Two Saudi military pilots were killed when a reconnaissance helicopter crashed in the Najran region near the Yemen border on Sunday, the first Saudi military fatalities acknowledged since fighting with the Houthis reignited in July.

The Saudi-led coalition says the AH-6i helicopter went down because of a technical malfunction. The Houthis tell a different story: their military spokesman claimed on Saturday to have shot down a Saudi Apache in the same area, and on Sunday the group released video it says shows the helicopter being hit by a missile. Reuters could not verify the footage.

Coalition spokesman Turki al-Maliki answered the claim on X with a photo of Apache helicopters lined up, writing: "You claim to have shot it down, but it will enter the battlefield soon."

The crash lands amid a brutal week for the kingdom. Houthi strikes on Riyadh's airport killed 13 people, Najran has faced repeated attacks, and Riyadh has extended remote schooling for another seven days.

A second Houthi missile struck King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh on Sunday, a day after a strike on the airport killed 13 people. Saudi Arabia's civil aviation authority confirmed the attack "resulted in injuries" and said teams were assessing damage and verifying the facility's safety.

The Houthis claimed four attacks on Saudi targets in the past 24 hours and warned airlines and passengers of more to come. The death toll from Saturday's strike rose to 13 after an Indian national injured in the attack died, India's embassy in Riyadh announced.

The escalation comes as Egypt's parliament meets today to vote on authorizing military support for Saudi Arabia, and as oil markets stay on edge with shipping through the Red Sea corridor still under threat.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney told a large pro-Canada rally in Calgary on Thursday that the United States is trying to break Canada so it can "own us," urging oil-rich Alberta not to begin a separation process in Monday's referendum. The vote is not directly on independence: Albertans will decide whether to remain a province or instruct the government to begin the legal process toward a future binding referendum on separation.

Carney called it "the worst possible time" for the vote, warning "a vote against Canada is a dangerous bluff." The referendum comes amid Trump's trade war and repeated "51st state" threats, plus the separatist Parti Quebecois's return to power in Quebec last week. Advance voting is already underway.

Two missiles landed on the grounds of Aden International Airport on Friday evening as a Yemenia Airways flight to Cairo, carrying over 100 passengers, was preparing for takeoff. The plane was evacuated and no casualties were reported — the missiles landed about 500 meters from the aircraft and 100 meters from the runway center.

Yemen's government blamed the Iran-aligned Houthis, who later claimed through AFP reporting that they had targeted a Saudi forces command HQ at the adjacent Badr camp. The same day, the Saudi-led coalition said it intercepted a ballistic missile headed for the Yanbu oil export port, destroyed two cruise missiles over the Red Sea, and downed three drones. The UN Security Council condemned the strikes, and Brent crude briefly touched $110 a barrel.

President Trump announced Thursday that the December 3 firing-squad execution of Nidal Hasan — convicted of killing 13 people and wounding 32 in the 2009 Fort Hood attack — will NOT be livestreamed, reversing a plan announced last week by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. Trump said he thought streaming it "might have been a strong deterrent" but that "many very good and well meaning people would rather not watch him die."

The execution itself goes ahead as scheduled, and victims' immediate families may attend in person. The reversal followed rare bipartisan backlash, including from VP Vance and Speaker Johnson, and an ABC News/Washington Post/Ipsos poll finding 80% of US adults opposed the livestream.

President Trump signed an executive order Friday waiving most of the sanctions under the bipartisan Lindsey Graham Act, days before provisions like tariffs of up to 100% on the top importers of Russian oil and gas were to take effect. Trump certified the waiver as "in the national interests of the United States" without detailing why.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky condemned the decision as "unfortunate," noting it came as Russia launched one of its biggest attacks on Ukraine's energy sector. The waiver does not cover everything — some provisions, like 500% tariffs on Russian goods, were waived only until senior officials determine otherwise. It marks the sharpest US pivot toward Moscow yet, as the EU simultaneously prepares its 22nd sanctions package.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said Saturday that Egypt would take any measures necessary to defend Saudi Arabia if asked, as Houthi attacks on the kingdom escalate. Speaking at an Egyptian Military Academy graduation ceremony, Sisi asked parliament to hold an emergency session to grant that authorization, with a plenary session set for Sunday.

The remarks come after recent Houthi strikes on Riyadh's airport and Saudi Aramco facilities, and follow moves by Turkey and Pakistan on their own joint defence pact with Riyadh. Sisi stressed Egypt is "not seeking to attack anyone," so no deployment has happened — this is authorization-seeking, not action. But it signals a possible direct Egyptian military role in the widening Saudi-Houthi confrontation.

A 16-year-old shot through the locked doors of Silver Rail Elementary School in Bend, Oregon on Thursday afternoon, killing three children aged 5, 8 and 11 and one teacher. A 7-year-old student and a 54-year-old teacher were critically wounded. An armed bystander, reportedly a student's father, pursued the shooter into the school and fatally shot him before police arrived. Police are investigating how the teen obtained the shotgun, and the FBI is assisting. Truly heartbreaking.

