Category: World

Donald Trump has not ruled out using force to stop the alleged killing of Christians in Nigeria. But Abuja has downplayed the remarks, saying it welcomes US help to fight militants.

US President Donald Trump on Sunday said the United States could deploy troops to Nigeria or carry out airstrikes to stop the alleged targeted killing of Christians in the West African country.

Aboard Air Force One, when asked by reporters if he envisioned US military action in Nigeria Trump replied, “could be.”

“I envisage a lot of things. They’re killing record numbers of Christians in Nigeria … They’re killing the Christians and killing them in very large numbers. We’re not going to allow that to happen,” the US president added.

Why did Trump say about Nigeria?
Trump’s comment follows a social media post on Saturday in which he threatened to take action against Nigeria if it “continues to allow the killing of Christians.”

“The US will immediately stop all aid and assistance to Nigeria, and may very well go into that now disgraced country, ‘guns-a-blazing,’ to completely wipe out the Islamic Terrorists who are committing these horrible atrocities,” Trump warned on his Truth Social platform.

He further directed the Department of Defense, which Trump has rebranded as the Department of War, to prepare for possible action. “If we attack, it will be fast, vicious and sweet, just like the terrorist thugs attack our CHERISHED Christians!”

On Friday, the Trump administration reinstated Nigeria on its list of “Countries of Particular Concern,” citing restrictions on religious freedom.

The White House has not provided any evidence that Christians were being targeted any more than other ethnic or religious group. Nigeria also denies the claim.

Other countries on the list include Pakistan, China, Myanmar, North Korea and Russia.

Source: https://www.dw.com/en/trump-says-there-could-be-us-military-action-in-nigeria/a-74592286

The Red Cross said that history is repeating itself in Sudan’s Darfur region following reports of mass killings in the city of el-Fasher. The ICC said it was collecting evidence as part of its investigation into the war.

Sudan’s civil war has reached a new tipping point after the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) took control of el-Fasher, the army’s last stronghold in the western Darfur region, with the International Criminal Court suspecting war crimes have been committed.

The ICC prosecutor’s office (OTP) voiced on Monday “profound alarm and deepest concern” over reports from el-Fasher about mass killings, rapes, and other crimes allegedly committed.

“Within the ongoing investigation, the office is taking immediate steps regarding the alleged crimes in (el-Fasher) to preserve and collect relevant evidence for its use in future prosecutions,” ICC prosecutors said in a statement.

El-Fasher atrocities part of ‘a broader pattern’
The ICC sounded the alarm on Monday concerning the situation in el-Fasher, which the RSF captured following an 18-month siege. The ICC prosecutor’s office addressed reports concerning several crimes committed at the hand of the paramilitary rebels.

“These atrocities are part of a broader pattern of violence that has afflicted the entire Darfur region since April 2023,” said the office in a statement.

“Such acts, if substantiated, may constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity under the Rome Statute,” referring the founding text of the ICC.

According to the United Nations, more than 65,000 people have fled el-Fasher, including approximately 5,000 to the nearby town of Tawila. However, tens of thousands remain trapped and others are unaccounted for after fleeing.

Before the final assault, approximately 260,000 people lived in the city.

Red Cross warns ‘history repeating’ in Darfur
Meanwhile, the head of the Red Cross said that history is repeating itself in Darfur.

On Friday, the UN human rights office said that hundreds of civilians and unarmed fighters may have been killed during the fall of the city.

“The situation in Sudan is horrific,” International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) President Mirjana Spoljaric told the Reuters news agency in a weekend interview.

“It’s history repeating, and it becomes worse every time a place is taken over by the other party,” she said.

According to Spoljaric, tens of thousands of people had fled el-Fasher after the RSF seized the city, and that tens of thousands more were likely trapped there without access to food, water, or medical assistance.

Years of violence driven by ethnicity followed the crackdown on Darfur rebels in the 2000s, resulting in the deaths of hundreds of thousands, a situation that was widely labeled as genocide. The RSF has its roots in the “Janjaweed” militias mobilized by the government in Khartoum at the time.

What role do foreign players have in Sudan?
The United Arab Emirates has repeatedly been accused of supporting the RSF, but has denied doing so. Meanwhile, the army authorities also have foreign backers, including Egypt.

Source: https://www.dw.com/en/sudan-icc-warns-el-fasher-atrocities-could-be-war-crimes/a-74598106

Her husband’s costume was the cherry on the cake.

Heidi Klum donned green scales and squirming snakes to transform herself into Medusa for Halloween on Friday.

Klum said she loves the Greek myth of Medusa, in which a goddess turns a beautiful woman into a monster with serpents for hair, the sight of which turns living things around her to stone.

“So I wanted to be really, really like a really ugly, ugly Medusa. And I feel like we nailed it — to the teeth,” Klum said before pointing to fangs in her mouth.

Her husband, musician Tom Kaulitz, dressed as a man turned to stone.

Klum said she spent 10 hours getting into costume for her annual Halloween party. She said it was all worth it because she loves the celebration.

The supermodel-turned-TV personality went viral in 2022 when she arrived at her party on the end of a fishing line, encased in a slithering worm costume.

In past years, Klum has come dressed as an 8-foot-tall (2.4m tall) Transformer, a werewolf from Michael Jackson’s Thriller music video, a clone accompanied by several Klum-lookalikes, and Kali, the multiarmed Hindu goddess of death and destruction.

Klum has said she starts planning her costume for the next year immediately after her party wraps.

Among the other celebrities who walked the carpet at the Hard Rock Hotel New York were a green-painted Darren Criss as Shrek, Maye Musk as Cruella de Vil and Ariana Madix as Lady Gaga.

Last year, Klum and Janelle Monae turned up to their respective parties in the same costume: E.T.

Source: https://cnalifestyle.channelnewsasia.com/entertainment/heidi-klum-halloween-costume-medusa-473301

The immigration agents’ tear gas grenades clinked and then exploded against the concrete, shrouding the block in plumes of white gas. The dozen or so residents at the scene only screamed louder.
“We don’t want you here,” yelled Rae Lindenberg. The 32-year-old, who works in marketing, ran out of her apartment when she heard the shrill sound of whistles. “Get out of our neighborhood!”

The squad of agents had appeared in Lakeview last month, an upscale neighborhood dotted with dog daycares, medical spas and vegan restaurants, hopping over a gate to chase down a construction worker who was handcuffed and shoved into a vehicle.

When Courtney Conway, a 42-year-old lifelong Chicago resident, heard about the chase through Facebook groups and text message chains, she hopped on her bike to join the protesters.
“We are not a violent city. This is not a war zone, and I think these guys are terrorizing us and trying to incite us,” said Conway. “We want them out. We want them to stop kidnapping our neighbors.”
CREATING A ZONE DEFENSE
Chicago, a city of 2.7 million, has long been known as a patchwork of close-knit neighborhoods. And since the city took center stage of President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown in September, those neighborhoods have mobilized against enforcement efforts, sometimes block-by-block.

That hyperlocal effort, spun off into dozens of chats on social platforms, has helped create a type of zone defense that – activists say – has slowed down immigration agents and in some cases forced them to withdraw without making an arrest.
When asked for comment, Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary for public affairs at the Department of Homeland Security, said: “Our officers are highly trained and in the face of rioting, doxxing and physical attacks they have shown professionalism. They are not afraid of loud noises and whistles.”
Over 3,000 people have been detained in Chicago since early September, according to DHS.
In Facebook groups and on Signal chats, tens of thousands of residents regularly crowdsource information on immigration agents’ last-known locations, neighborhoods being targeted that day and — importantly — the license plates, makes and models of the rental cars used by agents, which can change daily. Some ICE-spotting Facebook pages in Chicago have up to 50,000 members.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents prowling city streets in unmarked cars are often trailed by drivers honking their horns and cyclists blowing their whistles on an almost daily basis.
In some neighborhoods, confrontations between CBP and ICE agents and protesters have grown increasingly heated. Immigration agents have tear-gassed at least five neighborhoods in the past month, according to a Reuters tally, crashed, opens new tab their car into another vehicle at least once, arrested, opens new tab protesters trailing immigration agents, used Tasers on people during violent arrests, pointed guns, opens new tab at people and shot two people, including one fatally.
The Cook County Department of Public Health said it does not track injuries sustained during confrontations with federal agents and five city hospitals called by Reuters said they had not treated any protesters.
Last month, U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis directed agents to use body cameras and issue two warnings to protesters before using tear gas in a case brought by protesters, clergy and journalists.
HELICOPTER WATCH GROUPS
Hours after the confrontation in the Lakeview neighborhood, dozens of parents stood guard outside a school in Bucktown, another North Side neighborhood favored by families and young professionals, after hearing ICE and border patrol officers were in the area. Some parents set up an informal checkpoint next to the school to check cars for immigration enforcement agents.
And in Little Village, one of the city’s biggest Latino enclaves, businesses and residents locked their doors after activists warned them of approaching ICE and border patrol vehicles and at one point, surrounded vehicles to prevent them from making arrests.

Source: https://www.reuters.com/world/us/were-not-violent-city-chicago-locals-take-ice-block-by-block-2025-11-02/

Former CIA Director John Brennan snapped at a man who confronted him for signing the infamous letter in 2020 that claimed the bombshell Hunter Biden email scandal exposed by The Post had “all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation.”

Brennan, 70, grew visibly incensed and angrily got in the face of the man who pressed about the letter, poking him on the chest repeatedly before backing off.

“You misrepresented that,” Brennan shouted at conservative national security consultant Thomas Speciale during the tense clash.

“We never said it was disinformation; we said it was Russian influence operations, which is what they do. There’s a big difference,” he added.

After Speciale pushed back, the ex-CIA boss waved his hand in frustration and vented, “I’m not going to waste my time with you.”

Speciale, who claimed the confrontation took place last Thursday, posted video of the fiery moment Saturday alongside text of the infamous “spies who lie” letter that Brennan signed.

Shortly after The Post’s bombshell October 2020 exposé of emails on Hunter’s “laptop from hell” — which illustrated how he leveraged his father’s vice presidency in his dealings with Ukrainian businessmen — 51 current and former intelligence officials signed a letter pushing back.

The 51 individuals, who clearly had no direct knowledge of the situation, leveraged their intelligence credentials to make the public skeptical of The Post’s reporting, weeks before the 2020 election.

Politico amplified the story with the headline, “Hunter Biden story is Russian disinfo, dozens of former intel officials say.”

Several signatories have since distanced themselves from that headline.

“There are a number of factors that make us suspicious of Russian involvement. Such an operation would be consistent with Russian objectives, as outlined publicly and recently by the Intelligence Community, to create political chaos in the United States and to deepen political divisions here,” they wrote in the public letter.

After publishing the report, The Post was blocked by Twitter, which prevented users from sharing the story and even briefly blocked The Post from tweeting.

The story had been a massive development as it shed light on how Hunter used his father in business dealings and raised questions about former President Joe Biden’s attempts to pressure Ukrainian officials into firing Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin.

Shokin had publicly speculated that Biden pushed for his ouster because he was investigating Ukrainian natural gas giant Burisma, a firm that had Hunter on its board.

Biden denied that and claimed that he wanted Shokin gone because he wasn’t being aggressive enough on corruption cases.

Source: https://nypost.com/2025/11/02/us-news/ex-cia-director-john-brennan-explodes-as-hes-confronted-about-hunter-bidens-laptop/

Meghan Markle’s video of her celebrating the Los Angeles Dodgers’ World Series win on Saturday night is being blasted as “fake” and “irritating.”

In the black-and-white Instagram Story, Markle — dressed in all black — shrieked in delight, then ran over to her husband, Prince Harry, who was sitting on a reclining chair with his feet up. After bending down to give him a hug and a kiss, she continued to jump up and down with her close friend, Kelly McKee Zajfen, in excitement.

“Oh my God,” the mother of two squealed, as Harry chuckled at her antics.

Some social media users were not amused, however, as they criticized her reaction.

“This is irritating to see. Fake AF,” a comment on X said. “Of course it was NOT staged because, you know, the camera was perfectly positioned to capture everyone. Oh my gosh! Look how happy we are and so into each other. See, we have a friend and it’s not my bottle of wine.”

“This is peak level cringe,” another post said. “Imagine a former Royal Prince Harry has been reduced to a being an unpaid ‘extra’ in his wife’s deluded fantasy world.”

Another user accused Markle of being disingenuous, writing, “Looks so fake.”

Meanwhile, Zajifen provided an explanation on why Harry looked so unamused in the video, revealing that he was actually rooting for the Toronto Blue Jays — despite him wearing a Dodgers hat when he and Markle attended Game 4 of the World Series at Dodger Stadium.

“Sorry H your team didn’t win but mine diiiiiiiiid. @dodgers I LOVE YOU!!!!,” Zajifen wrote in her own Instagram Story.

Source: https://pagesix.com/2025/11/02/royal-family/why-fans-think-meghan-markles-irritating-world-series-celebration-with-prince-harry-was-staged/

See below how the Bad Blood sensation has put a ‘ring of steel’ around her

TAYLOR Swift is spending an extra $2 million on security amid fears for her safety, a source close to the global superstar has told The U.S. Sun.

The usually public-facing singer has retreated into the shadows recently, following stalker issues and the assassination of political activist Charlie Kirk.

Taylor’s appearances in Kansas City to watch fiancée Travis Kelce play in the NFL have been extremely low-key.

This included turning up at Arrowhead Stadium behind a screen last month.

She was seen during the Monday win over the Washington Commanders with Patrick Mahomes’ wife, Brittany, after slipping in via the VIP entrance.

But the Cruel Summer singer is undoubtedly shying away from the cameras.

An insider has told The U.S. Sun that Taylor and Travis have now agreed to spend a hefty $8 million per year – a recent $2 million increase – on a security team to ensure protection at NFL games and elsewhere.

Her movements are being constantly monitored, with her schedule pored over by her expert security detail to ensure maximum protection.

The Chiefs have also reportedly been helping to ensure game days are a pleasurable experience for the 35-year-old.

This comes alongside the times when she visits the city with Kelce.

The source claims two new experts have been hired to make sure she is “100% safe and comfortable all the time.”

“The measures at Arrowhead Stadium are important for her,” confirmed the insider.

Source: https://www.the-sun.com/sport/15424711/taylor-swift-ramps-up-security-protection-chiefs-travis-kelce/

Aviation experts have mapped out what a worst case scenario could look like

MILLIONS of travelers could see Thanksgiving chaos that has never been seen before if the government shutdown continues, aviation experts have warned.

The government shutdown, which is in its fifth week, has seen security agents and air traffic controllers gone unpaid.

Thousands of flights have already been delayed and there are fears there is no end in sight to the shutdown.

The shutdown, which could become the longest on the record, faces the risk of stretching into the Thanksgiving holiday, threatening to upend travel plans for Americans wanting to spend time with their families.

Fears are mounting that airport terminals could become clogged, passengers could face lengthy waits in security, and planes could end up being grounded.

Aviation expert Sheldon Jacobson has warned the disruption that could play out has not been seen before in living memory.

“Thanksgiving would take us seven weeks [since the shutdown began]. This would be unprecedented,” he said.

“This would be untested water. We have never traveled here before. We don’t know what’s going to happen.”

If the shutdown continues into Thanksgiving, it would be the longest on record.

The longest government shutdown stands at 35 days, which started on December 22, 2018, and didn’t end until January 25, 2019.

Jacobson warned it’s a real possibility that air traffic controllers or TSA agents could decide to call out sick en masse.

And, it could force airport bosses to close down security lanes, leading to disgruntled passengers.

Jacobson mapped out a breaking point scenario, which would involve travelers facing waits of between 60 and 90 minutes in security lines.

A so-called breaking point would see scores of flights canceled – between 25% and 30% – and the weather not playing an impact.

He warned domestic routes could be at risk if there are only a limited number of air traffic controllers to manage air space.

“International flights can’t simply be canceled in midair,” he said.

“They have to land. That, in fact, becomes a hard constraint.

“That means if there’s a limited amount of airspace that can be managed by the air traffic controllers, domestic flights will end up getting affected much more than the international ones.”

Even though domestic flights could be plunged into jeopardy, Jacobson doesn’t think airports will be forced to shut up shop – which would see travel plans upended.

“I don’t see that happening except in very extenuating situations but slowdowns can certainly occur,” he said.

Aviation data from Cirium released earlier this month suggests travelers are making bookings in record numbers.

Thanksgiving travel bookings are 2% up compared to last year.

Airline chiefs also echoed the sentiment.

“The entire fourth quarter, the fall break, Thanksgiving, Christmas, they’re all likely to set records with strong demand,” Scott Kirby, the United Airlines CEO, told CBS News.

This would be untested water. We have never traveled here before

Sheldon Jacobson, aviation expert
Politicians and aviation experts have also alluded to worst case scenarios that could unfold as millions flock to the airport for the holidays.

Matthew Buckley, a former American Airlines pilot, told The New York Post that travel chaos could be ugly.

“Airports will be flooded with flight cancellations and delays amid the busiest time to travel all year, and the list goes on and on,” Tom Emmer, the House Majority Whip, said.

Travelers have been warned that it’s not guaranteed that flights will be on time.

“I can’t guarantee you that your flight will be on time,” Sean Duffy, the Transportation Secretary, warned.

“I can’t guarantee you that your flight’s not going to be canceled.”

Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, swiftly blamed the Democrats over their alleged role in allowing the shutdown to continue.

“We fear there will be significant flight delays, disruptions and cancellations in major airports across the country this holiday season,” she said.

“If Democrats continue to shut down the government, they will also be shutting down American air travel.”

House speaker Mike Johnson said football fans should blame the Democratic Party if any travel chaos during Thanksgiving means they cannot watch their football team.

Airlines are also calling for the shutdown to end.

“A prolonged shutdown will lead to more delays and cancellations — and the American people, especially during the busy holiday season, deserve better,” American Airlines has warned.

And, union leaders at the National Air Traffic Controllers Association have called for the end of the shutdown.

In 2024, the American Automobile Association projected 79.9 million travelers would head to locations at least 50 miles away over the Thanksgiving period.

Jacobson revealed flexibility shown by passengers can help reduce the strain on the system.

Source: https://www.the-sun.com/travel/15408697/thanksgiving-travel-2025-government-shutdown/

FBI Director Kash Patel defended girlfriend Alexis Wilkins amid backlash over allegedly using an FBI jet to attend her event, calling the claims “baseless” while affirming compliance with travel rules and policy.

FBI Director Kash Patel has pushed back against a wave of criticism following reports that he used a government jet to attend his girlfriend’s performance in Pennsylvania, calling the allegations “disgustingly baseless” and politically motivated.

The controversy erupted after former FBI agent and conservative commentator Kyle Seraphin claimed on his podcast that Patel flew on a USD 60 million FBI jet to watch country singer Alexis Wilkins perform at a wrestling event at Penn State University on October 25.

“We’re in the middle of a government shutdown where they’re not even gonna pay all of the employees that work for the agency this guy heads, and this guy is jetting off to hang out with his girlfriend on our dime?” Seraphin said, sparking online outrage.

Taking to X, Patel addressed the allegations head-on, defending both his integrity and his partner. “Let me be clear: we will not be distracted by baseless rumors or the noise from uninformed internet anarchists and the fake news,” Patel said in a statement.

“Criticize me all you want. But going after my personal life or those around me is a total disgrace.” He continued, expressing frustration toward those within his own political circles who have remained silent amid the backlash.

“The disgustingly baseless attacks against Alexis — a true patriot and the woman I’m proud to call my partner in life — are beyond pathetic,” Patel wrote.

“She’s a rock-solid conservative and a country music sensation who has done more for this nation than most will in ten lifetimes. To our supposed allies staying silent — your silence is louder than the clickbait haters.”

Patel ended his remarks with a defiant message, “My love of family will always be my cornerstone, and you will never tear that down. I and this FBI will stay laser-focused on our mission — rebuilding this Bureau from the ground up.”

According to reports, Patel was angered by the leak of his flight details, which may have led to the resignation of Steven Palmer, a 27-year FBI veteran who oversaw the Bureau’s aviation unit. Patel and Wilkins have faced public scrutiny before — last year, conspiracy theories falsely claimed Wilkins was an Israeli intelligence asset trying to influence Patel over the release of Epstein-related files.

Source: https://www.indiatoday.in/world/us-news/story/kash-patel-defends-girlfriend-from-critics-amid-row-over-fbi-jet-use-to-attend-her-event-glbs-2812380-2025-11-03

Amazon is cutting 14,000 corporate jobs to become leaner and faster. CEO Andy Jassy says this move is about culture, not AI or cost-cutting, signalling a shift back to its startup roots.

Turns out, even Amazon needs a reset button. CEO Andy Jassy says the company’s latest wave of layoffs, around 14,000 corporate roles, isn’t about trimming costs or letting artificial intelligence take over, but about trimming the bloat. The goal? To make Amazon feel less like a corporate behemoth and more like the scrappy startup it once was. On Amazon’s quarterly earnings call, Jassy made it clear that the decision was driven by philosophy, not panic.

He said, “The announcement that we made a few days ago was not really financially driven, and it’s not even really AI-driven, not right now, at least,” he said. “Really, it’s culture.” That’s quite the clarification, considering this could become the largest workforce reduction in Amazon’s history, reports suggest the total number of layoffs may climb as high as 30,000.

But Jassy’s reasoning was simple: a giant company can’t afford to move slowly in an era that’s moving faster than ever.

“When that happens, sometimes without realising it, you can weaken the ownership of the people that you have who are doing the actual work,” he said, referencing Amazon’s famous “two-way door” philosophy, a Bezos-era concept encouraging employees to make reversible decisions quickly, without layers of approval.

Jassy argues that too many layers of management have crept in, slowing decisions and stifling initiative. The layoffs, he said, are designed to restore the nimbleness and “ownership” that defined Amazon’s scrappy early days. “We are committed to operating like the world’s largest startup,” he declared — a line that has become something of a personal mantra for the CEO.

A cultural reboot, not a cash grab
Jassy’s comments directly push back against the idea that the layoffs are a reaction to AI’s rise. Earlier this year, he did acknowledge that artificial intelligence will eventually make Amazon leaner, writing in a staff memo that the workforce could “shrink over time” thanks to AI-powered efficiencies.

So when news of the fresh layoffs broke this week, many assumed automation was already taking jobs. But Jassy was quick to dispel that. On Thursday’s call, he described the decision as part of a “cultural reset”, a move to strip away layers of middle management and rediscover Amazon’s entrepreneurial energy amid what he called “the technology transformation happening right now.”

Source: https://www.indiatoday.in/technology/news/story/amazon-layoffs-ceo-andy-jassy-says-14000-job-cuts-not-because-of-ai-he-is-fixing-company-culture-2811163-2025-10-31

German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt thinks that schoolchildren should be better prepared for war and disasters. He calls it a sensible precaution others see conservative scaremongering.

Crises, disasters and war have long been covered in German schools, at least on an abstract, academic level.

Now, German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt of the conservative Christian Social Union (CSU) wants training for such scenarios in schools. That includes how to use a fire extinguisher, but also how to respond if a fellow student is injured and how to perform CPR.

“My suggestion is that, once every school year, an extended lesson with older pupils is held that covers various possible threat scenarios and how to prepare for them,” he told the Handelsblatt newspaper. How to prepare for crises should be a part of everyday school life, he said.

The interior minister’s statements align with many observers, as well as Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who recently said: “We are not at war, but also no longer in peace,” referring to the hybrid threat from Russia.

Many experts consider it possible that Russia under Vladimir Putin could attack NATO territory before the end of the decade. In times of threat and the war against Ukraine, Germany wants to prepare — both with a stronger military and improved civil defense.

Teachers in favor of the new plan
The interior minister’s suggestion was well-received by the influential German Teachers’ Association (DL) an umbrella organization representing about 165,000 teachers in Germany. “The war has, one must be honest and just say it, long arrived in classrooms,” DL President Stefan Düll told DW. “Recently, Mr. Dobrindt has indicated that the topics of crises and wars is something which must be dealt with in schools because young people ultimately have a right to openly and honestly discuss things which could affect them.”

Training for emergency situations could help. “You learn options for action and in doing so build ability and competence. From that develops resilience, because I have dealt with things which are not pleasant, but I could actually encounter,” Düll said.

During his school years, Quentin Gärtner experienced no drills for a war or crisis. “The only thing I know is the classic fire alarm,” the general secretary of the Federal School Students Council (BSK), which represents young people’s interests, told DW.

“It makes sense to prepare us for catastrophe scenarios,” he said, adding people feel “safer, if you are prepared for an emergency and know what will happen.” Practicing for wars and disasters would also help promote a “resilient society” — and that would be especially important in times of war, Gärtner added. Just like “staying cool in crisis situations and reducing stress.”

One thing the youth representative emphasized: “School social workers and school psychologists must accompany these lessons.” Not all students are mentally prepared enough to be able to deal with these scenarios.

Mixed reactions among politicians
Dobrindt’s suggestion received mixed reactions among opposition parties. “This is clearly intended to stir up fear,” the socialist Left Party’s parliamentary leader Nicole Gohlke told the AFP news agency. “I find this scaremongering, especially with children and young people, unacceptable,” she criticized.

There was also criticism from the far-right Alternative for Germany party (AfD). The interior minister was trying to “make the idea of an approaching war taken for granted, even inevitable,” said AfD interior policy spokesperson Gottfried Curio.

The idea had support, however, from the Green Party. Co-leader Felix Banaszak said in an interview with private broadcaster RTL: “No, it is not fearmongering.” He is, however, not convinced that one extended lesson per year is enough to adequately prepare students.

Germany’s federal government can only make recommendations for what is taught in schools. Only the individual education ministries in each state have the authority to decide on the curriculum.

The German government wants to massively increase spending on civil and disaster protection. About €10 billion ($11.6 billion) has been budgeted until 2029 for its “civil protection pact,” which includes modernizing shelters, warning systems, providing backup water supplies and emergency vehicles.

Dobrindt has also urged the population to stock up on supplies. “It cannot do any harm. You don’t need to be a prepper to understand that a few days’ worth of supplies, a flashlight, batteries or a wind-up radio are reasonable precautions. Whoever has that is not panicked, but prepared,” Dobrindt told the Handelsblatt.

Source: https://www.dw.com/en/germany-considers-adding-war-disaster-to-school-curriculum/a-74571164

Russian attacks on energy infrastructure have left tens of thousands without power in eastern Ukraine. Meanwhile, a Ukrainian drone attack has set an oil tanker ablaze in a Russian Black Sea port. DW has the latest.

