World, in brief

The G7, a club of seven rich democracies, agreed on Friday to release 100 million barrels of oil and diesel from emergency stocks over four months. [1][2]

The International Energy Agency, which coordinates rich countries' emergency oil, will run it, with a large share of diesel in the first 20 days. [2][3]

The deal came after US President Donald Trump threatened to stop US diesel sales abroad unless Europe put more of its own stocks on the market. [1][4]

The US sells 1.2 to 1.5 million barrels of diesel a day abroad, and US diesel is more than half of what Europe imports. [1][5]

US diesel cost $6.37 a gallon on Friday, close to the record $6.52 set on 22 September, with US elections due in November. [6]

Polls this week found that 65% of US adults blame Trump's policies for higher prices. [7]

Earlier on Friday the European Commission said it 'fully' rejected any ban, and said a ban would hurt trust in the US as a partner. [8]

France's President Emmanuel Macron, who chairs the G7 this year, said the talks were 'not one of threats' but 'constructive'. [5]

Trump later said a diesel ban was 'never really on the table', and the G7 promised not to restrict energy sales to each other. [9][1]

Brent crude, the main world oil price, briefly fell below $100 a barrel and ended near $102, against about $73 before the war on Iran began. [1]

Two diplomats told Politico the deal largely restates a March pledge of 400 million barrels, and that some of those barrels never reached the market. [5]

In Britain, diesel passed 2 pounds a litre for the first time on Friday, the RAC motoring group said. [10]

Why it matters. Watch whether US diesel prices fall before November's elections, and whether the 100 million barrels turn out to be new oil or the March promise counted again. [6][5]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]