Theme: Political crisis

Donald Trump Jr. backed Vice President JD Vance’s assessment that the Republican midterm defeat is down to the war with Iran, throwing the spotlight on divisions within the president’s own camp. Vance wrote on X: “The reason we lost is the war. The president himself said so last night.” Trump acknowledged that it is “largely true” that Iran and the high fuel prices driven by the conflict led to the defeat, and maintained that he would “do it again,” according to AFP, in a text published by Al Arabiya.

Republican Rep. Thomas Massie gave Pete Hegseth an ultimatum on Wednesday night: resign or face impeachment in the final stretch of the 119th Congress. Massie’s resolution accuses the defense secretary of waging war against Iran without congressional approval and of flouting laws that limit civilian casualties. Trump said he was not considering replacing him: “No, I think he’s doing a very good job.” The Defense Department said Hegseth was “100 percent committed” to leading the Pentagon until the end of Trump’s term, on January 20, 2029, according to Reuters, in a text published by U.S. News.

35 lawmakers submitted impeachment articles against President Santiago Peña in the 80-seat lower house on Wednesday and requested an extraordinary session on Thursday to debate the matter, according to Reuters. The opposition accuses Peña of conflicts of interest, misuse of pension funds and institutional cover-ups in the bank case. Paraguay's central bank intervened in Ueno after finding minimum solvency requirements breached, leaving about 3 million customers in a country of 6.5 million people unable to access their accounts. The opposition still lacks the two-thirds majority needed to advance impeachment but has won backing from dissidents of the ruling Colorado Party.

US House Speaker Mike Johnson will step down from the Republican leadership after his party’s defeat in the midterm elections, his spokesperson confirmed to AFP on Wednesday. Asked about the departure, the spokesperson replied only “Correct,” according to the agency, in a text republished by Times Brasil. Johnson was reelected as a representative from Louisiana and has not announced an immediate departure from the speakership or from Congress. The opening sets up a contest between current Republican majority leader Steve Scalise, a representative from Louisiana, and Jim Jordan, chair of the Judiciary Committee and a representative from Ohio.

The Degel HaTorah faction of the ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism (UTJ) party announced that it will not recommend any candidate for prime minister in consultations with President Isaac Herzog, following instructions from its spiritual leaders. The decision by a longtime ally of Benjamin Netanyahu deepens the rift with the prime minister, prompted by the coalition’s failure to pass a law enshrining military service exemptions for Haredi men. Herzog is consulting parties on whom to task with forming the next government and told party leaders that “not every commitment and promise can be fulfilled” if they want to avoid a new election. Gadi Eisenkot is expected to get the mandate, and the Arab party Ra’am has confirmed it will endorse him. UTJ is scheduled to meet Herzog on Thursday, and it remains unclear whether the Agudat Yisrael faction will recommend Netanyahu or also abstain.

Armenia's National Security Service detained Samvel Karapetyan, leader of the opposition Strong Armenia bloc, after searches at his homes, according to TASS. Armenia's Investigative Committee confirmed searches at 65 addresses, including properties linked to his nephew Narek Karapetyan, head of the bloc's parliamentary group. The detention is part of a criminal investigation into abuse of authority at his businesses that allegedly caused losses of around $179 million to Electric Networks of Armenia (ENA), according to the committee.

The Central Bank of Paraguay ordered the intervention of Ueno Bank after finding a solvency ratio below 50% of the required minimum, following adjustments to its balance sheets during the regularization process. President Santiago Peña asked for the resignation of Central Bank president Carlos Carvallo and agreed with the heads of both chambers of Congress on a bill authorizing the use of the Guarantee Fund to start immediate payment to savers, including public funds and the IPS. Peña was a business partner of the bank until March 2025 and gave up his shares after criticism over a conflict of interest; the institution, linked to former business partners of the president, held hundreds of millions of dollars in public resources, including investments from Paraguay's social security system. On Wednesday, lawmakers began collecting signatures to file an impeachment request against Peña and Vice President Pedro Alliana. On Tuesday night, account holders and retirees protested outside the National Congress and the presidential residence, demanding the return of the blocked money and that authorities be held accountable.

US House Speaker Mike Johnson told his staff on Wednesday that he will not stay on as Republican leader in the new Congress, according to four sources on the call. Republicans scheduled their internal election to choose a new leader for November 10. Vice President JD Vance attributed the party’s midterm defeat to the war with Iran.

According to the Associated Press (AP), in a text republished by the Boston Globe, Indonesia's military deployed more than 20,000 troops and personnel to Jakarta as authorities investigate an alleged illegal wiretapping operation targeting the president. The total number of personnel involved reached 20,980, according to Vice Adm. Yayan Sofiyan. Police named Listyo Sigit Prabowo, Ahrie Sonta Nasution and Eko Hadi Santoso as suspects in the case and said they were detained Sunday. There are allegations that the president, Cabinet officials, politicians, journalists, civil society leaders and business executives were subjected to unauthorized surveillance. The suspects are also accused of ordering in late October the deletion of files containing intercepted communications.

Israel’s Central Elections Committee conducted an audit of 9,069 polling stations following fraud complaints and said the results “accurately reflect the will of the voters,” according to the South China Morning Post (SCMP). The committee said all complaints submitted by political factions had been reviewed and that there were no findings indicating harm to the integrity of the election. President Isaac Herzog will at noon officially receive the results of the October 27 election as he decides whether to give Benjamin Netanyahu or Gadi Eisenkot the first chance to form a government, with neither commanding enough votes alone. Netanyahu has alleged fraud by Arab-majority parties, pointing to the arrests of people with envelopes of cash on election day and later saying lawmakers received money from Qatar. Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara said she would not question anyone without evidence.

Pastef lawmakers, whose party holds 130 of the 165 seats in Senegal’s National Assembly, rejected the 2026 revised budget bill three times. Passing the text is a precondition for the International Monetary Fund (IMF) board’s approval of a US$ 2.2 billion loan. To bring the accounts back into balance, the government proposes cutting 555 billion CFA francs (about US$ 949 million) in investment spending in its new budget. Senegal’s public debt equals 130% of gross domestic product (GDP), according to Les Echos.

With 99% of ballots counted, Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud and its far-right and ultra-Orthodox allies won 53 seats in the 120-seat Knesset. The opposing bloc holds 48 seats from former military chief Gadi Eisenkot’s right-wing and center-left factions and a record 19 seats from the two Arab-dominated parties. The new Knesset convenes on November 10 and President Isaac Herzog is expected to give Eisenkot — whose Yashar is the largest in the anti-Netanyahu bloc — the mandate to form a government, while caretaker Netanyahu faces no special legal restrictions on military operations and could legally authorize an attack on Iran despite lacking a parliamentary majority, subject to ordinary procedures.

Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto sacked his chief of staff, former National Police chief Listyo Sigit Prabowo, on Wednesday after his arrest for allegedly wiretapping the president, cabinet ministers, politicians and journalists, in a case in which an internal investigation flagged phone numbers entered illegally into the interception system between 2025 and 2026, unconnected with any official investigation, and in which inspectors general Ahrie Sonta Nasution and Eko Hadi Santoso were also named suspects. Indonesia’s government said the former police chief may have committed “treason” through his alleged role in tapping President Prabowo Subianto’s phone, in acts that endanger state interests and the safety of the country’s leader, according to presidential spokesperson Prasetyo Hadi.

Paraguay’s central bank board voted unanimously on Monday to put Ueno Bank into resolution, after its solvency ratio fell below half the legal minimum; the bank says it has about 3 million customers and manages $800 million to $850 million in public money, including about $380 million from the state pension and health fund; prosecutors sought the arrest of eight people, including President Juan Manuel Gustale and chief executive Federico Miguel Vázquez Villasanti; and President Santiago Peña canceled a trip to a summit in Spain, asked central bank chief Carlos Carvallo to resign, and promised to fast-track depositor repayment legislation. Peña’s party vice president Rodolfo Friedmann called for the president’s expulsion, while Senate President Basilio Núñez defended him and blamed the central bank.

Party presidents and opposition lawmakers delivered a letter to President José Antonio Kast at the La Moneda palace demanding the removal of Justice Minister Fernando Rabat. The case involves the reduction of sentences for 56 people convicted of sexual abuse against minors, which has already cost the ministry’s undersecretary, Luis Silva, his post. In a special session of the Chamber of Deputies, Rabat acknowledged “a gap in the procedure, by not listening to the victims,” and the opposition announced a constitutional accusation against him.

Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid said what was happening was “an attempt to crush democracy and steal the election with the help of government plants in the security system” and called it “a direct threat to our democracy,” urging state institutions to stand firm and a government to be formed as quickly as possible. The remarks came amid reports that Shin Bet chief David Zini sought to question three Palestinian party leaders over suspected foreign interference in the election, and that authorities found no evidence for the claims. Palestinian-led parties won 19 of the Knesset’s 120 seats, which kept Benjamin Netanyahu and Gadi Eisenkot from reaching the 61 needed to form a government.

