World, in brief

Andy Burnham, Britain's prime minister, told parliament on Monday that the plot at RAF Fairford was 'highly likely' to have been coordinated in Iran. [1][2]

He said it was 'almost certainly directed' by Iran's Revolutionary Guards, a powerful part of Iran's armed forces. [3][4]

RAF Fairford is a base in south-west England that US bombers have used to strike Iran in this year's war. [5][1]

Five British men in their 20s were arrested near the base with three vans on 27 September. [2][4] Police found petrol in the vans but no explosives. [1]

Seven men have been arrested in all, and all of them are out on bail. Nobody has been charged. [1][5]

Britain froze the assets of two Iranians and banned them from travel. One is Ruhollah Bazghandi, who runs the Revolutionary Guards' counter-spying work. [4][3]

The other is Shahram Ali Reza Tamarzadeh Jakki, who Britain says helps the Zindashti network, a criminal gang it accuses of plots against Iranian dissidents. [4][6]

Ed Miliband, the foreign secretary, summoned Iran's ambassador. The ambassador, Ali Mousavi, said Iran had no part in it and asked Britain to show its evidence. [7][3]

The US, Canada, Australia, France, Germany and 24 other countries signed a joint statement condemning Iran's 'lethal plotting, arson, sabotage' and cyber-attacks. [8][5]

Shabana Mahmood, the home secretary, said states like Iran 'pay criminals or exploit naive volunteers' so they can deny any part in an attack. [1]

In the days after the arrests Burnham spoke only of 'strong indications'. Monday's statement was Britain's firmest yet about who was behind the plot. [2][9]

Oliver Dowden, a former deputy prime minister, told Burnham that Iran 'smells weakness'. He said Iran had also tried attacks at British bases on Diego Garcia and in Cyprus. [6]

Why it matters. The next test is whether anyone is charged over Fairford, because until then Britain's case rests on an assessment it has not shown, and Burnham has promised more sanctions. [4][7]

EU foreign ministers on Monday put sanctions on almost 1,600 Russian people and companies in Russia's arms industry, the biggest single listing since the 2022 invasion. [16] Kaja Kallas, the EU's foreign policy chief, said more than half are tied to making ballistic missiles. [16][23] The EU's list now holds more than 4,500 names, Putin among them. [16] Days earlier, President Trump eased US sanctions on Russian diesel, and Germany's chancellor, Friedrich Merz, said copying that was 'out of the question'. [17][24] EU leaders meet on Thursday and plan to call for more sanctions on Russian oil money. [25]

Why it matters. The US and the EU are now pushing Russia's oil money in opposite directions. Kallas said the sanctions would be stronger if the US had joined in. [17]

Russia struck six Ukrainian energy sites after President Trump said on Sunday that Russia and Ukraine had agreed to stop hitting each other's energy supplies. [26] Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelensky, said 33 people were hurt. [26] Ukraine's grid company reported new power cuts in Kharkiv, Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia, and rationed electricity in some areas. [26] Russia's foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, said Ukraine did not deserve the 'respite' a ceasefire would bring. [26] Zelensky said it was 'increasingly clear' that Russia did not want the truce. [27]

Why it matters. Ukraine goes into winter with its power plants still under attack. Zelensky called the strikes 'Putin's answer to President Trump'. [26]

Alexus Grynkewich, the US general who commands NATO's forces in Europe, set out on Monday how the alliance would fight an attack by Russia. [18] He told a security conference in Warsaw, Poland's capital, that NATO would 'block, blunt' and then 'break' any attacking force. [18] All 32 NATO members have approved the plan, which leans on drones, anti-drone systems and AI. [28] He said alliance troops would fight even if US forces were busy elsewhere. [18] Matthew Whitaker, the US ambassador to NATO, said the US is reviewing its troops in Europe. [19]

Why it matters. European officials warn that Russia could be ready to attack a NATO country by the end of the decade. [19] The plan is meant to show Russia that an attack would fail, even with fewer US troops in Europe.

