International News Bulletin — October 13, 2026

Politics

• Britain blames Iran’s Revolutionary Guards for Fairford airbase plot – Prime Minister Andy Burnham told parliament on Monday that a suspected plot against RAF Fairford, a base used by US bombers, was “almost certainly directed” by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Al Jazeera and France 24 reported. Britain sanctioned two Iranians, IRGC counterespionage chief Ruhollah Bazghandi and Shahram Ali Reza Tamarzadeh Jakki, described as a facilitator for the already sanctioned Zindashti criminal network, and Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband summoned Iran’s ambassador. Ambassador Ali Mousavi said Tehran “has had no involvement in this matter”, according to state news agency IRNA, while 29 countries including the US and Canada issued a joint statement condemning “Iran’s use of violent attacks”.
• Joseph Kabila launches armed movement with M23 rebel leaders in Goma – Former Congolese president Joseph Kabila announced on Monday a “politico-military” group, the Front pour la Refondation de la Nation (FRN), which he will lead and which is meant to replace the Rwanda-backed AFC-M23 alliance, Reuters and AFP reported from Goma. Rebel figures Corneille Nangaa, Bertrand Bisimwa and Sultani Makenga were named as deputies, according to Reuters, and the launch took place at Kabila’s residence in Goma, which M23 has held since January 2025. Kabila, who ruled from 2001 to 2019, was sentenced to death in absentia last year over alleged complicity with M23, charges he calls politically motivated.
• Indian opposition marches on Supreme Court to demand election chief’s removal – Congress leader Rahul Gandhi led dozens of MPs and thousands of protesters towards India’s Supreme Court in New Delhi on Monday to demand the resignation of chief election commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, Al Jazeera and France 24 reported. Police blocked the route with barricades, with more than 30,000 officers deployed across the capital according to Al Jazeera, and Congress leaders said their petition had been submitted to the court, though not in person. The protests target a revision of voter rolls that has removed more than 130 million names, which opposition parties say disproportionately hits Muslims and other minorities, a charge the Election Commission and the ruling BJP reject.
• Ethiopian federal forces enter Tigray town of Adwa without a fight – Ethiopian government troops and an allied militia entered Adwa, a town about 40 km from the Eritrean border, on Sunday, a day after Tigray People’s Liberation Front fighters withdrew, residents told AFP, according to Al Jazeera, with France 24 also reporting the advance on Monday. The move follows the capture of Mekelle last week and of Adigrat days ago, and Ethiopian Airlines resumed flights to Mekelle on Sunday for the first time since 23 September. Ethiopia accuses Eritrea, Sudan and Egypt of backing the rebel alliance, which Cairo and Khartoum deny, and Eritrea cut diplomatic ties with Addis Ababa last week.
• Kremlin rejects a ceasefire as Trump insists energy truce was agreed – Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Monday that Russia does “not want a ceasefire” and seeks “long-term peace”, rejecting Volodymyr Zelensky’s proposal of a 60-day truce to hold elections, while saying contacts on Donald Trump’s announced energy ceasefire were continuing, the Kyiv Independent and Türkiye Today reported. Trump told reporters at the White House that both sides had agreed to halt strikes on energy sites, adding “because I said they agreed”, according to the Kyiv Independent. Zelensky said Ukraine would stop striking Russian refineries only if Russia stopped attacking its power grid, and the Kyiv Independent, citing unnamed Ukrainian officials, reported that Washington had threatened to cut intelligence sharing if refineries were hit.

