The U.S. military said it killed five people in an October 27 strike on a boat it alleged was involved in drug trafficking in the eastern Pacific. A human rights research group’s tracker counted at least 238 people killed in 68 previous strikes since September 2025; the article says the latest strike brings the reported total to 243, while legal experts and rights groups have challenged the campaign’s legality.
Key Facts
U.S. Southern Command said the strike targeted a go-fast vessel along established drug-trafficking routes in the eastern Pacific.
SOUTHCOM said intelligence showed the vessel was involved in drug trafficking and that five people it called “narco-terrorists” were killed.
The Washington Office on Latin America tracked at least 238 deaths in 68 reported strikes before the October 27 operation.
The article says the latest strike brings the reported death toll to 243.
The U.S. government has rarely released details to support its claims that those targeted were involved in drug trafficking.
Relatives of some people killed in earlier strikes have said they were fishermen or workers, not drug traffickers.
Legal experts and rights groups have condemned the strikes as unlawful extrajudicial killings.
Read the Original
Want the full story? Tap a source to open the original
article.
A confrontation broke out at a United Nations General Assembly meeting after U.S. Ambassador Mike Waltz accused the Cuban government of profiting from forced labor. Cuban officials, including Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla, slammed tables and shouted for a point of order.
Key Facts
U.S. and Cuban officials argued during a United Nations General Assembly meeting.
U.S. Ambassador to the UN Mike Waltz accused Cuba’s government of profiting from forced labor.
Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla was among the Cuban delegation.
Cuban officials slammed tables and shouted for a point of order.
The article describes the incident as part of a long history of public disputes between the United States and Cuba.
Read the Original
Want the full story? Tap a source to open the original
article.
Alon, Oren and Tal Alexander were each sentenced to 30 years in prison after a jury convicted them of sex trafficking and related crimes. Women who spoke at the New York sentencing described lasting harm, while the brothers’ lawyers had asked the judge for 15-year sentences.
Key Facts
A jury convicted the brothers in March on all 10 counts, including conspiracy to commit sex trafficking and sex trafficking by force, fraud or coercion.
The brothers had pleaded not guilty, and their defense lawyers argued that their sexual encounters were consensual.
Prosecutors said the brothers sexually assaulted at least 70 women over more than a decade.
The indictment alleged that the brothers drugged women and assaulted them while they were incapacitated.
The brothers were arrested in December 2024.
Alon and Oren Alexander worked in luxury real estate, while Tal held an executive role at the family’s private security firm.
The women and prosecutors sought maximum sentences; defense lawyers requested 15 years for each brother.
Read the Original
Want the full story? Tap a source to open the original
article.
President Donald Trump is campaigning in Texas one week before the midterm elections, as a race there is described as a tossup. CBS News reports that Trump is campaigning for Paxton, but the available article text does not explain his reasons for making the push.
Key Facts
Trump is campaigning in Texas.
The midterm elections are one week away, according to the report.
CBS News describes a Texas race as a tossup.
The report says Trump is campaigning for Paxton.
CBS News reporter Jason Allen reports on Trump's Texas campaign.
Read the Original
Want the full story? Tap a source to open the original
article.
Three brothers from Florida—Oren and Alon Alexander, both 39, and Tal Alexander, 40—were each sentenced to 30 years in prison in New York after their March convictions on multiple sex-trafficking charges. Prosecutors said they drugged and sexually assaulted women over several years at locations including Miami, New York, the Hamptons, Aspen and a Caribbean cruise.
Key Facts
A dozen victims spoke at the sentencing hearing in Manhattan.
The brothers’ lawyers maintained at trial that the sexual encounters were consensual.
Oren and Tal Alexander worked in luxury real estate before starting their own brokerage, Official.
Alon Alexander ran the family’s private security company.
Prosecutors said at least 70 women were raped or sexually assaulted by the brothers.
The allegations became public in a June 2024 article by real estate news outlet The Real Deal.
Judge Valerie Caproni said the brothers should not serve their sentences at the same prison because they were a bad influence on each other.
Read the Original
Want the full story? Tap a source to open the original
article.
A New York judge sentenced Tal, Oren and Alon Alexander to 30 years in prison each after a jury found them guilty of sex trafficking and sexual assaults. At sentencing, 12 victims described the harm they said the brothers caused; prosecutors had sought life sentences, while defense lawyers asked for 15 years.
