Afghanistan
Following extreme hunger warnings, a bitter reality is unfolding across Afghanistan: food is available, but remains inaccessible for millions of people. That’s according to UN aid coordination office spokesperson Olga Cherevko, who has just returned from a field visit with a stark call to action. Nearly 16 million Afghans are facing crisis-level hunger – some 3.4 million of them living in emergency conditions, said Ms. Cherevko, briefing from Kabul on Tuesday. “I want to start with something that can get lost when we talk about Afghanistan through numbers: a harvest can improve, markets can have food, but families can still go hungry,” she said, calling it “one of the clearest takeaways” from her recent visits to southern and northeastern Afghanistan. Ms. Cherevko called for immediate and sustained action to help the people of Afghanistan “before families have exhausted their options”. – UN News ‘One step away from famine’: Inside Afghanistan’s hunger crisis | UN News
Australia
L’Human Technology Institute (HTI) della University of Technology Sydney ha invitato il governo australiano a rafforzare le tutele contro la sorveglianza sui luoghi di lavoro basata sull’intelligenza artificiale e su altre tecnologie. Il suo nuovo rapporto, intitolato “Drawing the Line”, raccomanda di modificare il Fair Work Act, imponendo ai datori di lavoro di garantire che il monitoraggio dei lavoratori sia “equo e ragionevole”. – Digital Watch Observatory Australian report urges AI surveillance reform
Bangladesh
At 14, Bushra faced being married off – until community leaders at a UNICEF-supported child protection hub worked with her father to prevent her from being given away against her will. Her story was one of many heard by the UN children’s agency Executive Director Catherine Russell who on Tuesday called for urgent investment in Bangladesh’s children following a three-day visit to the country. Ms. Russell urged action on three fronts: ending child marriage and keeping girls in school, delivering on the Government’s commitment to invest five per cent of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) in both education and health, and protecting quality learning for Rohingya refugee and host-community children. “Keeping girls in school and providing them with the health, education and protection services they need will deliver a brighter future for them, for their communities, and for Bangladesh,” she said. – UN News Bangladesh: UNICEF chief calls for an end to child marriage
Europe
Center-right lawmakers in the European Parliament are intensifying efforts to weaken two EU climate laws, a campaign that could undermine the bloc’s push to cut planet-warming emissions. The European People’s Party, the largest group in Parliament, will this week push for a three-year delay to rules on emissions of the climate pollutant methane, a change the fossil fuel sector and the U.S. government have lobbied hard for. A growing number of EPP lawmakers now also want to delay — or scrap altogether — a new carbon price on transport and heating, known as ETS2, according to a document obtained by POLITICO. That puts them in line with several EU member countries, including Italy and Poland, which pushed for a delay to the new carbon price at a meeting of EU leaders in Brussels last week. Both policies are central pillars in the EU’s effort to reduce its planet-warming emissions. A successful repeal of ETS2 in particular would be a blow to EU climate goals, as it covers around 40% of the bloc’s greenhouse gas emissions. But it would also be a major victory for conservative and pro-business lawmakers and national governments that have been campaigning for less stringent EU climate laws in the name of industrial competitiveness. – Politico Europe’s conservatives have 2 new targets in their campaign to weaken EU climate laws
European legislators are calling for EU-wide regulations to ban noxious deepfakes and hold technology platforms responsible for preventing their spread. A draft of the tech objectives of the center-left Socialists and Democrats group in the European Parliament, seen by POLITICO, calls for a ban on harmful, non-consensual or deceptive deepfakes — a move that would require platforms and AI providers to prevent their spread rather than wait for victims to complain. The push comes amid a Europe-wide debate over who controls a person’s digital identity as AI increasingly allows for the easy production of everything from a politician’s fake endorsement to the clone of your neighbor’s voice to pull off a scam. Denmark this month introduced a plan to amend its copyright law to bar sharing digital replicas without consent. