Flak jackets and final goodbyes: Lebanon’s first responders under fire

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21 May 2026

In Lebanon, the same fears and dangers persist despite ceasefire: UNHCR

Recent attacks killed two Lebanese Red Cross volunteers: Youssef Assaf, who died during a rescue operation on 9 March, and Hassan Badawi, killed in a drone strike on 12 April.

According to the UN World Health Organization (WHO), there have been 169 confirmed attacks on healthcare workers and facilities in Lebanon, resulting in 116 deaths.

Lebanese authorities say more than 3,000 people have been killed since hostilities escalated in March, with violence continuing despite the ceasefire. Hezbollah fighters based in Lebanon began shelling Israeli communities shortly after the Israeli-US bombing of Iran began; exchanges of fire continue today, with media reports indicating that 21 Israeli soldiers have been killed since 2 March.

UN News spoke with Thameen Al-Kheetan, spokesperson for the UN human rights office, OHCHR; Tommaso Della Longa, spokesperson for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC); and Ali Saad from the Lebanese Red Cross. All of them agree on one thing: that first responders should never be targets.

Aid workers caught in the crossfire

From a human rights perspective, deliberately targeting medical personnel constitutes a war crime. According to OHCHR’s Mr. Al-Kheetan, the international community must do more to ensure the protection of healthcare workers in all conflicts.

The office “has documented cases where Israeli forces launched attacks involving direct strikes on civilians, including medical personnel,” he maintained, stressing that such attacks are not unprecedented, pointing to similar patterns previously documented in Gaza and in other conflicts around the world.

© UNICEF/Fouad Choufany
A residential neighbourhood in Beirut, Lebanon shows the signs of missile attacks. (file)

A ‘shocking’ sight

Describing a recent visit to Lebanon, IFRC’s Mr. Della Longa recalled the jarring sight of Red Cross volunteers putting on flak jackets and helmets before heading out to save lives.

“What shocked me most,” he said, “was seeing Lebanon lose people who are committed to humanity and to serving others.”

Mr. Della Longa explained that the details and location of Youssef Assaf and Hassan Badawi’s mission had been shared with the warring parties. They were also travelling in ambulances clearly marked with the Red Cross insignia when they were killed.

‘They are not just numbers’

“Behind every paramedic or volunteer killed, there is a family – they are not just numbers,” he said. “Hassan had a pregnant wife and a son waiting for him at home.”

For Mr. Della Longa, “hitting an ambulance and killing a humanitarian worker means weakening entire communities.”

He renewed the call for the international community to respect and protect civilians, humanitarian workers, and medical transports in accordance with international law.

© UNHCR/Houssam Hariri
Rescue workers desal with the aftermath of a missile attack on a neighbourhood in Beirut. (file)

Deconfliction failing on the ground

To help protect rescue teams, the Lebanese Red Cross works with the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), sharing coordinates and ensuring that all belligerents are informed of the paramedics’ whereabouts. This vital work is known as deconfliction, explained Mr. Saad, a liaison coordinator with the Lebanese Red Cross.

But even with all these measures in place, rescuers have still been targeted.

“This is why the Red Cross volunteers hug each other and say goodbye before every mission,” he explained.

The killing of Youssef Assaf and Hassan Badawi still haunts their volunteer colleagues who have had no explanation why they were targeted. Such attacks – and the killing of Lebanese journalist Amal Khalil on 22 April – are evidence of a “double tap” trend which is increasing, insisted Mr. Saad.

Killed carrying a stretcher

Hassan Badawi was killed in a strike while stepping out of an ambulance with a stretcher during a rescue mission in southern Lebanon, Mr. Saad said, “a drone attacked him directly leaving 300 pieces of shrapnel in his body.”

Given UNIFIL’s key deconfliction role, their impending drawdown and withdrawal from Lebanon next year is unthinkable, the Red Cross worker says: “I don’t know who will support us, but UNIFIL truly, they were international witnesses on what is going on. They might not stop the war or provide a security umbrella, but they were the only true witness to this situation.”

In the meantime, the 5,000 Red Cross volunteers will continue to go on mission and risk their lives. They can access zones located in the so-called “yellow line” – a no-go zone inside southern Lebanon created by the Israeli military last month – but cannot enter battlefield zones near the border, not even to pick up dead bodies.

“They are not military people, their only weapon is a bandage and helping people,” which should be good enough reason to protect them, Mr. Saad insists.

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When Workday Isn’t Enough: The Benefits Reconciliation Gap That HR Leaders Underestimate

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21 May 2026

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When Workday Isn’t Enough: The Benefits Reconciliation Gap That HR Leaders Underestimate

Hiring, business communication – artistic impression. Image credit: aleksandarlittlewolf via Freepik, free license

Workday has become the operational backbone of HR at thousands of mid-size and enterprise organizations. Its reach across payroll, talent management, and benefits administration is genuinely impressive — and that reach creates a dangerous assumption. Because Workday touches benefits data, many organizations conclude that Workday manages benefits data. Those are not the same thing.

