South African police arrested nine foreign nationals at Johannesburg’s OR Tambo Airport and a nearby hotel as they prepared to travel to Russia. Authorities suspect they intended to join Russian forces in the war in Ukraine; the men face possible charges under a law regulating foreign military assistance.
Key Facts
Police arrested the nine men late Sunday night at the airport and a nearby hotel.
The suspects are between 20 and 26 years old.
The investigation involved Interpol and South African law enforcement agencies.
Police did not disclose the suspects’ nationalities or their plans in Russia.
The men are expected to appear in court on charges related to South Africa’s Regulation of Foreign Military Assistance Act.
The law prohibits mercenary activity and regulates military assistance, recruitment, and training connected to foreign conflicts.
Amnesty International has accused Russia of luring foreign nationals with civilian job offers and then forcing them to fight in Ukraine.
South Africa said earlier this year that it had secured the return of 11 men who were lured into fighting for Russia.
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A severe storm flooded more than 70,000 tents in Gaza during its first 12 hours. Many Palestinians face the rest of winter in damaged shelters, which the article says are affected by Israeli restrictions.
Key Facts
More than 70,000 tents were flooded in the storm’s first 12 hours.
The storm hit Gaza during winter.
Many Palestinians are facing the rest of winter in damaged shelters.
The article links the damaged shelters to Israeli restrictions.
Al Jazeera reporter Hind Khoudary reports on what remains after the storm.
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People interviewed by The Associated Press in several countries said the U.S. midterm results had not restored their trust in America. They pointed to President Donald Trump’s continued powers and said future actions on trade, immigration, democratic institutions and foreign relations would matter more than the election alone.
Key Facts
Voters flipped control of both chambers of Congress to the Democrats, according to the article.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said he did not expect the change in Congress to substantially alter how Trump governs.
The article says Trump’s tariff policies have unsettled markets and economies.
People interviewed cited U.S. policies on immigration, Iran and Gaza as factors affecting international trust.
Indonesian business development manager Aditya Surya said consistent respect for democratic institutions, the rule of law and international partners would help rebuild trust.
Trump promoted Stephen Miller to replace Susie Wiles as White House chief of staff, according to the article.
The article identifies reversing tariffs as a key test for whether U.S. policy will change.
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Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty said he believes Iran and the United States want to negotiate, but said they need a concrete agreement to prevent renewed escalation. He also urged progress on the Gaza peace plan and said he expects U.S. military aid to Egypt to continue.
Key Facts
Abdelatty said both Tehran and Washington were working toward negotiations.
He said negotiations alone would not prevent another escalation without a concrete deal.
Egypt has a military presence in Saudi Arabia at Riyadh’s request, which Abdelatty described as mainly defensive.
Abdelatty said the first phase of Donald Trump’s Gaza peace plan had not been fully implemented, citing aid shortfalls and Israeli targeted killings of Palestinians.
He identified Hamas’s disarmament as the main problem in implementing the Gaza plan.
Abdelatty said he had confidence in President Donald Trump to advance the peace plan.
He said he was confident U.S. military aid to Egypt would continue.
Egypt’s parliament approved defensive military aid to Saudi Arabia, prompting a Houthi official to warn that Egypt would also be at war with the Yemeni rebels.
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Jemima Goldsmith said Russell Brand physically assaulted her during a 2014 incident and that she called police to remove him from her home. She said she did not press charges or speak publicly at the time because she was concerned about the effect on her teenage children. Her statement came after Brand was convicted of rape and sexual assault charges, and renewed attention to a harassment order the pair obtained against a woman who had made allegations against him.
Key Facts
Goldsmith said she experienced violence, coercive control and abuse from Brand.
She said she called police during a violent incident at her home in 2014 but chose not to press charges.
Goldsmith said she has neither seen nor spoken to Brand since 2014.
She said she assisted journalists investigating Brand and had agreed to testify about his behavior if a newspaper faced legal action.
