Waiters stand to invite passersby to a restaurant as water is sprayed to cool the area on a hot day in Istanbul, Turkey, 11 June, 2026. (Keystone/AP Photo/Francisco Seco, File)

🔥Scientists predict 2026 hottest year on record as climate talks begin. Celeste Saulo, secretary general of the World Meteorological Organization, which published its annual State of the Climate report on Monday, said this year's protracted streak of exceptional global temperatures, "gives new meaning to the phrase off the charts".

📅Russia and US seek to block plan for binding rules on autonomous weapons. With the use of AI and its development in warfare on the agenda at next week’s UN weapon convention conference in Geneva, some nations, including Israel, are opposing efforts to set a timetable for negotiating them.

🩺WHO candidate Maria Neira: ‘We need to rebuild credibility and trust’. Spain's former vice-minister of health from 2002 until 2005 and now a WHO insider, Neira is convinced she can inspire member states to rededicate themselves to the global organisation.

🔍UN says crucial evidence Hammarskjöld's death still hidden. Sixty-five years after UN secretary general Dag Hammarskjöld died in a mysterious plane crash during a peace mission in Africa, a new investigation points to possible foreign involvement and urges governments to open their archives.