WORLD NEWS

UNMISS released its latest quarterly human rights brief, covering July to September 2025 – a period marked by a continued deterioration in the political and security situation.  Factors included persistent inter/intra-communal violence involving community-based militias and/or civil defence groups; hostilities between the warring parties and other armed groups – including the alleged involvement of foreign forces – political tensions between the ruling party and the opposition, and ethnic polarisation.  Killings and other…

For women like 38-year-old Farhiya from rural Beletweyne, the consequences can be devastating — a painful obstetric fistula, a hole in the birth canal that left her incontinent, isolated, and cut off from her community. “I was stressed, constantly worried, and isolated from my community. I was living in my house as if I had…

But António Guterres warns this shift will not guarantee stability.  “Multipolarity alone is no guarantee of peace,” he said. Without strong cooperation, it can fuel rivalry rather than balance.  Speaking at a summit between the African Union (AU) – the continent’s political and economic union – and the European Union (EU), the bloc of 27 European states, he…

“What we need now are notebooks, books, and pens. We want to get our lives back”, said one young Palestinian girl, Sham Al-Abd. She now attends the Deir al-Balah Joint Elementary School run by the UN Palestine refugee agency (UNRWA). Despite the old furniture and the few drawings that brighten the classroom walls at a…

In a statement issued on Friday, Volker Türk said he was “deeply disturbed” by the violence reported over nearly two weeks of demonstrations, stressing that those responsible for any violations must be held to account in line with international human rights standards. People took to the streets of the capital, Tehran, in the final days…

Annalena Baerbock’s statement came as the assembly discussed the ICC’s annual report in the light of United States’ sanctions imposed on judges and prosecutors this year. The sanctions stem from an executive order in February in response to the UN-backed court issuing arrest warrants for Israel’s Prime Minister and then defence minister, for alleged war…

When UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric briefed correspondents in New York on Thursday following the release of the White House Memorandum, he insisted that the Organization will continue to carry out its mandates from Member States “with determination.” Wednesday’s memorandum states that the US administration is “ceasing participation in or funding to those entities to the extent…

Thursday’s statement from Tom Andrews, the UN Human Rights Council-appointed Special Rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar, reinforces earlier warnings from senior UN officials that the polls lack any democratic credibility. The initial phase of voting on 28 December exposed what he described as a “junta-orchestrated sham” designed to entrench military rule rather than reflect…

Russian forces launched hundreds of drones and several missiles in the capital Kyiv and other cities, including one that can carry nuclear warheads, according to media reports.  At least four people were killed in Kyiv, and roughly 25 others injured, while thousands of apartment buildings in the city were left without heat in the cold weather.  The victims included a medic who was saving others as part of an emergency services team, the UN World Health Organization…

The oil-rich region is located between Sudan and South Sudan and has been contested since their separation in 2011. Kadugli is the capital of South Kordofan state in Sudan, where violent clashes have raged between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) who have been at war for nearly three…