Iran

• Netanyahu tells Trump they have a “job to finish” in Iran: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu suggested that Israel and the United States could resume bombing Iran soon. The comments came in a call with President Donald Trump on Monday that Netanyahu posted a video of on Monday.

  • Netanyahu thanked Trump for his endorsement in the upcoming Israeli elections and said on Iran: “Donald, we have a job to finish. You said it, and we’ll finish it together. We’ll finish it, and no one else will do it.”

• Axios: Hegseth meets Netanyahu at Israeli air base amid talks of renewed war with Iran: U.S. War Secretary Pete Hegseth met Netanyahu at Ovda Air Base in southern Israel on Monday, where American fighter jets and refueling aircraft are deployed, according to Axios.

  • The unannounced visit came eight days before Israel’s elections and amid U.S.-Israeli discussions about potentially resuming major combat operations against Iran. Hegseth also met American troops stationed at the base.

  • Iran warned Tuesday that any renewed U.S. military attack would be met with retaliation. “The era of ‘hit-and-run’ is over,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei said, dismissing reports suggesting Washington could strike Iran’s Pickax Mountain facility without provoking a response. “We have proven in practice that we absolutely do not leave attacks unanswered,” he added.

  • Baghaei also said Tehran had not entered negotiations with Washington, adding that diplomacy remained part of Iran’s broader defense strategy. His remarks came as Pakistan’s army chief, Asim Munir, was expected in Tehran on Tuesday for talks with Iranian officials, including discussions of negotiations between Iran and the U.S..

• Oil hits five-month high: Oil prices surged Tuesday, with Brent crude reaching a five-month high of $111.75 a barrel, as traders weighed Ansarallah attacks on Saudi infrastructure and reports of attacks on commercial vessels near the Strait of Hormuz.

  • Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps warned that renewed U.S. military action against Tehran would trigger a global energy crisis. “If America takes a new action—even a limited one—the world will face a serious energy crisis,” IRGC spokesperson Hossein Mohebbi told the Tehran Times.

  • He said Iran had not yet used its full capacity to close the Strait of Hormuz and warned that Tehran could draw on additional regional capabilities involving the Bab al-Mandab Strait and Suez Canal. “Our response this time will be far more severe and will land America in far bigger trouble,” he said, adding that disruptions to energy supplies could become particularly damaging as Europe approaches winter.

• Iran and Russia have “never worked as closely as now,” Araghchi says after Lavrov talks in Tehran: Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Tuesday that cooperation between Tehran and Moscow had reached an unprecedented level following talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Tehran. “Never in our history have Iran and Russia worked as closely as now,” Araghchi wrote on X, saying the two discussed developments in Lebanon, Palestine, Ukraine, and Yemen, alongside expanding economic and nuclear cooperation.

  • Lavrov described the talks as “highly fruitful, transparent and frank.”

  • Meanwhile, Trump said Washington continued to hit Iran hard, “economically and militarily,” while praising Russia for taking a “very positive” stance in the conflict.

• Iran claims to have shot down 54th U.S. MQ-9 drone over Hormuz: Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps claimed Tuesday that its air defenses intercepted and destroyed a U.S. MQ-9 drone over the Strait of Hormuz in the early hours of the morning, the 54th U.S. MQ-9 drone destroyed since the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran began on February 28.

• Iran says mines struck two tankers near Strait of Hormuz: Two tankers caught fire and were stopped after striking naval mines laid along an “illegal route” south of the Strait of Hormuz, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said.

  • The IRGC warned that vessels crossing the mined route risk being set ablaze and that oil companies would “pay a bigger price” if U.S. military operations continued.

  • Separately, Iran’s Strait of Hormuz Management Authority said it had added 122 vessels to a list of ships allegedly violating its maritime regulations and had taken action against more than 40 others. The authority claimed it was negotiating with 19 vessels, two of which had agreed to meet its requirements to be removed from the list, while approximately 30 others had received warnings and faced possible inclusion.

