Gaza’s Health Ministry reported Friday that hunger and malnutrition have killed 466 people since 2024, as famine grips the enclave and pushes more than 1.4 million residents toward a critical food crisis.

---

The Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza confirmed Friday that malnutrition and hunger rates have reached catastrophic levels across the territory.

The toll stands at 466 starvation deaths since 2024, a figure the ministry released on World Food Day, observed October 16.

RELATED: Gaza Humanitarian Crisis: UN Warns of Explosive Force Equal to 6 Nuclear Bombs

The health authority issued a grim report exposing the consequences of the prolonged Israeli siege. Official projections show that more than 1.4 million people, equivalent to 67% of the population, will face a critical or worse food crisis by the end of 2026. Famine was formally declared in Gaza governorate in August 2025.

“Malnutrition and famine rates in the Gaza Strip have reached catastrophic levels, seriously affecting children, the elderly and other vulnerable groups,” the Ministry said in its statement.

Statement by the Gaza Ministry of Health on World Food Day:

▪️ "Malnutrition and starvation rates in the Gaza Strip have reached catastrophic levels, ravaging children, the elderly, and other vulnerable groups."

▪️ "A total of 466 deaths due to malnutrition and starvation have…

— The Cradle (@TheCradleMedia) October 16, 2026

Children carry a heavy share of the toll. Since 2024, 157 children have died from malnutrition, roughly one third of all starvation deaths. Between 2024 and August 2026, health workers documented 158,001 cases of acute malnutrition in children under five, including 28,716 severe cases that directly threaten life.

The mortality rate among children under five more than doubled, climbing from 13.6 to 33.4 deaths per 1,000 live births between 2022 and 2025. Stunting now affects 12.2% of the child population. Officials estimate that another 74,200 children will require specialized treatment through 2027.

Maternal health has deteriorated sharply as well. Anemia prevalence rose to 61% in 2026, compared with 41% before the conflict. Nearly 4,000 miscarriages were recorded in the first half of the year, more than triple the previous six months. One in every three pregnancies is now classified as high risk.

🇵🇸 466 Palestinians, including 157 children, have died from malnutrition and starvation in Gaza since 2024, Health Ministry says

⚠️ More than 1.4 million people are expected to face crisis-level food insecurity or worse through the end of 2026

📌 Authorities accuse Israel of… pic.twitter.com/xGVDRsQcWy

— Anadolu English (@anadoluagency) October 16, 2026

Elderly Hardest Hit

Elderly adults account for the largest share of deaths linked to food shortages. The Gazan Ministry registered 189 fatalities among the elderly, or 40.5% of the national total.

The vulnerability among seniors is stark: 11% go entire days without eating anything at all, meanwhile 48% deliberately reduce their own portions to feed their families. 68% of them have interrupted or cut back on medication doses because of widespread shortages.

Three years of war have collapsed the food system. The Ministry’s warning lands as winter approaches and as aid deliveries remain insufficient to meet the scale of need across the territory.

The figures mark the deepest point yet in a hunger emergency that has built steadily since the conflict began. A formal famine declaration, once a rare event, now defines daily reality for hundreds of thousands of people trapped in the enclave.

The projected rise in food insecurity through late 2026, combined with 74,200 children awaiting specialized care, points to a crisis that will persist even if aid access improves.

Facing this emergency, the Health Ministry recalled that the right to food is fundamental. It urged the United Nations and the international community to establish urgent mechanisms that guarantee the safe, sustainable and unrestricted entry of humanitarian aid, therapeutic supplements and medicines into the enclave.

Nepal’s government reported that the August 26 flood destroyed 10 percent of the country’s gross domestic product, with damages and losses exceeding $2.7 billion, as Finance Minister Swarnim Wagle sought international funding to rebuild.

---

Nepal’s government said that the August 26 flood, dubbed the “Himalayan tsunami,” caused physical damage worth $1.8 billion and additional economic losses of more than $900 million, equivalent to about 10% of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), as it seeks international financing for reconstruction.

Finance Minister Swarnim Wagle presented the estimates on Thursday at a press conference at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club in Bangkok, on the sidelines of the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank.

