Theme: United Nations

The mandate of the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) expired at midnight on Saturday, after the Security Council failed on Friday to agree on its future: a US draft was vetoed by Russia and a rival Russian text failed to win the nine votes needed. Secretary-General António Guterres said the departure of the mission “does not abrogate” the Sahrawi people's “inalienable right to self-determination”, in a statement delivered by his spokesperson. Russia vetoed the US draft despite support from 11 of the 15 Council members, including France and the United Kingdom; the US text would have extended the mission for a year, removed “referendum” from its name and made Morocco's autonomy proposal the only basis for further talks. When the mandate ended, the mission was headquartered in Laayoune, with nine team sites — four west of the sand wall and five east of it — and a liaison office in Tindouf, with about 200 civilian staff, military observers and staff officers from over 35 countries. Morocco's royal palace said that Rabat's “voluntary commitment” to the ceasefire would not change with the end of the mission, following a meeting chaired by King Mohammed VI with the prime minister, a royal adviser and the army chief — according to Reuters, in a text republished by Yahoo News Malaysia. The same statement called the fact that the mission was not renewed a “significant development” that withdraws the issue from the Security Council's consideration. Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita told state media that Rabat's next step would be to remove Western Sahara from the UN's decolonization committee, saying Rabat had the support of two-thirds of UN member states.

The World Health Organization (WHO) approved clinical trials for two new Ebola vaccines on Wednesday, as an outbreak in Africa has killed more than 5,300 people. The candidates are ChAdOx1 BDBV, developed by the University of Oxford with the Serum Institute of India, and Moderna’s mRNA-1469, both designed specifically for the Bundibugyo virus. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the trial that began last month with the Ervebo vaccine does not cover the Bundibugyo virus and that the agency’s expert groups now recommend adding the two candidates to the study. The National Institute for Biomedical Research of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) leads the trial, backed by partners including WHO. The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) said on Monday that the epidemic had killed more than 5,300 people, the majority in the DRC, with 10,444 confirmed cases and a fatality rate above 50 percent.

Retired Indian judge Srinivasan Muralidhar, chair of the UN Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territories, said the panel’s unequivocal conclusion was that Israeli security forces continued to commit “war crimes, crimes against humanity, and the crime of genocide” a year after the October 2025 ceasefire brokered by the United States. The report says more than 75,000 Palestinians across the Occupied Palestinian Territory have been killed since October 7, 2023, including at least 21,500 children and 11,000 women. The document was presented by Muralidhar to the UN General Assembly on October 26; according to The Hindu, he could not present the report in person because the United States denied him a visa. The report calls on UN member states to “employ all means” to prevent the genocide, investigate and prosecute suspects, and establish clear rules for the use of artificial intelligence in conflicts.

Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus Prime Minister Unal Ustel said after meeting UN envoy María Ángela Holguín that the search for an agreement on the basis of a federation came to an end at Crans-Montana in 2017. He said UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ visit to Cyprus on July 27–29, 2026 had demonstrated the absence of common ground for launching formal negotiations, because there are two separate peoples and states on the island, and called on the international community, particularly the United Nations, to acknowledge the reality of two states.

The World Health Organization (WHO) approved clinical trials for two new Ebola vaccines as part of the effort to control an outbreak that has killed more than 5,300 people in Africa. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the two candidates are ChAdOx1 BDBV, developed by the University of Oxford with the Serum Institute of India, and Moderna's mRNA-1469, developed specifically for the Bundibugyo virus. The National Institute of Biomedical Research of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is leading the trial, with support from partners including WHO; in October a trial had already begun with the Ervebo vaccine, approved for Ebola virus but not for Bundibugyo. The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said on Monday that the epidemic had killed more than 5,300 people, the vast majority in the DRC, with 10,444 confirmed cases and a fatality rate above 50%.

The United Nations General Assembly elected, in three rounds of balloting, Dapo Akande of the United Kingdom and four other judges to the International Court of Justice (ICJ), for nine-year terms starting on February 6, 2027. Akande received 129 votes, in an election where the absolute majority was 97. Mahmoud Daifallah Hmoud of Jordan and Phoebe N. Okowa of Kenya were re-elected, and François Alabrune of France and Rena Lee of Singapore were elected. Akande will become the first British judge on the court since 2018 and is expected to sit on the bench as the court decides the case brought by South Africa accusing Israel of violating the Genocide Convention in Gaza.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said the UK’s plan to make some refugees wait up to 30 years to apply for settlement raises significant concerns. The government kept a wait of up to 30 years for refugees who arrived by irregular routes and created an exemption allowing care workers to apply for indefinite leave to remain after five years. UNHCR said extended settlement waits, short-term stay arrangements and limits on access to citizenship could undermine refugees’ security and ability to integrate.

Denise Brown, the UN resident and humanitarian coordinator in Sudan, said that there has been an intense pattern of drone strikes over the past couple of weeks against civilian infrastructure, with sources of energy and fuel apparently systematically targeted. At a hospital just outside Khartoum, the power went out and stopped treatment for 25 patients who needed dialysis; the hospital has no generator and no solar panels. Hundreds of aid trucks are stuck for lack of fuel, and there are queues kilometers long for fuel in the capital. The World Food Programme has recorded seven hits on its convoys this year and 20 over the past two years. Brown said she did not know where the strikes originate and called for the message that they must stop to reach whoever needs to hear it.

The process of ending the UN peacekeeping mission in Western Sahara has begun, after Russia and the United States vetoed each other’s draft resolutions on extending the 35-year-old deployment, the UN confirmed, according to RFI, in a text republished by AllAfrica. Also according to RFI, the secretary-general’s spokesperson, Stéphane Dujarric, said a support team would oversee the withdrawal of the Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO). The mandate expired on Saturday after Russia vetoed the US draft, backed by 11 of the Security Council’s 15 members, which would have extended the mission for a year and placed Morocco’s autonomy plan at the center of efforts to settle the conflict. Secretary-General António Guterres urged that the rights of the people of Western Sahara, including their inalienable right to self-determination, be respected and promoted. Morocco’s Royal Cabinet welcomed the non-renewal of the peacekeeping mandate.

Professor Dapo Akande has been elected a judge at the International Court of Justice (ICJ). The United Kingdom had not had a judge at the court for almost a decade, and Akande will serve a nine-year term. Nine candidates were running for the five seats in simultaneous elections in the Security Council and the General Assembly, which required an absolute majority in both bodies. The election was treated as a major British diplomatic victory, almost ten years after the previous British judge failed to win re-election.

United Nations (UN) spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said on Tuesday that partners supporting the collection of solid waste in Gaza warn that only half of their vehicle fleet is operational. According to him, persistent Israeli restrictions on the entry of enough engine oil and spare parts required to keep the vehicles running are increasing public health risks, as only some of the trash can be collected. He called for a wider range of critical supplies to be allowed into Gaza, with less red tape and more crossings open for deliveries.

The confirmed death toll from the Russian attack on a school used to distribute humanitarian aid in Komyshuvakha, in the Zaporizhzhia region, has risen to 33, according to the latest figures cited by Ukrainian media. Two waves of aerial bombs hit the town on Monday, during the weekly food distribution, and killed 29 people in the toll released that day. Latvia has called an extraordinary meeting of the United Nations (UN) Security Council after the Russian attacks on civilians in Ukraine, including the aid distribution center in Komyshuvakha.

The United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) ceased operations on November 1, 2026, after 35 years, and entered a liquidation period, after its mandate expired on October 31 with the Security Council approving neither of the two draft resolutions. The United States text received 11 votes in favor, 1 Russian veto and 3 abstentions, and the alternative Russian text, which extended the mission until October 31, 2027, received 3 votes in favor, 1 vote against from the United States and 11 abstentions. The US text removed the word referendum from the mission’s name and made the Moroccan autonomy proposal the sole basis for further negotiations. The Russian delegation said it could reverse the entire resolution process and called the vote a life-saving veto, Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita said the end of the mission does not mean the end of the ceasefire, and Oxfam warned that losing the monitoring role could undermine stability, with serious consequences for civilians.

The Russian flag was raised in the Western Sahara territory controlled by the Polisario Front, in gratitude for Moscow's position at the UN Security Council on the conflict, Mohamed Yeslem Beissat, head of the Polisario delegation that visited Moscow this spring, told Sputnik. Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said the country could not support an initiative that would strip the people of Western Sahara of their right to vote.

The UN General Assembly's First Committee approved on Monday, November 2, by 180 votes in favor, two against and no abstentions, a draft resolution on conventional arms control at the regional and subregional levels. India and Israel were the only countries to vote against the text in the 193-member body. An Indian representative argued that “this assumes that the security concerns of States politely stop at their regional borders. They do not”.

A report by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) published on Monday warns that 86 percent of crimes against the press remain unpunished, with more than 1,600 journalists murdered worldwide over the last twenty years — a 20 percent increase in the past three years; the Middle East remains by far the most dangerous region, with 97 journalists killed there over the past two years, many in connection with the war in Gaza.

Six months after their abduction, Mali junta critic Mountaga Tall and his son, Cheick Mamadou Tall, remain missing, their fate unknown and the authorities silent, according to Human Rights Watch (HRW), which also records the UN Committee on Enforced Disappearances’ call for Malian authorities to locate and protect the two.

The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), created in 1978, has around 7,500 peacekeepers from 46 countries and a mandate until December 31, 2026, with personnel due to leave over the following year and their positions gradually handed over to the Lebanese army, according to RT. The decision to end the mission followed pressure from the United States and Israel, which accuse the force of failing to contain Hezbollah, and a resident of the south told RT that UNIFIL failed to protect local residents but he warned that the absence of peacekeepers would create a “security vacuum” that Israel would seek to exploit.

International Criminal Court (ICC) President Tomoko Akane told the UN General Assembly on Monday that US sanctions against the court are an attempt to obstruct the course of justice. In a virtual address, she said the measures, imposed on October 9 — the same day the Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded the Peace Prize to former ICC judge Navi Pillay — target 13 independent judges and prosecutors, including herself, and strike at “the heart of the sovereign equality of states.”

Uganda has begun withdrawing its troops from Somalia, and the first contingent has already returned home. The withdrawal of all its forces, including those deployed under the African Union Support and Stabilization Mission in Somalia (AUSSOM), is due to be completed by the close of 2027, days after the UN ended its political mission in Somalia.

The UN peacekeeping mission in Western Sahara had its mandate expire at midnight on Saturday, after the Security Council failed on Friday to agree on its future; a US draft resolution was vetoed by Russia, and a rival Russian text failed to win the nine votes needed for adoption. The end of the peacekeeping mission was confirmed on Sunday by UN Secretary-General Guterres.

UNESCO counted 189 journalists killed worldwide in 2024 and 2025, the highest number since 2014/2015, when it recorded 215 cases. Of the total, 127 deaths (67%) occurred in countries that are conflict zones, up 24% from 2022/2023. Palestine accounted for 62 deaths, one third of the total.

The United Nations political mission in Somalia (UNSOM) ended after a two-year transition, closing a chapter of more than three decades of UN peace operations in the Horn of Africa country. UNSOM was established by the Security Council in 2013 to support Somalia’s transition to democracy and the rule of law after more than two decades of conflict involving militias, Islamist groups and criminal gangs.

The United Nations peacekeeping mission in Western Sahara (MINURSO) has ended its operations after its mandate expired at midnight on Saturday, and a liquidation period began on Sunday, November 1. Secretary-General António Guterres said the mission’s departure “does not abrogate” the people of the territory’s “inalienable right to self-determination” and that the UN continues to seek a political solution through his Personal Envoy, Staffan de Mistura. He recognized MINURSO’s central role since 1991 and paid tribute to the 20 mission personnel who died during its 35 years in the territory. Meanwhile, Sahrawi refugees cling to hopes of return.

A confirmed total of 189 journalists and other media workers lost their lives in 2024-2025, 20 percent more than during the previous biennium and the highest number since 2014-2015, according to the biennial report of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco). The impunity rate reached 86 percent in 2024-2025, its first rise in more than a decade, and 127 of the dead, 67 percent of the toll, were in conflict zones. Drone strikes killed 50 journalists, 40 percent of killings in conflict zones, a threat Unesco called disturbing.

Sudan has lodged a complaint against Ethiopia with the United Nations (UN) Security Council and the African Union’s Peace and Security Council after a series of deadly drone attacks this year, according to Al Jazeera.

The United Nations (UN) demands a thorough investigation into the death of Mohammad el-Shami, of the UN Human Rights Office, while in Houthi detention in Yemen — dead for more than a month, with his family only recently notified, after arbitrary detention since June 2024 — and Secretary-General António Guterres said he was dismayed and demanded the immediate release of all detained personnel, according to Al Jazeera.

Russia vetoed on Friday the United States' (US) proposal on Western Sahara, backed by 11 of the 15 Council members, including France and the United Kingdom, while the rival Russian draft received two votes in favor, one against and 11 abstentions, falling short of the nine needed — and Morocco's royal palace welcomed the outcome, said United Nations (UN) personnel and equipment should leave the territory and that the issue should leave the Council's agenda, while remaining committed to the ceasefire, according to Al Jazeera.

Mohammad el Shami, a staff member of the UN human rights office in Yemen, had been arbitrarily detained by the Houthi de facto authorities since June 6, 2024, and his family says he died more than a month ago, having been told only recently, UN News reported. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk called on the Houthis to disclose all relevant medical and detention records and demanded independent scrutiny of any stated cause of death. Yemen’s prime minister condemned the death, held the Houthis fully responsible and called for those responsible to be held accountable; he said more than 70 UN employees and dozens of humanitarian workers remained detained. Yemen’s foreign minister also demanded accountability for the death of the UN worker in Houthi custody, Middle East Eye reported.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned of the risk of an escalation of hostilities in Western Sahara after the end of a 35-year peacekeeping mission, Al Jazeera reported. The departure of the UN Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) “does not abrogate” the people’s “inalienable right to self-determination”, the UN said. At the Security Council, Russia vetoed the resolution despite support from 11 of the 15 members, including permanent members France and the United Kingdom.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned of potential military escalation across Western Sahara following the termination of the body’s 35-year-old peacekeeping mission in the disputed territory, according to TRT World. The UN said the departure of the UN Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) “does not abrogate” the territory’s people’s “inalienable right to self-determination”.

