| Middle East crisis: Live updates for 4 December | | The Middle East crisis continues to deepen, with families in Gaza struggling to secure basic food amid constant displacement, plummeting temperatures, and relentless conflict. Meanwhile, the full-blown war in Syria has reignited, where the status quo has been "radically altered" in recent days, creating an "extremely fluid and dangerous" situation, says the UN Special Envoy there. Violations of the ceasefire in Lebanon are also continuing – we're covering it all live. UN News app users can follow here. | | Read more | | | | | | Live updates: UN humanitarians highlight global needs for 2025 | | Every year, the launch of the Global Humanitarian Overview is an opportunity to highlight where needs are greatest and how much funding is needed to help some of the most vulnerable people on Earth. Read our live updates of events as they unfolded in Kuwait, Nairobi and Geneva, hosted by the UN's new Emergency Relief Coordinator Tom Fletcher, with highlights from humanitarians around the world, from Gaza to Ukraine. UN News app users can follow our coverage here. | | Read more | | | | | | 'In one word, it's catastrophic': Syria's humanitarian response at a standstill | The humanitarian situation in Syria has reached devastating new lows following the latest hostilities in Aleppo and elsewhere, compounding the country's ongoing struggles after 13 years of war. With 178,000 newly displaced people and hundreds of civilian casualties, the crisis is escalating rapidly, leaving families without vital support as humanitarian operations are forced to a halt. Speaking to UN News's Khaled Mohamed, Adam Abdelmoula, UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Syria, paints a dire picture of the worsening crisis and highlights the international response required to mitigate it. | | Read more | | | | | | Meet the 'Land Heroes' who are fighting desertification | | From planting a billion trees in Zimbabwe, in southern Africa, to exporting products from the moringa tree in Mali and developing a climate action-focused board game called "Rescuing Penguins," in Costa Rica, a group of young people has been recognized by the UN for making a positive impact in the fight to counter desertification, land degradation and drought. | | Read more | | | | | | 'Alone we are one drop, together we are an ocean,' says 8-year-old climate activist | | Young people around the world should use their voices together to call for climate action according to one of the youngest ever speakers at a UN conference. Eight-year-old Kiara Kaur has been attending a global meeting of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) currently underway in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The conference is focusing on halting desertification around the world while looking at ways to restore and sustainably use degraded land. She told Martin Samaan that individually young people are just one drop, but together they make an ocean. | | Read more | | | | | | Haiti's crisis: 'Parents have no answer when their children say, I'm hungry' | | Haiti is facing one of the worst food crises in its history, with 5.4 million people in urgent need of assistance. Recent escalations of violence and displacement have made an already difficult situation worse, further complicating the delivery of aid and pushing families to the brink of survival. UN News' Jerome Bernard spoke on Monday with Erwann Rumen, Deputy Country Director of the World Food Programme (WFP) in Haiti, about the severity of the crisis, the resilience efforts underway, and the challenges of reaching those most in need. | | Read more | | | | | | | | | |
