World News Quick Take

Protesters on Wednesday attacked government buildings, banks, businesses and other sites during riots that lasted more than eight hours across the capital, Tirana, in a violent escalation of an anti-government movement. Hundreds of young people smashed store fronts, set fires and caused damage to at least four government ministry buildings during running battles with riot police, who used tear gas and water cannons to try and hold back the crowds. Authorities said 23 police officers and six other people were being treated for injuries, while 35 people were detained. President Bajram Begaj condemned the violence and appealed for calm. “The constitution and the law must remain the boundaries for everyone, without exception,” Begaj said. The latest demonstrations were organized by student groups seeking education reforms.

Police spray a protester with a water cannon during clashes as students join an anti-government demonstration in Tirana, Albania, Thursday, Oct. 15, 2026.

Photo: AP

AUSTRALIA

Navy launches probe

The navy yesterday said that it would audit bathrooms across its fleet after a video recording device was found in the cabin of one of its ships. Vice Admiral Matt Buckley, head of the navy, has vowed a full investigation into the incident aboard the HMAS Leeuwin, a survey ship docked in the northeastern city of Cairns. A member of the armed forces has been identified as a “person of interest” and was assisting military police with inquiries, the Ministry of Defence said in a statement. Buckley called the act a “most despicable betrayal of trust.”

NORTH KOREA

Missile test conducted

Pyongyang performed its first underwater-launched missile tests in nearly three years on Wednesday, likely from an as-yet-deployed submarine that it says is designed to launch nuclear weapons. The official Korean Central News Agency yesterday reported that the military tested two types of strategic cruise missiles in the country’s eastern waters.

TIMOR-LESTE

Haze closes schools

A three-day school closure began yesterday prompted by thick haze that has drifted over from raging forest fires in Indonesia. In the capital, Dili, people were out as normal under a yellow-tinged sky, but most were wearing masks, as the government advised a day earlier in announcing the school closures. Residents welcomed the decision, although they said the pollution had been even worse earlier in the week. “Recently, the pollution in Dili has been very severe,” 30-year-old midwife Sonya da Costa Soares told reporters. “We can’t see the sun, the pollution is heavy.”

LAOS

Chinese airport developed

A new Chinese-built airfield is a work in progress, with satellite imagery showing many areas where construction appeared to be ongoing even as it was officially opened at a ceremony last month. The jointly run airport is China’s first military facility abroad. The Ban Keun airport, which is about 50km north of the capital, Vientiane, and the Thai border, does not “radically alter any balance of power or give China much ability to project force toward the Strait of Malacca that it doesn’t already have,” said Greg Poling, director of the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. However, with a potential for expansion, it is certain to be a concern for Vietnam, which has competing territorial claims with Beijing in the South China Sea, Poling said.