UN Climate Talks Start In The Year of Disasters, Energy Price Shocks and Fast Rising Temperatures
Three stories about climate change are playing out like popular movie genres as United Nations climate negotiations begin in Antalya, Turkey.
There’s the horror story. Many scientists believe global warming is accelerating. Two months ago, the U.N. readjusted its decade-old goal of limiting global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) because the world is blowing past that threshold. The fallout from rising temperatures is felt globally, with Europe’s deadly summer heat waves and Nepal’s devastating flooding as stark examples.
There’s the love triangle. For more than a century, the world has been powered by coal, oil and gas. This love affair spurred economic development, as well as the emissions warming the planet. But renewable energy is capturing some of the world’s attention because it’s cheaper and cleaner than fossil fuels. Instead of switching from one to the other, the world is using both to meet demand from power-hungry artificial intelligence and ever-growing economic development. This isn’t helping curb climate change.
Then there’s the war movie. Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine triggered a European energy shock. This year the United States and Israel bombed Iran. The conflict closed the Strait of Hormuz and sent fossil fuel prices skyrocketing, forcing nations to rethink their energy systems.
These stories are colliding as the 31st Conference of Parties, or COP31, starts Monday with speeches from world leaders and will later dig into how to follow through on past climate pledges.
A key issue this year is the implementation of promises to transition away from fossil fuels. Co-host Turkey is also pushing a separate plan that would help do that by shifting more global energy use — including transportation — to electricity generated from solar and wind power. Negotiators also will hash out how to provide promised funds to poor countries to switch to renewables, adapt to a warmer world and recover from climate-induced damage.
“It’s really the moment that we place a magnifying lens on what’s happening in the world on climate change, both good and bad,” David Waskow, international climate chief at the World Resources Institute, said.
While the U.S. is the world’s largest historic carbon polluter, it skipped last year’s COP and isn’t expected to participate this year.
“There’s always two topics in the climate negotiations that are relevant and difficult,” said Niklas Höhne, co-founder of Germany’s NewClimate Institute. “The first one is who produces emissions (and) how much. That is difficult enough. But what is even more complicated is the other issue, and that is who pays. And on this one, we are particularly in a difficult situation because the U.S., as the largest contributor, has dropped out. And there’s no other player who can jump in.”
Global climate efforts are off track
Eleven years ago, the world was on track to hit 4 C (7.2 F) of warming above preindustrial levels by the end of the century. In 2015, nations set the goal of keeping warming to below 2 C (3.6 F), but with a preferred limit of 1.5 C (2.7 F), as measured over a multi-year period.
Now, the world is at 1.4 C (2.5 F) of warming and is hurtling toward 2.6 C (4.7 F), the U.N. found.
October 2026 was the hottest October on record, and 2026 is virtually certain to end up as the second year to exceed the 1.5 degree Celsius level, behind 2024, the European climate agency Copernicus announced Friday.
“We have failed so far,” said Johan Rockström, director of Germany’s Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research.
Rockström said Earth will likely experience more extreme weather, such as floods, droughts and storms, and may soon reach “tipping points,” such as ocean currents changing and the Amazon rainforest collapsing.
It comes down to fossil fuels
Even though burning fossil fuels is the main cause of warming, it has rarely been targeted in final documents agreed upon at the conference, mostly because those decisions require consensus.
“The reason we are seeing the breach of 1.5 degrees Celsius of warming is because we avoided the absolutely fundamental question of how climate change happened and what’s responsible, the source of the problem and that’s fossil fuels,” said Harjeet Singh, founding director of Satat Sampada Climate Foundation. “Unless and until we resolve the issue of fossil fuel phase out, we will not be able to deal with the problem.”
Brazil, which hosted COP30 last year, this month released a detailed voluntary roadmap for how countries could transition away from fossil fuels.
The roadmap is meant to turn the “big problem” of reducing fossil fuels into “smaller actionable solutions,” Ana Toni, who served as CEO of last year’s climate talks, said. One key thing nations must do is stop subsidizing fossil fuels, she said. The U.N. estimates fossil fuel subsidies globally hit $1.1 trillion this year.
“What’s standing in the way is not so much technology as governments and incumbent industries,” said Bill Hare, CEO of Climate Analytics. “One cannot underestimate the power and influence of the fossil fuel industry in slowing down action.”
Climate talks bring hope and frustration
Barbados youth activist Ashley Lashley’s first COP was five years ago. She was frustrated by the lack of progress then, but hopeful because there was urgency to keep the 1.5-degree goal alive.
Lashley still attends negotiations with some hope, but she is more frustrated than ever. She said “the science has become more alarming, but yet politically we seem to be negotiating how much failure we are prepared to tolerate.”
Qiyun Woo, a Singaporean youth environmentalist, said her generation is tired of “seeing their present and futures blanketed in wildfire smoke, in devastating floods (and) landslides.”
What gives most experts hope is how cheap solar and wind energy are, along with electric car growth, strengthening the economic argument for transitioning away from fossil fuels.
“It has never been as easy to reduce emissions as it is today because, again, this year, renewable energy has been developing faster than before,” Höhne said.
Hope for progress on the sidelines
Much of the work at climate negotiations happens on the sidelines, where not everyone has to agree and some nations do more than others.
One important sideline initiative this year is Turkey’s goal of increasing electricity’s share of global energy use from 21% to 35% by 2035, preferably by using renewable power.
Mohamed Adow, a veteran COP observer and director of Power Shift Africa, said the conference is taking place at a time when the world is deeply fragmented.
“The closure of the Strait of Hormuz has intensified economic and energy security pressures,” he said. “We don’t expect this particular conference to be able to sufficiently respond to the present day challenge ... that is affecting livelihoods and economies.”
The climate talks are hindered by the continued absence of the U.S., Adow said, adding that it wasn’t fair to nations like Nepal, which have to face catastrophic destruction alone while the world’s wealthiest country and biggest polluter sits on the fence.
