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Oct. 10 (UPI) — Israeli forces in Gaza began pulling back to pre-agreed positions Friday in line with the terms of the cease-fire and hostage release agreement requiring a partial withdrawal within 24 hours of the Israeli cabinet signing off on the deal.

The Israel Defense Forces posted a video on X of troops preparing to pull out and military vehicles moving under the cover of darkness.

“Southern Command in the midst of adjusting operational positions in Gaza,” it said, but warned that troops were still deployed in the area and would counter any threats that emerged.

IDF Radio said the IDF projected that its forces would have withdrawn to the agreed positions by noon local time.

The BBC said troops had started to pull out from the north-western areas of Gaza City while local residents in other locations reported similar maneuvers.

However, Israeli armor remained in place in locations from which forces were due to withdraw under the first phase of the plan, including the coastal road and parts of Khan Yunis in the south where Israeli air strikes were reported overnight.

Artillery and gunfire were also heard near the Netzarim corridor in central Gaza.

The cease-fire was supposed to take effect immediately after being approved by the Israeli government in the early hours of Friday, local time.

The three-phase pullout mandates IDF troops permanently withdraw to a so-called “yellow line” in U.S. President Donald Trump‘s peace plan that will leave Israel in control of about 53% of the Palestinian enclave within 24 hours of Israeli government approval of the deal, which came just before 2 a.m.

For its part, Hamas is required to hand back 48 hostages, 20 of whom are believed to be living, by noon on Monday, while at the same time Israel will release 1,700 Palestinians held in its prisons.

Flows of humanitarian aid was also due to recommence with all restrictions lifted immediately.

U.S. officials said the Pentagon was redeploying a force of as many as 200 troops from other Middle East missions to Israel to lead a multinational force to monitor the truce.

They stressed their presence would be in a coordinating role only and that there would be no U.S. boots on the ground in Gaza.

The International Committee of the Red Cross said it stood by ready to assist in the hostage-prisoner swap, including reuniting families with the remains of their loved ones, as it had done in previous deals over the past two years since the Oct. 7 attacks.

The NGO said in a news release that its teams were prepared to deliver and safely distribute lifesaving aid to those who needed it most in Gaza.

The United Nations said it was standing ready to get to work implementing a 60-day plan 60-day comprehensive plan to deliver critical aid, including hundreds of thousands tons of food, medicine and other supplies.

“Our plan, detailed and tested, is in place. Our supplies, 170,000 metric tons, are in place. And our team, courageous and expert and determined, are in place,” U.N. Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Tom Fletcher told a news conference in New York.

“We will aim to increase the pipeline of supplies to hundreds of trucks every day. We will scale up the provision of food across Gaza to reach 2.1 million people who need food aid and around 500,000 people who need nutrition.

Famine must be reversed in areas where it has taken hold and prevented in others. So we will be distributing in-kind rations. We’ll be supporting bakeries, community kitchens. We’ll be supporting herders and fishers in restoring their livelihoods,” said Fletcher, who also serves as the Office of Humanitarian Affairs’ emergency relief coordinator.

About 200,000 families would also receive cash payouts to use to shop at public markets to cover their basic food needs.

Meanwhile, Israel was preparing to welcome Trump, who was expected to travel to Jerusalem on Sunday to address the Knesset. Hostage families also want him to come and speak in Dizengoff Square in Tel Aviv, which has been unofficially dubbed “Hostage Square.”

Speaking in the Oval office on Thursday, Trump said that he hoped to be in Israel for when the hostages were released “on Monday or Tuesday.

However, Israeli media were reporting that Trump’s visit will be short, with the president scheduled to fly out of Israel again late Sunday.

Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud and Ibrahim al Khalili followed Palestinians making their way back to northern Gaza after a ceasefire deal was announced.

France beat Azerbaijan 3-0 on Friday to edge closer to qualifying for FIFA 2026 World Cup, but Kylian Mbappe injured.

Kylian Mbappe will miss Monday’s qualifier in Iceland, where France could book their ticket to the 2026 World Cup, after taking another knock to his sore right ankle, the French team confirmed.

Already suffering from a “small niggle” in his right ankle from playing for Real Madrid, Mbappe took two knocks during Friday’s 3-0 World Cup qualifying win over Azerbaijan in Paris, where he opened the scoring but was substituted before the end of the match.

The France captain’s absence adds to the long list of forwards unavailable for October’s World Cup qualifiers, which includes Ousmane Dembele, Desire Doue, Marcus Thuram and Bradley Barcola.

Mbappe “will not be able to play Monday against Iceland”, a French Football Federation (FFF) statement read.

After returning to the Clairefontaine training ground on Friday night, “the French team captain spoke with (coach) Didier Deschamps,” who “acknowledged his absence”.

Mbappe “has been released to his club (Real Madrid) and will not be replaced”, the FFF added.

The French superstar had already been rested for training with Les Bleus during the week with the same issue.

