TOPIC

United Nations

United Nations
The UN is an international organisation founded after World War II that aims to provide a dialogue platform between countries, fortifying international corporation and preventing future wars. There are currently 193 members led by five permanent members of the Security Council - US, Russia, UK, France and China. The organisation currently has six principal organs: General Assembly, Security Council, Economic and Social Council, Secretariat, International Court of Justice, and the Trusteeship Council.
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin attends a ceremony to launch a nuclear-powered submarine project in Murmansk on March 27. Photo: AFP
Ukraine war

Putin proposes putting Ukraine under temporary UN control to hold elections

The Russian president also said Trump ‘sincerely’ wanted to end the long-running war.

videocam
Donald Trump

Trump withdraws UN envoy pick Elise Stefanik amid Congress majority fears

Africa

Sudan army chief declares capital ‘free’ from inside presidential palace

Ukraine war

Opinion | China has good reason to keep its peacekeepers out of Ukraine

Beijing’s strategic instinct is against military involvement even as its peacekeeping is bound to the UN framework and thus subject to Russia’s veto.

videocam
Illustration: Craig Stephens
Africa

South Sudan teetering on edge of another civil war, UN official warns

Rivalry between president and long-time rival, the vice-president, is a major obstacle to peace in South Sudan.

Donald Trump

Opinion | Could the start of China’s Warring States Period have lessons for today?

The downfall of Zhi Bo in the ancient state of Jin is a study in the abuse of power and hubris that still echoes through history.

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Climate change

Opinion | Asia is ground zero for the impact of global glacier loss

Other mountain ranges are losing their glaciers faster but Asia’s critically dependent economy and people put it on the front line.

videocam
Illustration: Craig Stephens
Ukraine war

Ukraine children executed by Russia: UN

A new report says five boys and two girls were executed in annexed regions, with millions in invaded nation affected by unimaginable suffering.

videocam
Singapore

Is Singapore still smiling after a drop in the world happiness report?

Singapore remains Southeast Asia’s happiest nation despite its lowest global ranking in a decade, with strong GDP but weak social support affecting citizens.

5
US-China relations

Opinion | The decline of the American empire: how Trumpism threatens democracy worldwide

The United States once championed democracy. Now it is retreating behind militarism, demagoguery and despotism.

videocam
6
Donald Trump at a rally in Texas in 2023. Photo: AFP
Ukraine war

China, Brazil back US-led push for ceasefire in Ukraine war

Endorsement follows meeting in New York led by two countries’ UN ambassadors amid ‘potential turning point’.

videocam
Fu Cong, China’s ambassador to the United Nations, speaks during a Security Council meeting at UN headquarters in New York on Tuesday. Photo: AP
South Africa

67,000 white South Africans express interest in Trump’s plan for refugee status

Trump’s executive order specifically refers to Afrikaners, a white minority group who are descendants of mainly Dutch and French settlers.

6
US-China relations

Opinion | The rise of China and the retreat of the US: a new global empire takes shape

With the US putting up walls of protectionism and denial, the 21st century belongs to a resilient, dynamic Chinese empire.

videocam
15
Israel-Gaza war

Israel investigating UN worker’s death in Gaza, military denies striking compound

Five also injured in explosion at UN building that UNOPS chief Jorge Moreira da Silva said ‘was not an accident’.

videocam
The impact of a projectile is visible on the wall of a UN guest house in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza. Photo: AP
Israel-Gaza war

Netanyahu says strikes on Gaza that killed hundreds are ‘only the beginning’

Israeli strikes killed more than 400 and shattered months of relative calm in Gaza since ceasefire began.

videocam
6
A Palestinian man weeps next to a truck carrying the bodies of the victims of overnight Israeli strikes in northern Gaza on Tuesday. Photo: AFP
European Union

Poland, Baltic nations to quit landmine treaty amid Russia threat

Quitting the 1997 treaty will allow Poland and the three Baltic countries to start stockpiling and using landmines again.

videocam
Indonesia

Indonesia to bring home hundreds more scam trafficking victims from Myanmar

The United Nations estimates that as many as 120,000 people have been forced to work in Myanmar’s scam hubs against their will.

videocam
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Afghanistan

UK woman fears for elderly father detained by Taliban in Afghanistan

A British couple in their 70s were arrested by the Taliban last month.

videocam
Taliban security personnel in Kabul, Afghanistan. File photo: EPA-EFE
US-China relations

Opinion | The US-China Thucydides Trap is by no means a foregone conclusion

Instead, it’s a call to action. From helping mediate in Ukraine to investing in the US, China may yet defy historical negative trends.

videocam
11
Climate change

Opinion | Can China, India step in to fill climate void left by Trump’s America?

The US’ absence from international deliberations on climate change must not be allowed to derail efforts to solve the crisis.

videocam
Donald Trump

Trump says he wrote to Iran leader to negotiate nuclear deal

A landmark 2015 deal that imposed curbs on Iran’s nuclear programme fell apart after Trump withdrew the US from the agreement in 2018.

videocam
A man writes on a portrait of the US President Donald Trump during a rally commemorating the anniversary of Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution that toppled the late pro-US Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and brought Islamic clerics to power, in Tehran on February 10, 2025. Photo: AP
Ukraine war

Ukraine accuses Russia of undermining UN nuclear watchdog

Ukraine condemns IAEA visit to Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant via Russian-occupied territory.

The Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant. File photo: Reuters
Ukraine war

Opinion | How Trump’s Ukraine policy cracks open the door for China in Europe

Beijing’s support for European autonomy and discontent over US stance might resonate but close ties with Moscow could spark a backlash.

videocam
Africa

Sudan civil war: famine and inflation eclipse Ramadan

The war has killed tens of thousands of people, displaced more than 12 million and cut off crucial supply routes across the country.

China-EU relations

Exclusive | Your best friend has abandoned you: inside China’s EU charm offensive

As bloc’s ties with US plummet over Donald Trump’s embrace of Russia, Beijing pitches itself as a more reliable partner than Washington.

videocam
36
In official meetings with EU representatives, Chinese officials have reportedly pointed to the stunning about-face by US President Donald Trump, who is now seen to side with Moscow. Photo: AP
Environment

Nations agree to hard-fought nature funding plan at UN talks in Rome

More than 140 countries at the Cop16 agree on a financing plan to help reverse dramatic losses in biodiversity.

videocam
The agreement will guide countries on how to raise US$200 billion a year by the end of the decade. Photo: AFP
Israel-Gaza war

Hamas says ready for more ceasefire talks after prisoner exchange

Exchange of bodies for prisoners took place before the first phase of Gaza ceasefire was due to end.

China-EU relations

EU trade chief plans China visit amid soaring tensions with Trump

Bilateral grievances sure to be on the agenda, although problems between Europe and US could provide space for positive discussions.

videocam
23
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Help preserve 120 years of quality journalism.
SUPPORT NOW
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement