Strikes on civilians in Sudan

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Strikes kill dozens of civilians in Sudan, at a camp for displaced people and at a gold-mining site

Two attacks from the air, on Friday 9 and Saturday 10 October, killed dozens of civilians at opposite ends of Sudan: a drone attack on displaced people in Blue Nile state, on the border with Ethiopia, and air strikes on gold prospectors in Northern state, near the border with Egypt. A rights group, Emergency Lawyers, gives the highest toll in Blue Nile, where the regional government and a local governor give lower ones; in Northern state its count is the only one, and it says the figure could rise. In neither case has the side accused of the attack answered. Sudan has 50.4 million people (World Bank, 2024).

Blue Nile, Friday 9 October. A drone hit a camp for displaced people in the Abu Shandi area of Blue Nile, and Emergency Lawyers said the attack killed 41 people and was carried out by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), the paramilitary force fighting Sudan's army (BBC; The Hindu). The group said eight children and many women were among the dead (The Hindu). Radio Dabanga places Abu Shandi, a village, in Wad al-Mahi locality, and says the shelter held people who had fled Geisan locality; residents told it most of the victims were women and children (Radio Dabanga; AllAfrica, republishing Radio Dabanga). A spokesperson for the RSF did not respond to a request for comment, The Hindu reports (The Hindu).

Sources disagree on how many died at Abu Shandi, and on who among the victims was killed or hurt. The Blue Nile regional government said 30 civilians were killed on Friday morning and held the RSF responsible (Radio Dabanga). The governor of Wad al-Mahi, Mahjoub Al-Sheikh, told Al Jazeera that an RSF drone had hit the centre of the province and killed 26 women and four children; Al Jazeera puts the toll at "at least 30" displaced people, with dozens wounded (Al Jazeera). Al Jazeera does not name Abu Shandi, but places the attack just outside a displacement camp in Wad al-Mahi, near an informal gold-mining site (Al Jazeera). Emergency Lawyers' count is 41 (BBC). Radio Dabanga reports the same group's preliminary information differently: eight children killed and 26 women seriously injured, with the full toll still unclear (Radio Dabanga).

The governor also said the drone had been launched from "inside Ethiopia", in remarks reported by AFP and carried by Al Jazeera (Al Jazeera). Sudan has repeatedly accused Ethiopia of sheltering RSF fighters and bases, and Ethiopia has denied it (Al Jazeera). Al Jazeera Arabic's Sudan correspondent, Wadah Al-Tahir, described the attack as the latest in a run of drone strikes on Blue Nile, this time near the city of Damazin (Al Jazeera).

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (Ocha) said it was "appalled by horrifying reports", that initial reports suggested most casualties were women and children, and that the area had been under sustained attack in recent weeks, displacing thousands (BBC). Denise Brown, the UN's resident and humanitarian coordinator in Sudan, said condemnation was essential but that "there must also be accountability" (The Hindu). Emergency Lawyers called the strike a serious escalation and asked for an independent, transparent investigation (Radio Dabanga).

The International Organization for Migration reported that a further 1,275 people, or 255 families, had left 10 villages in Wad al-Mahi locality for El Roseires locality as security worsened (Radio Dabanga). UN figures cited by Al Jazeera put this year's displacement in Blue Nile state at nearly 100,000 people (Al Jazeera). The army's Fourth Infantry Division said that, with allied forces, it had repelled the RSF and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North at Umm Darfa, in eastern Blue Nile (Radio Dabanga).

Northern state, Saturday 10 October. At least 72 civilians prospecting for gold were killed in air strikes on mining sites, Emergency Lawyers said in a statement on Sunday; it said jets hit the miners and that its toll was provisional and could rise (BBC; DW). The group accused the Egyptian air force of the strikes, DW reports, and said the attacks "may constitute war crimes" (DW; BBC). Egypt had not commented, and neither had Sudan's de facto authorities, according to the BBC (BBC; DW). DW notes that the remote site is hard to verify independently (DW).

The sources describe the place differently. The BBC puts the strikes in Northern state, having corrected an earlier version of its report that said River Nile state (BBC). DW places them south of the Halayeb triangle, east of the River Nile, in an area it calls disputed; Emergency Lawyers said the site lies inside Sudan, while the Halayeb triangle itself is claimed by both Egypt and Sudan (DW).

The 72 may be an undercount, by other accounts. The Sudan Tribune, a newspaper based in Paris, reported that the toll could be far higher, citing a survivor who said many more were hurt; eyewitnesses told it the attack began around 06:00 local time and that more than five missiles hit the miners' camps and the pits with people inside (BBC). A survivor told AFP that thousands of people were working at the site and that people scattered afterwards, so "no one knows exactly" how many died (DW). Sudan Doctors Network warned on Facebook that casualties were expected to rise because some injuries were severe and medical care was hard to reach (DW).

