The Rest of the World Report | October 7, 2026 — Evening Edition

Weekday morning and evening editions. Saturdays once. Good news on Sundays. All sources labeled. HOUTHIS CLAIM SAUDI AIRPORT ATTACKS The Houthis say they attacked airports in Riyadh and Abha overnight into Wednesday. The group named King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh and Abha airport. It also named military facilities in the southwest. The airport claims have not been independently verified. The Saudi-led coalition said it intercepted and destroyed a Houthi ballistic missile north of Riyadh. A coalition spokesman said it was tracking the launch platform over Sanaa and would destroy it. In Yemen, the government says the Houthis fired ballistic missiles and drones at Aden International Airport. The transport ministry said at least two ballistic missiles and several drones targeted the runway and the terminal. One missile landed near the runway minutes before a flight from Cairo was due to land. The flight was diverted to Jeddah. The terminal was evacuated, and two planes were moved off the tarmac. The Houthis said they struck Saudi military supplies arriving at the Badr camp near the airport. On the ground, Saudi-backed Yemeni government forces have launched a counteroffensive. They are trying to retake the Red Sea port of Mocha and areas around the Bab el-Mandeb strait. The fighting is concentrated in Taiz province. The U.S. Mission in Saudi Arabia issued a security alert Wednesday. It cites the Houthis’ public threats against airports and airspace across the kingdom. It says “The military conflict has the potential to escalate.” The Mission told U.S. citizens to exercise heightened vigilance. It said to expect possible flight cancellations, airspace closures and travel disruptions. It told them to check flight status with their airline and the airport. It advised against travel near the Yemen border. It told them to follow Saudi Civil Defense alerts. U.S. government employees may not travel within 20 miles of the Yemen border. They need special authorization to travel to Jizan, Asir and Najran provinces. They need it for Qatif, Yanbu and Taif as well. 🇺🇸 **What American readers need to know:** The U.S. Mission in Saudi Arabia has warned Americans in the kingdom that the conflict could escalate. Flights could be disrupted. The Houthis say they hit Riyadh and Abha airports. The claim has not been independently verified. U.S. government employees are barred from travel near the Yemen border. *Sources:* Al Jazeera *(Qatar, state-funded/editorially independent; Reuters copy; Houthi claims on Riyadh and Abha, Aden airport attack, coalition interception, counteroffensive)*; People Daily *(Kenya; U.S. Mission alert text, travel restrictions, Houthi airport claims, Saudi authorities’ statement)*; Gulf News *(UAE; U.S. Mission alert, advice to citizens, travel restrictions)* RUBIO’S HORMUZ CLAIM Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Wednesday that Iran has “lost complete control” of the Strait of Hormuz. He spoke at a press conference in Athens. He said the strait is open and that oil flows are nearly back to prewar levels. He said Iran’s economy is in freefall under sanctions. He said Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon. Kpler, a maritime intelligence firm, says Gulf oil flows excluding Iran passed 81 percent of prewar levels in September. Three maritime security sources counted at least 12 attacks on tankers around the strait from September 28 to October 5. That was the highest weekly level since the war began, they said. The International Maritime Organization recorded nine incidents that week. On Tuesday, 12 crew members were injured on a Panama-flagged tanker crossing the strait. India’s Ministry of External Affairs said an unknown projectile hit it. Late Wednesday, the UK Maritime Trade Operations agency reported a strike on a tanker. The tanker was 51 nautical miles (94 km) off Qatar’s north coast. It reported being hit by “multiple projectiles.” The agency did not give a casualty figure. Authorities are investigating. The origin of the projectiles was not identified. Vice President JD Vance said in an interview that Iran should make a “meaningful” reduction in its enrichment capacity. Experts read that as a possible softening of the earlier U.S. demand that Iran give up enrichment entirely. The International Atomic Energy Agency reports Iran has enriched uranium to 60 percent. Weapons-grade is roughly 90 percent. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has called negotiations “futile.” He cited attacks that followed earlier talks. The war began February 28, two days after a third round of U.S.-Iran talks ended in Geneva. Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on October 4 that only talks based on “justice and fairness” can end the war. President Donald Trump has rejected Iran’s late-September proposal to reopen the strait after seven days. The war is in its eighth month. 