🇺🇸📱TikTok creator and US marshal shot during LA immigration raid
A TikTok creator and a US marshal were both injured by gunfire during an immigration enforcement operation in Los Angeles on Tuesday, officials said.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said Carlitos Ricardo Parias, who they said was in the US illegally, allegedly rammed law enforcement vehicles with his car while trying to flee an immigration arrest.
Officers fired shots and struck Mr Parias' elbow, and a US marshal was hit in the hand by a ricochet bullet, the DHS said. Both were hospitalised with non-life threatening injuries.
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🇹🇿Top opposition politician arrested days before Tanzania election
A senior official of Tanzania's main opposition party has been arrested amid a crackdown on dissenting voices ahead of next week's general election.
John Heche, deputy chairperson of Chadema, was detained while attempting to attend the treason trial of party leader Tundu Lissu.
In a statement, Chadema alleged that the government planned to "arrest senior party leaders and detain them until after the elections", which will take place on 29 October.
The government has not responded to this accusation.
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🇺🇸🇮🇳Trump repeats claim India will cut Russian oil imports
US President Donald Trump has reiterated that India has agreed to reduce its purchase of Russian crude.
Trump said Indian PM Narendra Modi had assured him during a phone call on Tuesday that Delhi "was not going to buy much oil from Russia" as he too "wants to see the war end with Russia-Ukraine".
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🇾🇪Yemen's Houthis say military chief of staff Mohammed al-Ghamari killed
Yemen's Houthi movement says its military chief of staff, Mohammed al-Ghamari, has been killed.
A statement gave no details, but it did say that Ghamari and his teenage son died during what it described as the "honourable battle against the Israeli enemy".
The Israeli military has carried out many rounds of strikes in Houthi-controlled Yemen in response to repeated Houthi drone and missile attacks on Israel and Red Sea shipping linked to the Gaza war.
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said Ghamari "died of wounds" he sustained in an Israeli air strike in Yemen's capital Sanaa in late August, which also killed the Houthi government's prime minister and other ministers.
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🇫🇷French PM survives major test but breathing space will not last long
France's new prime minister, Sébastien Lecornu, has bought himself breathing space after winning two no-confidence motions tabled by the opposition.
In the tightest vote, a motion sponsored by the far left fell 18 votes short of the 289 needed to bring him down.
It means that after just five days in office, Lecornu has survived a first major ordeal in parliament and can now focus on the task of passing the 2026 budget.
Any relief for the prime minister is likely to be short-lived, with the far left and far right still gunning to bring him down. And the Socialists, who threw a lifeline in the no-confidence motions, have made clear they will not be so indulgent next time round.
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🇮🇳🇺🇸India's exports to US plunge as Trump's 50% tariffs bite
India's goods exports to the US, its largest foreign market, dropped sharply by 20% in September and nearly 40% in the last four months, as Trump's steep tariffs took effect, data shows.
September was the first full month of Washington's 50% tariffs on Indian goods, which kicked in on 27 August. This includes a 25% penalty for Delhi's refusal to stop buying oil from Russia.
"US has become India's most severely affected market since the tariff escalation began," said Ajay Srivastava of Global Trade Research Initiative (GTRI), a Delhi-based think tank.
Negotiations for a trade deal between the two countries are under way, with the goal of concluding an agreement by next month.
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🇲🇬Madagascar presidency says attempt to seize power under way
The office of Madagascar's President Andry Rajoelina has said an attempt to seize power illegally and by force is under way in the country.
Hours later, an army unit known as CAPSAT claimed that it had taken over the leadership of the military command, and was now in control of all the armed forces - land, air, and naval.
This is the same unit that played a crucial role in the 2009 Malagasy political crisis, which helped Rajoelina rise to power.
Madagascar was first hit by youth-led protests on 25 September against water and power cuts, but they have escalated to reflect wider dissatisfaction with Rajoelina's government over high unemployment, corruption, and the cost-of-living crisis.
