Theme: United States

The Latino vote shift that helped elect Trump in 2024 now stands as a central part of the Republican defeat, driven by complaints over prices and the immigration crackdown. Latinos voted en masse for Democrats in Tuesday’s elections, from Texas to California, according to AFP. An NBC exit poll cited by the agency put the Democratic victory at about 30 percentage points among Latino voters. The agency attributes the shift to unfulfilled pledges of lower prices and an aggressive immigration crackdown affecting Latinos themselves.

The Democratic majority in Congress will now control trade committees and be able to investigate tariff policy, but repealing tariffs runs into Trump’s veto power. With at least 235 seats, according to Reuters projections, Democrats will hold trade committee chairs and have an easier time passing trade legislation. Democrats want to rescind old laws Trump used to impose tariffs, such as Section 338 of the 1930 Tariff Act, applied to Canadian imports. For Blake Harden of Ernst & Young, the congressional swing is “very unlikely” to have a significant impact on the president’s trade agenda and the tariffs in place — Trump will continue to pursue his tariff-driven trade agenda protecting workers, farmers and businesses, White House spokesman Matthew Middleton said.

The United States sanctioned on Wednesday two individuals and one entity accused of helping Iran obtain man-portable air-defense systems (MANPADS). The State Department identified the targets as Mohammed Ali Tolibov, CEO of Belarus-based Armory Alliance; Nigeria-based Vanguard Tactical Supply Limited; and Russia-based Alisher Domullodzhanov. According to the department, the network sought to facilitate the procurement of Chinese-origin MANPADS for Iran, including through false end-users — Israeli newspaper Ynet describes the case as an attempt to purchase hundreds of Chinese-made shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles, with a Belarusian company acting as intermediary. The statement places the move under Operation Economic Outcast, following designations on May 8, June 10 and July 15, 2026.

Tuesday’s vote turned AI data centers into a local-ballot issue: 44 communities voted to restrict data centers and just one voted to allow construction, across 45 decided measures. Twenty-one of the measures were in towns and cities in Ohio alone; the next state with the most measures was Maine, with eight. The measures included outright prohibitions, temporary moratoriums, limitations on energy use, mandating voter approval before construction and advisory measures — by late Tuesday evening, 33 restriction measures had passed or were leading in ongoing counts, according to the Data Centers on the Ballot tracking site.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky awarded US First Lady Melania Trump the Order of Princess Olga, First Class. The decree cited her “significant personal contribution to humanitarian support for Ukraine” and active human rights and charitable work. Melania last month announced a localized truce between Ukrainian and Russian forces to allow residents of Oleshky, on the southern front, to leave, and said nearly 800 people were evacuated. Ukraine this week accused Russia of taking advantage of the truce to strengthen its military position there, while the Kremlin called adjusting positions during a ceasefire “standard practice” — according to the White House, Melania independently initiated engagement between the two warring nations and secured the ceasefire.

Republicans lost the midterm elections because of the war with Iran, United States Vice President JD Vance said. According to Vance, many of those who voted for Trump and Vance in 2024 voted for Democrats in 2026, demanding an end to the war, a focus on the cost of living, priority to the United States and a change in the relationship with Israel. Voter frustration over the war and the relationship with Israel sealed the defeat, in a distancing from Donald Trump — who acknowledged the weight of gasoline prices but defended the decision to start the conflict — ahead of a possible 2028 White House bid.

Disagreements inside the United States government over the next steps regarding Iran intensified following the midterm congressional elections, according to the Wall Street Journal, in a text republished by TASS. Some officials are urging Donald Trump to launch new strikes against Iran and then try to secure peace, while others believe he should stop and scale back the military operation; Trump said he would end the war whenever he wants, but that this must be done right.

Trump raised with aides and in phone calls the possibility of replacing Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, without making a decision, according to CBS News, in a report cited by the Times of India. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is seen as a possible replacement. Asked by reporters, Trump publicly denied the move — saying Hegseth is doing “a very good job” — and White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly said Trump has “full confidence” in him.

Brent fell US$ 8.94, or 8.6%, to US$ 94.66 per barrel on Wednesday, after touching its lowest level since September 4, with traders pricing an end to the war against Iran, according to OilPrice. WTI dropped US$ 8.01, or 8.3%, to US$ 88.08, while Brent traded near US$ 118 on Friday. Gulf exports of crude and products averaged 17.1 million barrels per day in October, down from 18.9 million in September, roughly three-quarters of the pre-war level, according to Vortexa. The US Department of Energy announced the loan of 300,000 barrels from the Northeast home heating oil reserve to four companies, nearly a third of the stockpile, and heating oil futures fell about 7%.

United States President Donald Trump announced on Tuesday that he reached an agreement with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu several months ago to end approximately US$ 4 billion in annual US military aid to Israel by December 2026 — according to Trump, Netanyahu proposed ending the aid. The current agreement guarantees Israel US$ 3.8 billion per year through fiscal year 2028, with implementation of the cut still undefined, and beyond 2028 the country would need about US$ 10 billion to pay for outstanding orders, according to a State Department document sent to Congress and reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. El-Sayed said Trump is right on this policy and argued for ending sales of weaponry to Israel, in an interview with NPR.

In an interview with German television ZDF, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he hoped Democratic gains in the midterm elections would generate more help for Kyiv in its 4-1/2-year-long war with Russia, according to Reuters, in a text published by the Jerusalem Post. Zelensky said he was grateful to Republicans but that Democrats speak “very clearly” about supporting Ukraine and renewing the connection between the United States and Europe. “I am also grateful to the Republicans, but the Democrats speak very clearly about supporting Ukraine and providing assistance to Ukraine,” he said in comments provided in German by ZDF before the interview was broadcast. “They speak about renewing the connection between the United States and Europe... Therefore, there is hope that a balance of power will emerge and that we will receive more support.” He also said that a Congress approving strong financial support or military assistance would have an impact on Putin.

Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, said the Islamic Republic has inflicted defeats on Donald Trump on the battlefield, in Hormuz and now a “political defeat” in Washington. “The Iranian nation handed Trump a strategic defeat on the battlefield and in Hormuz — and a political defeat in Washington. Meanwhile, Americans got stuck with the bill for his war,” he wrote in a post on X. “Anyone who takes on Iran will pay the price, from the battlefield to their own doorstep,” he added. After the Republican midterm defeat, a giant banner depicting Trump, Vice President JD Vance and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was burned at a rally in Tehran.

President Donald Trump said it is “largely true” that the war with Iran cost the Republicans the midterm elections, pointing to the short-term rise in gasoline prices, and said he would do it again because “you can't let Iran have a nuclear weapon,” in remarks cited by the ANI agency. The same day, Vice President JD Vance wrote on X that “the reason we lost is the war” and that voter anger over the conflict drove former Trump supporters to back Democrats. Trump also said the main reason was the price of fuel, with “tremendous oil” flowing out of the Strait of Hormuz at the moment. He said he was prepared to work with Democrats after their midterm gains, while warning that he would veto legislation he opposed, and dismissed the possibility of an impeachment effort, saying it would damage Democrats. He also said his personal popularity did not transfer to Republican candidates and that, if he had been on the ballot, Republicans would have won. “If I were on the ballot, we would have won... But you couldn't just transfer that love. There was such love at those rallies; it was incredible. We weren't able to transfer that love to the candidates,” he said.

A record number of candidates for federal offices backed by or affiliated with the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) won in Tuesday’s midterm elections, the most successful night the left-leaning movement has had in national politics so far. Chanpreet Singh, a member of the DSA’s national electoral commission, said these are numbers not seen in over a hundred years of socialist electoral activity. In Michigan, DSA member Rashida Tlaib was re-elected to the US House, member Donavan McKinney was elected to the body for the first time and William Lawrence defeated a Republican candidate in a highly competitive race. Angela Gonzales-Torres defeated a Democratic incumbent for a seat in the US House. The movement says it has more than 120,000 members, with chapters across all 50 states.

Elon Musk, the single biggest campaign donor in the election cycle, poured over $440 million into Republican candidates and causes, but his preferred candidates lost races in Texas, where he has put down roots. Shares of Tesla and SpaceX dropped after the Democratic Party swept to power in the US midterm elections.

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.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukraine, the United States and Russia are preparing a trilateral format at the team level to take place in less than a week, after a detailed, hour-and-a-half-long conversation with US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner. Witkoff said the United States would mediate the working-level talks, scheduled for November 10-11 in Abu Dhabi. Kremlin aide Yury Ushakov said the talks may be held in Abu Dhabi around November 10. Zelensky said air defense remains a key priority and that Ukraine needs interceptors for Patriot systems.

With Democrats having won majority control of the House in the midterm elections, Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries is on the cusp of becoming the nation’s first Black speaker of the House, after Democrats trounced Republicans to win the chamber. A vote of his colleagues is expected when the new Congress convenes on January 3. Jeffries has promised a robust 100-day agenda to lower the cost of living and launch oversight and investigations to hold the Trump administration accountable, with impeachment an option. Katherine Clark is expected to become the majority leader and Pete Aguilar the majority whip. Jeffries was elected House minority leader in 2022 and is the first Black politician to lead either party in the House or Senate.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky awarded US first lady Melania Trump the Order of Princess Olga, first class, an honor for women who have made exceptional contributions in science, education, culture and charitable work, according to Reuters, in a text republished by Investing.com. The presidential decree, dated November 2, cited her “significant personal contribution” to humanitarian support for Ukraine and her work to help Ukrainian children, including those deported or forcibly moved from Russian-occupied territory. Ukrainian officials have said she played a pivotal role in organizing the six-day ceasefire to evacuate civilians from Oleshky, which concluded on Sunday, the longest local pause in fighting since Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022. Nearly 800 people were evacuated, Melania Trump said. Russian and Ukrainian delegations — made up of ombudsmen involved in the evacuation mission and senior officials — are due to meet at the White House on Thursday at her invitation. The White House said Melania Trump had “independently initiated engagement between the two warring nations and successfully secured a ceasefire.”

US President Donald Trump said he has no intention of firing Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, and said he is doing “a very good job.” “No, I think he’s doing a very good job”, Trump said in response to a question from reporters alongside construction workers at the site of the White House’s new ballroom. White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly told CBS News that the president has “full confidence” in Hegseth, after the network reported, citing sources, that Trump was discussing the dismissal with advisers. Asked about the possibility of Hegseth filling the Tennessee Senate seat that Marsha Blackburn will leave to take over the governor’s office, Trump said he would be “very popular” if he did that, but that he “hasn’t heard that at all”.

A delegation of 19 Democratic members of Congress will attend COP31 in Turkey, with an important diplomatic function, at a UN climate conference that runs from November 9 to 20 in Antalya, Representative Sean Casten said. The United States is not taking part in the negotiations after Donald Trump withdrew the country from the Paris Agreement for a second time on returning to office. Casten said the delegation will not be in the majority, but will be received with an understanding of what just happened.

Opposition bloc leader Gadi Eisenkot vowed to renew and deepen the partnership with the United States and said he looked forward to working with Donald Trump to stabilize the Middle East if he becomes prime minister. Likud and its allies no longer hold a majority of the Knesset's 120 seats, meaning Benjamin Netanyahu must widen the coalition if he wants to stay in power. President Isaac Herzog has said he will do everything in his power to avoid a new election, whose cost is estimated at over US$ 1 billion.

Democrat Abdul El-Sayed defeated Republican Mike Rogers in Michigan to become the first Muslim elected to the US Senate, as his party reclaimed control of Congress. He said he wants the United States to stop selling weaponry that gets used to do “the worst things, including genocide and apartheid, to Israel.” The US provides Israel with $3.8 billion in annual military aid under an agreement that runs through 2028, and President Donald Trump announced plans to end roughly $4 billion in annual military aid to Israel by the end of the year, though he offered no details on how the cuts would work.

The US Treasury on Wednesday sanctioned India-based Suniel Kumar Sharma, his wife Jaspreet Preeti Shahid, two other Indian citizens who head two of the couple’s businesses and nine entities connected to Sharma, a network that the department said provided false flags and certifications to sanctioned vessels carrying Iranian petroleum, including vessels operating on behalf of the Iranian military and its proxies. Treasury said the scheme operated from Chandigarh and purported to represent nations from nearly every continent, from Guyana to Eswatini and Laos. The department also sanctioned Turkey-based Fugo Group Services Inc for its ongoing support of Iran’s aviation sector. The measures are part of “Operation Economic Outcast,” which aims to cut off Iran’s ability to sell oil to fund the war.

Brent fell nearly 8% to $95.41 a barrel, and US West Texas Intermediate dropped 7% to $89.40, after President Donald Trump told the Financial Times on Tuesday that he has no immediate plans to strike Iran. Oil had risen more than 10% in October on fears of a possible escalation and has fallen over three consecutive sessions. The Energy Department said it would lend 300,000 barrels from the Northeast Home Heating Oil Reserve to four companies, nearly a third of the stockpile, and US crude inventories fell 900,000 barrels to 409.8 million in the week ended October 30, 4% below the five-year average.

President Donald Trump has been asking advisers, including by phone, whether Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth should stay in his job following Republicans’ losses on Tuesday night, according to sources familiar with the matter. One of those sources said Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is being floated as a possible replacement, arguing DeSantis could go through Senate confirmation in the lame-duck period and take the post when his term as governor expires on January 5. Asked by reporters on Wednesday afternoon whether he was considering replacing Hegseth, Trump said: “No, I think he’s doing a very good job.” White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly said the president “has full confidence in Secretary Hegseth.”

US Vice President JD Vance dared anyone to argue that losing the Senate for the next six years was worth the cost of the war with Iran after writing on X on Wednesday morning that “the reason we lost is the war.” “If you’d like to argue it was worth it, that losing the Senate for the next 6 years was worth it, then do so. Argue it was a worthwhile cost to pay,” he wrote. President Donald Trump said that the Iran operation had to be done and continues, that he spoke to Vance on Wednesday morning and called the vice president’s post “good.” About 6 in 10 voters said the US made the “wrong decision” in taking military action against Iran, according to The AP Voter Poll, a survey of more than 100,000 voters. Vance called an earlier recommendation to end the war “sound advice,” while US officials say restarting major combat operations against Iran remains under consideration.

Data center opponents were among the biggest winners of the Democratic wave in the US midterm elections, according to a Reuters analysis, in a text republished by the Lufkin Daily News, pointing to a shifting public mood on artificial intelligence and a possible slowdown of the boom that has sustained US economic growth and stock markets. In Texas and Georgia, Democrats who campaigned in part on a moratorium on data center development won offices the party had not held for decades. Data center stocks fell as the Democratic sweep became apparent: Core Scientific dropped 11.6% and Iren 12.5%, with declines also at Applied Digital, Hut 8, Cipher Digital, GE Vernova, Constellation Energy and Vistra. For Aidan Yao, a senior investment strategist at the Amundi Investment Institute, the election worked more as a referendum on artificial intelligence than on Trump. Even Republicans turned against data centers, which opponents say drive up utility bills, pollute the night sky with lights and do not create enough jobs or taxes to justify state incentives.

US President Donald Trump told Fox News that the economy is strong, but that the gasoline price, caused by Iran, kept voters from seeing it, and told The Wall Street Journal about the war with Iran: “I did the right thing. I would have done it again.” He denied responsibility for the Republican defeat in the midterm elections: “I wasn't on the ticket,” he told The New York Times, “and because I wasn't on the ticket, we couldn't get enough people out to vote.” The statement contradicts Vice President JD Vance, who attributed the defeat to the war and said the president himself had acknowledged it.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said Beijing is maintaining contact with the relevant parties regarding a meeting between the leaders of China, Russia and the United States. The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit is set to take place in Shenzhen on November 18-19. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the agenda of a possible meeting of the leaders in China is being coordinated with the Chinese and US sides: “It is being agreed upon now.” Peskov ruled out, for now, continuing the talks at the Group of 20 (G20) summit in Miami: “No, this is out of the question yet.”

New Jersey Democratic Governor Mikie Sherrill warned port and terminal operators in the state against “purchasing or unloading the illegal Russian fuel currently bound for the east coast of the United States,” in a letter dated November 2. Sherrill said Congress banned energy imports from Russia in April 2022, in response to the country’s attack on Ukraine, and that importing Russian diesel would violate the ban and could lead to civil and criminal charges. A Treasury license authorizes transactions tied to the sale, delivery, offloading and importation of Russian diesel, including into the United States, through April 7, 2027. The White House defended the authorization: “The President secured a deal to supply global markets with diesel, lowering prices for the United States and the world,” spokeswoman Taylor Rogers said. A Phillips 66 executive said he did not believe Russia has enough distillate to make much of a difference to the global supply crunch.

Chinese genetic sequencing company Novogene has taken the US Department of Defense to court to challenge its inclusion on a Pentagon list of firms accused of supporting China’s military, according to the Times of India. The lawsuit was filed late Tuesday in a federal court in Washington; the company was added to the list in June, alongside Alibaba, Baidu, BYD and NIO, and is seeking to overturn its designation, arguing that the decision is unlawful and has damaged its business and reputation. From 2027, the Pentagon will be barred from purchasing products or services from the listed companies even through third-party suppliers. An injunction granted by a US court to Alibaba against Pentagon contract restrictions does not remove the company from the list, which it is continuing to challenge in court.

Iran’s Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf wrote on X that the message from American voters was “NO TO WAR,” and that Iran endorses it. Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei, head of the judiciary, said Trump “has suffered defeat both on the battlefield and in the political arena, and we will inflict further defeats on him,” and said November 4 had always been a day of defeat for the United States. Hamidreza Moqadamfar, an adviser to the commander of the Revolutionary Guard, said Iran’s response to any new aggression would be disproportionate and without geographic or time limits: “Our responses will no longer be proportionate or commensurate; we will set their assets ablaze—beyond the point of attack, and regardless of time or location.” The same adviser described the US election result as a referendum against Trump’s policies, in which Iran played a key role.

US Vice President JD Vance attributed the Republican defeat in the midterm elections to the war with Iran, in a lengthy post on X: “The reason we lost is the war. The president himself said so last night.” Vance cited a survey according to which the top four answers from voters who left the Republicans were ending the war, cost of living and inflation, putting America first and changing the relationship with Israel. He wrote that anyone who considers the war a cost worth paying should defend it openly, including losing the Senate for the next six years. Trump said that “Iran was a piece of it” and defended the decision to launch the conflict: “I don’t think about it. I did the right thing. I would do it again.” AFP described the move as an attempt by Vance to distance himself from the conflict ahead of a possible 2028 White House run.

Wall Street opened higher on Wednesday, with the Nasdaq up 1 percent, the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 1.8 percent and the S&P 500 up 1.1 percent, on the heels of the Democratic sweep in the midterm elections. Brent was down 3.09 percent at $100.40 a barrel, and West Texas Intermediate (WTI) was down 3.13 percent at $93.08. Traders were betting on a US-Iran deal to push crude lower.

US President Donald Trump said in a Fox News interview that he and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had reached an agreement to cut off military aid to Israel by December 2026. Avner Golov, former head of US affairs at Israel’s National Security Council, warned that ending the aid by the end of 2026 would signal a retreat from America’s commitment to Israel’s security. Abdul El-Sayed welcomed Trump’s plan to cut the aid and called for an end to arms sales.

Democrats won a majority of governorships in the United States for the first time in two decades, scoring victories in states long controlled by Republicans, including Texas and Georgia. In Texas, Gina Hinojosa was elected the state’s first Latina governor. In Ohio, Sherrod Brown flipped a Senate seat, and Democrats also took the Senate seat in Texas, with James Talarico.

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.

First Lady Melania Trump will bring representatives of Russia and Ukraine together at the White House, an event the White House described as an extraordinary moment in American history. Melania was praised for helping broker a localized ceasefire between Ukraine and Russia that lasted from 3 a.m. on October 27 until late on November 1, local time, in Oleshky, in the Kherson region. The first lady called the ceasefire a “success” and said “nearly 800 people” had been evacuated, but neither Ukraine nor Russia publicly confirmed exactly how many people left or where they relocated. Yana Lantratova, Russia’s human rights commissioner, who is expected at the meeting, was sanctioned by the United States in 2022, making her ineligible to enter the country without a special waiver from the State Department. Separately, the Kremlin confirmed three-way talks with Ukraine and the United States in Abu Dhabi from November 10 to 11, with Vladimir Medinsky, an aide to President Vladimir Putin, as Moscow’s chief negotiator. Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the Kremlin hopes to finalize plans in the coming days for a meeting between the leaders of Russia, the United States and China.

A strike against alleged members of the National Liberation Army (ELN) in Venezuela’s Apure state, near the Colombian border, had US intelligence and drone support, according to four US officials quoted by the New York Times. The operation took place last Friday, and a senior Venezuelan military officer confirmed the attack. Fundaredes, the first organization to raise the alarm, counted 23 dead and an undetermined number of wounded in the bombing of an ELN base used as a cocaine distribution center, based on testimony from survivors and local residents that the Times collected. Local reporters with Alianza Rebelde Investiga identified eight of the dead — including two Colombians and four Mexicans — using information from the morgue, the hospital and the San Fernando de Apure cemetery. Venezuelan authorities counted 19 dead in the operation so far, a lower toll than Fundaredes’. The attack came after the United States forcibly removed Nicolás Maduro and Venezuela’s government came under the control of an administration aligned with Donald Trump, according to Infobae, in a New York Times text.

Democrat Jon Rosenthal defeated Republican Bo French by 52.6% to 45.5% in the race for the Texas Railroad Commission, with 94% of the votes counted, according to the Associated Press (AP). A state representative who describes himself as a “drill-baby-drill Democrat,” Rosenthal is the first Democrat elected to the commission since Bob Krueger in 1990; no Democrat had served on the three-member commission since 1994. The commission regulates an industry that pumps more crude than every member of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) except Saudi Arabia.

Global stocks recovered on Wednesday from lows hit overnight, while the dollar and oil dipped, after Democrats won control of both the Senate and the House in the US midterm elections. Europe’s STOXX 600 jumped 1.4 percent to two-month highs, MSCI’s All-World index was up 0.3 percent, and US stock futures reversed course to rally around 1 percent, having fallen by as much as 2 percent overnight. AI stocks in Asia initially led the decline in equity markets, and investors expect the Democratic-controlled Congress to apply more scrutiny to the sector. Shares in Elon Musk’s Tesla and SpaceX, which he intends to merge, were down around 4.5 percent to 5 percent in premarket trading, compared with rises of 0.8 percent to nearly 3 percent for other Big Tech stocks. AI and defense stocks slid as clean energy shares rallied after Democrats took control of Congress.

According to Reuters, in texts republished by The Straits Times and Al Arabiya, Greenland’s Parliament ratified on Tuesday the security agreement struck earlier this year with US President Donald Trump, by 16 votes in favor, none against and 7 abstentions. The deal expands the US military’s role on the island, paving the way for two new military bases and Trump’s “Golden Dome” missile defense system, while reaffirming Danish sovereignty and Greenlanders’ right to self-determination. The executive agreement will enter into force once Denmark and Greenland have ratified it; the Danish parliament is due to give it a first reading on November 11 and a final vote on November 19, and it does not require approval from the US Senate. During the debate, the opposition party Naleraq, the most prominent political voice for Greenland’s independence, questioned the deal’s economic value.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said US voters voted against hatred, sexism, climate change denial and the privileges of the elites. “It happened in Brazil. It has just happened in the US. And it will happen soon in Spain,” he wrote, referring to the November 29 elections in the country. Sánchez also said the far-right wave represented by Feijóo and Abascal is “crumbling”. The statement was posted on X and carried by international outlets, among them Asharq Al-Awsat.

Deb Haaland, former interior secretary under Joe Biden, was elected governor of New Mexico and will become the first Native American woman to govern a US state. The Democrat defeated Republican Gregg Hull, 60, a businessman and the mayor of Rio Rancho. The Associated Press (AP) called the race before 9 p.m. on Tuesday, when she held a 14-point lead. Haaland made history in 2018 as one of the first two Native American women elected to Congress and in 2021 as the first Native American federal cabinet secretary, leading the Interior Department.

US President Donald Trump said the country does not see the need to use nuclear weapons against Iran, in a phone interview with Politico, according to TASS. “I don't need it. We've knocked them out already 90%. So, I don't need that,” he said.

Democrat Abdul El-Sayed won the election to the US Senate from Michigan and will become the first Muslim senator in US history. The son of Egyptian immigrants, he is described by the BBC as a left-wing Democrat. At least seven Muslim lawmakers won seats in Congress, according to TRT World.

Democrats clinched 54 seats in the Senate and 225 in the House and took control of both chambers of the US Congress, according to the Guardian's count. The swing came with a string of wins in Republican districts across North Carolina, Kentucky, Pennsylvania and New Jersey that took the party past the 218-seat threshold needed for a majority in the 435-member House. A tally by Al Jazeera put Democrats at 53 Senate seats, with leads in three others, and credited the Associated Press (AP) with calling the House majority — the first time since Barack Obama's second term that a sitting president has neither chamber on his side. The Democratic majority does not take control of the Senate until January 3. In his victory speech for Georgia, Jon Ossoff called Trump a “failed lame-duck president”. Democrats also won a majority of state governorships for the first time in 20 years, according to Opera Mundi.

In an interview with Fox News, Trump said that people agree with what he is doing on Iran but probably were not willing to accept the short-term consequence of paying more for gasoline: “I understand that; I don’t agree with that.” He also said he was “a little bit surprised” and that he thought Republicans would do better. The president blamed Fox News for the defeats: “It’s their fault, not mine — my numbers are better than ever,” and posted an image of a red cap with the word “VETO,” anticipating the use of presidential veto power to block proposals passed by Democrats.

The National Basketball Association (NBA) removed Rwanda’s army team, the Armée Patriotique Rwandaise (APR), from the Basketball Africa League (BAL) because of US sanctions imposed on the country in March. Mark Tatum wrote that APR would remain “ineligible to compete in the BAL while these sanctions remain in effect”. Last week, the US also imposed new sanctions on Rwanda’s defense ministry over its support for the M23 rebel group, which controls parts of eastern DR Congo.

Democrat Annie Andrews, a pediatrician, defeated Senator Darline Graham and became the first Democrat elected to the U.S. Senate in South Carolina in 28 years and the first woman elected to represent the state in the chamber. Before her, Fritz Hollings was the last Democrat elected to a Senate seat in South Carolina, winning his final term in 1998. Graham had held the seat since July, appointed after the sudden death of her brother, Senator Lindsey Graham, a move that won support from President Donald Trump. Trump won the state by 18 points in 2024.

Republican Representative Mike Lawler called Democrat Cait Conley and conceded the race for New York's 17th Congressional District on Tuesday night. “When all of the votes are counted tomorrow in Westchester, it's going to be pretty clear we're going to be short,” he told supporters. With 61% counted, Conley had 133,219 votes (52.2%) to Lawler's 121,881 (47.7%). Up to 250,000 ballots from Westchester County, a Democratic stronghold that accounts for about 40% of the district's electorate, were still being counted after a balloting machine failure; the Associated Press had not yet called the race, and counting of the remaining ballots was expected on Wednesday under a court-approved agreement.

China's foreign ministry said that Beijing is in communication with the relevant parties about a summit between Xi Jinping, Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meeting in Shenzhen on November 18 and 19. Spokesperson Mao Ning gave no details on the possible meeting, according to EFE, in a text republished by ABC Color. The Kremlin said on October 21 that the meeting was being prepared; according to the Financial Times, officials from the three countries had been holding serious talks for days about arranging the first trilateral meeting of the heads of state, and Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said that work is under way on organizing it.

Former US contractor Abraham Teklu Lemma admitted sharing dozens of classified documents and photographs with Ethiopian officials over more than two years, according to the US Department of Justice. He worked as a contractor at the State Department, the Justice Department and the National Reconnaissance Office, the agency responsible for US intelligence satellites. The material included satellite imagery and details of military activities, passed on through encrypted messages, and the FBI said Ethiopian officials used the intelligence in military operations. In one message to an Ethiopian official in December 2021, Lemma wrote that “we have to finish these people once and for all,” because otherwise there would never be peace in Ethiopia, and later that day he urged the official to send drones. He pleaded guilty to conspiring to transmit national defense information to a foreign government, faces sentencing on April 14, 2027, and could get up to 22 years in prison.

In a stunning upset, Democrat Gina Hinojosa was elected governor of Texas, the first Democratic governor there in more than 30 years, defeating Republican Greg Abbott on Tuesday. According to US media projections, Abbott, a three-term governor, lost his reelection bid to the state representative, a result that ends three decades of Republican control of the Texas governor's office.

Democrat James Talarico defeated Republican Ken Paxton and became the first Democrat to win a US Senate seat in Texas since 1988, in the most expensive US Senate race in history, with more than half a billion dollars spent and $158 million from Elon Musk to a pro-Paxton super PAC. The 37-year-old Talarico is a state legislator, former middle school teacher and Presbyterian seminarian, while Paxton was the subject of a federal corruption investigation that brought no charges and an impeachment by the Texas House over accusations of abusing his office to help a political donor, and was later acquitted in the state Senate.

The Associated Press called Democrat Rob Sand the winner of the Iowa governor’s race over Republican Zach Lahn, flipping a seat Republicans had held for nearly two decades; Republican Kim Reynolds decided not to run again. Sand, the state auditor, will be the first Democrat elected to the office in 20 years.

The Associated Press called Xavier Becerra the winner of the California governor’s race as polls closed, defeating Republican Steve Hilton; Romualdo Pacheco, the only Latino to have held the office since statehood, became governor in 1875 when Newton Booth resigned and served for about 10 months. Becerra will become the first Latino to hold the office in more than 150 years, defeating Hilton, who was born in the United Kingdom and was a Fox News political commentator.

Democrat Keisha Lance Bottoms won Georgia’s race for governor on Tuesday, becoming the first Black woman elected governor of a US state, according to US media projections in a Reuters text republished by The Spokesman-Review, defeating Republican businessman Rick Jackson to become Georgia’s first female governor. The same evening, Stacey Plaskett was elected governor of the US Virgin Islands, the first Black woman elected governor of a US jurisdiction, and Adam Hamilton won in Kansas to become the state’s first Democrat elected to the Senate since 1932.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) says that four oil tankers were destroyed after hitting naval sea mines in the Strait of Hormuz, with two still burning and two additional vessels seized for trying to use a prohibited southern route. Trump confirmed that the US struck Iran on Tuesday targeting an anti-aircraft facility, an attack US officials described as limited and defensive, in response to IRGC fire on a US aircraft; the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) reported projectiles in a tanker’s engine room off Limah, Oman, with no casualties, and the IRGC account could not be independently verified or linked to that incident.

Brent crude returned to trade at US$ 103.60 per barrel and WTI at US$ 95.98, according to OilPrice, after benchmarks fell to a four-week low on reports that Iran may be open to discussing previously non-negotiable issues. According to Vortexa data, combined exports of crude oil, condensates and fuels through the Strait of Hormuz averaged 17.1 million barrels per day in October, down from 18.9 million barrels per day in September. The consultancy Rystad Energy said it did not expect oil flows out of the Persian Gulf to return to normal any time soon, even if the United States and Iran reach an agreement to end the war.

Abortion-rights advocates won in Missouri and Virginia, according to the Associated Press (AP), among 145 ballot questions decided in more than three dozen states on Tuesday. In Missouri, voters defeated the proposed constitutional amendment that would have reimposed restrictions on most abortions, essentially reaffirming the decision from two years ago, when the state became the first to undo an existing abortion ban. The measure approved in Virginia creates a fundamental right to reproductive freedom in the state constitution, ensuring abortion during the first two trimesters and the right to contraception and fertility care. In Missouri, voters also ended the new district map drawn to give Republicans one more seat in the Kansas City area, after courts ruled it needed approval in a referendum. In Democratic-led Maryland, voters approved a constitutional amendment that could pave the way for new congressional districts in the 2028 election, with former President Barack Obama backing the “yes” campaign.

Surgeon Adam Hamawy, who volunteered in Gaza, won New Jersey’s 12th congressional district and will become the first Muslim and the first Egyptian-American to represent the state in Congress, according to Middle East Eye. Hamawy’s campaign was centered on Palestine, healthcare and economic inequality.

Republicans in Florida held off several high-profile Democratic challenges and the state elected its first Black governor, with Republican Byron Donalds, backed by Trump, projected to win the governorship, according to the BBC. Republican Ashley Moody was projected to win the Senate seat left by Marco Rubio. In all three of the state’s districts redrawn to favor Republicans, Democrats held onto their seats.

Democrat Hakeem Jeffries is in line to become the first Black speaker of the US House of Representatives and will lead the majority sworn in the first week of January, after four years of Republican control. He pledged to pass legislation reversing the spending cuts to Medicaid — a health program for the poor and people with disabilities — enacted into law on July 4, 2025. In his victory speech on Tuesday night, he declared that “today begins the great American comeback”.

Democrat Abdul El-Sayed was projected to win the Michigan Senate race against Republican Mike Rogers, with just over 50 percent of the vote to more than 47 percent for Rogers, and will become the first Muslim American elected to the chamber, according to a Decision Desk HQ projection. El-Sayed, who accused the State of Israel of genocide over the war against Hamas in Gaza during the campaign, said in his victory speech that “we don’t want our money sent to do apartheid, or genocide, or war”.

The Democratic Senate majority grew with the projected victory by Democrat Troy Jackson over Republican Senator Susan Collins in Maine, after Collins called Jackson and conceded defeat before the Associated Press (AP) projection. In Kansas, Democrat Adam Hamilton won 51.9% of the vote against 45.2% for Republican Roger Marshall, the first Democrat elected senator from the state since 1932. In Ohio, Democrat Sherrod Brown defeated Senator Jon Husted and returns to the Senate, in a special election for the final two years of the term JD Vance won in 2022. In Iowa, Democrat Josh Turek defeated Republican Ashley Hinson, according to the Associated Press.

After saying he would accept the results, Trump acknowledged, according to Reuters, that the war with Iran contributed to Republican losses in the midterm elections, while claiming voters understood the importance of what he did in Iran. He said Democrats will send him bills he considers insane and that he will veto, until they come to negotiate. There are no plans to change the cabinet following the Republican defeat, Trump said.

Donald Trump told Fox News that he made a deal with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to stop the $4 billion in annual aid to Israel, aid appropriated by Congress that he cannot end unilaterally, according to the broadcaster’s White House correspondent, saying that it was Netanyahu who proposed ending the aid, under the current agreement of $38 billion in military aid over ten years, through 2028, which surprised Israeli defense sources. Neither Netanyahu’s office nor Israel’s Foreign Ministry confirmed the move, and the US Department of State did not respond to Al Jazeera.

Asian stocks fell on Wednesday along with the dollar, as Democrats gained in the US midterm elections, gains analysts said could lead to gridlock on Capitol Hill. The Nikkei 225 fell 3.6% to 60,835.36, its lowest level since early May, with SoftBank Group down 8% and Kioxia Holdings down 10.8%. The Kospi fell 3.2% to 5,466.83, with SK Hynix down 3.2% and Samsung Electronics down 1.8%. The dollar fell to 158.06 yen from 158.75 on Tuesday, and the euro rose to US$1.1249. Investors see the Democratic wave bringing tighter regulatory scrutiny, particularly of artificial intelligence companies.

Voters in Providence, Rhode Island, approved a ballot measure that could lead the city to divest public funds from Israel. With 81 of 82 polling locations partially reported, the state elections board tallied 75% voting in favor and 25% against. The result is preliminary: with 79 of 82 polling locations reporting, the Rhode Island Board of Elections count stood at 74.99% in favor. The text does not mention Israel and calls on the city to refrain from investing in foreign countries conducting ethnic cleansing, apartheid, illegal military occupation or genocide. The vote makes Providence the largest US municipality to approve some form of Israel divestment, following Somerville, Massachusetts, whose voters approved a nonbinding measure last year.

Democrat David Crowley, the Milwaukee County executive, defeated Republican congressman Tom Tiffany in Wisconsin’s governor race and will become the state’s first Black governor. With 74% of the votes counted, Crowley had 53.8% against Tiffany’s 46.2%, according to Associated Press estimates. The contest cost more than US$195 million, the most expensive in state history, and more than 60% of the total went to boosting Tiffany.

Democrat Gina Hinojosa defeated Republican governor Greg Abbott, who was seeking a fourth term, The Guardian reported. Hinojosa, a five-term state representative from Austin, will be the state’s first-ever Latina governor. A Democrat has not won the Texas governor’s mansion since 1990, when voters elected Ann Richards.

The secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, Mohsen Rezaei, said that the US response to Iran’s seven conditions was not convincing and that the Strait of Hormuz will only reopen if Washington fully meets the demands. The indirect talks center on an Iranian proposal to reopen the waterway over two days if the United States meets the seven demands, including the lifting of sanctions and an end to the US naval blockade. Four oil tankers were destroyed after striking naval mines south of the Strait of Hormuz, according to Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, who also said two other vessels were halted. The statement did not identify the vessels, their owners, flags, cargoes or the exact location, and there was no immediate independent confirmation of the attacks. The Guards also said they shot down a US MQ-9 drone over the strait, the 56th by their count, a claim that could not be independently verified. The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) reported that two unidentified projectiles struck a tanker’s engine room about 14 nautical miles northeast of Oman’s coastal village of Limah, with no casualties reported. US media, citing US officials, reported that Central Command had prepared plans for strikes that could begin as early as Wednesday, after the midterm elections, when three American aircraft carriers would be in the region.

Democrats won a majority in the U.S. Senate, according to a tally of race calls by The Associated Press, with Josh Turek’s defeat of Republican Rep. Ashley Hinson in Iowa sealing control of the chamber. Democrats flipped six Republican seats — North Carolina, South Carolina, Ohio, Kansas, Texas and Iowa — and reached the 51 seats required for control. They needed to net at least four seats to win back the majority, which Republicans held.

In an interview with the Financial Times, Donald Trump said he was optimistic that Ukraine-Russia peace talks were making ground, according to TASS, which carried the interview. According to the quote published by the agency, Trump said: “I think they’re both at the point of saying, ‘Let’s make a deal.’”

AMD recorded a $1.07 billion non-cash charge, or 66 cents a share, in the third quarter ended September 26, to account for warrants granted to OpenAI and Meta. The information comes from Reuters, in a text republished by StreetInsider. The company forecast faster-than-expected 2027 growth on surging data-center sales, and its shares rose 8% in extended trading. The warrants are part of a wave of equity incentives used by chipmakers to secure long-term purchases from a small group of AI customers: Cerebras granted OpenAI warrants against a $20 billion commitment, and Marvell issued warrants to Alphabet’s Google that give Google the right to buy a potential $12.2 billion stake.

Democrat Amy Acton defeated Republican Vivek Ramaswamy to become the first woman elected governor of Ohio, NBC News projected. She is the first Democrat to win the state’s governorship since Ted Strickland in 2006, ending 16 years of Republican control. She took 50.6% of the vote, or 2,051,961 ballots, to 46.0%, or 1,863,826, according to unofficial results from the Ohio Secretary of State.

Pediatrician Annie Andrews defeated Senator Darline Graham to become the first Democrat elected to the Senate from South Carolina in more than a quarter century; the last was in 1998. Graham had been serving as interim senator since her brother, Lindsey Graham, died earlier this year. Andrews, 45, campaigned on healthcare access and affordability and on fighting corruption in Washington.

Donald Trump told The New York Times he was “absolutely willing to accept those results” and said he would work with the Democrats. Trump also played down the election results: “I wasn’t on the ballot.”

The Associated Press declared Deb Haaland the winner in New Mexico on Tuesday night. The Democrat, a member of the Laguna Pueblo people, a former interior secretary and a former member of Congress from the state, will become the first Native American woman to govern a US state.

