News headlines in May 2026, page 7

As Gaza’s fragile ceasefire frays and humanitarian conditions deteriorate, a senior UN envoy warned the Security Council on Thursday that delays in implementing the Council-backed transition plan for the enclave will only increase suffering and undermine recovery.

United Nations agencies have moved swiftly to support efforts to contain the latest Ebola outbreak in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), delivering emergency medical supplies, protective equipment and logistics support.

Thirteen-year-old Mona still remembers the moment the second airstrike hit.

From AI-powered transit systems to digital twins and flood-proof parks, cities are embracing technology at an unprecedented scale. But as innovation accelerates, experts warn that inclusion, trust and security will determine who truly benefits.

The Security Council meets top of the hour in New York to debate stalled progress in Gaza as the fragile ceasefire limps on, and deteriorating conditions across the West Bank amid continued civilian casualties and mounting humanitarian needs. UN envoy Ramiz Alakbarov is due to brief alongside the US-led Board of Peace representative to Gaza Nickolay Mladenov. Discussions are likely to focus on who governs Gaza and how with no disarmament in sight, together with efforts to support recovery.

ROME, May 20 (IPS) - The tea in your cup this morning began its journey in someone else’s hands. Hands whose work most of us never think about. Almost certainly, those hands belonged to a smallholder farmer tending a small plot of land, plucking leaves by hand beneath long mornings of mist and rain.

UNITED NATIONS, May 20 (IPS) - The ongoing crisis in the Middle East and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz continue to put immense stress and risk on the global economy.

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia, May 20 (IPS) - Sharp surges in energy, fertilizer, and food prices triggered by the ongoing conflict in the Persian Gulf strikingly illustrate the deep interconnections between geopolitical conflict, food insecurity, and the fragility of fossil fuel–dependent food systems.

HELSINKI, Finland / SANTIAGO, Chile / SUVA, Fiji / TOKYO, Japan, May 20 (IPS) - Just four years of the Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development remain. What comes after 2030 is already a political battleground.

KATHMANDU, Nepal, May 20 (IPS) - Normally, resolutions voted at the United Nations General Assembly do not make the headlines.

As nonbinding and mostly symbolic, rich in principles yet empty and lacking the power to carry consequences, these statements are shrugged off and ignored.