10 Things Global News - 4th November 2025
Interesting and important news from around the world
Israel’s Top Military Lawyer Arrested Over Abuse Video Leak
US Pushes UN to Sanction Ships Over North Korea Trade
Pokrovsk Fighting Intensifies; Drones Hit Russian Plant
Peru Cuts Ties With Mexico Over Ex-PM’s Asylum
Famine Confirmed in Sudan as RSF Advances
US Plans Covert Mexico Mission Targeting Cartels
Starbucks Sells China Stake Amid Two Way Investment Frictions
Babis Seals Czech Coalition, Tilts Policy on EU and Ukraine
Senate Blocks Full SNAP; Partial Payouts Proceed
Mali Fuel Blockade Puts Junta Under Severe Strain
On this day ….
On this day in 1922 British archaeologist Howard Carter uncovered the sealed entrance to the tomb of Pharaoh Tutankhamun in Egypt’s Valley of the Kings, a discovery that transformed archaeology and captured global imagination.
The artefacts revealed a civilisation’s splendour long buried beneath sand and empire alike.
Yet the find also embodied the asymmetry of its age: British excavators working under colonial rule, treasures removed to foreign museums, ownership left unresolved.
A century later, the tomb’s splendour still dazzles — and questions still remain about who owns the relics of the past and whether their discovery actually teaches us anything.
Israel’s top military legal officer, Major General Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi, has been arrested after admitting to leaking a video showing soldiers assaulting a Palestinian detainee at the Sde Teiman detention centre. Her disclosure followed mounting political attacks from right-wing figures who had branded military investigators “traitors” and the accused soldiers “heroes”.
The footage, first broadcast in 2024, showed a blindfolded prisoner dragged to a corner before sustaining severe injuries. The case provoked outrage abroad and anger at home, exposing tensions between Israel’s military justice system and the government. Critics say her arrest reflects an erosion of judicial independence and mounting pressure to shield the army from accountability for abuses in Gaza.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the leak “perhaps the most severe propaganda attack” Israel has faced, while Defence Minister Israel Katz accused Tomer-Yerushalmi of spreading “blood libels”.
Sources: The Guardian, Sydney Morning Herald
The United States will ask the UN Security Council to sanction seven ships accused of transporting banned North Korean coal and iron ore to China, in violation of existing resolutions. Washington says the illicit trade, worth up to US$400 million a year, helps fund Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile programmes.
A State Department official said the ships used ship-to-ship transfers, geo-spoofing and false flags to disguise the cargo’s origin. The vessels include Flyfree, which moved coal from North Korea to Weifang, China, in June, along with Mars, Cartier, Sofia, Armani, Casio and YiLi 1. Sanctions could impose asset freezes, port bans and forced “de-flagging”.
The UN sanctions committee must agree by consensus, leaving the outcome uncertain amid likely objections from China and Russia, which have sought to ease restrictions to restart talks with Pyongyang. Washington warned that without enforcement, the measures risk “becoming meaningless”.
Sources: South China Morning Post, JoongAn Daily
Russia says its forces have advanced inside Pokrovsk, entering the Prigorodny area and striking what it called surrounded Ukrainian units near the railway station and industrial zone. Ukraine counters that defenders are holding, saying Russian troops control no district of the city and are attacking in small groups without armour. Neither reports could be independently verified so for the battlefield claims we rely on the reports from both sides.
Separately, an explosion damaged a petrochemical facility in Sterlitamak, Bashkortostan, after a night-time drone alert. Regional authorities said two unidentified drones were shot down, with debris falling inside the industrial zone; there were no casualties and the plant continues operating. Residents reported blasts, and several regional airports temporarily halted operations.
Sources: Reuters, RBC Ukraine
Peru has severed diplomatic relations with Mexico after its government granted asylum to former Peruvian Prime Minister Betssy Chávez, who faces charges over her alleged role in the failed 2022 coup attempt by then-President Pedro Castillo. Foreign Minister Hugo de Zela called the move an “unfriendly act” and accused Mexico of repeated interference in Peru’s internal affairs.
Chávez, charged as a co-author of Castillo’s attempt to dissolve Congress, was imprisoned in 2023 and later released on bail. She denies the charges. Prosecutors are seeking a 25-year sentence, while Castillo—detained since his impeachment—faces up to 34 years.
The decision marks the lowest point in Peru-Mexico relations since Castillo’s ousting. Lima had previously expelled Mexico’s ambassador and recalled its own envoy after Mexican leaders voiced support for the former president and granted asylum to his family.