Spain Transport Minister Óscar Puente resigned six days after the high-speed train collision in which at least 69 people were killed and dozens injured. In Congress, he said a transport minister cannot remain in office after two serious accidents in less than a year, in reference to the January crash on the same line that left 46 people dead, and withdrew his name from the lists for the early legislative elections. The crash happened when a train run by state-owned Renfe hit the back of a stationary train run by private operator Iryo, outside the village of Urda, south of Madrid. The failure of an automatic safety system halted all trains on a 39-mile stretch of track, but a control center authorized the Renfe service to resume its journey. Puente announced a 30-million-euro aid package for the families of the dead and the injured.

Paraguay’s central bank seized Ueno Bank, a major digital lender with close ties to President Santiago Peña, over a solvency problem. Hours later, on Tuesday, Peña asked the head of the central bank, Carlos Carvallo, to resign. Carvallo said he had already signed his resignation letter but would stay on to oversee the takeover, because “the central bank needs calm to do its job.” Peña canceled a trip to a summit in Spain and agreed with congressional leaders to fast-track legislation that speeds up payouts to depositors and the return of public money.

The crisis at Poland’s Constitutional Tribunal came to a head on Friday, when Prime Minister Donald Tusk moved to remake the court, whose president was appointed by the previous government, the far-right Law and Justice (PiS) party. The tribunal’s president, Bogdan Święczkowski, was suspended after refusing to allow a new member nominated by Tusk and approved by Parliament to take his seat. President Karol Nawrocki described the removal as “a forcible takeover of a constitutional body,” abandoned a trip to Africa and headed straight back to the tribunal, in Warsaw. On Tuesday, the eight judges backed by Tusk’s coalition planned to meet to approve the tribunal’s budget and consider disciplinary proceedings against Święczkowski and his deputy, Bartłomiej Sochański. The parliamentary election is due next year, with the constitutional order and the direction of European integration at the center of the dispute.

Óscar Puente resigned as Spain’s transport minister six days after the high-speed train collision that killed at least 69 people. He announced the decision in Congress, after giving evidence on the previous Wednesday’s disaster near Urda, south of Madrid, when a train smashed into the back of another that had stopped on the same line. Puente justified his departure by citing two serious accidents in less than a year, and mentioned January’s crash on the same line, which killed 46 people. He also withdrew his name from the candidate lists for the early legislative elections on November 29. According to Puente, the control center run by Adif, Spain’s state-owned rail infrastructure manager, allowed the AVE train to keep running even though its LZB automatic safety system had failed, and the train covered about 25 kilometers at more than 160 km/h before the collision. Around 200 people were injured in the crash, in addition to the 69 dead.

Democrats are preparing, should they win one chamber of Congress, an investigative agenda covering the Trump family’s business dealings, son-in-law Jared Kushner, crypto and the Epstein files. If they win one or both chambers, they will have broad powers to launch probes and hold hearings into the conduct of administration officials. Trump family business dealings and broader allegations of corporate corruption will be a top priority for California Representative Robert Garcia, who is set to lead the House Oversight Committee if Democrats win the chamber. Democrats have already requested information on Kushner’s business dealings, citing his dual roles as an informal foreign policy adviser to the president and the head of a private equity firm that does business with foreign governments, and are pushing for investigations into the Trump family’s investments in crypto. Trump’s ties to Jeffrey Epstein will also be a focus, with an investigation into whether the Justice Department violated the Epstein Files Transparency Act by withholding or improperly redacting documents. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, likely to chair the Senate Judiciary Committee, said that “more than 90 percent of voters think that government has been corrupted” and that investigative work must not distract from immediate cost problems American families feel.

Poland’s Constitutional Tribunal announced on October 30 the one-month suspension of its president, Bogdan Święczkowski, and its vice president, Bartłomiej Sochański, in an order signed by Judge Anna Korwin-Piotrowska. President Karol Nawrocki turned his Senegal-bound plane back to Warsaw and told the judges present that they “are not Constitutional Tribunal judges”. Święczkowski had been suspended after refusing to let a new member nominated by Donald Tusk and approved by parliament take his seat, an episode CNN describes as a chapter in the clash between the pro-European prime minister and the pro-Trump president. The prime minister said on October 31 that reform had been “blocked by the president and PiS” and that “on certain matters there can be no compromise”.

Serbia is going through a wave of arrests and resignations after the Student List won the parliamentary elections on October 25 and Aleksandar Vučić left power for the first time in over a decade. The Student List won 140 of the 250 seats in parliament but, without a clear leadership structure, may take some time to form a government. On November 1, Marko Kricak, head of the Criminal Police Directorate, and Bosko Sekulovic, a police commander tasked with fighting organized crime, were arrested on charges of abusing their positions as part of an investigation into a complex murder case in May. On November 2, Davor Macura, owner of Alta Bank, was arrested in Belgrade after the bank had its license revoked by the National Bank of Serbia on October 30. Manja Grcic, director of the public broadcaster RTS, dismissed the head of the news department on October 28 and resigned the same day under pressure from employees and representatives of the student protest movement. Vučić told TV Pink he is not afraid of a possible arrest because there will be no evidence against him.

The leaders of Israel’s four Jewish opposition parties met in Herzliya on Tuesday and agreed to immediately launch coalition negotiations and coordinate their parliamentary strategy ahead of the new Knesset’s swearing-in next week. Benjamin Netanyahu’s bloc lost its parliamentary majority, but the Jewish opposition parties hold just 48 seats to his 53; they can command a majority only with the support of the two Arab parties, which won a combined 19 seats. The leaders reaffirmed their support for recommending that President Isaac Herzog give Gadi Eisenkot the first chance to form a government and agreed that negotiating teams will begin drafting coalition agreements and policy guidelines. The first item on the parliamentary agenda will be replacing Likud’s Amir Ohana as Knesset speaker, which would open the way for a state commission of inquiry into the Hamas-led attack in southern Israel on October 7, 2023. Likud said the opposition intends to form a “dangerous government” reliant on “supporters of terrorism.” The Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) Unit 730, responsible for protecting senior officials, is set to directly take over security arrangements for Eisenkot, senior sources confirmed to The Jerusalem Post.

Congolese opposition figure Prince Epenge, arrested on October 25, was transferred on October 31 to Makala central prison, in Kinshasa, after a court rejected his request for provisional release the day before. President of the ADD Congo party, spokesperson for the Lamuka coalition and a member of the C64 platform, Epenge is accused of “spreading false rumors”, tied to his denunciation of the killing of a party activist at the September 15 opposition march in Kinshasa. He was detained at N’djili International Airport as he was about to fly to Rome, where the opposition gathered in C64 was to hold a meeting.

Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever tendered his resignation to King Philippe on Monday as coalition talks deadlocked over a deficit-cutting budget, with the monarch putting off his decision until the end of the week; the government is seeking savings and new revenue to cut a budget deficit that exceeds five percent of GDP. The king will launch discussions with the different party leaders of the governing coalition and will receive De Wever again on Friday. All Belgian political forces oppose using frozen Russian assets to fund Ukraine, and a possible resignation of De Wever would not change that position, the Rapporteur portal reported, as cited by Sputnik.

Leaders of the so-called change bloc are meeting on Tuesday morning in Herzliya to coordinate the bloc’s next steps, in the first meeting since the election, with the bloc holding 48 seats against 53 for Benjamin Netanyahu’s camp, 27 of them from Likud, with all leaders saying by Monday that they will back Gadi Eisenkot to form the next government, while Netanyahu said a clear majority of the Jewish public chose Likud as the largest party and chose him to lead the next government — Arab lists hold a record 19 seats, 8 for Ra’am and 11 for the Joint List, with Arab-Israeli turnout at some 80%, compared with 53.2% in the 2022 election, while President Isaac Herzog urged leaders to accept the result and find creative solutions to avoid a new election, and Naftali Bennett’s B’Yachad faction announced support for Eisenkot.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk pledged on Saturday to ensure the country’s Constitutional Tribunal operate in accordance with the law, after President Karol Nawrocki accused the government of forcibly taking control of the court, in an escalating political dispute over the judiciary, according to CGTN.

Prosecutors intend to charge Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s chief of staff, Tzachi Braverman, over his role in the 2024 leak of classified documents to the German newspaper Bild, after he allegedly tipped off the affair’s chief suspect, Eli Feldstein, about the investigation — according to the Times of Israel, citing Hebrew media.

Rada member Artyom Dmitruk claimed on Telegram that there were fatalities and serious injuries in clashes during protests near Kyiv, according to TASS, still without independent confirmation. Dmitruk wrote that fighters dispatched by Volodymyr Zelenskyy beat people and opened fire on them.

Israel's National Security Minister, Itamar Ben Gvir, accused Police Commissioner Daniel Levy on Monday of ordering “harsh violence” against Haredi (ultra-Orthodox) protesters to appease the opposition after last week's election. Ben Gvir also petitioned the High Court to cancel an April injunction that forbids him from interfering in the police's use of force. On Thursday, three protesters were arrested after a Haredi protest near Bnei Brak turned violent, leaving three police officers wounded and several protesters injured.

