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Zelenskyy Arrives in Oslo for Talks With Witkoff as Rubio Calls Claims the U.S. Is Withholding Intelligence ‘Scandalous’: October 20, 2026

OSLO, Norway — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy arrived in Norway on Tuesday for talks with U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff and European leaders, as relations between Kyiv and President Donald Trump continue to slide, BBC News and Al Jazeera reported.

Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre said Zelenskyy had asked Oslo and neighbouring Finland to organise the meeting “at a critical time for Ukraine,” and that the aim was to steer relations towards “a more constructive path.” Jared Kushner was expected to take part by video link, along with Finnish President Alexander Stubb and officials from the U.K., Poland, France, Germany, the EU and NATO, the BBC reported.

Before the talks, Zelenskyy said he had held a “substantive conversation” with Secretary of State Marco Rubio about ballistic missile interceptors, early warning of Russian attacks and SpaceX’s Starlink network:

Rubio, speaking in India, rejected suggestions that Washington was deliberately hindering Ukraine’s defences. “I saw someone associated with the Ukrainian government say that people of Ukraine are dying because the U.S. is denying them information,” he said. “That’s scandalous, that’s outrageous, that’s just simply not true,” CBC News reported. He denied any “deliberate political directive to harm Ukraine,” but acknowledged that Patriot interceptors may not yet have arrived. “I also talked to Saudi Arabia today, they’d like interceptors, Israel would like interceptors, we would like interceptors,” he said.

Rubio was responding after Zelenskyy’s military technical adviser, Serhii “Flash” Beskrestnov, told the BBC that the lack of reliable U.S. warnings meant lives were being lost. “Sometimes we receive this information before the attack, another time we [do] not,” he said.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said he hoped a meeting with Witkoff could be organised in the near future, adding that “we greatly appreciate the mediation efforts of the American negotiators.” It was not yet clear whether Witkoff would travel on to Russia, the BBC reported.

Russian attacks killed at least seven people across Ukraine on Tuesday, including three when two vehicles caught fire on the Kyiv-Odesa highway, CBC News reported. EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas told EU lawmakers in Strasbourg that “the only one who doesn’t want peace is Russia.”

Sources: BBC News, CBC News, Al Jazeera

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Driver Charged With Three Offences in Alleged Targeted Attack on Australian MP Helen Haines, Who Has Lost a Leg: October 20, 2026

WANGARATTA, Australia — Victoria Police have charged Brendan Nugent, 43, with three offences after independent MP Helen Haines was struck by a car outside her electorate office in Wangaratta on Monday, in what police will allege was a targeted attack, ABC News, The Guardian and CBC News reported.

Nugent, of nearby Tarrawingee, was charged with dangerous driving causing serious injury, intentionally causing serious injury and the federal offence of causing harm to a Commonwealth public official, which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years’ imprisonment, ABC News reported. He is due to appear in Wangaratta Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday.

The ABC confirmed that Haines, 65, has lost one leg and that doctors are fighting to save the other after she was pinned between two cars. She remained in a critical but stable condition at Melbourne’s Alfred hospital, The Guardian reported.

Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said witnesses described “the driver doing a U-turn to get into the car park and to ram Helen against a vehicle, then to reverse and do it a second time.” Police said one of their highway patrol officers responded only eight seconds after emergency services were called, and that a search warrant was executed at Nugent’s property on Tuesday morning.

Ricky Jefferies, whose barbershop is next door to Haines’s office, ran out to help detain the driver. “I had no choice but to take him out of the car because it was the right and safest thing to do,” he told reporters. Police confirmed a knife had been found. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese phoned Jefferies to thank him, saying, “It’s a reminder that at the worst of times, we see the best of the Australian character,” CBC News reported.

Nugent’s father, Rod Nugent, and his partner, Christine Cunningham, said in a statement that Haines had been their friend for more than 20 years. “What happened to her yesterday is devastating and unfathomable,” they said. “We will be assisting Victoria Police in any way we can.”

