World, in brief

A suicide bomber drove a tractor and trailer packed with explosives into the Aman Mela police checkpoint on Saturday. [1] The checkpoint is in Dera Ismail Khan, a district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in northwest Pakistan. [2]

Rescue 1122, the province's emergency service, said 11 people died and 30 were hurt. [3][4] Police told Dawn, a Pakistani newspaper, that 12 died: nine men, two women and a child. [1]

The Pakistani Taliban, known as the TTP, said it carried out the attack. [2][5][6]

The TTP is a loose group of about 40 armed factions fighting Pakistan's state. [5] It is separate from the Taliban who rule Afghanistan, but allied with them. [2]

Pakistan says Afghanistan's rulers let the TTP operate from Afghan soil. [2] Afghan officials deny letting anyone use their land to attack other countries. [2]

Later in the day, gunmen fired on an ambulance carrying bodies from the blast. [1] Two rescue workers, Sharifullah and Imtiaz, were killed. [1]

The checkpoint stands on the road from Dera Ismail Khan to Quetta, near the border with Balochistan province, and police use it to stop smuggling. [1][7]

The bombing came two days after fighting on the Afghan border that Pakistan's government says killed at least 13 Afghan Taliban fighters. [2][8]

China, Turkey, Qatar and Saudi Arabia have been trying to broker a lasting peace between Pakistan and Afghanistan. [8] AP reports that the new fighting puts that effort at risk. [2]

After the blast, the province's governor, Faisal Karim Kundi, asked Imran Khan's party to call off its march on Islamabad, the capital, set for 4 October. [1] Imran Khan is Pakistan's jailed former prime minister. [9]

His party, PTI, had already put the march back from 27 September to seek talks with Pakistan's federal government. [9] Its chief minister in the province, Sohail Afridi, wants Pakistan's government to talk to Afghanistan's rulers again and reopen the border. [9]

Pakistan's army announces hundreds of militants killed every month. [10] Soldiers, police and civilians in the northwest are still killed every month, the South China Morning Post reports. [10]

Why it matters. Watch whether Imran Khan's party still marches on 4 October after the governor's appeal, and whether the four mediators get Pakistan and Afghanistan talking again after this week's border fighting. [1][2]

On Saturday Trump told reporters he had rejected Iran's plan to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. [21][15] The strait is a key route for the world's oil, and Iran has largely shut it since the war began in February. [22][15] He said Iran wants a deal because it is losing badly and has no money coming in. [15] Iran's plan asked the US to end its naval blockade of Iranian ports, free Iranian money held abroad and allow Iran's oil sales. [23] Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said the mediators had not passed on any official US answer. [21][24]

Why it matters. The first report of the rejection came from unnamed US officials quoted by The Wall Street Journal. [21] Now Trump has said it himself. [15] Those officials say he sees a new bombing campaign as likely after the US midterm elections in November. [21]

Iran's president, Masoud Pezeshkian, left New York for home after the UN gathering, Iranian media said. [25] He told Al Jazeera that Iran no longer trusts talks with the US, and that Qatar and Pakistan carry its messages. [26] He told CBS, a US broadcaster, that the plan was drawn up with Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei. [15] Khamenei has not been seen in public since the war began. [25] Pezeshkian, who trained as a doctor, said Khamenei is healthy. [25]

Why it matters. As supreme leader, Khamenei has the last word on Iran's biggest decisions, including any deal. He has not been seen or heard in public for seven months. [25] Pezeshkian said one of his two meetings with Khamenei lasted seven hours. [26]

Russian attacks killed at least six people across Ukraine in a day, in Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk, Kherson and Sumy, local officials said. [13] Ukraine's air force said Russia launched 173 attack drones overnight, and 134 were shot down or disabled. [13] Ukraine's foreign minister said Russia struck a depot serving McDonald's, the fast-food chain, twice. [13] A Ukrainian drone attack on Russia's Krasnodar region killed three people, officials there said. [14] Ukraine's army said it had hit the Ilsky oil refinery there. [27]

Why it matters. Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelensky, asked other countries for stronger responses, saying Russia escalates every day. [14] Ukraine and its allies want strikes on power stations to stop before winter. [20] Russia's foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, told the UN Security Council this week that Europe wants a pause only to send Ukraine more weapons. [20]

Lavrov and Johann Wadephul, the foreign ministers of Russia and Germany, met at the UN on Saturday. [17] It was the first such meeting between the two countries since before Russia's full invasion of Ukraine in 2022. [17] Wadephul pressed for a deal to let grain ships sail on the Black Sea, saying many poorer countries are short of food. [17] Germany says Russia was behind an attempted drone attack at Leipzig airport in August. [17] Russia's embassy calls that a fabrication. [17]

