U.S. Army Lt. Col. Brandon Tyner, 41, was detained in the United Kingdom over alleged involvement in a Russian espionage scheme. He is expected to face charges in the U.K. early next week.
Key Facts
Tyner is a U.S. Army officer with the rank of lieutenant colonel.
Tyner is 41 years old.
British authorities detained Tyner on Tuesday.
The detention followed a sting operation.
Tyner is suspected of involvement in a Russian espionage scheme.
He is expected to be charged in the United Kingdom early next week.
Read the Original
Want the full story? Tap a source to open the original
article.
Hong Kong pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong was sentenced to an additional 10 years in prison under Hong Kong’s national security law. The sentence will bring his total time in prison to more than 16 years.
Key Facts
Joshua Wong was 30 years old when the article described his sentence.
Wong began leading protests at age 14.
He has been a prominent figure in Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement for about 15 years.
Wong was convicted under Hong Kong’s national security law.
The sentence adds 10 years to his prison term.
Nathan Law, a friend of Wong and fellow movement leader, discussed prospects for democracy in Hong Kong.
Read the Original
Want the full story? Tap a source to open the original
article.
Former Australian foreign affairs minister Bob Carr says Australia is unlikely to receive the U.S. nuclear submarines promised under the AUKUS agreement and may instead host U.S.-operated vessels. The Australian government says the deal is proceeding, while delays in U.S. submarine production and the need for presidential approval have raised doubts about delivery.
Key Facts
The AUKUS agreement was signed in 2021 and is intended to provide Australia with nuclear-powered submarines.
Carr says officials in Australia and the United States expect Australia will not receive the planned Virginia-class submarines.
Carr expects U.S.-operated submarines could instead be stationed at Australian bases.
Australia has paid more than $3 billion toward U.S. submarine manufacturing and has promised about $4.6 billion in total payments over the agreement’s lifetime.
The first Virginia-class submarine is scheduled to arrive in Australia in 2032, with another planned every four years before the SSN-AUKUS model is expected in 2042.
The transfer of U.S. submarines requires approval from the U.S. president and depends on the U.S. military’s domestic needs.
The Albanese government says AUKUS is proceeding as intended, and Defence Minister Richard Marles has said the agreement is happening.
A public inquiry led by former Australian officials called the plan highly risky and costly and urged the government to end it.
Read the Original
Want the full story? Tap a source to open the original
article.
A judge in Gijón suspended the activities of Spanish far-right group Núcleo Nacional while authorities investigate alleged hate crimes and illegal association. The order closed its office and blocked its social media content and bank accounts; 14 members were arrested last week on suspicion of inciting hatred.
Key Facts
The ruling came from a court in the northern Spanish city of Gijón.
The court ordered the group’s office shut and its social media content and bank accounts blocked.
Authorities arrested 14 members last week on suspicion of inciting hatred against vulnerable groups and people with opposing ideologies.
Police searched the group’s Madrid headquarters and other locations.
Police said they seized more than 20 firearms, some unlicensed, as well as ammunition and other weapons.
Key members face precautionary measures that include a ban on leaving Spain and weekly reporting to a court.
A representative of Núcleo Nacional said the group was facing political persecution.
Spain’s general election is scheduled for November 29.
Read the Original
Want the full story? Tap a source to open the original
article.
U.S. President Donald Trump said he would “certainly consider” using military force against Cuba and wants to address the island before he leaves office in 2029. His administration has increased economic pressure on Cuba, while officials from both countries have held talks over the restrictions.
Key Facts
Trump made the comments during a phone interview with radio host Hugh Hewitt.
Trump said the administration was watching Cuba closely and described the country as a failed nation.
Trump said Secretary of State Marco Rubio would support action involving Cuba.
In January, Trump imposed a de facto oil blockade on Cuba and threatened tariffs on countries supplying it with fuel.
The U.S. has imposed sanctions on Cuba’s state oil company, President Miguel Díaz-Canel, and people and entities linked to the government, military, and oil industry.
The blockade has contributed to nationwide blackouts and shortages of fuel and food in Cuba.
Officials from the U.S. and Cuba have held talks about the blockade, but Cuba’s foreign minister said in June that they had made no progress.
The head of U.S. Southern Command told senators in March that U.S. troops were not rehearsing for an invasion of Cuba.
Read the Original
Want the full story? Tap a source to open the original
article.
Fighting between Ethiopia’s national army and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front resumed in late September, and federal forces entered Mekelle less than two weeks later after the TPLF withdrew from major towns. Residents report continued clashes in parts of Tigray, while businesses and households in Mekelle face severe economic hardship and uncertainty.
