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  • Man charged with attack on Australian MP as suspect’s father says she is family friend

    Man charged with attack on Australian MP as suspect’s father says she is family friend

    The tight-knit regional community of Wangaratta, Victoria, remains reeling from shock this week after a deliberate violent attack that left veteran independent MP Helen Haines fighting for her life after being struck by a car multiple times outside her constituency office. A 43-year-old male suspect has been formally charged in connection with the Monday attack, and is scheduled to appear before a local court on Wednesday to answer three serious charges: dangerous driving causing severe bodily harm, intentional infliction of serious injury, and the federal criminal charge of harming a public official serving in an official capacity.

    Local Australian media has identified the accused as Brendan Nugent, a self-identified environmental activist with long-standing personal ties to Haines and her family. In a public statement released following the attack, the suspect’s father Rod Nugent and his partner Christine Cunningham expressed deep distress over the incident, confirming that their family had maintained close friendships with Haines for more than two decades. “Helen Haines is a deeply respected, valued and much loved member of our local community,” the pair wrote, adding “All of our love and all of our thoughts are with Helen and her family and friends.” They also committed to cooperating fully with Victoria Police in any capacity throughout the ongoing investigation.

    Accounts from witnesses and law enforcement have painted a chilling picture of the premeditated attack. According to Australia’s national public broadcaster ABC, the suspect reportedly completed a U-turn to position his vehicle before striking 65-year-old Haines, then reversed his car and hit her a second time, pinning her between two vehicles. Bystanders rushed to Haines’ aid immediately after the collision, and the MP was airlifted to a major hospital in Melbourne for emergency surgery. As of Tuesday, Haines remains in critical but stable condition, though the incident has already claimed one of her legs, and medical teams are still working aggressively to save her second leg.

    Quick action by bystanders and nearby law enforcement prevented further harm, according to official updates. Ricky Jefferies, a local barber who was nearby during the attack, pulled the suspect from his vehicle and removed a knife he had been carrying in his pocket before it could be used. Speaking to reporters, Jefferies downplayed his actions, saying “I don’t think I’m a hero. I think that I was just a person who had an opportunity to intervene in a safe-ish way.” He also noted that other bystanders rushed to aid Haines without pausing to assess danger, recalling “the car was still on and they sat in front of a rolling car, that’s not an exaggeration.”

    Victoria Police confirmed that a highway patrol unit happened to be in the immediate vicinity when the attack unfolded, arriving on the scene just eight seconds after the first emergency call was placed. Following the suspect’s arrest, law enforcement executed a search warrant at a property in Tarawingee, a small rural community located roughly 60 kilometers (40 miles) outside Wangaratta. In a formal briefing, police confirmed “At this stage it appears this is an isolated incident, and there are currently no other known threats connected to this matter,” but added that uniformed officers would maintain an increased visible presence in Wangaratta through the coming days to reassure local residents.

    Haines, a widely popular crossbench politician, first won the regional Victorian seat of Indi as an independent candidate in 2019, and has since earned a reputation as a unifying figure across Australia’s deeply fractured partisan political landscape, building working relationships with major parties on both sides of parliament. Her Wangaratta office, located on the town’s main commercial street, reopened to through traffic on Tuesday, a day after the attack. As vehicles slowly resumed passing the building, local residents have left a growing pile of bouquets and supportive messages on the sidewalk outside. One handwritten card left among the flowers reads “may you recover quickly and continue to be a light in this world.”

    On Tuesday evening, hundreds of locals gathered for a vigil at Wangaratta’s cathedral to show support for Haines. Attendees queued quietly down the cathedral aisle to light candles for the MP, with clergy on hand to comfort those shaken by the attack. The violence has sent ripples of shock across both the local community and the broader Australian political landscape, leaving many grappling with the unprovoked attack on a politician widely known for her collaborative, community-focused work.

  • Residents warned not to drink tap water after hundreds fall sick near South Africa capital

    Residents warned not to drink tap water after hundreds fall sick near South Africa capital

