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Saudi-led Coalition Strikes Yemen, Killing a Civilian

23 October 2026 at 11:43
Photo: Al-Mayadeen.

A Saudi-led military airstrike on a house in the town of Al-Za’azi’, in Yemen’s southwestern Taiz governorate, killed at least one person and wounded four on Thursday, including two minors, according to Yemeni health authorities.


The Saudi coalition also bombed Bajil in Al-Hudaydah, carried out four attacks in Harf Sufyan and two in Bani Suraym in Amran, and hit the Water Corporation building in Al-Hazm, Al-Jawf with two airstrikes, the same Yemeni health authorities reported. Saudi gunfire wounded two citizens and an African migrant in the border districts of Baqim and Munabbih in Sa’dah.

RELATED: At Least 12 Dead, More Than 300 Injured After Houthi Attack on Saudi Airports

Yemeni Armed Forces spokesman Brigadier General Yahya Saree reported more than 2,900 Saudi airstrikes and missile attacks in the last 100 days, an escalation that left more than 562 victims, most of them women and children.

Saudi Arabia collaborating with Israeli intelligence in joint campaign against Yemen's Armed Forces
——
According to a report published by The Jerusalem Post, Israeli military intelligence is actively sharing strategic target data with Saudi Arabia to assist its campaign against… pic.twitter.com/3PUhxcu46w

— The Cradle (@TheCradleMedia) October 23, 2026

According to a report published by The Jerusalem Post, Israeli military intelligence is actively sharing strategic data with Saudi Arabia to assist its campaign against Yemen’s Armed Forces, also known as Ansarallah. The report said a Zionist military official confirmed the intelligence-sharing mechanism and emphasized that degrading Yemeni military capabilities serves Tel Aviv’s strategic regional interests while allowing the IDF to monitor and study tactical operations on the ground.

Colombia Issues 2027 Budget by Decree

23 October 2026 at 11:16
(FILE) Colombian Congress. Photo: EFE.

Colombia’s Government issued the 2027 General National Budget by decree on Thursday, after the bill’s approval in Congress fell through because of a procedural error.


The total amount is 634.9 trillion pesos, or 200 billion dollars at the current exchange rate, of which 391.38 trillion pesos, or 122 billion dollars, are for operating expenses, 155.43 trillion pesos, or 48.7 billion dollars, for debt service and 88.14 trillion pesos, or 27.6 billion dollars, for investment.

RELATED: Colombian President Dismisses Interior Minister Over Budget Failure

Opposition sectors described the Government’s handling of the budget as improvised.

The Senate and the Chamber approved different texts in one of the bill’s articles, and conciliation was not achieved before the October 20 deadline set by law for concluding that process, the last of the congressional debates, namely the plenary sessions.

The Government therefore had to issue the Budget by decree in the form in which it emerged from the joint economic commissions.

¡Se le cayó el presupuesto chimbo a @ABDELAESPRIELLA! Por hacer las cosas a las patadas, terminaron enredados entre dos versiones distintas y ahora el Gobierno pretende expedirlo por decreto.

Tanta improvisación con más de $634 billones de los colombianos exige responsables. ¡La… pic.twitter.com/Uivsc6N4kf

— Oscar Benavides (@ODBenavidesA) October 22, 2026

Resources for earthquake victims, health and energy subsidies added during the plenary sessions will be reduced because of the situation, Senator Alejandro Ocampo affirmed.

Representative María Fernanda Carrascal considered that Congress’s servility to the Executive vitiated the legislative process and denounced that the approved budget showed the Government’s true priority as more debt and less social investment, with debt service growing 46 percent while cuts hit the most vulnerable.

After the events, President Abelardo de la Espriella dismissed Interior Minister Rodrigo Lara.

Southern Italy Faces Food Shortages as Drivers’ Strikes Continue

23 October 2026 at 10:53
(FILE) Italian PM Georgia Meloni. Photo: EFE.

A truckers’ strike against high fuel prices paralyzed southern Italy on its sixth day, leaving supermarkets with empty shelves, airports without fuel and postal services suspended.


Hundreds of tons of agricultural production remained stranded in trucks or piled up in cold storage rooms, and many business owners decided to suspend harvests and halt production of emblematic products such as buffalo mozzarella.

Poste Italiane was forced to completely interrupt the sending and delivery of mail and packages to and from Calabria, Sicily, Campania and Apulia, the company was reported to have said.

RELATED: Italy’s Giorgia Meloni Trademarks Her Voice Against AI Deepfakes

The mayors of Naples and Bari warned in a joint statement that the paralysis not only threatened food supplies but also jeopardized urban waste management, and they warned of an emergency that could plunge entire communities into a health collapse.

Tension on the roads intensified because of picket activity, and local press reported acts of sabotage in areas such as Caserta, including placing truck tires on highways to force heavy transport to brake.

In response, Italian police escorted convoys of commercial vehicles and deployed operations that resulted in 71 people reported and 242 sanctioned.

Minister of Enterprise Adolfo Urso recalled in the Chamber of Deputies that blocking the passage of trucks was a crime punishable by prison sentences.

In the north, Milan prepared special security measures ahead of new and massive student and youth demonstrations scheduled for Saturday, framed by discontent over the cost of living and the deterioration of public services.

Italy’s Council of Ministers approved on October 20 a new youth security decree that extended preventive detention to minors, until then reserved for adults, and created the crime of violent participation in demonstrations, punishable by up to five years in prison and fines of up to 20,000 euros for anyone who, within a group of five or more people, throws stones, sticks or objects that endanger third parties.

Manifestare è un diritto, devastare le nostre città no. Ecco le misure che abbiamo approvato per contrastare la violenza e tutelare la sicurezza dei cittadini. pic.twitter.com/kqk51X8YZa

— Giorgia Meloni (@GiorgiaMeloni) October 20, 2026

Damage Assessments Continue After Oct. 9 Panama Quake

23 October 2026 at 08:34

More than 37,000 people have been affected by the magnitude 7.5 earthquake that struck Panama on October 9, the National Civil Protection System (Sinaproc) reported.


Housing assessments carried out by emergency teams covered 37,210 people, according to the preliminary report from the National Emergency Operations Center. The epicenter was 39 kilometers northwest of Tonosí, in Los Santos province, at a depth of four kilometers.

RELATED: Venezuela Sends 40 Tons of Humanitarian Aid to Panama After Earthquake

The assessment identified impacts in 10 provinces — especially Coclé, Herrera, Veraguas and Los Santos — and the Ngäbe Buglé comarca, the report said.

