Leaders from across the world met in Berlin on Wednesday to show support for Sudan, where a fourth year of brutal warfare has begun as humanitarian needs deepen.
Leaders from across the world met in Berlin on Wednesday to show support for Sudan, where a fourth year of brutal warfare has begun as humanitarian needs deepen.
Across the Middle East, tensions remain high with Israeli military operations continuing in Lebanon following direct talks between the two governments in Washington on Tuesday. More than 2,000 Lebanese have been reported killed since early March. Uncertainty also continues over the crucial Strait of Hormuz crisis. Stay with us for live updates on developments on the ground, humanitarian impacts and diplomatic efforts. App users can follow coverage here.
The UN Security Council met Wednesday over the deteriorating security situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and wider Great Lakes region. Despite mediation efforts in Doha and Washington, regional tensions between the DRC, Rwanda, and Burundi remain acute. Follow the full live updates below from our Meetings Coverage team, and app users can click here.
As the war in the Middle East continues, the United Nations Secretary-General issued a passionate call for “serious negotiations” between the US and Iran to resume, warning that respect for international law “is being trampled” underfoot.
Sudan remains the world’ s largest humanitarian and displacement crisis, UN agencies and partners said on Tuesday, calling for an end to the war between rival militaries on the eve of the three-year mark.
Syria has made “remarkable progress” on transitional justice within the past year, raising hopes for accountability and recovery after more than a decade of civil conflict.
Yemen must not be drawn into the escalating conflict in the Middle East, the Security Council heard on Tuesday, stressing the need for de-escalation, political progress and urgent humanitarian funding for beleaguered civilians battered by years of grinding war.
As Israel and Lebanon prepare for talks in Washington, the UN Secretary-General has urged both sides to use all available diplomatic avenues to end hostilities. At the same time, blockading of the Strait of Hormuz continues to impact global trade and food security. Meanwhile, a regional humanitarian crisis continues. Stay with us for live updates. App users can follow coverage here.
Respect for international law is being “trampled” the UN chief warned on Tuesday, urging further negotiations between the US and Iran over ending the war and extending the fragile ceasefire as needed. Saying “there is no military solution,” he called for international navigation rights to be restored in the Strait of Hormuz. Meanwhile, a regional humanitarian crisis continues. Stay with us for live updates. App users can follow coverage here.
The clock is ticking for global food systems as disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz threaten to choke off the flow of fuel and crucial fertilizers needed for the next planting season – also raising the risk of higher food prices and a new wave of inflation.
A senior United Nations official on Monday hailed the European Union (EU) as “a major economic and diplomatic actor and a strong advocate of multilateralism.”
As Sudan’s war moves into a fourth year, civilians are still being killed, displaced and subjected to widespread sexual violence, the UN’s top humanitarian official in the country warned on Monday, calling for urgent action to stop the fighting and protect civilians.
Weekend developments have raised fresh concerns worldwide after talks between the United States and Iran on Saturday ended without agreement, fuelling uncertainty and raising tensions once again. The planned US blockade targeting Iranian ports going into effect has added to fears of further escalation and global trade disruption. Meanwhile, the humanitarian toll mounts, with Lebanese authorities reporting that deaths from Israeli airstrikes has now surpassed 2,000. Stay with us for live updates on humanitarian impacts and diplomatic efforts. App users can follow coverage here.
The United States and Iran must continue talks aimed at ending their weeks-long war, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said on Monday, underscoring that there is no military solution to the conflict.
Katerine Avella is a former combatant in Colombia’s decades-long civil war, a peace signatory and a community leader. After the guns fell silent, she created the fashion brand Ixora but, with violence returning to the region, Ms. Avella is now focusing on trying to keep the project afloat in the face of new challenges.
After a 10-day journey around the far side of the Moon, the four astronauts on NASA’s Artemis II mission are set to splash down in the Pacific Ocean late on Friday.n.