    In the Tshwane metropolitan area encompassing South Africa’s capital city of Pretoria, a new public health emergency has emerged after contaminated water left more than 400 people sickened and prompted officials to issue an urgent advisory for residents to avoid using tap water for consumption or cooking. Over a two-week monitoring period, local hospitals recorded hundreds of cases of acute gastrointestinal illness marked by severe stomach cramps and diarrhoea, with most patients being children under the age of four. While no fatalities have been reported in this outbreak, laboratory testing confirmed high levels of E. coli bacteria in the regional water supply. Additional testing also identified other harmful pathogens including norovirus, campylobacter, and shigella – all agents linked to acute gastrointestinal illness. The latest contamination incident adds to a troubling pattern of repeated waterborne disease outbreaks in the region surrounding Pretoria over the last several years. In 2023, a cholera outbreak in the Hammanskraal township, located just outside Pretoria, killed 29 people and was traced back to inadequate water purification protocols. Then in 2025, 48 confirmed cases of typhoid were recorded in the same eastern Pretoria region, though the source of that outbreak has never been officially identified. In the current incident, no cholera bacteria has been detected in water samples. In a joint statement released on Monday, South Africa’s Department of Water and Sanitation and Department of Health confirmed that 408 cases were recorded between October 7 and October 18 across five local townships. Early investigations point to failures at the local water treatment facility that supplies these communities, with officials confirming that exposure to contaminated water from this facility is the direct cause of the current outbreak. Investigators also found that local authorities failed to issue a timely warning to residents after the contamination was first detected. The regional water supply has now formally been declared unfit for human consumption, with officials urging residents to only use tap water for non-essential purposes such as flushing toilets. Emergency response teams have already dispatched a fleet of water tankers to deliver clean, potable water to affected communities. Officials have also issued guidance for residents, advising them to dispose of any previously stored tap water and disinfect all water storage containers using standard household bleach. Public health officials are continuing to monitor the situation closely, with ongoing testing of water sources and contact tracing to prevent further spread of illness.

  • Alberta votes overwhelmingly to remain part of Canada, projections suggest

    Alberta votes overwhelmingly to remain part of Canada, projections suggest

    In a landmark non-binding public ballot that put Canadian national unity to one of its most significant modern tests, residents of the western oil-rich province of Alberta have delivered a clear verdict: more than two-thirds of voters have rejected calls to pursue a formal binding independence referendum, choosing instead to remain part of Canada, according to preliminary projections from Elections Alberta with most ballots counted.

    The ballot was initiated earlier this year by Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, who personally opposed separatism but moved forward with the vote after a grassroots pro-independence group collected 300,000 signatures on a petition demanding a binding separation referendum. That original petition was blocked by a court on the grounds that it failed to consult Indigenous First Nations communities, prompting Smith to proceed with the advisory vote instead. In a counter-move, anti-separation activists gathered more than 400,000 signatures on their own opposing petition, reflecting deep public division on the sovereignty issue. The core question on the ballot asked voters to choose between remaining a Canadian province or launching the constitutional process to hold a future binding independence referendum. Smith had previously stated that if voters backed the status quo, no separation referendum would be held during her tenure in office.

    Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney praised the outcome as a “clear choice” from Albertans, echoing Smith’s own reaction to the preliminary results. “Albertans have voted for a stronger Alberta in a united Canada,” Smith said, welcoming the verdict. Pro-union supporters gathered in Edmonton celebrated the projection, while the mood at a pro-separatist watch party in the same city shifted sharply when the results were announced: upbeat conversation quickly faded, and attendees packed up and departed shortly after overnight projections were released by CBC and other Canadian outlets.

    Separatist arguments for breaking from Canada centered on claims that federal environmental policies out of Ottawa have held back the province’s energy-driven economic growth. Anti-separation campaigners, including Prime Minister Carney, framed the vote as a moment to maintain national unity amid mounting external pressures, including the ongoing trade dispute with the United States.

    Despite the lopsided result against their position, separatist leaders have struck a defiant tone, insisting their movement is far from finished. Jeffrey Rath, a Calgary-based lawyer and leading separatist figure, told BBC World Service’s Newsday that the vote should be viewed not as a defeat, but as a critical first step for the movement. “Our movement isn’t stopping and we’re continuing to move forward,” Rath said, noting that the campaign had gained valuable lessons from the ballot process. When asked if the movement would continue pushing for repeat votes until it secured the outcome it wanted, Rath replied simply: “why not?”, adding that his side’s position is backed by solid economic and numerical analysis.

    Looking ahead, separatist leaders have already laid out their next plan: they aim to oust Premier Smith from the leadership of her United Conservative Party and replace her with a candidate sympathetic to the separatist cause. It remains unclear whether the movement has enough support within the party to pull off the leadership challenge, but political analysts widely expect the debate over Albertan sovereignty to dominate provincial politics for years to come. Mitch Sylvestre, another leading separatist, acknowledged ahead of the vote that even a defeat would not extinguish public support for independence, saying “a lot of work will have to be done” to curb that appetite if the result went against his side.

    This is not the first time Canada has faced a major challenge to its national unity: the province of Quebec held two high-profile independence referendums in 1980 and 1995, both of which failed. Alberta separatists have pointed to Quebec’s example, noting that the province used the persistent threat of independence to gain substantial political leverage from the federal government.

