In the past few months United Nations-sponsored negotiations to tackle climate change, plastic pollution, loss of global species and a growing number of deserts have either outright failed or come out with limited outcomes that didn’t address the scale of the problems.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has urged rich nations to honor their new commitments to help the world’s poorer countries fight climate change in a speech to Lesotho’s Parliament.

Human Rights Watch says Mali’s armed forces, supported by Russian mercenaries, committed abuses against civilians since the withdrawal of a UN peacekeeping mission late last year.

Palestinian medical officials say Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip have killed at least 33 people.

The next United Nations climate conference will be held in Belem, the capital of an Amazon region where widespread deforestation has turned the surrounding rainforest from a vital carbon sink into a significant carbon source.

Humanitarian aid to northern Gaza, where Israel launched a ground offensive on Oct. 6, has largely been blocked for the past 66 days.

Israeli strikes have hit suspected chemical and long-range weapons sites in Syria and the foreign minister says the aim is to keep them from rebels who seized Damascus.

An armored vehicle carrying Kenyan police rumbles through Haiti’s capital with a shattered window that a high-caliber bullet failed to penetrate, a permanent sign of the violence confronting the United Nations-backed force almost daily in Port-au-Prince.

The new head of the U.N. humanitarian aid agency is calling for “ruthlessness” when prioritizing how it spends money.

The top United Nations court has taken up the largest case in its history, hearing the plight of several small island nations helpless in combating the devastating impact of climate change.

The top United Nations court will take up the largest case in its history on Monday.

The Israeli military says its warplanes have fired on southern Lebanon after detecting activity by the militant Hezbollah group at a rocket storage facility there.

In 2006, the U.N. Security Council voted for a resolution to end a bruising monthlong conflict between Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant group, and pave the way for lasting security along the border.

In the wee hours Sunday at the United Nations climate talks, countries from around the world reached an agreement on how rich countries can cough up the funds to support poor countries in the face of climate change.

Negotiators will soon decide whether to accept a proposed $300 billion funding package for poor nations to curb and adapt to climate change — a plan hammered out early Sunday by the head of fractured United Nations climate talks.

A new draft of a deal on money to curb and adapt to climate change released Friday afternoon at the United Nations climate summit pledged $250 billion annually by 2035 from wealthy countries to poorer ones.

Israeli officials have demanded freedom to strike Hezbollah in Lebanon as part of any emerging cease-fire deal between the sides, raising a potential complication as a top U.S. envoy was in the region attempting to clinch an agreement.

The U.N. nuclear watchdog says Iran has defied international demands to rein in its nuclear program and has increased its stockpile of uranium enriched to near weapons-grade levels.

A U.S. envoy has held talks in Beirut with Lebanese officials about a possible cease-fire in the Israel-Hezbollah war.

Brazil’s president has opened the second day of a meeting of the world’s 20 major economies by calling for more action to slow global warming, saying developed nations must speed up their initiatives to reduce harmful emissions.

As leaders and negotiators grapple with big questions of money and power, youth COP attendees and activists from around the world grapple with their own questions about how much their voices matter.

Environmental advocates released reports Friday decrying fossil fuel industry influence at these climate talks in Baku, Azerbaijan, called COP29.

A Hong Kong court on Thursday sentenced the mastermind of a failed bomb plot during anti-government protests in December 2019 to nearly 24 years in jail.

The last words Michelle Reed heard from her 6-year-old adopted son in early November were: “Mom, come get me.”.

The United Nations and other international organizations are looking at new uncertainties with Donald Trump returning to the White House.

The United Nations' annual climate conference continued Wednesday with brief speeches by nations big and small.

The Federal Aviation Administration is prohibiting U.S. airlines from flying to Haiti for 30 days after gangs shot two planes.

Eight international aid groups say Israel has failed to meet U.S. demands to allow greater humanitarian access to the war-ravaged Gaza Strip.

After nearly a decade of negotiations, leaders during the United Nations climate conference’s first day decided on some of the finer points of much-debated sticking point aimed at cutting planet-warming emissions from coal, oil and gas.

The Biden administration says Israel has made some good but limited progress in increasing the flow of humanitarian aid to Gaza, and therefore it will not limit arms transfers to Israel as it had threatened to a month ago if the situation had not improved.

President-elect Donald Trump has chosen Rep. Elise Stefanik to serve as his ambassador to the United Nations, picking a loyal ally with little foreign policy experience to represent the U.S. at the international organization.

Israel’s new foreign minister says there has been “certain progress” in efforts to end the fighting with Lebanon’s Hezbollah.

