“The story of the UN's political engagement in Somalia has been one of persistence, partnership and adaptation,” Raisedon Zenenga, the UN Secretary-General's Deputy Special Representative for Somalia has said, as three decades of UN political missions in the Horn of Africa country comes to an end on 31 October.

31 October 2026

The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) is building factories and hospitals, rolling out smartphones and mobile banking, and passing new laws at an unprecedented rate. But its people are more cut off from the outside world than at any point in the country’s history.

31 October 2026

As the sun sets over Samarkand’s majestic Registan, its last rays glint across the turquoise mosaics. Dusk settles on the ancient square where great trade routes have crossed for centuries.

31 October 2026

The UN human rights chief on Saturday demanded an independent investigation into the death of a Yemeni colleague held by the Houthis for more than two years, whose family learned of his death only weeks after it happened.

31 October 2026

More than 280,000 people have now been displaced by fighting in Yemen and many vulnerable people are unable to access lifesaving relief because it is too dangerous to do so, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) said on Friday.

30 October 2026

Israeli forces continue to push Palestinians into ever-smaller areas of the Gaza Strip while destroying civilian infrastructure and attacking displacement sites, the UN human rights office, OHCHR, warned on Friday amid concerns of ethnic cleansing. 

30 October 2026

More than 28 million people in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) are not getting enough to eat and the number is expected to tick up in the coming months, according to the latest alert from the IPC global food security monitor. 

30 October 2026

Each day the ceasefire in Oleshky holds means hope for civilians in the city, the UN’s top humanitarian official said, stressing that those wishing to leave must be able to do so safely and voluntarily.

30 October 2026

More than 300,000 people displaced since early March remain internally displaced in Lebanon, where the humanitarian crisis is “far from over,” according to the UN’s aid coordination office (OCHA).

30 October 2026

Cheap drones, autonomous vessels and cyberattacks are changing the threats to the world’s shipping lanes – and the tools to counter them. At an open debate on Thursday, the Security Council is weighing how emerging technologies could both endanger and protect seafarers, global trade and food and energy supplies.

29 October 2026