HAVANA TIMES – We bring you some of the top international news stories compiled by Democracy Now on Friday, October 16, 2026.
Teenage Shooter Kills Three Children and Teacher in Bend, Oregon
Oct 16, 2026
The community of Bend, Oregon, is in mourning following a school shooting at the Silver Rail Elementary School. Police say three children, ages 5, 8 and 11, and a teacher were fatally shot by a 16-year-old resident of the town who used a long gun to blast his way through the school’s locked doors. A 7-year-old student was also critically injured along with a teacher. The suspected shooter was reportedly fatally shot by an armed member of the community who pursued them into the school. The mayor of Bend Oregon spoke to the media after the shooting.
Mayor Melanie Kebler: “A school should be a safe place where children can learn and feel secure. What happened today should never happen. Like so many in our community, I’m struggling to make sense of a loss that feels unimaginable.”
Neo-Nazi Teen Allegedly Attempted Mass Shooting at Illinois Hindu Temple, But Rifle Jammed
Oct 16, 2026
In suburban Chicago, a self-described neo-Nazi teenager has been arrested for allegedly planning to carry out a mass shooting at the largest Hindu temple in Aurora, Illinois. Police say 19-year Alexandros Paporakis visited the temple on Sunday, but his AR-15 jammed. Authorities were alerted by one of the teenager’s co-workers at Taco Bell. At his mother’s home, police found a rifle, hundreds of rounds of ammunition, tactical gear and a manifesto in which the teenager described himself as a “sociopathic white supremacist Neo Nazi filled with hatred, fantasizing about mass murder nearly every day.” He has been charged with making a terrorist threat and illegal gun possession.
Trump Cancels Hegseth’s Plans to Live-Stream Firing Squad Execution
Oct 16, 2026
President Trump has called off Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s plan to live-stream the execution of Nidal Hasan, the former Army major who killed 13 people at Fort Hood in Texas in 2009. Hasan is scheduled to be executed by firing squad on December 3. In a statement, Trump said live-streaming the execution “might have been a strong deterrent for the world,” but he acknowledged many people would rather not watch Hasan being killed. Last week, the U.N. Human Rights Office warned that live-streaming the execution would amount to a public execution and violate the prohibition on torture.
Pentagon to Withhold Internal Report on Attack on Iranian School Until After Midterms
Oct 16, 2026
Another oil tanker has been struck near the Strait of Hormuz. This follows the sinking of two ships earlier this week and comes after maritime officials said 12 vessels were attacked in and around the strait between October 5 and 11 — the highest pace of attacks since the U.S. imposed a naval blockade of Iranian ports.
Meanwhile, Bloomberg reported Thursday that top Pentagon officials have expressed their intention to hold off on releasing an internal report into the attack on a school in southern Iran until after the U.S. midterm elections at the earliest. The bombing killed at least 156 people — 120 of the victims were children, 26 were teachers, and the rest were parents.
Houthis Attack Presidential Palace in Aden, Killing 5
Oct 16, 2026
In Yemen, five people are dead after Houthi militias struck the presidential palace in Aden, the seat of Yemen’s Saudi-backed, internationally recognized government. Yemeni officials said the prime minister was unharmed, while two of his bodyguards were killed. This follows Houthi strikes on Saudi oil infrastructure in recent days, as well as nearly two dozen attacks on King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh that Saudi officials say killed 17 people and injured more than 300.
U.S. Approves Sale of Helicopter Gunships to Israel Amid Continued Attacks on Gaza
Oct 16, 2026
Palestinian health officials say Israeli strikes on Gaza killed four Palestinians and left nine others hospitalized Thursday. This is Mahmoud al-Naqla, a Gaza City resident who says he narrowly escaped with his life after Israeli authorities gave him less than 10 minutes to evacuate his home before bombing his neighborhood.
Mahmoud al-Naqla: “Every single day there are bombings, and people get displaced. This is the third time for us, the third time we’ve been bombed, and we have nothing to do with anything. … We’re just ordinary civilians who want to live like human beings, just like the rest of the world. There’s nothing for us. Even life’s basic necessities don’t exist. We’re like the walking dead.”
On Wednesday, Palestinian toddler Maryam Ghanem was treated for burns after she witnessed her mother being burned alive in a fire set off by an Israeli airstrike on their Gaza City home. In response, the Council on American-Islamic Relations called on U.S. lawmakers to end U.S. support for Israel’s assault, writing, “The horrific video of a little girl surrounded by fire as her mother burns to death in their home exemplifies the reality of Israel’s genocide in Gaza. We cannot comprehend how any political leader with a conscience could continue to fund the sheer cruelty of the Israeli government and the war criminals who carry out its orders.”