“A time will come when we will have to hold the U.S. accountable for the climate harms that it’s caused,” he said.
- Borenstein reported from Washington, Delgado from Bangkok and Arasu from Bengaluru, India.
Tesla’s Cybertruck Heads For An Exit After Years of Hype and Division
NEW YORK (AP) — Tesla’s Cybertruck, the hulking, stainless-steel pickup that inspired devotion and derision with its science-fiction looks, will cease production next year.
CEO Elon Musk announced the model’s demise Friday with a curt post on X, his social media site, simply noting production of the vehicle “will be winding down” around the middle of 2027 at its facility outside Austin, Texas. Musk said the move was to allow increased production of its Cybercab robotaxi.
For the Cybertruck, a pet project of Musk who insisted it was Tesla’s best product, it marks an unceremonious end to one of the auto industry’s most ballyhooed debuts.
“Few vehicles in history have generated as much attention,” said Armen Hareyan, whose Torque News site covers autos. “The Cybertruck became a cultural symbol – loved, mocked and impossible to ignore.”
The Cybertruck rolled onto the scene in a dramatic unveiling in 2019, when a Tesla designer hurled a metal ball at the vehicle to demonstrate its supposedly unbreakable glass, only to see it shatter. He repeated the stunt on another window of the truck only to shatter that one, too.
Even as some critics scoffed, Musk was steadfast.
“I just wanted to make a futuristic battle tank — something that looks like it could come out of ‘Blade Runner’ or ‘Aliens’ or something like that but was also highly functional,” he told Automotive News. He called it “a better sports car than a Porsche 911” and “a better truck than an F-150.”
It struck some as the perfect vehicular reflection of the brash, convention-busting Musk.
“A really controversial vehicle unveiled by a controversial individual into a market where none of the electric trucks have been able to really capture demand,” said Spencer Penn, a former Tesla executive who left the company before the Cybertruck’s launch and now heads procurement software firm LightSource.
Penn remembered watching the unveiling and feeling initially revolted by the sight of the Cybertruck, calling its appearance “madness.” But the more he looked at it, the more his opinion changed. He signed up for a pre-sale reservation, though ended up not getting a Cybertruck when Musk’s promises of a price tag under $40,000 went unmet and the first trucks sold for double or more. Penn called the Cybertruck part of Tesla’s adventurous spirit that drives innovation.
“Some of these bets work and some of these bets don’t,” he said.
While the decision to end Cybertruck production may be driven by sales realities, it’s also a reflection of Tesla’s shift to autonomous vehicles, on which Musk is betting the company’s future.
Musk once forecast he’d make 250,000 Cybertrucks a year. Kelley Blue Book estimated Tesla sold just 20,237 of the vehicles last year, down about half from the year prior. Sales through the end of September this year were down another 28%, according to Kelley Blue Book.
If the imposing, sharp-angled, dystopian appearance of the Cybertruck weren’t enough to turn many potential buyers away, Musk did so himself by allying with a panoply of right-wing figures, most notably U.S. President Donald Trump. He alienated some customers as his image morphed from eccentric innovator to polarizing force trading his billions for political influence.
Once-passionate Tesla drivers rushed to sell off their cars, or slapped stickers on the bumper declaring, “I bought this before Elon went crazy.” Organizers staged demonstrations outside Tesla showrooms and urged investors to dump shares of the company’s stock. Anger spilled into violence, with Molotov cocktails hurled at Tesla vehicles, charging stations set ablaze, and dealerships covered in graffiti.
Lovers of the Cybertruck became targets, too, subjected to shouts of “Nazi!” and extended middle fingers.
Ross Blankenship is one of them. When he first laid eyes on the Cybertruck, he felt transported to a world from his childhood, when he would play “Halo,” the sci-fi video game. He had to have it.
“I had that sort of child in me wanting to be part of something cool that would change the future of automotive,” Blankenship said in a call from his Cybertruck as he drove through Sunnyside, Colorado. Even as Blankenship found he agreed with Musk on politics, he hated seeing a vehicle he loved turned into a political symbol. “I never bought it for any other reason than the fascination with the future technology of trucks … so that was a little heartbreaking.”
He would buy another Cybertruck again in a heartbeat, calling its end “a sad moment.”
Stephen Miller Replaces Susie Wiles as Trump’s White House Chief of Staff After GOP’s Midterm Defeat
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Friday that Stephen Miller was replacing Susie Wiles as White House chief of staff, installing as his closest adviser a loyal, combative bulldog for his “America First” agenda as the president prepares to stare down a newly empowered Democratic Congress next year.
Miller, long a member of Trump’s tight inner circle, is a key architect of the administration’s hard-line immigration policies. He is one of Trump’s longest-serving aides, joining his long-shot 2016 presidential campaign as a speechwriter. He most recently has served as White House deputy chief of staff for policy and oversees a broad portfolio, though he is best known for his role in Trump’s immigration policy.
The staff shuffle signals that Trump, whose Republican Party was handed monumental defeats in Tuesday’s midterm elections, is resisting a conciliatory approach to Democratic lawmakers who are eager to investigate the administration — including Miller himself as a top target. Miller, 41, is a dogged defender of Trump and has built a deep and sophisticated understanding of a president’s executive power and how the federal government operates, portending a potential burst of executive actions in the final two years of Trump’s presidency.
Wiles gave Trump her resignation Thursday night, a person familiar with the events told The Associated Press, speaking on condition of anonymity to describe the private conversation. Trump praised Wiles and said she’d continue to work for his political organization.
Wiles, the steely political operator and longtime adviser to Trump, was the first woman to ever serve in that post and the longest-serving White House chief of staff for Trump, who cycled through four of them during his first four-year term.
“Serving President Trump in the White House has been the honor of a lifetime. I’m so proud to have been a part of what we’ve accomplished together from securing our border and cutting taxes to strengthening our economy and putting America First,” Wiles said in a social media post shortly after Trump’s announcement.
