Yemen

• Ansarallah attack on presidential palace in Aden kills five, wounds 16: Five people were killed and 16 wounded Thursday in a missile and drone attack on the Al-Maashiq presidential palace complex of Yemen’s Saudi-backed government in Aden, according to Yemeni officials.

  • The casualties included guards and civilian employees, while Prime Minister Shaya Al-Zindani and cabinet members were unharmed.

  • Ansarallah, which claimed responsibility for the attack, said it had targeted a Saudi military headquarters in Aden as part of its campaign against Saudi military reinforcements.

• Saudi-led attacks kill at least 107, wound 278 across Yemen since September 3: At least 107 people have been killed and 278 wounded in Saudi-led attacks across Yemen since September 3, according to the health ministry in Sana’a. Women and children account for more than 60% of casualties.

  • Between October 3 and October 12, the death toll rose from 72 to 107, with Taiz, Saada and Al-Jawf the hardest-hit of 13 affected governorates.

• UN Security Council condemns Ansarallah attacks on Saudi Arabia, demands cessation of Yemen hostilities: The UN Security Council condemned Ansarallah’s escalating attacks on Saudi Arabia in a presidential statement Thursday, pointing to strikes on King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh and attacks on other airports and Saudi Aramco facilities. The Council also affirmed Saudi Arabia’s “right to self-defense.”

  • Ansarallah must “immediately cease their military escalation and their attacks impacting civilians and civilian objects,” the Council said, reiterating its support for a negotiated, inclusive, Yemeni-led political settlement. Saudi Arabia welcomed the statement, while calling for international cooperation to prevent Ansarallah from obtaining weapons and other forms of support.

Palestine

• Israeli attacks kill one Palestinian, wound five in Gaza: One Palestinian died Friday after sustaining injuries in an Israeli attack on the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood of Gaza City Thursday night, according to WAFA. Five others were injured in Israeli attacks across the Gaza Strip.

  • Israeli forces continued shelling and gunfire across the Strip. In Shujaiya and eastern Gaza City, forces detonated explosive-laden robots to destroy remaining homes.

• Israeli settlers tear through Palestinian olive groves, assault Washington Post journalist amid widespread attacks near Ramallah: Israeli settlers severely beat Washington Post photojournalist Heidi Levine, 63, during widespread attacks on Palestinian olive harvesters across villages east and north of Ramallah on Friday.

  • The attacks left numerous Palestinians injured, including one shot with live ammunition, while settlers burned vehicles and olive trees, stole crops, and forced farmers off their land.

  • Israeli soldiers also fired live ammunition and tear gas, causing dozens of cases of suffocation, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent.

  • Levine suffered fractures and wounds after settlers repeatedly clubbed and kicked her, dragged her across the ground, and stole her equipment, according to journalist Jasper Nathaniel. Footage of the attack captured by journalist Andrey X can be seen here.

  • Levine was hospitalized in Ramallah following the assault. “I don’t understand how parents can raise such monsters,” she said. “Yes, they are Jewish terrorists, and they’re giving everyone in this country [Israel] a horrible reputation… And they won’t be prosecuted. I’m sure of it.”

  • The Washington Post condemned the attack on its photographer. “She was wearing visible markings clearly identifying her as a journalist,” the Post said in a statement. “We are outraged by this unwarranted attack on a journalist doing her job,” it added, calling for “a thorough investigation and follow-through from authorities.”

  • Elsewhere, settlers attacked olive harvesters in Turmus Ayya, northeast of Ramallah, burning vehicles and olive trees, and injuring a Civil Defense volunteer, while Israeli forces fired tear gas.

  • Four Palestinians were injured in Burqa and three in Deir Jarir, where Israeli forces also restricted access to farmland. Near Birzeit and Burham, a 70-year-old man suffered fractures and after being beaten by settlers.

