Children’s Wellbeing
Representatives from across the international community are meeting in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, to ensure that children everywhere can thrive in a world marred by war, climate chaos and other fundamental challenges. The UN-backed World Summit Investing in Children’s Wellbeing opened on Wednesday, bringing together more than 600 participants from over 100 countries. A child’s wellbeing depends on many factors, including health, access to education, protection from violence, family support and access to help when they need it. – UN News Summit in Samarkand, a boon for child wellbeing and health
Climate Action
Two UN agencies issued a powerful appeal on Wednesday for immediate assistance to help communities already being impacted by the strongest El Niño weather pattern on record. “The current El Niño event could be unprecedented in strength – literally, off the monitoring charts that we have used for the past four decades – and will peak towards the end of 2026, but its impacts will be felt long after that,” said Celeste Saulo, Secretary-General of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). According to the latest Global Seasonal Climate Update from WMO, sea surface temperatures in the tropical Pacific – the epicentre of the extreme El Niño weather phenomenon – may rise to 3.8℃ above average between November 2026 and January 2027. While a Pacific Ocean surface temperature anomaly of 0.5℃ above normal is enough to trigger an El Niño alert by WMO, Ms. Saulo highlighted concerns that the impact of an El Niño fuelled by a 3.8℃ gap has no precedent. – UN News UN agencies appeal for help to protect weakest from unprecedented El Niño
Germany
Friedrich Merz has tried to move on from his conservatives’ historic defeats to the far right in eastern Germany, but his biggest test as chancellor — and of his grip over his own party — may still lie ahead. The Alternative for Germany is pushing to deliver its biggest blow yet to the chancellor’s weakened coalition government by installing the country’s first far-right state premier since World War II in the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt when lawmakers vote on the post in December. Merz’s fellow Christian Democrats in Berlin fear regional members of their own party will help the AfD do this, creating a nightmare scenario for the chancellor. That concern stems from accusations that a group of Saxony-Anhalt conservatives already broke ranks by voting in a secret ballot for the AfD’s candidate for state speaker earlier this month, outraging national conservative leaders. – Politico Merz’s eastern nightmare is far from over
Migrants and Refugees
The price tag for smuggling on European sea routes reached up to half a billion dollars last year, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the UN migration office, IOM, reported on Wednesday. Key points: total fees paid to smugglers on sea routes to Europe reached between $388 and $509 million in 2025: UNODC estimates; the busiest smuggling corridor was the Central Mediterranean route, where 84,000 to 100,400 people attempted a crossing; almost half of migrants trying to get smuggled into Italy or Malta from North Africa or Türkiye reported paying fees of over $7,500 each, an IOM survey found. Other routes are cheaper than this busy Central Mediterranean corridor. Smugglers received as little as $170 per person for transport across the Northwest African Atlantic route, a dangerous maritime path where people travel in open boats from the coasts of Northwest Africa to Spain’s Canary Islands. – UN News Migrants paid up to $500 million in smuggling fees on European sea routes
New Mexico – Meta
A judge in New Mexico ordered Meta to pay the state $25 billion for misleading users about privacy practices and sharing personal data with a firm connected to President Donald Trump’s successful 2016 campaign. The landmark ruling brings one of the largest penalties against a tech giant and comes five years after the state sued the Facebook and Instagram owner following revelations that Cambridge Analytica, a data firm, improperly obtained data on tens of millions of Facebook users that it used to target voters and assist Trump’s candidacy. – Politico New Mexico judge orders Meta to pay state $25B over privacy practices
Nigeria
The World Health Organization (WHO) is assisting Nigeria following confirmation of the first case of Ebola Bundibugyo virus disease in the country. The patient is a woman who recently travelled from Uganda and began showing symptoms on 7 October, four days after her arrival. The woman sought care at a private health facility in the capital, Abuja, on 11 October; laboratory testing confirmed the diagnosis on 20 October. She remains in isolation and is receiving medical care as investigations continue to determine the likely source of her infection and reconstruct her full travel and exposure – UN News WHO supports Nigeria after first Ebola case confirmed
North Korea – China