RELATED: Nepal River Surge Destroys 40 Homes, Leaves Five Missing

Wagle is seeking international funding for rebuilding and for measures to “avoid or mitigate the impact of future disasters.”

Nearly seven weeks passed between the disaster and Thursday’s accounting. The flood struck on August 26, and the assessment Wagle presented in Bangkok represents the government’s formal reckoning of the economic damage it must now confront.The floods left more than 1,500 people dead and 6,000 missing, causing severe destruction of essential infrastructure, hydropower projects, farmland, fish ponds, food stocks and agricultural infrastructure across the country.

Flash floods along Nepal’s Budhi Gandaki River swept away homes and bridges, forcing residents to flee to higher ground.

Five people are missing, and six have been rescued, authorities said. pic.twitter.com/wv7zilln7C

— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) October 12, 2026

Rebuilding at Higher Cost

Wagle said Nepal does not intend merely to “replace what was destroyed, but to build better,” with more resilient infrastructure. He said that approach will raise the cost of reconstruction to $5 billion.

The Minister also said Nepal, which he described as “the poorest country in Asia after Afghanistan,” has contributed very little to global warming because of its limited industrialization and low emissions, but “is bearing the worst consequences of climate change.”

Wagle appealed to the “ethical and moral responsibility of countries with greater resources” to support the most vulnerable and called for a model of “global solidarity and cooperation.” “It is not about blaming rich countries, but about making a joint call to action,” he said.

Gorkha, #Nepal
Damaged houses lie partially submerged in sludge along the banks of the Budhi Gandaki River after a flash #flood caused by a #landslide. Four bridges and dozens of houses were swept away, as well as a construction camp for a hydropower project pic.twitter.com/vui6RyJocr

— Hans Solo (@thandojo) October 15, 2026

Glacier Collapse and Risk

The disaster originated high in the Himalayas. A glacial and rocky mass covering two square kilometers broke away from Langtang Lirung mountain at an altitude of 5,200 meters. The ensuing flood also swept into the Chinese region of Tibet.

The scale of the threat extends beyond a single event. A recent study in Scientific Reports warns that roughly 300,000 people in Nepal live in river channels susceptible to flooding. Construction in those vulnerable zones grew by almost 50 percent between 2016 and 2023, a pattern that multiplies the risk to communities as extreme weather becomes more frequent.

Nepal’s appeal arrives as climate-linked disasters mount across South Asia, a region where economies least responsible for global emissions face some of the steepest recovery costs. For a country that contributes a negligible share of greenhouse gases, the $5 billion reconstruction bill amounts to a burden imposed largely by forces beyond its control.

Federal forces in Argentina fired tear gas and turned water cannons on thousands of peaceful demonstrators in Buenos Aires on Thursday, detaining at least 34 people during the fifth Federal University March.

---

The march demanded implementation of the University Financing Law and denounced a sustained squeeze on public university budgets.

The demonstrations were replicated in dozens of Argentine cities, with students, teachers and university staff joined by unions, social organizations and environmental groups demanding the full implementation of the University Financing Law.

RELATED: Argentina’s Basic Basket Costs Outpace Inflation as Poverty Line Climbs

Protesters also denounced a sustained budget squeeze on public universities and rejected the ninth consecutive appeal filed by Javier Milei’s administration against court rulings that order the transfer of funds to the country’s higher education institutions.

The funding dispute has dragged on for months. Courts have repeatedly instructed the government to hand over the money set aside under the University Financing Law, and each ruling has been met with a new appeal from the national government. Thursday’s march was the fifth federal mobilization in a campaign that has grown beyond campuses to include unions, social organizations and environmental groups.

Ver esta publicación en Instagram

Una publicación compartida de teleSUR English (@telesurenglish)

Beyond the university budget, the crowd voiced opposition to Decree 70/23 and defended the Land Law. Speakers also called for salary increases, relief measures for indebted families and more resources for public institutions.

Arrests and Attacks on Press

According to local media, the police began repression outside the National Congress in Buenos Aires as a response to an incident of a group of about eight people, who started breaking street furniture and throwing objects against the fence surrounding Parliament. Despite being an isolated incident, the gassing affected those who marched peacefully. Witnesses warned of possible infiltrators.

