Iniaes

SpaceX’s next steps

SpaceX launched a Falcon Heavy from Florida Thursday night on a classified mission for the National Reconnaissance Office, the spy satellite agency’s first flight on that rocket. CNN reports that SpaceX plans to phase out Falcon 9 and its Dragon spacecraft as Starship flights increase. That transition has implications for NASA, which currently relies on Dragon as the only U.S.-made spacecraft capable of carrying its astronauts to and from the International Space Station.

In U.S. news

A father and son have been arrested on federal drug charges in connection with the suspected kratom overdose death of a University of Mississippi student.

President Donald Trump said Friday he would send $90 checks to 20 million senior citizens in October to help offset Medicare Part B premiums. His announcement was a pledge, not a report that payments had been made.

Congress has voted to close the legal loophole behind America’s $28 billion hemp THC industry. The change could bring a federal ban on intoxicating hemp products and eliminate that market.

A federal judge in Oklahoma ruled Friday that warrantless searches of AI-powered surveillance camera data, including records collected by Flock Safety, may violate the Fourth Amendment without adequate probable cause. The judge said people have a reasonable expectation of freedom from persistent, dragnet-style surveillance in public.

Air ambulance search

An air ambulance is missing on a flight from Bermuda to Boston. The U.S. Coast Guard says it has dispatched aircraft and surface crews to search for the plane near Nantucket.

Jury trials in England and Wales

Ministers have abandoned plans to replace many jury trials with hearings before a judge alone. Lawyers welcomed the reversal after strongly opposing the proposals. The victims’ commissioner expressed concern about dropping measures intended to address the record court backlog. The plans were drawn up by then justice secretary David Lammy under Keir Starmer’s government to speed up justice.

School protests in France

High school students across France are protesting overcrowded classrooms, teacher shortages and budget cuts. Their protests come amid nationwide demonstrations.

Shooting in west London

Police have opened a murder investigation after a 40-year-old man was shot dead during a memorial service in East Acton. Officers were called Friday evening after multiple shots were heard. The man was declared dead at the scene.

Search near Nantucket

The U.S. Coast Guard was searching for a medical transfer plane that went missing early Saturday near Nantucket, Massachusetts. The Gulfstream G-100 had six people aboard.

Wisconsin’s electricity demand

Oracle plans to buy a share of electricity from Wisconsin’s Point Beach nuclear plant as it develops a major data center in Port Washington. The company says the arrangement would save utility customers nearly $300 million in fuel costs and support the plant’s continued operation. It still needs approval from Wisconsin’s Public Service Commission.

The proposal comes amid projections of sharply higher electricity demand. A draft commission report estimated that new data centers would account for much of a 40 percent increase in Wisconsin’s peak demand over five years.

White House press access

The Justice Department is defending the White House’s ability to impose future bans on CNN, MS NOW and Politico, arguing that the outlets failed to meet professional standards. The three news organizations are seeking to prevent the White House from enforcing those bans.

Housing protests in Madrid

Tens of thousands of people marched through Madrid to demand affordable housing and stronger protections for renters. The demonstration followed lawmakers’ rejection of emergency housing measures a day earlier.

Wakefield’s rugby league title

Wakefield Trinity beat Warrington Wolves 23 to 10 in the Grand Final to win their first Super League title. They are champions of England for the first time since 1968, just two years after playing in the Championship. The victory caps a turnaround that began with owner Matt Ellis’s arrival in 2023.

Whale collisions off Australia

Images gathered by WWF Australia show adult and juvenile humpback whales off Australia’s east coast with deep cuts and damaged tails and fins from boat and propeller strikes. Experts warn that migrating whales often cannot avoid collisions. They say the risk is growing as the population expands, 60 years after the ban on whaling.

At RAF Fairford

British authorities say a 25-year-old British-Iranian dual national arrested over an alleged terrorist threat to RAF Fairford has been released on bail. He was detained in Westminster earlier this week on suspicion of preparing terrorist acts targeting the U.S.-operated military base in England.

