World, in brief

Two Palestinian gunmen opened fire on Israeli soldiers at the Farsh al-Hawa checkpoint outside Hebron on Friday, killing two and wounding three. [1]

Troops shot both gunmen dead after a gunfight that lasted about 20 minutes. [2] Palestinian media named them as Mohammad and Firas Jaaba, both 27 and from Hebron. [3]

Hebron is the biggest Palestinian city in the West Bank, the land Israel has occupied since 1967. [2] About 200,000 to 250,000 people live there. [4][2]

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered a cordon around Hebron and the nearby town of Halhul, and a lockdown across the West Bank. [3][2]

Israeli bulldozers began knocking down homes near the checkpoint within hours. [5] Local residents told Reuters the homes had no link to the attackers. [5]

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich filmed himself beside a bulldozer and said the demolition was meant to 'exact a price'. [2] Israel's high court then ordered a temporary halt, after a lawyer for two nearby factory owners went to court. [2]

Defence Minister Israel Katz said every clan neighbourhood the gunmen came from would be emptied of its residents. [2] He named Jenin refugee camp as the model, where nearly 20,000 people were forced from their homes. [2]

The army said its operation would last several days. [6] Hebron's residents may leave only through three exit points, after soldiers question and screen them. [7]

Netanyahu said plans are ready for the biggest Israeli operation in the West Bank since 1967, and that the army will set the timing. [8][9]

Hamas, the armed group that ran Gaza, praised the attack as 'heroic' and called for more, but did not claim it. [6]

The attack came four days before Israel's election on Tuesday, and Netanyahu cancelled his Likud party's campaign events for Friday. [4][1]

Across the West Bank on Friday, bulldozers levelled a tile factory and shops in Hebron, and settlers beat a Palestinian man in the village of al-Mughayyir. [10]

Why it matters. The next test is Tuesday's vote, where the last polls put Gadi Eisenkot's bloc two to six seats ahead but short of the 61 needed to govern. [12]

Gunmen opened fire during a funeral at a Greek Orthodox church in Hammoud, a village in Jordan's southern Karak region, on Friday. [28] They killed seven people and wounded at least 34, then fled in a pickup truck, a witness said. [29] Jordan is a mostly Muslim country of about 11.5 million people, with a Christian minority of a couple of hundred thousand, and gun attacks like this are rare there. [30] No one has claimed it, and the interior minister blamed 'a group of extremists'. [29] Jordan declared three days of national mourning. [13]

Why it matters. King Abdullah II said anyone who thinks they can divide Jordanians with bullets will fail, and promised the harshest penalties. [28] Karak was last attacked in 2016, when gunmen killed 10 people, seven of them police officers. [13]

Tom Barrack, the US ambassador to Turkey, said the US could 'absolutely' strike Iran this weekend. [16] He has no direct role on Iran, and President Donald Trump said he knew nothing about it. [16] The US and Iran have fought mostly over shipping since early September, with no big attacks on land. [31] US diplomats are preparing embassy evacuations in the region, Middle East Eye reported. [32] Foreign ministers from eight European and Middle Eastern countries, meeting in Istanbul, urged the US and Israel not to attack. [33]

Why it matters. Oil rose about 3.5% to pass $117 a barrel on Friday, after Iran threatened Gulf oil sites, undersea cables and data centres if it is attacked. [18] A Brookings Institution expert expects strikes soon after the US midterm elections on 3 November. [31]

Russia and Ukraine agreed to stop firing around Oleshky, a Russian-held town in southern Ukraine, from 27 October. [22][34] The US president's office says Melania Trump, the US first lady, brokered it so aid can get in and people can leave. [22] Oleshky sits on the Dnipro river opposite Kherson. [35] About 24,000 people lived there before 2022, and 1,700 to 2,000 remain, about 50 of them children. [35] Some residents have been eating weeds to survive. [22]

Why it matters. Ukraine's negotiator, Dmytro Lubinets, said the truce covers the Kherson region and could be a model for other aid missions. [34] The US president's office did not say how long it will last. [22]

A drone hit the Khoryv, a cargo ship flying the flag of Comoros, about 13 nautical miles off Constanta, Romania's biggest port, on Friday. [36] The ship capsized, and one sailor died, three are missing and nine were rescued from its crew of ten Ukrainians and three Azerbaijanis. [36] It had left Turkey on 21 October for Romania's port of Sulina. [37] Romania's president, Nicusor Dan, blamed Russia. [24] It is believed to be the fourth merchant ship attacked off Romania this month. [24]

Why it matters. Romania and Bulgaria, both NATO members, want the alliance to do more to protect ships, and NATO is sending more patrol planes and radar. [24] Dan says Russia wants to weaken Romania's support for Ukraine. [38]

A gunman shooting from his car killed one person and wounded five, among them a 12-year-old girl, in Trappes and La Verriere, towns west of Paris, on Friday. [39][40] The shooting lasted about 15 minutes, and police arrested him soon after. [14] Prosecutors named him as Kevin T., 39, and found a Sten submachine gun in his car. [14][41] President Emmanuel Macron said the victims were targeted for their skin colour or religion. [39] Trappes is a poorer suburb with a large Muslim community. [42]

