Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia told residents in several regions to take shelter overnight after unidentified drones entered or approached their airspace from the direction of Russia or Belarus, and NATO fighter jets were scrambled, Reuters reported. The alerts were lifted within hours and no injuries were reported.
Israel’s 26th Knesset was sworn in on 10 November, two weeks after an election in which neither bloc won the 61 seats needed to govern. President Isaac Herzog has tasked Gadi Eisenkot with forming a government, while Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called for a national unity government under his leadership. According to the 5050 Initiative, the new parliament has 33 women members, an all-time record.
The African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights has sent an urgent appeal to Niger’s President Abdourahamane Tchiani, made public on 9 November, raising concern over reported restrictions on the Mahamid Arab community’s access to water, education, healthcare and identity documents in the Diffa region, Al Jazeera reports. The appeal does not amount to a formal finding of violations.
The 2026 Sudan Multi-Sector Needs Assessment by the International Organization for Migration’s Displacement Tracking Matrix found that 68% of households have unmet livelihood needs, rising to 83% among displaced households, Radio Dabanga reports. Ninety-eight per cent of households reported rising prices for basic goods.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres urged world leaders at the COP31 climate conference in Antalya, Türkiye, on Wednesday to act immediately, calling for an end to coal, oil and gas as energy sources and warning that “the climate crisis is outrunning us”.
Government data in the Democratic Republic of the Congo show 11,042 confirmed Ebola cases and at least 5,387 deaths, the country's largest outbreak on record and the second-largest globally after the 2014–2016 West African epidemic, Al Jazeera and Reuters report.
The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in London, Trinidad and Tobago’s final court of appeal, ruled on Tuesday in favour of activist Jason Jones, finding that sections 13 and 16 of the 1986 Sexual Offences Act cannot apply to private, consensual relations between adults of the same sex.
A UN Women fact sheet launched at COP31 in Antalya, Türkiye, says about 1.5 billion women and girls live in climate hotspots, and that under a worst-case scenario climate change could push up to 141 million more into extreme poverty by mid-century.
Russian and Ukrainian delegations agreed on a large exchange of prisoners of war at the end of two days of US-brokered talks hosted by the United Arab Emirates in Abu Dhabi, Russian and US officials said. Russia's chief negotiator Vladimir Medinsky said details would be announced shortly; no breakthrough on territory or a ceasefire was reported.
UNESCO warned that Afghanistan could lose a generation of professionals, especially in education and healthcare, as girls remain barred from school beyond Grade Six. About 2.4 million girls are excluded from secondary education and no girls enrolled in universities in 2026, according to a UN report published in November.
Armed drones caused 270 of the 410 child deaths and injuries UNICEF recorded in Sudan between January and September, spokesperson James Elder told reporters in Geneva. He warned that strikes on power stations and drought are threatening food and water, with 825,000 children under five expected to suffer severe acute malnutrition this year.
The US Justice Department has charged three men, an Iranian-Iraqi dual national, an Iranian and an Iraqi, in an eight-count indictment over an alleged September plot at RAF Fairford in England, a base the US military has used in operations against Iran. Prosecutors accuse them of conspiring to provide material support to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Iraq’s Kataib Hezbollah.
Chatham House presented its 2026 Prize to the women of Afghanistan at a ceremony in London on Monday, 9 November, recognising what it called their “collective resistance to systematic gender persecution”. Elaha Safdari of Afghanistan’s women’s national football team accepted the award from Chatham House President and former UK Prime Minister Theresa May.
Iran's top security official Mohsen Rezaei denied that Tehran is negotiating with Washington or arranging a meeting in Qatar, calling such claims "lies," Anadolu and Al Jazeera reported. He said the Strait of Hormuz will remain closed until the US meets Iran's seven conditions, which Iranian officials say include lifting sanctions and the US naval blockade.
Former Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak arrived at his Kuala Lumpur residence on Tuesday night to serve the rest of his 1MDB-linked sentence under house arrest, after the High Court ruled the arrangement took effect immediately, The Star and the BBC reported. It follows a conditional royal pardon and runs until 23 August 2028.