Belgium’s Prime Minister Bart De Wever will offer his government’s resignation to King Philippe on Monday, after overnight budget negotiations failed, local media report. The government must save 10 billion euros to stay within European Union (EU) spending limits: the deficit reached 5% last year, while European rules allow a maximum of 3%.

Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever may resign after a meeting with King Philippe on Monday, according to De Standaard newspaper. The reason would be the failure of attempts to agree on the federal budget. The premier meets at the Palace at 9:30 a.m. and is expected to submit the government's resignation after the kern failed to reach a budget deal, according to RTBF.

Yashar party leader Gadi Eisenkot said that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his party “failed” to discredit the Israeli election results.

Poland's president, Karol Nawrocki, has held crisis talks with political leaders as a dispute over the independence of the country's top constitutional court deepens. Representatives of nationalist, far-right and some governing coalition parties attended the talks at the presidential palace on Saturday, while Prime Minister Donald Tusk's centrist Civic Coalition stayed away. Tusk has deployed riot police to get his judges seated at the court.

The White House has spent months preparing for the possibility of Democrats taking over Congress after the midterm elections scheduled for this Tuesday, with plans to push its agenda forward through executive power, according to Reuters, in a text published by Opera Mundi.

Israeli electoral authorities say the election result will stand even if allegations of foreign interference are substantiated, which is contested by Likud — which says, without providing evidence, that Arab-led parties stole the election in which Netanyahu’s bloc lost its parliamentary majority, according to the Korea Herald. The joint position brings together the head of the elections committee, the attorney general and the head of the Shin Bet.

According to G1, Argentina’s migration system recorded three entries by Flávio Bolsonaro in the same van — at 10:37 p.m. with an Italian passport, at 10:40 p.m. with a driver’s license and at 11:11 p.m. with a Brazilian passport. The senator had left Brazil after the Supreme Federal Court (STF) ordered him to surrender his passports to the Federal Police (PF); in the other van were the driver, lawyer Roberto Jorge Alexandre and Israeli national Menachem Booky Halevy, described as a former Israeli intelligence officer.

The Together party of former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett announced its bloc will recommend that President Isaac Herzog task Yashar leader Gadi Eisenkot with forming the next government, according to TRT World. Eisenkot described the 26th Knesset election result as firm and clear, citing assurances by the Central Elections Committee chairman that the vote was conducted with integrity.

The political crisis between the centrist government of Prime Minister Donald Tusk and the opposition, which has smoldered since his return to power in 2023, moved up a notch on Friday, October 30, 2026, with the police intervention at the Constitutional Tribunal in Warsaw, according to Le Monde. Anti-riot police were deployed in large numbers to block access to the tribunal, and the justice minister launched a procedure to lift the immunity of its president. On Saturday, the European Commission urged the head of state to confirm the appointment of the new judges.

French prosecutors opened an investigation into attempted murder after Molotov cocktails were thrown at security forces during Saturday’s protests in Paris, according to Al Jazeera. The prosecutor’s office said that “explosive devices were thrown at around 15 gendarmes as well as police officers,” referring to military police officers who are part of the French armed forces, and that no suspects had been arrested at this stage. The gendarmerie said 13 members of the injured officer’s unit were hurt, and the interior ministry counted more than 770 arrests across France.

Serbian authorities arrested the head of the country’s criminal police directorate on suspicion of abuse of office and denied the detention was linked to the elections held a week earlier, Al Jazeera reported. Prosecutor Nenad Stefanovic said, according to the outlet, that the two detainees are suspected of abusing their offices and failing to perform their duties.

President Isaac Herzog on Sunday urged Israel’s party leaders to “stop climbing trees, and face the reality” of the election result, in an appeal recorded by the Times of Israel. The parties opposed to Benjamin Netanyahu won 67 of the Knesset’s 120 seats, against 53 for the prime minister’s right-wing and ultra-Orthodox bloc, according to the paper’s tally. The Israeli journalist Gideon Levy criticized the opposition parties’ resistance to forming a government with the participation of Arab parties, according to Opera Mundi.

Dimona Mayor Benny Biton, a close associate of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, told Kan News on Sunday that Netanyahu wants to form a unity government and that Israeli President Isaac Herzog and US President Donald Trump would serve as guarantors of an agreement with Yashar party head Gadi Eisenkot. Biton said he spoke with Herzog on Saturday and that the two presidents would assure the opposition that a unity government would hold. He also warned that an opposition attempt to replace Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana before a coalition is formed would be a “declaration of war,” and that without a national unity government the country is heading for another election, because “neither bloc will manage to form a government under any circumstances.”

The European Commission said it is for the Polish authorities to ensure that the Constitutional Tribunal can function in accordance with the Polish constitution and with the case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU). The Commission said the appointment of eight new members of the Constitutional Tribunal lies within the constitutional power of the Sejm, Poland’s parliament, and cited interim measures from the European Court of Human Rights dated May 5, 2026. Prime Minister Donald Tusk said restoring calm could not mean accepting lawlessness or violence, and vowed to restore conditions for independent justice and the rule of law.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Saturday in Atlanta that the Trump administration did not facilitate Flávio Bolsonaro’s departure from Brazil to the United States. Rubio said the government had word that Bolsonaro had arrived in the country, that he had previously held a visa and that the president decided to allow him to enter, adding that Washington was not “involved directly in any of the moves that were made.”

Democrats party leader Yair Golan said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu does not have the public’s trust and should not be permitted to lead the country through another war with Iran, in a social media post on Sunday morning. Golan wrote that he and opposition bloc leaders Gadi Eisenkot, Avigdor Lieberman, Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid “know the security system very well”.

Polish President Karol Nawrocki met on Saturday at the presidential palace with representatives of nationalist, far-right and some governing coalition parties, amid the standoff over the Constitutional Tribunal; Prime Minister Donald Tusk's centrist Civic Coalition stayed away, according to Al Jazeera. In a Saturday evening speech, Tusk accused conservative nationalist opposition leaders of wanting to “destroy democracy and rule of law.” In a televised address, he said he was certain the Constitutional Tribunal “will function as it should,” independently of him and in line with the constitution, according to Reuters.

Around 2,000 people demonstrated on Saturday evening in Tel Aviv in support of a Jewish-Arab government, after opponents of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu won a combined 67 of the Knesset's 120 seats in Tuesday's election, according to the Times of Israel. A smaller counterprotest attended by some 200 people demanded an investigation into claims of electoral fraud, after Netanyahu's Likud party accused Arab parties of “stealing the election” with support from hostile foreign governments. Arab parties won an unprecedented 19 seats, and without them no bloc holds a majority.

Hundreds of Israelis took to the streets in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem on Saturday to urge the opposition to ally with Arab parties and oust Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP), in a report published by Arab News. The Tel Aviv rally drew around 500 people and the Jerusalem one around 100. Jewish-majority parties opposed to Netanyahu won 48 seats, while the two Arab-majority parties, Raam and the Joint List, secured a combined 19, in an election that left neither bloc with a majority in the 120-seat parliament; an alliance between the two camps would give the anti-Netanyahu bloc 67 seats. Opposition leader Gadi Eisenkot has not decided whether to seek the coalition and reiterated that he would only form a Zionist government whose members commit to recognizing Israel as a Jewish, democratic and liberal state and to recognizing Hamas as a terrorist organization.

Lawmaker Ahmad Tibi, No. 2 on the Joint List, said Saturday that his party was ready to support the anti-Netanyahu Zionist parties in forming a government to replace the outgoing coalition, but stressed that it did not want to be part of the government itself, according to the Times of Israel. The Joint List, made up of three Arab factions, won 11 seats in Tuesday’s election. Tibi indicated that the list will recommend to President Isaac Herzog that a candidate from the anti-Netanyahu parties be given the mandate to form a coalition.

Riot police were deployed outside Poland’s Constitutional Tribunal as the dispute over who should serve on the court escalated into a confrontation between Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s government and the nationalist opposition, according to Al Jazeera. Hundreds of protesters gathered outside the building in Warsaw on Friday night after judges elected by the current parliamentary majority announced the suspension of the tribunal’s president, Bogdan Swieczkowski, and his deputy, Bartlomiej Sochanski. Police secured the Constitutional Tribunal as protests erupted over the court chief’s suspension, according to AP News.

Nearly 840,000 people voted on Tuesday for Ra’am and the Joint List, a coalition of three Arab-led parties, a 64 percent increase from the 2022 elections, according to final results from the Central Election Committee published by the Times of Israel. The parties won 19 of the Knesset’s 120 seats, surpassing the previous record of 15. Neither Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition nor the opposition alliance secured the 61 seats required for a parliamentary majority, according to Al Jazeera.

Israel’s Central Elections Committee published the final results on Friday, according to which Benjamin Netanyahu’s bloc took 53 seats, against 48 for Gadi Eisenkot’s opposition bloc, the Jewish News Syndicate (JNS) reported. Likud was the largest party, with 27 seats, followed by Yashar! with 21 and Together with 12, Ynet reported.

