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Alvaro Pulido, Alex Saab’s Fugitive Partner in Venezuelan Bribery Schemes, Is Taken Into U.S. Custody After a $10 Million Manhunt: October 12, 2026

MIAMI — Alvaro Pulido, a Colombian businessman wanted for years in the United States on charges of laundering money from bribery schemes involving Venezuelan government officials, has been taken into U.S. custody, The Associated Press and the U.S. Justice Department reported.

Pulido was indicted in Miami federal court in 2019 and again in 2021 as part of an investigation into his longtime business partner, Alex Saab, a onetime ally of ousted Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, AP said. The Drug Enforcement Administration and the State Department had offered a reward of up to $10 million for information leading to his arrest. A Homeland Security Task Force spokesperson, Nicole Navas Oxman, said Sunday that the investigation was led by the DEA, FBI and Homeland Security Investigations. Details of where and how he was arrested were not released.

The 62-year-old, also known as German Enrique Rubio Salas, is due to make his initial appearance Tuesday afternoon in the Southern District of Florida, the Justice Department said. The 2021 indictment accuses him and four co-defendants of paying bribes to win about $1.6 billion in contracts to supply food and medicine through CLAP, a Venezuelan government program, inflating costs to fund the bribes, and moving about $180 million through or to the United States.

The 2019 case accuses Pulido and Saab of laundering about $350 million from a bribery scheme built around a contract to construct low-income housing, in which prosecutors say they exploited Venezuela’s government-controlled exchange rate with fraudulent import documents. He faces 13 money-laundering-related counts across the two cases, each carrying up to 20 years in prison. The department said he also had a 1997 drug-trafficking conviction in Italy under his alias.

“Those accused of exploiting the American financial system should understand that distance, borders, and time will not shield them from the reach of the American legal system,” the department said in its statement.

Sources: The Associated Press, U.S. Department of Justice

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Americans Robert Hall and Michael Woodford Win the Nobel Economics Prize for Models Central Banks Use to Tame Economic Shocks: October 12, 2026

STOCKHOLM — U.S. economists Robert E. Hall of Stanford University and Michael Woodford of Columbia University won the 2026 Nobel memorial prize in economic sciences on Monday for work on how monetary and fiscal policy can smooth out swings in the economy, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced, Al Jazeera, CBC News and The Guardian reported.

“The laureates’ work has provided us with a stable theoretical foundation for the models that are now used by central banks and governments around the world,” said John Hassler, chair of the prize committee. “With them, we are better equipped to deal with shocks in the economy, such as energy crises or sudden changes in how much households consume.”

The academy credited the pair with “a paradigm shift in stabilisation policy.” When the oil shocks of the 1970s brought high inflation and high unemployment at the same time, the Keynesian models then in use stopped working. “This is the Keynesian recipe and it worked well — until it didn’t,” committee member Timo Boppart said, according to CBC News. Hall built models on forward-looking household behavior, and Woodford built on that work to create the New Keynesian model, now the main tool for policymakers, which was used after the 2008 financial crisis, The Guardian said.

Woodford spoke to the committee by phone from New York. “It’s a tremendous honour, it’s a surprise,” he said.

The prize, formally the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel, was established by Sweden’s central bank and first awarded in 1969. It is worth a combined $1.2 million and is the last of this year’s Nobel prizes. Last year’s winners were Joel Mokyr, Philippe Aghion and Peter Howitt.

Sources: Al Jazeera, CBC News, The Guardian

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Federal Agents Search Rep. Ilhan Omar’s Washington Home in a Criminal Investigation Three Weeks Before the Midterms: October 12, 2026

WASHINGTON — Federal agents searched the Washington home of Democratic U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota on Monday morning as part of a criminal investigation, The Associated Press reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

The search was carried out by Homeland Security Investigations agents, the people said. The Justice Department said HSI agents executed a judicially authorized search warrant secured by the department in the Washington, D.C., area but gave no other details. “This enforcement action is part of an ongoing federal criminal investigation,” the department said.

