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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Path to low-carbon construction is clear as mud

06 Mar 2024

The use of building materials such as cement and steel create a massive carbon footprint, and the industry overall is responsible for almost 40 per cent of global CO2 emissions, mainly in terms of production and transport. Now, two women architects in India think they might have a new, perhaps counter-intuitive solution to sustainable construction: building with mud.

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North Gaza aid mission reveals more infants may die from hunger

05 Mar 2024

A rare opportunity to deliver desperately needed supplies to hospitals in northern Gaza for the first time in months has been welcomed by UN humanitarians who on Tuesday issued a fresh alert about “appalling” conditions in medical facilities where more children risk are battling life-threatening malnutrition.

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World News in Brief: Climate change in the countryside, Yemen polio drive success, development and peace

05 Mar 2024

Climate change is disproportionately affecting the incomes of rural women, the poor and older populations, who also have the least capacity to adapt to extreme weather events, a new report from the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) revealed on Tuesday.

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Haiti crisis: UN chief calls for ‘urgent action’ to end rampant insecurity

05 Mar 2024

The UN Secretary-General reiterated his deep concern on Tuesday over the “rapidly deteriorating” security situation in Haiti as violent gangs tighten their grip on the country in the wake of a jailbreak at the weekend which saw nearly 4,000 criminals return to the streets.

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Gaza war may fuel much wider Middle East crisis, warns UN rights chief

04 Mar 2024

Negotiations for a ceasefire in Gaza continued in Egypt for a second day on Monday as the UN’s top rights official warned that the war there risked morphing into a much “wider conflagration” enveloping every country in the Middle East and beyond. 

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UN crime prevention chief pledges enhanced cooperation in Somalia

04 Mar 2024

The Executive Director of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Ghada Waly has highlighted the threats of transnational organized crime, terrorism, and corruption which is plaguing Somalia.

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Gaza: ‘Babies slowly perishing under the world’s gaze,’ UNICEF warns

03 Mar 2024

A senior official with the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has appealed for wider and safer humanitarian access in Gaza, where malnourished babies are slowly dying while the world watches.

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Human ingenuity can help to save nature, Guterres says on World Wildlife Day

03 Mar 2024

UN Secretary-General António Guterres called for action now to protect nature in his message to mark World Wildlife Day on Sunday.

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UN chief appeals for greater support for small islands fighting climate change

02 Mar 2024

More funding is needed to support Small Island Developing States (SIDS) on the frontlines of climate change, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said on Saturday in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.

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Security Council reiterates call for immediate and safe aid delivery to Gaza

02 Mar 2024

The UN Security Council has underscored the need to protect civilians in Gaza after more than 100 Palestinians were killed on Thursday, and several hundred others injured, while waiting for food at an aid convoy.

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First Person: Water and electricity ‘will save us from famine’

02 Mar 2024

An initiative to rapidly develop villages in some of the most drought-prone and poorest rural areas of southern Madagascar could help people to avoid the danger of famine, according to people benefiting from a collaboration with the UN’s World Food Programme (WFP).

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Gaza: Worst famine fears realised as 10th child reportedly ‘starves to death’

01 Mar 2024

Repeated warnings from humanitarians over desperate food insecurity and imminent famine in Gaza came into focus on Friday amid reports from the enclave’s authorities that a tenth child had died from malnutrition and dehydration.

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World News in Brief: Another month of extreme heat, Sudan exodus continues into Chad, Zero Discrimination Day

01 Mar 2024

February saw more extreme heat and unusually high temperatures in both hemispheres, the UN weather agency (WMO) said on Friday.

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UNHCR assists thousands fleeing armed group violence in northern Mozambique

01 Mar 2024

The UN refugee agency, UNHCR, has voiced deep concern over the escalating humanitarian crisis in the restive Cabo Delgado province in northern Mozambique following a recent surge in violence and attacks by armed groups. 

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From AI to fast fashion, ‘world’s environment parliament’ adopts bold action plans

01 Mar 2024

The UN Environment Assembly adopted a ministerial declaration as it wrapped up on Friday in the Kenyan capital, together with 17 resolutions and decisions aimed at redefining the way humankind interacts with nature.

