February 9, 2026 Matthew Taylor The Guardian The global economy must be radically transformed to stop it rewarding pollution and waste, UN secretary general António Guterres  has warned. Speaking to the Guardian after the UN hosted a meeting of leading global economists, Guterres said humanity’s future required the urgent overhaul of the world’s “existing accounting systems” he said were driving the planet to the brink of disaster. António   Guterres called for economies to ‘

February 8, 2026 Dan Glaun, The Intercept The Department of Defense has quietly signed a $210 million deal to buy advanced cluster shells from one of Israel’s state-owned arms companies, marking unusually large new commitments to a class of weapons and an Israeli defense establishment both widely condemned for their indiscriminate killing of civilians. The deal, signed in September and not previously reported, is the department’s largest contract to purchase weapons from an I

February 7, 2026 UN News Service In a statement issued as the treaty expired at midnight GMT Thursday, he said the world was entering uncharted territory, with no remaining legally binding constraints on the nuclear arsenals of the United States and the Russia – the two countries that together hold the vast majority of the world’s nuclear weapons. “ For the first time in more than half a century, we face a world without any binding limits on the strategic nuclear arsenals ” o

February 7, 2026 UNHCR A series of new Israeli operations and settlement plans in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, risk seriously undermining the viability of a Palestinian state and the realisation of the Palestinians’ right to self-determination,” the UN Human Rights Spokesperson Thameen Al-Kheetan told the bi-weekly press conference in Geneva today.

February 2, 2026 Dan Sabbagh  The Guardian An authoritative survey of 23 armed conflicts over the last 18 months has concluded that international law seeking to limit the effects of war is at breaking point, with more than 100,000 civilians killed, while torture and rape are committed with near impunity. Sudanese families displaced from El Fasher reach out for food aid. Photograph: Marwan Ali/AP

January 20, 2026 Damian Carrington  Environment editor The Guardian The world has entered an era of “global water bankruptcy” that is harming billions of people, a UN report has declared. The overuse and pollution of water must be tackled urgently, the report’s lead author said, because no one knew when the whole system could collapse, with implications for peace and social cohesion. All life depends on water but the report found many societies had long been using water faste

© UNRWA The UNRWA headquarters in East Jerusalem is demolished by heavy machinery. January 20, 2026 UN News Service Responding to the dramatic development, head of the UN agency for Palestine refugees Philippe Lazzarini described it as an “unprecedented attack” against the UN, whose premises are protected under international law. The move represents “a new level of open and deliberate defiance of international law, including of the privileges and immunities of the United Nati

January 18, 2026 New York Times from January 12, 2026 More than two months ago, Israel and Hamas signed a cease-fire agreement that offered Palestinians in Gaza a hope of respite after a punishing two-year Israeli bombardment that left much of their enclave in ruins. The destruction has continued. Israel has demolished more than 2,500 buildings in Gaza since the cease-fire began, according to a New York Times analysis of satellite imagery from Planet Labs. It says it is destr

January 17, 2026 UN News Service DAKAR, Senegal -- The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) warns that without urgent resources and action, the most vulnerable people in West and Central Africa are headed for yet another dire year. A staggering 55 million people in the region are expected to endure crisis levels of hunger, or worse, during the June-August 2026 lean season. Over 13 million children are also expected to suffer from malnutrition in 2026. © WFP/Arete/Damilol

January 16, 2026 UN OHCHR GENEVA  – UN experts* today said that the only way to restore democracy in Venezuela following the recent violation of its sovereignty and years of authoritarian rule, is to respect the will of the Venezuelan people, ensure accountability and self-determination, and guarantee the sovereign and sustainable use of their natural resources in line with international law. Demonstrators march in support of abducted Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro durin

© UNRCO Iran Tehran, the capital of Iran. January 11, 2026 UN News Service 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.

Jannuary 9, 2026 Prof. Juan Cole The UN Office of Human Rights, headed by Volker Türk, on Wednesday issued an  extensive report on the Israeli military occupation of the Palestinian West Bank in which it for the first time described Israeli policies there as Apartheid. The executive summary says, “The report warns that Israel is violating international law requiring States to prohibit and eradicate racial segregation and apartheid.” Photo of predominantly Palestinian Silwan

January 9, 2026 By Vibhu Mishra Secretary-General António Guterres has expressed regret over the decision by the United States to withdraw from a number of UN entities, while underscoring that the system will continue to deliver on all its mandates.

December 25, 2025 We, States of Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Iceland, Ireland, Japan, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain and the United Kingdom condemn the approval by the Israeli security cabinet of 19 new settlements in the occupied West Bank.

December 7, 2025 By Michael Schmitt , Tess Bridgeman  and Ryan Goodman The Sept. 2 attack on a boat allegedly carrying drugs has sparked widespread discussion regarding the targetability of the 11 people aboard, including two who survived the first strike, and of the drugs themselves.  Given the administration’s lack of transparency, especially from the Department of Defense, there is widespread speculation about what really happened in this first, highly controversial Operat

December 7, 2025 Adam Gabbatt Being a member of the Pentagon press corps was once one of the more prestigious assignments in US journalism, a position reserved for heavy hitters from venerable newspapers and news channels, reporters at the peak of their powers. Members of the Pentagon press corp carry their belongings out of the Pentagon after turning in their press credentials on 15 October 2025 in Washington. Photograph: Kevin Wolf/AP

December 6, 2025 Seham Tantesh  in Gaza, Julian Borger  and Emma Graham-Harrison  in Jerusalem When Jumaa and Fadi Abu Assi went to look for firewood their parents thought they would be safe. They were just young boys, aged nine and 10 and, after all, a ceasefire had been declared in Gaza . Their mother, Hala Abu Assi, was making tea in the family’s tent in Khan Younis when she heard an explosion, a missile fired by an Israeli drone. She ran to the scene – but it was too late

December 3, 2025 William Astore It’s been 20 years since I retired from the Air Force and 40 years since I first entered Cheyenne Mountain , America’s nuclear redoubt at the southern end of the Front Range that includes Pikes Peak in Colorado. So it was with some nostalgia that I read a recent memo from General Kenneth Wilsbach, the new chief of staff of the Air Force. Along with the usual warrior talk, the CSAF vowed to “relentlessly advocate” for the new Sentinel ICBM , or

December 3, 2025 UNHCR GENEVA – UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, is gravely concerned as intensifying attacks on villages and the rapid spillover of the conflict into previously safe districts force tens of thousands of people to flee across northern Mozambique, with close to 100,000 displaced in the past fortnight alone. As needs rise at unprecedented speed, the capacity of humanitarian and government actors is not keeping pace, and collective efforts remain insufficient to mee

December 3, 2025 UN News Service The President of the UN General Assembly called on Tuesday for greater action to uphold the rights of the Palestinian people and a two-State solution with Israel.        Annalena Baerbock was speaking at an Assembly plenary meeting where countries debated a resolution that affirms the UN’s responsibility for the question of Palestine. “For 78 years the Palestinian people have been denied their inalienable rights – in particular, their right to