The findings were published by the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry, which said it had found evidence that Palestinian children had been "deliberately targeted and killed" during Israel's military campaign in Gaza.

Dubai, UAE -- Nearly half of the world's children – or around 1.1 billion children – are exposed to at least three overlapping climate hazards, according to a UNICEF report released today. The UN children's agency said in its Children's Climate Risk Report 2026 that the most common climate threats...

Dubai, UAE -- Global cereal production is expected to decline by 2% in the 2026/27 season to 2.982 billion tons, largely due to lower wheat harvests, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said in its latest Cereal Supply and Demand Brief. The projected decline follows a record 3.043...

"States must not threaten or use force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state," Ravina Shamdasani, spokeswoman for the UN rights office, told reporters in Geneva.

Apart from MSF, some of the 37 NGOs to be hit with the ban are the Norwegian Refugee Council, World Vision International, CARE and Oxfam, according to the list given by Zwick.

In its annual report on the coal industry, the International Energy Agency said demand was on course to rise by 0.5 percent this year to hit a record 8.85 billion tons, although demand is expected to decline over the rest of the decade as rival generation options multiply.

Geneva, Switzerland -- Global demand for air conditioning could more than triple by 2050, the United Nations warned on Tuesday, calling for more sustainable cooling solutions. The UN Environment Programme said demand could surge due to increases in population and wealth around the world, combined with more extreme heat. Rising...

Both sides have responded positively to Trump's plan, which calls for a ceasefire, the release of all the hostages held in Gaza, Hamas's disarmament and a gradual Israeli withdrawal from the territory.

On the second anniversary of the Hamas October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, Antonio Guterres decried a "humanitarian catastrophe on a scale that defies comprehension".

Israeli forces killed at least 46 people, including 36 in Gaza City. The deceased include two aid workers southwest of Khan Yunis in southern Gaza.

He repeated "very confident" when asked if all parties were on board with the 21-point plan to end the nearly two-year war, free hostages held by Hamas and disarm the Palestinian armed groups.

Tehran, Iran -- As United Nations sanctions returned in full force on Sunday, Iranians felt the strain deepen, with prices soaring and the rial sinking to new lows. For Helia, a 33-year-old graphic designer in Tehran, the impact was already visible: the price tag on the furniture for her new...

The meeting comes days after Trump unveiled a 21-point plan aimed at ending the war in the Palestinian territory during discussions with Arab and Muslim leaders on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.

The sanctions, three months after Israel and the United States bombed Iran, bar dealings related to Tehran's nuclear and ballistic missiles program and are also expected to have wider effects on its troubled economy.

While several companies including Alstom and Opodo had been removed from the non-exhaustive database, major firms such as Airbnb, Booking.com, Motorola Solutions and TripAdvisor remained on the list.

"Sports must reject the perception that it is business as usual," the eight independent UN experts the in a statement. "National teams representing States that commit massive human rights violations can and should be suspended."

Portugal was also to recognize Palestinian statehood, as Israel came under huge international pressure over the war in Gaza where the UN has declared famine and Israel continues to block aid.

Britain, France and Germany are signatories to a 2015 deal known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) intended to stop Tehran from obtaining nuclear weapons.

This is the first time a UN-mandated investigative body has concluded the country is committing genocide and it might prompt high-level leaders at the UN to also call it a genocide.

Albanese added that "this genocide has something different, is openly incited, cynically denied and relentlessly supported, armed and weaponized, while those who oppose it are silenced, beaten, criminalized and smeared".

The strikes have drawn condemnation, including from UN chief Antonio Guterres, who condemned Israel's "flagrant violation" of Qatari sovereignty.

Several countries, including France and Britain, have pledged to recognize a Palestinian state during the UN General Assembly later this month.

Geneva, Switzerland -- Shenzhen-Hong Kong-Guangzhou has overtaken Tokyo-Yokohama to become the world's top cluster for innovation, the United Nations said Monday. The UN's World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) said the Chinese cluster had leapfrogged its Japanese rival in its 2025 Global Innovation Index. The change at the top of the...

The Israeli military, however, is gearing up to expand the fighting and seize Gaza City, with its Arabic-language spokesman saying: "We are not waiting.

Israel, whose military is preparing to conquer Gaza City, is under mounting pressure at home and abroad to end its almost two-year offensive in the Palestinian territory.

The Trump administration said late last month that it will abolish a tax exemption on small packages entering the United States from August 29.