    Alongside the core sovereignty question, Monday’s ballot included nine additional policy questions covering two broad themes: five focused on immigration, and four addressed issues related to the Canadian Constitution. Full official vote counting is ongoing, but the preliminary projection has already cemented the immediate outcome, while leaving the long-term future of the Albertan separatist movement unresolved.

  • French cities calm overnight after curfews imposed to quell violence, PM says

    French cities calm overnight after curfews imposed to quell violence, PM says

    After a chaotic weekend of widespread rioting and looting across France, targeted local curfews have helped restore a measure of calm to the country, Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu has confirmed. The first phase of post-disorder cleanup operations is now getting underway across affected communities, while law enforcement personnel remain on high alert to prevent a resurgence of unrest.

    Curfew restrictions have been rolled out across key districts of central Paris, including the Place de la République — a major gathering point for weekend protesters — and the busy Les Halles shopping district. Additional movement restrictions, including limits on youth travel and public gatherings, have been implemented in major cities across the country, ranging from Marseille, Bordeaux, Nice and Lyon in the south to Lille and multiple smaller towns in the northern region.

    Lecornu publicly thanked frontline police officers and gendarmes for their work enforcing the new emergency measures. In a post published to the social platform X, he noted that decisions about extending curfews for Tuesday night would be made on a location-by-location basis, with authority delegated to regional authorities and local mayors to respond to on-the-ground conditions.

    The unrest has already exposed deep rifts over government preparedness. Earlier this week, Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez publicly acknowledged that law enforcement had “lost control” of the situation in several affected cities. Facing heavy criticism from opposition political leaders over the government’s failure to anticipate and contain the disorder, Nuñez submitted his resignation on Monday. President Emmanuel Macron rejected the resignation, opting to keep him in his post.

    Official government data shows that more than 2,500 people have been taken into custody since the unrest first erupted. According to reports from Agence France-Presse, one protester suffered the amputation of a hand after being hit by a police crowd-control grenade. Roughly 1,000 police officers have also been injured across the country during clashes with demonstrators.

    The current wave of unrest traces its origins to protests that began last month, when university and high school students first took to the streets to demand improved learning and campus conditions. Since then, the demonstrations have expanded dramatically, drawing in trade unions and a wide range of activist groups that have brought broader social and political grievances to the movement, swelling the size of crowds at protests across the nation.

  • Reese stars as Dream win first WNBA Finals match

    Reese stars as Dream win first WNBA Finals match

    For the Atlanta Dream, a franchise that had gone 12 years without a WNBA Finals appearance and carried a winless 0-10 all-time record in the championship round, Game 2 of the 2025 WNBA Finals was a night for the history books. Fueled by a career-defining performance from star forward Angel Reese, the Georgia side claimed their first ever Finals victory, downing the expansion Golden State Valkyries 79-65 on the Valkyries’ home court in San Francisco to level the best-of-seven series at one win apiece.

    Reese, the 2025 WNBA Defensive Player of the Year who joined Atlanta in an off-season trade from the Chicago Sky, put on a dominant two-way display that will go down in postseason record books: she finished the matchup with 30 points and 16 rebounds, becoming just the third player in league history to notch 30 points and 15 rebounds in a Finals game, joining elite former champions Jonquel Jones (2019) and Breanna Stewart (2020). At 24 years old, she is also the youngest player to ever hit that statistical milestone in a WNBA playoff game.

    The game remained tight through the first two quarters, with Atlanta holding a narrow 39-37 lead going into halftime. But the Dream flipped the script in a pivotal 13-minute stretch spanning the third and fourth quarters, putting on a defensive masterclass that held the Valkyries to just eight points, while pouring in 30 points of their own to pull away for good. Reese anchored the run, scoring nine of her total points in that game-changing window to shut down any comeback hopes for the expansion side.

    Reese’s standout performance came after a underwhelming showing in Game 1, where the Dream fell 68-64 on Saturday. Speaking to reporters after the win, Reese admitted she had felt she let her team down in the opening game, particularly in the second half, and entered Game 2 with a point to prove. “I walked off the court not feeling like myself, and I wanted to make sure that, this game, I did everything I could do to walk off the court and feel like who I am,” she said. “I was hungry, I think we let one slip away [on Saturday]. You can’t do that. We felt disappointed, we felt embarrassed.”
    Atlanta guard Allisha Gray praised Reese’s relentless focus after the win, saying “She just came out on a mission tonight.”

