Conflicts, peace talks, alliances
Robert Fico told Putin in May that military attachés would return to both embassies. Critics warn that the last Russian attaché in Bratislava bribed a man later convicted of espionage.
Satellite imagery from September 2026 shows construction under cover at Taleghan 2 in Tehran and rapid rebuilding at the Parchin military complex, both struck multiple times since 2024. The IAEA says it has carried out almost no in-field verification in Iran for more than six months and cannot account for some enriched uranium stockpiles.
King Khalid International Airport will stay closed until October 17 after the strikes destroyed parts of the passenger terminal. Qatar Airways, Etihad, Lufthansa and Air France-KLM have all suspended services to Saudi Arabia.
The NMESIS system carries Naval Strike Missiles with a range of around 185 kilometers, putting waters off northeastern Taiwan potentially within reach. The deployment comes during the Keen Sword exercise in October 2026, which will involve around 45,000 Japanese Self-Defense Forces personnel.
A strike on Terminal 3 killed at least 12 people and injured around 309 others. Qatar Airways, Etihad and Air India have cancelled or rerouted Saudi flights, and the airport is expected to remain closed until Saturday.
Kabila announced the alliance in Goma, a city M23 has controlled since January 2025. The move binds him openly to a group over alleged links to which he was sentenced to death in absentia.
After years fighting the Assad regime, Uyghur militants have been absorbed into the Syrian Armed Forces' 84th Division. Syrian officials say they have no plans to hand the fighters to China, which has been tracking and trying to recruit them.
Zelenskyy said the announcement was news to him, but Ukraine would accept it if Russia did. Within hours, Russia hit a Kyiv power plant with a drone.
UNHCR has secured just $3 billion of the $8.5 billion it needs in 2026, and has already cut its workforce from 20,000 to under 12,000. Refugee registration has been suspended in Ethiopia, and services for more than 50,000 survivors of sexual violence in Chad are under threat.
Poland's prime minister told parliament the tactic is designed to weaken allies' will to support Ukraine. NATO and the EU are now debating how to respond to attacks that fall below the threshold for collective defence.
Uralvagonzavod is building new tanks, upgrading Soviet-era armour and fixing vehicles wrecked in Ukraine — all at once. Analysts say rebuilding a tank at a production plant costs roughly as much as making a new one.
Foreign ministers meeting in Luxembourg imposed asset freezes and EU entry bans on missile producers, drone manufacturers and submarine shipyards. The bloc also extended separate sanctions on 80 individuals tied to Russian disinformation and hybrid activity until October 2027.
The US ambassador to NATO has sought to calm European fears of an American military pullback. His reassurances come after Trump warned that protection for members would depend on whether they spent enough on their own defence.
EU leaders agreed in December 2025 to raise the money on capital markets, with the European budget as security. A separate reparations loan backed by immobilised Russian sovereign assets is still on the table, but Belgium, Italy and Bulgaria are pushing back.
Coordinated attacks on Riyadh and Abha airports in early October 2026 prompted Air India, Lufthansa and others to suspend services. A Cairo flight diverted after a projectile landed near the runway just before its arrival.
A documentary built on testimony from 24 anonymous Israeli military and intelligence personnel says targeting rules allowed strikes even when large civilian casualties were foreseen. The IDF says the accounts are unverifiable and that commanders assessed each strike for proportionality.
The package adds 743 people and 826 companies to the EU's sanctions list, with more than half of the military-industrial entries tied to ballistic missile production.
Iran's security chief Mohsen Rezaei said the US had accepted some terms but left others unclear, and that Iran was no longer responding to Washington. The strait carries a fifth of the world's oil and liquefied natural gas.
Mohsen Rezaie, head of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, said AI facilities and other digital infrastructure across the region could be targeted. He also said Tehran now regards the latest US response as insufficient and has stopped replying to Washington.
Chancellor Friedrich Merz travelled to Kyiv to stand alongside the Ukrainian president, with Berlin declaring it 'fully supports' him. Deutsche Bank's chief executive warned separately that gains by the far-right AfD and the Left Party were spooking foreign investors.
