|
Oct 31, 2026
By Kai Pfaffenbach, Tilman Blasshofer and Miranda Murray
FRANKFURT/BERLIN, Oct 31 (Reuters) - Hooded rioters looted stores in Frankfurt late on Saturday after tens of thousands of demonstrators took to the streets across Germany's biggest cities to demand better education and lower living costs.
The protests followed a wave ?of Gen Z-led demonstrations across Europe this year. In Serbia, student-led activism helped unseat the country's longtime leader at the ballot box, while protests in ?France have descended into rioting and looting.
The German protests organised by the campaign group "Gen Z regelt" — "Gen Z takes charge" in German — took place in 34 cities including Berlin, Frankfurt and Munich. The group says ?it opposes compulsory military service and wants greater investment in education as many young Germans struggle with rising costs.
In Frankfurt, Germany's financial hub, at least two stores were looted as protests turned violent, with several more damaged and police trying to get the situation under control, according to a Reuters witness.
"Violent disturbances are continuing," Frankfurt police said on X. "In the city centre, windows have been smashed at several shops. Molotov cocktails are also being thrown at the emergency services. We urge all bystanders to avoid the city centre ?or to leave the area."
Official numbers on Saturday afternoon ?suggested turnout was below the 182,000 participants that organisers initially expected. Police in Frankfurt, Munich and Berlin reported as many as 18,000 protesters, half the roughly 36,000 on the organisers' website.
German authorities said Saturday's demonstrations, which coincide with Halloween festivities, had been largely peaceful, but ?warned of attempts by extremist groups to exploit the movement.
In Hamburg, some barricades had been set on fire.
"We are here today to fight for peace and freedom, rather than for war
|
|
Oct 31, 2026
Millions of Americans will gain an hour of sleep this weekend when the twice-a-year time change commonly known as daylight savings ends for 2026. Most of the U.S. will "fall back" an hour when the clocks change at 2 a.m. on Sunday.
Here's what to know about what's formally known as daylight saving time as it ends for the year:
What is daylight saving time, and why do we have it?Daylight saving time is the period during the year, from March to early November, when the majority of the U.S. operates one hour ahead of standard time.
The move effectively "saves" an hour of daylight from the morning and adds it to the evening during the spring and summer months when the days are the longest. In the fall and winter months, when the days are shorter, the U.S. returns to standard time, with daylight coming earlier in the morning.
For example, in Boston on Saturday, before the time change, the sun will rise at 7:16 a.m. and set at 5:39 p.m., according to the National Weather Service. On Sunday, back on standard time, sunrise will be at 6:17 a.m. and sunset will be at 4:37 p.m.
The U.S. first adopted daylight saving time in 1918 during World War I as an effort to conserve fuel after Europe implemented its own time change, according to the Congressional Research Service. After the war, Congress repealed the clock switch but gave states the option to continue observing it.
During World War II and the 1970s energy crisis, Congress brought year-round daylight saving time to the U.S., again with the goal of reducing energy consumption. These experiments didn't last long.
After the war, the U.S. let states and municipali
|
|
Oct 31, 2026
Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed (D) told Rep. Haley Stevens (D-Mich.), his once primary opponent, to stay away from his campaign events and disinvited her from a planned appearance on Sunday, a source familiar confirmed to NewsNation, The Hill's broadcasting partner.
The source said El-Sayed does not want the ongoing fight with Stevens to distract from the issues in the final days of his hard-fought Senate campaign.
A spokesperson for Stevens did not immediately respond to The Hill's request for comment.
El-Sayed was set to appear alongside Stevens and Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.) at a church in Detroit, a show of unity despite some harsh words exchanged between the two candidates throughout the week.
Stevens released a statement saying she had accepted Clyburn's invitation to appear alongside El-Sayed, but still criticized the Senate nominee for not condemning an ad that appeared to blame Israel for high grocery prices.
"The ad did not invent its argument; it dramatized one Dr. El-Sayed has made in his own words throughout this campaign: that Israel is the reason Michigan cannot afford schools, healthcare, and child care," Stevens said in her statement. "I therefore expect him to apologize for those statements as well."
The ad was run digitally and was bought by an outside progressive group, not El-Sayed's campaign.
El-Sayed shot back in a statement on Friday, saying Stevens is focused on rehashing their August primary, which he narrowly won.
"So while Congresswoman Stevens seems
|
|
Oct 31, 2026
The Tsaritsyno museum is an imperial palace and park complex in southern Moscow (Mladen ANTONOV)Russia's FSB security service said on Saturday it was carrying out "appropriate" measures after the US embassy in Moscow warned of a planned "terrorist" attack in the capital.
The US embassy said earlier it was "aware of a credible threat of a mass casualty event TODAY October 31, at the Tsaritsyno Museum Reserve in Moscow".
The US government was "coordinating with appropriate Russian authorities on a response," it said, advising people: "Avoid the area, stay alert, and avoid crowds."
The US embassy did not give details on who was plotting the attack.
The Tsaritsyno museum is an imperial palace and park complex in southern Moscow that is a popular place to visit, especially on weekends.
Russian Telegram channel Baza, which reportedly has links to law enforcement, said the park was now closed and "open only for exits".
"Law enforcement officers are on the premises," it reported.
Russia's FSB security service said earlier it had received information from the United States "regarding the preparation of a terrorist attack".
"Appropriate work is underway," it was quoted as saying by Russian news agencies.
The US has provided Russia with warnings of planned attacks before, including in March 2024, weeks before an ISIS-K attack on a Moscow concert hall that killed over 100 people.
bur/rmb
This article originally appeared on AFP at https://www.yahoo.com/news/world/articles/russia-says-responding-us-report-160743844.html
|
|
Oct 31, 2026
ATLANTA (AP) — Two years after Kamala Harris lost the presidential election to Donald Trump, she still delights Democratic donors and activists with jabs against him, saying the Republican is "callous, corrupt and incompetent" and calling him the "decorator in chief" for his White House renovations and gold adornments.
But the former vice president also has plenty to say about what her party, the electorate and the country should do next as she also considers whether to run again.
"This is the moment where we turn that anger into action," Harris said more than once during a busy schedule in the final stretch of the midterm campaign.
Harris campaigned for candidates across seven states, ending with a recent two-day visit to Georgia. It was, in parts, the kind of nostalgic tour seen from Barack Obama and Bill Clinton — two-term presidents whose last campaigns are behind them — and the barnstorming from potential future contenders such as Govs. Gavin Newsom of California and Andy Beshear of Kentucky or U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York.
As the first Black woman elected to nationwide office, Harris urged fellow Black Americ
|
|
Oct 31, 2026
ATLANTA, Oct 30 (Reuters) - US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Brazilian Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira spoke briefly ?at a Group of 20 foreign ministers meeting and ?agreed to meet in coming weeks before a G20 leaders summit, a ?source familiar with the plans said.
A Brazilian official downplayed tensions over Brazil's failure to approve Trump's pick as ambassador and the re-election of Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
Vieira took part ?in the G20 meeting, ?which was hosted by Rubio in Atlanta. The two ministers agreed to meet again before G20 ?leaders meet in Miami in December.
The plan for the two to meet again, first reported by Bloomberg, reflects a desire by ?the two ?countries to move on after ?discord over the ambassador's visa ?and the US decision to grant a visa to Brazilian Senator Flavio Bolsonaro after his election loss to the leftist incumbent Lula.
"We're clearly not politicizing the issue, as we haven't in other situations regarding Brazilian citizens who have fled to the ?US," the Brazilian official said.
A US ?official and a person familiar with ?the matter last week ?told Reuters that Trump has no current plans ?to support Bolsonaro's political ambitions ?even as the ?administration allowed him into the country.
Bolsonaro's father, former President Jair Bolsonaro, is imprisoned in Brazil for attempting to stay ?in power after ?losing his own re-election bid in 2022.
(Reporting by Andrea ?Shalal in Atlanta and Shivani Tanna in BengaluruEditing by ?Tom Hogue and Peter Graff)
This article originally appeared on Reuters at https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/rubio-brazils-foreign-minister-meet-151229759.html
|
|
Oct 31, 2026
The D.C. government and the state of Virginia sued Saturday to block construction of President Donald Trump's planned triumphal arch, calling it a "flagrantly unlawful" project that will forever change the landscape of the nation's capital.
The lawsuit is the latest attempt to stop the 250-foot-tall arch, which Trump hopes to build near Arlington National Cemetery and says will commemorate the nation's 250th birthday. The administration would like to begin construction as soon as next week.
Subscribe to The Post Most newsletter for the most important and interesting stories from The Washington Post.
The two jurisdictions are asking a federal judge to halt the plan and argue that they have "indisputable standing" to bring their lawsuit because the towering arch would have tangible, negative effects on the region - an argument that distinguishes their lawsuit from others that have tried to stop Trump's construction projects.
D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb (D) said the arch construction would cause "serious, immediate and irreparable harm to the District and its residents," while Virginia Attorney General Jay Jones (D) said "Trump's illegal vanity project" would be an affront to Arlington National Cemetery and the "extraordinary sacrifices it represents."
"The Commonwealth has a solemn duty and a profound interest in preserving the dignity of this sacred place," Jones said in a statement. "We will vigorously litigate to protect its sanctity and honor the legacy of those who made the ultimate sacrifice."
The arch already faces legal peril. In a separate case brought by thr
|
|
Oct 31, 2026
Wall Street analysts spent 2026 piling Buy ratings onto the AI build-out. The stocks they ignored have done better.
The S&P 500 (^GSPC) stocks with the biggest share of analyst Buy ratings have trailed those with the smallest share for most of the year, according to Piper Sandler chief investment strategist Michael Kantrowitz. Measured year over year, it's the third-worst stretch in Piper's data going back to 1995.
"The Sell Side's MOST favored stocks have underperformed their LEAST favored stocks for the majority of 2026," Kantrowitz wrote in a note to clients Wednesday.
This week showed what that looks like. Alphabet had its worst month in history, Intel had its worst day since 1974, and the Nasdaq (^IXIC) suffered its biggest daily drop since June as Big Tech's results revived worries about AI spending.
Add it up, and the AI trade has lost about $5 trillion in market value since Oct. 6, by Yahoo Finance calculations, including about $1.6 trillion on Friday alone. Nvidia and Alphabet, two of Piper's favorites, shed about $835 billion each, roughly a third of the total.
|
|
Oct 31, 2026
MANAMA, Bahrain - The looming possibility of U.S. strikes on Iran has been met with weary nervousness in the Persian Gulf, as Gulf officials double down on efforts to break through a U.S.-Iran impasse that they know will leave their region vulnerable.
Publicly and privately, leaders in Persian Gulf nations, which bore the brunt of Iranian retaliation because they are home to U.S. bases, are calling for de-escalation as concerns about President Donald Trump's war plans grow. Mediators from Qatar arrived in Tehran on Friday as part of the efforts to negotiate an end to the war, according to a person briefed on the talks, who described the trip as a "last-ditch effort to broker an interim deal between Iran and the U.S." that was happening "in coordination with the U.S."
Subscribe to The Post Most newsletter for the most important and interesting stories from The Washington Post.
Trump has seemed open to a deal - but also to resuming strikes, according to a separate official briefed on the talks, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation. Vice President JD Vance, special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law and envoy, have been pushing for a deal, the official added, as others - including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth - appear opposed to it.
"The next two days will be crucial in determining how the situation unfolds," said an Iranian official, who like some others interviewed for this story spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation. The Americans, they added, are "seeking a positive breakthrough" ahead of the midterm elections.
|
|
Oct 31, 2026
James Talarico; Adam Hamilton; Paige Cognetti. (USA Today Network; Reuters; Getty)WASHINGTON — Democratic candidates in 2026 battleground races are directly criticizing Joe Biden's handling of border security when he was president, seeking to neutralize a political vulnerability and signaling a new path for the party on the thorny issue.
Candidates are throwing the ex-president under the bus on border policy in key states that will decide control of the Senate and some battleground House races across the country.
"I called out Joe Biden for failing us on the border," Texas' Democratic Senate nominee James Talarico says in a recent ad airing in the closing stretch of his neck-and-neck race against Republican Ken Paxton. He also criticized Biden in July for having "failed us on our southern border" as he rolled out his own border security plan.
He's not alone.
In Kansas, a longtime Republican stronghold, Democrat Adam Hamilton criticized Biden in a recent debate with R
|
|
Oct 31, 2026
[Reuters]
The United States has approved the sale of 500 Patriot missiles to Ukraine, a critically needed munition for defence against escalating Russian aerial attacks.
However, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has warned it could take "several years" for the deliveries to arrive.
The US State Department said the advanced PAC-3 interceptor missiles would cost $2.1bn (£1.6bn) and would be "funded entirely" by Kyiv's allies in Europe and Canada.
On Friday night Zelensky repeated his calls for the US to speed up the release of its Patriots - the only effective weapon for downing Russia's deadly ballistic missiles.
Hundreds evacuated from Russian-occupied Oleshky during rare Ukraine ceasefireG20 'family photo' cancelled after protests over presence of Russian minister
The latest move comes after a row between Zelensky and Donald Trump earlier this month when the US eased sanctions on Russia as part of a deal to secure Russian diesel.
The US president stated it was time for
|
|
Oct 31, 2026
One person was killed and six others were injured in a shooting at a Spirit Halloween store in California packed with last-minute Halloween shoppers on Friday night.
Gunfire rang out inside the seasonal retail store at the Solano Town Center mall in Fairfield, Calif., at around 8:30 p.m., Fairfield Police Chief Dan Marshall said during a press conference.
One person was pronounced dead at the scene, while six others were rushed to a hospital, where three are listed in critical condition.
Police at the Solano Town Center mall where one person was killed and six others injured in a shooting at a Spirit Halloween on Oct. 30, 2026. KCRA 3
Police did not reveal any description of the suspected shooter, who remains at large, and did not confirm if there were more than one suspect.
A motive behind the shooting was not revealed.
"This is still a very active crime scene. Detectives are speaking with witnesses and diligently working to identify the suspect responsible for this horrific shooting," police said in a press release.
