The most important world events of the past 24 hours
Brazil runoff: Lula holds razor-thin lead as count passes halfway, pollster projects his re-election
🐱 Scout Brazil anchor · Brazil runoff vote count
Brazil's presidential runoff vote count showed incumbent President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva holding a narrow lead, with 50.01% of valid votes once about 47.6% of ballots had been tallied, Reuters reported, citing electoral authority data. Andrei Roman, CEO of pollster AtlasIntel, told Reuters that Lula will be re-elected based on the count so far. The count was paused for two hours after a Supreme Court justice's ruling extending voting, injecting confusion into the tense race.
Background: Flávio Bolsonaro led the first round with 47.03% against Lula's 45.16%, and pre-runoff polls showed the two effectively tied.
Serbia snap election : Vučić concedes defeat as Student List projected to win outright majority
🐱 Scout anchor · Serbia Student List wins election
Aleksandar Vučić conceded defeat on Sunday night after Serbia's snap parliamentary election, saying the Student List born of the anti-corruption protest movement would take 135 to 140 seats against about 105 for his own list. Projections by CeSID and Ipsos were more generous to the students, putting them at about 52% of the vote and 138 seats against 39% and 104 seats for Vučić's list, with turnout around 70%, the highest since 1992.
Background: The movement grew out of the November 2024 Novi Sad railway station canopy collapse that killed 16 people, with protesters alleging corruption and regulatory failure.
Houthis strike southern Saudi Arabia again as Riyadh airport partially reopens
🐱 Scout field reporter · Houthi strikes on Saudi Arabia
Saudi air defences intercepted 11 missiles over southern Saudi Arabia on Sunday, with debris injuring two people and damaging homes and vehicles in Asir Province, while the Institute for the Study of War counted at least 12 missiles and two drones fired at Saudi Arabia since October 24. Riyadh's King Khalid International Airport resumed partial operations on Sunday, with Terminal 1 handling domestic flights and Terminal 2 handling national carriers' international flights, but the Houthis renewed their warning that the airport remains a "military target" and told airlines not to use it.
Background: The exchanges have broken the 2022 ceasefire, after the Saudi-backed coalition resumed its offensive in Yemen, raising risks for regional shipping and energy routes.
Sources: Reuters, Institute for the Study of War (2 outlets)
Ukraine : Zelenskiy says US ballistic-strike warnings fully restored, draws red lines ahead of November talks
🐱 Scout field reporter · Ukraine says US missile warnings restored
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Sunday that US warnings of incoming Russian ballistic missiles had been fully restored, and that SpaceX's military Starshield service had been operating at speeds above 420 km/h since early Saturday, crediting a meeting with US envoy Steve Witkoff in Oslo for both changes. Looking ahead to technical talks among Kyiv, Moscow and Washington in November, Zelenskiy said Ukraine would not discuss limits on its armed forces or enforced post-war neutrality, that territory can only be discussed at leader level, and he renewed his push for a trilateral leaders' meeting with Vladimir Putin.
Background: The evening edition reported the lifting of the Starshield speed cap; for about two weeks, drones had lost connection above roughly 160 km/h.
Political developments and international relations
US attorney general denies Alaska lawsuit is groundwork for Trump to take over state elections
US Attorney General Todd Blanche said on CNN's "State of the Union" on Sunday that the Justice Department's bid to block certification of Alaska's Senate race is not an attempt to give President Donald Trump control of state elections, saying "President Trump is not trying to take over a state election in any way, shape, or form." The department sued to freeze certification if Republican incumbent Dan Sullivan loses and votes for a same-name candidate could change the result, a case Trump has publicly claimed as his own and legal experts have questioned.
Background: The Alaska Senate race is seen as a seat that could decide control of the Senate, with Democrat Mary Peltola running close against Sullivan.
Alaska Senate candidate Peltola in car crash, campaign events postponed
Mary Peltola, the Democratic candidate for the US Senate in Alaska, was involved in a car crash on Sunday, and her campaign postponed events, with the next rally scheduled in Homer on October 27. (single source, unverified)
Background: Peltola is challenging Republican incumbent Dan Sullivan in a race seen as pivotal for Senate control.
UK Prime Minister Burnham open to restoring EU free movement
British Prime Minister Andy Burnham told the Sunday Times that readopting the European Union's free-movement rules should not be a red line in talks, arguing that immigration since Brexit has changed, with more foreigners settling permanently rather than returning home, Reuters reported. Burnham called for a "very factual, quite evidence-based debate" on the issue.
Background: Burnham took office as prime minister in July, and finance minister John Healey presents his first budget on Wednesday.
Fed week: markets expect a hold, with a December hike gaining ground
The Federal Reserve meets Tuesday and Wednesday and is widely expected to leave rates on hold after September's increase to 3.75% to 4.00%, but markets are increasingly pricing another hike in December, with Chair Kevin Warsh's post-decision remarks in focus. The week is crowded: the European Central Bank and the Bank of Canada also decide rates, Japan's central bank meets, and Britain's finance minister presents his first budget on Wednesday.