The boat was carrying 350 migrants across the Bab el-Mandeb Strait towards Yemen when it went down on the night of 8 October. The UN's migration agency called it one of the deadliest shipwrecks ever recorded on the route.
The two leaders discussed air defences and sanctions as Russia struck Ukrainian cities with drones and missiles throughout the day. Zelensky said Ukraine would receive F-16 ammunition within days and called air defence his country's main priority.
Pavlo Oliynyk, a 25-year-old former Ukrainian lieutenant captured in the Donbas in 2024, says he was electrocuted and beaten before accepting a place in the Maksym Kryvonis battalion. An investigation by Ukrainian broadcaster Suspilne found every member it identified was a former Ukrainian serviceman captured between 2023 and 2024.
A fighter jet struck the stern of the Panama-flagged M/V Ocean Molica after its crew ignored warnings, disabling the ship's propulsion but leaving the crew unharmed. Shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, which once carried 20% of the world's oil, has fallen to its lowest level in more than two months.
The IAEA board voted 23-3 to escalate the dispute after Iran blocked inspectors from bombed nuclear sites following military strikes in June. Russia and China opposed the move, and diplomacy remains stalled.
Housing evictions, chronic underfunding and October 7th grief are driving public anger across three countries. American B-1 bombers were hastily withdrawn from RAF Fairford amid warnings of a serious and immediate threat, with questions over a suspected Iranian plot targeting the aircraft.
Eritrea has invoked Chapter VII of the UN Charter, which allows measures ranging from sanctions to military action. Ethiopia says it is acting in self-defence, and has accused Eritrea of deploying troops and backing insurgent groups — allegations Asmara flatly denies.
King Mohammed VI said Spanish court decisions were blocking the return of minors and people he called fake asylum seekers. He warned that cooperation with Spain was a sovereign choice and would not bend to pressure.
Ukraine says it needs up to 360 interceptors before winter. US stocks have fallen below 1,700, leaving European allies as the main potential source.
Witkoff and Kushner told Kyiv that US intelligence sharing could be at risk if the attacks continued. Zelensky said he would only halt them if Russia stopped striking Ukrainian power plants — and called a US decision to lift sanctions on Russian diesel exports 'not fair and not honest'.
President Lai Ching-te made the announcement on National Day, saying the 2027 budget is meant to deter aggression, not provoke it. China continues to conduct near-daily military patrols and grey-zone operations around the island.
A text meant to put the Dubai pledge into practice was dropped after island states and Latin American nations said it had been watered down. The question goes back to negotiators when they meet in June.
All twelve of Gaza's universities have been bombed and nearly 98% of school buildings damaged. Around 700,000 children have missed almost three years of formal in-person education.
Federal troops have entered the Tigray capital after nearly two weeks of fighting, collapsing the 2022 Pretoria ceasefire that ended a war in which around 600,000 people died. Ethiopia has now severed diplomatic ties with Eritrea and expelled an Egyptian diplomat, accusing both countries — along with Sudan — of backing the rebels. All three deny it.
Ukraine's president met a bipartisan Congressional delegation in Kyiv, under an active air raid alert, to push for the Lindsey Graham sanctions law and faster joint Patriot interceptor production. He warned that easing sanctions without a lasting de-escalation deal would be an obvious weakness that would prolong the war.
Ethiopian drone strikes hit Eritrean soldiers and equipment in Adigrat as both governments accuse the other of breaking their 2022 peace deal. Eritrea has severed diplomatic ties and denied backing the TPLF, accusing Ethiopia of using the conflict to seize its Red Sea port of Assab.
The US president told a Washington summit that productive discussions with Tehran are progressing. But his administration insists Iran must make a meaningful cut to enrichment capacity and halt production of highly enriched uranium — conditions Iran's president has called futile to negotiate over.
Hans Grundberg pointed to military build-ups and threats along frontlines as signs the fragile pause in fighting is collapsing. The Houthis have attacked more than 80 merchant ships since the Gaza war began, and a cholera outbreak has grown to more than 147,000 cases with funding covering only a quarter of them.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the administration would dismantle the court if it did not drop cases Washington sees as a threat to US sovereignty. The ICC's deputy prosecutor said its investigations and prosecutions would continue regardless.
