News headlines in October 2026

UNITED NATIONS, October 9 (IPS) - New figures from the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) project that the impending 2026-2027 El Niño cycle could be one of the strongest on record. Marked by unusually wet and dry conditions, this cycle is forecast to trigger a host of extreme weather events, threatening the health, security, education, and development of over 347 million children worldwide.

DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania, October 9 (IPS) - Each morning on her way to Kariakoo, Clementina Nyangwine looks out of her commuter bus as it crawls through Jangwani and watches giant foundation piles rising above the muddy Msimbazi valley.

UNITED NATIONS, October 9 (IPS) - Since October 2023, 50,000 women and girls in Gaza have been killed or seriously injured.

SINGAPORE, October 9 (IPS) - When governments gather in Yerevan this month for the 17th UN Convention on Biological Diversity, they will weigh a promise nearly 200 countries adopted six years ago: to effectively conserve at least 30 percent of land, inland waters, and sea by 2030. Achieving the ambitious 30×30 target is essential to sustaining the systems humanity relies on for survival—including crop pollination, purification of water and air, and climate regulation—as well as the biodiversity that underpins food production, fisheries, and tourism.

A suspected drone strike has left at least 40 dead in Sudan’s Blue Nile State – near the Ethiopian border - according to initial reports from the ground, according to UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric. Most of the casualties were women and girls.

World trade reached a record $35 trillion in 2025 – but developing countries were held back from greater participation in the global economy because of new technological and policy barriers, the UN trade and development agency UNCTAD said on Friday.

The UN human rights office (OHCHR) on Friday warned that livestreaming a planned execution by firing squad in the United States would amount to a public execution and breach the absolute prohibition on torture.

Escalating violence and human rights violations in the four-year-old Russia-Ukraine war are in the spotlight in the Security Council on Friday following a spate of Russian attacks against civilian targets and infrastructure in recent days.

The United States has imposed sanctions on the International Criminal Court (ICC) as an institution, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio vowing on Friday to “dismantle the ICC, brick by brick” unless it ends what Washington regards as a “threat” to its citizens.

Six weeks after Nepal’s deadly flooding disaster, communities are still struggling to rebuild their lives, but they will need sustained help as global warming increases the risk of another Himalayan catastrophe, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said on Friday.