World, in brief

A magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck northern Tibet, a high region China has ruled since the 1950s, at 10:33pm local time on Thursday. [1][2]

At least 16 people died and 65 were hurt, 11 of them badly, Chinese state media said. [2][3]

At least 339 homes and 20 sheds for animals collapsed, and more than 12,400 people were moved to safer places. [1][2]

The centre was in Baqen county, about 190 km east-northeast of the city of Nagqu, in a thinly peopled area about 4,800 metres above sea level. [4][5][2]

At Maru township, right at the centre, the deputy head said the quake cracked the walls of his office. [6]

Many people spent the night outside in tents and cars, below freezing, afraid that aftershocks would bring their homes down. [2][3]

Rockfalls closed part of National Highway 317 to all but rescue vehicles, and trains through the area were stopped. [1][7]

Xi Jinping, China's leader, ordered 'all-out' rescue efforts, and more than 1,600 local people were sent to help. [8][1]

By early Friday, 1,000 ready-made houses, more than 3,200 tents and over 2,800 folding beds had reached the area. [9]

Snow is forecast for the next three days, and power and phone lines are down in parts of the area. [7][8]

It is the strongest quake in the region for five years, CCTV, China's state broadcaster, said. [7]

Foreign journalists can hardly get into Tibet, so Chinese officials are the only source of figures. [3]

Smaller quakes in China have killed far more: a 6.2 in Gansu in 2023 killed more than 120 people, and a 7.1 in Qinghai in 2010 killed at least 2,698. [2][8]

Why it matters. The toll is from the first night; the next updated count from Nagqu's officials will show whether rescuers reached the high villages cut off by rockfalls before three days of forecast snow. [1][7]

Yemen's Houthis, a rebel group backed by Iran that holds Yemen's capital, said on Thursday they fired at Saudi Arabia's defence ministry in Riyadh and at Aramco sites in Yanbu. [10][22] Aramco, Saudi Arabia's state oil company, then told staff to leave its headquarters in Dhahran and work from home, people who know the matter said. [10] It is the company's first such move since the Iran war began. [10] The Saudi-led coalition said it shot down four drones over Riyadh and Madinah. [10]

Why it matters. A Houthi spokesman said Saudi strikes have killed or wounded 562 people in Yemen since mid-July. [10] The Houthis say the attacks will go on until Saudi Arabia lifts its blockade of the areas they hold. [22]

Turkey's foreign minister, Hakan Fidan, hosts the foreign ministers of Pakistan, Egypt and Saudi Arabia in Istanbul on Friday. [23][24] The four countries call themselves the R4, a group formed in March that has worked to carry messages between the US and Iran. [24] Britain, France and Germany, known as the E3, then join them, the first meeting of all seven. [25][24] The talks cover the Strait of Hormuz, Yemen, Gaza and the war in Ukraine, a Turkish official told AFP. [25]

Why it matters. Egypt's parliament votes on 26 October on whether its army may help defend Saudi Arabia against the Houthis. [26] Turkey is also expected to restate its support for Saudi Arabia's security under the Makkah defence pact signed by Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Turkey. [27]

India's embassy in Yemen said on Friday it is trying to learn what happened to a yacht that apparently had Indian sailors on board. [28] Yahya Saree, the Houthis' military spokesman, said Saudi forces hit the yacht near Zuqar Island in the Red Sea with 14 Indians aboard, and Houthi forces were rescuing them. [22] India's government also said about 3,000 stranded pilgrims came home from Saudi Arabia last week, after Houthi attacks disrupted flights. [11] They were on Umrah, a pilgrimage to Islam's holiest sites made outside the main Hajj month. [11]

Why it matters. An Indian man was killed in the Houthi attack on Dammam airport on Wednesday. [22] India's embassy says exact facts about the yacht are not yet available because of the fighting. [28]

A BBC investigation found at least 43 separate attacks on hospitals and health sites in el-Fasher between May 2024 and October 2025. [15] El-Fasher is a city in Sudan's Darfur region that the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a paramilitary group fighting Sudan's army since April 2023, besieged and took a year ago. [15] In the war, 55 medical workers in the city were killed, 120 hurt and 10 taken or missing, the BBC's data show. [15] The UN's human rights chief, Volker Turk, said the attacks may be war crimes. [15]