At least 34 people were arrested and one woman was injured. Cameras captured a gas canister hitting her head. “The gas thing fell on my head, I don’t know how I am, I have to go to the hospital,” the woman, who gave her name as Andrea, told reporters covering the march.

For its part, the Buenos Aires City Police said in an official statement that its own force detained six people: two minors, aged 14 and 17, and four adults, three men and one woman, charged with assault and resistance to authority.

Press workers also was targeted. Photographer Guido Piotrkowski, who was covering the march, captured the moment when a Federal Police officer stepped out from behind the fence, aimed and fired at him. “They came out from behind the fences and started shooting; I was taking photos and they fired at us,” he said. “They hit me in the chest, another colleague in the leg, but they aimed directly. They were rubber pellets.”

According to the reports, another worker from a community media outlet had to be treated at a hospital after being hit by at least seven rubber bullets. Cameras from the C5N channel also recorded a man with his face covered handling a backpack in the middle of the square. When the reporter approached to speak with him, the man reacted violently and struck the cameraman.

The fifth Federal University March ended under a cloud of gas. The political dispute over who unleashed the violence now moves to Congress, where opposition lawmakers are pressing the security minister to account for the operation.

No Quorum in Congress

Meanwhile, the Chamber of Deputies failed in its attempt to debate the rejection of the Decree of Necessity and Urgency 70/23, promoted by the government of Javier Milei to support its program, by failing to reach the necessary quorum at the special session convened by opposing parties. Only 121 legislators attended the legislative day, eight fewer than the 129 required to enable treatment in the compound, with a total of 136 absences.

The opposition call gained momentum following an initial ruling by the Supreme Court of Justice that deregulated the sale of land to foreigners under the Decree 70/23, although a subsequent decision by the court itself temporarily restored the rule, argument that they used allied sectors to avoid attending the session. In parallel, the Government negotiated to include a cap on land sales to foreigners in the Inviolability of Private Property project, which was scheduled for debate on October 21.

President Donald Trump reversed course Thursday and canceled the live broadcast of Nidal Malik Hasan’s execution, days after the Pentagon announced a plan that drew bipartisan rebuke and international condemnation.

---

Hasan was convicted of killing 13 people in 2009 at Fort Hood, the Army base in Texas. The Pentagon had announced last week that his execution would be shown live, a decision Trump said he supported “absolutely.”

Now the plan is gone. Had it gone forward, the public execution would have been the first in the United States since 1936.

RELATED: U.S. Secretary of War Announces Public Execution of 2009 Fort Hood Shooter

Trump offered a mixed explanation for the retreat. “Broadcasting the execution for everyone to see could have been a strong deterrent,” he said, “for the world to witness how the United States treats terrorists and scum like Hasan.”

The execution itself remains on the calendar. The Pentagon set the date for December 3, and Trump clarified that the immediate families of the victims may attend in person “if they so wish.”

Deterrent Argument Fades

The reversal came quickly. In early October, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth announced that Hasan’s execution would be public. Soon after, the Pentagon said it would be broadcast live. “We’ll make sure people can see it, that it’s public,” Hegseth told the conservative network Real America’s Voice News on October 7.

Trump said at the time that Hasan “deserved” to have his execution by firing squad shown in public because he “killed a lot of people.” Vice President JD Vance kept his distance and said he had no intention of watching the execution.

The announcement triggered an immediate reaction across the political spectrum. Republicans and Democrats alike warned that the images could be used to fuel radicalization.

Archbishop Paul S. Coakley, who leads the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, condemned the administration’s plan and called it a “barbaric promotion of a culture of death that must be reconsidered.” House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, also leveled criticism at the proposal.

The historical stakes were high. The U.S. military has not executed a service member by firing squad since the Second World War. The last military execution took place on April 13, 1961, when Private John Bennett was hanged. Three other men sit on military death row at Fort Leavenworth in Kansas alongside Hasan. In 2008, President George W. Bush approved the execution of soldier Ronald Gray, but a judge suspended it and Gray remains at Leavenworth.

The prospect of transmitting the execution to millions of viewers drew sharp rejection abroad as well. Pope Leo XIV declared that capital punishment is “inadmissible” and said “effective penitentiary systems have been developed that protect citizens while not entirely depriving the guilty of the possibility of redemption.”