Hibatullah Akhundzada presents a unified Islamic state, but power is split between ISI-aligned factions, regional warlords and hardline clerics. Armed opposition groups have launched attacks across the country, though none has managed to seriously threaten Taliban control.
The UN Security Council unanimously renewed its Darfur embargo until 11 December, but a US proposal to extend restrictions across Sudan failed. Russia, which backs the Sudanese government, flatly refused to let the council even hint at widening the measures.
The Treasury's Operation Economic Outcast promises new financial measures week after week. But with Trump's approval at 33 percent and support for the war at 36 percent, the White House is still searching for a path to victory.
Moscow has shown little urgency to commit to a trilateral meeting with Ukraine and the US, first agreed in early September. The Kremlin continues to reject a ceasefire and demands Kyiv surrender the partially occupied Donbas.
France's top general confirmed Germany's departure from the Main Ground Combat System, a project launched in 2017 to replace both countries' ageing tanks by 2040–2045. It is the second Franco-German defence programme to collapse this year, following the failure of the SCAF aircraft project in June.
Seventeen member countries took part in the Steadfast Noon drill, hosted by Italy and held far from Russia. The alliance told Moscow in advance, stressing the exercise was routine and posed no threat.
A $14 billion arms sale pre-notified to Congress has stalled with no sign of progress. Former officials say using weapons transfers as leverage marks a fundamental break from longstanding US policy.
The UK prime minister made the offer to Chancellor Merz in Berlin as the two countries ratified a new defence treaty. Germany is weighing its options after its rival fighter project with France and Spain collapsed in June.
Michael DeSombre called Xi Jinping a 'very rational actor' who would back down if military action looked like it would fail or carry major consequences. His remarks came before a planned Trump–Xi meeting on 30 October and amid reports of an unprecedented military vessel sighting off Taiwan's coast.
Song Li would be the first person from mainland China to head the agency if elected. China has raised its assessed contribution by 57% and now holds the highest rate among remaining member states.
Nine attacks were recorded in a single week, the highest since the closure began in February — though Reuters sources put the toll at 12. Tanker movements are 98% below pre-war levels and diplomacy has so far produced nothing.
A fishing boat linked to the People's Liberation Army's maritime militia was detected near Hualien in mid-August, alongside a coast guard cutter and a research vessel. Taiwan regards the waters as critical for supply routes from allies in any future conflict.
Estonia has banned Russian and Belarusian grain from its ports, while Latvia is considering raising transit fees to 300% of their current level. Lithuania wants to take the fight EU-wide, but says lab tests to verify grain origins take longer than a ship's stay in port.
The highest-level US contact since the 2021 coup aimed to free an American businessman and shut down scam centres targeting Americans. Broader talks on rare-earth minerals may follow, even as Min Aung Hlaing remains under US sanctions for abuses linked to the Rohingya genocide.
Updated views on Google Maps and Google Earth offer a stark geographic record of the destruction. Around 1.9 million people have been displaced, and whole neighbourhoods have been reduced to rubble or cleared entirely.
The Boundary Joint Commission, inaugurated in Islamabad, activates a provision dormant for thirteen years. Its remit covers territory India claims as its own, and New Delhi says Pakistan had no authority to sign a boundary deal there in the first place.
Tehran offered to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and restart nuclear talks within a week if Washington lifted its naval blockade. Trump said he offered Iran "nothing" — but his team is also weighing a return to large-scale military operations.
The masked individuals pushed 20 migrants towards the Latvian border from the Belarusian side before later entering Latvia, damaging an electrical panel and taking border cameras. Latvia's interior minister warned Belarus that such incidents could have serious consequences.
Denmark's intelligence service says Russia moved from planning to carrying out 'a lot more' operations by early summer. Recruits — including homeless people and drug users — are approached through Telegram and sent to surveil or sabotage weapons producers.
Japan's prime minister used the sidelines of the UN General Assembly to press ahead on AI and semiconductor cooperation with Washington. The talks came as Beijing's controls on rare earths and critical minerals — imposed after Takaichi warned a Chinese attack on Taiwan could threaten Japan's survival — have driven Sino-Japanese relations to their lowest point in decades.
