Global Issues

The family received a one-off cash grant from the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) on crossing the border, but without a steady income and with a leg injury that limits his ability to work, Mr. Shafi now lives in a makeshift shelter in Kabul Province, its walls patched with stones and its windows covered with plastic sheets. “When there is little food, I give it to the children. If they are hungry, they cry,” he says. “We have nothing prepared for winter. If someone helps, we can manage.

In fact, throwing out lunchtime leftovers or wilted lettuce only adds to the mountain of discarded food decomposing in landfills that produces the powerful greenhouse gas methane, accounting for some eight to 10 per cent of global emissions. This includes spoiled crops – food that is lost after harvest and before even reaching stores.

Credit: United Nations NEW YORK, September 29 (IPS) - “Artificial intelligence (AI) must be shaped by humanity, with humanity, and for all humanity… Life-and-death decisions must never be surrendered to machines. Killer robots must have no place in our future.” With those words, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres opened the high-level debate of the 81st session of the General Assembly (UNGA 81).

An internally displaced mother waits to be interviewed in the village of Kampala, Ituri, DRC. The Security Council is meeting in New York on the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) Tuesday, where clashes between Government forces and M23 rebels continue in the east despite a series of peace agreements. Ambassadors are likely to focus on ceasefire monitoring, rising tensions between the DRC and Rwanda, and the country’s worst Ebola outbreak on record. Where next?

“We know that comprehensive emergency obstetric and newborn care has been suspended in two hospitals, in Marib and Ras Al-Arah, because staff and operating capacities have been redirected to trauma care to care for the incoming wounded,” said Dr Annette Heinzelmann, UN World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Emergency Director for the Eastern Mediterranean.

The number of confirmed Ebola cases has passed 8,000 for the first time since the current outbreak began, according to the Congolese authorities. “While we are beginning to see a reduction in transmission in some areas, the number of cases remains high for this outbreak,” Dr Janet Diaz of WHO’s Health Emergencies Programme told reporters in Geneva.

A team of IAEA experts visits Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine in June 2024. (file) Amid rising tensions, extreme weather impacts and strikes on nuclear infrastructure in war-torn Iran and Ukraine, UN Member States are returning to the core issue of disarmament on Tuesday, closing out the General Assembly’s High-Level Week with expected calls for greater safeguards.

Mohamed Abakar, Head of Agriculture, Food and Nutrition at the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS) during the convening in Yaounde. Credit: Isaiah Esipisu/IPS YAOUNDE, Cameroon, September 29 (IPS) - Agricultural, land, forestry, environmental and trade policies in the Congo Basin remain compartmentalised at country levels, leaving proven agroecological models trapped at pilot stages due to a lack of advisory services, organic inputs, market outlets and sustainable financing.

Closing the annual general debate on Monday, General Assembly President Khalilur Rahman said leaders had confronted a world of conflict, stalled development, deepening inequality and rapidly accelerating technological change. But amid sharply differing perspectives, he heard a common conviction: the United Nations remains indispensable. Six days, in six takeaways Peace came first.

Rob Jetten, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, addresses the High-level Meeting on Climate Action and the Just Transition on September 23. Credit: UN Photo/Laura Jarriel UNITED NATIONS, September 29 (IPS) - On September 23, the United Nations held its 2026 Climate Summit as part of the High-Level Week of the 81st session of the General Assembly (UNGA 81).