Latest United Nations Children's Fund News

Nearly 250 million children missed school last year because of extreme weather, UNICEF says
CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — At least 242 million children in 85 countries had their schooling interrupted last year because of heatwaves, cyclones, flooding and other extreme weather, the United Nations Children's Fund said in a new report Friday. UNICEF said it amounted to one...

Ethiopians celebrate Christmas as natural calamities and conflict take their toll
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AP) — Ethiopia’s Orthodox Christians are celebrating Christmas with prayers for peace in the Horn of Africa nation that has faced persistent conflict in recent years. Ethiopians follow the Julian calendar, which runs 13 days later than the Gregorian...
UNICEF urges nations to prioritize safety of migrant children after parents are lost in shipwrecks
ROME (AP) — The U.N. children’s fund urged governments on Thursday to prioritize the safety of migrant children after the latest Mediterranean shipwreck left about 20 people missing and added to a gruesome annual tally. Among the seven survivors of the New Year’s Eve wreck off...

Turkey's soaring costs are creating a 'lost generation' of kids forced to help their families get by
ISTANBUL (AP) — In a dim one-room apartment in one of Istanbul’s poorest neighborhoods, 11-year-old Atakan Sahin curls up on a threadbare sofa with his siblings to watch TV while their mother stirs a pot of pasta. The simple meal is all the family of six can look forward to most...

What to know about Vanuatu, the Pacific island nation struggling to recover from a massive quake
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — A search expanded on Thursday for those killed or trapped alive by an earthquake in the Pacific island nation of Vanuatu, as rescue workers arriving from abroad fanned out through the capital, Port Vila, encountering flattened buildings that had not yet been...
Today in History: December 11, King Edward VIII abdicates British throne
Today is Wednesday, Dec. 11, the 346th day of 2024. There are 20 days left in the year. Today in history: On Dec. 11, 1936, Britain’s King Edward VIII abdicated the throne so he could marry American divorcee Wallis Warfield Simpson; his brother, Prince Albert, became...

Ailing kids wait months for Israeli permission to leave Gaza for treatment. Some die in the meantime
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — The 12-year-old Palestinian boy was lying in a hospital bed in central Gaza, wracked with leukemia, malnourished and whimpering in pain despite the morphine doctors were giving him, when Rosalia Bollen, a UNICEF official, said she saw him in late October. ...

Afghan economy shows modest signs of growth but recovery remains fragile, says World Bank
Afghanistan’s economy is showing modest signs of growth after two years of severe contraction, the World Bank said. In its latest development update issued late Wednesday, the financial institution said modest GDP growth of 2.7% was driven by private consumption. The partial...

Zimbabwe court rules against law that denies abortion to marital rape victims and girls below 18
HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) — A law prohibiting abortion services for women raped by their husbands and girls under the age of 18 is unconstitutional, Zimbabwe’s High Court has ruled. In his ruling handed down on Nov. 22 and made public this week, Judge Maxwell Takuva said since...

The number of children recruited by gangs in Haiti soars by 70%, UNICEF says
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Gangs in Haiti are recruiting children at unprecedented levels, with the number of minors targeted soaring by 70% in the past year, according to a report released Monday by UNICEF. Currently, between 30% to 50% of all gang members in the...
