News without the noise
Geopolitics: wars, alliances, sanctions, trade and the decisions between governments that shape the world.
1252 articles · page 1 of 27
Ukraine and eight partner countries plan to sign an agreement on Nov. 30 establishing a new international defense bank, the Defense, Security and Resilience Bank (DSRB), which aims to begin operations in 2027 and could provide another source of long-term financing for weapons production and military purchases, the governments announced Oct. 29.
Russia has carried out more than 350 attacks on Ukraine's energy infrastructure since September, damaging more than 800 pieces of equipment, Energy Minister Denys Shmyhal said on Friday, as Ukraine works to shore up its power system before the heating season.
The Kremlin has proposed a phone call between Presidents Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelensky instead of an in-person meeting, a move Ukrainian officials privately suspect would achieve little while avoiding the prospect of face-to-face talks Kyiv says are needed to address key issues in negotiations, the Kyiv Independent reports.
Ukraine's military reported a new monthly record of 49,040 Russian casualties in October, bringing Kyiv closer to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's goal of 50,000 enemy casualties a month, a threshold he argues would outpace Russia's ability to replace its forces.
Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado returned home on Sunday after about a year abroad, as the Trump administration disclosed its most detailed plans yet for moving the country toward elections.
The Irish government plans to establish a body to assess the possibility of a united Ireland, Prime Minister Micheal Martin told The Irish Times in an interview published on Friday. Martin said Dublin would, for the first time, research and prepare for a union with Northern Ireland.
Qatari mediators arrived in Tehran on Friday in an apparent bid to revive a ceasefire in the conflict between the United States and Iran.
Bulgaria’s presidential election will be decided in a runoff on Sunday, with acting President Iliana Iotova facing former interim Prime Minister Andrey Gyurov after a first round that saw record low turnout of just under 23 per cent. The two candidates, both running as independents, are backed by opposing factions and represent opposing foreign policy approaches and political alignments.
The United States has upped pressure on its ostensible allies as part of a push for a truce in the Russia-Ukraine war. Kyiv has paused strikes on Russian refineries at Washington's behest, as Washington seeks to corral fuel prices, The Wall Street Journal reported, while Reuters reported that the Pentagon urged European leaders to calm their rhetoric over the threat of Russian aggression. The Trump administration has also waived new sanctions on Russian energy and reached a diesel deal with the Kremlin, decisions met with unease in Europe, which sees Washington as unnecessarily pressuring Kyiv.
Texas has unilaterally taken control of nine islands on the Rio Grande, prompting Mexico to demand respect for the 1970 Boundary Treaty. State Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham authorised the Texas National Guard to access the river islands to maintain operational security.
More than 1,400 Africans have been recruited since 2023 to fight for Russia in Ukraine, a sensitive issue that is absent from the Africa-Russia summit agenda. In Tunisia, concern is growing as families of several men who travelled to Russia for work or study are still searching for answers about their loved ones, according to a France 24 report.
El Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele is sending up to 2,000 troops to Haiti, a deployment that could double or triple, to combat gang violence and locate four military personnel captured in an ambush on Oct. 18. Bukele called President Donald Trump on Tuesday to make sure he had no problem with the deployment, and Trump told him, according to sources briefed on the call, 'Do what you have to do.'
· 2 sourcesThe Saudi-led coalition in Yemen says it intercepted and destroyed a drone launched by the Houthis towards Saudi Arabia's Mecca region on Friday morning, while a Houthi spokesman denied targeting the Muslim holy city or its surrounding area.
· 2 sourcesRussian strikes plunged the Ukrainian city of Dnipro into a near-total blackout on Friday, leaving more than 350,000 people without power, as President Volodymyr Zelensky warned that Russia was preparing fresh ballistic missile attacks and urged allies to supply more air defense interceptors.
· 2 sourcesA new investigation by the Centre for Information Resilience (CIR) has linked 25 commanders from Sudan's warring factions to sexual violence in the country's three-year war, as the United Kingdom imposed asset freezes and travel bans on 15 senior commanders over suspected atrocities. The findings cover both the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), examining reported abuse across five locations.
A major fire was reported at the Novokuibyshevsk oil refinery in Russia's Samara region early Friday after a drone attack. The incident comes amid a Wall Street Journal report that Kyiv had agreed to pause strikes on Russian oil refineries under pressure from US President Donald Trump, with the halt expected to last until after the US midterm elections. Samara's governor said a record number of drones had been launched against the region. Ukraine had not taken responsibility for the latest strike by Friday morning, while a Ukrainian defense company posted a taunt about the refinery.
