International News Bulletin — October 15, 2026

Politics

• Ukraine says Starlink was throttled as Musk points to Washington – Ukrainian officials said SpaceX restricted Starlink service overnight into Wednesday for terminals moving faster than about 160 km/h, disrupting drone and frontline operations without warning. Elon Musk replied that Starshield systems are controlled by the US government and that “any limits on speed or usage are decided by the US military and ultimately POTUS”, a claim the White House neither confirmed nor denied. Asked by Piers Morgan whether he felt betrayed by Donald Trump’s diesel deal with Moscow, President Volodymyr Zelensky answered “Really, yes”, and Ukraine’s defence ministry said later that the connection had improved but the drone speed cap remained.
• Houthis fire missile at Riyadh as Saudi coalition reports interception – The Saudi-led coalition said it intercepted a ballistic missile fired at Riyadh on Wednesday, and Saudi civil defence said debris injured one resident and damaged a building and a vehicle. Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree claimed strikes on King Khalid International Airport, an Aramco refinery in Riyadh and Aramco in Dhahran, and said the coalition had carried out 42 strikes on Yemeni territory, claims that could not be independently verified. Saree said attacks on Saudi airports and oil facilities would continue in the coming days and urged civilians and workers to stay away from them.
• Albania student protests turn violent for second night in Tirana – Protesters demanding Prime Minister Edi Rama’s resignation clashed with police in Tirana on Wednesday, setting fire to a floor of the justice ministry, briefly entering the finance ministry and throwing flares at the education ministry, AFP reported. Police said 14 officers were injured and 35 people detained on Wednesday after 16 arrests the previous night, and Interior Minister Ervin Demo blamed the “malicious hands of outsiders”. The movement began four months ago against a luxury resort project linked to Jared Kushner and has widened to university conditions and tuition fees, and the EU called for de-escalation and an inquiry into alleged excessive police force.
• Thousands march across Colombia against President de la Espriella – Thousands of people marched peacefully in Bogotá, Medellín and other cities on Wednesday in the first major opposition protests since right-wing President Abelardo de la Espriella took office in August. Former president Gustavo Petro led the Bogotá march with Senator Iván Cepeda, as unions, Indigenous groups and students denounced planned labour and pension changes and austerity proposals tied to the 2027 budget. On the eve of the marches the government gave police wider powers against protests that damage property or block roads, and de la Espriella wrote that “violence, vandalism and blockades” would not be tolerated.
• North Korea test-fires strategic cruise missiles from a submarine – North Korea launched two types of submarine-launched strategic cruise missiles into the sea off its east coast on Wednesday, state news agency KCNA reported on Thursday. KCNA said the test checked the reliability of the country’s “war deterrents” and had no adverse impact on neighbouring countries’ security, and Al Jazeera reported that one missile was a Pulhwasal-3-31. The launch follows ballistic missile tests on Monday and comes a week after South Korea tested its first homegrown hypersonic missile.

Economy

• US inflation climbs to 3.7% as gasoline prices surge – US consumer prices rose 3.7% year on year in September, up from 3.4% in August and above the 3.6% economists expected, according to official data released Wednesday. Prices rose 0.6% on the month, and gasoline, up 9.1% in September and 34.2% from a year earlier, accounted for more than half of the monthly increase. The data lifted bets on another rate rise at the Federal Reserve’s October 28 meeting, after the Fed raised rates last month for the first time in three years.
• Asian stocks plunge as chipmakers lead inflation-driven rout – Seoul’s Kospi was down between 7.5% and 8% and Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 about 5% in Thursday trading, according to AFP and Yahoo Finance data, with SK hynix and Kioxia each falling more than 10% and Advantest 12%. On Wall Street on Wednesday the Nasdaq Composite closed down 1.88% and the S&P 500 down 1.11%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.1%. Nikkei Asia linked the sell-off to the hotter US inflation data and worries about AI investment, and AFP reported that 10-year US Treasury yields stayed above 5.3% after touching 24-year highs.
• Australian unemployment rises to 4.7% as employment falls – Australia’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate rose to 4.7% in September from 4.6% in August, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said on Thursday. Employment fell by 39,300 people and the participation rate dropped 0.2 percentage points to 66.8%, while the trend unemployment rate held at 4.6%.
• UNDP warns 130 million could fall into poverty after Iran war – About 130 million people could be pushed into poverty this year if energy and food price rises were fully passed on without subsidies, a UNDP report found, with South and East Asia and sub-Saharan Africa most at risk. UNDP head Alexander De Croo told the IMF and World Bank annual meetings in Bangkok that developing countries had to “repair your roof while at the same time your home is on fire”, AFP reported. G20 finance chiefs meeting in Bangkok on Thursday were expected to end without a joint communiqué, with US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent absent, Nikkei Asia reported.
• Transsion shares slide more than 7% on Hong Kong debut – Shares of Transsion Holdings, the Chinese maker of Tecno, Infinix and itel phones known as the “King of Africa”, fell more than 7% in early trading on their Hong Kong debut on Thursday, Nikkei Asia reported. The company, listed in Shanghai since 2019, faces rising chip costs and intensifying competition.

World News

• Kenya confirms second Ebola case linked to Congo outbreak – Kenya’s Health Ministry confirmed a second Ebola case on Wednesday, a 39-year-old close relative of the country’s first patient who developed fever, fatigue and joint pain on Tuesday while already in quarantine. Both cases involve the Bundibugyo strain, and the first patient, a Kenyan who fell ill in the Democratic Republic of Congo and travelled through Uganda, died in Nairobi on October 5, according to the WHO. The ministry said the cases are linked and there is no evidence of wider community transmission, while the Congolese outbreak has passed 9,000 cases.
• Costa Rica opens mega-prison modelled on El Salvador’s CECOT – President Laura Fernández inaugurated the High-Containment Centre Against Organised Crime (CACCO) in Alajuela on Wednesday, a 5,100-capacity prison built from plans donated by El Salvador. The Justice Ministry estimated its cost at $34.5 million, and Justice Minister Gabriel Aguilar said the first inmate transfers would begin at the end of October, according to the Tico Times. Costa Rica’s national mechanism for the prevention of torture said the prison should not start operating because minimum standards were not met.
• Mexico orders social media platforms to shield minors from harm – President Claudia Sheinbaum signed a decree requiring platforms including TikTok, Meta and X to restrict minors’ exposure to violent, sexual and harassing content and to remove risky material from their profiles, Al Jazeera reported on Wednesday. Government adviser Luisa María Alcalde said the companies have one month to comply, and Sheinbaum said the measure would become law if no progress is made. The decree follows an attack this month by two former students on a high school in Coahuila that killed one person.
• Australia introduces digital duty of care bill for big tech – Communications Minister Anika Wells introduced a “Digital Duty of Care” bill in Australia’s parliament on Thursday that would make platforms directly responsible for protecting under-18s from pornography, bullying and content encouraging eating disorders. Users of services such as Facebook, TikTok and Instagram would be able to opt out of feed algorithms, and Wells said Australia would not let big tech have “unfettered access to our children”. The Labor government needs Greens support in the Senate, while the conservative opposition has vowed to fight the bill.
• Spanish charity halts Mediterranean migrant rescues as fuel costs double – Spanish NGO Salvamento Marítimo Humanitario said on Wednesday it was postponing its next Central Mediterranean rescue mission until next year because fuel prices have doubled, and will move its activities to waters off Valencia. At least 2,292 people have died or gone missing attempting the crossing this year, according to International Organization for Migration figures cited by Al Jazeera.

Bulletin automatically generated on October 15, 2026.