Local authorities continued damage assessments and assistance to affected families amid recovery efforts after one of the strongest seismic events recorded in the country in decades. Humanitarian aid has also been received from other nations, mainly Venezuela, Costa Rica and the United States, the report said.

Venezuela extiende su solidaridad

Desde el Aeropuerto Internacional Simón Bolívar de Maiquetía, el Gobierno Bolivariano envió un cargamento de ayuda humanitaria hasta el Aeropuerto Internacional de Tocumen.

Estos insumos están destinados a brindar apoyo oportuno al pueblo… pic.twitter.com/SbscKqU958

— Ministerio de Comunicación e Información (@mippci_ven) October 22, 2026

Panama has opened 126 active shelters housing 5,628 people as part of the humanitarian response. Logistically, 171,190 pounds of cargo were moved by air and 365 tons were dispatched by land transport to support assistance operations.

Most of the country’s water treatment plants have restored operations, while security and emergency agencies maintain monitoring in affected areas, Sinaproc reported.

The earthquake occurred at 12:56 local time on October 9, according to the report. The United States Geological Survey raised the magnitude from 7.6 to 7.7, while the Institute of Geosciences of the University of Panama put it at 7.5.

Anche in Spagna la sinistra fa fatica a stare insieme: come si stanno organizzando i partiti alleati di Sànchez per il (difficile) voto di novembre

23 October 2026 at 07:04

Il Frente Amplio che prova a riunire la sinistra spagnola alla sinistra dei socialisti, ha perso una delle sue figure più riconoscibili tre giorni dopo la presentazione. Martedì la ministra della Salute Mónica García, medico anestesista e leader di Más Madrid (la forza progressista della capitale), ha annunciato che non sarà candidata alle elezioni del 29 novembre. Il posto di numero due nella lista di Madrid andrà a una compagna di partito, la deputata Tesh Sidi, mentre lei si concentrerà sulle regionali di Madrid di maggio 2027, dove vuole togliere la presidenza della Comunità a Isabel Díaz Ayuso, la leader dei popolari (PP, centrodestra) che governa la regione.

La spiegazione ufficiale è una “profonda riflessione” e la volontà di mettere “il bene comune” prima dell’interesse personale. Il capolista di Madrid Emilio Delgado (vicecapogruppo di Más Madrid nell’Assemblea regionale) ha assicurato che García “starà dove vuole stare” e che avrà il suo sostegno. Perché una scelta così, a poche settimane dal voto? I motivi reali non li ha spiegati nessuno, ma le letture possibili sono due. La prima è che García preferisca preservare il proprio capitale politico per la sfida con Ayuso, evitando di legare il suo nome a un risultato che i sondaggi descrivono molto difficile: Sigma Dos, uno dei principali istituti privati, stima che il cartello perderebbe seggi anche a Madrid rispetto al 2023. La seconda, sostenuta soprattutto dai media di destra come Libertad Digital, è che sia stata scavalcata da Ada Colau, l’ex sindaca di Barcellona, diventata la candidata di tutta la coalizione.

Sabato scorso, in un auditorium all’aperto sulle rive del Manzanares (il fiume di Madrid), il Frente Amplio aveva aperto la sua campagna elettorale. Sul palco sette volti, alle spalle un grande striscione rosso e giallo. Doveva essere la fotografia dell’unità, ma lo scatto più eloquente era quello di chi non c’era. Il giorno prima, scaduti i termini per registrare le coalizioni, l’accordo con Podemos era definitivamente saltato.

Anche in Spagna la sinistra fa fatica a stare insieme: ecco perché

Il Frente Amplio riunisce quattro sigle. C’è Sumar, la piattaforma dell’ex vicepremier Yolanda Díaz, che fino a oggi ha governato con il Psoe (i socialisti del premier Pedro Sánchez). C’è Izquierda Unida, erede dei comunisti spagnoli. C’è Más Madrid, forza ecologista e progressista della capitale, nata in parte da una scissione di Podemos. E ci sono i Comuns, la formazione barcellonese di Ada Colau, oggi leader dell’intera coalizione e capolista a Barcellona.

Dall’altra parte c’è Podemos, il partito nato dagli indignados del 2014 e oggi molto ridimensionato, guidato da Ione Belarra e con Irene Montero, ex ministra dell’Uguaglianza ed eurodeputata, come candidata. Poi c’è Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya (Erc), la sinistra indipendentista catalana, il cui volto più noto a Madrid è Gabriel Rufián, portavoce del partito al Congresso.

Fu proprio Rufián a lanciare l’idea di un fronte ampio, capace di rimettere insieme ciò che Sumar aveva lasciato in frantumi. Per mesi è stato il principale promotore del progetto, che sulla carta sembrava interessante, soprattutto considerando le frizioni tra i partiti alla sinistra del Psoe. Poi la svolta: lui e Montero hanno aperto un canale diretto tra Erc e i viola. Da lì le trattative con il Frente Amplio non sono più ripartite.

L’argomento più plausibile è che, quando è comparso il nome di Colau, Erc abbia deciso di sbarrare la strada a qualsiasi intesa. Il motivo è una ferita barcellonese. Nel 2019 Esquerra vinse le elezioni comunali con Ernest Maragall, ma Colau fu rieletta sindaca grazie ai voti della destra di Manuel Valls (ex premier francese, candidato a Barcellona), con l’obiettivo dichiarato di impedire agli indipendentisti di governare la città. Per Erc non è mai stata archiviata. Rufián, che parla di una “telenovela nefasta” e ammette il proprio fallimento, ha scelto il suo campo: sarà capolista di Erc in Catalogna, con Podemos come unico alleato. L’intesa è ormai operativa. Podemos non si presenta in Catalogna e sostiene Erc, che inserisce alcuni esponenti viola come indipendenti nelle sue liste. Rufián e Montero faranno campagna insieme in tutta la Spagna: il primo appuntamento è sabato 24 a Barcellona, nel quartiere popolare di Nou Barris, con lo slogan “Casa, Vida, Futur“.

Poche ore prima della scadenza il Frente Amplio ha messo nero su bianco l’ultima proposta: un capolista a Madrid e uno in Catalogna per Podemos, la portavoce al Congresso, risorse divise in modo equo. Diario Red, il media diretto dal fondatore di Podemos Pablo Iglesias, l’ha liquidata come una “trappola“, perché un seggio catalano ai viola avrebbe imposto di rompere con Erc. In cambio Podemos chiedeva a Izquierda Unida di fare un passo indietro nelle province più a rischio, ma i dirigenti territoriali hanno chiuso la porta, come aveva già annunciato il coordinatore Antonio Maíllo: niente accordi a pezzi. Montero e Belarra hanno poi sostenuto che le divergenze erano politiche e non di poltrone, rimproverando al Frente Amplio la vicinanza al Psoe. Un riferimento alla lista comune che le due forze presenteranno al Senato, con il nome “Senado de Progreso“.

