Australian lawmakers and legal experts have warned that changing copyright rules to let AI companies use protected material could raise constitutional questions and lead to compensation claims. No proposal has been released, and the potential legal consequences would depend on how any law is drafted.
Key Facts
Australia is considering AI-related reforms that may include changes to copyright law.
Some AI companies have sought weaker copyright rules to use Australian material to train their systems.
Anthropic has proposed an opt-out approach, under which content could be used unless rights holders take steps to block it.
Nationals senator Ross Cadell said such a model could raise a question under the Constitution’s requirement for property acquisitions to occur on just terms.
University of Sydney legal expert Anne Twomey said the issue is complex and that a change reducing copyright holders’ rights could potentially raise constitutional concerns.
Twomey said global rights holders might have grounds to take legal action in Australia if rules allowed AI training on international data.
The attorney general’s department said it was closely aware of the issue, while the government pledged meaningful control and fair compensation for creatives.
The government has not released a legislative proposal, and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has said creatives should be protected and paid for their work.
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Domestic abuse charities praised actor Patrick Stewart for speaking publicly about witnessing his father abuse his mother and for supporting efforts to raise awareness of domestic abuse. Stewart worked with Amnesty International and Refuge, and campaigners said his advocacy helped survivors speak out and contributed to recognizing children as victims in their own right under the Domestic Abuse Act 2021.
Key Facts
Stewart first shared his childhood experience publicly in 2004 through an Amnesty International campaign against violence toward women.
He described how relatives, police, doctors and neighbors excused or concealed his father’s violence by blaming his mother.
Stewart became an ambassador for the charity Refuge in 2007 and continued the role for the rest of his life.
His work with Refuge included fundraising, attending events and contributing his experience to policy discussions.
The Domestic Abuse Act 2021 recognized children as victims of domestic abuse in their own right.
Amnesty International UK chief executive Kerry Moscogiuri said Stewart’s openness encouraged survivors around the world.
Refuge chair Hetti Barkworth-Nanton said Stewart raised awareness of domestic abuse’s lasting effects on children.
The article reports that recent government figures showed nearly one in 10 adults in England and Wales experienced domestic abuse in the previous year.
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Burbank, California, has become a Halloween destination, with residents turning their yards into free haunted attractions for visitors. Some displays run for weeks and use elaborate sets, lights, animatronics and costumed performers.
Key Facts
Diego Linares stages a haunted yard show for 42 nights, from September 19 through Halloween.
Linares’s display includes a cabin, a haunted tunnel, props and a costumed performer with a fake axe.
About 500 people visited Linares’s home on a relatively quiet work night before Halloween.
Linares and his family provide the experience for free; some local displays accept donations.
Residents Al Ritch points visitors toward nearby displays known as Pirates of Burbank and The Pumpkin Cemetery.
Burbank has about 100,000 residents and draws visitors, including international tourists, to its Halloween displays.
Home-haunt fans across the United States gather at annual conventions on the East and West coasts.
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President Donald Trump changed plans for rallies in Kansas and Iowa, shifting to virtual events. The article says the change comes days before the midterm elections but gives no further details about the events or the reason for the change.
Key Facts
Trump changed plans for rallies in Kansas and Iowa.
He will hold virtual events instead.
The change comes days before the midterm elections.
CBS News correspondent Weijia Jiang reported on the change.
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The article argues that progressives should explain what home-based childcare could look like. It says that voices currently advocating for at-home care favor pronatalist policies and traditional gender roles.
Key Facts
The article focuses on home-based childcare.
It calls on progressives to present a vision for this type of care.
The author says current advocates for at-home care are pronatalist, meaning they support policies aimed at increasing birth rates.
The author characterizes those advocates as favoring traditional gender hierarchies.
The article says those advocates seek population growth at all costs.
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General Motors agreed to pay $220 million to settle claims brought by the District of Columbia and 35 states over sharing data from its Smart Driver program. The settlement follows a separate Federal Trade Commission agreement that restricts GM and OnStar from sharing certain driver data for five years; a third party will assess GM’s compliance with the states’ settlement.