Why it matters. The RSF called the findings propaganda. [15] After the city fell, RSF fighters searched crowds of captives for doctors, The Economist reports. [29]

Russia's President Vladimir Putin said on Russian television on Thursday that Russia is ready to resume US-led talks with Ukraine next month. [30] He spoke a day after meeting Steve Witkoff, Donald Trump's envoy. [30] Putin said the talks must aim at a final peace with security for both countries, not a short ceasefire. [30] He said he also agreed with Witkoff that the talks should cover security across all of Europe. [30]

Why it matters. Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukraine is ready for talks, likely by early next month. [30] Putin repeated that he sees eastern Ukraine as historically Russian land, and Ukraine refuses to give up land it holds. [30]

US Central Command, the US military's headquarters for the Middle East, said on Thursday its naval blockade has stopped all Iran's sea trade for 100 days, apart from aid it allowed. [31] It says the blockade has kept at least $25 billion of Iranian crude oil from being sold. [31] Iran's Revolutionary Guards threatened to strike US bases across the region if US warships keep escorting ships through the Strait of Hormuz. [10] Gulf states are bracing for the war to restart. [32]

Why it matters. The UN's shipping agency counted 120 attacks on ships, which killed 22 sailors, by 22 October. [33] Many ship owners still will not send crews through the strait. [33]

A drone strike hit Sana Elementary School in Ethiopia's Amhara region on Tuesday morning, killing at least six children and injuring more than 20. [16] Local people gave the first count to Addis Standard, an Ethiopian news site. [16] Other accounts put the dead at seven to ten pupils, and the toll could not be checked. [16] A teacher said more than 150 pupils were in class and no fighters were nearby. [16] The same day a drone strike in Tigray killed four people loading animals onto a truck. [16]

Why it matters. Federal forces are fighting armed groups in both regions again, and drones are hitting more homes and villages. [16] Many of the pupils had only just come back to school after two or three years away. [16]

Gunmen opened fire at a junction near Hebron, a Palestinian city in the occupied West Bank, wounding at least five Israelis, two of them critically, medics said. [34] A witness said the shooting went on for more than 20 minutes. [34] Israel's army said it killed two Palestinians suspected of the attack and sealed off Hebron and nearby villages. [34] On Thursday, Israeli raids had arrested 36 Palestinians across the West Bank, 23 of them in the Hebron area, Palestinian groups said. [35]

Why it matters. Israel's army stopped soldiers' leave from Thursday to prepare for the coming general election. [34] A Palestinian monitoring body recorded 17 attacks by soldiers and settlers on olive farmers on Thursday alone. [35]

Farmers in Sheairia, in East Darfur, harvested almost nothing of their groundnuts, millet and sorghum this season, a resident told Radio Dabanga. [36] At the same time the World Food Programme, the UN's food agency, is cutting help across Sudan because it is running out of money. [36] A sack of millet costs about 350,000 Sudanese pounds. [36] An official for displaced people warned families may skip meals, sell their last things and take children out of school. [36]

Why it matters. The cuts and the failed harvest land on the same families, many already driven from home by the war. [36] Children, older people and disabled people face the highest risk of hunger and disease, the official said. [36]

Marseille and Lyon banned all protests this weekend, and Paris kept a night curfew in two areas until Monday. [12] President Emmanuel Macron said only union marches may go ahead on Saturday, on routes officials choose. [12][37] The Louvre, Orsay and Picasso museums will close on Saturday, and police numbers rise by 20%. [12] On Thursday a Paris court lifted a police ban, and thousands of mostly young people protested peacefully. [38]

Why it matters. France's justice minister said 2,700 people were arrested after last weekend's riots and 217 have been jailed. [12] Carrefour, a supermarket chain, expects losses of up to $225 million after about 50 stores were looted or damaged. [39]

About 150,000 people filled central Belgrade on Thursday for the last rally of the Student List, a movement of student-backed candidates, a crowd-counting group estimated. [18] Serbians elect a new parliament on Sunday. [40] The protests began after a railway station canopy fell in Novi Sad in November 2024 and killed 16 people. [18] A poll this week put the Student List at 44.5% and the ruling Serbian Progressive Party at 42.7%. [41]