Fox News, citing unnamed sources, reported that agents were examining immigration paperwork that the congresswoman’s father filled out when she was a child, and posted video of what appeared to be officers in HSI jackets at the residence, according to The Guardian. Neither Omar’s office, the Justice Department, the Department of Homeland Security nor the White House immediately responded to the Guardian’s requests for comment.

President Donald Trump and his allies have accused Omar of obtaining citizenship fraudulently, and Trump has openly talked about denaturalizing her. Omar has consistently denied the accusations.

Omar, 44, represents Minnesota’s 5th District, which includes Minneapolis. First elected in 2018, she and Rep. Rashida Tlaib became the first Muslim women in Congress. The search comes three weeks before the midterm elections and is likely to bring new accusations that Trump is using the government for political ends, The Guardian said.

Sources: The Associated Press, The Guardian

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Air Strikes Kill at Least 72 Gold Prospectors on the Sudan–Egypt Border, Rights Group Says, Accusing Egypt’s Air Force: October 12, 2026

KHARTOUM, Sudan — Air strikes killed at least 72 civilians prospecting for gold at a remote mining area on Sudan’s border with Egypt on Saturday, the Khartoum-based rights group Emergency Lawyers said, accusing Egypt’s air force of carrying out the attack, BBC News and DW reported.

The group said jets targeted artisanal miners at popular gold-mining sites in Northern State, south of the disputed Halaib Triangle and east of the River Nile, in rugged territory it says lies inside Sudan. “The deliberate targeting of unarmed civilians violates international humanitarian law and the right to life,” Emergency Lawyers said in a statement on Sunday. “These acts may constitute war crimes.”

Neither the Egyptian government nor Sudan’s de facto authorities had commented, the BBC said. Egypt has previously acknowledged a “large-scale operation” against illegal gold mining within its borders, according to DW. Independent verification is difficult because of the site’s remoteness.

The toll is provisional. The Sudan Doctors Network warned it would likely rise because of the severity of some injuries and poor access to medical care, and the Paris-based Sudan Tribune reported that the number of dead could far exceed the rights group’s count, citing a survivor. Witnesses told the newspaper the aircraft fired more than five missiles directly at the miners’ camps around 6 a.m. local time, destroying them and excavation pits with people still inside. One survivor told AFP thousands of people were working at the site. “After the air strike, people scattered,” he said. “That’s why no one knows exactly how many were killed,” according to DW.

Sudan’s civil war has fueled a surge in risky artisanal mining in remote border areas. Egypt’s border force said in June it had seized 86 tonnes of gold ore, and the UK think tank Chatham House estimates that as much as 60% of Sudan’s unofficial gold exports end up in Egypt.

Sources: BBC News, DW

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North Korea Fires a Volley of Ballistic Missiles, One Flying More Than 900 Kilometers, in What Seoul Calls a Show of Force After Its Hypersonic Test: October 12, 2026

SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea fired multiple ballistic missiles toward the sea off its east coast on Monday, at least one of which flew more than 900 kilometers, in what South Korea’s military called a show of force after Seoul’s first successful test of a hypersonic missile, Yonhap News Agency and DW reported.

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said it detected the launches at about 9:20 a.m. local time from the Pyongyang area. “Initial analysis suggests (Monday’s launch) was seen as a protest against the successful launch of our hypersonic glide vehicle (HGV) and a display of the North’s achievements under its five-year plan to bolster defense capabilities and a deliberate show of its missile capabilities,” JCS spokesperson Jang Do-young told a briefing, according to Yonhap.

Japan’s state minister of defense, Takashi Koyari, said at least two missiles were launched: one traveled about 220 kilometers at a maximum altitude of about 20 kilometers, and the other about 910 kilometers at an altitude of about 70 kilometers. Both fell outside Japan’s exclusive economic zone, and Koyari said they “may have flown on irregular trajectories,” Jiji Press reported. Japan, the United States and South Korea are analyzing the flights.

