🇺🇸US President Donald Trump shows his written message before speaking to Israeli parliamentarians in the Knesset
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🇸🇨Seychelles' opposition leader wins presidential poll
Seychelles' main opposition leader Patrick Herminie has won presidential elections, defeating incumbent Wavel Ramkalawan in a runoff vote, according to official results released by the electoral commission.
Herminie gained 52.7% of the vote, compared with Ramkalawan's 47.3%.
In his victory speech, Herminie promised to lower the cost of living, revive public services, and unite the island nation, saying the result marked "a new chapter for all Seychellois".
After losing his bid for a second term, Ramkalawan congratulated Herminie on his victory, saying he leaves "a legacy that makes many presidents blush".
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🇫🇷Macron reappoints Lecornu as French PM after days of turmoil
President Emmanuel Macron has asked Sébastien Lecornu to return as French prime minister only four days after he stood down from the post, sparking a week of high drama and political turmoil.
Macron made the announcement late on Friday, hours after meeting all the main parties together at the Élysée Palace, except the leaders of the far right and far left.
Lecornu's return came as a surprise, as he said on national TV only two days ago he was not "chasing the job" and his "mission is over".
It is not even certain he will be able to form a government, but he will have to hit the ground running. The new prime minister faces a deadline on Monday to put next year's budget before parliament.
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🇧🇪Suspected plot to attack Belgian PM foiled
Police in Belgium have arrested three people suspected of plotting an attack on the country's prime minister, Bart De Wever.
The alleged plot was described by prosecutors as a "jihadist-inspired terrorist attack" on the PM and other politicians.
Authorities found a suspected improvised explosive device and evidence the suspects were planning to use a drone during searches in Deurne, Antwerp, close to the prime minister's private residence.
The intended targets of the attack were not named by the prosecutor's office, but Deputy Prime Minister Maxime Prevot said De Wever was among them.
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🇵🇪Peru's president removed from office amid soaring crime
Peru's Congress has voted to remove President Dina Boluarte from office, hours after a late-night session was called to debate her impeachment.
An overwhelming majority of lawmakers from across the political spectrum approved her ousting on grounds of "permanent moral incapacity".
In an address on national television following the vote, Boluarte questioned the implications it would have on the stability of Peru's democracy.
One of the world's most unpopular leaders, with an approval rating of 2-4%, Boluarte's tenure has been plagued by frequent protests, scandals and investigations, as well as a surge in gang violence.
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🇺🇸🇧🇷Trump and Brazilian President Lula have 'friendly' call
US President Donald Trump and his Brazilian counterpart, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, have had a call described by both sides as friendly and positive as Brazil seeks to reduce a 50% US tariff on imports.
In Monday's video chat, Lula asked Trump to remove most of the duties. Trump said on social media they had a "very good telephone call".
It is the first time the two have spoken formally since they had a brief encounter at the United Nations General Assembly in New York last month.
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🇫🇷French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu resigns after less than a month
France's Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu has resigned, less than a day after his cabinet was unveiled.
"The conditions were not fulfilled for me to carry on as prime minister," Lecornu said on Monday morning, and criticised the unwillingness by political parties to reach compromises.
The Elysée palace made the announcement after Lecornu met President Emmanuel Macron for an hour on Monday morning.
The shock move comes only 26 days after Lecornu was appointed prime minister following the collapse of the previous government of François Bayrou.
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🇨🇿Billionaire populist Andrej Babis' party wins Czech parliamentary election
Billionaire businessman Andrej Babis has won parliamentary elections in the Czech Republic, although his populist ANO party fell short of an overall majority.
ANO received just under 35% of the vote, earning them 80 seats in the 200-seat lower house – up from 72 seats four years ago, according to preliminary results.
Babis – who served as prime minister from 2017 to 2021 – is expected to be invited to lead talks on forming a new coalition.
