International News Bulletin — October 25, 2026

Politics

• Trump says a strike on Iran could come “maybe tomorrow” – President Donald Trump told reporters on Saturday that Washington was weighing a new attack on Iran, saying “We’re thinking about doing it, and maybe tomorrow,” while leaving a deal open and adding “Either way, we win,” Anadolu reported. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian blamed the United States for the collapse of the interim agreement, saying on state television that the Americans had “messed everything up” but that Tehran should still try to conclude it. The Revolutionary Guards warned that even a limited strike would draw a response “several times greater,” Fars news agency reported.
• Arab parties offer to back Netanyahu’s rivals before Tuesday’s election – Mansour Abbas of Raam and Yousef Jabareen of the Joint List, leaders of Israel’s two main Arab lists, said they were willing under certain conditions to work with the opposition bloc led by Gadi Eisenkot, AFP reported. Thousands rallied against the government in Tel Aviv on Saturday, and polls show neither Benjamin Netanyahu’s bloc nor Eisenkot’s winning a majority in the 120-seat Knesset, according to Al Jazeera. The army said crossings into and out of the West Bank would be fully closed on polling day.
• Serbia holds a snap parliamentary election called after mass protests – Serbs vote on Sunday for the 250-seat National Assembly in an election brought forward after months of student-led protests over the November 2024 railway station canopy collapse in Novi Sad that killed 16 people, Anadolu reported. Aleksandar Vučić, who resigned as president in September, leads the ruling Serbian Progressive Party list and is seeking the post of prime minister. AP has described his party and the Students’ List as believed to be running close.
• Bulgaria votes for president with the Ukraine war at the centre – Bulgarians vote on Sunday in the first round of a presidential election that pits incumbent Iliana Iotova, who favours a diplomatic end to the war in Ukraine, against Andrey Gyurov, a former caretaker prime minister backed by pro-Western parties, Al Jazeera reported. Iotova has led opinion polls, but a first-round win requires an outright majority on a turnout above 50 percent of 6.6 million registered voters. With turnout expected below 40 percent, a run-off on November 1 is likely.
• Kim Jong Un makes a day trip to China’s Dandong – North Korean leader Kim Jong Un made an unannounced trip to the Chinese border city of Dandong on Saturday to honour Chinese soldiers who died in the Korean War, Xinhua reported. Wang Huning, China’s top political adviser, accompanied him, conveyed greetings from Xi Jinping and saw him off at the New Yalu River Bridge, which opened the previous week, according to AFP. A South Korean lawmaker said Kim was understood to have also met Premier Li Qiang.

Economy

• Federal Reserve meets next week with a rate hold expected – The Fed’s policy committee meets on October 27 and 28, with its decision due on Wednesday, six days before the November 3 midterm elections. The target range stands at 3.75 to 4 percent after a quarter-point increase in September, and analysts expect it to be held, AFP reported. Markets are pricing in at least one more increase before year-end, according to the agency.
• China opposes a US plan to widen curbs on outbound investment – China’s commerce ministry urged Washington to stop expanding restrictions on American investment in China, saying a proposed rule “discriminatorily” widened the curbs and would disrupt trade ties, Reuters reported. The Treasury proposed on Thursday to add biotechnology to the restricted sectors and to broaden coverage of high-performance computing and hypersonic systems. The ministry said it reserved the right to take countermeasures, without naming any.
• Sydney’s new international airport opens to passengers – Western Sydney International (Nancy-Bird Walton) Airport at Badgerys Creek opened to passenger traffic on Sunday, with Jetstar flight JQ362 to the Gold Coast scheduled as its first departure at 11:00 local time. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Australia was opening a major new airport for the first time in more than 50 years, Nikkei Asia reported, putting the cost at A$5.6 billion. Air New Zealand is due to start Auckland flights on Monday and Singapore Airlines on November 23.
• Pakistan reopens a key border crossing for trade with Iran – Pakistan has reopened the Gabd-Rimdan crossing with Iran, restoring trade that a commerce ministry memorandum halted at Gabd and Taftan on October 17, Dawn reported. Mir Naveed Jan Kalmati, president of the Gwadar Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said the restored supply chain should ease a nationwide shortage of liquefied petroleum gas. Unidentified gunmen had set dozens of stranded trucks on fire near the crossing on Thursday.

World News

• France counts nearly 1,000 arrests in a new day of protests – Between 410,000 people, according to the interior ministry, and 800,000, according to the CGT union, marched across France on Saturday, with tear gas fired in Paris, Lyon, Marseille, Bordeaux and other cities, AFP reported. Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said nearly 1,000 people had been arrested and two seriously injured, one of them in Toulouse. In Italy the government deployed about 500 soldiers to Milan as cost-of-living protests turned to clashes with police in Rome and Turin.
• Houthis fire missiles at Saudi Arabia and Yemen’s Aden – Saudi officials said two Houthi ballistic missiles fired at western Saudi Arabia on Saturday were intercepted, with debris falling in the Mecca and Medina regions, while the Houthis said they had targeted Saudi airports and oil facilities. Yemeni authorities said three missiles hit coastguard sites and the area around Aden’s international airport. Houthi-run media reported civilians killed in coalition air strikes on Sanaa and Hodeidah, a claim that could not be independently verified.
• Storm Champi heads for eastern China after leaving Taiwan – Champi, downgraded to a tropical storm, left one dead and 616 injured in Taiwan, the island’s Central Emergency Operation Center said on Saturday, and the agriculture ministry put initial farm losses at about NT$133 million. China’s state broadcaster CCTV warned of heavy to torrential rain for Jiangsu, Shanghai and Zhejiang. AFP reported that tens of thousands of people were evacuated in Shanghai and some train services suspended.
• Three UAE emirates close beaches as a tanker oil spill spreads – Ras Al Khaimah closed all its beaches on Saturday “until further notice,” after Umm Al Quwain and Sharjah’s Al Hamriyah Beach were shut over an oil leak from a tanker, Reuters reported. The UAE has not named the tanker or said what caused the leak. The environment ministry said odours reported in Ajman and Sharjah posed no health risks and told fishermen to keep away from affected waters.

Bulletin automatically generated on October 25, 2026.