Seoul (AFP) – South Korea’s president Yoon Suk-yeol visits a memorial to victims of the crowd crush at a Halloween event in Seoul, which killed more than 150 people. President Yoon Suk-yeol declared a period of national mourning Sunday, vowing a thorough investigation into one of the country’s worst-ever disasters.
Rio de Janeiro (AFP) – People form long queues outside polling stations in Rio de Janeiro’s Rocinha favela to vote in Brazil’s presidential runoff between far-right incumbent Jair Bolsonaro and his leftist arch-rival, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
Vatican City (AFP) – During the Angelus prayer in St Peter’s Square, Pope Francis sends his thoughts to the victims of twin bombing attack in Mogadishu, Somalia, which killed at least 100 people. He also sends his prayers to victims of a stampede in Seoul that killed more than 150 people during a Halloween event.
Bergün (Switzerland) (AFP) – The world’s longest passenger train — an assembly of 100 connected coaches measuring nearly two kilometres — winds through breath-taking scenery in the Swiss Alps. The Rhaetian Railway (RhB) announced that it had beat the world record for the longest passenger train, at an event marking the 175th anniversary of Switzerland’s famous railway system.
Moscow (AFP) – Russian Defence Ministry spokesperson Igor Konashenkov accuses the British navy of helping Ukraine carry out a drone attack on military ships of the Black Sea fleet and civilian ships in Crimean port of Sevastopol. Konashenkov accuses the same British unit of “the planning, providing for and carrying out of the terrorist act” on the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 pipelines in the Baltic sea in September.
Mogadishu (AFP) – Smoke billows and ambulances rush to the scene of a twin blast targeting Somalia’s education ministry in the capital Mogadishu. IMAGES
Pigcawayan (Philippines) (AFP) – Images show flooding along a road in Pigcawayan, in the central Philippines, after Tropical Storm Nalgae lashed the country, killing at least 67 people.
Mahabad (Iran) (AFP) – Protesters take to the streets of the Kurdish city of Mahabad as demonstrations re-erupt a day after a protester was killed in a rally commemorating the 40th day since Mahsa Amini’s death. The clerical state has been gripped by six weeks of protests that erupted when Amini, 22, died in custody after her arrest for an alleged breach of Iran’s strict dress rules for women based on Islamic sharia law.
San Francisco (AFP) – Two former Twitter employees leave the company’s headquarters in San Francisco, carrying their belongings in cardboard boxes after being fired. Elon Musk has begun his first full day leading Twitter, with critics and fans anxious to see how the planet’s richest man will run one of the world’s leading social media platforms. Among Musk’s first acts in power on Thursday were the reported firing of chief executive Parag Agrawal and other senior officials — though the company did not reply to AFP’s request for comment and Agrawal still listed himself as CEO on his Twitter profile.
Barcelona (AFP) – Prosecutors in Spain drop the corruption and fraud charges faced by Brazilian footballer Neymar, and others, standing trial over transfer irregularities.
Playa Vista (United States) (AFP) – At a rally in California, United States Senator Bernie Sanders says that – beyond abortion rights and the fight against climate change – the upcoming US midterm elections are about “whether or not this great country remains a democracy”.
Taipei (AFP) – Chinese vets have received a rare invite to Taiwan after a male panda named ‘Yuan Yuan’, symbol of an era of warmer ties, was moved into end-of-life care.
