News headlines in February 2026

UNITED NATIONS, February 17 (IPS) - As the campaign for the next Secretary-General gathers momentum– at a relatively slow pace– there is widespread speculation that any candidate running for the post of UN chief will have to abide by the dictates of a politically-hostile White House or face a veto in the Security Council.

ROME & DELHI, February 17 (IPS) - Governments convened in Rome on Monday (February 16) for a critical round of UN biodiversity negotiations, launching the world’s first global review of how countries are acting to protect nature.

  CIVICUS discusses the recent protests in Iran with Sohrab Razaghi, executive director of Volunteer Activists, a Netherlands-based diaspora organisation empowering Iranian civil society.

WELLINGTON, New Zealand, February 16 (IPS) - 2026 has begun on a deeply troubling note. International law, long regarded as the backbone of global peace and security, is being challenged in ever more brazen ways. Core principles of sovereignty and restraint are being flagrantly breached.

BANGKOK, Thailand, February 16 (IPS) - Trade in the Asia-Pacific region has moved into a new strategic reality. The latest Asia-Pacific Trade and Investment Trends (APTIT) highlights that rapid technological change and a strategic reconfiguration of supply chains are reshaping how economies in the region trade and compete.

GARISSA, Kenya , February 16 (IPS) - By 9 a.m. on a Wednesday, Hawa Hussein Farah is already watching the temperature climb. Awake since 6 a.m., she has prepared her three children for school before walking them to class and heading to Suuq Mugdi, an open-air market in Garissa town, to buy the fruit she will sell.

Rising food prices and declining farm incomes are putting increasing pressure on the global food system, with up to 720 million people facing hunger last year, and billions more struggling to afford healthy diets.

Back-to-back cyclones in Madagascar have left more than 400,000 people in need of food assistance, according to estimates by the UN World Food Programme (WFP), while roads, power lines and homes have been severely damaged.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres has condemned Israel’s decision to resume land registration procedures in a large part of the occupied West Bank, his Spokesman said on Monday.

As Ukraine prepares to enter the fifth year of the full-scale Russian invasion on 24 February, UN monitors say harm to civilians has “demonstrably worsened”, while energy attacks and freezing temperatures are making it harder for displaced families to return.