From the podium of the League of ations, Haile Selassie tries to stir he world’s conscience. Geneva, 30 une 1936. (©STR/AP) From the podium of he League of Nations, Haile Selassie ries to stir the world’s conscience. eneva, 30 June 1936. (©STR/AP)

🇺🇳❝In 1936, the Ethiopian emperor's unheeded plea to the League of Nations foreshadowed its demise. On 30 June 1936, Negus Haile Selassie appealed to the League of Nations to defend Ethiopia against Italy’s chemical attacks. Its failure to back a member state that day foreshadowed the League’s eventual collapse, writes Antoine Fleury, professor emeritus at the University of Geneva.

🧾UN changes budget rule to cope with financial crisis. Member states agreed by consensus to pause an archaic rule that required them to return unspent funds to member states even when their contributions hadn’t been collected in the first place. The UN’s accountants had warned that if nothing was done, the organisation would be forced to give back about $1.3 billion in 2027, pushing it into a financial collapse.

🌱Aarhus Convention: the public loves it, states not so much. The Aarhus Convention gives the public real power to defend the environment and hold governments accountable, but the its state parties are quietly starving it of the funds it needs to survive, writes Margarida Martins.

🤖Rapid spread of AI may worsen global inequality, UN warns. A new report from an independent panel, set up last year by UN secretary general António Guterres, calls for a shared framework to guide the responsible development of AI, as investment in the technology grows unevenly around the world.