World, in brief

The US State Department ordered non-emergency staff and their families to leave Saudi Arabia on Wednesday. [2][3]

It blamed attacks by the Houthis, an armed movement in Yemen backed by Iran, on Saudi airports and other key sites. [3]

That evening a strike hit King Fahd International Airport in Dammam, a city on Saudi Arabia's Gulf coast. [1]

Two people were killed and eight injured there, Saudi aviation officials said on Thursday. [1][5] The dead were a Saudi citizen and an Indian resident. The first count, overnight, said one. [1][14]

Earlier on Wednesday, debris from a drone shot down near Saudi Aramco's Shaybah oil field killed two workers, from the Philippines and Nepal. [8] Shaybah pumps about a million barrels of oil a day, and work there was not affected. [7]

Nobody claimed either attack. [5] The Houthis said they had not carried out any 'deep' attacks inside Saudi Arabia. [9]

State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott called reports of a wider Gulf pull-out 'inaccurate'. [2] Four US officials told Reuters that families would also leave other US missions in the region. [4]

The US embassy in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia's capital, was hit by drones in March and had been working with a small staff since. [16][5]

At least 21 people have been killed in attacks on Saudi airports since 1 October, Saudi officials say. [1]

Brent crude, the world's main oil price, rose above $110 a barrel after the airport attack. [6][7]

Egypt's president, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, said Egypt's offered troops would defend Saudi land, not attack Yemen. [10] France's Emmanuel Macron flew to Riyadh, the first Western leader to visit since the attacks grew. [11][12]

Inside Yemen, the Houthis fired a missile at a Saudi-led coalition camp in Aden, seat of Yemen's government, and hit a base at Mukalla's airport. [13]

Why it matters. Watch whether other US missions in the Gulf send families home, as four US officials told Reuters they would; that would show the danger is seen as spreading beyond Saudi Arabia. [4]

Russia's President Vladimir Putin met Steve Witkoff, Donald Trump's envoy, in St Petersburg on Wednesday, their ninth meeting in person. [21] Russia then said it was ready 'in principle' to restart three-way talks with Ukraine and the US, at a working level, from about 10 November. [21] Those talks stopped in February. [21] That night Russia fired 21 ballistic missiles at Kyiv, Ukraine's capital, in three waves, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky said. [17][18] Seven people were killed across Ukraine. [20] Ukraine sent about 630 drones towards the Moscow region. [23]

Why it matters. Putin's aide Yuri Ushakov said the ideas Witkoff brought held little that was useful. [22] Zelensky said the missiles showed Russia had not changed, and asked allies for more air defence. [17]

Iran's state television said seven oil tankers were hit or damaged near the Strait of Hormuz overnight into Thursday. [28] The strait is the narrow sea route out of the Gulf that much of the world's oil uses. [31] Iran's Revolutionary Guards navy said four tankers moving oil were hit and caught fire, and three struck sea mines. [28][29] If true, it is the most ships damaged there in one day since the war on Iran began on 28 February. [28] The Guards warned that US bases in the region could be next. [28]

Why it matters. The International Maritime Organization, the UN body for shipping, counted 116 attacks on ships and 24 deaths up to 20 October. [31] On one gas carrier stuck off Pakistan, the crew refused to sail through, and one sailor's refusal is enough to stop a ship. [30]

Yemen's government forces fought Houthi fighters on the western edge of Taiz on Wednesday, near the old airport and Jabal Han mountain. [34] Taiz is Yemen's third-largest city, with more than 900,000 people, and the Houthis have almost surrounded it. [33][34] The UN says almost 260,000 people in Yemen have fled their homes since August, about half of them to Taiz. [32] Oxfam, an aid charity, says no fuel has reached the city for two to three weeks. [33] A 20-litre can of petrol that cost about $20 now costs $80. [33]

Why it matters. The UN has confirmed 57 civilians killed in the fighting, half of them children. [32] Donor countries have paid only 23% of the UN's aid plan for Yemen this year. [33]

