World, in brief

Three Houthi ballistic missiles hit the al-Alam camp, near the city of Ataq in Yemen's Shabwa province, on Monday. [1][2]

The camp trained new recruits for the police and the internal security forces. They were lined up in formation when the missiles struck. [3][2]

Shabwa's local government says at least 53 people were killed and more than 200 hurt. [1][4]

The Guardian says it is the largest number killed in one attack since Yemen's civil war flared up again in September. [3]

The first counts were much lower. Officials said 18 dead, then 20, then 30, before the local government gave 50 and then 53. [5][6][2]

Shabwa's hospitals could not cope, so the worst hurt were sent to Hadramout and to Aden, the city where Yemen's government is based. [1]

The recruits had joined a new local force called Rapid Intervention. The camp sits on a road to Marib, a province Yemen's government holds. [6]

The Houthis are a rebel movement backed by Iran that took Yemen's capital, Sanaa, in 2014. [5] They said they hit 'Saudi enemy concentrations' at a camp run by Saudi officers. [4]

Rashad al-Alimi, who heads Yemen's ruling Presidential Leadership Council, promised a firm response. He asked the UN's secretary-general, Antonio Guterres, to list the Houthis as a terrorist group. [3]

The Houthis also claimed six attacks on Saudi Arabia in 48 hours, at Riyadh's airport and at oil sites in Yanbu and Shaybah. [7]

Government offices in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia's capital, told staff to work from home from Monday. Phones in the city got alerts about a 'hostile aerial threat'. [7]

Yemen's war had mostly paused under a 2022 truce. It started again after the US-Israeli war on Iran began this year. [5][6]

Why it matters. Watch whether Egypt's parliament votes on 26 October to let its army help defend Saudi Arabia, and what 'firm response' Yemen's government makes after Shabwa. [9][3]

Russia fired 16 ballistic missiles at Ukraine's energy sites overnight into Monday, and 10 of them hit, Zelensky said. [11] Power went off in about 550,000 homes, and at least one person was killed. [11] Ukraine's air force counted 269 attack drones as well, and said it stopped 243 of them. [11] Zelensky said there was again no early warning from Ukraine's partners. [11] Zelensky says only the US has the intelligence to warn Ukraine when Russia fires ballistic missiles. [23]

Why it matters. The National called it one of Russia's broadest air attacks in months. [24] Without a warning, people in Kyiv and other cities have no time to reach a shelter before a missile lands.

Zelensky told US senators on Monday that the US defence department is delaying Patriot missiles, the interceptors that can stop ballistic missiles. [12] He said European allies have already paid for them, and one shipment only needs the signature of the US defence secretary, Pete Hegseth. [25] An adviser, Serhii Beskrestnov, told the BBC that Ukrainians have died because US warnings of Russian missiles still come late or not at all. [23] US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said there had been 'no pause' in sharing. [26]

Why it matters. Ukraine depends on the US for both the missiles that stop ballistic attacks and the warnings that let people take cover. [12] The row comes as Trump has eased sanctions on Russia and attacked Zelensky in public. [12]

A drone hit a transport hub in al-Dibab, a town in Sudan's West Kordofan state, on Sunday evening, killing 80 people. [10] They had gathered there after market day to find rides home. [27] A witness said the drone struck twice, 10 minutes apart. [10] The Rapid Support Forces, the paramilitary group that controls West Kordofan, blamed Sudan's army. [27][10] On Monday a drone attack in Khartoum, the capital, killed three children aged two, four and six. [28]

Why it matters. Sudan's war between the army and the Rapid Support Forces began in April 2023. [10] More than 160 people were reported killed by drones in western Sudan in four days. [27]

The World Food Programme, the UN's food agency, will stop giving monthly food to half a million people in Gaza because it has run short of money. [13] It will still reach 1.1 million, about half of Gaza's people. [13] Families still on the list get one food parcel instead of two. Cash payments fall from 1,250 to 750 shekels a month, about $400 to $240. [13] Its funding has fallen by more than half since 2025. [29] Community kitchens will hand out 150,000 hot meals a day instead of 250,000. [30]

