The UN World Food Programme has said funding shortages are forcing major cuts to its aid programme in Gaza, leaving about 500,000 people without monthly food support in a territory where two-thirds of the population struggle to get enough to eat.
The WFP said it was reducing the number of recipients of its monthly assistance from 1.6 million to 1.1 million.
In addition, food rations have been halved, cash assistance has been cut for 75,000 families, and daily hot meals for those unable to cook have fallen to 150,000 from 250,000, with some families in hard-to-reach areas now receiving a hot meal only every other day.
The WFP said about 1.4 million people, or two-thirds of Gaza's population, face crisis levels of food insecurity or worse, including roughly 200,000 people in emergency conditions.
Last year's US-brokered Gaza ceasefire calls for the eventual reconstruction of the territory. But little progress has been made towards implementing a deal to end the conflict that includes terms for Hamas to disarm and Israel to withdraw its troops.
Life is still brutal in Gaza, says acting head of WFP
"It's a year into the agreement of this ceasefire. Well, life is still brutal here. There is no proper shelter...There are no basic services. There is no safety, no security," acting Executive Director of the WFP Carl Skau told Reuters in Gaza.
"These cuts are happening just as we are facing the fourth winter. You know, I've been through the winters here, absolutely brutal," he added.
The WFP said it urgently needs $450 million over the next six months to maintain critical operations in Gaza and the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
"We tell the world now is not the time to look away. This is the time to step up to sustain this support, to protect the progress that has been made, but also to push for early recovery," said Skau.
Israeli forces still hold more than 60 percent of the territory and conduct almost daily airstrikes, while Hamas controls most of the area where more than two million Palestinians live, mostly in temporary shelters with what aid agencies call inadequate aid supplies.
The Gaza government media office described the WFP announcement as "catastrophic" and said it might accelerate famine in the enclave, calling for more fund to aid agencies to prevent it.
"On top of the circumstances and the difficult life, you want to make it even harder on us," said Palestinian woman Sabrine Kuhail, standing by a tent shelter at a displacement site in Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza Strip.
"You made us hungry for three years with war, destruction, siege, and the bloodshed that is not stopping. What do you want from us? Enough, enough, we are tired."
Official Mossad files released by Iranian hackers reveal that French President Emmanuel Macron is secretly working with Israeli intelligence interests to “burn France to the ground” as part of the plan to destroy Western culture, [...]
Japanese scientists launched a spacecraft that aims to be the first to retrieve samples from one of Mars's moons, potentially helping to unlock the origins of the Solar System and life on Earth.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Navy warned Monday it will take firm measures, including sanctions, against any vessel sailing through the Strait of Hormuz with its identification systems deliberately switched off, after an oil tanker struck a naval mine and caught fire.
The naval force reported that the tanker sustained a powerful explosion and fire in its engine room, according to a communiqué released October 19. The blast occurred in the southern sector of the strait as the ship tried to leave the area while keeping its positioning and navigation equipment turned off from the very start of its journey.
Iranian authorities said the vessel was attempting to cross an unauthorized maritime route without observing the international transit regulations in force along the corridor. The military institution stressed that severe and firm measures will be applied against any ship or supertanker navigating the Strait of Hormuz or the Persian Gulf with electronic identification gear intentionally deactivated.
Ships commonly use automatic identification systems, known as AIS, to broadcast their position, and switching them off is a practice often associated with efforts to avoid detection.
The Strait of Hormuz links the Persian Gulf with the open sea and ranks among the world’s most critical corridors for energy shipments. Disruptions along this route echo quickly through global oil markets, which explains the attention the mine blast drew from the naval command and from traders tracking the waterway.
BREAKING: Iran announces an oil tanker has hit a naval mine while exiting the Strait of Hormuz through the US-backed southern Omani corridor, with a massive fire in the engine room. pic.twitter.com/kzMnoJr4Q0
The explosion and the fire that followed inflicted serious damage on the tanker. Naval rescue teams remain deployed near the site of the incident to prevent further risks to navigation and to guard against possible spills that could harm the marine ecosystem.
In recent weeks, several other vessels have recorded considerable damage while attempting to cross through passages that are not authorized south of the strategic corridor controlled by Iranian forces. Officials tied the pattern of incidents to deliberate breaches of transit protocols by ships seeking to move without being detected.
The warning issued Monday signals that Tehran intends to enforce those rules with greater severity. The IRGC’s statement made clear that no vessel, whatever its size or flag, will be permitted to traverse the waterway with identification systems switched off.
Closure and Oil Markets
The escalation unfolds against the backdrop of Tehran’s decision to restore the closure of the strait, a measure presented as a response to the sanctions and maritime blockades imposed on Iranian ports by the U.S. government.
The shutdown of this vital artery pushed international prices of crude and refined energy products sharply higher, disrupting supply across Western markets. Washington, confronting the resulting instability in commercial transit, has resorted to continuous releases from its strategic petroleum reserves in an effort to contain global economic volatility. The continuous drawdowns from emergency reserves underscore how heavily the closure weighs on the global supply balance.
