Three months of PM Andy Burnham: Can he sustain the ‘hope vibe’?

Al Jazeera - Oct 20, 2026

The UK's new prime minister has made big promises and is a popular leader, but there is still talk of an early election.

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Netanyahu says 'toppling' Iran government only way to end threat
Oct 22, 2026
Netanyahu says 'toppling' Iran government only way to end threat

DIMONA, Israel — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday that the only way to remove the threat posed by Iran was to topple its government. "Iran wanted to destroy us; we stopped them. They wanted to produce nuclear bombs; we stopped them... Yet they persist," he said during an election rally in the southern town of Dimona. "Therefore, there is only one way to end this: by toppling this regime." "This is the directive I have issued to the Israel Defense Forces, to the Mossad, and to all our security branches," he added, without specifying when or how that directive would be executed. The sabre-rattling came as the premier headed into the last week of a tight race for re-election. Netanyahu had instructed the Israeli military to plan for resumed strikes against Iran earlier this month, according to sources cited by the Financial Times on Wednesday, but US President Donald Trump reportedly objected to the idea. The US leader has publicly said that he does not intend to restart the war, which Washington started in February alongside Israel, before the US mid-term electi

France's Macron vows order, calls foreign criticism of unrest 'stupid'
Oct 22, 2026
France's Macron vows order, calls foreign criticism of unrest 'stupid'

PARIS — President Emmanuel Macron vowed on Wednesday to prevent a repeat of last weekend's violence at protests planned in the coming days, and dismissed as "stupid" and "unacceptable" comments from some foreign leaders about the unrest. France's main student union, UNEF, has called for further rallies on Saturday, while the Yellow Vest group, which emerged as a potent anti-establishment movement in 2018, has filed plans for a march through central Paris the same day. Efforts to ease social tensions showed little sign of progress, as unions pledged to press ahead with a general strike on November 5 to denounce the high cost of living and cuts to public services after government talks ended inconclusively. France was hit by some of the worst urban tumult in years on October 17 on the fringe of nationwide protests, shocking the nation both because of its scale and the apparent inability of police to contain it. Macron said he would meet intelligence officials and senior ministers on Thursday to discuss the crisis. "Those who want to cause disorder in city centres next Saturday will be pre

OpenAI says its AI agents disabled their own safety monitors
Oct 22, 2026
OpenAI says its AI agents disabled their own safety monitors

WASHINGTON — OpenAI has revealed that two of its artificial intelligence agents disabled or weakened systems built to catch them misbehaving, with one later denying it had done so. The cases are the latest in a string of safety scares at the world's top AI developers involving agents, AI programs that carry out tasks without human involvement. In a report released Tuesday, the ChatGPT maker said that during two internal coding jobs, its agents switched off or undermined tools for detecting incidents of AI models acting against human wishes. On October 3, an agent running on OpenAI's GPT-6.1 Sol model, which had been told not to send any messages on the workplace chat app, took that as license to switch off safety alerts meant for the company's security team while fixing a testing system. Three days later, a GPT-6 Astra agent stripped out its own monitor while copying code from another project, then told the human programmer it had done no such thing. The company said it had also seen several cases of agents launching software with monitoring switched off, exposing a gap in its oversight

Lee meets with WHO chief to discuss cooperation in healthcare
Oct 22, 2026
Lee meets with WHO chief to discuss cooperation in healthcare

President Lee Jae Myung met with World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Wednesday to discuss ways to enhance cooperation in healthcare, Lee's office said. The meeting at Cheong Wa Dae came as Tedros is visiting Seoul to attend the World Bio Summit 2026, which WHO is hosting in partnership with South Korea on Wednesday and Thursday. During the meeting, Lee stressed the need for South Korea to expand its role and contributions to the international community, presidential spokesperson Kim Sung-wan said in a written briefing. Lee also expressed hope that Seoul would continue to expand its cooperation with WHO in health security. The president asked Tedros to help ensure that more highly skilled South Koreans could contribute to the WHO, noting that South Korea has transformed itself from a recipient of international assistance into a major contributor. Tedros thanked South Korea for its efforts to strengthen cooperation with WHO and promote global health, saying he was well aware of the country's development experience. Stressing the importance of equita

1 person killed in attack on eastern Saudi airport, authorities say
Oct 22, 2026
1 person killed in attack on eastern Saudi airport, authorities say

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — The Saudi Civil Aviation Authority announced that one Saudi resident was killed in attacks Wednesday evening on King Fahad International airport in Dammam in Saudi Arabia on the Persian Gulf near Bahrain and Qatar. The Civil Aviation authority also said eight people were injured and have been transferred to a hospital. The airport also suffered some material damages. Global flight-tracking service Flightradar24 said overnight Thursday on X that flights have been diverted away from the airport. King Fahad airport has been attacked previously amid a wider wave of Houthi missile and projectile strikes targeting major airports in Saudi Arabia. The Iranian-backed Houthis have not commented on this attack. The Saudi Coalition announced that it intercepted 4 drone attacks in the Eastern region. This comes as two people were killed in attack on a Saudi oil facility earlier Wednesday. The ministry said the two people killed were Nepali and Filipino nationals, while the injured were Pakistani and Indian nationals. The falling debris also sparked a fire in a contractor’s

Video game developer BioWare shuts down, next 'Mass Effect' canceled amid broader layoffs at EA
Oct 22, 2026
Video game developer BioWare shuts down, next 'Mass Effect' canceled amid broader layoffs at EA

Video game publisher Electronic Arts is shutting down the popular and influential game development studio BioWare after more than three decades. The upcoming “Mass Effect” game, the fifth since 2007, has been canceled. BioWare announced the closure on social media Wednesday following a report by Bloomberg that also said the company is laying off 400 people, including about 50 at BioWare. The Redwood Shores, California-based maker of popular titles like “Battlefield” and “The Sims” closed the $55 billion sale of its business to Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund PIF, investment firm Silver Lake Partners and Affinity Partners, which is run by President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner. Representatives for EA did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment on the layoffs. “What generations of BioWare built together is something to celebrate and remember,” the studio said via social media. “These games became so much more because you played them, debated your choices, fell in love with characters, and made these worlds your own.” BioWare built its rep

Fraternity suspended at University of Arizona after female student reported assault by 2 men
Oct 22, 2026
Fraternity suspended at University of Arizona after female student reported assault by 2 men

The University of Arizona has suspended a fraternity's activities after a female student alleged two men sexually assaulted her at the fraternity's house in August. The Sigma Phi Epsilon chapter at the southern Arizona school was already on probation, but the university said it has now imposed an activities suspension, stating the fraternity poses a risk to the university community. An investigation into the allegations continues. “It has been determined that your organization presents a substantial risk to members of the university community,” said Associate Dean of Students Whitney Mohr in a letter sent to the fraternity on Wednesday. The local chapter did not respond to calls or emails, but the national fraternity organization said it had ordered members of the Arizona chapter to comply with any investigation. "Sigma Phi Epsilon does not tolerate sexual assault or sexual misconduct. The Fraternity has suspended those involved while the investigation proceeds," Brian Warren, chief executive officer of Sigma Phi Epsilon, said in a statement Tuesday. It didn't elaborate on the identi

Russia frees retired US schoolteacher in goodwill gesture as Putin meets Witkoff
Oct 22, 2026
Russia frees retired US schoolteacher in goodwill gesture as Putin meets Witkoff

ST PETERSBURG, Russia — Russia freed Stephen Hubbard, a retired US schoolteacher in custody since 2022, from prison on Wednesday and took him to St Petersburg to fly back to the United States, after talks that Washington said were a step toward ending the war in Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin made the announcement at a meeting in St Petersburg with US envoy Steve Witkoff, who later said the talks will continue toward planned technical-level discussions involving the US, Russia and Ukraine. Witkoff called Putin a "humanitarian" in thanking him for the move, a remark that drew sharp rebuke from Republican and Democratic lawmakers given Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The prisoner release comes as President Donald Trump's recent gestures toward Moscow, including a deal to buy Russian diesel and a waiver of new sanctions, have already sparked bipartisan pushback in the US Congress and worry in European capitals. Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said Putin had freed Hubbard, 74, at Trump's request, and that he had also taken into account the American's poor heal