The departure also came months after Wiles indicated she no longer showed evidence of breast cancer after she underwent months of treatment for the disease, a diagnosis she went public with in March 2026.
Miller is tied to immigration policies that voters said went too far
During the midterm campaign, Miller took frequent partisan swipes at Democrats, calling them “extremists, freaks and America-hating lunatics” on social media and promoting unfounded theories about election fraud in California and Alaska.
He has been a major part of the Trump administration’s anti-fraud task force targeting benefit programs and a decision to suspend Microsoft and others from a green card program. He also served as homeland security adviser at the White House, giving him a perch from which to coordinate with other agencies across the government.
He joined Trump on Friday for his trip to Florida, and the president noted to reporters that “Stephen has been with me from the beginning.
“He gets it; very good politically,” Trump said as he departed the White House. “He’ll do a great job. Great manager.”
But the immigration policies that Miller is so closely associated with were a major liability for Republicans during the just-wrapped election. The midterm AP Voter Poll found that most voters, about 6 in 10, said the administration’s immigration enforcement actions had gone too far and they “somewhat” or “strongly” disapproved of how Immigration and Customs Enforcement had handled its responsibilities.
“Just days after the American people rejected his corrupt and lawless presidency, Donald Trump is doubling down,” said Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Calif., who is set to become chairman of the powerful House Oversight Committee. “Stephen Miller is the architect of the unconstitutional ICE raids that have terrorized our communities and kidnapped and killed American citizens and immigrant families.”
In a statement, Garcia added, “Stephen Miller should lawyer up.”
Wiles brought order to Trump’s campaign
Trump on Friday praised Wiles, the veteran Florida operative who joined Trump’s team during his 2016 presidential bid, as having done a “very good job, great job.”
But he added, “Sometimes in life, you have to make moves.”
Wiles, 69, is the second woman to lead Trump’s presidential campaign to victory, although she never embraced the formal title of campaign manager.
She has been credited with steering the most disciplined of his three presidential bids, and Trump himself has said he was often told that Wiles led his “best-run campaign.” Often called the “ice maiden” by the president, she was seen as the no-brainer choice to serve as White House chief of staff at the start of his second term.
Wiles stuck with the job even after her breast cancer diagnosis. Deep into the midterm campaign, six months after having revealed her diagnosis, she said she was “cancer-free,” indicating she no longer showed evidence of cancer after her pathology results came back clear.
In a rare interview, Wiles told Fox News Digital last month that she hadn’t been planning on getting the mammogram that ultimately detected her cancer. Her doctor suggested she do the exam anyway, because a mammogram machine was available that day and her schedule was too busy and unpredictable.
Wiles, the daughter of the late NFL player-turned-broadcaster Pat Summerall, cut her reputation as someone who brought discipline to the president’s chaotic style and shunned the spotlight, so much so that at Trump’s 2024 election night victory party, she repeatedly shook her head and avoided the microphone as Trump tried to coax her to speak to the crowd.
In addition to Trump, Wiles also ran incumbent Sen. Rick Scott’s 2010 campaign for Florida governor and briefly served as manager of former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman’s 2012 presidential campaign. She spearheaded Ron DeSantis ’ successful run for Florida governor in 2018, but DeSantis would eventually urge the Trump campaign in 2020 to cut ties with Wiles, creating a rift that led to a particularly vicious effort by those in Trump’s orbit to mock DeSantis throughout his failed run for the Republican presidential nomination against Trump in 2024.
Wiles once said Trump had ‘an alcoholic’s personality’
But in December 2025, nearing the end of Trump’s first year back as president, Wiles became the headline when Vanity Fair magazine published a series of interviews with her and other top Trump administration officials conducted by the author Chris Whipple, an expert on White House chiefs of staff.
The Wiles interviews stuck out for their candor, which is unusual for a sitting White House chief of staff. She said Trump has an “alcoholic’s personality,” although the president does not drink, and said then-Attorney General Pam Bondi had “whiffed” in her handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files while remarking that Vice President JD Vance has been a “conspiracy theorist for about a decade.”
Trump and other administration aides rushed to defend Wiles, who, in turn, disparaged Vanity Fair for publishing what she called a “disingenuously framed hit piece,” though she did not deny making the comments.
In the interviews, which were conducted over a period of several months, Wiles also revealed a bit of her management style, saying she was “not an enabler.”
“I try to be thoughtful about what I even engage in,” Wiles said. “I guess time will tell whether I’ve been effective.”
- Associated Press writers Michelle L. Price in Washington and Jill Colvin in New York contributed to this report.
Ousted Paraguayan President Placed Under House Arrest After Bank Collapse
ASUNCIÓN, Paraguay (AP) — Ousted Paraguayan President Santiago Peña was placed under house arrest Friday on suspicion of breach of trust, shortly after the Senate removed him from office over the collapse of a major bank tied to his government.
In a unanimous vote, the 44 senators present voted to remove Peña for misconduct in office, bringing a dramatic end to one of South America’s most stable presidencies. The verdict came just three days after regulators seized Ueno Bank, cutting nearly 3 million customers off from their savings and bank cards and setting off a political crisis.
Prosecutors ordered that Peña be held at his home until he can be brought before their economic crimes and anti-corruption unit, according to a letter to the national police commander. The attorney general’s office confirmed to The Associated Press that he had been detained there. The order also called for the arrest of Carlos Carvallo, the former central bank chief Peña appointed. It was not immediately clear whether Carvallo was in custody.
Lawmakers accused Peña of using his political influence to steer hundreds of millions of dollars in public funds into Ueno while regulators overlooked risky insider lending. Peña has denied wrongdoing.
Vice President Pedro Alliana was sworn in as president Friday to serve out the term, which ends in August 2028. He inherits a government under pressure to return depositors’ money and punish those behind Ueno’s collapse.