Effective Workday integration for benefits administration is more architecturally complex than most HR leaders anticipate. Data doesn’t simply move from Workday to a carrier and arrive intact. It is translated, reformatted, and validated against rules that vary by carrier, by plan type, and by transaction category. Each of those steps introduces risk that the platform itself has no mechanism to detect or correct.

The distinction matters most at the point where employer records meet carrier records. Benefits enrollment data doesn’t live in one system. It originates in Workday, travels through middleware or direct feeds, and lands inside carrier platforms that operate on entirely different data models, validation rules, and update cycles. The accuracy of what arrives — and whether it matches what was sent — depends on integration architecture that Workday alone does not control. Organizations that have invested in connecting these systems often discover, too late, that connection and accuracy are not the same guarantee.

The Architectural Reality Behind Benefits Data Flows

Workday’s benefits module is designed to manage enrollment events, eligibility rules, and plan configurations within its own environment. It does this well. What it cannot do — by design — is guarantee that data transmitted to external carrier systems arrives accurately, is interpreted correctly, or is reflected in the carrier’s membership records without error.

Most large organizations transmit benefits enrollment data via EDI 834 files, either generated directly from Workday or produced by a benefits administration platform that sits downstream. Either path introduces translation risk. Workday stores data in its own schema. Carriers consume data according to their own implementation guides. Between those two endpoints, data is mapped, transformed, and reformatted — and every transformation is an opportunity for misalignment.

The problem compounds when organizations run multiple carriers across medical, dental, vision, and supplemental lines. Each carrier operates its own validation logic. A field that satisfies one carrier’s requirements may fail silently at another. Workday has no visibility into those downstream validation outcomes. It records the transaction as complete when the file leaves its environment — regardless of what happens next.

What “Integration” Actually Means in Practice

The word integration carries an implicit promise of seamlessness. In benefits administration, seamlessness is rare. What most organizations have is a connection — data moves from point A to point B — but connection and accuracy are fundamentally different dimensions of the same problem.

A functional Workday-to-carrier integration means that enrollment files transmit on schedule. It does not mean that every member record in Workday has a corresponding, accurate record at the carrier. It does not mean that plan codes, dependent relationships, and effective dates are interpreted identically by both parties. And it does not mean that terminations and life event changes are processed within the window that governs coverage continuity.

The gap between transmission and accuracy is precisely where reconciliation should operate. Most organizations understand this in principle. Fewer have built the infrastructure to act on it consistently, and fewer still have defined clear accountability for what happens when the two sides of that gap don’t align.

The Reconciliation Problem Workday Doesn’t Solve

Reconciliation — the systematic comparison of employer records against carrier records — is the discipline that closes the loop. It surfaces discrepancies before they become claims denials, billing overcharges, or compliance findings. It is also a discipline that Workday’s native functionality does not perform.

Workday can report on what it has recorded. It cannot independently query carrier systems, ingest carrier membership files, match records across different identifier structures, and surface the delta between what was sent and what was confirmed. That capability requires purpose-built reconciliation infrastructure — either through a dedicated platform, a benefits administration layer with reconciliation functionality, or a managed service that performs this work on behalf of the employer.

The consequences of skipping this step are predictable. Premium billing discrepancies emerge as carriers charge for members whose terminations weren’t processed, or omit members whose enrollments weren’t accepted. Coverage gaps appear when enrollment files fail validation and employees assume they’re covered when they are not. Dependent audit exposure grows as carrier records diverge from what plan documents actually authorize.

Where Discrepancies Hide and How They Compound

Benefits data discrepancies don’t announce themselves. They accumulate. A single failed enrollment during onboarding creates a member who exists in Workday but not at the carrier. If that failure isn’t surfaced and corrected promptly, every subsequent change transaction for that member — a plan switch, a dependent addition, a salary-based tier change — operates on a carrier record that doesn’t exist. The error doesn’t resolve; it deepens with each passing cycle.

Open enrollment periods accelerate this dynamic considerably. High transaction volumes, compressed processing windows, and manual overrides create conditions where validation gaps multiply faster than they can be reviewed. Organizations that emerge from open enrollment without a structured reconciliation process routinely carry discrepancy rates that would surprise their leadership — and that will surface eventually, typically at the worst possible moment, when a claim is denied or an audit is initiated.

The compounding effect extends to billing. Many employers reconcile carrier invoices against Workday records manually, using spreadsheet comparisons that are labor-intensive, error-prone, and always retrospective. By the time a billing discrepancy is identified, several invoice cycles may have passed. Recovery is possible but expensive, and the root cause — the original enrollment failure — often remains unaddressed while the downstream consequences continue to grow.

