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Oct 24, 2026
Nearly 1,000 people were arrested in nationwide protests in France, Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said Saturday, after demonstrations over the high cost of living and the country's education system earlier in the day remained largely peaceful.
Nuñez said the number of arrests is expected to rise significantly. He said marches "passed off well" in cities, but police officers found themselves confronted with "an extremely elevated level of violence" from "ultra-left" groups later in the day. Nuñez said some shops and businesses had been looted, but "the scale was far smaller" than a week earlier, when some 3,000 businesses were damaged or looted.
He said police acted more rapidly and conducted more pre-demonstration checks. Businesses and shopping centers had also been better protected. Earlier Saturday, the interior minister said police had confiscated weapons including metal balls, lead pellets, fireworks, slingshots, steel balls, improvised weapons, a katana and airsoft weapons, he said.
The French Interior Ministry said about 410,000 people participated in about 298 protests around the country. Union organizers from the General Confederation of Labor put the number at around 800,000. An explanation for the discrepancy was not immediately available.
Some confrontations were reported between authorities and demonstrators in several cities, but as of Saturday evening there had been no repeat of the major street violence and rioting that erupted amid similar protests last week.
Nuñez previously said th
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Oct 24, 2026
The Justice Department is pressing California election officials to set aside mail-in ballots from people it believes are noncitizens. It is warning that officials who count those ballots could face criminal charges.
Federal prosecutors sent letters Friday to county election offices across the state, giving them 48 hours to work with federal agencies to determine who on a government list is a citizen. NBC News reported that the letters went to 57 of California's 58 counties. Los Angeles County received a similar letter last week.
The secretary of state and Los Angeles County have refused the demand, and other counties are weighing their response. The fight is now before a federal appeals court, 10 days before Election Day.
Here's what to know.
What is the Justice Department asking for?The department wants counties to "segregate — not cancel" the mail-in ballots of people on its list until their citizenship can be confirmed, according to a letter to San Bernardino County obtained by NBC News. That county's list included 1,133 names.
It also asked counties to send identifying information about the voters on the list, including Social Security numbers and copies of their registrations,
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Oct 24, 2026
President Donald Trump dismissed polls showing his approval rating falling ahead of November's midterm elections, insisting Americans should trust his claim that his support is closer to 60 percent.
In an interview with The Washington Examiner's Byron York, published Saturday, Trump called the polling figures "fake" when asked about a RealClearPolitics average showing 38.8 percent of Americans approved of his job performance, while 60.4 percent disapproved.
"It's fake," Trump said.
When York pressed him on what he believed his actual approval rating was, Trump rejected the figures and insisted his support was much higher.
"The job approval, they said it's 37, 38?" Trump asked. "I'm not at 38."
President Donald Trump dismissed polls showing his approval rating slipping ahead of November's midterms as ‘fake,' claiming his support is closer to 60 percent (AFP/Getty) Trump continued: "I don't believe I could be beaten by anybody. I think that if I needed
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Oct 24, 2026
By Daniel Trotta
Oct 23 (Reuters) - The US Justice Department accused a government contractor on Friday of leaking national defense information to his girlfriend, the publisher of a Substack newsletter.
The FBI arrested Ian Brinksman, ?42, on Friday following a search of his Washington home, a Justice Department statement said. Prosecutors charged ?him with unlawfully transmitting national defense information.
A federal public defender representing Brinksman declined to comment.
"As alleged, Brinksman reached far outside his own duties ?to obtain some of our Nation's most closely held secrets and handed them to a romantic partner he knew intended to publish them," John Eisenberg, assistant attorney general for national security, said in the statement.
"That is not carelessness. It is a betrayal of his oath and the American people who entrusted him to fulfill his duties honorably," Eisenberg ?said.
Brinksman held a top secret security clearance ?while working as an employee of a US government agency and later as a developer for systems integration for a private contractor working for the same agency, prosecutors said.
According ?to the sworn affidavit of an FBI agent investigating the case, Brinksman repeatedly accessed classified intelligence reports and then communicated with the journalist. The affidavit also cites phone records, database access logs, badge-swipe records, emails and other evidence.
The affidavit only ?identifies ?the journalist as "Individual 1," but it cites excerpts from articles ?she published.
"A fundraising article reportedly published by ?Individual 1 in September 2026 stated 'over the past year (Individual 1 has) published reporting based on classified (relevant U.S. government agency) assessments that I believe the public deserves to know about,'" the affidavit reads.
That quote appears in a September 28 piece published on the Capital &am
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Oct 24, 2026
ATLANTA (AP) — He's hardly the first billionaire to promise working-class voters he'll fight for them in public office. Rick Jackson, the Republican candidate for Georgia governor, has even compared himself to the real estate mogul who reached the Oval Office.
But Jackson's path differs from Donald Trump's, and the 72-year-old healthcare magnate and investor brings a vastly different persona to his first campaign. Unlike Trump, who was born to wealth, Jackson spent his early years bouncing through foster homes before launching his first company as a young man.
Now, he wants to leverage both his similarities and contrasts with the president, a challenge he's tackling with buckets of his own campaign cash and a personal story that anchors his appeal to voters.
"I have lived in poverty," Jackson says. "When you have not eaten, you never forget that, and you don't forget the people that are struggling."
Democratic nominee Keisha Lance Bottoms, a former Atlanta mayor, disputes Jackson's altruistic pitch, setting up the Nov. 3 election as a test of whether an alternate, softer version of conservative billionaire politics can complement or even counter Trump's pugilistic populism in a key swing state.
Jackson planned to join Trump at a rally Saturday in Perry, in what would be his second appearance with the president in the closing stretch of the campaign.
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Oct 24, 2026
Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, said she is "deeply distressed" by the news that her father, Thomas Markle, is under investigation over claims he possessed images containing child sexual abuse in his home.
The images were reportedly found in his home in the Philippines after he returned to the U.S. in May, Philippine officials said.
Thomas Markle denied the allegations, calling them "sick lies" and "the worst thing anyone could accuse me of."
London's Metropolitan Police confirmed Saturday that it received a letter in January 2019 containing "a number of claims about alleged offending outside the United Kingdom," the BBC reported. The letter was sent to the force's protection command because of concerns about the duchess's security.
The Met said it passed the letter to the office of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex "for their awareness," but did not share the details with other law enforcement agencies. The force said it is reviewing how it handled the matter and considering whether to refer itself to the Independent Office for Police Conduct, the police watchdog.
In a statement through her spokesperson, Meghan Markle said that she is "deeply distressed" by the news, and that she was first made aware of the claims by the Met Police in 2018.
"I am deeply distressed at the news that has come to light in the last 24 hours, and my thoughts are with any children who may have been harmed," Meghan's statement said. "In 2018, a letter was sent to the Metropolitan police and Royalty and Specialist Protection. That letter was subsequently shared with me. It made troubling and disturbing allegations against my father, and I was given assurances that these we
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Oct 24, 2026
President Donald Trump has suggested he may boot the journalists and media who cover the president from their longtime press briefing room inside the White House.
In a Truth Social post on Saturday, Trump said he "may move the Fake News to a less obnoxious location."
His comment comes after The New York Times reported Oct. 20 that Trump had told then-White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt in August to move reporters out of the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room, which has been the home of the White House press corps for more than five decades.
More: One key midterms race in all 50 states and why they matter
That idea wasn't put into action, and Leavitt departed later in the month. There's no current press secretary after the departure of
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Oct 24, 2026
In this aerial view, the train of the Goliath roller coaster is seen on the track where it was evacuated at Six Flags Over Georgia on October 14 in Austell, Georgia. - Elijah Nouvelage/Getty Images
Six Flags will add seat belts to Goliath and other roller coasters with similar restraints following the death of a man who fell from the ride at Six Flags Over Georgia earlier this month.
The company's CEO said in a statement Friday that Goliath remains closed pending safety reviews and clearances following the death of Hassan Jihad Ibn Kariem, a 42-year-old Atlanta resident and "cherished member" of a public charter school, who fell from the coaster on October 12. Several other parkgoers were injured, including four minors, police said.
In a statement addressed to guests and passholders, Six Flags President and CEO John Reilly said the company is reinforcing safety precautions across its parks, including installing seat belts on the Goliath, and has engaged independent engineers and ride inspection specialists to review safety procedures across its attractions.
Goliath, a 3.5-minute ride reaching 70 mph and a height of 200 feet, features a waist restraint but does not have an over-the-shoulder harness. The addition of seat belts m
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Oct 24, 2026
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — In 2022, Democrat Wiley Nickel ran as a moderate and narrowly won North Carolina's 13th Congressional District by about 9,000 votes. Two years later, the current congressman, Republican Brad Knott, ran as a conservative and coasted into the U.S. House by more than 70,000 votes.
Voters didn't change their minds. Politicians changed their voters.
North Carolina's Republican-controlled legislature redrew its congressional map to transform what was one of the last remaining swing districts in the South to a safe GOP seat. Lawmakers split the rectangular district into an hourglass shape that carved out Democratic voters in Raleigh and replaced them with a swath of rural counties reaching to the Virginia border.
Swing seats, meaning a district a presidential candidate won by 5 percentage points or fewer in the previous election, are disappearing from the national map. For decades after World War II, the number of competitive seats in the House slowly eroded as the nation grew more polarized, voters were less likely to split their ticket and people moved closer to like-minded neighbors, creating Democratic strongholds in urban areas and Republicans ones across rural America.
That decline accelerated the past year since President Donald Trump sparked a partisan redistricting battle. The number of swing districts fell from 45 to 37. There were 96 House seats that fit the modern definition of a swing seat in 1964,
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Oct 24, 2026
Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick speaks during a news conference at the US Capitol in March 2024. - Tierney L. Cross/Bloomberg/Getty Images
GOP Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick was weaving through the crowd of a fall street festival when he was confronted by a man enraged by the skyrocketing costs he's experiencing.
Dave Woods, a contractor and registered Democrat, held up red signs with big white letters in Fitzpatrick's face to show how his heating oil and diesel fuel costs have shot up in the last year. But Fitzpatrick walked away to head to his speech.
"Where's Mr. Fitzpatrick to get in the photo shot here?" Woods told CNN after the exchange. "I'm against the party that caused this."
Farther down the street, Ted Wassmer, a registered Republican who has supported the congressman in the past, was weighing his vote in the November election. Wassmer's woodworking business has been hit hard by the Trump administration's tariffs and rising inflation. A combat veteran who has never supported President Donald Trump, Wassmer called the Iran war an "absolute joke."
"It's a clown show in DC right now," Wassmer said. "I may vote against Republicans having dominance of the Congress, that may be my decision to get the administration in check. And I'm not very happy with Democrats either. I kind of think the left and the right are running rampant right now, so I have to kind of really look at it."
Fitzpatrick is one of the only Republicans in Congress fighting for reelection in a district Kamala Harris won in 2024 — and Democrats see this as their best chance in a decade to win the seat.
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Oct 24, 2026
Ukraine said its access to the Starlink and Starshield communications network had resumed Saturday after days of limited access and questions over who had ordered the restrictions.
Ukraine's Defense Minister Yevhen Khmara said a high-speed, stable connection to the satellite network had returned, with the restoration "particularly important for our front line, for the military, drone operations, logistics and communications."
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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a statement that access had been restored to previous levels, and thanked "all Americans," including lawmakers, the State Department and President Donald Trump.
Ukraine's access to Starshield, the militarized version of SpaceX-operated Starlink, had been disrupted since last week, impeding Ukraine's strike campaign on Russian-occupied territory. It was not clear who had ordered the interruptions: SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said Starshield systems were controlled by the U.S. government, while Trump administration officials denied any involvement.
On Thursday, Trump described his relationship with Musk as "a very good one" and said that Musk had reinstated full access to Starshield. On Friday, after Ukrainian commanders reported that access was still throttled, Trump told reporters he had heard the restrictions were lifted, "but if it's not, I'll fix it."
He also said he had not spoken to Musk about the satellite system, contradicting media reports that he had called Musk and asked for access to be reinst
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Oct 24, 2026
Meghan says she was informed of "disturbing allegations" about her father via a letter [PA Media]
A letter making a "number of claims" relating to the Duchess of Sussex's father was received by the Metropolitan Police in 2019, Scotland Yard has confirmed.
The Met said it passed the information relating to allegations outside the UK to the office of the Duke and Duchess but did not share it with other law enforcement agencies.
It was reported on Friday that images of child sexual abuse allegedly belonging to Thomas Markle, 82, had been found in his former home in the Philippines. Markle, who is based in the US, denies possessing any such images.
On Friday, Meghan said she was informed about "disturbing allegations" about her estranged father in 2018. The Met said it was reviewing the matter and deciding whether to refer itself to the police watchdog.
Meghan statement offers answers after years of questions about her relationship with father
Responding to Saturday's developments dating the letter to 2019, a spokesman for the duchess said "any discrepancy of a few months" was "an understandable consequence of that passage of time".
The c
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Oct 24, 2026
By Juliette Jabkhiro and Alessandro Parodi
PARIS, Oct 24 (Reuters) - Demonstrators gathered in Paris and cities across France on Saturday under the watch of 70,000 police officers, as the government sought to prevent a repeat of the riots and looting that ?rocked the country last weekend.
Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said 135 people had been arrested nationwide by early afternoon, many following pre-emptive ?searches that uncovered fireworks, ball bearings and other items that could be used as weapons.
"We have to be ultra, ultra responsive. We have significant calls for disruption from political ?groups and quite simply from criminals," he told reporters. "It is going to be a long day."
While the start of the main Paris march was peaceful, police fired tear gas at crowds in Lyon, France's third-largest city.
The government has deployed 10,000 more police and gendarmes than on October 17, when protests over the cost of living and deteriorating public services descended into some of the worst unrest France has seen in years.
SHOPS, MUSEUMS SHUT
Much of central Paris ?took on the appearance of a city under ?lockdown, with shopkeepers boarding up storefronts, museums closing their doors and more than 20 metro stations shut.
Business groups urged retailers to remain closed after thousands of shops and businesses were damaged or looted across France last weekend.
"There are ?hardly any customers, so it's not really worth staying open," said Oskar, manager of a Kiton boutique in Paris.
Several of the capital's best-known cultural institutions, including the Louvre, the Musee d'Orsay and the Paris Opera, closed for the day as a precaution, leaving tourists frustrated.
"Everything's boarded up and we're not quite sure ?where ?we should be," said Xavier Dolliole, a tourist from the US city of New ?Orleans.