• Tanker involved in incident with military forces off Oman’s coast: A tanker was involved in an incident with unidentified military forces approximately 121 nautical miles east of Oman’s coast on Tuesday, the UK Maritime Trade Operations reported. The agency did not report any details on casualties or damage.

Palestine

• Israeli attacks kill five Palestinians, including two children, in Gaza: Israeli forces killed two Palestinians and wounded several others in a strike on a residential apartment in western Gaza City on Tuesday, WAFA reported. In southern Gaza, Israeli forces shot and killed a child in Khan Younis, while another child was killed by Israeli gunfire in Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza.

  • UN teams recorded 50 Israeli airstrikes and attacks a day across Gaza over the past week, despite the ceasefire, AP reported.

• Israeli forces and settlers attack Palestinian olive harvesters, impose siege on occupied West Bank village:

  • Salfit: Israeli settlers cut down olive trees and stole agricultural equipment in the Al-Wad Al-Ahmar area, east of Marda village, on Tuesday, according to WAFA.

  • Ramallah: Settlers set fire to a welcome monument at the entrance to Burqa village, causing extensive damage. Residents extinguished the blaze and began repairs.

  • Nablus: Israeli forces continued a complete blockade of Madama village for a tenth consecutive day, restricting the movement of more than 2,500 residents and obstructing access to food, medicine, and ambulances.

    • A resident suffering chest pains had to be carried on foot through the mountains after an ambulance was unable to reach him. The village council head said Israeli forces also fired toward residents attempting to bring in medicine.

    • Settlers cut electricity to the home of a Palestinian family in Beita for a third consecutive day. The family reportedly faces near-daily harassment and fears leaving the house because settlers might seize it.

• Israel to gradually resume commercial goods entry into Gaza: Israeli authorities said they would gradually resume coordination of private-sector goods entering Gaza after several days of suspension over claims that merchants had halted shipments because Hamas demanded payments of approximately 10,000 shekels ($3,000) per truck and required them to sell goods in cash. The claims were denied by the head of Gaza’s private truckers union at the time, who told AP: “The merchants are not the ones who stopped the shipments. The Israeli coordinator is claiming that Gaza’s merchants are responsible, but the truth is that the Israelis are the ones who imposed the restrictions.”

  • Israeli military agency COGAT on Monday claimed merchants had reported that Hamas withdrew the demands and said it was now requiring merchants to conduct all transactions through bank transfers. It warned that any merchant found to have “made payments to Hamas” would lose authorization to bring goods into Gaza.

• Amnesty condemns “state-driven” Israeli settler violence, calls for sanctions: Amnesty International condemned escalating Israeli settler attacks across the occupied West Bank on Tuesday, accusing Israel of using violence to forcibly displace Palestinians and calling on governments to impose sanctions, halt settlement trade, and end cooperation sustaining the occupation.

  • “Settler attacks are not isolated acts, but a central policy of the Israeli state,” Heba Morayef, Amnesty’s regional director for the Middle East and North Africa, said, accusing the international community of enabling abuses through inaction.

  • Amnesty urged governments to impose an arms embargo on Israel, sanction officials implicated in serious violations, and support International Criminal Court investigations.

• New polls show Israeli opposition poised for win: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu got no immediate bump from Trump’s recent endorsement, new surveys show. A poll from Walla News released Monday found Netanyahu 13 seats short of a majority. A Channel 12 poll released at the same time found the pro-Netanyahu bloc with 51 seats, ten short of the 61 needed to form a majority. Polls have historically been fairly accurate this late in the race. Palestinian parties are expected to get roughly 15 seats, making them a difference-maker in the forming of a coalition for the opposition.

Yemen

• UK announces additional military support for Saudi Arabia: The UK will deploy additional military support to Saudi Arabia following a request from Riyadh, including RAF Typhoon fighter jets, the British Defense Ministry announced Tuesday.

