Trump-Putin meeting cancelled. A prospective summit between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin has been called off, the White House said yesterday after a call between top diplomats from both countries. Trump had announced the summit, aimed at ending the war in Ukraine, last week. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said he told U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio that Russia will not agree to a ceasefire before a peace agreement.
North Korean missile launch. North Korea conducted its first ballistic missile tests in five months today, South Korea’s military said. The launch comes as Trump and other world leaders are slated to visit South Korea next week. These were the first such missile tests since South Korean President Lee Jae-myung took office in June, pledging to restore peace on the peninsula.
UK delists Syrian group. The United Kingdom (UK) removed its terrorism designation for Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the Syrian group that led the overthrow of former President Bashar al-Assad. Ahmed al-Sharaa, who led HTS, now serves as Syria’s interim president. London said that delisting HTS will enable closer cooperation with Syria’s new government on issues like counterterrorism, migration, and chemical weapons destruction.
Mosquitoes in Iceland. Mosquitoes have been discovered in Iceland for the first time, an insect expert at the Natural Science Institute of Iceland confirmed. The country has long been too cold for mosquitoes, but scientists had predicted that could change as its temperatures rise and glaciers melt due to climate change. Mosquitos that can carry tropical diseases were also recently discovered in the UK.
Anti-terrorism finance sting. Police alliances Afripol and Interpol cooperated to arrest more than eighty-three people in six African countries as part of a first-of-its-kind operation against terrorism financing, Interpol announced today. Authorities from Angola, Cameroon, Kenya, Namibia, Nigeria, and South Sudan participated in the operation. Around $260 million worth of government-issued currency and cryptocurrency was uncovered as a result.
Takaichi’s first steps. New Japanese Prime Minister Takaichi Sanae will meet with Trump on October 28 during his visit to Japan. She has vowed to strengthen the Japan-U.S. relationship while bolstering Japan’s defense capabilities to ensure the country can defend itself independently. Though Takaichi had promised to appoint many women to her cabinet, she only named two yesterday.
H1-B fee update. The new $100,000 fee for skilled foreign workers obtaining H1-B visas will primarily apply to new applicants from abroad, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) said late Monday. The fee will not apply to people moving from one type of visa to another, such as an F-1 student visa to an H-1B. The fee has sparked two lawsuits, including one from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
Colombia conviction reversed. An appeals court overturned the witness tampering conviction of former Colombian President Álvaro Uribe yesterday, citing insufficient evidence and methodological errors in the trial. Uribe had been convicted in August in Colombia’s first-ever sentencing of a former president.
