Northern hemisphere heatwave underscores value of early-warning alerts
Three days after Spain’s national weather service confirmed a record 46°C reading in the southern town of El Granado, there’s been little let-up in stifling day and night temperatures across the continent and beyond. In Barcelona, a road sweeper reportedly…
Spain and Brazil push global action to tax the super-rich and curb inequality
Presented during the UN’s 4th International Conference on Financing for Development – taking place this week in Sevilla, Spain – the proposal highlights a growing problem: the richest individuals often contribute less to public finances than ordinary taxpayers, thanks to…
50 years of CITES: Protecting wildlife from trade-driven extinction
Originally conceived in 1963 at a meeting of the International Union for Conservation of Nature, the Convention entered into force in 1975, as the first global agreement of its kind. It continues to serve as a vital tool to help…
‘The margins of the budget’: Gender equality in developing countries underfunded by $420 billion annually
“The money simply is not reaching the women and girls who need it most,” UN Women said in a news release issued on Monday. This estimate comes in the midst of the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development…
Children’s lives ‘turned upside down’ by wars across Middle East, North Africa, warns UNICEF
Alarmingly, 110 million children in the region live in countries affected by war, with homes, schools and health facilities damaged or destroyed in fighting. “A child’s life is being turned upside down the equivalent of every five seconds due to…
Iran crisis: UN stays and delivers
“In the early morning hours of 13 June, a number of attacks took place in Tehran, and other parts of Iran,” said Stefan Priesner, UN Resident Coordinator in Iran. “Then over the next 12 days there were multiple attacks by…
Sudan: UN warns of soaring displacement and looming floods
At Tuesday’s regular briefing at the UN Headquarters, in New York, Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric relayed warnings from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian affairs (OCHA), citing urgent concerns across the country. “Across Sudan, we continue to be deeply…
Gaza: Families deprived of the means for survival, humanitarians warn
“As humanitarian assistance and basic services dwindle, people in Gaza have been increasingly deprived of the means for their survival,” UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric told reporters at the UN Headquarters in New York. It has been 17 weeks since any…
General Assembly approves $5.4 billion UN peacekeeping budget for 2025-2026
Acting on the recommendation of its Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary), the Assembly endorsed the budgets for 12 missions, the logistics centres in Entebbe (Uganda) and Brindisi (Italy), and the support account for peacekeeping. The budgets were adopted without a…