Dal palco di Manzanares, Colau ha chiuso la questione: “Se qualcuno non vuole sedersi a un tavolo, non si può obbligarlo”. Poi ha ringraziato le 15 organizzazioni della coalizione e assicurato di aver dato “tutto”. Delgado ha scelto l’ironia: basta drammi, non siamo qui per contarci le ferite.

Perché Podemos non ha voluto l’accordo? La risposta più convincente guarda oltre il 29 novembre. I sondaggi sembrano anticipare un governo di PP e Vox (la destra radicale di Santiago Abascal), e Podemos sembra già posizionarsi sui quattro anni successivi. Presentarsi da sola, con una campagna centrata sulla critica al governo uscente, significa farsi trovare pronta a raccogliere la mobilitazione che un governo di destra produrrà quasi da sé. Il prezzo lo pagherà l’intera sinistra. L’unità si è fatta solo dove esiste un terzo attore forte. Nel País Valencià, storicamente terra di destra, Compromís (la sinistra valenciana), Podemos, Izquierda Unida ed Esquerra Republicana hanno firmato una lista unica, “Compromís-Front Valencià”, a poche ore dal limite. Alle Canarie nasce Unidad del Pueblo Canario, con Podemos; in Aragona, CHA-Frente Amplio, senza Podemos.

Cosa dicono i sondaggi: com’è messa la sinistra

Il Congresso ha 350 seggi e la maggioranza assoluta è a 176. La media degli otto principali sondaggi privati di ottobre dà il Pp al 31,9%, il Psoe al 26,5% e Vox al 18,7%: PP e Vox sommati sono in media a 201 seggi e superano la maggioranza in tutte le rilevazioni. Fa eccezione il Cis, l’istituto statistico pubblico, che a inizio ottobre (prima della rottura tra Frente Amplio e Podemos) vedeva il Psoe al 34%, il Pp al 22,2% e Vox al 17,1%.

Per la sinistra radicale le stime sono più basse di quelle che l’accordo avrebbe potuto produrre. Il Cis attribuisce al Frente Amplio il 6,1% e a Podemos il 3,1%. Sigma Dos per El Mundo lo dà al 7,2%, con 9-10 seggi: tra Frente Amplio, Podemos e alleanza valenciana si arriverebbe a 13 seggi, contro i 31 che Sumar aveva ottenuto nel 2023. Nei vari istituti l’area oscilla tra 5 e 17 seggi.

Programmi e fragilità degli alleati a sinistra di Sànchez

Sommati, Frente Amplio e Podemos metterebbero insieme il 9,2% secondo l’istituto Cis, ma divisi restano entrambi sotto soglia in gran parte delle province. La Spagna non vota in un collegio unico: sono 52 elezioni provinciali, con il sistema d’Hondt (proporzionale, ma che premia chi arriva primo). Nel 2023 il seggio più economico di Sumar costò il 9,6% (a Murcia). Dove il collegio è piccolo l’effetto diventa paradossale: a Girona, Lleida e Tarragona, con 6, 4 e 6 seggi, solo i socialisti o Erc hanno speranze realistiche di ottenerne uno a sinistra. Ogni voto dato al Frente Amplio o a Podemos non produce deputati e finisce per favorire i partiti più forti, destra compresa. E superare il 10% non basta: in Navarra e nell’Araba (Álava, nei Paesi Baschi), con oltre il 12% nel 2023, non è scattato nessun seggio. Una coalizione nata per essere «ampia» si presenta, in questo momento, come una forza di nicchia.

Il discorso del Frente Amplio punta tutto sulla casa. Colau ha ricordato il suo passato da attivista contro gli sfratti e da sindaca, rivendicando più di 1.600 abitazioni espropriate e oltre mille costruite in cessione d’uso, e ha chiesto più coraggio al Psoe. L’ex ministro Ernest Urtasun ha evocato il governo di PP e Vox come una copia del “programma della motosega” di Javier Milei, il presidente argentino. L’ex ministro Pablo Bustinduy ha promesso lo stop agli affitti turistici. A convincere dovrà essere quel 21,8% di ex elettori di Sumar che a inizio ottobre non aveva ancora deciso, mentre sullo sfondo cresce il richiamo del voto utile al Psoe. Con l’addio di García e la campagna parallela di Montero e Rufián, il Frente Amplio ha poco tempo per dimostrare di essere qualcosa di più di una somma di sigle.

L'articolo Anche in Spagna la sinistra fa fatica a stare insieme: come si stanno organizzando i partiti alleati di Sànchez per il (difficile) voto di novembre proviene da Il Fatto Quotidiano.

Haiti Mobilizes Resources to Free Four Salvadoran Soldiers Kidnapped by Gangs

23 October 2026 at 05:52
(FILE) Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aimé. Photo: EFE.

Haiti’s government said Thursday that rescuing four Salvadoran soldiers kidnapped by armed gangs last Sunday on the outskirts of Port-au-Prince is its absolute priority.


The office of Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aimé said in a statement that the government is fully mobilized and intends to assert state authority with the greatest firmness against armed groups. It called the soldiers’ release an absolute priority and said all necessary resources are being mobilized to achieve that goal.

RELATED: Salvadoran President Bukele Issues Stern Warning to Haitian Gangs

The prime minister met with competent authorities to assess the situation comprehensively and to determine, in close collaboration with the Salvadoran Gang Suppression Force (GSF), measures to reinforce ongoing operations against the armed gangs that attacked the vehicle carrying the Salvadorans.

Haitian security forces and the GSF have conducted an intense search since Sunday for the four Salvadoran aviation technicians, with whom contact was lost after the ambush in the Santo area of the Croix-des-Bouquets commune, within the Port-au-Prince metropolitan area.

#Haiti | The UN Security Council reaffirms its commitment to the Gang Suppression Force despite armed attacks and the kidnapping of four Salvadoran personnel. Rescue efforts continue as international forces maintain their security mission.#UnitedNations #teleSUREnglish pic.twitter.com/kKX5oDtQ0i

— teleSUR English (@telesurenglish) October 23, 2026

In its first official statement on the attack, the Prime Minister’s Office said that given the seriousness of the act, the State reaffirms its authority and determination, and that security forces are continuing operations firmly to secure the soldiers’ release and protect human life.

