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US federal prosecutors have charged former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores with conspiracy to commit torture, adding to existing drug trafficking and weapons charges. The new indictment, filed in Manhattan federal court on Thursday, alleges they tortured American citizens and political opponents held in Venezuelan custody during Maduro's 13-year rule. Prosecutors allege the torture included electric shock, asphyxiation, rape, beatings and psychological threats against detainees' families. The couple have been held in Brooklyn since their capture in a US military raid on their Caracas compound in January and have pleaded not guilty to all charges. Flores appeared in court Thursday seeking release to house arrest on health grounds, a request prosecutors opposed.

A man was shot by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent in the Marble Hill neighbourhood of the Bronx on Thursday at around 4 p.m., according to law enforcement sources. The man was taken to hospital and is conscious, with injuries deemed non-life-threatening. The NYPD said it was not involved in the shooting. CBS News reports that preliminary information indicates ICE agents were attempting to take someone into custody when another person who was not the focus of the arrest was shot. New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani said based on early reports a five-year-old child was in a car with the victim when multiple rounds were fired, though the child was not injured.

A major government-commissioned review led by Prof Peter Fonagy has found that ADHD and autism are at risk of overdiagnosis in England, with cases now appearing to outstrip expected population rates for younger age groups. The review highlights a mismatch between true rates of these conditions and the numbers seeking help, warning that misdiagnosis can direct people towards wrong treatments and obscure underlying causes of difficulties. The report also confirms that genuine mental distress has increased substantially since the 1990s, particularly among 16- to 24-year-olds, where rates of common mental disorders such as anxiety and depression have risen from one in six to one in four. The review calls for tougher regulation of private clinics offering assessments and recommends that support should be based on individual needs rather than diagnosis alone, reducing reliance on lengthy NHS waiting lists.

The Pentagon will livestream the firing squad execution of Nidal Hasan, a former Army major convicted of killing 13 people at Fort Hood, Texas, on 3 December at 1pm Central Time. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced the public execution will take place at the military base where the 2009 shooting occurred. Hegseth said the decision to make it public was to show 'there's serious consequences for these types of things'. President Donald Trump approved the firing squad method on Hegseth's recommendation. The execution will be the first by the US military in over 60 years and the first by firing squad since the Second World War.

The USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier has docked in San Diego after a deployment lasting more than ten months, with more than 260 consecutive days at sea without port call, setting a US navy record. The carrier left San Diego in November 2025 initially bound for the Pacific, but was redirected to the Middle East where it supported US military operations against Iran from February onwards. The extended deployment drew scrutiny after reports emerged in August of supply shortages, plumbing problems, low morale and deteriorating mental health among roughly 5,000 crew members. Euronews reports that eight sailors attempted suicide during the deployment, though experts said this figure was relatively low for a strike group of that size over ten months. US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth visited the carrier on Wednesday and awarded its crew the Presidential Unit Citation, the highest military award given to a unit, praising their operational achievements while downplaying concerns about conditions aboard.

President Trump said Thursday that the United States will not attack Iran before the 3 November midterm elections. In a Truth Social post, Trump claimed Washington was having 'productive discussions' with Iran and that the Islamic Republic was 'in very bad condition, both Economically and Militarily'. His announcement came after multiple outlets reported that the Pentagon had been asked to draw up attack options. Trump said the naval blockade of Iran would remain in place and reiterated that Tehran would not be allowed to obtain a nuclear weapon. A White House official said all options remained available to the president, adding that 'Iran has been decimated'.

