The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has said that the situation in Afghanistan following the Taliban takeover last week “remains uncertain and may evolve rapidly,” with up to 515,000 new refugees fleeing
Months Ahead of the Monsoon: Can AI Give Us an Earlier Warning About El Niño?
AI may genuinely extend the horizon over which seasonal climate risk can be estimated. For communities across South Asia living under the influence of the monsoon, a longer view could mean the difference between a farmer adjusting her planting in time and a family receiving a flood warning too late to act.
Livelihoods, Employment and Environmental Management in South Asia’s Hilly Regions: Lessons from ADB’s New Investment in Bangladesh
The broader lesson for South Asia is equally important. Hilly regions cannot be developed simply by transferring lowland infrastructure models into mountainous terrain. Investment has to respond to local economic systems, geography and environmental risks.
Ethanol, AI and Agriculture: India's Triangular Chokehold Centred on a Depleting Resource
The UN's 2026 report warns that “long-term water use has exceeded renewable inflows and safe depletion limits,” leaving some water supplies beyond recovery. As the world’s largest groundwater extractor, India sits at the centre of this reckoning
South Asia’s Carbon Opportunity Is Bigger Than Credits
The larger economic choice for South Asia is therefore broader than whether to participate in carbon trading. The region can remain primarily a supplier of relatively inexpensive mitigation outcomes, or it can also develop the technology, professional capacity, financial products and verification systems that determine what those outcomes are worth.
More on Climate, Sustainability and Energy
Credible reports of Taliban executions; women, journalists, civil society leaders in danger: UN rights chief
United Nations Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet has said that she had received credible reports that the Taliban had committed serious violations, including summary executions of civilians, in Afghanistan
Taliban targeting people who worked with US, NATO forces: UN Report
The Taliban, who seized power in Afghanistan last week, are reportedly targeting the people and their families who had helped and worked with the US and NATO troops, a confidential document by the UN’s threat assessment consultants pointed
Guterres calls for inclusive government in Afghanistan, says global community should speak with one voice on Taliban
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has said that he is ready to talk to the Taliban that has taken over Afghanistan amid fears of widepread human rights abuses
India to take pivotal role in anti-terror fight as head of UNSC panel
India will assume a pivotal role in the global fight against terror when it takes over the chair of the Security Council's Counter-Terrorism Committee (CTC) next year, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar announced on Thursday
Don’t justify terrorism, avoid double standards, says India at UNSC
As events in Afghanistan elevate concerns about international security, India’s External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar said on Thursday the global community should call out the hyprocrisy of countries that protect terrorists “with innocents' blood on their hands.”
India proposes use of modern technology for UN peacekeeping to meet 21st century challenges
India on Wednesday proposed a multi-pronged plan to bring the peacekeeping operations to the 21st century by deploying technologies to face the evolving threats
Tributes to peacekeepers killed in service of UN
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and India's External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar paid tributes on Wednesday to Indian peacekeepers who laid down their lives in the service of the global organisation
It's up to Taliban to reassure neighbours through zero tolerance for terror, says India at UNSC
India told the Taliban on Monday that it was up to it to reassure its neighbours by ensuring that Afghanistan - where it has wrested power militarily after two decades - has zero tolerance for terrorism
Bhutan signs with UNDP to promote ecotourism and biodiversity
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and Bhutan have signed a deal for a project to promote ecotourism and biodiversity in the country, The Global Environment Facility will fund the project worth $4.854 million
UNICEF lauds Bangladesh for vaccinating Rohingya refugees
UNICEF, a UN agency for children, has lauded the efforts of the Bangladesh government to vaccinate Rohingya refugees living in the country. Over a million refugees live in cramped camps of Cox Bazaar in Bangladesh
After India-led UNSC maritime session, Pakistan threatens continued militarisation for its national security
Pakistan has warned that it will continue militarisation in land, air and sea to achieve “full spectrum deterrence” against what it said was “geo-strategic competition and the pursuit of military dominance by some states” like India with “hegemonistic designs”
China strikes discordant note at UNSC maritime session, attacks Quad nations
China struck a discordant note at the Security Council high-level meeting on maritime security, attacking the Indo-Pacific initiative in which India is active, along with the United States and Japan, while dispensing with normal diplomatic courtesies to Prime Minister Narendra Modi who chaired the session
Modi presides over UNSC meet virtually; five principles for maritime safety proposal gets Council backing
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday proposed five basic principles for a holistic approach to maritime security that holds the “key to the planet's future”, and the Security Council in a show of support adopted India's Presidential Statement reflecting them
At least 27 children killed, 136 wounded in Afghanistan in last three days: UNICEF calls it ‘grave violations against children’
At least 27 children were killed and 136 were wounded in ongoing fighting in Afghanistan’s three provinces--Kandahar, Khost, and Paktia--in the last 72 hours, a United Nations agency for children, UNICEF, said on Monday in a statement and added it was "shocked by the rapid escalation of grave violations against children" in the war-torn country