Ukraine’s Donetsk region without power after Russian attacks — governor
Ukrainian authorities were working to restore power to Donetsk after Russian attacks on infrastructure caused outages, regional governor Vadym Filashkin said on Sunday. The claim could not be independently verified, as most of the eastern region of Donetsk is controlled by Russian troops.

Russian forces have stepped up attacks on Ukraine’s power grid in recent weeks as winter draws near.

Another regional governor, Ivan Fedorov, earlier reported that nearly 60,000 people in the southeastern Zaporizhizhia region were left without power after Russian airstrikes.

At least 2 killed in Ukraine’s Odesa after Russian drone attack
Russian drone bombing has killed at least two in Ukraine’s Odesa region, Ukrainian authorities said Sunday.

According to the State Emergency Service, the two people died after Russian drones hit in the early hours of Sunday morning.

Regional Governor Oleh Kiper said that three others were injured.

Ukrainian drones hit oil tanker in Russian Black Sea port
A Ukrainian drone attack sparked a fire on an oil tanker stationed in the Black Sea port of Tuapse, Russian civil protection authorities reported on Sunday.

The attack also damaged the oil transfer terminal, and two civilian ships flying foreign flags, Russian officials said. The tanker’s crew was evacuated.

Images published on Telegram showed three fires in the Tuapse port, which lies south-east of the Crimean Peninsula.

Source: https://www.dw.com/en/ukraine-russia-targets-energy-grid-thousands-without-power/live-74589643

France’s consumer watchdog has reported fast fashion giant Shein to authorities for selling “sex dolls with a childlike appearance” on its website.

The Directorate General for Competition, Consumer Affairs and Fraud Control (DGCCRF) said in a statement that the online description and categorisation of the dolls “makes it difficult to doubt the child pornography nature of the content”, French media reported.

Shein told the BBC: “The products in question were immediately delisted as soon as we became aware of these serious issues.” It said its team was “investigating how these listings circumvented our screening measures”.

Shein is also “conducting a comprehensive review to identify and remove any similar items that may be listed on our marketplace by other third-party vendors”.

The DGCCRF has reported Shein to French prosecutors as well as Arcom, the country’s online and broadcasting regulator, according to French media.

The news has emerged just days before Shein is set to open its first permanent physical shop anywhere in the world – in a Parisian department store.

The decision to allow Shein to open at BHV Marais, a shop in France’s capital city that traces its roots back to 1856, has provoked controversy. The company has faced criticism for its labour practices and environmental record.

Shein will open at BHV on Wednesday ahead of other shops across France, all owned by property firm Société des Grands Magasins.

Commenting on the dolls sold on Shein’s site, France’s consumer watchdog warned that “the dissemination, via an electronic communications network, of child pornography is punishable by up to seven years’ imprisonment and a fine of €100,000 (£88,000)”.

Shein said it “maintains a zero-tolerance policy towards any content or products that violate our platform policies or applicable laws”.

A spokesperson said the fast fashion firm is taking the matter “extremely seriously”.

“We are taking immediate corrective actions and reinforcing our internal controls to prevent this from happening again,” they said.

Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4gjjyvg1nqo

U.S. President Donald Trump on Saturday said he has asked the Defense Department to prepare for possible “fast” military action in Nigeria if the West African nation fails to crack down on the killing of Christians.

The U.S. government will also immediately stop all aid and assistance to Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation and top oil producer, Trump said in a post on Truth Social.

If the United States sends in military forces, it would go in “‘guns-a-blazing,’ to completely wipe out the Islamic Terrorists who are committing these horrible atrocities,” Trump wrote, without providing any evidence of specifics about the treatment of Christians in Nigeria.

Trump called Nigeria a “disgraced country” and warned its government must move quickly. “If we attack, it will be fast, vicious, and sweet, just like the terrorist thugs attack our CHERISHED Christians!” he wrote.

Abuja had no immediate reaction to Trump’s threat of military action. The White House also had no immediate comment on the potential timing of any U.S. military action.

Although the U.S. Department of Defense referred Reuters to the White House for comment on Trump’s threat, U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth released a social media post of his own.

“The Department of War is preparing for action,” Hegseth wrote on X. “Either the Nigerian Government protects Christians, or we will kill the Islamic Terrorists who are committing these horrible atrocities.”

Trump’s post on Nigeria came a day after his administration added Nigeria back to a “Countries of Particular Concern” list of nations that the U.S. says have violated religious freedom. Other nations on the list include China, Myanmar, North Korea, Russia and Pakistan.

Before Trump posted his attack threat, Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu earlier on Saturday pushed back against claims of religious intolerance and defended his country’s efforts to protect religious freedom.

“The characterization of Nigeria as religiously intolerant does not reflect our national reality, nor does it take into consideration the consistent and sincere efforts of the government to safeguard freedom of religion and beliefs for all Nigerians,” Tinubu said in a statement, citing “constitutional guarantees to protect citizens of all faiths.”

Source : https://www.reuters.com/world/china/trump-says-christians-face-existential-threat-nigeria-adds-country-watch-list-2025-10-31

Former President Barack Obama touted Democratic candidates for governor in two states at campaign rallies on Saturday, urging voters in next week’s election to reject what he called the “lawlessness and recklessness” of President Donald Trump’s administration.

Obama, the two-term president still highly popular among Democrats, laid out a biting indictment of the Trump administration at rallies for Virginia gubernatorial candidate Abigail Spanberger and New Jersey candidate Mikie Sherrill.

“Let’s face it, our country and our policy are in a pretty dark place right now,” Obama told a roaring crowd of Spanberger supporters at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia.

“It’s hard to know where to start.” he said, “because every day this White House offers people a fresh batch of lawlessness and recklessness and mean-spiritedness and just plain craziness.”

Obama blasted what he called Trump’s “shambolic” tariff policy and deployment of National Guard troops to U.S. cities. He criticized Republicans in Congress for failing to check Trump “even when they know he’s out of line.”

He said he was surprised at how quickly business leaders, law firms and universities opted to “bend the knee” to appease Trump.

Later Saturday at an event in Newark, New Jersey to support Sherrill, Obama struck many of the same themes as he continued his criticisms of the Trump White House. “It’s like every day is Halloween, except it’s all tricks and no treats,” Obama.

The former president occasionally dipped into sarcasm in mentioning Trump decisions such as remodeling parts of the White House even as a federal shutdown continues.

“In fairness he has been focused on some critical issues, like paving over the Rose Garden so folks don’t get mud on their shoes, and building a $300 million ballroom,” Obama said.

Polls show Spanberger, 46, with a sizable lead over the Republican candidate, Lieutenant Governor Winsome Earle-Sears, 61. Spanberger, a former CIA officer, was a congresswoman for six years.

Most polls show Sherrill with a single-digit lead over Republican Jack Ciatterelli, 63, a former state assemblyman making his third consecutive run for the governor’s seat.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/world/us/obama-tells-democrats-push-back-against-trumps-lawlessness-recklessness-2025-11-02

A federal court in Rhode Island on Saturday ordered the Trump administration to make full food aid benefit payments by Monday, or partial payments by Wednesday, while acknowledging the “irreparable harm” that exists without their timely payment.

The Rhode Island case is one of two lawsuits filed to block the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s suspension of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits, known as SNAP or food stamps, which aid low-income Americans.

In a ruling issued on Friday, Judge John J. McConnell of the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island rejected the USDA’s argument that it could not fund SNAP because of the ongoing federal shutdown.

McConnell’s Saturday order gave President Donald Trump’s administration a Monday deadline to present a plan to pay full benefits on that day, or at least partial payments two days later.

“There is no question that the congressionally approved contingency funds must be used now because of the shutdown; in fact, the President during his first term issued guidance indicating that these contingency funds are available if SNAP funds lapse due to a government shutdown,” McConnell wrote in the order.

JUDGE SAYS AGENCY MUST DISTRIBUTE MONEY AS SOON AS POSSIBLE

At the end of Friday’s hearing, McConnell said the administration’s decision not to tap $5.25 billion in contingency funds to fund November benefits was arbitrary.

He said the agency must distribute the emergency money “as soon as possible,” and if the money was insufficient, the agency should determine whether it could use money from a separate fund that has around $23 billion.

In a Truth Social post on Friday, Trump wrote: “I do NOT want Americans to go hungry just because the Radical Democrats refuse to do the right thing and REOPEN THE GOVERNMENT. Therefore, I have instructed our lawyers to ask the Court to clarify how we can legally fund SNAP as soon as possible.”

Saturday’s order does just that, wrote McConnell, who cited Trump’s social media post.

“The Court greatly appreciates the President’s quick and definitive response to this Court’s Order and his desire to provide the necessary SNAP funding,” the judge wrote.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-administration-must-pay-food-aid-benefits-within-days-judge-says-2025-11-02

Facing deepening fractures in the global trade order, Asia-Pacific leaders adopted a joint declaration that emphasised the need for resilience and shared benefits in trade at the end of the annual APEC summit on Saturday.

The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting, hosted by South Korea this year, unfolded under the shadow of rising geopolitical tensions and aggressive economic strategies – ranging from U.S. tariffs to China’s export controls – that have pressured global trade.

Ahead of the gathering, U.S. President Donald Trump announced trade deals with a number of countries, including China and South Korea. But he left before the summit kicked off.

Washington’s views, however, remained on display in the declaration, analysts said, which, unlike last year’s document, did not mention multilateralism or the World Trade Organization.

“It is a result of member countries acknowledging, at least to some degree, that it will be difficult to restore a free trade order based on multilateralism and the World Trade Organization,” said Heo Yoon, a professor of international trade at Sogang University in Seoul.

“We cannot deny anymore that there is a paradigm shift in the global trade order.”

With Trump’s swift exit before the summit, China sought to position itself as a steady advocate of free and open trade, a role the U.S. had dominated for decades. China will host APEC in Shenzhen in 2026, President Xi Jinping announced.

In closing remarks, Xi proposed the establishment of a World Artificial Intelligence Cooperation Organization, while the gathering adopted other declarations on demographic change and AI. But there was no mention of AI regulations.

“China is clearly taking advantage of Trump’s absence at APEC to actively engage countries worried about the retreat of the U.S. and China’s rise,” said Li Xing, a professor at the Guangdong Institute for International Strategies.

“It’s certain they will be reassuring countries like South Korea that can no longer fully count on U.S. backing due to Trump, that they’re not seeking hegemony but common enrichment.”

However, Heo and analysts say the joint declaration suggests that member nations were wary of giving an impression that the U.S. was undermining free trade while picturing China as a guardian of multilateralism.

“Few countries believe there can be a new trade order that excludes the U.S.,” he said.

SOUTH KOREA’S LEE HOSTS XI JINPING

China’s Xi wrapped up his three-day visit to South Korea on Saturday with a state dinner and summit hosted by President Lee Jae Myung, the newly elected U.S. ally who has pledged to balance Seoul’s ties with Beijing.

The stakes were high for Lee, who assumed office in June after the ouster of his hawkish predecessor over a failed attempt to impose martial law. Lee faces the dual challenge of protecting South Korea’s export-driven economy and easing tensions with North Korea amid rising China-U.S. competition.

Lee said it was difficult to say that relations between South Korea and China had ever been completely normalised, and he hoped for a substantial improvement.

“We must go beyond simple restoration to find a path of cooperation that is beneficial to each other,” Lee told a press conference ahead of his planned meeting with Xi.

Earlier this week, Lee also hosted Trump for a rushed state visit, showering him with gifts and praise before announcing a surprise trade deal aimed at lowering U.S. tariffs in return for billions of dollars in South Korean investment in the U.S.

Lee held similar events for Xi on Saturday, including a summit meeting and state dinner. This was Xi’s first visit to South Korea in 11 years.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/world/china/south-korea-woo-chinas-xi-with-state-visit-apec-wraps-up-2025-11-01

The Jamaican government confirms the fatalities – as the first British repatriation flight was setting off from the island on Saturday evening.

A total of 28 people have died following Hurricane Melissa’s rampage across Jamaica, the government has confirmed.

Melissa, one of the strongest storms on record to make landfall in the Caribbean, brought with it winds of up to 185mph when it hit the island earlier this week.

The Red Cross described it as a “disaster of unprecedented catastrophe”.

Melissa ravaged through Jamaica, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, and Cuba.

It weakened by the time it reached Cuba on Wednesday morning but still brought devastation – with houses collapsed and roads blocked.

A statement from the government of Jamaica said it was “deeply saddened to confirm 28 fatalities associated with the passage of Hurricane Melissa”.

It went on: “We extend heartfelt condolences to the families, friends, and communities mourning their loved ones.”

The confirmation came as the first British repatriation flight was setting off from the island on Saturday evening local time.

The flight, chartered by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, was for those “unable to leave Jamaica on commercial routes”.

Essential relief supplies are now rolling into some of the hardest hit areas.

The UK government is mobilising an additional £5m in emergency humanitarian funding – on top of £2.5m announced earlier this week – to support the region’s recovery.

This new funding will enable the UK to send humanitarian supplies – including more than 3,000 shelter kits and over 1,500 solar-powered lanterns to help those whose homes have been damaged and those without power.

Source : https://news.sky.com/story/hurricane-melissa-leaves-28-dead-after-tearing-through-jamaica-13462331

Gustavo Salas, the state’s attorney general said that many of the deaths appeared to have been caused by the inhalation of toxic gases.

At least 23 people, including children, were killed and 11 others injured in a supermarket explosion in northern Mexico on Saturday, local officials said. The explosion took place at a Waldo’s store in Hermosillo. The injured victims were taken to hospitals for treatment in the city.

Alfonso Durazo, governor of Sonora state, said in a video message that “a number of the victims we’ve found were minors”. He added that an extensive and transparent investigation had been ordered to determine the cause of the explosion and catch those responsible.

“Nobody will face this pain alone. From the very first moments, emergency, security and health services responded with great professionalism and commitment, controlling the situation and saving lives,” he said.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum offered her condolences in a post on X to the “families and loved ones of those who died”.

She said, “I have been in contact with the Sonora governor, Alfonso Durazo, to provide support where needed. I’ve instructed Interior Secretary Rosa Icela Rodriguez to send a support team in order to assist the families and the injured.”

Cause of the explosion

Notably, local authorities have ruled out an “attack” or “event related to a violent act” against people. The chief of the city’s fire department also said that it was being investigated whether there had really been an explosion.

Gustavo Salas, the state’s attorney general, citing the forensic medical service, said that many of the deaths appeared to have been caused by the inhalation of toxic gases.

However, some media reports have blamed the fire on an electrical failure. Mexican authorities also said that an electric transformer could be behind the incident.

Source : https://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/supermarket-explosion-in-mexico-death-toll-injuries-sonora-claudia-sheinbaum-101762059198853.html

Pakistan Defence Minister repeated his claim that New Delhi is using Afghanistan to wage a ‘proxy war’ against India without providing any evidence.

Pakistan Defence Minister Khawaja Asif this week repeated his claim that India is using Afghanistan as a proxy to wage a two-front war against his country but failed to provide any evidence to back his assumptions.

While speaking to Pakistani broadcasters, Asif alleged that New Delhi is keeping Islamabad busy on the eastern and western fronts, referring to the recent skirmishes along the Durand Line and airstrikes on Kabul, marking the worst clashes between the South Asian neighbours since the Taliban returned to power in 2021.

“(New Delhi) has been waging a proxy war against Pakistan since the Ashraf Ghani era. If necessary, we will present proof. India seeks to keep Pakistan preoccupied on two fronts: the eastern and western,” Asif told Pakistani broadcaster Geo.

Until Turkey and Qatar mediated a ceasefire, more than 70 people were killed and hundreds wounded in violence that erupted after explosions in Kabul on October 9, which Taliban authorities blamed on Pakistan.

Taliban authorities also claim that Pakistan is harbouring militants from the Islamic State Khorasan (IS-K), the jihadist group ISIS’ branch in Afghanistan, also operates in Pakistan and former Soviet countries in Central Asia including Uzbekistan.

The group has been responsible for deadly attacks in Afghanistan and Russia, including an attack on a Moscow concert hall in March 2024 that killed 150 people.

SOURCE: https://www.news18.com/world/keeping-us-engaged-khawaja-asif-accuses-india-of-waging-two-front-war-against-pakistan-ws-kl-9674674.html

People across the country formed long lines for free meals and groceries at food pantries and drive-through giveaways Saturday, after monthly benefits through the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, were suddenly cut off because of the ongoing government shutdown.

In the New York borough of the Bronx, about 200 more people than usual showed up at the World of Life Christian Fellowship International pantry, many bundled in winter hats and coats and pushing collapsible shopping carts as they waited in a line that spanned multiple city blocks. Some arrived as early as 4 a.m. to choose from pallets of fruits, vegetables, bread, milk, juice, dry goods and prepared sandwiches.

Mary Martin, who volunteers at the pantry, also relies on it regularly for food to supplement her SNAP payments. She said she usually splits her roughly $200 a month in SNAP benefits between herself and her two adult sons, one of whom has six children and is especially dependent on the assistance.

“If I didn’t have the pantry to come to, I don’t know how we would make it,” Martin said.

“I’m not gonna see my grandkids suffer.”

The Department of Agriculture planned to withhold payments to the food program starting Saturday until two federal judges ordered the administration to make them. However it was unclear as to when the debit cards that beneficiaries use could be reloaded after the ruling, sparking fear and confusion among many recipients.

In an apparent response to President Donald Trump, who said he would provide the money but wanted more legal direction from the court, U.S. District Judge John J. McConnell in Rhode Island ordered the government to report back by Monday on how it would fund SNAP accounts.

McConnell, who was nominated by President Barack Obama, said the Trump administration must either make a full payment by that day or, if it decides to tap $3 billion in a contingency fund, figure out how to do that by Wednesday.

The delay in SNAP payments, a major piece of the nation’s social safety net that serves about 42 million people, has highlighted the financial vulnerabilities that many face. At the Bronx food pantry, the Rev. John Udo-Okon said “people from all walks of life” are seeking help now.

“The pantry is no longer for the poor, for the elderly, for the needy. The pantry now is for the whole community, everybody,” Udo-Okon said. “You see people will drive in their car and come and park and wait to see if they can get food.”

In Austell, Georgia, people in hundreds of cars in drive-through lanes picked up nonperishable and perishable bags of food. Must Ministries said it handed out food to about 1,000 people, more than a typical bimonthly food delivery.

Families in line said they worried about not getting SNAP benefits in time for Thanksgiving.

At a drive-through food giveaway at the Calvary Baptist Church in Louisville, Kentucky, SNAP recipient James Jackson, 74, said he is frustrated that people are being hurt by decisions made in Washington and lawmakers should try harder to understand challenges brought by poverty and food insecurity.

Source: https://apnews.com/article/government-shutdown-food-lines-snap-6b55e2c21c0198f3309f3a45a55f33b6

A crowd surge at a popular Hindu temple in southern India left at least nine people dead and dozens injured, local authorities said Saturday.

The incident occurred at the Swamy Venkateswara Temple in the Srikakulam district of Andhra Pradesh state where hundreds of devotees had gathered to mark one of Hinduism’s sacred days, “Ekadashi,” senior police officer K. V. Maheswra Reddy told the Associated Press.

On this day, the devotees fast and offer prayers to Lord Vishnu, a key Hindu deity.

An initial investigation suggests that an iron grille meant to maintain the queue of worshippers at the temple broke, leading to the uncontrolled crowd surge, Reddy said.

Senior local government official Swapnil Dinkar Pundkar said more casualties were feared. “Initially, we had reports of seven deaths, but two more people have succumbed to their injuries while the condition of two others is critical,” he said.

Of the deceased, eight are women and one is a child, Pundkar said, adding that at least 16 devotees injured in the crowd surge are being treated at a local hospital while 20 others are in a state of shock and put under observation at a different hospital.

Video footage on local media showed people rushing to help those who fainted in the crowd surge and were gasping for breath. Some were seen rubbing the hands of those who fell on the ground.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Andhra Pradesh’s highest-elected official N. Chandrababu Naidu expressed grief and offered their condolences to the families of the bereaved.

State authorities in Andhra Pradesh said the location was a private temple on 12 acres (4.8 hectares) of land and wasn’t under the control of the government administration. Despite its maximum capacity of 3,000, the crowd swelled to around 25,000 on Saturday.

“Arrangements were not made accordingly, nor was information provided to the government by the concerned individual. This is the reason for the accident,” the state’s fact check unit said in a statement on social media.

Source: https://apnews.com/article/stampede-swami-venkateswara-temple-andhra-pradesh-f8dee5b4bc65fd851e40f74ddfc05d37

Rob Jetten, 38, is set to become the Netherlands’ youngest and first openly gay prime minister after leading his D66 party to victory. The historic win comes as he prepares to marry Olympian Nico Keenan.

The Netherlands will make history by electing Rob Jetten, 38, as its new prime minister, following national elections held on Wednesday, October 29. The victory makes Jetten both the youngest and the first openly gay leader to hold the office, according to German outlet Deutsche Welle (DW).

Jetten, leader of the centrist-liberal D66 party, defeated Geert Wilders of the far-right Party for Freedom, who campaigned on anti-immigration policies and previously called for a ban on the Quran among other Islamophobic remarks, People reported.

“I am incredibly happy that … we have become the biggest party in this election,” Jetten told reporters after the results were announced. “A historic result for the D66. At the same time, I feel a great responsibility.”

He added, “I think we’ve now shown to the rest of Europe and the world that it is possible to beat the populist movements if you campaign with a positive message for your country.”

Awaiting final confirmation
Although Jetten is the projected winner, DW reports that the result will be officially confirmed on Monday, 3 November, once mail-in ballots from Dutch citizens living abroad are counted.

Celebrating with his fiancé
On election night, Jetten was supported by his fiancé, two-time Olympian Nico Keenan, who shared a light-hearted TikTok video of the couple preparing for the evening. In the clip, set to RAYE’s “Where the Hell Is My Husband?”, Keenan appeared in a suit before Jetten joined him. The pair smiled at the camera and shared a brief kiss.

“Election night, let’s go🔥🫶🏽,” Keenan captioned the post.

Jetten has also been a visible supporter of Keenan’s sporting career. When Keenan competed for Argentina in field hockey at the 2024 Paris Olympics, Jetten was in the stands cheering him on.

The couple announced their engagement in November 2024, when Keenan posted a photo of his ring on Instagram, writing, “Soon to be Mr&Mr💍.”

https://www.livemint.com/news/trends/texas-man-dresses-as-jager-bomber-for-company-halloween-party-now-out-of-a-job-11761957609016.html

https://www.livemint.com/news/trends/texas-man-dresses-as-jager-bomber-for-company-halloween-party-now-out-of-a-job-11761957609016.html

The Los Angeles Dodgers became the first team for 25 years to win back-to-back World Series titles, coming from behind to beat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 after extra innings in the deciding seventh game.

Catcher Will Smith’s home run in the top of the 11th inning broke the deadlock at Toronto’s Rogers Centre, and when Alejandro Kirk grounded into a double play with the tying run on third base, it sparked wild celebrations.

The National League champions had trailed 3-0 to Bo Bichette’s three-run homer in the third inning, but kept chipping away, and solo homers by Max Muncy and Miguel Rojas levelled the game at 4-4 in the top of the ninth.

The last team to win successive ‘Fall Classics’ were the New York Yankees, who triumphed in 1998, 1999 and 2000.

California edges Canada in epic series

The series had played out against the backdrop of political and trade battles between North America’s neighbours since Donald Trump’s re-election as US president, but it was ultimately the big-spending Dodgers who prevailed against Canada’s only Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise.

Japanese superstar Shohei Ohtani, MLB’s most high-profile player, started on the mound for the Dodgers but ran into trouble in the third inning.

George Springer led off with a base hit, was bunted over to second base and advanced to third on a wild pitch. Vladimir Guerrero Jr was intentionally walked, and Bichette raised the roof as he launched the ball over centre field.

That was the end of Ohtani’s night as the pitcher, but under a 2022 regulation change known as the ‘Ohtani rule’,, external he was allowed to remain in the game as designated hitter.

The Dodgers hit straight back in the fourth, loading the bases for Teoscar Hernandez to send Smith home on a sacrifice fly for 3-1, but a superb diving catch by Guerrero at first base prevented further damage.

Tensions threatened to boil over when Dodgers reliever Justin Wrobleski hit Andres Gimenez with a pitch, and both benches cleared as players ran on the field to confront each other.

Toronto’s veteran starter Max Scherzer came out of the game with the lead still 3-1 in the fifth inning, and the Dodgers rallied in the sixth when Tommy Edman’s sacrifice fly scored Mookie Betts to reduce the deficit to one run.

Back came the Blue Jays, when Ernie Clement’s stolen base put him in position for Gimenez to drive him in with a right-field double.

As is common in a World Series game seven, both sides made frequent pitching changes, even turning to starting pitchers from earlier in the series.

Trey Yesavage, who had started games one and five for Toronto, gave up Muncy’s solo shot in the eighth, before Rojas’ last-gasp effort off Jeff Hoffman levelled the scores.

Toronto loaded the bases in the bottom of the ninth but failed to conjure a run, and the Dodgers did the same in the 10th as expectation mounted, but both sides fluffed their lines.

It was only the sixth time in history that a World Series game seven had gone to extra innings, and Smith’s homer put the Dodgers within sight of the title.

The Blue Jays were tantalisingly close to taking it to a 12th inning or even winning it with a walk-off, but Yoshinobu Yamamoto, the Dodgers’ winning pitcher from games two and six, picked up another win in relief and was named as the series’ Most Valuable Player.

Source: https://www.bbc.com/sport/baseball/articles/c4gwwvzxer2o

Molecule, a pill promising rapid weight loss, went viral on Russian TikTok earlier this year.

Young people’s feeds started filling up with captions like “Take Molecule and forget food exists”, and “Do you want to sit in the back of the class in oversized clothes?”

Clips showed fridges lined with blue boxes featuring holograms and “Molecule Plus” labels.

The orders began piling in, as teenagers shared their “weight-loss journeys” on social media.

But there was a catch.

Maria, 22, had purchased the pill from a popular online retailer. She took two pills per day and, after two weeks, says her mouth dried up and she completely lost her appetite.

“I had absolutely no desire to eat, let alone drink. I was nervous. I was constantly biting my lips and chewing my cheeks.”

Maria developed severe anxiety and began having negative thoughts. “These pills were having a profound effect on my psyche,” she says.

Maria, who lives in St Petersburg, says she wasn’t prepared for such severe side effects.

Other TikTok users mentioned dilated pupils, tremors and insomnia. And at least three schoolchildren are reported to have ended up in hospital.

