Nearly 50 million more people in highly vulnerable communities globally are set to be pushed into acute hunger because of the strengthening El Niño weather phenomenon, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) said on Wednesday.

In response, the agency and partners are already boosting efforts in eight countries to protect some of the most vulnerable communities who are already struggling with poverty, conflict, joblessness and repeated climate extremes.

Priorities include preparing for floods, droughts and storms before they hit.     

“El Niño is a massive threat to the food security of millions who are already vulnerable,” said Carl Skau, WFP’s Acting Executive Director. “The sooner we help families to prepare for these climate shocks, the greater our ability to save lives and protect livelihoods.”

Acute hunger refers to people who are unable to meet their daily food needs. 

WFP noted that the 2015-2016 El Niño impacted the food security of 60 to 100 million people. Early projections indicate that the 2026-2027 El Niño could push at least 49 million more people into acute food insecurity by the end of next year.

After analysing 45 countries already considered food insecure – and where El Niño will significantly influence rainfall patterns, temperatures, floods and droughts – the agency expects the total number of acutely food-insecure people to rise from 225 million to 274 million people, an increase of approximately 22 per cent. 

Parts of Central America and southern Africa are expected to bear the brunt of climate extremes, although significant impacts are also forecast in eastern Africa and South and Southeast Asia.

WFP stressed the variety of El Niño’s impact: “Some countries are already experiencing below-average rainfall, flooding and unusually hot temperatures, while others are expected to face deteriorating conditions during upcoming planting seasons and harvests.”

The European Union will use €1.4 billion taken from interest generated by ‌frozen Russian assets to help Ukraine, the European Commission President ⁠Ursula von der Leyen has said.

The money, transferred to the bloc on August 3, came ⁠from interest on cash balances, part of Russian central bank assets frozen by the EU in the wake of Moscow’s invasion, the Commission added.

“Russia must pay for the destruction it has caused. And ‌we ⁠are using the proceeds from the immobilised Russian assets to make sure it does,” European Commission President ⁠Ursula von der Leyen said in the statement. “We are making a further €1.4 billion ⁠of them available to Ukraine. This will support Ukraine’s continued ⁠resistance against Russia’s illegal war,” she added.

Yemen’s Houthi group said on Wednesday that it had launched a ballistic missile attack on a Saudi oil tanker in the northern Red Sea.

In a statement aired by the Houthi-run al-Masirah TV, Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Sarea said the tanker “Wafa” was targeted with ballistic missiles off the coast of Yanbu, a major Saudi Red Sea port city. The spokesperson claimed the strike was precise.

He said the operation was part of the group’s declared maritime campaign against Saudi-linked shipping, which he described as a “blockade-for-blockade” response.

Sarea stated that the latest attack raised the number of Saudi oil tankers targeted by Houthi forces since the start of the campaign to eight, while an additional 29 tankers had been forced to reverse course.

A leftover piece of a SpaceX rocket has crashed into the Moon, giving scientists a rare chance to study what happens when something hits the lunar surface, the BBC reports.

The empty part of Falcon 9 rocket hit near Einstein Crater on the side of the Moon that faces the Earth.

It smashed into the lunar surface at around 5,400 miles per hour – seven times the speed of sound.

American space agency, Nasa said there is no risk from the crash on Earth and that they will “observe the impact site for scientific purposes”.

None of the spacecraft already orbiting the Moon were positioned to capture the crash live, so the first job for scientists now is to compare before-and-after pictures of the surface to spot a new impact crater.

The object is the upper stage of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.

SpaceX’s Falcon 9 is a reusable, two-stage rocket designed and manufactured for, what the company calls “the reliable and safe transport of people and payloads into Earth orbit and beyond”.

Rockets are often built in sections, called stages. The first stage gives the rocket its first big push away from Earth. The upper stage then helps send spacecraft farther into space.

This upper stage launched in January 2025, carrying two robotic Moon landers.

Iran and Oman are expected to soon reach an agreement on a new route for the safe transit of ships through the Strait of Hormuz, Press TV reported, citing an unnamed senior Iranian official.

The broadcaster said that negotiations between Tehran and Muscat over the Strait of Hormuz have entered a “new phase,” in which “a bilateral understanding is within reach.”

The talks are aimed at creating a central corridor through the Strait of Hormuz to ensure safe navigation and protect Iran’s rights as a coastal state.