The ages and identities of the victims were not immediately released.
The store was open and filled with customers when the shooting began, sending shoppers fleeing for their lives.
"Well, she just told me she heard some shots and the people running, yelling and crying already," one witness described what his wife experienced to KCRA.
|
|
Oct 31, 2026
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — The FBI on Friday began reaching out to donors of Dan J. Sullivan asking about potential deception, as federal authorities ramped up their investigation over the U.S. Senate candidate in Alaska who shares a name with the Republican incumbent.
An Anchorage-based FBI agent visited a boat dealership in Petersburg, a small fishing community accessible only by air or water where the candidate lives. The agent left a business card for Charles Flint, who told The Associated Press he has known Dan J. Sullivan for years as a respected teacher and musician.
The FBI visit came after federal officials confirmed the existence of a criminal probe over the candidate. The U.S. Department of Justice also pushed Friday for a court order to isolate certain Alaska ballots to investigate potential voter confusion.
Flint contributed $500 over the summer to what he considered a long-shot campaign, saying he knew Dan J. Sullivan would have expenses and respected him for "throwing his hat in the ring." Flint said the FBI agent asked his son, who works at the dealership, whether Flint felt he had been "misled" about which candidate he was supporting.
"I don't feel like I've been misled at all," Flint, who has been out of town, told the AP in a telephone interview, adding he had no intention of calling the agent but would "let him waste his time trying to track me down."
"I don't think there's any confusion," he said, adding he intends to rank Democrat Mary Peltola first on his ballot, followed by Dan J. Sullivan. "
|
|
Oct 30, 2026
By Andrew Goudsward and Nathan Frandino
WASHINGTON/ANCHORAGE, Oct 30 (Reuters) - President Donald Trump's administration stepped up criminal and civil investigations into allegations that Democrats conspired to recruit a spoiler candidate in a critical Senate race in Alaska, officials said on Friday, injecting fresh uncertainty into Tuesday's midterm elections.
The top federal prosecutor in Alaska, US Attorney Michael Heyman, said ?at a press conference that a Wednesday New York Times article about the effort had driven a "surge" of FBI resources, adding that he had assigned several prosecutors to the case ?and that investigative steps were taking place "intensely and swiftly."
"Every Alaskan deserves a fair election, and they're going to get one," he said. "Anyone who tries to illegally deceive voters and interfere with the election, they'll answer for it."
The Alaska contest is widely ?seen as one of the US Senate races that could sway control of the chamber, now narrowly held by Trump's Republicans.
TRUMP ORDERED SUIT, CLAIMS 'FRAUD AT HIGHEST LEVEL'
The Justice Department's legal actions in Alaska and California, where the Trump administration is trying to prevent some ballots from being counted, represent an extraordinary federal intervention in state-run elections, which are administered locally under the US Constitution.
When the DOJ filed the civil suit against Alaska a week ago, Trump told reporters, "I'm the one that said do it."
Heyman declined to offer specifics when asked what possible crimes were being examined, saying he would let the Alaska investigation proceed, although Trump has called for a ?prosecution of Senate candidate Mary Peltola, a Democrat.
"This is voter fraud at the ?highest level," Trump told a Florida rally on Friday.
The Department of Justice asked a federal judge on Friday to ensure the preservation of ballots that "may be impacted
|
|
Oct 30, 2026
A federal judge on Friday ordered the Justice Department to stop threatening state and local election officials with criminal prosecution over their handling of disputes about voter qualifications.
U.S. District Judge Trina Thompson also ordered the Trump administration to cease demanding that election workers remove voters from statewide rolls, refuse to issue ballots to specific voters or segregate ballots cast in the midterms based on the administration's claims that some voters are ineligible.
"Because the public has a paramount interest in ensuring that election officials and workers are able to carry out their work in accordance with federal law and election procedure, and the official day of the Elections is only a couple of days away, the balance of the equities and public interest weigh in Plaintiffs' favor," Thompson wrote.
Thompson, a San Francisco-based Biden appointee, issued the temporary restraining order in connection with a lawsuit brought by the Service Employees International Union and other groups. Her directive also requires the DOJ to reach out to any state or local officials who received warnings about possible prosecution and inform them that "demands and threats of prosecution to election officials and workers … have been enjoined."
The Justice Department on Thursday sent letters to election workers in all 50 states alluding to possible prosecution if they didn't preserve election records. DOJ did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the judge's broad ruling.
|
|
Oct 30, 2026
TRAVERSE CITY, MICHIGAN — Michigan's Democratic coalition is fragmenting in real time days before a critical Senate election.
After it seemed like former primary rivals Abdul El-Sayed and Rep. Haley Stevens might finally appear together, they're back to sniping at each other. And it could hardly come at a worse moment as Democrats look to unite behind El-Sayed and hold on to a pivotal Senate seat.
El-Sayed's campaign is asking Stevens to stay away from all future campaign events in the closing days of the race, two people familiar with the decision, who were granted anonymity to discuss sensitive campaign dynamics, told POLITICO.
She should stay away "as not to distract from the central issues of the campaign," one of the people said.
The brushoff capped a day of the two lobbing increasingly pointed statements back and forth at each other, frustrating Democrats who say the infighting risks imperiling a state the party can hardly afford to lose as they try to flip control of the Senate.
"I have no idea what the hell Haley Stevens is doing. This is a moment where we have to recognize the stakes," Michigan state Sen. Mallory McMorrow, who was squeezed out of the Democratic primary by the two other candidates, told CNN earlier on Friday, before El-Sayed issued his response. "People are not talking about ads. They are not talking about Haley Stevens. They are talking about the price of gas and groceries."
Stevens did not immediately respond to a question on if she will now stay off the trail, and did not respond to an earlier question about whether her appearance was contingent on him apologizing. El-Sayed's campaign declined to comment.
El-Sayed narrowly defeated Stevens in a bitter and hard-fought primary in August that exposed division over support for Israel. The seat now held by the retiring Democratic Sen. Gary Peters is crucial to Democratic hopes to take control of the Senate.
Stevens and El Sayed have not campai
|
|
Oct 30, 2026
By Andrew Goudsward and Nathan Frandino
WASHINGTON/ANCHORAGE, Oct 30 (Reuters) - President Donald Trump's administration stepped up criminal and civil investigations into allegations that Democrats conspired to recruit a spoiler candidate in a critical Senate race in Alaska, US officials said on Friday, injecting fresh uncertainty into Tuesday's congressional midterm election.
The Justice Department's top prosecutor in Alaska, US Attorney Michael Heyman, ?said at a press conference that a Wednesday New York Times article about the effort had driven a "surge" of FBI resources, adding that he had assigned several prosecutors to the ?case and that investigative steps were taking place "intensely and swiftly."
"Every Alaskan deserves a fair election, and they're going to get one," he said. "Anyone who tries to illegally deceive voters and interfere with the election, they'll answer for it."
Separately, the department on Friday ?asked a federal judge to block Alaska from certifying the election results if the Republican incumbent, Dan Sullivan, loses due to the presence of a third candidate, also named Daniel Sullivan.
The contest between Sullivan and Democratic challenger Mary Peltola is widely seen as one of the few Senate races that could sway control of the chamber on November 3.
A record 48 million people have cast early ballots, more than any other midterm election in US history, according to the University of Florida's Election Lab, with even the American-born Pope Leo casting a ballot by mail.
If Democrats take one or both chambers of Congress, they intend to launch investigations into Trump's ?administration and increase pressure on the president to end the war against ?Iran.
KEY PATH FOR DEMOCRATS
If Democrats cannot flip the seat, their path to a majority narrows considerably, with the party needing to win at least two other races in mostly Republican states such as Oh
|
|
Oct 30, 2026
(Bloomberg) -- Alphabet Inc.'s Google is in talks with the US Defense Department to work on a new data security effort underpinning the $185 billion Golden Dome missile defense program, according to people familiar with the matter.
Most Read from Bloomberg
Binance Estimates $6.3 Billion Hacked in Crypto's Biggest HeistStocks Slump as Wall Street Gets AI Wake-Up Call: Markets WrapGoogle Erases a Record $500 Billion as AI Eats Into SalesKushner's Thrive Holdings to Buy ADT for $7.6 Billion in CashIntel Suffers Worst Stock Drop in Decades on Weak ForecastThe Pentagon is standing up a new industry group that aims to secure the data that feeds into military software being built for Golden Dome, said the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the matter isn't public.
The group is likely to involve multiple companies working to ensure data that flows into the new command-and-control software is resilient to attacks, such as attempts to cut access to landlines, cell towers and other critical c
|
|
Oct 30, 2026
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — The U.S. Department of Justice pushed Friday for a court order to isolate certain Alaska ballots to investigate potential voter confusion, while federal officials confirmed the existence of a criminal probe over a Senate candidate who shares a name with the Republican incumbent.
The dueling developments came days before Tuesday's ranked choice general election, in a race headlined by two-term Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan and Democratic former U.S. Rep. Mary Peltola. The race is among a handful nationwide expected to determine control of the Senate.
Alaska U.S. Attorney Michael Heyman told reporters in Anchorage that the investigation has been ongoing for several months, but recent revelations from The New York Times that Peltola's campaign appeared to be involved in recruiting retired teacher Dan J. Sullivan have resulted in a "significant surge of law enforcement assets to Alaska."
Separately, the Justice Department — as part of a lawsuit it filed last week — asked a judge to order that state elections officials isolate ballots ranking Dan J. Sullivan to investigate potential voter "confusion" with the senator. The owner of a boat dealership in the candidate's hometown of Petersburg who had donated to his campaign told The Associated Press that an FBI agent visited the business and
|
|
Oct 30, 2026
US stocks plunged in the final trading day of the month as earnings from Amazon (AMZN) and Alphabet (GOOG, GOOGL) this week rekindled concerns about the amount of money Big Tech is spending on its AI ambitions.
The Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) tumbled 2.8% as a tech-fueled sell-off intensified. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) fell 1.2%, or over 650 points, while the S&P 500 (^GSPC) dropped 2%.
For the month, the Dow gained 1.5%, while the Nasdaq and S&P 500 gave up gains, falling 5.2% and 1.2%, respectively. October marked the worst month for the Nasdaq since March 2025.
Stocks fell for the second day in a row after
|
|
Oct 30, 2026
An open voting machine is seen at Arroyo Seco regional branch library on Oct. 27 in Los Angeles. (Ronaldo Bolaños / Los Angeles Times)A federal appeals court for the second time Friday denied a Trump administration request to block 20,000 ballots from California voters the administration alleges may be noncitizens — ruling that the administration had failed to show that "such extraordinary relief, during an ongoing election, is clearly required by law."
The three-judge panel of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals — composed of two appointees of President Trump and one of President Biden — ruled 2-1 that the U.S. Constitution gives the state and Congress the power to decide how elections are run, and that allowing the Trump administration to "misuse" federal statutes to "prescribe" how California must process ballots would "override the plain and manifest dictates of the Constitution itself."
"Because Congress has not exercised the specific power granted to it under the Elections Clause to override California's established laws for challenging ballots or removing ineligible voters, the State Legislature's statutory scheme remains the only method to do so," the judges found.
The panel's majority — comprised of Trump appointee Mark J. Bennett and Biden appointee Gabriel P. Sanchez — wrote that "if the United States believes different procedures are necessary for vote-by-mail ballots, we believe it should take that suggestion to Congress, not the courts."
They also wrote that separate federal law proscribes sweeping changes to voter lists 90 days prior to an election, especially given questions ab
|
|
Oct 30, 2026
When South Carolina's longtime Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham died suddenly in July, his sister Darline stepped in to fill his seat in the Senate for the final six months of his term.
"Lindsey has always been there for me, and now I will be there for him," Darline Graham said in her first remarks after being appointed to her brother's old seat.
The choice to put Darline Graham in the seat was made by South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster. But now that Darline Graham is seeking election to a full six-year term, her political future is in the hands of South Carolina's voters.
The Palmetto State hasn't elected a Democrat to the Senate since 1998. The specific Senate seat Graham now occupies has been held by a Republican for more than 60 years. But polls suggest that, in a midterm cycle in which the GOP is playing defense in red states across the country, Graham's Democratic opponent, Annie Andrews, may have a genuine chance of pulling off an upset on Nov. 3.
Here's what to know about Darline Graham as she fights to defend what could be a critical seat in the nationwide battle over control o
|
|
Oct 30, 2026
US stocks plunged in the final trading day of the month as earnings from Amazon (AMZN) and Alphabet (GOOG, GOOGL) this week rekindled concerns about the amount of money Big Tech is spending on its AI ambitions.
The Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) tumbled 3.3% as a tech-fueled sell-off intensified. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) fell 1%, or over 500 points, while those on the S&P 500 (^GSPC) dropped 2%.
Stocks fell for the second day in a row after Amazon and
|
|
Oct 30, 2026
It's crunch time. With just days to go until the 2026 midterm elections, Democratic and Republican candidates for the U.S. House of Representatives nationwide are making one last push to persuade voters in their districts — and help their party win or retain control of the chamber on Nov. 3.
The stakes are high. President Trump has enjoyed complete Republican control of Congress for the first half of his second term. Flipping the House would give Democrats the power to block parts of the president's agenda, investigate his administration and even impeach him (again).
Historically speaking, a president's party almost always loses seats when voters return to the polls to judge his first two years in office. (The average number lost since World War II? Twenty-six.) Sometimes, the backlash is so pervasive that the president's party loses seats across a wide range of competitive districts — a phenomenon known as a "wave" election.
But the past doesn't necessarily predict the future, and Republicans have certain advantages today that they didn't have before. Here's what needs to happen for each party to come out on top.
|
|
Oct 30, 2026
The estimated $6.3 billion theft reported Thursday by crypto exchange Binance isn't the first time the industry has dealt with a major, unexpected incident in which large sums of customer assets are frozen, spurring a rout in crypto stocks.
