Global Issues

Humanitarian crisis ‘worsening’ in Afghanistan as war erupts in the Middle East Crises in the region on both Afghanistan’s longest borders are undermining the country’s stability, a senior UN official warned the Security Council on Monday as concerns over Middle East crisis grow amid clashes with Pakistan and a worsening humanitarian crisis.

Humanitarian crisis ‘worsening’ in #Afghanistan as war erupts in the Middle East

Afghanistan faces cascading emergencies from Pakistan to the Middle East, yet its deepening humanitarian crisis risks being overlooked as global attention shifts to newer conflicts

At the Heartland Institute event, Morano expressed delighted “shock” over the “flips on climate” of tech moguls Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates, the founders of Amazon and Microsoft respectively, whose companies have abandoned once-ambitious climate promises as they confront the skyrocketing energy demands of their AI businesses. Gates, whose foundation has donated millions of dollars to a think tank run by climate crisis denier Bjorn Lomborg, published a controversial memo in October arguing that climate change “will not lead to humanity’s demise” and advocating for ending climate funding in favor of direct humanitarian aid. Microsoft and Amazon, which have donated large sums to Trump, have both recently embraced fossil-fuel powered AI data centers alongside Trump energy officials and fossil fuel industry players. In early February, Bezos, who is also the owner of the Washington Post, slashed at least 14 reporters from the venerated paper’s climate desk. Just weeks later, the Post published an editorial board opinion, “EPA is right to reverse Obama overreach,” praising Trump’s repeal of the endangerment finding. Morano noted that overall, journalists have been reporting less aggressively about Trump’s fossil fuel agenda. “When you have Lee Zeldin, the EPA chief, calling climate a cult, a scam, religion, he doesn’t even get push-back from reporters,” Morano said. During Trump’s first term, by contrast, environmental officials like Scott Pruitt, who led the Environmental Protection Agency from February 2017 to July 2018, “would have to be very careful on climate,” Morano said. Otherwise “they would be beaten and browed by the media.”

No one is happier at the 'don't mention climate' thing than the absolute worst climate deniers

Great new @rtakver.bsky.social piece in @desmog.com with some harsh criticisms at the dropping of climate as a priority

feat @doctorvive.bsky.social @katharinehayhoe.com

www.desmog.com/2026/03/04/c...

Gender Discrimination: It’s Time to Flip the Narrative UNITED NATIONS, March 10 (IPS) - We have heard it all: When a woman raises her voice, she’s too emotional. When she stands her ground, she’s too difficult. When she leads, she’s too ambitious. If she wears dark suits they whisper ‘why does she always look like a man’. But oh my gosh! if she shows up in a colorful dresses and high heels….

Gender Discrimination: It’s Time to Flip the Narrative

Women leaders are held to impossible double standards: celebrated for navigating crises but blamed for any misstep, while the same resilience praised in men is called hysteria or weakness in women.

#GenderDiscrimination
#LikeAwoman

Global Arms Flow Jump Nearly 10 per cent as European Demand Soars due to Transfers to Ukraine UNITED NATIONS, March 10 (IPS) - The ongoing military conflict between Ukraine and Russia—which began February 2022, with no visible signs of ending—has triggered major arms transfers to Europe.

Global #Arms Flow Jump Nearly 10 per cent as European Demand Soars due to Transfers to Ukraine

Spike in global sales framed as defensive necessity = a self-reinforcing cycle: countries race to outdo each other citing new threats = more arms sales. Arms companies profit, civilians bear the cost

New challenges bring increased risks in combating child sexual abuse, exploitation Despite some progress made globally, children around the world still face serious and evolving risks of being sold, sexually exploited and abused, the UN independent human rights expert on the sale, sexual exploitation and sexual abuse of children, Mama Fatima Singhateh, warned on Monday.

