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Oct. 18 (UPI) — Bolivia’s presidential runoff election on Sunday is the nation’s first and excludes a socialist candidate after voters narrowed the field to two conservative candidates on Friday.

Christian Democratic Party candidate Sen. Rodrigo Paz Pereira secured 32% of the popular vote to lead all candidates, while former President Jorge “Tuto” Quiroga secured the second-most with 27% of votes to set up Sunday’s runoff, according to Americas Quarterly.

Paz is a centrist candidate and the son of former Bolivian President Jaime Paz Zamora, who led the nation from 1989 to 1993.

Quiroga, 67, was serving as Bolivia’s vice president when he ascended to the presidency for one year, from Aug. 7, 2001, to Aug. 6, 2002, following the resignation of President Hugo Banzer due to a cancer diagnosis.

He was elected vice president in 1997 at age 37, which made him the nation’s youngest person to hold that office.

Quiroga was defeated in three prior campaigns to be elected president, but many now view him as the favorite.

His platform includes establishing a free market economic system rooted in capitalism and that supports private property rights for citizens.

He also wants to transfer government ownership of the nation’s ample natural resources, especially natural gas, iron and lithium, to private citizens and entities.

Paz, 58, also wants to establish a market-based economy and made “Capitalism for All” his campaign’s motto.

The lack of a socialist candidate in the presidential runoff is viewed as a public rebuke of the Movimiento al Socialismo (Movement Towards Socialism) Party, which has controlled Bolivia’s politics over the past two decades.

Bolivia has been one of South America’s leading socialist states over the past 20 years, but the nation is mired in an economic collapse that many attribute to government mismanagement of natural resources, according to The Telegraph.

MAS presidential candidate Eduardo del Castillo received only 3% of the vote during the first round of voting.

The MAS party also is about to lose its majorities in both houses of the Bolivian Legislature amid recent controversies.

They include an arrest warrant for former MAS Party member and former President Evo Morales being issued due to an alleged statutory rape.

Thieves have stolen priceless jewels from the Louvre in a brazen heist that only took minutes, according to the French government. The suspects are believed to have escaped on scooters while the world’s most visited museum was forced to close for the day.

United Nations demands the release of its employees after Houthi forces raided a facility and detained staff in Sanaa.

Yemen’s Houthi authorities have detained about two dozen United Nations employees after raiding another UN-run facility in the capital Sanaa, the UN has confirmed.

Jean Alam, spokesperson for the UN’s resident coordinator in Yemen, said staff were detained inside the compound in the city’s Hada district on Sunday.

Those held include at least five Yemeni employees and 15 international personnel. A further 11 UN staff were briefly questioned and later released.

Alam said the UN is in direct contact with the Houthis and other relevant actors “to resolve this serious situation as swiftly as possible, end the detention of all personnel, and restore full control over its facilities in Sanaa”.

A separate UN official, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity, said Houthi forces confiscated all communication equipment inside the facility, including computers, phones and servers.

The staff reportedly belong to several UN agencies, among them the World Food Programme (WFP), the children’s agency UNICEF and the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

The incident follows a sustained crackdown by the Houthis on the UN and other international aid organisations operating in territory under their control, including Sanaa, the Red Sea port city of Hodeidah, and Saada province in the north.

According to UN figures, more than 50 staff members have now been detained.

Houthis claim UN staff are spying for Israel

The Houthis have repeatedly accused detained UN staff and employees of foreign NGOs and embassies of espionage on behalf of the United States and Israel, allegations that the UN has denied.

In reaction to previous detentions, the UN suspended operations in Saada earlier this year and relocated its top humanitarian coordinator in Yemen from Sanaa to Aden, the seat of the internationally recognised government.

In a statement on Saturday, UN Secretary-General spokesperson Stephane Dujarric warned: “We will continue to call for an end to the arbitrary detention of 53 of our colleagues.”

Dujarric was responding to a televised address by Houthi leader Abdelmalek al-Houthi, who claimed his group had dismantled “one of the most dangerous spy cells”, alleging it was “linked to humanitarian organisations such as the World Food Programme and UNICEF”. Dujarric said the accusations were “dangerous and unacceptable”.

Saturday’s raid comes amid a sharp escalation in detentions. Since August 31, 2025, alone, at least 21 UN personnel have been arrested, alongside 23 current and former employees of international NGOs, the UN said.

Ten years of conflict have left Yemen, already one of the poorest countries in the Arab world, facing what the UN describes as one of the gravest humanitarian crises globally, with millions reliant on aid for survival.

Oct. 19 (UPI) — A group of thieves broke into the Louvre Museum on Sunday morning and stole priceless jewels before fleeing on motorcycles, the famed institution confirmed to UPI.

A representative for the Louvre said that several people broke in through a window in the Apollo Gallery, which houses many of France’s royal jewels, around 9:30 a.m. local time after the museum had already opened its doors to the public.