Riot police have been deployed at Poland’s Constitutional Court amid an escalating standoff between the government and the court’s top judges, the BBC reported. On Friday, police surrounded the tribunal and detained three people after some protesters breached the fence and others threw objects at officers, the Associated Press (AP) reported. The court’s website published the suspension of its president, Bogdan Święczkowski, at around 6 p.m. local time and went down soon after, and AP said it could not independently verify the official reasons for the move. President Karol Nawrocki, who was flying to Senegal, said he turned his flight back: “At a moment like this, the President must be in Poland. I am cutting short my flight to Senegal. I am returning,” he wrote on X. Prime Minister Donald Tusk said that “restoring the rule of law is our obligation.”

Former conservative presidential candidate Flavio Bolsonaro said on Friday that he fled Brazil to the United States because he was a victim of persecution in his own country, after losing the election to Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. According to ABC News, he left Brazil on Tuesday and arrived in Florida on a private jet on Wednesday, after traveling through Argentina and Ecuador. Bolsonaro recounted how police informed him on Monday that his passports would be revoked.

Polish President Karol Nawrocki convened emergency consultations with representatives of parliamentary groups over the conflict surrounding the Constitutional Court, according to the TASS news agency. The head of the presidential office read out a statement in which Nawrocki justified the move by a threat to the country’s internal security and said the consultations aim to stabilize the political situation and restore constitutional order.

Benjamin Netanyahu’s bloc lost its parliamentary majority, The Hindu reported, and results released early Friday showed 53 seats for his bloc, 48 for the main opposition bloc and 19 for Arab-led parties in Tuesday’s election, a historic showing, according to the Associated Press (AP), in a text republished by the Daily Democrat. In his first public comment on the result, on Friday, Netanyahu posted on X that it is forbidden to form a coalition with Arab parties.

Polish President Karol Nawrocki entered the building of the Constitutional Tribunal early on Saturday, accompanied by Zbigniew Kapinski, according to Nawrocki’s chief of staff, Pawel Szefernaker. Police said they had arrested three people who tried to enter the court complex.

Poland's president, Karol Nawrocki, cut short a trip to Senegal and returned to Warsaw after the Constitutional Tribunal said on its website that the tribunal's president had been suspended, and joined protesters facing off with police outside the court. The tribunal said its longest-serving judge, Anna Korwin-Piotrowska, suspended the tribunal's president, Bogdan Swieczkowski, and assumed charge of the court, according to the Hindustan Times.

Polish police entered the premises of the Constitutional Tribunal on Friday after demonstrators gathered in Warsaw to protest the suspension of its head judge, Bogdan Swieczkowski. Police said there were incidents outside the court, with objects thrown at officers, and that three people were detained. Justice Minister Waldemar Zurek requested that the immunity of Swieczkowski and his deputy be lifted for preventing judges elected by the parliamentary majority from taking up their duties. Prime Minister Donald Tusk wrote on X that restoring the rule of law is the government’s duty.

Israeli election officials dismissed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s claim that the election was stolen and said the investigation opened into suspected foreign interference does not change the final result, according to The Times of Israel, in a report by the Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA). Acting Central Elections Committee Director-General Dean Livne recorded a statement on Friday saying it “does not affect the final results that will be submitted to the President, nor does it concern any particular sector of the population.” On Thursday, he had said that “the elections to the Knesset were conducted lawfully” and that “to the best of our knowledge there is no basis for claims of systematic harm to the integrity of the elections.”

Polish President Karol Nawrocki cut short his flight to Senegal on Friday and announced he was returning to the country after police entered the premises of the Constitutional Tribunal and its president was suspended, according to TRT World. Police said officers entered the tribunal’s premises following incidents outside the court, including the throwing of dangerous objects at police. The tribunal announced on its website that its president, Bogdan Swieczkowski, had been suspended on Friday. The dispute over the Constitutional Tribunal has dragged on and effectively paralyzed the institution: earlier this year, Nawrocki, an ally of the former nationalist government, refused to swear in three of the six judges nominated by parliament.

With more than 99 percent of Tuesday's ballots tallied, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's bloc held 53 seats and the opposition bloc led by Gadi Eisenkot held 48, Israeli outlet Haaretz reported, according to Al Jazeera. The Arab list parties held a combined 19 seats in the 120-member Knesset. Neither bloc reached the 61 seats required for a parliamentary majority, CNN reported.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev will not attend Friday's Organization of Turkic States (OTS) summit in Ankara, despite Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's personal invitation in an October 21 phone call, according to Azerbaijani media cited by Turkish Minute. The absence follows the departure of Erdogan's chief presidential adviser, Oktay Saral, amid a dispute over Azerbaijan's restrictions on headscarves in schools, Turkish Minute reported.

With neither political bloc securing a clear majority in the 120-seat Knesset, leaders of the bloc seeking to replace Netanyahu held meetings on Thursday in several configurations, some involving the Ra'am Party, after Tuesday's election. Yashar Party chairman Gadi Eisenkot accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Likud of attempting to undermine the legitimacy of Israel's election results, according to the Jerusalem Post.

China’s Central Committee endorsed disciplinary penalties against 18 senior civilian and 16 military figures, all full or alternate members of the Committee, according to the South China Morning Post (SCMP), which also reports that General Zhang Shengmin was promoted to the Politburo.

Counting in Israel’s parliamentary election concluded Thursday, including ballots cast in double envelopes, leaving neither Benjamin Netanyahu’s bloc nor the opposition with the 61 seats needed for a Knesset majority, according to i24NEWS. Likud leads with 27 seats as Netanyahu’s bloc secures 53 and the opposition 48, with coalition negotiations facing deep divisions and official results due next Wednesday. The anti-Netanyahu bloc, led by Gadi Eisenkot of the Yashar party, claimed 48 seats, according to DW.

Israel’s president, Isaac Herzog, said he would not begin consulting party leaders about forming a government until next week, when he expects to receive the full, official vote count, according to The New York Times. Under Basic Law: The Government, the president is the one empowered to choose who gets the first chance to form a government, according to the Times of Israel.

The leadership of the Communist Party of China elected Gen. Zhang Shengmin, vice chairman of the Central Military Commission, to the Politburo, according to AP News. Xi Jinping had earlier purged two of China’s top generals, leaving Zhang as the commission’s only member besides Xi himself, also according to AP News.

Defeated presidential candidate Flavio Bolsonaro left Brazil for the US, where he declared himself to be the true president of his country, according to AFP. Rogerio Marinho, who coordinated Flavio Bolsonaro’s campaign, said there was no evidence of electoral fraud, as claimed by the defeated candidate, also according to AFP.

The Communist Party of China confirmed the expulsion of 33 officials, including former Politburo member Ma Xingrui and former senior military leader Zhang Youxia, according to a fifth plenum communique released by Xinhua, cited by Reuters. The list also includes former military official Liu Zhenli, former senior diplomat Liu Jianchao, former industry minister Jin Zhuanglong and former securities regulator chairman Yi Huiman, according to Reuters.

A senior source in United Torah Judaism (UTJ) proposed backing a minority government led by Gadi Eisenkot from outside, with the party abstaining on key Knesset votes, Channel 12 reported. “Our alliance with Netanyahu has run its course,” one party official told the channel, according to Yeshiva World, adding that UTJ will get nothing from Netanyahu and that its interest is to once again become a decisive force in the Knesset. Eisenkot vowed to advance the draft law and the Oct. 7 inquiry despite slim coalition prospects, according to the Times of Israel.

Israel’s opposition accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of trying to delegitimize the election by alleging foreign interference after the vote left his coalition without a majority in parliament. Opposition leader Gadi Eisenkot and Arab-led party leaders denounced Netanyahu, the BBC reported. Final results confirmed that neither Netanyahu’s bloc nor the Jewish opposition had won a majority. The two Arab party lists, The Joint List and Ra’am, defied expectations to win a record 19 seats in the 120-seat Knesset following a surge in turnout among Arab voters.

Benjamin Netanyahu and his allies called on the Shin Bet internal security service to investigate alleged vote buying and other irregularities in Palestinian communities in Israel, supposedly funded by foreign money. The prime minister alleged, without providing evidence, that Arab parties’ record gains in this week’s election were driven in part by voter fraud, a charge Arab leaders rejected and described as incitement, according to Reuters. Acting Central Elections Committee Director General Dean Livne rejected the allegations of widespread fraud as baseless on Thursday, and the Shin Bet clarified that its probe of foreign interference in the vote was limited in scope and was not based on information supplied by any political actor.

Yashar party chairman and opposition bloc leader Gadi Eisenkot accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday of launching an “organized campaign to delegitimize” the results of Tuesday's Knesset election, according to The Jerusalem Post. “I will not allow the Knesset's swearing-in to be delayed by even a single centimeter from its scheduled date,” Eisenkot said.

Zehut party leader Moshe Feiglin called for Israel to annul its election results and hold snap elections, with Border Police battalions stationed at polling stations in Arab communities, and cited concerns over foreign interference, according to Haaretz, which describes the party as settler-libertarian. “We cannot allow Qatar to take over our Knesset,” he said.