Mbappe scored on the stroke of half-time and was then struck by a tackle from Rustam Ahmedzade. He took another knock to the same ankle late in the game and was replaced by Florian Thauvin.

“He has a sore ankle and he took a knock there. He preferred to come off; the pain was quite significant,” Deschamps said after the French victory.

Adrien Rabiot and the substitute Thauvin were also on the scoresheet as Deschamps’s men remain unbeaten after three games and top of Group D.

Les Bleus will book their passage to the United States, Canada and Mexico next year if they win in Iceland on Monday and Ukraine fail to beat Azerbaijan.

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Ashes on summit

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SEOUL, Oct. 11 (UPI) — North Korea showed off its new Hwasong-20 intercontinental ballistic missile at a military parade, state-run media reported on Saturday, touting it as the North’s “most powerful nuclear strategic weapon.”

The parade, held on Friday night at Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang, was attended by foreign dignitaries including Chinese Premier Li Qiang, Vietnamese Communist Party chief To Lam and Russian ex-President Dmitry Medvedev, the official Korean Central News Agency reported.

The event marked the 80th anniversary of the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea and highlighted the North’s recent diplomatic outreach efforts as well as its growing military strength.

After a fireworks show and 21-gun salute, thousands of marching troops paraded past the grandstand, followed by a procession of military hardware, according to KCNA.

“The spectators broke into the most enthusiastic cheers when the column of Hwasongpho-20 ICBMs, the most powerful nuclear strategic weapon system of the DPRK, entered the square,” the KCNA report said.

The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea is the official name of North Korea.

Also on display were medium- and long-range strategic missiles, drone launch vehicles, Chonma-20 battle tanks, 155mm howitzers and 600mm multiple rocket launchers, KCNA said.

In his remarks, Kim praised the “ideological and spiritual perfection” of North Korea’s military and called for its continued development.

“Our army should continue to grow into an invincible entity that destroys all threats approaching our range of self-defense,” he said. “It should steadily strengthen itself into elite armed forces which win victory after victory.”

Analysts had been anticipating the unveiling of the Hwasong-20 ICBM at Friday’s parade. Last month, Kim oversaw the final test of a new solid-fuel engine made with composite carbon fiber materials that he said would be used for the new ICBM.

Missiles using solid-fuel propellants have long been on Kim’s wish list of weapons, as they can be transported and launched more quickly than liquid-fuel models. North Korea has unveiled several long-range missiles that analysts believe are capable of reaching the continental United States.

It remains to be seen whether Pyongyang has the atmospheric re-entry vehicle technology to successfully deliver a nuclear payload, however.

Images released by KCNA showed Kim flanked by Chinese Premier Li and Vietnam’s To Lam, with Medvedev next to Lam. The parade comes as the isolated regime is making a renewed diplomatic push onto the international stage.

Last month, Kim traveled to Beijing to attend a military parade commemorating the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, where he stood shoulder to shoulder with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping.

During that visit, Kim held his first summit with Xi in six years, as ties between the longtime allies show signs of warming after a suspected rift over Pyongyang’s growing military alignment with Moscow.

On Thursday, Kim held one-on-one talks with Vietnam’s Lam and China’s Li, considered to be the second-in-command to Xi, according to KCNA.

At an event held on the eve of the anniversary, Kim vowed to transform North Korea into a “more affluent and beautiful land” and a “socialist paradise.”

Satellite imagery shows several GJ-11 Sharp Sword stealthy flying-wing uncrewed combat air vehicles (UCAV) were deployed to a very active dual-use military-civilian airport in western China for weeks between August and September. This would be in line with an operational test and might point to the GJ-11 having reached a semi-operational state. The Sharp Sword is a prime example of China’s heavy investment in flying-wing uncrewed aircraft, which stands in ever more stark contrast to the U.S. military’s eschewing of such designs, at least publicly.

Imagery in Planet Labs’ online archive database shows three GJ-11s at Shigatse Air Base, also known as Shigatse Peace Airport, in China’s Tibet Autonomous Region, from August 6 through September 5. The Sharp Sword has been in development for more than a decade and is understood to be designed to at least perform penetrating air-to-surface strike and intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) missions. It also has the potential for use in air-to-air combat as an electronic warfare platform.

At least two of the drones seen in the images of Shigatse have overall gray paint schemes, as is commonly seen on other Chinese crewed and uncrewed military aircraft. At least one additional example is seen with a red/brown colored protective covering of some kind. A Planet Labs image of Shigatse taken on September 10, seen below, shows Flanker-type fighters with similar covers.

Though its location is remote, Shigatse occupies a strategic position along China’s southwestern flank with India. It is situated just around 90 miles northeast of the boundary with India’s Sikkim state, which is one of a number of border areas between the two countries that have seen sometimes violent skirmishes. In the past five years or so, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has been steadily working to expand its ability to project airpower from multiple bases in the Tibet and Xinjiang Autonomous Regions, as you can read more about here.