Torture Ban Breached

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights issued the warning after officials floated the idea of staging public executions. The practices singled out include executions broadcast live, a format that transforms a judicial sentence into a public spectacle.

“Any move toward public executions constitutes cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment,” the office said. It also breaches the absolute prohibition of torture under international law. Under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Convention against Torture, the ban is absolute. No war, no emergency and no domestic law can suspend it.

The warning carries direct weight in the case of Nidal Malik Hasan, a former Army psychiatrist who held the rank of major and now lives with partial paralysis. Hasan was shot by a civilian police officer at Fort Hood during the 2009 attack that left 13 people dead. He has remained partially paralyzed ever since.

At his military trial, Hasan admitted responsibility. He said he acted to prevent soldiers from deploying to Afghanistan to kill fellow Muslims. Hasan himself was about to be sent to that country. The admission was deliberate, not defensive. He framed the attack as an act of conscience, and he never disputed the facts. In 2013, a military court convicted him of premeditated murder and attempted murder. The panel sentenced him to death.

The reasoning reaches beyond a single prisoner. It protects the dignity of all people, even those convicted of the most serious crimes.

Trump abandoned the broadcast, but his framing never shifted. He still called Hasan a “terrorist” and “scum.” What collapsed was the spectacle, not the sentence. The execution still waits on the December 3 calendar, and the families of 13 victims still decide whether to watch it happen in person.

What began as a deterrent argument ended as a quiet retreat under pressure from his own party and from a world watching whether the United States would turn a state killing into a televised event for the first time in nine decades.

FIFA President Gianni Infantino apologized to the governing body’s Council in Zurich over the mishandling of the FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE) project and confirmed the proposal to sell competition stakes to outside investors has been withdrawn permanently.

---

FIFA President Gianni Infantino offered the apology this Thursday during the first Council meeting held in Zurich after the World Cup. He acknowledged errors in both the management and the communication of the FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE) initiative, a plan that would have handed private investors a share of FIFA competitions.

Addressing the council members directly, the Swiss-Italian executive sought to close the episode with a call for unity. The investment scheme, he confirmed, would not be revived.

RELATED: Europe’s Top Leagues Demand FIFA Governance Reform

The administration then presented an alternative designed to soften the blow: a proposal named the Surplus Solidarity Program channels 6.35 billion dollars for the period between 2027 and 2030, drawing on commercial revenue generated by the World Cup. According to Infantino, the funds would raise the amounts distributed among all 211 member associations and the confederations.

That financial package will be evaluated at the December meeting in Doha and put to a vote at the Congress scheduled for March 18, 2027.

FIFA plans to allocate $6.35 billion to its member associations for football development from 2027 to 2030, including an increased funding package of $25 million for each national association. #3Sports pic.twitter.com/ogP4oEb3g8

— #3Sports (@3SportsGh) October 14, 2026

Europe Presses for Exit

Despite the financial announcement, the most critical European federations, including England and Germany, maintained their opposition to Infantino remaining in office. The English federation said it has not received clear answers about the legal background of the FFE project, while the German side called for a change in the organization’s leadership.

Support for the president came from Africa. Ahmed Yahya, president of Mauritania’s football federation, defended the current leadership, saying it promotes equality and an equal weight for each vote in the Congress. He said a majority backs Infantino staying at the head of the institution.

The competing messages reflect a familiar divide in world football’s governance. Larger, wealthier federations tend to push for tighter scrutiny of FIFA’s leadership, while many smaller associations benefit directly from FIFA’s development funds. Because each of the 211 members has a vote at the Congress, a spending increase aimed at all of them is likely to be closely watched.

🗣️ Gianni Infantino has apologised "for the mistakes… in relation to the communication and consultation" for FIFA Forward Enterprise.

He adds that the FIFA Peace Prize will be "analysed" along with a change to the FIFA Disciplinary Code to stop automatic one-game bans being… pic.twitter.com/lBrraQNjkk

— Ben Jacobs (@JacobsBen) October 15, 2026

Governance Review Ordered

The Council also agreed to create a working group to review FIFA’s governance framework. It tasked an evaluation of the FIFA Peace Prize and asked the Legal Commission for a report on disciplinary procedures, to be presented at the December session.

