Fewer than half of the national targets set to protect the world’s plants, animals and ecosystems are on track, the UN warns in a new report, days before countries gather in Yerevan, Armenia, for the COP17 biodiversity conference.

Rapid transformations – from artificial intelligence and digital technologies to renewable energy and demographic shifts – are reshaping economies worldwide, creating new opportunities but also threatening to deepen socio-economic inequalities, a new UN report warned on Thursday.

Acute malnutrition and hunger in Afghanistan have reached the highest levels ever recorded, with 15.9 million people facing acute food insecurity and conditions set to worsen in the coming months, according to a global hunger monitor report released on Thursday.

Ongoing and deadly Russian attacks across Ukraine are causing serious healthcare disruption, with more than $1.5 million-worth of medicines and supplies destroyed in four separate strikes on warehouses used by the UN there since July. 

The World Health Organization (WHO) continues to support Kenya’s efforts to contain Ebola after a second person tested positive for the Bundibugyo virus, the UN agency’s representative in the country said on Thursday. 

Amid a rise in lethal Israeli strikes, demolitions and violence in Gaza and the West Bank, the Security Council held an open debate on Thursday focusing on the current situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

Countries must accelerate efforts to prevent lead exposure, which is estimated to cause more than 3.5 million deaths globally each year and affects hundreds of millions of children, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Thursday.

Haiti is living through one of the world’s most acute security crises. Armed gangs control large parts of the capital, Port-au-Prince, and are pushing into rural areas, terrorising communities, killing people, committing rape and other sexual assaults, kidnapping for ransom and extorting individuals and businesses.

UN independent experts welcomed on Wednesday a recent landmark corporate accountability ruling involving the Ecopetrol oil company by Colombia’s Special Jurisdiction for Peace, calling for reparations for victims.

The UN and its partners are stepping up preparations in Gaza for the approaching cold and rainy season, even as attacks affecting civilians continue, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said on Wednesday.

The cholera epidemic continues to spread in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), where more than 125,000 suspected cases and 3,644 suspected deaths were recorded between January 2025 and the end of September 2026, the World Health Organization (WHO) warned on Wednesday.

A new AI-powered hub for health professionals aims to help identify alcohol-related risks and launch discussions with patients, including the link between drinking and cancer, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced on Wednesday.

Despite progress in the political process in Libya, institutional divisions, economic deterioration and security fragility continue to threaten stability, the UN envoy warned the Security Council on Wednesday, calling on Libyan leaders to overcome their differences to pave the way for national elections.

Intensifying fighting in Yemen has cut off life-saving assistance to 800,000 people as shifting frontlines, blocked roads and growing insecurity severely restrict access to the city of Taiz and other conflict zones, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) said on Wednesday. 

The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) has called for promoting, providing and protecting health in the Eastern Mediterranean region, home to some of the world’s top humanitarian crises such as Sudan, Yemen and the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

Yemen’s southwestern city of Taiz is facing a “devastating” humanitarian crisis as escalating tensions are dramatically driving up food prices and causing shortages of supplies, the UN Spokesperson said on Tuesday.

Approximately 800 million young people entering the labour market in developing economies over the coming years will not find jobs unless countries act, the head of the UN Development Programme (UNDP) warned on Tuesday, as the agency launched two initiatives to boost investment and employment.

Fewer people from West Africa are reaching Europe by sea, but the journey has not become safer, the UN migration agency (IOM) said on Tuesday.

Amid climate disruption, an AI revolution, war and growing hunger, “the need for the United Nations has never been greater,” Secretary-General António Guterres said on Tuesday, presenting a $3.3 billion programme budget proposal for next year – a cut of $40.8 million.

Russian attacks in recent days on on Ukraine’s two largest cities have again killed and injured civilians, damaged homes and civilian infrastructure, the UN aid coordination office (OCHA) said on Tuesday.