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni applied to trademark a recording of her voice to protect against unauthorized use. Despite the increased public attention and legislative activity, competing laws across borders could allow deepfakes to proliferate and make enforcement difficult both for platforms and authorities. “The current trend towards different national solutions only creates legal confusion bad actors could exploit,” German S&D MEP Tiemo Wölken, a key legislator on Parliament’s copyright and AI report, told POLITICO. A recent report that 50 MEPs have been targeted by sexualised deepfakes was a reminder that the technology can do serious harm. Even if so-called “nudification” apps will be covered by an update of the AI Act, the new socialist push signals growing momentum in Brussels to address the broader issue of deepfakes. The S&D proposal doesn’t specify the mechanism for implementing the ban, but some see following Denmark’s path of applying copyright law as the most effective solution. Still, legal experts warn that creating new copyright-style protections for people’s digital identities could backfire, potentially allowing companies to acquire control over their AI-generated likenesses. “Don’t bake it into copyright,” said Stina Teilmann-Lock, an associate professor at Copenhagen Business School. “Because then you just create problems for copyright and you might not solve the real issue.” – Politico Socialists push for EU law on deepfakes
Europe – Canada – UK – Ukraine
The EU is preparing to try and persuade Canada and the U.K. to increase their support for Ukraine as part of efforts to plug the €70 billion funding gap Kyiv faces next year. The EU-Canada summit on Oct. 29-30 and the EU-U.K. summit on Nov. 20 will give Brussels a chance to make the case at the highest level. With Kyiv’s financing needs rising and U.S. backing uncertain, Brussels is increasingly looking to non-EU allies to contribute more, five EU officials, including two from the European Commission, and two EU diplomats told POLITICO. The EU and its member countries provide 80 percent of Ukraine’s external aid, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Friday. “We urgently need other partners to step up.” – Politico EU to press Canada and UK for more Ukraine funding
Europe – Russia
The EU will not ease sanctions on Russian fossil fuels even after the U.S. struck a diesel deal with Moscow, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Wednesday morning. In a speech to EU lawmakers, she warned “Russia is not a trusted supplier of energy because it would, this is our experience, at any time weaponize energy dependencies to blackmail others,” arguing it was Russia that cut gas supply to Europe. “That is a lesson Europe certainly will not forget”. Earlier this month, U.S. President Donald Trump announced an agreement with Russian President Vladimir Putin to ease sanctions on imports of diesel fuel until April 2027, as global oil prices surge. – Politico Russia energy sanctions will stay despite US diesel deal, von der Leyen says
France
Suspicious drones flew over military facilities in southeastern France earlier this month, the French navy said on Wednesday. During a large-scale armed forces exercise that lasted from Oct. 5 to Oct. 16, “unauthorized drones were detected in the no-fly zone, near and above military sites,” the navy said in a press statement. “In each instance, the planned security measures were activated by the deployment of anti-drone devices, in coordination with domestic security forces,” it continued, adding that a judicial investigation was opened. – Politico Suspicious drones spotted flying over French military sites
Germany
Germany’s armed forces classified the threat of Russian sabotage against their own troops and facilities as “significant” for the first time, the second-highest level on their internal threat scale, according to a Bundeswehr assessment reported by German broadcasters WDR and the Sueddeutsche Zeitung on Wednesday. A defense ministry spokesperson confirmed the assessment, telling reporters: “We are noting that we face a significant sabotage threat overall for the Bundeswehr”. The reassessment was triggered by the discovery in mid-September of a crashed drone carrying a tin of high explosives near the Wunstorf air base in Lower Saxony, WDR and Sueddeutsche Zeitung reported. – Reuters Germany’s military warns of ‘significant’ Russian sabotage threat
