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Beirut, 2 November 2020. Almost three months after the Beirut Port explosions, UN-Habitat continues its effort to support families affected by the blast to return and repair their homes. UN-Habitat and the Real Estate Syndicate of Lebanon (REAL) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to partner and collaborate in repairing houses damaged by the Beirut Port explosion that took place on 4 August 2020.

When journalists are targeted, “societies as a whole pay a price”, the UN chief said on Monday, the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists.

Cities will be critical for the world to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic and the worst recession for decades, according to the latest report published by UN-Habitat, the UN agency working on urban issues. 

The World Cities Report 2020, released on Saturday, showcases the value of sustainable urbanization and how it can contribute to global efforts to build back better after the crisis. 

With some COVID-19 patients reporting long-term symptoms, including damage to major organs, the World Health Organization (WHO) urged Governments to ensure they receive necessary care.

Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, the head of the United Nations world court said on Friday that its judiciary work in The Hague, Netherlands, continued unabated.

Judge Abdel-Qawi A. Yousuf, President of the International Court of Justice (ICJ)  told journalists at a virtual press conference that the court was able to “maintain its judicial output at the same level as in previous years, despite the difficult conditions” imposed by the coronavirus pandemic.

Top UN officials have highlighted the “extraordinary” contributions of grassroots communities in towns and cities across the world in the face of the coronavirus pandemic, and urged that their unique efforts be built on, during recovery.

The COVID-19 pandemic has robbed children in the poorest countries of nearly four months of schooling, compared to six weeks of lost education for their counterparts in high income countries, according to a report published on Thursday by the UN educational and cultural organization, UNESCO; the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the World Bank. 

Unless there is a “seismic shift” in how countries collectively deal with infectious diseases, future pandemics will emerge more often, spread more rapidly, cause greater damage to the global economy and kill more people than COVID-19, international experts warned in a UN-backed report published on Thursday. 

Seventy-five years after world leaders united to promote global peace and progress through cooperation, representatives from the international community stood in the UN General Assembly Hall on Monday to reaffirm their commitment to this promise. 

The moment of silence was held during the official ceremony to commemorate UN Day, observed annually on 24 October, marking the anniversary of the entry into force of the UN Charter. 

Global COVID-19 cases spiked to their highest level yet during last week, with many northern hemisphere countries seeing “a concerning rise in cases and hospitalizations”, the UN health agency chief said on Monday, urging countries to “get ahead and stay ahead” of the virus.