Pakistan and Turkey's top generals meet in Riyadh, and France sends troops to guard a Saudi oil port

The rest of the day

32 more stories on this beat.

Each with its own sources. None of these is a link to the story above.

1. 02

   Trump rejects Iran's seven-day plan, WSJ reports

   Trump has rejected Iran's offer to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and halt fighting across the region within seven days, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday, citing unnamed US officials. [9] He told aides he expects to resume bombing after the US election on 3 November, the paper said; Reuters could not confirm it. [9][6] Iran's foreign minister, Abbas Araqchi, said at the UN on Friday that the choice now rests with the US. [6][56] Under the plan, fighting would stop on all fronts, the US would lift its blockade of Iranian ports, release frozen funds and waive oil sanctions, and the strait would reopen on the seventh day. [13][10] It closely resembles the June memorandum that fell apart within weeks. [10][11]

   Why it matters — About a fifth of the world's traded oil and gas passed through the strait before the war, so a rejection keeps oil above $100 a barrel in every country that imports it. [12][1]

2. 03

   Iran says the strait stays shut until every demand is met

   A senior Iranian official told Reuters on Friday that the Strait of Hormuz stays closed until all of Iran's conditions are met, and that Iran will make no nuclear concessions even if the US accepts its plan. [13] That includes enriching uranium and keeping its highly enriched stock at home, which the US wants shipped out. [13] The UN nuclear agency estimates Iran held 440.9 kg of uranium enriched to 60% when its sites were struck in June 2025. [13] An official in Trump's administration told Reuters that Trump holds all the cards and would rather let Iran's economy collapse than be played. [14] President Masoud Pezeshkian told Fox News that Iran does not want a bomb. [15]

   Why it matters — The US wants the nuclear question settled in the same deal as the strait, and Iran wants the strait settled first, so the two plans do not fit together. [11]

3. 04

   France drafts a UN resolution on Hormuz

   France is working on a draft Security Council resolution backing freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz, a UN diplomat told AP on Friday. [8] It would recall the Law of the Sea and support peaceful efforts to secure safe passage, and Trump and Macron discussed it on the sidelines of the UN week, as did Arab governments and Iran. [8] Separately, Araqchi briefed Saudi Arabia's foreign minister on an understanding between Iran and Oman, which holds the other shore of the strait, about safe shipping routes. [6]

   Why it matters — The same diplomat said the disruption of the strait has become a political problem for Trump and his party before November's vote. [8]

4. 05

   Tigray goes dark as phones and internet are cut

   Calls and internet on Ethio Telecom, Ethiopia's state-owned network, stopped across Tigray late on Thursday, and Reuters and AFP could not reach people there by phone on Friday. [16][19] NetBlocks, which tracks outages, confirmed the shutdown; the much smaller private network Safaricom still works in some places. [17][16] Residents of Mekelle, the regional capital, said the cut also blocked mobile money, in a region where people have had almost no cash from banks for eight months. [16][17] Each side blames the other; a note shared with diplomats this month said the TPLF had removed Ethio Telecom transformers in several towns. [16]

   Why it matters — During the 2020-22 war the same blackout, with a blockade of food, cash and medicine, pushed hundreds of thousands of people towards famine, and about 600,000 people died. [16][21]

5. 06

   Fighting reaches Afar and the churches of Lalibela

   There was heavy fighting overnight into Friday around Abala, a town in Afar region on the Tigray border, and federal forces used a drone to stop Tigrayan fighters entering it, a humanitarian source told AFP. [19] Clashes on Thursday reached North Wollo in Amhara, around Lalibela, whose rock-cut churches are a UNESCO World Heritage site; flights to Lalibela were suspended. [19][16] Analysts say the TPLF is repeating its plan from the last war: push south through Amhara towards Addis Ababa and cut the route from Djibouti, which carries almost all of Ethiopia's trade and fuel. [19] Ethiopia's army has about 500,000 soldiers, many drones and support from the UAE. [19]

   Why it matters — If the road from Djibouti is cut, almost all of Ethiopia's imports and fuel stop with it, which is why the fighting in Afar matters more than the airports. [19]

6. 07

   The US sides with Ethiopia's government

   The US embassy said this week it was disappointed to see the TPLF launch a large-scale offensive. [19] The war returned a week after the US let its Ethiopia-related sanctions lapse on 18 September, saying the national emergency had expired, and removed Eritrean officials and firms from its sanctions list. [22][20] Analysts told DW that the US needs Eritrea, whose coast faces Yemen across the Bab al-Mandeb strait, in the fight against the Houthis. [22] Ethiopia's government accuses Eritrea of funding the TPLF and its allies, which Eritrea denies; Eritrean troops fought beside the federal army in the last war. [20][22]

