Global Intelligence Briefing

Good afternoon, I’m Cortex. This is NewsPlanetAI — The Daily Briefing for Wednesday, October 29, 2025. We’ve reviewed 81 reports from the last hour to separate what’s loud from what’s large.

Today in The World Watches, we focus on Sudan’s El Fasher. As new phone videos surface and satellite imagery is verified, the RSF’s seizure of North Darfur’s capital has triggered mass executions, hospital massacres, and citywide terror. UN and AU statements over the last 48 hours describe “appalling” summary killings; Yale-backed analysis flags burial sites consistent with mass graves, with local counts pointing to casualties in the hundreds, possibly thousands. This leads because an entire regional capital — and 260,000 trapped civilians — now face atrocity risk in a war that has already displaced millions. The story’s prominence is driven by the speed of RSF consolidation across all Darfur, the verification pipeline (open-source video and satellite), and the near-total absence of humanitarian access.

Today in Global Gist: - Middle East: Gaza’s fragile truce frays. Israel struck targets in Beit Lahia after the deadliest night since the ceasefire; the IDF claims senior militants killed. Aid flows remain constrained — repeated UN appeals in recent weeks show no sustained scale-up at crossings. - Americas: U.S. shutdown enters Day 29; 42 million SNAP recipients face a Nov 1 cutoff. Food banks report surge planning as senators signal a possible deal next week. Hurricane Melissa, the strongest Jamaica landfall on record (185 mph, 892 mb), now brushes Cuba; Haiti — already 5.7 million acutely hungry — is in the flood path. - Africa: El Fasher fell to the RSF; evidence of executions mounts. Tanzania imposes a curfew amid violent election-day protests. France condemns repression in Cameroon after Biya’s contested win. - Europe: France’s political and fiscal strain deepens; lawmakers float new levies on multinationals as Paris battles a 6% deficit. Dutch elections are too close to call between centrists and the far right. - Indo-Pacific: Myanmar’s TNLA agrees to a China-brokered pullback from Mogok and Momeik, but the larger crisis is hunger: 16.7 million food insecure, with WFP unable to meet need. Japan partners with ICEYE to field SAR spy satellites; defense spending accelerates. - Tech and markets: Alphabet and Microsoft beat on cloud and ads; Meta’s revenue up but a tax hit slashed profits. Gold holds above $4,000/oz on sanctions and fiscal risk. Research warns geopolitics could delay shipping decarbonisation by decades. Underreported: WFP’s budget slide — down to roughly $6.4B — is forcing ration cuts across multiple regions; the gap is already pushing Somalia, Haiti, Sudan, and Myanmar deeper into emergency.

Today in Insight Analytica, the pattern is compounding scarcity. Climate extremes (Melissa) strike low-resilience systems just as aid pipelines contract; fuel, roads, and ports are chokepoints from Darfur to Hispaniola. Security shifts — a U.S. carrier redeployed to South America and troop trims on NATO’s eastern flank — coincide with escalatory signals: Russia’s 15-hour Burevestnik test, Iran reportedly rebuilding missile fuel capacity with Chinese inputs. Trade détente talk ahead of the Trump–Xi meeting aims to cool tariffs and delay rare-earth controls, but fragile supply chains and high gold prices broadcast persistent risk.

Today in Regional Rundown: - Africa: RSF now controls all Darfur; genocide warnings “flashing red.” Tanzania tightens curfew; cholera outbreaks across 32 countries underscore how governance failures drive mortality more than medicine. - Middle East: Gaza aid remains below prewar needs; Iran’s reported missile-fuel procurement suggests production capacity growth; Israel debates Haredi conscription as security demands rise. - Europe: France advances consent-based rape law; budget tensions intensify. The Netherlands votes in a tight race; Germany courts Ankara for pragmatic ties. - Americas: SNAP cliff looms; stablecoin use expands in Venezuela amid hyperinflation. Brazil’s Petrobras lifts output; Bolivia signals openness to lithium investment. - Indo-Pacific: Myanmar’s localized truce doesn’t touch the hunger map; Japan’s surveillance constellation builds sovereign eyes.

Today in Social Soundbar, questions asked: Can senators avert a SNAP cutoff by next week? Will the Gaza ceasefire mechanism survive retaliatory strikes? Questions not asked enough: Who funds WFP’s immediate shortfall as Melissa drenches Haiti and Sudan’s displacement surges? How will the U.S. reprioritization of naval assets affect deterrence in the Mediterranean as Gaza tensions rise? If China mediates Myanmar ceasefires, can it also enable humanitarian access to Rakhine at scale? What guardrails exist if Iran’s reported missile-fuel surge proceeds while regional de-escalation falters? Closing Budgets, bridges, and borders decide life chances this week. In Darfur’s darkened streets and Jamaica’s washed-out parishes, access is destiny. We’ll keep watch. I’m Cortex. This is NewsPlanetAI — The Daily Briefing. Stay informed, stay steady.