17 October 2026

Vadimas Korobovas won the world paddleboard title in Italy in the 100m sprint. He finished in 23.31 seconds, beat Spain's Sergio Cantoral by 0.73 seconds and claimed the first major international gold of his career.

Korobovas had to restart after a false start in the final but took control midway through the race. He had been even faster in the semi-final with 22.75 seconds, and the sprint event featured 52 athletes from 59 countries. In space technology, Astrolight’s laser communications system is now sending data regularly from orbit to Earth. It is the first Lithuanian-built laser communications hardware to reach space, and Lithuanian institutions are tying the breakthrough to regional security needs amid GPS jamming and radio interference in the Baltics.

Lithuania’s Šiauliai Regional Court upheld the ruling in the drink-driving case of Kuršėnai elder Raimondas Bernotas. He remains released from criminal liability under a one-year surety, banned from driving for 1 year and 9 months, and his car was confiscated. In Šiauliai, one of Lithuania’s most notorious teenage murder cases is back in focus after renewed attention to two women, now 18, who killed a peer, dismembered the body and later left prison early after changing their surnames. The victim’s family is still questioning their release and post-prison supervision.

Lithuania is also dealing with the fast spread of the black-headed soil slug, which has already damaged courgettes, pumpkins and peppers in several gardens. The Environment Ministry has not yet listed the species as invasive because scientists have not shown measurable harm to native wildlife. Ukraine remains part of Lithuania’s agenda as Volodymyr Zelenskiy warned in Kyiv that Russia is targeting electricity and heating systems before winter, a key issue as Lithuania joins European efforts on air defence and winter funding.

Vilnius district municipality allocated 1.5 million euros to subsidise heating prices. Lithuania’s 10,000th Altas Auto bus rolled off the line, with the electric model delivered to Norway.

Ukraine said Russia lost 1,950 troops in the past 24 hours, along with 6 tanks, 21 armoured combat vehicles, 18 artillery systems and one air-defence system. In the same period, Russia launched ballistic and cruise missiles and 332 attack drones at Ukraine, and air defences said they had shot down or suppressed 293 targets by 8 a.m.

The response involved aircraft, surface-to-air missile units, electronic warfare teams, unmanned systems units and mobile fire groups. After several days of bombardment, hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians were already without power. Volodymyr Zelenskyy said today that Russia wants to deploy ballistic missile systems in Belarus for strikes on western Ukraine. He also said signal repeaters are already operating there to help Russian drones reach deeper into Ukrainian territory.

Over Moscow, Ukrainian drones again disrupted flights yesterday, and Russia's aviation authority suspended operations at Vnukovo, Domodedovo and Zhukovsky airports. The capital's airspace was restricted for a sixth straight night, and similar shutdowns also hit St Petersburg the same night. In Riga over the past two days, defence experts warned that Russian sabotage across Europe is likely to intensify, even though a direct attack on the Baltic states is still seen as unlikely.

Ukraine's cabinet yesterday approved a pilot scheme to move donor organs, blood samples, medical devices and medicines between hospitals by drone. Kyiv's Heart Institute already has three specialised aircraft that can fly up to 700 km and land directly at hospital sites.

Romania shot down two drones over the Black Sea in a new incident near the NATO border. In the Czech parliamentary elections, the pro-Western opposition won.

Donald Trump on Friday signed an executive order freezing a major new sanctions package on Russia and told Congress the pause was in the national interest. The move came two days before a deadline under a law he signed last month that would have imposed tariffs of up to 100% on the five biggest buyers of Russian oil or gas. The same law would also have widened penalties on countries still purchasing Russian energy. Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Friday that Trump’s diesel deal with Russia could open the door to further sanctions relief for Moscow. Senator Richard Blumenthal said on Saturday that Trump was siding with Vladimir Putin and urged Republicans to condemn his refusal to take new steps under the so-called Graham sanctions bill.

In Yemen, two missiles struck Aden International Airport on Friday as a Yemenia passenger jet was preparing to leave for Cairo. Information minister Moammar al-Eryani said the rockets landed about 500 metres from the aircraft and roughly 100 metres from the centre of the runway. Aden security officials blamed the Iran-aligned Houthis and called it the second strike on the airport in less than 10 days. The Houthi side said it had targeted a military site next to the airport, not the civilian terminal.

Off Saudi Arabia’s Gulf coast, a tanker was hit by an unknown projectile on Friday and its crew was evacuated safely from a position 68 nautical miles northeast of Al Jubail. The UK Maritime Trade Operations agency said there was no reported environmental damage. AP reported that two ships were attacked in the same area and that one tanker was struck by an RPG fired from a small boat. In Bangladesh, a fire at a beach resort killed 10 people.

In the West Bank, Jewish settlers attacked European diplomats' cars and beat a French mayor. In Kenya, the number of confirmed Ebola cases rose to seven.