UN News Today 05 October 2026 |

Sudan: Aid truck driver killed in aerial attack

In South Kordofan in Sudan, an airstrike on two aid trucks has left one of the drivers dead, the UN World Food Programme, or WFP, said on Monday. 

The aid trucks were travelling between the cities of Dilling and Kadugli. 

The UN agency strongly condemned the airstrike, stressing that the trucks had been clearly marked as humanitarian vehicles.

It comes just a day after a WFP truck hit an explosive device in Dilling after delivering food assistance, underscoring the increasingly challenging security environments aid workers are facing in the country. 

The Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and former allies-turned-rivals, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), have been fighting since April 2023. 

Last year, more than 30 million people needed humanitarian assistance, according to the UN aid coordination office OCHA.

Nearly 3.4 billion people affected by global housing crisis 

Nearly three and a half billion people are still being denied adequate housing around the world, according to the UN’s urban development agency, UN Habitat.

This includes over one billion who live in informal settlements and slums, and many more who experience homelessness or have been displaced by conflict, disasters, and climate change. 

At a gathering of representatives from governments, civil society and academia in Oman on Monday – marking World Habitat Day – the agency’s executive director, Anaclaudia Rossbach, stressed that adequate housing is a critical human right. 

“Investing in adequate housing and transforming informal settlements reduces poverty, tackles inequality, builds climate resilience, and fosters peaceful and inclusive societies.”

Ms. Rossbach explained that under the UN human rights framework, housing is considered adequate when it meets seven criteria that include availability of services, habitability, affordability, location and accessibility.

Asia-Pacific: Stronger safety nets key to protecting families from hunger, says WFP

Finally, to Asia and the Pacific, where weather extremes, rising food costs and overlapping global crises are putting communities under growing pressure.

The UN World Food Programme (WFP) is calling for more investment in national social protection systems – the safety nets that help families meet their food needs before, during and after an emergency.

WFP’s Regional Director for Asia and the Pacific, Samir Wanmali, warned that “a flood, drought, or sudden economic shock can wipe out a family’s progress in a matter of days.”

The agency, which supports 16 governments across the region, will share practical ways to make these systems more efficient and able to expand quickly in a crisis, even as governments face constrained budgets.

This will happen at the Asia and the Pacific Social Protection Week, hosted by the Asian Development Bank in Manila from 6 to 8 October.

WFP says the need is especially urgent as an unprecedented El Niño threatens to significantly worsen food insecurity in the region.

Charlotte Dawson, UN News