HAVANA TIMES – We bring you some of the top international news stories compiled by Democracy Now on Thursday, October 22, 2026.
US and Israeli Militaries Draft Plans to Resume Strikes on Iran After Midterm Elections
Oct 22, 2026
Image Credit: Pentagon photo
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps says it struck four vessels transferring oil from ship to ship in the northern Persian Gulf, setting them on fire, while three other ships struck mines in the Strait of Hormuz. The attacks came as dozens of Israeli fighter jets carried out war games along Iran’s western borders and amid reports of multiple explosions in the port city of Sirik. This comes as The New York Times reports the Pentagon and Israel’s military have developed specific plans for renewed strikes against Iran after the U.S. midterm elections.
Saudi Arabia Says Four People Are Killed as Houthis Attack Oil Field, King Fahd Airport
Oct 22, 2026
In Saudi Arabia, at least two people are dead and eight others wounded after a strike on King Fahd International Airport on Wednesday. It was the latest in a series of deadly attacks on Saudi airports by Yemen’s Ansar Allah movement — known as the Houthis. Elsewhere, two people were reportedly killed in a Houthi drone attack on a Saudi oil field. The U.S. State Department has since ordered diplomats and their families to evacuate its missions in Saudi Arabia due to ongoing Houthi attacks.
Russia Kills More Civilians in Ukraine as U.S. Envoy Witkoff Praises Putin as a “Humanitarian”
Oct 22, 2026
Russian drones and ballistic missiles struck 12 regions across Ukraine overnight, including the capital Kyiv, where at least two people were killed and 22 others wounded. Meanwhile, Russian officials say two people were wounded as Ukraine launched hundreds of drones at Moscow and other regions.
The violence came as Kremlin officials said they would agree to resume U.S.-brokered talks next month, purportedly aimed at ending Russia’s war on Ukraine. They would be the first such talks since February. The announcement followed President Vladimir Putin’s meeting at the Kremlin with President Trump’s envoy, Steve Witkoff.
Steve Witkoff: “You talk so much about my president, President Trump, being a humanitarian. You are a humanitarian also, sir, and I salute that. I commend you, and I thank you again.”
Witkoff’s comment drew bipartisan outrage. Republican Senator Thom Tillis called it an “embarrassing and outrageous thing to say,” adding, “You should go back to Ukraine and ask the families of the children Putin has kidnapped and murdered whether they agree your friend Putin is a ‘humanitarian.’”
Nigeria Reports First Case of Ebola in Over a Decade
Oct 22, 2026
Nigeria has reported its first case of the Ebola virus in over a decade, becoming the fourth African nation to be affected by an outbreak that’s killed over 4,600 people and sickened nearly 10,000 others. The patient is receiving care in a hospital in Nigeria’s capital Abuja. She arrived on a flight from Ethiopia earlier this month; prior to that, she had traveled to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the epicenter of what’s now the fastest-spreading Ebola outbreak on record.
U.N. Says World Has Lost Chance to Limit Global Heating
Oct 22, 2026
In climate news, the United Nations says the world has lost its chance to limit global heating to 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels. That was a key goal of the 2015 Paris climate accord aimed at limiting the worst effects of the climate crisis. But the annual Emissions Gap Report published Wednesday still found that steep cuts to deforestation and greenhouse gas pollution could limit the severity and duration of the expected “overshoot” of the 1.5-degree target. This is U.N. spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric.
Stéphane Dujarric: “But overshoot is not surrender. The secretary-general says that we can still keep it as small and as short as possible and bring temperatures back down to below 1.5 degrees before the end of the 21st century. … He warns that the world is running out of time, and governments must go much further and much faster.”
UK Approves Plans to Extract Natural Gas from North Sea Deposit
Oct 22, 2026
The British government has approved plans to extract natural gas from a massive deposit in the North Sea. Prime Minister Andy Burnham called the move a “pragmatic” step toward energy independence, while environmentalists condemned it as a betrayal of the Labour government’s previous climate pledges. On Wednesday, protesters gathered outside the U.K. Department for Energy Security and Net Zero calling on officials to reverse plans to drill in the Jackdaw North Sea gas field and to reject a proposal to develop the even larger Rosebank oil field. This is Robin Wells, director of Fossil Free London.
Robin Wells: “Andy Burnham’s personal record with signing the Fossil Fuel Nonproliferation Treaty and all the good stuff he did in Manchester for the climate led us to have some hope about Jackdaw and Rosebank. But time and time again, we see prime ministers choose petrol companies over people, and it’s clear that they’re doing this on Jackdaw.”
