Delegates establish Indigenous subsidiary body and rules for genetic information at COP16 summit

CALI, Colombia (AP) — After two weeks of negotiations, delegates on Saturday agreed at the United Nations conference on biodiversity to establish a subsidiary body that will include Indigenous peoples in future decisions on nature conservation and to oblige major corporations to share the...

Delegates agree to establish Indigenous subsidiary body at COP16 UN biodiversity summit in Colombia

Middle East latest: Israel kills 52 in northeast Lebanon after a night of strikes in Beirut

Rescuers searched for survivors Friday after Israeli airstrikes killed at least 52 people and wounded 72 others across northeastern Lebanon, the country's Health Ministry reported. The wave of bombings pounded villages that had previously been spared the worst of Israel’s air campaign against the...

Negotiations stall over some crucial issues on final day of UN biodiversity summit in Colombia

CALI, Colombia (AP) — At the United Nations biodiversity summit in Colombia, negotiators have struggled to find common ground on key issues. These include how to finance protections for 30% of the world's plants and animals by 2030, how to establish a permanent body for Indigenous...

Israel is falling far short of a US ultimatum to surge aid to Gaza

WASHINGTON (AP) — Halfway through the Biden administration's 30-day ultimatum for Israel to surge the level of humanitarian assistance allowed into Gaza or risk possible restrictions on U.S. military funding, Israel is falling far short, an Associated Press review of U.N. and Israeli data shows. ...

Head of UN-backed team of experts cites paramilitary force in Sudan for sexual violence as war rages

GENEVA (AP) — The head of a U.N.-backed fact-finding team looking into human rights violations and abuses in Sudan said Friday it found the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces responsible for large-scale sexual violence in areas that it controls. Mohamed Chande Othman has denounced...

Russia’s torture of Ukrainian civilians, prisoners is a crime against humanity, UN expert panel says

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Russia’s torture of Ukrainian civilians and prisoners of war is a crime against humanity, U.N.-backed human rights experts said Thursday. Erik Møse, chair of the independent commission investigating human rights violations in Ukraine, told reporters that...

UN extends mandate for UN peacekeepers in Western Sahara, with Algeria protesting over human rights

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. Security Council voted to extend the mandate of the U.N. peacekeeping force in the Western Sahara for another year Thursday with Algeria refusing to vote in protest at the resolution’s failure to include a reference to monitoring human rights in the disputed north...

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...

Some 8,000 North Korean troops are in Russia's Kursk region near Ukraine's border, US deputy ambassador to the UN says