Key Facts
The renewed fighting is described as a resumption of the two-year civil war that officially ended in 2022.
Federal forces took control of Mekelle after the TPLF withdrew from the city and other major towns.
Hundreds of people are reported to have died, including dozens in drone strikes and air force bombing raids.
The TPLF says its withdrawal was a tactical retreat and that it is preparing a counteroffensive.
Residents report fighting in central, northern and north-western parts of Tigray.
Phone and internet services, cut when fighting began, have been restored.
A Mekelle salon owner says customers struggle to afford basic needs and her business has nearly stopped.
Read the Original
Want the full story? Tap a source to open the original
article.
Lord Leveson said courts are likely to require evidence before accepting future claims from MI5, after the agency gave false evidence to three courts in the case of a violent informant. He said the case prompted new rules for managing informants and changes to MI5’s evidence procedures.
Key Facts
Lord Leveson is the investigatory powers commissioner and a former Court of Appeal justice.
An MI5 informant known as Agent X abused his partner and attacked her with a machete.
MI5 helped Agent X travel abroad to continue intelligence work while police investigated him.
An Investigatory Powers Commissioner's Office inquiry found serious and systemic failures in MI5's handling of the case.
The inquiry found that one senior MI5 officer lied repeatedly and another misled colleagues and lied about what he had been told.
MI5 accepted the inquiry's findings and apologized.
A new policy addresses informants' domestic violence and coercive control.
MI5 must change how it prepares and gives evidence to courts.
Read the Original
Want the full story? Tap a source to open the original
article.
BBC Children In Need will air a three-hour live show on Friday from Salford, with celebrity appearances and fundraising challenges. The event supports more than 1,600 local charities and projects across the UK.
Key Facts
The live show will run on BBC One and iPlayer from 19:00 to 22:00 GMT.
Alex Jones, Mel Giedroyc, Rylan Clark, Sara Cox and Tyler West will host the programme.
Timothée Chalamet, Zendaya, Jason Momoa and Anya Taylor-Joy will take part in a prank interview with Rylan, aided by three children.
Radio 2 presenter Owain Wyn Evans is completing a 400-mile cycle challenge across Scotland, Northern Ireland, England and Wales.
Four young people are taking part in personal challenges, including dancing, kayaking and a live performance.
The charity raised more than £45 million last year.
Blackpool Tower, the London Eye and Titanic Belfast will be lit in yellow for the event.
Read the Original
Want the full story? Tap a source to open the original
article.
Pope Leo XIV’s years of pastoral work in Peru shaped his religious outlook, according to Victor Casallo of Antonio Ruiz de Montoya University. Casallo said Leo’s visit could encourage dialogue and solidarity, but its impact will depend on whether political leaders and others act on his calls to address inequality, corruption and injustice.
Key Facts
Leo XIV is making a return visit to Peru, where he spent decades in pastoral work.
Victor Casallo directs the Department of Philosophical and Theological Studies at Antonio Ruiz de Montoya University.
Casallo said Peru’s political violence, social inequality and religious activism shaped Leo’s outlook.
Casallo linked Leo’s outlook to liberation theology and its emphasis on prioritizing the needs of poor people.
Casallo said the Catholic Church must examine its past failures to defend people facing violence and injustice.
Casallo said religious authority can influence public morality in Peru.
Casallo warned that public expressions of support for the Pope do not necessarily lead to action on his teachings.
Casallo said the significance of the visit depends on whether it encourages solidarity, accountability and dialogue.
Read the Original
Want the full story? Tap a source to open the original
article.
Beau Lamarre-Condon testified in a Sydney murder trial that he bought a SIM card under the name “Bob Ballard” in January 2024 to contact police officers about alleged bullying in the police force. He has pleaded not guilty to murdering Jesse Baird and Luke Davies, who were shot in Sydney on 19 February 2024.
Key Facts
Lamarre-Condon bought the SIM card on 15 January 2024, about a month before the alleged shootings.
He told the court that he wanted to compile statements about alleged bullying by a police sergeant and approach the media.
He said he feared repercussions if he spoke publicly using his usual phone.
He agreed under cross-examination that he used the SIM card to contact former and current police officers.
He said phone records would not show his communications through the encrypted messaging app Signal.
Lamarre-Condon is accused of shooting Baird and Davies with his police service weapon at Baird’s home in Paddington, Sydney.
He has pleaded not guilty to two murder charges and one charge of aggravated break and enter.