New challenges bring increased risks in combating child sexual #abuse, #exploitation

#ChildPredators are adapting faster than protections can evolve, leaving millions of #children vulnerable despite global awareness of the problem

‘No one should be a hibakusha’: Young Japanese activist’s mission to share atomic bomb survivor stories A Japanese peace activist is hoping to promote global nuclear disarmament by keeping alive the stories of the atomic bomb survivors through the creation of a mobile museum.

‘No one should be a hibakusha’: Young Japanese activist’s mission to share #AtomicBomb survivor stories

A race against time to preserve the voices of aging atomic bomb survivors before they're gone, making their lived experiences the most powerful argument against nuclear weapons today

International Women’s Day 2026 - Justice for Women and Girls Needs Action and Political Will UNITED NATIONS, March 9 (IPS) - On International Women’s Day (March 8), global leaders and advocates gather around the rallying cry to strengthen justice systems for all women and girls in a time of increasing pushbacks on gender equality.

#InternationalWomensDay 2026 - Justice for Women and Girls Needs Action and Political Will

The world acknowledges women's rights on paper yet systemic barriers, from discriminatory laws to fear of retaliation, mean most women experience justice as a broken promise rather than a reality

International Women’s Day 2026 - A Resistance Stronger than the Backlash MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay, March 9 (IPS) - Consider what International Women’s Day looked like a few years ago, and what it looks like now: the same date, the same global moment of reflection, but a vastly changed global landscape. Gender rights are facing the most coordinated and wide-ranging attack in decades. Anti-rights forces are dismantling protections secured after generations of struggle, destroying infrastructure built to address gender-based violence and realise reproductive rights and rewriting legal frameworks to roll back rights, with a specific focus on excluding transgender people. This is the result of a deliberate, carefully crafted, handsomely funded and globally coordinated strategy.

#InternationalWomensDay 2026 - A Resistance Stronger than the Backlash

Powerful nations actively exporting restrictions on women's and LGBTQI+ rights globally, yet grassroots movements in some of world's most repressive places still winning legal victories those in power thought they could prevent

LIVE: International Women’s Day and CSW70 at the United Nations Welcome to our live coverage of International Women’s Day 2026 and the opening of the 70th session of the Commission on the Status of Women at UN Headquarters in New York. Throughout the day, we will bring you updates, reactions and key moments from across the UN system as global leaders, diplomats and advocates gather to mark International Women's Day and advance the theme “Rights. Justice. Action” for all women and girls.

LIVE: International Women’s Day and #CSW70 at the United Nations

#InternationalWomensDay
#womensrights

International Women’s Day 2026 - This Year’s International Women’s Day Calls for Electing a Woman as the next Secretary-General NEW YORK, March 9 (IPS) - As we observe International Women’s Day (IWD) this year, the global community does so in a time of continuing turbulence, conflicts and uncertainty about the future of our planet.

This Year’s #InternationalWomensDay Calls for Electing a Woman as the next Secretary-General

For 80 years, the UN has championed #equality while never appointing a woman to its top role. Its time this changed!

#WomensRights

International Women’s Day 2026 - The Gender Architecture of Betrayal: Stop Elite Impunity NEW YORK, March 9 (IPS) - International Women’s Day 2026 (IWD 2026), which was commemorated March 8, under the theme, “Rights. Justice. Action. For ALL Women and Girls“, calls for action to dismantle all barriers to equal justice: discriminatory laws, weak legal protections, and harmful practices and social norms that erode the rights of women and girls. It demands an end to systemic violence and misogyny, including calls for justice for Epstein survivors.

#InternationalWomensDay 2026 - The Gender Architecture of Betrayal: Stop Elite Impunity

Elite men dodge accountability for systematic sexual abuse; socialite elite women championing feminism shield predators through association. Powerful protected across borders and institutions

Nearly 700,000 displaced in Lebanon as Middle East crisis escalates On day 10 of the war engulfing the Middle East, UN agencies on Monday reported massive displacement across the region, along with surging food and fuel prices that risk increasing hunger and suffering for the most vulnerable.