  • The ministry said Britain would take a “defensive role and will not conduct offensive strikes,” against Ansarallah. However, the support will include an RAF Voyager refueling aircraft to assist Saudi air operations, including operations aimed at degrading Ansarallah military targets in Yemen deemed a threat.

  • The deployment builds on existing British military assistance, including air defense equipment and personnel stationed in Saudi Arabia to help counter missile and drone attacks.

  • The ministry defended the expanded military role as necessary to protect regional stability, energy supplies, and trade, warning that escalating violence could drive up prices and costs for British businesses.

• UN: More than 250,000 displaced in Yemen since August, with Taiz hardest hit: More than 250,000 people have been displaced across Yemen between August 1 and October 17 amid escalating hostilities, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) said Tuesday. Taiz accounted for 76% of departures and hosted 52% of those newly displaced, followed by Lahj, which hosted 23%, and Aden with 13%.

• Death toll from Ansarallah strike in Shabwa rises to 73: The death toll from an Ansarallah ballistic missile attack on the Al-Alam military training camp in Yemen’s southern Shabwa governorate has risen to 73, local officials said Tuesday. More than 200 recruits were wounded, many critically.

  • Yemen’s Saudi-backed forces claimed their airstrikes in Taiz governorate killed 129 Ansarallah fighters and wounded 176 others over the past 48 hours. The figures could not be independently verified.

• Saudi-led coalition claims interception of weapons shipment off Yemen and missile over Riyadh: The Saudi-led military coalition claimed Tuesday it intercepted and destroyed a ballistic missile launched by Yemen’s Ansarallah toward Riyadh.

  • The coalition also said it had intercepted and destroyed a shipment of smuggled weapons off Yemen’s coast. Coalition spokesperson said its forces had also destroyed 127 Ansarallah weapons depots and missile launch platforms, releasing footage purportedly showing strikes on boats and maritime shipments allegedly used to transport weapons.

• Saudi Arabia postpones “Davos in the Desert” summit: Saudi Arabia postponed its flagship Future Investment Initiative (FII) conference, known as “Davos in the Desert,” until 2027 amid escalating Ansarallah attacks on the kingdom.

  • The annual gathering, scheduled for October 26–29 in Riyadh, was expected to bring together leading global financial executives, including JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, Citigroup CEO Jane Fraser, Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon, and BlackRock CEO Larry Fink.

  • The FII Institute announced the postponement Tuesday, saying a new date would be announced soon. This follows the cancellation or postponement of several international events in Saudi Arabia, including the EU–GCC summit, Riyadh Fashion Week, and the Saudi International golf tournament.

Lebanon

• Israel blocks UN peacekeeper convoy in southern Lebanon: Israeli tanks blocked a UN peacekeeping logistics convoy near Al-Bayyadah in southern Lebanon on October 16, preventing supplies from reaching UN Interim Force in Lebanon positions, UN spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said Monday.

  • “Roadblocks and obstacles on several routes have forced the cancellation of planned patrol and logistics convoys,” he said, amid continued Israeli violations in the area.

U.S. News

• Early votes signal major Democratic wave: Early voting data emerging from Texas, Nevada, Florida and elsewhere suggest polls showing a Democratic blowout have merit. Voting patterns in Democratic areas suggest voters there are outpacing 2022 and 2018 midterm levels, though a shift in Democratic voter habits appears to be confounding the data. The Trump administration has aggressively sought to stifle mail-in voting, relying on its control of the U.S. Postal Service to make moves aimed at choking turnout, including new regulations largely blocked by the Supreme Court. That effort has eroded Democratic trust in using the USPS to turn in ballots, resulting in a surge of Democrats hand-delivering ballots to in-person locations, where they can have more certainty the vote will be counted. Much remains up in the air, but Republican seats across the country that went for Trump by 15-20 points in 2024 are consistently in play.

