News without the noise
Geopolitics: wars, alliances, sanctions, trade and the decisions between governments that shape the world.
1269 articles · page 9 of 27
The governor of the Bank of England, Andrew Bailey, walked out of an International Monetary Fund meeting in Bangkok on Saturday in protest against the presence of Russia, joining finance leaders from France, Germany and several Scandinavian and Baltic countries. The walkout occurred when Russia's finance minister, Anton Siluanov, began addressing the session in Russian.
· 2 sourcesProminent Israeli Rabbi Dov Lior has issued a Jewish religious ruling permitting settlers to steal olives from Palestinian orchards in the occupied West Bank, claiming Palestinian landowners have been sufficiently compensated for lost harvests and that the land rightfully belongs to the Jewish people. The ruling comes amid a wave of settler attacks on Palestinian farmers during the olive harvest season, with at least 19 people injured in 34 separate attacks on Friday alone.
The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) reported 12 ships were attacked in the Strait of Hormuz in the week ending October 16, warning it is struggling to accurately track incidents as many vessels refuse to report them. The rising violence has sharpened the conflicting narratives of the United States and Iran over who controls the waterway, as Brent crude prices touched $110 a barrel.
The United Arab Emirates has agreed to re-enter the Yemen conflict by resuming payments to anti-Houthi government forces, with Saudi Arabia providing air cover, in a sign the two Gulf states are mending their deep rift in the face of Houthi territorial gains.
A former UK national security adviser has urged ministers to be honest with the British public about the growing risk of Russian "hybrid attacks", warning that they are becoming more reckless and that people could eventually be killed. Lord Ricketts also said Britain should stop trying to act as a bridge between Kyiv and Washington, saying there was no influence Britain could have on President Donald Trump "in the short term".
· 4 sourcesUnited States Secretary of State Marco Rubio arrived in the Silk Road city of Samarkand, Uzbekistan, on Saturday for the C5+1 summit with key regional ministers, marking a shift in Washington's approach to Central Asia from a mission to democratise the region to a more pragmatic, transactional engagement, according to analysis from Al Jazeera.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has accused Washington of continuing to restrict Ukraine's access to Starlink services and of promising Russia new concessions, according to an Al Jazeera assessment published on Saturday. The accusation escalates a week of friction over a US-Russia diesel deal and a reported disruption of Starlink/Starshield services on October 13-14 that wrongfooted Ukraine's military.
Syrian civilians in southern Syria are living under constant fear of Israeli military raids, arrests and shelling, with released detainees describing torture and prolonged detention. Al Jazeera has confirmed at least 51 Syrians remain held in Israeli detention facilities, many transferred from the notorious Sde Teiman military prison. Daily artillery fire into fields has prevented farming and killed livestock, while UN peacekeepers appear unable to restrain Israeli activity.
Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) has raised its travel advisory for Saudi Arabia to the highest level, warning Australians to postpone all travel including religious pilgrimages, as Houthi rebels intensify attacks on civilian infrastructure. King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh has been shut since a deadly strike on October 10 that killed 13 people, with the airport remaining closed until at least Sunday morning Australian time.
· 2 sourcesUS President Donald Trump's agreement to ease sanctions so Russia can sell diesel to global markets delivers Moscow a political win rather than a financial one, analysts told CNBC, as Ukraine heads into winter with restricted Starlink access and says it lost advance warning of incoming ballistic missiles this week.
Labour leader Andy Burnham has dramatically revived the Brexit debate, stating that the UK's current arrangement with the European Union is inadequate and refusing to rule out full re-entry. "Sticking with the status quo is not good enough for Britain," he said this week, marking the most explicit call for a potential reversal from a major party leader since the 2016 vote.
Aboard the Finnish fast attack craft FNS Pori, the grey zone of almost-war is a daily reality. As Russia constantly tests how far it can go in the Gulf of Finland, Finnish sailors train to operate not just with state-of-the-art sensors but also with paper charts, rehearsing for a scenario where GPS is denied. The top brass of Finland's military wants the world to understand the acuteness of the danger.
Italy's defence minister has said it is a 'complete mistake, a major mistake' for the United States to limit Ukraine's access to satellite systems and intelligence used to defend against Russian attacks, as the rift between Washington and Kyiv deepens over President Donald Trump's recent policy shifts on Russia.
· 3 sourcesIranian officials are intensifying a public messaging campaign aimed at American voters, highlighting the economic cost of the war between Tehran, Washington and Israel weeks before the US midterm elections, according to reports from state-affiliated outlets and social media posts by the country's Parliament Speaker.
