Latest news for 16 October 2026

INDONESIA

You’re out.

MSCI, a leading financial index provider, has announced it’s considering removing Indonesia’s equity market from ‘emerging’ to ‘standalone’ status, a decision that would oust Indonesia from MSCI global indices. It’s already triggered an 11% single-day drop on Jakarta’s benchmark index, its worst in decades; the index is already down 40% since January. (MSCI)

Comment: It’s a massive blow for a Prabowo administration that built its mandate on promises of 8% growth driven by foreign investment. MSCI has cited opaque ownership concentration, insider concentration, and a lack of regulatory enforcement, all symptoms of an oligarchy that Prabowo has not only struggled to rein in, but still taps for support.

DR CONGO

Police raid abroad.

Belgian police have raided the properties of several family members of DRC President Félix Tshisekedi, as part of an investigation into alleged money laundering by Tshisekedi himself. (Brussels Times)Comment: Tshisekedi is now facing massive pressure from all sides, whether this law enforcement abroad, or his predecessor’s new rebel armed coalition at home.

FIJI

Margin for improvement.

New Zealand is deploying a six-month team to help Fiji overhaul its security agencies, after the US warned that China-linked hackers had gained access to a Suva-based regional organisation. (Taipei Times)

Comment: The US hasn’t named the target, but speculation immediately landed on the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) secretariat, which is still trying to coordinate a membership split between those recognising China and those recognising Taiwan. The PIF just held its summit in late August, so the hack’s timing lines up, though PIF also just denied being the target! Coming just after the US sensationally sanctioned a China-born, Fiji-based businessman, it suggests the US is stepping up its counter-intel posture in the strategic region. What’s less clear is whether this is in response to fresh intel about China pushing harder, or the US just drawing a line in the sand.

UNITED STATES

No livestream.

President Trump has called off the planned livestream of the firing squad execution of US Army major and physician Nidal Hasan, who shot dead 13 unarmed service members in 2009. The U-turn comes after widespread criticism, including from 72 retired high-ranking officers. (NPR)

Comment: Republicans and Democrats were unusually united in their opposition, arguing the livestream amounted to an unconscionable spectacularization of violence. We’d add it also reflected the kind of barbarity the US is theoretically trying to end in places like Iran.

CHINA

Bridge at last.

North Korea and China have finally opened the much-anticipated New Yalu River Bridge after 12 years of delay. It’s their largest land crossing. (BBC)

Comment: You can read too much into bridges, but these endless delays (on the North Korean side) long served as a reminder how Pyongyang tries to balance its need for Chinese capital against its fear of Chinese dominance. There’s also the fact Kim first inaugurated his new land bridge with Russia last month, reflecting the North’s desperation to strike some kind of balance between its two neighbouring giants.

EUROPEAN UNION

Budget tensions.

European leaders are fighting over the budget, so nature is healing? This time it’s after Ireland (rotating EU president) circulated a compromise draft cutting $180B from the bloc’s seven-year, $2.2T budget. (Politico)

Comment: Dublin’s draft slashes 8% off the initial Brussels wishlist, falling more heavily on foreign aid and administrative overhead while shielding traditional farm subsidies. But in classic EU fashion, nobody is happy: the frugal six (Austria, Denmark, Germany, Finland, the Netherlands and Sweden) want deeper cuts. Unanimity means this debate will take a while, but France’s Macron wants it wrapped by the year’s end before a Eurosceptic like Marine Le Pen potentially wins the presidency.

ISTANBUL

Deadly rains.

Istanbul’s heaviest rainfall in 83 years has flooded the city, leaving at least three dead and hundreds more evacuated. (RFI)

Comment: While climate change is driving more frequent cloudbursts across the Mediterranean, this kind of flooding in a mega-city like Istanbul (pop 16 million) will increasingly also be an infrastructure story: decades of concrete paving, capped streams, and overburdened drainage systems leaving nowhere for surface water to go. It’ll also play into Turkey’s politics, sparking fresh mudslinging between Istanbul’s opposition-held municipality and Erdogan’s own ruling nationalists.