A Pakistani antiterrorism court sentenced human rights lawyers Imaan Mazari and Hadi Ali Chattha to 10 years in prison on terrorism-related charges. The case concerns their removal of road barriers on a route designated for the England cricket team in October 2024; the couple denied the charges and said they were being targeted for their human rights work.
Key Facts
Judge Tahir Abbas Sipra announced the verdict on Thursday after the trial was held inside Adiala prison in Rawalpindi.
The court said the barrier removal put the England cricket team’s security at risk, while describing the incident as an ordinary removal of a barrier.
Mazari and Chattha were indicted on October 7 and pleaded not guilty.
The couple have been in custody since January 23 in a separate case involving their social media posts.
A lower court previously sentenced them to 17 years each under Pakistan’s Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act.
Pakistan’s Supreme Court suspended those sentences, but police re-arrested the couple in the security breach case.
Mazari’s mother, Shireen Mazari, said the couple were denied a fair chance to defend themselves and said the defence would appeal to the Supreme Court.
Amnesty International condemned the convictions and said the charges were being used to punish the lawyers for their human rights advocacy.
Read the Original
Want the full story? Tap a source to open the original
article.
Benjamin Netanyahu and Likud alleged that foreign-backed vote buying and other irregularities affected Tuesday’s Israeli election, in which his coalition lost its parliamentary majority. Election officials, police and President Isaac Herzog challenged the allegations, while opposition leaders accused Netanyahu of trying to undermine the results; Qatar denied involvement.
Key Facts
With almost all votes counted, Netanyahu’s coalition had 53 seats in the 120-seat Knesset, the main opposition bloc had 48, and the Joint List and Ra’am together had 19.
Neither the incumbent coalition nor the main Jewish opposition bloc won a majority, leaving the two Arab Israeli parties with the balance of power.
Netanyahu and Likud called for the Shin Bet, Israel’s internal security service, to investigate alleged vote buying and other irregularities in Palestinian communities in Israel.
Acting elections committee director general Dean Livneh said there appeared to be no basis for the allegations, and police officials described them as groundless.
President Isaac Herzog urged political leaders not to tarnish an entire community for exercising its right to vote.
Opposition leader Gadi Eisenkot said Likud and Netanyahu were pursuing a campaign to delegitimise the election results.
Qatari adviser Majed al-Ansari said Qatar categorically denied involvement in the Israeli election.
The newly elected Knesset was due to be sworn in within 14 days of the election.
Read the Original
Want the full story? Tap a source to open the original
article.
The UAE’s Abu Dhabi Federal Court of Appeal sentenced eight people to life in prison for trafficking weapons and military equipment to Sudan’s army and laundering money through UAE companies and bank accounts, according to state media. The court ordered the seizure of items used in the crimes and the deportation of those convicted after they serve their sentences. The case comes amid Sudan’s ongoing war, which has displaced more than 14 million people and caused severe poverty and food shortages.
Key Facts
WAM reported that the court found the eight people took part in an organized scheme involving weapons, ammunition and military equipment.
The court found that the accused used forged documents, companies and bank accounts in the UAE to move and conceal money linked to the arms deals.
The court ordered the confiscation of ammunition and communications devices used in the crimes.
The convicted people are to be deported from the UAE after serving their sentences.
Sudan’s military has accused the UAE of supplying arms to the Rapid Support Forces, its rival in the civil war; the UAE has denied the allegation.
Sudan’s war has displaced more than 14 million people and caused severe poverty and food shortages.
A recent drone attack on a market in Nyala killed more than 100 people, mostly women and children, according to the article.
MSF said a hospital it supports in Nyala received 36 bodies after a second attack and treated more than 150 wounded people.
Read the Original
Want the full story? Tap a source to open the original
article.
After a deadly high-speed train crash in Spain, railway expert Francisco Badea challenged explanations that blame a single human error. He said railway systems use multiple safeguards and argued that the crash should not have happened, but the article does not establish the cause of the accident.
Key Facts
The article discusses a deadly high-speed train crash in Spain.
Francisco Badea appeared as a guest in the France 24 interview.
Badea is identified as director of FEM Expert Engineering and a railway structural and passenger certification expert.
Badea said it was unreasonable to attribute a railway disaster to one person and one mistake.
He cited automated safeguards, train-detection technologies, operating protocols and institutional oversight as layers of railway protection.
Badea argued that the system was designed to prevent this type of accident.
The article does not report a confirmed cause of the crash.
Read the Original
Want the full story? Tap a source to open the original
article.
Medical staff and residents celebrated at an Ebola treatment centre in Ituri, Democratic Republic of the Congo, after its last patients were discharged. The centre is no longer treating confirmed Ebola cases, a first since May, according to the report.
