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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UPDATING LIVE: Israel-Gaza crisis; US vetoes Security Council resolution

18 Oct 2023

The United States on Wednesday vetoed a UN Security Council resolution that would have called for “humanitarian pauses” to deliver lifesaving aid to millions in Gaza. The failure by the Council to make its first public intervention on the Israel-Gaza crisis followed the rejection of a Russian-backed draft on Monday evening.

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Israel-Gaza: UN chief urges ceasefire, region ‘on the precipice’

18 Oct 2023

UN chief António Guterres called on Wednesday for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in the Middle East to ease the “epic human suffering” in the Israel-Gaza conflict.

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Guterres: Turn ‘infrastructure emergency’ into opportunity, but also protect nature

17 Oct 2023

Infrastructure is a “crucial pathway” to generate economic growth, create decent jobs, transform energy systems, and advance sustainable development, the UN Secretary-General said in an address to world leaders meeting in Beijing, China on Wednesday.

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Israel-Gaza conflict: Deepening concern for civilians, as UN school is hit

17 Oct 2023

The head of the UN Palestine refugee agency (UNRWA) Philippe Lazzarini, has reported that at least six people were killed on Monday afternoon local time, when an UNRWA school being used as a shelter, was hit in the al-Maghazi camp in the middle region of the embattled Gaza Strip.

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Israel-Gaza crisis: Competing Security Council resolutions reveal diplomatic fault lines

17 Oct 2023

The UN Security Council’s first intervention in the Gaza crisis – a Russian-led draft resolution calling for humanitarian ceasefire – was voted down on Monday. Despite this setback, diplomatic efforts are in full swing as ambassadors prepare to consider another text on the unprecedented crisis.

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Israel-Gaza crisis: Competing Security Council resolutions reveal diplomatic fault lines

17 Oct 2023

The UN Security Council’s first intervention in the Gaza crisis – a Russian-led draft resolution calling for humanitarian ceasefire – was voted down on Monday. Despite this setback, diplomatic efforts are in full swing as ambassadors prepare to consider another text on the unprecedented crisis.

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Guterres: Turn ‘infrastructure emergency’ into opportunity, but also protect nature

17 Oct 2023

Infrastructure is a “crucial pathway” to generate economic growth, create decent jobs, transform energy systems, and advance sustainable development, the UN Secretary-General said in an address to world leaders meeting in Beijing, China on Wednesday.

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Gaza-Israel conflict: deepening concern for civilians amid ongoing strikes

17 Oct 2023

The UN human rights office (OHCHR) issued a fresh alert on Tuesday for civilians left in northern Gaza, amid ongoing military operations in the enclave ahead of an anticipated full-scale Israeli response to Hamas’s 7 October attack.

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Global leaders call for action to meet ambitious development boost

16 Oct 2023

UN Secretary-General António Guterres on Monday called for increased action to deliver $500 billion a year in affordable, long-term financing to developing countries at the eighth World Investment Forum held in Abu Dhabi.

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Security Council rejects Russian resolution on Gaza

16 Oct 2023

The UN Security Council on Monday evening failed to adopt a resolution proposed by Russia that would have called for a humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza, which has been ravaged by almost 10 days of fighting between Israel and Hamas militants.

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Explainer: What’s inside aid convoy at Gaza crossing

16 Oct 2023

Less than a kilometre from Gaza, pallets of food, fuel, water, and medicine are among the hundreds of tonnes of lifesaving aid packed into a long convoy of trucks idling on the Egyptian side of the Rafah border crossing, as drivers await Israel’s green light so they can reach 2.3 million besieged Palestinians caught in the crossfire of the ongoing war.

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Libya: Mission chief updates Security Council on flood disaster ‘beyond imagination’

16 Oct 2023

Humanitarians delivering aid in the wake of Libya’s “unprecedented” flood disaster centred on the coastal city of Derna, have reached more than 146,000 in need, said the head of the UN support mission there (UNSMIL) on Monday.

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Global leaders call for action to meet ambitious development boost

16 Oct 2023

UN Secretary-General António Guterres on Monday called for increased action to deliver $500 billion a year in affordable, long-term financing to developing countries at the eighth World Investment Forum held in Abu Dhabi.

