World
Dozens of states recognize Palestine at UN, defying US and Israel
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, speaking by video link after being denied a U.S. visa, welcomed the diplomatic momentum.
A growing number of world leaders used the UN stage on Monday to formally recognize Palestinian statehood, marking a significant diplomatic shift nearly two years into the Gaza war and putting them at odds with Israel and its closest ally, the United States.
French President Emmanuel Macron announced France’s recognition of Palestine during a high-level meeting he convened with Saudi Arabia, calling the move a step toward salvaging the possibility of a two-state solution. “We must do everything within our power to preserve the very possibility of Israel and Palestine living side by side in peace and security,” Macron told delegates, drawing sustained applause.
Britain, Canada and Australia followed suit on Sunday, joining Spain, which recognized Palestine in 2024, and several smaller European nations including Luxembourg, Malta, Belgium and Monaco.
Altogether, more than three-quarters of the UN’s 193 members now recognize a Palestinian state.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, speaking by video link after being denied a U.S. visa, welcomed the diplomatic momentum.
He urged nations that have not yet acted to follow, while calling for Palestine to become a full UN member. The Palestinian Authority currently holds only observer status.
The recognitions come as Israel wages a grinding ground campaign in Gaza, launched after the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack that killed some 1,200 Israelis.
Local health authorities say more than 65,000 Palestinians have been killed in the conflict, with no ceasefire in sight. Israel’s government—the most right-wing in its history—has repeatedly ruled out the establishment of a Palestinian state.
Israel and the United States boycotted Monday’s session. Israeli Ambassador Danny Danon said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would decide on a response after consultations in Washington next week with U.S. President Donald Trump.
Israeli officials have warned that possible retaliatory steps could include annexation of parts of the occupied West Bank or bilateral measures against France.
The United States has criticized the recognition drive as premature and destabilizing, insisting Palestinian statehood must be the outcome of direct negotiations. Washington has also warned of consequences for countries taking measures against Israel.
Divisions remain within Europe.
Germany, citing its historical responsibility for the Holocaust, has said Palestinian statehood should only come at the end of a political process. Italy has called recognition “counterproductive.”
Still, advocates argue that recognition has become urgent, pointing to escalating violence in Gaza and the West Bank and warning that the window for a two-state solution is rapidly closing.
The two-state framework, first enshrined in the 1993 Oslo Accords, has been moribund for more than a decade, with no serious peace talks since 2014.
For many Palestinians, the surge in recognitions represents symbolic support at a moment of profound loss and isolation, even if full UN membership remains blocked by the U.S. veto at the Security Council.
World
Israeli attacks kill 31 Palestinians in Gaza, including children
At least 31 Palestinians, including six children, were killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza City and Khan Younis since early Saturday, according to medical sources cited by Al Jazeera.
The strikes came a day before Israel is scheduled to reopen the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt on Sunday, marking the first reopening of the border crossing since May 2024.
Gaza’s Government Media Office said that more than 500 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces since a United States-brokered ceasefire came into effect on October 10.
According to local health authorities, Israel’s military campaign in Gaza has killed at least 71,769 Palestinians and wounded 171,483 others since it began in October 2023. In Israel, at least 1,139 people were killed during the Hamas-led attacks on October 7, 2023, with approximately 250 people taken captive.
World
Guterres warns of UN’s ‘imminent financial collapse’
In his letter, Guterres said “decisions not to honour assessed contributions that finance a significant share of the approved regular budget have now been formally announced.”
The U.N. chief has told member states the organisation is at risk of “imminent financial collapse,” citing unpaid fees and a budget rule that forces the global body to return unspent money, a letter seen by Reuters on Friday showed.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has repeatedly spoken about the organisation’s worsening liquidity crisis but this is his starkest warning yet, and it comes as its main contributor the U.S. is retreating from multilateralism on numerous fronts.
“The crisis is deepening, threatening programme delivery and risking financial collapse. And the situation will deteriorate further in the near future,” Guterres wrote in a letter to ambassadors dated January 28.
