More than 30 people were wounded in the shooting, attributed by the authorities to a “group of extremists” who are still at large
At least seven people have been killed and some 34 others wounded in a terrorist attack on a Greek Orthodox church in Jordan. The authorities have described the suspects as “extremists” who fled the scene and are still on the loose.
The slaughter unfolded on Friday afternoon in the village of Hmoud in western Karak Governorate, which is home to a sizable Christian community in the majority-Muslim country.
A group of at least three assailants arrived at the local St. George’s Church, where a funeral ceremony was underway. The gunmen attacked the mourners, with the shooting reportedly lasting for about 15 minutes before the suspects drove away from the scene unhindered. No group has claimed responsibility.
CCTV footage from the scene shows the attackers, two of whom were armed with handguns and the third with an assault rifle, firing at people desperately trying to flee the scene, tripping over pews and each other in the process. Highly graphic footage shows the suspects repeatedly shooting wounded victims in the head as they lay on the ground, apparently to finish them off.
Jordanian King Abdullah II has vowed to “confront the terrorist act that targeted Karak with the harshest penalties.” The country’s interior minister, Mazen al-Faraya, confirmed during a news conference that the suspects still remain at large, describing the attackers as a “group of extremists” without providing any further detail.
He described the attack as “painful and horrific,” stating it was “unparalleled in the history of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,” which has rarely seen such levels of violence.
The massacre has prompted a major response from the authorities, with Hmoud flooded by assorted security forces. Tightened security measures have also been implemented in the city of Karak, where the bulk of the wounded were transferred for treatment.
The king visited the victims at a hospital later on Friday to show support, promising to punish the perpetrators. Abdullah could be seen arriving at the facility in a military field uniform, accompanied by a large security detail.
The October 25 parliamentary election comes after nearly two years of protests, with ties to Russia and the EU among the key issues
Serbia is heading into a snap parliamentary election on October 25 following nearly two years of anti-government protests sparked by a deadly railway station canopy collapse.
Former Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic is running for prime minister against a fragmented opposition seeking to capitalize on the protest movement. The result could reshape Serbia’s political landscape and its delicate balancing act between Russia and the EU.
What is Serbia voting for, and why does it matter?
Voters will elect 250 members of the National Assembly, with 126 seats needed for a majority. A total of 18 electoral lists, comprising 2,418 candidates, are contesting the election, including the ruling coalition, student-backed candidates, established opposition parties and representatives of national minorities.
The vote will test whether the protest movement can challenge the ruling coalition at the ballot box.
What led to the snap election?
The crisis began after a concrete canopy at the Novi Sad railway station collapsed on November 1, 2024, killing 16 people. Protesters blamed the disaster on alleged corruption and failures of government oversight.
Demonstrations intensified after students and lecturers involved in a vigil commemorating the disaster at Belgrade’s Faculty of Dramatic Arts on November 22, 2024 blocked traffic, prompting drivers to clash with the crowd; some of the motorists were later identified from photos posted online as Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) officials.
Students began blockading university faculties, demanding the release of documents relating to the station’s renovation, accountability for attacks on protesters, an end to the prosecution of detained demonstrators and increased funding for public universities.
The authorities said the demands had been met, but protesters disputed the claim.
Serbian Prime Minister Milos Vucevic resigned in January 2025 following another attack on students, but the protests continued. A major rally in Belgrade on March 15 attracted an estimated 275,000 to 325,000 people, according to the organization Arhiv javnih skupova.
Parliament elected a government headed by Djuro Macut in April, but the student movement demanded snap elections on May 5.
Vucic has accused foreign organizations and intelligence services of financing the protests, alleging on Thursday that outside actors were seeking to remove him from power.
Serbia was the victim of perhaps Europe’s first ‘color revolution’ in 2000, when the opposition, having received extensive funding and training from the National Democratic Institute (NDI), International Republican Institute (IRI), and USAID, as well as support from George Soros’ Open Society Foundations (operating in 2000 as the Fund for an Open Society – Yugoslavia), brought down the government.
Has Vucic lost power, or is he trying to hold on to it?
Vucic resigned as president on September 27, saying he intended to campaign in the parliamentary election without holding the presidency.
He now heads the ruling coalition’s electoral list and is running for prime minister.
Who is running, and who could form a government?
The ruling camp is led by the ‘Aleksandar Vucic – United Serbia’ coalition, built around the SNS. Its longstanding partner, Ivica Dacic’s Socialist Party of Serbia, is running separately under the ‘Factor of Stability’ banner.
The main challenger is the ‘Student List – Students Are Winning,’ which emerged from the protests and includes lecturers, professionals and public figures.
Marinika Tepic and Zdravko Ponos’s ‘European Serbia’ and Milos Jovanovic’s ‘Authentic Right’ are also running independently. Some opposition groups have backed the students rather than fielding their own candidates.
The latest opinion polls offer conflicting assessments of support for the two main contenders.
An Ipsos survey published on October 22 put Vucic’s coalition at 47.4%, compared with 40% for the Student List and 3.2% for Dacic’s Socialists. The poll surveyed 3,624 respondents between October 20 and 22.
Latest Serbia Ipsos Poll modelled out
🔵SNS: 125 seats
🔴STU: 105 seats
❤️SPS: 8 seats
🟦NADA: 0 seats
🟢SVM: 6 seats
💚SDAS: 2 seats
💠SPP: 2 seats
🔹KSLP: 1 seat
🟤RUS: 1 seat
🔵SNS largest party, 1 short of a majority https://t.co/9pjH9MA8Ts
A survey published on October 20 by Nova srpska politicka misao (NSPM) instead gave the Student List 44.5% and Vucic’s coalition 42.7% among decided respondents. The telephone survey of 1,050 people was conducted between September 25 and October 5.
Serbia, NSPM poll:
Student list-*: 45% (+5)
SNS+-EPP: 43% (+5)
SPS/JS~S&D: 3% (-2)
ES-S&D: 3% (-1)
NADA~ECR: 3% (+1)
+/- vs. July 2026
Fieldwork: 25 September - 05 October 2026
Sample size: 1,050
➤ https://t.co/ekzxpjD9df https://t.co/9EKrcxnWOe
An online survey published by Nacija TV on October 21 showed a much narrower gap, with Vucic’s coalition at 42.9% and the Student List at 42%. The poll surveyed 1,204 respondents between October 16 and 18.
An earlier Faktor Plus survey, published on September 21, put Vucic’s coalition at 48.6% and the Student List at 37.1%, based on 986 respondents interviewed between September 16 and 20.
National minority and smaller parties could become important in coalition negotiations if no major group wins a majority.
What unites the opposition, and what divides it?
The groups challenging Vucic differ on key foreign policy issues, particularly relations with the EU, NATO, and Russia.
The Student List has said it would maintain Serbia’s refusal to impose sanctions on Moscow. Its representative Jovo Bakic has proposed a referendum on EU membership and opposed joining NATO.
European Serbia supports alignment with EU foreign policy, including sanctions against Russia, a position advocated by Tepic.
Jovanovic opposes EU membership and sanctions against Moscow, while Socialist representative Snezana Paunovic supports EU accession but has criticized the bloc’s current policies.
Territorial tensions: Where do the parties stand on Kosovo and Republika Srpska?
