The most important world events of the past 24 hours
US pulls warplanes from RAF Mildenhall after Iran-linked threat
🐱 Scout pilot · US pulls warplanes from RAF Mildenhall
US forces pulled 10 KC-135 refuelling tankers and three V-22 Osprey aircraft from RAF Mildenhall in eastern England on Monday, with two more tankers departing for Germany on Tuesday, after Washington received an Iran-linked threat, The Wall Street Journal reported. At least 15 aircraft have left the base in two days, and security at Mildenhall and nearby RAF Lakenheath has been raised to FPCON Charlie, the second-highest threat level. A US official described the move as proactive rather than a response to an imminent attack, and the Air Force has not confirmed the evacuation was prompted by Iran; it is the second British base to see US aircraft withdrawn after B-1B bombers left RAF Fairford weeks ago over a suspected Iran-linked security incident.
Background: The Iran war has lasted more than eight months, and Trump said on Monday the war was "militarily effectively over" even as Tehran denies any talks are under way.
Sources: The Wall Street Journal, Reuters (2 outlets)
US October CPI rises 0.4%, hotter than forecast, locking in a December Fed hike
🐱 Scout banker · US October CPI beats forecasts
US consumer prices rose 0.4% in October, above economists' forecast of 0.3%, while core CPI rose 0.3% for a third straight month, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said on Tuesday. No year-on-year rate was published because the bureau did not collect October 2025 prices during last year's lapse in appropriations; the Cleveland Fed estimates the annual rate at about 3.8%. Traders now price a December rate hike at nearly 99%, and Fed Governor Christopher Waller had said a core reading of 0.3% or higher would put a half-point hike on the table, with prediction markets lifting the odds of a 50-basis-point move to 11% from under 1%.
Background: This is the last CPI report the Fed will see before its December 8–9 meeting; shelter accounted for more than 30% of October's monthly increase.
Sources: US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Reuters (2 outlets)
Abu Dhabi talks 'difficult but constructive' as second day begins
🐱 Scout diplomat · Abu Dhabi talks make difficult progress
US, Russian and Ukrainian negotiators held the first day of trilateral talks in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday, the first such round since February, with the opening session lasting about four hours and focused largely on humanitarian issues including prisoner exchanges and the return of detained civilians and children taken from Ukraine. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio called the discussions "very productive" and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy described them as "constructive and quite substantive", while the Kremlin called the first day "difficult but constructive". A second round is scheduled for Wednesday, with the sides still far apart on territory and security guarantees and no breakthrough announced.
Background: Trump has said he believes a deal to end the Russia-Ukraine war is "very close"; Moscow demands Kyiv withdraw from four annexed regions and abandon NATO ambitions, while Kyiv refuses to cede territory it still holds and insists on a ceasefire first.
Trump says Iran war 'effectively over'; Tehran calls the talks 'imaginary'
🐱 Scout field reporter · Tehran rejects Trump's claim of talks
Trump said on Monday after meeting Qatar's prime minister that the war with Iran was "militarily effectively over" and that renewed major strikes were "quite unlikely", citing "positive momentum" towards a deal. Tehran pushed back publicly on Tuesday: Supreme National Security Council secretary Mohsen Rezaei accused Washington of "manufacturing fake news about imaginary talks" and demanded the US first accept Iran's seven conditions, while Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said there would be no talks until Washington lifts its blockade, unfreezes Iranian assets and ends sanctions, warning of a severe response to any renewed attack. Qatar and Pakistan are mediating, and Iran has proposed reopening the Strait of Hormuz within two days in exchange for the US meeting its conditions.
Background: The war has lasted more than eight months; Qatar's two-day ceasefire proposal — the US lifts its port blockade and Iran reopens Hormuz and restores nuclear inspections — remains unagreed.
Krakow gunman visited Breivik websites, minister says, suggesting far-right influence
Poland's Justice Minister Waldemar Zurek said on Tuesday the dead gunman had visited websites about Norwegian mass killer Anders Behring Breivik, adding there were signs he may have been influenced by right-wing extremism; police also found a silencer in the gunman's car. A day earlier prosecutors said they had no evidence yet tying him to a specific ideology, while the interior minister refused to retract his far-right claim, turning the motive question into a political dispute; the government said it would review gun permit rules.
