France’s first lady brought legal action against people who falsely claimed she was born a man
KHERSON, Ukraine — Russia and Ukraine began observing a localized ceasefire in a devastated southern Ukrainian city on Tuesday, ahead of a planned humanitarian mission the White House said was brokered by U.S. first lady Melania Trump. Moscow kept up its deadly missile attacks on other cities in the meantime. Meanwhile, Finland’s president and Norway’s prime minister spoke by phone with Russian President Vladimir Putin, officials said, in their first known direct contact since shortly after Russia's all-out invasion of Ukraine began on Feb. 24, 2022. Many Western officials have accused Putin of masterminding a campaign of disruption across Europe and have sought to diplomatically isolate the Russian leader. Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre and Finnish President Alexander Stubb later spoke with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, according to Zelenskyy's office. A ceasefire takes hold in a southern Ukraine city, officials say A local pause in fighting started at 3 a.m. to allow an aid mission into the Russian-occupied city of Oleshky this week. Food and medical supplie
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump will be joined by one of his potential successors on Tuesday as he tries to keep Texas, which hasn't elected a Democrat to statewide office in 32 years, in the Republican column in next week's midterm elections. The president will appear in Corpus Christi and Lubbock in his effort to boost Republican Ken Paxton's competitive U.S. Senate campaign against Democrat James Talarico. Secretary of State Marco Rubio plans to help Trump show off a newly arrived oil tanker filled with Venezuelan crude to be processed in Texas refineries, according to a congressional aide and two U.S. officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss Rubio’s schedule ahead of a public announcement. The events mark Trump's third swing through Texas since holding a first-of-its-kind midterm convention in Dallas in September, a sign of the significance he's putting on a state that has spent decades as a Republican stronghold. However, Talarico has made the race competitive, capitalizing on a difficult political environment for Republicans and Paxton's history of ethic
KINSHASA — Africa's latest outbreak of Ebola has passed 10,000 confirmed cases, the vast majority of them in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Congolese health authorities said on Tuesday, with almost 5,000 fatalities. According to the DRC's figures, 10,060 people have been infected and 4,887 have died since the virus was first detected in May in the vast central African country's deadliest outbreak in its history. Cases have likewise been detected in Kenya, Nigeria and Uganda, with the World Health Organization warning that Africa faces a "complex" task to contain an outbreak spanning the east, west and center of the continent. While some 2,684 have recovered from the virus in the DRC, the epidemic's fatality rate appears to be close to 50 percent, according to the Congolese National Institute of Public Health. Among the many challenges facing the response is the lack of any approved vaccines or treatments for the rare Bundibugyo species of Ebola behind the epidemic. After spreading under the radar for weeks, the virus was first detected in the northeastern Congolese province of It
ROME — Pope Leo XIV on Tuesday denounced any religious justification for wars raging around the world, saying “there is no such thing as a holy war.” “Only peace is holy,” Leo said in a video-message to a gathering of religious leaders in the Italian hilltop town of Assisi. The American pope was supposed to have presided over the gathering in person, but had to cancel his participation as he recovers from Oct. 13 lung cancer surgery. Instead, Leo sent a videotaped message that was broadcast to the delegates, who included the Archbishop of Canterbury Sarah Mullally, spiritual leader of the worldwide Anglican Communion, as well as Muslim, Buddhist and other Christian leaders. They were in Assisi, the birthplace of the peace-loving St. Francis, to mark the 40th anniversary of a landmark interfaith peace meeting called by St. John Paul II. That encounter, controversial at the time because it featured leaders of different faiths praying together, spawned a movement of interreligious peace appeals and gatherings. In his message, the American pope denounced the “troubling revival of