Kosovo remains one of Serbia’s most sensitive political issues. The province declared independence in 2008, a move recognized by the US and many of its allies. Belgrade still considers Kosovo part of Serbia, as do Russia and China, and some 90 other countries.
The declaration followed NATO’s 1999 bombing campaign against Yugoslavia, conducted without authorization from the UN Security Council. Belgrade’s relations with the ethnic Albanian-led authorities in Pristina remain tense.
Successive SNS-led governments have refused to recognize the breakaway Kosovo while participating in EU-mediated negotiations with Pristina.
The Student List has also rejected recognizing the so-called Kosovo precedent. In a memorandum published in May, it described Kosovo as an integral part of Serbia and called for a negotiated settlement in accordance with the Serbian Constitution and international law.
Republika Srpska, the Serb-majority constituent entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina, whose autonomy is guaranteed under the 1995 Dayton peace agreement, is another touchstone.
Vucic has maintained close ties with its leadership while supporting Bosnia and Herzegovina’s territorial integrity. Former Republika Srpska President Milorad Dodik has openly backed Vucic’s coalition, urging Serbian citizens living there to vote for it.
The Student List has sought support among Serbian voters in Republika Srpska but has not outlined a comparably detailed policy toward the entity. Some Bosnian Serb opposition politicians have backed the students, while others have refused to take sides.
Belgrade and Brussels: The beatings will continue
Serbia applied to join the EU in 2009 and received candidate status in 2012. Accession negotiations began in 2014, but no new negotiating chapters or clusters have been opened since 2021.
Brussels has made further progress toward EU membership conditional on the normalization of relations with Kosovo and alignment with the bloc’s foreign policy, including sanctions against Russia, as well as other judicial, media, and governmental reforms.
Serbia’s accession process has remained stalled while other candidates have moved forward. In July, eight EU member states opposed advancing talks with Belgrade, while Montenegro, Albania, Ukraine, and Moldova have made progress toward membership.
Vucic has expressed frustration with the slow pace of EU enlargement, warning in July that candidate countries should not expect major breakthroughs in the coming years.
EU Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos questioned Serbia’s commitment to membership in September, saying the country was at a crossroads and that further progress depended on the political direction chosen by its voters.
Kos has also warned against allowing prospective EU members to develop dependencies on outside powers that could conflict with the bloc’s interests.
“We should not risk our future members building dependencies on others that run counter to our long-term interest,” she said.
The commissioner identified Russia as an adversary in the enlargement process and criticized the influence of US President Donald Trump’s MAGA movement on European politics.
Vucic has maintained that Serbia intends to pursue EU membership while preserving its independent foreign policy.
What makes the ties between Serbia and Russia so strong?
Serbia and Russia share longstanding historical and cultural ties, reinforced by their Orthodox Christian traditions and Slavic heritage.
Relations were further shaped by NATO’s 78-day bombing campaign against Yugoslavia in 1999, which Moscow strongly opposed. Russia has since backed Belgrade’s position on Kosovo at the UN Security Council and refused to recognize the province’s independence.
Under Vucic, Serbia has maintained diplomatic and economic cooperation with Moscow while refusing to join Western sanctions over the Ukraine conflict.
In an interview with Russian journalist Ksenia Sobchak published on Tuesday, Vucic said European leaders regularly pressed him on the issue.
”We are not sitting on two chairs; our only chair is Serbia,” he said.
Do Russia and Serbia have an energy deal?
Energy remains central to the relationship. On September 30, Russia’s Gazprom extended its gas supply agreement with Serbia for another three months, until December 31, on unchanged terms, according to Srbijagas CEO Dusan Bajatovic.
The previous three-year contract expired in May 2025, with the two countries relying on short-term extensions since then.
Following talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in September, Vucic said Serbia was paying around €318 per 1,000 cubic meters of gas, compared with a market price of approximately €868 at the time.
The latest extension secures supplies through the beginning of winter but leaves arrangements for 2027 unresolved.
The future of NIS, which operates Serbia’s only oil refinery, also remains uncertain following US sanctions over its Russian majority ownership. Hungarian oil and gas company MOL has been negotiating the purchase of the Russian stake.
Serbia, however, maintains relations with Kiev and supports Ukraine’s territorial integrity, a position Vucic reaffirmed during an August meeting with Vladimir Zelensky. He has also said he would not object if Serbian ammunition sold to European buyers ultimately reached Ukraine, although he did not confirm direct deliveries to Kiev.
Where would each party take Serbia if they win?
Vucic has emphasized his determination to preserve Serbia’s sovereignty and keep the country out of a war with Russia, which he said he believes the EU is preparing for.
”I do not want Serbia to be part of that war, and I would not allow Serbia to be part of that war,” he said in an interview with TV Prva on Wednesday.
He accused Western governments of seeking to install politicians who would follow their instructions.
”They want to bring in people who will do as they are told, people who will be patted on the back, and everyone will be delighted,” Vucic said.
How could the election affect relations with Moscow?
The next Serbian government will face decisions on future Russian gas supplies, the ownership of NIS, and the country’s military exports.
Russian observers will monitor the election at Serbia’s invitation, according to Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova. The delegation will include representatives of both chambers of the Russian parliament and the Central Election Commission, with Russian officials also participating in international monitoring missions.
Moscow has said it hopes to maintain close ties with Belgrade after the election. Zakharova described the relationship as rooted in “strong fraternal traditions, a shared worldview, and respect for genuine values.”
She added that “continuity in these ties will serve the national interests of both countries and help strengthen peace and stability in the Balkans.”
In the past seven days we also looked at Ukraine’s Starlink saga and France’s losing battle with its own citizens
Witkoff returns to Russia
US envoy Steve Witkoff arrived in St. Petersburg on Wednesday to present a new set of peace proposals to Russian President Vladimir Putin. As was the case in every round of talks so far, Moscow found little to agree with in the terms put forward by Kiev and its European backers, Kremlin aide Yury Ushakov told reporters afterwards.
Although the key issues of the conflict – territory and Ukraine’s neutrality – remain unresolved, Witkoff and Putin pressed ahead with striking their own deals. Russia released US Air Force veteran Stephen Hubbard, who had been convicted on charges of fighting for Ukraine, Putin confirmed his willingness to hold trilateral talks with Washington and Kiev, and within two days of the meeting, the first tanker of diesel fuel left Russia for the US since the so-called “diesel deal” was struck last week.
That the US would even consider meeting with Putin rubbed the Europeans the wrong way. Speaking after Witkoff met Zelensky in Oslo on Tuesday, EU chief diplomat Kaja Kallas accused US President Donald Trump and his envoys of “trying to push Ukraine into surrender.”
Kallas is in an unenviable position. Trump has proven able and willing to negotiate with Putin above the Europeans’ heads, as he did when he waived sanctions on Russian diesel. Faced with the prospect of being cut out of an eventual peace deal, the EU is reportedly searching for an envoy to represent Brussels’ interests at the negotiating table. As anti-Russia hardliners, Kallas and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen have essentially ruled themselves out; French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz are drowning in domestic turmoil and watching their legitimacy collapse in real time; and the supposed ‘compromise candidate’ trumpeted by EU media, Finnish President Alexander Stubb, is a potentially toxic choice.
