Ukraine

• Just after SecState Blinken subtly suggested the U.S. is considering letting Ukraine use its U.S.-supplied long-range weapons inside Russia, European officials said Pres. Biden is on the verge of formalizing the decision.
• He'll first discuss it with new UK PM Keir Starmer during Starmer's visit to the White House today. Starmer previously indicated that he supports the idea, so this discussion seems like a formality.
• Pres. Putin is also expecting Biden to approve Ukraine's request, and issued ominous threats warning against approval: "This will mean that NATO countries — the United States and European countries — are at war with Russia."
• Wariness about provoking Putin is exactly what kept the U.S. from approving Ukraine's request months ago. The U.S. especially worries that Russia will retaliate by helping Iran-aligned militias target U.S. forces in the Middle East.

Russia

• The Pentagon said that Russia's nascent counterattack against Ukraine's incursion into Kursk is "marginal" - for now: Ukraine still controls most of the (minor) Russian settlements it captured.

Iran

• New reports revealed Israel's Sunday strike on the Iran-linked missile production facility in Masyaf, Syria wasn't just a remote airstrike: Israeli commandos rappelled from helicopters into the facility, recovering a trove of weapons secrets that they took with them.
• Deploying commandos also allowed Israel to ensure it could definitively destroy the fortified inner rooms where the most critical work was done and the most sensitive documents were kept - something Israel failed to do in numerous past airstrikes on the facility.
• As usual, Israel didn't officially confirm that it carried out a foreign operation.

China

• China announced it will raise its retirement age gradually, starting in January.
• It currently has some of the youngest retirement ages among major economies - 60 for men, 50 for women in blue-collar jobs, and 55 for women in white-collar jobs - and that's leading to pressure on the pension fund, which would soon be paying out much more than it's taking in.
• Over the course of 15 years, China's retirement ages will rise to 63 years for men, 55 for women in blue-collar jobs, and 58 for women in white-collar jobs. Those are still pretty low. By contrast, the U.S. retirement age is 67, and many proponents of social security reform support raising it to 68-70. (And - per the World Bank - life expectancy in China is higher than in the U.S.: 78.2 years vs. 76.3 years).

Afghanistan

• Gunmen killed at least 12 civilians in Daykundi province, central Afghanistan.
• Local reports described the victims as Hazara Shia returning from a pilgrimage to Karbala, Iraq, and Islamic State - a Sunni terrorist group that frequently targets Shias - claimed responsibility for their deaths.
• The Taliban acknowledged the attack, but - as usual - downplayed its significance.

Other News

• Senegal's popular young anti-establishment president, Bassirou Diomaye Faye, dissolved the opposition-led parliament and called on his supporters to give him a mandate to carry out the "systemic transformation that I promised."
• In his first six months in office, Faye has been unable to effect the transformation he promised - in part (according to Faye) because the opposition's majority in parliament has blocked his efforts. He hopes the Nov. 17 snap election will sweep the old-timers in the opposition out of the legislature and usher in legislators who will approve his reforms.