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Fasting: The Delicious Biblical Practice of Going Without Spiritual practices, sometimes referred to as spiritual disciplines, are a great gift to us. They are given as ways to deepen our relationship with God and loosen the hold the world has on us. The one practice that may attain that result the quickest, though certainly not the easiest, is fasting. https://www.biblegateway.com/learn/biblical-living/discipleship/fasting-practice-going-without/?

October 20, 2026 By Sam Sifton Good morning. President Trump said last night that the Agriculture Department would provide $8 billion in economic aid to farmers hurt by high diesel prices. And France extended curfews after the measures “helped keep the night calm” in the wake of riots. There’s more below. But first, let’s see what’s happening in Ukraine. Ukrainian military surveillance videos Death from above The front line of the war in Ukraine stretches 750 miles, almost the distance between Chicago and Dallas. Armies of drones fly over all of it, constantly. They watch. They hunt. They strike. It makes for a new kind of battlefield, one where anything that moves is a target. It was not that way when Russia launched its full-scale invasion in 2022. Then, the boundaries were clear, as front lines have been for centuries: Troops massed in trenches on opposite sides of a no-man’s land, battling one another in a narrow area. No longer. The drones have widened the front by miles and miles, making it a huge and dangerous area in which neither side really holds control. Death stalks everyone within it. The Times wrote about two Ukrainian soldiers who spent time in that crucible, which some call the kill zone. They hid out from buzzing drones in a house half-destroyed by attacks. To keep from being targeted, they hardly left it, relieving themselves in bottles and bags rather than going outside. They slept pressed together in winter, rather than lighting a fire. When they managed to kill Russian soldiers, they dragged the bodies into the house, so that Russian drones would not see evidence of fighting. Those Russian soldiers were close, sometimes extremely so. Once, when one of the Ukrainian soldiers turned on his phone, it offered to connect to a Russian Wi-Fi router. “I immediately turned the phone off,” he told The Times. Josh Holder/The New York Times Sources: BlackBird Group (territorial control as of April 1, 2026); Russian documents obtained by The Times (Russian positions); Project Owl (Ukrainian positions). The front, transformed The rise of drone warfare has changed how armies fight. Soldiers used to march to the front. Now they have to crawl there at night, under thermal blankets that block the heat signature that would give them away. Armored vehicles could scout the roads before a ground assault on a village or town. A few soldiers on A.T.V.s play that role now, riskily. And trench warfare? That’s over. It’s easy to target a trench. So soldiers hide out in abandoned buildings or dig underground bunkers. Henadii and Mykhailo in the Zaporizhzhia region in May. Finbarr O’Reilly for The New York Times And they stay a long time. Regular rotation of troops in and out of battle is too dangerous under a drone-filled sky. Henadii and Mykhailo, the two Ukrainian soldiers The Times interviewed, were in the kill zone for more than six months. (Like all Ukrainian soldiers The Times spoke to, they asked to be identified only by their first names or call signs, for security reasons.) Their experience was hellish. Vehicles can’t bring supplies, so drones dropped them food and water, at least when the drones made it to them. Sometimes they didn’t. Each man lost 40 pounds. Getting home Leaving the kill zone was the most dangerous part of the deployment. Russia’s drones can patrol six miles into the enemy territory, and the soldiers had to hike through that zone. It took the two men days, as their commander guided them by radio, moving them on and off their path by watching a live feed from a reconnaissance drone floating above them. “Move left. Move right,” Mykhailo said, recalling the orders. “We