World, in brief

The USS Theodore Roosevelt, a nuclear-powered US aircraft carrier, left San Diego on Sunday for the waters around Iran, a US official said. [1][2]

An amphibious group carrying more than 2,000 Marines sailed a day later. [1] Together the ships carry about 9,000 sailors and Marines. [3]

Two US carriers, the George H.W. Bush and the George Washington, are already in the region, so the Roosevelt will make three. [3][2]

One US official told AP all three could be in place by the end of October. [3] Another told Al Jazeera the build-up finishes in November. [1]

US President Donald Trump told Time magazine it is 'possible' he will step up bombing of Iran after the US midterm elections on 3 November. [3]

Trump said Iran's latest offer, which included reopening the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow sea lane that carries Gulf oil out, was 'not good enough'. [3][4][5]

Iran's plan, passed on by Qatar, would reopen the strait and restart nuclear talks if the US ended its naval blockade, eased sanctions and agreed a ceasefire in Lebanon and Yemen. [1]

Iran's foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, told European and Middle Eastern diplomats in private that Iran could let nuclear inspectors back into its bombed sites in return for sanctions relief, Bloomberg reported. [6]

Mike Waltz, the US ambassador to the UN, said relief from sanctions and the release of Iran's frozen money are not up for negotiation. [1]

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio ordered Iran's UN team to leave New York, Axios reported. [7] Iran says its diplomats left on a schedule it gave the US on 17 September. [7]

Three Liberian-flagged oil tankers were hit by unknown projectiles in the strait on Tuesday, the maritime security firm Marisks said. [7]

Britain's maritime trade agency later reported that a supertanker carrying 2.5 million barrels caught fire after being hit in the strait. [8]

Why it matters. Watch whether Iran turns its private offer on nuclear inspectors into a formal proposal through Qatar before the carriers arrive. [6][7]

Ethiopia closed its embassy in Eritrea on Thursday and gave 10 Eritrean diplomats 48 hours to leave. [12] Eritrea answered by cutting all diplomatic ties. [20] Hours earlier, blasts were heard in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia's capital, some near the army's headquarters. [21] A source from the rebel alliance fighting Ethiopia's government told Reuters it carried out drone strikes. [12] Ethiopia says Eritrea, Sudan and Egypt back that alliance, led by the TPLF, the party that runs the Tigray region, and all three deny it. [12]

Why it matters. If confirmed, it would be the rebels' first drone attack on the capital, hundreds of kilometres from the front. [12] Ethiopia and Eritrea fought on the same side in the 2020-22 civil war, which an African Union mediator says cost about 600,000 lives. [22][21]

A Russian drone tore through a school in Kyiv, Ukraine's capital, on Thursday, after more than 100 pupils had reached the shelter, and nobody was hurt. [11][23] Later two drones hit the Pivdennyi bridge over the Dnipro river as a metro train crossed, the first strike on a Kyiv bridge. [11] Russia launched 107 drones overnight, 63 of them jet-powered, Ukraine's air force said. [24] Jet drones fly higher and faster than older propeller drones, and many get through. [25]

Why it matters. Ukrainian makers say new interceptors that can catch them could take up to six months to build in numbers. [25] Russia is meanwhile hitting power, rail and phone networks as winter nears, and power cuts have spread to five regions. [25][24]

Russia's president, Vladimir Putin, on Thursday rejected a deal in which both sides would stop striking each other's energy sites, calling it 'simply ridiculous'. [26] Ukraine's president had offered one at a meeting with Trump on 22 September. [26] Putin admitted Ukraine's strikes on Russian oil refineries had cost Russia about 1% of its economy. [17] He also said Russia would use 'all weapons' if Kaliningrad, its territory on the Baltic between Poland and Lithuania, were attacked. [17]

Why it matters. This week Russia sent NATO a written warning that it could use nuclear weapons if Kaliningrad were cut off. [27] NATO answered that it denounces 'any irresponsible nuclear rhetoric', and a senior European defence official called it the first threat like this since the Cold War. [27]

Pakistan bombed targets in Afghanistan's Helmand and Kunar provinces overnight into Thursday. [28] Pakistan says it hit hideouts of the Pakistani Taliban, an armed group that attacks inside Pakistan, and killed 22 fighters. [29][30] The UN mission in Afghanistan says at least 10 civilians died, most of them children. [28] It was Pakistan's third strike inside Afghanistan in two weeks. [31]

