Tom Fletcher, head of UN relief, presenting his office's humanitarian appeal in Geneva, 3 December 2024. (Keystone/Salvatore Di Nolfi)

💰UN aid coordination agency cuts appeal for 2026 to $33bn after lowest annual support in a decade. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs raised just $15 billion (CHF12bn) this year after initially seeking $45bn to help 190 million people worldwide. It reached 25 million fewer people compared with 2024 as a result.

✏️Analysis: Five takeaways from the UN’s aid plans for 2026. From shrinking appeals to a deprioritisation of certain response plans, to a change in the number of “people in need” counted in its methodology, UN-led humanitarian response appeals are changing drastically in the face of donor cutbacks and new funding realities.

🏥WHO says over 100 killed in attacks on Sudan kindergarten and hospital. Last week's attacks began with repeated strikes on a kindergarten in the South Kordofan state, with paramedics and responders coming under fire as they tried to move the injured to a nearby hospital, the World Health Organization said. Sudan's foreign ministry condemned the attacks, while the Rapid Support Forces did not immediately respond.

🌎Opinion: The UN Environment Assembly is key to fixing our planet. Inger Anderson, executive director of the UN Environment Programme, argues that the high-level gathering has delivered some notable successes since it met last year, bringing science and policy together and making the case for multilateralism.

🦈Cites Cop20 delivers historic shark protection, curbs illegal pet trade. Governments gathering under the convention regulating international wildlife trade adopted last week landmark controls for marine species, even as its secretary general, Ivonne Higuero, warned that its record workload was putting it under increasing financial pressure.