The United Nations Security Council rejected a US-drafted resolution seeking to extend the mandate of the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO), with 11 votes in favor, one veto from Russia and three abstentions. The mission’s mandate expired at midnight on Saturday, October 31. Morocco celebrated the defeat of the resolution, according to Al Jazeera.

The United Nations demanded an investigation into the death of Mohammad el-Shami, a staff member of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in Yemen, in Houthi custody. El-Shami died more than a month ago, and his family was only recently informed, the UN said in a statement on Saturday, according to Al Jazeera. High Commissioner Volker Türk demanded “full transparency” from the Houthi authorities and an “urgent, independent and thorough investigation”, and said the family “deserves to know the truth”. El-Shami had been arbitrarily held since June 2024, when he and more than 60 people working with the UN and other NGOs were detained and accused of being part of an “American-Israeli spy network”. Türk said seven other OHCHR staff detained alongside him remain in custody and called for their immediate and unconditional release.

The United Nations Security Council did not adopt a resolution extending the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO), whose mandate expires on October 31, 2026. A draft tabled by the United States received 11 votes in favor, 1 veto from Russia and 3 abstentions, according to the United Nations. The US draft would also have rebranded the force from MINURSO to MINUSO, dropping the R that stands for a referendum on the territory’s self-determination, according to Deutsche Welle.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres said he was “appalled” by the death of UN staff member Mohammad el-Shami in Houthi custody in Yemen, according to Middle East Eye.

The United Nations (UN) High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, demanded an independent investigation into the death in Houthi custody of a Yemeni staff member of the UN office in Yemen and called for full transparency from the group's authorities. Mohammad el Shami had been arbitrarily detained since June 6, 2024 and, according to Türk, his family was informed of the death only recently, more than a month after it occurred, with no explanation of the cause or circumstances. Türk also demanded the immediate and unconditional release of other detained UN personnel, including seven colleagues from his office.

Turkey has officially nominated a former foreign minister and yearslong ambassador to the UN for the next UN secretary-general, state-run media reported, AP said on Saturday. Broadcaster NTV identified the nominee as Feridun Sinirlioglu, the current secretary-general of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).

The UN Transitional Assistance Mission in Somalia (UNTMIS) completes its two-year mandate on October 31, after more than three decades of UN political missions in the country, UN News reported. The closure ends three decades of political engagement, Al Jazeera reported.

Russia vetoed on Friday the US-backed resolution on Western Sahara, which had the support of 11 of the 15 members of the Security Council, according to Al Jazeera. A rival Russian draft failed to secure the nine votes needed for adoption. The mandate of the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) expires on Saturday unless the council reaches a last-minute agreement. The US text would have affirmed that genuine autonomy under Moroccan sovereignty is “the only feasible solution to negotiate a mutually acceptable solution”, according to the Associated Press (AP), in a text republished by U.S. News.

The UN Security Council held its seventh straw poll on Friday on candidates to become the next secretary-general, Xinhua reported. According to leaked results cited by the agency, Rebeca Grynspan led with 11 encouraged votes and four discouraged, followed by Rafael Grossi with nine encouraged, four discouraged and two with no opinion expressed. The round followed the entry on October 21 of Lana Nusseibeh, a diplomat from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the country’s former permanent representative to the UN, and the withdrawal of former Senegalese President Macky Sall, announced on October 17.

Türkiye is preparing to nominate Feridun Sinirlioglu as its candidate for UN secretary-general in the coming days, Turkish sources told Türkiye Today; he is secretary-general of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) and a former foreign minister. TRT World also announced the nomination. The race for the UN’s top job has Costa Rica’s Rebeca Grynspan leading the informal polls.

Russia and the United States vetoed each other’s rival Western Sahara resolutions at the Security Council on Friday, leaving the United Nations (UN) peacekeeping mission there without a renewal a day before its mandate expires, according to Reuters, in a text republished by The Star. The US-drafted resolution would have cemented Morocco’s autonomy plan as the only basis for talks and scaled back the military component of the mission. The Russian-drafted resolution, which would have extended the mandate for another year without changes, was vetoed by the United States.

Costa Rica’s Rebeca Grynspan extended her lead in the race for United Nations (UN) secretary-general with 11 votes in favor and 4 against in the 15-member Security Council, her strongest showing in seven closed-door ballots held in recent months to replace António Guterres, according to Reuters, in a text republished by Internazionale. Lana Nusseibeh of the United Arab Emirates, who entered the race, received 7 votes in favor, 6 against and 2 marked as no opinion in the first ballot she took part in.

The government of Nayib Bukele announced it is sending more than 2,000 soldiers to Haiti, in a statement issued after a phone call with Haitian Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aimé, CNN en Español reported. The reinforcement follows the disappearance of four Salvadoran soldiers serving in the UN gang-repression force, according to DW. Bukele said the four may be held hostage by criminal groups and announced a military operation to locate them, according to RT Brasil.

Ukraine requested an emergency meeting of the United Nations (UN) Security Council on Friday, October 30, over Russia's latest wave of missile and drone attacks that left at least 25 people dead and 110 wounded nationwide, the Kyiv Post reported. According to LIGA.net, the request was submitted in response to the Russian attacks on Dnipro, Kremenchuk and Chernihiv on October 29.

The United Nations (UN) human rights office warned that Israel’s actions in Gaza continue to raise concerns of ethnic cleansing, with Palestinians displaced repeatedly, according to Al Jazeera. The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) cautioned that the Israeli military is destroying the remaining civilian infrastructure and attacking displacement sites while pursuing its stated aim of expanding its military deployment area to 70 percent of Gaza’s territory.

The United Nations (UN) Commission of Inquiry found that Israeli authorities and forces continue to commit genocidal acts in Gaza even after the ceasefire agreement, with the intent to destroy the Palestinian people, in whole or in part, according to the commission's report. The commission pointed to at least 196 Palestinians killed by Israeli fire since the ceasefire was signed in October 2025, and to Israeli control over Gaza going from 53% to at least 60%, according to the Associated Press (AP). The same commission accuses Israeli soldiers and prison guards of war crimes and crimes against humanity in the West Bank, including extermination, torture, rape and other forms of sexual violence, according to AP.

Members of the Sudanese diaspora and international human rights monitors denounced the candidacy of Emirati diplomat Lana Nusseibeh for the top UN job, citing her denial of accusations that the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is fueling the war in Sudan by supporting the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), according to the Guardian; Nusseibeh has the unanimous support of Gulf states but is accused of covering up backing for the RSF, accused of genocide.

The UN General Assembly called for the 34th consecutive year for an end to the US economic, commercial and financial embargo on Cuba in a vote on Wednesday, with the weakest backing for the resolution in two decades. The text passed by 130 votes in favor to 17 against, with 25 abstentions; last year it was adopted by 165 votes to seven, with 12 abstentions. India voted in favor of the resolution, according to The Hindu.

Fighting has escalated on several fronts south of Taiz, in southwestern Yemen, with media affiliated with government forces reporting a surge in hostilities with the Houthis, according to Al Jazeera. More than 281,000 people have fled their homes in Yemen since the beginning of August, according to the UN humanitarian agency cited by the broadcaster.

The United Nations human rights chief, Volker Türk, told reporters in New York on Wednesday he hopes Israel’s new government will “change course massively” and respect international law.

The United Nations (UN) General Assembly adopted by 130 votes to 17, with 25 abstentions, on Wednesday, a resolution calling for an end to the US economic, commercial and financial embargo on Cuba, according to the Hindustan Times. India voted in favor and said it hopes the embargo will be lifted at the earliest so that Cubans can participate more fully in international cooperation, according to the same outlet.

Regional mediators led by Qatar are working to convince Iran to allow UN inspectors to return to its bombed nuclear sites in return for some sanctions relief from the US, according to Axios. The mediators are trying to reach a diplomatic deal to restart negotiations between the US and Iran and prevent the resumption of war after the US midterm elections, according to TASS.

UN experts said excessive use of force, violence and mass arrests are not appropriate responses to a social protest movement in a State governed by the rule of law, referring to nationwide marches in France. The experts condemned police crackdowns, warning they deter demonstrators from exercising their rights.

The United Nations General Assembly approved on Wednesday a resolution calling for an end to the US economic embargo against Cuba, with 130 votes in favor, 17 against and 25 abstentions, according to Opera Mundi. In 2025, the text got 165 votes in favor, seven against and 12 abstentions; the largest backing had been in 2017, when 191 countries supported it. Cuba’s ambassador to Brazil, Victor Cairo, said the rise in opposing votes and abstentions should not be read as a loss of support for the country, according to Brasil de Fato.

The UN General Assembly votes on Wednesday (28) on the resolution calling for an end to the US economic, commercial and financial blockade of Cuba, the 34th time the text has been taken up since 1992, according to Brasil de Fato. Last year the resolution passed with 165 votes in favor, 7 against and 12 abstentions. Cuba's president wrote on social media that majority international support for Cuba “became evident in the condemnation of the blockade”, according to Opera Mundi.

The General Assembly’s First Committee backed Japan’s nuclear-disarmament resolution by 150 votes to 7, with China, Russia, Iran and North Korea among those voting against, according to the Japan Times. It was the 33rd straight year such a resolution was approved, according to the paper, and the text says North Korea cannot be recognized as a nuclear-weapon state, urging a return to the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) safeguards.

US Southern Command (Southcom) said it killed five “narcoterrorists” in a strike on an alleged drug-smuggling boat in the eastern Pacific on Tuesday, saying that “confirmed intelligence revealed the vessel’s active involvement in drug trafficking,” according to G1. At least 235 people have been killed in strikes on boats in the Caribbean Sea and the eastern Pacific, according to an AFP tally cited by G1. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk called on the United States to halt the strikes and cited the “extrajudicial execution of people on board these vessels”, regardless of the alleged criminal conduct against them.

The director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossi, said one area of particular concern is Iran's previously declared nuclear material, which includes 440 kg of highly enriched uranium, and that the issues have remained outstanding for more than five years, TRT World reported. In a statement to the UN Security Council, Grossi said the Bushehr nuclear power plant is the one exception where agency inspectors are carrying out verification activities.

The global average atmospheric concentration of CO2 reached 426.8 parts per million in 2025, equivalent to 153% of the pre-industrial baseline of 1750, according to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) Greenhouse Gas Bulletin. Methane stood at 1948 parts per billion, or 267% of the 1750 level, the UN agency said.

A UN independent commission of inquiry concluded that Israel committed war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including extermination, persecution, torture and rape, and that it continues to commit genocide in Gaza by deliberately targeting Palestinian civilians. In a report released Monday, the group of experts commissioned by the UN said the ceasefire agreement in Gaza has not stopped what it describes as genocide and accused Israeli forces of torture and rape in the West Bank. The document submitted to the General Assembly compares airstrikes in the West Bank: six Palestinians killed between 2008 and October 6, 2023, against 254 between October 7, 2023 and September 30, 2026.

The UN human rights chief, Volker Türk, warned on Monday that Israel’s operation in the West Bank city of Hebron raises serious concerns of ethnic cleansing, as the number of Palestinians forced from their homes passed 3,000, according to UN News. Threats to empty and erase entire neighbourhoods also raise serious concerns of ethnic cleansing, UN News reported.

A United Nations (UN) commission of inquiry accused the Israeli government of committing extermination, persecution, torture and rape against Palestinians living in the occupied West Bank, according to Opera Mundi. The body also said Israeli forces killed 1,080 Palestinians in the West Bank between October 2023 and September 2026, while more than 34,000 Palestinians remained displaced as of August. The independent commission accused Israel of crimes against humanity, including extermination, against Palestinians in the West Bank, according to UN News.

Sudan's permanent mission to the UN said it had fundamental questions about Lana Nusseibeh's independence, impartiality and credibility as a contender for the UN's top job, in a statement given exclusively to Middle East Eye. Sudan decries the candidacy as an attempt to ‘whitewash’ the United Arab Emirates' role in the civil war in Sudan, according to the outlet.

Israel kept committing genocide in Gaza after last October's US-brokered ceasefire, a UN commission said in a report published on Monday, according to Reuters. The report says Israeli authorities kept committing genocidal acts with the genocidal intent to destroy, in whole or in part, the Palestinians in Gaza. Israel's Foreign Ministry called the report a propaganda document detached from reality aimed at undermining the country's right to self-defense. The commission also recorded almost 500 Palestinians killed annually in the West Bank since 2022, the highest numbers since the UN started collecting that data, according to the Jerusalem Post.

The UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry concluded that Israel committed war crimes and the crimes against humanity of extermination, persecution, torture, rape and other forms of sexual violence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. According to the commission, Israel deliberately targets Palestinian civilians and continues to commit genocide in Gaza. The report records that six Palestinians were killed by airstrikes in the West Bank between 2008 and October 6, 2023, against 254 between October 7, 2023 and September 30, 2026, and concludes that Palestinians in the West Bank are targeted on the basis of their nationality, race and ethnicity, gender and age.

Pyongyang has sent a letter to the UN Security Council accusing Seoul of fabricating a landmine explosion that injured three South Korean soldiers, according to North Korea’s state Korean Central News Agency, as cited by Al Jazeera. The letter was delivered on Sunday by the country’s permanent representative to the UN and describes the incident as “a sinister obstructive move to brand as a ‘military invasion’”, saying that South Korea’s claims are a “farce to evade the responsibility for the ever-escalating tensions on the Korean peninsula”. Last week, South Korea’s foreign ministry had sent a letter to the Security Council president calling on the North to take responsibility for the landmine blast in the Demilitarized Zone, the Korea Herald reported. Seoul blames a September 21 explosion in the Demilitarized Zone on North Korean mines.