DW calls this the second such attack this year (DW). In June, according to claims reported by the Sudan Tribune, Egyptian forces used drones and artillery against mining sites in the same region; Egypt's border agency then announced a security campaign against illegal migration, drug smuggling and illegal mining, and Sudan's de facto leader ordered an inquiry into the alleged strikes (BBC). Egypt has previously acknowledged a "large-scale operation" against illegal gold mining within its borders, DW reports, and backs Sudan's army chief, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan (DW).

Elsewhere on Friday, an RSF drone attack on El Obeid, in North Kordofan, injured six civilians and destroyed six vehicles, Radio Dabanga reports (Radio Dabanga).

The war's overall toll is given differently. The fighting between the army and the RSF began in April 2023 (The Hindu). The conflict monitor ACLED counts at least 150,000 dead, a figure aid groups say is likely too low (The Hindu); aid workers cited by Al Jazeera put it at more than 200,000, and DW gives the same figure (Al Jazeera; DW). The BBC says the conflict has killed hundreds of thousands (BBC). By UN figures cited by The Hindu, more than 12.4 million people have fled their homes; the BBC says more than 14 million (The Hindu; BBC). Both sides have been accused of using drone attacks (BBC).

India detains protesters and opposition leaders in Delhi over a demand that the election chief resign, and a court frees the movement's leaders

Police in New Delhi detained the founder of the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), a youth movement, and two other leaders, Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka, on Saturday 10 October, boarding their flight from Mumbai after it landed and before they could get off (Al Jazeera; PBS, carrying the Associated Press). They had come to lead a march to Jantar Mantar, a designated protest site in central Delhi, demanding that Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar resign (SCMP, carrying Reuters). When the founder, Abhijeet Dipke, told officers on board he had come to be arrested, one replied, "No, this is not an arrest" (SCMP, carrying Reuters). On Sunday an executive magistrate's court released the three on condition of "no breach of peace for one year", the movement's head lawyer, Ratna Singh, said (Al Jazeera). The Associated Press says what the condition means was unclear (PBS, carrying the Associated Press). India has 1,450.9 million people (World Bank, 2024).

How many people were detained depends on who is counting. The CJP said on Saturday that "more than 15,000 protesters" had been detained, in the words of a CJP leader, Ajinkya Shinde (Dawn, carrying AFP). A home ministry official, speaking anonymously, told Reuters more than 2,000 were detained in Delhi (SCMP, carrying Reuters); Al Jazeera gives the same official's figure as about 2,000 (Al Jazeera). Al Jazeera, Euronews and AFP each cite the newspaper The Hindu, and each gives a different figure from it: nearly 2,500, citing Delhi police sources, in Al Jazeera; as many as 3,000 in Euronews, which said the number could not immediately be verified; and more than 5,000 in AFP's report, which said it could not verify it (Al Jazeera; Euronews; Dawn, carrying AFP). In Mumbai, the agency ANI put arrests at some 600, while local media cited by Reuters said about 400 were held (Al Jazeera; SCMP, carrying Reuters). SCMP reports no police comment on the detentions; the Associated Press quotes police as saying most of those held were freed late on Saturday (SCMP; PBS, carrying the Associated Press).

Television channels showed opposition lawmakers and three former chief ministers among those detained: West Bengal's Mamata Banerjee, Delhi's Arvind Kejriwal and Kerala's Pinarayi Vijayan (Al Jazeera). Al Jazeera also names the YouTuber Dhruv Rathee, Neha Bora, national president of the All India Students' Association, the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya and the Supreme Court lawyer Prashant Bhushan (Al Jazeera). Accounts differ on where Rathee was held: SCMP and France 24 say he was detained at his home, while the CJP, as reported by CNN, said at the protest site; he was released (SCMP; France 24; Egypt Independent, carrying CNN). Two digital outlets said four of their reporters were briefly held, and a Reuters journalist was detained and freed (SCMP, carrying Reuters).

Delhi police refused permission for the protest, citing an application filed too late and alleged violations at an earlier protest (Hindustan Times), and said on Friday any gathering would be illegal (The Japan Times). The home ministry approved a 24-hour cut to mobile internet within four kilometres of the Janpath-Kartavya Path area, from 10 pm Friday (Hindustan Times). Police had asked the metro to shut 57 stations; after the Supreme Court on Friday told the authorities not to halt public transport entirely, the metro closed 45 (Scroll; Hindustan Times). Chief Justice Surya Kant said the authorities could not "bring everything to a halt", as quoted by Bar and Bench (Scroll). The Hindu counted over 200 trains cancelled or rescheduled; Hindustan Times put cancellations at 254 (The Hindu; Hindustan Times). Around 23,000 security personnel were expected, according to sources cited by The Hindu (The Hindu); local media cited by The Japan Times said about 30,000 police remained deployed on Sunday (The Japan Times). On Sunday small groups marched again and police broke up most of them, detaining some people again, the Associated Press reports (PBS, carrying the Associated Press).