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung announced the test-firing of a domestically developed hypersonic missile last week. DW said Monday’s launch was North Korea’s fourth missile launch in October and that it has carried out tests on more than 10 occasions this year. Yonhap said Monday’s launch followed the firing of one ballistic missile from the Wonsan area on Oct. 3, which Pyongyang described as training for troops operating its “hypersonic strategic weapon system.”

Tensions on the peninsula have been rising since Sept. 21, when a mine blast on the southern side of the Demilitarized Zone injured three South Korean soldiers.

Sources: Yonhap News Agency, DW, Jiji Press

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India’s Opposition Marches on the Supreme Court to Demand the Election Chief Resign as Delhi Shuts Metro Stations and Floods Streets With Police: October 12, 2026

NEW DELHI, India — India’s opposition parties marched toward the Supreme Court in New Delhi on Monday to demand the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over alleged manipulation of voter rolls, as authorities closed metro stations and deployed thousands of security personnel for a third straight day, BBC News and Al Jazeera reported.

Opposition parties allege that voter-list revisions under Kumar favor Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party. The Election Commission and the BJP reject the charge. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, the leader of the opposition in the lower house, called on “all opposition parties, civil society groups [and] all those who believe in democracy” to join the march.

“Bring as much police as you want — 10 thousand, 20 thousand, 40 thousand, go ahead,” Gandhi wrote on X in a post aimed at Home Minister Amit Shah, according to Al Jazeera. “We are not the ones to get scared. We are not the ones to back down. This fight is not going to stop now!” The BBC reported that thousands of people lined Barakhamba Road as a bus carrying Gandhi and other leaders arrived, and that Gandhi climbed onto the roof of the bus at Mandi House to wave to crowds.

The opposition had sought to hand a memorandum to Chief Justice Surya Kant, but he declined the meeting, citing “certain reasons,” and asked them to file a petition, which they said they would do at the end of the march. “Every Indian citizen has the right to approach the court, and we will hear their concerns and grant whatever is due under the law,” he told reporters, the BBC reported.

The march follows a weekend in which police detained thousands of supporters of the youth-led Cockroach Janta Party movement who tried to reach the Jantar Mantar protest site. Reporters Without Borders said at least 16 journalists were detained, and Communist Party of India (Marxist) lawmaker John Brittas said he was “manhandled, dragged, assaulted” by police. BJP President Nitin Nabin accused the opposition and the movement of trying to destabilize India “at the behest of foreign forces,” without saying who they were.

Sources: BBC News, Al Jazeera

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Saudi Arabia Keeps Riyadh’s Main Airport Shut After a Second Deadly Strike as Its Energy Minister Vows a ‘Serious’ Response to the Houthis: October 12, 2026

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — Saudi Arabia extended the suspension of all flights at King Khalid International Airport on Monday after a second deadly strike in two days, and its energy minister promised a “serious” response to Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis, BBC News and The Guardian reported.

“The events of recent weeks are serious. Our response must be equally serious,” Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman told the WPC Energy Congress in Riyadh, which the kingdom pressed ahead with despite the attacks. “Fear has no place in the Saudi lexicon,” he said, according to The Guardian.

A projectile struck a terminal at the airport on Sunday, killing one person, a Pakistani man, and injuring 11, according to Saudi authorities. That came a day after a Houthi missile hit another terminal, killing 13 people and injuring more than 300. The aviation authority said the airport would stay closed while its safety was verified, and Saudi Arabia’s military spokesperson said further missile and drone threats had been detected. King Fahd International Airport in Dammam also remains closed, and more than 150 flights were cancelled at Jeddah’s airport on Sunday, Al Jazeera reported, citing Flightradar24.

