The G7 agrees to release 100 million barrels of oil and diesel after the US threatens to stop selling diesel abroad

The rest of the day

48 more stories on this beat.

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

1. 02

   Egypt and Ethiopia expel each other's diplomats

   Ethiopia ordered a senior Egyptian diplomat to leave within 48 hours without giving a reason, and Egypt expelled an Ethiopian diplomat in return. [12][25] The two have quarrelled for a decade over Ethiopia's giant dam on the Blue Nile, which Egypt says threatens its share of the river. [25] Ethiopia accuses Egypt, Eritrea and Sudan of backing the TPLF, the party that runs Tigray, Ethiopia's northern region, which went back to war last week. All three deny it. [12] A humanitarian source told AFP the rebels have been pushed out of the neighbouring Afar region. [26]

   Why it matters — Egypt has grown closer to Eritrea, which broke ties with Ethiopia on Thursday, so a war inside one country now involves three governments. [26] A pro-government Tigrayan force says it nearly controls Tigray, but reporters cannot reach the area to check. [27][26]

2. 03

   Russia closes Kyiv's bridges from the air

   Russian drones and missiles forced three of the six road bridges over the Dnipro river in Kyiv, Ukraine's capital, to close fully or partly on Friday. [17] The Southern bridge was hit four times in two days, and on Saturday a strike hit the Northern bridge as well. [28][29] The bridges join the city's east and west halves, and about three million people live in Kyiv. [28] The mayor, Vitali Klitschko, said the strikes were 'tearing Kyiv apart'. [28]

   • Closed fully or partly3 · 50%
   • Still open3 · 50%

   Why it matters — Until Thursday no Kyiv bridge had ever been hit, so the metro and traffic across the river are a new target. [29][28] Ukraine's foreign minister said the US, India, Turkey and Egypt have each proposed a truce on power plants and Black Sea shipping, which Ukraine would accept only together. [17]

3. 04

   Fierce fighting for Taiz in Yemen

   Yemen's Houthi rebels and Yemen's government forces, backed by Saudi Arabia, lost about 80 fighters in a day around Taiz, sources on both sides told AFP. [19] Taiz is Yemen's third-biggest city, and it links the Houthi-held north with the south, which Yemen's government holds, and with the Red Sea coast. [30][19] The Houthis, who are backed by Iran, seized the whole Red Sea coast last month and are now trying to break into the city. [19][30] More than 133,000 people have fled their homes, mostly in Taiz and Lahj provinces. [30]

   Why it matters — Whoever holds Taiz controls the roads that move weapons and supplies towards Aden, where Yemen's government is based. [30] A Crisis Group expert told The National the city has resisted the Houthis for more than a decade and would cost them heavily to take. [31]

4. 05

   Saudi Arabia plans an offensive in Yemen

   Saudi Arabia is planning an offensive against the Houthis in the coming weeks, six people with knowledge of the plans told Reuters. [13] The aim is to win back the coast around Bab el-Mandeb, the narrow strait at the southern end of the Red Sea, which the Houthis seized last month. [13] Yemeni troops overseen by Saudi Arabia would fight on the ground with Saudi air support, and more than 100,000 could be called up. [13] A truce from 2022 mostly held until the Houthis attacked Saudi ships and oil sites this year. [13]

   Why it matters — Oil prices rose on Friday on rumours of the offensive, wiping out part of the fall from the G7 release, an analyst at Kpler told the BBC. [1] Pakistan's foreign minister said a defence committee of Pakistan, Turkey and Saudi Arabia will meet in Riyadh next week about the Houthi attacks. [32]

5. 06

   Trump's top officials meet at Camp David on Iran

   Senior US officials met secretly at Camp David, the US presidential retreat, on Friday to discuss the Iran war and the Houthi offensive, Axios reported. [33] Vice President JD Vance chaired it, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth and the CIA's director. [33] The last such meeting was in June 2025, days before Israel went to war with Iran, the report said. [33] A source in Tehran, Iran's capital, told The National that Iran is preparing for 'a major round of fighting'. [34]

   Why it matters — A third US aircraft carrier is on its way to the region. [34] An oil tanker was hit by an unknown projectile off Oman on Friday, with all crew reported safe. [35]

