A Guardian review found that claims tying Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed to the Muslim Brotherhood misrepresent an open letter he signed in 2012. The letter called on Egypt’s then-president Mohamed Morsi to advance the revolution’s goals, but did not mention the Muslim Brotherhood; Republican candidate Mike Rogers and other Trump allies have repeated the false claim during the campaign.
Key Facts
Laura Loomer has claimed since 2018 that El-Sayed’s 2012 letter endorsed the Muslim Brotherhood.
The letter was signed by prominent Egyptian Americans and called on Morsi to defend democracy and pursue the revolution’s goals.
Egyptian journalist Hossam el-Hamalawy told the Guardian that the letter does not mention the Muslim Brotherhood.
The letter urged the removal of officials loyal to the former regime from state institutions, particularly the police and state media.
Mike Rogers began making the claim against El-Sayed in August and repeated it during a Senate debate and in a campaign advertisement.
Rogers’s advertisement linked El-Sayed to Hamas militants and called his ideology a national security threat.
Donald Trump, Ted Cruz and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. have also made remarks about El-Sayed that amplified the allegation.
Read the Original
Want the full story? Tap a source to open the original
article.
The Federal Trade Commission ordered nine companies to provide information about how they set consumer prices and, for some gig-work services, worker pay. The inquiry is an information-gathering study, not a finding that the companies violated the law.
Key Facts
The companies named are Delta Air Lines, United Airlines, JetBlue, Lyft, Uber, DoorDash, Instacart, Target and Walmart.
The FTC is examining whether personal data or other factors, including loyalty-program participation, affect prices for the same product or service.
For ride-share and delivery companies, the inquiry also covers how they calculate worker compensation.
The FTC requested records on the inputs, tools and procedures used to set or adjust prices and pay.
Each company has 45 days from receiving its order to respond; the FTC says it can seek a court order to compel compliance.
The FTC issued the orders under Section 6(b) of the FTC Act, which permits broad studies without a specific law-enforcement purpose.
In a separate test, Consumer Reports and partner groups analyzed 193 submissions from volunteers who shopped for identical Instacart baskets at the same time.
That test found about three-quarters of the grocery items appeared at multiple prices, with basket totals varying by an average of about 7 percent.
Read the Original
Want the full story? Tap a source to open the original
article.
King Charles joined a Junkanoo street parade during a visit to the Bahamas ahead of next week’s Commonwealth summit in Antigua and Barbuda. Caribbean leaders are expected to press for reparations related to colonialism and slavery at the summit.
Key Facts
King Charles visited the Bahamas.
He joined a Junkanoo street parade during the visit.
The visit took place ahead of a Commonwealth summit next week.
Antigua and Barbuda will host the summit.
Caribbean leaders are expected to call for reparations related to colonialism and slavery.
Read the Original
Want the full story? Tap a source to open the original
article.
A veteran Drug Enforcement Administration agent alleges the agency allowed fentanyl to reach New Mexico streets to build larger cases against drug networks. He says he warned managers that the tactic put lives at risk, but they did not listen.
Key Facts
The whistleblower is a veteran DEA agent.
He alleges the DEA used a tactic that allowed fentanyl to reach the streets.
He says the tactic aimed to build larger drug cases.
The allegations concern the agency's actions in New Mexico amid a growing fentanyl crisis.
The agent says he warned agency managers about the risks.
He says managers did not listen to his warnings.
Read the Original
Want the full story? Tap a source to open the original
article.
Families of victims of Seoul’s 2022 Itaewon crowd crush have asked Activision to remove footage of rescue efforts used in the opening of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4. Activision confirmed it used real news footage, said it did not intend to reference or trivialize the disaster, and did not comment on the request to edit the scene.
Key Facts
Almost 160 people died in the Itaewon crowd crush in Seoul in 2022.
The crush happened during Halloween celebrations in a nightlife district where more than 100,000 people had gathered.
The game’s opening uses footage of rescue efforts from the disaster to depict the aftermath of a fictional North Korean attack.
Families of victims described the use of the footage as inappropriate and senseless, and called for Activision to take corrective action.
Activision said the game’s opening uses real-world news coverage to establish its fictional story.
Modern Warfare 4 depicts a fictional war between North and South Korea and was released the week before the article was published.
North and South Korea stopped fighting in 1953 but never signed a peace treaty.
Read the Original
Want the full story? Tap a source to open the original
article.
Emails obtained through a public records request appear to show Hennepin County employees gathering information about activists seeking to close Minneapolis’s Hennepin Energy Recovery Center (HERC). Advocacy groups say officials shared some information with industry and used it to counter campaigns; the county says the claims mischaracterize its community engagement work.
