Residents evacuated from Oleshky arrived in Ukrainian-held territory on Saturday afternoon and were reunited with relatives waiting at the border, including a couple separated for 1,711 days; they had travelled by bus through Crimea and Russia to Anapa, flown to Gomel in Belarus, then continued by bus to the Ukrainian border. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed all of them had arrived and would receive the assistance they need, in the first joint humanitarian operation of its kind in nearly five years of war, brokered by US first lady Melania Trump with Pope Leo XIV's involvement, under a local ceasefire due to expire on Sunday.
Background: Saturday's evening edition reported the convoy's arrival in Belarus; Saturday afternoon's arrival in Ukrainian-held territory completes the evacuation.
US midterms : Trump to rally in Kansas and Iowa in person on Sunday, early votes top 43 million
🐱 Scout US anchor · US midterm final weekend
President Donald Trump will hold rallies in Kansas and Iowa in person on Sunday after reversing his decision to cancel them, a schedule saga that has become a focus of the final campaign weekend; polls show a tight race in Iowa and the Democrat slightly ahead in Kansas. An Associated Press analysis puts early voting above 43 million, nearly 10 million more than at the same point in 2022, with particularly strong growth in key Senate battlegrounds.
Background: The November 3 midterms will decide all 435 House seats and 35 Senate seats, shaping Trump's final two years in office.
Sources: Reuters, USA Today, Associated Press (3 outlets)
France's third weekend of youth protests: Government counts 320,000, Germany and Italy join in
🐱 Scout France anchor · France's third weekend of youth protests
Hundreds of thousands of mostly young protesters marched across France on Saturday in a third consecutive weekend of demonstrations over living costs and education, with the government counting 320,000 nationwide, down from more than 500,000 on October 17 and 410,000 on October 24; authorities deployed about 70,000 police and gendarmes and rerouted Paris marches to the capital's edge. The movement began among high school students protesting neglected buildings, teacher shortages and an admissions system seen as unfair, and has broadened into wider grievances over public services, with youth-led protests also reported in Germany and Italy.
Background: France's interior minister warned of a very high risk of disorder, especially after dark on Halloween.
DR Congo Ebola outbreak: Deaths pass 5,000, second-deadliest outbreak on record
🐱 Scout doctor · DR Congo Ebola outbreak
Congolese health ministry data released on Saturday put the Bundibugyo Ebola outbreak at 5,026 deaths among 10,351 infections, a fatality rate of nearly 50%, making it the second-deadliest Ebola outbreak in history after the 2014-2016 West Africa epidemic that killed more than 11,000 people. The outbreak, declared in May, has spread to 67 health zones across eight provinces, with cases also confirmed in Kenya and Nigeria in October, and no approved vaccine or treatment exists for this strain.
Background: The outbreak is already the deadliest in DR Congo's history, and a World Health Organization official called the 5,000-death mark a very tragic milestone.
Sources: Associated Press, Reuters, BBC (3 outlets)
Political developments and international relations
Poland's Constitutional Tribunal standoff: President turns plane back, Tusk says court will operate lawfully
Poland's Constitutional Tribunal said late on Friday that its longest-serving judge, Anna Korwin-Piotrowska, had suspended tribunal president Bogdan Swieczkowski and taken charge of the court, prompting President Karol Nawrocki to turn his plane back from a trip to Senegal and accuse Prime Minister Donald Tusk's government of a forcible takeover of a constitutional body. Riot police have guarded the court since Friday afternoon as several hundred protesters gathered demanding Swieczkowski's reinstatement, while Tusk said in a televised address that the tribunal will function as it should, independently and in line with the constitution.
Background: The tribunal dispute dates to 2015, when Law and Justice sought to appoint judges to seats already filled, and the pro-European government and the nationalist president refuse to recognise each other's appointees.