🌍 **Translator’s Note:** Al Jazeera’s explainer on the new U.S. demands reads Vance’s remark as a possible opening. It cites experts who see a softer line on enrichment. It quotes Simon Mabon, a professor of international relations at Lancaster University. He says the prospect of Iran seeking a nuclear weapon has remained remote. He says Tehran’s priorities are sanctions, the blockade, frozen assets and regional conflicts, not enrichment. The explainer sets Iran’s September proposal beside the U.S. position. 🇺🇸 **What American readers need to know:** Rubio says Iran has lost control of the strait. Shipping sources counted at least 12 tanker attacks around it in the week to October 5. That is the most since the war began. A tanker off Qatar reported being hit Wednesday. Vance has called for a cut in enrichment capacity, not an end to it. *Sources:* Al Jazeera *(Qatar, state-funded/editorially independent; explainer by Caolán Magee; Vance, IAEA enrichment levels, Pezeshkian, Araghchi, Iran’s proposal, Kpler figure, Panama-flagged tanker, Mabon)*; Al Jazeera *(Qatar, state-funded/editorially independent; timeline of talks before the February 28 strikes)*; The Times of Israel *(Israel, right-centre; agency copy; Rubio’s remarks in Athens, tanker attack counts, IMO incidents)*; The Times of Israel *(Israel, right-centre; AFP copy; UKMTO report of tanker off Qatar)* LECORNU SETS A DEADLINE French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu said Wednesday that first decisions on the school protests come at the end of October. He spoke from Matignon, the prime minister’s office, on the student movement, fuel prices and the budget. This story covers the school portion. Lecornu said the government has launched five workstreams. The first is classes when a teacher is absent. The second is building conditions, especially in heat. The third is the organization of the school year. The fourth is transparency in Parcoursup, the university admissions platform. The fifth is a clearer, renewed framework for lycée students to express themselves. He said that last item may be the students’ main demand. He said the government’s consultation platform for students has collected more than 40,000 contributions. They concern mainly the organization of school time and the material conditions in schools. He said all of them will be published. Answers will be worked out with the regional councils. Dialogue sessions in each lycée continue from Thursday. He said security forces have no instruction to confront students. Their mission is to protect people and property and to keep schools accessible. He said investigations into serious injuries to young people must establish the facts in full transparency. He condemned the violence of recent days. He listed pupils and staff assaulted, police and gendarmes injured, and schools burned or damaged. He said politicians who use the anger for electoral battles take a grave responsibility. On money, Lecornu said the 2027 budget raises education credits to 64 billion euros. That is 1.2 billion euros more than this year. He called education one of the few ministries whose credits rise. The National Assembly debates the education budget on November 12. That leaves a month, he said, to turn the students’ proposals into amendments. He said he wants answers that are concrete, fast and funded. He said the government has eight months before the presidential election and will act pragmatically. Students and unions are not waiting. A new day of student blockades and demonstrations is called for Thursday. Secondary teachers’ unions in the FSU federation have called teachers to strike and march alongside students. The CGT, Unsa, FO and Sud have joined the strike call. The education ministry counted 459 schools disrupted Wednesday, down from 891 the day before. **Editor’s note, from Paris:** ROTWR’s editor will be at the Thursday protest. Based on the last three days, the editor expects tens of thousands of people in Paris. In the editor’s account, French television coverage watched Wednesday expected a similar turnout. It also said the movement is not going away soon. 🇺🇸 **What American readers need to know:** France’s prime minister said first decisions on the school protests come at the end of October. He set out five areas of work, including teacher absences and heat in school buildings. He said the education budget rises 1.2 billion euros next year. *Sources:* BFMTV *(France, commercial news channel; Lecornu’s full address from Matignon, October 7)*; Orange *(France, portal; L’Express copy; Thursday strike call, unions joining, ministry school counts)*; Entrevue *(France; teachers’ unions’ strike and march call for October 8)* KILLING IN BURQA A Palestinian man was killed Wednesday in Burqa, north of Nablus, during a settler raid. Israeli troops accompanied the settlers. The Palestinian Authority’s health ministry named him as Ali Al-Bazari, 44. It said nine others were injured “as a result of an assault by occupation forces and settlers.” An obituary identified Al-Bazari as a member of the Palestinian security forces. The Israeli military gave a different account. It said troops and Border Police went to Burqa after reports of stones thrown at an Israeli civilian. The civilian was injured. It said a security officer and another civilian opened fire during the confrontation. It said a commander “neutralized” a man running toward him with a suspicious object. Several