One person was killed and six were injured in a shooting at a Spirit Halloween store inside Solano Town Center in Fairfield, California, police said. Detectives were investigating and seeking information from witnesses as of early Saturday; police had not released the victims’ identities or identified a suspect.
Key Facts
Fairfield police responded at about 8:30 p.m. Friday.
Police found seven people with gunshot wounds; one later died.
The six surviving victims were taken to local hospitals.
At least three of the injured victims were in critical condition, police said.
The shooting scene remained active while detectives spoke with witnesses.
Fairfield Police Chief Dan Marshall said investigators hoped to obtain footage from mall cameras.
Police asked anyone with information to contact the Fairfield Police Department.
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France prepared for a third consecutive weekend of protests on Saturday, which coincided with Halloween. Shops boarded up their storefronts as authorities sought to prevent a repeat of street violence reported two weeks earlier.
Key Facts
Protests were expected across France on Saturday, October 31, 2026.
The demonstrations coincided with Halloween.
This was the third weekend of protests.
Some shops boarded up their storefronts ahead of the protests.
Authorities worked to prevent a recurrence of street violence from two weeks earlier.
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The United States, South Korea and Japan reaffirmed their call for North Korea’s complete denuclearisation at a meeting on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Atlanta. Their foreign ministers also pledged to fully implement UN Security Council resolutions restricting support for North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs, while Pyongyang has continued to reject giving up its arsenal.
Key Facts
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Hyun and Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi met on the sidelines of the G20 summit.
The three ministers said they were committed to the complete denuclearisation of North Korea.
They pledged full implementation of UN Security Council resolutions, including measures against revenue support for North Korea’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs.
President Donald Trump has expressed interest in meeting North Korean leader Kim Jong Un again.
The article says speculation has grown that Trump and Kim could meet at next month’s APEC summit in China.
South Korean President Lee Jae Myung has suggested pursuing a freeze of North Korea’s nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief.
North Korea has declared its nuclear arsenal permanent and irreversible, and says sanctions will not change its status as a nuclear weapons state.
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Cheshire Police told the family of Lucy Harrison, a 23-year-old British woman shot dead in Texas, that it has no lawful authority to intervene in decisions by U.S. authorities. A Texas grand jury declined to indict her father, while a British coroner ruled her death an unlawful killing; the family is asking police in the UK to examine evidence they say has not been properly investigated.
Key Facts
Harrison was shot in the chest on 10 January 2025 at her father's home in Prosper, Texas.
A Collin County grand jury declined to indict her father, Kris Harrison, after he said the handgun discharged accidentally.
A coroner in England ruled that Lucy Harrison was unlawfully killed and said her father's actions amounted to gross negligence manslaughter under UK law.
Texas police have said they will not reopen the investigation.
Cheshire Police said legal, jurisdictional and practical limits restrict its ability to investigate a death in the United States.
The force assigned a senior investigating officer, appointed a family liaison officer and sought information from U.S. law enforcement agencies.
Harrison's mother, Jane Coates, asked Cheshire Police to gather local evidence and liaise with U.S. authorities.
The family's lawyer said a recent download from Harrison's phone contained information they believe is relevant to the circumstances before her death.
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John Crace’s satirical article imagines a newspaper called the Reformer, edited by Nigel Farage, and uses fake stories and interviews to mock anti-immigrant rhetoric. The piece exaggerates claims about immigration, farming, welfare and scams, and portrays Farage as the paper’s editor and subject of self-promotional coverage.
Key Facts
The article presents the Reformer as a fictional newspaper that promises to expose stories supposedly ignored by mainstream media.
A mock editorial message from Farage frames immigration as a source of danger and grievance.
A fake farming report blames migrants for a failed summer harvest and dismisses climate change as a hoax.
A fabricated story about two families uses a neighbour dispute to satirize claims that foreigners increase welfare costs.
A mock consumer advice item links Nigerian identity with scams and makes a sarcastic reference to Kemi Badenoch.
The article includes a self-interview in which Farage is both the interviewer and the interview subject.
The article uses irony and exaggeration to criticize Farage and anti-immigrant political messaging.
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Avanti West Coast paid more than £20 million in passenger compensation over three months this summer, including £9.3 million in the four weeks to 25 July and another £12.2 million in the next eight weeks. Britain’s rail compensation payments have risen, with official figures showing £150 million paid across operators in 2024–25 and Avanti accounting for £40.5 million.
Key Facts
Avanti paid more than £50 million in delay compensation in 2025–26 and is expected to pay more than £70 million in the current financial year.
Avanti’s £40.5 million in compensation made up about 27% of the £150 million paid by rail operators in 2024–25.
Rail compensation payments in 2024–25 increased 8% from the previous year.
