Iran says its ties with Russia have never been closer, and Saudi Arabia has postponed its flagship investment conference after a wave of Houthi attacks. Voters in Alberta have turned down a move towards leaving Canada, Bangladesh wants answers over two executions in Mecca, and North Korea warns of a grave situation on its southern border.
Iran says its ties with Russia have never been closer after Trump questions Moscow’s support
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Tuesday that Tehran and Moscow had never in their history worked together as closely as they do now, a day after he hosted Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. Araghchi said the talks, the Russian diplomat’s first trip to Iran since American and Israeli strikes started the war in late February, covered Lebanon, Ukraine and Yemen as well as economic and nuclear cooperation. His remarks followed a post by Donald Trump saying Russia was doing little to help Iran.
Lavrov described the American and Israeli strikes on Iran as illegal and said Moscow wanted to prevent a return to large-scale fighting, while President Masoud Pezeshkian blamed American bases in neighbouring states for rising tension. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu published a recording of a call in which he told Trump the two leaders had a job to finish on Iran. A senior US military official said Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth made an unannounced visit to Israel on Monday and met Netanyahu.
Russia and Iran have grown closer since the collapse of the Soviet Union and are now widely described as strategic allies, with Russia acting as the main supplier of weapons to Iran and as a key trading partner while both countries face heavy Western sanctions. The relationship was long uneven: from the 18th century the Russian Empire fought a series of campaigns against Iran. Moscow now presents itself as a possible mediator in the war, while Washington has eased some sanctions on Russia to lower fuel prices.
Saudi Arabia postpones its flagship investment conference until 2027 after Houthi attacks
Saudi Arabia has put off the Future Investment Initiative, its annual gathering of financiers, executives and officials planned for 26 to 29 October, until next year, the organisers said in a statement on Monday. They said a new date in 2027 would be announced very soon. The decision follows weeks of deadly missile and drone strikes on the kingdom by the Houthi movement in Yemen, as the wider conflict in the Middle East spreads and disrupts business across the region.
The meeting, which would have been its tenth edition, has become a regular fixture for many of the world’s leading bankers. A draft programme listed Goldman Sachs chief executive David Solomon, Standard Chartered chief executive Bill Winters and Citi chief executive Jane Fraser among the expected speakers. The state-backed event has served as a stage for the kingdom’s plans to draw in the billions of dollars it needs to move its economy away from oil and gas and towards tourism, sport and technology.
The initiative was announced in September 2017 by the Public Investment Fund, the kingdom’s main sovereign wealth fund, as part of the Vision 2030 programme of economic and social reform, and its first conference took place in Riyadh in October that year. It is often nicknamed after the World Economic Forum’s meeting in Davos, a label the forum has objected to. In 2018, after the killing of the Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Turkey, several planned speakers and sponsors withdrew from the event.
Alberta votes decisively against starting a process to leave Canada
Voters in the Canadian province of Alberta have rejected a proposal to begin a process that could have led to independence, according to unofficial results from Elections Alberta. With more than 1.5 million ballots counted, about 76% backed staying in Canada and close to 24% supported moving towards separation. Delays at about 100 polling stations held up the count on Monday evening, and the electoral body said the remaining results could take days. The question was one of ten put to voters on the same day.
Prime Minister Mark Carney, who grew up in Edmonton, said Albertans had made a clear choice for unity, and Premier Danielle Smith, who called the vote but opposed independence, said the result showed wide support for remaining in the country. Separatist leaders said their campaign would continue: Jeffrey Rath of the Alberta Prosperity Project said a large movement had been built, while Keith Wilson said at least a quarter of Albertans felt the province deserved better treatment from the federal government.
Separatist feeling in Alberta has long been tied to grievances over federal energy policy, the oil industry and equalisation payments, and it gained attention after the 2025 federal election. In May, a provincial judge ruled in favour of First Nations who argued the referendum process ignored their treaty rights, and Smith then announced a vote on whether to trigger a binding referendum. Under the Clarity Act and a Supreme Court ruling on Quebec, any secession would require a clear result followed by constitutional negotiations.
Bangladesh asks Saudi Arabia to explain the execution of two of its nationals in Mecca
Bangladesh has asked Saudi Arabia to explain why two of its citizens, a man and a woman, were executed in Mecca last week without Dhaka being told beforehand. The Saudi interior ministry said the pair had been convicted of an indecent act inside a mosque and sentenced to death under tazir, a punishment left to the judge’s discretion, because they had violated the sanctity of the place of worship. The ministry did not describe what the act had been.
Foreign Affairs Minister Humaiun Kobir told reporters on Monday that the failure to inform Dhaka had left him very disappointed, adding that the government was in talks with Riyadh about the gap in information. State minister Shama Obaed Islam said the government would decide on next steps, such as bringing the bodies home, once it received details. A Bangladeshi official said the two had appeared on a prisoner list Saudi Arabia shared at the consulate’s request, which did not mention any death sentence.
More than three million Bangladeshis live and work in Saudi Arabia, most of them in low-paid jobs. Amnesty International puts the number of executions in the kingdom this year at about 100, while other tallies exceed 175, many of them foreigners convicted of drug offences. Saudi Arabia executed 345 people in 2024 and 356 in 2025, with most death sentences handed down at a judge’s discretion. Earlier this month its Supreme Court overturned a death sentence given to a Sri Lankan man over an online comment.
Kim Yo Jong warns of a grave border situation as rumours about her brother circulate
Kim Yo Jong, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, said on Monday that a grave situation prevailed along the southern border, accusing South Korean troops of reckless behaviour. She said the South had fired warning shots and made warning broadcasts several times since August, citing crossings by North Korean soldiers. She added that the military was considering placing more tactical strike weapons near the border and restarting loudspeaker broadcasts aimed at the South, describing these as preventive measures.
Her statement came as unverified claims spread online that her brother had suffered a brain haemorrhage and died, including an assertion by Wanjun Xie, chairman of the China Democracy Party, that she had taken control; none of these claims has been confirmed. South Korea’s military says North Korean soldiers crossed the military demarcation line 50 times this year during fortification work, and Seoul blamed the North for mines that exploded at the border on 21 September, which Pyongyang denied.
Kim Yo Jong, born in 1987, is the youngest child of the former leader Kim Jong Il and became director of the ruling Workers’ Party’s General Affairs Department in February 2026, after more than a decade as a deputy director of its propaganda department. Tensions along the frontier have grown as the North added mines, fences and anti-tank barriers under a policy of cutting ties with the South, whose liberal government, in office since last year, halted its own loudspeaker broadcasts.