(UN News)* — Hostilities across the Gaza Strip continue to take a devastating toll on the population, with daily reports of Israeli strikes killing and injuring many civilians, UN aid coordination office OCHA said on Thursday .
OCHAsaiddozens of people, including at least eight children, were killed in Gaza City on Wednesday 9 April 2025 after an Israeli strike hit a residential building.
(UN News)* — The United Nations is ramping up its response to Myanmar’s devastating earthquake, calling for increased funding and an immediate ceasefire to ensure more aid reaches those in desperate need.
The 7.7 magnitude earthquake – which struck on March 28 – has claimed over 3,600 lives, injured a further 4,800 people and left 184 still missing.
The disaster has affected more than nine million people across 58 townships, with thousands of buildings, including hospitals and schools, reduced to rubble.
()* — As governments and global markets struggle to deal with the deep concerns and disruptions caused by volatility over trade tariffs, Rebeca Grynspan, the head of the UN trade and development agency (UNCTAD), told UN News on Thursday that the poorest countries – whose activities have a negligible effect on trade deficits – should be exempt.
Ms. Grynspan was speaking in the wake of growing UN concern at the effect on-going uncertainty could have on the most vulnerable developing economies.
On Tuesday , the UN Secretary-General, António Guterres, stated that “trade wars are extremely negative,” and warned that the impact of tariffs could be “devastating.”
The United States government’s abrupt and irresponsible termination of foreign assistance is putting the health and human rights of millions of people in Yemen who depend on humanitarian aid at risk, Amnesty International on said.
(Photo by KHALED ZIAD/AFP via Getty Images)
After a decade of a devastating conflict, Yemen continues to face one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.
UPPER NILE STATE, South Sudan, 9 April 2025 – Mary Kak is threading beads onto a string, making jewellery she hopes to later sell at a marketplace in Renk, a border town in South Sudan’s Upper Nile State.
“The beads we make here are sold and we earn money from it, but the most important thing is information and knowledge sharing on violence and other dangers,” she explained at a safe space for women and girls run by UNFPA, the United Nations sexual and reproductive health agency.
(Nairobi) – South Sudan’s use of improvised air-dropped incendiary weapons has killed and horrifically burned dozens of people, including children, and destroyed civilian infrastructure in Upper Nile state, Human Rights Watch on 9 April 2025 said.
(UN News)* —Hunger in South Sudan’s northeast has reached a critical tipping point, with nearly 7.7 million people facing severe food insecurity as conflict escalates, the UN’s emergency food relief agency warned on Wednesday .
The situation is especially dire for returnees fleeing violence in Sudan, who now account for nearly half of those experiencing catastrophic hunger levels.
The influx of over 1.1 million displaced people into already fragile communities has overwhelmed resources and relief efforts, according to the UN World Food Programme (WFP).
(UN News)* — Amid the ongoing Israeli aid blockade and bombardment of Gaza, aid teams on warned that civilians trapped there face multiple daily challenges as relief supplies run critically low.
In a joint statement, the heads of the UN’s aid agencies warned that “we are witnessing acts of war in Gaza that show an utter disregard for human life,” with Israeli displacement orders forcing hundreds of thousands to flee – with nowhere safe to go.
(UN News)* — Unprecedented aid cuts are putting global progress to end maternal deaths at risk, three UN agencies warned in a new report that calls for greater investment in midwives and other health workers.
PORTLAND, USA, Apr 2 2025 (IPS)* – For most voters, to make America great again, as the 47th president has repeatedly pledged, meant to make the United States markedly superior globally.
The US administration’s actions, policies, program cuts and employee firings will not improve but likely only worsen America’s mediocre standing on virtually every major measure of societal wellbeing and development. Credit: Shutterstock.
However, the administration’s actions, policies and program cuts will not improve but only worsen the US’s mediocre standing among advanced countries.