International News Bulletin — October 30, 2026

Politics

• US weighs resuming major combat operations against Iran – Central Command chief Adm. Brad Cooper briefed President Donald Trump on military options for Iran at the White House on Thursday, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing US officials. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Dan Caine attended, and the Pentagon declined to comment to the newspaper. Vice President JD Vance told Fox News that Trump “is never going to let this be a forever war.”
• Hong Kong leader apologises after the Tai Po fire inquiry – Chief Executive John Lee and seven senior officials bowed in apology on Thursday after the inquiry into the November 2025 Wang Fuk Court blaze, which killed 168 people, found supervisory failures in several government departments. Housing Secretary Winnie Ho resigned on Wednesday, and Lee said she “should bear political responsibility” although no personal wrongdoing was found. A three-month investigation will examine whether staff in four agencies were derelict in their duties, France 24 reported.
• Kim Jong Un oversees a drone and cruise missile demonstration – North Korea fired suicide attack drones, tactical cruise missiles and a 600mm multiple rocket launcher at a weapons exhibition attended by Kim, the state agency KCNA reported on Friday. Kim called for “absolute superiority” in drone technology and urged faster work on military uses of AI. Seoul had reported about a dozen short-range ballistic missile launches from the Wonsan area the day before, according to AFP.
• Tshisekedi asks Russia to back the UN demand for Rwandan withdrawal – DR Congo’s President Felix Tshisekedi urged Moscow at the Russia-Africa summit to support the implementation of Security Council resolutions, including Resolution 2773, which calls for Rwandan troops to leave Congolese territory. He said he remained committed to the Washington and Doha mediation processes. Rwanda, which says its military presence is needed for its security, made no immediate response, Anadolu reported.
• Trump calls Brazil’s election “a disgrace” without recognising Lula – US President Donald Trump said “I think the election was a disgrace in Brazil” and declined to say whether he recognised Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s run-off win over Flavio Bolsonaro by more than four million votes. Bolsonaro, under investigation for alleged embezzlement and money laundering, landed in Miami on Wednesday and called himself “the true elected president of Brazil” without evidence, Al Jazeera reported. A family spokesman blamed ChatGPT for a letter that briefly styled the senator “president-elect”, according to RTÉ.

Economy

• Lagarde to leave the European Central Bank in February 2027 – ECB President Christine Lagarde said on Thursday she will step down on February 7, 2027, about nine months before her eight-year term ends. European Council President António Costa said the succession process “will be initiated today”, with “a view to a timely decision”. The timing lets EU leaders choose a successor before France’s April presidential election, France 24 and Al Jazeera reported.
• Binance breach affects an estimated $6.3 billion in assets – The world’s largest crypto exchange said a security breach that began with a compromised engineer’s laptop affected about $6.3 billion, of which roughly $3 billion had been frozen or recovered. Co-founder Yi He said Binance would cover all losses, and deposits and withdrawals were temporarily suspended. Bitcoin fell to around $76,400 in early Asian trading on Friday, according to Reuters and AFP.
• Alphabet’s record one-day drop pulls the Nasdaq down 1.4 percent – The Nasdaq composite closed Thursday at 26,184.72 and the S&P 500 fell 0.3 percent to 7,720.39, while the Russell 2000 rose 1 percent, as Alphabet posted its worst single-day drop on record, AP reported. Amazon shares fell more than 7 percent after hours when its profit and revenue missed forecasts, according to AFP. In Asia on Friday, Seoul’s Kospi was down 5.3 percent and Tokyo’s Nikkei 2.5 percent at 0230 GMT as chipmakers sold off, with Brent crude at $117.40 a barrel.
• DoorDash agrees to buy Instacart for about $17 billion – DoorDash will pay $65 per Instacart share, a 26 percent premium to the October 22 close, with at least 75 percent of the consideration in cash, the company said on Thursday. The cash portion is funded from cash on hand and a bridge loan from JPMorgan Chase, according to Anadolu. Closing is expected at the end of 2027 or in the first half of 2028, subject to Instacart shareholders and regulators in the US, Canada and Israel.

World News

• Iran says tankers struck mines near the Strait of Hormuz – Iran’s navy said an oil tanker hit naval mines and caught fire on Thursday in a restricted area east of the strait, and the IRGC navy said three tankers were ablaze and a fourth had struck mines, Anadolu and Al Jazeera reported, giving no names or casualties. Separately, the UK Maritime Trade Operations centre said a tanker about 25 nautical miles northeast of Khasab, Oman, was hit by two explosive devices attached from a small boat, and that its crew was safe. Shipping through the strait has been disrupted since the US and Israel attacked Iran on February 28.
• Russian drone strike on a Dnipro station platform kills at least 14 – A jet-powered drone hit a crowded platform at Dnipro’s main station as a train prepared to leave for Zaporizhzhia, state railway Ukrzaliznytsia said. Officials cited by Al Jazeera put the toll at 14 dead, up from 13 given earlier by President Volodymyr Zelensky, and regional governor Oleksandr Hanzha said at least 14 people were injured. Zelensky called the attack “horrific” and said sanctions on Moscow “must not be eased for as long as this Russian war continues.”
• EU force helicopter crash in Bosnia kills four Italians – An Italian CH-47 Chinook flying for the EU’s EUFOR mission crashed near Brčko, about 180 km north of Sarajevo, killing four people, three at the scene and one in hospital. EUFOR said 11 people were injured, while the Brčko hospital said it received 12. Italy’s government said all on board were Italian and the dead were two soldiers and two Red Cross volunteers, Al Jazeera reported; EUFOR is investigating the cause.
• Martian meteorite found in Mali dated to over 4.1 billion years – Researchers led by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory reported in the journal Science that Teghaza 001, an 800-gram rock found in the Malian Sahara in 2022, was altered by water about 4.1 billion years ago. The authors say it is one of the three oldest Martian meteorites known and that its chemistry points to an active water cycle on early Mars, Anadolu reported.
• Actor Patrick Stewart dies in Los Angeles at 86 – The British actor, known as Captain Jean-Luc Picard in Star Trek: The Next Generation and Professor Charles Xavier in the X-Men films, died on Wednesday of Alzheimer’s disease and Lewy body dementia, his spokesperson Kelly Bush Novak said. Stewart was a long-time member of the Royal Shakespeare Company and was knighted in 2010.

Bulletin automatically generated on October 30, 2026.