News headlines in December 2025, page 8

The UN Secretary-General on Friday condemned the arbitrary detention of ten more UN personnel by Houthi de facto authorities in Yemen, warning that the growing crackdown is crippling humanitarian operations and putting millions of lives at risk.

The UN Security Council on Friday unanimously extended the mandate of the UN peacekeeping mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) for another year, as fighting in the country’s east intensified amid renewed offensives by the M23 rebel group.

The United Nations has urged calm in Bangladesh after the killing of a prominent youth protest leader sparked fresh unrest, raising concerns about political violence and the safety of civic space as the country prepares for elections early next year.

Meditation, which has its roots in religious, yogic and secular traditions from various civilisations, calls for living in the present moment.

The United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) called on Friday for an investigation into the killing of one of its staff members in Wau, Western Bahr el Ghazal state.

Food security in Gaza has improved since the ceasefire declared in October, pushing back famine conditions, but the situation remains critical with more than three-quarters of the population still facing acute hunger and malnutrition, a new UN-backed analysis has found.

As fighting escalates in Sudan, “people are scared, people are fleeing their homes”, the UN migration agency, IOM, said on Friday, noting that more than 50,000 people have been uprooted since late October in the Kordofans region alone.

UNITED NATIONS, December 18 (IPS) - In recent weeks, the Russo-Ukrainian War has taken a considerable turn for the worse, with armed hostilities escalating in both frequency and intensity, causing extensive damage to civilian infrastructure and a significant loss of life across Ukraine. Attacks on energy infrastructures and the resulting power outages are forcing the most vulnerable civilians to deal with a “cold, frightening ordeal” in the winter season, warned the United Nations (UN) human rights chief.

NAIROBI, December 18 (IPS) - For years, smallholder farmers across Kenya have been engaged in a legal battle with the government over a law that criminalizes the practice of saving, sharing and exchanging indigenous seeds.

MICHOACÁN, Mexico , December 18 (IPS) - My niece Roxana Valentín Cárdenas was 21 years old when she was killed. She was a Purépecha Indigenous woman from San Andrés Tziróndaro, a community on the shores of Lake Pátzcuaro in the Mexican state of Michoacán.