Resolution 2785 extends the mandate of the UN Integrated Office in Haiti for six and a half months, until January 31, 2026. It expresses the council’s intention to consider the UN secretary-general’s February 2025 recommendations on options for the possible role of the United Nations in Haiti, notably regarding the establishment of a UN support office to provide logistical and operational support to the multinational police force in Haiti.
Resolution 2786 extends for six and a half months the mandate of the UN Mission to support the Hudaydah Agreement (UNMHA) until January 28, 2026.
The resolution expresses the council’s intention to review the full range of options for UNMHA’s mandate, including assessing the future viability and sunsetting of the mission, and make any necessary adjustments to gain efficiencies and reduce costs or otherwise as may be required by developments on the ground, including a durable nationwide ceasefire.
It requests UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to present to the Security Council a further review of UNMHA before November 28, 2025.
Trump announced an agreement with NATO regarding weapons to assist Ukraine while meeting NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte in the Oval Office.
The plan will rapidly provide Ukraine with the most sophisticated air defenses and precision missiles, Trump said.
“We are going to be sending them weapons and they’re going to be paying for them,” said Trump, adding that the United States will manufacture those weapons.
Rutte described the arrangement as highly significant, suggesting this demonstrates that Europe is taking on a greater role.
Under the agreement, governments of Germany, Finland, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Canada will finance bulk purchases from U.S. manufacturers and ship the equipment directly to Kiev.
Regarding Russia, Trump said, “We’re going to be doing very severe tariffs if we don’t have a deal in 50 days.” There will be “secondary tariffs” of about 100 percent, he said.
U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick clarified later that Trump meant “economic sanction” when he threatened “secondary tariffs” against Russia if it did not reach a deal to end the war in Ukraine within 50 days.
To that end, Trump backed bipartisan legislation — already supported by most U.S. senators — that will sanction banks and energy traders buying Russian oil above the G7 price cap and freeze Russian sovereign assets until Moscow withdraws its forces.
Speaking to reporters after the Oval Office meeting, Trump said that the deal with the NATO allies was done and fully approved.
“We’ll send them a lot of weapons of all kinds,” Trump said. “And they’re going to deliver those weapons immediately to the site, to the site of the war, different sites of the war, and they’re going to pay for 100 percent of them.”
New York-based defense analysts told the Wall Street Journal that the first wave of supplies could exceed 10 billion U.S. dollars once training, spare parts and munitions are counted. A single Patriot battery alone can reportedly cost over 1 billion dollars when factoring in missiles.
Brookings Institution Senior Fellow Michael O’Hanlon characterized the combined military and economic measures as the most significant U.S. escalation since 2022, saying that the dual approach increases pressure on Russia from multiple directions.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on social media that he spoke with Trump and “it was a very good conversation.”
“Thank you for the willingness to support Ukraine and to continue working together to stop the killings and establish a lasting and just peace,” said the Ukrainian president.
The Russian Foreign Ministry warned that supplying longer-range missiles will make Europe a participant in aggression, according to Tass news agency. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov accused Washington of escalating the conflict but did not announce specific countermeasures.
Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev on Tuesday called Trump’s statements against Russia a “theatrical ultimatum” and the country “didn’t care.”
“Trump issued a theatrical ultimatum to the Kremlin. The world shuddered, expecting the consequences. Belligerent Europe was disappointed. Russia didn’t care,” Medvedev wrote on X.
German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said Berlin will coordinate with allies on deliveries. However, some German lawmakers expressed concern that sending Taurus cruise missiles could provoke Moscow, reported German newspaper Die Welt.
The plan could force Russia to reconsider the security of its rear areas, since assets previously considered safe may now be at risk, RAND Corporation military analyst Dara Massicot told the Washington Post.
Developed by the U.S.-based company Gilead Sciences, Lenacapavir underwent Phase III trials, with key interim results reported in June and September 2024. The results demonstrated that the drug was 99.9% effective in preventing HIV infection. It received FDA approval for HIV prevention in June 2025.
Dr. Meg Doherty, Director of Global HIV, Hepatitis, and STI Programs at the World Health Organisation (WHO) in Geneva, highlighted the significance of this new prevention method at the ongoing conference in Kigali.
“Lenacapavir PrEP is a really important innovation that can be taken every six months to prevent new HIV infections,” said Dr. Doherty. “We are pleased to bring new WHO guidelines on this long-acting injectable prevention option to the IAS meeting here in Kigali.”
The new WHO guidelines also recommend the use of rapid diagnostic tests to simplify and improve access to PrEP before, during, and after treatment. This helps in efficiently monitoring infections.
