Davos-Klosters, Switzerland – UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, in a wide-ranging address that touched on the most critical issues facing the world, urged leaders gathered for the Annual Meeting to take urgent action.Taking note of a range of critical threats facing the world, from the economic crisis to war and pandemic,...

The ILO said deficits in decent work had been worsened by multiple, overlapping crises, including Russia's war in Ukraine, emerging geopolitical tensions, an uneven recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic and continuing supply chain bottlenecks.

United Nations, United States--An estimated five million children under the age of five died in 2021, the United Nations said Tuesday, urging health care investment in underserved communities around the globe to avoid this "immense, intolerable and mostly preventable loss of life." "Every day, far too many parents are facing the trauma...

DUBAI, UAE  - The US Navy said Tuesday it had seized over 2,000 assault rifles smuggled on a fishing boat along a maritime route from Iran to Yemen. The cargo was discovered on Friday off the coast of Oman "on a route historically used to traffic illicit cargo to the Huthis...

Months after the floods left most of the country devastated, Pakistan will seek billions in international support toward its recovery and to help it better resist climate change. It will co-host a conference with the UN in Geneva, urging countries, organizations and businesses to step up with financial and other...

Erdogan's call for a ceasefire followed a proposal earlier Thursday by Russia's spiritual leader Patriarch Kirill for an Orthodox Christmas truce this week.

Lebanon has charged seven people for participating in an attack against United Nations peacekeepers that killed one Irish soldier in mid-December, a judicial official said. Private Sean Rooney, 23, was killed and three others injured on December 14 when their UN Interim Force in Lebanon vehicle was attacked near Al-Aqbiya...

RIYADH, SAUDI ARABIA - The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has praised the achievements of Saudi Arabia in e-education governance. In its publication "Guide to measuring information and communication technologies (ICT) in education",  UNESCO said that Saudi Arabia's National E-Learning Center is an example to be followed...

Migrant issue has become a huge political problem for the Conservative government, which has promised to bring down illegal immigration and break the smuggling gangs that carry out the crossings.

From Arab League to Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), most of the Arab world has expressed support for UN's vote asking the International Court of Justice (ICJ) for an opinion on the legal consequences of Israel's occupation of the Palestinian territories.

United Nations, US--The UN General Assembly on Friday asked the International Court of Justice to consider consequences for Israel over its occupation of Palestinian territories, a day after the Jewish state's most right-wing government ever took over. The General Assembly voted 87-26 with 53 abstentions on the resolution, with Western nations...

"No country can develop -- indeed survive -- socially and economically with half its population excluded," Volker Turk, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, said.

DUBAI, UAE - The ninth Sustainability Report 2021 issued by Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) highlights its efforts and achievements in supporting sustainable development in all its economic, social and environmental aspects. It introduces partners, relevant entities and all stakeholders to its performance and practices in sustainability. The report...

"A meeting of Humanitarian Country Team (HCT) is scheduled later today to consult and discuss how to tackle this issue," Tapiwa Gomo, public information officer for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, told AFP.

With a giant evergreen tree, colorful balloons in the streets and selfies in the Church of the Nativity, Christmas tourism has returned to Bethlehem after two years of Covid-linked curbs.

Iraq's prime minister appealed to visiting Italian counterpart Giorgia Meloni for closer economic ties with his oil-rich country suffering from power cuts and decaying infrastructure. Meloni, who leads the eurozone's third-largest economy, is on her first bilateral trip outside Europe. She is on a pre-Christmas visit to Italian troops posted...

Beirut, Lebanon--Lebanese investigators have identified suspects in the fatal shooting of an Irish United Nations peacekeeper whose vehicle came under fire earlier this month, a judicial official told AFP on Thursday. Private Sean Rooney, 23, was killed and three others injured on December 14 when their UN Interim Force in Lebanon...

Nablus has seen frequent clashes between Israeli troops and Palestinian militants in recent months, as the army has stepped up operations in Palestinian towns and cities in response to a wave of deadly attacks on Israeli targets earlier this year.

In Afghanistan, hundreds of earthquake-resilient concrete homes, many built by local laborers with the support of the United Nations refugee agency, have now been handed over to survivors who were until now living in makeshift tent cities.

TEHRAN, IRAN - Iran's foreign minister said Monday that a summit to take place this week in Jordan will be a "good opportunity" for negotiations aimed at restoring the 2015 nuclear accord. On-off talks to revive the deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), started in April...

MONTREAL, CANADA - A UN nature deal proposed Sunday calls to protect at least 30 percent of the planet by 2030 and asks rich countries to stump up $20 billion in yearly aid for developing nations to save their ecosystems. China, chairing the COP15 biodiversity summit in Montreal, presented a long-awaited...

Hamouri, 37, had been held under a controversial practice known as administrative detention, which allows suspects to be detained for renewable periods of up to six months.

On the eve of UN nuclear monitors visit to the country, Iran disclosed that its uranium enrichment capacity has increased to record levels. Its head of the Atomic Energy Organization has said the enrichment capacity has reached more than twice the entire history of this industry.

The United Nations' peacekeeping force in south Lebanon urged Beirut to ensure a "speedy" investigation into an Irish soldier's shooting death near the Israeli border. The peacekeeper's convoy came under fire late Wednesday near the village of Al-Aqbiya, the Irish military said, wounding three other members of the UN force...

Hundreds of people have been killed and thousands arrested in the street violence over Mahsa Amini's d, leading to international condemnation and Iran's removal Wednesday from the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (UNCSW).