The GSF reported Tuesday that several members of the gangs controlling most of Port-au-Prince were killed and others wounded in clashes with forces searching for the Salvadoran military personnel. The GSF also reported that four of its own personnel were wounded during the operation and received medical care.

Argentina Congress Approves Disability Emergency Law

23 October 2026 at 05:21
Photo: Pagina 12.

Argentina’s Chambern of Deputies approved the Disability Emergency Law in the early hours of Thursday, after more than a year of protests against Javier Milei’s austerity policies.


The final text passed with 237 votes in favor, 9 against and 4 abstentions from left-wing sectors, in a session that began Wednesday afternoon.

RELATED: Argentina Rights Group Files Complaint Over Police Crackdown

The law maintains non-contributory pensions, compatibility with formal employment and access to health benefits. It also establishes specific budget items to finance the system and mechanisms to prevent arbitrary removal of beneficiaries.

Among its central points are new conditions for accessing non-contributory disability pensions, the possibility of keeping the benefit while working within certain income limits and a control system based on cross-referencing data between public agencies. It also sets obligations for budget transparency, training for service providers and deadlines to complete pending compensations.

#Argentina | Human rights groups filed a criminal complaint over a police crackdown on university protesters in Buenos Aires that reportedly left more than 550 people injured or affected.
The complaint seeks accountability for alleged excessive force during demonstrations… pic.twitter.com/yrEWJjPhA7

— teleSUR English (@telesurenglish) October 19, 2026

The law stipulates the return of all funds owed to providers for more than a year, settling the accumulated financial deficit, and sets strict peremptory deadlines for the Executive Branch to make these obligations effective.

The changes were incorporated after weeks of negotiations and set aside the cuts that the Executive Branch had included in the 2027 Budget for the disability area.

Hundreds of Spanish students gathered at Rey Juan Carlos University (URJC) to protest the visit of far-right Argentine President Javier Milei, who was scheduled to participate in a forum during his stay in Madrid.

Armed with pots and pans, whistles, Palestinian flags, and… pic.twitter.com/LGGFyeYpe6

— teleSUR English (@telesurenglish) October 21, 2026

Various organizations of people with disabilities in Córdoba denounced not having been convened to the legislative debate, and expressed skepticism about the Government’s real willingness to comply with what was voted.

The approval comes after more than a year of permanent protests, marches and mobilizations led by people with disabilities and their families, who expressed in the streets their rejection of Milei’s adjustment policies. During that period, the affected sectors suffered neglect, mistreatment and harsh episodes of police repression near the legislative palace, images that were widely disseminated and generated deep repudiation in society.

A key factor in unblocking the legislative scenario was intense lobbying by Pastoral Social Argentina, whose representatives went directly to Congress to dialogue deputy by deputy. Added to this was strong international pressure from Vatican diplomacy, after a monsignor gave various interviews in local media to warn about the Holy See’s deep concern for the health and quality of life of the group.

Venezuela’s Acting Pres. Delcy Rodríguez Meets 2015 Assembly Delegations

23 October 2026 at 04:13
Venezuelan acting president Delcy Rodriguez. Photo: Presidential Press Office.

Venezuelan acting President Delcy Rodríguez received Thursday at the Miraflores Palace Jorge Rodríguez, head of the government delegation, and Dinorah Figuera, coordinator for the 2015 National Assembly, for the political dialogue table, seeking institutional rapprochement and consensus between the State and the sectors represented.


The meeting presented the balance and details of the third cycle of conversations held in Caracas, a process that included six working sessions structured in two plenary sessions and fifteen meetings. On Wednesday, the delegations held the final plenary of the third cycle, focused on reviewing compliance with agreements on institutional matters and renewal of the judicial system.

RELATED: Venezuela Reaffirms Sovereign Control of Oil Revenue as Deals Advance

The acting president contrasted that willingness with the actions of small groups that insist on blocking streets and violence, and said the majority of the country supports joint work, as demonstrated by mobilizations of Venezuelan women during breast cancer awareness month. She said that when common interests such as women’s health and lives unite people, that is the Venezuela she recognizes.

The formal negotiation process began on August 12, when both parties agreed on a working methodology and installed technical tables to address care for victims of the June earthquakes, democratic strengthening and judicial reforms. The third cycle was installed on Wednesday the 14th with the central goal of advancing renewal of the Supreme Court of Justice and setting participation guarantees for political organizations.

As part of the commitments, the installation of the new Table 4 on Political, Economic and Social Guarantees was formalized, highlighting mediation and conciliation mechanisms under the Program for Peace and Democratic Coexistence and the start of discussions to create an Ombudsman for Political Guarantees and Citizen Participation. A deep review was also agreed of key legal instruments, including the Law on Political Parties, Public Meetings and Demonstrations; the Liberator Simón Bolívar Organic Law; the Organic Law against Organized Crime and Financing of Terrorism; and the Organic Law of the Comptroller General and the National Fiscal Control System, to evaluate matters related to political disqualifications.

In the institutional and judicial sphere, the work of the Preliminary Commission of the Judicial Nominations Committee was recognized after it interviewed 127 candidates from different sectors. It was announced that the next National Assembly session will appoint the 12 members of the nominations committee, allowing publication of the constitutional schedule and subsequent activation of the Credentials Review Council.

On economic and patrimonial matters, the parties reaffirmed the urgency of recovering Venezuela’s international reserve assets at the Bank of England, the Venezuelan gold, to assist the population affected by the June 24 earthquakes. They agreed to form a parity delegation to manage these actions and promote economic and social prosperity in health, education, food and workers’ income.

UK Public Debt Tops £3 Trillion for First Time

22 October 2026 at 11:50

UK public debt crossed the £3 trillion mark for the first time at the end of September 2026, the National Statistics Office reported on Wednesday, October 21.


The accumulated public sector liabilities stood at £3.005 trillion, equivalent to €3.57 trillion, according to the provisional estimate released by the National Statistics Office. The figure represented 94 percent of UK gross domestic product and marked a historic high, the agency reported.

The balance grew by £91.7 billion compared with the level recorded twelve months earlier, about €109.074 billion, according to the provisional estimate.

RELATED: U.K. Slashes International Aid Budget by 56% to Fund Defense

Despite the nominal record, the weight of the liabilities on the economy as a whole fell by seven tenths compared with the 2025 level, the agency reported. The agency recalled that net debt exceeded £2 trillion in June 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, and had surpassed £1 trillion in February 2010, following the global financial crisis.