What the protest is about. The target is the Special Intensive Revision of the voter rolls begun in June 2025, by Scroll's account (Scroll). Election Commission data cited by Reuters show about 130 million entries removed, among them 63 million people who had moved, 28 million who had died and 30 million who could not be found (SCMP, carrying Reuters); AFP, citing Indian media reports of commission data, says more than 133 million names were left off the draft rolls (Dawn, carrying AFP). Protesters allege genuine voters were struck off and living people recorded as dead despite showing identity documents (The Hindu). Critics say the revision has hit minorities hardest, particularly Muslims, and could favour Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) (SCMP). The commission says the revision removes duplicate and ineligible voters and identifies fraudulently registered ones, and that any eligible voter wrongly deleted can re-enrol (Dawn, carrying AFP; SCMP, carrying Reuters). Protesters raised concerns after The Indian Express reported on 23 September that two of Kumar's fellow commissioners, Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi, had lodged 14 formal objections in 10 months to decisions on the revision (Scroll). The commission says its decisions were unanimous and legally valid (Dawn, carrying AFP). Kumar has not commented (Al Jazeera).

Each side describes Saturday in its own terms. BJP spokesman Sambit Patra called the protesters "anarchic elements" and said "India is calm" (Al Jazeera); the BJP says its election wins reflect Modi's popularity and economic growth (SCMP, carrying Reuters). Das, released, told reporters "the state is at war with its own citizens" (PBS, carrying the Associated Press). The UN human rights office called for the release of all those "arbitrarily detained" (SCMP). India's mission to the UN in Geneva called the concerns "misplaced" and said citizens' right to assemble is subject to reasonable limits for public order (Al Jazeera); The Japan Times attributes the rejection to the Foreign Ministry (The Japan Times). The movement began in May after India's chief justice allegedly likened jobless young people to "cockroaches", a remark he later said was misquoted (Egypt Independent, carrying CNN). Its protests forced the education minister to resign in July, the Associated Press says (PBS, carrying the Associated Press); Reuters says those protests were over exam paper leaks (SCMP, carrying Reuters). CNN notes that removing Kumar would need a special majority in both houses of parliament, which the opposition lacks (Egypt Independent, carrying CNN).

The United States puts sanctions on the International Criminal Court, hours after a former judge of the court wins the Nobel Peace Prize

On Friday 9 October the Norwegian Nobel Committee gave the Nobel Peace Prize to Navi Pillay of South Africa, who sat on the International Criminal Court's Appeals Chamber from 2003 to 2008; hours later the administration of the US president, Donald Trump, imposed sanctions on the court itself (South China Morning Post; Dawn). Pillay, who is 85, was UN high commissioner for human rights from 2008 to 2014 and headed the UN's Independent International Commission of Inquiry, a body that does not speak for the UN, which found in 2025 that genocide was occurring in Gaza, findings Israel rejects (The Straits Times, carrying AFP). The committee said in its citation that it wanted to "issue a reminder" while "judges and institutions of international law are under political attack" (South China Morning Post). Trump called the choice "a disgraceful and embarrassing decision" (The Korea Herald, carrying AFP). The court, set up in 2002, has 125 member states, among them every EU country and every NATO member except the United States and Turkey (South China Morning Post).

The Japan Times reports that the US Treasury put the whole court on its Specially Designated Nationals list, which would penalise anyone who does business with it (The Japan Times). Earlier US sanctions targeted people at the court: 17 judges and officials, by the BBC's count (BBC). US sanctions typically stop every US-based company from working with the target, so banks close accounts, insurers end cover and software firms stop cooperating, Reuters reports (The Straits Times, carrying Reuters).

Sources describe the exemptions differently. Daily Maverick and The Express Tribune report four general licences from the Treasury, allowing some transactions for the court's telecommunications, software, pension payments and detainees (Daily Maverick; The Express Tribune). Middle East Eye, citing a State Department fact sheet, lists a 180-day licence covering activity that includes keeping the court running, and others for IT work such as cloud and software services, its pension plan and its detainees (Middle East Eye). The BBC describes a six-month grace period before some of the sanctions apply, during which member states can keep paying for the court's operations (BBC). The State Department said the 180-day licence was meant to give member states time to "demonstrate meaningful progress on diplomatic and legal resolutions" (Middle East Eye).

The secretary of state, Marco Rubio, said Trump "will never allow" the court to prosecute Americans and that the US would "ban transactions with this rogue court" (Middle East Eye). The BBC reports him saying the aim was to "defend US sovereignty" (BBC). Dawn reports him as saying that elected officials and security personnel must be shielded from a court the United States never joined, and that Washington had spent more than a year setting out "basic gestures of good faith" without seeing "meaningful steps"; his statement did not mention Pillay or the prize (Dawn). He said that unless the court ended "its threats", the US would "end the ICC", and asked allies in the court that rely on American troops to "rein in the court" (The Straits Times, carrying Reuters). Washington objects to the court's arrest warrants for Israeli officials, among them Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and to a past inquiry into the conduct of US soldiers in Afghanistan (South China Morning Post). Sources differ on that inquiry's status: the South China Morning Post and The Straits Times say the court has closed it, while Daily Maverick and the Nation say the court calls it "deprioritised" (South China Morning Post; The Straits Times, carrying Reuters; Daily Maverick; Nation).

