News headlines in 2025, page 298

AI is already transforming our world but its power rests “in the hands of a few”, UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned on Tuesday in Paris, in an appeal for countries to use the revolutionary technology together, “to bridge the gap between developed and developing countries – not widen it”.

A return to war in Gaza must be avoided at all costs, UN Secretary-General António Guterres insisted on Tuesday, amid fears that the three-week-old ceasefire agreement between Hamas fighters and Israel is about to end.

LIMA, Feb 10 (IPS) - "We are facing a deeply conservative government that is opening the doors to all kinds of setbacks. We have a failed state with a democracy that is no longer a democracy," said Gina Vargas, a Peruvian feminist internationally recognized for her contributions to women's rights.

Feb 10 (IPS) - In the months leading up to presidential elections at the end of January, Belarus’s authoritarian leader Alexander Lukashenko ordered the release of hundreds of political prisoners. Some observers saw this as a sign that the man who had led the former Soviet state for the last three decades could be planning a relaxation of his regime’s brutal repressions in return for a lessening of Western sanctions.

ASMARA, Eritrea, Feb 10 (IPS) - At night, when the world lights up, large swathes of Africa remain cloaked in darkness—a stark reminder of the continent’s lack of reliable access to electricity.

The UN Secretary-General has instructed agencies, funds and programmes to pause all activities in Sa’ada governorate in Yemen for security reasons, the global body said on Monday.

The UN human rights office, OHCHR, called on Monday for Israel and Hamas to ensure that all people they are holding are treated humanely.

The forced displacement of Palestinian communities in the northern part of the West Bank is escalating at an alarming pace, the UN agency that assists Palestine refugees UNRWA warned on Monday.

The terrorist group Da’esh, also known as ISIL, remains a serious global security threat despite years of sustained efforts to dismantle its operations, UN counter-terrorism officials warned during a Security Council meeting on Monday.

Tens of thousands of people went missing in Syria during the Assad family’s rule, which stretches back to the early 1970s. A UN body set up to discover their whereabouts has been hearing the testimony of family members of the disappeared during a visit to the capital, Damascus, described as a “step on the path to truth.”