Taiz, Yemen’s third-largest city, has been cut off since early October after its two land routes closed, disrupting supplies and work. The United Nations reported that available food and fuel prices had more than doubled, water production had fallen by half, and families were struggling to afford food, water and cooking fuel.
Key Facts
Taiz has about 1 million residents, within Yemen’s population of roughly 43 million.
The Houthis took al-Turbah by October 4, cutting the main Taiz-Al-Turbah-Aden Road.
Government-aligned forces closed the eastern al-Houban crossing on October 3, citing attempted Houthi incursions.
The United Nations warned on October 20 that road closures and insecurity were blocking vital supplies.
Prices for food and fuel still available in Taiz had more than doubled, according to the article.
Taiz’s water production had fallen by half, and the cost of tanker-delivered water had roughly tripled, according to UN officials.
Yousef Farhan lost his cucumber-selling income after shelling and the siege forced the school where he worked to close.
Families in Taiz reported relying on limited foods, cooking with firewood and facing disruptions to children’s schooling.
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Israel’s election has raised questions about the country’s economic outlook. The report says the high cost of living and rising defense spending are adding financial pressure on households.
Key Facts
Israel has one of the highest costs of living in the region, according to the report.
Defense spending in Israel continues to rise.
Households face growing financial pressure.
The report links uncertainty about the economy to the aftermath of Israel’s elections.
Caitlin Brown reported the video for France 24.
The video was issued on October 28, 2026.
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Two high-speed trains collided in Spain’s Toledo province on Wednesday, killing at least 10 people, according to Spanish state media and other reports. Officials warned the death toll could rise, and rail traffic was suspended while the incident was addressed.
Key Facts
Spain’s rail system operator ADIF said the incident happened Wednesday morning in Toledo province.
The collision involved an Iryo train and an AVE train, according to an ADIF spokesperson.
The trains were travelling on the Madrid-Seville route.
Spanish state media and other reports said at least 10 people had died.
Castilla-La Mancha government spokesperson Esther Padilla said the number of deaths was expected to increase.
Rail traffic was suspended, according to ADIF.
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President Donald Trump and Texas State Representative James Talarico held competing rallies in Lubbock, Texas. Reports put attendance at roughly 4,000 at each event, though Talarico’s figure was not independently confirmed and the venue’s stated capacity was lower.
Key Facts
Talarico said 4,000 people attended his rally at the Fiesta Center.
The Fiesta Center ballroom holds up to 2,600 people, and local officials reportedly planned to expand capacity to 3,000.
A Texas Tribune report said the line for Talarico’s event stretched several city blocks.
Trump and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton held a rally at the Lubbock Memorial Civic Center.
An Amarillo Tribune reporter estimated that about 4,000 people attended Trump and Paxton’s rally.
The civic center’s exhibit hall has a listed maximum capacity of 4,914.
Trump carried Lubbock County by 40 points in 2024, and the county has not voted for a Democratic presidential candidate since 1964.
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Israel’s Central Elections Committee is still counting ballots. With more than 60% counted, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s camp is narrowly ahead of the opposition but has not secured a clear majority, so the result remains uncertain.
Key Facts
More than 60% of ballots had been tallied when the report was issued.
Netanyahu’s camp was narrowly ahead of the opposition in partial results.
The reported results did not give either side a clear majority.
The Central Elections Committee continued to count votes.
The partial results could change as counting continues.
The two leading candidates for prime minister traded criticism in speeches after polls closed.
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The Bundibugyo Ebola outbreak has caused 10,091 reported cases and 4,891 deaths across the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda and Kenya, with a case also confirmed in Nigeria. Africa CDC director general Jean Kaseya warned that the outbreak could spread beyond Africa and urged countries to strengthen screening, testing and treatment preparedness.
Key Facts
The outbreak is the largest and deadliest Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s history.
The outbreak was declared in Ituri province on 15 May, but virus sequencing indicates it began in February.
Of 10,091 reported cases, 10,060 occurred in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where 4,887 people died.