Downing Street has indicated it is open to imposing tariffs on Chinese-made electric vehicles as part of its bid to join the European Union's Industrial Accelerator Act, known as the Made in Europe package, drawing a warning from Beijing that such a move would be "discriminatory".
· 3 sourcesElon Musk approached US President Donald Trump with a proposal to slow down Starlink in Ukraine, and Trump agreed, according to four sources familiar with the discussions reported by The Telegraph. The speed restrictions, imposed this week on the military-grade Starshield system, capped drone connectivity at around 160km/h, hampering Ukraine's ability to intercept Russian jet-powered drones. Both Trump and Musk have publicly denied ordering the slowdown, with the president saying Friday he did not know who was responsible, while a US official insisted no request was made by the White House.
· 9 sourcesEuropean Union leaders have reaffirmed their commitment to supporting Ukraine as tensions between Kyiv and Washington escalate, raising concerns about Ukraine's vulnerability to Russian attacks this winter. At a summit in Brussels on Friday, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy thanked EU leaders for their backing and requested an additional 70bn euros ($79bn) in funding for the next year.
Russian strikes on Kyiv's power grid this week follow the methods set out in an intercepted Russian military assessment that aims to make Ukrainian cities unliveable, a document seen by the Guardian shows. The attacks have continued despite Donald Trump's unilateral declaration of an "energy ceasefire" last week, and threaten a humanitarian crisis in a capital of 3 million people.
The BBC has reported from inside Ukraine's Operation Vivaldi, a counter-offensive in the eastern Donbas region that Kyiv says has liberated 277 square kilometres in recent months, even as restrictions on the Starlink satellite system - a critical battlefield tool - have this week sparked alarm. The successful assault blunted an attempted Russian pincer movement that threatened to encircle key Fortress Belt cities still under Ukrainian control.
· 2 sourcesUS President Donald Trump has said tech mogul Elon Musk restored Ukraine's access to Starlink, the satellite internet service critical to Kyiv's air defences, declining to comment on a Wall Street Journal report that he personally called Musk to order the restoration. The statement comes after weeks of conflicting accounts over who was responsible for throttling the Starshield military-grade network, with new revelations that Musk himself approached Trump with the idea of slowing the system, and that Trump agreed.
· 3 sourcesRussia has launched a diplomatic push to mediate between Pakistan and Afghanistan, with senior officials holding separate talks in Rawalpindi and Kabul this week, as months of cross-border attacks and failed ceasefires deepen the conflict.
Saudi Arabia has accused the Houthi group of committing "full-fledged war crimes" by threatening Muslim holy sites and pilgrims, while the United States embassy in Riyadh warned of potential attacks on Saudi airports and imposed travel restrictions on its staff.
A growing Israeli footprint in Cyprus’s water supply, air defence systems and gasfields has sparked concern among some Cypriots that their country is becoming too dependent on a powerful neighbour with its own strategic interests.
A bipartisan group of US senators has sent a letter to the Pentagon inspector general demanding an urgent investigation into restrictions on SpaceX's Starlink internet service in Ukraine that slowed drone operations, while President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Friday that services were still being restored and a US official denied American involvement.
· 2 sourcesUS President Donald Trump has announced that Washington is holding talks with Russia and China on nuclear disarmament, saying he would like to see the world 'denuclearise' as China expands its arsenal.
Ukraine has struck several of Yandex's largest data centers in recent days, disrupting key Russian digital services including shopping and taxi applications in major cities. The attacks come as Russia has itself targeted Ukrainian data centers in an escalating campaign against civilian infrastructure. Cloudflare reported that malicious bot traffic associated with Russian disinformation briefly dropped before migrating to other hosts.
Poland scrambled fighter jets during Russian air attacks that struck western Ukraine close to its border early Friday, as strikes across the country killed at least three people in Kharkiv and left hundreds of thousands without power in the Volyn region. The Polish armed forces said no violation of Polish airspace was recorded, but the incident is the latest in a series of tests of NATO's eastern defences.
· 2 sourcesChinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi has told Israel to stop its "forced establishment" of settlements in the West Bank and reverse its actions, in a face-to-face meeting with Israeli President Isaac Herzog on Thursday. Beijing called the "Palestinian question" the "greatest historical injustice of this century" and urged full access to Gaza.
· 2 sourcesUkrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy praised Europe's leaders for standing by Kyiv on Friday, even as growing tensions with US President Donald Trump clouded an EU summit in Brussels focused on securing further support for Ukraine.
· 2 sourcesUS President Donald Trump has renewed his sharp criticism of Volodymyr Zelensky, saying the Ukrainian leader is 'more difficult to deal with than Putin', and calling Ukraine's resumed strikes on Russian oil refineries a 'disgrace'. The comments came as Zelensky arrived in Brussels for a summit with EU leaders, who rallied behind Kyiv and vowed to increase sanctions on Russia.
