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Nearly 900 mn poor people exposed to climate shocks, UN warns

Nearly 80 percent of the world's poorest, or about 900 million people, are directly exposed to climate hazards exacerbated by global warming, bearing a "double and deeply unequal burden," the United Nations warned Friday.

"No one is immune to the increasingly frequent and stronger climate change effects like droughts, floods, heat waves, and air pollution, but it's the poorest among us who are facing the harshest impact," Haoliang Xu, acting administrator of the United Nations Development Programme, told AFP in a statement.

The upcoming UN climate summit in Brazil 'is the moment for world leaders to look at climate action as action against poverty,' the UN says

New Zealand reimposes sanctions on Iran over nuclear non-compliance

By Lucy Craymer

WELLINGTON (Reuters) -New  Zealand is reimposing sanctions on Iran due to concerns about Iran's non-compliance with itsnuclear obligations, Foreign Minister Winston Peters said in a statement on Friday.

The statement said the reimposition of United Nations sanctions is a result of Iran not complying with the terms of the internationally recognised Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action which was signed in 2015, and will take effect on October 18.

FILE PHOTO: New Zealand's Foreign Minister Winston Peters attends a press conference, following his meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, in Beijing, China February 26, 2025. REUTERS/Laurie Chen/Pool/File Photo

Airbnb and Booking.com accused in France over Israeli settlement listings

A French human rights group on Thursday filed a legal complaint against Airbnb and Booking.com, accusing them of promoting "occupation tourism" by listing accommodation in Israeli settlements in Palestinian territories.

In the case submitted in Paris, the Ligue des droits de l'Homme (LDH) alleges that the platforms were complicit in the aggravated concealment of war crimes.

Airbnb and Booking.com are being sued for listing accommodation in Israeli settlements

Zelenskiy hopes Middle East agreement can lead to peace with Russia

(Reuters) -Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Thursday, on the eve of talks with U.S. President Donald Trump, that momentum in the Middle East peace process would help end his country's more than 3-1/2-year-old war with Russia.

"We have a meeting planned with President Trump tomorrow and we are counting on the impulse to curb terror and war which worked in the Middle East to help end Russia's war against Ukraine," Zelenskiy wrote on the Telegram messaging app.

"The language of strength and justice is sure to work with respect to Russia as well."

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy attends a joint press conference with High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas (not pictured), amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine, October 13, 2025. REUTERS/Alina Smutko

Yemen's Houthis say chief of staff Muhammad al-Ghamari was killed

By Ahmed Elimam

DUBAI (Reuters) -Yemen's Houthis said on Thursday that their Chief of Staff Muhammad Abd Al-Karim al-Ghamari, one of the most senior military officials of the Iran-backed group, was killed "while fulfilling his duties".

Without directly blaming Israel for his killing, Houthis said that the conflict with Israel had not ended. Israel will "receive its deterrent punishment for the crimes it has committed".

Houthi Chief of Staff Muhammad al-Ghamari looks on in this undated picture released by the Houthi Military Media following the announcement of his death, October 16, 2025. HOUTHI MILITARY MEDIA/Handout via REUTERS

Kremlin says Rubio and Lavrov to speak in coming days to prepare Putin-Trump summit

MOSCOW (Reuters) -U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will speak in the coming days to prepare a new summit between presidents Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, a Kremlin aide said on Thursday.

The official, Yuri Ushakov, said the timing of the summit would depend on how the preparatory work progressed.

Ushakov made the remarks during a briefing for reporters on a phone call between Putin and Trump, their eighth this year, which he said had taken place at Moscow's initiative.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio talk as they attend a press conference held by U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin following their meeting to negotiate an end to the war in Ukraine, at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, in Anchorage, Alaska, U.S., August 15, 2025. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

France and Britain refine plans at UN for Gaza force resolution

By John Irish and Michelle Nichols

PARIS/UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) -France and Britain, in coordination with the United States, are working to finalise a U.N. Security Council resolution in the coming days that would lay the foundation for a future international force in Gaza, France said on Thursday.

With a shaky U.S.-mediated ceasefire between Israel and Hamas holding, planning has begun for an international force to stabilize security in the Palestinian enclave, two senior U.S. advisers said on Wednesday.

FILE PHOTO: Palestinians walk past the rubble of destroyed buildings, amid a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, in Gaza City, October 16, 2025. REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas/File Photo

Afghans return home to rubble, hoping truce holds with Pakistan

Abdul Rahim surveys the rubble that was his home in Kabul, where he lived with six family members.

A gaping hole in the living room reveals only charred belongings and debris, while blackened teddy bears and makeup lie in what once was a bedroom.

The explosion at his home was one of four that hit the Afghan capital within a week, as unusually intense violence broke out with Pakistan -- then suddenly halted under a temporary truce.

Several buildings in the Afghan capital were completely destroyed by explosions this week

Infectious diseases 'spiralling out of control' in Gaza: WHO

The World Health Organization has warned that infectious diseases are "spiralling out of control" in the Gaza Strip, with only 13 of the Palestinian territory's 36 hospitals even partially functioning.

"Whether meningitis... diarrhoea, respiratory illnesses, we're talking about a mammoth amount of work," Hanan Balkhy, regional director for the United Nations' health body, told AFP in Cairo.

The World Health Organization says only 13 of Gaza's 36 hospitals are even partially functioning

Israeli kibbutz hopes to heal after hostages' return

Two years after he survived Hamas's October 7 attack on Israel which killed 64 fellow residents of the Kfar Aza kibbutz, Avidor Schwartzman hopes his community can finally begin to overcome its pain.

"We can start the healing process," Schwartzman told AFP, even if "we know that there are a lot of people who will not come back".

On October 7, 2023, Hamas commandos stormed over the barrier separating Gaza and Israel, around two kilometres (just over a mile) away from Schwartzman's kibbutz.

Hamas militants killed 64 people from the Kfar Aza kibbutz on October 7