UN News - Top Stories

Conflicts in Africa cannot be solved through military solutions and peace and security on the continent “demands a proactive preventative” approach, according to the UN’s Special Representative to the African Union.

With clean energy on the rise, the UN Secretary-General renewed his longstanding call for countries to make the transition from fossil fuels that cause global warming. 

Two years after his son was taken hostage during the Hamas-led terror attacks, Yehuda Cohen continues to fight night and day for his son’s release, and for a lasting political solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict.

Nearly 22,000 people fled their homes in northern Mozambique in a single week last month due to a resurgence in fighting across Cabo Delgado, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) warned on Tuesday.

Houthi rebels have detained 10 more UN personnel in Yemen, bringing the total number to 54 since 2021. 

As the Gaza-Israel war enters its third year, sparked by Hamas-led terror attacks on Israel, the UN is appealing for the release of all hostages, an immediate ceasefire and an aid surge to alleviate Palestinians’ suffering – all as talks on a US-driven peace plan continue in Egypt.

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) opened hearings on Monday to determine whether the right to strike is protected under international law – the first time the world’s top court has been asked to weigh in on the balance between workers’ rights and employers’ interests.

The UN Secretary-General António Guterres marked two years since the Hamas-led terror attacks on southern Israel by reiterating his long-standing call for the unconditional and immediate release of the hostages still being held there.

More people are being forced to flee their homes as fighting continues in El Fasher, Sudan, the UN said on Monday, expressing grave concern over worsening conditions in and around the besieged city. 

UN aid teams in Gaza are “ready to go” with thousands of tonnes of supplies on standby to alleviate famine, widespread hunger and malnutrition, in the event of agreement being reached over the US peace plan in the coming days.

Two decades after the scorched-earth campaign that left hundreds of thousands dead in Sudan’s Darfur, the International Criminal Court (ICC) has delivered its first conviction linked to the conflict, finding Janjaweed commander Ali Muhammad Ali Abd-Al-Rahman “Ali Kushayb”, guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Although there are fewer smokers now than 15 years ago, one in five adults worldwide is still hooked on tobacco.

More women must have a role in shaping peace agreements, security reforms and post-conflict recovery plans, UN Secretary-General António Guterres told the Security Council on Monday. 

The head of the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, on Monday took aim at the “deliberate abandonment” of the laws of war today, while rejecting the idea that the international community is powerless in the face of ongoing violations.

Health authorities in Haiti are turning deaths caused by rabies-infected dogs into a public health awakening with the support of the UN’s health agency in the region, PAHO.

India’s eastern state of Bengal transformed this week into the world’s largest public art festival - an immersive blend of worship, artistic expression, and social messaging, thanks to an annual Hindu festival known as Durga Puja.

Nuriya Maharjan first became interested in space exploration during a traditional coming-of-age ritual in which young girls of Nepal’s Indigenous Newar tribe emerge from 12 days of darkness to symbolically marry the sun.

Humanity is looking up – and beyond. This Saturday, World Space Week lifts off, inviting the world to imagine what life might look like beyond planet Earth.

The leadership of Hamas said late on Friday it was willing to release Israeli hostages in response to the United States peace deal proposal for ending the war in Gaza, provided further negotiations take place through mediators on a number of key details.

For people in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) exhausted by years of conflict, the United Nations envoy for the country said she understands their impatience but urges them “not to lose hope” as the Congolese government, the UN and the international community are “determined” to bring peace to the volatile region. 

The UN World Food Programme (WFP) warned on Friday that millions in Somalia are at risk of worsening hunger and malnutrition as critical funding shortfalls force the agency to cut back on life-saving emergency food assistance.

The UN’s top humanitarian official in Sudan has warned of an impending catastrophe in Darfur, with civilians facing relentless violence, sexual abuse and starvation.

In his first briefing to the UN Security Council on Friday as the newly designated Special Representative for Colombia, Miroslav Jenča reaffirmed the organization’s strong commitment to supporting the country’s nine-year-old peace process. 

UN human rights chief Volker Türk warned on Friday that the war in Ukraine “has entered an even more dangerous and deadly stage for civilians, under relentless bombardment of their schools, hospitals, and shelters.”

UN aid teams on Friday highlighted the disturbing situation in Gaza’s makeshift hospitals, where premature babies cry for scant oxygen and medics attempt to save child survivors targeted by airstrikes in their tents and quadcopter victims reportedly shot while fetching bread. 

Nearly 42,000 people in Gaza are living with life-changing injuries from the ongoing conflict – including more than 10,000 children – as the health system collapses under relentless strain, the World Health Organization (WHO) warned on Thursday.

Rising violence by gangs in Haiti’s capital is restricting humanitarian access and pushing families deeper into hunger, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) warned on Thursday.

UN human rights chief Volker Türk on Thursday warned that civilians in Sudan’s El Fasher face the imminent risk of large-scale atrocities, as fighting intensifies around the regional capital of North Darfur, besieged for more than 500 days by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) militia.

Hospitals are overwhelmed and families are sheltering in the open after a deadly 6.9 magnitude earthquake tore through northern Cebu in the Philippines, killing at least 70 people and displacing more than 20,000, according to local authorities and humanitarians on the ground.

Thursday’s terrorist attack on a synagogue in Manchester, which left at least two worshippers dead on the holiest day in the Jewish calendar, has been strongly condemned by the UN Secretary-General.