Far-right groups clashed with Spanish police in Madrid on Wednesday (October 28) during a protest demanding the government's resignation following a high-speed train crash that killed at least 68 people.

Far-right groups clashed with Spanish police in Madrid on Wednesday (October 28) during a protest demanding the government's resignation following a high-speed train crash that killed at least 68 people.

At least 68 people were killed and 58 hospitalized after a high-speed train slammed into another train that had stopped on the tracks in Spain’s Toledo province. Rescue workers continue to search the wreckage, as authorities investigate the cause of the country’s second deadly rail collision this year. (AP video/Alicia Leon)

At least 68 people were killed and 58 hospitalized after a high-speed train slammed into another train that had stopped on the tracks in Spain’s Toledo province. Rescue workers continue to search the wreckage, as authorities investigate the cause of the country’s second deadly rail collision this year. (AP video/Alicia Leon)

The United Kingdom is moving to expand its military by raising the maximum age at which service members can be conscripted to 65, as the head of the British Army warns that the public will [...]

The post Britain Urgently Raises Conscription Age to 65 In Preparation For WW3, Warns Public of Coming ‘Sacrifices’ appeared first on The People's Voice.

WILMINGTON, Delaware: A Trump administration initiative to deploy hundreds of investigators to hunt for noncitizen voters is illegally intimidating naturalized US citizens and subjecting them to possible disenfranchisement, according to a lawsuit filed by civil rights groups that seeks to end the practice. The lawsuit filed on Wednesday in California federal court by the American Civil Liberties Union and affiliates also alleges that the administration is demanding state election officials deny

The man who was arrested for sending a message that he was “gonna hijack” a plane told officers that it was banter between co-workers and he had no intention of hijacking the plane

© Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

The man who was arrested for sending a message that he was “gonna hijack” a plane told officers that it was banter between co-workers and he had no intention of hijacking the plane

© Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

New Zealand's commercial radio sector is facing a significant reduction in capital costs as the government offers a 20-year renewal of broadcasting frequencies for a total of $11.2 million to the largest operator, NZME. This pricing represents a valuation of the industry's spectrum that is approximately 70 percent lower than the amounts paid during the previous renewal round in 2011. The change alters the financial baseline for broadcasters, reducing the upfront capital required to maintain transmission rights while restructuring the payment schedule into manageable installments. The commercial mechanism behind this adjustment involves a compromise valuation of the total radio spectrum at $29 million, a figure agreed upon by Cabinet after a contested assessment process. The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) had initially valued the spectrum at approximately $38 million, while a valuation commissioned by the Radio Broadcasters Association placed it at $27 million. By settling on $29 million, the Crown has effectively lowered the entry price for market participation. For NZME, which operates major stations including Newstalk ZB, the $11.2 million cost is not payable as a lump sum. Instead, the payment is structured across four five-year periods, with the applicable fee paid in advance at the start of each period. The first payment is not due until 2030, preceding the start of the new term on 3 April 2031. Structural flexibility reduces liquidity risk for broadcasters A critical component of this deal is the flexibility it grants to broadcasters regarding their asset holdings. Unlike previous agreements, operators can surrender individual licences during the 20-year term without being obligated to make payments for future periods relating to those specific licences. This mechanism decouples the commitment to the full spectrum portfolio from the operational reality of changing market demands. Media and Communications Minister Paul Goldsmith stated that this approach allows commercial operators to relinquish spectrum holdings at five-yearly intervals, enabling them to make commercial decisions about their radio networks at their own pace.

U.S. federal judge Alvin K. Hellerstein, who presided over the criminal case against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores, died Wednesday at the age of 92, and his pending cases will pass to another judge.

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Alvin K. Hellerstein died Wednesday at 92 of natural causes after nearly three decades presiding over high-profile matters. He had led the penal process against President Maduro and Cilia Flores since the two were kidnapped on January 3 during a U.S. military incursion into Venezuelan territory.

Ed Friedland, administrative director of the Federal Court for the Southern District of New York, confirmed the death.

RELATED: Global Manifesto Demands Immediate Freedom for President Maduro and Cilia Flores

Hellerstein held the role for nearly three decades. He was appointed in 1998 by then U.S President Bill Clinton to the Southern District of New York, considered one of the most significant federal tribunals in United States.

BDE: Longtime Manhattan federal Judge Alvin Hellerstein, an Orthodox Jew appointed by President Clinton in 1998, has died at 92, according to a court spokesperson. He was overseeing the prosecution of deposed Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro. pic.twitter.com/w0nHyrcwc2

— KolHaolam (@KolHaolam) October 28, 2026

A New Judge

The federal case against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has a new judge. Analisa Torres will preside over the Southern District of New York proceedings after the death of Alvin K. Hellerstein, court records confirmed Wednesday.

The tribunal posted a document covering the reassignment of matters “previously assigned to judges no longer serving due to retirement or death.” The notice names Torres as the magistrate now handling the file.

