Briefing

The FBI says the US arrested a woman suspected of spying for China by surveilling Taiwan’s president’s son and his family before she could board a flight to Shanghai, as tensions between the rival powers persist.

China espionage allegationsTaiwanFBI

The FBI arrested Wanying Zhang at Los Angeles International Airport and charged her with acting as an unregistered foreign agent. Prosecutors allege she was directed by Chinese officials to surveil the son of Taiwan’s president, Lai Ching-te, and send them photographs, video and licence-plate information. Taiwan’s presidential office condemned the alleged conduct as transnational repression.

FBIspying allegationsTaiwanChina

The FBI arrested California resident Wanying Zhang at Los Angeles International Airport and charged her with acting as an unregistered foreign agent. Authorities allege she surveilled Taiwanese President William Lai Ching-te’s son and family at the direction of Chinese officials, sending photos, video and licence-plate information to China.

FBIChinese foreign agentTaiwanespionage allegations

The U.S. military said on Sunday that a strike on a vessel in the Caribbean Sea killed four people. Washington says the attacks target “narco-terrorists,” while human rights experts condemn them as extrajudicial killings.

U.S. militaryCaribbean Seavessel strikenarco-terrorism

The US military struck a go-fast boat in the Caribbean allegedly involved in drug trafficking, killing four people, the US Southern Command said. It said confirmed intelligence showed the vessel was actively engaged in narco-trafficking. US media report that more than 230 people have been killed in similar strikes since last fall.

United StatesCaribbeandrug traffickingmilitary strike

US military footage shows a high-speed vessel in the Caribbean before it was hit during an operation targeting suspected drug trafficking. The strike killed four people described by the military as “narco-terrorists.”

US militaryCaribbeandrug trafficking

Debris from an Ontario air ambulance carrying six people, including four Canadians, was found about 150 kilometres southeast of Boston. The U.S. Coast Guard confirmed it came from the missing aircraft, while the search for the passengers continues.

Canadaair ambulancemissing aircraftsearch and rescue

Search efforts are underway for six people missing after a medical aircraft went down off the coast of Nantucket, with ABC’s Morgan Norwood reporting the latest developments.

Nantucketmedical aircraftsearch and rescue

The US has removed all B-1 bombers from RAF Fairford, a UK base at the centre of a terror investigation. Donald Trump criticised British authorities for releasing six men on bail after their arrests over an incident near the airbase.

USUKB-1 bombersRAF Fairford

The United States has withdrawn all bombers deployed at RAF Fairford and returned them to home stations. Washington gave no reason, but the move follows a suspicious-vehicles incident near the Gloucestershire base that prompted a counter-terrorism investigation. Sources say it was an operational military decision rather than a political one.

US Air ForceUKRAF Fairfordbombers

The Pentagon says all US bombers deployed at RAF Fairford have returned to home stations in the United States after a security incident near the base. British counter-terrorism police are investigating, while authorities have raised possible Iranian involvement, an allegation Tehran rejects.

United StatesUnited KingdomRAF Fairfordcounter-terrorism investigation

Yemen’s internationally recognized government has announced a new offensive to retake territory held by the Iran-backed Houthis. The announcement followed the rebels’ capture of a key road linking Taiz and Aden, effectively isolating Taiz. More than 70 people were reportedly killed in fighting around the city over the past day.

YemenHouthisTaizmilitary offensive

Yemeni government forces have declared a “battle for liberation” to retake territory still held by the Houthis. Heavy damage was reported at a factory in Sanaa, the Houthi-held capital, as the Saudi-backed forces began the operation against the Iran-backed group.

YemenHouthismilitary operation

Yemen’s conflict is intensifying, with air attacks striking Sanaa, the Houthi-controlled capital. Ground fighting is worsening around Taiz in the southwest, while forces battle for Marib, the Yemeni government’s last major northern stronghold. Presidential Leadership Council Chairman Rashad Mohammed al-Alimi says a counteroffensive has begun to restore territory and extend state authority.

Yemen conflictair attacksHouthisRed Sea

Initial findings suggest the Flydubai co-pilot accused of attacking the captain and trying to seize control of an Israel-bound flight acted alone, rather than for an organized group or foreign government, officials said. Emirati authorities described it as an attempted terrorist attack, but stressed that the investigation remains at an early stage.

Flydubaiaviation securityattack investigation

FlyDubai’s perilous plunge and miraculous ending have drawn attention to Boeing’s 737 Max, an aircraft that also appears to have defied the odds.

