News headlines in 2026, page 62

More civilians in Sudan continue to be killed and displaced as fighting escalates in multiple parts of the country, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said on Tuesday.

Conflict-related sexual violence in Sri Lanka remains largely unaddressed more than 15 years after the end of the civil war, with survivors still denied justice, recognition and reparations, according to a new report by the UN human rights office, OHCHR, on Tuesday.

Beverages like sugary drinks and alcohol are too accessible and cost too little in most of the world – helping fuel obesity, diabetes, cancer and injury, the World Health Organization (WHO) warned on Tuesday.

As anti-government demonstrations continue across Iran, the UN human rights chief said on Tuesday that he was horrified at the mounting violence directed by security forces against protestors, with reports of hundreds killed and thousands arrested.

Airstrikes, drone attacks and hypothermia continue in Gaza despite the ceasefire, with more than 100 youngsters killed since early October, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said on Tuesday.

Amid ongoing and intensifying Russian attacks across Ukraine, the UN on Tuesday launched a $2.3 billion humanitarian appeal for 2026 to support 4.1 million of the country’s most vulnerable people.

NEW YORK, January 12 (IPS) - We’re living in an age where the world is loudly proclaiming the death of empire, yet reproducing its structures. This is not nostalgia for colonial postcards — it’s a reinvention of foreign policy, international governance and global economic power that resembles colonial logic far more than it does meaningful cooperation.

BORDEAUX, France, January 12 (IPS) - Before military aid is appropriated, troops deployed, or bombs dropped, the United States lays the groundwork for its political violence by first stripping adversaries of their humanity. Diplomacy is sidelined, legal restraints are treated as inconveniences, and profit is valued over human life. This machinery of dehumanization, imposed around the world for decades and honed in Gaza the past three years, has now returned home, turned inward against Americans by the elected officials and systems meant to protect them.

CHENNAI, India, January 12 (IPS) - Despite early warnings reportedly reaching communities before the cyclones (Ditwah and Senyar) struck coastal regions in Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia late in November 2025, over 1,500 people lost their lives and hundreds went missing even as millions were impacted by these disasters, which caused massive destruction. Scientists say that these disasters reflect a changing climate system, which is making cyclones more hazardous than what we considered “typical” in the past.

Ukraine has entered the new year under intensifying and deadly Russian attacks which have crippled energy systems and left millions without heating, electricity or water amid freezing temperatures, senior UN officials told the Security Council on Monday.