• Mexican man who died in Texas ICE facility was a lawful permanent resident: Emiliano Andrade-Covarrubias, 56, was a green-card holder, ICE confirmed on Monday. On Saturday, Covarrubias was found unconscious in his bed at the ICE Rio Grande Processing Center, and declared dead about 20 minutes later. His cause of death is unknown; an autopsy is being conducted by the Webb County Medical Examiner. Officers detained him at a Laredo port of entry in June, accusing him of fraudulently obtaining legal status by failing to disclose a 2004 arrest for theft. He was scheduled to stand before an immigration judge in November. His daughter, Estefani Andrade, said he disclosed his criminal record when he applied for a green card.

• Vance stays neutral on Netanyahu following Trump endorsement: Vice President JD Vance said Monday that he would not endorse Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “I endorse American candidates, and that’s where I’m focused on in the midterms. So I’m not getting involved in Israeli elections,” he said. President Donald Trump endorsed Netanyahu on Sunday, calling him “Strong, Brave, and Brilliant in the face of tremendous opposition, including that coming from even Israel, itself.”

• U.S. stalls transfer of Patriot interceptor to Ukraine; envoys head to Oslo Tuesday for negotiations: The Trump administration has not approved transfers of Patriot interceptors to Ukraine, Ukrainian officials said Monday. A U.S. official and three others told the Washington Post that Secretary of War Pete Hegseth neither rejected the transfers nor approved them. A Ukrainian official told the Post last week that “only a couple” of interceptors remain in Ukraine’s stockpile.

  • Trump envoy Steve Witkoff will visit Oslo on Tuesday for talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and European leaders, with Jared Kushner expected to participate virtually, Axios reported. Witkoff is also planning to travel to Russia after the talks to present proposals developed with Ukraine and European allies.

• U.S. grants Ukrainians and Sudanese protection from deportation “for now”: About 100,000 Ukrainians and 1,800 Sudanese will keep their Temporary Protected Status, which was set to expire Monday, the Department of Homeland Security announced on Sunday. An announcement on the future of TPS will be “made at the appropriate time,” according to the DHS. Last month, the Trump administration announced that it would grant Salvadoran immigrants to keep their TPS protections for the time being.

• DOJ charges 28 green-card holders in California with voting crimes; authorities quickly begin arrests: Twenty-eight green-card holders in California were charged with violating federal voting laws on Monday, the New York Times reported. Eleven have been arrested. The 28 people charged were among the 20,000 names of “likely noncitizens” the Trump administration flagged to California officials last week. The DOJ warned state officials not to count those ballots, or risk investigation for aiding voter fraud. Trump said authorities would “jail” officials who did not comply. Over the last two months, the DOJ has charged 113 people in 20 states with voting violations.

• Federal judge lets North Carolina’s strict mail-in ballot rules stand for midterms: North Carolina’s rigid mail-in ballot rules must remain in place, U.S. District Judge Thomas Schroeder ruled. The voting regulations were passed by the Republican-led State Board of Elections just hours before ballots were sent to voters last month. Schroeder, a George W. Bush appointee, said it was too late to overturn the rules.

  • The rules require that voters sign their name and seal their ballot in a county-provided envelope. They also direct counties to “spoil” ballots if the inner envelope isn’t perfectly sealed, or if the signature does not clearly match the name on the return envelope, such as if a voter uses a nickname, a maiden name, or their initials.

• Supreme Court declines to hear case of fired NLRB member: The Supreme Court refused to consider reinstating Gwynne Wilcox, a Democratic member of the National Labor Relations Board. The move maintains an appeals court ruling that Congress violated the Constitution by trying to limit the president’s power to remove NLRB members. In a recent Supreme Court case, the court approved the presidential power to fire leaders of any executive-branch agency for any reason.

• Watchdog groups file Hatch Act complaint over Alaska rally: Democracy Defenders Fund and Reporters Without Borders asked the Office of Special Counsel to investigate remarks by Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick at Sen. Dan Sullivan’s rally earlier this month, alleging violations of the Hatch Act’s ban on executive-branch political activity while on duty.