The court said the sanctions were an attack on "the rule of law" and asked its members to defend it, saying its fate "rests also in the hands of the states that created it" (South China Morning Post). On Saturday 10 October Pillay, speaking by video link from Nuremberg to an event at the Nobel Peace Center in Oslo, called sanctions on judges over their rulings "unheard of, unacceptable" (The Straits Times, carrying AFP; BBC).

The UN Secretary-General, António Guterres, through his spokesman, called the decision "a serious blow" to international criminal justice and said he was "deeply alarmed by the expected impact" (Dawn; The Express Tribune). Eight governments, those of Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, said jointly that they "regret and strongly disagree", and warned that, if put into effect, the sanctions would have "a significant impact" on the court's work, its staff and their families (The Express Tribune; Nation). The Dutch prime minister, Rob Jetten, said the delay before the sanctions apply gives "vital space for dialogue" (Dawn). Kenya's foreign affairs principal secretary, Korir Sing'oei, said the court deserved criticism for being selective but needed "urgent reform. Not sanctions." (Nation). Uganda's foreign minister, Adonia Ayebare, warned that Uganda would leave the court if it investigates or indicts Ugandans, the Nation reports (Nation).

For the EU, its foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, said the six-month period "offers a window for dialogue" and that the bloc "has options" to keep the court working; Belgium's foreign minister called for the EU's blocking statute, which shields EU firms from another country's sanctions, to be activated (Nation; Middle East Eye). Middle East Eye says the European Commission has not triggered it and has given no public reason (Middle East Eye).

Trump eases sanctions on Russian diesel, calls for a new Ukrainian president, then claims an "energy ceasefire"

On Friday 9 October, after a phone call with Russia's president, Vladimir Putin, the US president, Donald Trump, wrote on Truth Social that Russia would "immediately supply" more than 300,000 tons of diesel to US and world markets, then 500,000 tons in November and 1 million tons after that (The Hindu). A further 3 million tons would follow, he wrote, depending on the state of Russia's refineries, which Ukraine has been attacking (BBC). Minutes after the call the US Treasury authorised sales of Russian diesel until 7 April 2027 (The Hindu; Meduza). France 24 called the deal a "stunning reversal" of years of US pressure on Moscow, and the BBC "a remarkable about-face", noting that Congress had recently passed, and Trump signed, a law on sanctions and tariffs aimed at buyers of Russian oil and gas (France 24; BBC). Ukraine has 37.9 million people and Russia 143.7 million (World Bank, 2024: Ukraine; Russia).

Putin said Russia was ready to supply oil and petroleum products to US and world markets, without naming amounts (BBC), and that this would help "the global economy as a whole" (Anadolu Agency). His deputy prime minister, Alexander Novak, told the state agency TASS that extra diesel could reach the US market this month and that volumes "could rise to 3 million tons per month" in the long term (Anadolu Agency). The Russian government said on Saturday it had partly lifted its own diesel export ban (The Straits Times, carrying Reuters). Analysts doubted the effect on prices. Tim Armitage of Quilter Cheviot said, according to the BBC, that the first tranche was about 2.25 million barrels against US use of around 3.8 million barrels a day (BBC); Dan Pickering of Pickering Energy Partners called it "not a needle mover for global diesel markets" (Egypt Independent, carrying CNN).

Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelensky, called the deal a gift to Putin and "an investment in a war" that should be ended (The Hindu), and "a weak decision of strong partners" (Egypt Independent, carrying CNN). It was announced as a Ukrainian delegation arrived in Miami for talks with the US envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner (Egypt Independent, carrying CNN); Zelensky said Ukraine's team was "being used as a front" (Meduza). In the United States, the Republican congressman Don Bacon wrote that propping up Putin's war economy was "morally wrong" (The Hindu; South China Morning Post), and the Democratic senator Richard Blumenthal called the deal an "embarrassment" (The Hindu; South China Morning Post). The EU's foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, said it gave Moscow more revenue for the war (BBC).

On Saturday 10 October Trump told reporters at the White House that it was "time for Ukraine to get a new president", saying Zelensky could have made many deals and never did (The Straits Times, carrying Reuters). On Ukraine's strikes on Russian refineries he said Zelensky had "better damn well stop" (France 24). Putin's envoy Kirill Dmitriev called Trump's remarks "iconic and historic"; Ukraine's foreign minister, Andriy Sybiga, said Zelensky had the support of Ukrainians and that "they have the right to decide" (France 24).

That morning Russian guided bombs hit residential districts of Zaporizhzhia, according to Ukraine's National Police (France 24). Zelensky said Russia had said "thank you" for the sanctions relief with five glide bombs (The Straits Times, carrying Reuters).

