According to a report by the Politico news website, Hungary is planning to forge an anti-Ukrainian bloc in the European Union with the Czech Republic and Slovakia. The new Czech government has also said it wants to revitalise the cooperation between the four Visegrád states - although Poland has so far shown no interest in such plans. Could this be the birth of a pro-Russian lobby in the EU?
US President Donald Trump has announced plans to resume nuclear weapons testing. On his Truth Social platform he justified the move citing tests carried out by other countries. China has reminded the US of its commitment to a moratorium on nuclear testing and to the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty. The last US nuclear test was carried out in September 1992 under former president George H. W. Bush.
The parliament in Riga has voted to withdraw Latvia from the Istanbul Convention, which obliges countries to provide better protection for women and girls. Critics of the convention say the gender ideologies it contains pose a threat to the country's traditional family values. If the decision is implemented, Latvia would become the first EU country to withdraw from the Convention. More than 5,000 people protested against the decision outside the parliament on Wednesday.
El-Fasher, the capital of the Sudanese province of North Darfur, is in a catastrophic state following its capture by RSF militia. There are reports that the RSF has killed at least 1,500 civilians in the last few days. More than 460 of the killings took place in a hospital, according to the World Health Organisation. European media lament the lethargy of the international community.
At their meeting in South Korea, Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Donald Trump have agreed on several compromises in the trade dispute. While Trump says the dispute is now 'settled', Xi was more cautious and called for further consultations to reach tangible results regarding rare earths, agricultural imports and tariffs, among other things. What does the trial of strength between the two superpowers mean for the international order?
President Maia Sandu has nominated Alexandru Munteanu as Moldova's new head of government. The physicist, investment banker and entrepreneur with Moldovan, Romanian and US citizenship is an independent and was virtually unknown in Moldova up to now. He is to be confirmed in office on Friday by parliament, where the pro-European party PAS, which has close ties to Sandu, secured 55 of the 101 seats in the last parliamentary elections.
Just under three weeks after the ceasefire began, the Israeli Air Force has bombed targets in the Gaza Strip, killing more than 90 people according to local reports. Israel's government described the strikes as a response to an attack by Hamas in which a soldier was killed. The terrorist organisation ruling Gaza has denied responsibility for this incident.
In the tariff dispute between the US and China both sides are now saying they are close to reaching a deal, and Presidents Trump and Xi are scheduled to meet in South Korea on 30 October. On Monday, however, Trump concluded rare earths deal with Japan which in view of China's recent export restrictions can be seen as a pact against Beijing.
Argentinian President Javier Milei's party La Libertad Avanza (LLA) has won the midterm legislative elections with around 41 percent of the vote. The right-wing populist president who has been in office for two years sees this as confirmation of his radical austerity policy. Before the elections, US President Donald Trump had made a billion-dollar aid package aimed at bolstering the peso contingent on a victory for the LLA.
Vilnius Airport had to suspend operations four times last week due to several unidentified objects entering its airspace. According to government sources, they turned out to be helium-filled balloons like those used by meteorologists, coming from Belarus. In recent times such balloons have been used to smuggle cigarettes into the EU. Lithuania has responded by almost completely closing its border with Belarus.