Key Facts
The Zero Burn Coalition, Minnesota Environmental Justice Table, and other groups obtained emails through a Freedom of Information Act request and published some in a report.
The report alleges that county employees collected information about activists, developed reports on environmental justice leaders, and tried to learn a whistleblower’s identity.
The emails show information being shared among county environmental officials, and the report says some information was sent to industry, including the incinerator’s owner.
Joe Vital, Hennepin County’s environmental engagement coordinator, was hired in 2021 and is identified in the report as central to the alleged information-gathering effort.
The report says Vital attended a June 2023 activist meeting about closing HERC and prepared a dossier.
HERC in north Minneapolis incinerates about 365,000 tons of trash each year.
The article says waste incinerators can release PFAS, chemicals that are not fully destroyed during incineration, as well as other pollutants.
Hennepin County said its staff attend public meetings and use social media to listen, share information, and understand differing views.
Read the Original
Want the full story? Tap a source to open the original
article.
Kenneth Roth argues that President Donald Trump is blaming Ukraine’s attacks on Russian oil facilities for U.S. fuel-price increases while taking steps that weaken support for Ukraine. The article says Trump has eased restrictions on Russian fuel and sanctions, paused some military support, and called for an energy ceasefire that Roth describes as applying mainly to Ukraine.
Key Facts
The article links higher U.S. fuel prices chiefly to reduced oil and gas shipments through the Strait of Hormuz, following the U.S. war against Iran.
Ukrainian forces have attacked Russian oil refineries, disrupting oil production and contributing to fuel shortages in Russia, according to the article.
The article says Russia has intensified attacks on Ukrainian cities and energy infrastructure ahead of winter.
Roth says Trump authorized purchases of Russian diesel fuel and waived new sanctions on Russia.
The article says the Trump administration suspended deliveries of defensive missiles and early-warning intelligence to Ukraine.
The article reports that the administration approved a decision to slow Starshield service used by Ukraine’s military.
Trump called for an energy ceasefire; Roth says the proposal focused on stopping Ukrainian attacks on Russian refineries rather than Russian attacks on Ukrainian energy infrastructure.
Read the Original
Want the full story? Tap a source to open the original
article.
The article argues that President Donald Trump has reduced Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s role in U.S. diplomacy. It describes Trump’s approach as personalized, transactional, overbearing and opaque.
Key Facts
The article focuses on President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
The article says Trump has undercut the secretary of state’s role.
The article says Trump has reshaped U.S. diplomacy in his own image.
It characterizes Trump’s diplomatic approach as personalized.
It characterizes the approach as transactional.
It characterizes the approach as overbearing and opaque.
Read the Original
Want the full story? Tap a source to open the original
article.
President Donald Trump and former President Barack Obama held campaign rallies in Ohio and Georgia on Wednesday, supporting candidates in closely watched races ahead of the midterms. News reports estimated about 2,500 people attended Trump’s rally and 3,500 to 4,000 attended Obama’s, but neither campaign released an official attendance figure.
Key Facts
Trump spoke at Ohio University's Shoemaker Center in Chillicothe, Ohio.
Trump campaigned for gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy and incumbent Senator Jon Husted.
WBNS 10TV reported an estimated 2,500 attendees at Trump's rally.
Obama spoke at The Arena at Southlake, south of Atlanta, Georgia.
Obama campaigned for Senator Jon Ossoff and former Atlanta mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, who is running for governor.
The Guardian reported an estimated 3,500 to 4,000 attendees at Obama's rally.
The Arena at Southlake has seating for more than 8,000, but includes multiple facilities under one roof.
No official attendance figures were released for either rally.
Read the Original
Want the full story? Tap a source to open the original
article.
Rib-remodelling surgery is gaining attention as a way to create a narrower waist. The procedure fractures the patient’s ribs, followed by about three months in a corset; people who have undergone it described severe pain.
Key Facts
The Guardian reported on the rise of rib-remodelling surgery.
The procedure involves fracturing the ribs and wearing a corset for about three months, almost around the clock.
The surgery aims to create a narrower, wasp-like waist.
Patients interviewed by The Guardian described the recovery as extremely painful.
One patient said pain kept her from sleeping comfortably for more than a week.
More than 2,300 patients underwent the procedure between 2018 and 2024.
The reported overall complication rate was 3.7 percent.
Read the Original
Want the full story? Tap a source to open the original
article.
Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy ordered an investigation into whether Mary Peltola’s Senate campaign violated state law. The order followed a New York Times report that the campaign had recruited candidates in an effort to draw support away from Peltola’s opponent.
Key Facts
Dunleavy ordered the investigation on Wednesday evening.
The investigation will examine whether Peltola’s campaign violated Alaska state law.