Fighting continues across parts of the Middle East, with renewed exchanges between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon. Humanitarian needs are deepening, with rising civilian casualties, mounting displacement and growing strain on services. Diplomatic efforts continue with high stakes negotiations due to start Saturday between the US and Iran over the faltering ceasefire deal. Lebanon is an active war zone and the Strait of Hormuz is still effectively closed. Stay with us for live updates. App users can follow coverage here.
With Lebanon still reeling from Israel’s devastating airstrikes on 8 April, UN humanitarians reported new fears of attacks on ambulances and looming food shortages in the south of the country on Friday.
As Sudan approaches the third anniversary of a brutal civil war, millions remain displaced and hungry while the health system lies in ruins, with no end to the violence in sight, UN agencies said on Friday.
Despite successful legislative elections in Kosovo late last year, a “delicate equilibrium” persists as deep divisions remain over the future of the United Nations presence in the region.
With a US-Iran ceasefire offering a fragile glimmer of hope after weeks of conflict, violence continues to reverberate across the Middle East. Massive airstrikes in Lebanon have caused heavy civilian casualties and widespread destruction, drawing strong UN condemnation. As humanitarian needs deepen and diplomatic efforts intensify, the situation remains highly volatile. Stay with us for live updates. App users can follow coverage here.
The scale and speed of destruction from the wave of airstrikes in Lebanon which began just hours after the US-Iran ceasefire announcement, has left the country’s already strained health system struggling to cope, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
The announcement of a shaky two-week ceasefire between the US and Iran, will it is hoped, lead to the opening of the strategically important Strait of Hormuz, a vital waterway through which one fifth of the world’s oil and gas passes.
The United Nations has strongly condemned airstrikes by the Israeli military across Lebanon on Wednesday which have resulted in significant casualties and destruction.
After nearly 40 days of intense hostilities across the Middle East – marked by rising civilian casualties and widespread damage to critical infrastructure – a two-week ceasefire between the United States and Iran has been announced. While the UN Secretary-General has welcomed the move as a step toward a broader peace, reports of continued Israeli strikes and mass casualties across Lebanon underscore the fragility of the situation. Stay with us for live updates. App users can follow coverage here.
Hostilities continue across the Middle East, with ongoing strikes, rising civilian impacts and mounting pressure on critical infrastructure and humanitarian services. On the diplomatic track in New York, China and Russia vetoed a Security Council resolution put forward by Gulf States to ensure safety and security of ships in the Strait of Hormuz - find full coverage here. Meanwhile, displacement remains high, aid access is constrained. Human rights chief Volker Türk says President Trump’s threat to annihilate Iranian civilisation is “sickening”. Stay with us for live updates from across the UN system. App users can follow coverage here.
Thirty-two years ago, a genocidal campaign was unleashed against Rwanda’s Tutsi minority, resulting in more than one million deaths. On Tuesday, the UN is holding commemorations to ensure that the genocide is never forgotten and never repeated.
Over 180 people are feared dead or missing in the latest shipwrecks on the Mediterranean, according to the UN migration agency, IOM.
The UN Security Council has failed to adopt a resolution aiming to boost security in the Strait of Hormuz as the critical shipping corridor remains largely closed to global trade and the transport of humanitarian aid, with war continuing to rage across the region.
Strikes and counter-strikes continue across the Middle East, with dozens of casualties reported over the weekend in Lebanon following Israeli strikes targeting the south and the capital, Beirut. Meanwhile, humanitarian needs are rising, critical infrastructure remains under strain, and the wider economic and global impacts of the crisis continue to mount. Stay with us for live updates from across the UN system. App users can follow coverage here.
The UN is significantly scaling up its presence in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, to expand life-saving operations as the conflict between rival militaries approaches its third year.
Reports of yet another projectile strike near the Bushehr nuclear power plant prompted Rafael Grossi, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), to register his deep concern on Saturday.
In conflict zones where new technologies are making landmines more dangerous, deminers must innovate at the same pace to avoid being left behind, a leading UN mines expert has told UN News.