Brand was found guilty of raping one woman and sexually assaulting three women in incidents from 2004 to 2009.
Brand was cleared of two other rape charges and one charge of attempted indecent assault.
Goldsmith said she was present when a woman named Szilvia Berki received a massage from Brand at her home in June 2014 and saw nothing untoward.
Goldsmith and Brand obtained a harassment order against Berki that barred her from discussing her allegations against Brand.
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France said Iran’s Revolutionary Guards carried out cyberattacks on supermarket refrigerators on October 11 and 12. The attacks raised refrigerator temperatures and led some stores to discard perishable food; France said it would seek European-level sanctions against Iran.
Key Facts
The attacks hit supermarkets in France on October 11 and 12.
France attributed the attacks to Iran’s Revolutionary Guards.
The attacks remotely raised temperatures in supermarket refrigerators.
Some supermarkets had to discard their perishable food inventories.
France said it would pursue sanctions against Iran at the European level.
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French protesters and labor unions demonstrated against the cost of living and rising fuel prices as the government faced pressure to raise pay while controlling a record budget deficit. The report links the unrest to concerns about wages and job prospects for young people, ahead of presidential elections expected in about six months.
Key Facts
A demonstration took place in Paris on November 7, 2026, involving the Yellow Vests movement, labor unions, and students.
The protests focused on the cost of living and rising fuel prices.
The prime minister was negotiating pay increases with unions.
The government was seeking to prevent the budget deficit from growing further.
The report said wages and job prospects for young people were slipping.
Presidential elections were expected in about six months.
The report said anti-establishment candidates on the far right and far left were promising major changes.
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Pope Leo XIV celebrated an outdoor Mass in Buenos Aires, Argentina, during a 12-day tour of Latin America. An estimated 2.5 million people filled the streets to welcome him and attend the Mass, three weeks after he underwent surgery for lung cancer.
Key Facts
The Mass took place in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
An estimated 2.5 million people filled the streets for the visit and Mass.
The event was described as a historic Mass.
Buenos Aires was the second stop on Pope Leo XIV’s 12-day tour of Latin America.
The Mass came three weeks after Pope Leo XIV had surgery for lung cancer.
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Pakistani cartoonist Shujaat Ali, a founding member of Al Jazeera’s online teams and a pioneer of digital cartoons, has died at 54. He died last week after suffering a heart attack while returning home from work and was buried in Rawalpindi.
Key Facts
Ali helped establish Al Jazeera Arabic’s online services and developed cartoons for the digital platform.
He was credited with creating the first animated caricatures online.
Ali worked for media outlets in Pakistan and abroad and received national and international awards.
He was Pakistan’s first court artist and sketched proceedings in several well-known cases.
At the time of his death, Ali had recently been working with the Pakistan Air Force, his son-in-law told the Dawn newspaper.
Al Jazeera colleagues said his cartoons depicted figures including Yasser Arafat, George Bush and Osama bin Laden.
Ali was buried in Qasimabad, Rawalpindi, where his parents are also buried.
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Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani met with U.S. President Donald Trump. The meeting took place amid renewed diplomatic efforts to end the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran.
Key Facts
Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani met with Donald Trump.
Trump is the current U.S. president.
The meeting took place at the White House.
The talks came amid renewed diplomatic efforts to end the war on Iran.
The article identifies the war as involving the United States and Israel against Iran.
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COP31 opened in Antalya, Turkey, with delegates from nearly 200 countries expected to discuss climate action, funding to help poorer countries adapt to extreme weather, and shifts away from fossil fuels. The summit comes amid high energy prices linked to disruption in the Strait of Hormuz and warnings that the world is likely to exceed the Paris Agreement’s 1.5°C warming limit.
Key Facts
COP31 runs from Nov. 9 to Nov. 20 in Antalya, Turkey.
About 68,500 people registered to attend the summit, with nearly 25,000 people helping run it.
