World News

New Zealand Parliament Dissolved Ahead of November 7 Election: October 1, 2026

WELLINGTON — New Zealand’s Parliament was dissolved on Thursday, formally opening the campaign for the Nov. 7 general election in what Reuters described as a tight race between the ruling centre-right coalition and a Labour-led left bloc.

Parliament’s final sitting was Sept. 23. Parties are focusing on the cost of living, economic management and public services. A 1News-Verian poll released this week showed a left-leaning coalition likely led by Labour potentially winning 65 seats against 59 for the incumbent National–ACT–New Zealand First bloc. Under the Mixed Member Proportional system, coalitions have been the norm for three decades, and the centrist Opportunity Party could emerge as a kingmaker in some surveys.

Elections New Zealand’s timetable lists dissolution on Oct. 1, writ day on Oct. 4, overseas voting from Oct. 21 and advance voting from Oct. 26. Parliament normally has 120 seats, with overhang seats possible when electorate wins exceed a party’s nationwide vote share.

Sources: Reuters via MarketScreener, Elections New Zealand

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Japan Raises Permanent Residency Fees About Twentyfold: October 1, 2026

TOKYO — Japan sharply raised fees for permanent residency and related immigration procedures as of Oct. 1, with some permanent-residency costs rising about twentyfold, as Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s government tightens rules amid a record foreign-resident population, the BBC reported.

Applicants now face new income, pension and Japanese-language requirements alongside higher fees. Status-change and stay-extension fees that once stood around 6,000 yen now range from about 10,000 yen for short stays to 75,000 yen for five years or more, with hardship and refugee discounts. Long lines formed at Tokyo’s main immigration bureau this week as people tried to file before the hikes, with waits over seven hours reported.

Japan’s foreign-resident population surpassed 4.12 million at the end of 2025, up 9.5 percent year on year, even as an ageing society leans on foreign labour. Takaichi has made orderly immigration management a priority and, in an X post ahead of the fee changes, acknowledged public “concern or unfairness” while pledging that Japanese citizens and foreign residents can live safely. Visa fees were already raised fivefold in July — the first such hike in 50 years.

Sources: BBC News

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Flydubai Tel Aviv Flight Diverted After Cockpit Stabbing Attack: October 1, 2026

DUBAI — A Flydubai flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv was diverted to Tabuk, Saudi Arabia, on Wednesday after a cockpit attack in which one pilot allegedly stabbed the other and tried to crash the aircraft, Israeli and Emirati officials said.

Flight FZ1073, carrying roughly 150–174 people, showed a rapid descent of more than 17,000 feet in under two minutes over Saudi airspace and squawked emergency then hijack codes before passengers and crew helped overpower the attacker, flight data and Israeli accounts cited by the BBC showed. Indian captain Smit Machchhar was hailed as a hero after being stabbed; the co-pilot was arrested and questioned in Saudi Arabia. Israel’s foreign ministry said passengers included Israelis, Indians and Emiratis; the U.S. State Department said four U.S. citizens were aboard.

UAE Attorney General Hamad Saif Al Shamsi opened a probe into whether the incident involved “terrorist activity or intent,” Emirati state media reported, asserting UAE jurisdiction because the aircraft flies under its flag. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said it was too early to say if Iran was involved. Flydubai suspended flights to and from Israel.

Sources: BBC News, Al Jazeera

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Explosions Heard in Ethiopia Capital After Drone Flights Banned: October 1, 2026

ADDIS ABABA — Residents of Ethiopia’s capital reported hearing loud explosions early Thursday, hours after authorities banned drone flights over Addis Ababa and a week after fighting flared north of the city between the army and a new alliance that includes Tigrayan forces, the BBC reported.

A source linked to opposition fighters told Reuters they were behind what they described as drone strikes. Locals near the Gotera neighbourhood and the western Torhayloch suburb close to military facilities described blasts strong enough to set off car alarms around 00:30 local time. There were no official confirmations of exact targets, damage or casualties; the prime minister’s office, defence ministry and police did not respond to BBC requests for comment.

Clashes last week followed months of tension between the federal government and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front over the 2022 peace deal that ended a war estimated by an African Union mediator to have cost about 600,000 lives. Seven armed movements, including the TPLF and Amhara Fano militia, recently formed an alliance stating an aim of removing the government in Addis Ababa.

Sources: BBC News

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Zimbabwe Tycoon Wicknell Chivayo and Wife Killed in Helicopter Crash: October 1, 2026

HARARE — Zimbabwean businessman Wicknell Chivayo, his wife Lucy Muteke and four others were killed when a private helicopter crashed Wednesday evening near Marondera, about 70 kilometres east of the capital, police and state media said.

Authorities said the aircraft went down about 40 minutes after takeoff from Gandami in Chikomba district, where the couple were building a rural home, and that all six people on board — including two pilots — died. Government spokesperson Nick Mangwana wrote on X that there were “no survivors.” Civil Aviation Authority director-general George Mashababe said preliminary findings pointed to a tail-first impact, fuel spill and grass fire; investigators recovered the black box.

Chivayo, 43, founded Intratrek Zimbabwe and was known for energy contracts, a lavish public persona and political ties across southern Africa. Kenyan President William Ruto paid tribute, calling him “a dear friend.” Chivayo had denied past allegations of wrongdoing linked to his business dealings. The cause of the crash was under investigation.