Judge tosses Trump's Wall Street Journal lawsuit for good: $10 billion claim cannot be refiled
A federal judge in Miami on Saturday dismissed President Donald Trump's defamation lawsuit against The Wall Street Journal with prejudice, meaning the same claims cannot be brought before the court again; Judge Darrin P. Gayles wrote in a 20-page order that the amended complaint still failed to plausibly allege actual malice, calling its allegations vague, conclusory and sometimes inconsistent with the article. Trump sued in July 2025 over the Journal's reporting on a suggestive birthday letter bearing his name in a 2003 album compiled for Jeffrey Epstein, seeking at least $10 billion in the amended complaint, and he may still appeal.
Background: Gayles dismissed the original complaint in April while allowing Trump to amend it; Saturday's ruling closes that opportunity in the trial court.
Alaska's Republican-run state government on Saturday urged a federal judge to dismiss the Justice Department lawsuit filed at President Trump's direction, writing that there is no reason for the court to entertain this meritless lawsuit any longer; the department on Friday added a request to segregate all ballots showing votes for the second Dan Sullivan, which the state called both disturbing and impossible without violating voter privacy. The suit seeks to halt certification only in the event of a win by Democrat Mary Peltola, on the theory that voters may have been confused by a second candidate sharing the name of Republican Senator Dan Sullivan.
Background: Saturday's evening edition reported the Justice Department's accelerated intervention in Alaska; Saturday's state filing is the key turn in the case on the final campaign weekend.
December Brent touches $118: Hormuz tanker mine strikes and Houthi claim on Abqaiq
December Brent touched $118 a barrel on Friday, its highest since April 30, before settling at $117.64, after limpet mines hit the Panama-flagged tanker Louise 1 in the Strait of Hormuz and Iran's Revolutionary Guards claimed further tankers struck mines on the waterway; the Houthis also claimed strikes on Saudi Arabia's Abqaiq processing facility and the Ras Tanura and Rabigh refineries. Saudi Arabia has not confirmed damage at the refineries, and the January contract taking over as front month trades about $4 lower, so part of the headline move reflects the contract roll.
Background: Brent is up roughly 15% in October, OPEC ministers meet on November 1, and whether the US resumes strikes on Iran after the election is a key market focus.
Binance : Recovery coverage rises to 90%, ten major assets fully backed, withdrawals eyed for November 1
Binance said on Saturday it has raised coverage of the stolen assets to 90%, up from about 80%, with Bitcoin, ether, USDT, BNB, SOL, USDC, XRP, USD1, RLUSD and ZEC now fully backed at 100%; the remaining 10% consists of less-liquid tokens still being bought through market and over-the-counter channels. The exchange remains on track to reopen withdrawals in phases on Sunday, November 1, subject to security checks, and plans a full proof-of-reserves report on November 2, with zero-knowledge verification expected by November 3.
Background: Saturday's evening edition reported Binance's $6.34 billion funding commitment and phased resumption timetable; Saturday's rise to 90% coverage is the substantive new step in recovery.
Tech companies, research breakthroughs and digital policy
OpenAI cuts funding target by $10 billion to $20 billion, expected valuation falls to $1.25 trillion
OpenAI has cut its latest funding target by $10 billion to about $20 billion, with its expected valuation falling to $1.25 trillion from $1.4 trillion, the Financial Times reported, and the first close is expected to raise less than $20 billion after some investors reduced commitments; a UAE consortium including state-backed fund MGX is expected to be the largest participant. S&P on the same day moved its outlook on Meta to negative from stable, citing AI spending and negative free cash flow, as tech stocks sell off over doubts about when massive AI infrastructure spending will pay off.
Background: Saturday's evening edition reported the OpenAI funding cut; Saturday's CNBC confirmation and the S&P move on Meta make AI-spending jitters the week's closing theme.
Apple Intelligence to reach mainland China iPhones with iOS 27.3 in December, Qwen inside Siri features
Apple said Apple Intelligence will reach iPhones in mainland China with iOS 27.3 in December, with Alibaba's Qwen model built into Siri, Writing Tools and Visual Intelligence, ending the long absence of Apple's AI features from the mainland market. (single source, unverified)
Background: Apple's mainland AI launch had been held up by model localisation and compliance questions, and the Alibaba partnership is seen as the breakthrough.
