Federal Judge Alvin Hellerstein, who handled prominent cases involving Donald Trump, Nicolás Maduro and other high-profile defendants, has died at 92, the Southern District of New York confirmed. He repeatedly rejected Trump’s efforts to move his New York criminal case to federal court and most recently presided over Maduro’s criminal case.
Key Facts
Bill Clinton appointed Hellerstein to the federal bench when Hellerstein was 64.
Hellerstein oversaw lawsuits related to the September 11 attacks, Abu Ghraib and Harvey Weinstein, among other cases.
He presided over Maduro-related cases beginning in 2014 and was handling Maduro’s criminal case when he died.
Hellerstein rejected Trump’s attempts to move his New York state criminal case to federal court.
A state jury found Trump guilty in the case involving reimbursements to Michael Cohen for a payment to Stephanie Clifford, known as Stormy Daniels.
After the Supreme Court’s presidential-immunity ruling, Hellerstein again ruled against Trump on August 28, finding that the trial evidence did not infringe on presidential immunity.
A lawyer and former federal prosecutor said Hellerstein’s death would not automatically pause Maduro’s case, though a replacement judge may need time to review it.
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Vladimir Putin said he is in close contact with Elon Musk about satellite technology and called Musk a “real genius.” Putin said Russia and the United States need to coordinate their satellite networks to prevent interference between Russia’s Rassvet system and SpaceX’s Starlink.
Key Facts
Putin made the comments on Wednesday at the Russia-Africa Summit in Moscow.
Rassvet is Russia’s satellite internet project, which the Russian Embassy described as an alternative to Starlink.
Putin said Russia and the United States are working to prevent their satellites from interfering with each other in orbit.
SpaceX did not respond to a request for comment, according to the article.
The article says Starlink has launched roughly 13,000 satellites, while satellite trackers show a couple of dozen Rassvet satellites in orbit.
Ukraine has relied on Starlink for internet access during the war; the article says Ukrainian forces recently experienced connectivity problems and Musk acknowledged SpaceX had intentionally caused them.
Musk’s companies, including SpaceX and Tesla, are based in the United States.
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Vladimir Putin told leaders from dozens of African nations that Russia was the continent’s best partner. At a two-day Russia-Africa Summit hosted by the Kremlin, he accused Western countries of continuing to exploit Africa’s resources.
Key Facts
Putin addressed leaders from dozens of African nations.
The Kremlin is hosting a two-day Russia-Africa Summit.
Putin described Russia as Africa’s best partner.
Putin accused Western countries of continuing to exploit Africa’s resources.
The article reports Putin’s claims but provides no supporting evidence or responses from African leaders.
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RAND Israel Policy Chair Shira Efron says she and others underestimated the depth of divisions in Israeli society. She describes a political landscape shaped by polarization, a rightward shift among Jewish voters and disputes over Arab political participation, which complicate coalition-building.
Key Facts
Shira Efron is RAND’s Distinguished Israel Policy Chair.
Efron said many observers underestimated the extent of social fracture in Israel.
The article describes ideological polarization in Israeli politics.
It says the Jewish electorate has shifted to the right.
The article identifies contested legitimacy of Arab political participation as a barrier to forming coalitions.
The article says Netanyahu’s governing bloc has lost ground but retains options for building political support.
Options discussed include another election, a national unity government or efforts to bring opposition partners into Netanyahu’s orbit.
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Former Justice Department officials Jonathan Kanter and Doha Mekki launched FluxCap, an AI platform for complex legal work, with an initial focus on antitrust law. They say it can speed up document review and research while helping lawyers plan cases, but is designed to support rather than replace lawyers.
Key Facts
FluxCap launched on Wednesday, October 28, 2026.
Kanter and Mekki previously led the Justice Department’s antitrust division.
Kanter said his team could pursue only about 10% of the cases it believed were worth bringing.
FluxCap says its platform can review legal documents and conduct research faster than teams doing the work manually.
The company says the platform can help lawyers develop legal strategies, find gaps in evidence, and anticipate opposing arguments.
FluxCap is focused first on antitrust law and plans to expand into other legal fields.
The founders say the tool is intended to support lawyers’ judgment, not replace it.
Mekki said the technology could help more people gain legal representation and recover marketplace losses.
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A brief hands-on with the new MacBook Pro found that its OLED display stood out, while the laptop felt lighter than the reviewer’s 14-inch M1 Max model. The touchscreen supports gestures and direct interaction with apps, but the laptop does not fold into tablet mode and does not support Apple Pencil.
