World, in brief

Poland's president, Karol Nawrocki, forced his way into the country's top court early on Saturday. [1]

Hours earlier, judges chosen by parliament had suspended the court's chief, Bogdan Swieczkowski. [2]

Riot police guarded the building, and police detained 3 people after protesters breached the fence. [3]

Inside, Nawrocki told the new judges: 'You are not judges.' [1]

The court has been largely paralysed by the dispute, Al Jazeera reports. [6]

Zurek says the tribunal should get back to citizens' waiting cases. [8]

Polls give the populist right a chance to return at next year's parliamentary election. [3]

Political scientists call this dual legitimacy: two powers, each chosen by the voters. [4]

The president holds a veto: two presidents have blocked Tusk's court reforms. [4]

And the court that should settle such fights is the thing being fought over. [3]

Legal experts are deeply divided on whether the suspension is lawful. [3]

Some see Tusk's move as a bid to win back voters before next year's election. [5]

Nawrocki called emergency talks with the parliamentary parties for Saturday. [1]

Poland's government says the top court's judges were put there unlawfully by the last government, and Poland's president says the same about the judges the new parliament chose.

With both sides calling the other's judges fake, there is no judge both will accept to settle it, so on Friday night it was settled by who could get into the building. [3][1]

Both sides call the other's move a 'coup', and a word that strong pushes people to pick a side before asking which judges were lawfully chosen. [9][2]

The clash sets up next year's election, in which polls give the populist right a chance to return. [3]

The dispute has largely paralysed the court, so their cases wait. [6][8]

Which of Poland's top-court judges are lawfully in office.

Legal experts are deeply divided, and even a law professor who criticised PiS says the chief's suspension had no legal basis. [3][5]

How many judges Poland's president refused to swear in.

The BBC and DW say five; Al Jazeera says three of six nominated by parliament. [5][7][6]

The US approved selling Ukraine 500 Patriot missiles for about $2.1bn on Friday. [24]

Patriots are Ukraine's only effective weapon for shooting down Russia's ballistic missiles. [24]

Canada, Germany and Norway will pay, helped by an EU loan; no US money is used. [24]

Lockheed Martin, a US arms maker, is the main contractor. [24]

But the missiles have not been made yet. [25]

Two people briefed on the sale expect delivery only a couple of years into the 2030s. [25]

Zelensky asked allies to send Patriots from their own stocks now and refill them later. [17]

Zelensky says Russia attacks Ukraine's energy system every single day. [17]

Arms-trade experts call this lead time: a weapon sold today is usually built years later. [25]

Lockheed Martin gains the order, paid for by Europe and Canada. [24]

Ukrainians facing this winter's attacks will get none of these 500 missiles in time. [26]

When Ukraine will actually get its 500 Patriot missiles.

The US gave no date; two people briefed on the sale say a couple of years into the 2030s, and Zelensky says only 'a few years'. [17][25]

At least 35 ships were attacked in and around the Strait of Hormuz in October. [10]

That makes October the worst month since the war began on 28 February. [10]

March, the first full month of the war, had about 30 attacks. [10]

The strait, between Iran and Oman, normally carries about a fifth of the world's oil. [11]

On Friday Oman's navy rescued 25 sailors from the RITI, a burning oil tanker. [11]

A tanker with 27 Indian sailors aboard was also attacked; India says all are safe. [12]

Shipping through the strait is still about 70% below its level before the war. [10]

About 80% of the ships still crossing carry oil or gas, a US navy unit estimates. [10]

The US says the main routes are clear of Iran's mines. [11]

Yet the British count shows attacks more than doubled from September. [27]

At least 35 ships were attacked there in October, the worst month of the war. [10]

A team from Qatar arrived in Tehran, Iran's capital, on Friday for talks. [28]

It came in coordination with US officials, Iran's state news agency IRNA reported. [14]

Qatar and Pakistan have carried messages between the two sides since an April ceasefire. [28]

The US-Israeli war on Iran began on 28 February. [28]

Since then Iran has blocked most ships from the Strait of Hormuz. [28]

An Iranian official called an earlier Qatari draft deal unacceptable. [29]

Fears are growing that fighting could resume after the US midterm elections on 3 November. [29]

What Qatar's team brought to Tehran has not been made public. [28]

What Qatar's team offered Iran in Tehran.