• Israeli settlers attack Palestinian olive harvesters across other areas of the occupied West Bank, injuring three:

  • Nablus: Three Palestinians were injured after settlers assaulted them while harvesting olives in Asira Al-Qibliya on Friday, WAFA reported. Settlers also stole olives from farmland in Aqraba and Al-Lubban Al-Sharqiya, where Israeli soldiers separately expelled farmers and confiscated their harvest.

  • Salfit: Settlers attacked olive harvesters west of Deir Ballut and seized a farmer’s vehicle key. Israeli forces subsequently ordered farmers to leave their land, threatening to shoot them if they returned.

  • Jenin: Israeli forces and settlers forced farmers off their land in Jalbun, east of Jenin. Settlers also fired live ammunition and threw stun grenades toward homes.

• Record-breaking 200+ Israeli settler attacks on Palestinian olive harvest in West Bank, UN says: Israeli settlers carried out more than 200 attacks against Palestinians during the current olive harvest season in the occupied West Bank, surpassing the 185 recorded in the 2025 season, the UN said Thursday. Approximately 80% of incidents have occurred over the past two weeks.

  • The attacks have killed at least four Palestinians since the harvest began, the Associated Press reported. More than 120 others have been wounded in the attacks, which have damaged over 2,500 olive trees and saplings.

• Israeli advertising firm helped place “zero-click” spyware on Al Jazeera devices: Israeli advertising technology company Discover-Tech helped place sophisticated spyware on dozens of devices used by Al Jazeera and other companies, according to an investigation by The Citizen Lab, a research unit at the University of Toronto.

  • Spyware from Israeli firm Candiru was planted on journalists’ devices using the first-known instance of “zero-click” targeted advertising, according to the Citizen Lab investigation, which was prompted by an internal Al Jazeera probe.

  • The spyware collects a wide range of data: files, documents, and browser data like cookies, bookmarks, and saved credentials. It also captures keystrokes, takes screenshots, records microphone and webcam input, and extracts emails and messages from popular communication platforms.

  • Some of the Israeli spyware-ads were also discovered in critical networks used by the Pentagon, the United Nations International Atomic Energy Agency, and the International Criminal Court, Al Jazeera said, citing a report by security firm Confiant.

Iran

• Iranian president accuses U.S. and Israel of “ecocide”: U.S. and Israeli military campaigns in Iran and Gaza have caused widespread environmental destruction that amounts to “ecocide or environmental genocide,” President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Friday, during an address at the COP17 biodiversity summit in Armenia..

  • Widespread U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iranian fuel storage facilities and related infrastructure have contaminated soil and water, Pezeshkian said,warning that the deterioration of Iran’s ecosystems could persist for decades. As for Israel’s obliteration of Gaza, he added, it “stands as a stark testament to ecocide, with devastation whose horrific impacts will endure for generations.”

  • He called for international mechanisms to assess environmental damage, fund ecosystem restoration, and ensure that countries subjected to war and sanctions do not bear the recovery costs alone.

• Iranian navy reports oil tanker on fire after entering “restricted” waters near Hormuz: An oil tanker caught fire in a “restricted” area of the Sea of Oman after reportedly switching off its tracking systems and attempting to cross a prohibited route, Iran’s navy said Friday.

  • The cause of the fire and the condition of the crew were not immediately clear.

• Bloomberg: Pentagon to delay report on Iran school bombing until after midterms: Senior Pentagon officials intend to delay the release of an internal report into the bombing of a school in southern Iran on the first day of the war until after the U.S. midterm elections, according to Bloomberg.

  • The U.S. bombing of the Shajareh Tayyebeh school in Minab on February 28 killed at least 156 people, including 120 children and 26 teachers, in one of the single worst massacres committed by the U.S. government since the Vietnam War.

  • Several of War Secretary Pete Hegseth’s advisers conveyed to Pentagon personnel the plan to delay publication of the report, according to Bloomberg.

  • New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand said in a statement: “Withholding this report until after the election is not only disgraceful, it is cowardly. We have waited months—release the report. Congress and the American people deserve full transparency and accountability around this attack.”

