Geneva - The UN rights chief on Friday voiced deep concern over Macedonia's "systematic policy" of detaining and expelling migrants, criticising especially the widespread detention of migrant children.

Geneva - The UN said Friday it was considering a different route to send desperately needed aid to east Aleppo, to circumvent the blocked main supply route as new air raids pounded Syria's second city.

Geneva - A former member of the Algerian rebel Armed Islamic Group, who is wanted in France, was arrested Thursday in Switzerland and is seeking asylum, Swiss authorities said.

Geneva - Food aid for rebel-held east Aleppo, which has been stalled at the Syrian border since last week, will go bad in days, the UN said Thursday, urging the country's leader to clear the delivery."Forty trucks are sitting at the Turkish-Syrian border.

Geneva - The UN's deputy envoy for Syria said Thursday that he hoped peace talks could resume in the coming weeks, despite "grim" events on the ground.

Geneva - UN aid convoys starting rolling in Syria again on Thursday, after a deadly attack on humanitarian trucks and a warehouse triggered a suspension in deliveries.

Geneva - Burundi's government is behind systematic human rights violations, including executions and torture, UN investigators said Tuesday, warning of the looming risk of "genocide".

Geneva - The air raids that hit an aid convoy near Aleppo killed around 20 people, including a Red Crescent staff member, the humanitarian organisation said Tuesday.

Geneva - Fatalities among migrants attempting to cross the Mediterranean to Europe could outstrip last year's total even though total numbers fell in the first nine months of this year, the UN said Tuesday.

A new research study from Switzerland has confirmed what most people knew already, that drinking beer makes people more sociable in the company of others.

Geneva - UN war crimes investigators on Monday asked European countries to "remove barriers" to their work by giving them unhindered access to newly arrived Syrian refugees.

Geneva - The UN's humanitarian chief said Monday he was "pained" that aid convoys had not deployed to eastern Aleppo, as a ceasefire in Syria teetered on the brink of collapse.

Geneva - The longtime strongman of Switzerland's populist right Christoph Blocher was attacked by an elderly man carrying a knife after a political debate in Zurich, but escaped unharmed, a newspaper reported Sunday.

Geneva - A United Nations expert on Friday called on Eritrea's government to urgently reveal the fate of around two dozen senior government officials and journalists arrested 15 years ago.

Geneva - August equalled July as the hottest month in modern times, the UN's weather agency said Friday, warning that extraordinary temperatures were "set to become the new norm".

Geneva - European oil companies, especially Swiss commodity traders, are exploiting weak African fuel standards by selling toxic diesel and gasoline across the continent, a campaign group said Thursday.

Geneva - Fewer than half of the world's some six million refugee children are in school, making them five times less likely to get an education than the global average, the UN warned Thursday.A full 3.

Geneva - The United Nations did not deliver any aid to desperate Syrian civilians during the first full day of a fragile ceasefire because of security concerns, officials said Tuesday.

Geneva - The UN's Syria envoy on Tuesday applauded a fall in violence through the first 24 hours of a fragile ceasefire but said security concerns meant aid convoys had not yet deployed.

Geneva - Countries are increasingly refusing to cooperate with the UN on human rights, the world body warned Tuesday, voicing alarm at situations in dozens of states, including Syria, Iran and Venezuela.