World, in brief

The Saudi-led coalition bombed the al-Sabaha fuel depot on the edge of Sanaa, Yemen's Houthi-held capital, on Tuesday night. [1] It had first told people nearby to leave, its first such warning for Sanaa since this round of fighting began. [2]

It also hit oil tanks at Ras Isa port and fuel piers at Hodeidah on the Red Sea, the biggest attack yet on Houthi energy sites. [3][4]

The coalition says the Houthis use these sites to supply their missiles and drones. [2] The Houthi-run oil company says the Sanaa tanks were empty. [1]

Before the strike, the Houthis named their answer: the airport of Riyadh, the Saudi capital, an Aramco refinery there and Aramco's headquarters in the east. [5][6]

That night a missile hit an office building of Aramco, Saudi Arabia's state oil company and the world's largest, in the eastern city of Dhahran. [7] Saudi Arabia's energy ministry said it caused a 'limited fire' and no casualties. [8]

Pieces of two cruise missiles shot down over Riyadh hurt four people, including a child, and damaged 15 homes. [7]

Oil prices rose on the news. [4] Kristalina Georgieva, head of the IMF, the fund that lends to governments in trouble, said the attacks could hurt 'everybody, everywhere'. [8]

Saudi Arabia bought 12% of all US arms exports from 2021 to 2025, more than any other country, and this year agreed to buy 730 Patriot air-defence missiles. [9]

Regional officials say it is running low on interceptors, the missiles that shoot incoming missiles down, and has asked allies for help. [9]

The Houthis had up to 350,000 fighters by 2024, against 30,000 in 2015, UN estimates say, and they hold about a third of Yemen. [9]

Riyadh's main airport is shut until 17 October after a missile killed 13 people there on Saturday, and the city's schools have moved online for a week. [1][10]

Donald Trump says the Houthis want to push up oil prices before the US midterm elections, and that he is weighing whether to join the Saudi strikes. [11][9]

Why it matters. Watch whether the Houthis strike the Riyadh airport and refinery they named, and whether Trump, who says he is weighing it, sends US forces to join the Saudi strikes. [5][9]

Russian ballistic missiles hit Darnytska CHP-4, a plant that gives Kyiv heat and electricity, on Tuesday night. [12] Kyiv's mayor said two people died and 21 were hurt when a block of flats was also hit. [12] It was the second night running that Ukraine got no early warning from its partners, President Zelensky said. [16] Ukraine relies heavily on US intelligence to see such launches coming. [23] In Kharkiv, Ukraine's second city, four people died when a block of flats was destroyed. [24]

Why it matters. US officials had threatened at the weekend to stop sharing intelligence unless Ukraine stopped hitting Russian oil refineries, and Trump says the sharing goes on. [16][23] The strikes came two days after Trump announced an energy ceasefire, about which Russia's government would say only that contacts were going on. [25]

Drones hit two cargo ships in Bulgaria's waters in the Black Sea on Tuesday, and one of them sank. [22] The HS Dignity went down off the town of Krapets, and 11 of its 16 crew, Syrians and Egyptians, were missing that evening. [26] All 15 people aboard the Ukrainian-owned Chelsea 3 were rescued. [26] Prime Minister Rumen Radev summoned Russia's ambassador and said 'the outcome benefits the Russian Federation'. [22] It is the first time Bulgaria has pointed at Russia directly. [26]

Why it matters. Bulgaria is in NATO, the Western military alliance, and the EU, and a week earlier another ship sank in its waters, its 10 crew presumed dead. [26][22] Russia says it targets ships carrying weapons to Ukraine. [22]

Iran's missile and drone attacks on ships in and around the Strait of Hormuz were the most intense of the war in the two weeks to 11 October. [13] Six vessels were hit on Sunday alone, the worst day yet. [13] Two senior Iranian officials told Reuters that Iran changed tactics about ten days ago, partly to keep oil prices high before the US vote. [14] A US military official said Iran's Revolutionary Guards now use unarmed spotters in small boats to find targets. [14]

Why it matters. Oil carried through the strait fell to 2.9 million barrels on 11 October, the lowest day this month, according to Kpler, a firm that tracks ships. [13] The US military says it controls the strait and helped move 19 million barrels in one day. [27]