In Taiwan

Taiwan has received its first two new F-16V fighters under a $7.76 billion deal signed with the United States in August 2019. The aircraft arrived at Chihhang Air Base in Taitung after delivery delays. Another 64 jets are due, with deliveries scheduled to finish by the end of 2026. The fighters have upgraded radar, modern avionics and longer-life airframes.

Spain’s housing protests

Nearly half a million people protested in Madrid over Spain’s housing crisis, with thousands more demonstrating elsewhere in the country. Protesters called for a general strike after parliament rejected two government housing decrees, adding to several days of demonstrations over affordable housing.

Voyeuristic videos at Oktoberfest

Women using Munich’s Oktoberfest Devil’s Wheel attraction have been offered free cycling shorts to prevent upskirting. An investigation by German journalists found tens of thousands of voyeuristic videos circulating online, many showing women whose traditional dirndl dresses ride up as they try to stay seated on the spinning attraction.

The Big Bend border wall

A federal court in Texas has temporarily blocked the Trump administration from building a border wall in the Big Bend region.

The Flydubai attack allegation

A United Arab Emirates official says a pilot on a diverted Flydubai flight attacked the captain with a crash ax. The official described the incident as an attempted terrorist attack.

Conservative spending plans

Leaked comments by shadow chancellor Andrew Griffith suggest Britain’s Conservatives are planning spending cuts beyond the £47 billion announced last year if they win the next election. Speaking to party members last year, while serving as shadow business secretary, Griffith said he and fellow shadow cabinet ministers had discussed further cuts in every part of government.

In U.S. politics

An Associated Press-NORC poll ahead of the November 3 midterm elections finds Democrats have built a clear advantage on the cost of living and healthcare over the past few months. Voters remain deeply dissatisfied with President Donald Trump and Republicans, but few registered voters believe either party can solve important problems or help Americans like them.

Separately, Politico reports that the Justice Department issued a federal grand jury subpoena to Senator Ruben Gallego’s Juntos PAC on August 21 as part of a criminal investigation into alleged misuse of campaign funds. The subpoena seeks information about activities around September 9, 2025, and records Gallego submitted to the Senate Ethics Committee. That committee dismissed campaign-fund misuse allegations in June.

In U.S. elections

President Trump says his administration will send just under $100 each to more than 20 million seniors to help pay for Medicare benefits, Axios reports. The pledge comes a month before the midterm election and would add roughly $2 billion to a recent series of promised refunds, rebates and dividends.

New York Times/Siena polls of likely voters show competitive Senate races in four states. In Kansas, Democrat Adam Hamilton and Republican Roger Marshall are tied at 45 percent, with Libertarian David Graham at 5 percent. In Texas, Democrat James Talarico leads Republican Ken Paxton, 51 percent to 45 percent. Alaska Democrat Mary Peltola leads Republican Dan Sullivan, 50 percent to 43 percent. In Ohio, Democrat Sherrod Brown leads Republican Jon Husted, 49 percent to 46 percent. These are polling results, not election outcomes.

The same polls put Democratic candidates ahead in three governor’s races: Gina Hinojosa leads Greg Abbott in Texas, 49 percent to 46 percent; Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins leads Bernadette Wilson in Alaska, 52 percent to 48 percent; and Amy Acton leads Vivek Ramaswamy in Ohio, 49 percent to 45 percent.

In Manchester

A court has been told that homemade bombs were part of an alleged plot targeting Manchester’s Jewish community. Two people were arrested on the eve of Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar.

In Ethiopia

Ethiopian government forces have retaken Mekelle airport from Tigray rebels. Mekelle is the capital of the northern Tigray region. Local sources say rebels have been seen leaving the city.

In Mexican healthcare

Mexico is turning to artificial intelligence to speed up breast cancer detection, as long waits and a shortage of specialists hamper screening.

In Yemen

Displaced Yemenis are fleeing again as the Houthis capture the Red Sea coast. One family has spent a week on the road escaping another Houthi offensive.

At the Pakistan-India border

Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry says it summoned India’s chargé d’affaires to lodge a strong protest over the killing of two Pakistani civilians at the border.