In April, a schoolgirl in Chita, Siberia, needed hospital care after overdosing on Molecule. According to local reports, she was trying to lose weight quickly, in time for the summer.

The mother of another schoolgirl told local media her daughter was admitted to intensive care after taking several pills at once.

And in May, a 13-year-old boy from St Petersburg needed hospital care after experiencing hallucinations and panic attacks. He had reportedly asked a friend to buy him the pill because he was being teased at school about his weight.

Substance banned in UK, EU and US
The packaging for Molecule pills often lists “natural ingredients” such as dandelion root and fennel seed extract.

But earlier this year, journalists at the Russian newspaper Izvestiya submitted pills they had purchased online for testing and found they contained a substance called sibutramine.

First used as an antidepressant in the 1980s and later as an appetite suppressant, studies later found sibutramine increased the risk of heart attacks and strokes – while only slightly promoting weight loss.

It was banned in the US in 2010, and is also illegal in the UK, EU, China and other countries.

In Russia, it is still used to treat obesity, but available only to adults and by prescription.

Purchasing and selling sibutramine without a prescription is a criminal offence. But that hasn’t stopped individuals and small businesses from selling it online – often in higher doses than legal medication – and without requiring prescriptions.

The unlicensed pills cost about £6-7 ($8-9) for a 20-day supply – much cheaper than recognised weight-loss injections like Ozempic, which on the Russian market sell for £40-160 ($50-210) per monthly pen.

“Self-administration of this drug is very unsafe,” says endocrinologist Ksenia Solovieva from St Petersburg, warning of potential overdose risks, “because we do not know how much of the active ingredient such ‘dietary supplements’ may contain”.

Russians regularly receive prison sentences for purchasing and reselling Molecule pills. But it’s proving difficult for authorities to get a grip on the drug being sold illegally.

In April, the government-backed Safe Internet League reported the growing trend involving young people to the authorities – prompting several major online marketplaces to remove Molecule from sale. But it soon began appearing online under a new name, Atom, in near-identical packaging.

A law was recently passed allowing authorities to block websites selling “unregistered dietary supplements” without a court order – but sellers have been getting around this by categorising them as “sports nutrition” instead.

On TikTok, you can find retailers selling Molecule under listings that look like they are for muesli, biscuits and even lightbulbs. And some retailers aren’t even trying to hide it any more.

A few weeks ago, the BBC found Molecule listings on a popular Russian online marketplace. When approached for comment, the site said it had promptly removed any products containing sibutramine. But it admitted it was difficult to find and remove listings that didn’t explicitly mention sibutramine.

If you do manage to get your hands on Molecule, it’s hard to know exactly what you’re getting – and it’s unclear where the pills are being manufactured.

The BBC found some sellers with production certificates from factories in Guangzhou and Henan, in China. Others claim to be sourcing the pills from Germany.

Some packets state they were produced in Remagen in Germany – but the BBC has discovered there is no such company listed at the address given.

Certain Kazakh vendors selling Molecule to Russians told the BBC they bought stock from friends or warehouses in the capital Astana but couldn’t name the original supplier.

Details of support with eating disorders in the UK are available at BBC Action Line
Meanwhile, online eating-disorder communities have become spaces where Molecule is promoted, with users relying on hashtags and coded terms to slip past moderation.

Ms Solovieva says Molecule is particularly harmful when taken by young people who already have eating disorders. For those in or near relapse, an easily available appetite suppressant can be seriously dangerous, she says.

Anna Enina, a Russian influencer with millions of followers who herself has admitted using unlicensed weight-loss pills in the past, publicly warned her subscribers: “As someone who has struggled with an eating disorder… the consequences will be dire. You’ll regret it tenfold.”

Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c201xe61x0lo

Prince William’s feud with his uncle Andrew Mountbatten Windsor reportedly stems from a “rude” comment the former royal made about his nephew’s wife, Kate Middleton.

Author Andrew Lownie claimed in his royal biography, “The Rise and Fall of the Yorks,” that the Prince of Wales fully supported his father, King Charles III, in his decision to strip Andrew’s royal titles and honors due to his affiliation with late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

“He [William] also loathes Sarah [Ferguson], Andrew’s ex-wife, and can’t wait for the day when his father throws them both out,” read an excerpt from a source noted in the book, per Daily Mail.

The book continues: “If Charles doesn’t, I guarantee you the first thing William does when he eventually becomes king is to get them evicted.”

The author also noted that William, 43, also got upset that Andrew, 65, and Ferguson, 66, attended Katharine, Duchess of Kent’s funeral in September.

“William, meanwhile, was ‘furious’ at being ambushed in this way, according to friends. He has been at pains to distance himself from his uncle and not be photographed with him,” Lownie claimed in the book.

“He believes his father has not dealt with him with sufficient firmness and that Andrew — and Sarah Ferguson — have done much to undermine the good work of other members of the Royal Family.”

Andrew’s alleged remark toward Middleton, also 43, was not disclosed.

Reps for Kensington Palace did not immediately respond to Page Six’s request for comment.

Andrew was stripped of his royal titles by Charles on Thursday amid a renewed interest in the former prince’s ties to sex trafficker Epstein.

The title removal applies to Prince, Duke of York, Earl of Inverness, Baron Killyleagh and “His Royal Highness.” The honors affected include his Order of the Garter and Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order.

Page Six was told that Andrew will be relocating to a property on the private Sandringham estate after he was evicted from his royal lodging.

Ferguson, on the other hand, will make her own arrangements. She has also lost her Duchess of York title.

The former couple’s two daughters, Princess Beatrice, 37, and Princess Eugenie, 35, retained their royal titles amid the scandal.

At the time, we’re told Andrew “has not objected” to the effective changes.

Weeks prior to Charles’ official announcement, the former British Navy captain pledged that he would no longer use [his] royal title or honors because his ongoing allegations “distract from the work of His Majesty and the Royal family.”

Andrew wrote in a statement, “I have decided, as I always have, to put my duty to my family and country first. I stand by my decision five years ago to stand back from public life.”

However, Andrew added, “With His Majesty’s agreement, we feel I must now go a step further. I will therefore no longer use my title or the honours which have been conferred upon me.”

Source: https://pagesix.com/2025/11/01/royal-family/the-real-reason-prince-william-loathed-uncle-andrew-mountbatten-windsor-revealed/

The incident comes as immigration raids across Chicago are ramping up with Trump also threatening to send in the National Guard into the staunchly Democrat city

An immigration agent was caught on camera appearing to point a handgun at bystanders before slamming a man’s head into the tarmac.

The incident in Evanston, Illinois, on Friday was filmed by concerned witnesses. The man can be heard telling agents he can’t breathe. As the agent appears to strike the man, outrage can be heard from witnesses nearby, with one heard asking: “Why did you do that?”

A longer video of the same incident shows the same agent pull out his gun and point it at someone off screen. A bystander can be heard shouting: “Put that gun away. What are you going to do, shoot people?”

According to the Department of Homeland Security, agents “were being aggressively tailgated by a red vehicle,” which crashed into the agents’ SUV.

A spokesperson said in a statement: “A hostile crowd surrounded agents and their vehicle, and began verbally abusing them and spitting on them. As Border patrol arrested one individual, who actively resisted arrest, pepper spray was deployed spray to deter the agitator and disperse the crowd. ”

Three citizens were arrested during the incident. It is unclear if the man on the ground was involved in the incident described by the DHS.

The DHS also claimed five illegal immigrants from Mexico were arrested in Evanston and neighboring Skokie. They say they had criminal histories, including trespassing charges and multiple illegal entries into the US.

Chicago has become one of the epicenters of Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigrants. With money being poured into the DHS and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, communities are feeling the brunt of the raids being conducted across the country.

Locals have been left terrified. Allie Harned, of Evanston, said: “Our children are terrified, and our families are terrified, and some are not sending their kids to school. They’re missing school. They’re missing their education. It’s not okay. This is not okay.”

Schools in Evanston and neighboring Skokie took precautions to protect students from immigration raids.

Source: https://www.themirror.com/news/us-news/immigration-agent-pointed-gun-bystander-1479383

Maldives seeks to “protect public health and promote a tobacco-free generation” with a ban on tobacco use for those born after 2007.

A generational prohibition on tobacco went into effect in the Maldives on Saturday, the country’s Health Ministry said.

Maldives is now the only country in the world with such a ban.

The measure will apply to anyone born after January 2007. The policy received backing from President Mohamed Muizzu earlier this year.

A statement from the Health Ministry said the goal of the ban is to “protect public health and promote a tobacco-free generation.”

“Under the new provision, individuals born on or after January 1, 2007 are prohibited from purchasing, using, or being sold tobacco products within the Maldives,” the statement read.

“The ban applies to all forms of tobacco, and retailers are required to verify age prior to sale,” it added.

Selling tobacco products to an underage person would mean a fine of 50,000 rufiyaa ($3,200).

Ban applies to tourists
The Maldives is a South Asian nation of 1,191 tiny coral islets scattered some 800 kilometers (500 miles) from north to south, with the Equator passing through its southern atolls.

The archipelagic country is known for its luxury tourism.

Tourists will also be subject to the comprehensive ban, which also includes the import, sale, distribution, possession, and use of electronic cigarettes and vaping products.

Source: https://www.dw.com/en/maldives-generational-ban-on-smoking-goes-into-effect/a-74585078

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said he disagreed with the airing of an anti-tariffs ad featuring Republican icon Ronald Reagan that exacerbated tensions with the US government.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney formally apologized to the United States on Saturday for an ad depicting the former US President Ronald Reagan that set off Donald Trump’s anger and led to a halt of tariff talks with Canada.

Carney confirmed the apology while speaking to reporters after attending the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in South Korea.

“I did apologize to the president,” Carney said. The remark confirmed comments that Trump made on Friday.

Carney said he had reviewed the ad before it aired and had opposed it.

The ad was put forth by Ontario Premier Doug Ford and it featured the voice of Reagan talking about the disadvantages of trade tariffs, in excerpts from a 1987 address broadcast on radio.

The then Republican president, who died in 2004, made the address to explain why he decided to impose tariffs on some Japanese products.

Angry about the ad, Trump declared an end to “all trade negotiations” with Canada.

“I told Ford I did not want to go forward with the ad,” Carney told reporters.

Trump and Carney shared ‘very nice’ conversation
Trump had told reporters that he had a “very nice” conversation with Carney at a dinner during the summit in South Korea, but did not elaborate.

Despite the apology, Trump still said the United States and Canada will not restart trade talks.

Meanwhile, Carney downplayed tensions on Saturday, saying he was relaxed about when talks would resume.

Source: https://www.dw.com/en/canadian-pm-apologizes-to-trump-over-reagan-ad/a-74584147

Hurricane Melissa slammed into Jamaica on October 28 as a catastrophic Category 5 storm, the strongest to ever make landfall on the island nation. The storm’s rapid intensification over unusually warm Caribbean waters highlights a trend scientists have long warned about, where climate change fuels more powerful and destructive weather events.

The devastation in Jamaica and neighboring islands is expected to renew calls from developing nations for financial aid from wealthier countries to cope with the escalating impacts of a warming planet.

Wind speeds were well above the minimum level for the strongest hurricane classification. Forecasters at AccuWeather said it tied in second place for strongest-ever Atlantic hurricane on record in terms of wind speed when it struck land.

Melissa’s wind speeds are one of the highest in the Caribbean basin

Melissa is the most powerful hurricane to make landfall on Jamaica since Gilbert in 1988.

No stranger to hurricanes, Jamaica had never before been known to take a direct hit from a Category 4 or 5 storm (Gilbert made landfall as a Category 3), and the government called for foreign aid even as it prepared for Melissa’s arrival.

“It’s a catastrophic situation,” the World Meteorological Organization’s tropical cyclone specialist Anne-Claire Fontan told a press briefing ahead of the storm making landfall. “For Jamaica, it will be the storm of the century for sure.”

Melissa’s size and strength ballooned as it churned over unusually warm Caribbean waters, and forecasters warned that its slow movement could prove particularly destructive.

Jamaica and Haiti experienced heavy torrential rain

The storm’s trajectory across multiple islands and slow movement meant that rain lingered over regions for extended periods.

Authorities in Haiti, which was not directly hit but nevertheless suffered days of torrential rains from the slow-moving storm, reported at least 25 deaths, mostly in the southern town of Petit-Goave when a river burst its banks.

The banks of a river also caved in and carried off part of a national highway, local newspaper Le Nouvelliste reported. The road, which had been weakened by last year’s Hurricane Beryl, connected to the nearby city of Jacmel.

Melissa also hit eastern Cuba, where some 735,000 evacuated, but as of Thursday, no deaths were reported there, despite extensive damage to homes and crops.

Meteorologists at AccuWeather said Melissa ranked as the third most intense hurricane observed in the Caribbean after Wilma in 2005 and Gilbert in 1988 – the last major storm to make landfall in Jamaica.

Hurricanes are getting stronger, faster.

Scientists warn that storms are intensifying faster with greater frequency as a result of warming ocean waters. Rapid intensification is when hurricanes grow their wind speed over 35 mph in less than 24 hours, making it hard to predict the danger they may present.

Melissa rapidly intensified in less than 24 hours

This storm is now the fourth of this year’s five Atlantic hurricanes to undergo rapid intensification.

Many Caribbean leaders have called on wealthy, heavy-polluting nations to provide reparations in the form of aid or debt relief to tropical island countries.

Damage in Jamaica

Melissa made landfall in southwestern Jamaica, near the parish border between Westmoreland and St. Elizabeth, one of the areas hardest-hit by Beryl.

St. Elizabeth was submerged by flooding, local government minister Desmond McKenzie told a press briefing. Its only public hospital lost power and reported severe damage to one of its buildings.

Prime Minister Andrew Holness visited the hospital, where aerial footage showed the wrecks of buildings, roofs blown off, power cables knocked down and fields strewn with rubble.

SEAN “Diddy” Combs will have an easy time serving the remainder of his sentence at a relaxed college dormitory-style prison, but must undergo rigorous visitation protocols, including strip-searches, an ex-inmate said.

Combs, who is serving a 50-month sentence after being convicted of two prostitution-related offenses, was transferred from the notoriously neglected Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn to FCI Fort Dix in New Jersey on Thursday.

The fallen Bad Boy Records producer, 55, got his way after the Federal Bureau of Prisons granted his request to serve out his sentence at the low-security federal prison.

Bill Boyle, a former inmate who spent 14 months at Fort Dix, said if Combs survived the MDC for over a year, the New Jersey lockup is “going to be a breeze for him.”

Boyle described the living situation at Fort Dix as similar to a college or military barracks, “You have 12 men in a cell and it’s not a true cell. It’s basically a dorm,” he told The U.S. Sun.

“You have three sets of bunk beds on one side of the wall, three sets on the other. The door to your cell they don’t lock, so you’re not necessarily really locked in because there’s no bathroom in those cells.

“So, you have to have access to a bathroom. None of the doors lock. The front door locks and they lock you in but that’s the front door to get in and out of there.”

However, despite the lenient housing regulations, Boyle, the founder of Federal Prison Consultants, said the facility’s infrastructure is just as brutal as in the MDC.

“At Fort Dix, there’s three levels, three floors to these units, and you’re in the shower and you’re getting the discarded shower water from the shower above the third floor running down hitting you,” Boyle said.

“That’s disgusting. Then, some days the shower water would come out scolding hot or it would just literally burn your skin.

“Some days it was cold, ice cold like a Mountain Creek. You had a bath but it was very, very hard.

“Some days the water would come out and hit you like a fire hose.

“You couldn’t even stand under it, it was so fast, and other times come out like a trickle like someone was pouring a tiny glass of water on you.”

“So, the daily living conditions are brutal. The food once again horrific. They don’t feed you enough.”

Boyle, who is releasing a book, My Journey Through Hell While I’m Alive, in early 2026 about his experience behind bars, said he was housed in the west compound of the prison, which he heard from other inmates was the best out of the three sections.

“They got the east side, the west side, and the camp. I was in the west, which believe or not, they said was the better of the two because the east, the buildings were even more dilapidated, and I couldn’t imagine that,” he added.

RIGOROUS VISITATION RULES

Combs’ legal team requested that the music mogul be housed at Fort Dix because of the facility’s drug rehabilitation program and to maximize family visitation.

But Boyle said that despite Combs’ superstar status, he’ll have to be strip-searched before and after every visitation.

“That’s probably the hardest part,” Boyle, who was sentenced to 78 months after being convicted of federal mail and wire fraud charges, said of the visitation procedure at Fort Dix.

“Families go through rigorous screening protocol. For Diddy when he goes, he’ll come down, he’ll walk into a little cement block cubicle, and if it’s a cold day he’ll be freezing his nuts off, and you strip naked as the inmate.

“Completely naked. You got to show under your tongue, you got to run your hands through your hair, lift up your ball sack, you got to bend over and cough.

“That’s on the way into the visiting room and then you do the same exact thing on the way out of the visit.

“I hated to put my kids and my family through coming to see me in terms of getting through security because it’s very demoralizing for them as well.

“The visits, they’re very, very, very strict. You can give a hug when they first walk in, a quick peck, but there’s no intimacy because you’re sitting on hard plastic chairs in the visiting room and you’re lined up side by side.”

Boyle added, “You’re not even facing each other. You got to turn your body a little bit.

“So, it’s just rows and rows of plastic chairs, basically if I’m sitting on one chair and my kids sitting at the next chair there’s another inmate sitting next to his loved one.

“So there’s not really a time for real private conversation.

“But if he survived MDC for a little over a year and a half, Fort Dix is going to be a breeze for him, whether it’s the camp or the low, but he’s still somebody worth millions of dollars used to flying private, living in the best places.”

Combs was reportedly assigned laundry duties as his first job in Fort Dix, washing and drying dirty laundry, according to TMZ.

The disgraced hitmaker is scheduled to be released on May 8, 2028, but could be released sooner for good behavior.

Members of Combs’ team have reportedly approached White House officials in the Trump administration about a potential pardon.

President Donald Trump acknowledged the request, telling reporters in the Oval Office in early October, “A lot of people have asked me for pardons.

“I call him Puff Daddy; he has asked me for a pardon.”

DIDDY’S PUNISHMENT

Combs’ sensational eight-week trial concluded over the summer when a 12-person jury acquitted him of racketeering conspiracy and two counts of sex trafficking but convicted him of two prostitution charges.

During the trial, jurors heard excruciating testimony from two of Combs’ ex-girlfriends, including singer Cassandra “Cassie” Ventura, about the years-long abuse they suffered at the hands of the rap heavy-hitter.

Ventura and another woman, identified in court only as Jane, testified about the depraved drug-fueled sex marathons, “freak-offs,” they were allegedly coerced into with male escorts.

At his sentencing, Combs addressed the court for the first time since his legal troubles began in November 2023, begging the judge for mercy in his 12-minute speech.

In his remarks, Combs apologized to Ventura and Jane before turning to his family and telling his mother, Janice, “I failed you as a son and I’m sorry.”

He acknowledged the disturbing hotel surveillance footage of his assault on Ventura and apologized to all victims of domestic violence.

“I know that the disgusting video triggered people. I was sick. Sick from the drugs. I needed help. But I didn’t get the help,” Combs said in a shaky voice.

Source : https://www.the-sun.com/entertainment/15426100/diddys-new-prison-conditions-fort-dix-ex-inmate/

The former reality star has been scrutinized over her parenting after the teen has made numerous changes to her appearance

TEEN Mom Farrah Abraham’s teenage daughter, Sophia, has showcased her drastic transformation, including lip piercings and permanent fangs, in a new video.

The mother-daughter duo filmed themselves in the bathroom while flaunting their Halloween costumes.

In the clip posted earlier this week on Sophia’s Instagram page, the pair participated in a silly TikTok trend where they commented on the teen’s dark look.

“Check it, I’m a scary black cat,” Sophia mouthed to the camera while sporting a skintight black leather corset, a miniskirt, and heavy black makeup.

She completed the ensemble with black stockings and a big furry hat with gloves attached, mimicking cat paws.

Farrah, 34, stood beside her daughter, rocking a white, knee-high dress, a black leather jacket, a wedding veil, and dark makeup, seemingly channeling the character Tiffany from the 1998 horror film The Bride of Chucky.

“The only person that costume scares is me. Go change it,” the young mom mouthed over the track.

It was only recently that Sophia added to her dramatic makeover with permanent fang teeth and a giant stomach tattoo.

Before that, the 16-year-old received multiple lip and body piercings, which had fans divided over whether the behavior was appropriate for her age.

Most critics slammed Farrah for her seemingly loose parenting style and for allowing Sophia to make such significant changes to her appearance.

Teen Mom fans first met Farrah when she starred on MTV‘s 16 & Pregnant in 2009.

At the time, she was preparing for single motherhood following her baby daddy, Derek Underwood’s death, before Sophia was born.

Farrah went on to star in the spinoff series Teen Mom OG until she was fired in 2017 for her work in the adult entertainment industry.

Since her departure, Farrah has had a strained relationship with many of her former co-stars.

Most recently, the ex-TV personality was involved in a heated feud with Jenelle Evans, 33, who was axed from the franchise in 2019 after her then-husband, David Eason, shot and killed the family dog.

Farrah accused Jenelle of being a “horrible mom” regarding her parenting choices of her four kids, particularly her oldest son, Jace, which has been heavily discussed in the media.

The MTV alum also took a personal jab at Jenelle, calling her a “copycat” for allegedly trying to replicate her career outside of the show.

Farrah has focused much of her efforts on her OnlyFans, public appearances, and social media presence.

She’s been photographed numerous times in recent months wearing revealing outfits.

In July, Farrah posted photos of her posing in sexy white lingerie, and last month, she drew attention while frolicking on the beach in Miami donning multiple revealing swimsuits.

Source : https://www.the-sun.com/entertainment/15426366/teen-mom-farrah-abraham-daughter-sophia-fangs-piercings-goth/

President Frank-Walter Steinmeier is traveling to Egypt, Ghana and Angola, accompanied by German business leaders. The goal is to boost economic partnerships through investment in infrastructure and renewable energy.

To start his weeklong tour of Africa, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier will attend the opening of the Grand Egyptian Museum in Giza, Egypt , on Saturday . After marveling at the important archaeological museum, which houses more than 100,000 artifacts and will display the complete Tutankhamun tomb collection for the first time, Steinmeier will get down to business.

Steinmeier’s focus during his planned visits, including stops in Ghana and Angola, will be on strengthening economic cooperation with African governments. A business delegation will accompany Steinmeier on his trip.

Egypt is attractive for German entrepreneurs

Khadi Camara, deputy head of countries and markets at the German-African Business Association, told DW that Egypt is very promising for German companies. “The country is one of the few markets in which Germany is implementing large-scale projects on a broad basis and in various sectors,” she told DW, referring to infrastructure and rail projects, digitization, and industry. More and more companies are choosing Egypt as an investment location, she added.

The security situation in the region and the future of Gaza will be on the agenda for Steinmeier’s meeting with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sissi.

In September 2024, Steinmeier visited Egypt and praised its efforts to mediate in the conflict between Israel and Hamas.

Egypt and Ghana, the second stop on the German president’s trip, are partners in the G20 Compact with Africa (CwA) initiative. It was launched under the German G20 presidency in 2017 to create investment for sustainable economic growth in reform-oriented African countries. 13 African countries are members of the CwA.

“The Compact with Africa has led to the German government’s export credit guarantees for these countries being assigned a better risk category,” Camara said. Germany seeks to maintain this partnership by making it relevant. The framework conditions for trade are not yet what they should be, and obstacles must continue to be removed.

Steinmeier will meet with Ghanaian President John Dramani Mahama in Accra on Monday. Mahama has been in office since January; he won the election in December with the promise of a modern 24-hour economy . Gold mining and the construction sector, in particular, are expected to drive growth.

With a population of just under 35 million, Ghana is a relatively small economy. The country mainly supplies cocoa to Germany. Other important exports include fruit, rubber, and ores.

Ghana: A center for vaccine production

Another building block for expanding cooperation is vaccine research. Germany and the European Union (EU) are supporting Ghana in positioning itself asa West African center for the production of vaccines and medicines. This will create more jobs and improve health care.

Ghana also has a thriving startup scene. Steinmeier’s agenda also includes a meeting with the founders to discuss innovations.

Anna Lena Wasserfall, the resident representative of the German Konrad Adenauer Foundation in the capital, Accra, said Ghana, was a priority country for Germany’s development cooperation. This applies in particular to the field of renewable energies, but also to good governance and the fight against corruption. “Certainly against the backdrop that Germany has an interest in Ghana remaining a stable partner in the region,” Wasserfall told DW.

Wasserfall points to the military coups in West Africa in recent years. In some countries, she says, governments are in power that are skeptical or even hostile toward cooperation with Western partners.

The strategic realignment of the partnership between the countries includes banking reforms designed to stabilize the financial sector and new laws intended to simplify the process of setting up businesses in Ghana. “Overall, it can be said that the measures implemented under the CwA have strengthened Ghana structurally, but have not triggered any profound investment momentum in the country,” Wasserfall added.

Improving the CwA

Wasserfall said the lack of investment in Ghana was not a sign of a lack of attractiveness, but rather an expression of structural weaknesses and uncertainties that make long-term commitments appear risky.

“These are factors such as high public debt and deficits, which undermine confidence in fiscal stability, compounded by high currency volatility,” Wasserfall said. Bureaucracy, corruption and weak law enforcement are also challenges. To improve economic conditions, Germany and the World Bank in Washington have launched the new G20 Compact with Africa Trust Fund. The aim is to generate more growth and good job prospects through increased investment in sustainable development, infrastructure projects, and well-trained skilled workers.

Angola’s ambition to join the CwA initiative

The oil-producing nation of Angola is interested in joining the CwA. As the first German president to visit Angola, Steinmeier will explore closer economic cooperation with the government from November 5 to 7.

Angola, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary of independence and is currently holding the rotating presidency of the African Union, could be a candidate for the next round of the CwA, Camara said.

“The government has strongly promoted the diversification of the economy. For example, German companies are also active in the hydrogen sector. Large hydroelectric power plants are being installed there, and there are also German projects in the infrastructure, health, and agricultural sectors,” she said.

Steinmeier plans to meet with President Joao Lourenco in the capital, Luanda. Lourenco’s word carries weight within Africa. For example, he has been mediating for years between the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Rwanda on the deadlocked situation in eastern Congo.

Source : https://www.dw.com/en/german-president-steinmeier-africa-tour-eyes-business-growth/a-74488873

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says the Russians are trying to capture the embattled city of Pokrovsk. It could enable further Russian advances in the Donetsk region, which it aims to occupy fully.