The US government is weighing backing former Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán as a candidate for UN secretary-general, with officials approaching Orbán with the proposal and encouraging him to enter the race, amid interest expressed by him and no final decision, according to The Jerusalem Post, citing sources from three countries.

Turkey, the host of the 31st Conference of the Parties (COP31) to the UN climate convention, is encouraging wealthy countries to spend more on climate support than on defence, according to OilPrice. The host of the next UN summit told The Guardian that wealthy countries should spend far more than the 5% of GDP NATO members have promised for defence, because “the climate issue is the security issue”. Asked whether as much should be spent on climate as on defence, he said: “Much more.”

Hamas leaders in Gaza conveyed to the UN humanitarian coordinator in the Strip, Ramiz Alakbarov, a message that the group is prepared to carry out another attack like the one of October 7, 2023, and asked for it to be delivered to Israel, according to the Times of Israel, which cites Ynet. The message was passed on to the Israeli army’s chief liaison to the Palestinians, Major General Yoram Halevy, who wrote an urgent letter to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz stating that it is an unusual threat, which had never been conveyed with that level of bluntness and directness. The excerpt of the letter was published on Saturday evening by Channel 13, according to the same outlet.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called for a more just and inclusive structure for the United Nations Security Council that can meet the expectations of the international community, in a message released by the government's Communications Directorate. He cited the deaths of more than 74,000 people in Gaza in what he described as genocide and urged countries to strengthen their commitment to the UN Charter and support reforms, according to the Hürriyet Daily News.

Iran and 11 other countries warned that attacks against nuclear facilities under International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) safeguards must never be accepted as normal, according to Press TV. “Nuclear facilities shall never, under any circumstances, be subjected to attack or threat of attack,” the countries said in a joint statement delivered at the First Committee of the 81st session of the UN General Assembly on Friday. The statement was signed by Belarus, Burkina Faso, China, Cuba, Eritrea, Iran, Nicaragua, Niger, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan and Zimbabwe.

The World Food Programme (WFP) announced in September a 50 percent cut in the number of food aid recipients in the occupied West Bank, citing “critical funding constraints” resulting from reduced funding from international donors, according to Al Jazeera. The UN agency said about 900,000 people in the West Bank are currently suffering from food insecurity, according to the report.

UN human rights chief Volker Türk condemned on Friday an escalation in drone strikes across Sudan this month that killed at least 306 people and injured hundreds more in the first three weeks of October alone, according to AllAfrica. The strikes, attributed to both the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), hit homes, markets, hospitals, displacement sites, power stations and water sources in Kordofan, Darfur, Blue Nile, Khartoum and other states, according to the UN human rights office (OHCHR).

The UN warned on Friday that time is running out to get aid into Taiz, besieged by Houthi fighters who are preventing supplies from reaching Yemen’s third-largest city, it said, according to the Middle East Eye. Houthi fighters have encircled Taiz since early October and blocked the road that links it to Aden, the interim capital of Yemen’s internationally recognised government. Road closures and diesel shortages have halved the city’s water production and roughly tripled the price of trucked water, which most residents depend on, Laerke said.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres expressed “deep concern” over escalating violence and widespread Israeli-imposed closures affecting Palestinian communities in the occupied West Bank, he said, according to TRT World. On Friday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered an “immediate closure” of Hebron and instructed security forces to prepare for a “full lockdown” across the West Bank following a gun battle in the city. Israel locked down the occupied West Bank after the Hebron shooting, Al Jazeera reported. Guterres condemned the record number of attacks by Israeli settlers against Palestinians in 2026, according to spokesman Dujarric.

The United Nations (UN) climate loss and damage fund moved to provide US$20 million in aid to flood-stricken Nepal — the first time it has set aside money for any country, according to the SCMP. The fund’s board agreed to earmark the money at an extraordinary meeting for the country, hit in August by floods that killed more than 1,400 people and left over 5,000 missing, also according to the SCMP.

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) nominated diplomat Lana Nusseibeh for United Nations (UN) secretary-general, according to France 24. Human rights defenders warn that choosing a diplomat from the Emirates, accused of backing forces linked to massacre in Sudan, would be a catastrophe for the UN.

South Korea sent a letter to the president of the United Nations (UN) Security Council over last month’s land mine explosion near the inter-Korean border that injured three South Korean soldiers, according to Yonhap. The letter says the explosion was caused by a land mine planted by North Korean troops and violated the Korean War Armistice Agreement, also according to Yonhap.

The UN has told Palestinian officials it will stop receiving Palestinians returning from Egypt and coordinating their entry into Gaza from mid-November, citing security risks and repeated Israeli arrests, according to Drop Site News, which quotes a senior source, in a report carried by Middle East Eye. The decision followed Israel's arrest of a Palestinian cancer patient and her daughter on Tuesday, when the Rafah crossing reopened after a suspension of about 10 days prompted by the detention of another returnee.

Four Salvadoran soldiers with the Gang Repression Force (FRG), the UN mission that has operated in Haiti since April, have been missing since Sunday night (18), after the vehicle they were in was ambushed in the Santo neighbourhood of Croix-des-Bouquets, in greater Port-au-Prince. Four days into the operation, the soldiers have not been found. The FRG said that “several gang members were killed and others wounded during the clashes” and that four of its personnel were wounded. El Salvador’s president, Nayib Bukele, said on Wednesday (21) that the four are aviation technicians and that the Salvadoran mission in Haiti has “only pilots and technicians”, working on medical evacuation.

The World Health Organization (WHO) classified the Ebola outbreak in Africa as complex after the disease spread to Nigeria, according to AFP. In its latest weekly bulletin, WHO Africa reported 9,637 confirmed cases and 4,646 deaths, a crude fatality ratio of 48.2% — an increase of 572 cases and 265 deaths since External Situation Report #22.

Total fees paid to smugglers on sea routes to Europe reached between US$ 388 million and US$ 509 million in 2025, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) estimated, according to AllAfrica. Around 190,000 to 209,000 people were smuggled along the four main sea routes to Europe in 2025.

Houthi rebels struck a residential area in Taiz, Yemen’s third-largest city, which is under attack and siege, on Tuesday, killing two teenage girls, the Associated Press (AP) reported in a text republished by PBS News. The UN human rights chief said civilians in Taiz are at grave risk and that humanitarian aid “must be immediately allowed to enter the city” with its passage facilitated, and that civilians wishing to leave must be allowed to do so “freely and safely”. The strike on Taiz came a day after a Houthi attack on a government military camp killed 73 recruits, the deadliest since the conflict’s resurgence over the summer, according to a senior Yemeni government official.

Ireland’s lower house of parliament approved by 79 votes to 71 a bill that scraps the requirement for UN approval before Irish troops can be deployed abroad, France 24 reported. Currently, three steps — dubbed a “triple lock” — must be taken before more than 12 members of the Irish defence forces can be sent on any mission: approval from the government, from parliament and from the UN, the last of which is now set to be scrapped. The legislation also raises from 12 to 50 the number of soldiers that could be deployed without parliamentary approval. Opposition parties warned that the move threatens the country’s longstanding military neutrality.

The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) warns that the current El Niño event could be unprecedented in strength, off the monitoring tables of the past four decades, according to The Hindu. El Niño is firmly established and will intensify into a very strong event in the coming months, persisting almost certainly until February 2027, according to the WMO.

A group of United Nations (UN) experts warned on Wednesday, October 21, about the possible impact of measures taken by Meta on Brazil’s elections, in a statement issued that day, according to Opera Mundi. The document describes the questionable performance of the company’s artificial intelligence tools, the blocking of boosted posts on Lula-linked Instagram profiles and differences in channel recommendations on WhatsApp, and raises doubts about equal conditions during the campaign.

Senior United Arab Emirates (UAE) diplomat Lana Nusseibeh entered the race to become the next UN secretary-general on Wednesday, Reuters reported. Diplomatic sources in New York expect an official announcement soon that the UAE has put her forward, they told The Jerusalem Post. Guterres completes his second five-year term on December 31, and the selection will determine the 10th UN secretary-general.

Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez accused the United States of threatening countries with tariffs, visa restrictions and other retaliatory measures to change their votes on the annual resolution against the embargo on the island, Al Jazeera reported. Rodríguez said Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Washington’s ambassador to the UN, Mike Waltz, were personally leading a campaign he said had been going on for months, and that the US had asked countries to abstain or skip the vote. The nonbinding resolution is expected to be put to a vote on October 27 or 28, according to Al Jazeera.

The UN is warning that global commitments to cut planet-heating emissions fall far short of the Paris climate goals of 1.5 degrees Celsius and put the world on course for 2.6C warming this century, according to France 24.

The United Nations strongly condemned drone strikes on civilians and critical infrastructure across Sudan on Tuesday, according to CGTN. Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said the UN strongly condemns the reported killing of dozens of civilians in a drone strike on a market in the locality of Al Dibab, West Kordofan State, on Sunday. On Tuesday, drones damaged the main power station in the town of Tendalti, in White Nile state, according to Dujarric.

United Nations (UN) experts called on Indian authorities to respect, protect and fulfil the right to peacefully protest and ensure justice for reported violations, according to the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. According to reports cited by the experts, over 7,000 youths, journalists, human rights defenders, lawyers and party members were reportedly arbitrarily detained in New Delhi and taken to remote centres, where their phones were allegedly seized and protest-related material deleted. In recent months, hundreds of thousands of students and supporters have gathered peacefully against decisions on the education system and, more recently, against voter-roll deletions affecting 130 million people.

The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) is most likely to begin withdrawing from the UN-patrolled so-called Blue Line zone on December 31, 2026. The mission has 7,565 peacekeepers from 46 countries, according to DW. Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam warned of the need to “avert the vacuum that UNIFIL's withdrawal could create, were it to take place without agreement on a new international force to replace it”.

Russia and 17 other countries called on UN Secretary-General António Guterres to review the rules of the mechanism for investigating possible uses of chemical and biological weapons, according to a joint statement published on the Russian Foreign Ministry’s website on Tuesday and reported by Sputnik. The text calls on Guterres to organize a review of the mechanism’s existing rules and procedures, set out in UN General Assembly document A/44/561 of Oct. 4, 1989.

Iran's envoy to the UN, Gholamhossein Darzi, wrote to the secretary-general and the Security Council against what he called the “arrogant threats” of US President Donald Trump and Israel, according to Mehr News — the letter cites reports that the White House and the Pentagon prepared military options including the possible use of the GBU-43/B bomb and says Israeli minister Yisrael Katz announced on October 18 he was ready to attack Iran and target all energy facilities, according to the same agency, and Iran requested an emergency Council meeting, condemnation and full reparation, according to Press TV.

UN (United Nations) spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said he is alarmed by the deadly drone strikes killing civilians, including children, and disrupting essential services in Sudan — with at least 19 injured on Monday in a market in Abyei and targets in Khartoum, including an area near the airport. The UN condemned all of these attacks unequivocally, according to Dujarric.

Up to 500 Moroccan personnel have undergone training in Morocco to join the International Stabilization Force in Gaza, a Board of Peace official told The Times of Israel on Monday. According to the official, the training began in late August and was conducted by the US-led force, which he could not confirm had been fully completed. Morocco committed in February to sending police officers and military personnel to postwar Gaza, becoming the first Arab country to do so publicly, and is slated to be the first to deploy personnel, ahead of Albania, Kazakhstan and Kosovo, according to the newspaper.

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Chair Jim Skea asked that the suspended plenary in Addis Ababa be reconvened at the earliest opportunity, AFP reported. In a statement, Skea said he suspended the panel’s 65th plenary session on the evening of October 16: most of the agenda was concluded, including agreement on a new process for the use of artificial intelligence, but there was no consensus on the timelines for the three Working Group contributions to the Seventh Assessment Report (AR7) or on the IPCC budget.

The World Food Programme (WFP) has cut food assistance in Gaza by around one-third because of funding shortages, and half a million people will lose access to critical assistance, the agency said. From this month, WFP is supporting 1.1 million of the most vulnerable people in Gaza with food and cash assistance, down from 1.6 million last month. An estimated 1.4 million people, or 67 percent of Gaza’s population, are experiencing acute food insecurity at crisis levels or worse. The agency says it needs more than £300 million over the next six months to restore and maintain critical programs in Palestine, the Guardian reported.

The UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) says 1.4 million people in Gaza are suffering acute food shortages and that funding gaps are forcing cutbacks in critical aid, despite the U.S. brokered Hamas-Israel ceasefire, according to NPR.

Lebanon’s president, Joseph Aoun, told French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot that, if extending the mandate of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) proves impossible, the country welcomes any arrangement that ensures an international presence in the south, prevents a vacuum and avoids placing the Lebanese army in direct contact with the Israeli army, according to The Times of Israel. Barrot’s two-day visit to Beirut was aimed at discussing mechanisms for an international presence in the south, the scene of repeated conflicts between Israel and Hezbollah.

Lebanon will send a military delegation to a US-backed trilateral meeting with Israel in Tampa, Florida, on Tuesday, President Joseph Aoun said on Saturday. In a statement from the presidency, Aoun said the delegation would present Lebanon’s demands for an end to Israeli escalation and push for outcomes in line with the US-brokered framework agreement reached in June. Aoun also called for the mandate of the UN peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon, Unifil, to be extended through 2027.

India rebutted allegations by UN special rapporteur Gina Romero that young people in the country face retaliation or stigmatization, according to the Hindustan Times. Six US Democratic lawmakers urged Secretary of State Marco Rubio to raise concerns with India over alleged excessive use of force against student protesters. The lawmakers' letter mentions, according to the Telegraph India, a pattern of repression, wrongful detention and excessive use of force by security forces during student protests in Delhi and other localities across India.

