(Climate and Environment – COP30) Negotiators in Belém, Brazil, opened COP30 with a stark warning: the race to avert catastrophic global heating is being sabotaged by a surge of climate disinformation. The falsehoods, spreading faster than ever online, threaten to derail fragile progress on climate action. Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva set the tone at the opening session, declaring that the battle for truth has become just as critical as the fight to cut emissions. COP30 must mark “a new defeat for climate denialists,” he said. On Wednesday, 12 nations – including Brazil, Canada, France, Germany and Spain – signed onto the first-ever Declaration on Information Integrity on Climate Change, pledging to fight back against the flood of false content and protect those on the frontlines of truth: environmental journalists, scientists and researchers. – ‘A wave of truth’: COP30 targets disinformation threat to climate action | UN News
(UN Affairs – Africa) The UN Secretary-General called on Wednesday for action to prioritize Africa, urging the world not to turn its back on the continent. António Guterres was speaking at UN Headquarters in New York following the ninth conference between the global body and the African Union (AU). The high-level talks focused on progress in implementing cooperation frameworks but also on joint action and challenges in the areas of peace, security, development, human rights and climate action. – UN and African Union vow closer action for peace and development | UN News
(Humanitarian Aid – Sudan) Some 90,000 people have been displaced following the fall of El Fasher in Sudan’s North Darfur – with another 50,000 fleeing violence in the Kordofans, according to the UN migration chief. “When people are coming out of the area, they are reporting widespread violence, sexual abuse, civilians who are sometimes being shot on sight,” said the Director General of the UN migration agency (IOM), Amy Pope, during a briefing on Wednesday. – Sudan: Migration chief hears horrific accounts of exodus from El Fasher | UN News
(Peace and Security – Ukraine) Civilian casualties in Ukraine were 27 per cent higher from January to October 2025, compared to the same period last year, according to the latest UN human rights report on the situation in the eastern European country. – Ukrainian civilian casualties rise 27 per cent compared to last year | UN News
(Humanitarian Aid) The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and World Food Programme (WFP) warn of a major hunger emergency, with acute food insecurity set to worsen in 16 countries and territories between now and May 2026, putting millions of lives at risk. A report released by the two UN agencies on Tuesday identifies six that are at the highest risk of famine or catastrophic hunger: Sudan, Palestine, South Sudan, Mali, Haiti, and Yemen. In these areas, some communities are projected to reach famine or near-famine conditions.Other countries of very high concern include the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Myanmar, Nigeria, Somalia, Syria, and Afghanistan. Additional hotspots include Burkina Faso, Chad, Kenya, and the situation of Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh. – Millions of lives at risk, warn UN food agencies, as hunger crisis worsens | UN News
(Migrants and Refugees) Forty-two people are missing and presumed dead following a shipwreck off Libya – the latest fatal crossing in the Central Mediterranean, where more than 1,000 lives have been lost this year. They were among 49 migrants and refugees aboard a rubber boat that departed from Zuwara in northwest Libya around 3am on 3 November, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said on Wednesday, citing survivors. The vessel capsized roughly six hours later after high waves caused the engine to fail. All passengers, 47 men and two women, were thrown overboard. – Latest deadly shipwreck highlights need for safer migration | UN News
(Health) Tuberculosis, or TB, remains one of the world’s deadliest infectious killers, claiming over 1.2 million lives and affecting an estimated 10.7 million people last year, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Wednesday. Cases are on a downward trajectory for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020. But a new report reveals while progress has been made in the global fight against the disease, funding gaps endanger hard-won gains. – TB cases fall for first time since pandemic | UN News
(Climate and Environment) Renewed efforts to protect the world’s most exotic and endangered animals and plants from illegal traders, overexploitation and extinction are set to begin at UN-partnered biodiversity talks in Uzbekistan at the end of the month. Ethiopian mountain vipers, Galapagos iguanas and Brazil’s Pernambuco tree – prized by violin bow-makers – and are just three of the more than 30 species that could be listed for special protection under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). “Because the trade in wild animals and plants crosses borders between countries, the effort to regulate it requires international cooperation to safeguard certain species from over-exploitation,” CITES said in a statement. – At-risk mountain vipers and iguanas, in rare company at key wildlife talks | UN News
