Archaeologists found a sealed closet of household items in a home in Pompeii, the Roman city destroyed by Mount Vesuvius in A.D. 79. The finds include cosmetics, coins, commercial weights and a necklace of amulets, offering clues about residents’ daily lives, though researchers cannot identify who owned them or what happened to them.
Key Facts
The closet was found in a home in central Pompeii; the house was first excavated in 1912.
Items included cosmetics, an incense burner, a bronze lantern, a balsam jar and a decorated snuff bottle.
Researchers found weights that may have been used for commercial activity inside a wooden chest of drawers.
A necklace contained at least 20 miniature objects and materials, including bone and crystal; such necklaces were known as crepundia and could serve as protective amulets.
The closet also held 38 bronze coins in a container made of plant material.
The coins suggest the owner or owners may not have had time to retrieve their valuables, but archaeologists do not know whether they escaped or died.
Mouse skeletons found in the home complicate assumptions about the residents’ standard of living.
The house was previously attributed to Cornelius Maximus based on inscriptions that are no longer visible.
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Airline groups representing major American and foreign carriers asked the CDC to reassess new requirements for travelers coming to the United States. The rules were introduced in response to a record-breaking Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo; the supplied article excerpt ends before it fully describes what travelers must certify.
Key Facts
Groups representing major American and foreign airlines asked the CDC to review its new traveler rules.
The CDC issued the mandate the week before the article was published.
The mandate applies to travelers entering the United States.
The CDC introduced the rules in response to an Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The article describes the outbreak as record-breaking.
The supplied excerpt cuts off before completing the description of the certification requirement.
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West Virginia sued TikTok and its parent company, ByteDance, over alleged harm to children. The state claims TikTok uses features that encourage excessive screen time and exposes young users to sexualized content and potential predators.
Key Facts
West Virginia filed the lawsuit on Thursday.
The suit names TikTok and ByteDance.
The state alleges TikTok deliberately keeps children engaged with the app.
The complaint says TikTok uses addictive features to encourage excessive screen time among children.
West Virginia alleges the app exposes children to sexualized content and potential predators.
The state accuses the companies of violating West Virginia consumer protection laws.
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President Donald Trump is visiting South Carolina to encourage Republican turnout for Sen. Darline Graham, whose race against Democrat Annie Andrews is described as unexpectedly close. The visit is his second to the state this month as Republicans seek to keep their Senate majority.
Key Facts
Trump is holding a rally in South Carolina on Thursday.
The visit aims to boost Republican get-out-the-vote efforts.
Sen. Darline Graham is facing Democrat Annie Andrews in a tight race, according to the article.
The article says Republicans need to hold South Carolina to keep their Senate majority.
This is Trump's second visit to South Carolina this month.
Trump won South Carolina by nearly 18 percentage points in 2024.
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A New York Times report says Mary Peltola’s campaign and Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee staff worked to recruit Dan J Sullivan and other candidates with names similar to Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan. Peltola’s campaign previously denied encouraging or soliciting Dan J Sullivan to run, while he said he wanted to offer conservative voters another choice. Ballot stacking is generally legal, though lying under oath about coordination could constitute perjury; the article says no such accusation had been made as of October 29.
Key Facts
Dan J Sullivan entered Alaska’s Senate race as a Republican in May, challenging incumbent Republican Dan Sullivan and Democrat Mary Peltola.
Dan J Sullivan is a retired schoolteacher and former U.S. Forest Service employee with no prior political experience.
The New York Times reported that Peltola campaign staff and senior Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee aides sought candidates with names similar to Dan Sullivan’s.
The report drew on interviews with at least a dozen people and reviewed text messages and documents.
Peltola’s campaign denied encouraging or soliciting Dan J Sullivan to run in a statement to the Anchorage Daily News in May.
Dan J Sullivan told the New York Times he did not intend to confuse voters and wanted to give conservative Alaskans another candidate.
Ballot stacking—recruiting candidates to draw votes from an opponent—is not itself illegal and is used by both major parties.
The article says that, as of October 29, no one had been accused of lying under oath about cooperation with Dan J Sullivan.
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A New York Times and Siena University poll put Republican Byron Donalds ahead of Democrat David Jolly by 48% to 44% in Florida’s governor’s race. The poll also showed Republican Ashley Moody with a 6-point lead over Democrat Angie Nixon, while Donald Trump Jr. and President Trump were scheduled to campaign in Florida ahead of the election.