  • Although the complaint acknowledges that Carr said he was speaking personally, it says he focused his remarks on the FCC’s past and pending work. Neither Burgum nor Lutnick said they spoke in a personal capacity. The complaint also says Trump introduced both of them by their official titles, and that they failed to “correct the impression that each was speaking officially.”

  • The FCC has an upcoming vote on an Alaskan broadband deal, which Carr discussed the day after the rally on X, writing, “I look forward to working with @SenDanSullivan to get the job done.”

• White House counsel probes pay-for-access allegations: White House Counsel Will Scharf is reportedly investigating possible corruption stemming from a text message that Ric Grenell, then the head of the Kennedy Center and the Venezuela envoy, sent to the Turkish businessman Turhan Mildon, the husband of a Trump ally, Axios reported on Monday. In May 2025, Grennel texted Mildon: “Once the money comes to the company here, I will arrange the donation to Kennedy Centre [sic], and you’ll be joining the VIP events and get close with the administration, even with POTUS.” Grenell denies sending the text and says he never received a payment from Mildon.

  • Mildon’s attorneys gave the White House the text, an email, and a 2025 record of a $17.6 million wire to the Houston defense firm Texas Armament & Technology. Mildon says the money was split between a software deal in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Kennedy Center, which allegedly never received its $6 million share. Mildon’s wife, the Trump ally Alina Habba, has accused Grenell of misdirecting the money.

• Mississippi attorney general says police shooting of 1-year-old “was justified”: Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch’s office announced Monday that it completed its review of a June 14 police shooting and found it justified. Kohen Wiley, a 1-year-old child, was killed while sitting on the lap of his mother Vellesiya Wiley in a Walmart parking lot after officers responded to a call that she and Latoya Ferrell had stolen a pack of diapers. As the women drove off, officers drew weapons, Wiley lifted her son to show a child was in the car, and an officer fired into the vehicle, killing the baby and wounding Ferrell. Officers claimed, without evidence, that the women drove toward the police before they shot into it. Video footage recorded by a bystander does not corroborate the police claim. Neither Wiley nor Ferrell has been charged with a crime, and officials have not released any evidence that they engaged in shoplifting.

  • The officer who shot the one-year-old Wiley, Hunter Foster, is white, and Wiley and both women are Black. The local news outlet Mississippi Today reported in July that Foster faced internal complaints over a racist remark days before the shooting, and that he had faced two allegations of misconduct.

• Mahmoud Khalil asks Supreme Court to halt his deportation: Mahmoud Khalil, the Columbia University graduate student and legal permanent resident detained by ICE in March 2025, filed an appeal Monday after the Third Circuit cleared the way for arrest and potential deportation. The Trump administration detained him under a rarely used statute that allows the Secretary of State to deport individuals whose presence “undercuts the national interest.” A district judge found the law likely unconstitutional and ordered his release, but a closely divided appeals court said the petition belonged first in immigration court, which is run by the executive branch. The justices will decide whether to accept the case, which could take months. If they do, arguments would likely come in the spring with a ruling by early July.

• Mike Rogers received nearly $725,000 from IronNet before the controversial cybersecurity firm went bankrupt, filings indicate: The cybersecurity firm IronNet, founded by former NSA Director Keith Alexander, paid Michigan’s GOP Senate nominee Mike Rogers $724,887 prior to declaring bankruptcy, The American Prospect reported on Monday. His December 2023 disclosure also shows a $250,000 to $500,000 secured promissory note from the company, and $100,000 to $1,000,000 in capital gains from IronNet stock. Rogers joined the board right after leaving the House in January 2015 and sat on its Audit Committee until July 2023. From the 2021 reverse merger to his departure, the stock fell 99%, from $14 to $0.14. An investor group alleged inflated revenue, and the bankrupt firm settled for $6.6 million in 2024.

  • Rogers failed to disclose the promissory note in his July 2026 financial statement. If he sold stock before leaving the board, mandatory SEC disclosures would apply, and none were filed.