Nearly 700,000 displaced in #Lebanon as #MiddleEastCrisis escalates

Including 200,000 children, fleeing their homes while the world's attention fragments across multiple simultaneous crises, leaving little bandwidth for the scale of human suffering unfolding in real time

Nigeria’s Failing Road Transport System Leaves Commuters at the Mercy of Robbers ABUJA, March 9 (IPS) - Abimbola David still remembers being robbed twice in taxis in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital. The most recent incident occurred in 2023 when the robbers, who pretended to be passengers, took her belongings while the car was moving.

#Nigeria’s Failing Road #Transport System Leaves Commuters at the Mercy of Robbers

Poorest commuters face deadly crime as the government hasn't invested in safe public transit, forcing them to choose between unregulated minibuses and crimes they can't report to a police force that extorts them

World News in Brief: Myanmar airstrikes worsen crisis, South Sudan fighting threatens Akobo, Afghan women shut out of justice Conflict continues to fuel suffering and drive humanitarian needs in Myanmar, the UN relief coordination office, OCHA, said in a bulletin on Monday.

World News in Brief: #Myanmar airstrikes worsen crisis, #SouthSudan fighting threatens Akobo, #AfghanWomen shut out of justice

Flemings are cycling to work more than ever before! | VRT NWS: news One in every four Flemings cycled to work in 2024, which is twice as many as 20 years ago. The figure comes from a large-scale study looking at the mobility habits of almost 1.8 million employees in B...

“One in every four Flemings [residents of Flanders in Northern Belgium] cycled to work in 2024, which is twice as many as 20 years ago. Figures for Brussels too are astounding!”

“Cycling infrastructure in Flanders has improved significantly over the past 20 years, that's where it starts.”

Lebanon ‘dragged back into turmoil’, UN envoy warns Lebanon has been “dragged back into a state of turmoil and violence”, the UN’s top envoy in the country warned on Saturday, after the latest round of regional strikes triggered a fast‑escalating crisis along the Blue Line. What had been fragile but real momentum, she said, has now collapsed in a matter of days.

#Lebanon ‘dragged back into turmoil’, UN envoy warns

#USAIsraelIranWar

Radio Begum: A rare public space for women in Afghanistan Every morning in Kabul, several cars make their way across the Afghan capital to pick up the producers of Radio Begum. The young women do not travel to the office on their own as moving around the city has become too complicated.

Radio Begum: A rare public space for #women in #Afghanistan

Justice takes centre stage: UN welcomes world’s largest women’s rights event Women have never been closer to equality and never closer to losing it, according to UN Women ahead of the start of the world’s largest gender equality gathering.

Justice takes centre stage: UN welcomes world’s largest women’s rights event

UN is gearing up with a powerful month of justice‑focused events, from CSW70 to new high‑level meetings, pushing for more global action supporting women and girls

#WomensRights
#GenderEquality
#InternationalWomensDay

Women’s representation in parliament sees sluggish gains Women held 27.5 per cent of parliamentary seats worldwide as the year began –a 0.3 per cent increase from 2025, marking the slowest growth in nearly a decade, according to a new report from the UN-backed Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU).

#Women’s representation in #parliament sees sluggish gains

#GenderEquality
#GenderEqualityInPolitics

On day seven of Middle East war, no let-up in suffering The escalating war in the Middle East has heightened growing concerns about further civilian suffering and displacement in the region and far beyond, UN agencies said on Friday.

On day seven of Middle East #war, no let-up in suffering

#MiddleEast
#IranIsraelUSA

MIDDLE EAST LIVE 6 March: Conflict spreading ‘like wildfire’, UN rights chief warns Violence across the Middle East is continuing as military strikes and counter-strikes are reported in several countries across the region, raising fears of wider instability and worsening humanitarian conditions. UN agencies warn the crisis is affecting at least 16 countries, with civilian casualties, displacement and damage to vital infrastructure increasing. Follow our live coverage for updates and reaction from across the United Nations system. UN News app users can follow here.

