(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.
This is a summary of what was said by UNHCR Representative in South Sudan, Marie-Helene Verney – to whom quoted text may be attributed – at 12 September 2025 press briefing at the Palais des Nations in Geneva.
South Sudan has been swept into a new cycle of severe flooding, just as renewed conflict threatens a fragile peace, leaving communities in some of the country’s most flood- and conflict-prone states exposed to a double crisis, warns UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency.
18 September 2025 —The water cycle has become increasingly erratic and extreme, swinging between deluge and drought, according to a new report from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). It highlights the cascading impacts of too much or too little water on economies and society.
The State of Global Water Resources report says only about one-third of the global river basins had “normal” conditions in 2024. The rest were either above or below normal – the sixth consecutive year of clear imbalance.
2024 was the third straight year with widespread glacier loss across all regions.
LONDON, Sep 26 2025 (IPS)** ––As the high-level opening week of the UN General Assembly unfolds, with heads of states delivering often self-serving speeches from the UN’s podium, the organisation is undergoing one of its worst set of crises since its founding 80 years ago.
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A view of the podium and the United Nations emblem in the General Assembly Hall. Credit: UN Photo/Loey Felipe
This year’s General Assembly – ostensibly focused on development, human rights and peace – comes as wars are raging across multiple continents, climate targets are dangerously being missed and the institution designed to address these global challenges is being hollowed out by funding cuts and political withdrawals. Continue reading →
(UN News)* —The UN Secretary General on Friday []warned a high-level meeting in New York focused on ridding the world of nuclear weapons that the threat is only “accelerating and evolving”.
26 Septembermarks the International Day which highlights the ongoing scourge of the nuclear arms race – an opportunity for the international community to reaffirm its commitment to nuclear disarmament.
Pledges to disarm, however, have yet to be honoured.
Nuclear weapons continue to menace our world,” said the UN’s Chef de Cabinet Courtenay Rattray, delivering a statement on behalf of UN chief António Guterres: “And despite decades of promises, the threat is accelerating and evolving.”
The UK government will not meet its pledge to halve violence against women and girls unless it tackles tech companies
One in three women in the UK has experienced online abuse or harassment | Getty
24 September 2025 (openDemocracy)** — From hiding spycams in children’s toys to coercing partners into online sex work on platforms such as OnlyFans, abusers are increasingly weaponising technology to perpetrate new and insidious forms of violence against women and girls (VAWG).
24 September 2025 — Climate experts have found that countries are planning twice as much fossil fuel production as is compatible with global climate commitments.
The 2025 Production Gap Report, co-authored by the Stockholm Environment Institute, Climate Analytics, and the International Institute for Sustainable Development, found that these plans put at risk the goal of limiting the global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
The experts analyzed 20 major fossil fuel-producing countries that together account for over 80 percent of global fossil fuel production.
Photo from WFP
HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 