What's New

The UN launches No Denying It, a new 10-part climate action podcast, on Thursday, featuring interviews with inspiring young activists, and the voices of internationally renowned celebrities, such as actors Ed Norton and Michelle Yeoh.

Across the world, young people are refusing to accept the state of the climate, and are fighting to make the planet a better place for them, their families and their communities. 

The next three months will be a critical period for stepping up global collective action against future pandemics, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Wednesday, pointing to three major meetings on the international agenda. 

Progress towards resolving Syria’s decade-long conflict has reached an impasse, the chief United Nations mediator told the Security Council on Tuesday, as an uptick in fighting throughout the country led to some of the largest civilian displacements in a year.

The vast majority of people with high blood pressure, or hypertension, – a serious medical condition that significantly increases the risks of heart, brain, kidney and other diseases – live in low and middle-incomes countries, a World Health Organization (WHO) report released on Wednesday has revealed.

The study, which was co-led by Imperial College London, found that 82 per cent of all people with hypertension, around one billion, live in low and middle-income countries. 

Protection for children caught up in war must be at the heart of the international agenda, including COVID-19 response, a senior UN official said on Monday. 

Virginia Gamba, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, made the appeal in presenting her annual report to the UN General Assembly, which covers the period from August 2020 to July 2021. 

Ahead of the opening of the Paralympic Games in Tokyo on Tuesday, Alphonso Davies, footballer for German league champions Bayern Munich and Goodwill Ambassador for the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), has offered words of encouragement for what he called “the world’s most courageous sports team”.

Around the world, people are preparing to choke their way through what is called ‘the season of smog’, when farmers burn their fields to make way for new crops. 

This practice produces highly toxic black carbon and, according to the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), and degrades the land.

The international Support Group for Lebanon expresses its deep regrets over the loss of life and injuries resulting from the explosion of a fuel tanker in North Lebanon on 15 August.  This tragic incident occurred in the context of acute fuel shortages now affecting Lebanon, with severe repercussions for essential services, including electricity provision, public health, public water supply, as well as businesses and livelihoods.

As the global aid community marked World Humanitarian Day on Thursday, UN chief António Guterres paid tribute to all those who help people in need and urged support for the day’s #TheHumanRace campaign, which aims to protect the most vulnerable people from the climate emergency.  

The global initiative to save the planet's biodiversity on land and water must not be allowed to threaten the world's most vulnerable people, a top human rights expert said on Thursday. 

Under a UN-backed global biodiversity framework draft agreement, countries have agreed to protect 30 per cent of the planet and restore at least 20 per cent by 2030.