According to the official, once operational, the new corridor will replace both the existing northern and southern shipping routes.

The strait, an international shipping lane that is only 34 kilometers wide at its narrowest point, was closed by Iran in response to attacks by the United States and Israel.

Al Jazeera notes that before the war, ships followed a UN-approved two-way traffic separation scheme, under which navigation corridors passed through both Iranian and Omani waters.

After the outbreak of the war, Iran instructed all vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz to use a new route passing near Iran’s Larak Island, known as the northern route.

Following the signing of a ceasefire agreement between Tehran and Washington in June, the United States insisted that ships use an alternative route near Oman’s coast, known as the southern route. Iran, however, opposed the move and resumed attacks on ships, arguing that it violated the ceasefire agreement.

Earlier, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said that ongoing negotiations between Iran and Oman had been “positive” at both the technical and political levels and were focused on establishing safe navigation routes through the Strait of Hormuz.

Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan continues to receive congratulations from his counterparts around the world, with the latest felicitations on his reappointment coming from the foreign ministers of Slovakia and Romania.

“Congratulations to Ararat Mirzoyan on his reappointment as Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia. I wish you every success and look forward to continuing our cooperation in further developing friendly Slovak-Armenian relations,” Slovakia’s FM Juraj Blanár said on X.

Romania’s FM Oana-Silvia Țoiu said she was looking forward to enhancing the strategic partnership.

“Congratulation to my friend & colleague, foreign minister Ararat Mirzoyan for his reappointment as FM of Armenia. Looking forward to continuing working with you on enhancing our Strategic Partnership and for further strengthening connectivity projects. Romania will continue to be a trusted partner for advancing an ambitious EU – Armenia agenda where resilience & democratic reforms hold key importance,” she said.

Following the parliamentary elections, PM Nikol Pashinyan’s government began a new term, with nearly all cabinet members retaining their posts.

Bulgaria’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has congratulated Ararat Mirzoyan on his reappointment as Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia.

“Heartfelt congratulations to Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan on his reappointment.

We look forward to continuing our joint efforts to further strengthen the Bulgaria-Armenia Strategic Partnership and advance our fruitful bilateral cooperation,” the ministry said in a post on X.

Ararat Mirzoyan has served as Armenia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs since August 19, 2021.

President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) Petra Bayr has congratulated Ruben Rubinyan on his election as Speaker of the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia, wishing him success in carrying out his responsibilities.

According to the National Assembly’s Public Relations and Communication Department, Bayr praised the Armenian parliament’s commitment to the work of PACE, noting that Rubinyan’s long-standing involvement in the Assembly, including as one of its vice-presidents and as head of the Armenian parliamentary delegation, provides a strong foundation for further strengthening effective bilateral cooperation.

Bayr reaffirmed PACE’s continued support and readiness to work closely with the National Assembly of Armenia to promote the shared values of democracy, human rights and the rule of law.

She also said she looked forward to Rubinyan’s participation in the European Conference of Presidents of Parliament, due to be held in Rome in October this year, as well as to the continuation of the excellent cooperation already established.

The formation of a parliamentary friendship group with Armenia was marked by an official ceremony at Argentina’s Chamber of Deputies.

Legislator and Chair of the group Maria Luisa Gonzalez Estevarena, along with other members, representatives of the Chamber of Deputies’ Department of International and Institutional Relations, Armenia’s Ambassador to Argentina Hovhannes Virabyan, and other officials participated in the ceremony, the embassy reported.

Ambassador Virabyan thanked MP Maria Luisa Gonzalez Estevarena for assuming the responsibilities of Chair of the Argentina-Armenia Parliamentary Friendship Group and the other MPs for joining the group. He also expressed special gratitude to the group’s former chair, MP Lilia Lemoine, for the effective and close cooperation over the past two years.

During the meeting, the sides exchanged views on the prospects for developing Armenian-Argentine interparliamentary cooperation, emphasizing the important role of parliamentary diplomacy in further strengthening bilateral relations. In particular, they discussed opportunities to expand cooperation within the framework of the Parliamentary Friendship Group and outlined future joint programs and initiatives.

The sides also highlighted the significant role of the Armenian community in Argentina as an important bridge for strengthening friendship, mutual understanding, and multifaceted cooperation between the two countries.

The parties reaffirmed their readiness to continue close cooperation, contributing to the further strengthening of interparliamentary ties between Armenia and Argentina and the deepening of friendly relations between the two countries.