Actress Olivia Wilde came to the UN Headquarters in New York to take part in the launch of a new UN collaboration with toy company Mattel, Inc., that introduces the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to preschoolers, through nine new episodes of the animated children’s series, Thomas & Friends. She shared with Liz Scaffidi her thoughts on the new episodes.

Women seen as ‘spoils’ of conflict in South Sudan

FAO report links agricultural trade, climate change and food security

UN experts ask Rights Council for response to ‘appalling’ verdicts against protesters in Egypt

There is a 22-year difference in life-expectancy between the people of Norway, and those of the impoverished nation of Niger in Africa, according to new data revealed on Friday in the UNDP Human Development Index (HDI).  Selim Jahan, of the UN Development Programme (UNDP), who directs t he office which compiled the report, spoke to UN News's Fatima E. Mendez.

With the UN imploring those fighting in Syria’s civil war and the countries backing them to prevent a “bloodbath” in the last rebel-held enclave of Idlib, the World Food Programme (WFP) is doing all it can to help civilians cope in the event of an offensive. Marwa Awad, Spokesperson for WFP in Syria, told Nabil Al Midani, from UN News’s Arabic service, what they were doing to safeguard families in the line of fire.

With eight days on the job, Shireen Dodson, the new UN Ombudsman, did not set out to become a career mediator, but began to master the basics as a young child, when she diplomatically negotiated between her divorced parents. In an interview with UN News, she told Liz Scaffidi why she feels the role is a great fit, and how she hopes to boost collaboration and partnerships across the UN.

Mortar attack on WFP silo in Yemen ‘could affect vital aid deliveries to millions’

DR Congo: new cases of deadly Ebola virus, as UN steps up response

UN tackles contaminated wells, boreholes in Zimbabwe, as cholera strikes, killing 25

The World Health Organization (WHO) reports that about 800,000 people died in 2016 by their own hand, mostly in low- and middle-income countries. In this episode of our Lid is On podcast, Yasmina Guerda spoke to WHO’s focal point for suicide prevention, Dr. Alexandra Fleischmann, and to Sheilla Akwara, a singer from Kenya and suicide survivor, now working with youth to share messages of hope.

Hailed as an ‘exceptional global leader’, former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan laid to rest in Ghana

UN human rights chief calls on countries to do more to prevent genocide

Yemen: Humanitarian situation in Hudaydah continues to deteriorate ‘dramatically’ – UN official

Genocide will not be prevented from happening again until the entire international community commits to punishing “rampant impunity”, an International Criminal Court (ICC) judge said on Thursday. Speaking at an event at the Human Rights Council in Geneva to commemorate the seventieth anniversary of the Genocide Convention, Kimberly Prost told States that “our only hope is to change now…to answer atrocity with justice, not revenge”. She’s been speaking to UN News’s Daniel Johnson.