Democrat James Talarico defeated Attorney General Ken Paxton and became the first Democrat to win a statewide race in Texas since 1994, Decision Desk HQ projected. The race, the most expensive in the state’s history, hinged on masculinity and anti-transgender attacks, and Paxton’s campaign was heavily financed by Elon Musk, who spent almost $200 million in the final weeks.

NBC News projected that Democrats won control of the House, with approximately 248 seats — well beyond the 218 needed for a majority. Democrats needed a net of just three seats and flipped many more, most in districts Trump carried in 2024. Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries is expected to become the first Black speaker of the House when he is sworn in on January 3.

Donald Trump confirmed on Tuesday that the United States launched strikes on Iran, saying the target was a newly completed anti-aircraft facility, hit the previous night, in a minor attack. Trump said US forces stand ready to act, but that there may be no reason for further action. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said the government is still trying to resolve the crisis through dialogue and that no one will benefit if war reignites, while negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said the Islamic Republic stands ready for battle. An Israeli military spokesperson said Israel was not involved in the latest strikes. Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesman Majed Al Ansari said both sides are reviewing the proposals presented by Doha and that there is still a chance for an interim deal. A senior Iranian official said Tehran stands ready to reopen Hormuz within two days if Washington accepts its list of demands.

Democrat Chris Pappas won the Senate race in New Hampshire, defeating Republican John Sununu, and will become the first out gay man elected to the United States Senate. Sununu called Pappas to concede on Tuesday night. In Florida, Democrat Pia Dandiya won the 22nd congressional district, defeating Republican Casey Askar, and is the first Indian-American elected to the House of Representatives from the state. Aber Kawas won the race for New York State Senate District 12, with a 75 percent vote share when the race was called, becoming the first hijab-wearing Palestinian American to serve in the New York State Legislature.

Keisha Lance Bottoms was elected governor of Georgia on Tuesday, becoming the first Black woman elected governor in the United States by defeating Republican businessman Rick Jackson. She won despite the spending deficit created by billionaire Jackson, who tapped more than $200 million of his own fortune for the campaign, and is the first Democrat to prevail in the state governor race since 1998. Bottoms will succeed Republican Brian Kemp, barred by law from seeking a third term, in the third consecutive Georgia gubernatorial election with a Black woman leading the Democratic ticket.

A REalloys subsidiary and the United States Department of the Army signed a non-binding term sheet for a heavy rare-earth processing facility at the Tooele Army Depot, in Utah, under a potential 50-year lease with one 25-year renewal — the Army would have a right of first offer on the output, with no obligation to buy. Rare earth processing is treated as a national security vulnerability, with China holding a near-100% global monopoly on dysprosium and terbium. The deal is described as a public-private partnership that could last up to 75 years, under the Army plan, announced in June, to lease parts of its installations to critical-mineral processors.

The United States embassy in Riyadh restated the warning about hostilities by the Iranian-supported Houthis against Saudi Arabia — including attacks on civilian airports and critical infrastructure, causing civilian casualties and severe travel disruption — and about the State Department order, in effect since October 23, 2026, for non-emergency employees and family members to leave the country, plus the requirement of special authorization from the chief of mission for American employees to use any airport in the kingdom after the recent missile and drone attacks.

Democrat Roy Cooper won the Senate race in North Carolina against former Republican National Committee chairman Michael Whatley and is the first Democrat elected to one of the state’s two seats since 2008 — Cooper’s lead — he is a former two-term governor — led Republicans to cut funding for Whatley’s campaign. In New Hampshire, Democrat Chris Pappas, a four-term congressman, won the Senate race against former senator John Sununu and will be the first openly gay man to serve in the United States Senate. Democrat Juliana Stratton won in Illinois against Republican Don Tracy, in an election marking the first time in history that three Black women hold the Senate at the same time. Moody will keep the seat until the 2028 election.

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) sent target letters to attorney Marc Elias and others in the case of the namesake Alaska Senate candidacy. The department has already issued more than 100 grand jury subpoenas and preservation letters, and investigators have begun interviewing witnesses. The probe examines whether the ballot presence of retired teacher Dan J. Sullivan, namesake of Republican Senator Dan S. Sullivan, was arranged to confuse voters and siphon votes from the incumbent. As of Tuesday evening, the Justice Department had not appealed the ruling by federal judge Sharon L. Gleason, who dismissed without a hearing the bid to halt certification of a potential win by Democrat Mary Peltola. Elias said Trump’s Justice Department was targeting him on Election Day and that he would not be intimidated by a “sham investigation.”

Jon Ossoff, a Democrat, won the U.S. Senate race in Georgia against Republican Rep. Mike Collins, according to an Associated Press race call. With 38 percent of votes counted, Ossoff stood at 63 percent and Collins at 29 percent, according to the Associated Press, in an article republished by Al Jazeera. Ossoff is seen as a possible contender for the 2028 Democratic presidential nomination. In the House, Republicans hold 218 seats and Democrats hold 214, and Democrats need to flip three seats to take control, in a scenario in which the Cook Political Report projects a Democratic gain of 15 to 25 seats.

Donald Trump said in an interview with Fox News on Tuesday that the United States is close to making a trade deal with Canada, but Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said work remained and that Washington had dropped some demands. Carney said progress had been made but the deal was not done — “they’re asking less and they’re offering more, but we’re not quite there.” According to Carney, the U.S. withdrew earlier demands, including one that would have given Washington final say over trade deals Canada might sign with other nations.

Donald Trump said in an interview with the Financial Times on Tuesday that the United States has no immediate plan to renew strikes against Iran. Trump said the U.S. military is “locked and loaded” if strikes are necessary, but noted that there may be no reason to reignite military action. On indirect negotiations with Tehran, Trump claimed — “We seem to be getting everything we want.” The interview came in the same window in which The New York Times reported, according to The Jerusalem Post, a Central Command (CENTCOM) plan to attack Iran as early as November 4, with three aircraft carriers in the region. Trump has not yet approved a large-scale attack, and diplomatic contacts between Washington and Tehran continue.

Qatar says it is working toward an interim deal between the United States and Iran to prevent renewed fighting, as diplomats try to bridge differences between the two sides. Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesperson Majed al-Ansari said on Tuesday that both countries remained committed to negotiations and were reviewing proposals from mediators, including Qatar. Al-Ansari warned that further escalation could complicate negotiations, after fresh U.S. strikes on Iran’s Qeshm Island on Tuesday.

Greenlandic lawmakers voted 16-0 for the agreement, with seven abstentions, in Nuuk, on the deal between the island, Denmark and the United States to strengthen security in the Arctic and the North Atlantic. The trilateral deal paves the way for more U.S. bases in Greenland and eases tensions over Trump’s repeated calls for the island to become part of the United States, while keeping the self-governing island under Danish control. The U.S. State Department said the vote marks another major victory for American national security. Danish lawmakers are set to debate the text later this month, and the deal enters into force once the necessary parliamentary processes of the Kingdom of Denmark, in conjunction with Greenland, are completed. Greenlandic Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen said after the vote — “Greenland is our country” — and that cooperation must respect the people and rights of Greenlanders.

Donald Trump said on Monday night in an interview with Fox News that the United States might have to strike the facility buried under Pickaxe Mountain, in the Isfahan region, south of Natanz. According to him, the operation can be carried out “in one hour”, “at any time”. The president also played down the conflict with Iran: “This isn’t a war. This is a very soft war.” Two American officials said Monday’s strikes on Qeshm Island, in the Strait of Hormuz, were defensive. Trump said new strikes could happen if there is no deal, but that there is “a very good chance” a deal is reached.

In an Associated Press (AP) election-day poll, about six in ten voters say the United States made the “wrong decision” in taking military action against Iran. A recent Pentagon estimate cited by the AP puts the cost of the war at more than US$47.1 billion. About one-third of voters say the war with Iran was a “crucial” factor in their vote for Congress, less than the share of those concerned about the cost of living and government corruption. In the same poll, about six in ten voters disapprove of Trump’s handling of the presidency. The economy was the top issue facing the country for 39% of voters, followed by the state of democracy at 32%.

Officials at Israel’s finance ministry were surprised by Trump’s announcement ending US military aid, according to the Times of Israel, in a report carried by Middle East Eye. An official said no formal document from the prime minister’s office was submitted about the move: “The ministry was aware of the intention to end it, but was surprised by the intention to do so immediately.” Defense ministry officials and the military were also surprised by the announcement, according to the same report.

In the NBC News exit poll, 43% of voters said one reason for their vote was to express opposition to the president, a far higher share than in the 2018 midterm election. Trump’s approval rating among voters is 38%, against 45% in 2018. For 75% of voters, the nation’s economy is in rough shape, and 65% said Trump’s policies have worsened economic conditions. The network assesses that Trump’s campaign blitz in support of Republican candidates in recent weeks has done little to lift his job approval rating.

The administration of Donald Trump is negotiating an agreement with Venezuela that would allow a long-term US military presence in the country, according to The New York Times, in a TASS report. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is leading efforts to conclude the military pact, a status of forces agreement (SOFA), and details on the long-term presence and the locations where troops will be stationed will be left to subsequent agreements. The newspaper does not say whether the United States intends to build and maintain its own bases in the country or to station troops at existing Venezuelan bases. An unnamed State Department official said Washington hopes to expand security cooperation with Venezuela and that no discussions regarding bases are currently taking place.

Kim Yo Jong, sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, denied the FBI’s accusation that North Korea was responsible for the theft of more than $6 billion in crypto assets from Binance and said she sees “no need” for dialogue with Washington. In a statement published by the official KCNA on Wednesday, the ruling-party director said the accusation showed “US hostile policy” toward North Korea. The rejection comes amid speculation about a possible summit between Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un later this month. Trump said in August that he wanted to meet the North Korean leader later this year, and Pyongyang had not responded to the offer.

US officials acknowledged having launched strikes on the Iranian island of Qeshm, in the Strait of Hormuz, and told CBS, the BBC’s US partner, that the operation was limited and responded to fire from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) at a US aircraft. Iran’s state news agency IRNA reported several explosions on the island on Monday. According to The New York Times, US Central Command (Centcom) has a plan to strike Iran as early as Wednesday, after the midterm elections, when three aircraft carriers will be in the region. Some cabinet members want more time for sanctions and a US blockade, saying that economic pressure would eventually bring down Iran’s government; other officials see little prospect of its collapse without further strikes. Trump told Axios he was in no rush: “Either way, we will do something, but there is no rush. We have weakened them financially.” In an interview with Fox News, he said the US “may need to strike Pickaxe,” a site linked to Iran’s nuclear program.

South Africa and Rwanda will lose their duty-free access to the US market after being excluded from the AGOA (African Growth and Opportunity Act) program, according to France 24. With the program ending, South Africa is bracing for some job losses.

Yair Golan, leader of the Democrats party, called an “enormous failure” the decision by US President Donald Trump to end military aid to Israel and said a responsible prime minister would have fought to increase US assistance, not end it. Golan is the second Israeli opposition figure to attack Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s handling of the episode, after Gadi Eisenkot said he must be replaced. Trump said he had reached an agreement on the issue with Netanyahu.

Iran offered to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and resume talks on its nuclear program if the US lifts its naval blockade on Iranian ports, waives sanctions on Iranian oil sales and observes a ceasefire, including in Lebanon. Parliament speaker and chief Iranian negotiator Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf said the country had delivered a “firm and rational response” to the Americans and that it is now up to Washington to prevent war. The head of the Supreme National Security Council, Mohsen Rezaei, said the US response to Tehran’s demands was not convincing and that the strait will not reopen until the US addresses Iran’s conditions. Iran opened its third military training center in Tehran and announced plans to train 1 million paramilitary volunteers nationwide. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi called on Iran and the US to negotiate an agreement and warned against further military escalation in the region. US military cargo aircraft departing from Fort Bliss were tracked arriving at bases in Israel in recent days, according to FlightRadar24 data.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he hopes the upcoming US-mediated talks with Russia in Abu Dhabi will lead to a three-way meeting of leaders that includes Russian President Vladimir Putin. The talks are scheduled for November 10-11, and, according to the Northeast Times, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz says Russia has yet to engage seriously.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters that President Donald Trump has not made a decision on resuming military action against Iran, and said Trump wants to solve the Iran war “peacefully”.

Up to 300 voting machines in Westchester County, New York, stopped accepting ballots on Tuesday, when polls opened at 6 a.m., according to CBS News. The county board of elections attributed the failure to a programming change in a single municipality: machines elsewhere in the county kept the original programming and could not recognize the ballots being used for Election Day. County Executive Ken Jenkins said at a press conference that up to 250,000 ballots were affected, according to Newsweek. Voting continued under contingency procedures, with ballots kept under bipartisan oversight and scanned and counted after polls close in accordance with established procedures. Rep. Mike Lawler said both camps agreed to count the ballots after voting concludes, in an agreement to be submitted to a judge on Tuesday afternoon; 10 machines will be set up at the Westchester County Board of Elections headquarters, with capacity to process 2,000 ballots per hour, according to ABC7 New York. The disruption came on the day of the midterm elections, which in New York include the governor's race between Governor Kathy Hochul and Bruce Blakeman.

The US Space Force activated on Monday the Space Forces Special Operations Command, a service component of US Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) headquartered at MacDill Air Force Base, Florida. It is the first new service component in USSOCOM since 2006. According to the release, Guardians in the component are assigned to Special Operations Forces formations in an operational capability called Space Special Warfare Teams.

Israeli opposition candidate Gadi Eisenkot said on Tuesday that the phaseout of US aid announced by US President Donald Trump shows that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu must be replaced. For him, the fact that Israel’s defense establishment is learning of a shift in the strategic relationship through the media, at the same time as the Israeli public, shows “how dangerous Benjamin Netanyahu’s conduct is” and that he “can no longer be trusted”.

US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) posted on X on Tuesday, Election Day, that anyone who votes illegally will be found, tracked, arrested and prosecuted, and that there will be no escape. Non-citizens, including legal permanent residents, cannot vote in federal, state and most local elections, according to the US government’s official page with election rules. The Supreme Court denied a request from the Trump administration to set aside contested votes in California until voters’ citizenship could be verified, without detailing its reasons. According to the Department of Homeland Security, 50,925 immigrants were detained by ICE in August 2026 alone, a record for the Republican administration.

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.

The Greenlandic parliament approved on Tuesday the security agreement with Denmark and the United States by 16 votes to none, with seven abstentions. Signed in September by Donald Trump, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and Greenlandic Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York, the text paves the way for two new US military bases and for the “Golden Dome” missile defense system, keeping the island under Danish control and reaffirming Greenlanders’ right to self-determination — according to a Reuters report republished by USA Today. The executive agreement enters into force once Denmark and Greenland ratify it and does not require approval from the US Senate; the Danish parliament gives the bill a first reading on November 11, with a vote on November 19. Naleraq opposition party chair Pele Broberg said Greenland is looking for a better agreement for when it becomes an independent state and that no economic benefit has been gained from the agreement.

Israel has shared with the United States intelligence asserting that Iran is considering the use of chemical weapons against its adversaries, information met with alarm by some American officials, according to The New York Times. According to JFeed, which reports the contents of the article, some US officials expressed deep skepticism about the information’s credibility, and some compared it to the flawed 2002 intelligence on Iraqi weapons of mass destruction. Some American and Gulf officials suggested that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu may be trying to draw President Donald Trump back into military action against Iran. According to the newspaper, Trump said he would not order an attack before Tuesday’s midterm elections.

Israel’s finance ministry was unaware of any plans to immediately end US military assistance before President Donald Trump’s announcement on Tuesday, according to Israel’s Channel 12. The $3.8bn in annual aid was expected to provide a significant source of funding for Israel’s defense budget in 2027 and 2028, Channel 12 economics correspondent Yuval Sade reported. In the same interview in which he spoke about the strike on Iran, Trump announced that the US would end $4 billion in funding to Israel after the end of this year.

A Russian delegation will travel to Abu Dhabi on November 10-11 for trilateral talks with Ukraine and the United States (US), Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov confirmed: “Yes, I can confirm that date.” Negotiator Vladimir Medinsky will again lead the delegation, as in the previous round, interrupted after the conflict between Iran, on one side, and the US and Israel, on the other. It will be the first trilateral meeting since February. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said he had seen no sign that Russia wanted to negotiate seriously: “I have not seen any sign of that so far.” Merz also promised more aid and help with energy supplies for Ukraine going into winter and said Russia risked further escalation and a global food crisis through attacks in the Black Sea, according to Reuters, in a text republished by StreetInsider. Zelensky defended a ceasefire in the Black Sea, where attacks have intensified in recent months.

President Donald Trump confirmed that US forces struck Iran on Monday night, at a target he described as a “minor attack” on an anti-aircraft facility. “They built an anti-aircraft facility… As soon as it was completed, we hit it last night very nicely,” he said in a Fox News interview. Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency also reported several explosions on Qeshm Island, near the entrance to the strait. The US deliberately kept the attacks quiet to reduce the risk of escalation, according to The Wall Street Journal, which first reported the strikes, and one US official described the strikes as “defensive.” According to that report, in one exchange the Revolutionary Guard fired a surface-to-air missile at a US warplane, which fired back in self-defense, and another strike came after the US intercepted a missile fired from Qeshm at a commercial vessel. Iran said it downed a US MQ-9 Reaper drone and two Lucas drones near the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday.

Israel’s military chief of staff, Eyal Zamir, is resisting a new joint offensive with the United States against Iran, according to Haaretz, in a text published by Opera Mundi. Zamir had already opposed Benjamin Netanyahu’s intention to attack Iran before the October 27 legislative elections. Opposition leader and former chief of staff Gadi Eisenkot said that, until a new government is formed, he would back military operations “only in the event of a clear and imminent danger to Israel that cannot wait for the new government to take office”. Also according to Haaretz, Netanyahu openly advocates toppling the Iranian government, while Donald Trump seeks to press the country into a deal more favorable to US interests that would restrict its nuclear program and allow the Strait of Hormuz to reopen.

More than 230 million eligible voters can vote on Tuesday in the United States, in elections that decide who will represent them in Congress for the last two years of Donald Trump’s term. All 435 House seats and 35 of the Senate’s 100 seats are being contested, along with the governorships of 36 states; Republicans currently hold both chambers. More than 57 million early votes were cast before Election Day, and the first polling sites opened at 6 a.m. Eastern in Connecticut, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Missouri, New Jersey, New York and Virginia. The rising cost of living is top of mind for voters, a Reuters/Ipsos poll found, which had a margin of error of 3 percentage points for registered voters.

A spokesman for Benjamin Netanyahu said he did not know about Donald Trump’s statement that American military aid to Israel would end and that he would check for details. The aid follows a memorandum of understanding of $3.8 billion a year that is approaching its expiration in 2028, with conversations under way on how Washington’s assistance to Israel would evolve beyond that date. Trump, who announced on Tuesday the cut of $4 billion a year at the end of this year, said Netanyahu brought the matter up and that the prime minister said it would be appropriate not to receive the aid because he understands that this is one of the points of contention. Yair Golan, head of the left-wing Democrats party, said the end of American aid deals a severe blow to Israel’s security and to the quality of life in the country.

Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, ruled out telephone talks with Russia, saying Moscow would use the conversation as a pretext to avoid further meetings; he spoke at a press conference alongside German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in Berlin. In the German capital, Zelensky ruled out inviting Vladimir Putin to Kyiv and said no Ukrainian intends to go to Moscow. The president confirmed that Ukrainian, Russian and US officials will meet in Abu Dhabi on November 10 and 11, and that Kyiv wants a halt to attacks on energy infrastructure, safe passage for grain shipments through the Black Sea and further prisoner exchanges. Merz said he does not see Russia seriously engaging in ceasefire negotiations and that Europe needs a voice on sanctions and post-war security.

The secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, Mohsen Rezaei, said on Tuesday that the United States’ response to Iran’s rights and demands was not convincing and that Washington must provide a comprehensive and explicit response. In a televised speech, President Masoud Pezeshkian said Iran stands ready for battle “with its finger on the trigger” but has also given the American side a “powerful and rational” response, and that the ball is now in America’s court to prevent war. Donald Trump told Fox News he is “not looking to kill lots of people” in Iran and described the action on Qeshm Island as a “minor attack” rather than a resumption of war, saying the US has Iran “totally where we want” and could “finish them off” or “be nice and let thousands of people live that would get killed in a war.”

The European Commission said representatives from Ukraine, the United States (US), France, Germany, Britain, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the World Bank will meet in Brussels on Wednesday, on the eve of the resumption of US-mediated talks, according to spokesperson Paula Pinho. US special envoy Steve Witkoff said Washington will also mediate working-level talks between Ukraine and Russia in Abu Dhabi on November 10 and 11. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov confirmed that a Russian delegation will travel to the United Arab Emirates and that presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky will lead the team. Peskov ruled out the European Union joining the Abu Dhabi talks because the agreed format is trilateral, between Russia and Ukraine with US mediation.

The office of US first lady Melania Trump announced that she will convene Russian and Ukrainian representatives at the White House on Thursday and deliver remarks about the temporary ceasefire in Oleshky, a Russian-occupied city in Ukraine’s Kherson region, which she helped negotiate. The White House credited Melania Trump with independently initiating discussions between the two countries and securing the localized truce, which allowed humanitarian aid to reach civilians and residents to evacuate. The announcement did not specify who will attend the meeting or provide details about the agenda.

US President Donald Trump said in an interview with Fox News that he struck a deal with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to end the $4 billion annual military aid to Israel, with the commitment to stop paying the country by the end of this year and to help if needed, according to Reuters, in a text republished by The Jerusalem Post. Trump said Israel no longer needed financial support from Washington and that Democrats and left-wing politicians were using the funding for Israel to criticize Republicans.

The United States has urged Venezuela to release the remaining political prisoners held in the country. Secretary of State Marco Rubio met his Venezuelan counterpart, Oliver Blanco, on Monday, when he called for their release and discussed reforms aimed at laying the groundwork for free and credible elections, according to the State Department. More than 1,000 political prisoners have been freed since US forces seized Nicolás Maduro in a raid on Caracas on January 3 and took him to New York, where he faces trial on drug-trafficking and torture charges. Venezuelan prisoners’ rights group Foro Penal says 322 people remain in detention. The State Department reiterated its commitment to Donald Trump’s three-phase plan, which provides for stabilization, economic recovery and political reconciliation, and democratic transition.

Samsung Electronics will use its second semiconductor plant in Taylor, Texas, to produce base dies for high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips for AMD and Nvidia, according to South Korea’s Maeil Business Newspaper, which cited industry sources, in a Reuters report published by WHTC. Construction is due to start formally this month, with the plant having secured orders for its entire output, most of it for AMD. The facility will use 2-nanometer technology and cover about 2.7 million square feet, roughly 1.5 times the size of the first plant, which has a contract with Tesla. Equipment is expected to be installed from February 2029, with mass production in 2030.

Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi said the country remains in a “state of war”, with its forces mobilized and prepared for any scenario, in remarks to the Tasnim agency carried by Opera Mundi. According to him, Iran neither started nor sought the war, but will respond firmly to any new aggression. Tehran demands an end to the US naval blockade of its ports, the suspension of new economic sanctions and guarantees for selling its oil before fully restoring circulation in the Hormuz region, with the measures implemented within 48 hours, according to the same source. According to Russian agency Sputnik, the United States has no intention of escalating attacks on Iran after the strike on Qeshm Island, as reported by the Wall Street Journal. A US official cited by Reuters said the Qeshm operation was defensive in nature and hit anti-aircraft missile systems used against US forces. Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf warned that Iran’s military and strategic response to any miscalculation by the enemy would be unpredictable.

The South African government confirmed the intention of the United States to withdraw the country’s benefits under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) from January 1, 2027, with 60 days’ advance notice, according to SAnews, the South African government’s news service. Trade, Industry and Competition Minister Parks Tau said the decision does not define the broader relationship between the two countries and that a solution depends on the willingness of both sides. According to the government, Washington introduced new issues outside the scope of the negotiation process that began in 2025. South African exports under AGOA totaled nearly US$ 1.7 billion in 2025, down from US$ 4 billion in 2024, and accounted for roughly 1% of the country’s total exports. Bilateral trade reached US$ 28.8 billion in 2025, with more than 600 American companies operating in the country. South Africa supplies the United States with 12 of the 50 minerals Washington deems critical and 70% of the isotopes used in cancer treatments.

An Iranian military spokesperson warned that any renewed attack by the United States (US) will be met with a harder and broader response than Tehran's past retaliations. According to him, a new war would not remain limited to West Asia, and US facilities, equipment, personnel and interests in any location within Iran's reach could become targets. On the diplomatic track, Qatari foreign ministry spokesperson Majed al-Ansari said that efforts to bring the US and Iran closer are ongoing and that both countries are studying proposals.

Voters in the United States (US) deliver a verdict on Tuesday on the first two years of President Donald Trump's second term, with polls and nonpartisan analysts favoring Democrats to wrest the House of Representatives from Republicans while control of the Senate remains uncertain, according to Reuters, in text published by Investing.com. All 435 seats in the House are up for election, along with 35 of the Senate's 100 seats; Democrats must flip at least three House seats and four Senate seats to win a majority in each chamber. Final polls suggest Trump's approval rating is around 38%. The price of a gallon of diesel, which was $3.75 before the war with Iran started in February, hit a record high of $6.52 in September.

A billboard towering over the busy Enghelab Square in Tehran reads “We will kill Trump”, depicting the US president behind bars with his head bowed. Another billboard nearby shows Trump alongside Vice President JD Vance, special envoy Steve Witkoff and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, with bloodied faces and ragged suits against the background of worn-out Israeli and US flags. Since the war began on February 28, when US and Israeli strikes killed the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, new designs of billboards mocking Trump and vowing revenge have frequently been set up around Tehran.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told the Financial Times that “work is under way” on organizing a meeting between Vladimir Putin, Donald Trump and Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit, scheduled for Shenzhen, China, on November 18-19. China’s foreign ministry said Beijing was “in communication with relevant parties” about a possible meeting between the Chinese and Russian heads of state, but omitted any mention of Trump. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Rudenko said there is no final decision or confirmation yet on the trilateral meeting.

The United States launched limited strikes on Iran’s Qeshm Island late on Monday, hours after Vice President JD Vance said he was optimistic that diplomatic efforts to end the war were moving in the right direction. The strikes targeted surface-to-air missiles being used against US assets, according to Reuters and the Associated Press (AP). Several explosions were heard on Qeshm on Monday evening, according to Iranian state media, with local outlets describing their cause as unclear. The Wall Street Journal reported that the US had been carrying out a series of smaller-scale strikes, purposefully kept secret by the Trump administration so as not to signal any intent of resuming the military campaign against Iran.

The United States will mediate technical-level talks between Ukraine and Russia in Abu Dhabi on November 10 and 11, special envoy Steve Witkoff announced. According to Witkoff, discussions will focus on post-war security arrangements, de-escalation, humanitarian efforts and next steps toward peace. The US delegation is expected to include Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, according to Reuters. The Kremlin said presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky will remain Russia’s chief negotiator in the new round, according to Sputnik.

US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said on Monday that Washington intends to suspend South Africa and Rwanda from duty-free access to the US market under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), with South Africa as the largest beneficiary, exporting about 1.7 billion dollars in goods in 2025, citing barriers to US trade and investment, corruption and threats to US national security and foreign policy interests, as well as South Africa’s genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice — the South African government said it had received 60 days’ advance notice of the withdrawal of benefits effective January 1, 2027, with Trade Minister Parks Tau saying the decision does not define the broader relationship between the two countries and that a solution will depend on both sides’ willingness to engage, and that about 10% of exports to the US entered under AGOA in 2025, down from 28% in 2024.

Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said on Tuesday that Iran delivered a “firm and rational” response to the US, that Washington must decide whether to prevent another war and that a new American strategic mistake would open a new battlefield, while Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said the revised seven-stage diplomatic proposal could be fully implemented within two days, conditioning security in the Strait of Hormuz on an end to the American naval blockade and measures such as sanctions relief and the release of frozen assets — according to Sputnik, Iran’s Armed Forces are at the highest level of defensive readiness.

Donald Trump told Fox News that the United States could go after Pickaxe Mountain, a suspected underground nuclear complex in Iran, if there is no deal — the operation could be done in one hour — and did not rule out resuming the war, but said there is a good chance of a deal. A senior Iranian official told Reuters, in a text republished by the Jerusalem Post, that the two countries are far from an understanding to end the war and that Tehran will not accept Washington’s excessive demands, while Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said in a televised address that the ball is now in the United States’ court to prevent war.

The United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) ceased operations on November 1, 2026, after 35 years, and entered a liquidation period, after its mandate expired on October 31 with the Security Council approving neither of the two draft resolutions. The United States text received 11 votes in favor, 1 Russian veto and 3 abstentions, and the alternative Russian text, which extended the mission until October 31, 2027, received 3 votes in favor, 1 vote against from the United States and 11 abstentions. The US text removed the word referendum from the mission’s name and made the Moroccan autonomy proposal the sole basis for further negotiations. The Russian delegation said it could reverse the entire resolution process and called the vote a life-saving veto, Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita said the end of the mission does not mean the end of the ceasefire, and Oxfam warned that losing the monitoring role could undermine stability, with serious consequences for civilians.

The attack on Binance began in the early hours of October 29 and, in about 20 minutes, became the biggest crypto hack in history, with more than US$ 6 billion stolen, and by November 2 the company had returned 100% of the amount to customers. The company secured assets covering approximately 95 percent of the US$ 6.3 billion stolen, after net outflows of US$ 3.6 billion in the first nine hours, about 2 percent of the US$ 171 billion under management, while stablecoin issuers froze approximately US$ 3 billion of the affected funds. The preliminary investigation points to a compromised laptop belonging to an engineer, which could have allowed unauthorized withdrawal transactions. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) said two days after the attack that North Korea was responsible for the theft, attributed by security firms to the TraderTraitor group.

San Diego's Registrar of Voters was evacuated on November 2 over a suspected bomb threat, the day before the midterm elections, according to the Hindustan Times. The evacuation order was lifted within about two and a half hours and the affected streets were reopened.

US exports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) hit their second-highest level in history, driven by a rise in European demand ahead of the start of winter, which pushed LNG prices higher. Shipments to Europe rose by 1 million tons last month, to 6.89 million tons, according to LSEG data cited by Reuters. European gas prices stood above 100 euros for the first time in four years.

Iran conditions the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz on the end of the US naval blockade and on meeting Tehran's demands. “The Strait of Hormuz cannot reopen unless the blockade ends and Iran's demands are met”, an Iranian spokesperson said, according to Brasil 247.

More than 3,000 data centers already operate in the United States, with more than 1,500 others in development, according to the Pew Research Center, and at least seven Bay Area cities, including San Francisco and Richmond, have passed temporary moratoriums on data center construction in the final two months before the vote; in the race for Nancy Pelosi’s House seat, Scott Wiener opposes any ban while Connie Chan promises to seek a national moratorium pending artificial intelligence (AI) regulation.

US Vice President JD Vance said Washington had held a number of good conversations with the Iranians and that he and Donald Trump felt optimistic about a negotiated settlement, with some progress already made and more work ahead.

Oil bounced back following reports of US strikes on Iran, with Brent crude trading at $105.26 per barrel and West Texas Intermediate (WTI) at $97.07 per barrel, after the Wall Street Journal cited unnamed US officials on the strikes.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said it shot down two more US MQM-170 drones over Qeshm Island and destroyed an MQ-9 east of the Strait of Hormuz.

The November 3, 2026, midterm elections are on track to be the most expensive in US history, with the total cost projected at nearly $12 billion, according to OpenSecrets, an independent organization that tracks campaign finance. Elon Musk has given $445 million to federal committees this year, surpassing his own record of nearly $300 million in contributions to conservative committees in 2024, while Ripple and Coinbase contributed a combined $63 million to super PACs promoting the crypto industry.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei ordered the armed forces on Saturday to give an “immediate, effective and with no geographic limits” response to any threat from the United States and Israel, according to the EFE news agency, in a text republished by swissinfo.ch.

Nine states are voting in the November 3, 2026, midterms under new congressional district maps: 15 districts were redrawn potentially favoring Republicans and six in favor of Democrats, a net of nine seats in the US House of Representatives, according to KETV. The vote also tests Republican redistricting in Texas and beyond, according to Al Jazeera.

New York state reported the first measles-linked child death in over 30 years, amid an outbreak. The case is the state’s first measles-linked death in more than three decades, according to the South China Morning Post.

Americans vote this Tuesday, November 3, in an election The Hindu describes as a referendum on Donald Trump’s presidency. All 435 House seats and 37 seats in the 100-member Senate are at stake, along with governorships in 36 states, according to the newspaper.

The US military carried out what US officials called “defensive strikes” in the Strait of Hormuz. On Qeshm Island, the blasts came in rapid succession late on Monday, and witnesses told the state-owned IRNA news agency they saw two planes flying over the island. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said it had downed a US MQ-9 drone over the eastern Strait of Hormuz, the 55th such drone brought down.

Israeli citizen Moriah Dahan, 35, a resident of West Hills in Los Angeles, was arrested on Monday on suspicion of voting in the November 2024 American presidential election without American citizenship, according to the Jerusalem Post, citing the United States Justice Department. It is the second case in a short period involving an Israeli, and six new defendants brought the total charged in California under the operation to 34.

United States President Donald Trump notified Congress of his intention to remove Rwanda and South Africa from the AGOA (African Growth and Opportunity Act) preferential trade program from January 1, 2027, citing barriers to American trade and investment and national security and foreign policy concerns in the region. An annual review found that both governments engage in practices inconsistent with the eligibility criteria, Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said.

United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio met Venezuelan Foreign Minister Oliver Blanco in Washington on Monday to discuss the country’s political future, nearly a year after US forces seized former Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro in Caracas. The State Department reaffirmed Donald Trump’s three-phase plan for Venezuela — stabilization, economic recovery and political reconciliation, and democratic transition.

The US embassy in Saudi Arabia issued a security alert for American citizens over possible attacks on airports, airspace closures and flight disruptions, amid escalation involving the Houthis and Saudi Arabia, according to the Hindustan Times, while the State Department ordered non-emergency staff and family members to leave Saudi Arabia as of October 23, 2026 over safety risks.

The US attacked Qeshm Island in Iran on Monday, according to US officials cited by the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), in the latest of a series of limited strikes Washington has secretly carried out against the country in recent weeks.

US negotiators Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner are expected to represent the US in talks with delegations from Russia and Ukraine in Abu Dhabi on November 10–11, 2026, according to a US official cited by Reuters, while American negotiators meet this week in Brussels with France, Germany, the UK, the EU and NATO to discuss security guarantees for Ukraine, Europe's future security framework and economic support for Ukraine's reconstruction.

Federal judge Boasberg ordered on Monday that Donald Trump's administration stop demanding that California election officials segregate ballots cast by people on lists of suspected noncitizens, according to Reuters, in a text republished by WDSM, finding the lists flawed and saying the executive has no authority to unilaterally impose its procedures on the states.

Iran's foreign ministry said on Monday that contacts with the US on ending the eight-month war are continuing, after days of talks with Qatari mediators ended with altered proposals but no breakthrough, according to Reuters, in a text republished by Investing.com, adding that the basis of the dialogue remains Iran's seven-step proposal, now condensed for implementation within two days.

The sister of North Korea’s leader, Kim Yo-jong, called the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) allegation that Pyongyang stole US$ 6 billion from the crypto platform Binance a “grave political provocation”, in a statement released by the state-run KCNA news agency. The FBI attributed the theft to a North Korea-affiliated group called TraderTraitor. Kim said the claim was “absurd rhetoric and nothing new,” citing earlier US allegations about last year’s major hack of Bybit.

The US Supreme Court declined to stop California from counting the votes, rejecting a request from the Justice Department. The department had ordered the state to segregate and not count about 20,000 ballots from people it claims are non-citizens. District Judge David Carter had already rejected the request in an October 28 ruling.

Some 32 percent of respondents approved of Donald Trump’s handling of the presidency, 1 percentage point above his rating two weeks ago, in a Reuters/Ipsos poll. Asked about a generic congressional candidate, 46 percent preferred Democrats compared with 38 percent who preferred Republicans.

US Vice President JD Vance said Washington has made progress in talks with Iran and that he and President Donald Trump feel optimistic about a negotiated settlement. Asked whether Iran had been given a deadline before strikes resume, he said: “No, we haven’t set deadlines.” Vance tied a deal to a firm and verifiable commitment that Iran does not rebuild its nuclear program. Trump said Iran wants a settlement as soon as possible and that it could happen.

The United States, Russia and Ukraine will hold peace talks in Abu Dhabi on November 10–11, 2026, according to Axios. Discussions will focus on post-war security arrangements, de-escalation, humanitarian efforts and next steps toward peace. Kushner and Witkoff will lead the U.S. delegation. Lower-level U.S. officials will meet this week in Brussels with representatives from France, Germany, the United Kingdom, the European Union (EU) and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) to discuss security guarantees for Ukraine.

Saudi Defense Minister Khalid bin Salman said Monday that he spoke by phone with US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth about bilateral defense cooperation and efforts to de-escalate regional tensions. In the account he posted on X, the minister said the call covered “the continued Houthi terrorist attacks against the Kingdom.”

The Aerospace Force of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said it brought down two US MQM-170 reconnaissance drones south of Qeshm Island using electronic warfare. Explosions were also heard on the island, according to the state-run IRNA news agency, with no known cause and no official statement on their origin.

Donald Trump said on Monday that the United States is not going to attack Iran after the midterms, one day ahead of the election. Asked by a reporter in Washington whether he was considering striking the country again, he answered “no” and said that “Iran wants a settlement, as soon as possible. It could happen!”

International Criminal Court (ICC) President Tomoko Akane told the UN General Assembly on Monday that US sanctions against the court are an attempt to obstruct the course of justice. In a virtual address, she said the measures, imposed on October 9 — the same day the Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded the Peace Prize to former ICC judge Navi Pillay — target 13 independent judges and prosecutors, including herself, and strike at “the heart of the sovereign equality of states.”

The Brent fell 7.6% to close the day at $104.77 a barrel, while US crude dropped 7.3% to $96.46. On the European exchange, gas fell to nearly $1,100 per 1,000 cubic meters, the lowest level since October 29, amid news of peace talks between Iran and the United States, according to TASS.

The US midterm campaign is set to be the most expensive on record, with total cost projected to reach nearly $12bn (£9bn), according to OpenSecrets, an independent organization that tracks campaign finance. The latest Federal Election Commission (FEC) filings, which run to mid-October, show more than $9.5bn spent in this cycle. AdImpact reported that the Texas Senate race became the most expensive non-presidential race on record, with more than $573 million spent as of October 30.

Qatari mediators and Iranian officials held two rounds of talks last week, and diplomatic efforts have made progress toward a framework in which Iran would cease its attacks in the Strait of Hormuz in return for the United States lifting its blockade on Iran's ports, according to two officials. On Sunday, Iranian negotiators were in Doha for a third consecutive day of talks with Qatari mediators aimed at reaching a deal to end the US-Israeli war on Iran, according to an official briefed on the discussions.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is pushing for a new wave of strikes on Iran after Tuesday's midterm elections in the United States, according to two regional officials and a third person familiar with the matter. In a weekend call, he pressed President Donald Trump to strike, and Trump would not commit to taking military action, according to a person briefed on the conversation. Sources told Axios that Netanyahu is pressing Trump to strike Iran immediately after the elections; for now, Trump wants to let negotiations play out — a strategy that concerns Netanyahu.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio received Venezuela's foreign minister, Oliver Blanco, in Washington on Monday in the first meeting between the two countries' top diplomats since the US military attack on the South American country on January 3. The meeting took place two weeks after Venezuelan authorities and the opposition agreed on a blueprint to reform the country's electoral process that would allow free and fair elections at some point in 2027, and the Trump administration has stepped up pressure on the interim government and opposition groups to move quickly on election preparations.