Germany’s Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) confirmed on October 19 that its hosting provider was hacked in September and that mailboxes were copied. By the time the confirmation reached Bild, a website called hexane.cc had already been online for hours offering an index of what it claims are 421,179 internal party emails. “In September 2026 there was a hacking attack on a hosting provider used by our party.” By then the website hexane.cc had been online for several hours with an index of what it says are 421,179 of the party’s emails. In place of the emails, the site shows summaries written by software, sorted into categories that include racism and antisemitism and graded from Low to Critical. International Cyber Digest (ICD), a cybersecurity news account on X, examined it on 19 October and reported that the index includes Gauland’s mailbox and that the newest message is dated 12 September 2026. According to the summaries ICD relayed, Gauland, the party’s 85-year-old honorary chairman and former co-leader, forwarded a 2018 email about a “Hitler pilgrimage” by a former judge on the party’s internal court in Thuringia.” AfD told told Bild. “A district board member sent a Christmas card with a swastika and the words “Heil Hitler”. Staff at the party’s Berlin headquarters discussed luring a photographer to an event and throwing him out by force, in a thread signed off “hail and victory”. – Security Affairs AfD Email Breach Exposes 421,000 Messages in Anonymous Online Archive
Iraq – Iran
Iraq has closed the busy Sheeb border crossing with Iran to review security and install detection equipment to stop the smuggling of prohibited materials, an Iraqi border official said on Wednesday. Sheeb would be closed to passengers, vehicles and commercial trucks until further notice, two other sources at the crossing said. – Reuters Iraq closes Sheeb border crossing with Iran to check security, sources say
Israel
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s main rival in October 27 elections, ex-army chief Gadi Eisenkot, said on Wednesday that he would refuse to serve as a minister in a new government led by the current premier. With the poll just days away, and predictions that no side will win on its own, some commentators have raised the possibility of a unity government convening Netanyahu’s right-wing bloc with centrist and center-right parties. But speaking to radio station 103 FM on Wednesday, Eisenkot said he was committed, “categorically, to not serving under Netanyahu’s leadership, even within the framework of a rotation” deal in which the two shared power. – AFP Netanyahu’s main election rival rules out serving under him
Israel – Iran
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday that the only way to remove the threat posed by Iran was to topple its government. “Iran wanted to destroy us; we stopped them. They wanted to produce nuclear bombs; we stopped them… Yet they persist,” he said during an election rally in the southern town of Dimona. “Therefore, there is only one way to end this: by toppling this regime”. “This is the directive I have issued to the Israel Defense Forces, to the Mossad, and to all our security branches,” he added, without specifying when or how that directive would be executed. – AFP Netanyahu says ‘toppling’ Iran government only way to end threat
North Korea – South Korea
North Korea has told its border troops to take “prompt and resolute action” if South Korean forces threaten their safety, state media said on Wednesday, raising the risk of a clash along the heavily armed frontier. The report came a day after Seoul pledged to punish “resolutely” any further provocation by Pyongyang if North Korea acted on threats to strengthen its military posture along the border. North Korean Army Marshal Pak Jong Chon inspected fortifications on the border with South Korea on Tuesday, accompanied by Kim Yo Jong, the powerful sister of leader Kim Jong Un, KCNA reported. – Reuters North Korea tells border troops to take ‘resolute action’ if South threatens their safety
Russia – Germany
Russia’s FSB security services have arrested a German national accused of being a ‘mercenary’ for Ukraine, Russian media reported Wednesday. “The Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation has detained a German citizen who is a serving member of the Armed Forces of Ukraine,” said a statement cited by news agencies. According to the FSB, the man, who had previously fought in Afghanistan and Syria, arrived in Ukraine last November and signed a three-year contract with the Ukrainian army, but had deserted after not receiving promised wages. – AFP Moscow arrests German for being ‘mercenary’ for Ukraine: Russian news agencies
Russia – Ukraine