Police said the incident appears to have been isolated, with no other known threats. Burke said there were 1,067 reports of harassment or threats against high office holders in Australia in the last financial year, up from 951 the year before. “There is a direct line between the temperature of debate and things willing people will say, and then when people are willing to take action,” he said.

Sources: ABC News, The Guardian, CBC News

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Alberta Voters Overwhelmingly Reject Starting the Path Toward a Referendum on Leaving Canada: October 20, 2026

EDMONTON, Alberta — Voters in Alberta overwhelmingly chose to remain part of Canada in Monday’s referendum, rejecting a move to begin the legal process toward a binding vote on independence, according to unofficial results from Elections Alberta reported by NPR, BBC News and Al Jazeera.

With around 1.8 million votes counted, about 76% supported remaining in Canada and 24% backed beginning a process that could lead to separation, Al Jazeera reported. The vote was not a direct referendum on independence, but approval would have set the oil-rich province on a path toward a future vote on leaving Canada.

Results were delayed after late openings forced more than 100 polling stations to extend voting hours on Monday, NPR reported.

“Albertans made a clear choice,” Prime Minister Mark Carney said. “They chose unity, to build together, and to take care of each other. Above all, Albertans chose Canada.” Carney said the result would let Canadians accelerate efforts to diversify trade, develop major infrastructure projects and make Canada a global energy powerhouse, with Alberta at its center. He posted his statement on X:

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, who opposed separation but called the vote after a grassroots petition gathered about 300,000 signatures, welcomed the early results. “Albertans have voted for a stronger Alberta in a united Canada,” she posted on social media. Smith had said before the vote that if voters chose to remain, a referendum on separation would not be held, at least not while she was in power, the BBC reported. She said she would address the province Tuesday evening.

Separatist leaders said their campaign was not over. Jeffrey Rath, a Calgary lawyer and a leader of the Alberta Prosperity Project, told the BBC the vote was a “first step” and that “our movement isn’t stopping and we’re continuing to move forward.” Keith Wilson, another separatist leader, said “it is fair to say that at least a quarter of Albertans feel that Alberta needs to be treated better,” NPR reported. Separatists have indicated they plan to try to push Smith out as leader of the United Conservative Party, the BBC said.

Alberta’s independence push had drawn interest from allies of President Donald Trump, including Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who called Alberta Washington’s “natural partner,” Al Jazeera reported. Trump’s trade war and threats to make Canada the 51st state helped Carney rally support in a province where Liberal prime ministers have historically been unpopular, according to NPR.

Nine other questions were on Monday’s ballot, five on immigration and four on the Canadian constitution, and are still being tallied. Quebec held two unsuccessful independence referendums, in 1980 and 1995.

Sources: NPR, BBC News, Al Jazeera

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Houthi Ballistic Missiles Kill at Least 18 at a Yemeni Government Training Camp in Shabwa: October 19, 2026

ADEN, Yemen — Houthi ballistic missiles struck a government security forces training camp in Yemen’s Shabwa province on Monday, killing at least 18 people, government and medical sources told Reuters, according to The National.

Tolls varied. A government military official and a medical source told China’s Xinhua news agency that at least 25 soldiers were killed and more than 30 injured, while Shabwa’s deputy governor said about 40 people were killed or wounded at the Al-Alam camp in Jardan district, Anadolu Agency reported, citing the local outlet Yemen Monitor.

The Iran-aligned Houthis fired three ballistic missiles at a center training security and police recruits, Yemeni military spokesman Majed al-Nuzaili said on X. There was no immediate comment from the Houthis.

Rashad al-Alimi, head of Yemen’s Presidential Leadership Council, said the targeting of recruits reflected the Houthis’ practice of resorting to “cowardly terrorist attacks” whenever they faced pressure, and ordered authorities to respond firmly, the state Saba news agency reported.

Fighting has intensified since the Houthis advanced in September toward the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. Government forces this month launched a campaign to recapture Houthi-held areas, while the group besieges Taiz. The Houthis have also fired dozens of drones and missiles at Saudi Arabia, including an attack on Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport that killed 13 people, as Al Jazeera reported.

