The UN Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) on Wednesday reported that regional growth is projected to pick up from 2.9 per cent last year to 3.7 per cent in 2026.
That compares well with global averages and pre-pandemic growth of around 3.2 per cent.
Lowering inflation
The UN body noted that this positive outlook for Arab nations should also coincide with falling inflation, which is expected to reach 5.4 per cent next year.
Contributing factors include increased investment in sectors outside the oil industry such as renewable power plants.
At the same time, ESCWA said that the Arab region remains “highly exposed” to external factors – especially given continued uncertainty about global tariffs and disruption to regional trade.
Data indicates production of 1.3 million barrels of oil per day this year across the region – where production is an economic mainstay – which is slightly above current global demand, meaning that prices at the petrol pump could fall.
India: Independent rights experts urge inquiry into alleged custodial deaths, police violence
Two UN Human Rights Council-appointed independent experts have called on India to order urgent, independent investigations into reports of hundreds of alleged extrajudicial killings, torture-related deaths and thousands of injuries linked to law enforcement operations.
The Special Rapporteurs – who are not UN staff and do not receive any salary for their work – said they had received credible information pointing to a pattern of excessive and often lethal force, particularly in Uttar Pradesh and Assam.
The independent rights experts are calling for the urgent modernisation of India’s police force.
Not sporadic – systemic
“These allegations paint a picture of law enforcement violence that is not sporadic, but systemic,” the experts said.
“There appears to be a systemic failure of policing to meet basic human rights standards.”
They expressed concern that minorities such as Muslims, Dalits and Adivasis (or Indigenous Peoples) were being disproportionately affected and warned that “silencing those who seek justice is incompatible with an open and democratic society”.
The experts urged reforms to bring policing into line with international standards and said they had written to the authorities, offering technical support while continuing to monitor developments.
Ukraine-Russia war now driving school closures even far from frontlines
To Ukraine, where schools have been forced to close far from the frontline as a direct result of the ongoing full-scale Russian invasion, the UN Children’s Fund, UNICEF, warned on Wednesday.
Data indicates that every two months last year, air raid alerts alone caused students to lose around 10 days of learning, whereas so far in 2026, more than 16 days have been lost to power cuts and a lack of heating.
UNICEF says that across frontline regions in Ukraine, at least 1,700 schools endure power outages and heating disruption.
Sustained blackouts
More than one in three schools in Dnipropetrovsk and one in five in Kharkiv also face sustained blackouts that “directly threaten safe, continuous learning”.
According to the agency, almost two million children have been impacted by disruption directly caused by intensified Russian attacks on energy infrastructure.
This includes in Kyiv, Zhytomyr, Dnipropetrovsk, Kherson, Mykolaiv and Odesa, where students lost up to 88 per cent of learning time since mid-January, primarily because of power and heating outages.
UNICEF condemns new reports of children killed by airstrikes in Myanmar
UN children’s agency UNICEF on Wednesday voiced deep alarm over new reports that at least five Burmese children have been killed and three others injured following recent airstrikes.
The deadly strikes hit Ponnagyun Township, Rakhine State and Myinmu Township in the Sagaing region, between 23 and 24 February.
“Children and civilians are once again bearing the brunt of escalating hostilities, with the strikes in Rakhine State reported to have hit homes and a busy local market in a village hosting displaced families,” the agency said in a statement.
Protect children
Ongoing clashes continue to displace children and upend their access to vital services, including healthcare, education and protection, the agency underscored.
“UNICEF is responding to the needs of conflict-affected children and their families across Myanmar,” while calling on all combatants in the bloody conflict which has engulfed the country since the military coup of 2021, to “uphold their obligations under international humanitarian law. Children must be protected at all times.”
