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The UN General Assembly has voted overwhelmingly to encourage governments, schools and tech companies worldwide to stop using maps that make Africa look far smaller than it really is.

Israeli security forces forcibly displaced the entire population of three Palestine refugee camps in the occupied West Bank in January and February last year – and continue to prevent their return, in violation of international law, according to a new report by the UN human rights office, OHCHR.

The UN and its humanitarian partners launched a $49.6 million flash appeal on Friday to deliver emergency assistance to more than 84,000 people affected by last week’s catastrophic floods in Nepal.

A new airstrike overnight damaged one of the main warehouses used by the World Health Organization (WHO) in Ukraine to store humanitarian medical supplies in the Kyiv region, the UN agency said on Friday.

The UN General Assembly has approved the merger of two United Nations learning and training bodies, creating a new institution designed to strengthen support for both Member States and the UN system itself.

Peacekeepers in Lebanon have reported a marked deterioration in the security situation along the Blue Line of separation, with Israeli forces intensifying their military footprint in violation of a landmark Security Council resolution, UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said on Thursday.

Gloria Steinem, the journalist and women's rights campaigner who became one of the most influential voices of the feminist movement, has died at the age of 92. In an announcement on Instagram, her family said she had passed away on Wednesday at her home in New York City, surrounded by some of the many who loved her.

Following revelations from the UN nuclear watchdog that the former Syrian regime failed to report holding nuclear material and the discovery in May of an undeclared chemical weapons cache, the Security Council met Thursday to be briefed on the latest developments and discuss the way ahead.

Foreign recruitment and external support networks are fuelling the brutal conflict in Sudan, independent UN human rights investigators said on Thursday in a new report, calling for accountability as fighting continues between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

More than a week after flash floods struck the Bhotekoshi-Trishuli river basin in Nepal, at least 22,000 children urgently need safe drinking water, sanitation and hygiene support, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said on Thursday. 

Fuelled by exceptionally warm Pacific waters, the El Niño climate pattern is intensifying and has yet to peak. Forecasters are almost certain it will persist through February 2027 – with unusually warm conditions expected across much of the world in the coming months.

About 20 million children aged 12 to 17 – one in five across 21 countries – were sexually exploited by perpetrators using technology such as social media, according to a UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) report released on Thursday.

Following Zambia’s contested presidential and parliamentary elections almost three weeks ago, the crackdown on political opposition has intensified, raising concerns about the future of democracy in the country, according to a UN Human Rights Council-appointed expert.

Fighting between the United States and Iran has sharply escalated after a month-long lull, with the two sides exchanging strikes as fears grow over further civilian casualties.

Yasmin Al-Mashaan lost five brothers during more than a decade of conflict in Syria. Two were forcibly disappeared. Three were killed during peaceful demonstrations or by snipers loyal to the Bashar Al-Assad regime.

Two truckloads of food aid destined for hungry families in South Kordofan state, Sudan, were destroyed in an aerial attack over the weekend, the World Food Progamme (WFP) said on Wednesday.

Record heat waves, deadly flooding and extreme weather reflect an ever-warming planet poised to soon breach safe temperature limits, according to a UN report released on Tuesday, but doubling down on climate action now could avoid a climate catastrophe.

The world must move faster to contain an Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) that is growing exponentially, the UN’s Emergency Relief Coordinator warned on Tuesday.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres on Tuesday urged leaders of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) to help reshape global governance for a changing world, arguing that a more multipolar international order can strengthen multilateralism, advance fairness and better serve developing countries.

Victims of Afghanistan’s decades-long armed conflict continue to suffer profound physical, psychological, social and economic consequences, often without access to justice, reparation or formal acknowledgement of the harm done to them, according to a new UN report.

Lack of funding has forced the World Food Programme (WFP) to slash aid to families in the West Bank by half even though needs have more than doubled over the past two years.

As rescue efforts continue in Nepal, humanitarians are focused on how the recent deadly flash floods have impacted women and girls, as well as access to healthcare.

The confirmed death toll from Nepal’s catastrophic floods has surged to 903, with more than 4,200 still missing as rescue crews and humanitarian workers battle blocked highways to reach the hardest-hit areas, UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said on Monday.

Slavery is not just a thing of the past. Its effects continue to be felt in systemic inequality and racism. This was reiterated on Monday by the UN Committee against Racial Discrimination (CERD) as the world marks the International Day of People of African Descent. 

He was born without arms, a legacy of four decades of nuclear explosions at the Semipalatinsk test site in his native Kazakhstan.

On the shores of Nkondo, in Uganda’s Kikuube district, the day begins before sunrise. Fishers enter the lake to fish, while families around Lake Albert rely on its waters for food, income and daily survival.

The ocean is rising faster now than at any point in recorded history. The impacts are already being felt and the threats are growing.

Israeli attacks killed four children and destroyed humanitarian aid supplies in what turned out to be a deadly week in war-ravaged Gaza, the UN emergency relief agency, OCHA, said on Friday.

A day before a wall of ice, rock and muddy water tore through Himalayan valleys along the Nepal-China border, Dipesh Chapagain was discussing with a colleague just how devastating such a disaster could be.

Following a deadly spate of gang attacks on civilians in Haiti and amid reports of illicit weapons slipping into the Caribbean country, the Security Council has called an emergency meeting at 3pm (local time) to hear and discuss the latest developments. UN News app users can follow our coverage here.