DNA connects serial killer Ted Bundy to the death of another Utah teenager, authorities announced Tuesday, exactly 52 years after her body was discovered in the woods by a hunter. Bundy has been dead since 1989, but the tally of his confirmed victims continues to grow due to advances in DNA testing. He killed at least 30 women and girls in multiple states in the 1970s, and many more escaped or survived with injuries. Investigators are satisfied that Bundy was responsible for killing 17-year-old Melissa Ann Smith in 1974, a death that had long been listed as a cold case, Summit County Attorney Margaret Olson said at a news conference. They were able to close the case by making crucial connections with DNA found on Smith and Laura Aime, another Bundy victim whose case was resolved last April in Utah County. Bundy's DNA was on file in Florida, where he was convicted and ultimately executed. Besides that evidence, Smith’s death showed hallmarks of Bundy’s “pattern, motive, means and opportunity,” Olson said. Decades-old evidence was key to the case Utah's state crime lab got new techno
Washington has suspended visa-free entry for Chinese visitors to the Northern Mariana Islands amid allegations of birth tourism and people smuggling in the US territory. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced on Monday the suspension of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands Economic Vitality and Security Travel Authorization Program. US Senator Mike Lee hailed the move on social media, calling the program a "Biden-era loophole for Chinese birth tourism" and praising the Trump administration for having "closed" the pathway. The program, also known as EVS-TAP, allowed pre-screened Chinese nationals to visit the islands for up to 14 days without a US visa. Under the new decision, existing authorizations will be cancelled from October 30, although Chinese nationals already in the Pacific Ocean territory may complete their authorized stays. More than 3,000 Chinese nationals entered under EVS-TAP in financial year 2025. The DHS said it had found "good cause" to suspend the program as "PRC [People's Republic of China] nationals are almost certainly exploiting EVS-TAP". It
BRASILIA — Defeated right-wing presidential candidate Flavio Bolsonaro left Brazil and is traveling to the United States despite a court order banning him from exiting the country, U.S. media reported Tuesday. The son of jailed ex-leader Jair Bolsonaro lost the presidential election Sunday to incumbent Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and refused to concede defeat. The right-wing senator on Monday said a Supreme Court justice had ordered him to hand over his passports. Bolsonaro is under investigation for alleged corruption and money laundering, and with his election loss is also set to lose parliamentary immunity. The 45-year-old was traveling to Florida, CNN reported, citing an anonymous official source. Other U.S. media confirmed he was heading to the country. The U.S. State Department said Tuesday it would issue visas to Bolsonaro and his family, without confirming his travel plans. A police source told AFP that the senator's Brazilian and diplomatic passports had been canceled, adding that "there is no formal record of Flavio Bolsonaro leaving the country." But he has held Italian national
JERUSALEM — Israel's wartime election appeared deadlocked on Tuesday, exit polls showed, a potential setback for veteran Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if the projections hold, with neither side having a clear path to power but rival Gadi Eisenkot's larger bloc potentially giving him the first chance to form a government. The stalemate could yet work in Netanyahu's favour, allowing him to remain in power in a caretaker capacity while parties try to forge a governing coalition. Turnout was 77.7 percent, Israel's Central Elections Committee said, the highest in more than two decades and around 7 percentage points higher than in the previous election in 2022. Israel's three major networks updated their exit polls, giving Eisenkot's bloc a two-seat edge over Netanyahu's Likud-led camp, at 52-50. The remaining 18 seats were allocated to unaligned Arab parties in the exit polls. But Eisenkot, leader of the Yashar party, has all but ruled out forming a government with them, complicating his path to a majority despite his bloc's lead. Some Israeli media outlets, including pro-Netanyahu Chann
When everyone is showing off their career success stories online, it’s easy to feel they’re doing better than you. Not so fast, says Lydia Spencer-Elliott. Harry Kane’s Ballon d’Or speech highlighted the importance of putting in the hard work when no one is watching – and experts agree.
Former Liverpool great Xabi Alonso returns to Anfield as Chelsea manager for the first time
The storm has brought powerful winds and torrential rain to Andhra Pradesh, disrupting electricity and transport, while authorities warn of coastal flooding and further heavy rainfall
Once a magnet for international visitors, the UNESCO World Heritage Site is struggling to regain its tourism industry as Myanmar's civil conflict drags on. For local communities, the stakes go beyond livelihoods to the survival of centuries-old traditions.