The Compliance Dimension Most Organizations Underweight

Benefits eligibility errors are not purely operational problems. They carry regulatory weight that escalates quickly. Under ERISA, plan administrators have fiduciary obligations to ensure that eligible employees receive the benefits they are entitled to under plan documents. Coverage gaps caused by integration failures do not exempt employers from those obligations — they create potential breach exposure that can follow an organization through litigation or regulatory review.

ACA compliance adds a second layer of risk. Applicable large employers must offer minimum essential coverage to eligible employees within mandated timeframes. If an enrollment transaction fails between Workday and a carrier and coverage isn’t activated, the employer may face excise tax liability regardless of whether the failure was technical or administrative in origin. The regulatory framework does not distinguish between intent and outcome.

HIPAA’s accuracy requirements for protected health information introduce a third dimension. Enrollment data is health data. Transmitting inaccurate enrollment records, maintaining mismatched member files, or failing to process timely terminations all carry PHI compliance implications that benefits technology teams sometimes underestimate relative to the attention given to cybersecurity controls.

Conclusion

Workday is a powerful platform. It is not a complete benefits data management system — and treating it as one creates risk that accumulates quietly before it surfaces loudly. The organizations that manage benefits data well understand the distinction between having a system of record and having a continuously accurate, reconciled data environment that extends to every carrier and every plan.

The forward-looking posture is clear: invest in reconciliation infrastructure that operates independently of the enrollment system, establish carrier-level visibility into how transmitted data is received and processed, and build governance workflows that treat discrepancy resolution as a standing operational discipline — not a reactive response to audit findings or employee complaints. The technology to support this approach exists and is increasingly accessible to organizations of varying scale. The gap, more often than not, is organizational. It is a matter of recognizing that benefits data accuracy requires more than a connection between systems. It requires accountability for what happens inside that connection, at every step, across every plan year.

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Scientologists Speak Out After Germany Surveillance

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21 May 2026

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As Germany ends nearly three decades of surveillance of Scientology without proving the threat once alleged, Scientologists are speaking publicly about the personal cost: damaged careers, public hostility, family intimidation and years of social exclusion.

For nearly 30 years, Scientologists in Germany lived under the shadow of state suspicion. Now, as Germany’s Office for the Protection of the Constitution ends its long-running observation of Scientology, a new report by STAND, Scientologists Taking Action Against Discrimination, places the focus not on political theory, but on people.

The article argues that the surveillance campaign did not establish the threat it had long suggested existed. Yet, according to the Scientologists who spoke out, the consequences were deeply personal and concrete.

They describe a climate in which members of a minority religion were portrayed as suspected enemies of democracy, despite what STAND describes as an absence of terrorist acts, violent conspiracies or criminal campaigns tied to the Church of Scientology.

Careers, families and reputations affected

Among those cited is former political reporter Hans Bschorr, who describes losing professional standing and livelihood after rumours spread about his Scientology faith.

Former local parliament member Thomas Röder recounts public attacks, media targeting and even death threats directed at his family because he was a Scientologist.

Billie Wegmann tells of hostility surrounding her child’s school, which STAND says escalated into physical aggression and threats of police removal after other parents discovered her affiliation with Scientology.

Taken together, the accounts present a wider picture of the human cost of government suspicion when it becomes part of public life. For those affected, the harm was not abstract. It touched employment, family security, public dignity and the ability to take part in ordinary civic life without fear of being marked by one’s religion.

A campaign without the threat it claimed

The central issue raised by STAND is that, after decades of surveillance, the German government is ending the campaign without having proved the danger used to justify it.

For Scientologists, that outcome raises serious questions about proportionality, accountability and the protection of minority beliefs in democratic societies.

The article describes the experience as part of a broader climate of institutionalized discrimination, fueled by official suspicion, “sect filters” and public campaigns that portrayed Scientologists as dangerous despite the absence of evidence supporting those claims.

In that sense, the end of surveillance is not only an administrative development. It also opens a wider debate about how democratic states should treat unpopular or misunderstood religious minorities, and what safeguards are needed when public authorities help shape suspicion against them.

The human question behind the legal one

The end of the surveillance campaign may close one chapter. But for the individuals who say they lost careers, reputations or peace within their own families, the deeper question remains unresolved.

What happens when a state spends decades watching a religious community, only to end that watch without proving the alleged threat?

For the Scientologists quoted by STAND, the answer is clear: the most lasting damage was not what the government found. It was what the campaign did to people along the way.

Mobile Exhibition Brings “Truth About Drugs” Prevention to Dublin

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21 May 2026

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Mobile Exhibition Brings “Truth About Drugs” Prevention to Dublin

KINGNEWSWIRE // PRESS RELEASE // Drug education initiative supported by the Church of Scientology opens its 2026 Dublin activities at the Connect Multicultural Festival in Blanchardstown

DUBLIN, Ireland — A mobile exhibition dedicated to drug education and prevention was launched in Dublin as part of the 2026 activities of The Truth About Drugs, a secular educational campaign supported by the Church of Scientology and Scientologists.