It may bring to mind crypto's more turbulent days, such as the collapse of FTX, though in that full-on meltdown, with an initial shortfall of $8 billion to $8.9 billion, the Binance rival's own founder, Sam Bankman-Fried, was charged with the heist. Bankman-Fried was convicted of fraud in 2024 and sentenced to 25 years in prison.
Yahoo FinanceThe Binance hack has rattled crypto markets: Bitcoin (
|
|
Oct 30, 2026
A federal judge has opened an investigation into concerns that the Trump administration lied to her in the ongoing legal battle over President Trump's desire to redevelop East Potomac Golf Links.
Friday's hearing became the latest fiery courtroom clash between U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes and the Department of Justice (DOJ), which repeatedly took issue with the judge's lines of questioning and pushed back on any suggestion that information was wrongly withheld.
"The court will open a formal inquiry into whether agency officials and employees, including agency attorneys and DOJ attorneys, have made misrepresentations to the court and otherwise violated ethical rules," the judge said.
A preservationist group and local golfers are suing to stop major redevelopments at East Potomac Park, the longtime home of a public golf course along the edge of the nation's capital. Trump has repeatedly expressed a desire to redevelop it into a championship-style course, and in recent days, he has said the site will close beginning Nov. 15 so the project can proceed.
The president's comments — and recent work to cut down hundreds of trees — have escalated the legal fight.
In
|
|
Oct 30, 2026
On Election Day, Democrat Abdul El-Sayed and Republican Mike Rogers will face off in what may be the marquee battle of the 2026 midterms: the race to succeed retiring Democratic Sen. Gary Peters in Michigan.
It's a contest that could decide which party controls the U.S. Senate.
Democrats currently hold 47 Senate seats, including two independents who caucus with them. They need 51 to win back the chamber. (A 50-50 split would give Vice President JD Vance the tiebreaking vote.) Polls suggest that flipping four Republican seats is very possible, but Democrats are also playing defense in Georgia, New Hampshire and Michigan. The Great Lakes State looks like the closest of the three.
Democrats are pinning their hopes on El-Sayed, an unapologetic 41-year-old progressive who's pushing policies such as Medicare for All and ending U.S. military aid to Israel; who's willing to confront his critics and his own party's establishment; and who's vying to become America's first Muslim senator.
Republicans have
|
|
Oct 30, 2026
President Donald Trump speaks to reporters outside the White House as he departs via Marine One on Oct. 23. Photo by Tierney Cross/UPI
Oct. 30 (UPI) -- President Donald Trump briefly scrapped weekend rallies in Kansas and Iowa before shifting schedules Friday to hold both.
Trump said he did not believe he needed to go to Kansas on Saturday for a rally for Sen. Roger Marshall due to him polling well. On Friday he changed course, telling a Kansas City radio show that Marshall is in a "close race."
"I think that I'm doing so well in the polls that he's got, probably got better places to spend his time," Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., told reporters when Trump's rally appearance was canceled.
It has been almost 100 years since Kansas has elected a Democrat to the Senate. Its governor Laura Kelly is a Democrat.
Iowa is also home to a Senate race that is projected to be close. Republican Rep. Ashley Hinson and state legislator Josh Turek, a Democrat, are polling withing the margin for error with Hinson ahead by two points.
When the cancellations for rallies in the final weekend before Tuesday's midterm elections were first announced, Trump was then going to hold rallies by phone across 19 states in a "72-hour sprint," the Republican National Committee said.
The president has attended 25 rallies in October, including some on back-to-back days. Trump's latest rally was in South Carolina campaigning for Sen. Darline Grah
|
|
Oct 30, 2026
HOUSTON (AP) — A U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer accused of intentionally ramming his car into a Mexican construction worker in Houston was charged Friday with aggravated assault, prosecutors said.
The Harris County District Attorney's office says Mario Alberto Morales was behind the wheel of an unmarked black vehicle on Oct. 10 when it struck Miguel Parra Hernandez, 48, who was running away. Parra Hernandez was later placed in custody with a broken leg.
Few federal officers during President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown have faced criminal charges for their actions in the field, although some encounters have come under investigation.
The case in Houston was brought by District Attorney Sean Teare, a Democrat, who is also investigating the fatal shooting of a Mexican homebuilder in July that set off protests in the nation's fourth-largest city.
ICE has said Parra Hernandez stepped in front of the car and called accusations that the officer intentionally struck him false and "reckless." It called the indictment charging Morales with second-degree aggravated assault with a deadly weapon "a political stunt" and said local officials do not have the authority to investigate federal officers acting in the course of their duties.
"Allegations that ICE struck Miguel Parra-Hernandez intentionally are RECKLESS and FALSE," ICE said in a statement.
Teare has said video clearly
|
|
Oct 30, 2026
Tel Aviv — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Likud party alleged Thursday that Israel's election earlier in the week was stolen by Arab-majority parties, helped by foreign funding that amounted to vote-buying, as final results showed Netanyahu's bloc has lost its majority in Israel's parliament, the Knesset.
Israel's Arab-majority parties had their highest turnout ever in Tuesday's election, winning an unprecedented 19 of the Knesset's 120 seats. Their success is one of the main reasons Netanyahu's bloc lost its majority and can't now form a new government.
The final election results show the far-right wing bloc's share of Knesset seats fell from 68 to 53.
Israel's Arab minority, also called Palestinian citizens of Israel, makes up about 20% of the country's population.
"Israel's elections have been stolen," Netanyahu's Likud party declared in a statement Thursday, claiming "an attack on democracy aimed at leading to a foreign takeover of the Knesset, the Islamization of Israel, and the overthrow of the right-wing government to cause a withdrawal and defeat of the IDF (Israeli military) on all fronts — first and foremost, Iran."
The four parties that make up the main bloc opposing Netanyahu won 48 seats, so they would need some support from the Arab parties to try to form a coalition government, assuming none of the lawmakers curr
|
|
Oct 30, 2026
The United States is pointing to gains in the Strait of Hormuz, intent on demonstrating that weeks of complex and secretive military operations there have returned oil flows to near prewar levels and chipped away at a key piece of Iranian leverage ahead of a threatened return to all-out war after the U.S. midterm elections next week.
An increase in vessel traffic and the small percentage of ships disabled by Iranian strikes are signals "clearly demonstrating that the United States and regional partners control the international waterway," read a statement this week from U.S. Central Command announcing that Brad Cooper, the head of the command, had visited the strait.
Subscribe to The Post Most newsletter for the most important and interesting stories from The Washington Post.
But while U.S. allies in the Persian Gulf have welcomed the operations along with oil industry and shipping firms, serious questions remain about how sustainable they are in the face of escalating Iranian attacks, according to two people with knowledge of the matter and two Western officials based in the region, who like others interviewed for this report spoke on the condition of anonymity to share sensitive information. Also unclear, they said, is whether the U.S. military would be able to maintain the operations in the strait at the same time as resumed heavy strikes on Iranian territory after the U.S. midterm elections, as President Donald Trump has threatened.
In addition to increasing the volume of strikes on shipping, Tehran also appears to have adjusted its targeting in recent weeks, increasingly taking aim at engine rooms to disable vessels rather than j
|
|
Oct 30, 2026
Christa Pike said she is in constant physical and mental pain in a statement released one month after she survived an execution attempt by the state of Tennessee on Sept. 30.
"I had not contemplated life beyond that night, and I'm deeply hurt by the incompetence that has put so many people in this terrible position," she said in the 460-word statement. "I continue to think about my victim's family and the terrible pain and loss they have endured."
Pike was sentenced to death for the 1985 murder of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer in Knoxville. Pike was 18 at the time. Her execution was scheduled for 10 a.m. Sept. 30 at Riverbend Maximum Security Prison in Nashville, but a last-minute legal battle delayed the proceedings until the evening. She survived two rounds of lethal injection drugs and was taken to the hospital after 9 p.m. that night.
Gov. Bill Lee paused all executions and ordered a third-party review into what went wrong. Lee also announced the resignation of Tennessee Department of Correction Commissioner Frank Strada. Pike's execution attempt was the second unsuccessful one this year.
Since Oct. 10, Pike has been back at the Debra K. Johnson Rehabilitation Center in Nashville, where she has been held for more than 30 years. She continues to receive medical care in the prison's infirmary.
"I am recovering, and I know that I am getting stronger," her statement read. "But healing is not the same as
|
|
Oct 30, 2026
VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Leo XIV has become the first pope to vote in a U.S. general election, casting a mail-in ballot in a contest that will decide America's future as the Trump era slowly comes to an end.
The Vatican confirmed Friday that the Chicago-born pontiff had submitted a mail-in ballot in Chicago ahead of the Nov. 3 midterm elections, citing his long-standing belief in civic participation.
Leo, formerly Robert Prevost, "has exercised his right to vote as a United States citizen" and has done so "whenever he was eligible to do so," the Holy See press office said.
The statement said he had also voted while living in Peru whenever he was eligible. Leo lived in Peru as a missionary priest and bishop for over 20 years.
"The Holy Father expresses his belief in the right and the duty of citizens to participate in democratic processes," it added.
Leo holds U.S. and Peruvian citizenship, and is also the head of state of a foreign country, the Holy See. The city state is an absolute monarchy with no political elections.
This election, Illinois voters are deciding whether to elect Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker to his third term, and they're also filling an open U.S. Senate seat after longtime Catholic Democrat Dick Durbin's retirement. President Donald T
|
|
Oct 30, 2026
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth arrives for the ASEAN Defence Ministers' Meeting at Mactan Expo on October 28, in Cebu, Philippines. - Ezra Acayan/Getty Images
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's political future could be on the line if Democrats win the House majority in next week's midterm elections.
A Democrat win of the House could breathe new life into an ongoing effort to impeach Hegseth, potentially convincing more Republicans to get on board in a vote shortly after the elections.
If that push fails, Democrats are planning to set their sights on the defense secretary if they have the House gavel in the new Congress, with a major push toward impeachment.
GOP Rep. Thomas Massie has vowed to force a vote to impeach Hegseth when the House returns after the midterms in November if the secretary is still in office. If Republicans lose the majority, Massie is increasingly confident that there will be the bipartisan votes needed for impeachment, which just requires a simple majority.
"The membership of the retirement caucus is going to swell on Election Day," Massie told CNN. "Those members of Congress who aren't coming back, who are Republican, might be compelled to vote their conscience when they're no longer worried about having the support of Trump or the GOP for their election."
It is unclear how Republican leadership will handle the issue after the election. Speaker Mike Johnson sent lawmakers home early in September, staving off a vote
|
|
Oct 30, 2026
House Democrats are probing the State Department's role in facilitating former Brazilian presidential candidate Flávio Bolsonaro's escape from Brazil to the U.S. amid ongoing criminal investigations into him and his family.
A group of House Democrats, including many prominent members of the Foreign Affairs Committee, sent a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Thursday night with a list of questions about the State Department's involvement in Bolsonaro fleeing Brazil and the process it underwent to approve a U.S. visa for him as he departed.
In the letter, shared first with POLITICO, the Democrats ask Rubio to clarify how the State Department coordinated with other agencies to grant the visa, whether officials were aware of the pending probes against Bolsonaro and the degree to which the State Department and its officials helped Bolsonaro leave Brazil and come to the United States.
"The American people and Congress have a legitimate oversight interest in understanding whether U.S. diplomatic and immigration resources were used to facilitate the travel of a foreign political figure under these circumstances," the lawmakers wrote. "Transparency is particularly important where the reported events implicate a foreign judicial proceeding, sensitive bilateral relations, and the consistent application of U.S. immigration and diplomatic policies."
The letter, led by Reps. Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-Calif.) and Dina Titus (D-Nev.), was signed by 25 members in total.
The State Department did not respond to a request for comment about the letter.
Bolsonaro, the scion of a right-wing political dynasty in the South American country with close ties to key Trump administration advisers, is under investigation in
|
|
Oct 30, 2026
Republicans are bracing for a brutal election night, convinced they're set to face some previously unthinkable losses in deep-red Trump territory as key battleground races hang on a knife's edge.
House Republicans are privately discussing not just if they'll lose their majority, but by how many seats. Imperiled GOP incumbents in once safe districts have been begging party leaders for more money in the final few days to stem the bleeding, according to six people involved in internal conversations, granted anonymity to discuss them. Senate Republicans have found new cause to worry about contests in Ohio, Kansas and other red states.
"It could be quite a brutal evening," said one senior Republican involved in the private conversations, who like others in this article was granted anonymity to speak candidly. "Once the dominoes start falling it becomes hard to stop them."
Some Republican incumbents made an eyebrow-raising emergency decision. They stopped doing their own polling weeks ago as they tried to save every dollar for swaying voters as they begged for the GOP cavalry to arrive from President Donald Trump's political operation to the National Republican Congressional Committee, according to three of the people.
One Republican strategist working on midterm races simply responded to a question about the environment with a video of a dumpster on fire that was being swept away by flood waters.
Top GOP officials and lawmakers have long known the political landscape would be bad, amid voter anger over the cost of living and aspects of Trump's policy agenda. But they're facing a worse position than they expected earlier this year, wit
|
|
Oct 30, 2026
By Ankur Banerjee, Rocky Swift and Summer Zhen
SINGAPORE/TOKYO Oct 30 (Reuters) - Hackers stole $6.3 billion from Binance, the world's biggest cryptocurrency exchange, in a record theft that analysts pinned on North Korea and said could shake faith in digital assets.
Cryptocurrency prices fell on the news, while Binance halted withdrawals and said it would cover the losses. About half the ?stolen assets were quickly frozen by stablecoin issuers such as Tether, Circle and the Trump-backed World Liberty Financial.
The bulk of the heist unfolded in around 20 minutes beginning late on Thursday ?and bore similarities to previous large attacks blamed on North Korea, according to US blockchain analysis firms TRM Labs and Chainalysis.
TRM said the attackers were able to order wallets that Binance uses to empty into hacker-controlled wallets, mirroring a 2025 heist at ?crypto exchange Bybit, which the US Federal Bureau of Investigation had attributed to Pyongyang.
"TRM attributes the attack to ... North Korea's elite hacking unit," the firm said in an analysis of the hack posted to its website. Both TRM and Chainalysis said they were highly confident North Korea was responsible.