The spokesman for the Saudi-led coalition, Maj. Gen. Turki al-Maliki, has confirmed the presence of an unnamed external state actor behind the Houthis’ evolving arsenal, amid media reports of support from Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, which Iran and the Houthis deny.

Sources: The National, Anadolu Agency, Xinhua, Al Jazeera

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Israeli Police Arrest 10 Over Settler Attacks on a U.S. Photojournalist and European Diplomats in the West Bank: October 19, 2026

JERUSALEM — Israeli police said Monday they had arrested 10 suspects in the occupied West Bank after masked settlers attacked an American photojournalist and European diplomats last week, BBC News and Al Jazeera reported.

The unnamed suspects were detained at several locations on suspicion of acts of violence, violating a closed military zone order and illegal construction, police said, and potential evidence and vehicles were seized. Israel’s Army Radio said all of them were Israeli citizens.

On Friday, settlers beat Washington Post photojournalist Heidi Levine as she covered an olive harvest in the village of Abu Falah. She suffered four broken vertebrae, a broken rib and lacerations, and needed surgery on a finger, the BBC reported. A day later, settlers confronted a delegation of Belgian, French, Polish and Catholic Church envoys in nearby Taybeh, where French mayor Bernard Baudoux was assaulted.

U.S. Ambassador Mike Huckabee called the arrests “a very positive development in finding & punishing those who severely attacked and beat” Levine. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office, however, described the incidents as “alleged” attacks amid what it called a “co-ordinated campaign to smear Israel.”

Speaking from her hospital bed, Levine told the BBC that Netanyahu’s response was “a big slap on my face” and that he should have sent a “clear message” telling settlers to end their attacks. Netanyahu’s coalition is projected to lose its governing majority in the Oct. 27 election, as Al Jazeera reported.

The Israeli rights group Yesh Din said it logged 269 incidents of violence tied to the olive harvest over the previous 20 days. Between 2005 and 2025, more than 93% of Israeli police investigations into ideologically motivated offenses by Israelis against Palestinians in the West Bank ended without an indictment, according to the group.

Sources: BBC News, Al Jazeera

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Russian Ballistic Missiles Cut Power to 550,000 Ukrainian Homes as Zelenskyy Says Partners Again Gave No Warning and Rubio Denies Any Pause: October 19, 2026

KYIV, Ukraine — Russia fired 16 ballistic missiles at Ukraine overnight into Monday, hitting energy facilities in and around Kyiv and cutting power to some 550,000 households, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, adding that Kyiv once again received no early warning from its partners, DW reported.

“Another Russian ballistic missile attack came in several waves overnight, and once again, there was no early warning from our partners,” Zelenskyy wrote on X. He said energy facilities and infrastructure were targeted, but a medical clinic, a school, a metro station and residential buildings were also damaged.

At least one person was killed, Ukrainian authorities said. Ukraine’s air force said 243 of 269 Shahed drones launched in the attack were downed or suppressed, along with four missiles. Russia’s Defense Ministry said it hit a data center, a train depot storing missiles and sites linked to drone production.

Air force spokesman Yuri Ihnat said Ukraine got no warning before a barrage hit Kyiv power plants at around 11 p.m. Sunday, though it did before a later strike at 3 a.m., The Guardian reported. Ukraine says it was not warned on at least three days in the past week.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio, speaking in Uzbekistan, denied any pause in U.S. intelligence sharing. “I don’t know where [Zelenskyy’s] getting these things or why he’s saying these things to the press. You should go back and ask him. There’s been no pause,” he said, as DW reported. Rubio also said that “a few nights ago there was a software problem involving their early warning system.”

The dispute follows President Donald Trump’s waiver on Friday of a sweeping package of Russia sanctions. “Zelenskyy doesn’t care,” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Sunday, saying the Ukrainian leader “doesn’t want to end this war, and probably never did.”