The apology and the withdrawal mark a significant concession from a president who has dominated world football’s finances for a decade. By scrapping the FFE plan outright, Infantino acknowledged that the backlash within the game had grown too costly to ignore.

Supporters of the solidarity plan may argue that it directs World Cup profits toward the wider football community. Critics may counter that a funding increase does not answer questions about how the FFE project was handled, which is the point the European federations are pressing. Yet the European federations made clear that closing the project alone would not settle the matter. For them, the questions about how the initiative was conceived and who approved it remain open, and the December gathering in Doha now looms as the next test of whether the unity Infantino called for can actually be rebuilt.

Venezuela has dispatched this Tuesday a humanitarian air cargo to Panama to support the emergency response after a severe earthquake, with local teams preparing to move the supplies immediately toward operational centers serving damaged residential areas.

---

Venezuela’s government dispatched a plane carrying 40 tons of humanitarian aid to Panama on Thursday to help people affected by the magnitude 7.7 earthquake that struck the country on October 9 and caused severe damage to road infrastructure, essential services and thousands of homes in both urban and rural areas.

The cargo includes basic medical supplies, non-perishable food, drinking water, personal hygiene kits and logistical material, intended to support temporary camps set up by Panamanian authorities in regions declared in emergency.

RELATED: Panama Earthquake: 7.7 Magnitude Quake Leaves 26 Injured, No Deaths

The shipment landed on Panamanian soil and was received by personnel from the National Aeronaval Service. From there, the cargo will begin an immediate overland transfer to the local operational centers where responders are coordinating relief efforts in the wake of the seismic crisis.

Diosdado Cabello, Venezuelan Minister of Interior, Justice and Peace, announced the aid shipment, which was described as part of the protocols of solidarity and Central American integration that guide the country’s response to regional emergencies. In this sense, the Venezuelan authorities stressed that “support operations are carried out in direct coordination with civil protection agencies and state security bodies of Panama”.

Tras el reciente terremoto ocurrido en Panamá, Venezuela envió un cargamento de ayuda humanitaria.

Reafirmando su compromiso de solidaridad con los pueblos hermanos.

¡Panamá no está sola! 🇻🇪🇵🇦 pic.twitter.com/oMnsQMwdRv

— Ministerio de Comunicación e Información (@mippci_ven) October 15, 2026

Text reads: “After the recent earthquake in Panama, Venezuela sent a shipment of humanitarian aid, reaffirming their commitment to solidarity with brotherly people. Panama is not alone!”

The cooperation between Caracas and Panama City is designed to accelerate the immediate contingency phase. It also aims to open a clear path toward the physical reconstruction and economic recovery of the residential zones hit hardest by the earthquake.

Specialists Join Relief Effort

The shipment complements an earlier deployment of a specialized technical team of more than 50 risk-management and rescue professionals, a delegation that includes experts in assessing critical infrastructure, inspecting damaged buildings, removing debris and restoring basic electricity and water services.

The Venezuelan delegation working on the ground includes experts in evaluating critical infrastructure, inspecting compromised buildings, removing debris and restoring basic energy and water services. Their task is to help stabilize the communities most affected by the quake.

Cabello said the operational experience acquired by Venezuelan brigades during recent seismic events in Venezuelan territory allows them to contribute methodological solutions and strategic interventions in the hardest-hit municipalities.

The Minister framed the effort as part of a permanent bilateral cooperation framework established between the two nations for disaster mitigation across Latin America. Under that framework, the support operations are carried out in direct coordination with Panama’s civil protection agencies and security forces. International organizations are operating in the affected area, and Venezuela has signaled that it will continue working alongside them.

Ver esta publicación en Instagram

Una publicación compartida de teleSUR English (@telesurenglish)

Aid Targets Rural Areas

The distribution plan prioritizes the transfer of supplies to rural and island communities whose land routes were cut off by the earthquake. The aim is to guarantee equitable access to medical care and food for vulnerable families.

