Good news from all over the world. I wish you could see my smile. Finding the good, underneath all the negativity brings me so much joy.

ASIA

China

Nurses bring medical care and companionship to isolated elderly residents. A volunteer nursing team in Shandong, led by Cao Yingjuan, visits older people living alone, providing medical advice and emotional support. The team has also trained more than 2,350 certified first-aid responders.

India

Young archer overcomes childhood illness to make sporting history. Nineteen-year-old Kirti Sharma, once considered too physically frail for archery, helped India win its first women’s recurve team gold medal at the Asian Games. India defeated seven-time defending champion South Korea 5–3.

Japan

Earthquake-damaged railway reopens after 77 days. Workers completed repairs to the final closed section of the Hisatsu Orange Railway in Kumamoto. The October 13 reopening restored service to all railway lines affected by July’s earthquake, reconnecting communities with workplaces, shops and hospitals.

Indonesia

Fourteen-year-old conservationist combines environmental protection with helping families. Harley Fatahillah Yodhaloka Sunoto received a 2026 Eco-Hero Award for organizing mangrove planting and helping coastal women develop sustainable products that support their livelihoods.

Bangladesh

Portable solar kits help refugee families maintain everyday routines. Families in Rohingya refugee camps near Teknaf are using small solar-powered systems for lighting, charging phones and studying after dark. The kits provide electricity without requiring a connection to the power grid. Associated Press, October 14 AP News

MIDDLE EAST

Saudi Arabia

Volunteer surgeons perform heart operations on Kenyan children. A Saudi humanitarian medical team completed a project in Nairobi involving 12 volunteers. During the September 30–October 5 mission, the team performed 12 open-heart surgeries and 22 cardiac surgical procedures.

United Arab Emirates

Humanitarian operation delivers essential supplies to Palestinian families. Figures released in October show that the UAE’s Operation Gallant Knight 3 has transported more than 136,000 tonnes of humanitarian supplies into Gaza, including food, shelter materials and medical assistance.

AFRICA

Ghana

Teacher and traditional leader intervenes to protect a girl from sexual abuse. Nana Akosua Daapu Dorcas Tagba, a queenmother and school counsellor, described how she repeatedly visited a family to challenge the sexual abuse of a teenage daughter. Her experience was reported during a child-protection training programme in Sunyani.

Entrepreneur turns bamboo into bicycles and employment. Ghanaian entrepreneur Bernice Dapaah, founder of the Ghana Bamboo Bikes Initiative, was invited to the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Leaders meeting in Dubai, October 13–15. Her enterprise combines bamboo manufacturing with employment and environmental sustainability.

Kenya

Indigenous woman campaigns to protect her community’s land and traditions. Margaret Super, a leader of the Rendille people in northern Kenya, founded the Pastoralist Peoples Initiative to defend communities affected by conservation and development projects. She advocates for women’s participation and the preservation of traditional ecological knowledge.

EUROPE

Austria

Twenty-two ordinary people honoured for extraordinary courage. At a ceremony in Dornbirn on October 12, ORF Vorarlberg presented its 2026 DECUS awards to 22 people who had intervened during emergencies, provided first aid or helped save lives.

Italy

Caver rescued alive after 26 hours trapped underground. Forty-eight specialist cave rescuers, 30 firefighters and civil protection workers helped free 31-year-old Luca Olmetto from a cave in Sardinia after a rockslide blocked his escape. He was brought to the surface on October 12 and airlifted to hospital.

Germany

Rescue ship brings 99 survivors safely ashore in Italy. The humanitarian vessel Ocean Viking rescued 101 people from two boats in distress in the Mediterranean on October 6–7. After a pregnant woman and her husband were medically evacuated, the remaining 99 survivors disembarked in Naples on October 9.

Sweden

Care worker considered for civic courage award. Politicians in Malmö have proposed an honorary award for a care worker named Birat, whose intervention stopped a suspected murderer. Swedish public broadcaster SVT reported the proposal on October 14.

Finland

Architectural landmark celebrates 40 years of public service. Tampere’s Metso central library, designed by architects Raili and Reima Pietilä, celebrates its 40th anniversary this autumn. The building, shaped to resemble a capercaillie spreading its wings, has become an internationally recognized example of Finnish architecture.

AUSTRALIA & THE PACIFIC

Australia

Teenager receives bravery medal after swimming four kilometres to save his family. Austin Appelbee, who was 13 when his family was swept offshore in February, received the Clarke Gold Medal on October 6. After reaching land, he ran another two kilometres to summon rescuers, who eventually found his mother and siblings 14 kilometres offshore.

Thirty years of emergency volunteering recognized. Julie Anderson, whose behind-the-scenes work has supported rescue operations in Dubbo, New South Wales, was named the 2026 Orana Volunteer of the Year. She manages equipment, communications and logistics that emergency crews rely on during floods, storms and other incidents.

New Zealand

Mystery rescuer identified after saving an 89-year-old from a burning house. Construction worker Tim Morris and a companion pulled an elderly man through a window during a house fire in Gisborne, then left before emergency services could thank them. Police publicly appealed to find the rescuers; Morris came forward on October 4.

NORTH AMERICA

Canada

Community raises $65,000 for children with developmental needs. The Rotary Club of Sault Ste. Marie presented the proceeds of its annual charity golf tournament to the THRIVE Child Development Centre Foundation.

United States

Volunteers prepare more than 1,100 meals for elderly residents. More than 40 volunteers, including former professional football players, packed 1,120 food boxes in New Orleans on October 13. The initiative also provided older residents with free health screenings.

Fishermen, firefighters and residents join forces to rescue a stranded dolphin. A dolphin trapped on a Florida sandbar was freed after a nearly six-hour community rescue. Local residents kept the animal wet until marine specialists arrived, assessed it and released it into deeper water.

Mexico

Rescue teams evacuate 32 people from flooded orphan camp. During severe flooding in Baja California, Mexican military personnel rescued 32 people, including foreign nationals, from the Rancho Genesis camp near Ensenada.

SOUTH AMERICA

Chile

Firefighters rescue two people swept away by floodwater. During torrential rain and hail in Santiago on October 13, firefighters in Ñuñoa rushed to help two people being carried along Avenida Irarrázaval by a powerful current. Video of the rescue was published October 14.

Brazil

Thirteen children rescued during armed school hostage crisis. Police in Curitiba freed 13 children after a man armed with a knife entered a preschool on October 9. The three-hour incident ended with the attacker dead; the children were rescued and received medical or psychological attention as needed.