As the Security Council met on Afghanistan, senior officials and civil society representatives delivered a clear warning Monday: despite relative security under the Taliban, worsening humanitarian conditions, restrictions on women and growing economic pressures are creating a fragile and uncertain future. 

A powerful earthquake struck the southern Philippine island of Mindanao on Monday morning just as millions of children were returning to school after the summer break.

As the world approaches nine years since the mass displacement of Rohingya refugees from Myanmar into Bangladesh, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) has appealed to the international community not to abandon the 1.2 million refugees living in the country, most of them in camps in Cox’s Bazar.

Cambodian activist Panha Theng, a 2025 UN Young Leader for the Sustainable Development Goals, says visibility and safe spaces remain critical for LGBTQI+ youth across Southeast Asia amid continuing stigma and discrimination.

Afghanistan’s deepening malnutrition crisis is pushing mothers and children to the brink, the UN World Food Programme has warned, as mass returns from neighbouring countries and severe funding shortfalls overwhelm already strained humanitarian operations.

Serious human rights violations continue in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) and must not be allowed to fade from international attention, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk warned on Wednesday.

Afghanistan’s humanitarian and economic crisis is deepening despite modest economic growth, with nearly three in four people unable to meet basic needs, the UN Development Programme (UNDP) said on Wednesday.

More than 150,000 people have been affected by Tropical Cyclone Maila, the latest storm in the Pacific area, which continues to drive what the UN relief coordination office OCHA has described as “significant humanitarian needs” across the Solomon Islands.

A Thai woman who spent more than 20 years in prison after being found guilty of drugs trafficking – including eight on death row – has told the UN how learning to sew helped her find meaning in life behind bars, and a job when she was released.

Indonesia is expecting a “strengthened multilateral system that delivers real impact on the ground,” as one of the key outcomes of the ongoing reform of the United Nations, that’s according to the country’s outgoing Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs for Multilateral Cooperation, Tri Tharyat.

The continued pursuit of nuclear weapons and ballistic missile development by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea remain “a matter of serious concern,” the UN’s political affairs chief told the Security Council on Thursday. 

Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan was once the Soviet Union’s primary testing ground for nuclear weapons. Today, in an age of rising nuclear threats, the Semipalatinsk Treaty – which saw a group of Central Asian countries renounce nuclear weapons in 2006 – is more relevant than ever.

As the Pacific island nation of Tuvalu battles rising sea levels that threaten to put large parts of the island entirely underwater by the end of this century, its citizens are making efforts to safeguard their future while preparing for the worst impacts of climate change. 

In 2025, nearly 900 Rohingya refugees were reported missing or dead in the Andaman Sea and Bay of Bengal, making it the deadliest year on record in South and Southeast Asia, the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, said on Friday.

For Pacific Island countries, the Middle East crisis is not a distant geopolitical event. It is already showing up in higher fuel prices, electricity uncertainty and fears that communities sitting at the far end of global supply chains could be pushed into deeper economic insecurity.

A “new wave of global instability is hitting Myanmar at the worst possible moment,” a UN official in the country warned on Friday, as increases in fuel, food, and fertilizer prices due to the ongoing Middle East conflict push vulnerable families closer to hunger one year after a devastating earthquake.  

Domestic violence was not something people spoke about openly in Kyrgyzstan in the 1990s following the collapse of the Soviet Union, but after a long road of dedicated efforts, there are now laws addressing family abuse, crisis centres and hotlines while human rights defenders tackle such new challenges as sexual slavery.

The fallout from the war in the Middle East is rippling far beyond the Gulf, disrupting fuel supplies, shipping routes and supply chains across Asia and the Pacific, with some of the region’s most vulnerable economies already feeling the strain through rising prices, rationing and threats to jobs, food security and remittances.

Top UN officials condemned on Tuesday Pakistan’s overnight strike on a rehab centre that reportedly killed at least 400 people in Kabul, according to Taliban authorities, and injured more than 250 others.

The Sawyers from Australia were never really interested in volatile investing. As their retirement age approached, the idea of a low-risk investment for their pension seemed attractive. But one day, after clicking on a seemingly legitimate online advert that offered a reasonable risk-averse plan, they unlocked a process that would lead them to lose over $2.5 million.