Uganda and Kenya each reported two deaths.
Nigeria confirmed a case in Abuja in a woman who had arrived from Uganda; France also confirmed a case in a doctor who had returned from the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The Bundibugyo virus has no approved treatment, and vaccine trials are under way.
The response has faced shortages of protective equipment, unpaid health worker wages, conflict, mistrust, misinformation and cuts to global aid.
Kaseya called for cross-border cooperation and screening and testing at entry and exit points.
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At least 10 people died when two high-speed trains collided in Spain’s Toledo province on Wednesday morning, according to Spanish media. Rail service between Madrid, Ciudad Real and Andalusia was suspended, and local officials said passengers were injured and emergency preparations were underway.
Key Facts
ADIF, Spain’s rail system operator, said the crash happened Wednesday morning in Toledo province.
Spanish media reported that at least 10 people died.
TVE reported that the trains were traveling in the same direction and that one struck the rear of the other.
The collision reportedly knocked two train cars off the track.
Rail service between Madrid, Ciudad Real and Andalusia was suspended.
The mayor of Urda said civil protection authorities asked the town to prepare a sports pavilion for passengers.
Castilla-La Mancha regional president Emiliano García-Page said he was heading to the crash site.
The article says 45 people died in a separate train crash in southern Spain in January.
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Two high-speed trains collided on the Madrid–Seville line in Toledo province, central Spain, on Wednesday morning. Authorities confirmed at least 10 deaths and said the toll could rise; emergency services were assisting those affected.
Key Facts
Spain’s rail infrastructure authority said services between Madrid and Andalucía were suspended after a rear-end collision.
Castilla-La Mancha government spokesperson Esther Padilla confirmed at least 10 deaths.
Spain’s state broadcaster reported that one train struck the back of another and knocked two carriages off the track.
The rail operator Adif said the collision occurred on the line from Madrid to Seville.
The mayor of Urda said emergency services asked him to prepare a sports hall for injured people.
Spain’s main political parties suspended planned activities for the day.
Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said he was in contact with the transport minister and the Castilla-La Mancha regional president.
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Some Democrats are courting voters who support the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) movement by promoting food safety, healthier school meals and limits on harmful chemicals. Polling cited in the article suggests many voters support these policies, including some Trump voters, though vaccine-related views within MAHA remain a point of disagreement with Democrats.
Key Facts
The Center for American Progress released a proposal on healthier foods and reducing exposure to harmful chemicals.
Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed proposed banning certain pesticides and improving school meals.
House Democrats’ health care working group included a section titled “Reclaiming MAHA and Protecting American Families.”
Sen. Cory Booker has supported some food policies advanced by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and backed legislation on pesticide-related company liability.
Center for American Progress polling found that 37% of Trump voters were open to voting for a Democrat whose platform addressed core MAHA issues.
Annenberg Public Policy Center polling found that 80% of respondents supported labeling ultra-processed foods, 79% supported removing them from school lunches, and 76% supported removing artificial dyes from food.
Trump health adviser and MAHA advocate Calley Means resigned last week, reportedly citing the slow pace of food-related policy changes.
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Israeli right-wing leaders made statements about Arab voters, alleged election fraud and possible Jewish settlements in Gaza as votes were counted. With no camp projected to win a parliamentary majority, Arab-led parties could influence coalition talks.
Key Facts
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said he would preserve settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank and declared that Jewish settlements would be established in Gaza.
Israel dismantled its settlements in Gaza in 2005.
Smotrich claimed, without providing figures, that turnout was unusually high in Arab communities and left-wing areas.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that Arab voters were turning out in large numbers and said an opposition victory would threaten Israel’s Jewish character.
Netanyahu accused three senior Ra’am figures of trying to steal the election; police confirmed arrests of three people suspected of voter bribery, but the article gave no indication they held senior Ra’am positions.
Likud minister Miri Regev also alleged on X that people were trying to steal the election, without providing evidence.