Why it matters. Aleksandar Vucic, who has led Serbia for 12 years, stepped down as president and is running to be prime minister. [40][18] He made 129 live TV appearances in August, more than four times the month before. [42]

Brazil votes for president on Sunday, and a Datafolha poll taken from 20 to 22 October shows the race level. [43] Flavio Bolsonaro, a senator and the eldest son of former president Jair Bolsonaro, had 47% and President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva 46%. [43] That gap is inside the poll's 2-point margin of error. [43] The two meet in a last TV debate on Friday night. [44]

Why it matters. Voters over 60 now make up nearly a quarter of Brazil's voters, and a growing share of them back Lula. [45] Whoever wins will face a Brazilian Congress that has moved right: Bolsonaro's Liberal Party won 23 more seats in the lower house. [46]

Almost all of Taiwan shut on Friday as Typhoon Champi came near, with schools, offices and the stock markets closed. [47] All 262 domestic flights and more than 350 international ones were cancelled. [47] More than 1,200 people left their homes, and one person died after being swept away by waves. [48] Forecasters expect up to 90 cm of rain in the north-east by Saturday. [48]

Why it matters. Champi is expected to pass off the north-east coast and then turn toward China and southern Japan. [47][49] Taiwan prepares well for typhoons, which keeps deaths low. [47]

The European Parliament voted on Thursday to ask the EU to put Yemen's Houthis on its list of terrorist groups. [50] The vote is not binding: EU governments decide, and all of them must agree. [50] A listing would freeze the Houthis' money and property in the EU and ban anyone there from funding them. [50] Members cited the Houthi naval blockade of Saudi Arabia and attacks on ships in the Red Sea. [50][51]

Why it matters. Any one EU government can block the listing. [50] Britain has already promised defensive missions to protect Riyadh. [50]

German prosecutors arrested a Ukrainian man, named only as Vadym Y., in Brandenburg on Thursday on suspicion of spying for Russia. [52] He is accused of gathering information since at least July 2025 on the making of armoured vehicles, ammunition and explosives. [53] Some of it came from people he approached in Europe's arms industry, prosecutors say. [52] Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Germany is the target of 'intensive' spying. [53]

Why it matters. Germany is one of Europe's leading suppliers of weapons to Ukraine. [53] Several people accused of working for Russia and other powers have been arrested in Germany this year. [53]

Romania's top defence council said on Thursday it will speed up its ways to watch the Black Sea and to counter mines and drones. [54] At least seven cargo ships have been hit near the coasts of Romania and Bulgaria in two weeks, and about 30 sailors are dead or missing. [54] Romanian F-16 jets shot down two Russian drones over Romanian waters on Saturday. [54] The council called the ship attacks a direct result of Russia's war spreading beyond Ukraine. [54]

Why it matters. Romania and Bulgaria are both NATO members. [54] NATO said on Tuesday it will send more patrol aircraft, radar and drones to the Black Sea. [54]

Syria has moved about 1,000 more soldiers to the western edge of Sweida, its southern province, bringing its force there to about 3,000, security sources told The National. [55] Sweida is the heartland of the Druze, a religious minority, and Druze militias have held its main city since July 2025. [55] Israeli helicopters have flown radar and surveillance gear into hills held by a Druze militia it backs, the sources said. [55] That militia, the Sweida National Guard, has sealed off 10 hills around the city. [55]

Why it matters. One source said Israel may be preparing a permanent base there. [55] Sweida is one of the issues blocking a US push for peace between Syria and Israel. [55]

Thousands of Venezuelans marched in Caracas, Valencia, Maracaibo and other cities on Thursday to demand free elections. [56] It was the opposition's first nationwide protest in nearly two years. [56] Acting President Delcy Rodriguez has run Venezuela since US forces seized Nicolas Maduro in January, and no election date has been set. [56] Maria Corina Machado, the opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner, says a vote must happen by July 2027. [56]

Why it matters. Donald Trump backs Rodriguez, who was Maduro's vice-president. [56] The US government also keeps a strong hand in Venezuela's oil. [56]

