SecureMaine 2026 is Here -- Thursday October 8th!

European Parliament's 'Orange Plague' insult to Trump: Statue depicting obese, naked president is put on display

The statue titled the 'Orange Plague' (pictured) depicts US President Donald Trump overweight and naked holding a long gold club and sitting on the shoulders of a shorter man.

Spanish pensioner whose eviction sparked nationwide protests dies, union says

Maricarmen Abascal, 87, was forcibly removed on a stretcher from her apartment of more than 70 years in September.

Multiple arrests made as protests take place on October 7 attacks anniversary

Israel strikes Gaza on Oct 7 anniversary, five dead: officials

According to Palestinian officials, Israel carried out new strikes in Gaza on the third anniversary of the Oct 7 Hamas attack, killing five people.

Can the Gulf aviation superhub model survive the war?

For decades, the Gulf superhubs of Dubai, Doha and Abu Dhabi performed an improbable trick. They redirected millions of people travelling between the West and Asia to connect through their airports. Last year, the three airports handled about 182 million passengers, three times the traffic at Hong Kong airport. Dubai alone handled 95.2 million, the highest ever recorded by an airport. The Gulf’s hub-and-spoke model – funnelling passengers through a central airport to multiple destinations –...

How October 7 changed everything

Israelis visit the Nova music festival memorial site to mark the third anniversary of the October 7, 2023 attacks. | Saeed Qaq/Anadolu via Getty Images This story appeared in Today, Explained, a daily newsletter that helps you understand the most compelling news and stories of the day. Subscribe here. Jewish communities in Israel and around the world are currently marking the third anniversary of the October 7 attacks that killed 1,200 people and triggered the war in Gaza. Memorials for the victims of the attacks have been held at homes, on highways, and at the site of the Nova music festival. In Tel Aviv, a massive art installation at the Trumpeldor beach commemorated both the victims and the 251 hostages taken by Hamas three years ago. Of those hostages, 166 have since returned alive, and the remains of the last deceased captive were released to Israel in January. But there’s no undoing the national trauma of the October 7 attacks — the deadliest massacre of Jewish people since the Holocaust — or the brutal retaliatory campaign that Israel launched afterward. Those events profoundly changed Israel, Gaza, the broader Middle East, and the United States, and they continue to shape global and domestic politics. So today, we’re taking a look at the very long shadow of the October 7 attacks and Israel’s response to them. Go a little deeper View Link Writing about the first anniversary of October 7 two years ago, Vox’s Zack Beauchamp warned that the “horrors” first triggered by the attacks would continue to unfold in tragic and unforeseeable ways. “Events that might seem contained to the Middle East have come to hurt people around the world,” he wrote, “in ways that we may not yet fully understand or even be capable of predicting.” That hurt has undeniably been most acute in the Gaza Strip, where three years of war have reduced entire cities to rubble. Israel’s military campaign has killed more than 74,000 Palestinians — most of them civilians — since October 2023. Most of Gaza’s 2 million residents have also been displaced from their homes, crowded into makeshift shelters and refugee camps riddled with hunger and disease. But the consequences of October 7 extended beyond Gaza. Settler violence against Palestinians intensified in the occupied West Bank. And the ensuing conflicts also weakened Iran and changed the balance of power across the Middle East. That’s because Iran had long relied on its allies, like Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon, to project power and deter attacks by its longtime rival, Israel. After October 7, however, Israel significantly weakened both groups, leaving Iran vulnerable and setting the stage for the direct strikes on Iran that Israel and the US began last winter.  Both the war in Iran and the continued occupation of Gaza have badly hurt Israel’s international image. Across 36 countries surveyed by Pew last spring, a median of 67 percent of adults viewed Israel negatively. That disapproval has translated into diplomatic shifts, as well: 155 countries — including longtime allies of Israel, such as the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia — now officially recognize Palestinian statehood, up from 136 before the war. That doesn’t change much on the ground, but it represents a real rebuke to Israel.  In the US, meanwhile, Israel has become a huge flashpoint in domestic politics. While more than half of Americans had a favorable view of the country before October 7, sentiment deteriorated sharply in 2025 and 2026, particularly on the left. The issue could help determine some key midterm races, like the Michigan Senate election, where Democrat Abdul El-Sayed has called for ending US military aid to Israel. That’s a policy nearly half of House Democrats and many potential presidential candidates have also endorsed.  Cutting off US aid to Israel isn’t likely to change the country’s stance toward Palestinians, however. (Israel is a wealthy country in its own right, and American aid represents just a small piece of its budget.) Instead, changing Israeli policy on Gaza and the West Bank would likely require far more aggressive pressure — pressure that, even in the current political environment, the US is unlikely to apply. A single day may have kicked off a cascade of hurt and horrors. But putting an end to them will take far more time. One link for later ➨ Cultivate hope. It can feel difficult (not to mention: naive, pointless, and exhausting) to maintain optimism in the face of current events. So Jamil Zaki, a psychology professor and the director of the Stanford Social Neuroscience Lab, suggests another tact: Do away with blind optimism and lean into hope — that belief that the future could turn out well, but requires real care and attention. Before you go… Did you know…that sea turtles regularly cry (okay: “shed tears”) to rid their bodies of excess salt? Scientists are studying sea turtle tears to learn more about animal navigation.  Today’s trivia: What’s the word for a baby eagle? (You can find this and other brain puzzles in Vox’s daily crossword. Look for the answer in tomorrow’s edition.) Yesterday’s trivia: Yesterday we asked you for the final letter of the Greek alphabet. That would be omega, as in the Bible verse, Swiss watch brand, and nutritional supplement.

Former Tottenham defender to challenge Infantino for Fifa presidency next year

One of our favourite heated clothes airers just got cheaper for Amazon Prime Day

Secure this expert-approved airer for less than half price in Amazon’s Big Deal Days sale Follow live: The best Amazon Prime Day deals

Democrats sue Trump to halt taxpayer-funded TV ads that praised him

Democratic Party officials sued US President Donald Trump on Wednesday, seeking a court order blocking his administration from using taxpayer money to pay for election-related TV ads.

'Fjord,' Cristian Mungiu's Palme d'Or winner, strikes a nerve while asking questions of progressives

Cristian Mungiu’s latest film stars Sebastian Stan and Renate Reinsve as a Christian couple with five children who have immigrated from Romania to Norway

Sharks’ Long-Range Hearing: Study finds 74m sound detection; sharks turn away

A team of researchers from Florida Atlantic University discovered that wild blacktip sharks possess the ability to detect low-frequency sounds from considerable distances. This groundbreaking study sheds light on how these sharks navigate their aquatic environments, as they exhibited keen directional hearing by making sharp turns in response to sound sources.

UN health agency wants more details from Russia on suspected pneumonic plague case

A top official with the World Health Organization said Wednesday it doesn’t know how a lab worker in Siberia died, and she urged Russia to provide more information about a case that prompted global concerns about suspected pneumonic plague. FRANCE 24's Monte Francis reports.