Iraq is a nation brimming with potential but still haunted by legacies of past turmoil, the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for the country, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, said in a briefing to the Security Council on Thursday.

The UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Ukraine condemned air strikes in Kherson city on Thursday, which injured dozens of civilians, including two children, and damaged homes and an education facility.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres repeated his longstanding call for a humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza, the release of all hostages held in the enclave, and unimpeded access for aid delivery, in remarks to the Summit of the League of Arab States in Bahrain on Thursday.

UN chief António Guterres reiterated his warning on Thursday against a full-scale assault on Rafah, just as aid teams issued increasingly urgent appeals for safe passage throughout Gaza, to replenish dangerously low stocks of lifesaving supplies.

AUSTIN, Texas, May 15 (IPS) - The campus protests that have spread to universities in every part of the United States are not about the war between Israel and Hamas, despite the heated rhetoric around this topic. Most of the students who are protesting know little about the conflict, its history and its ramifications for international politics.

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, May 15 (IPS) - The IMF warns of a decade ahead of ‘tepid growth’ and ‘popular discontent’, with the poorest economies worst off. But as with inaction on Gaza, little is being done multilaterally to avert the imminent catastrophe.

The number of child migrants crossing the perilous Darién Gap has surged by 40 per cent so far this year, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) reported on Wednesday, putting the route on track for a fifth consecutive year of record child migration levels.

UN agencies are reaching Haitians in the besieged capital and other areas amid ongoing gang violence that continues to ravage the Caribbean nation, UN deputy spokesperson Farhan Haq told journalists on Wednesday.

Delegates attending a UN forum in Bahrain endorsed on Wednesday a declaration calling on the international community to harness the power of entrepreneurship and innovation in pursuit of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), with a strong emphasis on including women, youth, persons with disabilities and productive families in these efforts.

The international community must give greater attention and resources to war-ravaged Sudan, where millions are “trapped in an inferno of brutal violence”, the top UN aid official in the country said on Wednesday.