A veteran of the long-ruling conservative Colorado party, Alliana, 52, is a former governor of the southern province of Ñeembucú and a former speaker of the lower house. He has not escaped the scandal entirely: Prosecutors are also investigating him, and on Thursday lawmakers shelved an opposition bid to impeach him.
Peña’s removal bars him from the lifetime Senate seat granted to elected former presidents under Paraguay’s Constitution, denying him the parliamentary immunity that would accompany it. Prosecutors are also investigating current and former central bank and pension fund officials.
Peña had submitted his resignation Thursday, but Congress did not accept it. His lawyers, Ricardo Preda and Adolfo Ferreiro, argued that lawmakers should have approved his departure instead of pressing ahead with the impeachment trial.
In a farewell message before the verdict, Peña expressed hope his departure would spare Paraguay further harm.
“I do not want my presence to be a cause of greater division or instability,” he wrote. “I say goodbye with gratitude, without ignoring the anguish of those who are waiting for answers today.”
Public outrage has become more thunderous by the day. As senators deliberated Friday, crowds of protesters demanding their frozen savings back and accountability for Ueno’s failure marched through downtown Asunción chanting, “Santi Peña to Tacumbú!” — a reference to the capital’s main prison.
“This was an enormous betrayal of trust,” said Yinal López, a worker at the state electricity company, whose employee pension fund also had money at Ueno. “The president made a mockery of the people. He used their money, the people’s money, to do whatever he wanted.”
A bank collapse becomes a political reckoning
Ueno’s implosion has plunged Paraguay into its deepest political crisis in more than a decade — and at dizzying speed. Regulators seized the bank before dawn Tuesday. By Thursday afternoon, Peña had offered to resign as his conservative Colorado party turned on him, led by former President Horacio Cartes, the party chief and Peña’s longtime mentor. By Friday, his interior minister, chief of staff, legal adviser and political adviser had all quit.
It was a staggering reversal of fortunes for Peña, a telegenic technocrat and a former International Monetary Fund economist who owed his rapid political ascent to Cartes. The tobacco magnate, among Paraguay’s richest men, made Peña his finance minister and twice backed him for president over rival factions’ objections.
Once in office, though, Peña quietly amassed a rival power base, analysts say. Ueno Bank, flush with public deposits, became the centerpiece of both his business empire and his effort to win over provincial governors as he sought to escape Cartes’ shadow.
“It’s like a Shakespearean drama. He tried to displace his mentor, his political patron,” said Miguel Carter, director of DEMOS, a Paraguayan research center. “But he did so on very fragile grounds.”
Cartes struck back. In September, senators loyal to him demanded answers from the central bank about Ueno’s lending, citing leaked internal reports that warned its loans to related companies put its solvency at risk. When Ueno collapsed this week, so did Peña’s leverage, and Cartes, once sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury over alleged corruption, publicly called for the ouster of his erstwhile protégé.
“Cartes put the nail in the coffin,” said Andrew Nickson, a Paraguay expert at the University of Birmingham. “Peña had no political base to rely on, and he was left high and dry.”
A bank built on public money
Ueno rose from obscurity to become Paraguay’s fifth-largest bank by deposits in just a few years, with more than $800 million in public money turbocharging its expansion. It signed up more than two-thirds of the country’s adults, its splashy logo appearing everywhere from the national soccer stadium to street vendors’ bank cards.
The impeachment charges cite Peña’s stake in Ueno’s holding company, which he divested under pressure last year, and his appointment of a former Ueno executive to run the central bank that regulated it. Lawmakers also accuse him of letting the state pension fund deposit $355 million at the bank, beyond legal limits.
Analysts say those high-level connections helped shield Ueno from regulatory scrutiny even as concerns about its finances grew.
“For the last 20 years, the central bank has been one of the two pillars that gave Paraguay international credibility in managing its economy,” said José Tomás Sánchez, a political theory professor at the National University of Asunción. “And under Peña, it began to lose credibility, lose neutrality and then relax all its control mechanisms to favor the business group that had Ueno Bank as one of its pillars.”
Frozen accounts, rising anger
Overnight, Ueno customers could no longer withdraw cash, access their savings or use their cards to buy anything. The digital lender had aggressively courted the poor and unbanked with generous supermarket rebates, and more than 1 million Paraguayans opened their first bank account there, according to Ueno. Even players on the national soccer team, which Ueno sponsored through its run to a World Cup upset of Germany this year, say their accounts are frozen.
“The ripple effect on the general population has been immense,” Nickson said. “That has fueled the ire of many people in Paraguay who are not particularly politically aware or very interested in politics.”
Some depositors began recovering their money Thursday, starting with those holding up to 10 million guaraníes (about $1,600). Deposits are insured up to about $37,000, which the central bank says covers nearly all of Ueno’s customers. It calls the collapse an isolated case and insists the broader financial system is safe.
Prosecutors have charged 27 people, including Ueno’s controlling shareholder, Miguel Vázquez, with crimes including breach of trust and attempted fraud, and six bank directors are in pretrial detention. Authorities have seized nine luxury cars from Vázquez’s home, along with a yacht and small planes linked to him, and searched executives’ homes in a gated community outside the capital.
- DeBre reported from Salto, Uruguay, and Batschke from Montevideo, Uruguay.
New Wave of Bomb Hoaxes Hits At Least 27 Passenger Flights Across Europe
ROME/WARSAW/EVREUX, France, Nov 5 (Reuters) - Hoax bomb threats disrupted at least 27 passenger flights across Europe on Thursday, forcing unplanned landings by some planes and prompting fighter jets to escort or intercept others, in the second such wave this week.
No country has attributed blame for the threats, which come as many European officials are accusing Russia of masterminding sabotage and "hybrid attacks", often cheap, easily deniable and not expected to trigger an armed response.