Key Facts
GM marketed Smart Driver as a tool to help parents monitor teen drivers and adults track their driving.
GM shared Smart Driver data with brokers, who sold it to insurance companies.
Some drivers said their insurance costs rose after the data was shared, and that they had not agreed to the sharing.
GM and its OnStar subsidiary reached a settlement with the Federal Trade Commission that was finalized in January.
The FTC agreement bars GM and OnStar from sharing geolocation and driver behavior data with third parties for five years.
GM discontinued Smart Driver across its vehicle range.
The District of Columbia and 35 states sued GM, and the settlement requires a third party to assess compliance with its privacy policy.
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Former 60 Minutes correspondent Cecilia Vega said she still does not know why CBS News fired her during a spring overhaul and said it hurts to watch the program’s changes and declining ratings. She repeated her allegation that newsroom managers asked her to include information she considered factually untrue, while CBS News has denied her claims of political bias.
Key Facts
CBS News fired Vega in May as part of an overhaul led by editor-in-chief Bari Weiss, who hired Nick Bilton as executive producer.
Vega said her contract was set to run through March 2027 and that CBS gave her no reason for her dismissal.
CBS also fired executive producer Tanya Simon and several producers, parted ways with Scott Pelley for cause, and did not renew Sharyn Alfonsi’s contract.
Vega said managers asked her to put information she considered factually untrue into a story, but she said she could not identify their motive.
CBS News said Vega’s claims were not based in reality and denied her allegations of political bias.
The previous season averaged 9.1 million viewers, up 9% from the season before; a recent episode drew 5.64 million viewers.
Weiss said at an industry conference that ratings were not her focus and that she was focused on building the network.
Vega joined 60 Minutes in 2023 after working at ABC News and was the program’s first Latina correspondent.
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A France 24 program examines how women voters may influence the upcoming U.S. midterm elections, which will affect the balance of power in Washington during President Donald Trump’s final two years in office. Host Annette Young interviews New York Times congressional correspondent Annie Karni and Kelly Dittmar, research director at the Center for American Women and Politics.
Key Facts
The program focuses on the role of women voters in the U.S. midterms.
The midterms will shape the balance of power in Washington.
President Donald Trump is in the final two years of his term.
Annette Young hosts the discussion.
Guests include Annie Karni, a congressional correspondent for The New York Times.
Kelly Dittmar is the research director at the Center for American Women and Politics.
France 24 issued the program on October 30, 2026.
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Hackers stole about $6.3 billion in cryptocurrency from transaction-processing wallets at Binance, making it the largest digital-asset theft described in the report. Binance said it would cover losses, while issuers froze roughly half the stolen assets; U.S. blockchain analysts said the attack resembled operations linked to North Korean hackers, but Binance had not identified the attackers.
Key Facts
The stolen cryptocurrency was drained from wallets Binance uses to process transactions.
Blockchain records show most of the theft happened in about 20 minutes, starting shortly after 20:00 GMT on Thursday.
TRM Labs said the attackers compromised Binance’s transaction-signing infrastructure, which authorizes transactions.
Binance co-CEO Richard Teng said the exchange would use its $1 billion secure asset fund and company resources to cover losses.
Issuers including Tether, Circle, Ripple and World Liberty Financial froze roughly half of the stolen assets.
TRM Labs estimated that about $2.4 billion in bitcoin and ether was beyond reach; those cryptocurrencies cannot be frozen by an issuer.
Several U.S. blockchain analysis firms said the breach had similarities to attacks attributed to North Korean hackers, but Binance had not identified the attackers.
Chainalysis said funds from a separate attack on Bitget were being mixed with proceeds from the Binance breach.
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The Vatican said Pope Leo XIV, an American citizen born in Chicago, cast a mail-in ballot ahead of the November midterm elections. The pope has said citizens have a right and duty to take part in democratic processes.
Key Facts
The Vatican confirmed that Leo submitted a mail-in ballot in his native Chicago.
