Tuesday 20th October 2026. Australia MP attacked. Central Asia talks. Philippines China ambassador. Spain floods. France riots continue...

0:00 Good morning. This is Send7 World News in 7 Minutes. I'm Juliet Martin and today is Tuesday the 20th of October 2026. Starting in Asia and Oceania today. In Australia, a Member of Parliament was deliberately hit by a car outside her office yesterday. Helen Haynes is in hospital in a critical condition. A man has been arrested and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said that a terrorism task force will investigate the incident.

0:57 The Joint Counterterrorism Team has been activated, but the motive is not known. It is too early in this investigation for me to provide you with details of what the motivation is behind this attack. Helen Haynes is incredibly hardworking. She is fiercely intelligent, but most importantly, she's just a thoroughly decent human being.

1:22 Music In Uzbekistan, representatives of five Central Asian nations met with United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio yesterday. The foreign ministers of Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan participated in the meeting. The Philippines Foreign Ministry has summoned China's Ambassador Ying Kwan after comments he made to media last week.

2:01 Ying had said that China may easily win a confrontation with the Philippines. The Philippine Foreign Ministry has expressed its serious concern and strong objection about the comments. Europe. In Spain, more than 80,000 people have been ordered to shelter in place, and at least three people have died in heavy rains and floods. Storm Adam hit the Mediterranean coast over the weekend and moved towards Catalonia yesterday. More than 2,000 people have been evacuated. In France, local curfews have been ordered after riots and looting at the weekend. French unions are calling for more strikes and rallies on the 5th of November.

3:08 In Italy, 271 young people were arrested during protests in Milan on Sunday, according to authorities. Protesters are demonstrating against poor public services and rising costs. Africa In Kenya, a court has found that cult leader Paul McKenzie and about 30 other people are guilty of murder after causing the deaths of 191 children and one adult. Mackenzie was arrested in 2023. According to prosecutors, the Good News International Church ordered followers to starve themselves to death. Mackenzie denied charges of murder. The Court of Arbitration for Sport will make its decision on the Africa Cup of Nations at the end of November. Senegal are appealing the decision to award Morocco the champion title. Senegal originally won the final match

4:25 1-0 after extra time, but were stripped of the victory when the Confederation of African Football ruled that they forfeited the match by walking off the pitch after a penalty. The Americas The United States Department of Homeland Security has said that Ukrainian and Sudanese immigrants will keep their temporary protected status. Their immigration protections were due to expire yesterday.

5:02 United States President Donald Trump has also allowed immigrants from El Salvador to keep their protections last month, but he removed protections from other groups, including Haitians, Venezuelans, Somalians, Yemenis and Syrians. In Canada, the province of Alberta held a non-binding referendum on separation from Canada yesterday. According to polls, 66% of Albertans would choose to remain with Canada. Alberta has a population of around 5 million people. Many of those who want to separate believe that Alberta contributes more to Canada's economy than it receives in return. At the time of recording this podcast, the results of the referendum are not yet available. And in the United States, actor

6:15 Al Pacino will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award for from the SAG-AFTRA union. Pacino is best known for his role in the Godfather films. He will receive the award for his career achievements and humanitarian work next year in a ceremony in February. That's your World News in 7 minutes. If you enjoy this podcast, please tell your friends about us.

6:46 You can get in touch with us in a voice message at send7. org or by sending an email to podcast at send7. org. I'm Juliet Martin. Tomorrow you will be with Stephen Devincenzi. Have a great day.