Fewer than half of Avanti’s trains ran on time in July, and delayed passengers waited an average of 19 minutes.
Avanti and Great Western Railway offer compensation for delays of 15 minutes or more, including refunds of 25% of the fare.
Great Western Railway paid £29.7 million in compensation in 2025, while LNER paid £28 million.
Passengers filed 9.1 million rail compensation claims across Great Britain in 2026, almost 10% more than a year earlier; 80% were approved.
Avanti said it was directly responsible for 23% of its delays from May to August, while Network Rail, other operators, and external factors caused most of the rest.
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Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s relationship became public on October 30, 2016, after they had dated privately for several months. Harry later described the ensuing media coverage as an “apocalypse,” and the couple’s press conflict became a recurring part of their story.
Key Facts
The couple began dating in July 2016 and kept their relationship private for months.
The Sunday Express revealed the relationship on its front page on October 30, 2016.
Harry wrote in his memoir, Spare, that the news was about to break as the couple prepared to attend a Halloween party in Toronto.
Harry asked Kensington Palace spokesperson Jason Knauf to issue a public statement criticizing the media; Knauf issued it on November 8.
The article says a Daily Mail comment piece used the phrase “exotic DNA” about hypothetical children of the couple, and its author later apologized.
The Sun published a headline about Meghan and Pornhub and later apologized, according to the article.
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Three days before Election Day, national polls show Democrats leading in the congressional vote, while early voting has exceeded 43 million ballots. President Donald Trump restored planned rallies in Kansas and Iowa after briefly canceling them; early turnout figures do not show which candidates voters chose or predict the final results.
Key Facts
RealClearPolling’s national congressional ballot average puts Democrats ahead of Republicans by 51.4% to 43.2%, an 8.2-point lead.
An Economist/YouGov survey found 44% of registered voters expected Democrats to control the House, while 31% expected Republicans to retain it.
The same survey found 39% expected Democrats to control the Senate and 36% expected Republicans to do so.
More than 43 million Americans had voted early in person or returned mail ballots five days before Election Day, nearly 10 million more than at the same point in 2022.
Texas had recorded more than 6.3 million early votes by Wednesday, up from 4.2 million at the same point in 2022.
Georgia had recorded more than 2.5 million ballots by Friday morning, exceeding the 2.3 million cast during the state’s early voting period in 2022.
Early voting increased by more than 30% from the same period in 2022 in Maine, Michigan, North Carolina and Kansas, according to an Associated Press analysis.
Trump restored two weekend campaign rallies in Kansas and Iowa, and the White House said they would take place on Sunday.
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Flavio Bolsonaro said he fled Brazil for the United States because he faced persecution. He said Brazilian police told him his passports were being revoked as part of a money-laundering investigation, but he gave no details about how he left the country. Brazil summoned Argentina’s representative after Bolsonaro traveled through Argentina on his way to Florida.
Key Facts
Bolsonaro lost Brazil’s presidential runoff to Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva on Sunday, according to the article.
He said he and his wife secretly decided to leave Brazil and arrived in Florida on Wednesday.
Bolsonaro said police informed him that his passports were being revoked as part of a money-laundering investigation.
He alleged that Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes made false accusations against him.
Bolsonaro suggested there were irregularities in the election but provided no details or evidence in the account.
Brazil’s foreign ministry asked Argentina for an explanation after Bolsonaro passed through the country.
Argentine President Javier Milei backed Bolsonaro in the election and had not acknowledged Lula’s victory, the article reported.
Bolsonaro’s father, former president Jair Bolsonaro, is under house arrest and is serving a 27-year sentence for attempting a coup, according to the article.
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Protests across India oppose a voter-roll revision that has removed about 130 million names and require voters to provide documents proving eligibility. The article links the revision’s documentation rules to earlier Muslim-led protests against India’s citizenship law and warns that the current opposition movement has not challenged that law’s religious distinctions.
Key Facts
Opposition parties, students and farmers are protesting the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls and demanding restoration of the previous lists and the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.
The revision requires voters to prove eligibility, often with older documents, and has removed about 130 million names, according to the article.
The Election Commission ordered the revision in Bihar on June 24, 2025, and cited the inclusion of names of undocumented foreign immigrants as one reason.
The article says the rules require different documents based on whether a person was born before July 1, 1987, between that date and December 2, 2004, or after the later date.
The article reports that the Election Commission’s lawyer told the Supreme Court the revision verifies citizenship under a 2003 amendment.
India’s Parliament passed the Citizenship Amendment Act in December 2019; it provides an expedited path to citizenship for persecuted members of six religious communities from three neighboring Muslim-majority countries, but not Muslims.
Muslim women held a sit-in at Shaheen Bagh in 2019 to protest the citizenship law and concerns about a proposed National Register of Citizens.