'BIGGEST HACK IN HISTORY'
North Korea has for years used state-linked cyber units for espionage, financial theft and revenue, according to US and South Korean authorities as well as cybersecurity experts.
North Korea routinely denies that. Its mission in Geneva and embassy in China did not immediately respond to Reuters' requests for comment.
Binance said user funds were safe and that it was working with partners to freeze ?some of the affected assets, with about $3 billion located so far. It ?expects to resume withdrawal services in the next 48 hours.
It did not mention the status of the remaining $3.3 billion.
"Your money is safe and we're covering every loss," co-CEO Richard Teng said o
|
|
Oct 30, 2026
By Antoni Slodkowski, Gram Slattery and Andrius Sytas
Oct 30 (Reuters) - Pentagon officials have in recent weeks asked several NATO countries to tone down their rhetoric regarding the threat posed by Russia, arguing that some statements by European leaders and officials have undermined continental security, four people familiar with the matter said.
Among the nations that have received ?messages urging them to keep public statements in check are Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, said the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity. It was not clear if the messages, ?which were delivered in bilateral meetings, were conveyed to other European governments.
The US requests come as the Trump administration restarts an effort to press for a negotiated end to the full-scale war in Ukraine, now well into its fifth year. The ?latest push has blended incentives for Russia - including sanctions relief - with pressure on Ukraine to halt its attacks on Russian energy infrastructure.
Asked for comment, a Pentagon official said: "Private conversations among allies are just that, so we will not comment on these allegations."
Among the comments that have drawn US officials' attention are suggestions by European leaders that Russia is cornered and resorting to increasingly desperate measures as its invasion of Ukraine slows to a crawl, one of the people said.
Pentagon policy chief Elbridge Colby, a key figure in an ongoing review of US troop levels in Europe, was one of the US officials delivering the message, the people said. ?Reuters could not determine what other officials were involved.
None of the people, ?who include three European officials and a US official, suggested the advice was communicated in a confrontational manner.
EUROPE SHOULD AVOID "POKING" RUSSIA
The US messages reflect a debate within NATO regarding how to publicly address the threat of an increasingly assertive Russia.
|
|
Oct 30, 2026
Juneau, Alaska — Democratic Alaska Senate candidate Mary Peltola told supporters Thursday she is "not interested in tricking voters," after two days of intense questions about how a man with the same first and last name as her Republican opponent ended up on the ballot.
The state's toss-up Senate contest has drawn nationwide scrutiny since The New York Times alleged Thursday that operatives linked to Peltola's campaign helped recruit a candidate named Daniel J. Sullivan — who has the same first and last name as GOP Sen. Dan Sullivan. The Justice Department has sued to potentially block the election from being certified if the senator loses due to "voter confusion," and it issued subpoenas in a separate criminal probe.
In a rally at the state capital of Juneau on Thursday, Peltola offered some of her fullest public remarks on the controversy, denying any connection to Daniel J. Sullivan.
"I just want to clear the air. I knew nothing about any other candidates on the ballot except for me and the incumbent. That is all I have ever known about. I am not interested in tricking voters. I know I can beat Dan Sullivan," she told supporters.
Peltola decried the "smears and attacks" she said she has faced.
"I just feel like I'm dodging bullets left and right, you know? Just, you know, with all the nonsense," said Peltola, who previously represented Alaska in the House. "And when did The New York Times become the National Enquirer? Inquiring minds want to know."
She vowed to "stay focused on affordability, affordability, affordability."
Daniel J. Sullivan's presence on Alaska's ballot has frustrated
|
|
Oct 30, 2026
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump says Georgia GOP Senate candidate Mike Collins can call him whenever he wants to ask for help for his state. But if Georgia reelects Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff, Trump says it could be another story.
"There's a big difference between that and Pee-wee Herman calling," Trump said last week in Perry, Georgia, using his derisive nickname for Ossoff. The president acted out a hypothetical scenario at his rally where Ossoff called to ask for money for his state, with Trump responding, "I don't give a damn what he wants."
It's been a recurring theme at Trump's rallies this month: From North Carolina to Ohio to Kansas, the president has dangled the idea that his administration would be far less likely to help states where Democrats win in the upcoming midterm elections.
Trump has sandwiched the threats into rallies where he has announced goodies like new semiconductor investments, a submarine repair center and fewer limits on a certain type of diesel, underscoring to the audience the types of tangibles an all-Republican Washington could continue to deliver for voters should his party remain in power after November.
But the president's utterances — part of a larger political strategy that's anchored on making the midterms about himself and activating conservative voters — have also injected politics into processes that have traditionally remained apolitical, such as doling out disaster aid and providing ben
|
|
Oct 30, 2026
ATLANTA (AP) — The top diplomats from the Group of 20 largest world economies opened two days of meetings in Atlanta on Friday after European objections to Russia's participation forced the U.S. to cancel a photo of the foreign ministers, underscoring deep rifts among the group over global crises.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio pulled the plug on the traditional group photo after several European officials threatened to boycott or walk out of the snapshot that usually helps kick off such diplomatic gatherings. But he still opened the talks, which otherwise went ahead as planned, with an appeal for unity on the issues that threaten international security and trade.
"We are in a critical moment — I would call it a moment of choosing, and I would say not just for my country, the United States of America, but frankly, for the world," Rubio told his colleagues.
"We are facing a series of interconnected economic and geopolitical crises," he added, pointing to disruptions to global energy and food supplies, trade and freedom of navigation. Many are posing "severe threats to essential foundations of the global economic order."
Yet there was no sign that the G20 diplomats could come to consensus on many of the most contentious issues they face. Among them are the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran, U.S. tariffs and Chinese machinations in the South China Sea. All have contributed to spikes in the global co
|
|
Oct 29, 2026
By Mrinmay Dey and Vallari Srivastava
Oct 29 (Reuters) - Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, said a security breach had resulted in an estimated $6.3 billion impact that analysts said could amount to the biggest crypto heist ever and might make investors rethink the risks of owning digital assets.
Binance said it had worked with partners to freeze the ?affected assets, with about $3 billion located so far. It gave no update on the status of the remaining $3.3 billion as Binance co-founder Yi He said the company would cover "all ?hacking losses".
An initial investigation suggested the breach may have started with a hacked laptop belonging to one of its engineers, which let an attacker gain access to one of its systems and make unauthorized withdrawals, Binance said.
Markets reacted immediately in early ?Asian trading on Friday.
Bitcoin dropped more than 3% to a six-week low of $76,368 and ether fell more than 3% to a two-month low of $2,178. BNB, a token originally launched as Binance Coin that can be used to pay Binance fees, was down 5% over the past 24 hours at $709.70, according to market aggregator CoinGecko.
Shares in crypto exchange Coinbase Global slid 4.8% while those of bitcoin buyer Strategy fell nearly 6% in extended US trading.
The incident could be the world's biggest crypto heist, according to analytics firm Chainalysis and other industry experts.
"It's the biggest hack in history," said Aravind Srinivasan, head of large crypto market maker GSR's systematic ?OTC business.
Beyond the potential loss of assets, the security breach was ?likely to have wider ramifications for crypto, which had already been under pressure lately due to higher US interest rates and softer demand from exchange-traded fund buyers, analysts said.
"It may further dampen risk appetite and prompt investors to reassess the safety of assets held on centralized exch
|
|
Oct 29, 2026
Three people are dead after two helicopters collided in midair near an Oregon airport on Thursday, according to local authorities.
The incident involved a 1995 Robinson R22 helicopter and a 2018 Airbus AS350B3 helicopter and occurred at approximately 2:10 p.m. local time Thursday near McMinnville, about 40 miles southwest of Portland, according to the Yamhill County Sheriff's Office.
The sheriff said flight instructor Maddie Aasbo, 22, of Texas, and a student pilot from the U.K. were aboard the Robinson R22. The name of the student pilot was not released as authorities were working with the consulate and the FBI to notify family, the sheriff said.
The sole occupant of the Airbus AS350B3 was identified as Tyler Delane Sturdevant, 38, of Newberg, Oregon.
KATU - PHOTO: Authorities respond to a crash involving two helicopters near McMinnville, Oregon, Oct. 29, 2026.The sheriff's office said witnesses reported the collision near the intersection of Highway 33 and Cruickshank Road southeast of McMinnville.
When first responders arrived, they saw both aircraft crashed in a field near the highway.
The Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board responded to the scene and are leading the investigation into the crash, the sheriff said.
KATU - PHOTO: A road is closed near a crash involving two helicopters near McMinnville, Oregon, Oct. 29, 2026.The NTSB will lead the investigation, the FAA said earlier.
In an earlier statement, the FAA said there was one occupant aboard the Robinson helicopter and two peo
|
|
Oct 29, 2026
Bill Essayli, the top federal prosecutor in Los Angeles, stands after holding a Justice Department news conference on Aug. 13, 2026. (Allen J. Schaben/TNS)
The Chronicle obtained subpoenas sent to election officials in Los Angeles and Orange counties seeking possible instances of noncitizen voting and unredacted information about certain voters, including their registration, address, voting history and citizenship status. Santa Clara County confirmed it had also received subpoenas and inewsource reported that San Diego County officials received them as well. The subpoenas were sent as part of criminal investigations into alleged fraudulent voting by noncitizens.
The subpoenas reviewed by the Chronicle were sent before a federal judge in a separate case gave a stern warning to First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli, who has spearheaded the agency's attempts to force California to surrender its authority to administer its own elections, to stop threatening local election officials.
At a hearing on Tuesday, U.S. District Judge David O. Carter told Essayli: "This court believes it would b
|
|
Oct 29, 2026
The Justice Department has begun issuing a new wave of subpoenas stemming from an ongoing criminal investigation into Alaska's Senate race, including the alleged efforts by Democrats to recruit a candidate with the same name as Republican incumbent Sen. Dan Sullivan, multiple sources familiar with the matter confirmed to CBS News.
The subpoenas are targeting several Democratic officials believed to be tied to the effort to recruit Daniel J. Sullivan to appear on Alaska's ballot. Nobody involved in the race has been charged with a crime.
The department also amended its civil lawsuit seeking to block certification of the results if Sullivan loses due to "voter confusion," adding in details from a New York Times report on alleged efforts by people associated with Democrat Mary Peltola's campaign to find candidates who could draw votes away from Sullivan. The new filing calls the situation a "conspiracy to undermine the integrity of the electoral process."
Peltola's campaign and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee have denied any connection to the effort to put Daniel J. Sullivan on the ballot. Daniel S. Sullivan has said in the past he is genuinely interested in running.
During a briefing with reporters Thursday, a Justice Department official offered perspective into the department's investigative approach in its criminal probe, saying there had been a "significant increase in activity" surrounding the Alaska race over the previous 24 hours. The Times report was published on Wednesday.
The Times' article detailed internal emails and
|
|
Oct 29, 2026
CNN
Israel faces weeks, possibly months, of political limbo after final results show there's no clear winner in its elections.
Neither of the two main blocs - one led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's right-wing Likud party, the other led by the centrist Yashar party of his main rival, Gadi Eisenkot - have reached the required 61-seat majority to form a government in Israel's 120-seat parliament.
So how could a new government be formed?
Certainly, it does not look easy, with deep-rooted political and ideological divisions making any seemingly straightforward coalition almost impossible.
Still, it can be done, even if the result is a tenuous alliance that survives little more than a year or so in office. If party leaders are unable to figure it out in the 12 weeks they will have available, then Israelis will be back at the polls.
Here's some potential scenarios that could avoid that.
Scenario 1: An opposition government
On paper, the opposition's surest path to unseat Netanyahu is built on Jewish-Arab cooperation. And that is its biggest obstacle.
Two of the opposition bloc's right-wing party leaders, former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and former Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman, oppose any government that depends on the two Arab parties in parliament - the Joint List and Raam - whether it's from inside the coalition, or as outside supporters of a minority government. The two leaders have hardened their positions since the Hamas-led attack of October 7, 2023.
Only one government in Israel's history has enjoyed the full part
|
|
Oct 29, 2026
CNN
Israel faces weeks, possibly months, of political limbo after final results show there's no clear winner in its elections.
Neither of the two main blocs - one led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's right-wing Likud party, the other led by the centrist Yashar party of his main rival, Gadi Eisenkot - have reached the required 61-seat majority to form a government in Israel's 120-seat parliament.
So how could a new government be formed?
Certainly, it does not look easy, with deep-rooted political and ideological divisions making any seemingly straightforward coalition almost impossible.
Still, it can be done, even if the result is a tenuous alliance that survives little more than a year or so in office. If party leaders are unable to figure it out in the 12 weeks they will have available, then Israelis will be back at the polls.
Here's some potential scenarios that could avoid that.
Scenario 1: An opposition government
On paper, the opposition's surest path to unseat Netanyahu is built on Jewish-Arab cooperation. And that is its biggest obstacle.
Two of the opposition bloc's right-wing party leaders, former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and former Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman, oppose any government that depends on the two Arab parties in parliament - the Joint List and Raam - whether it's from inside the coalition, or as outside supporters of a minority government. The two leaders have hardened their positions since the Hamas-led attack of October 7, 2023.
Only one government in Israel's history has enjoyed the full part
|
|
Oct 29, 2026
The final vote count from Tuesday's parliamentary election showed that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's bloc maintained its lead, securing 53 seats in the next Knesset, but no coalition secured a 61-seat majority.
The opposition bloc seeking to replace the premier won 48 seats, according to official Central Elections Committee figures released on Thursday after all votes had been counted.
Despite some claims of electoral interference, Israel's Election Committee also says the Knesset elections were conducted lawfully, adding there is no basis for claims of systematic interference with the integrity of the vote.
Maya Levin,jewel Samad/AFP via Getty Images - PHOTO: This combination of pictures created on Oct. 28, 2026, shows Yashar party leader Gadi Eisenkot (L) addressing supporters at a rally in Tel Aviv and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressing his supporters at an election night rally in Jerusalem.Israel awaits election results as exit polls suggest close race for NetanyahuThe two coalitions led by Netanyahu and Gadi Eisenkot may need the backing of the Arab-Israeli parties to have any chance of a majority in the Knesset.