Inside, the thieves stole jewelry from their display cases. French media later reported that they made off with seven jewels owned by Napoleon Bonaparte and his wife, Empress Joséphine de Beauharnais.

“An investigation has begun, and a detailed list of the stolen items is being compiled,” museum officials said in a statement. “Beyond their market value, these items have inestimable heritage and historical value.”

After the theft, the museum was evacuated “without incident” and no injuries were reported among the public, museum staff or law enforcement, the representative said.

The museum shared on social media that it would be closed Sunday for “exceptional reasons.”

“At the Louvre Museum this morning to commend the exemplary commitment of the staff mobilized following the theft,” Culture Minister Rachida Dati shared on social media after visiting the site.

“Respect for their responsiveness and professionalism. Together with President Emmanuel Macron, we extend our sincere thanks to them.”

Dati told French TV channel TF1 on Sunday that one of the jewels was later found and that the entire heist lasted only four minutes. She called the thieves “professionals.”

French Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said Sunday that “everything is being done” to find the thieves.

“The mobilization of investigators will be total, under the authority of the Parquet de Paris,” Nuñez said. The Parquet de Paris is the public prosecution office in the French capital. “Attacking the Louvre is attacking our history and our heritage.”

The news comes just days after the Louvre announced that two 18th-century snuff boxes that were stolen during a violent armed robbery in 2024 while they were on loan to the Cognacq-Jay Museum have been found and returned.

The fire gutted import cargo terminals areas at Dhaka airport, destroying an estimated $1bn of ‘urgent air shipments’.

A fire that decimated a cargo complex in Bangladesh’s largest airport has caused devastating losses to garment exporters during the peak export season.

The blaze – which ripped through the cargo import area of Dhaka’s Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport on Saturday afternoon – gutted storage areas holding huge quantities of raw materials, apparel and product samples belonging to exporters.

“We have witnessed a devastating scene inside,” said Faisal Samad, director of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA).

“The entire import section has been reduced to ashes,” he said, estimating losses could reach as high as $1bn.

Smoke continued to rise from the charred remains of the facility on Sunday as firefighters and airport officials assessed the damage.

Among the destroyed goods are “urgent air shipments”, including garments, raw materials, and product samples, added Inamul Haq Khan, senior vice-president of BGMEA.

He warned that the loss of samples could jeopardise future business in the country’s crucial garment industry, worth $47bn per year. “These samples are essential for securing new buyers and expanding orders. Losing them means our members may miss out on future opportunities,” he said.

Cause of blaze unclear

The airport cargo village that caught fire is one of Bangladesh’s busiest logistics hubs, handling more than 600 metric tons of dry cargo daily – a figure that doubles during the October to December peak season.

“Every day, around 200 to 250 factories send their products by air,” Khan said. “Given that scale, the financial impact is significant.”

The cause of the blaze has not yet been determined, and an investigation is under way.

The incident marks the third major fire reported in Bangladesh this week. A fire on Tuesday at a garment factory and an adjacent chemical warehouse in Dhaka killed at least 16 people and injured others. On Thursday, another burned down a seven-storey garment factory building in an export processing zone in Chittagong.

The government said the security services were investigating all incidents “thoroughly”, and warned that “any credible evidence of sabotage or arson will be met with a swift and resolute response.”

“No act of criminality or provocation will be allowed to disrupt public life or the political process,” it said, urging calm.

Bangladesh is the world’s second-largest exporter of apparel after China. The sector, which supplies major global retailers such as Walmart, H&M and the Gap, employs about four million workers and generates more than a tenth of the country’s GDP.

The fire is expected to delay shipments and pose additional challenges in meeting international delivery deadlines.

When the ceasefire in Gaza was announced, I experienced a range of mixed emotions. I felt joy that the bombs had finally stopped, but also dread that they could resume at any time. I felt optimistic that we could go back to normal life, but also anxious that this could once again be short-lived.

As an English teacher, I hope to see education restored as soon as possible. Education is the only means of reviving hope and helping children start to overcome the trauma of two years of genocide. It can provide a sense of normalcy and purpose. That is why it ought to be Gaza’s top priority.

Before the start of the genocide, I taught English to elementary and middle school pupils at an educational centre and a public girls’ school in Gaza City.  The school was destroyed in the first weeks of the war; the education centre was badly damaged.

My family and I were forced to flee our home. A few months later, I started teaching in a tent; it was a local initiative run by volunteers. There were no desks in the tent; my students – ranging from six to 12 years of age – were sitting on the floor. The conditions of teaching were difficult, but I was committed to helping kids continue their education.

By late December 2024, pens, books, and notebooks started to entirely vanish from shops and markets. A single notebook would cost anywhere from 20 to 30 shekels ($6 to $9), if it was available at all. This was out of reach for the majority of families.

When the shortage of paper, books and pens became palpable, some of my pupils started arriving at class without anything to write on; others would collect scraps of paper from the rubble of homes and arrive at class with that; others still would write in tiny letters on the backs of old sheets of paper preserved by their families. Because pens were so scarce, several children would often have to share a single pen.

