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Hiroshima, 80 years on: ‘Real change’ needed to end existential nuclear threat

The world changed forever 80 years ago this Wednesday when the United States dropped an atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima during the Second World War. While the city has been…

World News in Brief: Funding schools in Afghanistan, Seaweed farming in Latin America, drought in Somalia

The UN World Food Programme (WFP) on Wednesday welcomed a contribution of $3.5 million from the Government of Indonesia to support the agency’s school meal programme in Afghanistan.…

Ceasefire in doubt as Rwanda-backed rebels kill hundreds in eastern DR Congo

Hopes for peace in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) have been shaken by a surge in brutal attacks on civilians by armed groups, including the Rwandan-backed M23 militia, in the country’s troubled eastern region…

Just 1.5 per cent of Gaza’s agricultural land remains accessible and undamaged

UN data published on Wednesday underscores the tiny amount of cultivable land that remains in the Gaza Strip, contributing to the famine-like conditions now being endured by more than two million people there. …

Syria: Ceasefire under strain as violence and aid access issues persist in Sweida

Hostilities have continued in Sweida, Syria, despite a ceasefire agreement, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in an update published on Wednesday. The 19 July…

The world is demanding action over plastic pollution: UN environment chief

High stakes negotiations got underway at the UN Geneva on Tuesday to agree on a legally binding treaty to curb plastic pollution, attended by delegates from nearly 180 countries. “The world wants…

SECURITY COUNCIL LIVE: Israel calls for focus on Gaza hostages’ plight

The Security Council is meeting to discuss rising concern in Israel and elsewhere over the dire conditions facing the hostages who remain in Gaza. It follows the release of recent videos by Hamas and other Palestinian militants showing emaciated captives, which the UN Secretary-General called “an…

Dozens more migrants die after boat capsizes off the coast of Yemen

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) reported that 56 people had died and 132 were missing after a vessel carrying 200 migrants capsized off the coast of Shuqrah, in Yemen’s Abyan Governorate on 3 August.…

Hunger in Gaza: Women and children face death in search of food

Obtaining food is no longer a routine journey in Gaza; it has become a race, fraught with death on all sides as women and children risk their lives to get aid. “I used to easily receive aid distributed…

Geography shouldn’t define destiny: UN summit on landlocked nations opens in Turkmenistan

Breaking down barriers and restoring fairness in global development should be the goal of the Third UN Conference on Landlocked Developing Countries, Secretary-General António Guterres said at its opening in Awaza, Turkmenistan, on Tuesday.…