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Microbiologist Aili Wang, 32, poisoned tea of colleague in Wyoming who had pending patents, prosecutors allegeA Wyoming microbiology graduate student from China has been arrested on accusations she poisoned the tea of a colleague who had pending patents and with whom she did not get along, then tried to flee the country after police questioned her.Aili Wang, 32, was arrested 6 October at Los Angeles international airport, where prosecutors allege she sought to return to China. With her were laptops, electronic storage devices and documents now in the possession of police, who allege Wang was seen on surveillance video rummaging through the desk of the victim who specialized in technology for disease treatment – research similar to work she had done in China. Continue reading...

Boardwalk destroyed in Long Beach and homes damaged, while Baja California in Mexico and Las Vegas also affectedSouthern California coastal communities are picking up the pieces after a weekend of extreme weather brought flooding that overtook city streets and intense waves battered beachside homes.The remnants of Tropical Storm Rachel hit Mexico’s Baja California over the weekend as well as southern California and Las Vegas. While meteorologists noted that Rachel weakened into a post-tropical cyclone as it approached California, it still left a trail of destruction. Continue reading...

The United States was one of just three nations to vote against a declaration on “pandemic prevention, preparedness and response” that was adopted by the United Nations, drawing alarm from public health advocates.“They are going to kill us,” advocate Laura Miers, best known for her commentary on COVID-19, wrote in a social media post on X Tuesday.Adopted in a vote of 153-3, with two abstentions, the declaration outlines how countries can improve their response to future pandemics and includes 64 recommendations such as expanding access to vaccines, committing to protect vulnerable populations, and strengthening international coordination. The declaration is not legally binding.The United States, Israel and Argentina were the only nations to vote against adopting the declaration. New Zealand and Paraguay abstained from the vote.The text had been expected to pass by consensus at a high-level meeting in September, but objections from the United States and a few other countries forced a vote, according to UN News. The U.S. representative had cited “divisive ideologies that lack definitional consensus,” as well as the declaration’s references to ongoing negotiations over an annex to the World Health Organization’s pandemic agreement.“Now why would the US, Israel, and Argentina very specifically vote NO on a new global pandemic preparedness declaration?” Miers asked. “Let’s think about this for a moment.”Colorado-based journalist Mat Smith blamed Republicans.“Republicans stopped believing in science when it became profitable to do so,” Smith wrote, reacting to the U.S. vote against the pandemic preparedness declaration.For decades, the United States has often voted against the overwhelming consensus of the United Nations alongside Israel, particularly on issues related to Palestine.In 2021, the United States and Israel were the only nations to vote against a resolution affirming that having access to food was a human right. The United States and Israel were the only nations to vote against ending the longstanding U.S. embargo on Cuba in 2024, and in 2023, the United States and Israel were joined by just two other nations, Micronesia and Nauru, in voting against affirming Palestinians’ right to self-determination.The United Nations General Assembly adopted a new Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness, and Response (PPPR) declaration. The United States, Israel, & Argentina stood alone & voted against it. They are going to kill us. https://t.co/3q7s0Ca260— Laura Miers (@LauraMiers) October 13, 2026

Marches in Delhi against changes to voting registration led to dragnets, internet blackouts – and questions about India’s electoral independence. Plus, the cinematographer capturing the beauty of the mundane• Don’t get This is India delivered to your inbox? Sign up hereMonths of simmering public anger have given rise to a season of discontent in India. In its latest iteration, the demand is for the removal of chief election commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and the scrapping of a controversial electoral rolls revision that has struck 130 million people off the register. Protests have erupted every day over the past week, prompting a violent crackdown on dissenters in the capital.Over the weekend, Delhi was effectively under lockdown, transformed into a militarised landscape of barricades, road closures and paramilitary forces marching through the streets. Ahead of a protest led by the Cockroach Janta party on Saturday, authorities deployed a massive dragnet: 245 trains to Delhi were cancelled, 45 metro stations were shut, liquor shops were closed, internet services were cut off in the heart of the city and activists were put under house arrest. Continue reading...

President Donald Trump's announced ceasefire between Ukraine and Russia on Sunday carries some significant risks and shows that the president's efforts to make lasting peace between the two countries may be "dead in the water," according to one political analyst. Trump wrote on Truth Social that "there is an ENERGY CEASEFIRE (sic) in the War between Russia and Ukraine" and that "both parties have agreed." Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy described the announcement as a surprise to him, and told Ukrainian citizens in a nightly address that Russian attacks on Ukraine's energy infrastructure were ongoing despite Trump's announcement. Jill Dougherty, a journalist and expert on Russia, sounded that alarm about the announced ceasefire during an interview with CNN's Frederika Whitfield on "CNN Newsroom." "So this situation is quite dire, and it's very delicate for Zelenskyy to be diplomatic and yet stand up for his own country," Dougherty said. "It's very, very difficult right now."Dougherty noted that the international community is not taking the announced ceasefire seriously. It was announced at a time when Trump and Russian president Vladimir Putin had agreed for Russia to sell diesel fuel to the U.S. in an effort to reduce costs ahead of the consequential midterms. Zelenskyy blasted the diesel deal during an interview on Sunday, saying it would give Putin more money that he can use to escalate Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine. Dougherty added that the ceasefire announcement also revealed how Trump's efforts to make peace between the two countries have failed. "Remember, Mr. Trump, years ago at the beginning, said, 'I will solve this in 24 hours.' And so now it's been a very long time. He hasn't solved it, and he has to begin to show that there is some progress," Dougherty said. "But right now, those talks that have been taking place ... just a couple of days ago in Miami, seem truly dead in the water. And so to say there's a ceasefire, maybe that sounds good domestically, but nobody seems to be taking it at all as the truth."

