What's New

World Radio Day, celebrated annually on 13 February, provides an opportunity to hail the evolution, innovation and connection of this ever-evolving, 110-year-old medium that the UN cultural agency chief called a “vector of freedom”.   

This year’s theme “New World, New Radio” is an ode to the resilience of radio and a tribute to its capacity to adapt to societal transformations and listeners’ needs. 

More children could be pushed into the joining armed forces and armed groups due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, senior United Nations and European Union (EU) officials said on International Day against the Use of Child Soldiers, observed on Thursday. 

Amidst some positive news from the World Health Organization (WHO) that both COVID-19 deaths and new cases have recently been on the wane, there are “three major threats” to the UN-led international equitable vaccine initiative, COVAX, that require urgent attention. 

A World Health Organization (WHO) expert panel countered concerns over the efficacy of the AstraZeneca COVID vaccine on Wednesday, insisting that “it’s the right thing to do” to use it – even in countries where variants had surfaced. 

Closed labs and increased care responsibilities are just two of the challenges women in scientific fields are facing during the COVID-19 pandemic, the UN chief said in his message for the International Day of Women and Girls in Science, on Thursday. 

 The UN Special Envoy for Syria said there had to be “constructive international diplomacy” if the peace process is to move forward in any way, appearing before the Security Council behind closed doors on Tuesday.  

“I am more convinced than ever that without this, it is unlikely that any track – the constitutional track or any other – will really move forward”, Geir O. Pedersen told a stakeout held online for UN correspondents, following the briefing. 

The virus that causes COVID-19 probably jumped from animals to humans and is “extremely unlikely” to have come from a laboratory, the head of an international team investigating the origins of the disease said on Tuesday. 

Dr. Peter Ben Embarek from the World Health Organization (WHO) was speaking during a press conference in Wuhan, China, at the end of a four-week mission to the city where the new coronavirus first emerged in December 2019. 

Although millions of boys and girls worldwide have relied on the internet to play, socialize and learn during the COVID-19 pandemic, time online can also expose them to online sexual exploitation, cyberbullying and other risks, the head of the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said on Tuesday.

UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore is among experts expressing growing concern for the well-being of children who were already facing these online risks even before the pandemic. 

The emergence of new coronavirus variants has raised major questions around whether currently available vaccines will be effective against them, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Monday. 

WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus was speaking one day after South Africa announced it was temporarily suspending rollout of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine after a relatively small study revealed it provided reduced protection against the variant first identified in the country. 

The world is far from achieving agreed goals to reduce global warming in line with the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, the UN Secretary-General warned on Monday in his ongoing bid to secure greater commitment to averting climate catastrophe.