· 3 sourcesAustralian Defense Minister Richard Marles said China’s military build-up, the largest conventional build-up since the Second World War, was creating a ‘condition of pressure’ in Southeast Asia, as China and the Philippines sparred over Beijing’s attendance at this week’s ASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meeting in Cebu.
Iran said four tankers struck mines in the Strait of Hormuz and Yemen's Houthis claimed missile attacks on Saudi Arabia, escalating regional pressure as reports emerged that the Trump administration may resume military action in the Middle East after the midterm elections.
· 2 sourcesA drone attack on Oct. 29 reportedly killed an employee of the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, the International Atomic Energy Agency said, adding that it did not specify whether Russian or Ukrainian forces were responsible.
Houthi forces claimed on Thursday to have carried out six attacks on Saudi Arabian airports and oil facilities, releasing a detailed list of targets that included the Ras Tanura oil refinery and King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh. The claims came after the Saudi-led coalition said it intercepted and destroyed two ballistic missiles fired by the Houthis towards the capital. Saudi Arabia’s Civil Defence said shrapnel from the interception wounded one Saudi citizen. At a high-level meeting in Tehran earlier this week, participants agreed to continue discussions to strengthen cooperation between the four regional countries.
Three maritime drones struck the Liberian-flagged container ship Contship Jet off the coast of Bulgaria on Wednesday, the latest in a string of attacks on commercial shipping in the Black Sea that has drawn sharp condemnation from NATO allies.
Russian ballistic missile attacks on Kyiv late on October 29 killed one person and damaged buildings across the capital, while strikes on energy infrastructure in and around Dnipro left up to 350,000 residents without power, Ukrainian officials said.
· 2 sourcesResidents of the Ukrainian city of Kherson have enjoyed two days of quiet under a US-brokered ceasefire, a rare respite from constant Russian aerial attacks in nearly five years, even as sources warn Russia may be using the lull to strengthen its forces before the truce ends on Sunday.
US Central Command chief Adm. Brad Cooper briefed President Donald Trump on Thursday on options for renewed strikes on Iran and on the state of the naval blockade, as Washington pursues dual tracks toward possible combat after next week’s midterm elections and toward negotiations, according to two US officials and reports.
· 2 sourcesThe Trump administration is warning Europe that a $3.4 billion loan from the European Investment Bank to Airbus could blow up the truce that ended the longest-running dispute in WTO history and put the broader U.S.-EU trade deal in the line of fire.
Rachel Reeves has joined three former senior European and Canadian politicians in urging the European Union to seize €210bn (£175bn) of frozen Russian sovereign assets to fund Ukraine's defence, warning that failing to act risks Europe's security.
President Vladimir Putin’s government has approved a state budget for 2027–2029 on its first of three votes, accompanied by a series of tax increases aimed at mining companies and wealthier citizens, as the budget deficit swelled to 5.8 trillion rubles ($72 billion) through August, according to the Kyiv School of Economics, due to heavy military spending and economic pressures from the war in Ukraine and Western sanctions.
Seven tankers carrying an estimated 288,000 tonnes of Russian diesel are sailing toward the United States, according to tracking by Greenpeace, with the first cargo due in New York on Nov. 7, four days after the midterm elections, no buyer publicly named and bipartisan opposition to the shipments.
· 4 sourcesAt least eight explosions were heard in the Saudi capital Riyadh after the Iran-backed Houthi movement reported an initial toll of 12 citizens killed in strikes on residential areas of western Yemen blamed on Saudi Arabia, following the collapse of a fragile truce in July; more than 1,600 people have been killed in Yemen since hostilities resumed, according to United Nations figures.
The top echelon of the Chinese Communist Party held a four-day closed-door session in Beijing this week, with Xi Jinping signaling he would deepen the anti-corruption campaign and ensure party officials demonstrate more loyalty and initiative at all levels.
Ukraine's Navy destroyed two Russian Su-34 fighter-bomber jets in a strike against the Marinovka military airfield in Russia's Volgograd Oblast using domestically produced Neptune missiles, the Navy reported on Oct. 29.
Japan and the United States have agreed to establish a facility in Japan for the joint production of advanced medium-range air-to-air missiles, Japanese Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi announced Wednesday. The joint effort, called “Operation Supercharge,” will involve a final assembly and inspection plant for the Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile (AMRAAM) in Japan; Koizumi said the missiles are essential for F-35 fighter jets.
