(UN News)* —Glaciers in many regions will not survive the 21st century if they keep melting at the current rate, potentially jeopardising hundreds of millions of people living downstream, UN climate experts said on the first World Day for Glaciers.
Together with ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica, glaciers lock up about 70 per cent of the world’s freshwater reserves. They are striking indicators of climate change as they typically remain about the same size in a stable climate.
But, with rising temperatures and global warming triggered by human-induced climate change, they are melting at unprecedented speed, said Sulagna Mishra, a scientific officer at the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).
(UN News)* — The United Nations Secretary-General warned on Friday [] that Himalayan glaciers are “caving in,” urging immediate action to address the climate crisis, especially in the world’s most fragile ecosystems.
UN News/Vibhu Mishra | Mountains in Nepal’s Annapurna range, where glaciers are retreating and snow lines are rising due to climate change.
António Guterres issued the warning in a video message to the inaugural Sagarmatha Sambaad, or “Everest Dialogue,” convened by the Government of Nepal in Kathmandu.
“Record temperatures have meant record glacier melt,” he said.
(UN News)* —Amid reports that Israeli strikes across Gaza overnight into Friday [] killed at least 64 people, aid teams once again pushed back strongly at allegations that aid is being diverted to Hamas, demanding an end to Israel’s blockade.
Updating journalists in Geneva, World Health Organization (WHO) spokesperson Dr. Margaret Harris described another night of terror in the war-torn enclave.
She said that some of those injured in the attacks had sought help from the Indonesian hospital in northern Gaza, even though it was now “just a shell” after 19 months of war.
(UN News)* —The UN human rights office (OHCHR) called on Friday [] for an end to senseless killings in the occupied West Bank, where a pregnant Israeli woman was among the latest victims.
OHCHR has urged Israel to stop all extrajudicial executions and other unlawful use of force and ensure all those responsible are brought to justice.
Over the last two weeks, Israeli security forces killed two Palestinian men in planned summary executions, while seven others were killed in conditions that raise concerns over the use of unnecessary or disproportionate lethal force, the office said in a statement.
15 May 2025 — Before seeking refuge became her only option, Fadimatou lived a modest yet peaceful life in her hometown of Berberati in the Central African Republic (CAR), surrounded by family.
Fadimatou and her daughter. Photo : Patricia Pouhe/NRC
Her husband, a farmer, provided for their daily needs while she cared for their children, ensuring their education and wellbeing. Fadimatou could not imagine what was about to happen.
(Beirut) –The Israeli government’s plan to demolish what remains of Gaza’s civilian infrastructure and concentrate the Palestinian population into a tiny area would amount to an abhorrent escalation of its ongoing crimes against humanity, ethnic cleansing, and acts of genocide, Human Rights Watch on 15 May 2025 said.
New displacement orders force thousands to flee as famine looms
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UN News | Two children in Gaza City. Humanitarian partners have also witnessed soaring malnutrition levels among children.
(UN News)* — Intensified hostilities continue in the Gaza Strip, bringing further death, displacement and destruction as the weeks-long aid blockade grinds on, the UN humanitarian affairs office (OCHA) said on Thursday [].
In addition to ongoing bombardment, Israel issued another three displacement orders over the past two days, covering seven per cent of the total area of the territory.
(UN News)* — The UN Human Rights High Commissioner Volker Türk has voiced concern over the recent deportation of large numbers of non-nationals from the United States, particularly to third countries.
In a report published on Tuesday [], UN Women – the UN agency for gender equality – warned that 47 per cent of these groups may be forced to close within the next six months.
Across 73 countries, 308 million people now rely on humanitarian aid – a number that continues to rise.
Women and girls are disproportionately affected by these crises, facing preventable pregnancy-related deaths, malnutrition, and alarming levels of sexual violence.
(UN News)* —No aid has entered Gaza for more than 10 weeks and every single one of the 2.1 million people there faces famine conditions, the UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Tom Fletcher said on Tuesday [] in a briefing to the Security Council in New York.
UN News | A Palestinian child in Gaza after receiving a meal during food distribution in central Gaza.
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Mr. Fletcher began his remarks by asking the international community to reflect on what it will tell future generations about action taken “to stop the 21st century atrocity to which we bear daily witness in Gaza.”
He wondered, for example, if “we will use those empty words: ‘We did all we could,’” and urged the Council to act decisively to prevent genocide from happening.
HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 