Both Netanyahu and Eisenkot have previously ruled out forming a coalition with the Arab parties. In his post-election speech, Netanyahu suggested that any government that included Arab parties would "endanger Israel."
Arab party leaders have indicated willingness to work with the anti-Netanyahu opposition. The Arab-led Joint List -- a collection of three parties which between them were on course to win 12 seats as of Wednesday -- said in a statement that t
|
|
Oct 29, 2026
Many, including term-limited Gov. Mike DeWine, a Republican who has endorsed Vivek Ramaswamy, pictured, had called on him to take down the ad.
(Jon Cherry / AP)Republican Vivek Ramaswamy's ad featuring the estranged mother of Amy Acton, his Democratic opponent for Ohio governor, is leaving the state's airwaves, the Ramaswamy campaign confirmed Thursday.
The ad, which debuted last week to wide bipartisan condemnation, is rotating out after completing its intended run, according to the campaign. The campaign has other ads running in the final days of the race.
In the now-completed ad campaign, Donna Arthur — the mother whom Acton says she has not seen since her then-stepfather was charged with raping her as a young child nearly 50 years ago — calls her daughter a liar and urges Ohioans not to vote for her. The ad does not address details of the rape case. But critics panned the Ramaswamy campaign's decision to use Arthur as a character witness and dredge up painful family history.
"I'm learning things even about my childhood right now that I did not know," Acton told reporters Tuesday during a campaign stop in Youngstown. "I think it is despicable. … I'm sure someday I'll unpack everything that I'm learning here. But I'm just grateful to Ohioans and everyone, really so much support and love that we've received."
The Ramaswamy campaign said last week that the ad would be backed by
|
|
Oct 29, 2026
Patrick Stewart, a revered English actor best known for his work on Star Trek, has died. He was 86.
According to a post on his X account, Stewart died on Wednesday at his home in Los Angeles following "a brief and poignant journey" with Alzheimer's disease and Lewy body dementia.
"He has been held in the warm embrace of family and friends, surrounded by live music, prayer, tears, laughter and the kind of profound emotion that only he could inspire after a lifetime of devotion to us all," the post read. "We will forever cherish the peaceful ease and reflection on his face, an enduring reminder of his invincible grace.
"His sonorous voice and singular talent will forever be synonymous with indelible performances in every genre. He explored the human condition in all its poetic complexity and brought hope not only to the far reaches of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but into science fiction's most iconic final frontier aboard the Starship Enterprise," it continued: "His professional accomplishments were humbly matched by his philanthropy and activism on behalf of human rights, survivors of domestic violence, global refugees, veterans' mental health services, and animal welfare, particularly his cherished foster puppies.
"He was a Knight, Chancellor, motor sport enthusiast, and lifelong Huddersfield Football fan," the post added. "He will be remembered for the dignity, compassion, and humanity he brought to every role — in his art and life."
Johns Hopkins Alzheimer's Disease Rese
|
|
Oct 29, 2026
The Pentagon is quietly preparing for a $400 billion cut to President Donald Trump's military budget, as officials realize the president's record-breaking request is effectively dead.
The administration has pushed Congress for a supersized $1.5 trillion investment in the military — the largest in history. The money would overhaul weapons stockpiles and realize Trump's dreams for everything from a sprawling missile shield to a fleet of nuclear-powered battleships.
But the Pentagon and congressional spending committees are drafting a smaller $1.1 trillion defense budget, according to a defense industry official, two former officials and one other person familiar with the matter. The planning — which runs contrary to what administration officials are saying publicly — is a clear indication of the political headwinds facing Republicans after the midterm elections.
"The Pentagon can't admit this," said one of the people who, like the others, was granted anonymity to speak about internal discussions.
The administration has hinged its unprecedented defense budget on a party-line process called reconciliation. This would allow Republican lawmakers to add $350 billion to a $1.15 trillion defense base budget, despite objections from Democrats.
Now, Pentagon planners are evaluating what defense programs they will be forced to prioritize in the face of reduced funding, the people said.
"None of them expect anywhere close to 1.5 trillion," one of the former officials said. "They are absolutely developing plans [for less] and that is much more the expectation than anything close to 1.5 trillion."
The White House referred questions to the Pentagon, which did not respond to a request for
|
|
Oct 29, 2026
Alphabet (GOOGL) had its worst day ever on Thursday. The stock fell nearly 13% after its third quarter results, steeper than any session since it went public in 2004, including its drops of more than 10% in March 2020 and September 2008.
Alphabet lost $482 billion in stock market value, the second-biggest one-day loss ever for a US-listed company, by Yahoo Finance calculations. Only Nvidia (NVDA) has lost more, about $593 billion on Jan. 27, 2025, the day China's DeepSeek rattled AI investors.
Bloomberg, Yahoo FinanceThat blew past the $400 billion SpaceX (SPCX) lost on June 22, the previous No. 2.
In dollars, it was Alphabet's worst day by far. Its previous worst was about $275 billion on July 23. It was also the stock's steepest drop after an earnings report since the company went public, according to
|
|
Oct 29, 2026
Alphabet (GOOGL) had its worst day ever on Thursday. The stock fell nearly 13% after its third quarter results, steeper than any session since it went public in 2004, including its drops of more than 10% in March 2020 and September 2008.
Alphabet lost $482 billion in stock market value, the second-biggest one-day loss ever for a US-listed company, by Yahoo Finance calculations. Only Nvidia (NVDA) has lost more, about $593 billion on Jan. 27, 2025, the day China's DeepSeek rattled AI investors.
Bloomberg, Yahoo FinanceThat blew past the $400 billion SpaceX (SPCX) lost on June 22, the previous No. 2.
In dollars, it was Alphabet's worst day by far. Its previous worst was about $275 billion on July 23. It was also the stock's steepest drop after an earnings report since the company went public, according to
|
|
Oct 29, 2026
An election worker places a ballot into a ballot box in Boyle Heights on Tuesday. (Ronaldo Bolanos/Los Angeles Times)Soon after a federal judge in Los Angeles sharply rejected a Trump administration effort to block 20,000 California ballots from voters it alleged may be noncitizens, the U.S. Justice Department appealed — leaving attorneys on both sides preparing Thursday for yet another court battle.
That was despite the lower court judge calling the request an unlawful threat to eligible voters in Tuesday's midterm election and to free and fair American elections moving forward, and the same appellate court having already rejected the plan days prior.
"Every day, more ballots are processed by election officials. This ongoing emergency disenfranchises American citizens through dilution," wrote First Assistant U.S. Atty. Bill Essayli, the lead prosecutor in L.A.
Early Thursday, Gov. Gavin Newsom swiped back at the Trump administration, writing, "A warning to Donald Trump: I'm deploying election lawyers to key battleground districts in California to protect every vote. And I just
|
|
Oct 29, 2026
It was, for a while, considered one of those colorful quirks that crop up in the course of an election: the fact that not one but two candidates named Dan Sullivan will appear on the Nov. 3 ballot for U.S. senator from Alaska.
One Dan Sullivan — Dan S. Sullivan — is the state's incumbent Republican senator. He is trying to fend off a fierce challenge from former Democratic Rep. Mary Peltola and secure a third term. The other Dan Sullivan — Dan J. Sullivan — is a retired teacher from a tiny fishing village along the Alaska Panhandle. He has never previously campaigned for public office, and he switched his registration from "unaffiliated" to "Republican" just before the deadline to run. (He has since switched back to unaffiliated.)
But now the situation seems to be getting more serious. At President Trump's direction, the Justice Department last week sued in federal court
|
|
Oct 29, 2026
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced on Thursday it is proposing a new rule that will update the nutrient requirements for infant formula.
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), which oversees the FDA, said in a press release that it would be the first major update to infant formula standards in nearly 30 years.
Abbott launches new infant formula made with whole milk: What parents need to knowThe proposed rule would update requirements for vitamin A, vitamin D, iodine and manganese as well as reaffirm existing requirements for chloride, potassium, selenium and sodium, the agencies said.
It would also change the units of measure for two nutrients and request public input on possible requirements for ingredients not currently required in infant formula but sometimes added by manufacturers, they noted.
The ingredients not currently required include arachidonic acid (ARA), docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), and L-carnitine. Some studies have suggested they contribute greatly to infant growth, brain development and health.
Andrew Harnik/AP Photo, FILE - PHOTO: In this Oct. 14, 2015, file photo, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration campus is shown in Silver Spring, Md.The agency said there will be additional phases looking at the remaining required nutrients, potential new nutrient requirements and carbohydrate sources.
The FDA said it will welcome public comment during its phases and, in the future, will issue one final rule to cover all the proposed changes.
The FDA also released new
|
|
Oct 29, 2026
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Pentagon has accused a newly ousted three-star general of leaking sensitive information to the media just hours after officials confirmed his removal from a top military planning post.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth fired Army Lt. Gen. Brett Sylvia as head of strategy, plans and policy for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, a defense official said late Wednesday. Typically, the general in the position and their staff are responsible for generating and coordinating military plans for both the chairman of the Joint Chiefs and the president.
No reason was given for the firing, the latest in a series of ousters or departures of military leaders under Hegseth. However, a Pentagon official, who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity, later said in a statement that Sylvia was under investigation over allegations of sharing classified information about the Iran war, the Russia-Ukraine conflict and other topics with journalists.
The statement claims that Sylvia failed three polygraph tests about leaking classified information.
Chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said in a social media post that the department "took necessary personnel action to protect sensitive information" without mentioning Sylvia by name. He said the matter has been sent to the Justice Department for "potential further legal action."
It is not clear why the Pentagon would appear to be pursuing charges in civilian courts instead of trying the general in the military justice system.
Sylvia did not immediately respo
|
|
Oct 29, 2026
Daylight saving time will end this weekend as scheduled, bringing sunsets before 5 p.m. to some cities. At 2 a.m. Sunday, clocks in 48 states will fall back one hour, giving back the hour taken in springtime.
The change will give many an extra hour in bed and brighter mornings, but also earlier sunsets that will last through the winter.
It comes amid an ongoing political tussle to make daylight saving time permanent.
The House easily passed a bill in July to make daylight saving time permanent. It has since moved to the Senate, where it is meeting significant opposition — despite being backed by President Trump. The Senate is unlikely to act before the end of the year,
|
|
Oct 29, 2026
Daylight saving time will end this weekend as scheduled, bringing sunsets before 5 p.m. to some cities. At 2 a.m. Sunday, clocks in 48 states will fall back one hour, giving back the hour taken in springtime.
The change will give many an extra hour in bed and brighter mornings, but also earlier sunsets that will last through the winter.
It comes amid an ongoing political tussle to make daylight saving time permanent.
The House easily passed a bill in July to make daylight saving time permanent. It has since moved to the Senate, where it is meeting significant opposition — despite being backed by President Trump. The Senate is unlikely to act before the end of the year,
|
|
Oct 29, 2026
A campaign ad in which the estranged mother of Ohio gubernatorial candidate Amy Acton argues that her daughter should not be elected as the Buckeye State's next governor has added a new level of controversy to what was already one of the most closely watched races of the midterms — and potentially shifted the course of the race in its final weeks.
Acton, a Democrat, is running to replace outgoing Republican Gov. Mike DeWine. She's facing Republican Vivek Ramaswamy, a billionaire who ran an unsuccessful presidential campaign in 2024.
In the ad, Acton's mother, Donna Arthur, calls her daughter a "liar" and urges Ohioans not to support her.
"Don't let her become your governor," she says. "If you think she'll make your life better, you're fooling yourself. It will only get worse."
As the ad began to spread across social media on Oct. 20, Acton's brother released a statement in which he accused Arthur of siding with their stepfather after he was charged with sexually abusing Acton when she was a child, and criticized Ramaswamy for attempting to use the alleged abuse as a "political talking point."
Ramaswamy defended the ad, telling reporters that Acton's account of her past "does deserve to be scrutinized." His campaign confirmed to
|
|
Oct 29, 2026
Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic candidate in Michigan's critical Senate race, responded to President Trump's frequent mockery of his name in a style that's become a signature of his campaign.
"I don't care how he pronounces my name," he said during a rally in Grand Rapids on Sunday. "Because he can just go on and call me ‘senator' after November. I will be Senator Mohamed to you, bro."
El-Sayed, whose middle name is Mohamed, has emerged as one of the biggest names of the 2026 midterm cycle as he tries to defend a vulnerable Senate seat in one of the country's few truly purple states. Michigan is key to Democrats' hopes of flipping control of the Senate, which requires them to defend their vulnerable seats and secure wins in several historically red states.
On paper, El-Sayed doesn't fit the profile of a "safe" choice for a swing state Democratic candidate. He's an unapologetic progressive who supports policies like Medicare for All and ending U.S. military aid to Israel. He's willing to be confrontational with his critics and publicly critique his party's establishment. He's vying to be the first Muslim ever elected to the U.S. Senate.
El-Sayed became the Democratic nominee in August, after narrowly defeating U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens, a relative moderate, in one of
|
|
Oct 29, 2026
The Department of Justice announced a sprawling operation seeking to end an elaborate student aid fraud scheme that authorities say has bilked potentially hundreds of millions of dollars from taxpayers.
The effort, dubbed "Operation Ghostbusters," aims to crack down on an international fraud scam that has funneled stolen federal student aid dollars into offshore accounts since at least 2021.
At an Oct. 29 news conference, Assistant Attorney General Colin McDonald described the scheme, detailing how suspects steal Americans' identities before applying to universities, receiving federal student aid and running off with the money.
|
|
Oct 29, 2026
DETROIT (AP) — Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed will campaign Sunday in Detroit alongside former primary rival Rep. Haley Stevens, marking their first public appearance together in months after a week in which lingering divisions spilled into public view.
The two will be joined by South Carolina Rep. Jim Clyburn, one of the country's most prominent Black politicians, at a get-out-the-vote event at a Detroit church, according to two people familiar with the plans who were not authorized to discuss them publicly. The event was first reported by The Associated Press.