Ukraine's parliament passed a law on Monday that protects the use of minority languages in schools and at cultural events. [29] It passed with 266 of 450 votes. [29] About 100,000 Hungarians live in Transcarpathia, a region in western Ukraine, and their rights had soured relations for years. [29] Viktor Orban, Hungary's former leader, blocked Ukraine's EU membership talks from 2023. [29] His successor, Peter Magyar, made further progress depend on this law. [29] Diplomats expect Hungary to agree on Tuesday to open two more parts of the talks. [29]

Why it matters. This removes one of the biggest blocks on Ukraine's path to joining the EU. It could also lead to the first meeting between Zelensky and Magyar, possibly at an EU summit on Thursday. [29]

German police detained two Turkish men on Poland's behalf over a fire last month at a Starlink station in central Poland. [11][30] Starlink is a satellite internet service, and Ukraine's army relies on tens of thousands of its terminals. [11] Poland says the fire was sabotage meant to cut internet access, including for Ukraine's military. [11] Tomasz Siemoniak, a Polish minister in charge of the spy services, said Russia was behind it. [11] The men will face sabotage charges in Poland. [11]

Why it matters. Siemoniak said Russia's spy services increasingly hire people from the criminal underworld for such attacks. [30] Britain made a similar charge against Iran on the same day.

French troops boarded an oil tanker called DF Peak in the Indian Ocean, about 450 nautical miles south of Reunion, a French island. [31] President Emmanuel Macron said it is suspected of sailing under a false flag and smuggling fuel. [31] Ukraine's military intelligence says the ship carries Russian crude oil. [31] The 'shadow fleet' is the name for old tankers Russia uses to sell oil despite Western sanctions, often hiding who owns them. [31] France stopped another such tanker off Sicily in June. [31]

Why it matters. The shadow fleet lets Russia keep earning from oil despite Western sanctions. [31] The boarding came on the same day the EU added 1,600 names to its sanctions list.

Saudi Arabia's energy minister, Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman, promised a 'serious' response to Houthi attacks on the kingdom's airports and oil sites. [32] The Houthis are an armed group backed by Iran that controls much of Yemen. [32] A missile killed 13 people at Riyadh's main airport on Saturday, and another strike on Sunday killed a Pakistani man. [32][33] The airport will stay shut until 17 October. [34] Nearly half of all flights in Saudi Arabia were cancelled on Monday. [14]

Why it matters. Saudi officials told the Wall Street Journal that the kingdom is running low on missiles to shoot the attacks down, the Times of Israel reported. [35] The UAE's Anwar Gargash said a weak shared defence had encouraged the attacks, and called for stronger Gulf security. [36]

Houthi fighters tightened their siege of Taiz, a city in south-west Yemen held by the Saudi-backed government. [37] More than 60 people were killed in 24 hours, military sources on both sides told AFP. [37] Government forces said they lost 22 fighters, and the Houthis said they lost at least 40. [37] The Houthis blocked every road out of the city and attacked overnight. [37] On Sunday, Yemen's health ministry warned that medicine and fuel in Taiz were close to running out. [37]

Why it matters. The war in Yemen is now being fought inside Yemen and on Saudi soil at once. People in Taiz have no road out while the fighting goes on.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards said they hit a supertanker trying to cross the Strait of Hormuz on Monday and set it on fire. [15] They said the ship had switched off its transponder, the radio that tells others where a ship is. [15] Iran has blocked the strait since the US and Israel attacked it in February, and the US blockades Iran's ports in return. [15] The same day, Chris Wright, the US energy secretary, said up to 14 million barrels of oil a day now pass through the strait. [38]

Why it matters. Ship-tracking firm Kpler counted under 9 million barrels a day in September, so the two counts are far apart. [38] Diesel, jet fuel and petrol prices stay high either way. [38]

EU foreign ministers agreed on Monday to set up a civilian and military mission to strengthen Lebanon's army and police. [39] It will start with a three-year mandate and work on border and sea security and stopping drones. [40][39] It will not deploy in the south, where Israel is still fighting Hezbollah, an armed group backed by Iran. [39] UNIFIL, the UN peacekeeping force in south Lebanon, ends its mission on 31 December. [40]

Why it matters. The EU mission will not replace the UN force, so south Lebanon will have no outside peacekeepers next year. [40] Lebanon's president, Joseph Aoun, has asked for the UN mission to be extended. [39]

Lebanon's army said on Monday it seized 200kg of explosives being smuggled in from Syria through the Hermel border area. [41] The smugglers fled back to Syria. [41] It was one of three seizures in a few weeks, together about half a tonne, all bound for Beirut. [41] One package held nails and ball bearings. [41] Prime Minister Nawaf Salam promised 'no leniency' in the investigation. [41]

Why it matters. The seizures have brought back memories of the 2005 lorry bomb that killed former prime minister Rafic Hariri and 20 others. [41] Some Lebanese officials link the smuggling to Hezbollah, but the investigation has not said who sent it. [41]