The head of the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog says he will travel to Iran in the coming days to hold talks regarding the country’s nuclear program.

Global efforts to fight climate change stumbled but survived the last time Donald Trump was elected president.

Several large airstrikes have hit Beirut’s southern suburbs, including one on a site adjacent to Lebanon’s only international airport.

After two weeks of negotiations, delegates agreed at the United Nations conference on biodiversity to establish a subsidiary body that will include Indigenous peoples in future decisions on nature conservation.

At the United Nations biodiversity summit in Colombia, negotiators struggle to find common ground on key issues, such as how to finance protections for 30% of the Earth's wild species by 2023 and how to make payments for nature’s genetic data.

An Associated Press review shows that Israel is falling far short of U.S. demands to surge the level of humanitarian assistance allowed into Gaza or risk possible restrictions on U.S. military funding.

Coral reefs are in the midst of an ecological crisis and are at risk of extinction, according to the United Nations Capital Development Fund.

The United Nations says that if Israel puts in place new laws cutting ties with the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, the Israeli government will have to meet their needs under international law.

The U.N. chief says Sudan’s warring military and paramilitary forces are escalating attacks with outside powers “fueling the fire,” which is intensifying hunger and disease for millions.

Israel’s parliament has passed two laws that severely restrict the U.N. agency responsible for distributing aid in Gaza.

Top U.N. officials say more than 600 million women and girls are now affected by war.

The world is on a path to get 1.8 degrees Celsius (3.2 Fahrenheit) warmer than it is now, a United Nations report said Thursday.

The U.N. envoy to Western Sahara is suggesting that dividing the territory between Morocco and the pro-independence Polisario Front could be one way to settle the decades-long conflict.

The international authority on hunger crises says the Gaza Strip is still at risk of famine more than a year into the Israel-Hamas war.

Israeli jets have struck southern Lebanon and Beirut’s southern suburbs and officials say at least 27 people were killed, including a city mayor.

Hezbollah’s acting leader says the Lebanese militant group is focused on “hurting the enemy” by targeting Haifa and other parts of Israel, including Tel Aviv.

Israel is facing more criticism over attacks on United Nations peacekeepers in southern Lebanon.

Ukraine’s human rights ombudsman has urged international organizations to respond to a claim that several Ukrainian prisoners of war were executed in Russia’s Kursk region where Kyiv had launched an incursion in August.

The United Nations peacekeeping mission in southern Lebanon says Israeli tanks “forcibly entered” one of their positions, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu demands that they leave the area.

The Lebanese army says that an Israeli airstrike killed two of its soldiers and wounded three others, an incident that further entangled Lebanon's official army in the escalating conflict between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah militants in Lebanon.

The United Nations peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon says new explosions have hit its headquarters, injuring two peacekeepers a day after Israeli forces targeted the same position and struck central Beirut.

Authorities say that Israeli strikes in the Gaza Strip and Beirut have left dozens of people dead.

Lebanon’s health ministry says at least 22 people have been killed and 117 wounded in Israeli airstrikes that hit two areas in central Beirut.

Saudi Arabia was defeated for a seat in the U.N.’s premier human rights body Wednesday after a campaign by rights groups urging the world body’s members to reject its bid.

A U.N. tribunal has ordered a former high-ranking official to repay the United Nations $58.8 million lost in deals he made with a British businessman who showered him with interest-free loans, a Mercedes for his wife and perks for his sons.

Winter sports are facing a long-time crisis because of climate change and the International Ski and Snowboard Federation has teamed up with the United Nations weather agency.

The world’s greatest stage is the sprawling Midtown Manhattan complex where leaders meet each year to discuss humanity’s future.

Our children are told when they’re little: Play nicely.

Fall for Dance, the eclectic annual festival in New York, is a beloved tradition for fans, not least for its $30 tickets.

Officials say new fighting has hit Sudan’s capital as the death toll jumps up from the country’s cholera outbreak.

The United Nations chief sharply criticized the powerful Security Council for a failure of leadership to end wars in Gaza, Ukraine, Sudan and beyond.

Kenya’s President William Ruto has arrived in Haiti.

Next week’s high-level meeting of the U.N. General Assembly is bringing more than 140 world leaders to New York City, including the leaders of Israel, the Palestinians and Ukraine.

The United Nations human rights chief says weaponizing ordinary communication devices represents a new development in warfare.