Iran has a two-day plan to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and resume nuclear talks with the United States, Tehran said on Monday, shortening a process originally expected to take seven days, and has conditioned the reopening on Washington accepting its demands. They include an end to military operations on all fronts, the end of the US naval blockade of Iranian ports, the unfreezing of Iranian assets held abroad and the suspension of sanctions on the country’s oil sector.

A sanctioned Iranian tanker carrying about 500,000 barrels of liquefied petroleum gas slipped past the US naval blockade and delivered its cargo to China, according to United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI), which says it filmed the ship at a Malaysian anchorage along the way. On October 8, the US Treasury Department sanctioned the tanker as one of 17 shadow-fleet vessels, saying the Comoros-flagged ship, owned by Marshall Islands-based Gravion Maritime Company, had transported more than 2 million barrels of Iranian propane and butane since September 2025.

The campaign of Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic nominee for Senate in Michigan, raised $2.4 million on Sunday, a record fundraising day, after his former primary rival endorsed the Republican nominee in a last-minute decision. Haley Stevens’s endorsement of the Republican brought backlash against her.

Iran rejected the transfer of its enriched uranium abroad and conditioned the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz on the United States ending its naval blockade and meeting Tehran’s demands, according to the Tehran Times. Asked whether the possibility of transferring Iran’s highly enriched uranium stockpile to another country was raised in the talks and whether Iran might agree, Iran said no, according to Al-Monitor.

US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said on Monday that Washington intends to suspend South Africa and Rwanda from duty-free access to the US market under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), according to Reuters.

The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court to order California to set aside more than 20,000 ballots cast by voters who, according to the executive branch's review, are likely not US citizens, a day before the midterm elections. The request says the executive branch identified more than 20,000 people registered in California based on publicly accessible information. On Friday, a divided panel of the US Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit turned aside the administration's emergency request to segregate the ballots.

Tucker Carlson said Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu are allegedly planning a nuclear strike on Iran's Pickax Mountain, where Israeli intelligence claims the Iranian government has restarted its nuclear enrichment program. According to Carlson, the program sits in tunnels under 300 feet of solid granite, and only a nuclear strike would penetrate them. He said Netanyahu calls Trump about it every day and that a US nuclear strike would make a third world war inevitable.

Oil prices plunged nearly 7% on Monday after Washington and Tehran both signaled they would give diplomacy a chance. Brent traded at $105.60 per barrel, down $7.85, and WTI fell $7.20 to $96.92. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said the Supreme Leader had granted the government “certain authorities” over the peace talks and that Tehran “will try to resolve the problem with dialogue,” state media reported.

A federal judge dismissed a criminal complaint on Monday against two former Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) officials accused of falsely downplaying their knowledge of a laptop the Justice Department says belonged to Hunter Biden. “There is no denying this investigation was rushed,” Judge Faruqui said during a roughly hourlong hearing, later adding that it “cannot be described as anything other than weaponization” of the Justice Department.

More than 53.1 million US voters had already cast their ballots early as of November 1 ahead of the midterm elections, according to data from the University of Florida’s Election Lab.

Negotiations to end the US-Iran war produced a draft deal: Iranian negotiators left Qatar on Sunday and a draft proposal began circulating for a possible follow-up meeting, according to a Reuters source cited by OilPrice. On Monday morning, Brent traded at $108.61 a barrel, down 4.25% on the day, and WTI fell 4.32% to $99.62.

About 250 rabbis from across the United States urged Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed and former US President Barack Obama to take their concerns about El-Sayed’s position on Israel more seriously, shortly before a rally featuring the two in Detroit on October 24, 2026. The group says 4,560 people have signed its petition, including out-of-state rabbis who joined the movement in recent days.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke with US President Donald Trump on Saturday about US negotiations with Iran and pressed him to strike Iran immediately after the midterm elections on Tuesday, Axios reported, citing one Israeli and one US source. Trump said he would rather give negotiations between the two countries a chance first than bomb Iran right away, according to the same sources.

Iran says, according to Sputnik, that it is not discussing the removal of its highly enriched uranium to third countries. A reported preliminary draft calls for transferring the country’s enriched uranium stockpile to an agreed third country or lowering its enrichment level, with China potentially acting as guarantor.

Oil prices fell more than 4% as hopes grew that US-Iran peace talks would ease supply disruptions in the Middle East. Brent dropped 4.5% to $118.3 a barrel, and West Texas Intermediate (WTI) fell 4.37% to $99.57 at the time of the quote.

The United States proposed resuming Russian natural gas sales to Europe through Ukraine, according to The Wall Street Journal. The idea was raised by envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff during trips to Moscow and Kyiv in September and would involve selling the gas through a US intermediary to circumvent European sanctions.

United States (US) President Donald Trump reiterated on Sunday his threat to resume strikes against Iran, telling a campaign rally he may have to give Tehran “the hammer” at some unspecified time. On Monday, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that signals that new military actions are planned against Iran cause alarm.

US President Donald Trump repeatedly called Democratic candidate Abdul El-Sayed a “jihadist” at a rally in Iowa on Sunday and made remarks about the Michigan Senate candidate's Muslim faith as voters prepare to go to the polls for Tuesday's election. Trump said Congress would need “a special metal detector for Abdul” if the candidate were elected. Democrat Haley Stevens endorsed Republican Mike Rogers, drawing criticism from Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.

The FBI attributed the theft of $6.3 billion from the Binance cryptocurrency exchange to North Korean hackers.

South Korea is seeking to finalize by the end of this year a comprehensive agreement with the US on relocating jointly used air bases across the country, including facilities in the southwestern city of Gwangju, a source familiar with the matter said on Monday. South Korea’s Defense Ministry said it is consulting with the US side to include the temporary relocation of US military facilities inside Gwangju Air Base in the agreement on relocations now under negotiation.

US President Donald Trump is weighing blaming his defense and military chiefs for the handling of the war on Iran, according to a Sunday report by The Atlantic, in a text republished by the Times of Israel, while considering resuming attacks after Tuesday’s midterm elections. In a conversation described by sources as tough and direct, Netanyahu pushed Trump to restart the campaign, while Trump wanted to allow more time for negotiations, according to Axios, in a text republished by the Times of Israel.

Iranian negotiators left Doha on Sunday after three consecutive days of consultations with Qatari mediators on a deal to end the US-Israeli war on Iran, according to Reuters, in a text republished by Arab News. An official briefed on the talks told the agency on Monday that the departure was not due to difficulties in the discussions. Iran’s Foreign Ministry said on Monday it is weighing a proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz within two days if the US meets its conditions.

The Taliban government expressed concern on Monday over reported United States (US) plans to deport more than 150 Afghans from the US to Pakistan for eventual return to Afghanistan, with advocacy groups warning of the risk to their lives. The Taliban government urged on Monday that the United States (US) “act responsibly” in the deportations, saying it was ready to address the issue constructively.

Crude oil prices started the week lower on renewed optimism about a possible peace deal between the United States (US) and Iran, following mediation talks involving Iran and Qatar over the weekend, OilPrice reports. At that time, Brent crude traded at US$109.82 per barrel and West Texas Intermediate at US$100.57 per barrel.

The chairman of the Iranian Parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Commission, Ebrahim Azizi, warned the US of a devastating response from the Armed Forces if Iran is attacked.

North Korea condemned the bilateral Iron Mace exercise, which integrates United States (US) nuclear capabilities with South Korean conventional forces, and vowed to accelerate its nuclear arsenal as an “immutable” policy. In a statement signed by Kim Jong-sik, the country also took aim at the Hoguk, Freedom Flag and Keen Sword exercises, the last a joint US–Japan exercise.

More than 53 million Americans have already voted early ahead of the Tuesday, November 3, election, according to the University of Florida tracker. Le Monde’s live coverage of the midterms puts early votes at more than 54 million and covers Trump’s final rally on the eve of the vote.

Iranian Army spokesman Mohammad Akraminia said that a future war with the United States (US) could last longer than the previous conflict and that the American president would not dictate the timing or the conditions of its end. President Donald Trump said he still needs to “take care” of one or two targets in Iran, citing Pickaxe Mountain, and repeated that he could give Tehran “the hammer.” Revolutionary Guards spokesman Hossein Mohebbi said that in a conflict with the US there are no geographical limitations and that a vast theater has been defined to inflict damage on the enemy. Commentator Tucker Carlson claimed without evidence that Trump could decide within days on a nuclear strike against Iran and alleged that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is pressing for it daily.

US President Donald Trump said on Sunday that his administration has the “concept” of a new trade deal with Canada, without offering details. Trump said he had spoken to Prime Minister Mark Carney again and that the concept “is going to be great for our farmers, great for our country”. The statement comes after Carney announced progress toward a future trade deal between the two countries.

Japan has asked the US for thorough discipline enforcement after Marine Kalvin Montoya Cardona was arrested in Okinawa on suspicion of drunk driving during curfew hours — caught at around 12:25 a.m. on Saturday with twice the legal blood-alcohol limit, according to Kyodo News.

The US backs a rapid resumption of Russian natural gas exports to Europe via pipelines crossing Ukraine, as part of talks aimed at securing an energy ceasefire before winter, according to Reuters, in a text republished by Arab News. The idea, raised by envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff during trips to Moscow and Kyiv in September, would involve selling Russian gas via a US intermediary to circumvent European sanctions, according to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ).

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.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said President Donald Trump prefers to resolve the war with Iran diplomatically, without resorting to military force, amid reports that both sides are preparing for new strikes after the midterm elections. In parallel, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pressed Trump for new strikes against Iran after the elections, while Trump seeks a deal to restart negotiations with Tehran and keeps preparations underway for a possible return to major combat operations, according to the Times of India, citing Axios.

US President Donald Trump praised Democratic Representative Haley Stevens for endorsing Republican Mike Rogers over fellow Democrat Abdul El-Sayed and invited her to join the Republican Party, despite never having met her. Jewish Democratic figures in Michigan denounced Stevens’s endorsement of Rogers for Michigan’s open US Senate seat.

A diplomatic adviser to the president of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) said at the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) Manama Dialogue that the country hopes for a diplomatic breakthrough in negotiations between Iran and the US, according to Middle East Eye.

In a new turn in the standoff between Washington and Tehran, the Iranian Army said that any new war with the United States could last longer than the previous conflict, according to Arab News. Army spokesperson Mohammad Akraminia said the American president would not dictate the timing or the conditions of its end, and a Revolutionary Guard spokesperson said that in a conflict with the United States there are no geographical limitations for inflicting damage upon the enemy, according to Iranian state television in a France 24 piece. In the same piece, Donald Trump said one or two sites still remained to be hit in Iran and that it would take 10 minutes, according to the same outlet.

United States (US) Secretary of State Marco Rubio said after a meeting with Group of Twenty (G20) foreign ministers in Atlanta that President Donald Trump remains open to talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, but no meeting has been scheduled. North Korea denounced the combined South Korea–US Iron Mace exercise, which integrates South Korean conventional and US nuclear capabilities. The exercise was a tabletop simulation at the Joint Chiefs of Staff headquarters in Seoul, from September 29 to October 2, to deter North Korean threats. Pyongyang said its nuclear deterrence will grow stronger at an ever faster pace.

Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) said on Sunday that an underage Russian national was detained over a threat to carry out a terrorist attack in Moscow’s Tsaritsyno Park, after Russia received a tip-off from the United States, The Moscow Times reported.

Democratic Representative Ro Khanna said on Sunday that he would stop funding for further US military action in Iran, amid growing voter dissatisfaction with the war, and compared the move to what Congress did to end the Vietnam War. “I would stop the funding. The House and the Senate should stop the funding for any further actions in the Iran War. That’s what we did to stop the Vietnam War,” he said on Fox News Sunday, according to The Hill. A Democrat-led Congress would cut off funding for further military action even with American personnel still in the region, according to the Daily Wire.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Sunday that his country would stop hitting Russian oil refineries — a key demand of US President Donald Trump — if Washington provides Patriot interceptor missiles. He tied the pause to one month of deliveries: if the systems are provided for a month, Kyiv would halt the attacks on the refineries for the same period, according to the Straits Times. Patriot missiles are among the most important weapons Ukraine has to intercept Russian drones and missiles.

Democratic Senator Chris Murphy, 53, suffered a stroke on Saturday after experiencing numbness in his arm at his son’s hockey game and was transferred to Johns Hopkins for further monitoring, according to his office. “He is awake and alert,” he is responding well to treatment and doctors are optimistic about a full recovery, chief of staff Allison Herwitt said in a statement. Murphy is not up for re-election in Tuesday’s midterms that will decide which party controls Congress and is considered a potential presidential candidate in 2028; a 20-year senator from Connecticut, he is the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations and Foreign Relations committees.

The Argentine newspaper Clarín reported that US agents took control of part of Porto Iguaçu airport to help Flávio Bolsonaro flee Brazil, according to Folha de S.Paulo, which cites Friday’s (30) edition. Estadão also attributes to Clarín the account that Flávio fled to the United States after an electoral defeat, in an operation that involved American help and the use of private jets.

US President Donald Trump said on Sunday that the war with Iran would end very soon, one way or the other — through a deal or further American action, according to Israel National News. “We’ve had such a victory and we’ll put it away very soon, one way or the other. Either they’ll make a deal or we’ll just end it,” he said. At a midterm campaign rally in Mobile, Alabama, on Friday, he said he expected the conflict to end “very soon” and oil prices to fall sharply once the war is over, according to Fox News.

Gulf leaders met in Qatar in an effort to stave off a new escalation in the US-Iran war, according to NPR. Qatar has led intense mediation over the past 72 hours to prevent a new round of possible US attacks on Iran after Tuesday’s midterm elections, and the uncertainty has the entire Gulf region on edge.

US President Donald Trump is prioritizing diplomatic engagement with Tehran despite pressure from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to launch military strikes immediately after Tuesday's US midterm elections, according to Axios, in an article published by TRT World.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney announced progress toward a future trade deal with the United States. US President Donald Trump subsequently said both sides had a concept for a mutually beneficial deal, according to the AP.

A federal judge in the United States on Sunday dismissed a Justice Department lawsuit seeking to block certification of Alaska's Senate race if Republican Dan Sullivan loses, according to the AP. The lawsuit alleged there could be voter confusion over the presence of two candidates named Dan Sullivan on the November ballot, the Guardian reported.

Iran says it could revise its nuclear doctrine but insists that no official decision has been taken. The secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, Mohsen Rezaei, said that “so far, no official decision has been taken by the government or the Supreme National Security Council to change the nuclear doctrine”, according to Opera Mundi. Rezaei also confirmed that a new message, relayed by US intermediaries, reached Iran's Foreign Ministry, with a tone different from that of previous communications. Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said he hoped Washington would choose “diplomacy over other paths” and that Iran was ready for both defense and diplomacy, according to the Hindustan Times. The indirect talks are mediated by Qatar and Pakistan and cover Iran's nuclear program, sanctions imposed by Washington and the safety of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz.

US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke on Saturday about when and whether to ramp up combat operations against Iran, US media reported. Netanyahu pressed the president to launch strikes on Iran immediately after the US midterm elections, while Trump was eager to let negotiations play out. An Israeli source described the call as “tough” and an American source called it “direct,” according to Axios. Al Arabiya confirmed the Axios report on the call and the split between striking and negotiating. On Saturday, October 31, 2026, Trump told reporters that negotiations with Iran to end the war were “going fine” and that there were still one or two targets to “take care” of.

Brigadier General Hossein Mohebbi, spokesperson for Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), said that identifying new targets and planning operations across additional geographical areas had been placed on the Corps’ agenda, according to the Tehran Times. Iran warned that any renewed war with the United States could last longer than the previous round of fighting, after President Donald Trump said he still had to “take care” of more targets, according to Middle East Eye.

Democratic Representative Haley Stevens appeared this Sunday alongside Republican Senate nominee Mike Rogers at Perfecting Church, a prominent Black church in Detroit, Michigan, according to TRT World. Stevens lost the Democratic nomination to Abdul El-Sayed in the August primary.

Venture Global began commercial operations of the first phase of its second liquefied natural gas (LNG) export project, Plaquemines LNG, and the sale of low-cost LNG to the phase’s long-term customers on October 31, 2026, according to a company release. The Malaga Knutsen LNG tanker loaded the first commercial cargo for Shell from Plaquemines and departed at 3:26 a.m. (9:26 a.m. GMT) on Sunday, according to Reuters, in a report republished by gCaptain.

The Pentagon has put the damage to US military bases from Iranian strikes at a minimum of $5 billion, according to US officials cited by the Wall Street Journal. The Journal’s investigation identified 274 damaged structures at 24 installations with a US military presence during the war’s first six months, drawing on satellite imagery, Iranian military statements and interviews with US officials, according to the Tehran Times. An Associated Press analysis found more than 115 drone and missile strikes claimed by Iran or Iranian-backed militias that damaged or destroyed structures at 26 bases and other sites with US equipment through August, according to the Times of India.

Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) said this Sunday that an underage Russian national was detained over a threat to carry out a terrorist attack in Moscow’s Tsaritsyno Park, after Russia received a tip-off from the United States, according to the Interfax news agency, cited by The Moscow Times. The FSB said, according to Reuters, that it was “grateful to the American side for providing the information”.

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 longest truce of the Ukraine war, brokered by US First Lady Melania Trump and limited to the Kherson region, was set to end on Sunday evening with neither side announcing an extension, according to AFP. Neither side reported violations after the truce began, in what one Ukrainian lawmaker described as the “biggest de-escalation since 2022.” A Ukrainian officer said he feared fighting worse than before once the truce ends and said Russian forces positioned across the Dnipro River had taken advantage of the calm of the past few days to amass new troops, transport ammunition stocks and collect intelligence on Ukrainian positions using surveillance drones.

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.”

North Korea’s Missile Administration tested on Saturday a cluster-bomb warhead for tactical ballistic missiles, assessing the warhead’s combat adaptability and power, according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). Research institutes under the administration said the Standard Type 2 cluster-bomb warhead is capable of turning into ashes a target area of 12 to 13 hectares with its highest-density power, according to KCNA. South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said on Sunday that the missile was fired toward the Yellow Sea from an area around the northwestern county of Chongju, and that, under information sharing with the United States, it tracked relevant activities before the launch and maintained a readiness posture.

Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) said it had received information from the United States, through established partner channels, about preparations for a terrorist attack in Moscow and said it was taking appropriate measures, according to Reuters, in a text republished by US News. In a separate statement, the US Embassy in Moscow said it was “aware of a credible threat of a mass casualty event” on Saturday at the Tsaritsyno Museum Reserve and that the US government was coordinating with Russian authorities.

Iran said it has submitted evidence of US and Israeli attacks on its maritime infrastructure to the International Maritime Organization (IMO), according to Middle East Eye.

More than 52 million Americans have already voted early, in person or by mail, according to the University of Florida’s Election Lab — a record for a midterm and up from nearly 46 million who voted before Election Day in 2022, Reuters reported in a text republished by WDSM 710. President Donald Trump is due to hold rallies in Iowa and Kansas on Sunday, after taking part in six remote “phone rallies” on Saturday, according to Le Monde.

Iranian negotiators were in Doha on Sunday for a third consecutive day of talks with Qatari mediators, Reuters reported, according to Mehr News. Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi confirmed in an interview the previous night that his assistant had been sent to Doha for the talks, according to Mehr News. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Saturday, October 31, 2026, that Trump has not decided whether to launch new strikes against Iran, but would prefer to resolve the conflict diplomatically, according to The Hindu.

President Donald Trump said Brazilian politician Flávio Bolsonaro can remain in the United States for as long as he wishes, according to Reuters, in a text republished by Times of India. “He can stay here as long as he wants,” Trump said, according to the agency. “In my opinion, the election was a disgrace.” Bolsonaro entered the US under humanitarian parole, Reuters previously reported, a status generally granted for a limited period, typically one year.

Kremlin aide Yury Ushakov said the first rounds of talks on Ukraine should take place in a trilateral format involving the US, Russia and Ukraine. According to him, European representatives may also be at the table, but the process must begin in the trilateral format, given working-level contacts with the Americans. Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Europeans must be at the table, but not with their current approach, which he said demands Russia’s defeat and rules out dialogue. Ushakov also said Putin would take a call from Zelensky and has never refused to talk, according to Interfax, in a G1 report.

President Donald Trump spoke by phone with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as Washington prepared to resume strikes on Iran, according to the Wall Street Journal. The call took place after Trump discussed options for resuming military operations with senior commanders, including US Central Command (CENTCOM) chief Admiral Brad Cooper, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Dan Caine. Trump said “one or two sites” remain to be dealt with in Iran’s nuclear program, including Pickaxe Mountain, and that the US could do it “in ten minutes.” “We have a plan for it, and we can execute it very quickly,” he said. Asked about a new offensive, he neither confirmed nor ruled out the possibility, according to Brasil 247.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi described US Vice President JD Vance’s letter on resuming talks as a “positive step,” in comments to Al Jazeera on Friday, according to the Jerusalem Post. Iran has no plans to meet with US officials, he said, calling reports of such a meeting “merely media speculation”. Araghchi’s listed conditions include lifting the sanctions imposed following the Islamabad memorandum, reducing US forces in the region, restoring oil waivers and releasing all frozen Iranian funds.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that President Donald Trump’s administration did not help Brazil’s defeated presidential candidate Flavio Bolsonaro flee to the United States after he lost a run-off to President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. “We didn’t facilitate anything,” Rubio told reporters on Saturday in Atlanta, Georgia, where diplomats from the Group of 20 largest world economies were gathered. Trump said Bolsonaro “got treated very shabbily, very shabbily” and “can stay here as long as he wants”, speaking to reporters at his Florida residence on Saturday.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said the Strait of Hormuz could be reopened within two days if Washington agrees to a set of conditions, including formal recognition of the new shipping route designated by Iran and Oman in the strait. In an interview with Al Jazeera, according to Middle East Eye, Araghchi also cited lifting the sanctions the United States imposed on Iran after the collapse of the Islamabad memorandum in July, reducing the US military presence in the region, reinstating the oil waivers granted in June as part of the memorandum and releasing frozen Iranian funds, including those held in Qatar.

The foreign ministers of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad) announced plans to provide more than $85 million in technical and financial support to improve access to trusted artificial intelligence across the Indo-Pacific, according to the joint statement from the Atlanta meeting. The text also records a US commitment of $10 million to develop facilities in India and in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries to recover critical minerals from waste, according to The Times of India. India’s external affairs minister, S. Jaishankar, said the Quad must safeguard freedom of choice and secure supply chains and tackle non-market practices, without naming any country, and called for a “more contemporary” agenda for the group, with a practical approach.

Representative Haley Stevens criticized the Democratic Senate candidate in Michigan, Abdul El-Sayed, over his recent criticism of Israel and over his failure to condemn an ad by an outside political action committee (PAC) that blamed Israel for rising food prices, according to The Times of Israel. According to the outlet, the ad was made by an outside group to boost his campaign.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) blamed North Korea for the theft of more than $6 billion in virtual assets from the Binance exchange on or about October 29, according to a statement from the bureau itself. The FBI said the attack was tied to “malicious cyber activity” by an entity known as TraderTraitor, the same actor behind last year’s $1.5 billion Bybit hack, according to The Associated Press (AP). Binance said on Saturday that it had replaced 90 percent of the stolen amount using company money to buy new tokens, according to Al Jazeera.

Judge Darrin Gayles dismissed Trump’s $10 billion lawsuit against the Wall Street Journal with prejudice on Saturday, meaning the president cannot file an amended version of the suit, according to The Hindu. The suit was about a July 2025 story detailing Trump’s alleged 2003 letter to Epstein, which apparently featured a drawing of a naked woman.

The foreign ministers of the US and Iran said that a diplomatic end to the war is still possible, with no direct US-Iran talks planned. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Tehran would decide whether talks are direct or indirect only after Washington accepted its conditions. The statements came after more than 12 hours of discussions between Iranian and Qatari envoys in Tehran on Friday, according to Reuters, in a text republished by CGTN.

A two-day meeting of the foreign ministers of the Group of 20 (G20) ended in Atlanta on Saturday without a joint communique, CGTN reported, as participants failed to reach consensus on major geopolitical and economic issues. Chaired by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the meeting addressed geopolitical tensions, energy security and supply chains. Participants remained divided over the Ukraine crisis, the US-Iran conflict and US tariffs.

Newark police are investigating a shooting in the area of East Main Street and Choate Street, near the University of Delaware campus, on October 31 at about 11:13 p.m., according to the Newark Police Department. The department said there does not appear to be an ongoing threat to public safety related to the incident and that Main Street is closed from Library Avenue to Academy Street during the investigation. The university sent an emergency alert asking people to avoid the area. No details had been released on injuries or arrests.

Hezbollah is unlikely to join a war between the United States and Iran if the two countries resume military operations against each other, unless Iran’s leadership faces an existential threat, according to a report by the United Arab Emirates state-owned outlet The National cited by the Jerusalem Post. According to Lebanese security personnel briefed on the group’s activities, Hezbollah spent at least three months preparing for a resumption of hostilities with Israel after receiving an infusion of cash from Iran.

Foreign ministers of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad) voiced “grave concerns” over the use of trade restrictions and other measures they view as economically coercive, without naming the country, and committed to providing over $85 million in technical and financial assistance to improve access to trusted artificial intelligence across the Indo-Pacific, according to Kyodo News. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the group was not “an anti-China or anti-anybody coalition” and that the joint statement addressed behaviors and activities that, he said, were “coming repetitively from one country”.

US President Donald Trump said American forces had knocked out much of Iran’s military. Washington still needs to “take care of” one or two remaining targets, including a suspected underground nuclear complex known as Pickaxe Mountain, according to TRT World. “We’ve knocked out their nuclear. We still have to take care of, I would say, one or two sites, but we can do that in 10 minutes,” Trump told reporters at his Florida residence. “You probably could look at Pickaxe Mountain, and you have to take care of that. We can do that all very quickly.” According to TRT World, the Iranian government has repeatedly denied carrying out nuclear operations at the facility. Trump reiterated that Washington is in no hurry to resume strikes because it has decimated Iran’s armed forces and atomic program.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Saturday that he spoke on the sidelines of the Group of 20 (G20) talks in Atlanta with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov about the possibility of Presidents Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin interacting at next month’s Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit. “We didn’t have a meeting. We spoke,” Rubio said at a press conference after the G20 foreign ministers’ meeting. The conversation dealt “just briefly” with the opportunity for the leaders of the two countries to interact at APEC, according to TASS. Le Monde’s live coverage noted that Trump and Putin could meet in mid-November, according to the top US diplomat.

Hanwha Philly Shipyard secured a US$269 million contract to build a Landing Ship Medium (LSM) for the US Navy and Marine Corps, according to gCaptain. The deal marks a milestone in the South Korean company's push into US naval shipbuilding. Construction is expected to begin in the fourth quarter of 2027, with the program's first vessel scheduled for delivery in 2030.

US President Donald Trump said on Saturday at Mar-a-Lago that Brazilian Senator Flavio Bolsonaro can stay in the United States “as long as he wants.” Trump told reporters he has no plans to meet Bolsonaro, who fled to the US after his election loss, according to the Times of Israel.

The United States Central Command (Centcom) said that as of October 31 its forces had redirected 144 commercial vessels to ensure compliance with the naval blockade against Iran. In a post on X, Centcom said the vessels were redirected “to ensure compliance” and that the George Washington aircraft carrier was supporting enforcement of the blockade, according to Middle East Eye.

US President Donald Trump spoke by phone with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday, after discussing with military commanders options for restarting major combat operations, according to The Wall Street Journal, in a Jerusalem Post report. In Atlanta, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Trump has not made a decision about fresh strikes on Iran, amid stalled peace talks.

The administration of United States (US) President Donald Trump is planning to deport Afghans detained in the US back to their home country via Pakistan, according to court documents obtained by The Associated Press (AP). Among those facing deportation are relatives of Afghans who worked with the US military in its 20-year war against the Taliban, which is back in power, according to NBC News.

The Israeli military has completed preparations for a renewed military confrontation with Iran, according to the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper, in a report published by the Anadolu Agency. The chief of the United States (US) Central Command, Brad Cooper, presented President Donald Trump with options for resuming the attacks, and the decision to return to war remained with Trump as negotiations between Washington and Tehran continued. This week, ten US military transport aircraft arrived at Israeli Air Force bases as part of an airlift delivering military equipment to the region, according to Ynet.

The FBI attributed to North Korea the theft of more than $6 billion in virtual assets from the Binance exchange on or about October 29 and identified the operation as TraderTraitor, saying it had observed the hackers converting the stolen assets primarily into Ethereum, according to the South Korean news agency Yonhap, which published the statement. Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, told the BBC it had covered 90% of the $6.3bn stolen in Thursday’s hack. The remaining 10% are less liquid tokens that may take longer to source in the required amounts, the company added.

An investigation by a Brazilian security agency, revealed by CNN Brasil on Friday, found that a former Mossad agent who became a naturalized US citizen helped Flavio Bolsonaro leave the country in violation of a judicial order, according to the Jerusalem Post, which cites the report. According to the newspaper, the former agent arrived in Brazil on October 19 and accompanied the senator from Brasilia to the border, crossing the Tancredo Neves Bridge between Foz do Iguaçu and Puerto Iguazú in a van; the family then boarded a Gulfstream G400 jet operated by the Argentine airline Baires Fly, which refueled in Guayaquil and landed on Wednesday morning at Opa-locka Executive Airport near Miami. The State Department had said Flavio and his family would be granted US visas before his arrival in Miami. Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes had ordered the senator’s passports seized and barred him from leaving the country, and the Federal Police said it found no official record of his departure at border checkpoints. Brazil’s Foreign Ministry summoned Argentina’s representative to demand clarifications about possible involvement by Javier Milei’s government, the Jerusalem Post reported.

Iran’s retaliatory missile and drone strikes damaged at least 274 structures at 24 US-linked military installations across the Middle East, according to the Tehran Times, citing a Wall Street Journal analysis based on satellite imagery and US officials. Estimated repair costs are as high as 15 billion dollars. The Pentagon has estimated the damage at a minimum of 5 billion dollars, while a separate assessment put the figure as high as 15 billion, and the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) estimated that rebuilding the damaged buildings alone would cost more than 4 billion dollars, the Tehran Times reported.

Iran's Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) secretary, Mohsen Rezaei, said he has studied the US vice president's letter and has not yet replied to it. According to him, no serious decision has been made about a change in the country's nuclear doctrine, though the debate continues, Mehr News, Iran's state media, reported.

G20 foreign ministers ended two days of talks in Atlanta without consensus on key issues, including Russia's war against Ukraine, and without a joint communiqué, according to the South China Morning Post. The group relied on a chairman's statement summarizing the discussions and listing priorities such as energy, food security and freedom of navigation, released by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio after the meetings closed. Rubio said he would not pretend that countries were close to universally accepted solutions to these problems, but that some governments are working together on supply chains and critical minerals.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Saturday that there is growing interest by the international community in facilitating a limited ceasefire in the Black Sea to ensure unfettered energy and grain shipments by Russia and Ukraine, according to Reuters, in a text republished by U.S. News. Turkey submitted proposals to Washington some time ago to ensure the safety of grain shipments through the Black Sea, and Rubio said the US is examining them, according to TASS: “We are examining proposals, for example, that were forwarded to us maybe some weeks ago, maybe a week ago from Turkey in that regard.”

Iran’s Security Council chief Mohsen Rezaei told state media on Saturday that the country is debating whether to maintain its longstanding ban on nuclear weapons if hostilities resume, and that no decision has been taken on any change, according to Middle East Eye. Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Tehran has no plans to hold talks with US officials and dismissed reports suggesting otherwise as unfounded. Araghchi also said Iran had carefully examined a message sent by US Vice President JD Vance to senior Iranian security official Mohsen Rezaei, and that the matter remains under review by the relevant authorities, according to the official Iranian news agency IRNA.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said he spoke briefly with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Atlanta about the possibility of the two countries’ leaders meeting on the sidelines of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) next month, according to TASS. “We spoke just briefly about the opportunity for our leaders to potentially interact at APEC next month,” Rubio said at a press conference following the G20 foreign ministers’ meeting. He said there was no meeting, only a conversation.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the US government was not involved in the preparations for Flávio Bolsonaro’s departure from Brazil, according to G1: “We were not involved in any of the agreements or preparations he made to leave the country. At least, the US government did not directly participate in any of the actions carried out.” Rubio confirmed that President Donald Trump authorized conditional entry (parole) if Flávio arrived at a US point of entry: “The president made clear that, if he arrived in the United States through a point of entry, he would receive conditional entry authorization (parole). And that is what happened.”

Quad foreign ministers expressed “grave concerns” over economic coercion, including through arbitrary export restrictions and non-market policies and practices that result in overcapacity and disrupt global supply chains in critical industries, in the joint statement issued after Saturday’s meeting in Atlanta, according to Reuters. The text also emphasized the “absolute necessity to protect and preserve navigational rights and freedoms in the Strait of Hormuz, the Red Sea, and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait”.

The traditional family photo opening the G20 foreign ministers’ meeting was canceled in the US after countries including Australia and the UK refused to appear beside Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, according to the Guardian. About one-third of the countries signaled they would not appear beside Russian representatives, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio pulled the plug on the photo. “In no case will there be a family photo with European partners and Mr Lavrov together because there is no normality with Russia,” German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Saturday in Atlanta, at the G20 foreign ministers’ meeting, that President Donald Trump has not decided whether to strike Iran. “He hasn’t made a decision. I have no announcement to make in that regard today, nor do we take any of it lightly,” he told reporters.

Top diplomats from the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad) met in Atlanta on Saturday to finalize preparations for next month’s summit in the Philippines, the first in two years, according to the South China Morning Post. Without naming China, the ministers expressed “grave concerns” about overcapacity disrupting global supply chains in critical industries.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei ordered commanders to update the country’s target list to include “all types of tangible and intangible assets belonging to the American-Zionist enemy”, according to France 24. At the meeting with top military commanders, he said that “any level or type of threat must be met with an immediate, impactful and geographically unrestricted response.” US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said at a G20 press conference in Atlanta, Georgia, that Trump has not yet decided on new attacks: “We can achieve military objectives if we seek to. He hasn’t made a decision. I have no announcement in that regard with you today, and nor do we take any of it lightly.” Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said that “currently, there are no plans for meetings with American officials.”

More than 50.5 million early votes have been cast across the US as of Saturday morning, nearly 5 million more than the total early vote in the 2022 midterm elections, according to an analysis by the University of Florida cited by The Guardian. In states that collate party registration, 10.7 million registered Democrats have voted so far, compared with 7.8 million registered Republicans.

The US Embassy in Moscow warned on Saturday of a “credible threat” of a mass-casualty incident at the Tsaritsyno Museum Reserve in the Russian capital, according to the Hindustan Times. Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) said it had received information from the US through established cooperation channels about a possible terrorist attack in Moscow.

Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi described a US effort to open dialogue with Tehran as “a positive step” in an interview with Al Jazeera on Saturday. He said that, in high-level meetings, Iran had studied a letter sent by US Vice President JD Vance, and that Tehran's conditions for reopening the Strait of Hormuz remain clear, with mediators continuing consultations on them. Iran has no plans for direct meetings with US officials, according to TASS.

Hong Kong Telecom (HKT) told the South China Morning Post that the order from the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) requiring it to justify why its authority to provide international and domestic services to and from the country should not be revoked “has been ceased”. The US regulator had moved to revoke the firm's authority to operate, citing national security concerns, according to the newspaper.

Former British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the UK and other European nations must draw closer together as the US becomes a less reliable partner, in his first significant political intervention since leaving office. According to the Evening Standard, he said the change is permanent and not an aberration of the Trump presidency, and that things will not go back to the way they were before.

An analysis by the Wall Street Journal identified 274 damaged structures across 24 installations with an American military presence, according to RT. An unnamed US official told the newspaper that the Pentagon estimates the damage to the bases at a minimum of $5 billion. According to the Pentagon’s latest estimate to Congress, the Iran war has cost $47.1 billion through October 16, excluding base damage.

Nearly 48 million Americans have already cast early ballots in the midterm elections, a strong turnout across several battleground states, according to the University of Florida’s Election Lab, which counted 47,922,669 early votes nationwide by noon on Friday. The figure exceeds the previous midterm record of 45.9 million votes, set before the 2022 election. Among those who have voted, Democrats account for about 44%, compared with 31% Republicans and 25% voters with no party affiliation or registered with minor parties, according to the Election Lab.

Two Iranian fishermen were injured in a drone attack attributed to the American “enemy” on two fishing boats in the Strait of Hormuz on Saturday morning, China’s state-run Xinhua reported. Iran’s state broadcaster IRIB, citing a Hormozgan province official, said the US attacked two fishing boats near Qeshm Island, leaving two fishermen missing and one wounded, Reuters reported.

The commander of the United States (US) Army in the Pacific, General Ronald Clark, said that the 2027 window for a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan remains valid as a readiness benchmark. “The question is, is the window still valid? The answer for us at USARPAC is yes,” he told an industry conference in Hawaii on Tuesday, Breaking Defense reported; according to the commander, US Army Pacific is positioning equipment, materiel and personnel on a rotational basis across the first and second island chains west of the International Date Line, with the goal of being ready by April 2, 2027.

Mojtaba Khamenei met with senior commanders of Iran's armed forces and issued what his office described as “important and strategic orders”, according to the Middle East Eye. He also ordered the army to prepare “an immediate, impactful, and geographically unrestricted response” should its enemies resume attacks, and said that Iran will set the “timing and terms for ending any new conflicts,” according to the Jerusalem Post. The order also directs the Revolutionary Guard to update its target list to place “all tangible and intangible assets” of the US and Israel within reach of the armed forces, according to the newspaper.

Hundreds of residents of Oleshky, a city occupied by Russia, were evacuated after a humanitarian ceasefire mediated by US First Lady Melania Trump, and planes carrying evacuees landed in Gomel, in Belarus, on Saturday morning, according to Russian and Ukrainian authorities cited by the BBC. The local ceasefire began on Tuesday and is due to last through Sunday, as the operation races to deliver food and medicine to the roughly 2,000 residents still in the city, according to AP.

Russia vetoed on Friday the US-backed resolution on Western Sahara, which had the support of 11 of the 15 members of the Security Council, according to Al Jazeera. A rival Russian draft failed to secure the nine votes needed for adoption. The mandate of the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) expires on Saturday unless the council reaches a last-minute agreement. The US text would have affirmed that genuine autonomy under Moroccan sovereignty is “the only feasible solution to negotiate a mutually acceptable solution”, according to the Associated Press (AP), in a text republished by U.S. News.

United States (US) Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Brazilian Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira met on Friday in Atlanta, where both are taking part in a meeting of Group of 20 (G20) foreign ministers. According to people familiar with the matter, they agreed to meet again in the coming weeks, after President Donald Trump’s decision to grant refuge to the country’s defeated right-wing candidate inflamed tensions.

The US approved the sale of 500 Patriot missiles to Ukraine, a critically needed munition for defense against escalating Russian aerial attacks, after Kyiv said deliveries had been delayed. The purchase, estimated at about $2.1 billion, will be covered with funds from Canada, Germany and Norway and with a loan from the European Union, CNN reported.

More than 150 Afghan immigrants are expected to be deported from the United States, in what would be one of the largest single expulsions of Afghans ever organized by the country, the Jerusalem Post reported. Dozens are already detained in Louisiana and the first deportation flight could depart as early as Monday, according to The New York Times, cited by the Jerusalem Post. The removals will take place through Pakistan because Washington lacks diplomatic relations with the Taliban, a US official told Reuters.