A year after 16 people were killed when a canopy at Novi Sad railway station collapsed, the Serbian government and the student movement remain locked in a war of attrition. A commemoration event is planned for Saturday.

Under normal circumstances, Novi Sad student Boris Kojcinovic would currently be scouring guides to master’s programs abroad.

But circumstances for students in Serbia are far from normal due to student-led university blockades that have been going on for almost a year now.

So instead, he divides his time between reading literature for his thesis and checking lists of volunteers for an event that will mark the first anniversary of the collapse of the concrete canopy at the entrance to Novi Sad railway station that killed 16 people on November 1, 2024.

Kojcinovic is one of the faces of the student protest movement that, as his fellow activists say, has laid bare what they see as an obvious truth, namely that corruption and systemic negligence led to the canopy collapse almost a year ago.

The student movement is organizing a gathering in the city on Saturday to commemorate those who died at the station. The event will mark the anniversary of a tragedy that has also had a profound impact on Serbian politics and society.

The growth of a movement

“Our victory is that people have realized that something isn’t working and that we need a just society with institutions that function,” Kojcinovic told DW.

Using the slogan “You’ve got blood on your hands” and flooding both online and offline spaces with images of red palmprints (the symbol of the protest), the Serbian student protest movement that emerged after the Novi Sad tragedy has over the past 12 months grown into a considerable network with supporters across the country and in the Serbian diaspora.

To make sure their call for justice is heard by as many people as possible, students have crisscrossed the country on foot, talked to people and organized countless demonstrations and protest events nationwide.

Groups of students have even cycled to Strasbourg and run to Brussels to take their message to the European Union.

Enduring student protests

Over the past year, the students have learned to plan, negotiate and endure on a major scale.

But they haven’t succeeded in forcing those in power to take responsibility.

The authorities, for their part, have adopted a multi-pronged approach, seeking to “soften up” students and lecturers by offering them cheap housing loans and higher salaries respectively, while using smear campaigns, physical attacks and heavy-handed police interventions to intimidate protesting citizens.

None of these tactics have worked.

A war of attrition

Political scientist Zoran Stojiljkovic described the situation to DW in August as “a balance of powerlessness” — an assessment that Bojan Klacar, executive director of the Center for Free Elections and Democracy (CESID), says still holds true.

“We are in a political crisis that has not been fully resolved and for which no final outcome is in sight in the short term,” Klacar told DW.

The ruling coalition still lacks full control of the situation and has lost its old dominance, but at least it is more consolidated than it was six months ago, when the protests were at their peak.

“The [ruling Serbian Progressive Party] SNS was mostly on the defensive until the end of April. Today it can set the agenda — and it does,” said Klacar.

The students are not in a better position either. Klacar says that the movement has considerably changed the social climate, but not political relations, in the country.

“They are not — in terms of infrastructure, program, ideology or the level of energy that exists at this moment — ready to turn the process in their favor. So, the two blocs are engaged in a game of patience, a battle of nerves and a certain kind of attrition,” he said.

Elections will be key

What students want are elections. The authorities, however, rarely mention the subject.

Serbia’s President Aleksandar Vucic has only said that elections will be held next year, without specifying when.

Klacar considers the timing of the election to be the SNS’s trump card. Choosing the date of the election will allow it to stay one step ahead of its opponents.

“It suits the SNS most for the elections to be held in about a year or somewhat later,” he said.

But for a late election to work in the government’s favor, the government would have to deliver more “good news” and resolve a number of accumulated problems — from US sanctions on the Russian-owned Serbian oil company NIS to possible difficulties in gas supplies.

“Without resolving those issues and without ensuring the stability preferred by SNS voters, I’m not sure the party will be fully ready for elections,” said Klacar.

Students insist they’ll be ready

For the students, on the other hand, two conditions are decisive: maintaining high protest energy and creating a referendum-like atmosphere, where people would see an election as a poll on Vucic and the SNS.

The students are adamant they will be ready no matter when elections are called because they are already preparing for an election at “full steam.”

In addition to organizing protests, they are building an electoral infrastructure that includes teams, observers and a political program.

The students’ list of candidates is almost complete but remains shrouded in secrecy.

This has drawn both criticism and praise: While some say voters should know who will be standing for election as soon as possible, others argue that it is wiser to wait to avoid candidates being discredited by the ruling party and aligned media at an early stage.

“The student list resembles the student movement itself,” says student Boris Kojcinovic. “It is diverse in education, origin and even political orientation.”

“The idea,” he adds, “is that we don’t think about whether we are conservative or liberal, left or right, whether we are believers or not; we want something in common — and that common goal is a better, properly run, just society with institutions that function.”

Source : https://www.dw.com/en/serbia-novi-sad-tragedy-one-year-anniversary-explained/a-74529170                                                                                     

In a testament to Kim Kardashian’s power to grab the spotlight, the head of NASA felt compelled this week to set the record straight when the reality TV queen said she believed a well-worn conspiracy theory that the 1969 Apollo 11 moon landing was a fake.

In a new episode of Hulu’s long-running family saga “The Kardashians,” the show’s star said she thinks the lunar landing by astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin was a fiction.

What convinced her, she said during the segment, was a video she saw online of an Aldrin interview. She said she interpreted his comments in that interview to mean the moon landing never occurred.

Since the 1970s, skeptics have floated the notion that the mission – viewed live by tens of millions of people around the world – was actually staged.

That theory has waxed and waned over the years, but Sean Duffy, U.S. Transportation Secretary and NASA’s acting administrator, wasted no time in shooting it down after Kardashian told her 4 million viewers that she was embracing the idea.

“Yes, @KimKardashian, we’ve been to the Moon before … 6 times!” Duffy wrote on Thursday on the X social media platform.

In fact, he said, the U.S. was going back to the moon under the leadership of President Donald Trump. In 2026, the Artemis II mission is scheduled to send astronauts on a 10-day trip around the moon, ahead of a planned moon landing in 2027.

“We won the last space race and we will win this one too,” Duffy wrote.

Kardashian referenced a video in which Aldrin, now 95, was asked what was the “scariest moment” during the Apollo mission. Reading from her phone, Kardashian quoted Aldrin as saying: “There was no scary moment, because it didn’t happen.”

The reality star then said: “So I think it didn’t happen.”

Aldrin’s remarks appear to have been taken out of context from a 2015 onstage appearance at Britain’s Oxford Union debating society.

During the event, Aldrin was asked by someone in the audience, “What was the scariest moment of the journey?”

Source : https://www.channelnewsasia.com/singapore/lawrence-wong-apec-2025-trump-xi-5438131

China has plans to send a crewed mission to the Moon by the end of the decade.

A crew of three Chinese astronauts, including the country’s youngest, docked early Saturday (Nov 1) at the Tiangong space station, accompanied by four lab mice.

The Shenzhou-21 spaceship docked at 3.22am (7.22pm GMT Friday), China’s state news agency Xinhua reported.

That was about three-and-a-half hours after the spaceship departed from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China, powered aloft by a Long March-2F rocket.

The Tiangong space station – crewed by teams of three astronauts that are exchanged every six months – is the crown jewel of China’s space programme, into which billions of dollars have been poured in a bid to catch up with the United States and Russia.

China has bold plans to send a crewed mission to the Moon by the end of the decade and eventually to build a base on the lunar surface.

Mission commander and veteran space pilot Zhang Lu is accompanied by 32-year-old flight engineer Wu Fei, China’s youngest astronaut to undertake a space mission, and payload specialist Zhang Hongzhang, 39.

The three astronauts waved goodbye to colleagues and family members at the remote launch base in the Gobi Desert as a band played a patriotic song.

Zhang Lu told reporters on Thursday he was confident his team would “report back to our motherland and its people with complete success”.

Space first-timer Wu told a news conference Thursday that he felt “incomparably lucky”.

Four mice – two male and two female – join them as the subjects of China’s first in-orbit experiments on rodents.

“SPACE DREAM”

Beijing’s space programme is the third to put humans in orbit, after the United States and the former Soviet Union.

China has ramped up plans to achieve its “space dream” under President Xi Jinping, successfully landing its Chang’e-4 probe on the far side of the Moon in 2019, the first spacecraft to do so.

It then landed a small robot on Mars in 2021.

On Thursday, the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) outlined a series of “crucial upcoming tests” it was undertaking in preparation for its 2030 Moon goal.

In addition to advancing scientific research, the Shenzhou-21 crew is expected to go on spacewalks and install anti-debris shields on Tiangong’s exterior.

The astronauts are also expected to conduct “popular science education”, the CMSA said, as Beijing searches for future space talent both domestically and internationally.

Source : https://www.channelnewsasia.com/east-asia/china-launches-shenzhou-21-mission-tiangong-space-station-5438716

There’s nothing “Hot N Cold” about their relationship.

Katy Perry confirmed her romance with former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau during her Prague concert after a fan in the crowd asked the singer to marry him with a sign.

“This guy is trying to get me to marry him and he has a ring in his hand,” Perry said on Thursday, per a TikTok video of the interaction.

“No! I am dating someone else for crying out f–king loud,” she told the crowd.

@cookie.grafie
i can‘t with this woman 😂😂😂 @Katy Perry #katyperry #lifetimestour #prague #concert #katycats

♬ Silencio Blanco Es Asesinato Piano-JP – Thirst Follow

The announcement comes shortly after the pair made their first public appearance together at Paris’ Crazy Horse cabaret as they celebrated Perry’s 41st birthday earlier this week.

A source told Page Six earlier this week that Trudeau, 53, is on cloud nine dating the pop star.

“He is crazy about her and thinks she is the perfect woman,” the insider described. “They are simpatico on everything including politics, kids and French food.”

“They both have a sparkle for each other,” the source added.

The duo first sparked romance rumors in July when they were seen having dinner at chic Le Violon restaurant in Montreal.

A few days later, Trudeau was spotted watching Perry take the stage at her “Lifetimes” tour stop at Montreal’s Bell Centre.

They were since spotted getting hot and heavy on a yacht date earlier this month while they sailed off the coast of Santa Barbara, Calif.

But, while Trudeau is a fan of the romance, other sources previously told Page Six that the relationship is the former politician’s version of a “midlife crisis.”

Source : https://pagesix.com/2025/10/31/celebrity-news/katy-perry-confirms-justin-trudeau-romance-while-rejecting-fans-marriage-proposal/

President Trump on Friday unveiled the latest in his series of White House makeovers — a gleaming, all-marble renovation of the historic Lincoln Bathroom — and, in true Trump fashion, he did it with fanfare and plenty of polish.

Posting photos on his Truth Social platform, Trump bragged that he had replaced what he called the “inappropriate” 1940s-era art deco green tile design with “black and white polished Statuary marble,” accented with gold fixtures.

“I renovated the Lincoln Bathroom in the White House,” the president wrote, sharing before-and-after images of the small but storied space near the Lincoln Bedroom.

“It was renovated in the 1940s in an art deco green tile style, which was totally inappropriate for the Lincoln Era.”

He wrote in another post that he used “highly polished, statuary marble.

“I did it in black and white polished Statuary marble,” Trump wrote.

“This was very appropriate for the time of Abraham Lincoln and, in fact, could be the marble that was originally there!” Trump quipped in a follow-up post on Truth Social.

The glossy makeover — complete with gilded mirrors and ornate trim — fits neatly into Trump’s long-standing taste for glitz, grandeur and marble.

It also comes amid controversy over his larger move demolishing the East Wing of the White House to build a sprawling 90,000-square-foot, $300 million ballroom.

The project, which Trump says will be paid for entirely by private donors, has drawn widespread criticism.

A new ABC News/Washington Post/Ipsos poll found that 56% of Americans oppose the project tearing down the East Wing, including 45% who “strongly” oppose it.

Just 28% support the construction of the ballroom, which Trump has described as “the most beautiful, most luxurious event space in Washington.”

Critics have blasted the ballroom construction as a vanity project that disrespects White House history, while supporters say Trump is restoring elegance to a building that has seen decades of wear and modernization.

Earlier this month, Trump slammed President Harry Truman’s postwar redesign of the Lincoln Bedroom and adjoining bathroom, calling the mid-century makeover “a style that is not good.

“It is actually art deco and art deco doesn’t go with 1850 and civil wars,” Trump said at the time, insisting that his update was truer to Lincoln’s legacy.

Source : https://nypost.com/2025/10/31/us-news/trump-unveils-lincoln-bathroom-renovation-complete-with-gold-accents/

Erika Kirk fights back tears in her first interview since the assassination of her husband, conservative activist Charlie Kirk, during a preview aired Friday on Fox News Channel’s “Jesse Watters Primetime.”

In the clip, Watters played a video of Charlie discussing Turning Point USA, the organization he founded to promote conservative student activism.

“Wow, he looks so good,” Erika said as she watched. “Sorry, guys, just give me a second. It’s the longest video I’ve watched of him.”

Watters, who also grew teary during the segment, told her that Charlie “was on a mission to save Western civilization” and asked whether she knew that was “what you signed up for.”

“You know, well, no, I didn’t sign up for anything,” Erika replied. “I just married the love of my life.”

The interview marks Erika Kirk’s first televised sit-down since her 31-year-old husband was fatally shot at a Turning Point USA event at Utah Valley University on Sept. 10.

Tyler Robinson, 22, of Utah, has been charged with first-degree murder in the killing.

Kirk founded Turning Point USA in 2012 and became a key figure in the MAGA movement, hosting a popular podcast and speaking at Republican events nationwide.

The emotional sit-down with host Jesse Watters will air in full on Wednesday, followed by an extended multi-part docuseries on Fox Nation two days later.

Fox News announced the interview earlier this week, saying that it would cover “the impactful legacy that Charlie left on the nation, the power of faith in their lives, the timeline of what happened the day he was killed, and the future of Turning Point USA.”

Fox News is owned by Fox Corp, sister company to The Post’s corporate parent News Corp.

The segment will be followed by a Fox Nation documentary series, “This Is the Turning Point,” featuring behind-the-scenes footage of Erika Kirk as she assumed leadership of her husband’s student movement.

The grieving widow appeared on stage at the University of Mississippi (Ole Miss) on Wednesday night before a sold-out crowd that came out to see her first Turning Point USA campus appearance since her husband’s murder.

The event was marked by a video tribute to Charlie Kirk, which naturally elicited an emotional reaction from Erika before she took the microphone.

Source : https://nypost.com/2025/10/31/us-news/erika-kirk-calls-charlie-kirk-the-love-of-her-life-in-preview-of-first-interview-since-his-assassination/

Babar Azam broke Rohit Sharma’s record for most runs in men’s Twenty20s as Pakistan hammered South Africa by nine wickets and leveled their series on Friday.

Babar Azam broke Rohit Sharma’s record for most runs in men’s Twenty20s as Pakistan hammered South Africa by nine wickets and leveled their series on Friday. Saim Ayub returned to form with a belligerent unbeaten 71 off 38 balls as Pakistan raced to 112-1 in just 13.1 overs after bowling out South Africa for 110. Fast bowlers Salman Mirza and Faheem Ashraf shared seven wickets. The third and deciding T20 is on Saturday. Babar needed nine runs to pass Sharma’s record of 4,231 runs and finished 11 not out. He overtook the Indian batter’s record when he drove spinner Donovan Ferreira for a single to long-off.

Pakistan recalled Babar for his first T20s in almost a year after Fakhar Zaman was rested. Babar missed the chance in the first match to set the record when he was dismissed for a two-ball duck at Rawalpindi on Tuesday.

Source : https://sports.ndtv.com/cricket/babar-azam-breaks-rohit-sharmas-world-record-in-pakistans-big-win-against-south-africa-9554450

The White House has restricted reporters’ access to West Wing communications offices, citing security concerns after some were allegedly caught secretly recording videos and audio. The White House Correspondents’ Association condemned the move, calling it a blow to transparency and press freedom.

The White House has imposed new restrictions on journalists’ access to the West Wing, limiting movement in and out of the communications staff offices, a space that reporters have long been able to freely enter while covering the administration.
According to a memo released Friday by Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt and Communications Director Steven Cheung, reporters will now need an appointment to visit the offices of senior communications aides. The White House cited “recent structural changes” as the official reason, noting that communications staff are now working more closely with the National Security Council and routinely handle “sensitive material.”
However, the move also follows growing tensions between the Trump administration and the press. Cheung claimed on X (formerly Twitter) that “some reporters have been caught secretly recording video and audio of our offices, along with pictures of sensitive info, without permission.” He added that journalists had wandered into restricted areas, eavesdropped on private meetings, and even ambushed Cabinet secretaries as they entered or exited offices near the Oval Office.

“Press still has access to the lower press area where our team can answer all inquiries,” Cheung wrote. “Reporters can make appointments to see us in our offices.”

The new rules come amid a broader pattern of media restrictions under President Donald Trump’s administration. Certain outlets have been excluded from closed-door briefings, and new Pentagon access rules have forced many reporters to cover the military from outside its headquarters. Trump has also suggested moving the White House press corps “across the street” from the main building.

Source : https://www.timesnownews.com/world/us/us-news/new-mexico-explosion-reported-at-artesias-navajo-oil-refinery-no-word-yet-on-casualties-article-153083403

Vice President JD Vance dressed up as his own viral meme for Halloween, complete with a curly wig, leaving social media in splits. Users on X called him a “legend” and joked that it was the “best costume of the year.”

US Vice President JD Vance turned heads this Halloween after dressing up as his own viral meme. He also extended Halloween wishes saying, “Happy Halloween everyone, remember to say thank you while you trick or treat!”

Wearing a curly wig and mimicking the look that once made him an internet sensation, photos of Vance’s costume went viral online, sparking a wave of amused reactions from social media users.

In an irate post on X, Vance called the backlash “disgusting” and said that although he acknowledged the question about his interfaith marriage as a personal one, he was not going to avoid it being a “public figure”.

US Vice President JD Vance addressed criticism over his comments on wife Usha’s religion, and said that she is not a Christian and does not plan to convert. In an irate post on X, Vance called the backlash “disgusting” and said that although he acknowledged the question about his interfaith marriage as a personal one, he was not going to avoid it being a “public figure”.

The clarification comes after the Republican leader was condemned for saying that he would like if his Indian-origin, Hindu-raised wife could convert to Christianity. He also said that she joins him and their children at church, as they are being raised as Christians.

One of the posts on X said, ‘It’s weird to throw your wife’s religion under the bus, in public, for a moment’s acceptance by groypers.” Replying to this specific post, Vance explained himself in the social media post through three pointers.

“First off, the question was from a person seemingly to my left, about my interfaith marriage. I’m a public figure, and people are curious, and I wasn’t going to avoid the question”, he wrote.

In the second part of his post, Vance said that it is through Christianity that he knows the Gospel is good for human beings. He clarified that it was his wife who encouraged him to “reengage” with his faith years ago.

“She is not a Christian and has no plans to convert, but like many people in an interfaith marriage–or any interfaith relationship–I hope she may one day see things as I do”, he said.

He condemned the post and wrote that it wreaked of “anti-Christian bigotry”.

“Yes, Christians have beliefs. And yes, those beliefs have many consequences, one of which is that we want to share them with other people. That is a completely normal thing, and anyone who’s telling you otherwise has an agenda,” he added.

What JD Vance Said At Turning Point USA Event

At a Turning Point USA event in Mississippi on Wednesday, Vance said, “Now, most Sundays, Usha will come with me to church. As I’ve told her, and as I’ve said publicly, and as I’ll say now in front of 10,000 of my closest friends — do I hope, eventually, that she is somehow moved by the same thing that I was moved by in church? Yeah, I honestly do wish that because I believe in the Christian gospel and I hope eventually my wife comes to see it the same way”.

Source : https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/she-is-not-a-christian-has-no-plans-to-convert-jd-vance-on-wife-amid-row-9553617

Hurricane Melissa’s confirmed death toll climbed to 49 on Thursday, according to official reports, after wreaking destruction across much of the northern Caribbean and picking up speed as it headed past Bermuda in the North Atlantic.
Authorities in Haiti, which was not directly hit but nevertheless suffered days of torrential rains from the slow-moving storm, reported at least 30 deaths and 20 more missing.

At least 23 people, including 10 children, died in Haiti’s southern town of Petit-Goave when a river burst its banks. Roads, houses and farmlands were also damaged by the rains.
Jamaica’s information minister confirmed at least 19 deaths, but said authorities were continuing search and rescue efforts. The storm left hundreds of thousands without power, ripped roofs of buildings and scattered fields with rubble.
Jamaica’s military has called on reserve personnel to report for duty to help with relief and rescue operations.
Melissa made landfall in southwestern Jamaica on Tuesday as a powerful Category 5 hurricane, the Caribbean nation’s strongest-ever storm to directly hit its shores, and the first major hurricane to do so since 1988.

Windspeeds were well above the minimum level for the strongest hurricane classification. Forecasters at AccuWeather said it tied in second place for strongest-ever Atlantic hurricane on record in terms of windspeed when in struck land.
The forecaster estimated $48 billion to $52 billion in damage and economic loss across the western Caribbean.
Melissa also hit eastern Cuba, where some 735,000 evacuated, but as of Thursday, no deaths were reported there, despite extensive damage to homes and crops.
At 11:00 p.m. (0300 GMT), Melissa was a Category 2 storm 264 km (164 miles) west of the North Atlantic British island territory of Bermuda, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center, packing maximum sustained winds of 100 mph (161 kph).
Residents in Bermuda had remained calm as the storm was expected to give the island a relatively wide berth. Authorities said they would close its causeway Thursday night and shut schools and ferries on Friday “out of an abundance of caution.”

In the Bahamas, which Melissa cut through Wednesday night, authorities lifted storm warnings but did not give the “all clear”. An official said authorities expected to decide by Saturday whether it was safe for the hundreds of people who evacuated off affected islands to return to their homes.

WADING BAREFOOT THROUGH MUD

The front page of Thursday’s Jamaica Observer newspaper read: “DEVASTATION.”
Densely populated Kingston was spared the worst damage. Its main airport was set to reopen on Thursday, as was the capital’s port. Relief flights and aid had begun to flow into Jamaica’s airports, authorities said.
But across the country, more than 130 roads remained blocked by trees, debris and electric lines, authorities said, forcing the military to clear roadways on foot into isolated areas, with ambulances following close behind.
Satellite imagery showed swaths of trees and homes devastated in the hardest-hit areas of Jamaica, sparse remaining greenery defoliated and most structures destroyed.
In a neighbourhood of the island’s Montego Bay, 77-year-old Alfred Hines waded barefoot through thick mud and debris as he described his narrow escape from the rising floodwaters.
“At one stage, I see the water at my waist and (after) about 10 minutes time, I see it around my neck here and I make my escape,” he told Reuters on Wednesday.
“I just want to forget it and things come back to normal.”
In western parts of the island, people crowded by supermarkets and gas stations to fill up on supplies.
“Montego Bay hasn’t got any petrol. Most of the petrol stations are down,” British tourist Chevelle Fitzgerald told Reuters, adding it took her at least six hours to cross the 174 km (108 miles) to Jamaica’s capital.
“The highway was closed. You had some blockage on the road and trees falling down,” she said.
Over 70% of electrical customers in Jamaica remained without power as of Thursday morning, said Energy Minister Daryl Vaz, with power lines felled across the island’s roadways.
Many schools remained without power or water, officials in the capital Kingston said.

IMMEDIATE HUMANITARIAN AID

Scientists say hurricanes are intensifying faster with greater frequency as a result of warming ocean waters caused by greenhouse gas emissions. Many Caribbean leaders have called on wealthy, heavy-polluting nations to provide reparations in the form of aid or debt relief.
Despite the U.N. setting up a fund for developing nations to quickly access reliable financing for more extreme weather events in 2023, donations have not met targets.
U.S. forecaster AccuWeather said Melissa was the third most-intense hurricane observed in the Caribbean, as well as its slowest-moving, compounding damages for affected areas.
U.S. search and rescue teams were headed for Jamaica on Thursday to assist in recovery efforts, Jamaican authorities said. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the U.S. was prepared to offer “immediate humanitarian aid” to the people of Cuba, a long-time U.S. foe.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/hurricane-melissa-smashes-through-caribbean-accelerates-towards-bermuda-2025-10-30/

Tom Cruise was “not very happy” with Colin Farrell while filming their 2002 movie, “Minority Report.”

Farrell, 49, recalled what it was like to work with the “Mission Impossible” actor on the blockbuster film during Wednesday’s episode of the “Late Show with Stephen Colbert.”

“It was a total headf–k, because I grew up watching those lads. I grew up watching Tom Cruise in ‘Top Gun’ and […] ‘Risky Business,’” he told Stephen Colbert, also referring to director Steven Spielberg.

However, his experience with Cruise soured during “one of the worst days” of his career.

Farrell told Colbert that he had “begged” production not to make him work the day after his birthday, because he “got up to all sorts of nonsense” the night before. Despite saying they would “see what [they could] do,” they made him show up to set at 6 a.m.

“I got to the trailer and, God bless them, and the third assistant director … said ‘You can’t go to set like this,’” he said.

To get through his hangover, he asked for a Hare of the Dog — a tactic he warned the audience against — and a 20-pack of cigarettes.

“It worked in the moment,” he laughed. However, it still took him “46 takes” to get through one line.

“Tom wasn’t very happy with me,” Farrell noted.

The “Penguin” star — who has been sober for 18 years — previously spoke about this experience, explaining that his sister was also on set visiting him.

He recalled in a 2019 interview with the UK Mirror that she left the set because watching him act like a drunken “disaster” upset her.

Three years after the film’s release, Farrell admitted that he’d “basically been drunk or high” since he was 14 and checked himself into rehab. His most recent stint was in 2018 for a “tune-up and a reset.”

The Irish actor credits his 22-year-old son, James, who has Angelman syndrome, for inspiring him to get sober.

Source : https://pagesix.com/2025/10/30/entertainment/why-tom-cruise-was-not-very-happy-with-colin-farrell-during-one-of-the-worst-days-on-minority-report-set/

There was a time when Nvidia was a company responsible for making video games look better. Those carefree days are over, says Dave Lee of Bloomberg Opinion.

just 112 days after becoming the first US$4 trillion company, Nvidia became the first US$5 trillion company.

It’s worth is more than 8 per cent of the S&P 500, but that’s just the start of it – the AI boost to the markets is built almost entirely off the back of use cases developed on Nvidia chips. The AI strategies of the biggest tech companies, like Microsoft, Meta, Amazon and others, rest on their ability to hurriedly acquire and deploy Nvidia’s hardware in their data centres. While some rivals are trying to develop their own alternatives, notes analyst group Wedbush, “there is only one chip in the world fuelling this AI Revolution … and it’s Nvidia.”