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🇮🇪How a 16-year-old rental dispute derailed a presidential campaign
A 16-year-old tenant-landlord dispute has rocked the Irish presidential election campaign in the past week.
When Niall Donald unwittingly overpaid €3,300 (£2,870) to his landlord, Jim Gavin, in 2009 neither of them could have foreseen their subsequent dispute eventually playing a seminal role in an election to choose Ireland's next head of state.
Mr Gavin, who was chosen to represent Fianna Fáil, the Republic of Ireland's biggest party in the country's coalition government, withdrew from the contest last weekend.
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🇺🇸Trump administration starts laying off thousands of workers
The Trump administration has begun laying off thousands of federal workers in an effort to pressure Democrats amid the ongoing government shutdown.
"The RIFs have begun," White House Office of Management Director Russell Vought announced in a post on X on Friday morning, referring to an acronym for "reductions in force".
A spokesman for his office confirmed the cuts had started and were "substantial". Their size and scope began coming into focus later on Friday, when the administration disclosed seven agencies had started laying off more than 4,000 workers.
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🇻🇪Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado wins Nobel Peace Prize
Venezuela's opposition leader and pro-democracy activist María Coria Machado has been awarded the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize.
Machado, 58, was hailed by the Nobel Committee as "one of the most extraordinary examples of civilian courage in Latin America in recent times" and praised for her "tireless work promoting democratic rights for the people of Venezuela".
For years she has campaigned against Venezuela's President Nicolás Maduro Moros, whose 12-year rule is viewed by many nations as illegitimate.
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🇲🇬Army general named as Madagascar PM to quell Gen Z protests
Madagascar's embattled President Andry Rajoelina has appointed an army general as the new prime minister in a bid to end youth-led protests against his rule.
He said the nation needed a premier "capable of restoring order and the people's trust" before naming Gen Ruphin Fortunat Zafisambo to the post.
Coming days after the president expressed fears of a coup attempt, the general's appointment marks a significant militarisation of the government and appears to be an attempt by Rajoelina to secure the army's backing at a time of heightened tensions.
The protest movement, known as Gen Z Mada, rejected Gen Zafisambo's appointment, and gave Rajoelina 48 hours to resign.
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🇨🇫CAR president's rival invited back from exile then detained
One of the most vocal critics of the Central African Republic's government is being questioned by security officials following his arrest at the country's main airport.
Dominique Désiré Erenon leads the March for Democracy and the People's Salvation (MDSP) party and had been living in exile in France for the past three years.
He fiercely opposed 2016 constitutional reforms which extended presidential powers - a move many observers described as a step backward for democracy in the conflict-torn nation.
His arrest came after President Faustin-Archange Touadéra publicly called on all Central Africans in the diaspora to return home. Erenon responded to this call and was detained on arrival.
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🇯🇵Japan stocks hit record after ruling party names pro-business leader
Japanese stocks have hit a record high after the country's ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) named Sanae Takaichi as its new leader, positioning the pro-business politician to be Japan's next prime minister.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 index closed 4.75% higher on Monday, ending the day above 47,000 for the first time.
Takaichi, who has held senior government roles including minister for economic security and internal affairs, is known for her support of higher government spending and lower borrowing costs.
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🇩🇪Munich airport resumes flights after suspected drones force second closure in 24 hours
Flights have resumed at Germany's Munich airport after unconfirmed drone sightings forced it to suspend operations for the second time in 24 hours.
In a statement on Friday evening, the airport said that flights were stopped at 21:30 local time (20:30 GMT), with around 6,500 passengers affected.
At least 17 flights were also grounded in Munich on Thursday evening due to multiple drone sightings in nearby airspace.
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🇮🇳🇨🇳India and China to resume direct flights after a five-year ban
India and China will restart direct flights between the countries this month, India's foreign ministry has said, in another step towards ties being gradually normalised.
There have been no direct flights between the two countries since 2020, following deadly troop clashes on their shared Himalayan border.
But over the past year or so, Delhi and Beijing have been working towards re-building ties, including taking steps to de-escalate tensions at the border.
