United Nations Humanitarian Chief

Jun 5, 2024

Martin Griffiths, United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, is interviewed at the U.N., Wednesday, June 5, 2024. Griffiths said leaders in many conflict areas are more interested in power and political rivalries than in listening to the needs of their people, improving their lives and ending the fighting. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

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Socceroos' next test to go ahead despite Saudi Arabia airport attacks
Oct 16, 2026
Socceroos' next test to go ahead despite Saudi Arabia airport attacks

Plans for the continental football tournament in Saudi Arabia remain on track despite ongoing conflict in the Middle East.

Bipartisan US Senate bill reaffirms 'ironclad' nuclear deterrence pledge to S. Korea
Oct 16, 2026
Bipartisan US Senate bill reaffirms 'ironclad' nuclear deterrence pledge to S. Korea

WASHINGTON — Two U.S. senators have introduced bipartisan legislation seeking to reaffirm Washington's "ironclad" extended nuclear deterrence commitments to South Korea and other treaty allies, amid growing nuclear threats from North Korea, China and Russia. The Reaffirming Extended Nuclear Deterrence Act, introduced by Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ) late last month and cosponsored by Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC), calls for maintaining a credible U.S. nuclear deterrent supported by conventional military capabilities, joint exercises and strategic consultations with allies. The bill states that United States should "reaffirm that its extended deterrence commitments to its treaty allies remain ironclad" and ensure that its military posture, exercises, strategic consultations and defense investments demonstrate The legislation specifically identifies South Korea, Japan, Australia and members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) as allies whose security directly advances U.S. national security interests, while highlighting growing nuclear threats from North Korea, China and Russia. It also

US winter likely to be wetter and warmer, forecasters say. If you want more snow, look south
Oct 16, 2026
US winter likely to be wetter and warmer, forecasters say. If you want more snow, look south

WASHINGTON — Winter in the United States looks like it will generally be wetter and warmer, but not necessarily snowier, according to the federal government's official seasonal outlook and other meteorologists' forecasts. You can thank or blame El Niño. El Niño is likely to shift weather patterns to bring more moisture but with it higher temperatures. That should help erase persistent western drought, but it won't likely make northern snow-lovers happy, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said Thursday. Even though the weather service doesn't make seasonal snowfall predictions, their meteorologists said much of the northern parts of the country — including the Northeast, Great Lakes, Upper Midwest and Northern Rockies — should expect below normal snow, while the Southern Rockies, parts of the southeast and Southwest may get more than they usually do. The northern snow shrinkage is also predicted by private meteorology firms, with Salt Lake City the only big metro area where AccuWeather is forecasting above normal winter snow amounts. Chicago, Boston, New York and

School roof collapse in Pakistan kills at least 35 and injures more than 50
Oct 16, 2026
School roof collapse in Pakistan kills at least 35 and injures more than 50

PESHAWAR, Pakistan — The roof of a private school collapsed in the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar on Thursday, killing at least 34 children and a teacher and injuring more than 50 other people in the deadliest building collapse ever in the country, authorities and a hospital official said. The children killed or injured at Al-Khair school were between 6 and 12 years old, while the oldest was 14, Lady Reading Hospital spokesperson Mohammad Asim said. Some of the injured were in critical condition, he said. The hospital declared an emergency as medical staff treated the wounded. Hours after the collapse in Peshawar, the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, emergency services spokesperson Bilal Faizi said that everyone trapped beneath the rubble had been pulled out and crews had cleared debris. He told The Associated Press that the roofs of two classrooms collapsed when second- and third-grade children were in them with their teachers. Faizi said ambulances and disaster management personnel arrived from a nearby facility within five minutes of being alerted. Nearly 100 rescuer

Ukraine abandons truce, attacks Russian refinery as Zelenskyy says he feels betrayed by Trump
Oct 16, 2026
Ukraine abandons truce, attacks Russian refinery as Zelenskyy says he feels betrayed by Trump

