News without the noise
World news from every region: conflicts, elections, diplomacy, disasters and the people at the centre of them.
7796 articles · page 40 of 163 · The World front page
Alberta voters have decisively rejected a binding referendum on independence, with preliminary results showing more than two-thirds voting against pursuing separation from Canada. The result is a major setback for the province's separatist movement, which had campaigned for over a year, but leaders say the issue will dominate Alberta politics for years to come.
Albertans have voted decisively to remain part of Canada, with more than two-thirds rejecting a proposal to begin the legal process toward independence. Prime Minister Mark Carney welcomed the outcome as a victory for national unity, while separatist leaders vowed to continue their campaign.
· 3 sourcesPresident Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance are set to announce a $25 million program on Tuesday that would pay members of the public up to $30,000 for tips leading to federal fraud convictions or significant enforcement actions, as the administration expands its push to eliminate government fraud.
· 3 sourcesUkrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has met with senior US envoys in Norway amid deepening tensions with Washington over allegations that the Pentagon is withholding interceptor missiles and deliberately limiting intelligence sharing, as Russia continues deadly strikes across Ukraine.
· 2 sourcesFrance has commemorated the sixth anniversary of the murder of schoolteacher Samuel Paty. Paty was killed on October 16, 2020, near the school in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine, after false rumours circulated regarding a lesson in which he showed cartoons from Charlie Hebdo. For the first time since his death, journalists from France Télévisions were granted access to film inside the school, where they met students determined to contribute to the fight against terrorism.
A data center operated by Ugletelecom and Elecom, the main telecom provider in the Russian-occupied Donetsk region, was destroyed in an overnight attack on October 20, according to Ukrainian and Russian proxy sources.
Gardaí (Irish police) have arrested three more people in connection with a suspected arson attack that killed four members of the English family in Waterford. A man in his 50s and two women in their 30s were taken into custody on Tuesday, bringing the total number of arrests in the case to five.
· 3 sourcesU.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has acknowledged a possible delay in a shipment of Patriot missile interceptors to Ukraine but denied any deliberate political decision to harm Kyiv, as tensions between the two countries escalate over a U.S.-Russia diesel deal and public criticism between Presidents Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky. Speaking to reporters during a trip to India on Oct. 20, Rubio said the U.S. was managing a limited interceptor stockpile and balancing its own needs against those of other allies.
· 2 sourcesSir John Gillen, a former senior judge, has been appointed to review the legal framework on trial of the facts cases in Northern Ireland, following the recent case of Eleanor Donaldson. The review, announced by Stormont’s justice and health ministers, will examine whether a conventional criminal trial should remain possible if an individual becomes fit to plead and whether safeguarding measures, such as sex offender notification requirements, should apply. An interim report is expected by February 2027, with a final report due in spring 2027.
Russian President Vladimir Putin is intensifying drone attacks near European Union member states bordering the Black Sea in an effort to limit Ukrainian export routes and drive up global food prices, the EU's top foreign affairs official warned on Tuesday. Addressing the European Parliament in Strasbourg, EU High Commissioner Kaja Kallas said two drones were shot down in Romania over the weekend and that there had been six such attacks in 10 days, marking what she called a 'dangerous and unacceptable escalation in the Black Sea.'
The Social Security Administration will raise benefits by 3.6% in January for about 72 million recipients, a cost-of-living adjustment that exceeds the 3.4% median wage growth seen by workers who stayed in their jobs, according to new data. Independent economist Aaron Terrazas says the gap reflects a shift from cost-of-labor to cost-of-living indexing and could deepen economic inequality.
The European Union presented its revamped Arctic strategy on Tuesday, placing security at the core of its approach for the first time and announcing plans for a maritime security hub, an expanded icebreaker fleet and a submarine cable linking Greenland directly to Europe. The shift comes as Russia rebuilds its military footprint in the High North and after US President Donald Trump's demands to take control of Greenland.
· 7 sourcesBrazilians voted in the final round of the presidential election on Sunday, with the country's Supreme Court extending voting by two hours after President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's campaign complained that buses had been taken out of service in Sao Paulo. Vote counting is underway and a final result is expected between 8.30 p.m. and 9 p.m. local time.
· 10 sourcesHackers have released 281 gigabytes of data from Germany's far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, including emails and membership lists, as the government in Berlin announces over €225 billion in investment commitments from global companies at a two-day summit.
Tens of thousands of California state government workers are expected to walk off the job Wednesday in a one-day strike that could disrupt services at the Department of Motor Vehicles, unemployment offices and state parks. Members of SEIU Local 1000, the state's largest public employee union representing about 100,000 workers, are protesting what they call bad-faith bargaining by Governor Gavin Newsom's administration as negotiations for a new contract have stalled.
Poland will demand an explanation from Ukraine over a drone that allegedly crossed Polish airspace before exploding in Lithuania, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on Oct. 20, an incident that has again put the spillover of Russia's war against Ukraine at the centre of NATO's eastern security concerns.