Key Facts
Donalds led Jolly by 4 percentage points, 48% to 44%, in the new poll.
Jolly led among independent voters, 52% to 35%.
Six percent of Republicans said they would vote for Jolly, while 4% of Democrats said they would vote for Donalds.
Twenty-two percent of respondents were unsure about Donalds or had not heard of him; the figure was 34% for Jolly.
Forty-four percent viewed Donalds favorably and 34% unfavorably; 36% viewed Jolly favorably and 30% unfavorably.
The poll gave Republican U.S. Senator Ashley Moody a 6-point lead over Democrat Angie Nixon.
RealClearPolitics’ polling aggregate showed Donalds ahead by 5 points as of Thursday; other cited polls showed leads of 8 points and 6 points.
Donald Trump Jr. was scheduled to appear with Donalds at a rally in Hialeah, and President Trump was scheduled to hold a rally in Daytona Beach.
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The Metropolitan Police referred its handling of a 2019 letter about Thomas Markle to the Independent Office for Police Conduct. The watchdog will examine why the force gave the letter to the Sussexes’ office but did not share its contents with other law enforcement agencies.
Key Facts
Roslyn Loveless, Thomas Markle’s first wife, sent the handwritten letter to the Met’s royal protection team.
The Met passed the letter to the office of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex in January 2019.
Meghan said the letter contained troubling allegations about her father and influenced her decision not to visit him or let him meet her children.
The Met said the letter contained claims of alleged offending outside the United Kingdom but no information specifically related to security matters.
The police watchdog will examine the Met’s decision not to share the letter with law enforcement agencies in the UK or overseas.
The Met said it plans to refer the matter to relevant overseas law enforcement agencies in the coming days.
Thomas Markle has strongly denied recent allegations that he possessed images of child abuse.
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The article describes ranked choice voting and its use in Alaska, Maine and Hawaii, as well as state restrictions on the system. The voting method is drawing renewed attention during Alaska’s competitive Senate race, where the Justice Department has sued over candidate Dan J. Sullivan’s candidacy and President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance have criticized ranked choice voting.
Key Facts
In ranked choice voting, voters rank candidates by preference, and the lowest-ranked candidate is eliminated in rounds until a candidate receives a majority.
Alaska and Maine use ranked choice voting, while Hawaii uses it for some statewide elections.
Alaska’s Senate ballot lists Mary Peltola, incumbent Dan Sullivan, Dan J. Sullivan and Gerald Heikes.
The Justice Department has sued Alaska over Dan J. Sullivan’s candidacy.
Dan J. Sullivan changed his party affiliation from Republican to undeclared amid the controversy.
The article lists 19 states as having banned ranked choice voting.
The article lists 13 states as allowing ranked choice voting in some localities or certain elections.
Vance said he was not a fan of ranked choice voting, and Trump has also opposed the system.
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A federal judge scheduled Cole Tomas Allen’s trial for Sept. 7, 2027, in Washington, D.C. Allen is accused of trying to kill President Donald Trump at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner in April 2026; jury selection is expected to begin then, with the trial lasting three to four weeks.
Key Facts
Allen’s trial is scheduled to begin with jury selection on Sept. 7, 2027.
Prosecutors had recommended a May 2027 start, but the judge set a later date after Allen’s attorney requested more preparation time.
Authorities say Allen entered the April 25, 2026, dinner at the Washington Hilton armed with guns and knives.
Authorities say Allen fired a shotgun at a Secret Service officer who tried to stop him.
The officer was struck once in a bullet-resistant vest and fired five shots; authorities said no one was hit by those shots.
Allen was injured, but not by gunfire, according to the article.
Allen faces an attempted assassination charge that carries a maximum possible sentence of life in prison, along with an assault charge and two firearms counts.
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A joint report by four UK agencies found that eight of England’s nine water companies were rated poor or in need of improvement on environmental performance. The report recorded 74 serious pollution incidents in 2025, while the companies’ combined performance score fell to its lowest level since ratings began.
Key Facts
England recorded 2,666 pollution incidents in 2025, 40% more than in 2016.
Thames Water had the most pollution incidents, followed by Anglian Water, United Utilities, Yorkshire Water and Southern Water.
The companies received a combined 16 out of 36 possible performance stars, down from 19 the previous year.