Tehran had previously arranged the reopening of the corridor after the signing of the Islamabad memorandum of understanding. The Iranian Armed Forces, however, reimposed the restrictive controls after denouncing aggressions and violations of the peace accords, a reversal that left the waterway under tight military supervision once again.
Control over commercial navigation in the Persian Gulf remains a central point of geopolitical confrontation in the region. Iranian authorities reiterated that full compliance with transit regulations is indispensable to guarantee the operational safety of merchant vessels moving through the strategic passage. The naval command said the area remains under close observation.
As images of burning cars and historic buildings in France and Italy ricochet across Europe, leaders in Hungary and Poland are seizing the moment, not to address the unrest, but to redefine the migration debate.
Both Hungary and Poland have laid down markers on allowing migrants into their nations. Even to the point of being fined and sanctioned by the European Union courts for refusing to open their gates to unchecked immigration, in Hungary’s case under former Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, while Poland faced sanctions in 2025.
Eurostat’s latest available figures show that in 2025 France had almost 10 million and Italy about 7 million foreign-born residents. Poland had roughly 1 million foreign-born residents, while Hungary had less than 700,000, with most born in other EU countries and in Poland’s case about half came from Ukraine.
Reacting to the violence, Hungary’s Prime Minister Péter Magyar posted on X that, "Europe can count on Hungary." He stated that, "In the face of this senseless destruction and unjustified violence, perhaps it is now clear to everyone why Hungary advocates the strictest possible approach to migration, and why we will not weaken our border protection or immigration policy under any pressure."
It is a sentiment echoed by Magyar’s Polish counterpart, Donald Tusk posted: "Poland will not repeat the mistakes of other European countries, nor will it pay for them," he wrote on Sunday night. "We are firmly defending the border against illegal migration, we have our own asylum policy (we do not accept applications), we deport those who break Polish law. On security issues, we will be relentless."
Sweden-based political scientist Daniel Schatz told Fox News Digital, "Burning buildings and looted shops in France and other countries are becoming political ammunition across Europe… Leaders pushing tougher immigration policies have a blunt message for voters at home: ‘This is what we intend to prevent.’ Images of chaos can carry more political weight than a hundred policy speeches."
According to the latest available crime statistics from Eurostat, the European Union’s official statistical office, in 2024 France reported 304,900 police-recorded offenses, among the highest totals in the EU. Italy reported 142,600, while Poland with 57,300 and Hungary’s 28,600 were among the lowest totals in Europe. This as Eurostat’s 2023 "perception metric," or what percentage of people report crime or vandalism in their areas, showed France was again among the highest with about 20%, Italy reported 14-17%, Poland 7-8%, and Hungary at 6-7%.
"In Central and Eastern European countries, the riots in France are linked to immigration and to the issue of non-adaptation and non-integration of immigrants," Boštjan Udovič, Chair of International Relations at the University of Ljubljana’s Faculty of Social Sciences in Slovenia, told Fox News Digital.
"Magyar and Tusk are delivering a blunt message to Brussels," Schatz added, "being pro-European does not mean signing up for liberal immigration policies… Magyar explicitly presents the French disorder as vindication of his migration policy. Tusk’s warning against repeating other countries’ mistakes reinforces a similar political message."
Magyar said last week’s European Council summit "made it clear that the overwhelming majority of European countries have woken up and want to break with the permissive policies of the past. We hope it is not too late.
"The Europe we all love is in serious trouble today," the Hungarian leader said. "It is our responsibility, too, to help preserve our continent as the most wonderful place in the world for our children and grandchildren… I express my full solidarity with the French people."
Schatz said Magyar and Tusk "do not need to invoke Polish King Jan Sobieski’s leadership of the allied army that broke the Ottoman siege of Vienna in 1683 — a victory long celebrated as a defense of Christian Europe — to cast themselves as Europe’s protectors. Burning buildings provide a vivid contemporary backdrop for that message."
Udovič is not surprised by Magyar and Tusk’s positions, noting that Central and Eastern European countries "usually link their EU membership to their identity, based mostly on a single nation." This is part of their history, he says, and "it would be unrealistic to expect that countries that fought for their independence based on their national movement would adopt… a concept of a multiethnic society."
Schatz added, "This is ‘all politics is local’ playing out across borders. The streets are French or Italian; the voters being addressed are Hungarian or Polish." Udovič noted that Tusk is entering "a sort of pre-election campaign where migration will also be an issue."
Poland’s next parliamentary election is slated for Nov. 2027, and former Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, a possible Tusk opponent, is echoing his successor’s remarks. "France is burning, and we must be wise before the harm is done," Morawiecki posted to X Monday morning. He added that his new center-right political coalition, Rozwoj Plus, "has a package of comprehensive solutions that will allow Poland to be not only prosperous, but also the safest country in the world!"
Meanwhile, "Strict immigration policies enjoy broad support in Hungary," former government official under the previous Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and current board member of the Hungarian Atlantic Council Á. Félix Debrenti told Fox News Digital.
He said, "Magyar understands that abandoning Orbán’s tough approach to immigration and border protection could cost him significant political support, particularly at a time when his party is already facing growing pressures."