zigzagged like hares.” They slept in bombed-out houses and picked their way home through the front slowly. It had to have been terrifying. One day, a Russian drone blew up a house where they’d slept, just 10 minutes after they left. The men who eventually arrived at their unit’s command post looked very different from the ones who had left it a half-year before: thinner, with haunted expressions and thick, unruly facial hair. A photo released by the Ukrainian military shows Mykhailo, left, and Henadii, right, soon after arriving back at their base in March. Ukraine’s 128th Heavy Mechanized Brigade The unit posted a video of Henadii inhaling a chocolate cake, The Times reported: “His wife saw it and called. In all of their years together, she said, he had always insisted he hated chocolate cake. ‘Must have been the hunger,’ Henadii said, smiling.” Read the whole article. It’s by Constant Méheut, Josh Holder and Olha Konovalova. For more on the war Volodymyr Zelensky said in an interview with Bloomberg that President Trump was trying to force Ukraine to surrender. Trump’s push to make deals with Russia indicates that he wants to normalize relations with Moscow even if it means further undercutting Ukraine. Over the weekend, a mysterious Russian satellite moved threateningly close to a U.S. commercial radar satellite used by the Ukrainian military. FREE TO READ Barbara Palvin Frazer Harrison/Getty Images for Victoria's Secret Maternity leave: Barbara Palvin walked the runway at the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show six weeks after giving birth. Here’s how people reacted. Evolution: How did life arise on Earth? Three moments offer clues. Sick trees: Overlapping plagues are killing American forests. Read why. A reader asks: Does my suit make me look MAGA? Our fashion critic has answers. Your pick: The most clicked link in The Morning yesterday was about how families in Oklahoma are struggling to pay their electricity bills. THE LATEST NEWS Midterm Elections Note: Data includes only broadcast and streaming ads aired between Sept. 9, 2026 and Oct. 17, 2026. Source: AdImpact. The New York Times Trump has implored voters to “pretend I’m on the ballot” in the midterms. But these charts show he has all but disappeared from Republican ads. Trump began a six-day tour to drive Republican turnout in deep-red states like South Carolina that the party did not view as competitive just a few months ago. See where else he’s going. Our White House correspondent Tyler Pager has been traveling with the president during the campaign. In the video below, he describes what that’s been like. Click to watch. The New York Times More on Politics Gavin Newsom, Kamala Harris, Mark Kelly, Pete Buttigieg, Raphael Warnock and Ro Khanna are all going to New Hampshire this month. Welcome to the 2028 presidential “shadow primary.” A federal judge grilled government officials about whether the Trump administration had been plotting to renovate a Washington golf course while hiding it from the court. Mahmoud Khalil, the Columbia graduate arrested by ICE during a crackdown on pro-Palestinian protests last year, appealed to the Supreme Court to stop his deportation. Israel The police detained at least 10 Israelis after recent attacks in the West Bank. Rights groups say most inquiries into extremist assaults on Palestinians go nowhere. Thousands of Israelis living in the United States are expected to fly to Israel to vote in the election. Trump endorsed Benjamin Netanyahu in his re-election bid. Will that change anything? More International News The riots in France reflect frustration across Europe with low economic growth, high inflation and poor prospects for young people. Voters in Alberta rejected a proposal to consider seceding from Canada. A priest in Ecuador died after a large wooden crucifix fell on him during a livestreamed Mass. Other Big Stories Elon Musk said he would give one SpaceX share to “every kid in America” next year. California’s latest climate change report includes dire projections like more extreme floods and a rise in deaths from wildfire smoke. IN ONE GRAPHIC Source: State