Serbia's student movement demanded on Thursday the resignations of top officials in the police, intelligence agencies and the judiciary as it prepares to take power after last weekend's election win against former strongman leader Aleksandar Vucic, according to AP News. The students also urged the country's election authorities to officially declare the final results without delay after a rerun at some 50 polling stations next Sunday.

With more than 90% of votes counted in Israel’s legislative elections, projections give Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s bloc 53 seats against 48 for Gadi Eisenkot’s alliance, with a projected record of 19 seats for Arab parties, according to TRT World, while National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir called for the arrest of Arab party leaders after the Central Elections Committee called on the Shin Bet to investigate allegations of foreign interference, according to the Jerusalem Post.

Yisrael Beytenu leader Avigdor Liberman has reportedly cut ties with the opposition bloc and is pushing for a unity government, according to a Wednesday N12 report, the Jerusalem Post reports. Israel’s police rejected Likud’s claims that the election had been “stolen” on Thursday morning, saying there was no investigative or intelligence evidence to support them.

Brazil’s Federal Police are looking into the possible role of Eduardo Bolsonaro in information used to obscure the exit route of Flávio Bolsonaro via Argentina. The force said it found no official exit record for Flávio, his wife Fernanda and their two daughters — but the family’s entry into Argentina was confirmed.

Rogério Marinho, campaign coordinator for former candidate Flávio Bolsonaro, said that neither he nor the Liberal Party (PL) can claim fraud because there is no proof of that. Marinho rejected the election-fraud claims in Brazil and said the party has no proof of it.

The third version of the note released by Flávio Bolsonaro on Wednesday (28) corrected the term and started using “leader of Brazil” instead of “elected president”, at 17:41. Earlier, the former presidential candidate had shared with allies a letter in which he proclaimed himself the “true elected president of Brazil”.

With 85% of ballots counted, Netanyahu’s Likud party and its far-right and ultra-Orthodox Jewish allies were on track to win 53 of the 120 seats in the Knesset, according to the BBC. Israel’s president, Isaac Herzog, said he expected to receive the official results next week, after which he would begin discussions with every faction: “We must do everything we can, certainly after yesterday, to avoid another round of elections.”

Flávio Bolsonaro and three relatives were recorded by Argentine migration authorities crossing the border at 10:50 p.m. on Tuesday, according to G1 — the new development after the departure from Brazil, the US visas and the canceled passports. At 11:30 p.m., the group boarded a private Baires Fly flight with Guayaquil, Ecuador, as its declared destination. US President Donald Trump said he would approve Flávio’s travel to the US: “Well, I would approve. I think they are good people. The election was very strange, and I thought it was terrible”.

Exit polls published by the Jerusalem Post projected Ra'am and the Joint List at seven and 11 seats respectively on Channel 12 and at seven and 10 on Channels 11 and 13, which would give the two parties 18 or 19 seats combined in the 120-member Knesset, compared with five each in the outgoing parliament. Neither Netanyahu’s nor Eisenkot’s bloc was on track for a majority in the 120-seat Knesset, according to TRT World.

On election day in Israel, National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of having pledged to the US administration that he would form a unity government with opposition leader Gadi Eisenkot and without him after the elections, according to The Times of Israel. “Prime Minister Netanyahu has pledged to the US administration that, after the elections, he will form a unity government with Eisenkot and without Ben Gvir,” the minister wrote on X, citing a report by Israel Hayom. The Jerusalem Post recorded that Ben Gvir said Netanyahu needs to stand with him on the right and pursue a fully right-wing government. The Israel Hayom report describes a US-backed proposal with a rotation government of about two years, advancing the Abraham Accords with a focus on Saudi Arabia and a presidential pardon for Netanyahu — a possibility the President's Residence denied having discussed.

Senator Flávio Bolsonaro of the Liberal Party (PL) reportedly left Brazil on the night of October 26 for Argentina on a private flight, to continue on to the United States, according to the Argentine website Infobae, which reported the case early this morning. The general coordinator of Flávio's presidential campaign, Senator Rogério Marinho (PL-RN), denied the information. On October 26, the Federal Police summoned Flávio to hand over his ordinary and diplomatic passports within 24 hours, following a determination by Supreme Court (STF) Justice Alexandre de Moraes.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Monday that Venezuela's interim government told the United States “weeks and weeks” earlier that opposition leader María Corina Machado could return to the country without interference, according to CBS News. Rubio added that he told the interim authorities the US expectation was that she, a Venezuelan, belongs in her country.

Senator Flávio Bolsonaro (PL), defeated by Lula (PT) in the presidential election, said on Monday that he was summoned by the Federal Police to hand over his passports and is barred from leaving the country. He called the measure ‘a clear attempt’ to intimidate him and said he will comply: ‘I will hand over my passports and defend myself against this aberration.’ The statements were published by Carta Capital.

Israel votes on Tuesday (October 27) with 7,331,981 eligible voters and 34 parties running for the Knesset. Polls project 20 to 23 of the 120 seats for Yashar, ahead of Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud, with no easy majority for any bloc to form a coalition. At his final rally, candidate Eisenkot pledged to heal divisions in Israeli society after Netanyahu's government and spoke of a commitment to security and the economy. Netanyahu said “90 percent of the work” had been done and “10 percent remains”, and that Eisenkot and the Muslim Brotherhood “will not destroy Iran's nuclear programme”: “Who is going to do it? Only I can.” Israeli media reported that officials discussed actions in preparation for a strike on Iran at Netanyahu's request, according to Middle East Eye.

Venezuela's acting president, Delcy Rodríguez, said María Corina Machado “could have spared herself this show” and that “the airports are there”, referring to the opposition leader's return; Machado had been in exile and came back to the country on Sunday (25). Rodríguez also said other beneficiaries of the amnesty law had been able to enter through airport facilities, according to Le Monde. Machado's spokesperson, Claudia Macero, said the opposition leader is willing to sit at the table with Rodríguez and with anyone else she must talk to, publicly, transparently and with a precise program.

Israel votes on Tuesday in its first general election since the October 7, 2023 attack. Many of Benjamin Netanyahu's opponents see the vote as a chance at last to deliver a reckoning for the worst security failure in generations, according to Reuters, in text published by the Times of Israel. Opinion polls have for months predicted a sharp drop for Netanyahu's Likud party, but a rival alliance of right, left and center parties also has no clear path to power. On the eve of the vote, President Isaac Herzog received the credentials of five new ambassadors, who will serve under the next government, the Jerusalem Post reported.

The head of Mexico's National Electoral Institute (INE), Guadalupe Taddei, is set to present her resignation on Monday amid corruption allegations, a decision President Claudia Sheinbaum said she supports, according to Reuters, in text republished by Yahoo. Taddei is accused of favouring an INE contractor with whom she has a personal relationship, in contracts worth millions of dollars.

Serbia’s Aleksandar Vučić conceded defeat to the student-led protest movement in Sunday’s parliamentary election, according to Reuters. He said the Student List would have between 135 and 140 seats and his bloc 105. The election commission indicated a record turnout, which commentators had suggested would favor the student movement, according to the BBC.

French President Emmanuel Macron promised on Monday that his government would announce a package of measures in response to weeks of street protests over a broad set of grievances, according to Reuters, in a text republished by Quews News. Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said earlier that further disturbances are expected on October 31, and the interior ministry deployed 70,000 police for Saturday’s demonstrations, which unions called to denounce the high cost of living and public services.

Yisrael Beytenu chairman Avigdor Liberman called on Attorney-General Gali Baharav-Miara to open a criminal investigation into Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on suspicion of treason, according to a statement released on Monday and reported by the Jerusalem Post. The request cites a Sunday report by Channel N12 that Netanyahu and IDF Chief of Staff Lieutenant-General Eyal Zamir clashed over a proposed military operation that could trigger a confrontation with Iran, two days before Israel's October 27 election. Liberman accused Netanyahu of trying to draw Israel into a military confrontation to prevent the elections from taking place.

A video published by Channel 13 late Sunday shows Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu approving over the phone the deal that pulls the haredi Achi party out of the election race in exchange for a deputy ministerial post. In the recording, Education Minister Yoav Kisch lays out the arrangement he struck with Rabbi Haim Yosef Abergel, Achi’s spiritual leader, and Netanyahu replies “completely acceptable”, according to The Times of Israel. Because current law requires a deputy minister to be a sitting lawmaker, Kisch says Likud will seek to change the law so that someone who is not a member of the Knesset can also be appointed. Abergel, who faces accusations of sexual crimes against minors, announced the party’s withdrawal on Friday, and opposition leaders called the episode “corruption”.

María Corina Machado returned to Venezuela on Sunday, a surprise homecoming after nearly a year in exile that drew jubilant crowds in a direct challenge to the US-backed interim government, AFP reported. It was her first appearance in the country since December, a return that comes amid doubts about the country’s democratic future, the Associated Press reported, in a text republished by PBS NewsHour.

Flávio Bolsonaro refused to concede defeat and said he will seek the annulment of the runoff over the two-hour extension of voting, a ruling by Supreme Court Justice Cristiano Zanin that he called “unacceptable”, according to The Jerusalem Post.

