US Strike Kills Six in Escalating Drug War
US Revokes Visas Over Comments on Kirk Killing
Madagascar Military Claims Power Amid Protests
IMF Lifts 2025 Growth But Warns Of Risks
Hamas Returns Four Bodies as Pressure Builds
Russia Hits Kharkiv Hospital; Zelensky Seeks Weapons
Mexico Floods Leave 64 Dead, 65 Missing
Xi Hails Women’s Progress While Feminists Are Silenced
US–China Port Fees Open New Trade War Front
UK Told To Prepare For 2C Warming By 2050
On this day ….
On this day in 1990, Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his role in ending the Cold War. His policies of glasnost and perestroika dismantled decades of confrontation and opened the door to a more cooperative international order.
Yet the country he once led has since re-emerged as an assertive global actor — accused of meddling in elections, waging hybrid campaigns, and prosecuting wars beyond its borders.
The idea of a Russian leader receiving the world’s highest peace honour today feels almost inconceivable, underscoring how profoundly Moscow’s role in the world has shifted.
Could Russia ever shed its current status as a global pariah?
The United States has carried out its fifth lethal strike on a suspected drug-smuggling vessel in the Caribbean since early September, killing six people aboard a small boat off the coast of Venezuela. President Donald Trump said intelligence confirmed links to “narcoterrorist networks” but provided no evidence. He authorised the action under his powers as commander-in-chief, with Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth ordering the strike on Tuesday morning.
The Trump administration has argued that cartels’ activities amount to armed attacks, enabling the US to treat them as non-state combatants. This legal framing, however, has drawn widespread criticism.
United Nations experts have condemned the strikes as extrajudicial executions, while legal scholars say targeting suspects who pose no imminent threat violates international law. Colombia has claimed one targeted vessel carried its nationals, and a Senate effort to restrict further strikes without congressional approval failed last week.
Sources: New York Times, The Guardian
The United States has revoked the visas of six foreign nationals who made social media posts celebrating the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. The State Department announced the decision on Tuesday, saying the individuals, from Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, Germany, Paraguay and South Africa, “wished death on Americans” and warning that more revocations could follow. It did not specify the types of visas held or whether the individuals were in the US.
The action is part of a wider crackdown following Kirk’s killing at a Utah university event last month. President Donald Trump posthumously awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom, calling him a “martyr” and blaming “far-left radicals” for the attack.
The move has intensified debate over free speech and immigration powers, as legal experts warn the government’s authority to revoke visas on the basis of speech remains unresolved.
Sources: FT, CBS News
An elite unit led by Colonel Michael Randrianirina says it has taken charge in Madagascar after parliament voted to impeach President Andry Rajoelina. The military announced a transition of up to two years, suspending several institutions while promising a referendum on a new constitution and subsequent elections. Crowds in Antananarivo celebrated the declaration.
The presidency called the move an attempted coup and insisted Rajoelina remains in office. He said he is in a “safe place”, with reports he left on a French military aircraft, which Paris has not confirmed.
Weeks of youth-led protests over blackouts and rising costs widened into broader grievances. The United Nations reports at least 22 dead and more than 100 injured, figures the government disputes.
Sources: BBC, Al Jazeera
The IMF nudged up its global growth forecast to 3.2% for 2025, from 3.0% in July, and sees 3.1% in 2026. It said recent resilience reflected front-loaded imports ahead of tariffs, a weaker dollar, trade rerouting and investment in artificial intelligence, alongside fiscal support in Europe and China. “Not as bad as we feared, but worse than we need,” chief economist Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas said.
Yet risks are tilted to the downside. A renewed US-China tariff escalation — including a threatened 100% duty on Chinese goods — could materially slow output.
The IMF’s regional baselines remain modest: the US at 2.0% in 2025 and 2.1% in 2026; the euro area at 1.2% and 1.1%; China at 4.8% and 4.2%. The Fund also flags persistent inflation uncertainties and debt pressures that complicate policy choices.
Sources: Bloomberg, Reuters
Hamas has returned four more bodies of Israeli hostages, the military said, with identification under way. The Red Cross retrieved the remains in coffins and handed them to the Israel Defense Forces. The handover follows an earlier transfer in which four deceased and 20 living hostages were returned, bringing the total number of bodies repatriated under this week’s ceasefire to eight.
