Latest United Nations Children's Fund News

Turkey's soaring costs are creating a 'lost generation' of kids forced to help their families get by

Dec. 25, 2024 00:03 AM EST

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

Dec. 20, 2024 07:08 AM EST

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

Dec. 11, 2024 00:14 AM EST

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

Dec. 06, 2024 09:36 AM EST

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

Dec. 04, 2024 23:45 PM EST

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

Dec. 03, 2024 05:52 AM EST

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

Nov. 25, 2024 06:49 AM EST

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...

Botswana holds an election where the diamond trade has become a central issue

Oct. 30, 2024 08:43 AM EDT

GABORONE, Botswana (AP) — Botswana held a national election on Wednesday to decide if one of Africa's longest-ruling parties stays in power for another five-year term. The Botswana Democratic Party has governed the southern African nation for 58 years, since independence from...

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

Oct. 25, 2024 17:04 PM EDT

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....

The UN says over 400,000 children in Lebanon have been displaced in 3 weeks by war

Oct. 15, 2024 06:10 AM EDT

BEIRUT (AP) — More than 400,000 children in Lebanon have been displaced in the past three weeks, a top official with the U.N. children’s agency said Monday, warning of a “lost generation” in the small country grappling with multiple crises and now in the middle of war. Israel...