EU leaders, Putin remarked on Thursday, suffer from “a kind of political schizophrenia.” The Europeans “now go so far as to constantly speak of a ‘Russian threat’ and even discuss preparations for a war with Russia” against the will of their citizens, he explained. “They will hopefully realize that it is better to live in harmony with Russia – a path that truly serves the interests of their own peoples.”
The only European official present at the St. Petersburg meeting was von der Leyen’s chief of staff, Bjorn Seibert.
Zelensky scorned again
Zelensky signaled his disapproval with the Witkoff-Putin meeting in as clear a manner as possible; firing drones at St. Petersburg and the surrounding Leningrad Region. His own meeting with Witkoff in Oslo didn’t go so well either. The New York Times reported that the US envoy “reproached Zelensky for his sharp responses” to Trump’s recent assertion that Zelensky “doesn’t know what he’s talking about,” and “should have this war settled a long time ago.” Zelensky spent the rest of the week trying to dress up a ceasefire as a new idea that hadn’t been discounted dozens of times already by Moscow.
South Korea pulled diplomats from the Ukrainian capital over Ukraine’s refusal to apologize for exposing the secret transfer of North Korean POWs to Seoul, a move that the South Koreans warned could endanger the POWs’ relatives in North Korea and undermine stability on the Korean Peninsula.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk slammed the Ukrainian government for allowing the city of Lviv to dedicate 2027 to the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) and its leader, Nazi collaborator Roman Shukhevich. Tusk, one of Ukraine’s most loyal sponsors, called the move a “suicidal tactic.” The city, a hotbed of nationalism and neo-Nazism, has since reportedly backtracked.
RT has covered the rampant graft in Kiev extensively in our ‘State of Corruption’ series, which you can read here.
France fails
Just as corruption has come to define Zelensky’s Ukraine, the fiery collapse of the social contract now defines the closing stages of Emmanuel Macron’s presidency in France. After mass protests over rising prices and deteriorating social conditions degenerated into riots last week, almost 3,000 people were arrested this week as violent unrest continued to plague the streets of French cities.
Macron has refused to accept that his migration policies may be to blame for the riots, which Trump claimed are being led by “migrants, jihadists, and communists.” His government has also refused to change course on an austerity budget that will do little to alleviate the protesters’ economic concerns.
Instead, the French president has ordered military personnel into the streets, banned “illegitimate” protests, and imposed localized curfews. Whether he can count on the police to enforce these measures for much longer is unclear: France’s largest police union said on Thursday that it intends to sue the French state for creating the conditions that led to the riots, and leaving officers “betrayed and abandoned” to handle the violence without adequate training or protection.
The EU updated its Arctic Strategy, insisting the region is “Europe’s Northern Neighborhood” and announced its plan to redraw the map of the northern hemisphere completely. In an ominous document assessed here by RT, the bloc set out plans to build military logistics corridors above the Arctic Circle, develop polar-capable weapons systems, increase surveillance of Russian shipping in the Arctic Ocean, and encourage its member states to hold more military exercises in the frozen north.
The Starlink wars return
The EU and its member states may be Ukraine’s leading backers, but the US provides Zelensky with something that the Europeans don’t have: access to SpaceX’s Starlink satellite constellation. Ukraine depends on Starshield, SpaceX’s military-grade version, to guide its drones, connect to NATO headquarters, and receive real-time updates from Palantir’s battlefield management software.
As long as this dependence exists, the US holds a powerful instrument of leverage over Zelensky. While nobody in SpaceX or the US government has taken responsibility for throttling Ukraine’s access to the network earlier this month, the Wall Street Journal claimed this week that SpaceX CEO Elon Musk – who has condemned Ukraine’s drone strikes on Russian oil refineries – personally ordered that the Ukrainian military’s access to the network be restricted.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio denied that the government played any role in the slowdown, saying that “it sort of happened” accidentally. However, a turn of phrase by Rubio suggested that the connection problems may have been deliberate, and intended as a warning to Zelensky: “Ukraine,” he said on Wednesday, “would not exist as a sovereign state” without US support.
Moscow is well aware that Kiev uses Starlink to strike civilian targets as well as military ones. Russia’s Investigative Committee confirmed this week that two of the seven drones that struck a female dormitory at a college in Starobelsk in May – killing 21 people – were guided by SpaceX’s network. As long as Kiev continues to use this system, it remains a potential source of escalation between Russia and the US.
What we’re watching
We’re keeping a close eye on three consequential elections over the coming days, starting on Sunday with a presidential election in Brazil and parliamentary elections in Serbia. The showdown between Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Flavio Bolsonaro is an intensely personal battle between two bitter rivals, with the potential to pull another Latin American nation into the orbit of the US and reshape the future of the BRICS group.
In Serbia, former President Aleksandar Vucic is now running for prime minister, in a snap election pitting his ruling coalition against a new political faction put together by the organizers of anti-government protests raging in Serbia since 2024. Vucic’s coalition has a narrow lead, but accusations of foreign interference are flying, and we’ll know by Monday whether Vucic’s gambit paid off.
Few world leaders have been as consequential as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Perennially on the verge of prosecution over multiple corruption scandals and facing mass protests, Netanyahu’s political fortunes changed with Hamas’ October 7 attack on Israel in 2023. Three years later, Netanyahu has managed to achieve almost all of his war aims – leveling Gaza, diminishing Hezbollah in Lebanon, neutering Syria, and leading the US into war with Iran.
However, with the Iran war stalled and Netanyahu offering no plan for a post-conflict Gaza, dissent has returned, and polls suggest that his right-wing coalition will fall up to 10 seats short of the 61 needed to govern. The closing of polls on Tuesday night may signal the start of a lengthy process of political horse-trading, with Netanyahu’s future no clearer than it is now.
For more on these stories as they develop, stick with RT.
Tim Westwood stands accused of rape and sexual assault involving nine women over several decades
Former BBC Radio 1 DJ Tim Westwood has appeared in a London court on two additional sex offense charges, British media reported on Friday.
The 69-year-old faces a total of 17 charges involving nine women, including allegations of rape and sexual assault. The alleged offenses span more than three decades, from 1983 to 2016.
The two additional charges were announced by London’s Metropolitan Police in September. They concern the alleged indecent assault of a girl aged 16 or 17 in west London in 1991 and the alleged sexual assault of an 18-year-old woman in south London in 2004.
Former Radio 1 DJ Tim Westwood in court charged with two further offences
https://t.co/1OAT99G8aq
During Friday’s hearing at Westminster Magistrates’ Court, Westwood indicated that he would plead not guilty to both charges, according to court officials cited by British media. He has already pleaded not guilty to the original 15 charges, including four counts of rape.
Among the earlier allegations is the rape of a woman in a hotel in 1996. Westwood is also accused of several indecent assaults on BBC premises during the 1990s, as well as sexual offenses at other locations in London and elsewhere in England.
Westwood was released on conditional bail and is due to appear at Southwark Crown Court on November 12. His trial on the original charges is scheduled to begin on January 25, 2027.
Westwood was one of Britain’s best-known hip-hop DJs, working for BBC Radio 1 and Radio 1Xtra between 1994 and 2013.
In February 2025, the BBC apologized after an independent investigation found evidence of bullying and misogynistic behavior by Westwood. The broadcaster admitted it had been “too deferential to high-profile individuals” and missed opportunities to address complaints about his conduct.
