Stories for October 21st 2026

Wednesday, October 21st 2026 - 19:14 UTC
Paraguay’s president travels to Washington and will meet the CIA director

Paraguayan President Santiago Peña travelled to Washington on Wednesday for a brief visit that includes a meeting with US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Director John Ratcliffe and a keynote address at the annual gala of the Inter-American Dialogue think tank.
Wednesday, October 21st 2026 - 14:44 UTC
An unusual die-off of southern right whales in Argentine Patagonia alarms scientists

Scientists monitoring the southern right whale population at Península Valdés, in Argentina’s Chubut province, have recorded since July an unusual number of deaths among calves and adults which, they expect, could make this the worst year on record. They are investigating the role of a bacterium and of a toxic algal bloom known as “red tide”.
Wednesday, October 21st 2026 - 14:31 UTC
Milei calls Sánchez an “unpresentable dictator” in Madrid in the middle of Spain’s election campaign

Argentine President Javier Milei on Wednesday called Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez an “unpresentable dictator”, “corrupt” and “authoritarian”, and urged Spaniards to “kick the socialists out” of power, at his first public event in Madrid, just over a month before the snap general election on November 29.
Wednesday, October 21st 2026 - 14:21 UTC
Lula ramps up public handouts in the final stretch of Brazil’s presidential campaign

Some 20 million Brazilian families begin receiving this week a 15% increase in the Bolsa Família social programme, the centrepiece of a broad package of aid, subsidies and tax cuts announced by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in the final stretch of the campaign for Sunday’s runoff, in which he faces Senator Flávio Bolsonaro in a statistical tie.
Wednesday, October 21st 2026 - 13:29 UTC
Amazon fires rise 62% in October as deforestation falls to a record low

Satellites detected 9,045 fire hotspots in the Brazilian Amazon in the first half of October, 62% more than in the same period last year, amid a drought aggravated by El Niño. The increase contrasts with the fall in deforestation, which over the past year reached its lowest level since 1988.
Wednesday, October 21st 2026 - 13:01 UTC
The area of Antarctic ozone hole during September reached 15 million km2, says Copernicus

The Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS) (*) has found that the 2026 Antarctic ozone hole reached a significant size threshold slightly earlier than average, aligned with 2025. It has also stayed ahead of average, unlike the previous year.
Wednesday, October 21st 2026 - 10:15 UTC
Falklands: UK Statement at the UN Fourth Committee on Decolonization

Statement by Ambassador Kate Foster, UK Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN, at the UN’s Special Political and Decolonization Fourth Committee. “The United Kingdom has no doubt about its sovereignty over both the Falkland Islands, and South Georgia, and the South Sandwich Islands, and their surrounding maritime areas”.
Wednesday, October 21st 2026 - 01:46 UTC
Argentina and the UK to face off in Hamburg on November 10 over Falklands oil

The International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea will hold hearings on November 10 and 11 on Argentina’s request for an order requiring the United Kingdom to halt the Sea Lion oil project north of the Falklands. The dates were set by the tribunal’s president, Judge Maurice K. Kamga, in an order dated October 20.
Wednesday, October 21st 2026 - 00:30 UTC
Statistics Versus Instinct: How to Think Clearly About Online Sports Predictions

Sport invites confident storytelling. A famous team is 'due a win', an explosive batter is 'in form', and a losing streak supposedly cannot continue.