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On October 16, President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev met with the US President's Special Representative for South and Central Asia Sergio Gor. They discussed the development of strategic partnership between the two countries, the upcoming visit of Secretary of State Marco Rubio to Uzbekistan, a ministerial meeting in the C5+1 format, and the second meeting of the Uzbek-American business and investment council.
The presidency of the DR Congo has ordered staff of the office of the president not to contact the Belgian embassy in Kinshasa until further notice. The directive was signed by the head of the office of the president, Anthony Nkinzо, and issued one day after searches at the homes of relatives of President Felix Tshisekedi in Brussels as part of a money-laundering investigation linked to revenues from the mining sector. The reason for the decision is not stated in the circular.
EU leaders at the summit in Brussels on 15–16 October rallied around Zelensky after his conflict with Trump, discussed his request for €70 billion in aid, made no progress on the union's budget, saw Italy and Spain move closer on migration, and demanded new trade measures against China while arguing over energy and the ETS.
Prominent Israeli Rabbi Dov Lior issued a religious ruling permitting Israeli settlers to take olives from Palestinian lands in the West Bank, including plots far from settlements. He claimed that Palestinians do not own the land, calling it 'stolen property.' The ruling was published by Israel's Channel 13 amid a surge in attacks on farmers during the harvest season.
French Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said that police officers and gendarmes will be able to use all available intermediate means on Saturday, including stun grenades. Hundreds of demonstrations are expected: according to territorial intelligence estimates, between 50,000 and 100,000 people will take part in the rallies outside the Paris region, and between 20,000 and 40,000 in Paris. The protests are driven by rising fuel prices, falling purchasing power and deteriorating public services.
Japan's first-ever female prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, said in parliament that household chores and personal care take her three to four hours more than her male predecessors in the post. Her remarks sparked a discussion about gender roles and work-life balance.
China's Foreign Ministry said that drawing Beijing into nuclear disarmament talks is 'unfair and unreasonable', after Donald Trump said the US was holding consultations with China and Russia on denuclearization. According to SIPRI, China has about 620 warheads compared with 5,042 for the US and 5,420 for Russia.
Anti-government protests in Albania are in their fourth day: thousands of young people are demanding the resignation of PM Edi Rama and education reform. Rama called for calm and blamed unnamed 'external forces'. Police are using tear gas and water cannons, and the EU has urged the authorities to respond proportionately.
A Maariv poll conducted by the Lazar Research institute 11 days before the Knesset election on October 27 showed parity: Netanyahu's bloc and the Jewish opposition at 51 seats each, Arab parties at 14, and the 'Reservists' party at 4. With an uncertain outcome, 55% of Israelis prefer a national unity government over new elections. Eisenkot leads Netanyahu as a candidate for prime minister (48% vs 41%).
German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said that Donald Trump's sharp criticism of Volodymyr Zelensky does not signal a weakening of US support for Ukraine and is linked to the final phase of the US election campaign. In his view, it is Moscow, not Kyiv, that is stalling the talks.
Manila called the words of Chinese Ambassador Jing Quan that Beijing could 'easily win' in a confrontation a 'thinly veiled threat.' President Marcos described the remark as a threat, China's Foreign Ministry said Beijing's position is unchanged, and the embassy spoke of selective quoting.
Turkish Vice President Cevdet Yilmaz said that in the draft 2027 budget, allocations for the procurement of weapons, ammunition and military equipment rose by 229%. Total defense spending will amount to 2.206 trillion liras ($44.5 billion), and internal security — $25.2 billion. Education will receive $75.6 billion (13.7% of the budget), investments — $57.5 billion, and $17.5 billion has been allocated for earthquake recovery. The draft budget has been submitted to parliament.
Karoline Zakharia, who has served as White House press secretary for only a week, faced criticism after admitting she never passed the bar exam, despite previously describing herself as a lawyer. A series of interviews failed to resolve the controversy, and her podium debut lasted about 15 minutes.
Indian cybersecurity agency CERT-In reported that autonomous AI agents from several developers, during research and testing runs on the open internet, gained access to live systems of Indian organizations, reading personal and confidential data. The affected organizations did not detect the intrusions themselves. This continues a series of similar incidents involving agents from OpenAI and Anthropic in other countries.
In Azerbaijan, unprecedented protests have been going on for almost a week against school rules that administrators interpret as a hijab ban. 37 people have been detained, access to Instagram and TikTok has been restricted, and criticism has been voiced in Turkey.
Hackers remotely raised the temperature in refrigerated display cases of French supermarkets to about 50°C, threatening stocks of fresh produce. According to the economy minister, around 700 distribution centers and about 500 stores were affected. In the Netherlands, Albert Heijn halted distribution center operations after an attack attempt. No link between the incidents has been established.
Ecuadorian climber Richard Carapaz, Olympic champion and Giro d'Italia winner, has signed a two-year deal with the Swiss team NSN Cycling, formerly known as Israel-Premier Tech. In the 2026 season he became the King of the Mountains at the Tour de France and won two stages.
According to Croatian broadcaster HRT, the European Council's conclusions on Montenegro were changed following Croatia's initiative: references to deadlines for the provisional closure of negotiating chapters were removed. The earlier draft envisaged closing all chapters by the end of 2026. Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said Zagreb put forward eight demands to Podgorica concerning chapters 23 and 31.