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, the man they call the Godfather of AI, has spent this week reassuring the world he is not creating a bubble. On his balance sheet, at least, the money is becoming very real: half a trillion dollars expected in revenue over the next five quarters from bookings for its latest chips.

“This is quite extraordinary,” Huang said of the moment as he sought to emphasise the diversity of businesses Nvidia is powering. These go well beyond the humble chatbot. Its presentations this week have spanned self-driving cars with Uber and Lucid Motors, AI-enhanced cybersecurity with CrowdStrike; pharmaceutical research with Eli Lilly, and an expansion into the nascent but promising realm of quantum computing.

FEW ARE FINDING REASON TO BE CAUTIOUS

The only blip along the way, if it could even be called that, were fears in September 2024 about the production delays of its latest chip, Blackwell, which triggered a sharp 13 per cent selloff. Then there was the worry that China’s DeepSeek would upend US tech sector spending on hardware. It didn’t, and those fears are long forgotten.

Huang says the company projects it will sell 20 million of its latest chips, more than five times the volume of the previous generation. This doesn’t take into account the possibility that talks on Thursday between President Donald Trump and President Xi Jinping of China might pave the way for Nvidia’s most sophisticated chips to be sold to China.

The country’s AI companies are eager for better hardware than what its homegrown chipmakers can offer. Current restrictions, which allow only for the sale of older generations of technology, represent the only meek regulatory constraint on Nvidia’s unstoppable rise.

Few are finding reason to be cautious. Concerns about circular financing, in which Nvidia invests in its own customers, do not appear to have altered investment theses. Nor has it dampened Nvidia’s appetite for a deal – the latest being a US$1 billion investment in Nokia, announced this week.

If Wall Street wanted to look for potential headwinds to Nvidia’s progress, they would start with its reliance on Taiwan – where most of the latest chips are produced – or in the lingering (though not yet pressing) risk that regulators scrutinise more closely the lock-in between Nvidia’s hardware and its proprietary software for AI development. The overly rash reaction to Blackwell production mishaps last year demonstrated how touchy investors are to any sign of turbulence in Nvidia’s supply chain and logistics.

RISKS AND DANGERS

More broadly, Nvidia needs the downstream rollout of AI – putting it in the hands of consumers and businesses – to start paying off, otherwise the wild capital expenditures might start getting pulled back. Nvidia is relying on others to actually reach the goal of human-level artificial intelligence that will, some say, make all the investment worthwhile.

There was a time when Nvidia was a company responsible for making video games look better. Those carefree days are over.

Source : https://www.channelnewsasia.com/commentary/nvidia-5-trillion-valuation-big-tech-chips-ai-5434566

For decades, APEC has helped integrate economies along the Pacific Rim. But on-again, off-again tariff escalation between the world’s largest economies means more uncertainty and less room for cooperation.

Donald Trump’s whirlwind tour of Asia this week culminated in a much-anticipated sit down with Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit hosted this year by South Korea.

So far, details of the meeting have yielded no big surprises. The US will lower tariffs in exchange for China cracking down on chemicals used to make fentanyl. Trump said China would buy “tremendous amounts” of soybeans from the US, after Beijing had cut off purchases amid an escalating trade war.

An “amazing meeting” with Xi concluded, Trump left town before the APEC summit’s main event: the leaders’ meeting on Friday, which Xi is expected to attend. South Korea has planned days of talks around the summit’s theme “building a sustainable tomorrow.”

Whether the latest truce between the US and China will be sustainable remains a question mark.

“US-China relations will remain intensely competitive, and even if a few small deals are reached and the temperature is lowered for a while, countries need to be prepared for renewed friction that could have consequences for their interests,” Bonnie Glaser, managing director of the German Marshal Fund’s Indo-Pacific Program, told DW.

A US-China truce, for now

Trump began his second term in office by imposing what he called “reciprocal” tariffs on nearly every country in the world, allies and competitors alike. The tariff rates presented on “Liberation Day” in April defied economic logic, leaving countries wondering how to respond. Since then, many of the tariffs have ended up exempted, rolled back or delayed, complicating long-term planning on sourcing and supply chains.

Competition with China has been at the forefront of US trade policy since Trump’s first term. The scattershot tariffs in April were surprising, partly because they went far beyond what had been expected, namely that Trump would limit aggressive trade policy to China.

However, since Trump’s first term, Beijing has learned to push back. At one point, both sides had threatened tariffs well over 100% before de-escalating. The latest flare-up in October saw Trump renew threats of 100% tariffs after Beijing threatened to restrict the export of high-tech critical rare-earth minerals, a market it dominates.

The commotion almost scuttled plans for the Trump-Xi talks in South Korea, before both sides cooled down.

But despite the current detente, which is said to include a “one-year truce,” the overall economic landscape remains volatile. Trump is known for his unpredictability, such as slapping a 10% tariff on Canada last week over an unflattering TV ad.

“Washington’s tumultuous trade negotiations — from China to India to Korea — have left many of its Asian allies questioning whether the United States still sees economic integration as a strategic asset or a bargaining chip,” Alison Szalwinski, vice president and a China adviser at The Asia Group, a public policy and strategy consultancy, told DW.

Amid this tense geopolitical landscape, forums like APEC will find it more difficult to achieve multilateral outcomes under the current geopolitical climate, Andrew Yeo, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution’s Center for Asia Policy Studies, wrote ahead of Trump’s Asia tour.

This has “contributed to the steady marginalization of summits in favor of using large gatherings like APEC to schedule smaller meetings on the sidelines,” Yeo said.

How APEC helped open up China to the world

The US was a founding member of APEC, launched in 1989 to promote open trade and economic cooperation in the Asia Pacific. The results have been overall lower average tariffs in the region, along with more integrated supply chains and cross-border investment.

China joined APEC in 1991, in its first entry into a multilateral economic organization as part of Beijing’s “reform and opening up” policy launched by Deng Xiaoping in the late 1970s.

Participation in APEC discussions pushed China toward market-oriented reforms, transparency and regulatory modernization, and encouraged liberalized trade and investment policies.

This preceded China’s membership in the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2001, which helped spark the growth of China’s export machine.

Flash forward to 2025, and APEC host South Korea has listed expected deliverables from the summit to include cooperation on harnessing artificial intelligence among APEC economies in an “inclusive and sustainable manner,” and responding to demographic changes like aging populations and labor shortages.

Big deals on the sidelines

But with the Trump-Xi talks wrapped up and big-ticket deals with Japan and South Korea inked earlier in the week, the summit has already lost some of its luster, with the leader of its largest economy heading home on a plane before the event had even kicked off.

After Trump’s nudging this week during talks with the leaders of South Korea and Japan, both countries agreed to what amounts to a $900 billion (€777 billion) investment in the US economy in exchange for tariff relief, with deals comprising energy, artificial intelligence and critical minerals.

Brookings Asia fellow Patricia Kim wrote that Asian middle powers like South Korea are caught between the US and China.

“They are focused on negotiating trade deals with Washington while managing economic exposure to Beijing. Across the region, governments are hedging rather than leading in an increasingly transactional landscape,” Kim said.

US Asian allies hedge amid uncertainty

And while South Korea and Japan make their own deals with Trump, there are signs both countries are hedging against an unreliable US by deepening their trade and security cooperation with other regional partners in the face of more transactional US policies.

“The share of Korean and Japanese exports heading to the US is falling, for example, despite the trade deals that both countries announced with Washington in July. Neither country, however, is looking to multilateral institutions such as the WTO or APEC to resolve its trade negotiations with the US,” Jeremy Chan, a senior analyst for Northeast Asia and China at political risk consultancy Eurasia Group, told DW.

Diplomatic engagement is also picking up between South Korea and Japan. Before meeting Trump for the first time in August, South Korean President Lee Jae-myung met Japan’s then-Prime Minister Ishiba Shigeru in Tokyo.

“Seoul used to consult with Washington before engaging with Tokyo; now the opposite is true, as relations between South Korea and Japan have improved, and both countries face similar challenges in negotiating contentious trade and investment agreements with the US without harming security ties,” Chan said.

At APEC, Lee will hold his first meeting with Japan’s new prime minister, Takaichi Sanae, a conservative who is poised to moderate formerly hawkish foreign policy views on South Korea.

“In a world in which the US is less reliable, Japan and Korea will need each other more, with shuttle diplomacy between Seoul and Tokyo likely to continue,” Chan said.

Szalwinski from The Asia Group said that countries have been hedging for some time by “doubling down on smaller, results-oriented ‘minilateral’ arrangements, oftentimes oriented around more narrow or tangible shared interests.”

Source : https://www.dw.com/en/us-china-dysfunction-overshadows-apec-summit/a-74555101

The US will cut the number of refugees allowed into the country to 7,500 next year, the White House says. White South Africans and “other victims of illegal or unjust discrimination” will be the only refugees admitted.

The administration of President Donald Trump plans to allow only 7,500 refugees into the United States in 2026, according to a notice published on Thursday in the US Federal Registry.

The figure represents a dramatic reduction after his predecessor Joe Biden’s administration had previously admitted 125,000 people from all over the world annually.

“The admissions numbers shall primarily be allocated among Afrikaners from South Africa,” Trump’s order said, along with “other victims of illegal or unjust discrimination in their respective homelands.”

The statement did not elaborate on the origin countries of “other victims.”

After taking office in January, Trump essentially halted refugee arrivals, only making an exception for white South Africans.

Trump has previously claimed that Afrikaners face persecution in South Africa, based on their race. The South African government has denied the claim.

The refugee program has been around since 1980, and the authority to set the cap on admissions rests with the president.

During his first term, Trump lowered the cap each year until it reached 15,000 in the last year of his presidency.

Rights groups decry program’s ‘politization’

Advocates for refugee rights in the US and abroad criticized the Trump administration’s move, saying it undermined national security.

“By privileging Afrikaners while continuing to ban thousands of refugees who have already been vetted and approved, the administration is once again politicizing a humanitarian program,” said Sharif Aly, president of IRAP, a global legal aid and advocacy organization.

Source : https://www.dw.com/en/us-to-limit-refugee-admissions-to-7500-mostly-white-south-africans/a-74561828

A WOMAN who lived with Hollywood predator David Pearce has described him as a “nightmare housemate” who was raping women in the bedroom next to her.

Former producer Pearce, 43, was sentenced to 146 years to life in Los Angeles this week following a lengthy trial.

He was convicted of first-degree murder in the 2021 fentanyl overdose deaths of model Christy Giles and architect Hilda Marcela Cabrales-Arzola.

Giles and Cabrales-Arzola died after overdosing on the date rape drug GHB and fentanyl, prosecutors said.

Pearce failed to get them help, and they were later dumped at separate hospitals in Los Angeles.

Shamed Pearce was also found guilty of the string of sex offenses that occurred between 2007 and 2020 involving seven other women.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Eleanor J. Hunter imposed the maximum sentence, calling Pearce “the worst kind of criminal”.

Producer Rachel Ann Mullins, a former actress and model, was among the women who gave an emotional impact statement on Wednesday.

“He came in while I was using the bathroom and tried to kiss me.”

Following the sentencing, she gave an exclusive interview to The U.S. Sun and lifted the lid about her year living with Pearce in a shared house in Beverly Hills back in 2010.

She claimed he would have a constant rotation of women he brought home who ended up inebriated before spending the night and being ushered out the next day.

Mullins believed the women were being drugged and sexually assaulted and has worked with the authorities and several victims to help bring him to justice.

Rachel said, “It took two women losing their lives for his literal, lifelong crime spree to be put to an end.

“There was no way that one individual, any of us, was going to move the needle so much as a millimeter.

“It took this many of us, plus the media, to just wail on this case over and over again, and be like, ‘We’re not going away. You can’t flush this. There’s no wiggling free because there’s more of us, there’s more and more. We’ll just keep going down the line.”

Mullins, who was 20 when she first met Pearce, described him as a well-connected party friend who offered her a room after she was burgled and needed a place to stay.

She had her own bathroom and private entrance, and said another female friend was also living in the house.

Mullins described Pearce as the “nightmare housemate” who was often in trouble but never faced any real consequences for his actions.

She claimed he would “steal anything” from cans of tuna to their housemate’s handbag, and they didn’t know how to deal with him.

“Just a never-ending barrage of crime. He would get drunk and crash his Mercedes in Beverly Hills, just constantly,” she alleged.

One of the major red flags was when Mullins said he tried to force himself on her after a night out partying at the Playboy Mansion.

They went to a club, Avalon, with DJ Paul from 36 Mafia and Justin Bobby from The Hills, who were in Pearce’s orbit but have not been accused of any wrongdoing.

“He came in while I was using the bathroom and tried to kiss me, and I put him against the door,” she said.

‘POWERLESS TO HELP’

“I had really big stripper shoes on. We had just come from the Playboy Mansion, so I was effectively towering over him, and he didn’t try any more physical stuff with me after that.

“But he was always trying to manipulate or get his way. I don’t even know what his real goal was, other than feeling like he got one over on people.”

She was concerned he may be sexually assaulting girls in the house and told a friend who was a police officer, but was told it was unlikely the case would even make it to court.

Mullins, who is now turning 37, said many people told her at the time, “That’s how guys are, that’s how LA is, that’s how Hollywood functions.”

Describing the girls she would see at the house, she said, “They were way too drunk, way too high, absolutely incoherent on drugs, alcohol, or both.

“He would never listen to anybody about anything. Even to this day, he’ll never take a single ounce of responsibility. It’s always everyone else’s fault.”

As a younger woman, Mullins didn’t know how to handle the situation.

She said, “I’d be like, ‘This is getting out of hand,’ and even my own roommate would be like, ‘Well, you know, that’s how he is. This is it.’”

Mullins reached out to friends for help to try and find a new place to live and eventually managed to move out of the apartment and cut contact with Pearce.

She admits she wasn’t shocked when she heard news of his arrest following the deaths of Giles, a model, and her friend Cabrales-Arzola, who was an architect.

“I was in Florida, working on my house, and my phone blew up,” she said.

‘NO ACCOUNTABILITY’

“People being like, ‘Didn’t you live with this dude?’ And I was like, ‘Yep, whatever he’s being accused of, I guarantee you he did it, and worse.’ I already knew.

“I got in touch with the girls’ families, sort of through the Instagram grapevine, and then they put me in touch with the head of homicide and the head of sex crimes at LAPD.”

She said her initial interview with the police was three hours long, and she continued to keep in touch with everyone throughout the trial.

Mullins came face-to-face with him again in court and was glad to finally see justice served after years of fighting.

She said, “He wouldn’t look at anyone. We spent all morning doing these statements, and he was literally doodling [with] his little pen.

“He refused to read his statement. He made his attorney read it, even though the judge urged him to read his own statement.”

She described the statement as “more classic Dave lies,” as he took no accountability and spoke of wanting to go to Congress and demand better access to fentanyl testing kits, start a non-profit, and donate to the victims’ families.

“It was absolutely wild. Again, I wish I could say that I’m shocked. I’m not.”

Source : https://www.the-sun.com/news/15420417/hollywood-david-pearce-roommate-house-of-horrors/

There have also been issues with the brightness of the headlights on over 63,000 Cybertrucks

TESLA is recalling thousands of Cybertrucks after it emerged their headlights keep falling off.

Elon Musk’s electric car manufacturer was forced to take action after discovering major problems with how the company’s mechanics were glueing on lights.

The issues stem from an optional light bar attachment which can be added onto a Cybertruck for $2,500 (£1,900).

They are designed to provide extra illumination of up to 525 yards during off-road use.

One user on social media claimed a light bar “came crashing down on our truck on the highway”.

A high-powered strip is supposed to be glued on the top of the truck’s windshield with an industrial adhesive.

But it has now emerged that Tesla mechanics had been using the wrong chemicals to apply the attachment.

Around 6,200 Cybertrucks are being recalled.

A report found that they had been using a primer meant to be used for the windshield on the bar itself.

Evidence was also found that a sealing product designed for the light bar was used on the windshield.

Tesla is offering to retrofit Cybertrucks with a physical fastener rather than an adhesive going forwards.

They told US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration it had received one report of the issue and 619 warranty claims related to it.

Tesla bosses added that they are not aware of any collisions, injuries, or fatalities related to the issue.

There have also been issues with the brightness of the headlights on over 63,000 Cybertrucks.

The lights have been deemed too bright and may be a distraction to other drivers and increase the risk of a collision.

The recall is for certain Cybertrucks with a model year between 2024 and 2026, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

The vehicles were made between November 13, 2023, and October 11, 2025.

Each one has operating software versions prior to 2025.38.3.

Tesla has announced it will issue a software update to solve the issue.

Dozens of top celebrities own Cybertrucks and are often seen cruising around the US in the huge powerful motors.

Kim Kardashian is often pictured stepping out of her Tesla, as are Justin and Hailey Beiber.

Lady Gaga, Pharrell Williams, Jay-Z, Beyonce and Spike Lee have all also been spotted driving the luxury cars in the past.

It comes after the electric car giant was also hit by a United Nations safety warning over its controversial stylised handle mechanics.

Experts have warned the hidden handles – which sit inside and aligned with many Tesla models‘ doors – may not open following an accident if a battery-powered car loses power.

UN officials said: “In real-world crashes, retractable door handles may not open.”

Fresh concerns were raised just weeks after Elon Musk‘s firm was sued in the US over claims one of its Cybertrucks failed to open up after a November accident.

Three people died following the crash when they became trapped inside the burning vehicle.

Tesla said it was exploring different door handle redesigns in response to the recent concerning speculation.

Source : https://www.the-sun.com/tech/15420125/tesla-recalls-cybertrucks-musk-headlights-falling-off/

Despite the awkward start, the proceedings carried on as if nothing had happened

THIS is the bizarre moment a Detroit police officer appeared at a remote court hearing wearing his official uniform shirt – but no trousers.

Officer Matthew Jackson stunned the courtroom and is now under investigation when he logged into a Zoom hearing wearing only his boxer briefs below the waist.

The jaw-dropping moment took place on on October 27 and quickly went viral after the judge – clearly taken back – called him out in front of everyone.

“You got some pants on, sir?” asked Judge Sean Perkins.

“No, sir,” Jackson admitted, before hurriedly adjusting his camera to crop out his bare legs.

The bizarre exchange took place during a hearing for a woman accused of drag racing and disorderly conduct.

Despite the awkward start, the proceedings carried on as if nothing had happened.

But stunned court staff and attorneys weren’t quick to forget it.

Attorney TaTaNisha Reed, who was representing the defendant, said she couldn’t believe her eyes.

“I was trying to figure it out. Like, Am I seeing what I think I’m seeing?Especially with a police officer. So it was an interesting day to say the least,” she told ABC7.

Reed even stepped in mid-hearing to point it out.

“I said, ‘Judge, he needs to alter his camera,’ and that’s when the judge said, ‘Oh,’” she recalled.

The clip has since made the rounds online, prompting an internal investigation by the Detroit Police Department.

36th District Court Chief Judge William McConico said the presiding judge was left completely shocked.

“I spoke with Judge Perkins, because I wanted to know, you know, what went through his mind with how he handled the case,” McConico told ABC7.

“He was stunned, obviously. He was shocked. Officer Jackson is a person he’s known.”

But McConico added that Perkins chose not to halt the hearing out of respect for Jackson’s usually professional demeanor.

“He wanted to stress to me that Officer Jackson is a very professional police officer, he’s always been very courteous to the citizens, and that’s why it was a little bit stunning,” he said.

Detroit Police Chief Todd Bettison released a statement condemning the incident and promising action.

“The Detroit Police Department requires its officers to represent themselves in a dignified and professional manner while attending court proceedings,” he said.

Source : https://www.the-sun.com/news/15421132/cop-appears-court-zoom-without-trousers/

Buckingham Palace has announced that Prince Andrew is to lose his prince title and will be leaving his Royal Lodge home in Windsor.

Andrew Mountbatten Windsor – as he is now to be known – gave up his other royal titles earlier this month, including the Duke of York, after more questions and allegations about his private life.

The palace said the former prince has agreed to leave Royal Lodge as his links to paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein continue to cause controversy.

The decision was made due to serious lapses in Andrew’s judgement, it is understood, and he continues to deny the accusations against him.

It is also understood that he did not object to the King’s decision to remove his titles.

President Donald Trump has announced the US will start testing nuclear weapons in what could be a radical shift in his nation’s policy.

“Because of other countries testing programs, I have instructed the Department of War to start testing our Nuclear Weapons on an equal basis,” Trump wrote on his social media platform, Truth Social, as he was about to meet the Chinese president on Thursday.

“That process will begin immediately.”

The world’s nuclear-armed states – those acknowledged as belonging to the so-called nuclear club and those whose status is more ambiguous – regularly test their nuclear weapons’ delivery systems, such as a missile that would carry a nuclear warhead.

Only North Korea has actually tested a nuclear weapon since the 1990s – and it has not done so since 2017.

The White House has not issued any clarifications to the commander-in-chief’s announcement. So it remains unclear whether Trump means testing nuclear delivery systems or the destructive weapons themselves. In comments after his post, he said nuclear test sites would be determined later.

Many of the six policy experts who spoke to the BBC said that testing nuclear weapons could raise the stakes in an already dangerous moment where all signs showed the world was heading in the direction of a nuclear arms race – even though it has not yet begun.

One of the six did not agree that Trump’s comments would have a major impact – and another did not think the US was provoking a race – but all said the world faced a rising nuclear threat.

“The concern here is that, because nuclear armed states have not conducted these nuclear tests in decades – setting North Korea aside – this could create a domino effect,” said Jamie Kwong, fellow in the nuclear policy programme at Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

“We’re at a very concerning moment where the US, Russia and China are potentially entering this moment that could very well become an arms race.”

Darya Dolzikova, Senior Research Fellow for Proliferation and Nuclear Policy at the Royal United Services Institute (Rusi) – a London-based defence and security think tank – said she did not believe Trump’s comments would change the situation massively.

But, she added, “there are other dynamics globally that have raised the risks of nuclear exchange and further proliferation of nuclear weapons to levels higher than they have been in decades”.

Trump’s message, she said, “is a drop in a much larger bucket, and there are some legitimate concerns of that bucket overfilling”.

The experts pointed to escalating conflicts where one or more of the warring parties is a nuclear power – the war in Ukraine, for instance, in which Russian President Vladimir Putin has threatened at times that he could use nuclear weapons.

And then there were flare-ups – if not full-fledged conflicts – such as the one between Pakistan and India this year, or Israel – which has a policy of neither confirming nor denying it has nuclear weapons – attacking Iran – a country the West accuses of trying to build nuclear weapons (a charge Tehran denies).

Tensions on the Korean peninsula and China’s ambitions in Taiwan add to the overall picture.

The last existing nuclear treaty between the US and Russia that limits their amounts of deployed nuclear arsenals – warheads ready to go – is set to expire in February next year.

In his announcement, Trump said the US had more nuclear weapons than any other country – a statement that does not match figures updated regularly by another think tank that specialises in the field, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (Sipri).

According to Sipri, Russia has 5,459 nuclear warheads followed by the US with 5,177, and China coming a distant third with 600.

Other think tanks reported similar numbers.

Russia announced recently it had tested new nuclear weapons delivery systems – including a missile the Kremlin said could penetrate US defences and another that could go underwater to strike the US coast.

The latter claim may have led to Trump’s announcement, some of the experts suspected, even though Russia said its tests “were not nuclear”.

Meanwhile, the US has been watching China closely – with increasing concern that it will reach near-peer status, too, and posing a “two-peer nuclear risk”, experts said.

So a resumption of US nuclear testing could prompt China and Russia to do the same.

A Kremlin spokesman said that “if someone departs from the moratorium, Russia will act accordingly”.

In its response, China said it hoped the US would fulfil its obligations under the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty – which both countries have signed but not ratified – and honour its commitment to suspend nuclear testing.

Daryl Kimball, executive director of the Washington-based Arms Control Association, said a US resumption of nuclear weapons testing would be “a mistake of historic international security proportions”.

He said the risk of nuclear conflict “has been steadily rising” over several years and, unless the US and Russia “negotiate some form of new constraints on their arsenals, we’re likely going to see an unconstained, dangerous, three-way arms race between the US, Russia and then China in the coming years”.

Hans Kristensen, director of the Nuclear Information Project at the Federation of American Scientists, said the average person should be “very concerned” because there has been an increase over the past five years in nuclear warheads for the first time since the Cold War.

The last US nuclear weapons test – underground in Nevada – was in 1992.

Kimball said it would take at least 36 months to get the Nevada site ready for use again.

The US currently uses computer simulations and other non-explosive means to test its nuclear weapons, and therefore does not have a practical justification to detonate them, multiple experts said.

Kwong said there were inherent risks even with underground testing, because you must ensure there is not a radioactive leak above ground and it does not affect groundwater.

While blaming Russia and China for ratcheting up the rhetoric, Robert Peters, senior research fellow of strategic deterrence at the conservative Heritage Foundation, said that, while there may not be a scientific or technical reason for testing a warhead, “the primary reason is to send a political message for your opponents”.

“It may be necessary for some president, whether it’s Donald Trump or whomever, to test nuclear weapons as a demonstration of credibility”, he said, arguing it was “not an unreasonable position to hold” to be prepared to test.

While many others the BBC spoke to disagreed, all offered a fairly dire assessment of the current situation.

Source : https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/czxn00l00r6o

A critically endangered spider, not seen in the UK for 40 years, has been rediscovered in a remote nature reserve accessible only by boat.

Aulonia albimana, which was last recorded in the UK in 1985, was uncovered at the National Trust’s Newtown nature reserve on the Isle of Wight – about 2km (1.2 miles) from the spider’s former colony.

The tiny orange-legged arachnid has informally been named the white-knuckled wolf spider by those who found it.

Mark Telfer, who carried out the search with fellow entomologist Graeme Lyons, called it “one of those unforgettable discoveries”.

“To find a species thought lost for 40 years is thrilling – and testament to how the right habitat management, combined with curiosity and collaboration, can deliver remarkable results,” he said.

Wolf spiders – of which there are about 38 species living in the UK – take their name from their agile hunting skills, which involve chasing prey along the ground before pouncing like a wolf.

But the National Trust said the Aulonia albimana’s hunting techniques remained something of a mystery, as the species was also known to spin a flimsy web.

Mr Lyons said: “I suggested calling it the white-knuckled wolf spider because this was probably the longest long shot I’ve ever taken part in.

“We had just four hours at the site where this spider was last seen 40 years ago, before our boat came to pick us up.

“I found the first one with just nine minutes to go, and the second one in the last minute.