Economy

• IMF nudges its 2026 global growth forecast up to 3.1% – The International Monetary Fund raised its 2026 world growth forecast to 3.1% from 3.0% in July and kept 2027 at 3.4% in the World Economic Outlook released at its annual meetings in Bangkok, Reuters and Nikkei Asia reported. It credited investment in artificial intelligence for supporting activity, lifted India to 7.0% for both years and the euro zone to 1.1% for 2026, trimmed China to 4.5% and held the US at 2.3%, while putting global inflation at 4.7% this year. New chief economist Silvana Tenreyro said the economy’s resilience was “under strain, with risks to growth tilted to the downside”, according to Reuters.
• Robert Hall and Michael Woodford win the Nobel economics prize – Americans Robert E. Hall of Stanford University and Michael Woodford of Columbia University won the 2026 Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced on Monday, France 24 and Euronews reported. The academy said their work, which builds macroeconomic models on the decisions of individual households and businesses rather than on statistical links between aggregates, provided “a stable theoretical foundation” for models now used by central banks and governments. Committee chair John Hassler said that “with them, we are better equipped to deal with shocks in the economy”, and the 12 million Swedish kronor award closes this year’s Nobel season.
• Wall Street ends mixed as chipmakers slide and oil climbs – The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.38% to 51,850.55 on Monday while the S&P 500 slipped 0.06% to 7,807.24 and the Nasdaq Composite fell 0.44% to 27,245.90, according to Yahoo Finance closing data and Investrade’s market review. Semiconductor stocks led the decline, with the Philadelphia chip index down about 2.7%, while energy shares gained as West Texas Intermediate crude rose 2.06% to $93.74 a barrel. Stock exchanges were open for Columbus Day while the US bond market was closed, and investors were positioning ahead of big bank earnings due on Tuesday.
• EU adds nearly 1,600 Russia sanctions listings as Moscow tallies energy sales – EU foreign ministers meeting in Luxembourg on Monday adopted nearly 1,600 new sanctions listings targeting Russia’s military-industrial complex, which foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas called “the single largest expansion of our sanctions list” since the war began, the Kyiv Independent and TASS reported. Kallas said more than half of the listings are connected to the ballistic missile production chain. The same day Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said EU countries had bought $320.7bn of Russian energy since 2022, a figure Swedish Foreign Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard contrasted with the €218.7bn the EU has sent Ukraine, according to AFP via France 24.

World News

• Drought and war push Sudan’s Darfur and Kordofan towards famine – The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), the UN-backed hunger monitor, warned on Monday that an El Niño drought affecting about half of Sudan is compounding the effects of war and raising the risk of famine in Greater Darfur and Greater Kordofan, UN News and Al Jazeera reported. Surveys at two displacement camps in South Darfur found acute malnutrition above famine thresholds, and in Nyala the share of children needing treatment for severe acute malnutrition rose from about 5% in January to 11% in August. The monitor’s Famine Review Committee called the situation “a humanitarian catastrophe, already of historic proportions”, and UN News reported that less than half of the aid appeal for Sudan had been funded.
• Hurricane Simon and storm Rachel leave dead along Mexico’s Pacific coast – At least two people died as Hurricane Simon and the remnants of Rachel struck Mexico, including a 71-year-old man killed by a collapsing wall near Chilpancingo in Guerrero, the Associated Press reported via Al Jazeera, while France 24, citing AFP and the Baja California prosecutor’s office, later put the toll at five after four members of one family were found dead near Ensenada. The figures are preliminary and several people remain missing, and Simon weakened to Category 2 on Monday after peaking at Category 4, according to the US National Hurricane Center as cited by Al Jazeera. Mexico’s civil protection coordinator Laura Velázquez said the storm was expected to reach Mazatlán as a Category 1 hurricane later this week, AFP reported.
• Saudi Arabia keeps Riyadh airport shut as Houthi attacks continue – Saudi Arabia’s General Authority of Civil Aviation extended the suspension of operations at Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport on Monday without giving a reopening date, China Daily and France 24 reported. Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said the group carried out four missile and drone operations in 24 hours against Saudi airports and Aramco facilities, and the Houthis claimed a new ballistic missile attack on the Riyadh airport on Monday evening, while the Saudi-led coalition said it intercepted a missile aimed at the capital. The suspension follows a strike on Saturday that killed 12 people and injured 309, according to the civil aviation authority.
• Haze from Indonesian fires disrupts flights and schools in Southeast Asia – Malaysian carrier Firefly extended cancellations of its flights between the Kuala Lumpur area and Singapore’s Seletar Airport until Wednesday as smoke from fires on Borneo and Sumatra blanketed the region, AFP via France 24 and Malay Mail reported. Singapore’s Air Quality Index reached 193 on Tuesday, according to Swiss monitor IQAir cited by AFP, above the 150 level classed as unhealthy, and Singapore has activated haze-related medical subsidies, which AFP said were last used in 2015. Schools reopened in most Malaysian states on Tuesday but remained closed in three states and one federal territory, AFP reported.

Bulletin automatically generated on October 13, 2026.