Meta sued in Australia class action alleging harm to children
Oct 22, 2026
Meta sued in Australia class action alleging harm to children

SYDNEY — Meta and its social media platforms Facebook and Instagram are facing a class action law suit in Australia over allegations that addictive design features are harming children and teenagers. The suit filed in the Federal Court on behalf of eight applicants seeks to recover compensation for Facebook and Instagram users who were exposed to harmful content or developed an addiction to social media, law firm Minter Ellison and Litigation Lending said in a statement. The Federal Court in Sydney on Monday issued a suppression order stopping publication of details of the claim and the identity of the applicants, court documents show. "This proceeding raises important questions about the design and operation of social media platforms and their impact on children and teenagers in Australia," Minter Ellison partner William Nolan said in a statement. In August, Meta agreed to pay up to $17.7 billion in the United States to settle claims that it deliberately engineered its platforms to hook young users.

Israeli forces detain and then release US congressional candidate at West Bank harvest
Oct 22, 2026
Israeli forces detain and then release US congressional candidate at West Bank harvest

Israeli forces detained U.S. Democratic congressional candidate Brad Lander on Wednesday as he helped Palestinian farmers harvest olives in the occupied West Bank , releasing him hours later while dozens of other volunteers, including a group of American rabbis, remained in custody. The incident was the latest in an annual olive harvest that has been marked by violence between Israeli settlers and Palestinian villagers attempting to gather their crops. The Israeli military said the farmers and volunteers had failed to seek prior approval for the harvest and were detained “due to the security risk posed by conducting an uncoordinated harvest near an Israeli community.” It later added that it viewed “the arrival of dozens of activists as an act intended solely to provoke, which undermines the harvesting process.” Lander is running in the Nov. 3 elections to represent a heavily Democratic New York City district in the U.S. House of Representatives. “The occupation is a crime under international law," Lander wrote on social media after he was detained. “Harvesting olives isn’t

Canadian publisher says novelist Orelien used AI to write novel
Oct 22, 2026
Canadian publisher says novelist Orelien used AI to write novel

MONTREAL — The publisher of top-selling Haitian-Canadian writer Thelyson Orelien said Wednesday it had confirmed that he used artificial intelligence to help write his novel "It Was Either That or Die." Orelien has denied allegations that he used AI on his breakthrough novel and, last week, Canadian publisher Boreal said it was standing by the 38-year-old writer. But on Wednesday, Boreal said it had conducted a further investigation into the allegations. "New information, confirmed over the past few days, indicates that artificial intelligence was used in the writing process" of the novel, a Boreal statement said. The publisher announced it was "ending its professional relationship" with Orelien. Boreal said it did not know the extent of AI's use in the writing process "and we will likely never have a definitive answer." It said it gathered all the working versions of the novel and hired an outside party to analyze the various drafts. "The results obtained this week revealed traces of AI tags in the metadata of certain documents," Boreal said. Before conducting this analysis, the publisher

US Supreme Court rebuffs Trump administration restrictions on medical care for transgender inmates
Oct 22, 2026
US Supreme Court rebuffs Trump administration restrictions on medical care for transgender inmates

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to allow the Trump administration to immediately enforce new medical restrictions for transgender people in federal prison. The decision leaves in place a lower-court block on the policy. It was adopted after an executive order from President Donald Trump, a Republican who has taken several steps to roll back transgender rights during his second term. The brief order did not detail its legal reasoning. Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas would have allowed the policy to be enforced as the lawsuit played out in lower courts. The Supreme Court has previously allowed other Trump administration policies for transgender people to move ahead for now, including restrictions on military service and passport sex markers. Trump's order called on the Bureau of Prisons to revise its medical care policies so that federal funds aren’t spent “for the purpose of conforming an inmate’s appearance to that of the opposite sex.” The new policy would halt surgeries, taper off hormones and end social accommodations like makeup and wigs. Prison

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