Ecuador's authorities arrested Luisa Gonzalez, the left-wing opposition leader, on Thursday in an inquiry into how her 2023 presidential campaign was paid for. [57] Prosecutors are looking at about $500,000 they say was moved through a network of entities to pay for campaign adverts. [57] Gonzalez lost to President Daniel Noboa in 2023 and 2025, and called the case absurd. [57] Her party and former President Rafael Correa called it persecution. [57]

Why it matters. Seven people are under investigation, and warrants were served on three. [57] An earlier inquiry looked at claims that money from Venezuela paid for her 2023 campaign, which she denies. [57]

Eight inmates died and 10 were hurt in riots at two prisons in Ecuador on Thursday, the prison agency said. [58] Four died at the Cotopaxi prison and four at the Pichincha prison. [58] More than 500 inmates have been killed in Ecuador's prisons since 2021. [58] Officials said those behind the riots will be moved to El Encuentro, a top-security jail built for the most wanted criminals. [58]

Why it matters. Drug gangs order murders and extortion from inside the prisons, even in some that are under army control. [58]

Hundreds of Ethiopians, mostly women and children, crossed into Kenya at the border town of Moyale, Kenyan police said on Thursday. [59] They fled fighting between forces of two Ethiopian regions, Oromia and the Somali region. [59] The fighting began on Sunday in a row over raising the Somali region's flag in the town. [59] The Kenya Red Cross said it is setting up shelter and food for 1,000 households at first. [59]

Why it matters. Police reported gunfire and chaotic scenes in the town. [59] The clash is hundreds of kilometres from the separate war in Ethiopia's northern Tigray region. [59]

Italy's government approved emergency aid for road haulage, farming and fishing on Thursday, after truckers' protests over fuel prices. [13] It includes 60 million euros toward farm fuel, up to 45 cents a litre. [13] Blockades in Sicily and Calabria had stopped buffalo mozzarella being made, costing about 3 million euros in 24 hours. [13] Some food deliveries started again, but the protest spread to more southern ports. [13]

Why it matters. In Milan, police are bracing for more unrest after young people marched over living costs and housing. [60]

Opposition and governing lawmakers scuffled in Albania's parliament on Thursday after its leaders refused to debate ten days of student protests. [19] Opposition MPs held up photos of students hurt by police and blocked the speaker's podium. [19][61] The students want lower fees, more money for schools and universities, and an end to corruption. [19] More than 300 people, many of them police, have been hurt in the clashes. [61]

Why it matters. The students have called a national rally for Saturday. [61] The protests grew out of anger at a luxury resort plan linked to Jared Kushner, the son-in-law of US President Donald Trump. [62]

Thousands of people marched in Warsaw and more than 20 other Polish towns on Thursday, six years after the top court banned abortion for severe foetal abnormality. [63][64] Abortion is now legal only after rape or incest, or when the mother's life or health is at risk. [64] Parliament passed two bills easing the law this week, one by 217 votes to 213. [63] President Karol Nawrocki, a conservative, is expected to veto them. [63]

Why it matters. Activists call the bills token gestures before next year's election. [64][65] Most abortions in Poland happen at home with pills from abroad, and helping one can bring three years in prison. [64][66]

The UN has told Palestinian officials it will stop receiving Palestinians coming home from Egypt and organising their entry into Gaza from mid-November, Drop Site News reported. [67] A senior source said it followed Israel's arrest of a Palestinian cancer patient and her daughter on Tuesday. [67] That was the day Rafah, Gaza's crossing into Egypt, reopened after about ten days shut. [67] The UN will keep helping medical evacuations. [67]

Why it matters. Sick people and those travelling with them are nearly all of those who leave Gaza through Rafah. [67] Any replacement must work with Israel and travel through dangerous zones, the source said. [67]

Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar's former leader, spoke by phone to her son Kim Aris on Thursday, their first talk in more than five years. [68][69] The army removed her in a coup in 2021, and she is now under house arrest in Naypyidaw, the capital. [68] Aris said she sounded fairly healthy, and her first question was whether he was well. [69] The 20-minute call was made from Myanmar's embassy in London. [69]

Why it matters. Analysts say Myanmar's rulers are showing off her wellbeing to shake off their outcast status abroad. [69] Aris said she is 81, and one call is not regular family contact. [68]