Reuters World News Summary

Following is a summary of current world news briefs.

Trump's favorite 2026 campaign target is Biden: nearly 900 mentions and counting

US President Donald Trump has invoked Joe Biden's name almost 900 times this year, a Reuters review shows, keeping his predecessor at the center of debate as Republicans fight to hold their fragile grip on Congress in November's midterm elections. Trump has made Biden, a Democrat, his political target on average three times a day across ​speeches, comments and Truth Social postings, blaming him for problems ranging from inflation and immigration to munitions shortages, even as the former president, 83 and battling Stage 4 cancer, has largely withdrawn from public life.

Vessels trickle through Strait of Hormuz as Middle East conflict persists

A total of 17 commodity vessels ​transited the Strait of Hormuz on the weekend, down from 37 a week earlier, shipping data showed on Monday, as tension in the Gulf persisted with the US and Iran in stalemate. Visible traffic ‌through the strait, the conduit for ​a fifth of the world's oil and liquefied natural gas before the war, has dwindled to a trickle. However, Middle Eastern producers continue to export oil on tankers travelling with their transponders off.

How Putin may exploit Russian ruling party's election win

The pro-Putin ruling United Russia party retained its decisive majority in the national parliament, near-complete election results showed on Monday nL8N45D0HS, in a tightly controlled political system that excluded nL6N4580KN most candidates who oppose Moscow's war in Ukraine https://www.reuters.com/world/ukraine-russia-war/.

Here are some of the reasons why the vote may be useful to President Vladimir Putin:

Italy's Salvini calls congress seeking to tighten grip on League party

Besieged by internal rivals and with poll ratings declining, Matteo Salvini has unexpectedly called an extraordinary congress of his co-ruling League party, a move analysts see as an attempt to shore up his authority ahead of elections due next year. Recent polls put the League below 6%, behind coalition ally Forza Italia and National Future, a new far-right group formed in February by ‌League dissidents that is polling at around 8%.

Five takeaways from Germany's regional elections

Elections in two German states nL1N45C01D on Sunday resulted in severe losses for the country's leading Christian Democrats, whose Chancellor Friedrich Merz is facing pressure to keep the far-right Alternative fuer Deutschland party at bay. Here are five takeaways from regional elections in the northeastern state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Germany's capital Berlin.

Pakistan says 28 killed in airstrikes on three targets in Afghanistan

Pakistan's information ministry said on Monday that 28 "terrorists" and suicide bombers were killed in airstrikes on three targets in Afghanistan.

Gaza students return to in-person schooling for first time in three years

Hundreds of thousands of children in Gaza returned to in-person teaching on Saturday for the first time in nearly three years, albeit in damaged or makeshift school buildings and tents, and with uniforms, notebooks and pens unaffordable for many families. The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) says 98% of schools in Gaza were either destroyed or damaged during the war, and Gaza education officials say about 660,000 students have been deprived of in-person learning and regular participation in education.

Russia has intensified repression of critics overseas, UN expert says

Russia has intensified surveillance, intimidation and reprisals against critics overseas since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, a UN expert said on Monday. The Special Rapporteur on human rights in Russia told the Human Rights Council in Geneva that Russia had become one of the most prolific perpetrators ‌of "transnational repression", through attempted assassinations, assaults and poisonings.

US watching Chinese marine presence off Alaska, Arctic Coast Guard chief says

The United States is watching China's presence in its Arctic zone "very closely" amid concerns regarding the security of the US homeland, a senior US Arctic military official said. So far in 2026, four Chinese research vessels have conducted work offshore in the US Arctic, compared to a total of five in 2025, Rear Admiral Bob Little, Commander of the US Coast Guard's Arctic District, told Reuters.

New Zealand naval ships transit contested Taiwan Strait

Two New Zealand naval ships transited the Taiwan Strait late last week, New Zealand's Defence Force said ‌on Monday, amid tension over the waterway claimed by China and regarded by Taiwan and the US as international waters. Like most countries, New Zealand has no formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan, but for Taipei, it is an important, like-minded democratic partner. Both maintain de facto embassies in each other's capitals.

