Thursday 22 October 2026 · No. 7
Top Story The Gulf
Houthi and Iranian claims keep supply fears alive; the US denies the mine reports.
Brent crude, the international benchmark price for oil, closed at $108.82 a barrel on Tuesday 20 October, according to CNBC. US West Texas Intermediate, the American benchmark, settled at $97.15. The latest rise followed claims by the Houthis, an Iran-aligned movement in Yemen, that they had attacked several Saudi Arabian facilities on Monday. Saudi authorities did not immediately confirm the claims, and Reuters could not verify them.
The second pressure point is the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow sea lane between Iran and Oman. Iran's Revolutionary Guards said their naval mines had stopped three tankers on routes Tehran considers unauthorised, and that two caught fire. US Central Command rejected that account, saying the claims that tankers hit mines were false.
Diplomacy continues alongside. Iran and the United States remain in indirect talks through Pakistan and Qatar. Iran's foreign minister said the strait will stay closed unless Washington accepts Tehran's conditions. Each side is therefore claiming the other must move first, which leaves traders pricing in risk rather than facts.
Oil is sold by the barrel. On Tuesday, Brent crude, a main oil price, ended at $108.82 a barrel.
The Houthis are a group in Yemen. They said they attacked Saudi Arabia on Monday. Saudi officials did not immediately confirm this.
Iran said its mines stopped three tankers near the Strait of Hormuz. That is a narrow sea lane. The United States said this was false.
Iran and the United States are still talking through Pakistan and Qatar.
World Russia and Ukraine
The Kremlin says talks could restart after 10 November, but warns they will take long.
US envoy Steve Witkoff met Russian President Vladimir Putin in St Petersburg on 21 October. The Kremlin said the meeting lasted about three hours. It came a day after Witkoff met Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and some European leaders in Oslo.
Kremlin adviser Yuri Ushakov said Putin agreed in principle to resume trilateral talks, meaning talks between three parties, after 10 November. He said the next round could take place in Abu Dhabi. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Moscow would study the proposals, but that the talks would take a long time.
Moscow also set a condition. Kremlin officials said a negotiated end to the war is theoretically possible only if Ukraine's leaders make “necessary decisions”. Russia also freed a US citizen, Stephen Hubbard, during the visit. The central question remains whether either side will shift its position.
Ukraine's position matters too. Zelenskyy has said he prefers trilateral talks with Trump and Putin and would reject a deal drafted by China, Russia and the US alone. He said any settlement would need the approval of Ukraine's parliament, and he told Fox News he is open to freezing the front lines as a route to a ceasefire. Fighting continued meanwhile: a Russian attack on a high-rise in Kyiv's Sviatoshinsky district killed two people, and a Ukrainian drone attack in Russia's Bryansk region killed at least one.
A US envoy named Steve Witkoff met Russia's leader, Vladimir Putin, on 21 October. They talked for about three hours.
A day earlier, Witkoff met Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Oslo.
The Kremlin says Putin agreed in principle to start talks again after 10 November. Three sides would take part: Russia, Ukraine and the United States.
Russia also said the talks would take a long time.
India Environment
The first pollution-control stage of the season starts across Delhi-NCR.
Delhi's Air Quality Index, or AQI, a scale on which higher numbers mean dirtier air, rose from 179 on 20 October to 244 at 2 pm on 21 October. That is in the “poor” band. In response, the Commission for Air Quality Management put Stage I of the Graded Response Action Plan, or GRAP, in force across Delhi-NCR, the National Capital Region. It is the first time this season.
Stage I measures focus on dust from construction and roads, vehicle checks, waste burning and industrial emissions. The Delhi Metro will add 20 weekday trips from Thursday, according to National Herald.
Later on 21 October the Central Pollution Control Board recorded an AQI of 247 at 7 pm. CAQM said it invoked Stage I because the reading entered the poor category and forecasts indicated that pollution could remain elevated. On the Board's scale, readings from 201 to 300 count as poor.
Because GRAP is a graded plan, Stage I is the first and lightest step, and later stages are meant for worse air. Forecasts from the India Meteorological Department and the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology indicate the air is likely to stay in the poor category over the coming days.
Another Delhi story is running alongside. The Supreme Court advanced to 28 October its hearing on a plea asking the Election Commission to publish the list of electors who received notices in Delhi's Special Intensive Revision of the voter list, with the reasons. CJI Surya Kant said the bench was thinking of passing an order. The window for claims and objections was extended by a month, to 30 October.
Delhi is India's capital. Its air is measured with the AQI. A higher number means dirtier air.
On 20 October the AQI was 179. On 21 October at 2 pm it was 244. That is called poor air.