6. 07

   US sanctions Iran's carmakers and railways

   The US Treasury put sanctions on Iran Khodro and Saipa, carmakers with more than 90% of Iran's car market, and on Iran's main railway companies. [16] It also named parts suppliers in the UAE, Indonesia and Turkey. [16] With a US naval blockade squeezing its ships, Iran has moved more oil, fertiliser and chemicals by road and rail. [16] The US also said it will push for a new group to watch for sanctions-breaking, after Russia and China vetoed renewing the UN's panel. [36]

   Why it matters — Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the aim is to cut off the Iranian government's income 'once and for all'. [16] The UN panel that Russia and China ended was the body that tracked breaches of the sanctions on Iran. [36]

7. 08

   North Korea fires a missile after a mine row

   North Korea fired a ballistic missile from near Wonsan early on Saturday, and it flew more than 700km into the sea between Korea and Japan. [14] The day before, Kim Yo-jong, the powerful sister of leader Kim Jong-un, rejected South Korea's demand for an apology over mines that wounded three of its soldiers. [14] The soldiers were hurt on 21 September, about 10 metres south of the line that divides the two Koreas. [37] South Korea's national security council held an emergency meeting. [14]

   Why it matters — A Korean professor told DW the mines may be part of a push by North Korea to move the dividing line south. [37] North Korea has now launched missile tests on more than ten occasions this year. [14]

8. 09

   Trump threatens to double South Korea's tariffs

   Trump said on Friday he would 'double' tariffs on South Korean goods if it did not 'sign shortly' to pay for a 54 billion dollar gas pipeline in Alaska. [15] He had announced on Wednesday that South Korea had agreed to fund it. [15] A Korean official said the next day that South Korea had only agreed to 'initiate a review'. [15] Trump says the money is part of a 2025 deal that cut US tariffs in return for Korean investment in the US. [15]

   Why it matters — Tariffs are paid by US importers, not by the country that sells the goods, as the US Supreme Court has made clear. [15] South Korea now faces a demand to pay for a project it says it has only begun to study. [15]

9. 10

   Israeli strike kills five in a Gaza City flat

   An Israeli air strike hit a flat in the al-Asala building in Remal, western Gaza City, early on Saturday, killing at least five people, doctors at al-Shifa Hospital said. [18] At least six more were badly wounded. [18] Al Jazeera's reporter said there was no warning and people were asleep. [18] Remal is one of Gaza City's most crowded areas, where thousands of displaced people shelter in makeshift camps. [18]

   Why it matters — The strike came almost a year after the ceasefire of October 2025. [38] The fire burned for an hour, and rescuers were still searching the rubble for missing people. [18]

10. 11

    WHO says Gaza's medical supplies are held up

    The World Health Organization said on Friday that repeated delays in letting medicines, prosthetic limbs and other supplies into Gaza risk 'devastating consequences'. [39] Approved aid enters only through Kerem Shalom, one crossing in the south. [39] One shipment of prosthetics has been turned back four times in six months. [39] Medicines move better: almost 87% of requests are approved and just over 1% rejected, the WHO said. [39]

    Why it matters — Four other crossings stay closed under Israeli control, so everything waits at one gate. [39] The WHO wants Israel to stop treating ordinary medicines as goods that could also have a military use. [39]

11. 12

    Hostages could have come home a year sooner, ex-negotiator says

    Nitzan Alon is the retired general who led the Israeli army's hostage talks. [40] He said Israel could have freed all the hostages in Gaza about a year before the October 2025 deal. [40][38] 'Political and personal considerations' got in the way, he told a Washington Institute event. [40] He called Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's claim that 'total victory' had to come first 'false'. [38] Hamas took 251 hostages in its attack of 7 October 2023. [40]

    Why it matters — Alon said hostages who died in captivity might have come home alive, and thousands of lives on both sides might have been saved. [38] Israel votes in a general election on 27 October. [41]

12. 13

    Israel's top court lets Arab parties run

    Israel's Supreme Court ruled on Friday that four Arab parties may stand in the election on 27 October. [41] It overturned a ban by the Central Elections Committee, which said the parties back armed struggle against Israel; the parties deny it. [42] The court also let Hadash lawmaker Ofer Cassif run, by seven judges to two. [41][42] It signalled it would uphold the ban on Balad's leader, Sami Abu Shehadeh, who then withdrew. [42] Arab citizens are about a fifth of Israel's people. [41]