The exhibition, first reported by GNN24x7 Ireland, opened during the Connect Multicultural Festival, held at Millennium Park in Blanchardstown. The Fingal community celebration brought together families, cultural groups and residents through music, food, art and public activities, offering a visible setting for the prevention message.

The mobile exhibit presented simple, factual information on the effects of drugs, with free educational materials intended to help people make informed decisions. Volunteers provided booklets and answered questions from visitors, many of whom stopped to learn more about drug prevention in a public and accessible format.

The Dublin initiative forms part of the international Truth About Drugs campaign, supported by the Church of Scientology and inspired by the words of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard: “The single most destructive element present in our culture is drugs.” Through the Foundation for a Drug-Free World, the campaign makes educational booklets, audiovisual materials and prevention resources available to schools, community organisations and public groups.

The Church of Scientology describes the campaign as part of its wider social betterment work, with drug prevention education presented as a practical contribution to communities. Its background is also set out in the Church’s information on Creating a Drug-Free World, which links the initiative to decades of educational activity by Scientologists.

The subject remains of clear public relevance in Ireland. The Health Research Board reported that 354 drug poisoning deaths were recorded in Ireland in 2021. Its findings identified opioids, benzodiazepines and antidepressants as the most common drug groups implicated in poisoning deaths overall, while cocaine and heroin were among the most common illicit drugs involved.

Against that background, local volunteers said the Dublin exhibition was designed to contribute to prevention through education, not alarmism. Its emphasis was on understandable information, early awareness and personal responsibility, particularly in communities where families and young people are seeking clear, non-technical resources.

Ivan Arjona, representative of the Church of Scientology to the European Union, the OSCE, the Council of Europe and the United Nations, said the Dublin event reflected a practical approach to civic responsibility:

“Drug prevention is not only a health question; it is also a question of human dignity, education and community resilience,” said Arjona. “Across Europe, societies are strongest when citizens, families, schools and community groups work together to give young people truthful information before harm occurs. This is the spirit behind the Church of Scientology’s support for The Truth About Drugs campaign.”

The Church of Scientology & Community Centre of Dublin has previously supported community-based educational and social betterment initiatives, including drug prevention, human rights education and volunteer activities. The Dublin mobile exhibition continues that local work by placing educational material directly in public spaces where people naturally gather.

The Truth About Drugs campaign is presented as a secular initiative. Its materials are used internationally by volunteers and community partners seeking to address drug abuse through prevention and factual education. The campaign’s public materials describe its purpose as empowering young people and adults with factual information about drugs so they can make informed choices.

The Dublin exhibition also connected with the broader civic spirit of the Connect Multicultural Festival. In a setting designed to celebrate diversity and shared community life, the prevention message was framed as a contribution to safer neighbourhoods and stronger social cooperation.

Organisers said the mobile exhibition will continue to serve as a practical platform for public education during 2026, bringing materials to locations where community engagement can help make prevention more visible, accessible and personal.

The Church of Scientology, its churches, missions, groups and members are present across the European continent. Scientology Europe reports a continent-wide presence through more than 140 churches, missions and affiliated groups in at least 27 European nations, alongside thousands of community-based social betterment and reform initiatives focused on education, prevention and neighbourhood-level support, inspired by the work of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard.

Within Europe’s diverse national frameworks for religion, the Church’s recognitions continue to expand, with administrative and judicial authorities in Spain, Portugal, Sweden, the Netherlands, Italy, Germany Slovakia and others, as well as the European Court of Human Rights, having addressed and acknowledged Scientology communities as protected by the national and international provisions of Freedom of Religion or belief.

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Europe’s Weekly Soundtrack: Eurovision Echoes Across Europe

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21 May 2026

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Europe’s Weekly Soundtrack: Eurovision Echoes Across Europe

This week, Europe’s musical conversation is still orbiting Vienna. Bulgaria’s first-ever Eurovision victory has turned DARA’s “Bangaranga” into the continent’s defining pop moment, while post-contest streaming, fan debates and national chart reactions show how Eurovision continues to shape Europe’s shared cultural rhythm long after the final votes are counted.

A Bulgarian Breakthrough Becomes Europe’s Pop Moment

The biggest sound in Europe this week is unmistakably DARA’s “Bangaranga”, which delivered Bulgaria its first Eurovision Song Contest victory at the 2026 final in Vienna. The result was more than a national triumph: it marked the return of Bulgaria to the centre of Europe’s pop conversation after years of shifting participation and changing musical identities.

Eurovision’s official profile of the winner described the result as a “monumental” moment for Bulgaria, noting that DARA won with 516 points. For listeners across Europe, the song’s appeal lies in its combination of contemporary pop production, strong visual identity and a performance that felt both national and exportable — exactly the formula that often turns a Eurovision entry into a wider European hit.

