“The Communist Party has started a key four-day conclave focused on party discipline and fighting corruption, as official media outlets say adherence to the party’s leadership under President Xi Jinping is key to the country’s success. The meeting – the fifth plenum of the Communist Party’s 20th Central Committee – began in Beijing on Monday, according to state news agency Xinhua. It said the main agenda for the plenum included a work report by the Politburo to the Central Committee and the adoption of a document aimed at ‘deepening party self-governance’.” (10/26/26)
“Mary Peltola, Alaska’s Democratic Senate candidate, has paused campaigning ahead of the US midterm elections after sustaining ‘minor injuries’ in a car crash. Peltola, 53, and her family were travelling to an event on Saturday when the vehicle they were in was hit by another driver, her campaign said in a statement. She is running in one of the most closely watched races in the elections, which take place on 3 November – one that could help decide the balance of power in government. Peltola has rescheduled campaign events ‘as she takes time to recover’ on the advice of medical professionals, her campaign manager, Cheryl Bruce, said in a statement. ‘Mary and her family sustained minor injuries but are in good spirits,’ Bruce said.” (10/26/26)
“The owners [sic] of Elvis Presley’s music have sued Anthropic, alleging it used his copyrighted lyrics without permission to train its AI models and generating infringing versions of his songs. In a lawsuit filed Friday, Authentic Brands Group, the licensing platform that controls Presley’s intellectual property [sic] — along with other companies, trusts and individuals who own rights [sic] to his music — accused Anthropic of infringing copyrights to 274 songs without any license or payment. … The lawsuit by Presley’s rights [sic] holders comes amid a larger wave of lawsuits against Anthropic and other AI companies accused of using copyrighted musical works without consent or compensation.” (10/25/26)
“Pope Leo XIV will proceed with his planned Nov. 6-17 trip to Uruguay, Argentina and Peru, after doctors determined there are no medical reasons preventing him from traveling three weeks after lung cancer surgery, the Vatican confirmed Monday. The Vatican press office said the pope’s recovery continues to progress in line with favorable assessments from his medical team. It also confirmed the pope is keeping the already ambitious trip program with no announced changes. Surgeons on Oct. 13 removed a lobe where the nodule later diagnosed as malignant was located, in the first major health event of Leo’s 17-month pontificate. The surgery confirmed he had adenocarcinoma, the most common type of lung cancer. Since returning to the Vatican, Leo has gradually resumed his activities while adjusting his schedule to prioritize recovery and periods of rest, the statement said.” (10/26/26)
“Rep. Ilhan Omar [sic] [D-MN] is set to share the stage with far-left streamer Hasan Piker on Monday night despite mounting opposition from fellow Minnesota Democrats, some of whom have publicly urged the congresswoman to cancel the appearance just eight days before the midterm elections. Rep. Angie Craig [D-MN] has called Piker’s rhetoric ‘polarizing and dangerous’ and said embracing him is ‘a mistake’, while Sen. Amy Klobuchar’s gubernatorial campaign called a number of his past statements ‘reckless and unacceptable’. Other Democratic officials and party groups have gone further, calling on Omar and state Sen. Omar Fateh, who is hosting the sold-out Minneapolis event, to cancel the appearance. The controversy is exposing a divide among Minnesota Democrats in the closing stretch of the midterms over whether Piker’s enormous following among younger progressives outweighs the political liability of his past rhetoric.” (10/26/26)
“Rahul Gandhi, the leader of India’s main opposition Congress party, was acquitted in a defamation case by a local court on Monday, TV channels said. The acquittal comes at a time when Gandhi is leading a united opposition campaign against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Chief Election Commissioner over a controversial revision of voter lists. … Gandhi was accused of calling India’s powerful Home Minister Amit Shah, who was then head of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), a ‘murder accused’, during a state election campaign speech in 2018.” (10/26/26)
“US singer Chris Brown has avoided jail after striking a man twice in the head with a glass tequila bottle in a London nightclub. The R&B star was given an eight-month prison sentence, suspended for 12 months, over the attack at private members’ club Tape in Mayfair, in the early hours of 19 February 2023. Brown’s vocal coach, rapper Omololu Akinlolu, who joined the attack, was sentenced to four months’ imprisonment, suspended for 12 months. Both men, who had pleaded guilty to affray, were also ordered to pay £1,500 costs. Judge Tony Baumgartner said Brown’s use of the glass bottle to hit the victim twice over the head ‘was plainly dangerous’, adding that the violence of the attack was ‘intense’. The sentence means Brown will not be imprisoned unless he commits another offence during the 12-month period of suspension.” (10/26/26)
“SpaceX has closed $40 billion in debt financing to buy graphics processing units, or GPUs, used to power artificial intelligence systems. In a post on X on Sunday, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said it had closed the financing, adding that the company was investment grade and generated revenue from its Starlink satellite internet and rocket launch businesses. In a follow-up post, he added that the financing primarily consisted of callable debt for graphics processing units, which are expected to arrive in the first and second quarters of 2027. In a regulatory filing Monday, SpaceX said it signed a binding commitment with an Apollo-managed entity for roughly $40 billion in GPU financing.” (10/26/26)
“President Donald Trump on Friday said he told his administration to file its lawsuit to block certification of the U.S. Senate race in Alaska if Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan loses, kicking off what many fear could become a lengthy battle between the government and states over certifying an election where the president’s party is struggling. ‘I’m the one that said do it,’ Trump told reporters as he landed for a campaign rally in Florida. The lawsuit, filed late Thursday, centers on one of the president’s longstanding complaints in the Senate race — the presence of a second candidate named Dan Sullivan …. The second Sullivan, who is Daniel J. Sullivan from the tiny fishing community of Petersburg, has said he decided to run on his own, but Republicans have contended he is a Democratic plant to siphon votes away from their candidate.” (10/26/26)
“Bulgaria’s presidential election is heading to a run-off after polls closed with low voter turnout and no candidate passing the required threshold. Incumbent President Iliana Iotova received between 35 and 36.5 percent of votes on Sunday, according to exit polls. She will now face former caretaker Prime Minister Andrey Gyurov, who scored between 31 and 33.5 percent, in a second round on November 1.” (10/25/26)