Real Madrid manager Jose Mourinho has joked that he may not survive to see the end of Manchester City's appeal against a ruling finding the club guilty of serious financial breaches. An independent commission found City guilty of 114 of 115 charges relating to breaches of Premier League financial regulations between 2009-10 and 2017-18. The Premier League stated that City used 'sham' commercial agreements to inflate revenue by more than £900 million over nearly a decade. City has denied wrongdoing and appealed the decision. Mourinho, who managed Manchester United when it finished second behind City in 2017-18, told Italian newspaper Corriere dello Sport that he would 'rather have a laugh' about the case. 'I think we will reach a conclusion but, being in my sixties, I will have to be lucky enough still to be here when the final verdict arrives,' he said, adding that further appeals could follow.

María del Carmen Abascal, known as Maricarmen, died on Wednesday, the Madrid Tenants' Union announced. The 87-year-old was evicted from her Madrid flat on 23 September after an investment firm bought the property and sought to raise her rent significantly. She was removed on a stretcher and admitted to hospital. Her eviction sparked nationwide protests over Spain's housing crisis, leading Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez to call a snap election for 29 November after parliament rejected emergency housing measures. Thousands have since gathered to mourn her death.

The World Meteorological Organization has warned that this year's El Niño is becoming the strongest since at least 1950 and will continue intensifying before peaking in December 2026. Sea-surface temperatures in the central and eastern tropical Pacific are forecast to reach a record 3.7 degrees Celsius above normal from October to December, surpassing the previous record of 2.6 degrees from 2015-16. The phenomenon is nearly 100 per cent certain to persist through February 2027. The WMO warns the event will bring above-average temperatures to much of the globe and shift rainfall patterns, increasing risks of drought, floods, landslides, food shortages and cyclones in different regions. Specific areas of concern include the South-West Indian Ocean region and India, where low rainfall from June to September has already stressed agriculture and water resources affecting nearly half the country's workforce.

Anthropic has updated its usage policy for the first time in over a year, adding a prohibition on 'sustained and needless abusive or cruel behavior' toward Claude. The company says the ban applies only in extreme cases where users repeatedly act cruelly with no discernible purpose, and does not cover ordinary frustration, criticism, dark creative themes, or model testing. Claude can already end conversations with persistently abusive users, which remains the primary enforcement mechanism. The policy update also addresses other high-risk misuses including election interference, deceptive campaigns, weapons development, and surveillance. The new rules take effect on 12 November.

Two Latvian nationals aged 36 and 32 were arrested inside RAF Molesworth in Cambridgeshire in the early hours of Thursday after security patrols discovered an abandoned vehicle near the base perimeter. A small breach in the perimeter fence was found during the search. The men were initially arrested on suspicion of trespass on a prohibited site and criminal damage, then further arrested under the National Security Act 2023 on suspicion of entering a prohibited place for a purpose prejudicial to the UK. Both remain in police custody. Counter Terrorism Policing London is leading the investigation. Commander Helen Flanagan said there is no evidence linking the incident to events at RAF Fairford last week and that enquiries are at an early stage.

Voters cast their ballots on Thursday in the by-election for Holborn and St Pancras, the north London seat vacated by former Prime Minister Keir Starmer. Labour's candidate is Sagal Abdi-Wali, a Camden Council leader and former child refugee from Somalia, while Green Party leader Zack Polanski is challenging for the seat. The contest is seen as a significant test of Prime Minister Andy Burnham's ability to retain support among progressive voters who became disillusioned with Labour under Starmer, particularly over issues including Gaza, housing and climate policy. The Greens gained momentum after strong local election results in May 2026 but have faced difficulties this week, including controversy over a party conference motion asserting that Zionism is racism. Polls closed at 10pm, with results expected in the early hours of Friday.

Yemen's Houthis claimed on Thursday that they targeted King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh with a ballistic missile, the third alleged strike on the facility in as many days. Witnesses reported several explosions in the Saudi capital, and a large plume of smoke was seen rising from a stationary aircraft at the airport. Saudi authorities said previous attacks on Riyadh and Abha airports killed three people and wounded 36. The Saudi-led coalition said it intercepted the ballistic missiles and destroyed 82 Houthi military targets in response. Major airlines including Lufthansa and Air India suspended flights to Riyadh, with over 330 flights cancelled globally and nearly half of scheduled departures from King Khalid scrapped on Thursday.

