World, in brief

The GFS Pride, a container ship flying Singapore's flag, sank in the Strait of Hormuz after it was hit by an unknown projectile on Tuesday. [1] All 21 of its crew were taken off safely. [1][2]

Hours later the Cape Dao, a bulk carrier hit by a projectile on 23 September, also sank near the strait. [3][2] One sailor was killed when it was first struck. [1]

They are the second and third ships to sink since the US and Israel went to war with Iran on 28 February. [2] The UN shipping agency counts 24 sailors killed in 106 attacks in that time. [1]

Iran's Revolutionary Guards said a ship hit a mine while using an 'unauthorised' route, the first time Iran has reported a sinking by mine in this war. [4][5][6] The UK's shipping monitor suggested both ships were hit by projectiles instead. [3]

Attacks are at their highest level of the war. [7] The UK monitor counted 15 attacks between 6 and 14 October, 11 of them in the last four days. [7]

Two Iranian officials told Reuters the new tactics were agreed at the top of Iran's government. [3] They said one goal is to sway the US midterm elections on 3 November, and one said the aim is to stop the US and its allies bringing oil prices down. [3][2]

Oil carried through the strait fell to 2.9 million barrels on 11 October, from 20.8 million on 8 October. [7] Before the war about 17.1 million barrels passed through each day. [7]

US fuel prices are almost 70% higher than before the war began. [3] A barrel of Brent, the main world oil price, cost about $105 on Thursday morning. [8]

To cut the cost of moving oil, the US government is weighing letting sanctioned 'shadow fleet' tankers, ships that have carried Russian, Iranian and Venezuelan oil around sanctions, carry oil legally. [8]

US forces destroyed an Iranian dhow, a wooden sailing boat, on 6 October. [6] A US official said Iranian spotters on such boats call in targets now that much of Iran's radar is destroyed. [3]

Donald Trump said the US will decide its next move on Iran 'very soon', and Iran has turned down the latest US ceasefire offer. [9] Iran's parliament speaker, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, said Iran must be ready for war even while it talks. [10]

Israel's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said a new attack on Iran before Israel's own election on 27 October would be 'not convenient'. [11]

China's oil refiners have bought at least 80 million barrels of Saudi crude since mid-September, to replace about a million barrels a day of Iranian oil the US blockade keeps out. [12]

Why it matters. Watch whether the US answers with new strikes on Iran before 3 November, and whether daily oil flows through the strait climb back toward the 17 million barrels of before the war. [9][7]

Russian missiles and drones killed at least nine people across Ukraine and hit power plants that heat and light Kyiv, the capital. [24] More than 600,000 people lost electricity. [25] For a second night, Ukraine said no warning of the ballistic missiles came from the US. [26] A senior Kyiv official said the US had threatened to stop sharing missile intelligence, and Donald Trump denied cutting it. [26] Russia then said Ukraine hit two of its oil refineries in breach of Trump's 'energy ceasefire', and Ukraine called that fake. [27]

Why it matters. Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelensky, said his systems saw the missiles only as they neared Kyiv. [25] Trump has demanded that Ukraine stop hitting Russian refineries, which he blames for high diesel prices. [26]

Britain's prime minister, Andy Burnham, met Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelensky, in Downing Street, with a military honour guard Number 10 said it had no record of giving before. [28] Burnham was expected to promise faster delivery of air defence missiles and more sanctions on Russia. [28] Asked in parliament about Trump's Russian diesel deal, he refused to criticise it. [28] He said his job is to 'repair bridges' so that US support comes back. [28][29]

Why it matters. Britain is trying to keep both Ukraine and the US on side while they fall out. [29] Zelensky goes on to Brussels on Thursday to meet Nato's chief at a European Union summit. [29][25]

Russia's deputy prime minister for energy, Alexander Novak, said contracts for the diesel deal are still being negotiated between the two energy ministries. [30] Trump had announced last week that Russia would supply 300,000 tonnes at once, then more. [30] Kremlin envoy Kirill Dmitriev said the deal opens the way to more business with the US. [31] Italy's prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, called it 'a very risky choice' that gives Russia legitimacy while its bombs still fall. [32]

Why it matters. The deal needed Trump to lift sanctions he had placed on Russia himself. [31] Meloni warned it weakens sanctions, the main tool meant to push Russia to negotiate. [32]

