Smashing pumpkins: Insurer warns of Halloween-related loss and damage to items

The Independent - Oct 27, 2026

Aviva said lost jewellery, egging, make-up related mishaps and pumpkin-related damage are among the claims it has dealt with.

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Cornell faces questions over dorm assignment for student disciplined in sexual assault case

Oct 28, 2026

Cornell faces questions over dorm assignment for student disciplined in sexual assault case

One of the seven Cornell University students disciplined in connection with an alleged 2024 gang rape at a fraternity house returned to campus this fall after a three-semester suspension and was placed in a co-ed dorm with a roommate who had no idea about his past, according to a professor familiar with the housing arrangement. University housing officials then left the accused student in that shared room for two weeks after the woman who made the allegation filed a lawsuit in September publicly accusing him of rape , psychology professor Corinna Loeckenhoff said at a Faculty Senate meeting. Meanwhile, Cornell students shared the accused student’s name and dorm location on social media. “This was a clear security risk,” Loeckenhoff told Cornell President Michael Kotlikoff at the Oct. 14 meeting, according to a recording obtained by The Associated Press. “Cornell’s own records show that, at the very least, he admitted to taking drugs and having sex with an intoxicated person,” Loeckenhoff said. “Why was Housing Services not aware of this? They had no clue until the shocked

US stocks tick higher as Broadcom and other AI companies lift market

Oct 28, 2026

US stocks tick higher as Broadcom and other AI companies lift market

NEW YORK — Wall Street is ticking higher Tuesday as stocks in the artificial-intelligence industry support the market, at least for now. The S&P 500 rose 0.5 percent and pulled within 1.3 percent of its all-time high set earlier this month. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 27 points, or 0.1 percent, as of 11 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.9 percent higher. The majority of stocks within the S&P 500 were falling, but gains for several influential AI stocks made up for that. Such stocks have been swerving for weeks on worries about whether their boom is under threat because of how expensive it’s become for companies to borrow money to build data centers and buy more AI chips. Broadcom climbed 3.3 percent after announcing a $63 billion financing deal where several Wall Street firms will help Anthropic get access to Broadcom's XPU AI accelerators and networking solutions. Elsewhere in the industry, Advanced Micro Devices rose 4 percent and was one of the strongest forces pushing up on the S&P 500 after Broadcom. CoreWeave, a company that’s borrowed money to buy

Big Tech earnings to test AI boom amid market turmoil

Oct 28, 2026

Big Tech earnings to test AI boom amid market turmoil

Amazon, Microsoft and Alphabet are expected to report accelerating cloud growth this week, but turbulence in global markets and mounting concerns over the cost of financing AI investments are clouding the outlook. Investors are pressing for evidence that the AI boom can deliver swift returns to justify its enormous price tag. Rising bond yields at AI cloud providers such as CoreWeave and record costs to insure Meta Platform's debt have amplified concerns about how the massive AI infrastructure buildout is being funded, particularly as higher U.S. interest rates loom. Market turmoil has rekindled warnings of an AI bubble from investors, including hedge fund Citadel's founder Ken Griffin, and pushed companies to delay their IPOs. An expected Democratic sweep of the U.S. midterm elections could spell more trouble for data centers that are already a target of protests over their impact on power grids, electricity bills and the environment. China's tech-stock boom has unravelled, wiping out about $480 billion in market value in less than four months as concerns over AI demand and spending an

Localized Ukraine ceasefire brokered by Melania Trump starts as Nordic leaders speak to Putin

Oct 28, 2026

Localized Ukraine ceasefire brokered by Melania Trump starts as Nordic leaders speak to Putin

KHERSON, Ukraine — Russia and Ukraine began observing a localized ceasefire in a devastated southern Ukrainian city on Tuesday, ahead of a planned humanitarian mission the White House said was brokered by U.S. first lady Melania Trump. Moscow kept up its deadly missile attacks on other cities in the meantime. Meanwhile, Finland’s president and Norway’s prime minister spoke by phone with Russian President Vladimir Putin, officials said, in their first known direct contact since shortly after Russia's all-out invasion of Ukraine began on Feb. 24, 2022. Many Western officials have accused Putin of masterminding a campaign of disruption across Europe and have sought to diplomatically isolate the Russian leader. Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre and Finnish President Alexander Stubb later spoke with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, according to Zelenskyy's office. A ceasefire takes hold in a southern Ukraine city, officials say A local pause in fighting started at 3 a.m. to allow an aid mission into the Russian-occupied city of Oleshky this week. Food and medical supplie

