Latest United Nations News

UN body that regulates ocean floor prepares for election amid debate over deep-sea mining

Jul. 26, 2024 18:01 PM EDT

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — A U.N. body that regulates deep international waters is preparing to elect its next leader, a crucial position as it faces pressure to either ban, approve or place a moratorium on seabed mining. The upcoming election comes as the Jamaica-based...

Ethiopia declares 3 days of national mourning as mudslide death toll rises to 257

Jul. 26, 2024 11:51 AM EDT

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AP) — Ethiopian lawmakers declared three days of mourning Friday as diggers continued their search for bodies of mudslide victims in a remote part of the East African country. Heavy rain triggered deadly slides on Sunday and Monday in Ethiopia's south,...

UN fund warns of $23 million deficit in Haiti's education system as it announces grant

Jul. 26, 2024 11:21 AM EDT

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — No chairs. Missing blackboards. A lack of bathrooms. Schools in Haiti’s capital and beyond are crumbling as gang violence deepens poverty and disrupts basic government services as the state education system faces a $23 million deficit. ...

Gang kills at least 26 villagers in remote Papua New Guinea, officials say

Jul. 26, 2024 05:32 AM EDT

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — At least 26 people were killed by a gang in three remote villages in Papua New Guinea’s north and eight villagers remained missing Friday in the latest violence in the South Pacific island nation relating to contested land ownership and sorcery allegations, officials...

India's moidam royal burial mounds are its latest World Heritage Site

Jul. 26, 2024 04:57 AM EDT

NEW DELHI (AP) — The Charaideo Moidam royal burial complex and shrines, built by northeast India's Ahom dynasty, has been inscribed as a new World Heritage Site, the United Nations' cultural agency said on Friday. UNESCO experts, who are deliberating on a list of sites nominated...

UN asks nations to better prepare, cool the vulnerable as 'extreme heat epidemic' breaks records

Jul. 25, 2024 16:23 PM EDT

After three of Earth's hottest days ever measured, the United Nations called for a flurry of efforts to try to reduce the human toll from soaring and searing temperatures, calling it “an extreme heat epidemic.” “If there is one thing that unites our divided world, it's that...

2 years after Ukrainian POW deaths, survivors and leaked UN analysis point to Russia as the culprit

Jul. 25, 2024 11:41 AM EDT

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — The former prisoners of war still puzzle over the strange events leading up to the night now seared into their memories, when an explosion ripped through the Russian-controlled Olenivka prison barracks and killed so many comrades two years ago. Among the...

UN cultural agency decides against placing Lumbini, Buddha's birthplace in Nepal, on endangered list

Jul. 25, 2024 07:43 AM EDT

KATHMANDU, Nepal (AP) — The United Nations' cultural agency decided Thursday against putting the Buddhist pilgrimage destination of Lumbini on its list of heritage sites in danger, instead giving authorities in Nepal more time to help restore the famous gardens and temple that are falling into...

UN cultural agency calls for Laos, Cambodia to invite monitoring teams to contentious UNESCO sites

Jul. 25, 2024 05:17 AM EDT

BANGKOK (AP) — The United Nations' cultural agency recommended Thursday that Laos invite a monitoring mission to the historic city of Luang Prabang, a World Heritage Site where a nearby dam project on the Mekong River has raised concerns it could lose the coveted status. While the...

Takeaways from an investigation into deaths of over 50 Ukrainian POWs in a barracks 2 years ago

Jul. 25, 2024 03:35 AM EDT

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — An explosion ripped through the Russian-controlled Olenivka prison barracks two years ago, killing more than 50 Ukrainian prisoners of war and leaving dozens injured. The Associated Press interviewed over a dozen survivors, investigators and families of the...