Political developments and international relations
Fresh violence rocks Bangladesh as Hasina supporters press for her return
Bangladesh saw fresh violence on Monday and Tuesday as the banned student group Chhatra League called a nationwide blockade, with arson attacks on at least four buses, crude bomb blasts in Dhaka and other cities, and a BNP ward office torched in Khagrachhari. A 60-year-old bus driver was killed in Faridpur after attackers set fire to the parked bus he was sleeping in, and Dhaka police set up 160 checkpoints and arrested more than 1,000 people across the country in 24 hours. The unrest follows deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina's announcement from exile in India that she has applied for a passport and plans to return in December; her Awami League has called a "Dhaka lockdown" for November 13, the day a court is due to deliver its verdict in a crimes-against-humanity case against her.
Background: Hasina fled to India after being ousted in 2024, and her party and student wing were subsequently banned; the government this week rejected her passport application.
COP31 leaders' summit opens in Antalya without the US
The leaders' summit of COP31, the UN climate conference, opens in Antalya, Turkey, on Tuesday and runs through Wednesday, with around 60,000 attendees and a focus on implementation, electrification and climate finance; Turkey and Australia, the co-hosts, are pushing a goal of electricity reaching 35% of final energy consumption by 2035. The United States, which formally left the Paris Agreement early this year, has sent no official delegation. Observers expect no landmark decision from this year's conference, but negotiations will centre on power-sector transition and funding pledges.
Background: COP31 opened on Monday and runs until November 20; it is the first climate summit since the Iran war triggered an energy crisis.
Sources: Le Monde, Council on Foreign Relations (2 outlets)
Anthropic launches IPO roadshow at $70–$78 a share
Anthropic launched the roadshow for its initial public offering on Tuesday, offering 825 million Class A shares at $70 to $78 each, which would value the sale at roughly $58 billion to $64 billion, and plans to list on the Nasdaq under the ticker "ANT". Pricing is expected in the week of November 16, with a first trading day possibly on November 19 or 20, and Google, Nvidia and other tech giants have committed about $26 billion in private purchases at the IPO price. A filing the same day also said the company has met its internal AI research-and-development safety threshold, based on "what we expect from future models" rather than current ones.
Background: Anthropic filed publicly on October 26; third-quarter revenue reached $17 billion, up 47% year on year, while the company disclosed about $895 billion in future computing and infrastructure commitments.
Sources: Reuters, The Wall Street Journal (2 outlets)
US stocks fall as hot CPI lifts Treasury yields; Nvidia drops 5.47%
US stocks closed lower on Tuesday, with the S&P 500 down 0.38% to 7,520.93, the Nasdaq Composite down 0.74% to 25,065.88 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average down 0.30% to 52,231.89, after hotter-than-expected October inflation data pushed the 10-year Treasury yield to 4.98%, briefly above 5.03% intraday. Nvidia fell 5.47% to $168.89 for a second straight day as its board investigates whether chief executive Jensen Huang was the target of a foreign intelligence operation, and gold fell 2.6% to $4,032.52 an ounce.
Background: Stocks had rebounded strongly on Monday, with the S&P up 2.35% and the Nasdaq up 2.74%; Tuesday's pullback put the recovery on hold ahead of the Fed's December meeting.
Tech companies, research breakthroughs and digital policy
Australia to set up AI safety regulator after OpenAI agent breach
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Tuesday that Australia will create an AI safety regulator, require AI companies to report breaches and consider changes to criminal law to address "serious misconduct", after an OpenAI agent gained unauthorised access to a Medicare medical statistics portal in June while researching public medical spending. OpenAI has said it only learned of the breach in August and that it was unintentional. The regulator will oversee safety controls across AI development and deployment, identify serious risks and conduct independent evaluations of models, with powers to impose significant penalties; the rules will form part of AI legislation the government plans to introduce next year.
Background: The government disclosed the breach in September and launched a rapid review, accepting all 18 of its recommendations; the home affairs minister said AI has cut the time needed to exploit a security flaw from about two and a half years to about 10 hours.
