🇺🇦🇷🇺⚡️- Ukrainian forces have successfully evacuated a wounded soldier from an active frontline position using a heavy aerial drone, marking a world first in battlefield medical evacuation.

The soldier, from Ukraine's 30th Mechanized Brigade, was stranded in a mined area under threat from Russian FPV drones, which made conventional evacuation impossible. Specialists from the 92nd Assault Brigade worked with Ukrainian manufacturer Gurzuf Defence to modify a heavy hexacopter, normally used as a bomber, to lift him to safety. The company supplied the drone free of charge, while Ukrainian engineers developed the necessary modifications. The soldier is now receiving treatment.

🇮🇱⚡- Benny Gantz of the Blue and White Party has dropped out of the race just eight days before voters go to the polls.

🇮🇱⚡- Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar has called on right-wing parties that are polling below the Knesset threshold to follow Benny Gantz’s lead and withdraw from the race. His remarks appear to be aimed at Ofer Winter.

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich had earlier urged Winter and his Amach Yisrael party to drop out as well.

🇺🇸🇺🇿⚡- Uzbekistan and the US have signed 54 agreements worth $12 billion during Secretary Rubio’s visit to Samarkand, spanning critical minerals, energy and more.

Uzbekistan, a major producer of natural gas and uranium, also joined the Artemis Accords today, becoming the 77th signatory, a clear jab at Moscow, which has long treated Central Asia as its own backyard.

The mineral agreements build on similar deals Washington struck with both Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan last year, a sign the US is serious about deepening ties with the Central Asian region.

🇺🇸🇸🇦⚡️- BREAKING: The former Saudi OpenAI engineer accused of planting a listening device in the company’s San Francisco offices appears to have received “considerable support” from the Saudi government, according to court filings reviewed by Reuters.

🇫🇷⚡️- The Parisian police prefecture is recalling all its officers on leave alongside their reservists by October 22nd.

🇫🇷⚡️- The first curfews have been announced for today and tomorrow in Lille, Douai, Wattignies and Denain. They will last from 8PM to 6AM. They should only target districts from which rioters come from or where they are headed.

Note: all 4 of these cities are in the north because those regions' prefects are the first ones to have made any announcements regarding the matter.

🇫🇷⚡️- Gatherings have started again in Paris and Marseilles. Local media report ongoing evacuations of shops in Rouen alongside police forces mobilizing. Riots of this type are usually dependent on large-scale protests on Saturdays and they sometimes spill over on Sundays despite the protests being over, as it was seen this weekend in Paris. However, it appears urban violence is not dying down despite new protests being planned for October 24th.

🇫🇷⚡️- All curfews in France only concern minors. Additionally, curfews have been announced in Paris (Republic Square and Les Halles / 11PM - 6AM), Lyon (Peninsula / 9PM - 6AM) and Nice (entire city / 9PM - 6AM).

🇫🇷⚡️- Hundreds of French Catholics held a public Mass in front of the burnt building of the Lyon Tourism Office. The building was inaugurated in 1852 and had a symbolic role in Lyon's urban center.

Catholics here are chanting the Hail Mary prayer.

🇮🇷⚡️- Iran’s Revolutionary Guard has stated that, in the event of a new round of war, Iran would target the seven main undersea internet cables passing through the Strait of Hormuz, which would threaten major disruptions to regional internet connectivity and international data communications.

🇫🇷⚡️- Near the open-air Mass in Lyon, a group of French White nationalists marched through the streets to reclaim them, chanting the French national anthem.

Note: several nationalist groups confronted antifas and looters throughout the weekend, but footage is rare and videos don't show much.

🇮🇷⚡- Clashes between the IRGC and Baloch separatists in Kash, Sistan and Baluchestan province, southeast Iran.

Earlier today, IRGC colonel Alireza Mehrabi was liquidated in a shooting operation near the city of Iranshahr.

🇺🇸🇨🇳⚡️ - The DHS has issued an order banning the use of DeepSeek across federal civilian agencies and government contracts, citing national security concerns.

🇺🇸🇮🇳⚡️- Former Ted Cruz staffer and organizer of the Texas Youth Summit Vasant Bhatt has voted for James Talarico due to increased racism against indians from conservatives and growing GOP opposition to legal immigration.

🇯🇴🇸🇾⚡- A Jordanian airstrike targeted a vehicle linked to a Druze drug-smuggling network in the As Suwaida region of southern Syria, territory controlled by the Druze separatist council.

🇺🇸🇮🇱⚡️- President Trump apologized to a journalist after learning she was from Ben Shapiro's Daily Wire saying that "The Daily Wire is good".

The Daily Wire up until 2023 was one of the leading anti-Trump conservative news outlets in the country. Ben Shapiro also fundraised for Trump in 2024.

🇰🇵⚡️- British tabloid outlet The Sun has begun claiming that Kim Jong Un, the Supreme Leader of North Korea, has died of a brain hemorrhage.

The Sun cites an unnamed Chinese official within the Democracy Party of China as their source for this as of now baseless claim.