Shigatse’s main runway is one of the longest in the world, stretching approximately 16,404 feet (5,000 meters) in length. An additional 9,840-foot (3,000-meter) auxiliary runway, with seven large aircraft parking spots attached to it, was also completed at the facility back in 2017. An expanded apron for military aircraft was also subsequently constructed at the eastern end of the base. Work to further enlarge that apron, and to build what looks to be at least five hangars and other supporting infrastructure adjacent to it, has been underway for around a year now.

In line with all this, Shigatse has a significant and active PLA presence. In terms of crewed aircraft, there is a continuous fighter presence at the base, which has included Flanker-type and J-10s over the years. Satellite imagery shows that other fixed-wing military aircraft, including airborne early warning and control planes, as well as helicopters, operate from there, as well.

Shigatse is also a very well-established hub for drone operations, with various types, including members of the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation’s (CASC) Rainbow family, having been continuously based there for years now. Shigatse was notably the first known operating location for the high-flying WZ-7 Soaring Dragon reconnaissance drone. WZ-7s, which also have a constant presence at the facility, are used to collect intelligence along the border with India.

The nature of the PLA’s activity at Shigatse strongly points at least to the GJ-11s having been sent there for some type of operational testing. Prior to this, Sharp Swords had been primarily spotted at test facilities, such as the sprawling and secretive base at Malan in Xinjiang province. The drones have been flying daily at Malan for more than a year now. Mockups have also been spotted at Chinese naval test and training facilities, as well as at parades.

Flying from Shigatse would offer a real-world opportunity to explore and refine tactics, techniques, and procedures for employing the drones operationally, as well as just how they might fit into existing force structures. The base, which lies at an elevation of nearly 12,410 feet (3,782 meters), also offers an especially high-altitude testing location, as well as one that is in proximity to an area of active tension with India and that country’s air defense overlay.

Having multiple Sharp Swords at the facility would also allow for demonstrations of their ability to operate cooperatively, as well as alongside crewed platforms, and potentially do so with a high degree of autonomy. China’s J-20 stealth fighter is regularly presented as a likely aerial companion to the GJ-11. TWZ has been highlighting for years how the two-seat variant of the J-20 would be especially well suited to the airborne drone controller role.

Un passage dans un reportage de CCTV-7 montre la possible collaboration entre un J-20 biplace et des #drones GJ-11 à faible observabilité.

La représentativité est à confirmer. pic.twitter.com/9Xy8Q8KQOO

— East Pendulum (@HenriKenhmann) October 12, 2022

The GJ-11 has already been in development for more than a decade, with a prototype with a substantially less stealthy design having first flown in 2013. A mockup with a drastically refined low-observable (stealthy) configuration broke cover at a parade in Beijing in 2019. Continued work on Sharp Sword now also includes a naval variant or derivative capable of operating from aircraft carriers and big deck amphibious assault ships, which has been referred to unofficially at times as the GJ-11H, GJ-11J, or GJ-21. Just over a year ago, TWZ reported in detail on clear evidence that the development of the GJ-11, overall, was accelerating, pointing to the drone getting increasingly closer to an operational state, at least in its land-based form.

Via ACuriousPLAFan/SDF: 😮

Supposedly not a recent image, but still the carrier mock-up and test facility at Wuhan has gained some new aircraft: Visible now are clearly mock-ups of J-15, J-35, KJ-600 and a GJ-11H on the flight deck.

(Image via @伏尔戈星图 from Weibo) pic.twitter.com/UL6uk81zh4

— @Rupprecht_A (@RupprechtDeino) December 19, 2023

As noted, the GJ-11 is just one example of the PLA’s larger pursuit of multiple types of stealthy flying-wing drones for use as UCAVs and in other roles, especially high-altitude, long-endurance ISR missions. Three previously unseen flying-wing designs have emerged in China just this year. This includes the appearance of two particularly large types at Malan, which TWZ was first to report on in both cases. We had assessed years ago that an explosion of investment in flying-wing drones in China was likely to come, and that academic institutions tied to the country’s weapons development ecosystem would play a key role. The Chinese aviation industry has also been surging ahead, in general, in the development of new advanced crewed and uncrewed designs.

Chinese flying-wing UCAV developments, in particular, reflect something of a trend globally, with Russia, India, Turkey, and France also publicly pursuing this kind of capability to varying degrees. The U.S. military is pointedly absent from this space, at least that we know, despite decades of development work that looked for a time to be on the cusp of yielding operational platforms before various programs were abandoned. You can read more about that history in extensive detail in this past TWZ feature.

When it comes to China’s GJ-11, the imagery of Shigatse from August and September offers new signs that these drones are getting close to at least a limited operational state, if they haven’t already reached that milestone.

Contact the author: [email protected]

African island nation decides its future as Wavel Ramkalawan seeks a second term against Patrick Herminie.

Voters in Seychelles have been casting their ballots in a tightly fought presidential run-off between incumbent Wavel Ramkalawan and opposition leader Patrick Herminie.

Polls opened in the African island nation on Saturday, with results expected on Sunday.