Why it matters. The UN says cross-border fighting has killed or hurt more than 1,100 Afghan civilians this year. [28] Pakistan says the threat comes from Afghanistan, and Afghanistan's Taliban government denies sheltering the fighters. [31]

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Europe on Thursday to release its emergency diesel stocks 'immediately'. [15] The US exports 1.2 to 1.5 million barrels of diesel a day and is weighing a ban on those sales. [15] Britain held calls with the European Commission, Germany, France, Italy and Ireland about a joint answer. [32] Diesel across the EU hit a record average of 2.24 euros a litre, against 1.59 euros before the war. [14]

Why it matters. About a third of Britain's diesel imports came from the US last year, so a ban would hit British drivers hard. [32] Gulf crude now reaches buyers by pipelines and other routes, but diesel and other refined fuels leaving the region are below a fifth of pre-war levels. [5]

The Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen says a drone from Yemen's Houthi rebels hit a power station in Medina on Tuesday, putting one transformer out of service. [13][33] The station supplies the Prophet's Mosque, one of Islam's two holiest sites, and the coalition says the city's grid was not affected. [13] The Houthis, who hold Yemen's capital, called the accusation a lie. [13][33] Two weeks ago Saudi Arabia said it destroyed a Houthi drone heading for Mecca, the other holy city. [13]

Why it matters. The Gulf Cooperation Council, a group of Gulf states, said the attack 'crossed all red lines'. [33] Houthi attacks also threaten the Red Sea route that Gulf oil uses while the Strait of Hormuz is largely blocked. [33]

Brazilians choose a president on Sunday, and the race between President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Senator Flavio Bolsonaro is too close to call. [34] Lula, 80 and seeking a fourth term, chose to skip Thursday's final TV debate on Globo, Brazil's biggest broadcaster. [35][36] Flavio is the eldest son of former president Jair Bolsonaro, who is serving 27 years in prison for a coup attempt. [37][38] An electoral court ordered false posts about Brazil's patron saint taken down. [34]

Why it matters. The saint row matters because Brazil's Catholic majority tends to back Lula, while its growing evangelical churches back the Bolsonaros. [34] Lula has led every major poll for the first round, and a runoff against Flavio Bolsonaro is likely. [35]

Brazil's attorney general, Jorge Messias, asked police on Thursday to investigate a report that the Trump administration planned to give 1 million dollars to groups opposing Brazil's supreme court. [38] The Guardian reported that the US State Department pushed 43 awards worth 176.9 million dollars from its human rights fund to right-wing causes abroad. [39] That court tried Jair Bolsonaro for his coup attempt, and a US sanction on the judge who led the trial was later lifted. [38] Messias said foreign meddling 'cannot be tolerated'. [37]

Why it matters. The report landed three days before Brazil's vote, in which Trump's ally Flavio Bolsonaro is running against Lula. [37] The US State Department declined to answer the Guardian's questions about the money. [39]

Germany's chancellor, Friedrich Merz, said on Thursday his country is preparing for more Russian 'hybrid' attacks, 'including serious ones'. [17] In August a drone carrying explosives was found on the tarmac at Leipzig airport, close to Ukrainian cargo planes. [17] Estonia's foreign minister, Margus Tsahkna, said Europe should stop saying 'hybrid' and call these acts of sabotage and terror what they are. [19] He said Russia pays recruits 'easy money' to start fires and fly drones. [19]

Why it matters. Tsahkna wants European countries to share evidence and punish the recruits hard. [19] Merz warned that if Russia is not stopped in Ukraine, its war machine will sooner or later turn against NATO. [40]

Finnish police are investigating a 'significant' number of break-ins and attempted break-ins at the homes of members of parliament, the parliament's speaker said on Thursday. [18] The first is believed to have happened about a year ago. [18] Prime Minister Petteri Orpo said it was 'quite possible' a foreign power is behind them. [18] Finland, which shares a 1,340km border with Russia, joined NATO in 2023. [18]

Why it matters. The speaker said nobody yet knows the motive or who did it. [41] President Alexander Stubb said an attack on a member of parliament is an attack on democracy. [41]

