Northern Ireland First Minister Michelle O’Neill said Deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly had blocked their attendance at a National Economic Council meeting in Glasgow with Prime Minister Andy Burnham. The dispute comes amid unionist anger over Sinn Féin’s role in protests that stopped an Orange Order march in Portadown, and pressure on the DUP to take action against O’Neill.
Key Facts
O’Neill and Little-Pengelly had both been invited to Friday’s National Economic Council meeting in Glasgow.
O’Neill said Little-Pengelly’s decision would leave Northern Ireland unrepresented at the event.
O’Neill called the decision reckless and said it was driven by DUP internal pressures and electoral concerns.
Police have interviewed O’Neill and other senior Sinn Féin figures over unnotified demonstrations in Portadown last month.
DUP MP Carla Lockhart resigned from the party’s officer board after leader Gavin Robinson did not withdraw Little-Pengelly to force O’Neill from their joint office.
DUP assembly members Diane Forsythe and Maurice Bradley have called for O’Neill to leave office or for official engagements through the joint Executive Office to stop.
A court heard that police intelligence suggested dissidents might have attacked officers if police had cleared a route for the parade.
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Ethiopia has received 12 Russian Su-35 fighter jets and plans to acquire four S-400 air-defence batteries under agreements announced by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed in Moscow. The deal deepens long-standing military ties with Russia as Ethiopia faces conflict at home and tensions with Eritrea, but analysts say Addis Ababa is broadening its partnerships rather than choosing Russia exclusively.
Key Facts
Abiy Ahmed announced the agreements during a visit to Moscow for the Russia-Africa Summit.
Ethiopia has taken delivery of 12 Su-35 fighter jets under an earlier agreement with Russia.
Ethiopia plans to acquire four S-400 air-defence batteries, but no delivery date was announced.
Analysts say the S-400 systems could defend against conventional air threats, but may be less effective against small, inexpensive drones.
Russia and Ethiopia have a history of military cooperation dating back to the Soviet Union’s support for Ethiopia’s former communist government.
Russia’s arms sales bring revenue and can sustain ties through training, maintenance and replacement equipment.
Abiy said talks with Putin also covered nuclear energy, health and trade; Putin said bilateral trade exceeded $1.3 billion in January through September.
Analysts say Ethiopia is seeking options from multiple international partners rather than aligning exclusively with Russia.
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A BBC Radio 4 episode examines how people convicted of financial offences try to rebuild careers and start businesses after prison. It features former Touchbase CEO Riordan Maynard and former Autonomy CFO Sushovan Hussain, whose prison experiences and difficulties returning to work inspired business ideas.
Key Facts
The 35-minute episode, titled “Redemption,” aired on 29 October 2026.
Riordan Maynard led mobile phone company Touchbase as it expanded into a multinational business with offices across Europe, Australia, Asia and the United States.
After Touchbase lost hundreds of millions of pounds worth of deals following the 2008 financial crisis, Maynard was jailed in the United States for five and a half years.
Maynard said his experience in prison, including witnessing violence and struggling with his mental health, sparked a business idea.
Sushovan Hussain was CFO of Autonomy, a technology company founded by Mike Lynch.
Hussain was convicted of fraud in the United States and sentenced to five years in prison in 2019.
After prison, difficulties obtaining insurance and bank accounts inspired Hussain to start a business to help former offenders return to work.
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Wes Moore argues that preventing another case like Cornell 7 requires raising better men. He says the responsibility belongs to policymakers as well as fathers, teachers and mentors.
Key Facts
The article is titled “Wes Moore: To prevent the next Cornell 7 case, we must raise better men.”
The title links preventing another Cornell 7 case with raising better men.
The article says policymakers share responsibility for this effort.
The article also names fathers as responsible.
The article also names teachers and mentors as responsible.
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A book by Matthew Cole makes allegations about Jared Kushner’s financial dealings and role in U.S. foreign policy during Donald Trump’s first term. Kushner rejected the claims, calling them “completely insane”; the Guardian said it received no response from his legal counsel.
Key Facts
The book contains allegations linking Kushner to large bank accounts allegedly funded by Gulf states.
The article says Kushner has served as one of Trump’s top diplomatic envoys in the Middle East despite having no official role.
A California county elections official said federal officials gave him an inaccurate, disorganized list of names and threatened criminal prosecution if he did not act.