On Thursday, India's biggest budget airline IndiGo said that it would restart direct flights between the cities of Kolkata and Guangzhou from 26 October.
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🇺🇸🇷🇺Trump says Putin talks 'don't go anywhere' as he imposes new sanctions
The US has announced new sanctions targeting Russia's two largest oil companies in an effort to pressure Moscow to negotiate a peace deal in Ukraine.
The announcement came one day after US President Donald Trump said a planned meeting with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Budapest would be shelved indefinitely.
"Every time I speak to Vladimir, I have good conversations and then they don't go anywhere," Trump said.
While the economic impact to Russia is likely to be minimal, it represents a major shift in Trump's foreign policy, having previously said he would not impose sanctions until European nations ceased buying Russian oil. The Kremlin said Russia was "immune" to the sanctions.
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🇮🇸Mosquitoes found in Iceland for first time after record heat
Mosquitoes have been found in Iceland for the first time after the country experienced record-breaking heat this spring.
Insect enthusiast Bjorn Hjaltason encountered the mosquitoes over several nights last week while using wine-soaked ropes to observe moths, local media reported.
Mr Hjaltason found two female mosquitoes and one male which were later confirmed to be Culiseta annulata, one of few species that can successfully survive winter.
Iceland was one of only two mosquito-free havens in the world prior to the discovery, partly due to its cold climate. The only other recorded mosquito-free zone is Antarctica.
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🇨🇴Colombian court overturns former president's conviction
Colombia's former president has had two convictions for fraud and bribery overturned after he was sentenced to 12 years of house arrest.
Alvaro Uribe became the first Colombian leader to be criminally convicted after a trial in August in which a judge handed the 73-year-old the maximum sentence.
The case against him was linked to claims he ordered a lawyer to bribe jailed paramilitaries to discredit claims he had ties to their organisations. Uribe has always maintained his innocence.
The right-wing politician, who was president between 2002 and 2010, is best known for waging an aggressive offensive against left-wing Farc rebels and remains an influential figure in the South American nation.
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Seychelles' president-elect set to halt tourist development on tiny island
Seychelles' president-elect says that once sworn in, he will halt the construction of a controversial Qatari-funded luxury resort on an environmentally sensitive island.
Speaking to the BBC, Patrick Herminie, who will come to power in the Indian Ocean nation on 26 October, said his country had "got peanuts in that contract" and added that the current deal was "unacceptable".
The resort's construction on Assumption Island was criticised by campaigners because of its potential ecological impact.
The island is the gateway to the Aldabra atoll, which has one of the most pristine and fragile ecosystems in the world and is home to 400 species found nowhere else on the planet.
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🇺🇾Uruguay legalises euthanasia after 10-hour debate
Uruguay has legalised euthanasia, becoming the first country in Latin America to pass a law that allows assisted suicide.
The Dignified Death bill was passed in the senate on Wednesday, with 20 out of 31 legislators present voting in favour.
The bill allows mentally sound adults in the terminal stage of an irreversible disease to choose euthanasia to be performed by a healthcare professional.
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🇺🇸US President Donald Trump shows his written message before speaking to Israeli parliamentarians in the Knesset
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🇸🇨Seychelles' opposition leader wins presidential poll
Seychelles' main opposition leader Patrick Herminie has won presidential elections, defeating incumbent Wavel Ramkalawan in a runoff vote, according to official results released by the electoral commission.
Herminie gained 52.7% of the vote, compared with Ramkalawan's 47.3%.
In his victory speech, Herminie promised to lower the cost of living, revive public services, and unite the island nation, saying the result marked "a new chapter for all Seychellois".
After losing his bid for a second term, Ramkalawan congratulated Herminie on his victory, saying he leaves "a legacy that makes many presidents blush".
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🇫🇷Macron reappoints Lecornu as French PM after days of turmoil
President Emmanuel Macron has asked Sébastien Lecornu to return as French prime minister only four days after he stood down from the post, sparking a week of high drama and political turmoil.
