News headlines in January 2025, page 5

The Security Council will be holding a meeting at UN Headquarters in New York at 3pm local time as the situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo worsens, with UN agencies and partners on the ground reporting chaos in the streets of Goma and rising death and displacement across the eastern region as the M23 armed group takes over towns and villages. App users can follow our live coverage here.

The latest reports from Goma in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) from UN teams on the ground indicate a fast-deteriorating situation on Tuesday amid an ongoing assault by M23 rebels on the provincial capital.

RIO DE JANEIRO, Jan 27 (IPS) - It was necessary to repel the "invasion" of mobile phones in Brazilian classrooms, even to spark a debate about the use of technology in education, according to Silvana Veloso, an educator with extensive experience on the subject.

PORTLAND, USA / JERUSALEM, Jan 27 (IPS) - Following the long-sought cease-fire agreement between Israel and Hamas, the major challenge for the Israelis and the stateless Palestinians is how to achieve a lasting peace that will end the disastrous cycle of death, destruction, displacement and despair.

LONDON, Jan 27 (IPS) - Kenya’s young protesters are paying a high price for speaking out. Last June, a protest movement led by first-time activists from Generation Z emerged in response to the government’s Finance Bill, which would have introduced sweeping tax increases. The government quickly withdrew its plans, but protests continued, articulating anger at economic strife, elite corruption and out-of-touch politicians. The government’s response has been violent. Police have used batons, teargas and water cannon against protesters. On the worst day of violence, 25 June, when some protesters attempted to storm parliament, police fired live ammunition. Over 60 people were reported killed during the protests. At least 1,200 were reportedly arrested.

BUDAPEST, Jan 27 (IPS) - The Central European nation of Hungary is officially a democracy. But civil society, the media and democratic norms have increasingly come under threat as the Fidesz-KDNP coalition government, led by Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, has entrenched autocratic rule over the past 14 years. Now a new wave of energy and popularity is driving the younger opposition movement into the spotlight ahead of next year’s parliamentary election.

NEW YORK, Jan 27 (IPS) - As we commemorated Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s Day on January 20, 2025—a day that also marked America welcoming its newly elected president—we honor the legacy of this civil rights leader by reflecting on his powerful words: “We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now.”

The Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) on Monday called on the UN Security Council to act decisively to address the worsening atrocities in Sudan’s Darfur region.

As fighting intensifies between the Rwanda-backed M23 rebel group and Congolese forces, UN chief of Peace Operations Jean-Pierre Lacroix underscored the critical state of the battle for eastern DRC’s regional capital Goma, describing the crisis as “volatile and dangerous”.

The UN Secretary-General on Monday called on the US Government to consider “additional exemptions” to a directive which pauses nearly all foreign aid for 90 days.