The route for Paris' main demonstration was s
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Oct 24, 2026
A school bus carrying the Salem High School football team overturned after Georgia State Patrol says the driver lost control getting off Interstate 20.
Multiple students were taken to the hospital, including one who had to be Life Flighted.
The crash happened around 10:48 p.m. where Georgia Highway 138 and Interstate 20 meet.
The Salem High School football team was coming back from their Friday night game against Greater Atlanta Christian in Gwinnett County.
Troopers said the 74-year-old school bus driver lost control and went across all lanes of Ga. 138. When the bus went into the northbound lanes, it hit a Black Kia Soul. Both drivers were taken to the hospital.
Rockdale County School District told that 22 students and three staff members were taken to the hospital.
GSP says some parents took their students to the hospital, others were taken by ambulance and one was airlifted.
"Our Troopers, officials from the school and officials from National EMS are all working together to compile a complete list of students, injuries and which hospital each student went to and how they were transported," Georgia State Patrol said.
A witness told that she was at the gas station near the impact. She heard a loud boom and turned around to see the Rockdale County school bus overturned.
This article originally appeared on WSB Cox at https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/multipl
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Oct 24, 2026
Election workers sort ballots during early voting ahead of the midterm election at San Francisco County's election operations facility at City Hall in San Francisco, California, on October 21, 2026. - David Paul Morris/Bloomberg/Getty Images
The Justice Department on Friday ordered California election officials to identify suspected noncitizens on voter rolls and set aside their mail-in ballot — warning that officials who knowingly count ballots cast by noncitizens could face criminal liability.
The action marks an escalation in the Trump administration's efforts to scrutinize voter rolls ahead of the midterm elections as it continues to double down on claims of voter fraud, fueled by President Donald Trump's baseless allegations of widespread election cheating.
Letters sent to California county election officials asked them to work with the Justice Department and Department of Homeland Security to "identify who on the accompanying list is a citizen and who is not."
"If persons knowingly tabulate ballots cast by individuals identified by federal agencies as noncitizens, they risk becoming aiders and abettors to a federal crime," First Assistant US Attorney Bill Essayli wrote in a letter to San Bernardino County officials, which was seen by CNN.
The letters follow a demand earlier this month from Acting Deputy Attorney General Trent McCotter, who
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Oct 24, 2026
Your parents' nest egg was mostly bonds and savings accounts. Yours is mostly stocks.
Stocks made up 48.2% of Americans' financial assets in the second quarter, counting everything from brokerage accounts to 401(k)s, according to the Federal Reserve's latest Financial Accounts data. That's the highest share in records going back to 1945. It tops the 38.7% reached at the height of the dot-com mania and the 41% hit after the 2021 meme-stock frenzy.
Federal Reserve, Yahoo FinanceThe cash pile looks small by comparison. Households hold about $74 trillion in stocks against roughly $20 trillion in bank deposits and money market funds — a record $3.65 in stocks for every dollar of cash.
So much for all that money waiting on the sidelines.
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Oct 24, 2026
By Crispian Balmer and Elizabeth Pineau
PARIS, Oct 24 (Reuters) - French security forces fanned out across Paris on Saturday ahead of protests that authorities fear could turn violent, with Interior Minister Laurent Nunez urging police to be "hyper-reactive" against troublemakers and looters.
Soldiers from ?an anti-terrorism military unit patrolled the Champs-Elysees avenue while police vans circled the Arc de Triomphe, looking to protect some of ?the capital's most famous sites from any repeat of the unrest that shook France last week.
Nunez has mobilised 70,000 police nationwide for Saturday's demonstrations, 10,000 more than on October 17, when ?a wave of vandalism and looting raised questions about the government's ability to maintain order.
Anger over living costs and strained public services has drawn students, workers and unions onto the streets in recent weeks, but authorities say radical militants and bands of young looters have exploited the protests to sow chaos.
Speaking to police in Paris, Nunez warned officers that they would face attempts to target shops, public institutions and security forces.
"We have to be ultra, ultra responsive. ?We have significant calls for disruption from political groups ?and quite simply from criminals," he said. "It is going to be a long day."
SHOPS, MUSEUMS, OPERA SHUT
Many shopkeepers in Paris boarded up storefronts, while luxury retailers beefed up security.
Business groups have urged stores to remain closed after thousands ?of shops and businesses were damaged or looted across France last weekend.
Lidiya Shevchenko, a sales assistant at a Graziella Braccialini store in Paris, said she doubted many customers would venture out to browse luxury boutiques during the day.
"I suppose the mood is just as important when it comes to shopping," she said.
Several of Paris' ?best-known ?cultural institutions,
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Oct 24, 2026
FILE PHOTO - Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex, meets volunteer first responders from the Bondi Surf Bathers' Life Saving Club during a visit to Sydney's Bondi Beach. (is associated with: «Philippines investigating allegations against Meghan's father») Jonathan Brady/PA Wire/dpaAuthorities in the Philippines said they are investigating allegations that Thomas Markle Sr, the father of Meghan Markle, wife of Britain's Prince Harry, had a hoard of child sex abuse images.
According to The Sun, Meghan's half-brother, Thomas Markle Jr, alleged that he found a stash of images belonging to their father at his former home in the Philippines.
He reportedly told police in the country that he discovered the child abuse pictures and videos mixed up with innocent family mementos.
The newspaper said he also contacted FBI investigators in the US in July.
Nicholas Ty, undersecretary for the Philippines Department of Justice, told ITV News: "Our Anti-Trafficking and Online Sexual Abuse and Exploitation of Children taskforce in Cebu is currently investigating the matter."
In an interview with the Daily Mail, Thomas Sr denied possessing child sex images, calling the accusations "sick lies."
On Friday, Meghan said she was made aware of "disturbing allegations" about her father in 2018.
She said she was shown a letter sent to Scotland Yard eight years ago making "troubling" allegations against Thomas Markle Sr and she was assured that these were being investigated.
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Oct 23, 2026
More than 200 firefighters are at the scene in Bavaria - Getty ImagesPolice have detained a suspect after a fire destroyed Adolf Hitler's German mountain retreat.
Around 200 firefighters were deployed to tackle the fire engulfing the Eagle's Nest, a remote residence at the top of Obersalzberg mountain in Bavaria built in the 1930s for the Nazi leader.
Authorities on Saturday said the building had been almost completely destroyed and that it was unclear whether parts could be salvaged.
Police said firefighters had found the building "completely ablaze" as they approached the Kehlsteinhaus residence.
Emergency services arrived on site at 9.52pm (8.52pm UK time) after a smoke detector triggered a fire alarm.
Flames engulfed the Kehlsteinhaus, known as the Eagle's Nest, on Friday night - Getty/Ferdinand Dorfler-FarthoferSeveral hours later, firefighters were struggling to extinguish the fire because of the house's remote location, police said.
A police spokesman said a "suspicious person" had been "taken into temporary custody" but that the criminal investigation was ongoing and that no one had been injured.
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Oct 23, 2026
Director of National Intelligence Jay Clayton warned Friday that Iran has "substantially increased efforts to target U.S. personnel" abroad, with plots to kill Americans reaching "advanced stages" in the Middle East and other countries.
The warning, contained in an unclassified memo that was sent to Secretary of State Marco Rubio and obtained by CBS News, comes as the State Department adjusts staffing at diplomatic posts across the Middle East, and the U.S. military pares back its footprint in the region, amid concerns about direct threats from Iran and threats from the Iranian-backed Houthi movement in Yemen.
"The lethal plotting efforts by the Iranians against U.S. citizens have reached advanced stages in both the Middle East and certain other countries," Clayton wrote.
The memo, which was issued as the Trump administration weighs resuming military strikes against Iran, does not identify specific targets or countries where the alleged plots are underway, or indicate whether attacks may be imminent.
Clayton said the U.S. intelligence community is working to downgrade sensitive intelligence — received through various channels — so it can be shared more broadly with State Department personnel. CIA Director John Ratcliffe was copied on the memo.
Axios was first to report on the memo.
The warning follows a series of precautions at U.S. diplomatic facilities across the region. Earlier this week, the State Department ordered non-essential U.S. embassy personnel and their families to depart Saudi Arabia. Several other American embassies in the region adjusted their staffing under "restricted operations" status, which allows them to reduce the number of personnel without formally going on ordered
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Oct 23, 2026
Los Angeles (AP) — Federal prosecutors sent letters to county registrars across California on Friday demanding that local officials set aside and verify ballots that the Department of Justice said may belong to noncitizens, according to the Los Angeles County registrar and a letter obtained by The Associated Press.
The letters are the latest escalation in a legal battle between California and President Donald Trump's Department of Justice, which has recently focused on the state in its efforts to root out noncitizen voting ahead of the midterm elections. Data shows illegal voting by people who aren't U.S. citizens is incredibly rare, difficult to prove and has not been shown to change the outcome of races.
Earlier this month, the federal government targeted Los Angeles County and the California Secretary of State's office in a lawsuit that aimed to block them from counting the votes of roughly 20,000 people who are "likely" noncitizen voters. A hearing on the case is scheduled for Tuesday.
The Trump administration asked the 9th Circuit court of appeals to rule on the lawsuit barring a decision from the district judge assigned to the case. They set a deadline for Saturday.
Now, according to the LA County registrar's office, at least 18 counties across the state have received simila
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Oct 23, 2026
By Erin Banco and Joey Roulette
WASHINGTON, Oct 23 (Reuters) - Well before the throttling this month of Ukraine's military access to Elon Musk's satellite communications system, the Biden and Trump administrations had several times asked SpaceX to turn its Starlink service on or off in various countries, according to six former senior US officials familiar with the matter.
During the presidency of Joe Biden, the requests included switching off the service to prevent Iranian proxy militias in Yemen and Lebanon from using Starlink to communicate, and ?activating the service to provide internet access inside Iran and in Ukraine to support its military, said four of the former officials.
Similarly, President Donald Trump's administration asked Musk, who is CEO of SpaceX, to make the service available in Iran following US-Israeli strikes in ?2025 and 2026, in hopes it would bolster internet access and communications for anti-government protesters, a former senior Trump official and a person familiar with the matter told Reuters.
All of the people spoke on condition of anonymity. The previous US requests about Starlink access are being reported here for the first time.
The recent blowup over restrictions to Ukraine's use of SpaceX satellite services ?has raised questions about the ties between the US government and Musk, whose company owns systems vital to the US military and to US allies.
The Biden-era and Trump requests to Musk show a close relationship in which US administrations rely to an unprecedented degree on a private-sector company to help implement foreign policy.
The recent limits on Ukraine, despite being a US ally, have also rattled officials in Europe, some of whom argue that Europe must develop its own military satellite communications capabilities because no viable short-term alternative currently exists.
STARSHIELD RESTRICTIONS HOBBLE UKRAINE MILITARY
Ukrainian P
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Oct 23, 2026
Former ESPN reporter Britt McHenry resigned Friday from her position as a State Department press adviser following an altercation at a basketball game this week, ABC News has learned.
McHenry was captured on camera appearing to throw a drink on someone during a Washington Wizards vs. Milwaukee Bucks NBA game on Wednesday.
Video obtained by TMZ appears to show McHenry being escorted from the stands at Capital One Arena following the incident.
Alex Brandon/AP - PHOTO: Britt McHenryMcHenry was appointed to her role at the State Department last month. A Department official declined to comment on McHenry's exit, saying it was an internal personnel matter.
ABC News was not immediately able to contact McHenry.
McHenry formerly worked as a reporter for ESPN. In 2015, she was suspended by the network for one week after a video showing her berating a clerk at a towing company went viral.
Her departure from the State Department was first reported by Page Six.
This article originally appeared on ABC News at https://abcnews.com/Politics/britt-mchenry-resigns-state-department-job-after-basketball/story?id=137526303
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Oct 23, 2026
Kaylub Giamanco, the man praised as a hero for fatally shooting a gunman at a school in Bend, Oregon, last week, is speaking out for the first time about the moments leading up to the shooting and how he is grappling with the aftermath.
The 36-year-old carpenter, whose two daughters attend Silver Rail Elementary School, told Oregon Public Broadcasting that it was happenstance that he was passing by the school at that moment. He said he had decided to go home for lunch that day instead of eating the food he had packed.
As he drove by the elementary school, he saw a "man in black" holding a long gun and shooting at a vehicle. At first, he thought it was a prank, but then the shooter threw the gun over the school fence before climbing it.
"That's when panic fled into my brain and that's when I opened my center console and said, 'No. No. No. No,'" Giamanco said in the interview. In the console of his truck was a .40-caliber handgun he rarely used.
He said he grabbed the weapon's magazine from another compartment, drove into the school parking lot and saw the shooter walk across school grounds.
"I just was in full panic, like, 'No, there's children, there's babies in there,'" he recalled. "I told my Siri to call 911." He said the dispatcher had questions for him, but he didn't stay on the call.
"I said, 'I'm sorry, I have to go in. People are going to die,'" Giamanco said.
He described trying to stay out of sight as he followed the gunman.
"I heard him fire two shots into the doors," Giamanco said. "That's when I started hea
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Oct 23, 2026
A judge in New York on Friday decided the former Cornell University student known as Jane Doe can pursue her sexual assault claim against the university and seven fraternity members while remaining anonymous.
Permission to proceed in litigation under a pseudonym is not automatic, but the judge said "the notoriety of the allegations and widespread reports of certain malicious actors' behavior" warranted anonymity.
Jane Doe says she felt 'unsupported and disbelieved' by Cornell presidentThe judge's decision came with a warning to those who have threatened Jane Doe and others connected to the case.
"While the Court is cognizant that some members of the public have made it their mission to try and identify Jane Doe, and have likewise tried to use what they believe to be Jane Doe's identity to harass and threaten certain individuals allegedly tied to her, the Court issues the following words of caution: cyberstalking and engaging in or encouraging threats across state lines, whether it be of Jane Doe, any of the named defendants, or their attorneys, can be considered a federal crime and perpetrators of those acts may be subjecting themselves to prosecution," Judge Phaedra Perry-Bond wrote in her opinion.
Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images - PHOTO: A hand written sign is seen before a rally in support of a former Cornell University student known as Jane Doe at the Ithaca Commons, October 13, 2026 in Ithaca, New York. Former Cornell fraternity president dropped from Jane Doe l
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Oct 23, 2026
Watch: Who controls Ukraine's access to Starlink?