“I’ve seen 559 species of spider in the British Isles and this one was by far the most exciting find.”

Mr Telfer said the name was also inspired by the distinctive pale “knuckles” on the small leg-like appendages at the side of the spider’s mouth.

Dr Helen Smith, conservation officer for the British Arachnological Society, said: “The remarkable discovery of this dapper little spider on the Isle of Wight is one of Britain’s epic ‘lost species’ rediscoveries of the century.

“With repeated failure to find it at its former sites, where its open habitat has been lost, it seemed increasingly likely that it had joined the country’s sad list of extinct species.”

The area where the spider was found used to be overgrown but has been restored by the National Trust with the help of a flock of Hebridean sheep.

Source : https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckg1y66y80ro

Everyone was left mesmerised after the world’s first-ever white Iberian Lynx was spotted in Spain. The unique big cat was spotted by a photographer. Take a look…

It seems like the phrase ‘straight out of myth’ came alive– after a photographer ended up spotting a white Iberian lynx in Spain. Yes, there exists a white Iberian lynx, which is also the world’s first! A video of the big cat calmly sitting at a distance and ‘making eye contact’ with the photographer’s lens was shared online, which went viral for obvious reasons. What made the furry one’s uniqueness manifold was that not only are Iberian lynx rare, but this one- a white Iberian lynx- is leucistic. For those not aware, leucistic is a condition that is known for causing ‘lack of pigmentation in the fur’ among animals. Originally, Iberian lynx are mostly brown or beige-white in colour. As soon as the video went viral, netizens began to call it an animal ‘straight out of mythical and fictional stories’.

Coming to the rare animal’s features, it is quite famous for its characteristic ‘beard’, which is basically some long fur around its mouth. They also have spots and ‘weigh about half as much as the Eurasian species’, as per the World Wildlife Fund (WWF). The big cat has long legs and a short tail. Reportedly, the species almost went extinct in 2002, as fewer than 100 of them remained. However, after much effort, their population reached 2,000 by 2025.

Check out the viral post:

A photographer in Spain has documented the nation’s first white Iberian lynx, a rare stunning leucistic specimen.
The post was shared on X (formerly Twitter), by the handle ‘Osint613’. The post was shared yesterday and pulled more than 56K views from netizens.

Enrique Iglesias Mumbai Concert: Singer Catches Fan’s Phone Mid-Performance In Mumbai And Records Surprise Video | WATCH

During his recent concert in Mumbai, international pop icon Enrique Iglesias created a memorable moment by effortlessly catching a fan’s phone mid-performance. While clutching a microphone in one hand, he extended the other and grabbed the recording device as the fan filmed him. The 50-year-old star then looked directly into the camera, offered a grin, and proceeded to make a surprise video himself.

The incident quickly went viral online as attendees and viewers alike shared the clip. In it, Iglesias appears both confident and playful—he maintains his stage presence, seamlessly integrating this spontaneous interaction with the crowd into his performance. Fans responded with cheers and were clearly delighted by the gesture.

This playful moment happened amid a high-energy set where Iglesias delivered hits and engaged his audience across languages and cultures. By acknowledging the fan’s recording attempt and turning it into a shared moment on stage, he demonstrated a connection with his audience that went beyond the usual artist-fan divide.

Observers online pointed out how such unplanned interactions elevate the live concert experience. Rather than simply allowing the phone recording, Iglesias took active control of the moment—making it part of the show. The fan’s device, initially intended for their personal footage, became a prop in the performance itself. In doing so, Iglesias not only entertained his concert-goers but also generated fresh viral content that expanded the reach of the event well beyond the venue.

Source: https://www.spotboye.com/trending/trending-news/enrique-iglesias-mumbai-concert-singer-catches-fan-s-phone-mid-performance-in-mumbai-and-records-surprise-video-watch/69032c80c95eb142d3289e05

The Trump administration has abruptly ended automatic EAD renewals for certain migrants, effective October 30. Immigration experts warn the move will hit Indian H‑1B holders’ spouses and OPT students hardest, and might cause job losses due to 7–10 month processing time. Businesses relying on skilled workers might also face disruption as fresh vetting is now mandatory.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has abruptly ended the automatic renewal of Employment Authorisation Documents (EADs) for certain migrant groups, triggering widespread concern and criticism from immigrant communities, legal experts, and advocacy groups. Immigration experts have warned the change could disrupt the US workforce, with some highlighting the risk of job loss due to lengthy renewal processing times. The new rule, effective Thursday (October 30, US time), removes the long-standing provision that allowed certain migrant workers to continue employment while their renewal applications were pending.

The change is likely to affect Indian workers disproportionately, as they constitute the largest group of H-1B visa holders and international students under the Optional Practical Training (OPT) programme. Notably, H-1B visa holders’ spouses need EADs, who will be affected by the latest move.

Asylum seekers with pending cases will also be impacted. However, green card holders, H-1B principal workers, L-1 intracompany transferees, and O-1 individuals of extraordinary ability will not be affected, as they do not need EADs.

Under the policy change, migrants who file to renew their EAD on or after October 30 will no longer receive automatic extensions. Instead, each renewal will now involve new vetting before the permit is extended.

DHS said this measure is aimed at strengthening screening and detecting individuals with potentially harmful intent.

Immigration advocates and legal experts argued that the abrupt shift—announced with minimal warning and without prior notice—has left many highly skilled migrants and their employers in limbo.

David J Bier, immigration expert at the Cato Institute, slammed the government for the overnight rule change.

“Another rule imposed immediately without notice and public comment periods because it is somehow an emergency to stop people from working solely because of government ineptitude,” Bier said in a post on X.

Another immigration expert warned the rule could disrupt the US workforce, harm businesses and workers.

“This will take away current employees from American employers, which in turn will hurt American businesses and workers. This is a self-inflicted wound with no factual justification, a South Carolina-based immigration attorney, Banias Law, wrote on X.

LONG PROCESSING TIME RAISING CONCERNS OVER POTENTIAL JOB LOSSES
Attorney Kripa Upadhyay, co-chair of the Immigration and Global Mobility Practice at Buchalter law firm, warned that the rule could lead to job loss for employees, as EAD renewals can take 7–10 months to process.

“Employees will be forced to face job loss once the current EAD expires and before the new one is issued. The USCIS does not allow for premium processing option for EAD’s and the normal processing time is about seven to ten months depending on the jurisdiction of the case,” Kripa Upadhyay was quoted as saying by a Germantown-based news portal, The American Bazar.

Source: https://www.indiatoday.in/world/us-news/story/us-immigration-india-outrage-sudden-migrant-work-permit-rule-change-employment-authorisation-documents-fi-h1b-visa-job-loss-2810971-2025-10-30

The deadliest police operation against drug gangs in Brazil’s history killed at least 121 people, authorities said on Wednesday, as Rio de Janeiro residents lined a street with dozens of corpses found overnight.
State police said the raids targeting a major drug gang had been planned exhaustively for more than two months, and were designed to drive suspects into a forested hillside where a special operations unit was waiting in ambush.

“The elevated lethality of the operation was expected but not desired,” Victor Santos, head of security for Rio state, told a news conference. He also promised an investigation into any police “misconduct.”
Rio police confirmed 121 deaths so far, including four officers. Public defenders said the final count would rise to at least 132.
President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said the scourge of drug violence had to be confronted, calling for coordinated work that targets the gangs without putting police and innocent families at risk.
“We cannot accept that organized crime continues to destroy families, oppress residents, and spread drugs and violence throughout the cities,” he said in a post on X.

Residents of the Penha neighborhood in Rio gathered dozens of corpses from the surrounding forest overnight and lined up more than 70 of the bodies in the middle of a main street.
“I just want to take my son out of here and bury him,” said Taua Brito, a mother of one of those killed, surrounded by weeping mourners and onlookers on either side of the long row of bodies, some of which were covered with sheets or bags.
A motorcycle caravan set off from the neighborhood in the afternoon to protest the police violence outside the governor’s palace, where demonstrators gathered waving Brazilian flags stained with red palm marks.
The city’s most deadly police drug raid before Tuesday was in 2021, when 28 people were killed in the Jacarezinho neighborhood.
The latest raids were also Brazil’s deadliest ever police operation. In 1992, 111 prisoners died when Sao Paulo police stormed the Carandiru Penitentiary to put down a rebellion.

UN URGES INVESTIGATION

UN officials and security experts criticized the heavy casualties of the military-style operation. The United Nations human rights office said the killings add to a trend of extremely lethal police raids in Brazil’s marginalized communities.
“We remind authorities of their obligations under international human rights law, and urge prompt and effective investigations,” the agency said in a statement.
Relatives of the fallen described evidence of summary executions, including bound limbs, knife wounds and gunshots to the face and neck.
“Several families reported signs of torture on the victims’ bodies,” said Guilherme Pimentel, a human rights lawyer working with families of the deceased at Rio’s police morgue.
Santos, Rio state’s security secretary, said: “Any misconduct that may have occurred, which I believe did not happen, will be investigated.”
He said there was no connection between the violence and the global events Rio will host next week related to the United Nations COP30 climate negotiations, including the C40 summit of mayors addressing global warming and Prince William’s Earthshot Prize.
Rio Governor Claudio Castro said he was certain those killed in the operation were criminals firing guns from the forest.
“I don’t think anyone would be walking in the forest on the day of the conflict,” he told reporters, calling the raids an effort to combat “narcoterrorism.”

Source : https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/more-than-40-bodies-seen-street-after-rios-deadliest-police-operation-2025-10-29/

Former Biden White House spokesperson Ian Sams, who aggressively defended the aging president as “sharp” and vigorous behind the scenes following his fumbling 2024 debate performance, privately admitted to House investigators that he rarely met the 46th president in person.

On July 2, 2024, five days after the disastrous debate, Sams went on MSNBC’s “Deadline: White House” and argued that the 46th president’s repudiation of the Supreme Court’s presidential immunity decision illustrated how Biden was keeping up behind the scenes, despite public fears about his cognition.

“Yesterday, when he [gave] the speech about what the Supreme Court did, he drove that speech,” Sams raved to host Nicolle Wallace.

“That’s the President Biden that so many of us experience every single day, who’s asking the tough questions so that we as staff can be sharp to do our job best for the American people.”

“When I deal with him,” Sams reiterated at another point in the interview in reference to Biden, “he is sharp. He’s asking tough questions.”

Sams’ staunch defense of Biden went viral due to its contrast with the feeble display the Democrat had put on during the CNN debate against Donald Trump.

However, Sams told a different story about his dealings with the commander in chief during his August interview, the transcript of which was released Tuesday.

“The first time I met President Biden personally was in a meeting, maybe in early 2024,” he conceded to House Oversight Committee investigators. “…I interacted with him pretty infrequently.”

When pressed for specifics, Sams said he dealt with Biden directly “three or four times” during his two-plus years in the administration, including two in-person meetings, one phone meeting, and one virtual meeting.

Sams stood by his July 2024 description of Biden on MSNBC and brushed off concerns that his comments were misleading.

“I think it was pretty direct and honest and said that when I do deal with him he’s, you know, sharp and he was asking incisive questions during my meetings with him,” he insisted.

House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) described Sams’ testimony as “one of the most shocking” he had heard from former Biden aides who answered questions for the panel’s autopen probe.

Sams had been the White House point person responding to Comer’s investigations into the Biden family’s foreign business interests after Republicans regained control of the House of Representatives following the 2022 midterms.

“He was LYING to the American people to cover up for Biden’s decline,” the Oversight Committee’s X account jabbed on Wednesday alongside a mashup of Sams’ seemingly contradictory claims.

Source : https://nypost.com/2025/10/29/us-news/ex-biden-spox-who-asserted-he-saw-sharp-prez-frequently-admits-to-seeing-him-twice-in-2-years/ 

Commerce Department data and record stock-market highs indicate the US economy is on a tear so far under President Donald Trump.

Yes, inflation is still a bit too high at 3% — but under Joe Biden, we had inflation two to three times that level.

And economic growth was much lower then, downright anemic compared to the near 4% we’ve seen over the past six months, as measured by the Atlanta Federal Reserve Bank.

Someone please tell Federal Reserve chief Jerome Powell the good news.

On Wednesday, Powell announced a modest quarter-point interest rate cut, lowering rates to a new range of 3.75% to 4% — the first time in nearly three years that the benchmark rate has dropped to so low a level.

It’s a decision that should add further energy to the US economy, but in his comments Powell sounded downright glum.

He described the economy as being in a period of “moderate growth,” wrongly stating that the United States is limping along at a 1.6% GDP growth rate, and that he expects sub-2% economic growth next year.

Talk about the tyranny of low expectations.

Powell remains hyper-critical of Trump’s trade policies, and said he expects “some significant inflation . . . from tariffs” that will show up “pretty soon.”

He’s only half-right at best.

Tariffs are taxes that reduce growth, and in isolation will spill into higher consumer prices. (Just look at what has happened to coffee prices due to tariffs of up to 50% on Brazilian and Colombian coffee beans.)

But Powell rarely if ever tells the world that Trump’s tax cuts, his cost-cutting deregulations, his “drill, baby, drill” energy strategies that have produced record low oil and gas, and his many productive trade deals have been economic boons.

These pro-growth policies all are disinflationary.

The biggest problem at the Fed is that, as Steve Forbes has correctly pointed out, Powell and his cadre of 300 PhD economists still believe that growth causes inflation.

Apparently, if we reduce the production of goods and services, their prices will go . . . down?

That’s a little like hoping the sun rises in the west.

The Fed needs an abrupt change of course.

It should always and everywhere defend the dollar and price stability through its interest rate policies and through its economic rhetoric.

This would help reverse the greenback’s slide against other currencies, and in turn reduce inflationary pressures.

The Fed should be cheerleading most of Trump’s supply-side and pro-America policies, while waving cautionary flags about the dangers of tariffs.

Source : https://nypost.com/2025/10/29/opinion/fed-rate-cut-is-too-little-too-late-show-jerome-powell-the-door/

A RECORD-BREAKING Mega Millions jackpot has risen to $754 million in the US after four months of no wins.

The jackpot became the ninth-largest in the game’s history on Tuesday, hitting $714 million, but after another winless drawing that day, it went up by $40 million.

It comes after the Powerball lottery saw a similar dry spell, which eventually led to a jackpot of $1.7 billion.

The Mega Millions jackpot cash value went from $334.1 million on Tuesday to the current $352.8 million.

It climbed after nobody was able to match all six balls in the most recent draw.

This took place on Tuesday, when the balls to match were 2, 19, 33, 53 and 61, with the Mega Ball being 14.

The next drawing is set for Friday, October 31, at 11 pm ET on Halloween.

There were still plenty of wins in the Tuesday drawing, with 482,430 successful tickets in the lower price brackets.

Across the US, lottery players took in $11.7 million collectively from the Tuesday draw.

The current jackpot is one of the highest the Mega Millions has ever seen.

The two highest jackpots totalled $1.602 billion, claimed in 2023, and $1.537 billion in 2018.

This $754 million jackpot has been growing since June, when the winning player took over a month to come forward, despite having won $348 million.

That ticket was purchased in a convenience store in Northumberland County, Virginia.

LOSE HALF

Under state law, winners can request to remain anonymous if they win a prize deemed big enough.

When they do come forward, they will likely have to give up half of their winnings, as well as pay tax on them.

This is because of the choice they will face between accepting their money as one lump sum or in instalments over the next several years.

LUMP SUM VS ANNUITY

In many cases, taking the money in one go significantly reduces the amount that a winner will walk away with.

For example, one of the two men who won the recent Powerball jackpot was given the choice of $893.5 million over 30 instalments or $410.3 million as a one-time lump sum.

The two players came from Missouri and Texas, but due to the former’s stricter tax laws on lottery winnings, the Texas player took home $16.4 million more.

Across every state, the IRS takes a 24% cut of your lottery winnings and an additional 37% in income taxes.

Source : https://www.the-sun.com/money/15413602/mega-millions-lottery-jackpot-draw-numbers/

Trump indicated this decision was prompted by the testing activities of other nations.

US President Donald Trump has announced that the United States will begin testing the nation’s nuclear weapons immediately. In a post on social media platform X, Trump boasted how the United States possesses “more nuclear weapons than any other country”, way ahead of Russia and China, and said that based on testing programs of others, he was instructing the Department of War to start testing their assets on an equal basis.
“The United States has more Nuclear Weapons than any other country. This was accomplished, including a complete update and renovation of existing weapons, during my First Term in office. Because of the tremendous destructive power, I HATED to do it, but had no choice! Russia is second, and China is a distant third, but will be even within 5 years,” Trump said in a post on X.
“Because of other countries testing programs, I have instructed the Department of War to start testing our Nuclear Weapons on an equal basis. That process will begin immediately. Thank you for your attention to this matter,” he added.

Notably, Russia recently tested two nuclear-powered strategic weapons — the 9M730 Burevestnik cruise missile and the Poseidon underwater drone — described by Moscow as capable of carrying nuclear payloads over long ranges. Putin personally oversaw these tests, which were described by Trump as “inappropriate.”

A Pakistani Army captain and five soldiers were killed in a clash with Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militants near the Afghan border in Kurram district.

A Pakistani Army captain was among six soldiers killed in a clash with militants near the Afghan border in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Kurram district, the Pakistani military said on Wednesday.

According to a statement from Pakistan’s Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the military’s media wing, at least seven militants were also killed during an intelligence-based operation (IBO) conducted in the Dogar area of Kurram.

The ISPR said the operation targeted members of Fitna al-Khawarij, a term it uses to describe militants belonging to the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).

The Kurram district, which borders Afghanistan, has become a frequent flashpoint for cross-border militant infiltration and attacks targeting Pakistan’s security forces.

According to Dawn, Among the fallen was Captain Noman Saleem, a 24-year-old medical officer from Mianwali who, according to the army, “fought gallantly and embraced shahadat (martyrdom) along with his five men.” The other soldiers killed were Havaldar Amjad Ali (39, Swabi), Naik Waqas Ahmad (36, Rawalpindi), Sepoy Aijaz Ali (23, Shikarpur), Sepoy Muhammad Waleed (23, Jhelum), and Sepoy Muhammad Shahbaz (32, Khairpur).

ISPR said a sanitisation operation was underway to eliminate any remaining militants in the area.

“The relentless counterterrorism campaign under ‘Azm-e-Istehkam’ will continue at full pace to wipe out the menace of foreign-sponsored and supported terrorism from the country,” the statement added.

The clash underscores Pakistan’s escalating security challenges in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, where militant attacks have surged since the TTP ended its ceasefire with the government in late 2022.

Source: https://www.indiatoday.in/world/story/pakistan-army-captain-six-soldiers-killed-ttp-militants-clash-afghan-border-kurram-azm-e-istehkam-2810499-2025-10-30

In rare interviews, ousted Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said that she was living freely but cautiously in Delhi and had no intentions of leaving India. She also warned that millions of voters would boycott the election in Bangladesh if her party, the Awami League, wasn’t allowed to participate in it.

Ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Wednesday said she had no plans of leaving India, warning that millions of voters would be boycotting the election in Bangladesh if her party, the Awami League, wasn’t allowed to participate. In interviews to a news agency and the UK’s Independent, Hasina refused to apologise for the killings that took place in July-August 2024 during the agitation that led to the toppling of her regime. Hasina told Reuters she “lives freely in Delhi but remains cautious given her family’s violent history”.

Hasina, advised by Bangladesh Army Chief Waker-Uz-Zaman, left for India on August 5 last year on a self-imposed exile as tens of thousands of protesters marched towards her residence in Dhaka. Since then, she has been in a safehouse in Delhi, according to reports. A Reuters journalist had seen Hasina taking a stroll at Delhi’s Lodhi Garden and nodding to passersby who recognised her.

In an e-mail interview to Reuters, Sheikh Hasina said that “she would not return to Bangladesh under any government formed after elections that exclude her party, and plans to remain in India”.

“I would of course love to go home, so long as the government there was legitimate, the Constitution was being upheld, and law and order genuinely prevailed,” she told Reuters.

Hasina and several leaders of her government and party are facing charges of murder and a trial has just concluded at the International Crimes Tribunal-1 in Dhaka where the government prosecutor sought the death penalty for her.

Around 1,400 people were allegedly killed in Bangladesh in July and August last year as a students’ protest against quota in jobs turned into a movement against the Sheikh Hasina regime.

In an interview to The Independent, published on Wednesday, Sheikh Hasina refused to apologise for the deaths, but said she “mourns each and every child, sibling, cousin and friend we lost as a nation” and would “continue to offer my condolences”.

She called the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) proceedings “sham trial” and part of the process of assassinations against her family, and a bid to get rid of her.

“The ICT is a sham court presided over by an unelected government consisting of my political opponents. Many of those opponents will stop at nothing to get rid of me,” Hasina told The Independent. “Because of my family’s history, nobody can be more aware than I am of the history of political assassinations in our country, and this move by the ICT is part of that ugly tradition.”

Sheikh Hasina’s father, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, one of the founders of Bangladesh, and several family members were assassinated by a group of army officers on August 15, 1975. Sheikh Hasina and her sister Sheikh Rihanna Siddiq, who were vacationing abroad, survived. Then too, the sisters had sought refuge in Delhi.

The Election Commission of Bangladesh suspended the registration of Hasina’s party, the Awami League, in May. The interim government led by Muhammad Yunus banned Awami League’s activities soon after. The Awami League is one of the biggest parties and has family-based following.

The interviews came even as Dhaka-based Daily Star reported that the Election Commission was likely to announce the date for the general election by the first week of December.

Source: https://www.indiatoday.in/world/story/sheikh-hasina-bangladesh-ousted-pm-refuse-to-apologise-death-1400-people-student-uprising-no-intention-to-leave-india-2810291-2025-10-29

Hurricane Melissa weakened to a Category 1 storm as it begins to batter Bahamas after pummeling Cuba and Jamaica. DW has more.

Melissa starts to lash Bahamas, warning of flash floods, storm surges
Melissa is currently over the Bahamas, the live weather and hurricane tracking site Zoom Earth shows.

Melissa was downgraded to a Category 1 storm on Wednesday afternoon but is still predicted to bring a dangerous storm surge.

“Hurricane conditions, life-threatening storm-surge, and heavy rainfall” is expected across portions of the Bahamas on Thursday evening, according to the latest briefing by the US National Hurricane Center in Miami.

The advisory warns that the storm could generate storm surges of up to 7 feet (2 meters) and flash floods in southeastern Bahamas.

Residents in the Bahamas should remain sheltered, the advisory says.

At least 25 dead in Haiti flood
Flooding triggered by Hurricane Melissa has left at least 20 people dead and 10 others missing in Haiti, authorities said.

The mayor of the southern Haitian coastal town of Petit-Goave, Jean Bertrand Subreme, told The Associated Press that 25 people had died after La Digue river burst its banks and flooded nearby homes.

“I am overwhelmed by the situation,” Subreme said as he pleaded with the government to help rescue victims.

Dozens of homes collapsed and people were still trapped under rubble as of Wednesday morning, he added.

Emmanuel Pierre, Haiti’s civil defense agency chief, told the AFP news agency that 10 children were among those who died in river floods. Emergency responders were conducting searches for the missing, Pierre added.

Cuba reports ‘extensive damage’ as Hurricane Melissa hits
Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel said Wednesday that Hurricane Melissa had caused “extensive damage” after making landfall overnight on the island’s southern coast.

Diaz-Canel said in a post on social media that it had been “a very difficult early morning” and warned that the storm was still over Cuban territory. He urged citizens to remain cautious, maintain discipline, and stay safely sheltered.

Source: https://www.dw.com/en/hurricane-melissa-weakens-to-category-1-storm-over-bahamas/live-74514852

THIS is the terrifying moment a fire tears through a family home after a firework from Diwali landed in their garden.

The Coventry family say they’ve “lost everything” after the blaze destroyed their three-bed property in Foleshill.

Emergency services were called to reports of the fire ripping through the home at around 9:30pm on October 18.

Mohsen Mahmoudi and his family of four were out when a firework is thought to have landed in their garden.

By the time firefighters had arrived, however, the blaze had already engulfed the house.

The spark was so severe, it spread to two neighbouring properties, firefighters said.

Dramatic video shows smoke billowing from the property as the the blaze ripped through the family home.

Gargantuan flames fill the black sky as shocked voices are heard muttering in the background.

Pictures of the aftermath, meanwhile, show charred debris sprawled across where the house once stood.

Friend Monica Chumber, 28, said the family have been left “devastated” and are just “trying to keep going”.

She said: “They have lost everything — clothes, furniture, keepsakes, and the comfort of their own home.”

Monica has since set up a GoFundMe to help the family with rebuilding costs as “there was no home insurance”.

She said: “You go out and live your normal life, thinking you are going to come back, and the house will be the same, and their house is just completely gutted.”

“This home wasn’t just a building, It’s where neighbours would stop by for a chat, where birthdays were celebrated, and where the door was always open for anyone who needed a cup of tea and a friendly ear.

“To see it gone has left a deep hole in his family’s hearts and the community they have,” she added.

A West Midlands Fire and Rescue Service spokesperson said: “Shortly after 9.25pm on Saturday 18th October, we responded to Horndean Close, Coventry.

“Initially, four fire engines and two 4×4 brigade response vehicles and a hydraulic aerial platform responded.

“This was a fire that started in a garden conservatory and spread to two neighbouring properties.

“Firefighters wearing breathing apparatus extinguished the fires.

“There were no injuries or casualties.

“We conducted several revisits to check for hotspots.”

Source: https://www.the-sun.com/news/15415426/blaze-rips-family-home-firework-lands-garden/

Mountaineer Jim Morrison hopped left on his skis, sending trickles of snow down a sheer gully on the North Face of Mount Everest, then he hopped to the right, his breath heavy in the oxygen-thin air.

Below him plunged 9,000 feet (2,700 meters) of snow, ice and rock — the most merciless ski run on planet Earth.

It had never been skied, until Morrison did it.

“It was a spectacular four hours of skiing down a horrific snow pack,” Morrison told The Associated Press Tuesday of his historic Oct. 15 run.

Morrison climbed Everest’s notorious North Face through the Hornbein Couloir alongside 10 other mountaineers and documentarian Jimmy Chin, who is co-directing a documentary about Morrison’s run. Chin also filmed Alex Honnold’s ascent of El Capitan in Yosemite National Park without ropes for the documentary “Free Solo.”

This adventure is “the skiing equivalent to free soloing,” said Chin. “If your edge blows out or you slip anywhere on the line, you’re gone. You fall 9,000 feet.”

