News headlines in January 2026

NAIROBI & SRINAGAR, India, January 22 (IPS) - The world is pouring trillions of dollars each year into activities that destroy nature while investing only a fraction of that amount in protecting and restoring the ecosystems on which economies depend, according to a new United Nations report released on today  (January 22).

UNITED NATIONS, January 22 (IPS) - In 2025, global ocean temperatures rose to some of the highest levels ever recorded, signaling a continued accumulation of heat within the Earth’s climate system and raising deep concern among climate scientists. The economic toll of ocean-related impacts—including collapsing fisheries, widespread coral reef degradation, and mounting damage to coastal infrastructure—is now estimated to be nearly double the global cost of carbon emissions, placing immense strain on economies and endangering millions of lives.

WASHINGTON DC, January 22 (IPS) - Nepal has a unique opportunity for transformation. The recent youth-led protests underscored aspirations for greater transparency, governance and a more equal distribution of economic opportunities and resources. This yearning resonated in Nepal and beyond.

NYERI, Kenya, January 21 (IPS) - For the last twenty years, Sarah Nyaga, a smallholder farmer from Embu County in central Kenya, has farmed coffee. Like most across Kenya, she relies on the export market. A greater percentage of Kenya’s coffee ends up within the European Union market, but a new law threatens to disrupt what has been a source of income for thousands of farmers like Nyaga.

UNITED NATIONS, January 21 (IPS) - The world is already in the state of “water bankruptcy”. In many basins and aquifers, long-term overuse and degradation mean that past hydrological and ecological baselines cannot realistically be restored.

Haiti’s deepening crisis has reached a critical phase, senior UN officials warned the Security Council on Wednesday, as powerful gangs continue to expand their control across the country.

Another child in the Gaza Strip has died from hypothermia as winter weather continues to whip the enclave, the UN said on Wednesday, citing information from the health authorities.

From Davos, the President of the UN General Assembly on Wednesday warned that the world has entered a “make‑or‑break” moment for multilateralism, saying the rules‑based order can survive only if states speak the truth and act when it’s hard. She called for a cross‑regional alliance to push back against growing lawlessness, disinformation, and power‑based politics.

Haiti is entering 2026 facing one of the most complex crises in its recent history. On Wednesday, the Caribbean island nation will be high on the international agenda as the UN Security Council holds its first meeting of the year to update ambassadors.

MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay, January 20 (IPS) - In December, the dust settled on Guinea’s first presidential election since the military took control in a 2021 coup. General Mamady Doumbouya stayed in power after receiving 87 per cent of the vote. But the outcome was never in doubt: this was no a democratic milestone; it was the culmination of Guinea’s denied transition to civilian rule.