The Houthis said they were retaliating for “brutal Saudi aggression” against areas they control in western Yemen, the BBC said. The Houthi-run health ministry said a Saudi air strike on a home in Sanaa killed a child and injured six people on Sunday. The Guardian reported that an urgent review is under way into how Houthi missiles keep getting through stretched Saudi air defenses, and that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has not been seen in public since Tuesday of last week.

Australia and New Zealand on Monday joined the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, South Korea and Japan in warning citizens about travel to the kingdom, Al Jazeera reported. Inside Yemen, as many as 60 fighters from both sides died in fighting around Taiz on Sunday, and Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, spoke with Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan on Sunday about Iran acting as a mediator with the Houthis. The U.N. Security Council is expected on Tuesday to debate a resolution calling the Houthis a foreign terrorist organization, The Guardian said.

Sources: BBC News, The Guardian, Al Jazeera

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EU Adds Nearly 1,600 Russian Individuals and Companies to Its Sanctions List in Its Biggest Expansion Since the Invasion: October 12, 2026

LUXEMBOURG — The European Union approved its largest-ever round of sanctions listings against Russia on Monday, targeting nearly 1,600 individuals and businesses tied to Moscow’s war effort as EU foreign ministers met in Luxembourg, DW and Al Jazeera reported.

“This is the single largest expansion of our sanctions list since Russia started its war,” EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas wrote online, adding that more than half of the new listings are connected to the production chain for ballistic missiles. “We are making it significantly harder, slower and more expensive for Russia to produce the weapons it uses to kill Ukrainians,” she said.

Besides the military-industrial listings, the package names another 77 people and groups linked to what the EU regards as illegal elections in occupied parts of Ukraine, DW reported. German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul, who missed the Luxembourg meeting because of a party conference in Berlin, called the measures an “unprecedented sanction blow” to President Vladimir Putin’s war. “The message is clear: Russia cannot and will not win this war,” he said.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said the West should go further. “This is the moment when the entire West … should show Russia and Putin that it is ready to pursue a policy of containing Russia by even more decisive means,” he told the Warsaw Security Forum, saying he would go to Brussels to urge European partners to consider increasing sanctions.

The move puts Europe at odds with Washington, which on Friday eased sanctions on Russian diesel. “This deal doesn’t help, neither the crisis of the oil products, nor the unity within the transatlantic community when it concerns Russia,” Lithuanian Foreign Minister Kęstutis Budrys said, according to The Guardian. “Our way is to increase pressure because we already see how it works.”

Sources: DW, Al Jazeera, The Guardian

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Zelenskyy Accuses Russia of Breaking Trump’s ‘Energy Ceasefire’ and Vows to Respond as the Kremlin Rejects a 60-Day Truce: October 12, 2026

KYIV, Ukraine — President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Russia on Monday of violating the “energy ceasefire” that U.S. President Donald Trump announced over the weekend and warned that Ukraine would respond if the attacks continued, while the Kremlin rejected his call for a 60-day truce, Al Jazeera, CBC News and The Guardian reported.

“There were Russian violations of the energy ceasefire announced by President Trump,” Zelenskyy told the Warsaw Security Forum by video link, according to CBC, which cited Reuters. “We are waiting for the details of the conditions between the Americans and Russians,” he said. “This energy ceasefire, it can work, and it can become a major step toward ending the war if the Americans truly step in now and make sure Russians respect it … If Russia does not agree to an energy ceasefire, we will respond.”

Zelenskyy said he was surprised by Trump’s post, which went online while Kyiv was under attack by Russian Shahed drones, and that Russia launched a “targeted attack” on a Kharkiv power station hours later. “It’s clear that Putin does not read Truth Social,” he said, according to The Guardian. Overnight, Russia struck gas production facilities in the Kharkiv region belonging to the state energy company Naftogaz, causing a fire, the company said. “The attack damaged critical equipment,” acting CEO Sergii Fedorenko wrote on Telegram.