    The matchup marked a historic first for both franchises: Atlanta is making their first WNBA Finals appearance since a 2010, 2011 and 2013 three-peat of Finals runs that all ended in 3-0 sweeps, leaving the franchise without a single championship round win entering the 2025 series. For the Golden State Valkyries, the 2025 Finals already represent a historic Cinderella run, as the expansion franchise is competing in the championship in their very first season in the league. Gabby Williams, who led the Valkyries to their Game 1 win, put up 14 points in Game 2, but it was not enough to counter the Dream’s dominant defensive and offensive push. The game even drew a high-profile celebrity spectator: Golden State Warriors superstar Steph Curry, who attended the matchup alongside his daughter.

    After two opening games in California, the series will now shift to Atlanta for the next two matchups. Game 3 is scheduled to tip off on Thursday, October 22 at Atlanta’s 16,000-seat State Farm Arena, with Game 4 to follow two days later on Saturday, October 24.

  • My son has disappeared off the face of the earth fighting for Russia

    My son has disappeared off the face of the earth fighting for Russia

    For nine months, a Newcastle-based mother has clung to fragile hope that her 30-year-old son, missing while fighting for Russia in Ukraine, will be found alive, after he was left with what the family describes as an impossible choice: deportation away from his newborn child or enlistment in the Russian military.

    Valerie Stobbart’s life fractured overnight in December 2025, when a panicked text arrived from her daughter-in-law Ksenia, who lives in Russia with Nathan Stobbart and their young family. The message revealed Nathan, who had hidden his military service from his UK family for eight months, had vanished on the front lines in Ukraine. No trace of him has been found since.

    Before the shocking revelation, Valerie had believed her son was working as an electrical contractor in Russia, building a quiet new life after relocating there on Christmas Day 2024 to be with Ksenia, whom he met online. The couple married, welcomed their first child together, and were also raising Ksenia’s three children from a previous relationship. Relocating the entire family to the UK was financially out of reach, Valerie explains, and the conflict in Ukraine felt distant from their home in Russia, so she eventually supported her son’s decision to move. Regular updates and photos of the new grandchild left her with no reason to suspect anything was amiss.

    What Valerie only learned after Nathan went missing is that Russian authorities had forced her son into a devastating ultimatum: sign up for one year of military service, or face deportation for not being granted a residency visa. Under existing Russian policy, foreign men residing in the country have been offered legal status in exchange for military service in the invasion of Ukraine, a requirement that left Nathan with no acceptable options: leave his wife and newborn baby behind to return to the UK, or take up arms against Ukraine. “He was so desperate to stay with his family he would do anything,” Valerie says.

    Nathan is not the first British national without dual Russian-UK citizenship to fight for Russia in Ukraine. Prior cases include Ben Stimson and Aiden Minnis, who were granted Russian citizenship for fighting in occupied Donbas, and Bradley Townsend, who became the first British national fighting for Russia to be killed in the conflict in June 2025. But Valerie stresses that Nathan’s situation is fundamentally different: he did not move to Russia to fight, and only enlisted to stay with his family. Valerie also makes clear that she condemns Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and does not expect public sympathy for her son’s choice.

    Officially, Nathan was declared missing in action by his Russian military unit on 12 December 2025, nine months before the report, with no body recovered. His last communication via military radio came a week before Ksenia sent her urgent message to the UK. The family later discovered Nathan had recorded a private goodbye video for his mother, to be released only if he was killed, a recording Valerie says she has only been able to watch once before turning it off.

    Valerie’s relentless search for answers has run into constant roadblocks. She approached UK government officials, Russian authorities, and cross-border charities for help, but has hit dead end after dead end. The UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office confirms it is in contact with the family, but notes its ability to provide consular assistance in this context is severely limited, and it advises against all travel to Russia. When the family reached out to Russian officials for information on Nathan’s last known location, they were told all details are classified, with no further information provided.

    The search also cost Valerie her longtime job as an asylum decision maker at the UK Home Office. After she contacted a journalist investigating a Ukrainian prisoner of war camp for information on Nathan, she informed her employer of the outreach. She was immediately suspended, then fired for gross misconduct, on the grounds that speaking to media violated her employment contract. Valerie says she only contacted the reporter to find information on her son and never disclosed her workplace, but lost her appeal against the termination. The Home Office declined to comment on individual personnel cases when approached by the BBC.

    With all official avenues exhausted, Valerie now spends every free hour trawling online for any clue of her son’s whereabouts. She follows reports of prisoner exchanges between Russia and Ukraine closely, holding out hope that Nathan is being held captive and will be identified through the DNA the Russian military collected from him, linked to his infant child. Despite facing harsh online criticism from people who condemn Nathan’s decision to fight for Russia, and nine months without any new leads, Valerie refuses to abandon her search.

    “Every single day I think my phone could go and somebody somewhere is going to say ‘we’ve found him’,” she says. “I have read reports of Russians that have turned up after a year of being in captivity, or whatever, and their families thought they were dead. So every day there is a new hope he could be found.”