At least seven flights and a cruise ship also received hoax threats on Tuesday.
Denmark, Poland and Romania, all affected by Thursday's disruptions, have previously accused Moscow directly of being behind hybrid attacks, while Germany blamed Russia for an August attack on Leipzig airport. Britain, which has in the past blamed Russia, linked Iran to a suspected plot against a US air base.
Both Russia and Iran deny any involvement.
Eric Schouten, head of aviation security group Dyami, said most of the countries affected supported Ukraine in its war against Russia's invasion.
While analysts at aviation risk advisory firm Osprey Flight Solutions said a link to Russia's hybrid campaign in Europe was a "realistic probability," they also cautioned that other explanations, including individuals acting on personal grievances and copycat incidents, were also possible.
An airport source in Italy told Reuters that an email with the subject line "Threat report" had been sent to several addresses for airlines, airport operators and airport service providers at Rome's Fiumicino and Milan's Malpensa airports.
The email, which claimed it was from "fighters of the Male State", said devices had been placed on inbound flights from Helsinki and Dublin and they would explode in 60 minutes.
Reuters could not independently confirm who had sent the email and there was no immediate indication of who was behind the other threats across Europe.
FLIGHTS TO MILAN, ROME, PARIS, PRAGUE, SOFIA AFFECTED
In France, Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu's office said he had sent fighter jets to intercept an Aer Lingus flight from Dublin to Rome and escort it to an air force base at Evreux after the pilot did not cooperate with authorities as expected.
Lecornu's office gave no reason for the pilot's behaviour.
Bulgaria's air force said its fighter jets had escorted three airliners to the ground. One Ryanair flight from London to Sofia was diverted to Plovdiv, Bulgaria's second city.
Spanish police said three emailed threats came in within 20 minutes involving two Air Europa departures from Madrid to Paris and four inbound Iberia flights from Rome and Milan. Several aircraft were halted or returned to their stands in Madrid and passengers disembarked as the aircraft were inspected.
In Warsaw, a LOT flight to Paris was stopped as it taxied towards take-off and passengers were transferred to another plane, while Danish police said two planes were searched at Copenhagen airport.
Other flights that received threats, including EasyJet, Finnair, LOT, Wizz Air, Ryanair and Air Serbia services to Prague, Sofia, Vienna, Brussels, Bucharest, Rome and Milan, landed as scheduled, some after military escorts.
Elena Pala, a passenger on a Wizz Air flight from Milan, described what happened when the plane landed in Bucharest, Romania.
"First, they took us a long way from the terminal ... far away on the runway. The plane was surrounded by fire trucks, ambulances and anti-terrorist units," she told Digi TV.
"I asked what was happening. They said it was an emergency issue. That is all they said," Pala added.
Joji Waites, director of flight safety for the British Airline Pilots’ Association, said airlines did not act on threats unless they had been rated credible by assessors.
Departing passengers were philosophical.
"We still have to get around. So, well, we just have to deal with it as best we can," said Spaniard Lucia Parga.
Another traveller, Gabriele Franzese, added: "You can't worry too much about every piece of news. If the plane crashes, so be it. If it's meant to happen, it'll happen anyway."
CYBERATTACKS ON SUPERMARKETS AND BLOOD BANKS
Eliran Almog, CEO of aviation cybersecurity firm Cyviation, said the hoaxes could serve both to disrupt operations and to observe how airlines, airports and authorities respond.
"These aviation threats are also occurring in the same period as cyberattacks on supermarket refrigeration systems across Europe," Almog said.
"Different essential services are experiencing disruption that carries economic costs and can undermine public confidence."
This week, unidentified hackers for the second time shut down fridges in supermarkets in several European countries, also affecting French blood banks.
- Reporting by Reuters bureaux; Additional reporting by Matteo Negri and Gabriele Pileri in Rome; Writing by Kevin Liffey and Alexander Smith; Editing by Gareth Jones, Philippa Fletcher and Xevi Fontdegloria
Comedian Russell Brand Found Guilty by UK Court of Rape and Sexual Assaults
LONDON, Nov 5 (Reuters) - Comedian Russell Brand, once one of Britain's most high-profile broadcasters and star of several Hollywood movies, faces a lengthy jail term after being convicted in a London court on Thursday of raping a woman and sexually assaulting three more.
Prosecutors said Brand, the former husband of US pop singer Katy Perry, was obsessed with sex and used women to satisfy his own desires. One victim said he treated her "like an animal".
Funny and charming when he wanted to be, but also ruthless, calculating and manipulative, the 51-year-old, who starred in "Get Him to the Greek" and "Arthur", was interested only in getting what he wanted from women, lead prosecutor Riel Karmy-Jones told jurors at Southwark Crown Court.
She said there had been "a flavour of disdain" in his evidence towards the complainants, which she said reflected his whole approach to women at the time of the offences.
Brand now faces jail and potentially further action as police said he was still under investigation for two other alleged rapes. Brand denied ever having non-consensual sex.
EMBOLDENED BY FAME
Brand, known for his loquacious manner and flamboyant appearance, had denied all the charges, saying the incidents, which dated back more than 20 years, had either been consensual, reinvented or re-imagined.
He acknowledged in evidence he had dedicated a lot of his life to "reckless philandering and idiocy" but said sexual consent was fundamental.
But, following a four-week trial, the jury found him guilty of rape and three sexual assaults. He was acquitted of two other rape charges and an attempted indecent assault.
Judge Joel Bennathan said he would be sentenced on Monday and faced a lengthy prison term. Brand was refused bail and taken down to the cells.
Brand is one of the most prominent celebrities in Britain convicted of sex offences in recent times, after BBC newsreader Huw Edwards admitted making indecent pictures of children two years ago, and entertainer Rolf Harris was found guilty of assaulting young girls in 2014.
"My opinion is that he is a sexual predator and he has abused his power throughout his career, and he's been emboldened the more and more famous that he's become," Detective Inspector Laura Nelson, who headed the investigation, told Reuters.
