(UN News)* —Conflicts in the Middle East and North Africa in the last two years reportedly killed, maimed, or displaced over 12 million children across the region, according to the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF).
Alarmingly, 110 million children in the region live in countries affected by war, with homes, schools and health facilities damaged or destroyed in fighting.
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti, 27 June 2025 – “I gave birth on the ground at the camp with the help of a woman. She is still asking me for money because I couldn’t pay her,” 18-year-old Jeanette* told UNFPA, the United Nations sexual and reproductive health agency.
(UN News)* — A decade after the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), development is facing serious headwinds – including what UN officials describe as a “silent crisis” of surging debt service payments in low-income countries.
After years of hiding under a false identity, a Syrian father in Jordan reclaims his name and secures a future for his family.
Outside of Salem Al-Ahmed’s tent in Lubban. Photo: Shaden Abdulrahman/NRC
Life in hiding
Salem Al-Ahmad* fled Syria in 2012, using his cousin’s name to escape arrest as a military deserter. Once in Jordan, he was able to register as an asylum seeker and obtain a Ministry of Interior card.
He settled in Al Lubban, west of Amman, where he married Buthainah, a fellow refugee. Together, they had five children: Tasneem, Nidal, Omar, Sinan, and Ameer, all registered under Salem’s assumed name.
(UN News)* —Most families in the Gaza Strip are surviving on one meal a day and one-third go entire days without eating as a result of Israel’s continued bombardment of the enclave, according to the UN World Food Programme (WFP) and partners.
The meals which families are able to obtain are nutritiously poor — thin broths, lentils or rice, one piece of bread or sometimes just a combination of herbs and olive oil known as duqqa.
—Helping those with less isn’t charity – it’s a shared investment in a better future. Yet global development financing is under strain. An upcoming UN conference in Sevilla, Spain, aims to change that by mobilizing large-scale investment for a more just and sustainable world.
(UN News)* — According to the United Nations, the world needs an extra $4 trillion every year to tackle some of the world’s biggest challenges – ending poverty and hunger, fighting climate change, and reducing inequality.
ATLANTA, USA, Jun 26 2025 ( IPS)* –Chest thumping “Mission Accomplished” claims by President Trump that he ordered the world’s biggest conventional bombs to be dropped on a sleeping nation of 90 million people, were premature.
IAEA chief Rafael Grossi said Iran has reported no increase inradiation levels outside Fordow, Isfahan and Natanz nuclear sites. After surprise US bombing raids on Iranian uranium enrichment facilities over the weekend, the head of the UN-backed nuclear watchdog on Monday appealed for immediate access to the targeted sites to assess the damage that is likely “very significant”. 23 June 2025. Credit: Dean Calma/IAEA
To top it off he bragged that Iran’s nuclear capacity was devastated and that the whole nation fired “not a single shot” back.
A funding shortfall is forcing WFP and other humanitarian organizations to cut assistance to some of the world’s most vulnerable people
Omnia and her young son received a hot WFP meal upon arrival at Uganda’s Kiryandongo refugee settlement, but WFP’s assistance countrywide is shrinking for lack of funds. Photo: WFP/Daisy Masembe
— Omnia and her young son stand in line under a harsh midday sun, waiting for the daily hot lunch for newcomers at Uganda’s Kiryandongo refugee settlement.
Exhaustion is etched on the face of this single mother, who arrived by bus from war-torn Sudan the day before.
More than 12 million people – one quarter of the population – are at risk of gender-based violence
GEDAREF STATE, SUDAN, 19 June 2025 (UN Population Fund)* – “Every woman and girl here is at risk, no matter her age or background. No one is safe,” said Khadija*, a midwife at a maternity clinic in Sudan’s eastern Gedaref State.
HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 