The reported conduct involved recruiting candidates to detract support from Peltola’s opponent.
Dunleavy cited reporting by The New York Times.
Dunleavy is a Republican governor.
Peltola is a Democratic candidate.
Read the Original
Want the full story? Tap a source to open the original
article.
Former President Barack Obama criticized President Donald Trump’s response to a joke Obama made about the White House resembling a Saddam Hussein-era building with a Cheesecake Factory. The article does not provide details of Trump’s response or Obama’s remarks beyond that description.
Key Facts
The article was published on October 29, 2026.
Barack Obama is described as a former president.
Donald Trump is identified as the sitting U.S. president.
Obama joked that the White House looked like Saddam Hussein had opened a Cheesecake Factory.
Obama took issue with Trump’s response to the joke.
The article headline says Obama criticized Trump for getting mad about his comment.
Read the Original
Want the full story? Tap a source to open the original
article.
The Senate is unlikely to vote before year-end on a House-passed bill that would make daylight saving time permanent. President Donald Trump has urged senators to pass it, but several Republicans oppose the change, citing very late winter sunrises in some states.
Key Facts
Daylight saving time is scheduled to end early Sunday, when much of the country will turn clocks back one hour.
The House passed a bill that would make daylight saving time the national standard year-round.
Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas is a prominent opponent and says permanent daylight saving time has previously led to late winter sunrises.
Sen. Mike Rounds of South Dakota said the change could mean children go to school in the dark.
Trump has pressed Senate Republicans to pass the bill and said afternoon sunlight is preferable to morning sunlight.
Sen. Todd Young of Indiana said the bill was a non-starter for Senate Republican leaders, and Sen. Bernie Moreno of Ohio said he did not expect it to pass soon.
The Senate is expected to have little time to consider the measure after returning following the Nov. 3 midterm election.
Read the Original
Want the full story? Tap a source to open the original
article.
Protester Robby Roadsteamer heckled President Donald Trump at a rally in Chillicothe, Ohio, on Wednesday, singing that Trump had flown on Jeffrey Epstein’s plane before being escorted out. Trump said the protester had been paid, but the article reports no evidence for that claim. Trump denies wrongdoing related to Epstein and has not been criminally charged in connection with Epstein’s crimes.
Key Facts
Video posted on X shows Roadsteamer singing, “Trump went on the Jeffrey Epstein plane,” as the crowd booed.
The video appears to show rally staff escorting Roadsteamer out while some attendees chanted “USA.”
Trump said the protester had been paid $250 but offered no evidence in the remarks described in the article.
House Judiciary Committee Democrats released a report calling for an independent special counsel to investigate Trump’s relationship with Epstein.
The White House denied the allegations, and Trump has denied wrongdoing related to Epstein.
Trump denied in 2024 that he had ever flown on Epstein’s plane.
A Justice Department record released in December reportedly cited flight records listing Trump as a passenger on Epstein’s plane eight times between 1993 and 1996.
Epstein died in a New York jail in 2019 while awaiting trial; authorities concluded that he died by suicide.
Read the Original
Want the full story? Tap a source to open the original
article.
US media reports say Vice President JD Vance sent Iran security chief Mohsen Rezaei a letter seeking to test whether the two countries can resume talks and avoid possible US strikes. The reported proposal calls for direct negotiations, with Iran’s nuclear program included, as President Donald Trump warns Gulf allies to prepare for a possible brief military campaign after next week’s US midterm elections.
Key Facts
The letter has not been made public, and reports say it focused on a possible framework for negotiations rather than specific peace terms.
The New York Times reported that Vance proposed a meeting between US and Iranian officials and would lead the US delegation.
Qatari mediators reportedly delivered the letter to Rezaei on Sunday.
US and Iranian officials told the Times that talks could begin as soon as next week, with Qatar or Turkiye as possible venues.
Iran has not publicly commented on the letter; the Times reported that Iranian leaders received it well.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Wednesday that Iran continues to give diplomacy a chance.
The Wall Street Journal reported that Trump directed Vance to send the letter, but Trump later disputed that account and said he had approved outreach focused on aid and supplies.
Trump warned Gulf allies to prepare for a possible short, intense campaign after the US midterm elections and referred to a possible new operation as “another little Epic Fury.”
Read the Original
Want the full story? Tap a source to open the original
article.
DEA Special Agent David Howell alleges that the agency allowed fentanyl pills to reach the streets as part of investigations, despite warnings about the risk. He says agents faced criticism after seizing thousands of pills in an Albuquerque case; the Justice Department says an inspector general investigation is ongoing.
Key Facts
Howell said he warned DEA managers for three years that large amounts of fentanyl were reaching the streets.