The U.S. has slashed voluntary funding to U.N. agencies and refused to make mandatory payments to its regular and peacekeeping budgets.
U.S. President Donald Trump has described the U.N. as having “great potential” but said it is not fulfilling that, and he has launched a Board of Peace which some fear could undermine the older international body.
Founded in 1945, the U.N. has 193 member states and works to maintain international peace and security, promote human rights, foster social and economic development, and coordinate humanitarian aid.
In his letter, Guterres said “decisions not to honour assessed contributions that finance a significant share of the approved regular budget have now been formally announced.”
He did not say which state or states he was referring to, and a U.N. spokesperson was not immediately available for comment.
Under U.N. rules, contributions depend on the size of the economy of each member state. The U.S. accounts for 22% of the core budget followed by China with 20%.
But by the end of 2025 there was a record $1.57 billion in outstanding dues, Guterres said, without naming the nations that owed them.
“Either all Member States honour their obligations to pay in full and on time – or Member States must fundamentally overhaul our financial rules to prevent an imminent financial collapse,” he said.
U.N. officials say the U.S. currently owes $2.19 billion to the regular U.N. budget, another $1.88 billion for active peace-keeping missions and $528 million for past peace-keeping missions.
The U.S. State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the Guterres letter.
Guterres launched a reform task force last year, known as UN80, which seeks to cut costs and improve efficiency. To that end, states agreed to cut the 2026 budget by around 7% to $3.45 billion.
Still, Guterres warned in the letter that the organisation could run out of cash by July.
One of the problems is a rule now seen as antiquated whereby the global body has to credit back hundreds of millions of dollars in unspent dues to states each year.
“In other words, we are trapped in a Kafkaesque cycle expected to give back cash that does not exist,” said Guterres, referring to author Franz Kafka who wrote about oppressive bureaucratic processes.
World
Man sprays U.S. lawmaker Ilhan Omar with liquid, disrupting Minnesota event
Police arrested a man who sprayed Democratic U.S. Representative Ilhan Omar with a foul-smelling liquid in Minneapolis on Tuesday as she condemned the actions of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials in Minnesota.
Omar, the frequent target of political insults from President Donald Trump, was uninjured. A security guard immediately grabbed the man and took him to the ground, according to a Reuters witness and video of the town hall event, Reuters reported.
Police said they arrested the man for third-degree assault.
In her remarks, Omar was criticizing ICE and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, demanding that Noem resign after the recent shooting deaths of two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis during Trump’s immigration enforcement surge.
“ICE cannot be reformed, it cannot be rehabilitated, we must abolish ICE for good, and DHS Secretary Kristi Noem must resign or face impeachment,” Omar said, to applause.
Moments later, a man seated in a front row stepped toward her and sprayed her with the contents of what police described as a syringe, telling Omar, “You must resign.”
Omar defiantly took a few steps toward him, with her hand raised, before he was subdued.
She continued her remarks after a short break, resisting associates’ urging to seek medical attention, saying she just needed a napkin. Her office later issued a statement saying she was OK.
Forensic scientists were gathering evidence at the scene, Minneapolis police said in a statement.
A Reuters witness said the liquid smelled of ammonia and caused minor throat irritation.
“I learned at a young age, you don’t give in to threats,” Omar told the audience, after refusing to suspend the event. “You look them in the face and you stand strong.”
Trump has repeatedly targeted Omar in public remarks and social media posts, also taking aim at her Somali nationality.
“Ilhan Omar is garbage,” Trump said during a cabinet meeting in December. “She’s garbage. Her friends are garbage.”
Omar, 43, came to the United States as a 12-year-old girl and became a U.S. citizen in 2000.
On Tuesday, U.S. Capitol Police said its threat assessment cases rose in 2025 for the third year in a row, spiking nearly 58% from 2024.
In 2025, it investigated 14,938 instances of statements, behavior, and communications directed against members of Congress, their families, staff, and the Capitol complex, it added, up from 9,474 in 2024.
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