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MIDDLE EAST WAR | Day 220.

• Reports cite U.S. Defense Department officials as confirming yesterday that the U.S. Air Force has returned all of its bombers to the U.S. from RAF Fairford, a U.S.-run air base in England used for strikes on Iran, following a U.K. investigation into a planned terror attack on the base. British authorities have linked the plot to Iran, which has denied involvement. [more]

UKRAINE | Today is day 1,682 of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Here are your updates:

• During a visit to Kyiv yesterday, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz announced a new aid package for Ukraine worth more than $1.5 billion, including long-range strike weapons, combat drones, and energy aid ahead of winter. [more]
• Ukrainian officials say Russian attacks damaged Kyiv's Northern Bridge over the Dnipro River again yesterday, wounding two people. Attacks since Thursday have forced the full or partial closure of three of the capital's six road bridges. [more]
• Ukraine's Defense Ministry claimed yesterday that recent long-range strikes on Russian refineries have disabled 51% of Russia's oil refining capacity. Russian President Vladimir Putin acknowledged last week that the strikes had cost Russia roughly 1% of its gross domestic product. [more]

U.S. GUN VIOLENCE | In separate instances of gun violence over the weekend:

• Authorities in Georgia say two people were killed, and nearly three dozen others were injured, when gunfire erupted early yesterday at a homecoming block party attended by more than 1,000 people in the rural town of Vienna. No arrests have yet been made in connection with the incident. [more]
• Police in Baltimore say a 12-year-old girl was killed Saturday evening when she was caught in the crossfire between two men who opened fire on each other at a city park where a youth football game was being played. Authorities say they are seeking at least two suspects. [more]

U.S. SUPREME COURT | The U.S. Supreme Court opens its new term today. Among the high-profile cases on the Court's docket are energy companies' bid to block lawsuits seeking climate change damages, challenges to state bans on semiautomatic rifles such as AR-15s, the Trump administration's deportations of migrants to third countries and its detention of immigrants without bond hearings, and Arizona's proof-of-citizenship voting laws. [more]

U.S. EMPLOYMENT | According to Labor Department data released Friday, U.S. employers added a significantly lower-than-expected 29,000 jobs in September – down from a revised 133,000 in August. The unemployment rate rose to 4.2% in September from 4.1% in August. [full report] [more]

U.S. DRUG WAR | The U.S. military's Southern Command says four people were killed yesterday in a strike on a suspected drug-trafficking boat in the Caribbean Sea, bringing to at least 235 the number of people killed in similar anti-drug strikes since September 2025. [more]

U.S. ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE | Following last week's White House summit with executives of top artificial intelligence companies, President Donald Trump announced yesterday that he has named Jay Clayton, his director of national intelligence, to lead a new government AI task force, the "Super Intelligence Force." [more]

FLORIDA | State health officials reported last week that more than 250 locally acquired cases of dengue have been recorded in Florida so far this year. Reports cite data as indicating Florida's 2026 total is the most cases of the mosquito-borne disease in a calendar year for any U.S. state since at least the 1940s. [more]

U.S. AND JAPAN | Japanese police arrested a U.S. Marine over the weekend on suspicion of robbing and killing a woman on the southern island of Okinawa, where the large U.S. military presence has long drawn local opposition. Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said her government has lodged a strong protest with the United States. [more]

GLOBAL ENERGY | Amidst spikes in diesel prices linked to global shortages, the Group of Seven wealthy democracies said Friday that they plan to collectively release 100 million barrels of oil and fuel products over the coming months, starting with a large release of diesel within 20 days. [more]

OPEC+ | Seven key members of the OPEC+ group of oil-producing countries agreed yesterday to keep production steady in November, as the Middle East war keeps the price of benchmark Brent crude above $100 a barrel. The group will meet again on November 1 to review market conditions. [more]

GERMANY AND RUSSIA | Germany's foreign intelligence service warned lawmakers today that the country is at risk of being drawn into a violent conflict with Russia, amidst what officials characterized as Moscow's increasingly aggressive "shadow war" against European democracies. [more]

YEMEN | Amidst a nearly three-month escalation that has reignited Yemen's civil war, a Saudi-led coalition said today that it has begun a coordinated air campaign against the Iran-backed Houthi rebels along the Red Sea coast. The new campaign follows weekend action in which Houthi forces seized the strategic town of Turbah. [more]

ETHIOPIA | Government-allied forces are reported to have entered the city of Mekelle, the capital of Ethiopia's northern Tigray region, yesterday, following the weekend withdrawal of rebel Tigray People's Liberation Front forces, which had occupied the city since last month. [more]

BRAZIL | Senator Flávio Bolsonaro, the son of former President Jair Bolsonaro, will face President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in an October 25 runoff after neither won a majority in Brazil's first-round presidential election yesterday. [more]

RUSSIA | Russian health authorities say a 28-year-old technician at a plague research institute in Siberia's Irkutsk region has died of pneumonia of unknown origin, but that the death is not thought to be associated with microorganisms linked to her work. The head of a neighboring region has suggested she may have died of plague, and local media report that nearly 200 people have been placed under medical observation amidst ongoing investigations. A U.S. State Department spokesperson said yesterday that the department is monitoring the situation closely. [more]

PAKISTAN | Thousands of supporters of imprisoned former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan began a multiday march toward the capital, Islamabad, yesterday to demand his release, after talks between the government and Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party broke down. Authorities have set up roadblocks at the entrances to the city, and Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi warned that the march's leaders would be held responsible for any loss of life. [more]

NICARAGUA | A day after the Organization of American States called on Nicaraguan authorities to free political prisoners and restore civil liberties, Nicaragua's foreign ministry announced Saturday that the country is withdrawing from the Central American Parliament, effective immediately. [more]

SPAIN | Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez today called early general elections for November 29, after right-wing opposition parties in Parliament last week voted down his government's emergency measures to address the country's housing crisis. Sánchez will face Popular Party leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo, whose party already holds the most seats in Parliament. [more]

NOBEL PRIZES | The 2026 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded today to Karl Deisseroth, Peter Hegemann, and Georg Nagel, scientists based in the U.S. and Germany, for their discoveries concerning light-gated ion channels and optogenetics, leading to a better understanding of how nerve cells shape memories, feelings, and behaviors in the living brain. The award opens this year's Nobel announcements, with the physics prize tomorrow and chemistry on Wednesday. [full awardee info] [more]

COLLEGE FOOTBALL | Following weekend games, Texas remains at No. 1 atop the AP Top 25 college football poll for the fourth straight week, followed by Georgia, Notre Dame, Miami, and Ohio State. [full poll] [more]

WEEKEND MOVIES | "Verity" topped the North American box office over the weekend with an estimated $32.6 million in receipts, followed by "Resident Evil" and "Heart of the Beast." [more]

TODAY IN HISTORY | On this date in 1813, during the War of 1812, a British army with some 1,000 Native American allies under the Shawnee leader Tecumseh was defeated by U.S. troops in the Battle of the Thames in what is now Ontario, Canada. [more history]