Since writing and reading, the cornerstone of education, became so difficult to do, we educators had to come up with alternative teaching strategies. We did group recitation, oral storytelling, and songs.

Despite the lack of supplies, children had an amazing will to continue learning. Seeing them struggling with old scraps of paper filled me with admiration and anguish; I was proud of their will to learn in spite of everything, and their perseverance inspired me.

I had a special notebook my grandmother had gifted me years ago, which I used as a diary. I wrote in it my dreams and my secrets. After the war, I filled the pages with stories of bomb explosions, homeless families sleeping in the street, starvation I had never experienced before, and suffering in the absence of even the most basic necessities.

On one particular school day in August, when the majority of my pupils showed up without any paper, I knew what I had to do. I took my notebook and I started tearing its pages, one by one, giving them to my students.

With so many kids, my notebook’s pages ran out in a single day. My students then had to go back to the scraps of paper or cardboard.

The truce may have put a stop to the bombs, but my students are still without paper and pens. Humanitarian aid has started coming into Gaza once again. Food, medicine, and materials for shelter are coming in. These are all crucial. But we also urgently need educational supplies and support to put education back on track for Gaza’s 600,000 schoolchildren.

Books, pens and paper are not just school supplies. They are a lifeline that can help the children of Gaza triumph over war, destruction and immense loss. They are critical tools that can sustain their perseverance and willpower to live, learn and see a bright future.

Children can recover from the trauma of war and regain a sense of security with the aid of education. Learning gives them back the structure, self-assurance, and hope for a brighter future that are necessary for both community healing and psychological rehabilitation.

We need to give children who lost two years of education the opportunity to write, learn, and dream again.

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.

Mitchell Marsh powered Australia to ODI victory against India as Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli failed in their return to international cricket.

Australia’s stand-in captain Mitchell Marsh continued his fine run of form on Sunday, scoring 46 not out and leading his side to a seven-wicket triumph over India in the weather-affected first one-day international (ODI) at Perth Stadium.

India limped to 136-9 from 26 overs, interrupted four times by rain, setting Australia a revised target of 131 which the hosts reached in 21.1 overs.

The sea of blue in the 42,423-strong crowd did not have to wait long to see Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli after India were put into bat.

Having retired from the game’s other formats with an eye on the 2027 World Cup, the former captains made their return to national duty for the first time since winning the Champions Trophy in March.

Neither looked convincing against Australia’s pace bowlers, with Rohit edging Josh Hazlewood to second slip on eight and Kohli cutting Mitchell Starc to a diving Cooper Connolly at backward point for a duck.

“All of their batters are world-class and legends of the game,” said spinner Matthew Kuhnemann, who picked up 2-26. “In one-day cricket, especially, to get wickets up front makes a massive difference.”

India captain Gill out cheaply

New one-day skipper Shubman Gill was dismissed for 10 when he tickled seamer Nathan Ellis to wicketkeeper Josh Philippe, leaving India reeling at 37-3 when light drizzle halted play for two hours.

The crowd applauded sarcastically when the covers were removed, then in earnest when Shreyas Iyer (11) slashed Hazlewood to the fence. The bowler got his revenge in his next over, however, as Philippe took another leg-side catch.

Kuhnemann and medium-pacer Mitch Owen kept up the pressure and halted any momentum Axar Patel (31) and KL Rahul (38) generated, although Nitish Kumar Reddy brought some excitement with a rapid 19 off 11 balls.

Deputising for Pat Cummins, whose Ashes hopes remain uncertain due to a back injury, man-of-the-match Marsh kick-started Australia’s reply by bludgeoning three sixes, carrying over impressive form against South Africa and New Zealand.

Philippe, playing his first ODI since 2021 due to the absence of Josh Inglis and Alex Carey, supported his skipper with an aggressive 37 before holing out to Arshdeep Singh in the deep.

Matt Renshaw helped his team home with 21 not out, while Arshdeep, Axar and Washington Sundar claimed one wicket apiece.

“We knew we didn’t have that many runs, but we just wanted to express ourselves,” Arshdeep said.

The series moves to Adelaide on Thursday before concluding in Sydney on Saturday.

Last week, a prominent Saudi Sheikh, Mohammed Al-Issa, visited the Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland to commemorate the 75th anniversary of its liberation, which signalled the end of the Nazi Holocaust. Although dozens of Muslim scholars have visited the site, where about one million Jews were killed during World War Two, according to the Auschwitz Memorial Centre’s press office, Al-Issa is the most senior Muslim religious leader to do so.

Visiting Auschwitz is not a problem for a Muslim; Islam orders Muslims to reject unjustified killing of any human being, no matter what their faith is. Al-Issa is a senior ally of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman (MBS), who apparently cares little for the sanctity of human life, though, and the visit to Auschwitz has very definite political connotations beyond any Islamic context.