With about 55 percent of ballots counted, Netanyahu’s right-wing and religious bloc was projected to have 56 of the parliament’s 120 seats, short of the 61 needed for a majority.
Ra’am leader Mansour Abbas said he had received approaches from both Likud and the opposition camp led by Gadi Eisenkot.
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Two trains collided Wednesday morning in Spain’s Toledo province, according to rail operator ADIF. Urda’s mayor said some passengers were injured, and civil protection officials asked the town to prepare a sports pavilion to assist passengers.
Key Facts
ADIF said the collision happened Wednesday morning in Toledo province.
The incident involved two trains.
Urda mayor Manuel Galan told Spanish state broadcaster TVE that passengers were injured.
Civil protection authorities asked Urda’s town hall to prepare a sports pavilion for passengers.
The article did not report how many people were injured or describe the cause of the collision.
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The article page contains only a headline and limited publication details. It says the government will decide who receives help and who pays, but provides no further information about the decision.
Key Facts
The headline is “Government to decide who to help and who picks up the tab.”
The page links to live coverage of the Budget.
The article is labeled as politics coverage.
The page lists HM Treasury, John Healey, the UK economy, UK taxes, and UK government spending as related topics.
The video could not be played from the page content provided.
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Researchers have identified election-system weaknesses that could threaten ballot secrecy, vote recording and independent checks, but the article reports no credible evidence that such flaws have been used to change election results. Experts say paper ballots marked by voters and rigorous audits help verify results, while warning that paperless machines, ballot-marking devices and vote-counting software can pose risks.
Key Facts
Louisiana is the only state that uses paperless voting machines statewide on Election Day, according to the article.
Paperless machines record votes electronically without producing a paper ballot that can independently verify the count.
Louisiana's secretary of state's office said the state is expected to award a new election equipment contract at the end of 2026.
Ballot-marking devices let voters make selections on a touchscreen and print a paper ballot; researchers warn of possible errors and manipulation.
About 23% of U.S. registered voters live in jurisdictions that use ballot-marking devices exclusively for in-person voting, according to Verified Voting.
A 2025 Def Con demonstration showed how a Georgia ballot-marking machine could be manipulated, according to the article.
A Princeton researcher said a flaw in Georgia's vote-counting software could help reveal how individual voters cast ballots.
Dominion Voting Systems, now Liberty Vote, released a software patch in 2023, but the article says there is no centralized database tracking where updates were installed.
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The Federal Reserve is expected to keep its benchmark interest rate unchanged on Wednesday, though markets anticipate a possible increase in December. The Fed is weighing rising inflation against signs of a slowing labor market, with its decision coming shortly before the midterm elections.
Key Facts
The Fed raised its benchmark rate by a quarter percentage point last month, its first increase in three years.
The benchmark rate currently stands between 3.75% and 4%.
Markets put the chance of no rate change on Wednesday at about 90%, according to CME Group’s FedWatch Tool.
Markets put the chance of a quarter-point increase at the Fed’s December meeting at 75%.
U.S. inflation reached 3.7% in September compared with a year earlier, above the Fed’s 2% target.
Fuel prices rose amid unrest in the Middle East, contributing to higher inflation in September, according to the article.
Employers added 29,000 jobs in September, down from 162,000 in August and below economists’ expectations.
President Donald Trump criticized the Fed after last month’s rate increase and called for lower interest rates.
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California may take days or weeks to report final results in the Nov. 3, 2026, midterm elections. The state counts many mail ballots, including eligible ballots that arrive after Election Day, and checks signatures before counting them.
Key Facts
California has about 23 million registered voters.
Mail ballots postmarked by Election Day can be counted if they arrive within seven days after the election.
Provisional ballots must also be counted.
County election officials have up to 30 days after the election to count ballots.
Officials compare each mail ballot envelope’s signature with the voter’s signatures on file.
More than 89% of Californians who voted in the June 2 primary did so by mail.
California certified its June primary results on July 10; ABC News projected the two gubernatorial candidates on June 5 and June 9.