The joint appearance — their first since a Democratic unity breakfast days after the Aug. 4 primary — follows weeks of Democrats struggling to unite behind El-Sayed following his razor-thin victory over Stevens. She received significant support from the Jewish and Black communities, leading to concerns about turnout in the general election.
Tensions again spilled into public view Wednesday when Stevens' fiancé, Jason Turkish, told The Detroit News that he would vote for Republican Mike Rogers.
Hours later, Stevens appeared on CNN to reaffirm that she would be voting for El-Sayed, but urged his campaign to "shut out the hate and call it out." She said El-Sayed needs to reach out to people who were part of her coalition and "make them feel comfortable about coming to the polls."
Asked Thursday evening about the upcoming event with Stevens, El-Sayed said "we're always trying to unify the party" and it hadn't happened sooner because of their busy schedule
|
|
Oct 29, 2026
Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn. (Joshua Lott/Getty Images)
Federal investigators found evidence during the Obama administration suggesting that Rep. Ilhan Omar's 2009 marriage to a man suspected of being her brother was intended to help him obtain a green card, but the case stalled chiefly because prosecutors concluded the suspected offense fell outside a five-year statute of limitations, according to a new report.
The FBI and Department of Homeland Security investigated the marriage in the summer of 2016, current and former officials told The New York Times in a report published Thursday.
The officials' account challenges Omar's characterization of the earlier inquiry as having debunked allegations that she married her brother to help him obtain a green card.
The newspaper said it remains unclear what evidence investigators had establishing that Omar and her former husband, Ahmed Nur Said Elmi, are siblings.
Marrying a person to help them obtain a green card is illegal under federal law, while marrying a sibling is illegal under state law.
However, the newspaper noted that it remains unclear whether federal prosecutors could pursue charges against Omar despite the statute of limitations for marriage-based immigration fraud.
Omar has repeatedly denied the allegations about her and her ex-husband.
"Rep. Omar has repeatedly and unequivocally denied this baseless, disgusting conspiracy theory," spokeswoman Jackie Rogers said in a statement. "This is a desperate political smear designed to distract from Trump's failed presidency and two years of Republican failure in Congress."
|
|
Oct 29, 2026
Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn. (Joshua Lott/Getty Images)
Federal investigators found evidence during the Obama administration suggesting that Rep. Ilhan Omar's 2009 marriage to a man suspected of being her brother was intended to help him obtain a green card, but the case stalled chiefly because prosecutors concluded the suspected offense fell outside a five-year statute of limitations, according to a new report.
The FBI and Department of Homeland Security investigated the marriage in the summer of 2016, current and former officials told The New York Times in a report published Thursday.
The officials' account challenges Omar's characterization of the earlier inquiry as having debunked allegations that she married her brother to help him obtain a green card.
The newspaper said it remains unclear what evidence investigators had establishing that Omar and her former husband, Ahmed Nur Said Elmi, are siblings.
Marrying a person to help them obtain a green card is illegal under federal law, while marrying a sibling is illegal under state law.
However, the newspaper noted that it remains unclear whether federal prosecutors could pursue charges against Omar despite the statute of limitations for marriage-based immigration fraud.
Omar has repeatedly denied the allegations about her and her ex-husband.
"Rep. Omar has repeatedly and unequivocally denied this baseless, disgusting conspiracy theory," spokeswoman Jackie Rogers said in a statement. "This is a desperate political smear designed to distract from Trump's failed presidency and two years of Republican failure in Congress."
|
|
Oct 29, 2026
It was, for a while, considered one of those colorful quirks that crop up in the course of an election: the fact that not one but two candidates named Dan Sullivan will appear on the Nov. 3 ballot for U.S. senator from Alaska.
One Dan Sullivan — Dan S. Sullivan — is the state's incumbent Republican senator. He is trying to fend off a fierce challenge from former Democratic Rep. Mary Peltola and secure a third term. The other Dan Sullivan — Dan J. Sullivan — is a retired teacher from a tiny fishing village along the Alaska Panhandle. He has never previously campaigned for public office, and he switched his registration from "unaffiliated" to "Republican" just before the deadline to run. (He has since switched back to unaffiliated.)
But now the situation seems to be getting more serious. At President Trump's direction, the Justice Department last week sued in federal court
|
|
Oct 29, 2026
This summer, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth asked a Republican lawmaker what he thought the odds were that Congress would pass the Trump administration's record $1.5 trillion defense budget request.
The chances, the lawmaker responded, were about the same as Hegseth getting confirmed again by the Senate.
Subscribe to The Post Most newsletter for the most important and interesting stories from The Washington Post.
"You have a problem, and you need to increase the amount and the quality of the communication" with Congress, the Republican lawmaker recounted in an interview, speaking on the condition of anonymity to describe the private exchange.
Months later, members of both parties said the Pentagon has not changed course.
For decades, defense issues have mostly remained insulated from Washington's toxic partisanship. But Republicans and Democrats say they increasingly fear that fire wall no longer exists.
With just over 20 legislative days left in the year - and next week's election likely to empower Democrats eager to confront Hegseth - lawmakers are deadlocked on their major defense policy and spending bills. Failure would leave the Pentagon with few options to replace the thousands of weapons spent during eight months of war with Iran and halt the administration's ambitious military agenda.
To understand how the consensus collapsed, The Washington Post spoke with 30 people at the center of national security in Congress, including 20 lawmakers who sit on the committees that oversee the Pentagon and its budget.
Republicans argued that Democrats are stalling critical military funding to placate voters incensed at President Donald Trump. Democrats framed their opposition as a necessary check on an administration tha
|
|
Oct 29, 2026
Israeli election authorities were still counting votes from Tuesday's parliamentary election on Thursday morning.
But even with the vast majority of ballots counted, it remained unclear who will form the country's new government. Neither the bloc led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu nor that of his prime challenger Gadi Eisenkot has an obvious course to secure a majority of seats in the Knesset, according to exit polls and partial results released by electoral authorities.
As of Thursday, Israel's Central Election Committee said it had counted nearly 94% of votes. The partial results -- which are subject to some change as the rest of the votes are tallied -- indicated that Netanyahu's Likud party would win 26 seats, with Eisenkot's Yashar party on 21 seats.
The CEC projected that Netanyahu's coalition was on course to secure 53 seats, slightly ahead of Eisenkot's bloc on 48 seats. Neither coalition was on course to achieve a 61-seat majority.
Maya Levin,jewel Samad/AFP via Getty Images - PHOTO: This combination of pictures created on Oct. 28, 2026, shows Yashar party leader Gadi Eisenkot (L) addressing supporters at a rally in Tel Aviv and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressing his supporters at an election night rally in Jerusalem.Israel awaits election results as exit polls suggest close race for NetanyahuThe Arab parties, meanwhile, were projected by the CEC to take 19 seats.
The last stage of vote counting is expected to end on Thursday afternoon or evening local time, the CEC said. The final results will not be published until Nov. 4.
If the CEC projections hold tr
|
|
Oct 29, 2026
Alphabet (GOOGL) is on track for its worst day ever. The stock fell about 13% Thursday after its third quarter results, steeper than any session since it went public in 2004.
That puts nearly $500 billion of stock market value on the line, the second-biggest one-day loss ever for a US-listed company. Only Nvidia (NVDA) has lost more, about $593 billion on Jan. 27, 2025, the day China's DeepSeek rattled AI investors.
Biggest one-day drops in market value for US-listed stocks, US dollarsBloomberg, Yahoo FinanceAlphabet would need
|
|
Oct 29, 2026
Should social media posts disqualify New York's attorney general from leading a criminal investigation into gang rape allegations at Cornell University?
That's the question before a state judge on Thursday as one of the accused men seeks to remove Attorney General Letitia James as a special prosecutor overseeing the renewed criminal probe.
One of at least two cases against James contends she is biased because she posted messages expressing support for the accuser just days before she was appointed to the case.
The former Cornell student identified in court papers as Jane Doe filed a lawsuit last month alleging that several men raped her at a fraternity party in October 2024. The former student said some of the men pressured her into using ketamine and marijuana and that she drank alcohol that left her too intoxicated to consent.
"What this young woman has been forced to endure is horrific and unacceptable," James posted to X and Facebook on Sept. 28, linking to a news article about the lawsuit. "I'm holding her in my heart and in my prayers. To her, and to all survivors: you're not alone. We stand with you."
On Oct. 1, Gov. Kathy Hochul signed an executive order taking the case away from the local prosecutor, Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten, who declined to bring charges in 2024, and naming James as special prosecutor.
Within days, lawyers for two of the men named as defendants in Jane Doe‘s lawsu
|
|
Oct 29, 2026
ROCK HILL, S.C. (AP) — President Donald Trump on Thursday canceled weekend rallies in Iowa and Kansas, opting instead to support Republican candidates with telerallies that his party said could reach more voters in nearly two dozen states in the final days of a midterm election that could cost the GOP control of Congress.
The president traveled to South Carolina Thursday for the second time in a month, a sign of Republican anxiety about Darline Graham's ability to fend off a robust challenge from Democrat Annie Andrews for a critical U.S. Senate seat.
Voters in South Carolina have not sent a Democrat to the Senate in nearly three decades. But Andrews, a pediatrician who previously ran unsuccessfully for Congress, is urging voters seeking change to "try something new for once."
That message could resonate in an election year defined by voter frustration with the economy, gas prices and the war in Iran, putting Trump's Republican Party on defense in territory where they have rarely had to compete in recent years.
Beyond South Carolina, Republicans are entering the final days of this year's midterm elections navigating tight contests in Texas, Kansas, Ohio, Iowa and Alaska. Both parties are also closely following developments in the Mississippi Senate race.
The president projected confidence as he returned to the White House, saying, "We're going to have a strong Tuesday night."
Trump was scheduled to hold a rally in Kansas on Saturday and in Iowa on Sunday. But the Republican National Committee announced Thursday evening that he would instead s
|
|
Oct 29, 2026
Jensen Huang, CEO of NVIDIA (Sean Gallup/Getty Images)
A Chinese executive suspected of helping Beijing obtain restricted American artificial intelligence chips also developed a close relationship with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, raising concerns that China could gain sensitive information through her access to the technology leader.
U.S. intelligence agencies concluded that the executive, Alice Huang, was gathering information for Beijing, The New York Times reported on Thursday.
President Donald Trump was briefed on the findings roughly a year ago but chose not to act, according to people familiar with the classified intelligence.
The discovery brought together two concerns for Washington: China's efforts to acquire advanced American chips and its potential access to the head of the company producing them.
Nvidia's chips power sophisticated AI systems, making the company central to the technology competition between the United States and China. Washington has restricted exports of advanced chips to prevent Beijing from acquiring computing power that could help it match or surpass U.S. capabilities.
Nvidia defended its chief executive's dealings with Alice Huang and said customers do not receive sensitive company information.
"Jensen's interactions with Ms. Huang are not unusual or unexpected. Meetings with customers are part of a C.E.O.'s job; Jensen talks with thousands of customer executives every year," company spokesperson John Rizzo told the Times.
Alice Huang, also known as Huang Le, is a Chinese citizen who became a senior executive at Megaspeed, a Singapore-
|
|
Oct 29, 2026
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Democratic Senate candidate Mary Peltola denied Thursday that she knew anything about an effort to put another candidate on the Alaska ballot with the same name as the Republican incumbent as the Justice Department escalated a criminal investigation with new grand jury subpoenas.
"I just want to clear the air," she said at the top of a speech in a downtown bar in Juneau, Alaska's capital. "I knew nothing about any other candidate on the ballot except for me and the incumbent. That is all I have ever known about. I am not interested in tricking voters."
Peltola is running against Sen. Dan Sullivan. A person familiar with the matter told The Associated Press that subpoenas seeking grand jury testimony or documents, along with records preservation demands, were issued after The New York Times reported that Peltola's campaign appeared to be involved in recruiting Dan J. Sullivan Jr. as part an alleged effort to confuse voters.
The race is considered key to control of the U.S. Senate. More subpoenas were expected, according to the person who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss the ongoing probe. Neither the recipients of the subpoenas nor the number of them were immediately clear.
The Justice Department for months has been looking into allegations that Dan J. Sullivan Jr. entered the race to siphon votes from the incumbent Sen. Dan S. Sullivan. The potential targets of the investigation are unclear, but President Donald Trump earlier this week called for the criminal prosecution of Peltola and her campaign.
Attorney General Todd Blanche in a Fox News interview on Wedne
|
|
Oct 29, 2026
Israeli left-wing activists in Tel Aviv hold placards during a protest calling for a formation of a government together with Arab parties (Ilia YEFIMOVICH)Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's bloc on Thursday piled pressure on Israeli Arab leaders over unproven accusations of foreign funding, in a push to neuter parties that could hold the key to forming a government after an inconclusive election.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog called for an investigation into allegations of fraud but cautioned against stigmatising the entire Arab Israeli community, who voted at unprecedented rates.
Israel was nearing the completion of ballot-counting from Tuesday's election, in which neither Netanyahu nor the opposition bloc led by former military chief Gadi Eisenkot looked able to secure a majority in the parliament known as the Knesset.
The Netanyahu camp's accusations, which a key Arab party has rejected, could bring uncertainty to the electoral process at a time when the threat of a return to war with Iran looms over the region.
Israel's election saw soaring participation by Israeli Arabs, descendants of Palestinians who stayed after the country's creation in 1948, as outrage boiled at calls by officials such as National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir to treat their community much as Israel has dealt with Palestinians in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.
Following Netanyahu's accusations of impropriety, Ben Gvir went so far as to encourage Israel to "immediately" order the arrests of Arab party leaders.
Raam party leader Mansour Abbas said he welcomed an investigation into claims of wrongdoing, adding that his moderate Islamist party had "no connection" with the accusations.
The Arab parties together have enough votes to take the opposition bloc over the finis
|
|
Oct 29, 2026
DoorDash (DASH) announced plans to acquire hyper-local grocery delivery provider Instacart (CART) on Thursday morning in a deal valued at $17 billion.