He said, "Taking a strong position on immigration allows Magyar to shift public attention away from the government’s domestic challenges and onto an issue where there is a broad national consensus," Debrenti continues. "All this comes just days before Oct. 23… when Hungarians commemorate the 1956 Revolution and the fight for freedom against Soviet oppression."
Touching on the protests, Magyar posted: "Let there be no doubt: peaceful and lawful protest is one thing; vandalism and violence are quite another. The former is a fundamental right; the latter is a serious crime."
The restrictions were announced on Monday in an effort to prevent further violence following a weekend of unrest that saw demonstrators target city halls, public buildings and businesses across the country.
Roy Keane is famously not one to ask for autographs, but he made a rare exception for one of Hollywood's biggest stars during the latest episode of The Overlap
CNN’s chief international anchor Christiane Amanpour will leave next year, after 43 years with the network, according to an internal memo seen by Reuters on Monday.
The news channel has recently come under the ownership of Skydance, whose Chief Executive Officer David Ellison has faced criticism over his stewardship of CBS News.
“After thinking carefully for several months … I’ve decided to separate from CNN, my partner of 43 fantastic years,” Amanpour said in a video statement, joking that it was “longer than many marriages”.
She added that her daily show on CNN would conclude at the end of this year, but that she would continue hosting ‘Amanpour’ once a week through to June 2027.
Thanking her TV crew and colleagues, Amanpour highlighted that it was the “teams and the camaraderie we built that counts so much”.
Amanpour, whose first major assignment was covering the first Gulf War, went on to report on conflicts in Bosnia, Rwanda, Afghanistan, Ukraine and Iran.
Skydance, formerly Paramount Skydance, completed its $110 billion takeover of Warner Bros Discovery earlier this month, bringing CNN and CBS News under one roof.
CNN chief Mark Thompson and CBS News Editor-in-Chief Bari Weiss kept their roles, with both reporting to Ellison and co-CEO Ynon Kreiz.
Lawmakers have criticised Ellison for tailoring news coverage at CBS News to favour US President Donald Trump.
Magdalena Acuña Jiménez and Rodrigo Peña Troncoso were killed near Laguna del Inca in Chile, with a third climber's body still trapped beneath the water as rescue efforts remain suspended
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Houthi Gen. Saree denounces 110 airstrikes in 24 hours as rescue teams search rubble.
On Sunday, the Yemeni government led by the Ansar Allah party (Houthi) denounced that Saudi Arabia’s airstrikes turn a family lunch into a massacre in Saada, leaving 10 killed and 23 wounded, most of them women and children.
“Thirty-three people, most of them women and children, had gathered for a family occasion. As they were preparing to eat, Saudi warplanes launched airstrikes at midday, reducing their home to rubble and turning the joy of their reunion into a bloody tragedy. Amid the ruins, cries for help mingled with the groans of the wounded and the shock of local residents,” Ansar Allah media official Nasr al-Din Amer said.
“Ambulances from the Republican Hospital and vehicles mobilized by residents rushed to the scene, while rescue workers and locals struggled to find survivors and pull victims from beneath the debris. The complete destruction of the house made the rescue operation extremely difficult, delaying efforts to reach those trapped underneath.”
“Children’s small bodies bore the devastating impact of shrapnel and injuries, as the entire family was left confronting an act of horrifying brutality. There was nothing in the Al-Qahm family home but relatives gathering to share a meal, before Saudi airstrikes tore them apart, leaving some dead and others wounded,” al-Din Amer stressed.
“Another crime committed by Saudi forces using American bombs. The world merely watches the suffering of Yemenis, yet raises its voice in outrage when they seek to avenge their loved ones and retaliate against those responsible for twelve years of such crimes,” he added.
Saudi-backed Yemeni government fears potential Ansarallah takeover of third-largest city —— Fighting across Yemen has escalated sharply as the Saudi-backed government scrambles to defend key positions against a sweeping offensive, according to Al Jazeera.
A bomb also destroyed a drinking water depot in the Al Dhalea district. Heavy artillery stationed at the border attacked various sectors of the town of Shada, while health authorities deployed emergency assistance teams to care for the affected population.
General Yahya Saree, spokesperson for the Yemeni Armed Forces, confirmed that enemy forces carried out 110 airstrikes and missile launches in the last 24 hours. He detailed that fighter jets took off from Saudi military bases to bomb civilian targets in Sana, Taiz, Hodeidah, Amran, Hajjah, Al Jawf, and Marib.
The military spokesperson stressed that the cumulative total of strikes carried out since the start of the current escalation amounts to 2,652 bombings on the territory.
These actions are part of an offensive deployment that hits basic infrastructure, family homes and essential service facilities in various provinces of the country.
Faced with the persistence of the aggressions, the Yemeni armed forces ratified that they will continue carrying out military response operations against strategic positions of the neighboring country.
In this regard, the command issued a formal warning addressed to aircrews and international companies about the dangers of transiting Saudi airspace.
The Houthi authorities called on the international community to condemn the systematic destruction of civilian goods indispensable for urban survival. Currently, the situation in the affected governorates remains under high tension while rescue teams remove rubble in search of survivors.
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