Russian President Vladimir Putin said the Kremlin would be ready to resume trilateral Russia-US-Ukraine peace talks after mid-November, at the request of US special envoy Steve Witkoff who met with Putin for around three hours Wednesday. The meeting in St. Petersburg came off the back of Witkoff’s “productive” Tuesday summit with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky in Norway, as the United States seeks to advance proposals to end to the war. Putin said he would be ready to resume trilateral talks after November 10, according to a post-meeting briefing by his aide Yury Ushakov. The aide said the Kremlin would like to discuss the establishment of a “security framework” for both Russia and Ukraine following the end of the conflict, without offering further details on what Russia would demand as part of that framework. The next trilateral round could take place in Abu Dhabi, the capital city of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Ushakov said in response to a question on Russian state news channel Russia 24. – CNN Russia willing to resume trilateral peace talks in November, Kremlin says after Witkoff meeting
President Vladimir Putin’s meeting with US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff in a grand imperial palace to review new ideas on ending the war in Ukraine has ended, Reuters reported on Wednesday. The talks in St Petersburg, the ninth time that Witkoff has met Putin in person amid Washington’s latest push to stop Europe’s bloodiest conflict since World War Two, began with a goodwill gesture from Russia – the release of a retired US school teacher held in Russia. The encounter comes amid concerns in Kyiv and among its allies that the United States is backing away from Ukraine, at times holding back real-time intelligence on Russian attacks and hobbling Ukraine’s military communications. – Reuters Putin, US envoy Witkoff end meeting on new ideas to end Ukraine war
The Russian Defense Ministry said on Wednesday its drones had hit a cargo vessel carrying military cargo to Ukraine en route to the port of Odessa, hours before US envoy Steve Witkoff’s meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in St. Petersburg. – Reuters Russia hits cargo vessel, electric power substation in Ukraine
Elon Musk ordered a reduction in Starshield services for Ukraine, the Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday, after the tech billionaire said any limits on the SpaceX-operated communications system would ultimately have come from the president. Musk capped the speed at which Ukrainian equipment could connect to the system, making some of Kyiv’s drones useless, the Journal reported, citing anonymous US officials and people familiar with the matter. Kyiv has accused Washington of deliberately slowing speeds at which Starshield can be used effectively — a charge denied last week by US President Donald Trump. – AFP Musk ordered reduction in Starshield services for Ukraine: Report
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Wednesday that talks between American envoy Steve Witkoff and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Oslo had been “positive,” as Witkoff headed to Russia for further discussions. “It was positive, nothing unexpected, nothing surprising, and he’ll now, armed with those ideas, be able to go to Saint Petersburg and share them with the Russian side — and let’s see if we can make some progress,” Rubio said, speaking in India. But Rubio acknowledged the difficulties in ending Russia’s four-year-old war in Ukraine. – AFP Rubio says talks with Ukraine ‘positive’ as Witkoff heads to Russia
Saudi Arabia
The Saudi-led coalition said on Wednesday it had intercepted five drones launched towards the Kingdom, including in the Medina region home to one of Islam’s holiest cities. “Four drones launched toward the Kingdom have been intercepted and destroyed,” coalition spokesman Maj. Gen. Turki al-Malki posted on X, noting in a second thread post that the interceptions took place in Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Region as well as Medina. – Al Arabiya Saudi-led coalition says intercepted five drones in Medina, Eastern Regions
Serbia
The Citizen Lab published a research note confirming that the iPhone of Vladan Đokić, Rector of the University of Belgrade, was infected with NSO Group’s Pegasus spyware sometime in 2026. The infection used a zero-click exploit, meaning Đokić did nothing to trigger it. No tap, no opened file, nothing. “In collaboration with the SHARE Foundation, we found with high confidence that Professor Vladan Đokić, Rector of the University of Belgrade, and prominent supporter of the Serbian student movement, was hacked with NSO Group’s Pegasus spyware in 2026.” states Citizen Lab. Đokić became a prominent figure in Serbia’s student-led pro-democracy movement after refusing to facilitate a government crackdown on protesters. Serbian authorities raided his offices on March 31, seizing computers and servers. The Citizen Lab found the infection with high confidence and describes the investigation as ongoing. – Security Affairs NSO Spyware Pegasus Hit a Serbian University Rector Six Days Before Snap Elections
