Donald Trump called Ukraine’s renewed refinery strikes a “disgrace” as EU leaders closed ranks around Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Brussels; a 16-year-old killed three children and a teacher at an Oregon elementary school before a bystander shot him; and Japan’s weather agency briefly warned of a magnitude-9.9 megaquake that never came. Ten stories as of Friday morning, October 16.
1. Brussels / Belgium, and Kyiv / Ukraine. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told an EU summit he was “only standing up for Ukraine’s interests” after President Donald Trump called Kyiv’s new wave of strikes on Russian oil refineries a “disgrace” and said Zelenskyy was “more difficult to deal with than” Vladimir Putin, BBC News reported. Zelenskyy, angered by Trump’s diesel-import deal with Moscow, said he could not accept it — “If I don’t stand up to this… who else will?” — and praised “real leaders” in Brussels as the bloc pledged continued support, Deutsche Welle reported. He told the European Council the war will cost €155 billion next year and that Ukraine needs at least €70 billion more from Europe for defense and resilience. Overnight and through Friday, Russia kept striking Ukrainian energy sites; Zelenskyy said parts of the Volyn region and Kyiv were still without power.
2. Bend / United States. A 16-year-old shot dead three children — ages 5, 8 and 11 — and a teacher at Silver Rail Elementary School in Bend, Oregon, on Thursday afternoon before a community member pursued him into the building and shot him dead, Bend Police Chief Mike Krantz said, according to BBC News. The teenager forced entry by shooting at locked doors; police arrived about three minutes after the bystander engaged him. A seven-year-old and a 54-year-old teacher were taken to hospital in critical condition. Hundreds gathered for a candlelit vigil Thursday evening; school-district official Steven Cook called the community “stunned and heartbroken.”
3. Aden / Yemen. Five people were killed and 16 injured when five Houthi ballistic missiles hit al-Maashiq Palace, the presidential compound in Aden that seats Yemen’s internationally recognized government, Information Minister Moammar al-Eryani told the BBC. The prime minister and other ministers were unhurt; Health Minister Qasim Buhaibeh said the dead and wounded included guards and civilian employees. Houthi spokesman Yahya Sarea claimed a strike on “the Saudi enemy’s military operations headquarters in Aden.” Prime Minister Shaya Zindani called the attack “cowardly” and said government forces would keep pressing on Red Sea front lines.
4. London / United Kingdom. Johannes Natland, 19, was sentenced to 20 years’ detention at Woolwich Crown Court after a jury found him guilty of conspiracy to murder for traveling from Norway to the UK as a “hitman” for the Iran-linked Foxtrot Network, BBC News reported. He was arrested in a Huddersfield hotel in March 2025 with two working guns and 19 rounds. Prosecutors said he had been offered about 270,000 Norwegian kroner (~£21,000); Counter Terrorism Policing said the intended victim was never firmly identified. Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb said Foxtrot recruits young people at arm’s length to carry out violence — what Europol has called “violence-as-a-service.”
5. Tokyo / Japan. Japan’s Meteorological Agency issued an emergency earthquake warning at 12:40 p.m. Friday forecasting a magnitude-9.9 quake with shaking up to shindo 7 from Hokkaido to the Tokai region — then withdrew it at 12:48 p.m., the first time an emergency quake warning has been cancelled that way, The Japan Times and the JMA reported. The real event was a magnitude-6.9 quake off Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula two minutes earlier; Japan registered only shindo 1. Officials said the system wrongly placed the epicenter near the Kuril Islands and applied a domestic magnitude formula to a distant quake. Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara said there were no damage reports from the Kamchatka tremor.
6. Addis Ababa / Ethiopia, and Mekelle / Tigray. Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s government installed a six-month caretaker administration in Tigray and said it aims to hold free elections there within that window after federal forces pushed back a TPLF offensive, Al Jazeera and France 24 reported. Five officials, including Mekelle’s mayor, will run the region under federal direction; the TPLF had not immediately responded. The September fighting revived a war that killed hundreds of thousands in 2020–22; Eritrean troops who entered Tigray later withdrew after Ethiopian drone strikes.
7. Buenos Aires / Argentina. Thousands of students, university staff and unionists protested outside Congress against President Javier Milei’s refusal to release court-ordered public-university funding; police used tear gas and water cannon, at least eight officers were injured, and about 25 people were arrested, Deutsche Welle reported. Congress overrode Milei’s veto of the University Funding Law, but the government says the measure is “suspended” amid its legal challenge. University of Buenos Aires researchers say real public spending on universities fell 41% in the first half of 2026.
8. Avarua / Cook Islands. A cyclone alert is in force as Tropical Depression TD01F moves toward the Southern Cook Islands and may reach Category 1 strength within about 24 hours, the Cook Islands Meteorological Service warned, according to RNZ Pacific. The system was roughly 352 km north of the low-lying atoll Suwarrow, with sustained winds near 46 km/h and a risk of gale gusts to about 93 km/h, heavy rain and very rough seas. Director Maara Vaiimene urged residents to secure loose objects and keep radios ready; he linked the unusually early development to El Niño — the official South Pacific cyclone season does not begin until November 1.
9. South-southwest of Acapulco / Mexico. Hurricane Trudy strengthened to Category 3 with maximum sustained winds of 120 mph (195 km/h) by 9:00 a.m. CST Friday about 235 miles southwest of Acapulco, and Mexico issued a Hurricane Warning from Manzanillo northward to Playa Perula, the National Hurricane Center said in Advisory 13. Trudy was near 14.6°N, 102.5°W, moving north-northwest at 5 mph, and is forecast to approach southwestern and west-central Mexico this weekend. Tropical-storm and hurricane watches/warnings also cover stretches from Zihuatanejo to San Blas.
10. Abu Falah / occupied West Bank. Dozens of masked Israeli settlers attacked Palestinian olive harvesters near Abu Falah, setting fire to cars and trees; a local official said 12 Palestinians were injured, including four dual Palestinian-American citizens, and a foreign journalist was also hurt, BBC News reported from the scene. A BBC team saw wounded farmers fleeing as smoke rose from fires; one American citizen, Majdi Fheed, said attackers used guns, rocks and nail-studded sticks. A U.S. State Department spokesperson condemned “criminal violence by any party in the West Bank” and called for investigations and arrests.
Coming Up
Confirmed dates on The Watch: October 15–16, European Council in Brussels (Zelenskyy’s Ukraine session is Friday). IMF and World Bank Annual Meetings in Bangkok continue through October 18. October 19, Alberta’s referendum on whether to move toward a binding independence vote. October 25, Brazil’s presidential runoff (Flávio Bolsonaro vs Lula). Full board at the link — we don’t reprint the whole list here.
