UN report warns of famine, aggravated by conflicts and climate shocks

ROME (AP) — Severe food crises threaten hundreds of thousands of people in vulnerable areas, including the Palestinian territories, Sudan, South Sudan, Haiti, and Mali, said a report released Thursday by the United Nations' food agencies. Conflicts, economic instability, and...

Fourth mass coral bleaching prompts UN emergency session at Colombia biodiversity summit

CALI, Colombia (AP) — The United Nations, scientists and governments made an urgent call Wednesday for increased funding to protect coral reefs under threat of extinction. Research this year shows that 77% of the world’s reefs are affected by bleaching, mainly due to warming...

A Philippine town in the shadow of a volcano is hit by landslides it never expected

TALISAY, Philippines (AP) — As a storm pounded his rural home, Raynaldo Dejucos asked his wife and children to stay indoors and keep safe from possible lightning strikes, slippery roads or catching a fever. One thing the 36-year-old didn't mention was landslides. In the lakeside...

Destruction of Lebanon-Syria border crossings in Israeli airstrikes creates difficulties

QUSAIR, Syria (AP) — A stream of refugees fleeing Lebanon to Syria crossed a narrow makeshift bridge on foot Sunday in the Qusair area of Syria’s Homs province after the official border crossing was put out of commission by an Israeli strike two days earlier. Only three...

UN official calls for more attention to Sudan’s 'forgotten' war amid fresh atrocities

CAIRO (AP) — A senior United Nations official on Friday called for more international attention to “the forgotten crisis” in Sudan, where more than a year and a half of war pushed the African country to the brink of famine. The appeal by Ted Chaiban, deputy head of the U.N....

US and Cyprus launch a strategic dialogue to bolster security

NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — U.S. and Cypriot officials on Wednesday launched a strategic dialogue they said would bolster security and stability in a crisis-wracked region through initiatives including counterterrorism training of personnel from Middle Eastern countries and fighting sanctions evasion....

Hunger experts say the risk of famine in Gaza remains high

The Gaza Strip is still at risk of famine more than a year into the Israel-Hamas war, even as the number of people facing the most extreme level of hunger has declined in recent months, the international authority on hunger crises said Thursday. The findings come after the United...

International experts say Gaza is still at risk of famine after more than a year of war

Israel pressured by UN and US to step up action to tackle Gaza's escalating humanitarian crisis

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The top U.N. humanitarian official accused Israel on Wednesday of blocking the delivery of desperately needed aid to Gaza, and the U.S. ambassador demanded that its government step up efforts to tackle the Palestinian territory’s ”intolerable and catastrophic...

A photojournalist is fatally stabbed on a California trail. His teen son is charged in his death

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A photojournalist who covered world events such as the conflict in the former Yugoslavia, the fall of the Berlin Wall and Nelson Mandela's release from prison was fatally stabbed during a weekend hike in the San Gabriel Mountains and his 19-year-old son has been charged in the...