Sources: BBC News, Al Jazeera with AFP and AP

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Swiss Glaciers Suffer Disastrous Year With 5.5% Ice Loss: October 1, 2026

BERN — Swiss glaciers lost an estimated 5.5 percent of their remaining ice over the past 12 months — a pace scientists once called extreme at just 2 percent in a single year — in what Glacier Monitoring Switzerland director Matthias Huss described as a “disastrous” melt season, the BBC reported.

Researchers said a mild winter left thin snow cover, then early and intense May–June heatwaves stripped snow and exposed darker bare ice that absorbed more solar energy, accelerating later melt. More than 5 percent of Switzerland’s glacier ice disappeared in a year; scientists warned the loss threatens long-term water supplies for farming, hydropower and transport and can destabilize mountain slopes, raising landslide and flash-flood risks.

Glaciologists stressed that alpine ice loss is expected under fossil-fuel-driven warming, but the speed of 2026’s decline stood out even against recent extreme years. NPR likewise reported another year of record Swiss ice loss as European monitoring networks updated seasonal tallies.

Sources: BBC News, NPR

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UK and France Scrap One-In-One-Out Channel Migrant Deal: October 1, 2026

LONDON — Britain’s Home Office said its “one in, one out” pilot with France to return some small-boat Channel arrivals in exchange for an equal number of migrants with stronger UK claims is no longer processing new cases, effectively scrapping the year-old scheme, the BBC reported.

Only about 1,500 people had been removed to France since the pilot began just over a year ago. A Home Office spokesperson said flights would continue for a time to clear remaining cases and that “lessons learned” would speed returns of people with no right to remain. The French Interior Ministry told the BBC it was discussing “terms of exit from the agreement.” Crossings from Jan. 1 to Sept. 27, 2026, totaled 19,135 people — down 42 percent from the same period a year earlier, Home Office figures cited by the BBC showed.

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood had told MPs the scheme faced scaling problems in the French system even as UN agencies reported some migrants hesitated to board boats for fear of return. France had signaled for months it did not intend to renew the bilateral pilot beyond Oct. 1, preferring broader EU burden-sharing talks.

Sources: BBC News, CNA with AFP

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TotalEnergies Plans $10 Billion Energy Investments in Argentina: October 1, 2026

PARIS — French energy major TotalEnergies plans about $10 billion of investments in Argentina across offshore gas and Neuquén shale projects, Chief Executive Patrick Pouyanné said Thursday at Argentina Week in Paris, Reuters reported.

Pouyanné said the portfolio includes a new offshore development in Tierra del Fuego and expansion of gas production in Neuquén, with an aim of boosting output toward 16 million cubic metres per day and roughly $4 billion to $5 billion of spending over the next decade on the gas side alone. Argentine and regional outlets said the Tierra del Fuego project was dubbed “Alberdi” after talks with President Javier Milei, with about $1.5 billion earmarked offshore and a large San Roque shale-oil push in Vaca Muerta potentially seeking RIGI investment incentives.

Pouyanné linked the renewed appetite to Argentine policy changes including freer dividend remittances and the RIGI large-investment regime. TotalEnergies has operated in Argentina for years; the fresh package marks one of the largest European energy commitments announced into the Milei-era investment push.

Sources: Reuters via MarketScreener, Infobae

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Hegseth Orders 20% Cut in Generals and Admirals, New Drone Command: October 1, 2026

QUANTICO, Va. — U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced in a “State of the Force” address on Wednesday that the military will cut 20 percent of its generals and admirals by Jan. 1, 2027, and create a new four-star command focused on drones and autonomous systems, the Associated Press reported.

Hegseth said he directed the services to double a 10 percent reduction he ordered last spring affecting roughly 800 flag and general officer posts. “I call it accountability and long overdue,” he told junior officers and enlisted leaders at Marine Corps Base Quantico. Some lawmakers called the drawdown a “purge”; Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., said it would take a generation to recover leadership lost in the cuts.

Hegseth also said the Pentagon would stand up a drone-focused warfare command and launch a future-warfare study led in part by SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Anduril co-founder Palmer Luckey. He touted plans for a new military base — the first in about 40 years — and other personnel and cultural changes. The speech came amid a grinding U.S. war with Iran and other overseas operations, AP reported.

Sources: Associated Press via NBC News, Associated Press via ABC News

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Christa Pike Survives Botched Tennessee Execution After Two Lethal Injections: October 1, 2026

NASHVILLE — Tennessee death-row inmate Christa Pike survived an attempted execution on Wednesday evening after receiving two lethal injections of pentobarbital and was later given “life-saving measures” in hospital, her lawyers and the Associated Press reported.

Pike, 50, was sentenced to death in 1996 for the 1995 murder of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer. The U.S. Supreme Court had cleared the way for the lethal injections after last-minute litigation. At Riverbend Maximum Security Institution, media witnesses said the curtain in the witness room was closed twice; reporters were later asked to leave, the AP said. Tennessee’s protocol provides a secondary set of syringes if the first does not kill, but does not spell out what happens if the prisoner remains alive after the second set.

One of Pike’s attorneys told the BBC she had lost consciousness yet still had a heartbeat and was audibly snoring during the attempt. Gov. Bill Lee said he ordered a “comprehensive, third-party review” and that the state’s last remaining scheduled execution of 2026 would not go ahead as planned. The attempted execution was not Tennessee’s first 2026 disruption: Tony Carruthers’s lethal injection was postponed in May after staff could not find a usable vein.

Sources: BBC News, Associated Press

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