    Why it matters — Abu Shehadeh said the committee banned him over one article while refusing to ban far-right candidates. [41] He wrote that article the day after the 7 October attack, and told the court he regrets it. [41]

13. 14

    Settlers kill a 19-year-old near Ramallah

    Israeli settlers shot dead Bahaa Sami Amin Nathsheh, 19, in Kobar, north of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian health ministry told the Wafa news agency. [43] The Palestinian Red Crescent said Israeli soldiers then stopped medics from treating him. [43] Settlers wounded two more Palestinians in Yabrud, east of Ramallah, the same day. [43] Israeli forces also detained six Palestinians in the Jerusalem and Tubas areas. [43]

    Why it matters — Addameer, a Palestinian prisoners' group, counts 9,350 Palestinians in Israeli jails, 350 of them children. [43]

14. 15

    US sanctions French charities over Hamas money

    The US put sanctions on three people and two charities based in France, saying they moved more than 2 million dollars to Hamas. [44] The US Treasury said the money moved through charity fronts and cryptocurrency. [44] The charities are Association Baraka and Ensemble C Mieux. [44] French police arrested Faouzi Barika and Amel Oualid, who the US says run them, and a third man. [44]

    Why it matters — The US Treasury says the charities raised money while claiming to help civilians in Gaza. [44] Three men were also arrested in the US. [44]

15. 16

    US and Australia shut consulates before Brazil votes

    The US suspended consular services in Brazil from Friday, citing security concerns it did not explain, two days before Sunday's presidential election. [45][46] Australia closed its embassy in Brasilia, Brazil's capital, citing the US alert. [45] Brazil's federal police searched addresses in Sao Paulo and Brasilia over suspected plans against US buildings. [45] Police said they found no evidence backing the reported threat, but the inquiry goes on. [45]

    Why it matters — Lula's party called the closures 'unprecedented' and a way for Trump to sway Brazilian voters. [45] Polls show President Lula and Flavio Bolsonaro, son of the jailed former president, in a statistical tie, with any run-off on 25 October. [46][45]

16. 17

    Spain's parliament throws out housing rescue

    Spain's Congress rejected two emergency housing decrees on Friday, by 178 votes to 172 and 184 to 166. [47] They would have banned evicting vulnerable tenants until 2030. [48] Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez's government drew them up after protests over the eviction of Maricarmen Abascal, 87, from her Madrid flat. [47] Sanchez's minority government will spend the weekend deciding whether to call an early election. [49] Tenants' unions called rallies in more than 50 cities on Saturday. [49]

    Against178

    For172

    Why it matters — The next election is not due until next summer, and the defeat shows Sanchez cannot pass laws without his opponents. [47] Tenants' groups say a general strike is their next step. [49]

17. 18

    France's school protests close 400 schools

    About 400 of France's 3,700 high schools closed on Friday as student protests went on. [50] Pupils complain of long school days, overheated classrooms and too many teachers absent. [50] Fires damaged the entrances of two Paris high schools. [50] The education minister said 735 schools were affected on Friday, 30% fewer than the day before. [51]

    Why it matters — One of the worst-hit schools, in Nantes, will be shut until mid-October after a fire. [51] With a presidential election looming, ministers are trying to sound sympathetic while calling for calm. [51]

18. 19

    Congo's Ebola deaths pass 4,000

    Congo's health ministry says 4,018 people have died in the Ebola outbreak, out of 8,300 confirmed cases. [52] It is the fastest-growing Ebola outbreak on record, caused by the Bundibugyo strain, which has no vaccine or treatment. [52] Soldiers searching for weapons this week burned a camp near Bunia that held a centre for infected patients, and 19,000 people fled, a senior UN official said. [53] The AFC/M23 rebels reported six new cases in areas they hold. [54]

    • Died4,018 · 48%
    • Alive or still ill4,282 · 52%

    Why it matters — Unpaid health workers protested in Bunia with signs saying 'No money, no data!'. [53] More than 50 health workers have died of the virus. [53]

