ICANN manages domain names and IP addresses. (Keystone/AP Photo/Tim Hales, File)

ICANN’s new president will be based in Geneva. The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers has appointed Kurtis Lindqvist, the current boss of the London Internet Exchange, as its new president. For the first time in the institution's history, the new chief will operate outside of the United States.

Bringing you the latest from UN press briefings in Geneva.

👩🏾DISPROPORTIONATE RISKS. In eastern and southern Africa, women and girls are bearing the brunt of rising climate disasters, ongoing conflict and displacement, Lydia Zigomo, regional director at the UN Population Fund (Unfpa) told journalists Tuesday.

The risks, including record low rainfall triggered by the El Niño phenomenon across central to southern Africa, new displacements in northern Mozambique provinces and the ongoing conflict in Sudan have exposed them to food insecurity, inadequate access to clean water and gender-based violence. “The risk of sexual violence soars and unintended pregnancies becomes a harsh reality,” Zigomo said.

Help needed. In northern Ethiopia, where “scars of conflict” remain, 7.2 million women and girls are in need of help in response to gender based violence, up from 6.7 million in 2023. Meanwhile, a challenging donor environment has only 20 per cent of the agency’s 2024 budget appeal for GBV response and prevention mechanisms and reproductive health services currently funded globally, she told Geneva Solutions.

🌡️’NOT ON TRACK’. Climate change and disaster reduction have been at the centre of discussions this week at the World Meteorological Organization’s annual executive council meeting.

Global weather authorities representing six regions have been working on plans to ensure that countries have early warning systems in place by 2027, particularly in the most climate vulnerable nations. Discussions also include implementation plans for the Global Greenhouse Gas Watch that would provide information from space- and land-based monitoring systems useful for climate mitigation and adaptation.

-By Paula Dupraz-Dobias