Key Facts
The reviewer tested the laptop for about five minutes at a crowded showroom in Los Angeles.
The new model felt noticeably lighter than the reviewer’s 14-inch MacBook Pro with an M1 Max chip.
The laptop has an OLED display and a Dynamic Island cutout.
The reviewer used the touchscreen to swipe between desktops, zoom and scroll, move windows, drag files, launch apps, draw, and scrub video.
The reviewer said most touchscreen actions could also be done with trackpad gestures.
The laptop keeps a traditional laptop shape and does not convert into a tablet.
The article says the touchscreen does not support Apple Pencil.
The reviewer also noted that the Apple logo on the back glows.
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Flávio Bolsonaro and his family traveled from Brazil through Argentina and Ecuador before arriving in Miami on Wednesday, according to officials and flight-tracking data cited in the article. The trip followed the U.S. decision to issue them visas and a Brazilian court order requiring Bolsonaro to surrender his passports; he is under investigation and denies wrongdoing.
Key Facts
Argentine migration officials said Bolsonaro, his wife and two daughters entered Argentina from Brazil at 10:50 p.m. Tuesday with valid travel documents.
The family boarded a private charter plane within an hour of entering Argentina, according to the Argentine authority.
Flight-tracking data showed the plane landed in Guayaquil, Ecuador, before continuing to Miami-Opa Locka Executive Airport on Wednesday.
A Brazilian diplomat told the Associated Press that Bolsonaro entered Argentina using an Italian passport; AFP reported that he has held Italian citizenship since 2023.
The U.S. State Department said Tuesday that it would issue visas to Bolsonaro and his family.
A Brazilian judge had ordered Bolsonaro to surrender his regular and diplomatic passports by noon Tuesday.
Bolsonaro is under investigation by Brazil’s Supreme Court over allegations of corruption, money laundering and foreign exchange violations; he denies wrongdoing.
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva won Brazil’s runoff with 51.8 percent of valid votes, compared with Bolsonaro’s 48.2 percent, according to the article.
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The Federal Reserve left its benchmark interest rate unchanged at 3.75% to 4% in a 10-2 vote. The decision came as annual U.S. inflation rose to 3.7% in September, while the Fed said it would assess more data before deciding on future policy.
Key Facts
The Fed’s rate decision was its final monetary policy decision before the U.S. midterm elections.
The central bank said economic activity was expanding at a strong pace and domestic spending remained resilient.
The September Consumer Price Index showed annual inflation at 3.7%, up from 3.4% in August.
The Fed said energy prices largely accounted for the monthly inflation increase.
The Personal Consumption Expenditures Price Index report was scheduled for release on Thursday.
President Donald Trump has called for lower interest rates and criticized the Fed’s earlier rate increase.
The Fed’s next policy meeting is scheduled for December 8-9.
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A study of more than 4,000 adolescents in Norway found that comparing themselves with others on social media was associated with symptoms of five mental health conditions. The researchers stressed that the study captured one point in time, so it cannot show whether social media behavior causes symptoms or symptoms affect behavior.
Key Facts
The study was published October 17 in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health.
Participants had a mean age of 14 and completed measures of five social media behaviors and symptoms of five mental health conditions.
Social comparison accounted for 20 to 26 percent of the variation in symptoms of generalized anxiety, social anxiety, and major depressive disorder.
Social comparison accounted for 6 to 9 percent of the variation in ADHD and oppositional defiant disorder symptoms.
Hostility from others was the second strongest predictor and accounted for 3 to 6 percent of symptom variation across the conditions.
Simply passing time on social media showed no independent association with symptoms in the conditions studied.
The study did not track participants over time, so it could not establish which came first: mental health symptoms or specific social media behaviors.
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Israel’s election left both Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing alliance and the main opposition bloc short of the seats needed to form a government alone. Palestinian citizens’ parties made major gains, raising the question of whether the opposition will seek their support amid ongoing Israeli military operations in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.
Key Facts
The election took place on Tuesday and had record turnout.
Netanyahu’s alliance includes right-wing and far-right parties but lacks a majority.
The opposition bloc, led by former military chief Gadi Eisenkot, cannot form a government on its own.
Parties representing Palestinian citizens of Israel made unprecedented electoral gains.
Netanyahu has refused to work with Arab-led party lists.
The article raises whether the opposition could reach an agreement with Arab-led parties.
The discussion takes place amid continuing Israeli military operations in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.
