Current events: 2026-09-29

[Wikipedia Current Events]

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Gaza war
  • An Israeli airstrike kills Izz al-Din al-Beik, head of Hamas's armed wing in the northern Gaza Strip. (Reuters)
• Somali Civil War
  • Piracy off the coast of Somalia, Anti-piracy measures, Controversies of Hassan Sheikh Mohamud
    • Puntland Maritime Police Force successfully frees another hijacked oil tanker, the MT Honour 25, following an ongoing week-long counter-piracy operation near Bayla, Karkaar, Puntland, after it was seized by Somali pirates on 21 April around 30 nautical miles off Puntland's coast with 17 crew members on board. (Reuters) (Somali Guardian)
• Ethiopian civil conflict
  • 2026 Ethiopian offensive
    • As renewed fighting spreads across northern Ethiopia, the government accuses Eritrea, Sudan and Egypt of backing armed opposition groups, raising fears that the conflict could draw in regional powers. Over the weekend, Ethiopian army chief Birhanu Jula attributed his country’s unrest to those he called Ethiopia’s “historical and contemporary adversaries”. (Al Jazeera)

Business and economy

• Economic impact of the 2026 Iran war
  • The Reserve Bank of Australia raises its cash rate by 0.25 percentage points to 4.60 percent, the highest level since 2011, citing persistently high inflation above its 2–3 percent target range. (AFP via France 24) (Reuters)
  • Oil prices settled 2.5% lower as investors focused on signs of recovering crude exports from the Middle East, although prices ‌headed for monthly gains on lingering concern about supply disruptions during the US-Israeli war on Iran. (Reuters)

Disasters and accidents

• A Tupolev Tu-95 crashes near Krasnoyarovo, Amur Oblast, Russia, killing six of the seven people on board. (UNN)

Health and environment

• The Japan Meteorological Agency reports rainfall in Tokyo for 34 consecutive days through today, the longest streak since records began in 1886 and one day longer than the previous record set in 2019. (AFP via France 24) (Bloomberg)
• The U.S. FDA issues two recalls for more than 25,000 bottles of chlorthalidone, a diuretic antihypertensive drug, created by Indian-based Inventia Healthcare Limited due to faulty dissolution times in the human body. (USA Today)

International relations

• North Korea–South Korea relations
  • Korean conflict
    • South Korean defense minister Kang Shin-chul says that land mines planted by North Korea likely caused two explosions last week that injured three South Korean soldiers in the Demilitarized Zone south of the military demarcation line, potentially violating the armistice. (AFP via RFI)
• Haitian crisis
  • The United Nations Security Council extends the mandate of the Gang Suppression Force in Haiti by six months, allowing the multinational force to continue supporting Haitian security forces against armed gangs. (AFP via RFI)
• Malaysia–Myanmar relations, Myanmar civil war
  • Malaysia begins repatriating about 1,500 Burmese nationals from immigration detention centres under the first phase of a programme covering 5,000 people. (AFP via RTL Today)

Law and crime

• Myanmar civil war
  • Twenty-one people are arrested in Myanmar for allegedly donating to the NUG-linked People's Revolution Supply Family fundraising platform as the government identifies more than 2,700 alleged contributors. (Reuters)
• 2026 Staškov school stabbing
  • A teacher is killed and a student and another teacher are wounded in a mass stabbing at a secondary school in Staškov, Slovakia. The perpetrator, a fellow student, is arrested. (Euronews)
• Seventeen people are arrested during a security operation involving 800 police officers against a "suspected organised crime group" in five cities in the United Kingdom, including London. A police officer is stabbed and wounded during one of the raids. (Sky News)
• A man and a woman have been charged with perjury in relation to a failed appeal by Conor McGregor against a civil court finding that he had raped Nikita Hand. (RTÉ News) (The Independent)

Politics and elections

• 2026 Moroccan general election
  • King Mohammed VI appoints Fatima Ezzahra El Mansouri as the first female Prime Minister of Morocco after her victory in the general elections on 23 September. (Reuters) (Al Jazeera)

Sports

• 2026 Asian Games
  • Badminton at the 2026 Asian Games, South Korea at the 2026 Asian Games
    • In badminton, South Korea's An Se-young wins the women's singles gold medal at the 2026 Asian Games, becoming the first woman to win two singles titles and the first to defend the title, defeating Japan's Akane Yamaguchi 21–17, 21–9. (AFP via RFI)

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