New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani said President Donald Trump agreed to grant an immediate visa to the mother of Javits Frimpong, a 15-year-old Ghanaian boy killed in the Bronx. Frimpong was shot on his way to school and died at a hospital; police are investigating, and no arrests have been made.
Key Facts
Mamdani said he discussed Frimpong’s mother’s travel request with Trump in a phone call.
Frimpong’s mother wants to travel to New York to say goodbye to her son.
Mamdani said Trump agreed to grant her visa immediately; Trump had not commented at the time of the article.
Video footage showed three teens chasing Frimpong on Thursday morning as he walked to school.
Frimpong was shot in the abdomen and died in a hospital the same day.
Frimpong had told his father that he was bullied at school.
Police are investigating the killing, and no arrests had been made.
Ghanaian officials said they were coordinating with local authorities and helping Frimpong’s mother with her visa application.
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Iran’s security chief said a letter from U.S. Vice-President JD Vance signals a “positive” shift and may help revive talks. Tehran said it is waiting for Washington’s response and that the Strait of Hormuz will stay closed until Iran’s conditions are met.
Key Facts
JD Vance sent a letter to Iran’s security chief.
The reported aim of the letter is to restart talks and avert further strikes.
Iran’s security chief described the letter as a positive signal.
Tehran said it is awaiting Washington’s response.
Iran said the Strait of Hormuz will remain closed until its conditions are met.
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Heidi Klum wore a costume designed to look like a giant severed hand at her 25th annual Halloween party in New York. In London, Maya Jama hosted a party dressed as Olympic runner Mo Farah, while guests at both events wore costumes inspired by celebrities, films and pop culture.
Key Facts
Klum said 10 to 20 people helped make her costume.
Klum said she got the idea after looking at her hand and imagining she could fit inside it.
Klum's past Halloween costumes have included a worm, Medusa and Princess Fiona from Shrek.
Neil Patrick Harris and David Burtka dressed as the twins from the horror film The Shining.
Jade Thirlwall wore a costume that made her look like a stone angel statue.
Maya Jama said Mo Farah supported her costume and lent her Olympic outfits, medals and trainers.
Katherine Ryan dressed as Jama, and Lily Allen wore a costume based on a Ticketmaster seating map with unsold tickets.
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England’s children’s home system faces rising costs, falling standards and growing use of illegal, unregistered homes. The British government is studying Denmark’s residential care model, including its focus on trained staff, family-like routines and support for young people moving toward independent living.
Key Facts
There were 669 children living in illegal, unregistered homes across England last year.
Councils spent more than £125 million to keep children in those homes.
Spending on children’s homes rose 96% in five years to more than £3.1 billion in 2023–24.
Children’s Minister Josh MacAlister visited Denmark as part of a Department for Education review of the sector.
Josephine Schneider’s House in Copenhagen houses 12 children and young adults aged six to 23.
The home’s staff have degree-level training in social pedagogy, which focuses on psychology, child development and ethics.
Children at the Danish home are encouraged to invite friends and maintain family contact.
Residents aged 17 and older can live in a semi-independent flat and stay at the home until age 23.
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Clocks fell back one hour at 2 a.m. local time on November 1, ending daylight saving time across most of the United States and bringing earlier sunsets. A bill to make daylight saving time permanent passed the House but remains stalled in the Senate; sleep experts cited in the article recommend permanent standard time instead.
Key Facts
The clock change took effect at 2 a.m. local time, when clocks moved back to 1 a.m.
Hawaii and most of Arizona do not observe daylight saving time; the Navajo Nation does.
The Sunshine Protection Act would make daylight saving time permanent nationwide and eliminate seasonal clock changes.
The House passed the Sunshine Protection Act on July 14, but the bill is stalled in the Senate.
President Donald Trump urged lawmakers to act on the bill and criticized the twice-yearly clock changes.
The American Academy of Sleep Medicine recommends permanent standard time, citing its alignment with natural circadian rhythms and greater morning light.
Daylight saving time shifts when daylight occurs; it does not create more daylight.
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A shooting after the Magic City Classic football game in Birmingham, Alabama, left one person dead and eight others injured, police said. One injured person was in critical condition, and police detained one person for questioning as the investigation continued.