"This is a historic success," Andrej Babis announced to cheering supporters at the ANO headquarters in the suburbs of Prague.
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🇯🇵Japan's ruling party to vote for second new leader in a year
Japan could soon have either its first female or youngest-ever prime minister as the country's ruling party votes for its second new leader in just over a year.
The Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) is looking to replace Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, who stepped down last month after his government lost its majority in both houses of parliament.
Whoever is elected will face numerous challenges - not least leading a party still struggling to win back voter trust after major financial corruption scandals.
They will also need to balance the fraught US-Japan relations and see through the tariff deal agreed on by the Ishiba government with Donald Trump's administration.
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🇷🇺🇬🇧Russia targets UK military satellites on weekly basis
Russian satellites have been stalking British military satellites, according to the head of the UK Space Command.
In an interview with the BBC, Maj Gen Paul Tedman has for the first time set out the level of interference from Moscow against the UK's space-based assets.
He said Russia had also been trying to jam the UK's military satellites with ground-based systems every week.
Last month Germany's Defence Minister, Boris Pistorius, said Russia had been shadowing satellites used by their military.
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🇺🇸US government shuts down with path to reopening uncertain
The US government has shut down for the first time in almost seven years after members of Congress failed to agree a last-ditch funding deal.
Hundreds of thousands of federal workers could now be furloughed or laid off, and national parks and museums could close. Previous government shutdowns have also led to air travel disruption due to staff shortages.
The path forward is unclear as both sides have blamed the other for the shutdown. Efforts in the Senate to keep the government funded fell short late on Tuesday despite frenetic negotiations.
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🇨🇩Former Congolese president sentenced to death for war crimes
Former Democratic Republic of Congo President Joseph Kabila has been sentenced to death in absentia for war crimes and treason.
The charges concern accusations that Kabila has been supporting the M23, a rebel group who have wreaked devastation across the country's eastern region.
Kabila was convicted on Friday by a military court of treason, crimes against humanity, and war crimes, including murder, sexual assault, torture and insurrection. He denied the charges, but did not appear in court to defend himself.
The ex-president rejected the case as "arbitrary" and said the courts were being used as an "instrument of oppression". His current whereabouts are unknown.
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🇸🇰Slovakia passes law to recognise only two sexes and restrict adoption
Slovakia has changed its constitution, enshrining into law recognition of only two sexes – male and female.
The legal change, which passed in a knife-edge vote in the central European nation's parliament, also restricts adoption to married heterosexual couples and prohibits surrogate pregnancies.
The constitutional amendment was defined as enshrining "sovereignty in cultural and ethical matters".
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🇷🇺🇩🇰Russia's involvement in drone sightings cannot be ruled out, Danish PM says
The drone incursion that stopped flights at Copenhagen airport on Monday night was "the most severe attack on Danish infrastructure so far", Denmark's Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said.
Kastrup airport in Copenhagen was forced to shut for several hours from around 20:30 (18:30 GMT) on Monday following the sighting of a number of drones.
"It says something about the times we live in and what we as a society must be prepared to deal with," Frederiksen told reporters.
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🇰🇷South Korea would accept a Trump-Kim deal to freeze nuclear programme, president tells BBC
South Korea's president has said he would agree to a deal between Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un in which North Korea agreed to freeze production of its nuclear weapons, rather than get rid of them.
Lee Jae Myung told the BBC North Korea was producing an additional 15-20 nuclear weapons a year and that a freeze - as "an interim emergency measure" - would be "a feasible, realistic alternative" to denuclearisation for now.
North Korea declared itself a nuclear power in 2022 and vowed to never relinquish its weapons.
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🇲🇬Madagascar presidency says attempt to seize power under way
The office of Madagascar's President Andry Rajoelina has said an attempt to seize power illegally and by force is under way in the country.
Hours later, an army unit known as CAPSAT claimed that it had taken over the leadership of the military command, and was now in control of all the armed forces - land, air, and naval.