Environment Secretary Angela Eagle summoned water industry bosses to Whitehall and said the government was preparing further action.
Defra said it would set improvement actions covering issues such as leakage, pollution and customer satisfaction.
Rules introduced last year block executive bonuses at companies with a one-star rating.
Four agencies combined their data for the report for the first time, as a step toward bringing fragmented regulatory responsibilities together.
Water UK said leakage was at a historic low and argued that blockages or vandalism caused more than half of pollution incidents in 2025.
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German-born actor Elke Sommer, known for films including A Shot in the Dark and And Then There Were None, has died in Los Angeles at age 85. Bild magazine reported that she died of heart failure.
Key Facts
Sommer was born Elke Schletz in Berlin in 1940.
Italian director Vittorio de Sica noticed her after she won a beauty contest in Italy in 1958.
Her first English-language film was the 1961 British comedy Don’t Bother to Knock.
She appeared opposite Paul Newman in The Prize, which brought her a Golden Globe as a promising newcomer.
Sommer played a maid suspected of murder in A Shot in the Dark, the Pink Panther sequel.
Her later film credits included the horror films Baron Blood and Lisa and the Devil, as well as the British comedy Carry On Behind.
After reducing her film work, Sommer focused on painting.
A court awarded her $3.3 million in damages for defamation after a dispute with Zsa Zsa Gabor.
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Christine Lagarde said she will leave the European Central Bank presidency on February 7, about nine months before her term was due to end. Her early departure gives European Union leaders time to select a successor before France’s April presidential election, though some officials warned that the timing could raise concerns about political influence.
Key Facts
Lagarde announced her decision in a filmed statement posted on X.
She became ECB president in October 2019 and led the bank through the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
The ECB has faced criticism for responding slowly to the 2022 inflation surge.
Inflation is running at nearly twice the ECB’s 2 percent target, according to the article.
French President Emmanuel Macron thanked Lagarde and said her successor’s appointment should be prepared with European partners.
German lawmaker Markus Ferber said linking the departure to national elections could damage trust in the ECB’s independence.
Goldman Sachs fixed-income executive Simon Dangoor said markets appeared unfazed and expected the bank’s institutional behavior to remain similar under a new president.
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The article examines why some wealthy U.S. sports team owners spend millions of dollars on politics. Al Jazeera’s Samantha Johnson follows their political spending ahead of the U.S. midterm elections.
Key Facts
Some U.S. sports team owners are among the world’s wealthiest people.
Some team owners spend millions of dollars on U.S. politics.
The report focuses on reasons for owners’ political spending.
Al Jazeera’s Samantha Johnson reports on the issue.
The report comes ahead of the U.S. midterm elections.
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Russian strikes across Ukraine killed at least 16 people and injured 56, Ukrainian authorities said. A separate six-day ceasefire around Russian-occupied Oleshky entered its third day, with officials saying it was holding and aid deliveries were expected to begin Friday.
Key Facts
A Russian drone struck two passenger trains at a station in Dnipro, killing at least 14 people and injuring 14.
A Russian cruise missile killed two 15-year-old girls in Chernihiv, according to Ukrainian authorities.
Three civilians died when a Russian drone hit an apartment block in Kremenchuk.
Ukrainian authorities said the strikes injured 56 people in total, including 10 children.
The localized ceasefire around Oleshky began Tuesday and was planned to last six days.
Officials from both sides said the truce was holding as Russian engineers cleared mines from roads for a humanitarian convoy.
Aid deliveries were due to start Friday for about 2,000 people in Oleshky, and officials said residents could evacuate toward either Russia or Ukraine.
Russia's Defense Ministry said its air defenses downed 1,214 Ukrainian drones overnight; Moscow's mayor said about half were heading toward the capital.
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Health experts want mammogram reports to use a standard method for noting breast arterial calcification. They say this could help improve cardiovascular disease prevention for women.
Key Facts
Breast arterial calcification can be seen on mammograms.
Health experts are calling for standardized reporting of this finding.
The proposed reporting change aims to support cardiovascular disease prevention.
The prevention effort focuses on women.
The article does not describe a specific reporting standard or study.
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Booker Prize-winning author Ian McEwan discussed his novel “What We Can Know” with France 24’s Olivia Salazar-Winspear as the book was translated into French. The conversation covered its imagined 22nd-century society, climate change, literature and the possible effects of artificial intelligence on human civilization.