Leaders of the 27 European Union countries begin a two-day summit in Brussels on Thursday. [33] First on the list is energy: oil is above $100 a barrel and gas costs the most since winter 2022. [33] Italy and Greece want the EU's spending rules loosened so governments can help households. [33] The leaders also argue over the EU's next seven-year budget, about 2 trillion euros, and Ireland's plan to cut 141 billion euros from it. [34][33]

Why it matters. France's Emmanuel Macron and Germany's Friedrich Merz both face pressure at home, which makes a budget deal harder this week. [34] Germany and France have also proposed a way to cut China off from the EU market if its trade surplus keeps growing. [33]

The Yara J, a chemical and oil tanker, caught fire at anchor in Romania's waters, and its crew were taken off. [22] Romania's defence minister said it is not yet clear whether a drone hit it. [22] A day earlier drones hit two ships off Bulgaria and one sank. [22] Bulgaria's prime minister, Rumen Radev, said there was no clear proof of who did it, but that 'the outcome benefits' Russia. [22]

Why it matters. India, which supplies more than 12% of the world's sailors, asked both Russia and Ukraine to stop attacking merchant ships. [35] The Black Sea carries grain and fuel from Ukraine and Russia to the rest of the world. [35]

The state parliament of Saxony-Anhalt, in eastern Germany, voted to call for an end to all German aid to Ukraine. [36] The motion passed with votes from the AfD, a far-right party, and the BSW, a party that mixes left-wing economics with a hard line on migrants. [36] The AfD won just under 44% in the state's September election but needs a partner to govern. [36] States have no power over foreign policy, so the vote changes nothing directly. [36]

Why it matters. The BSW is the only party willing to talk to the AfD about governing the state, so observers read the joint vote as a sign of a lasting partnership. [36] The AfD now leads national polls. [37]

Russian state companies spent more than three times as much on landline phones from January to August as a year earlier. [38] Mobile internet shutdowns now reach nearly 80% of the country. [38] Russia's government says it cuts the signal to stop Ukrainian drones that steer by it. [38] Experts dispute that, because drones can fly preset routes, and the cuts reach regions far from the front. [38]

Why it matters. The outages hit banking, taxis, food delivery and maps, most of all in the countryside. [38] One independent monitor counted 2,099 outages in July 2025 alone, more than the whole world had in the year before. [38]

Police raided Halk TV, one of Turkey's most watched news channels and close to the opposition, and cut its live broadcasts. [18] The state put a trustee, its own manager, in charge of the channel and its owner's other companies. [39] Prosecutors accuse the owner, Cafer Mahiroglu, of bribery, rigging contracts and money laundering, and 11 people were detained. [39][40] Mahiroglu, who lives abroad, called the charges baseless. [39]

Why it matters. The raid came hours before Ekrem Imamoglu, the jailed Istanbul mayor seen as President Erdogan's main rival, was due to start his defence in court. [18] Reporters Without Borders, a press-freedom group, says 90% of Turkey's national media is already under government control. [18]

Torrential rain flooded more than 800 homes in Istanbul, Turkey's biggest city, and roads caved in. [41] A 14-year-old boy was killed by an electric shock after stepping into a puddle in the Balat area. [41] Officials recorded 1,277 floods and 15 landslides, and water poured through the ceiling of a metro station. [41] The governor closed schools for Thursday and told people in basement flats to sleep upstairs. [41]

Why it matters. About 16 million people live in Istanbul, and 8,000 workers were sent out with 2,000 vehicles. [41] Turkey's interior ministry warned of sudden floods in other provinces too. [41]

Thousands of students protested in Tirana, Albania's capital, for a second violent day. [42] Part of Albania's education ministry was set on fire, and the prime minister's office and the finance and interior ministries were attacked. [42] Clashes with police lasted more than 10 hours, and there was looting. [43] Students want better universities and jobs, and many now demand that Prime Minister Edi Rama resign. [42][44]

Why it matters. The protests join months of rallies against Rama over a luxury resort linked to Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law. [42] President Bajram Begaj asked students to talk to him and warned police not to use more force than the law allows. [43]

More than 300,000 nurses, doctors, teachers and civil servants went on a 24-hour strike across the Republic of Ireland. [45] Schools were expected to close and thousands of hospital appointments to be cancelled. [45] Workers say their pay no longer stretches as far as it did, and almost 97% of members of Forsa, the biggest public service union, voted for action. [45] Another strike is planned for 21 October. [45]