Department. Albert Sun/The New York Times Legal immigration has plunged during Trump’s crackdown on illegal migrants. Browse charts that show the effect on different places. OPINIONS Americans dream of escaping to France, a memoirist writes from Paris, but the riots reveal a troubled country. Fraternity culture thrives on sexual violence, a Cornell professor argues. She says the men bond by protecting one another from accountability. TODAY’S NUMBER A restored Volkswagen Microbus. Jim Motavalli $275,000 — That is the price of a restored and electrified 1966 Volkswagen Microbus. A new one starts at $59,995. See inside both of them. SPORTS M.L.B.: The Tampa Bay Rays will face the Milwaukee Brewers in the World Series, after beating the Cleveland Guardians in Game 6 of the American League Championship Series. W.N.B.A.: The Atlanta Dream tied the finals series with a win over the Golden State Valkyries. N.F.L.: The Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts will miss the rest of the season: He has blood clots in both lungs. RECIPE OF THE DAY Karsten Moran for The New York Times Mushrooms on toast is one of the great autumnal meals. I use more crème fraîche than the recipe calls for, and a big splash of sherry to make the dressing more gravy-like. Could you slide a fried egg onto the top of each toast for even more heft? Of course you could, and I hope you do. THE FIGHTING FESTIVAL In Japan last month. The Yomiuri Shimbun Every fall, hundreds of Japanese citizens come together to careen extremely heavy floats in the shape of temples down streets at great speed, an ancient tradition known as danjiri. But a recent series of fatal accidents has prompted anxiety about the ritual. It’s a dangerous thrill. More on culture More than 60 years ago, Leslie Fiedler published “Love and Death in the American Novel,” a huge slab of literary criticism that was met with outrage and praise for its characterization of “a squirming freight of symbolic incest in our best fiction, as well as eroticized male bonding and a bedrock inability to deal with adult women and adult sexuality,” in the words of our critic Dwight Garner. I don’t know if many will read the book, but Dwight’s review of its recent reissue is an absolute treat. The American conceptual artist Jenny Holzer has a new solo show at the Musée d’Orsay in Paris. She talked to The Times about it, and about her birth as an artist: “At about 5 or 6 years old — before I became repressed and tried to be a good, normal person — I had a longstanding, very ambitious art project on a whole roll of shelf paper that my mother gave me. I started to draw and paint the history of the world, including Noah’s Ark and the invention of the Model T Ford.” Read the interview. Late night hosts had thoughts about Katie Zacharia’s brief tenure as Trump’s press secretary. THE MORNING RECOMMENDS Listen to Lana Del Rey’s duet with Zach Bryan: “Lies,” a hymn-like ballad about obsession and betrayal. Plus nine more songs we’re talking about this week. Prevent falls. These five tips will help you stay upright. Improve your dining-room tablescaping with the help of tapered candles. The firebugs at Wirecutter have found the best ones out there. Subscribe to New York Times Games. Get Super Duolingo for free. For a limited time, annual Games subscribers can enjoy 6 months of language learning with Super Duolingo. Subscribe now GAMES Here is today’s Spelling Bee. Yesterday’s pangram was wheeling. And here are today’s Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections, Crossplay and Strands. Thanks for spending part of your morning with The Times and me. Not a subscriber? That’s not a problem. Just download the Times app and you’ll have free access to all our journalism for a month. All of it. Free! See you tomorrow. — Sam Sign up here to get this newsletter in your inbox. Reach our team at themorning@nytimes.com. Host: Sam Sifton Editor: Adam B. Kushner News Editor: Tom Wright-Piersanti News Staff: Evan Gorelick, Brent Lewis, Lara McCoy, Karl Russell Saturday Writer: Melissa Kirsch Editorial Director, Newsletters: Jodi Rudoren Deputy Editorial Director: Lauren Jackson

