In addition to Taiwan, floods and rains have wreaked havoc across the globe in recent days. Spain is reeling from its worst flooding in decades, after a year's worth of rain fell in just hours this week.

Valencia

Extreme weather events are occurring more frequently amid rising sea-levels and increasing temperatures.

Climate Crisis

Countries around the globe have experienced devastating weather conditions recently, with severe storms and heavy rainfalls causing widespread disruption and damage. One of the strongest storms in decades struck Taiwan, with super-typhoon Kongrei leading to flight suspensions, school and business closures, and widespread power outages affecting tens of thousands. In Europe, Spain faced some of its worst flooding in decades, as the Valencia region was hit by extensive torrential rains. The deluge resulted in mass destruction, washing away cars, homes, and tragically taking lives. Similarly, southern France faced unprecedented flooding, affecting multiple districts within a few hours.

In Cuba, Hurricane Oscar left approximately 10 million people without power as it swept through Guantanamo. The Caribbean nation continues to struggle with the aftermath of the storm, which locals describe as unprecedented. The Philippines also endured significant flooding when Tropical Storm Trami submerged villages, leaving many stranded on rooftops. Heavy rains and flooding also caused disruptions in Saudi Arabia, particularly in the cities of Ta'if and Mecca, and an unusual occurrence of rare rains impacted 16 countries across Central and West Africa, affecting nearly 7 million people.

The extreme weather patterns observed globally in recent years have been linked by scientists and world leaders to climate change and global warming. Calls for urgent action to address emissions and close various gaps, including implementation and financial, have increased as the impacts of climate change become more apparent. Meanwhile, regions like southern Australia and Florida experienced unseasonably high temperatures, adding to the list of climate anomalies during this period.



October sees record floods and rains across the globe

Countries around the world have suffered devastating weather during October, with one of the most powerful storms in decades making landfall in Taiwan. The arrival of super-typhoon Kongrei led to the suspension of flights, enclosure of schools, businesses and transport services, and left tens of thousands of people without power. Europe is also reeling from extreme weather. The Valencia region in Spain was devastated by the country's worst torrential rains in decades. Within 48 hours, torrents of mud-filled water swept away people, cars and homes. And rain closed roads and train lines across southern France this week, a local mayor told the French Prime Minister. We had around seven pockets, seven districts that were completely flooded in less than three and a half hours, which even in the weather models was unheard of. On October 2, 10 million Cubans were left in the dark when Hurricane Oscar hit the province of Guantanamo. The government is still dealing with the aftermath. It was quite a painful experience because it had never happened before in history. I am 52 years old and my parents also tell me that this has never happened in their lifetimes, that the river had never reached these levels. Two days later, these soldiers were rescuing villages in the Philippines after Tropical Storm Trami hit the island nation. Torrential rains submerged villages and left hundreds of people stranded on rooftops. Scientists and world leaders have linked extreme weather events in recent years to climate change and global warming. You're playing with fire, but there can be no more playing for time. We are out of time. Closing the emissions gap means closing the ambition gap, the implementation gap and the finance gap. In the Saudi cities of Ta'if and Mecca, heavy rains swept away cars and caused severe disruptions. And in the Sahara Desert, rare rains brought life to lakes and ponds, but floods affected nearly 7 million people across 16 countries in Central and West Africa. And in southern Australia and the US state of Florida, October was unusually hot. Osama Bin Javed, Al Jazeera.

US Vice-President JD Vance visits Israel amid concerns that the US-brokered peace deal between the country and Hamas will not hold. The Trump administration has redoubled its efforts to cement the fragile Gaza peace agreement after Israel accused Hamas of stalling the hand-over of hostages' bodies and deadly violence flared up in the territory days before.

Jerusalem

Middle East Conflict

U.S. Vice-President Vance visits Israel as Gaza ceasefire falters

Amazon.com cloud service returned to normal operations on Monday (October 20) afternoon, the company said, after an internet outage that caused global turmoil among thousands of sites.

Amazon says AWS cloud service back to normal after outage

Japan's parliament has elected the country's first female leader. Sanae Takaichi, 64, of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), is seen as a hardline conservative who supports traditional gender roles and hawkish foreign policy.

Tokyo

Sanae Takaichi elected Japan's first female prime minister

Three days after meeting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the White House, U.S. President Donald Trump said Ukraine “could still win” its war with Russia, but added, “I don’t think they will,” raising new questions about Washington’s support for Kyiv.

Washington

Trump doubts Ukraine will win war against Russia

Former FBI Director James Comey is asking a judge to dismiss the criminal charges against him, claiming the prosecution is vindictive and unlawful.

Ex-FBI director James Comey seeks to toss indictment

An appeals court panel is allowing the White House to federalize and deploy National Guard troops to Portland, Oregon.

Portland

Appeals court rules Trump can deploy National Guard to Portland

U.S. President Donald Trump and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese signed a rare earths and critical minerals agreement aimed at ensuring a steady supply of the materials at a time when China is trying to tighten control over global supply.

Washington County

U.S. and Australia boost rare earths supply with new agreement

A global outage hit Amazon Web Services (AWS), disrupting platforms like Amazon Prime, Fortnite, Alexa, Snapchat, and Duolingo. The issue, caused by increased error rates, took about three hours to mostly resolve.

