United Nations Peacekeeping missions are working flat out and need to be made “stronger and safer”, Secretary-General António Guterres told a major ministerial pledging conference on Friday, stressing that “critical” gaps must be bridged, so they can deliver better, on behalf of the people they serve.

The UN is hailing a new Security Council resolution adopted on Thursday as a landmark step in suppressing the funding of terror groups worldwide.

UN human rights experts have condemned the ‘egregious’ business practices of global private equity and investment firms which, they say, have transformed the global housing landscape by raising rents and forcing some tenants out of their homes.

It takes around 7,500 litres of water to make a single pair of jeans,  equivalent to the amount of water the average person drinks over a period of seven years. That’s just one of the many startling facts to emerge from recent environmental research, which show that the cost of staying fashionable is a lot more than just the price tag.