President Donald Trump was ridiculed en masse Sunday after the purported ceasefire he claimed had been brokered between Russia and Ukraine fell apart within hours.“What can you even say,” wrote investigative journalist and writer Ilya Lozovsky in a social media post on X.Sunday morning, Trump took to social media to claim that an agreement had been reached between Russia and Ukraine to halt attacks on energy infrastructure.“Effective immediately, there is an ENERGY CEASEFIRE in the War between Russia and Ukraine,” he wrote. “Both parties have agreed. Do not break it!”Moments later, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said of the purported agreement, “the ceasefire was news to me,” but said he would agree to halt attacks on Russian energy targets if Moscow followed suit.Hours later, Zelenskyy said that Russian strikes on Ukrainian energy sites had continued despite Trump’s claim.“There were strikes, unfortunately, with aerial bombs,” Zelenskyy said during his nightly video address, according to Reuters. “There were strikes on our energy infrastructure. Just now, there was a strike on the joint power and heating plant in the city of Kharkiv — hitting Kharkiv’s energy system.”Former Republican congressman Adam Kinzinger sarcastically expressed shock that Trump’s purported agreement had proven to be false.“What??? Trump lied???” Kinzinger wrote.And Anne Applebaum, Pulitzer Prize-winning historian and journalist, issued Trump an especially harsh condemnation.“Trump announces an energy ceasefire. Ukrainians learn about it from social media. Immediately, there are more Russian strikes on Ukrainian energy infrastructure,” Applebaum wrote. “The president lives in a fantasy world of his own construction.”Trump announces an energy ceasefire. Ukrainians learn about it from social media. Immediately, there are more Russian strikes on Ukrainian energy infrastructure.The president lives in a fantasy world of his own construction— Anne Applebaum (@anneapplebaum) October 11, 2026

With the midterms just weeks away, a cascade of attacks across the Middle East has left the Trump administration facing what one geopolitical expert called “only the BEGINNING of the October Surprise,” one that was predicted by another expert months prior.Yemen’s Houthi militants carried out a deadly attack on Saudi Arabia’s capital Saturday, the third such attack in recent weeks. The Houthis have also strengthened their hold on the Bab al-Mandab Strait, a critical global shipping chokepoint, much like the Strait of Hormuz, where strikes have intensified over the past several days, Al Jazeera reported Sunday.Vessels have also been struck outside the Strait of Hormuz in recent days, such as a tanker struck in the Gulf of Oman, according to British Navy agency UKMTO data reviewed by Reuters, and Iraqi militias have been discovered to be coordinating with Iran to threaten its Gulf state neighbors.“We are witnessing only the BEGINNING of the October Surprise. Vessels are being hit constantly by Iran. And not just ‘little hits.’ The radius of the strike area has expanded into the Gulf of Oman and Persian Gulf,” wrote geopolitical expert Brett Erickson Sunday in a statement published on social media.“Ansar Allah (Houthis) are striking airports and energy infrastructure across Saudi [Arabia]. Iraqi militias are ready to join the fight. This is a disaster that a TODDLER could have predicted.”The “October Surprise” Erickson described was predicted back in August by foreign policy expert Trita Parsi, who warned at the time that President Donald Trump’s apparent strategy to “push the [Iran] conflict out of the minds of voters” would likely backfire.“If Washington wants to keep things quiet until the midterms, Tehran may conclude that the optimal moment to strike back is two or three weeks before the Congressional elections, maximizing the political damage to Trump,” Parsi warned in August.Parsi doubled down on his prediction in early September, warning that “all signs” were pointing to a “major escalation” from Iran sometime in October, just weeks away from the U.S. midterms.We are witnessing only the BEGINNING of the October Surprise.Vessels are being hit constantly by Iran. And not just “little hits”. The radius of the strike area has expanded into the Gulf of Oman and Persian Gulf.Ansar Allah (Houthis) are striking airports and energy infrastructure across Saudi.Iraqi militias are ready to join the fight.This is a disaster that a TODDLER could have predicted.— Brett Erickson (@BrettErickson28) October 11, 2026

Yemen’s Houthi militants carried out a deadly attack on U.S. ally Saudi Arabia Saturday that killed at least 12 people and injured more than 300, but the looming midterms will likely limit the Trump administration’s response, according to conflict analyst Hisham Al-Omeisy.“Fortunately, I don’t see them rushing for major action,” Al-Omeisy, senior Yemen adviser at the European Institute of Peace, told Al Jazeera for its report published Sunday. “The last thing the administration needs is getting stuck in another quagmire in the region, especially with what’s happening in Hormuz that has not been resolved yet.”Saturday’s attack saw the Iran-backed Houthis strike Riyadh's King Khalid International Airport, which the group previously struck last week and last month. Trump told reporters on Saturday that his administration “may” retaliate against the Houthis militarily, but according to Al-Omeisy, that was unlikely given the administration’s unresolved conflict with Iran, which continues to keep fuel prices elevated heading into the midterms.The Houthis have continued their campaign to exert more control over the Bab al-Mandab Strait, a critical global shipping chokepoint in the Red Sea, much like the Strait of Hormuz. The group announced a blockade on all Saudi oil exports transiting the Bab al-Mandab Strait in July, one that its territorial gains have only made stronger in recent weeks.Even if the Trump administration were to move forward with strikes against the Houthis, such efforts would prove futile, warned F. Gregory Gause, a Saudi specialist at the Middle East Institute in Washington, D.C.“The only realistic solution for the Saudis is an end to the Iranian-American war, in which the U.S. gets the Iranians to commit the Houthis to an end of hostilities as part of the overall deal,” Gause told The New York Times Sunday. “Unfortunately for the Saudis, it is not clear how much President Trump listens to them on this.”