World in brief: October 5, 2026

Six Counties / 4 October 2026 Sinn Fein vows to cooperate with any Drumcree Parade police investigation 4 October 2026 East Africa / 4 October 2026 Ethiopian federal forces retake Mekelle airport from Tigrayan fighters 4 October 2026 South Asia / 4 October 2026 India and Pakistan summon diplomats after two killed in border incident 4 October 2026 Eastern Europe / 4 October 2026 Medvedev spells out Russia’s conditions for peace with Ukraine 4 October 2026 East Africa / 4 October 2026 Somalia's president says his country will not accept Israeli presence ‘under any circumstance’ 4 October 2026 Round-up / 4 October 2026 World in brief: October 4, 2026 4 October 2026 MINE INJURIES: South Korea’s military said today it concluded North Korea planted mines that injured three South Korean soldiers at their heavily fortified border last month, urging the North to apologise and remove other mines.

The announcement came days after North Korea denied responsibility for the September 21 blasts and threatened “merciless” retaliation if provoked.

FUHRER FURORE: Samoa’s Prime Minister La’auli Leauatea Schmidt apologised today for a video from 19 years earlier in which he said “Heil Hitler” and made a Nazi gesture during what he described as a family gathering.

His statement published on the government’s Facebook page came a day after the Samoa Observer newspaper made public for the first time the existence and content of a seven-second clip that the outlet said was filmed at a Schmidt family reunion in Samoa in July 2007.

IMMIGRATION CRACKDOWN: A Laotian citizen deported by the United States to Eswatini under the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown was released from a maximum-security prison in the African nation on Sunday after being held there for more than a year, his lawyer said.

Phone Chomsavanh was among five immigrants deported to Eswatini, where he has no ties, in July 2025 through the Trump administration’s secretive and highly contentious third-country deportation programme.

FLASH FLOOD: Thai authorities warned today of more rain and flash flooding as the death toll from floods across the country since mid-September rose to 31.

Thunderstorms, strong winds and heavy rain are expected across much of upper Thailand from Monday through to Wednesday, increasing the risk of flash flooding, particularly in low-lying areas, the Thailand Meteorological Department said.