Houthis attack besieged city in Yemen that UN says is at ‘grave risk’ TAIZ, Yemen (AP) — Iran-backed Houthi rebels struck a residential area in Yemen’s third-largest city on Tuesday, killing two teenage girls and renewing attention on the dangers faced by civilians in Taiz, which has been under attack and siege during the country’s escalating conflict. https://apnews.com/article/yemen-houthis-saudi-fighting-8a036054a8f0cd38ff8ee0101947f708?

Supreme Court rejects effort to revive Khalid Sheikh Mohammed plea deal Supreme Court to hear case on race in middle school admissions Supreme Court agrees to review a Reconstruction-era ban on distilling spirits in private homes

Justice Department charges more than 2 dozen in California sweep targeting alleged noncitizen voters Federal authorities charged 28 foreign nationals Monday in California as part of a sweep dubbed Operation Protect the Vote. The Justice Department said they are lawful permanent residents — but not U.S. citizens who are permitted to legally vote. Read more. What to know: The 28 are charged with crimes that include making false statements on a naturalization application and submitting fraudulent voter registrations. “This causes real damage to real elections and real damage to American citizens,” Trent McCotter, the acting deputy attorney general at the Justice Department, said during a news conference in Los Angeles. The arrests are part of a Trump administration effort to root out noncitizen voting ahead of next month’s midterm elections, even though data shows that the problem is incredibly rare, difficult to prove and has not been shown to change the outcome of races. Rob Bonta, California’s Democratic attorney general, said Monday that there is no widespread voter fraud in California and that he expects his state to prevail in the federal government’s lawsuit. The Republican administration “has provided us with no facts of any ineligible voters, just a conclusory statement with no evidence to back it,” he said.

Europe faces autumn of protests over fuel, food, and housing crisis Crowds have protested for weeks in major cities, with some demonstrations marked by arrests, looting, injuries and violence across France, Italy and Albania. In Spain and Portugal, tent camps have sprung up to protest unaffordable housing. Read more. What to know: Young Europeans are experiencing “a strong sense of uncertainty and a lack of control,” said María Silvestre, professor of sociology at the University of Deusto in Spain. Cities have turned into battlefields as top EU economies, including France, Italy and Spain, approach pivotal elections, while far-right parties have made electoral gains in Germany and could do so elsewhere. Right-wing politicians have seized on the chaos. While protests in France have appeared broad-based, Trump portrayed immigrants as responsible for the destruction, writing Monday on his Truth Social platform: “The migrants have taken over France. They must CLOSE THE BORDERS, FAST!” RELATED COVERAGE ➤ How France’s worst rioting in years erupted and how the government responded From protests to election, Serbia’s students mount a challenge to populist strongman Vucic WATCH: Seventh day of protests in Albanian capital sees clashes with police Photos of youth around the world protesting for education, housing and political change

US ties with Ukraine hit new low as Trump slights Zelenskyy and eases up on Russia The U.S.-Ukraine alliance is careening toward a possible breaking point, with Moscow strengthened by President Donald Trump’s recent rejection of new Russia sanctions and Kyiv undermined by disruptions in satellite support for its drones during the war. Read more. Why this matters: “At this moment in time, things look blacker than they ever had regarding this administration’s policy towards Russia and Ukraine,” said John Herbst, a former ambassador to Ukraine under President George W. Bush. Current relations threaten to tip the balance of the war in Russia's favor and imperil America's security interests across the globe. The Wall Street Journal reported that Vladimir Putin raised the prospect of a meeting with Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping to negotiate an end to the war in Ukraine. Trump told reporters Monday that he was open to it but expected it to focus on denuclearization efforts. Asked whether he would be willing to negotiate the end of the war without Zelenskyy, Trump appeared to indicate yes. RELATED COVERAGE ➤ Zelenskyy says Ukraine got no early warning from partners as Russia hits the power grid again WATCH: Ukraine video claims to show the first-ever battlefield air evacuation by a drone Homeland Security grants temporary deportation reprieve for more than 100K Ukrainians and Sudanese

THIS DAY IN HISTORY October 20 1947 Congress investigates Communists in Hollywood The notorious Red Scare kicks into high gear in Washington, D.C., when the House Un-American Activities Committee begins investigated alleged Communists in Hollywood. read more Sponsored Content by REVCONTENT 19th Century 1803 U.S. Senate ratifies the Louisiana Purchase African History 2011 Libyan dictator Muammar al-Qaddafi is killed American Revolution 1774 Congress creates the Continental Association Arts & Entertainment 1977 Three members of the southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd die in a Mississippi plane crash 1994 Actor Burt Lancaster dies 1854 French poet Arthur Rimbaud is born 1973 Sydney Opera House opens 1962 “Monster Mash” hits No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart Asian History 1935 Mao’s Long March concludes Sports 1968 Dick Fosbury flops to an Olympic high jump record U.S. Government and Politics 1973 Watergate special prosecutor dismissed in so-called “Saturday Night Massacre” U.S. Presidents 1962 President Kennedy secretly plans blockade of Cuba World War II 1944 General MacArthur returns to the Philippines