Key Facts
The treatment centre is in Ituri, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The centre discharged its last Ebola patients.
It is no longer treating any confirmed Ebola cases.
The report describes this as the centre’s first time in that situation since May.
Medical staff and residents celebrated by dancing and singing.
The report was issued on October 29, 2026.
Read the Original
Want the full story? Tap a source to open the original
article.
ABC News correspondent Sam Champion highlights destinations featured on National Geographic’s annual list of the world’s best places to visit in 2026. The article text does not name the destinations.
Key Facts
The feature covers National Geographic’s best destinations for 2026.
National Geographic publishes an annual list of travel destinations.
ABC News’ Sam Champion presents highlights from the list.
The feature describes the destinations as places to visit.
The article is dated October 29, 2026.
Read the Original
Want the full story? Tap a source to open the original
article.
A France 24 report says tens of thousands of Americans have moved to Ireland in recent years, with some citing policies and discrimination in the United States under President Donald Trump. Ireland is receiving the newcomers while balancing its close ties with Washington and reliance on U.S. investment.
Key Facts
About 10,000 Americans settled in Ireland last year, according to the report.
Nearly 100 Americans applied for asylum in Ireland last year, citing political, racial or gender persecution.
The report features U.S. arrivals including a Trinity College Dublin postgraduate student, a former NOAA employee from Alaska and a transgender couple.
The former NOAA employee said he lost his job after budget cuts imposed by the U.S. Department of Government Efficiency.
The report says applications for Irish passports have reached a record level.
It notes that about one in 10 Americans claims Irish ancestry.
Ireland has longstanding ties with the United States and relies on U.S. investment to support economic growth.
Read the Original
Want the full story? Tap a source to open the original
article.
Archaeologists found a sealed closet of household items in a home in Pompeii, the Roman city destroyed by Mount Vesuvius in A.D. 79. The finds include cosmetics, coins, commercial weights and a necklace of amulets, offering clues about residents’ daily lives, though researchers cannot identify who owned them or what happened to them.
Key Facts
The closet was found in a home in central Pompeii; the house was first excavated in 1912.
Items included cosmetics, an incense burner, a bronze lantern, a balsam jar and a decorated snuff bottle.
Researchers found weights that may have been used for commercial activity inside a wooden chest of drawers.
A necklace contained at least 20 miniature objects and materials, including bone and crystal; such necklaces were known as crepundia and could serve as protective amulets.
The closet also held 38 bronze coins in a container made of plant material.
The coins suggest the owner or owners may not have had time to retrieve their valuables, but archaeologists do not know whether they escaped or died.
Mouse skeletons found in the home complicate assumptions about the residents’ standard of living.
The house was previously attributed to Cornelius Maximus based on inscriptions that are no longer visible.
Read the Original
Want the full story? Tap a source to open the original
article.
Airline groups representing major American and foreign carriers asked the CDC to reassess new requirements for travelers coming to the United States. The rules were introduced in response to a record-breaking Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo; the supplied article excerpt ends before it fully describes what travelers must certify.
Key Facts
Groups representing major American and foreign airlines asked the CDC to review its new traveler rules.
The CDC issued the mandate the week before the article was published.
The mandate applies to travelers entering the United States.
The CDC introduced the rules in response to an Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The article describes the outbreak as record-breaking.
The supplied excerpt cuts off before completing the description of the certification requirement.
Read the Original
Want the full story? Tap a source to open the original
article.
German-born actor Elke Sommer, known for films including A Shot in the Dark and And Then There Were None, has died in Los Angeles at age 85. Bild magazine reported that she died of heart failure.
Key Facts
Sommer was born Elke Schletz in Berlin in 1940.
Italian director Vittorio de Sica noticed her after she won a beauty contest in Italy in 1958.
Her first English-language film was the 1961 British comedy Don’t Bother to Knock.
She appeared opposite Paul Newman in The Prize, which brought her a Golden Globe as a promising newcomer.
Sommer played a maid suspected of murder in A Shot in the Dark, the Pink Panther sequel.
Her later film credits included the horror films Baron Blood and Lisa and the Devil, as well as the British comedy Carry On Behind.
After reducing her film work, Sommer focused on painting.
A court awarded her $3.3 million in damages for defamation after a dispute with Zsa Zsa Gabor.
Read the Original
Want the full story? Tap a source to open the original
article.
Russian strikes across Ukraine killed at least 16 people and injured 56, Ukrainian authorities said. A separate six-day ceasefire around Russian-occupied Oleshky entered its third day, with officials saying it was holding and aid deliveries were expected to begin Friday.
Key Facts
A Russian drone struck two passenger trains at a station in Dnipro, killing at least 14 people and injuring 14.
