Reuters World News Summary

Following is a summary of current world news briefs.

US removes bombers from UK base at centre of suspected Iranian plot

The United States has removed its B-1 bombers from a British air base one week after five men were arrested nearby on suspicion of preparing terrorist acts, a suspected plot that British Prime Minister Andy Burnham said was likely backed by Iran. The planes had been stationed at RAF ​Fairford, the preferred European base for US bombers located 90 miles (145 km) west of London, which had recently been used for US strikes on Iran. A Pentagon official said on Sunday they had now returned to their home bases in the US.

Afghan Taliban says ​problems with Pakistan can be resolved through diplomacy

Problems affecting relations between neighbours Afghanistan and Pakistan can be resolved through dialogue and diplomacy, Afghan Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi said ‌on Monday. Instead of seeking "political understanding", Pakistan's ​powerful military uses only military language in relations with Afghanistan and has carried out aggression in violation of international laws, he said

The US said China was priming a trade superweapon. Then it vanished

Four years ago, the United States warned that China was poised to unleash a trade superweapon: a state-backed digital dragnet that would rapidly expand across the globe and give Beijing unprecedented insight into the flow of international cargo. The LOGINK platform promised to streamline global shipping by providing a digital system to exchange logistics data from customs authorities, ports and third-party transport services, replacing paper processes.

Bolsonaro beats expectations in Brazil presidential vote, faces Lula in runoff

Brazilian Senator Flavio Bolsonaro will face President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in the runoff of a presidential election, after the challenger took some 47% of valid votes in the first round on Sunday, beating the forecasts in most private surveys. The two leading ‌candidates will advance to the second round of voting on October 25, after topping a field of 12 candidates in a campaign focused on concerns about the growing cost of living, corruption and insecurity in Brazilians' daily lives.

Spain's Sanchez gambles on snap election after housing protests give rare boost

Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on Monday called an early election on November 29, seeking to increase his parliamentary support after lawmakers last week rejected proposals to address a housing crisis that has drawn nationwide protests. The snap vote is a high-stakes gamble for Sanchez, whose Socialist Party trails in nearly every opinion poll. An electoral defeat would spell the end of one of Europe's last remaining left-leaning governments at a time when the far right is making unprecedented gains across the region.

German and US scientists win Nobel medicine prize for work on light and brain

American Karl Deisseroth and Germans Peter Hegemann and Georg Nagel won the 2026 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine on Monday for developing optogenetics, a technique that uses light to control individual nerve cells in the brain. The Nobel Assembly of Sweden's Karolinska Institute said Deisseroth, 54, Hegemann, 71, and Nagel, 73, were selected for their "discoveries concerning light-gated ion channels and optogenetics." They will share a prize sum ‌of 12 million Swedish crowns ($1.2 million).

Two men died in boat carrying migrants to Britain, French authorities say

Two men have died after a boat carrying about 90 migrants got into difficulty off the coast of Boulogne-sur-Mer in northern France and had to be assisted by coastguards, the local French authority said on Monday. The two men were on cardio respiratory arrest when coastguards rescued the boat and they were later declared dead by rescue workers, the office of the prefect for the Channel and North Sea said in a statement.

Myanmar military airstrikes on Rakhine displacement camps kill eight, ‌rebel group says

Myanmar military airstrikes on camps for internally displaced people in Rakhine State have killed eight people over two days, a rebel group and a youth association said on Monday, a week after an aerial attack in the same state killed 50. On Sunday, an airstrike hit a camp for internally displaced people in Rakhine's Ponnagyun township at around 5 p.m. (1030 GMT), killing six people and injuring 11 others, according to spokespersons for the Arakan Army and the Ponnagyun Youth Association

US Army tests counter-drone tech at Mexican border as cartel drone use rises

The US Army is testing counter-drone technology in the US-Mexico border area, seeking to sharpen its defenses against the growing threat of drone use by cartels and emulate the rapid battlefield innovation happening in Ukraine's war with Russia. At Falcon Peak, a US Northern Command exercise held in September in Arizona, soldiers watched as defense firms demonstrated radars, interceptor drones, autonomous gun systems and other technologies designed to detect, track and destroy small unmanned aircraft.

For freed Israeli hostages, every moment is now precious

Taken with their children or alone. Held for weeks, months or years. Confined in captors' homes or Hamas tunnels as war raged above them. Israeli former hostages seized on October 7 say they now cherish even the smallest moments of freedom. Hamas' October 7, 2023, attack was Israel's single deadliest day. The militants rampaged through villages, a music festival and army bases, killing 1,200 people and dragging 251 hostages back to Gaza.

Thousands of Imran Khan supporters ⁠start march to Pakistani capital, party says

Thousands ​of supporters of Pakistan's jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan have started a long march to Islamabad to demand his release, his party said on Monday, amid ⁠deep divisions with the Pakistani leadership. The rally began on Sunday in northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, which is ruled by Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party, with stops planned at several places before reaching Islamabad.

Who are the Houthis, Iran’s allies in Yemen?

Yemen's Saudi-backed government announced the start of a military counteroffensive against the Iran-backed Houthis, aimed at seizing the territory under their control. Renewed warfare between the Houthis and Saudi Arabia has reignited Yemen's frozen civil war and heightened risks to Red Sea shipping, further disrupting Middle Eastern energy exports already choked by Iran in the Strait of Hormuz.

