
More children than ever displaced and at risk of violence and exploitation, U.N. warns
CBSN
United Nations — War, poverty and climate change have created a perfect storm for children around the world, a United Nations report warned Wednesday. The confluence of crises and disasters has driven the number of children currently displaced from their homes to an unprecedented 42 million, and it has left those young people vulnerable to criminal violence and exploitation.
The report, Protecting the Rights of Children on the Move in Times of Crisis, compiled by seven separate U.N. agencies that deal with children, concludes that of the "staggering" 100 million civilians forcibly displaced around the world by the middle of last year, 41% of those "on the move" were children — more than ever previously documented.
"These children are exposed to heightened risk of violence," warns the U.N.'s Office of Drugs and Crime, one of the contributing agencies. "This includes sexual abuse and exploitation, forced labor, trafficking, child marriage, illegal/illicit adoption, recruitment by criminal and armed groups (including terrorist groups) and deprivation of liberty."

Tel Aviv — There was cautious optimism in Israel on Wednesday that the ceasefire with Iran would hold, at least for now. The 12-day conflict left 28 people dead in Israel and hundreds in Iran. The ceasefire brokered by the Trump administration — and enforced by President Trump personally on Tuesday as it looked perilously close to failing before it even took hold — led Israel's Home Front Command to lift restrictions on movement in the country, with Ben Gurion International Airport reopening for commercial flights.

Israel and Iran both indicated on Tuesday morning that they were complying with a ceasefire agreement announced by President Trump. But the apparent agreement — which Iranian officials had yet to formally confirm they would respect — appeared to falter within just a couple hours. The Israeli military ordered people into bomb shelters yet again and said Iran had launched more missiles at the country.

Kyiv, Ukraine - A Russian drone and missile attack on Ukraine's capital overnight killed at least five people and injured others, according to Ukraine's emergency services. Emergency crews were still working Monday morning to rescue people they believed to be trapped under the debris of one partially collapsed apartment building in Kyiv.

The United States launched military strikes on three Iranian nuclear facilities Sunday morning local time, an action President Trump said aimed to neutralize a threat "posed by the world's number one state sponsor of terror." It was widely seen as a turning point in America's involvement in the ongoing Middle East conflicts as the first direct intervention by U.S. forces in the war between Israel and Iran.