Israel holds a general election on 27 October. [37] Most polls show neither Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's camp nor the camp led by Gadi Eisenkot, a former army chief, with a clear path to a majority. [35] Eisenkot is level with Netanyahu in the polls. [36] Arab citizens, about a fifth of Israel's people, could decide who governs. [35] But Eisenkot has ruled out a government with Arab parties. [35] Israel's defence minister, Israel Katz, said any future attack on Israel would be 'licensed in the names' of opposition leaders who criticised his warnings. [38]

Why it matters. Critics worry that Netanyahu's and Katz's warnings of attacks before the vote are made to win votes. [38] Netanyahu's campaign billboards offer a choice of 'Right or Palestine', with opposition leaders shown on the Palestine side. [35]

Russia freed Stephen Hubbard, a 74-year-old former teacher from the US state of Michigan, during Witkoff's visit on Wednesday. [25][26] Russia had held him for more than four years on charges of fighting for Ukraine as a paid soldier, which he denied. [24][25] A closed court sentenced him to seven years in 2024. [25] Trump said he had asked Putin directly, and that the US gave nothing in return. [25] Witkoff then praised Putin as 'a humanitarian'. [24]

Why it matters. Unlike many past releases of Americans, this was not a prisoner swap. [24] Hubbard's sister said he was beaten and starved in prison. [24]

UN and Swiss officials met nearly two dozen countries in Geneva on Wednesday to plan a way to end Sudan's war. [47] The two sides fighting it, Sudan's army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a paramilitary force, were not there. [47] It was the sixth meeting of its kind. [47] Swiss diplomat Alexandre Fasel said the war has become 'a drone war' that mostly kills civilians. [47] The UN condemned a drone strike that killed dozens at a market in Al Dibab, in West Kordofan, on Sunday. [49]

Why it matters. The war began in April 2023 between two former allies who took power together in a 2021 coup. [48] Famine-like conditions persist in Darfur and Kordofan, Fasel said. [47]

Lyon, France's third-largest city, banned all demonstrations for Saturday 24 October. [52] Paris police barred protests near the presidential palace, parliament and tourist sites such as the Louvre. [53] France's interior minister had expected about 200,000 people at last Saturday's cost-of-living protests, but 550,000 to 800,000 came, and riots followed. [54] President Emmanuel Macron chaired an emergency security meeting on Thursday. [54] Union leaders left talks with Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu with no new measures, and called a strike for 5 November. [55]

Why it matters. Macron accused unnamed foreign leaders, taken to mean Trump and Netanyahu, of using the riots in their own election campaigns. [56] A second national day of protest is set for Saturday. [55]

Kim Yo-jong, sister of North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un, said propaganda loudspeakers would be ready along the whole border with South Korea within days. [44][45] It would be the first loudspeaker exchange across the border in 16 months. [44] South Korea's President Lee Jae Myung stopped the South's broadcasts in June 2025 to ease tensions. [44] South Korea's defence ministry said it would answer in proportion if the North goes ahead. [44]

Why it matters. Tensions have risen since a landmine wounded three South Korean soldiers in September. [44] A row over who has authority inside the border zone has also strained South Korea's alliance with the US. [46]

El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele said he launched a military operation in Haiti on Wednesday to free four Salvadoran air force technicians. [64][65] Gangs ambushed their armoured vehicle on Sunday in Croix-des-Bouquets, near Haiti's capital Port-au-Prince. [65] The men belong to the Gang Suppression Force, which the UN Security Council approved this month. [64] Bukele said the attack was 'nothing' compared with what would follow if the four were not returned alive. [64]

Why it matters. It is the first big attack on the new international force. [65] Bukele said the four were pilots and technicians who carry out medical evacuations, not fighters. [64]

Mexico's federal prosecutors charged Cesar Jauregui, until this year the top prosecutor of the border state of Chihuahua, with treason on Wednesday. [61][62][63] They say he let US agents join an April raid on a suspected drug lab without federal approval. [61] The raid came to light when two Americans, said to work for the CIA, died in a car crash with two Mexican officers. [61] Jauregui denies it, and a judge hears the case on Saturday. [61]

Why it matters. Treason is one of Mexico's gravest and least-used charges. [62] President Claudia Sheinbaum says foreign agents need federal permission to work in Mexico, while Trump presses her to crack down on drug gangs. [61]