Why it matters. Russia's president, Vladimir Putin, told reporters in St Petersburg that Russia is not preparing to fight Europe. [13] Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, on NATO's eastern edge, have seen a fast rise in drone incursions. [13]

Volker Turk, the UN's human rights chief, said he is deeply alarmed by the escalating fighting in Ethiopia. [11] His office said government drone strikes hit five schools in Tigray on 22 September, killing and wounding people. [11] It also accused the TPLF, Tigray's ruling party, of forcing civilians, including children, into its forces. [11] Ethiopia's government says Tigray's forces kept weapons they should have handed in after the 2022 peace deal. [28] Tigray's leaders say Ethiopia's government never got other armies out of the region. [28]

Why it matters. The last war, from 2020 to 2022, killed an estimated 600,000 people. [11] The African Union has asked Olusegun Obasanjo, Nigeria's former president, who helped broker the 2022 deal, to talk to both sides urgently. [28]

Saudi Arabia's military said early Saturday it shot down two Houthi drones heading for the Riyadh area and missiles aimed at Khamis Mushait, a city in the southwest. [12][29] Euronews reported two ballistic missiles. [12] Reuters and AP reported one. [29][25] The Houthis, an armed movement allied with Iran that holds much of northern Yemen, declared a naval blockade of Saudi Arabia in July. [29][12] Hours before the attack, the army chiefs of Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Turkey met in Riyadh. [30]

Why it matters. The Gulf Cooperation Council, which speaks for the Arab Gulf states, called the attacks a grave escalation. [25] The UN says 674 people died in Yemen's fighting between 6 August and 18 September. [12]

Iraq's government says it is talking directly to the US to win exemptions from US sanctions on Iranian airlines. [25] The sanctions are part of the US economic pressure on Iran during the war. [25] Iraq wants some flights allowed into certain airports for medical treatment, study and religious pilgrimage. [25] Many Iranians visit the holy cities of Karbala and Najaf in Iraq. [25]

Why it matters. A ban aimed at Iran's airlines also cuts off the pilgrims and patients who fly between Iran and Iraq. [25] The Iraqi prime minister's office says it wants exemptions only for certain airports. [25]

Israeli forces shelled parts of southern Lebanon early on Saturday, including Mansouri, Majdal Zoun and Wadi Hassan, Lebanon's National News Agency reported. [31] Heavy explosions were reported in the towns of Baraachit and Haddatha. [31] Israel still occupies part of southern Lebanon. [32] Iran's plan asks for all fighting to stop during its seven days, including in Lebanon. [32]

Why it matters. Hezbollah, the armed group backed by Iran, has been fighting Israeli forces in Lebanon during the war. [29] So any deal between the US and Iran would also have to stop the shelling in these villages. [32]

China's vice-president, Han Zheng, spoke at the UN General Assembly on Saturday, a day after Xi Jinping, China's leader, met Trump in Washington. [33] Without naming the US, he said the sovereignty of the Gulf states must be respected. [34] He also told the US, again without naming it, to stop threatening Cuba and lift its blockade. [34] He did not mention Taiwan, the self-ruled island China claims, which China's UN speeches often do. [33] He said three-quarters of the world's nations have worked with China on its Belt and Road building projects. [33]

Why it matters. Cuba's power grid collapsed this month under a US oil blockade that began in January. [34] Han presented China as a steady friend of poorer countries. [34]

Tens of thousands marched in Madrid on Saturday against the Spanish government's handling of migrants in Ceuta. [35] The government counted 20,000 people. The organisers said 180,000. [35] Sociedad Civil Espanola, a right-wing civic group, organised it, backed by the conservative People's Party and the far-right Vox. [35] Ceuta is a Spanish city on Morocco's coast, where more than 70,000 migrants crossed in at the end of July. [35] Spain's government says 6,000 to 10,000 are still stranded there. [35] Marchers want an early election by mid-November. [35] Vox wants Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez tried for treason. [35]

Why it matters. El Pais, a Spanish newspaper, reported that Spain's government plans a decree on Tuesday to send migrants back to Morocco faster. [35] Spain's next general election is not due until August 2027. [35]

Delcy Rodriguez, Venezuela's interim president since US forces seized Nicolas Maduro in January, ended her first US visit with no signed agreements. [16] She had hoped for deals on debt, energy and mining. [16] At the UN she promised elections, but gave no date. [16] Experts say organising a vote would take at least 12 months. [16] The Inter-American Development Bank wants to lend Venezuela $2.5 billion, but some of its board members object. [16]

Why it matters. Trump told the assembly "to the victor belong the spoils" about Venezuela, as she listened. [16] Venezuela's opposition parties say the clock is ticking to set an election date. [16]