Key Facts
The brothers were found guilty in March after a five-week trial.
Eleven women testified at trial, including several who said they were minors when assaulted.
Prosecutors said the brothers lured women to parties and luxury homes, drugged them and sexually assaulted them.
The brothers’ lawyers argued that the sex was consensual and asked the court for 15-year sentences.
Twelve victims addressed the court before sentencing, and many asked for life sentences.
Tal and Oren Alexander worked in luxury real estate, while Alon worked at the family’s private security firm.
Read the Original
Want the full story? Tap a source to open the original
article.
Fighting in Russian-occupied Oleshky, Ukraine, has stopped under a truce that the White House says U.S. First Lady Melania Trump helped secure. The truce is intended to allow aid deliveries and a civilian evacuation on Friday, but residents told the BBC they were concerned evacuation routes could lead through Crimea and Russia.
Key Facts
The truce covers Oleshky, a Ukrainian city occupied by Russia.
The White House said Melania Trump helped secure the truce.
Fighting in the city has stopped.
The truce is intended to allow aid deliveries.
A civilian evacuation is planned for Friday.
Residents told the BBC they were concerned about evacuation routes.
The routes could potentially take evacuees through Crimea and Russia.
Read the Original
Want the full story? Tap a source to open the original
article.
An exit poll projected a divided Israeli parliament, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s bloc short of a majority and Arab-led parties potentially influential in government formation. The opposition could reach a majority with Arab-led parties, but cooperation faces political obstacles, and official results were not yet confirmed.
Key Facts
Channel 13’s exit poll projected 50 seats for Netanyahu’s bloc and 53 for the opposition bloc led by Gadi Eisenkot, below the 61 seats needed for a majority.
The Arab-led parties were projected to win 17 seats: 10 for the Joint List and seven for Ra’am.
The poll projected 25 seats for Likud, making it the largest individual party, and 23 for Eisenkot’s Yashar party.
The opposition bloc and Arab-led parties would together hold a projected 70 seats, but forming a government would require political cooperation.
Both principal candidates had ruled out governing with Arab-led parties, though outside support for a minority government remained a possibility.
Voter participation reached 55.7 percent by 4 p.m., compared with 47.5 percent at the same time in 2022.
Election authorities reported no evidence of systematic ballot tampering after Netanyahu alleged that the election was being stolen.
Read the Original
Want the full story? Tap a source to open the original
article.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urged voters to support his Likud party shortly before polls closed. He warned that the party could lose if its supporters did not vote, as Israel recorded its highest election turnout in 50 years.
Key Facts
Benjamin Netanyahu was Israel's prime minister at the time of the appeal.
Netanyahu urged voters to support his Likud party.
He made the appeal in the final minutes before polls closed.
Netanyahu warned, “If you don’t go and vote, we will lose.”
Israel recorded its highest election turnout in 50 years.
The article title says Netanyahu rallied Likud voters with a megaphone in a shopping mall.
Read the Original
Want the full story? Tap a source to open the original
article.
U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Mike Waltz and Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez exchanged insults during a General Assembly debate over the U.S. economic embargo on Cuba. The confrontation came as the Trump administration seeks support against an annual resolution condemning the embargo, while Cuba faces fuel shortages and power outages linked to U.S. oil tariffs and longstanding economic problems.
Key Facts
Waltz urged countries not to support the annual resolution condemning the U.S. embargo.
Cuban delegates, including Rodríguez, shouted and struck their table while Waltz spoke.
Rodríguez walked toward the front of the General Assembly and called Waltz a liar; Waltz told him to back up.
Trump announced in late January that the United States would impose tariffs on countries that sell or provide oil to Cuba.
The article says the oil tariff warning has effectively cut off fuel to Cuba, contributing to widespread power outages.
The U.N. resolution is not legally binding but reflects international opinion.
Last year, the resolution passed 165-7, with 12 abstentions; Argentina, Ukraine and Hungary opposed it for the first time.
The vote on this year's resolution was scheduled for Wednesday.
Read the Original
Want the full story? Tap a source to open the original
article.