By sending Al-Issa to the camp, Bin Salman wanted to show his support for Israel, which exploits the Holocaust for geopolitical colonial purposes. “The Israeli government decided that it alone was permitted to mark the 75th anniversary of the Allied liberation of Auschwitz [in modern day Poland] in 1945,” wrote journalist Richard Silverstein recently when he commented on the gathering of world leaders in Jerusalem for Benjamin Netanyahu’s Holocaust event.

READ: Next up, a Saudi embassy in Jerusalem 

Bin Salman uses Al Issa for such purposes, as if to demonstrate his own Zionist credentials. For example, the head of the Makkah-based Muslim World League is leading rapprochement efforts with Evangelical Christians who are, in the US at least, firm Zionists in their backing for the state of Israel. Al-Issa has called for a Muslim-Christian-Jewish interfaith delegation to travel to Jerusalem in what would, in effect, be a Zionist troika.

Zionism is not a religion, and there are many non-Jewish Zionists who desire or support the establishment of a Jewish state in occupied Palestine. The definition of Zionism does not mention the religion of its supporters, and Israeli writer Sheri Oz, is just one author who insists that non-Jews can be Zionists.

Mohammad Bin Salman and Netanyahu – Cartoon [Tasnimnews.com/Wikipedia]

We should not be shocked, therefore, to see a Zionist Muslim leader in these trying times. It is reasonable to say that Bin Salman’s grandfather and father were Zionists, as close friends of Zionist leaders. Logic suggests that Bin Salman comes from a Zionist dynasty.

This has been evident from his close relationship with Zionists and positive approaches to the Israeli occupation and establishment of a Jewish state in Palestine, calling it “[the Jews’] ancestral homeland”. This means that he has no issue with the ethnic cleansing of almost 800,000 Palestinians in 1948, during which thousands were killed and their homes demolished in order to establish the Zionist state of Israel.

“The ‘Jewish state’ claim is how Zionism has tried to mask its intrinsic Apartheid, under the veil of a supposed ‘self-determination of the Jewish people’,” wrote Israeli blogger Jonathan Ofir in Mondoweiss in 2018, “and for the Palestinians it has meant their dispossession.”

As the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia, Crown Prince Bin Salman has imprisoned dozens of Palestinians, including representatives of Hamas. In doing so he is serving Israel’s interests. Moreover, he has blamed the Palestinians for not making peace with the occupation state. Bin Salman “excoriated the Palestinians for missing key opportunities,” wrote Danial Benjamin in Moment magazine. He pointed out that the prince’s father, King Salman, has played the role of counterweight by saying that Saudi Arabia “permanently stands by Palestine and its people’s right to an independent state with occupied East Jerusalem as its capital.”

UN expert: Saudi crown prince behind hack on Amazon CEO 

Israeli journalist Barak Ravid of Israel’s Channel 13 News reported Bin Salman as saying: “In the last several decades the Palestinian leadership has missed one opportunity after the other and rejected all the peace proposals it was given. It is about time the Palestinians take the proposals and agree to come to the negotiations table or shut up and stop complaining.” This is reminiscent of the words of the late Israeli Foreign Minister Abba Eban, one of the Zionist founders of Israel, that the Palestinians “never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity.”

Bin Salman’s Zionism is also very clear in his bold support for US President Donald Trump’s deal of the century, which achieves Zionist goals in Palestine at the expense of Palestinian rights. He participated in the Bahrain conference, the forum where the economic side of the US deal was announced, where he gave “cover to several other Arab countries to attend the event and infuriated the Palestinians.”

US President Donald Trump looks over at Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia Mohammad bin Salman al-Saud as they line up for the family photo during the opening day of Argentina G20 Leaders’ Summit 2018 at Costa Salguero on 30 November 2018 in Buenos Aires, Argentina [Daniel Jayo/Getty Images]

While discussing the issue of the current Saudi support for Israeli policies and practices in Palestine with a credible Palestinian official last week, he told me that the Palestinians had contacted the Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro to ask him not to relocate his country’s embassy to Jerusalem. “The Saudis have been putting pressure on us in order to relocate our embassy to Jerusalem,” replied the Brazilian leader. What more evidence of Mohammad Bin Salman’s Zionism do we need?

The founder of Friends of Zion Museum is American Evangelical Christian Mike Evans. He said, after visiting a number of the Gulf States, that, “The leaders [there] are more pro-Israel than a lot of Jews.” This was a specific reference to Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince, and his counterpart in the UAE, Mohammed Bin Zayed.

“All versions of Zionism lead to the same reactionary end of unbridled expansionism and continued settler colonial genocide of [the] Palestinian people,” Israeli-American writer and photographer Yoav Litvin wrote for Al Jazeera. We may well see an Israeli Embassy opened in Riyadh in the near future, and a Saudi Embassy in Tel Aviv or, more likely, Jerusalem. Is Mohammad Bin Salman a Zionist? There’s no doubt about it.

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.

