UN creates Artificial Intelligence advisory panel

UN creates Artificial Intelligence advisory panel

Representative image | Photo Credit: Reuters The UN General Assembly on Tuesday (August 26, 2025) created an Artificial Intelligence (AI) advisory body to help countries make decisions about the revolutionary technology. Member States said they were concerned about the swift development of a life-changing tool they fear could threaten democracy and human rights. So in … Read more

United Nations alarmed by ‘worrying surge’ in Iran executions

United Nations alarmed by ‘worrying surge’ in Iran executions

U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk said the authorities in Tehran were reviewing a draft espionage bill that would redefine “collaboration with hostile states”. File | Photo Credit: Keystone via AP The United Nations urged Iran on Monday (July 28, 2025) to stop using the death penalty, citing a “worrying surge in executions” … Read more

Ship attacked by Yemen’s Houthi rebels sinks in Red Sea, six of 25 aboard rescued

Ship attacked by Yemen’s Houthi rebels sinks in Red Sea, six of 25 aboard rescued

Dubai: A Liberian-flagged cargo ship attacked by Yemen‘s Houthi rebels sank on Wednesday in the Red Sea, and a European naval force in the Mideast said only six of the 25 people who were on board have been rescued. The attack on the Eternity C, which also killed at least three of the crew, represents … Read more

Israeli gunfire kills 17 people near Gaza aid site, health officials say

Israeli gunfire kills 17 people near Gaza aid site, health officials say

Israeli gunfire killed at least 17 Palestinians and wounded dozens as thousands of displaced people approached an aid distribution site of a U.S.-backed humanitarian group in central Gaza on Tuesday, local health authorities said. Medics said the casualties were rushed at two hospitals, the Al-Awda Hospital in Nuseirat camp in central Gaza, and the Al-Quds … Read more

Iran says may allow US inspectors from nuclear watchdog if deal reached

Iran says may allow US inspectors from nuclear watchdog if deal reached

Iran on Wednesday said it may consider allowing US inspectors with the United Nations nuclear watchdog to inspect its facilities if a deal is reached with the United States. Iran has long been accused by Western powers of seeking to develop nuclear weapons, a claim Tehran has consistently denied, insisting its nuclear programme is solely … Read more

In reverse of longtime stance, US says UN Palestinian refugee agency isn’t immune from lawsuits

In reverse of longtime stance, US says UN Palestinian refugee agency isn’t immune from lawsuits

The Trump administration has decided that the UN agency for Palestinian refugees is not immune from being sued, reversing the US government’s longstanding position that the organisation was protected from civil liability. The Justice Department revealed its new stance in a letter it filed in federal court in New York on Thursday as part of … Read more

Trump Takes a Major Step Toward Seabed Mining in International Waters

Trump Takes a Major Step Toward Seabed Mining in International Waters

President Trump has ordered the U.S. government to take a major step toward mining vast tracts of the ocean floor, a move that is opposed by nearly all other nations, which consider international waters off limits to this kind of industrial activity. The executive order, signed Thursday, would circumvent a decades-old treaty that every major … Read more

Video Shows Aid Workers Killed in Gaza Under Gunfire Barrage, With Ambulance Lights On

Video Shows Aid Workers Killed in Gaza Under Gunfire Barrage, With Ambulance Lights On

A video recording, discovered on the cellphone of one of the paramedics who was found along with 14 other aid workers in a mass grave in the Gazan city of Rafah in late March and obtained by The New York Times, shows that the ambulances and fire truck that they were traveling in were clearly … Read more

‘Exemplar’ — U.N. lauds India’s progress in child mortality reduction

‘Exemplar’ — U.N. lauds India’s progress in child mortality reduction

India’s efforts and progress in reducing preventable child deaths has been lauded as “exemplar” by the United Nations, which cited the example of health initiatives such as Ayushman Bharat, and said the country has saved millions of young lives through strategic investments in its health system. The United Nations Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation … Read more

Some European Allies Fear Trump Is Out to Destroy Them

Some European Allies Fear Trump Is Out to Destroy Them

Follow live updates on the Trump administration here. During his first term in office, President Trump described the European Union “as a foe,” established “to hurt the United States on trade.” He repeated the charge at a cabinet meeting on Wednesday, but in more vulgar terms: “The European Union was formed in order to screw … Read more