Syrian ammunition depot explodes in fourth such blast this month

A series of explosions tore through an army weapons depot in northern Syria early on Monday, the fourth such incident this month, wounding several people and sending villagers scattering.

The blast was the latest in a series of mysterious and often unexplained explosions at military storage sites across Syria.

Erosion of Germany's political centre exposes Merz's weakening grip on power

Germany's far right and far left both made big gains in Sunday's state elections, exposing yet again the erosion of the political centre in Europe's largest economy as well as Chancellor Friedrich Merz's weakening hold on power. The anti-immigration Alternative for Germany (AfD) confirmed its strength in the formerly communist eastern states by taking first place in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania state, building on its triumph two weeks ago in Saxony-Anhalt.

Seven Ethiopian armed groups announce anti-government alliance

Seven Ethiopian armed groups, including longstanding enemies who fought on opposite sides of a 2020-2022 civil war, said they have formed an alliance aimed at overthrowing Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed's government. The announcement of the Ethiopian Peoples' Forces Alliance for Survival brought together a geographically and ethnically diverse body of groups ranging from Tigray in the north to Somali Region in the south. Some remain at loggerheads with other members over territory and other issues.

Iran and US trade threats after Houthi attacks escalate regional conflict

Iran and the United States exchanged new threats on Sunday, with President Donald Trump ⁠warning Iran would fail economically or face ​its leadership being wiped out if it didn't make a deal, and the Iranian military saying it would retaliate harshly to any fresh attack. The conflict has looked stalemated for months, with ⁠no sign either side was ready for concessions even as it has deepened a global energy crisis, cratered swathes of Iran's economy and spilled over into new regional escalations.

Textile factory fire in southern Chinese city of Foshan kills 8

A fire that broke out at a textile factory in the Chinese city of Foshan in southern Guangdong province on Sunday killed eight people and injured one, state media said on Monday. The fire broke out at 3:12 p.m. (0712 GMT) in a two-story building inside an industrial park and was extinguished in about an hour, state television reported.

Xi rolls into Trump summit with China's trade engine roaring

In the four months since the leaders of the two global superpowers last met, Xi Jinping has overseen a surge in China's trade with the world while Donald Trump has ⁠struggled with falling approval ratings at home. That shift in fortunes has tempered expectations for their summit in Washington this week, analysts say, with Xi in no rush to make concessions and Trump constrained by a costly war with Iran that has hurt both his popularity and Americans' wallets.

Pakistan says it killed 28 militants, Taliban reports three civilian deaths

Pakistan's government said on Monday that airstrikes killed at least 28 militants in the Afghanistan-Pakistan border region, with one security official saying two Afghan provinces were targeted. Hours earlier, Afghan Taliban officials accused Islamabad of killing at least three civilians in overnight airstrikes on its territory.

Southport girls' killer 'threw boiling water mixed with sugar' at prison guard, prosecutors say

A British man jailed for the murders of three young girls at a Taylor Swift-themed dance event ​in 2024 appeared in a London court on Monday, charged with assaulting prison staff and throwing boiling water mixed with sugar at a guard. Axel Rudakubana, then 17, launched a frenzied knife attack in northern England's Southport on July 29, 2024, killing Bebe King, six, Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, and Alice Dasilva Aguiar, nine.

Brazil's Lula would beat Bolsonaro by 1 point in runoff, suggests BTG/Nexus poll

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Senator Flavio Bolsonaro remain statistically tied in a simulated runoff ahead of next month's election, a BTG Pactual/Nexus poll showed on Monday, with the leftist incumbent holding a ⁠narrow lead within the survey's margin of error. If there was a runoff, Lula would receive 46% of voter support, compared with 45% for the eldest son of former President Jair Bolsonaro, the poll said.