The election will determine whether Ramkalawan of the governing Linyon Demokratik Seselwa party secures a second five-year term or Herminie’s United Seychelles party returns to power after losing control five years ago.

The United Seychelles party, led by Herminie, was the governing party between 1977 and 2022, before losing power.

It regained ground in last month’s parliamentary elections, winning 15 of 26 seats.

Neither candidate won outright in the first round two weeks ago.

Herminie led with 48.8 percent of the vote compared with Ramkalawan’s 46.4 percent, forcing a final round run-off in the nation of 120,000 people.

Early voting began on Thursday at special locations including elderly care homes, schools and several outer islands. Main polling stations opened after 7am (03:00 GMT) on Saturday for the more than 77,000 registered voters.

Several contentious issues have dominated this electoral cycle.

A controversial land lease has emerged as a central campaign flashpoint, with the government granting a Qatari company a 70-year agreement to build a luxury resort on Assumption Island for $20m.

Environmental groups filed a legal challenge to halt the project, arguing it threatens a fragile ecosystem near the UNESCO-protected Aldabra atoll, home to 400 unique species.

Herminie has pledged to cancel the hotel development if elected, while also promising to lower the retirement age and reduce public transport costs. Ramkalawan, the incumbent, has defended the Qatar deal as a necessary investment for the tourism-dependent economy.

Drug addiction has also dominated voter concerns. The country faces one of the world’s highest rates of heroin use, with an estimated 10 percent of working-age residents struggling with addiction. Critics say both candidates failed to adequately address the crisis during their time in government.

Ramkalawan, a former Anglican priest, became the first opposition leader to win the presidency in 2020, ending United Seychelles’ 43-year hold on power. His opponent Herminie served as parliamentary speaker and previously chaired the national drug prevention agency.

The victor will lead Africa’s smallest and wealthiest nation in per capita terms through mounting challenges including climate vulnerability and protecting sovereignty amid competing international interests.

Tens of thousands of forcibly displaced Palestinians are making their way back to devastated areas in northern Gaza as Israeli forces stop operations as agreed under phase one of the ceasefire plan with Hamas, and partially withdraw.

Gaza’s al-Rashid Street, which has witnessed massive population movements northward and southward over recent months as Palestinians fled Israeli attacks, is once again witnessing a tide of humanity on the move.

Now, with the ceasefire in effect and Israeli forces withdrawn from the Netzarim Corridor that previously divided the road, tens of thousands of Palestinians are journeying north – hoping this time to return permanently.

“Once again [displaced Palestinians] are taking the same exact road, the only lifeline for Palestinians now to go back to their homes in Gaza and the northern part [of the enclave],” reported Al Jazeera correspondent Hani Mahmoud from the central Gaza coastal highway.

Mahmoud noted that the critical highway has been extensively damaged by Israeli bulldozers, creating a difficult passage for those carrying their belongings.

Al Jazeera’s Tareq Abu Azzoum, reporting from Al Nuseirat, Gaza, said: “Since this morning, we have seen families walking towards Gaza City. We saw children, women, elderly, cars, vans, donkey carts loaded with furniture. Families removed their makeshift tents to take and reset them over the ruins of their destroyed homes in Gaza City.”

These residents were originally forced to abandon Gaza City due to bombardment, only to find overcrowded conditions in central and southern Gaza upon arrival.

“While this return marks a historic moment, it must be accompanied by substantive measures to address the humanitarian crisis,” Abu Azzoum added.

Most returnees are discovering barely any intact buildings in Gaza City following Israel’s relentless bombardment and ground invasion there. There is now an urgent need for temporary shelters and mobile housing units for these returning families.

Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza has killed at least 67,211 people and wounded 169,961 since October 2023. A total of 1,139 people were killed in southern Israel during the October 7, 2023, attacks and about 200 were taken captive.

Oct. 11 (UPI) — On this date in history:

In 1811, the first steam-powered ferry in the world, the Juliana, started its run between New York City and Hoboken, N.J.

In 1868, Thomas Alva Edison filed papers for his first invention: an electrical vote recorder to rapidly tabulate floor votes in the U.S. Congress. Edison’s device was issued U.S. Patent 90,646 on June 1, 1869. Members of Congress rejected the apparatus and it was never utilized.

In 1906, the San Francisco Board of Education banned Japanese-American students from attending public schools, ordering that instead they were to be taught in racially segregated schools. A compromise was reached in February 1907, allowing the students back into the schools with the Japanese government accepting new immigration restrictions for its citizens wishing to travel to the United States.

In 1910, President Theodore Roosevelt became the first U.S. president to take flight in an airplane. Piloted by Arch Hoxsey, Roosevelt would stay aloft for 4 minutes in a Wright brothers-built plane at Kinloch Field in St. Louis, Mo.

In 1947, the United States agreed to the United Nations Partition Plan of Palestine, which recommended the creation of independent Arab and Jewish States with the city of Jerusalem placed under direct trusteeship of the United Nations. The resolution was adopted by the General Assembly on Nov. 29, 1947, though a civil war, which would last nearly six months, erupted the next day between Arabs and Jews, resulting in the partition plan failing to be implemented.