The Trump administration has suspended Microsoft, Adobe and six other technology companies from the Permanent Labor Certification program, which allows H-1B visa holders to apply for green cards. Vice President JD Vance accused Microsoft particularly of abusing the system, saying the company laid off 6,000 American workers in 2025 whilst obtaining 6,300 H-1B visas and nearly 3,000 green cards. Labour Secretary Keith Sonderling said these companies had requested nearly three million foreign workers since 2009, receiving over 230,000 H-1B visa approvals and over 100,000 permanent labour certifications. Microsoft disputed the claims, stating that 80 per cent of its visa applications were to extend or change status of existing employees. The other suspended companies are Cognizant, Infosys, Tata, Wipro, HCL and Capgemini.

The National Football League has filed an amicus brief with the Supreme Court supporting New Jersey regulators in their challenge to prediction market platform Kalshi, arguing that sports prediction contracts should be classified as gambling and regulated by states rather than the federal Commodity Futures Trading Commission. On the first Sunday of the 2026 season, football accounted for $1.8 billion in prediction markets trading, more than half the total volume. The NFL is concerned that prediction markets are vulnerable to manipulation through insider knowledge of injuries, officiating decisions, and individual player actions, and objects to contracts currently available to users as young as 18. The league wants a minimum age of 21 and state-level oversight similar to traditional sports betting. In response, Kalshi spokesperson Elisabeth Diana stated that the platform prioritises market integrity and has partnerships with major sports bodies, and that the CFTC is actively overseeing the markets.

Canadian poet, essayist and translator Anne Carson has won the 2026 Nobel Prize in Literature. The Swedish Academy cited her 'bold and inventive oeuvre that, in playful dialogue with the classical tradition, has created new forms for contemporary literature'. Carson, 76, was born in Toronto and is a professor of classics who has spent more than 30 years studying ancient Greek and Roman literature. She is only the nineteenth woman among 123 literature laureates. The prize is worth 12 million Swedish kronor, about $1.2 million. When told of her win by phone, Carson was in Iceland 'listening to the wind', according to Ingrid Carlberg, the Swedish Academy's permanent secretary.

Pep Guardiola is expected to attend Manchester City's Champions League match against Paris Saint-Germain on 14 October, marking his first return to the Etihad Stadium since departing as manager in the summer. The visit comes as the club fights an independent commission's guilty verdict on 114 breaches of Premier League financial rules between 2009 and 2018. City deny wrongdoing and claim to hold 'irrefutable evidence' of innocence, having appealed the decision. Guardiola publicly backed the club's owners and leadership after the verdict, writing on social media: 'I want every single Manchester City fan across the world to know I am here; more than ever.' City face potential sanctions ranging from fines and points deductions to expulsion from the Premier League.

Microsoft has announced pricing and release details for the Surface Laptop Ultra, its new premium laptop powered by Nvidia's RTX Spark Arm-based processor. The device launches on October 16th starting at $2,599 for a base configuration with 24GB of RAM and 512GB of storage, rising to $5,899.99 for a model with 128GB of RAM and up to a 20-core CPU. The 15-inch laptop features an HDR touchscreen display, magnetic USB-C charging, and multiple ports including HDMI, USB-A, and an SD card reader. Microsoft positioned the laptop to compete with high-end MacBook Pro models and is targeting creators, developers, and AI users. The company also announced the Surface RTX Spark Dev Box, a $5,999 desktop PC for developers launching in November.