Prosecutors had said Brand's offending spanned the years in which he rose from performing stand-up comedy in small venues to becoming a television presenter and Hollywood film star.
The court heard tearful and forceful testimony from the six complainants, who are all entitled to lifelong anonymity.
None of the women knew one another but all came forward to police in the wake of a TV documentary and press reports in 2023 in which other women made separate allegations against Brand. Those women were not involved in the criminal trial.
During the trial, the complainants described a sudden change in Brand's demeanour during their encounters, saying he became wide-eyed and maniacal.
One woman said that less than a minute after she met him at a party in a bar, he had grabbed her breasts.
Another victim, a self-described fan of Brand, said she had gone to his home for consensual sex but he had then removed a condom and anally raped her. Afterwards, he had ordered her to clear up the bloody mess on the sheets.
WITNESS SAID HE WANTED TO SLEEP WITH 5,000 WOMEN
Throughout his career, Brand was open about his battles with drugs and sex addiction, writing about both in his 2007 autobiography "My Booky Wook".
One witness, a former friend with whom Brand later lived, told the court Brand had bragged he wanted to sleep with 5,000 women.
Brand's former personal assistant, Helen Berger, who worked for him from 2006 to 2007, said he had "an insane sexual appetite".
"He never seemed happy after sex, more so depressed," she said in a witness statement.
London police said they were investigating two other allegations of rape against Brand, and prosecutors had been sent files of evidence to consider. Nelson said police expected further allegations could emerge following the conviction.
"I think there are other victims out there and if they want to report that to us, then we'll of course take it seriously," she said.
Brand rose to prominence in Britain hosting a spin-off show to "Big Brother" on Channel 4.
During the 2000s, he became a regular fixture on television and radio, and went on to star in a number of films. In 2010 he married Perry, a relationship that, he told the court, brought him "staggering fame". The marriage ended after 14 months.
Nelson said Perry had not been approached as a potential witness, but said she could always come to police if she had any information.
In subsequent years, Brand moved away from mainstream TV and film work, and built a large social media following as an anti-establishment commentator, discussing politics, spirituality and religion. He was baptised as a Christian in 2024, after the allegations first became public.
- Reporting by Michael Holden and Sam Tobin; editing by William James, Kate Holton, Alexandra Hudson
US Will Halt $4B in Aid to Israel as The Mideast Ally Weans Itself From American Dependence
WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States will stop providing $4 billion in aid each year to Israel in 2027 but will sell arms to its closest ally in the Middle East, President Donald Trump said on Tuesday.
The Republican president told Fox News Channel during a phone call on Election Day for the midterms that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had approached him about the idea and that they have been talking about it for a couple of years.
Trump said Israel doesn’t need the aid and it’s a lot of money for the U.S. to spend. But Trump also said that U.S. aid to Israel has become a Democratic talking point for candidates such as Michigan U.S. Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed, a vocal critic of Israel.
Even far-right conservatives, who have supported Trump in the past, have taken issue with U.S. support for Israel, with prominent commentators like Tucker Carlson openly questioning the value of the relationship.
“You can consider it barter. You can consider military aid or cash,” Trump said. “Look, we give them $4 billion of things and money, and they don’t need it. And I was approached by Bibi Netanyahu, and we’ve been talking about it for a couple of years because it’s a lot of money.”
But if Trump intended the announcement to make a last-ditch effort to sway midterm votes, analysts said it likely would not work.
“It’s an open question if this was about politics, but it isn’t going to change Republican voters, and it certainly isn’t going to change Democratic voters,” said David Schenker, who served as Trump’s top diplomat for the Middle East in his first term and is now with the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
Israeli opposition leaders want to hear from Netanyahu
There was no comment from Netanyahu or his office as of Tuesday evening Israel time, several hours after Trump’s announcement. The prime minister did post twice on social media, but he focused on unsubstantiated allegations of foreign interference in Israel’s elections, not on what Trump said.
But at least some of his political opponents were critical.
His chief rival, Gadi Eisenkot, called on the prime minister to speak to the possibly radical change in U.S.-Israeli relations.
“The fact that Israel’s defense establishment is learning of a shift in our strategic relationship through the media, at the same time as the Israeli public, shows just how dangerous Benjamin Netanyahu’s conduct is,” Eisenkot, a former military chief, said in a statement.
Yair Golan, a leader in Israel’s opposition bloc, said an end to U.S. military aid would deal a “severe blow to Israel’s security” at a time when the country is fighting wars on multiple fronts.
“The burden of funding defense needs at such a critical juncture will fall entirely upon the Israeli public,” Golan, a former deputy military chief, said in a statement.
Tens of billions of dollars have gone to Israel
The United States has sent tens of billions of dollars in military aid to Israel over decades.
In 2016, President Barack Obama, a Democrat, signed an unprecedented security agreement with Israel to give its military $38 billion over 10 years, amounting to $3.8 billion a year. Under the agreement, Israel’s ability to spend part of the funds on Israeli military products was to be phased out and eventually all of the money would be spent on American military industries.
Netanyahu has talked about the need to wean Israel off the aid in the past and has said that the American aid would end at some point.
He told The Economist in January that he wanted to “taper off” U.S. military aid in the next 10 years and that such a change was “in the works.”
Although Trump spoke of ending the aid by the end of 2026, such an abrupt shift would be all but impossible, and Congress will have a large say in what happens. More likely, there could be a wind-down of the current memorandum of understanding if Congress agrees, but it’s unclear if that could happen as early as 2027. The current agreement is not set to expire until 2028.
Behind the scenes, there have been discussions about whether the U.S.-Israel arrangement should be restructured in the long term into one that’s more of a partnership of the two countries’ defense tech and weapons manufacturing industries.