The Global Fund and the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF) have committed to supplying lenacapavir to at least nine early adopter countries starting in early 2026, with Rwanda currently engaged in discussions on how to access and roll out the drug.
“The medicine will be provided free of charge initially, but countries will need to invest in healthcare workers and delivery systems to support its distribution,” Dr. Doherty explained. “Over time, prices are expected to be comparable to or slightly above current oral PrEP costs.”
The initial global target is to reach two million users per year, with plans to expand coverage based on demand and forecasting.
The injectable is expected to be especially impactful among populations with high HIV transmission rates, including men who have sex with men, sex workers, transgender people, prisoners, as well as adolescent girls, young women, and pregnant women.
“This intervention could be a game-changer in reducing HIV infections in key populations and vulnerable groups,” Dr. Doherty said.
Rwanda has made remarkable strides in the fight against HIV/AIDS. According to the Ministry of Health (MINISANTE), the latest data shows only 7 out of every 100 daily deaths in Rwanda are HIV-related, down from 20 a decade ago.
Rwanda has surpassed the United Nations 95-95-95 targets by reaching 96% of people living with HIV knowing their status, 98% of those on treatment, and 98% achieving viral suppression, which effectively prevents onward transmission.
Minister of Health Dr. Sabin Nsanzimana told IGIHE that Rwanda is already transitioning from daily multi-pill regimens to simpler treatments, including monthly pills and now long-acting injectables like lenacapavir.
“We are moving from multiple daily pills to once-a-day dosing and soon to monthly or bi-annual injections. This shift aligns with our national HIV strategy and promises to improve adherence and health outcomes,” Dr. Nsanzimana said.
The IAS Conference on HIV Science is the world’s premier forum for sharing cutting-edge HIV research and innovations.
The 2025 edition, themed “Breakthroughs amid Crisis: the Future of HIV Innovation,” gathers about 4,000 global experts focused on accelerating equitable access to new prevention and treatment options despite funding challenges.
Industrial parks have been instrumental in boosting investment, increasing exports, and expanding job creation across the country. Rwanda is currently home to over 1,300 industries, the majority of which are small and medium-sized enterprises.
A recent report by the Office of the Auditor General for the fiscal year ending June 2024 noted that eight industrial parks remain underutilized due to inadequate basic infrastructure.
Appearing before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), Antoine Marie Kajangwe, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Trade and Industry, said that a feasibility study estimated the total cost of fully developing all industrial parks to be over $130 million, a figure that cannot be mobilized at once.
“We reached an agreement with MINECOFIN and other relevant institutions to proceed with a strategic and phased development. Over the next five years, we will focus on completing infrastructure in four priority industrial parks,” Kajangwe said.
The parks prioritized in the initial phase are located in Musanze, Rwamagana, Muhanga, and Bugesera.
“For the 2025/26 fiscal year, we have secured Frw 10 billion to support infrastructure development in these four sites, including compensation for affected residents where resettlement is necessary,” he added.
Currently, Rwanda hosts eight industrial parks and two Special Economic Zones, one in Bugesera and the other in Kigali.
Since 2017, industrial output has tripled from Frw 591 billion to Frw 1.68 trillion, driven largely by value-added manufacturing.
To date, more than 230 factories are fully operational within the industrial parks, while an additional 98 are still under construction.
Employment in the industrial sector has also grown significantly, with the workforce increasing from 180,000 in 2017 to 259,000 in 2024.
In the 2023/2024 fiscal year alone, the manufacturing sector contributed more than Frw 495 billion in tax revenues.
Organised by the International Astronautical Federation (IAF) in partnership with the Rwanda Space Agency (RSA), the conference will take place in Kigali from June 2 to 4, 2026.
Held under the theme “Uniting Space and Earth for Climate Resilience,” GLOC 2026 aims to foster global dialogue on how space-based solutions can help address the pressing challenges of climate change.
The event will provide a platform for discussions on programmatic, technical, and policy issues related to climate adaptation, sustainability, and resilience.
The conference is expected to attract participants from around the world, including representatives from space agencies, governments, academia, private industry, non-governmental organisations, and institutions involved in climate-related work.
By bridging the space and climate communities, GLOC 2026 will facilitate knowledge sharing, innovation, and collaboration aimed at advancing global climate goals.
Among the key topics to be discussed are climate adaptation and resilience, greenhouse gas monitoring, the use of artificial intelligence for climate solutions, disaster and emergency management, access to space-based data and services, and the role of policy and governance in achieving climate targets.