19. 20

    UN counts 5,700 killed or wounded in Haiti

    At least 5,700 people were killed or wounded in Haiti's gang violence between January and 11 September, the UN's human rights chief, Volker Turk, said on Friday. [55][56] More than 1,000 women and girls were raped and 230 people kidnapped, and the real figures are likely much higher, he said. [56] More than half the casualties came during operations against the gangs, some from stray bullets and drones. [55] The international Gang Suppression Force has about 1,500 of its planned 5,500 personnel. [56]

    Planned5,500

    There now1,500

    Why it matters — Gangs keep taking new territory and roads, Turk said, despite some gains in parts of Port-au-Prince, the capital. [56][55]

20. 21

    Pakistan talks to Imran Khan's party before a march

    Pakistan's government and the PTI, the party of jailed former prime minister Imran Khan, held a first round of talks on Friday and agreed to meet again on Saturday. [57] The PTI plans to march on Islamabad, the capital, on 4 October to demand Khan's release. [57] Its branch in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province said the march will go ahead 'at any cost'. [58] Transporters say police seized more than 2,000 vehicles in September, and shipping containers line the roads into the city. [24]

    Why it matters — Truckers now refuse to drive north, so containers are piling up at Karachi, Pakistan's main port, 1,400km away. [24] Transport prices rose 27% in the year to September, official figures show. [24]

21. 22

    Pakistan parades a man India says it killed

    Pakistan's army spokesman showed reporters a man he said was Mohd Asif, a retired Pakistani soldier whom India says it killed in Kashmir on Tuesday night. [59] India had described Asif as a top commander of Lashkar-e-Taiba, a banned armed group. [59] A day later, Pakistan's state radio said India's Border Security Force shot dead two unarmed Pakistani civilians near Kasur, on the Punjab border. [60] Indian media described the two as infiltrators, the report said. [60]

    Why it matters — Pakistan's army called India's account fabricated. [59] Each country's version comes from its own officials or state media. [59][60]

22. 23

    Police arrest hundreds at India voter-list protest

    Police in New Delhi arrested more than 500 people, including former Delhi chief minister Atishi Marlena, at protests over India's voter lists on Friday, reports said. [22] The protests were led by the Cockroach Janta Party, a movement of young Indians, with students and opposition parties. [22][61] Police banned gatherings of more than five people and closed 11 metro stations. [22] Critics say a voter check that began last year removed millions of eligible voters; the Election Commission denies it. [22]

    Why it matters — The Indian Express reported that the election chief's two deputies raised concerns about the changes at least 14 times in ten months. [22] Critics say the changes favour Prime Minister Narendra Modi's party. [22]

23. 24

    Flydubai co-pilot was barred from flying in Oman

    The co-pilot who stabbed his captain on Flydubai Flight 1073 to Tel Aviv on Wednesday had been barred from flying by Oman over extremist views, the Wall Street Journal reported. [62] CNN said he was removed from a job at Oman's national airline last year. [62] Flydubai, an airline based in Dubai, hired him anyway and put him on the route between the UAE and Israel. [62] Two other pilots took control and landed safely in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia, with 182 people on board. [62]

    Why it matters — It is not known whether Oman warned other countries or airlines about him, the Journal said. [62] Israel's prime minister told security services to prepare for more threats against Israelis and Jews abroad. [63]

24. 25

    Iran's commander claims a bigger role in Iraq

    Esmail Qaani, who commands Iran's Quds Force, the unit that works with armed groups abroad, said the US exit from Iraq opens the way for militias that Iran backs. [64] The US-led mission against ISIS in Iraq ended on Wednesday after 12 years. [64] Iraq's deadline for militias to hand over their weapons has moved to June next year. [64] Separately, Iraq will let Iranian airlines run 40 flights a day to Najaf, a holy city, under a US exemption for pilgrims and patients. [65]

    Why it matters — Kataib Hezbollah, a powerful militia backed by Iran, denied any deal with Iraq's prime minister on disarming. [64] The UAE has suspended all flights by Iranian airlines. [65]

25. 26

    Iran cuts off critics' phone numbers

    Iranians told DW their SIM cards were cut off after they criticised Iran's government online. [66] In Iran a phone number unlocks banking, courts and government services, so losing it cuts off much of daily life. [66] Some said intelligence officers of the Revolutionary Guards questioned them for hours. [66] Service came back only after they deleted posts or signed pledges to stop protest activity, they said. [66]

    Why it matters — DW spoke to three people, under false names for their safety, so how many have been cut off is not known. [66]