The death toll in Zaporizhzhia differs by source and by when it was given. France 24, citing Ukraine's State Emergency Service, reported at least 15 killed, three of them children (France 24). Reuters, carried by The Straits Times, reported 20 killed including three children, and Egypt Independent, carrying CNN, the same figure for the Zaporizhzhia region from local authorities on Saturday (The Straits Times, carrying Reuters; Egypt Independent, carrying CNN). On Sunday, AP reported Zelensky as saying 23 were killed, four of them children, and Ivan Fedorov, co-chair of the regional defence council, as saying more than 30 were wounded (PBS NewsHour, carrying AP). France 24's summary of the whole day gave at least 21 killed in Russian strikes, four of them children, without saying where (France 24). For the days before, Kallas said Russian strikes killed over 80 Ukrainian civilians in two days, and Reuters reported nearly 80 killed on 7 and 8 October (France 24; The Straits Times, carrying Reuters).

On Sunday 11 October seven US senators, four Republicans and three Democrats, said the deal ran counter to a 2022 ban on Russian energy imports and asked Trump to "reverse course" (South China Morning Post). One of them, Thom Tillis, told NBC there was "a legitimate case" that Trump was not following the law (The Straits Times, carrying Reuters). The Treasury Secretary, Scott Bessent, told Fox News the administration would proceed under its existing legal authority, and the Senate's second-ranking Republican, John Barrasso, defended the deal (South China Morning Post). Canada's prime minister, Mark Carney, told Zelensky it ran directly against efforts for peace in Europe, his office said (The Straits Times, carrying Reuters).

Also on Sunday, Zelensky said Ukraine would stop striking Russian refineries if Russia stopped hitting Ukraine's energy system, with "real guarantees" (France 24). Of Trump's call for a new leader he told ABC it was "up to our people", and offered elections if Russia agreed to a total 60-day ceasefire (The Express Tribune; France 24).

Hours later Trump posted: "Effective immediately, there is an ENERGY CEASEFIRE ... Both parties have agreed. Do not break it!" He gave no details (The Guardian). Zelensky told Axios it was "news for me", but that Ukraine would agree if Russia did (Euronews). Moscow did not immediately comment (PBS NewsHour, carrying AP). By AP's account, Trump made a similar claim on 14 September and nothing came of it (PBS NewsHour, carrying AP). Britain's prime minister, Andy Burnham, said Britain "strongly supports" the call, and France's president, Emmanuel Macron, backed a "real energy ceasefire", adding that Russia was refusing one (Punch, carrying AFP; The Straits Times).

Zelensky then said a Russian drone had hit a power plant in Kyiv, causing outages, followed by strikes on energy sites in the Kharkiv region, all "AFTER" Trump's statement (The Guardian); his office confirmed the Kharkiv strike came after the post, AP reported (PBS NewsHour, carrying AP). The BBC, citing regional officials, reported six killed in attacks on two Ukrainian cities that day (BBC); the Kharkiv governor, Oleh Syniehubov, said a strike there killed three and injured nine, and the mayor of Ivano-Frankivsk said an attack killed two (The Guardian); together those make five deaths against the BBC's six, and the reports do not reconcile the difference. The Financial Times, citing officials in Europe, reported that the US was threatening to halt a weapons-procurement system for Ukraine to press Kyiv to stop its strikes on Russian energy (The Guardian).

Haze from fires in Indonesia closes schools across Malaysia

Malaysia closed schools in Kuala Lumpur and several states on Friday 9 October as smoke from fires in Indonesia pushed air pollution to unhealthy levels (Al Jazeera; Dawn). Al Jazeera says the closures affected roughly two million students (Al Jazeera). Malaysia has 35.6 million people and Indonesia 283.5 million (World Bank, 2024: Malaysia; Indonesia).

The sources list the closed areas differently. Al Jazeera names Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya, Johor, Malacca, Negeri Sembilan, Pahang and Selangor (Al Jazeera). The South China Morning Post says the order came on Thursday and covered several states, among them Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya, Johor, Malacca, Negeri Sembilan and Pahang's Rompin district (South China Morning Post). By the education minister Fadhlina Sidek's account, as Dawn and Channels Television report it, there were full closures in four states and two federal territories and a partial one in Pahang (Dawn; Channels Television). Dawn and Channels Television add that schools were also closed on Friday in three districts of western Perak (Dawn; Channels Television). Fadhlina promised parents more notice of future closures (Dawn).

Readings also differ, because they come from different scales. Kuala Lumpur recorded about 170 on Malaysia's government-run Air Pollutant Index, Al Jazeera reports (Al Jazeera). On the index of IQAir, a monitor based in Switzerland, the city reached around 224 on Friday, which IQAir said made it the "most polluted global major city", ahead of Singapore (Dawn). Singapore read 209 on IQAir's index on Friday afternoon, in the "very unhealthy" range (Dawn). Malaysia's king, Sultan Ibrahim, said on Thursday that schools should close at Air Pollutant Index readings of 150 or more; under Malaysian guidelines, readings above 100 are unhealthy and above 200 very unhealthy (Dawn).

