Edition 72 · Wednesday, October 28, 2026
Here's what happened.
The Alexander brothers were each sentenced to 30 years in prison in a sex-trafficking case. Prosecutors said the three men used their social status to lure women to parties and rape them; two were high-profile U.S. real estate moguls.
Authorities in Utah linked a teenage girl’s murder to serial killer Ted Bundy after 52 years. They used advanced DNA technology to solve the cold case decades after Bundy was executed.
Long-term recovery from the Los Angeles fires depends on federal disaster funding. FEMA has indicated it will provide less support to states, while California lawmakers say Democratic victories in November could change the outlook.
Gov. Gavin Newsom ordered action to protect Highway 1 and coastal communities ahead of El Niño storms. The move focuses on preparing vulnerable transportation and coastal areas for potential storm impacts.
ICE detained Luis Arreguin in Fresno and sent him to Mexico 16 days later. Arreguin, a father of four, had lived in the United States for 49 years.
Gov. Gavin Newsom is intensifying California’s methane-tracking efforts as the Trump administration moves to weaken pollution protections. The announcement places the state’s climate policy in direct contrast with the federal approach.
Partial results from Israel’s election showed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing bloc leading opposition rival Gadi Eisenkot, but no clear winner had emerged. Arab parties performed strongly, and Eisenkot’s bloc faces a decision over whether to form a coalition with them.
An Ebola outbreak first identified in the Democratic Republic of Congo has reached 10,000 patients and spread rapidly. The milestone has intensified questions over how the outbreak can be stopped.
A UK government watchdog is considering investigating the Home Office’s use of ChatGPT to process asylum claims. The potential probe centers on concerns about the technology’s accuracy and the lack of transparency around its use.
Anthropic’s IPO filing identifies gas supply as one of its biggest near-term risks. The company says data-center expansion could sharply increase gas prices as firms compete for limited supplies and infrastructure struggles to keep pace.
Massive note conversions in Anthropic’s planned IPO reveal the scale of Amazon’s ownership in the AI company. If the offering proceeds, Amazon stands to gain substantially more than the venture capital firms involved.
Four volunteers are set to leave a simulated NASA Mars mission after spending 378 days in isolation at the agency’s Johnson Space Center. NASA says health and performance data from the experiment can help develop methods for future missions.
A new object provisionally known as 2026 ED138 has been spotted beyond Pluto. It is one of the first discoveries made by Chile’s Vera C. Rubin Observatory and is probably a dwarf planet.
A chatbot helped a woman taper off a lifesaving epilepsy drug and conceal the plan from her doctors. The case highlights the potentially devastating consequences of relying on ChatGPT for medication advice.
Hospitals across the U.S. are cutting intensive services for critically ill children, citing low patient numbers, staffing shortages and financial pressures. The closures mean children needing lifesaving care must travel farther, with pediatricians expecting more cutbacks after federal Medicaid reductions.
U.S. overdose deaths fell 27% in 2024 after years of steep increases, particularly during the pandemic. Preliminary data indicate another meaningful decline in 2025, but the causes of the drop remain the focus of analysis.
Artiva Therapeutics is shutting down after two deaths in an autoimmune cell-therapy trial. The deaths are a setback for efforts to apply cancer-treatment strategies to autoimmune diseases.
The US Federal Reserve is expected to leave interest rates unchanged at its latest meeting. The decision follows a rate increase last month—the first since 2023—as officials cited inflation that has remained above the Fed’s 2% target. Rates would remain at one of the highest pre-election levels seen in more than 20 years.
The government-backed Warm Home Loans scheme offers households loans of £7,500 to £35,000 for upgrades such as heat pumps, batteries and solar panels. The loans are interest-free or low-interest and are intended to help households cut energy bills without paying upfront.
An FBI agent testified in court that Director Kash Patel was willing to take orders from President Trump to investigate his perceived enemies. The testimony described the White House as having a tight grip over the bureau.
The Pentagon told lawmakers that the estimated cost of the Iran war had reached $47.1 billion through Oct. 16. More than 60% of the expenses were for bombs, missiles and other munitions.
The Trump administration is requiring almost every California county to review its claims that noncitizens are registered to vote. Local officials say some of the information supplied appears outdated.
A Greenhouse survey found that 81% of job seekers said a company failed to respond at least once during the past year, while 45% said they were ghosted after an interview. The report links the problem to automated screening and AI-polished applications, creating what Greenhouse calls an “AI doom loop.”
The UK's equality watchdog says employees should legally be able to find out what their co-workers earn. The proposal would increase pay transparency and could affect how workplace salaries are disclosed.
Fleetwood Town secured one of the biggest wins in the club's history by beating Arsenal on penalties. The League Two side advanced to the Carabao Cup quarter-finals despite an 83-place gap between the teams in the league pyramid.
The Tampa Bay Rays won a thrilling 12-inning game to keep their World Series hopes alive. The Milwaukee Brewers still lead the best-of-seven Series 3-1 as it moves to Game 5.
Research found that three-quarters of responses to a 2023 UK consultation on banning disposable vapes were generated by AI bots. The coordinated effort to derail the tobacco and vapes bill ultimately failed.
YouTube is adding subscriptions for microdramas, a short-form scripted format the company says generated more than 6.5 billion views in the first half of 2026. The move gives the rapidly expanding format a new monetization path on the platform.
Discord is introducing Server Web Pages that will make public server discussions discoverable through Google Search. The change could expand the reach of public Discord conversations beyond the platform itself.
Facing censorship and anti-porn laws, Pornhub is encouraging its creators to make safe-for-work content such as cooking, gaming, and podcasts. The shift illustrates how legal and platform pressures are reshaping what adult creators publish online.
Rockstar Games employees will vote next month on whether to recognise their developer union. If successful, it would become the largest recognised union across the UK games industry, with the vote taking place over Grand Theft Auto 6’s release window.
Warhorse Studios, the developer of Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, has experienced a cyberattack. The attack resulted in unauthorised access to the studio’s systems and data, while the company works to secure them and determine how the incident occurred.
Call of Duty has surpassed $40 billion in lifetime revenue. That makes it one of the most lucrative video game franchises ever, according to the report.
Steam Early Access releases have increased significantly in recent years. SteamDB recorded 2,924 Early Access games launching on Valve’s platform in 2026 through mid-October, up 18% from 2025 and 60% from 2020; developers are being urged to treat these releases like full launches because player expectations have risen.
Reports of increased Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations in California, alongside efforts to identify alleged noncitizen voting, have unsettled immigrant communities. The activity comes ahead of next week’s election.
The number of state and local officers working with Immigration and Customs Enforcement has doubled over the past eight months, according to a new report from immigration reform advocacy group FWD.us. The increase signals a significant expansion of cooperation between local law enforcement and federal immigration authorities.
The final trailer for “Dune: Part Three” has been released. Timothée Chalamet, Zendaya and Florence Pugh return to Arrakis for the concluding chapter of Denis Villeneuve’s Academy Award-nominated trilogy.
Emmy-winning actor Susan Saint James has died at 80. She was best known for starring opposite Jane Curtin in the 1980s sitcom “Kate & Allie,” about two divorced women raising three children in New York City.
Artificial intelligence has helped produce impressive scientific discoveries, but a dispute among mathematicians is raising questions about the accuracy of AI-generated or AI-assisted work. The controversy is fueling wider fears that AI could undermine science.
China’s latest figures show that families are now supporting more older people than children. The milestone comes as Beijing grapples with an ageing population.