Iran's state media described only talks on 'regional developments', and an earlier Qatari draft was called unacceptable. [28][29]

The UN peacekeeping mission in Western Sahara was due to expire on Saturday. [30]

Russia vetoed a US plan to extend it, though 11 of 15 members backed it. [30]

The US then used its own veto to block Russia's plan to renew it unchanged. [31]

Western Sahara is a former Spanish colony in north-west Africa. [30]

Morocco calls it Moroccan; the Polisario Front, backed by Algeria, wants independence. [30]

The mission, MINURSO, began in 1991 to watch a ceasefire and prepare a vote. [30]

The vote never happened, because the sides could not agree who could take part. [30]

The US plan would have dropped the word 'referendum' from the mission's name. [31]

Morocco's royal palace welcomed the end and said UN staff should leave. [30]

The Polisario Front thanked Russia, saying the US plan undermined Sahrawis' right to decide. [31]

In international law this is self-determination: a people's right to choose its own state. [31]

Morocco gains if UN staff leave, as its palace asked. [30]

The Sahrawis lose the mission whose job was to prepare their vote. [30]

Whether UN staff now leave Western Sahara.

The mandate lapsed after two vetoes, Morocco wants the UN out, and no last-minute deal had been reported. [30][31]

Hundreds of people left Oleshky, a ruined Russian-held town in southern Ukraine, on Friday. [32]

It was the first joint relief operation in four years and eight months of war. [13]

A truce across the whole Kherson region has held since Tuesday, the longest of the war. [32]

A convoy of 25 buses could carry up to 750 people in a four-hour window. [32]

Ukrainian-held land lies just 5km away, across the Dnipro river. [13]

Instead, those going to Ukraine rode 450km to Anapa in Russia, then flew to Belarus. [33]

Several hundred people chose to stay, without gas, electricity or running water. [32]

Melania Trump, the US first lady, helped broker the deal. [32]

Kherson residents fear the truce gave Russia time to build up its forces. [32]

Peace researchers call a small, checkable deal like this a confidence-building measure. [32]

Both sides' rights officials now want such missions to happen regularly. [32]

Russia's rights official said it all happened 'without any incidents'. [32]

The truce is due to last until the end of Sunday 1 November. [32]

Why enemies make peace one small, checkable step at a time

Two enemies do not trust any big promise from the other

So they agree one small step that costs little if it is broken

Each side can see at once whether the other kept it

A kept step makes a bigger next step easier to believe

Talks grow outward from that first, small deal

A small deal is easier to trust than a big one, because breaking it gains little and everyone sees it straight away.

The Oleshky deal, one step at a time: a truce first, then a convoy, then people out by plane and bus.

A truce for one region came first, then one road and one convoy, and now both sides' rights officials ask for regular missions.

South Korea offered the smallest steps it could: agree where the border line runs and reopen military phone lines.

The UN envoy listed confidence-building measures first, before any talk about how the island is governed.

After Chad expelled French troops, the two restarted with training, then a visit by two jets, then a joint exercise.

A small step can also be used to buy time: people in Kherson fear the truce let Russia build up its forces.

The people who left Oleshky got out because two officials who distrust each other agreed on one road for four hours.

How many people left Oleshky.

The buses could carry up to 750, Melania Trump says more than 750 were evacuated, and several hundred chose to stay. [32][33]

Hundreds of people left Oleshky, a ruined Russian-held town in southern Ukraine, in the first joint Russian-Ukrainian relief operation of the war. Officials from both sides said it went without incident and asked for such missions to become regular.

The US cancelled the group photo at the G20 foreign ministers' meeting in Atlanta. [21]

European diplomats refused to stand beside Sergei Lavrov, Russia's foreign minister. [21]

The G20 is a group of the world's 20 largest economies. [34]

About a third of the countries said they would not appear beside any Russian. [35]

Ukraine, not a G20 member but often invited, was not invited this time. [21]

The talks end on Saturday with no joint statement, only a summary from the US host. [36]

The meeting prepares a G20 leaders' summit Trump will host in Miami in December. [37]

In diplomacy, a group photo signals normal relations; Germany said 'there is no normality with Russia'. [35]

Russia still got a seat at the table, which Ukraine did not. [21]

Ukraine has resumed drone attacks on Russian oil refineries after a pause, Russia says. [38]

Alexander Novak, Russia's deputy prime minister for energy, said three refineries were hit overnight. [38]