South Sudan – Sudan
A drone strike on a market in Abyei, a border region disputed by Sudan and South Sudan, hit a nearby fuel depot, killing at least 153 people and igniting a fire that was still burning Tuesday, a local official said. Yohanna Akol Ngor, the Abyei administration’s caretaker information minister, blamed Sudan’s military for Monday’s attack on Amiet Market, north of Abyei town. “We have recorded 153 deaths,” Ngor told the Associated Press by phone Tuesday. He said the death toll continued to rise as the fire burned. A senior Sudanese military officer said the army carried out a drone strike Monday targeting fuel tankers arriving from South Sudan that he said were bound for the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF). He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the press. – by CNN Drone strike on a market in disputed African region of Abyei kills at least 153
Sudan – Central African Republic
The UN warned on Tuesday against a premature withdrawal of its peacekeepers as the war in Sudan spills over into the Central African Republic (CAR). CAR continues to face a resurgence of deadly violence in the east despite the disarmament of nearly 2,000 fighters and the gradual completion of the latest electoral cycle, the Security Council heard. Illustrating the current fragility, the top UN official in the country, Valentine Rugwabiza, highlighted an attack on 30 June by different armed groups on Am-Dafock, bordering Sudan, which killed civilians, members of national security forces, displaced 17,000 civilians and injured six UN peacekeepers. However, without peacekeeping mission MINUSCA’s rapid response, she said, attacks in the border area with Chad and Sudan would have resulted in significantly more fatalities and State authority could not have been restored after only five days of control by the armed group, whose fighters retreated across the border into Sudan. “In this regard, I plead with the council, as it prepares to renew MINUSCA’s mandate, to maintain MINUSCA with adequate force levels and capabilities during the critical consolidation phase,” she stressed. – UN News As Sudan war spills into Central African Republic, UN warns against early peacekeeper exit
UK
British counterterrorism police said Tuesday they have rearrested two men in their investigation into last month’s incident at RAF Fairford in England, where US B-1 bombers were based. A 24-year-old British national and a 25-year-old dual British-Iranian national were rearrested on suspicion of assisting Iran’s foreign intelligence service, police said in a statement. “So far seven men have been arrested in connection with our investigation,” Laurence Taylor, a senior counterterrorism police officer, said in a statement. “As a result of the ongoing efforts of our officers, earlier today two of those men were re-arrested for offences relating to Section 3 of the National Security Act — assisting a foreign intelligence service”. “This is very much a live investigation, and our evidence gathering continues, but at this time our position remains the same; we consider it highly likely that there is Iranian state involvement,” Taylor added. The other five men are currently out on bail. Police have not released the names of any of them. – CNN Two men rearrested on suspicion of assisting Iran’s intelligence service in RAF Fairford incident
US
Donald Trump is playing one of his final cards in the midterm election race: fear of an American civilizational collapse. To hear the president, the greatest current threat to Americans is not the prohibitive cost of groceries, gasoline, diesel and housing; his Iran war quagmire; or concerns that AI could wipe out jobs and even humanity. It’s that White, Christian culture could be destroyed unless his Republican monopoly on Washington power is preserved in the midterm elections. In one of the most foreboding closing arguments of any of his political campaigns, Trump is flinging racially charged rhetoric; conjuring Islamophobic paranoia; and stirring up false visions of kids being mutilated in mass transgender surgeries without parental consent. He’s also acting as an arbiter of others’ faith and American identify. “Americans are going to stand up and declare that we will protect our civilization, we will preserve our religion, our values and our heritage, and we will never let our nation be conquered or destroyed by people that hate us,” Trump said at a rally in Kansas on