International News Bulletin — October 17, 2026

Politics

• Trump waives new Russia sanctions passed by Congress – US President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Friday waiving the sanctions and tariffs of the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act, which he signed into law last month, saying the move “is in the national interests of the United States”, NBC News and AFP reported. The law let the president impose duties of up to 100% on major buyers of Russian oil and gas and targeted Russia’s energy and defence sectors and its “shadow fleet” of tankers. The reversal follows Trump’s diesel deal with Vladimir Putin, and Republican Senator Thom Tillis said there was “a legitimate case” that the president was not following the law.
• EU summit ends without budget deal as Zelensky seeks €70 billion – EU leaders closed a two-day summit in Brussels on Friday without a breakthrough on the 2028-2034 budget, after an Irish presidency compromise that Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said “puts us in a straitjacket”, Xinhua reported. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky put the cost of the war to Ukraine next year at €155 billion and asked for at least €70 billion more, according to Al Jazeera and Xinhua. European Council President António Costa said “this is no time to withdraw support to Ukraine”, while Austrian Chancellor Christian Stocker urged caution on new financial commitments.
• Ethiopia installs six-month interim government in Tigray – Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s office announced on Friday that a federal caretaker administration will govern the northern Tigray region for six months to prepare “free and transparent elections”, AFP and Al Jazeera reported. The move follows the defeat of an offensive launched by the Tigray People’s Liberation Front in September, after which its fighters lost the region’s main cities, including the capital Mekelle. The TPLF had not responded to the announcement, and the government statement said its leadership “did not desire peace”.
• Albania’s Rama blames “foreign hands” as protests spread beyond Tirana – Protesters and police clashed in Tirana for a fourth straight day on Friday, with police using tear gas and water cannon and demonstrators throwing stones and attacking government buildings, AFP reported. Student-led protests demanding Prime Minister Edi Rama’s resignation spread on Thursday to Durrës, Shkodër, Korçë and Elbasan, according to Balkan Insight. Rama blamed unnamed “foreign hands” and the opposition for the violence without presenting evidence, and has ruled out resigning.
• Indian police detain “cockroach” movement founder ahead of Delhi rally – Indian police detained Abhijeet Dipke, founder of the satirical youth movement Cockroach Janta Party, on Friday before a protest he had called in central New Delhi, his second detention in a week, France 24 reported citing Reuters and AFP. The movement, opposition parties and student groups have held near-daily protests demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over a revision of voter lists that critics say favours Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s party. Dipke was first detained on October 10 and released the next day under a court order to keep the peace.

Economy

• Nasdaq falls 2.1% in tech sell-off as Brent nears $110 – The Nasdaq Composite fell 2.14% to 26,140.03 on Friday, the S&P 500 lost 1.09% to 7,659.44 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average 0.34% to 52,002.40, according to Yahoo Finance closing data. NBC News said technology shares lost more than $1 trillion in value as investors questioned heavy AI borrowing, and the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index fell 3.8% for an eighth straight daily loss. Brent crude briefly topped $110 a barrel for the first time since May, NBC reported, and Yahoo Finance data showed it up about 3.6% at around $109.7 late on Friday.
• IMF and World Bank warn of debt and divergence in Bangkok – IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva told the IMF and World Bank annual meetings in Bangkok on Friday that energy supply shocks and an AI-led investment surge were pulling growth in opposite directions, and urged decisive fiscal consolidation, Xinhua reported. World Bank President Ajay Banga said about 1.2 billion young people would reach working age over the coming decade against projections of only 420 million new jobs. Hundreds of protesters marched in Bangkok on Friday against IMF austerity demands, and Oxfam’s Amitabh Behar described an “inequality emergency”, AFP reported.
• Warsh says Fed focused on prices but gives no hike timing – Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh said in Bangkok on Friday that the Fed had “made very clear” it would deliver price stability, but declined to say when it might raise rates again, NBC News reported. He said a “massive investment surge” tied to the AI boom was pushing prices up and could change how monetary policy works. His remarks were the last from a Fed official before the blackout period ahead of the October 27-28 policy meeting, after US consumer inflation rose to 3.7% in September.
• Colombia resumes electricity exports to drought-hit Ecuador – Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa announced on Friday that Colombia had resumed electricity sales to Ecuador and thanked Colombian President Abelardo de la Espriella, Primicias and Xinhua reported. Colombia had restricted exports since September 7 to protect its own supply as El Niño brought drought, and was delivering 132 megawatts at 11:00 on Friday, 29% of the 450-megawatt interconnection, according to the grid operator’s monitor cited by Primicias. Ecuador has imposed temporary power cuts on medium- and high-voltage industrial users to preserve reservoirs feeding its main hydroelectric plants.

World News

• Houthi missiles strike Aden airport as Iran rejects Saudi accusation – Houthi missiles struck Aden International Airport on Friday night, with two landing inside the airport grounds, and Aden’s security administration reported no casualties, according to Xinhua and AFP. Yemen’s information ministry said the missiles landed about 500 metres from a Yemenia Airways flight bound for Cairo, AFP reported, a day after a strike on the presidential palace compound killed five people. Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei rejected a Saudi accusation that Tehran had encouraged the Houthi escalation and offered to help resolve the dispute if both sides requested it.
• Settlers attack olive harvesters and US photojournalist in West Bank – Dozens of masked Israeli settlers attacked Palestinian olive pickers in Abu Falah, northeast of Ramallah, on Friday, injuring Washington Post photojournalist Heidi Levine, who said she was pushed to the ground and kicked, Reuters and Al Jazeera reported. Washington Post executive editor Matt Murray said the paper was “outraged by this unwarranted attack on a journalist doing her job”. The Israeli military said troops fired warning shots on arrival and called attacks on civilians “grave and unacceptable”, while witnesses told Al Jazeera a Palestinian man was shot in the leg.
• Kenya confirms third Ebola case, a relative of the first patient – Kenya’s Health Ministry said on Friday that a 65-year-old woman, a close relative and primary contact of the first two patients, had tested positive for the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola, for which there is no licensed vaccine, Al Jazeera reported; France 24 also reported the case. The ministry said she had been in quarantine since October 6 and that there was no community spread, with the risk to the public remaining low. Kenya’s first patient, who had fallen ill in the Democratic Republic of Congo before travelling to Nairobi, died in Nairobi on October 5.
• Brazil’s Amazon deforestation falls to the lowest level on record – Deforestation in Brazil’s Amazon fell about 42% to 3,335 square kilometres in the 12 months to July, the lowest since records began in 1988, according to data from the space agency Inpe reported by Reuters and AFP. The previous low was 4,571 square kilometres in 2011-2012, and clearing in the Cerrado savanna fell about 24% to 5,517 square kilometres. Environment Minister João Paulo Capobianco called it “an absolutely stratospheric drop” days before the October 25 presidential run-off.

Bulletin automatically generated on October 17, 2026.