UN News Centre
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World Urban Forum opens in Baku as housing crisis and climate shocks intensify
Soaring housing costs, climate shocks and conflicts are leaving millions without adequate shelter – but what can be done? As the 13th UN World Urban Forum opens on Sunday in Baku, Azerbaijan, participants will grapple with solutions to a deepening global housing crisis.
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Somalia at ‘real risk of famine’ as Middle East war fallout continues
At least six million people in Somalia are going days without enough food, UN aid teams warned on Friday, highlighting that nearly two million of this number are young children “at high risk of illness or death”.
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LIVE: Security Council meets on Syria transition and humanitarian crisis
The UN Security Council meets Friday morning in New York to discuss the evolving situation in Syria, as the country navigates a fragile transition after years of conflict and the fall of the Assad regime. Deputy Special Envoy Claudio Cordone and UN relief chief Tom Fletcher are expected to brief members on political and humanitarian developments. Follow our live coverage for updates from the chamber as they happen.
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LIVE UPDATES: UN committee commemorates the 78th anniversary of the Nakba
The Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People meets Friday at the UN Headquarters to commemorate the 78th anniversary of the Nakba. Senior UN officials, including General Assembly President Annalena Baerbock and Assistant Secretary-General Khaled Khiari, are expected to address the meeting. The event will also feature testimonies from Palestinian families and a tribute to historian of Palestine and the Nakba, Walid Khalidi. Follow our live updates from the meeting as it happens.
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Israeli military strikes add to civilian suffering in Gaza, West Bank and Lebanon
Civilians across Gaza, the West Bank and Lebanon continue to face mounting hardship as conflict, displacement and ongoing military operations deepen humanitarian needs and strain already limited aid efforts, according to the latest updates from UN agencies.
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WHO sounds alarm over nicotine pouches targeting young people
Brightly coloured nicotine pouches promoted through social media influencers, music festivals and youth-oriented advertising are driving a rapid rise in nicotine use among young people worldwide, the World Health Organization (WHO) warned on Friday.
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Afghan mothers and children face worsening hunger crisis, WFP warns
Afghanistan’s deepening malnutrition crisis is pushing mothers and children to the brink, the UN World Food Programme has warned, as mass returns from neighbouring countries and severe funding shortfalls overwhelm already strained humanitarian operations.
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Blackouts and shortages disrupt healthcare across Cuba
Hospitals across Cuba are suspending surgeries, struggling to keep lifesaving equipment running and facing severe medicine shortages as blackouts and fuel shortages push the country’s healthcare system deeper into crisis, senior UN officials warned on Friday.
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World News in Brief: UN relief vehicle struck in Ukraine, emergency airdrops in South Sudan, backlash against LGBTIQ+ rights
The Secretary-General is alarmed that a clearly marked United Nations vehicle was struck twice in Kherson city in Ukraine on 14 May, his spokesperson said in a statement.
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Global energy and trade disruption pushing millions towards poverty
Disruptions to global energy supplies and trade corridors are driving up the cost of food, transport and essential goods worldwide, slowing economic growth and increasing pressure on vulnerable households and debt-strapped developing countries.
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As war displaces millions in DR Congo, new schools offer children hope beyond violence
Ten-year-old Shadrac Anyazaka does not hesitate when asked about his future. “After finishing my studies, I would like to become President of the Republic one day,” he tells visitors to his school in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
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Sudan hunger crisis deepens as UN warns millions face acute food shortages
Nearly 20 million people across Sudan are facing acute hunger and more than 800,000 children risk severe malnutrition this year, UN agencies warned on Friday, as civil war, mass displacement and collapsing food and health systems deepen one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises and push parts of the country closer to famine.
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Gaza reconstruction envisages building ‘islands’ out of rubble
A feasibility study is underway to examine whether Gaza’s war debris could be recycled to reclaim coastal land and build artificial islands, as part of reconstruction.
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‘Stop’: Sandy Walker uses art to confront the legacy of Hiroshima
Eighty years after the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, artist Sandy Walker believes art still has the power to cut through abstraction and confront people with the human reality of nuclear violence. Inspired by the writings of Hiroshima survivor Tamiki Hara, Walker’s work seeks to transform historical catastrophe into intimate acts of memory, grief and attention.
