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KSA 12 killed in Riyadh airport attack : This week the conflict between Saudi Arabia and Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis escalated sharply. Saudi-backed Yemeni government forces advanced against Houthi positions near the Bab el-Mandeb Strait with heavy Saudi airstrike support, while the Houthis intensified missile attacks on Saudi airports. On Thursday, a Houthi strike on King Khalid International Airport killed three people and damaged a commercial plane and on Saturday, a larger missile attack on the same airport killed 12 and wounded more than 300, in the deadliest strike on the kingdom in over a decade. Airlines cancelled hundreds of flights, and the Saudi-led coalition vowed a firm response while President Trump said Washington may join strikes against the group. Today, Houthi-run state TV reported that Saudi Arabia carried out a strike on the main airport in Sana’a, the Houthi-controlled Yemeni capital.
RU Trump’s diesel deal with Russia: US President Trump announced a deal with Russia under which Moscow will immediately supply more than 300,000 metric tons of diesel to US and global markets, followed by 500,000 tons in November, 1 million tons shortly after that, and potentially another 3 million tons later, while the US temporarily eased sanctions on Russian diesel exports. He later publicly criticized Ukrainian President Zelensky for continuing to strike Russian oil and refinery infrastructure despite earlier US pressure to stop, saying Ukraine needs “a new leader” who can make a deal to end the war. Zelensky condemned the diesel agreement as a “gift” to Putin that would fund Russia’s war effort, while Russia launched deadly strikes on Ukrainian cities hours later. European allies expressed regret and reaffirmed their sanctions pressure on Moscow.
SP Sánchez calls snap elections: PM Pedro Sánchez has called a snap general election for 29 November after parliament rejected two emergency decree laws aimed at tackling the housing crisis. The political crisis was intensified by massive nationwide protests that erupted after the forced eviction of 87-year-old Maricarmen Abascal from her Madrid home of more than 70 years. Abascal died this week, with the tenants’ union calling her case “a turning point in the history of this country.” Sánchez said he needed a stronger progressive majority to push through reforms and overcome “the resistance of the elites.”
CA Separatist victory in Quebec: Quebec’s separatist Parti Québécois has won the provincial election and will form a minority government under leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, returning to power for the first time since 2014. The party fell short of a majority and will need support from other parties to govern and advance its agenda. St-Pierre Plamondon has pledged to hold another referendum on independence from Canada but said it would be delayed until after US President Donald Trump leaves office, arguing that would allow for a calmer debate. The result poses a fresh national-unity challenge for Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, even though current support for separation remains around 30%.
FR Student protesters “storm the Bastille”: French high-school students continued nationwide protests this week over chronic teacher shortages, overcrowded classrooms and dilapidated buildings, with hundreds of schools still blockaded or closed after more than 10 days of unrest. On Thursday, around 25,000 students marched through Paris to the Place de la Bastille, where some climbed the central monument as left-wing leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon declared that “the Bastille has been retaken.” Clashes with riot police intensified as officers fired teargas and baton-charged crowds while some protesters threw bottles and paving stones, adding to a toll of hundreds of injuries among students, school staff and police. The government responded by promising 3,000 substitute teachers for the worst-affected schools and budget amendments to address the demands, but student leaders dismissed the measures as insufficient and vowed to continue the protests.
DE Former spy chief arrested for treason: August Hanning, who led Germany’s foreign intelligence service (BND) from 1998 to 2005, was arrested on suspicion of espionage, treason, and obtaining classified information for a foreign power. Prosecutors allege that his former bureau chief passed him roughly 2,000 internal BND documents between about 2010 and 2022 in exchange for money. Hanning is accused of using some of that material in his private consulting work, including drafting an analysis for one foreign intelligence officer and sharing political information with a representative of another foreign service.
US Execution of Fort Hood shooter to be livestreamed: The US military plans to execute former Army Maj. Nidal Hasan by firing squad on December 3, at Fort Hood, Texas, the same base where he killed 13 people and wounded dozens more in a 2009 mass shooting. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and the Pentagon have confirmed the execution, the first by firing squad since 1945, will be livestreamed publicly. President Trump approved the death sentence and method earlier in October, with officials citing it as a deterrent to show serious consequences for such crimes. No prior US execution has ever been televised or livestreamed in this way.