A Honduran court has postponed to 20 November its verdict in the trial of four men accused in a sex-trafficking case linked to the disappearance of Angie Peña on Roatán island in January 2022, the Associated Press reports. The judiciary cited the need to review evidence and the absence of a court interpreter; defence lawyers deny their clients' involvement and seek acquittal.
The US House voted 211-204 on Tuesday to refer Republican Rep. Thomas Massie's impeachment resolution against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to the Judiciary Committee, effectively ending the effort in the current Congress, ABC News reported. Massie was the only Republican to vote against the motion, joining all House Democrats.
Two officials of Sudan’s dissolved National Congress Party told Reuters, and a senior party official told Radio Tamazuj, that military intelligence detained party chairman Ahmed Haroun in Khartoum after his first recorded interview since the war began. Sudan’s army, prosecution and police have issued no official confirmation, Radio Dabanga reported.
Hawa Omar Osman Saleh, whose daughter was gang-raped in Sennar, faces a new case before the Sennar Criminal Court on charges of influencing the course of justice and insulting a public official, 19 days before she is due to complete a six-month prison sentence, Radio Dabanga reported. The complaint was filed by a former trial judge after she criticised an initial verdict in a video.
The Hurra Coalition, a network of more than 20 women's rights organisations from ten Arab countries, says family law reform is gaining momentum across the Middle East and North Africa while major barriers remain, Equality Now reported. According to the UN's Gender Justice and the Law initiative, 32 legal texts were adopted or amended in 12 Arab countries in 2025 to strengthen women's legal status.
A London court sentenced British comedian and actor Russell Brand to 10 years and six months in prison for one count of rape and three sexual assaults committed between 2004 and 2009, Reuters reported. Brand, who denied all charges, was acquitted of two other rape counts and one count of attempted indecent assault.
Nineteen agricultural emergency rooms across Darfur say this farming season has failed because of drought and irregular rainfall, raising fears of famine, Radio Dabanga reported. Justice Africa Sudan estimates harvest losses of about 90 per cent in key sorghum-producing regions that traditionally supply staple food to more than 70 per cent of the population.
The Republican-led House Oversight Committee released a report on Tuesday after a 15-month inquiry, saying federal prosecutors' "poor judgment", including a 2007 non-prosecution agreement, let Jeffrey Epstein's abuse go unchecked. It recommends that the Justice Department renew its investigation of Epstein's associates and ensure victims can access their files.
Cameroonian President Paul Biya set 7 February 2027 as the date for legislative and local elections in a decree read on public radio on Monday, after the polls were postponed twice. Lawmakers' terms run to 20 December and municipal councillors' to 28 February 2027.
The Saudi-led coalition said it intercepted and destroyed a ballistic missile and a cruise missile over Riyadh on Tuesday, and a third ballistic missile over the kingdom's south. Spokesman Maj. Gen. Turki al-Maliki blamed Yemen's Houthis; no injuries were reported and the Houthis made no immediate comment.
South Africa's African National Congress won about 31% of the vote in the 4 November local elections, its worst result since the end of apartheid, according to Al Jazeera. The Democratic Alliance took about 25% and the uMkhonto weSizwe party about 10%, and the DA overtook the ANC as the largest party in Johannesburg, Pretoria and Ekurhuleni.
UN Women says nearly half of the world's women and girls have no legal protection from online abuse, and fewer than 40% of countries have laws against cyber harassment. Digital violence tops the agenda of the 16 Days campaign starting 25 November.
This year's campaign against gender-based violence runs to 10 December with the focus: ensure justice, protect survivors, end impunity. About 1 in 3 women worldwide has faced physical or sexual violence.
At COP31 in Antalya, UN Women said more than a third of the world's women and girls live in areas highly exposed to climate change, and up to 141 million more could fall into extreme poverty in a worst-case scenario. Executive Director Sima Bahous called for equal rights, resources and power to lead.
Russian and Ukrainian officials met in Abu Dhabi for their first US-brokered talks since February 2026. US envoy Jared Kushner said the contacts had "really identified, narrowed the gaps."
