“Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed reiterated on Monday that his landlocked country must have access to the Red Sea, despite neighboring countries saying at a summit Sunday that responsibility for the sea rests with states along its shores and warning of the risk of regional conflict. Ethiopia lost direct access to the Red Sea in 1993 after Eritrea, formerly a region of Ethiopia, became independent. Abiy said access to the Red Sea was critical to Ethiopia’s ‘civilization’ and that he would work to ensure the country has a port. … Ethiopia’s relations with its regional neighbors have deteriorated in recent months. The country also faces renewed war with separatist rebels in the northern Tigray region.” (10/05/26)
“The U.S. military said it attacked a boat suspected of being used to smuggle drugs in the Caribbean Sea on Sunday, [murdering] four people, as the Trump administration continues its yearlong campaign against alleged traffickers in Latin America. The latest attack brings the number of people who have been [murdered] in boat strikes by the U.S. military to at least 235 in 70 strikes since the administration began targeting those it calls ‘narcoterrorists’ in September 2025.” (10/05/26)
“The co-pilot accused of trying to hijack a flydubai plane planned to crash the aircraft into Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion airport or a tower block in the Israeli city, US and Israeli reports suggest. The Omani national was ‘a lone wolf’ extremist, according to the reports. The United Arab Emirates’ attorney-general has said the co-pilot attempted to carry out ‘a terrorist act’ on flight FZ1073 from Dubai to Tel Aviv last Wednesday. He attacked and wounded the captain with the emergency crash axe kept in the cockpit before being overpowered by passengers. Another crew travelling on the plane was able to land it in Saudi Arabia. Israel’s prime minister has said the co-pilot underwent ‘Islamist radical indoctrination’ and the captain, passengers and a second crew prevented ‘a 9/11 disaster’.” (10/05/26)
“Authorities in France were forced to close as many as 500 high schools across the country as protests by thousands of students over the state of the education system extended into a third week. Education Minister Édouard Geffray announced Sunday that the schools would not reopen after the weekend with classes at 400 to 500 partially or completely canceled because of security that did not meet the levels required. Accusing left wing extremists of exploiting the dispute, Geffray said 78 staff had been injured and 24 schools ‘burned or ransacked’ since the protests, which he said were unprecedented, erupted Sept. 21 in low-income districts of Paris’ southeastern suburbs.” (10/05/26)
“Forces of the Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen have recaptured several key areas around Bab el-Mandeb Strait from Iran-backed Houthi rebels, Yemeni officials said Monday. The officials said forces allied with the internationally recognized government have retaken the crucial town of Dhubab just north of the strait. They also captured the towns of Bab and Hadeid, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to reporters. Witnesses said they saw government tanks and forces entering the towns. The government push came as part of a major offensive launched early Monday under air cover by a Saudi military coalition. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters that it was expected that the Saudi-backed government in Yemen would hit back at the rebels to reclaim territory.” (10/05/26)
“Former U.S. House speaker Dennis Hastert is dead at 84. Hastert died at his home in Illinois over the weekend due to natural causes, Kendall County Coroner Jacquie Purcell told USA TODAY Oct. 5. As the 59th Speaker of the House, the former lawmaker from Illinois’ 14th congressional districtwas the longest serving Republican speaker in history. … Hastert served 13 of a 15 month prison sentence in connection to a bank fraud conviction linked to his effort to buy the silence of a former student he sexually abused during his days as a high school wrestling coach in Illinois, USA TODAY previously reported.” (10/05/26)
“For many Okinawa locals, the arrest of a US soldier [sic] accused of robbing and killing a woman in a hotel room has reignited decades of frustration over crimes involving US military personnel there. ‘Honestly my first reaction was, ‘Not again!” 52-year-old longtime Okinawa resident Ai Sato told the BBC. ‘Nothing has changed since I was a child. How many times are we going to repeat the same thing, create more victims, cause their families to suffer, and ultimately, cause the people of Okinawa to grieve?’ Akemi Oshiro, a 62-year-old Ginowan resident shared similar sentiments. ‘I know we shouldn’t get used to terrible things like this, but because they keep happening, I’ve stopped being surprised’, she told the BBC. Okinawa hosts the largest US military presence in Japan. It is home to several US military bases and tens of thousands of American troops.” (10/05/26)
“Britain’s disgraced former prince, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, has launched a High Court challenge ‘to quash search warrants’ obtained by police ahead of his arrest earlier this year, the judiciary confirmed Monday. The London court is set to hold a private hearing on Thursday, the judiciary said in a statement, as King Charles III’s brother challenges Thames Valley Police over searches of his former and current homes on royal estates. The force arrested the 66-year-old on his birthday on February 19 on suspicion of misconduct in public office related to his links to late US sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. He was released later that day while remaining under investigation. The ex-prince has denied all wrongdoing.” (10/05/26)
“A federal appeals court heard opposing arguments Monday over whether a judge had the authority to restore billions of dollars in funding that the Trump administration cut from Harvard University. U.S. District Judge Allison Burroughs ruled last year that the cuts amounted to illegal retaliation for Harvard’s rejection of the administration’s demands for changes to Harvard’s governance and policies. The government had tied the move to Harvard’s delays in dealing with antisemitism, but the judge said the university’s federally backed research had little connection to discrimination against Jews. The ruling restored more than $2.6 billion in research funding for the wealthy Ivy League school. Though the money has resumed flowing, a Justice Department attorney told a three-judge panel of the First U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday that Burroughs lacked the legal power to require the administration to pay it.” (10/05/26)
“The FBI has arrested a ‘Chinese foreign agent’ at Los Angeles International Airport accused of spying on the Taiwanese president’s son. Wanying Zhang, also known as Heather, was arrested on Sunday before her planned departure to China, the first assistant US attorney for the Central District of California, Bill Essayli, said in a post on X. Authorities charged Zhang, 34, of Irvine, California, with acting as an unregistered foreign agent. Zhang surveilled Taiwanese President William Lai Ching-te’s son, the FBI said. The agency did not directly name Zhang’s alleged target, but later shared a news article identifying him as Lai Ting-yu.” (10/05/26)
