Evening Brief, Monday 9 November

The man who opened fire in Krakow's Old Town on Saturday died in hospital early on Monday after several operations, prosecutors said. Police said he drove into the main square wearing military-style clothing and a bulletproof vest, then kept firing at officers even after he was wounded. Six people were killed, four women and two men, and 15 others were wounded, including a police officer who remains in serious condition.

Investigators also found the bodies of the suspect's mother, father and sister at the family home in Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski, about 150km north-east of Krakow. Prosecutors began autopsies on Monday and are trying to learn whether anyone inspired or helped the attacker, how he obtained so many weapons and why more weapons and ammunition were in his car. Przemysław Nowak, spokesman for the National Prosecutor's Office, said investigators could not yet link him responsibly to any ideology.

Warsaw is tightening security before Independence Day on 11 November, when tens of thousands usually march through the capital. Police announced a temporary citywide ban on carrying weapons, including unloaded ones, with exceptions for security personnel on duty. Prime Minister Donald Tusk called the shooting terrorism, said no one intends to ban the march and asked participants to avoid aggressive behaviour.

Ursula von der Leyen said the EU will take part in this week's Abu Dhabi talks on Ukraine, after a call with Volodymyr Zelensky. She backed his request for a ceasefire covering energy and food infrastructure. The talks on 10 and 11 November bring together Ukrainian and Russian delegations under US mediation, with Steve Witkoff listing an end to the war, post-war security guarantees and measures to reduce military escalation among the goals.

Moscow is trying to keep the table narrow. Dmitry Peskov said the Abu Dhabi meetings would be trilateral negotiations between Russia and Ukraine, mediated by the United States, while Europeans and Ukrainians were likely building their own coordination channels. France has said Europe will take part, and Berlin says Germany will be represented by its national security adviser. Sergei Shoigu praised Donald Trump's team but accused Kyiv and European capitals of preparing to continue the war.

Von der Leyen also began a Black Sea visit on Monday, with meetings planned in Romania and Bulgaria. She said attacks there were increasing and called for freedom of navigation to be restored. In Brussels, Valdis Dombrovskis put Ukraine's financing gap at about €70 billion, with the EU aiming to cover roughly €45 billion of it. The options are still being shaped for member states, but he said he was confident the money would be found.

Donald Trump told CNN that a new large-scale attack on Iran was highly unlikely, though he tied restraint to Tehran signing what he called a very strong agreement. Hours later US strikes hit Qeshm, the Iranian island in the Strait of Hormuz. Ahmad Nafisi, Hormozgan's deputy governor, confirmed the island was targeted but said no homes, businesses or vital infrastructure were damaged. Washington did not directly acknowledge the latest raid, though Marco Rubio has called similar Qeshm strikes defensive.

The diplomacy is stuck on Iran's demands, which include lifting the US blockade of southern ports and easing sanctions. Rubio called parts of the package unrealistic. Esmail Baghaei, Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman, rejected that and argued that Tehran's plan would restore security in the Strait of Hormuz and the Persian Gulf. Iran says it will not hand over highly enriched uranium believed to be buried under bombed facilities, but remains open to downblending it.

Oil traders welcomed the softer words more than the missiles. Brent traded near $95 after falling more than 3%, extending a sharp weekly slump as markets weighed lower odds of fresh US escalation against continuing attacks on shipping. JPMorgan estimates that global supply already exceeds consumption by more than 1 million barrels a day, and German pump prices have fallen over the past week.

Paraguay's Senate removed Santiago Peña from the presidency for poor performance after protests over the collapse of Ueno Bank. Peña, 47, had been arrested on Friday, indicted on Saturday and ordered into preventive detention by Judge Humberto Otazú. He is being held at the Presidential Escort Regiment, a military unit, and his term had been due to run until 2028.

Ueno Bank, a digital lender founded in 2021, was placed under central-bank supervision on 3 November and then liquidated for lack of solvency. Nearly 3 million customers lost access to savings, cards and the app, which showed a Try Later message. Prosecutors accuse Ueno executives of reckless insider lending and say former central bank president Carlos Carvallo looked away as the bank failed.

The central bank said 1.196 million savers had received advances by Saturday morning, out of 2.94 million Ueno clients. Reports differ on the total money advanced and on the guarantee ceiling, but a half-dozen banks opened weekend branches so victims could collect funds. Pedro Alliana, the former vice president, was sworn in and ordered the justice minister to enforce the law without special treatment for any defendant.

The case also reaches into Paraguay's foreign ties. Taiwan, which counts Paraguay as its only formal partner in South America, stressed continuity in relations and cooperation programmes while Alliana takes over during protests. Prosecutors also searched a San Bernardino property attributed to Peña and reported a hidden vault behind a false wall.

Heavy rain that began late on Friday turned tent camps across Gaza into standing water. Gaza's Government Media Office said more than 70,000 tents had been flooded, and Palestinian Authority health minister Majed Abu Ramadan said reports indicated a similar number had become uninhabitable. Civil Defence received roughly 1,500 emergency calls in 10 hours, while the BBC reported 2,100 distress calls and said first responders could answer only 10%.

On Sunday night a sand embankment collapsed onto tents at a camp for displaced families south of Deir al-Balah. First responders said three children and two women were killed, and five injured people were rescued. Videos showed men searching under boulders, sand and collapsed tents by the light of mobile phones. Civil Defence urged international organisations to move tents away from sandy slopes and provide safer shelter.

UN data show about 1.6 million of Gaza's 2.1 million people live in tents or emergency shelters, while about 80% of buildings were damaged during the war. Israel's COGAT says more than 91,000 tents and fuel for pumping facilities have entered under its Winterization Plan, while Al Jazeera reports that mobile homes and many tents remain blocked at the Egyptian side of the border. Karl Baker of the International Organization for Migration said the aid entering Gaza falls short of what communities need.

Families describe the damage in simpler terms. Jaber al-Kaseeh, displaced from Beit Lahiya and now in az-Zawayda, said water soaked mattresses, carpets and blankets and spoiled the family's food. His camp flooded several times last winter, and about 40 tents remain there in worse condition.

Nvidia's board has opened an independent investigation into co-founder and chief executive Jensen Huang after he admitted a relationship with Alice Huang, a Megaspeed executive whom US intelligence says was working for China. The company says it has no reason to believe national security or Nvidia trade secrets were compromised, and Jensen Huang will remain chief executive while the review examines available information.

Investors still marked the risk down. Nvidia shares fell about 6% in pre-market Nasdaq trading, though Asian suppliers were largely steady after a broader rebound in chip stocks. The allegations land at an awkward moment for AI-linked companies, which are under pressure after Democratic midterm wins and a backlash against data centres in the United States.

US media have reported that Alice Huang leads Megaspeed, a Singapore-based company that does business with Nvidia, and that US intelligence believes she passed information to Beijing. Megaspeed has also been under Commerce Department scrutiny over alleged smuggling of advanced processors to China. The matter was reportedly circulated to senior officials before Donald Trump's China visit, but the president chose not to act to avoid disrupting Nvidia chip sales and relations with Xi Jinping.

Trump told reporters that he had not spoken with Jensen Huang about the matter, called him a good person and said he believed Huang should remain chief executive. He also said he did not know whether Huang would join his delegation on a coming Asia trip this month and had not heard that Huang had done anything wrong.