A new report from the UN Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territories finds that Israel has continued to commit "genocidal acts" in the Gaza Strip since the signing of a ceasefire with Hamas last October, and continues to carry out war crimes and crimes against humanity throughout the occupied territories.

The UN World Meteorological Organization (WMO) warned Oct. 27 that atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gases reached record highs in 2025—another portent of global warming, which increases the frequency of extreme weather events and associated risks to societies and economies.

Amnesty International on Oct. 13 stated that Iran's execution of five individuals in one week was based on unfair trials, and called on the international community to respond. Between Sept. 30 and Oct. 5, Iran executed five men—Majid Nikandish, Ali Hemmati Sistanian, Siavash Jamshidi Kheirabadi, Alireza Raisi and Alireza Sepahi—convicted in connection with anti-government protests, prompting renewed scrutiny from human rights organizations over the use of capital punishment in protest-related cases.

Human Rights Watch on Oct. 14 reported that at least 31 people have been executed in Libya after unjust military trials since late August. Bassam Khawaja, HRW's deputy Middle East and North Africa director, decried the executions, saying:

Thousands of Colombians peacefully rallied across the country Oct. 14 against the far-right policies of President Abelardo de la Espriella, little more than two months after he took office. They criticized his proposed social spending cuts, his alignment with Trump, and his hardline military approach to decades of armed-group violence. Earlier this month, de la Espriella announced a "counterterrorism statute" that many fear could restrict democratic rights. (TNH)

In the year to July 2026, deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon dropped by nearly 42%, according the National Institute for Space Research (INPE)—the steepest decline since monitoring began in 1988—while losses in the Cerrado, Brazil's vast tropical savanna, fell by nearly 24%. Deforestation surged to its highest level in more than a decade in 2021 under far-right then-president Jair Bolsonaro. His successor, Luiz Inácio "Lula" da Silva, pledged to reverse the trend when he took office in 2022. Lula and Bolsonaro's son, Flávio, just faced each other in a tight presidential contest, with the left-wing incumbent achieving a surprise victory in the Oct. 25 run-off. (TNH, PRI)

Peter Thiel of Palantir, most aggressively reactionary of the Trump-linked nexus of fascist tech bros, now openly invokes the Faust story, in which a scientist sells his soul to the Devil in exchange for knowledge and power—and not as a warning against hubris, but as a positive example, in defense of the notion that "evil can be good." In Episode 350 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg turns to the 1940s dialogue between rationalist JBS Haldane and moralist CS Lewis to explore how technology and politics—and especially the intersection of the two—can become Satanic, in a metaphorical if not literal sense.

The CounterVortex is going to be on hiatus for the next week, while chief ranter, blogger and editor Bill Weinberg is traveling abroad on a secret mission. We will resume our didactic blogging and ranting activities the week after. We also hope to have fully restored the website by then, following the attack we suffered from Chinese state-sponsored hackers in August. Immediately after this, we will have to deal with the dilemma of Verizon cutting off the home internet access that we depend on, as discussed here. More than ever, we need you support. Please give what you can. Every little bit helps….