A high-powered U.N. advisory body says global governance of artificial intelligence is “imperative” and is urging the United Nations to lay the foundations for the first inclusive global institutions to regulate the fast-growing technology.

Relentless violence is devastating Sudan, and large-scale fighting has escalated in and around El Fasher.

The United Nations chief is urging the world’s divided nations to compromise and approve a blueprint to address global challenges from conflicts and climate change to artificial intelligence and reforming the U.N. and global financial institutions.

Nikki Haley says she's launching a weekly talk show on SiriusXM satellite radio starting next week.

The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations has accused Israel’s military of striking schools, humanitarian workers and civilians in Gaza.

The United States says it will support the addition of two new permanent seats on the powerful U.N. Security Council for African nations.

The Palestinian economy is “in free fall,” with production in Gaza plunging to one-sixth of its level before Israeli forces began a blistering military response to the Oct. 7 attacks in the territory, the United Nations says.

Cameroon’s former prime minister has taken over the presidency of the U.N. General Assembly and called for nations to unite and to address global challenges from climate change and poverty to conflicts and armed violence.

Gaza’s Health Ministry says an Israeli strike on Tuesday on a tent camp in a designated humanitarian zone killed at least 19 people.

The U.N. chief says the United Nations has offered to monitor any cease-fire in Gaza and is demanding an end to the worst death and destruction he has seen in his more than seven-year tenure.

The Palestinians have circulated a draft U.N. resolution demanding that Israel end its “unlawful presence” in Gaza and the West Bank within six months.

United Nations officials are hailing limited pauses in the fighting between Israel and Hamas to allow children’s polio vaccinations as rare moments of hope in the war in Gaza.

Ten-month-old Abdel-Rahman Abuel-Jedian is the first confirmed case of polio in Gaza and he's now paralyzed in the leg.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is putting out yet another climate SOS to the world.

Former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley says an isolationist policy isn’t “healthy” as she called on the Republican party to stand with her country’s allies during a visit to Taiwan.

The top United Nations humanitarian official for Gaza says that successive Israeli evacuation orders have displaced 90% of the Palestinian territory's 2.1 million residents since the Israel-Hamas war began in October.

The United Nations says that a record number of aid workers were killed in conflicts around the world last year, and this year may be on course to be even deadlier.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken says Israel has accepted a proposal to bridge differences holding up a cease-fire and hostage release in Gaza.

Children in Haiti desperately need the country’s new prime minister to succeed.

Amid an ongoing anti-gang crackdown involving a United Nations-backed law enforcement mission, Haitian authorities reported a prison break turned deadly in Saint-Marc, a coastal city north of Port-au-Prince.

The threat of polio is rising fast in Gaza, prompting aid groups to call for an urgent pause in the war so they can ramp up vaccinations and head off a full-blown outbreak.

Independent experts with the United Nations have urged Bahrain to ensure those held at its Jaw prison have access to adequate food, water and medical care.

A panel of experts from the United Nations said Venezuela’s recent presidential elections lacked “basic transparency and integrity."

Sierra Leone’s president says Africa cannot wait any longer to get a bigger voice in the United Nations’ most powerful body, the Security Council.

The United Nations is imposing the rule of law on cyberspace with a new global deal requiring a crackdown on the illegal misuse of computer technology.

The U.N. says it has fired additional staff members from its agency for Palestinian refugees after an internal investigation found they may have been involved in the Hamas-led Oct. 7 attack against Israel.

More than 100 conflicts fester around the world.

France has backed Morocco’s autonomy plan for the disputed Western Sahara, shifting a decades-old position and adding itself to a growing list of countries to align with Morocco as a United Nations-mediated peace process remains stalled.

The Taliban say they no longer recognize Afghanistan's diplomatic missions set up by the former, Western-backed government and that they will not honor passports, visas and other documents issued by diplomats associated with the previous administration.

Whether it’s Gaza, Ukraine, Syria or a new world order, it’s been Russia versus the United States and the West during Moscow’s presidency of the U.N. Security Council this month.

The United Nations is calling for a flurry of efforts to reduce the human toll from soaring and searing temperatures in what it calls an extreme heat epidemic.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has signaled that a cease-fire deal that would free dozens of hostages in Gaza could be taking shape.

The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations has announced $60 million in additional humanitarian assistance to Haiti during a trip to the troubled Caribbean country.

Turkey’s president has reaffirmed his commitment to a two-state peace deal for ethnically split Cyprus that Greek Cypriots have dismissed out-of-hand, again putting a damper on prospects for a quick resumption of talks to resolve the half-century-old conflict.