The conference will also address investment opportunities in climate technologies, as well as education, outreach, and international cooperation.
As part of the lead-up to the event, the IAF has launched a call for abstracts, encouraging researchers, professionals, and institutions to submit proposals for presentation. Selected abstracts will be featured in interactive sessions during the conference.
Submissions are open until November 7, 2025, with further details available on the official GLOC 2026 website at [www.gloc2026.org->www.gloc2026.org].
GLOC 2026 follows the inaugural edition of the conference, which was held in Oslo, Norway, from May 23 to 25, 2023. The event, themed “Fire and Ice – Space for Climate Action,” brought together over 600 participants from 45 countries and laid the foundation for an ongoing series of global conversations on space and climate change.
According to AFC/M23 spokesperson Lawrence Kanyuka, the killings took place on July 12, 2025, in the Cirunga, Kabare territory.
“These forces killed four of our compatriots from the Cirunga area. These actions clearly demonstrate the regime’s disregard for the ongoing peace talks and its aggressive intentions,” he posted on X.
Civil society actors operating in Kabare confirmed that among the victims were two primary school teachers from Kabare 1 Primary School. The teachers had just returned from a national examination center in the Canya area.
Kanyuka further alerted both the national and international community about the ongoing massacres being carried out by the coalition forces of the Kinshasa regime, as well as the deployment of its troops and heavy weapons near their positions.
AFC/M23 has warned of the possibility of renewed fighting if the ongoing peace talks between the group and the Congolese government, currently taking place in Qatar, do not yield results.
In the past decade since the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development was adopted, notable global achievements have been made in health, education, energy and digital connectivity, said “The Sustainable Development Goals Report 2025.”
New HIV infections have declined by nearly 40 percent since 2010. Malaria prevention has averted 2.2 billion cases and saved 12.7 million lives since 2000. Social protection now reaches over half the world’s population, up significantly from a decade ago. Since 2015, 110 million more children and youth have entered school. Child marriage is in decline, with more girls staying in school and women gaining ground in parliaments around the world, the report said.
In 2023, 92 percent of the world’s population had access to electricity. Internet use has surged from 40 percent in 2015 to 68 percent in 2024. Conservation efforts have doubled protection of key ecosystems, contributing to global biodiversity resilience, the report said.
However, the pace of change remains insufficient to meet the SDGs by 2030.
More than 800 million people still live in extreme poverty. Billions still lack access to safe drinking water, sanitation and hygiene services. Climate change pushed 2024 to be the hottest year on record. Conflicts caused nearly 50,000 deaths in 2024. By the end of that year, over 120 million people were forcibly displaced. Low- and middle-income countries faced record-high debt servicing costs of 1.4 trillion U.S. dollars in 2023, according to the report.
The document called for action across six priority areas — food systems, energy access, digital transformation, education, jobs and social protection, and climate and biodiversity action.
“We are in a global development emergency — an emergency measured in the over 800 million people still living in extreme poverty, in intensifying climate impacts, and in relentless debt service, draining the resources that countries need to invest in their people,” said UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres at the launch of the report.
“Today’s report shows that the Sustainable Development Goals are still within reach. But only if we act — with urgency, unity, and unwavering resolve,” he said.
When introducing the report, UN Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs Li Junhua called for “urgent multilateralism” to address the lack of progress in the SDGs.
“The challenges we face are inherently global and interconnected. No country, regardless of its wealth or capacity, can address climate change, pandemic preparedness or inequality alone. The 2030 Agenda represents our collective recognition that our destinies are intertwined and that sustainable development is not a zero-sum game, but a shared endeavor that benefits all,” said Li.
“This moment demands what I call ‘urgent multilateralism’ — a renewed commitment to international cooperation based on evidence, equity and mutual accountability. It means treating the SDGs not as aspirational goals but as non-negotiable commitments to current and future generations,” he said.
The event, themed “Breakthroughs amid Crisis: the Future of HIV Innovation,” has convened about 4,000 participants, including global leaders, researchers, scientists, and civil society members.
Speaking at the conference, Rwandan Minister of Health Sabin Nsanzimana said that Rwanda’s experience in the HIV response over the past few decades demonstrates what is possible when countries prioritize people-centered approaches and invest in strategic partnerships.
“We have better tools for prevention and treatment. We have better ways to engage our communities to fight stigma and discrimination, and better integration within our systems. This means we can not only achieve HIV control, but we also need to strengthen our health systems,” he added.