The case comes against the backdrop of a number of sexual abuse scandals involving prominent BBC personalities. Jimmy Savile, a former television and radio presenter, was accused of abusing hundreds of people, many of them children, over several decades. The allegations emerged publicly after his death in 2011, prompting investigations into how the broadcaster had handled complaints.
Other former BBC entertainers, including Stuart Hall and Rolf Harris, were convicted of sexual offenses involving underage girls and served prison sentences. In 2024, former BBC News presenter Huw Edwards received a six-month suspended prison sentence after pleading guilty to offenses involving indecent images of children.
The broadcaster faced further scrutiny in March 2026 when it dismissed prominent radio presenter Scott Mills following allegations about his conduct. The BBC later acknowledged that it had known about a previous police investigation into alleged sexual offenses involving a teenage boy. The investigation was closed in 2019 without charges after prosecutors found insufficient evidence to proceed.
Meta’s role has turned a tight race into a sovereignty crisis, with democracy, BRICS, and Washington’s influence all on the line
Cut through the corporate damage-control flimflam – ‘technical’ issues and ‘mistakes’ but no politics, they say – and the Oversight Board of Meta, the parent company of Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram, has just had to deny but really admit that its platforms have been caught trying to influence Brazil’s upcoming presidential elections.
In essence, they have favored the challenger and US favorite Flavio Bolsonaro, commonly referred to as ‘Flavio’ in Brazil, and harmed the incumbent Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, usually called ‘Lula’.
Meta, to be clear, hasn’t (sort of) fessed up because Mark Zuckerberg’s behemoth has suddenly discovered a conscience. Instead, it was pressure from Brazilian investigative reporting that forced the company’s hand.
Whatever effect the American meddling will have on the election result, one thing is already certain: It has made the contest and the fierce political struggle behind it even more polarized than before. A few days before the decisive and very close final round, Lula and Flavio are trying to have each other excluded from the election; when dealing with a badly divided country, just leave it to Washington to make everything even more vicious.
The crude attack on Brazil’s electoral integrity is anything but a surprise. Historically speaking, it’s the bad old normal rejigged for the social-media age. In Brazil, as throughout Latin America, the US has a long history of brutally intervening in domestic politics, featuring highlights such as a full-blown coup in 1964 and massive subversion by a lawfare-spying-propaganda campaign in the 2010’s.
And those interventions mattered. The 1964 coup removed a mildly leftish-etatist reformer whose real sin, under American eyes, was to take Brazilian sovereignty seriously. Plans for agrarian reform and the nationalization of key companies as well as a foreign policy permitting Brasilia to talk to – oh horror – China, Cuba, and the Soviet Union were enough to cost Joao Goulart his office. Back then, you might say, the nasty role now played by Meta was filled by the US Agency for International Development (USAID), fronting for the CIA and American commercial interests.
Brazil’s post-coup dictatorship was no short intermission either. It ended only in 1985. Washington to Brasilia: Regime change plus two decades of military rule – that’s what you get for not knowing your place in our backyard.
And the lawfare-spying-propaganda campaign of the 2010s – in part disclosed by whistleblower Edward Snowden – targeted and removed two Brazilian presidents. One of them, Lula, even ended up in prison, before his convictions were annulled in 2021.
Yet, while there is a long, sad history of American attacks on Brazilian democracy and sovereignty, the stakes are especially high now, perhaps as high as they have not been since the 1964 coup. For one thing, the choice Brazil’s voters are facing is stark: Flavio Bolsonaro, the favorite not only of the US but Donald Trump personally, stands for the Bolsonaro family empire itching to strike back. His father Jair Bolsonaro is currently doing time for trying to instigate a coup. If his son comes to power, Brazil will face a great, dirty settling of scores and severe danger of sliding into authoritarianism again.
Politically, Lula and Bolsonaro Jr. could not be more different: Lula is on the left; Flavio – like his father – very solidly on the right. More importantly, the rivals represent diametrically opposed ideas of Brazil’s place in the world. Brazil is not only an important G20 member, but Lula belongs to the founding generation of BRICS and is a proponent of the rising multipolar world order in general. He demands reform at the UN, especially its Security Council, and openly challenges the predominance of the US dollar, arguing for alternatives for payments, investments, and reserves.
On all these issues Flavio Bolsonaro stands for the opposite. Son of an oligarchic clan, his loyalties lie with the US and the rich. Washington’s recently declared ‘Donroe Doctrine’ – a Monroe Doctrine without the charm – does not repel but attracts the Bolsonaros. Like several other Latin American leaders recently, such as Argentina’s Xavier Milei or El Salvador’s Nayib Bukele, they positively crave to be absorbed into Washington’s rapidly hardening system of vassals. Where Lula thinks globally, Flavio thinks in terms of the Western hemisphere – and that hemisphere, he accepts with enthusiasm, belongs to the US.
And then there is China. Due to its demographic and territorial heft, its location, and its rich agricultural and industrial resources, Brazil is the prime prize in Washington’s dialing up to 11 of its traditional backyard colonialism. Lula has not only been bold enough to openly call it out but to declare that his country will never be a US colony when defying a typically Trumpian tariff attack.
What is worse from Washington’s perspective, he has worked hard to increase Brazil’s resilience by seeking connections beyond Latin America and especially with China. Beijing has been Brasilia’s main economic partner since 2009, with their trade volume reaching a record $171 billion last year. Brazilian exports to China exceed its combined exports to the US and the EU; and Brazil is now at the top of Chinese investment abroad.
The recent American de facto conquest of Venezuela was also a lesson in what Washington likes to do to those in its backyard daring to engage with America’s favorite hate object across the Pacific. But Brazil is no Venezuela; subduing it in one rapid cloak-and-dagger operation is impossible.
Yet the dark arts of interference have worked before. Recall that, in 1964, one of Joao Goulart’s unforgivable sins was to talk to China. By comparison, Lula’s determined policy of deep engagement with Beijing is off the American scale of intolerable rebelliousness. And for a reason: Without breaking Brazil once again, the continental cage the Donroe Doctrine is designed to rebuild sturdier than ever remains, at best, half-finished. And an unsubdued Brazil will always be an example of resistance.
The stakes could not be higher: sovereignty and, most likely, democracy itself for Brazil; strategic imperial triumph or failure for the US.
‘Warhound’ argues that the US needs cloned dogs to catch up with China
Anduril Industries CEO Palmer Luckey is working to clone and genetically engineer dogs for the American military, in a venture backed by the CIA and a biotech billionaire who plans on resurrecting prehistoric creatures.
Texas-based startup Warhound unveiled the project on Thursday, announcing $200 million in funding and a $1.2 billion valuation. The venture brings together Luckey, a major player in the burgeoning defense-tech sector, and Ben Lamm, whose biotechnology company has promised to revive the long-extinct wooly mammoth.
Warhound will be headed by David Spirk, the Pentagon’s first chief data officer and a former senior adviser at Palantir, a major US defense-tech company supplying AI and data analytics software to military and intelligence agencies. Its backers include In-Q-Tel, the CIA’s in-house venture capital firm and one of Palantir’s first investors.
The startup plans to clone top-performing military dogs and edit their genes to improve endurance, physical abilities, and sense of smell. It also claims the modifications could eliminate inherited health problems, including hip dysplasia and muscle degeneration.