On the Flydubai flight

The UAE prosecutor general said Saturday that a Flydubai co-pilot attacked the captain with a crash axe and tried to seize control of an Israel-bound flight on Wednesday. Officials described it as an attempted terrorist attack. The aircraft, carrying 182 people, went into a sharp plunge and nearly crashed, according to officials. Passengers and crew subdued the co-pilot and stabilised the plane.

At Guantanamo Bay

U.S. Southern Command has deployed unmanned systems to Naval Station Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. The command says the deployment is a first step toward establishing a training and mission-support site for its new Autonomous Warfare Command.

In Ukraine

Kyiv’s mayor says Russia has struck the city’s Northern Bridge, following repeated attacks on another major bridge in the capital in recent days.

In British telecoms

BT has been accused of temporarily cutting off customers’ broadband to pressure them into switching to digital landlines. Providers are working toward an end-of-January deadline to move households from the old copper telephone network to voice services that use a broadband connection. Across the industry, 16 to 17 million lines have already been migrated.

In space technology

Google has launched a refrigerator-sized satellite to test whether its AI chips can operate in space, NPR reports. Launched aboard a SpaceX rocket on October 1, the prototype carries four Tensor Processing Units and will run a version of Google’s Gemma model for 15 minutes at a time because of heat-management limits. The year-long mission is intended to test radiation, temperature and spaceflight stresses, an early step toward the company’s proposed solar-powered AI data centres in orbit.

In Newcastle

Ten people, including three children, were injured when a car struck a crowd on Saturday morning. They were waiting to farewell the Knights team bus before the NRL grand final. New South Wales police said a five-year-old girl and a 67-year-old man were in critical condition, while the other eight injured people were stable. The driver was arrested at the scene.

In France

Students have set fire to schools and clashed with police as protests spread across France. Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin has asked prosecutors to hold parents civilly liable for damage caused by their children during unrest, including attacks on schools, bus shelters and transport. Estimates from four regions put damage to schools alone at more than 38 million euros.

In Pennsylvania

Bensalem police say they arrested 27-year-old Valeed Anjum of Bucks County on October 1, 2026, on charges including unlawful contact with a minor and sexual abuse of a child. Investigators allege he contacted children ages 10 to 15 through Snapchat and Roblox, sent explicit photos to at least five victims nationwide, and paid children for explicit images. Police say he admitted sexually abusing a 12-year-old girl in New Jersey earlier this year. He is being held at the Bucks County Correctional Facility, and investigators believe there may be more victims.

In a separate case, former Delaware County emergency services director Tim Boyce has been found guilty of harassment and indecent assault. The 63-year-old stood trial over allegations involving two women who worked for the county.

In Gaza

At least five people were killed in an Israeli airstrike on an apartment in Remal, one of Gaza City's most crowded neighbourhoods. No warning was given before the attack.

A warning for Love and Deepspace players

The game's official account has warned players not to recreate fictional cocktails containing poisonous plants. Five recipes posted for an in-game event included datura and flame lily as garnishes, both of which can cause severe poisoning. After fans raised safety concerns, the account said the drinks were for in-game use only and should not be recreated or consumed.

In Bangkok

Flooding has left 40 people dead, and a disaster has been declared across all 50 city districts. Parts of the Thai capital received roughly 300 millimetres of rain in about two days, leaving whole neighbourhoods under stagnant water. Experts warn that extreme flooding across Southeast Asia will worsen.

Air passenger compensation

New federal regulations taking effect October 19 could leave travelers with fewer compensation options when flights are delayed or canceled.

The U.S. economy

U.S. employers added just 29,000 jobs in September, marking a slowdown in hiring. The report arrives a month before Americans vote in midterm elections.

Robotics research

University of Pennsylvania researchers have developed SymSkill, a system that lets a robot combine basic skills learned from five minutes of video demonstrations into tasks of up to 12 steps. Tested in simulation and on a physical robotic arm, it combines symbolic planning with movement control. If someone interferes or a step fails, the robot can adjust its plan and retry without restarting the entire task.