Macron made the announcement late on Friday, hours after meeting all the main parties together at the Élysée Palace, except the leaders of the far right and far left.
Lecornu's return came as a surprise, as he said on national TV only two days ago he was not "chasing the job" and his "mission is over".
It is not even certain he will be able to form a government, but he will have to hit the ground running. The new prime minister faces a deadline on Monday to put next year's budget before parliament.
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🇧🇪Suspected plot to attack Belgian PM foiled
Police in Belgium have arrested three people suspected of plotting an attack on the country's prime minister, Bart De Wever.
The alleged plot was described by prosecutors as a "jihadist-inspired terrorist attack" on the PM and other politicians.
Authorities found a suspected improvised explosive device and evidence the suspects were planning to use a drone during searches in Deurne, Antwerp, close to the prime minister's private residence.
The intended targets of the attack were not named by the prosecutor's office, but Deputy Prime Minister Maxime Prevot said De Wever was among them.
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🇵🇪Peru's president removed from office amid soaring crime
Peru's Congress has voted to remove President Dina Boluarte from office, hours after a late-night session was called to debate her impeachment.
An overwhelming majority of lawmakers from across the political spectrum approved her ousting on grounds of "permanent moral incapacity".
In an address on national television following the vote, Boluarte questioned the implications it would have on the stability of Peru's democracy.
One of the world's most unpopular leaders, with an approval rating of 2-4%, Boluarte's tenure has been plagued by frequent protests, scandals and investigations, as well as a surge in gang violence.
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🇺🇸🇧🇷Trump and Brazilian President Lula have 'friendly' call
US President Donald Trump and his Brazilian counterpart, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, have had a call described by both sides as friendly and positive as Brazil seeks to reduce a 50% US tariff on imports.
In Monday's video chat, Lula asked Trump to remove most of the duties. Trump said on social media they had a "very good telephone call".
It is the first time the two have spoken formally since they had a brief encounter at the United Nations General Assembly in New York last month.
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🇫🇷French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu resigns after less than a month
France's Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu has resigned, less than a day after his cabinet was unveiled.
"The conditions were not fulfilled for me to carry on as prime minister," Lecornu said on Monday morning, and criticised the unwillingness by political parties to reach compromises.
The Elysée palace made the announcement after Lecornu met President Emmanuel Macron for an hour on Monday morning.
The shock move comes only 26 days after Lecornu was appointed prime minister following the collapse of the previous government of François Bayrou.
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🇨🇿Billionaire populist Andrej Babis' party wins Czech parliamentary election
Billionaire businessman Andrej Babis has won parliamentary elections in the Czech Republic, although his populist ANO party fell short of an overall majority.
ANO received just under 35% of the vote, earning them 80 seats in the 200-seat lower house – up from 72 seats four years ago, according to preliminary results.
Babis – who served as prime minister from 2017 to 2021 – is expected to be invited to lead talks on forming a new coalition.
"This is a historic success," Andrej Babis announced to cheering supporters at the ANO headquarters in the suburbs of Prague.
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🇯🇵Japan's ruling party to vote for second new leader in a year
Japan could soon have either its first female or youngest-ever prime minister as the country's ruling party votes for its second new leader in just over a year.
The Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) is looking to replace Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, who stepped down last month after his government lost its majority in both houses of parliament.
Whoever is elected will face numerous challenges - not least leading a party still struggling to win back voter trust after major financial corruption scandals.
They will also need to balance the fraught US-Japan relations and see through the tariff deal agreed on by the Ishiba government with Donald Trump's administration.
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🇷🇺🇬🇧Russia targets UK military satellites on weekly basis
Russian satellites have been stalking British military satellites, according to the head of the UK Space Command.
In an interview with the BBC, Maj Gen Paul Tedman has for the first time set out the level of interference from Moscow against the UK's space-based assets.
He said Russia had also been trying to jam the UK's military satellites with ground-based systems every week.
Last month Germany's Defence Minister, Boris Pistorius, said Russia had been shadowing satellites used by their military.
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