Trump returns to Texas for high-stakes push to keep state in Republican hands

Oct 28, 2026

Trump returns to Texas for high-stakes push to keep state in Republican hands

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump will be joined by one of his potential successors on Tuesday as he tries to keep Texas, which hasn't elected a Democrat to statewide office in 32 years, in the Republican column in next week's midterm elections. The president will appear in Corpus Christi and Lubbock in his effort to boost Republican Ken Paxton's competitive U.S. Senate campaign against Democrat James Talarico. Secretary of State Marco Rubio plans to help Trump show off a newly arrived oil tanker filled with Venezuelan crude to be processed in Texas refineries, according to a congressional aide and two U.S. officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss Rubio’s schedule ahead of a public announcement. The events mark Trump's third swing through Texas since holding a first-of-its-kind midterm convention in Dallas in September, a sign of the significance he's putting on a state that has spent decades as a Republican stronghold. However, Talarico has made the race competitive, capitalizing on a difficult political environment for Republicans and Paxton's history of ethic

Africa Ebola outbreak passes 10,000 cases, mostly in DR Congo

Oct 28, 2026

Africa Ebola outbreak passes 10,000 cases, mostly in DR Congo

KINSHASA — Africa's latest outbreak of Ebola has passed 10,000 confirmed cases, the vast majority of them in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Congolese health authorities said on Tuesday, with almost 5,000 fatalities. According to the DRC's figures, 10,060 people have been infected and 4,887 have died since the virus was first detected in May in the vast central African country's deadliest outbreak in its history. Cases have likewise been detected in Kenya, Nigeria and Uganda, with the World Health Organization warning that Africa faces a "complex" task to contain an outbreak spanning the east, west and center of the continent. While some 2,684 have recovered from the virus in the DRC, the epidemic's fatality rate appears to be close to 50 percent, according to the Congolese National Institute of Public Health. Among the many challenges facing the response is the lack of any approved vaccines or treatments for the rare Bundibugyo species of Ebola behind the epidemic. After spreading under the radar for weeks, the virus was first detected in the northeastern Congolese province of It

Pope says 'there is no such thing as a holy war' in message to religious leaders

Oct 28, 2026

Pope says 'there is no such thing as a holy war' in message to religious leaders

ROME — Pope Leo XIV on Tuesday denounced any religious justification for wars raging around the world, saying “there is no such thing as a holy war.” “Only peace is holy,” Leo said in a video-message to a gathering of religious leaders in the Italian hilltop town of Assisi. The American pope was supposed to have presided over the gathering in person, but had to cancel his participation as he recovers from Oct. 13 lung cancer surgery. Instead, Leo sent a videotaped message that was broadcast to the delegates, who included the Archbishop of Canterbury Sarah Mullally, spiritual leader of the worldwide Anglican Communion, as well as Muslim, Buddhist and other Christian leaders. They were in Assisi, the birthplace of the peace-loving St. Francis, to mark the 40th anniversary of a landmark interfaith peace meeting called by St. John Paul II. That encounter, controversial at the time because it featured leaders of different faiths praying together, spawned a movement of interreligious peace appeals and gatherings. In his message, the American pope denounced the “troubling revival of

Serial killer Ted Bundy is linked to another Utah teenager's 1974 killing through DNA testing

Oct 28, 2026

Serial killer Ted Bundy is linked to another Utah teenager's 1974 killing through DNA testing

