Europe

Barcelona: Spanish authorities on one of the Canary Islands declared an emergency on Saturday after a surge in migrant boat arrivals, demanding government assistance to cope with the influx. "We are very concerned... by this sharp increase in arrivals," Alpidio Armas, head of the governing council for the island of El Hierro, told Spanish television. "This is precisely what has led us to declare an emergency in order to ensure a framework of cooperation with higher-level institutions." Several thousand migrants have reached the Atlantic archipelago in recent weeks, many of them landing on El Hierro. Since the start of November, more than 3,300 people have arrived on the island aboard around 30 boats, according to local authorities. Officials are seeking temporary accommodation for the new arrivals, while conditions at the island's hospital have become "undesirable", Armas said. This period of the year is usually marked by an increase in arrivals to the Canary Islands because of favourable sailing conditions. However, local authorities warned that an approaching storm expected overnight could make the crossing more dangerous for migrants currently at sea. Two dead migrants were found on a boat attempting to reach the Canaries earlier this week, while another five are believed to have died during the voyage, according to survivor accounts. After reaching a record of more than 46,000 arrivals in 2024, irregular migration to the Canaries fell sharply, largely due to tighter surveillance and increased cooperation with countries of origin and transit. A total of 13,327 irregular migrants arrived in the Canary Islands by sea between January 1 and October 31, a 5.5 percent decrease compared with the same period last year, according to interior ministry figures.

Americas

New York: UN Secretary-General António Guterres has renewed his full commitment to defending the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), stressing the importance of its fundamental role in support of Palestinian refugees. Guterres, through his Spokesman Stéphane Dujarric, renewed his call for UNRWA's vital work to be fully funded. UNRWA recently warned that about 1.98 million people in the Gaza Strip, representing 94 percent of its population, need urgent assistance to secure shelter and non-food items. In 1949, the UN General Assembly established UNRWA and mandated it to provide humanitarian assistance and protection to registered Palestinian refugees pending a just and lasting solution to their plight. UNRWA operates in the Gaza Strip, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. UNRWA helps Palestine refugees achieve their full potential in human development through quality services in education, health care, relief and social services, protection, infrastructure and camp improvement, and microfinance, in addition to emergency assistance.

Africa

Nairobi, Kenya: Kenya's Ministry of Health said Friday that six Ebola patients have recovered after testing negative for the virus, and only one patient remains under treatment. No new Ebola case or community transmission of the highly contagious hemorrhagic fever has been reported in the country in the last 18 days since October 19, said Patrick Amoth, director-general for health in the ministry, in the latest update. The number of confirmed Ebola cases in Kenya remains at nine, including two deaths, he said. Amoth said that 66 contacts have completed their 21 days of monitoring and returned home, while another 52 are expected to complete their monitoring by next week. He said that Kenya has followed rigorous protocols to contain the further spread of Ebola, after the first case of Bundibugyo virus disease was confirmed on Oct. 6 in an individual who had lived in the Democratic Republic of the Congo for seven years and later died while undergoing treatment at a hospital in Nairobi. He added that when the last Ebola patient leaves the treatment center free from the virus, Kenya will begin a 42-day countdown, twice the maximum incubation period of the virus. "If no new case is recorded in those 42 days, the outbreak will be declared over," said Amoth, stressing the need for the public to intensify vigilance while observing public health measures aimed at averting spread of the virus. He clarified that Ebola is still active in the region while Kenya will continue screening travelers at its 26 points of entry, at which more than 760,000 travelers have been screened. In addition, Amoth said that emergency operations centers and rapid response teams have been reactivated countrywide to avert Ebola transmission.