Key Facts
Police said officers responded shortly after 7:50 p.m. to reports of gunfire in the 400 block of Grayman Avenue West.
Nine people were hit by gunfire, according to Birmingham police.
One person was confirmed dead, one injured person was in critical condition, and seven others were in stable condition.
Police said they detained one person and took them to police headquarters for questioning.
Officers recovered multiple firearms at the scene.
The shooting happened after the Magic City Classic football game near Legion Field.
Police said the shooting took place mostly off the stadium property.
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West Midlands households said the government’s £100 energy payment would offer some help but might not cover rising winter costs. The Budget also includes plans to remove gas standing charges, extend a cut to electricity-bill VAT, freeze fuel duty and raise the minimum wage by 3.9%.
Key Facts
Chancellor John Healey announced a £100 household energy payment in the Budget.
The Treasury said it plans to remove gas standing charges in 2027 or as soon as possible afterward.
The VAT cut on electricity bills will be extended from its planned April end date to July next year.
Redditch resident Kelly Birkett said the payment would be absorbed by other household costs.
Alcester resident Mark Sumner said the payment might cover only one month of his household's bills.
The Budget measures also include freezing fuel duty and increasing the minimum wage by 3.9%.
The government said the measures would benefit millions of families.
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About 300 volunteers packed food hampers at the Diwali Basket Brigade in Birmingham for households facing financial hardship. The Diwali Foundation said it works with about 40 food banks and charities and has provided around 23,470 hampers to date.
Key Facts
The event took place at the RSRS Centre in Hockley and was the initiative’s ninth year.
The Diwali Foundation organised the event with volunteers from varied backgrounds.
The foundation said more than 12% of UK households experience food poverty.
Organisers delivered parcels to residents in homes provided by Walsall Housing Group.
The foundation has set a target of distributing 6,000 hampers this year.
A London event was held on Saturday, with events planned in Manchester and Leicester for Sunday.
The charity said its 2025 record included more than 80,000 meals provided.
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Former New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern told an audience at the Sydney Opera House that politicians should reduce polarisation and rebuild trust by improving people’s financial security. She also said social media can deepen division by making it harder for people to debate and change their views.
Key Facts
Ardern spoke at a Sunday forum with author Anna Funder at the Sydney Opera House.
She said politicians should avoid binary thinking and violent language, and work to rebuild trust.
Ardern linked rising insecurity to attacks on institutions and to political proposals such as Brexit.
She said social media makes it harder for people to change their views because opinions remain recorded online.
Ardern described the Christchurch mosque shootings on 15 March 2019 as a turning point in her understanding of how online platforms could be used to promote violence.
Ardern moved to Australia earlier in 2026 and purchased a home on Sydney’s northern beaches in September.
The University of Sydney has announced that Ardern will lecture and mentor there.
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Bangladesh formed a six-member wage board to set a new minimum wage for garment workers, but protests continued around Dhaka after the announcement. Workers are seeking 30,000 taka a month, more than twice the current minimum, amid rising living costs; clashes with police and factory closures disrupted the sector.
Key Facts
The wage board will include representatives of the government, workers and factory owners.
Garment workers are demanding a minimum monthly wage of 30,000 taka, compared with the current 12,500 taka.
Workers said higher food, housing, transport and healthcare costs have reduced their purchasing power.
Police fired tear gas and sound grenades during protests, and clashes in Ashulia injured workers and police officers.
About 30 garment factories near Dhaka declared holidays after protests began on Saturday.
Bangladesh’s garment sector employs millions and generates most of the country’s foreign earnings.
Bangladesh’s garment industry contributes about 10 percent of the country’s gross domestic product.
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The article argues that media headlines describing France as “burning” overstate the scale of unrest and blur distinctions between property damage, violence against people, and state repression. It places protests in a longer history of French revolt and argues that inequality, discrimination, and hardship can also constitute forms of social violence.
Key Facts
The article describes the current movement as a largely peaceful student protest over education conditions, with some violent incidents.
It distinguishes violence by social injustice, revolt, repression, and inequality or precarious living conditions.
