Some 640,000 women and girls in Ukraine will be affected by cuts to psychosocial support, gender-based violence services, safe spaces, and economic empowerment programs following the confirmation from US authorities to end practically all financial contributions to the UN reproductive and sexual health agency (UNFPA).

Communities on the frontline of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine are being killed, injured and displaced on a daily basis, as the war grinds on.

As the first phase of the Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal concludes, UN Secretary-General António Guterres is closely following developments in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory. 

Bahrain, with its shallow waters and rich oyster beds, has long been synonymous with pearls, which formed the backbone of the island nation’s economy for thousands of years. Diving for pearls, otherwise known as pearling, remains part of the country’s cultural DNA.

Myanmar is mired in one of the world’s worst human rights crises, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk said on Friday, describing conditions there as “a litany of human suffering.”