Latest News

Security conditions in Kenya are deteriorating rapidly, according to United Nations officials who report that more than a dozen civilians have been killed in political violence, and 70 houses burned, in the past 24 hours.

The top United Nations envoy to Nepal says he is optimistic that twice-delayed Constituent Assembly polls will be staged successfully on 10 April, given the desire of ordinary Nepalese for peace and democracy and the political leaders’ demonstrated capacity for dialogue.

The humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip remains extremely difficult, the United Nations agency tasked with helping Palestinian refugees said today, with Israeli authorities both easing and adding to the restrictions and measures on the transport of goods and people in and out of the area.

The United Nations labour agency predicts that economic turbulence resulting from credit market turmoil and rising oil prices could lead to another 5 million people becoming unemployed this year.

More than 130 migrants from Somalia, many fleeing violence in their homeland, died over the weekend when their boats capsized off Yemen as weather and the brutality of people-smugglers continued to exact a grievous toll, the United Nations refugee agency reported today.

Some 2,000 people, many of them children, have fled the countryside for refuge in cities and villages after being threatened by irregular armed groups in north-eastern Colombia, the latest victims of long-running conflicts that have uprooted 3 million people overall, the United Nations refugee agency reported today.

Some 185,000 poor families in Yemen are set to benefit from a new project co-financed by the United Nations International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) aiming to reduce rural poverty and help farmers cope with the effects of climate change.

The United Nations-supported polar research boat Tara has broken free from the Arctic ice sheet after a record-breaking scientific expedition of over 500 days drifting across the top of the world to gauge the impact of global warming and pollution.

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has begun relief flights to central Mozambique, where some 76,000 people have been affected by widespread flooding this month along the Zambezi River valley.

One in five Iraqis registered with the United Nations refugee agency in Syria since January 2007 – more than 19,000 individuals – are listed as victims of torture and/or violence in their homeland, according to figures released today.