⚾ 1 for the road: Title-less World Series Tampa Bay Rays third baseman Junior Caminero slides into home past Cleveland Guardians catcher Patrick Bailey in Game 6 of the ALCS last night in St. Petersburg, Fla. Photo: David J. Phillip/AP The Tampa Bay Rays will face the Milwaukee Brewers in a World Series guaranteed to crown a first-time champion. The Rays beat the Cleveland Guardians in six games for the AL pennant. It'll be the first World Series between title-less teams since the Philadelphia Phillies defeated the Kansas City Royals in 1980. Milwaukee is MLB's smallest market. 🎲 The Brew Crew is favored to win the Fall Classic, which begins Friday night in Milwaukee. World Series preview (ESPN).

🚀 Martian moon mystery A rendering of Japan's MMX probe reaching Mars' moon Phobos. Image: JAXA Japan has launched a potentially historic mission to scoop up soil samples from Phobos — one of Mars' two lumpy, potato-esque moons — and return them to Earth, Axios' Alex Fitzpatrick writes. Why it matters: The Martian Moons eXploration (MMX) mission could reveal how the red planet's two weird little moons came to exist. 🌔 Some researchers believe they're remnants of a long-ago collision between Mars and some other body. Others think they're former asteroids captured by Mars' gravitational pull. Keep reading.

🏛️ Zelensky turns to Capitol Hill Photo illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios. Photos: Al Drago/Bloomberg, Mert Gokhankoc/ dia image via Getty Images Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky lobbied a bipartisan group of senators yesterday to press the Trump administration to remove what he claimed were restrictions on intelligence sharing and weapons supplies, Axios' Barak Ravid writes. Why it matters: Ukrainian officials say the Trump administration has quietly imposed these limits without admitting it publicly in an attempt to press Zelensky to accept a deal to end the war that includes more concessions to Russia. Behind the scenes: During a virtual meeting with a bipartisan group of senators led by Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Zelensky laid out the various problems Ukraine has been experiencing since the Miami meeting. Elon Musk's Starlink and the U.S. military's Starshield satellite systems remain partially restricted — despite claims by the White House to the contrary. On three occasions in the past week, Ukraine didn't receive early warnings from the U.S. about Russian ballistic missile attacks, Zelensky said, suggesting it was a sign that intelligence sharing has been curbed. ps:A very big waste of his time! Congress will do nothing until trump is out of there!!

💸 Charted: America's expensive deficit Data: Office of Management and Budget via FRED, U.S. Treasury. (2026 GDP estimated using extrapolated Q3 growth.) Chart: Emily Peck/Axios The U.S. budget deficit is ballooning and reached $2 trillion this fiscal year, Axios' Emily Peck writes. Why it matters: That's the largest deficit since 2021, when the U.S. was climbing out of the pandemic recession. The deficit is driven in part by the cost of paying interest on the nation's enormous debt at a time when rates are rising. The federal government paid out $1.052 trillion in net interest on its outstanding debt for the 2026 fiscal year, which ended Sept. 30.

