News headlines in 2026, page 36

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.

More than 60 years after the UN launched its formal decolonization drive, Secretary-General António Guterres on Monday urged renewed commitment to completing the unfinished business of ending colonial rule.

The Tawila camp for internally displaced in Sudan’s war-torn Darfur region is home to more than half a million people who live in makeshift huts of sticks, hay and plastic sheeting.

The detection of a newly identified recombinant mpox virus containing genetic material from two known strains underscores the need for continued genomic surveillance, the UN World Health Organization (WHO) said on Saturday, as the overall global public health risk assessment remains unchanged.

Calling for sweeping reforms of global institutions, UN Secretary-General António Guterres told African leaders on Saturday that the absence of permanent African seats on the Security Council is “indefensible,” declaring: “This is 2026 – not 1946.”

Women entrepreneurs must be recognized as the architects of economic change and not the beneficiaries.

Artificial intelligence is no longer the sole preserve of rich western nations. The applications for the Global South, in areas ranging from health to agriculture and industry, are having a transformative effect on people’s lives.

BRUSSELS, Belgium, February 13 (IPS) - The latest World Economic Forum made clear the current crisis of multilateralism. Over 60 heads of state and 800 corporate executives assembled in Davos under a ‘Spirit of Dialogue’ theme aimed at strengthening global cooperation, but it was preceded by a series of events pointing to a further unravelling of the international system.

UNITED NATIONS, February 13 (IPS) - Although global rates of child labour have declined since 2020, the practice remains a serious and persistent violation of children’s rights, undermining their safety, social development, and long-term economic stability. These risks are intensified by structural pressures— poverty, climate shocks, protracted conflict, and unsafe migration— that continue to push vulnerable children into crisis, and in some cases, trafficking and exploitation. The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) warns that African countries remain among the most affected regions, underscoring the urgent need for coordinated policy action, cross-border cooperation, and sustained investment to protect children on the move and those at risk of labour exploitation.