An Egyptian court ordered Mada Masr, a prominent independent news outlet, closed and fined editor-in-chief Lina Attalah three million Egyptian pounds for operating a website without a licence. Attalah was briefly detained and released after the outlet paid the fine; she is also challenging a separate 2024 conviction. The ruling followed disputes over Mada Masr’s licence applications and the court’s handling of its defence.
Key Facts
The New Cairo Misdemeanour Court ordered the outlet closed and its equipment and devices confiscated.
The court fined Lina Attalah three million Egyptian pounds, about $53,400.
Attalah was taken into custody after the ruling and released several hours later after Mada Masr paid the fine.
Attalah learned during her release procedures that she had been sentenced in absentia in 2024 to one year in prison for publishing false news and operating an unlicensed website.
Mada Masr said its lawyers have challenged the 2024 ruling, with a retrial hearing scheduled for November 11.
Mada Masr said it applied for a licence in 2018 and 2020 and that a new application has been pending since June 2023.
The outlet said the court rejected defence requests and appointed a lawyer despite Attalah's objection.
Egypt's journalists' union said it would take legal action to appeal the ruling.
Read the Original
Want the full story? Tap a source to open the original
article.
Former Metropolitan Police officer Mark Tyrrell was found guilty of raping a woman, three counts of sexual assault and one count of perverting the course of justice. The court heard he met the woman through his work; he denied the allegations and said their sexual encounters were consensual. He is due to be sentenced on 16 December.
Key Facts
Tyrrell, 57, served in the Metropolitan Police’s parliamentary and diplomatic protection command, the same unit where Wayne Couzens and David Carrick worked.
Jurors found Tyrrell guilty of one count of rape, three counts of sexual assault and one count of perverting the course of justice.
The court heard the woman repeatedly said no before Tyrrell had sex with her.
Tyrrell was found guilty of trying to delete messages with the woman.
Jurors found him not guilty of 13 other charges, including another count of rape.
Tyrrell had previously admitted misconduct in a public office and pleaded guilty to persuading the woman to lie to police about why he was in her bedroom.
Tyrrell will be sentenced on 16 December.
Couzens was convicted of kidnapping, raping and murdering Sarah Everard in 2021; Carrick is serving 37 life sentences for attacks on more than a dozen women.
Read the Original
Want the full story? Tap a source to open the original
article.
Residents in Lebanon and Syria expect Israel’s policy to change little after the election. They are concerned about continued Israeli military activity and the possibility of renewed conflict.
Key Facts
Residents in Lebanon expect little change in Israeli policy after the election.
Residents in Syria expect little change in Israeli policy after the election.
Residents are concerned about continued Israeli military activity.
Residents are concerned about the risk of renewed conflict.
The article does not identify the election or report its outcome.
Read the Original
Want the full story? Tap a source to open the original
article.
The 27-minute Tech Life episode examines a crisis involving PHP after vulnerabilities were discovered in the widely used programming language. It also reports on a comedian whose jokes were reused by an AI avatar that gained millions of online views, and answers listener questions with the director of the UK’s national supercomputer centre.
Key Facts
The episode was published on 27 October 2026 by the World Service.
The programme tells the story of the PHP crisis with help from people familiar with it.
The episode says PHP vulnerabilities were discovered about a week before publication.
A comedian’s jokes were taken and retold by an AI avatar.
The AI avatar’s videos gained millions of views online.
The centre director answers questions about the UK’s national supercomputer.
Chris Vallance presents the episode, produced by Imran Rahman-Jones.
Read the Original
Want the full story? Tap a source to open the original
article.
President Donald Trump renewed calls for Venezuela to become the 51st U.S. state. He linked the idea to oil coming from the South American country and said it could become prosperous.
Key Facts
Trump described Venezuela as a possible future 51st U.S. state.
He called for making Venezuela the 51st state.
Trump said Venezuela could become prosperous.
He referred to barrels of oil coming from Venezuela.
Venezuela is a country in South America.
Read the Original
Want the full story? Tap a source to open the original
article.
Multiple outlets reported that Brazilian Sen. Flávio Bolsonaro traveled to the United States after losing the presidential runoff election. The report said Brazil’s Supreme Court had ordered him to surrender his passports in connection with alleged financial crimes.