Background: US inflation remains above the 2% target, which the Fed has missed for more than five years, and September's hike was its first in three years.
Tech companies, research breakthroughs and digital policy
OpenAI lures Anthropic's big customers with steep discounts as AI price war heats up
OpenAI is winning major customers from Anthropic with steep discounts, The Information reported: Replit moved more than $100 million a year in AI spending after securing a discount above 30%, Rippling's coding workload share for OpenAI jumped from 16% to 52% while Anthropic's fell from 57% to 18%, and DataCamp said its costs fell 80% to 90%. (single source, unverified)
Background: Anthropic is approaching a public listing, and an investor memo cited in the report says its growth slowed from the second quarter to the third, making price, not pure capability, the deciding factor for large customers.
Sources: The Information (via syndication) (single source, unverified)
Military developments, security situations and conflicts
Russian overnight barrage kills 8 and wounds 51 in Ukraine, residential building hit in Vinnytsia
Russia fired 153 drones and low-cost Banderol cruise missiles at Ukraine overnight into October 25, killing eight people and wounding 51, the Kyiv Independent reported, with a residential building struck in Vinnytsia. Ninety-two of the drones were jet-powered Shahed variants, which fly faster and are harder for air defences to intercept. (single source, unverified)
Background: Both sides have been trading near-daily long-range strikes, with Ukraine continuing to hit refineries and other targets inside Russia.
Typhoon Champi weakens but still brings heavy rain: landslide alerts in Japan, up to 200 mm forecast for northern Kyushu
Typhoon Champi has weakened into a tropical storm and is transitioning into an extratropical cyclone, but it is still energising a front over the Japanese archipelago: NHK reported a Level 4 landslide emergency warning for northern Wakayama on Sunday morning, with 73 mm of rain in an hour in Aki City, Kochi Prefecture. Up to 200 mm of rain is forecast for northern Kyushu and Shikoku in the 24 hours to Monday noon, and Okinawa reported a woman in her 70s fractured by strong winds, a child injured by a shattered window, and 13,000 households losing power, prompting a Self-Defense Forces disaster relief request.
Background: Champi was once a super typhoon and left 1 dead and 527 injured as it swept past Taiwan, one of the Pacific's strongest storms this year.
UK adds £432 million to end rough sleeping by the end of parliament
Britain's government said on Sunday it would commit a further £432 million ($577.7 million) to efforts to end rough sleeping, almost doubling funding for a plan offering accommodation and support that will run until parliament is scheduled to end in 2029. Prime Minister Andy Burnham and finance minister John Healey announced the funding, with Burnham due to meet local leaders, businesses and charities on Monday.
Background: Burnham said on his first day in Downing Street in July that he wanted to end rough sleeping.
Jordan church attack victims buried on Sunday as gunmen remain at large
Funerals were held on Sunday in Hamoud village for the victims of the church shooting in Jordan's Karak governorate, with eight coffins draped in Jordanian flags before burial; the Friday attack during a funeral has killed nine people and wounded 40. Reuters quoted survivor Sahar al-Halsa, who hid behind a pillar as gunfire and screams filled the church and later found a cousin lying on the ground, unresponsive. As of Sunday, no arrests had been reported and no group had claimed responsibility.
Background: Three gunmen opened fire on St. George Greek Orthodox Church during a funeral on Friday, and King Abdullah II has ordered an "iron fist" response.
China-related news (international media coverage only)
China's Communist Party plenum opens in Beijing today, discipline drive the official theme
About 300 full and alternate members of China's Communist Party Central Committee begin a closed-door meeting in Beijing on Monday, running to October 29, in the fifth plenum since the 2022 congress; the official theme is tightening party governance and discipline, though personnel issues may also feature. On Saturday, the party announced personnel changes in six provinces, including new party chiefs in Hunan and Yunnan and governor signals in Fujian and Qinghai.
Background: The gathering is seen as the last major party meeting before the 2027 leadership reshuffle.
Reuters analysis: why China's stimulus keeps missing the mark as high-tech exports surge and domestic demand lags
Reuters analysis describes China's economy as split in two: global AI spending and clean-energy investment have driven high-tech exports and lifted third-quarter GDP growth to 4.5% year on year, while retail sales rose only slightly from a low base and the housing slump keeps weighing on consumption, with homes accounting for about 70% of household assets on average. Official urban unemployment has held around 5%, but youth unemployment has hovered between 14% and 19%, and a central bank survey linked rising precautionary savings to the weak job market.
Background: Major trading partners are seeking to put up more barriers, and the analysis argues Beijing may need to rethink its cautious approach to direct household stimulus.