All seven candidates to succeed António Guterres at the UN received vetoes from permanent members of the Security Council on Friday (16), G1 reported. Candidate Rebeca Grynspan received the most support but also five opposing votes, two of them from permanent members. The result opens room for new contenders.

UNICEF said more than 340 Palestinian children have been killed in Gaza since the ceasefire was announced, a little over a year ago. In the past two weeks alone, five boys and two girls were killed and at least 33 children were seriously injured in Israeli air strikes, drone strikes and gunfire across the Strip, and two more boys died of earlier injuries, according to Middle East Eye. UNICEF Global Deputy Spokesperson Ricardo Pires said in Geneva that some 800,000 children are still displaced, most living in tents or in dangerous bombed-out buildings, and called on the Israeli authorities to allow the entry of materials, equipment, spare parts, generators and engine oil.

The World Food Programme (WFP) warned that the “truly desperate” humanitarian crisis in Yemen will only get worse with the renewed conflict, according to the Middle East Eye. The programme’s deputy country director said it has lost access to more than 800,000 people who were reliant on its assistance until last month.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian met with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and United Nations (UN) Secretary-General António Guterres, according to Mehr News — Pezeshkian arrived in Armenia to take part in the 17th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP17).

Disruption to fuel and fertiliser shipping through the Strait of Hormuz is beginning to affect agricultural harvests, the head of a United Nations rural development agency warned on Thursday, according to Middle East Eye. The president of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), Alvaro Lario, told Reuters that the pass-through from the initial locking down of the Strait of Hormuz “is now starting to be seen”. Disruptions to fertiliser shipments and higher fuel and transport costs, compounded by El Niño and disruptions to Black Sea wheat supplies, threaten to lower farm yields.

Navi Pillay, former UN high commissioner for human rights and 2026 Nobel Peace Prize laureate, said the purpose of the Genocide Convention is to prevent genocide, according to Middle East Eye. Pillay also said: “That’s a legal obligation that rests on every state even if the genocide didn’t happen in their own territory.”

A senior UN official warned that a failure by the US and Iran to quickly approve a UN plan for shipping fertilizer through the Strait of Hormuz could plunge parts of Asia and Africa into a food security crisis, according to Reuters, in a text published by The Cradle. “It’s absolutely crucial to get the deal in the next few weeks. Otherwise, we will miss the planting season,” UN Under-Secretary-General Jorge Moreira da Silva told Reuters in Bangkok. According to the UN analysis he cited, daily traffic through the strait has collapsed from around 130 ships before the war to just five last week, and fertilizer prices have jumped 25 to 30 percent since late February.

EU foreign ministers adopted on Monday a decision establishing a new support mission in Lebanon aimed at advising the country’s military and internal security forces, according to Reuters, in a text republished by The Jerusalem Post. According to the Council of the EU, the mission will have an initial mandate of three years. The mission will advise and assist the Lebanese armed forces and internal security forces to strengthen territorial control, border security and also internal security, Kaja Kallas said, in remarks cited by Anadolu and carried by the Middle East Monitor. Kallas said the mission would not serve as a replacement for the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) and that there cannot be a security vacuum when UNIFIL leaves Lebanon.

The UN secretary-general, António Guterres, condemned the Houthi attack on King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, which reportedly killed 12 people and injured hundreds of civilians, according to TASS. The secretary-general of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), Jasem al-Budaiwi, called the attacks “treacherous terrorist attacks”. Asked on Saturday whether he had changed his mind about joining Saudi strikes on the group, Donald Trump said the United States “may”. Four Saudis, two Bangladeshis, one US citizen, one Egyptian, one Jordanian, one Syrian, one Palestinian and one Sudanese are among the 12 dead, according to Le Monde.

The UN secretary-general urged an immediate halt to the hostilities in Tigray, Afar and Amhara and a return to dialogue under the Pretoria Agreement framework, in a statement issued on Friday night in New York by his spokesperson, Stéphane Dujarric, according to UN News. Also according to UN News, media reports say Ethiopia accused neighbouring Eritrea of an all-out invasion of Tigray and warned that it will defend itself.

This year’s Nobel Peace Prize laureate, judge and former UN rights chief Navi Pillay, called US sanctions against the International Criminal Court (ICC) unheard of and unacceptable, according to AFP, in text published by RFI. Pillay said there is so much tension and anxiety over the continued existence of international courts, mainly the ICC in The Hague. Hours after she was named the laureate, the US announced new sanctions against the court, provoking swift condemnation from member states and the United Nations, according to AFP.

The United Nations (UN) Security Council unanimously adopted Resolution 2830, extending the arms embargo in Darfur until December 11, to allow more time for negotiations. The text also extended the mandate of the panel of experts monitoring the sanctions until January 11, 2027. A United States proposal to widen the embargo to the entire Sudanese territory was not approved, after opposition from Russia and China, according to Al Jazeera.

Navanethem Pillay, a former UN human rights chief, is the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize laureate, announced on Friday in Oslo. Israel is angry about the honor, according to RT, because Pillay chaired a UN commission.

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, expressed concern over the continuing impact of Israeli military operations on civilians in southern Syria, including raids on homes, restrictions on movement, harassment, arbitrary detention and destruction of livelihoods. The UN office continues to document the detention of Syrians by Israeli forces and said 49 Syrians remain in Israeli custody, a total it has not independently and comprehensively verified. According to Middle East Eye, Israel carried out 280 armed incursions into Syria in September, the highest monthly number of the year.

President Donald Trump reposted a message saying the Nobel Committee shamed itself beyond repair and demeaned the once great Nobel Peace Prize by giving it to Navi Pillay, according to Politico. The post came from the law firm of attorney David Schoen, Politico reported. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said the Nobel Committee has lost its moral compass, according to Politico. Pillay is a South African human rights lawyer and judge who led a United Nations commission that stated Israel committed genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, according to Politico.

The Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize to South African jurist Navanethem “Navi” Pillay, according to Al Jazeera. The committee said it was honoring her “for her efforts to promote peace and international law”, and Pillay is a former judge at the International Criminal Court (ICC) and former UN human rights chief, according to CBS News.

The Saudi-led coalition in Yemen said on Friday it was carrying out a wide-ranging operation against the elements and capabilities of the Houthis, according to a statement by the coalition spokesperson. The statement said that 136 military targets had been destroyed in areas controlled by the Houthis, adding that the coalition was providing round-the-clock air support to Yemeni government forces. The UN Special Envoy to Yemen, Hans Grundberg, told the Security Council that the country had slid back into full-scale war. According to the UN, at least 46 civilians have been killed and more than 130 injured since August in the fighting.

United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Guterres condemned the new US sanctions on the International Criminal Court (ICC), according to UN News. The court said the measure is aimed at disrupting its operations and intimidating those who work for or cooperate with it.

Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs criticized the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to jurist Navanethem Pillay, saying the prize legitimizes “hatred and anti-Israel prejudice.” In a statement, the ministry said granting the Nobel to Pillay, who chaired the committee that accused Israel of genocide, is “the grotesque instrumentalization of a prize.”

Navanethem “Navi” Pillay, 85, a former UN human rights chief and a judge on the International Court of Justice, won the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize, according to The Guardian. The Norwegian committee recognised her for efforts to promote peace and international law, said Jørgen Watne Frydnes, chair of the committee. This year's prize drew 287 nominations and pays 12 million Swedish kronor, about $1.2 million.

The European Union supports extending the mandate of UNIFIL, the UN peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said on Thursday, according to AFP, in a text published by Türkiye Today. Kallas said she expected EU foreign ministers to formally establish the new mission on Monday, October 12. The EU's new military mission in Lebanon is expected to have a permanent component of around 100 personnel, according to Rapporteur.

The United Nations (UN) Security Council extended until December 11 the 1591 Sudan sanctions regime, including targeted sanctions and an arms embargo, to permit additional time for negotiations, according to the UN. The United States (US) proposal to widen the Darfur embargo to the whole country failed, after opposition from permanent members Russia and China, according to Al Jazeera.

China nominated Song Li, a maternal and child health specialist, to lead the World Health Organization (WHO) on Thursday, a move that could expand Beijing’s influence over the international body after the United States quit it this year, according to CNA. Song Li heads the Department of Women and Child Health at China’s National Health Commission and has a 21-year career, according to the WHO. She will run against candidates put forward by Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Belgium, Spain, Indonesia and Botswana, including three men and three women.

The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) said one of its positions near Kfar Shouba, on the Blue Line in the eastern sector, was hit by small-arms fire on the morning of the 7th and that there were no casualties. The peacekeeping force said the shots hit a post on the Israeli border, according to Al Jazeera.

The director general of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said on Wednesday that the agency does not yet have the full picture of this event and is not able to conduct a full risk assessment. The WHO asked for timely, complete and transparent information sharing from Russia to clarify conflicting reports. Darya Shipilova, 28, an employee at the anti-plague research institute in the eastern city of Irkutsk, died two days after falling ill with cold-like symptoms. The Russian authorities deny a connection with the institute and say she died from “pneumonia of an unknown aetiology”.

United Nations (UN) Secretary-General António Guterres arrived in Pakistan on Tuesday for a three-day official visit, from October 6 to 8, according to Arab News Pakistan. The agenda includes Pakistan’s role in mediation between Washington and Tehran in the conflict between the United States and Iran, and Guterres is due to meet President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar and Field Marshal Asim Munir.

The UN Human Rights Council adopted a resolution condemning drone attacks on civilians in Sudan and demanding an immediate and complete ceasefire, without preconditions, according to Al Jazeera. The resolution, which extends the mandate of the independent international fact-finding mission for Sudan, passed by a vote of 28 to 10, with nine abstentions.

United Nations (UN) Secretary-General António Guterres called for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza on Monday, October 5, ahead of the third anniversary of the October 7, 2023 attack, The Hindu reported. “It is time for the ceasefire to become permanent. It is time to allow humanitarian assistance at scale. And it is time to respect international law,” he said.

US President Donald Trump said the United States is ready to assist Moscow, if necessary, in a case of pneumonia of unknown etiology detected in Russia, according to TASS. Trump said he is looking at the case closely and that he has not spoken with Russian President Vladimir Putin about it, according to Al Jazeera. The Russian health authority said laboratory tests confirmed two cases of Covid-19 and two of rhinovirus. The WHO said that, based on unofficial information, the public health risk to the general population appears low.

The United Nations (UN) special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territory, Francesca Albanese, dismissed the Israeli claim that 170 journalists killed in Gaza were “terrorists”, saying there is “not a shred of evidence”, and said she will soon publish a report on the matter, accusing Israel of disinformation.

Araghchi said all Iranian diplomats left New York as scheduled except one who had departed earlier, after the UN General Assembly session, according to Türkiye Today; a US official said, in text citing AFP, that two members of the Iranian delegation were found still in New York well after the session ended, and that the State Department had instructed Araghchi and his delegation to leave the country by Monday.

The United States expelled two members of the Iranian delegation who attended the UN General Assembly after they ignored an order to leave the country, the State Department said on Saturday, according to Middle East Eye. US media reported that the department had told Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and his delegation to leave the country on Monday and that it resorted to expelling the two members. The Iranian mission to the UN disputed Washington’s account of the delegation’s departure and said its members left in accordance with a schedule, according to RT News.

The World Health Organization (WHO) reported repeated delays in bringing lifesaving medicines, prosthetics and other supplies from Israel into Gaza and called for the unimpeded and predictable entry of humanitarian and health supplies into Gaza at scale, according to UN News.

China’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Fu Cong, delivered a joint statement on behalf of 28 member states on Thursday at the Third Committee of the UN General Assembly, according to CGTN. The statement says unilateral coercive measures are a major source of international turbulence and disorder and that developing countries and their peoples continue to bear the brunt, according to Xinhua.

The UN human rights office urged Washington on Thursday (October 1, 2026) to ensure full reparations for people affected by U.S. nuclear tests in the Marshall Islands, according to The Hindu. The archipelago hosted 67 U.S. nuclear tests between 1946 and 1958, whose environmental and health impacts persist, and the local Nuclear Claims Tribunal set the total compensation to be paid at more than $2.3 billion.

Iran's ambassador to Moscow, Kazem Jalali, told TASS that Tehran is grateful to Moscow for the remarks made by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov at the UN General Assembly. Jalali called Lavrov's speech excellent and cited Russia's firm stance on Iran.

Iran's mission to the United Nations said the Iranian delegation left New York on Monday evening, in accordance with a schedule communicated in advance to the US Department of State on September 17. The statement contrasts with the account of two US officials who said Secretary of State Marco Rubio lost patience and told the Iranians on Monday that Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and his delegation had to leave New York immediately.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio demanded on Monday that the Iranian delegation to the United Nations (UN) General Assembly leave the country immediately after bilateral settlement negotiations stalled, according to Axios, in text republished by TASS — the delegation, including Araghchi, left for the airport hours later and boarded a flight from New York to Doha at 1:20 a.m. Tuesday, according to Axios.

South Korea began demanding a formal apology and “responsible measures” from Pyongyang over the September 21 blast in the western Demilitarized Zone, according to The Guardian. The US-led United Nations Command concluded there was an Armistice Agreement violation, according to Al Jazeera. Kim Yo-jong denied that North Korean soldiers had crossed the border and warned border units would carry out “immediate and merciless retaliation” if South Korean troops fired on Northern soldiers. Three South Korean soldiers were injured in the two blasts, according to Al Jazeera.

The UN Security Council extended the mandate of the Gang Suppression Force (GSF) in Haiti until March 31, 2027, in Tuesday's vote, according to Al Jazeera. China, Russia and Pakistan abstained, citing concerns over the measure's effectiveness. US ambassador to the UN, Waltz, said that about 1,500 GSF troops are currently operating in Haiti and the remaining 4,000 are expected to arrive in the coming months.