Ukraine is still recording issues with the Starlink internet network, sources within the defence ministry say, after Donald Trump said limits had been reversed by Elon Musk who owns the satellite system.
The sources told the BBC that instances of drones experiencing connection loss at speeds of 161km/h (100mph) were being recorded, hampering military operations.
The US president had denied instructing the tech billionaire to restrict connectivity to Starlink's military-grade counterpart, Starshield, before saying on Thursday that Musk had "put it back".
Asked on Friday, Trump said: "If there is a problem, I will get it straightened out."
Trump added: "I have not spoken to him. I might have to, but I have not. I've heard it was fixed, but if it's not, I'll speak to him."
Musk previously said he was not behind the slowdown, which affected Ukraine's ability to use attack drones and co-ordinate defensive operations.
Trump told reporters he did not think the tech billionaire had too much power.
The Ukrainian defence ministry sources said the military was constantly monitoring the performance of both the Starlink and Starshield networks.
They added that there was "currently no confirmation that these restrictions have been lifted".
Last week, Kyiv said uplink speeds to the low Earth orbit satellites had been restricted, affecting the speed at which drones could travel. Any drone travelling faster than 100mph lost its connection, officials said.
Shortly after, Musk said that Starshield, which Ukraine uses for some of its operation, was controlled by the US militar
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Oct 23, 2026
An upstate New York woman who says she only recently learned she wasn't born in the U.S. has been charged with voting illegally, one of the latest arrests touted by the Trump administration as it hunts for noncitizen voters ahead of the midterm elections.
Marva Cook was adopted as a toddler and had always assumed she was a U.S. citizen, she told Homeland Security investigators earlier this month, according to the criminal complaint.
But in searching for her biological mother, the 66-year-old Syracuse resident, who starred on Syracuse University's women's basketball team decades ago, said she discovered she had a German birth certificate.
Federal prosecutors say Cook has had a green card for several years now, but she still cast ballots in recent elections despite not having citizenship.
She faces a single federal charge of voting by an alien stemming from her vote in the 2022 midterms.
The misdemeanor offense carries a maximum sentence of one year in prison and a fine up to $100,000, if convicted. Cook can also face deportation, under federal law.
Cook says she has faith in God and support from community
Reached by phone Friday, Cook declined to discuss the criminal case, her voting record or her past efforts at becoming a citizen.
But she said she was "not thrilled" by her court appearance Wednesday as she was placed in shackles despite having voluntarily turned herself in just hours earlier.
"It was a difficult time," Cook said. "I'm about kindness and service and doing for others as I want to be treated."
She also said she appreciated the outpouring of support of
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Oct 23, 2026
A chemical leak that sent 60 people to the hospital and forced hundreds of people to flee their homes has been blamed on an employee error.
Mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz announced the cause of the tank leak at a news conference on Friday and said that all remaining evacuation orders in Toledo, Ohio.
The chemical leak happened Tuesday night when an employee of MC Tank Transport "introduced a temperature level to the tank in the process of trying to transfer the liquid" that caused a chemical reaction, the mayor said.
MC Tank Transport said the tank contained glycidyl methacrylate, which it described as "an industrial chemical used to make certain plastics, paints and coatings perform better."
A plume of smokes rises from MC Tank Transport Inc., where a chemical tank exploded overnight, prompting hundreds of residents to evacuate or shelter in place amid concerns about a potential toxic release, Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2026 (AP) The e
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Oct 23, 2026
Citi Bank, Wells Fargo, Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase have taken steps to limit third-party AI agents from accessing their platforms and services, and others are following suit.
The banks' decisions, first reported by Axios, come amid mounting concern over AI agents taking unwanted actions on behalf of users. Two-thirds of chief information security officers surveyed in financial services and software ranked agentic AI among their top three cybersecurity risks, and more than one-third named it as their top concern, according to a 2026 study by Palo Alto Networks.
"We do not permit third-party AI agents or assistants to log into a customer's account or transact directly within our digital banking platforms," a Citi spokesperson wrote to USA TODAY.
Citi customers can authorize agents to "limited, read-only access to their account information with certain Citi-approved open banking providers," the statement continued. Citi has not seen reports of agents accessing client accounts.
"There's a window of vulnerability where the systems, the banks, the users are all vulnerable to the speed with which AI is being weaponized," said Andre Durand, founder and CEO of Ping Identity, which sells identity security infrastructure to financial institutions.
He cited concern over AI being used to perpetrate fraud and scams at higher levels as well as fear that agents could be compromised or decide to take malicious action on their own.
In an October report
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Oct 23, 2026
Oil prices climbed to a 6-month high on Friday as traders priced the odds of escalating fighting in the Middle East. Attacks near the Red Sea also stoked worries of further constraints on oil supplies from the region.
Brent crude (BZ=F) futures for December delivery settled at $116.72 per barrel. The international benchmark posted its third consecutive week of gains. Meanwhile, West Texas Intermediate crude (CL=F) closed just above $103 a barrel.
President Trump telegraphed an escalation in Iran after the midterm elections and an extended stand-off, with the Strait of Hormuz remaining at the center of the conflict.
This week, the New York Times reported that the US and Israel have reportedly drawn up plans for renewed attacks on Iran after the Nov. 3 elections. The US has ordered nonessential embassy personnel to depart Saudi Arabia after a series of attacks at the country's airports and oil fields.
President Trump has said he will
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Oct 23, 2026
It's crunch time. With less than two weeks to go until the 2026 midterm elections, Democratic and Republican candidates for the U.S. House of Representatives nationwide are making one last push to persuade voters in their districts — and help their party win or retain control of the chamber on Nov. 3.
The stakes are high. President Trump has enjoyed complete Republican control of Congress for the first half of his second term. Flipping the House would give Democrats the power to block parts of the president's agenda, investigate his administration and even impeach him (again).
Historically speaking, a president's party almost always loses seats when voters return to the polls to judge his first two years in office. (The average number lost since World War II? Twenty-six.) Sometimes, the backlash is so pervasive that the president's party loses seats across a wide range of competitive districts — a phenomenon known as a "wave" election.
But the past doesn't necessarily predict the future, and Republicans have certain advantages today that they didn't have before. Here's what needs to happen for each party to come out on top.
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Oct 23, 2026
Republican Vivek Ramaswamy on Friday defended his campaign's ad featuring the estranged mother of Democratic rival Dr. Amy Acton in the closely watched race for Ohio governor.
Speaking at a campaign stop in northeast Ohio, he said the advertisement, which features Acton's mother calling her "a liar," had nothing to do with childhood abuse.
"The irony is they're lying about an ad that is about lying," Ramaswamy said. "They're changing the subject because they don't want to answer for their own failures."
The advertisement features Acton's birth mother, Donna Arthur, criticizing her and insinuating she has mental health issues. Arthur lost custody of her children after her husband, the children's stepfather, was indicted for raping Acton.
Acton is Ohio's former public health director and has made no secret of facing homelessness and abuse as a child. She has condemned Ramaswamy for the ad.
"I won't normalize somebody who has said that my childhood is just something I'm complaining about." she told Spectrum News, a cable news outlet in Ohio.
A message seeking comment was sent Friday to her campaign
The ad has stirred significant reaction, including from President Donald Trump, who said it was like "hitting pay dirt."
At a campaign rally in Iowa on Thursday, Trump told the crowd Ramaswamy called him to ask for advice.
"You've got to ride with it," Trump recalled telling Ramaswamy, a biotech billionaire and former presi
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Oct 23, 2026
Washington — Two former senior FBI officials are facing criminal charges for allegedly making false statements to Congress during testimony in 2023 about the bureau's investigation involving Hunter Biden's laptop.
Nikki Floris, 46, a former intelligence analyst in charge in the bureau's Washington Field Office, and Bradley Benavides, 56, the former deputy assistant director at the FBI's Counterintelligence Division, each appeared in court on Friday in Washington, D.C., where they were presented with a copy of a criminal complaint charging them with one count each of lying to Congress about their roles on the Foreign Influence Task Force during the 2020 election, specifically the FBI's Hunter Biden investigations.
A statement of facts prepared by the FBI and filed with the complaint alleges that Floris made false statements to Congress on July 19, 2023, and Benavides allegedly did the same that September. Their alleged false statements pertained to "their awareness of involvement in the FBI's investigations into Hunter Biden," it said.
"The evidence further establishes probable cause to believe that Floris and Benavides made these statements for the purpose of concealing [the Foreign Influence Task Force's] engagement with and communications about the Hunter Biden investigations and impeding the congressional investigation," it said.
The decision by the U.S. Attorney's Office in D.C. to charge the pair in a criminal complaint stemming from three-year-old allegations is highly unusual, and both their defense attorneys and the magistrate judge who presided over Friday's hearing and unsealing raised questions about the decision.
"The alleged conduct happened years ago. The government has had the information about this for years," said Ron Safer, an attorney for Benavides. He ask
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Oct 23, 2026
The Trump administration intends to push for new labels on seafood sold at grocery stores to give consumers a better idea of where products originated, two U.S. officials told CBS News.
However, the "U.S. Caught Seafood" label, proposed by the Food and Drug Administration, wouldn't be mandatory.
President Trump was expected to mention seafood during his pitch to voters in Florida on Friday afternoon. He is stumping in Fort Myers for Senate candidate Ashley Moody and gubernatorial candidate Byron Donalds before spending the night at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach.
The White House has prepared economy-related perks to roll out in each of the states he visits in the final campaign blitz before the midterm elections.
Most seafood eaten in the U.S. is imported, government data shows. About 80% of the seafood Americans ate in 2023 came from abroad, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. U.S. commercial fishermen caught seafood valued at $5.1 billion in 2023, while the U.S. imported $25 billion worth.
The Trump administration was also preparing $5 billion in loans targeted at the fishing industry so that it can buy new equipment, according to U.S. officials. The loans would be through the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
This article originally appeared on CBS News at https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-administration-seafood-labels/
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Oct 23, 2026
Image Credits:Kimberly White/Getty Images for TechCrunch
Anthropic's public listing, which is expected this year at a valuation of as much as $2 trillion, is bound to be a windfall for both early-stage and later-stage investors. But even at the company's latest private market valuation of $965 billion, the stakes held by many of those VCs and early backers already total billions.
Coatue, which first backed Anthropic in 2025 at a $183 billion valuation and co-led the AI lab's last two funding rounds, has poured a total of $4.75 billion into the company. That stake, based on the last round's price, is now worth roughly $7.5 billion, according to a person familiar with the matter. Coatue declined to comment.
Below is what some other backers of Anthropic are worth based on the last round's price, according to Bloomberg:
Eric Schmidt: The former Google CEO invested in Anthropic's Series A in 2021, when the startup was valued at $461 million, according to PitchBook data. Today, Schmidt owns about 1% of the company, and even at its current private valuation, his stake is worth nearly $10 billion.
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Oct 23, 2026
The Supreme Court has cleared the way for New Hampshire to enforce a ban on voters using student ID as proof of identity at the polls in November's midterm elections.
In its decision Thursday, the court paused a federal court's ruling that would have allowed poll workers to consider student IDs to verify voters' identities without an approved government-issued ID. One Supreme Court judge, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, dissented.
The court action came as a result of New Hampshire Secretary of State David Scanlan asking the Supreme Court to intervene after telling election officials that he wouldn't accept student IDs even as backup identification in this year's midterms. Earlier this year, a Republican-backed law removed student ID from the list of identification voters can use to get a ballot.
The Coalition for Open Democracy, which is challenging the ban, wrote
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Oct 23, 2026
President Donald Trump on Friday said he told his administration to file its lawsuit to block certification of the U.S. Senate race in Alaska if Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan loses, kicking off what many fear could become a lengthy battle between the government and states over certifying an election where the president's party is struggling.
"I'm the one that said do it," Trump told reporters as he landed for a campaign rally in Florida.
The lawsuit, filed late Thursday, centers on one of the president's longstanding complaints in the Senate race — the presence of a second candidate named Dan Sullivan, who Republicans fear could siphon away votes from the incumbent in what's likely to be a photo-finish contest with Democrat Mary Peltola, the state's former congresswoman.
The second Sullivan, who is Daniel J. Sullivan from the tiny fishing community of Petersburg, has said he decided to run on his own, but Republicans have contended he is a Democratic plant to siphon votes away from their candidate.
The lawsuit by the Republican president's Department of Justice in federal court in Alaska demands that the state be blocked from certifying a Peltola win if Daniel J. Sullivan remains on the ballot. "The United States accordingly brings this lawsuit to protect the integrity of the 2026 Senate election in Alaska," the lawsuit says, contending that federal law requires states to protect the integrity of federal elections.
The legal challenge came 11 days before the Nov. 3 election and months after the final ballot was set.
The Alaska Supreme Court
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Oct 23, 2026
Jared Kushner is pushing back on a report involving a hacked iPhone, international spies and billion-dollar transfers from foreign governments.
An upcoming book by journalist Matthew Cole claims Kushner, who is President Trump's son-in-law, had access to more than $2 billion in "slush money funds" from Middle Eastern leaders in an attempt to influence U.S. foreign policy.
An excerpt of the book released Thursday details allegations encompassing Kushner's time as a senior White House adviser during the first Trump administration, which included a lead role in U.S. policy in the Middle East. Kushner had a major hand in negotiating key foreign policy deals that involved Israel, the Gulf states, China and Russia during that period.
Kushner and his legal team released fiery statements Thursday night categorically denying all accusations against him. Kushner said, "The allegations made by this author are completely insane and never happened." His attorney called them "false and defamatory" and said they intend to pursue legal action against those responsible, but did not specify whom.
The new book, "Princes and Thieves: Jared Kushner and Mohamed bin Zayed's Secret Plot to Remake the Middle East," alleges Kushner had access to billions of dollars in undisclosed foreign bank accounts intended to pay for "influence within the U.S. government."
An excerpt from the book that was published in "Vanity Fair," but not independently verified by CBS News, says Dutch intelligence agents learned the Russians had hacked Kushner's iPhone in 2017 after flipping a Russian spy and subsequently gained access to Kushner's phone as well.
According
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Oct 23, 2026
Apple's (AAPL) iPhone Duo goes on sale today, but limited supplies and long lines outside Apple Stores mean you'll have to be lucky to get your hands on one.
Preorders for the company's first foldable smartphone sold out almost immediately last week, with delivery times currently pushed out well into late January.
