An independent human rights expert has urged the international community to reject the electoral process organised by Myanmar’s military government, after the first round of voting revealed widespread coercion, exclusion and violence.

Read the full story, “Myanmar vote a ‘facade’ to entrench military rule, independent rights expert says”, on globalissues.org →

UNITED NATIONS, January 8 (IPS) - As Sudan approaches 1,000 days of civil war, late December and early January saw a brutal escalation of violence, with drone strikes hitting areas at the center of the country’s deepening hunger crisis.

Read the full story, “Sudan’s War Nears 1,000 Days as Violence and Hunger Reach Unprecedented Levels”, on globalissues.org →

MOSCOW, January 8 (IPS) - Squeezed between import substitution and dependency syndrome, a condition characterized by a set of associated economic symptoms—that is rules and regulations—majority of African countries are shifting from United States and Europe to an incoherent alternative bilateral partnerships with Russia, China and the Global South.

Read the full story, “Africa Squeezed Between Import Substitution and Dependency Syndrome”, on globalissues.org →

KARACHI, Pakistan, January 8 (IPS) - As 2026 dawns, women in Pakistan are left grappling with a stark reality: rape and marital rape continue to be misinterpreted by judges in the country’s highest courts.

Read the full story, “Consent Ignored, Convictions Rare: Pakistan’s Courts Under Fire”, on globalissues.org →

Progress continues to be made towards eliminating remnants of the chemical weapons programme in Syria that was developed under the Assad regime, the UN Security Council heard on Thursday.

Read the full story, “Syria signals renewed cooperation on chemical weapons destruction”, on globalissues.org →