The European Parliament gave its Sakharov Prize for human rights to the International Criminal Court (ICC) on Thursday. [50] The ICC, based in The Hague, tries people for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. [50] The Trump administration announced sanctions on the court on 9 October. [51] The ICC has issued an arrest warrant for Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu over the war in Gaza. [50] The prize is worth 50,000 euros and will be presented in December. [51][50]

Why it matters. The Parliament's Socialists and Democrats group nominated the court after the US sanctions. [51] Tundu Lissu, Tanzania's opposition leader, now on trial for treason, was one of the other finalists. [50][69]

Georgia's Constitutional Court began three days of hearings on Wednesday on a government lawsuit to ban the five main opposition parties. [78] The ruling Georgian Dream party, in power since 2012, says they threaten the constitutional order. [78] All five are pro-Western, and only one, For Georgia, has seats in parliament. [78] The court must rule by June 2027, and its decision cannot be appealed. [78]

Why it matters. Civil society groups say a ban would start one-party rule. [78] The EU says Georgia is now a candidate to join it 'in name only'. [78]

Tanzania charged John Pambalu, a senior official of the main opposition party Chadema, with treason on Wednesday. [69] Treason can carry the death penalty in Tanzania. [69] He is accused of urging people to obstruct the 2025 general election. [69] He is the second Chadema official charged, after party leader Tundu Lissu, whose trial is ending. [69] President Samia Suluhu Hassan won that election with 98% of the vote after Chadema was shut out. [69]

Why it matters. An inquiry set up by Hassan put the death toll from the election violence at 518. [69] Chadema's deputy leader John Heche said he expects a similar charge. [69]

The US embassy in Ottawa, Canada's capital, accused Canadian leaders on Wednesday of trying to influence the US midterm elections in November. [66] It named Industry Minister Melanie Joly, over talk of tariffs aimed at Republican states, and Ontario's premier Doug Ford, over a TV advert against tariffs. [67] Prime Minister Mark Carney and Ford rejected the claim. [68] The same day they announced a $6.2 billion plan to protect Canada's steel and car makers from US tariffs. [67]

Why it matters. Canada's car exports to the US have fallen more than 10%, and US car exports to Canada more than 20%. [67] Carney wants to double Canada's exports to other countries within ten years. [67]

Israel's military detained about 80 volunteers helping Palestinians pick olives near Nahalin, a village near Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank, on Wednesday. [41] They included Brad Lander, a Democratic candidate for the US Congress, several rabbis and Israel's former deputy attorney general. [41] Lander was released within hours. [42] The army said the harvest had not been approved and was near an Israeli community. [42] Separately, all but one of ten suspects in recent settler attacks on a US photographer and a French mayor were moved to house arrest. [43]

Why it matters. Settler violence in the West Bank is rising, but attackers are seldom prosecuted. [43] A lawyer for the suspects called their arrests 'for show'. [43]

Israeli forces shot dead a man with a disability during raids on homes in the village of Jamla, in Syria's southern Daraa province, Syria's state news agency said on Thursday. [39][40] It said snipers were placed on rooftops. [39] The Israeli military did not comment. [39] Israel has sent troops into southern Syria many times since Bashar al-Assad, Syria's long-time ruler, was removed in December 2024. [39] The UN counted 280 armed Israeli incursions there in September alone. [40]

Why it matters. Syria's foreign ministry says the raids damage any chance of stability. [40] Israeli officials have said they plan to keep troops in a zone inside Syria. [39]

Truck drivers angry about diesel prices are blocking roads in southern Italy, leaving some supermarket shelves empty and airports short of fuel. [60] Business Minister Adolfo Urso said blocking only lorries still counts as a roadblock and can mean prison. [60] Police have identified 1,339 people, reported 71 and issued 242 fines, Italy's government said. [60] Police now escort trucks, including 500 in the Campania region alone. [60] Lawmakers are discussing a flexible cap on fuel prices. [60]

Why it matters. The same fuel costs are hitting Italy's farmers and fishing businesses. [60]

