Latest News

The number of people unemployed worldwide remained at an historical high of nearly 200 million in 2006 despite strong global economic growth, only modest gains were made in lifting some of the 1.37 billion working poor living on less than $2 per day out of poverty, and the pattern looks set to continue this year, according to a United Nations report released today.

The Iraqi authorities should suspend without delay any further executions until it is ensured that a fair trial is provided following major concerns over shortcomings in the trial and hanging of former president Saddam Hussein and two of his co-defendants, United Nations human rights experts have warned.

The private sector pledged further support for United Nations relief work today with the launch at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, of a major new partnership between the UN World Food Programme (WFP) and Citigroup to deliver pre-planned aid as soon as the next disaster strikes, be it tsunami, earthquake or hurricane.

Côte d’Ivoire soccer star Didier Drogba, currently top scorer in the English Premiership and the European Champions League, has become the latest football great to shoot for the United Nations, where he will seek to score a different kind of goal in achieving the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told a major international donors’ conference on Lebanon today that the global community must support the war-shattered country’s efforts for economic and political reconstruction, with its neighbours staying out of its affairs.

Urgent and decisive measures are essential to curtail environmental degradation which is complicating the growth of Nepal’s capital Kathmandu, a United Nations-backed report released today cautioned.

The top United Nations envoy on children and armed conflict will travel to Sudan on Friday for a week-long visit that will include trips to the strife-torn Darfur region where she will discuss greater protection for the youngest victims of the violence, which has claimed the lives of more than 200,000 people since 2003 and forced at least 2 million others to flee their homes.

Warning the Security Council that the world cannot afford another year like 2006 in the Middle East and Lebanon, the top United Nations political officer today called for a “resumed political process” between Israel and the Palestinians, adding that solutions are also urgently needed in Lebanon, where more clashes occurred in the capital Beirut.

Efforts by the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) to feed Western Saharan refugees in Algeria are being stymied by a 30 per cent shortfall in funds which are essential to guarantee the continuation of food distribution.

Major floods which have killed at least 16 people and affected 46,000 others in northeastern Peru have prompted United Nations agencies to send in logistical and humanitarian support.