Eurovision’s Afterlife: The Week After the Final

Eurovision rarely ends when the trophy is lifted. In the days after the final, songs begin a second life on streaming platforms, radio playlists, TikTok clips and national charts. This week’s soundtrack is therefore not only about the winner, but about the wider ecosystem of songs that survived the contest and found audiences beyond the broadcast.

Australia’s Delta Goodrem, who represented Australia with “Eclipse”, has also seen renewed attention after the final, with Aussievision reporting post-Eurovision chart movement. That kind of momentum shows how Eurovision can still function as one of the world’s most powerful launchpads for songs, even for artists who already have established careers.

The Songs Still Travelling Across Borders

Beyond the winner, several 2026 entries continue to circulate strongly among fans and casual listeners. Malta’s Aidan, Greece’s Akylas, Cyprus’s Antigoni, Italy’s Sal Da Vinci and Finland’s Linda Lampenius & Pete Parkkonen were among the names that generated notable online and streaming attention in the run-up to the contest, according to weekly Eurovision tracking by Aussievision.

This matters because Eurovision has become less of a one-night television event and more of a multi-week digital music cycle. Songs now compete first in national selections, then in fan rankings, then on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Music and social platforms before finally reaching the televised stage. By the time the final arrives, many entries have already built communities around them.

A Contest Still Carrying Political Weight

This year’s edition also unfolded amid political tension. Several countries did not participate in Eurovision 2026 following controversy over Israel’s inclusion, and media coverage across Europe reflected the continuing debate over whether the contest can remain separate from geopolitical conflict. The Official Charts guide to Eurovision 2026 noted that Iceland, Ireland, the Netherlands, Slovenia and Spain were absent from this year’s competition.

That context shaped how many viewers experienced the contest. Eurovision remains a celebration of music, spectacle and national creativity, but it is also a European public square. Its songs travel through societies that are debating war, identity, solidarity and cultural representation. This is part of why the contest still matters: it reflects Europe’s contradictions as much as its melodies.

Streaming Platforms Keep Eurovision Alive

Spotify also leaned into the anniversary year, publishing data around Eurovision’s musical patterns and highlighting the official Eurovision 2026 playlist. Its analysis of Eurovision’s most common musical features — from tempo to key and structure — underlines how the contest has become a measurable cultural archive as well as a live entertainment event.

For younger audiences, playlists may now be as important as the televised broadcast. A song can lose on Saturday night and still win the following week on streaming platforms. Conversely, a winner can quickly become a continental reference point if listeners keep returning to it after the spectacle fades.

What Europe Is Hearing This Week

DARA — “Bangaranga”: Bulgaria’s historic Eurovision-winning track and the defining European pop song of the week.
Delta Goodrem — “Eclipse”: A polished post-Eurovision chart mover with international crossover appeal.
Aidan — “Bella”: One of the fan-driven songs that built strong digital traction around the contest.
Akylas — “Ferto”: A Greek entry that continued to attract attention in Eurovision fan charts.
Antigoni — “Jalla”: A Cyprus entry with strong pop immediacy and social-platform potential.

Why This Week’s Sound Matters

The sound of Europe this week is not simply Eurovision pop. It is the sound of a continent processing a shared cultural event in real time. There is celebration in Bulgaria, debate in public media, chart movement across platforms and renewed attention to how songs can cross linguistic, national and political borders.

For The European Times, this weekly soundtrack also connects to a broader cultural question: how does Europe hear itself? Sometimes the answer comes through institutions and policy. Sometimes it comes through protest. And sometimes, as this week shows, it comes through a three-minute pop song that suddenly belongs to millions of listeners.

As Europe moves beyond Eurovision week, the real test begins: which songs will remain in playlists after the headlines fade? For now, “Bangaranga” has given Bulgaria a historic musical victory — and Europe a soundtrack for the week.

30,000 people flee fresh violence in Haiti as hunger crisis deepens

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United Nations News

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21 May 2026

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30,000 people flee fresh violence in Haiti as hunger crisis deepens

Much of the violence has been concentrated in Cité Soleil, an impoverished neighbourhood in the capital, where humanitarian workers are now seeking to provide life-saving assistance.

©WFP/Odelyn Joseph
A burnt-out car is left on the street in a residential area of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, following armed clashes.

The Caribbean island nation continues to suffer from years of insecurity and deep-rooted poverty as well as a collapsing economy and political turmoil following a presidential assassination.

Here’s what two women who fled the violence told the UN World Food Programme (WFP).

Anidette Saint Fleur, from Quartier Blanchard (Cité Soleil)

“There was shooting everywhere. Then they set a fire very close by and we ran away with the whole family.

©WFP/Sylvain Barral
Anidette Saint Fleur, fled from a neighbourhood attacked by gangs.

We didn’t go back to our homes. The gangs are everywhere in the area. We only had time to leave with our ID documents. We haven’t gone back since.

I always keep a bag ready, just in case. When I hear heavy shooting, I grab my bag and flee with everyone.

