An aerial view of the international Geneva neighbourhood with the United Nations in the foreground, 23 June 2020. (Keystone/Valentin Flauraud)

🏢As international Geneva’s offices empty out, could it ease the housing shortage? As the crisis in international Geneva deepens, Robert Curzon Price, head of real estate firm Barnes, warns of the potential impacts on the local property market. In his view, the state should position itself to take over plots that may become available as the sector contracts.

🫱🏼‍🫲🏽Opinion: What’s the key to successfully offering good offices? Qatar and Pakistan are engaging in international mediation by involving their highest-ranking political officials. This differs fundamentally from the Swiss method, which can no longer rely solely on its neutrality, writes François Nordmann.

🇸🇩Opinion: The best efforts to reduce violence in Sudan today are not led by diplomats. Since the first months of the war, local communities, including religious figures and youth networks, have been playing a crucial mediating role, often at great personal risk, notes UN under-secretary general Haoliang Xu.

🏎️💨Unregulated AI like speeding with no steering wheel: AI godfather Hinton. Geoffrey Hinton, who won the 2024 Nobel Physics Prize for his work on AI, said that regulatory guardrails were essential, speaking at the Digital World Conference in Geneva that focused on the social impacts of AI on Tuesday.

🚢Why Guterres’s UN plan to get fertiliser flowing in Hormuz is stalling. With the end of the planting season fast approaching, the UN chief is up against the clock to sell his ambitious plan for an orderly maritime transit, which depends heavily on the approval, first and foremost, of Iran, as well as the United States and the Gulf countries.

🔥Extreme heat threatens global food systems, UN agencies warn. A new report published yesterday flags the multiple risks of extreme heat on crops, livestock and fisheries – threatening the livelihoods of an estimated 1.23 billion people.