Why it matters. Nearly all of Gaza's 2.1 million people are still displaced, and two in three rely on food aid. [30] The agency's acting head, Carl Skau, said the cut is 'only because we have less funding', not because needs fell. [31]

Egypt's parliament put off until 26 October a vote on letting its army help defend Saudi Arabia against the Houthis. [9] Egypt's constitution needs two-thirds of its 596 members, 398 votes, to send troops into combat abroad. [32] An opposition party told its members to abstain, saying parliament had not been told the mission's aims, length, cost or risks. [9] No troops would go automatically, and Saudi Arabia has not formally asked. [32]

Why it matters. Saudi Arabia holds $10.3 billion in deposits at Egypt's central bank, $5.3 billion of it due this month. [32] Egypt's economy also leans on money sent home by Egyptians working in Saudi Arabia. [9]

Pakistan's army spokesman, Lt Gen Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, said Pakistan is giving Saudi Arabia 'whatever support is needed' against Houthi attacks, without saying what. [33] Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkey signed a pact in August that treats an attack on one as an attack on all. [33] He said the alliance is 'purely defensive'. [34] On Monday Pakistan's army chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, met Saudi Arabia's new ambassador and praised the pact's progress. [35]

Why it matters. He said no alliance makes public the details of its support, so outsiders cannot tell what Pakistan has sent. [34] Pakistan says it is also talking to Iran, which backs the Houthis, to calm things down. [33]

France's government told mayors on Monday they may order curfews where they need them, after a weekend of riots and looting. [36] Paris police banned anyone from two areas from 11pm to 6am, Place de la Republique and the Les Halles shopping district. [14] Four northern cities, including Lille, got curfews from 8pm. [14] More than 2,500 people were arrested and about 1,000 police were hurt over the weekend. [37] The interior minister, Laurent Nunez, admitted that police 'lost control' in some cities. [37]

Why it matters. The protests began last month with students asking for better schools, then grew into anger over prices. [36] Unions have called a new day of strikes and rallies on 5 November. [14]

France's digital minister, Anne Le Henanff, told online marketplaces such as Vinted and eBay to take down listings of goods stolen in the weekend's looting. [38] Ministers called in Vinted, Amazon, eBay, Meta, TikTok and Leboncoin for a meeting on Monday evening. [38] Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu said a new law will make those who damaged property pay for it. [36] Nearly 200 Paris police investigators are studying video to find looters, many of whom did not cover their faces. [39]

Why it matters. Vinted said it had already removed suspect listings and stepped up its checks. [38] Strangers raised more than 88,000 euros in a day for Hassan, a Paris phone-shop owner whose three-month-old shop was looted. [40]

Italy's deputy prime minister, Matteo Salvini, said 500 soldiers will go to 'defend Milan' after two days of unrest. [15] Several hundred hooded protesters, many thought to be under 18, set bins on fire and looted shops after a peaceful march about public services and prices. [15] Police said 23 of the 32 people arrested on Sunday were minors. [41] Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's government is expected to approve new security rules as early as Tuesday, including holding minors before trial, Corriere della Sera reports. [41]

Why it matters. Milan's mayor, Giuseppe Sala, said the trouble seemed to come from an 'international scenario' that 'feeds itself'. [41] India's embassy in Rome told Indian citizens in Italy to avoid crowds. [42]

A court in Mombasa, Kenya, found preacher Paul Mackenzie guilty of murdering 191 people, all but one of them children. [43] He told his followers to starve their children to death so they could 'meet Jesus'. [43] Twenty-eight other cult leaders were also convicted. [43] More than 400 bodies were found in Shakahola forest in 2023, and only 26 could be identified. [44] Mackenzie will be sentenced on 6 November. [43]

Why it matters. Stephen Mwiti, who lost all six of his children in the forest, said he was glad everyone was convicted. [43] Investigations into the other deaths are still going on. [44]

Helen Haines, an independent member of Australia's parliament, lost a leg after a car hit her outside her office in Wangaratta, in Victoria, on Monday. [45] Witnesses say the driver did a U-turn, rammed her against a car, reversed and hit her again. [45] A 43-year-old local man, Brendan Nugent, was arrested at the scene. [45] A counter-terrorism team is investigating, and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said it 'wasn't an accident'. [46]