DNA connects serial killer Ted Bundy to the death of another Utah teenager, authorities announced Tuesday, exactly 52 years after her body was discovered in the woods by a hunter. Bundy has been dead since 1989, but the tally of his confirmed victims continues to grow due to advances in DNA testing. He killed at least 30 women and girls in multiple states in the 1970s, and many more escaped or survived with injuries. Investigators are satisfied that Bundy was responsible for killing 17-year-old Melissa Ann Smith in 1974, a death that had long been listed as a cold case, Summit County Attorney Margaret Olson said at a news conference. They were able to close the case by making crucial connections with DNA found on Smith and Laura Aime, another Bundy victim whose case was resolved last April in Utah County. Bundy's DNA was on file in Florida, where he was convicted and ultimately executed. Besides that evidence, Smith’s death showed hallmarks of Bundy’s “pattern, motive, means and opportunity,” Olson said. Decades-old evidence was key to the case Utah's state crime lab got new techno

US ends visa waiver for Chinese over birth tourism, people smuggling allegations

Oct 28, 2026

US ends visa waiver for Chinese over birth tourism, people smuggling allegations

Washington has suspended visa-free entry for Chinese visitors to the Northern Mariana Islands amid allegations of birth tourism and people smuggling in the US territory. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced on Monday the suspension of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands Economic Vitality and Security Travel Authorization Program. US Senator Mike Lee hailed the move on social media, calling the program a "Biden-era loophole for Chinese birth tourism" and praising the Trump administration for having "closed" the pathway. The program, also known as EVS-TAP, allowed pre-screened Chinese nationals to visit the islands for up to 14 days without a US visa. Under the new decision, existing authorizations will be cancelled from October 30, although Chinese nationals already in the Pacific Ocean territory may complete their authorized stays. More than 3,000 Chinese nationals entered under EVS-TAP in financial year 2025. The DHS said it had found "good cause" to suspend the program as "PRC [People's Republic of China] nationals are almost certainly exploiting EVS-TAP". It

Brazil's Flavio Bolsonaro flees to US after election loss

Oct 28, 2026

Brazil's Flavio Bolsonaro flees to US after election loss

BRASILIA — Defeated right-wing presidential candidate Flavio Bolsonaro left Brazil and is traveling to the United States despite a court order banning him from exiting the country, U.S. media reported Tuesday. The son of jailed ex-leader Jair Bolsonaro lost the presidential election Sunday to incumbent Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and refused to concede defeat. The right-wing senator on Monday said a Supreme Court justice had ordered him to hand over his passports. Bolsonaro is under investigation for alleged corruption and money laundering, and with his election loss is also set to lose parliamentary immunity. The 45-year-old was traveling to Florida, CNN reported, citing an anonymous official source. Other U.S. media confirmed he was heading to the country. The U.S. State Department said Tuesday it would issue visas to Bolsonaro and his family, without confirming his travel plans. A police source told AFP that the senator's Brazilian and diplomatic passports had been canceled, adding that "there is no formal record of Flavio Bolsonaro leaving the country." But he has held Italian national

Israeli exit polls show deadlock, setback for Netanyahu

Oct 28, 2026

Israeli exit polls show deadlock, setback for Netanyahu

JERUSALEM — Israel's wartime election appeared deadlocked on Tuesday, exit polls showed, a potential setback for veteran Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if the projections hold, with neither side having a clear path to power but rival Gadi Eisenkot's larger bloc potentially giving him the first chance to form a government. The stalemate could yet work in Netanyahu's favour, allowing him to remain in power in a caretaker capacity while parties try to forge a governing coalition. Turnout was 77.7 percent, Israel's Central Elections Committee said, the highest in more than two decades and around 7 percentage points higher than in the previous election in 2022. Israel's three major networks updated their exit polls, giving Eisenkot's bloc a two-seat edge over Netanyahu's Likud-led camp, at 52-50. The remaining 18 seats were allocated to unaligned Arab parties in the exit polls. But Eisenkot, leader of the Yashar party, has all but ruled out forming a government with them, complicating his path to a majority despite his bloc's lead. Some Israeli media outlets, including pro-Netanyahu Chann

Free haircuts project aims to inspire other stylists

Oct 28, 2026

Free haircuts project aims to inspire other stylists

Georgia Chappels runs free community haircuts to help those feeling the impact of rising costs.

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