In Moscow, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said contacts on a possible energy ceasefire were ongoing but declined to say whether it would cover only oil refineries. He rejected Zelenskyy’s proposal of a 60-day ceasefire that would allow Ukraine to hold presidential elections. “In the Kremlin, both President Putin and officials at other levels have repeatedly stated that we do not want a ceasefire,” Peskov said. “We want long-term peace and are prepared to do everything possible to achieve it.”

European leaders said they had seen no sign of a Russian halt. “I have not noted, over the last 48 hours, any energy ceasefire coming from the Russian side,” French President Emmanuel Macron told reporters, Al Jazeera reported. EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said the bloc welcomed the ceasefire “when it holds” but argued that a deal limited to refinery strikes favored Russia, which has far more refineries, The Guardian said.

The row began Friday when Trump eased sanctions on Russian diesel, saying it would lower fuel prices before next month’s U.S. midterm elections. Trump then said Zelenskyy should “damn well stop” hitting Russian refineries and that Ukraine needed a “new leader.” Trump made a similar claim on Sept. 14 that both countries had agreed not to hit each other’s energy infrastructure, and nothing came of it, CBC noted.

Sources: Al Jazeera, CBC News, The Guardian

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World Brief, Evening: October 11, 2026

Riyadh’s main airport was hit again a day after the deadliest strike on Saudi soil in years; President Trump’s “energy ceasefire” for Ukraine had no word from Moscow and no letup in Russian drones; and Hurricane Simon, now a Category 3, is grinding up Mexico’s Pacific coast. Ten stories as of Sunday evening, October 11.

1. Riyadh and Dammam / Saudi Arabia. A projectile hit King Khalid International Airport again on Sunday afternoon, setting fire to Passenger Hall No. 4, killing one person, a Pakistani resident, and injuring 11, Saudi officials said, BBC News reported. Air defences intercepted a cruise missile near the airport. Saturday’s toll rose to 13 after the Indian embassy said an Indian man had died of his injuries. Later Sunday, Saudi authorities confirmed King Fahd International Airport in Dammam had also been attacked, The Guardian reported. The Houthis claimed “four qualitative operations” in 24 hours with ballistic and cruise missiles and drones, including two Saudi Aramco facilities, DW reported, and warned that every Saudi airport except those in Mecca and Medina is a potential target. President Trump said the U.S. would “make a decision” on striking the Houthis and “move very quickly,” and the FAA told U.S. airlines to exercise caution on Saudi flights, Reuters reported. Houthi-run Al Masirah TV says Saudi jets struck Sanaa’s airport; Saudi Arabia hasn’t confirmed that.

2. Kyiv, Kharkiv and Washington / Ukraine, Russia and United States. Hours after President Trump posted that an “ENERGY CEASEFIRE” was “effective immediately,” the Kremlin still hadn’t said a word, BBC News reported. Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukraine is “ready not to strike at Russian energy” if Russia does the same, then said a Russian drone hit a power plant in Kyiv, causing outages, followed by strikes on energy sites in the Kharkiv region. “All of this happened after the president of the United States made his statement,” he said. Russian attacks killed six people in two Ukrainian cities, Reuters reported. Zelenskyy also told ABC News he would organise elections if Vladimir Putin agreed to a “total” 60-day ceasefire, and the Financial Times reported that Washington is threatening the weapons-procurement system that supplies Kyiv to make it stop deep strikes on Russian refineries, per The Guardian. At home, a bipartisan group of senators including Republicans Thom Tillis, Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski wrote that “the Administration must immediately reverse course” on the Russian diesel deal, Al Jazeera reported.

3. Tehran / Iran and the Gulf. Iran’s security chief, Mohsen Rezaei, said Washington has accepted some of Tehran’s seven conditions for a deal to end the war but called the U.S. reply “inadequate,” Al Jazeera reported; Reuters described it as Iran calling the U.S. response to its proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz “insufficient.” Separately, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi phoned Saudi counterpart Prince Faisal bin Farhan and offered to help start talks between Riyadh and Yemen’s Houthis, saying the region’s crises have no military solution, according to Al Jazeera, citing the Saudi state news agency.