  • Read Drop Site’s in-depth investigation into the Minab school bombing here.

• U.S. sanctions Iraqi bank and 26 individuals, entities over Iran ties: On Thursday, the U.S. imposed sanctions on the Iraq Development Bank, nine other entities, and 16 individuals over alleged financial ties to Iran, as part of the Trump administration’s “Economic Outcast” campaign that aims to sever Tehran’s remaining economic lifelines.

  • The Treasury Department accused the bank, which Iraq barred from U.S. dollar transactions in 2024, of exploiting Iraq’s former dollar auction system and maintaining ties to Iranian government entities and Iran-aligned militias.

  • Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the department “will not relent until the Iranian regime’s coffers are empty.” He added, “the noose is tightening around Iran’s economy, and not even Iran’s so-called allies can save it.”

• Reuters: Iran conducted precision strikes on critical infrastructure in Gulf Arab countries: Iran’s precision strikes on critical infrastructure in the Persian Gulf during the war included at least 135 drone and missile attacks on at least 84 infrastructure sites across seven countries—Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Iraq, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman, and Bahrain—according to a Reuters investigation.

  • Despite Gulf governments’ repeated statements that the damage was the result of falling debris from intercepted Iranian missiles or drones, Reuters found that the Iranian strikes were in fact pinpoint attacks on critical equipment.

  • Some of the targets were hidden beneath rooftops and sunshades, and invisible to space satellites. Two Gulf officials and one Iranian official told Reuters that Iran relied on networks of informants to conduct the attacks.

  • After reviewing Reuters’ findings, Ryan Stevens, a former U.S. Marine Corps special operations airstrike coordinator, said Iran’s strikes showed “precision, targeting expertise, and patience.”

Lebanon

• Israeli forces strike residential building, school, religious seminary across southern Lebanon amid “ceasefire”:

  • Nabatieh: An Israeli quadcopter fired two missiles at the roof of an inhabited residential building in Mefdoun, with the first failing to explode, on Friday, Lebanon’s National News Agency reported. Emergency crews evacuated residents before the second strike, and no injuries were reported.

  • Israeli forces also carried out two large, simultaneous explosions near a school in Kfar Tebnit and in Zawtar Al-Sharqiya at dawn.

  • Bint Jbeil: An Israeli tank fired a shell directly at a religious seminary building on the outskirts of Aita Al-Jabal.

  • Tyre (Sour): Israeli warplanes carried out an airstrike on Mansouri.

U.S. News

• Teen gunman kills four, including three children, at Oregon elementary school: A 16-year-old opened fire Thursday at Silver Rail Elementary School in Bend, Oregon, killing four children aged 5, 8 and 11, and one teacher, police said. A 7-year-old student and a 54-year-old teacher were hospitalized in critical condition. The shooter entered by firing through locked doors. An armed community member who saw him enter pursued him into the school and killed him, according to Gov. Tina Kotek, who thanked that individual for “heroically” intervening to stop further loss of life. Police have not made the identity of the shooter public, nor have they identified the community member.

• Trump cancels livestream of firing-squad execution, reversing Hegseth: Trump said Thursday on Truth Social that the government will not stream Fort Hood shooter Nidal Hasan’s Dec. 3 execution, canceling the plan War Secretary Pete Hegseth announced last week. Trump said streaming “might have been a strong deterrent for the World to witness how America deals with Terrorists and SCUM like Hasan,” but that “many very good and well meaning people would rather not watch him die, through streaming, or through any other visual device.” He said Hasan “will die, as scheduled, by firing squad,” and that family members of his victims will be able to view it in person.

• AOC gives $1 million to El-Sayed’s Senate campaign: On Friday, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) transferred $1 million to the Senate campaign of Dr. Abdul El-Syed, the Democratic candidate in Michigan, the New York Times reported. “I’m not waking up on November 4th wishing I did more to combat the smears aimed at Abdul,” Ocasio-Cortez said in a statement to the Times. “I’m leaving everything I can on the field.”