The Will County clerk’s office said Leo, registered at a New Lenox address, requested a mail-in ballot on Oct. 3.
Illinois election records show Leo voted in five primary elections since 2000: he requested Democratic ballots twice and Republican ballots three times.
The records show that Leo submitted a ballot in every general election since 2000 except 2020 and 2022.
The records do not show which candidates Leo supported.
In Illinois primary elections, voters declare a party preference to receive that party’s ballot; general-election voters do not have to declare a party preference.
The pope is recovering from surgery for lung cancer and plans to travel to South America next month.
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Christa Pike said she is recovering after what the article describes as a botched execution. In a statement released by her attorneys on Friday, she described physical and emotional pain and said she still struggles to speak.
Key Facts
Pike said her body, arms, hands and throat hurt.
She said she still struggles to speak.
Pike described pain in her mind and soul as well as physical pain.
Her attorneys released the statement on Friday.
Pike dictated the message to her legal team, according to the statement.
The article identifies Pike as a death-row prisoner and describes the execution as botched.
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Binance said a hack caused an estimated $6.3 billion in losses and suspended withdrawals. The company says it has reserved funds to cover the losses, while investigators and blockchain analysts examine the breach and the movement of stolen assets.
Key Facts
Binance estimated the hack’s total impact at about $6.3 billion.
The company said about $3 billion in affected assets, mainly stablecoins, had been frozen.
Elliptic analysts said the attacker converted about $3.3 billion into digital assets that could not be frozen and was seeking to cash them out.
Binance said an initial investigation pointed to a compromised engineer’s laptop and that further investigation found additional breach points.
TRM Labs linked the theft to TraderTraitor, a North Korean hacking unit; Binance said it was working with law enforcement.
Binance said it had reserved more than $6.34 billion to cover the incident, including $5 billion held in the affected token assets.
Bitcoin fell about 4 percent after news of the hack emerged, then recovered to trade above $78,000.
Binance was founded in 2017 and pleaded guilty to U.S. criminal charges related to anti-money-laundering violations in 2023, paying a $4.3 billion fine.
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Mary Peltola, the Democratic candidate for Alaska’s U.S. Senate seat, said she knew nothing about efforts to recruit a second candidate named Dan Sullivan. The allegations have prompted a Justice Department investigation and legal action, but no charges have been filed, and the reporting about the alleged plan has not been independently verified by the BBC.
Key Facts
The incumbent Republican senator, Dan S. Sullivan, is seeking re-election.
A second candidate, retired teacher Dan J. Sullivan, is also running for the Senate seat.
The New York Times reported that people connected to Peltola’s campaign and senior Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee aides tried to recruit Dan J. Sullivan.
Peltola’s campaign and Dan J. Sullivan have denied links to the alleged effort.
The Justice Department has issued subpoenas to Democratic officials allegedly connected to the recruitment effort, according to CBS News.
The Justice Department has filed a federal lawsuit seeking to block certification of the result if Dan S. Sullivan loses, arguing that the two candidates could confuse voters.
Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy ordered an official inquiry into the matter.
The nonpartisan Cook Political Report classifies the race as a toss-up.
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Democratic Senate candidate Mary Peltola denied knowing about an effort to recruit a second candidate named Dan Sullivan in Alaska’s Senate race. The Justice Department has issued new grand jury subpoenas as it investigates whether the other candidate was recruited to confuse voters; the investigation’s targets and the subpoena recipients remain unclear.
Key Facts
Peltola is running against Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan.
The Justice Department has investigated allegations for months that Dan J. Sullivan Jr. entered the race to draw votes away from the incumbent, Dan S. Sullivan.
A person familiar with the investigation said subpoenas and records-preservation demands were issued after a New York Times report about Peltola’s campaign.
Dan J. Sullivan Jr. has denied running at Democrats’ request and said he had no contact with Peltola’s campaign.
President Donald Trump called for Peltola and her campaign to face criminal prosecution and questioned whether she could be seated if she won.
Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy ordered a separate investigation into Peltola.