Aqibya, Lebanon-- An Irish member of the UN peacekeeping force in south Lebanon was killed and three were wounded after their convoy came under fire, UN and Irish sources said Thursday. "A convoy of two armoured utility vehicles carrying eight personnel travelling to Beirut came under small arms fire" late Wednesday, the Irish...

Hamas chief said indirect negotiations over a prisoner exchange were "interrupted because of the elections" in Israel. (AFP)

The Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has for years been calling on Iran to explain the presence of undeclared man-made uranium found at three sites, requesting "access to locations and material" as well as the collection of samples.

Montreal, Canada-- Creating a new global fund for biodiversity -- a core demand of developing countries at UN talks in Montreal -- "would take years" and be less effective than reforming existing financial mechanisms, Canada's environment minister said Tuesday. Ottawa's position reflects the consensus among developed nations on the thorny issue,...

Hundreds of thousands have died since, either as a result of fighting or indirectly through unsafe drinking water, disease outbreaks, hunger and other impacts. The agency's latest numbers confirm 3,774 child deaths between March 2015 and September 2022. A UN-brokered truce lasted for six months until October 2, but warring parties...

The UN meeting, called COP15, running from December 7 - 19, bringing together nearly 5,000 delegates from 193 countries to try to finalize "a pact of peace with nature," with key goals to preserve Earth's forests, oceans and species.

Delegates from across the world gathered for the December 7-19 meeting to try to hammer out a new deal for nature: a 10-year framework aimed at saving the planet's forests, oceans and species before it's too late.

Gaza City, Palestinian Territories---Wearing sky blue overalls near Gaza's port, technician Mohammed Jerboa celebrates the chance to finally repair fishing boats after a 15-year Israeli ban on vital materials. It's a "great achievement", he said after sanding down the faded paint as part of a team of workers patching up...

Doha, Qatar— After fierce criticism of the Qatar World Cup, the head of the UN labour agency on Sunday pressed FIFA's president for a greater role scrutinizing future World Cup hosts. International Labour Organisation director general Gilbert Houngbo told AFP before meeting with Gianni Infantino that Qatar has been a victim...

Madrid, Spain---Saudi Arabia has joined the International Olive Council (IOC), a UN affiliated intergovernmental organization aimed at developing and expanding olives and olive oil trade. The Council also encourages the member countries to develop and modernize commercial standards for products and improve their quality, and enhance international technical cooperation in...

While Jerusalem is home to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, which Christians believe contains Jesus's tomb, the Nativity story of his birth happened in nearby Bethlehem, according to the faithful. But at Santa House, Kassissieh said his young visitors have more modern concerns.

ROME, ITALY - The world's ability to nourish its burgeoning population is under threat and without broader socioeconomic and environmental change, sustainable agrifood systems will be impossible to achieve, according to a new report by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) issued Saturday. The report, "The...

The world must increase financing for nature-based solutions to meet key climate, biodiversity and land degradation goals, a United Nations report said. The "State of Finance for Nature" report published by the UN Environment Program comes as delegates from nearly 200 countries prepare to meet in Montreal to hammer out...

GENEVA, SWITZERLAND - All regions of the world saw water extremes last year - both floods and droughts - and billions of people had insufficient freshwater, the United Nations said on Tuesday. Large areas of the planet recorded drier than normal conditions in 2021, the UN's World Meteorological Organization said...

Five villages are located on the site of the Makhoul dam and "a commission has been formed to ensure adequate damages for residents" and to relocate them.

The Islamic republic has launched a series of cross-border missile and drone strikes on Iranian-Kurdish opposition groups, based in Iraq, which it blames for stoking protests back home over the death of Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini. "Iran recently carried out operations against terrorist groups in northern Iraq as it had...

The King of Morocco Mohammed VI has reaffirmed its position on the Western Sahara dispute to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in a meeting in the Moroccan city of Fez. The king said the regional dispute should be settled "within the framework of sovereignty and territorial integrity of the kingdom."

Earlier Tuesday, three Syrian government soldiers were killed and others wounded in Turkish bombardments of an air base several kilometres south of Azaz, said the Observatory, which has a wide network of sources inside Syria.

There were more than a dozen blasts overnight Saturday to Sunday, some of which a team of experts from the agency on site had themselves seen, the IAEA said in a statement.

A final COP27 statement covering the broad efforts to grapple with a warming planet held the line on the aspirational goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius from pre-industrial levels. It also included language on renewable energy for the first time, while reiterating previous calls to accelerate "efforts...

Kyiv and Moscow traded accusations of shelling on the territory of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant that Russia controls in southern Ukraine. The UN atomic watchdog that has a team of experts at the plant - the biggest nuclear facility in Europe - said "powerful explosions" had occurred on Saturday...

The summit drew praise for the "loss and damage" fund to help vulnerable countries cope with the destructive impacts of global warming. But there was also anger over a failure to push further ambition on cutting emissions in order to keep alive the aspirational goal of limiting global warming to...

Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt—Climate negotiators were grappling for an agreement Saturday at the UN COP27 in Egypt after high stakes talks went deep into the night with key sticking points over funding for countries wracked by climate disasters and ambition in tackling global warming. The meeting at the Red Sea resort of...

After a first shipment of Russian fertilizer blocked in European ports heads for Malawi next week, a second batch should go to West Africa, the United Nations said. The news comes following talks between Moscow and the UN this week, aimed at ensuring that vital Russian fertilizer exports are not...

Representatives from nearly 200 countries have gathered at the COP27 in Egypt for two weeks with the aim of driving forward action on climate change as the world faces a worsening onslaught of extreme floods, heat waves and droughts.