The Vera C. Rubin Observatory beneath the glittering band of the Milky Way. (Rubin Observatory/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/H.Stockebrand)

Satellite overload: astronomers look to UN to preserve the night sky. As satellite launches surge toward 1.7 million by 2030, astronomers and space companies are turning to multilateralism to mitigate satellite brightness and radio interference and keep astronomy alive.

Demonstrators march down Market Street to United Nations Plaza to take part in a protest against US President Trump and the US military actions in Venezuela, in San Francisco, United States, on 3 January 2026. (Keystone/EPA/John G.Mabanglo)

Bringing you the latest from UN press briefings in Geneva.

🇻🇪NOT IN THE NAME OF HUMAN RIGHTS. The United States’ special forces raid on Venezuela and capture of its leader Nicolás Maduro on Saturday clearly “undermined a fundamental principle of international law”, the United Nations’ human rights body warned yesterday. It also denounced Washington’s use of Venezuela's human rights record to justify its move as “unacceptable”.

Standing up for rule of law. “Let us not pretend that this is an action taken in defence of human rights of anyone,” Ravina Shamdasani, a spokesperson for UN rights high commissioner Volker Türk, told reporters in Geneva yesterday. “It is an act that makes all states less safe around the world,” she added, echoing her boss’s plea to the international community yesterday to stand up for international law. It comes after a mixed reaction to the US’s large-scale strike on Caracas, with leaders of western nations, including the UK and France, facing sharp criticism for failing to condemn the US’s military operation as illegal.

“The UN Charter says that states must not threaten or use force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state. We have seen the use of force, and we are also seeing further threats,” she added, as US president Donald Trump on Monday again raised the prospect of annexing Greenland, the semi-autonomous Danish territory.

Dangerous precedent. Shamdasani said the UN rights office has been reporting consistently on the deteriorating rights situation in Venezuela for several years, though since February 2024, it has been monitoring violations from Panama after staff were expelled over accusations of colonialism and promoting opposition.

The UN rights spokesperson warned that the state of emergency put in place by authorities since Maduro’s arrest further raised concerns amid an intensified crackdown on civil rights and freedoms, with dozens of journalists already detained.