Mark Cain, 45, has appeared at King's Lynn Crown Court charged with the murder of his wife Dr Hannah Cain, 45, a GP who worked at a practice serving royal patients, including Queen Camilla. Dr Cain was found unconscious and unresponsive at their home in Dersingham, near the Sandringham Estate in Norfolk, in the early hours of October 4. Prosecutor Steven Ball told the court that Cain allegedly struck his wife on the head with an axe and strangled her, then called police reporting a suspected burglary and claiming he had confronted an intruder. Cain's three children, aged 8, 11 and 13, and two other children, aged 8 and 10, were staying at the home during a sleepover. A post-mortem examination found blunt force injuries to her head and neck injuries consistent with compression. Cain was remanded in custody until a plea hearing on December 3, provisionally at Norwich Crown Court. No trial date has been set.

Russia launched intensive strikes across Ukraine on Wednesday and Thursday, killing at least 52 people. A missile destroyed a five-storey apartment block in Pryluky in the northern Chernihiv region on Wednesday, killing 22 people including five children. The following morning, a guided bomb struck two civilian buses in Kramatorsk in eastern Donetsk, killing at least 30 people and wounding 18. Ukrainian officials said Russia was deliberately targeting civilians. President Volodymyr Zelensky called the Pryluky attack one of Russia's 'most vile' and said the strikes coincided with Vladimir Putin's 74th birthday on Wednesday. Zelensky appealed for more air defence packages from Western allies, saying Ukraine lacked sufficient ammunition for its Patriot systems to counter ballistic missiles. Regional officials in Kramatorsk ordered the suspension of public transport. Zelensky warned that Russia would likely escalate attacks as winter approached.

Manchester City were found guilty of all 115 charges relating to serious breaches of Premier League financial rules by an independent commission. The charges relate to a nine-year period between 2009 and 2018. City have denied all charges and launched an appeal. Striker Erling Haaland has urged supporters to 'stick together' and 'stay positive' as the club prepares to face Liverpool at Anfield on Sunday in their first match since the verdict. Haaland told Sky Sports that no matter what happens, the team must 'have a smile' and 'enjoy the situation'. City currently lead the Premier League after five matches.

Amazon has announced a complete overhaul of its tablet lineup, phasing out the budget Fire tablets in favour of a new series of Alexa Tablets running full Android with Google Play Store access. The new range includes three models: the Alexa Tablet 8 at $230, Alexa Tablet 11 at $330, and the flagship Alexa Tablet 12 Pro at $500. All feature aluminium unibody designs and are powered by MediaTek processors. The 12 Pro offers a standout nanomatte display option for $50 extra, designed to reduce glare. Panos Panay, Amazon's head of consumer electronics, told Bloomberg the Fire tablets "weren't giving customers what they were asking for", citing the lack of Google services and official apps. Amazon will continue to support existing Fire tablets with security updates but plans to stop shipping them within one to two months. The new tablets launch with preorders open now and shipping beginning 14 October.

A High Court judge has ruled that search warrants used by Thames Valley Police to raid Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor's Sandringham and Windsor homes in February were unlawful. The former Duke of York and the police force agreed on the matter. Mr Justice Hilliard said the police had made a 'significant error' in applying for the warrants under incorrect legislation. However, the judge emphasised that quashing the warrants does not end the investigation into alleged misconduct in public office. A further hearing is scheduled for 2027 to determine whether evidence seized during the searches can be lawfully retained by police. Mountbatten-Windsor, arrested on his 66th birthday on suspicion of misconduct in public office following allegations he shared sensitive information with Jeffrey Epstein when he was UK trade envoy, denies wrongdoing and remains under investigation.

Kemi Badenoch used her closing speech at the Conservative Party conference in Birmingham to pledge the scrapping of inheritance tax on family homes, raising the threshold to £500,000 (or £1 million for married couples). The policy would be funded through measures including reintroducing the two-child benefit cap and cuts to out-of-work welfare and Universal Credit. Badenoch positioned the Conservatives as the party ready for a 'fight' for the 'soul of the nation', attacking Prime Minister Andy Burnham's Labour government and Nigel Farage's Reform UK. The conference showed the Conservative Party united behind Badenoch's leadership, contrasting sharply with divisions a year earlier. However, opinion polls show the Conservatives on 18 to 20 per cent, trailing Labour on 26 per cent and Reform on 22 per cent, with the next general election due by 2029.