Apple said it planned to have some Duos available in stores but expects them to sell out quickly.
"On Friday morning, our teams look forward to welcoming customers at Apple Stores to experience iPhone Duo and the incredible iPhone line-up for themselves," Apple said in a statement earlier this week.
— Yahoo Finance (@YahooFinance) October 23, 2026
"Apple Stores will have limited iPhone Duo available for walk-in customers, and we're working hard to get this revolutionary new product into customers' hands as quickly as possible."
At least some of the preorder madness
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Oct 23, 2026
A card with images depicting Alex Pretti and Renee Good is placed at a makeshift memorial in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on 28 January 2026.Photograph: Seth Herald/Reuters
The federal government has stopped sharing evidence with Minnesota authorities who are investigating the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti by federal officers during a violent anti-immigration, anti-protest crackdown in the state earlier this year, state officials said in recent court filings.
Minnesota officials sued the Trump administration in March for access to materials they said they needed to independently investigate the shootings.
The family of Good, 37, earlier this month sued over her death when she was shot by a federal officer with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) as she drove her car away during a protest in January.
Pretti, also 37, was shot dead in the street by a border patrol agent as he went to the assistance of a fellow protester on the icy city streets during fierce demonstrations against the crackdown. Both Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) and ICE are under the umbrella of the Department of Homeland Security.
The shootings of the two protesters, both US citizens, was a turning point
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Oct 23, 2026
President Donald Trump said Friday that the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool is continuing to fill with water, declaring that the landmark is "looking really good" and will be protected by anti-vandalism cameras.
The pool has become a recurring point of attention since Trump ordered it resurfaced in "American flag blue" ahead of the nation's 250th anniversary celebrations. The project has faced rising costs, algae issues, and damage to its freshly installed lining.
Trump shared an image of the Reflecting Pool on the Truth Social platform on Friday.In a message posted to Truth Social in the early hours of Friday morning, Trump said the Reflecting Pool was 85 percent full, "and looking really good!"
Trump added: "It hasn't worked properly since 1922, but will now. We have cameras set up to stop any potential Vandalism, including the grassed areas, which were destroyed by chemical poisoning with a large, and very inappropriate, phrase. The grass was completely replaced!"
The president also included in his post an image the Reflecting Pool on the National Mall, with the Lincoln Memorial centered in the distance.
Newsweek reached out to the White House for comment via email on Friday.
Cases Dropped Trump earlier this week threatened any potential vandals with jail time, reviving a dispute over cause of damage to the pool's lining. A judge dismissed a
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Oct 23, 2026
First lady Melania Trump (Finn Gomez/Getty Images)
First lady Melania Trump has successfully negotiated a temporary ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine to allow humanitarian aid and civilian evacuations in the Russian-occupied Ukrainian town of Oleshky, her senior adviser, Marc Beckman, revealed for the first time Friday on Newsmax's "National Report."
Appearing live in the Newsmax studio, Beckman disclosed that representatives of both countries had signed the agreement just hours before his appearance, marking a significant humanitarian breakthrough in the nearly five-year war.
"Let me start by being very crystal clear: the first lady of the United States of America has successfully negotiated a cease fire between Ukraine and Russia, localized in this region of Oleshky," Beckman told Newsmax.
The ceasefire, scheduled to begin Oct. 29, will allow Ukrainian and Russian civilian representatives to enter Oleshky, about 5 miles behind the front lines, to identify residents needing assistance and coordinate evacuations, Beckman said.
"It will bring humanitarian aid to the entire city, this includes medics, medicine, food, clean water," he said, noting the operation will include "an evacuation of the city of Oleshky as well."
Newsmax has been granted exclusive television access to accompany a delegation of Russian and Ukrainian observers entering Oleshky on Oct. 29.
Both Ukrainian and Russian officials agreed to allow Newsmax to document the humanitarian operation.
Beckman emphasized the immediacy of the breakthrough, revealing that the agreement had only just been finalized.
"As recently as this morning, I'm coming
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Oct 23, 2026
Oct 23 (Reuters) - The first Russian diesel bound for the US following a surprise agreement reached between Moscow and US President Donald Trump is aboard a tanker heading for New York, ship-tracking data showed on ?Friday.
Trump announced the deal this month as part of his efforts to bring down soaring diesel prices ahead ?of November 3 US mid-term elections.
Trump also waived parts of a new US sanctions law against Russia and threatened Europe with a US diesel export ?ban unless countries released more from their emergency reserves to help ease prices.
The Malta-flagged medium-sized tanker Agioi Fanendes was loaded with 40,000 metric tons of ultra-low sulphur diesel in Russia's Baltic port of Primorsk on October 22, according to LSEG shipping data. It is expected to arrive in the United States on November 7.
The identity of the buyer and seller were not immediately known. The ?cargo will be the first imported by ?the US since former President Joe Biden announced a ban on US imports of Russian oil and petroleum products in 2022.
Trump announced on October 9 that Russia would immediately export 300,000 metric ?tons, or 2.25 million barrels, to the US and global markets, followed by 500,000 tons in November and 1 million tons "immediately thereafter".
A Kremlin spokesperson on Friday confirmed a first ship under the deal had departed, but did not specify whether it was bound for the ?US market ?or elsewhere.
"As far as I'm aware, there have already been reports ?from the Ministry of Energy that the first ?tanker has, in fact, set sail for its recipients, its buyers. Further shipments will continue at a steady pace from here on," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on a daily conference call.
The deal with the US involved Russia lifting a self-imposed ban on diesel exports.
RUSSIA RESUMING GLOBAL EXPORTS Since the EU imposed a full embargo on imports of Russian oil products i
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Oct 23, 2026
President Donald Trump said Elon Musk has lifted restrictions on Ukraine's access to Starshield, the military equivalent of Starlink, amid confusion over who previously ordered access to the network be curtailed.
Trump declined to comment on reports that he called the SpaceX chief executive to ask Ukraine's access to the satellite network be fully reinstated, but described his relationship with Musk as "a very good one." The "bottom line" was that Musk had "put it back," he said in comments to reporters on Thursday.
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However, Ukrainian soldiers said Friday they were still experiencing Starshield disruptions, with no indication that any restrictions had been lifted.
On Friday, Starshield was still operating "with constant interruptions," although at a higher speed than on Thursday, Ukrainian commander Andriy "Klima" Klymenko, commander of the 414th Unmanned Systems Brigade, told The Washington Post.
"Right now we don't notice that restrictions on Starlink have been lifted," Serhii Beskrestnov, an adviser to Ukraine's defense ministry, wrote in a statement.
Ukraine's military access to Starshield, a secure satellite network designed for government use, was unexpectedly throttled last week, impeding Ukraine's midrange strike campaign on Russian-occupied territory. There is confusion over who ordered access to the network be curtailed, with both Musk and Trump suggesting it was the other side.
The curtailed service followed Trump's announc
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Oct 23, 2026
[Getty Images]
The Duchess of Sussex has said she was informed about "disturbing allegations" about her estranged father in 2018.
In a statement, Meghan said a letter containing allegations against Thomas Markle was sent to the Metropolitan Police that year and subsequently shared with her.
Her comments come after reports that images of child sexual abuse allegedly belonging to her father had been found at his former home in the Philippines, which she said were "deeply" distressing.
In an interview with the Daily Mail, Thomas Markle denied possessing child sex images, calling the accusations "sick lies".
The duchess said: "I am deeply distressed at the news that has come to light in the last 24 hours, and my thoughts are with any children who may have been harmed."
She said that when she received the letter outlining allegations against her father, she was "given assurance that these were being investigated".
She added she hoped it could be understood why she had kept her distance from her father and did "not allow him to have contact with our children".
This was "to protect them", she said, adding that she had "trusted that the authorities were doing the same for other families".
Meghan described the allegations as "more sickening than one could ever imagine" and said her "sincerest hope is that justice will be fully served and that the priority remains the safety and protection of innocent children".
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Oct 23, 2026
Elon Musk's influence over first Tesla (TSLA) and now SpaceX (SPCX) has long been measured in terms of corporate valuations, technological breakthroughs, and personal wealth, where his companies have made him the richest person in the world. Across the last few years, however, the centi-billionaire's growing portfolio of businesses has pushed him into a new lane entirely.
Over the past decade, Elon Musk has become far more than a corporate executive or political power broker. Through his control of companies underpinning global communications, military operations, space access, and artificial intelligence, Musk has acquired a degree of influence over national security, international relations, and the global economy that few private individuals have ever possessed.
An artilleryman of the Special Rifle Police Battalion of Zaporizhzhia region sets up Starlink satellite internet system, at a position, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, near the frontline in Donetsk region, Ukraine, October 16, 2026. REUTERS/Stringer/File PhotoReuters / REUTERS
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Oct 23, 2026
Elon Musk has adopted a war posture in response to looming threats of congressional investigations: If Democrats win control of Congress in next month's midterm elections, Musk has signaled he is bracing for a fight.
"Live by the sword, die by the sword," he said Wednesday in a post on X, responding to a Politico report that cited Democratic lawmakers seeking to investigate him.
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"Those who pick fights with me should understand that I will find out who is really pulling the strings and come for them, not just their puppets," said Musk, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX.
Musk's battle-ready stance comes as a host of Democrats have said they are eager to wield the power of their office to investigate the world's richest person should they win either chamber in the midterms.
As Republicans' election prospects have soured, lawmakers are building momentum for probes looking into the tech mogul, his companies or the work of the U.S. DOGE Service, which Musk oversaw and which was instrumental in dismantling the U.S. Agency for International Development.
Sen. Richard Blumenthal (Connecticut), the ranking Democrat on the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, said in an interview Thursday that he would investigate Musk and DOGE if Democrats win. Blumenthal led inquiries relating to the cost-cutting group but was in the minority and did not have subpoena power, which could be used to compel the attendance of witnesses, as well as the production of documents and records.
"The American people have a right to know the cost, the consequences and the chaos resulting from DOGE and … what he may be concealing," Blumenthal said. "There is
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Oct 23, 2026
The Trump administration aims to stop Alaska from certifying the Senate race result if Republican Senator Dan Sullivan loses to Democrat Mary Peltola and votes for another candidate named Dan Sullivan could have changed the outcome.
A lawsuit filed by the Department of Justice (DOJ) on Thursday against the state of Alaska and various election officials alleges that the Republican candidate listed on the ballot as Daniel J. Sullivan Jr. entered the race intending to mislead voters into backing him instead of the incumbent with the same name.
President Donald Trump has repeatedly accused Democrats of planting Dan J. Sullivan, a retired teacher, to confuse Alaska voters. In a social media post earlier this week, Trump—who has endorsed the incumbent—called his presence on the ballot a "scam" that could threaten Senator Dan Sullivan's potential victory in what has become one of the closest Senate contests this year.
"Even 1, 2, or 3 percent could make the difference," the president wrote. "Dan S. Sullivan is leading by a lot, but this is CHEATING in an Election, and the Judge that allowed this to happen should be ashamed of himself."
Senator Dan Sullivan is currently 2.7 points behind Peltola, according to VoteHub's poll tracker, underscoring how potentially consequential even a small number of votes could be.
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Oct 23, 2026
HEBRON, West Bank (AP) — Israeli soldiers shot and killed two Palestinians who the military said had launched an attack near Hebron in the occupied West Bank on Friday morning. At least five other people were injured, some critically.
The violence is likely to heighten political tensions and security concerns ahead of Israel's parliamentary election next week.
The army said it had prevented a "terror attack against Israeli civilians" and that the two men, both Palestinians from Hebron, were armed with an M16 rifle and a handgun. It did not identify the target of the alleged attack or those injured.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office later said it had instructed security forces to immediately cordon off Hebron and prepare for a full closure of the West Bank starting Friday.
Voters go to the polls Tuesday in an election that will help determine whether Netanyahu secures another term as prime minister. The vote comes three years after the Hamas-led attacks on Israel that triggered the war in Gaza.
Israel's government has warned of potential attacks by the country's "enemies" in the lead-up to the election.
Netanyahu holds an emergency meeting
Following the shooting, Netanyahu held an emergency meeting of his Security Cabinet and officials from top military and security agencies. He said Hamas was "planning a major attack aimed at murdering innocent civilians."
"Our brave soldiers thwarted this attack with courage and determination," he said, without elaborating on what the planned attack entailed.
"I commend them for their actions and wish our wounde
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Oct 23, 2026
JERUSALEM (AP) — The Israeli army says two soldiers were killed in an attack in the occupied West Bank on Friday morning that also left two suspected gunmen dead in violence that is likely to heighten political tensions and security concerns ahead of Israel's parliamentary election next week.
The army said two soldiers, Staff Sgt. Ron Yonatan Roytman and Sgt. Yuval Shai Svilem, were killed and three others were lightly wounded during an attack by Palestinian gunmen. The attack took place near the Yehuda Junction outside the West Bank city of Hebron.
The army said it had prevented a "terror attack against Israeli civilians" and that the two suspects, both Palestinians from Hebron, were armed with an M16 rifle and a handgun.
It said the men arrived at an Israeli military position in the morning, triggering an exchange of fire lasting approximately 20 minutes, after which the gunmen were killed by Israeli troops. The army said its forces prevented the men from advancing further where the attack could have resulted in civilian casualties.
The military set up roadblocks and closures in Palestinian towns in the area.
Israeli voters will decide next Tuesday whether to grant Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu yet another term as prime minister — or usher in a new era of Israeli politics. The election comes three years after the Hamas-led attacks on Israel that triggered the war in Gaza.
Israel's government has warned of potential attacks by the country's "enemies" in the lead-up to the election.
Netanyahu holds an emergency meeting
Netanyahu's office said it had instructed security f
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Oct 22, 2026
President Donald Trump's brand of brash, sometimes offensive, politics has consumed the Republican Party for a decade. But bipartisan outrage over Vivek Ramaswamy's ad featuring his opponent's estranged mother shows how candidates often fail when they try to embody the president's bombast.
Ramaswamy, an Ohio Republican running for governor against Democrat Amy Acton, a former public health official, gained national prominence as the 2024 presidential candidate who sought to mimic Trump's brand of shock-jock politics, confronting his rivals in public and working the sidelines of social media to rile and excite supporters.
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Ramaswamy's newest ad features Acton's mother calling her a "liar," even as documents show that Acton and her brother were removed from her home as children after her stepfather was charged with raping Acton.