The war in Iran has effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz, raising global prices for oil, gasoline, fertilizers and pesticides.
U.N. climate chief Simon Stiell urged countries to reduce methane emissions and shift toward renewable-powered electricity.
Climate scientists say global warming is likely to exceed 1.5°C above preindustrial levels, a threshold set as a goal in the 2015 Paris Agreement.
Turkey's COP31 president, Murat Kurum, said the summit should focus on putting existing climate commitments into action.
Kurum's Action Agenda includes cutting methane emissions and building climate-resilient cities.
Delegates are expected to discuss financial support for poorer countries adapting to climate impacts and recovering from disasters.
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A UK court found civil servant Kashim Chowdhury guilty of nine fraud counts after he held overlapping government jobs and fraudulently received more than £284,000 in public money. The case exposed gaps in the Civil Service’s hiring checks: departments made hiring decisions separately, and a government database check did not catch the overlap until 2024.
Key Facts
Chowdhury held eight overlapping full-time public-sector jobs between 2020 and 2023.
In May 2023, he was being paid to work for five government bodies while on sick leave from the UK Health Security Agency.
His contracts called for a total of 183 work hours per week.
He fraudulently earned more than £284,000 and received £350,000 in total during the period described.
Chowdhury left the Civil Service in September 2023.
The government’s National Fraud Initiative detected the overlapping jobs in 2024 through checks of Civil Service databases, including payroll records.
Chowdhury did not disclose on government job application forms that he was already a civil servant.
A judge said Chowdhury would face a “very substantial custodial sentence”; the article does not report a sentence.
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Russell Brand was sentenced in the United Kingdom on Monday for rape and sexual assault. The report says he faces 10 years and six months in prison, and its headline says the judge called him a “sexual predator.”
Key Facts
Brand was sentenced in the United Kingdom on Monday.
The report says Brand faces 10 years and six months in prison.
The sentence concerns rape and sexual assault.
The headline says the judge called Brand a “sexual predator.”
CBS News correspondent Holly Williams reported on the sentencing.
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Yemen’s government forces said they captured Houthi positions in Lahj and advanced in al-Jawf as fighting continued on several fronts. In Taiz, government forces reported repelling attacks while civilians and medical workers faced casualties; the article said the battlefield claims could not be independently verified.
Key Facts
The National Shield Forces said they seized Houthi-held positions on the al-Muhawala front in western Lahj on Monday.
Government forces claimed dozens of Houthi fighters were killed or wounded in the Lahj assault.
Government forces have reported recent advances through mountain areas east of al-Hazm, the capital of al-Jawf.
The Houthis have continued attacks around Taiz, which the article says has been under siege for more than a month.
Government military spokesperson Majed al-Nuzaili claimed government forces carried out nearly 1,000 attacks and left more than 120 Houthi fighters dead or wounded; the claims could not be independently verified.
State-run Saba reported that shelling and gunfire wounded nine civilians, including two children, in Taiz on Sunday.
Local and medical sources cited by Saba said an ambulance was fired on in Taiz, killing a wounded patient and his father and injuring a paramedic.
The clashes are part of Operation Dawn of Yemen, which began on October 5, according to the article.
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Outdated electricity grids can limit how much power countries use from new wind and solar farms, slowing the shift away from fossil fuels. The International Energy Agency says annual grid investment must rise about 50% from its current level of $400 billion to meet electricity demand through 2030.
Key Facts
Turkey and Australia are co-hosting U.N. climate talks in Antalya this week, where organizers are calling for grid upgrades alongside renewable energy and fossil-fuel cuts.
The U.N. launched a Global Grids Accelerator in September to help raise funding for electricity infrastructure in Africa and Southeast Asia.
Global annual investment in electricity generation has risen nearly 70% since 2015 to $1 trillion, while grid spending has grown at less than half that pace, according to the International Energy Agency.
The IEA estimates that annual grid investment needs to increase about 50% from $400 billion to meet electricity demand through 2030.
