News headlines in December 2025

The UN Secretary-General has condemned amendments adopted by Israel’s Knesset to a law aimed at ceasing the operations of the UN agency assisting Palestine refugees (UNRWA), saying the measures must be immediately repealed.

From eliminating deadly infections to expanding access to lifesaving vaccines, 2025 delivered meaningful progress for global health, according to the UN World Health Organization (WHO), offering cautious optimism at the close of a year marked by both breakthroughs and strain.

Up-to-date vaccination remains the most effective way to prevent severe COVID-19 illness, new research from the World Health Organization (WHO) shows, even as the pandemic has officially ended.

Voting proceeded largely as planned in the Central African Republic’s first-ever combined presidential, legislative, regional and municipal elections, and ballot counting is now complete, the UN peacekeeping mission (MINUSCA) said on Wednesday, with results expected to be announced on 5 January.

Recent attacks across Ukraine have killed civilians, damaged critical infrastructure and cut heating and power supplies for millions, UN humanitarians report, as temperatures drop below freezing.

A sixth child has died in Gaza this month as the enclave’s people continue to endure dire living conditions linked to freezing rains and the Israel-Hamas war, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has announced. The development comes as aid agencies urged Israeli authorities to reconsider revoking the licences of dozens of humanitarian partners that provide assistance across the devastated enclave from 1 January.

LONDON, December 30 (IPS) - Satellite images show corpses piled high in El Fasher, North Darfur, awaiting mass burial or cremation as the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) militia tries to cover up the scale of its crimes. Up to 150,000 El Fasher residents remain missing from the city, seized by the RSF in November. The lowest estimate is that 60,000 are dead. The Arab militia has ethnically cleansed the city of its non-Arab residents. The slaughter is the latest horrific episode in the war between the RSF and the Sudan Armed Forces, sparked by a power battle between military leaders in April 2023.

The General Assembly has approved a $3.45 billion regular budget for the United Nations for 2026, following weeks of intensive negotiations and one of the Organization’s most important reform initiatives, UN80.

Afghanistan is expected to remain one of the world’s largest humanitarian crises in 2026, UN agencies and humanitarian partners warned on Tuesday, launching a $1.7 billion appeal to assist nearly 18 million people in urgent need.

Sexual violence against children has become entrenched, systemic and increasingly widespread across the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), with new data showing a sharp rise in cases since 2022, according to the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF).