“Nigel Farage’s Reform UK has published an internal investigation purporting to clear two senior aides who were caught in an undercover donations sting. The party is now threatening legal action against the TV company that produced the report alleging that they discussed how the party could receive a £500,000 donation from a fake U.S. donor. The review ‘found no evidence’ that either Dan Jukes, Farage’s long-term right-hand man, or James Orr, his policy chief, broke any laws. … A party official, granted anonymity to discuss internal matters, told POLITICO the pair’s futures will only be decided after the conclusion of a Metropolitan Police investigation. Scotland Yard is investigating multiple ‘potential offences’ arising from the broadcast of footage showing discussions about how the party could receive donations from an overseas donor and also asking a bogus company to pay for polls commissioned by officials.” (10/07/26)
“In a latest move by the Trump administration to tighten restrictions on foreign students, the US Department of Homeland Security has proposed a $70,000 fee for international students seeking to participate in a programme that allows them to work in the United States. Under the proposed rule, colleges and universities would have to pay the fee for each international student entering the Optional Practical Training (OPT) programme. The programme enables foreign students to work in positions connected to their fields of study while completing their education or after graduation. International students are generally permitted to work through OPT for up to one year after completing their studies. Those graduating from certain science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) programmes can qualify for an additional two years. Schools would be required to pay the $70,000 for each new student’s initial application to the program, and a $30,000 fee for each renewal.” (10/07/26)
“Speaking in Nairobi on Wednesday, WHO Representative Dr. Neema Rusibamayila Kimambo said the coming days would be decisive in preventing community spread of the Bundibugyo strain of the virus, which has now claimed its first life in Kenya. The victim, a local man who had lived in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) for several years, fell ill there, where a deadly outbreak continues to spread in the east. He flew to Nairobi via Kampala and Entebbe in Uganda on 3 October, went straight to hospital and died in the Kenyan capital on Monday. Authorities have since identified the people who had come in direct contact with him from social contact and his admission to hospital. So far, there have been no other infections.” (10/07/26)
“Lawmakers in Kosovo elected economist and academic Justina Shiroka Pula as the country’s new president in a marathon late-night session, moments before a constitutional deadline that would have forced a snap election. The election late Tuesday was a significant moment in a political crisis in the small Balkan nation that has caused legislative deadlock for over 19 months and two early parliamentary elections. Just before Shiroka Pula was elected, lawmakers also approved a law limiting the powers of a special court in The Hague, Netherlands, which was set up to investigate and prosecute war crimes committed by the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) during the country’s 1998-99 war for independence from Serbia. … She will have to endorse the law limiting the power of the Hague court for it to become binding.” (10/07/26)
“President Trump threatened Wednesday to ‘terminate’ two key advisers after they were revealed to have raked in ‘hundreds of thousands of dollars each’ advising a pro-Russian political party in Bosnia as Republicans brace for a potential bloodbath in the Nov. 3 midterm elections. ‘Chris LaCivita and James Blair are outside consultants. They do not work for me, other than as outside consultants. They most likely have numerous clients, but for that, you would have to ask them,’ Trump wrote on Truth Social. ‘They are allowed to do work for others, just like all consultants in Washington, D.C. I do not have any idea who else they work for but will, on reflection, ask them and, if there’s a conflict, I will terminate them, immediately!'” (10/07/26)
“Nepal announced its intention to cease search and rescue operations for victims of the Aug. 26 flood that killed at least 1,455 people with thousands more still missing. Family members of 5,285 people who remain unaccounted for, including hundreds of foreign nationals, expressed mixed reactions, with some relieved and others unhappy with the decision by Nepal’s government announced late Monday. The office of Prime Minister Balendra Shah said the government will concentrate on rehabilitation and reconstruction including restoring roads and bridges cut off by floods, particularly in remote areas where damaged infrastructure has made aid deliveries difficult. The government estimates reconstruction and recovery will cost $4.77 billion.” (10/07/26)
“The federal government will introduce legislation this fall that will indefinitely extend the ban on access to a medically assisted death for people who are only suffering from a mental illness, Justice Minister Sean Fraser said on Wednesday. ‘Canada has made a decision not to move forward with the expansion that is scheduled in the Criminal Code of medical assistance in dying in circumstances where mental illness is the sole basis,’ he said in the foyer of the House of Commons. Fraser said the government’s decision reflects the position expressed by a special parliamentary committee report released in June along with his own department’s probing of the issue. … Fraser said the promised legislation will also “open the door” for people to give advance consent for their own medically assisted death in circumstances where the illness they are suffering from will eventually eliminate their capacity to make that decision.” (10/07/26)
“President Donald Trump will not reimburse the federal government for taxpayer-funded advertisements promoting him and his administration ahead of the November midterms — and even dropped a new ad on Tuesday. Following bipartisan backlash to the more than $10 million spent on what the White House dubbed ‘Patriotic Ads,’ Trump announced Monday on Truth Social that his super PAC would cover the cost of the ads. But White House officials clarified on Tuesday to POLITICO that the president’s post did not mean the PAC would pay for the spots that had already aired. … In all, Trump has spent about $11.6 million on more than a dozen ads, according to an estimate from AdImpact, an analytics firm which tracks advertising. The advertisements were reportedly paid for with funds from a $20 million contract awarded by the Department of Homeland Security.” (10/06/26)
“Amid global public health concerns surrounding the death of an Irkutsk Anti-Plague Research Institute of Siberia and the Far East worker, the World Health Organization noted in a statement issued Tuesday on the X account of Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus that it had requested more information from Russia regarding the matter, including on ‘media reports of a second employee with pneumonia of undetermined cause.’ ‘The individual died on 2 October 2026 after being hospitalized with severe pneumonia. Initial media reports suggested pneumonic plague following an alleged accidental laboratory exposure,’ the WHO statement noted. … The U.S. State Department has formally requested more information from the Russian government regarding the death of the woman who worked at the anti-plague research facility, issuing what is known as a démarche, defined as a request or intercession with a foreign official.” (10/07/26)
“France has temporarily banned police from using stun grenades at student-led protests, the interior minister said, amid growing accusations of police brutality following several days of student demonstrations nationwide. The announcement on Wednesday came a day after hundreds of thousands of students and supporters marched across France to demand more funding for education and better conditions in high schools, prompting President Emmanuel Macron to convene an emergency meeting with Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu and other key ministers to try to defuse the crisis.” (10/07/26)