Germany at risk of violent conflict with Russia, intelligence chief says

Germany is at risk of entering a violent conflict as Moscow steps up an increasingly aggressive "shadow war" against European democracies, ⁠its head of foreign intelligence warned on Monday. "The confrontation we are facing with Russia has taken on a new, more dangerous dimension," Martin Jaeger, head of the Bundesnachrichtendienst (BND), told the annual public hearing of intelligence chiefs in parliament.

US appeals court weighs Trump's block on Harvard research funding

US President Donald Trump's administration will ask an appeals court on Monday to revive his effort to terminate more than $2 billion in grants awarded to Harvard University, a centerpiece of his broad campaign against the nation's richest and oldest university. The oral argument before the Boston-based 1st US Circuit Court of Appeals, slated for 9:30 a.m. ET (1330 GMT), will help determine whether Trump can leverage federal funding to force change at ​US universities, which the Republican president has said are gripped by "radical left" ideologies.

Germany's AfD weighs shift from anti-EU roots, strategy paper shows

Members of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) are advocating a shift in the party's long-standing opposition to Germany's membership in the European Union and the euro, according to a strategy paper seen by Reuters on Monday. The move would mark a change in one of the founding principles of the AfD, which was created in 2013 largely in opposition to euro zone bailout policies and has long advocated the ⁠dissolution of the currency union or Germany's exit from it.

Trump heads to Nebraska as Republicans defend red-state Senate seat

US President Donald Trump will visit Nebraska on Monday to rally Republicans and promote his economic record, taking his message of new investment and manufacturing to a state where farmers and truckers face sharply higher diesel prices and voters worry about inflation. His stop in the city of Grand Island is part of Trump's 32-day sprint to the November 3 midterm elections, a campaign in which he is spending considerable time in Republican strongholds. Trump has urged Republicans to “pretend” he is on the ballot, arguing that voters should view the midterms as a referendum on his administration and economic record.

Trump's deportation push forces dozens of LGBT migrants onto hostile terrain

Two years ago, a mob ⁠assaulted Abdou ​Latifou and threatened to kill him after he was seen kissing the man he loved. He fled his home in the West African nation of Togo and sought refuge in the United States, according to his asylum application.

Teenager has hand blown off during French school protests, official says

A 15-year-old protesting against France's dilapidated and understaffed schools had his hand blown off on Monday in the northern town of Lens, the local prefect François-Xavier Lauch said. Local newspaper La Voix du Nord reported that the teenager lost his hand after picking up a police stun grenade.

Ukraine scrambles for money to fight war as Russian strikes batter economy

Kryvyi Rih, the hometown of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, is struggling to survive. Russian airstrikes have brought the city's huge steel plant and mines to a standstill, dragging the local economy to its knees. Mayor Oleksandr Vilkul said the sprawling industrial city — which stretches along the banks of the Inhulets River — was doing everything possible to ensure its hospitals remain open, the lights remain on in kindergartens and schools, and buses keep running.

Australia probes flydubai co-pilot's links to the country, police say

A multi-agency Australian counterterrorism unit is investigating links to Australia of the co-pilot of flydubai flight FZ1073, who stabbed his ⁠captain and then attempted to hijack the plane, a police spokesperson said on Sunday. The Victorian Joint Counter Terrorism Team – which comprises federal police, Victorian state police and the ASIO intelligence agency – was "investigating the man's links to Australia," the Australian Federal Police spokesperson said.

Russia puts lives at risk across Europe with hybrid attacks, Kallas says

Russia is putting lives at risk across Europe with hybrid attacks, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said on Monday, at a news briefing alongside Moldovan Prime Minister Vasile Tofan. "Europe has seen a spike in the Russian hybrid attacks ⁠and sabotage attempts and airspace violations in recent weeks. Russian missiles and drones violated Moldovan airspace again over the weekend. And this is completely unacceptable," she told reporters in Brussels.

Yemeni ⁠government forces advance to Bab el-Mandeb Strait

Saudi-backed Yemeni government forces have secured effective control of the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, Yemen's Information Minister Moammar al-Eryani told Reuters on Monday, though fighting continues with Houthi forces in the area. The government forces advanced rapidly along the coast with heavy Saudi air support to seize key positions in the Dhubab area on the narrowest point of the strait, a vital oil route whose seizure by the Iran-backed Houthis last month sent shockwaves through energy markets.

Two dead, 11 rescued after fire onboard ship in Black Sea, Romania says

Romanian authorities said on Monday that two people had died and others had been rescued after a fire on a ship in the Black Sea outside Romania's territorial waters. Romania's interior ministry said 11 crew members of the ship, which it described as sinking, had been rescued. The country's Naval Authority said the incident involved a fire ‌on the ship Royad Mammadov.

Hundreds of French schools stay closed ahead of nationwide day of student protests

Hundreds ‌of French high schools will begin a second week of closures on Monday as protests over dilapidated schools and classrooms, overcrowding and teacher shortages precede a nationwide day of demonstrations on Tuesday. The nationwide demonstrations and blockades underline a fraught social atmosphere as France's government embarks on trying to pass a deficit-narrowing 2027 ​budget. France's 10-year bond yield briefly topped 5% last week, its highest since 2002, as the protests compounded investor concerns over the country's fiscal outlook.