September public borrowing amounted to £24.5 billion, or €29.142 billion, and was the second highest recorded for that month, according to the National Statistics Office. Only the September 2020 figure, unadjusted for inflation, was higher. Compared with the previous year, the imbalance increased by £1.8 billion, or 7.7 percent, because spending growth outpaced income growth, the agency reported.

Britain’s national debt has climbed above £3tn for the first time, underlining the pressure on the public finances before John Healey’s maiden Budget next week

🔗 https://t.co/xKIQKqOhib pic.twitter.com/ExKxQ7hI95

— The Telegraph (@Telegraph) October 21, 2026

Central government debt interest reached £10.9 billion in September, the highest figure recorded in the ninth month of the year since monthly records began in 1997, according to the National Statistics Office.

Annual inflation stood at 3.5 percent in September, four tenths above the August figure and the largest increase since October 2025, according to the National Statistics Office. The price of goods rose 3.2 percent year on year, compared with 2.7 percent in August, while services became 3.7 percent more expensive. Core inflation, which excludes energy, food, alcohol and tobacco, advanced to 2.8 percent, two tenths more than in August.

UN Warns Global Warming Threshold Will Be Exceeded

22 October 2026 at 09:50

Humanity will exceed the Paris Agreement’s 1.5 °C global warming threshold, but the temperature peak can still be contained between 1.7 and 1.8 °C by mid-century, UNEP warned in its most recent report.


To return to 1.5 °C by the end of the century, countries must cut global emissions by 18 percent by 2030, 45 percent by 2035 and 69 percent by 2040, according to the report.

Global warming will overshoot 1.5°C in the coming years.

There’s still a chance to bring temperatures back down, but the window is closing fast.

This is the point of return. #EmissionsGap pic.twitter.com/VDXkg0JPtQ

— UN Environment Programme (@UNEP) October 21, 2026

UN Secretary-General António Guterres declared that surpassing the limit did not mean giving up, referring to the need to maintain ambitious climate targets despite the overshoot.

RELATED: Venezuela and OPEC Fund Assess Partnerships to Address Climate Change

UNEP Executive Director Inger Andersen stressed that each additional fraction of a degree and each extra year of warming above 1.5 °C would worsen climate impacts and risks, including deadly floods, heat waves and wildfires that have swept numerous countries this year, and said all possible efforts were needed to limit the peak and return to 1.5 °C by the end of the century, which she said was possible.

The chance to keep global warming below 1.5°C with no overshoot is gone.

But urgent action can still limit the overshoot and bring warming back to 1.5°C by 2100.

Current policies, however, put the 🌎 on course for up to 2.8°C this century.

New #EmissionsGap Report:… pic.twitter.com/4VanweT5Hj

— UN Environment Programme (@UNEP) October 21, 2026

Continuing current policies will cause a catastrophic increase of 2.8 °C over this century, with a sustained rise in subsequent years, the document warns.

Ahead of the start of the second Global Stocktake at COP31 in Antalya, Türkiye, UNEP set concrete fossil fuel reduction targets relative to 2025 levels.

By 2035, the agency proposes reducing coal supply by 55 percent, oil by 15 percent and gas by 5 percent; by 2040, it proposes raising the cuts to 75 percent for coal, 30 percent for oil and 35 percent for gas.

Lula Accepts Bolsonaro’s Conditions for Financial Disclosure, Sets Deadline

22 October 2026 at 08:09
Image from Brazil's presidential debate. Photo: EFE.

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s campaign confirmed that the Brazilian president accepted lifting the bank and telephone secrecy of the candidates and their families before Sunday’s runoff election, a proposal aimed at his opponent, Flávio Bolsonaro.


At a press conference, Camilo Santana, campaign coordinator for the Workers’ Party (PT), explained that the head of state seeking reelection has no problem with the conditions imposed by the other side. Santana said that regarding all the conditions Flávio has set, the president’s response is that he does not oppose anything proposed, as long as Flávio complies with and discloses everything contained in the request filed with the Superior Electoral Court (TSE).

The PT team specified that Thursday at 11:00 a.m. local time is the deadline for the far-right Liberal Party candidate to release his financial data and that of his circle, adding that Bolsonaro cannot wait until after the elections and that the deadline expires tomorrow.

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The topic stems from last Sunday’s televised debate, in which Lula challenged the far-right senator to disclose the bank accounts of both candidates to show “who is honest and who is a thief.”

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said he would submit authorization to the Superior Electoral Court (TSE) to lift bank secrecy protections on his accounts and those of his family members.

However, Lula said the measure depended on his presidential rival, Flavio… pic.twitter.com/c1kkaSNQuX

— teleSUR English (@telesurenglish) October 20, 2026

After the debate, the president presented a formal authorization before the electoral body on Tuesday to release his data and that of his wife and children, but Bolsonaro responded that he would only agree if the review were extended to people linked to the government’s circle.

The PT has accepted the conditions and added to the review the finances of former chief of staff Marco Aurélio Santana Ribeiro and of the president’s brother, José Ferreira da Silva, as well as the record of businesswoman Roberta Luchsinger’s access to the Presidential Palace.

After accepting the requests, the Workers’ Party team questioned the opposition’s delay in joining the initiative. Santana said that if Bolsonaro owes nothing, he should have accepted President Lula’s challenge last Sunday.

LULA CHALLENGES FLÁVIO BOLSONARO to open their BANK ACCOUNTS & PHONE RECORDS to prove who is ‘CORRUPT’ ahead of elections

‘I OPEN MINE, MY ENTIRE FAMILY’S — AND YOU OPEN YOURS’

‘BECAUSE I ASKED ABOUT THE HOUSE, AND YOU DIDN’T EXPLAIN’ https://t.co/ViNL9bR6Kh pic.twitter.com/c1OzNRWevE

— RT (@RT_com) October 19, 2026

U.S. Denies Ada Colau Entry to Puerto Rico

22 October 2026 at 07:12
Spanish presidential candidate Ada Colau. Photo: EFE.

The U.S. denied entry to Puerto Rico to former Barcelona mayor and left-wing Frente Amplio presidential candidate Ada Colau, who had planned to attend the Ciudades Valientes municipalist gathering in Caguas on November 3 and 4, a decision sources close to her attribute to ideological reasons and her pro-Palestine activism.


Colau’s delegation was cleared through the Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA) required due to the island’s colonial status, but her own application was denied. She was then advised to attend a personal interview at the embassy in Madrid. During that meeting two weeks ago, diplomatic staff focused their questions on her position on the conflict, with sources close to her saying the entire interview dealt with the Flotilla and her pro-Palestinian activism, with repeated insistence on the three days she was detained in Israel.