Separately, the Kremlin said Monday that Vladimir Putin, Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping could potentially meet at next month’s Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Shenzhen, China, though spokesman Dmitry Peskov said no concrete proposals or agenda had been discussed, France 24 reported. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said such a meeting “would do only the opposite: encourage Putin to continue this war.”

Sources: DW, The Guardian, France 24

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France’s Prime Minister Calls for Partial Curfews as Macron Refuses His Interior Minister’s Resignation Over the Riots: October 19, 2026

PARIS — French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu said Monday he had asked regional authorities to impose “local and partial” curfews in some cities, after the government conceded that police had “lost control” in several places during a weekend of rioting and looting, The Guardian reported.

Speaking after an emergency cabinet meeting, Lecornu said he was “fully resolved to restore public order” and that there was “no question” of a full curfew on entire cities such as Paris. A state of emergency could be declared if deemed necessary, he said, but partial curfews seemed “more appropriate” for now. He did not say which cities would be affected.

Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said he had offered his resignation because he felt “responsible for everything that happened.” President Emmanuel Macron refused it, instead asking him to “take all necessary steps to ensure transparency over the failures in planning and intelligence that led to the violence” and to roll out new methods for dealing with looters, as Al Jazeera reported.

Nuñez acknowledged a “lack of anticipation.” Intelligence had pointed to about 200,000 demonstrators nationwide; more than 500,000 turned out. “You couldn’t look shopkeepers in the eye after hundreds of shops had been looted and say we hadn’t lost control,” he told French radio. About 60,000 police and other security forces had been deployed.

Nearly 2,400 people were arrested, about 70% of them adults, and almost 1,000 police officers and gendarmes were injured, authorities said. Paris Mayor Emmanuel Grégoire said about 30 shops were targeted in the capital on Sunday, with a further 350 arrests overnight. On Monday, protesters blocked the entrances to the Louvre, which could not open as scheduled.

Markets were rattled. France’s 10-year government bond yield rose 10 basis points to 4.89%, widening the gap with German borrowing costs, and the CAC 40 index fell 1.2% in morning trading, The Guardian reported.

Sources: The Guardian, Al Jazeera, The Guardian (markets)

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Lula and Flávio Bolsonaro Trade Insults in a Bitter First Debate a Week Before Brazil’s Presidential Run-Off: October 19, 2026

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and right-wing Senator Flávio Bolsonaro traded insults and corruption accusations in their first head-to-head debate on Sunday night, a week before Brazil’s Oct. 25 presidential run-off, BBC News and DW reported.

Bolsonaro, standing for the Liberal Party, won 47% of the vote in the Oct. 4 first round to Lula’s 45.2%, and polls suggest the two are neck and neck, the BBC reported. Since Brazil’s return to democracy in 1988, no candidate who trailed in the first round has gone on to win the run-off, though Lula has told supporters he will “win in extra time.”

Lula called Bolsonaro “a habitual liar, a thug,” alluding to his alleged ties to Rio de Janeiro’s paramilitary groups, and said, “It is striking how the Bolsonaro family is subservient to American interests,” accusing him of conspiring to “hand over” Brazil’s rare earth minerals to the United States, as DW reported.

Bolsonaro, who dismisses the militia allegations as fake news, said it was better to keep his distance “so that my wallet isn’t stolen,” and held up the palm of his hand, on which he had written “CORRUPTO.” Campaigning on an iron-fist approach to crime, he challenged Lula to explain why crime rose during his term. Lula pledged to open his and his family’s financial and phone records to judicial scrutiny and dared his rival to do the same.

Analysts said personal attacks crowded out policy. “The independent voter, who is sometimes against Bolsonaro and sometimes against the Workers’ Party, came out of it with a very negative impression,” said Yuri Sanches of the pollster AtlasIntel. A second and final debate is planned for Friday.

Tens of thousands of supporters of both candidates rallied across Brazil before the debate, DW reported. In São Paulo, Bolsonaro supporters called for the release of his father, former President Jair Bolsonaro, who is serving a 27-year sentence under house arrest over a coup attempt.