Tom Fletcher, the UN's emergency relief coordinator, blamed Israel, accusing it of "systematic obstruction" of aid deliveries to the war-ravaged Palestinian territory.

Israel has long had ambitions to build on the roughly 12-square-kilometre parcel known as E1 just east of Jerusalem, but the plan had been stalled for years amid international opposition.

Negotiators from 185 nations worked beyond Thursday's deadline and through the night in an ultimately futile search for common ground. A large bloc wants bold action such as curbing plastic production, while a smaller clutch of oil-producing states want to focus more narrowly on waste management.

According to the joint letter, whose signatories include Oxfam and Doctors Without Borders (MSF), at least 60 requests to bring aid into Gaza were rejected in July alone.

Geneva, Switzerland - Attempts to finalise a landmark treaty combating plastic pollution descended into disarray on the penultimate day on Wednesday as dozens of countries rejected outright the latest draft text, leaving the talks in limbo. With some 30 hours left to seal a deal among the 184 countries gathered...

The approval for the expanded offensive comes days after Israel's security cabinet called for the seizure of Gaza's largest city, following 22 months of war that have created dire humanitarian conditions in the Palestinian territory.

UN says 'if these plans are implemented, they will likely trigger another calamity in Gaza, reverberating across the region and causing further forced displacement, killings and destruction.'

Demonstrators waved signs and held up pictures of hostages still being held in the Palestinian territory as they called on the government to secure their release.

"The GHF ... is an utterly disturbing example of how humanitarian relief can be exploited for covert military and geopolitical agendas in serious breach of international law," the experts said.

Geneva, Switzerland -- Nations must resolve the global plastics crisis, the head of UN talks told negotiators from 180 countries gathered in Geneva on Tuesday to forge a landmark treaty on eliminating the life-threatening waste. "We are facing a global crisis," Ecuadoran diplomat Luis Vayas Valdivieso said at the start...

His statement came after hundreds of retired Israeli security chiefs wrote to US President Donald Trump to urge him to convince Netanyahu to end the war.

Nearly 1,400 Palestinians have been killed in the Gaza Strip while waiting for aid since May 27, the majority by the Israeli army, the United Nations said.

The visit by Steve Witkoff came as a report from global advocacy group Human Rights Watch accused Israeli forces of presiding over "regular bloodbaths" close to US-backed aid points

The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification Initiative, a coalition of monitors tasked by the UN to warn of impending crises, stopped short of declaring a state of famine, but made clear the situation is critical.

Gaza City, Palestinian Territories -- Truckloads of food reached hungry Gazans on Monday after Israel promised to open secure aid routes, but humanitarian agencies warned vast amounts more were needed to stave off starvation. With Gaza's population of more than two million facing famine and malnutrition, Israel bowed to international...

UN's World Food Programme said a third of the population of Gaza had not eaten for days, and 470,000 people were "enduring famine-like conditions" that were already leading to deaths.

Israel imposed a total blockade on Gaza on March 2 after ceasefire talks broke down. In late May, it began allowing a small trickle of aid to resume, amid warnings of a wave of starvation.

Geneva, Switzerland -- The world urgently needs to find a global approach on regulating artificial intelligence, the United Nations' top tech chief said this week, warning that fragmentation could deepen risks and inequalities. Doreen Bogdan-Martin, head of the UN's International Telecommunications Union (ITU) agency, told AFP she hoped that AI...

United Nations, United States -- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Friday slammed the international community for turning a blind eye to the suffering of Palestinians starving in the Gaza Strip, calling it a "moral crisis that challenges the global conscience." "I cannot explain the level of indifference and inaction we...

Armed tribes supported by Syria's Islamist-led government clashed with Druze fighters in the community's Sweida heartland on Friday, a day after the army withdrew under Israeli bombardment and diplomatic pressure.

Geneva, Switzerland -- UN experts decried Tuesday the US resumption of migrant deportations to third countries, including to war-torn South Sudan, stressing Washington's obligation to ensure it is not sending people into harm's way. The experts, who are appointed by the UN Human Rights Council but who do not speak...

Iran also writes to the UN chief to recognize the Israeli regime and the United States as the "initiators of the act of aggression and acknowledge their subsequent responsibility, including reparations."

Civil defense spokesman Mahmud Bassal said 35 people were killed in seven Israeli drone and air strikes in various locations, and two others by Israeli fire while waiting for food aid in the Netzarim zone in central Gaza.

UN climate chief Simon Stiell urged countries on Thursday to accelerate negotiations ahead of the COP30 in Brazil as there was a lot left to be done.