(UN News)* —The UN World Food Programme (WFP) warned on Friday [] that millions in Somalia are at risk of worsening hunger and malnutrition as critical funding shortfalls force the agency to cut back on life-saving emergency food assistance.
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WFP/Geneva Costopulos | Children at an IDP camp in Somalia.
“We are seeing a dangerous rise in emergency levels of hunger, and our ability to respond is shrinking by the day,” said Ross Smith,WFPdirector of emergencies.
“Without urgent funding,families already pushed to the edge will be left with nothing at a time when they need it most.”
A striking 4.4 million Somalis are facing crisis level of food insecurity or worse, the latest internationally backed IPC index reported, a global standard for measuring hunger and malnutrition.
In less than nine months, Israel has demolished more Palestinian homes and structures in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, over building permits than in the whole of last year, the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) on 1 October 2025 said.
Caption: Eighty-six Palestinian structures have already been demolished this year in Khallet Athaba, Masafer Yatta, under Israel’s permit regime. Photo: Ahmad Al-Bazz/NRC
By 30 September, Israeli authorities had demolished 1,288 structures over building permits, nearly five a day, including 138 funded by international aid.
(UN News)* — UN aid teams on Friday [3 October 2025] highlighted the disturbing situation in Gaza’s makeshift hospitals, where premature babies cry for scant oxygen and medics attempt to save child survivors targeted by airstrikes in their tents and quadcopter victims reportedly shot while fetching bread.
Speaking from the war-shattered enclave amid the ongoing Israeli military push to take full control of Gaza City, UNICEF spokesperson James Elder described one short visit to a hospital where youngsters were either suffering or dying everywhere he looked.
(UN News)* —Nuriya Maharjan first became interested in space exploration during a traditional coming-of-age ritual in which young girls of Nepal’s Indigenous Newar tribe emerge from 12 days of darkness to symbolically marry the sun.
Now 18, she’s involved in aerospace projects with other young women through the Shakthi SAT initiative and she’s keen to explore the intersection between computer engineering and science, particularly artificial intelligence (AI), autonomous robotics and embedded systems that control satellites, drones and rockets.
Shaped through consultations with girls organizations, UN partners and, most importantly, girls themselves, the 2025 International Day of the Girl theme is ‘The girl I am, the change I lead: Girls on the frontlines of crisis’.
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Girls are leaders. Girls are change-makers. Girls are driving good and growth around the world. | PHOTO:ⓒUNFPA Bangladesh / Ferdous Alka
All around the world, girls are stepping up to meet today’s biggest challenges. They are organizing in their communities, fighting for climate justice, demanding an end to violence and reimagining their futures.
Girls are asking to be seen not only for the challenges they face, but for who they are and the solutions they bring. Yet, too often, their voices go unheard, their actions ignored, their needs and rights pushed aside.
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) on warned that rising violence by armed groups in Haiti’s capital is restricting humanitarian access and pushing families deeper into hunger as extreme funding shortfalls force WFP to slash rations and suspend programmes.
Photo from WFP
Reports indicate that armed groups now control nearly 90 percent of Port-au-Prince. As a result, more farmers are cut off from markets, further straining already fragile food systems and pushing food prices even higher with devastating consequences for food insecure families.
A staggering 1.3 million people have been forced to flee their homes in search of food and shelter.
(UN News and the UN)* — Member States, UN officials and civil society came together on Wednesday [1 October 2025] to shift the global perspective on ageing, with a call for new policies and action that bring older persons in from the margins of society.
UNFPA | Two elderly people in Indonesia play with a child.
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“Every older person has the right to age with dignity security and access to opportunities that enrich their lives,” said one of the key organisers of the International Day of Older Persons, Arjanita Elezaj.
“These are not privileges, they are human rights,” she told a meeting at UN Headquarters to commemorate the day, where key issues such as boosting opportunities for older persons to take part in civic and cultural life were debated, along with healthcare and housing.
Tweet URL“These are not privileges, they are human rights,” she told a meeting at UN Headquarters to commemorate the day, where key issues such as boosting opportunities for older persons to take part in civic and cultural life were debated, along with healthcare and housing.
Photo from WFP
HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 