When grids reach capacity, operators may curtail renewable power by ordering wind and solar farms to reduce output.
China curtailed 360 terawatt-hours of wind and solar power in the first half of 2026, according to Global Energy Monitor and the Center for Research on Energy and Clean Air.
India curtailed 11 terawatt-hours of solar generation over 15 months spanning 2025 and 2026 because of limited transmission and storage capacity, according to Ember.
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A sand embankment collapsed during heavy rain and high winds near a camp for displaced people south of Deir al-Balah, killing five people and crushing at least three tents. Witnesses described residents digging through sand and rocks to rescue people, while aid agencies and local officials reported widespread damage to shelters across Gaza.
Key Facts
The landslide happened on Sunday near a camp for displaced families south of Deir al-Balah.
Five people died, including a mother and her eight-year-old and six-year-old children.
The children’s father survived because he was outside the tent when it collapsed.
The UN said more than 26,000 households reported damage to shelters or belongings after weekend rainstorms.
Gaza’s Hamas-run government media office said about 70,000 tents were flooded on the first day of rain.
A UNICEF spokesperson said overcrowding and a lack of safe places to shelter contributed to the danger.
A ceasefire agreement called for Gaza’s eventual reconstruction, but negotiations over disarmament and Israeli troop withdrawal have stalled progress.
Witness Abdul Karim al-Sahhar said his tent and belongings were buried in the collapse.
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Russian investigative newspaper Novaya Gazeta closed its newsroom after authorities designated it a “foreign agent” and banks stopped processing reader donations. The outlet had continued reporting on Russia’s war in Ukraine and government policies despite growing pressure on independent media.
Key Facts
Novaya Gazeta held its last editorial meeting on Monday and ended operations.
The newspaper said its closure followed its designation as a “foreign agent” in September.
The paper said banks stopped processing reader donations after the designation.
Authorities searched editor-in-chief Sergei Sokolov’s home in October and took him for questioning.
Editor Oleg Roldugin was arrested in April.
Cofounder Dmitry Muratov spoke at the closure of the newspaper’s Moscow office.
The Kremlin described the closure as part of “a normal cycle of change.”
Novaya Gazeta was co-founded by former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and funded with money from his Nobel Peace Prize.
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A 24-year-old man identified as Michal Oksinski died in hospital after a shooting in Krakow that killed six people and wounded 15. Polish prosecutors are treating the attack as a terrorist offence, but his motive remains unknown as residents mourn the victims.
Key Facts
The shooting took place in Krakow, Poland.
Six people were killed and 15 were wounded.
The suspect was identified as 24-year-old Michal Oksinski.
Oksinski died in hospital.
Prosecutors are treating the attack as a terrorist offence.
Authorities have not established the suspect’s motive.
Residents are mourning the victims.
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Russia’s independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta has closed after being evicted from its offices and facing pressure from authorities. The paper published investigations into corruption, human rights violations and abuse of power for 30 years.
Key Facts
Novaya Gazeta held a final editorial meeting on Monday before staff packed up and left its offices.
The newspaper published investigations into corruption, human rights violations and abuse of power.
Co-founder Dmitry Muratov is a Nobel Peace Prize winner.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov described Russia’s media as highly diverse.
Peskov called the closure part of a “standard rotational process.”
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An explosion at the Habas iron and steel plant near Izmir, western Turkey, killed at least 16 workers and injured 13. Authorities said a crane carrying a replacement boiler collapsed during maintenance, sending material into a furnace; search and rescue work and investigations are under way.
Key Facts
All those killed and injured were workers at the plant, authorities said.
The blast occurred around midday at the facility in Aliaga, near the port city of Izmir.
The company said the accident happened during scheduled maintenance on an electric arc furnace.
The local governor said some people may remain under the rubble.
Two injured workers were in serious condition, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said.
At least five people were arrested, according to local media reports cited by BBC News’s Turkish service.
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