The Pentagon told US Central Command several days ago to finish its preparations for a return to major combat operations. Trump has set no date and made no final decision, but advisers are debating whether to act before or after the US midterm elections.
The mission involves roughly 200 personnel providing intelligence, targeting support and aerial refuelling for Saudi jets. It marks a partial reversal of Washington's earlier step back from the Yemen war.
About 70 structures at 11 bases have been hit since the 2026 war began, with more than 50,000 American troops still in the region. Officials are debating whether to withdraw, relocate or fortify those forces.
The US secretary of state warned that Russia and China were expanding in the Arctic during his first stop on a NATO tour. His visit came weeks after a US security pact with Denmark and Greenland opened the way for two new American military bases there.
The 2,500 service members at Erbil Air Base departed on 30 September, closing a 12-year mission. Iranian attacks have caused $5 billion in damage across 11 US bases in the region, and Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth has called for a formal review of where American forces are based.
The monthly total climbed from 350 in June to 2,850 in August before reaching close to 3,500 last month. Ukraine says the faster drones are harder to intercept than conventional models and is deploying AI-guided gun turrets around Kyiv in response.
Satellite imagery shows most structures in Israeli-held Gaza have been bulldozed or blown into rubble, with much of the destruction happening after the fighting stopped. At least 18 new military outposts have been built since the ceasefire took effect, while reconstruction has yet to begin.
The deployment, Sweden's first Patriot mission under NATO command, begins December 1 when Swedish forces take over from the Dutch at Rzeszów — a hub moving 18,000 tons of equipment a month to Ukraine.
Macron watched the launch from a warship off Brittany and called it 'a very important moment for our strategic credibility'. The test came as he has warned of Russian aggression and hybrid attacks against European nations.
The three Sahel states withdrew together from the Rome Statute in a coordinated move. Burkina Faso has also cut diplomatic ties with France and may yet break with the EU.
Around 1,650 new designations are on the table, with 1,570 targeting Russia's defence-industrial complex. More than half concern missile manufacturers. Foreign ministers are due to give final approval on Monday.
Satellite images show bulldozers, cranes and concrete mixers back at Taleghan 2 inside the Parchin military complex. A tarpaulin now conceals the work below, and new reinforcements have been added to protect against future strikes.
A Congressional Research Service report updated in October lists F-15Es, an F-35A, drones and tankers among the losses. The Congressional Budget Office puts replacement costs at between $1.9 billion and $3.3 billion.
At least 37 Saudi sites were hit between July and September, with drones temporarily disrupting a pipeline carrying 4–5% of global crude supply. The Houthis have also declared a maritime embargo, striking ten ships and tightening their grip on the Red Sea coast.
The European Commission wants a mechanism that would let any member state call consultations among all 27 governments after sabotage, cyberattacks or drone incursions. Several diplomats worry it would duplicate NATO structures and slow decisions rather than sharpen them.
The US vice president said Tehran must take meaningful action on enrichment — not just give assurances — before Washington will accept any deal. Trump has already rejected Iran's latest offer and warned military operations could intensify after the midterms.
Washington wants the UN embargo, currently limited to Darfur, to cover all of Sudan. The US envoy says neither of the warring generals has a future in the country's governance — but regional powers keep funding both sides.
Israel confirmed the British consulate in East Jerusalem will shut on Thursday after London banned trade in goods from Israeli settlements. Britain still hopes for an agreement but is considering retaliating by expelling Israeli diplomats from London.
The three countries agreed to deploy forces to Saudi Arabia after an emergency meeting in Riyadh. No units, timetable or operational role were made public. A 100-jet coalition air campaign has already struck 324 Houthi targets under Operation Yemen Dawn.
Smaller vessels cross the strait in darkness and transfer their cargo beyond the danger zone, part of a covert operation to loosen Iran's grip on the waterway. US strikes have destroyed eight Iran-linked tankers since September.
More than 100 warplanes struck rebel positions as Yemeni government forces retook much of the Red Sea coast seized last month. Iran backed the Houthi offensive, raising fears of a direct confrontation with Saudi Arabia.