“This is the sci-fi future we were promised,” Lamm said, describing the prospect of producing genetically enhanced working dogs.
Despite its billion-dollar valuation, Warhound has yet to secure a customer or determine how much its genetically engineered dogs will cost. Luckey and Lamm are no strangers to hawking vaporware, however. As RT explored in our ‘Wired for War’ series, Anduril Industries – which is valued at $90 billion – has produced only two combat-tested weapons systems, which failed during US military trials and were rejected for use by the Ukrainian armed forces.
Lamm’s company, Colossal Biosciences, is valued at $10-12 billion. Although the company succeeded in birthing three extinct dire wolf puppies last year, it is unclear how long the pups will survive, and Lamm admitted in August that he would likely be unable to resurrect the wooly mammoth for at least another decade.
An image from Warhound's website
Luckey and Lamm plan to outfit their designer dogs with advanced body armor and sensors linked to Anduril’s battlefield awareness system, which unlike Palantir’s flagship ‘Gotham’ system, is still in its prototype stages. The company is reportedly considering a subscription-style model under which the Pentagon would pay for a continuous supply of trained animals rather than purchase them individually.
The US is aiming to build a domestic supply of military dogs, years after China began experimenting with cloning animals for police work. According to Warhound, more than 80% of American military dogs are imported from Europe, while fewer than half pass the military’s selection and training process.
In 2019, Chinese scientists unveiled Kunxun, a cloned police dog produced from the genetic material of an animal renowned for its crime-solving abilities. The project aimed to reproduce elite working dogs while reducing training costs.
The push to engineer military animals raises ethical and welfare concerns. Animal cloning has been linked to pregnancy complications, developmental abnormalities, and health problems in newborns. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has documented such risks in livestock cloning, although healthy clones that survive their first weeks generally develop normally.
The escalation was prompted by a deadly shooting attack and comes days ahead of pivotal legislative elections in Israel
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered a blockade of the occupied West Bank in the aftermath of a deadly shootout between IDF troops and two suspected Palestinian gunmen at a security checkpoint.
The incident unfolded on Friday in the southern West Bank at the temporary checkpoint at the Judea Junction on Route 35. An AFP photographer who witnessed the shootout reported the two Palestinian suspects armed with a handgun and an automatic rifle exchanged fire with Israeli soldiers. Five Israelis were wounded in the attack, with two servicemen succumbing to their wounds in hospital, while the gunmen were killed on the site of the shootout, which lasted more than 20 minutes, according to a preliminary Israeli military investigation.
The Israeli military described the incident as a thwarted “terror attack” without specifying the intended target of the suspects. Netanyahu vowed a “very extensive” retaliatory operation in the aftermath of the incident, announcing the demolition of the entire neighborhood the attackers come from and displacing its residents, as well as requesting the cancellation of all political meetings on October 23.
“I have instructed the IDF and security forces to immediately blockade the city of Hebron and prepare to completely blockade the entire area of Judea and Samaria from today,” he added, referring to the West Bank by its Israeli name.
Far-right Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir demanded even more severe retaliation, calling for the dissolution of the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority (PA). No evidence, however, has emerged thus far linking the PA to the incident.
“The Palestinian Authority must be dissolved and demilitarized, and all terrorist infrastructure must be completely wiped out,” Ben-Gvir, known for extremely hostile anti-Palestinian rhetoric and assorted controversial stunts, said.
The deadly shooting comes ahead of the high-stakes legislative election in Israel scheduled for October 27. The upcoming polls are the first voting to take place since the October 2023 Hamas attacks on Israel and the ensuing Gaza war. The prolonged conflict has prompted repeated allegations against Netanyahu of deliberately dragging out the hostilities to keep his grip on power. The latest opinion polls put the incumbent PM in a tight race with Gadi Eisenkot, a former head of the IDF, and the prospects of Netanyahu losing his post remain high.
Charlotte Dubenskij examines the lives of Palestinians governed by Israeli decisions without a vote in choosing its parliament
Millions of Palestinians living under Israeli control are unable to vote in the upcoming parliamentary election that will shape their lives, RT correspondent Charlotte Dubenskij reports.
Ahead of the October 27 vote, Dubenskij visited East Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank to examine Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s description of Israel as the Middle East’s “only true democracy.”
In East Jerusalem, which Israel captured in 1967 and later annexed in a move rejected by the UN, many Palestinians hold permanent residency rather than Israeli citizenship. They pay taxes, social security, and VAT, but cannot vote for the Knesset, Israel’s parliament.
“We are really helpless, voiceless,” one resident told RT. Another described the frustration of facing the consequences of an election without being able to influence it.
Although Palestinian residents who obtain Israeli citizenship can vote, those who spoke to RT opposed taking that step, arguing it would amount to recognizing Israeli sovereignty.
In the West Bank, around three million Palestinians live with Israeli control over key aspects of their daily lives, including movement and construction. Area C, covering roughly 61% of the territory, remains under full Israeli control.
Palestinian politician Mustafa Barghouti argued that the occupation and different legal systems applied to Palestinians and Israeli settlers contradict Israel’s democratic claims.
“Two different laws for two people in the same area is nothing but the description of apartheid,” he told RT.
Settlements and National Missions Minister Orit Strook, meanwhile, has advocated allowing Palestinians to remain while denying them a parliamentary vote. “They can stay here as human beings, of course,” she said, but stressed that they “shouldn’t be able to vote for the Knesset.”
Barghouti further accused Israel of obstructing internal Palestinian elections. The Palestinian Authority cited Israel’s refusal to guarantee voting in East Jerusalem when it canceled elections in 2021.
For Palestinians interviewed in Ramallah, the priority is to be allowed to hold their own elections rather than voting under occupation.
US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has reportedly warned that wagers on military outcomes could expose operations and distort the troops’ judgment
US troops have been warned against using inside information to bet on prediction markets, the Associated Press has reported, citing a directive issued by US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, who said such wagers could expose military plans and influence operational decisions.
The memo, dated Tuesday and reviewed by AP, covers platforms such as Polymarket and Kalshi, where users wager on real-world events, including elections and military action.
The directive bars the use of both classified material and other official information unavailable to the public, with violators facing disciplinary action or criminal charges under military or federal law.
“Our enemies watch movements in these markets,” Hegseth wrote. “When an American service member, intelligence professional, or other Department civilian engages in a financial transaction on a military outcome, they create a signal.”
He also warned that personal financial interests could compromise professional judgment, arguing that “a logistician with money riding on a strike date has an interest in that date” and “an analyst with a position on an outcome has an interest in that outcome.”
The directive follows the prosecution of a US Special Forces soldier accused of profiting from advance knowledge of the January operation to kidnap Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.
Prosecutors allege that Master Sergeant Gannon Ken Van Dyke used information obtained through his involvement in planning and executing the raid to place more than $32,500 in Polymarket bets, earning over $400,000.
Most of the wagers were allegedly placed on January 2, hours before the attack on Caracas. Van Dyke has pleaded not guilty.
The controversy has extended beyond the military. Newly created Polymarket accounts placed suspiciously timed bets shortly before Trump announced an April US-Iran ceasefire, generating hundreds of thousands of dollars in profits. The White House later warned staff against trading on confidential information.