Sources: BBC News, DW

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Alberta Votes on Whether to Start the Legal Path Toward a Referendum on Leaving Canada: October 19, 2026

EDMONTON, Alberta — Voters in Alberta go to the polls Monday to decide whether the oil-rich Canadian province should begin the legal process toward a binding referendum on leaving Canada, the first time the province has put the question of separation to a public vote, BBC News and NPR reported.

Premier Danielle Smith called the vote after a grassroots group gathered about 300,000 signatures on a petition seeking a binding referendum on separation, the BBC reported. A rival petition opposing separation drew more than 400,000 signatures in a province of about five million people.

The key question asks: “Should Alberta remain a province of Canada or should the Government of Alberta commence the legal process required under the Canadian Constitution to hold a binding provincial referendum on whether or not Alberta should separate from Canada?” Voters are also deciding nine other questions, several of them on whether the province should have more control over immigration.

Polls suggest most Albertans will vote to stay, and pollsters generally estimate that about one in five support separation, according to NPR. Smith, who opposes separation herself, has said she will respect the result; if voters back moving ahead, a binding referendum could come as soon as 2027, she has said.

Prime Minister Mark Carney returned to his hometown of Edmonton last week to urge Albertans to stay. “A vote against Canada is a dangerous bluff that will lead to years of deep uncertainty and lost opportunities for Albertans and Canadians,” he told a unity rally.

Separatists argue that Ottawa’s environmental policies have stifled Alberta’s oil and gas sector. A government-commissioned University of Calgary report estimated that separating could cost as much as 170 billion Canadian dollars over five years, NPR reported. In May, an Alberta court ruled that the separatist petition violated Indigenous rights because First Nations had not been consulted; the province has appealed.

Ballots are counted by hand. Counting begins no earlier than 8 p.m. local time (7 p.m. Pacific), with the separation question tallied first, and officials have said its result should be available in the early hours of Tuesday, the BBC reported.

Sources: BBC News, NPR

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Australian MP Helen Haines Critically Injured After Being Deliberately Hit by a Car Outside Her Office, Albanese Says: October 19, 2026

WANGARATTA, Australia — Australian independent lawmaker Helen Haines was in critical condition on Monday after being struck by a car outside her electorate office in Wangaratta, Victoria, in what Prime Minister Anthony Albanese called a deliberate act, CBC News, NPR and Al Jazeera reported.

“This wasn’t an accident. There was a deliberate act, it would appear. We don’t know what the motivation is,” Albanese told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. Haines, 65, was airlifted to hospital, he said.

Police said a Toyota Land Cruiser struck Haines outside her office in the regional city, about 200 kilometers (124 miles) northeast of Melbourne. Bystanders detained the 43-year-old driver and handed him over to police, who found a knife in the vehicle, Victoria Police acting Superintendent Ashley Mason said, as Al Jazeera reported. Police said there was no further threat to the public.

Albanese said the motive was not yet known and that the national counterterrorism team, which brings together police and intelligence agencies, was investigating, NPR reported.

Haines has represented the rural Victorian seat of Indi since 2019, after three decades in rural health care as a nurse, midwife and academic. In Parliament she has championed climate action and regional housing and worked with the Labor government to establish the National Anti-Corruption Commission, CBC News reported. Albanese called her “a thoroughly decent, respectful human being.”

Her family thanked “the swift assistance of bystanders and the dedicated health workers who assisted her, and police for their response” in a statement posted on her Facebook page.

Opposition Leader Angus Taylor called it a “shocking day” for Australia. “Our nation cannot become a place where violent attacks are normalized,” he said. Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said police recorded more than 1,000 threats against politicians in the 2025-26 financial year, and Australian Federal Police Commissioner Krissy Barrett said in 2025 that threats against parliamentarians had doubled over three years.

Albanese said there had been “too much shouting, not enough discourse,” adding that there was “no question” social media played a part.

Sources: CBC News, NPR, Al Jazeera

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