‘They are torn to pieces, I don’t know if I’m saying goodbye to my son or my daughter.’ Palestinians are grieving 11 members of a family killed by Israeli forces in Gaza City, the deadliest single violation of the shaky ceasefire, just days after it came into effect.

The shooting of Charlie Kirk, a right-wing activist and founder of Turning Point USA, has attracted global attention. It didn’t take long for the media to rush to write narratives related to the shooting of Charlie Kirk. This tragedy is not only a sad news, it has transformed into a political stage that reveals the reality of how the world of news works. This, of course, raises a big question: how can a violent tragedy turn into a political conversation?

The Political Dimension of the Charlie Kirk Shooting

In a society often polarized by politics, an event is often responded to not by its substance but by who was involved in it. In this tragedy, the most widely reported information was related to Charlie Kirk’s political identity, his affiliation with Donald Trump and his close ties to conservative groups.

Violence against political figures in the United States is nothing new. However, Kirk’s case has become a turning point, demonstrating how vulnerable the public can be when political identities take precedence over human values. In its official statement on S. Res. 391, Congress honored Kirk’s commitment to the constitutional principles of civil discussion and debate among all Americans, regardless of political affiliation.

Facts about the Charlie Kirk shooting tragedy

On September 10, 2025, Charlie Kirk was shot and killed on the campus of Utah Valley University. At the time of the incident, Kirk was answering questions about transgender shooters and mass shooters at a public debate themed “Prove Me Wrong” and hosted by Turning Point USA. Panic ensued, and security officers immediately carried him out on a stretcher, but unfortunately, Kirk’s life could not be saved because the bullet hit his neck.

The FBI and Utah State Police are working together to gather evidence, release video of the alleged shooter, and even offer a $100,000 reward for information leading to the identity of the Kirk shooter. Campus CCTV footage shows a man jumping from the Losee Center building. Prior to the arrest of Tyler Robinson (the shooter), two other men were detained on the day of the shooting, but were soon released after their innocence was proven.

An affidavit of probable cause from the Utah prosecutor’s office outlines the charges and elements of the charges, one of which is the enhancement of victim-targeting related to the victim’s political views. Tyler Robinson was charged with Aggravated Murder under Section 76-5-202 (F1 Felony), Felony Discharge of Firearms under Section 76-11-210(2)(3C) and Obstruction of Justice-Capital/First Degree Felony Conduct under Section 76-8-306(2)+(3A).

The Shift from Tragedy to Narrative in Public Space

The threat of domestic violence and terrorism in the United States is driven by social, political, and global factors. A divided political environment and the proliferation of digital disinformation have fueled the radicalization of individuals, often targeting political activists, government officials, and ethnic and religious minorities.

In this context, Kirk’s shooting demonstrates how a real tragedy has become a platform for shaping public opinion. Framing Kirk’s position and the perpetrator’s position creates a polarization, with conservatives viewing the shooting as a form of silencing of the values ​​of free speech in the United States. While others view this event as a form of ideological hostility that has led to political violence, they believe it reflects extreme rhetoric. What ultimately creates two conflicting versions of the truth, so that society no longer sympathizes with the event but shifts to its ideological position.

Public Polarization and the Construction of Global Media Reality

Several media narratives also highlighted the affiliation of Tyler Robinson, a 22-year-old college student who was confirmed by the FBI as the perpetrator of Kirk’s shooting. However, public attention was no longer focused on the perpetrator’s motives, but rather on his ideological positions, social background, and political views. This further widened the gap in public polarization. Recurring narratives in the media reinforced certain images, one of which placed Tyler as affiliated with a political party. Most media outlets did not write narratives that showed the motives of the crime and the human aspects that could build public empathy. As a result, many people speculated that this was a political incident, not an ordinary shooting tragedy.

In an increasingly connected world, the line between local events and global issues is becoming increasingly blurred. The news of the Charlie Kirk tragedy has crossed borders and shaped broader debates about freedom of speech and democracy in the United States. This event has then become no longer seen as a domestic US issue but has evolved into a global reflection of narratives that are more often traded than conveying reality.

Kirk’s death should elicit empathy regardless of political affiliation or ideological views. Politics has taken over the media’s sense of humanity. Media plays a crucial role in distributing information, so it should be free from political elements that shape public opinion. When differing views are used as a source of conflict, the public sphere loses its function as a forum for discussion. Ultimately, the public can only be urged to think critically so that a tragedy is no longer used as a political commodity.

Follow the build-up, analysis, and live text commentary of the game as Liverpool and Man United face-off at Anfield.

The United Kingdom’s Prince Andrew on Friday announced that he would give up the title of the Duke of York days before the publication of a posthumous memoir by Virginia Giuffre, who had accused him of raping her after being trafficked by convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Effective immediately, Prince Andrew will no longer sign off as the “Duke of York” or append “KG” – denoting Knight of the Garter – after his name. And the other titles will become inactive as well, like the His Royal Highness (HRH) honorific.