Billionaire American investor Bill Ackman said on Sunday that far-right Israeli ministers Itamar Ben Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich should not serve in the next government, saying the two politicians had caused enormous damage to the country's reputation, the Times of Israel reported. The public intervention by the fund manager, who is Jewish, comes two days before Israel's general election, in which polls show a tight race between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition and the opposition.

Thousands of people heeded the organisers' calls and attended the rally in Tirana, where authorities counted several government buildings attacked, dozens of demonstrators arrested and more than 300 protesters and police injured, according to Al Jazeera. Riot police used tear gas, water cannons and rubber bullets to disperse protesters who threw rocks at officers and started a fire at the door of the agriculture ministry, according to The Hindu. Student-led demonstrations, fuelled by anger over perceived government corruption, a lack of jobs and poor education standards, have engulfed central Tirana and spread to other cities this month.

The French Interior Ministry put nationwide turnout at 410,000, including 110,000 in Paris, according to the Associated Press (AP), in a text republished by PBS NewsHour. The Paris prosecutor’s office said 64 people had been arrested in connection with Saturday’s demonstration in the capital and 40 placed in police custody, including six minors. Near the march’s endpoint at Porte de Vincennes, some protesters threw projectiles while police fired volleys of tear gas and used water cannons to disperse people. Authorities had confined the capital’s march to the city’s southeastern edge, keeping protesters away from central neighborhoods.

Some 421,000 internal AfD emails are available for download on a website, a set dating from this autumn back to 2014 and including messages attributed to party leader Alice Weidel, deputy leader Beatrix von Storch and former AfD chairs Jörg Meuthen and Alexander Gauland. The AfD told taz there had been a “hacker attack” in September 2026 on a hosting provider used by the party, in which “parts of a few” mailboxes were copied illegally.

The final Times of Israel poll, published five days before the election, shows the two Jewish-led blocs tied at 51 seats each, well below the 61 needed for a majority coalition in the 120-seat Knesset. MK Ahmad Tibi, chairman of the Joint List faction, presented on Sunday evening a two-stage plan to prevent Benjamin Netanyahu from remaining in power after the election, proposing to support an alternative government from outside the coalition in exchange for commitments addressing the needs of Arab society.

President Emmanuel Macron said only authorised union protests will be allowed in French towns and cities on Saturday, after demonstrations across the country turned violent last weekend. The Rhône prefecture decided to prohibit by decree any demonstration in the city of Lyon this Saturday, “in light of the events of 17 October”. At least 2,500 people have been arrested across France since the disorder broke out, and Macron met intelligence services and ministers on Thursday to prepare for the next national day of protests, according to the BBC.

French President Emmanuel Macron said on Thursday that “illegitimate” protests would be banned in the coming days and that he would convene a defence council under his chairmanship on Friday, while protests by organised groups such as unions would be offered alternative routes to protect businesses, according to France 24. Only union-organised protests would be authorised during nationwide demonstrations on Saturday, he said. In Lyon, the Rhône prefect decided to ban by decree all protests in the city this Saturday, October 24, according to The Hindu.

French President Emmanuel Macron began on Monday, October 19, a Gulf tour aimed at securing oil and diesel supplies in an effort to bring down prices, after a weekend of violent protests sparked by soaring living costs, according to Le Monde. Macron acknowledged security and intelligence failures but refused his interior minister’s resignation, after more than 2,500 people were arrested in some of France’s worst violence in years, with town halls and shops looted and set on fire, according to RFI.

The European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) raided the European Parliament premises of the far-right Patriots for Europe grouping on Wednesday as part of a funding probe, Reuters reported. The office confirmed searches at European Parliament premises in France and Belgium as part of an ongoing investigation into the use of European funds, according to Le Monde.

Alberta voters rejected the proposal to start an independence process, with about 76% for remaining in Canada and 23% for separation, according to NPR. The vote was not a direct independence referendum but would have opened the way to a future vote on separation, and Prime Minister Mark Carney urged a decisive vote for unity, saying a vote against Canada would be a dangerous bluff, according to The Guardian, in a text published at the address recording the remarks.

Romania’s Parliament voted on Tuesday to back the Cabinet proposed by Prime Minister-designate Luca Niculescu, an independent seeking to end a monthslong political crisis, according to the Associated Press. Niculescu was nominated on October 5, his fourth such nomination after three previous nominees failed to form a government.

US President Donald Trump blamed immigration for the unrest in France, saying Paris will be a Muslim city very soon: “The whole world was coming in, and as you know, Paris is going to be a Muslim city very soon, and that wasn’t the deal,” he said, adding: “We closed our borders. He didn’t.” Vice President JD Vance, a day earlier, wrote on X that “Western liberals imported the third world into France”. The Saturday protests, called over rising fuel prices and falling purchasing power, escalated in several cities, leaving a historic town hall torched and 1,800 arrests, according to The Guardian.

Anti-government demonstrations in Albania continued for a seventh consecutive day as Prime Minister Edi Rama renewed his offer of unconditional dialogue with protesters amid violent clashes with police in the capital, Tirana, local media reported. Riot squads deployed tear gas and water cannon to disperse crowds near Rinia Park, and confrontations escalated as demonstrators hurled stones, pyrotechnics and Molotov cocktails at officers stationed near the Interior Ministry.

Paris police announced a curfew in specific areas of the city, from Monday night until Tuesday morning, and banned protests in certain areas overnight, Le Monde reported. “I’m absolutely determined to restore public order,” Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu said, adding that the government was ready to impose a state of emergency “if needed”. Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez offered to resign on Monday, after more than 2,500 people were arrested and nearly 1,000 members of the security forces injured. On Saturday, some half a million people turned out across France to denounce the surging cost of living, a culmination of four weeks of protests that began with high school students.

French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu said on Monday he does not rule out imposing a state of emergency to restore order, speaking after a crisis meeting, France 24 reported. He said he had asked regional authorities to impose “localised” curfews on Monday evening, notably to protect businesses.

Protests against the Albanian government entered a seventh day on Monday, with hundreds of demonstrators outside the Education Ministry chanting “Rama, resign”, The Hindu reported. The demonstrations began on Tuesday, with students demanding better university conditions, lower tuition fees and action on corruption, and Prime Minister Edi Rama rejected calls for him to resign. The European Commission condemned on Sunday the use of violence in Tirana and other cities, and the Health Ministry said 272 people were injured in clashes since Tuesday, including 169 police officers.

French President Emmanuel Macron admitted failures after the weekend of violent protests, following failures in anticipation and intelligence that worsened the crisis and the admission by Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez, in an interview on Monday, that police “lost control” in some cities. On Saturday, over half a million mainly peaceful protesters demonstrated against rising living costs and access to public services before the escalation.

An alliance of Venezuelan opposition parties on Sunday confirmed exiled Nobel Peace Prize laureate María Corina Machado as its leader, The Hindu reported, increasing pressure on interim authorities to allow her return. The announcement comes as one opposition faction engages in political transition talks with the interim government, after the US ouster of longtime leader Nicolás Maduro.

French President Emmanuel Macron blamed “unrestrained violence” on “insurrectionist elements from radical far-left groups, joined by numerous criminals”, according to The Hindu. Marine Le Pen, who leads first-round polling for the 2027 presidential election, described Macron as a president “without credibility or authority” who had “lost all touch with reality”, according to RT, calling his government “a government on its last legs.”

The French government was in crisis talks on Sunday after one of the most violent days of unrest in years left public buildings burned and hundreds of shops destroyed and looted, The Guardian reported.

Tirana saw a sixth consecutive day of violent protests on Sunday: Prime Minister Edi Rama, serving his fourth term, ruled out resigning and a Health Ministry report issued on Sunday morning counted 65 people injured, 37 of them police officers, and 12 hospitalized, according to Al Jazeera. Hundreds of protesters gathered again at noon in front of the Education Ministry, chanting “Rama, resign”, in a tense standoff with police, who later used water cannons and tear gas to hold back the crowds, The Hindu reported.

Roughly 1,500 shops and retailers were damaged during the protests that swept France over the weekend, many of them looted, according to the head of the Retail and Trade Federation, cited by France 24.

French President Emmanuel Macron will deliver a televised address on Sunday night, at 9:00 p.m. Moscow time (6:00 p.m. GMT), in connection with the October 17 unrest, according to the Elysee Palace, in a TASS report citing Le Monde. Organizers count 800,000 participants in the rallies, while the Interior Ministry puts the figure at 550,000, according to TASS.

Pakistan’s federal government imposed temporary federal rule in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, after an emergency cabinet meeting, citing the “provincial government’s deliberate disengagement from the fight against terrorism”, according to the South China Morning Post. The provincial administration, led by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, had refused to support intensified military operations against Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militants.

Albanian police are using rubber bullets and other riot control equipment to disperse anti-government protests in Tirana city center, on a fifth consecutive day of demonstrations in which participants are trying to seize government buildings, according to TASS, which cites the CNA news portal. Protesters in Albania are demonstrating for a fifth day in a row to demand the prime minister’s resignation, according to Le Monde.

