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Israel’s accord with United Arab Emirates an opportunity to unlock progress on wider Middle East peace efforts, UN envoy says

The recent agreement between Israel and the United Arab Emirates has the potential to change dynamics across the Middle East, the UN’s top envoy in the region told the Security Council on Tuesday, urging Palestinian and Israeli leaders to re-engage in efforts to resolve their protracted conflict.

Rights expert denounces lack of investigation into 2017 killing of journalist in South Sudan

Lack of investigation into the killing of a journalist three years ago in South Sudan is indicative of a wider climate of hostility towards journalists in the country, an independent UN human rights expert has said. 

UNICEF works to ease suffering of children whose lives have been ‘turned upside-down’ after Beirut blast

Following a deadly explosion earlier this month, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has delivered some 67 tons of critical humanitarian supplies to affected children and families in Beirut.

COVID-19 reinfection seems not to be a ‘regular event’, says UN health agency

There is likely only a slim possibility of people being reinfected with COVID-19, the UN health agency said on Tuesday, following reports in Hong Kong that a man had contracted new coronavirus for a second time after an interval of more than four months.

Three years after exodus, Rohingya refugees ‘more vulnerable than ever’

Three years into the Rohingya refugee crisis, women, men and children – driven from their homes in Myanmar into camps across the border in Bangladesh – are more vulnerable than ever, UN agencies have reported. 

Devastated by pandemic, tourism sector must be rebuilt in a safe, equitable and climate friendly way – UN chief

Tourism is much more than visiting cultural landmarks or swimming in tropical beaches; it is “one of the world’s most important economic sectors”, the UN chief said on Tuesday.




 

First Person: Tourism in Hawaii grounded during pandemic

Tourism is Hawaii’s biggest industry, with some 10 million visitors to the lslands ever year. But that has all changed since the COVID-19 pandemic, and many businesses on the archipelago have been forced to shut down for good, according to a helicopter pilot who flies pleasure trips for tourists.

Strengthening global cooperation on counter-terrorism must remain a priority during and after pandemic

With Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL/Da’esh) and other terrorist groups attempting to exploit the COVID-19 pandemic for their own ends, the international community must respond with stronger collective action and cooperation,  the top UN counter-terrorism official said on Monday. 

One step at a time: UN women’s health agency helping shift dangerous social norms 

One of the largest chiefdoms in Zambia’s Eastern Province is challenging harmful social norms, including child marriage, risky initiation and impunity for perpetrators of sexual abuse, according to the UN women’s health agency, UNFPA.

WHO presses for greater investment in global COVID-19 vaccine facility

Investing in a mechanism that will guarantee all countries have fair and timely access to a COVID-19 vaccine is the only way out of the global pandemic, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Monday.