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Russian attacks on Ukrainian civilians are a clear violation of humanitarian law, says senior UN official
The UN Humanitarian Coordinator a.i. in Ukraine, Bernadette Castel-Hollingsworth, has reacted strongly to Russian military strikes on a civilian area of Kyiv on Thursday.
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Yemen parties agree under UN mediation to release 1,600 detainees
More than 1,600 conflict-related detainees in Yemen will be released under a UN-brokered agreement reached after months of negotiations in Jordan, marking the largest prisoner release deal since the country’s civil war began and offering a rare sign of progress in stalled peace efforts.
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UN welcomes $1.8 billion US boost for humanitarian operations
An additional $1.8 billion in US humanitarian funding will allow the United Nations and its partners to expand emergency relief operations reaching millions of people worldwide, as rising global needs and funding shortfalls force aid agencies to scale back assistance.
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World News in Brief: Malnutrition in Somalia, hunger crisis in DR Congo, energy shortages in Cuba
Nearly six million people in Somalia – almost a third of the population analysed – are projected to face acute hunger between April and June, with 1.9 million expected to experience emergency levels, UN-backed food security experts warned on Thursday.
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HIV prevention and treatment services faltering, warns UNAIDS
Decades of gains in the fight against AIDS are under growing threat as donor funding declines and community-based health services collapse in some of the world’s most vulnerable countries, the head of the joint UN programme on HIV/AIDS warned on Thursday.
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Lebanon: UN peacekeeping force warns drone incidents near its positions are putting personnel at risk
The UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) said on Wednesday that escalating drone activity and nearby explosions involving suspected Hezbollah drones and Israeli forces are endangering its personnel and threatening already fragile stability in southern Lebanon.
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Recycled plastics for food use require stronger safeguards, warn UN food security experts
Recycled plastics could help reduce the world’s growing waste crisis, but only if food packaging is carefully regulated to prevent contamination, according to a new analysis from the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
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Funding shortfalls force deep cuts to Syria food assistance: WFP
Millions of Syrians are at growing risk of hunger after severe funding shortages forced the UN World Food Programme (WFP) to halve emergency food assistance, cutting support for hundreds of thousands of vulnerable people across the country.
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Afghanistan crisis deepens as record returns, drought and aid cuts strain economy
Afghanistan’s humanitarian and economic crisis is deepening despite modest economic growth, with nearly three in four people unable to meet basic needs, the UN Development Programme (UNDP) said on Wednesday.
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World News in Brief: Mounting waste in Gaza, drone attacks in Sudan, aid truck struck in Ukraine
Mounting waste and limited access to sanitation sites are deepening health risks for families across Gaza, as humanitarian workers warn that overcrowded dumping areas and worsening living conditions threaten vulnerable communities.
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In Addis Ababa, Guterres urges reforms to give Africa stronger global voice
Africa’s rising influence is being constrained by outdated global institutions, unfair borrowing costs and cascading global crises, UN Secretary‑General António Guterres warned in Addis Ababa, as the United Nations and African Union reaffirmed their strategic partnership.
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UN rights chief warns abuses in DPR Korea remain a ‘human rights crisis’
Serious human rights violations continue in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) and must not be allowed to fade from international attention, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk warned on Wednesday.
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WHO says hantavirus ship operation completed, monitoring to continue
A complex international operation to disembark and repatriate passengers from the hantavirus-hit MV Hondius has concluded in Tenerife, with the World Health Organization (WHO) praising Spain’s leadership while warning that global coordination must continue in the weeks ahead.
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Guterres highlights Africa’s leadership in speech to summit in Nairobi
Africa continues to advance and demands investment at scale, justice in global systems, and partnerships grounded in respect, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said on Tuesday.
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Chad’s refugee crisis overwhelms maternity care in east, UN agency warns
Many women in eastern Chad are being forced to give birth in overcrowded clinics with limited medicine, minimal equipment and severe shortages of anesthesia, as a worsening humanitarian crisis overwhelms the country’s fragile healthcare system, the UN reproductive health agency, UNFPA, warned on Tuesday.
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World News in Brief: Conflict drives hunger in DR Congo, mass corporal punishment in Afghanistan, Earth’s sand is running out
More than 26.5 million people in the Democratic Republic of the Congo are facing acute hunger, according to a new analysis from UN-backed food security experts published Tuesday.
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