News headlines
This Year’s Three UN Summits Set the Stage for COP30 to Transform Food Systems
- Inter Press Service
NAIROBI, Kenya, Dec 24 (IPS) - This year has been a landmark one for climate and environment policy. Starting with the UN’s COP16 biodiversity talks in October, followed by the COP29 climate talks in November, and closing with the desertification COP16 in December, few years have offered such critical moments back-to-back.
Civil Society Trends for 2025: Nine Global Challenges, One Reason for Hope
- Inter Press Service
LONDON / MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay, Dec 24 (IPS) - It's been a tumultuous year, and a tough one for struggles for human rights. Civil society’s work to seek social justice and hold the powerful to account has been tested at every turn. Civil society has kept holding the line, resisting power grabs and regressive legislation, calling out injustice and claiming some victories, often at great cost. And things aren’t about to get any easier, as key challenges identified in 2024 are likely to intensify in 2025.
Innovative Financing to Unlock Africa’s Blue Economy
- Inter Press Service
UNITED NATIONS, Dec 24 (IPS) - Securing new financing for global good has become more challenging than ever. Negotiations at the recently-concluded COP16 on Nature and Biodiversity failed to reach an agreement on establishing a fund to support the implementation of the Framework for Nature agreed in 2022 under the Montreal-Kunming agreement.
Its Very Tough: Turning Youth Employment Dreams Into Reality
- Inter Press Service
SKOPJE, North Macedonia, Dec 24 (IPS) - It’s a bright winter day in Skopje, the capital of North Macedonia in the southern Balkans. By lunchtime, the cafes are full. The atmosphere is busy and social, and it is not difficult to see why the city, home to one-third of the country’s population of 2 million, is the focus of hope for young jobseekers. But, for many, it is not an easy road.
UN General Assembly adopts milestone cybercrime treaty
- UN News
The General Assembly on Tuesday adopted the United Nations Convention against Cybercrime, a landmark global treaty aimed at strengthening international cooperation to combat cybercrime and protecting societies from digital threats.
Syria: UN health agency launches $56.4 million appeal to meet critical needs
- UN News
The UN World Health Organization (WHO) on Tuesday launched a $56.4 million flash appeal to address urgent health needs in Syria, where years of conflict have cripped the healthcare system.
Sudan’s worsening famine: Conflict puts millions at risk
- UN News
Sudan is confronting a widening famine crisis, with widespread starvation, surging acute malnutrition and mass displacement exacerbating an already dire humanitarian situation, a UN-backed food security assessment released on Tuesday has found.
UN News Champion: ‘Are you keeping up with the death?’ The grinding toll of war in Gaza
- UN News
As we near the end of another year of war and humanitarian crisis, UN News is highlighting the extraordinary work of staffers in the field who feed our story-telling efforts for global audiences. Our first UN News Champion is Louise Wateridge of the UN agency for Palestine refugees, UNWRA. Louise’s reporting and communications expertise has enriched our coverage and demonstrated why the UN matters to millions of beneficiaries around the world.
U.S. Wins Controversial Ruling in GM Corn Dispute with Mexico
- Inter Press Service
CAMBRIDGE, MA., Dec 23 (IPS) - A tribunal of trade arbitrators has ruled in favor of the United States in its complaint that Mexico’s restrictions on genetically modified corn violate the terms of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade agreement (USMCA). The long-awaited ruling in the 16-month trade dispute is unlikely to settle the questions raised by Mexico about the safety of consuming GM corn and its associated herbicide.
Maya Train: Still Waiting to Become Promised Engine of Development - VIDEO
- Inter Press Service
MERIDA, Mexico, Dec 23 (IPS) - When he promoted the Maya Train (TM) in 2019, then-President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who ruled Mexico between 2018 and October this year, stated that the railway line would be an engine of development for the southeastern Yucatan peninsula.