A federal judge declined to order California officials to separate and exclude ballots from people the Trump administration said were non-citizens.
The article says Israel’s opposition parties have a majority, but most Jewish opposition parties have ruled out governing with Palestinian-led parties.
Dolores Huerta, co-founder of the United Farm Workers and a civil rights activist, died in California at age 96, her family said.
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Israeli forces have maintained a lockdown of Hebron for seven days, closing its entrances and restricting movement and access to services. Palestinian reports describe raids, detentions, injuries, demolitions and settler attacks; the article does not say when the lockdown will end.
Key Facts
Israeli forces closed Hebron’s entrances and exits starting the previous Friday.
Wafa reported that two Palestinians were injured and seven detained on Thursday.
The Palestinian Prisoner’s Society said at least 110 people had been detained in the Hebron governorate since the raids began, including three women and seven children.
The article says more than 3,000 people were forced out of the city and some Palestinian homes were turned into military posts.
Israeli forces launched demolitions and raided the Ein Deir Bahha neighbourhood, where families fled their homes at night.
Israeli forces isolated 12 villages and hamlets in the Masafer Yatta area, restricting access to urban centres, markets and hospitals.
Wafa reported that settlers uprooted more than 200 fruit trees and damaged wells and agricultural facilities east of Hebron.
The lockdown followed the killing of two Israeli soldiers at a checkpoint near the settlement of Telem; the Palestinian gunmen were later killed by Israeli forces.
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Former President Barack Obama campaigned in Georgia for Senator Jon Ossoff five days before the U.S. midterm elections. Obama criticized the Trump administration’s response to a joke he had made, saying it had mobilized government resources over the joke rather than inflation.
Key Facts
Obama appeared in Georgia to support Senator Jon Ossoff’s midterm campaign.
The article said the midterm elections were five days away.
Obama referred to comments he had made about the Cheesecake Factory.
Obama said the Trump administration had mobilized a government response to his joke.
Obama contrasted the response to the joke with the administration’s handling of inflation.
The article said polls indicated Democrats might win a majority in the House.
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DoorDash said it will acquire Instacart for $17 billion, offering $65 per share. The companies will remain separate until the deal closes, which they expect in late 2027 or early 2028; DoorDash plans to keep Instacart’s brand, technology and app afterward.
Key Facts
DoorDash announced the acquisition on Thursday.
DoorDash will pay $65 per share for Instacart.
DoorDash said the companies will operate as separate entities until the merger is finalized.
The companies expect the deal to close in late 2027 or early 2028.
DoorDash plans to retain Instacart’s brand, technology and app after the deal closes.
DoorDash said the acquisition could help more supermarkets use Instacart’s platform for their websites.
DoorDash said customers could gain more store choices, faster delivery options and savings when shopping locally.
Capital One estimated that nearly 150 million Americans shopped for groceries online in 2025.
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Chillicothe police said reports that a Trump supporter was stabbed outside Donald Trump’s Ohio rally were false. Police said an officer intervened in a fight, and the officer’s pocketknife stayed closed when its clip caught on a person’s shirt.
Key Facts
The incident happened outside a rally at the Shoemaker Center on the Ohio University Chillicothe campus on Wednesday evening.
Police said two people were involved in an altercation.
An officer intervened to break up the altercation.
Police said the officer’s pocketknife retention clip caught in one person’s shirt.
Police said the knife did not open and there was no stabbing.
Conservative activist Tyer Bowyer posted video of the incident on X and claimed a Trump supporter had been stabbed.
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Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy ordered the Department of Public Safety to investigate an alleged effort to recruit candidates for the state Senate race who could confuse voters. The order followed a New York Times report alleging that people linked to Democrat Mary Peltola’s campaign and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee helped recruit a candidate with the same name as Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan; both groups denied involvement.
Key Facts
Dunleavy said the Alaska Division of Elections investigated similar concerns in June.
He directed the Department of Public Safety to determine whether the effort violated state law and whether criminal or civil action was warranted.
The New York Times reported that its account drew on 12 sources, text messages and documents.
The Times said the alleged effort was internally called the “ballot composition project” and aimed to recruit a candidate who might draw votes from Sen. Dan Sullivan.
Peltola’s campaign committee said it had no involvement with either Sullivan campaign.
The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee said it was not involved with Dan J. Sullivan.