The article says Home Minister Amit Shah described the voter-roll revision in Parliament as a way to detect, delete and deport infiltrators.
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A severe weather front is forecast to bring thunderstorms, heavy rain and damaging winds to parts of south-eastern Australia on Saturday and Sunday. The Bureau of Meteorology warned that storms could cause flash flooding, large hail and wind gusts above 125 km/h in some areas.
Key Facts
Storms were forecast for Melbourne and parts of Victoria on Saturday, with damaging winds identified as the main risk.
The weather front was expected to move through Canberra and inland New South Wales before reaching the east coast.
Forecast risks included heavy rain, large hail and damaging winds in parts of New South Wales and southern Queensland.
The Bureau of Meteorology warned of possible flash flooding, especially in areas that had received significant rain in the previous fortnight.
Severe thunderstorms were considered most likely on Sunday in parts of the NSW mid-north coast, northern rivers, tablelands and Hunter region.
Brisbane was forecast to have heavy rain and storms on Sunday afternoon and early evening.
A severe wind warning covered mountain areas of northern Victoria and southern New South Wales; gusts above 100 km/h were recorded Saturday morning.
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The article argues that conflicts across the Middle East and elsewhere are increasingly connected, making crises harder to contain. It cites U.S. envoy Tom Barrack’s comments about the regional effects of the Iran war and international relations scholar Charles Kupchan’s view that wider shifts in global power and technology are driving instability.
Key Facts
Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said that war in one place threatens peace elsewhere.
Tom Barrack said the war on Iran launched by the United States and Israel in late February had produced unexpected consequences.
Barrack said U.S. actions related to Iran had ramifications involving Hamas, Hezbollah, Iranian militias, the Houthis, and North Africa.
Barrack said past efforts to change governments across the Middle East and Levant had not worked, citing Iraq, Libya, and Afghanistan.
International relations scholar Charles Kupchan says global power is spreading across more countries, intensifying competition among major powers.
Kupchan also says digital-era changes are disrupting economies and societies, affecting politics within countries and relations between them.
The article presents Trump as both a reflection of broader global trends and a source of disruption.
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Protesters and advocacy groups plan to make reparations for slavery a prominent issue during the Commonwealth leaders’ summit in Antigua. UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham has offered structured dialogue and said he is open to hearing calls for a formal apology, while campaigners continue to demand reparatory justice.
Key Facts
King Charles and UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham are due to attend the Commonwealth leaders’ summit in Antigua.
Demonstrations, a candlelight vigil and other events are planned around the summit to remember enslaved people and call for reparations.
James Knight of Citizens for Reparatory Justice said protests were necessary after the British government and King Charles announced there would be no apology or reparations.
Burnham wrote that the UK would offer structured dialogue with people affected by the transatlantic slave trade.
Burnham said listening to calls for a formal apology on behalf of the British state would be part of the process and that he was open to those calls.
The Commonwealth has 56 member countries, and reparations are not listed as a dedicated official summit event.
Caribbean Community reparations commission chair Hilary Beckles described the meeting as the “Chogm of reparations” and said reparatory justice was a leading Caribbean concern.
Reparations groups and organizations are expected to meet outside the main summit, while Caribbean leaders are expected to raise the issue in closed-door meetings.
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Coutts found that 80% of homes in prime central London sold below their asking price, at an average discount of 10%. Prices fell 5% in the third quarter of 2026 and stood 14% below their 2014 peak, while listings and sales also declined.
Key Facts
Coutts reported that prices in prime central London fell 5% in the third quarter of 2026.
Prices across the area were 14% below their 2014 peak.
Knightsbridge and Belgravia were among the hardest-hit areas, with prices 30.8% and 26.9% below their peaks, respectively.
New listings fell 14% from the previous quarter, and available properties declined 6% year over year.
Transactions fell 9.1% in the third quarter; sales in the £2 million to £5 million range dropped 22.3%.
Savills counted 26 London home sales above £10 million in the third quarter, bringing the annual total to 127.
Savills said those sales were worth a combined £2.88 billion over the past year.
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UK ministers are considering tighter rules on consumer fireworks after a government consultation on noise and safety. Proposals include limiting sales of louder fireworks and lowering the maximum noise level, while stopping short of a full ban on public purchases.
Key Facts
Two petitions about fireworks gathered more than 180,000 signatures each.
A government consultation on proposed fireworks rules closed earlier this month.
The proposals include expanding the types of fireworks barred from general sale.
Ministers are considering lowering the permitted noise level for consumer fireworks from 120 decibels to 110 decibels.
Animal welfare groups and the National Farmers’ Union support tighter controls, citing distress to animals and fire risks.
The British Fireworks Association warns that restrictions could drive buyers toward unregulated fireworks.