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‘A mountain of hardship’, as Afghanistan suffers yet another earthquake

16 Oct 2023

A powerful earthquake struck western Afghanistan again on Sunday, making it the fourth to hit the impoverished region since 7 October, causing more suffering for families left with little to survive on as the hard winter approaches, UN agencies have reported.

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Gaza: 'History is watching' warns UN relief chief, saying aid access is key priority

16 Oct 2023

Every effort continues to be made by the United Nations and partners to get aid supplies into Gaza following the Israeli order to evacuate the north of the enclave, the UN’s emergency relief chief said on Monday.

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Middle East on ‘verge of the abyss’, UN warns as Israel-Hamas conflict deepens Gaza crisis

15 Oct 2023

UN Secretary-General António Guterres on Sunday appealed to Hamas to immediately release all hostages and to Israel to grant “unimpeded access for humanitarian aid” into the Gaza Strip.

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UN relief chief urges end to ‘humanitarian nightmare’ in Sudan

15 Oct 2023

Six months of war have plunged Sudan into one of the worst humanitarian nightmares in recent history, the UN Emergency Relief Coordinator said on Sunday, calling on the parties to the conflict to uphold their obligations under international humanitarian law.

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First Person: ‘A handful of soil’ – refugee stories from Armenia

14 Oct 2023

People who have fled to Armenia from the Karabakh region of Azerbaijan have been talking about how their lives have been shattered by the recent escalation in hostilities there.

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Gaza: UNRWA issues urgent call for civilians to be protected

14 Oct 2023

The UN Palestine refugee agency (UNRWA) issued an urgent call on Saturday for Israeli Authorities to protect all civilians sheltering in Gaza.

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Tackling disasters means safer and fairer future for Caribbean: A UN Resident Coordinator blog

13 Oct 2023

Reducing the risk of disasters will not only save lives but can provide the platform to tackle inequality in places like the Caribbean, that’s according to senior UN officials in the region.

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Cutting disaster risk will boost equality, improve resilience

13 Oct 2023

Marking the International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction on Friday, UN chief António Guterres called on countries everywhere to boost resilience and adaptation, to build a safer and more just future for all.

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Israel-Gaza crisis dominates close of Human Rights Council session

13 Oct 2023

 At the concluding segment of the 54th Session of the UN Human Rights Council on Friday in Geneva, several States seized the opportunity to address the conflict engulfing Gaza and Israel, now in its sixth day. 

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Gaza: Nowhere to go, as humanitarian situation reaches ‘lethal low’

13 Oct 2023

UN humanitarians expressed deep concern on Friday for all civilians in the Gaza Strip following Israel’s order for the entire population there to leave the north, amid ongoing airstrikes and a deepening humanitarian crisis.

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Afghanistan: Agencies launch funding appeal for quake-hit families

13 Oct 2023

UN agencies are appealing for urgent funds to assist the hundreds of thousands affected by deadly earthquakes in western Afghanistan.

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Cutting disaster risk will boost equality, improve resilience

13 Oct 2023

Marking the International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction on Friday, UN chief António Guterres called on countries everywhere to boost resilience and adaptation, to build a safer and more just future for all.

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Tackling disasters means safer and fairer future for Caribbean: A UN Resident Coordinator blog

13 Oct 2023

Reducing the risk of disasters will not only save lives but can provide the platform to tackle inequality in places like the Caribbean, that’s according to senior UN officials in the region.

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WMO: Global stocktake of water resources needed

12 Oct 2023

The hydrological cycle is spinning out of balance as a result of climate change and human activity, according to a new report from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) that offers an extensive assessment of global water resources.

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Explainer: How UN delivers life-saving aid amid crises

12 Oct 2023

What does it take to get food, medicine, emergency education, and shelter to record numbers of people in some of the most dangerous places on Earth? The UN does this around the world, including in Afghanistan, Haiti, Sudan, Ukraine, and the occupied Palestinian territory.

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World News in Brief: Reducing disaster risk for persons with disabilities, Afghan quake latest, global aid funding off track

12 Oct 2023

The world must act on “unacceptable failures” to protect persons with disabilities from the damaging impact of living through a natural disaster, the UN office dealing with disaster risk said on Thursday.

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Humanitarians call for urgent aid access to Gaza   

12 Oct 2023

Gaza is on the brink of running out of food, water, electricity and critical supplies, UN humanitarians warned on Thursday.