U.N

November 25, 2024 10:18 AM

Countries remain divided as fifth U.N. plastics treaty talks begin

As delegates from 175 countries gathered in Busan, South Korea on Monday for the fifth round of talks aimed at securing an international treaty to curb plastic pollution, lingering divisions cast doubts on whether a final agreement is in sight. South Korea is hosting the fifth and ostensibly final U.N. Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC-5) meeting this week, after the previous round of talks in Ottawa in April ended without a path forward on capping plastic production. Instead, talks...

November 18, 2024 11:01 AM

G20 talks in Rio reach breakthrough on climate finance, sources say

Diplomatic tensions over global warming spilled over into the G20 summit negotiations in Brazil this week, with sources saying the 20 major economies reached a fragile consensus on climate finance that had eluded U.N. talks in Azerbaijan. Heads of state arrived in Rio de Janeiro on Sunday for the G20 summit and will spend Monday and Tuesday addressing issues from poverty and hunger to the reform of global institutions. The talks must now also grapple with how to address escalating violence in U...

November 4, 2024 12:10 PM

Public funding for nature conservation stalls at COP16, eyes on private investment

Wealthy nations appeared to hit a limit with how much they are willing to pay to conserve nature around the world, instead shifting their focus at the two-week U.N. biodiversity summit toward discussions of private money filling the funding gap. At the COP16 negotiations in Cali, Colombia, countries failed to figure out how they would mobilize $200 billion annually in conservation funding by 2030, including $30 billion that would come directly from rich nations. That money, pledged two years a...

September 25, 2024 7:51 PM

US to provide another $424 million in Sudan aid

The United States will give a further $424 million in humanitarian help to the people of Sudan, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield announced on Wednesday. War erupted in mid-April last year from a power struggle between the Sudanese army (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces ahead of a planned transition to civilian rule. "More than 25 million Sudanese face acute hunger. Many are in famine ... and some 11 million have fled their homes in what has become the...

May 7, 2024 5:27 PM

Israel says it has taken control of Gaza side of Rafah Crossing amid truce talks

The Israeli military said on Tuesday it had taken operational control of the Palestinian side of Gaza's southern Rafah Crossing, which borders Egypt and has been pivotal for the delivery of aid and exit of injured people in the Gaza war. The military said forces were scanning the area in the morning after launching a ground and air operation in part of eastern Rafah on Monday night, amid diplomatic efforts abroad to achieve a new truce. The Gaza Crossings Authority said in a statement that I...

May 3, 2024 5:14 PM

Rafah operation could result in ‘slaughter’, UN official says

An Israeli incursion in Rafah would put the lives of hundreds of thousands of Gazans at risk and be a huge blow to the humanitarian operations of the entire enclave, the U.N. humanitarian office said on Friday. Israel has warned of an operation against Hamas in the southern Gazan city of Rafah, where around a million displaced people are crowded together in shelters and makeshift accommodation, having fled months of Israeli bombardments triggered by Hamas fighters' deadly cross-border attack on...