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After the interview, U.S. authorities issued a definitive denial, citing suspicion that she wants to illegally migrate to the country.

Colau rejected the measure and denounced it as evident political censorship, pointing out that while Javier Milei can travel freely to Spain to insult the press and the public, Donald Trump prohibits her from entering Puerto Rico, which she described as a colony occupied by the United States. She made the statement in response to the ban.

Es inaceptable e injustificado negarle la visa para Puerto Rico a @AdaColau por ser pacifista y defensora de derechos humanos. El @DeptEstadoPR deberia intervenir al igual que el Comisionado Residente @RepPabloJose exigir una investigación (congressional inquiry) sobre este…

— Eva Prados (@evapradospr) October 21, 2026

The former mayor, who governed Barcelona between 2015 and 2023, visited the Caribbean archipelago in April 2024 to address urban planning, access to housing, human rights and the role of women in politics.

Puerto Rico has remained under U.S. dominion since 1898 after the Treaty of Paris, and although since 1952 it has held the status of Free Associated State with its own constitution, the United States maintains exclusive control over immigration, customs, defense and currency.

U.S. Court Fines Meta $25 Billion for Deceiving Users on Data Protection

22 October 2026 at 05:55
Photo: EFE.

A U.S. court ordered Meta, the owner of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, to pay $25 billion for deceiving the public about how it protects personal data, in a case tied to the Cambridge Analytica scandal.


Judge Francis Mathew set the fine on Wednesday after a jury determined that Facebook made misleading promises about who could access user data and how that information was protected, according to the ruling. The jury found 26 statements by Meta made between 2010 and 2021 to be misleading, including some by CEO Mark Zuckerberg and then-chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg.

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In his ruling, Mathew wrote that Facebook’s misconduct, developed over years and systematically disseminated to the public, went to the core of its business practices. According to the ruling, the company maintained those promises despite internal warnings that it could not fulfill them, and allowed certain business partners to retain access to data it had announced it would stop sharing in order to avoid losing revenue. The judge concluded that the messages sought to build trust and attract users, whose data are essential to the company’s personalized advertising business.

The case is deeply tied to Cambridge Analytica, a British consulting firm that worked for Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign and obtained data from millions of Facebook users without consent to promote political advertising, according to a statement from the New Mexico Department of Justice. Revelations about the firm, made public in 2018, affected up to 87 million profiles and sparked an international scandal over the use of personal information by social networks and their role in electoral campaigns. The trial also examined what Facebook said publicly about its efforts to combat disinformation and hate speech.

#UnitedStates | Meta's global affairs chief Joel Kaplan is set to leave after more than 15 years, amid allegations of political bias on the company's platforms ahead of Brazil's presidential runoff.
Meta denies the allegations.#Meta #BrazilElections #ElectionIntegrity… pic.twitter.com/d4fnlFLEmH

— teleSUR English (@telesurenglish) October 22, 2026

Although the judge initially calculated a fine of more than $219 billion, he ultimately reduced the amount to $25 billion, which will accrue annual interest of 15% until effective payment. The money will go to New Mexico’s education system, although the attorney general warned that an appeal by Meta could delay the availability of the funds.

New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez presented the decision as one of the largest financial penalties against a company in U.S. history.

Venezuelan Government and 2015 Assembly Ex-Deputies Close Third Dialogue Cycle

22 October 2026 at 05:05
Photo: X/ Jorge Rodriguez

Venezuela’s national government and former deputies of the 2015 National Assembly held the final plenary of the third cycle of talks in Caracas on Wednesday, centered on reviewing compliance with agreements on institutional matters and renewal of the judicial system.


This phase covered the review of commitments from the second cycle, which concluded Sept. 25 with partial agreements on lifting restrictions on digital news portals, adding guarantees for the right to information and progress in judicial renewal.

RELATED: Venezuela Sets Youth Popular Consultation for February 2027

The agenda also included installing the Credentials Review Council for applicants to the Supreme Court of Justice as part of discussions on the judicial system.

En desarrollo la última plenaria del tercer ciclo de conversaciones. pic.twitter.com/n46lLsSMaC

— Jorge Rodríguez (@jorgerpsuv) October 21, 2026

The government delegation was headed by National Assembly President Jorge Rodríguez and included deputies Pedro Infante, Jorge Arreaza and América Pérez, Minister of University Education Ana María Sanjuan and Deputy Minister Génesis Garvett. The 2015 Assembly delegation included Dinorah Figuera, accompanied by Juan Miguel Matheus, Sergio Vergara, Marco Aurelio Quiñones and Ramón López.

The formal talks began Aug. 12, when both parties agreed on a working methodology and installed technical tables on care for earthquake victims, democratic strengthening and judicial system reforms.

Heavy rains during critical period of cacao cultivation hit Ghana’s yields

21 October 2026 at 11:32
Heavy rainfall during the cacao flowering season is a major driver of Ghana’s recent harvest fluctuations, new research finds. A study published in September by researchers at the Harvard University Center for the Environment in the U.S. found that heavy rainfall during cacao’s flowering and early pod development is linked to significant yield decreases. The researchers described how short, untypical rains during the flowering season, together with dry-season drought, is a major reason for recent fluctuations in Ghana’s cacao production. Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire together account for about 60% of global cocoa production, making West Africa central to the world’s chocolate supply. Cacao seeds are the primary ingredient in chocolate. The authors raised concerns about how these changing rainfall patterns could affect Ghana’s cacao industry, which is one of the West African country’s most important agricultural sectors. “Along with dry-season drought, [heavy rainfall during flowering and early pod development], those two factors alone explain about two-thirds of the year-to-year variability in Ghana’s production,” lead researcher Anna Lea Albright from Harvard told Mongabay via email. A flowering cacao tree in Ecuador’s Los Bancos Canton. Image courtesy of Pablo Leautaud via iNaturalist (CC BY-NC 4.0). Albright and her colleagues began looking into the issue in 2024, when global cacao prices surged after several poor harvests in West Africa. They considered several possible explanations for the trend, including aging trees, pests and diseases, gold mining, smuggling and weather. Analyzing daily rainfall and temperature records, the researchers noticed a pattern. Losses or gains during…This article was originally published on Mongabay

The Memory Shortage Comes for Schools

15 October 2026 at 21:46

For today’s high schoolers, a typical school day from a decade ago must seem like something from the Dark Ages. These days, students are issued digital textbooks instead of physical ones, they learn how to conduct chemistry experiments through apps that simulate a science lab, and they take standardized tests on a Chromebook. All of this is the result of many years of frenzied investment in ed tech, capped by a pandemic that forced virtual learning. The overwhelming majority of schools nationwide provide each student with their own laptop or tablet.