Political operatives in both parties called the ad an extension of Trump's no-holds-barred politics that catapulted him to the presidency in 2016. Trump's rise was fueled by a Republican ecosystem - much of it online - that has been increasingly shaped in his image over the past decade.
And Trump defended Ramaswamy in an online post on Thursday, calling the ad "very powerful" and writing that criticism is meant only to "damage, demean, and embarrass a Republican."
"I told him leave it up and look upstairs and say 'thank you, God, very much, I appreciate it,'" Trump said at a rally in Iowa on Thursday night, recounting a conversation he said he
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Oct 22, 2026
Washington — President Trump on Thursday praised the "very powerful ad" Ohio Republican gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy is running featuring the estranged mother of Democratic gubernatorial candidate Amy Acton, after the ad drew pushback from some Republicans like Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine.
Mr. Trump posted on Truth Social that he suggested Ramaswamy keep the ad up, saying the press is "trying to convince everyone that this Ad is bad, because it's so good!"
The ad, which first circulated on social media on Monday and is now television, features Acton's estranged mother, Donna Arthur, who called Acton a "liar" and sought to undermine her credibility. Acton's campaign condemned the ad, and her brother, Philip Stearns, called it a "despicable low."
According to court documents provided by the campaign, Arthur's now-deceased husband was charged with raping Acton, which she said occurred when she was between 10 and 12 years old. He entered a not guilty plea and left the area while out on bond; the case never went to trial.
DeWine on Thursday said he thought the Ramaswamy campaign should take the ad down. "It's wrong to run this ad," the Ohio Republican told reporters. "I would urge Ramaswamy's campaign to take this down." DeWine did not rescind his endorsement.
But Vice President JD Vance and now Mr. Trump are defending the ad and using it to criticize Acton.
"Vivek Ramaswamy put up a very powerful Ad about a mother saying that her daughter, Amy Acton, who is running for Governor of Ohio, is a liar, and much worse," Mr. Trump wrote in his social media post. "The Press, in a concerted an
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Oct 22, 2026
Washington — President Trump on Thursday praised the "very powerful ad" Ohio Republican gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy is running featuring the estranged mother of Democratic gubernatorial candidate Amy Acton, after the ad drew pushback from some Republicans like Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine.
Mr. Trump posted on Truth Social that he suggested Ramaswamy keep the ad up, saying the press is "trying to convince everyone that this Ad is bad, because it's so good!"
The ad, which first circulated on social media on Monday and is now television, features Acton's estranged mother, Donna Arthur, who called Acton a "liar" and sought to undermine her credibility. Acton's campaign condemned the ad, and her brother, Philip Stearns, called it a "despicable low."
According to court documents provided by the campaign, Arthur's now-deceased husband was charged with raping Acton, which she said occurred when she was between 10 and 12 years old. He entered a not guilty plea and left the area while out on bond; the case never went to trial.
DeWine on Thursday said he thought the Ramaswamy campaign should take the ad down. "It's wrong to run this ad," the Ohio Republican told reporters. "I would urge Ramaswamy's campaign to take this down." DeWine did not rescind his endorsement.
But Vice President JD Vance and now Mr. Trump are defending the ad and using it to criticize Acton.
"Vivek Ramaswamy put up a very powerful Ad about a mother saying that her daughter, Amy Acton, who is running for Governor of Ohio, is a liar, and much worse," Mr. Trump wrote in his social media post. "The Press, in a concerted an
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Oct 22, 2026
Attorney General Todd Blanche left the door open on whether the Department of Justice (DOJ) would intervene in states' midterm elections verification processes, telling reporters Thursday there are hypothetical "scenarios" in which it could block the certification of votes.
"Yes, of course there's scenarios that we can all come up with hypothetically, you know, some doomsday scenario for example, right?" he said. "So, I don't think it's proper to make any kind of conclusory statements about what's going to happen in the future, because I have no idea what's happening in the future."
Blanche added the DOJ has no intention "to improperly interfere with elections or the state confirmation process or certification process."
"There's no circumstances that we would ever do that," he continued. "Of course I'm not going to say that. But am I planning my days around the election to be somewhere to not certify? Of course not, no, not at all."
Blanche said earlier this month the DOJ plans to send 1,000 election monitors to polling places in every state on Election Day. At the time, he told Fox News anchor Shannon Bream the department's presence would serve to ensure federal law is properly enforced, adding the government has been monitoring elections since the 1960s.
During the Fox interview, Blanche went on to accuse Democrats of "fearmongering" by claiming the DOJ is trying to intimidate vo
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Oct 22, 2026
With the Trump administration signaling that work on the triumphal arch near Arlington National Cemetery could begin two weeks from Thursday, opponents of the project urged a federal judge to issue an order blocking the construction unless it is authorized by lawmakers.
The request for a preliminary injunction comes a day after the Justice Department filed notice with a federal judge indicating that construction on the arch could begin on Nov. 5, immediately after the National Capital Planning Commission is set to grant its final approval of the project.
Judge Tanya Chutkan had previously ordered that the government must give at least 14 days' notice before starting work on the arch. Wednesday's notice would keep with that timeframe.
Harrison Design/U.S. Commission of Fine Arts - PHOTO: A rendering of the ‘triumphal arch," that the Trump administration is planning to build near Arlington National Cemetery.The Vietnam-era veterans who have brought a lawsuit against the arch asked Chutkan to step in so that the administration can't "render the arch a fait accompli before this Court has made a final determination whether Defendants' project is unlawful."
Triumphal Arch final plans submitted by Interior Department to National Capital Planning CommissionThe veterans' filing accuses the administration of having "barreled ahead, doing site testing, drawing architectural plans, and seeking approvals from commissions populated by friends of the
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Oct 22, 2026
An aerial view of scorched grass in London, the UK, on August 11, 2026. - Dan Kitwood/Getty Images
More than 50,000 people are estimated to have died across Europe's cities during the brutal heat waves that roiled the continent this summer — making this year's heat the region's deadliest on record, according to a new analysis.
About two-thirds of the deaths, more than 32,600, are directly attributed to climate change, driven by fossil fuel pollution, according to the findings, published in two peer-reviewed papers in the journal Nature Health.
"I think we can be quite confident in stating that the summer of 2026 is likely to have been the worst on record for heat-related mortality across much of Europe," said Clair Barnes, an author on the reports and an extreme weather and climate change researcher at Imperial College London.
This stark death toll is revealed just weeks before international leaders gather in Turkey for the annual UN climate talks, and days after a UN report warned the world's chance of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels has now vanished.
"We're well off-track to limit the worst consequences of climate change, and governments need to realize that witho
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Oct 22, 2026
WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court said New Hampshire can fully enforce a ban on voters using student IDs as a form of identification at the polls next month, a win for the Republican Party's effort to tighten voting procedures.
The court on Oct. 22 agreed to pause a lower court's ruling that a student ID is among the forms of identification that may be considered by poll workers if the voter lacks an approved government-issued ID.
The state's U.S. Senate race is among the contests that will decide whether Republicans keep control of that chamber after the midterm elections. The Republican National Committee had backed the state's unsuccessful emergency appeal to the Supreme Court.
New Hampshire, controlled by Republicans, is among several states that have banned registered voters from using a student ID to verify their identity at the polls. A voting-rights group challenged the change as discrimination against younger voters and as an unconstitutional burden on their right to vote.
A federal judge in New Hampshire declined to block enforcement of the law as the case is litigated.
But the judge also said the new law had not changed the fact that a poll worker may accept or reject a student ID as a valid form of identification on a case-by-case basis through the state's "safety-valve" provision.
New Hampshire Secretary of State David Scanlan asked the Supreme Court to intervene.
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Oct 22, 2026
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images Rumblings from Washington, D.C., suggest the Trump administration, through the U.S. Department of the Treasury, could start cracking down on defaulted federal student loan borrowers.
The USDT is mulling several enforcement options, including hiring more professional debt collectors, garnishing paychecks and withholding some federal benefits, The Washington Sun reported this week.
Must Read Dave Ramsey warns nearly 50% of Americans are making 1 big Social Security mistake. Here's what it is and 3 simple steps to fix it ASAPThe tax breaks in Trump's 'big beautiful bill' expire after 2028.
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Oct 22, 2026
WASHINGTON (AP) — A first-of-its-kind cancer vaccine is significantly reducing the chances that melanoma patients' tumors come back, according to results of a major study released Thursday by drugmakers Moderna and Merck.
The vaccine was custom-brewed for each patient to match their tumor. Adding it to a standard post-surgery treatment reduced by 42% the risk of melanoma returning two years after surgery, according to the most advanced study to date of this new strategy for fighting cancer.
"The field has been looking for a win and I think this one is a big one," said Dr. Hussein Tawbi of MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, one of the researchers in the international study.
The vaccine, called intismeran, is made with the same Nobel Prize-winning mRNA technology that was behind COVID-19 vaccines. Experimental personalized cancer vaccines made with mRNA and some other approaches also are being tested against other types of cancer including lung, kidney and pancreatic.
Experts not involved with the new study say its success bolsters the field.
"This is a new frontier," said Karen Knudsen, CEO of the Parker Institute, which helps fund cancer immunotherapy research.
"It's a big step forward for science, for oncology, because this vaccine will apply to many different cancers," said Dr. Michael Atkins, deputy director of Georgetown University's Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center.
Moderna and Merck had announced in August that the late-stage trial of intismeran was successful but the detailed results were set to be released Saturday at a meeting of the European Society of Medical Oncolog
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Oct 22, 2026
When it comes to picking senators, no state is nearly as consistent as Kansas. The last Democrat to win there, a former county attorney named George McGill, was elected in 1932. Kansas's other senator, a Republican incumbent, won reelection in 1936. McGill lost to a Republican in 1938. And Kansas has been sending Republicans to the U.S. Senate ever since.
That's a 90-year winning streak.
But the composition of Kansas's Senate delegation could change on Nov. 3 — and with it, Republican control of the chamber as a whole. To the surprise of pretty much the entire political world, first-term GOP incumbent Roger Marshall is currently locked in a too-close-to-call contest with megachurch-pastor-turned-rookie-candidate Adam Hamilton — a former Republican who considered running as an independent before deciding to seek the Sunflower State's Democratic nomination.
Hamilton, 61, is one of several heartland Democrats or Democratic-leaning independents who are giving Senate Republicans a run for their money in ruby-red states that President Trump won by double-digit margins in 2024 (including Texas, Iowa, Nebraska and even South Carolina). He describes himself as "a liberal conservative and a
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Oct 22, 2026
Calley Means, senior advisor at Health and Human Services (HHS) and co-founder of TrueMed, at the Semafor World Economy Summit during the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank Spring meetings in Washington, D.C., on April 25, 2025. —Kent Nishimura—Bloomberg/Getty ImagesCalley Means, one of the key figures in the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) movement, said on Thursday that he was stepping down from his role as a senior health adviser in the Trump Administration.
In a post on X, Means said that he was resigning "with tremendous respect" for President Donald Trump and Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
"They laid out a vision of combatting the entrenched, dark forces in DC that profit from Americans getting sick," Means said. "More policy and cultural change has happened around these goals in the past 2 years than any time in history—and I know this movement is just getting started."
News outlets including the New York Times and POLITICO, citing anonymous sources with knowledge of the situation, have reported that Means was becoming increasingly frustrated because he felt that there was little movement on issues central to the MAHA agenda—for instance, on the issue of defining and regulating ultraprocessed foods.
Means, who was pivotal in coordinating an alliance between Kennedy and Trump during the 2024 election cycle, has championed the
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Oct 22, 2026
Meta Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg has made a deal with the firm's board allowing him to sell or transfer up to 20% of the company's new Class C stock so that his voting majority doesn't decrease even if he has to pay the billionaire tax. (Nic Coury / Associated Press )Meta's Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg has wielded enormous power over the social media empire he built more than two decades ago, leading the California juggernaut through major scandals, scrutiny and technological shifts.
But the 42-year-old tech mogul considered leaving the state because he feared that a ballot measure to impose a one-time 5% tax on the assets of California billionaires could reduce the amount of control he has over Meta, a recent regulatory filing shows. Meta's board struck a deal so he would stay in California. Meta is the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp.
The filing highlights how one of the world's wealthiest people, whose net worth totals more than $200 billion, is bracing for the possibility that California voters pass Proposition 40, a wealth tax proposal that would primarily be used to fund healthcare.
Although supporters say the fear that billionaires will flee the state are overblown, the ultrawealthy have made moves to potentially avoid paying the tax or are funding campaigns to defeat it.
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Oct 22, 2026
A New York tradition more than a century old is ending.
The New York City Council on Oct. 22 voted to ban horse-drawn carriages, winding down a historic tradition that's popular among tourists and fiercely opposed by animal rights groups.
In a 40-7 vote, the council approved a ban that will phase out the operation of horse carriages that are in and around Central Park by June 2028.
"Today's historic vote marks our commitment to animal welfare, public safety, and protecting workers," council speaker Julie Menin said in a statement.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani supports the bill and is expected to sign it into law. In early October, he declared that the horse carriage industry is "coming to an end in New York City."
The city's horse carriages have traversed a loop in Central Park dating back to the 1800s. By the mid-20th century, the city limited horse-drawn carriage licenses to 68. Over the decades, the carriages became a tourism staple and appeared in iconic films and television shows, such as "Sex and the City," "Elf" and "Home Alone 2: Lost in New York."
But in recent years, animal rights groups and others have increasingly called for the end to the tradition, arguing that the practice subjects horses to harsh unnatural conditions and physical exhaustion
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Oct 22, 2026
The California billionaire tax, Proposition 40, is finally coming to a vote on Nov. 3. The measure would levy a one-time 5% tax on the net worth of the state's billionaires. Two competing initiatives on the same ballot, Props 41 and 42, are backed by opponents of the tax, including billionaires.
If either garners more yes votes than Prop 40, it could keep the tax from taking effect.
The labor union Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West (SEIU-UHW) is spearheading the campaign for the tax on the state's ultra-wealthy to prevent hospital and clinic closures, protect healthcare jobs, and help fund K-14 public education and state food assistance programs.
Opponents, including Gov. Gavin Newsom, say the tax would fuel an exodus of wealthy company founders and investors, spark job losses, and further weaken California's economy.
Read more: How billionaires get away with paying less tax
What is the billionaire's tax?Prop 40 would levy a one-time 5% tax on the net worth of billionaire state residents, subject to the asset restrictions noted below. Taxpayers could choose to pay the tax in five annual installments, with a 7.5% annual deferral charge on the unpaid balance.
