“Prosecutors indicted a 20-year-old US Marine on Sunday on suspicion of robbing and murdering a woman in Okinawa earlier this month as the case renews anti-base sentiment among locals burdened with hosting the bulk of US military installations in Japan. Devin Ballard, who is stationed at Futenma Air Base, is charged with killing the woman by wrapping a phone cord around her neck at a hotel in Naha, the capital of the southern island prefecture, and taking her backpack containing a wallet on October 3, according to the indictment. The cause of death was suffocation, it said. … Following the incident, Okinawa Governor Genta Koja has stepped up calls on the central government to take preventive measures, with locals already angered by past crimes committed by American service members, including those against women and girls, in addition to noise and pollution issues.” (10/25/26)
“In his first rally of the 2026 midterm cycle, former President Barack Obama slammed President Donald Trump and Ohio gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, calling out the latter’s much-maligned campaign ad centering on Democrat Amy Acton’s mother. ‘There’s gotta be something inside you where you just say no office is worth stooping that low,’ Obama said of Ramaswamy’s choice to run the ad. With the midterms just over a week away, Obama was rallying in Cleveland in support of Acton and Democratic Senate candidate Sherrod Brown. Trump, Obama said, had broken a slew of promises he made on the campaign trail in 2024, ensnaring the country in an ongoing war in Iran and failing to bring down costs. Instead, ‘he’s got the White House looking like Saddam Hussein opened a Cheesecake Factory,’ the former president said, taking aim at Trump’s renovations to the executive mansion.” (10/24/26)
“Ugandan citizens returning to the country with a history of travel to Democratic Republic of Congo will be quarantined for 21 days, Health Minister Chris Baryomunsi said on Sunday as Uganda tightened Ebola precautions despite saying it remained Ebola-free. Uganda has been investigating a Nigerian Ebola case involving a woman who had travelled from Uganda. Officials said they were reviewing genomic sequencing, travel information, interactions and movements in coordination with Nigerian authorities and international partners.” (10/25/26)
“With an incumbent Maine US senator from his own party locked in a tight reelection battle, President Donald Trump signed an order on Friday to remove 50% tariffs on [American buyers of] some Canadian agricultural and forestry products in a move that could benefit companies from the northern state. The Republican president’s hefty tariffs on Canada have caused friction with the US neighbor to the north while creating problems for American businesses in Maine and other states that rely on certain Canadian goods. … Trump’s order exempted plywood sheets, some paper products, certain machinery and refrigeration equipment, and packing crates and boxes, as well as fresh and dried seaweed, the White House said. The changes take effect on October 30, four days before the election.” (10/23/26)
“Unknown gunmen have raided a remote village in the northeast Nigerian state of Taraba, killing at least 10 people, looting shops and setting houses ablaze, police say. There are fears the actual death toll is much higher, with eyewitnesses speaking of 20 lives lost and a non-governmental organisation suggesting a toll of as many as 50. The gunmen reportedly swooped on the village of Binnari in the Karim Lamido area mounted on motorcycles just after midday Muslim prayers on Friday in a rampage that went on for up to four hours. Police say they are searching for other casualties in the bush but the authorities were accused by Amnesty International of failing to protect rural communities. Nigeria continues to face attacks by armed groups across several regions, including the northwest, northeast and central regions.” (10/24/26)
“Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport resumed flights on Sunday after a two-week closure that followed strikes by Yemen’s Houthis on the Saudi capital, though the Iran-backed group warned more attacks would come. The Flightradar monitoring website showed a plane taking off from the airport early on Sunday, bound for Jeddah. … The Saudi-led military coalition fighting the Houthis said early on Sunday that it had shot down drones over the Riyadh area.” (10/25/26)
“Two people have been pulled alive from the rubble of a building that collapsed in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, on Friday, as a search continues for five still missing. Police said on Saturday that a manhunt had been launched for the building’s owner and the contractor responsible for the site. Dramatic footage shows the bottom floor of the block, thought to have been 16 or 18 stories, giving way before the rest of the building crumples, sending a plume of dust into the surrounding streets. Dozens of builders had been working on the upper floors when it collapsed, but managed to emerge largely unscathed. Those missing were thought to have been in shops at the base of the building. The incident has raised fresh concerns about construction standards and regulations in Kenya.” (10/24/26)
“A Texas man was sentenced Friday to more than four years in prison for running a $3.1 million Ponzi scheme that promised investors profits from promoting NBA preseason games. Timothy France Johnson, 63 of El Paso, was sentenced to 51 months in federal prison and ordered to pay a $3.1 million money judgment. According to prosecutors, Johnson spent 11 years convincing investors to give him money that he claimed would be used to promote NBA preseason basketball games. He then used the money to pay earlier investors and cover personal expenses.” (10/24/26)
“El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele on Saturday denied that human remains handed over to his military teams at Haiti ’s airport were the bodies of the four Salvadorans reported missing after coming under attack by gangs on Oct. 18. An official with El Salvador ’s government, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak on the matter, confirmed that the bodies found were not those of the missing aviation technicians. The four missing Salvadorans are members of a gang suppression force established by the U.N. Security Council to combat organized crime in the Caribbean nation. Bukele has clarified that the Salvadorans are aviation technicians, not troops trained for combat.” (10/24/26)
“Hundreds of thousands marched in cities across France on Saturday in largely peaceful protests to support schoolchildren’s demands for more teachers and repairs to dilapidated buildings, as Emmanuel Macron faces a social and political crisis in his final months as president. In Paris, at least 110,000 people marched along the eastern edge of the city, according to government estimates. They supported high schoolers but also complained of the high cost of living and the government’s heavy policing, saying riot police had been sent to target school protesters over the past month, instead of the government offering political solutions. … But at the end of the Paris demonstration, at Porte de Vincennes on the city’s eastern edge, different groups of masked men dressed in black emerged who had not appeared to have taken part in the peaceful march.” (10/24/26)
