On Sunday, in Bolivia’s general elections, the ruling Movement for Socialism party suffered a collapse that stripped it of any chance to remain in power and left it clinging to survival as a political force with just over 3 percent of the vote. Opposition leaders will fight it out in a runoff election on October 19.
On Monday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with President Trump and other European leaders at the White House. Ahead of the meeting, Trump said Ukraine would have to give up hopes of ever getting Crimea back and would not be joining NATO. After the meeting with Zelensky and the European allies, Trump called Putin and brought up the possibility of a trilateral meeting between the three leaders. President Trump made some assurances that the U.S. would provide security guarantees to Ukraine if a negotiated peace were to occur.
On Tuesday, Trump said Putin may not want a deal at all, and that if that is the case, Putin will face a “rough situation.” Trump did not go into detail, but he is likely referring to secondary sanctions and tariffs on countries that buy Russian oil and support the country’s war effort in Ukraine. Switzerland announced it would be ready to host Russian President Vladimir Putin for any peace talks on Ukraine despite an existing arrest warrant for him from the International Criminal Court, Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis said.
On Wednesday, the Israeli military said that it will begin calling up around 60,000 reservists for duty as it proceeds with plans to take over Gaza City. Israel also plans to extend active duty for around 20,000 reservists already serving. Reservists would begin to receive letters in the coming days, a military official said.
On Thursday, researchers at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) reported their recent discovery of the Singpung-dong Missile Operating Base, located approximately 27 km (17 miles) from the border with China in the North Korean province of North Pyongan. The base could contain six to nine of North Korea’s advanced intercontinental ballistic missiles, along with their mobile launchers and thousands of soldiers, the report said. Though the weapons are not likely to be mounted with nuclear warheads, they are capable of carrying them.
On Thursday, the Trump administration issued more Iran-related sanctions, targeting 13 entities based in Hong Kong, China, the United Arab Emirates and the Marshall Islands, as well as eight vessels, the Treasury Department said. The measures cover Greek national Antonios Margaritis and his network of companies and vessels that the Treasury said were involved in transporting Iranian oil exports in violation of sanctions.
On Friday, the U.S. government announced it had reached a deal to take a 10 percent equity stake in the American chipmaker Intel. Intel said the administration would make an $8.9 billion investment in Intel common stock, paid for with the CHIPS grant money. The company said the stake would be funded with $5.7 billion in grants previously awarded but not yet paid, and $3.2 billion from a separate DoD program. It said the Trump administration will take “passive ownership, with no Board representation or other governance or information rights.”
On Saturday, the Swedish island of Gotland in the Baltic Sea suffered an electricity blackout at 21:00 local time, naturally sparking concerns of Russian sabotage. According to the energy company Geab, the outage was caused by a fault in the power line connecting the island to the mainland. The exact cause of the outage is still unknown, but the energy company confirmed that there is no suspicion of sabotage.
On Sunday, Israeli airstrikes hit Yemen’s capital in response to the Houthis’ use of a cluster bomb against Israel. The rebels’ Al-Masirah satellite television reported a strike on an oil company, and video on social media showed a fireball erupting there. Israel’s military said it struck the Asar and Hizaz power plants, calling them “a significant electricity supply facility for military activities,” along with a military site where the presidential palace is located. Nasruddin Amer, deputy head of the Houthi media office, vowed to continue attacks on Israel, writing on social media that “our military operations supporting Gaza won’t stop, God willing, unless the aggression is stopped, and the siege is lifted.”