Bangladesh began a month-long nationwide measles and rubella vaccination campaign on Saturday. [36] It aims at 3.4 million children aged six months to five years who missed earlier shots. [36] The outbreak has killed 1,087 people, counting confirmed and suspected cases. [36] The US CDC, America's disease agency, calls it the world's largest measles outbreak. [36] Health experts blame gaps in routine vaccination in 2024 and 2025, when political turmoil disrupted campaigns. [36]

Why it matters. Babies under nine months are normally too young for the vaccine, and they helped the disease spread. [36] The new campaign lowers the starting age to six months. [36]

A month after floods swept parts of Nepal, officials count 1,453 bodies recovered and 5,644 people still missing. [18] Only 112 bodies have gone back to their families. [18] Another 1,333 are buried for now, until DNA tests can name them. [18] Experts from India, China, the US, Singapore and South Korea are helping with the tests. [18] Nepal's government puts the cost of recovery at $4.77 billion. [18]

Why it matters. Many of the missing are believed trapped in six hydropower tunnels. [18] Prime Minister Balendra Shah told the UN the floods were a warning about climate risks in the Himalayas. [18]

Police in South Africa found a woman's body at a cemetery in Tembisa, near Johannesburg, on Saturday, the tenth such killing in the area in recent months. [37] Her friend recognised her from the clothes she wore the night before. [37] Gauteng's police commissioner said a serial killer cannot be ruled out, but it is too soon to link this death to the others. [37] Three men appeared in court this week over one of the earlier killings. [37]

Why it matters. The South African Human Rights Commission says 569 women were killed between April and June this year. [37] Ministers declared violence against women a national disaster less than a year ago. [37]

Police in St Vincent and the Grenadines, a small Caribbean island country, are hunting the gunmen who killed four people on Friday night. [38] The shooting was in Green Hill, just outside the capital, Kingstown, and four more people were hurt. [38] Police have recorded 37 murders this year in a country of 110,000 people. [38] The national security minister said gang violence has plagued many communities. [38]

Why it matters. That is about one killing for every 3,000 people so far this year. [38] The islands live mainly on tourism, and are known for yachting and private islands for the very rich. [38]

A bus overturned on the Saveh-Hamedan motorway in Markazi province, central Iran, killing 11 people and injuring 24. [39] Traffic police blamed a tired, drowsy driver. [39] Earlier this month a fuel tanker crashed and exploded near Sanandaj, in western Iran, killing 11 people. [39]

Why it matters. Road crashes kill more than 17,000 people a year in Iran, one of the worst road safety records in the world. [39] Experts blame unsafe vehicles, ignored traffic rules and weak emergency services. [39]

The Times, a British newspaper, reported that a former bodyguard of Ismail Haniyeh, a past Hamas leader, planned attacks on Jewish and Israeli targets in Germany and Austria. [40] He was living in Britain with refugee status at the time, the report said. [40] The attacks were planned for the second anniversary of 7 October, and were stopped before they happened. [40] According to The Times, he became a British citizen about a decade ago, though his Hamas ties were known. [40]

Why it matters. If the report is right, a man with known Hamas ties passed Britain's checks for both asylum and citizenship. [40]

Supporters of Palestine Action, a group Britain banned under its terrorism law in July 2025, plan a silent vigil on Sunday near the Labour Party conference in Liverpool. [41] More than 3,600 people have been arrested for showing support for the group since the ban. [41] Organisers expect several hundred people, and more arrests. [41] The group mainly targets Elbit Systems, Israel's largest weapons maker. [41]

Why it matters. It is the first Labour conference under Prime Minister Andy Burnham, who announced sanctions on Israeli settlements this month, and organisers call it a test for him. [41] Campaigners want him to lift the ban and stop arms sales to Israel. [41]

Pope Leo XIV said Mass on the Place de la Concorde in central Paris on Saturday, before an estimated 700,000 people. [42] It was the second day of his four-day visit to France. [42] He then travelled to Lourdes, a pilgrimage town, and prayed in its grotto. [42] He gives Mass there on Sunday. [42]

Why it matters. President Emmanuel Macron met him on Friday but stayed away on Saturday. [42] The BBC says that was largely to avoid seeming to break France's strict rules separating church and state. [42]

Staff of the International Monetary Fund, the lender countries turn to when they run short of money, ended a visit to Gabon on Saturday. [19] They discussed an audit of Gabon's public debt and its budget plans for 2027. [19] Gabon, a country in Central Africa, is seeking an IMF-backed programme. [19] The IMF said technical talks will continue in the coming weeks. [19]

Why it matters. The talks are meant to open the way to formal negotiations on that programme, the IMF said. [19] An IMF programme normally brings a loan with conditions on how a government spends.