“Saudi Arabia is preparing to shift its $925 billion sovereign wealth fund away from a focus on real estate gigaprojects that have dominated its development goals for the last decade, a source with direct knowledge of the plans told Reuters. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia, known as MbS, introduced his Vision 2030 plan in 2016 to transform the economy with a focus on large real-state projects.” (10/29/25)
“You can only walk 6 kilometers per hour if you want to follow the law in Slovakia. The Slovak parliament Tuesday afternoon adopted an amendment to the traffic law that sets a maximum permitted speed on sidewalks in urban areas at 6 kph. The limit applies to pedestrians, cyclists, skaters, and scooter and e-scooter riders — all of who are allowed on sidewalks — and aims to avoid frequent collisions. … The average walking speed typically ranges between 4 to 5 kph. However, the British Heart Foundation reports that a pace of 6.4 kilometers per hour is considered moderate for someone with excellent fitness. The opposition criticized the change, and even the Slovak Interior Ministry said it would be more appropriate to prohibit e-scooters from the sidewalks than impose a general speed limit.” (10/29/25)
“The conservative city council in Huntington Beach, Orange County’s deep-red MAGA stronghold, has been unrelenting in its yearslong battle over so-called pornographic children’s books at its public libraries. Now, after seemingly endless legal battles, the council is gearing up for another round in court. In a crusade to keep certain books out of the public library’s children’s section, the conservative-majority political body voted Tuesday, Oct. 21, to appeal a judge’s court order from earlier in the month that found the city had wrongfully banned books at its public libraries, the Los Angeles Times reported. The Huntington Beach City Council, whose members refer to themselves as the ‘MAGA-nificent Seven’, pushed back after an Orange County Superior Court mandated that the city drop its 2023 order to censor children’s books. Instead, Huntington Beach has to eliminate its newly created youth-restricted zone and return the books to the regular children’s section.” (10/29/25)
“A man who broke into a Jackson home and attacked a resident was shot multiple times and later died, authorities said. Jackson police issued a press release stating officers responded around 12:51 p.m. Monday, Oct. 27, to reports of an aggravated assault in the 1200 block of Wooddell Drive. Police said when officers arrived at the scene, they located Randall Harris, 27, suffering from mulitple gunshot wounds. Police said Harris was transported by AMR to the University of Mississippi Medical Center, where he was listed in critical condition. Harris later died from his injuries. ‘The investigation revealed that Harris had forcibly entered the residence and attacked the complainant,’ according to the news release.” (10/28/25)
“More than 90 Palestinians were killed in a wave of Israeli strikes in Gaza on Tuesday night, the Hamas-run Civil Defence agency and hospitals say. The Israeli military said it struck ‘dozens of terror targets and terrorists’ in response to violations by Hamas of the US-brokered ceasefire deal. Israel’s defence minister accused Hamas of an attack in Gaza that killed an Israeli soldier, and of breaching the terms on returning deceased hostages’ bodies. Hamas said it had ‘no connection’ to the attack and was committed to the deal.” (10/29/25)
“Prime Minister Andrew Holness has declared Jamaica a ‘disaster area’ after Hurricane Melissa barrelled across the Caribbean island as one of the most powerful storms on record, leaving behind a trail of devastation. The hurricane – which made landfall as a Category 5 storm on Tuesday – ripped off the roofs of homes, inundated the nation’s ‘bread basket,’ and felled power lines and trees, leaving most of its 2.8 million people without electricity. Melissa took hours to cross over Jamaica, a passage over land that diminished its winds, dropping it down to a Category 3 storm, before it ramped back up as it continued on Wednesday towards Cuba.” (10/29/25)
“The U.S. Senate voted for the 13th time and failed to reopen the government Tuesday. Democrats won’t back down from their insistence on funding for health care, and Republicans won’t agree to it. The government shutdown is on Day 28. Senators voted 54-45 on the funding patch that would fund the government until Nov. 21. It needs 60 votes to pass. Three members of the Democratic caucus voted for the House-passed funding bill: Sens. John Fetterman, D-Pa.; Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev.; and Angus King, I-Maine.” [editor’s note: The GOP can use the “nuclear option” to end the shutdown by majority vote, any time the GOP wants the shutdown to end; but the GOP doesn’t want the shutdown to end yet – TLK] (10/28/25)
“Russian lawmakers Tuesday endorsed a bill mandating year-round military conscription, rather than just in the spring and fall, as authorities seek to fill the ranks as fighting in Ukraine grinds through a fourth year. The legislation, which was approved by the lower house, the State Duma, in a third and final reading of the measure, turns conscription into a permanent process. Once the bill is vetted by the upper house and signed into law by President Vladimir Putin, it would allow conscription offices to summon draftees for medical exams and other procedures at any time of the year. The bill’s authors say the measure is intended to ease pressure on military conscription offices and streamline their activities, which includes performing the physicals and assigning conscripts to various military branches.” (10/28/25)
“The U.S. military struck four vessels suspected of carrying drugs in the eastern Pacific, officials said Tuesday, a significant escalation of the Trump administration’s campaign against traffickers in the Western Hemisphere. Fourteen alleged traffickers were [murdered] in the strikes, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on social media, bringing the total to nearly 60 [murdered] in more than a dozen strikes since early September. The latest operation, carried out Monday, included a rescue mission of one survivor launched by Mexican authorities, Hegseth said.” (10/28/25)
“Peace talks between Pakistan and Afghanistan have hit an impasse in Istanbul after three days of negotiations, with state media in both countries Tuesday blaming each other for the failure to reach a deal while efforts by Turkey were still underway to end the deadlock. The Istanbul talks are part of a broader diplomatic push to ease months of heightened tension between Islamabad and Kabul over cross-border attacks and militant safe havens — issues that have strained relations since the Taliban’s return to power in Afghanistan four years ago. Delegations from the two neighbors remain in Turkey, but it was not immediately clear whether a fourth day of talks would be held.” (10/28/25)
