News headlines in October 2026, page 5

KABUL, Afghanistan, October 20 (IPS) - Nearly 40 percent of the population of Afghanistan is projected to face high levels of acute food insecurity this winter, and cases of acute malnutrition are expected to soar during 2027, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) warned.

PARWAN, Afghanistan, October 20 (IPS) - Afghan women have resorted to online protests as their only available recourse, even though the risks of being caught are high and carry enormous consequences.

PORTLAND, USA, October 20 (IPS) - People who choose to end their lives through voluntary assisted dying typically face terminal, incurable, or debilitating conditions that cause severe physical or psychological suffering.

DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania, October 20 (IPS) - Nearly three decades have passed, but Japhet Gimbi still remembers the rain.

Artificial intelligence is already being widely used on the battlefield, and the role of human judgment in military operations is shrinking rapidly, the head of the UN’s independent disarmament research institute warned on Tuesday.

The UN warned on Tuesday against a premature withdrawal of its peacekeepers as the war in Sudan spills over into the Central African Republic (CAR).

At 14, Bushra faced being married off – until community leaders at a UNICEF-supported child protection hub worked with her father to prevent her from being given away against her will.

Following extreme hunger warnings, a bitter reality is unfolding across Afghanistan: food is available, but remains inaccessible for millions of people.

More than 250,000 people have now fled renewed fighting in Yemen, the UN said on Tuesday, citing particular concern for those sheltering in the southwestern city of Taiz and the wider governorate, where access is “essentially blocked”.

BELÉM, Brazil, October 19 (IPS) - In 2024, as floodwaters approached Lutalo Canti’s home in Porto Alegre, Brazil, he lifted some furniture off the floor and left in a hurry. Extreme rainfall in the country’s southern region had caused local rivers to overflow. The flooding would eventually reach more than 400 municipalities and impact over 2 million people.