26. 27

    Two Iranians charged over a plot against Manchester's Jews

    British police charged two Iranian men, Rahman Salehi, 35, and Salam Ahmadyan, 36, with preparing a terrorist attack on the Jewish community in Manchester on the eve of Yom Kippur. [67] Yom Kippur is the holiest day in the Jewish year. [67] Police say the two tried to get parts for a bomb and scouted possible targets. [67] Britain's home secretary, Shabana Mahmood, said Iran targets Jewish communities through proxies and criminal networks. [67]

    Why it matters — Iran has always denied such accusations. [67] Jewish communities around the world are on alert after the Flydubai attack, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported. [63]

27. 28

    Argentina will sell citizenship

    Argentina will give citizenship to foreigners who pay 350,000 dollars, about 311,000 euros, to its Treasury, or who buy a larger government bond and hold it for seven years. [68][69] Economy Minister Luis Caputo announced the 'golden passport' at an investor event in Paris. [69] Advisers estimate it could raise up to 2.2 billion euros. [69] Argentina owes about 22 billion euros in foreign-currency debt payments in 2027. [69]

    Why it matters — President Javier Milei needs dollars before he seeks re-election next year. [69] Argentina has defaulted on or restructured parts of its debt several times this century. [68]

28. 29

    Mexico bars dual citizens from the presidency

    Mexico is changing its constitution so that presidents, state governors and Mexico City's mayor cannot hold a second citizenship. [20] Most of Mexico's 32 state legislatures approved it this week, after both chambers of Congress. [20] President Claudia Sheinbaum says it guards against foreign interference: 'one flag, one homeland'. [20] Critics say it blocks opposition rivals, and some figures in her own Morena party hold foreign passports. [20]

    Why it matters — In Latin America only Cuba and Venezuela have such a ban. [20] The change still needs a formal declaration before it is published as law. [20]

29. 30

    US Coast Guard stops a fuel ship bound for Cuba

    The US Coast Guard said it boarded a cargo ship called Grace on 5 September between Cuba and Mexico and took it to Mexico. [70] Mexico's navy found large amounts of fuel in its ballast tanks, the Coast Guard said. [70] The US has blocked oil shipments to Cuba this year and says it wants Cuba's government to change. [70] Cuba's usual suppliers, Venezuela and Mexico, stopped sending oil after the US ousted Venezuela's president in January. [70]

    Why it matters — Cuba lives with fuel shortages and blackouts that its failing power grid makes worse. [70]

30. 31

    Guinea-Bissau's soldiers keep its ex-president out

    Guinea-Bissau's military government barred former president Umaro Sissoco Embalo from coming home on 4 October, saying 'the necessary security conditions' were not in place. [21][71] Embalo ruled the small West African country from 2020 until officers took power in November 2025, after an election both sides claimed to have won. [21] He lives in exile in Morocco and says he will stand in December's election. [21] An August referendum gave the presidency more power and made parliament smaller. [21]

    Why it matters — The December election is meant to return Guinea-Bissau to civilian rule. [21]

31. 32

    Political killings rise before South Africa's local vote

    At least 43 people were killed in suspected political assassinations in South Africa this year to September, said the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime, a research group based in Geneva. [72] That is already more than in any full year since it began counting in 2015. [72] Thirteen of the dead were from the ANC, the governing party, and eight from the MK Party of former president Jacob Zuma. [72] Most attacks were in KwaZulu-Natal province. [72]

    Why it matters — Local elections are on 4 November, and the group says the riskiest months are still ahead. [72]

32. 33

    Taiwan gets its first new US fighter jets

    Taiwan received the first two of 65 F-16V fighter jets it ordered from the US in 2019, after years of delay. [73] They landed at an air base in Taitung. [73] The jets are worth 8 billion dollars, about a quarter of a backlog of US arms orders worth almost 30 billion. [73] China, which claims Taiwan, sends planes and ships towards the island almost daily. [73]

    2 of 65

    F-16V jets delivered to Taiwan

    Why it matters — Taiwan is still waiting for the US to approve a further 14 billion dollar arms package. [73]

