Foreign News
UN Urges Media to Spotlight Humanitarian Crisis
The United Nations has called for stronger global media engagement on humanitarian crises around the world, particularly the situation in Yemen.
The organisation said that limited international attention is hampering awareness and support, at a time when millions face deepening food insecurity, health risks and shrinking aid resources.
The UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Yemen, Julien Harneis, made the call on Monday, during a news conference on the humanitarian situation in the country.
He warned that the situation in Yemen is expected to deteriorate further in 2026, amid worsening food insecurity, economic pressures and reduced funding for critical services.
Harneis noted that in 2025 alone, about 19.5 million people were in need of humanitarian assistance, while the Humanitarian Response Plan was only 28 per cent funded.
He attributed the bleak outlook to economic and political decisions that were exacerbating food insecurity across all parts of Yemen.
According to him, the worsening food situation is already manifesting in rising levels of malnutrition and increased pressure on the health system.
Harneis noted that Yemen’s health system had been supported by the United Nations, in collaboration with the World Bank for the past 10 years, but warned that this support would significantly reduce.
“We’re going to see a major change there, where the health system is not going to be supported in the way it has been in the past, and that is going to have very major consequences.
“Yemeni government lacks the capacity to finance and sustain the health system, leaving the country vulnerable to disease outbreaks.
“In a country which has already seen the highest rates of measles in the world, and which has frequently had cholera epidemics, we’re going to be very vulnerable to epidemics across the country, particularly in the North,” Harneis added.
The UN official said that humanitarian operations in northern Yemen were further complicated by the detention of 73 UN personnel as well as the seizure of UN offices.
He described the detentions as part of a broader pattern, noting that staff of international NGOs, embassy workers, activists and political actors, had also been detained often without public attention.
Harneis said that the UN was working with the broader humanitarian country team, including international and national NGOs, to explore how other organisations could step in to cover gaps left by the UN.
He, however, stressed that some capacities were unique to UN agencies.
“Only the UN agencies have the scale of response that is required for a country where, for example, 2,300 primary health care facilities have been supported by UN agencies.
“No INGO has the capacity to support all of that,” he said.
He acknowledged that the humanitarian community would attempt to restructure and reorganise its response, but described the current circumstances as “deeply challenging”.
On media coverage, Harneis said that while regional and Arabic-language media paid attention to developments in Yemen, there was limited access to areas outside government control.
He added that although humanitarian organisations regularly briefed the UN Security Council and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights on the situation, international media engagement remained insufficient.
“The international media is not engaging with Yemen in the way that is needed now and the UN also needs to do more outreach.”
He clarified that while food insecurity was a major concern, it was not the direct cause of death.
He argued that food insecurity contributes to malnutrition, but so do poor access to clean water and lack of access to healthcare services.
According to him, when these factors combine with poor socio-economic conditions, they result in malnutrition, leading to increased mortality and morbidity, especially among children.
Harneis consequently, identified Nutrition, public health at the primary healthcare level, as well as freedom and security, as key priorities for humanitarian actors.
US President Donald Trump announced he will be seeking $1bn (£730m) in damages from Harvard University in his administration’s ongoing feud with the institution.
The news comes after the New York Times reported that the Trump administration had to backtrack from its demand for a $200m payment in negotiations with the university.
Trump cited the story in a Truth Social post late on Monday, blaming Harvard for “feeding a lot of nonsense” to the New York Times.
Trump officials have accused Harvard of not doing enough to tackle antisemitism during pro-Palestinian protests. Harvard has rejected the accusation.
Harvard has been a central target in the White House’s campaign to stamp out what it calls “woke” and “radical left” ideologies on American campuses.
In April last year, Trump revoked around $2bn in research grants to Harvard and froze federal funding.
The university sued the Trump administration over the move, saying no government “should dictate what private universities can teach, whom they can admit and hire, and which areas of study and inquiry they can pursue”.
A US federal court later overturned the billions in funding cuts, ruling the government had violated university’s free speech rights.
The White House vowed to immediately challenge the “egregious decision”, saying Harvard remains “ineligible for grants in the future”.
Before Monday’s announcement, the government had been in discussions with Harvard over a potential deal to unfreeze federal funding.
“We are now seeking One Billion Dollars in damages, and want nothing further to do, into the future, with Harvard University,” Trump wrote on Monday.
He accused Harvard of “serious and heinous illegalities”, but did not clarify how he believed it had broken the law.
Trump has previously threatened to revoke Harvard’s tax-exempt status and take control of the university’s patents stemming from federally funded research.
Three other Ivy League universities, Columbia, Penn and Brown, struck deals with Trump to preserve funding that was at risk due to similar claims by the administration, rather than go to court.
Pedro Sánchez, Spain’s Prime Minister, said on Tuesday at the World Government Summit in Dubai that access to social media for minors under 16 would be banned.
Sanchez added that all platforms will be required to implement age verification systems.
“Our children are exposed to a space they were never meant to navigate alone.
“We will no longer accept that.
We will protect them from the digital Wild West. ”He added that his government would also introduce a new bill next week to hold social media executives accountable for illegal and hateful content.
Australia in December became the first country to ban social media for children under 16.
It’s a move being closely watched by other countries considering similar age-based measures, such as Britain and France.
U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened to sue Grammys host, Trevor Noah after a joke he made about disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein on stage.
Trump blasted the comedian as a “total loser,” adding: “It looks like I’ll be sending my lawyers to sue this poor, pathetic, talentless, dope of an M.
C., and suing him for plenty of dollars. ”Trump criticised Noah’s joke, made after the song of the year gong was handed out at the ceremony on Sunday night.
Writing on Truth Social, in a post strewn with uppercase words, Trump said: “Noah said, INCORRECTLY about me, that Donald Trump and Bill Clinton spent time on Epstein Island. WRONG!!!
“I can’t speak for Bill, but I have never been to Epstein Island, nor anywhere close, and until tonight’s false and defamatory statement, have never been accused of being there, not even by the Fake News Media.
“Noah, a total loser, better get his facts straight, and get them straight fast.”
He added: “Get ready Noah, I’m going to have some fun with you!”
Trump also blasted the ceremony saying: “The Grammy Awards are the WORST, virtually unwatchable! CBS is lucky not to have this garbage litter their airwaves any longer.”
This was an apparent reference to Disney taking over the broadcast rights for the award ceremony starting in 2027.
He has also engaged in legal action with the New York Times, Associated Press and the Wall Street Journal.
Last July, U.S. media giant Paramount, which owns CBS, agreed to pay Trump 16 million dollars to settle a lawsuit over a 2024 CBS interview with Kamala Harris, the former vice-president and 2024 Democratic presidential nominee.
Noah, 41, is a South African-born comedian and TV personality who hosted “The Daily Show” on Comedy Central in the U.S. for seven years.
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