KYIV, Ukraine — Ukraine attacked a Russian oil refinery Thursday, abandoning a brief truce involving energy-related targets that it said Moscow did not heed, as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he felt betrayed by U.S. President Donald Trump. The drone strike started a fire at the refinery about 300 kilometers (180 miles) southeast of Moscow in Russia’s Ryazan region, according to the Russian Defense Ministry and Ryazan Gov. Pavel Malkov. Russia’s Astra online news outlet posted what it said was a photograph of the blaze. The strike could further complicate Kyiv’s relations with Trump, which have soured again in recent days amid deepening tensions with Washington. Zelenskyy said he was outraged by Russia’s continuing aerial bombardment of his country’s energy infrastructure in apparent defiance of Trump’s demand on Sunday for both sides to halt those attacks. Despite going along with Trump’s demand for a truce, Zelenskyy complained, Ukraine in recent days was denied the usual Western intelligence on Russian ballistic missile strikes, and limits were placed on

How are Yemen's Houthis attacking Saudi Arabia so effectively?
Oct 16, 2026
How are Yemen's Houthis attacking Saudi Arabia so effectively?

LONDON — Houthi militants who control northwestern Yemen have in the past week attacked Riyadh international airport and hit the headquarters of Saudi Aramco, the world's largest oil company, in air assaults that have laid bare Saudi Arabia's vulnerability to threats from its enemy next door. The attacks are shattering the illusion of Saudi Arabia as a safe international investment hub as it tries to attract foreign money and diversify away from oil. This nightmare scenario for a key U.S. ally in the Gulf has been years in the making, weapons and regional experts say. They attribute Saudi Arabia's vulnerability to a ragtag group of Yemeni fighters to a perfect storm of factors that include Tehran helping the Houthis reach near self-sufficiency in producing and deploying advanced weapons, and the impact of the U.S. war on Iran that has depleted stocks of interceptors. Training to self-sufficiency by Iran Iran has been giving weapons, money and training to the Houthis, known formally as Ansar Allah, for more than a decade, although Tehran has officially denied arming the Houthis in violat

Tech sell-off rolls on as hot inflation data stokes rate worries
Oct 16, 2026
Tech sell-off rolls on as hot inflation data stokes rate worries

LONDON — Asian stocks plunged and the sell-off in tech stocks continued on Wall Street on Thursday as investors worried that forecast-topping U.S. inflation data would force the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates again. "A glance across major U.S. equities this morning shows that the tech sell-off is still in progress," said market analyst David Morrison at Trade Nation. "Once again, chip stocks are in the forefront of the current round of derisking," he added. Shares in AI chip giant Nvidia shed 2.2 percent. Those in rivals AMD and Marvell were both down around four percent in late morning New York trading. Shares in AI data centre infrastructure company CoreWeave fell 3.6 percent after plunging 15.5 percent on Wednesday. The company is a big client of Nvidia chips and Nvidia is a major shareholder. The Nasdaq Composite, which has the heaviest exposure to tech stocks, shed 0.3 percent. The blue-chip Dow rose, however. "Rotation out of highly speculative AI infrastructure into established sectors helped the Dow gain over half a percentage point," said IG analyst Axel Rudolph. European s

Nasdaq reports network disruption, US equities data feeds impacted
Oct 16, 2026
Nasdaq reports network disruption, US equities data feeds impacted

Nasdaq, home to some of the biggest U.S. tech companies, is experiencing a network disruption at its Carteret facility in New Jersey that is causing intermittent data gaps across all of its U.S. equities markets, the exchange operator said on Thursday. The technical issue is affecting multiple multicast groups and impacting both hardware and software feeds for Nasdaq, Nasdaq Texas and Nasdaq PSX, according to an alert issued by the company at 11:27:50 a.m. ET. Both the primary "A" and secondary "B" feeds originating from the Carteret facility have been compromised by the outage, it said. Nasdaq has advised clients to switch their systems to unaffected backup feeds originating from its Chicago facility to ensure market access. The exchange operator also instructed clients experiencing data gaps to submit recovery requests for any missing data. "Nasdaq is actively investigating the issue," it said. "We apologize for the disruption and appreciate your patience." Nasdaq did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment seeking further clarification. Technical glitches on exchanges c

