United Nations

More than six months of Israel's military offensive in Gaza has turned the Palestinian territory into a "humanitarian hellscape", U.N. chief Antonio Guterres said Thursday, also warning that one wrong move could see the Middle East devolve into a wider war as United States sank a long-shot Palestinian bid for full United Nations membership, vetoing a Security Council vote.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Thursday painted a dark picture of the situation in the Middle East, warning that spiraling tensions over the war in Gaza and Iran's attack on Israel could devolve into a "full-scale regional conflict."

BELGRADE - Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic met with Surinamese FM Albert Ramdin in Belgrade on Thursday to discuss directions for further development of the friendly relations between Serbia and Suriname and advancement of bilateral cooperation in all areas of mutual importance.

The World Health Organization voiced alarm Thursday at the growing spread of H5N1 bird flu to new species, including humans, who face an "extraordinarily high" mortality rate.

"This remains I think an enormous concern," the U.N. health agency's chief scientist Jeremy Farrar told reporters in Geneva.

BELGRADE - Serbian FM Ivica Dacic spoke by phone with the FMs of Lebanon, Tunisia and Belarus on Wednesday.

With Lebanese counterpart Abdallah Bou Habib, Dacic discussed bilateral relations between Serbia and Lebanon and cooperation at multilateral level, the Serbian MFA said in a post on the social media network X.

Thirteen individuals, including seven children, lost their lives, while more than 25 others sustained injuries in an airstrike targeting the Al-Maghazi refugee camp in central Gaza on Tuesday, as reported by CNN, citing officials from Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital.

Israel and Iran traded threats after Tehran's first-ever direct attack on its arch-foe sharply heightened tensions in a region already on edge after six months of war in Gaza.

Women's bodies have become political "battlegrounds", putting at risk 30 years of progress on sexual and reproductive health for women and girls, the U.N. warned Wednesday.

The European Union will prepare to expand its sanctions on Iran in response to Tehran's attack on Israel, EU top diplomat Josep Borrell said on Tuesday after an emergency video conference of the bloc's foreign ministers.

The world is not doing enough to protect coral reefs, the United Nations' special envoy for the ocean said Tuesday in defense of the marine ecosystems that protect biodiversity, sustain underwater life and produce some of the oxygen we breathe.