The European Commission on Oct. 29 invited EU member states to submit proposals for €21.3 billion ($23.8 billion) in defence projects, urging them to prioritise cooperation with Ukraine, including joint procurement and addressing Kyiv's 'urgent needs' in air and missile defence, drones and ammunition.
The United States and Finland have signed a Memorandum of Understanding on a Technology Prosperity Deal, setting out intended collaboration across a broad range of strategic science and technology fields, including artificial intelligence, quantum computing, advanced semiconductors, energy, space, and Arctic capabilities.
The United States has imposed sanctions on Rwanda's defence ministry and a bank serving its security services, accusing Kigali of supporting M23 rebels in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo nearly a year after a US-brokered peace deal was signed.
· 2 sourcesUkrainian forces struck a Russian military facility used to launch long-range attack drones near Navlya in Bryansk Oblast overnight on Oct. 29, Ukraine's General Staff reported, damaging a storage facility for Geran-type drones, fuel and lubricant storage facilities and the 'drone port' itself.
The Trump administration said it is blocking shipments by Chinese biotech company BGI Group and its affiliates BGI Genomics and MGI Tech, citing allegations of forced labour in Xinjiang. The Department of Homeland Security said the companies were sourcing materials from Xinjiang or working with the regional government to recruit, transport, transfer, harbor or receive forced labour of members of persecuted ethnic groups, including Uyghurs.
Jordan and Syria are giving conflicting accounts of Monday evening's air strikes on southern Syria, which killed a grandmother, her three grandchildren and other civilians. Jordan said the raids, retaliation for a deadly church attack in the kingdom, were carried out in coordination with Damascus; Syria's foreign ministry said they came without prior coordination or notification and called them “treacherous”.
US officials concluded that Alice Huang, an executive at Singapore-based data centre company Megaspeed who had developed a close relationship with Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang, was a Chinese intelligence asset funnelling information to Beijing, The New York Times reported on Thursday. President Donald Trump was briefed on the findings about a year ago and chose not to act. The report said he has been wary of disrupting Nvidia's chip sales and further complicating trade with China. Nvidia says the dealings were routine contact between a CEO and a customer.
· 13 sourcesRussian President Vladimir Putin courted nearly 50 African nations at the Russia-Africa summit in Moscow, calling Africa a ‘natural ally’ in building a multipolar world order, but only about 20 heads of state attended, a sign of the damage to Moscow’s reputation from its war in Ukraine and failed security partnerships in the Sahel.
· 3 sourcesThe first million barrels of oil from this year's US-Venezuela oil deal arrived in Texas this week, but upcoming elections in both countries could put the agreement's future at risk.
Belgium's deputy prime minister has called on the European Union to ready its Anti-Coercion Instrument, the so-called 'trade bazooka,' for use against Washington over its push to raise EU drug prices, in a position paper published Thursday. Frank Vandenbroucke, who also serves as Belgium's health minister, co-authored the paper for the Egmont Institute think tank with deputy head of cabinet Gloria Ghéquière.
Two men living in Germany have been arrested at Bulgaria's request on suspicion of attempting to set fire to Starlink equipment in Vilnius earlier this month, Lithuanian law enforcement officials said on Thursday. The suspects face suspicions of forming and participating in a terrorist group.
Russian forces struck targets across Ukraine on Oct. 29-30, killing at least 27 people and wounding 127 over the past day, local authorities said. A localized ceasefire aimed at evacuating civilians from the occupied city of Oleshky was holding into its third day.
· 15 sourcesA ship is on fire in the Strait of Hormuz, the British maritime agency UKMTO reported Thursday, as Iran has recently stepped up attacks on ships it sees as using the vital waterway without proper authorization and said its forces had downed a US drone. The incident comes amid fears of a new escalation in the US-Iran war, with Trump widely seen as considering fresh strikes after next week’s midterm elections.
North Korean workers are being recruited into forced labour in Russia through a broker network that uses bogus student enrolments to skirt United Nations sanctions, according to a months-long investigation by Global Rights Compliance published Thursday.
Russia's state news agency TASS reported that Russia downed most of the 613 drones launched towards Moscow overnight in a major attack on the capital, with Moscow's mayor saying 231 were destroyed on approach to the city.
· 2 sourcesEstonia plans to build about 150 bunkers along its border with Russia as part of efforts to strengthen its defensive readiness, Defense Minister Martin Herem told reporters on Oct. 28, as the Baltic states bolster their defenses amid Russian threats to NATO's eastern flank.