Daily Brief, October 26, 2026
Daily Brief, October 26, 2026
Top Story
Novatek, a Russian gas producer under US sanctions since 2022, secretly funded Polar LNG, a US company planning to export Alaskan gas, the New York Times reported
Polar LNG's former chief executive John Riddle resigned in September after learning the money traced to Novatek, Russia's second-largest producer of liquefied natural gas.
Source: Kyiv Independent (reporting the New York Times)
Around the World
Enforcement & Liability
Sri Lankan police say 1,093 people were arrested in scam-compound raids this year and none has yet been successfully prosecuted
Sri Lanka's 2007 computer crime law lets a case open only on a victim's complaint, and most victims live abroad. Most suspects are instead charged with visa violations and removed from the country.
Source: OCCRP
Evergrande liquidators have recovered under 1% of overseas creditor claims, about HK$3.4 billion of HK$360 billion, Caixin reports
[ZH · Caixin]
Caixin, the Chinese financial news outlet, reports the liquidators' latest progress report, dated October 22nd, showing about HK$3.4 billion recovered as of September 30th, 2026.
Source: Caixin
Supply Chain Risk
Myanmar's foreign-exchange regulator told a fuel buyer it would label a 113,000-barrel Iranian jet fuel shipment as diesel on its paperwork
In a November 2025 letter seen by Reuters, the regulator said it would issue import documents calling the cargo diesel "instead of jet fuel." The cover was a $15.8 million contract that broker Dynamic Wave signed with Thailand's Tawan-Oil Trading for a similar amount of South African diesel, and United Nations and Vortexa (a shipping data provider) figures show no such trade happened in 2025.
Source: The Straits Times (reporting Reuters)
A Japanese trade ministry official says supply has stalled for yttrium, the metal used in jet-engine and chipmaking coatings, and the Financial Times reports stockpiles could run out within months
Japan says yttrium supplies have stalled amid Chinese export curbs, and Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning defended the controls on October 21st.
Source: Peacock Tariff Consulting
Attackers reportedly got into European energy group ENGIE through a CRM platform, and into the AI cloud platform Genesys through a training system
Attackers reportedly reached an internal ENGIE platform through a customer-relationship management system used by business partners.
Source: Risky Bulletin
Colombia's mining agency has drafted a resolution to expand its strategic minerals list from 17 to 28, with rare earths in focus
[ES · El Tiempo]
El Tiempo reports the mining agency has a draft resolution, published for comment, that would raise the strategic-minerals list from 17 to 28 minerals.
Source: El Tiempo
Canacar, Mexico's national trucking association, called its members onto the highways on Monday to protest highway crime and poor roads
[ES · Proceso]
Mexico's interior ministry says most other trucking groups agreed to talk with the government instead and calls Canacar's stance "inexplicable." Canacar says it is open to talks but wants firm answers.
Source: Proceso
Geopolitical Shocks
Johns Hopkins researchers put Chinese creditors' hold on Zambian debt at about $6.6 billion in 2021, nearly double Zambia's own highest figure
Researchers at the China Africa Research Initiative put the total at approximately $6.6 billion in August 2021, against the highest figure Zambia's government had cited.
Source: ICIJ
Flavio Bolsonaro says he will seek to annul Brazil's presidential election, which Lula da Silva won on October 25th
Bolsonaro is citing a two-hour extension of polling hours ordered by a justice of Brazil's Supreme Court.
Source: El País
Serbia's ruling party lost the parliamentary election to a student-led protest movement, and Aleksandar Vucic, in power since 2014, conceded defeat
[FR · Le Monde]
The Student List, which grew out of protests after a station canopy collapsed in Novi Sad in 2024, killing 16 people, is set to hold 135 to 140 of the 250 seats against 105 for Vucic's Serbian Progressive Party, on preliminary results Vucic gave. It is unclear who will be prime minister.
Source: Times of Israel (Reuters)
Iran withdrew open station fuel cards in 11 provinces and tightened access to gasoline
[FA · IranWire]
The head of Iran's national oil products distribution company said the open station cards were withdrawn, so drivers in those provinces must now use a personal fuel card.
Source: IranWire
Algeria's parliament approved sending units of the national army into Niger
[FR · TSA (Tout Sur l'Algérie)]
Parliament voted on October 25th to approve sending units of the national army to Niger, citing the protection of Algeria's energy interests there and a bilateral agreement between the two countries.
Source: TSA (Tout Sur l'Algérie)
Regulatory Horizon
FATF, the global anti-money-laundering standard-setter, is expected to take up its evaluations of the United States and Mexico at its Paris meeting October 28th to 30th
It is the first meeting under the group's UK president, Giles Thomson. Delegates will also review countries on its increased-monitoring list. The evaluation reports are not due out until December.
Source: AML Intelligence
Also Today
Europol says a 16-year-old is the suspected leader of the KillSec ransomware group, which it links to some 1,000 suspected attacks worldwide
Source: Europol
Uganda ordered citizens returning from the Democratic Republic of Congo to quarantine for 21 days, and attackers in Congo killed a nurse responding to an Ebola case
Source: Al Jazeera
Bangladesh's foreign debt repayments were more than double its aid inflows in July to September
Source: The Business Standard (Bangladesh)
The UK government proposes prison terms of up to 14 years for deliberately damaging undersea cables
Source: The Record
Australia sanctioned two people and two organizations that help North Korean IT workers get remote jobs posing as nationals of other countries, to fund its nuclear and missile programs
Source: Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs
The Ninth Circuit appeals court heard the Justice Department's bid to make California segregate ballots from people it says are noncitizens, and two of three judges sounded skeptical
Source: Election Law Blog
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