The trial is before the New South Wales Supreme Court, with Justice Natalie Adams presiding.
Read the Original
Want the full story? Tap a source to open the original
article.
A World War II command bunker at Fan Bay in Dover’s White Cliffs will open to the public. The bunker housed an electromechanical computer that calculated the position of moving ships and sent firing instructions to guns defending the Dover Strait.
Key Facts
The National Trust led the excavation of the Fan Bay plotting room.
Winston Churchill ordered new artillery defences for Dover in 1940 after seeing German ships pass through the Channel.
The guns were ready within 100 days, and the plotting room was completed 64 days later.
The room’s 1.8-metre fire direction table calculated where moving ships would be when shells reached them.
The bunker was mothballed in 1957 and kept classified until 1981.
The computer was deliberately destroyed in 1957 to prevent it from falling into enemy hands.
The bunker was rediscovered in 2017 and is now opening to visitors.
Read the Original
Want the full story? Tap a source to open the original
article.
Lebanon asked Syria to arrest and extradite two Syrian nationals suspected of involvement in the killing of former Iraqi lawmaker Ahmed al-Alwani in Beirut. Lebanese investigators say preliminary findings indicate he was strangled and are examining a possible financial motive; a Lebanese national has been arrested and questioned.
Key Facts
Al-Alwani was found dead in an apartment in Beirut’s Tariq al-Jdideh neighbourhood on Tuesday evening.
A Lebanese judicial source said preliminary findings indicate that al-Alwani was strangled.
Lebanon’s Public Prosecutor’s office asked Damascus to arrest and hand over two Syrian nationals suspected in the killing.
The identities of the two Syrian suspects have not been determined, and Lebanese authorities arrested and questioned a Lebanese national.
Investigators are examining a possible financial motive for the killing.
Al-Alwani arrived in Beirut from Erbil on November 5 and left his hotel less than an hour after checking in, telling staff he was leaving with friends.
Al-Alwani represented Iraq’s Anbar province in parliament and was released from prison in April 2025 under Iraq’s General Amnesty Law after serving more than a decade.
Read the Original
Want the full story? Tap a source to open the original
article.
Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama said NATO will not hold its next summit in Albania in 2027, though he said Tirana could host a summit in 2028. A NATO official said the alliance plans to hold a summit in Albania but has not set a date. Albania also faces protests over government policies and alleged corruption, while NATO members have raised concerns about the country’s defense spending.
Key Facts
Rama said in Dublin that a NATO summit would not take place in Albania in 2027.
Rama said a 2028 summit could be held in Tirana.
A NATO official said the next summit will be held in Albania, but its date has not been decided.
NATO leaders said in a June 2025 declaration that they expected to meet in Türkiye in 2026 and then in Albania.
NATO members have expressed dissatisfaction with Albania’s defense spending.
Protests began in May after Rama gave preliminary approval to a resort project backed by Jared Kushner in protected areas of southern Albania.
The protests expanded to include demands for Rama’s resignation over alleged corruption and student demonstrations over university conditions.
Rama has rejected calls to resign and said the resort project complies with Albanian and European Union law.
Read the Original
Want the full story? Tap a source to open the original
article.
European officials and security experts have raised concerns that hoax threats and cyberattacks may form part of a broader hybrid warfare campaign. Atlantic Council senior fellow Elisabeth Braw said Russia seeks to increase its power at Europe’s expense and uses illegal and unethical tactics because it expects European countries not to respond in kind.
Key Facts
European concerns have grown over recent hoax threats and cyberattacks.
The activity may be part of a wider hybrid warfare campaign, which combines methods such as cyberattacks and intimidation.
Elisabeth Braw is a senior fellow with the Atlantic Council’s Transatlantic Security Initiative.
Braw said Russia aims to increase its power at the expense of European countries.
Braw said Russia uses illegal and unethical means because it expects Europe not to use the same methods in response.
Read the Original
Want the full story? Tap a source to open the original
article.
Hetton Academy in Hetton-le-Hole, near Sunderland, had 80% of pupils pass GCSE maths and English with at least grade 4 this summer. The school is among 339 non-selective secondary schools in England that averaged an 80% pass rate in those subjects over the three years to 2025, while research and school leaders point to family income and other pupil needs as factors linked to results.
Key Facts
Almost half of Hetton Academy’s pupils receive free school meals, a measure of low family income.
Almost all pupils at Hetton Academy are from a white working-class background.
A grade 4 in GCSE maths or English is roughly equivalent to a C under the former grading system.