Why it matters. Australia recorded 1,067 threats or harassment cases against people in high office last year, up from 951. [45] A barber from next door, Ricky Jefferies, pulled the driver out and held him until police came. [45]

Benny Gantz, a former Israeli army chief and defence minister, pulled his Blue and White party out of the 27 October election. [20] Polls had shown it below 3.25%, the share a party needs to win any seat. [20] A Channel 12 poll found 6.5% of voters backing parties below that line, whose votes would elect nobody. [47] Two polls on Monday gave Gadi Eisenkot's camp 51 and 55 seats, short of the 61 needed for a majority of the 120. [48][47]

Why it matters. Members of Netanyahu's coalition called on other small parties below the line to quit too. [49] Eisenkot's camp falls short because some of its parties refuse to work with Arab parties. [48]

Israel's army chief, Lt Gen Eyal Zamir, put the military on its 'highest state of alert' and cancelled soldiers' leave from Thursday. [50] He said the army's job is to let the 27 October election happen 'on schedule and safely'. [50] More troops were sent to the occupied West Bank. [51] Netanyahu warned Israel's enemies not to test the country. [50]

Why it matters. It is Israel's first national election since Hamas attacked Israel on 7 October 2023. [52] A leave freeze keeps soldiers on their bases instead of at home during the vote. [51]

Israeli police said they detained 10 people in a rare dawn raid on Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank. [53] It followed a weekend attack on Heidi Levine, a Washington Post photographer, whose vertebrae were broken. [54] Settlers also attacked a convoy of European diplomats near Taybeh, a Christian village. [53][54] The raid was carried out with the Shin Bet, Israel's domestic security service. [55] Netanyahu called it an 'alleged attack' and spoke of 'unproven allegations', despite video and Levine's visible injuries. [53]

Why it matters. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the US ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, both condemned the attacks. [53] Arrests of settlers for violence against Palestinians and visitors are rare. [53]

US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth met Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during an unannounced visit to Israel on Monday, Axios reported. [52] Nobody said what they discussed. [52] A day earlier Trump gave Netanyahu his 'Complete and Total Endorsement' for the election. [52] US Vice-President JD Vance declined to endorse him, saying he backs American candidates. [52] Opposition leader Yair Lapid said Netanyahu had begged Trump for a post when he should have pressed him on Iran. [56]

Why it matters. Avigdor Lieberman, who leads the Yisrael Beiteinu party, said Trump wants a 'Bibi puppet'. [56] Polls show Netanyahu's coalition losing its majority. [52]

US embassies across the Middle East sent the same security alert to American citizens in 12 countries, from Israel and Saudi Arabia to Iran and Yemen. [57] It warned of flight cancellations and closed airspace because of the Houthis and Iran. [57] It said fighting could 'escalate rapidly' beyond the immediate area. [58] It also said Iran and its allies may target US businesses and other US-linked places anywhere in the world. [58]

Why it matters. In Qatar the embassy told Americans to avoid demonstrations and large gatherings. [57] It came as the Houthis claimed new attacks on Saudi airports and oil sites. [7]

Sergei Lavrov, Russia's foreign minister, said in Tehran on Monday that Iran's cause, 'like Russia's, is a just cause'. [59] He blamed the US and Israel for the war. [59] Iran's foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, said Iran sees 'no military solution'. [60] The day before, Lavrov met Gulf states in Bahrain, which asked him to press Iran to stop its attacks. [60] The Gulf states count more than 7,000 Iranian missile and drone attacks since February. [60]

Why it matters. On Sunday Trump wrote that Russia is doing 'very little, if anything' to help Iran, and that he wants to keep it that way. [59] Lavrov's visit puts Russia on Iran's side in public.

