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20260418
Protecting the Planet's Ocean w/ Fabien Cousteau - SDG Media Zone | 2025 UN Ocean Conference
Conversation with Fabien Cousteau, Aquanaut, Ocean Conservationist, and Documentary Filmmaker. Join ITV News Anchor Rageh Omaar in conversation with Fabien Cousteau, the renowned ocean explorer, environmentalist, and grandson of the legendary explorer Jacques Cousteau—as he takes us beneath the surface of our planet's most critical ecosystems. Cousteau has spent a lifetime exploring the deep sea, changing our perceptions of life underwater and advocating for its protection. Cousteau will share powerful stories from the frontlines of marine conservation, from the vibrant coral reefs of the tropics to the rapidly changing waters of Antarctica. This discussion will be an eye-opening journey through Earth's last wild frontiers—and a call to action to protect them. Speaker: Fabien Cousteau, Aquanaut, Ocean Conservationist, and Documentary Filmmaker Moderator: Rageh Omaar, News Anchor, ITV News Join us during the UN Ocean Conference from June 9-13 and hear about the transformation and solutions needed to accelerate action on the SDGs. The Conference aims to drive urgent action to conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development. Ocean science, pollution, fishing, maritime transport, biodiversity, financing and cooperation are among the issues to be tackled. Organized by the UN Department of Global Communications, the SDG Media Zone takes the conversation out of the policy sphere and into the public discourse through impactful in-depth interviews and conversations on global issues that matter to people everywhere.
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Gaza's women fight for survival | United Nations
Between October 2023 and December 2025, more than 38,000 women and girls were killed in Gaza, the result of Israeli air bombardment and land military operations, UN Women said on Friday. Women from Gaza share their stories of struggling to survive.
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South Sudan: Despair, Abandonment & a Humanitarian Crisis Out of Control - Presser | United Nations
Briefing by Tom Fletcher, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), on Sudan and South Sudan - Security Council, 10139th meeting.
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Sudan: Women & Girls Continue to Experience Gender-Based Violence- Press Conference | United Nations
Press conference by Fabrizia Falcione, United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Country Representative in Sudan, on the situation in the Country. United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Country Representative in Sudan, Fabrizia Falcione said women and girls across Sudan continue to experience gender-based violence in their daily live. “They feel unsafe,” she said. Falcione briefed reporter via video link today (17 Apr) from Khartoum. She said, “women and girls have a persistent sense of danger. 76 percent of the women aged between 25 and 49 have reported feeling unsafe in the displacement camps and sites, but also outside the camps, in markets, water points, in firewood collection areas, roads and streets, particularly at night when going to the latrines in distribution areas, and equally in urban and rural areas.” The UNFPA official noted that reporting cases of gender-based violence remains “extremely difficult,” due to stigma, the fear of retaliation, the financial constraints, as well as the distance from the service provision. Falcione also said, “three quarters of them have indicated that economic empowerment and livelihood as being their priority. “ She said, “I can confirm from all my missions that women want to return, including to Khartoum. They want to return to their homes, to their areas of origin. They ask for three things when I spoken to many of them basic services, access to health, access to schools, particularly for their children, and livelihood opportunities. They don't want to be fed. They want opportunities, income generation of activities, opportunities to be able to feed their families and their children.” On funding shortage, the UNFPA official said, “today in Sudan, the protection sector is funded at 14 percent and the health sector at 11 percent. We keep hearing over and over that this is a protection crisis, particularly affecting women and girls. It is a health crisis and yet the funding are not following neither the definition nor the needs that are being identified.”
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20260417
Why are US Catholics Like That !?
The Kavernacle: Why are US Catholics Like That !?
The Kavernacle is a YouTube Channel covering internet culture and politics.
