News from the United Nations

• ‘We can do better’ for pedestrian and cyclist safety worldwide May 10, 2025
  A cycling network expanded from 70 kilometres to over 400 kilometres in Fortaleza, Brazil. A project to create a bike lane in every street of Paris. And the longest pedestrian and cycle tunnel in the world, in the Norwegian coastal city of Bergen. 
• Guterres welcomes India-Pakistan ceasefire May 10, 2025
  Following pronouncements of an end to hostilities between the neighbouring nuclear powers, the UN Secretary-General, António Guterres, said that the organisation stands ready to support efforts aimed at promoting peace and stability in the region.
• Gaza: UN agencies reject Israeli plan to use aid as ‘bait’ May 9, 2025
  Israel’s plan to take control of relief assistance in Gaza would put civilian lives in danger and cause mass displacement while using aid as “bait”, UN humanitarians said on Friday.
• Haiti: Displaced families grapple with death ‘from the inside’ and out May 9, 2025
  Shattered by her husband’s death during the rising tide of gang violence in Haiti last year, Christiana and her six children fled 223 kilometres from their hometown to the city of Mirebalais, where her six-year-old daughter, Leineda, began treatment for malnutrition.
• Costa Rica’s refugee lifeline at breaking point amid funding crisis May 9, 2025
  Costa Rica’s long-standing commitment to protecting refugees is under threat as severe funding cuts cripple support for surging numbers of Nicaraguan asylum seekers, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) warned on Friday.
• More than 50 million in West and Central Africa at risk of hunger May 9, 2025
  The UN World Food Programme (WFP) has warned that millions of people in West and Central Africa are facing record hunger as conflict, displacement, economic hardship and repeated extreme weather push the region towards a major crisis. 
• UNFPA calls on US to reconsider ban on future funding May 9, 2025
  The United States’ decision to halt future funding to the UN sexual and reproductive health agency, UNFPA, will slash critical health services for women and girls worldwide, the agency warned on Friday.
• World News in Brief: ‘Massive’ needs in Sudan, DR Congo aid shortfall, support for Congolese refugees and Angola cholera relief May 9, 2025
  UN humanitarian teams have completed a mission to the Sudanese town of Tawila to provide life-saving assistance for civilians recently displaced by intensifying violence in North Darfur state.
• UN warns copper shortage risks slowing global energy and technology shift May 9, 2025
  A looming global copper shortage could stall the world’s transition to clean energy and digital technologies unless smarter trade and investment strategies are adopted, the UN’s trade and development body, UNCTAD, has warned.
• UN rights body rules Guatemala failed displaced Mayan Peoples May 8, 2025
  The UN Human Rights Committee has found that Guatemala did not follow through on promises to resettle and compensate Mayan Peoples who remain forcibly displaced.