Three years on from the reported resumption of large-scale forcible returns of nationals of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) from China, serious concerns persist about their fate, according to a group of Human Rights Council-appointed independent experts. There is no information on the whereabouts and treatment of those repatriated – or those who remain at risk of return – the experts said in a press release on Wednesday. “These events form part of a longstanding pattern of serious human rights violations against individuals forcibly returned to the DPRK. In the absence of independent monitoring in either country, many returnees remain unaccounted for,” they said. “For as long as their fate and whereabouts remain unknown, returnees are deprived of essential safeguards against enforced disappearance, arbitrary detention, execution, torture, forced labour, sexual and gender-based violence and other serious human rights violations,” the experts added. – UN News Fate unknown of many returned to DPR Korea from China: UN independent experts
Occupied West Bank
The use of live ammunition, arson and the destruction of centuries-old olive trees have marked the opening weeks of this year’s harvest in the occupied West Bank. At least 160 Israeli settler attacks linked to the olive harvest were recorded in the first two weeks of October, according to the UN aid coordination office (OCHA) – often under the protection of, or with the participation of, Israeli forces. Settlers have also damaged Palestinian property and stolen harvested olives and farm equipment. Last Friday, they assaulted a Washington Post photojournalist covering the harvest and the following day attacked European diplomats visiting a Palestinian community. On Thursday, the UN human rights office (OHCHR) in the Occupied Palestinian Territory urged states and donors to go beyond condemnation and take urgent action to protect Palestinian communities as the season gets off to an “ominous start”. – UN News ‘Ominous start’ to West Bank olive harvest amid settler attacks
Russia – Ukraine (and beyond)
There is a growing realization among European governments that they may soon need to nominate someone to face Russian leader Vladimir Putin in direct talks on a peace deal for Ukraine. The main problem is deciding who should take on such a hazardous task. The question gained urgency this week after U.S. presidential envoy Steve Witkoff traveled to Russia to offer Putin a three-way summit with Donald Trump and Ukraine’s leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in an effort to press for a ceasefire. – Politico Talking to Putin: Europe seeks a negotiator-in-chief for Ukraine
Jordan O’Brien has fought for Ukraine since Russia’s full-scale invasion began, including during the 2022 liberation of Kherson and the 2024 incursion into Russia’s Kursk region. But after years of service, O’Brien says he would warn other foreigners against joining up, citing the bureaucratic problems he has faced. O’Brien, a New Zealander, complained about red tape and a state apparatus that appears to have little understanding and compassion for people volunteering to fight for a foreign country. If that isn’t fixed, Ukraine may have a harder time attracting desperately needed recruits, hampering its effort to continue resisting Russia. “If Kyiv wants more foreign fighters, it needs to fix the ridiculous bureaucratic bias that screws all of us foreigners over who have already fought for Ukraine,” said O’Brien, who has been sentenced in absentia by Russia to 14 years in prison for fighting alongside Ukraine. – Politico Ukraine’s foreign fighters battle Russians — and red tape
Czech President Petr Pavel says a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine was “quite close” – until President Donald Trump lifted sanctions on Russian diesel. In an interview conducted on Tuesday with the Axel Springer Global Reporters Network, which includes POLITICO, Pavel said coordinated U.S.-European sanctions on Russian oil, oligarchs, and other industries were putting Russia “under strain.” But the deal Trump announced earlier this month, in which Russia would supply hundreds of thousands of tons of diesel to the U.S., gave Russia “time to breathe”. “It will be much harder now,” said Pavel. “Russia uses this momentum to get out of pressure, and it’s kind of a moral boost for them.” – Politico Trump’s diesel deal derailed Ukraine-Russia peace progress, says Czech president
Alice Weidel, co-leader of the far-right Alternative for Germany party, told European lawmakers on Wednesday that Russia and Ukraine need to negotiate a peace deal, while insisting that German businesses require access to cheap Russian energy to remain competitive. “It isn’t about capitulating to Russia, far from it, absolutely not, but we want people to sit down around the table. It’s high time they did, and went into it with a sensible diplomatic approach, making sure we pay due regard to the interests of both Ukraine and Russia,” she told a press conference. Four and a half years since Russia launched its war on Ukraine, President Donald Trump is pressing Kyiv to negotiate with Moscow, while Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed on Wednesday to resume trilateral talks with Ukraine. – Politico AfD’s Alice Weidel urges quick Ukraine talks and a return to cheap Russian energy
Sudan