Giuffre, who died by suicide in April at the age of 41, had accused Andrew of forcing her to have sex on three occasions, including when she was underage. Though the disgraced UK prince denied Giuffre’s claims, he paid millions of dollars to settle a civil sexual assault case with her in 2022.

The 65-year-old was stripped of most of his titles and removed from royal duties in 2022 due to his connections to Epstein, who died by suicide in a United States prison in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. His title decision came as he hit the headlines again in the wake of new revelations about his links to Epstein.

So, why has he “given up” his titles? What does it mean for the UK’s Royal Family? And what are his ties with US child sex offender Epstein?

What has the disgraced prince said?

“I have decided, as I always have, to put my duty to my family and country first. I stand by my decision five years ago to stand back from public life,” Andrew added in the statement.

“With His Majesty’s agreement, we feel I must now go a step further. I will therefore no longer use my title or the honours which have been conferred upon me,” he said, adding that the continued accusations against him “distracted” the royal family.

He also used the statement, released via the Royal Family’s channels, to “vigorously deny the accusations” against him, as he has maintained.

What difference does it make to him?

Andrew had moved back to a largely private life in recent years, even though he remains part of the family, even if ceremonially, as brother of King Charles and uncle to Prince William and Prince Harry.

He has been shunned from using other titles given to him on his wedding day – the Earl of Inverness and Baron Killyleagh. Theoretically, Andrew will retain the dukedom – that can only be removed by an act of parliament – but he will not use it.

Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York and Andrew’s ex-wife, would also not use her title. The titles of their two daughters, Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie, will remain unaffected.

The couple will continue to live in the 30-room Royal Lodge mansion in Windsor, a Grade II-listed property.

However, the property has been leased from the Crown Estate, meaning he cannot sell it – as he did with Sunninghill Park home in 2007 for 15 million pounds ($20m) to Timor Kulibayev, the son-in-law of the then-president of Kazakhstan.

The 12-bedroom house near Windsor Castle was given to the disgraced prince as a wedding present from Queen Elizabeth.

What to know about Andrew?

Prince Andrew, earlier the Duke of York, is the second son and third child of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip – making him the younger brother of King Charles III.

Born in 1960, he was once one of the more popular members of the British royal family, known for his military service as a Royal Navy helicopter pilot during the Falklands War in 1982.

But in recent years, Andrew has largely withdrawn from public life following intense scrutiny over frequent scandals. His ties to the convicted sex offender Epstein – which pushed him to step down from his royal duties in 2019 – has resurfaced after the release of new Epstein files in September.

Andrew was stripped of his military titles and royal patronages in 2022 after a US judge allowed a civil sexual abuse case against him to move to trial. He was also stripped of his role as the Colonel of the Grenadier Guards, one of the oldest regiments in the British army, by the queen.

Widely believed to be the late queen’s “favourite” child, other titles held by the disgraced royal will be rendered dormant – leaving “prince” as his only remaining title, one that cannot be stripped since he was born the son of a queen.

What are the accusations against Andrew?

In 2021, Giuffre, one of the most prominent accusers of Epstein, filed a civil lawsuit against Prince Andrew in a US court, alleging that he had sexually abused her on multiple occasions, including when she was 17 years old – a minor under US law.

She claimed she was trafficked by Epstein and his associate Ghislaine Maxwell, a British socialite, and forced to have sex with the prince in London, New York, and the US Virgin Islands.

Prince Andrew has denied all allegations – even insisting that a now-infamous photograph that appeared to show them together was doctored.

The case was settled out of court in early 2022, with Andrew reportedly paying about 12 million pounds ($16m) – then causing widespread backlash over whether UK taxpayers’ money was used for the payout.

In April this year, Giuffre was found dead at her home near Perth, Australia. Her family confirmed the death as a suicide, attributing it to the emotional toll of her past abuse and ongoing personal struggles.

Last Friday, the US House Oversight Committee also released documents from Epstein’s estate showing “Prince Andrew” listed as a passenger on the convicted sex offender’s private jet, the Lolita Express, from Luton to Edinburgh in 2006.

What does Giuffre’s posthumous memoir say?

On Tuesday, Giuffre’s posthumous memoir goes on sale, where she details her time with the prince and Epstein. In the excerpts published by several media organisations, Giuffre wrote that Andrew believed sex with her was his “birthright”.

In the book, Nobody’s Girl, Giuffre describes her meetings with the prince – and also recounts what unfolded in London during their meet-up.

“Back at the house, [Ghislaine] Maxwell and Epstein said goodnight and headed upstairs, signalling it was time that I take care of the prince. In the years since, I’ve thought a lot about how he behaved. He was friendly enough, but still entitled – as if he believed having sex with me was his birthright.

“He seemed in a rush to have intercourse. Afterward, he said thank you in his clipped British accent. In my memory, the whole thing lasted less than half an hour,” she writes in her memoir.

“The next morning, Maxwell told me: ‘You did well. The prince had fun.’ Epstein would give me $15,000 for servicing the man the tabloids called ‘Randy Andy’.”

