News headlines in 2025

STOCKHOLM, Sweden, Jan 06 (IPS) - In 2021, the Senegalese novelist Mohamed Mbougar Sarr became the first writer from sub-Saharan Africa to be awarded the Prix Goncourt, France’s oldest and most prestigious literary prize.

BRATISLAVA, Jan 06 (IPS) - “A lot of people are very scared,” says Zalina Marshenkulova. “This is obviously another tool of repression. The state is waging war on the remnants of free-thinking people in Russia and trying to suppress all dissent and freedom,” the Russian feminist activist tells IPS.

NEW YORK, Jan 06 (IPS) - Trump, who wants an end to the Israeli-Hamas war even before he reassumes the Presidency, must know that denying the Palestinian right to statehood and conceding further Palestinian land to Israel is a recipe for the next horrific inferno that will overshadow even the present calamitous Israel-Hamas war.

Israeli airstrikes continued across Gaza overnight into Monday, while the UN World Food Programme (WFP) reported that one of its aid convoys in the war-shattered enclave was targeted by Israeli fire on Sunday.

Until recently, Venezuela child refugees and migrants in Trinidad and Tobago were barred from state-run schools. This year, a change in the law backed by the United Nations means that several dozen were able to benefit from formal education.

ATLANTA, Georgia, Jan 03 (IPS) - The fireplace in the State Dining Room of the White House that says, “May none but honest and wise men ever rule under this roof.” President John Adams wrote that in a letter to his wife Abigail in 1800.

DAR ES SALAAM, Jan 03 (IPS) - As the dust settled over Kariakoo’s bustling streets, Halima Abdallah’s voice trembled through the cracks of a collapsed four-story building. “Help me, please! I don’t get air,” she gasped, trapped under the rubble. For four hours, rescue workers scrambled to locate her. Their efforts, hampered by the lack of proper equipment, relied on tools hastily borrowed from a private company. By the time they reached her, it was too late. Abdallah had died.

UNITED NATIONS, Jan 03 (IPS) - Over 570 million people live in the world’s 32 Landlocked Developing Countries (LLDCs), spanning across Africa, Asia, Europe, and Latin America. These nations face unique and complex development challenges. Their lack of direct access to the sea, geographical isolation, limited infrastructure, and difficulty integrating into global trade and value chains hinder sustainable development and progress.

With seven per cent of the population killed or injured since October 2023, the health crisis in Gaza shows no signs of abating.

Operations by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) north of the UN-monitored Blue Line in southern Lebanon have continued, according to the UN peacekeeping mission in the country, UNIFIL.