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U.S. home listing prices fell year over year in September, with Austin posting the largest decline among the 10 metro areas listed by Realtor.com. The article links falling prices to higher inventory and weaker buyer demand, while noting that affordability remains a barrier for many buyers.
Key Facts
Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos had the steepest decline: listing prices fell 9.8% to $446,450 from a year earlier.
The national median listing price fell 1.4% year over year to $419,250, marking 11 consecutive months of declines.
The other metro areas in the top 10 were Memphis, Tampa, San Diego, Los Angeles, Denver, Phoenix, St. Louis, Washington, and Providence.
Memphis had the second-largest decline at 8.7%, followed by Tampa at 6.6%.
Austin's median listing price remained below its July 2022 peak of $598,000.
Austin active listings were up 1.4% year over year in September, and new listings were up 2.1%.
The article attributes price declines to expanded housing supply, weaker demand, and affordability challenges.
Despite price drops, median listing prices were $888,450 in San Diego and just over $1 million in Los Angeles.
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A Guardian review found that claims tying Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed to the Muslim Brotherhood misrepresent an open letter he signed in 2012. The letter called on Egypt’s then-president Mohamed Morsi to advance the revolution’s goals, but did not mention the Muslim Brotherhood; Republican candidate Mike Rogers and other Trump allies have repeated the false claim during the campaign.
Key Facts
Laura Loomer has claimed since 2018 that El-Sayed’s 2012 letter endorsed the Muslim Brotherhood.
The letter was signed by prominent Egyptian Americans and called on Morsi to defend democracy and pursue the revolution’s goals.
Egyptian journalist Hossam el-Hamalawy told the Guardian that the letter does not mention the Muslim Brotherhood.
The letter urged the removal of officials loyal to the former regime from state institutions, particularly the police and state media.
Mike Rogers began making the claim against El-Sayed in August and repeated it during a Senate debate and in a campaign advertisement.
Rogers’s advertisement linked El-Sayed to Hamas militants and called his ideology a national security threat.
Donald Trump, Ted Cruz and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. have also made remarks about El-Sayed that amplified the allegation.
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The Federal Trade Commission ordered nine companies to provide information about how they set consumer prices and, for some gig-work services, worker pay. The inquiry is an information-gathering study, not a finding that the companies violated the law.
Key Facts
The companies named are Delta Air Lines, United Airlines, JetBlue, Lyft, Uber, DoorDash, Instacart, Target and Walmart.
The FTC is examining whether personal data or other factors, including loyalty-program participation, affect prices for the same product or service.
For ride-share and delivery companies, the inquiry also covers how they calculate worker compensation.
The FTC requested records on the inputs, tools and procedures used to set or adjust prices and pay.
Each company has 45 days from receiving its order to respond; the FTC says it can seek a court order to compel compliance.
The FTC issued the orders under Section 6(b) of the FTC Act, which permits broad studies without a specific law-enforcement purpose.
In a separate test, Consumer Reports and partner groups analyzed 193 submissions from volunteers who shopped for identical Instacart baskets at the same time.
That test found about three-quarters of the grocery items appeared at multiple prices, with basket totals varying by an average of about 7 percent.
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King Charles joined a Junkanoo street parade during a visit to the Bahamas ahead of next week’s Commonwealth summit in Antigua and Barbuda. Caribbean leaders are expected to press for reparations related to colonialism and slavery at the summit.
Key Facts
King Charles visited the Bahamas.
He joined a Junkanoo street parade during the visit.
The visit took place ahead of a Commonwealth summit next week.
Antigua and Barbuda will host the summit.
Caribbean leaders are expected to call for reparations related to colonialism and slavery.
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A veteran Drug Enforcement Administration agent alleges the agency allowed fentanyl to reach New Mexico streets to build larger cases against drug networks. He says he warned managers that the tactic put lives at risk, but they did not listen.
Key Facts
The whistleblower is a veteran DEA agent.
He alleges the DEA used a tactic that allowed fentanyl to reach the streets.
He says the tactic aimed to build larger drug cases.
The allegations concern the agency's actions in New Mexico amid a growing fentanyl crisis.
The agent says he warned agency managers about the risks.
He says managers did not listen to his warnings.
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Families of victims of Seoul’s 2022 Itaewon crowd crush have asked Activision to remove footage of rescue efforts used in the opening of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4. Activision confirmed it used real news footage, said it did not intend to reference or trivialize the disaster, and did not comment on the request to edit the scene.