I had just paid my rent and we had to flee. Now we have nothing — no money, no roof — and we don’t know if or when we’ll be able to return. Please help us.

Not having a roof to sleep under and food for the children is the hardest thing for us right now.”

Dorlean Boudin, resident of Sarthe, Carrefour Vincent near Cité Soleil

“There were men with machetes setting fire to houses with people inside. They burned, beheaded, shot, killed — and if you had a shop, they looted everything.

©WFP/Sylvain Barral
Dorlean Boudin, fled Sarthe, Carrefour Vincent near Cité Soleil.

The situation was already very difficult for me, I had very little money. I couldn’t buy food because I had to save money in case of emergency, to flee. We stayed without eating so we could save for transport to escape.

I need to restart a small business to raise the children. I need help with food to feed them, and to buy water because we don’t have any.”

WFP has already reached 8,500 newly displaced people from Cité Soleil with emergency food assistance, while nine WFP-supported schools serving about 12,000 students have been forced to suspend meal distributions.

WFP’s Janvier Muhima said people were being provided with food supplies including rice, pulses oil and fortified flour so they can feed themselves during this period of displacement.”

©WFP/Sylvain Barral
The UN’s World Food Programme has delivered aid to affected communities.

Across the country, over 1.4 million people, more than 12 per cent of the population, have been forced to leave their homes, mainly due to criminal violence.

Port-au-Prince has become the epicentre of violence, with up to 90 per cent of the city believed to be under the control of gangs.

The recruitment of children has reportedly surged, with some estimates indicating that children now comprise 30–50 per cent of some gangs.

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World News in Brief: Lives lost and aid destroyed in Ukraine, rainfall alert for Horn of Africa, $710 million appeal for Rohingya refugees

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United Nations News

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21 May 2026

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World News in Brief: Lives lost and aid destroyed in Ukraine, rainfall alert for Horn of Africa, $710 million appeal for Rohingya refugees

Bernadette Castel-Hollingsworth said at least two civilians were killed and many more were injured in the “horrific attack”, which also hit a UNHCR-contracted warehouse. Significant amounts of aid and shelter materials were destroyed.

She extended her deepest condolences to the families of the two warehouse workers who lost their lives and to the families of civilians killed in other attacks across Ukraine in the past 24 hours.

Aid items destroyed

Ms. Castel-Hollingsworth said the warehouse was struck by a ballistic missile and caught fire. Preliminary estimates revealed that some 900 pallets of aid items including blankets and hygiene kits – valued at more than $1 million – were destroyed in the attack.

UNHCR and its partners were planning to distribute these supplies to evacuees and others in collective sites and transit sites, as well as to people whose homes have been damaged.

“It is absolutely abhorrent that once again, premises of humanitarian work and aid items are damaged in these relentless air strikes, just as we witness repeatedly how humanitarian workers are being targeted when doing their jobs and delivering aid to those most in need,” she said.

High risk of below-average rainfall in the Greater Horn of Africa

Weather and climate experts predict a high likelihood of below-average rainfall for the northern Greater Horn of Africa during the critical rainy season from June through September, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said on Wednesday.

The outlook was issued by the East Africa-based IGAD Climate Prediction and Applications Centre (ICPAC), which is part of the wider WMO regional network.

It raises concerns for key sectors, with likely impacts on cultivation, water availability, livestock systems, hydropower generation, food security, and public health.

The June to September rains account for over 50 per cent of annual rainfall in the northern and western parts of the Greater Horn of Africa, and more than 80 per cent in most parts of Sudan.

Drier conditions

The forecast points to drier-than-usual conditions in South Sudan, Uganda, Ethiopia, Djibouti, much of Eritrea, Sudan, and western and coastal Kenya.

The highest probability is projected for central, northeastern and northwestern Ethiopia; southern Sudan, and northern Uganda, where the likelihood of below-normal rainfall exceeds 60 per cent and reaches up to 80 per cent in northeastern Ethiopia.

Meanwhile, isolated areas in northern Sudan, southeastern Ethiopia, and southern and northern Somalia are expected to receive enhanced rainfall.

Areas of northern Sudan, southern coastal Somalia and Kenya are forecast to receive near-normal rainfall.

© UNICEF/Ilvy Njiokiktjien
Children walk between shelters in a Rohingya refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh.

Bangladesh: $710 million appeal to support Rohingya refugees, host communities

The United Nations and partners are seeking $710.5 million to support more than a million Rohingya refugees living in camps in Bangladesh and the local communities hosting them.

The appeal launched in Dhaka on Wednesday is 26 per cent lower than in 2025.

It aims to cover only the minimum required to provide lifesaving assistance across sectors such as food, shelter, and water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH), with $36.2 million allocated for host communities.

Limited resources, rising needs

More than 1.2 million Rohingya – a predominantly Muslim ethnic minority from Myanmar – have found shelter in neighbouring Bangladesh. Most arrived a decade ago following targeted violence and persecution.