More than 145,000 people are displaced across eight governorates in Yemen since the escalation on the west coast in June, for a total of 145,308 people or 24,218 households, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM). The total rose by 15,870 people since September 21 — up more than 12 percent in one week — with Taiz hosting 81,444 displaced people, more than half the national total.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres met with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, according to TASS, citing the UN chief’s press service. Guterres welcomed the diplomatic efforts undertaken during the High-level Week of the General Assembly aimed at bringing the conflict in the Middle East to an end, according to the same source. The UN chief called on the parties to continue negotiating to resolve the outstanding differences, also according to TASS.

Iran filed a formal protest with the UN over the remarks by US President Donald Trump at the 81st General Assembly, the Tehran Times reported. The letter was addressed to Secretary-General António Guterres and the president of the Security Council, signed by Iran’s chargé d’affaires, Gholamhossein Darzi, according to the WANA news agency. At the Assembly, Trump said Iran faced a “big decision”: make a deal or be annihilated, ABC News reported.

Iran's UN delegation has no plans for negotiations, even as US President Donald Trump says he expects talks to resume soon, according to The Hindu. Trump told Axios on Sunday that he expected talks to resume soon, a day after he rejected Tehran's proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz within seven days.

Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, said he and President Masoud Pezeshkian came to New York to forge peace, in a post on X. Araghchi also said that Iran remains steadfast in the face of any aggression, even if it comes to an apocalyptic war, according to the Mehr News Agency.

German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul met Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov at the UN amid worsening ties and fresh security tensions, according to DW. Lavrov made clear that Russia will veto any attempt by Germany and Japan to obtain permanent seats on the Security Council, according to AP.

South Korea’s military and the UN Command opened a joint investigation into a landmine explosion near the demilitarised zone separating the two Koreas, Reuters reported, in a text republished by The Hindu. A team of about 40 officials searched an area near the site of the September 21 blast. Three South Korean soldiers were wounded in the explosion on September 21 while clearing a patrol route in the western sector of the demilitarised zone.

The United States-led Board of Peace (BoP) said the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) will have no role in Gaza. According to the board, “we will only work with trusted partners who will deliver for the people of Gaza and contribute to a deradicalised Strip. UNRWA fails on those litmus tests”. On the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), the BoP unveiled a 66-project reconstruction blueprint, with $2.4bn proposed to begin Gaza’s recovery.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov called at the UN General Assembly for broader representation for Asia, Africa and Latin America and backed the candidatures of Brazil and India for a permanent seat on the Security Council, according to The Hindu. Lavrov said Russia cannot envisage or allow any new “Western seats,” because the West is already overrepresented, and that the interests of the African continent must be satisfied, according to TASS. He spoke at the General Assembly session in New York on Saturday night, according to the Indian Express.

The meeting between the German and Russian foreign ministers on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly is believed to be the first of its kind since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, according to PBS. German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul called on Russia to abandon its “dangerous path of escalation” with Germany, Europe and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in the talks with Sergei Lavrov. After the meeting, Lavrov said that “nothing new came from” the conversation.

Iran’s envoy to the United Nations (UN), Gholamhossein Darzi, said in a letter that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) chief stated in an address on September 23, 2026, that roughly 5,000 aircraft had flown from European bases since February 28, 2026, in support of what was described as “Operation Epic Fury”, according to Mehr News Agency. Tehran says the use of European bases violates international law and calls for urgent Security Council examination. Iran says US and Israeli military actions killed more than 3,600 people, including at least 254 children and 251 women.

Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan used his address at the United Nations (UN) General Assembly to call for serious international cooperation to protect freedom of navigation and said the regional security framework should be “comprehensive”, according to Middle East Eye. He also supported initiatives aimed at de-escalation, particularly efforts by Qatar and Pakistan, saying they can help restore regional stability.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Muslim countries should “wake up” and not fight with each other, adding that the United States and Israel “are trying to pit us against each other,” according to the IRNA news agency, cited by Middle East Eye. Back in Tehran after the United Nations (UN) General Assembly, he said he had denounced at the UN the oppression of the Iranian people and the crimes of the United States and Israel.

Hamas condemned the Board of Peace’s decision not to work with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) and its statement that the agency will have no role in Gaza. In a post on X, the Board said it will only work with trusted partners who will deliver for the people of Gaza and contribute to a deradicalized Strip, and that UNRWA fails on those litmus tests. The Associated Press reported on Friday that Board members had been more willing to work with UNRWA behind the scenes than their public stance suggested.

India’s External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar told the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) that a “serial practitioner of terrorism” had misrepresented facts the previous day, in an apparent reference to Pakistan. Jaishankar said arguments invoked to normalise terrorism and claim immunity from its consequences would not stand. Turning to the conflict in the Gulf, he said attacks on commercial ships and seafarers in international waters were “simply unacceptable”.

Saudi Arabia accused Iran at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) of flagrant attacks on civilian and economic targets across the region. Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan condemned “flagrant” Iranian and Houthi attacks on his country and called for the upholding of freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz, the Bab Al-Mandab Strait, the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.

Donald Trump said on Saturday that he rejected Iran’s proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz within seven days. He said he “would also like to make a deal”, but that this one would not be acceptable, and said Iranians want the deal immediately because they are losing badly. Iran offered this week to reopen the strait and resume talks on its nuclear programme within seven days, and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said at the UN General Assembly that normal maritime passage can be restored within seven days if the necessary conditions are met, with the choice resting with the United States.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov accused European countries of making every effort to hamper a peace settlement and disrupt the negotiations sought by Donald Trump’s administration, in a speech at the UN General Assembly. Russia, together with other responsible states, he said, stands ready to contribute to stabilizing Hormuz and the Gulf, which he called a strategically important region.

Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez condemned the U.S. oil blockade at the UN General Assembly as an “act of collective punishment”, saying Cuba remains open to dialogue with Washington on the basis of sovereign equality and without preconditions, on the same Saturday that Donald Trump said at the White House that “Cuba and us will make a deal” and that he does not think the military will be needed.

Chinese Vice President Han Zheng urged the United Nations General Assembly to respect the sovereignty and security of countries in the Middle East, including the Gulf and called on the “relevant country” to immediately stop threatening Cuba with force and immediately and completely lift the blockade and sanctions against the island. The speech did not name the United States, in contrast with Xi Jinping’s reception at the White House days earlier.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul met on the sidelines of the 81st United Nations General Assembly, the first meeting between the two countries’ top diplomats since the start of the war in Ukraine, according to Anadolu Agency. The meeting took place at Germany’s request, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian ruled out on Friday a meeting with Donald Trump before trust between Iran and the United States is restored, according to Sputnik Globe. He said it is difficult to trust while the United States does not cease what it imposes on the country every day.

President Masoud Pezeshkian of Iran and United Nations (UN) Secretary-General António Guterres advocated diplomacy at a meeting on the sidelines of the 81st General Assembly on Friday. According to Iran’s Mehr News Agency, Pezeshkian rejected as an illusion and slander the allegations that Tehran seeks nuclear weapons and said Iran seeks peaceful nuclear knowledge and technology and rejects nuclear weapons. Guterres said Iran had proposed solutions in recent weeks and expressed hope they would produce results soon. The meeting at UN headquarters on September 25 was captured in a photograph by AP.

On the night of Friday, September 25, 2026, India exercised its Right of Reply at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), after Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif addressed the podium. Indian diplomat Petal Gahlot accused Islamabad of pursuing a policy of cross-border terrorism and warned that such acts will have consequences. According to India Today, Gahlot called Pakistan a “puppet” regime and accused it of spreading “falsehoods” and “deceit”.

The United Nations human rights office added 61 companies to its list of firms operating in Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, in an update released on Friday. The database, first released in 2020, now lists 214 firms from 11 countries, according to AFP, in a text published by Courthouse News; most are from Israel, and there are companies from France, Germany, China and the United States, according to Middle East Eye. In this year's update, five companies were removed.

Families in Gaza are still sheltering in war-damaged buildings at risk of collapse, with few safe alternatives, according to Al Jazeera. A joint assessment by the United Nations, the World Bank and the European Union found that 371,888 housing units had been destroyed or damaged as of October 2025, 76.6 percent of the housing stock. On 16 September, a six-storey, already war-damaged residential building in Gaza City collapsed, killing 21 people, including 12 children, according to the UN and Gaza Civil Defence.

Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, met in New York with Oman’s foreign minister, Badr al-Busaidi, on the sidelines of the 81st United Nations General Assembly (UNGA). Also according to the Iranian agency Mehr News, Araghchi met with Arab League Secretary-General Nabil Fahmy, with Palestine and Israeli aggressions on the agenda, and called for stronger regional trust and dialogue between Iran and Arab countries.

India’s External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar met in New York with his Russian and Iranian counterparts, Sergey Lavrov and Abbas Araghchi, on the margins of the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly. Jaishankar said he discussed bilateral issues and BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) cooperation with Lavrov. Russia’s Foreign Ministry said, according to TASS, that the two discussed the Ukraine crisis and the situation in the Middle East. With Araghchi, the Indian minister said he discussed the latest developments in the Gulf conflict.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said at the 27th informal meeting of the Council of Ministers of the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO), chaired by Pakistan on the margins of the United Nations General Assembly, that the country fell victim, on 13 June 2025 and 28 February 2026, to unlawful and unjustified terrorist aggressions by the United States and Israel, according to the Mehr news agency.

Iran treated the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz as the implementation of a memorandum of understanding already signed with Washington. According to the Russian agency TASS, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian told CBS that the resumption of normal shipping through Hormuz should follow the memorandum of understanding between Tehran and Washington and that Iran remains committed to the text and willing to implement it. According to Sputnik Globe, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Tehran has sent Washington, through Qatar, a concrete seven-day plan to reopen the strait and restart negotiations if the United States fulfills the agreed conditions, and under the plan the strait would reopen on day six and talks on a final agreement would begin on day seven. Also according to TASS, Pezeshkian conditioned a meeting with Donald Trump on the United States showing that it does not intend to overthrow the Iranian government. On the margins of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), the foreign ministers of Oman and Iran discussed efforts to ensure safe navigation through Hormuz.

Iran’s president, Masoud Pezeshkian, said the country will allow United Nations (UN) nuclear inspectors to return, according to Middle East Eye. The statement is part of Iran’s proposal on the Strait of Hormuz, according to CBS News.

Africa’s campaign for permanent representation on the United Nations (UN) Security Council is back at the centre of the 81st General Assembly, according to Al Jazeera. Nigeria’s Vice President Kashim Shettima, who delivered President Bola Tinubu’s national statement, called for at least two permanent seats for the continent, with veto powers for as long as the veto exists. Changing the permanent membership requires an amendment to the UN Charter: under Article 108, that requires approval by two-thirds of the General Assembly.

The UN under-secretary-general and head of the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS), Jorge Moreira da Silva, told Japanese broadcaster NHK that at least 45 million people in developing countries may face food shortages because of disruptions in fertilizer supplies through the Strait of Hormuz, according to TASS. He said the humanitarian crisis can be avoided if five to seven ships carrying fertilizer cross the strait each day.

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif told the United Nations General Assembly that any attempt to stop, impede or divert Pakistan’s share of the waters will be treated as an act of war, according to Dawn. Sharif credited Donald Trump with brokering the ceasefire between the two countries in May 2025 and praised his “resolute and visionary leadership”, saying it saved “hundreds of millions of lives”. Pakistan’s state radio reported that Sharif thanked Trump for his timely intervention, which he said came at a decisive juncture, when two nuclear-armed neighbours stood at the brink of an all-out war.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein noted the importance of international efforts to de-escalate tensions in the Middle East, according to the Russian state news agency TASS. Lavrov concluded his series of meetings at the U.N. General Assembly with talks with the deputy chairman of Yemen’s Presidential Leadership Council.

Delegates left the hall of the United Nations (UN) General Assembly on Friday, September 25, 2026, before Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took the podium, in a walkout coordinated at the request of the Palestinian Mission to the 193 member states, according to India Today. Netanyahu rejected the genocide allegations over Gaza, calling them “the biggest lie of the century”, defended Israel’s actions against Iran and called those who had not left the hall “moral cowards”, asking them to leave.

The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) held on September 25, 2026, its second High-level Meeting on pandemic prevention, preparedness and response, three years after the first, staged in 2023 in response to the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic and gaps in global health security. Leaders recognized the progress made in the past three years in systems to detect, prepare for and respond to pandemic threats, including adoption of the WHO Pandemic Agreement and amendments to the International Health Regulations (2005). Countries also stressed the urgent need to finalize negotiations on an annex to the WHO Pandemic Agreement establishing the Pathogen Access and Benefit-Sharing (PABS) system.

Russia is ready to assist developing countries in strengthening their national capacity and ensuring economic sovereignty, according to Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Pankin. The statement was made at a high-level event at the United Nations (UN) headquarters in New York, dedicated to the fifth anniversary of China’s launch of the Global Development Initiative (GDI).

New York police arrested 103 people for disorderly conduct during protests against the visit of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the United Nations (UN) General Assembly, and all of them were released, Al Jazeera reported. The arrests rose above 100, among demonstrators demanding accountability over the war in Gaza and an end to United States military support for Israel. Netanyahu left the visit without being detained, while some of those protesting against him were arrested, according to Middle East Eye.

Iran has conveyed to the United States, through Qatar, a concrete seven-day plan to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said at the United Nations (UN) on Friday: if the necessary conditions are met, the strait can be reopened and normal maritime passage restored within seven days. The timeline starts only when the United States accepts the plan — “if they accept this plan tomorrow, the seven-day period will start from tomorrow,” he said. According to Tehran, the steps required of Washington are all already in the Memorandum of Understanding.