The court’s standard procedure produced the transition. A docket left by a deceased judge passes to a colleague, assigned without public choice. The reassignment document makes no special provision for the President Maduro file, treating it like every other pending matter.

Analisa Torres was born in New York in 1959. She reached the federal bench in 2013 by appointment of President Barack Obama, and she has since presided over a wide range of civil, criminal, and regulatory matters.

Her path runs deep in the law. Descended from a family of Puerto Rican judges, she graduated with honors from Harvard, earned her doctorate at Columbia Law School, and worked in private firms before entering the courts. Before her federal appointment she sat for almost a decade on the New York State Supreme Court. Earlier she served on the city’s civil and criminal benches.

New judge on the Maduro case is Analisa Torres, a Barack Obama appointee who took the bench in 2013. https://t.co/y37dLBuXia pic.twitter.com/YmbF6pAm7A

— Erik Uebelacker (@Uebey) October 28, 2026

June Trial Still Scheduled

The trial against the Venezuelan President and his wife remains set for June 14, 2027. The judge’s death did not alter that date, and the schedule already fixed by the court holds.

On October 15, President Maduro and Flores appeared at a judicial hearing in New York after prosecutors tightened the accusations against them. The two listened to the arguments and pleaded “not guilty” to the new charges of alleged conspiracy to commit torture brought by the U.S. Attorney’s office.

That same day Hellerstein accepted a request presented by both the prosecution and the defense to postpone the start of the trial by two weeks. The extra time allows both sides to present pretrial motions.

The next hearing was programmed for December 17. On that date the defense will argue its motions to dismiss the case. The outcome of those arguments could reshape the proceeding before it reaches a jury. President Maduro’s lawyers affirmed that sovereign immunity shields the President from prosecution in a foreign court.

Hellerstein’s career extended far beyond this single file. Over nearly three decades on the federal bench he supervised a wide variety of matters, including the litigation tied to the September 11 attacks.

That new judge will inherit the pretrial motions, the pending defense requests, and the responsibility of presiding over a trial that involves a sitting head of State and his spouse.

Venezuelan authorities have characterized the detention of President Nicolas Maduro and Cilia Flores as a kidnapping carried out during a military incursion into sovereign territory. The December 17 hearing stands as the next concrete step in a process scheduled to stretch into mid 2027.

GENEVA, Switzerland: Fighting in southern Ethiopia has caused some 50,000 to flee over the border to Kenya since clashes erupted last week, the United Nations said on Wednesday, citing local authorities. The figure represents a sharp jump from the 36,000 recorded on Tuesday by UNHCR, the UN refugee agency, in the wake of clashes between the armies of southern Ethiopia’s Somali and Oromia regions. “According to local authorities, up to an estimated 50,000 people have crossed into Kenya,” said

Despite the drop in viewers, Fox still has more viewers than all other cable networks and ESPN

© Getty

Lorna met Sergeant Ross Dunne as they served as peacekeepers in Lebanon

Police in South Carolina say they have closed their investigation into the overdose death of actor Hayden Panettiere following a coroner’s findings that it was accidental

© AP Photo/Evan Agostini

New Zealand's Electoral Commission has clarified that all election advertising, including digital content, must include a promoter statement identifying the candidate, party, or third-party promoter responsible. This regulatory requirement, grounded in the Electoral Act, serves as a primary verification tool for voters during the 2026 general election. The Commission advises that if a viral social media post appears to be an election advertisement but lacks this mandatory attribution, it constitutes a breach of election rules and indicates potential disinformation rather than legitimate campaign activity. Sean Lyons, the chief online safety officer at Netsafe, emphasized that the distinction between legitimate campaigning and deliberate deception lies in intent and source verification. Misinformation is defined as false information spread without harmful intent, while disinformation involves deliberate false claims with malicious objectives. Lyons noted that many users share content after reading only the headline, often failing to verify the source, which allows foreign-run pages-such as those identified as operating from Vietnam and Canada-to spread fabricated stories about political figures like Chris Hipkins and Jacinda Ardern. These pages frequently use AI-generated images and satirical framing to evade detection, yet their content often escapes the satirical context and is shared as fact. The regulatory framework for election integrity in New Zealand involves multiple institutional actors with specific jurisdictions. The Electoral Commission enforces rules regarding election advertising and Election Day conduct under the Electoral Act. For content that may also constitute broadcast offences, the Broadcasting Standards Authority (BSA) oversees television and radio, while the Media Council handles editorial concerns in other media. The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) oversees advertising in non-broadcast media. Offences related to election rule breaches can be reported to the police, while content-specific complaints are directed to the relevant standards bodies based on the medium involved.