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A federal jury in Boston convicted Eric Nshimiye of four counts of perjury and one count of obstruction of justice. Prosecutors said he lied under oath in a 2019 trial about his role in the 1994 Rwandan genocide; his lawyers challenged witness accounts and asked the court to credit his time in custody toward any sentence.
Key Facts
Nshimiye is a 55-year-old Rwandan American and U.S. citizen who became a citizen in 2009.
The jury found that he lied while testifying in the 2019 trial of Jean Leonard Teganya, who was later convicted of helping perpetrate the genocide.
U.S. investigators arrested Nshimiye at his Ohio home in 2024.
Prosecutors dropped an immigration-fraud charge before Nshimiye’s trial began.
Witnesses from Rwanda testified that Nshimiye took part in killings and other violence against Tutsis in Butare in 1994.
The 1994 genocide killed more than 800,000 people over about 100 days.
Nshimiye’s attorneys asked the court to count the roughly two and a half years he had spent in custody toward any sentence.
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Vladimir Putin told leaders at the Russia-Africa Summit in Moscow that Russia does not exploit African resources in a neo-colonial way. He criticized Western lending practices and said Russia was ready to expand agricultural shipments to Africa amid disruptions to grain exports and fertilizer supplies.
Key Facts
Putin spoke at the third Russia-Africa Summit in Moscow.
Delegations from 48 African countries attended, including 22 represented by their heads of state.
Putin accused Western countries of using debt and financial terms that he said hinder Africa’s development.
Putin said Russian businesses support local processing of raw materials, job creation, and tax revenue.
Russia supplied 13 million metric tonnes of agricultural products to Africa in the first nine months of the year, according to Putin.
Putin said Russia was prepared to expand the reach of its agricultural shipments to Africa.
The article said attacks in the Black Sea were disrupting Russian and Ukrainian grain exports, while the U.S.-Israel war on Iran had interrupted global fertilizer supplies.
Putin was scheduled to hold bilateral meetings with African leaders on trade, security, grain supplies, and arms deals. The summit was expected to end with a declaration on closer cooperation.
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A buyer purchased the late wrestler Hulk Hogan’s mansion in Clearwater, Florida, for $5.9 million. His daughter Brooke Hogan criticized the sale, calling it “deeply unsettling.”
Key Facts
The property was Hulk Hogan’s mansion.
The mansion is in Clearwater, Florida.
A buyer purchased the home for $5.9 million.
Hulk Hogan is described in the article as deceased.
Brooke Hogan criticized the sale.
Brooke Hogan called the sale “deeply unsettling.”
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Senator Ted Cruz said Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez could win the Democratic presidential nomination in 2028 and warned Republicans not to assume she would lose a general election. He argued that a victory by Michigan Democrat Abdul El-Sayed in his Senate race could be used to support the case that progressive candidates can win nationally.
Key Facts
Cruz made the comments while campaigning for Republicans in Grosse Pointe Woods, Michigan.
Cruz said an El-Sayed victory over Republican Mike Rogers would weaken the argument that Ocasio-Cortez is too progressive to win nationally.
Neither Ocasio-Cortez nor other potential candidates had formally declared a 2028 presidential campaign, according to the article.
The article reported that prediction-market averages placed Vice President JD Vance first among listed potential presidential contenders, with Ocasio-Cortez second.
A New York Times/Siena poll cited in the article found Vance leading among Republican voters with 33 percent support, 10 points ahead of Marco Rubio.
Cruz said El-Sayed could pose a national security risk if elected to the Senate and appointed to the Intelligence Committee.
El-Sayed has denied having ties to the Muslim Brotherhood.
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Rep. Jim Himes, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said paper ballots help protect elections from potential hacking by Elon Musk. Himes said 49 of the 50 states have paper records of ballots during an appearance on MS NOW’s “Morning Joe.”
Key Facts
Himes represents Connecticut in the House.
Himes is the ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee.
Himes made the comments on Wednesday.
Himes appeared on MS NOW’s “Morning Joe.”
Himes said 49 of the 50 states have paper records of ballots.
The article says Musk is supporting Republicans in this election cycle.
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The UK Budget sets out changes that could affect young people’s wages, home-buying savings and access to housing. It also leaves plans for young people out of work or study and student-loan reform unresolved for now.
Key Facts
The minimum wage for workers aged 18 to 20 is due to rise 3.9% next April, to £11.27 an hour; the rate for workers over 20 will be £13.21.
The government plans to introduce a First Time Buyer Isa in 2029, with a 25% bonus on contributions of up to £4,000 a year.