The average price of a gallon (3.79 liters) of diesel in the United States was $6.50 on Friday, up from $5.61 a month earlier, according to the American Automobile Association (AAA), which tracks fuel prices daily. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday at the United Nations General Assembly in New York that he had urged aides to consider keeping more diesel at home: “I’ve said let’s not send out the diesel. We make a lot of diesel,” he said. Energy analysts and industry groups warn that an export ban could have unintended consequences and push fuel prices up in the United States and abroad.

Türkiye and Iraq agreed on a gradual handover of the Bashiqa-Zelikan base in northern Iraq to the Iraqi federal government, after a meeting between President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi in New York on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), according to AP, via Business Standard. The joint statement says Turkish forces will hand over the base under a mechanism and timeline to be agreed by both sides, in light of progress on Iraq’s security measures, according to Türkiye Today. Iraq committed to fully extending state authority in Sinjar and ending the presence of banned foreign armed elements in the region.

There is alarm at the United Nations (UN) over U.S. threats of sanctions against the International Criminal Court (ICC), according to The Guardian.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the delegations that walked out of the United Nations (UN) General Assembly hall during his address “moral cowards”, while supporters in the gallery chanted in Hebrew, “The people of Israel live”, according to Geo TV, citing Reuters. Five weeks before the 27 October 2026 election, the roughly 40-minute speech was delivered in campaign style, the same report says.

Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian opened his address to the 81st United Nations (UN) General Assembly in New York on Friday, 25 September 2026 with a direct rebuttal to U.S. President Donald Trump, who a day earlier had branded Iran the number one sponsor of terror, according to UN News. Pezeshkian argued that Iran’s nuclear programme is for peaceful purposes: “For our sick people it is cure and treatment, for the agricultural sector it is food security, for industries it is advancement and progress,” he said, according to UN News.

The United Arab Emirates and Bahrain were among the delegations that stayed in their seats during Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s address to the 81st United Nations (UN) General Assembly, as dozens of delegations walked out, Anadolu Agency reports. Emirati influencers publicly celebrated the country’s decision to remain in the hall, Middle East Eye reports.

The United Nations (UN) human rights office expanded on Friday, 25 September 2026, its database of companies with activities in Israeli settlements in the Palestinian territories: there are now 214 firms from 11 countries, with 61 additions and five removals since the previous update, Le Monde reports. Airbnb, Booking.com, Motorola Solutions and TripAdvisor remain on the list, and the UN human rights office said the update is a reminder to companies of their human rights responsibilities, according to Le Monde.

African leaders returned to the 81st United Nations (UN) General Assembly to demand a Security Council reform that would grant the continent permanent seats, PBS News reports. From the podium, Kenya’s presidency put the contradiction bluntly: “every nation is sovereign and equal under the Charter, yet on the gravest question of war and peace, five nations possess a permanent power that the other 188 do not,” according to PBS News. The New York Times also recorded the appeal.

The head of the United Nations (UN) refugee agency warned on Friday, 25 September 2026, that conditions for long-displaced people in Western Sahara are getting worse and their humanitarian needs remain starkly underfunded, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP), in a dispatch carried by RFI. Displacement in the territory has lasted more than half a century, with generations of Sahrawi refugees growing up in Tindouf and in nearby camps, according to AFP.

Lebanon’s Prime Minister Nawaf Salam told the 81st United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) that his country will not be an “arena for the conflicts of others” or a bargaining chip, and called for a ceasefire, a full Israeli withdrawal and all weapons to be held by the Lebanese state, according to Al Jazeera. In New York, Salam’s meetings have so far failed to secure Lebanon’s request for a six-month extension of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) mandate, and Beirut has been pushing for an international force to fill the gap after the mission ends, according to Ya Libnan. In the same session, Iraqi Prime Minister Ali Falih Al-Zaidi called for a sovereign Palestinian state and said there can be no stability in the Middle East without a just solution to the Palestinian issue, according to Al Jazeera.

Nearly 130,000 people have been forced from their homes in Yemen over the past three weeks, including an estimated 71,000 children, most of them in Taiz, according to UN News, citing the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF). Of nearly 2,900 children screened in areas with safe humanitarian access, more than one in four was acutely malnourished and around 200 had severe acute malnutrition, according to UN News.

The United Nations (UN) condemned the continued cross-border attacks by Houthi forces against Saudi Arabia, including an attempt to strike Riyadh, as well as attacks on civilians and energy infrastructure in the kingdom, according to spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric, cited by UN News. Members of the UN Security Council condemned the ongoing Houthi attacks, including strikes that damaged civilians and energy infrastructure, and expressed solidarity with Saudi Arabia and support for its right to self-defence, according to the Saudi Press Agency (SPA).

In her speech to the United Nations (UN) General Assembly, Venezuela’s interim president, Delcy Rodríguez, thanked Donald Trump for his willingness to “resume the path of diplomatic relations and cooperation with Venezuela”, praised the oil deal with Washington and announced that the country will hold elections, without setting a date, and made no mention of Nicolás Maduro, according to Sandra Cohen’s column at G1, which describes the 18-minute address as a break with the Bolivarian rhetoric that in 2019 had her praising Maduro and attacking Trump from the same podium.

Children in southern Lebanon have returned to a school destroyed by an Israeli strike as the academic year begins, according to AFP. The war in southern Lebanon is confronting the education sector with a new test, with schools among the institutions hardest hit by Israeli bombardment, and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said in a July warning that 340 public and private schools had sustained varying degrees of damage and 17 had been completely destroyed, according to Arab News.

The U.S.-created Board of Peace, which leads the reconstruction of Gaza, says there is no place for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) in the territory, but board members have met multiple times with agency officials, The Associated Press reports. Philippe Lazzarini, the agency’s outgoing commissioner-general, told AP that members of the Palestinian technocratic committee want to work with UNRWA, and a Board of Peace official confirmed the meetings.

Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian told Fox News that his country rejects the nuclear bomb on religious grounds, DW reports. Pezeshkian brought a diplomatic tone to New York during the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), and Tehran presented Washington with a proposal to resume negotiations, while the White House confirmed that positive and constructive talks were continuing through intermediaries, according to DW.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu used the U.N. General Assembly tribune on Thursday, September 24, 2026, to attack Iran, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, critics and allies such as the United Kingdom and France, and rejected accusations of genocide in Gaza, Al Jazeera reported. Dozens of delegations walked out as the speech began, some jeering and booing, while Netanyahu’s own team stood and applauded; SBS News put the number of delegations that walked out at 77.

Russia’s permanent representative to international organizations in Vienna, Mikhail Ulyanov, called the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Board of Governors’ resolution reporting Iran to the United Nations Security Council “disgraceful” and accused Western countries of “complete irresponsibility” within the body, at a news briefing on Thursday, September 24, 2026, according to TASS, cited by News-Pravda. The resolution, submitted by the United States, Britain, France and Germany, was adopted on September 9, 2026 by 23 votes in favor, three against and eight abstentions, with Russia, China and Niger opposed, and asks IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi to report Iran to the Security Council and the UN General Assembly, according to AFP, in a report published by the Khaleej Times. According to AFP, it is the first time in 20 years that Iran has been reported to the Security Council for failing to comply with its nuclear reporting obligations.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu thanked Uganda at the United Nations (UN) General Assembly for erecting a statue of his brother Yonatan at the place in Entebbe where he was killed, according to the speech transcript. The monument was unveiled on August 1 at Entebbe’s old terminal by Uganda’s military chief, Muhoozi Kainerugaba, the Associated Press (AP) reports. Netanyahu spoke on September 24 before a hall largely emptied by delegations walking out, according to Pulse Uganda.

Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi met in New York on the sidelines of the United Nations (UN) General Assembly and backed a diplomatic way out of the Gulf crisis, Sputnik Globe reports, citing a Russian Foreign Ministry statement. The statement blames the United States and Israel for the crisis and says there is no alternative to a diplomatic settlement, as the Jerusalem Post notes on the meeting.

Gaza’s economy is going through the worst economic crisis on record, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) said, according to France24. The report finds 92% of economic establishments damaged or destroyed and daily per capita gross domestic product (GDP) of $0.58, according to the Times of Israel liveblog.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi met German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul in New York on the sidelines of the 81st United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), according to IRNA. Iran’s state news agency says Araghchi has held a series of bilaterals with counterparts on the session’s sidelines.

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif met Bangladesh’s Prime Minister Tarique Rahman and Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian on the sidelines of the United Nations (UN) General Assembly in New York and vowed to deepen bilateral cooperation with Dhaka and Tehran, according to the Hindustan Times, citing the Press Trust of India (PTI) news agency. With Pezeshkian, Sharif said he had reaffirmed ties with Iran and urged restraint, de-escalation and sustained diplomacy in the face of the prolonged conflict, according to a post by the premier himself cited by the paper.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov handed United Nations (UN) Secretary-General António Guterres a Russian report on the alleged falsification of the events in Bucha, on the sidelines of the General Assembly, and asked the UN Secretariat to examine the case in detail, according to the Russian state news agency TASS, which cited the Russian foreign ministry. According to TASS, the report attributes the episode to Ukraine and its North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) sponsors. The UN has not confirmed the handover of the document, and the accusation comes from the Russian side.

The outgoing commissioner-general of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), Philippe Lazzarini, said in Geneva in his last press conference before leaving office that the agency must be part of a political solution for the population it serves, and warned that UNRWA is near collapse, with funding for water, health and education services expected to last only until September, according to Geneva Solutions. On 1 July 2026, the Board of Peace (BoP), the body created by Donald Trump’s peace plan with a central role in Gaza’s reconstruction, had already said UNRWA “has no place” in the territory’s future, according to The Jerusalem Post.

Security cameras near the New York City hotel where Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was planning to stay recorded three men emerging from sewers before dawn on Wednesday, according to NBC News, which cited police. The outlet said the appearance does not appear to be connected to the prime minister or to the United Nations (UN) General Assembly under way in Manhattan.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shortened his trip to the United States and returned home on the night of Thursday, 24 September 2026, right after addressing the 81st United Nations (UN) General Assembly, according to Dawn. His stay in New York was limited to a few hours, and the immediate departure after the speech was reported by Israel’s public broadcaster Kan, carried by Middle East Eye. The decision not to extend his stay followed a recommendation from security officials presented to Netanyahu in talks held in the previous days, Channel 13 reported, cited by Dawn.

At least 20 authors of a report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) have direct ties to the oil and gas sector, Le Monde revealed, drawing on reporting conducted with European outlets; at least 12 of the roughly 220 authors of the mitigation section of the forthcoming report hold jobs or ties with Saudi Aramco or the Saudi fossil sector, according to the paper; a Guardian-led review with partners found 20 cases of strong potential conflict of interest, 11 of them Saudi-linked.

Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations (UN), Danny Danon, approached an Iranian diplomat at the General Assembly to offer the Starlink terminal Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had displayed in his speech as a tool for Iranians to bypass censorship, according to Middle East Eye; the Iranian representative ignored Danon, looked away and did not engage, the outlet reports; India Today recorded the on-stage display.

Chinese Vice President Han Zheng addresses the 81st United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York on Friday, September 25, 2026, standing in for President Xi Jinping, according to G1. Xi arrived in Washington on Wednesday, September 23, for a bilateral meeting with United States President Donald Trump.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Iran is ready for agreements with the United States within the framework of international law, in a Fox News interview in New York, according to TASS. According to the report, Pezeshkian added that Tehran does not base decisions on American elections and would accept a deal before or after the vote.

Nepal’s Prime Minister Balendra Shah told the United Nations (UN) General Assembly in New York on Thursday, September 24, 2026, that last month’s floods were “a warning to the world” about the rising dangers of climate change in the Himalayas. Shah, whose country contributes less than 0.1 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, said Nepal “did not create this crisis, yet is paying for it,” and proposed a Himalaya Climate Resilience Mechanism with India and China to share satellite data, monitor glacial lakes and strengthen joint early warning systems. The floods killed more than 1,400 people, left 6,000 missing and caused devastation worth billions of dollars, according to France24.

Hungarian Foreign Minister Anita Orban said she is ready to meet Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to discuss bilateral relations, in remarks to the Index news portal during the high-level week of the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), according to TASS; she said that although she has not yet spoken with Lavrov, diplomatic relations continue as normal.

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif was confronted at United Nations (UN) headquarters in New York with questions about Hafiz Saeed and the alleged harbouring of terrorists and gave no answer; on his way in, a reporter asked when he would stop harbouring terrorists and, on his way out, when he would prosecute Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) chief Hafiz Saeed, receiving no reply.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu singled out Zohran Mamdani by name in his September 24 address to the United Nations (UN) General Assembly, calling him antisemitic and saying many Jews no longer feel safe in New York. Mamdani hit back, accusing Netanyahu of repeating lies to sanitize his genocide of Palestinians.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov met with UN Secretary-General António Guterres on Thursday, September 24, 2026, on the sidelines of the High-Level Week of the 81st General Assembly, behind closed doors and without statements to the press, according to Russian state agency TASS. The meeting had been on the schedule since Monday, when UN spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said it was set for Thursday evening.

About 100 protesters were detained by New York City police on Thursday, September 24, 2026, at the protest against Benjamin Netanyahu outside the United Nations (UN) headquarters, before Israel’s prime minister delivered his speech to the General Assembly. Among those held were Oscar-winning actor Susan Sarandon and Hacks star Hannah Einbinder, and hundreds of people blocked traffic on the streets around the UN through the day. The action was organized by Jewish Voice for Peace, a US Jewish group critical of the Israeli occupation.

Dozens of delegates walked out of the United Nations (UN) General Assembly hall as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took the stage on Thursday, 24 September 2026, in a protest caught on video. In the address that followed, Netanyahu defended Israel’s military campaigns in Iran, Gaza and elsewhere in the Middle East, rejected the accusation of genocide and said the country would keep fighting: “We’re going to win. We have no other choice.”