As violence forces tens of thousands to flee Sudan’s South Kordofan state, doctors in a key maternity hospital are facing impossible choices – with too few supplies, too many patients, and lives slipping away.
The Middle East crisis has lurched into its second month, prompting UN Secretary-General António Guterres to issue a stark warning on Thursday morning that the world is “on the edge of a wider war” with catastrophic global implications.
South Sudan is evolving into a catastrophic human rights and humanitarian crisis, UN Human Rights Council-appointed independent experts warned on Thursday.
Deadly new strikes reported across the Middle East overnight and Thursday rattled energy markets and pushed crude oil prices up to $107 in early trading. Hopes dwindled of a quick end to the conflict as President Trump spoke of another "two to three weeks" of attacks, alongside "ongoing" discussions with Tehran. Civilians across the region continue to suffer misery and displacement. The UN chief told reporters at UN Headquarters the conflict ‘is already being felt everywhere,” and “the spiral of destruction must stop”. Follow live coverage from the Security Council here. App users can follow coverage here.
The ongoing crisis in the Middle East is exposing a central vulnerability in the global economy: the dependence on fossil fuels flowing through regions affected by conflict, a situation which is strengthening the UN’s case for a faster transition to cheaper, more resilient renewable power.
The war in the Middle East and the near halt to shipping in the Strait of Hormuz has amplified the energy crunch facing developing nations in Africa and South Asia that rely heavily on imported liquid gas, food and fertilizers.
Although the situation on the ground is challenging, investigations are underway into the killing of three UN peacekeepers over two consecutive days with an update expected “as soon as possible,” UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said on Wednesday.
The trauma of mass displacement and disruption to aid shipments throughout the world are among the devastating impacts of the war raging in the Middle East, UN agencies said on Tuesday.
More than a month since war erupted in the Middle East, UN agencies confirmed on Tuesday that huge numbers of people have returned to Syria from Lebanon "exhausted, traumatized and with very, very few belongings". Meanwhile, the UN International Maritime Organization said that another vessel has been attacked in the Strait of Hormuz, increasing concerns of further delays in transporting lifesaving aid. The Security Council meets at 10am in New York in emergency session on Lebanon. Stay with us for live updates. App users can follow coverage here
The UN’s top humanitarian official warned the Security Council on Tuesday that Lebanon is facing one of its most dangerous moments in years, with escalating violence, mass displacement and deepening human suffering pushing the country to “breaking point”.
The killing of three UN peacekeepers in south Lebanon in the past two days has highlighted the grave dangers for the 10,000 military personnel who make up the bulk of UNIFIL, the UN Interim Force in Lebanon – and for the communities caught up in intense clashes between the Israeli military and Hezbollah fighters.
Some 20,000 seafarers remain stranded on ships in the Strait of Hormuz as the war in the Middle East continues, a situation which has been described as unprecedented in the post-Second World War era.
A night of drone attacks reportedly killed two people and injured 12 in the Ukrainian port city of Odesa, as a maternity hospital and three educational facilities were also damaged.
Clearing mines laid at sea can be an “extremely challenging and very dangerous” undertaking according to a UN mines expert.
Asking the softly spoken, veteran humanitarian worker Philippe Lazzarini how he feels as he comes to the end of his second term as the head of the UN agency for Palestinians, UNRWA, is perhaps an unfair question.
Further attacks have been reported across the Middle East as the war enters a second month, with one UN peacekeeper killed in Lebanon on Sunday and another seriously injured. On the diplomatic front, the UN has announced a taskforce to restore the flow of fertilizer and aid through the Strait of Hormuz, while the UN's atomic watchdog confirms an attack on a heavy water facility at Khondab in Iran. Stay with us for live updates on this and UN agencies. App users can follow coverage here.
Fears are mounting for civilians caught up in Sudan’s deadly war between rival militaries as attacks intensify and humanitarian access shrinks, following a deadly airstrike on a funeral gathering in West Kordofan.