  • How is the US economy really doing under President Trump?

    How is the US economy really doing under President Trump?

    Ahead of the critical 2026 midterm congressional elections, former and current President Donald Trump has been actively touting his administration’s economic track record, asserting that his policies have lifted household incomes, tamed runaway inflation, and fueled unprecedented job creation across the United States. Repeating his signature optimistic framing, Trump has repeatedly declared that the U.S. “has the hottest economy anywhere in the world.” But a new fact-checking investigation by BBC Verify has unpacked the gap between the president’s rhetoric and on-the-ground economic data, revealing a complex picture of strong headline growth paired with uneven burdens falling on working- and middle-class American households.

    To start with the headline metrics the president often cites, the U.S. economy has indeed outperformed many initial projections following Trump’s second-term inauguration, even after his sweeping 2025 “Liberation Day” tariff package. By recent U.S. historical standards, GDP growth is holding at a respectable annualized rate of 2.2%, with total expansion hitting 3.2% since the end of 2024 — just before Trump retook the Oval Office. This outpaces every other G7 advanced economy over the same period, and beats the gloomy downgraded growth forecasts the International Monetary Fund released immediately after Trump’s April 2025 tariff announcement. Crucially, however, the president significantly rolled back those tariffs in the months after their rollout, softening the economic damage analysts had initially projected.

    Another major tailwind supporting U.S. growth right now is an unprecedented boom in corporate artificial intelligence investment, particularly in the construction of new data centers across the country. By August 2026, U.S. businesses were spending $5 billion per month on data center construction alone (excluding the IT hardware that goes inside those facilities) — nearly double the monthly rate when Trump returned to office. Yet analysts warn this growth driver is fragile: if AI investment cools abruptly, the broader economy could face a sharp slowdown.

    On inflation, the issue that dominated voter anger in the 2024 presidential election, the picture is far more mixed than Trump’s claims suggest. Voters ousted Joe Biden in 2024 largely over the 9% peak inflation hit in 2022, and today’s 3.7% national inflation rate is a steep drop from that Biden-era peak. But it remains noticeably higher than the 3% rate Trump inherited when he took office in January 2025. Economists broadly agree that inflation would be lower today if not for two key developments of Trump’s second term: his new import tariffs, and the spillover effects of the US-Israel-Iran war, which has disrupted global energy supplies and pushed up fuel and transportation costs across the U.S.

    The real-world impact of these price hikes is already visible to consumers: a gallon of diesel, a critical input for agriculture, manufacturing, and long-haul shipping, hit an all-time record high of $6.52 in September 2026. Core grocery staples including beef and coffee have also risen in price since Trump’s return to office, though egg costs have fallen from their pandemic-era peaks. Major U.S. retailers have already issued warnings that energy-driven cost increases from Middle East supply disruptions will push food prices even higher in coming months.

    On household incomes, another core claim from Trump, data shows median inflation-adjusted income rose 2.6% in 2025 to $87,460 — an all-time high on paper. But analysis from nonpartisan think tank the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) tells a far more unequal story. When combining the impact of Trump’s signature tax cuts, the expiration of expanded Affordable Care Act subsidies that previously held down health insurance costs for millions of Americans, and inflation-driven price hikes tied to tariffs and the Iran war, ITEP found most American households are actually worse off financially. The middle fifth of income earners face an average net loss of $1,700 in 2026 compared to a scenario without Trump’s second-term policy changes, while the poorest fifth of households see an average loss of $750. By contrast, the wealthiest 1% of Americans gain an average of $12,560, a windfall driven almost entirely by Trump’s tax cuts. ITEP’s findings on the unequal impact of tariffs align closely with separate analysis from another nonpartisan group, the Tax Foundation.

    On job creation, Trump has predicted his tariffs would “flood America with jobs” as manufacturers move production back to U.S. soil to avoid border taxes. Since his inauguration, the economy has added an average of 34,000 jobs per month — a steep drop from the 122,000 monthly jobs added in the final year of Joe Biden’s presidency. The total number of Americans employed in manufacturing, a key sector Trump has prioritized, stands at 12.6 million as of September 2026, which is actually slightly lower than when his second term began. The U.S. unemployment rate does remain low at 4.2%, roughly unchanged from when Trump took office, but that figure is partially propped up by the administration’s aggressive immigration crackdown and deportation program, which has shrunk the total available domestic workforce. A smaller workforce means far fewer new jobs need to be created each month to keep unemployment steady.