Key Facts
The novel is set in a 22nd-century society after a major event called the “derangement.”
In the novel, many 21st-century capital cities have been submerged.
The story follows academics pursuing a mythical lost poem.
The interview considered climate change and the future consequences of the climate crisis.
McEwan and Salazar-Winspear discussed celebrity artists and the possible decline of reading.
McEwan shared views on how artificial intelligence could reshape human civilization.
The France 24 interview was published on October 29, 2026, as the novel was translated into French.
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A Federal Reserve-monitored inflation gauge rose faster in September, with prices up 3.6% from a year earlier and 0.5% from August. Higher fuel costs drove much of the increase, while prices for services including shipping, hotel rooms and utilities also climbed.
Key Facts
The Commerce Department reported that consumer prices rose 3.6% in September compared with a year earlier, up from 3.4% in August.
Prices increased 0.5% from August to September, compared with a 0.3% monthly increase in August.
The monthly increase was the highest since May.
Rising gas prices drove much of the inflation increase.
The article said renewed violence in the Middle East kept oil prices above $100 a barrel, compared with less than $70 before the Iran war.
Costs for shipping, hotel rooms and utilities rose rapidly from August to September.
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Alphabet reported $128 billion in revenue and more than $26 billion in net income for the third quarter of 2026, while its share price fell nearly 12% after the results. Google said AI Mode searches earn less than standard web searches and announced plans to expand advertising in AI Mode as it increases investment in AI infrastructure.
Key Facts
Alphabet's third-quarter revenue rose 25% from a year earlier to almost $128 billion.
Net income exceeded $26 billion, nearly $9 billion below the same quarter a year earlier.
Alphabet reported earnings per share of $2.12, below analysts' consensus estimate of $3.02.
Google Cloud revenue topped $30 billion, about $1 billion above analyst expectations.
Google search volume grew 12% year over year, compared with 17% in the second quarter and 19% in the first quarter.
Google Chief Business Officer Philipp Schindler said an AI Mode query currently earns less than a comparable standard web search because it carries fewer ads that cost less to run.
Google plans to expand AI Mode ads in more countries and introduce ads that change during conversations in the United States.
Alphabet reported $51.4 billion in third-quarter capital spending and forecast total spending of $195 billion to $205 billion in 2026; it is targeting more than $300 billion in AI investment in 2027.
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King Charles III’s Caribbean tour has prompted calls for a formal apology and reparations for Britain’s role in the transatlantic slave trade. In the Bahamas, he acknowledged past suffering and injustice, but campaigners said his remarks did not meet their demands; Buckingham Palace says he will not issue a formal apology.
Key Facts
Charles began a nine-day Caribbean tour in the Bahamas on Tuesday.
He was scheduled to visit Guyana and then travel to Antigua and Barbuda for a meeting of Commonwealth leaders.
In the Bahamas, Charles said Britain should acknowledge the suffering and injustices of the colonial past.
Protesters in Nassau called for compensation for Britain’s role in the slave trade.
The chair of the Bahamas National Reparations Committee said Charles’s remarks fell short of campaigners’ expectations.
Buckingham Palace says decisions on a formal apology belong to the British government, while Charles is willing to discuss Britain’s involvement.
The article says about 5 million enslaved Africans were transported to the Caribbean between the 15th and 19th centuries, including more than 2 million to British colonies.
When Britain abolished slavery across most of its empire in 1834, the government compensated slave owners, not the enslaved.
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Arizona will distribute restitution from a $1.2 million fund to eligible veterans who paid VetLink Solutions for help with VA disability claims. The fund follows a consent judgment resolving state allegations that the company misled veterans and charged fees for services it was not accredited to provide.
Key Facts
Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes said restitution checks are expected to go out this week.
Veterans had to pay VetLink Solutions for disability-claim assistance between January 2019 and March 13, 2024.
Eligible veterans also had to submit a restitution claim by September 10, 2026.
VetLink Solutions paid $1.2 million into the restitution fund.
The state alleged the company falsely marketed its services and charged disabled veterans contingency fees.
The state said VetLink Solutions lacked the accreditation required to perform services reserved for VA-accredited representatives.
Some veterans paid fees of up to $12,000, according to the Arizona Attorney General's Office.
The settlement payments are restitution for fees veterans paid, not additional VA disability benefits.
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