencies called on Saturday for unconditional, regular fuel deliveries into Gaza, warning that without enough, the besieged enclave’s 2.3 million people face grave health hazards, as the Israel-Palestine conflict that began on 7 October continues.

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Gaza: ‘Endless needs’ reflect spiralling situation as hospitals shut down, WHO warns

17 Nov 2023

The UN health agency, WHO, on Friday issued a new warning about the desperate situation for people in Gaza, with the number of medical facilities operational “clearly not enough to support the endless needs” created by more than five weeks of hostilities. 

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UPDATING LIVE: Humanitarian crisis in Gaza could get far worse, warns UN relief chief

17 Nov 2023

Fierce hostilities continue across Gaza from the air, sea, and on the ground, the UN’s top humanitarian official told Member States on Friday, reporting that 41,000 houses have now been destroyed or severely damaged.

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Displaced families uprooted by severe floods across Horn of Africa

17 Nov 2023

Severe floods in the Horn of Africa have affected tens of thousands of displaced families in Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia, putting lives and livelihoods at risk, the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, said on Friday. 

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Stories from the UN Archive: Marlon Brando, the UN’s first frontman for water

16 Nov 2023

What do Bolivia, Marlon Brando and the UN have in common?

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Gaza: UN’s Türk urges ‘political path out of horror’

16 Nov 2023

UN human rights chief Volker Türk on Thursday welcomed the Security Council call for pauses in the fighting in Gaza where “doctors operate on screaming children without anaesthetic, using mobile phones for light”, before appealing directly to the warring sides to lay down their weapons.

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Gaza: Lack of fuel threatening to shut down ‘entire’ humanitarian operation

16 Nov 2023

Lack of fuel is jeopardizing “the entire architecture of the humanitarian response” in Gaza, where raw sewage is now flowing in the streets, the head of the UN agency that assists Palestine refugees, UNRWA, said on Thursday. 

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World News in Brief: Ethiopia food aid resumes, ‘Stop the Lies’ campaign against big tobacco, Syria ruling, climate action – key to peace

16 Nov 2023

In drought and conflict-affected Ethiopia, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) said on Thursday it was restarting food assistance after a thorough review of its operations following reports of large-scale aid diversion earlier this year.

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Sudan: Deadly spiral of violence continues between military rivals

16 Nov 2023

The war between rival militaries in Sudan, which has been raging for over seven months has further intensified in recent weeks, particularly in the volatile Darfur region, a senior UN official said on Thursday.

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Explainer: How aid reaches Gaza

15 Nov 2023

The Rafah border crossing in Egypt has been called a lifeline into the besieged Gaza Strip, home to 2.3 million people, amid the escalating Israel-Palestine conflict. All other crossings were shuttered since hostilities began on 7 October. We took a look at how lifesaving aid travels into the enclave.

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‘No end in sight’ to rising greenhouse gas emissions, UN weather agency warns

15 Nov 2023

Greenhouse gas emissions reached a record high in 2022 with “no end in sight to the rising trend”, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said in a report published on Wednesday. 

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UPDATING LIVE: Security Council passes resolution calling for urgent and extended humanitarian pauses in Gaza

15 Nov 2023

The Security Council has passed a resolution calling for the immediate release of all hostages held by Hamas, and for urgent and extended humanitarian corridors throughout the enclave to save and protect civilian lives. Follow coverage here for live updates, and watch live on UN Web TV, here.

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Gaza: ‘Hospitals are not battlegrounds’, children’s suffering must stop, UN humanitarians say

15 Nov 2023

Children have been killed, maimed, abducted and denied assistance in Gaza, and the parties to the conflict must “stop this horror”, UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) chief Catherine Russell said during a visit to the enclave as humanitarian operations there ground to a halt on Wednesday for lack of fuel.

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Israel-Palestine crisis: UN emergency relief chief unveils 10-point plan ‘to rein in the carnage’

15 Nov 2023

The UN’s top emergency relief official unveiled a 10-point plan “to rein in the carnage” in Gaza on Wednesday which focuses on a major expansion of aid into into the wartorn enclave, along with a new call for humanitarian ceasefires and the release of hostages taken during Hamas’s 7 October terror attack on Israel.

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Besieged Gaza hospital misery continues while rainfall prompts new health scare

14 Nov 2023

UN health agency WHO hailed on Tuesday the “heroic efforts” of staff at Gaza City’s besieged Al-Shifa hospital and expressed concern for hundreds of thousands of displaced people in the enclave where heavy rainfall has caused flooding and aggravated the already dire health crisis.

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‘Close the climate ambition gap’ says UN chief ahead of COP28

14 Nov 2023

The COP28 climate conference held in Dubai later this month “must be the place to urgently close the climate ambition gap”, as emissions continue to rise and climate chaos intensifies, UN chief António Guterres insisted on Tuesday.

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Ukraine: UN official ‘utterly outraged’ by brutal attack in Kherson

14 Nov 2023

The top UN humanitarian official in Ukraine has condemned deadly Russian shelling in the southern city of Kherson on Monday. 

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World News in Brief: Water crisis for children, hunger in East Africa, new Yazidi memorial

13 Nov 2023

Some 739 million worldwide – or one in three - already live in areas exposed to high or very high water scarcity, with climate change threatening to push that alarming figure higher, according to a new UNICEF report.

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Gaza City: Babies dying in hospital amid scenes of devastation

13 Nov 2023

More patients, including premature babies, have reportedly died in Gaza City’s Al-Shifa hospital which has gone three days without electricity amid intensifying Israeli military operations, making a ceasefire more urgent than ever, UN humanitarians have said.

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New round of plastics pollution treaty talks underway in Nairobi

13 Nov 2023

Negotiators from around the world gathered in Nairobi, Kenya, on Monday for fresh talks over a landmark international treaty to combat plastic pollution. 

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Fuel shortage could put the brakes on trucks delivering aid to Gaza

13 Nov 2023

Trucks transporting desperately needed aid into Gaza could stop rolling on Tuesday due to a lack of fuel, a senior official with the UN humanitarian affairs office, OCHA, has warned. 

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Gaza: UN agencies make plea for international action to end hospital attacks

12 Nov 2023

UN agencies issued an urgent call for international action on Sunday to end the ongoing attacks on hospitals, as Israeli forces battle Palestinian militants in the heart of the Gaza Strip.

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‘Genuine prospect of Palestinian statehood is critical’, UNRWA chief tells emergency summit in Saudi Arabia

11 Nov 2023

A political solution to end the cycle of conflict in Israel and Palestine has become a stark “matter of life and death” for millions in Gaza and beyond, said the head of the UN relief agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA) on Saturday.