    Beyond these core metrics, Trump’s economic policies have driven a sharp increase in federal government borrowing, driven primarily by his large-scale tax cuts. The federal deficit — the gap between government tax revenue and annual spending — hit $2 trillion in the 12 months ending September 2026, equal to roughly 6% of total U.S. GDP. Projections show the deficit could grow to more than 8% of GDP by 2030. This elevated deficit spending is currently propping up GDP growth, but the IMF has warned that excessive borrowing and rapidly growing national debt raise the risk of a future U.S. financial crisis that would inflict severe harm on most households.

    Growing deficits have also pushed up borrowing costs for the U.S. government, which in turn lift interest rates for consumers. Yields on 10-year U.S. Treasury bonds have risen sharply since January 2025 and now top 5%, the highest level since the 2007 global financial crisis. That increase has pushed the average interest rate on a new 30-year mortgage up to 7.4%, up from 6.9% when Trump took office, worsening affordability in the already strained U.S. housing market. Many existing homeowners are now trapped in their current properties, as selling would force them to give up their low-rate mortgages that cannot be transferred to a new home purchase.

    As midterm campaigning intensifies, the gap between Trump’s economic rhetoric and the lived experience of most American households is set to become a core defining issue for voters heading to the polls.

  • Mahmoud Khalil petitions US Supreme Court to hear his free speech case

    Mahmoud Khalil petitions US Supreme Court to hear his free speech case

    A former Columbia University graduate student at the center of a high-profile clash over free speech and immigration policy has taken his fight to the nation’s highest court, arguing the federal government is moving to strip independent federal judges of their ability to intervene when First Amendment rights are violated.

    Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian-Algerian activist and former U.S. green card holder, submitted his petition to the U.S. Supreme Court this week, asking the justices to review a legal dispute stemming from his 2025 arrest by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) under the Trump administration’s sweeping crackdown on pro-Palestine speech among non-citizen residents. If the Supreme Court agrees to hear the case, legal experts say it will set a landmark precedent with far-reaching consequences for dozens of other non-citizen scholars and activists targeted in that crackdown—including Georgetown University researcher Badar Khan Suri.

    At the core of Khalil’s legal argument is a challenge to the federal government’s claim that the Immigration and Nationality Act bars independent federal courts from reviewing habeas corpus petitions for immigrants facing deportation. Khalil’s petition maintains the law does not exclude such challenges, and even if it were interpreted to do so, that application would be unconstitutional in his case.

    Habeas corpus, a legal principle dating back to 13th-century England created to prevent unlawful detention by the state without due process, remains a foundational check on executive power for all people on U.S. territory, regardless of citizenship. In June 2025, a New Jersey federal judge invoked this principle to order Khalil’s release after 104 days of immigration detention, ruling the Trump administration’s use of a rarely invoked foreign policy threat provision to arrest him was unconstitutionally vague, and that Khalil posed neither a danger to the community nor a flight risk.

    The federal government immediately appealed the ruling, arguing that independent federal courts have no authority to intervene in deportation proceedings. Unlike immigration judges, who operate under the umbrella of the Department of Justice, federal judges are constitutionally independent— a key distinction at the heart of the legal fight. Currently, the Department of Justice is led by Todd Blanche, former personal lawyer to President Donald Trump.

    Speaking to reporters during a virtual press briefing on Monday, Baher Azmy, a constitutional attorney representing Khalil, framed the case as a fundamental test of executive overreach and judicial oversight. “The question before the court is not directly about the obvious unconstitutionality of this unprecedented weaponisation of immigration power. It’s kind of hard to imagine how anyone could say it is legal for the government to lock up dissenters in order to silence them and others,” Azmy said. “Instead, the question is whether the federal courts, through the great writ of habeas corpus, can address this egregiously unlawful executive action.”

    Khalil, who is married to a U.S. citizen and had his student visa and green card revoked at the time of his arrest in March 2025, missed the birth of his first child during his 104 days in ICE custody. He has already received a formal order of removal from the U.S., but is appealing that decision, and remains free from detention pending the outcome of his legal challenges thanks to the lower court’s earlier ruling. His case has drawn global attention for its implications for free speech and immigrant rights.

    Beyond his fight against the federal government, Khalil recently launched a separate lawsuit against his former institution, Columbia University, accusing the school of enabling systemic discrimination against pro-Palestine student activists. He is joined as a plaintiff in the suit by the Palestine Working Group, a student organization within Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs, and the group’s president, Mohammed Ibrahim Zubairi, a Pakistani Muslim non-citizen. The lawsuit alleges Columbia showed “deliberate indifference towards and failure to respond to instances of severe, persistent, and coordinated harassment” targeting the men because of their pro-Palestine advocacy, their identity as Arab and Muslim students, their national origin, and their non-citizen immigration status.