During the address that opened the 81st session of the UN General Assembly, US President Donald Trump said he would decide between a deal with Iran and ‘annihilating the Islamic Republic’; as he began speaking about US military operations, Iran’s delegation walked out of the hall, leaving a single lower-level staff member behind, according to Al Jazeera. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei confirmed the partial walkout and told the Iranian state news agency IRNA that one diplomat from Iran’s mission stayed in the room because the delegation attended at foreign minister level, according to ANI. Baghaei said the US administration turns the Assembly into a stage for military threats that are ‘absolutely illegal, contrary to international law and diplomatic custom’, and called the threat of a military attack ‘an admission of committing international crimes’. Iranian state broadcaster IRIB, cited by Al Jazeera, reported that Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi accepted a meeting requested by US envoy Steve Witkoff to restate Iran’s conditions for reopening the Strait of Hormuz: an immediate end to the naval blockade, the release of frozen Iranian assets and an end to the war. Al Jazeera notes that accounts differ over whether the two delegations met directly.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office called ‘grotesque absurdity’ French President Emmanuel Macron’s claim at the UN General Assembly that Hamas has never operated in the West Bank, according to Agence France-Presse, carried by Channel NewsAsia. The Israeli statement said Hamas militants attack Jews in Judea and Samaria, the Israeli name for the West Bank, ‘almost every day’ and that ‘ignorance is no excuse for erasing their blood’. The Jerusalem Post reports that Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich accused Macron of lying and cited the killing of a French-Israeli father of six in an attack attributed to Hamas in the West Bank on Sunday, September 20, 2026, two days before the speech. Macron spoke in French, and published renderings of his remark vary between ‘never operated’ and ‘never caused trouble’ in the West Bank; he criticised daily violations in the territory and called the humanitarian situation in Gaza ‘a spectacle that shames us all’.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov meet in New York on Wednesday, September 23, 2026, on the sidelines of the 81st session of the UN General Assembly, according to the State Department, cited by the Kyiv Independent and the Ukrainian news agency UNN. The meeting was scheduled for 9 a.m. (UTC-4) and comes a day after President Donald Trump’s talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who said he was ready for an energy ceasefire if Russia accepts the same terms. Lavrov addresses the Assembly on Saturday, September 26, and Russia’s Foreign Ministry said the agenda includes Moscow–Washington relations and cooperation between the two countries at the UN.

The Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement has launched a petition calling for the suspension of Israel’s membership in the United Nations, addressed to the president of the 81st General Assembly, Khalilur Rahman, Bangladesh’s foreign minister, and arguing that Israel should be treated as South Africa was during the apartheid era. Released on Wednesday, 23 September 2026, during the Assembly’s general debate, the petition says Israel has violated international law, failed to comply with resolutions and decisions by UN bodies and the International Court of Justice and targeted UN facilities and personnel, according to the Palestinian news agency WAFA.

Qatar’s prime minister and foreign minister, Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, condemned Israel’s declared rejection of the roadmap to complete the implementation of the plan to end the war in Gaza, at a closed meeting of heads of state and government convened by French President Emmanuel Macron, UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney on the sidelines of the 81st United Nations (UN) General Assembly in New York, according to Mehr News, citing Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. According to the ministry, Mohammed bin Abdulrahman urged the international community to press Israel to meet its obligations under the Gaza ceasefire agreement and to halt violations of Palestinian rights, and reaffirmed Qatar’s support for a Palestinian state on the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital. Israel rejected the 15-point plan put forward by the mediators in August and conditions any withdrawal from Gaza on Hamas disarming, according to Mehr News.

Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the choice of the next United Nations secretary-general cannot come down to “pure arithmetic” and that consultations among the five permanent members of the Security Council will be required, according to TASS. Kirill Logvinov, head of the international organisations department at the Russian ministry, told the agency that after the September 18, 2026 indicative vote, Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett of Guyana, Rebeca Grynspan of Costa Rica and Olara Otunnu of Uganda were leading, but that each has between five and seven votes against, and that Moscow expects full-fledged consultations among the five to begin soon. According to [The Guardian]({GUARDA_ONU}), three rounds of secret balloting have not produced a clear frontrunner: the winner needs nine votes from the 15 council members and no veto from any permanent member, and António Guterres’s term ends on December 31, 2026.

Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi used her first address to the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on Tuesday, 22 September 2026, to call for an overhaul of the organization, including the removal of a 1940s-era clause that refers to Japan as an “enemy state” and that China has invoked in its row with Tokyo, according to The Japan Times. Takaichi said the UN has “never been more important” and “must be reborn as a ‘more resilient and effective United Nations’” to regain the trust of the international community, 70 years after Japan’s admission in 1956. In a meeting with Secretary-General António Guterres, she raised Security Council reform, according to the official UN readout carried by IANS. Japan is part of the Group of Four (G4) with Brazil, Germany and India, which back each other’s bids for permanent seats on an expanded Council.

Prime Minister Mark Carney announced on Tuesday, 22 September 2026, in New York that Canada is giving C$100 million in international assistance for Palestine: C$80 million in humanitarian aid and C$20 million for peace and security capacity building, according to Politico and Reuters. Carney made the pledge on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), ahead of a meeting with British Prime Minister Andy Burnham, French President Emmanuel Macron and Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan on the two-state solution and the implementation of Security Council Resolution 2803, the U.S.-backed plan to end the regional conflict. He criticized Israel’s planned expansion of the E1 settlement in the West Bank and said Canada had restricted imports of goods produced in Israeli settlements.

The UN Human Rights Office documented 1,004 cases of sexual violence against civilians and prisoners of war in Ukraine between 24 February 2022, when Russia launched its full-scale invasion, and the end of July 2026, according to the report the office published on 18 September 2026 and G1’s account. Of the total, 89 percent of the cases were attributed to Russian authorities, including members of the armed forces, the prison service and the national security service, and 11 percent to Ukrainian authorities. Most of the victims were men, particularly in places of detention, and the documented violations include gang rape, genital mutilation, electric shocks and beatings to the genitals and other degrading acts of a sexual nature. The youngest rape survivor was four years old and the oldest 82; both were perpetrated by Russian authorities. Many of the men reported electric shocks to the genitals with a Soviet-era military field telephone known as a “tapik”, a method used in 155 cases, or 27 percent of the total, against Ukrainian prisoners of war and retained medical personnel. Almost half of the violations attributed to Ukrainian authorities against Russian or third-country prisoners of war consisted of threats of sexual violence. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, said Russia, “given the high prevalence of cases attributed to its forces”, must take concrete steps to protect civilians and prisoners of war from all forms of torture, and called on both countries to investigate all credible claims. Investigators interviewed about 10 percent of the prisoners released by both sides and never had access to Russian-controlled territory, Danielle Bell, head of the UN human rights monitoring mission in Ukraine, told G1.

US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday, 22 September 2026, at the 81st United Nations General Assembly that the US Department of Justice (DOJ) will watch artificial intelligence (AI) closely and could rein the sector in if needed, according to Reuters. “We’re going to watch it closely through the Department of Justice,” he said. According to CNBC, Trump said the government will rein things in if necessary, that he is “not going to stifle growth of something that will be bigger than the Industrial Revolution,” and that the United States leads the AI race “over China by a lot.” He also said US government documents will henceforth use the term “super intelligence” instead of artificial intelligence, according to Reuters. The speech came after Anthropic researcher Jacob Coxon resigned, saying that “people building AI earnestly believe that it could kill us all by the end of the decade”; Trump has dismissed such warnings as a “hoax,” according to Reuters.

US President Donald Trump met Venezuela’s acting president, Delcy Rodríguez, in New York on Tuesday, September 22, 2026, their first encounter since the US military operation that captured Nicolás Maduro in January, according to G1, which cited Reuters and Agence France-Presse (AFP). The talks took place on the sidelines of a reception Trump hosted for foreign leaders during the UN General Assembly; Venezuela’s delegation, which includes the oil minister and representatives of state oil company Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA), is pitching the country as a destination for investment in energy, mining and public debt. Trump again called Maduro an “outlaw dictator” and cited the oil deal struck with Caracas last month, which he described as “maybe the biggest deal ever made”. The same day, the opposition party Vente Venezuela said María Corina Machado, the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize laureate, tried three times in the previous hours to return home — by boat from Panama and on flights to Aruba and Curaçao — and was blocked each time, bringing the total to seven failed attempts, according to the Spanish news agency EFE, in a report carried by ABC Color, and NTN24’s correspondent. Machado has been in Panama City since leaving Venezuela in December 2025 to collect the prize in Norway.

US President Donald Trump told CNN journalist Kaitlan Collins as he entered United Nations (UN) headquarters in New York on Tuesday morning, 22 September 2026: “You should not be here covering me. You said you weren’t going to cover me.” Collins had asked when the war with Iran would end, citing a poll that found two-thirds of Americans do not think the country is winning the conflict, and replied that the UN had credentialed the network for the event, according to CNBC, The Guardian and USA Today. The exchange came after Trump announced on Friday, 18 September 2026, that he was revoking the White House credentials of three outlets — CNN itself, MS NOW and Politico — accusing them, without pointing to specific stories, of reporting “FICTION and LIES”. The ban took effect on Saturday, 19 September, when Secret Service officers, the federal agency that protects the president, seized the press passes of journalists from the three outlets. On Monday, 21 September, the three companies sued in federal court in Washington, alleging a violation of the First Amendment; US District Judge Timothy Kelly, a Trump appointee, ordered the Justice Department to respond to the request for an injunction and scheduled a teleconference hearing for Wednesday, 23 September. Of the five television networks that share White House pool coverage — ABC, CBS, CNN, Fox News and NBC — four decided to suspend the pool, according to CNBC.

DeepSeek is among the companies invited to brief the United Nations Security Council this week on the risks posed by artificial intelligence, according to two sources familiar with the matter cited by Reuters, in a dispatch carried by The Straits Times. The 15-member council meets on Wednesday, 23 September 2026, to discuss AI and international security. The meeting is convened by France, which holds the council presidency this month, and will include OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman as well as senior Anthropic representatives, according to The Next Web. DeepSeek and other Chinese companies, including Moonshot, have been invited to make statements; DeepSeek founder Liang Wenfeng does not plan to attend, and the plan could still change. The Security Council first discussed the risks of AI in 2023, when China warned the technology should not become a “runaway horse”. UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned last week that rapidly advancing AI poses risks that cannot be ignored, a position at odds with US President Donald Trump, who argues existing safeguards are sufficient. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Monday, 21 September 2026, that the two countries agreed to hold further talks on AI safety, ahead of Trump’s meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping expected this week in Washington.

In his debut at the United Nations (UN) General Assembly on Tuesday, 22 September 2026, British Prime Minister Andy Burnham accused Russia of an “industrial-scale assault” on the information environment and of trying to interfere in the United Kingdom’s 2019 general election: “Russian agencies have used every means at their disposal to spread lies and disinformation and prey on people’s fear. They’ve used bots and fake websites. Falsified newspaper articles. Forged the branding of 28 British organisations — including universities and the BBC,” he said, according to the Daily Express and Al Jazeera. Burnham said the Kremlin spends around £ 1.3 billion each year on manipulating information and announced a new National Centre for Information Defence to detect, attribute and disrupt hostile state information attacks and identify deepfakes damaging British interests, according to Reuters, in a report published by the Global Banking & Finance Review. The body starts out under the prime minister’s office and will work with intelligence agencies, government departments, the police and social media companies, according to the Daily Express. The prime minister said the United Kingdom has already supported Moldova in protecting its elections from Russian interference and that the country is ready to lead an international effort to set standards for artificial intelligence (AI).

United Nations (UN) secretary-general António Guterres used his final address to the General Assembly on Tuesday, 22 September 2026, to call for regulation of artificial intelligence (AI), an end to wars and an overhaul of multilateral institutions, which he said “continue to reflect the power realities and interests of a largely bygone age”. “The fault lines in our world are widening,” he said, citing wars, rising temperatures and AI, and called for “a world built on interdependence”, according to France 24 and Business Day. He urged the countries leading the technological revolution to “share information on emerging safety risks, co-operate on testing and evaluation, and work towards common safeguards” and backed “a multilateral AI risk management framework, supported by credible and independent oversight”. He told the great powers to recognise “that their power isn’t so super” and said “military power alone cannot secure peace”. On the Middle East, he called for “de-escalation and dialogue”: “The fighting must stop. Humanitarian aid must flow. And navigational rights and freedoms must be fully restored in accordance with international law.” Guterres leaves office on 31 December 2026, at the end of his second five-year term, and drew a standing ovation as he defended a two-state solution for Israelis and Palestinians and said “polluters must pay”.

US president Donald Trump said on Tuesday, 22 September 2026, in his address to the 81st United Nations (UN) General Assembly that he has “a big decision to make” on Iran: whether to reach a deal that lets the country “rebuild and create a far greater country than it ever was before”, or to “annihilate the Islamic Republic and do it quickly, never giving them a chance to kill and destroy people and countries again”. He called on “all nations” to help enforce the “complete economic isolation of Iran” and said a deal is likely to come after the US midterm elections of 3 November 2026, according to The Guardian and Quartz. Trump said Iran is “waiting to see how I do in the midterm election” and dismissed the idea that the vote would shape his decision: “What they don’t realize is that I’m not running. I did that already, and won in a landslide.” He also said the United States has “more munitions than we could ever possibly even think of using”, and defended the war on Iran as a way to keep Tehran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.