Why it matters. It came a day before new protests, after some on France's far right had blamed immigration for last week's violence. [40] Macron asked people not to let the attack divide the country. [43]

October has seen 28 attacks on ships in and around the Strait of Hormuz, the most of any month on record. [17] That is the count of a tracker at the Washington Institute, a US research group. [17] It counts 113 since the US-Israeli war with Iran began on 28 February. [17] A Reuters review of UN shipping data found 11 supertankers damaged this month, each able to carry about 2 million barrels. [17] Iran's Revolutionary Guards said two more hit naval mines on a route it bans south of the strait. [44]

Why it matters. The Guards said both ships were left stranded with their engine rooms disabled, and warned of a 'far more forceful' answer if what they call smuggling goes on. [44] Oil passed $117 a barrel on Friday, its highest price since April, as traders feared a wider war. [18]

Brazil's president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, 80, and Senator Flavio Bolsonaro, 45, held their last TV debate on Friday before Sunday's run-off vote. [19][45] It was calmer than the first, though Bolsonaro called Lula 'nine fingers' and then apologised. [19] Bolsonaro, the son of former president Jair Bolsonaro, won the first round 47% to 45%, and polls now show a tie. [19][46] Ten days before the run-off, Brazil's Congress passed Lula's plan to cut the working week from 44 hours to 40 without a cut in pay. [45]

Why it matters. The winner will run Latin America's biggest economy, with 214 million people. [19] A Bolsonaro win would bring Brazil closer to the US, and a Lula win would keep it closer to China, AP reports. [19]

Foreign diplomats in Brasilia, Brazil's capital, are discussing recognising Sunday's winner quickly, four ambassadors told Reuters. [47] They want to head off any attempt from abroad to call the election early for either man. [47] Two said they worry the Trump administration might question the result if Lula wins narrowly. [47] No plan is agreed yet, and several embassies are still discussing it with their governments. [47]

Why it matters. One ambassador said it would not be a surprise if Trump or Argentina's president, Javier Milei, declared Bolsonaro the winner before Brazil's election officials do. [47] The ambassador warned that could set off a crisis inside Brazil's institutions. [47]

A federal court in Para state ordered Brazil's government to make sure Indigenous people across the country can vote in Sunday's run-off. [48] Prosecutors had asked for free transport by river, road or air, plus food, interpreters and signs in Indigenous languages. [48] Their case cited claims that some towns refused transport for political reasons, and ranchers stopped Indigenous workers leaving farms to vote. [48]

Why it matters. The ruling said distance and no transport can make a right that exists on paper impossible to use. [48] The run-off is on Sunday, 25 October. [48]

Israel's three main TV channels published their last polls before Tuesday's election on Friday evening. [12] All put the bloc led by Gadi Eisenkot, a former army chief, two to six seats ahead of Netanyahu's coalition. [12] Neither reached the 61 seats needed for a majority of the 120-seat parliament. [12] Arab-majority parties, whose ban was overturned by Israel's Supreme Court last month, got 14 to 16 seats. [12]

Why it matters. Haaretz's analyst writes that a deadlocked result would make a new war with Iran more likely, as part of the fight to form a government. [12] The election committee also ordered Likud to take down signs showing Eisenkot's allies beside Arab lawmakers. [49]

Netanyahu told an Israeli TV channel on Friday that the country should prepare for sanctions that could cut it off from world banking. [49] He said he had asked advisers to plan a way round them using blockchain, the technology behind cryptocurrency. [50] It follows Britain and 11 other Western countries announcing sanctions on goods from Israel's West Bank settlements. [50] Haaretz noted that only heavily sanctioned countries, such as Iran, North Korea, Russia and Venezuela, use crypto this way. [49]

Why it matters. He also said multibillion-dollar US weapons packages 'won't keep coming'. [50] He said it four days before an election in which the last polls put his camp behind. [50][12]

A building of more than ten floors, still being built, collapsed at about 1pm on Friday in Eastleigh, a crowded trading district of Nairobi, Kenya's capital. [51][52] Interior Minister Kipchumba Murkomen said seven people were missing and rescuers had made contact with some of them. [53] Police pulled one woman out and fired tear gas at people looting nearby shops. [51] The head of a Kenyan engineering body blamed builders who skip professional checks. [54]

Why it matters. A resident said many workers were at Friday prayers when it fell, which may have kept the toll down. [55] The minister promised a full investigation. [53]

Russia and Ukraine each freed 270 prisoners of war on Friday, in a 27th exchange arranged with help from the United Arab Emirates. [23] Ukraine got back 261 soldiers and nine civilians, most held since 2022. [56][23] Five of them had been thought killed in a 2022 attack on Olenivka, a prison camp in occupied Ukraine. [56] Ukrainians held with Stephen Hubbard, the 74-year-old American Russia freed this week, told the BBC that guards beat and mocked him. [57]

Why it matters. The UAE says its talks have now freed 8,537 captives in all. [23] Ukraine's president said in May the US-brokered deal would cover 2,000 prisoners. [56]