A Russian cruise missile killed two 15-year-old girls in Chernihiv, according to Ukrainian authorities.
Three civilians died when a Russian drone hit an apartment block in Kremenchuk.
Ukrainian authorities said the strikes injured 56 people in total, including 10 children.
The localized ceasefire around Oleshky began Tuesday and was planned to last six days.
Officials from both sides said the truce was holding as Russian engineers cleared mines from roads for a humanitarian convoy.
Aid deliveries were due to start Friday for about 2,000 people in Oleshky, and officials said residents could evacuate toward either Russia or Ukraine.
Russia's Defense Ministry said its air defenses downed 1,214 Ukrainian drones overnight; Moscow's mayor said about half were heading toward the capital.
Read the Original
Want the full story? Tap a source to open the original
article.
King Charles III’s Caribbean tour has prompted calls for a formal apology and reparations for Britain’s role in the transatlantic slave trade. In the Bahamas, he acknowledged past suffering and injustice, but campaigners said his remarks did not meet their demands; Buckingham Palace says he will not issue a formal apology.
Key Facts
Charles began a nine-day Caribbean tour in the Bahamas on Tuesday.
He was scheduled to visit Guyana and then travel to Antigua and Barbuda for a meeting of Commonwealth leaders.
In the Bahamas, Charles said Britain should acknowledge the suffering and injustices of the colonial past.
Protesters in Nassau called for compensation for Britain’s role in the slave trade.
The chair of the Bahamas National Reparations Committee said Charles’s remarks fell short of campaigners’ expectations.
Buckingham Palace says decisions on a formal apology belong to the British government, while Charles is willing to discuss Britain’s involvement.
The article says about 5 million enslaved Africans were transported to the Caribbean between the 15th and 19th centuries, including more than 2 million to British colonies.
When Britain abolished slavery across most of its empire in 1834, the government compensated slave owners, not the enslaved.
Read the Original
Want the full story? Tap a source to open the original
article.
Brazilian presidential candidate Flavio Bolsonaro left for the United States with his family after losing the election to Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who won by more than 4 million votes. Flavio called himself Brazil’s “true president” and alleged an electoral coup; analysts quoted in the article said the family’s flight could damage the Bolsonaro brand and weaken support for “Bolsonarism.”
Key Facts
Flavio Bolsonaro and his family arrived in Miami on October 28, 2026, after traveling through Argentina and Ecuador, according to the article.
Lula won the Brazilian election by more than 4 million votes.
Flavio Bolsonaro said he was Brazil’s “true president” and accused the Supreme Court and Lula of staging an electoral coup.
The article says Flavio faces investigations in Brazil related to suspected money laundering, corruption, and campaign funding.
The article reports that Jair Bolsonaro is under house arrest and serving a 27-year sentence.
Flavio’s father, Jair, left Brazil for the United States in 2022, and his brother Eduardo went into voluntary exile there last year, according to the article.
Brazil specialists quoted in the article said Flavio’s departure could hurt the family’s image and disappoint supporters.
Read the Original
Want the full story? Tap a source to open the original
article.
A local ceasefire around Russian-occupied Oleshky in southern Ukraine held for a third day, and officials said a humanitarian mission was expected to deliver food and medical supplies to about 2,000 residents. Ukrainian and Russian officials reported no truce violations as engineers cleared mines from roads; officials also said residents could evacuate, though arrangements were unclear.
Key Facts
The six-day localized ceasefire around Oleshky began Tuesday and was still holding Thursday.
Ukrainian ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets said aid deliveries were due to start Friday.
Russian official Yana Lantratova said engineers were clearing mines to prepare a safe route for the aid convoy.
Officials said residents would be able to evacuate to either Russia or Ukraine, but did not explain how the evacuations would work.
The article said the temporary truce was brokered with help from U.S. first lady Melania Trump.
A Russian drone strike on passenger trains in Dnipro killed at least 14 people and injured 14, officials said.
The article reported other Russian strikes killed two teenagers in Chernihiv and three civilians in Kremenchuk.
Russia’s Defence Ministry said its air defenses had downed 1,214 Ukrainian drones overnight.
Read the Original
Want the full story? Tap a source to open the original
article.
A jury at Cambridge Crown Court saw CCTV footage of train staff member Samir Zitouni using a frying pan against Anthony Williams during a stabbing attack on a train near Huntingdon on 1 November 2025. Williams denies 14 counts of attempted murder, including alleged attacks on 10 men aboard the train; the trial heard that Zitouni suffered life-threatening injuries and that the violence lasted about five minutes.
Key Facts
Prosecutor Christopher Paxton KC said Zitouni used the frying pan to try to stop Williams and protect others.