All of these screens have changed the dynamic of the classroom. When a student is supposed to be using their school-issued iPad to diligently take notes during math class, they might instead be messaging a friend. Across the country, some parents and teachers are mounting a backlash against screens in the classroom. In April, the Los Angeles school board voted to stop giving devices to its youngest students and implemented screen-time limits for all grades.

But other schools are pulling back on ed tech for an entirely different reason. Chromebooks, like essentially all other consumer electronics, need RAM, or random-access memory. So do the data centers that power every conversation with a chatbot. The AI industry is using so many memory chips that it’s led to a global shortage, making gadgets much more expensive. For an individual consumer, the memory crunch—RAMageddon, if you will—means having to spend a few hundred dollars more on a new computer. But school districts, many of which are already cash-strapped, buy hundreds or thousands of computers every year. The administrators I spoke with for this story told me that they have had to scramble to acquire all the electronics they now need. As RAMageddon drags on, they said, something has got to give.

[Read: If you need a laptop, buy it now]

Schools started picking up on the memory shortage last winter, months before most of the country. They have to figure out bulk orders for laptops and tablets long before the academic year begins. Many of them turn to third-party vendors, which have typically provided quotes that are locked in for a month, giving technology directors time to secure the funds from their districts to make purchases that can run millions of dollars. As memory prices have soared, Mark Samberg, the chief technology officer of Chatham County Schools in North Carolina, is hearing a different message from his vendors. “Now quotes are going to be good for 48 hours, a week, or 14 days,” he told me.

Samberg scooped up the Chromebooks he could find. Other districts have been less lucky. In March, a Chromebook vendor warned Homewood-Flossmoor High School in Illinois that its prices would be going up soon. Steve Richardson, the district’s IT director, quickly placed an order, only to be eventually told it couldn’t be fulfilled because memory chips were on back order. “We were kind of in dire straits,” Richardson told me. In 2023, Chromebooks cost the school $353 a piece. The price rose to $400, then $412, and then $427. The most recent batch that Richardson purchased, in August, cost $508 each. But the district needed them to ensure that every student had a Chromebook ahead of the PSAT, which is now entirely digital.

So far, schools have been willing to stomach the costs to continue giving every student a device. Districts initially decided to implement “one to one” policies on the premise that technology can be an equalizing force in the classroom; many educators and administrators still believe that. Dorann Avey, the board chair of the State Educational Technology Directors Association, told me that she is concerned that RAMageddon will widen the digital divide. Devices are not for “just writing papers,” she said. “We’re trying to prepare students to learn different software that is workplace- and workforce-appropriate.”

That has meant making difficult trade-offs. Because of the extra spending on laptops for students, Homewood-Flossmoor didn’t buy any new smart whiteboards or computers for teachers this year. In Texas, the Paradise Independent School District has considered asking students to bring in their own laptop or tablet, Director of Technology Doug Bryant told me.

A common solution has been to extend the lifetime of a laptop. Instead of replacing a device every four years, schools are opting for seven or eight to reduce how many units they need to purchase in a given year. But that introduces new problems: Older computers sometimes aren’t able to update to the latest operating system, which could create cybersecurity risks. Schools are already a top target for hackers, because they store lots of sensitive personal information but have limited resources. Plus, as a device gets older, its battery degrades and may ultimately need to be replaced. That costs “time and money,” Avey said. “But it’s still less money than buying brand-new devices.”

All of this may not be enough. Multiple administrators told me that they are already considering rolling back their one-to-one device policies because of RAMageddon, and the challenges for schools are poised to mount. Heading into this school year, some districts were able to skirt the worst of the memory shortage by buying Chromebooks before prices really started to soar. Aaron Smith, the CTO of Loudoun County Public Schools, told me that he sought special permission from his school board to commit to purchasing nearly 24,400 Chromebooks in February instead of May. Memory prices jumped so quickly over that time span that the decision ultimately saved the district $1.66 million, he said. But Smith and other technology directors may not have the same luck as they begin looking to purchase gadgets for the next school year. An executive at Micron, one of the world’s largest RAM manufacturers, recently warned that there’s “no line of sight” to the end of the memory shortage. If schools wait to buy, prices could end up going up even more. But buying early might mean devices will languish in storage for months as the warranty clock ticks away.

RAMageddon will force schools to scrutinize which tech purchases actually improve learning, and which don’t. The fallout will reach far beyond Chromebooks. “We’re not going to be able to afford the servers that we thought we were,” said Samberg, the Chatham County Schools CTO. Those servers power functions such as security cameras, badge readers, and account logins—and every one of them needs RAM.

© Illustration by The Atlantic. Source: Getty

This is a South African cheetah, and it’s in trouble

11 October 2026 at 21:19
When researchers mapped almost 100,000 square kilometers of South Africa, or nearly 40,000 square miles, they only found 83 mature adults. They called their project the Free-Roaming Cheetah Census, and it’s the most comprehensive survey of cheetahs ever conducted in the region. The cheetahs that inhabit the unprotected areas here move naturally across borders, going between South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, and Zimbabwe. But farming, construction, development, and fences are making it harder for them to move around. Cheetahs need vast connected landscapes to survive. If they don’t mix with other cheetah groups, their genetic pool can be lost. There’s another big challenge for these animals: farmers. They sometimes kill cheetahs, because they believe cheetahs kill their livestock. But the researchers found that cheetahs hunt mostly wild prey. The species is currently listed as vulnerable, but the census suggests they should be reclassified as endangered in South Africa.This article was originally published on Mongabay