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Security researchers say AI-discovered flaws in PHP and other software triggered a surge of attack attempts, but few have succeeded because the vulnerabilities have been difficult to exploit. Experts say the episode resembles Y2K and urge companies to use the apparent reprieve to strengthen basic defenses and prepare to recover from attacks.
Key Facts
AI agents from OpenAI discovered critical flaws in PHP, which the article says is used by roughly 70% of websites, and in the Brotli data compression library.
Researchers reported millions of hacking attempts but few successful attacks involving the vulnerabilities.
Breaches at OpenCode, Railway and LiteLLM put customers’ API keys and other credentials at risk.
Experts said the difficulty of exploiting these flaws does not mean AI-enabled cyberattacks pose little danger.
Recommendations included using multi-factor authentication, testing systems for weaknesses and planning how to restore critical services.
The article compares the response to the vulnerabilities with preparations for the Y2K software problem in 1999.
Experts said AI is making it easier to find and exploit longstanding security weaknesses.
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The article reports that the budget will remove gas standing charges, which the chancellor says will save about 60% of households £45 a year. The Conservatives called the change a shift of costs rather than a genuine reduction, while Martin Lewis said he expected a separate announcement on help with energy bills.
Key Facts
The chancellor said removing gas standing charges would save about 60% of homes £45 a year.
Conservative treasury spokesperson Richard Fuller called the change “sleight of hand” and said costs would move to another part of bills or taxes.
Fuller said the Conservatives had proposed removing VAT from energy bills and rolling back some net-zero-related charges.
The Green party said removing standing charges was not enough to address the cost of living crisis.
Martin Lewis said he asked the chancellor about support for energy bills from January but received no confirmation.
Lewis said he expected an energy support announcement in the budget, while describing possible options as speculation.
Lewis cited an expected 27% rise in the energy price cap in January.
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Restrictions on Ukraine’s Starlink service temporarily disrupted drone use and renewed concern in Europe and the U.S. about relying on one company for battlefield communications. European firms are promoting alternatives, including a Finnish partnership with Ukraine that expects to launch its first satellites in 2028.
Key Facts
SpaceX operates Starlink, which has more than 11,000 satellites, according to American Enterprise Institute data.
Eutelsat’s OneWeb network has more than 600 satellites.
Starlink said this summer that it had 12 million customers across more than 160 countries and territories.
Finnish companies ICEYE and Nokia agreed with Ukraine’s defense ministry to explore sovereign satellite communications.
An ICEYE spokesperson said the partnership’s initial satellites are expected to launch in 2028.
Elon Musk said on Oct. 24 that Ukraine had violated Starlink’s terms of service by using the system for offensive drone strikes, and that a loophole had been closed.
Eutelsat CEO Jean-François Fallacher said the company’s service is available in Ukraine and can be used for drones.
President Donald Trump denied reports that the White House was involved in the Starlink restrictions.
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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and rival Gadi Eisenkot both pledged to form a government after Tuesday’s election. Exit polls projected a close result and showed that neither bloc had won a parliamentary majority.
Key Facts
The election took place on Tuesday, October 27, 2026.
Exit polls projected Netanyahu and Eisenkot to finish close to each other.
Exit polls showed both political blocs short of a parliamentary majority.
Netanyahu pledged to form a government.
Eisenkot also pledged to form a government.
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Spain suspended high-speed rail service between Madrid and Andalusia after two trains collided in Toledo province on Wednesday. Authorities said two cars derailed and were still determining the cause and number of injuries.
Key Facts
The collision occurred between the towns of Mora and Orgaz.
The trains were operated by Renfe and Iryo and were travelling from Madrid toward Seville.
A Castilla-La Mancha government spokesperson said two Iryo cars derailed.
Adif said the crash was a rear-end collision and suspended traffic on the Madrid-Andalusia line.
Authorities had not confirmed the cause or the number of injured people.
Urda’s mayor said emergency services asked him to prepare a sports hall for injured people.
The report said witnesses described numerous injuries and emergency medical teams arrived at the scene.
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