• ProPublica: Trump’s FBI purge ended a bribery probe touching Lindsey Graham, James Clyburn, and Joe Wilson: In early 2025, the FBI opened a corruption investigation built on confessions from Martin Kao, CEO of the defense contractor Navatek, who told agents that his business model was bribing officials for government contracts, according to a new report from ProPublica. He said he struck cash-for-contracts deals with Sen. Lindsey Graham, Rep. James Clyburn and Rep. Joe Wilson of South Carolina, and with Sen. Susan Collins of Maine. Agents found that much of Kao’s account matched company records seized in the investigation.

  • After Trump returned to the White House, the DOJ’s anti-corruption section lost authority to file new cases, the career prosecutor quit, and agents assigned to the case were fired or pushed out. The case is now dead. The living lawmakers involved (Clyburn, Wilson, and Collins) have denied any wrongdoing.

Other International News

• Sudan drone attacks kill 160+, including 80 in single strike: Drone strikes since Friday have killed more than 160 people in western Sudan, Al Jazeera reported. Among the deadliest attacks was a strike near a market in RSF-controlled al-Dabba, West Kordofan, where a drone hit a transport hub and instantaneously killed 80 people. Forty-seven others were wounded in the attack; 30 of them later died of their injuries. The rights group Emergency Lawyers accused the Sudanese army of the attack, as did the RSF. On Monday, a drone strike on the RSF stronghold of Nyala killed 17 people, including seven RSF officers, and wounded 23 others. Meanwhile, a drone strike on Friday blamed on the RSF hit a gathering of displaced people in Sudan’s Blue Nile state on the border with Ethiopia, killing 41 people, Emergency Lawyers said.

  • On Monday, a drone struck a house near central Khartoum, killing three children between the ages of two and six. The children’s mother was critically injured.

• Attack in Nigeria kills at least 15, including 10 soldiers: A convoy of Nigerian troops on patrol in the Nigerian state of Borno struck a landmine, likely planted by Boko Haram, and were ambushed Saturday, according to Reuters, which could not independently verify the casualties. A pickup truck detonated the mine, killing eight soldiers instantly. Gunmen then opened fire on a second vehicle, killing two more soldiers and five members of the Civilian Joint Task Force.

• Kenyan court convicts cult leader and others of murder of 190 children: The cult leader Paul Mackenzie and 28 others murdered 190 children and one adult, a Kenyan court ruled on Monday. Prosecutors said his Good News International Church ran a doomsday sect that ordered followers to starve themselves and their children to reach heaven. More than 400 bodies have been recovered from the incident. Only 26 children’s bodies have been identified. Mackenzie, who was arrested in 2023, also faces terrorism-related charges over the deaths. In a separate case, prosecutors allege that while he was in detention, he directed the deaths of 52 people. He has pleaded not guilty.

• Three killed, four injured in India clashes: Armed militants opened fire on villagers in the Indian state of Manipur on Monday, killing three people and injuring four, Reuters reported. The perpetrators were unidentified. The victims belonged to the mostly Hindu Meitei community, which has sporadically fought the predominantly Christian Kuki community since May 2023 over economic benefits and job quotas. Meitei groups blame Kuki “militants” for Monday’s violence, which Kuki groups deny. The attack prompted protests in the state capital of Imphal; locals placed the bodies of two victims outside the chief minister’s residence.

• Indian court extends detention of Cockroach Janta Party leaders, jailed for protesting: An Indian court prolonged the jailing of two leaders of the youth-led Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), Ashutosh Ranka and Saurav Das, Indian media reported. Police had requested more time to question them, and their detention was then extended two days. Ranka and Das were among 14 protesters who climbed barricades last week to enter a Delhi observatory the day after officials removed it from a list of approved protest sites. For more on the Indian protests, read Drop Site’s Biplob Kumar Das and Fatima Khan here.