  • King Charles sends Aung Sang Suu Kyi books, says Myanmar government

    King Charles sends Aung Sang Suu Kyi books, says Myanmar government

    Myanmar’s ruling military government has made an unusual public move, releasing official photographs that show detained former de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi receiving two books and a sealed correspondence sent by King Charles III. The delivery, documented in photos published Monday, marks one of the rare public glimpses of the 81-year-old Nobel laureate since she was taken into custody more than three years ago.

    Aung San Suu Kyi was removed from power in a 2021 military coup that ended her brief civilian government, and she was subsequently convicted on a series of charges that have been widely dismissed by the international community as politically motivated, trumped-up allegations. Her initial 33-year prison sentence was modified earlier this year when authorities moved her from a prison facility to house arrest in June.

    The two books gifted by King Charles have been identified as *Soil to Table*, a work by British horticulturists Bridget Elworthy and Henrietta Courtauld that celebrates the link between soil and the food supply, and *Soil: The World at Our Feet*, which serves as the official catalogue for a 2024 soil-focused exhibition held in London. Long a known enthusiast of reading, particularly works focused on nature and religion during her detention, Aung San Suu Kyi received the books in an interaction captured in the newly released images. In the photos, she is pictured seated across a table from two male officials, wearing a pale green traditional Burmese blouse and an olive-colored skirt. The official statement released alongside the images offers no details about her current health status or the full content of any discussion during the delivery.

    This public release comes amid a major diplomatic push by Myanmar’s new military president Min Aung Hlaing, who led the 2021 coup and took office following a 2025 election that was almost universally condemned by the international community as unfair and non-free. Barred from entry to most Western countries and accused of gross human rights violations including crimes against humanity, Min Aung Hlaing has sought to ease Myanmar’s deep international isolation by ramping up diplomatic engagement with neighboring Asian nations and holding exploratory talks with United States officials.

    This is not the first time the military government has released public images of Aung San Suu Kyi this year. In August, officials published photographs of a meeting between the ex-leader and a representative from the International Committee of the Red Cross, the first confirmed contact between Aung San Suu Kyi and a foreign representative since she sent a letter to her son, London-based Kim Aris, more than two and a half years ago. Aris, who has spent years campaigning for his mother’s immediate release, welcomed that update at the time, saying that based on the images, his mother appeared to be in good health.

  • China next-gen solar tech curb to impact SpaceX AI computing plan

    China next-gen solar tech curb to impact SpaceX AI computing plan

    China’s commerce and science ministries have unveiled a sweeping new draft proposal to tighten export controls on 40 critical technologies spanning artificial intelligence, biomedicine, and advanced solar manufacturing, a regulatory update that has sent ripples through global tech and space industries, particularly impacting Elon Musk’s ambitious plans for space-based solar power.

    Under the draft framework, 14 technologies will face full export bans if enacted, while 26 others will require government-issued export licenses. Critically, the ban includes production technology for perovskite and tandem solar cell modules — a next-generation photovoltaic technology that has emerged as an ideal candidate for space-based energy systems. Importantly, finished products manufactured using these controlled technologies will still be permitted for export, and the proposal is currently open for public comment through November 15 before any final rules are set.

    The full list of controlled technologies spans three high-priority strategic sectors. In artificial intelligence, 23 technologies tied to large language models, autonomous AI agents, high-performance computing clusters, and sensitive information processing are included, though technologies already widely available through open-source releases or academic publications are exempt from controls. For biomedicine, five key technologies covering cell and gene therapy platforms, small nucleic acid drugs, and handling of pathogenic microorganisms are restricted, with streamlined automatic licensing available for outbound licensing deals that do not transfer full ownership of the technology. In the solar sector, 12 technologies related to advanced polysilicon production, wafer processing, and next-generation cell manufacturing are covered, with controls extending to the core equipment that embodies these technologies.

    In an official statement explaining the new controls, a Ministry of Commerce spokesperson emphasized that the update follows longstanding common international practice, noting that all major global economies already implement varying degrees of export controls on sensitive technologies. “The aim is to guard against the risks of technology getting out of control and spreading improperly, while safeguarding normal international technology exchanges and cooperation,” the spokesperson said, adding that the revision is a routine periodic update to China’s export control catalog, which has been adjusted regularly by the two ministries since 2001. The update does not target any specific country, region, or private entity, the spokesperson confirmed, and most routine AI and biotech commercial activity will remain unaffected. For example, providing AI models to overseas users via application programming interfaces, cloud-based software as a service, mobile applications, websites, or lightweight on-device versions does not qualify as a controlled export, and downloading open-source Chinese AI models for use on hardware outside China’s borders also remains unrestricted.

    The proposal comes just weeks after a high-profile bilateral agreement between U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng, reached in New York on September 21, where the two nations agreed to mutual notification of AI incidents that could pose national security risks, with non-state cyberattack actors and illicit bioweapons development cited as key examples of the risks the agreement targets.