US envoy Steve Witkoff travelled to St Petersburg on Wednesday carrying Western proposals to end the war in Ukraine, hours after an Oslo summit ended with Volodymyr Zelensky declaring himself 'ready for negotiations' and European leaders hailing a 'good day for peace'.
· 7 sourcesA brother and sister convicted over an attack on two girls in Dundee, an incident that became a viral video after Elon Musk highlighted it, are to appeal their sentences. Ilia Belov, 23, was ordered to complete 300 hours of unpaid work, placed under supervision and put on the sex offenders register for 18 months. His sister Nadjedzha Belova, 20, was ordered to complete 180 hours of unpaid work after admitting assaulting another girl.
· 2 sourcesMarseille braced for further unrest on Monday as France's second city counted the cost of a weekend of looting and violence that left 118 police officers injured and more than 100 people arrested, with local business leaders counting more than 500 damaged premises.
Rising fuel costs, discontent with schools, shrinking public services and an unaffordable housing crisis have ignited an autumn of protests across Europe, with young people at the forefront. In France, Spain, Italy, Portugal, Albania and Serbia, demonstrations have drawn hundreds of thousands, with some turning violent, drawing heavy police response and triggering early elections in Spain.
A student has been jailed for life with a minimum term of 28 years for murdering his university housemate in a premeditated ambush. Zack Coughlan, 23, lay in wait outside their shared home near Bristol and stabbed Jamie Collins, 21, 30 times, then left him to die in an alleyway. Coughlan changed his plea to guilty after a judge rejected his defence of loss of control.
· 9 sourcesFive officers have resigned and a sixth remains suspended from the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department after allegedly exchanging racist text messages, including slurs and an apparent reference to a Ku Klux Klan rally. Chief Estella Patterson has launched a full review of body-worn camera footage and arrest records and requested the FBI conduct a civil rights investigation.
Tommy Robinson has told a court he hired private detectives to track down and photograph two Daily Mail journalists to 'put pressure' on them, in the latest development in his harassment trial at Southwark Crown Court. The 43-year-old, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, denied two charges of harassment causing fear of violence against reporters Andrew Young and Jacob Dirnhuber, saying his actions were 'totally reasonable' after the Mail published a story he claimed endangered his family.
· 5 sourcesQatar is ramping up liquefied natural gas exports as prices surge and inventories dwindle ahead of the Northern Hemisphere winter, with shipments restored in September to about a third of prewar levels, Bloomberg reported. The restored flows could help cool consumer prices and slow the decline of an economy the IMF expects to contract by 15.6 percent this year.
A state court in Hesse, Germany, has ruled that Google violated the privacy of a Frankfurt man by publishing aerial images of his home and property on Google Earth and Google Maps without his consent, a decision that could reshape how the tech giant handles such imagery in Germany.
Yemen's internationally recognised government launched Operation Dawn of Yemen on October 5, 2026, an offensive aimed at retaking territory including the Houthi-held capital Sanaa. The push comes weeks after Houthi forces captured the country's entire Red Sea coast in September, displacing nearly 130,000 people in three weeks, according to UNICEF, and placing the strategic city of Taiz under renewed siege.
US President Donald Trump has deepened his rift with Ukraine by repeating calls for Kyiv to ‘get a new president’ and expressing openness to meetings with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese leader Xi Jinping, while the US has reportedly cut back on intelligence sharing and frozen the transfer of Patriot missile interceptors, drawing an angry response from Ukraine.
Tirana has been rocked by days of fierce antigovernment demonstrations, with police firing tear gas on thousands of young protesters and at least 167 people arrested, as a decentralised, youth-driven movement demands the resignation of Prime Minister Edi Rama. What began in May as an environmental protest against a luxury resort has escalated into the most serious challenge to Rama’s more than a decade in power, rooted in deep-seated anger over corruption, high tuition fees, unemployment, and a political class seen as wholly disconnected from citizens’ struggles.
A convicted killer who assaulted his former partner and wounded a second victim with broken glass hours after being granted temporary prison leave has been sentenced to six and a half years in jail. Robbie Smullen, 28, attacked the two victims in Milnathort, Perthshire, in March last year while on home leave from Castle Huntly prison near Dundee.
A Russian military satellite has manoeuvred to within metres of a US-registered radar satellite believed to provide intelligence to Ukraine, according to space-tracking data. Cosmos 2612, one of six satellites the Russian military launched in April, closed in from more than 320 kilometres to about 4.8 kilometres last week, then spent the weekend moving between positions ahead of and behind its target, at times coming within roughly 500 metres.
The French government has conceded failures in its response to devastating weekend riots, announcing it will deploy troops and impose new curfews to prevent a fresh wave of violence planned for this Saturday. Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu has framed the crisis as a choice 'between violence and the Republic,' setting up a parliamentary commission of inquiry while assigning 200 investigators to track down those responsible for the looting and arson that swept Paris, Marseille and Lyon.
· 6 sourcesMore than 250,000 people have been internally displaced in Yemen since the country's war reignited in July, the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said on Tuesday. The renewed fighting between Houthi rebels and forces loyal to the Saudi-backed internationally recognised government has fallen heavily on the southwestern city of Taiz, which accounts for 76 percent of departures and hosts 52 percent of the newly displaced.