· 2 sourcesUS President Donald Trump has said he does not intend to use nuclear weapons against Iran or foresee deploying ground troops, speaking hours after reports emerged that the US military has developed new strike plans targeting Iranian energy infrastructure and nuclear sites using conventional weapons including the massive GBU-43/B MOAB ('Mother of All Bombs').
· 2 sourcesMyanmar's military government has established a new committee to advance the normalization of its relationship with ASEAN, The Diplomat reported on October 16.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio will visit the world's largest oil refinery in Jamnagar, India, owned by billionaire Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries, as the Trump administration looks for ways to bring down surging diesel prices ahead of the November midterm elections.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has urged Lebanon's President Joseph Aoun to hold accountable those behind an intercepted consignment of explosives, after Hezbollah confirmed the materials were intended for attacks against Israel. Aoun assured Rubio that Lebanese security forces are fully carrying out their duties confiscating illicit arms.
· 2 sourcesA new round of United States sanctions has upended air travel to and from Iran, with a flight from Tehran to Dubai that once took under three hours and cost between $100 and $200 now taking up to 18 hours and costing more than $1,000. The disruption follows a September 23 deadline for foreign companies to stop servicing Iranian carriers.
The number of ships reporting attacks in and around the Strait of Hormuz has reached a record high, with 12 vessels struck between 5 and 11 October, the largest weekly total since the US-Israeli war with Iran began, according to BBC Verify analysis of UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) data.
· 2 sourcesTwo Singapore-flagged container ships were attacked in the Strait of Hormuz this week, one sinking, but maritime analysts say commercial traffic is unlikely to stop because strong demand for Middle Eastern energy and higher prices still make the passage worthwhile for some operators.
The future of western security is being decided in the mountains around the Yemeni city of Taiz, the country's former prime minister has warned, as Iran-backed Houthi rebels advance on the strategic gateway to the Bab al-Mandab strait.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has warned that Donald Trump is not on the right side of history, as Ukrainians accuse the United States of gambling with their lives after Russian strikes devastated residential buildings in the capital.
Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has pledged to work toward Myanmar's reintegration into ASEAN after hosting President Min Aung Hlaing, who promised to send navy ships to repatriate Myanmar nationals at his government's own cost. The October 8 visit to Putrajaya, the first since the 2021 coup, drew criticism that Malaysia is rewarding impunity even as Kuala Lumpur insists the trip was about migration, not recognition.
· 2 sourcesRussia's finance minister attended a Group of 20 financial meeting in Bangkok on Thursday, his second in-person appearance at the gathering since the 2022 invasion of Ukraine, testing how far Washington's rapprochement with Moscow will strain ties with European allies.
Ukrainian drones struck an oil refinery in Russia’s Ryazan region early on Thursday, igniting a fire, just hours after President Volodymyr Zelensky said a short-lived truce brokered by US President Donald Trump was over and that Ukrainian attacks on Russian energy infrastructure would resume.
A Russian jet-powered drone struck the roof of a supermarket in the town of Mayaky in Ukraine's Odesa region on Thursday, injuring at least three people and sparking a major fire, Ukrainian officials said.
· 2 sourcesIraq's parliament has completed the formation of Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi's government, approving 11 vacant cabinet posts and three deputy prime ministers, including a senior leader of a US-sanctioned, Iran-backed movement, as the country grapples with severe liquidity shortages linked to the war on Iran.
This week, Ukraine's StarGate aerial medical evacuation drone was handed over to a combat brigade for evaluation under front-line conditions, moving the aircraft a step closer to real combat use after a year of development. The six-propeller drone, built by Ukrainian defence technology company SkyFall, is designed to fly into areas where enemy drones and artillery can leave wounded troops stranded, and carry them out without an evacuation crew.
· 4 sourcesThe order to restrict the SpaceX Starshield satellite service used by Ukraine's military came from inside the White House, Reuters reported on Thursday, citing two US officials and a Western official. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called the restrictions "a big mistake" that would bring "a lot of human losses."
· 4 sourcesIsraeli authorities have barred commercial goods from entering Gaza for two days, citing a tax dispute between local merchants and Hamas, a claim Gaza's government media office has rejected as a false statement. The halt cuts off a crucial source of food and winter clothing for the enclave's 2.1 million people.
· 2 sourcesRussian drones are suspected of sinking a cargo ship and setting two chemical tankers ablaze near the Black Sea coasts of Bulgaria and Romania, marking the first such attacks to enter NATO members' territorial waters. NATO has responded by increasing counter-drone capabilities along its eastern flank, according to Secretary General Mark Rutte.