This comes as The Times of Israel reports U.S. officials signed a deal to supply 12 advanced Apache helicopter gunships to the Israeli Air Force at a cost of approximately $1 billion.
Children’s Book on Palestine Withdrawn as Authors Accuse Publisher of “Sanitizing” History
Oct 16, 2026
The publishing giant Penguin Random House has withdrawn a book about Palestine for young readers just days before its scheduled release, following editorial disputes with the book’s Palestinian American authors. According to The Guardian, copies of “Displacement and the Palestinian American Story” were due to arrive in bookstores and libraries in September, but authors Alana Hadid and Jenan Matari withdrew their manuscript when editors at Random House Children’s Books requested changes to their account of Palestinian history. The authors now plan to publish through Interlink Books, a Palestinian-owned U.S. publisher. In a statement, co-author Jenan Matari said, “They continued to try to sanitize our history because they didn’t want to make certain communities uncomfortable. But decolonial history is supposed to make you uncomfortable.”
Israeli Firm Used Targeted Ads to Infect Al Jazeera Devices with Zero-Click Spyware
Oct 16, 2026
Al Jazeera reports an Israeli advertising technology firm helped to infect dozens of devices with malicious spyware designed to collect a wide range of sensitive data on journalists at the network. Al Jazeera condemned the cyberattack as an “assault on press freedom.” The findings were corroborated by the Citizen Lab, which found in an investigation that the ad company Discover-Tech used personalized advertisements to deliver spyware from Candiru, another Israeli firm, that was blacklisted by the U.S. government in 2021 over its malicious software. It’s the first-ever public confirmation of zero-click mercenary spyware delivered via targeted ads.
Turkish Police Raid Headquarters of Opposition-Aligned Broadcaster
Oct 16, 2026
Turkish authorities have raided the headquarters of one of the few TV news outlets not aligned with the government. Broadcasts from Halk TV were halted on Wednesday as police searched the channel’s Istanbul offices, arresting nearly a dozen people. Authorities appointed a trustee manager to oversee the popular broadcaster. Press freedom groups condemned the raid as a politically motivated move against the opposition. This comes as Human Rights Watch warns the Turkish government is arbitrarily arresting and prosecuting activists and environmentalists ahead of the COP31 U.N. Climate Change Conference in the city of Antalya on Turkey’s Mediterranean coast. Democracy Now! will be broadcasting from COP31 in Turkey next month.
Donors Gave $330 Million to White House Ballroom While Benefiting from Trump’s Policies
Oct 16, 2026
The Washington Post has revealed the names of private donors who have donated about $330 million to help fund President Trump’s new White House ballroom. Tech giants Nvidia and Apple each gave $25 million. Comcast paid $7.5 million. Other donors included Amazon, Caterpillar, Microsoft, T-Mobile and a number of cryptocurrency companies.
Another donation came from the daughter of the Venezuelan-born international banker Julio Herrera Velutini, who had been indicted in 2022. Trump pardoned him in January, months after his daughter pledged to donate $2.5 million for the ballroom.
Student-Led Protests Spread Beyond France to Albania and Argentina
Oct 16, 2026
Albania’s leader is resisting calls to resign amid student-led demonstrations demanding his ouster. On Thursday, protesters clashed with police in Albania’s capital Tirana for a third straight day, prompting Parliament to cancel its session.
Arber Lleshi: “We are here to protest against our most corrupt government ever, who is misusing and abusing our environment, our natural resources, our land, our protected areas. This is the most corrupt government that our country has ever seen, and it needs to go as soon as possible.”
Protesters are demanding Albanian officials cancel the sale of a swath of southern coastline to a luxury resort development backed by President Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.
Albania joins a wave of student-led protests that began in France over overcrowded classrooms, teacher shortages and crumbling infrastructure. Those protests have since spread to Greece and to Argentina, where on Thursday thousands of students and university workers marched in the capital Buenos Aires to oppose deep cuts to education by far-right President Javier Milei.
Ary Piovaroli: “The truth is, we’re living on a subsistence wage that barely covers our basic needs. And the truth is, we have colleagues who are in the position of working nights, teaching in the morning and sleeping whenever they can. It’s truly insane, given the situation we’re in. It’s extremely serious.”