A German youth group, Gen Z regelt, called protests in 21 cities for 31 October over broken schools, cuts and the cost of living. [57] In Athens, about 10,000 students, teachers and public workers marched for school funding and cheaper housing, police said. [58] Some carried banners in French. [58] In Senegal, unions started a 72-hour general strike on Wednesday over rising prices. [59]

Why it matters. German police unions said they would deal harshly with any riots. [57] In Senegal, a dialysis centre manager warned the strike could leave patients without treatment. [59]

Iraq closed the Al Sheeb crossing with Iran to people and goods on Wednesday, on orders from Prime Minister Ali Al Zaidi. [75] An official said security arrangements were being reviewed and anti-smuggling equipment installed. [75] Iran's state media said Iran got no warning, though a deal between the two requires notice for any closure longer than a day. [75] Trade between the two countries was over $10 billion last year. [75]

Why it matters. Markets in southern Iraq depend on Iranian fresh food and building materials, so prices there may rise. [75]

Pakistan, Turkey, Qatar and Indonesia signed a defence cooperation deal in Doha, Qatar's capital, on Wednesday. [74] It is called the Badr Memorandum of Understanding. [74] Turkey's defence ministry announced it, and Pakistan's foreign office had not yet commented. [74] It follows the Makkah defence agreement that Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkey signed in August, under which an attack on one is treated as an attack on all. [74]

Why it matters. Saudi Arabia, a member of the Makkah pact, was hit at Dammam's airport the same day. [1][74]

Prosecutors in New Taipei charged five Taiwanese men over a plot to injure Huang Yi-hao, a comedian who mocks China's leader Xi Jinping. [72][73] They say someone from mainland China called 'K' paid them about $13,900 to break his arms and legs before a show on 20 September. [73] A car swerved into Huang on his scooter last month, but he escaped serious injury. [73] Prosecutors say China's Communist Party is suspected of directing the attack. [72]

Why it matters. China claims Taiwan as its own, and Taiwan has accused it many times of reaching across to silence critics. [72] China's Taiwan Affairs Office did not respond. [72]

Eva Gretzmacher, 76, from Austria, and Claudia Abbt, 69, from Switzerland, were freed after more than a year in captivity. [70] Both were kidnapped in Agadez, a city in northern Niger, in January and April 2025. [70] They were handed over in Benghazi, in eastern Libya, and thanked the eastern commander Khalifa Haftar and his son Saddam. [70] Haftar reportedly oversaw the operation that freed them. [71] Nobody has said who held them or what was demanded. [70]

Why it matters. Groups linked to al-Qaeda and Islamic State have kidnapped and killed across Niger and its neighbours for years. [70] Libya is split between Haftar's east and a government in Tripoli. [70]

Pope Leo XIV, 71, needs no further treatment after surgery for lung cancer, his doctors said on Wednesday. [100][101] Surgeons removed the lower part of his right lung on 13 October at Rome's Gemelli Hospital. [100] Tests confirmed the cancer had not spread. [100] His surgeon said there was no medical reason to cancel his trip to Uruguay, Argentina and Peru, planned for 6 to 17 November. [101]

Why it matters. Pope Leo announced his illness himself, breaking with the Church's long habit of secrecy about popes' health. [101]

Greece rejected a vote by eastern Libya's parliament to approve a 2019 sea-border deal with Turkey. [76] The deal divides Mediterranean waters between Libya and Turkey. [76] The eastern parliament, allied to commander Khalifa Haftar, had opposed it until its unanimous vote on Tuesday. [76] Greece says the deal ignores the rights of its islands and is 'illegal, null and void'. [76] Egypt and Cyprus also oppose it. [76]

Why it matters. Rival claims over these waters, and the search for offshore oil and gas in them, have fed the dispute for years. [76]

Lana Nusseibeh, a minister of state in the United Arab Emirates, entered the race to be the next UN secretary general on Wednesday. [77] She was the UAE's ambassador to the UN from 2013. [77] She joins eight other candidates. [77] If chosen, she would be the first woman and the first Gulf Arab to lead the UN. [77] Straw polls point to Costa Rica's Rebeca Grynspan as the front-runner, but no one yet has enough Security Council support. [77]

Why it matters. Nusseibeh led the UAE's team during its recent two years on the Security Council, the body whose backing decides the race. [77]