WORLD BRIEFING: October 5, 2023

  • At least 49 people are dead as a result of a Russian missile attack on a cafe-shop Thursday afternoon in the village of Hroza in the Kharkiv region in Ukraine, the Prosecutor General's Office reported. Seven people were injured. Rescuers continue to work on the spot

  • US has sent roughly 1.1 million bullets seized from Iran last year to Ukraine, its military has said. The US Central Command (Centcom), which oversees operations in the Middle East, says the rounds were confiscated from a ship bound for Yemen in December. Ukraine's Western allies recently warned that their production lines were struggling to keep up with the rate at which Ukraine was using ammunition. Centcom says the Iranian rounds were transferred to Ukraine on Monday. It added the ammunition was 7.62mm calibre used in Soviet-era rifles and light machine-guns - BBC

  • President Biden is concerned that failing efforts to approve arms for Ukraine amid political upheaval in Congress could become a serious battlefield concern. Biden on Wednesday hinted that administration officials have been searching for workaround methods of providing Ukraine sustained assistance. Yet without even the chance for a vote on a new speaker until at least next week — and no clear pathway for a vote on new Ukraine assistance after that — the prospects of a new assistance package in the near term appear slim - CNN

  • The U.S. Congress was at a standstill Wednesday, with its lower house paralyzed by the ousting of Kevin McCarthy as speaker and lawmakers facing a six-week deadline to approve spending bills and avoid a partial government shutdown. The lack of a functioning House of Representatives and the prospect of losing more days to identify and elect a new speaker leave important spending bills in limbo, including those providing for foreign military financing, international humanitarian aid and efforts to counter China's influence.

  • Rishi Sunak will call on Thursday for more co-ordinated European action to tackle the rising numbers of irregular migrants arriving on the continent's borders - BBC

  • Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has arrived in the Spanish city of Granada for a summit of European leaders as he steps up efforts to secure more military aid for Ukraine in its fight to repel Russia's unprovoked invasion amid signs in some allies of donor fatigue as the war nears its 20th month. Zelenskiy and 46 other heads of state are scheduled to meet in the southern Spanish city on October 5 as part of the third meeting of the European Political Community -- a unique forum for political exchanges between the EU's 27 members and 20 other nations from across the continent and the Caucasus - RFE/RL

  • Hawaiian officials plan to reopen West Maui to tourists this weekend after the devastating wildfires, but many Lahaina residents say their "grief is still too fresh" to welcome a surge of visitors. Many community members say residents are still mourning their losses and need more time to heal after the fires leveled the town of Lahaina and left 97 dead.

Michael BociurkiwComment