Trump’s former teleprompter operator was separately ordered to surrender more than $107,500 in profits and pay a $65,000 fine after regulators found he used advance access to presidential speeches to bet on which words Trump would say.
The scandals have intensified scrutiny of prediction markets, which several US states have accused of sidestepping gambling laws and consumer protections. The Trump administration, however, has argued that the platforms should remain regulated by federal financial authorities rather than under individual states’ gambling laws.
The president’s family also has business ties to the industry. Donald Trump Jr. serves as a strategic adviser to Kalshi and holds an investment in Polymarket through his venture firm, 1789 Capital.
Civilians in the town of Alyoshki in Russia’s Kherson Region have faced severe shortages of food, water, and medicine under a Ukrainian siege
Moscow and Kiev have agreed to a temporary ceasefire in the frontline town of Alyoshki in Russia’s Kherson Region to allow humanitarian aid deliveries and civilian evacuations following mediation co-ordinate by US First Lady Melania Trump, the Kremlin has confirmed.
Located near the front line in Kherson Region, which voted to join Russia in a 2022 referendum, Alyoshki has been largely cut off from essential supplies and basic services for months under a Ukrainian siege. Drone attacks and remotely laid mines have hampered aid deliveries and evacuation efforts, leaving an estimated 1,500 to 2,000 civilians in the town trapped, many of them elderly.
The White House announced the agreement earlier on Friday, saying both sides had agreed to suspend all military operations in Alyoshki from October 29 to allow humanitarian aid deliveries and prepare for civilian evacuations through a designated safe passage.
Melania Trump, who had previously expressed willingness to support humanitarian efforts in Alyoshki, described the situation as “dire,” calling the town a “frontline war city on the brink of disaster.”
“The remaining population is comprised primarily of elderly residents who urgently need medical attention, medicine, food, and clean water,” she said.
Civilian representatives from Russia and Ukraine will assess residents’ needs and help organize evacuations to either country, depending on the residents’ wishes, the first lady said.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said military officials were working to coordinate the timing of the ceasefire. He welcomed Melania Trump’s efforts, crediting her with making a “significant contribution” to the humanitarian operation.
Peskov also acknowledged the work of Russian human rights commissioner Yana Lantratova and her Ukrainian counterpart Dmitry Lubinets in arranging the operation.
Moscow has accused Kiev of deliberately creating the humanitarian crisis by targeting civilian supply routes and obstructing aid deliveries. Russian Foreign Ministry envoy Rodion Miroshnik previously described the situation as a “medieval blockade using modern methods,” accusing Ukrainian forces of preventing residents from leaving.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart, Donald Trump, discussed the crisis during a phone call earlier this month. According to the Kremlin, the two leaders agreed that Russian human rights commissioner Yana Lantratova would maintain contact with Melania Trump’s office over humanitarian efforts.
Palantir has insisted that Washington does not have a kill switch for its defense-related software
European governments should stop worrying about their growing dependence on American AI, US tech giant Palantir’s top executive for the UK and Europe has said. Instead, they should focus on the advantages the products offer, particularly against Russia, Palantir UK CEO Louis Mosley believes.
The European Commission is frantically trying to reduce reliance on American tech and the US in general.
“Europe is going to have to accept some dependency,” Mosely told Bloomberg News this week.
The Commission estimates that the bloc relies on foreign providers for over 80% of its digital products, services, infrastructure, and intellectual property. However, many are skeptical that replacement is possible. In a Wire’s 2025 survey cited by the European Parliament, only 16% of regional IT leaders said the bloc could achieve digital sovereignty within five years, with almost 60% citing US dominance as a key obstacle.
Nevertheless, this year several European governments have rejected Palantir products or announced plans to phase them out. France’s domestic intelligence agency, the DGSI, which adopted the company’s analytical software in 2015, has plans to drop it over the coming years in favor of a domestically developed alternative from ChapsVision.
“We cannot depend on the goodwill of certain partners who, as we’ve seen in recent days, are capable of cutting off access to models,” Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu said when announcing the decision in June.
Berlin has reportedly chosen the same French competitor over Palantir for Germany’s domestic intelligence agency BfV.
Similar moves to ostracize the American firm have been reported in Spain and Denmark, as well as the non-EU nations of Switzerland, Norway, and the UK.
Mosley cited Palantir’s extensive use of the Ukraine conflict as a testing ground for its military solutions, saying “the questions around sovereignty are secondary” for Kiev. The company got involved in Ukraine following the escalation of Kiev’s conflict with Russia in 2022, supplying what it calls “targeting packages.”
One of Palantir’s flagship products is Maven, an AI-powered system that processes vast amounts of intelligence data to help identify targets and generate strike recommendations for troops. It accelerates the so-called “kill chain,” allowing the military to consider substantially more potential targets than human personnel previously could.
Originally developed as a Pentagon project, Maven involved Google until 2018, when employee protests prompted the company to withdraw from the initiative. NATO purchased its own version of the system for use at its European headquarters in March 2025.
“I can provide categorical reassurance that where customers have bought our software, they are in full operational control of that software,” Mosley assured in a separate interview with Reuters concerning NATO’s purchase.
There are no kill switches. There’s no ability for Palantir or the US government to reach in and switch it off.
The US government has a track record of restricting foreign access to flagship AI models. The French prime minister’s remark about a lack of goodwill was a reference to Washington’s blockage of Anthropic’s Mythos 5 tool, which lasted for almost three weeks.
The US president’s push to curb energy prices ahead of the midterms follows his diesel deal with Russia
US President Donald Trump has invoked a Cold War-era national security law to boost domestic oil production and refining, as rising fuel prices threaten the Republicans’ chances in November’s midterm elections.
Speaking on Thursday at a Republican campaign rally in Iowa – an agricultural state where farmers have been hit hard by the oil crisis – Trump announced that his administration would use the Defense Production Act (DPA) to provide up to $150 million to expand American refining capacity and produce diesel and gasoline “at record levels.”
He also predicted that the Iran and Ukraine conflicts would end soon, sending gasoline and oil prices “tumbling down.”
Enacted in 1950, the DPA allows Washington to financially support industries deemed essential to national defense. In a presidential memorandum, Trump designated domestic petroleum production, refineries, pipelines, and storage facilities as critical to national security, arguing that private companies could not expand capacity quickly enough without federal intervention.
Energy Secretary Chris Wright promised the funds would be deployed in cooperation with private companies, while the Department of Energy separately projected the initiative would increase refining output by millions of gallons of gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, and other products per day.
Vice President J.D. Vance had earlier announced plans to invoke the law to expand a Delek-operated refinery in Tyler, Texas, although such projects typically take months, if not years, to complete.
Trump’s announcement comes as his approval rating has plunged to a record low of 31% – compared with 47% when he began his second term – ahead of the midterm elections on November 3, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll published Monday. The survey also found that 68% of Americans disapproved of his handling of the economy.
Fuel prices in America sharply rose after the US and Israel launched their war against Iran in late February, disrupting global energy supplies. According to the US Energy Information Administration, average gasoline prices have climbed from $2.94 per gallon immediately before the conflict to $4.28 in the week ending October 19, while diesel has jumped from $3.81 to $6.28 over the same period.