New Zealand's labor market is exhibiting a distinct structural divergence where manual, productive roles are demonstrating greater employment resilience and tighter labor competition compared to the broader economy, despite an overall contraction in advertised positions. Data released by Trade Me for the June quarter reveals that while job listings rose 6.5 percent from the previous quarter, they remain 5.5 percent lower than in the same period a year earlier, indicating a market that has not fully recovered to pre-2025 levels. The financial and operational burden of hiring is shifting toward specific sectors, with trades, construction, transport, logistics, agriculture, hospitality, and retail accounting for 70 percent of all listings on the platform. These roles have shown relative stability, with listings increasing 8.2 percent quarter-on-quarter-a stronger rate than the 6.5 percent market average-and declining only 3 percent year-on-year, compared to the wider market's 5.5 percent drop. This suggests that the cost of entry for workers in these fields is lower due to reduced competition, even as the total pool of available jobs shrinks nationally. Regional disparities in wage and employment conditions The geographic distribution of this employment resilience is uneven, with the South Island acting as the primary stabilizer for household income and job security. Listings in the South Island surged 15 percent quarter-on-quarter and are up 1.8 percent year-on-year, while North Island listings fell 9.4 percent over the same annual period. This divergence directly impacts the effective wage-to-competition ratio for applicants.

Today’s edition of quick hits.

* In light of the latest economic data, this decision was hardly the obvious one: “The Federal Reserve kept its key rate unchanged Wednesday at about 3.9% despite stubbornly high inflation, as Chairman Kevin Warsh suggested its policies are already showing signs of having an impact.”

* A remarkable turn of events in Brazil: “Defeated Brazilian presidential candidate Flávio Bolsonaro and his family landed in Miami on Wednesday after fleeing Brazil. The stunning move came after 48 hours in which Bolsonaro refused to concede to Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and then threatened to attempt to annul the election result.”

* In related news: “A Brazilian Supreme Court justice on Tuesday ordered a police investigation into alleged ties between a donor network co-founded by Vice President JD Vance and the presidential campaign of Flávio Bolsonaro in the run-up to Sunday’s election.”

* A devastating disaster: “One high-speed Spanish train slammed into another that had stopped on the tracks Wednesday, killing at least 68 people and shredding carriages in the country’s second deadly rail collision this year. The regional government for Castilla La Mancha confirmed the death toll and said another 58 people needed medical treatment in hospital.”

* A case of ongoing interest: “Three news organizations that sued the White House after President Donald Trump banned them from the grounds have amended their lawsuit. They are now asking a federal judge to permanently restore their access, not just to the White House but to other areas including the Oval Office and Air Force One. The amended complaint filed by the news outlets — MS NOW, CNN and Politico — comes two weeks after U.S. Judge Timothy Kelly indefinitely reversed Trump’s ban and restored their access to the White House.”

* The need for secrecy in this case is hardly obvious: “The U.S. attorney’s office in Washington said on Tuesday that it would not unseal a search warrant executed by federal agents at the home of Representative Ilhan Omar of Minnesota this month. The office also asked a federal judge to deny requests for the warrant’s release.”

* The White House sure has lost a lot of cases like this one: “A federal judge ruled Tuesday that a Donald Trump-backed lawyer has been ‘unlawfully serving’ as the top federal prosecutor in Los Angeles. The decision regarding Bill Essayli’s service does not immediately take effect, and Essayli said the Supreme Court ‘will ultimately decide’ the legality of his tenure.”

* A little something to keep democracy advocates up at night: “As Election Day nears, recent events have prompted some FBI agents to express concern, according to seven people with knowledge of internal discussions among the ranks, that they may be ordered to seize voting machines or take other actions that disrupt election results.”

* The passing of a legend: “Dolores Huerta, an icon of the labor movement in California who co-founded the United Farm Workers, died Wednesday at the age of 96, her family announced.”

See you tomorrow.

The post Wednesday’s Mini-Report, 10.28.26 appeared first on MS NOW.

The holiday is looking mild for much of the country with a few key exceptions

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ROME: Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on Wednesday slammed a “shameful” decision by a judge dismissing accusations against a campaigner arrested on terrorism charges for allegedly seeking to organize violent protests. The man, 30-year-old Youssef Siher, was arrested on October 24 and accused by prosecutors of being behind the social media accounts of the anti-government “October 17 Movement.” That was a reference to protests by young people in Milan on October 17 and 18 that turned violent

New Zealand Police have seized 137 kilograms of cocaine, two Glock pistols, and 200 rounds of ammunition from a shipping container at a business in South Auckland. The seizure was made on Tuesday after business staff, unpacking the container, discovered suspicious bags and contacted police. According to Detective Inspector Karen Bright, the drug has an estimated street value of $40 million and is classified as a Class A controlled substance. The official record indicates that the seizure is complete, but formal inquiries into the shipment are still underway. Detective Inspector Bright stated that police are liaising with international law enforcement partners and acknowledged the assistance of New Zealand Customs in the current enquiries. The documentary trail for the shipment traces its origin to the Netherlands, with the container stopping at Balboa en route to New Zealand.