Who would pay?
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Oct 22, 2026
Corey Lewandowski speaks to the press in July 2024..(Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images) - Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
Justice Department prosecutors are investigating allegations of contract misconduct at the Department of Homeland Security, including the role of Corey Lewandowski who worked as de facto chief of staff to former Secretary Kristi Noem, according to multiple people familiar with the investigation.
The probe follows a criminal referral for Lewandowski from the DHS Inspector General's office, which has been examining contracting practices at the agency during Noem's and Lewandowski's tenure, according to one of the people familiar.
The Justice Department declined to comment on the matter.
"Mr. Lewandowski has not been contacted by the Justice Department regarding any investigation, and he denies any wrongdoing when he was proudly serving his country in a voluntary capacity," Lewandowski's attorney Adam Trigg told CNN.
The Department of Homeland Security didn't immediately return a request for comment on the matter.
The referral is an unusual move for the Trump administration, which has been hesitant to criminally investigate its own members.
Critics have instead largely accused the Justice Department of improperly targeting the president's political enemies and accused DHS of protecting their own employees from scrutiny.
In recent months, as the allegations of possible corruption emerged, Washington, DC, US Att
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Oct 22, 2026
Holiday hiring is heating up with multiple companies saying they are adding temporary workers in the coming months, ahead of the holiday shopping season.
Amazon announced it is looking to fill 300,000 seasonal part-time and full-time roles across their national support operations during the holidays -- an increase of 50,000 positions compared to the same period in 2025. Seasonal employees will earn an average rate of about $20 an hour.
Shipping company UPS said it will hire 100,000 workers in the next few months, noting that many applicants can get a job offer in less than 7 minutes.
John Minchillo/AP - PHOTO: A UPS employee unloads a truck before making deliveries, June 29, 2023, in New York. Spirit Halloween, the largest Halloween retailer in the U.S., said it plans to employ a record 52,000 associates at store locations.
Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images - PHOTO: The "Jack The Reaper" logo displayed in the windows of a Spirit Halloween seasonal holiday store in the location, August 26, 2024 in Los Angeles.Poultry company Butterball, famous for their turkey hotline, also said they are hiring their largest team on record to handle calls coming into their
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Oct 22, 2026
The Israeli Defense Forces and the United States military have drawn up plans to renew joint strikes on Iran in the coming weeks, according to two Israeli sources familiar with the plans.
The Israeli sources said the strikes would almost certainly take place after the U.S. midterm elections, citing President Donald Trump's reluctance to further destabilize oil markets in the final days of the campaign.
The White House said Thursday that the U.S. will not resume attacks on Iran before the Nov. 3 midterm elections.
US Navy - PHOTO: U.S. Navy Command Master Chief John Shubert, assigned to Airborne Command and Control Squadron (VAW) 115, conducts leadership training aboard Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt, Oct. 20, 2026. "The United States will not be attacking Iran at any time prior to the midterm elections," White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said in a statement to ABC News.
Iran live updates"Hunting season is open as soon as the elections end and it's obvious that they're not going to wait long," one Israeli source said.
The New York Times was first to report on the planning.
Asked about the Times' reporting, a White House official said the administration does not comment on "sensitive military plans that may or may not exist."
The official added that Trump "keeps all options on the table" to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon.
The Pentagon declined to comment.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is firmly in favor of renewed action against Iran, but both sources said the decision for joint strikes to resume is "only for Trump to decide."
One Israeli
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Oct 22, 2026
Former White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt acknowledged Thursday that her successor Katie Zacharia, who stepped down after less than a week as press secretary, was not a good fit for the job.
"Look, White House press secretary is a tough job. I know that because I did it," Leavitt said in an interview with Fox News Digital.
"Many people say it's one of the hardest jobs in politics. It takes a lot of preparation. Sometimes you don't know how someone will perform until they go out there," she continued. "As the president said, we wish Katie the best. The job obviously was not for her."
Leavitt said Trump is continuing his search for potential candidates, and she has offered to assist the president in finding a replacement.
"I do obviously talk to him about what the job entails, and he knows it very well. Nobody understands the press better than Donald Trump. He knows that he needs someone who is tough, who is smart, who understands his policies, who is loyal and can go out there and put up a fight," she said.
Leavitt served as press secretary from the beginning of the second Trump administration in January 2025 until this August, saying she wanted to spend more time with her family.
Prior to serving as White House press secretary, Leavitt worked as press secretary on Trump's 2024 presidential campaign. Despite her exit from the White House, Leavitt is still seen as a close confidant of Trump's.
Leavitt's comments came after Zacharia left the role after only five days on the job earlier this month.
Zacharia's departure followed intense scrutiny over a shaky first press
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Oct 22, 2026
By Andrew Hay
Oct 22 (Reuters) - The University of Arizona has suspended a fraternity after a female student ?alleged she was raped at its house by two ?men, the latest action taken by a major US university against a Greek ?chapter over accusations of sexual assault.
The university suspended Sigma Phi Epsilon, which was already on probation for hazing new members, on Wednesday after the KOLD-TV station reported the allegations of a female ?student who said she ?was raped at the chapter's fraternity house in Tucson. The university said it was investigating.
"It ?has been determined that your organization presents a substantial risk to members of the university community," Whitney Mohr, associate dean of students, ?said ?in a letter to the ?fraternity.
The female student told police ?she was at the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity house with friends and residents of the chapter around midnight on August 26 when she woke up in a dark room being sexually assaulted by two men, according to the September ?police report published by KOLD-TV.
The Sigma ?Phi Epsilon chapter and its national ?organization did not ?immediately respond to requests for comment.
US universities have ?come under growing pressure to ?crack down on ?misconduct following allegations of sexual assault by fraternity members at Cornell University.
Earlier this month, the University of Arizona suspended ?all fraternity activities ?during investigations into alleged hazing, physical assault and drug ?and alcohol violations.
(Reporting by Andrew Hay in New ?Mexico; editing by David Gaffen)
This article originally appeared on Reuters at https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/arizona-university-suspends-fraternity-rape-161205125.html
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Oct 22, 2026
(Warning: This article contains graphic descriptions of an alleged sexual assault.)
Utah defensive tackle Jamal Wallace has not been with the team because of a suspension following a rape allegation against him.
Wallace was arrested on Oct. 11 on five counts of distribution of an intimate image after a woman he was dating alleged that he had raped her. The school said in a statement Wednesday that it was "made aware of the situation with Jamal Wallace on Oct. 11 and he was immediately placed on indefinite suspension from the program."
Per the probable cause statement obtained by KSL, the woman said that Wallace forced her to perform oral sex after they were discussion their relationship and infidelity. An investigation into the rape accusation is ongoing.
The woman said she continued to try to "flinch" and "pull away," but he continued to keep her there before he left the room. She said she was "frozen" during the incident and "thought if she just let it happen, it wouldn't last that long."
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Oct 22, 2026
A new campaign ad in which the estranged mother of Ohio gubernatorial candidate Amy Acton argues that her daughter should not be elected as the Buckeye State's next governor has added a new level of controversy to what was already one of the most closely watched races of the midterms.
Acton, a Democrat, is running to replace outgoing Republican Gov. Mike DeWine. She's facing Republican Vivek Ramaswamy, a billionaire who ran an unsuccessful presidential campaign in 2024.
In the ad, Acton's mother, Donna Arthur, calls her daughter a "liar" and urges Ohioans not to support her.
"Don't let her become your governor," she says. "If you think she'll make your life better, you're fooling yourself. It will only get worse."
As the ad began to spread across social media, Acton's brother released a statement in which he accused Arthur of siding with their stepfather after he was charged with sexually abusing Acton when she was a child, and criticized Ramaswamy for attempting to use the alleged abuse as a "political talking point."
Ramaswamy defended the ad on Tuesday, telling reporters that Acton's account of her past "does deserve to be scrutinized." His campaign confirmed to the Enquirer that it will spend $4 million to air the ad across the
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Oct 22, 2026
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — Scientists doubling as art detectives have traced Vincent van Gogh's " The Starry Night " to a celestial scene that suggests a new date for one of the world's most famous paintings.
Their findings indicate that rather than being a product of van Gogh's imagination, "The Starry Night" may have been inspired by what he saw as he gazed heavenward from his French asylum 137 years ago.
A South Korean team reported Thursday that after years of forensic astronomy and research into the Dutch artist, they have matched his masterpiece to a predawn sky over France's Saint-Remy de Provence right around July 22, 1889.
That's a month later than the long-accepted time frame for the postimpressionist painting depicting a crescent moon and Venus surrounded by a sky of swirling stars with a village nestled below and cypress trees looming on one side.
Art historians have long dated the painting to June 1889, soon after Van Gogh checked into the asylum. He'd cut off his left ear several months earlier during an argument with painter Paul Gauguin.
A team led by Elijah Jeong-hyun Kim, the CEO of a Seoul telescope maker, is now disputing that date in a study appearing in the journal Scientific Reports.
The sky that is most similar to the painting occurred around July 22, 1889, said Kim, who is also a doctoral candidate at Kyung Hee University. He noted that the few days before and after could have inspired v
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Oct 22, 2026
MIAMI (AP) — A federal judge on Thursday ordered President Donald Trump to sit for a deposition in his $10 billion defamation lawsuit against the BBC by Dec. 11.
The order from U.S. Magistrate Judge Enjoliqué Lett came as lawyers for the British broadcaster complained that Trump had delayed his appearance. Charles Tobin, the attorney for the BBC, said that with two months left in the discovery period, "we still haven't been able to depose the plaintiff."
He noted there was an agreed-upon date of Oct. 16, but that Trump had canceled it for a "matter of national importance." Tobin said the Republican president was in fact campaigning in Georgia that day.
"He was participating in party politics and prioritized that over sitting for the deposition," Tobin said.
Lett said Trump must sit for a deposition by Dec. 11, or face sanctions up to dismissal of his lawsuit -- unless the discovery period was extended past Dec. 18.
Discovery, where lawyers for both sides exchange documents and other evidence, is scheduled to end Dec. 18, and the BBC's attorneys want to make sure they have Trump's deposition before that deadline. Lett said only the presiding judge assigned to the case can alter the trial schedule, and the defense said it would be open to scheduling the deposition at a later time if the trial schedule was also moved back.
Trump, who has often avoided depositions, filed his lawsuit against the BBC last December. He accused the pub
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Oct 22, 2026
A federal judge on Wednesday restricted the Department of Homeland Security from election-related investigations in nine states, finding that error-prone government lists could sweep U.S. citizens into the effort.
Heading into the midterm elections, DHS has launched a wide-ranging effort to track down noncitizens it suspects of voting or registering to vote.
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U.S. District Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín barred DHS from relying solely on records generated through its voter-matching program for field operations involving people it knows, suspects or should reasonably suspect are U.S. citizens.
The judge put her order on hold until 5 p.m. Friday, giving President Donald Trump's administration time to appeal. DHS and Justice Department officials did not immediately comment.
Her ruling applies to the nine states where DHS has focused its operations on voting issues: California, Connecticut, Georgia, Missouri, Nevada, New York, Pennsylvania, Washington and Wisconsin.
DHS built target lists from records on tens of millions of voters from official state voter rolls, commercial voter files and lists of 48.2 million voters that the judge deemed to have "questionable provenance." The agency used artificial intelligence tools to enhance that data to find suspected noncitizens, who are ineligible to vote in federal elections.
During the agency's surge of investigations, DHS personnel were ordered to complete at least 40 reviews and had no more than 12 minutes to clear someone from the target list using commercial databases, the judge wrote. She found a high likelihood of error, in part because no federal database definitively captures
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Oct 22, 2026
NORFOLK, Va. (AP) — Virginia state Sen. L. Louise Lucas, one of the state's most powerful Democrats, was charged on Thursday in connection with what federal authorities alleged was a role leading a criminal enterprise that acquired and distributed large quantities of marijuana and laundered the proceeds.
An indictment unsealed on Thursday charged Lucas and six other defendants, including several of her relatives, the Department of Justice said in a statement. Lucas surrendered, a department spokesperson said.
The charges, including drug trafficking and money laundering, came after the FBI searched Lucas' hometown office and a cannabis shop in which she has a stake in May. At the time of the search, Lucas — who has been a vocal critic of Republican President Donald Trump's administration — characterized it as an attempt to intimidate her.
"This is the circus we always expected it to be, and we will wait for further details to have a more specific response," said Brian Woolfolk, chief counsel for the L. Louise Lucas Legal Defense Fund.
Lucas says she won't be bullied by the federal government
A statement attributed to Lucas posted on her social media account did not directly address the substance of the charges but said Thursday's actions amounted to the federal government wielding its "full weight" against a great-grandmother.
"I will not be intimidated. I will not be bullied. And I will not back down," Lucas said in the statement.
The brash 82-year-old lawmaker has spent decades ascending the ranks of Virginia politics and has served since 1992 in the state Senate, where she is the president pro tempore, overseeing the chamber
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Oct 22, 2026
Two teenage girls have been arrested on conspiracy to commit murder charges after police said they plotted for months to commit a shooting at a Southern California high school.
The teens, both 15 years old, planned to carry out the shooting at Corona High School, according to police in Corona, California, a city of about 160,000 residents in Riverside County, about 50 miles from downtown Los Angeles.
The Corona Police Department said that it first learned of the threat on Oct. 6 from the FBI, which identified concerning communications on social media about a possible school threat to Corona High School. The investigation led to the "immediate" arrest of one suspect, a student at Corona High School, police said in a statement on Oct. 20.
Police executed search warrants at several residences and identified a second 15-year-old suspect, a student at nearby Norco High School, the statement said. She was also arrested. The Norco student had previously attended Corona High School, the Corona-Norco Unified School District said in a statement.
"The evidence obtained showed the two suspects had spent several months researching school shooting
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Oct 22, 2026
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Behind a wire fence lies a vast gaping wound of earth. Before Google's arrival a few months ago, an estimated quarter of a million trees occupied the 330 hectares (815 acres) of forest near the town of Muhos in rural northern Finland. Now they are all gone.
After the tech company illegally stripped the entire area to build a datacentre - taking even the top soil with it - all that remains is a vast expanse of mud indented with the trail marks of machinery, puddles and mounds of earth, roots and branches. Residents say that brown water flowing off the site is going into a stream that feeds the Oulujoki River.