    For Elon Musk’s sprawling corporate empire, the new controls create significant uncertainty for his recently announced expansion into space solar power. Back in late January, Musk revealed on a Tesla earnings call that the company aims to scale up domestic U.S. solar cell production to 100 gigawatts annually, covering the entire supply chain from raw material processing to finished panels. Media reports indicate a portion of this new capacity is intended to power SpaceX’s satellite constellations, part of Musk’s broader plan to develop low-cost space-based solar power for orbital AI computing and a future permanent Moon city. Just days after the earnings call announcement, Musk dispatched a delegation to meet with leading Chinese solar technology firms working on perovskite and tandem cell technology, with GCL Group confirming the meeting, though JinkoSolar noted no binding agreements were reached.

    In early February, SpaceX completed its acquisition of Musk’s artificial intelligence firm xAI, with the billionaire predicting that within two to three years, space will become the lowest-cost location for large-scale AI computing, powered by near-continuous solar energy from orbiting satellites. Weeks later, Reuters reported that Tesla was in advanced negotiations to purchase roughly $2.9 billion worth of Chinese solar manufacturing equipment, a portion of which would now fall under the proposed export controls.

    Perovskite solar cells, which are often paired with silicon in stacked tandem designs, offer unique advantages for space applications unmatched by traditional satellite photovoltaic technology. They are far more efficient, lighter, and more flexible than conventional silicon cells. While perovskite degrades rapidly when exposed to moisture and oxygen on Earth, the near-vacuum environment of space eliminates this risk, and the cells also have the natural ability to self-repair after damage from cosmic radiation, making them the leading emerging option for next-generation satellite power systems.

    A October 17 report from China’s state-owned 21st Century Business Herald, citing an unnamed senior industry expert, clarified that under the proposed framework, foreign firms would still be permitted to purchase finished perovskite cells from Chinese manufacturers — only the underlying manufacturing technology and core equipment would be blocked from export. Zhao Lei, a senior solar cell technology researcher at the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Electrical Engineering, explained the strategic logic behind the restriction. “Space photovoltaics is the core energy source for strategic industries such as commercial spaceflight, space stations, space computing and deep-space exploration. It serves both civilian and defense needs and bears on the security of China’s space energy strategy,” he said.

    Zhao noted that Western nations have maintained a decades-long technology blockade on China in traditional high-performance space solar cell technology, dating back to the 1989 U.S. arms embargo that barred exports of defense and space technologies — including the gallium arsenide-based III-V multi-junction compound cells that have long dominated the satellite power market, controlled under U.S. International Traffic in Arms Regulations. For years, tight controls on high-performance epitaxy manufacturing equipment held back China’s domestic space solar development, but that dynamic has shifted dramatically. While China was locked out of traditional III-V cell supply chains, it has pulled ahead in the development of lower-cost crystalline silicon and perovskite-based tandem cells, and currently hosts the world’s most complete end-to-end solar manufacturing supply chain.

    By the end of 2025, Chinese firms controlled 96% of global polysilicon manufacturing capacity and 91.3% of global solar cell production capacity, according to data cited in the 21st Century Business Herald report. Though perovskite solar technology was first developed in Japan in 2009, Chinese companies have led the global push to commercialize and scale mass production. Chinese manufacturer Microquanta Semiconductor launched the world’s first large-scale perovskite module production line in 2023, GCL Group is currently building out a 2-gigawatt commercial production capacity, and LONGi Green Energy Technology set a new global efficiency record of 35.5% for tandem perovskite-silicon cells in July this year.

    For Musk, the practical outcome of the controls is clear: he will still be able to integrate Chinese perovskite cells into SpaceX satellites, but he will not be able to import the manufacturing equipment needed to produce the cells domestically in the United States to power his 100-gigawatt production target.

    In a parallel development aligned with U.S. export control priorities, Taiwan’s Minister of Economic Affairs Kung Ming-hsin announced in an October 12 interview with Bloomberg that the island will add AI servers and cutting-edge semiconductors to its own controlled export list, bringing its rules in line with American restrictions on advanced tech exports to mainland China. Once the new rules take effect, unlicensed shipments of controlled items to mainland China will be classified as a criminal offense under Taiwan’s Foreign Trade Act. “Going forward, some of our measures on controlled items will correspond to American ones,” Kung said, referencing commitments made under the 2025 Reciprocal Trade Agreement between Taiwan and the United States. He declined to share a specific timeline for the new rules to take effect, and added that Taiwan plans to raise billions of dollars to develop U.S.-linked industrial parks to support a local supply chain for Nvidia and other leading American AI hardware manufacturers.