After raids and seizures over unproven "biosimilar" medicines (cheaper copies of complex biologic drugs), the Council of Ministers decided on Thurs⁠day, Oct⁠ober 22, 2026 to stop using similar medicines imported from non-reference countries. Lebanese hospitals and pharmacies had turned to cheaper imports during the financial crisis, and the Health Minister says he won't tolerate anyone tampering with patients' health.

• MP Georges Adwan, head of the Administration and Justice Committee, backed the decision but said it must be followed by lists of affected batches and a definition of "reference countries".
• The Discriminatory Public Prosecution carried out raids, and the ministry delisted the seized preparations.
• Health Minister Rakan Nassereddine said a medicine-monitoring app launches next⁠ week, letting citizens report drugs they can't use.
• Drug registration numbers become official on Nov⁠ember 1, 2026.
• The National Drug Agency, created by law, still can't operate without implementing decrees.

Why it matters: Patients on continuous treatment need both safe drugs and uninterrupted supply, and the ministry says reference-country sourcing and a new central lab, due after 35 years without one, are meant to deliver both.

Lebanon's prime minister used the 81st UN General Assembly to ask for concrete help rather than solidarity. An Annahar op-ed by international law researcher Lamia Mousa frames the pitch as a two-way test: foreign backing for the army and reconstruction on one side, a state that reclaims its own decisions on the other.

• Beirut asked Israel to withdraw from occupied territory, release prisoners and let displaced residents return, as called for under UN Security Council Resolution 1701, the 2006 ceasefire resolution.
• It also asked for backing for the Lebanese army to prevent a security vacuum in the south, plus humanitarian aid and funding for reconstruction.
• The writer argues that sovereignty means the state alone decides on war and peace and holds a monopoly on arms.
• She adds that reform of the judiciary and finances shouldn't be a precondition for international protection.

Zooming out: The op-ed makes the case that outside support and inside reform have to move together, since neither the ceasefire nor reconstruction money can hold without a functioning state behind them.

Army Commander General Rodolphe Haykal spent Oct⁠ober 22 and 23 in Britain, a visit that matters because the UN peacekeeping force in south Lebanon (UNIFIL) is winding down and the army is the one expected to fill the gap. He took part in a gathering of Arab army chiefs and held side meetings on support for the Lebanese army.

• Haykal attended the Dragon Group's 10th annual meeting, with army leaders from Qatar, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Iraq, Kuwait, Oman, Bahrain and the UAE, plus a Gulf Cooperation Council representative.
• He met British Chief of the Defence Staff Air Chief Marshal Sir Richard Knighton on supporting the army and thanked Britain for its continuous backing.
• He also discussed developments in south Lebanon and post-UNIFIL options with British National Security Advisor Jonathan Powell.
• Separate meetings with Qatar's and Jordan's chiefs of staff reviewed army-to-army cooperation.

What to watch: With UNIFIL's mandate ending, the army's partnerships with Britain, Qatar and Jordan will shape how much weight it can carry in the south.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić, in power for 12 years, conceded defeat after a student-led movement won a snap parliamentary election. The movement grew out of protests that began after a railway station canopy collapsed in Novi Sad in Nov⁠ember 2024, killing 16 people. Pollsters' projections suggest the students will hold a majority in the 250-seat parliament.

• A CeSID-IPSPS sample projected 138 seats for the Student List and 104 for Vučić's Serbian Progressive Party. Vučić himself said his side would have about 105.
• Turnout hit 67.6% by 7pm, the highest since the 1992 breakup of Yugoslavia, with some queues running up to two hours.
• Vučić resigned the presidency last⁠ month to gamble on snap elections.
• Independent monitors still recorded irregularities, including photographed ballots, attempted vote-buying and carousel voting.

What to watch: The students' campaign pledge of swift accountability for members of the outgoing government will be the first test of how the transition plays out.

A Guardian investigation traces how Abu Dhabi's ownership of Manchester City football club grew into a much larger stake in Manchester itself. The Gulf state's rulers fear Islamist movements like the Muslim Brotherhood, and in 2013 the British government brokered a deal between the Manchester city council and Sheikh Mansour. That scrutiny now reaches Prime Minister Andy Burnham, a former Greater Manchester mayor.

• The council sold a prime city-centre site to Abu Dhabi for £5m under a £1bn Manchester Life deal promising 6,000 homes.
• Only 2,039 homes came from Manchester Life, and none were social or affordable.
• Burnham signed off a £55m loan to Sheikh Mansour's firms in 2017, which the combined authority says was repaid in full.
• A 2015 agreement gagged councillors from announcing the deal without the owner's approval.

The bigger picture: Councillors are now probing the loans, and academics ask what happens to the homes if Sheikh Mansour sells the club.

Brazil's President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva defeated Senator Flávio Bolsonaro in Sun⁠day's run-off after trailing in the first round. No modern Brazilian president has lost round one and then won round two. His rival is the son of Jair Bolsonaro, the far-right former president now serving 27 years for plotting a coup after losing to Lula in 2022.

• Lula took more than 51% and over 64 million votes, against about 48% for Bolsonaro, a margin of more than 4 million.
• He rallied voters on cost of living, including a shorter workweek and a weekend free-transport idea.
• Allies alleged bus cuts in working-class areas, and both campaigns petitioned the Supreme Court, so polls closed two hours late.
• He will be sworn in on Jan⁠uary 5, 2027.

Why it matters: Lula keeps Latin America's biggest country on the left, even as right-wing leaders have won recent races in Peru, Colombia, Argentina, Bolivia and Ecuador.