File Photo by Stephen Shaver/UPI

In 1950, the Federal Communications Commission gave CBS the first license to broadcast color television.

In 1975, Saturday Night Live premiered on NBC with George Carlin as host and musicians Janis Ian and Billy Preston on the bill.

In 1984, Kathryn Sullivan, flying into orbit aboard the space shuttle Challenger, became the first American woman to walk in space.

In 1986, President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev met in Reykjavik, Iceland, to discuss arms control and human rights. While the talks collapsed at the last minute, work would continue, resulting in the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty between the two nations.

In 2000, Congress designated Cuyahoga Valley National Recreation Area as a national park, making it the first national recreation area to receive the upgrade in the United States.

In 2002, the Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded the Nobel Peace Prize to former U.S. President Jimmy Carter “for his decades of untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights, and to promote economic and social development.”

In 2002, Congress gave U.S. President George W. Bush its backing for using military force against Iraq.

Surrounded by members of Congress, President George W. Bush signs the congressional resolution authorizing U.S. use of force against Iraq if needed, during a ceremony in the East Room of the White House on October 16, 2002. File Photo by Chris Corder/UPI

In 2008, the U.S. State Department removed North Korea from its list of state sponsors of terrorism. In return, North Korea agreed to give international inspectors access to its nuclear facilities and to continue disabling its plutonium processing project.

In 2013, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons won the Nobel Peace Prize. The United Nations-backed OPCW, which has headquarters in The Hague, Netherlands, was overseeing the destruction of Syria’s chemical weapons stockpile at the time it won the prize.

In 2024, the Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded the Nobel Peace Prize to Nihon Hidankyo, an organization made up of atomic bomb survivors in Japan for their actions opposing the use of nuclear weapons.

File Photo by Paul Treadway/UPI

Flooding set off by heavy rainfall in Mexico has left at least 28 people dead and more missing, and has caused landslides, damaged homes and highways, according to local authorities.

Downpours in the affected areas in the central and southeastern parts of the country led to overflowing rivers and road collapses that cut off power in some municipalities, the national coordinator for civil defence, Laura Velazquez, said on Friday.

Civil defence authorities reported intense rainfall in 31 of 32 states, with the worst-affected areas being Veracruz in the east, Queretaro and Hidalgo in the centre, and the north-central state of San Luis Potosi.

One of the hardest hit areas was the central state of Hidalgo, where 16 deaths have been reported, according to state Interior Secretary Guillermo Olivares Reyna.

At least 1,000 homes, 59 hospitals and clinics, and 308 schools have suffered damage in the state because of landslides and overflooding rivers.

In neighbouring Puebla state, nine people died and 13 were missing. According to the state governor, some 80,000 people were affected by the heavy rains, while a gas pipeline was ruptured by a landslide.

In the Gulf coast state of Veracruz, two people died, including a police officer, according to its state governor. Some 5,000 homes were damaged and the navy evacuated nearly 900 people to shelters.

Earlier, authorities in the central state of Queretaro confirmed that the child had died after being caught in a landslide.

The heavy rainfall also caused power outages affecting more than 320,000 users and damage to almost 1,000 kilometres (621 miles) of roads in six states, authorities said.

Tras las fuertes lluvias, la Secretaría de Marina (@SEMAR_mx ) desplegó tres mil 300 elementos en Puebla, Veracruz y San Luis Potosí.

También puso a disposición 18 embarcaciones, seis helicópteros, tres plantas potabilizadoras, tres aviones, tres cocinetas y cuatro mil… pic.twitter.com/O7ES5XBoKC

— Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo (@Claudiashein) October 11, 2025

Translation: Following the heavy rains, the Secretariat of the Navy (@SEMAR_mx ) deployed 300 personnel in Puebla, Veracruz, and San Luis Potosí. It also made available 18 vessels, six helicopters, three water purification plants, three aircraft, three mobile kitchens, and 4,000 food baskets ready to be distributed.

“We are working to support the population, open roads and restore electrical services,” President Claudia Sheinbaum said after a meeting with local officials and cabinet members. She shared photos of emergency responders carrying supplies as they waded knee-deep in flooded streets.

The country has deployed more than 8,700 military personnel to help monitor, evacuate and clean up affected areas.

Mexico has been hit by particularly heavy rains throughout 2025, with a rainfall record set in the capital Mexico City.

Tropical Storm Raymond is currently off the country’s Pacific coast, dumping heavy rains as it moves northward. It is projected to make landfall on Mexican territory until Sunday. Raymond was announced midday on Thursday by the United States National Hurricane Center, making it the third system this week off the western coast of Mexico. It joined Tropical Storm Priscilla and post-tropical cyclone Octave, which threatened heavy rain and flooding in their paths.

