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This edition of UN News's The Takeaway recaps key highlghts at the UN General Assembly on Wednesday, including focus on the war in Ukraine and a renewed push by African countries for Security Council reform.
Kenyan President William Ruto told the General Assembly on Wednesday that the sovereign equality the UN proclaims is contradicted by its own structures, urging Member States to reform the Security Council and an international financial system “built for another age”.
Venezuela is seeking to rebuild after a period of political upheaval and the destruction caused by twin earthquakes earlier this year, Acting President Delcy Rodríguez told world leaders at the United Nations on Wednesday.
Argentine President Javier Milei told the General Assembly on Wednesday that the UN has broken the “sacred covenant” on which it was founded, failing at what it was meant to do – while excelling at things beyond its remit.
More than 130 days into the latest Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), health experts said on Wednesday that response efforts have been scaled up significantly and “the first encouraging signs of progress” are now being seen.
Syrian President Ahmad Al-Sharaa told the UN General Assembly on Wednesday that his country “is rising” on many levels, thanks to the strength of its people.
Ahead of the 40th anniversary of the groundbreaking Declaration on the Right to Development this December, world leaders gathered at a High-Level Week meeting on Wednesday to map progress made and the 21st century challenges still ahead – from narrowing the digital divide to…
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Wednesday called for intensified pressure on Russia to end its war against Ukraine, arguing that Moscow continues to incur massive losses while prolonging a conflict whose consequences are increasingly being felt far beyond the…
“We are the first generation with the tools to end the fossil fuel age – and the last who can avert climate catastrophe,” UN Secretary-General António Guterres said on Wednesday, calling on countries to draw up credible roadmaps with clear timelines to transition away from…
Activists, lawyers and others who cooperate with the United Nations on human rights continue to face intimidation and reprisals, according to a new report issued on Wednesday by the Secretary-General that calls for greater protection and accountability.
Search and rescue operations continued in Gaza City on Wednesday following the collapse of a bombed-out building that killed at least 20 people, according to reports.
Since the Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan in 2021, the continuing presence of terrorist groups as well as rights violations against women and girls are a growing concern as the Security Council meets Wednesday to hear the latest updates, including from a civil society…
While September traditionally marks the start of the school year across the northern hemisphere, a staggering 93 million children are not in class at all amid an unprecedented number of attacks on learning, education experts warned on Wednesday.
The UN Secretary-General appealed on Wednesday for world leaders to invest in peace as violence, division and conflict exacerbate suffering worldwide.
Nepal’s call for financial compensation following recent deadly floods underlines the need to help countries that contribute the least to climate change – but are increasingly grappling with its most lethal consequences, the top UN official in the country said on Wednesday.
Gloria Steinem, the journalist and women's rights campaigner who became one of the most influential voices of the feminist movement, has died at the age of 92. In an announcement on Instagram, her family said she had passed away on Wednesday at her home in New York City,…
Two truckloads of food aid destined for hungry families in South Kordofan state, Sudan, were destroyed in an aerial attack over the weekend, the World Food Progamme (WFP) said on Wednesday.
Amid reports that hundreds of people are still missing in Nepal and China after a floodwater surge slammed into towns and villages on Wednesday, aid teams have been working to reach communities cut off by the disaster.
Severe flooding in China and Nepal caused widespread destruction and mounting death tolls, UN agencies reported on Wednesday as aid efforts deployed to help provide emergency assistance.
Amid illegal Israeli settlement surges, continued attacks in Gaza and the West Bank alongside tensions throughout Occupied Palestinian Territory, the Security Council is meeting at 10am (local time) on Wednesday to hear briefings on the latest developments. UN News app users…
Facing a projected shortage of more than six million health professionals by 2035, African countries are stepping up efforts to strengthen their workforce, with a new decade-long plan announced on Wednesday during a meeting of health ministers in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Reports of new illegal Israeli outposts in the occupied West Bank raised alarms at UN Headquarters on Wednesday while the UN rights office called on Israel to condemn its national security minister’s words that incite “violence amounting to atrocity crimes” against Palestinians.
Intensifying fighting in Sudan has displaced at least another 200,000 people since late 2025, while destructive seasonal floods are compounding the massive humanitarian emergency there, the UN International Organization for Migration (IOM) said on Wednesday.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) on Wednesday responded to a new round of US sanctions targeting its president and a senior prosecutor, calling them “a flagrant attack” against the court.
The UN on Wednesday continued scaling up assistance to areas affected by the deadly earthquake that hit Colombia two days earlier.
Severe weather, war, economic pressure and shifting policies reshaped migration journeys across multiple regions in the first four months of 2026, driving a surge in deaths, according to new data released on Wednesday by the International Organization for Migration (IOM).
The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) on Wednesday upheld the safety of childhood vaccines in response to a new directive from the White House to overhaul the recommended inoculation schedule.
Five years after the Taliban seized power, women and girls in Afghanistan have been systematically stripped of their rights, UN agencies said on Wednesday. De facto authorities have issued more than 100 decrees curbing education, work and freedom of movement – restrictions now…
UN Secretary-General António Guterres condemned on Wednesday the deadliest Russian strikes on Kyiv this year, which killed 17 people and caused extensive damage to civilian infrastructure overnight.
The UN rights chief expressed alarm on Wednesday over the sharp increase in executions and death sentences in Iran since the US-Israeli bombing campaign began in late February, warning that capital punishment is being used to intimidate the population and suppress dissent.