Needs continue to rise as the Rohingya continue to flee conflict. Some 150,000 have arrived in Bangladesh since early 2024, which is straining limited humanitarian resources and putting extra pressure on overcrowded camps.

The appeal comes amid growing global instability and rising pressure on humanitarian agencies, which have been forced to prioritise their operations amid rising needs.

“As resources become more limited, it is more important than ever to help refugees build skills and resilience, so they can gain independence, hold on to hope, and rebuild their lives,” said Kelly T. Clements, Deputy High Commissioner of UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency.

“Until the Rohingya can return home in safety and can rebuild their communities there, we must continue to provide safety, care, and dignity where they are.”

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Cracking the hadron collision puzzle: Quantum study probes subatomic reactions

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20 May 2026

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Cracking the hadron collision puzzle: Quantum study probes subatomic reactions

Researchers used quantum simulations to model the collisions of subatomic particles and open new avenues to understand the basics of hadron collisions, a key aspect of high-energy physics.

Quantum simulations supported by ORNL’s Quantum Computing User Program helped researchers model how a burst of energy evolved over time through a hadron collision, a key aspect of high-energy subatomic physics. Credit: Martin Savage, University of Washington

The results illustrate quantum computing’s potential to expand the range of solutions to scientific problems beyond those made possible by classical high-performance computers.

The study relied on support from the Quantum Computing User Program (QCUP) and the Quantum Science Center, a National Quantum Information Science Research Center, at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

The research team, led by senior author Martin Savage, a professor of physics at the University of Washington, employed quantum circuits to simulate hadron collisions. Hadrons are subatomic particles composed of quarks and gluons — two types of smaller, indivisible subatomic particles commonly described as the building blocks of matter. The most familiar hadrons are the protons and neutrons found in an atom’s nucleus.

When hadrons collide, the reaction produces huge concentrations of energy and releases a blizzard of particles, all with various energies and compositions.

“These collisions are absolutely essential for a deeper understanding of high-energy physics and the study of matter in extreme conditions, but the size of the necessary equations for modeling them has always been far beyond the capabilities of current classical computers,” Savage said. “Now that quantum devices are available that offer hundreds of qubits for simulation, we wanted to see what could be done with this new set of tools.”

Classical computers store information in bits equal to either 0 or 1. That means a classical bit, like a light switch, exists in one of two states: on or off.

Quantum computing relies on quantum bits, or qubits, to store information. Qubits, unlike the binary bits used in classical computing, can exist simultaneously in more than one state via quantum superposition, which allows combinations of physical values to be encoded on a single object. That difference allows for a wider range of possible values that could make qubits a viable alternative for tackling problems that have been intractable on classical computers.

Savage and the research team obtained an allocation of time on IBM’s Torino quantum computer via QCUP, part of the Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility (OLCF), which awards time on cloud-based commercial quantum processors around the country to support research projects. The Torino computer uses superconductors as qubits, one of several quantum computing approaches.

The team first prepared a 1D quantum ground state, or state with the lowest possible energy. The team then used 112 of Torino’s 133 qubits to simulate a quantized wave packet, or burst of energy, and evolved the packet forward in time to model the events of a hadron collision, ultimately employing 3,858 two-qubit gates. This approach allowed the team to track how the burst of energy evolved over time through the collision.

The results showed signatures of hadron propagation, or the movement of quarks and gluons observed during a collision. Those results compared favorably to the results achieved via classical numeric simulations, the authors wrote.

Current quantum systems tend to display high error rates, or noise, due to measurement errors, qubit degradation and other causes. The research team used IBM’s error-mitigation and uncertainty-quantification techniques to reduce noise and track any deviations from expected results.

The team hopes in future studies to evolve those initial states on quantum hardware, even with few qubits and high error rates. Error-correcting techniques on future quantum computers with many qubits could ultimately achieve greater accuracy than what’s currently possible on classical computers, Savage said.

“Such simulations could provide first glimpses … that are beyond present capabilities of classical computing,” the authors wrote in the study.

Besides Savage, the research team included Roland Farrell, Marc Illa and Anthony Ciavarella of the InQubator for Quantum Simulation.

Support for this research came from the DOE Office of Science’s Advanced Scientific Computing Research program, the DOE Quantum Science Center and the DOE Nuclear Physics InQubator for Quantum Simulation. The OLCF is a DOE Office of Science user facility at ORNL.

UT-Battelle manages ORNL for DOE’s Office of Science, the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States. DOE’s Office of Science is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, visit https://energy.gov/science.

Source: Oak Ridge National Laboratory

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Ukraine war ‘becoming deadlier by the day’, Security Council hears

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United Nations News

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20 May 2026

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Ukraine war ‘becoming deadlier by the day’, Security Council hears

“In the last week alone, we witnessed one of the largest aerial bombardments of Ukraine since the Russian Federation’s full-scale invasion in February 2022,” said Director Kayoko Gotoh of the Political and Peacebuilding Affairs department.