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Israel on the Middle East - Security Council Media Stakeout | United Nations
Remarks by Ambassador Danny Danon, Permanent Representative of Israel to the United Nations, on the situation in the Middle East. Danon told reporters, “in one hour at 5 pm our time, a ten-day ceasefire will come into effect between Israel and Lebanon as Prime Minister Netanyahu confirmed. We got to this point as a result of the IDF's heroic actions in pushing back Hezbollah in many operations, including the pager attacks and the elimination of Nasrallah.” Speaking to reporters today (16 Apr) in New York, Ambassador Danon criticized the UN Secretary-General’s “outrageous remarks” made earlier this week. Ambassador Danon said, “in the very day Israel and Lebanon were engaged in historic negotiations. He went so far as to claim that Israel and Hezbollah have, and I quote ‘helped each other to destabilize Lebanon.’ That is simply false.” The Israeli Ambassador continued, “at a historic moment, when the region is taking steps toward direct dialog between Israel and Lebanon, when others are choosing progress, the Secretary-General choose to do exactly the opposite. He chose to cast doubt. He chose to blur the truth. He chose to draw a comparison between a sovereign state and a terrorist organization. That is shameful.” Ambassador Danon asked, “on what moral ground that the Secretary-General equate a democracy defending its citizens with an Iranian backed terrorist proxy?” adding that “there is no answer to that. To put them in the same category is a complete distortion of reality.” “Secretary-General Guterres, this is shameful. Retract your comments. Correct the record. Do your job,” the Israeli Ambassador said. On the Strait of Hormuz, Ambassador Danon said that it “should concern every country in the General Assembly,” adding that “Iran is trying to choke one of the world's most important waterways and turn it into weapons. They block ships, they harass them. Then they name a price - pay and you pass, refuse and you are stopped. That is not trade. That is economic terrorism.” He continued, “after weeks of negotiations, even a stripped-down Security Council resolution was vetoed. So we have to be clear about what comes next. We need a clear resolution, strong one, one that will deal with enrich uranium, with the ballistic missiles, with the proxies. That’s what we expect from the Security Council.” Ambassador Danon also said, “there is one thing that is very troubling is that some countries choose to go behind closed doors and sign secret deals with the Iranian regime. No transparency, no accountability. It's also shameful.” Asked about the ceasefire between his country and Lebanon, the Israeli Ambassador said, “it is in our view, we will have to follow very carefully what's happening on the ground. And if we feel threatened, we will react. We are not going anywhere. We are holding our positions. we agreed for ten days holding those positions. Having a ceasefire. and we all know that, the problem is not with the Lebanese government. The problem is with Hezbollah.” He added, “we believe in direct negotiations with Lebanon, but we are aware of the complexity that you deal with the Lebanese government, but Hezbollah, they don't take orders from the Lebanese government. They take orders from Iran. We know it's complex, but we are willing to give it a try.”
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20260416
UN Peacekeeping Chief Warns Budget Cuts Threaten Missions and Personnel Safety | United Nations
Peacekeeping Chief Jean-Pierre Lacroix**UN Peacekeeping Chief Warns Budget Cuts Threaten Missions and Personnel Safety** told the Security Council that Peacekeeping “must remain adaptable and accountable,” and stressed that budgetary cuts are creating “major constraints on the ability of the missions to implement their political and protection of civilian mandates, as well as to ensure the safety and security of UN personnel.” Lacroix, addressing the annual briefing from the heads of military components of UN peacekeeping operations, said UN peacekeeping “is and remains a useful political tool, used by the international community to help parties to put an end to armed conflict and move towards lasting peace.” He said, “prioritized and focused mandates from this Council that are adequately resourced and can be recalibrated to evolving needs and situations should be the starting point,” and pointed out that troop and police contributing countries “are the backbone of our missions.” Lacroix said, “their perspectives must be regularly included in mandate design and implementation.” He noted that peacekeeping operations “have faced significant financial challenges of the past year, necessitating the implementation of stringent contingency measures,” and said, “this impact will be felt over an extended period of time.” For instance, Lacroix said the closure of bases has reduced the United Nations in South Sudan’s (UNMISS’) “situational awareness, early