  • Ocasio-Cortez, one of the most influential Democrats in the country, joined El-Syed at campaign events across northern Michigan on Thursday. On Friday, she will hold her own rallies in the Detroit area.

• Democratic senators move to block U.S.-Saudi nuclear cooperation deal: Sens. Jeff Merkley of Oregon and Edward Markey of Massachusetts filed a resolution Thursday that would block the U.S.-Saudi “123 agreement,” invoking the Atomic Energy Act as their justification. The resolution will force a debate and a vote when lawmakers return next month. Both chambers would have to adopt it to block the deal, and it faces steep odds in the Republican-controlled House.

• Trump officials reviewed Omar’s immigration file in 2019 and found no citizenship issues: A political appointee in the first Trump administration asked immigration authorities in 2019 to review Rep. Ilhan Omar’s records for fraud, three former officials told the Washington Post. Career staffers found it highly unusual. Homeland Security Investigations concluded there was insufficient evidence of wrongdoing and dropped the idea of a full investigation. A USCIS officer’s one-page memo, printed and hand-delivered because of its sensitivity, found no issues. USCIS said then it couldn’t determine her age reliably because refugees often lack birth records, and examined her father’s file without finding problems.

  • The marriage allegations were also reviewed: her former husband, Ahmed Nur Said Elmi, withdrew a green card application after USCIS asked for more evidence. One former official said, “I think her citizenship is solid and there wasn’t any fraud there.”

• DOJ sues California and LA County officials to stop counting ballots of 20,000+ alleged noncitizens: The Justice Department sued California Secretary of State Shirley Weber, Los Angeles County Registrar Dean Logan_, and the state on Thursday, asking a federal judge to block officials from counting ballots of voters it identified until their citizenship is verified. It claims officials plan to count ballots from more than 20,000 alleged noncitizens. The suit followed a Tuesday letter by Deputy Attorney General R. Trent McCotter demanding that Logan agree within 48 hours. Logan replied that he hadn’t opened a thumb drive containing the names of the alleged noncitizens because doing so would violate privacy and data-security protocols, and that canceling registrations requires verifiable information, “not assertions of unconfirmed data matching.”

• Rep. Andy Harris threatens reporter with prosecution for recording him after Maryland debate: Maryland Republican Rep. Andy Harris told a reporter Tuesday, “You do not have my permission to record. If you record, we will refer you to prosecutors,” in a gaggle after his debate with Democrat Dan Schwartz in Cambridge, Maryland, according to video shot by a Baltimore Banner photojournalist. The reporter, Cat Murphy of Capital News Service, said, “Everyone in here is recording. Why am I not allowed to?” Harris cited Maryland’s all-party consent wiretapping law, which carries up to five years in prison and a $10,000 fine. He then called for an officer and left the room without waiting for one. The video shows at least eight journalists in the gaggle. Murphy said she is credentialed through a Capitol gallery and that the debate required no press registration.

Other International News

• Reuters: White House gave the order to limit Ukraine’s SpaceX satellite access: An order to impose limitations on Ukraine’s access to SpaceX’s Starshield service, used for navigation by Ukrainian drones, came from inside the White House, Reuters reported. The sudden outage disrupted Ukrainian drone strikes on Russia as well as defensive interceptors used to shoot down Russian drones Ukrainian officials said. The outage came as President Donald Trump was pressuring Ukraine to limit its strikes on Russian refineries.

• Philippines rebukes Chinese ambassador over “thinly veiled threat”: The Philippines rebuked the Chinese ambassador Jing Quan for saying China could “easily win” a confrontation with the Philippines, Reuters reported. Quan, who added that China would not use force because “we love peace,” was responding to the Philippines defense secretary’s remark that China is a “troublemaker,” The Beijing envoy’s comments “very much sound like a threat,” said Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

• Poland scrambles jets as Russian strikes hit western Ukraine; Bulgaria asks NATO for military support: Poland’s armed forces scrambled fighter jets during overnight Russian attacks near the Polish border of Ukraine. No airspace violation was recorded. The Russian strikes injured two people and cut power to 370,000 others, the Volyn Oblast governor said.