This is the same unit that played a crucial role in the 2009 Malagasy political crisis, which helped Rajoelina rise to power.
Madagascar was first hit by youth-led protests on 25 September against water and power cuts, but they have escalated to reflect wider dissatisfaction with Rajoelina's government over high unemployment, corruption, and the cost-of-living crisis.
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🇮🇪How a 16-year-old rental dispute derailed a presidential campaign
A 16-year-old tenant-landlord dispute has rocked the Irish presidential election campaign in the past week.
When Niall Donald unwittingly overpaid €3,300 (£2,870) to his landlord, Jim Gavin, in 2009 neither of them could have foreseen their subsequent dispute eventually playing a seminal role in an election to choose Ireland's next head of state.
Mr Gavin, who was chosen to represent Fianna Fáil, the Republic of Ireland's biggest party in the country's coalition government, withdrew from the contest last weekend.
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🇺🇸Trump administration starts laying off thousands of workers
The Trump administration has begun laying off thousands of federal workers in an effort to pressure Democrats amid the ongoing government shutdown.
"The RIFs have begun," White House Office of Management Director Russell Vought announced in a post on X on Friday morning, referring to an acronym for "reductions in force".
A spokesman for his office confirmed the cuts had started and were "substantial". Their size and scope began coming into focus later on Friday, when the administration disclosed seven agencies had started laying off more than 4,000 workers.
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🇻🇪Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado wins Nobel Peace Prize
Venezuela's opposition leader and pro-democracy activist María Coria Machado has been awarded the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize.
Machado, 58, was hailed by the Nobel Committee as "one of the most extraordinary examples of civilian courage in Latin America in recent times" and praised for her "tireless work promoting democratic rights for the people of Venezuela".
For years she has campaigned against Venezuela's President Nicolás Maduro Moros, whose 12-year rule is viewed by many nations as illegitimate.
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🇲🇬Army general named as Madagascar PM to quell Gen Z protests
Madagascar's embattled President Andry Rajoelina has appointed an army general as the new prime minister in a bid to end youth-led protests against his rule.
He said the nation needed a premier "capable of restoring order and the people's trust" before naming Gen Ruphin Fortunat Zafisambo to the post.
Coming days after the president expressed fears of a coup attempt, the general's appointment marks a significant militarisation of the government and appears to be an attempt by Rajoelina to secure the army's backing at a time of heightened tensions.
The protest movement, known as Gen Z Mada, rejected Gen Zafisambo's appointment, and gave Rajoelina 48 hours to resign.
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🇨🇫CAR president's rival invited back from exile then detained
One of the most vocal critics of the Central African Republic's government is being questioned by security officials following his arrest at the country's main airport.
Dominique Désiré Erenon leads the March for Democracy and the People's Salvation (MDSP) party and had been living in exile in France for the past three years.
He fiercely opposed 2016 constitutional reforms which extended presidential powers - a move many observers described as a step backward for democracy in the conflict-torn nation.
His arrest came after President Faustin-Archange Touadéra publicly called on all Central Africans in the diaspora to return home. Erenon responded to this call and was detained on arrival.
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🇯🇵Japan stocks hit record after ruling party names pro-business leader
Japanese stocks have hit a record high after the country's ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) named Sanae Takaichi as its new leader, positioning the pro-business politician to be Japan's next prime minister.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 index closed 4.75% higher on Monday, ending the day above 47,000 for the first time.
Takaichi, who has held senior government roles including minister for economic security and internal affairs, is known for her support of higher government spending and lower borrowing costs.
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🇩🇪Munich airport resumes flights after suspected drones force second closure in 24 hours
Flights have resumed at Germany's Munich airport after unconfirmed drone sightings forced it to suspend operations for the second time in 24 hours.
In a statement on Friday evening, the airport said that flights were stopped at 21:30 local time (20:30 GMT), with around 6,500 passengers affected.