Powerful waves crashed into Mexico’s Pacific coast as Hurricane Priscilla brought flooding along Puerto Vallarta’s waterfront. pic.twitter.com/P3s5lsiz9r

— AccuWeather (@accuweather) October 10, 2025

Meteorologists have warned that the Pacific Ocean cooling pattern called La Nina, which can warp weather worldwide and turbocharge hurricanes, has returned.

It may be too late in the hurricane season to impact tropical weather in the Atlantic, but this La Nina may have other impacts, from heavy rains to drought across the globe.

Half of the population is projected to experience critical food shortages by mid-2026 as armed groups block aid.

More than half of Haiti’s population is experiencing critical levels of hunger as armed groups tighten their grip across the Caribbean nation and the ravaged economy continues its downward spiral.

A report released on Friday by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) found that some 5.7 million Haitians – of a population of roughly 11 million – are facing severe food shortages. The crisis threatens to worsen as gang violence displaces families, destroys agricultural production, and prevents aid from reaching those desperately in need.

The assessment shows 1.9 million people are already at emergency hunger levels, marked by severe food gaps and dangerous rates of malnutrition. Another 3.8 million face crisis-level food insecurity.

The situation is expected to deteriorate further, with nearly six million people projected to face acute hunger by mid-2026 as Haiti enters its lean agricultural season.

Haiti’s government announced plans on Friday to establish a Food and Nutrition Security Office to coordinate relief efforts. Louis Gerald Gilles, a member of the transitional presidential council, said authorities would mobilise resources quickly to reach those most affected.

But the response faces enormous obstacles. Armed groups now control an estimated 90 percent of Port-au-Prince, the capital, and have expanded into agricultural regions in recent months.

Violence has forced 1.3 million people from their homes – a 24 percent increase since December – with many sheltering in overcrowded temporary sites lacking basic services.

Farmers who remain on their land must negotiate with gangs for access and surrender portions of their harvests. Small businesses have shuttered, eliminating income sources for countless families. Even when crops reach normal yields, produce cannot reach Port-au-Prince because gangs block the main roads.

The economic devastation compounds the crisis. Haiti has recorded six consecutive years of recession, while food prices jumped 33 percent last July compared with the previous year.

The deepening emergency affects children with particular severity. A separate report this week found 680,000 children displaced by violence – nearly double previous figures – with more than 1,000 schools forced to close and hundreds of minors recruited by armed groups.

The international community authorised a new 5,550-member “gang suppression force” at the United Nations earlier this month, replacing a smaller mission that struggled with funding shortages.

But the security situation remains volatile. On Thursday, heavy gunfire erupted when government officials attempted to meet at the National Palace in downtown Port-au-Prince, forcing a hasty evacuation from an area long controlled by gangs.

Martine Villeneuve, Haiti director at Action Against Hunger, warned that while some improvements have been made, progress remains fragile without long-term investment to address the crisis’s root causes.

After two years of bombardment and displacement, Gaza’s children speak of fear, loss and relief as the ceasefire takes hold. Many of them remain displaced, clinging to hope of returning home and rebuilding their lives.

Oct. 10 (UPI) — In advance Monday’s holiday, the White House this week released a statement celebrating Columbus Day and singing the praises of the maligned explorer.

“This Columbus Day, we honor his life with reverence and gratitude, and we pledge to reclaim his extraordinary legacy of faith, courage, perseverance, and virtue from the left-wing arsonists who have sought to destroy his name and dishonor his memory,” the release said. Columbus Day is celebrated Monday.

In recent years, activists have called for Columbus Day to be renamed Indigenous People’s Day. About 10 states have officially recognized the day, sometimes with different names, such as American Indian Heritage Day or Native Americans’ Day.

Though he has been widely considered the person who discovered America, he never set foot on North American land. The Oct. 12 holiday actually commemorates the day he landed in the Bahamas. Also, he couldn’t discover a land that was already inhabited.

Norse explorer Leif Eriksson is the first European believed to have sailed to North America. He landed in Canada 500 years earlier than Columbus’ voyage.

Though the White House press release doesn’t say the Italian explorer landed in America, it calls Columbus a “true American hero.”

“Outrageously, in recent years, Christopher Columbus has been a prime target of a vicious and merciless campaign to erase our history, slander our heroes, and attack our heritage,” the release said. “Before our very eyes, left-wing radicals toppled his statues, vandalized his monuments, tarnished his character, and sought to exile him from our public spaces. Under my leadership, those days are finally over — and our Nation will now abide by a simple truth: Christopher Columbus was a true American hero, and every citizen is eternally indebted to his relentless determination.”

The reality is that Columbus enslaved native peoples, and he brutally attacked and killed those who tried to revolt. He took the native Taino “Indians” in the Caribbean back to Spain and sold them into slavery. To prevent rebellion, he would have the bodies of those he killed paraded through the streets of what is now the Dominican Republic.

“They were very well built, with very handsome bodies and very good faces,” Columbus wrote in his diary. “They do not carry arms or know them. … They should be good servants.”