The Trump administration has sought to tackle the fuel crisis through several emergency measures, including releasing 172 million barrels from strategic oil reserves, relaxing gasoline-blending requirements, temporarily easing diesel regulations, and announcing additional subsidies for struggling farmers.
In early October, Trump also announced a deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin to release more than 300,000 tons of Russian diesel onto global markets, with additional supplies expected later. He has also repeatedly pressed Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky to halt strikes on Russian oil refineries, which he blamed for rising fuel prices.
The president’s pressure sparked pushback from Zelensky, who called Trump’s diesel deal with Moscow “a weak decision” and “not fair and not honest” while refusing to comply with the refineries ultimatum. In response, Trump suggested that Ukraine should “get a new president” instead of Zelensky, whose term expired more than two years ago, while calling continued Ukrainian strikes a “disgrace.”
A government employee and her husband pocketed $85,000 for allegedly helping Indian men to enter the EU, according to the paper
An employee of a German immigration office and her husband have been arrested for allegedly assisting a human smuggling ring which brought Indian men into the country through sham marriages in exchange for hefty payments, Bild has reported.
The Cologne branch of the immigration office told the tabloid on Thursday that it has revoked the residence permits illegally issued by the criminal group, which involved two other people.
According to Bild, the smuggling ring exploited the EU’s family reunification program to bring in the Indians.
The foreign nationals arrived in Cyprus, where they entered fictitious marriages with Bulgarian women whom they had never met before, it said.
A member of the Cologne immigration office, identified as Subha L., then processed and approved the applications for residence permits by the Indian males despite the irregularities in their paperwork, the report read.
The employee and her husband earned at least €76,000 (around $85,000) from the scheme, Bild said.
A lawyer for one of the suspected smugglers told the WDR broadcaster that the scheme had allowed more than 20 Indian men to enter the EU.
Subha L. was arrested along with her husband in December 2025 and remains in per-trial detention. She has been dismissed from her job, the Cologne immigration office said. The trial for the four suspected members of the criminal group is scheduled to begin in February.
The immigration office said it tightened workflow controls following the scandal to ensure any suspicious cases are identified more promptly.
An MP for German Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party accused the Cologne immigration office of failing to execute its duties and called for it to be audited by the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees.
“We are witnessing a growing loss of control within an agency that views itself as a ‘welcoming authority’ rather than an immigration authority,” Seif told the Kolner Stadt-Anzeiger newspaper.
In 2023, another employee of the Cologne immigration office was sentenced to four-and-a-half years in prison for falsifying the documents of Syrian refugees applying for residence permits.
Illegal immigration has again become a contentious topic in the EU this year after more than 72,000 migrants crossed from Morocco into the Spanish North African enclave of Ceuta in late July. Up to 8,000 foreigners still remain scattered throughout the territory, straining local resources and prompting protests by residents.
Despite the number of arrivals subsiding since the EU migrant crisis of 2015, the foreign-born population in the bloc reached a record 64.2 million last year, expanding by 20.2 million since 2010, according to a report published by the Center for Research and Analysis on Migration at RFBerlin in April.
Germany continues to have the largest number of immigrants in the EU, with 18 million foreign-born citizens, making up 21.2% of the country’s population, the paper said.
Washington has warned Ottawa against attempts to influence the upcoming midterms, citing anti-Trump advertising and meetings with Democrats
The US has accused Canadian officials of attempting to interfere in American elections, citing politically targeted trade measures, anti-Trump advertising campaigns and meetings with Democratic politicians ahead of next month’s midterms.
In a fact sheet published on Wednesday, the US Embassy in Ottawa accused Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government of openly seeking to influence American politics.
“The Canadian government brushes off concerns about potential interference in US elections, even as its ministers and premiers openly describe plans to influence American politics in official documents and public appearances,” the embassy stated.
The document singled out Canadian Industry Minister Melanie Joly, citing her remarks about deliberately targeting Republican-leaning states with retaliatory tariffs in response to US President Donald Trump’s trade policies.
“We’re making sure to put pressure on American businesses, in key Republican states to put pressure on the Trump Administration,” Joly said in March. “We’re being wise and strategic to put political pressure,” she added in August.
Washington also questioned Joly’s meetings with Democratic officials in Boston and Chicago in September, as well as an anti-tariff advertising campaign launched by Ontario Premier Doug Ford featuring former US President Ronald Reagan criticizing protectionist trade policies.
The embassy also highlighted a recent appearance by Canadian Consul General Bernadette Jordan alongside two Democratic congressmen at a Vermont roundtable on trade tensions, just three weeks before the midterms. It also cited a Canadian government billboard campaign targeting 12 mostly Republican-voting states and Washington, DC.
The embassy also cited Liberal lawmaker Anthony Housefather’s campaigning for Democratic Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz in Florida, and listed 11 Canadians who had been charged or sentenced in 2026 for illegally voting in previous American elections.
“All Canadians should refrain from attempting to participate in or influence US elections in any way,” the statement concluded. “Americans decide America’s elections.”
The accusations followed a warning from US Ambassador Pete Hoekstra, who said Washington was closely watching Canadian political activities ahead of the November 3 congressional elections.
“We’re monitoring it, we’re evaluating it and if some of it becomes election interference then America will respond to it,” Hoekstra said.
Ottawa has rejected the allegations. Carney insisted that Canada’s measures were intended to protect its workers and businesses from American tariffs, while Ford denied any interest in meddling in US elections. Joly defended her meetings with American politicians as normal diplomacy, pointing out that she had engaged with both Republicans and Democrats.
The dispute comes amid deteriorating relations between the neighboring countries, driven by Trump’s sweeping tariffs and repeated suggestions that Canada should become America’s 51st state.
In September, Carney revealed that his government had examined the possibility of US military action against Canada, describing the scenario as an “extreme tail risk” that nevertheless warranted contingency planning. Ottawa, meanwhile, has been seeking closer military and economic ties with Europe to reduce its dependence on Washington.
At least 16 people have been killed and dozens injured after a magnitude-7.0 tremor struck Tibet
Hundreds of houses have collapsed after a powerful earthquake struck Tibet, killing at least 16 people and injuring dozens more, according to local authorities.
The magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck the Nagqu region of northern Tibet at 10:33 PM local time on Thursday.
The death toll stood at 16 on Friday morning, with 46 people injured, including 11 seriously, according to the latest figures released by local disaster relief authorities. At least 339 houses and 20 livestock sheds collapsed, the Associated Press reported, citing government officials.
Videos circulating on Chinese social media showed residents rushing into the streets as buildings shook.
🇨🇳⚡️ — Emergency authorities report that a magnitude 7.0 earthquake in Tibet's Nagqu City has caused the collapse of 339 homes, triggered severe infrastructure and transit disruptions, and prompted the activation of a Level-II emergency response. #China #Tibet #Earthquake #BreakingNews
The shallow tremor struck at a depth of approximately 10 kilometers, according to Chinese seismologists. The US Geological Survey estimated its depth at 18 kilometers, placing the epicenter in a sparsely populated mountainous area.
Sixteen people were killed and 32 others injured after a 7.0-magnitude earthquake struck Baqen County of Nagqu City in southwest China's Xizang Autonomous Region, according to the city's emergency management bureau. https://t.co/BERNm8mcXy
More than 1,600 local personnel have been mobilized for search-and-rescue operations. Emergency supplies, including 1,000 prefabricated housing units, some 3,000 tents, beds and winter clothing, have been dispatched to assist displaced residents.