The tactic known as “walking” allows suspected drug shipments to proceed so investigators can follow them and build cases.
In a 2023 Albuquerque investigation, agents stopped an SUV carrying a child and seized a gun and between 6,000 and 7,000 fentanyl pills, according to Howell.
Howell said officials at the U.S. Attorney’s Office for New Mexico chastised agents for seizing the pills.
New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez sued the federal government over the practice.
Officials in the Albuquerque area declared a state of emergency amid rising fentanyl overdose calls.
The Justice Department said its inspector general is conducting an independent investigation and that it could not comment while it remains ongoing.
Read the Original
Want the full story? Tap a source to open the original
article.
A Russian drone strike hit a busy railway platform in Dnipro on October 29, killing at least 13 people, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Ukrainian officials also reported deaths in separate attacks, while Zelensky urged allies not to ease sanctions on Russia.
Key Facts
The Dnipro strike hit a platform where a commuter train and a passenger train were standing.
Ukraine's air force said it intercepted three jet-powered drones, while a fourth evaded defenses and hit the station.
Ukraine Railways said it had announced an elevated threat level before the strike, but many people remained on the platform.
Two 15-year-old girls were killed in a strike in Chernihiv, and more than a dozen people were wounded, according to the city's military administration chief.
A drone strike on a residential building in Kremenchuk killed two people and wounded several others, including a six-year-old, according to the local governor.
The article reported that a local ceasefire in Russian-occupied Oleshky was holding into its third day, with delegations traveling toward the city.
Zelensky criticized a deal between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin to ease some sanctions on Russia.
Read the Original
Want the full story? Tap a source to open the original
article.
The opinion article argues that Arab citizens’ high participation in Israel’s election and their representation in public institutions conflict with claims that Israel is an apartheid state. It also notes serious challenges facing Arab communities, including crime, gaps in public funding and opportunity, and the 2018 change to Arabic’s official status.
Key Facts
An estimate by Israel’s Channel 12 put Arab voter turnout on October 27 at about 80 percent, compared with 53.2 percent in 2022.
With most votes counted, the Arab-led Ra’am and Joint List parties were projected to win about 19 seats, above the previous record of 15 in 2020.
Israel’s Supreme Court unanimously overturned election bans on both parties on October 2, ruling that the evidence did not meet the legal standard for disqualification.
Ra’am joined Israel’s governing coalition in 2021, becoming the first independent Arab party to do so.
Arab citizens have served in Israel’s parliament since 1949, and Arab judges have held permanent seats on its Supreme Court.
A 2023 study reported that Arabs made up about a quarter of Israel’s working doctors and nurses and nearly half of its pharmacists.
About 250 Arab citizens were killed in crime and violence in 2025, which the article describes as a record.
The 2018 Nation-State Law changed Arabic from an official language to one with “special status.”
Read the Original
Want the full story? Tap a source to open the original
article.
China’s ruling Communist Party expelled 33 members as its four-day fifth plenum ended, a record number of removals announced at a plenum. Attendance fell to 279 Central Committee members, the first time under Xi Jinping that it has been below 300, while party discipline and anti-corruption measures dominated the gathering.
Key Facts
Sixteen of the 33 expelled members were from the military, according to the party’s communique.
The party cited “serious disciplinary and legal violations” but did not specify the alleged offenses.
The expulsions brought the number of members removed during Xi’s third term to 51, compared with 34 in his first term and five in his second.
China’s anti-corruption watchdog said 680,000 people across the party apparatus were disciplined in the first nine months of the year.
Former Xinjiang party chief Ma Xingrui and former generals Zhang Youxia and Liu Zhenli were among the officials expelled.
The Central Military Commission, which controls China’s armed forces, has been reduced to two members: Xi Jinping and vice-chairman Zhang Shengmin.
Zhang Shengmin was promoted to the Politburo at the fifth plenum, bringing its membership to 22.
Read the Original
Want the full story? Tap a source to open the original
article.
A France 24 episode of French Connections explores lesser-known parts of Paris’s 18th arrondissement. Hosts Genie Godula and Florence Villeminot visit the multicultural Goutte d’Or, a major fabric store, and places linked to notable former residents.
Key Facts
The episode focuses on the 18th arrondissement of Paris.
The hosts are Genie Godula and Florence Villeminot.
The program looks beyond well-known landmarks such as Sacré-Cœur Basilica and the Moulin Rouge.
The hosts visit the Goutte d’Or, described as a vibrant, multicultural neighbourhood.
The episode features what the article calls the world’s largest fabric store.
The program introduces some of the arrondissement’s famous former residents.
The episode runs for about 12 minutes.
Read the Original
Want the full story? Tap a source to open the original
article.