Chemical Tank Leak in Ohio Forces Evacuations
Oct 22, 2026
In Ohio, 60 people are being evaluated for symptoms after a hazardous leak from a chemical tank in Toledo. Nearly 300 people within a half-mile radius have been evacuated. The chemical release was due to an alleged “error” that occurred when the material was being transported.
Ohio GOP Gubernatorial Candidate Commissions Ugly Attack Ad Featuring Opponent’s Estranged Mother
Oct 22, 2026
In more news from Ohio, the governor’s race has taken an ugly turn. Republican candidate Vivek Ramaswamy is spending $4 million to promote an ad featuring his Democratic opponent Amy Acton’s estranged mother in which she denies her daughter was sexually abused as a child.
Donna Arthur: “I love my daughter, but when I saw her lying about her opponent, it’s not easy for a mother to say this, but Amy has a serious problem.”
In response, Acton said, “Between the ages of 10 and 12, I was sexually abused by her husband, while my birth mother did nothing to protect me. … My birth mother’s husband was arrested, charged with rape, and indicted by a grand jury. At 12 years old, I testified in court. I haven’t seen my birth mother since that day in 1978. She and her husband fled the state and he was declared a fugitive.”
On Wednesday, vice president and former Ohio senator JD Vance said he’d been left feeling “disgusted” — not by Ramaswamy’s ad, but by Republican pushback against it.
Vice President JD Vance: “I’m a little bit disgusted when I see Republicans across the country who are whining more about that advertisement than they are about what the congressional Democrats and other Democrats want to do to the United States of America.”
Republican Congressmember Nancy Mace said she was “stunned and shocked” that between the Ramaswamy ad and Republican congressmembers blocking the release of the Epstein files, “It’s going to take time for us to recover from this. … We are not the party of pedophilia.”
Trump Travels to South Carolina to Boost GOP Senator Darline Graham
Oct 22, 2026
President Trump traveled to South Carolina to provide a last-minute boost to Republican Senator Darline Graham, the sister of the late Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, who is facing a tight race from her Democratic opponent Annie Andrews. During a rally in Clemson on Wednesday, Trump cheered as a protester was beaten by one of his supporters.
President Donald Trump: “Who’s the guy that threw that punch? Who threw that punch? Man!”
Supreme Court Bars Trump Administration from Denying Gender-Affirming Care to Prisoners
Oct 22, 2026
The Supreme Court has left in place a lower court ruling that the Federal Bureau of Prisons’ policy cannot terminate hormone therapy and other treatments for transgender inmates. Essentially, the Trump administration must continue providing gender-affirming care in federal prisons. The ACLU estimates there are 2,000 people in federal custody who identify as transgender.
Majority of Websites on Internet Left Vulnerable After Critical Security Flaws Are Discovered
Oct 22, 2026
Cybersecurity experts are warning that millions of websites are in urgent need of a security patch, after critical flaws were discovered in PHP, the programming language that powers a majority of sites on the internet. The flaw was discovered Tuesday by researchers at the firm Calif using AI tools. It can allow unauthenticated attackers to take control of web servers and to steal sensitive data including passwords. Prominent websites around the world were taken offline Wednesday as programmers raced to patch the flaw — among them, parts of Wikipedia, the BBC and several national government portals. Some researchers are calling it the most serious vulnerability ever to affect the internet.
Meta Ordered to Pay $25 Billion Fine
Oct 22, 2026
A judge in New Mexico has ordered Meta to pay a $25 billion fine following a trial that found the company had been lying about Facebook user data for years. Meta is forced to pay its largest fine ever for its deceptive business practices, but it’s just a fraction of the nearly $220 billion warranted under the law. The case stemmed from the Cambridge Analytica scandal over which New Mexico sued Meta in 2021. New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez said, “This case has always been about more than one company or one scandal. It is about whether corporations can mislead consumers about what happens to their personal information without facing meaningful consequences.”
Police Violently Restrain Three People During Utah Data Center Protest
Oct 22, 2026
In Utah, sheriff’s deputies violently restrained three people on Tuesday after they protested against data centers at a meeting of the Utah County Planning Commission. Video shows an officer tackling a woman to the hard floor with an audible thud. The activist, Aspen Azalea, told The Salt Lake Tribune that her violent arrest left her with a concussion and bruises to her jaw, shoulder and knee. She’s been charged with disrupting a meeting and assaulting a police officer. She was among scores of residents who turned out to oppose an ordinance allowing new data center construction in mining, grazing and industrial zones. County commissioners only allowed members of the public to speak after their vote approving ordinance.
Chris: “Y’all sicced the police on one of your own constituents, the people that you are supposed to serve.”