Despite legacy court case, Zambian Vedanta mine pollution continues

8 October 2026 at 05:51
The Zambian government is investigating a chemical spill in its Copperbelt Province allegedly linked to Konkola Copper Mines (KCM), owned by U.K.-based multinational Vedanta Resources. Residents in Chingola district told Mongabay they observed discoloration of the Kafue River and fish die-off on Sept. 28, raising fresh concerns about the environmental and social impacts of mining operations in one of Zambia’s most important copper-producing regions. According to a statement by Gilbert Siame, Zambia’s minister of Green Economy and Environment (MGEE), the incident was caused by a leaking pipe at KCM’s tailings leach plant and an overflow from the company’s pollution control dam outside Chingola. “The pollution control dam was full, that’s why it spilled,” Eugene Mulenga, Chingola-based human rights activist and coordinator for caritas, told Mongabay. “The [chemical] discharge happens all the time, mostly at night, and the local residents consume this water because they don’t have another option.” Following the Sept. 28 spill, tests conducted by the Zambia Environmental Management Agency (ZEMA), KCM and local water utility Mulonga Water Supply and Sanitation Company showed elevated levels of turbidity and conductivity downstream along the Kafue River. In a statement issued Oct. 1, KCM contested its responsibility in the spillage, saying that company officials reported the incident to ZEMA and asked for a fact-based investigation. Mongabay reached out to the company but did not receive a response by the time of publication. Siame noted in the statement shared with Mongabay that authorities are still testing water samples to confirm heavy metals and…This article was originally published on Mongabay

AI Is Creating “Doom Loops” All Over the Economy

Technocrats are stealing the world’s data for their own AI training advantage, while killing the golden goose in the process, as this article makes clear. That lack of ethics and morality is seen everywhere in the world of Technocracy. For instance, read the Crucible of Tokens to learn about the biggest heist of private property in world history. They have no conscience about doing anything wrong, and that is the problem. Read up on psychopathy! ⁃ Patrick Wood, Editor.

Recently unredacted legal documents and depositions in the New York Times‘ lawsuit against Microsoft and OpenAI revealed something extraordinary: executives knew full well of the destructive powers of AI when they rushed to launch products featuring the tech in the wake of the explosive success of OpenAI’s ChatGPT.

Internal Microsoft documents quoted by the newspaper’s lawyers warned of an ugly reality now playing out across the entire economy: “doom loops,” in which AI monetizes the work of human creatives while undermining the economic systems that funded their work in the first place.

“Our AI content strategy has started a ‘doom loop’ that will hurt the performance of our models and the entire web at the same time,” one internal Microsoft document reads. “It is highly unusual that an end-product threatens the economic foundations of its essential suppliers, but that is the situation we have created for our LLM business with respect to its ‘content supply chain.’”

The closer you look, the more you see doom loops everywhere. Journalists, for example, used to publish work under the assumption that online platforms would drive readership to them. But now, tools like ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini simply summarize their articles without sending readers to their sites, sparking a crisis that seems poised to wipe out the independent media.

Similar stories are playing out across other industries, from music to filmmaking. Writ large, many are concerned that AI will eventually be strong enough to wipe out huge numbers of jobs, creating a situation in which unemployed consumers won’t have the funds to support the economy.

The irony, as the Microsoft document pointed out, is that the AI industry is a snake eating its own tail: the very products that it’s pushing on users rely on fresh cultural content even as they destroy the economic incentives to create it.

It’s also a dire situation for the open web, which recently celebrated the macabre turning point of being dominated by more AI slop than human-authored content. As companies — most notably Google — are fundamentally changing the way users interact with the web, more and more newspapers, media outlets, and local news stations are seriously struggling to make ends meet.

Worse yet, as the legal documents in the NYT‘s copyright lawsuit showed, insiders admitted that the entire operation is built on theft.

“Millions of people around the world will soon consider large models ‘hoovering up’ all their work to be an astonishing theft of unprecedented proportions,” an internal Microsoft document admitted.

Plenty of other creative industries are also feeling the pressure as AI-related doom loops continue to undermine livelihoods. According to the latest data from the US Bureau of Labor statistics, it’s a bloodbath — with more than 200,000 jobs in “creative” industries having been lost over the last four years alone, roughly the time since OpenAI launched ChatGPT.

AI-generated music is rapidly crowding out human-produced tracks on streaming services, forcing platforms to figure out where to draw the line. Some have implemented hard and fast rules, while others continue to allow users to exploit algorithms with slop.

Hollywood studios are also doubling down on AI while protesting actors struggle to have their voices heard. Many of them fear that their likeness or voice could soon be rendered worthless, representing an existential threat to their livelihoods.

Even the job market is embroiled in its own doom loop. More and more desperate job seekers are turning to AI to brush up their resumes and manipulate AI-powered job portals, while recruiters are drowning in a wall of almost identical applications.

“We’ve got this tragic situation where each side has a problem,” applicant tracking system company Greenhouse CEO Daniel Chait told Wired. “They’re using AI to solve their own problem, but in ways that make the problem worse.”

“And so more AI use begets more AI use, to no one’s benefit,” he added. “The more it’s happening, the worse it gets.”

Similarly, the use of AI in the classroom has skyrocketed, with students using the tech to complete their homework, offloading their cognitive faculties to the machine. Meanwhile, their teachers are using AI to come up with assignments, slowly effacing the human in the loop. Educators who bristle at the idea of using the tech are finding themselves at odds with school administrators.

The effects AI has had on education has been nothing short of a disaster. A recent study by the Brookings Institution’s Center for Universal Education concluded that the risks of using generative AI in education massively outweighed the benefits. The associated dangers have never been more apparent, with educators warning that college students are rapidly losing the ability to read.

Proponents of AI, including OpenAI and Microsoft’s lawyers in the ongoing New York Times lawsuit, argue that AI brings something new to the table. They argue that the output of AI models is sufficiently differentiated from the original content it draws on, falling under “fair use,” a longstanding doctrine in US copyright law.

Whether this argument will hold up in court remains to be seen. Besides, we’ve already seen companies, like Anthropic, settle for billions of dollars after being found to have violated copyright laws.

But considering how the tech is simultaneously undermining the very economic systems that produced the data they need to exist in the first place, that may not be a winning strategy in the long run.

By ripping out the carpet from underneath many parts of the economy — and reaping all the financial gains from it — the AI industry is trapping itself in a doom loop of its own creation, a cynical strategy that won’t benefit anybody but those at the very top who kicked the ladder down behind them.

Read full story here…

La Comunidad de Madrid defiende la gestión de las listas de espera tras las acusaciones de alterar la prioridad en el Ramón y Cajal

15 September 2026 at 19:34
“La gestión de la lista de espera quirúrgica de todos los hospitales de la Comunidad de Madrid corresponde a los propios servicios asistenciales, de acuerdo con los criterios clínicos establecidos y con la responsabilidad de los profesionales implicados en la atención de los pacientes, refrendado además, por el comité semanal de quirófanos”. Fuentes del Gobierno madrileño responden así a la última polémica en torno a la sanidad pública en la región, las acusaciones de que jefes del hospital Ramón y Cajal ordenaron cambiar la prioridad en las listas de espera quirúrgicas de traumatología sin consultar con los cirujanos al cargo.

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