AI is hitting an energy wall Illustration: Lindsey Bailey/Axios Silicon Valley moves fast and breaks things, but the U.S. electrical grid moves slowly and requires permits, Axios AI+ co-author Madison Mills writes. The explosive growth of AI is colliding with the glacial pace of building out new power infrastructure, prompting a new warning from Goldman Sachs that energy bottlenecks are set to stall the AI race. Why it matters: Amid a wave of anxiety from Wall Street about the debt-fueled AI buildout, Goldman points to power as the biggest risk to trillions in spending in a new report shared exclusively with Axios. 🔬 Zoom in: The U.S. has roughly 2,600 gigawatts of proposed power generation and storage projects awaiting grid connections, more than twice the grid's existing installed capacity, though many projects may never materialize. The median time from an application for a grid connection to commercial operation is roughly five years. 💰 Follow the money: The massive AI expansion is being financed with debt, raising the stakes if construction timelines slip. Goldman projects AI tech giants will borrow $420 billion globally in 2027, up more than 60% from its 2026 estimate. Keep reading.

⚠️ GOP's redistricting firewall is cracking Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios. Stock: Getty Images House Republicans are quietly scaling back hopes for the 10-seat boost they sought from redistricting nationwide amid a souring political climate and polls showing a collapse in GOP support among Latino voters in Texas and Florida, Axios' Hans Nichols writes. Why it matters: On their down days, Republicans privately worry that the great redistricting war of 2026 will net them only one seat nationwide, according to top GOP strategists. 🔭 Zoom out: At the beginning of the cycle, Republicans viewed redistricting like an umbrella in a storm: It could keep their House majority dry in a light drizzle — but in a political hurricane, it wouldn't be enough. Two weeks before the midterms, Republicans no longer talk seriously about redistricting saving their House majority, as they did before the Iran war helped boost inflation and sink President Trump's approval ratings. They've also spent $133 million on TV ads in 15 redrawn districts that were supposed to be easy pickings, according to AdImpact. 🧮 By the numbers: Early this summer, Republicans believed they had created 16 more GOP-friendly seats: five in Texas, four in Florida, two in Ohio and one each in Alabama, Louisiana, Missouri, North Carolina and Tennessee. But since then, courts have tossed a Missouri map and the political environment has darkened, with Democrats holding an 8-percentage-point lead in new Washington Post-ABC polling. Keep reading. ps:Gerrymandering right out in the open!!!!!