Riyadh's King Khalid International Airport reopened on Sunday, but most scheduled flights have been cancelled this week as airlines remain wary of Saudi airspace in the wake of last week's attacks, which damaged six aircraft and prompted Saudi carriers to evacuate aircraft worth billions of dollars.
At least four Palestinians, including a married couple and a 17-year-old boy, were killed in Israeli air strikes and gunfire across Gaza on Tuesday, according to Gaza health officials, in attacks that residents say have continued despite a ceasefire in force since October 2025.
President Volodymyr Zelensky's trust rating rose by 14 percentage points after U.S. President Donald Trump began his pressure campaign against Ukraine, according to a Kyiv International Institute of Sociology poll published on Oct. 20, as relations between Kyiv and Washington worsen over strikes on Russian oil refineries.
President Donald Trump announced an $8 billion Harvest Fuel Relief program for U.S. farmers at a Kansas rally on Monday. The payment, which won't reach farmers until late November or early December at the earliest, comes with deep uncertainty over funding and timing that has exposed the political calculus behind the last-minute aid.
· 5 sourcesSydney Morning Herald's Column 8 has brought together readers with shared memories of a former National Service member, a comedian's school days, and an entomological singalong, in a collection of anecdotes published on Tuesday.
· 4 sourcesA 61-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of murder after a woman died in a car crash in Bridgend, South Wales Police said. The 47-year-old victim crashed into a wall on Coity Road on Monday afternoon, but police say her injuries were not caused by the collision. Armed officers later swooped on the Ger-y-Nant sheltered housing retirement complex nearby, where the suspect was taken into custody.
A woman has told a jury that comedian Russell Brand sexually assaulted her in a 'frenzied' and 'violent' attack at a London radio studio in the mid-2000s. The complainant, who gave evidence from behind a screen, said Brand grabbed her, kissed her roughly and pressed his body against hers. Brand, 51, denies seven charges including rape and sexual assault against six women between 1999 and 2009.
Queensland Corrective Services has launched a review into allegations that an Aboriginal mother was shackled to her bed by her ankle and wrist following a caesarean birth at Townsville University Hospital, while her newborn baby was in the neonatal intensive care unit. Hospital staff reported the incident, describing the mother's deteriorating condition and alleging racist remarks by prison officers, prompting renewed calls for a ban on the practice.
· 4 sourcesArizona's 2026 race for governor has become a contest between two members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, U.S. Rep. Andy Biggs and former Mesa mayor John Giles, with the state's Latter-day Saint voters poised to play a pivotal role in an election that both parties see as a referendum on the future of Arizona Republicanism.
· 2 sourcesThe United States is moving away from its traditional security-for-oil relationship with the Middle East and no longer seeks to dominate the region, senior US diplomat Tom Barrack said on Tuesday, while insisting Washington is not abandoning the Middle East. His comments came as US-Iran negotiations continue in Qatar amid a stalled seven-day proposal to end the war on Iran.
The US Department of Justice has charged 28 green card holders in California, accusing them of fraudulently registering to vote and casting illegal ballots. The arrests, with 11 people currently in custody, mark an escalation in federal efforts against alleged noncitizen voting, coming days after the DOJ sued California to block the state from tabulating certain ballots in the upcoming November midterm elections.
· 2 sourcesPolls published ahead of Israel's general election next week show more than half a million first-time voters could help decide a deadlocked race, with over 16 per cent planning to back far-right parties and almost three-quarters identifying as right or centre-right. National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir is courting the youngest cohort aggressively, while opposition parties fight back on social media.
· 2 sourcesThe UK Covid-19 Inquiry published its sixth report on Tuesday, finding that government failures allowed the virus to spread 'like wildfire' through care homes, resulting in more than 43,000 recorded deaths in care settings between March 2020 and July 2022. The 287-page report concluded that action to protect residents and staff came too late, and that the sector was treated as 'something of an afterthought'.
· 9 sourcesThe UK will deploy RAF Typhoon fighter jets on defensive missions over Saudi Arabia, the government announced on Tuesday, as a surge in Houthi missile and drone attacks threatens the kingdom's cities and critical infrastructure. Prime Minister Andy Burnham authorised the move, which also includes an Atlas A400M transport aircraft and military advisers, following strikes that killed 13 people at Riyadh's King Khalid International Airport.
· 12 sourcesThe U.S. budget deficit swelled to $2 trillion in fiscal year 2026, the largest since 2021, driven by rising debt service costs at higher interest rates that experts say are being pushed up by the inflationary effects of the Iran war. Net interest payments reached $1.052 trillion, surpassing defense outlays and becoming the third-largest federal expenditure after Social Security and Medicare.
A British Airways flight from Paphos to London Heathrow was intercepted by the German Air Force on 17 October after losing radio contact with air traffic control, with Vienna ATC reporting the loss of communications and triggering a quick reaction alert. The German Air Force scrambled two Eurofighter Typhoons to intercept the aircraft, but communication was reestablished and the flight was guided to the German border before continuing safely to its destination.