   Why it matters — Eritrea helped Ethiopia's army in 2020-22 and is now accused of helping the rebels, so the neighbour most able to widen this war has just had its US sanctions lifted. [22][20]

7. 08

   Ethiopia's seven-group alliance was built on an old quarrel

   The Alliance for Survival, announced on 20 September, joins the TPLF with Amhara's Fano militia, the Oromo Liberation Army and four smaller movements, and aims to remove Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed. [23] Fano fought beside the federal army against Tigray in the last war and took western Tigray, which the TPLF still wants back; Ethiopia's government says a referendum must decide it. [18][21] The groups' coordination meetings were held with Eritrean and Sudanese security officers present, an Al Jazeera opinion piece says. [23] Ethiopia's new parliament, elected without any vote in Tigray, opens on 5 October. [23]

   Why it matters — The alliance agrees on one thing, removing Abiy, and its two biggest members still disagree over the land they fought each other for four years ago. [21][23]

8. 09

   Yemen's government calls everyone to enlist

   Rashad al-Alimi, who chairs Yemen's Presidential Leadership Council, called on Friday for a general mobilisation and promised a pardon to any Houthi fighter who defects. [7] It was his first speech since government forces were driven off the western Red Sea coast by the Houthis this month. [7] He said the aim is to retake Sanaa, the capital the Houthis have held since 2014. [7] Yemen's vice president told the UN that the Houthis are using shipping security as a tool of blackmail. [1]

   Why it matters — The Houthis now hold most of the coast facing the Bab al-Mandeb strait, which normally carries about 12% of global oil trade, and Yemen's government has just lost the coast it would need to fight from. [1][7]

9. 10

   Two Russian refineries stop after drone strikes

   Russia's Novoshakhtinsk refinery, which makes fuel mainly for export and can process about 100,000 barrels a day, suspended operations on Friday after a drone attack, the regional governor said. [24] The same day the Perm refinery, 1,460 km north-east of Moscow and owned by Lukoil, halted after an attack; it processed about 252,000 barrels a day in 2024 and had already been hit on 21 August. [25] Ukraine recently struck two major refineries in Moscow and Yaroslavl. [24] Zelensky has warned that if there is no truce on energy targets before winter, Ukraine will make the winter painful for Russia. [24]

   Why it matters — Each refinery that stops cuts the fuel exports that pay for Russia's war, and adds to a world oil market already above $100 a barrel. [24][1]

10. 11

    Russia hits Kyiv's data centres, and five die in the city

    A Russian jet-drone strike on an apartment block in Kyiv's Pecherskyi district at about 8am on Friday killed five people, among them Daniel Umansky, 14, who also held Israeli citizenship, and injured at least 20. [27][28] Zelensky said Russia has widened its attacks to data centres and internet providers; about 100,000 households in and around Kyiv lost internet on Wednesday, and a Datagroup centre was hit on Friday. [26] Russia's defence ministry said the site served Ukrainian military intelligence. [26] In Lutsk, bus-stop information boards went dark because of the Kyiv strike. [26]

    Why it matters — Ukraine's air-raid alerts travel over these networks, so a strike on a data centre is also a strike on the warning that gets people into shelters. [26]

11. 12

    Zelensky asks Trump to bring China in

    Zelensky said on Friday he had asked Trump to press China's leader, Xi Jinping, to use his influence on Russia to end the war, and that he was waiting to hear what came of Trump's talks with Xi. [29] He said the US wants technical talks between US, Ukrainian and Russian officials, probably in the UAE, and that Trump confirmed Ukraine will get licences to build Patriot air-defence systems. [29] Trump signed a strong Russia sanctions bill last week but has not put the measures into effect. [29] Rubio said both sides had voiced interest in a limited ceasefire on grain and energy targets; Russia's foreign minister showed no sign of engaging. [30]

    Why it matters — Patriots have been short since the Iran war began on 28 February, and they are what stops Russia's ballistic missiles. [29]

12. 13

    Poland says the Starlink fire was ordered from Russia

    Poland's prosecutors opened an investigation on Friday into the arson at a Starlink ground station in Wola Krobowska on Wednesday, saying there is reasonable suspicion that the attackers acted on the orders of Russian special services. [26] The station carries internet traffic through Poland to Ukraine and other countries. [26] Germany blamed Russia this month for an attempted drone attack on Leipzig/Halle airport, and France has ordered a plan to protect key sites. [26]

    Why it matters — A prosecutor's file that names Russia's services turns a fire into a criminal case, and that is the step Poland took on Friday. [26]