DoorDash, which is primarily known for its restaurant food delivery business, will pay $65 per Instacart share, a 26% premium over the stock's Oct. 22 closing price. The transaction includes 75% cash, with Instacart stockholders able to elect cash, DoorDash stock, or a combination of both. Instacart's board of directors unanimously approved the deal, according to a press release.
"Grocery is one of the hardest things to get right online," DoorDash CEO Tony Xu said in the release. "Instacart has spent years learning to do that well for grocers, while DoorDash has built a delivery network and technology that local stores rely on every day. Together, we could give stores of every size more of those tools and unlock the potential of grocery delivery."
DoorDash stock popped over 5% in premarket trading, while Instacart stock edged lower.
The acquisition comes as Walmart (WMT) and Amazon (
|
|
Oct 29, 2026
Scientists from the NSF-DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory have announced that they have spotted a possible new dwarf planet known (for now) as 2026 ED138 orbiting the sun, located just beyond Pluto.
— NSF-DOE Rubin Observatory (@VRubinObs) October 27, 2026The discovery comes just months after the Vera C. Rubin Observatory, which is based in Chile and funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Science, began its 10-year Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST) in late June.
The project will "relentlessly" photograph the southern sky over the next 10 years, creating a time-lapse of the universe, allowing scientists to spot objects that move or change and potentially uncover previously unknown objects in the solar system.
What Do We Know About 2026 ED138?2026 ED138 was found by Matthew Holman, of the Center for Astrophysics (CfA), while he was examining observations collected by the Rubin observatory earlier this year. On October 13, Holman ran the observations through computer software designed to find distant objects moving across the s
|
|
Oct 29, 2026
Scientists from the NSF-DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory have announced that they have spotted a possible new dwarf planet known (for now) as 2026 ED138 orbiting the sun, located just beyond Pluto.
— NSF-DOE Rubin Observatory (@VRubinObs) October 27, 2026The discovery comes just months after the Vera C. Rubin Observatory, which is based in Chile and funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Science, began its 10-year Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST) in late June.
The project will "relentlessly" photograph the southern sky over the next 10 years, creating a time-lapse of the universe, allowing scientists to spot objects that move or change and potentially uncover previously unknown objects in the solar system.
What Do We Know About 2026 ED138?2026 ED138 was found by Matthew Holman, of the Center for Astrophysics (CfA), while he was examining observations collected by the Rubin observatory earlier this year. On October 13, Holman ran the observations through computer software designed to find distant objects moving across the s
|
|
Oct 29, 2026
Speaker Mike Johnson's (R-La.) recent hints that he intends to remain GOP leader even if Republicans lose the House have rattled the party's leadership outlook and raised fresh new questions about the GOP's future heading into the next Congress.
Most House Speakers in recent decades have stepped out of Congress after losing the gavel. And Reps. Steve Scalise (R-La.), the majority leader, and Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), a conservative icon, are both expected to launch bids to lead House Republicans if Democrats flip the chamber, according to GOP lawmakers, aides and strategists.
But Johnson recently muddled the leadership landscape by signaling his intention to keep his spot atop the party even if Republicans are knocked out of power. Then on Monday, President Trump offered a glowing endorsement of Johnson's leadership chops, sparking further speculation that Johnson might, in fact, buck historic trends and try to remain leader even from the minority.
"Mike Johnson is a true friend, fighter, and WINNER," Trump posted on social media, "and he has my Complete and Total endorsement for Re-Election."
"Thank you, President @realDonaldTrump!" Johnson responded. "The best is yet to come as we save America!"
Much about the leadership race is expected to come into sharper focus after next Tuesday's midterm elections. A Johnson spokesperson said the Speaker is "solely focused on protecting the majority," noting that he "will campaign in 21 districts across 13 states between now and Election Day."
But many Republicans are skeptical, predicting Johnson will follow the example of past GOP Speakers — including Ne
|
|
Oct 29, 2026
The Federal Reserve left short-term interest rates unchanged on Wednesday, following September's first hike in more than three years. Based on 30-day fed funds futures prices, Fed Chairman Kevin Warsh and the Federal Open Market Committee are likely to raise the benchmark interest rate by a quarter-point in December.
"The Federal Reserve's interest rate decision takes center stage this week after a hotter-than-expected September CPI report showed price pressures broadening," Ehsan Khoman, economist with the BlackRock Investment Institute, said in an analysis. "We don't view recent tightening as the start of a sustained hiking cycle."
What will a higher rate environment mean for your money? The federal funds rate influences not only the stock market, but also savings rates, interest charges, and, to a lesser degree, mortgage rates. Here's how to prepare for the impact on your deposits, credit, and debt.
» Fed meeting live updates: Interest rates held steady in split vote ahead of midterm elections
|
|
Oct 29, 2026
From left: Daniel J. Sullivan Jr., Mary Peltola and incumbent Sen. Dan S. Sullivan. - AP/Getty Images/Reuters
Alaska officials said new revelations in The New York Times about efforts by Democrats to recruit a Senate candidate with the same name as GOP incumbent Sen. Dan S. Sullivan do not change the state's opposition to a Trump administration lawsuit seeking to potentially delay certification of the election.
The Times story, a spokesperson for the Alaska Department of Law told CNN in an email, confirms the "initial concerns" election officials had about the candidacy of Daniel J. Sullivan, a retired teacher, but it has "no impact on the current litigation."
"Placing candidates on the ballot is a matter of state law, not federal law," said spokesperson Sam Curtis, noting that the Alaska Supreme Court has already decided that Daniel J. Sullivan would be on the ballot. The Justice Department, meanwhile, is citing a federal law in the case that "does not dictate what candidates can run in elections and does not authorize the relief the DOJ seeks," Curtis said.
"The Division is bound by the Alaska Supreme Court's order and is committed to running a fair election and assisting voters as needed," Curtis said.
The story published Wednesday rattled one of the country's most competitive Senate races with less than a week until Election Day.
Mary Peltola, the state's former at-large House member, is considered one of Senate Democrats' top recruits of the midterms and her campaign continues to deny any involvement i
|
|
Oct 29, 2026
Page, Arizona — Doug Herrera still lives in the house his father built, though his dad died some time ago from cancer. Herrera wonders if that illness could have been linked to pollutants from nearby uranium mining. Now, he worries that a possible new neighbor — a proposed $10 billion mega data center — could imperil his health.
"I'm a patriot, but I'm highly against the data center," Herrera, 64, said from his front porch near a yard sign that reads "No Data Centers."
"There is light pollution, sound pollution. The temperature is going to rise," he said.
Page is a gateway to iconic Southwestern landscapes of arid desert studded with Joshua trees and towering red-rock formations. While the City Council approved the sale of land for a data center, the developer needs zoning and other approvals. Residents concerned about possible health effects have signed petitions and mobilized to oppose construction.
The boom in data centers is dividing communities such as Page and turning future construction into a flash point in the midterm elections. The leading candidates in the close race for Arizona's 1st Congressional District are at odds over any new centers there, and the state's attorney general has called for a pause on new approvals and building.
Emerging rese
|
|
Oct 28, 2026
By Bo Erickson and Nandita Bose
CHILLICOTHE, Ohio/MORROW, Georgia, Oct 28 (Reuters) - Neither man is on the ballot but Republican President Donald Trump and Democratic former President Barack Obama took prominent roles on the campaign trail on Wednesday, with less than a week to go before congressional races that could shift the balance of power in Washington.
While Trump has been on a weeks-long campaign blitz that ?has underlined Republican concerns about losing control of Congress for the final two years of his presidency, Obama had kept a relatively low public profile until the past week, during which he has delivered blistering ?speeches criticizing Trump.
Thirty-five of the 100 Senate seats and all 435 seats in the House of Representatives are being contested next Tuesday. Nonpartisan analysts generally favor Democrats' chances of capturing a majority in the House, with the contest for the Senate seen as very close.
On Wednesday, Obama appeared ?in Morrow, Georgia, near Atlanta, where he urged voters to support Democratic Senator Jon Ossoff, who faces a challenge from Representative Mike Collins, a Republican.
While delivering the standard Democratic critique of Trump for imposing tariffs and going to war in Iran, Obama also said America's values were on the ballot, as he recalled the vision of slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., who is buried in Atlanta.
"There is a moral component to the choices we face right now," Obama said.
"We are not going to fix the system that's broken, we're not going to unrig our economy, so long as we've got a culture where anything goes, where people in the highest offices of the land think it's OK to lie and cheat and bully, ?if we continue to have a culture where money is deemed the only measure ?of our worth," Obama said.
Trump's public approval rating has fallen to a near record low, with Americans increasingly sour on the high cos
|
|
Oct 28, 2026
WASHINGTON (AP) — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has fired the Pentagon's top military planner, a defense official said Wednesday, the latest in a series of generals to be ousted and one that comes even as President Donald Trump is weighing renewed strikes on Iran in the eight-month-long war.
Army Lt. Gen. Brett Sylvia was removed as head of strategy, plans and policy on the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He is the second general to be ousted from the post, known in military circles as the "J5," under Hegseth. His predecessor, Lt. Gen. Joseph McGee, was forced to retire last October.
The defense official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive personnel matters, said there is no immediate replacement for Sylvia and no reason has been given for the firing. The move was reported earlier by The Atlantic.
A spokesperson for the Joint Staff said "the Chairman, the Joint Staff, and the Joint Force extend our deepest gratitude to Lt. Gen. Brett Sylvia and his family for their 32 years of distinguished service to our nation" and they "wish him and his family the best."
Typically, the J5 director and their staff are responsible for generating and coordinating military plans with both the chairman of the Joint Chiefs and the president. Sylvia's firing comes as Trump has repeatedly floated starting new military operations against Iran.
Trump has vowed to "finish the job" in Iran after launching the war with Israel eight months ago and said new strikes are an option after the midterm elections next week.
|
|
Oct 28, 2026
WASHINGTON (AP) — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has fired the Pentagon's top military planner, a defense official said Wednesday, the latest in a series of generals to be ousted and one that comes even as President Donald Trump is weighing renewed strikes on Iran in the eight-month-long war.
Army Lt. Gen. Brett Sylvia was removed as head of strategy, plans and policy on the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He is the second general to be ousted from the post, known in military circles as the "J5," under Hegseth. His predecessor, Lt. Gen. Joseph McGee, was forced to retire last October.
The defense official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive personnel matters, said there is no immediate replacement for Sylvia and no reason has been given for the firing. The move was reported earlier by The Atlantic.
A spokesperson for the Joint Staff said "the Chairman, the Joint Staff, and the Joint Force extend our deepest gratitude to Lt. Gen. Brett Sylvia and his family for their 32 years of distinguished service to our nation" and they "wish him and his family the best."
Typically, the J5 director and their staff are responsible for generating and coordinating military plans with both the chairman of the Joint Chiefs and the president. Sylvia's firing comes as Trump has repeatedly floated starting new military operations against Iran.
Trump has vowed to "finish the job" in Iran after launching the war with Israel eight months ago and said new strikes are an option after the midterm elections next week.
|
|
Oct 28, 2026
Photos of Noah's proposal to Joanne in ‘Nobody Wants This' and Simon Tikhman's proposal to Erin Foster.
The writer, producer and podcaster, 44, revealed on Instagram Wednesday, Oct. 28, that Noah's (Adam Brody) proposal to Joanne (Kristen Bell) mirrored her own engagement to husband Simon Tikhman in August 2019.
"So about a month before he proposed, we got this invitation to a wedding vow renewal," she said over footage of her flipping through the invite. "It had attire and a schedule for the whole weekend. He never really drew attention to it."
"He said, ‘This is kind of a work thing. You're welcome to com
|
|
Oct 28, 2026
Photos of Noah's proposal to Joanne in ‘Nobody Wants This' and Simon Tikhman's proposal to Erin Foster.
The writer, producer and podcaster, 44, revealed on Instagram Wednesday, Oct. 28, that Noah's (Adam Brody) proposal to Joanne (Kristen Bell) mirrored her own engagement to husband Simon Tikhman in August 2019.
"So about a month before he proposed, we got this invitation to a wedding vow renewal," she said over footage of her flipping through the invite. "It had attire and a schedule for the whole weekend. He never really drew attention to it."
"He said, ‘This is kind of a work thing. You're welcome to com
|
|
Oct 28, 2026
Jacob Morley, a convicted killer on the loose since Sunday, has no known connection to the small Illinois town where the truck he is accused of stealing was found, the police chief said Wednesday.
"What we have seen kind of leads us in the direction that he's not still here. But that doesn't mean that we've stopped looking," Marion Police Chief David Fitts said.
Morley, 28, convicted of killing a co-worker in 2022, was serving a life sentence when he escaped from Northwest Correctional Complex in Tiptonville, Tennessee, sometime before 11:30 p.m. Sunday, officials there said.
Morley had stolen a work truck, and early Tuesday that truck was found behind a business in Marion, a town of around 16,000 that is around 100 miles north of Tiptonville, authorities in Marion and Tennessee said.
Security video captured Morley driving away in a flatbed truck.There have been no reports in Marion of any other stolen vehicles, and there was no evidence around the truck that was found, Fitts said.
There have also been no confirmed sightings, he said.
"There's really nowhere for him to go here where he wouldn't be recognized. His face is all over the news," Fitts said.
Morley has no known connection to Marion or southern Illinois, he said.
"Have no idea why he would come here, other than I-57 is a major interstate and it runs right through the middle of our town," Fitts said. "And I don't know, maybe he was low on gas and just pulled off. I don'
|
|
Oct 28, 2026
A sign points toward voting stations inside the Arroyo Seco Regional Branch Library in Los Angeles. (Ronaldo Bolanos / Los Angeles Times)A federal judge in a blistering opinion Wednesday denied a Trump administration request to immediately block California elections officials from counting the ballots of 20,000 voters whose citizenship the administration questions. The administration swiftly said it would appeal.