US wholesale inflation reaches levels last seen in 2022
Oct 16, 2026
US wholesale inflation reaches levels last seen in 2022

WASHINGTON — Wholesale inflation rose more than expected last month on a big jump in fuel costs as rising prices become a bigger economic challenge for millions of Americans, and a growing political problem for Republicans in the upcoming midterm elections. The Labor Department’s producer price index — which captures inflation before it reaches consumers — soared 6.3 percent in September from a year ago, up from 5.6 percent in August and the biggest increase since December 2022, the government said Thursday. On a monthly basis, wholesale prices rose 1.3 percent from August to September, marking the largest increase since March 2022, after a 0.5 percent gain the previous month. The data indicated that rising fuel prices, particularly for the diesel fuel used by long-haul trucks and freight trains, is pushing up the cost of shipping and warehousing goods. That is starting to lift the cost of food, one place where prices appeared to have cooled this year. Wholesale food prices jumped 1.2 percent just from August to September, though they are still unchanged from a year ago. Transport

Venezuela's Maduro and wife plead not guilty to US torture charges
Oct 16, 2026
Venezuela's Maduro and wife plead not guilty to US torture charges

NEW YORK — Ousted Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores pleaded not guilty on Thursday to a new US indictment accusing them of conspiring to torture political opponents. The additional charges, brought last Thursday, significantly expanded the US criminal case against Maduro, 63, and Flores, 70. They previously pleaded not guilty to charges that they abused their power to help drug traffickers ship cocaine. Maduro and Flores, captured by the US military in a January raid ordered by President Donald Trump and flown to New York, entered their pleas at an arraignment before US District Judge Alvin Hellerstein in Manhattan federal court. Prosecutors with the Manhattan US Attorney's office say Maduro directed officials to torture opposition politicians and military personnel accused of plotting against him to maintain power in the South American country. In one alleged incident described in the indictment, Maduro in 2014 directed officials to kidnap military personnel to draw information out of them about possible dissidents, and told officials to "squeeze them harde

How Aramco learned to keep pumping oil under fire
Oct 16, 2026
How Aramco learned to keep pumping oil under fire

LONDON — When attack drones struck Saudi Aramco's biggest oil pipeline last month, satellite images showed one of its pumping stations burnt to ashes. By the next day, scores of bulldozers were already building a new pipeline. Within days pumping resumed. The speed of the recovery illustrates how the world's biggest oil producer has transformed its ability to operate under attack after years of assaults on energy infrastructure across the region. "Today, our teams can handle multiple incidents simultaneously, and we continue to build this capability," Saudi state oil firm Aramco's chief executive Amin Nasser told Reuters in an interview last week. Nasser said Aramco has built specialised rapid-response teams, expanded emergency stockpiles for repairs and deployed drones to assess damage even while incidents are still unfolding. Lessons on how to operate under fire came after drones and missiles hit Aramco's major oil processing facility in Abqaiq in 2019, temporarily knocking out half of Aramco's production. "After Abqaiq in 2019, we came up with the idea of rapid response teams, or what

Houthis attack presidential palace complex in Yemen's Aden, PM unharmed, officials say
Oct 16, 2026
Houthis attack presidential palace complex in Yemen's Aden, PM unharmed, officials say

Yemen's Houthis fired missiles at the presidential palace complex in the southern city of Aden on Thursday, killing two security guards, two government officials told Reuters. Yemen's prime minister and cabinet members who were at the Maashiq presidential palace complex were unharmed, Information Minister Moammar al-Eryani said, adding that the Houthis had fired five missiles at the complex. The Houthi-run Saba news agency, citing a military official, said the group had targeted a military operations headquarters run by Saudi officers at the complex, as well as weapons depots. Reuters could not independently verify the claims. The Iran-aligned group's military spokesperson, Yahya Saree, said the strike on what he described as a Saudi military operations headquarters in Aden was part of the group's declared policy of "targeting Saudi military build-ups wherever they are." Three witnesses had earlier told Reuters they heard loud booms in the vicinity of the palace.

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