UNITED NATIONS, Nov. 7 — The United Nations and its partners are scaling up their response following the earthquake that struck the north of Afghanistan early this week, said Farhan Haq, deputy spokesperson for the UN secretary-general, on Thursday.

Speaking to reporters at a daily briefing, Haq said that according to authorities, 25 people have been killed and nearly 1,000 have been injured following the earthquake on Monday, adding that assessments by the United Nations found that around 800 houses were damaged.

Immediate priorities include emergency shelter, warm clothing, cash for heating and repair kits for damaged homes, he said, adding that there is also an urgent need for additional health support, particularly mobile clinics, trauma care for remote areas and ambulance and referral capacity.

The United Nations and its partners are on the ground delivering aid, said the spokesperson, noting that the International Organization for Migration is providing tents, emergency shelter kits and blankets, the UN Children’s Fund and its partners are distributing clothes and hygiene kits, while the World Food Programme is delivering food packages, including high-energy biscuits.

On the health front, the World Health Organization and its partners delivered emergency medical supplies and are assisting local authorities with coordination and service delivery, said Haq.

“The UN continues to call on Member States to support the people of Afghanistan to meet their humanitarian needs. The 2.4 billion U.S. dollar Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan is just 35 percent funded with 857 million dollars received so far,” he said. (Xinhua)

UNITED NATIONS, Nov. 7 — Relief organizations in Sudan’s North Darfur are increasing support for the growing number of people displaced from the state capital of El Fasher, UN humanitarians said on Thursday.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) called it a dire humanitarian situation for the thousands of families displaced since the Oct. 26 takeover of the city.

OCHA said that most of the displaced escaping the violence headed about 40 km west to Tawila and surrounding areas, only to find extremely harsh conditions lacking food, clean water, shelter and medical care.

The office added that in the Al Omda displacement camp in the Tawila area alone, more than 3,000 recent arrivals are in urgent need of basic items and shelter assistance, including plastic sheeting, mats and blankets as temperatures drop.

Many, including the injured, people with disabilities, and unaccompanied children, are sleeping in the open without protection or sanitation facilities.

Similar conditions were reported in the camps of Daba Al Naira and Um Jangour, where more than 6,500 people lack shelter and essential supplies.

The office also said its partners report that hundreds of displaced families who fled the El Fasher region on foot have reached the locality of Northern State’s Al Dabba, after days of walking through harsh conditions.

Some 2,800 people are sheltering in overcrowded sites with little access to food, water or medical assistance, and many lost family members during their journey to the town on the banks of the Nile River.

OCHA said that with more families expected to arrive in the coming days, urgent assistance is needed, including food, medical care, psychosocial support, shelter and warm clothing.

The United Nations and its partners are mobilizing additional emergency supplies for the area, but available stocks are limited.

The office noted that urgent additional support is needed to meet rising humanitarian needs in the Darfur and Kordofan regions. This year’s Sudan humanitarian response plan is only 28 percent funded, it said. (Xinhua)

BELEM, Brazil, Nov. 6 — UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Thursday urged world leaders to take immediate, decisive actions and make concerted efforts to combat climate change.

The UN chief made the urgent call at a leaders’ summit ahead of the 30th United Nations climate change conference, commonly known as COP30, to be held on Nov. 10-21 in Brazil’s Amazon city of Belem.

The two-day World Leaders Climate Action Summit kicked off Thursday to discuss pressing climate change challenges and commitments.

Noting that the goal of limiting global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels as established in the 2015 Paris Agreement has failed, Guterres stressed the need for a paradigm shift to limit this overshoot, warning of ecosystem dangers along with dramatic socioeconomic consequences.

He urged world leaders to take immediate, decisive actions to reverse the global warming trend. “If we act now, at speed and scale, we can make the overshoot as small, as short, and as safe as possible — and bring temperatures back below 1.5 degrees Celsius before the century’s end,” he said.

“We need to move faster — and move together. This COP must ignite a decade of acceleration and delivery,” the UN chief added.

In his address at the leaders’ summit on climate action, Guterres also stressed that clean energy has much greater potential to ensure sustainable economic growth and global development, citing the fact that in 2024, almost all new power capacity came from renewables. (Xinhua)

MOSCOW, Nov. 7 — Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday signaled support for the idea of introducing a complete ban on the sale of vapes across the country, RIA Novosti news agency reported.

It is essential not only to make such a decision but also to conduct educational outreach among the youth, Putin said during a visit to a demonstration and educational center for adaptive sports in Samara.

The proposal for a full prohibition of vapes was put forward by Ekaterina Leshchinskaya, head of the All-Russian public movement “Healthy Fatherland,” who cited successful examples from neighboring countries and other parts of the world.

In response, the president nodded in agreement and confirmed that the government also supported the initiative. The Russian State Duma plans to prepare a bill for a complete ban on vapes throughout Russia during its autumn session, Deputy Speaker Sholban Kara-ool told RIA Novosti.

JERUSALEM, Nov. 6 — Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said on Thursday he had ordered the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) to declare the area along the Israel-Egypt border a closed military zone to halt a growing threat from drone-borne arms smuggling.

Katz, speaking after a meeting on the drone threat at the Defense Ministry, said he and Shin Bet security agency chief David Zini had agreed to classify drone-borne weapons smuggling across the border as “a terrorist threat.”

“We are declaring war — anyone who breaches the forbidden area will be struck,” Katz said. The Defense Ministry said its Directorate of Defense Research and Development, a branch responsible for developing advanced weapons technologies, would promote technological countermeasures.

The move comes amid repeated incidents of drone activity along the southern border that Israeli officials say have been used to smuggle weapons into Gaza and to support militant groups.

Katz said such smuggling was “part of the war in Gaza” and “must be stopped by all available means.” The designation of drone-borne arms smuggling as a “terrorist threat” is intended to give security agencies broader powers to counter the activity, ministry officials said.

Israel and Egypt, which signed a peace treaty in 1979, share a border of about 200 km along the eastern edge of the Sinai Peninsula, where Israel has built a fortified fence equipped with observation posts and radar systems.

However, drones have been increasingly used for smuggling in recent years, with nearly 900 drones reported between July and October 2025, according to figures released by the Ramat HaNegev Regional Council, where most of the smuggling occurred. (Xinhua)