Nearly 50 million more people in highly vulnerable communities globally are set to be pushed into acute hunger because of the strengthening El Niño weather phenomenon, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) said on Wednesday.
The Security Council is meeting on Wednesday to examine the persistent threat posed by the terrorist group ISIL, also known as Dae’sh, to international peace and security. At a conference in June, the acting head of the UN counter-terrorism office stated that Al Qaeda, Da’esh,…
Independent UN experts on Wednesday called for urgent action to support Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh after reports indicated two boats carrying more than 500 passengers may have capsized off the coast of Myanmar in mid-July.
The UN emergency food agency appealed for immediate funding on Wednesday, warning that deepening hunger is undermining the response to an Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) that has now infected more than 3,200 people.
The United Nations Secretary-General said on Wednesday that he plans to convene fresh talks on Cyprus to resolve the decades-long division on the Mediterranean island, stressing that the moment calls for rebuilding trust between its two communities.
The UN human rights chief Volker Türk on Wednesday condemned new threats from Nicaragua’s co-president Daniel Ortega to hinder civil rights and prevent dissenting individuals and groups from participating in elections.
UN Member States reaffirmed their commitment to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by adopting a declaration on Wednesday that they will implement reforms to help close the $4 trillion SDG financing gap.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres voiced deep concern on Wednesday over the continuing military escalation in the Middle East amid ongoing strikes by the United States and Iran over control of the Strait of Hormuz.
Global childhood immunization programmes continued to recover in 2025, but conflict, poverty and growing vaccine hesitancy are still leaving millions vulnerable to preventable diseases, according to new UN data released on Wednesday.
The Security Council meets at 3pm on Wednesday for an update on the International Criminal Court's work in Sudan's Darfur region, referred to the Court back in 2005. Focus has recently turned to atrocities in the ongoing war between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and…
As Colombia awaits the inauguration of its newly elected president, pockets of insecurity remain a challenge for a nation that has overcome decades of conflict, the head of the UN verification team there told the Security Council on Wednesday.
Access to education continues to worsen in the West Bank, the United Nations reported on Wednesday.
The United Nations paused on Wednesday to remember the more than 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys killed in the town of Srebrenica in July 1995, and the women and survivors left to rebuild their lives in the aftermath.
The number of new cancer cases worldwide could rise to almost 35 million a year by 2050 unless countries take urgent action to strengthen prevention, early diagnosis and treatment, the World Health Organization (WHO) warned on Wednesday.
Atrocities committed by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) militia against Sudanese civilians in El Fasher in October – including mass killings, abductions and gang rapes – bear the markers of genocide, independent UN human rights investigators reported on Wednesday.
The widespread solidarity shown to Venezuela must now be transformed into real, practical support for recovery from the deadly double earthquakes last month, UN relief chief Tom Fletcher said on Wednesday.
Renewed attacks on shipping in the Strait of Hormuz unsettled energy markets on Wednesday and prompted calls from the UN maritime agency, IMO, for “maximum restraint and de-escalation”.
Fresh scientific evidence and options for harnessing artificial intelligence (AI) were unveiled Wednesday following the launch of the first global, independent scientific assessment of opportunities, risks and impacts by a pioneering UN expert panel.
The continued expansion of areas under Israeli control in Gaza since October’s ceasefire agreement is placing civilians at greater risk and severely constraining humanitarian operations, the UN and humanitarian partners warned on Wednesday.
Some 2,200 rescue workers from 27 countries have been deployed to Venezuela to locate people trapped under the rubble following the twin earthquakes on Wednesday, in a deployment supported and coordinated by the United Nations.
Thousands of civilians trapped in frontline communities in southern Ukraine are facing a deepening humanitarian crisis as access to food, medical care and evacuation routes continues to shrink, the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in the country, HMRRU, warned on Wednesday.
Two deadly earthquakes struck Venezuela less than a minute apart on Wednesday, with magnitudes of 7.2 and 7.5, causing at least 164 deaths and widespread destruction in and around the capital, Caracas as international assistance begins to arrive early Thursday, with UN agencies…
The United Nations Secretary-General’s Personal Envoy for Sudan voiced alarm on Wednesday over escalating violence in and around the city of El Obeid, warning that further military escalation could put thousands of civilians at risk and deepen Sudan’s already devastating…
The way societies talk about ageing can shape everything from public policy to people's own expectations of later life, the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) said on Wednesday in a new report that calls for shifting away from narratives that portray…
Amid efforts to cool global warming, the battle hinges on targeting such super-pollutants as methane, which emits one third of the world’s greenhouse gases and “is a fight we can win”, the UN chief on Wednesday.
The Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) continues to spread faster than aid efforts can keep pace, despite significant gains in treatment capacity and growing community engagement, the World Health Organization (WHO) warned on Wednesday.
Ongoing fighting in the Sudanese city of El Obeid continues to endanger civilians and damage infrastructure, the United Nations said on Wednesday.
Attacks against human right defenders have reached record levels over the past year, according to a new report issued on Wednesday by the UN human rights office, OHCHR.
More than 100 days of war reveals a shattering snapshot of life for civilians in Lebanon amid Israeli strikes and forced displacement, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) reported on Wednesday.
The UN Security Council met in New York Wednesday for its annual open debate on women, peace and security, in line with a 25-year-old resolution. The Secretary-General’s most recent report on the issue shows that in 2024, women made up only seven percent of negotiators on…