Twelve US senators, six of them from Trump's own Republican party, asked him on Tuesday to cancel his deal letting Russia sell its diesel freely. [15] Trump lifted US sanctions on Russian diesel last week, to bring US fuel prices down, and the deal lets Russia supply almost 2 million tonnes. [25] The senators' letter called it 'a gift to our adversary'. [15] Mitch McConnell, a former Republican leader of the US Senate, signed it. [28]

Why it matters. It breaks with near-total Republican support for Trump's foreign policy, three weeks before the midterm elections decide who controls the US Congress. [15] The National reports that a 2022 law on Russian energy could open the deal to a court challenge. [28]

Britain's prime minister, Andy Burnham, is hosting Zelensky in London on Wednesday, the Ukrainian leader's first visit to a European capital since Trump lifted the diesel sanctions. [29] Britain will speed up part of a 1.6 billion pound order of light missiles, which can shoot down Russia's new jet-powered drones. [30] It will also deliver 45 million pounds of surface-to-air missiles. [29] Burnham and his ministers will push other countries to stop shipping Russian liquefied gas. [30]

Why it matters. Russia's jet-powered drones fly faster and higher than the older Shahed drones, so they are harder to shoot down and reach more targets. [30] The two men have met twice since Burnham took office in July. [30]

European Union governments agreed on Tuesday to open two more 'clusters' of talks on Ukraine joining the bloc, after Hungary lifted its veto. [31] A cluster is a group of subjects a country must bring up to EU rules, and four of six are now open. [31] Hungary had objected for years to Ukraine's 2015 and 2017 laws limiting minority languages in schools. [31] The two sides agreed on the rights of ethnic Hungarians in Ukraine first. [31]

Why it matters. The deal could bring the first meeting between Zelensky and Hungary's new prime minister, Peter Magyar, at an EU summit this week. [31] Under Viktor Orban, who lost power in April, Hungary blocked Ukraine's progress again and again. [31]

Hungary's parliament voted 139 to 51 on Tuesday to remove most of a 2021 law limiting how gay and transgender people may be shown to children. [32] Under it, even age-appropriate books on the subject had to be sold sealed in black plastic. [32] The EU's top court ruled in April that the law broke EU treaties. [32] The same day, EU governments ended a 2022 freeze over corruption and released 4.2 billion euros to Hungary. [33]

Why it matters. Prime Minister Magyar, who ended Orban's 16 years in power, presented the change as child protection, and Orban's Fidesz party voted against it. [34] Hungary can also rejoin Erasmus+, the EU's student exchange, and is seeking 12.2 billion euros more. [33]

A Ukrainian former military officer, named only as Serhii K., went on trial in Hamburg, Germany, on Wednesday over the 2022 blasts that wrecked the Nord Stream gas pipelines. [35] The pipes ran under the Baltic Sea from Russia to Germany, and three of the four were destroyed. [20] Prosecutors say he led a group of Ukrainian divers and an explosives expert who sailed from the German port of Rostock in a hired yacht. [35] He denies it, and the trial is expected to run until February. [35]

Why it matters. Germany is one of Ukraine's biggest backers, so a Ukrainian in the dock for this is a highly sensitive case. [36] Zelensky has said Ukraine never officially took part in any such operation. [36]

Ken McCallum, head of MI5, Britain's domestic security service, said on Tuesday that threats from foreign states have quadrupled in ten years. [21] He called Russia 'aggressor number one' and said that after almost 1,000 expulsions of its spies since the invasion of Ukraine, it pays criminals to do its attacks. [21] He said Iran now wants 'harder targets, like military sites'. [37] He called the suspected plot at RAF Fairford, a US-run air base in England, 'not unique'. [37]

Why it matters. Britain's prime minister said on Monday the Fairford plot was 'almost certainly' directed by Iran's Revolutionary Guards. [37] McCallum also said more people are moving from far-right hate talk to planning violence. [38]

Russian agents arrested Yuki Imai, a reporter for Japan's Hokkaido Shimbun newspaper, on Sakhalin, a Russian island north of Japan, and charged him with spying. [39] He was held a day before he was due to leave Russia, and a court in Moscow ordered him kept in jail until 12 December. [39] Russia says he gathered information on its defences for Japan's intelligence service. [39] Spying can bring up to 20 years in prison in Russia. [40]