Pakistan has detained hundreds of members of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), the party of former prime minister Imran Khan, after the central government imposed emergency rule on October 11 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, according to The Hindu. The province is the party’s stronghold, and the move came after major protests demanding the former premier’s release.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said on Saturday that his presidential term ends in 2030 and that the question of his departure from office is “settled and will not be discussed”, according to Middle East Eye.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas postponed what would have been the first Palestinian legislative elections in nearly 20 years, pushing the vote to September 11, 2027, according to WAFA, the official Palestinian news agency. The election had been scheduled for next month.

Street protests in India this year are likely to be higher than at any time in the past decade, according to the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data project (ACLED), cited by the South China Morning Post (SCMP). Analysts cited by the newspaper say the youth protests and growing support for the opposition form the worst crisis for Modi since 2014, with people under 30 making up nearly one quarter of the country’s 1 billion voters.

Cameroon’s President Paul Biya, 93, returned to the country on August 20 after spending about 10 weeks abroad. His prolonged absence fueled speculation about his health and whereabouts, including unverified claims that he had died, according to Al Jazeera. His return raised expectations of a government reshuffle, but no new government had been appointed by October 6, and the vice presidency, restored through a constitutional amendment in April, remained vacant, according to the same report.

Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama blamed “foreign hands” for the student-led protests calling for his resignation, which have turned increasingly violent, according to Al Jazeera. In a video address on Friday, he said there are “foreign hands that do not wish for Albania to be at peace”. Police said 160 people were detained over alleged acts of violence on Thursday evening, and the protests spread to Elbasan, Shkodra and Korca, where demonstrators broke windows and set fire to rubbish bins, local media reported.

Katie Zacharia left her job as White House press secretary after five days, according to reports. Earlier, US President Donald Trump said she should reconsider the role, according to Reuters.

Ethiopia’s federal government has established a six-month caretaker administration for the Tigray region, tasked with restoring security, rebuilding damaged infrastructure and organizing elections, according to AllAfrica. The government said repeated efforts to resolve the conflict in Tigray under the Pretoria peace agreement have failed, blaming the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) for obstructing implementation.

Germany’s Social Democrats (SPD) and the Greens made commitments to Israel a condition for coalition talks with the left-wing party Die Linke to form Berlin’s next government, according to Middle East Eye. The document demanded of Die Linke declared “Israel’s right to exist” non-negotiable and rejected general boycotts against Israel.

Pakistan parliament on Thursday endorsed the federal government decision to impose emergency and governor rule in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, according to The Hindu. The measure had been imposed on October 11 by the Shehbaz Sharif government, which cited the provincial government alleged disengagement from counterterrorism efforts, and was promulgated by the president, on the advice of the prime minister, under Articles 232 and 234 of the Constitution, according to Radio Pakistan.

Iraq’s parliament approved Laith al-Khazali, a senior leader of the Iran-backed Asaib Ahl al-Haq group and brother of its leader Qais al-Khazali, as one of three deputy prime ministers, completing the formation of Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi’s government with Thursday’s vote on previously vacant cabinet posts. The US designated Asaib Ahl al-Haq as a foreign terrorist organisation in 2020 and named both brothers as “specially designated global terrorists”, citing attacks including a 2007 assault that killed five US soldiers. Laith al-Khazali was arrested by US forces in 2007 over allegations related to an attack targeting American forces in Karbala in January of that year.

Former president Joseph Kabila announced on October 12, in Goma, a new political-military alliance with the Rwanda-backed M23 armed group, according to France 24. The deal was presented at a joint press conference at his residence in Goma, a city under the group’s control since January 2025, and Kabila leads the Front for the Refoundation of the Nation (FRN), according to Deutsche Welle.

Former Democratic Republic of Congo President Joseph Kabila has been named the leader of a new rebel coalition seeking to oust the government, according to the BBC. The Front for the Refoundation of the Nation (FRN) said it aims to coordinate “resistance forces” to end “tyranny” in the country and will pursue the goal “by all means, including force”. The coalition was announced at a press conference at Kabila’s residence in Goma, the largest city in eastern DR Congo, which has been under the control of the M23 since last year.

US authorities conducted a predawn raid of Representative Ilhan Omar’s home in Washington, DC, on Monday as part of an ongoing investigation, the Justice Department said. Omar, a Minnesota congresswoman, said she “will not be silenced” and called the search of her home part of President Donald Trump’s “intimidation” campaign. Trump said Somalia, where she was born, is “one of the worst countries anywhere on the planet”.

Pakistani authorities imposed on Sunday a state of emergency in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, under two constitutional security articles, effectively suspending the provincial government of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), a move the prime minister's cabinet justified by the provincial government's “deliberate disengagement from the fight against terrorism”, according to Al Jazeera. The measures were approved under Articles 232 and 234 of the Constitution, with an 11-member technocratic council and Fakhr Alam named chief secretary of the province, according to Dawn.

N12 published on Sunday a transcript in which former chief of staff Tzachi Braverman asks a stenographer to change the time of the Netanyahu–Gil phone call from 6:40 to 6:29 on 10/7/2023, according to The Jerusalem Post citing N12. According to the transcript, Braverman said “it was at 6:29, not 6:40. Change the time”. Former military secretary Avi Gil accused Braverman of ordering the time changed, according to the same paper. Braverman’s defence denies it and says the transcript is false, according to the same paper.

Poland detained on Sunday a man accused of plotting to assassinate Prime Minister Donald Tusk and Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz, after an emergency meeting of the security services about a potential attack against both men, according to DW, with Tusk confirming the detention and praising the police’s “swift and decisive action”. Le Monde blames the far right for the attempt in the headline of its October 12 story.

Pakistan’s president, Asif Ali Zardari, announced on Sunday emergency rule in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, on a proposal by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, effectively removing Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party from regional power, as thousands of Khan supporters continue anti-government protests and demand the former leader be released from jail. The province was run by the PTI, whose provincial government was suspended after the state of emergency was declared.

Poland's police said on Sunday they had received information about a possible plot to attack Prime Minister Donald Tusk and Defense Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz, according to the Associated Press. Security services, police and representatives of the Interior Ministry had an emergency meeting scheduled to start at 11 a.m. (0900 GMT) on Sunday.

Pakistan’s President Asif Ali Zardari declared an emergency in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on October 11, 2026, bringing the provincial government led by jailed former prime minister Imran Khan’s party to an end, according to The Hindu.

Gadi Eisenkot, chairman of the Yashar! party, called on Attorney-General Gali Baharav-Miara to decide whether to indict Tzachi Braverman, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s former chief of staff, and others before the upcoming elections, according to The Jerusalem Post. Braverman acknowledged changing the recorded time of a conversation between Netanyahu and the military secretary on the morning of October 7, police sources say. Former military secretary Avi Gil said the time of the call was changed from 6:40 a.m. to 6:29 a.m.

The party of Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado demanded on Thursday, October 8, the immediate lifting of her ineligibility, according to Le Monde. A former magistrate, Barbara Cesar Siero, said two of her brothers and her sister-in-law, all military personnel, were arrested in December 2023 to force her to sign the document that declared Machado ineligible.

Supreme Federal Court (STF) Justice Alexandre de Moraes ordered on Thursday (08/10) the issuance of an arrest warrant against former federal lawmaker Eduardo Bolsonaro, who is in the United States (US), according to Opera Mundi. The measure was ordered after the justice enforced Eduardo’s sentence of four years and two months in prison for coercion in the course of the proceedings. The sentence is to be served in a semi-open regime, according to Revista Oeste.

The eastern-based House of Representatives elected Al-Salhin Abdulnabi as speaker on Tuesday, replacing Aguila Saleh after nearly 12 years in the post, and elected Tarek al-Ashtar and Mesbah Douma as first and second deputy speakers, respectively, according to Reuters. The 170-member parliament voted to replace Saleh with Al-Salhin Abdulnabi, with the spokesperson’s announcement on X, according to Al Jazeera.

Haiti indefinitely postponed the elections scheduled for December and February, according to the electoral council cited by France 24, citing technical and operational requirements as gang violence continues to disrupt preparations. The first round of the presidential and legislative elections was set for December 13, with the second round set for February 21, 2027. A council member confirmed to AFP that the December 13 date “no longer stands” and that a new timetable is being prepared, according to France 24, with information from AFP.

Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif invited the PTI, Imran Khan's party, for talks on Tuesday and urged it to call off its long march to Islamabad. The PTI launched the march two days earlier from Lakki Marwat in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa to demand Khan's release; he has been in jail since August 2023. A second round of talks had collapsed on October 4 over the impasse on access to Khan.

No one who finished second in the first round of a presidential election has gone on to win the runoff since Brazil restored democracy in 1985, El País notes. Lula, who on Sunday secured 45% of the vote compared to Flávio Bolsonaro's 47%, is devising a strategy to attract centrist voters and mobilize the masses of abstainers.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez called a snap election for 29 November after a parliamentary defeat, according to the BBC. The conservative People’s Party (PP) and the far-right Vox voted against the government’s housing measures, which sought to prevent the eviction of tenants. Sánchez called for voters to mobilise for a much bigger progressive majority to defeat the elites and conquer social rights.