National Aeronaval Service teams took charge of the cargo upon arrival. The supplies then move by land to the operational centers closest to the communities that suffered the heaviest damage, where distribution can begin without delay, a decision that shortens the distance between the arrival of aid and its delivery to affected families.

Thousands of families in urban and rural communities remain in temporary camps while authorities assess the full extent of the damage. The emergency has tested Panama’s response capacity, and the arrival of additional aid and technical personnel has become a central element of the recovery effort.

Venezuelan authorities said its collection centers and technical monitoring systems remain active to evaluate additional requirements. If Panamanian authorities request more operational support, the response can be scaled up quickly.

For now, the 40 tons of aid and the specialized personnel on the ground represent Venezuela’s immediate contribution to a recovery that is only beginning in the regions hit hardest by the tremor.

Torrential rains that delivered 80 percent of Honduras’ projected annual rainfall in just 23 days have triggered landslides that destroyed homes and left dozens of families without shelter in Tegucigalpa and Comayagüela.

---

In just 23 days, the area received 80% of the rainfall projected for all of 2026, causing more than 250 severe incidents, according to the Honduran Centre for Atmospheric, Oceanographic and Seismic Studies (CENAOS) reports.

The collapses hit vulnerable areas hard. Residents said they lost houses that were under construction and complained of a lack of assistance from municipal authorities.

RELATED: El Niño Extreme Weather: 34 Days of Record Rain Raise Global Alarm

The Villa Unión neighborhood suffered some of the heaviest losses. Landslides there destroyed 13 homes completely. Several of the houses were still under construction when the ground gave way, burying years of savings in a matter of minutes.

Families said the destruction arrived without warning. They also reported that municipal authorities provided no assistance in the immediate aftermath, leaving them to dig through the rubble on their own and count their losses with no outside help.

In the nearby La Mololoa sector, the emergency unfolded with equal speed. Residents evacuated urgently across rooftops to get children away from advancing mud and water. Neighbors described moments of panic as the earth shifted beneath their feet.

#HonduredNoticias | Varias comunidades de Santa Cruz de Yojoa, Cortés, han tenido que abandonar sus hogares por las fuertes inundaciones ocurridas por la crecida del Lago de Yojoa. ® pic.twitter.com/vgDdiDuYCM

— Hondured 13 Oficial (@HonduredOficial) October 14, 2026

Text reads: “Several communities of Santa Cruz de Yojoa, Cortés, have had to leave their homes because of the severe flooding caused by the flood of Lake Yojoa.”

The risk is not confined to the sectors already buried. More than 700 neighborhoods and colonies across the Central District remain exposed to floods and geological failures, leaving whole hillside communities one storm away from the same fate. Residents of the hardest-hit areas said unfinished road works and inadequate drainage diverted torrents of water directly toward residential zones, causing damage for the second consecutive time.

En Tegucigalpa, Honduras, las lluvias provocaron derrumbes e inundaciones, dejando viviendas destruidas y personas albergadas.

Los cuerpos de socorro mantienen el monitoreo y las labores en los lugares de mayor vulnerabilidad.

📸: Cortesía. pic.twitter.com/dq1zjS52Sx

— Noticiero El Salvador 🇸🇻 (@NoticieroSLV) October 8, 2026

Text reads: “In Tegucigalpa, Honduras, the rains caused landslides and floods, leaving homes destroyed and people sheltered. The relief corps maintain monitoring and work in places of greatest vulnerability.”

Families Demand Relocation

The scale of the losses triggered citizen protests over what residents described as an insufficient delivery of basic supplies. In response, the Municipal Mayor’s Office of the Central District announced a temporary rental subsidy for displaced families.

Affected residents dismissed the subsidy as a stopgap measure that does not address the root of the problem. They demanded that the contractors responsible for the infrastructure works pay full compensation for the material losses suffered by the community.

Despite warnings of further landslides, dozens of evacuees are refusing to permanently leave the ruins of their homes for fear of looting. Civilians are calling for urgent intervention by the central government through permanent relocation projects that guarantee safety and the right to decent housing.

The central government had not publicly responded to those demands at the time of writing, according to the information available. Heavy rainfall on steep, densely settled hillsides is a recurring cause of landslides in Honduras’ capital, and families living in the most exposed areas are often the poorest. Whether the municipal subsidy and any future relocation plans reach those families will determine how long the emergency lasts.

