PRETORIA, South Africa, Feb 19 (IPS) - Daniel D. Bradlow is Professor/Senior Research Fellow, Centre for the Advancement of Scholarship, University of Pretoria, South Africa.US president Donald Trump’s recent actions seem designed to reassert American power and demonstrate that it is still the dominant global power and is capable of bullying weaker nations into following America’s lead.

UNITED NATIONS, Feb 19 (IPS) - President Trump—whose rash and ill-conceived proposals continue unabated—has threatened to “seize Gaza,” turn it into a “Riviera of the Middle East,” and move Palestinians to Egypt and Jordan, two longstanding American allies who depend heavily on US support for their survival.

The US President has also hinted that both countries would suffer either cutbacks or elimination of billions of dollars in economic and military aid —if they refuse to cooperate with him.

In an address on Wednesday to Caribbean leaders meeting in Barbados, UN Secretary-General António Guterres announced a potential plan to support an “effective force” in Haiti as armed gangs continue to terrorize the population.

The UN agency for Palestine refugees, UNRWA, condemned efforts by Israeli officials on Tuesday to shut down an UNRWA-run training centre in occupied East Jerusalem.

In recent years, the term "social justice" has become a significant part of public discourse, often invoked in discussions about equality, human rights, and societal reforms. But what exactly does social justice mean, and why is it so important?

Three years of war in Ukraine have reversed decades of progress for women and girls, leaving millions in urgent need of support, according to UN Women.

The dream of a civil, democratic and prosperous Libya remains unfulfilled 14 years after the revolution that led to the overthrow of the Gaddafi regime, the head of UN Political and Peacebuilding Affairs told the Security Council on Wednesday.

The UN World Health Organization (WHO) announced on Wednesday that the mass polio vaccination campaign in Gaza which began successfully last year, will continue in the coming days.

Intensifying violence in the eastern region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo continues to displace thousands as the Rwanda-backed M23 armed group threatens to march on the distant capital, Kinshasa, and the UN Security Council holds an emergency meeting to head off regional war. App users can follow our live coverage here.

As the Security Council prepared to gather on Wednesday to debate the international community’s response to the growing emergency in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the UN’s top aid official there urged all warring parties to allow lifesaving relief supplies to reach the most vulnerable.