warning capabilities, and community reassurance, creating blind spots, limiting proactive intervention and timely deployment to hotspots.” “Now, more than ever,” he said, “it is essential that the Council provides strong, coherent and consistent support not only to peacekeeping operations themselves, but also to the political efforts that there are designed to enable and sustain.” The United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA) Force Commander, Lieutenant General Humphrey Nyone, said the mission has “played a critical role in supporting the Central African Republic’s general elections on 28th December 2025 by working alongside the National Defence and Security Forces to maintain security, protect civilians and electoral staff and ensure safe polling conditions through joint patrols. “ Despite “limited troop numbers and the challenging environment,” Nyone said, “most polling stations operated smoothly” during the general elections, and the force “is now preparing to provide similar support for the second round of local elections on 26th April 2026.” For his part, the Force Commander and Acting Head of Misson at the United Nations Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA), Major General Ganesh Kumar Shrestha, said, “Abyei today is not at war, but neither is it at peace. With the rapidly increasing presence of unauthorized armed actors exerting pressure on mandate implementation within the Abyei box and in JBVMM areas. Continued political engagement by the parties backed by the Council's support for UNISFA remains critical to preserving stability and advancing a durable solution.” The 2026 Heads of Military Components Conference (HoMCC) is taking place from 13 to 17 April at UN Headquarters in New York, focusing on the theme: “Future-Ready Peacekeeping: Reshaping to Achieve Mission Impact.”
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Yemen: 22 million people need humanitarian aid, the number is rising - Briefing | United Nations
Edem Wosornu, Director of Operations and Advocacy at the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), told the Council that more than 22 million people, nearly half of Yemen's population, need humanitarian aid, and that number is rising. “This crisis is hitting the most vulnerable first and hardest. Hunger is tightening its grip,” Wosornu said, adding that more than 18 million people face severe hunger and two out of every three families are forced to skip meals every day. The nutrition crisis continues unabated, she said, with 2.2 million children under the age of five acutely malnourished and 1.3 million pregnant and breastfeeding women facing life-threatening complications due to malnutrition. “For too many children, too many mothers, this means irreversible, lifelong physical and cognitive damage, stunting – even death,” Wosornu said. She warned that Yemen's health system is collapsing, with two out of every five health facilities not fully functional, leaving more than 19 million people who need healthcare without it. Vaccine-preventable diseases including cholera, measles and diphtheria are spreading at rates that place Yemen among the worst in the world, she said. Wosornu also told the Council that 73 UN colleagues remain arbitrarily detained by the Houthi de facto authorities, with many UN assets seized and access severely restricted. “Faced with this reality, we have been forced to reassess our operations in areas held by the de facto authorities,” she said.
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Great Lakes: "Security at Worrisome Level" - Security Council Briefing | United Nations
Briefing by Huang Xia, UN Special Envoy for the Great Lakes Region, on the situation in the region. Xia updated ambassadors on the recent escalation of violence. He said that since last October, while the region has seen considerable intensification in diplomatic initiatives, "the humanitarian and security situations have worsened to a worrisome level. The continued erosion of trust in part explains the divide between political commitments and the reality on the ground. He stressed, "This disconnect remains today our main collective challenge.” Xia warned, “The risk of a slide into a regional confrontation remains tangible. This Council cannot afford to see the repetition of a cycle of violence it has been examining for far too long: the full implementation of resolutions 2773 (2025) and 2808 (2025) is urgent.” He concluded, “I therefore call on the DRC, Rwanda, and all the actors concerned, in particular the AFC/M23, to resume a frank dialogue, to immediately reduce tensions, and to ensure the effective and timely implementation of all their commitments.”
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Protecting the Planet's Ocean w/ Fabien Cousteau - SDG Media Zone | 2025 UN Ocean Conference
Conversation with Fabien Cousteau, Aquanaut, Ocean Conservationist, and Documentary Filmmaker. Join ITV News Anchor Rageh Omaar in convers...
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