If you thought October was just for horror film re-runs and pumpkin spice lattes, Latin America's biggest economy and the world's seventh-largest democracy just delivered an election outcome that'd make an HBO writers' room schvitz.
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SPAIN
The, um… prime minister, Pedro Sanchez, has called a snap election for 29 November, after parliament blocked his emergency housing reform. (Politico)
IRAN
Iran’s oil minister has unexpectedly stepped down, citing “personal reasons”. Hamid Bovard, boss of the state oil company, is stepping in as acting oil minister in the meantime. (Reuters)
FRANCE
French authorities are now closing up to 500 high schools following a week of escalating student protests and street blockades over proposed education budget cuts and underfunding. (BBC)Comment: As ever, these localised school protests have now morphed into a broader political headache for Paris. Some of the wild footage will only play into a populist mood that Macron’s centrists are losing control.
UNITED STATES
DC has abruptly withdrawn its dozen B1 bombers from the UK’s Fairford airbase, with anonymous US officials telling The New York Times that more specific threats had emerged in the preceding 24 hours. (Air&Space)
CHINA
China has quietly shuttered and consolidated a record 670 lenders across multiple provinces — mostly credit co-ops and small regional banks. (FT)
EGYPT
Egypt’s Sisi hosted Eritrea’s Afwerki, Sudan’s Burhan, and Somalia’s Mohamud on Sunday to “coordinate on regional issues”. (The National)
RUSSIA
A researcher at one of Russia’s Anti-Plague Institutes in Siberia has died of “pneumonia of unknown etiology”, with local outlets reporting she had broken a test-tube containing the plague pathogen. Local authorities initially repeated the plague link, before walking it back to broader wording and insisting the situation is stable, though there are now reports of more regional medical facilities going into quarantine. (Euronews)
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