Between 13 and 14 May, Russia reportedly launched more than 1,500 drones and dozens of missiles targeting cities across Ukraine.

Civilians face daily attacks

The deadliest incident occurred on 14 May when a missile reportedly flattened a nine-story apartment block in the capital, Kyiv, killing 24 people and injuring at least 48 others.

“These large-scale attacks have continued daily,” she said, noting that at least 238 civilians were killed, and 1,404 injured, last month alone.

“This represents the highest monthly number of civilian casualties recorded since July 2025,” she said. “It also reflects a continuing pattern of rising civilian harm.”

Ukrainian strikes inside Russia have also led to increasing civilian casualties and damage to civilian infrastructure.

Four people were reportedly killed this past Sunday in strikes across Russia, including the capital Moscow, while an attack on 15 May reportedly killed four people in Ryazan.

“We strongly condemn all attacks against civilian and civilian infrastructure, wherever they occur,” she said.

© UNDSS/Oleksii Obuhov
A UN vehicle severely damaged by two drone strikes while delivering supplies to civilians living in Ostriv, one of Kherson’s hardest hit areas.

Humanitarians under fire

Ms. Gotoh reported that UN personnel were involved in two “alarming drone-related incidents” last week – an issue that was further addressed by a senior official with the UN humanitarian affairs office, OCHA.

Edem Wosornu, Director of OCHA’s Crisis Response Division, said “two separate convoys, clearly marked as being part of the United Nations” were hit on 12 and 14 May.

“These brazen incidents are not isolated. In the same week, other humanitarian missions were hit, injuring humanitarian workers and damaging assets,” she said.

‘Attacks are intensifying’

Moreover, three humanitarian workers were killed, and 10 injured, during the first four months of the year.

“These attacks are intensifying, making the delivery of humanitarian assistance increasingly difficult, if not impossible in some areas,” said Ms. Wosornu.

“Humanitarian workers in Ukraine are taking immense risks to save lives. However, the weapons being deployed – cheap and deadly – are rapidly changing what it means to deliver life-saving assistance.”

Despite the dangers, the UN and partners continue to deliver aid where access allows yet needs continue to grow and a $2.3 billion plan for Ukraine has received some $845 million to date.

She urged Council members to ensure that international humanitarian law is respected, and to provide timely funding for humanitarian operations.

Temporary truce and prisoner exchange

Ms. Gotoh noted that amid the rising devastation and loss of life in Ukraine, the UN Secretary-General welcomed the announcement of the three-day ceasefire between Kyiv and Moscow, from 9-11 May, which was facilitated by the United States.

“However, we regret reported violations on both sides throughout the brief truce, mainly along and near the frontline,” she said.

“We are also deeply disturbed by the escalation of attacks by the Russian Federation almost immediately following the expiry of the ceasefire.”

The Secretary-General also welcomed announcement of an agreed exchange of 2,000 prisoners of war. The first step occurred on 15 May with the sides returning 205 prisoners each.

Concern for deported Ukrainian children

Meanwhile, the UN remains concerned about the fate of children who were deported and forcibly transferred from Ukraine whose “prompt and safe return will require consistent engagement by both sides.”

Before concluding her briefing, Ms. Gotoh recalled that a year has passed since direct negotiations between Ukraine and Russia resumed.

“Although direct talks, which are currently paused, have yet to result in a breakthrough, diplomacy has made it possible for thousands of prisoners of war to return home, and for remains of fallen soldiers to be laid to rest,” she said.

“Negotiations should resume without further delays to prevent further escalation and to make meaningful progress towards a full, immediate and unconditional ceasefire.”

Full summary from our Meetings Coverage Section

For a deep dive into the emergency session including a summary of key statements made by ambassadors from Russia, Ukraine and neighbouring nations, go here.

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Linking global advocacy to girls’ right to education in Mozambique

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Newsdesk

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20 May 2026

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Linking global advocacy to girls’ right to education in Mozambique

Press ReleaseThis article is based on a press release or official communication. The European Times republishes it as a public service.

In Sofala and Inhambane provinces, Justa Paz runs community-based girls’ clubs to empower participants with livelihoods such as sewing, enabling them to make their own school uniforms and reusable sanitary pads. These initiatives, especially the latter, safeguard the girls’ right to education as many of them are forced to abandon school if they cannot afford to buy sanitary pads.

Civil society plays an important role in the UPR process by providing the states under review with background information and concrete proposals from the concerned population. “We are glad that several states we talked to before the review, raised our recommendations during the UPR session in Geneva,” Motiane said.

Motiane said she hopes the government’s response will also include other urgent challenges in a country with one of the highest rates of child marriage and a 70 percent school dropout among pregnant adolescents, according to the UN. “For a longer-term impact, we need our government to better protect girls from early marriage and to strengthen measures to guarantee their education,” she said.

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