Why it matters. Ties have worsened since Vladimir Putin visited the Kuril Islands in August; Russia runs the islands, and Japan claims four of them. [39] Japan has asked for fair treatment and for information about the case. [40]

Supporters of Imran Khan's party, PTI, clashed with police in Bara, in north-west Pakistan, on Tuesday, and government buildings were set on fire. [17] Police fired tear gas and live rounds into the air and arrested 50 people. [17] They were protesting against emergency rule, which on Sunday suspended the elected PTI government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. [17] The law minister cited 8,600 terrorist attacks there in 2024 to 2026, against 2,900 in 2020 to 2024. [41] Most PTI leaders in the province have gone into hiding. [42]

Why it matters. Pakistan's federal government says PTI's provincial government worked with the Pakistani Taliban, but two days later it had shown no evidence. [42] Khan, a former prime minister, has been in jail since 2023, and PTI has run the province for 13 years. [43][42]

Delhi police detained leaders of the Cockroach Janta Party, a youth protest movement, on Tuesday after they climbed barricades into Jantar Mantar, the city's best-known protest site. [18] A day earlier India's home ministry had removed the site from the list of places where protests are allowed. [18] The movement wants Gyanesh Kumar, the chief election commissioner, to resign. [44] Since last year, 130 million names have been removed from India's voter lists. [45]

Why it matters. Critics say the voter-list review hit Muslims and poorer, lower-caste voters hardest, and India's government says it removed dead and duplicate names. [45] Human Rights Watch called the weekend's mass arrests arbitrary. [44]

Students and teachers marched across France on Tuesday over crowded classes, missing teachers and run-down schools. [46] France's interior ministry counted 161,500 marchers, and unions about 480,000. [46] Police fired tear gas in Paris, and 11 officers went to hospital. [46] The education minister said only 35% of 3,000 promised supply teachers had reached schools. [47] Greta Thunberg, the Swedish climate campaigner, joined pupils in Saint-Denis, outside Paris, where lawyers formed a chain to protect teenagers after claims of police violence. [48]

Why it matters. Parliament began debating the 2027 budget the same day, and critics say its 1.6% rise for schools is below inflation of 1.8%. [47] France's police watchdog has opened 36 inquiries since the protests began. [49]

Mauritius put its capital, Port Louis, and other big towns under a night curfew on Tuesday after unrest over a police shooting. [19] A police officer shot Elodie Thomas, 27, as she travelled home from work in a van, and she survived surgery. [19] On Monday protesters burned tyres and blocked roads. [19] A police sergeant has been charged, and unrest is uncommon on the Indian Ocean island. [19]

Why it matters. Some schools closed, and the prime minister's cabinet was due to meet on Wednesday to assess the situation. [19]

Albanian riot police fired tear gas and water cannon at hundreds of student protesters in Tirana, the capital, on Tuesday. [50] Some threw bricks at Albania's education ministry and petrol bombs at police. [50] Six police officers and a journalist were hurt, and 23 people were arrested. [50] The students want lower fees, better universities and the resignation of Prime Minister Edi Rama. [50]

Why it matters. Tirana has seen protests since May over a luxury tourism project linked to Trump's family, which protesters say shows corruption. [50]

Pope Leo XIV, 71, has lung cancer, the Vatican said, after surgeons in Rome removed the lower part of his right lung on Tuesday. [51] The Vatican said the 90-minute operation went well, with no complications. [51] Leo himself announced the operation on Sunday, saying the growth was found at a very early stage. [51] Doctors are testing whether it has spread, and his diary is clear until 20 October. [51]

Why it matters. Leo, the first pope born in the US, leads the Roman Catholic Church. [52] Leaders including US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Australia's Anthony Albanese sent good wishes. [52]

The Trump administration asked Kimberly Guilfoyle, the US ambassador to Greece, to resign on Tuesday. [53] Texts first reported by the Wall Street Journal appear to show her asking a Trump donor to pay her credit card bill in return for access to the Trump administration. [53] She denies wrongdoing and says she will defend her name. [53] Guilfoyle, a former Fox News host, was once engaged to Donald Trump Jr. [53]

Why it matters. Senior Democrats in the US Congress want investigations. [54] Rubio had defended her while in Greece only last week. [54]

Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel's prime minister, admitted on Tuesday that Abbas Kamel, then Egypt's intelligence chief, was in Israel before Hamas's attack of 7 October 2023. [55] He had denied it several times. [55] He said Kamel spent 59 minutes on the ground and did not meet him. [55] The Atlantic, a US magazine, reported in September that Kamel came to warn of an attack. [55]

Why it matters. Netanyahu now says he wants to know which Israeli official met Kamel. [55] Israelis vote on 27 October. [56]

A poll by Channel 12, an Israeli TV news channel, gave the bloc led by Gadi Eisenkot, a former army chief, 54 seats, against 49 for Netanyahu's bloc. [57] Parties opposed to Netanyahu would hold 67 seats in all, but some in Eisenkot's bloc refuse to work with Arab parties, and 60 are needed to govern. [57] Itamar Ben Gvir, the far-right security minister, ruled out a vote-sharing deal with former general Ofer Winter's party. [56] Winter's party again polled below the share needed to win any seats. [57]

Why it matters. Winter's party says Ben Gvir is throwing away votes from Netanyahu's side three weeks before the election. [56]

On the anniversary of the summit that began the Gaza ceasefire, the US State Department said 'real progress' was being made towards a disarmed Gaza. [58] The same day an Israeli strike on a car in Gaza City killed one person, Gaza's emergency services said. [59] Al Jazeera's maps show nearly two-thirds of Gaza under Israeli control or limits on entry. [59] In the occupied West Bank, settlers have killed two Palestinians at the olive harvest since late September. [60]

Why it matters. The Palestinian news agency Wafa counts more than 74,382 Palestinians killed in Gaza since 7 October 2023. [59] The olive harvest matters to many Palestinian families for both money and identity. [60]

Hezbollah, the Iran-backed armed group in Lebanon, announced aid for families whose homes were destroyed in this year's war with Israel: $14,000 per household in Beirut and its suburbs, and $12,000 elsewhere. [61] It will be paid in four parts over a year. [61] It did not say where the money comes from or how many families it can pay. [61] US sanctions and tighter Lebanese controls on its money and supply routes are squeezing it. [61]

Why it matters. Hezbollah drew Lebanon into the war on 2 March in support of Iran, and after an earlier war it announced $77 million of similar aid in December 2024. [61]

Police in the United Arab Emirates have detained two Maldivian pilots who work for flydubai over the 30 September attack on a Dubai to Tel Aviv flight. [62] An Omani co-pilot is accused of attacking the captain with an axe to take control of the plane. [62] No charges or links have been made public. [62] Separately, Israel turned back an Ethiopian Airlines flight in mid-air because one of its pilots was Indonesian. [63]

Why it matters. Israel now bars crews from several countries that have no ties with it, and at least 10 African countries are covered, a United Airlines memo says. [63]

A court in Iran has sentenced Najmeh Amini, a 23-year-old accounting student, to death for 'insulting the prophet' in a social media post, a rights group reports. [64] A second court gave her 12 and a half years for acting against national security. [64] She was arrested during January's protests across Iran, when thousands were reported killed and more than 50,000 arrested. [64] She is held in Vakilabad prison in Mashhad. [64]

Why it matters. Rights groups say death sentences and executions in Iran are rising. [64]

Sudan's army chief, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, ordered an inquiry into Saturday's air strike on a gold mine near the Egyptian border. [65] A rights group, the Emergency Lawyers, says it killed 72 people and blames Egypt, which has not commented. [65] Police say a man then shot dead two Egyptian lorry drivers in Khartoum, Sudan's capital, to avenge his brother, killed in the strike. [66] Egypt and Sudan say they are investigating. [66]

Why it matters. Neither country has said who carried out the strike. [66] Sudan's civil war has pushed an estimated two million people into small-scale gold mining. [66]

Huang Xia, the UN envoy for Africa's Great Lakes region, told the Security Council on Tuesday there is a 'window of opportunity' for peace in eastern Congo. [67] He said US- and Qatar-led talks had made progress but the fighting and suffering had got worse. [67] A day earlier Joseph Kabila, Congo's former president, became head of a new armed front whose deputies are the leaders of the M23 rebels. [68] The front says it will use force if needed. [68]

Why it matters. Congo and the Rwanda-backed M23 signed a ceasefire pledge in Doha in July 2025, and fighting went on. [67]