Trump said he would meet Vladimir Putin, Russia's president, and Xi Jinping, China's leader, together if the subject was nuclear weapons. [61] He said it would be 'not so much for Ukraine', and that Russia 'has been fine on Ukraine'. [61] Russia's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said the idea came up for next month's APEC summit in China, but nothing was agreed. [62] Ukraine's foreign minister, Andrii Sybiha, said such a summit would encourage Putin to keep fighting. [62]

Why it matters. Ukraine would not be in the room for a three-way summit of the US, Russia and China. [62] Peskov said a final settlement is impossible without someone from Ukraine taking part. [62]

Lebanon will reject a US proposal for its army to work directly with Israel's, officials said before talks in Tampa, Florida, on Tuesday. [63] The talks aim to get Israeli troops out of southern Lebanon. [63] Israel says Hezbollah, the armed group backed by Iran, must disarm first. [63] A Lebanese official said the US must stay 'in the middle'. [63] Netanyahu said he does not trust Lebanon's government to disarm Hezbollah. [63]

Why it matters. Lebanese officials expect little progress before Israel's election. [63] The UN force that has kept watch in south Lebanon for nearly five decades ends its mission at the end of this year. [64]

Qatar will soon announce a new defence partnership against missiles, drones and cyberattacks, its deputy prime minister, Sheikh Saoud bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, said on Monday. [65] Qatar also plans its own defence factories, with partners including the US, Britain and France. [65] He said Gulf states stopped more than 90% of Iran's attacks. [65] He also called for talks between Iran and the Gulf states once the US and Iran settle. [65]

Why it matters. Qatar and Iran share a huge gas field under the sea, so both lose if fighting hits it. [65] He warned that the world has not yet reached the 'peak' of the energy crisis. [65]

A Boeing 737 that carries senior officials of the United Arab Emirates landed in Tehran on Monday, the second such flight in a few days, flight trackers say. [66] The plane belongs to Royal Jet, a charter firm owned by the UAE government. [66] The UAE took part in strikes on Iran after the US and Israel attacked it in February. [66]

Why it matters. The flights come amid fears that the US will start bombing Iran again and Iran will hit the Gulf states in return. [66] Qatar's deputy prime minister said his country also never stopped talking to Iran. [65]

Germany summoned Iran's ambassador on Monday after a Hamburg court convicted two men of plotting to kill two Jewish community leaders on Iran's orders. [67] The targets were Josef Schuster, head of Germany's main Jewish organisation, and Volker Beck, head of the German-Israeli Society. [67] Iran then summoned Germany's ambassador. It called the case 'baseless political allegations'. [67] The two men convicted are a Danish citizen and an Afghan citizen. [67]

Why it matters. Germany's foreign ministry said Iran would not be allowed to 'threaten our free society'. [67] Iran said the case 'undermines the standing of the German judiciary itself'. [67]

Yonatan Urich, an adviser to Netanyahu, told police he kept working on a campaign to improve Qatar's image after the Hamas attack of 7 October 2023, Channel 12 reported. [68] He said he was paid hundreds of thousands of shekels and saw 'no moral problem'. [68] Netanyahu had firmly denied that Urich ever worked for Qatar. [68] Urich said he never told Netanyahu about the work. [68]

Why it matters. The case is called 'Qatargate' in Israel, and it comes a week before the vote. [68] Urich's account backs a May 2025 Haaretz report that the work went on after the war began. [68]

Egyptian building firms surveyed parts of eastern Rafah, in southern Gaza, for a housing project called 'Green Rafah', an Egyptian military source told Middle East Eye. [69] Israeli forces went with the engineers the whole time. [69] The source said the first homes would house about 20,000 Palestinians, overseen by an international force. [69] Israeli forces have destroyed at least 80% of Rafah's buildings. [69]

Why it matters. About 250,000 Palestinians used to live in Rafah, and nearly all are now homeless. [69] The account rests on one unnamed Egyptian military source. [69]

Two AI-made photos claiming to show an elderly couple 'stripped and robbed' in France's riots got millions of views, mostly through far-right accounts. [17] Some posts used them to blame Muslims for the riots. [17] France 24's fact-checkers found both were made with OpenAI tools, using a hidden watermark called SynthID. [17] They traced one to a pro-Israel account that had flagged it as AI. [17] No official report confirms the attack ever happened. [17]

Why it matters. An Israeli TV channel, C14, also ran one of the images under the headline 'Islam Conquers Europe'. [17] The photos had millions of views before fact-checkers traced them. [17]