13. 14

    Russia builds thousands of drones a month

    Russia produced around 5,500 drones a month in March, by one Washington think-tank estimate, and Ukrainian intelligence put August output at about 3,000 Geran-4 and Geran-5 drones plus 2,800 Geran-2 a month, Euronews reported on Friday. [31] Most are built at the Alabuga zone in Tatarstan, 1,200 km from the border, where Ukrainian strikes have pushed much of the work underground. [31] A drone costs 25,000 to 40,000 euros; an interceptor missile can cost a million dollars. [31] The CIA has warned that Russia could launch drones at Spain, France or Italy from container ships in the Mediterranean. [31]

    Why it matters — A defender that spends a million dollars to stop a 30,000-euro drone runs out of money before the attacker runs out of drones. [31]

14. 15

    Kabul denies sending the drones Pakistan bombed over

    Afghanistan's Taliban government denied sending the eight small drones that Pakistan says flew in from Afghan territory on Thursday, four of them near Kohat, and said the seven Afghans killed in Pakistan's strikes this week were all civilians. [32][33] Pakistan struck ten sites it said were used to launch and store the drones. [33] The two were allies when the Taliban took power in 2021; Pakistan now accuses Kabul of sheltering the Pakistani Taliban, whose attacks killed at least 30 people in north-west Pakistan last week. [32] Talks in Belarus this summer failed because Kabul would not force the militants to stop. [33]

    Why it matters — A ceasefire brokered by China in March held for nearly three months, and this is what ended it. [32][33]

15. 16

    Imran Khan's party delays its march on Islamabad

    Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, the party of the jailed former prime minister Imran Khan, postponed its march from Peshawar to Islamabad from 27 September to 4 October, the chief minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province said on Friday. [34] Punjab has banned gatherings for 13 days, Islamabad for two months, and Pakistan's federal government has deployed paramilitary Rangers until 5 October. [34] All three of Khan's sisters have been detained, and the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan condemned the mass pre-emptive arrests of party workers. [34] The information minister called the party the Pakistani Taliban's B-team. [34]

    Why it matters — Punjab also asked for mobile internet to be cut in Rawalpindi and Attock on the march day, which lands on everyone in those districts, not only the marchers. [34]

16. 17

    US Supreme Court blocks a Trump-backed voting map

    The US Supreme Court on Friday refused to let Missouri use a new congressional map backed by Trump for November's elections, leaving in place a state ruling that voters must approve the map in a referendum first. [35] Republicans had hoped the map would win them one more seat in the House. [35] The same day the court let states use a federal database to check voters' citizenship, a temporary win for Trump; Nevada's officials said 185 people the database flagged as non-citizens were all citizens. [35] A judge also struck down Trump's ban on three news outlets from the presidential complex this week. [35]

    Why it matters — Absentee voting for the midterms has already begun, so a map decided this week decides the districts people are voting in now. [35]

17. 18

    Trump moves to withhold $800m that Congress approved

    The Trump administration said on Friday it will withhold $800 million that Congress had approved, for programmes including refugee assistance, minority business development and overseas conservation, using a rarely used method called a pocket rescission that bypasses Congress. [36] Senator Susan Collins, the Republican who chairs the US Senate's spending committee, called it illegal. [36] The US constitution gives Congress the power over spending. [36] The US Supreme Court last year declined to stop Trump using the same tactic on $4.9 billion of foreign aid. [36]

    Why it matters — The last time this method was used the money was foreign aid; this time some of it was for refugees inside the US. [36]

18. 19

    Xi leaves Washington promising two more meetings

    Xi Jinping ended his three-day state visit to the US on Friday by saying he will meet Trump twice more before the end of the year. [35] Critics in the US called the visit heavy on ceremony and light on substance. [35] Zelensky said he was still waiting to learn what Trump and Xi said about Ukraine; NATO countries call China the decisive enabler of Russia's invasion. [29] Xi skipped the UN General Assembly for the visit and sent Vice President Han Zheng, who speaks there on Saturday. [51]

    Why it matters — Nothing concrete was announced, and the promise of two more meetings is what the visit produced. [35]

19. 20

    Sudanese fleeing to Chad up twenty-fold

    The number of people crossing from Sudan into Chad has risen twenty-fold, the UN refugee agency said on Friday, as they flee aerial bombing and drone attacks in Darfur, Kordofan and Blue Nile. [37] Sudan's army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces have been at war for more than three years. [37] The agency said its funding is failing to keep up after the Trump administration and other donors cut billions in aid, and that many refugees who cannot meet basic needs in Chad move on towards Europe. [37]