The prime minister, Anwar Ibrahim, said he had spoken to Indonesia's president, Prabowo Subianto, who "agreed to take the necessary steps"; Anwar gave no details (Dawn; Al Jazeera). Indonesia's government said regular dialogue between the two leaders was natural given close relations (Dawn). Anwar said he had asked Mohamad Hasan, Malaysia's foreign minister, to seek an urgent meeting of environment ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, and that Malaysia was doing more cloud seeding to bring rain (Dawn).

In Indonesia, fires have burned across six provinces and scorched at least 200,000 hectares, Al Jazeera's Jessica Washington reported; the health ministry has recorded more than 170,000 respiratory infections, a count that covers only people who sought care (Al Jazeera). Al Jazeera describes this as the country's worst fire season in over a decade (Al Jazeera), and experts cited by Dawn say a strong El Niño is fanning the flames (Dawn).

In Malaysia, civil society groups are pressing for a law to pursue Malaysian companies linked to fires in Indonesia, the South China Morning Post reports. Greenpeace Malaysia, Greenpeace Indonesia and Pantau Gambut named the plantation group Kuala Lumpur Kepong, through its reported ties to an Indonesian company, among the top 20 entities linked to their fire findings; the Post notes that the findings do not on their own show who started the fires (South China Morning Post). The company rejected suggestions that the Indonesian company, Menteng Jaya Sawit Perdana, was responsible, saying most of the fires began outside its concession (South China Morning Post). Malaysia has tried to draft such a law since 2019; it stalled after a change of government (South China Morning Post).

Still happening

A strike on Riyadh's airport kills at least 12, and the airport is hit again the next day

The previous issue reported attacks claimed by the Houthis on Saudi airports. On Saturday 10 October a strike on King Khalid International Airport, in the capital, Riyadh, killed at least 12 people and wounded 309, according to Saudi Arabia's civil aviation authority (The Straits Times, carrying Reuters; France 24). AFP and Reuters each call it the deadliest attack in the kingdom in more than a decade (The Straits Times, carrying AFP; The Straits Times, carrying Reuters); by France 24's account, the last deadlier one was a suicide bombing by the Islamic State group at a Shia mosque in Qatif in May 2015 that killed 21 (France 24). A diplomatic source told AFP that a missile hit the airport "around 3:00pm" (Dawn). The authority listed the dead as four Saudis, two Bangladeshis, and one each from Egypt, Jordan, Palestine, Sudan, Syria and the United States (Dawn). A medical source described a rare mass call-up of doctors, and two doctors told AFP that several pilgrims on their way to Mecca were among the wounded (France 24). Saudi Arabia has 35.3 million people (World Bank, 2024).

Some of the dead have been named. Egyptian state TV identified the Egyptian woman as Azza Ramzy, 28, a flight attendant with the Saudi airline Flynas; the Syrian embassy in Riyadh identified the Syrian woman as Buthaina Ahmad Oweida (The Guardian). The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, confirmed that a US citizen was among those killed (Egypt Independent, carrying CNN).

Sources give the toll as 12 or 13. India's embassy in Saudi Arabia said on Sunday that an Indian citizen wounded on Saturday had died (South China Morning Post); it had earlier said 11 Indians were among the injured (The Guardian). NPR, carrying AP, says that death "would bring the toll to 13", and The Guardian's report gives 13 dead (NPR, carrying AP; The Guardian). The authority's list of 12 names no Indian, yet The Guardian's live page counts an Indian national among the 12 (The Guardian). For the wounded, the authority gives 309; Reuters says "more than 300" and The Japan Times "hundreds" (The Straits Times, carrying Reuters; The Japan Times).

Sources also differ on whether the Houthis claimed Saturday's strike. France 24 reported that they did not immediately take responsibility (France 24), and Reuters that they had not claimed it, though the head of the Houthi media office posted on X that the group had "shut down Riyadh international airport" (The Straits Times, carrying Reuters). Egypt Independent, carrying CNN, attributes that post to a senior Houthi official, Nasr al-Din Amer, who it says "appeared to acknowledge responsibility" (Egypt Independent, carrying CNN). On Sunday the Houthi military spokesman, Yahya Saree, said their forces had carried out several operations against the airport on Saturday (Middle East Eye), and The Guardian, Al Jazeera and NPR, carrying AP, report that the Houthis claimed both the Saturday and Sunday attacks (The Guardian; Al Jazeera; NPR, carrying AP); earlier entries on The Guardian's live page said the Houthis had not claimed Saturday's attack, and then that it was not clear whether their claim covered Sunday's strike as well (The Guardian). The Saudi-led coalition blamed the Houthis, and its spokesman, Major General Turki al-Malki, called the strike a "full-fledged war crime" (Dawn).

