Iran on Wednesday reportedly carried out surprise attacks both inside Pakistan and Iraq which involved using precision missile and drone strikes targeting Sunni terrorist training camps in southwest Balochistan, in order to deter a planned terrorist incursion. The Iranian attacks followed a suicide bombing operation carried out by ISIL militants that killed more than 80…
Approximately 4.3 million people, over half of them children, have been affected by a multifaceted crisis characterized by conflict, climate-induced disasters, hunger and epidemics. A military coup in July 2023 and the ensuing political instability has further exacerbated their plight. Edem Wosornu, Operations Director at the UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA),…
Speaking at the annual World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, the UN chief condemned the “barbaric” Hamas-led attacks on 7 October in which approximately 1,200 people were butchered in southern Israel and some 250 taken as hostages. And amid reports of ongoing heavy Israeli bombardment which has left tens of thousands of civilians dead and…
Sigrid Kaag was appointed to monitor and verify aid shipments into Gaza, in line with a UN Security Council resolution adopted last month. She will also work to establish a mechanism for accelerating aid flows into Gaza through States that are not party to the conflict. Acute needs Ms. Kaag said she was in Egypt…
A staggering six million people have been displaced within Sudan since the war between rival militaries – the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RAF) – erupted on 15 April 2023. A further 1.7 million civilians have sought refuge across borders in South Sudan, Chad, Ethiopia, Egypt, the Central African…
Incumbent President of the island archipelago off the east African coast, Azali Assoumani, was re-elected for a fourth term. However, the turnout was reportedly only 16 per cent and opposition parties denounced the elections as “fraudulent”, according to media reports. In a statement released by his office (OHCHR) on Wednesday, Volker Türk called on…
Sean Casey, WHO Health Emergency Officer, was speaking fresh from a more than five-week visit to the war-torn enclave, where he said convoys have faced access and security constraints, as well as movement limitations. “The last week that I was in Gaza, we tried every single day for seven days to deliver fuel and supplies…
Emphasizing a commitment to addressing pressing challenges, President Dennis Francis signalled a determined push for transformative change. “We must set our sights squarely on the Summit of the Future – the pivotal event of 2024 – where world leaders are expected to gather here in New York and forge a new global consensus on how…
Trends in 2022 showed that roughly one in five adults worldwide uses tobacco, compared to one in three in the year 2000. While cigarette smoking is the most common form of tobacco use worldwide, other products include cigars, waterpipe tobacco also known as hookah, and smokeless tobacco products, all of which are harmful. The “tobacco…
“In the first two weeks of January, only 24 per cent – seven out of 29 – of planned missions to deliver food, medicine, water and other lifesaving supplies successfully reached their destinations north of Wadi Gaza,” said the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). Echoing those concerns and highlighting the dire situation…
