Yemen forces retake towns near Bab el-Mandeb as coalition strikes Houthis

Trump said a decision on Iran is coming, 'the easy way or the hard way'; Hegseth called the Hormuz blockade 'ironclad'. Iran's negotiator Ghalibaf said Hormuz stays closed until the US meets seven conditions, while Foreign Minister Araghchi said there is no military solution. The US Air Force withdrew its B-52 and B-1 bombers from RAF Fairford in Britain after an alleged Iran-linked terror plot; Downing Street said the base is safe.

Brazil's electoral authority confirmed a runoff on October 25 after Flávio Bolsonaro finished first with 47.3% to President Lula's 44.8%, with over 98% of votes counted. Neither reached the majority needed to win outright. The right also surged in Senate races, moving close to the votes needed to impeach Supreme Court justices. Brazilian assets were poised to jump, as the result beat what investors had positioned for. Federal police opened a preliminary probe into possible US interference.

Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez announced in a televised address that Spain will vote on November 29, three days after right-wing parties voted down his housing relief decrees. The housing crisis had driven mass protests, including after an 87-year-old Madrid woman's eviction. Demonstrators kept their camp in Madrid's Puerta del Sol, and talk of a general strike persisted.

The Kremlin said Russia will fight on and hit two Ukrainian cargo ships in the Black Sea. A strike on a Turkish-owned corn ship killed its captain, which Zelensky called 'horrific'; two crew died in a fire on another Turkish-owned ship off Romania, which he blamed on Russian drones. A Russian attack on Kharkiv killed five. Zelensky said the US proposed technical-level talks in late October, possibly in the UAE; Kyiv agreed and awaited Moscow's reply.

A softer US inflation reading and September payrolls of only 29,000, with sharp downward revisions, almost took an October Fed hike off the table. Emerging-market stocks and currencies gained, but longer-dated Treasury yields hit multi-decade highs, with the 30-year near 6%. Logan called for hikes of '50 bps or more'; Hammack said there was still time to weigh the next move. The euro fell to its weakest since May 2025 as French fiscal worries weighed.

Oil slipped, then edged higher in volatile trade as Middle East crude exports topped pre-war levels, though tanker attacks were rising, and the G7 pledged a coordinated 100 million barrel release. Saudi Arabia unexpectedly cut November crude prices to Asia as Hormuz flows increased. Kuwait's output recovered to about 75% of its prewar level, and Iraq planned to hire more tankers. OPEC+ held November output targets steady, with the next meeting on November 1.