The airport, closed since Saturday, was hit again on Sunday 11 October. The coalition said an unidentified projectile struck Terminal 4 and started a fire, and al-Malki said air defences had brought down a cruise missile nearby (France 24). Al Jazeera says Terminals 3 and 4, used for domestic flights, were targeted (Al Jazeera). The aviation authority said a Pakistani resident was killed and 11 people were hurt (France 24). Saree said, as AFP reported, that the group had carried out four operations in 24 hours with missiles and drones, aimed at the Riyadh airport several times, at Dammam airport and at two facilities of the state oil company, Aramco (The Guardian).

The count of earlier attacks that week varies too. These are separate from Saturday's strike. AFP reports that attacks on the airport on Thursday 8 October killed three people (The Straits Times, carrying AFP); Dawn and France 24 add that the strikes that day damaged a plane (Dawn; France 24). On Friday 9 October, Al Jazeera reported, the authority said those killed were an airline pilot and two other Saudi citizens; the national carrier, Saudia, announced the death of Captain Hamoud Ali Alkalthami, citing an "incident" at the Riyadh airport (Al Jazeera). Reuters and The Guardian say two earlier attacks that week killed four (The Straits Times, carrying Reuters; The Guardian). Dawn calls Saturday's the third attack of the week on the airport, and NPR, carrying AP, says it was struck four times in five days (Dawn; NPR, carrying AP). Our sources do not reconcile these counts.

After Saturday's strike the coalition vowed to "respond decisively" (South China Morning Post). On Sunday, Houthi media reported two Saudi strikes in Sanaa governorate. A spokesman for the Houthi-run health ministry said one killed a civilian and wounded five (South China Morning Post); The Guardian reports the Houthis as saying a strike on a home killed a child, and NPR, carrying AP, reports the Houthi-run health ministry as saying a suspected Saudi strike on a house killed a child and wounded six people (The Guardian; NPR, carrying AP).

Other governments responded. Asked on Saturday whether the United States would join Saudi strikes on the Houthis, President Donald Trump said "We may", and that he would speak with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (Dawn); AP saw no sign on Sunday that he had (NPR, carrying AP). Rubio said the attacks showed "a blatant disregard for innocent civilian life", and the UN secretary-general, António Guterres, condemned the strike (The Straits Times, carrying Reuters). The European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, blamed "Iran's proxies" (The Guardian). Pakistan's prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif, condemned the attack on Sunday and restated his country's commitment under its defence pact with Saudi Arabia (Dawn). Turkey's foreign ministry, Israel's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and the United Arab Emirates also condemned it or stood with Saudi Arabia (France 24; The Guardian). On Sunday Iran's foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, told his Saudi counterpart by phone that Tehran was ready to help start a dialogue between Saudi Arabia and Yemen, according to Iran's state news agency, IRNA (South China Morning Post; NPR, carrying AP).

The embassies of the United States, Canada, Germany and Spain told their citizens to keep away from the airport (France 24). Britain's government on Sunday advised against all but essential travel to Jeddah, Dammam and every Saudi airport except Medina's (Al Jazeera). Riyadh's schools moved to distance learning for the week (France 24).

The EU says China has agreed to curb its hybrid-car exports to the bloc

The previous issue reported that the EU's trade chief, Maroš Šefčovič, had gone to Beijing for talks whose result had not been reported by the close of its window. On Friday 9 October he told a press conference in Beijing that the two sides had reached "a shared understanding to moderate" China's exports of hybrids and plug-in hybrids to the EU (Euronews; The Japan Times). The size of the cut is described in different ways. Šefčovič said the deal "opens up the prospect" of cutting those exports by more than half (Euronews), and by "several millions" of cars over four years (The Guardian). The Guardian reports that the EU described it as a deal to "halve" Chinese hybrid sales in the bloc; The Japan Times reports him as saying the deal could cut them by more than half, and says he gave no details of how it would be carried out (The Guardian; The Japan Times). China's commerce ministry, citing a joint statement, spoke of an "understanding" on the hybrid trade and said both sides would follow "procedures concerning company price undertakings"; the Guardian reads this as pointing to higher minimum prices (The Korea Herald, carrying AFP; The Guardian). The ministry also said China was willing to keep easing export licences for rare earths and permanent magnets bound for the EU (The Korea Herald, carrying AFP). Šefčovič called it "a crucial first step, but only a first step" (The Guardian). Euronews said on Friday that EU leaders would review the details at a summit in Brussels the following week (Euronews).

The slow story

Nothing this issue. This is an even-numbered issue, which carries a second slow story only when one is ready, and none is. Two indicators on our watchlist moved since the last look, and neither is a story yet.

The monthly mean of carbon dioxide at Mauna Loa, read by NOAA's Global Monitoring Laboratory in the United States, was 426.07 parts per million in September, down from 427.55 in August. NOAA's file also gives the figure with the seasonal cycle removed, and that went the other way, from 429.48 to 429.55; on our reading, the fall from August is the season, not a change in the trend. September's mean is 1.70 higher than September last year's 424.37 (NOAA, monthly file). That is a comparison of two single months. NOAA measures growth over a calendar year, from 1 January to 31 December, and its figure for 2026 will not exist until the year is over; for 2025 it was 2.23 (NOAA, annual growth file).