Giuffre’s family has lauded the decision of Andrew being forced to relinquish his titles as “vindication for Virginia”.

“We, the family of Virginia Roberts Giuffre, believe that Prince Andrew’s decision to give up his titles is vindication for our sister and survivors everywhere,” they said in a statement.

“Further, we believe it is appropriate for King Charles to remove the title of Prince.”

What were Andrew’s ties with US sex offender Epstein?

Prince Andrew is reported to have had a longstanding association with Epstein, a convicted child sex offender and financier from the US.

The relationship reportedly began in the 1990s, with Andrew socialising with Epstein in elite social circles in both the UK and the US. He is reported to have stayed at Epstein’s Manhattan townhouse, his private Caribbean island, and flown on Epstein’s private jet on multiple occasions. Andrew was also listed on another flight to West Palm Beach, Florida, in 2000.

Epstein’s close associate, British socialite Maxwell, facilitated introductions between Andrew and other prominent figures, drawing him further into Epstein’s network. Maxwell is serving 20 years in prison for sex trafficking.

The association came to public scrutiny after Giuffre in 2021 accused Andrew of sexual abuse.

In an infamous 2019 interview with BBC Newsnight, Andrew said he broke off his friendship with Epstein in December 2010.

But the release of new documents last month shows Andrew reportedly sent a mail three months after the interview. In the email, Andrew appeared to tell Epstein “we are in this together” after the two men were photographed together strolling in New York.

In 2008, Epstein had pleaded guilty to charges of solicitation of prostitution and of solicitation of prostitution with a minor, for which he served 13 months in jail.

Epstein was found dead in his cell at a federal jail in Manhattan in August 2019, awaiting a trial on sex trafficking charges. His death was ruled a suicide.

Has the prince been part of other scandals?

Andrew has been mired in a number of other scandals, including an instance of his “close confidant” being banned from the UK over allegations he was a Chinese spy.

Andrew reportedly held meetings in 2018 and 2019 with Cai Qi, a member of China’s ruling political bureau.

Cai was suspected by the UK government of being the recipient of sensitive information allegedly passed to China by two British nationals accused of spying for Beijing.

Pakistan and Afghanistan’s Taliban government have agreed to an immediate ceasefire, mediated by Qatar and Turkiye. The agreement was reached after a week of deadly clashes and strikes along their disputed border.

Mouin Rabbani from the Center For Conflict & Humanitarian Studies talks about the violence in Gaza since the ceasefire began and how he believes it’s being fuelled by Israel.

The technology is expected to boost capacity in environmental monitoring, urban planning and disaster management.

Pakistan has sent its first-ever hyperspectral satellite into orbit, a “major milestone” it says will help advance national objectives from agriculture to urban planning.

The country’s space agency, SUPARCO, announced the “successful launch” of the H1 satellite from northwestern China’s Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre on Sunday.

Hyperspectral satellites can detect subtle chemical or material changes on the ground that traditional satellites cannot, making them especially useful for things like tracking crop quality, water resources or damage from natural disasters.

Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the technology is expected to “significantly enhance national capacities” in fields like precision agriculture, environmental monitoring, urban planning and disaster management.

It said its ability to pinpoint geohazard risks will also contribute to development initiatives such as the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), which seeks to build infrastructure linking China’s northwestern Xinjiang province with Pakistan’s Gwadar Port.

🔊PR No.3️⃣1️⃣0️⃣/2️⃣0️⃣2️⃣5️⃣

SUPARCO Successfully Launches Pakistan’s First Hyperspectral Satellite https://t.co/N6dil4vaMe
🔗⬇️ pic.twitter.com/rFDSSIcstv

— Ministry of Foreign Affairs – Pakistan (@ForeignOfficePk) October 19, 2025

“The data from the Hyperspectral Satellite is poised to revolutionise agricultural productivity, bolster climate resilience, and enable optimised management of the country’s vital natural resources,” SUPARCO chairman Muhammad Yousuf Khan was quoted as saying in Pakistan’s Dawn newspaper.

‘Pivotal step’

Pakistan also hailed H1’s deployment as a “pivotal step forward” in its space programme, as well as a reflection of its longstanding partnership with China in the “peaceful exploration of space”.

“The mission reflects the ever-growing strategic partnership and deep-rooted friendship between the two nations, who continue to cooperate in advancing peaceful space exploration and harnessing its benefits for socioeconomic development,” said the Foreign Ministry.

The mission is part of a recent push in Pakistan to grow its space programme, which has sent three satellites into orbit this year, according to SUPARCO.

The two other satellites – EO-1 and KS-1 – are “fully operational in orbit”, reported Pakistan’s The News International newspaper.

It may take about two months to calibrate the H1 satellite’s systems before it is fully operational this year, according to a SUPARCO spokesperson quoted in Pakistani media.

The Indian city’s Maratha Mandir has been holding daily screenings of Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge since it released in 1995.