Key Facts
Multiple outlets reported Bolsonaro traveled from Brazil to the United States.
The reported move followed his loss in the presidential runoff election.
Brazil’s Supreme Court ordered Bolsonaro to surrender his passports.
The passport order concerned alleged financial crimes.
The U.S. State Department had not immediately responded to The Hill’s request for comment.
Read the Original
Want the full story? Tap a source to open the original
article.
The Supreme Court declined an emergency appeal by three cities and an advocacy group seeking to defend a Biden-era immigration policy. The decision leaves in place a court order blocking the policy, which let immigration judges pause some deportation cases.
Key Facts
The policy was known as administrative closure.
Baltimore, Columbus, New Haven, and Centro Legal de la Raza sought to intervene in the case.
The groups said the policy helped crime victims and neglected juveniles.
Texas sued to block the policy, arguing it let some immigrants remain in the United States indefinitely.
Texas and the Trump administration agreed to a court order blocking the regulation.
A judge rejected the cities’ and advocacy group’s request to intervene before they appealed to the Supreme Court.
The Justice Department argued that the groups lacked legal standing and had not shown immediate harm.
Read the Original
Want the full story? Tap a source to open the original
article.
A memory-corruption flaw in the open-source TianoCore EDK II code can let attackers execute code during the UEFI boot process, before protections such as Secure Boot take effect. The flaw affects firmware built from the code, and public patch details may help attackers develop exploits while updates reach affected devices.
Key Facts
The vulnerability is tracked as CVE-2026-97631 and has a reported severity score of 9.5 out of 10.
The flaw is a 16-year-old buffer overflow in EDK II’s PXE Base Code driver, which supports network booting.
The vulnerable ICMP message-handling code does not limit a memory copy to 504 bytes, according to the article.
An attacker with access to a local network could send a crafted ICMP error message to corrupt memory and execute code during boot.
EDK II is used by major UEFI suppliers, including AMI, Insyde, and Phoenix, and by Microsoft’s Project Mu.
The article says attackers could use access during boot to target sensitive components such as the Trusted Platform Module.
AMI published a pull request containing vulnerability details and a code fix before the planned coordinated disclosure.
The article says patching firmware across devices from many hardware makers and cloud providers can be difficult and time-consuming.
Read the Original
Want the full story? Tap a source to open the original
article.
Olivia Chow won a second term as Toronto mayor, receiving 54% of the vote to Brad Bradford’s 41%. She campaigned on expanding rental housing, offering free school lunches and lowering fares for frequent transit riders, while affordability remains a major challenge for the city.
Key Facts
Chow received more than 532,000 votes, nearly twice her total in the 2023 election.
The article reports record turnout in the mayoral election.
Bradford called for more police and pledged to cut taxes and city spending.
The article says auto theft and high-value property crime have risen, while homicides, firearm-related violence and assault have fallen in recent years.
Chow expanded the police department’s hate crimes unit and supported a bylaw restricting protests within 50 meters of certain institutions.
Bradford conceded and said he wanted Chow to succeed.
Progressive candidates won or retained multiple council seats, including Diana McNally Chan, who the article says will be the first renter on city council.
Read the Original
Want the full story? Tap a source to open the original
article.
An eight-bedroom estate in San Francisco’s Presidio Wall neighborhood sold for $28.5 million on October 22, $10 million above its $18.5 million asking price. The sale comes amid rising housing costs and increased competition in the city’s property market, which reports have linked to the AI industry’s growth.
Key Facts
The Cherry Street estate was listed on October 2 for $18.5 million and sold on October 22 for $28.5 million.
The sale set a new record for the city, according to the article.
The home has eight bedrooms, a private garden and a three-car garage.
The house was built in 1966 and designed by San Francisco firm Whisler-Patri.
More than 140 San Francisco homes sold for at least $1 million above asking in the first half of the year, compared with eight in the same period a year earlier, the San Francisco Chronicle reported, citing Compass data.
Almost 92% of single-family homes sold above asking in September, the Chronicle reported.
The home had been owned by one family for more than 40 years and was sold by the Janice R. Lurie Trust and Robert A. Lurie Trust.
Robert Lurie previously owned the San Francisco Giants.
Read the Original
Want the full story? Tap a source to open the original
article.