A 14-year-old Israeli boy was killed and 24 people were hurt when an old munition exploded on a school trip near the border with Lebanon. [42] Israel's army said it was most likely a small bomb from a Hezbollah cluster rocket left over from the war. [43] A pupil had picked it up on the trail and put it in his backpack, police found. [42] Two teenagers were seriously hurt. [42]

Why it matters. Unexploded bombs stay in the ground long after the fighting moves on. Police and Israel's education ministry are considering stopping school trips to the north for now. [42]

Israel has barred pilots and cabin crew who are citizens of countries without diplomatic ties to Israel from flights into its airspace, dual citizens included. [44] The rule follows last month's attack on a flydubai flight to Tel Aviv by its Omani co-pilot. [44] Air France told staff the ban covers 31 countries, and a United Airlines memo lists 29. [45] At least 10 are African, including Algeria, Somalia, Sudan and Tunisia. [45]

Why it matters. Airlines are now changing staff rotas to keep flying to Israel. [45][44] Crew members are judged by their passport, not by anything they have done.

Israel's High Court on Monday told the army and defence ministry to give a timetable for letting displaced Palestinians return to camps in the northern West Bank. [46] Defence Minister Israel Katz replied that this is army business and the court should not interfere. [46] The army emptied camps in Jenin, Tulkarem and Nur Shams in 2025, saying they sheltered militants. [46] Tens of thousands of people were forced out and have not been allowed back. [46]

Why it matters. Israel's top court and its defence minister now disagree in public about the camps. [46] Meanwhile tens of thousands of Palestinians still cannot go home.

Khaled Elbalshy, head of Egypt's journalists' union, said it will keep defending six journalists held since late September. [47] They work for Matsadaash, an investigative website, and are charged with joining a 'terrorist' group. [47] Prosecutors say the site is tied to the Muslim Brotherhood, which Egypt lists as a 'terrorist' group. [47] Their lawyers say most of the six were tortured after arrest, which Egypt denies. [47]

Why it matters. Pro-government commentators attacked the union for speaking up for its members. [47] The journalists are held under a 2015 counter-terrorism law, though the prosecution only accuses them of publishing false reports. [47]

Fighters of the PKK, a Kurdish armed group, have left four camps in northern Iraq near the Turkish border, Turkish security officials said on Monday. [48][49] Turkey's state news agency named the camps as Hebat, Yajk, Sabri and Sason. [49] The PKK has fought Turkey since 1984, and at least 40,000 people have died. [48] Last year it agreed to disarm and disband, after a call from its jailed leader, Abdullah Ocalan. [49]

Why it matters. Turkey's security council must confirm that the PKK has fully dissolved before a law letting former fighters return can take effect. [48] Kurdish politicians say the process is too slow. [48]

US immigration agents searched the Washington-area home of Ilhan Omar, a Democratic congresswoman from Minnesota, on Monday. [50] The US justice department said a judge had approved the warrant as part of a criminal investigation, and gave no more details. [50] Fox News, citing unnamed sources, said it concerns her immigration papers, which her late father filled out when she was a child. [20] Omar, who was born in Somalia, called it an attempt 'to target political enemies'. [50] Trump said he had 'nothing to do' with it. [50]

Why it matters. Democratic leaders called it a 'rogue abuse of power' and noted the midterm elections are less than 30 days away. [20] Omar belongs to 'the Squad', a group of left-wing Democratic lawmakers. [51]

Elon Musk has spent about $366m on the US midterm elections so far, $276m of it since July, a spokesman for his America PAC confirmed. [52] That makes him most likely the biggest single donor in this year's races. [52] Of the money since July, $158m went to a group set up to help Republicans win Senate seats. [52][53] The New York Times first reported the figures. [53]

Why it matters. Democrats in the House are calling for investigations into Musk's government contracts as head of SpaceX. [52] If Democrats win control of the US Congress, they would have the power to start them.