Foreign ministers of the Group of 20 (G20) are expected to wrap up two days of talks in Atlanta on Saturday without consensus on critical global security issues, The Hindu reported. Instead of a joint communiqué, the group will rely on a presidency statement summarizing the talks, to be released by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio at the conclusion of the meeting, according to diplomats who attended the meetings, AP News reported.

A federal judge barred the Trump administration on Friday night from threatening or intimidating election officials ahead of next week's midterm elections, NBC News reported. The eight-page order by US District Judge Trina Thompson, based in California, prohibits actions that threaten, intimidate or coerce state or local election officials and workers into halting the processing of ballots from registered voters the administration alleges are ineligible, and runs through November 16.

China's Ministry of Commerce rejected the US Federal Communications Commission's (FCC's) decision to bar device testing in China until 2028, the South China Morning Post reported. In a statement on Friday night, the ministry said the measure seriously harmed the interests of China and other trading partners, undermined the stability of China-US economic and trade relations and disrupted global industrial and supply chains. The FCC on Thursday banned all Chinese laboratories from testing electronic devices such as smartphones and computers destined for the US market.

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.

India’s external affairs minister, S. Jaishankar, met with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Atlanta on Friday to review the progress of bilateral cooperation, according to the Times of India. In a post on X, Jaishankar said he thanked Rubio for his hospitality in Atlanta for the G20 foreign ministers’ meeting and took stock of bilateral cooperation.

US President Donald Trump’s oil and gas holdings rose an average of 43% since the end of 2025, during the eight-month war with Iran, according to the Jerusalem Post, which cites a report by congressional Democrats. His estimated holdings rose from a range of 12.6 million to 46 million at the end of 2025 to between 22.5 million and 81.6 million. Between March, after the war began, and the end of August, Trump’s accounts bought between 4.7 million and 17.5 million in oil and gas stocks, according to the report obtained by CBS News.

Qatari mediators held more than 12 hours of talks in Tehran on Friday to restart direct negotiations between the United States (US) and Iran, Hindustan Times reported. The negotiations are to continue in Doha, Qatar, on Sunday as regional powers seek a diplomatic breakthrough. An official briefed on the talks told Reuters that Qatari mediators returned to Tehran on Friday as part of efforts to reach a deal between the US and Iran.

Nearly 48 million Americans have already cast early ballots in the US midterm elections, a strong turnout across several battleground states, according to G1. The University of Florida Election Lab counted 47,922,669 early votes nationwide by midday last Friday, a figure above the previous record of 45.9 million set before the 2022 vote.

The United States, South Korea and Japan reaffirmed their commitment to the “complete denuclearisation” of North Korea at a meeting on Friday on the sidelines of a Group of 20 (G20) foreign ministers’ gathering in Atlanta. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Hyun and Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi pledged full implementation of Security Council resolutions, according to the US State Department.

Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, praised the “strong decision by the US State Department” but warned that deliveries of the Patriot missiles may begin “only in a few years”, in a post on X early on Saturday. The 500 PAC-3 missiles in the approved sale, estimated at 2.1 billion dollars, are yet to be manufactured, and delivery is not expected until a couple of years into the 2030s.

Hanwha Defense USA has secured a $269-million-dollar deal to construct a medium landing ship for the US Navy and Marine Corps at its Philly Shipyard, according to the Korea Herald. It is the Hanwha Group's first order to build a new US Navy vessel since it acquired Philly Shipyard in Pennsylvania in 2024.

The US military is conducting nightly missions over the Strait of Hormuz to enforce a blockade on Iranian ports along the waterway and protect commercial vessels, according to the Jerusalem Post. The frequency of flight operations has put a strain on aircraft, crew members and the mechanics responsible for maintaining fighter jets, according to officers cited by the Wall Street Journal. The US has 50,000 troops and 20 ships deployed in the Middle East, at a cost of $2 billion to $3 billion a month on munitions, fuel and supplies.

The United States may resume strikes on Iran the day after the midterm elections for Congress, according to the MS NOW network, cited by the Russian agency TASS. According to the sources cited by the network, the US administration informed several Persian Gulf countries that they should prepare for “a short, intense round of strikes as soon as November 4.”

Chinese nationals Liren Lai, 40, and Yuance Chen, 39, were sentenced on Friday to 30 months in prison and three years of supervised release for acting as agents of China in the United States (US), according to the US Department of Justice. According to the department’s release, the two operated under the direction and control of China’s Ministry of State Security in clandestine intelligence activities that included secret cash “dead-drop” payments in exchange for information related to US national security, gathering information about US military personnel and installations, and assisting efforts to recruit inside the US military. The two admitted trying to recruit US service members to spy for Beijing and pleaded guilty to acting as foreign agents without prior notification to the Attorney General, according to The Hindu, which reported they were arrested in California on Friday.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Navy said it had captured intact a US reconnaissance and decoy drone west of the Strait of Hormuz, after taking control of the drone’s guidance and control systems, according to the Iranian agency IRNA. According to the Guard’s statement, the drone’s mission was to identify Iranian air defense systems along the Persian Gulf coast and around the Strait of Hormuz, and analysis of the recovered data indicated it had taken off from the coast of a southern Persian Gulf country.

US President Donald Trump told reporters at the White House on Friday that Iran wants to talk and keeps talking, and that Tehran is struggling to meet its financial obligations to security personnel: “There are talks. They want to talk. They keep talking. They’re not paying their soldiers. They’re not paying their police. They’re in a lot of trouble.” Earlier Friday, Trump told Kansas City radio station KCMO that the military confrontation with Iran was approaching its conclusion, though he did not provide a timetable or explain how an agreement might be reached, Israel National News reported.

The traditional family photo that opens the G20 foreign ministers' meeting was canceled in the United States after Australia, the UK and several countries refused to appear beside Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, The Guardian reported. Secretary of State Marco Rubio pulled the plug after European delegations, the UK and Australia made it known they would boycott or walk out of the ceremonial snapshot. European diplomats refused to stand for an official photo with Lavrov, leading the American hosts to cancel the planned picture, the BBC reported.

The administration of US President Donald Trump approved a proposed $2.1 billion sale of Patriot air defense interceptors for Ukraine on Friday, after Kyiv accused the Pentagon of delaying delivery of the munition, the Associated Press (AP) reported. The State Department approved the potential sale of 500 Patriot air defense interceptor missiles to Ukraine on Friday, CNN reported.

At a press conference after the first day of the G20 foreign ministers’ meeting in Atlanta, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that the Russia-US diesel deal irritates US lawmakers and that Moscow is well aware of it, according to TASS. Lavrov said the sanctions imposed under former US President Joe Biden remain in place and that the current administration has added sanctions on Lukoil and Rosneft.

Stephen Hubbard, 74, a retired Michigan teacher, said on Friday that he only believed he would be freed when he was given new clothes and led to the prison exit, in his first public remarks since his release. He said he had been told many times that he would be released but never trusted what he heard. Trump, who hosted him in the Oval Office, said he had asked Vladimir Putin to free Hubbard and that the United States did not have to release anyone in return. Hubbard was held for more than four years on charges that he fought as a mercenary in Ukraine; his legal team denies the accusations and says he was not involved in any military activity. Putin decided to release him as a gesture of goodwill, according to TASS.

Russia and the United States vetoed each other’s rival Western Sahara resolutions at the Security Council on Friday, leaving the United Nations (UN) peacekeeping mission there without a renewal a day before its mandate expires, according to Reuters, in a text republished by The Star. The US-drafted resolution would have cemented Morocco’s autonomy plan as the only basis for talks and scaled back the military component of the mission. The Russian-drafted resolution, which would have extended the mandate for another year without changes, was vetoed by the United States.

The Iranian Navy’s deputy coordinator said the navy targeted the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier with a strategic cruise missile during the 40-day Ramadan War, according to the Tehran Times. According to him, the vessel halted flight operations for three days after the strike before moving farther away from Iran’s coastline.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Brazilian Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira met in the same room at the G20 foreign ministers’ meeting in Atlanta on Friday, the first time they shared a setting since Flávio Bolsonaro fled to the United States, where the former presidential candidate investigated for corruption went after losing Brazil’s election, according to EFE, in a text republished by Infobae. Rubio and Vieira shared the table at the foreign ministers’ meeting, hosted by the United States, but held no bilateral meeting. According to Brazilian government interlocutors, no bilateral meeting between the two was scheduled, in principle, as UOL reported.

US President Donald Trump said the United States is not lifting restrictions on the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) for now, according to TASS. Asked whether he was considering lifting sanctions on the Russian sovereign fund, Trump said: “Not lifting, or not doing anything.”

Democratic lawmakers in the US pressed Trump to recognize the result of Brazil’s election and criticized his remarks about the vote, in a statement from the Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC) signed by Greg Casar, Ilhan Omar and Jesús García, according to G1. “The partnership between Trump and Bolsonaro to contest the election result must end immediately,” the text says, demanding that the US join the rest of the world in recognizing the result.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Russia has not changed its position during the talks between Russia, the United States and Ukraine in the United Arab Emirates, according to TASS. In the same statement, Lavrov said a compromise cannot extend to fundamental principles upon which a state's existence depends, least of all when the lives of millions hang in the balance.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said the country “learned we are overdependent” on the US, according to DW. Carney said four decades of deeper economic integration had left Canada too reliant on the US, PBS News reported, in an article from the Associated Press.

US President Donald Trump said the United States is investigating whether the attack on Binance was carried out by North Korean hackers, according to G1. Reuters reported that analysts pinned the theft of US$6.3 billion from Binance, the world’s biggest cryptocurrency exchange, on North Korea, in a record theft.

The decline knocked nearly $1 trillion in value off the tech-heavy Nasdaq exchange in one week and erased about $2 trillion in a month, according to The Guardian.

Pentagon officials have asked several North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) countries in recent weeks to tone down their rhetoric regarding the threat posed by Russia, according to Reuters.

The United States Department of State approved the sale of 500 Patriot PAC-3 missiles to Ukraine, in a deal estimated at $2.1 billion, according to TRT World. The purchase would be financed through contributions from Canada, Germany and Norway, channeled via the US JUMPSTART program, TRT World reported.

The United States ordered non-emergency government employees and their family members to leave Saudi Arabia, effective October 23, citing security risks, according to The Jerusalem Post. The order cites Houthi attacks on civilian airports and other critical infrastructure.

Pakistan’s army said it is cautiously optimistic about mediation between Iran and the United States, according to Al Jazeera. Army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir has been to Tehran twice this month, most recently on Monday, alongside Saudi and Turkish officials, Al Jazeera reported.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Navy captured a US MQM-170 spy drone and landed it intact in the western Strait of Hormuz, Press TV reported. The Guard described the action as an offensive electronic warfare operation in which it landed the drone intact, according to Mehr News.

The American hosts canceled the official family photo at the Group of 20 (G20) foreign ministers’ meeting in the United States (US) after European diplomats refused to stand next to Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, the BBC reported. According to the Times of India, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio canceled the traditional group photo after several European officials threatened to boycott or walk out over Russia’s participation.

Brazil’s foreign ministry summoned on Thursday (October 29) Argentina’s chargé d’affaires in Brasília, minister-counselor Emilia Cortés, to demand explanations about the possible involvement of Javier Milei’s government in Senator Flávio Bolsonaro’s flight to the United States (US), with a stopover on Argentine territory. The diplomat was received on the afternoon of the same Thursday by the head of the ministry’s Mercosur Department, João Marcelo Galvão de Queiroz, in Brasília, according to G1. The route began on the night of Tuesday (27), when Flávio and his family entered Argentina after crossing the Tancredo Neves International Bridge, which links Foz do Iguaçu, in Paraná state, to Puerto Iguazú, in Argentina’s Misiones province.

Ukraine has temporarily paused strikes on Russian oil refineries after weeks of pressure from US President Donald Trump, The Wall Street Journal reported, in an article published by Türkiye Today, citing people familiar with the operations. The unofficial pause reportedly began early last week and is expected to last until after the US midterm elections, potentially extending further into November, according to the report. “Our guys tried to be a little more careful during these days. But they do not have an order” not to hit refineries, Zelenskyy told reporters in Kyiv.

US Vice President JD Vance sent a personal letter last week to Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council and a former commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, in which he expressed willingness to meet with him personally to discuss ending the war through negotiations, the Jerusalem Post reported. According to officials cited by Foreign Policy, the letter stressed that the central US interest “is in ensuring Iran does not obtain a nuclear weapon” and described Iran's interest as “rebuilding [its] war- and sanctions-ravaged economy” and “preserving its national sovereignty.” If the two sides agree to meet, Istanbul or the Qatari capital, Doha, would be the most likely locations.

Russian presidential aide Yury Ushakov told Vesti journalist Pavel Zarubin that Moscow and Washington have begun coordinating the exact date for trilateral talks between Russia, the United States (US) and Ukraine in Abu Dhabi and confirmed the meeting will take place in November, TASS reported. Only mid-November had been mentioned before, with no specific dates stated, he added.

Brazil’s foreign minister, Mauro Vieira, is expected to hold a bilateral meeting with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio during the G20 foreign ministers’ meeting in Atlanta, Georgia, on Friday (30), according to G1. It will be the first high-level meeting between Brazil and the United States since Sunday’s elections and since Senator Flávio Bolsonaro fled to the US, and Washington has not yet recognized the result of the Brazilian election, the outlet reported.

The Baires Fly airline says the flight that took Flávio Bolsonaro to the United States was paid for with $150,000 transferred from a company’s account at a US bank to an Argentine bank, according to The Hindu, in an AFP text. The intermediary holds US and Argentine passports, and the company’s head, Luis Grande, declined to reveal his identity. Grande, speaking by phone from Florida, said he was hired by a broker he has known for 10 years who lives in the US: “I was hired by a broker that I’ve known for 10 years, who lives in the United States.” The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal reported that the plane was chartered by Jason Miller, an adviser to Donald Trump, the report added.

China rejected allegations of a Chinese espionage operation targeting Nvidia’s chief executive, Jensen Huang, describing the claims as groundless speculation, the BBC reported. Foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said at a regular media briefing in Beijing that the report was based on groundless speculation and was aimed purely at smearing and slandering China, the South China Morning Post reported: “The relevant report is based on groundless speculation and [is] purely aimed at smearing and slandering China.” Nvidia told the newspaper that “Megaspeed has been no different than many other regional cloud customers” and that “Jensen’s interactions with Ms. Huang are not unusual or unexpected”.

Senator Chris Murphy said he was briefed on the United States (US) plan to restart the war on Iran and called the proposal “insane,” saying it would lead to a “devastating escalation,” according to Middle East Eye. Murphy said the plan developed will lead, in his view, to a prolongation and an escalation of the war that will be devastating for the country’s security interests.

A group of Democratic lawmakers in the United States (US) Congress questioned, in a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the role the Trump administration played in the flight of Senator Flávio Bolsonaro (PL) from Brazil, including the issuance of a visa for him and his family, according to G1. At least 25 Democratic Party lawmakers signed the letter, according to CartaCapital.

Cuba's ambassador to Brazil, Victor Manuel Cairo Palomo, said the Cuban government considers the risk of a US invasion of the island to be real, according to Opera Mundi. The diplomat said the Cuban people are preparing today for a real US invasion and that the Cuban government and the Cuban people cannot ignore US intentions to invade Cuba.

The United States (US) Federal Communications Commission (FCC) plans to vote on November 19 on a proposal to bar China Mobile, China Telecom and China Unicom from direct US number access on national security grounds, according to CNA.

United States (US) President Donald Trump said in an interview with KCMO radio that the conflict between the US and Iran will end very soon, according to Chinese state agency Xinhua. Trump said in the same interview that there must be a guarantee that there will never be a nuclear weapon, according to Al Arabiya.

ExxonMobil earned US$15.4 billion in the quarter, slightly more than double the US$7.5 billion of the year-earlier period, and Chevron's profit was US$9.9 billion, against US$3.5 billion a year earlier, according to AFP, in a text republished by France 24. London-based Shell reported a profit of US$12 billion in the third quarter, up 127% from a year earlier, according to CNN.

Gulf states will have to reconfigure their trillion-dollar defenses given the damage to their economies and the questionable value of US bases in the face of Iranian attack, according to a study by the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) reported by the Guardian. The report cites 4,670 Iranian one-way attack drones and more than 1,400 Iranian ballistic missiles against 12 regional states in the weeks before the April 8 ceasefire, and an estimate cited in the study puts damage to energy infrastructure at as much as US$58 billion.

Deep rifts over the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East are likely to derail unified actions and statements at the two-day meeting of foreign ministers from the world’s 20 largest economies in Atlanta, according to Reuters, in a text republished by US News. The US has not invited South Africa to the ministerial, which takes place from October 30 to 31.

The Texas government announced it has taken control of nine islands on the river border with Mexico, along the Rio Grande between Laredo and McAllen, according to El País. Mexico’s foreign ministry says ownership of the islands is the remit of the International Boundary and Water Commission.

The head of United States Central Command (CENTCOM), Admiral Brad Cooper, briefed President Donald Trump on Thursday on options for renewed attacks on Iran, The Wall Street Journal reported, according to Al Jazeera. The US and Israel have drawn up joint plans to attack Iran after the November 3 midterm elections, The New York Times reported, according to the same Al Jazeera report.

Brazilian Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira arrived in Atlanta on Friday for the G20 foreign ministers' summit, whose meetings will be chaired by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, according to Brasil 247.

Bukele called US President Trump on Tuesday to make sure Trump had no problem with a major military escalation in Haiti, to which the Haitian government has agreed, and was told, “Do what you have to do,” according to sources briefed on the call. El Salvador announced Wednesday it was deploying as many as 2,000 troops to Haiti, a number that could double or triple, according to the same sources.

The foreign ministers of South Korea, the United States (US) and Japan will meet in the US on Friday to discuss Korean Peninsula issues, economic security cooperation and the response to Pyongyang, officials cited by Yonhap said — the discussion covers the North's latest missile launches and closer Pyongyang-Beijing ties following Kim Jong-un's recent visit to China. South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Hyun will meet in Atlanta on Friday with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi, the Korea Herald reported, as Seoul seeks to manage sensitive issues in its alliance with Washington.

Nvidia pushed back on the report about American intelligence agencies surveilling a person close to CEO Jensen Huang as a possible Chinese intelligence asset, saying Singapore-based Megaspeed is just another regional cloud customer, that Huang's contacts with its executives are routine and that the chip-diversion allegations against the company were investigated and debunked last year, a company spokesperson said, as cited by CNBC.

In Atlanta, Marco Rubio will cross paths with Sergei Lavrov, already in Atlanta, according to Russian state media, and talks will address energy and supply-chain challenges, according to a US official cited by France 24; French diplomatic sources say no joint declaration is expected, reflecting divisions among members, according to The National.

Russia will immediately supply more than 300,000 tons of diesel, plus 500,000 tons in November and 1 million tons immediately thereafter, according to the Associated Press (AP), which reports that US sanctions will not apply until April 2027 to diesel loaded onto tankers as of Friday and that Russia confirmed its readiness to supply oil and oil products to American and global markets.

Qatari mediators returned to Tehran on Friday as part of efforts to reach a deal between the US and Iran, an official told Reuters, in a text published by Middle East Eye.

Trump canceled the in-person rallies set for Salina, Kansas, on Saturday, and Dubuque, Iowa, on Sunday — Republican Senator Roger Marshall faces a competitive race in Kansas against Democrat Adam Hamilton, and Trump told reporters he did not feel he had to go to the state. The Republican National Committee announced on Thursday evening that he will instead hold “a large number of tele-rallies” in the closing days of the midterm season.

Pentagon officials have in recent weeks asked several North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) countries to tone down public statements about the threat posed by Russia, according to Reuters, which cites four people familiar with the matter — Pentagon policy chief Elbridge Colby was one of the officials delivering the message, the people said. Asked for comment, a Pentagon official said that “private conversations among allies are just that” and declined to comment on the allegations.

A letter from US Vice President JD Vance to the head of Iran’s National Security Council, Mohsen Rezaei, was sent in a bid to revive peace negotiations, according to Reuters, in an article published by CGTN, which cited the Wall Street Journal and The New York Times. President Donald Trump told reporters the matter was “help with medical supplies and various things” and that Vance asked him what he thought, and he answered: “if you want to do that, that’s okay”.

The US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) said Thursday it will vote on November 19 on a proposal to ban China Mobile, China Telecom, China Unicom and other IP-enabled service providers from direct access, according to Reuters. FCC Chair Brendan Carr said that with the decision the commission will strengthen its first line of defense against bad actors and illegal robocallers, also according to Reuters.

Ukraine’s military has paused its strikes on Russian oil refineries after pressure from US President Donald Trump, according to the Wall Street Journal, which cited people with knowledge of the operations. The unofficial pause is expected to last until after the US midterm elections and potentially deeper into November, according to the Jerusalem Post, which also reported that long-range strike units were told in mid-October that the campaign against refineries was on hold once missions already in motion were completed.

A Russian delegation led by Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov arrived in Atlanta, in the United States, for the G20 foreign ministers’ meeting, according to TASS. The Russian foreign ministry said Lavrov would head the delegation at the G20 ministers’ meeting, according to EFE, in a text republished by swissinfo.ch. The meeting is scheduled for October 30-31 and is a preparatory step for the G20 leaders’ summit in Miami on December 14-15, according to TASS.

María Corina Machado thanked Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio for opening a “floodgate to freedom” with the January 3 action, at a news conference in Caracas, according to Al Jazeera. She said Rubio set out a sequence of events pointing to presidential elections in 2027, according to the BBC. Shortly before her remarks on Thursday, Delcy Rodríguez said elections would be held “with the world as witness,” without setting a date, according to Al Jazeera.

US President Donald Trump said Morocco had named the highway between Tiznit and Dakhla after him, a 1,055 km road in operation since January after a decade of construction; Rabat has not commented on the tribute, according to Al Jazeera. The road links southern Morocco with Mauritania and crosses Western Sahara, a territory the UN classes as non-self-governing, which Rabat calls its southern provinces and which the Polisario Front disputes, according to Le Monde.

United States Vice President JD Vance said Donald Trump will not let the conflict with Iran become a “forever war” and that the US has been involved with Iran “in some form for seven months,” dealing with the country for 47 years. Vance rejected fears of an endless war and said Trump will finish the mission.

10 United States Air Force transport aircraft arrived at Israeli bases in southern Israel as part of a larger Middle East air convoy, according to KAN News, in a text published by The Jerusalem Post. The aircraft came from Fort Bliss in Texas and would carry air defense systems to protect regional assets, according to KAN, and United States Central Command chief Adm. Brad Cooper briefed Trump on military options for Iran, according to The Wall Street Journal, in a text published by The Jerusalem Post. An Israeli source told KAN the United States and Israel are coordinating closely and preparing for whatever decision Trump makes, with no decision yet made.

A bipartisan group in the United States House introduced legislation that would streamline the transfer to Ukraine of certain US-origin munitions through South Korea and other allies, according to The Korea Herald. The bill covers 155-millimeter artillery shells, Excalibur extended-range artillery shells and High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) and Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System (GMLRS) munitions, according to The Korea Herald.

Iranian Parliament speaker and negotiator Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf said progress in negotiations with the United States depends on Washington accepting Tehran’s seven conditions, rejecting the carrot-and-stick approach. According to Middle East Eye, he said the conditions “have been repeatedly and clearly stated to the mediators” and that progress can only be achieved once Iran’s seven conditions have been agreed upon.

Lieutenant General Brett Sylvia admitted to leaking classified information about Ukraine and Iran to two reporters from separate outlets over a one-year period, according to an internal investigation report obtained by Axios, in a text republished by Yahoo News. He failed three polygraph tests about sharing classified material with the press, and the case was referred to the Department of Justice after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth fired him, according to CBS News.

The United States Department of Homeland Security asked Icelandic web hosting company FlokiNET to take down a site with information about tens of thousands of its employees, according to Al Jazeera. In a letter cited by the outlet, the department says the content is live and “places more than 40,000 identifiable individuals at risk of harassment, stalking, and physical harm.”

The Democratic Republic of the Congo’s (DRC) foreign minister told AFP on Thursday that US sanctions on Rwanda were justified, because Kigali had failed to withdraw its troops from Congolese territory as pledged, in an article republished by the Hindustan Times. The United States imposed sanctions on Wednesday on Rwanda’s defense ministry and a financial institution in the country over their alleged ties to the armed group M23 fighting in the DRC.

Israel revoked the electronic travel authorizations of several American rabbis and activists and of Jewish New York politician Brad Lander after the group worked with Palestinians harvesting olives in the West Bank last week, Al Jazeera reported. Emails from Israel’s immigration authority told recipients that their authorizations had been “revoked” following “a change in circumstances in your case”, with no further reason given, according to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.

US envoy Tom Barrack told CNN the sides are “very close” to an agreement on a process aimed at securing a temporary pause in hostilities with Iran, Middle East Eye reported. Qatar, Pakistan and other US allies had brought the sides to that point, and President Donald Trump and his administration were seriously considering “kinetic action”; asked about a possible “short, sharp” military operation against Iran, Barrack said the option remains on the table. Saudi Arabia has asked the Trump administration to “give diplomacy a chance” before a final decision on a strike, two regional sources told the Jerusalem Post, and Riyadh fears the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) could retaliate against Saudi water, electricity and oil and energy infrastructure.

The Pentagon is treating as a suspected hack a spate of mysterious freezer malfunctions that spoiled food at military bases across the United States in August, according to four officials familiar with the matter in a Reuters report published by US News. One of the officials said military investigators were in touch with their French counterparts about a similar cyberattack on commercial freezers that disrupted supermarkets in France earlier this month. Hackers are suspected of tampering with freezer temperatures at six military commissaries — the US Army’s tax-free grocery and household goods stores — causing food to spoil, according to the Hindustan Times.

Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado said on Thursday that the United States suggested holding presidential elections in Venezuela in 2027, according to G1.

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said on Thursday that there had been no progress on the central issues in talks with Israel — a ceasefire, withdrawal of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), border demarcation in southern Lebanon and prisoner releases — a week after the latest round of US-mediated talks, according to the Times of Israel.

ExxonMobil CEO Darren Woods and Chevron upstream president Clay Neff have canceled plans to attend the United Arab Emirates' biggest oil show next week over security concerns, according to sources cited by Reuters and reported by OilPrice.

White House communications adviser Jason Miller confirmed that he was responsible for arranging the private jet used in Senator Flávio Bolsonaro's escape to the United States, after his defeat in Brazil's presidential election, according to Brasil 247. In a report cited by CNN Brasil, The New York Times recorded that the jet was arranged by a White House communications staffer.

Mohamed Sabry Soliman, 46, of Colorado Springs, Colorado, pleaded guilty in federal court to 12 hate-crime charges for using Molotov cocktails to attack members of the group Run for Their Lives and others. According to the US Department of Justice, the attack killed one person and caused permanent and life-threatening injuries to several others, and Soliman admitted that he targeted the group because of the victims’ actual or perceived Israeli national origin and Jewish religion. The Times of Israel described the case as an antisemitic attack on a hostage rally in the United States.

Seven oil tankers carrying an estimated 288,000 tonnes of Russian diesel are now sailing towards the United States, the first phase of a supply deal negotiated between Presidents Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin earlier this month that reverses years of sanctions on Russian oil, according to the Guardian. The newspaper reports it is still uncertain whether the vessels will be able to unload their cargo, amid a political row over the legality of the shipments. The transport is tracked by Greenpeace, which counted seven ships while previous reports had counted three. Putin agreed to supply the US with 1.8 million tonnes of diesel in a deal announced on October 9, starting with 300,000 tonnes immediately, and Trump announced a six-month waiver of existing sanctions to allow the shipments to proceed, according to the Guardian.

Trump met at the White House on Thursday with the top US military commander to review options for attacking Iran, according to the Wall Street Journal, in reporting by G1. Senator Chris Murphy said he had been briefed on the US plan to restart the war on Iran and called the proposal insane, saying it would lead to a devastating escalation, according to the Middle East Eye. He spoke after US media reported on Wednesday that the United States had warned several Gulf Arab countries to be prepared for a short, intense military offensive against Iran after the November 3 midterm elections.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth fired Lieutenant General Brett Sylvia, a senior planner on the Joint Staff, on Thursday over accusations that he leaked classified information to the public, according to officials cited by Reuters, in a text republished by the Italian outlet Internazionale. Sylvia led the Joint Staff’s Directorate for Strategy, Plans and Policy, known inside the military as J5, a key position that helps advise the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Dan Caine. Earl Rasmussen, a retired US Army lieutenant colonel, told Sputnik that the ouster may have come from differences between Sylvia’s position on the war with Iran and that of Secretary Pete Hegseth, rather than from the alleged leak.

US growth accelerated to 3.4% and inflation climbed to 3.6% a few days before the midterm elections, according to Le Monde. The Associated Press assessed that strong growth and inflation paint a mixed picture of the economy days before the vote.

Twelve former officials who quit Joe Biden’s administration between late 2023 and 2024 signed a joint statement titled “Gaza Resignees,” published on Wednesday, saying they had resigned over its “illegal and unconditional support for Israel’s actions in Gaza”. The group calls on candidates for the 2028 Democratic nomination to commit to not hiring any administration official directly responsible for enabling Israel’s military actions in Gaza.

Senator Flavio Bolsonaro landed with his family at Miami-Opa Locka Executive Airport in Florida shortly after 9 a.m. Wednesday, and President Donald Trump’s administration is issuing visas to him and his family, a State Department official told ABC News. In a statement released Wednesday afternoon, he thanked Argentina’s government and Trump for helping him leave Brazil and said: “I did not flee Brazil.” He also claimed, without any evidence, that there was fraud in Sunday’s election. Trump told reporters that “we gave him a pass to come into the country.”

The UN General Assembly called for the 34th consecutive year for an end to the US economic, commercial and financial embargo on Cuba in a vote on Wednesday, with the weakest backing for the resolution in two decades. The text passed by 130 votes in favor to 17 against, with 25 abstentions; last year it was adopted by 165 votes to seven, with 12 abstentions. India voted in favor of the resolution, according to The Hindu.

President Donald Trump called the result of Brazil's presidential election a “disgrace” and declined to say whether he recognized Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva's victory over Flávio Bolsonaro, according to TRT World. The remarks came a day after Flávio Bolsonaro arrived in the United States and declared himself Brazil's rightful leader despite losing Sunday's runoff. Lula secured 51.8 percent of the vote, according to TRT World.

The United States banned all Chinese laboratories from testing electronic devices destined for the US market, according to the South China Morning Post (SCMP), just weeks before President Donald Trump is due to meet Chinese leader Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Shenzhen. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) voted to bar Chinese labs from testing devices such as smartphones, cameras and computers for use in the US, according to Reuters, in an article republished by KWSN. FCC Chair Brendan Carr said that in 2025, 82% of electronics were tested in China, which does not have an agreement with the US, also according to Reuters.

The United States and Japan agreed to build a final assembly and inspection plant for the Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile (AMRAAM) in Japan, NPR reported. The announcement was made by Japanese Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi at a news conference on Wednesday night in the central Philippine province of Cebu, where he met US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. The missiles to be produced under the joint effort called Operation Supercharge are essential for F-35 fighter jets, Koizumi said.

Iran received a letter from US Vice President JD Vance and has not yet responded to it, the semi-official Tasnim news agency said on Thursday, according to Middle East Eye. The letter was sent to Iranian security chief Mohsen Rezaei, as The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday, in a bid to revive peace negotiations. Tehran insists that its seven conditions be met by the United States and says that “any position that contradicts this framework is unacceptable,” the agency added.

The US Treasury sanctioned Rwanda's Ministry of Defense and the Zigama Credit and Savings Society, a Rwandan financial institution that, according to the department, played a key role in facilitating Rwanda's support for the March 23 Movement (M23) and its political wing, the Congo River Alliance. According to the BBC, the Treasury says the Rwandan ministry directed thousands of troops to fight alongside M23 in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), providing weapons, equipment, logistics and training.

A Kremlin spokesperson told Al Jazeera that Moscow is ready to mediate between Iran and the United States if requested, according to Middle East Eye. The same spokesperson said Russia is willing to receive Iran's enriched uranium if the material remains a sticking point in negotiations.

Israel has asked the United States for permission to strike previously untargeted energy facilities in Iran if the military campaign against Tehran resumes, according to state broadcaster Kan, cited by TASS. On Wednesday, Donald Trump told Republican supporters in Ohio, ahead of the US midterm congressional elections, that he intended to end the war against Iran very quickly.

China could launch its fourth aircraft carrier as early as next year, which US researchers believe would be the country’s first with a nuclear-powered system, according to the South China Morning Post (SCMP).

The US economy grew at a 3.4% annual pace from July through September, accelerating from the second quarter on strong consumer spending and investment in artificial intelligence, according to a preliminary Commerce Department estimate reported by AP News. Consumer spending rose at a 3.8% clip in the quarter, and business investment was up sharply, reflecting the AI boom, AP reported.

A Reuters investigation identified more than 5,000 agencies with the MOD prefix, for the Ministry of Defense, that form a financial and military machine, in a text republished by Al Arabiya. The secret network of military agencies, with global reach, imported at least $2 billion in hardware, explosives and heavy-duty trucks since January 2025, evading the US naval blockade and Western sanctions, according to the agency.

Donald Trump reiterated that he will not get involved in Flávio Bolsonaro’s case after his escape from Brazil. Flávio’s attempt to present himself as the true elected president of Brazil caused discomfort behind the scenes in the United States government, according to Brasil 247. In Italy, deputy Angelo Bonelli, of the Europa Verde party, asked the Foreign and Interior ministries for explanations about the Italian citizenships of Flávio, Eduardo and Carlos Bolsonaro.

In Truth Social posts on Wednesday, Donald Trump called for Mary Peltola and Daniel J. Sullivan Jr. to be removed from the Alaska ballot and prosecuted, accusing both of election fraud, Al Jazeera reported. The demand followed a New York Times investigation into efforts by people linked to Democrat Mary Peltola’s campaign to recruit candidates who could draw votes from Republican Senator Dan Sullivan, according to Al Jazeera. Peltola’s campaign and the Democratic campaign committee denied recruiting candidates.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said it brought down a US MQM-170 spy drone intact in an offensive electronic warfare operation west of the Strait of Hormuz, according to the Mehr news agency. In the Guard’s account, the drone’s mission was to conduct reconnaissance of Iran’s air defense systems along the Persian Gulf coastline and the Strait of Hormuz.

The Pentagon is treating the spate of mysterious freezer malfunctions that spoiled food at military bases across the United States in August as a suspected hack, according to four officials familiar with the matter who spoke to Reuters. US military investigators are in touch with their French counterparts about a similar cyberattack on commercial freezers that disrupted supermarkets in France earlier this month, according to one of those officials.

Australia’s Defense Ministry has approached Washington about cost and delivery timelines for the US Marine Corps’ Medium Range Intercept Capability, which uses the SkyHunter, a US-built version of the Iron Dome’s Tamir interceptor, according to the Jerusalem Post. A tender issued in mid-October wants a “proven” off-the-shelf system selected by the end of next year, followed by a live firing during Exercise Talisman Sabre by 2029.

Agence France-Presse (AFP) identified major construction work near the runway of Taura air base, in Ecuador, about 20 American military flights between June and mid-October and documents mentioning the presence of United States troops. The expansion comes less than a year after Ecuadorians rejected the installation of foreign military bases in the country in a referendum.

US forces in the Middle East are prepared to launch major military operations against Iran within 96 hours of receiving an order from President Donald Trump, according to two officials cited by CNN, and one official said it “will be a big effort”.

Vice President Vance wrote to Mohsen Rezaei to discuss the prospect of a peace deal with Iran, and Brent fell 1.1% to $114.10 while WTI dropped 1.3% to $101.45, according to Reuters.

The leak site Distributed Denial of Secrets released data on more than 40,000 Department of Homeland Security employees, including details about officials working in sensitive fields such as surveillance and human intelligence, according to the Jerusalem Post. The data include job titles and email groups that show which agents were assigned to special operations, surveillance jobs, computer forensics and undercover work, according to Reuters.

Barack Obama criticized Donald Trump’s handling of the war with Iran, saying allies and bases have been attacked, Americans have been killed and hundreds have been wounded. According to the former president, the US has run down its missile stock, making the country more vulnerable, and Iran now has veto power over the Strait of Hormuz. Obama also linked the rise in oil and diesel prices to the conflict.

The United Nations (UN) General Assembly adopted by 130 votes to 17, with 25 abstentions, on Wednesday, a resolution calling for an end to the US economic, commercial and financial embargo on Cuba, according to the Hindustan Times. India voted in favor and said it hopes the embargo will be lifted at the earliest so that Cubans can participate more fully in international cooperation, according to the same outlet.

Trilateral talks on Ukraine in Abu Dhabi, with representatives of Russia, Ukraine and the United States, will take place after November 4, and the exact date has yet to be determined, Kremlin aide Yury Ushakov told reporters, according to the TASS news agency. The Kremlin is ready to resume the format after November 4, when Russia celebrates National Unity Day, according to the Kyiv Independent.

Lieutenant General Brett Sylvia was removed as head of strategy, plans and policy on the Joint Chiefs of Staff, a post known in military circles as the J5, under US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. He is the second general ousted from the J5 under Hegseth, according to the Associated Press (AP). The dismissal comes as Donald Trump weighs new strikes on Iran, according to the South China Morning Post.

The Savannah River Site near Aiken declared a Site Area Emergency in the late afternoon of Wednesday the 28th, after a fire was reported at the Savannah River National Laboratory. The fire has since been extinguished and no contamination was reported outside the affected facility, according to the site’s own statement. Savannah River is a large Department of Energy nuclear site in South Carolina, in the United States.

Donald Trump said he intends to rename the Strait of Hormuz the Trump Strait, at a Republican rally in Ohio, in the United States, ahead of the midterms, according to TASS. He compared the idea to renaming the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America and said the new name would come “at some point”.

The Pentagon's watchdog declined a bipartisan request by nine senators to open an investigation into the slowdown of Starshield, SpaceX's military-grade system, in Ukraine, according to a letter obtained by CNN. Inspector General Platte Moring said in a letter dated Tuesday that the senators' questions about the slowdowns and their impacts should be directed to the US Air Force and Space Force. The request, led by Republican Thom Tillis and Democrat Jeanne Shaheen, also covered commercial-grade Starlink and asked for an “immediate investigation” into the disruptions to both systems in Ukraine.

DeepSeek and Moonshot AI, from China, relied heavily on outputs from OpenAI's GPT-6 Astra model, from the United States, to train their latest models, according to The Information. The beneficiaries were Moonshot's Kimi K3.1 Pro, released last week, and DeepSeek's upgraded V4.1-Flash 1017, launched on October 17. In a September 30 blog post, OpenAI said it had linked a core part of a distillation campaign that began in July to individuals associated with Moonshot AI.

US officials told Middle East countries and regional allies to be prepared for potential renewed military action against Iran after the November 3 midterm elections — as well as for the possibility that Iran will attempt to retaliate against them, according to two diplomats briefed on the matter who spoke to the AP. Donald Trump has not made a final decision on whether to carry out new strikes, but has repeatedly said he is weighing ordering new military action once the elections are over. The allies were also urged to take precautionary measures in anticipation that Iran's response will include retaliatory strikes on energy facilities and other crucial infrastructure.