AI governing the AI world Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios. Stock: Getty Images Slowly but surely, the leading AI companies are creating a national self-governing structure to oversee their technology and its societal impact, Jim VandeHei and Mike Allen write in a "Behind the Curtain" column. With the federal government largely hands-off, Anthropic, OpenAI and others are self-regulating their technology and now setting up their own plans to redistribute their wealth. Why it matters: Not since the age of the robber barons have America's industrial titans wielded such sweeping power to shape society — and decide how their private fortunes should serve the public good. In the modern era, Washington has largely exercised those powers through regulation, taxation and public spending. 🖼️ The big picture: President Trump has no interest in new regulations. Instead, he has blessed a basic framework for the AI companies to regulate themselves — and potentially each other — outside of formal government monitoring. Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, Elon Musk's XSI, Meta and Nvidia are working on different versions of this. To be clear, this is all voluntary and rests on the public trusting companies the size of industrialized nations to responsibly police themselves. These companies are in a frantic race to create human-surpassing superintelligence. All are pressing ahead, even as their leaders — particularly at Anthropic — warn of potentially catastrophic risks and profound economic disruption. At the same time, some AI leaders are promising to direct a portion of their vast wealth to benefit those outside their companies. Zoom in: At least three competing visions are emerging for sharing the spoils of the AI boom, each with a different answer to who should control the wealth. Anthropic: The company. On the eve of its blockbuster IPO, Anthropic pledged 5% of its shares to a new public benefit fund that could grow into one of the largest philanthropic institutions in history. At a hypothetical $2 trillion valuation, its stake would be worth $100 billion — more than the Gates Foundation's current endowment. Including earlier founder and employee pledges, roughly 20% of Anthropic's shares are earmarked for the public good. Musk: The people. Musk responded to Anthropic's announcement by urging the company to give shares "directly to the public." Yesterday, Musk pledged to give every American child a share of SpaceX next year — a staggering $10.5 billion giveaway at current prices. Musk called it the "first of many," though he offered no details on how the unprecedented distribution would work. OpenAI: The government. CEO Sam Altman has floated giving the U.S. government a 5% stake in OpenAI through a sovereign wealth fund — potentially handing Washington a multibillion-dollar interest in one of the world's most powerful AI companies. Altman envisions an Alaska-style fund that could distribute the industry's investment returns directly to Americans, though the plan remains preliminary and would likely require congressional approval. 🥊 Reality check: The numbers are staggering. So are the assumptions about future wealth, billionaire follow-through and the public's willingness to trust its benefactors. Bill Gates and Warren Buffett launched the Giving Pledge in 2010, a voluntary promise by billionaires — including Musk — to give away most of their fortunes. Gates built a philanthropic empire, only to become a lightning rod for conspiracy theories. Anthropic's ambitions depend on extraordinary growth projections — its own employees envision 17% GDP growth in 2030 — while Musk has a history of making spectacular promises that fail to materialize. Anthropic's roots in effective altruism, a philosophy deeply distrusted by the Trump administration and its allies, also raise a more fundamental question: Who gets to define the public good? Between the lines: No industry requirements or consensus exist on how best to redistribute their expected wealth. But Trump Accounts — which allow families, businesses and individuals to invest in tax-advantaged funds for children — are emerging as a favorite vehicle for free-market AI leaders. Billionaire investor Brad Gerstner, a driving force behind the program, is championing a vision of broad-based ownership in which ordinary Americans share directly in the economic upside of the AI revolution. SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell and her husband have already pledged roughly $320 million in company shares to 2 million children through Trump Accounts — a potential blueprint for distributing an even larger slice of Musk's fortune. 👀 What to watch: The Trump administration hasn't fully relinquished its regulatory authority, potentially complicating the emerging experiment in AI self-governance. After Anthropic disclosed that its AI had submitted a false homicide tip to Philadelphia police and improperly interacted with government websites, the White House declared that AI companies must report security incidents and remedy any harm. "This notification and remediation process is not optional," Trump's Super Intelligence Force warned — a striking assertion of federal authority just weeks after the president blessed a voluntary system of industry oversight.

Driver accused of intentionally driving into Australian lawmaker was not a known threat, police say MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — A driver accused of intentionally causing serious injury to Australian federal lawmaker Helen Haines by hitting her with his car appeared in court for the first time on Wednesday as police said they were still investigating his apparent motivations. Meanwhile, Haines remained in critical condition after an apparent escalation in political violence that has shocked a nation where such crimes are rare. https://apnews.com/article/australia-lawmaker-critical-driver-arrested-d25a79269b7b6fd0349f3102c151dbdf?

> Ukraine says it has carried out the world's first drone evacuation of a wounded soldier (More) | See video (More) > Independent Australian politician Helen Haines is critically wounded after being struck by a car near her office; officials arrested the driver but have not disclosed a motive as of this writing (More) > France imposes curfew for minors in several northern cities, including Lille, as well as parts of Paris (More) | See previous write-up (More)

> US stock markets close mixed (S&P 500 +0.4%, Dow -0.1%, Nasdaq +1.1%) as tech stocks climb ahead of Tesla and Meta earnings later this week (More) | China's economy outpaces forecasts, growing 4.5% year-over-year on strong exports (More) > Elon Musk pledges SpaceX shares to every US child after Anthropic announces it will commit 5% of its shares to a public benefit fund, partly to address labor market impacts (More) | 64% of Americans say AI is developing too fast (More) > US homebuilder sentiment hits nearly 14.5-year low amid higher mortgage rates, rising costs of building materials, and labor shortages (More) | Homebuyers cancel roughly one in seven sales last month, the highest share since the pandemic (More)