Archbishop Timothy Broglio, who leads Catholics serving in the US military, told Catholic soldiers to ask to be excused from a firing squad. [54] The US army plans to execute Nidal Hasan on 3 December. He shot dead 13 people at Fort Hood, an army base in Texas, in 2009. [55] Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the execution will be livestreamed to deter others. [54] Broglio asked whether the US wants to 'imitate the terrorists of this world'. [54]

Why it matters. In Australia, the Greens asked the online safety regulator to stop Australians seeing the stream. [56] The Guardian reported that this could cause a diplomatic row with the Trump administration. [56]

BBC Panorama reported that Deloitte in Cyprus signed off accounts that made $672m of Roman Abramovich's yachts, homes and jets vanish from a company's books. [57] Deloitte is the world's biggest accountancy firm. [57] Abramovich is a Russian billionaire who once owned Chelsea football club, and Britain sanctioned him in 2022. [57] A barrister called the scheme 'straightforward' tax evasion. Abramovich denies any wrongdoing, and Deloitte Cyprus says it obeys the law. [57]

Why it matters. In Jersey, a British island, 5.4 billion pounds of his assets are frozen and a criminal investigation has run for four years. [57] The leak raises questions about the firms that keep the money of rich clients out of sight.

Thousands of opposition supporters marched through Delhi on Monday to India's Supreme Court. [22] They demand that Gyanesh Kumar, the chief election commissioner, resign. [22] More than 130 million names have been removed from voter lists since last year in a check he led. [58] Opposition parties say it helps Prime Minister Narendra Modi's party, which the election body denies. [22] Rahul Gandhi, the opposition leader, handed a petition to the chief justice. [59]

Why it matters. Police detained thousands of protesters over the weekend, and now the opposition is asking judges to step in. [59] A court ruling could decide whether millions of people can vote.

Pakistan's government confirmed that Sohail Afridi, the elected chief minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, is in custody with some of his ministers. [60] Pakistan's government suspended his provincial government on Sunday and put the province under emergency rule. [61] Afridi belongs to the party of Imran Khan, the jailed former prime minister. [61] Police said 278 party members have been detained. [21] Ministers said Afridi's government worked 'hand in glove' with the Pakistani Taliban, and claimed 'solid evidence'. [62]

Why it matters. The suspension will last at least six months, the law minister said. [62] Khan's party says it is a way to stop his supporters marching on Islamabad, the capital, to demand his release. [61]

Foreign ministers of ASEAN, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, will discuss the haze from Indonesia's fires before their summit next month. [63] Malaysia's foreign minister, Mohamad Hasan, said he would raise it himself. [63] Forest fires on Sumatra and Borneo are Indonesia's worst in 11 years. [63] Their smoke has covered Singapore and Malaysia, which closed schools in several states last week. [63]

Why it matters. ASEAN has plans for floods and volcanoes but not for haze, Hasan said. [63] Millions of people breathe the smoke from one country's fires.

South Korea's ambassador to Ukraine went home on Saturday, the latest step in a fast-growing row. [64] It began when Zelensky told the UN that Ukraine had handed two captured North Korean soldiers to South Korea. [64] South Korea says both sides had agreed to keep that secret. [64] Then a Zelensky adviser said 176,000 tons of fuel went from South Korean ports to Russia, which South Korea denies. [64]

Why it matters. South Korea wanted secrecy partly so North Korea would not punish the soldiers' families, an expert told DW. [64] Two governments on the same side of the war are now arguing in public.

Thales, a large French defence company, will set up a base in Japan to maintain military equipment, the Nikkei newspaper reported. [65] It could be the first such base run by a foreign defence firm in Japan. [65] It will first serve Japan's navy. [65] Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi is raising defence spending because of worries about China's growing military and North Korea's weapons. [65]

Why it matters. Thales's chief named radar and sonar as areas where it could help Japan. [65] Japan Steel Works will start making a Thales heavy mortar in Japan in 2027. [65]

A 14-year-old boy shot a headteacher and a teacher at a middle school in Aubagne, near Marseille, on Monday. [66] He brought a shotgun into the school in a guitar case, officials said. [66] A member of staff disarmed him. [67] No children were hurt, and the two adults' injuries are not life-threatening. [66] Prosecutors opened an attempted murder inquiry, and both his parents were taken into custody after weapons were found at home. [66]

Why it matters. Police said it was not linked to the protests over school conditions that have spread across France. [66][67] The boy had no record of crime or radical views, officials said. [67]

French police found two paintings by Pierre-Auguste Renoir behind a false wall in a private home. [68] They were stolen in September from the Renoir Museum in Cagnes-sur-Mer, on the French Riviera, and are worth about 4.2m euros. [68] DNA on a cover the thieves left behind and car tracking led police to the suspects. [69] Six people were arrested, and police say a second theft, at the Fondation Maeght art museum, was about to happen. [68]

Why it matters. The paintings are back, though damaged. [68] Four men face preliminary charges. [69]