AWS outage mostly resolved after hours-long global disruption

Centrist Rodrigo Paz won Bolivia's presidential runoff, defeating conservative rival Jorge "Tuto" Quiroga, as the country's worst economic crisis in a generation helped propel the end of nearly two decades of leftist rule.

La Paz

Centrist Rodrigo Paz wins Bolivian presidency

After 10 years in prison without charge, a Lebanese judge has ordered the release of Hannibal Gadhafi, son of the late Libyan leader, Moammar Gadhafi. But it’s on condition that he pays $11 million bail, something his lawyers say they will contest.

Beirut

Lebanon orders Hannibal Gadhafi’s release after 10 years

A cargo aircraft skidded off a Hong Kong runway and collided with a security patrol car before both fell into the sea early Monday, killing the two people in the car, authorities said.

Kowloon

Two killed after cargo plane veers off runway in Hong Kong

Thieves wielding power tools have struck at the famed Louvre Museum in Paris, stealing priceless jewels in a brazen heist that took just four minutes, according to the government. The thieves struck after the museum had already opened its doors to the public, with a major investigation now underway.

Paris

‘Priceless’ jewels stolen from France’s Louvre Museum in four-minute heist

U.S. President Donald Trump says he is ending aid to Colombia after the country’s president, Gustavo Petro, accused the U.S. of ‘murder’ when it struck a small boat within Colombian territorial waters in September.

Bogotá

Trump ending aid to Colombia after 'murder' accusation

The Israel-Hamas ceasefire is under pressure, as the Israeli military carries out strikes on southern Gaza and accuses Hamas of opening fire on its forces. Meanwhile, Israel alleges Hamas is stalling on returning the remains of deceased hostages.

Tel Aviv-Yafo

Israel, Hamas clash in major test of U.S.-backed ceasefire

The National Guard could soon be on Chicago’s streets after US President Donald Trump took his case to the country’s highest court - the conservative-leaning Supreme Court.  The President says the city is a war zone - and is in the midst of a rebellion, as residents protest his migrant deportation policy.

Chicago

Supreme Court to decide on sending the National Guard to Chicago

China's second-highest ranking general and eight other senior officials have been expelled from the ruling Communist Party and the military on suspicion of serious misconduct linked to corruption.

Beijing

China expels nine senior officials from Communist Party

The United States is sending the two survivors of a Thursday (October 18) strike in the Caribbean to their home countries of Colombia and Ecuador to be detained and prosecuted, U.S. President Donald Trump said on Saturday.

U.S. will repatriate survivors of Caribbean strike, Trump says

The two sides have agreed to hold follow-up talks in Qatar to establish conditions and a framework for lasting peace, bringing an end to a week of deadly cross border skirmishes, which have killed dozens of people.

Doha

Afghanistan, Pakistan agree to immediate ceasefire, Qatar says

France's world-famous Louvre museum in Paris was forced to close on Sunday after thieves broke into Apollo Gallery and stole valuable crown jewels.

Jewels of 'inestimable' value stolen from Louvre in major heist

U.S. President Donald Trump's critics took to the streets Saturday, with millions nationwide participating in "No Kings" rallies, protesting Trump's demonstrations of power.

Anti-Trump "No Kings" protests held across U.S.

The Trump administration is awaiting word from the Supreme Court after asking it to allow the immediate deployment of National Guard troops to Illinois to protect Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers. A lower court blocked the move.

Tensions rising in Portland, Oregon over immigration tactics

President Trump posted a video of a U.S. military strike on a submersible suspected of smuggling drugs. Two people were killed in the strike but the survivors were brought to a Navy ship. Trump says the U.S. will send the them back to their home countries for prosecution.

Trump says survivors of U.S. drug submersible will be sent home

The U.S. State Department issued a warning that Hamas appeared to be planning an attack 'against Palestinian civilians,' warning that such an attack would 'constitute a direct and grave violation of the ceasefire agreement'.

State Dept. flags ceasefire violation by Hamas

Britain's Prince Andrew said on Friday he would give up using his title of Duke of York following years of criticism about his behavior and connections to the late U.S. sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Windsor

Prince Andrew gives up title of Duke of York

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy came to the White House on Friday looking for weapons to keep fighting his country's war with Russia, but met an American president who appears more intent on brokering a peace deal than upgrading Kyiv’s arsenal.

Ukraine Invasion

Trump pauses on sending Tomahawks to Ukraine

Tension is rising between the U.S and Venezuela. The latest threats from the US warning of stronger measures against Nicolas Maduro’s government — have sparked both fear and fragile hope across Venezuela.

Caracas

Venezuela on high-alert amid U.S strikes

In the aftermath of a destructive Typhoon Halong, historic floodwaters have destroyed remote communities across western Alaska, forcing hundreds of evacuations that could continue for days.

Kipnuk

Mass evacuations in Alaska after record floodwaters

Mr. Trump seemed open to trading U.S.-made Tomahawk's for Ukrainian-made drones, but then he argued Ukraine might not even need new weapons if he can broker a swift end to the invasion.

Trump says he'd rather broker peace than send Tomahawks to Ukraine

President Trump announced that he has commuted former New York Rep. George Santos' sentence on Friday in a post on his social media platform Truth Social.

President Trump commutes George Santos' sentence

The head of the World Trade Organization said on Thursday (October 16) she is urging the U.S. and China to de-escalate trade tensions, warning that a decoupling between the world's two largest economies could reduce global economic output by 7% over the longer-term.

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