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Former Haitian President Joseph Michel Martelly registered online on Friday as a candidate in the upcoming presidential election, becoming the 16th registered contender. The registration is preliminary and requires approval by the Provisional Electoral Council (CEP).
On October 16, the first meeting of the Investors' Council in the fuel and energy sector was held in Tashkent. President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev met with executives of companies from Azerbaijan, the UK, the UAE, China, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Oman. The discussions covered the development of deposits on the Ustyurt plateau, green energy, thermal power plants, a logistics hub in the Andijan region, and preparations for the visit of US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
Officers of the State Security Service, customs and internal affairs bodies of Namangan region discovered underground warehouses with medicines lacking quality certificates. Three Namangan residents stored them in five residential houses for subsequent sale. 46,865 units of medicines of 287 names were seized, illegally imported into Uzbekistan, with an estimated value of 5.2 billion soums. Expert examinations have been appointed, a pre-investigation check is underway.
Scotland's First Minister John Swinney, in his closing speech at the SNP conference in Aberdeen, responded to Mayor Andy Burnham, stating that Scotland is 'not a city or a region, but a nation', and pledged independence. He announced the Choose Scotland campaign with a 'six-figure fund', the transfer of the bus network to public control by 2031, the extension of the £2 fare cap to the north-east from April, a £30 million fund against racism and a misogyny bill.
The 52nd session of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation opened in Baghdad. Iraqi Prime Minister Ali Falih al-Zaidi opened the meeting, stated that the Palestinian issue remains the core of the conflict in the region, and presented Iraq's initiative to integrate energy grids, railways, transport, and digital systems among OIC countries. Iraq took over the rotating chairmanship of the organisation from Turkey.
The Trump administration warned California election officials that counting ballots cast by individuals identified by federal agencies as non-citizens could be treated as complicity in a federal crime. The warning followed a Justice Department lawsuit seeking to suspend the counting of such ballots pending verification of immigration status. California officials said no supporting evidence had been provided.
On Saturday, all of Sri Lanka was left without electricity due to instability in the power system. The Upper Kotmale hydroelectric power plant accident is suspected as the cause. Owners of solar panels were ordered to switch them off until further notice; supply restoration is ongoing.
In the next installment of its '5 Minutes' column, the Kun.uz publication turned to Ivan Turgenev's classic work 'Mumu'. The text examines the fate of the main character — the deaf-mute Gerasim, his love for Tatyana and the dog Mumu, as well as the position of the lady, who took the fates of those around her into her own hands.
Saudi Arabia's Civil Defense announced that the threat to Abha and Khamis Mushait governorate had passed after sirens were activated for the second time in one day via the National Early Warning Platform. Residents were advised to follow instructions and avoid gathering in groups. The nature of the threat was not disclosed. The alerts come amid an escalation between Riyadh and Yemen's Houthis that has continued since July.
Carl Baker, crisis coordinator for the International Organization for Migration (IOM), said that repeated population displacements are destroying shelters in Gaza, while restrictions on the import of materials and funding shortages are hampering winter preparations. According to him, 1.8–1.9 million people need shelter assistance, and only about 30% of the enclave's territory is accessible.
A Piper Tomahawk II light aircraft that departed from Glasgow Airport crashed on Friday at around 16:45 BST near the village of Drymen by Loch Lomond. A 16-year-old boy and an 80-year-old man were killed. The AAIB is investigating, and airspace restrictions have been imposed over the area.
According to Visual Capitalist data based on IMF statistics and the UN Comtrade database, in 2000 the EU was the leading trade partner among the trio 'China — US — EU' in 112 of 175 economies, and the US in 53. By 2025, the leadership had shifted: China became the top partner in 92 countries, the EU in 55, and the US in 32. China's external goods trade grew from $470 billion in 2000 to $6.4 trillion in 2025.
Over two days of on-site receptions by the Cadastral Agency in Karakalpakstan, more than 200 citizens' appeals were reviewed: on October 15, 136 appeals were received from 12 districts and one city of the republic; on October 16 in Beruni, 72 appeals from four districts were reviewed. The main topics were land plot rights and cadastral documents for real estate. The reception will continue on October 17 in Urgench.
UKMTO recorded a second attack on a tanker in one day in the area northeast of Al Jubail: according to the captain, the vessel was fired upon with a rocket-propelled grenade from a small boat. The crews of both attacked tankers are safe; damage and environmental consequences are being assessed.
Specialists from the Institute of Information Security at the University of Graz and the Center for Secure Information Technologies tested data transfer apps from seven brands for wirelessly moving data to a new phone. In experiments, the researchers managed to intercept SMS messages, contacts, photos, health data, passwords and Wi-Fi keys, and in some cases to substitute installation files and inject malware. The results were presented at the ESORICS 2026 symposium; the vulnerabilities were fixed after notification of compa
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan met in Baghdad on Saturday with Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty and Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein. The 52nd session of the OIC Council of Foreign Ministers also opened there, at which Turkey handed over the Council chairmanship to Iraq.
Deputy Minister of Economy and Finance Khurshed Mustafayev said that from 2023 to 2025 the average monthly electricity consumption per subscriber fell from 212 to 184 kWh (−13%), and gas from 431 to 342 cubic meters (−21%). Deputy Director of the National Agency for Social Protection Jamshid Abruev explained the shift to targeted support by the fact that the previous subsidies benefited higher-income families more. Over a year and a half, about 470 thousand families received compensation totaling 156 billion soums.
According to Similarweb data cited by Visual Capitalist, in September 2026 the Gemini website was visited 2.6 billion times, and Claude about 1 billion. From October 2025 to September 2026, only Gemini and Claude increased their share among major chatbots, while the combined share of DeepSeek, Grok, Copilot and Perplexity fell from 11.4% to 8.1%.
