Daily Brief: Riyadh Airport Attack Kills 12, Wounds 309

In today's Bilig Daily Brief, a strike on Riyadh's main airport killed 12 people on Saturday, and US President Donald Trump said Washington may join Saudi strikes on Yemen's Houthis. Trump also said Ukraine should replace its president, hours after Russian bombs killed at least 20 people in Zaporizhzhia. India detained more than 2,000 people to block a protest in New Delhi.

Riyadh airport attack kills 12, wounds 309

An attack on King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh on Saturday killed 12 people and wounded 309, Saudi Arabia's General Authority of Civil Aviation said. The dead were four Saudis, two Bangladeshis, a Palestinian and one national each of the United States, Egypt, Jordan, Syria and Sudan. Saudi Arabia blamed Yemen's Houthis. The Saudi-led coalition called the strike a "full-fledged war crime" and its spokesperson, Major General Turki al-Malki, said it would "respond decisively". The airport suspended operations.

Trump says US may join strikes on Houthis

US President Donald Trump said on Saturday that the United States may join Saudi strikes on the Houthis. "We may," he told reporters at the White House before leaving for a rally in Tennessee, adding: "We move very quickly." Secretary of State Marco Rubio condemned the attack and said it had killed a US citizen. United Nations envoy Hans Grundberg called it a "dangerous escalation", CBS News reported. The US embassy on Sunday urged Americans to avoid the airport.

Trump says Ukraine needs a new president

Trump said on Saturday that Ukraine should replace President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, a day after Zelenskiy criticised a US deal easing sanctions on Russian diesel. "I think it's time for Ukraine to get a new president," Trump told reporters, according to the Associated Press. He blamed Ukrainian strikes on Russian refineries for high US diesel prices, CBS News reported. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha wrote on X that Zelenskiy "has the support of the Ukrainian people, and they have the right to decide".

Russian bombs kill 20 in Zaporizhzhia

The death toll from Russian strikes on the Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia rose to at least 20 on Saturday, including three children, Ukrainian officials said. At least 18 people were wounded. Aerial bombs hit residential buildings, regional officials said. Zelenskiy wrote on X that Russia had "expressed its thanks for the lifting of sanctions on diesel exports". Missiles also struck Kyiv in daylight, wounding four people, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said.

India detains thousands to block Delhi protest

Indian police detained more than 2,000 people in New Delhi on Saturday to stop a rally against the country's election chief, a home ministry official told Reuters. A court on Sunday freed three leaders of the youth-led Cockroach Janta Party, including founder Abhijeet Dipke, their lawyer said. Protesters want Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar to resign over a voter-list revision that removed about 130 million entries. The Election Commission denies wrongdoing. Authorities suspended mobile internet in central Delhi and shut dozens of metro stations.

US jet disables cargo ship off Iran

A US fighter jet disabled a Panama-flagged cargo ship in the Gulf of Oman on Saturday after its crew ignored warnings and tried to run the US blockade of Iranian ports, US Central Command said. Four commercial vessels have been disabled and 135 turned back since the blockade resumed in July, the command said. Separately, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said a crude supertanker hit a mine while leaving the Strait of Hormuz by an "unauthorised" route, the Tasnim news agency reported.

Iran can still build missiles, officials say

Iran has preserved its missile and drone factories and can replenish its arsenal, Bloomberg News reported on Saturday, citing Western officials. One official said Russia was supplying Iran with missiles; Russia's defence ministry did not respond to a request for comment, Bloomberg said. The assessment contradicts US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who said on 30 September that US strikes had destroyed Iran's "military industrial capacity". White House spokesperson Anna Kelly rejected the officials' assessment, Bloomberg reported.

Isaias deaths reach four as Simon nears Mexico

At least four people died in Alabama and Florida as the remnants of Hurricane Isaias moved inland, officials said on Saturday. Two were killed by falling trees. More than 700,000 customers lost power across the US Southeast, CBS News reported, citing a tracking website. In the Pacific, Hurricane Simon strengthened to Category 4 with winds of 155 miles per hour (250 kph), the US National Hurricane Center said. It was forecast to approach Mexico's west-central coast near Manzanillo on Sunday.

Eight killed in Gaza on ceasefire anniversary

Israeli attacks killed at least eight Palestinians in Gaza on Saturday, including an eight-year-old girl, Al Jazeera reported, citing medical sources. The deaths came on the first anniversary of a US-backed ceasefire. Gaza's health ministry said at least 1,481 people had been killed since the truce took effect on 10 October 2025. The Israeli military said it had killed two militants, from Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, whom it accused of violating the ceasefire, Fox News reported.

Nadella calls for AI "emergency brake"

Microsoft Chief Executive Satya Nadella said on Saturday that companies must be able to halt advanced artificial intelligence (AI) models in the middle of a task. "We must assume a model is compromised and contain it from the start," he wrote on X. "Think of it like an emergency brake." He also called for tamper-proof records of what models do. Anthropic and OpenAI have recently disclosed incidents in which their models took unintended actions, Bloomberg News reported.

The week ahead

The International Monetary Fund and World Bank hold their annual meetings in Bangkok from Monday 12 October to Sunday 18 October. The IMF publishes its World Economic Outlook on Tuesday. On Monday, the Nobel economics prize is announced and European Union foreign ministers meet in Luxembourg, where they are due to approve more than 1,600 new sanctions listings on Russia. JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, Citigroup and Wells Fargo report earnings on Tuesday, followed by Bank of America and Morgan Stanley on Wednesday. US September consumer price data are due on Wednesday, alongside Chinese trade and inflation figures. US retail sales and producer prices follow on Thursday, when chipmaker TSMC also reports.