United Nations

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Iran Helped Make Houthis a Powerful Force: UN Experts

Attacks at sea are on a scale not seen since World War II, report says

(Newser) - Yemen's Houthi rebels have been transformed from a local armed group with limited capabilities to a powerful military organization with support from Iran, Iraqi armed groups, Lebanon's Hezbollah militants, and others, UN experts said in a new report. The Iranian-backed Houthis have exploited the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza...

Israel Blocks UN Agency Aiding Palestinian Refugees

Netanyahu has accused employees of involvement in terrorism

(Newser) - Israel's parliament overwhelmingly passed legislation on Monday banning a United Nations agency supplying essential services to Palestinian refugees from operating in territory it occupies, a move that could exact a high humanitarian cost. The US is among the nations expressing concern about the decision, CNN reports. "There's...

Latest Count: 1B People Live in Acute Poverty

More than half the global total are children, UN and Oxford programs find

(Newser) - More than 1 billion people live in acute poverty, over half are children, and nearly 40% live in conflict-torn and fragile countries, according to a report released Thursday. The report by the UN Development Program and the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative at the University of Oxford also said...

Israel Bars UN Chief: 'Stain on the History of the UN'

Foreign minister claims Antonio Guterres is backing 'terrorists, rapists, and murderers'

(Newser) - Israel just declared UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to be a "persona non grata" and banned him from the country. Foreign Minister Israel Katz made the announcement Wednesday, saying the Portuguese diplomat, "a stain on the history of the UN," failed to "unequivocally condemn Iran's heinous...

At UN, Russia and China Warn About Ukraine

Sergey Lavrov brings up nuclear risk, while Wang Yi pushes against expanding the war

(Newser) - Russia's top diplomat warned Saturday against "trying to fight to victory with a nuclear power," delivering a UN General Assembly speech packed with condemnations of what Russia sees as Western machinations in Ukraine and elsewhere—including inside the United Nations itself. In his address, per the AP...

UN Chief Calls Rising Seas 'a Worldwide Catastrophe'

New reports show the situation worsening

(Newser) - Highlighting seas that are rising at an accelerating rate, especially in Pacific island nations, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has issued another climate SOS to the world. This time he said those initials stand for "save our seas." The United Nations and the World Meteorological Organization on Monday...

7th Nation Wants In on Genocide Case Against Israel

Turkey had previously suspended trade with Israel, deemed Hamas a liberation movement

(Newser) - Turkey on Wednesday filed a request with a UN court to join South Africa's lawsuit accusing Israel of genocide in Gaza, the foreign minister said. Turkey's ambassador to the Netherlands, accompanied by a group of Turkish legislators, submitted a declaration of intervention to the International Court of Justice...

Hepatitis Takes Hold, Polio Emerges in Gaza

UN says diseases are surging among displaced Palestinians amid Israel's war against Hamas

(Newser) - A disease mostly eradicated throughout the world is making a comeback among the wretched conditions throughout Gaza, where nearly all 2.2 million residents have been displaced. The New York Times reports that on Friday, World Health Organization chief Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus revealed that a poliovirus variant has turned...

World Population Will Peak in 2080
World Population
Will Peak in 2080
UN REPORT
Jul 15, 2024 7:21 AM CDT

World Population Will Peak in 2080

It'll hit 10.8B around that time, according to UN Population Fund

(Newser) - The world population will grow from the current 8.2 billion to 10.8 billion by the 2080s—but no further, according to a new UN report. Though it notes population growth is being fueled by urbanization, large-scale migration, and more people living to reproductive age, it also explains more...

UN Effort to Improve Lives Is Flunking

Education, women's rights are not near goals, secretary-general says

(Newser) - The United Nations has warned that only 17% of its 169 targets to improve life for the world's more than 7 billion people are on track to be reached by the 2030 deadline. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres launched the annual report saying, "It shows the world is getting a failing...

Where Your Seafood Now Comes From May Surprise You

More aquatic animals were farmed in 2022 than caught in the wild, per a new UN report

(Newser) - In the world of marine life, some big news. The United Nations, via its Food and Agriculture Organization, is out with its 2024 report on the state of the world's fisheries and aquaculture—the practice of breeding, raising, and harvesting aquatic organisms on farms—and for the first time,...

UN Assesses Total Displaced by Gang Crisis

Refugees from Haiti's capital are overwhelming other provinces

(Newser) - Surging violence in Haiti from clashes with armed gangs since March has displaced nearly 580,000 people, according to a new report from the UN migration agency, a figure that underscores the magnitude of the Caribbean nation's crisis. Haiti has long faced unrest, but at the end of February,...

UN Officials Claim Possible 'War Crimes' in Hostage Raid

Israeli soldiers were disguised as refugees looking for a place to live: ABC

(Newser) - The special operation that freed four Israeli hostages from a neighborhood in Gaza on Saturday began with Israeli forces disguised as Palestinian refugees, ABC News reports. The soldiers claimed to be looking for a place to live when they entered the buildings where hostages were being held in Nuseirat, sources...

Spain to ICJ: We Want in on Genocide Case Against Israel

South Africa case before UN court accuses Israel of genocide in Gaza

(Newser) - Spain will ask a United Nations court for permission to join South Africa's case accusing Israel of genocide in Gaza, its foreign minister announced Thursday. Spain is the first European country to take the step after South Africa filed its case with the International Court of Justice late last...

Scientists Find Earth Warming at High but Steady Rate

Increase was mostly attributed to human activity

(Newser) - The rate Earth is warming hit an all-time high in 2023, with 92% of last year's surprising record-shattering heat caused by humans, top scientists calculated. The group of 57 scientists from around the world used United Nations-approved methods to examine what was behind last year's deadly burst of...

Iran Has More Enriched Uranium Close to Weapons Grade: UN

Agency has warned there's enough to build several nuclear bombs

(Newser) - Iran has further increased its stockpile of uranium enriched to near weapons-grade levels, according to a confidential report on Monday by the United Nations' nuclear watchdog, the latest in Tehran's attempts to steadily exert pressure on the international community. Iran is seeking to have economic sanctions imposed over its...

ICJ to Israel: Cease Your Incursion in Rafah

However, Israel isn't likely to comply with mandate from UN's top court on Gaza

(Newser) - The top United Nations court has ordered Israel to halt its military operations in the southern Gaza city of Rafah. Israel insists it has the right to defend itself from Hamas militants and is unlikely to comply with the ruling. The order by the International Court of Justice further ratchets...

UN Vote on Palestine Seen as a Rebuke to US

Members overwhelmingly back granting full membership to Palestine

(Newser) - The UN General Assembly voted by a wide margin on Friday to grant new "rights and privileges" to Palestine and called on the Security Council to favorably reconsider its request to become the 194th member of the United Nations. The 193-member world body approved the resolution by a vote...

Estimate for Rebuilding Gaza Is Staggering

Best case is $40 billion over 16 years

(Newser) - Israel's bombardment of Gaza over the past seven months has left many high-rise concrete buildings in rubble, creating what a United Nations official called a "moonscape" of destruction. Palestinian statistics show that about 80,000 homes have been destroyed since the strikes began after Hamas fighters attacked southern...

US Blocks Attempt to Win UN Membership for Palestine

American ambassador says move would not lead to two-state solution

(Newser) - The US vetoed a widely backed UN resolution on Thursday that would have paved the way for full United Nations membership for Palestine. The vote in the 15-member Security Council was 12 in favor, the US opposed and two abstentions. The resolution would have recommended that the 193-member General Assembly,...

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