This time of year, there is no shortage of monsters to frighten us.

Hollywood has given us vampires, zombies, mad scientists, masked killers and creatures that emerge from the darkness to prey upon the unsuspecting.

But perhaps the most frightening monster of all is the government that has become so accustomed to wielding extraordinary power that it cannot imagine a future in which that power is diminished.

 

The Doomsday Government: Preparing for the End of the World, Not the End of Power

by John W. And Nisha Whitehead

 

Behind a wire fence lies a vast gaping wound of earth. Before Google’s arrival a few months ago, an estimated quarter of a million trees occupied the 330 hectares (815 acres) of forest near the town of Muhos in rural northern Finland. Now they are all gone.

The parliamentary elections in Israel were a major test of public confidence in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Israelis went to the polls in the aftermath of the events of October 7, 2023, the wars in Gaza and Lebanon, the confrontation with Iran, and increasingly strained relations with several international partners. The composition of the next government will decide the direction of Israel’s political and strategic development.

 

The Israeli election hurt Netanyahu, but the country is still stuck

High turnout exposed deep fatigue with crisis and war, yet coalition deadlock means no clear path to a calmer regional course

by Murad Sadygzade

 

 

US Ambassador to the UN Mike Waltz has shouted “Back up!” at Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez during a heated confrontation at the General Assembly over Washington’s blockade of the island. The Cuban diplomat accused Waltz of spreading “crude lies” to justify US “economic aggression.” 

During the UNGA session on Tuesday, Waltz dedicated his speech to allegations of corruption among the Cuban leadership, pointing to what he called their collection of luxury watches, real estate, and yachts as well as their relatives’ holidays in Europe. While ordinary Cubans “are starving,” the US blockade and embargo of the island “does not exist” and “doesn’t apply to luxury goods” that “somehow get through to the Cuban regime elites,” he claimed.

Spanish football club Real Madrid on Wednesday issued an apology to Chinese people over offensive remarks made by its French forward Kylian Mbappé, after its initial lack of a proper response to the incident further angered many in China who called for accountability from the organization. 

 

Real Madrid apologizes over Mbappé's inappropriate remarks amid Chinese fans’ outrage

By Lu Wenao

A luxury cruise ship on a years-long voyage around the world said it suspended operations due to extraordinarily high fuel costs, leaving passengers stranded in Cambodia.

The US-based operator of the Villa Vie Odyssey said it was working with passengers on disembarkation plans and "temporary living arrangements".

 

Controversy over the proposed $7.6 billion West Australian university merger has centred on revelations of errors in Deloitte’s cost-benefit analysis, the government’s scramble to contain the fallout, and growing political, campus and public opposition. Adam Lucas and James Guthrie report.

 

Magic pudding. Deloitte’s three-way $7B uni merger looks more like a takeover

by Adam Lucas and James Guthrie

 

In 2025, the WA Government paid consultancy giant Deloitte to produce an economic costing of the proposed three-way merger between the University of Western Australia, Murdoch University and Curtin University. This is on top of other consulting work for the government and the University of Western Australia.

 

Moscow is the stage for two busy days of diplomacy as African leaders and government delegations from 48 countries gather for the third Russia-Africa summit on October 28-29.

Day one opens with discussions on economic partnerships, agriculture, education, healthcare, and artificial intelligence, followed by sessions on energy, mining, and business cooperation through BRICS. Russian President Vladimir Putin and African Union chair Evariste Ndayishimiye are due to address the Economic and Humanitarian Forum’s plenary session at Gostiny Dvor.

Putin's schedule also includes bilateral talks with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, and Republic of Congo President Denis Sassou Nguesso, alongside an evening reception for summit participants.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - During a visit to the Bahamas, King Charles III of the United Kingdom said that slavery had caused great suffering to the people of the Caribbean, but he stopped short of offering an apology and made no mention of reparations.

On Tuesday, the UK monarch began a nine-day tour of Caribbean nations, during which he will attend a summit of Commonwealth leaders.

"Some of what is best in Bahamian culture today, the most joyful, the most hopeful, the most bright, was born out of darkness. It is only right that we should acknowledge the great suffering of the past in these islands and beyond," the king was quoted as saying by the Guardian newspaper after arriving to the Bahamas.

 

Western leaders are increasingly resorting to a familiar tactic: rather than acknowledging the failures of their own foreign policy, they blame domestic crises, protests, and inflation on external factors and “foreign enemies.”

 

Chaos Sown Abroad Returns Home: Macron in the Persian Gulf amidst Firestorm at Home

Simon Chege Ndiritu

 

One Fiery Weekend

Did Pauline Hanson’s PHON abandon workers in favour of corporate mining giants? Michael West checks the politics behind Simon Turner v BHP.

Former BHP Mt Arthur coal miner Simon Turner’s decade-long dispute with BHP exposes serious questions about the treatment of labour-hire workers and the politicians and government agencies responsible for protecting them.

 

BHP v Simon Turner. One Nation knew, what did they do?

by Michael West

 

The corporate beneficiaries of labour hire deals extend way beyond BHP and its coal operations to most large mining companies and the sheer magnitude of the dollars at stake explains why Turner has struggled to get politicians to support his case for just compensation.

 

Ahead of Israel’s election, anti-Arab rhetoric has been intensifying as the country confronts a decisive question: whether Arab citizens and parties can be legitimate partners in government.

I have been working in the Jewish-Arab sphere for nearly 20 years. Over the past several months, vicious incitement against Arab citizens has surged. Its unprecedented intensity has one clear objective: to ensure that Arab parties will once again be shunned as potential coalition partners in a new government. That would prevent a change of government.

 

Ron Gerlitz

Israel’s anti-Arab incitement is reshaping the election

 

 

Recent changes to university admissions rules in Syria have put a dent in Lin Najab's plans. The 23-year-old from Damascus is one of the few women at her college studying mechatronics engineering.

"My original plan was to pursue a master's degree," Najab told DW. But earlier in October, new rules were announced by Syria's education ministry regarding two newly created colleges, the National University of Defense Sciences and the Syrian University for Security Sciences. The former now restricts certain courses exclusively to male students, and the latter almost all of them.

 

A bad omen? Syria bans women from university courses

BY Omar Albam in Syria | Cathrin Schaer

 

The luxury carmaker is set to open its first factory in the United States — a move Trump credits to his tariffs. DW examines the German reaction amid a massive auto industry cull at home.

US President Donald Trump announced the investment on Saturday, during a campaign rally in Georgia, a key battleground state for his Republican Party in the midterm elections next week.

 

What Germany thinks of carmaker Audi's $4 billion deal with Trump

BY Nik Martin