Oct 7 update

Narges Mohammadi, an Iranian activist, was awarded the Nobel peace prize for her fight “against the oppression of women in Iran” and her human-rights work. Ms Mohammadi, who is incarcerated in Iran’s notorious Evin prison, has been campaigning in Iran for three decades on issues including the treatment of prisoners and violence against women. Ms Mohammadi has been cumulatively sentenced to more than 30 years in prison. Iran condemned the award as “biased and politically motivated”; it comes after over a year of turmoil in the country, following the death of a young woman, Mahsa Amini, in custody for showing her hair.

America’s workforce grew by an unexpectedly high 336,000 jobs in September, led by expansions in hospitality, education and health sectors. But wage growth fell short of predictions. The mixed data will only make life harder for policy-makers seeking to push down inflation without grounding economic growth; the Federal Reserve will make its next interest-rate decision in early November.

Alassane Ouattara, Ivory Coast’s president, dissolved the country’s government and removed the prime minister. The move follows his party’s strong performance in local elections last month. Mr Ouattara, who has been president since 2011 and is serving a controversial third term, had indicated he would be naming new ministers after the electoral victory. The country is set to hold a presidential election in 2025.

EU member states issued a joint declaration on the bloc’s future priorities—including defence, economic competitiveness and enlargement—after the conclusion of a one-day summit in Granada, Spain. Migration, high on the agenda after the EU agreed to begin overhauling its asylum system this week, was notably omitted. Poland and Hungary had complained before the meeting that the deal was forced upon them.

The death toll following flash floods caused by a burst glacial lake in the Indian Himalayas climbed to 42 on Friday. Almost 150 people are still missing. The cause of the flood, which started on Wednesday, is not clear, but experts suggested heavy rainfall could have pushed an avalanche into the lake, causing it to burst its banks.

A bus crash in southern Mexico killed at least 18 migrants, including two children, from Haiti and Venezuela. The number of Venezuelans who have made the treacherous journey to reach the America-Mexico border has surged in recent months. Earlier Joe Biden’s administration said it would resume deporting migrants to Venezuela, which has been rocked by economic turmoil. Flights will resume in the coming days.

Police arrested twelve people suspected of stealing 74 tonnes of olives in the Spanish province of Seville, mere weeks after 6,000 litres of olive oil was stolen in Malaga. Heatwaves and drought ruined this year’s harvest in Spain, the world’s largest producer. As a consequence, the price of olive oil at origin has risen 112% since last year.

Word of the week: aish, the word for bread in Egyptian Arabic. It is also the word for life—reflecting the foodstuff’s importance in the country. Read the full story.

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PHOTO: AP

Donald Trump flatters Iowa

“How stupid are the people of Iowa...to believe this crap?” asked Donald Trump in 2015, while running for the Republican presidential nomination. Ben Carson, one of his rivals, was telling an improbable story on the campaign trail about finding God after a belt buckle miraculously prevented him from killing his friend. Mr Carson did not win Iowa, which hosts the first nominating contest—but nor did Mr Trump.

The former president is trying a different approach this autumn: courting, rather than insulting, the Hawkeye state. Unlike in 2015, the Republican race is not close and, although he aims to shut out his challengers within the party, he is increasingly focusing his attacks on Joe Biden. On Saturday he will hold events in two eastern counties that Mr Biden won in the general election in 2020. A decade ago Iowa was purple-ish, but is now bright red. Mr Trump stands to benefit. “We love the farmers,” he said last Sunday, while autographing a combine harvester.

PHOTO: GETTY IMAGES

High tensions on a holy day

So divided are Israel’s religious and secular Jews that even its holiest festivals trigger conflict. Simchat Torah, which is celebrated on Saturday, marks the annual completion of the weekly readings of the Torah, or five books of Moses. But the secular mayor of Israel’s biggest city, Tel Aviv, banned open-air celebrations of the traditional rite. He says the mechitzah, or curtain, that orthodox Jews erect between men and women amounts to gender discrimination in public space.

Tel Aviv is the centre of this year’s predominantly secular protests against Israel’s predominantly religious government. Some of the protesters view any display of religiosity as a threat to their secular redoubt. On Yom Kippur, Judaism’s holiest day, they heckled outdoor worshippers, called them “Nazis” and sounded bike horns to drown out the shofar.

At the last minute, facing criticism from the High Court of Justice, the municipality agreed to let the religious ceremony go ahead—with no physical barriers and gender separation only voluntary. Still, the police are preparing for clashes.

PHOTO: GETTY IMAGES

Verstappen closes in on a third world championship

Max Verstappen has dominated Formula 1 this season—so much so that the sport’s new American fans have started to tune out. Few drivers have challenged him or his team, Red Bull, which has won all but one of this year’s 16 races so far. Mr Verstappen took 13 of them. The 26-year-old Dutch driver is set to cruise to victory again on Sunday at the Grand Prix in Lusail, Qatar.

He may not even need to race on Sunday in order to clinch the title. The sport works on a points system, and if he finishes sixth or higher at a sprint fixture on Saturday he will be crowned victor. The season wraps up next month, and Mr Verstappen is just three points away from becoming world champion. He will join legends, such as Ayrton Senna, in taking the title for a third time. If the F1 procession continues, he will equal the record of seven championships with barely the need for a pit stop.

PHOTO: GETTY IMAGES

Weekend profile: Matt Gaetz, Republican congressman

Ron DeSantis was a longshot when he announced his campaign for governor of Florida in 2018, and he notably lacked knowledge of the intricacies of state-level politics. Fortunately, another ambitious 30-something congressman was ready to help: Matt Gaetz. It was he who saw Mr DeSantis’s early potential and nudged Donald Trump to endorse him. In 2022 Mr DeSantis went on to consolidate control over Florida politics in a landslide re-election.

Last week there was another demonstration of Mr Gaetz’s keen political intuition. In the face of fierce opposition from most of his own party he orchestrated the removal of Kevin McCarthy as the speaker of America’s House of Representatives.

Mr Gaetz, now 41, has made plenty of enemies since arriving on Capitol Hill in 2017. But even those who bristle at his hardline posturing (not to mention his dramatic eyebrows and bright blue suits) cannot deny his political skill. Donald Trump is 77 and running what could well be his final campaign. Mr Gaetz offers one potential Republican future.

Until a few years ago his 75-year-old father, Don, was the more famous Gaetz. As former president of the Florida Senate, he frequently annoyed Rick Scott, then the Republican governor. “Matt and his dad are very close,” says Christian Ziegler, chairman of the Florida Republican Party. “Some people run away from what their parents do. Matt embraced it, learned from it and then took it to another level.”

Despite his success, the younger Mr Gaetz’s career in the House seems moribund. He is disliked by much of the conference and faces an ethics investigation over alleged sexual misconduct and misuse of funds in his bachelor days—allegations he denies. (He has since married, having proposed to his wife, naturally, at Mr Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort.) The House investigation is one reason why he loathes Mr McCarthy, whom he blames for smearing him, although he insists that is not why he dethroned Mr McCarthy as speaker. The Department of Justice launched its own investigation but declined to bring charges. The congressional inquiry, therefore, may not be of much importance to Mr Gaetz, who raised money off the back of his fight with the speaker, and boosted his profile even higher. He denies that he wants to succeed Mr DeSantis in the governor’s mansion. Even so, speculation persists.