FlyDubaiBoeing 737 Maxaviation safety

A fresh wave of Russian attacks on Odesa in southwestern Ukraine has cut off ports and halted grain exports, strangling the country’s economy.

RussiaUkraineOdesaport attacksgrain exports

Spain’s socialist prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, has called a general election for 29 November after the People’s party, Vox and Junts rejected his minority government’s emergency housing decrees. The vote follows nationwide protests over soaring rents and insecure tenancies, and Sánchez hopes the issue will rally leftwing voters.

Spain politicssnap electionhousing crisisPedro Sánchez

Spanish Prime Minister Sanchez has called a snap election for November 29.

SpainPedro Sanchezsnap election

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has called a snap election following protests over the housing crisis.

Spain politicssnap electionhousing crisis

Bosnian Serb nationalist Milorad Dodik claimed that his party won Bosnia’s elections. The presidential election underscored the country’s deep political and ethnic divisions; its three-member presidency rotates leadership every eight months.

Bosnia and HerzegovinaelectionsMilorad Dodikethnic divisions

Thousands of supporters of jailed former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan are marching toward Islamabad, demanding his release. The protest resumed after talks between the government and Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party ended without agreement. Authorities have placed shipping containers across key routes into the capital.

Imran KhanPakistanpolitical protestIslamabad

Bolsonaro surged to an unexpected lead over Lula in the first round of Brazil’s presidential election, making him the overwhelming favorite to win the runoff and push Latin America’s heavyweight nation sharply to the right.

Brazil electionBolsonaroLularightward shift

Family members of former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro made major gains in Sunday’s general election. His eldest son, right-wing lawmaker Flavio Bolsonaro, overtook President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in the first-round presidential vote after pledging during the campaign to seek amnesty for his imprisoned father.

Brazil electionBolsonaro familyLulaamnesty

Former MEP João Albuquerque said that if Flávio Bolsonaro wins Brazil’s presidential election, the two biggest South American countries would be close to Trump and move further away from the EU. Bolsonaro beat Lula in yesterday’s first round.

Brazil electionBolsonaroLulaEuropean Union

Provisional Kpler data indicates that Middle Eastern crude exports exceeded pre-war levels on four days in the final week of September, reaching 19.5–22.5 million barrels per day. IRGC commander Ali Fadavi called flows through a US-supervised Hormuz route negligible. Iran’s parliament speaker said the strait would stay closed until Washington accepts Tehran’s seven-day reopening plan.

Middle East oil exportsStrait of HormuzIranian Revolutionary Guard

Former Iranian diplomat Hossein Mousavian argues that Iran’s leaders do not believe US claims that the US-Israel war on Iran is about nuclear weapons rather than oil. Mousavian and former US diplomat Alan Eyre say the conflict is not approaching a peace deal or a “permanent stalemate” anytime soon.

Iran warUnited StatesIsraelnuclear negotiations

Yemen’s government has announced a major offensive against the Houthis, while Iran says it is prepared to defend itself if the United States attacks.

Iran warYemenHouthisUnited States

Russia has launched “anti-epidemic” measures after an employee at a plague research center in the Siberian Irkutsk region became infected with an unknown type of pneumonia.

RussiaIrkutskpneumoniapublic health

Several hospitals in Irkutsk have imposed three-week quarantines after Darya Shipilova, a laboratory technician at the city’s Anti-Plague Institute, died of what authorities called pneumonia of unknown cause. Rospotrebnadzor says the public health situation is stable and no work-related microorganisms were found, while local reports and doctors have raised the possibility of pneumonic plague.

Irkutskpneumoniaplaguequarantine

The State Department is tracking reports of a suspected fatal pneumonic plague case in Irkutsk Oblast, Russia, and is pressing Moscow to provide accurate information quickly. A U.S. official said many details remain unconfirmed and that agencies including the CDC are watching the situation. Early treatment with common antibiotics can be effective.

Russiapneumonic plagueState Departmentpublic health

Up to 500 French high schools will be fully or partly closed on Monday after clashes between riot police and student protesters, Education Minister Édouard Geffray says. Students are protesting teacher shortages, overcrowded classrooms and deteriorating buildings. Geffray says 24 schools have been burned or ransacked and 78 education staff injured.

Francestudent protestsschool closureseducation

The 2026 Nobel Prize announcements begin at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, with the winner of the medicine prize set to be revealed.

Nobel Prizemedicine prizeStockholm