A gas-chemical plant was also hit, he said. [38]

Videos showed smoke over a refinery in Samara, 800km from Ukraine's border. [38]

Samara's governor said two men were killed. [38]

Ukraine did not comment straight away. [38]

In October Trump eased sanctions on Russia in return for Russian diesel. [38]

Trump had pressed Ukraine for weeks to stop, blaming the strikes for dear diesel. [38]

Novak warned the strikes could cut the diesel Russia plans to sell abroad. [38]

Strategists call this tit-for-tat: Ukraine hits Russia's energy because Russia hits Ukraine's. [38]

The EU will pay out the second half of its €90bn loan to Ukraine faster. [39]

The loan is split into €45bn for 2026 and €45bn for 2027. [39]

Most of the 2027 money will now come in the first half of that year. [39]

Of that €45bn, €31.7bn is for weapons and €13.3bn for Ukraine's budget. [39]

The budget money depends on reforms, some linked to Ukraine joining the EU. [39]

A €3.7bn payment has already been delayed. [39]

Canada agreed this week to put money into the same €90bn loan. [40]

The EU fears a gap in the money could be catastrophic at the front. [39]

Ukraine gets money sooner, but €13.3bn of it waits on reforms. [39]

Novaya Gazeta, Russia's best-known independent newspaper, said on Friday it is shutting down. [41]

It says Russia's security services forced its editors to stop. [42]

It will switch off its servers on 9 November, after 30 years. [41]

It was founded in 1993, after the Soviet Union collapsed. [41]

Banks stopped taking readers' donations, and it is being evicted from its office. [43]

Russia revoked its media licence in 2022. [42]

Dmitry Muratov, a co-founder, won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2021. [43]

Six of its journalists were killed for their work, among them Anna Politkovskaya. [43]

'They chose to strangle us,' Muratov told the BBC. [43]

Most independent Russian journalists now work in exile, and those at home are labelled 'foreign agents'. [41]

Media researchers call this soft censorship: a paper is starved of money rather than banned. [43]

Russians lose one of the last papers that investigated their officials. [41]

Novaya Gazeta, which investigated Russian officials for 30 years, says the services forced it to close. [42]

The UN human rights office said on Friday Israel keeps displacing people inside Gaza. [44]

It said Palestinians are being pushed into a shrinking part of the strip. [44]

The Yellow Line divides the Israeli-held part of Gaza from the rest. [45]

Israeli forces appear to treat the Yellow Line as a kill zone, the office said. [44]

A UN commission of inquiry says Israel committed genocide even after the October 2025 ceasefire. [45]

It counts more than 75,000 Palestinians killed since 7 October 2023. [45]

Israel's UN envoy, Danny Danon, called its reports 'works of historical fiction'. [45]

Mohammed Hamad, 14, was killed by an Israeli strike walking home from school on 17 October. [46]

His father, Riyad Hamad, said: 'We are living in fear.' [46]

The commission's chair spoke by video because the US did not give him a visa. [45]

Egypt's Red Crescent sent 62 trucks of flour and winter clothes to Gaza. [47]

Israeli forces blew up the homes of two Palestinians in Hebron on Friday. [48]

The two killed two Israeli soldiers at a checkpoint there on 23 October. [48]

Hebron is a Palestinian city in the occupied West Bank. [48]

The demolitions came on the eighth day of a military siege of the city. [48]

Wafa, the Palestinian news agency, says more than 115 people have been detained. [49]

It says 537 families have been forced from their homes. [49]

Settlers also attacked olive pickers near Hebron, injuring five, Wafa said. [49]

Classes were disrupted at 66 schools, affecting 2,872 students, Wafa said. [49]

Names differ: Israeli media and Al Jazeera give the two gunmen different first names. [50][48]

Final results gave Netanyahu's bloc 53 of the 120 seats in Israel's parliament, the Knesset. [51]

The main opposition bloc, led by former army chief Gadi Eisenkot, won 48. [51]

Arab-led parties won 19, a historic result. [51]

A government needs at least 61 seats, so the parties must now bargain. [51]

Netanyahu, Israel's longest-serving prime minister, stays in charge while they talk. [51]

Netanyahu says Arab-led parties stole the election; Israel's authorities say there is no evidence of fraud. [52]

The Mossad, Israel's foreign spy agency, will help investigate suspected foreign election interference. [53]