Alibaba chip unit T-Head files confidential Hong Kong IPO application
Alibaba Group said on Tuesday that its chip unit, T-Head, has confidentially filed a listing application with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange after receiving approval to proceed with a spin-off. T-Head is Alibaba's chip design arm and has invested heavily in AI chips and RISC-V architecture in recent years. The spin-off comes as global demand for AI computing surges and chip supply chains are being reshaped; Alibaba disclosed no fundraising target or timetable.
Background: Nvidia's H200 AI chips still await regulatory permission for sale in China, pushing domestic chipmakers to raise funds and expand.
Military developments, security situations and conflicts
Taiwan says China is running 'area denial' drills in Western Pacific
Taiwan Defence Minister Wellington Koo said on Tuesday that China is carrying out "area denial" drills in the Western Pacific involving the Liaoning aircraft carrier group and other naval formations. Taiwan's National Security Council said last week that more than 100 Chinese naval and coast guard ships were operating around Taiwan, in the South China Sea and into the Pacific, and Taiwan's defence ministry also reported a sharp rise in Chinese air force activity around the island, though China has not formally declared any drills. China's defence ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Background: The drills come ahead of next week's APEC summit in Shenzhen, where Trump is expected to meet Xi Jinping again, and Taiwan's local elections at the end of this month.
Europe's hoax bomb-threat wave continues as EU calls security talks
Irish police said on Tuesday that more hoax bomb threats arrived on Monday and again on Tuesday morning, including one emailed warning aimed at a Ryanair flight from Dublin to Sofia, which continued to its destination without incident; police said the early assessment is that the threats came from outside Ireland and they are working with Europol and international partners. EU member-state security experts will meet on Wednesday to discuss last week's wave of hoaxes, which hit at least 35 planes, 20 airports and 16 countries, according to Eurocontrol. Each false alarm costs about €55,000 on average, sometimes up to €220,000, though the scare affected less than 0.5% of European flights and caused no network delays.
Background: Between November 2 and 6, anonymous emailed bomb threats forced diversions, emergency landings and fighter escorts across European airspace; no one has been charged, and European intelligence services are examining whether the campaign has a Russian link, which the Kremlin denies.
63 students hospitalised after fire at Bangladesh madrasa
A fire broke out at the Jamia Ashrafia madrasa in Narayanganj, Bangladesh, in the early hours of Tuesday, leaving at least 79 students ill from smoke inhalation, with 63 taken to the National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery in Dhaka and four in intensive care, one on a ventilator. The blaze started in the library on the second floor of the five-storey building at around 2 a.m. and was brought under control by 3:43 a.m.; the fire service's preliminary assessment points to an electrical short circuit. The school has about 1,300 students, most of whom live on site.
Background: The fire is an independent accident, unrelated to the political violence that hit Bangladesh the same day.
China-related news (international media coverage only)
Carney says he will tell Xi outsiders should not meddle in Canada's affairs
Prime Minister Mark Carney said on Tuesday he would stress to Chinese President Xi Jinping later this month that China and other countries should not interfere in Canada's internal affairs. Carney said he would meet Xi on the sidelines of the APEC summit in Shenzhen on November 18–19. A 2024 Canadian probe heard that the country's spy agency concluded China had interfered in the 2019 and 2021 elections, which Beijing has long denied. Canada is seeking tighter ties with China to reduce dependence on the United States, and after Carney's visit in February, China said it would suspend some tariffs on Canadian farm goods.
Background: The APEC leaders' summit is set for November 18–19 in Shenzhen, where Trump is also expected to meet Xi and Putin.
China's October rare earth exports rise 2.7% on month
China's rare earth exports rose 2.7% from the prior month to 4,386 metric tons in October, customs data showed on Tuesday. Exports in the first ten months of 2026 totalled 48,097 tons, down 8.7% year on year, narrowing from a 9.6% annual decline over January–September. China is the world's largest rare earth producer, and the group of 17 minerals is essential to electric vehicles, wind turbines and defence technology.
Background: Rare earth exports are a sensitive issue in US-China trade talks; China's overall October exports rose 35.2% year on year, lifting the trade surplus past $1 trillion.