Asos customers received a push notification on Tuesday claiming the company had been hacked. The retailer confirmed on Thursday that an unauthorised party had gained access to an employee account by impersonating a trusted contact to obtain login credentials. The hackers then accessed information on third-party platforms used by Asos, obtaining customer names, contact details, addresses and phone numbers. The Guardian reports that hackers also accessed customers' recent search histories. Payment card information and passwords were not compromised. Asos has locked down affected platforms and referred the incident to law enforcement and regulatory authorities.

EU Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic began two days of talks in Beijing on Thursday with Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao to address the bloc's growing trade deficit with China, which reaches approximately €1 billion daily. The deficit, driven partly by surging Chinese exports in the automotive sector, has prompted EU leaders to threaten tougher trade measures. China rejected the EU's request for voluntary curbs on hybrid car exports, and Beijing warned it would respond 'resolutely' if the bloc imposes restrictions. Sefcovic said the talks must deliver 'tangible outcomes', with EU leaders set to review progress at a summit next Thursday.

Hate crime in England and Wales rose by 7% to 146,825 offences in the year ending March 2026, according to Home Office data. Racial hate crimes increased by 9% to 107,926, while religious hate offences rose by 13% to 11,419. Within religious hate crimes, offences targeting Muslims climbed by 15% to 5,132 and those against Jewish people rose by 10% to 3,162. When Metropolitan Police figures are excluded due to a change in their crime recording system, both racial and religious hate crimes reached their highest levels since records began in 2012. The Home Office said spikes in anti-Muslim offences coincided with public disorder in September 2025 and the start of the US-Iran conflict in February 2026, while antisemitic hate crimes surged following the Heaton Park Synagogue terror attack in October 2025.

A 28-year-old technician, Darya Shipilova, died on 2 October at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Research Institute in Siberia. Russia's health watchdog Rospotrebnadzor says she died of pneumonia of unknown cause and that nearly 5,000 tests found no dangerous pathogens, with no epidemic risk. The Kremlin dismissed media reports of a second case as 'false information'. The World Health Organization said it lacks the 'full picture' and cannot conduct a full risk assessment without greater transparency from Moscow. The United States formally requested additional information, and President Trump said a call with Vladimir Putin was scheduled to discuss the incident.

Jon Rahm is quitting LIV Golf after determining the terms offered for the league's planned restructuring, known as LIV 2.0, are unacceptable, his lawyer John Beck told a bankruptcy court hearing on Wednesday. LIV filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection after Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund withdrew its funding at the end of the 2026 season, but has since secured possible financing of $300m from BC Partners Credit. Rahm and LIV are in advanced discussions for a separation agreement, hoped to be finalised by 15 October ahead of a court hearing on 5 November. The 31-year-old Spaniard, who joined LIV from the PGA Tour in December 2023 for a reported £222m, is listed as the league's largest unsecured creditor owed $7.5m. Players are not obliged to join LIV 2.0 even if they previously signed multi-year contracts with the league.

Jane Adetoro, 36, Christina Walters, 32, and Rebecca Walters, 31, from west London were pulled from the sea off Brighton on 13 May and pronounced dead at the scene. An inquest found they died by suicide. Two days before, on 11 May, the sisters had travelled by taxi to Birmingham and visited the area near Brookvale Park Lake, where their mother died by drowning in 2010. They also visited their mother's former home before returning to London and then travelling to Brighton that evening. They arrived near the seafront at 10.21pm and were last seen on CCTV at 2.42am on 13 May entering the water. Police found 179 references to suicide on one sister's laptop. Their father Joseph Jacobson told the inquest: 'They were my daughters—they were loved and they mattered.'