At least 17 flights were also grounded in Munich on Thursday evening due to multiple drone sightings in nearby airspace.
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🇮🇳🇨🇳India and China to resume direct flights after a five-year ban
India and China will restart direct flights between the countries this month, India's foreign ministry has said, in another step towards ties being gradually normalised.
There have been no direct flights between the two countries since 2020, following deadly troop clashes on their shared Himalayan border.
But over the past year or so, Delhi and Beijing have been working towards re-building ties, including taking steps to de-escalate tensions at the border.
On Thursday, India's biggest budget airline IndiGo said that it would restart direct flights between the cities of Kolkata and Guangzhou from 26 October.
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🇰🇪🇺🇬Kenyan activists abducted in Uganda, opposition leader says
Two Kenyan human rights activists have gone missing in Uganda after reportedly being abducted by armed men while attending opposition leader Bobi Wine's campaign event.
Bobi Wine strongly condemned the "abduction" of Bob Njagi and Nicholas Oyoo, saying the pair had been "picked up mafia-style" at a petrol station and driven off to an unknown destination.
Ugandan police spokesman Kituma Rusoke told the BBC the two were not in their custody. Kenya's Michael Muchiri said he was not aware of the matter.
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🇿🇦South African firebrand MP Malema convicted of firing a gun in public
South African opposition politician Julius Malema has been found guilty of illegal possession of a gun and firing it in public, offences which carry a minimum sentence of 15 years in prison.
In 2018, a video emerged showing the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader using a semi-automatic rifle to fire several shots in the air during his party's fifth anniversary celebrations held in the country's Eastern Cape province.
He was charged alongside his former bodyguard Adriaan Snyman, who was acquitted.
Malema was convicted of hate speech less than two months ago and often lashes out at the white minority in a country where, 31 years after apartheid ended, racial tensions still run high.
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🇺🇸🇨🇴US revokes Colombian president's visa during UN visit
The US State Department said on Friday it would revoke the visa of Colombia's President Gustavo Petro.
The decision was based on the leftist leader's "incendiary actions" during a pro-Palestinian street protest in New York, the State Department added.
Petro was already en route to Bogota from New York on Friday night, according to Colombian media cited by Agence France-Presse.
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Secret Service disrupts telecom threat near UN General Assembly
The US Secret Service disrupted a network of telecommunications devices that could have shut down cellular networks as leaders gather for the United Nations General Assembly in New York City.
The agency said on Tuesday that last month it found more than 300 SIM servers and 100,000 SIM cards that could have been used for telecom attacks within the area encompassing parts of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut.
"This network had the power to disable cell phone towers and essentially shut down the cellular network in New York City," said special agent in charge Matt McCool.
The devices were discovered within 35 miles (56km) of the UN, where leaders are meeting this week.
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🇧🇫🇲🇱🇳🇪Three West African countries to quit International Criminal Court
Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger have announced they will immediately withdraw from the International Criminal Court (ICC), labelling it an "instrument of neo-colonialist repression".
The three military-led countries issued a joint statement, saying they would not recognise the authority of the UN-backed court, based in The Hague.
"The ICC has proven itself incapable of handling and prosecuting proven war crimes, crimes against humanity, crimes of genocide, and crimes of aggression," the three leaders said.
The court has not yet responded to the decision by the three countries, all of which with close ties to Russia whose leader Vladimir Putin has been subject to an ICC arrest warrant.
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🇨🇦🇵🇸Canada first G7 nation to recognise Palestinian state
Canada became the first G7 nation to recognise a Palestinian state, with Prime Minister Mark Carney saying on Sunday the country "offers our partnership in building the promise of a peaceful future".
Australia and the UK quickly followed with their own announcements. All three nations had previously signaled they would make the historic recognitions.
International pressure is ramping up on Israel over an unfolding humanitarian crisis in Gaza and settlement building in the West Bank. The issues will be a major focus at a United Nations meeting this week.
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