The plan would bring Ukraine, the UK and Norway into a new security structure with six institutions, including a security council and rapid reaction force. It comes as European confidence in US security commitments has sharply fallen.
The bloc has extended its space security framework, first set up in 2021, to cover attacks on satellites or ground infrastructure belonging to all 27 member states — not just jointly owned EU systems. Responses can be political, economic or military.
Israeli intelligence estimates put Hamas's armed strength at roughly its pre-war level, even as Israel controls 64% of Gaza. Israeli security officials acknowledge that none of the government's stated war objectives has been achieved.
China raised the idea with US officials this year, with talks focusing on national laboratories and equivalent Chinese facilities. Washington plans to keep pressing the proposal ahead of a likely second Trump-Xi meeting later this year.
The facility at Ban Keun, 50 kilometres north of Vientiane, is China's third disclosed military installation abroad. Its opening caught the US off guard — Laos had not featured on the Pentagon's list of likely locations.
The battery will go to the Lublin region, which borders Ukraine and has seen Russian drones strike a nearby crossing in recent weeks. Abrams tanks, Apache helicopters and a drone brigade are also planned for the area.
Government forces say they seized the Red Sea port city and a strategic town near the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, but unnamed Yemeni officials told wire agencies that troops had reached only the outskirts. The Houthis struck Saudi Aramco facilities and two airports inside Saudi Arabia in retaliation, and Turkey and Pakistan agreed to deploy forces to the kingdom.
Iran loaded no oil onto tankers in September — the first month since the war began in February that its exports fell to zero. At least 50 Iranian tankers are blocked from leaving, and 20 crews anchored off Sri Lanka are running short of food, fuel and water.
Six stealth fighters joined Indian Rafales and Su-30MKIs at a base 200 kilometres from the Pakistan border. India, which has no fifth-generation aircraft of its own, used the drills to study how they operate.
Three of the seven tankers involved are under UK and EU sanctions. The trade appears legal under South Korean law, which targets machinery and electronics rather than fuel.
Robert 'Magyar' Brovdi commands Ukraine's Unmanned Systems Forces, which make up just 2.5% of the armed forces but are credited with roughly a third of Russian personnel losses over the past year. Russia convicted him in absentia on 46 charges, with the killing of a journalist in Kursk the central count.
Two sailors are missing after an attack on the El Gaia, and two crew members were injured aboard La Stephanie. The strait has been effectively closed since the war began, with commercial crossings falling from around 125 ships a day to 17 over the weekend.
The Royad Mammadov went down in Romanian waters carrying corn from Ukraine to Italy. Zelenskyy said two Russian drones hit the civilian vessel, killing the captain — Romanian authorities confirmed the deaths but have not established the cause.
The last food delivery to the town reached it on 26 May. About six thousand people remain, cut off by mines, drones and the Dnipro River, surviving on wild greens and whatever they can grow.
Kyiv's defence minister says the figure rose from 45% in just two weeks. Putin has conceded the strikes cost Russia roughly 1% of GDP, while Moscow has restricted fuel exports and begun importing gasoline from abroad.
Saudi-backed forces say they seized the Bab el-Mandeb Strait and its airstrip with heavy Saudi air support. The Houthis called the reports completely untrue, and fighting was still reported near the strait.
The Eternity C was left listing and adrift after the attack southwest of Hodeidah, the second strike on a merchant vessel in the corridor since November 2024. Six seafarers have now been killed in Red Sea attacks overall.
The pair would work directly with Taiwan's defence ministry — not through the usual back channels — on war games, weapons procurement and combat capability assessments. The programme runs to 2028 with a budget of US$14.8 million.
Lin Chia-lung spent three days in Phoenix, touring TSMC's $265 billion chip plant and meeting Arizona's governor. His itinerary kept him out of Washington and away from the State Department.
Russian forces struck at least two Ukrainian cargo ships and a Liberian-flagged vessel docked in the Odesa region, killing one crew member. A massive missile and drone strike on Odesa city injured at least 17 more and damaged a residential building.
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