October 6 – Africa / International Organizations:
SOMALIA / AFRICAN UNION
Somali and the African Union troops take over the town of Barawe, which has strategic importance in Somalia. The al-Shabab militants used Barawe as a supply route for weapons and food, as well as a base to launch attacks on the capital, Mogadishu.
October 8 – Latin America: ARGENTINA
Reynaldo Benito Antonio Bignone, a former retired Argentine general and a dictatorial President of Argentina from July 1, 1982 to December 10, 1983, receives a fresh sentence of 23 years in prison (on top of several sentences in previous years) for the kidnapping and torture of more than 30 factory workers and trade union activists during his time in power. It is estimated that about 30,000 people were killed or disappeared during the military rule in Argentina from 1976 to 1983.
October 12 – Middle East: PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES
International donors from dozens of countries who have gathered in Egypt for the Cairo Conference on Palestine, cohosted by Norway, pledge $5.4 billion for reconstructing the Gaza Strip. This Palestinian Territory suffered great losses during the 50 day-conflict between Israel and Hamas that ended in a truce on August 26. The money is needed for humanitarian relief, early recovery, and reconstruction. Among the donors, the United States pledges $212 million, the United Arab Emirates – $200 million, Turkey – also pledges $200 million, and the European Union – about $568 million.
October 14 – Europe / East Asia: RUSSIA / CHINA
Russia and China sign about 40 agreements that range from energy, finance, to aviation and tourism. Russia seeks closer cooperation with China as a result of Europe’s sanctions imposed on it due to the crisis in Ukraine and Russia’s annexation of Crimea.
October 20 – Africa / North America / International Organizations:
WEST AFRICA / UNITED STATES / WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION
The World Health Organization (WHO) declares Nigeria and Senegal Ebola-free. So far, the virus has infected more than 10,000 and killed close to 5.000 people, mostly in West African countries: Liberia, Guinea, and Sierra Leone. Several patients who were treated for Ebola in the United States with an experimental treatment have recovered. The only person who died from the virus in the U.S. was Thomas Duncan, a Liberian national, who contracted the virus in Liberia before flying to the U.S.
October 20 – Middle East / Europe / North America:
IRAQ / SYRIA / TURKEY / UNITED STATES
Turkey announces that it will allow Iraqi Kurdish forces to cross its border on the way to the Syrian town of Kobane in order to help the Syrian Kurds fight Islamic State (IS) militants. Kobane has been under siege for six weeks. The United States-led coalition drops weapons, ammunition and medical supplies over Kobane and steps up air strikes on militants.
October 26 – Europe / Former Soviet Republics: UKRAINE
Ukraine holds parliamentary elections, in which more than three-quarters of voters support pro-Western and pro-reform parties, with President Petro Poroshenko’s Bloc and the People’s Front receiving the most votes. For the first time since Ukraine’s 1991 independence, Communists receive no parliamentary representation. The Party of Regions that used to dominate Ukraine’s political landscape next to communists (it won 30 percent of the vote in the 2012 elections) and supported the deposed President Viktor Yanukovych decided not to participate in this election. Some individual members of the Party of Regions run as candidates of the Opposition Bloc. No voting takes place in the areas held by the separatists in eastern Ukraine neither in Crimea, which was recently annexed by Russia. The separatists say they will hold their own election in November.
October 26 – Africa: TUNISIA
Tunisia’s secular Nidaa Tounes party wins the most votes in the parliamentary elections, coming ahead of the governing Islamist Ennahda party. To govern, the Nidaa Tounes will have to form a coalition with other parties. Tunisia was the first country to start the Arab Spring revolts in 2011 and is considered to be a showcase of the political success in the region.
October 26 – Latin America: BRAZIL
Brazil’s incumbent President Dilma Rousseff of the Workers’ Party (PT) and the country’s first female president wins the runoff presidential election, narrowly defeating her challenger Senator Aécio Neves from the center-right Brazilian Social Democracy Party (PSDB). President Rousseff is known for her policy of a strong state role in such strategic sectors as banking and the oil and energy industries.
October 29 – Middle East / Africa:
EGYPT / PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES
Egypt demolishes homes in Sinai to create a buffer zone along its 8-mile long border with the Gaza Strip, which will include water-filled trenches. The goal is to halt smuggling of weapons and fighters through tunnels under the Gaza and Sinai border. These tunnels have had also economic significance since the blockade imposed on the Gaza by Egypt and Israel in 2007. People living within the zone are being resettled.
October 30 – Europe / Former Soviet Republics: UKRAINE
Despite a ceasefire signed in September, separatists in eastern Ukraine, with its key stronghold in Donetsk, continue fighting with the pro-government troops. One of the fiercest battles is for the Donetsk Airport.
October 31 – Europe / Former Soviet Republics: UKRAINE / RUSSIA
Russia and Ukraine agree on a deal brokered by the European Union to resume gas supplies to Ukraine over the coming winter season. Supplies were cut off due to Ukraine’s unpaid gas debt. The agreement also ensures uninterrupted supplies of gas to Europe via Ukraine pipelines.