The U.S. Federal Reserve raised its target interest-rate range to 3.75%–4% on September 16, 2026. The central bank said inflation remains elevated and that the move supports its 2% inflation goal.
A UAE search-and-rescue team found ten people reported missing after floods in Nepal, raising its total to eighteen. Drones, aerial images, and three-dimensional maps are helping the team search difficult areas alongside Nepalese rescue workers.
A Nepali worker reached safety in Sharjah after a Facebook appeal by Nepal’s science minister brought help from the Nepali community in the UAE. The rescue was led by the president of the Non-Resident Nepali Association in the UAE.
A fire on a passenger ferry near Coron in the Philippines killed at least five people. Rescue teams continued searching for 87 people who had not yet been found.
A Kurdish businessman released 28 mountain goats near Sulaymaniyah, Iraq, in a personal effort to support local wildlife. Residents were asked to help protect the animals, while forest police warned against hunting them.
Ten-year-old Ayoub fell into a narrow, dry well in Algeria’s El Bayadh province. Civil-protection teams worked for four days to reach him, but recovered his body on September 5, 2026.
At least 512 students in East Java became ill after eating a meal from Indonesia’s free school-meals programme. The supplying kitchen was suspended for 30 days while health authorities investigate the cause.
Omani trekker Fathiya Al Zadjali was rescued after three nights stranded on a mountain during severe flooding in Nepal. Her family lost contact with her while she waited with other survivors for a helicopter rescue.
Yemen’s Education Ministry recognized Syrian student Ruaa Mahmoud Sheikh as the top secondary-school student in Al-Mahra after her name was initially left off the honors list. A Saudi newspaper also reported that a private university in Aden offered her a full medical scholarship.
Rizkullah Abd, a 91-year-old bookseller in Aleppo, says he has spent nearly four decades gathering about one million old and rare books. His small shop helps students, researchers, and readers find works that may no longer be available elsewhere.