It recounts the storming of the Bastille in 1789 and the killing of its governor after the defenders surrendered.
It says armed groups executed more than 1,000 prisoners in Paris in September 1792 amid fears of foreign invasion.
It describes the 1871 Paris Commune and the massacre of Parisians by government forces during Bloody Week.
It notes that labor unrest has included attacks on factories, machines, and employers’ representatives.
In 1886, miners in Decazeville killed mine official Jules Watrin after a dispute over working conditions.
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Texas state lawmaker James Talarico is challenging Republican Ken Paxton for a U.S. Senate seat in a race that could affect control of Congress. Polls suggest Talarico may have a chance to end Democrats’ decades-long losing streak in Texas statewide elections, and spending on the contest has topped half a billion dollars.
Key Facts
Democrats have not won a Texas Senate race since 1988.
Talarico, 37, was a teacher and studied to become a Christian minister before entering politics.
At a campaign event in Lubbock, Talarico criticized political corruption and economic hardship and called for change.
The article estimated that about 3,000 people attended Talarico’s Lubbock event, with another 1,000 listening outside.
Total spending on the Senate race has exceeded half a billion dollars, making it the most expensive U.S. Senate race in history, according to the article.
President Donald Trump campaigned in Texas alongside Republican Senate candidate Ken Paxton.
Trump won Texas in the 2016, 2020 and 2024 presidential elections.
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Indian security forces and traffic police prepared for a large opposition march and rally in Delhi on Sunday. Led by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, the protest is calling for Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar to resign over a voter-list revision that removed more than 130 million names.
Key Facts
The opposition announced a march of nearly 1.5 km from central Delhi to Ramlila Maidan.
Police deployed personnel with batons and shields and riot-control vehicles near the rally site.
Delhi traffic police said they expected a large gathering and would impose diversions as needed.
The voter-list revision removed more than 130 million names, including 28 million people reported dead, 63 million who had relocated and 30 million who could not be traced.
Opposition parties allege the removals disproportionately affect Muslim voters and other minorities; the Election Commission and BJP reject the allegation.
The Election Commission says voters whose names were wrongly removed can register again.
Protests demanding Kumar's resignation began after a newspaper reported that two of his deputies had raised concerns about voter-list revisions, registration procedures and digital systems.
The next Indian general election is scheduled for 2029.
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Youth-led protests over living costs and public services took place in more than 30 German cities on Saturday. Most demonstrations were peaceful, but violence and looting broke out later in Frankfurt and other cities, and police used water cannons and tear gas in Hamburg.
Key Facts
The initiative Gen Z regelt organized demonstrations calling for better education, health care, climate protection, and affordable living, and opposing a return to military conscription.
Organizers said tens of thousands took part nationwide; official attendance figures were not immediately available.
In Frankfurt, masked rioters smashed storefronts, threw stones and fireworks, and looted goods.
Police said looters took weapons from a gun store; authorities later recovered them.
Frankfurt police said rioters threw Molotov cocktails at officers after earlier attacks with stones and bottles.
In Hamburg, protesters fired pyrotechnics toward police and burned barricades; police used water cannons and tear gas to disperse crowds.
Students at a Berlin rally called for increased investment in education and housing.
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Heidi Klum arrived at her annual Halloween party on 31 October dressed as a giant, bloodied, severed hand. The event marked the 25th anniversary of the party, known for Klum’s elaborate costumes.
Key Facts
Klum is a supermodel and television host.
She described the costume as her own chopped-off left hand.
The costume made Klum unrecognisable.
The party took place on 31 October.
The event marked the party’s 25th anniversary.
Klum dressed as a worm for Halloween in 2022.
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The article says Donald Trump has made the 2026 midterm elections a referendum on his second term, and polls point to a difficult election for Republicans. It links voter discontent to rising living costs, the war in Iran, tariffs, and concerns about Trump’s personal enrichment, while noting that Republicans hold narrow majorities in Congress.
Key Facts
Trump urged Republicans at their convention to treat him as if he were on the ballot.
The article reports that Trump’s approval rating was 32% and that a Reuters/Ipsos poll gave Democrats an 11-point lead on the generic congressional ballot.
