International News Bulletin — October 23, 2026

Politics

• Trump hints at more Iran strikes as Tehran claims seven tankers hit – Donald Trump told reporters at the White House on Thursday that “we’ve knocked the hell out of them, and we may do it a little bit further,” Anadolu reported, after The New York Times said US and Israeli forces had drafted plans for renewed strikes after the midterm elections. Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said seven oil tankers were damaged in the Strait of Hormuz in a single day and warned that the conflict could extend to US bases in the region, Al Jazeera and Dawn reported, claims that could not be independently verified. A US Central Command spokesperson told Al Jazeera that US forces had cleared the shipping lanes and that 95 percent of vessels were getting through.
• International Criminal Court wins the EU’s Sakharov human rights prize – European Parliament President Roberta Metsola announced on Thursday that the International Criminal Court had won the Sakharov Prize, saying the EU is “built on respect for multilateralism and international institutions”, Al Jazeera, Dawn and France 24 reported. The award follows US sanctions announced this month that aim to disrupt the court’s daily operations and take effect in six months, and the EU is considering a blocking statute to shield the court, according to Al Jazeera and Dawn. ICC President Tomoko Akane said the prize carries “particular significance”, and Dawn said the ceremony will be held in December.
• Ecuador arrests opposition leader Luisa González in campaign finance probe – Luisa González, twice runner-up to President Daniel Noboa, was detained early on Thursday in Canuto, Manabí province, in the Laberinto money-laundering case over the financing of her 2023 presidential campaign, Primicias and Al Jazeera reported. The attorney general’s office said it had executed warrants against three people and that seven are under investigation over “inconsistencies in the contributions and the lawful source of the funds”, according to Al Jazeera, while Primicias said her first court hearing collapsed over connection problems. González called the accusations “absurd” and accused Noboa of political persecution, Al Jazeera and Anadolu reported.
• Venezuelan opposition holds first nationwide protest in nearly two years – Thousands of Venezuelans marched in Caracas and other cities on Thursday to demand presidential elections and the return of exiled opposition leader María Corina Machado, Reuters via Al Jazeera, AFP via France 24 and Anadolu reported. Machado’s Vente Venezuela movement is calling for a vote in 2027, and acting President Delcy Rodríguez has said elections will be held without setting a date, according to France 24 and Al Jazeera. The ruling Socialist Party staged a rival march in the capital, Al Jazeera reported.
• Serbian students hold final Belgrade rally before Sunday’s election – Tens of thousands of supporters of the student-backed Student List rallied in central Belgrade on Thursday, while Aleksandar Vučić addressed his own supporters at a sports hall across town, AFP and AP reported via Al Jazeera. The Student List is fielding 250 candidates for the 250-seat parliament against Vučić’s Serbian Progressive Party, in power for more than 14 years, and Vučić resigned the presidency in September to run for prime minister. Balkan Insight reported arrests across Serbia and obstruction of an audit of the electoral roll ahead of the weekend vote.