The new account will replace the Lifetime Isa; the £450,000 home-price cap will remain, while withdrawal penalties on existing Lifetime Isas will be lowered.
A £4.7bn scheme called Your First Home aims to help 70,000 first-time buyers in England purchase new-build homes with a 2.5% deposit and a government loan covering 20% of the property's value.
The government has not announced new measures to help the more than one million 18-to-24-year-olds who are not in employment, education or training; it is awaiting recommendations from Alan Milburn.
The government says it is reviewing student-loan repayment rules, including those for Plan 2 loans, but the Budget did not announce reforms.
A 21-year-old working full time at the minimum wage and holding a student loan taken out after 2023 will earn above the £25,000 repayment threshold, according to economist Ben Zaranko.
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The article says Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition lost its mandate in Israel’s election, while opposition parties held a majority. But many opposition leaders opposed forming a government with Palestinian-led parties, creating a possible path for Netanyahu to remain in office as caretaker prime minister or seek another election.
Key Facts
Yair Golan called for a government that partners with Arab citizens of Israel.
A survey taken as polls closed found that most opposition voters supported forming a government with Ra’am to remove Netanyahu, according to researcher Eran Halperin.
Opposition leader Gadi Eisenkot did not directly rule out working with Palestinian parties but set conditions that the article said made their participation politically impossible.
Yousef Jabareen, leader of the Joint List, said Palestinian parties were ready to help remove Netanyahu’s government through Jewish-Arab partnership.
Ra’am placed a Jewish former police chief second on its candidate slate.
Netanyahu’s coalition had 64 seats after forming in 2022 and lost about 10 seats in the election described in the article.
The article cites Yitzhak Rabin’s reliance on Palestinian support for a minority government three decades earlier as a precedent.
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Students at Jamia Millia Islamia university in New Delhi are on hunger strike to demand the return of their student union. The union has been banned since 2006; students also accuse university authorities and police of restricting their movement and blocking access to basic supplies.
Key Facts
The protest is taking place at Jamia Millia Islamia university in New Delhi.
Students are on hunger strike.
They are demanding restoration of the student union.
The student union has been banned since 2006.
Students accuse university authorities and police of restricting their movement.
Students say authorities have blocked access to basic supplies.
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Donald Trump said his endorsement helped Benjamin Netanyahu perform better than expected in Israel’s election. With 85 percent of votes counted, Likud led the party race, but neither Netanyahu’s bloc nor the opposition had a clear path to the 61 seats needed for a governing majority.
Key Facts
Trump said he had heard Netanyahu did better than early polling suggested and described the result as possibly a stalemate or a win.
Trump said he had not spoken with Netanyahu about the election results and that it was too early to draw conclusions.
With 85 percent of votes counted, Likud had 20.8 percent of the vote and the opposition party Yashar had 16.1 percent.
Israeli media projections put Likud and its allies at about 53 of the Knesset’s 120 seats, while Eisenkot’s allied parties were projected to hold 48.
Arab-led parties were projected to hold 19 seats, according to the reported figures.
A governing coalition needs support from at least 61 lawmakers.
Netanyahu has rejected partnering with Arab-led parties, and those parties have also ruled out joining his coalition.
Election officials cited by the AP said absentee ballots, including votes from military personnel and diplomats, were expected to be counted through Thursday evening.
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At a campaign event near Detroit, Sen. Ted Cruz called Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed a “jihadist leprechaun” and alleged he supports the Muslim Brotherhood. El-Sayed has denied membership or support for the group, while his campaign called the accusation a bigoted smear and a distraction from economic concerns.
Key Facts
Cruz said El-Sayed could receive security clearance and serve on the Senate Intelligence Committee if elected, and claimed his alleged support for the Muslim Brotherhood could put Americans at risk.
Republican nominee Mike Rogers has also made the Muslim Brotherhood allegation a central part of his campaign against El-Sayed in Michigan’s Senate race.
El-Sayed said he has never been a member of the Muslim Brotherhood and disavowed the group at a town hall.
The allegations have cited social media posts by El-Sayed’s half-sister about their birthmother’s reported involvement with the group in Egypt in the early 1970s.
Cruz and Rogers also cited El-Sayed’s leadership in a University of Michigan Muslim Students’ Association chapter, his 2011 op-ed on protests against Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, and a 2012 letter supporting President Mohamed Morsi.
Rogers said in 2012 that the United States would need to speak with moderate Muslim Brotherhood members; he also voted to continue funding Egypt while Morsi led the country.
The Trump administration designated some branches of the Muslim Brotherhood as terrorist organizations in January, according to the article.
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