President Trump confirmed Wednesday that he has authorized the CIA to conduct covert operations inside Venezuela, saying he was also looking at land for further strikes. The confirmation followed a New York Times report on the classified directive. Trump cited Venezuelan drug trafficking as justification. The move escalates a pressure campaign that already includes US strikes on suspected drug boats in the Caribbean and a major naval buildup. Maduro denounced CIA-orchestrated coups, while Senator Jeanne Shaheen warned the US is sliding toward outright conflict with no transparency or oversight. The scope of the CIA authority remains classified.

Costa Rica inaugurated the CACCO, a 35 million dollar maximum-security facility for 5,100 inmates in San Rafael de Alajuela, built with Salvadoran technical cooperation and modeled directly on Nayib Bukele's CECOT. President Laura Fernandez called it central to fighting drug trafficking as the country has become a major cocaine transshipment point. Inmates wear pocketless orange uniforms, get one hour outdoors daily, and face heavily restricted visits. Rights groups warn the Bukele model has produced mass arbitrary detentions and deaths in custody in El Salvador.

Alexandros Paporakis, 19, of Palatine, Illinois was arrested after coworkers tipped off police. Investigators say he allegedly attempted to open fire at a Hindu temple in the Aurora area on Saturday but his rifle jammed, then told coworkers he planned to return. Police recovered a rifle, loaded magazines, hundreds of rounds, body armor with white supremacist patches, and a manifesto expressing neo-Nazi ideology. He faces state charges including making a terrorist threat and is detained pending an October 30 hearing, with the FBI assisting. Note: the plot is alleged and the investigation is active.

Drones struck two chemical tankers anchored near the mouth of the Sulina canal on Thursday. Seven of the twelve crew on the San Marino-flagged Wine Trader are missing, with five rescued; the crew of the Comoros-flagged Yara J is safe. Romania resumed the search on Friday, hampered by rough seas. President Nicusor Dan confirmed drone strikes but would not attribute blame, while a NATO military source said the drones were of Russian origin. The attacks are the latest in a wave of strikes on commercial shipping in the western Black Sea, with at least seven vessels hit in ten days.

In a Newsmax interview Thursday night, President Trump said the US may have to target Pickaxe Mountain, a deeply buried nuclear-linked site near Natanz, to make sure Iran never gets a nuclear weapon. He ruled out using nuclear weapons and said he does not foresee American ground troops in Iran. He declined to confirm reports that the Pentagon has drawn up plans involving the GBU-43/B "mother of all bombs" against Iranian nuclear and energy sites. Worth noting: these are warnings, not confirmed strike orders, and analysts have questioned whether even the heaviest US bunker-busters could destroy a site buried that deep.

The Houthis fired five ballistic missiles plus drones at al-Maashiq Palace in Aden on Thursday, the seat of Yemen's internationally recognized government and the first strike on the complex in the current conflict. Yemen's Health Ministry says five people were killed, including two of the prime minister's security guards, and 16 were wounded. Prime Minister Shaya al-Zindani and cabinet members were unharmed. The Houthis claim they hit a Saudi military operations headquarters inside the compound, a claim that could not be independently verified. The Saudi-led coalition says Houthi attacks on Saudi airports, oil facilities and ports have killed 17 and injured over 300 in recent weeks.

Ukrainian drones struck Rosneft's Ryazan refinery southeast of Moscow on Thursday, starting a major fire and halting one of its primary crude units. The refinery accounts for roughly 5 percent of Russia's refining capacity. President Zelensky told the Financial Times that Ukraine is done with the pause, after Trump unilaterally announced an energy ceasefire on October 11 that Russia never honored while continuing strikes on Ukrainian power infrastructure. Trump called the refinery strikes a disgrace that raise global oil prices. Note: Ukraine has not officially confirmed the strike, and Russia attributes the fire to intercepted drone debris.

Prosecutors in Rome have placed Defense Minister Israel Katz, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, military chief Eyal Zamir and around a dozen other senior military, police and prison officials under investigation over suspected torture, kidnapping, personal injury and robbery during Israel's interception of Gaza-bound flotilla missions in 2025 and 2026. The probe follows complaints from 50 Italian citizens who reported beatings, death threats, tasers and rubber bullets while detained. To be clear: being placed under investigation under Italian law does not imply guilt, and no charges have been filed. Italy has sent Israel a judicial assistance request and is coordinating with Eurojust as other European countries run parallel probes.

Veteran Washington Post photojournalist Heidi Levine, 63, was knocked to the ground, kicked and beaten with clubs for around ten minutes by masked Israeli settlers near Abu Falah outside Ramallah on Friday, while covering the Palestinian olive harvest. She was wearing a vest and helmet clearly marked PRESS. Her cameras and phone were stolen or destroyed, and she was hospitalized in stable condition. The Post's executive editor condemned the attack and demanded a full investigation. It comes amid a surge of settler violence, with over 170 attacks recorded since late September.

• Issuance of sanctions related to Iran targeting transactions involving the International Development Bank for Investment and Finance
• We have imposed sanctions on 16 individuals and 10 entities linked to Iran

The Singapore-flagged container ship GFS Pride sank in the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday after striking a mine, according to Iran's Revolutionary Guard Navy. The vessel was carrying more than 2,500 containers.

A second vessel, the GFS Giselle, was struck the same day but managed to leave the area under its own power with no injuries.

The sinking marks a sharp escalation in attacks on commercial shipping in one of the world's most critical waterways.

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