Xi orders all-out rescue efforts after Xizang earthquake https://t.co/GrKXDa8oGE
The earthquake also triggered rockfalls that forced the closure of a major highway, while railway services were temporarily suspended for safety inspections. Communications were disrupted in parts of the affected region, complicating rescue operations.
Forecasters have warned of intermittent snowfall over the next three days, raising concerns about worsening conditions for survivors and emergency workers.
The latest disaster comes less than two months after a massive ice-and-rock avalanche near the Tibet-Nepal border unleashed catastrophic flooding, killing more than 1,450 people in Nepal and dozens in China.
Thursday’s tremor was the strongest to hit the Nagqu region in five years, according to Chinese state broadcaster CCTV.
Authorities have warned that the casualty figures could rise as rescue teams continue searching damaged buildings and assessing the destruction.
The crackdown comes amid nationwide unrest in France, with even legally organized demonstrations facing new restrictions
French President Emmanuel Macron has announced a crackdown on public demonstrations, ordering authorities to ban protests and restrict even officially organized marches as nationwide unrest over soaring living costs and deteriorating public services continues.
The restrictions, announced Thursday following an emergency meeting with intelligence chiefs and senior ministers, come ahead of another wave of demonstrations planned for Saturday, after some of France’s worst street violence in years.
Macron said local authorities would prohibit deemed “illegitimate” gatherings organized by individuals or groups deemed to lack authority, while demonstrations arranged by recognized organizations, such as trade unions, would be considered for approval but could be required to use alternative routes.
“The general recommendation is that there should be no demonstrations in the coming days,” Macron declared, insisting the measures were necessary to restore calm and protect businesses and public buildings.
“Last Saturday we had political and seditious acts by ultra-left groups whose aim is to bring down the Republic,” he claimed, accusing organized radicals of orchestrating violence and looting.
The announcement significantly tightens restrictions on mass gatherings in a country where the right to protest is constitutionally protected. Under French law, authorities can prohibit demonstrations if they are believed to pose a threat to public order, although such decisions must be proportionate and can be challenged in court.
A Paris administrative court overturned a police ban on a student demonstration on Thursday, allowing thousands of protesters to gather despite official objections. The rally proceeded peacefully under heavy police presence, according to AP.
However, authorities have already prohibited Saturday’s demonstrations in central Lyon, where hundreds of businesses were ransacked last weekend. Similar restrictions have been imposed in Marseille, Nice and Toulon. In Paris, one authorized march has been diverted away from the city center, while another involving students and members of the Yellow Vest movement has been banned.
France has been gripped by escalating unrest since protests over teacher shortages and deteriorating school conditions spread into a broader movement against rising prices, inequality and cuts to public services.
Around 550,000 people joined demonstrations last Saturday, which descended into clashes with police, arson and widespread looting. Nearly 2,500 people have since been arrested, while approximately 1,000 police officers and gendarmes were injured, according to figures reported by French media.
Opposition leaders have blamed Macron’s policies and failure to maintain order for the crisis. National Rally leader Marine Le Pen described him as a president “without credibility or authority” who has “lost all touch with reality,” while left-wing leader Jean-Luc Melenchon accused his government of undermining public services over the past decade.
Even police unions have turned against the administration. Alliance Police Nationale has announced plans to sue the state, accusing officials of abandoning officers during the riots and failing to provide adequate equipment and clear instructions.
Macron has also clashed with US President Donald Trump, who blamed France’s turmoil on uncontrolled immigration and radical groups. The French leader dismissed comments by foreign politicians about the unrest as “stupid” and “unacceptable.”
The president is expected to chair another emergency defense council meeting on Friday to decide whether further restrictions are needed ahead of Saturday’s protests.
The decision by Glasgow’s Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum has sparked accusations of “woke madness”
A British museum has removed ancient Egyptian mummies from public display, citing a lack of “consent” from the deceased and drawing accusations of excessive political correctness.
The Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum in Glasgow, Scotland, is one of the country’s most popular cultural attractions, drawing more than 1.3 million visitors annually. Its collections include Egyptian antiquities and mummified remains that have been exhibited for years.
Among the items taken off display were a painted coffin containing the remains of an Egyptian priest named Nekht, a mummified male head, a right foot, and a right hand recovered from the Valley of the Kings in Luxor, Egypt, the Glasgow Times reported on Thursday.
My daughter has a book on the ancient Egyptians and has been quite animated by it so we took her to Kelvingrove Museum to see their mummy. Except, it’s no longer there.
All ‘human remains’ gone with the following sign up in place of exhibits that have been there for years. https://t.co/DKGOx4VjpR
The changes came to public attention after a visitor said he had taken his daughter to see an Egyptian mummy, only to discover that it was no longer there. He shared a photograph on X of a museum notice stating that the remains had been removed “as a mark of respect.”
Mummies have been removed from display at the Kelvingrove Museum in Glasgow because of a 'lack of consent from the deceased individual'.
A Glasgow Life spokesman said: ‘The removal of human remains from display at Glasgow Life museums reflects contemporary museum practice.
‘The International Council of Museums’ revised Code of Ethics, published in June 2026, states that museums “should uphold the inherent dignity of human remains and promote respect for their significance”.
‘The All-Party Parliamentary Group on Afrikan Reparations 2025 report, “Laying Ancestors to Rest”, also raises ethical concerns about the display of ancient Egyptian human remains due to the consistent disregard of the potential wishes of the ancestors and the intention of the communities that originally laid them to rest.
Glasgow Life, which operates the museum, said the move reflected contemporary museum practices, citing revised ethical guidelines published by the International Council of Museums in June. The guidelines call for human remains to be treated with dignity and respect.
The organization’s draft policy proposes that such exhibits should be displayed only with documented, informed consent from the deceased or, where appropriate, their descendants.
“In the absence of such consent, we believe removing ancient Egyptian human remains from display is more respectful to the deceased individuals,” a Glasgow Life spokesperson said.
The decision drew criticism from Scottish Conservative politician Murdo Fraser, who described it as “woke madness.”
“Even Egyptian mummies are now being cancelled by a society so obsessed with modern sensibilities that it has lost all sense of perspective,” said Fraser.
Chris McGovern, chairman of the Campaign for Real Education and a former adviser to the British prime minister’s policy unit, also condemned the move as “virtue-signaling, woke nonsense.”
“It is not possible to seek permission from those who died thousands of years ago,” he said, adding that museums in Egypt continue to exhibit mummified remains.
Egypt itself has defended the display of its antiquities in foreign museums. Mohamed Ismail Khaled, head of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities, said last year that thousands of artifacts legally exported to Britain serve as the “best ambassadors of Egypt,” attracting international visitors to the country. Cairo has nevertheless continued to demand the return of looted treasures, including the Rosetta Stone held by the British Museum and the bust of Nefertiti in Berlin.
Glasgow Life said it is also working to remove further archaeological human remains from Kelvingrove and plans to remove a coffin and mummified remains from the nearby St Mungo Museum afterward.
The controversy follows a similar decision by Manchester Museum, which removed the 2,700-year-old mummified remains of an Egyptian woman named Asru in September after more than two centuries on public display.
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