Departure comes amid large drop in oil receipts, rampant inflation and shrinking economy

Iran’s oil minister has resigned days after allegations that an intermediary trust selling Iranian oil abroad owed millions of dollars’ worth of export receipts to the state.

Mohsen Paknejad’s departure comes as Iran grapples with a dire economic situation, including inflation running at 85%. An overall drop in oil receipts has led to a massive shortfall in foreign exchange earnings and one of the biggest drops in the value of the rial since the Iranian revolution in 1979.

The Iranian president, Masoud Pezeshkian, said he had accepted the resignation of Paknejad, who had given personal reasons for going.

The FBI said Wanying Zhang, also known as Heather, was arrested at Los Angeles International Airport on Sunday before her planned departure to China.

U.S. authorities arrested a California woman on Sunday and accused her of spying on a son of Taiwan’s president at the behest of Chinese officials, the FBI said.

The FBI arrested Wanying Zhang, also known as Heather, at Los Angeles International Airport on Sunday before her planned departure to China, the agency said in a statement. Authorities charged Zhang, 34, of Irvine, California, with acting as an unregistered foreign agent.

Zhang surveilled a son of Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te, the FBI said. The agency did not directly name Zhang’s alleged target, but later shared a New York Post report identifying him as Lai Ting-yu, a U.S. resident.

A 15-year-old student has had their hand blown off after picking up a stun grenade being used by police as mass school protests continue across France, local authorities said.

The incident comes as nearly 500 schools are expected to be completely or partially closed following student protests across the country over dilapidated schools and classrooms, overcrowding and teacher shortages preceding a nationwide day of demonstrations on Tuesday.

LONDON (AP) — The former Prince Andrew has filed a legal action challenging the warrants that authorized searches at two of his homes earlier this year as British police investigated allegations related to his links to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

A judicial spokesperson confirmed that Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor had filed a claim with the High Court in London and a hearing is scheduled for Thursday.

The Daily Telegraph previously reported that Mountbatten-Windsor had asked the court to determine whether Thames Valley Police acted lawfully in searching the former prince’s homes near Windsor Castle and on King Charles III’s Sandringham estate.

The searches were conducted in February when Mountbatten-Windsor was arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office following allegations that the former prince shared sensitive information with Epstein during his time as the U.K.’s trade envoy.

Parti Québécois promises to hold independence referendum in Canada’s French-speaking region by 2028

Voters in Quebec are going to the polls in provincial elections which will probably result in victory for a party that has promised to hold a referendum on independence from Canada within the next two years.

If polls are correct, the Parti Québécois (PQ) will form the government of the province of roughly nine million, the first time that the separatist movement will have gained power in the French-speaking region for more than a decade.

A PQ victory in Monday’s election would also be likely to trigger a return to pitched battles over questions of language and identity between Quebec and the federal government.

Long considered a declining force in Quebec politics, the PQ owes its resurgence to party leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon. The 49-year-old Oxford-educated lawyer and polyglot has positioned himself as a TikToking gen-X rebuttal to François Legault, Quebec’s long-serving Premier until he resigned early this year.

Forces of Yemen’s internationally recognized government began a major offensive Monday against the Iranian-backed Houthis rebels on the country’s Red Sea coast, under an intensified air campaign by the Saudi-led coalition.

The offensive came just after the rebels said they had captured more territory in the southwestern part of Yemen, taking a key town in a blow to the Saudi-backed forces as they advanced toward a strategic provincial capital in the region.

The Saudi-led coalition spokesman, Maj. Gen. Turki al-Malki, said 100 fighter jets were providing support to the forces of Yemen’s internationally recognized government fighting against the Houthis. He said the coalition has secured “air protection” of the strategic Bab el-Mandeb Strait and destroyed hundreds of Houthi targets as part of the ongoing campaign.

Joint declaration made by Egypt, Eritrea and the recognized governments of Sudan and Somalia that is fairly clearly targeted at Ethiopia. The actual text of the declaration can be read here which I’ll copy:

El Alamein Joint Declaration Issued by the Quadrilateral Consultative Summit between Egypt, Sudan, Eritrea, and Somalia El Alamein, 4 October 2026

1. At the invitation of His Excellency President Abdel Fattah El‑Sisi, President of the Arab Republic of Egypt, His Excellency President Isaias Afwerki, President of the State of Eritrea; His Excellency President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, President of the Federal Republic of Somalia; and General Abdel Fattah Al‑Burhan, Chairman of the Transitional Sovereignty Council of the Republic of Sudan, convened today, 4 October 2026, in New Alamein City for a Quadrilateral Summit. The Presidents held intensive fraternal consultations on current regional and international issues, as well as on ways to strengthen political, trade, and economic cooperation among the four countries, and to enhance consultation and coordination among them.

1. The Summit underscored the necessity of adhering to the fundamental principles and pillars of international law as the foundation for regional stability and cooperation, particularly respect for the sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity of the states of the region. The leaders emphasized the importance of upholding the values of good‑neighborliness, rejecting interference in the internal affairs of the region’s states under any pretext, supporting national institutions, and promoting political and peaceful solutions to conflicts.

1. The Summit discussed the coordination of joint efforts to achieve regional stability, create a conducive environment for shared and sustainable development, and advance economic, trade, and cultural relations. The leaders emphasized that such cooperation would contribute to fostering economic integration and interconnection, promoting sustainable development, and strengthening ties among the peoples of all participating states, taking into consideration their unity of purpose and common destiny.