33. 34

    Floods kill about 40 in Bangkok

    About 40 people died in flood-related incidents in Bangkok, Thailand's capital, some drowned and some electrocuted, the government said. [74] In parts of the city about 300mm of rain fell in two days. [74] Thousands stayed in more than 230 shelters, and a flood disaster was declared in all 50 districts. [74] Bangkok sits on a floodplain and drains through canals, but building has destroyed many of them. [74]

    Why it matters — One resident said the warning reached her phone when the street water was already waist-high. [74]

34. 35

    Nepal will drain four dangerous glacial lakes

    Nepal plans to drain four glacial lakes high in the Himalayas to cut the risk of floods, officials said. [75] August's glacier collapse near the border with China killed more than 1,400 people, and more than 5,000 are still missing. [75] The 50 million dollar project, funded with the Green Climate Fund and the UNDP, could take up to six years. [75] Nepal has done this before, lowering Tsho Rolpa lake by 3 metres in 2000. [75]

    Why it matters — The lakes sit between 4,050m and 5,483m, and their natural dams could burst onto the valleys below. [75]

35. 36

    Hungary and Ukraine near a deal on minority rights

    Ukraine will put a bill on the school rights of national minorities to its parliament, Hungary's foreign minister, Anita Orban, said, welcoming the step. [76] Hungary has held up Ukraine's EU membership talks until Ukraine passes laws for the ethnic Hungarians in its Transcarpathia region. [76] Peter Magyar, Hungary's prime minister since May, has worked to repair ties that broke down under Viktor Orban. [76] The two agreed an 11-point plan in June. [76]

    Why it matters — A deal could let more of Ukraine's EU membership talks open. [76]

36. 37

    17 EU countries fight budget cuts

    Seventeen EU governments, including Italy, Spain and Poland, wrote to oppose cuts to farm and regional money in the bloc's next seven-year budget. [77] Germany leads a group of six countries that want cuts of several hundred billion euros. [77] The 17 want almost 900 billion euros of spending left alone. [77] A draft budget is expected next week. [77]

    Why it matters — The budget pays for everything from farm subsidies to aid abroad. [77] Italy's Giorgia Meloni and Romania's president will host the 17 at the EU summit on 15 and 16 October. [77]

37. 38

    Strikes shut schools and flights in Portugal

    Three unions called a 24-hour strike in Portugal's public services on Friday, covering more than 350,000 workers. [78] Schools closed from the north to the south and on the Azores and Madeira islands for lack of staff. [78] EasyJet cabin crew also began a five-day strike, and their union said 443 flights have been cancelled at Lisbon, Porto and Faro. [78]

    Why it matters — The public-service unions want better career structures for operational and technical staff. [78]

38. 39

    Finland's government survives over an Israel trip

    Finland's government won a confidence vote by 93 to 62 after a row over Defence Minister Antti Hakkanen's visit to Israel. [79] Hakkanen won his own vote by 114 to 61. [79] He met Israel's defence minister, Israel Katz, to discuss Finland's purchase of the David's Sling air-defence system. [79] Katz said in September it was only a matter of time before Israel moves to force out Gaza's two million Palestinians. [79]

    Why it matters — Opposition parties criticised Hakkanen for not meeting any Palestinian representatives. [79]

39. 40

    Switzerland's president will step down

    Guy Parmelin, Switzerland's president this year and its longest-serving minister, said he will leave Switzerland's government on 31 December. [80] The presidency rotates each year among the seven members of the Swiss government, the Federal Council. [80] As economy minister, Parmelin travelled to the US three times after Trump put 39% tariffs on Swiss goods in August 2025. [80] The two countries later agreed to aim for 15%, with Switzerland promising 200 billion dollars of investment in the US. [80]

    Why it matters — Parmelin said he felt 'a certain weariness' after 11 years in government. [80]

40. 41

    Study finds the Dutch royal house helped slavery survive

    A study ordered by King Willem-Alexander found that the House of Orange, the Dutch royal family, 'actively supported' colonialism for centuries and shares responsibility for the slave trade's survival. [81] Leiden University researchers studied the years from 1600 to today. [81] The family earned about 650 million dollars in today's money from colonial trade in the 19th century, mostly in what is now Indonesia, but 'almost nothing' from the slave trade itself. [81] The king called the findings 'painful and confronting'. [81]

    Why it matters — He apologised in 2023 for his ancestors' failure to act against slavery, and has not offered reparations. [81]