The foreign ministries of Russia and Belarus said the two countries have called for 25 September 2026, on the sidelines of the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York, the ministerial meeting that launches negotiations on the Eurasian Charter of Diversity and Multipolarity in the 21st Century, according to Russia’s state agency TASS, citing the Russian ministry, and the Belarusian ministry’s press service as carried by Reform.news. The initiative is Belarusian, put forward in 2023, with Russia joining as co-author of the text. The two ministries held consultations in Minsk on 10 September 2026 to prepare the launch of the negotiations. Both governments present the document as a basis for relations among Eurasian states built on sovereignty, equality and the indivisibility of security.

French president Emmanuel Macron said on Tuesday, 22 September 2026, in his final address to the United Nations (UN) General Assembly that countries must resist a “return to the law of the jungle” in international relations, at a moment when “the rhetoric of defeat” is “giving way to abuse of power by empires”. “The question put to us, in very simple terms, is whether we want to live in this state of nature, with a kind of return to the law of the jungle, or in a civilised international society,” he said, according to France 24, which carried the speech with AFP, and DW. On Gaza, Macron hammered the rostrum and said “the scenes, the spectacle, it is shameful. Shame on all of us”: “What is our credibility worth if we remain inactive on Gaza? Some claim that peace has been achieved, but this has not opened up humanitarian deliveries.” He said respect for the “legitimate rights” of the Palestinian people is a “prerequisite for security” for Palestinians and for Israel, and that “all those who claim that Israel’s security requires the violation of the sovereignty of all of its neighboring states are making a very fateful error”. On Ukraine, he proposed a “double moratorium”: an end to strikes by both sides on energy and civilian infrastructure, and a matching commitment in the Black Sea to allow “grain shipments” to flow. “Winter is coming,” he said. Turning to artificial intelligence (AI), he called on countries to pool resources to build an “open-source frontier model” independent of “one of the great powers”: “I don’t want anyone to become the vassal of one of the great powers,” he said, naming India, Brazil, Singapore, African nations and the Gulf states as possible partners.

About 50 opposition supporters protested in Caracas on Tuesday, 22 September 2026, outside the office of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) against the participation of Venezuela’s acting president, Delcy Rodríguez, in the 81st United Nations General Assembly (UNGA). Andrés Velásquez, a former governor and leader of the La Causa R party, said Rodríguez ‘does not represent Venezuela’ and that the only point of interest for Venezuelans in her meeting with US President Donald Trump is the setting of a date for presidential elections, according to EFE and Agence France-Presse (AFP). Protesters held banners in Spanish and English against Rodríguez and against what they call US tutelage over the country.

The United Nations (UN) Security Council meets on Wednesday, September 23, 2026, to discuss artificial intelligence (AI) and international security, with China’s DeepSeek among the companies invited to brief the body, according to Reuters, which cited two people familiar with the matter. The agency reported that DeepSeek and fellow Chinese firm Moonshot were invited to make statements, that DeepSeek founder Liang Wenfeng is not expected to appear and that plans could still change at the last minute. An OpenAI spokesperson told Reuters last week that chief executive Sam Altman will brief the council in person, and diplomats expect senior Anthropic officials to take part as well, according to The Next Web. France, which holds the council’s rotating presidency this month, called the meeting, and a concept note circulated by Paris highlights the risk of malicious use of the technology and of losing control over advanced models. UN Secretary-General António Guterres said last week that the risks of rapidly advancing AI cannot be ignored, a position at odds with that of US President Donald Trump, who argues existing safeguards are enough. The council first took up the issue in 2023, when China said AI must not become a “runaway horse”.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan accused Israel on Tuesday, September 22, 2026, of holding a “genocidal mindset” toward the Palestinians in a speech at the 81st United Nations (UN) General Assembly in New York, during which the Israeli delegation walked out and Palestinian representatives applauded, according to Al Jazeera. “Despite this so-called ceasefire, more than 1,300 civilians have been murdered in Gaza,” Erdoğan said, describing the territory as “the most inhumane, most shameful concentration camp of our time” and adding that “no one with humanity, mercy or conscience can turn a blind eye”. According to Anadolu Agency, he called for Gaza’s reconstruction to begin “without wasting any time” and urged member states to increase pressure on Israel. In the same address, Erdoğan said the UN has failed to fulfil its duty to preserve peace and security and is “bleeding out” in Palestine, Lebanon and Sudan, and lamented the absence of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who was denied a US visa for the second year in a row. TRT World reports that he also accused Israel of extending its offensive to Syria, Lebanon, Yemen, Iran and Qatar.

The United States is withholding an entry visa for Sudan’s army chief, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, who was due to address the United Nations (UN) General Assembly this week, according to a Reuters report published by the Hindustan Times, which cites Sudanese sources and a Western analyst. The visa appears to have been made conditional on Burhan signing a 90-day ceasefire proposed by US Senior Advisor for Arab and African Affairs Massad Boulos. Sudan’s UN ambassador, Al-Harith Idriss Al-Harith, asked in a letter dated September 21, 2026, for Secretary-General António Guterres to intervene, arguing that preventing a head of state of a member state from attending violates the organisation’s obligations. UN spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric told Reuters that Guterres is “deeply concerned” and that the secretariat has raised the matter with US authorities. According to Reuters, foreign minister Mohieldin Salem will deliver the address instead of Burhan, who had been scheduled to speak on Thursday, September 24, 2026.

Donald Trump told reporters at United Nations headquarters in New York on Tuesday, September 22, 2026, that US officials held a roughly three-hour meeting with the Iranian delegation on the sidelines of the 81st General Assembly, which he described as “very good” and “very productive”, and that “they have another one scheduled in the very near future,” according to Al Jazeera and Middle East Eye. The announcement came hours after the president threatened at the Assembly’s opening session to “annihilate the Islamic Republic” if Tehran does not strike a deal to end the war. Neither outlet reported who took part in the meeting or where it was held.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a video posted on X on Tuesday, September 22, 2026, that he will use his address to the United Nations (UN) General Assembly, scheduled for Thursday, September 24, to defend the country’s soldiers and to “tell the truth” about New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, whom he accused of supporting Hamas and of inciting riots against the city’s Jews, according to The Jerusalem Post and The Times of India. “Shame on you, Mr. Mamdani,” Netanyahu said. “Shame on you for supporting the Hamas terrorist monsters who butchered our people.” The statement answers a CNN interview aired on Monday, September 21, in which Mamdani again called Netanyahu “a war criminal and an architect of a horrific genocide of the Palestinian people” and said the arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) against the prime minister should be honored.

Iranian lawmaker Hossein-Ali Haji Deligani said in parliament on Sunday, September 20, 2026, that a triple-urgency bill, a mechanism that allows fast-track consideration, to withdraw the country from the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) has been submitted to the presiding board and is awaiting the approval of Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf to be put to debate, according to Press TV, Mehr News and Türkiye Today. “Given the circumstances facing the country and the aggression that the enemy has launched against us on two occasions, remaining in the NPT brings us nothing but losses,” he said, citing the referral of Iran’s case to the United Nations (UN) Security Council by the 35-member Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) over alleged non-compliance with the inspections regime, a decision Russia and China opposed. The secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, Major General Mohsen Rezaei, said on Saturday, September 19, 2026, that the country remains committed to not producing nuclear weapons, but that leaving the treaty is a possibility in the face of threats from the United States and Israel. Iran International reported that similar proposals have circulated for months and that parliament’s leadership has kept them off the floor, and that neither Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei nor the Supreme National Security Council has said anything about pursuing a nuclear weapon, an option endorsed in separate remarks by hardline lawmakers.

Delegations from Iran and Cuba walked out of the hall of the 81st United Nations (UN) General Assembly in New York during Donald Trump’s speech on Tuesday, 22 September 2026, according to The Independent and The Hill. The Iranian delegation began to leave as the US president described the past six months of on-and-off military strikes against Iran, with only one person remaining seated; Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian and foreign minister Abbas Araghchi are in New York but did not enter the hall for the speech. Cuba’s delegation walked out after Trump called the country an “absolutely failed state”, said it “is failing like never before, and it will fall” and that “freedom will be coming to Cuba”. The president also accused the Cuban government of fomenting opposition in the United States; Washington has maintained an effective oil blockade since January 2026, cutting the island off from Venezuelan oil, and talks between the two countries have stalled.

Donald Trump told the opening session of the 81st United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York on Tuesday, September 22, 2026, that he has “a big decision to make” on Iran: a deal that lets Tehran rebuild, or to “annihilate the Islamic Republic and do it quickly,” according to Reuters and IANS. The US president said he expects a deal “right after the election” — the US midterms on November 3, 2026 — and called on other countries to enforce the “complete economic isolation” of Iran until it abandons its nuclear program, stops attacking commercial shipping and ends support for armed groups. He said Iran’s missile and drone manufacturing capacity is “almost gone” and that inflation in the country is “well over 300 percent,” a figure he attributed to no source.

The UN Group of Human Rights Experts on Nicaragua said on Tuesday, September 22, 2026, that the government of co-presidents Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo is responsible for the deaths in state custody of eight people detained on political grounds since 2018, among them Miskito Indigenous leader Brooklyn Rivera and Humberto Ortega, the president’s brother, according to the report released on Tuesday and reported by The Hindu. The report details contradictions in the government’s account of Rivera’s death: he spent 32 months in prison with almost no contact with his family before dying in May 2026, and the official statement attributed it to complications from an earlier COVID-19 infection, an explanation an independent assessment by Physicians for Human Rights called “not medically coherent.” The experts documented the enforced disappearance of at least 161 people since 2018 and called for information on 29 whose whereabouts remain unknown. Co-president Rosario Murillo said Rivera received medical care and family support; asked for comment, Nicaragua’s government declined to respond.

Saudi air strikes on the Red Sea port of Mokha killed at least six people as Iran-backed Houthis press their offensive in Yemen, according to France 24, citing Reuters, the Associated Press and AFP. The episode comes the same day the spokesperson for the United Nations (UN) High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Babar Baloch, said in Geneva that more than 130,000 people have already been displaced in Yemen and about 3,000 have fled to Djibouti since fighting resumed in early September, figures that could rise to 230,000 and 10,000 over the coming months, according to Middle East Eye.

A report by the United Nations (UN) special rapporteur on counterterrorism and human rights, Ben Saul, says the United States campaign of strikes on vessels suspected of drug trafficking cost US$4.7 billion by mid-2026 and did not reduce the flow of cocaine into the country: border seizures have remained steady and most of the drug arrives in shipping containers, which are rarely inspected, according to Al Jazeera. The document, published on Monday, September 21, says the 68 strikes recorded between September 2025 and August 2026 killed at least 223 people and that there are “reasonable grounds” to believe they constitute crimes against humanity of murder, according to BBC News. The report also argues that drug trafficking does not meet the legal threshold of an “armed attack” that would justify self-defence, and that less lethal alternatives such as maritime interception were available, according to ABC News. Washington maintains the operation is part of an armed conflict with designated “terrorist” organisations and is meant to keep drugs out of the country.

The United Kingdom will send a Royal Air Force (RAF) Voyager tanker aircraft to provide “defensive” air-to-air refuelling to Saudi jets against Houthi attacks, Prime Minister Andy Burnham announced on Tuesday, September 22, 2026, saying he had agreed to a Saudi request for military support. The aircraft, based at the British base of Akrotiri in Cyprus, is expected to begin operating within days and the mission is “time limited”, according to BBC News, which reports it involves a single aircraft and that the support is limited to defending the country from drones and missiles rather than backing strikes on Yemen. Defence Minister Luke Pollard told Sky News, according to Middle East Eye, that the decision is about British “national security” and that “in dangerous times, good friends stand together”. Besides the Voyager, Saudi Arabia already hosts the Sky Sabre air defence system, and the Houthis have claimed drone and ballistic missile attacks on Riyadh and on energy sites on the Red Sea coast in recent days. The announcement came the same day the United Nations (UN) Refugee Agency (UNHCR) projected that around 230,000 displaced people in Yemen and another 10,000 refugees in Djibouti may need humanitarian assistance in the coming months, according to spokesperson Babar Baloch, cited by Middle East Eye.

Yemen’s government said on Tuesday, September 22, 2026, that government forces retook two villages and a hilltop position in Al-Wazi’yah district, west of Taiz, in a counteroffensive against the Houthis, according to Arab News. This month’s Houthi offensive is the largest since the United Nations (UN)-brokered truce of April 2022 and has displaced 112,000 people, UN agencies said, cited by the Middle East Eye, which warns that up to 230,000 could be displaced if fighting intensifies. The The Guardian reports that aircraft from the Saudi-led coalition struck Houthi positions, gatherings and weapons stores west of Taiz, according to Yemeni government forces.

Russia’s deputy foreign minister, Alexander Alimov, was denied a visa to enter the United States and is not attending the United Nations (UN) General Assembly, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday, September 22, 2026, calling it “another unfriendly act”, according to G1. Peskov said the refusal contradicts US obligations as the UN host country and that Moscow will raise the case with Washington. Iran reported a similar case: its diplomacy, cited by TASS, said the United States denied visas to journalists in President Masoud Pezeshkian’s press pool. Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov travelled to New York and holds a bilateral meeting on Wednesday with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

The 81st session of the United Nations (UN) General Assembly opens its general debate on Tuesday, September 22, 2026, in New York, under the theme “Restoring trust, managing transformation: a United Nations that delivers for all”, with Secretary-General António Guterres presenting the organisation’s annual report alongside the Assembly’s president, Bangladesh’s Khalilur Rahman, according to the UN and La Voce di New York. Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva speaks first, followed by Donald Trump, in the order that gives Brazil the opening slot; Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky and Iran’s Masoud Pezeshkian, who addresses the hall on Wednesday, September 23, are among the most awaited. According to G1, Guterres will make an appeal for the UN’s own survival, as the organisation faces funding cuts and criticism led by Trump, and Lula is expected to defend multilateralism and national sovereignty. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas will speak by video after the United States denied him a visa, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has cut his New York trip down to the day of his speech, on Thursday, September 24, according to La Voce di New York.