"It doesn't end. It goes on and on," says Mari Annala, an ecologist from the Finnish Association for Nature Conservation (SLL), looking at drone footage of the former forest from the perimeter.
With 145 new datacentres at various stages of planning, Finland has found itself at the forefront of the tech companies' latest push. As well as its relative geopolitical and geological stability and abundance of land, the cool climate makes it especially attractive for saving on energy costs.
Interactive
Earlier this month, Google was ordered by the Finnish Licensing and Supervision Authority (LVV) to temporarily stop work on Muhos and another site about 100km south-east in the village of Otanmäki after it failed to complete the necessary environmental impact assessments before clearcutting the land. The news has prompted widespread outcry and a national reckoning over what role, if any, the country should play in the global rush to build datacentres to keep up with rapid AI development.
Last week, Google's Finland country manager, Antti Järvinen, apologised for the forest clearings but claimed the company had acted "on the best understanding we had of the legisla
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Oct 22, 2026
Weakening demand for U.S. travel is prompting Canadian airlines to cut flights south of the border, with Air Canada canceling five routes for 2027.
Data from aviation data and analytics company Cirium shows that the airline, Canada's flag carrier and the largest in the country by fleet size and passenger volume, has cut its flights from Montréal to Seattle, Toronto to Boston and Charleston, and Vancouver to Nashville and Raleigh-Durham.
The service between Toronto and Charleston, which the company started in March 2024, was the only Air Canada flight bringing Canadian snowbirds to South Carolina, one of the most popular U.S. states for their neighbors' winter escapes.
An Air Canada Rouge Boeing 737 MAX 8 approaches Los Angeles International Airport during a flight from Vancouver on September 18, 2026.These are the routes to U.S. destinations canceled by Air Canada next year:
Montréal-Trudeau International Airport (YUL) to Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA); Billy Bishop Toronto City Centre Airport (YTZ) to Boston Logan International Airport (BOS);Vancouver International Airport (YVR) to Nashville International Airport (BNA);Vancouver International Airport (YVR) to Raleigh-Durham International Airport (RDU);Toronto Pearson International Airport (YYZ) to Charleston International Airport (CHS).According to aviation website SimpleFlying, three of the routes were already suspended—fr
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Oct 22, 2026
Top Trump administration officials are starting to point fingers squarely at SpaceX founder Elon Musk for the decision to slow down his company's Starlink satellite internet services and its military counterpart Starshield for Ukraine, which has been muddled in uncertainty over the culprit.
Looking to deflect the controversial move — which was swiftly admonished by powerful congressional Republicans and Democrats — Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday said Ukraine's access to Starlink was up to Musk and not the White House.
"The bottom ?line is that that is governed by a private commercial contract as to how their stuff can be used and what speeds they'll allow it to be used at," Rubio told reporters while traveling to India.
And Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, speaking to reporters on Tuesday, suggested Starlink's slowdown was a commercial matter and not a result of any orders from the White House.
"There are terms of service that ultimately need to be complied to, and that's where Starlink has the option to make those decisions," Hegseth said.
Taken together, the comments are a change of tune from President Trump's original assertions last week that neither he nor Musk was responsible for the disruption. Rubio also on Saturday had insisted that no one ordered the slowdown.
The about-face comes after The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday that Musk ordered
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Oct 22, 2026
The national flag of Iran hangs on a building damaged by the U.S.-Israeli attacks in Tehran, Iran, on April 20, 2026. —Shadati—Xinhua/Getty ImagesThe U.S. and Israel are reportedly developing plans for major strikes on Iran after the U.S. midterm elections in November.
Citing people familiar with the deliberations, the New York Times reported on Wednesday that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth discussed the possibility of renewed strikes on Iran with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel this week. Possible targets of the strikes reportedly include Iran's energy infrastructure, nuclear facilities, and missile and drone arsenal. TIME has reached out to the White House for comment.
U.S. officials have repeatedly asserted that the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps are teetering on the edge of collapse but are deliberately prolonging the war in an effort to meddle with Republican prospects in the midterm elections. Once the elections are over, President Donald Trump promised last month, the Iranian regime would quickly capitulate.
"I think the war is going to end immediately after the election," Trump said. "They can't hold out any longer."
Renewed strikes could complicate that outlook.
Some officials have reportedly argued that resuming attacks for an intense but limited campaign would hasten Iran's economic collapse, especially as the country has been
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Oct 22, 2026
Earnings season is in full swing, and Big Tech earnings calls are about more than the heavy use of "superintelligence," which some read as a bid to please the White House after it reportedly disliked the term "artificial intelligence."
Here are three moments from the Tesla (TSLA), Meta (META) and IBM (IBM) earnings calls late Wednesday that stuck with us.
TeslaMuch of the focus today is on Tesla cutting its capital spending plans for this year to $20 billion from the $25 billion it guided to three months ago. A key factor appears to be that its Optimus robots need more training before they're released into the real world.
Elon Musk says investors should think of Optimus as a baby:
"A big difference with Optimus versus the cars is we don't have this vast fleet of cars from which we can gather training data. With Optimus, we have to bootstrap it by making the robots and having them do self-play, which is really how a human learns to navigate the world. You can see this when you have a toddler, and they grow
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Oct 22, 2026
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Seven oil tankers caught fire or were damaged in the Strait of Hormuz overnight after being hit by Iran or striking naval mines, Tehran said Thursday, a markedly high number as tensions rise over concerns about a return to all-out war.
With days before a close election in Israel in which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu could lose power, and before next month's U.S. midterm election in which war-linked high prices have sparked voter anger, there are concerns that U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iran could resume.
"Netanyahu wants to attack Iran, that's not even a question," Danny Citrinowicz, a researcher at Israel's Institute for National Security Studies and a former Iran specialist in Israel's military and intelligence services, told The Associated Press.
He accused Israel of rushing into another round with Iran without revamping its strategy. A clear Netanyahu victory in the Oct. 27 election means an attack is almost guaranteed, he said.
Main opposition candidates are likely to focus on domestic issues first, but Citrinowicz said he believed the region is on the way toward "another kinetic escalation."
Iran repeats threat to attack U.S. bases in the region
Iranian state television reported the claims about the latest attacks on ships, which the AP couldn't independently confirm. The report cited the Revolutionary Guard Corps navy, which again threatened to strike U.S. military bases in the region if the U.S. keeps helping to guide commercial ships through the strait.
The report didn't mention casualties. Iran still asserts cont
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Oct 22, 2026
Security firm Calif found the flaws in August using OpenAI's GPT-5.6 Sol model (ANDREJ IVANOV)Governments and companies around the world shut down websites as they raced Thursday to protect themselves from hacks after artificial intelligence uncovered critical flaws in a widely used programming language called PHP.
PHP helps run about 70 percent of the world's websites -- from online stores and news outlets to government services -- according to Wiz Research, one of the cybersecurity firms that found the two flaws.
Created in the early 1990s, PHP originally stood for "personal home page" but now means "hypertext preprocessor" and sits underneath popular web design platforms.
"These findings rank among the most severe vulnerabilities discovered in PHP, and arguably in software history," a Wiz blog post said.
Increasingly powerful AI models can spot weak points in back-end computer code that have gone unnoticed by humans for years.
That has heightened cybersecurity fears, with the number of software vulnerabilities discovered worldwide in 2026 on track to roughly double last year's record total.
PHP programmers released a fix Wednesday, and the US National Security Agency told organizations to patch their sites immediately or pull vulnerable systems offline -- a call echoed by authorities from Japan to the European Union.
A platform affiliated with China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology urged the same, warning of "two critical remote code execution vulnerabilities with severe impact" in PHP.
Only sites that run PHP on their own servers are exposed. Many large platforms are built on other programming languages or use operators that could install the fix quickly and were able to stay online.
Rahat Masood, senior lecturer in c
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Oct 22, 2026
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian attacks on Ukraine's capital with ballistic missiles and drones overnight into Thursday killed one person and wounded 22, Ukrainian authorities said. The strikes in Kyiv came hours after the Kremlin agreed to restart U.S.-brokered talks aimed at ending the war.
The attack damaged homes, transportation infrastructure and other civilian sites in several districts of the city, Ukraine's State Emergency Service said. In the Dniprovskyi district, on the eastern bank of the Dnipro River, one person was killed and six were wounded, including a child, as fires broke out.
On Wednesday, Kremlin foreign affairs adviser Yuri Ushakov said that Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed "in principle" to resume three-way negotiations involving Russia, the United States and Ukraine after Nov. 10, a week after the U.S. midterm election. Putin had met with U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff in St. Petersburg.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy backed the push for new talks, but was cautious.
"We'll see what happens this time," he said shortly before missile alerts sounded over Kyiv.
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Follow the AP's coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
This article originally appeared on Associated Press at https://www.yahoo.com/news/world/articles/russia-pounds-ukraines-capital-kyiv-07124
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Oct 21, 2026
US Senate candidates Democrat Abdul El-Sayed, left, and Republican Mike Rogers shake hands after the debate on Wednesday, October 21, 2026, at WXYZ Channel 7 in Southfield, Michigan. - Robin Buckson/Pool/AP
Michigan and Kansas held some of the final major Senate debates of the 2026 midterm elections on Wednesday night. And they were a study in contrasts.
The Michigan Senate debate between Democratic nominee Abdul El-Sayed and Republican Mike Rogers was bitterly personal and ferociously contested — as befits a contest that could decide the chamber's majority.
Each candidate had a simple task.
El-Sayed, the former executive director of the Detroit Health Department, needed to pin Rogers, a former congressman, to the deeply unpopular President Donald Trump and his economy — and to assuage questions from moderates about his politics.
Rogers is trying to win in a state currently run by Democrats while dragging Trump's historically low approval ratings behind him. His only hope is to disqualify El-Sayed as an acceptable senator in the eyes of voters.
The debate in Kansas was a little more genial, with less focus on Trump and plenty of focus on whether Democratic pastor Adam Hamilton would be too allied with the political left — from which he repeatedly sought to distance himself — to unseat GOP Sen. Roger Marshall. And Marshall, much more than Rogers, made a point of overtly appealing
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Oct 21, 2026
US Senate candidates Democrat Abdul El-Sayed, left, and Republican Mike Rogers shake hands after the debate on Wednesday, October 21, 2026, at WXYZ Channel 7 in Southfield, Michigan. - Robin Buckson/Pool/AP
Michigan and Kansas held some of the final major Senate debates of the 2026 midterm elections on Wednesday night. And they were a study in contrasts.
The Michigan Senate debate between Democratic nominee Abdul El-Sayed and Republican Mike Rogers was bitterly personal and ferociously contested — as befits a contest that could decide the chamber's majority.
Each candidate had a simple task.
El-Sayed, the former executive director of the Detroit Health Department, needed to pin Rogers, a former congressman, to the deeply unpopular President Donald Trump and his economy — and to assuage questions from moderates about his politics.
Rogers is trying to win in a state currently run by Democrats while dragging Trump's historically low approval ratings behind him. His only hope is to disqualify El-Sayed as an acceptable senator in the eyes of voters.
The debate in Kansas was a little more genial, with less focus on Trump and plenty of focus on whether Democratic pastor Adam Hamilton would be too allied with the political left — from which he repeatedly sought to distance himself — to unseat GOP Sen. Roger Marshall. And Marshall, much more than Rogers, made a point of overtly appealing
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Oct 21, 2026
The second and final debate between Abdul El-Sayed and Mike Rogers in the race for Michigan's open U.S. Senate seat on Wednesday, Oct. 21 saw each playing to the hometown crowd in metro Detroit, attempting to score partisan points, expand their base and frame their opponent as a far different kind of candidate than he and his allies let on.
El-Sayed, Rogers claimed, engaged in "a pattern of deception" over his real aims.
"They are trying to distract you," El-Sayed said of Rogers and the Republican's arguments against him.
And so it went for an hour-long debate at WXYZ-TV's Southfield studios outside Detroit as El-Sayed, the Democratic nominee and former Wayne County and Detroit health director, sparred with Rogers, a former Republican congressman.
Here's a handful of takeaways from this debate ahead of the Nov. 3 midterm election.
More debating, less bickering
There was plenty of back-and-forth arguing and no dearth of personal attacks in this debate, but compared to the one 13 days previous at WOOD-TV in Grand Rapids, it was far more polite.
Yes, there were times when the moderators had to remind one or the other of the time constraints and cut them off. And yes, there were plenty of harangues and invective, true or not.
But it definitely didn't seem as chippy as the scene in west Michigan, as if both were a little more willing to keep from fighting after the bell.
Making a pitch for Detroit and Democrats
It seemed both were acutely aware that this deb
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Oct 21, 2026
By Carlos Méndez
Oct 21 (Reuters) - Meta Platforms has struck a deal with Mark Zuckerberg to keep him living in California after the CEO warned he was ?considering leaving the state that houses the company's headquarters if voters pass a ?wealth tax proposal next month.
Under the deal, Zuckerberg will get non-voting shares he can sell to potentially foot ?a multi-billion-dollar tax bill in the event the proposal is approved, in exchange for a commitment to remain a resident of California, or wherever Meta maintains its headquarters, for eight years, Meta said on Wednesday.
Zuckerberg, the world's sixth richest person according to Forbes, told Meta he was ?considering moving his primary residence ?outside California because Proposition 40, a ballot measure dubbed the "California wealth tax", could expose him to a massive tax liability, potentially forcing him to ?sell voting shares to pay it.
Proposition 40, which asks Californians whether to impose a one-time 5% tax on the state's billionaires, is far from certain to pass, political analysts say. The state ?is ?home to as many as 250 billionaires collectively ?worth upwards of $2 trillion.
Zuckerberg, who has ?a net worth of about $240 billion, can immediately sell 20% of the Class C shares he receives, representing 10% of his overall economic stake in the company, allowing him to pay a potential tax bill without losing voting control.
The company said on Wednesday it will issue a new class of non-voting Class C common stock in January 2027, effectively resulting ?in a two-for-one split, to fund acquisitions and ?retain top talent while maintaining Zuckerberg's control.
Meta's long-term forecasts, ?as described in the filing, showed ?it would need to raise "hundreds of billions of dollars" over several ?years, beginning as early as fall 2026, ?as it expects to ?need capital to finance its AI-related growth plan.
The parent of Facebook
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Oct 21, 2026
Vice President Vance defended GOP gubernatorial nominee Vivek Ramaswamy amid bipartisan criticism of an ad that features the estranged mother of his Democratic opponent.
