Global and U.S. News

A federal judge sided with 25 states and the District of Columbia and blocked a Trump administration rule that would have required Medicaid enrollees seeking the 'medically frail' exemption from new work requirements to prove their impairment, the New York Times and Al Jazeera report. The states argued the rule would unlawfully strip coverage from very sick people.

An NPR investigation using unreported VA data finds that after the department ended its VA Servicing Purchase program on May 1, 2025, without a vote in Congress, more than 15,000 veterans whose loans were modified saw monthly payments rise by at least $150, and more than 700 by $1,000 or more. Sixty-three percent of VA modifications raised payments, against 2% for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loans, because the program that rolled missed payments into new loans at 2.5% was replaced by modifications at rates near 7%. The VA says it still helps veterans through forbearance, modifications and repayment plans.

The Justice Department issued subpoenas, a House oversight committee sought interviews and Alaska opened its own inquiry into the Democratic effort to put a second Dan Sullivan on the Senate ballot, the New York Times reports, four days before the election.

Brent crude rose more than 2% on Friday to briefly top $117 a barrel, more than 60% above pre-war levels, although Gulf crude exports averaged 24.6 million barrels a day in mid-October, above the pre-war average, according to Kpler data cited by Al Jazeera. The IEA puts inventories 509 million barrels below pre-war levels, freight costs have risen to as much as $40 a barrel, and October was the deadliest month for attacks on merchant ships since the war began, with 32 incidents recorded by UKMTO. Brent for delivery a year out still trades above $90.

The selloff in technology shares spread on Friday, with Wall Street headed for steep losses at the open after Amazon's results disappointed and stoked fears about the cost of the AI build-out, the Financial Times reports. Intel's shares plunged about 20% and European indexes slipped, the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times report, extending the rout that took $500bn off Alphabet on Wednesday.

Dutch TTF gas futures rose above €100 a megawatt-hour, a level first crossed on Oct. 28 for the first time since 2022, on fears of escalation in the Middle East and forecasts of lower wind and solar output, AFP reported. Prices stood near €30 before the Iran war began in February; the 2022 peak was €345.

About 91% of votes cast at Monte dei Paschi's shareholder meeting rejected the offers for other banks, worth together nearly $40bn, that chief executive Luigi Lovaglio launched in August to fend off a takeover by Intesa Sanpaolo, the Wall Street Journal reports.

France's economy contracted by 0.1% in the third quarter, the Financial Times reports, as the eurozone's second-largest economy grapples with high energy prices and rising borrowing costs. French, Italian and Belgian bond yields rose and the euro fell to a 19-month low against sterling on the news, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Ukraine hit a Russian oil refinery, ending a two-week halt in refinery attacks that Kyiv had observed under pressure from President Trump, the Wall Street Journal reports. The refinery campaign has been one of Ukraine's most effective tools against Moscow's revenue.

An evacuation of civilians from Russian-occupied Oleshky, under the local truce brokered by Melania Trump that took hold on Tuesday, has begun, the New York Times reports; many of those left in the constantly bombarded town have run out of food. About 2,000 of the town's 24,000 prewar residents remain and may choose to leave for Russia or Ukraine, with mine clearance preceding aid convoys, according to the terms reported by Al Jazeera.

Taiz governor Nabil Shamsan said the month-long Houthi siege lets no more than 1,000 of the 35,000 cubic metres of water the city needs each day past Houthi roadblocks, leaving 1,800 dialysis patients without supplies and 120 health centres suspended, the Guardian reports. He said 64 people were killed between August and Oct. 20 and more than 6,400 newly displaced families have arrived. Houthi leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi denies a siege; Human Rights Watch says the renewed effort to cut off food, water and medicine shows disregard for civilian lives.

A tanker transiting the Strait of Hormuz was attacked by a small boat carrying two explosive devices, the UK Maritime Trade Operations centre said, the Wall Street Journal reports; oil prices rose as Houthi claims added to supply fears.

The Centre for Information Resilience, a British open-source group, has identified 25 commanders from the RSF, the Sudanese army and allied forces who held authority at five sites during periods of reported sexual violence, Al Jazeera reports, while noting that presence does not establish that each ordered or committed rape. Among them are Abdul Rahim Hamdan Dagalo, the RSF's deputy commander, verified near el-Fasher, and an RSF major filmed apparently urging fighters to rape women in Northern State.

Binance said $6.3bn of digital assets were hit in a breach that began, by its initial account, with a compromised engineer's laptop that let an attacker submit unauthorized withdrawals; withdrawals are suspended and the exchange says it will cover all losses. Chainalysis, TRM Labs and Check Point attribute the theft to North Korea's TraderTraitor unit, and Tether and Circle have frozen about $2.4bn of it. The previous record was the $1.5bn Bybit hack in 2025; bitcoin fell more than 4% on the news.

The New York Times reports that American and Chinese technology companies are spending billions on vast data centres in Malaysia, straining local resources and testing the limits of Washington's restrictions on advanced chips.

BP reported third-quarter underlying replacement-cost profit of $8.46bn, up from $2.21bn a year earlier, and a sharp cut in net debt, the Wall Street Journal reports. The Guardian attributes the jump to refining margins lifted by the Middle East conflict.

Deaths involving the military under President Abelardo de la Espriella's campaign against 'narcoterrorism' have roiled Colombia, a country with a history of extrajudicial killings, the New York Times reports. In his first month, the Defence Ministry reported 14,914 arrests, and air strikes in Catatumbo and Guaviare killed about 30 people, including at least four minors, according to forensic reports cited by Lusa; the ombudsman has said 'even in war, there are limits'.

Hong Kong private-equity firm PAG agreed to buy a 51.02% stake in Evergrande Property Services for about $513m from the liquidators of China Evergrande, the FT and the Wall Street Journal report, a rare recovery for creditors of the world's most indebted property developer.

The UAE's nomination last week of Lana Nusseibeh, its former UN ambassador, to succeed António Guterres has drawn opposition from Sudanese diaspora figures and rights monitors, who cite her denials that the UAE arms the Rapid Support Forces, the Guardian reports. Kenneth Roth called her 'a completely unsuitable candidate'; Nusseibeh says she would support UN accountability efforts on Sudan. She needs nine of 15 Security Council votes and no permanent-member veto; Costa Rica's Rebeca Grynspan led an informal poll this month, and another straw poll could come as soon as Friday.

New research reported by NPR finds that nearly two out of three teens and tweens use AI chatbots, most for homework help and when they feel stressed, lonely or anxious, and that how they use them is tied to their mental health.

Researchers led by Palmira Saladié of Spain's IPHES-CERCA analysed about 1,000 human bones and teeth from three caves in Granada province and found cut marks, boiling and human bite marks spanning the Neolithic, in a study in the Journal of Archaeological Science. At Malalmuerzo at least 36 people, about 5300–4950 B.C., may have died in one violent episode; at Carigüela two skulls were made into cups, and at Majolicas cinnabar-stained bones suggest funerary ritual. The authors conclude cannibalism occurred at different times and for different reasons.

The Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air estimates that smoke from Indonesia's drought-driven fires caused 3,560 deaths in September, lifting total air-pollution deaths 42% from August to 5,310, Al Jazeera reports. A record 58 million people breathed unhealthy to hazardous air, and smoke accounted for nearly all pollution deaths in Kalimantan. The government says it has deployed more than 72,000 people to fight the fires and seed clouds.

The Bank of Japan held interest rates and said its 2% inflation goal had been reached after decades of deflation, guiding toward further tightening, the Financial Times reports; markets expect an increase in December.