Monday, at which he also used an antisemitic slur. At his most vulnerable political moment in nearly six years as president, Trump isn’t responding with compelling, innovative defenses of his record on affordability or foreign policy. He’s intensifying the scorched-earth imagery that made his name and seeking to replenish power by weaponizing painful national divides. In an example of his willingness to wade into some of the most sensitive cultural issues, Trump warned at his Kansas event that Democratic Senate nominee Adam Hamilton told people to “repent because you were born White.” This was a misrepresentation of the candidate’s far more expansive remarks on race, self-reflection and personal faith. – CNN Trump’s increasingly dark rhetoric is shocking — even for him
As Kansans were waiting for President Donald Trump to arrive at his rally in Wichita this week, they were treated to a new addition to the pre-show program: footage of this weekend’s violent protests in France, most of it clipped from Fox News, aired on large screens. That the unrest was unfolding 4,700 miles away from the Heartland Credit Union Arena seemed immaterial to the point Trump and his team were trying to make. This could happen here, Trump would later warn his crowd, if Democrats win in November’s midterms. “When you see burning steeples and raging fires in France, just remember that is what the radical ‘Dumocrats’ want to do to America,” he said Monday. France, he claimed, was being “conquered, looted and burned to the ground by migrants, jihadists and communists who hate Christianity” and “the Western civilization itself”. – CNN Rioting in France gives Trump a new talking point as he tries to stave off GOP midterm losses
US – China
China built more than twice the naval tonnage of the United States in the 2024-25 period, narrowing the gap between the two countries’ navies, according to the World Defense Shipbuilding report published by Euronaval ahead of the 2026 edition of the naval defense show. The combined tonnage of combat ships built by China in the two years through to December 2025 amounted to 636,208 tons, compared to 270,509 tons for the United States, according to data compiled by Flottes de Combat and French maritime industry association Gican. China accounted for more than a third of the global naval tonnage constructed in 2024-25, based on the Euronaval report. U.S. lawmakers and congressional researchers have warned that China’s greater shipbuilding capacity, combined with delays and bottlenecks in U.S. naval shipbuilding, could hurt America’s ability to keep up with Beijing’s expanding fleet. – Defense News China built more than twice naval tonnage of US in 2024-25: Euronaval
US – Iran
The US cannot expect dialogue with Iran while blockading and threatening it, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Wednesday according to state media, a day after Pakistan’s army chief visited Tehran to discuss mediation efforts and regional developments. Separately, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi wrote in an article published in the Financial Times on Wednesday that Iran was ready for diplomacy but will defend itself. “While Iran is firmly committed to seeking a dignified peaceful resolution to the conflict, we are also fully prepared to defend ourselves,” Araghchi wrote. – Al Arabiya US cannot blockade and threaten Iran while expecting to have dialogue with it: Pezeshkian
Yemen
More than 250,000 people have now fled renewed fighting in Yemen, the UN said on Tuesday, citing particular concern for those sheltering in the southwestern city of Taiz and the wider governorate, where access is “essentially blocked”. “The Houthis’ closure of the only supply route linking Taiz to Aden is placing civilians at grave risk, blocking humanitarian aid and cutting off essential supplies,” said UN human rights chief Volker Türk. In an appeal to Houthi fighters who he said had encircled Taiz City to allow aid in immediately, the High Commissioner for Human Rights noted that 32 civilians have been confirmed killed across the governorate, including 14 children and nine women. He warned of a significant uptick in the risk of death and injury as fighting moves closer to densely populated areas of the city. The development follows the resumption last month of clashes between Houthi fighters – formally known as Ansar Allah – and the internationally recognized Government based in Aden, ending the relative calm brought about by the 2022 truce. The situation in Taiz is particularly worrying because around half of those recently uprooted by the violence have sought shelter there. – UN News Yemen war continues to force families from homes amid hunger and disease