The 2027 National Defense Authorization Act includes a provision that would expand U.S.-Israeli cooperation on the development of new defense technology and identify opportunities to integrate Israeli defense technology into the U.S. military. The NDAA has not yet been approved by Congress.
But there has been some concern from the Israeli side that such a shift in the relationship could result in the Israelis giving up their intellectual property but still facing constraints imposed by the U.S., according to a person who is familiar with the diplomatic discussions but was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity.
Meanwhile, some critics, including Rep. Ro Khanna, a California Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, have criticized the provision in the NDAA. Khanna said such integration between the militaries would lead to the U.S. losing sovereignty.
Trump says critics can easily target the $4 billion payment
The optics of the aid had also become an issue, according to Trump, who singled out El-Sayed for using it as a talking point.
“The left uses the $4 billion payment — that everybody knows about, it’s no secret — as a signal of unfairness,” Trump said Tuesday on Fox. “And we can’t allow that to happen. I don’t like that, because it’s too easy. It’s almost too easy a target. And Bibi and I have been talking, and we’ve agreed. He was very understanding of it.”
Phasing out direct military and economic aid to Israel has long been a subject of debate in both countries and has gained traction in the last several years. “This has been coming for a long time,” said Schenker.
There are several issues that complicate it, though, not least of which are obligations the U.S. has to Israel under the terms of the Camp David peace accords with Egypt, which require the United States to support Israel and Egypt with security assistance.
In addition, much of the assistance the U.S. provides Israel comes in the form of foreign military financing, or FMF, that gives Israel the money but requires it to spend the money on American-produced weaponry, meaning the funds are plowed back into the U.S. economy.
Unless Israel plans to spend the same amount on purchasing American materiel, U.S. defense contractors may see an impact.
In addition, even if aid were to be suddenly cut off, there would still be many years of previous purchases in the pipeline waiting to be delivered. Most purchases take years from the sale to construction and then delivery.
“The real question for me is whether weapons deliveries will be affected,” Schenker said. “Will Israel be prioritized?”
- Associated Press writer Aamer Madhani contributed.
Cyberattack Hits French Blood Bank Site But No Blood Products Are Compromised
PARIS (AP) — A cyberattack on several blood banks tried to raise temperatures to extremely high levels but was thwarted before it could do any damage to blood products or samples, French authorities said.
The incident comes after supermarkets in a number of European countries reported this week that their fridges and freezers warmed up after they were remotely taken over, resulting in tons of spoiled food at a total cost of millions of dollars (euros).
The French Blood Establishment, or EFS, said “temperature and defrosting thresholds were raised to extremely high levels” on Monday at three of its cold-storage sites for plasma, in a statement released late Tuesday. Monitoring systems quickly detected the problem, allowing staff to take action in time so that “no blood products or samples were compromised,” it said.
French weekly newspaper Le Canard Enchaîné, which first reported the cyberattack, said that the attack had attempted to reset temperatures that normally are at minus 30 Celsius (minus 22 Fahrenheit) to as high as 110 C (230 F).
The cyberattack hit a supplier of refrigeration equipment at three EFS sites. The products stored were bags of plasma intended for transfusions and plasma used to manufacture medicines, and were either transferred or secured, the EFS statement said.
“No health consequences have been identified, and no blood products were lost,” the blood bank said.
The EFS said blood collection and distribution operations remain uninterrupted, ensuring continued services for patients at hospitals and other healthcare.
The company supplying the refrigeration equipment, Coolworld, said in a statement it “is aware” of the cybersecurity incident.
“The vulnerability currently being reported in the media relates to a component from a third-party supplier and was outside Coolworld’s direct control,” the statement said. The company said only a limited number of units were affected and it was taking “appropriate measures.”
France’s national cybersecurity agency and the Health Ministry are investigating the incident.
This week’s cyberattacks on refrigeration systems mirrored an episode in mid-October that targeted fridges and freezers at hundreds of supermarkets and independent stores across France, Belgium and the Netherlands.
One of the chains hit in that earlier incident, Dutch supermarket chain Ahold Delhaize, said Wednesday that it expected the cyberattack to reduce its sales in the fourth quarter by as much as 250 million euros ($281 million), and crimp its operating income for the period by up to 100 million euros.
“While most of the disruption was contained within two weeks, work continues to fully restore our normal operations,” CEO Franz Muller said. “As we all recognize, cyber threats are an increasingly harsh reality of doing business today,” he said in a statement released with Delhaize’s quarterly earnings.
The company had earlier blamed “malicious actions by others” and proactively took some of its systems offline, including websites and apps for its various brands in Europe as well as in the United States.
- SYLVIE CORBET, AP journalist Kelvin Chan in London contributed to the story
Google Will Cut Off Search Access for Students at Schools That Reject AI
Students using Google software in the classroom will not be allowed to access the company’s search engine unless their school system also opts in to using artificial intelligence, the tech giant said Tuesday.
The Mountain View, California, company has been facing pushback from educators, child development experts and parents over the use of its technology in schools, with the backlash heating up since it announced in August that it had turned on its Gemini chatbot for many K-12 students who use Google Classroom.
On Tuesday, the company said that practice would no longer be the default option for school administrators. Instead, K-12 schools will be able to individually turn each Google tool on or off — including Gemini, Gemini Notebook and search, with each being off by default until administrators turn it on. But because search is integrated with AI, schools that opt out of AI altogether would also lose access to Google search.
“We believe schools should have control over AI in their classrooms and in providing administrators with controls to help them manage their approach,” Chris Phillips, Google’s vice president and general manager of education, said in a blog post.
The company also said it is updating its search tools to make them “better for learning,” including offering step-by-step guided learning through problems, so that students don’t get quick answers to schoolwork.”
But turning off AI altogether is not possible if schools want to use Google products.
Google is by far the dominant provider of education technology for U.S. schools. Worldwide, the company says 150 million students and teachers use its Google Classroom platform, and many students use school-provided Chromebook computers.