The court heard Zitouni had punctured lungs and received four blood transfusions, chest drains and help from a ventilator.
The prosecution said Williams stabbed 10 men aboard the train during an attack that lasted about five minutes.
Williams denies 14 attempted-murder charges, including alleged attacks in Peterborough and London the day before the train incident.
The court heard passenger Scott Green thought Williams would kill him, and that Green's dog, Poppy, helped drive Williams away.
The jury saw footage of passengers fleeing the train and heard that Zitouni appeared to be among the last to leave.
The trial is taking place at Cambridge Crown Court.
Read the Original
Want the full story? Tap a source to open the original
article.
The article describes what it calls a Russian strategy to influence President Donald Trump through praise and economic or political rewards. It cites Putin’s public compliments toward Trump and Elon Musk, and says Russia gained a diesel deal and limited U.S. sanctions relief in October; the provided text ends before it explains the strategy’s third step.
Key Facts
Putin praised Trump’s response to the 2024 Pennsylvania rally shooting two days after Trump won the election.
In January 2025, Putin said the Ukraine crisis might not have happened if Trump had remained president after the 2020 election.
Putin criticized the Nobel Peace Prize committee after it awarded the 2025 prize to Venezuelan opposition politician María Corina Machado.
Trump thanked Putin on Truth Social after Putin criticized the Nobel committee.
Putin called Elon Musk a “real genius” and said Russia lagged behind Starlink.
The article says Russia secured a diesel deal with Trump and a limited easing of U.S. sanctions in October.
The article quotes Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying in July that Russia should exploit what he called the U.S. administration’s “dualism” on arming Ukraine and seeking peace.
Read the Original
Want the full story? Tap a source to open the original
article.
Naseem Akhtar and her five siblings, who grew up in Coventry with albinism, say they faced bullying and stigma because of their appearance. Akhtar has spoken publicly about the condition since childhood, while her brother Mohammed Rafi says he experienced greater acceptance as awareness grew.
Key Facts
Albinism affects melanin production and can cause differences in skin and hair color as well as vision problems.
Both of Akhtar’s parents and all six of their children have albinism; the family has Pakistani heritage.
Akhtar said she was bullied as a child and feared fireworks being thrown through the letterbox on bonfire night.
Akhtar first spoke about albinism on local radio when she was about 11, hoping to challenge mistreatment and misunderstanding.
Rafi, who is 32 and has poor eyesight, said he experienced more acceptance growing up than Akhtar had.
The six siblings received a Guinness World Record in 2022 for the most siblings with albinism.
The siblings’ children do not have albinism but carry the gene.
Read the Original
Want the full story? Tap a source to open the original
article.
Stephen Hubbard, a 74-year-old American, was released after more than four years in a Russian prison. The article says as many as 10 other Americans, including people with dual Russian nationality, remain in Russian custody and describes several cases; it notes that information from Russia can be difficult to verify.
Key Facts
Russian authorities convicted Hubbard of fighting as a mercenary for Ukraine; he was imprisoned for more than four years before his release.
American musician Travis Michael Leake was arrested in 2023 on drug-sale charges, convicted, and sentenced to 13 years in prison in 2024.
Robert Woodland pleaded partially guilty to Russian drug-trafficking charges and received a 12½-year sentence in 2024; it was reduced to 9½ years in 2025.
David Barnes was sentenced to 21 years in a Russian penal colony in February 2024 after a custody dispute involving his two sons.
Daniel Schneider was sentenced to six years in prison after Russian prosecutors said he tried to take his four-year-old son out of Russia without the mother’s consent.
The article begins a section on U.S. Army Staff Sergeant Gordon Black, who was stationed in South Korea, but the supplied text ends before giving details of his case.
Leake’s family said he was excluded from the August 2024 prisoner exchange that brought home three other U.S. nationals.
Read the Original
Want the full story? Tap a source to open the original
article.
Rebecca Michels and her husband learned during an ultrasound that they were expecting twins. Their daughters, Capri and Kenzie, were born in Sydney on May 28, 2025, and a DNA test later confirmed they are identical twins, despite having separate placentas and amniotic sacs.
Key Facts
Michels, 37, lives in Sydney, Australia, and has an older son, Braxton.
The twins were born 30 seconds apart on May 28, 2025.
Kenzie needed help breathing and spent five days receiving specialized care, including treatment for low blood sugar.
Nurses suggested a DNA test after noticing how alike the twins looked.
The family took the DNA test in July 2025 and received the results three days later.
The test reported a 99.999999994 percent probability that Capri and Kenzie are identical twins.
Identical twins can have separate placentas and amniotic sacs; this arrangement does not by itself establish that twins are fraternal.
Read the Original
Want the full story? Tap a source to open the original
article.