> Trump administration creates White House task force and National Institutes of Health division to advance women's health research (More) | Women globally spend 25% more of their lives in poor health or with disabilities than men (More) > Apple announces Oct. 28 product launch event, where analysts expect the company to unveil its first touch-screen MacBook Pro (More) | iPhone Duo—Apple's first foldable phone—is back-ordered until late January (More) > Fingerprint analysis suggests women and children helped make China's Terracotta Army sculptures, challenging the long-held assumption the work was done entirely by men (More) | Scroll for aerial view of the more than 8,000-soldier army (More)

> Tampa Bay advances to World Series with win over Cleveland, will face Milwaukee (More) | Philadelphia Eagles QB Jalen Hurts will reportedly miss the rest of the NFL season due to blood clots in his lungs (More) > Netflix reportedly fires film chief Dan Lin five days after laying off roughly 1,000 employees (More) | Jon Stewart extends contract with Paramount to continue hosting “The Daily Show” through December 2028 (More) > Christiane Amanpour, CNN's chief international anchor, is leaving the network in June 2027 after 43 years; she did not give a reason for departing but revealed last October that she had resumed treatment for ovarian cancer (More)

Saudi Bugging Suspect Federal prosecutors yesterday asked a judge to detain a Saudi national accused of bugging OpenAI's headquarters until his trial, citing his alleged ties to Saudi royals and plans to flee the country. The FBI arrested Abdulrahman Alfozan earlier this month on suspicion of planting an audio recording device in an executive conference room to capture proprietary information. Prosecutors say an undisclosed member of the Saudi royal family repeatedly sought to recruit the 35-year-old engineer, who joined OpenAI in 2025, to an AI venture in the kingdom. Alfozan reportedly bought one-way tickets to Saudi Arabia for his family weeks before the devices were installed. His defense says he planned to spend his roughly two-month paternity leave there. After his arrest, Saudi officials purchased new tickets for his wife and son. Separately, Saudi Arabia postponed its flagship investment conference until 2027 following airport attacks by Iran-backed Houthis. AI was expected to feature prominently as the kingdom's AI company, HUMAIN, seeks $2.5B for data center development.

California Voting Crackdown Federal officials arrested more than two dozen people in California accused of voting illegally in US elections. The crackdown comes two weeks before the US midterm elections on Nov. 3. All of the people arrested are lawful permanent residents but not US citizens, the Justice Department says. They are on a list of more than 20,000 names the DOJ tagged as “likely” noncitizens to whom California mailed ballots this year. The DOJ last week sued the state to prevent election officials from counting those ballots until immigration status is confirmed; California says the DOJ did not provide any evidence to support the allegations. Since 1996, 73 noncitizens have been convicted of voting illegally. The Census Bureau this year suggested upward of 24,000 voters in the 2020 election were noncitizens; see criticisms of that finding. ps:Of course not!! How many times did the trump people take this to court? 60+ I believe and lost each time!! Even SCOTUS rejected to look at this!!!!

Gen. 15:1 (KJV) After these things the word of the LORD came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I [am] thy shield, [and] thy exceeding great reward. Ps 28:7 (KJV) The LORD [is] my strength and my shield my heart trusted in him, and I am helped: therefore my heart greatly rejoiceth; and with my song will I praise him. Ps 28:7 (LXXE) (27:7) The Lord is my helper and my defender; my heart has hoped in him, and I am helped: my flesh has revived, and willingly will I give praise to him. Ps 28:7 (YLT) Jehovah [is] my strength, and my shield, In Him my heart trusted, and I have been helped. And my heart exulteth, And with my song I thank Him.

Alberta voters overwhelmingly reject separation process in a victory for Carney EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) — Voters in Canada’s oil-rich Alberta province overwhelmingly backed remaining in the country, referendum results showed Tuesday, delivering a boost to Prime Minister Mark Carney’s push for national unity as U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade war and annexation threats rally Canadians around their country. https://apnews.com/article/alberta-canada-referendum-independence-carney-ed0d58ef051859ce12052e75d2d6e8a0?

German Chocolate Cake is named after an American baker by the name of Samuel German. It has no affiliation with the country of Germany. James