Why it matters. One teacher said she had to move to Dubai for two years to save a deposit for a house. [45] The minister for public spending, Jack Chambers, called the strike 'deeply disappointing'. [45]

Brazil's Senate changed the constitution, with only one senator voting against, cutting the longest legal working week from 44 hours to 40. [16] It also bans six-day working weeks, which about 16 million people work now. [16] The change reaches more than 30 million workers, mostly in shops, restaurants and hotels. [16] Sixty days after it is signed, six-day weeks end and the limit drops to 42 hours; it reaches 40 hours 14 months later. [16]

Why it matters. The vote came 11 days before the 25 October runoff between President Lula and Flavio Bolsonaro, who opposed the change for months and then voted for it. [16] Polls showed more than 70% of Brazilians backed it. [16]

The party of Brazil's president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, said it will complain to the Organisation of American States that Meta is interfering in the election. [46] Meta owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp. [46] The campaign says Instagram stopped Lula's posts being promoted and hid leftist leaders from search before the first round. [46] Meta's Brazil office called the claims 'simply false'. [46]

Why it matters. Lula faces Flavio Bolsonaro, son of Trump's ally Jair Bolsonaro, on 25 October, after Bolsonaro came first in round one. [46] Lula has also accused the US of trying to tip the vote. [46]

Thousands marched in Bogota, Colombia's capital, and other cities against spending cuts by President Abelardo de la Espriella. [47] He is a far-right businessman who took office in August after a narrow win in June. [47] The marches, led by former left-wing president Gustavo Petro, defend Petro's reforms on universities, wages and workers' rights. [47] Before the protest Colombia's government gave police wider powers against blockades. [47]

Why it matters. Colombia's Congress must pass the 2027 budget by Tuesday, and de la Espriella's allies want it smaller. [47] He also promised to build 10 large prisons and to expel millions of migrants. [48][47]

Algeria condemned a decision by Colombia's government to open an embassy in Jerusalem. [49] Most countries keep their embassies in Tel Aviv, because Jerusalem's status is disputed and Palestinians want its east as their capital. Algeria called the move illegal and said it would damage the two-state solution, a separate Palestinian state beside Israel. [49]

Why it matters. It is a sharp turn: Colombia's previous president, Gustavo Petro, cut diplomatic ties with Israel in 2024. Algeria asked the UN Security Council to act. [49]

Costa Rica opened a high-security prison for 5,100 people, about a fifth of everyone it now holds. [48] The country, long calmer than its neighbours, had a record 905 murders in 2023, and 873 in 2025, as drug gangs fought over routes. [48] President Laura Fernandez said Costa Rica will become 'a global benchmark for prison security'. [48] The first prisoners move in at the end of October. [48]

Why it matters. Leaders in Peru, Colombia and Brazil's Flavio Bolsonaro all promise copies of El Salvador's giant prison. [48] Rights groups say El Salvador's crackdown cut murders but jailed many people without charge. [48]

A Mexican judge closed the criminal case against Francisco Garduno, the former head of the immigration agency. [50] He was on trial over a 2023 fire at a migrant detention centre in Ciudad Juarez that killed 40 people. [50] Video from the fire showed guards failing to answer cries for help. [50] The judge said Garduno had met the court's conditions for repair, and victims' groups will appeal. [50]

Why it matters. It was the deadliest event ever at a Mexican immigration centre. [50] Victims' groups compare the ruling to a pardon. [50]

Mexico's president, Claudia Sheinbaum, signed an order telling platforms such as TikTok, Meta and X to protect children from violent and sexual content online. [51] They must limit what minors see by design and remove harmful material from children's profiles. [51] The companies have one month to comply, and Sheinbaum said a law with penalties will follow if they do not. [51]

Why it matters. The order follows an attack by two 18-year-olds on their old school in Coahuila state that killed one person. [51] Officials have already met Meta, Google, Apple, TikTok and others about it. [51]

The families of Chad Joseph and Rishi Samaroo, two men from Trinidad and Tobago, marked a year since a US missile hit their boat. [52] They say the men were fishermen and farm workers coming home from Venezuela, not drug smugglers. [52] Since September 2025 US strikes on small boats in the Caribbean and Pacific have killed at least 239 people. [52] The families are suing in a US federal court in Boston. [52]

