“Pope Leo XIV underwent surgery Tuesday to remove a lung nodule and the Vatican said the operation was completed ‘successfully, on schedule and as planned.’ The 71-year-old Leo returned to his room after the surgery at Rome’s Gemelli hospital, according to a statement from the Vatican spokesman, who promised further information at a later time. Leo had walked into Rome’s Gemelli hospital through the main entrance earlier in the day and waved to dozens of well-wishers who had gathered to greet him.” (10/13/26)
“The Philippine Senate, sitting as an impeachment court, approved the prosecution’s withdrawal of most of the charges against Vice-President Sara Duterte on Tuesday, in a trial that could kill her hopes to run for president in 2028. Prosecutors have been presenting evidence against Duterte since July on charges that she betrayed public trust, amassed unexplained wealth, violated the constitution and committed corruption, bribery and other high crimes. Lead prosecutor Gerville Luistro told the court on Tuesday that they sought to withdraw three of the four charges and leave the allegations of unexplained wealth as the sole remaining issue for senators to rule on. … Focusing on a single charge would substantially narrow the issues before the court, offering practical benefits for the Senate, the respondent and the public, Luistro said.” (10/13/26)
“Former gang boss Duane ‘Keffe D’ Davis has been sentenced to 40 years in prison for orchestrating the murder of Tupac Shakur. A jury found Davis guilty in September of one count of murder with a deadly weapon for the rap superstar’s death in a drive-by shooting in Las Vegas on 7 September 1996. He has said he will appeal the verdict. The 63-year-old gang boss'[s] conviction was the first in a cold case that has intrigued hip-hop fans for nearly 30 years. Prosecutors argued that although Davis did not fire the gun himself, he was the ringleader of the group that committed the murder. He admitted in his memoir that he had provided the gun used in the crime. … the book and interviews he offered elaborating on his role in Shakur’s killing voided a protective agreement he had established with authorities that had blocked any criminal charges from being filed.” (10/13/26)
“Ukraine received no early warning from its partners about five Russian ballistic missiles that hit civilian infrastructure in the capital of Kyiv, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Tuesday, as tensions rise between the Ukrainian leader and U.S. President Donald Trump. Zelenskyy did not specify which partners he was talking about. He characterized the barrage as ‘particularly vile’ and emphasized that receiving intelligence from partners about such attacks ‘helps save lives’ and is ‘one of the most critical issues’. ‘This is precisely what helps prevent people from being killed — when there is an early warning about ballistic missiles,’ he wrote in a post on X. Trump said the U.S. has not stopped sharing intelligence with Ukraine. ‘We are helping them, and we are sharing intel’, Trump told reporters at the White House. ‘We want the war to end, so we’re working with them and with Russia on getting the war to end.'” (10/13/26)
“NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover just broke the record for the farthest distance traveled by any vehicle on another world, the space agency announced. The six-wheeled, nuclear-powered buggy has now traveled 28.10 miles (45.22 km) as of October 11th, besting NASA’s Opportunity rover that rolled 28.06 miles (45.16 km) across the red planet’s surface. Perseverance managed the feet in just five and a half years, compared to nearly 15 for the plucky Opportunity. … Thanks to a recent software update, Perseverance can now roll more and steer less to save wear on parts, while checking its own position against orbital maps in mid-drive. Next, the team wants to overcome camera glare issues from sunlight that impede its vision, so the rover can work longer days.” (10/13/26)
“A North Carolina man was sentenced to 18 months in prison after prosecutors said he used AI, or super intelligence, to create music and thousands of bots to fraudulently collect more than $8 million in streaming royalties. Michael Smith, 54, of Cornelius, North Carolina, pleaded guilty in March to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and was sentenced Oct. 6, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York. … From 2017 to 2024, Smith created thousands of fake accounts on streaming platforms including Amazon Music, Apple Music, Spotify and YouTube Music, prosecutors said. He then used automated software to continuously stream songs he owned, many of which were generated using AI technology, allowing him to collect royalty payments for streams that did not come from real listeners.” (10/12/26)
“Esmeralda Soria has seen immigration enforcement throughout her life. Born to immigrant farmworkers in the Central Valley, the state assemblymember has spent her entire life in California’s agricultural powerhouse. Yet even for her, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids that shook the valley last week took her by surprise. ‘I have never experienced anything like this,’ Soria said in an SFGATE interview Sunday. ‘Just all of a sudden, now we’re seeing ICE go rogue’. Federal agents have spent the past week sweeping the Central Valley, with local immigrant advocates reporting officers conducting widespread, warrantless detentions, targeting gas stations and Mexican bakeries as farmworkers start their day. People have reportedly been detained without any warrants for their arrest. The chaos turned violent when an off-duty ICE officer allegedly passed out drunk and assaulted a Fresno homeowner only to get shot himself, according to police.” (10/13/26)
“Two ships have been hit in drone attacks off Bulgaria’s Black Sea coast, with one of them sinking, Prime Minister Rumen Radev said. The Ukrainian-owned Chelsea 3, which was sailing under a Maltese flag, was hit by three drones and damaged about 18 nautical miles (33km) off Bulgaria at about 1:30am on Tuesday (22:30 GMT on Monday), Radev said. Radev said its 15-man crew, seven of them Ukrainians and eight Azerbaijanis, was rescued. Five crew members received medical assistance, and no one was seriously injured. He added that one crew member from the ship that sank was also rescued.” (10/12/26)
“A 29-year-old reality television star was shot and killed early Sunday morning in downtown Oakland. Police were called to the 200 block of 14th Street in Oakland at approximately 1:30 a.m. on a report of a shooting, the Oakland Police Department told SFGATE in a statement. When officers arrived, they found Mackayla Paige, a Richmond resident, with a gunshot wound. Paige was transported to the hospital where she later died of her injuries, OPD said. A woman, also from Richmond, was arrested in connection with the shooting, OPD said. … Paige, also known as ‘Kash,’ was featured in several reality series on Now That’s TV, a subscription streaming network.” (10/12/26)
“A sixth measles-related death has been reported in Pennsylvania, where health officials have been battling an outbreak of the highly contagious but vaccine-preventable disease. The death was reported Monday by the Franklin County Coroner’s Office, which identified the deceased as a 39-year-old woman who had several underlying health conditions and had previously been diagnosed with and treated for measles. … There have been a total of 1,136 cases of the disease in the current outbreak as of Friday, with 157 new cases reported over the previous seven days, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Health’s measles dashboard.” (10/12/26)