A theatre in Mumbai is celebrating 30 years of screening a much-loved Bollywood romance that has become India’s longest-running film.

On Monday, Maratha Mandir theatre in Mumbai, the financial capital of India, will mark three decades of daily screenings of Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (The Bravehearted Will Take the Bride), which shot actors Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol to superstardom.

The film, widely known to fans as DDLJ, redefined modern Hindi romance and continues to draw hundreds of cinemagoers to its morning screenings with its tale of young lovers bucking tradition since its release on October 20, 1995.

“I have seen it about 30 times … and I will continue watching it,” Mohammad Shakir, 60, told the AFP news agency as he bought a ticket for 40 rupees ($0.45).

Manoj Desai, the head of the cinema located near Bombay Central Station, told AFP that weekday crowds tend to be made up of university students and young couples.

“On Sundays, you will find around 500 people, even after 30 years,” said Desai.

Clash of values

The film, which far outstrips the five-year run of the 1975 action-thriller Sholay (Embers) at another Mumbai theatre, revolves around the contrast between the more liberal values of second-generation Indians overseas and the conservative values of their parents.

Desai said it was common for audiences to break into cheers and applause during the film’s climax, when the heroine runs alongside a moving train into her lover’s arms.

“This is the goosebump moment,” Desai said. “The father letting his daughter go, saying she won’t find a better partner to spend her life with.”

It is a message that continues to resonate with younger viewers, even those who were not born when it was released.

“In our generation today, we often see transactional relationships,” Omkar Saraf, 23, told AFP. “But in this film, the hero crosses all boundaries to win his love with no expectations.

“We have watched it on television, on our mobiles, but the big screen gives us goosebumps.”

‘Cultural monument’

Desai said one die-hard fan of the movie had been coming to screenings for 20 years, while for others, the film had played a part in their own love stories.

One couple watched it while dating, before inviting Desai to their wedding. “They went abroad for their honeymoon – and came back to watch the movie,” Desai said.

The film’s daily screenings were almost discontinued in 2015, but backlash from fans meant the decision was reversed, the Hindustan Times newspaper reported.

Film critic Baradwaj Rangan said the film had enduring appeal in a country still navigating the tensions between traditional and modern values.

“It represents a certain point in Indian culture, and that is why it is still loved,” Rangan said, adding that it “perfectly captured” the friction between two generations.

“The film has become a kind of cultural monument,” he said. “I think it is going to be playing forever.”

Oct. 17 (UPI) — Chinese President Xi Jinping has expelled nine of his top military generals from the People’s Liberation Army for what China says is corruption, including the country’s number two general.

Gen. He Weidong, one of the two vice-chairs of the Central Military Commission, was fired by Xi. He was the third in command of the PLA and a member of the Chinese politburo.

“The removal of He Weidong is one of the biggest shake-ups within the PLA in decades,” said Lyle Morris, an expert on the Chinese military at the Asia Society Policy Institute, the Financial Times reported. “He was on a fast track to become the next senior vice-chair of the [Central Military Commission], possibly replacing Zhang Youxia, and skipped a grade when he was elevated to the CMC during the 20th Party Congress.”

Another high-ranking official removed in the purge is Miao Hua, the army’s top political officer. He had been suspended in November 2024.

A statement from Xi said those removed are suspected of “grave official misconduct, involving exceptionally large sums of money. The nature of their offenses is extremely serious, and the impact is profoundly detrimental,” Newsweek reported.

Eight of the nine removed were members of the Central Committee, which is scheduled to meet next week to discuss the coming five-year development plan.

When Xi took over the party in 2012, he launched a sweeping corruption probe, and more than 4 million members have been investigated. The campaign accelerated in 2023 as it began focusing on the military and procurement.

Though the crackdown is popular in China, it has also allowed Xi to expel his rivals, Newsweek reported.

The Metropolitan Police said it is “actively” looking into media reports that Prince Andrew tried to obtain personal information about his accuser Virginia Giuffre through his police protection.

“We are aware of media reporting and are actively looking into the claims made,” the force said on Sunday.

It comes after Ms Giuffre’s brother called on King Charles III to strip Andrew of his “prince” title, following the announcement he would stop using his other titles.

Prince Andrew has not commented on the reports, but consistently denies all allegations against him. Buckingham Palace has been contacted for comment.

Ms Giuffre, who took her own life earlier this year, said she was among the girls and young women sexually exploited by convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and his wealthy circle.

She also claimed that she was forced to have sex with Andrew on three occasions, including when she was 17.

According to the Mail on Sunday, Andrew asked his police protection officer to investigate her just before the newspaper published a photo of Ms Giuffre’s first meeting with the prince in February 2011.

The paper alleged that he gave the officer her date of birth and confidential social security number.

On Friday, Andrew announced that he was voluntarily handing back his titles and giving up membership of the Order of the Garter – the oldest and most senior order of chivalry in Britain.

He will also cease to be the Duke of York, a title received from his mother, the late Queen Elizabeth II.