Russia answered Washington’s diesel deal with glide bombs on Zaporizhzhia; three storms are working over North America at once; and New Delhi locked itself down to keep a youth protest off its streets. Ten stories as of Saturday morning, October 10.
1. Zaporizhzhia / Ukraine. Russia dropped five glide bombs on residential buildings in the south-eastern city of Zaporizhzhia on Saturday morning, killing at least 15 people, including three children, and injuring at least 16, with more people believed trapped under the rubble, officials said, BBC News reported. “Today, Russia expressed its thanks for the lifting of sanctions on diesel exports by dropping five glide bombs on residential buildings in Zaporizhzhia,” President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, a jab at Donald Trump’s Friday deal to buy Russian diesel. Ukraine’s largest private energy provider reported “large-scale power outages” in Kyiv. Europe isn’t following Washington’s lead: “This is not the time to ease pressure on Russia, and Europe won’t,” EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said, adding that foreign ministers intend on Monday to approve the biggest set of sanctions listings since the war began, and Berlin said it “remains committed” to the sanctions, The Guardian reported.
2. U.S. Gulf Coast and Pacific Mexico / United States and Mexico. Isaias weakened to a post-tropical cyclone on Saturday after coming ashore near Destin, Florida, as a Category 2. Two people were killed by falling trees, one in Escambia County, Florida, and one in Birmingham, Alabama, and more than 868,000 customers were without power across Florida, Alabama and Georgia early Saturday, The Guardian reported. Flash flooding and tornadoes are still possible. On the Pacific side, Hurricane Simon is “a dangerous Category 4” with 150 mph winds, about 115 miles south-southwest of Manzanillo as of 9 a.m. CST, and is expected to be near or just inland of west-central Mexico on Sunday, with 10–20 inches of rain and up to 30 inches in parts of Michoacán, Colima and Jalisco, the National Hurricane Center said. Farther north, Tropical Storm Rachel (60 mph) is due to move onshore in northern Baja California tonight, and a tropical storm watch now covers the Southern California coast from the Mexican border to the San Diego–Orange County line (NHC). It’s one of three storm systems hitting North America this weekend, BBC News noted.
3. New Delhi / India. Police boarded the plane carrying Abhijeet Dipke, founder of the youth-led Cockroach Janta Party, as it landed in Delhi on Saturday and detained him and other leaders before their march against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, BBC News reported. The capital was in lockdown: the Jantar Mantar protest site was sealed, trains into New Delhi were cancelled, mobile internet was suspended, and metro stations and markets were shut, Al Jazeera reported. More than 6,000 people trying to reach the site were bused away, and former Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal was among those detained, according to The Guardian. The anger is over a voter-roll revision that removed about 130 million names. The Election Commission and the BJP deny any bias, and BJP spokesman Sambit Patra called it a “flop show.”
4. Riyadh / Saudi Arabia. King Khalid International Airport was evacuated on Saturday after a loud blast, two international news agencies reported, and a Reuters eyewitness saw more than a dozen ambulances rushing to the airport, BBC News reported. Saudi authorities have not commented, and the airport told passengers to check with their airlines. There was no immediate Houthi statement, though the Iran-backed group claimed this week’s earlier strikes on the airport, which killed Saudis including a Saudia pilot. Etihad and Qatar Airways have cancelled Riyadh flights, some into Monday, DW reported. This one is still developing.
5. Blue Nile / Sudan. A drone strike by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces on a camp for displaced people in the Abu Shandi area near the Ethiopian border killed 41 people on Friday, the rights group Emergency Lawyers said, BBC News reported; eight children are said to be among the dead. The UN humanitarian office said it was “appalled by horrifying reports” and that most casualties appeared to be women and children, in an area that has been “under sustained attack in recent weeks.” The war between the army and the RSF has displaced more than 14 million people since 2023.
6. Ramallah and Gaza / Palestinian territories. President Mahmoud Abbas postponed what would have been the first Palestinian elections in nearly 20 years. A decree folds the legislative vote that had been set for November 28 into a joint presidential and parliamentary election on September 11, 2027, the official Wafa agency said, Al Jazeera reported. The PLO Executive Committee said Israel hadn’t allowed election materials or international observers into Gaza, while Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar accused Abbas of “fooling the international community.” On the first anniversary of the U.S.-backed ceasefire, at least seven people, including an eight-year-old girl, were killed in Israeli attacks in Gaza, and the Health Ministry says 1,481 Palestinians have been killed since the truce took effect, Al Jazeera reported.
7. Taipei / Taiwan. “Our aim in increasing investment in national defence is not to provoke, but to deter war,” President Lai Ching-te said in his National Day address outside the Presidential Office. His government has budgeted a record NT$1.1 trillion (about $34.5 billion) for defence in 2027, more than 3% of GDP, DW reported. Lai welcomed U.S.-China talks but said Beijing must respect “the right of the people of Taiwan to exist,” and he accused China of using military and grey-zone pressure to change the status quo, Focus Taiwan (CNA) reported. A senior U.S. official said “a routine speech is no justification for aggressive or coercive actions.” Saturday marked 115 years since the 1911 revolution.
8. Vatican City / Holy See and United States. On the World Day Against the Death Penalty, Pope Leo XIV posted that capital punishment “is inadmissible because it is an attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person,” Vatican News reported. The American pope didn’t name the case, but the post came hours after Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican secretary of state, called the Pentagon’s plan to livestream the December 3 firing-squad execution of Fort Hood gunman Nidal Hasan “unacceptable,” saying “it is certainly unacceptable to turn death into a spectacle.” Back in Washington, Vice President JD Vance said “I don’t know that that’s actually going to happen,” while President Trump said he “absolutely” approved of the plan, BBC News reported.
9. Santiago / Chile. Las Condes, the eastern Santiago district hit by mudslides, has been declared a disaster zone, and more than 1,000 residents have been evacuated, Al Jazeera reported. Thursday’s torrents swept cars through the streets and injured at least six people, including a one-year-old, and President José Antonio Kast declared a state of emergency for the district. Mayor Catalina San Martín said 14.4 cm (5.7 inches) of rain had fallen in recent days, about nine times the October average, and the Mapocho River overflowed, the Associated Press reported via NBC News. The World Meteorological Organization says this El Niño could be among the most intense since 1950.
10. Suva / Fiji. Fiji’s government has told Washington to show its evidence after the U.S. State Department accused Zhao Fugang, director of the Overseas Chinese Service Center in Suva, of “significant corruption,” saying he paid bribes to advance Chinese government, business and criminal interests. Zhao, a prominent local businessman, denied it. “Allegations do not constitute proof of wrongdoing,” the government said on Facebook, insisting any case be handled through Fijian law enforcement, AFP reported via The Manila Times. A 2024 investigation by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project had described Zhao as a key point man for Beijing’s interests in Fiji.
Coming Up
Confirmed dates on The Watch: October 12, the Nobel economics prize, the last of this year’s Nobels. October 12–18, the IMF and World Bank Annual Meetings in Bangkok, with G20 finance ministers there October 15. October 15–16, the European Council in Brussels.
Sources: BBC News; The Guardian; Al Jazeera; DW; U.S. National Hurricane Center; Focus Taiwan (CNA); Vatican News; Associated Press; AFP.