Google faced an outcry in August when it switched on its Gemini chatbot for many K-12 students. Until August, Google had only allowed Gemini to be turned on for students 18 or older.
Tuesday’s announcement was met with swift criticism from educators and policymakers.
“Google is using its search monopoly to coerce schools into adopting AI. This highlights the danger of allowing an unregulated monopolist to control an essential service,” wrote Lina Khan, former chair of the Federal Trade Commission, on social media. “As the public increasingly pushes back against the use of AI in schools, Google is making clear it will punish those who don’t fall in line.”
New York City and Los Angeles, home to the nation’s biggest school districts, have issued temporary bans on generative AI tools in elementary and middle schools as they assess AI use and safety and develop policies on its use.
Many students already use AI to help with school and homework, but the technology has also made it easier to cheat and find quick, easy answers to questions instead of thinking critically. And experts have raised questions about how access to AI is affecting children’s brain development.
Josh Golin, executive director of children’s advocacy group Fairplay, said Google’s attempt to “strong-arm schools into using its AI products is likely to backfire.” He said Google’s technology in schools is not about learning but about “developing lifetime brand loyalty” for its products.
“Because AI isn’t safe for kids and undermines education and critical thinking, schools should turn off Google’s AI tools the minute that option becomes available,” Golin said in a statement.
Rather than fret about losing access to search, Golin urged schools to turn off not just AI but also Google, and “use this opportunity to help students find more privacy-protective alternatives for search, as well as ways to do more substantive research beyond search and click.”
- BARBARA ORTUTAY, AP NEWS
What’s Next in The Investigation of the Learjet Crash in Florida That Killed 9?
Investigators are just beginning the lengthy process of determining why a business jet plummeted from the sky in Florida after encountering a thunderstorm and slammed into the ground with such force that it created a crater and shattered the plane.
The National Transportation Safety Board is leading the investigation into the crash that killed all nine people aboard the Bahamas-bound Learjet, and it will likely take more than a year to determine the cause.
Dramatic bystander videos combined with the the disturbing final radio transmissions as the pilots realize their fate will give investigators important clues. The cockpit voice recorder would also help if investigators can find it intact.
“Our mission is to understand not just what happened, but why it happened, and to recommend changes to prevent it from happening again,” NTSB member Tom Chapman said.
Here’s what investigators are doing now and what comes next:
Investigators are gathering critical evidence
The NTSB team will spend days collecting every piece of the plane they can find. Investigators said Tuesday that pieces of a key part of the tail called the elevator, which controls the plane’s pitch, were found more than a mile away from the main crater. That confirms the plane started to break apart before impact.
Chapman said investigators are searching for the Learjet’s cockpit voice recorder because it could provide crucial details about what the pilots said to each other as they encountered turbulence, ice formed on the wings and they lost control of the aircraft.
“That will be very important data,” Chapman said. But being unable to find that recorder won’t doom the investigation. “Without it, our folks are very, very good. We’re still able to do some incredible detective work and determine how things transpired.”
The co-pilot told air traffic controllers that the plane was being thrown up and down more than 700 feet (213 meters) and she asked them for a better route through the area. It’s not clear why the pilots didn’t fly around the storms.
Torrential rains in Florida over the past week have hindered the investigators’ work. The crater filled with rainwater, possibly concealing parts of the wreckage under water, and a utility pole had to be removed.
The NTSB asked anyone who finds part of the plane to report that to investigators to collect.
The initial NTSB report will take about a month
The federal board has provided scant detail about its immediate findings and is expected to spend most of the coming month developing a preliminary report describing what happened. That preliminary report will provide factual details but won’t include analysis or cause, which will come in a later more detailed report.
The force of the crash and the fire destroyed much of the plane. Any evidence investigators are able to gather will be taken to a secure hangar where they can test or try to reassemble smashed components to better understand what happened.
Retired airline pilot and aviation safety expert John Cox said he doesn’t understand why the plane descended from its cruising altitude of 41,000 feet (12,500 meters) as it approached the storms. The pilots steered around a larger storm cell but appeared to head directly into a rapidly developing smaller one, Cox said.
“If I’m looking at thunderstorms, I’d rather be at 41 than at 35. You’ve got a better view, you’re more likely to be on top of it, or at least, in the very wispy tops of it,” Cox said. “I don’t understand why they came down.”
Investigators will try to determine whether they knew that storm cell was there, what the plane’s weather radar showed and whether the pilots checked any other weather services.
Investigators will dig deeper
Weather will be a key early focus of the investigation. NTSB experts will work with the National Weather Service and the Federal Aviation Administration to get a better idea of what the plane encountered at around 35,000 feet (11,000 meters).
Images that overlay the flight path atop weather maps show the Learjet flew directly into a small red storm cell that quickly worsened.
The weather is not the only element the board will consider.
Investigators will review maintenance records and any history of problems with the plane. They will also interview officials at Upper Jets, the company that operated the flight, as well as air traffic controllers and people who work at the airport in Austin, Texas, from where the plane departed.
Videos and photos shot by bystanders can also provide crucial clues about what happened. The NTSB will also collect surveillance footage that might show the crash.
In certain high-profile crashes, the NTSB can hold investigative hearings during which investigators question people, as it did after last year’s UPS plane crash.
The final report could take more than a year
Generally, it takes 12 to 18 months for the NTSB to complete a crash investigation, but complicated cases can take longer. NTSB’s roughly 400 workers are pursuing more than 1,200 active investigations.
Final reports include details about what happened and explain probable causes.
The NTSB has the power to recommend changes to prevent similar crashes and improve safety, but it doesn’t have the power to require those changes to be installed or enforced.
The responsibility for adopting those falls to the FAA, the industry and Congress, all of whom have historically ignored NTSB recommendations, deeming such changes too costly and cumbersome.
Even when the FAA or Congress agree with the suggestions it can take years to approve new rules.