Russia ordered staff of Hungary's embassy in Moscow and its consulates in St Petersburg and Kazan to leave within two weeks. [16] It was answering Hungary, which expelled 10 Russian diplomats on 8 September. [16] Hungary's prime minister, Peter Magyar, took office after Viktor Orban lost the April election. [16] For 16 years Orban kept closer ties with Russia than any other EU leader. [16]

Why it matters. Hungary's new government now calls Russia a threat to the country, and says it will keep its missions in Russia open. [16] Orban had used Hungary's EU veto to block help for Ukraine. [16]

The UAE's attorney general ordered an inquiry into Wednesday's flydubai flight to Tel Aviv, on which a co-pilot stabbed the captain and the plane dropped 14,000ft. [42][43] It will look at whether the attack was terrorism and whether others planned or directed it. [42] Saudi Arabia, where the plane landed, sent both pilots to Abu Dhabi on Thursday. [43] Flydubai has suspended its flights to and from Israel. [44]

Why it matters. Cockpit doors were made strong after the 11 September 2001 attacks to keep attackers out, but that does not stop an attacker who is one of the pilots. [45] The same strong door let a co-pilot lock his captain out and crash a Germanwings plane in 2015. [45]

British counter-terrorism police arrested a 27-year-old man with UK and Iranian citizenship in London on Thursday, on suspicion of preparing terrorist acts. [46] The arrest is part of the inquiry into Sunday's incident at RAF Fairford, a British base that US bombers use to strike Iran. [47] Five young British men arrested near the base on Sunday are out on bail. [48] Britain's prime minister, Andy Burnham, says there are 'strong indications' Iran played a part. [46]

Why it matters. Iran's foreign minister said Burnham was 'barking up the wrong tree'. [46] Israel's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, says Israel warned Britain about an Iranian plot before it happened. [48]

US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth announced a new four-star command for drones and robots on Wednesday, called Autonomous Warfare Command. [49] The US military is asking for 54.6 billion dollars for drones in its 2027 budget, against 226 million this year. [49] Hegseth also ordered the number of generals and admirals cut by a fifth by January 2027. [50] He said 'the pace of war is changing faster than the process to support it'. [50]

Why it matters. In the war with Iran, US forces have fired hundreds of expensive interceptor missiles at cheap Iranian drones and missiles, some of which still killed US troops. [50] Elon Musk will help lead a Pentagon study of future war. [50]

Palestinians in Gaza City buried the remains of 105 people this week, recovered from buildings levelled by Israeli strikes on 25 October 2023. [51] At least 20 bombs destroyed the seven-storey Al Taj 3 building in the Yarmouk area. [52] Gaza's civil defence said it had been impossible to reach the bodies until now. [52] The UN estimates more than 8,000 bodies are still under Gaza's rubble. [53] On Thursday an Israeli drone also killed a man in a tent camp in southern Gaza. [54]

Why it matters. Israel has not let in the heavy machinery needed to clear the rubble, so mass funerals have become more common. [53] In the West Bank, Israeli settlers shot dead a Palestinian man near Ramallah the same day. [54]

France's prime minister, Sebastien Lecornu, held a crisis cabinet meeting on Thursday as high-school protests turned violent. [55] Police detained 1,949 people that day, and 305 officers were hurt. [56] Fires spread to two schools in Nantes and one in Rouen. [56] About 900 blockades and incidents hit schools across France, more than 160 schools shut, and some will move classes online. [55]

Why it matters. Students aged 15 to 18 are protesting about crowded classes, missing teachers and run-down buildings. [55] University students joined on Thursday and blocked about 30 campuses. [57]

Iraq's prime minister, Ali al-Zaidi, set 30 June 2027 as the new deadline for armed groups to hand their weapons to the state. [58] He had dropped an earlier deadline of 30 September. [58] The US-led coalition against the Islamic State group ended its mission in Iraq the day before. [58] Kataib Hezbollah, a powerful militia backed by Iran, denied any deal to disarm and said 'the resistance has won this round'. [59]

Why it matters. Only two Iran-backed groups and the militia of the cleric Moqtada al-Sadr say they have put their weapons under the state. [59] Iraq's government hopes the US exit removes the militias' reason to stay armed, but many fear it will make them stronger. [58]