• Serbian opposition leaders surveilled by Israeli spyware on eve of election: Just days before Serbia’s October 25 parliamentary election, two leaders of the country’s political opposition, Vladan Djokic and Rade Bajic, were targeted by the Israeli firm NSO Group’s Pegasus spyware, watchdog group Citizen Lab reported Monday. Both men have conflicted with Serbia’s ruling party, which has faced two years of student-led anti-corruption protests.

  • Djokic, rector of the University of Belgrade, has stood with students during youth-led anti-corruption protests against Serbia’s ruling party. Bajic, a former lawyer, said he believed he was hacked because of his role in prosecuting senior officials who allegedly assisted Jared Kushner’s firm in its property development plans.

• Russian drone strike kills six, including three children: A Russian drone attack killed six people, including three children, in a village near Kharkiv on Monday, Reuters reported. Fifteen people were injured. The drone strike hit a park where families were playing with their children, according to the interior minister of Ukraine, Ivan Vyhivskyi.

• Belarus bans entry of Latvian goods: Belarus barred a range of Latvian products, including canned fish and various industrial goods, on Monday, citing Latvia’s “unconstructive approach and unfriendly rhetoric.” Migrants trying to enter the European Union have found a new passage in Belarus in recent years. Latvia closed its border with Belarus in July.

• Finland to buy one million anti-personnel mines: Finland plans to spend 100 million euros ($112 million) on one million anti-personnel mines, AFP reported. Finland joined the anti-landmine Ottawa Convention in 2012, and withdrew from it in 2025.

• France imposes partial curfews in several cities, bans nighttime protests: French authorities announced overnight curfews on the Place de la Republique and the Les Halles areas of Paris on Monday, and banned other gatherings and demonstrations anywhere in the city after 8 p.m. Other cities imposed similar curfews, some of which only applied to minors.

  • French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu said Monday he asked prefects to impose “partial” and “localized” curfews to protect businesses after weekend demonstrations turned into some of the worst street violence in recent years. He said “it is out of the question to put all of Paris under curfew,” that a state of emergency could be declared if needed, and that he is “fully resolved to restoring public order.”

• Haitian gangs ambush international security force; Salvadoran troops missing: Heavily armed gangs attacked a UN-backed Gang Suppression Force vehicle with explosives near Port-au-Prince, officials told the UN Security Council on Monday. The four El Salvador air force members aboard the vehicle fled and are currently missing, Reuters reported. A spokesperson for the Gang Suppression Force said it was searching for the missing troops.

• Cuba says U.S. lets terrorists operate freely on U.S. soil: Cuban law enforcement officials accused the U.S. of granting terrorists freedom of movement in U.S. territory, citing a Cuban investigation into a February speedboat infiltration from the Florida Keys, which led to a gun battle at sea. The February operation, according to Cuban law enforcement, was conducted by 10 Cuban exiles carrying about 13,000 rounds of ammunition, 11 rifles, 15 handguns, Molotov cocktails, and Starlink equipment. Five were killed; the survivors were detained and now face terrorism charges. Some individuals who trained the group remain at large in the U.S. For more on this story, see Reed Lindsay’s report from Cuba.

• China accuses U.S. of “illegally” approaching disputed shoal: China accused the USS Charleston of “illegally” entering waters adjacent to Sabina Shoal in the Spratly Islands on Tuesday and sent naval forces to track and monitor the ship, Reuters reported. A Philippine military spokesperson said the U.S. ship “did not trespass into ‘Chinese territory’” and that no nation can require prior permission for lawful transit of international waters.

• Taiwan accuses China of entering its territorial waters: Taiwan said a Chinese Coast Guard ship entered restricted waters near the Pratas Islands and was confronted by Taiwan’s Coast Guard. During the encounter, the Chinese and Taiwanese vessels exchanged messages over broadcast. From the Chinese vessel came the message that “the so-called Republic of China does not exist,” to which the Taiwanese replied, “the Republic of China, Taiwan, is a sovereign and independent country.”

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