A federal judge rejected a request from the United States government to stop California from processing the ballots of up to 20,000 people over allegations they are likely noncitizens, warning it would “wreak havoc” on the midterm elections, according to the AP. In the ruling, the judge wrote that eroded trust in democracy is irreparable, that once a vote is segregated, lasting harm has occurred and that democracy is in danger if the Executive can discount votes because of unproven allegations. The Justice Department said it would immediately appeal the decision.

Regional mediators led by Qatar are working to convince Iran to allow UN inspectors to return to its bombed nuclear sites in return for some sanctions relief from the US, according to Axios. The mediators are trying to reach a diplomatic deal to restart negotiations between the US and Iran and prevent the resumption of war after the US midterm elections, according to TASS.

Volodymyr Zelensky called the ceasefire in force since Tuesday morning in Oleshky, in Kherson Oblast an “immense success,” according to Le Monde, and called for a meeting between Russia, Ukraine and the United States in November. The local ceasefire has passed 30 hours without a single incident, according to The Guardian.

The United States (US) State Department ordered the departure of non-essential staff and family members from the embassy in Riyadh, amid intensifying Houthi strikes on Saudi Arabia. The move was attributed to growing hostilities by the Iranian-supported Houthis, including attacks on civilian airports and critical infrastructure causing casualties and travel disruptions, according to spokesman Tommy Pigott.

US Vice President JD Vance sent a letter to the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, Mohsen Rezaee, in an effort to restart peace talks, according to US officials and people familiar with the matter who spoke to the Wall Street Journal and were cited by Middle East Eye. Rezaee is a former commander of the Revolutionary Guards. According to LaPresse, which also relays the WSJ report, the letter was sent at the behest of President Donald Trump, who was aware of the initiative.

Alvin Hellerstein, the US federal judge handling the case against Venezuela’s ousted president Nicolás Maduro, has died at 92, the federal court for the Southern District of New York confirmed, according to Le Monde. Maduro’s trial had been due to open on July 1, 2027. Hellerstein was one of the oldest US federal judges, and questions had been raised about whether he was the right judge to preside over what could be a prolonged trial of Maduro on drug-trafficking charges, according to the South China Morning Post.

The United Nations General Assembly approved on Wednesday a resolution calling for an end to the US economic embargo against Cuba, with 130 votes in favor, 17 against and 25 abstentions, according to Opera Mundi. In 2025, the text got 165 votes in favor, seven against and 12 abstentions; the largest backing had been in 2017, when 191 countries supported it. Cuba’s ambassador to Brazil, Victor Cairo, said the rise in opposing votes and abstentions should not be read as a loss of support for the country, according to Brasil de Fato.

The Federal Reserve held its benchmark rate at a range of 3.75% to 4.00% on a 10-2 vote in the committee, according to The Hindu. The two members who dissented, Governor Lisa Cook and Cleveland Fed President Beth Hammack, called for an immediate 0.25-percentage-point rate hike. The decision came six days before the midterm elections, amid an affordability crisis fueled by persistent inflation, according to El País.

The United States on Wednesday banned imports from three Chinese genomics companies over their alleged roles in enabling the forced labor of Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities in China’s Xinjiang region, according to Reuters, in a text republished by Investing.com. BGI Genomics, MGI Tech and Shenzhen BGI Technology, which the US says is also known as the BGI Group, were added to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act Entity List, according to the Department of Homeland Security.

The United States warned several Gulf Arab countries to be prepared for a short, intense military offensive against Iran after the November 3 midterm elections, according to The Wall Street Journal, cited by Middle East Eye. US forces have been restocking their munitions in the region, and bomber aircraft and jet fighters are preparing for attacks, officials told the newspaper.

Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio meet on Friday (30) and Saturday (31) in Atlanta, on the sidelines of the G20 foreign ministers meeting chaired this year by the United States, according to G1. The State Department has said it will grant visas to Flávio Bolsonaro and his family and allow them to enter the country, after he left Brazil following his defeat in the presidential election.

The Brasil 247 blog says US Secretary of State Marco Rubio named the logistical movement Operation Alba, which took Flávio Bolsonaro out of Brazil, via Argentina, to Miami, where he arrived with his wife and two daughters. According to the Argentine newspaper La Nación, cited by the blog, Milei's strategist Santiago Caputo was in the province of Misiones when the private aircraft departed.

US President Donald Trump wants an Israeli government without ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, American sources told the Walla news site, in a report published by the Jerusalem Post. According to the same sources, Trump believes settler violence is undermining his regional vision and making it harder to implement. Israel's President Isaac Herzog called for everything possible to be done to avoid another round of elections, according to The Hindu. With more than 85% of ballots counted, Netanyahu's bloc was slightly ahead but still short of a majority, the newspaper reported.

The United States advised vessels to refrain from making non-essential transits through the Gulf of Oman and the Strait of Hormuz to avoid delays, according to Sputnik. The command recommended that crews be prepared to change course or stop at the direction of US forces and to have the necessary documents ready for inspection. The document said neutral vessels, carrying neutral cargo or in ballast, between neutral ports in the Gulf of Oman and the Strait of Hormuz may be subject to questioning, visit, and search to confirm their intentions regarding the blockade.

The UN General Assembly votes on Wednesday (28) on the resolution calling for an end to the US economic, commercial and financial blockade of Cuba, the 34th time the text has been taken up since 1992, according to Brasil de Fato. Last year the resolution passed with 165 votes in favor, 7 against and 12 abstentions. Cuba's president wrote on social media that majority international support for Cuba “became evident in the condemnation of the blockade”, according to Opera Mundi.

The plane carrying Senator Flávio Bolsonaro and his family landed in Miami after leaving Guayaquil, Ecuador, according to Brasil 247. The Guardian, tracking the trip, reported that the jet had left Guayaquil for Florida, with arrival expected mid-morning on Wednesday. Before the landing, Donald Trump said the family were “fine people” and that “the election was very strange,” adding that he thought it was “terrible,” as he returned from a campaign event in Texas.

The Argentine government confirmed that Senator Flávio Bolsonaro crossed the Brazilian border on the night of Tuesday, October 27 and boarded a private plane bound for Ecuador, according to Opera Mundi. Forty minutes later, at 11:30 p.m., the senator, his wife and their two daughters boarded a Gulfstream G400 from Baires Fly in Puerto Iguazú, with Guayaquil listed as the destination, according to Brasil de Fato. From Guayaquil, the jet took off at 6:22 a.m. Brasília time, with an expected arrival at the executive airport in Opa-locka, Miami, around 10:40 a.m., according to flight-tracking site FlightAware, cited by Brasil de Fato.

The defense chiefs of Japan and the United States agreed to boost cooperation against cyberattacks, according to Kyodo News.

The United States is moving a Patriot air and missile defense system from Texas to the Middle East as Washington and Israel prepare for a possible new round of heavy combat operations against Iran after the November 3 midterm elections, according to The Wall Street Journal, cited by The Jerusalem Post. The Wall Street Journal also reported that Washington had warned several Gulf Arab countries to prepare for a short, intense military campaign against Iran after the midterms, according to people briefed on the conversations.

Qatari mediators presented Iran with a new draft deal on Sunday to end the war with the US and Israel, and Tehran is expected to send a response by the end of the week, an official briefed on the negotiations said on Wednesday, according to Reuters, in a text republished by Al Arabiya English. The draft sets a seven-day timeline addressing both Tehran’s and Washington’s concerns and lays out daily confidence-building steps that each side must take, the official said.

Indian officials have been more direct than ever in recent weeks in criticizing the Trump administration, amid setbacks to bilateral ties, according to Al Jazeera — far from endorsing Trump ahead of the US midterm elections.

US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday (27) that he will respect the midterm election results “if the voting is honest”, according to G1. Asked by a reporter on his way to rallies in Texas whether he would respect any outcome, he replied: “Yes, I will respect it, if they are honest elections.” Polls indicate the Republican Party risks losing control of at least one house of Congress.

Japan's Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi told US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth that Japan plans to boost “denial defense”, according to Kyodo News. In the meeting, the two discussed munitions production and the strategy the two governments call “deterrence through denial”, on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) defense chiefs' summit in the Philippines, according to the Japan Times.

British prosecutors said they had charged two British nationals under the National Security Act over an incident last month at the RAF Fairford airbase, and police say the two are suspected of assisting Iran, according to CNN. The base had been used by US B-1 bombers to carry out strikes on Iran, and the aircraft were withdrawn on security grounds shortly after five men were arrested outside the base in the early hours of September 27.

The United States has told several Gulf Arab countries to be prepared for a short, intense military campaign after the midterm elections, according to people briefed on the conversations, the Hindustan Times reported. The newspaper also cited new signs that the American and Israeli militaries are preparing a potential wave of strikes to muscle Tehran to the negotiating table.

Police in Brazil canceled the passports of Flávio Bolsonaro after he failed to comply with an order to hand over the documents, as part of an investigation into money laundering that he denies, according to the BBC. On Monday, the Supreme Court had ordered him to hand the passports to police within 24 hours. A senior State Department official said the Trump administration will issue visas to the senator and his family and allow them to enter the country, after news outlets reported that he fled Brazil after losing the presidential election, according to Al Jazeera.

The Israeli firm Discover-Tech concentrated ad spending in markets with no commercial appeal and was the top bidder for ads targeting Starlink users in more than 100 countries, according to the Russian network RT, citing researchers at TrendAI, a unit of Japan's Trend Micro — and the researchers conclude the operation was tracking infrastructure, not commercial advertising, but with no proof of infection of Starlink users.

The European Union (EU) is discussing strengthening its own capabilities and reducing dependence on the US after the Starlink slowdown in Ukraine, a topic at the Oct. 15–16 summit, according to the Russian agency TASS, citing sources — and according to those sources, cited by Bloomberg via TASS, such changes would take years and the realistic way out would be to strengthen Europe's role within structures such as the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

Donald Trump announced the end of Biden-era methane rules to save consumers and producers US$45 billion, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP), targeting the Super Emitter Program and rules for marginal wells and flaring of associated gas, and said the change unlocks 210 million barrels of oil, according to the Associated Press (AP).

The US military has already spent over US$47 billion on the war in Iran, more than 25 percent above the July estimate, according to Pentagon data obtained by Reuters.

Donald Trump showed off at a rally in Corpus Christi a tanker he claimed carried one million barrels of Venezuelan oil, calling the deal the greatest oil victory in history, according to the British newspaper The Guardian, and suggested Venezuela could one day become the 51st US state, the paper also reports. According to Reuters, Trump said he will visit the ship in Texas with the first oil under the deal made after deposing the country's former leader.

A grand jury in Washington rejected prosecutors' request to return an indictment charging Cassidy Hutchinson, people said, speaking to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss the case, according to The Guardian. Details of the prosecutors' allegations against her were not immediately clear, but Republican lawmakers had accused her of lying under oath in her 2022 testimony about Trump's behavior on January 6, the newspaper reported.

The 2027 US defence bill, covering more than US$1 trillion in proposed defence spending, will be one of the most closely watched pieces of legislation when Congress returns after the midterm elections, according to the South China Morning Post (SCMP). The House of Representatives passed its version, the National Defense Authorisation Act (NDAA), in July. The bill faces a tougher path in the Senate, where a July procedural vote to begin consideration failed after Democrats objected to US President Donald Trump’s military actions involving Iran.

The website of the US Federal Election Commission (FEC) has been targeted by a hacker or hackers, disrupting the agency’s electronic filings system a week before the November 3 elections, according to an email seen by Reuters and published in a text republished by the Denver Gazette. In a statement, the FEC said that “at this time, the FEC’s electronic filing system is currently offline and our IT staff are actively working to restore service.”

The State Department will grant visas to Flávio Bolsonaro and his family and allow them into the country, a senior State Department official told the Associated Press (AP), after the senator’s weekend loss to incumbent Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Earlier, Reuters and The New York Times reported, citing anonymous sources, that he had left Brazil for the United States — a case under investigation by the Federal Police (PF) —, and the Trump administration has not said whether the senator is already on American soil.

US Southern Command (Southcom) said it killed five “narcoterrorists” in a strike on an alleged drug-smuggling boat in the eastern Pacific on Tuesday, saying that “confirmed intelligence revealed the vessel’s active involvement in drug trafficking,” according to G1. At least 235 people have been killed in strikes on boats in the Caribbean Sea and the eastern Pacific, according to an AFP tally cited by G1. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk called on the United States to halt the strikes and cited the “extrajudicial execution of people on board these vessels”, regardless of the alleged criminal conduct against them.

Senator Flávio Bolsonaro left Brazil for the United States after losing the October 25 election and refusing to comply with a Supreme Court order to hand over his passports, according to two sources cited by The Hindu. Donald Trump’s government is aware of the trip and will grant the senator asylum, according to Folha de S.Paulo, as cited by Opera Mundi.

A US export licence allows Firebird to ship 45,000 Nvidia Grace Blackwell graphics processing units (GPUs) to Kazakhstan, according to Nvidia. OilPrice reports that the chips are bound for Ekibastuz.

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.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Monday that the Trump administration told Venezuela's interim authorities “weeks and weeks ago” that opposition leader María Corina Machado should be allowed to return as the country moves ahead with preparing for elections next year, according to AP, in a text published by the Orlando Sentinel. Rubio told reporters on a call that the government of acting President Delcy Rodríguez replied to the US that Machado was free to enter the country. Machado returned to Venezuela over the weekend.

Senator Chris Van Hollen called for accountability for nine US citizens killed by Israeli settlers or forces in the occupied West Bank, according to TRT World — Van Hollen renewed his call for accountability for nine Americans killed by Israel in the occupied West Bank since 2022, according to Anadolu.

US artificial intelligence (AI) company Anthropic publicly filed its prospectus for an initial public offering (IPO) on Monday, which could become the largest stock market debut in history, according to CGTN — revenue reached US$ 16.29 billion in the first half of 2026, up from US$ 1.16 billion year on year, with a net loss of US$ 80.7 billion in the half, of which US$ 72.4 billion came from changes in the fair value of convertible notes.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said talks had slightly intensified and any progress was because the US was coming closer to the Canadian position — Donald Trump imposed 50% tariffs on roughly US$ 20 billion in Canadian goods after Canada rejected the terms in August, according to The Hindu.

Donald Trump described the summer ceasefire with Iran as a waste of time, according to TASS. On Monday he declared that past ceasefires with Iran were ineffective, brushing aside previous efforts to de-escalate tensions. The US-Iran ceasefire took effect in April and was later formalized and extended under the 60-day Islamabad Memorandum signed in June, before collapsing in July.

US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer warned that a $3.4 billion European Investment Bank loan to Airbus could jeopardize a tariff truce between Washington and Brussels, according to France 24. Greer said his office had received no details about the financing, announced in June, and urged the European Union to resolve the matter quickly.

A localized ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine took effect early Tuesday ahead of a humanitarian mission in Oleshky brokered by US first lady Melania Trump, according to AP. The local pause in fighting started at 3 a.m. to allow an aid mission into the Russian-occupied town in southern Ukraine later this week. According to the UN, up to 2,000 people are stranded in Oleshky with dwindling food and medicine and are unable to leave because of explosive mines and drone attacks in the area. In a Telegram statement, Russia’s defence ministry said it had stopped firing toward the Ukrainian city of Kherson at 04:00 Moscow time (01:00 GMT) in preparation for the humanitarian operation, the BBC reported.

The Kadena air base in Okinawa has banned BYD vehicles, including privately owned cars, taxis and delivery vehicles, according to The Guardian. A spokesperson for US forces in Japan said the vehicles present “an unacceptable and unmitigable risk to our personnel and our mission”. In June the Pentagon added BYD to a list of 188 Chinese firms it believes have ties to the military, drawing a protest from Beijing.

The US Department of Justice asked the state of Washington to set aside any ballots received from more than 400 people it suspects of registering without US citizenship, according to AP News. The department says it identified 1,500 votes cast by those people in prior elections, and the timing of the request — one week before the General Election — was described as intended to cast unfounded suspicion on the results, according to NBC News.

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.

Donald Trump said on Monday that Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva's win over Flávio Bolsonaro “looked like another rigged election”, according to the Korea Herald. The Liberal Party (PL) later the same day said it acknowledged the runoff result in a statement signed by Valdemar Costa Neto, and fewer than 35,000 votes, about 0.03% of the total, were cast in the extra two hours of voting ordered by the Supreme Court, according to an analysis by Insper professor Pedro Burgos.

A US appeals court ruled on Monday against Donald Trump’s Justice Department in a major voting dispute ahead of the midterm elections, denying a request to block California from counting mail ballots from people on a list of more than 20,000 registered voters, the Guardian reported. On Friday, at least 18 counties across California received letters demanding local election officials set aside and verify those ballots.

Donald Trump offered $1 million to anyone reporting voter fraud in past elections or the upcoming 2026 midterms: “Anybody reporting Voter Fraud in the past Elections, or the upcoming 2026 Midterm Election, will be paid $1,000,000 upon the arrest and conviction of those that created the Fraud!” the Guardian reported. The president later reiterated the offer to reporters before boarding Air Force One for a campaign rally in Mississippi.

US consumers are paying more than anyone in the world for the jump in fuel prices caused by the supply disruptions resulting from the US war on Iran, according to Reuters. A study by the Finland-based nonprofit Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air estimates US consumers have paid an average of $471 more for higher fuel prices since the war started on February 28.

Judge Jesse Furman ruled that the Trump administration overstepped the boundaries of executive authority when it fired federal prosecutor Maurene Comey without cause, Al Jazeera reported. Furman granted her back pay from her firing on July 16, 2025, through December and said she is entitled to “retroactive reinstatement” for that period. The ruling came hours before court documents in the new case against her father, James Comey, became public, Le Monde reported.

The US Department of Justice has accused former Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) director James Comey of knowingly sharing information related to US national defense with a person unauthorized to receive it in October 2016, while he ran the agency, Le Monde reported. It is the third legal proceeding against Comey in just over a year. “Nothing’s changed with me. I’m still innocent, and I’m still not afraid of these people, and I still believe in the independent federal judiciary,” he told Al Jazeera.

Six citizens sued Donald Trump on Monday, arguing that banning journalists from the White House violates the public's right to independent news. The suit argues that when Trump bans news organizations from White House premises, it is not only their rights that are violated. Unlike previous legal action against the president, the plaintiffs are ordinary citizens, shifting the focus from news gatherers to news consumers and implying a much larger pool of stakeholders, according to PBS.

Qatar is working on an agreement between the United States and Iran under which both sides would make mutual concessions within five days, according to The New York Times, cited by Sputnik, which heard from diplomatic sources. Under the outline, Iran would reopen the Strait of Hormuz to commercial shipping and the United States would reportedly lift its naval blockade of Iranian ports. The main obstacle is deciding exactly when each side makes its concessions.

In the first trading session after Lula's runoff victory, Brazil's currency dropped 12 percent against the dollar and the stock exchange halted trading for 30 minutes as the Bovespa index fell 10 percent from its previous close, triggering a circuit-breaker. Bovespa futures tumbled nearly 15 percent, according to Al Jazeera. Donald Trump said the election in Brazil “looked more like a fraudulent election”, without presenting any evidence of irregularities.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is considering adding an economic espionage charge against Abdulrahman Alfozan, a Saudi former OpenAI engineer accused of secretly recording conversations in an executive conference room at the company, according to a law-enforcement official who spoke to The Wall Street Journal, as cited by Middle East Eye. The probe examines whether Alfozan may have stolen information from the company to offer to the Saudi government, even if he was not recruited to do so, and the investigation may not lead to new charges.

Microsoft is offering voluntary buyouts to about 60,000 employees, roughly a quarter of its workforce, the company said on Monday, as it seeks to cut costs while pouring money into artificial intelligence, according to AFP. Staff on select teams in the United States, Canada, India and Britain at vice president level and below are eligible, a Microsoft spokesperson said, while some groups of employees, including some working on data centers, sales and marketing, are excluded.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Kyiv has been waiting nearly a month for US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to sign off on missiles for Patriot and NASAMS air defence systems. He said he ordered his team to raise the matter with Washington again.

High-level delegations from Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Turkey were in Tehran on Monday for meetings with Iranian authorities, in an attempt to avert renewed fighting between Iran, Israel and the United States, according to the Associated Press (AP), in a text republished by the Times Herald. Saudi Defense Minister Khalid bin Salman, Pakistani army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir and the head of Turkey’s intelligence service, Ibrahim Kalin, were to meet Iran’s top security officials and negotiators to push for a deal between Tehran and Washington. The war in Yemen and strikes by Iran-backed Houthi rebels against Saudi Arabia were also topics of the talks, according to AP, in a text republished by Bay News 9.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pushed US President Donald Trump to carry out a joint strike on Iran before the Israeli election, and Trump did not give the green light, according to CNN, in an account reproduced by Israel Hayom. Netanyahu’s office rejected the report and called it fake news, according to Israel National News.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said the American side is not serious about negotiations, speaking at his weekly news conference, according to TRT World, which cited the state-run IRNA news agency.

The US Air Force combat wing at Kadena Air Base in Japan’s Okinawa Prefecture has banned vehicles made by China’s automaker BYD from the facility over security concerns, Kyodo News reported Monday. “These vehicles present an unacceptable and unmitigable risk to our personnel and our mission,” Kadena Air Base spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Alli Stormer told Reuters, in text republished by eletric-vehicles.com.

US forces are prepared to launch a major attack against Iran within 96 hours of receiving the order from President Donald Trump, two US officials told CNN on Sunday, according to The Jerusalem Post; Israel has been preparing for possibly striking Iran, as well as lobbying the US to participate in the strikes, a source briefed on the matter told CNN, also according to The Jerusalem Post.

The US and China are forming their own AI blocs and other countries are maneuvering to harness both without being alienated, with the two leading AI powers forming their own blocs, according to the Associated Press, in a text republished by US News; the dilemma is choosing between the most advanced US chips and technologies or more affordable, open-source Chinese systems; Kazakhstan joined both sides, with AI minister Zhaslan Madiyev visiting Washington in June and heading to Shanghai for the signing ceremony that made it a founding member of the Chinese initiative.

Donald Trump said he has a decision to make on Iran: “finish it off, which would be very easy to do, or make a deal”, the Hindustan Times reported. The president said every Iranian nuclear site is under watch and that if there is any movement at the site, the United States knows exactly what to do: “but there won’t be”.

Donald Trump compared Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed to the 9/11 attackers at a rally in Michigan on Sunday and said Democrats would let “violent anti-American terrorists” into the United States, Reuters reported, in a text republished by The Hindu. The president told the rally he was there to keep “a jihadist, Muslim Brotherhood member from becoming a United States senator” and likened a vote against El-Sayed to the response of Flight 93 passenger Todd Beamer to the hijackers. “Twenty-five years later, Michigan needs to stand up and fight, just like Todd did, to stop a jihadist from walking into the Capitol,” he said. El-Sayed, who would be the first Muslim elected to the Senate, dismissed the accusations and at an event on Sunday night suggested hypocrisy in Trump’s emphasis on his name: “I get that the President of the United States takes personal offence to my first name”.

The US government is weighing backing former Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán as a candidate for UN secretary-general, with officials approaching Orbán with the proposal and encouraging him to enter the race, amid interest expressed by him and no final decision, according to The Jerusalem Post, citing sources from three countries.

Iran remains fully united and on the highest level of alert amid continuing threats from the United States and Israel, Saeed Khatibzadeh, head of the Foreign Ministryʼs Center for Political and International Studies, has said, according to the Tehran Times.

On January 1, new Pentagon procurement rules take effect that will restrict the use of Chinese-origin rare earth materials in American weapons systems — a date now less than 75 days away, according to OilPrice.

Turkey warned the United States against fresh military strikes on Iran, saying a new attack would widen the conflict across the region and that diplomacy remains the only viable path, in a message delivered by Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan on October 23 after a meeting in Istanbul with counterparts from Germany, France, the UK, Italy, Egypt, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, according to the Tehran Times.

US President Donald Trump predicted at a rally in Michigan on Sunday that the trade dispute with Canada would be resolved “soon”, without providing specifics, according to Reuters.

US President Donald Trump endorsed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the second time in a Truth Social post on Sunday evening, days ahead of the Israeli election. In the message, Trump wrote: “Vote for Bibi Netanyahu for Prime Minister; we have to finish the job that we started!” He also tied the relationship with the United States to the outcome: “If Israel has the wrong leader, meaning anyone other than Bibi, America will have to do this job itself, and I'm not inclined to do that,” according to the Jerusalem Post.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said a trilateral meeting between Kyiv, Washington and Moscow will take place in November to restart stalled peace negotiations, TRT World reported. Moscow and Kyiv confirmed the trilateral round between Russia, Ukraine and the United States is planned for the first half of November in Abu Dhabi, according to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, as cited by Al Jazeera.

US President Donald Trump told reporters at the White House on Sunday that trilateral talks on Ukraine are going to be happening “some pretty soon”, according to the Sputnik news agency. Russian presidential aide Yury Ushakov told Russian media that “the next deadline is November 4 — a major holiday for us” and that Russia would be ready to resume negotiations after that.

Serhii Beskrestnov, a defence technology adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, said on Sunday that existing restrictions on Starlink's use in Ukraine prevented such operations, referring to drone strikes, the Hindustan Times reported. On Saturday, Elon Musk had written on X that “using Starlink, a civilian commercial service, for offensive drone strikes to kill people has never been allowed, nor should it be”.

China’s Liaoning aircraft carrier strike group sailed beyond the first island chain to reach the southernmost waters of the Philippines before heading northeast on Friday, a move that suggests an intent to position itself closer to joint US-Japan exercises, according to the South China Morning Post (SCMP). Philippine news channel BNC, cited by the paper, reported that the group reached about 25 nautical miles (46km) east-southeast of Balut Island, the southernmost point of the country. The group has four ships, including the Type 055 large guided-missile destroyers Wuxi and Anshan and the Type 052D destroyer Huainan. According to the SCMP, the USS Theodore Roosevelt is taking part in the Keen Sword exercise in the Philippine Sea alongside warships from Japan, Australia, Canada and France.

Kremlin aide Yury Ushakov said that Moscow, Beijing and Washington are, basically, prepared for a meeting between Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping and Donald Trump on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit and that preparations for it have already begun, according to Sputnik. The summit will be held in Shenzhen, China, on November 18 and 19, according to the agency.

The United States Central Command (CENTCOM), which oversees US forces in the Middle East, has plans ready for follow-up strikes on Iran if authorized by the White House, according to The Hill, in a report cited by Al Jazeera. On Saturday, President Donald Trump suggested the United States could strike as soon as “tomorrow”, while also raising the possibility of a “big, beautiful” agreement with Tehran, according to Al Jazeera.

Two Iranian officials, one of them a Revolutionary Guards member, confirmed to The New York Times on Saturday that the Islamic Republic is preparing to target US diplomats and personnel, according to The Times of Israel. Neither official was identified by the newspaper.

Iran's army air defense hit and destroyed a US Lucas drone over Bandar Abbas on Sunday morning, the army's public relations office said, according to Mehr News.

Iran's foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, said on Sunday that a potential resumption of war with Israel and the United States would not change his country's positions.

A United States Marine was indicted over the robbery and murder of a woman in Okinawa, according to Kyodo News.

Former United States (US) president Barack Obama criticised at a rally in Ohio the "cruelty and corruption" of Donald Trump's second term, according to Al Jazeera. He said "the current president chose to make a series of bad decisions" and that, "most importantly, he decided to start an unnecessary war that nobody asked for", referring to the US-Israel war on Iran.

United States (US) President Donald Trump said Washington will do business with Ukraine and with Russia after this war ends, according to TRT World.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the country needs to prepare an alternative economy capable of functioning by circumventing sanctions, with blockchain technology among the options under consideration, and said it is only a matter of time before US military aid, tens of billions of dollars for the defense budget, ends: "America has changed", he said, according to RT.

United States (US) President Donald Trump said there is a possibility of another attack on Iran, perhaps "tomorrow", and also a possibility of a "nice, big, beautiful agreement", when asked by reporters about the matter, according to the Hindustan Times. He said his goal is to permanently prevent Iran from eventually developing a nuclear weapon, and that an earlier operation involving B-2 bombers would not have guaranteed a lasting outcome — "I've got to make it permanent" —, according to TRT World. Iran, for its part, denied offering to reopen the Strait of Hormuz in return for the US lifting its naval blockade, and the Tasnim news agency, affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, said Tehran has made no fresh proposal to Pakistani mediators, according to the Times of India.

Iran said on Saturday that “we will under no circumstances and at no time allow rusty U.S. military vessels to enter the Persian Gulf” and that, if attacked, it “will achieve absolute victory in this apocalyptic war”, according to The Hindu. The apocalyptic war remark was attributed to state-run Press TV. The comments by Iranian military officers came after US and Israeli media reported that both countries have drawn up plans to resume strikes against the Islamic Republic.

The Islamic Resistance in Iraq said it will stand with Iran against what it described as Zionist-American aggression against the Islamic Republic, according to Mehr News. The statement said 171 violations of Iraqi airspace by American combat and surveillance aircraft were documented between September 30 and October 23.

Iran has proposed to the United States reopening shipping in the Strait of Hormuz in exchange for lifting the US blockade on Iranian ports, according to Al Arabiya, as reported by TASS.

Elon Musk accused Ukraine's military of violating Starlink's terms of service by using the system for offensive drone attacks, and said the gap was closed last week, in a post on social media platform X. Also on Saturday, Ukraine's government announced that Starlink and its military version, Starshield, were fully operational again after more than a week of restrictions, according to G1.

The United States Department of Defense designated Confucius Institutes, Chinese-funded cultural centers at universities, as a threat to national security, according to Al Jazeera. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said 80 new “propaganda cells” had appeared across 30 universities under different names and charters with “the same mission: to steal intellectual property and to infiltrate the minds of American students,” and that the Pentagon had systematically dismantled every one of these organizations over the past two months.

US President Donald Trump confirmed on Saturday that he may move the White House press corps to a different location, in a social media post, according to Reuters, in text republished by Investing.com. He dismissed a report that he planned to remove the press room and restore a historic swimming pool on the site, saying he had never “even thought to do such a stupid thing”. The New York Times reported that Trump had urged then-press secretary Karoline Leavitt in August to move news conferences out of the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room, an idea that was never implemented.

Iraq's prime minister said on Friday that no US troops are left in the country, including in advisory roles, according to Anadolu, as Baghdad moves to bring all weapons under state control by next June. He said that by June 30, 2027, there will be no weapons outside the framework of the state, and stressed that the government's decision to restrict weapons to state institutions is final and irreversible.

The White House said US First Lady Melania Trump “successfully secured” a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine in the Russian-occupied city of Oleshky, the BBC reported. According to the statement, the truce in the “front-line war city on the brink of disaster” would begin on October 29, though Ukraine and Russia have so far not commented. Oleshky, in the Kherson region, was seized by Russian forces in the first days of the full-scale invasion in February 2022.

Iran's armed forces chief of staff and commander of the Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, General Abdollahi, said the country will not allow “under any circumstances” rusting US warships to re-enter the Persian Gulf, according to the Middle East Eye. In remarks carried by Press TV, Abdollahi said Iran's armed forces had rendered the US Navy ineffective, to the point that it is no longer capable of approaching the waters around the Persian Gulf or Iran's territorial waters.

Three Russian tankers carrying 40,000 tonnes of diesel are heading to the United States, the first such shipment since 2023, the Hindustan Times reported. Novak said the first three fuel tankers are already on their way to the eastern coast of the Atlantic Ocean, with significant support from the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), according to Reuters, in a report republished by the Hindustan Times.

At a campaign rally in Florida, US President Donald Trump said the country “may do another little Epic Fury, or they’ll agree”, the Times of India reported on Friday. Trump warned Iran of another potential military strike if Tehran fails to reach a diplomatic agreement with Washington.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu acknowledged that the end of US military aid to Israel is “only a matter of time”, Press TV reported. Speaking to Israel’s Channel 10 on Friday, he warned that Israel must prepare for the possibility that Washington will stop providing military assistance: “This is over, and it will end. It is only a matter of time.”

US President Donald Trump said the country would “take care of Cuba” on its way back from Iran, with a small stopover: one US ship could stop “about 50 yards off the coast” before Secretary of State Marco Rubio is sent in to “finish up the deal”, Sputnik reported. At a rally, Trump said the ships returning from the Middle East would pass Cuba and that he would send Rubio “to finish up the job”, the Times of India reported.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said the United States has spent 11 billion in taxpayer money on missile defense for Israel over the past three years, Mehr News reported. In a post on his X account late on Friday, the top diplomat wrote: “The US has, over the past three years, spent 11 BILLION in taxpayer money on missile defense for Israel.”

The Joe Biden and Donald Trump administrations repeatedly asked SpaceX to turn its Starlink service on or off in various countries, the Jerusalem Post reported. Under Biden, the requests included switching off the service to prevent Iranian proxy militias in Yemen and Lebanon from using it to communicate, and activating it to provide internet inside Iran and in Ukraine to support its military. The Trump administration also discussed with Musk and SpaceX getting Starlink terminals into Iran after US-Israeli strikes there in June 2025 and again in February 2026, the Times of Israel reported.

Less than 24 hours after being stabbed in midtown Manhattan, a Chabad-Lubavitch man returned to the same street where he was attacked to help employees wrap tefillin, according to The Times of Israel. He was taken to Bellevue Hospital on Wednesday evening around 6 p.m., where medical staff assessed that he had no internal bleeding and would not need stitches. No arrests have been made, and the assailant has been described as a woman in her 40s.

Cuba mocked the United States' (US) appeal for Cubans to work with the CIA, saying the country's coastline has beautiful beaches and also razor-sharp limestone spikes, an inhospitable environment for those who arrive with hostile purposes, according to Le Monde. The text mentions a “lust for domination” among those trying to reach Cuban shores.

A memo dated October 23 from the Director of National Intelligence, Jay Clayton, to Secretary of State Marco Rubio says Iran has substantially increased its attempts to target American diplomats and officials, in the Middle East and beyond, according to the Hindustan Times. Some of the suspected plots involving potential loss of life have reached advanced stages, according to the document obtained by Axios. A US official confirmed that Washington directed several diplomatic missions to reduce staffing on Friday, cutting personnel at embassies in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Lebanon, Qatar and Jordan.

The US Department of Energy on Friday authorized an emergency exchange of up to 400,000 barrels of oil for Phillips 66's Lake Charles refinery, citing a temporary disruption to crude deliveries, according to OilPrice. The oil will come from the reserve's West Hackberry site in Louisiana and is available for immediate delivery. The Strategic Petroleum Reserve holds 282.7 million barrels, a level some analysts consider close to the operational minimum.

The United States is accelerating the evacuation of diplomats and their families from its missions across the Middle East amid concerns over a possible regional escalation and renewed strikes on Iran, according to the Jerusalem Post. The State Department ordered nonessential personnel and their families to leave Saudi Arabia and quietly reduced staffing levels at US embassies in Jordan, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Lebanon.

The US Treasury Department proposed expanding the Outbound Investment Security Program, currently limited to China, including Hong Kong and Macau, to cover North Korea, Russia, Iran and Cuba, according to the Korea Herald. Certain investments by US persons in sensitive technologies would be prohibited, while other transactions would require notification. Covered sectors include semiconductors, microelectronics, artificial intelligence (AI), quantum information technologies, high-performance computing and supercomputing.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio urged those who want positive change in Cuba to seek a discreet partnership with the CIA, according to Le Monde. “For those who want to bring positive change to Cuba: it is now or never,” he wrote. “Faced with the disappointment caused by unfulfilled promises, corruption and the privileged lifestyle of a handful of people, seize this opportunity to create the change you want through a discreet partnership with the CIA.” The Trump administration has imposed a de facto oil blockade on the island, issued new sanctions against Cuban companies and officials, and indicted former president Raul Castro.

The US Defense Department designated Chinese-funded cultural centers on university campuses known as Confucius Institutes as a threat to US national security, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Friday. According to him, “80 new propaganda cells across 30 universities had popped up using different names and different charters, but with the same mission: to steal intellectual property and to infiltrate the minds of American students”. Hegseth said the department had “systematically dismantled every single one of these organizations” over the past two months, according to the Guardian.

Two former Ukrainian prisoners held alongside freed US prisoner Stephen Hubbard said they witnessed him being beaten and humiliated by Russian guards during his four-year detention, according to the BBC. The accounts from the two corroborate statements by Hubbard’s family that he was tortured in prison.

The US Department of Energy (DOE) announced that Energy Secretary Chris Wright has designated helium as a critical material under the Energy Act of 2020, stating that its unique properties make it indispensable to semiconductor production, with no viable substitutes in many critical applications. According to US News, the designation means more federal financing will be available for helium producers and the government will monitor it more closely.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukraine is ready to hold a trilateral meeting with the United States and Russia next month in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, according to Xinhua, citing the Interfax-Ukraine news agency. The meeting at the negotiating-team level is planned for the first half of November and depends on the Russian side, he said in an online address to the Hudson Institute. The Kyiv Independent reported that negotiation teams from the three countries will meet in Abu Dhabi in November to begin peace talks.

US President Donald Trump said the country may launch “another little Epic Fury” on Iran, a reference to the joint Israeli-American military operation that sparked the war with Iran at the end of February, according to France 24. “We may do another little Epic Fury,” Trump said at a rally in Florida as he spoke about the war.

US President Donald Trump said the country will take care of Cuba after dealing with Iran and that he would send Secretary of State Marco Rubio to finalize the agreement. At a rally in Florida, according to G1, Trump said: “We will take care of Cuba after Iran... then we will send Marco Rubio to finalize the agreement.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that Israel could face banking sanctions and said he had ordered preparations for alternative financial mechanisms, including blockchain technology, in an interview with Channel 10, according to the Jerusalem Post. Asked whether blockchain technology could provide a means of dealing with economic sanctions, he replied: “One of them. Certainly. And I’ve already asked for a plan to be prepared for that.” Netanyahu also warned that US military aid cannot be taken for granted: “If you think we’re going to continue receiving what I secured twice, and that’s tens of billions of dollars in American aid for the defense budget, prepare yourselves and get used to the fact that it won’t happen, because America has changed.”

The Trump administration will lower its 50% tariffs on nine categories of products used by Maine’s agriculture industry, a move that helps a state lawmaker’s re-election bid, according to the SCMP. Senator Susan Collins said she secured exemptions for paper products, plastic boxes, some packing products, refrigeration and freezing equipment and seaweed and algae products for human consumption, according to Politico.

US Ambassador to Turkey Tom Barrack said a strike on Iran this weekend is possible. “Could there be a strike this weekend? Absolutely,” he said in an interview with Mario Nawfal’s podcast, according to the Times of Israel. The envoy, who does not have a direct role on Iran, said the consequence would not be regime change: “If you keep threatening the world, our allies, the Gulf, there will be a consequence. The consequence won’t be regime change.” President Donald Trump said that if that is the case he knows nothing about it: “Well, if that’s the case, I don’t know anything about it,” he said, according to TASS. In Istanbul, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said everyone agrees a new attack on Iran would expand the war in the region: “A military intervention on Iran is not in any way a solution. Nobody approves this at the moment,” he told a press conference, according to the Jerusalem Post. French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said after Friday’s meetings that renewed escalation between Iran and the United States would only have losers and raise oil prices.

The US Department of Justice sued on Thursday to block the certification of the Alaska Senate race if the Republican Party loses, according to Reuters, in a text republished by Yahoo News. Daniel J. Sullivan, from the small fishing community of Petersburg, is also on the state ballot, according to AP.

QatarEnergy signed a deal with Cheniere to buy 4 million tonnes a year of liquefied natural gas (LNG) through 2054, according to The Cradle. Deliveries will be on an FOB basis and are expected to start in 2031, running through 2054, according to The Peninsula Qatar.