The ski run starts atop Everest, some 29,000 feet (8,800 meters) above sea level and in the death zone, where people can’t survive for long.

“When it comes to big mountain stuff and climbing, it’s like landing on the moon,” said Jeremy Evans, who wrote a book about the last person to attempt the run from the summit. The young snowboarder, Marco Siffredi, disappeared on its slopes in 2002.

The adventure was dreamed up by Morrison and his life partner, accomplished ski mountaineer Hilaree Nelson. They planned to do it together until her death in 2022 while skiing on the world’s eighth-highest mountain.

From then on, it was a trip Morrison was doing for them both.

At the bottom of their route up Mount Everest, before their four-day climb to the summit, they craned their necks upward.

“We’ve spent an entire lifetime climbing in the big mountains,” said Chin. “I’ve never to this day seen anything that’s more intimidating as a climbing objective.”

Only five people had climbed it before, and nobody had since 1991. While the other, more popular routes up Everest follow a ridgeline, this path up the mountain’s imposing North Face was called the Super Direct route — it’s straight up, and then straight down.

Their 12-person team started, climbing through snowfields, over rock and on patches of ice, facing the possibility of rock falls and avalanches. They had carefully timed their trip in a narrow weather window, seeking enough snow to ski and safe conditions.

At night, they spent hours hacking ridges into the ice and snow that they could squeeze into to sleep, always harnessed to their ropes.

One night, they were huddled on the mountain face as a howling wind rained snow from above and threatened to blow their tent off the mountain, said Chin.

Morrison went to sleep. Chin needed sleep, too, and they’d done all they could to secure themselves to the mountain.

“So I put in my earplugs because I figured if we go get blown off the mountain, I don’t want to know what’s happening,” he said.

The sun came up. As they continued climbing, Morrison assessed the snow that he would be skiing down, and “basically everything I saw looked terrifying. The snow conditions were really, really bad,” he said.

But Morrison kept on, holding Nelson in his mind, and “as I got higher and higher, and further into the death zone, I got closer and closer to her.”

On the summit, the sun was shining. The Himalayan Mountains splayed out around them.

They celebrated together and took selfies. Morrison spread some of Nelson’s ashes.

Then, as Morrison donned his skis and looked over at his teammates, he realized: “‘OK, now I’m in a completely different world. I’m on my own.’”

He dropped in, doing controlled hop turns on his skies. The route’s details, which he had studied, imagined, witnessed, read of and dreamed about, took over his mind. He wasn’t thinking of a possible fall, only the next turn. Every breath was a challenge at that altitude.

He’d later text his friends: “the conditions were abominable, and I was able to shred a lot of it.”

Source: https://apnews.com/article/mountaineer-jim-morrison-everest-documentary-jimmy-chin-f95c2e1466881672df92c341e7fdbe65

A dark fleet of tankers carried tens of billions of dollars of Iranian and Russian oil to Asia, evading Western sanctions. Reuters found the ships were connected by one thing: a small insurance company in New Zealand, run by a British family.

Last Christmas, the tanker Yug cruised out of the Chinese port of Qingdao after offloading 2 million barrels of sanctioned Iranian oil. Near the Arctic, a vessel carrying Russian crude churned through icy seas, bound for India. Six thousand miles away, a third ship unloaded its cargo of Iranian oil off the coast of Malaysia.
The three tankers had different owners, different operators and different clients. But they shared one thing: a small insurer headquartered in New Zealand, backstopped by some of the world’s biggest reinsurance firms.
The company, Maritime Mutual, is run by 75-year-old Briton Paul Rankin and family members. For more than two decades, it has insured everything from tugboats to ferries and cargo ships.
Maritime Mutual has also helped in the trade of tens of billions of dollars of Iranian and Russian oil by providing vessels skirting Western sanctions with the insurance they need to enter ports, according to a Reuters review of thousands of shipping and insurance records, hundreds of oil trades and sanctions designations, and interviews with more than two dozen people with knowledge of the company.

Many of those vessels belong to what’s known in shipping as the shadow fleet – the tankers that transport sanctioned cargoes from countries such as Iran, Russia and Venezuela, concealing their trade with fake locations, documents and names.
Maritime Mutual’s insurance coverage has played a crucial role in helping this dark fleet – as it’s also known – to operate despite sanctions designed to prevent Iran from raising money for anti-Western militias in the Middle East and to drain Russia’s war chest for the conflict in Ukraine.
Reuters reporting reveals that the company, whose main business Maritime Mutual Insurance Association (MMIA) is based in a dark grey office building in Auckland, has insured at some point almost one in six of the shadow fleet tankers that have been sanctioned by Western governments, such as the United States, European Union and Britain.
That makes it one of the “big power players” in the industry, said David Tannenbaum, director of sanctions consultancy Blackstone Compliance Services and a former U.S. Treasury sanctions specialist, commenting on Reuters’ findings. “The numbers are larger than a lot of the dark fleet actors we follow that are majors in their business.”

“Even Iranian and Russian ports aren’t going to allow an uninsured vessel within their waters.”

Reuters and shipping publication Lloyd’s List have previously reported that Maritime Mutual covered a handful of tankers that have evaded sanctions, and disclosed some details of its ownership and corporate structure. This report is the first to document the scale of the shadow fleet’s use of Maritime Mutual and the major Western companies that support the firm by providing the reinsurance it needs to help cover potentially huge payouts.
New Zealand – working with partners including Australia, Britain and the United States – is investigating Maritime Mutual over their concerns it may have enabled the violation of sanctions and failed to meet its obligations to deter money laundering and terrorism financing, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter. The investigation hasn’t been previously reported.
In a statement to Reuters, Maritime Mutual said it “categorically denies” engaging in conduct that breached any applicable international sanctions. It said it maintains a “zero-tolerance policy” on sanction breaches and operates under “rigorous compliance standards designed to ensure full adherence to all applicable laws and regulations”.
Maritime Mutual did not comment on the New Zealand investigation. Rankin, the company’s founder, and his family also didn’t respond to requests for comment.

As part of their investigation into alleged breaches of Russian sanctions, police in New Zealand searched Maritime Mutual premises on October 16, a second person with knowledge of the investigation said.
The person said officers from the financial crime group seized documents and records during searches at Maritime Mutual offices in Auckland and Christchurch and a residence in Auckland. Police questioned three people but no criminal charges have been filed yet, they said.
Reuters was unable to determine the identity of the three people. Maritime Mutual confirmed police entered its Auckland office on October 16.
In an October 21 statement to Reuters, Maritime Mutual’s New Zealand branch said its board of directors had the day before resolved not to provide cover for any vessel identified by shipping intelligence providers Windward and Lloyd’s List as being in the shadow fleet, nor for any vessel carrying Russian oil or refined petroleum products.
It said all MMIA’s activities have been in compliance with sanctions and that it had taken the decision due to the disproportionate amount of management and compliance time associated with tankers.
Providing services such as insurance to a ship on Western blacklists violates sanctions. Many Western governments also forbid providing services that enable the transport and sale of any banned Russian and Iranian oil products, even if the vessel itself has not been sanctioned.

Reuters did not reach any independent conclusions about the legality of Maritime Mutual’s activities.
Maritime Mutual earlier told Reuters it has a detailed onboarding and due diligence procedure to screen ship owners, ultimate beneficial owners and vessels before issuing insurance. Its contract terms, it added, call for immediately cancelling coverage for any ship or owner deemed to have violated sanctions.
Reuters was unable to contact the owner of the Yug, formerly known as the Mur, and its operator did not respond to emailed questions. Government officials in Russia and Iran did not reply to requests for comment about Maritime Mutual. Russia has said Western sanctions are illegal and President Vladimir Putin has touted Moscow’s success in circumventing them.
The Reuters examination of Maritime Mutual doesn’t provide a complete picture of the company’s operations. The news agency wasn’t able to identify all of the hundreds of tankers it says it covers. Unlike most competitors, Maritime Mutual does not offer a way for the public to check if a tanker has its cover. Nor does it share that information with major shipping data providers such as S&P Global Market Intelligence and Lloyd’s List Intelligence.
Maritime Mutual did not comment on why it doesn’t list the vessels it insures or share information with data providers.
Reuters also couldn’t determine which customers Maritime Mutual may have dropped after deeming they’d violated sanctions. It declined to provide a full list of vessels for which cover was terminated.

DEAD IN THE WATER WITHOUT INSURANCE

Maritime Mutual’s main insurance offering – so-called protection and indemnity insurance – does not cover the physical vessel or its cargo. It insures the ship and its owner in the event of harm accidentally caused to people, property or the environment. While P&I coverage for smaller tankers can cost tens of thousands of dollars a year, industry sources say it can exceed $200,000 for very large, old vessels, depending on factors such as the ship’s age, size and owner.
Tannenbaum said P&I insurance is crucial for shadow fleet vessels to operate. “Without that they’re dead in the water,” he said. “Even Iranian and Russian ports aren’t going to allow an uninsured vessel within their waters.”
Reuters first found shipping documents showing Maritime Mutual had insured tankers carrying sanctioned oil during an investigation into how Iran moves crude around the world, published in January.
A full roster of its clients isn’t available. But Reuters compiled a list of 231 tankers that Maritime Mutual has covered since 2018 using a variety of sources: emails from Iranian oil traders detailing their insurers, leaked by hackers; Russian port and customs data; shipping databases; company documents; and industry players. Reuters shared the list with the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA), a think-tank in Helsinki that tracks the energy sector.
Of those 231 vessels, CREA determined that 130 had carried Iranian or Russian energy products after sanctions were imposed on Tehran in November 2018 and Moscow in December 2022.
Using commercial databases of individual oil trades and historic crude prices, CREA calculated vessels insured by Maritime Mutual had shipped at least $18.2 billion of Iranian oil and energy products and $16.7 billion of Russian energy products since the sanctions came into force.
Often, 30 or more tankers covered by Maritime Mutual were moving Iranian and Russian energy products on a given day. On April 1, 2024, there were 41. Reuters replicated CREA’s calculations by running them through the same databases.

“There is no cover for any ship which operates otherwise than in full compliance with all applicable sanctions regimes or which otherwise exposes MMIA to sanctions risk.”

Maritime Mutual did not comment on CREA’s figures. In its statement, the insurer said it obtains attestations to ensure vessels carrying Russian oil are compliant with Western sanctions.
“There is no cover for any ship which operates otherwise than in full compliance with all applicable sanctions regimes or which otherwise exposes MMIA to sanctions risk,” it told Reuters, “including those vessels named in your enquiry, as well as any vessel carrying Iranian oil.”
Maritime Mutual did not respond to requests to share copies of the attestations. The company told Reuters on October 15 that it now includes a specific sanctions warranty in all its insurance quotes requiring clients to ensure vessels operate “in full compliance with applicable sanctions regimes”. Reuters found such language in a ship’s insurance certificate from March 2025 but not in similar documents for different vessels in 2022, 2023 and January 2024.

BLACKLISTED BY THE WEST

Maritime Mutual insures about 6,000 ships, the company told Reuters in April. Tankers – vessels designed to carry liquid cargoes such as crude oil – accounted for roughly 8% of that total, the company said. That’s about 480 tankers.
Many of the vessels Maritime Mutual has covered are now sanctioned, the Reuters review found.
The United States, European Union and others had sanctioned 621 shadow fleet tankers as of July 31, according to Pole Star Global, a maritime data and intelligence company.
Using Lloyd’s List Intelligence Seasearcher and official sanctions databases, Reuters identified 97 tankers under sanctions that have had Maritime Mutual cover, including 48 that were carrying its insurance on the day they were blacklisted by at least one Western government. Reuters was unable to determine whether the remaining tankers were covered by the company when they were blacklisted.
Asked to comment on the findings, Maritime Mutual said it had cancelled coverage for 92 vessels since 2022 because they had been sanctioned.
Reuters was unable to verify this figure as Maritime Mutual declined to provide a full list of the tankers it had insured.
In one instance, Washington sanctioned the tanker Fenghuang, owned by a Hong Kong company, on February 24, 2025. Exactly a week later, after reaching the eastern Russian port of Nakhodka, the ship formerly known as the Phoenix I declared that it had Maritime Mutual cover, the data showed.
Maritime Mutual said it started insuring the Fenghuang on February 14, 2025, and cancelled the coverage 10 days later when the tanker was sanctioned.

As is standard for marine insurers, Maritime Mutual policies contain a sanctions clause, saying it will not cover claims or members if they put the insurer at risk of sanctions violations, according to its rule book.
In its statement to Reuters, Maritime Mutual said insurance coverage is automatically cancelled if a ship is deemed to have been sanctioned.
Reuters also found that 126 companies targeted by sanctions – either directly or via affiliates – have owned or operated tankers covered by Maritime Mutual at some point. For 61 of them, sanctions hit while Maritime Mutual was covering at least one of their vessels.
In total, Reuters found that seven tankers declared having Maritime Mutual insurance after the ships were blacklisted, according to Russian port data.
One of these, the Sunsea, formerly known as the Chembulk Tortola, reported having a Maritime Mutual insurance policy that began months after it was sanctioned, according to Russian port data and Reuters reporting.
Maritime Mutual said it started covering the Sunsea in May 2023, more than two months after it was sanctioned by Washington, due to an administrative error. It said it cancelled the policy when this was discovered a month later.
Reuters was either unable to reach the owners and operators of the Sunsea or the Fenghuang, also formerly known as the Minerva Zenia, or they did not respond to emailed questions.

As Maritime Mutual declined to provide details of the tankers it has insured, Reuters was unable to verify the authenticity of every Maritime Mutual policy it found. Many of the policies for the 231 tankers identified by Reuters had lapsed and thus couldn’t be checked, as official shipping registry databases didn’t provide access to expired policies.
However, the news agency was able to check the validity of seven tankers’ documents, issued by shipping registries, that confirmed Maritime Mutual as the provider of the vessels’ insurance coverage. All were authentic, according to the registries’ official databases.
Western sanctions do not prohibit involvement in exporting Russian oil, provided it’s sold below a price cap. Set at $60 a barrel in 2022, the cap was lowered to $47.60 by most Western governments in September. The cap is designed to limit Russia’s Ukraine war chest while ensuring a reliable supply of Russian oil to prevent a surge in global energy prices.
Reuters couldn’t definitively establish whether the cap had been breached for each Russian cargo shipped by tankers covered by Maritime Mutual. However, 30 tankers sanctioned for carrying Russian cargoes priced above the cap had Maritime Mutual cover on the day they were blacklisted, documents and government databases showed.
“Any vessel that is carrying Russian oil is carefully assessed and necessary attestations obtained to ensure that it is in compliance with the G7 oil price cap,” Maritime Mutual told Reuters, prior to its October 21 statement that it will no longer cover ships carrying Russian oil products.
The guidance on the Russian price cap requires insurers to get attestations from the parties to each oil trade, stating they have complied.
Ensuring that clients comply with sanctions rules is a challenge, industry insiders say. “You’re relying on their word, and it’s really difficult for underwriters who aren’t involved directly in the trade and have no knowledge of the actual contract price,” said Neil Roberts, chair of the International Union of Marine Insurance’s Policy Forum.

Checks can require companies to employ teams “to constantly monitor every single one of the several thousand ships that we have,” said a senior manager at a major insurance broker.
Vessels covered by Maritime Mutual carrying Iranian or Russian oil have frequently tried to hide their movements, according to Global Fishing Watch, a non-profit organisation that monitors human activity at sea.
It identified 274 instances between 2021 and mid-2025 when ships insured by Maritime Mutual turned off the automatic identification system (AIS) that signals their location, or manipulated it to send fake tracking data – common tactics known as spoofing, used by crews camouflaging their activities. Maritime Mutual had no comment on the Global Fishing Watch analysis.
“It does seem surprising to me that a company from a country cooperating with U.S. and European sanctions is insuring so many vessels that are spoofing their positions,” said Bjorn Bergman, a Global Fishing Watch analyst.
The U.N.’s International Maritime Organization requires large vessels on international voyages to use AIS, with some exceptions for safety. Enforcement, though, is down to the individual countries that register ships, Bergman said.

SANCTIONS RISK FOR REINSURERS

Like other protection and indemnity insurers, Maritime Mutual spreads the risk of high payouts from accidents through reinsurance, a system under which insurance companies pay a portion of their profits to other insurers in exchange for help covering any claims.
Reinsurers are subject to sanctions compliance, according to guidance published by many Western governments. Maritime Mutual’s reinsurers could face enforcement measures if its P&I policies covered ships that violated sanctions, said Waleed Tahirkheli, managing partner at Eldwick Law, a firm in London that specialises in sanctions. So could brokers who help Maritime Mutual arrange reinsurance.
According to Maritime Mutual’s website, it is reinsured by members of Lloyd’s of London, one of the world’s biggest insurance markets, with more than 50 member underwriters.
Lloyd’s members who have reinsured Maritime Mutual include the world’s biggest reinsurer, Germany’s Munich Re Group, German peer Hannover Re, and Britain’s MS Amlin and Atrium, according to people familiar with the reinsurance market.

Major British-American insurance company Aon <AON.N> and America’s Lockton have acted as Maritime Mutual’s brokers, a person with direct knowledge of the business told Reuters.
Atrium confirmed it reinsures Maritime Mutual. Broker Aon also said the company is a client. MS Amlin said it had reinsured Maritime Mutual but ended the relationship, without providing details.
Hannover Re declined to comment on individual clients. It said it is committed to complying with applicable international sanctions and has clauses in its contracts which prevent coverage for any sanctioned entities.
Arabella Ramage, legal and regulatory director at Lloyd’s Market Association, declined to comment when asked about Maritime Mutual’s reinsurance through Lloyd’s. She said it does not regulate reinsurance groups or have access to their contracts or their sanctions screening systems. Lloyd’s of London and Munich Re declined to comment. Lockton said it takes its sanctions compliance obligations very seriously but could not comment on specific clients.

WOOING IRAN

Rankin, a veteran of marine insurance, established Maritime Mutual’s headquarters in Auckland in 2004. The next year, Maritime Mutual was accused by Japan of insuring North Korean ships, according to a leaked U.S. diplomatic cable. Rankin told a New Zealand official in 2006 that it no longer insured North Korean vessels, according to a subsequent cable. Both cables were published by WikiLeaks. Maritime Mutual did not comment on the contents of the U.S. cables.
North Korea’s mission to the United Nations in New York did not respond to a request for comment. Japan’s transport ministry said it has not taken any special measures against the company.
The Maritime Mutual group is a family affair. Staff include two of Rankin’s daughters, Claire and Sarah, and a son-in-law, Steven Joyce, according to the company website, LinkedIn and social media profiles. Rankin, his wife Agnes, Claire and Joyce are all directors of Maritime Management Administration Services, a company in Guernsey registered in British company filings as a director of British affiliate Maritime Pacific Insurance Services.
None of the Rankin family members responded to requests for comment.
Most of Maritime Mutual’s early business came from insuring older ships and smaller fleets at lower premiums than large P&I providers, which are typically known as “clubs” in the industry, according to six people with knowledge of the company.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/investigations/iran-russia-new-zealand-insurer-that-kept-their-sanctioned-oil-flowing-2025-10-28/

U.S. military officials involved with President Donald Trump’s expanding operations in Latin America have been asked to sign non-disclosure agreements, three U.S. officials say, a development that raises new questions about a military buildup that Venezuela fears may lead to an invasion.
The step is highly unusual, given that U.S. military officials are already required to shield national security secrets from public view, and comes as lawmakers in Congress say they are being kept in the dark about key aspects of the mission.

The officials who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity did not know how many members of the U.S. Defense Department had been asked to sign the agreements and did not offer further details on the scope of the NDAs.
While the Defense Department has turned to NDAs from time to time since Pete Hegseth became defense secretary in January, the Pentagon’s use of non-disclosure agreements specific to activities in Latin America has not been previously reported.
The Pentagon announced last week the deployment of the Gerald Ford aircraft carrier group to Latin America, escalating a military buildup that experts say far exceeds any requirement for counter-narcotics operations — the stated intent of the U.S. mission so far.

The U.S. military has carried out at least 13 strikes against alleged drug vessels, mostly in the Caribbean, since early September, killing about 57 people. The Pentagon has provided few details about the people targeted but has acknowledged some of them include people from Venezuela, Colombia and Ecuador.
The carrier strike group adds another roughly 10,000 troops and enormous firepower to a buildup that already includes guided missile destroyers, F-35 fighter jets, a nuclear submarine and around 6,500 troops.
The Pentagon has not explained why such firepower is required for the counter-narcotics operations.
Hegseth has taken a series of steps to try to control the flow of information since taking over the Pentagon in January. He told Pentagon staff they must obtain permission before interacting with members of Congress, according to an Oct. 15 memo. He has also launched leak investigations and demanded Pentagon-based journalists sign a new press access policy, taking away the credentials of those who did not.

DRUG TRADE

Trump’s administration has been tying the governments of Venezuela and, more recently, neighboring Colombia directly to the drug trade, allegations denied by both governments. The claims, however, have raised concerns that the U.S. military might be tasked with carrying out attacks in both countries.
Senator Lindsey Graham, a senior Republican lawmaker with close ties to Trump, suggested in a television interview on Sunday Trump would soon outline to Congress “future potential military operations against Venezuela and Colombia.”
Washington in August doubled its reward for information leading to Maduro’s arrest to $50 million, accusing him of links to drug trafficking and criminal groups that Maduro denies.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/us-military-officials-required-sign-ndas-tied-latin-america-mission-sources-say-2025-10-28/

KIM Jong-un has fired terrifying cruise missiles in his latest plea for attention – just hours before Donald Trump is set to arrive in South Korea.

Pyongyang said the warship launch was a “deterrence exercise” – and comes days after the US leader proposed a meeting with his North Korean counterpart.

Kim’s regime said the latest operation’s purpose was also to “prepare for nuclear war”.

They also called the test a success and said it would help expand the operational capabilities of the pariah state’s military.

The sea-to-surface cruise missiles were launched from naval destroyers in the West Sea on Tuesday, local media reported.

Authorities from the hermit kingdom said: “The cruise missiles, which were modified for ship-launch, were launched vertically and flew along a set trajectory over the West Sea for about 7,800 seconds, destroying the target.”

It comes as Trump continues to travel across Asia for diplomatic shoulder rubbing – having most recently visited Japan.

He will visit South Korea on Wednesday and is expected to meet Chinese leader Xi Jinping there on Thursday.

But the US president has also proposed to meet Kim as he jets across the continent to strike deals and build rapport.

Trump invited Kim to a meeting at the Demilitarised Zone (DMZ) last weekend – but the despot is yet to respond.

Speaking of a potential second-round meeting with the North Korean leader, the Don said: “If he contacts me, I’d like to do so.”

It comes after Trump famously visited Kim during his first term in an unprecedented 2019 meeting.

Kim’s latest launch saw the lethal weapon fly for just over two hours, according to reports.

Pyongyang claimed the test was part of “war deterrence measures” and part of their efforts to “put nuclear forces to practical use”.

They said: “We must constantly renew our combat power, and in particular, it is our responsible mission and duty to constantly sharpen our nuclear combat readiness.”

It comes after Kim unveiled a “sacred sanctuary” to the hundreds of North Korean troops killed fighting for Vladimir Putin’s bloody war in Ukraine.

Source : https://www.the-sun.com/news/15411176/kim-jong-un-fires-missile-before-trump-korea-visit/

The reality star recently revealed she plans to quit showbiz and focus on her new career as a lawyer

KIM Kardashian has been slammed for showing off her collection of expensive Hermes bags during a major economic struggle.

The model posted a photo of her four new colorful handbags lined up on the counter on her Instagram Stories late Sunday night.

According to the brand’s website, Kim‘s crocodile bags cost a total of $1million, with each bag costing several thousand dollars.

Fans were outraged by The Kardashians star blatantly flaunting her earnings in the middle of a government shutdown and shared their frustrations in an online forum.

“The timing of this is SO incredibly tone deaf, and shows just how out of touch with normality she really is,” one person wrote in the thread.

“Wants to be a lawyer but has not one ounce, of humility,” ripped another.

“That’s a disgusting amount of money to spend on handbags,” a third complained.

“In this economy?!” voiced a fourth.

“Ugh people are starving/dying Kim! How much is that worth?!” a fifth said, referencing a throwback moment from Keeping Up with the Kardashians where Kim’s sister Kourtney mocked her for crying over a lost diamond earring.

Kim doesn’t seem fazed by the current economic hardships, especially given her estimated net worth of $1.7billion.

LEAVE SHOWBIZ?

However, she recently revealed she plans to walk away from show business and give up her Kim K brand.

Kim made the confession during an appearance on The Graham Norton Show on Friday.

The TV personality revealed she will soon be a qualified lawyer after taking the BAR exam in July.

She gushed over her dream future as an attorney and teased that she may leave her entire brand behind one day.

“Maybe in 10 years, I think I’ll give up being Kim K and be a trial lawyer.

“That’s what I really want,” Kim admitted.

Kim was on the show to promote her new Hulu drama series All’s Fair, in which she plays a divorce lawyer.

Her co-stars include Glenn Close, Sarah Paulson, Teyana Taylor, Niecy Nash Betts, and Naomi Watts.

The role appears to be a perfect fit for Kim, given her goal of becoming a lawyer and that she’s gone through several divorces of her own.

CO-PARENTING CHALLENGES

Kim was most recently married to rapper Kanye West for seven years before they split in 2022.

During the Season 7 premiere of The Kardashians, Kim revealed she suffered a brain aneurysm caused by stress following her divorce from Kanye.

Kim had spoken about Kanye’s involvement in their kids’ lives just days earlier on the Call Her Daddy podcast.

Source : https://www.the-sun.com/entertainment/15411073/kim-kardashian-slammed-hermes-bags-wealth-people-starving/

SELENA Gomez’s ‘unnecessarily cruel’ comments has landed her in hot water with people who have long modeled for her brand, The U.S. Sun can exclusively reveal.

The Only Murders in the Building actress has come under fire for boasting that her billion-dollar brand doesn’t “use real models” for its beauty campaigns.

While Selena, 33, was attempting to deliver a positive message about how Rare Beauty highlights real, natural features, many took offense to the comments.

The company has used hundreds of different models since it launched in September 2020 – making many feel Selena’s comments disregard their talents and professions.

Her remarks caught the eye of one Rare Beauty model who spoke exclusively to The U.S. Sun about hearing Selena’s comments.

The model, who does not wish to be named due to fear of not being hired for future campaigns, has been working with the brand since 2024.

“I actually cried when I heard Selena’s comments,” the model claimed, who then added: “I was already having a bad day and was feeling really sensitive and emotional.”