Military developments, security situations and conflicts
AP satellite review: Iran-linked strikes damaged 26 US sites, billions in equipment losses
An Associated Press analysis published on Saturday, verified by satellite imagery, found that more than 115 drone or missile strikes claimed by Iran or Iranian-backed militias through August damaged or destroyed structures on 26 military bases and other sites holding US equipment. The campaign first targeted early-warning radars and air-defence systems, then broadened to hangars, warehouses, troop housing, communications and fuel infrastructure; at least 15 hangars were damaged at Ali Al Salem Air Base in Kuwait and more than 30 structures at Camp Buehring, with equipment losses worth billions of dollars prompting the US to move many assets out of the Persian Gulf.
Background: The war with Iran began in February, and US officials had previously disclosed only fragments of base damage, while the Pentagon inspector general confirmed hundreds of buildings damaged in April to June.
Iran's supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei ordered the armed forces on Saturday to meet any threat with an immediate, impactful and geographically unrestricted response, and directed commanders to update their target list to cover all US and Israeli assets, tangible and intangible; if enemies resumed military or terrorist attacks, he said, Iran itself would decide when and under what conditions the fighting ended. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Saturday that President Trump had yet to decide whether to restart attacks on Iran.
Background: The Iran war has continued since February, Egypt's foreign minister warned on Saturday that a new escalation would be more destructive, and Qatari mediators remain in Tehran.
Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon kill at least 12 on Saturday, toll since March 2 tops 2,600
Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon on Saturday killed at least 12 people, including a child, with at least eight killed and eight wounded in Habboush in the Nabatieh district and four more killed near Tyre and Nabatieh; Israel also demolished houses, a convent and a school and issued evacuation orders for more than ten villages and towns, including some north of the Litani River. Lebanon's health ministry emergency operations centre put the toll since March 2 at 2,618 killed and 8,094 wounded, despite a US-brokered ceasefire announced on April 17 and extended to May 17.
Background: Israel says its strikes target Hezbollah, but a large share of those killed have been civilians, while Hezbollah says it continues to attack Israeli forces and vehicles inside Lebanon.
Sources: Lebanese National News Agency (via syndication), Al Jazeera (2 outlets)
Pope Leo XIV casts mail ballot, first pope to vote in a US election
The Vatican confirmed on Friday that Pope Leo XIV, the first American-born pope, has submitted a mail-in ballot for the US midterms, becoming the first pope to vote in a US election and likely the first to vote in a secular democratic election; the Holy See said he expresses his belief in the right and duty of citizens to participate in democratic processes. Leo, born Robert Francis Prevost in Chicago, is registered in New Lenox, Illinois, requested his ballot on October 3, and has voted in both Republican and Democratic primaries in the past.
Background: Illinois voters will choose a successor to retiring Senator Dick Durbin and decide whether to re-elect Governor JB Pritzker.
Magnitude 6.0 deep earthquake near Shima, Japan, depth 352 km, no major impact reported
The US Geological Survey recorded a magnitude 6.0 earthquake about 58 km south-southeast of Shima, Japan, late on Saturday, at a depth of about 352 km; the event was rated PAGER green, with only 11 felt reports, and no major impact has been reported. (single source, unverified)
Background: Deep earthquakes typically produce weaker shaking at the surface than shallow quakes of the same magnitude, and no tsunami warning was issued.
China-related news (international media coverage only)
China-Germany summit: Xi urges rational, pragmatic, friendly China policy, Li offers more German imports
Reuters reported on Saturday that Chinese Premier Li Qiang told visiting German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier that China is willing to import more high-quality German products, and urged both countries to firmly uphold free trade and open cooperation, expanding cooperation in autos, chemicals, artificial intelligence, digital and green industries through intergovernmental consultation mechanisms. President Xi Jinping told Steinmeier on Friday that Germany should pursue a rational, pragmatic and friendly policy towards China, and that China has always viewed the EU as a partner, developing ties in a spirit of sincerity and goodwill, with cooperation outweighing competition.
Background: The meeting came a day after China's October manufacturing PMI fell to 49.3, back into contraction, amid continuing China-EU trade friction.