Economy

• Wall Street tech stocks slide on worries over AI spending – The Nasdaq Composite fell 2.60 percent on Thursday and the S&P 500 lost 1.21 percent to 7,663.43, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average ended flat at 52,867.98, according to Yahoo Finance, Al Jazeera and AFP via France 24. Meta dropped nearly 7 percent after raising its 2026 capital spending forecast to between $135 billion and $145 billion, and Intel and AMD each lost about 8 percent, Al Jazeera reported. Jay Goldberg of Seaport Research Partners told Al Jazeera that “investors have just decided to be afraid this week.”
• Asian shares fall and Brent nears $114 on Friday – Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 was down between 1.3 and 1.7 percent on Friday morning in Yahoo Finance and AFP snapshots, and Al Jazeera said Seoul’s Kospi fell as much as 3.5 percent at one point. Brent crude traded at about $113.70 to $114.10 a barrel, according to Yahoo Finance and AFP, after a 4 percent rise on Thursday that Al Jazeera said took it to its highest level since May. Tamas Varga of PVM Oil linked the move to “attacks on ships in the Strait of Hormuz and the Houthi strikes on Saudi Arabia”, Dawn reported.
• Japan’s core inflation climbs above the Bank of Japan’s target – Japan’s core consumer prices, which exclude fresh food, rose 2.1 percent year on year in September from 1.7 percent in August, Reuters via Nikkei Asia and Trading Economics reported, the first reading above the 2 percent target in nine months according to Reuters. A measure that also excludes fuel rose 2.4 percent, Reuters said, citing higher fuel costs from the Middle East conflict and a weak yen. The Bank of Japan, which raised its rate to 1.25 percent last month, is expected to hold at the meeting ending October 30, with many analysts polled by Reuters forecasting a hike to 1.5 percent in December.
• Philippine central bank raises its key rate to 5.5 percent – The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas raised its policy rate by 50 basis points to 5.5 percent on Thursday, a larger move than economists had expected, Nikkei Asia and The Philippine Star reported. The Philippine Star said it was the fourth consecutive increase this year, with headline inflation at 7.2 percent in September, and quoted Governor Eli Remolona as saying: “There were surprising developments on prices.” Remolona said the bank remains open to further hikes, and the next policy meeting is on December 17, according to the same outlet.
• Barclays to cut about 5,000 jobs as technology spending pays off – Barclays said on Thursday that it expects to reduce its workforce by about 5,000 by the end of 2026, roughly 5 percent of its staff, mostly in operational and functional roles, RTÉ reported, citing PA and Reuters. Pre-tax profit for the three months to September rose 12 percent to £2.3 billion, and the bank launched a £500 million share buyback. Chief executive C.S. Venkatakrishnan said the cuts were “a result of the investments which we’ve made into technology over a number of years”.

World News

• Magnitude 7.0 earthquake kills at least 16 in Tibet – A magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck a mountainous area of Tibet’s Nagqu region at 10:33 pm local time on Thursday, killing at least 16 people, Xinhua reported, according to Al Jazeera, France 24 and RTÉ. Xinhua first put the injured at 32, and China Central Television later reported 46, with 11 seriously hurt, RTÉ said. The US Geological Survey placed the quake at a shallow depth of about 10 km, and France 24, citing Xinhua, said more than 300 houses collapsed.
• Ukraine sends 630 drones toward Moscow as Kyiv is struck again – Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said on Thursday that 630 drones had been launched toward the Moscow region, 163 of them toward the capital, and that most were intercepted, with two people wounded, AFP via France 24 and Dawn reported. Overnight Russian strikes on Kyiv wounded 15 people, eight of whom were taken to hospital, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said, and damaged metro infrastructure at the Pivdenny Bridge, according to Dawn. Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said a summit between Vladimir Putin, Donald Trump and Xi Jinping was being prepared for next month in Shenzhen, France 24 and Dawn reported.
• WHO warns of a more complex Ebola outbreak across Africa – “We are facing a more complex outbreak landscape,” WHO Africa director Mohamed Janabi said at a briefing on Thursday, with active or recent cases of the Bundibugyo strain in Congo, Kenya and Nigeria, Al Jazeera and UN News reported. Congo has recorded more than 9,000 confirmed infections and more than 4,000 deaths since May, according to Al Jazeera, while UN News gave 9,552 infections and more than 4,600 deaths. Kenya has reported nine cases, and Nigeria, whose first case was confirmed on Tuesday, has identified more than 40 contacts, both outlets said.
• Nearly all shallow-water coral reefs face collapse, IUCN finds – The International Union for Conservation of Nature said on Thursday that 96 percent of the 127 coral reef systems it assessed, covering 188,362 sq km, are critically endangered and face a very high risk of collapse by 2075, Al Jazeera and AFP via Dawn reported. The assessment, presented at the UN’s COP17 biodiversity summit in Yerevan, assumes about 2.7°C of warming by 2100. Its scientific lead Mishal Gudka said “the future threat of climate change is looming and severe”.
• Taiwan closes schools and offices as Typhoon Champi approaches – Schools and offices closed on Friday across Taiwan’s main island except Taitung County, and in Penghu and Matsu, Focus Taiwan reported, and AFP via France 24 said most shops were shut and hundreds of flights in the region were cancelled. The Central Weather Administration put Champi’s maximum sustained winds at 155 km/h on Friday morning and expected the heaviest rain through Saturday morning, with extremely torrential rain possible in mountainous Yilan, according to Focus Taiwan. The storm was forecast to pass northeast of the island late on Friday on its way toward China and Japan, France 24 reported.

Bulletin automatically generated on October 23, 2026.