Lebanon's army seized almost 250kg of TNT, four bombs and eight detonators being smuggled across its north-eastern border from Syria. [60] The smugglers fled back into Syria when an army patrol arrived. [60] A day earlier, Syrian security forces said they had arrested three suspected members of a cell of Hezbollah, the armed Lebanese group, and taken apart rocket launchers. [60]

Why it matters. Reuters reported a secret meeting in Turkey between Syria's government and Hezbollah to ease tension. [60] Turkey and Syria both denied that the meeting took place. [60]

Gunmen attacked a minibus taking factory workers home in Homs province, central Syria, late on Wednesday, killing seven and wounding four. [61] The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a monitoring group, said all the victims were Alawites. [61] Alawites are the minority that Bashar al-Assad belongs to, and they dominated Syria's government from 1963 until he fell in December 2024. [61] The area has seen several revenge killings of Alawites since then. [61]

Why it matters. The attack adds to fears about the safety of minorities under Syria's new Islamist-led authorities. [61] A gas pipeline blast at the Tishreen power plant the same night brought more power cuts. [61]

South Korea's president, Lee Jae Myung, threatened 'further action' if Ukraine does not apologise in public. [62] Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelensky, told the UN last week that two North Korean prisoners of war had been sent to South Korea. [62] Seoul says the move was meant to stay secret, partly to protect the soldiers' families. [62] Ukraine's foreign minister called it a 'diplomatic misunderstanding', and Lee rejected that. [62][63]

Why it matters. The row sets two US partners with strong armies against each other. [63] The two soldiers were among thousands of North Koreans fighting for Russia, and had said they wanted to go to the South. [62]

The family of Renee Good, a US citizen shot dead by an immigration officer in Minneapolis in January, filed two lawsuits on Thursday. [64] ICE, the US agency that arrests and deports immigrants, had sent armed agents to the city. [65] One lawsuit blames the US government's operation for her death. [64] The other names the officer, Jonathan Ross, and senior officials including Stephen Miller and Kristi Noem. [64]

Why it matters. A White House spokeswoman called the lawsuits 'baseless'. [64] Trump first blamed Good for her own death, and weeks later called it a 'tragedy'. [64]

Tennessee injected Christa Pike, 50, with two lethal doses of the drug pentobarbital on Wednesday, and she survived. [66] She is in critical condition in hospital, her lawyer said. [66] Pike was sentenced to death for a murder she committed at 18, in 1995, and would have been the first woman executed in Tennessee in more than 200 years. [67] Governor Bill Lee halted the state's one other execution planned this year. [67]

Why it matters. A death penalty expert called the failure unprecedented. [67] Pike's lawyers now ask for her sentence to be changed to prison. [66]

The International Criminal Court, which tries people for war crimes, ended its health and life insurance contract with Axa, a French company. [68] The Trump administration is preparing sanctions on the court over its call to arrest Israel's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. [68] The US has already sanctioned more than a dozen of the court's judges and prosecutors. [68] Axa and the court feared the sanctions would force the insurer to stop working with it. [68]

Why it matters. The court says sanctions could stop it making payments in US dollars. [68] Trump called the court 'evil' at the UN last week and urged countries to leave it. [68]

US agents arrested Ashton Ellaboudy, 51, who works for the Department of Energy in Washington state, accusing him of helping Yemen's Houthi rebels. [69][70] Prosecutors say he travelled abroad to use his 'specialised expertise' for the group. [70] They also accuse him of buying materials to build explosives that drones can carry. [70] He was due in court on Friday. [69]

Why it matters. The US lists the Houthis as a foreign terrorist organisation, and he is accused of trying to give them material support. [69] The Energy Department office said his alleged actions did not involve harming its site or staff. [70]

Pakistan's foreign ministry said on Thursday it will follow 'all applicable sanctions regimes' under international and domestic law. [71] Its earlier line stressed only international law and its trade deals with Iran, its neighbour. [71] The same day the US sanctioned a Pakistani arms dealer, Waseem Pasha Tajammal, accusing his companies of buying weapons for Iran's military. [72] The US also sanctioned A7, a Russian payments firm it says helped Iran sell oil. [73]

Why it matters. The US has threatened to cut any company still trading with Iran out of the dollar system. [73] Pakistan is in a defence alliance with Saudi Arabia and Turkey, which the Saudi crown prince praised on Wednesday. [74]