News headlines in 2025

NICE, France, Jun 13 (IPS) - As the curtains draw on the UN Ocean Conference, a flurry of voluntary commitments and political declarations has injected fresh impetus into global efforts to conserve marine biodiversity. With the world’s oceans facing unprecedented threats, high-level biodiversity officials and negotiators are sounding the alarm and calling for renewed momentum—and funding—to deliver on long-standing promises.

Jun 13 (IPS) - CIVICUS discusses struggles for historical justice with Graciela Montes de Oca, a member of Mothers and Relatives of Detained and Disappeared Uruguayans, a Uruguayan civil society organisation that seeks truth, justice and prevention of future crimes like those committed under dictatorship.

UNITED NATIONS, Jun 13 (IPS) - The United States, a longstanding and unyielding Israeli ally, is threatening UN member states urging them to keep off an upcoming high-level meeting aimed at recognizing a two-state solution for the Israeli-Palestine conflict.

The meeting, to be co-chaired by France, a permanent member of the UN Security Council, and Saudi Arabia, a strong political ally of the US, is scheduled to take place June 17-20.

NICE, France, Jun 12 (IPS) - The 2025 UN Ocean Conference (UNOC3) has seen a significant presence from Indigenous peoples, who insist that their perspective and guidance be taken into account in the global efforts for sustainable ocean use and conservation. The sense of responsibility to the ocean and recognition of its history is an example that the international community can learn from.

NICE, France, Jun 12 (IPS) - Once cast as a culprit of ocean degradation, the global shipping industry is quietly reshaping its image—with experts now betting on it as a key ally in saving our seas.

NICE, Jun 12 (IPS) - Prime Minister of Tuvalu, Feleti Teo, describes himself as an optimist—despite the existential crisis his atoll nation faces with climate change-induced sea level rise and frustration with existing international financial mechanisms to fund adaptation and mitigation.

NICE, France, Jun 12 (IPS) - Just before dawn, the worn wooden dhows begin gliding toward the shore at Magogoni fish market in Tanzania’s port city of Dar es Salaam. Their tattered sails flutter against the orange sky. Exhausted fishers step out onto the muddy sand, hauling frayed nets and plastic crates, their sun-creased faces tight with fatigue.

OSLO, Norway, Jun 12 (IPS) - The world is experiencing a surge in violence not seen since the post-World War II era. 2024 marked a grim new record: the highest number of state-based armed conflicts in over seven decades.

Meeting in emergency session on Thursday in New York, the UN General Assembly overwhelmingly adopted a resolution demanding an immediate, unconditional and lasting ceasefire in Gaza.

With over half of the Sudanese population in need of aid and lean season rapidly approaching, the UN Chief for Humanitarian Affairs once again sounded the alarm about the crisis unfolding in Sudan on Thursday.