4. River Nile state / Sudan–Egypt border. Air strikes on Saturday killed at least 72 artisanal gold miners at a remote mining area near the border with Egypt, the Khartoum-based rights group Emergency Lawyers said, BBC News reported. The group accused Egypt’s air force and said the attacks “may constitute war crimes”; neither Cairo nor Sudan’s de facto authorities have commented. The site lies south of the disputed Halayeb triangle, and one survivor told AFP thousands of people were working there when it was hit, DW reported. The toll is provisional; the Associated Press put it at at least 13, and the Sudan Doctors Network expects it to rise.

5. Jalisco and Colima / Mexico. Simon weakened a notch to a Category 3 with 125 mph winds but is still a major hurricane, its center about 50 miles south of Cabo Corrientes and 110 miles west-northwest of Manzanillo at 6 p.m. CST, crawling northwest at 5 mph, the National Hurricane Center said. It’s expected to hug the coast tonight, edge offshore Monday and turn back toward Mexico on Wednesday; isolated storm totals of 30 inches of rain are possible in Michoacán, Colima and Jalisco, with life-threatening flooding and mudslides. President Claudia Sheinbaum urged coastal residents of Jalisco, Colima, Nayarit and Michoacán to stay sheltered, and 28 municipalities are under the highest cyclone alert, Al Jazeera reported.

6. London / United Kingdom. Prime Minister Andy Burnham said it is “clear” Russia interfered in the 2016 Brexit referendum, the first time a British prime minister has said so, BBC News reported. He told The Rest Is Politics podcast that he asked about it on arriving in Downing Street and “I’ve had the clear answer that, yes, there was,” though he gave no details. He warned that similar disinformation is aimed at Germany and France. Pro-Brexit group Britain Unbound called it a “crude attempt to undermine the legitimacy” of the vote. Russia has long denied meddling in Western elections, Al Jazeera noted.

7. Pyongyang / North Korea and South Korea. North Korea fired several ballistic missiles from the Pyongyang area toward the sea off its east coast at about 9:20 a.m. Monday local time (5:20 p.m. Sunday Pacific), South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said, and Japan’s defence ministry confirmed at least one, France 24 reported. Tension has been building since September 21, when landmines wounded three South Korean soldiers in the DMZ; a joint Seoul–UN investigation concluded the North planted them, which Pyongyang denies.

8. Lower Silesia / Poland. Police arrested a Polish man suspected of plotting to assassinate Prime Minister Donald Tusk and Defence Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz, BBC News reported, updating this morning’s report of a possible plot. “The man threatening an attack has been detained,” Tusk wrote, thanking police for “swift and decisive action.” The plan surfaced in an email forwarded to police by the State Protection Service, and officials said there was “a strong likelihood that these threats could actually be carried out,” per The Guardian.

9. São Paulo / Brazil. President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva led a huge red-clad rally on Paulista Avenue, pushing a bill to give workers two paid days off a week instead of one and cut the maximum working week from 44 to 40 hours, RFI reported, citing AFP. The Senate is due to vote on it Wednesday. Flávio Bolsonaro, favoured in polls for the October 25 runoff, called the proposal “opportunistic.”

10. Vanikoro / Solomon Islands. All 73 passengers and crew of the drifting ferry MV Awka are safe on land. The police patrol boat Gizo reached the ferry about 11 p.m. Sunday local time and towed it, and the MV Helper 1 took everyone ashore at Vanikoro early Monday, the Temotu provincial government said, RNZ reported. “We are relieved,” Temotu Premier Stanley Tehi said.

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. October 19, Alberta’s referendum on whether to move toward a binding independence vote.

Sources: BBC News; The Guardian; DW; Al Jazeera; Reuters; Financial Times; France 24/AFP; RFI/AFP; RNZ; U.S. National Hurricane Center.