The International Organization for Migration's count of people recorded dead or missing on migration routes this year rose from 4,654, with data to 29 September, to 4,658, with data to 5 October (IOM, Missing Migrants Project). Issue three wrote about that count at length; four more people added to it between two readings six days apart is not a new finding.

Pattern watch

• India's voter rolls. From issue four. Mass detentions in Delhi at a protest demanding the election chief's resignation, and a court's release of the movement's leaders; see above.
• Hormuz and Bab el-Mandeb. From issue one. Seen in headlines only, not read: reports of attacks on ships in the Strait of Hormuz, and a Saudi claim that the Houthis had been cleared from the Bab el-Mandeb coast. The attacks on Riyadh's airport are above.
• Displacement out of Yemen. From issue one. Nothing read for this issue.
• Ethiopia and Tigray. From issue two. Seen in headlines only, not read: reports of drone strikes in the north of the country, and of two governments accusing each other of provoking war.
• Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo. From issue three. Seen in headlines only, not read: a new outbreak notice from the WHO, and a suspected case in Kenya that tested negative.
• Brazil's presidential run-off. From the previous issue. Seen in headlines only, not read: more endorsements for the right-wing candidate, and an arrest warrant from the country's supreme court for his brother.
• The El Niño projection. From issue two. NOAA's index was unchanged since the previous issue, so the watchlist did not flag it. Seen in headlines only, not read: weather agencies declaring or warning of a strengthening El Niño. Experts cited by Dawn say a strong El Niño is fanning Indonesia's fires; see above.
• South Sudan's first election. From issue two. Seen in headlines only, not read: deadly clashes between communities. Nothing about the election.
• Venezuela's transition. From issue two. Seen in headlines only, not read: new charges in the United States against the former president, and the opposition leader asking for a ban on her standing to be lifted.
• Iraq after the coalition. From issue three. Nothing read for this issue.
• The trade truce between the United States and China. From issue three. Nothing read for this issue. The deal between China and the EU on hybrid cars is above.
• The Himalayan glacier risk. From issue two. Nothing read for this issue.
• Deaths in custody in Nigeria. From issue two. Nothing read for this issue.
• Russia's political system after the war. From issue one. Nothing read for this issue.
• Arctic militarisation. From issue one. Nothing read for this issue.
• Attacks on civilians in Sudan's war. Opened in this issue: the lead story, above.

What this issue does not contain, and why

The lead story was thinly carried for its size: seven newsrooms in our sources reported the two attacks in Sudan. A Flydubai co-pilot's plan to crash an aircraft into Tel Aviv's airport, described by the UAE's prosecutor according to its headlines, harmed no one but was carried by twenty-two newsrooms. It was passed over on its marks: one plan, and no one hurt. Both counts are of our own sources.

A powerful earthquake in Panama, carried by twenty-eight newsrooms in our sources, was passed over on its marks. By its headlines, which are all we read of it, it destroyed or damaged hundreds of buildings, led to a state of emergency and injured people, and no deaths were reported. The Nobel Peace Prize to Navi Pillay was its own candidate and appears inside the story on the International Criminal Court, where the headlines put it. All of them are on the scorecard below with their marks.

How this issue was made

Researched and written by an AI system working to a published rubric, with every source linked. The issue covers three days, Friday to Sunday, and was written on the Monday. The window is set by when our sources published, in universal time; the protests in India and the dispute over the energy ceasefire were still going on when it closed. The window's 17,867 headlines were sorted into 11,311 clusters; 38 candidates were carried forward and merged to 34 stories, each marked by one AI and checked by a second that saw only the marks. Eight were researched and written up as seven pieces: the claimed energy ceasefire is told inside the diesel story. Every candidate's marks are at the foot of this issue. Every figure above was fetched and read during this run; where sources disagree, we have said so and not chosen.

The charter allows "What moved" three to five developments. Six scored high enough, and the attack on Riyadh's airport, the sixth by the scorecard's own order and a follow-up to the previous issue, runs under "Still happening" instead.

Three problems with how it was produced are visible in this issue, and the full list is on the how stories are chosen page. Headlines the software had attached to the wrong story were set aside by hand, on the word of one of the two AIs: among them headlines about the Nobel prize grouped with the sanctions on the court, a markets roundup and an oil-price report from before the window grouped with the Riyadh attack, and a report about Bangladesh's prime minister grouped with India's protests. Each is listed on the scorecard, where its label reads "set aside by the grouping check"; that label is the software's, and here it means these hand set-asides. The first AI's notes that headlines could not be set aside were written before this was done and are printed as written. So are three of the second AI's notes that later steps overtook: the story on the court is shown under a headline about the sanctions, not the prize; the Bangladesh headline has been set aside; and the live pages it named in the Fort Hood story were kept, because the same web address carries that story. The second AI also noted, again, that some newsrooms are placed in the region of the Google edition that surfaced them rather than where they are based; that has not been settled, and the counts beside it are as the software computed them.