She continued: “I was feeling nervous about some career stuff, and then I saw that video of her saying I’m not even a real model.

“It hit me at the worst time because now I’m like… ‘what am I even doing?’

“I thought this would be a big break for me, and to be told by the founder of the company that I look up to that I am not ‘real’ at my job?

“It’s degrading and embarrassing. The number of family and friends who sent me that clip after was mortifying.”

The model said that she has not yet had a chance to meet Selena in person but fired off that “at this point, I’m good.”

“I don’t need to meet her. I hope in the future she chooses her words more wisely and remembers how much influence she has.”

When asked if the model, who has gone on to work with other large beauty brands, would pose for Rare again, she confessed: “If it’s a huge campaign, I’m not in a position to say no to it.

“But to be honest, would I want to work for a company again that discards what I do, or am trying to do, for a living? Ideally not.

“I’d like to work for brands that see me, that believe in me. I thought Rare was the epitome of that you know? But I was wrong.”

The U.S. Sun has reached out to Rare Beauty for comment.

‘CRUEL’ INTENTIONS?

Last week, Selena was a keynote speaker at Fortune’s Most Powerful Women Summit to celebrate her work with Rare Beauty.

At one point during the conversation, Selena said on stage that she wanted to continue “doubling down” on the company’s pursuit of more natural beauty.

“I want the conversation to change. If anything, we will double down on what we mean.

“We don’t use models. We use people who I have felt they can be your best friend.

“I want something real,” she said on stage at the summit.

Following the comments going viral, another model who has posed for Rare reposted the video and added: “Well this is awkward…

“She called me chopped oh lord!”

Fans were also fuming by Selena’s comments, with one saying: “She’s so tone def & hypocritical in the name of being ‘inclusive.’

“Anything to boost her ego is why she genuinely doesn’t see normal people as beautiful loool.”

Source : https://www.the-sun.com/entertainment/15409919/selena-gomez-slammed-rare-beauty-model-degrading-embarrassing/

The leaders of the US and Japan appeared together on a US aircraft carrier after announcing deals on developing rare earths and deepening their strategic alliance.

On Tuesday, US President Donald Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi declared “a new golden age” on the horizon for the US-Japan alliance.

Japan was the second stop for the US president on a tour of Asia that is set to culminate on Thursday in talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of a summit in South Korea.

In Japan, Trump used his visit to the US’s closest ally in East Asia to demonstrate strength ahead of his much-anticipated meeting with Xi.

Trump and Takaichi signed an agreement on strategically important raw materials and published a list of joint projects in energy, artificial intelligence and critical technologies.

The two leaders also appeared together on the nuclear-powered USS George Washington aircraft carrier in Yokohama harbor.

Speaking to US Marines, Takaichi called for a “free and open” Indo-Pacific as the basis for US-Japanese strategic cooperation.

“No one has our weapons, and very soon our country will be even stronger and more powerful than ever before,” Trump declared, before concluding with a small dance to the song “YMCA,” reminiscent of his presidential campaign.

Conservative bedfellows
During their first face-to-face meeting, Takaichi left no stone unturned in her efforts to establish a good relationship with Trump.

The 64-year-old Takaichi also played off her close ties with Japan’s former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Trump also praised Takaichi several times for becoming Japan’s first female prime minister.

Abe, who was assassinated in 2022, was a close friend of Trump during his first term in office, and Trump still holds his memory in high esteem today.

The nationalist Abe was Takaichi’s mentor, and she sees herself as his political heir. At her first meeting with Trump, she presented him with Abe’s golf putter as a gift, as the two had played golf together several times. Takaichi clearly wanted to transfer Trump’s positive feelings for Abe to herself.

Other small gestures were intended to show that Japan has picked up on the tone coming from Trump’s administration. At lunch, Trump and Takaichi were served American risotto rice and a steak made from US beef.

The meal was intended to serve as a symbol of Japan’s desire to import more US agricultural products, and Trump had specifically requested for more rice and beef purchases.

Japan also offered to buy more soybeans and natural gas from the US, as well as a fleet of US pickup trucks.

US-Japan ‘allies at strongest level’
Takaichi praised Trump’s role in securing ceasefires between Cambodia and Thailand, and between Israel and Hamas. These were “unprecedented” achievements. According to the White House, Takaichi will also nominate Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize.

The conservative politician had already worked on making a good impression on Trump in the run-up to his visit.

On Friday, Takaichi announced in parliament that Japan would increase defense spending to 2% of economic output in the fiscal year ending in March. Previously, Japan had planned to reach this target only in 2027.

Trump promptly praised Japan for increasing its military capabilities “very significantly,” adding that the US has already received Japanese orders “for a very large quantity of new military equipment.”

Delivery of the long-awaited US missiles for F-35 fighter jets, which Japan has long awaited. is due to begin this week.

At the same time, Trump assured Japan of US strategic support, which he had called into question during his first presidency by implying that Japan needs to share more of the costs of stationing US troops there.

Source: https://www.dw.com/en/us-and-japan-signal-solidarity-ahead-of-trump-xi-talks/a-74526815

As Trump presses for a $350 billion investment and a summit with Kim Jong Un, South Korea has pushed back, citing financial risks, public anger over a Hyundai ICE raid, and fears of being strong-armed.

US President Donald Trump is due to arrive in South Korea on Wednesday as part of his five-day tour of Asia, and has two clear priorities.

The first is for the South Korean government to finalize a $350 billion (€300 billion) investment package in the US and the second is to arrange another face-to-face meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

After successful visits to Malaysia and Japan, where Trump inked beneficial trade and security deals, analysts say his maximalist ambitions from his visit to South Korea are likely to be more difficult to achieve.

The $350 billion deadlock
The South Korean administration of President Lee Jae-myung is standing its ground on the massive investment package that is being demanded in return for the reduction of US tariffs on Korean imports.

Officials in South Korea said the bulk of the $350 billion investment had been earmarked for loans and loan guarantees to South Korean companies setting up new facilities in the US.

Trump, however, wants Seoul to pay the total in cash or equity “up front.” Lee said that such a cash outlay would destabilize the country’s financial markets, putting the investment deal in doubt.

A cool South Korean welcome
Trump may not receive a warm welcome from the people of South Korea.

There have been several demonstrations outside the US embassy in central Seoul over the past few days. Some South Koreans even feel their nation is being strong-armed into trade deals and fear that Trump might once again threaten to withdraw US forces if his demands are not met.

There is still lingering resentment over a raid by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on a Hyundai plant in the US state of Georgia in September. Over 300 South Korean workers were detained before being returned to Seoul.

South Korea’s Foreign Minister Cho Hyun told reporters on Friday that since the ICE raid on the South Korean carmaker, Seoul and Washington have agreed to establish a working group to create a new visa category for future South Korean investment projects.

South Koreans question cost of US alliance
“For many South Koreans, the United States has long been regarded as the country’s most important security partner,” said Hyobin Lee, a professor at Sogang University in Seoul.

“However, under the Trump administration, there is a widespread perception that the alliance is being leveraged for unilateral economic gains.”

“The idea that South Korea must make large-scale investments simply to avoid being disadvantaged by US tariffs has been received by many as a sense of betrayal,” she told DW.

Washington and Seoul have said that they are narrowing their differences over the $350 billion investment package that the US is demanding in return for the US reducing tariffs from 25% at present to 15%.

In an interview with Bloomberg, Lee said that a number of sticking points remain, including the amount of the investment, the timeline, the method of investment and how the losses and profits will be shared.

“The US will of course try to maximize its interests, but it must not be to the extent that causes catastrophic consequences for South Korea,” Lee said.

Kim Sang-woo, a former politician with the left-leaning South Korean Congress for New Politics and now a member of the board of the Kim Dae-jung Peace Foundation, says the US demand is widely seen as “huge.”

“The US is asking Korea to make the investment mostly in the form of cash while Seoul wants it in credits, but the total is about 6.5% of our total GDP and if Korea agreed to that then it could have an enormous negative impact on our financial stability,” he said.

Security in Northeast Asia
Lee is due to host Trump for a bilateral summit on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in the South Korean city of Gyeongju.

Aboard Air Force One flying from Malaysia to Japan on Monday, however, Trump indicated he hopes to rekindle the “bromance” of his first spell in the White House with Kim Jong Un.

“I’d love to meet with him, if he would like to meet,” Trump told reporters. He made a similar offer on Friday, saying, “I put it out over the internet that I’m coming to South Korea and if he would like to meet, I’m open to it.”

Analysts say it is impossible to determine whether the meeting will go ahead as both men are unpredictable and spontaneous but there have been no positive hints emerging from Pyongyang.

The last time Trump and Kim met was in June 2019 at the village of Panmunjom on the North-South border. Their first meeting in Singapore in June 2018 had been positive, but the relationship frayed badly after the collapse of talks in Hanoi in February 2019.

In the meantime, Kim has signed a military and trade alliance with Russia, dramatically easing many of the shortages North Korea was experiencing in fuel, food and other necessities due to international sanctions on the regime.

“It is always possible that they could meet, but I see Kim as trying to get as much out of Trump as he can if they do meet,” said Kim Sang-woo.

“On the other hand, Trump is looking to promote the visuals of him meeting Kim rather than offering anything substantial. I do not think that would be enough to convince Kim.”

Source: https://www.dw.com/en/south-korea-trumps-demands-test-seouls-patience/a-74525051

A US-backed ceasefire agreement went into effect on Oct 10, halting two years of war that was triggered by deadly Hamas-led attacks on Israel on Oct 7, 2023.

Israeli planes launched strikes on Gaza City on Tuesday (Oct 28) after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused the militant group Hamas of violating a ceasefire in the Palestinian territory and ordered the military to carry out “powerful attacks”.

The Israeli strikes targeted an area close to Shifa hospital, the largest operational hospital in northern Gaza, witnesses and Hamas media said. There was no word yet on any casualties.

The Israeli military did not immediately comment on the strikes, which were the latest violence in a fragile three-week-old ceasefire and which followed a statement by Netanyahu’s office saying he had ordered immediate attacks.

The statement did not give a specific reason for the attacks but an Israeli military official said Hamas had violated the ceasefire by carrying out an attack against Israeli forces in an area of the enclave that is under Israeli control.

“This is yet another blatant violation of the ceasefire,” the official said.

The US-backed ceasefire agreement went into effect on Oct 10, halting two years of war that was triggered by deadly Hamas-led attacks on Israel on Oct 7, 2023 and that has devastated the narrow coastal strip.

Both sides have accused each other of violations.

On Saturday, Israel said its forces carried out a “targeted strike” on a person in central Gaza who was planning to attack Israeli troops.

NETANYAHU ACCUSES HAMAS OF VIOLATING CEASEFIRE
Earlier on Tuesday Netanyahu accused Hamas of violating the ceasefire by turning over some wrong remains in a process of returning the bodies of hostages to Israel.

Netanyahu said the remains handed over on Monday belonged to Ofir Tzarfati, an Israeli killed during Hamas’ October 7, 2023 attack. Tzarfati’s remains had already been partially retrieved by Israeli troops during the war.

Hamas initially said in response to this that it would hand over to Israel on Tuesday the body of a missing hostage found in a tunnel in Gaza. However, Hamas’ armed wing, Al-Qassam Brigades, said later it would postpone the planned handover, citing what it said were Israel’s violations of the ceasefire.

Israeli media earlier reported an exchange of fire between Israeli forces and Hamas fighters in the southern Gaza city of Rafah. The Israeli military did not respond to a request for comment on the reports.

Hamas said it was complying with the ceasefire terms and Netanyahu was looking for excuses to back away from Israel’s obligations.

Under the ceasefire terms, Hamas released all living hostages in return for nearly 2,000 Palestinian convicts and wartime detainees, while Israel pulled back its troops and halted its offensive.

SEARCH FOR HOSTAGE BODIES
Hamas has also agreed to hand over the remains of all dead hostages yet to be recovered, but has said that it will take time to locate and retrieve the bodies in the enclave, which has been devastated by two years of war. Israel says the militant group can access the remains of most of the hostages.

The issue has become one of the main sticking points in the ceasefire, which US President Donald Trump says he is watching closely.

The search for hostage bodies stepped up over the past few days after the arrival of heavy machinery from Egypt. Bulldozers were working in Khan Younis on Tuesday, in the southern Gaza Strip, and further north in Nuseirat, as Hamas fighters deployed around them.

Some of the bodies are believed to be in Hamas’ network of tunnels running below Gaza.

Witnesses in Khan Younis said the Egyptian teams, working with armed Hamas fighters, were digging deep near the Qatari-funded Hamad Housing City in the western side of Khan Younis, reaching tunnel shafts.

Reuters images showed an excavation a dozen or so metres below the surface, with Hamas men at the bottom of the trench next to a tunnel opening in an apparent search for bodies inside.

Source: https://www.channelnewsasia.com/world/israeli-planes-strike-gaza-city-after-netanyahu-orders-powerful-attacks-5430546

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle were spotted enjoying a date night at Game 4 of the World Series between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Toronto Blue Jays.

The superstar couple, who was regularly seen on TV as they enjoyed the action from the front-row of Dodger stadium on Tuesday, wore Dodgers merch for the big game.

Markle and Harry wore nearly identical outfits consisting of blue Dodgers caps, white shirts and blue over-layers.

Prior to the game, MLB posted a clip of the duo smiling and greeting fans as they made their way into the stadium.

Commenters on social media seemed pleased to see the famous couple, with one writing that it had given the game “the Royal seal of approval.”

“Love seeing global icons reppin’ LA!” another fan added. “Dodgers uniting the world one hat at a time.”

Their sighting at the game comes two days after Harry and Markle got into the Halloween spirit with a fun-filled day at the pumpkin patch.

Over the weekend, the “Suits” star shared a clip of their 6-year-old son, Prince Archie, and 4-year-old daughter, Princess Lilibet, picking out their pumpkins.

At least 64 people were killed in a police operation against the Red Command gang in Rio de Janeiro’s northern suburbs – the largest and deadliest raid in the Brazilian state’s history.

Four police officers were among those killed during Operation Containment in the Alemão and Penha districts, state Governor Cláudio Castro said. More than 80 people were arrested.

Fierce clashes erupted when about 2,500 security personnel moved in on Tuesday morning. The Red Command (Comando Vermelho) responded with gunfire, burning barricades and dropping bombs from drones, officials said.

The UN Human Rights Office said it was “horrified” by the police operation, urging “prompt and effective investigations”.

The area of favelas near Rio’s airport is considered to be the headquarters of one of Brazil’s most powerful organised crime groups.

State officials said at least 50 of those killed were “indicated by police as suspected of being criminals”.

Dozens of people were injured, including civilians caught in the crossfire.

Locals have likened the hillside area – home to about 300,000 people – to a “war zone” since the operation began.

Roads remain closed throughout the region.

The Red Command group have been expanding their territory across the Rio state, increasing drug trafficking routes and control of the hillside favelas.

Rio’s police said more than 200kg (441lb) of drugs were seized in the raid, along with dozens of firearms.

The joint operation by civil and military police comes after a year-long investigation.

Dozens of the suspects are thought to be members of a faction from the Pará state who are currently hiding in Rio de Janeiro.

Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c8x155engwpo

Deploying the classic Islamabad toolkit in an attempt to tweak the narrative, Pakistan’s defense minister alleged that Kabul was being controlled by New Delhi.

Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Asif has made wild allegations, accusing Kabul of acting as a tool for New Delhi to spread terror in his country. Asif also warned of a “50 times stronger” response if Kabul attacks Islamabad. Making strong remarks on Geo News’ primetime show ‘Aaj Shahzeb Khanzada ke Saath,’ he slammed Afghan negotiators for taking a step back from the peace deal time and again. The remarks came after peace talks between Pakistan and Afghanistan in Istanbul dramatically collapsed.

“Whenever we got close to an agreement—either in the last four days or last week—when negotiators reported to Kabul, then there was intervention and the agreement was withdrawn,” Asif outlined, as reported by Dawn. “I believe that the negotiations were sabotaged. We had an agreement, but then they called Kabul and backpedaled from the deal.”

Kabul had earlier dismissed similar allegations by Islamabad as baseless.

The Pakistani minister nonetheless complimented the Afghan negotiators for being cooperative and trained his guns at the Kabul leadership.

Deploying the classic Islamabad toolkit in an attempt to tweak the narrative, he alleged that Kabul was being controlled by New Delhi. “I would compliment their delegation, but the people in Kabul pulling the strings and staging the puppet show are being controlled by Delhi,” he added.

“India is compensating for its defeat on their western border through Kabul. The junta there (in Afghanistan) has elements that have visited India and visited their temples,” Asif claimed. “India wants to engage in a low-intensity war with Pakistan. To achieve this, they are using Kabul.”

On Afghanistan’s threats and a possible attack on Islamabad, Asif warned of a stronger response.

“If Afghanistan even looks at Islamabad, we will gouge their eyes out. They can employ the use of terrorists, and they already are. Over the past four years, they have been using terrorists,” he said.

“There should be no doubt that Kabul is responsible for the terrorism in Pakistan. Kabul is a tool for Delhi. If they want to, God forbid, attack Islamabad, we will give a befitting response. A response 50 times stronger,” the Defence Minister added.

Afghanistan’s Defence Minister, Mohammad Yaqoob, had earlier called Pakistan’s accusations “unfounded and illogical” and stressed that it maintains relations with India as an independent nation.

Pakistan-Afghanistan Peace Talks

Pakistan and Afghanistan on Saturday (October 25) began the second round of peace talks in Istanbul while Asif warned of engaging in open war in case the talks fail. The peace talks led by mediators from Qatar and Turkey did collapse.

VENEZUELA says it has captured CIA spies attempting to spark a US invasion – amid spiralling relations between Washington and Caracas.

Donald Trump‘s B-1 bombers were also seen flying off the Venezuelan coast on Monday – the US president’s latest show of force against Nicolas Maduro’s regime.

Venezuelan authorities said the CIA operatives were carrying out a “false flag” operation – a plot designed to make one party appear responsible for an act carried out by another.

They claimed the men were aiming to “generate a full-scale military confrontation” against Maduro’s pariah state.

It comes as Trump continues to pile pressure on the Venezuelan tyrant – who he accuses of funding drug-smuggling cartels.

His latest military deployment saw two menacing B-1B bombers depart Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota before flying near the Latin American nation’s waters.

Codenamed HOGAN11 and HOGAN13, the long-range heavy bombers, also known as “lancers”, were seen jetting over the Caribbean Sea in what is understood to be another “attack demo”.

Earlier this month, three American B-52s flew alongside Marine Corps F-35s in what US authorities called a “bomber attack demo”.

The 2nd Bomb Wing said following the first flyover: “Bomber Attack Demonstrations contribute to the collective defense of the Western Hemisphere and demonstrate the US commitment to the safety and security of the region.”

As part of his war on drugs, Trump has so far amassed around 10,000 troops, a group of US marines and at least 10 warships to the Caribbean.

Last week, it was also revealed the US president had deployed USS Gerald Ford – the world’s biggest aircraft carrier – to the region.

On Sunday, USS Gravely, a guided missile destroyer, arrived in Trinidad and Tobago on Venezuela’s doorstep.

The White House said the deployment was part of Trump’s ongoing efforts to put an end to drug trafficking.

His war on drugs has been punctuated by lethal boat strikes on “narco terrorists” allegedly smuggling drugs into the US.

Washington claims to have destroyed at least 10 boats suspected of smuggling narcotics – killing 43 people since September.

Trump has hinted that his campaign could soon move onto land.

This is a possibility that Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has described as a plot to oust him from power.

Analysts have suggested that this show of force represents a modern extension of the Monroe Doctrine – now rebranded as the so-called “Donroe Doctrine.”

The alludes to the 19th-century U.S. policy that justified intervention throughout the Americas under the pretext of protecting regional stability and American interests.

Venezuelan Attorney General Tarek William Saab, a close ally of Maduro, said there was “no doubt” that Trump is attempting to overthrow the Venezuelan government.

“Trump wants to turn Venezuela into a colony of the US,” Saab claimed.

When asked about the risk of a land invasion, he said: “It shouldn’t happen, but we are prepared.”

Despite this, Saab insisted that Venezuela remains open to diplomacy, adding the country was “still ready to resume dialogue” with the US, despite what he described as its “illegitimate fight against drug trafficking.”

Trump has labelled Maduro “the leader of an organised crime gang”.

Source : https://www.the-sun.com/news/15405148/venezuela-captures-cia-spies-invasion-plot/

DONALD Trump admits he is thinking about running for a third term as president.

Musing on another White House bid, he told reporters on Air Force One as they headed to Japan yesterday: “I would love to do it. I have my best numbers ever.”

The 22nd Amendment of the US Constitution prohibits anyone from serving three terms.

But his supporters have floated the possibility that Trump could run for vice president, while another candidate stood for president and resigned — allowing him to take their place.

Trump has rejected this as “too cute”, however.

As Air Force One landed in Tokyo, Trump took to Truth Social to brag: “I am now getting the best polling numbers I have ever received.”

Kamala Harris has hinted she may run for the US presidency again in 2028 despite her crushing defeat to Trump.

The Democratic former vice president vowed “I am not done,” as she also hit out at Trump by labelling her political foe a “tyrant”.

Speaking in her first UK interview since the election thumping by Trump last year, Harris said she would “possibly” be president one day.

She also told Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg she was confident that one day there will be a woman in the Oval Office.

Source : https://www.the-sun.com/news/15405899/donald-trump-third-term-president/

Zohran Mamdani may have won the Democratic primary in the race to become New York City’s next mayor, but many local Democrats still oppose him. In fact, he didn’t get a majority of votes in the first round against Andrew Cuomo, Brad Landers, and others.

The Post spoke to several “never Mamdani” Democrats from across the city about what worries them about the frontrunner, from his anti-business policies to his lack of understanding of working class struggles:

‘He wants to turn this metropolis into a college town’

“If you know anything about Black history since the great migration, it was only by purchasing private property that we were able to gain economic empowerment in New York City … So, anybody against private property, in my view, is against most of black wealth,” Pastor Conrad Tillard of the Congregational Church of South Hempstead told The Post.

Tillard, 61, who retired last year from teaching Black Studies at City College of New York and lives in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, originally supported Eric Adams. He says black people “do not know,” Mamdani and will “stick with Cuomo,” who he will also vote for.

“You embrace New York for what it is. You don’t try to make New York into Cambridge, Massachusetts. That’s what these gentrifiers are doing,” he said of Mamdani.

“The bike lanes, the pedestrian plazas, congestion pricing. They’re trying to make this great metropolis into a college town.”

‘I’m moving out if he wins’

Mamdani’s promises to bring prices down rings hollow with East Village resident Andrew Bernstein, who also believes his plan to freeze rent in stabilized apartments won’t work.

“The city’s already unaffordable … The whole housing situation in New York is so fundamentally broken and ridiculous, and Mamdani’s approach to it is the opposite of what is needed,” Bernstein explained. “It just brings the rent up for everyone else [not stabilized].”

Bernstein, 28, a Democrat who supported Zellnor Myrie in the primary, said he’ll move out if Mamdani wins – most likely to Florida or New Jersey – a move a quarter of New Yorkers are reportedly considering.

“I think if people have the flexibility to leave, they will … I think [Mamdani’s] pandering and trying to wait out the election. I don’t think he actually believes in any of this stuff [he’s now saying]. He’s really a socialist.”

‘I know socialism fails because my family fled it’

Phil Wong of Elmhurst, Queens, knows socialism doesn’t work after his family fled mainland China to be free from it. He warns Mamdani’s supporters think they’ll get “free healthcare, free buses, free rents … [but] nothing is free.”

Wong, 59, served as president of the Community Education Council for New York City’s 24th district and is particularly worried about Mamdani canceling gifted and talented programs.

“If he follows his group of people, the young hipsters that never had kids or never sat on a school board, that will be very harmful.

“The parents know best. I have three daughters, and I know there is a high demand for [these programs], and now you want to get rid of it? We’re going to have a mass exodus of kids.”

Wong, a self-described moderate Democrat, is throwing his hat into the ring in his local City Council race in Queens, where he says crime is rampant and more cops are needed — something he fears will get worse in a Mamdani New York.

‘Where is the money going to come from to make it free?’

Alicia Barksdale, 64, of Harlem, is a former toll collector at bridges and tunnels for the MTA, who thinks Mamdani’s plan to make buses free doesn’t add up.

“Where is the money going to come from to [make] it free? My eyebrows are going up, because, okay, you’re young… Saying free transportation is really saying to people you’re going to be losing jobs,” she said, explaining the MTA won’t have enough revenue to pay drivers and might force them into early retirement.

She also worries a Mamdani victory will cause Trump to pull federal funding for the city — and the least fortunate will suffer most.

“So you’re just going to jeopardize them, when they’re already struggling,” Barksdale told The Post. “When the city loses everything, he’s going to be a one-term mayor.”

‘His views would be comical if they weren’t so scary’

“His ideological point of view would be comical if it wasn’t so scary,” entrepreneur Jason Pomeranc told The Post.

The 54-year-old lifelong Democrat was born in Queens and resides in Manhattan. He co-founded the SIXTY and Thompson Hotel Groups and thinks Mamdani’s anti-capitalist views and past anti-police rhetoric will hurt business in the city.

“I don’t think Mamdani has a clear understanding of how important hospitality is, and how each decision he makes can have a ripple effect.

“Harboring hostility to some of the bravest and committed individuals in the city betrays a lack of understanding of public safety … People don’t feel safe walking around the streets of their home, tourists don’t feel safe walking around the streets of the city… I’m deeply concerned as someone who lives here that things could unravel quickly.”

‘I’m worried for my children’s safety’

Sarah Sarway, a Jewish mother of a one-year-old with a second on the way, worries a victory by Mamdani, who supports boycotting Israel, could make her community less safe.

The 34-year-old from Midwood, Brooklyn, is a lifelong Democrat raised in a Republican family. She says she always ignored conservative media — but she thinks they’re right about Mamdani.

“I was always rolling my eyes, trying not to listen to the media they were consuming just villainizing Democrats,” the marketing professional said. “But Mamdani is really as bad as they’re saying he is … they’re not exaggerating.”

Cuomo supporter Sarway says “Israel is always an issue in the back of [her] head” when voting and she worries future anti-Israel protesters could be emboldened and get out of hand under Mamdani.

“It didn’t make sense to me why he was just getting stronger, and getting more supporters, but then I realized that’s really what is going on in New York right now — it’s really frightening that the voice of the city now is his supporters,” she said.

Source : https://nypost.com/2025/10/27/us-news/why-many-nyc-democrats-will-never-vote-for-zohran-mamdani/