Talks to halt the fighting in Sudan and alleviate the humanitarian crisis there continued in Geneva on Wednesday, where nearly two dozen countries convened to discuss a pathway to a ceasefire and transition to peaceful governance that represents all Sudanese people. “Our first session, devoted to de-escalation, will offer an opportunity to explore practical ways forward,” said Pekka Haavisto, Personal Envoy of the Secretary-General for Sudan, in a call to delegates to identify measures and use their “respective channels of engagement [to] build confidence and help create conditions conducive to a comprehensive ceasefire”. Now in its fourth year, the conflict began in April 2023 between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) – former allies who had jointly seized power in a 2021 coup. Deadly drone attacks against civilians and public infrastructure have been a feature of the war and frequently condemned by humanitarian and human rights officials. “The war in Sudan has become a drone war; it kills mostly civilians,” said Alexandre Fasel, State Secretary of Switzerland, which is co-hosting the meeting with the UN. “Famine-like conditions persist in Darfur, the Kordofan state and elsewhere in the country; it is the war that drives this hunger”. Highlighting the protections offered to non-combatants by international law, Mr. Fasel insisted that the Geneva Conventions “are very clear: the protection of civilians and humanitarian access must not wait for a ceasefire and a political solution. Civilians are suffering and dying today.” – UN News Sudan conflict: Peace efforts resume to end ‘drone war’ fuelling humanitarian crisis
US
The Russian government has launched a covert online influence campaign to sway public opinion and undermine both Democrats and Republicans sympathetic to Ukraine ahead of the midterms, two key Democratic lawmakers warned Wednesday. Senate Intelligence Committee Vice Chair Mark Warner (D-Va.) and House Intelligence Committee ranking member Jim Himes (D-Conn.) told reporters Wednesday that the findings on Russia were detailed in a classified report on foreign election interference sent to their offices by the U.S. intelligence community earlier this week. “It’s a carnival out there,” Himes said of Russia’s digital efforts, which he said aim to generate “a sense of chaos and anarchy.” According to Himes, Russian disinformation operations cover a range of topics, from sowing distrust in U.S. institutions to questioning the validity of voting machines – by Politico Russia launched covert influence campaign to undermine US candidates supportive of Ukraine, lawmakers say
Billionaire technology investor Peter Thiel said he’s skeptical of the U.S. war with Iran and does not believe the United States should have launched it, putting the major Republican donor at odds with President Donald Trump over one of the administration’s defining foreign policy decisions. Thiel’s remarks, delivered on Oct. 12 at a private event, are his most explicit statements to be revealed publicly about the war with Iran and come less than two weeks before the midterm elections in which Trump’s party is grasping to maintain power in Congress. The audio of Thiel’s comments was obtained by Decoded by POLITICO from a lecture earlier this month. – by Politico Peter Thiel breaks with Trump over Iran war: ‘We should not have done it’
Millions of Americans are expected to receive a settlement check from Amazon credited to “President Trump’s Federal Trade Commission” in an unprecedented move coming weeks before the midterm elections. The checks, part of a $2.5 billion settlement Amazon agreed to in 2025 for allegedly deceiving customers into signing up for Prime subscriptions, mark the first time an FTC refund has attributed the payments to a specific president, two former FTC officials told POLITICO. A notice with the checks in question uses the phrase “President Trump’s Federal Trade Commission” three times. “The enclosed check is the result of a settlement reached by President Trump’s Federal Trade Commission (FTC) with Amazon.com […],” reads the notice for the check, which is issued by Amazon. The company didn’t respond to a request for comment. Settlement checks have gone out since last November with the attribution, and a new batch of checks is going out after a federal judge signed an order expanding who’s eligible for a payment, which can be as much as to $200. At least 24.9 million checks have been sent while 7 million were cashed as of September, according to a court filing. – Politico ‘Unseemly and unfortunate’: Trump’s name brands millions of Amazon refund checks
US – Saudi Arabia
The US State Department ordered the departure of non-essential staff and family members at its embassy in Riyadh, a move that comes amid intensifying strikes on Saudi Arabia by the Iran allied Houthi rebels in Yemen. “The U.S. Department of State issued an ordered departure for non-emergency U.S. government employees and their family members in Saudi Arabia,” State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott wrote on X. “Iranian-supported Houthis have increasingly engaged in hostilities against Saudi Arabia, including attacks on civilian airports and other critical infrastructure resulting in civilian casualties and severe travel disruptions”. While the State Department is drawing down its footprint in Saudi Arabia amid escalating risks, a few other US diplomatic posts in the region are also adjusting their staffing in response to the Houthi threat, a source told CNN. “This is about the Houthis,” said a State Department official. – CNN US orders departure of some embassy staff and families from Saudi Arabia amid Houthi threat