The government says it will change regulations after reviewing consultation feedback, subject to parliamentary time, and allow a six-month transition period.
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France deployed about 70,000 security personnel for a third weekend of protests on Saturday, October 31, amid warnings of a high risk of unrest. Authorities said they wanted to prevent a repeat of violence reported on October 17, while some businesses boarded up their storefronts ahead of the demonstrations.
Key Facts
The protests are linked to anger over living costs, public services and President Emmanuel Macron's government.
Interior Minister Laurent Nunez warned of a very high risk of unrest and promised a firm response to trouble.
About 70,000 security personnel were deployed, matching the number mobilized a week earlier.
Authorities were concerned that people might use Halloween masks to hide their identities.
Some shops and other businesses boarded up their storefronts before the protests.
France's chamber of commerce president said business owners were worried about the demonstrations.
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Families of fighters killed in Yemen’s renewed fighting face lasting grief and greater financial strain after public funeral tributes end. One Sanaa family said it lost a key source of income, while food and financial aid from Houthi authorities was irregular; rising fuel prices have also added pressure on households.
Key Facts
Akram, a 23-year-old Sanaa resident, said his 21-year-old brother Abdulaziz was killed in Dhubab on October 10, two months after joining the Houthi group.
Before Abdulaziz went to the front, the brothers pooled their daily-wage earnings to support their six-member family.
Akram said his brother’s death made it harder to pay for food, water and electricity.
The article reported that petrol and diesel prices in Houthi-controlled northwestern Yemen rose by 10 percent over the preceding few days.
The World Food Programme’s Matthew Hollingworth warned that the escalation threatened food security and could deepen hunger.
Yemen’s government said its forces killed or wounded 1,540 Houthis in 24 hours earlier in the month, and said 16,100 Houthi operatives and commanders had been killed or wounded since October 5.
An October 19 Houthi missile attack on a security camp in Shabwa killed more than 70 government soldiers, according to the article.
A father of a deceased fighter told Al Jazeera that Houthi authorities’ food and financial assistance to families was irregular.
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A train collision in central Spain killed 69 people and renewed concerns about rail safety and public confidence in the Socialist-led government of Pedro Sánchez. The crash comes weeks before a snap election, as the government faces scrutiny over its response and existing political controversies.
Key Facts
Authorities have recovered 69 bodies from the wreckage of the Toledo-area collision.
The crash occurred about nine months after a collision near Córdoba killed 46 people.
Transport Minister Óscar Puente said a stalled train was cleared to move at up to 160 km/h while another train remained on the track ahead.
Puente said the control centre could see the danger, but the advancing train was not ordered to stop.
Puente rejected claims of chronic underinvestment and said Spain's LZB signalling system had failed 170 times that year, which he described as normal and around the EU average.
The formal investigation into the latest collision has begun.
The opposition People's Party has called for Puente to resign.
The article says the disaster is unfolding weeks before a snap general election called by Sánchez.
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The United States, Russia and China plan to deploy nuclear reactors on the moon to power lunar bases and mining, including efforts to extract water ice near the south pole. NASA aims to develop its reactor by 2030, while Russia and China target a joint project around 2036. The plans raise concerns about the risk of a radioactive accident during transport or operation.
Key Facts
NASA says its Lunar Reactor 1 would produce 20 kilowatts of electricity and operate for five years without maintenance.
Russia is developing the Selena reactor, which is expected to produce 10 kilowatts and run for a decade without maintenance.
The Russian reactor is intended to power a Chinese-led moon base around 2036.
The planned reactors would support lunar bases and mining of water ice in permanently shadowed craters near the moon’s south pole.
Water extracted from lunar ice could support life and potentially be used to make rocket fuel.
The countries say their reactors would remain switched off until they reach the moon.
The Soviet Union launched more than 30 nuclear fission reactors into Earth orbit from the late 1960s through the 1980s to power spy satellites.
The United States has not successfully launched a nuclear reactor into space; a 1965 experiment stopped operating after an electrical component failed.
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UK Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood is expected to announce next week her final plans for changing the rules on indefinite leave to remain, which gives eligible people permanent permission to live in the UK. The BBC reports that social care workers already in the UK are likely to be exempt from a proposed longer wait, while most other workers may still face a 10-year wait instead of five.
Key Facts
Mahmood had proposed extending the standard qualifying period for permanent settlement from five years to 10.
Under the original proposal, some lower-paid migrants could have faced a 15-year wait.
Social care workers already in the UK are likely to be exempt from the longer wait, according to the BBC.
Most other workers are expected to face a 10-year qualifying period under the proposal.
The wait could be reduced for people who contribute to their local communities or have higher incomes.
The government's consultation on the proposed changes received 200,000 responses.
The Home Office said it would not comment on Mahmood's final decisions before they are presented to Parliament next week.
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