According to The Guardian, Imran Khan's supporters have begun a march to Islamabad to demand his release from jail after the government's efforts to halt the protest failed. The government shut down Islamabad and barricaded the capital's entrances with shipping containers and sandbags.

Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez announced a snap general election in a televised address on Monday morning, three days after right-wing parties torpedoed emergency housing legislation, according to The Guardian. The announcement followed Parliament's rejection of housing relief measures, according to Al Jazeera.

France’s education minister, Edouard Geffray, said that security conditions have not been met in about 400 to 500 schools, which will be fully or partly closed on Monday, while organizers called for renewed large-scale protests on Tuesday, citing a lack of “concrete measures” from the government. Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez says that 1,747 people were arrested on Friday and 24 schools have been burned or ransacked since the protests began.

More than 5,000 people began the march of Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party on Sunday. The march was originally scheduled for September 27 but was postponed until October 4 to allow talks between the government and the PTI leadership to take place, according to Al Jazeera.

Lessons will be totally or partly suspended in 400 to 500 schools in France on Monday because security conditions “have not been fulfilled”, the education minister, Édouard Geffray, said on Sunday, according to The Guardian. The minister said 24 schools have been burnt or ransacked and 78 education staff members injured since student unrest began last week.

The government of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) failed to reach an agreement in the talks, according to the Hindustan Times. PTI decided to keep the march to Islamabad on Sunday, according to The Hindu. The government insisted that PTI first announce the cancellation of the protest, and the meeting with the jailed leader would be decided later, according to India Today.

The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party of Imran Khan begins on Sunday a multi-day march from Lakki Marwat to Islamabad against the federal government and the military establishment, according to the Hindustan Times, in a text by ANI. The march is led by the chief minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Sohail Afridi, and demands the release of Imran Khan and other jailed PTI leaders.

Fresh protests over housing flared in Madrid and other Spanish cities on Saturday, a day after parliament narrowly rejected the government’s proposed relief measures for tenants, France24 reported. The government introduced the measures after nationwide protests following the eviction, on a stretcher, of 87-year-old Maricarmen Abascal from a Madrid apartment she had occupied for around seven decades.

Riot police clashed with students as education protests rage in France, according to the BBC. Student protests involve blockades and tear gas, according to The New York Times.

Pakistan’s federal government and leaders of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party of jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan held talks on October 2, 2026 to defuse tensions ahead of the march to Islamabad, according to The Hindu. The PTI march to Islamabad is set to start on October 4, after being postponed by a week. The negotiations are taking place in the chamber of National Assembly Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, who is facilitating the dialogue between the two sides.

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Flávio Bolsonaro snubbed a chance at a final debate ahead of the first round of the presidential election on Sunday, according to Al Jazeera. TV Globo said in a statement that the debate was cancelled because two rulings, one from the country’s electoral court and the other from the Supreme Court, had created legal uncertainty about the event, also according to the broadcaster. A suspect who tried to jump the court’s fences and threw a backpack on top of a bus stop was arrested, according to the court, cited by Al Jazeera.

France’s Interior Ministry recorded 1,949 arrests on Thursday (October 1, 2026) in student protests marked by fires and blockades spreading across the country, according to the ministry, as cited by The Hindu. A total of 305 officers were injured in the clashes, according to the same report.

Ethiopia ordered the closure of its embassy in Eritrea and gave 10 Eritrean diplomats 48 hours to leave the country, according to ChimpReports. On Thursday, Eritrea said it was breaking diplomatic ties with Ethiopia, in response to the earlier expulsion of its diplomats from Addis Ababa, according to AFP, in a text published by Ahram Online. Eritrea's foreign ministry said it had no option but to reciprocate and sever all diplomatic ties: “Eritrea has no option but to reciprocate in kind and sever all diplomatic ties with Ethiopia with all the negative corollaries that this entails,” the ministry said in a statement on X.

French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu called a crisis meeting on Thursday and told ministers to cancel travel plans to deal with the student protests, according to The Guardian. Police counted about 900 demonstrations, blockades and related incidents outside high schools across the country, with more than 160 shut down. Since the start of the protests, hundreds of high school students aged 15 to 18 have been detained, including 625 on Wednesday alone, according to the Interior Ministry, and more than 80 police officers and firefighters and 120 pupils and teachers have been injured.

About 30 universities joined on Thursday (October 1) the high-school blockade movement spreading across France, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP). High-school students are demanding mainly the replacement of absent teachers and more resources for education. On Tuesday, teenagers set fire to rubbish bins and threw projectiles at police, who responded with batons and tear gas, according to France24.

Serbia’s president, Aleksandar Vucic, resigned from office, stating that he wants to run in the upcoming parliamentary elections as an ordinary citizen. He announced he would hand over his duties the following morning to National Assembly Speaker Ana Brnabic, who will serve as acting president. The resignation follows more than a year of student-led protests and growing public discontent over allegations of government corruption, according to the BBC.

French security forces detained more than 600 people on Wednesday, while dozens of police officers and gendarmes were wounded in the escalation of protests, which included high school blockades, according to the interior minister, in an AFP text republished by the Hindustan Times. Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said 625 people were detained in the blockades, pointed to an “expansion of the movement” and condemned an “escalation of violence” outside certain schools.

More than 400 people, mostly minors, were detained on Tuesday over student protests at high schools across France, the French interior minister said, according to the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). At least 400 schools were affected, with blockades driven by overcrowded classes and teacher shortages. Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez spoke of 440 people detained, with two thirds taken into police custody.

Hungary’s Parliament voted on Monday to lift the parliamentary immunity of three lawmakers, including Prime Minister Péter Magyar, according to The Associated Press (AP). Magyar is under investigation on suspicion of misdemeanor theft after he allegedly took a man’s mobile phone during a nightclub altercation and threw it into the Danube River in June 2024, according to AP. Lawmakers also lifted the immunity of two former ministers in Orbán’s government suspected of mismanagement of 17.3 billion forints in public funds and bribes of more than 12 billion forints, also according to AP.

Serbia’s president, Aleksandar Vucic, resigned on Sunday to pursue the prime minister’s post in an upcoming early parliamentary election, according to the AP. The election, the outlet said, will test his firm rule in the Balkan country after nearly two years of protests. The snap election is set for October 25, and a student-led movement is mounting the most serious challenge to his rule in more than a decade, according to Al Jazeera.

Sweden’s Social Democratic Party leader Magdalena Andersson said on Monday, September 28, that she had failed to form a government with the three other parties in the left-wing bloc after the country’s September 13 general election. “Based on the discussions I have had, I can conclude overall that there is currently no possibility for me to form a government,” she told reporters. The speaker of parliament is expected to task another party leader, likely outgoing Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, who currently leads a caretaker government, with trying to form a new government. Kristersson’s right-wing bloc, which includes the far-right Sweden Democrats party, narrowly lost the election, by 176 seats to 173, and will struggle to find a majority in parliament, according to Le Monde.

Hundreds of supporters of Venezuela’s opposition leader María Corina Machado took to the streets to demand her safe return and presidential elections that could lead to a democratic transition. In Caracas, hundreds of activists in sky blue shirts — the colour of Machado’s Vente Venezuela party — rode motorcycles through the capital’s main avenues on Sunday, with similar demonstrations in Valencia, Maracaibo and Merida, according to Al Jazeera. Machado has been living in exile for the past nine months and has had plans to return spoiled multiple times; opposition activists have accused the government of blocking her return, a claim the authorities deny.

The capital police in Pakistan requested PKR 820 million for a week of security against the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) march on Islamabad, an amount that would cover the rent of shipping containers, accommodation and meals for police personnel arriving from Punjab and Sindh. According to Dawn, citing police sources, postponing the march to October 4 would effectively double the amount and would likely cost more than PKR 1 billion.

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) postponed to October 4 the march that would set out from Peshawar toward Islamabad, previously scheduled for September 27. The announcement was made by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi, who said the party’s political committee “unanimously agreed” to the new date. The march presses for the release of Imran Khan, jailed since 2023, according to Reuters.

Pakistani authorities closed the main highways into Islamabad and placed about 2,000 shipping containers around the capital and at Attock Bridge, a crossing from the northwestern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, as supporters of jailed former prime minister Imran Khan plan to march into the capital, according to Al Jazeera. Tens of thousands of police were deployed and roads were barricaded, according to The Guardian.

Pakistan’s government fortified more than 1,000 shipping containers with spikes, placed sandbags on bridges and closed the highway linking Peshawar to Islamabad, deploying 22,000 police and other security personnel across the capital, according to The Guardian. The leadership of Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) decided to postpone the march planned for September 27: it will now set out from Peshawar for the capital on October 4, according to Dawn. The PTI ties the march to concessions over the treatment of Khan, in jail since 2023, and says he is held in solitary confinement, denied adequate medical care and kept from his family and lawyers for months, according to The Guardian.

Qasim Khan, son of former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan, urged the public not to march or protest near Adiala Jail on September 27, according to UrduPoint. He said the protest could serve as a pretext for a “counter-operation” inside the prison, putting his father’s life at risk, according to Republic World.