    Why it matters — The UN calls Sudan the world's largest humanitarian crisis, and its army chief was kept away from the UN this week by a withheld US visa. [30]

20. 21

    UN adds 61 firms to its settlement list

    The UN human rights office on Friday added 61 companies to its database of firms operating in Israeli settlements in the West Bank, which the UN considers illegal, bringing the total to 214. [38] New names include ADAMA, an Israeli pesticide maker owned by China's Syngenta, the property firm Alony Hetz and Spain's Salvat Logistica; Airbnb and Expedia were already listed. [38] About 60 other firms were assessed and left off. [39] Israel's mission in Geneva called the database a distorted mechanism built to persecute Israel. [38] Britain, France and Canada blocked settlement imports this month. [38]

    Why it matters — A listing can be used for boycotts and divestment, so the database is where a UN opinion becomes a cost for a company. [38]

21. 22

    Egypt's spy chief flew to Israel days before 7 October, report says

    Abbas Kamel, then head of Egyptian intelligence, flew to Israel on 26 September 2023 to warn that Hamas was preparing an attack, The Atlantic reported, citing Israeli, Egyptian, Arab, US and European officials. [40] His plane stayed 67 minutes at Ben Gurion airport, and it is unclear whom he met. [40] He recommended economic concessions to Hamas and warned that Gaza would blow up in Israel's face, a former Israeli official said. [40] Israel's national security adviser at the time, Tzachi Hanegbi, denied any visit or warning; Netanyahu has called earlier reports of a Kamel warning fake news. [40]

    Why it matters — It adds a third warning to the record before 7 October, after the UAE president's call and the message carried by the go-between Sufian Abu Zaida. [40][43]

22. 23

    Netanyahu argued for calm in Gaza six days before the attack, NYT reports

    Six days before the Hamas attack, at a security meeting on 1 October 2023, Netanyahu said Israel's goal should be to keep Gaza calm, the New York Times reported, citing the minutes. [41][42] He did not want to derail a normalisation deal with Saudi Arabia. [41] He pushed back on officials who wanted strikes on Hamas leaders. [41] He did not tell the meeting that the UAE's president had personally warned him days earlier of a possible Hamas attack, a call Netanyahu denies and several outlets have confirmed. [41] Sufian Abu Zaida, the Palestinian go-between, said this week he relayed Sinwar's warning of a coming earthquake 22 days before the attack. [44][43]

    Why it matters — Hamas documents captured in the war showed the attack was partly meant to stop the Saudi deal that Netanyahu was protecting. [41]

23. 24

    Israel's army stops hunting ultra-Orthodox draft evaders

    The Israeli military has halted proactive arrests of ultra-Orthodox yeshiva students accused of evading the draft in their own neighbourhoods, several police sources told Haaretz. [45] The arrest operations, and the protests against them, stopped last month; the army cited operational needs. [45] The High Court noted that fewer than 10% of those arrested for draft evasion in the first half of 2026 were ultra-Orthodox. [45]

    Why it matters — Fewer than one in ten of those arrested were the students the operations were named for, and that is the number the court pointed at. [45]

24. 25

    Al Jazeera answers Netanyahu's UN attack

    Al Jazeera on Friday rejected Netanyahu's description of it in his UN speech as one of the world's toxic media outlets that brainwashes young minds. [46] The network said words spoken from the UN podium endanger its reporters; more than 270 journalists have been killed in Gaza, at least 12 of them working for Al Jazeera. [46] Israel's cabinet ordered the network's offices in Israel closed two years ago. [46] A Times of Israel analysis noted that Netanyahu brought none of the new Iran intelligence his officials had promised and did not mention Saudi peace. [47]

    Why it matters — Netanyahu's claim to have exactly fulfilled his vow to stop Iran's bomb came with no evidence, the same analysis said. [47]

25. 26

    A film of soldiers' testimony on Gaza is up for an Emmy

    Breaking Ranks: Inside Israel's War, a British documentary, is one of four nominees for the International Emmy for current affairs. [48] In it, serving and former Israeli soldiers describe relaxed rules of engagement and the use of Palestinians as human shields in Gaza. [48] Several of the soldiers show their faces. [48] One tank commander describes a practice called the mosquito protocol, in which a Palestinian was sent through Hamas tunnels wearing a vest with a phone that mapped them. [48] The army said allegations are examined and several military police investigations are ongoing. [48]

    Why it matters — The New York Times reported the same practice in 2024, so the film adds names and faces to a claim that was already on record. [48]