Israeli officials have warned of restricted aid and delays to opening Rafah until all deceased hostages are returned. Under the ceasefire plan accepted by both sides, the handover of all 48 hostages was due by midday on Monday; pressure has grown over the 20 bodies still unreturned.
The Red Cross also said Israel transferred the remains of 45 Palestinians back to Gaza. The delays have prompted concern that uncertainty over the bodies could jeopardise the ceasefire’s next phase.
Sources: Washington Post, BBC
Russian forces launched glide bombs and drones overnight against Kharkiv, striking the city’s main hospital and wounding seven, officials said, as 50 patients were evacuated. President Volodymyr Zelensky said the attacks also targeted energy facilities, part of a continuing campaign against Ukraine’s power grid.
With European military aid falling 43% in July–August versus the first half of the year, Zelensky urged partners to supply more air defence systems. He is due to meet President Donald Trump in Washington on Friday to seek long-range weapons, including Tomahawk missiles.
Trump has warned Moscow he may send them — a move previously ruled out — a step that could provide leverage to push Russia toward negotiations after his frustration with Vladimir Putin’s stance.
Sources: Associated Press, Arab World
Torrential rains and landslides have left at least 64 people dead across Mexico, with 65 missing, after a late-season tropical system triggered severe flooding in Gulf Coast and central states. Authorities said around 100,000 homes were affected, with damage to bridges and roads, as rescue teams moved through deep water to reach cut-off communities. Veracruz and Hidalgo were worst hit, with at least 29 and 21 deaths respectively.
President Claudia Sheinbaum said the rainfall’s magnitude had not been expected, while officials linked the flooding to saturated rivers and weakened hillsides at the end of the rainy season.
Thousands of personnel have been deployed; electricity has largely been restored in towns across five states, and efforts now include mosquito-borne disease control. Separate reports noted helicopters ferrying aid to remote areas and evacuations from oil-town neighbourhoods where cleanup is complicated by residue swept in by floodwaters.
Sources: Reuters, PBS
Chinese President Xi Jinping has praised “historic achievements” in women’s rights at a global summit in Beijing, highlighting sharp falls in maternal mortality and pledging new funding to UN Women and the Global South. He called for more women in decision-making roles and said peace and stability were essential for their development.
Yet Xi’s leadership has coincided with a marked decline in female political representation and a crackdown on feminist activism. In 2022, China’s Politburo included no women for the first time in two decades, while authorities routinely promote traditional family roles to address a falling birth rate.
Feminist organisations have been forced to close, prominent bloggers banned, and social media accounts shut down for “gender antagonism”. Despite rising interest in feminist ideas, attempts to organise, advocate or challenge state policy are tightly constrained — a stark contrast to the official rhetoric of equality.
Sources: NBC News, The Guardian
The United States and China have begun charging extra port fees on vessels linked to each other, opening a new front in their trade dispute. China detailed exemptions for Chinese-built ships and some repair calls, while both sides set collection at the first port of entry.
Analysts warn the tit-for-tat levies risk distorting global freight flows as carriers reroute fleets. Washington also issued a carve-out deferring fees for long-term charters moving US ethane and LPG until 10 December.
Estimates point to broad exposure: China’s fees could touch LPG carriers equal to 11% of that fleet, with oil tankers representing about 15% of global capacity potentially affected; separate analysis sees 13% of crude tankers and 11% of container ships at risk. Beijing additionally sanctioned five US-linked subsidiaries of South Korea’s Hanwha Ocean and launched a probe into impacts on Chinese shipping and shipbuilding.
Sources: Al Jazeera, Times of India
Britain must urgently plan for global heating of at least 2C by 2050, the Climate Change Committee warned, saying the country is not adapted to extreme weather already occurring. After the warmest summer on record, the advisers set out six priority areas: public health, food security, infrastructure resilience, protection of cities and towns from disruption, maintenance of public services, and climate-resilient economic growth. They noted average global temperatures have risen by about 1.3–1.4C.
The CCC said heatwaves will occur in at least four of every five years in England by 2050, time in drought will double, peak July wildfire days will nearly treble, and some peak river flows could rise by 40%.
Existing buildings should be upgraded for at least 2C by mid-century, while long-life new projects should be prepared for 4C, which cannot be ruled out by century’s end. The letter responded to a government request for adaptation advice.