State attorneys asked a court to rule by Monday on the Justice Department’s lawsuit seeking to block certification of the Senate race.
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Kansas Sen. Roger Marshall defended President Donald Trump’s decision to cancel a rally in Kansas. Marshall told reporters Thursday that he was doing well in the polls and that Trump likely had better places to spend his time.
Key Facts
Roger Marshall is a Republican senator from Kansas.
Trump canceled a planned rally in Kansas.
Marshall defended Trump’s decision to cancel the rally.
Marshall said he was doing well in the polls.
Marshall said Trump probably had better places to spend his time.
Marshall made the comments to reporters on Thursday.
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Tennessee death-row inmate Christa Pike said she remains in physical and emotional pain after surviving a failed lethal-injection execution in September. The 50-year-old was released from hospital last month and returned to prison, where she is serving a sentence for the 1995 murder of Colleen Slemmer.
Key Facts
Pike released her first public statement about the failed execution on Friday.
She said she has ongoing pain in her arms, hands and throat and still struggles to speak.
Pike survived two injections of the drug pentobarbital and was left in critical condition.
Her lawyers said she developed pneumonia, had significant swelling in her arms and could not swallow.
Pike was discharged from hospital at the end of September and returned to prison.
Pike was 18 when she and her boyfriend, Tadaryl Shipp, killed 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer in 1995.
Shipp avoided the death penalty because he was not legally an adult at the time of the crime and remains in prison.
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Three people died when two helicopters collided near McMinnville Municipal Airport in Oregon on Thursday. The National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration are investigating the cause.
Key Facts
The Yamhill County Sheriff’s Office received reports of the crash at about 2:10 p.m. local time.
The helicopters crashed in a private farm field southeast of McMinnville.
Two people were aboard a Robinson R22 helicopter, and one was aboard an Airbus helicopter.
The victims included a British student pilot, Texas flight instructor Maddie Aasbo, 22, and pilot Tyler Sturdevant, 38, of Newberg, Oregon.
Authorities said they were working with the British consulate and the FBI to notify the student pilot’s family.
The NTSB will lead the investigation, with the FAA also investigating.
McMinnville aviation school Jerry Trimble Helicopters said one of its aircraft was involved and that it was cooperating with authorities.
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In this opinion article, Glen Dunzweiler argues that road safety rules should place more responsibility on people operating vehicles that can cause greater harm. He says driver attention and safety technology matter, but automated systems should support rather than replace attentive driving.
Key Facts
The author says distracted drivers hit him six times while he was riding a motorcycle.
He argues that mistakes by drivers, pedestrians, and cyclists can have unequal consequences because vehicles can cause severe injuries or death.
The article cites Insurance Institute for Highway Safety research showing that pedestrians and cyclists struck by SUVs and pickups face greater injury or death risks than those struck by cars.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration identifies phones and in-vehicle systems as possible driving distractions.
The article says modern vehicles may use automatic emergency braking, lane-assistance systems, cameras, and other driver-assistance technology.
It raises questions about how responsibility should be divided when an autonomous vehicle hits someone.
The article cites Environmental Protection Agency data showing that the average footprint of new vehicles has grown as the market has shifted toward larger vehicles.
The author proposes safer intersections, meaningful public transportation alternatives, and a road culture that accounts for vulnerable users.
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Christa Pike said she remains in physical and emotional pain one month after Tennessee’s attempted execution was halted. She was hospitalized after receiving two doses of pentobarbital on September 30 and later returned to the women’s prison where she has been held for 30 years.
Key Facts
Pike is 50 years old.
Tennessee attempted to execute Pike by lethal injection on September 30.
Pike received two doses of pentobarbital during the execution attempt.
She was hospitalized after the attempt and later discharged.
Pike was returned to the Debra K. Johnson Rehabilitation Center.
Pike said she continues to experience pain in her body, arm, hands, and throat, and struggles to speak.
Pike was convicted in the 1995 murder of her classmate, Colleen Slemmer.
Pike said she thinks about Slemmer’s family and the loss they endured.
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