Manchester terror charges

Two Iranian men have been charged in connection with an alleged terror plot targeting Manchester’s Jewish community. Police say a third man, most likely in Iran, was in contact with the pair as part of a plot to obtain a bomb to attack Jewish targets. The two men were arrested on the eve of Yom Kippur.

The U.S. military

A photograph of a weapons tally board shared by photographer Jeff Rojas indicates that Navy Strike Fighter Squadron 41 launched 421 missiles and bombs during Operation Epic Fury against Iran. The squadron flew Super Hornets from the USS Abraham Lincoln. A rough estimate based on military budget figures puts the weapons’ cost at $43.6 million or more. That count covers one squadron, not the full U.S. operation.

Separately, Defense Secretary Hegseth has directed commanders to hold a one-day stand-down this month to give service members time to vote in the midterms.

Pennsylvania broadband

Pennsylvania has awarded $448 million in federal broadband grants for 41 projects across 50 counties. It is the first round of awards from the state’s $711 million allocation under the federal Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment program. Governor Josh Shapiro says the funding will help connect the state’s remaining locations without high-speed internet by 2030.

The Powell investigation

The Justice Department is not reopening a criminal investigation into former Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell over cost overruns on the central bank’s building renovation, a department spokesperson said Friday. Attorney General Todd Blanche told Bloomberg News he had not ruled out further scrutiny of the project’s oversight, or potential action if evidence of wrongdoing emerged.

Tennessee execution attempt

Christa Pike is unconscious and on a ventilator after what her attorneys describe as a failed execution attempt Wednesday night in Tennessee. Her lawyers say she is in critical condition and receiving life-saving care in hospital.

Amazon’s data centers

Amazon plans to spend $1 billion over five years on education, job training, infrastructure and sustainability projects in communities hosting its data centers. The announcement comes amid growing resident opposition over water use, electricity costs and air quality. Amazon disputes those concerns and says more than 100 proposed data center moratoriums are under consideration across the United States.

Security for British elected officials

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood says she will update MPs on efforts to strengthen security for elected figures when Parliament returns. Her pledge follows charges against a man accused of plotting a terror attack against Reform UK leader Nigel Farage. Mahmood expressed sympathy for Farage and his family and said the case raises serious questions about protection for people in public life.

San Francisco’s empty home tax

A California appeals court has upheld a ruling blocking San Francisco’s tax on empty homes. The court found that Proposition M, approved by voters in 2022, conflicts with the state’s Ellis Act, which protects property owners’ right to withdraw units from the rental market. The judges did not address the owners’ constitutional claims because state law resolved the case. The city attorney’s office declined to say whether it would appeal to the state Supreme Court.

North Carolina’s Senate race

The Senate Leadership Fund has withdrawn advertising spending from Republican Michael Whatley’s Senate campaign in North Carolina, according to reports from Semafor, The New York Times and CNN. The fund, aligned with Senate Majority Leader John Thune, is redirecting money to other candidates amid worsening midterm polling for Republicans.

Federal research funding

The National Science Foundation withheld $1.4 billion that Congress intended for research over the past year, The New York Times reports. That represents about one-fifth of the agency’s primary research budget. The NSF is one of the largest sources of federal research funding.

UCLA admissions

The Justice Department has accused UCLA’s law school of illegally considering race in admissions. The university denies the allegations and says it is committed to complying with all admissions laws. The accusation follows a similar claim against UCLA’s medical school, as the Trump administration increases scrutiny of college admissions.

Venezuela lobbying case

Former Republican congressman David Rivera was sentenced Friday to 10 years in prison over a secret $50 million lobbying campaign on Venezuela’s behalf during the first Trump administration, the Washington Sun reports. Jurors convicted him in May on all counts, including failing to register as a foreign agent and conspiracy to commit money laundering, for his work for Nicolás Maduro’s government. Rivera has been jailed since the verdict.

Off Catalina Island

The final victim of Wednesday’s helicopter crash off California’s Catalina Island has been recovered and identified as a 48-year-old woman.

