Edith M. Lederer

The U.N. food chief warned on Thursday, September 22, 2022, that the world is facing “a perfect storm on top of a perfect storm” and urged donors, particularly Gulf nations and billionaires, to give a few days of profits to tackle a crisis with the fertilizer supply right now and prevent widespread food shortages next year.

Women and girls pay the highest price in all crises and conflicts from Myanmar and Afghanistan to the Sahel and Haiti, and “the horrifying war in Ukraine now joins that list,” the head of the U.N. women’s agency said on Monday, March 14, 2022.

The U.N.’s two major bodies -- the 193-nation General Assembly and the more powerful 15-member Security Council -- are holding separate meetings Monday on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, reflecting widespread demands for a cease-fire and escalating concern for the millions of Ukrainians caught up in the war.

Racism, the climate crisis and the world’s worsening divisions will take centre stage at the United Nations on Wednesday, a day after the U.N. chief issued a grim warning that “we are on the edge of an abyss.”