Officials started a pollution plan called GRAP. It is the first time this season.
The Delhi Metro will add 20 trips on weekdays from Thursday.
United States Elections
Voters are choosing members of Congress before 3 November.
HARRIS COUNTY FIRST-DAY VOTERS In person, in thousands
Americans vote in the midterm elections on 3 November. Midterms are held halfway through a president's term, and they decide who sits in Congress. Many states let people vote early, in person.
Texas began early voting on Monday 19 October. In Harris County, which includes Houston, more than 100,000 people voted in person on the first day. The previous first-day midterm record there was 63,188, set in 2018.
Other places were busy too. Dallas County had 76,069 voters on its first day, a county record. In South Carolina, 97,968 votes were cast on day one, more than double the last midterm. Texas had 911,468 early voters after two days, about 4.8% of registered voters.
Americans vote in the midterm elections on 3 November. Many states let people vote early.
In Harris County, Texas, more than 100,000 people voted in person on the first day. The old first-day record for a midterm was 63,188.
In South Carolina, 97,968 votes were cast on day one. That was more than double the last midterm.
Early voting lets people choose before Election Day.
Science & Tech Space
A PhD student's software spotted the new comet, C/2026 S1 (Euclid).
The European Space Agency said its Euclid space telescope spotted a previously unknown comet, named C/2026 S1 (Euclid), in images taken between 16 and 24 September. The comet turned up during the Euclid Deep Field North survey.
The finder was Mikko Pöntinen, a PhD student, who used custom software that detects moving objects. He reported the object to the Minor Planet Center, which confirmed it as a comet on 8 October.
One Euclid frame, a 560-second exposure from 20 September, shows the comet as a streak with a fuzzy coma, the cloud of gas and dust around a comet's nucleus. Pöntinen predicted the comet's position to find it in five sets of images and found no match against known comets or asteroids. Starlust reports the comet was about 1.3 billion km from Earth.
The find was made by a PhD student using custom software, not by Euclid's main survey pipeline. The Minor Planet Center is the body that officially records new comets and asteroids, so its confirmation is what makes a discovery count. The comet's name, C/2026 S1 (Euclid), follows the usual convention of naming a comet after the survey or person that found it, with the year and a letter code. The discovery was unexpected. Euclid was built to map distant galaxies and to study dark matter and dark energy, not to track fast-moving objects. Earlier comets it observed were already known, so this is its first new find.
Euclid is a space telescope from Europe. It was built to map faraway galaxies.
This time it found a comet that nobody knew about. Its name is C/2026 S1.
A student named Mikko Pöntinen found it. He used software that spots moving objects.
The Minor Planet Center confirmed it on 8 October. The telescope was not built to look for comets, so the find was a surprise.
Economy United Kingdom
Markets now expect the Bank of England to raise interest rates.
UK consumer prices rose 3.5% in the 12 months to September, up from 3.1% in August, the Office for National Statistics reported on 21 October. Economists polled by Reuters had expected 3.4%. Inflation is the rate at which prices rise over a year.
Fuel drove the rise. Motor fuel prices were up 29.8% over the year, the highest rate of motor fuel inflation since August 2022. Reuters said the surge in energy prices caused by the Iran war gathered steam, and the Bank of England's July forecast had predicted a smaller rise, to 3.0%. Services price inflation also rose, to 3.7% from 3.4% in August.
Bloomberg reports the Bank of England is on track for its first interest-rate rise in more than three years. The figures arrived before John Healey's first Budget as chancellor, due next week. Core inflation, which leaves out food, energy, alcohol and tobacco, rose to 2.8%. Markets price a 98% chance that the Bank of England raises its policy rate to 4% next month, and wage growth figures released on 20 October added to the case for a rise. A rate rise would raise borrowing costs for households and firms while aiming to slow price rises.
Inflation means prices go up over time. In the UK, prices were 3.5% higher in September than a year before.
In August the number was 3.1%. So prices are rising faster now.
A big reason is fuel. Petrol and diesel prices were up 29.8% over the year.
The Bank of England may raise interest rates. That is the price of borrowing money.
Did you know?
Explainer
Midterm elections are held halfway through a US president's four-year term. Voters choose members of Congress, made up of the House of Representatives and the Senate.
Congress passes laws and decides how public money is spent. If the president's party loses control of one or both chambers, the president usually finds it harder to pass laws.
Discuss
Why might fears about tankers near Hormuz raise fuel prices in countries far away?
Why might talks among three parties take longer than talks between two?
How might a government decide when air is bad enough to introduce pollution curbs?
In brief
New words
Ready for a game?