(UN News)* — Israeli airstrikes took place within the UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon’s (UNIFIL) area of operations, the mission said in a statement issued on Friday [].
The strikes come as the Lebanese Armed Forces continue operations to control unauthorised weapons and infrastructure in south Lebanon a year after a cessation of hostilities was announced in the country.
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“We urge the Israel Defense Forces to avail of the liaison and coordination mechanisms available to them,” UNIFIL said. “We caution Lebanese actors against any reaction that could aggravate the situation further.”
(Stockholm) Revenues from sales of arms and military services by the 100 largest arms-producing companies rose by 5.9 per cent in 2024, reaching a record $679 billion, according to new data released on 1 December 2025 by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), available at www.sipri.org.
The Lockheed Martin and Rheinmetall partnered Global Mobile Artillery Rocket System (GMARS) live fired for the first time at White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico, August 2025. Photo: US Army
Global arms revenues rose sharply in 2024, as demand was boosted by the wars in Ukraine and Gaza, global and regional geopolitical tensions, and ever-higher military expenditure.
For the first time since 2018, all of the five largest arms companies increased their arms revenues.
UNITED NATIONS, Dec 5 2025 (IPS)* –– President Donald Trump’s recent announcement to resume nuclear testing rekindles nightmares of a bygone era where military personnel and civilians were exposed to devastating radioactive fallouts.
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A nuclear test is carried out on an island in French Polynesia in 1971. Credit: CTBTO
In the five decades between 1945 and the opening for the signature of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) in 1996, over 2,000 nuclear tests were carried out all over the world. The United States conducted 1,032 tests between 1945 and 1992.
(UN News)* —A record seizure of cocaine off the coast of Haiti has underlined the island nation’s “pivotal role in trafficking routes linking South America, the Caribbean and the United States of America,” according to the United Nations.
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UN Photo/Victoria Hazou | A package of cocaine seized in Haiti is put on show. (file)
Haiti is in the grip of a security crisis as gangs battle for control of territory in the capital and beyond while continuing to expand their criminal activities.
(UN News)*– The humanitarian crisis in Sudan’s El Fasher remains dire as mass displacement accelerates and aid access stays restricted, amid warnings of widespread trafficking, sexual violence and the recruitment of children.
UN agencies say conditions are deteriorating further across North Darfur and neighbouring Kordofan, while independent human rights experts on Thursday warned that the collapse of protection following the city’s fall has sharply increased the risks facing women and children.
Donors provided lowest aid funding ever in 2025, since country created in 2011.
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Nadia Zahad, a refugee from the Sudan war stands outside her makeshift home in Renk, South Sudan. (Photo: Herison Philip Osfaldo/Oxfam)
Almost 6 million people – nearly half of the population – in South Sudan are experiencing acute hunger, with little access to clean water or sanitation as funding cuts have stripped away vital humanitarian support just as it is needed the most, Oxfam on 26 November warned.
(UN News)* —The UN human rights office, OHCHR said on Friday [] that it was “appalled” by the “brazen killing” of two Palestinian men by Israeli border police in the West Bank, describing it as “an apparent summary execution.
The shooting occurred on Thursday [] in Jenin and was apparently caught on film by a TV channel, OHCHR Spokesperson Jeremy Laurence told journalists in Geneva.
New report warns more children are at risk of falling into poverty as global funding cuts, conflict and climate threaten access to services crucial for health and wellbeing.
UNICEF/UNI630167/Frank Dejongh
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NEW YORK – More than 1 in 5 children in low- and middle-income countries – or 417 million – are severely deprived in at least two vital areas critical for their health, development, and wellbeing, according to UNICEF’s flagship report issued on World Children’s Dayobserved on 20 November 2025.
(UN News)* — Seventeen civilians, including women in labour and patients receiving care, were slaughtered inside a Catholic Church-run health centre in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) last week.
The UN described it as one of the most appalling attacks in a new wave of violence by the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), an armed extremist rebel group.
Four wards housing patients were set ablaze during the assault in Byambwe, a remote community about 60 kilometres west of Lubero in the restive North Kivu province, which has been plagued by fighting between a plethora of armed groups and national security forces for years.