Geneva - The global coronavirus pandemic is accelerating, the World Health Organization said Wednesday, with the number of daily cases surging beyond 160,000 every day in the past week, a record.

Geneva - The coronavirus crisis has taken a much heavier toll on jobs than previously feared, the UN said Tuesday, warning that the situation in the Americas was particularly dire.

Geneva - More than one million people have been forced to flee their homes in the violence-ravaged eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) since the start of the year, the UN said Tuesday.

Geneva - Israel's aim to annex parts of the occupied West Bank is clearly "illegal", the UN's human rights chief said on Monday, warning that the consequences could be "disastrous".

Geneva - The coronavirus pandemic is "not even close to being over", the WHO warned Monday, as the global death toll passed half a million and cases surge in Latin America and the United States.

Geneva - The UN's weather agency announced Thursday the longest lightning bolt on record -- a single flash in Brazil on October 31, 2018 that cut the sky across more than 700 kilometres.

Geneva - The UN human rights chief called Thursday for a "moratorium" on the use of facial recognition technology during peaceful protests, stressing that it could increase discrimination against people of African descent and other minorities.

Geneva - The coronavirus pandemic has yet to peak in the Americas, the World Health Organization warned on Wednesday, as it said global infections were likely to hit 10 million within a week.

Geneva - The UN's top rights body on Monday ordered a fact-finding mission to Libya to document violations committed since 2016 as International Criminal Court prosecutors said mass graves discovered there may constitute war crimes.

Geneva - The World Health Organization called on Monday for a rapid increase in production of dexamethasone, a cheap steroid which has been shown to reduce deaths in critically ill coronavirus patients.

Geneva - The UN's top human rights body on Friday condemned discriminatory police brutality and demanded a report on "systemic racism", but rights groups accused Washington of wielding pressure to strip out any mention of the United States in the resolution.

Geneva - The World Health Organization warned Friday of a "new and dangerous phase" of the coronavirus pandemic with people tiring of lockdowns despite the disease's accelerating spread.

Geneva - The UN on Thursday wrapped up a historic debate about structural racism and police brutality in the United States and beyond -- but rights groups voiced concern that countries might be backing away from committing to concrete action.

Geneva - Nearly 80 million people have been forced to flee their homes due to violence and persecution, marking a near-doubling of global displacement in a decade, the UN said Thursday.

Geneva - George Floyd's brother on Wednesday begged the United Nations to help African Americans because "black lives do not matter in the United States", as the UN's rights chief urged reparations for centuries of discrimination.

Geneva - The World Health Organization on Tuesday hailed a "breakthrough" steroid treatment for the coronavirus, boosting hopes that pandemic deaths can be reduced, but a growing new cluster in China sparked fears of a second wave of infections.

Geneva - The coronavirus crisis is pushing 40 million people into food insecurity in South and Central America and the Caribbean, the UN warned Tuesday, calling for urgent action to avert a "hunger pandemic".

Geneva - George Floyd's shocking death in police custody in the US has sparked belated soul-searching in Switzerland over the death of a Nigerian man two years ago in Lausanne in seemingly similar circumstances.

Geneva - Thousands of demonstrators marched in cities and towns across Switzerland on Saturday to denounce racism and police brutality in the wake of the death of George Floyd in the United States.

Geneva - African countries called Friday on the UN Human Rights Council to urgently debate racism and police brutality amid the unrest in the US and beyond over George Floyd's death.