Brazil's Superior Electoral Court (TSE) gave Meta and X 24 hours to explain suspicions of favouring Flávio Bolsonaro, according to Opera Mundi. Justice Ricardo Villas Bôas Cueva is demanding that the companies detail the criteria used to recommend political posts, distribute electoral advertising and take content down. A study by the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ) found signs of unequal treatment in the election and questions Meta's lack of transparency over the prices it charged, according to Brasil 247.

The White House said First Lady Melania Trump “secured a ceasefire” between Russia and Ukraine in the southern Ukrainian city of Oleshky. Neither Russia nor Ukraine immediately confirmed Friday's statement. According to the White House statement, her representatives worked directly with “Russian and Ukrainian leadership to define the terms of the localized ceasefire”, and civilian leaders from both countries will work together to grant humanitarian access to civilians in the city.

A book excerpted by Vanity Fair says Jared Kushner, US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, had access during Trump’s first term to secret bank accounts holding some $2 billion provided by United Arab Emirates (UAE) leader Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and Saudi royal Mohammed bin Salman, according to the Times of Israel. One of the accounts, in Israel’s central bank, was reportedly overseen by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Kushner denied all the allegations, as did former US ambassador to Israel David Friedman, who reportedly helped facilitate the arrangement.

A tanker carrying 40,000 metric tons of Russian diesel is heading towards New York following an agreement with US President Donald Trump, Reuters says. Russia agreed to lift its self-imposed ban on diesel exports and supply the fuel to global markets, including the US, after the agreement reached between President Vladimir Putin and Trump, also according to Reuters.

US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth prohibited department personnel from using nonpublic information to bet on military outcomes, including through prediction markets such as Polymarket and Kalshi, according to Sputnik. Violations may result in administrative, disciplinary or criminal action under military or federal law.

The Starshield military communications system is back in Ukraine, President Donald Trump said on October 22, after The Wall Street Journal reported that he asked businessman Elon Musk to restore the service, which is vital to Kyiv’s forces. Trump refused to say whether he personally called Musk. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Starlink speed in Ukraine had still not been fully restored, according to Reuters, in a text republished by the Hindustan Times.

The United States (US) embassy in Ottawa has accused Canadian politicians of trying to influence its midterm elections, pointing to Canada’s efforts to push back against President Donald Trump’s tariff campaign. In a fact sheet, the embassy says the Canadian government “brushes off concerns” about potential interference, even as its ministers openly describe plans to influence American politics in official documents and public appearances. It cites comments and actions, such as meetings with US Democrats and calls for retaliatory tariffs against the US.

A US judge has ordered President Donald Trump to answer questions under oath in his defamation lawsuit against the BBC by December 11, the BBC reported. Trump is suing the broadcaster over a Panorama episode that edited together two different sections of a speech he gave before the riot at the US Capitol in 2021. Trump cancelled a previous deposition on October 16, citing “matters of national importance” while he was campaigning in Georgia.

Skyler AJ Rose of Utah was charged with threatening to blow up a synagogue after being found with pipe bombs in his bedroom, according to the Times of Israel. He allegedly searched for a Jewish site in his area and posted “death to Israel” and “heil Hitler” on social media, also according to the Times of Israel.

The Pentagon and Lockheed Martin announced a 10-year agreement for the production of 850 F-35 warplanes, according to TRT World. Under the deal, still subject to congressional approval and funding, Lockheed Martin will fund US$7 billion in projects supporting the F-35s in exchange for the decade-long commitment.

US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee questioned whether the Board of Peace would have enough staff to carry out Donald Trump’s plan for Gaza without additional planning and resources from the US government, according to a cable obtained by Politico and cited by The Jerusalem Post. Huckabee wrote that the embassy in Jerusalem is not currently staffed to assume the Gaza coordination center roles without defined human, financial and logistical resources.

Donald Trump suggested the United States (US) may launch further attacks against Iran, saying “we’ve knocked the hell out of them, and we may do it a little bit further”, according to the Middle East Eye.

The European Parliament awarded the International Criminal Court (ICC) the Sakharov Prize, the European Union's (EU) top human rights honour, two weeks after US President Donald Trump vowed to dismantle the court through new sanctions. “The European Union is built on respect for multilateralism and international institutions, and this prize recognises the important work of the court in upholding international law and justice,” said European Parliament President Roberta Metsola. The ICC thanked the parliament for the honour “at a time when the Court and its officials face unprecedented challenges”, and its president, Tomoko Akane, said the prize carries particular significance by reaffirming the importance of independent judicial institutions. It is the second international recognition for the tribunal this month: former ICC judge Navi Pillay was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

US President Donald Trump determined this Thursday that petroleum production, refining and related activities are essential to national defence, a move that could open up US funding for fossil fuel projects. In a presidential memo, he also invoked part of the Cold War-era Defence Production Act, allowing him to provide financial incentives for oil-related activities, pipelines and storage of liquid fuels. Prices for crude oil and diesel have surged since the joint US and Israeli attack on Iran at the end of February.

The New York Police Department said on Thursday it was investigating the stabbing of a Jewish man the previous day as a potential hate crime, according to the Times of Israel.

The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), the most prominent pro-Israel lobby group in the US, announced on Wednesday (21) that it will stop endorsing candidates and making direct contributions to them, while keeping the work of its super PAC, United Democracy Project. In a letter to members, the group’s leadership said the 2026 election was “one of the most challenging environments in recent memory” and predicted that the difficulties “will continue to grow in the years ahead”. The New York Times reported that AIPAC plans to give as much as 9 million dollars to a PAC backing Republican Senate candidate Mike Rogers over Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan, and that the group had already spent 32 million dollars seeking to defeat El-Sayed in the primaries.

The president of Brazil’s Superior Electoral Court (TSE), Justice Kassio Nunes Marques, gave Meta 24 hours to submit a technical report on how the “Exército do Lula” channel works, a WhatsApp group supporting the re-election bid of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of the Workers’ Party (PT). The ruling requires the company to explain the technical criteria it uses to tell “legitimate mobilisation” apart from “potentially irregular coordinated behaviour”. US lawmakers demanded answers from Meta after reports that WhatsApp’s artificial intelligence refused to create images of Lula while accepting those of Flávio Bolsonaro of the Liberal Party (PL), according to G1.

Donald Trump’s administration revoked the visas of 61 people linked to Bolivia and Colombia, including officials and former members of both countries’ governments, according to G1. In Bolivia, the restrictions targeted 15 politicians and their close relatives, including lawmakers, judges, prosecutors and former members of security and investigation agencies.

Vladimir Putin said on Thursday, October 22, that Russia is ready to resume three-way talks with Ukraine and the United States, but on the security parameters of a final peace deal, rather than a “short” ceasefire. Putin said the goal of the discussions is to address security for both Ukraine and Russia within the framework of a final agreement, rather than after a short pause in fighting.

Donald Trump said Elon Musk has restored Ukraine’s internet access. The US president also said Ukraine’s access to Starshield, a military-grade satellite service, has been restored, according to TASS. Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, said connectivity, which is provided by Musk’s Starlink satellite system, had yet to be fully restored.

Leading Democratic lawmakers on the US Congress intelligence committees said on Wednesday (21) they had received information that Russia is running a disinformation campaign against Democratic candidates, according to G1. According to the lawmakers, the Russian campaign follows the same pattern of online disinformation operations identified by the US intelligence community in the 2016, 2020 and 2024 elections.

The United States Central Command said its naval blockade of Iran has completed 100 days and prevented at least $25 billion in Iranian oil exports, according to Middle East Eye. There have been no exports or imports to Iran by sea except for the humanitarian aid US forces have allowed, the command said in a post cited by CBS.

Israel's military and the US armed forces have drawn up plans to renew joint strikes on Iran in the coming weeks, according to two Israeli sources familiar with the plans, ABC News reported. The White House said on Thursday that the US will not resume attacks on Iran before the November 3 midterm elections.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday (10/22) that trilateral talks between Russia, the United States and Ukraine could take place in Abu Dhabi, according to Opera Mundi. Peskov told reporters that Abu Dhabi is now being considered as the venue for the talks, according to TASS.

The US State Department ordered on Wednesday (10/21) the departure of non-essential government employees and their families from US diplomatic missions in Saudi Arabia, according to Opera Mundi. State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott justified the move by saying the Houthis had intensified hostilities against Riyadh, including attacks on civilian airports and other critical infrastructure that caused casualties and disrupted air travel.

An Israeli defense official confirmed on Thursday that Israel Defense Forces (IDF) intelligence continues to provide Saudi Arabia with exceptional capabilities to assist its military operations against the Houthis, through US mediation, the Jerusalem Post reported. According to the official, the assistance is provided in line with Israel’s national interests and directives from the political leadership, and serves to wear down an enemy that plans to attack Israel in the future.

Russia agreed on Wednesday to resume three-way negotiations next month with Washington and Kyiv, aimed at ending the war in Ukraine, according to a Kremlin official cited by The Associated Press (AP). It could be the first such talks since February. The same day, US envoy Steve Witkoff met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in St. Petersburg to discuss the conflict in Ukraine, as US President Donald Trump pushes Kyiv and Moscow to reach a deal that stops the fighting.

The US Treasury Department imposed sanctions on Wednesday on Karnakis & Karnakis, a law firm based in Greece and Panama, for giving legal assistance for years to Iranian shipping networks, while Washington held off striking Iran this month and kept up a blockade of Iranian ports with waves of sanctions on shipping networks, according to CGTN.

The US Embassy in Ottawa accused Canadian officials of election meddling ahead of the November midterms, an accusation Doug Ford rejected saying he had “no interest” in interfering in US elections. In a fact sheet, the embassy says the Canadian government brushes off concerns about interference while ministers and premiers describe plans to influence American politics, according to the text cited by Al Jazeera.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) announced it was preparing to unveil a new weapon dubbed the “Father of All Bombs,” in response to US threats to use the most powerful conventional bomb against Iranian nuclear facilities, saying through spokesperson Hossein Mohabi that it was in the preparatory stages of the unveiling, according to The Jerusalem Post, citing the Young Journalists Club. US defence officials prepared a range of options for the president to consider as he weighs military escalation in Iran, sources told ABC News, according to ABC News.

US President Donald Trump said Washington is holding back new sanctions and other escalatory steps against Russia while delicate negotiations over Ukraine continue, as the sides may be closer to a deal, according to Sputnik. He also said he resisted calls for tougher measures so as not to disrupt the process or jeopardize the release of American citizen Stephen Hubbard.

The departure order for non-emergency staff and family members applies only to Saudi Arabia, the State Department spokesperson said, according to the Korea Herald, amid Houthi attacks on civilian targets. The account that missions in other Gulf states would also order family members to leave, given by four officials to Reuters, was not confirmed by the spokesperson; the attacks on a civilian airport in Dammam killed at least one person and injured eight, and another drone attack on an oil field killed two.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and Ontario Premier Doug Ford jointly announced on Wednesday an 8.7-billion Canadian dollar strategic industry support package — about 6.18 billion US dollars — designed to shield workers and businesses from ongoing US tariffs and drive long-term growth, CGTN reported. The federal-provincial plan focuses on Ontario’s steel, automotive and critical minerals sectors. The new strategy builds on federal assistance programs that have already funneled more than 25 billion Canadian dollars to workers and businesses navigating US tariffs.

The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) informed members that it will cease officially endorsing US congressional candidates or directly fundraising on their behalf, according to The Times of Israel. The group will keep the United Democracy Project super PAC and emphasize mobilizing individual donors, according to CNBC, in a shift reversing the strategy adopted in 2021 amid growing political resistance, especially in Democratic primaries after the war in Gaza, also according to CNBC.

Missiles struck Kyiv in the early hours of Thursday, after an evening attack that injured six people and damaged homes, a petrol station and transport equipment, according to Reuters in a text republished by France 24. US envoy Steve Witkoff held talks this week with Zelensky and Putin to mediate an end to the war, also according to Reuters in a text republished by France 24. The Kremlin said new peace proposals lack substance after the Witkoff-Putin meeting in Russia, according to The Guardian.

Cuba’s Foreign Ministry restated its absolute rejection of US accusations about alleged Cuban participation in the conflict in Ukraine, according to Opera Mundi. The Cuban foreign ministry says Cuba is not part of the conflict and has no military personnel in Ukraine or in any other country, according to the Rio Times, and says it has investigated 17 cases involving 49 people since 2023 and brought 43 people to court in 12 mercenarism cases, also according to the Rio Times.

The United States and Israel have drawn up plans for renewed strikes on Iran for after the November 3 legislative elections, according to The New York Times in a text republished by The Times of Israel, with likely targets at energy sites, nuclear facilities and missile and drone arsenals — the new detail after the reports of a US veto and flights to the border. US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel this week to discuss the new strikes, according to The Jerusalem Post.

Earlier this month, the United States announced it would suspend eight technology firms, including Microsoft and India’s Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services, Wipro and HCL Technologies, from hiring skilled international workers on a permanent basis through a widely used visa pathway, according to the BBC. New and pending applications under the Permanent Labor Certification Program (PERM) have been frozen — a big blow to Indians, who hold a majority of H-1B visas.

The top Democratic lawmakers on the congressional intelligence committees said on Wednesday they had received an intelligence briefing that Russia has been waging a misinformation campaign against Democrats running in next month’s midterm elections, according to the Jerusalem Post. According to the newspaper, one of them cited news reports that Democrat James Talarico, who is running for the US Senate in Texas, and Senator Jon Ossoff, who is seeking re-election in Georgia, “in particular are being dinged” by fake advertisements created with artificial intelligence.

The United States announced a partnership between an American company and a Paraguayan developer to build a high-performance computing facility powered by the Itaipu hydroelectric plant, on the border between Brazil and Paraguay, according to G1. According to the US State Department, the project should serve cloud computing customers in the United States and Latin America.

The US State Department ordered the departure of “non-emergency US government employees and their family members in Saudi Arabia only” amid attacks by the Iran-aligned Houthis on civilian targets in the country, according to spokesman Tommy Pigott. US officials told Reuters, in reporting cited by the South China Morning Post (SCMP), that the department also plans to withdraw family members from a number of other US missions in the region.

Representative Jim Himes, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said restrictions on advanced chips are Washington’s key lever to keep its lead in artificial intelligence over China, the South China Morning Post reported. He said he did not believe the US would hold that edge in frontier AI indefinitely. “And the one real lever we have there, of course, is just slowing the dispersion of advanced chips into China,” he said.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Iran is prepared to give diplomacy another chance if it sees “strong evidence” of a sincere US desire to build trust and reach a just solution, in a post on his X account. “But if US chooses war over diplomacy, it’ll certainly result in an even greater strategic failure,” he added.

Russia has released retired American teacher Stephen Hubbard, who had been imprisoned on charges of fighting as a mercenary in Ukraine, US envoy Steve Witkoff said on Wednesday. Putin told Witkoff that Hubbard was at St. Petersburg’s Pulkovo airport after the release, AP reported. The Guardian reported the release order on the same day Putin met Trump’s envoy for talks on Ukraine.

Dozens of Israeli Air Force fighter jets conducted a sortie on Monday, flying as far as the Iranian border, according to Israeli and US officials cited by Axios. Israel notified Washington in advance and described the operation as a training exercise intended for “power projection”, aimed at deterring Iran from attacking ahead of next week’s election, Axios reported. The Times of Israel reported the same advance notice, described as a military exercise and a show of force.

Federal prosecutors in Mexico charged former Chihuahua attorney general César Jáuregui Moreno with treason for allowing US agents to join a raid on a suspected drug lab in April without federal authorization, the BBC reported. Attorney General Ernestina Godoy Ramos said Jáuregui had allowed foreign agents to carry out activities reserved for Mexican authorities and had failed to share information; he denies the allegations and was arrested on the weekend, with a court hearing scheduled for Saturday. The case came to light after two US agents said to have worked for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) died in a car crash in Chihuahua along with two Mexican law enforcement officers, on April 19.

Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez accused the United States of threatening countries with tariffs, visa restrictions and other retaliatory measures to change their votes on the annual resolution against the embargo on the island, Al Jazeera reported. Rodríguez said Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Washington’s ambassador to the UN, Mike Waltz, were personally leading a campaign he said had been going on for months, and that the US had asked countries to abstain or skip the vote. The nonbinding resolution is expected to be put to a vote on October 27 or 28, according to Al Jazeera.

The Kremlin said on Wednesday that Moscow is ready to resume trilateral talks between the United States, Ukraine and Russia next month, after President Vladimir Putin met US envoy Steve Witkoff, according to France 24.

President Donald Trump blocked an Israeli plan to attack Iran this month, according to the Financial Times, in a report published by G1. Sources told the newspaper the plan foresaw multi-day strikes starting October 10 against Iran's energy infrastructure, nuclear facilities and targets linked to the local government. The Jerusalem Post reports conflicting accounts, according to which the Israel Defense Forces were planning to strike Iran on October 10 before being reined in by Trump.

The State Department is preparing to order some employees and their family members to leave American embassies in the Gulf region, according to Reuters, in a report republished by G1. Two officials told the agency that the measure responds to the possibility of renewed conflict in the region, with concern focused on attacks by Yemen's Houthis, who are aligned with Iran.

Israel’s Transportation Ministry notified United Airlines on Wednesday that one of its pilots has been barred from entering Israel as a crew member because of his history of Iranian sympathies, the Jerusalem Post reported. The Diaspora Affairs and Combatting Antisemitism Ministry forwarded information that the pilot, Sina Amjadian, shared political and pro-Iranian regime posts on his social media accounts.

A judge on Wednesday ordered Meta to pay New Mexico $25 billion after a jury found the company liable for deceiving users about privacy and content moderation policies on Facebook, the Associated Press (AP) reported. Jurors in September found Meta liable for over 43 million violations of New Mexico consumer protection laws when the political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica harvested Facebook user data.

Uzbekistan announced investment deals across a variety of economic sectors potentially worth $12 billion during the Samarkand events. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio took part in a business forum in the Uzbek city on October 19 and, the same day, met with the foreign ministers of all five Central Asian states in the C5+1 format, OilPrice reported.

Russian President Vladimir Putin told Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff that Moscow is willing to help resolve the conflict between Iran and the United States, according to Mehr News, an Iranian state outlet. Putin pointed to Russia’s special, trust-based relationship with Iran and said Moscow would be pleased to take any steps to help resolve the crisis. Mehr describes the moment as the escalation in West Asia after the “war of aggression” by the United States and Israel on Iran.

A new round of trilateral talks on Ukraine may take place in Abu Dhabi around mid-November, Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov told Russian media, according to Sputnik. “We’re aiming for Abu Dhabi… It was agreed that this would happen somewhere around the middle of November, in the first ten days or so of the month,” he said. According to Ushakov, Vladimir Putin will decide who will be part of Russia’s delegation to the talks.

Putin agreed in principle to resume trilateral talks with Washington and Kyiv after November 10, Kremlin foreign affairs adviser Yuri Ushakov told reporters after the meeting with U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff. According to Ushakov, cited by PBS News, the Russian president agreed to resume the negotiations on ending the war in Ukraine. Sputnik, for its part, attributed to Putin himself the readiness to resume the talks in November, also based on Ushakov’s account.

The European Union (EU) called on SpaceX to urgently restore Kyiv's full access to Starlink, Le Monde reported. Ukraine said SpaceX imposed speed limits of 100mph (160km/h) on Tuesday night, and any weapons travelling faster than that lost connectivity, according to the BBC. US senators called for an investigation into restrictions that reportedly degraded Ukraine's ability to conduct defensive operations against Russian drone and missile attacks on civilian infrastructure.

President Emmanuel Macron criticized world leaders on Wednesday for making stupid comments about the rioting on the sidelines of protests in France and said images generated by artificial intelligence showed scenes that never took place in France, alongside claims that the country had been invaded by hordes of migrants and Islamists. According to Le Monde, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday that France had been hit by an invasion of extremist Islam, and US President Donald Trump said what is happening in France has to do with immigration.

Steve Witkoff, the US envoy, met with President Vladimir Putin in St. Petersburg on Wednesday to discuss Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine and thanked Putin for lifting Russia's ban on diesel exports, AP News reported in a text republished by France24. According to the agency, Witkoff said the move would help lower prices for US farmers and truckers and that he hoped to discuss the resumption of trilateral talks involving the US, Russia and Ukraine.

President Vladimir Putin announced the release of US national Stephen Hubbard during talks with US special envoy Steve Witkoff in St. Petersburg on Wednesday, DW reported. Hubbard, originally from Michigan, was 72 when he was sentenced to almost seven years in a penal colony in 2024, the BBC reported. The US State Department had classified him as “wrongfully detained”, and on Tuesday President Donald Trump said he had raised the case with Putin.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Russia’s position on a possible “energy ceasefire” with Ukraine remains unchanged, with Moscow seeking peace rather than a truce, and that a full settlement is impossible without Kiev’s participation, according to TASS. Aide Yury Ushakov said that US envoy Jared Kushner will miss the meeting with President Vladimir Putin and Steve Witkoff due to illness, according to TASS. The meeting was agreed days ago, will include special envoy Kirill Dmitriev and has the Ukraine settlement on the agenda, according to Sputnik.

China’s Southern Theatre Command said the US warship USS Charleston illegally entered waters off Sabina Shoal without Chinese approval in the early hours of Tuesday, according to Kyodo News. China says it dispatched forces to track and monitor the ship, while the US 7th Fleet said the Charleston conducted routine operations in international waters consistent with international law.

Taiwan’s defence ministry confirmed for the first time funding for the US Indo-Pacific Command to send a retired general and observers to the Han Kuang war games, according to the South China Morning Post (SCMP). NT$82.4 million (US$2.5 million) was allocated for the 2026–2027 program, with NT$41.219 million this year.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu instructed the military to prepare a multi-day operation against Iran for the weekend of October 10, targeting nuclear facilities, power plants and civilian infrastructure, as well as regime sites, according to Ynet. US President Donald Trump blocked the operation over not wanting to restart the war ahead of the November 3, 2026 midterm elections, and a source told the Financial Times (FT), according to The Jerusalem Post, that there will either be a deal or an attack, with a fresh round of strikes in the coming weeks as a realistic possibility.

Elon Musk said special committees of independent directors were formed at Tesla and SpaceX to examine the merger, but the committees have not reached agreement on terms and there is no guarantee that they will, according to the BBC. Musk also said the deal would need approval from at least 50% of Tesla shareholders, a hurdle he called quite high, and that — with Tesla valued at roughly US$1.5 trillion and SpaceX at US$2 trillion — the combination would rank among the largest mergers in history.

After talks in Oslo with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky described as positive by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, US special envoy Steve Witkoff will meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in Saint Petersburg on Wednesday after the Oslo talks, according to France 24. Rubio said Witkoff will take the ideas gathered in Oslo to the Russian side, the outlet Axios, cited by France 24, reports that he will present Putin with an updated proposal to end the war, and Zelensky thanked Washington for the resumption of US intelligence on Russian strikes.

To US President Donald Trump, Springfield, Ohio, crystallises the country’s problems after years of unchecked immigration, according to the BBC. He once repeated the false claim that Haitian immigrants were eating pets in the city. In June, the Supreme Court upheld the Trump administration’s decision to end Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for some 350,000 Haitians.

The Ukrainian delegation led by Volodymyr Zelensky met US President’s Special Envoy Steve Witkoff in Oslo on October 20, according to TASS. After the meeting, Finnish President Alexander Stubb did not give Zelensky an opportunity to answer reporters’ questions during a press conference.

US President Donald Trump said in Washington that the US and India are “pretty close” to making a trade deal that will be “much different” from the earlier pacts, according to The Hindu. The remarks came while Secretary of State Marco Rubio was visiting India and discussed trade, energy, technology, defence and people-to-people ties.

US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth confirmed on Tuesday that he visited US troops in Israel and spoke with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, according to the Middle East Eye. Hegseth told reporters he would not discuss the nature of the private conversation and said they had been good partners and that he appreciated that.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said only a small number of items remain to close the bilateral trade agreement between India and the US, according to The Hindu, and expressed hope it will be sealed shortly. Rubio urged India to scale up energy trade with the US and increase purchases of American technologies and systems, according to the paper. Both sides welcomed progress in the negotiations and reaffirmed their commitment to working toward an early conclusion, according to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) cited in the report.

Elon Musk last week ordered the slowdown of a military-grade version of Starlink used by Ukraine, according to The Wall Street Journal (WSJ), in an account published by the South China Morning Post (SCMP) citing US officials and people familiar with the matter. The restriction hampered Ukrainian attack and air-defence drone missions against Russia, according to the account. Musk and US President Donald Trump discussed the decision in a call soon after the slowdown became public, while the president was campaigning last week.

NATO will send maritime patrol aircraft, radar systems and drones to the Black Sea, after a series of deadly drone attacks on shipping in the region apparently linked to Russia's war in Ukraine, according to Reuters, in a text republished by US News. A US P-8 Poseidon has begun patrolling the Black Sea to conduct reconnaissance missions and detect any activity that could pose a risk, Radev said, according to Arab News. Last week, seven sailors were reported missing after drones struck two chemical tankers near Romania's Black Sea coast, setting them ablaze.

Kaja Kallas accused US negotiators of trying for about a year and a half to push Ukraine into surrender on Putin's terms. “American negotiators have been trying to push Ukraine into surrender for already almost two years, one and a half years now,” she told the European Parliament on Tuesday, according to Euronews. Kallas said Ukraine has not surrendered on Putin's terms because Europe has kept supporting the country. She called for Europe's involvement in peace talks, tougher pressure on Moscow and a just, lasting settlement, according to the Kyiv Post.

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung reiterated Monday that Seoul should retake wartime operational control (OPCON) at an early date, Yonhap reported. The Pentagon told the outlet that the transition “remains a conditions-based process mutually agreed upon by the United States and the Republic of Korea”. US Forces Korea Commander Gen. Xavier Brunson said that “conditions have changed”, citing North Korea's recent missile launches, and indicated that the change called for new standards for the transfer.

The United States sanctioned five China-based entities linked to a Chinese national convicted of stealing artificial intelligence technology from Google, UPI reported. The State Department announced the sanctions on Monday under the Protecting American Intellectual Property Act of 2022, which freezes assets and restricts loans from US financial institutions to the named entities. China voiced “firm opposition” to the sanctions on the five entities over alleged AI trade secret theft, DevDiscourse reported.

US special envoy Steve Witkoff will travel to Russia on Wednesday after meeting in Oslo with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and the leaders of Norway and Finland, Reuters reported in a text republished by Investing.com. According to the agency, Witkoff will fly to Saint Petersburg, where he will meet with the Russian leadership and exchange ideas from that meeting and from proposals worked on by European and American colleagues. In the same report, US President Donald Trump called on Ukraine to make a deal to settle the war with Russia and said Moscow wanted to get it done. “Ukraine has to want to settle this war,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he discussed with US President Donald Trump on Sunday the need to topple Iran’s regime. According to Netanyahu, dismantling the Iranian government is key to preventing the country from rebuilding its nuclear programme and the so-called Axis of Resistance.

US intelligence sharing for early warnings of Russian attacks is working again, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Tuesday in Oslo. Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre said US envoy Steve Witkoff is due to travel to St. Petersburg to present Russia’s leadership with proposals drawn up during the Oslo talks. The Kremlin said it hopes Witkoff will brief President Vladimir Putin on those talks in the coming days.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio confirmed on Tuesday that there are “serious tensions” in relations with Ukraine, at a press conference during his visit to India and after a phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. According to him, President Donald Trump is “angry and frustrated” with the lack of progress in peace negotiations, as well as with accusations that Washington refuses to provide intelligence to Kyiv.

The Pentagon is sending the USS Theodore Roosevelt carrier strike group and the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit to the Middle East, according to two US officials cited by Fox News, in a report carried by The Jerusalem Post. According to the report, the carrier group is due to arrive in the region by the end of November.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky arrived in Oslo on Tuesday for talks with US envoys, where he is meeting special envoy Steve Witkoff. Secretary of State Marco Rubio rejected as scandalous accusations that Ukrainians were dying because the US was withholding intelligence from Kyiv, according to the BBC.

US Vice President J. D. Vance declined to endorse Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s reelection on Monday, October 19, saying he endorses American candidates and is focused on the US midterm elections. The refusal came a day after President Donald Trump publicly backed Netanyahu, NBC News reported.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in Mumbai that the trade deal with India is “very, very close” to being executed and that a small number of items remain to wrap up, he told reporters on Tuesday. Rubio held talks with Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar in the city to deepen energy cooperation and move closer to finalizing the agreement. Washington imposed tariffs of up to 50% on most Indian goods in August 2025 and, under a framework agreed in February 2026, the rate was reduced to 18%, but negotiations have stalled since. Rubio said the US will discuss refining Venezuelan crude with Reliance and that India made “substantial progress” in diversifying its energy supplies, according to The Hindu.

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth reportedly held a secret meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during an unannounced visit to Israel on Monday, according to the Axios news outlet, cited by The Times of Israel, which spoke to two sources with knowledge of the meeting. The meeting took place at the Ovda airbase in southern Israel, where US fighter jets and refuelers are stationed, the sources said.

Ukraine did not receive a warning from the US about an impending Russian missile attack on Sunday evening, Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, reviving concerns that Washington is withholding intelligence to bully Kyiv into capitulating to Moscow, The Guardian reported. Yuri Ihnat, a spokesperson for the Ukrainian air force, said on television that Ukraine had not received a warning before a Russian missile barrage hit power plants in Kyiv. Speaking in the early hours of Monday on a trip to Samarkand, Uzbekistan, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said: “If it happened last night, I don't know exactly. I know a few nights ago there was a software problem involving their early warning system.”

The US Department of Agriculture will provide $8 billion in diesel fuel relief to American farmers for this year’s harvest season, distributed as one-time payments to eligible candidates, according to OilPrice. US diesel prices remain above $6 per gallon, climbing from $6.2665 last Monday to $6.3187 yesterday.

The US government on Monday ordered its agencies to stop using artificial intelligence tools from Chinese startup DeepSeek, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported in a text republished by Yahoo News Singapore. A notice from the Department of Homeland Security announced the ban on products developed by DeepSeek — and tools created using DeepSeek by third parties —, saying they must be removed from information technology devices.

Kenya’s health authorities have confirmed an eighth Ebola case in the country, a 49-year-old patient attendant, according to Chinese state agency Xinhua. Of 38 people tested on Sunday, one came back positive for the Bundibugyo strain of the virus, the agency reported. The United States (US) raised its travel advisory for Kenya as cases reached eight, according to AllAfrica.

ByteDance, Alibaba and Tencent have ordered more than 3 million of Nvidia’s new RTX PRO 5500 graphics cards, with a collective sticker price of over $35 billion, according to two people familiar with the matter cited by Reuters in a text republished by The Business Times. Nvidia has told customers and partners it cannot guarantee that it can fill the orders because demand from Chinese technology companies far exceeds planned production.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio arrived in India on Tuesday on his second official visit to the country this year, an Asian tour blending diplomacy and trade, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported. Speaking in Samarkand, Rubio said Washington and New Delhi were “very close” to an agreement, but a deal during his visit appears unlikely, the agency reported.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky will fly to Oslo on Tuesday to meet US special envoy Steve Witkoff, trying to repair ties with Washington that have deteriorated sharply over the past two weeks, Reuters reported in a text republished by The Straits Times. On Monday, US President Donald Trump said “Russia, frankly, has been fine on Ukraine” and “Zelensky is not helping matters much”, and called on Kyiv to find “somebody else to negotiate”.

Volodymyr Zelensky said he discussed ballistic missile interceptors, early warning and the situation with Starlink and Starshield with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, according to the Kyiv Independent — Ukraine has recently suffered disruptions to early warning, which relies on US intelligence, and to Starlink and Starshield services, which have hampered drone operations, including interceptor drones, according to the same outlet.

Lebanon rejects US-backed proposals for its troops to co-ordinate directly with the Israeli army, according to The National, ahead of Tuesday's round in Florida — Lebanese officials describe the talks as technical, to repeat the demand for a full Israeli withdrawal from the south, according to the same outlet.

Iran's envoy to the UN, Gholamhossein Darzi, wrote to the secretary-general and the Security Council against what he called the “arrogant threats” of US President Donald Trump and Israel, according to Mehr News — the letter cites reports that the White House and the Pentagon prepared military options including the possible use of the GBU-43/B bomb and says Israeli minister Yisrael Katz announced on October 18 he was ready to attack Iran and target all energy facilities, according to the same agency, and Iran requested an emergency Council meeting, condemnation and full reparation, according to Press TV.

Florida's public ministry in the US obtained an arrest warrant against former president Raúl Castro for conspiracy to commit first-degree murder over the 1996 downing of two planes belonging to an exile organization, according to Rádiotelevisão Portuguesa (RTP) — Cuba condemned the move as a “reprehensible maneuver” by the US, according to Opera Mundi.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called US President Donald Trump “by far, the greatest friend Israel has ever had”, in footage shared a day after Trump endorsed him ahead of Israel's elections — after Trump praised him on Sunday as a “great warrior prime minister” and a partner for peace, crediting him with joining the strikes on Iran in February, according to the Middle East Eye.

China's Southern Theater Command Navy accused a US littoral combat ship of illegally entering waters near Sabina Shoal in the Spratly Islands without Beijing's approval — dispatched forces to track and monitor the USS Charleston and said the move violates Chinese sovereignty and harms regional peace, in an area contested by China and the Philippines, according to Reuters, in text republished by WTVBAM.

The US administration has not approved the transfer of Patriot interceptor missiles to Ukraine, according to Xinhua, which cites a Washington Post report published on Monday. The report places the decision amid tensions between US President Donald Trump and his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelensky.

US Vice President JD Vance said he endorses American candidates and will not get involved in Israel's elections, according to TRT World. “I endorse American candidates, and that's where I'm focused on the midterms, so I'm not getting involved in Israeli elections,” he replied. The remarks stand in contrast to Donald Trump's endorsement of Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday, ahead of Israel's October 27 parliamentary elections.

Cuban law enforcement officials accused the US of allowing terrorists to operate with impunity on American soil, citing details of the investigation into the February incursion, according to The Jerusalem Post. On February 25, 10 Cuban exiles attempted to infiltrate the island by boat from the Florida Keys, armed with nearly 13,000 rounds of ammunition, 11 rifles, 15 handguns, Molotov cocktails, a VHF radio and Starlink satellite communication equipment.

Up to 500 Moroccan personnel have undergone training in Morocco to join the International Stabilization Force in Gaza, a Board of Peace official told The Times of Israel on Monday. According to the official, the training began in late August and was conducted by the US-led force, which he could not confirm had been fully completed. Morocco committed in February to sending police officers and military personnel to postwar Gaza, becoming the first Arab country to do so publicly, and is slated to be the first to deploy personnel, ahead of Albania, Kazakhstan and Kosovo, according to the newspaper.

Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said it intercepted and destroyed a US MQ-9 drone over the Strait of Hormuz early on Tuesday, according to the Middle East Eye.

The Hind Rajab Foundation said it filed an urgent request with the US Department of Justice to arrest and prosecute an Israeli commander over his alleged involvement in the killing of five-year-old Hind Rajab, according to Middle East Eye.

The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) kept deportation protections in place for about 101,000 Ukrainians and 1,800 Sudanese whose Temporary Protected Status (TPS) was set to end on Monday, and said an announcement on the program “will be made at the appropriate time”, according to The Guardian. Until then, Ukrainians and Sudanese covered by those measures “retain protection”, the department said in a written statement.

Jared Kushner, US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, and Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff are set to travel to Norway this week for the next round of negotiations on ending the war in Ukraine, according to three people familiar with the matter. The people, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the schedule is tentative and could change.

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.

The US State Department announced sanctions on five Chinese entities under the Protecting American Intellectual Property Act (PAIPA), over suspected theft of trade secrets from American companies. The targets include Shanghai Zhisuan Technology, founded by former Google software engineer Ding Linwei, venture capital firm MiraclePlus and three related entities, according to the South China Morning Post.

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel on Monday, eight days before Israeli elections. The visit was not announced and was reported by Axios, citing two sources familiar with the matter. The Pentagon and the Israeli embassy in Washington declined to comment, while the Prime Minister’s Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment, according to Middle East Eye.

US President Donald Trump said on Monday he was open to a three-way meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin during his visit to China next month, with nuclear weapons on the agenda. “We would have it to talk about nuclear weapons and denuclearisation,” he told reporters outside the White House. “If President Xi wants to have it, I’d have it.”

Agents from the US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) responded to a reported shooting at a mosque in the 2200 block of Albert Ave. in Columbus, Ohio. The shooting near the mosque left 1 dead and 1 injured, according to the Hindustan Times.

US President Donald Trump said on Monday that someone other than Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky should negotiate on Kyiv’s behalf as it seeks to end the war with Russia. Trump also told reporters that Russia has been “fine” with regards to Ukraine. “They haven’t been doing much,” he said.

The US State Department added the “D” risk indicator for wrongful detention to its China travel advisory, while keeping the country’s overall advisory level at Level 2, according to the South China Morning Post.

In Samarkand, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Washington wants to be “a strong partner” in Central Asia, leading a delegation of almost 300 American businesses, and the State Department announced more than 50 contracts with Uzbekistan worth a combined $12 billion, according to AFP. The deals cover technology, industrial modernization, transport and energy. Tajikistan and the United States discussed regional security and stability in Central Asia, according to Tajik state media.

An adviser in President Volodymyr Zelensky’s office told the BBC that Ukrainians had died because there was no time to warn citizens about ballistic missile strikes. “It’s dangerous… People already died,” Serhii “Flash” Beskrestnov said. Zelensky said frontline units had reported that Starshield equipment stops functioning at speeds of 130-160 kilometres per hour, slowing down the response. The White House said there had been no changes to intelligence sharing with Ukraine, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio attributed a recent episode to a “software problem” in the alert system.

Donald Trump formally endorsed Benjamin Netanyahu’s re-election and wrote that if Israel has “the wrong Leader, which would be anyone other than Bibi, America will have to do this work ourselves, and I am not inclined to do so”, in a Truth Social post on Sunday. Trump called Netanyahu a “great warrior prime minister and an even greater partner for peace” and said Iran had been “systematically destroyed both militarily and financially, and unless they change their ways, rapidly, we will soon finish the job”. The Israeli election will be on October 27, and Haaretz’s tracker projected on Sunday 52 seats for the opposition alliance led by Gadi Eisenkot’s Yashar party against 51 for the Likud-led coalition, with no outright majority for anyone.

A court in the US state of Florida issued an arrest warrant for 95-year-old former Cuban leader Raúl Castro, according to TASS, which cites NBC News. Castro faces four counts of murder, two counts of destroying an aircraft and conspiracy to murder US citizens.

The United States has sent hundreds of soldiers to Panama for training, an activity it will repeat later in Honduras and Colombia, according to The New York Times, cited by El País. The military detachment is preparing to take part in special operations against drug trafficking cartels, according to sources at the newspaper cited by El País.

US President Donald Trump defended his decision to waive sweeping sanctions planned against Russia as an effort to keep Moscow at the negotiating table, OilPrice reported. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned that easing sanctions would embolden Moscow as Russian attacks on Ukraine continued.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio began a three-day visit to India on Monday in the finance hub of Mumbai, before heading to Jamnagar, DW reported. The Jamnagar refinery, which can process 1.4 million barrels of crude oil a day, is a valuable exporter of diesel fuel for global markets.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters that the possibility of a meeting between President Donald Trump, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese leader Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Vietnam is being discussed and that Trump has made it clear he wants to end the conflict between Ukraine and Russia, according to TASS.

South Korea launched on Monday the annual Hoguk exercise, with joint drills with US forces in the country, including joint operations of ground, naval and air forces, as well as opposing-forces operations and simulated combat training, according to Sputnik, citing South Korean television.

