Gaza protests: UN rights chief flags ‘disproportionate’ police action on US campuses

Gaza protests: UN rights chief flags ‘disproportionate’ police action on US campuses

In recent days, demonstrations unfolding through tented encampments on school grounds – sparked by students at New York’s prestigious Columbia University who are demanding authorities divest from Israel due to its occupation and military assault on Gaza – have spread nationwide. University authorities from the west to east coast have taken different approaches, ranging from…

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‘Extraordinary, deep anxiety’ in Gaza over feared Rafah attack   

‘Extraordinary, deep anxiety’ in Gaza over feared Rafah attack   

“There is an extraordinary, deep anxiety prevailing right now in Gaza because the question everybody asks is whether, yes or no, there would be a military offensive,” UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini told journalists in Geneva. Following several reports by the UN aid coordination office, OCHA, of “intensive strikes on Rafah” that caused dozens of fatalities, Mr….

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UN agencies sound alarm over renewed clashes in eastern DR Congo

World News in Brief: DR Congo conflict could spell catastrophe, plastics treaty progress, enforced disappearances rise ahead of Venezuela poll

The Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) called for greater international support for the Congolese people to avoid a potential catastrophe for the country and the region. Current conflicts have escalated levels of gender-based violence, displacement and hunger in the restive eastern region where multiple armed groups are battling the national army and each other for control….

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Security Council hears of progress in Bosnia despite ‘worrying’ trend of genocide denial

Security Council hears of progress in Bosnia despite ‘worrying’ trend of genocide denial

Miroslav Jenča, UN Assistant Secretary-General for Europe, Central Asia and the Americas with the Departments of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs and Peace Operations, provided an update of recent developments since his office’s last Council briefing in July. The country continues to grapple with issues stemming from the brutal war that killed 100,000 people across the…

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Children’s shoes left behind illustrate chaos of fleeing Khan Younis: UN humanitarians

Children’s shoes left behind illustrate chaos of fleeing Khan Younis: UN humanitarians

“They used to shelter inside the school yard here, inside the classrooms, using all the external space. Now there’s nothing left. Everybody evacuated very quickly,” said Louise Wateridge, UNRWA Communications Officer.  Writing in a social media post on X that abandoned children’s shoes were “everywhere” at the school, the UNRWA officer also pointed to rubble…

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