News headlines in January 2026

Three months into the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, the UN and partners have delivered tonnes of assistance items and carried out critical repairs, but this is only a temporary “Band-Aid” solution, a veteran aid worker has warned.

Powerful forces are lining up to undermine global cooperation, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres warned at a landmark event in London on Saturday to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the General Assembly, but he urged that “humanity is strongest when we stand as one”.

The rapidly expanding use of artificial intelligence worldwide is putting electrical grids under huge pressure and many believe that, to meet that need without contributing to the climate crisis, a full-scale expansion of nuclear energy is essential.

PORTLAND, USA, January 16 (IPS) - Ageing and shrinking populations are becoming more prevalent in many countries around the world.

LONDON, January 16 (IPS) - “The ‘spirit of dialogue’, the theme for this year’s meeting in Davos, which begins January 19, has been painfully and increasingly absent from international affairs of late. President Trump’s first year back in office has seen the United States withdraw from multilateral bodies, bully other states and relentlessly attack the principles and institutions that underpin the international justice system.

YANGON, Myanmar, and CHIANGMAI, Thailand , January 16 (IPS) - Held incommunicado in grim prison conditions for nearly five years, Aung San Suu Kyi quite possibly does not even know that this week the International Court of Justice (ICJ) opened a landmark case charging Myanmar with committing genocide against its Rohingya minority a decade ago.

Myanmar on Friday rejected allegations of genocide against the Rohingya minority, telling the International Court of Justice (ICJ) that the Gambia’s case rests on “unsubstantiated allegations,” as public hearings continued in a landmark case on the application of the Genocide Convention.

More children in war-ravaged Gaza are now back in the classroom, the UN aid coordination office (OCHA) said on Friday.

Peacekeeping operations in the Middle East are facing mounting security risks, funding pressures and political uncertainty, the head of UN peacekeeping warned on Friday.

In war-torn Sudan, local communities say they don’t have enough settlements for the internally displaced, few solutions for women who have suffered sexual violence – and there’s a lack of aid available for people with disabilities.