Palestinians were detained on suspicion of stone-throwing. An Israeli newspaper reported that Palestinians attacked settlers from a nearby farm. One settler was hospitalized with a head injury. It said settlers then attacked Palestinians harvesting olives. Burqa’s mayor, Ammar Salah, told reporters that young men clashed with settlers before forces opened live fire. The Palestinian Red Crescent said it treated three people wounded by live fire, one seriously, and five injured by beatings. It said Israeli forces beat ambulance crews and detained staff. Other incidents were reported across the West Bank. In Deir Nidham, near Ramallah, settlers burned a car belonging to Andrey Khrzhanovskiy, a Russian-Israeli pro-Palestinian activist. No one was hurt. Settlers also spray-painted threats against the army’s Central Command chief and the head of the Shin Bet. The Israeli military destroyed memorials to Palestinians it calls martyrs in Jenin, Yaabad and Nablus. Nablus’s deputy mayor said five were destroyed. In Biddu, it demolished the home of the man who killed Netanel Shukrun near Neve Tzuf last month. In Beit Duqqu, it demolished the home of Qadri Samara, a detainee accused of killing an Israeli settler last month. Troops also evacuated an outpost near Susya. Honenu, a legal aid group for settlers, said six people were arrested and police fired rubber bullets. Schools and universities across the West Bank suspended classes, rescheduled them or moved online. The reason given was fear of settler attacks and military tension on the anniversary of October 7. Education directorates in most areas moved Wednesday’s classes to Tuesday, according to the Palestinian news agency Wafa. The United Nations humanitarian office, OCHA, recorded more than 1,600 settler attacks by mid-September. They caused casualties, property damage or both across 275 Palestinian communities. That averages 6.7 a day, up from five a day in 2025. The Israeli military recorded 867 incidents of nationalistic crime and settler violence in 2025, up from 682 in 2024. The two counts use different definitions. 🌍 **Translator’s Note:** The Times of Israel reports Burqa through the Israeli military’s account and an Israel Hayom report that Palestinians attacked first. It also carries the Palestinian health ministry’s count. The New Arab tells the same day through the classrooms. It reports schools and universities closing, and it leads with OCHA’s count of settler attacks. 🇺🇸 **What American readers need to know:** A Palestinian man was killed in a West Bank village during a settler raid. Israeli troops were present. The Israeli military says there was a confrontation. The Palestinian Authority says he died in an assault by troops and settlers. The UN counts 6.7 settler attacks a day this year. *Sources:* The Times of Israel *(Israel, right-centre; AFP and ToI staff; Burqa killing, Israeli military account, Israel Hayom, mayor, Red Crescent, other incidents, 2025 and 2024 incident counts)*; The New Arab *(UK-based; school and university closures, Wafa, OCHA settler-attack count)* BRIEFS **Christa Pike woke Tuesday as plans were being made to remove her from life support, her lawyer says.** Randy Spivey said Pike is “angry and confused.” She cannot move her arms or swallow. She has pneumonia and a blood clot, and she is cognitively confused. Chancery Judge I’Ashea Myles in Nashville told the state to preserve evidence. Her lawyers want Gov. Bill Lee to commute her sentence. He has not said how he will respond. *Source:* Associated Press *(wire; Pike’s condition, lawyer’s statement, court order, clemency request)* **Maria del Carmen Abascal, 87, the woman whose eviction shook Spain, has died.** She died Wednesday in a Madrid hospital. Her lawyer, Beatriz Duro, confirmed it to a Spanish radio network and gave no cause. Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and Housing Minister Isabel Rodríguez offered condolences. Protesters held a minute of silence at Puerta del Sol. The investment fund had agreed to let her return. The Madrid Tenants’ Union said the solution came too late. Unions have announced a general strike next month. Sánchez has called an early election for November 29. *Source:* Associated Press *(wire; Abascal’s death, lawyer’s confirmation, political reaction, strike and election)* **NUMBERS AT PUBLICATION** 🇮🇷 Iran: 3,684 killed 🇱🇧 Lebanon: 4,386 killed, 12,413 wounded 🇮🇱 Israel: 1,200+ killed, ~5,400 wounded 🇺🇸 US military: 23 killed, 861 wounded 🇵🇸 Gaza: 74,372+ killed, 5,060+ wounded (since ceasefire) 🇵🇸 West Bank: 322 killed (incl. 74 children), 5,927 wounded (incl. 946 children) since January 2025 🇷🇺 Russia: 1.4 million total casualties (killed, wounded, missing)🇺🇦 Ukraine: 50,000 killed, 400,000 injured🛢️ Brent crude: $101.20/barrel ⛽ US gas: $4.37/gallon Sources: Lebanon MOPH; gazacasualties.org (Gaza total); CSIS. “Whenever the people are well informed, they can be trusted with their own government.” — Thomas Jefferson, 1789 *I will never put the news behind a paywall. If you want to support keeping it free for everyone else, there’s a paid option. That’s all it is.* Get full access to The Rest of the World Report at www.restoftheworldreport.com/subscribe