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UN issues global alert over teacher shortage

29 Feb 2024

The world urgently needs 44 million teachers by 2030 in order to make the Sustainable Development Goals a reality, a new report from UNESCO, the UN agency championing education, announced this week. 

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‘Carnage’ in Gaza must end, UN rights chief tells Human Rights Council

29 Feb 2024

The “carnage” in Gaza has left more than 30,000 dead and must end immediately, UN rights chief Volker Türk told the Human Rights Council on Thursday, after almost five months of constant Israeli bombardment and mass displacement in the enclave, prompted by Hamas-led attacks. 

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Senior officials call for action and solutions at UN Environment Assembly

29 Feb 2024

Leaders attending a major UN environmental conference in Nairobi must drive forward solutions to combat climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution, Secretary-General António Guterres said on Thursday. 

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Gazans eating wild plants to survive

29 Feb 2024

UN News has learned that out of desperation, some Gazans have resorted to selling wild plants with little nutritional value, in the markets of their devastated enclave. In this special report, Ziad Taleb spoke to some of the young people trying to make a living, despite the ever-present dangers.

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UN chief appalled by ‘tragic human toll’ of Gaza war

29 Feb 2024

The UN Secretary-General said on Thursday he was “appalled by the tragic human toll of the conflict in Gaza” where more than 30,000 people have now reportedly been killed and over 70,000 injured.

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World News in Brief: Air travel boom erases COVID dip, ‘disturbing’ new anti-LGBT bill in Ghana, rights abuses in Crimea

28 Feb 2024

The UN aviation agency on Wednesday announced that air traffic levels are operating at around two per cent above their high in 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic grounded much of the world’s population in lockdown.

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All parties to Gaza crisis may have committed war crimes: UN rights chief

28 Feb 2024

All parties to the Gaza conflict have been responsible for “clear violations of international humanitarian law including possible war crimes”, according to the UN’s top human rights official, Volker Türk.

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Wheat from war-torn Ukraine to feed families affected by conflict in Sudan

28 Feb 2024

More than 7,000 tonnes of wheat donated by war-ravaged Ukraine will help to feed one million conflict-affected people in Sudan for a month, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) said on Wednesday. 

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Humanitarians launch $674 million appeal urging ‘increased solidarity’ with Haiti

28 Feb 2024

Humanitarians are hoping that donors will robustly support a $674 million appeal for Haiti, where armed gangs continue to terrorize the population, a senior UN official said on Wednesday during a briefing to journalists in New York. 

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World News in Brief: Noncommunicable diseases and emergencies, aid plan for Haiti, peace efforts in CAR

27 Feb 2024

People caught up in humanitarian emergencies are at increased risk of cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes and other noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), UN agencies and partners warned on Tuesday. 

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UPDATING LIVE: Security Council meets on Gaza as risk of famine grows by the day

27 Feb 2024

Well over half a million Gazans are “one step away from famine”, say UN humanitarians, ahead of a Security Council meeting due to start at 3:00 PM in New York on food security in the stricken enclave. The deputy head of UN aid coordination told ambassadors that famine is "almost inevitable" unless aid can be scaled up. Follow our live coverage here.

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UN Syria envoy appeals for urgent de-escalation across the Middle East

27 Feb 2024

Fallout from conflict in the Middle East and ongoing fighting in Syria are having a devastating impact on civilians inside the country, UN Special Envoy Geir Pedersen told the Security Council on Tuesday. 

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Gaza: Frustration mounts as UN convoy is blocked outside stricken hospital

27 Feb 2024

UN relief agencies operating in war-torn Gaza voiced deep frustration on Tuesday over continuing aid access restrictions placed on them by the Israeli military, after ambulances carrying patients away from a stricken hospital at the weekend were stopped for several hours while health workers were searched and detained.

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Universal connectivity gets a $9 billion private sector boost

27 Feb 2024

The mobile phone industry has pledged over $9 billion towards the goal of connecting the world, said the chief of the UN International Telecommunication Union (ITU) on Monday, addressing the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

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Aid delivery to Gaza falls by half since January: UNRWA

26 Feb 2024

Very little humanitarian aid has entered besieged Gaza this month, with a 50 per cent reduction compared to January, the head of the UN agency that assists Palestine refugees (UNRWA) said on Monday.