Sources: BBC, DW
A new Integrated Food Security Phase Classification report says famine is occurring in el-Fasher in Darfur and in Kadugli in South Kordofan, with the risk spreading to 20 additional areas as fighting intensifies. The Rapid Support Forces besieged el-Fasher for 18 months and seized the city last week; the group has also surrounded Kadugli, trapping tens of thousands of people. Aid groups report extremely high malnutrition and a collapse of livelihoods.
The report estimates about 375,000 people in Darfur and Kordofan were already pushed into famine by September, with another 6.3 million facing extreme hunger across Sudan. More than 40,000 have been killed since the war erupted in April 2023, and over 14 million have been displaced.
Separately, UN agencies report fresh displacement after the RSF’s takeover of el-Fasher and warn of further offensives toward el-Obeid, while the International Criminal Court says it is taking immediate steps to preserve evidence of alleged crimes in Darfur.
Sources: PBS, Al Jazeera
The Trump administration has begun planning a mission that would send US troops and intelligence officers into Mexico to strike drug cartels, with early training under way, officials say. A deployment is not imminent and no final decision has been made. Discussions continue on scope and authority.
Personnel would include Joint Special Operations Command operating under Title 50, alongside CIA officers. Plans envisage drone strikes on drug labs and cartel figures, some requiring operators on the ground. The administration prefers to coordinate with Mexico but has not ruled out acting without it. President Claudia Sheinbaum has publicly rejected any military intervention.
The move would mark a break with past practice of supporting, rather than conducting, direct action. It follows the designation of cartels as foreign terrorist organisations and a separate campaign of lethal strikes on alleged drug-smuggling boats.
Sources: NBC News, The Independent
Starbucks will sell a majority stake in its China business to Boyu Capital in a deal valued at $4 billion, after running a partner search since May 2025 with Goldman Sachs advising. The move follows other US brands that have trimmed China exposure in recent years, including Best Buy, Yum Brands, Uber and McDonald’s.
The announcement comes as US–China talks signal a limited thaw - President Trump and President Xi extended a trade truce and averted a threatened 100% tariff - yet rules and local backlash still constrain outbound Chinese investment into the US. analysts note.
In addition to cultural differences, federal & state restrictions and political pressures are muting reciprocal investments, with Chinese outbound investment to the US at $2.7 billion in the first three quarters of 2025 after peaking at $57 billion in 2016.
Sources: South China Morning Post, Reuters
Andrej Babis’s ANO signed a coalition pact with the Motorists and the far-right SPD, securing a path back to power with a combined majority. He has pledged to end Czech budget funding for weapons to Ukraine, while allowing private defence manufacturers to continue supplies. He has also criticised a Prague-led ammunition initiative, though later sounded more ambivalent after appeals from the president.
The coalition’s draft agenda signals clashes with the EU, rejecting elements of the Green Deal, a proposed household carbon allowance scheme and the 2035 ban on new petrol engines.
Babis says EU and NATO membership are not in question, but promises a more combative stance on sovereignty, and wants an EU led more by member states. He aims to form a government by mid-December. Analysts warn the line-up could weaken support for Kyiv inside the EU.
Sources: FT, Reuters
Senate Republicans blocked a Democratic attempt to fully fund the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (formerly known as the Food Stamp Program) during the shutdown, objecting to a unanimous-consent resolution that would have directed the agriculture department to cover November benefits. Republicans argued the solution lies in reopening the government, while Democrats condemned the decision amid rising strain on food banks.
Separately, the administration said it will release enough contingency funds to cover roughly half of November’s SNAP payments, complying with court orders. Officials said around $4.65bn from the programme’s reserve will be used, equating to about half of each eligible household’s monthly allotment.
The partial payout leaves nearly 42 million participants facing uncertainty over the remainder of their benefits, as legal and political disputes continue over whether other pots of money can be tapped. The White House and agency leaders did not provide timing beyond confirming states will receive calculation tables to issue payments.
Sources: The Guardian, Washington Post
An al-Qaeda-linked coalition has choked fuel supplies to Bamako for two months, largely immobilising a city of four million and shutting schools as diesel power runs short. The group, JNIM, has operated within 50km of the capital and previously mounted a brief attack, but analysts say it lacks capability or intent to seize Bamako now. Instead, its blockade strategy is escalating pressure on Mali’s military rulers, who took power in 2021 after successive coups.
Security experts and diplomats assess the likely goal is to trigger another putsch — a third since 2020 — or force negotiations, while foreign embassies urge citizens to leave. The junta’s break with France and the United States and pivot to Russia has not halted JNIM’s expansion, including strikes on fuel convoys from coastal neighbours.
August arrests of two generals over an alleged plot highlight internal strains as warnings grow that regime-collapse risk is “very high” in coming weeks.