Latest Episode
October 18: West Bank Settler Attacks and Deadly Alberta Base Fire
In planetary defense
Researchers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory are modeling whether a nearby nuclear explosion could deflect or break apart an asteroid threatening Earth. Their simulations track how X-rays would heat and vaporize its surface. After checking their approach against an established simulation code, they tested three disruption scenarios for an asteroid roughly 525 feet across. Researchers say two showed strong signs of breakup.
In the West Bank
U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee is calling for the arrest and prosecution of settlers who attacked Washington Post photojournalist Heidi Levine. She was badly beaten Friday when masked settlers carrying clubs and other weapons attacked Palestinians harvesting olives in the occupied West Bank. Levine needed surgery and is recovering in an Israeli hospital.
The European Union has also condemned an attack by Israeli settlers on European diplomats in the occupied West Bank and is demanding accountability.
In Canada
Multiple people were killed and injured in a fire at Canadian Forces Base Wainwright in Alberta, Defense Minister David McGuinty said Saturday. Injured people were taken to hospitals in Edmonton. High winds worsened the fire, driving flames beyond the base into surrounding rural areas as crews fought the blaze into the night.
In France
Officials are investigating police use of a British-funded border patrol vehicle against student protesters in Dunkirk. Footage showed the vehicle being driven toward protesters. A 14-year-old girl was struck, treated for a hematoma in the hospital and later discharged.
Separately, the government held crisis talks Sunday after days of nationwide unrest. Public buildings were burned, hundreds of shops were destroyed and looted, and more than 2,000 people were arrested. Politicians on the left and right called for Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez to resign.
In U.S. news
Congressional Democrats say President Donald Trump’s disclosed pharmaceutical holdings reached as much as $56.2 million in 2025. Their findings, released October 16, 2026, question investments in companies whose medicines, according to their analysis, benefited from Medicare pricing changes.
In Wichita, Kansas, authorities say a truck drove through a youth soccer game Saturday, killing a six-year-old boy and a 35-year-old man and injuring eleven others. Police took the driver into custody.
British forces in Syria
The Sunday Times reports that five SAS soldiers continued missions during a three-year murder investigation into two teenagers’ deaths after a July 2022 raid. Investigators said the teenagers were unarmed and posed no imminent threat. The soldiers maintained they acted in self-defense. Witness statements say an internal SAS review supported their account, but their commander referred the case to military police.
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