UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk called on Thursday for greater protection for environmental and land defenders, noting that hundreds worldwide have been killed or detained in recent years.

In the wood-panelled rooms of New York’s storied Explorers Club, where portraits of pioneering adventurers line the walls, diplomats, scientists and ocean advocates gathered on Tuesday evening with a shared sense of urgency – and anticipation.

A Serbian peacekeeper serving in Lebanon died early Thursday after mortar fire on his position near Marjayoun in the country’s southeast, the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) has announced.

Unsafe food causes an estimated 866 million illnesses and 1.5 million deaths every year worldwide, highlighting the often-overlooked toll of contaminated food on health, development and fragile economies, according to new data from the UN health agency.

Nearly half of the population in Government-controlled areas of Yemen are facing high levels of acute food insecurity with the crisis set to deepen further if international aid cuts continue, according to the latest analysis by the leading UN-backed global food security platform.