On Britain’s railways

The chief executives of three train-leasing companies received a combined £3.5 million last year, while the firms paid shareholders almost £400 million in dividends. Rail unions accused the companies of profiting at passengers’ expense.

In U.S. elections

Republicans, Democrats and their allies have filed scores of lawsuits ahead of the November 3 midterms, the New York Times reports. Disputes cover everything from ballot-envelope rules in North Carolina to federal involvement in state-run elections. The Trump administration is pursuing unfounded claims of widespread noncitizen voter registration. Democrats say they fear attempts to intimidate voters or seize ballots.

The Republican Senate Leadership Fund is shifting advertising money from North Carolina to Kansas, according to a source familiar with its plans, suggesting a more competitive Kansas race. In Texas, a Fox News poll puts Democrat James Talarico two points ahead of Republican Ken Paxton among likely voters, within the poll’s three-point margin of error.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth also announced that all U.S. troops will receive one day off in October to vote in the 2026 midterms. He said the stand-down would be completed by October 15 and repeated in even-numbered election years.

On Venezuela

President Trump reportedly spent hours asking Elon Musk’s Grok chatbot about Venezuela in the weeks before U.S. forces captured Nicolás Maduro. Among his questions was how Venezuelans would respond to their president being seized. The chatbot reportedly told him they would celebrate.

In Xinjiang

Starbucks opened two stores in China’s Xinjiang region on Tuesday, prompting U.S. lawmakers to demand their closure. The lawmakers cited accusations of widespread human rights abuses and mass detention of Muslim minorities. Starbucks sold a controlling stake in its China retail business last year to Hong Kong-based investment firm Boyu Capital.

In Brazil

The United States suspended consular services at its embassy and consulates across Brazil on Friday, citing unspecified security concerns.

In aviation

UAE authorities are investigating an incident aboard a flydubai flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv. Passenger Tali Manes told Israel’s Channel 12 that she heard heavy blows against the cockpit door on Wednesday morning and alerted a flight attendant, who then opened it. The incident has raised questions about cockpit locks and pilot screening.

At CERN

CERN’s ATLAS collaboration reports evidence that protons and neutrons near the edge of an atomic nucleus have different internal quark and gluon distributions from those deeper inside. Researchers analyzed lead-ion experiments from 2018. According to a CERN press release, statistical tests found a significant difference, helping explain an effect first observed in 1982.

At Cornell University

More than 35 percent of undergraduate women surveyed by Cornell in 2025 reported experiencing nonconsensual sexual contact during their time at the university. The findings have drawn renewed attention amid fresh scrutiny of a 2024 sexual assault allegation on campus.

On Poland’s border

Poland’s military and Border Guard are using an artificial intelligence system to monitor the border with Belarus. It combines camera, drone and other sensor feeds, flagging activity for human attention. Poland’s Operational Command says the system, called Intelligent Border, is operational.

In U.S. health care

Roughly one million lawfully present immigrants could lose eligibility for Affordable Care Act subsidies by 2034 under a new law, according to the Congressional Budget Office. The estimate concerns access to subsidies that help people pay for health insurance.

In space

SpaceX’s Crew-13 reached the International Space Station in seven hours and 55 minutes on October 1, setting an American record for the trip. SpaceX acknowledged that favorable circumstances helped produce the unusually fast arrival.

In the Middle East

The New York Times reports that Iran carried out attacks in the Strait of Hormuz, citing Iranian media reports of explosions heard at sea almost daily in September. Separately, CBS News reports that more troops are heading to the Middle East as Trump says the war with Iran will end very quickly.

In Tennessee

Christa Pike remains in critical condition after Tennessee administered two doses of pentobarbital during an execution attempt Wednesday night, The New York Times reports. Her prognosis is unclear. Her lawyers had warned that her health issues could cause complications.

On Ukraine’s EU accession

Kyiv plans to propose a new law on minority education rights, with a vote expected in October. Hungary has blocked Ukraine’s European Union accession talks pending laws agreed under an 11-point plan concerning Hungarians in Transcarpathia. The proposed legislation could help remove that obstacle.