- Clipped From Video" data-uuid="a84bd7e5-2c40-3475-a1e7-78f1954bd6e5" height="540" src="https://media.zenfs.com/en/cnn_articles_875/e7ad9b4196e984c1679163122b2c2204.jpg" width="960"/Vice President Vance defended GOP gubernatorial nominee Vivek Ramaswamy amid bipartisan criticism of an ad that features the estranged mother of his Democratic opponent.
- Clipped From Video
Some leading Ohio Republicans began distancing themselves from a controversial new ad from their gubernatorial nominee, Vivek Ramaswamy, even as Vice President JD Vance warned the party not to break ranks over the commercial.
"I would not have run that ad," Sen. Jon Husted, who is in one of the country's most competitive Senate races, said in a statement to the Associated Press published shortly after Husted appeared at a Cincinnati rally with Vance and Ramaswamy.
The Ramaswamy ad has drawn bipartisan criticism for featuring the estranged mother of his Democratic opponent, Amy Acton.
In the video, Acton's mother called her daughter a liar and urged voters not to support her. Acton has said she has not seen her mother since she was about 12 years old, when the man her mother married sexually abused her and faced criminal charges.
Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose told the ABC affiliate in Columbus that he "probably wouldn't run an ad like that." LaRose is running for state auditor.
At least one other GOP candidate in Ohio personally asked Republican gubernatorial nominee Vivek Ramaswamy not to air a controversial a
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Oct 21, 2026
Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) said she will have to move out of her apartment in Washington, D.C., because of threats she's received after federal agents executed a search warrant at her residence last week as part of an immigration fraud probe.
"Obviously, I can't continue to live there … Because our address has been public and with the death threats that I deal with, it's no longer going to be feasible to be in that house and have my kids visiting off and on, having people track them," she told MS NOW's Chris Hayes in a Wednesday interview.
The congresswoman, who also has a residence in her home state of Minnesota, told Hayes she woke up at 6 a.m. on Oct. 12 to learn federal agents had "surrounded her house" in D.C. She said the agents provided her a search warrant before going "room by room" and seizing 17 items, including her phone and other electronics.
President Trump and his administration have claimed that Omar's father lied about her age when she obtained U.S. citizenship in 2000 after their family emigrated from Somalia.
The Democratic lawmaker has denied these allegations and accused the Trump administration of waging a "campaign of political intimidation" against her in a social media post following the raid.
"If you had so confidently said I've committed a crime, why are you not saying in the beginning … we're going to subpoena people
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Oct 21, 2026
Wednesday was the first day since the shooting that students in the greater Bend-La Pine Schools district in Oregon returned to classes, although not at Silver Rail Elementary in Bend, where the shooting occurred. (Payton Bruni / AFP via Getty)A teacher who was shot by a teenage gunman in a Bend, Oregon, elementary school last week said she saw the attacker and tried to shut the classroom door, "but the shooter was already there."
Becky Drury said she was shot at close range in the rampage at Silver Rail Elementary School on Thursday.
"Lying on the floor, I saw that my left hand was almost completely severed from the gunshot, and my other arm was also severely injured," Drury said in a statement Wednesday.
"I could not get up, defend myself, or protect anyone else," she said. "So, I did the only thing I could do, which was to pretend to be dead in the hope he would not shoot me again."
Three children, ages 5, 8 and 11, and a 25-year-old teacher were killed in the attack, which began around 1 p.m., officials said.
The gunman was fatally shot by a bystander who saw him fire at a truck and enter the school, police have said. The bystander followed the 16-year-old gunman and shot him as another teacher was wrestling with him over the
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Oct 21, 2026
Billionaire technology investor Peter Thiel said he's skeptical of the U.S. war with Iran and does not believe the United States should have launched it, putting the major Republican donor at odds with President Donald Trump over one of the administration's defining foreign policy decisions.
Thiel's remarks, delivered on Oct. 12 at a private event, are his most explicit statements to be revealed publicly about the war with Iran and come less than two weeks before the midterm elections in which Trump's party is grasping to maintain power in Congress. The audio of Thiel's comments was obtained by Decoded by POLITICO from a lecture earlier this month.
"I'm skeptical of [the war], I think we should not have done it," Thiel said. "There were a lot of mistakes that were made."
Thiel added, "Maybe we don't have the hard power. Maybe we're going to lose the soft power war."
In the full lecture, Thiel made clear his strong opposition to neoconservatives and Middle East wars. Despite his criticism of the Iran war, Thiel highlighted his continued support of Trump and suggested he wanted to protect the president.
Still, Thiel's break over the war represents one of the most important examples to date of a fierce Trump ally sharing deep concerns about the conflict.
The comments were part of Thiel's lecture series in Nashville, which Decoded has documented since their start this fall. In the latest lecture, Thiel issued extensive warnings about what he described as the unchecked po
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Oct 21, 2026
ORLEANS, Mass. (AP) — The "looksmaxxing" livestreamer Braden Peters, better known by his stage name Clavicular, pleaded not guilty Thursday to charges that he raped a 17-year-old girl at his family's Massachusetts home.
A social media personality known for promoting extreme devotion to male beauty, Peters, 20, is accused of giving the girl alcohol until she was drunk and then sexually assaulting her when she visited him in Chatham, on Cape Cod, in May 2025.
Peters has denied the allegations through his lawyers, saying the sexual encounter was consensual.
Peters arrived at the courthouse in Orleans, Massachusetts, wearing a dark suit, walking a barking dog on a leash. He spoke only to the dog as he entered the courthouse and ignored reporters' questions. Peters maintained a neutral facial expression during the brief arraignment.
He has agreed to a $10,000 bail, surrendered his passport and will not contact or post about the woman who has accused him of assault.
He and his lawyers also didn't comment as he left the courthouse.
The case is the latest legal challenge for Peters, who has a million followers on Instagram, and whose hourslong livestreams feature him rating people's looks and talking about methods of becoming better looking that include surgery and drug use.
Earlier this year, he was charged with misdemeanor battery in Florida after police said he provoked a fight between two women and then posted a video of it online. That charge was later dropped. In a separate Florida case this year, he was sentenced to probation after pleading no contest to a charge that he fired a gun in public.
The woman who accused Peters of rape told police he had been paying her to appear in
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Oct 21, 2026
The mother of a toddler found alive in an Arizona hospital morgue in February more than five hours after he was pronounced dead said Wednesday she thought she heard him breathing when she hugged him goodbye.
But instead of listening to her gut, Alexus Fiordilino said, she believed the doctor who told her those were 18-month-old Vincent's last gasps and that any further attempts to save him would just prolong his agony.
"As a mom you don't want to hear that," Fiordilino, 30, said in an interview. "I didn't want him to suffer. It seemed to be they'd done everything they could. And then he called it."
Fiordilino was referring to Dr. Aryan Toosi, who pronounced Vincent dead at 6:20 p.m. on Super Bowl Sunday at Mercy Gilbert Medical Center in Gilbert, Arizona.
A little over five hours later, Fiordilino said, police were questioning her and her husband, Angelo, when a detective burst into the room and told them that a medical examiner's employee who had come to collect Vincent's body had discovered he was still alive.
"My husband and I just screamed in relief," she said. "We were praising the Lord. We were crying. To go from hearing he was gone and then finding out he isn't gone, it's an unexplainable feeling."
Fiordilino spoke out more than eight months after her son's remarkable story of survival after he nearly drowned in the family swimming pool made national headlines and sparked multiple investigations into what happened on Feb. 8.
The Gilbert Police Department had recommended filing child abuse charges against both parents for losing track of Vincent while a Super Bowl party was going on at their residence.
"Both admitted to smoking marijua
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Oct 21, 2026
WASHINGTON (AP) — Voter turnout is soaring compared with the last midterm election in many of the states that are expected to decide control of the U.S. Senate, according to an Associated Press analysis of early voting two weeks before Election Day.
In Texas, early voting is up 74% compared with 2022. In Kansas it's more than doubled. Maine, North Carolina and Ohio also have seen increases of more than 30% in early in-person and mail voting compared with the same point in 2022.
Democrats are trying to flip Republican-held Senate seats in each of those states. In most of them, Republicans are accounting for a smaller share of advance voters than they did four years ago.
The AP's data, which runs through Tuesday, gives a snapshot of potential voter enthusiasm — and where it might be lacking — after early voting has opened in most states during a midterm cycle that has shifted in often unpredictable ways.
Dissatisfaction with President Donald Trump's tariffs, the persistently high cost of living, and high gas and diesel prices caused by the Iran war have generated political blowback against Republicans in places the party didn't anticipate having to defend this year.
Nationally, more than 13 million mail-in and early in-person votes have been
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Oct 21, 2026
Vice President JD Vance on Wednesday, Oct. 21, defended Ohio gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy's controversial campaign ad and criticized Republicans who thought it was inappropriate, arguing that they were focused on the wrong fight.
"I have to admit that I'm a little bit disgusted when I see Republicans across the country who are whining more about that advertisement than they are about what the congressional Democrats and other Democrats want to do to the United States of America," Vance said.
His comments came days after an ad featuring the estranged mother of Democratic gubernatorial candidate Amy Acton sparked backlash by accusing her of being a liar and claiming she needed help.
"Vivek Ramaswamy had the audacity to run a TV commercial which calls it out like it is and calls Amy Acton a liar," Vance said.
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Oct 21, 2026
Super Typhoon Champi, which is barreling across the western Pacific Ocean, became one of the strongest storms on Earth in 2026 on Wednesday.
The tropical cyclone tied April's Super Typhoon Sinlaku for the strongest 1-minute sustained winds of 2026, at 185 mph, which is equivalent to a Category 5 hurricane.
Hurricanes and typhoons are both tropical cyclones with sustained winds of at least 74 mph.
"A tropical cyclone is a generic term used by meteorologists to describe a rotating, organized system of clouds and thunderstorms that originates over tropical or subtropical waters and has closed, low-level circulation," according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
The main difference between hurricanes and typhoons is geographic: Storms in the Northwest Pacific are called typhoons, while those in the North Atlantic and central and eastern North Pacific are called hurricanes.
The Joint Typhoon Warning Center classifies a storm as a super typhoon when its 1-minute sustained winds reach at least 150 mph. That threshold falls within the Category 4 hurricane range.
What is Champi's path?Champi is currently east of the Philippines and southeast of Taiwan, moving west-northwest across the Philippine Sea at 15 mph. Maximum sustained winds are at 175 mph, after peaking at 185 mph, according to the latest update from the
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Oct 21, 2026
The warnings about El Niño continue to roll in. The United Nations' weather agency weighed in on Oct. 21, calling the potent climate pattern a "behemoth" and a "wrecking ball."
"It will tear through Latin America, Eastern and Southern Africa, Asia and the Pacific with extreme heat, droughts and flood," the U.N.'s Tom Fletcher said, warning of profound humanitarian consequences.
El Niño, a natural warming of Pacific Ocean waters that affects weather and climate patterns worldwide, tends to cause higher global temperatures and disrupt rainfall patterns across large regions, meaning drought in some areas and heavy rains in others.
It triggers disruptive weather patterns that often impact agriculture, infrastructure and supply chains, potentially causing trillions of dollars in damages around the globe.
El Niño is forecast with "high confidence" to be at record-breaking strength and peak this winter, NOAA's Climate Prediction Center said.
"This will certainly be an historic El Niño," Michael Mann, a climate scientist and professor at the University of Pennsylvania, told USA TODAY. It will be the "biggest event on record," but because reliable records only go back less than a century, it's difficult to assess how unusual it is in a longer-term context, Mann said.
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Oct 21, 2026
Saudi Arabia has been facing near-daily attacks from the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen (Fayez Nureldine)Washington has ordered non-essential US embassy staff and their families to leave Saudi Arabia, the State Department said on Wednesday, as the kingdom comes under sustained deadly attacks by Yemen's Houthis.
It came after a diplomatic source told AFP that "all American staff and their families have been ordered to depart from the US embassy" in the Gulf kingdom.
The source added that families of embassy staff had also been ordered to leave the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Qatar and Bahrain, all of which have been targeted by Iran during the Middle East war.
US State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott subsequently confirmed the order in a post on X, but said it applied to "non-emergency US government employees and their family members in Saudi Arabia only".
He linked the move to Houthi attacks on the country, including airports, saying "the safety and security of Department personnel and their families remain our highest priority".
Saudi Arabia has this month come under near-daily attacks from the Iran-backed Houthis, including a strike on Riyadh's international airport that was the kingdom's deadliest in years, as the war with the group escalates.
On Wednesday, the Saudi energy ministry said that falling debris from the successful interception of a drone targeting an oil facility killed two people and injured a further two.
"The attempted attack resulted in the deaths of two individuals, a Filipino and a Nepali, and injuries to two others," the ministry said in a statement.
It did not say who launched the drone aimed at Shaybah oil field near the UAE border. Earlier on Wednesday, the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen reported intercepting six dron
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Oct 21, 2026
(Corrects paragraph 2 to "a company" in New Mexico attorney general's comment, from "the company")
By Diana Novak Jones
Oct 21 (Reuters) - A judge in New Mexico ordered Meta Platforms to pay $25 billion on Wednesday after a jury found the company had misled consumers in a case arising from allegations that a political consulting firm involved in Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign obtained data from millions of Facebook users without their ?consent.
New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez said it was one of the largest, if not the largest, single state verdict against a company in American history.
"Facebook's wrongdoing — over the course of years and systematically broadcast ?to the public — goes to the heart of Facebook's core business practices," Judge Francis Mathew wrote in his order following the verdict.
Mathew found that a penalty of more than $219 billion was warranted, based on state law, but he reduced the figure to $25 billion.
In a statement, C.J. Mahoney, Meta's chief ?legal officer, said the company is confident it will win on appeal.
"This ruling, and the Attorney General's approach to this enforcement, makes it all but impossible to do business in the state of New Mexico," Mahoney said. "At its core, this lawsuit seeks to impose a tax on speech to enforce new rules for what people can say online."
The company had previously said a penalty in the billions of dollars risked violating its constitutional rights to due process and protection from excessive fines.
The penalty is the largest levied against the tech giant in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal. In 2019, the company was hit with a $5 billion penalty by the US Federal Trade Commission stemming from the same scandal.
Six other states settled their lawsuits related to ?Cambridge Analytica for $459.2 million as part of a $17.1 billion multistate settlement Meta reached ?in August
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