  • A Russian drone attack killed three people and injured five others in Kharkiv. Strikes in Uman injured several people..

  • Also on Friday, Ukrainian attacks killed two people in Russian-occupied Luhansk, according to . Russian authorities In Russia, air defenses blocked a Ukrainian drone attack on a heating plant in the Vladimir region, officials said.

• Ebola spreads to Congolese province bordering Central African Republic: The Ebola outbreak has reached an eighth province of the Democratic Republic of Congo, where two cases have been confirmed, Reuters reported. The province, North Ubangi, borders the Central African Republic, which has not yet recorded a case. The outbreak is the second-largest on record, with more than 9,000 confirmed cases and over 4,000 deaths.

• Ethiopian forces deepen control over Tigray: Ethiopian forces extended their control of Tigray, entering the historic city of Aksum, while rival Tigrayan fighters remain in mountains surrounding the city. Eritrean troops retreated toward the border after sustaining significant casualties, according to a spokesperson with the Ethiopia-aligned militia Tigray Peace Force. Eritrea’s Information Minister Yemane Gebremeskel denied the claims.

• Ethiopian PM announces temporary government for Tigray, promises election: Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed appointed a temporary administration for northern Tigray and announced elections would be held within six months, Reuters reported. Tigray’s ruling party, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, led an offensive last month against Abiy’s government, reigniting a war that killed hundreds of thousands of people from 2020 to 2022 Ethiopian forces have since taken control of large portions of Tigray, including the capital city of Mekelle.

• Somalia announces 2027 elections: Elections for both chambers of parliament will be held April 15, 2027, followed by a May 15 presidential vote, Abdikarim Ahmed Hassan, head of Somalia’s Independent National Elections and Boundaries Commission, announced Thursday. The ruling President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud’s term, which began in 2022, ended earlier this year, but his government declared a “transition period,” despite an agreement with the opposition to hold elections.

• Two Syrian pipelines damaged; one attributed to sabotage: A gas pipeline in the southern Syrian province of Hasakah was struck and exploded on Thursday, the state-owned Syrian Petroleum Company said, The company called it a “sabotage attack.” Separately, a fuel leak was reported in the Baniyas-Homs oil pipeline. The leak is suspected to be the result of an attempted theft, according to state media.

• U.S. discussing “denuclearization” with Russia and China, Trump says: The U.S. has engaged Russia and China in “denuclearization” talks,” Trump said Thursday. The U.S. and Russia each possess about 4,000 nuclear warheads. China possesses about 620 warheads, but is expected to “catch up” within years, Trump said. “The whole thing is a shame because I’d love to denuclearise if possible,” he added.

• French police accused of excessive violence against youth protesters in multiple cases: Police in France have launched internal investigations into 36 allegations of officer violence against demonstrators, according to the interior minister, Laurent Nuñez.

  • The accusations include four children allegedly being “mutilated” by explosive weapons, such as stun grenades, and six sustaining “significant injuries,” as well as other complaints, including physical beatings and sexual assault.

  • An unprecedented number of children have been arrested since the protests began in mid-September, with a total of 6,773 children under 18 taken into police custody, according to the justice ministry.

  • France is in the fourth week of its biggest youth protest movement in decades, launched by high school students demonstrating for better conditions and the replacement of absent teachers.

• El Salvador’s Bukele announces plan to release detainees: El Salvador’s Nayib Bukele unexpectedly announced plans to potentially release up to 50% of the more than 93,000 detained under El Salvador’s state of exception, framing the proposal as an amnesty for those accused of a lesser degree of “collaboration” with the country’s gangs. Bukele made the surprise announcement only after a journalist interrupted a carefully managed press conference to ask about comments made by the president’s brother, Ibrajim Bukele, about a commission to review cases. Bukele also floated the possibility of eventually lifting the state of exception, which has been in effect since March 27, 2022 and has been extended 55 times.

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