Key Facts
Almost 160 people died in the Itaewon crowd crush in Seoul in 2022.
The crush happened during Halloween celebrations in a nightlife district where more than 100,000 people had gathered.
The game’s opening uses footage of rescue efforts from the disaster to depict the aftermath of a fictional North Korean attack.
Families of victims described the use of the footage as inappropriate and senseless, and called for Activision to take corrective action.
Activision said the game’s opening uses real-world news coverage to establish its fictional story.
Modern Warfare 4 depicts a fictional war between North and South Korea and was released the week before the article was published.
North and South Korea stopped fighting in 1953 but never signed a peace treaty.
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Emails obtained through a public records request appear to show Hennepin County employees gathering information about activists seeking to close Minneapolis’s Hennepin Energy Recovery Center (HERC). Advocacy groups say officials shared some information with industry and used it to counter campaigns; the county says the claims mischaracterize its community engagement work.
Key Facts
The Zero Burn Coalition, Minnesota Environmental Justice Table, and other groups obtained emails through a Freedom of Information Act request and published some in a report.
The report alleges that county employees collected information about activists, developed reports on environmental justice leaders, and tried to learn a whistleblower’s identity.
The emails show information being shared among county environmental officials, and the report says some information was sent to industry, including the incinerator’s owner.
Joe Vital, Hennepin County’s environmental engagement coordinator, was hired in 2021 and is identified in the report as central to the alleged information-gathering effort.
The report says Vital attended a June 2023 activist meeting about closing HERC and prepared a dossier.
HERC in north Minneapolis incinerates about 365,000 tons of trash each year.
The article says waste incinerators can release PFAS, chemicals that are not fully destroyed during incineration, as well as other pollutants.
Hennepin County said its staff attend public meetings and use social media to listen, share information, and understand differing views.
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Kenneth Roth argues that President Donald Trump is blaming Ukraine’s attacks on Russian oil facilities for U.S. fuel-price increases while taking steps that weaken support for Ukraine. The article says Trump has eased restrictions on Russian fuel and sanctions, paused some military support, and called for an energy ceasefire that Roth describes as applying mainly to Ukraine.
Key Facts
The article links higher U.S. fuel prices chiefly to reduced oil and gas shipments through the Strait of Hormuz, following the U.S. war against Iran.
Ukrainian forces have attacked Russian oil refineries, disrupting oil production and contributing to fuel shortages in Russia, according to the article.
The article says Russia has intensified attacks on Ukrainian cities and energy infrastructure ahead of winter.
Roth says Trump authorized purchases of Russian diesel fuel and waived new sanctions on Russia.
The article says the Trump administration suspended deliveries of defensive missiles and early-warning intelligence to Ukraine.
The article reports that the administration approved a decision to slow Starshield service used by Ukraine’s military.
Trump called for an energy ceasefire; Roth says the proposal focused on stopping Ukrainian attacks on Russian refineries rather than Russian attacks on Ukrainian energy infrastructure.
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The article argues that President Donald Trump has reduced Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s role in U.S. diplomacy. It describes Trump’s approach as personalized, transactional, overbearing and opaque.
Key Facts
The article focuses on President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
The article says Trump has undercut the secretary of state’s role.
The article says Trump has reshaped U.S. diplomacy in his own image.
It characterizes Trump’s diplomatic approach as personalized.
It characterizes the approach as transactional.
It characterizes the approach as overbearing and opaque.
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President Donald Trump and former President Barack Obama held campaign rallies in Ohio and Georgia on Wednesday, supporting candidates in closely watched races ahead of the midterms. News reports estimated about 2,500 people attended Trump’s rally and 3,500 to 4,000 attended Obama’s, but neither campaign released an official attendance figure.
Key Facts
Trump spoke at Ohio University's Shoemaker Center in Chillicothe, Ohio.
Trump campaigned for gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy and incumbent Senator Jon Husted.
WBNS 10TV reported an estimated 2,500 attendees at Trump's rally.
Obama spoke at The Arena at Southlake, south of Atlanta, Georgia.
Obama campaigned for Senator Jon Ossoff and former Atlanta mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, who is running for governor.
The Guardian reported an estimated 3,500 to 4,000 attendees at Obama's rally.
The Arena at Southlake has seating for more than 8,000, but includes multiple facilities under one roof.
No official attendance figures were released for either rally.
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