4.The summit addressed a number of issues and the views of the participating leaders were aligned on the following:

a- Supporting the unity, sovereignty, territorial integrity, and national institutions of the Republic of Sudan; rejecting the establishment of any parallel entities; encouraging the resumption of a Sudanese-owned and Sudanese-led political process; supporting national institutions; and categorically rejecting any support for mercenaries.

b- Supporting the unity and sovereignty of the Federal Republic of Somalia; rejecting any interference or actions targeting its territorial integrity and national sovereignty; and rejecting any recognition of or support for the so-called "Somaliland," as this constitutes an infringement upon the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Federal Republic of Somalia.

c- Supporting the Federal Republic of Somalia’s counter-terrorism efforts and the empowerment of state institutions to extend their control over the entire territory; and calling upon regional and international partners to provide adequate, sustainable, and predictable funding for the African Union Support and Stabilization Mission in Somalia (AUSSOM) to support the security transition process and enable the mission to execute its mandate regarding the orderly transfer of security responsibilities to Somali forces.

d- Affirming the principle of freedom of navigation and that the governance of the Red Sea is the exclusive responsibility of the littoral states.

e- Emphasizing the importance of respecting international law regarding transboundary rivers—including the Nile River—particularly the principle of "no harm" and the obligation to cooperate through prior notification, consultation, and consensus; and categorically rejecting any unilateral measures that harm the existing water uses of the two downstream Nile states.

f-Continuing to further strengthen consultation and coordination among the four countries and other sisterly African nations.

5.The leaders agreed to establish a mechanism to follow-up on the outcomes of this consultative summit, which will be held periodically, and whenever the need arises, to enhance consultation and coordination among them.

6.The Presidents of Eritrea, Sudan, and Somalia expressed their sincere appreciation for the hosting of this consultative summit.

For context all of these states have various problems with Ethiopia. Egypt wants to contain Ethiopia as if Ethiopia grows too strong and stable Egypt is afraid that Ethiopia could use its status as the source of the bulk of the water of the Nile River to bend Egypt over a barrel and extract whatever concessions since the overwhelming majority of Egypt’s population are right along the banks of the Nile and rely utterly upon it. Eritrea had a thaw with Ethiopia after a long period of terrible relations since independence of Eritrea and the extended cold war and joined in the earlier Tigray War as a quite vicious participant on Ethiopia’s side, but that went frosty after Ethiopia cut Eritrea out of the peace deal. Since then Ethiopia has done some saber rattling about securing a port by any means necessary, including by force if peaceful means fail. Recently they cut diplomatic relations as Ethiopia views Eritrea as supporting Ethiopian rebels. Sudan is livid at Ethiopia and has made allegations that Ethiopia is training RSF rebels in camps across the border and also launching/allowing drone attacks to be launched from Ethiopian airports to strike Sudan including in its capital city’s international airport. Some Ethiopian rebels have actually been helping out the recognized Sudan government against RSF, such as Army 70. And for Somalia aside from intermittent wars between them there was a relatively recent incident where Ethiopia tried to become the first country to recognize the Somaliland separatists trying to break out of Somalia in exchange for a port deal, only to get cold feet and backtrack under intense international pressure.

It seems like Ethiopia is thus far doing much better against the rebels than the government forces fared last time (it did bulk up the military and get a lot of drones) despite fewer allies, they recently occupied the capital of the TDF rebels which is hardly an auspicious start for the rebels in a war they initiated. That said, the rebels in Tigray are tenacious and had not only their capital but many vital interior areas occupied in the last war before launching Operation Alula and turning the tides so they can’t necessarily be counted out just for having lost Mekelle, especially if they do actually have substantial foreign support… remains to be seen how the four aforementioned countries will react if Ethiopia really does start dismantling the various rebel movements within it in earnest.

Oct. 4, 2026

Authorities reported on Friday that 28-year-old Darya Shipilova, a lab tech at a research facility in Siberia, had died at the Shelekhov Hospital in a suspected case of the plague, according to The Moscow Times.

She had been hospitalized with acute pneumonia symptoms on Tuesday and was placed on a ventilator, with reports saying she died two days later on Thursday.

The incident prompted Shelekhov Hospital to quarantine, soon followed by several others in the Irkutsk region, even as health authorities reassured residents everything was fine, the outlet reported. The Irkutsk Aluminum Smelter in Shelekhov also instituted a mask mandate for “preventative measures,” according to its director, Artem Fominykh.

On Saturday morning, the local government for the town of Baykalsk advised residents to avoid traveling to Shelekhov and other nearby towns because of a plague-related death, but the post was taken down shortly after, according to the Times

People of Baikal reported that Shipilova had been exposed to the disease after she had accidentally broken a test tube containing live bacteria on Sept. 25. She first developed symptoms during a work expedition near the Russian border with Mongolia, according to the outlet.

However, Russian epidemiologist Mikhail Favorov, who now lives in the U.S., alleged that the broken test tube story is a government cover-up.

“It’s laughable,” Favorov said, according to the Post. “Someone working at the anti-plague Institute in Irkutsk wears a protective anti-plague suit. If you break a test tube, the likelihood of infection is actually very low. In short, it doesn’t matter to the general public — they’ll believe the ‘dropped test tube story.’”