U.S. District Judge David O. Carter ruled that the administration's allegations were "not credible" and that the intervention it sought would violate a host of federal laws, sow chaos in the ongoing midterm election, likely lead to the disenfranchisement of legitimate voters and foster future political meddling in elections.
"This request violates longstanding constitutional principles mandating that states have control over their elections," Carter wrote. "If [the Trump administration's] last-minute request for relief were granted, either party could create chaos for their own political purposes to disrupt the election process."
Carter, an appointee of President Clinton, wrote that never in American history "has the federal government, on the eve of an election, sought to coerce a state and local government to abandon their own Constitutional elections procedures and bend to the will of the Executive Branch," and that, in bringing its suit, the Trump administration was asking the court to "believe that it reigns as a sole sovereign."
"But California and its people are sovereign, too," Carter wrote.
Carter's ruling was the second to deny the Trump administration a temporary restra
|
|
Oct 28, 2026
US immigration agents often work with their faces covered and do not wear identification. [Reuters]
Details of more than 41,000 personnel working for the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS), including thousands involved in immigration enforcement, have been leaked to the public.
The leak includes names, work addresses and phone numbers of DHS staff, including agents working with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection, along with descriptions of the work they do for each agency.
Wednesday's leak marks the third time in recent weeks a government agency has been targeted by leaks or hacks.
A representative of the DHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The seemingly unprecedented breach of employee information was put online on Wednesday by a group called the Department of Peace alongside cybersecurity researcher and hacker maia crimew.
The information was put in a database named Icepick and shared through a website hosted by Distributed Denial of Secrets.
Most of the agents included, more than 21,000 of them, work for CBP, according to the data. Nearly 6,600 work for ICE.
Other records show agents with Homeland Security Investigations, the Federal Protective Service and even people working for the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.
The leaked information also included dozens of previously unknown operation names, the agents that led and worked on those operations, and some of the technology they used in their work, including tech provide
|
|
Oct 28, 2026
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. officials have told several Middle East countries and regional allies to be prepared for potential renewed military action against Iran after next week's midterm elections in the United States — as well as the possibility that Iran will attempt to retaliate against them, according to two diplomats briefed on the matter.
Both of the diplomats spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment about the sensitive warnings conveyed by U.S. diplomats and defense officials.
President Donald Trump has not made a final decision on whether to carry out new strikes against Iran, the diplomats stressed. The president, however, has repeatedly said that he is weighing ordering new military action once the critical Nov. 3 elections in the United States are over.
Those threats and the fresh U.S. urgings for allies to prepare for potential retaliation are putting the region on alert that a return to major operations could now be on the horizon.
The White House and U.S. officials declined to comment.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Wednesday in a post on X that Tehran "continues to give diplomacy a chance to succeed" and is working with mediators to review ideas that Tehran included in a proposal floated last month — summarily re
|
|
Oct 28, 2026
Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh pushed back Wednesday on any suggestion that next week's midterm elections had a role in the Fed's decision to keep interest rates steady. He also dodged multiple questions on political topics and pressure coming his way from the Oval Office.
But it wasn't for a lack of trying from the assembled reporters.
"I appreciate the question, but I'm not going to be responding to quotes from public officials," Warsh said during a press conference when presented with criticisms from President Trump that interest rates should be lower and that his colleagues on the Federal Open Market Committee were "political."
When the subject turned to the midterm elections, Warsh was similarly curt.
"Politics played no role in the decision," the chair said, adding, "I just spent two days with my colleagues upstairs. I didn't hear an utterance about politics."
He had another political topic to address before it was over when he was asked about a hearing planned for next week of a White House committee investigating allegations against Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook.
Read more:
|
|
Oct 28, 2026
It was, for a while, considered one of those colorful quirks that crop up in the course of an election: the fact that not one but two candidates named Dan Sullivan will appear on the Nov. 3 ballot for U.S. senator from Alaska.
One Dan Sullivan — Dan S. Sullivan — is the state's incumbent Republican senator. He is trying to fend off a fierce challenge from former Democratic Rep. Mary Peltola and secure a third term. The other Dan Sullivan — Dan J. Sullivan — is a retired teacher from a tiny fishing village along the Alaska Panhandle. He has never previously campaigned for public office, and he switched his registration from "unaffiliated" to "Republican" just before the deadline to run. (He has since switched back to unaffiliated.)
But now the situation seems to be getting more serious. At President Trump's direction, the Justice Department last week sued in federal court to block certification of the election if Sen. Dan S. Sullivan loses,
|
|
Oct 28, 2026
The death of Hayden Panettiere has been ruled accidental, South Caroline police announced Wednesday.
Greenville Police Department said the investigation into Panettiere's death has been concluded "based on the Medical Examiner's determination and the findings of the investigation," and the actor's death was officially ruled accidental.
Last month, a South Carolina coroner confirmed Panettiere died from an accidental drug overdose that included fentanyl. There were no signs of trauma, the coroner's office said.
Emergency responders were called to a residence where Panettiere, 36, had been staying in Greenville, South Carolina, on the afternoon of Aug. 16. Despite "advanced cardiac life support measures," she was pronounced dead there, the Greenville County Coroner's Office said.'
Panettiere's on-again, off-again boyfriend Brian Hickerson and his brother Zach were at the scene of her death, according to a police report obtained by CBS News. The Hickersons made the 911 call that brought first responders to the apartment.
Authorities, including the Drug Enforcement Administration, were investigating the circumstances of Panettiere's death. Police previously said that a preliminary investigation "has not indicated a
|
|
Oct 28, 2026
The Warsh Fed's taciturn nature has already raised the stakes for each FOMC meeting. With fewer hints or forward guidance about what the Fed is thinking and planning comes more suspense.
And next year, those stakes will be even higher as the Fed removes a rate decision from its calendar, making each meeting even more important and potentially adding another layer of uncertainty and volatility to markets.
At the October policy meeting on Wednesday, Fed Chairman Kevin Warsh announced this major change to the Fed's calendar and added that 2028 might feature only six rate decisions. The meetings themselves will remain on the calendar, but instead of the Fed debating rates, broader monetary policy topics will be on the agenda.
The Wednesday meeting saw the Fed hold rates steady, but two dissenting governors wanted a hike.
Warsh said the reasoning behind the schedule change is to "reserve the time and space as an intellectually diverse group for strategic deliberations, for thinking anew about big questions, looking out over longer time horizons."
We've all been wondering how the newly installed chair would reshape the Fed. Already, he's been doing that by changing the nature of the
|
|
Oct 28, 2026
Federal Reserve officials voted 10-2 to keep interest rates unchanged, as elevated inflation continues to pose a problem for central bankers.
Fed Governor Lisa Cook and Cleveland Fed President Beth Hammack dissented, preferring a quarter-point rate hike.
The Fed's benchmark rates remained in the 3.75% to 4% range, as widely expected. A rate hike in December, however, appears far more likely, according to the Fed's dot plot and fed funds futures.
Although recent inflation data came in hotter than expected, the Fed has positioned itself to continue assessing additional data. The proximity of the October meeting to the US midterm elections next Tuesday was also seen as a deterrent to bold monetary policy moves.
At the post-FOMC-meeting press conference, Fed Chairman Kevin Warsh reiterated his commitment to bringing down inflation, stated that the Fed's "monetary medicine"
|
|
Oct 28, 2026
By David Latona, Guillermo Martinez and Michael Francis Gore
URDA, Spain, Oct 28 (Reuters) - At least 68 people died when a Spanish high-speed express slammed into a stationary train on Wednesday, with rescuers scouring mangled carriages for more bodies after Spain's second fatal rail crash this year and Europe's deadliest since 2013.
Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said "all of Spain" was in mourning after the ?collision, which the transport minister said happened after a Renfe service was authorised to proceed despite an active red signal due to a stationary train ahead.
Oscar Puente told reporters in Madrid that ?the red signal was issued due to a computer communications failure, which automatically stopped traffic, but an erroneous decision was then taken to restart the Renfe train.
Sanchez said in a televised address from near the site south of Madrid that the "terrible tragedy" would be investigated and ?vowed to address any failures that came to light, adding that the causes of the two crashes appeared to be unrelated.
"If we need to further strengthen safety in order to rebuild confidence in our high-speed rail system, we will do so, because what is unacceptable for a country like Spain is to suffer two high-speed rail accidents in the same year," Sanchez said.
Spain's opposition People's Party said it had cancelled all campaign events for the day, ahead of elections next month.
TRAPPED AMONG SEATS
At the scene in rural Castilla-La Mancha, ambulances, funeral home vans and helicopters assembled beside one of the trains on an elevated stretch of track, while twisted metal and wreckage lay scattered down an embankment where at ?least three carriages had plunged.
The head of the regional government, Emiliano García-Page, ?said the death toll had risen to 68, while rescuers searching for other victims as darkness fell did not know if other fatalities would be discovered onc
|
|
Oct 28, 2026
Two right-wing provocateurs, James O'Keefe and Cam Higby, are facing election-related charges in Minnesota after posting videos of an undercover stunt intended to expose alleged deficiencies in election security.
Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said each man faces a count of unlawful voting and identity theft.
"Elections are the bedrock of democracy and their protection is one of our highest priorities," Moriarty said in a statement. "Individuals engaging in unlawful conduct related to our elections will be held accountable."
Hegseth directs military cyber forces to use 'every authorized asset' to defend midterm elections from foreign interference amid Trump's funding cuts to election security agenciesO'Keefe, a self-proclaimed "guerilla journalist" infamous for his undercover videos, and Higby, a social media influencer, posted the video at the heart of the charges in August. It shows the two men approaching election judges at multiple voting precincts in Minneapolis wearing burqas, speaking in fake accents, and allegedly misrepresenting their identities, in an effort to expose what O'Keefe and Higby say are gaps in the rules that allow residents to vouch for the identity of other voters.
The video, which remains pinned on Higby's X account, is called "I Wore Burqa To EXPOSE Election FRAUD In Minneapolis."
No ballots were cast in the course of their efforts.
Tim Evans/AFP via Getty Images - PHOTO: People fill their ballots during the first day
|
|
Oct 28, 2026
NEW YORK (AP) — Alvin K. Hellerstein, a Manhattan federal judge who presided over cases involving President Donald Trump, former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and the 9/11 attacks during nearly three decades on the bench, has died. He was 92.
Chief Judge Laura Taylor Swain announced Hellerstein's death in a statement Wednesday, saying his "energetic and dedicated service to this Court continued until his death."
"He is greatly appreciated and will be sorely missed," she added.
Appointed to the federal bench in 1998 by President Bill Clinton, a Democrat, Hellerstein kept a robust docket and worked until his death.
Just two weeks ago, he presided over the arraignment of Maduro and Maduro's wife, Cilia Flores, on torture charges that were added to their ongoing narco-terrorism conspiracy case.
Maduro, who was captured alongside his wife earlier this year in a surprise U.S. military raid in Caracas, twice defied Hellerstein's request that he enter a plea to the charges. Irked, Hellerstein took matters into his own hands, interjecting that "a plea of not guilty will be entered on behalf of Mr. Maduro."
At Flores' Oct. 8 bail hearing, Hellerstein coughed and struggled to speak at times, telling lawyers: "I have a voice problem. As long as you can understand — hear me, I'll keep going." Nevertheless, he was resolute that he'd preside over Maduro and Flores' trial, which he'd scheduled for next June.
In August, in one of his last significant rulings, Hellerstein again spurned Trump's effort to erase his
|
|
Oct 28, 2026
Mary Peltola (AP)
Operatives working with Democrat Mary Peltola's Senate campaign sought to recruit candidates who could draw votes from Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan in Alaska, according to an investigation published Wednesday.
The effort included finding another Alaskan named Dan Sullivan to run against the incumbent, recruiting other potential candidates, and discussing the creation of a conservative political party, The New York Times reports, citing interviews, text messages, and documents prepared for a potential lawsuit.
Peltola's campaign and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee denied recruiting candidates.
"The Alaskans for Mary campaign has no involvement with either Sullivan campaign and did not recruit any candidates into the race," the campaign said in a statement to the Times.
The operation, internally called the ballot composition project, began in summer 2025, according to Elisa Rios, Peltola's former campaign manager. Rios said campaign aides directed a staff member to search voter records for Alaskans named Dan Sullivan.
Dan J. Sullivan Jr., a retired teacher in Petersburg, subsequently entered the race. He has maintained that he decided to run independently and did not respond to the Times' latest requests for comment.
The general election ballot includes Peltola, incumbent Dan S. Sullivan, Dan J. Sullivan, and Republican Gerald Heikes. The race could help determine control of the Senate.
Sullivan Jr. changed his voter registration from Republican to undeclared, a type of independent, when he requested an absentee ballot for the August primary, according to state elec
|
|
Oct 28, 2026
Dolores Huerta, who co-founded the United Farm Workers union to improve working conditions in the nation's fruit and vegetable fields and coined the phrase "Sí, se puede!" that became a widespread rallying cry, has died. She was 96.
Huerta's died of cancer Wednesday at her home in Bakersfield, California, surrounded by family, said Erik Olvera, a family spokesperson.
"We know that many of you around the world share in our mourning, and we will be following up on plans to recognize and celebrate her incredible life and legacy," the family said in a statement shared by her foundation.
Huerta kept a busy schedule well into her 90s, marching in protests and speaking across the country about race, poverty, LGBTQ and women's rights on behalf of her Bakersfield-based foundation.
Huerta's resolve cemented her place in history as one of the nation's most influential labor leaders, civil rights icons and feminist activists. Her three-word Spanish-language slogan — which translates to "Yes, it can be done" — was grounded in the belief that people who take action can affect change.
Her work over the decades earned her accolades including the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor. When President Barack Obama presented the award in 2012, he praised Huerta as a tenacious leader and noted that he had stolen her slogan for his 2008 campaign.
"Her life's work was to empower her community to face and overcome injustices, and she has left farm workers and the entire Latino community stronger and more organized than she found it," United Farm Workers President Teresa Romero said in a statement Wednesday.
This year, Huerta sent shock waves through the Latino community when she revealed that
|
|
