How good is the United Nations at promoting peace?

It’s time for the United Nations to play a bigger role in disarmament, according to UN chief António Guterres, calling for concrete, practical actions to promote peaceful conflict resolution. Among those actions is to maximize the benefits of “frontier technology”. Daniel Johnson discusses the various ways that the UN is looking to incorporate such technology in its disarmament agenda.

The hydraulic extraction of natural gas — known as fracking — produces cleaner energy than oil and coal, but it’s not necessarily in the best interests of the world’s poorest countries, according to a new report by UNCTAD, which describes natural gas as a “bridge fuel” for States aiming to move to renewable energy sources. Janvier Nkurunziza, Chief of UNCTAD’s Commodity Research and Analysis Section, has been talking to Daniel Johnson about the report’s findings.

Deadly Ebola disease could spread “very fast” in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), but more than 150 World Health Organization (WHO) staff are already hard at work there helping to protect communities from the threat, Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, WHO Regional Coordinator for Africa, told Daniel Johnson on Wednesday.