MIDDLE EAST LIVE 6 March: Conflict spreading ‘like wildfire’, UN rights chief warns

#MiddleEast
#War
#IranIsraelUSA

UN: Amid Security Risks in Middle East, Humanitarian Work is Underway UNITED NATIONS, March 6 (IPS) - As military fighting breaks out across the Middle East with increasing frequency and intensity, the United Nations promises to ramp up its humanitarian response on the ground.

UN: Amid Security Risks in Middle East, Humanitarian Work is Underway

#MiddleEast
#IranUSAIsraelWar

As La Niña Fades, WMO Experts Warn That El Niño Could Set New Global Heat Records UNITED NATIONS, March 6 (IPS) - Earlier this week World Meteorological Organization (WMO) announced that the weakening conditions of La Niña conditions are beginning to fade, with climate conditions transitioning toward ENSO-neutral —a phase in which neither El Niño nor La Niña is present and oceanic and atmospheric conditions in the tropical Pacific remain near average. The agency noted that this shift could lead to the development of El Niño later in the year, a pattern typically associated with rising global temperatures and an increased risk of extreme weather events worldwide.

As La Niña Fades, WMO Experts Warn That El Niño Could Set New Global Heat Records

#ElNiño
#GlobalHeat
#ClimateChange
#ClimateCrisis

Heralding an Era of Religious Wars NEW YORK, March 6 (IPS) - In recent months, the language surrounding the escalating confrontation between the United States, Israel, and Iran has taken on a tone that should trouble anyone concerned with global peace.

Heralding an Era of Religious Wars

#ReligiousWars

The Impact of Artificial Intelligence in Nuclear Decision-Making UNITED NATIONS, March 6 (IPS) - As artificial intelligence (AI) threatens to dominate every aspect of human lives – including political, economic, social and cultural – there is also the danger of the potential militarization of AI.

The Impact of Artificial Intelligence in #Nuclear Decision-Making

#AI
#NuclearDecisionMakingAndAI

Turning Waste into Hope: A Youth-Led Model for Sustainable Change TOKYO, Japan, March 6 (IPS) - From the beginning, this project was a collaboration between student teams in Japan and Korea. Although we live in different countries, we shared one common question: How can young people reduce waste while supporting families facing food insecurities?

Turning #Waste into Hope: A Youth-Led Model for Sustainable Change

Before We Label Others: Why Listening Is the First Step Toward Peace TOKYO, Japan, March 6 (IPS) - Around the world, conflicts often begin not with violence, but with assumptions. When people judge others before understanding them, labels replace dialogue—and division replaces trust. For young people growing up in an increasingly polarized world, learning to listen may be one of the most powerful tools for peace.

Before We Label Others: Why #Listening Is the First Step Toward Peace

From Truancy to Belonging: Why Safe Spaces Matter for Youth Well-Being MIYAGI PREFECTURE, Japan, March 6 (IPS) - I recently came across a statistic that stopped me in my tracks.

From #Truancy to #Belonging: Why Safe Spaces Matter for #Youth Well-Being

#YouthWellBeing

World News In Brief: Sudan conflict intensifies, Global inequality deepening, HIV success amid new medicine, increase in ‘Domicide’ worldwide There has been an alarming escalation of violence in the Kordofan region where fighting has killed and injured civilians, destroyed homes, hospitals and other civilian infrastructure.

World News In Brief: #Sudan conflict intensifies, Global #inequality deepening, #HIV success amid new medicine, increase in ‘#Domicide’ worldwide

UN calls for fair play in the global race for critical minerals Critical minerals such as lithium and cobalt are central to the transition to a zero-carbon economy. As the Security Council meets on Thursday to discuss “energy, critical minerals and security,” here is some of the work the UN is doing to ensure that the transition is just and equitable.

UN calls for fair play in the global race for critical #minerals

#CriticalMinerals