IAS President Beatriz Grinsztein underlined new World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines, groundbreaking licensing agreements, and promising research as signs that long-acting HIV prevention and treatment options are becoming more feasible for widespread use.
“Our next challenge is clear: leaders must commit the funding and resources needed to integrate these scientific advances into health systems quickly and equitably so that people everywhere can benefit from these life-changing options,” Grinsztejn emphasized.
At the event, the WHO issued a statement announcing new guidelines that recommend using injectable lenacapavir twice a year as an additional pre-exposure prophylaxis option for HIV prevention — a landmark policy action that could help reshape the global HIV response.
“While an HIV vaccine remains elusive, lenacapavir is the next best thing: a long-acting antiretroviral shown in trials to prevent almost all HIV infections among those at risk,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus is quoted as saying in the statement.
The IAS Conference on HIV Science is recognized as the world’s most influential meeting on HIV research and its applications.
Its 2025 edition, which runs until Thursday, features hundreds of sessions and presentations focused on translating scientific breakthroughs into real-world impact, with a particular emphasis on solutions for regions and populations most affected by HIV.
Ababu Namwamba, Kenya’s permanent representative to the United Nations (UN) Office at Nairobi and the UN Environment Program, said that eradicating all forms of environmental crimes is urgent to place Africa on a path of renewal, resilient growth and stability.
“We want to see action against environmental crimes in Africa to be at the center of our conversation around sustainability, climate action and biodiversity protection,” Namwamba said.
Giovanni Broussard, acting head and Africa coordinator for the UN Office on Drugs and Crime Global Program on Crimes that Affect the Environment, said that Africa has borne the brunt of illegal actions against nature, amid threats to tourism, heritage pride and ecosystems’ resilience.
In the last two decades, the continent has grappled with poaching of iconic species such as elephants, rhinos and pangolins, with illegal logging being rampant as well, Broussard observed.
“We also see a lot of smuggling of waste that generally comes from the Western world and then dumped illegally on landfills in parts of Africa,” Broussard noted, adding that unregulated fishing and extraction of critical minerals threaten environmental sustainability on the continent.
Fred Boltz, head of the Programming Division at the Global Environment Facility, said that partnerships, innovative financing and community engagement are key to revitalizing action on environmental crimes in Africa, enhancing the resilience of nature and societies.
Hospital officials highlighted these figures on July 14, 2025, during an explanation of discrepancies noted in the report by the Auditor General of State Finances for the year ending in June 2024. The report raised issues such as the purchase of various items at inflated prices, sometimes doubling the expected cost.
Brother Charles Nkubiri, the Director-General of CARAES Ndera, told members of the The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) that the hospital’s primary procurement, such as for medication, was based on projections.
However, the fluctuating number of patients made it difficult to predict the exact needs, as the number of patients could either increase or decrease unexpectedly.
“When patient numbers rise, you need more beds, more medication, and in some cases, even more staff.” The number of hospital staff increased by 18% in 2024 due to the rise in patients.
Brother Nkubiri also shared that the hospital received 94,000 patients in 2023, while in 2024, the number surpassed 101,000.
“As you can see, patient numbers are steadily increasing. Essentially, CARAES Ndera needs to expand and develop further. We were once at the level of a district hospital, but now we are a teaching hospital that also provides medical care, and this requires growth to meet the demand and align with available resources,” he explained.
Currently, CARAES Ndera is operating at 116% capacity, with patients often facing delays in payments for services rendered.
Brother Nkubiri shared the difficulties, stating, “A person brings a patient, calling it an act of kindness, and you thank them for bringing the patient. But then, you ask, ‘Who will pay for the services provided?’ They often reply, ‘The district will cover it,’ but the payment ends up delayed.”
He emphasized the need for detailed planning and modernization of the hospital’s infrastructure to bring it up to the desired level. “A thorough study is needed to build modern facilities. Just like Kigali University Teaching Hospital [CHUK] is relocating to a larger space in Masaka, Ndera should not be left behind. Built in 1968, it needs to expand in line with the growth of Kigali,” he added.
Nkubiri also noted that nearly 45% of the hospital’s patients come from Kigali. “As Kigali grows, so does the number of patients treated at the hospital, and nearly half of them are from this city. Just look at how much Kigali has expanded since 1968,” he stated.
He also pointed out that the hospital has seen a significant increase in mental health patients following the COVID-19 pandemic, although the rise did not reach the global average of 30%.
“Globally, COVID-19 increased mental health issues by 30%, and we saw a similar but slightly lower rise. Cases of severe depression, anxiety, and PTSD increased significantly,” he explained.