Brent crude was trading at $107.84 a barrel and West Texas Intermediate (WTI) at $100.29, up from $105.61 and $93.37 the previous Monday, according to OilPrice. The modest dip followed US President Donald Trump signing on Friday an executive order lifting sanctions on Russian energy, according to the outlet.

US President Donald Trump endorsed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday late in his reelection campaign. Trump held off on a public endorsement until internal polling indicated that Netanyahu had a realistic chance of winning, and Netanyahu said Israel’s objectives against Iran are not dependent on American approval, according to The Jerusalem Post.

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.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu published on the government’s official website, nine days before the October 27 parliamentary election, a three-page document setting out 10 principles to overhaul military strategy. The Israeli opposition ridiculed it as a collection of empty slogans, TRT World reported. On Sunday, Netanyahu warned that a future US president could be hostile towards Israel and called for new alliances with India and countries in Latin America, The Hindu reported. US President Donald Trump endorsed his ally Netanyahu on Sunday ahead of the election, the Korea Herald reported.

Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed a summit next month with US President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping to negotiate an end to the four-year-old war in Ukraine on terms favorable to Moscow, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the discussions. The Kremlin suggested holding the trilateral dialogue on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit, set for November 18 and 19 in Shenzhen, Reuters reported, in text republished by WHBL. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed to the Journal that there were discussions about a possible meeting, but said there is still no clear understanding about the meeting itself or its agenda. A senior US official said Trump had not agreed to such a summit.

The United States issued security alerts dated October 18 covering 12 locations in the Middle East, among them Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Kuwait, Jordan, Bahrain, Oman, Iran, Qatar, Iraq, Lebanon, Yemen and Israel/Jerusalem, urging Americans in the region to exercise heightened vigilance, monitor airline operations and prepare for flight cancellations, airspace closures and sudden changes to travel plans. The notices cite the potential for hostilities to escalate beyond their immediate area and warn that Iran and groups supportive of Tehran may target US interests overseas. The US Embassy in the United Arab Emirates urged citizens in the Middle East to exercise heightened vigilance amid escalations in the region, Middle East Eye reported. The alerts do not by themselves confirm that airports have closed or that flights have been canceled.

The United States (US) Ambassador to the European Union (EU), Andrew Puzder, warned that European firms could face “devastating” commercial retaliation in the US market if the bloc reserves satellite-to-smartphone spectrum bands for EU operators, a warning echoed by SpaceX over the risk to connectivity in Ukraine, where Starlink sustains civilian and military infrastructure, according to TRT World.

US President Donald Trump said France is burning and that immigration has shattered the country, urging border closures, according to The Hindu. Vice President J. D. Vance wrote that Western liberals imported the Third World in the name of diversity while ignoring questions of assimilation and compatibility.

US President Donald Trump defended his decision to waive some sanctions on Russia and once again accused Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky of not wanting to end the war, according to France 24. The outlet reported that Trump has also temporarily waived sanctions on Russian diesel, allowing large quantities to flow into global markets to try lowering fuel prices ahead of US elections early next month. TASS, citing Trump, said Zelensky does not want to end the conflict with Russia and probably never did.

US diplomats visited a Christian Palestinian village in the West Bank on Sunday, following attacks by Israeli settlers on European diplomats and an American photojournalist in recent days. The European Union said Sunday that it “strongly condemns” an attack by a group of Israeli settlers on visiting European diplomats in the occupied West Bank, and urged full accountability and effective measures to prevent continued acts of violence and violent harassment against Palestinians, including during the ongoing olive harvest season, as well as against journalists.

Muhammad Sarwar, designated as a global terrorist by the US Treasury Department, died in Lahore, Pakistan, according to The Hindu.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Sunday that he spoke with the American president’s envoys, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, and said the war with Russia must be brought to an end and that his country is preparing for the “next steps” of diplomacy to end the conflict. Amid his spat with President Donald Trump, Zelensky said in a conversation with the envoys that “a lot depends on America”, according to the South China Morning Post (SCMP).

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said President Donald Trump wants to take a 60-day period to analyze what imposing sanctions on Russia and tariffs on other countries would mean for the global economy and for his country. The law that sanctions Russia and Iran is known as the Graham Act, according to The Hindu.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a campaign address that the country must complete its important “tasks on all fronts” within the next two years, while Donald Trump is still US president. Elections to Israel’s Knesset, or parliament, will be held on October 27, 2026, and the leader of the winning party will be tasked with forming a new government, according to TASS.

Iran’s new Defence Minister, Mehrdad Akhlaghi, threatened to inflict “enormous damage” on the United States and its allies in West Asia if Washington resumes its military campaign against the country, on Sunday, October 18. Akhlaghi was elected to the post with 237 votes out of 277 cast, according to the government website.

US ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee denounced the settler attack that left Washington Post photojournalist Heidi Levine badly beaten and needing surgery as a “despicable act of terror”, The Guardian reported.

US President Donald Trump declared his “complete and total endorsement” of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu less than 10 days before the October 27 election, Middle East Eye reported. “If Israel has the wrong Leader, which would be anyone other than Bibi, America will have to do this work ourselves, and I am not inclined to do so,” Trump said, according to the Jerusalem Post.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the United States has resumed sharing intelligence with Ukraine after suspending it for “some period of time”, in an interview on Meet the Press reported by Bloomberg. The temporary suspension of intelligence flows occurred amid sharp disagreements between Washington and Kyiv over battlefield targeting rules, according to the Kyiv Post.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said the Strait of Hormuz will be reopened if the United States accepts Iran’s conditions, according to Mehr News. Cited by the Hindustan Times, the foreign minister said the strait could reopen within six days if Washington accepts the conditions, with negotiations resuming on the seventh day. Iran’s demands include lifting the US blockade on its ports, removing sanctions on Iranian oil exports and ending hostilities across all regional fronts, according to the Times of India. Iran’s new defense minister, Mehrdad Akhlaghi, warned that the United States and its allies will suffer enormous damage if Washington resumes military action against Tehran, according to Sputnik.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Ukraine does not have access to Starshield and that Kyiv’s request to conduct deep strikes inside Russia is under discussion, according to Al Jazeera. Rubio distinguished commercial Starlink from military Starshield, in comments released by the Department of State.

The Pentagon will send hundreds of troops to Latin America, according to The New York Times, in a report published Wednesday (14) and cited by G1. The first members of a battalion of about 600 soldiers from the 10th Mountain Division have begun moving to a jungle training center in Panama. The expansion also includes transferring MQ-9 Reaper surveillance drones from Africa to Colombia and Ecuador and creating a new command structure for Western Hemisphere operations based in Miami.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio will hold talks on Monday with Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar in Mumbai, India’s financial hub, and will then visit an oil refinery in Jamnagar in the western state of Gujarat, according to a statement from the US Department of State. Indian Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal appeared to confirm the agenda, saying the Mumbai talks would cover energy, trade and investment, defense, and critical and emerging technologies. Rubio is arriving from Samarkand, Uzbekistan, where he has been meeting with five Central Asian states at the C5+1 summit.

US Vice President JD Vance said Washington was focused on securing a “long-term” and “verifiable commitment” from Iran not to rebuild its nuclear program, while claiming the US had “in some ways decisively won” the war against Iran and destroyed its nuclear program, according to Middle East Eye. Vance blamed Iran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz and attacks on tankers for driving up prices, saying, “We’ve never had a situation like this” in which one country was “trying to completely choke off world energy supply”.

A Russian military satellite, Cosmos-2612, changed its orbit repeatedly to approach ICEYE-X36, a commercial radar-imaging satellite registered in the US and whose operator currently supplies radar data to Ukraine, according to The Hindu. Astronomer Marco Langbroek, a lecturer at Delft University of Technology, estimated that the two were only 1-2 km apart — considered a very small distance in earth orbit. There is no indication that ICEYE-X36’s operators invited the approach.

The Trump administration asked Israel to stop settler attacks in the occupied West Bank, according to Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Washington Post photojournalist Heidi Levine, who was attacked by Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank, underwent surgery on a finger that was nearly detached in the attack, her daughter said.

Lebanon will send a military delegation to a US-backed trilateral meeting with Israel in Tampa, Florida, on Tuesday, President Joseph Aoun said on Saturday. In a statement from the presidency, Aoun said the delegation would present Lebanon’s demands for an end to Israeli escalation and push for outcomes in line with the US-brokered framework agreement reached in June. Aoun also called for the mandate of the UN peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon, Unifil, to be extended through 2027.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps reported that a second supertanker struck a naval mine and caught fire in the Strait of Hormuz on Saturday, and Iran’s navy said an oil tanker caught fire in the Sea of Oman, according to Al Jazeera. United States Central Command (Centcom) said the “vast majority” of Iran’s attempted attacks on ships in the strait failed and that the waterway remains open, and spokesperson Tim Hawkins told Fox News that about 97 percent of vessels trying to cross the strait had done so without being struck, many with US military protection, according to Middle East Eye. Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Tehran presented a concrete seven-day plan to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, conveyed through Qatar, according to Iranian state broadcaster Press TV, cited by Middle East Eye; he told RT that, if the necessary conditions are met, the Strait can be reopened and normal maritime passage restored within seven days, in exchange for Washington lifting its naval blockade, easing restrictions on Iranian oil exports and releasing frozen Iranian assets.

Italy’s prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, called the United States-Russia diesel supply deal a “very risky choice” that runs counter to efforts to force Vladimir Putin to the negotiating table with Ukraine, according to The Hindu. The two countries agreed last week that Moscow would initially supply more than 300,000 metric tonnes of diesel to U.S. and global markets.

Ukraine hit a refinery in the Ryazan region, about 300 kilometers (180 miles) southeast of Moscow, with a drone and started a fire, according to Russia’s Defense Ministry and Governor Pavel Malkov, as reported by The Hindu. Volodymyr Zelenskyy told the Financial Times his patience had run out and that Ukrainian attacks on Russian refineries would resume, and told Piers Morgan he felt betrayed by Trump’s deal with Putin, the energy ceasefire announcement and the Starlink limits that restricted Ukrainian drone use. Ukraine has run out of missiles for the US-made Patriot air defense system, according to a source cited by CNN in a report by the Jerusalem Post.

Members of Congress criticized Donald Trump’s decision to waive sanctions on Russia days before they were to take effect, with Republican Senator Thom Tillis calling it beyond irresponsible on social media and asking what the president and his advisers do not understand about enforcing a law passed 86-11 by the Senate, according to the Associated Press (AP). Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Trump will take 60 days to assess the impact of potential sanctions against Russia, according to TASS.

Masked Israeli settlers attacked a delegation of European diplomats in the occupied West Bank, assaulting a French mayor and damaging cars, according to the BBC. The delegation also included officials from Belgium and Poland, according to Al Jazeera. French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot demanded that Israel crack down on criminal violence after a French mayor was beaten by Israeli settlers in the West Bank, and top US diplomat Marco Rubio said the United States is very disturbed by footage of the assault and urged Israeli authorities to crack down on violence across the territory, according to TRT World.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Saturday criticized Donald Trump’s decision to pull back on sanctions against Russia, saying that a sanctions blackout, easing pressure on the aggressor and financial rewards for Putin all only encourage him to keep attacking. On Friday, Trump signed the executive order suspending the sanctions under the so-called “Lindsey Graham Act”, a law passed in September to target Russia’s energy and defense sectors, including its tanker network used to circumvent US restrictions. Washington is also weighing lifting sanctions on the “shadow fleet” of Russian and Iranian tankers to help bring down diesel prices before the midterm elections, according to The Cradle.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has warned that Donald Trump’s decision to roll back sanctions on Russia will intensify the Kremlin’s war in Ukraine, according to the Guardian. “Unfortunately, the lifting of sanctions will continue, and I believe that the ‘diesel deal’ is the first step,” he said on Saturday. According to Opera Mundi, Zelenskyy also wrote that easing US sanctions reduces the pressure on the aggressor and that financial rewards for Putin only encourage him to keep attacking.

China cut its holdings of United States Treasury securities by US$ 27.3 billion in August, bringing the stock of those assets to its lowest level since 2008. The Chinese portfolio fell from US$ 618 billion to US$ 590.7 billion in August, the lowest in 18 years, according to the survey cited by Brasil 247.

Japan’s Self-Defense Forces and the United States military will hold the large-scale joint exercise Keen Sword 27 in various locations across Japan from October 19 to 29, deploying about 45,000 and 12,000 personnel respectively, with Australia, Canada, France, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand and the Philippines also taking part, according to Xinhua.

United States President Donald Trump signed an executive order waiving newly passed Russia sanctions, claiming the move is in the US’s “national interest”, according to Al Jazeera. The blocked measures would have included up to 100 percent tariffs on all goods brought into the US from the five top importers of Russian crude oil or gas, including China and India. Earlier this month, Trump announced a deal to bring stocks of Russian diesel into global markets, and the US Treasury waived sanctions on Russian diesel sales until April 2027.

The US budget deficit reached $1.99 trillion in the 2025-2026 fiscal year, according to the Treasury, cited by the Russian agency Sputnik.

US President Donald Trump blocked, in an executive order signed on Friday night, sanctions on Russia approved by Congress to punish the country for its war in Ukraine, according to the BBC. In the order, Trump said it is in the US “national interests” to withhold some of those sanctions. Kirill Dmitriev, envoy for Russian President Vladimir Putin, called the suspension of the Graham Act “an important and truly historic moment”, according to The Hindu.

At least 600 US troops will take part in training and exercises with local forces in Panama, Colombia and Honduras, the New York Times reported, as cited by G1. US drones were redirected from Africa to Ecuador and Colombia and are to be used in operations against drug trafficking, according to G1.

India rebutted allegations by UN special rapporteur Gina Romero that young people in the country face retaliation or stigmatization, according to the Hindustan Times. Six US Democratic lawmakers urged Secretary of State Marco Rubio to raise concerns with India over alleged excessive use of force against student protesters. The lawmakers' letter mentions, according to the Telegraph India, a pattern of repression, wrongful detention and excessive use of force by security forces during student protests in Delhi and other localities across India.

United States (US) officials say Iran has lost 25 billion dollars in oil revenue, according to the Times of India. The top US military commander in the Middle East, Admiral Brad Cooper, said Iran-backed militias are withholding salaries from their own fighters to send money back to the Revolutionary Guard, as sanctions and a naval blockade have cost Iran 25 billion dollars in lost oil revenue, according to Worthy Christian News, in a summary on the aggregator Ground News.

US President Donald Trump said the US Navy is carrying out an “effective” blockade that has stopped all Iranian ships from crossing the Strait of Hormuz, according to Al Jazeera.

Two Latvian men living in the United Kingdom, aged 32 and 26, were arrested at about 2 a.m. Thursday after being found inside RAF Molesworth, in Cambridgeshire, which hosts the Intelligence Fusion Centre of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the US Joint Intelligence Operations Center, Europe, according to The Guardian. The investigation began four hours earlier, when military police found an abandoned vehicle near the facility, and police later found a small hole in the perimeter fence, according to The Hindu. The men were initially arrested on suspicion of trespass on a prohibited site and causing criminal damage, then on suspicion of an offence under section 4 of the National Security Act 2023, namely entering a prohibited place for a purpose prejudicial to the UK, and were later released on bail, with strict conditions, while the investigation continues.

The Justice Department of the United States charged former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and former First Lady Cilia Flores with conspiring to commit torture, narcoterrorism, cocaine importation conspiracy and weapons offenses, in a superseding indictment. According to the department, the torture described includes electric shock, asphyxiation, rape, forced nudity, prolonged isolation, starvation, punishment cells and psychological torture, such as threats to harm and kill victims’ families. Maduro and Flores each pleaded not guilty to the new charges on Thursday, according to ABC News, which reports that the indictment accuses them of torturing people, including Americans, to help them cling to power.

President Donald Trump waived the application of sanctions, restrictions and duties provided for in the Graham Act, in an executive order issued on the evening of Friday, October 16, 2026. The law he waived, whose main backer in Congress was the late Senator Lindsey Graham, would have imposed tariffs of up to 100% within 30 days on all goods brought into the US from the five largest importers of Russian crude oil or gas, according to Reuters. Trump justified the move as being in the “national interest” of the United States, according to the Hindustan Times, which notes the law was signed last month.

The US government announced on Thursday (15) new unilateral coercive measures against Cuba that target the Banco Internacional de Comércio de Cuba (Bicsa), a state-owned bank, applied by the Treasury Department, according to Brasil de Fato.

Italy's defence minister said it is “a complete mistake, a major mistake” for the US to limit Ukraine's access to satellite systems and intelligence used to defend itself against Russian attacks, according to the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). The relationship between US President Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky is close to breaking down, according to TASS, which cites The New York Times.

A 16-year-old opened fire on Thursday at Silver Rail school in Bend, Oregon, killing three children and a teacher before being shot dead by an armed bystander, according to The Guardian. The gunman, a Bend resident, forced his way in at around 1pm by shooting at locked doors. Authorities said the children killed were aged five, eight and 11, and that a seven-year-old child and a 54-year-old teacher were hospitalized in critical condition. Police identified the gunman as Griffin J. John II, a former pupil and a special educational needs student there, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) reported.

The Washington Post condemned the beating of its photographer Heidi Levine and the theft of her equipment by Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank and urged a thorough investigation and follow-through from the authorities, in a statement by executive editor Matt Murray cited by RT. The Committee to Protect Journalists documented at least 16 incidents involving 35 Palestinian, Israeli and international journalists in the first eight months of 2026 alone, figures already above those recorded in 2025.

US President Donald Trump said Saudi Arabia should take up Israel’s offer of help against Yemen’s Houthis, according to Middle East Eye. A diplomatic source cited by Haaretz said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had offered Riyadh help against the Houthis through US mediation.

US President Donald Trump denied limiting Ukraine’s access to Starshield, Starlink’s sister internet network, after it restricted drone speed, according to the BBC. The EU’s foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, said Europe cannot replace Starlink in the short term. The EU wants to fully include Ukraine in GOVSATCOM, the bloc’s programme for pooling satellite communications capacity; Europe’s own network, IRIS2, has launches planned for 2029 and full operations targeted for 2030, according to TRT World.

The United States (US) is considering lifting sanctions on tankers in the so-called shadow fleet tied to Russia and Iran to address soaring diesel prices ahead of the midterm elections, according to multiple reports and a senior US official. The plan would allow previously sanctioned vessels to carry legal oil not subject to US sanctions, according to Reuters. Around 15% of the world’s tanker fleet is under US sanctions, according to an Energy Aspects estimate cited by Middle East Eye.

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.

Iranian Army spokesperson Brigadier General Mohammad Akraminia said on Friday that the country has new operational plans underway that will force US naval forces to withdraw farther from Iran’s coastline in the coming days, according to West Asia News Agency (WANA).

The United States is in talks with Russia and China on a path to denuclearisation, President Donald Trump said. Trump said the US and Russia each have more than 4,000 warheads and that China, with about 620, could catch up within five years.

European leaders expressed support for Volodymyr Zelensky in Brussels on Friday, at a moment of great tension between Kyiv and US President Donald Trump, according to G1. European Council President António Costa said it was not the time to withdraw support for Ukraine or to ease sanctions on Russia. EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said “Starlink is really needed for Ukraine” and admitted Europe cannot replace the system in the short term.

US President Donald Trump called Ukraine’s fresh wave of strikes on Russian oil refineries a “disgrace” and said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is “more difficult to deal with than [Vladimir] Putin”, in an interview with Newsmax on Thursday, according to the BBC. Zelensky had paused the attacks for three days at Trump’s request for a ceasefire on energy targets, and said on Thursday the strikes would resume because Moscow had never stopped. The criticism follows the US announcement of a deal to import 300,000 tonnes of Russian diesel to bring fuel prices down, which Zelensky called a gift to Putin.

Gen. Randy George, Chief of Staff of the United States (US) Army, warned that his service was critically short on missile defense munitions and that the shortage would last another five years, according to US officials heard by CBS News — the warning pointed to shortages of Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) interceptors and Patriot missiles, with stockpiles at strategically low levels through 2030, and George was ousted by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in April, as the war against Iran was underway.

Finance ministers and central bank chiefs from the Group of 20 (G20) major economies met in Bangkok on Thursday to discuss rising inflation, according to Jiji Press. The meeting ended without a joint statement and with the absence of United States (US) Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who prioritized domestic economic issues, while Russian minister Anton Siluanov was listed among those attending, according to CNBC.

Okinawa Governor Genta Koja said Friday he accepts the deployment of the American MV-22 Osprey aircraft at Futenma air station, reversing the province historic opposition, according to Kyodo News. Previous prefectural governments had opposed the deployment since before the aircraft were first stationed at the base in 2012 over safety concerns, and Koja took office late last month.

Aoun assured Rubio that Lebanese security forces are fully carrying out their duties in confiscating illicit arms in the country, according to Al Jazeera. In the Thursday call, the matter at hand was a truck carrying 780kg of explosives intercepted on the highway between Beirut and the Bekaa Valley, a shipment Hezbollah lawmaker Hassan Fadlallah acknowledged as linked to the group and said was intended for operations against Israel.

United States (US) President Donald Trump ruled out using nuclear weapons against Iran and said the mother of all bombs under discussion is conventional, described by him as just an extremely large bomb, according to TRT World. Trump also raised the possibility of further strikes against Iran nuclear facilities, including the suspected underground site known as Pickaxe Mountain, and said he did not see an operation involving American ground troops.

Nine US senators, led by Jeanne Shaheen and Thom Tillis, called on the Defense Department’s inspector general, Platte Moring III, to investigate the disruption of Starshield systems in Ukraine. According to reports cited by the senators, speed restrictions imposed on SpaceX’s Starlink terminals between October 12 and 14, 2026, disrupted critical communications capabilities supporting Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles and fixed-wing and rotary-wing aircraft. The senators said they were alarmed by incidents in which US diplomatic, military and security personnel were unable to reach designated bunkers during Russian air raids, and want to determine whether any US government officials directed, authorized, approved or had advance knowledge of the changes.

Asked by Newsmax whether he trusts Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, US President Donald Trump said he doesn’t trust anybody, adding: “In the world of politics I don’t trust anybody.” The question comes as Trump has recently been pressed several times on whether he will make an endorsement ahead of Israel’s October 27 election, which he has declined to say if he’ll do.

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.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said his country would resume hitting Russian oil refineries. Ukraine struck a Russian oil refinery after he declared that Kyiv was abandoning a ceasefire covering energy sites that Trump had announced, and US President Donald Trump told Newsmax that the resumption of strikes on Russian refineries is a “disgrace” that keeps global energy prices elevated.

US President Donald Trump said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is not a good guy for the US to deal with, according to TASS. Trump also confirmed he had asked Zelensky to halt strikes on Russian oil refineries, according to the Russian agency.

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said on Thursday (15), in an interview with TV Globo, that the First Command of the Capital (PCC) and the Red Command (CV) terrorize Brazilian communities, but rejected framing the gangs as terrorist organizations in the terms backed by the US government, according to Brasil 247. Lula said he handed US President Donald Trump a written proposal for cooperation against organized crime and drug trafficking based on the experience of the Federal Police.

A 16-year-old fatally shot three children and a teacher at a primary school in the US state of Oregon, before being killed by a bystander, according to BBC News. The three children killed were aged five, eight and 11; a seven-year-old and a 54-year-old teacher were taken to hospital in critical condition, police said.

US President Donald Trump said on Thursday that Washington is holding talks with Moscow and Beijing aimed at denuclearizing the countries with the biggest stockpiles of nuclear weapons, according to Reuters, in a text republished by The Jerusalem Post. In an interview with Newsmax, Trump said he expects China to catch up with the US within the next five years.

The order to limit Starlink, the satellite system Ukraine uses for battlefield communications and drone operations, came from inside the White House, according to two US officials and one Western official cited by Reuters, in a text republished by G1. A person at Ukraine’s defense ministry said on Thursday that the receivers resumed working while moving, but only at speeds of up to 160 km/h. The Guardian reported that the change to Starlink happened without warning at about 1 a.m., when Ukrainian soldiers reported that terminals on drones stopped working at speeds above 100 mph, rendering communications inoperable. The British defense minister acknowledged “the challenges of recent days,” a reference to the US government’s sudden decision on Monday to limit Ukraine’s military use of Starlink.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Thursday that his department “will not relent until the Iranian regime’s coffers are empty”, after it announced fresh sanctions on Iran-related individuals and entities, according to Middle East Eye.

Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, pleaded not guilty on Thursday (October 15), during a hearing in a Manhattan court in New York, according to Opera Mundi. The two were captured in Caracas during a US operation in January 2026 and taken to New York.

María Corina Machado, Venezuela’s exiled opposition leader, criticized in an interview businessman Alejandro Betancourt, Washington’s new oil partner in Venezuela, and held him responsible for “obscene corruption,” according to The New York Times. Betancourt struck a deal with the Trump administration to control roughly a fifth of Venezuela’s oil reserves.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun on Thursday about the seizure of hundreds of kilograms of explosives from Hezbollah, according to the Jerusalem Post. Rubio urged Aoun to hold accountable those who ordered, financed and directed the shipment and said that returning the explosives to Hezbollah “is out of the question.” Aoun asked Rubio to press Israel to halt attacks on southern Lebanon, according to the Lebanese Presidency in a statement on X cited by Middle East Eye.

US Space Command chief General Stephen Whiting said an international conflict in space is possible and that the country therefore needs to expand its arsenals, according to TASS, in a text published by Axios. Whiting pointed to key gaps in the arsenal, citing as an example the self-protection of high-value assets on orbit.

The Stop the Settlements Act bill reached 53 co-sponsors this week, including Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ro Khanna, according to The Jerusalem Post. The text calls for sanctions on anyone determined to be complicit in the construction of “any Israeli settlement or outpost on or after September 30, 2026”.

Five House Republicans signed on Thursday a letter urging US President Donald Trump to cancel the Russian diesel deal he announced last week, according to The Hill, in a text republished by the Brutalist Report. Trump said Russia agreed to “immediately” supply 300,000 tons of diesel to the global marketplace, with another 500,000 tons on the way in November. The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) issued a waiver authorizing Russian producers to import diesel fuel into the US, effective through April 6, 2027.

US President Donald Trump called off plans to stream the Fort Hood attacker’s execution by firing squad, according to the BBC. Trump said on Thursday that “many very good and well meaning people would rather not watch him die”. US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth had previously announced that the public would be able to watch the firing squad execution of former US army psychiatrist Nidal Hasan. Hasan fatally shot 13 unarmed US soldiers at a military base in Texas in 2009, injuring another 32.

Former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, were expected to appear on Thursday in a federal court in Manhattan to face newly filed criminal charges, according to NBC New York. Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein entered a not-guilty plea on their behalf, the Associated Press reported.

Israel barred a US contractor from Gaza, blocking the base for Moroccan and Kosovan troops, according to Middle East Eye. The contractor was building a fortified compound for approximately 150 international troops, according to Ynetnews, citing the Guardian.

The US military developed new strike plans that include potentially using the so-called “mother of all bombs” to target Iranian energy infrastructure and nuclear sites, according to CNN, in a text republished by KWWL. The report said military planners had included the weapon among the options against Iranian targets, including Pickaxe Mountain, according to SANA, which cited CNN.

Former US President Barack Obama said in Belfast that Israel took land from Palestinians and was excessive, and that those people understandably said that this was injustice and that they wanted their land back. Elsewhere, Obama said that, if the attitude of Israel is that, now that it is the strongest and the most technologically advanced in the region, its security will depend on simply doing whatever it needs.

US President Donald Trump said the war against Iran will end very soon, as soon as he wants it to, that Iran will never have a nuclear weapon and that oil prices will drop like a rock. The war has already caused an economic impact of roughly $265 billion in the United States, by the estimate of Moody’s Analytics chief economist Mark Zandi, according to Opera Mundi.

Former US vice president Kamala Harris criticized the administration of former US president Joe Biden over its response to Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza during the 2026 Asan Memorial Lecture in Seoul on Wednesday. Harris said the United States needed to uphold its obligation to international law and that the Biden administration’s response was a failure in that regard. She also criticized the current US government, under US President Donald Trump, saying it “offers Netanyahu a blank check.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he feels betrayed by Donald Trump over a throttling of Starlink access and accused the US president of picking the other side, risking a breakdown in US-Ukraine relations. Ukraine’s military reported that the system, produced by Elon Musk’s SpaceX but managed by the US government, was no longer working on terminals moving at speeds greater than 100 mph, which crippled most Ukrainian strike drones behind the lines and affected the defense against Russian drones over Kyiv, according to The Guardian. Zelensky also told the BBC that Ukraine will resume attacks on Russian refineries and that the pause came from political will and not from a technical problem.

Israeli digital advertising agency Discover-Tech spied on internet users through a sprawling network of online ads that it used to track targets and help hack their devices, the research groups Citizen Lab and Confiant said, in a report by The Jerusalem Post. Its services gave Candiru, an Israeli spyware company blacklisted by the US government, and other Israeli surveillance firms access to advertising platforms run by Google, Comcast, Russia’s Yandex and others. According to Citizen Lab, a powerful form of Candiru spyware delivered through Discover-Tech’s ads compromised 45 Windows devices at the Qatari broadcaster Al Jazeera between 2024 and 2025, confirmed through network logs from the media group. Google said it had collaborated with Citizen Lab and Confiant on the investigation and kicked Discover-Tech off its ad platforms for “systematically violating our policies.”

Ukraine resumed attacks on Russian refineries after Volodymyr Zelensky condemned the withdrawal of US intelligence, according to The Jerusalem Post, citing Reuters. Since US President Donald Trump’s surprise announcement on Sunday of an energy ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine, Kyiv had refrained from attacking Russian refineries.

North Korean analyst Pak Ju Won wrote to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) that the US is abetting Japan’s drive toward nuclear armament by supporting Tokyo’s intention to acquire nuclear-powered submarines, with the ultimate goal of creating the conditions to acquire nuclear weapons, according to TASS.

Crude oil prices retreated on the news that President Donald Trump is considering lifting sanctions on shadow-fleet tankers used to carry oil from Venezuela, Russia and Iran, with Brent trading at US$ 104.39 per barrel and WTI at US$ 94.02, after Brent topped US$ 106 earlier in the week, according to OilPrice.

US forces developed strike plans against Iran that include using the GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast (MOAB) bomb, according to CNN in a text republished by the Jerusalem Post. The plans call for using the weapon against Iranian energy infrastructure and nuclear sites, including Pickaxe Mountain, if President Donald Trump orders renewed combat operations, according to US officials cited by CNN.

Elon Musk said US President Donald Trump is “ultimately” responsible for any curbs on Ukraine’s Starshield systems, according to CNBC. The same report records a thank-you to Musk early Thursday morning for the restoration of Starlink connectivity at speeds of up to 160 kilometers an hour.

GlobalFoundries will build chip facilities under an investment deal between the United States and Japan, according to Kyodo News. Japan will invest about $21 billion in up to two chip factories in New York, jointly owned by the US government and Japanese interests and operated by GlobalFoundries, according to Reuters, in a text republished by WHTC. The first factory is expected to add annual US manufacturing capacity of about 900,000 300 mm wafers when fully operational, according to the same report.

Electromagnetic weapons of the United States (US) Space Force played a crucial role in military operations in Venezuela and Iran and include Meadowlands, an offensive system that can jam enemy satellites and disrupt their communications, according to The Wall Street Journal, cited by The Jerusalem Post.

Norway is expected to overhaul the ethical rules for its $2.3 trillion wealth fund following the findings of a state-appointed commission due on Thursday, according to Reuters; the review follows the Trump administration’s protest against the divestment from Caterpillar shares over the use of the US company’s bulldozers in Gaza and the occupied West Bank, according to Reuters.

US President Donald Trump said that people who leak sensitive military information should be shot, at a midterm campaign rally in Bullhead City, Arizona. At the same rally, he said, “In my opinion, leakers should be shot. In the old days, we used to shoot leakers”, according to USA Today, in a text republished by The News Tribune.

US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth called a nearly US$1.5 trillion defence budget request absolutely critical, warning that whoever falls behind in autonomy, robotics and artificial intelligence (AI) will fall even further behind amid China’s rapid military modernisation. Speaking at a panel during the Association of the United States Army (AUSA) Annual Meeting and Exposition on Wednesday, Hegseth said Project Agincourt, the Pentagon’s initiative to accelerate drone and autonomous warfare capabilities, is the end point of what the administration has been focusing on since day one.

SpaceX owner Elon Musk said any disruptions reported by Ukraine in using the Starshield satellite communications system would be the responsibility of the US government, according to AFP, in a text republished by the South China Morning Post. Musk said the Starshield systems are owned and controlled by the US government and that any limits on speed or usage are decided by the US military and, ultimately, by the president. He was responding to a social media post by Ukraine’s former defence minister Mykhailo Fedorov, who said Starlink connectivity at speeds of up to 160km/h is being restored.

The United States military destroyed an Iranian-affiliated dhow in the Gulf of Oman on Wednesday, the US Central Command (CENTCOM) announced. According to CENTCOM, the vessel was targeted after being observed conducting surveillance and targeting US Navy ships. The crew was safely removed before the dhow was destroyed, and repatriation efforts are ongoing, CENTCOM said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he feels personally betrayed by Donald Trump after it emerged that Ukraine’s military had its access to Starlink restricted. Overnight, Ukraine’s military reported that the Starlink satellite communications system, produced by Elon Musk’s SpaceX but managed by the US government, was no longer working at speeds greater than 100 Mbps, without explanation. The restriction comes as no surprise, according to an analyst quoted by France24: the service had been throttled after the SpaceX boss called the targeting of data services in Russia by Ukrainian drones “a step too far”.

Iranian leaders consider a new US strike inevitable and focus the discussion on when it will happen, according to regional diplomats quoted by the Jerusalem Post. Iranian army spokesman Mohammad Akrami-Nia said the US objective in waging an illegal war is to destroy Iranian Islamic civilization. A spokesman for Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said Iran is prepared to respond to any further aggression with greater force than in the past and that the consequences for the US will be far more painful.

Israel has still not allowed the contract for the first Board of Peace base in Gaza to move forward, two months after it was issued, the Guardian reported, citing a person with direct knowledge of the matter. The organization, authorized by the UN in 2025 and chaired by US President Donald Trump, issued its first construction contract for Gaza in early August: Louisiana-based Arkel International would build a military outpost for 150 international troops, the vanguard of an international stabilization force. Contractors and trucks are not being allowed to cross into Gaza and begin the work. “Israel won’t open the border,” they said.

A senior UN official warned that a failure by the US and Iran to quickly approve a UN plan for shipping fertilizer through the Strait of Hormuz could plunge parts of Asia and Africa into a food security crisis, according to Reuters, in a text published by The Cradle. “It’s absolutely crucial to get the deal in the next few weeks. Otherwise, we will miss the planting season,” UN Under-Secretary-General Jorge Moreira da Silva told Reuters in Bangkok. According to the UN analysis he cited, daily traffic through the strait has collapsed from around 130 ships before the war to just five last week, and fertilizer prices have jumped 25 to 30 percent since late February.

The US Department of Justice said that Saudi national Abdulrahman Alfozan, 35, a former OpenAI engineer, was arrested last week on allegations of placing a secret audio recording device inside an executive conference room at the company. OpenAI discovered the device on 30 September, connected to a USB port behind a television in an executive meeting room at its San Francisco office, according to the FBI complaint. The company said it has no indications, at this time, that the individual inappropriately accessed or exfiltrated model weights, source code or customer data; the employee was terminated.

The administration of US President Donald Trump lifted sanctions on Jorge Rodríguez, the head of Venezuela’s National Assembly and the brother of the nation’s president, according to a notice posted on the US Treasury Department’s website on Wednesday and reported by Reuters. Caracas and Washington have cut a deal that gives the US access to 17 oilfields, and international energy firms have separately committed to expanding projects, Reuters reported.

US President Donald Trump said “massive” oil, gas and mineral exploration is set to begin in Greenland early Wednesday, calling the territory “our new and beautiful Greenland”.

The US Army established the 4th Multi-Domain Task Force (MDTF) at Fort Carson, Colorado, on October 8, the latest in a series of specialised formations developed for operations in the western Pacific, according to the South China Morning Post. Such formations were earlier activated in Washington state, Germany and Hawaii.

Ukraine accused Elon Musk's SpaceX of limiting Starlink services and crippling its drones, as Russian missiles knocked out power stations in attacks President Volodymyr Zelensky called “ostentatious disrespect” to Donald Trump. Zelensky's external adviser and expert in communications and unmanned systems, Serhiy Beskrestnov, said SpaceX limited the speed of Starlink satellite internet terminals used by the Ukrainian army overnight. In an interview with NPR, Zelensky said the US warned Ukraine that it could suspend intelligence sharing and that his generals reported being notified of that possibility at the military level.

Russia's special presidential envoy for economic cooperation with foreign countries and head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), Kirill Dmitriev, said he expects the first diesel contracts with the US to be signed in the coming days, according to Sputnik. The deal between the two countries, announced after a phone call between the two presidents on October 9, suspends US sanctions on Russian diesel until April 2027.

The United States and Russia agreed last week that Moscow would initially supply more than 300,000 metric tonnes of diesel to US and global markets, according to Reuters, in a text published by The Hindu. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni called the deal a “very risky choice” that, according to Reuters, runs counter to efforts to force Vladimir Putin to sit at a negotiating table with Ukraine. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky criticised the accord, calling it “an investment in a war that must be ended.” Russian envoy Kirill Dmitriev said the deal benefits both countries and helps the global market, according to Sputnik Globe. The International Energy Agency (IEA) warned that the gasoil market balance will remain tight well into 2027 and is dependent on a recovery of product supply from the Middle East, according to Türkiye Today, based on the Oil Market Report.

Senior American diplomats, administration officials and Indo-Pacific military commanders met in Tokyo earlier this month, in a gathering one source called unusual, ahead of President Donald Trump's planned visit to China in November. According to the Chosun Ilbo, observers suggest the meeting aimed to review US strategies toward China and North Korea. On the 8th, senior State Department officials and 10 US ambassadors to Asian countries visited Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, where they met Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi.

Presidential adviser Serhii Beskrestnov confirmed that SpaceX imposed overnight on October 13–14 a speed restriction on Starlink terminals in motion in Ukraine, capped at 100 miles per hour (160 kilometers per hour) and hitting the StarShield military package without prior warning, according to the Kyiv Independent. The restriction severely disrupted several Ukrainian military missions, the same adviser said.

Sixteen Ecuadorian fishermen were bombed on March 17, about 170 nautical miles from the Galápagos Islands, in an operation for which the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has been pointed to, according to BBC News Mundo. Their boat, the Negra Francisca Duarte II, was heading back to the port of Manta when two drones approached, and the explosions wounded crew members and set the vessel on fire; Le Monde describes the fishermen as collateral victims of American bombs, and one of them mourns the loss of his family’s boat: “This boat was my father’s inheritance, our livelihood. What am I going to do now?”

US President Donald Trump said the country will hit Iran “hard”: “Wait and see what we do to Iran. We’re going to hit them hard,” he said, according to The Jerusalem Post. Trump also said that Iran’s nuclear facilities remain buried beneath “thousands of tons of rock”.

US President Donald Trump said at a rally on Tuesday that Taiwan has agreed to buy 30% of the liquefied natural gas from a pipeline project in Alaska, but the deal terms were not immediately clear, according to Reuters. According to Agence France-Presse (AFP), in a text published by The Hindu, Trump also said that Taiwan would invest $4.4 billion into the project, as Taipei seeks Washington’s favor amid tensions with China.

