EU Covenant of Mayors Ceremony 2025Cities and Towns Securing Europe’s Future

Source: European Commission (video statements)

Opening addrees by Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the European Commission

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJ2qnl8UXLc

Top 10 Emerging Technologies for the Planet

Source: World Economic Forum (video statements)

Climate disasters are disrupting industries from agriculture to finance, exposing deep vulnerabilities in supply chains, infrastructure and communities worldwide.

From precision fermentation to green concrete, what are the most promising emerging technologies that can strengthen planetary resilience when climate risks know no boundaries?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_bcGg3fM6E

Taming Trade

Source: World Economic Forum (video statements)

Trade reforms and tariff uncertainty have heightened security concerns, making it increasingly challenging to protect critical industries and technologies while striving to maintain open markets.

How can global collaboration be strengthened to address emerging threats and safeguard the integrity of the international trading system?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=33Qz2zYTSO4

World Food Day 2025 – UN Chief Message | United Nations

Source: United Nations (video statements)

Video message by AntĂłnio Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations, on World Food Day (16 October 2025).

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Eighty years ago, in a world ravaged by war, countries came together to defeathunger. In the decades since, the world has made dramatic advances.

Yet recent crises demonstrate that we cannot drop our guard if we are to sustain these gains.

We have the tools, knowledge and resources to end hunger, and provide good, healthy food to all. What we need is unity.

Today, around the world, 673 million people still go to bed hungry every night.

Many more face daily uncertainty about their next meal.

Global progress is far too slow and, in some regions, reversing.

New challenges have emerged over the decades – from soaring obesity, to climate shocks threatening food security.

Shamefully, hunger is being weaponized – we face the appalling reality of people in conflict situations being starved with famine taking hold.

This year’s World Food Day theme – "Hand-in-hand for Better Foods and a BetterFuture" – is a call for solidarity across borders, sectors and communities.

This echoes the priorities voiced by countries at the Food Systems Summit Stocktake inJuly, and the United Nations Call to Action, which identifies six key areas for action.

Let us respond. Let us come together once again, to build food systems that nourish people and protect the planet.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5p3fNNnnibQ

World Food Programme’s report: “A lifeline At Risk” – Press Conference | WFP| United Nations

Source: United Nations (video statements)

Press Conference by Jean Martin Bauer, WFP’s (World Food Programme) Director of Food Security and Nutrition Analysis, provides an overview of WFP’s report entitled, “A lifeline At Risk”. Ross Smith, WFP’s Director of Emergency Preparedness and Response, focus on the six countries that are at most critical risk this year as a result of funding cuts

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kt8jPZpYZUA

UN80, Gaza & other topics – Daily Press Briefing | United Nations

Source: United Nations (video statements)

Noon Briefing by Stéphane Dujarric, Spokesperson for the Secretary-General.

Highlights:

UN80
Gaza
Occupied Palestinian Territory
Yemen
South Sudan
Sudan
Mozambique
Ukraine
Haiti
Carbon Dioxide Levels
International Day of Rural Women

UN80
This morning, the Secretary-General briefed the General Assembly on the progress of the three workstreams of his UN80 initiative. Taken together, he told the Member States, the measures of the three workstreams will produce a much more coherent, impactful, and cost-effective UN system as a whole.
The Secretary-General focused on the third workstream on structural changes, which was detailed in his recent report, “Shifting Paradigms: United to Deliver.”
He said that his vision for the United Nations system is clear: Entities that work together as one to deliver better, overcoming fragmentation, eliminating duplication, improving funding models and maximizing synergies.
Regarding peace and security work, he said he proposes to consolidate and reconfigure teams at Headquarters, as well as special political missions in Yemen, Cyprus and Central Africa, to eliminate duplication and increase coherence in our support to Member States.
He warned that humanitarian action is on the brink of collapse.
To respond to challenges, he said that we have established a New Humanitarian Compact between UN humanitarian agencies, which is a six-point blueprint to deliver better, restore trust in multilateral action and maximize the impact of every dollar that is given to the UN.
He said we will cut coordination bureaucracy, integrate the supply chains of the principal humanitarian agencies, propose to scale up the use of common services, strengthen our joint capacities to leverage data and align responsibilities to reduce programmatic overlaps in the fields of food, mobility, beneficiary data, health and nutrition.
On development work, Mr. Guterres said that we propose to conduct a thorough assessment of the potential benefits of a merger between United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS), to create a stronger engine for sustainable development, with greater reach and scale. Similarly, we will conduct a thorough assessment on the benefits of a merger of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and UN Women and their respective mandates and capacities.

GAZA
In a statement issued today, Tom Fletcher, the UN Emergency Relief Coordinator, said that earlier this week, the UN was able to kick off our humanitarian scale-up after months of frustration and blockages, but yesterday, the UN has faced further setbacks to that implementation, adding that the UN is now tested to see whether it can ensure that these do not prevent the progress on which President Trump, the UN Secretary-General and so many leaders have insisted.
As Hamas have agreed, they must make strenuous efforts to return the bodies of all deceased hostages. The UN is gravely concerned by the evidence of violence against civilians in Gaza that we are witnessing since the ceasefire took effect.
As Israel has agreed, Mr. Fletcher added, they must allow the massive surge of humanitarian aid, thousands of trucks a week, on which so many lives depend, and on which the world has insisted. We need more crossings to be open and a genuine, practical, problem-solving approach to removing the remaining roadblocks, being physical or bureaucratic. Throughout this crisis, he said, the UN has insisted that withholding aid from civilians can never be a bargaining chip.

OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORY
The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said that they are trucking water and supporting wells and desalination to reach 1.5 million people in Gaza, noting that the needs remain immense. UN partners are also supporting the production or delivery of hundreds of thousands of meals and bread bundles every day.

Full Highlights
https://www.un.org/sg/en/content/noon-briefing-highlight?date%5Bvalue%5D%5Bdate%5D=15%20October%202025

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=05t09ZkndXg