US SpaceX moves closer to launching mobile network: US and European telecom stocks fell sharply on Friday after SpaceX agreed to acquire a nationwide portfolio of low-band 800 MHz spectrum from private-equity firm Grain Management in a deal valued at around $8 billion. Shares of T-Mobile, Verizon and AT&T dropped 5-6% in premarket trading, while Europe’s STOXX telecom index fell 3.3%, with Deutsche Telekom declining about 8%. The purchase strengthens SpaceX’s push into satellite-to-cellular mobile services and raised investor concerns over growing competition from Starlink. Elon Musk described the deal as “the last critical piece of the spectrum puzzle needed for SpaceX to provide complete phone coverage in America.”
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2026 Nobel Prize laureates announced
This year’s Nobel science prizes highlighted tools that let researchers control brain cells with light, detect neutrinos from deep space, and understand how molecules choose one mirror-image form over another. The medicine prize went to Karl Deisseroth, Peter Hegemann and Georg Nagel for discoveries on light-gated ion channels that underpin optogenetics, a technique allowing scientists to control individual nerve cells with light. The prize for Physics was awarded to Francis Halzen for his decisive role in the IceCube Neutrino Observatory and the discovery of high-energy neutrinos from astrophysical sources, while chemistry recognised Henri B. Kagan and Kenso Soai for work on non-linear effects and autocatalysis in asymmetric organic synthesis. Canadian poet and classicist Anne Carson received the literature prize.
The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to South African jurist Navi Pillay for her lifelong efforts to promote peace and international law. Pillay, who dedicated the prize to “all the survivors of international crime”, has spent decades advancing human rights, from defending anti-apartheid activists, including Nelson Mandela, to serving as a judge at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and the International Criminal Court. She recently led the UN commission that concluded Israel committed genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.
Hours after the announcement, the Trump administration imposed sweeping sanctions on the International Criminal Court itself, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio calling it a “rogue court” and vowing to cut off its resources. The measures, which include a six-month grace period, target the institution rather than only individual officials and mark a sharp escalation in US efforts to constrain the tribunal.
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IT Largest wine heist in Italian history: The FT reported that thieves stole 30,000 bottles of premium Tuscan wines worth €5 million from Marchesi Antinori's warehouse in Cortona. Seven masked men disabled alarms and cameras, used company forklifts to load two trucks with 2023 vintage Solaia, Tignanello, and Guado al Tasso reds prepared for export. The theft was discovered the next morning. Historic family-owned Antinori, founded in 1385 and exporting to 170 countries with €263 million revenue last year, alerted global customers and believes the connoisseur-level selection indicates inside knowledge.
US Company gets approval AI to issue prescriptions: Nolla Health has received authorization from Utah’s Office of Artificial Intelligence Policy for a pilot allowing its AI system to issue initial prescriptions for acne treatment, the first such US state-approved program for new prescriptions, not just refills. Through the Nolla Derm app, Utah adults can verify their identity, complete a questionnaire, and submit a face scan to receive a personalized treatment plan and, if appropriate, a prescription in 10–15 minutes with no office visit. The program starts with dual-physician pre-approval of every case and advances only after meeting safety targets, while patients can always message a human doctor. The company positions the effort as a way to expand access to routine dermatology care while reserving human specialists for more complex cases.
US OpenAI introduces watermarking: OpenAI is rolling out invisible text watermarking for eligible ChatGPT and Codex outputs in the EU over the coming weeks to meet EU AI Act transparency rules that took effect in August 2026, while making the feature available as an opt-in for API customers worldwide on select models starting immediately. The method, called textGrain, embeds a statistical signal by subtly biasing the model’s word choices so a detector can identify OpenAI-generated text without visible marks, user identification, or impacts on model performance. Short passages, heavy editing, synonym replacement, or translation can weaken or remove the signal and OpenAI is initially restricting detector access to approved researchers.
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