Why it matters. The US government has offered little evidence that the people killed were smugglers and has not named them. [52] Relatives in Colombia and Ecuador make the same claim about their dead. [52]

The Trump administration is investigating Ilhan Omar, a Democratic member of the US Congress, with the aim of removing her US citizenship, the Wall Street Journal reported. [53] Omar came to the US as a refugee from Somalia in 1995 and became a citizen in 2000. [53] Agents searched her home this week and took her phone, and relatives were called before a grand jury. [54] Her office calls the inquiry baseless. [53]

Why it matters. It comes three weeks before the 3 November midterms, in which Omar seeks a fifth term. [53] Democrats say the Trump administration is using the law against a political opponent. [54]

Donald Trump told a rally in Arizona that people who leak government secrets to reporters 'should be shot'. [55] He was talking about leaks after the US bombed Iran's nuclear sites in June 2025, including a report that the damage was smaller than he said. [55] His government has given staff lie-detector tests and sent subpoenas to journalists at several papers to find their sources. [55]

Why it matters. The words come from a president urging people to vote in the 3 November midterms. [55] The same week a judge ordered Trump's officials to keep letting in three outlets Trump had banned. [56]

A US federal judge, Timothy Kelly, ordered the US president's office to keep giving reporters from CNN, MS Now and Politico access while their lawsuit goes on. [56] Trump banned the three on 18 September, calling their reporting 'fake news'. [56] The judge said they are likely to win on the First Amendment, the part of the US constitution that protects a free press. [56]

Why it matters. The ruling keeps the outlets in the briefing room until the case is decided. [56] An earlier court order had restored their passes until Tuesday. [56]

ICE, the US agency at the centre of Trump's mass deportations, rejected a call for its agents' body cameras to start recording on their own. [57] The US Government Accountability Office, which checks spending for the US Congress, had said cameras should switch on when an agent draws a gun. [57] ICE cited privacy. [57] A CBS News count finds at least 30 shootings by immigration agents, with nine people killed. [57]

Why it matters. In the killing of Renee Good in Minneapolis in January, critics say video contradicted the official account. [57] Without automatic cameras, what is recorded depends on the agent pressing a button. [57]

Ronen Bar, the former head of Shin Bet, Israel's internal security service, sued Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for defamation for about $975,000. [58] Netanyahu has said Bar knew of the Hamas threat in the hours before 7 October 2023 and did not tell him. [58] Bar's suit lists warnings he says he gave, including a 'strategic warning for war' on 23 July 2023. [58] Bar says the Shin Bet updated Netanyahu's office at 3:55am that day. [58]

Why it matters. The suit lands two weeks before Israel's 27 October election, as Netanyahu's bloc falls to 51 seats in one poll, short of the 61 needed to govern. [59] Bar says he accepts his own share of the blame. [58]

Israel is not letting contractors build a base in Gaza for 150 international troops, the first step of the force planned under Trump's 'Board of Peace', the Guardian reported. [17] The board is a body chaired by Trump that is meant to rebuild Gaza. [17] Its first building contract went to a US firm in August, but trucks are not being let in. [17][60] The Palestinian committee meant to run Gaza signed an aid deal with Germany this week, but it also cannot enter. [61]

Why it matters. Without that force, a source said, nothing else in the plan can start, from rebuilding to power lines. [17] The board expects Israel to allow it after its 27 October election. [17]

Leaders of eight Palestinian factions, including Hamas, Islamic Jihad and a reformist wing of Fatah, gathered in Egypt to try again to end their split. [62] Egypt has tried for years without success. [62] The talks come after President Mahmoud Abbas put off next month's parliamentary vote to September next year. [62] They will discuss bringing Hamas into the PLO, the body that speaks for Palestinians abroad. [62]

Why it matters. A year after the Gaza ceasefire, Israel's army holds more than 60% of Gaza. [62] Faction sources said Abbas delayed the vote mainly to settle the divisions first. [62]

Britain's new sanctions rules come into force on Thursday. [63] They let Britain's government freeze the money of people and companies that help build illegal Israeli settlements, block aid or hold prisoners unlawfully, including banks that finance them. [63] Israel closed Britain's consulate in Jerusalem last week in protest. [63] Parliament must back the rules within 28 days. [63]

Why it matters. The UK is moving fast because Israel plans E1, a settlement of 1,234 homes that critics say would cut the West Bank in two. [63] Bids for it close on 19 October. [63]