Al Qaeda-linked militants kill more than 100 Malian soldiers in attack this month, sources say

Jihadists killed more than 100 soldiers in central Mali this month, two sources said, while the army said it had evacuated troops from the camp under attack and struck enemy positions during a retaliatory operation lasting more than a week. The September 10 attack in the town of Dioura and another on the airport in the town of Sevare were the latest by al Qaeda-linked Jama'at Nusrat al-Islam wal Muslimin (JNIM) against Mali's military rulers who seized power in coups in 2020 and 2021.

China's Xi chairs Politburo; Central Committee plenum set for October 26-29

China's Politburo held a meeting ⁠on Monday, ​the official Xinhua news agency reported, with President Xi Jinping chairing discussions on internal party governance and discipline in preparation for an upcoming party conclave. The ruling Communist Party will hold a plenary session of its Central Committee in Beijing from October 26 to 29, the statement carried by Xinhua showed.

Church of England bishop resigns after suspension over safeguarding complaint

The Bishop of Lincoln, Stephen Conway, has resigned after being suspended from ministry following his arrest earlier this year on suspicion of sexual assault, the Church of England said on Monday. British police said in February that a 68-year-old man had been arrested as part of an investigation into an allegation that a man was sexually assaulted between 2018 and 2025. Conway was released on conditional bail.

Kremlin rejects Le Pen/Bardella rebuke, says Russia is no threat to France

The Kremlin said on Monday that Russia does not pose a threat to France or any European country, rejecting comments by the leadership of France's hardline National Rally as false. In a joint statement at the weekend, presidential candidate Marine Le Pen and Jordan Bardella, the party's president, said they would "never tolerate a foreign power, in this case, Russia, seeking to dictate, directly or indirectly, the policy of our country through intimidation, threats, destabilization or psychological pressure."

Houthis push for control of Yemen highlands as Trump reported to have called off airstrikes

Houthi fighters were pushing ⁠to seize strategic heights in Yemen on Monday to cut off the Red Sea coast from remaining areas held by Saudi-backed forces, after a report that President Donald Trump had called off US strikes on the group at the last minute. A lightning advance by the Iran-backed group this month has extended the wider Middle East conflict to a new theatre and further threatened global energy supplies.

Explainer-How Putin may leverage Russian ruling party's election win

The pro-Putin ruling United Russia party retained its decisive majority in the national parliament, near-complete election results showed on Monday, in a tightly controlled political system that excluded most candidates who oppose Moscow's ⁠war in Ukraine. Here are some of the reasons why the vote may be useful to President Vladimir Putin:

China expels two top generals from party and military, alleging disloyalty, corruption

China has expelled ⁠two top military officers, Zhang Youxia and Liu Zhenli, from the Communist Party and the military over "serious violations of discipline and law", the state-run Xinhua news agency said on Monday. Zhang Youxia was second-in-command under President Xi Jinping as vice-chairman of the Central Military Commission - the supreme command body - and has long been seen as Xi's closest military ally. Liu was a CMC member and the chief of staff of its Joint Staff Department.

Russia's ruling pro-Putin party wins wartime election with over 57% of vote, near complete results show

Russia's ruling United Russia party easily won a parliamentary election that President Vladimir Putin has cast as a test of support for the war in Ukraine, the Central Election Commission said on Monday, after over 95% of votes had been counted. United Russia party won 57.83% of the vote, the Central Election Commission said, up from 49.8% which it won in 2021, the last time an election for the State Duma, the lower house of parliament, was held.

UK's ‌Burnham heads to US with pragmatism in mind for Trump meeting

Prime Minister Andy Burnham heads to New York on ‌Monday for the United Nations General Assembly, his first foray into global diplomacy and a test of his vow to press British interests even if they are at odds with US President Donald Trump. Burnham, a former mayor of Greater Manchester in northwestern England with limited experience of foreign affairs, is expected to meet Trump for the first time ​on Tuesday, and has set out a different approach to his predecessor, Keir Starmer, who went out of his way to win over the US leader.