The Russian agency TASS, citing German investigative journalist Oliver Schrom, said the United States (US) Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) was aware of the plan to sabotage the Nord Stream and Nord Stream 2 gas pipelines and had nothing against it at the operational level, and that the organizers turned to their American contacts when they decided to blow up the pipelines, according to TASS.

United States (US) President Donald Trump accused Yemenʼs Houthis of deliberately trying to drive up oil prices, probably ahead of the US elections, and said the group had emerged again probably at the behest of Iran and was hitting Saudi Arabia in a very nasty way, according to the Middle East Eye.

The United States Central Command (Centcom) rejected the Iranian claim of control over the Strait of Hormuz, said American forces and regional partners clearly control the strait – with more than 19 million barrels of crude oil shipped with American assistance – and said the naval commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has no navy, according to the Middle East Eye.

The US fined Bank of America US$1.2 billion for violating money laundering and sanctions laws, according to the South China Morning Post. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said that when a bank of this size fails to meet its anti-money-laundering and sanctions obligations, the consequences extend far beyond its own walls and expose the entire US financial system to significant illicit finance risks. Regulators cite failures involving US$5 billion in suspicious activity, according to the Hindustan Times.

A Delta Air Lines flight from New York to Tel Aviv was denied clearance for takeoff after police received a phone call claiming a bomb had been planted on board, according to The Jerusalem Post. It was the second case that day: on Tuesday morning, another Delta aircraft that landed at Ben-Gurion Airport was searched, and the incident ended without any unusual findings. Authorities suspect the same person called in both threats.

US President Donald Trump said on Monday he does not believe China and Russia are helping Iran at all, contradicting US intelligence reports from recent months. According to two people briefed on the matter, US intelligence assessments show that Russia and China provide military support to Tehran in the form of satellite imagery for targeting purposes and components for weapons.

The White House asked US Ambassador to Greece Kimberly Guilfoyle to resign, and she left the post on Tuesday, after allegations of bribery, corruption and other misconduct, according to ABC News, in a report by The Jerusalem Post. Spokesperson Zacharia confirmed the request: “We have asked Ambassador Guilfoyle to resign. She has been a wonderful asset to the team, and we wish her well,” she said. Guilfoyle denies the allegations, calling them false, and says she will defend her name, her reputation and her integrity.

A Saudi national has been charged with secretly planting a recording device in OpenAI’s office in California, according to federal prosecutors cited by the BBC. The device, wrapped in toilet paper, was found inserted in a USB port on the back of a TV in an executive conference room. OpenAI said it discovered a sophisticated recording device and alerted the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Alfozan, 35, was arrested on October 9 and appeared in federal court on October 13, according to the Hindustan Times.

The head of Britain’s domestic intelligence service MI5, Ken McCallum, said Iran has broadened its targeting in Britain to military sites and that the suspected plot at US-run RAF Fairford was not an isolated incident, according to the Los Angeles Times. McCallum also said British authorities have made more than 50 arrests in “Iran-linked operations” in the past 12 months, according to The Hill.

The US claimed on Tuesday that “real progress” is being made toward a demilitarized Gaza Strip, on the one-year anniversary of the ceasefire, according to The Times of Israel.

The Saudi-led coalition said it intercepted missiles fired by the Houthis towards Aramco’s headquarters in Dhahran and destroyed three cruise missiles and two drones on Tuesday in Riyadh and the country’s southern region, according to the coalition. Donald Trump said on Tuesday that the Houthis are stepping up attacks on infrastructure in Saudi Arabia in a bid to increase energy prices ahead of the US midterm elections and repeated his threat that the US could step up military attacks across the Middle East after the November elections, according to Al Jazeera.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke with US President Donald Trump last week to discuss the possibility of a renewed military campaign against Iran before Knesset elections at the end of October, according to an Axios report cited by The Jerusalem Post. Senior US officials told Axios that Netanyahu cited alleged Iranian efforts to rebuild nuclear capacity as the reason for launching new strikes.

US President Donald Trump said on Monday that he recognizes the breakaway republic of Somaliland as “a totally different country”, according to Middle East Eye.

US President Donald Trump denied having suspended intelligence sharing with Ukraine and said the Russian diesel deal is destined for the global market, not for the United States, according to the Jerusalem Post. Asked directly whether the United States had suspended intelligence sharing, he replied: “No, we haven’t. We help them, but we’re really helping them get to a final answer.” On diesel, he said: “That’s a diesel deal, not for us. That’s being released into the world. That’s not being released to us.”

US President Donald Trump stopped short of committing to support any candidate in Israel’s October 27 election, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, according to the Jerusalem Post. Trump had already thrice dodged a direct endorsement of Netanyahu in a recent Time magazine interview, according to Al Jazeera.

The White House asked US Ambassador to Greece Kimberly Guilfoyle to resign, according to the Jerusalem Post. White House press secretary Katie Zacharia confirmed the request at a briefing on Tuesday.

US President Donald Trump defended allowing Russian diesel exports and insisted an energy ceasefire between Kyiv and Moscow is in place despite a lack of confirmation from either side, according to OilPrice. The deal lifted US sanctions on Russian diesel exports to allow Russia to supply almost 2 million metric tons of the fuel, a bid to lower US fuel prices, according to France 24. According to France 24, which cites Reuters and other outlets, US officials have reportedly threatened to cut off intelligence sharing and weapons sales to Ukraine unless it halts its strikes on Russian oil refineries.

Venezuela’s acting President Delcy Rodríguez’s government has handed Álvaro Pulido over to the United States, according to El País. Pulido, Álex Saab’s Colombian-born associate, had been held in Caracas since 2023. He is due to appear Tuesday before a federal court in Miami, where he faces two criminal cases dating from 2019 and 2021. In one of them, prosecutors accuse him and Saab of laundering about $350 million through fictitious imports linked to a social housing contract.

The Kremlin said it has seen only in the press The Washington Post’s report about the United States and Europe moving toward a joint peace proposal on Ukraine and said it has received no information about it, according to TASS. The Kremlin said there is no connection between the diesel agreement with the United States and Russia’s position on Ukraine, and described it as a mutually beneficial example of Russian-US cooperation. It also said European Union sanctions and other unilateral actions could hamper the implementation of the fuel deal between Russia and the United States.

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”.

The United States and Europe are working on a four-point proposal to settle the Ukraine conflict, Washington Post columnist David Ignatius wrote, citing sources, according to TASS. Ukraine's reconstruction would be the first pillar, and negotiators asked Kiev for detailed cost estimates. A third pillar would be economic integration of Russia, Ukraine and Europe through an energy deal that could include a pipeline carrying Russian oil and gas to Europe, with Ukraine and Russia splitting the profits.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said that holding the country's enemies accountable for military aggression and environmental damage is an undeniable necessity, and that US and Israeli attacks on Iran and on oil and energy targets created serious environmental hazards, according to Mehr News, adding that Iran “neither forgives nor forgets.”

Republican Representative Michael McCaul said he fears that lifting sanctions on Russian oil will only fund the Kremlin's war machine, amid the deal announced by Trump on October 10 for Russia to immediately supply more than 300,000 tonnes of diesel to the US and the global market, according to The Hindu; Trump also announced an “energy ceasefire” between Russia and Ukraine, with implications for India, which faces 50% US tariffs over its Russian oil imports.

Ukraine's Air Force said that radars detected ballistic targets only during the attack on Kyiv, with no timely launch data, while Ukraine's counter-disinformation center assesses that intelligence sharing may have been halted, according to TASS, citing the Air Force's Telegram channel and the center.

US President Donald Trump said the US “might have gone too far” in targeting Iran's leadership, according to The Jerusalem Post, adding that Washington struggles to know whom to negotiate with, and repeated in Ohio that Washington is “having a hard time figuring out who to deal with”, according to the Middle East Eye.

US President Donald Trump said on Monday that he does not believe China and Russia are helping Iran “at all” and that Moscow and Beijing have “too much to lose,” according to Reuters, in a text republished by The Jerusalem Post.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called the diesel deal struck by Trump with Putin a “weak decision” and “a gift to Putin” and approved further drone strikes on Russian refineries, according to Politico Europe; according to TASS, citing Politico Europe, Trump could cut Kyiv's access to US intelligence or press Elon Musk to disable Starlink, on which Ukraine's military relies.

Kim Jong Un visited a defense industry museum displaying an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of reaching the United States, as reported by the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), according to the KCNA, in a text cited by the Jerusalem Post. The report came a day after Trump said he might meet Kim on a planned trip to Asia, with an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in China in mid-November, and North Korea said it test-fired a tactical ballistic missile on Monday to confirm the upgrade of an unspecified key component, according to the KCNA, in a text cited by the Jerusalem Post.

Russia will immediately supply over 300,000 tons of diesel fuel to the American and global marketplace, another 500,000 tons in November and 1,000,000 tons immediately thereafter, according to The Hindu. A bipartisan group of six senators urged Trump to reverse course, saying the United States “should not provide Putin with a financial lifeline”, according to The Hindu, which cites the Associated Press (AP), while Representative Lloyd Doggett, the bill's chief sponsor, said Trump is directly violating the law.

US President Donald Trump criticised the Houthis for “misbehaving very badly” following a series of attacks on Saudi Arabian airports, according to Al Jazeera. Trump said the midterm elections will not affect his approach to the war on Iran and that, as soon as the war ends — which will be very soon — the price of oil will drop “like a rock”, according to Middle East Eye.

Oil prices edged lower on Tuesday after climbing by nearly $2 a barrel in the previous session, with Brent at $106.04 and West Texas Intermediate (WTI) at $93.27, according to Reuters, which also cites US President Donald Trump saying Russia had agreed to supply diesel and his administration had temporarily lifted US sanctions on Russian fuel. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) warned that the global economy could soon test the limits of resilience, with emergency oil stocks running low and government budgets overstretched, according to the Guardian, which adds that rerouting oil supplies away from the Strait of Hormuz and releasing strategic stocks helped contain the impact of the US-Iran war on prices.

Envoys of US President Donald Trump told Ukrainian officials on Friday that a deal to allow Russian diesel exports is part of a bid to draw Russia back to negotiations after the failure of previous efforts to launch sustained talks to end the war, three people familiar with the meeting told Reuters. The warring sides have not confirmed the energy ceasefire Trump announced on Sunday, and Russia struck energy targets inside Ukraine on Monday. Under the deal, Russia will supply more than 2.25 million barrels of diesel to US and global markets, and Trump defended it on Monday as “the right choice for the American people.” The Jerusalem Post reported that Trump said on Monday that Putin wants a deal more than Zelensky and insisted that the ceasefire was agreed because he said so: “They agreed because I said they agreed.”

Billionaire Elon Musk gave $276 million to Republican super PACs and organizations over the past three months, according to The Hill. His total contributions in the cycle reached $366 million. Between July and September, Musk gave $158 million to the Senate Leadership Fund, a super PAC backing Republican Senate candidates, and $20 million to the Congressional Leadership Fund.

In an interview with Reuters on Monday, Cuban Minister of Energy and Mines Vicente de la O Levy said the oil blockade by the United States forced the country to seek its own alternative solutions, using its sun, wind, tides, fuel and Cuban crude oil, and that 144 solar farms with a combined capacity of about 1,418 megawatts have been installed on the island in recent years, with China as the largest supplier of panels, according to Al Jazeera.

The administration of US President Donald Trump warned Ukraine and allies in Europe that the United States could suspend intelligence sharing and European purchases of US weapons for Kyiv if Ukraine does not halt its deep strikes on Russian energy facilities, according to CNN. Reuters, citing the Financial Times, reports the same threat to stop the procurement mechanism that supplies weapons to Ukraine, as a way to press Kyiv to halt strikes on Russian energy infrastructure.

Navi Pillay, former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and 2026 Nobel Peace Prize winner, condemned US sanctions against the International Criminal Court (ICC), imposed shortly after she won the prize, describing the measures as “unlawful” against a court mandated to uphold the Rome Statute, according to Al Jazeera.

The Houthi official Mohammed Al Bukhaiti warned of a swift and painful response against the United States (US) and all its interests in the region if Washington enters the Yemen war, according to AFP. Bukhaiti also told employees and workers at Saudi oil facilities and airports to stay away from these sites, because they have become legitimate targets. Following a Saturday attack on an airport that killed 13 people, US President Donald Trump said he is considering joining Saudi strikes against the group, after having reportedly rebuffed previous requests. Saudi Arabia’s energy minister said the events of recent weeks are serious and that the response must be equally serious.

US President Donald Trump defended on Monday the diesel deal with Russia as lawmakers from both parties complained the agreement appears to violate US law barring imports of Russian energy until Moscow ends its aggression against Ukraine. On Sunday (11), a group of Republican and Democratic senators called on Trump to “reverse course” on the deal, saying it may violate a 2022 law designed to support Ukraine in its bid to repel Russian invaders. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told Fox News on Monday that diesel prices depend on the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, not on Ukrainian attacks on diesel targets in Russia.

US immigration agents searched the home of Minnesota Representative Ilhan Omar on Monday morning in the Washington, DC, area as part of a “criminal investigation”, according to the BBC. Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) agents executed a judicially authorized search warrant for the home, a US justice department spokesperson told CBS News, the BBC’s US partner. Omar was born in Somalia and came to the US aged eight, fleeing war. She was first elected to Congress in 2018 and is an outspoken critic of President Donald Trump.

Russia hit at least six energy targets during a night and morning of deadly airstrikes across Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Monday, according to Reuters, adding this showed Moscow had no interest in an energy ceasefire announced by US President Donald Trump. Trump declared over the weekend, blindsiding Kyiv and its European allies, that Ukraine and Russia had agreed not to hit each other’s energy systems. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said talks were ongoing about a possible energy ceasefire and that further information would be revealed in due course, but he rejected Zelenskyy’s proposal for a full 60-day truce.

Sixty countries supported a declaration on Monday (12) committing to work to preserve freedom of navigation and opposing the introduction of tolls in straits used for international navigation, according to G1. The document was signed by EU members, Australia, Japan and the UK, among others. Since the start of the war between the United States and Iran, the charging of fees for navigation through the Strait of Hormuz has been speculated about.

UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham told Parliament it is highly likely the threats against RAF Fairford were coordinated in Iran and almost certainly directed by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). Burnham said the UK would bring further sanctions against Tehran and the IRGC as a result, with more information to follow in an update from Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood. Five men from London drove to Whelford, a village next to a base used by the US air force, in three white vans shortly after midnight on 27 September. They were released on police bail a day later after no bombs or explosives were found. A week later, the US withdrew 12 B-1 bombers from the base, amid reports of concern about a possible drone attack on a base used to attack Iran during the Middle East war in the spring and summer.

Republican Representative Brian Fitzpatrick plans to force a House vote on legislation blocking Russian oil purchases, challenging President Donald Trump’s decision to ease restrictions on Russian diesel exports, according to RFE/RL. Fitzpatrick said the bill will be forced to the Floor via discharge and will pass overwhelmingly. Citing administration figures, Senator Angus King said the deal covered 300,000 tons of diesel for October and 500,000 tons for November, roughly equivalent to a day’s diesel consumption in the United States.

The US Navy aims to field a relatively low-cost hypersonic missile on its carrier-based fighters, a weapon that could pose a new challenge to the air defences protecting Chinese warships and coastal military installations, according to experts quoted by the South China Morning Post. The Navy awarded US$ 200 million this week for the production of low-cost Blackbeard hypersonic missiles that will be fielded from carrier-based fighters. According to the service, in a statement cited by USNI News, Blackbeard is an air-launched hypersonic strike weapon that provides carrier-based strike fighters with a responsive, long-range, high-speed strike option against maritime and land targets.

Iraqi F-16 fighter jets carried out two airstrikes targeting a hideout belonging to remnants of Daesh elements in the Nareen area, in eastern Diyala province, resulting in its complete destruction, according to the Security Media Cell. The strikes came less than two weeks after the US-led coalition’s mission against ISIS in Iraq officially ended on Sept. 30, according to operativmm.az, citing the Security Media Cell.

The General Authority of Civil Aviation extended the suspension of operations at King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh to complete the necessary procedures to verify the safety of the facilities and their operational readiness, according to Reuters, in a text republished by Middle East Eye. A new attack hit Riyadh’s international airport on Sunday, a day after another attack on the airport killed at least 12 people and injured more than 300, according to France24. US government employees in Saudi Arabia now require special authorization to use the airports in Riyadh, Jeddah and Dammam, according to Sputnik. The United Kingdom updated its official guidance on Sunday to advise against all but essential travel to all airports in Saudi Arabia except Medina International Airport.

US President Donald Trump announced on Sunday an “energy ceasefire” between Ukraine and Russia; Kyiv expressed astonishment and Moscow went silent, according to France24. According to Bloomberg, in a text republished by TASS, Zelensky is reportedly “on a collision course” with Trump for continuing to ignore Washington’s calls to halt strikes on Russian oil refineries.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said Pakistan and Qatar continue to serve as intermediaries between Iran and the United States and that Tehran and Washington continue to exchange communications, according to TASS. He said Iran is reviewing US proposals for a seven-day plan to restore security in the Strait of Hormuz.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said security will not return to the Strait of Hormuz as long as the United States (US) persists in its blockade and military aggression, according to Mehr News.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy said a drone hit a power plant in Kyiv on Sunday, leading to power outages in the capital, and then reported a strike on a power plant in Kharkiv, saying Ukrainian skies had been infested with Russian “shaheds” all day, according to The Guardian in its Europe live. The account came after United States (US) President Donald Trump’s Sunday morning announcement of an “ENERGY CEASEFIRE” between Russia and Ukraine, effective immediately, according to the same live. European Union (EU) foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said the bloc would welcome a truce “when it holds” and that it had not yet seen Russia stick to it, according to the same live.

The Sunday announcement by US President Donald Trump of an “energy ceasefire” between Russia and Ukraine referred to a potential deal in which each side stops attacks on oil refineries — and he expects Volodymyr Zelensky to abide by it, a White House official said, according to Axios. Trump said he asked Zelensky to stop attacking Russian oil refineries and claimed Zelensky’s actions harmed American farmers; Zelensky said the announced ceasefire “was news for me.”

The United States (US) Department of State urged on Sunday “extreme caution” at all major airports in Saudi Arabia, following the attacks on King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh the day before, according to Xinhua. The US mission advised citizens to avoid the Riyadh airport and said that US government employees require special authorization to use the airports in Riyadh, Jeddah and Dammam, according to Arab News.

Both main crude contracts fell more than 1% after US President Donald Trump announced an energy ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine, according to AFP. Trump wrote on Truth Social that there is an energy ceasefire “effective immediately” and that “both parties have agreed. Do not break it!”. Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky appeared to express surprise, said he was seeking further details and added that “Ukraine supports the ceasefire, and it is important that Russia support it as well”. AFP also reported that Kyiv said Moscow had struck multiple power plants in the country.

Witkoff and Kushner put their planned trip to Moscow on hold until there is clarity on whether Ukraine and the Europeans are ready to agree to a new unified proposal, according to Axios, cited by TASS. The US, Ukraine, the E3 (United Kingdom, France and Germany), the European Commission and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) held talks in Miami on October 9, according to the same report.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) told US airlines on Sunday to exercise caution when flying to or over Saudi Arabia, citing safety threats tied to ongoing military activity, with potential risk at all altitudes, including overflight, arrival and departure. Riyadh airport remains closed to flights through at least 5 p.m. EDT Monday, according to The Jerusalem Post.

The energy-ceasefire proposal only covers attacks on oil refineries, a White House official told Axios, with no official confirmation from Moscow as of yet. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the announcement was news to him, but that Ukraine will endorse it if the Russians accept, while awaiting details from the American side, according to Opera Mundi.

British Prime Minister Andy Burnham called Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Saturday, the same day US President Donald Trump suggested the Ukrainian leader should be replaced for refusing to reach a settlement with Moscow, according to RT. Earlier on Saturday, Trump accused Zelenskyy of seeking to “make problems for the world” through continued attacks on the Russian energy infrastructure, including refineries. “I suggest they get a new leader who can make a deal,” he said.

Iran’s Supreme National Security Council secretary, Mohsen Rezaei, said that Tehran continues to demand changes to Washington’s response before agreeing to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and resume talks, according to the Middle East Eye. Rezaei wrote on X that the United States (US) has agreed to some of Iran’s seven conditions, but that Tehran considers its response inadequate.

Republican senator Thom Tillis said the sanctions relief on Russian diesel could violate congressional law, in a Sunday interview on NBC News’s Meet the Press, according to Al Jazeera. “I do believe there’s a legitimate case for saying the president’s not following the law,” Tillis said. A bipartisan group of senators called for an immediate reversal of the relief, saying the United States should not provide Vladimir Putin with a financial lifeline while Russia continues to kill Ukrainian civilians.

Iran’s Supreme Security Council secretary, Mohsen Rezaei, said Tehran will not reopen the Strait of Hormuz until the United States accepts Iran’s seven-point plan for a peaceful resolution, conveyed through Qatar in September, according to Sputnik Globe. According to Rezaei, the United States responded to the conditions and accepted some of them, but its response to the rest was vague. He called the US response “insufficient” and said Iran is no longer responding to the Americans, according to The Jerusalem Post.

The US administration threatened to block the weapons procurement program for Ukraine and intelligence sharing over Ukrainian attacks on Russian energy infrastructure, according to the Financial Times, cited by TASS. US officials made a series of phone calls to European capitals and Kyiv on October 10 and 11 threatening to cut off intelligence sharing and the PURL program.

President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio are considering firing US ambassador to Greece Kimberly Guilfoyle after a series of reports alleging improper and possibly illegal conduct, according to The Guardian. A senior US official said Sunday that Trump and Rubio are “extremely pissed off” by the reported conduct and will likely decide what action to take this week, after Monday’s Columbus Day holiday, according to the Associated Press. The Wall Street Journal reported that Guilfoyle asked a Trump donor to pay a $100,000 credit card bill shortly before her confirmation hearing, promising him access to administration officials.

Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi said that Tehran will take the legal case over the US strike on the Shajareh Tayyebeh school in Minab to foreign courts. According to him, the school was hit three times by missiles in the early hours of February 28, 2026, in what Tehran describes as the start of the joint US-Israeli aggression against Iran, and 168 people died, mostly schoolchildren, along with a number of parents and teachers.

European Commissioner for Defence Andrius Kubilius called for no longer expecting any US help in settling the Ukrainian crisis, according to TASS. He argued that the European Union (EU) and Ukraine should draw up and implement an independent peace strategy.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that the CHPP-5 plant in Kharkiv was struck shortly after the announcement of an energy ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine by US President Donald Trump. According to Ukraine’s Presidential Office, the attack occurred after Trump announced the ceasefire in a Truth Social post, in which he wrote that the energy ceasefire was effective “immediately”. Zelenskyy said the strike happened “just now”.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on ABC's This Week that he would organize elections if Putin agreed to 60 days of a total ceasefire, according to Reuters, in a text republished by the Jerusalem Post. The statement answered Saturday's demand by US President Donald Trump that Zelenskyy stop attacking Russian refineries and that Ukrainians replace him in new elections.

US Security Coordinator Lt. Gen. Sean M. Salene criticized Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government for stalling measures in Donald Trump's plan that strengthen the Palestinian Authority in Gaza, especially the training of a new Palestinian police force. Top US officials have accused Netanyahu of delaying aspects of the October 2025 ceasefire plan designed to replace Hamas with new Palestinian political and security mechanisms in Gaza.

US President Donald Trump said on Sunday that Ukraine and Russia had agreed to what he described as an energy ceasefire, effective immediately. In an interview with Axios, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Trump's post was the first he had heard of the deal, but a senior Ukrainian official told Reuters that Ukraine was ready to accept the ceasefire if Russia was. Earlier on Sunday, Zelenskyy had repeated Ukraine's long-standing position that it was willing to halt attacks on Russian refineries, but only if Moscow ceased its own strikes on Ukrainian power infrastructure.

Iranian Ambassador to Russia Kazem Jalali slammed as a figment and campaign rhetoric US President Donald Trump's allegations that Iran can destroy Los Angeles and San Diego, according to TASS. Jalali said Iran's military doctrine is clear, responsible and based on defense and deterrence and that the country has never initiated any wars, according to the same source.

The Council for a Secure America ranked Kuwait as the Middle Eastern country most likely to join the Abraham Accords, followed by Lebanon and Syria, according to the Jerusalem Post, in a Media Line text. The “Expansion Opportunities: Middle East Analysis” report of October 8 assessed nine Muslim-majority countries without formal diplomatic relations with Israel. Lebanon placed second after signing a US-brokered “Trilateral Framework” in June; Syria placed third after talks accelerated post-Assad.

The head of Iran's Department of Environment, Shina Ansari, said US strikes on the petrochemical hub in the Iranian city of Asaluyeh generated emissions equivalent to 1.5 million tonnes of carbon dioxide, according to Sputnik. Ansari said the amount equals what 66 million mature trees absorb annually, according to Iranian state television.

Iran's Medical Council called on the World Health Organization (WHO), the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the World Medical Association (WMA) to take immediate action against the use of patients' lives as a tool of political and military pressure, according to the Tehran Times. In an official letter to the three organizations, the council said the United States violates international humanitarian and criminal law through an economic blockade and pharmaceutical sanctions. Council head Mohammad Raiszadeh urged the leaders of health organizations to respond promptly and responsibly to what he described as inhumane acts and the weaponization of medical resources in armed conflicts.

US President Donald Trump called on Saturday for Ukraine to replace President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, after the Ukrainian criticized Washington’s easing of Russian diesel, according to France24. Trump also railed against Ukraine’s attacks on Russian oil infrastructure, according to Reuters.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on October 11 that Ukraine is ready to halt its attacks on Russian oil refineries if Russia ceases strikes on Ukrainian energy infrastructure, and conditioned any de-escalation on reciprocity and real guarantees. A US official told Axios that President Trump decided to make a diesel deal with Russia after Zelenskyy ignored half a dozen US requests to stop attacking Russian refineries.

The United States will gain a base for anti-submarine operations near the GIUK gap, between Greenland, Iceland and the United Kingdom, under the September 22 agreement with Denmark and Greenland, Troy Bouffard, director of the Center for Arctic Security and Resilience, told Sputnik. The agreement includes Narsarsuaq as an air bridge and a base on the western edge of the gap and a smaller installation at Mestersvig, for radar and communications.

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Saturday (October 10, 2026) that Russian President Vladimir Putin would like to reach a deal on the war in Ukraine, accusing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of resisting a compromise, according to AFP, in a text republished by The Hindu. Trump said Putin told him he wanted a settlement, “strongly,” in their phone call on Friday (October 9, 2026). In another statement, Trump said Zelenskyy, for various reasons, does not want to pursue a peaceful settlement, according to Mehr News.

Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman, Esmail Baghaei, said the international order collapses as much through aggression as when the use of force becomes normalised and the world stays silent about it, according to Mehr News. The statement reacted to new US sanctions against the International Criminal Court (ICC) and threats to dismantle it, the agency said.

The UN secretary-general, António Guterres, condemned the Houthi attack on King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, which reportedly killed 12 people and injured hundreds of civilians, according to TASS. The secretary-general of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), Jasem al-Budaiwi, called the attacks “treacherous terrorist attacks”. Asked on Saturday whether he had changed his mind about joining Saudi strikes on the group, Donald Trump said the United States “may”. Four Saudis, two Bangladeshis, one US citizen, one Egyptian, one Jordanian, one Syrian, one Palestinian and one Sudanese are among the 12 dead, according to Le Monde.

A US fighter jet struck the stern of the Panama-flagged cargo vessel M/V Ocean Molica, also known as Arika Sun, with a precision munition in the Gulf of Oman, fully disabling the ship’s propulsion without harming the crew, according to the United States Central Command (CENTCOM), cited by Middle East Eye. According to CENTCOM, the ship was attempting to run the naval blockade against Iran after departing an Iranian port and ignored repeated warnings. During three months of strict enforcement, US forces disabled four commercial vessels, turned around 135 and destroyed 10 tankers linked to the Revolutionary Guard’s shadow network.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio condemned the Houthi attacks against Saudi Arabia, including Saturday’s attack on King Khalid airport in Riyadh, according to Al Jazeera. In a statement, Rubio said Washington strongly condemns the attacks by what he called terrorist Houthis and confirmed that the airport strike killed numerous innocent lives, including an American citizen, according to TASS.

The Pentagon updated its official count of US service members killed in the war against Iran, Operation Epic Fury, according to the Jerusalem Post. The report cites the Washington Post, which reported in September that the previous count of 18 may have been inaccurate and that at least four service members were potentially excluded from the official tally.

Under the diesel deal between the United States and Russia, Russia would release an initial 300,000 tonnes of diesel to the American and global marketplace, followed by an additional 500,000 tonnes in November, according to the BBC, citing President Donald Trump. EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said suspending sanctions provides Moscow with more revenue to wage war and that Europe will not ease pressure.

Saudi Arabia's civil aviation authority said an attack on King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh killed at least 12 people and wounded 309, according to Middle East Eye. The dead included four Saudi citizens, two Bangladeshi nationals, one US citizen, one Egyptian, one Jordanian, one Syrian, one Palestinian and one Sudanese, according to NPR. US President Donald Trump said he is evaluating whether the country should join Saudi strikes against the Houthis after the Saturday attack, according to NPR.

A missile struck the complex housing terminals 3 and 4 for domestic flights at Riyadh’s King Khalid airport, wounding many people, according to The Hindu. As a precaution, the airport will remain closed to arrivals and departures until about midnight local time, according to TASS. US President Donald Trump said the United States may join Saudi strikes against the Houthis and will decide quickly, according to The Jerusalem Post. After learning of the attack, he said: “We may. We’re going to look at it,” according to The Hindu.

The Russian government has partially lifted its ban on diesel exports to implement the agreements reached by Presidents Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump, the cabinet said. The measure takes effect on October 10, allowing 500,000 metric tons of diesel to the global market at this stage, according to the statement.

The US State Department’s 2026 Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report, released on October 8, downgraded Hong Kong to Tier 3 from the Tier 2 Watch List, according to the Times of India. Hong Kong rejected the assessment, calling it “entirely unfounded” and accusing Washington of double standards. According to the report, Hong Kong authorities investigated 11 human trafficking cases in 2025, all involving forced labour, compared with seven in 2024.

A Congressional Research Service report released this week says the United States military had 81 aircraft destroyed or damaged in the war with Iran, according to CNN. The number includes airplanes, helicopters and drones, with MQ-9 Reaper drones accounting for more than half of the losses; the list includes an F-35A and an E-3 Sentry. The total cost of the aircraft lost is between $1.9 billion and $3.3 billion, according to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) cited in the report.

This year’s Nobel Peace Prize laureate, judge and former UN rights chief Navi Pillay, called US sanctions against the International Criminal Court (ICC) unheard of and unacceptable, according to AFP, in text published by RFI. Pillay said there is so much tension and anxiety over the continued existence of international courts, mainly the ICC in The Hague. Hours after she was named the laureate, the US announced new sanctions against the court, provoking swift condemnation from member states and the United Nations, according to AFP.

US President Donald Trump said it is time for Ukraine to get a new president, responding to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s criticism of the US diesel deal with Russia, according to the BBC. Trump told reporters on Saturday that he suggests they get a new leader who can make a deal, and that it is time for Ukraine to get a new president, according to Axios. Zelensky called the diesel deal not fair and not honest, a sign of weakness by Trump and a birthday gift to Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to Axios.

Former Biden administration official Phil Gordon said that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu introduced a series of new conditions against the advice of his own security chiefs, making a hostage deal impossible for another six months after July 2024, in a post cited by the Jerusalem Post. According to Gordon, during that period nearly 9,000 additional Palestinians were killed and more Israeli hostages died, including the six executed by Hamas in August. Among the new demands cited by Gordon was retaining Israeli forces along Gaza's entire border with Egypt — a stretch the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) had seized only after the original proposal had already been made — as well as a screening mechanism for Palestinians returning north.

US negotiators Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner may visit Moscow within the next two weeks, a source told TASS. The presidents of Russia and the United States held a phone call on October 9 discussing Russian diesel supplies, according to TASS.

Lula's special advisor for international affairs, Celso Amorim, said that the “Shield of the Americas” launched by President Donald Trump seeks to impose a “siege” and “absolute domination” on Brazil under the “false” argument of fighting organized crime, according to G1. The coalition brings together presidents of Latin American countries most aligned with Trump, such as Javier Milei, of Argentina, Abelardo de la Espriella, of Colombia, and Nayib Bukele, of El Salvador, according to G1. Aides close to Lula say the measure was “very serious” and represents a “gateway” to military actions in the region, as happened in Venezuela and Colombia, according to G1.

The Kremlin announced on Saturday that Russian President Vladimir Putin conveyed to US President Donald Trump, in a phone call on Friday, Iran's stance on a potential agreement to end the war, according to Mehr News. According to spokesman Dmitry Peskov, cited by RIA Novosti, Putin conveyed to Trump the Iranian side's views on a possible settlement of the conflict, in coordination with the Iranian president. This week, Putin met with Iran's president on the sidelines of a regional summit in Turkmenistan, where he offered to mediate an agreement to end the war.

The United States pressed Israel to carry out a solo strike operation against Iran during discussions between the two countries over the past two weeks, sources told Maariv, in a report published by the Jerusalem Post. Washington wanted Israel to assume the political risks of a military operation ahead of the US midterm elections, rather than US President Donald Trump. The US has since backed down from its demand, at least for now, and Netanyahu’s position remains undefined.

Iran has retained the ability to manufacture ballistic missiles and drones despite eight months of US and Israeli airstrikes, allowing Tehran to replenish its weapons stockpiles, according to the Jerusalem Post, citing Bloomberg. Western officials speaking on condition of anonymity said Iran had preserved parts of its weapons manufacturing infrastructure despite extensive strikes on its military-industrial capabilities.

A day after US President Donald Trump announced a deal to buy Russian diesel, Russian strikes killed at least 11 people in Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia region on Saturday, October 10, according to officials cited by The Hindu. Three children were among the dead and at least 16 people were wounded when Russian aerial bombs hit residential buildings, said Mykhailo Semikin, head of the regional military administration. Ukraine's national police said Russia targeted residential neighborhoods with five guided aerial bombs early Saturday, according to Asharq Al-Awsat. Trump wrote that Russia would immediately supply more than 300,000 tonnes of diesel, followed by an additional 500,000 tonnes in November 2026 and 1 million tonnes immediately thereafter, with 3 million more within a short period of time. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called the deal “a weak decision, unfortunately, a weak decision by strong partners”.

Vladimir Putin conveyed to Donald Trump, in coordination with the Iranian president, Iran’s vision on a possible conflict resolution, according to Sputnik, citing the Kremlin.

Jared Kushner marked one year since an agreement was reached on Trump's 20-point plan for Gaza, saying significant progress had been made in implementing it over the past year, according to the Jerusalem Post. Among the milestones he cited were the return of the 20 living hostages to Israel in October 2025, the return of the remains of the final hostage in January 2026 and the formation of a technocratic Palestinian administration for Gaza. Kushner said humanitarian aid to Gaza has increased significantly since the ceasefire and that Hamas signed in July a phased disarmament framework that has not been fully implemented.

US, Ukrainian and European officials met in Miami on Friday in a renewed diplomatic push to end Russia's war in Ukraine, as Washington seeks a way out of the dangerous stalemate. US envoy Steve Witkoff said the talks tackled potential avenues to de-escalate and conclude the war before winter, toward a durable peace; according to him, the meeting included the E3, the European Commission, Ukraine and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and covered energy resilience, grain, security guarantees and reconstruction. The meeting follows the announcement that Russia would immediately supply more than 300,000 tons of diesel, with another 500,000 tons in November, and that the US Treasury would issue a temporary license to allow Russian diesel to flow to global markets.

Iran's Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf responded to remarks by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, saying he will kneel before the Iranians. Rubio had said on Wednesday that Iran has lost complete control of the waterway, pointing to the recovery in Gulf oil exports in September.

The US Central Command (Centcom) said it redirected 133 commercial vessels as of October 9 through the Strait of Hormuz to enforce the naval blockade against Iran. In a post on X, Centcom called the US blockade against Iran “ironclad”. A second outlet, Ajel English, reported that Centcom announced 133 commercial vessels redirected to enforce the maritime blockade on Iran since its resumption.

US President Donald Trump said that Washington's sanctions on the International Criminal Court (ICC) were intended to defend Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and others from prosecution, not himself.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump held a phone call lasting an hour and a half, described as substantive and friendly, according to Russian Presidential Aide Yury Ushakov. In the same call, Putin told Trump that Russia’s position on the goals and objectives of its special military operation remains unchanged, according to the aide.

The US will ban transactions with the International Criminal Court (ICC), cutting off its resources and crippling its ability to operate, according to Reuters, in a text republished by CNBC Africa — a move that goes far further by potentially punishing companies that provide services to the court itself. The court said that “no one should be punished for serving the cause of justice” and that “history will judge this moment”, according to Middle East Eye.

Russian President Vladimir Putin told US President Donald Trump that Moscow’s proposal to transfer Iran’s highly enriched uranium to Russia remains in force as a possible way out of the impasse, according to TASS. Kremlin foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov said Trump welcomed Moscow’s involvement in resolving the situation surrounding Tehran, according to TASS.

President Donald Trump announced that Russia will supply more than 300,000 tons of diesel immediately, an additional 500,000 tons in November and 1 million tons shortly after, according to DW. The US Treasury Department issued a temporary license allowing Russian diesel to reach global markets through April 2027, DW reported. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said gifts to Russian President Vladimir Putin will not bring peace or any benefit to the civilized world and that Russia will “repay” the diesel with further terror and perfidy, according to DW. Kremlin foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov said that by launching a massive drone attack on Moscow, other cities and polling stations on the main voting day, Kyiv disrupted the possibility of an immediate resumption of the negotiation process, according to Reuters, in a text republished by SRN News.

President Donald Trump reposted a message saying the Nobel Committee shamed itself beyond repair and demeaned the once great Nobel Peace Prize by giving it to Navi Pillay, according to Politico. The post came from the law firm of attorney David Schoen, Politico reported. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said the Nobel Committee has lost its moral compass, according to Politico. Pillay is a South African human rights lawyer and judge who led a United Nations commission that stated Israel committed genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, according to Politico.

Erik Prince signed a wide-ranging contract in late 2024 to provide security and mining services to the government of Democratic Republic of the Congo President Félix Tshisekedi, according to The New York Times.

Vladimir Putin’s envoy, Kirill Dmitriev, said energy and economic cooperation between Russia and the United States (US) will continue and benefit global markets, in a post on X on Friday, according to TASS. The remark responds to Donald Trump’s announcement that he coordinated with Putin, in a phone call he called “highly successful”, the supply of up to 4.8 million tonnes of Russian diesel to the world market, including the US.

President Donald Trump left open the possibility of striking Iran before the midterm elections. Asked about it, he said, “We may. I mean, we’ll see,” according to The Jerusalem Post. Trump has signaled to aides that he would be willing to strike Iran again, though his advisers believe the right moment would be after the midterms, according to The Atlantic.

The Port of Los Angeles, the largest container port in the United States and the country's leading gateway for imports from China and other Asian countries, had its busiest quarter on record from July through September, according to the South China Morning Post. According to port director Gene Seroka, the period totaled almost 3 million TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units), and, including June, almost 4 million container units were moved, the strongest four-month stretch ever recorded.

United States (US) President Donald Trump claimed the country “shouldn’t worry now” because it stopped Iran from having a nuclear weapon and that the war will end soon, in a speech at a White House Columbus Day celebration. Trump alleged that 28 million barrels of oil were “taken out” on Thursday and that diesel prices will tumble. A high-ranking Iranian source told TASS that Iran won’t hold anything back in response to new attacks by the US and Israel.