Brazil’s Senate on Wednesday approved a historic constitutional amendment that cuts the maximum workweek from 44 to 40 hours and guarantees two days of rest without a reduction in pay, ending the six-days-on, one-day-off model known as the 6×1 schedule.

---

The Brazilian Senate approved Wednesday the end of the 6×1 work schedule, a constitutional reform that shortens the workweek from 44 to 40 hours and adds a second weekly rest day without cutting wages.

The amendment cleared the Senate five months after the Chamber of Deputies passed it in a historic vote.

RELATED: Brazil’s Lula Announces MEI 12.6 Billion Reais Debt Relief

The measure, Constitutional Amendment Proposal (PEC) 221/2019, received 75 votes in favor and one against in both rounds, well above the 49 votes required among the Senate’s 81 members. The only vote against, in both rounds, came from Senator Hamilton Mourão of the Republican party. Senators Rogério Marinho, Sergio Moro, Márcio Bittar and Ciro Nogueira were absent from the first round.

The vote was made possible after senators approved a special calendar to speed up the process, at the request of government leader in the chamber Teresa Leitão, of the Workers’ Party (PT), with the backing of Senate President Davi Alcolumbre.

The proposal had already cleared the Deputy chamber in a landmark session five months earlier. Its path through the Senate took longer than government allies wanted, and labor leaders kept up public pressure for a vote before the campaign’s final stretch.

The approval is seen as a political victory for President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, coming 11 days before the October 25 presidential runoff, in which he faces Senator Flávio Bolsonaro of the Liberal Party.

✊🇧🇷 O FIM DA 6X1 AGORA É REALIDADE!

Lutamos, discutimos e pressionamos para garantir que o Congresso votasse ainda este ano o fim da 6×1!

Mas a voz do povo foi a voz que me conduziu para que, juntos, garantíssemos mais tempo para descansar, acompanhar os filhos e estar com… pic.twitter.com/52RZBsxVvu

— Lula (@LulaOficial) October 15, 2026

Text reads: “The end of 6×7 is now reality! We fought, argued and pushed to ensure that Congress voted this year for the end of 6×1. But it was the voice of the people that guided me so that, together, we would ensure more time to rest, accompany our children and be with those we love. More dignity and quality of life for the Brazilian people!…”

Gradual Transition Planned

The amendment provides for a phased implementation. Two months after it is promulgated, the maximum workweek will fall to 42 hours and workers will receive two paid rest days. After another 12 months, the limit will drop to 40 hours a week, with one of the two rest days preferably on Sunday.

The text states that the reduction in working time will not lower salaries and preserves the possibility of collective agreements to regulate specific situations. Unions estimate that about 22 million workers will be benefit.

Ending the 6×1 schedule is one of the main demands of Brazilian workers and unions, who argue that shorter hours improve quality of life, expand rest time, favor family life and help prevent physical and mental exhaustion.

Ver esta publicación en Instagram

Una publicación compartida de teleSUR English (@telesurenglish)

Politics Before Runoff

The debate was marked by differences between the governing coalition and the opposition, in an electoral context in which the measure has broad public support.

Flávio Bolsonaro changed his position this week and announced he would vote in favor of the initiative, after consistently opposing it. He had previously called the discussion opportunistic and defended an alternative proposal based on pay per hour worked. The report does not include any comment from Bolsonaro on the final vote.

“We fought, debated and pressed to make sure Congress voted this year to end 6×1. But the voice of the people was the voice that guided me so that, together, we could get more time to rest, spend with our children and be with those we love,” Presiden Lula said in his first reaction on X.

After the vote, members of the progressive bloc were seen chanting Lula’s name in recognition of his leadership on the issue. The approval allows Lula’s government to showcase a commitment to more rest time and better working conditions in a campaign marked by a dispute over social rights and the future of Brazil’s labor market.

The amendment still needs to be promulgated to be effective. Once promulgated, the law will set a 40-hour limit spread across five days, with two days off and no loss of salary. Companies will get a gradual transition, giving employers time to reorganize shifts without cutting staff pay.