France is deploying about 70,000 police on Saturday for new cost-of-living protests, including elite counter-terror units, helicopters and water cannon. [25][58] The Louvre, the Orsay and other big Paris museums are shut, and the Art Basel fair cancelled its weekend. [27] More than half a million people marched last weekend, when the protests turned to looting and fires. [27] The movement began with school students demanding more teachers and better buildings. [58]

Why it matters. The interior minister said 'ultra-left' groups were calling for violence online. [25] Italy has more than 30 protests planned for the same day. [26]

Spain's interior ministry found messages on a website linked to the Islamic State group urging attacks on police and marchers at Europe's protests, the Spanish paper El Pais reported. [15] They called the crowds and clashes 'a rare opportunity' and urged vehicle-ramming and suicide bombs. [15] Portugal's security service said it is closely watching the alert. [15] Protests over housing and prices have filled squares in Lisbon, Porto and Madrid for weeks. [15]

Why it matters. The warning lands as France and Italy brace for their own marches on Saturday. [26] El Pais said the messages describe police as 'easy prey' when they clash with marchers. [15]

The dialysis centre at the Republican Hospital in Taiz, Yemen, treats 270 patients. [59] It has cut sessions from four hours to two and a half, and its director says it may shut within days. [59] The Houthis, the Iran-backed group that holds Yemen's north, have surrounded Taiz since early October and cut its road to Aden. [60] The UN says more than 800,000 people there are cut off from aid. [60]

Why it matters. Most people in Taiz rely on water brought by truck, which now costs three times as much, a UN spokesman said. [60] At least 200,000 of those cut off are women and children. [60]

The Trump administration asked a federal court to stop Alaska certifying its Senate result if Republican Senator Dan Sullivan loses. [20] It argues that a second Dan Sullivan on the ballot may confuse voters. [20] It wants the block to apply if the senator loses by fewer votes than the other Sullivan gets. [20] Polls show Democrat Mary Peltola narrowly ahead before the 3 November vote. [20]

Why it matters. Trump told reporters 'I'm the one that said do it'. [20] The other Sullivan, a retired teacher, has denied his run has any hidden purpose. [20]

US federal prosecutors told county officials across California to set aside and check ballots the Justice Department says may belong to non-citizens. [61] It has already sued to stop Los Angeles county counting about 20,000 such votes, with a hearing on Tuesday. [61] Most of the immigrants charged in California this week had applied for US citizenship, and could face years in prison for lying on forms. [62]

Why it matters. Voting by non-citizens is very rare and has not been shown to change any result, the data show. [61] One woman charged returned a ballot her family thought was a registration form, her husband said. [62]

Trump told a rally in Florida the US would 'take care of Cuba on our way back from Iran', then send Secretary of State Marco Rubio to 'finish up the deal'. [63] Rubio then urged Cubans who want change to act 'now' through a partnership with the CIA, the US spy agency. [64] A US oil blockade this year has caused fuel shortages and blackouts in Cuba. [63] US forces seized Venezuela's president, Nicolas Maduro, in a deadly raid in January. [63]

Why it matters. The US government says its goal is to change Cuba's communist government. [63] Cuba's foreign minister told the UN last month that Cuba is open to talks. [63]

A federal judge dropped the criminal case against Argentina's president, Javier Milei, and his sister Karina over $Libra, a crypto coin. [65][66] The coin crashed in February 2025, shortly after Milei promoted it online, and most buyers lost money. [65] Judge Marcelo Martinez de Giorgi said no criminal deception had been proven. [65] He also dropped a case against Hayden Davis, a US businessman who advised on the launch and says he held about $100m after the crash. [66]

Why it matters. Milei said he had acted in good faith and has not yet responded. [65] Prosecutors themselves had asked the judge to drop the case. [65]

The US defence department named Confucius Institutes, Chinese-funded cultural centres at universities, a threat to US national security. [67] Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said 80 such groups had reappeared under new names at 30 universities after the US Congress restricted them. [68] He said his department had broken up all of them over the past two months. [68] China's embassy in Washington did not reply to questions. [68]

Why it matters. The US government has long called the centres tools of Chinese propaganda. [67] Hegseth called them 'sleeper organisations'. [67]

Anna Gomez, the only Democrat on the US Federal Communications Commission, which licenses TV and radio stations, wrote to the broadcasters' trade group on Thursday. [69] She said its answer to pressure from the Trump administration had been too quiet. [69] She pointed to commission chair Brendan Carr saying stations could break their rules by airing 'entirely fake polls' before the 3 November midterms. [69]

Why it matters. The midterms may decide which party controls both houses of the US Congress. [69]

A US appeals court ruled 10-7 on Friday that the Constitution does not require bond hearings for detained immigrants. [70] The ruling covers Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi, the states under the court in New Orleans. [70] Judge Cory Wilson wrote that detainees can be free 'at any moment' by agreeing to leave the country. [70] The US Supreme Court agreed this month to hear the same question. [70]

Why it matters. A bond hearing gives a detainee the chance to seek release on bond while their case goes on. [70] The ruling removes one of the main ways detainees in those states can argue for release. [70]