International News Bulletin — October 18, 2026

Politics

• Hundreds of thousands march across France as protests turn violent – Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez told BFMTV that about 550,000 people joined Saturday’s nationwide protests and that about 400 were arrested, Xinhua and Al Jazeera reported, while the CGT union put turnout at 500,000 and organisers cited 800,000, according to France 24. Protesters tried to force their way into city halls in Marseille, Lille, Calais and Angers, breaching Marseille’s, shops were looted in several cities and police fired tear gas at Place de la République in Paris. The student-led movement, now joined by “yellow vests” and unions, is demanding action on the cost of living, schools and public services, and President Emmanuel Macron said on X that those who looted town halls “will be prosecuted and punished”.
• Israeli settlers attack European diplomatic convoy and beat French mayor – Israeli settlers attacked a delegation including Belgian, French and Polish diplomats near the village of Taybeh in the occupied West Bank on Saturday, kicking and beating Bernard Baudoux, 78, mayor of the French town of Aulnoye-Aymeries, France 24 and Al Jazeera reported. French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot called the attack “appalling” and urged Israel to arrest those responsible, and Belgian Foreign Minister Maxime Prévot said he would push for further EU sanctions. Israeli police opened an investigation, while Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office urged “caution before drawing conclusions”, and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Washington had asked Israel to “crack down” on settler violence after Friday’s attack on a US photojournalist.
• Egypt’s Sisi asks parliament to authorise defence help for Saudi Arabia – President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said on Saturday that Egypt would take “any measure” to protect Saudi Arabia if Riyadh asked, and requested an emergency session of parliament to grant him that authority, Al Jazeera, AFP via RTÉ and Dawn reported. “We are speaking only about defence,” Sisi said at a military academy graduation, adding that Egypt was not seeking a role in regional wars and that his term would end in 2030. The Saudi-led coalition said on Saturday it had intercepted four drones over Riyadh, the Eastern Province and the south as Houthi attacks on the kingdom continue.
• Tunisians stage biggest protest in years against President Saied – Thousands of people marched along Habib Bourguiba Avenue in Tunis on Saturday at the call of the UGTT labour union, opposition parties and civil society groups, Al Jazeera and The New Arab reported, with AFP counting more than 3,000. Protesters demanded the release of jailed critics of President Kais Saied and an end to restrictions on union rights, and some revived the 2011 slogan “The people want the fall of the regime”. UGTT leader Salah Eddine Salmi said “silence will no longer be acceptable”.
• Rubio calls Russia sanctions waiver a 60-day pause to assess impact – US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Saturday that President Donald Trump wants a 60-day period “to sort of analyse what imposing both sanctions and tariffs will mean”, a day after Trump waived the measures of the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act, AFP reported via RTÉ and France 24. Rubio, speaking before leaving for Uzbekistan and India, linked the decision to energy prices driven by the US war with Iran and Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia, and Trump called it “a very good decision”. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called the waiver “wrong” and said it “rewards” Vladimir Putin, while Republican senators Thom Tillis and Ted Cruz also criticised it, according to the Kyiv Independent and AFP.

Economy

• IMF meetings close in Bangkok with warning on poorer nations’ debt – The IMF and World Bank annual meetings ended in Bangkok on Saturday, with Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva saying low-income countries now spend between 8 and 14 percent of revenue on debt repayments and calling inflation “a tax on the poor”, Al Jazeera reported citing AFP and Reuters. Saudi Finance Minister Mohammed Al-Jadaan, who chairs the IMF’s steering committee, said the Middle East crisis had exposed a divide between the region’s vulnerable economies and those better able to absorb it, Nikkei Asia reported. Georgieva said the Fund would back Iraq “very firmly” on a requested loan programme and that talks with Lebanon were progressing.
• Ukrainian drones target Saint Petersburg oil terminal and VK data centre – A large Ukrainian drone attack early on Sunday hit the Saint Petersburg Oil Terminal, one of Russia’s largest fuel storage and export facilities, according to Russian state media cited by the Kyiv Independent, which said it could not verify the damage. Social media company VK said one of its data centres in the Leningrad region was hit but its services stayed online, TASS reported, and regional governor Alexander Drozdenko said dozens of drones were shot down. Kyiv resumed strikes on Russian refineries this week, and Reuters reported that the Ryazan refinery halted one of its main crude units after an attack on Thursday.
• Pakistan suspends trade with Iran at two border crossings – Pakistan’s commerce ministry suspended trade with Iran through the Gabd-Rimdan and Taftan border crossings with immediate effect in a memorandum issued on Friday, Dawn reported on Saturday. A Balochistan government adviser cited security concerns and smuggling, while Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman blamed “technical issues”, and both described the closure as temporary. Hundreds of freight vehicles carrying liquefied petroleum gas, rice and fruit were reported stranded, and the Quetta Chamber of Commerce told members to stop placing new orders.
• Japan plans to block exports of untraced gold to curb tax evasion – Japan’s Finance Ministry plans to strengthen customs powers to stop exports of gold whose origin cannot be traced, Nikkei Asia reported on Sunday. Recorded gold imports into Japan totalled 10 tonnes in 2025 against exports of 228 tonnes, according to the report, a gap linked to smuggling and evasion of consumption tax. No date for the measure has been announced.

World News

• Russian strikes on Ukraine’s energy grid kill at least seven – Russia launched 332 drones along with ballistic missiles at Ukraine on Friday and overnight into Saturday, and 289 of the drones were downed, Ukraine’s air force said, in what President Volodymyr Zelensky called “one of the largest strikes on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure”, the Kyiv Independent reported. Regional authorities reported seven people killed and about 90 injured according to the Kyiv Independent, while Al Jazeera put the toll at eight dead and 60 injured across nine regions. The energy ministry said power was restored to more than one million people who lost supply, and about 370,000 households in Volyn were cut off, according to Al Jazeera.
• Kenya confirms four more Ebola cases, bringing total to seven – Kenya’s Health Ministry said on Saturday that three health workers who treated the country’s first Ebola patient and a close relative of that patient had tested positive for the Bundibugyo strain, Xinhua and Al Jazeera reported. They are the first known infections passed on inside Kenya, and the ministry said 128 of the first patient’s 130 contacts were in quarantine and “there is no evidence of community transmission”. There is no approved vaccine or treatment for the Bundibugyo strain, and the outbreak is linked to the epidemic in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
• Indonesian fires push Southeast Asian haze to highest alert level – The ASEAN Specialised Meteorological Centre activated Alert Level 3, the highest of four tiers, for the southern ASEAN region on Friday because of fires in Indonesia, AFP reported via Dawn, with Singapore and Kuala Lumpur ranking among the world’s most polluted major cities on Saturday. Malaysia recorded unhealthy air quality in 25 areas on Sunday morning, with the highest reading of 190 at Pasir Gudang in Johor, Bernama reported. Indonesia’s disaster agency said 2.4 tonnes of dry ice had been dispersed by plane in South Sumatra to fight the haze.
• Pope Leo returns to the Vatican after lung cancer surgery – Pope Leo XIV left Rome’s Gemelli hospital on Saturday, four days after surgery to remove a lump from the lower lobe of his right lung that tests confirmed as adenocarcinoma, Al Jazeera, France 24 and RTÉ reported. He said he was feeling “much better”, and doctors reported “continued improvement”. He is due to lead the Angelus prayer on Sunday ahead of a trip to Latin America in mid-November.

Bulletin automatically generated on October 18, 2026.