41. 42

    UN asks the US to pay for nuclear tests

    The UN human rights office urged the US to pay full reparations to people harmed by its nuclear tests in the Marshall Islands, a Pacific nation of about 37,000 people. [82] The US set off 67 nuclear tests there between 1946 and 1958. [82] Waste from the tests lies under a cracked concrete dome whose crater floor was never lined, and rising seas now threaten it. [82]

    Why it matters — Many islanders were forced from their land, and the UN's deputy rights chief said 'this history is not past'. [82]

42. 43

    Kasparov says the US warned him of a threat

    Garry Kasparov, the former world chess champion who opposes Russia's government from exile in the US, said American and Lithuanian security services warned him his life was in danger. [83] He said Ivan Tyutrin, who co-founded the Free Russia Forum with him, got the same warning. [83] The US Justice Department recently charged five people it says work for a network linked to Russia's government with plotting attacks on dissidents abroad. [83]

    Why it matters — Kasparov wrote that he will not stop and will not hide. [83]

43. 44

    Turkey catches a suspect in its deadliest Syria-linked bombing

    Turkey's intelligence agency caught Omar al-Khatib, a Syrian suspected over the 2013 twin bombing in Reyhanli, as he tried to leave for Europe by sea, state media said. [84] The bombing near the Syrian border killed 53 people, the deadliest attack in Turkey linked to Syria's civil war. [84] Al-Khatib is accused of linking the bombers with intelligence officers loyal to Syria's then president, Bashar al-Assad. [84]

    Why it matters — Syria's government at the time denied any role. [84]

44. 45

    UK inquest into a soldier killed in Ukraine

    A British coroner ruled that Lance Corporal George Hooley, a 28-year-old paratrooper, was killed by an explosion while helping Ukrainian troops in December 2025. [85] He was the first British service member to die in Ukraine since Russia's full invasion in 2022. [85] The inquest was held partly in secret, and the coroner said he had been given 'limited evidence'. [85] Britain's defence ministry has called it an accident while he watched Ukrainian forces test a new defence. [85]

    Why it matters — Where the explosion happened is still not public, beyond that it was away from the front line. [85]

45. 46

    Italy offers more Red Sea ships, if others match

    Italy will add ships to Aspides, the EU's naval mission guarding Red Sea shipping, if other European countries do the same, Defence Minister Guido Crosetto told The National. [86] Today only Italy, Greece and sometimes France keep ships there, he said. [86] About 40% of Italy's trade passes through the Suez Canal and the Red Sea. [86] Italy has also sent radars and anti-missile batteries to Saudi Arabia. [86]

    Why it matters — The EU's foreign policy chief says the mission needs more than ten warships. [86]

46. 47

    Tennessee prisoner on a ventilator after failed execution

    Christa Pike, 50, was unconscious and on a ventilator on Thursday night after Tennessee failed to execute her by lethal injection, her lawyers said. [87] Prison staff used at least seven needles to find a vein, they said. [87] Her lawyers believe the drug flowed into her body instead of her bloodstream because the IV lines were wrongly placed. [88] They are asking for her death sentence to be changed to a lesser one. [87]

    Why it matters — She is believed to be the first person to survive being given the lethal drugs. [88] She was sentenced to death for the 1995 murder of Colleen Slemmer. [88]

47. 48

    Half of Britain would rejoin the EU, a poll finds

    Almost half of British voters support rejoining the EU, a large poll by the Messina Group found. [89] Prime Minister Andy Burnham said this week that rejoining should be among Britain's options. [89] The poll found Labour could gain up to seven points if it offered a referendum and campaigned to rejoin. [89] Some cabinet ministers are privately urging him to go carefully, the Guardian reported. [89]

    Why it matters — Almost a third of voters said a referendum would be needed before Britain could rejoin. [89]

48. 49

    Guinea's ex-prime minister to be buried in exile

    Sidya Toure, a former prime minister of Guinea, will be buried in Ivory Coast, his family said, according to RFI. [90] He died in Paris last week, aged 81. [90] He had lived in exile in Ivory Coast since the 2021 military coup that brought President Mamadi Doumbouya to power. [90] His party was among 40 dissolved in March. [90]

    Why it matters — His party said a burial in Guinea was 'inconceivable' because of the 'humiliations' he suffered from Guinea's authorities. [90]