Republicans held a 218–214 House majority and a 53–47 Senate majority, according to the article.
Voters were also set to choose governors in 36 states and three U.S. territories, along with thousands of state legislators.
The article says early Democratic turnout was outpacing habitual Republican turnout in key battlegrounds.
It cites rising food and fuel costs, tariffs, and the war in Iran as sources of voter dissatisfaction.
The article reports that Forbes estimated Trump’s personal fortune rose from $2.3 billion in 2024 to $6.5 billion.
The article says Elon Musk had contributed $366 million to efforts supporting Republican candidates.
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ICE officer Mario Alberto Morales is expected to surrender Monday after a Houston grand jury indicted him on a charge of second-degree aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. Prosecutors say body-camera footage shows him steering his vehicle into Miguel Parra Hernandez during a pursuit; Morales’ attorney says the collision was accidental.
Key Facts
The incident occurred on Oct. 10 in Harris County, Texas.
Authorities say Morales struck Parra Hernandez while pursuing him and another person who were fleeing on foot.
Harris County District Attorney Sean Teare said the body-camera video shows Morales aggressively steering toward Parra Hernandez.
The district attorney showed body-camera and surveillance footage at a Friday news briefing.
Morales’ attorney, David Lindenmuth, said Morales was trying to avoid hitting another vehicle and did not intend to strike Parra Hernandez.
Lindenmuth said Morales had two detainees in the back seat of his vehicle.
The indictment charges Morales with second-degree aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
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The government raised duty on slot machine takings from 20% to 25% and removed a business-rates discount for adult gaming centres in England. Guardian analysis suggests some venues run by Merkur and Admiral could keep the discount by operating under bingo licences, prompting calls for tighter rules and enforcement.
Key Facts
The duty increase also affects bookmakers and casinos.
The business-rates discount change applies to adult gaming centres and vape shops in England.
Gambling Commission records show more than 200 arcades licensed as bingo venues, though duplicated data makes the exact total unclear.
The Guardian visited four Merkur venues and one Admiral venue that advertised bingo but appeared to focus mainly on slot machines.
At the visited venues, bingo was available on tablets in a small part of the premises.
A staff member at one venue said nobody used its bingo tablets and that they did not appear to work.
A Merkur venue in Stockport was linked to a case in which Wendy Hughes lost £2,000; Merkur was fined £100,000 after the Guardian reported on the case.
Labour MP Alex Ballinger urged the government to prevent bingo licences from being used to bypass the new business-rates rules.
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Serbia is marking the second anniversary of a concrete canopy collapse at a recently renovated railway station in Novi Sad. The article describes the collapse as a turning point for Serbian society and says it came amid a major political shift led by students.
Key Facts
The canopy collapsed at a railway station in Novi Sad, Serbia.
The station had recently been renovated.
The article marks two years since the collapse.
The article describes the tragedy as a turning point for Serbian society.
The article says an election had taken place one week before the anniversary.
It says the election ousted the country’s most powerful politician and brought a student-led bloc to power.
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Israeli forces imposed restrictions across Hebron governorate after two Israeli soldiers were killed near the city on October 23, and residents say troops ordered families from their homes. UNRWA says nearly 5,000 Palestinians have been displaced in just over a week; the article also describes a longer pattern of demolitions in the governorate and in Masafer Yatta.
Key Facts
Two Israeli soldiers were killed by armed Palestinian men at a checkpoint near Hebron on October 23.
A Hebron resident told Al Jazeera that Israeli forces ordered people to leave their homes until further notice.
The article says restrictions have extended across Hebron governorate, which has about 800,000 Palestinian residents.
UNRWA reported that nearly 5,000 Palestinians had been displaced in just over a week and described the measures as collective punishment.
OCHA says Israeli forces demolished 2,491 buildings and displaced 3,534 Palestinians in Hebron governorate from 2009 until the siege began on October 23.
The article says demolitions in Area C and occupied East Jerusalem have averaged at least twice the rate recorded in the preceding 15 years since 2024.
In Masafer Yatta, Israeli authorities have demolished about 400 structures over 15 years, displacing 969 Palestinians; nearly half of the demolitions occurred since January 2025.
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