UN News - Top Stories

The UN Secretary-General has called for an end to the “war on nature”. On Monday, governments gathering in Yerevan, Armenia, will have to confront a more practical question: are they doing enough to win the peace and put the world’s biodiversity goals back on track?

Like many people in the war-ravaged Gaza Strip, Ahmed Al-Omari is preparing for another winter of bitter cold and rain that threatens to cause flooding as families struggle to survive in tattered tents and damaged buildings.

Less than a month before the UN climate conference COP31 opens in Antalya, Türkiye, representatives of three successive summit presidencies gathered to address a pressing question: How can the world restore trust in climate action when the consequences of a warming planet are already being felt?

Civilian casualties in Ukraine remain at record levels, with intensified Russian attacks in September continuing a pattern of harm in 2026 far exceeding previous years, UN human rights monitors in Ukraine said on Friday.

The World Health Organization (WHO) is strengthening Ebola preparedness amid conflict and displacement affecting millions of lives in a region that spans parts of Africa, Asia and Europe.

As drone strikes kill civilians from El Obeid to Blue Nile and famine risk spreads across Darfur and Kordofan, the Security Council meets on Sudan – the world’s largest hunger and displacement crisis. Ambassadors are expected to press yet again for a ceasefire, safe aid access and an end to the weapons flows fuelling the brutal conflict. 

A little over one year since a ceasefire agreement was announced between Hamas fighters and Israel, more than 340 children have been reported killed and hundreds more injured, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said on Friday. 

The United Nations Secretary-General appealed on Friday for governments, businesses and communities to accelerate efforts to protect biodiversity for future generations and all life on Earth.

Brain signals recorded by a gaming headset or a wellness gadget could one day be used as evidence against you in court, according to a new UN report which warns that neurotechnology is outpacing the laws meant to protect human rights.

Fewer than half of the national targets set to protect the world’s plants, animals and ecosystems are on track, the UN warns in a new report, days before countries gather in Yerevan, Armenia, for the COP17 biodiversity conference.

Rapid transformations – from artificial intelligence and digital technologies to renewable energy and demographic shifts – are reshaping economies worldwide, creating new opportunities but also threatening to deepen socio-economic inequalities, a new UN report warned on Thursday.

Acute malnutrition and hunger in Afghanistan have reached the highest levels ever recorded, with 15.9 million people facing acute food insecurity and conditions set to worsen in the coming months, according to a global hunger monitor report released on Thursday.

Ongoing and deadly Russian attacks across Ukraine are causing serious healthcare disruption, with more than $1.5 million-worth of medicines and supplies destroyed in four separate strikes on warehouses used by the UN there since July. 

The World Health Organization (WHO) continues to support Kenya’s efforts to contain Ebola after a second person tested positive for the Bundibugyo virus, the UN agency’s representative in the country said on Thursday. 

Amid a rise in lethal Israeli strikes, demolitions and violence in Gaza and the West Bank, the Security Council held an open debate on Thursday focusing on the current situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

Countries must accelerate efforts to prevent lead exposure, which is estimated to cause more than 3.5 million deaths globally each year and affects hundreds of millions of children, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Thursday.

Haiti is living through one of the world’s most acute security crises. Armed gangs control large parts of the capital, Port-au-Prince, and are pushing into rural areas, terrorising communities, killing people, committing rape and other sexual assaults, kidnapping for ransom and extorting individuals and businesses.

UN independent experts welcomed on Wednesday a recent landmark corporate accountability ruling involving the Ecopetrol oil company by Colombia’s Special Jurisdiction for Peace, calling for reparations for victims.

The UN and its partners are stepping up preparations in Gaza for the approaching cold and rainy season, even as attacks affecting civilians continue, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said on Wednesday.

The cholera epidemic continues to spread in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), where more than 125,000 suspected cases and 3,644 suspected deaths were recorded between January 2025 and the end of September 2026, the World Health Organization (WHO) warned on Wednesday.

A new AI-powered hub for health professionals aims to help identify alcohol-related risks and launch discussions with patients, including the link between drinking and cancer, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced on Wednesday.

Despite progress in the political process in Libya, institutional divisions, economic deterioration and security fragility continue to threaten stability, the UN envoy warned the Security Council on Wednesday, calling on Libyan leaders to overcome their differences to pave the way for national elections.

Intensifying fighting in Yemen has cut off life-saving assistance to 800,000 people as shifting frontlines, blocked roads and growing insecurity severely restrict access to the city of Taiz and other conflict zones, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) said on Wednesday. 

The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) has called for promoting, providing and protecting health in the Eastern Mediterranean region, home to some of the world’s top humanitarian crises such as Sudan, Yemen and the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

Yemen’s southwestern city of Taiz is facing a “devastating” humanitarian crisis as escalating tensions are dramatically driving up food prices and causing shortages of supplies, the UN Spokesperson said on Tuesday.

Approximately 800 million young people entering the labour market in developing economies over the coming years will not find jobs unless countries act, the head of the UN Development Programme (UNDP) warned on Tuesday, as the agency launched two initiatives to boost investment and employment.

Fewer people from West Africa are reaching Europe by sea, but the journey has not become safer, the UN migration agency (IOM) said on Tuesday.

Amid climate disruption, an AI revolution, war and growing hunger, “the need for the United Nations has never been greater,” Secretary-General António Guterres said on Tuesday, presenting a $3.3 billion programme budget proposal for next year – a cut of $40.8 million.

Russian attacks in recent days on on Ukraine’s two largest cities have again killed and injured civilians, damaged homes and civilian infrastructure, the UN aid coordination office (OCHA) said on Tuesday.

$228 billion is a staggering amount of money to find, but that’s exactly what communities around the world are faced with every year, to rebuild housing after disaster strikes.