Only 339 of around 3,000 English non-selective secondary schools with published data averaged an 80% pass rate in maths and English over the three years to 2025.
High-achieving schools generally have fewer pupils from the lowest-income families and fewer pupils with special educational needs than average.
An independent inquiry led by former Cabinet minister Baroness Morris began its second phase, examining why white working-class children lag behind their peers at school.
Professor John Jerrim of University College London said the likelihood of children from the poorest families passing key exams has barely changed since 2010.
Read the Original
Want the full story? Tap a source to open the original
article.
Russell Brand is being held at HMP Wandsworth after receiving a 10-year-and-six-month prison sentence following convictions for rape and sexual assault. A former inmate described the prison as harsh, while staff and former prisoners said Brand’s convictions and public profile could make him vulnerable to hostility from other inmates.
Key Facts
Brand was convicted of one count of rape and three counts of sexual assault.
He was sentenced to 10 years and six months in prison on Monday.
Brand has been held at HMP Wandsworth for about a week.
Former inmate Chris Atkins, who served eight months at Wandsworth for tax fraud, described the prison as “hell on earth.”
A source close to Brand said he had moved from isolation to a main wing and was doing well considering the circumstances.
A Wandsworth staff member said inmates had shouted Brand’s name and expressed anger about his offences.
Former prisoners said people convicted of sex offences can face a higher risk of assault and may find it harder to get prison jobs.
New inmates have possessions confiscated and receive basic items, including a prison tracksuit and a night pack of food and drink.
Read the Original
Want the full story? Tap a source to open the original
article.
Pope Leo XIV condemned machismo and violence against women in Peru and called for women to be valued, protected and respected. He also urged Peruvian bishops to promote unity and respond to clergy sexual abuse victims with truth and justice.
Key Facts
Leo said violence against women violates the Christian teaching that men and women have equal dignity.
He highlighted the added hardships faced by poor, Indigenous and Afro-Peruvian women.
Peru recorded 1,261 femicide victims from 2016 through 2024, according to the National Institute of Statistics and Informatics.
The number of femicide victims rose by 44% during that period.
Leo urged bishops to model unity and accompany their communities.
He called on bishops to address clergy sexual abuse with truth and justice.
About 40,000 people gathered in Lima's Plaza Mayor and sang Peruvian songs to welcome Leo.
Leo spent two decades as a missionary priest and bishop in Peru before becoming pope.
Read the Original
Want the full story? Tap a source to open the original
article.
Viral social media posts claimed satellite images showed thousands of boats in Nouadhibou, Mauritania, preparing to carry migrants to Spain’s Canary Islands. The images date to March 2025 and show fishing boats at a traditional fishing port, not a migrant fleet preparing to depart.
Key Facts
The satellite images show the port of Nouadhibou in northwestern Mauritania.
The images shared online date to March 2025, and similar boat concentrations appear in imagery from 2013 and 2005.
The boats shown are fishing vessels that support local families and supply markets with fish.
A social media post calling the images proof of an imminent mass crossing received more than 1.5 million views in 48 hours.
Mauritania is a departure and transit point for some migrants seeking to reach Europe through West Africa.
The Mauritanian navy rescued hundreds of people from overcrowded boats off Nouadhibou in late October and early November; there is no evidence they left from the port shown in the viral images.
Thousands of migrants have reached Spain’s Canary Islands in recent weeks, and authorities declared a migrant emergency.
Read the Original
Want the full story? Tap a source to open the original
article.
Six more women have accused Russell Brand of sexual misconduct, including continuing sex after they asked him to stop and unwanted touching. The allegations emerged after a London court convicted him of rape and sexual assault in separate cases and sentenced him to more than 10 years in prison; he was acquitted of three other charges.
Key Facts
A Times and Sunday Times investigation reported allegations from six additional women.
One woman alleged Brand continued trying to have sex after she told him to stop because he was not wearing a condom.
Another woman alleged he continued having sex after she said it was painful and asked him to stop.
A woman who met Brand in San Francisco in 2013 alleged he forced his hand down her trousers.
A woman said Brand asked her to have sex with him for money at a music festival in 2005.
A former guest on Brand’s BBC 6 Music show alleged he became angry when she refused to lick a toilet seat.
A woman who worked at a London venue alleged Brand grabbed her in a disabled toilet in 2015.
Brand was convicted of raping one woman and sexually assaulting three others, sentenced to more than 10 years in prison, and acquitted of two rape charges and one attempted indecent-assault charge.
Read the Original
Want the full story? Tap a source to open the original
article.
