Over 70 killed in fierce fighting in Yemen's Taiz as rivals trade airstrike claims
More than 70 people have been killed in fierce fighting between Yemen's Houthi group and government forces in southwestern Taiz province over the past 24 hours, military and medical sources said Friday, as the Houthis reported 94 Saudi air and missile strikes while Riyadh claimed interception of three Houthi ballistic missiles.
A Yemeni government military official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said more than 20 government soldiers and nearly 10 allied local fighters had been killed and dozens of others wounded in fighting in Taiz over the past 24 hours.
The official described fierce battles across several fronts, with opposing forces engaging in close-range combat for key positions in the province.
The most intense confrontations were concentrated in rural areas stretching toward Yemen's Red Sea coast, where government forces were seeking to halt Houthi advances and prevent the group from consolidating its recent gains near the Bab al-Mandab Strait, according to the official.
In the southern port city of Aden, government forces' air defenses intercepted several Houthi drones as they approached vital facilities and public service sites in the city, according to a statement posted on social media platform X.
Majid al-Nuzaili, spokesperson for the government forces, said on X that government forces had carried out 474 strikes and targeting operations against the Houthis using fighter jets, drones, and other weapons. He claimed the strikes had killed or wounded 1,540 Houthi fighters, most of them in Taiz, and destroyed or disabled 216 pieces of military equipment.
U.S. adds less nonfarm jobs in Sept. as unemployment rate ticks up
U.S. nonfarm payrolls increased by 29,000 jobs in September, far below expectations, while the unemployment rate rose to 4.2 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday.
The tepid September gain contrasts with a solid 133,000 job gain in August. Economists polled by Reuters and The Wall Street Journal had expected payrolls to rise by 84,000 to 90,000 in September.
Meanwhile, the change in total nonfarm payroll employment for July was revised down from an increase of 21,000 to a decrease of 10,000, and the August figure was revised down by 29,000, from 162,000 to 133,000. The downward revisions to nonfarm jobs for the prior two months totaled 60,000.
Private-sector employers added 46,000 jobs in September, but government job cuts offset the gains, according to the report. The U.S. unemployment rate rose to 4.2 percent in September, up from 4.1 percent in the previous month.
G7 to release 100 mln barrels of diesel in 4 months
The Group of Seven (G7), in coordination with the International Energy Agency, will release up to 100 million barrels of diesel and other oil reserves over the next four months, according to a joint G7 leaders' statement released by the Elysee Palace on Friday.
G7 leaders held a virtual meeting earlier in the day to address growing energy security challenges. According to the statement, the G7 will coordinate maintenance schedules across refineries to prevent simultaneous capacity shutdowns and temporarily increase utilization rates where feasible.
The statement also reaffirmed the G7's commitment to refrain from export restrictions on energy and energy products between G7 countries and called on all producers to refrain from imposing bans that could exacerbate market tensions.
French President Emmanuel Macron said after the meeting that the G7 had agreed not to impose export restrictions or bans among its members, noting that U.S. President Donald Trump had also been "very clear" on this point. These decisions "should bring down fuel prices," he added.
Eurozone inflation hits three-year high of 3.8 pct in September
Eurozone annual inflation is expected to rise to 3.8 percent in September from 3.2 percent in August, reaching its highest level since September 2023, according to a flash estimate released Friday by Eurostat.
Eurozone inflation stood at 2.8 percent in June before rising to 2.9 percent in July and 3.2 percent in August. The September data marked three consecutive months of acceleration.
Among the main components, energy is expected to record the highest annual rate in September at 18.8 percent, up from 14.3 percent in August. Services inflation is forecast to pick up to 3.2 percent from 3.0 percent, and food, alcohol and tobacco inflation to 1.4 percent from 1.1 percent. Inflation for non-energy industrial goods, however, is expected to ease to 1.1 percent from 1.2 percent.
Core inflation, which excludes energy, food, alcohol and tobacco, is expected to edge up to 2.5 percent in September from 2.4 percent in August.
Israel's Supreme Court overturns disqualification of Arab-majority parties in elections
Israel's Supreme Court on Friday cleared four Arab-majority parties to participate in the parliamentary elections scheduled for October 27, overturning a decision by the country's electoral body.
The Central Elections Committee last week disqualified Hadash, Balad and Ta'al, which are running together under the Joint List, as well as the Ra'am party, which is running separately.
The petitions seeking their disqualification were filed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party and far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir's Jewish Power party, on claims that the Arab-majority parties rejected Israel's definition as a Jewish state and supported "armed struggle" against Israel.
The Supreme Court ruled that the material submitted to the electoral committee did not meet the legal standards for excluding the parties.
S. Korea proposes dialogue with DPRK to resolve MDL discrepancies after DMZ mine blast
South Korean Unification Minister Chung Dong-young on Friday proposed dialogue with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) to resolve lingering discrepancies over the military demarcation line (MDL) following the recent landmine explosion in the demilitarized zone (DMZ).
Describing the DMZ mine blast as an "unfortunate incident," Chung told domestic reporters that the core cause of the accident stemmed from different measurements of the MDL.
The minister stressed that the lines, measured by South Korea, the DPRK and the United Nations Command, are all different, cautioning that similar accidents could happen again at any time unless the issue is addressed.
Chung directly extended a formal dialogue proposal to Pyongyang, saying "it is time to meet and communicate."
The incident occurred on Sept. 21 near the MDL, where three South Korean soldiers from the army's 25th division were injured while conducting a mission inside the southern side of the DMZ dividing the two Koreas.
Ebola death toll in DR Congo tops 4,000
The death toll from the ongoing Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has surpassed 4,000, with 4,018 deaths reported among 8,300 confirmed cases across seven provinces, the latest figures released Friday by Congolese health authorities showed.
A total of 2,162 patients have recovered, while the overall case fatality rate stands at 48.4 percent, according to the latest update from the Ministry of Health.
The actual toll of the ongoing outbreak is likely higher than officially reported, international medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) warned Thursday. "The true toll (is) likely higher due to gaps in surveillance and case detection," the organization said.
The outbreak has become the largest and deadliest ever recorded in the DRC and the second-largest Ebola outbreak worldwide, after the 2014-2016 epidemic in West Africa.■