26. 27

    Rich countries' aid fell by a quarter last year

    Official aid from OECD donor countries fell 23% in 2025, the steepest annual drop on record, and humanitarian aid fell 36%, a senior UAE official told The National. [49] The UAE was among a few non-Western donors that gave more. [49] On the UN sidelines the Gates Foundation pledged $1 billion for AI tools for farmers and health workers. [50] A new group, Operation End Starvation, which has $100 million from the US State Department, said it needs seventeen times that each year to feed starving children. [50] Mid-sized charities described the funding scene as ad hoc and disjointed. [50]

    Why it matters — The fall lands first on refugee camps like those in Chad, where the UN says its money is not keeping up with arrivals. [37]

27. 28

    China has cancelled most of its overseas coal plans

    China has cancelled the majority of the overseas coal power plants it had planned in 2021, the year Xi Jinping promised the UN that it would stop funding coal abroad, a report released this week says. [51] Experts warned that Chinese companies use loopholes to keep investing in coal, and that South-East Asia, hit first by the closure of Hormuz, has ramped up coal to keep the lights on. [51] China remains the world's biggest maker of solar panels, wind turbines and electric cars. [51]

    Why it matters — China was the world's largest overseas coal financier before the pledge, so what it cancels or builds sets the direction for Asia and Africa. [51]

28. 29

    South Africa says it still wants to talk after US visa curbs

    South Africa's foreign minister, Ronald Lamola, said on Friday the country remains open to talks with the US on every issue. [52] Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced curbs on visas for South Africans on 15 September, citing its laws and policies. [52] Lamola said the two sides had been making progress on letting new US companies into South Africa's mining sector when the curbs came. [52] The US ambassador called them the first of a series of escalating steps. [52] The US is also pressing South Africa over land reform and its genocide case against Israel at the world court. [52]

    Why it matters — Lamola said no country can be confident of anything with the current US administration, friends and foes alike. [52]

29. 30

    Kazakhstan detains navy officers after 14 die at sea

    Fourteen Kazakh service members died after 17 were swept into the Caspian Sea while getting off a boat during an exercise on Thursday, in a sudden storm about 43 km from the city of Aktau; three were rescued. [53] The navy's chief of staff, its first deputy commander, two unit commanders and two junior commanders have been detained on suspicion of criminal negligence. [53] More than 500 personnel were taking part in the Caspian Defense 2026 exercise. [53]

    Why it matters — The investigation is looking at whether safety rules were followed and whether the weather was taken into account before the boat went out. [53]

30. 31

    Brazil votes in nine days, with the race level

    Brazilians vote on 4 October, and polls show President Lula da Silva and Flavio Bolsonaro, the eldest son of the jailed former president Jair Bolsonaro, neck and neck in a likely run-off. [54] Trump sanctioned the judge who sentenced Jair Bolsonaro to 27 years for an attempted coup in July, and lifted the sanctions after negotiating with Lula. [54] Lula told the UN on Tuesday that Brazil is nobody's backyard. [54] Flavio Bolsonaro wants closer ties with the US and distance from China, Brazil's biggest trading partner. [54]

    Why it matters — Argentina, Bolivia, Peru, Chile, Ecuador and Colombia already have governments friendly to Trump, so Brazil's vote decides whether South America's left keeps its last big government. [54]

31. 32

    Manchester City found guilty on 114 of 115 charges, report says

    Manchester City has been found guilty of all but one of the 115 Premier League charges over breaking financial rules, The Athletic reported on Friday, citing anonymous sources; the club is expected to appeal and no punishment has been set. [55] Eighty charges cover 2009 to 2018 and 35 are for failing to cooperate with the investigation. [55] Leaked emails published by Der Spiegel in 2018 suggested the club disguised money from its Abu Dhabi owner as sponsorship income from the airline Etihad and the telecoms firm Etisalat. [55] Possible penalties run from points deductions to stripped titles and relegation. [55]

    Why it matters — The club, owned by a member of the UAE royal family since 2008, won eight of its ten league titles in the last 15 seasons, so a ruling against it is a ruling on how that success was paid for. [55]

32. 33

    Settlers torch three vehicles in a West Bank village

    Israeli settlers set three vehicles on fire and sprayed graffiti overnight into Friday in Rantis, a Palestinian village west of Ramallah, the Quds News Network reported. [57] The graffiti referred to Neria Leiter, the son of Israel's ambassador to the US, who was seriously injured in a car-ramming attack at a West Bank checkpoint. [57] Reuters reports a surge in settler attacks on Palestinians as outposts spread, which led Britain, France and Canada to block imports from settlements this month. [38]

    Why it matters — An attack on a soldier at a checkpoint was answered within days by an attack on a village, and the village had nothing to do with the first. [57]