Also, because the native population was not immune to European diseases, many died of illnesses like smallpox. When Columbus arrived on the island of Hispaniola (now Dominican Republic and Haiti) there were about 250,000 native people there. By 1517, only about 14,000 were left.

“This Columbus Day, more than 500 years since Columbus arrived in the New World, we follow his example, we echo his resolve, and we offer our gratitude for his life of valor and grit,” the White House’s release said. “Above all, we commit to restoring a Nation that once again dares to tame the unknown, honors our rich cultural inheritance, and offers rightful praise to our Creator above.”

The Spanish crown eventually stripped Columbus of his governorship of Hispaniola when it learned of his abuses. He admitted to King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella that the accusations were true.

Of course, injury could definitively intervene in the destination of the Golden Boot, but there are two reasons why Haaland is such a strong favourite for the award so early.

First, the number of goals he has already scored – and, just as importantly, the number and quality of chances he is getting. And second, the slow start his usual rivals for the prize have made.

A player’s expected goals number (xG) signifies how many goals a Premier League player has historically scored from the number and quality of chances he has had.

It is not a number randomly picked by statistics boffins, but by Premier League history.

And if we look at players’ xG in the Premier League so far this season from normal play, the Norway forward is getting so many more good opportunities to score than anyone else.

Indeed, even if Haaland were no better at finishing chances than anyone else in the league, he would still have scored more than twice as many goals as everyone else.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday offered his latest take on the prospect of Ukraine receiving Tomahawk Land Attack cruise missiles (TLAMs) from the United States. During a press conference, the Russian leader also hinted that his country would soon introduce a new nuclear weapon.

Asked his response to whether the U.S. is using the provision of Tomahawks to Ukraine as a bargaining chip in the sputtering peace talks, the Russian leader offered a terse answer.

“Our response is strengthening the air defense system of the Russian Federation,” Putin explained. He offered no further details. After nearly four years of war and Ukraine’s expanded long-range attacks deep inside the country, drastically broadening the demand for counter-air systems, Russia’s air defenses are already stretched very thin.

Putin’s response today was far less vitriolic than what he said earlier in the week about these weapons.

“This will lead to the destruction of our relations, or at least the positive trends that have emerged in these relations,” Putin said in a video clip released on Sunday by Russian state television reporter Pavel Zarubin.

Putin on Friday seemingly changed his tone. He suggested that the negotiations to end the war in Ukraine between him and Trump that took place during their Alaska meeting in August are indeed ongoing.

“Well, you see, we did not reveal what exactly was discussed during the Anchorage meeting,” Putin stated. “We said that there is a general understanding from the United States and an understanding of the Russian side about where we can move and what can be done to resolve this conflict through peaceful means, and those are not simple issues.”

The Russian leader said he and Trump both agreed to “think about this issue” with their respective government officials.

“This is a complicated set of questions that requires a thorough review, but we’re still grounded in that discussion that took place in Anchorage,” Putin explained. “We don’t change anything here, and we still believe there is work to be done on all other sides, but we’re still within the framework of the agreements reached in Alaska.”

Trump is mulling allowing Kyiv to have TLAMs out of frustration with Russia’s continued attacks on Ukraine and Putin’s unwillingness to agree to a ceasefire. Earlier this week, Trump fanned speculation about this by saying he “sort of made a decision” about selling some to NATO countries to distribute to Ukraine.

“Where they are sending them, I guess I will have to ask that question,” Trump added. “I would ask some questions. I am not looking to see an escalation.”

We reached out to the White House for comment about Putin’s latest statement as well as the status of the Tomahawk decision and will update this story with any pertinent response.

When it comes to escalation, Russian media earlier this week reported a suggestion that missiles be sent to Cuba should Ukraine get TLAMs. It comes in the wake of this week’s ratification of a military cooperation treaty between Moscow and Havana.

A “military expert” told the official Russian news agency TASS that Russia should consider sending Iskander operational-tactical missile systems and the Oreshnik medium-range ballistic missile systems to Cuba.

“This is about a symmetrical response to the potential supply of Tomahawks,” said Alexander Stepanov, a military expert with the Institute of Law and National Security at the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration. “The ratified agreement maximally expands our military cooperation and allows, within the framework of bilateral interaction and in coordination with the government of the Republic of Cuba, to deploy virtually any offensive systems on the island’s territory.”

We are awaiting a response to Stepanov’s suggestion from the State Department.

The prospect of Ukraine getting its hands on the Tomahawk, which can strike targets at a range of almost 1,000 miles, carrying a 1,000-pound unitary warhead, has caused great jubilation in Kyiv, consternation in Moscow and raises real questions about how it would work. Ukraine does not possess the surface vessels, submarines or ground-based systems that can fire them.

There are multiple launcher options for ground-based Tomahawks now. These include four-round containerized launch systems derived from the Mk 41 Vertical Launch System that Lockheed Martin has developed for the U.S. Army and U.S. Navy. The U.S. Marine Corps had been in the process of acquiring single-cell Mk 41-derived launchers mounted on uncrewed versions of the 4×4 Joint Light Tactical Vehicle, but announced plans to cancel that program earlier this year. Lockheed Martin has also at least shown models of a two-cell Mk 41-based ground launcher in the past, as well.

While Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has frequently requested TLAMs, Kyiv is producing its own long-range missiles. 

In August, Ukraine unveiled a new ground-launched cruise missile, called Flamingo, which reportedly has a range of 1,864 miles (3,000 kilometers) and a warhead weighing 2,535 pounds (1,150 kilograms).

Earlier this week, Ukraine showcased a new version of its Neptune cruise missile, which appears to have added fuel tank ‘bulges’ for increased range; however, how far the missile can reach and with what kind of payload is unclear.

Zelensky claimed that both weapons have been used in tandem on unspecified Russian targets.

“Over the past week — I won’t specify in what quantity — our pair of Neptune and Flamingo missiles was used,” he said. “The corresponding results can be analyzed independently. We’re not saying it’s a mass deployment of this pair. We’re simply saying there has been use, and there are the first tangible results from this weapon of ours.”

While Zelensky offered no details, images emerged on social media claiming to be the remains of a Flamingo.

Oct. 10 (UPI) — The Trump administration has canceled the proposed Esmeralda 7 Solar Project in Nevada that would have been among the world’s largest solar power facilities.

Officials with the Bureau of Land Management on Thursday announced an environmental impact review of the proposed renewable energy facility has been canceled, which in turn cancels the project, Politico reported.

The canceled project would have built seven solar power-generation projects within the Esmeralda site that would have occupied 118,000 acres of land in Nevada’s Esmeralda County and about 30 miles west of Tonopah and 270 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

The project would have generated up to 6.2 gigawatts of energy over its service life, which is enough energy to power up to 2 million homes, according to Heatmap.

The proposed solar power project generally enjoyed smooth sailing through the Biden administration and would have included the NextEra Energy utility firm and Invenergy among its developers, The New York Times reported.

Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo, a Republican, in August expressed his concerns that the solar power project was being delayed or canceled unnecessarily in a letter to Interior Secretary Doug Burgum.

Lombardo said the project’s completion would help Nevada to better support the nation’s energy needs for mining projects and data centers, according to The New York Times.

President Donald Trump previously criticized solar- and wind-power projects as insufficient and costly compared to natural gas and coal power-generation facilities.

Since Trump took office in January, the Interior Department has added new review requirements for wind and solar projects, which have slowed their development and have stopped some from moving forward.

The Interior Department also has begun investigating bird deaths and other impacts on wildlife and plant life by large solar and wind projects.

While the Esmeralda 7 project appears to be canceled, another Nevada solar power project called Dodge Flat II is still in progress, according to the BLM.

United States President Donald Trump has unveiled a second deal with a major pharmaceutical company to offer lower-cost prescription drugs direct to American consumers.

This time, the agreement concerned AstraZeneca, a multinational based in the United Kingdom.

Trump hosted the company’s chief executive, Pascal Soriot, in the Oval Office on Friday to publicly cement the deal, which he described as “another historic achievement in our quest to lower drug prices for all Americans”.

“Americans can expect discounts, and as I said, it could be, in many cases, way over a hundred percent,” Trump said.

As in previous press appearances, he pledged US consumers would see impossible discounts on popular medications.

Inhalers to treat asthma, for example, would be discounted by 654 percent, Trump said, calling the device a “drug that’s hot, very hot”. He also reiterated past claims that some medications could see “a thousand percent reduction”.

Trump has long pushed to reduce prescription drug costs to what he has billed as “most-favoured nations prices”.

That would bring prices down to the same level as in other developed countries, though Trump, with typical hyperbole, has said the policy would equate to “the  lowest price anywhere in the world”.

AstraZeneca is the second major pharmaceutical company after Pfizer to strike such a bargain. Last month, Pfizer announced a “voluntary agreement” to price its products “at parity with other key developed markets”.

Like AstraZeneca, it also agreed to participate in an online, direct-to-consumer marketplace the Trump administration plans to launch, called TrumpRx.

But in a news release on its website, Pfizer made clear that the agreement would help it dodge the high tariffs that Trump threatened against overseas pharmaceutical manufacturers.

“We now have the certainty and stability we need on two critical fronts, tariffs and pricing, that have suppressed the industry’s valuations to historic lows,” Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said.

At Friday’s Oval Office ceremony, officials like Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr openly celebrated the power Trump had wielded through his tariff threats.

“ The president saw something that we didn’t see, which is we had leverage, and that came through Howard [Lutnick] and the tariffs,” Kennedy said, giving a nod to Trump’s commerce secretary. “We had extraordinary leverage to craft these deals.”

The deals with both AstraZeneca and Pfizer came after Trump threatened in September to impose a 100-percent tariff on pharmaceutical companies unless they started to build manufacturing plants in the US.

“There will, therefore, be no Tariff on these Pharmaceutical Products if construction has started,” Trump wrote on his platform, Truth Social.

Those tariffs were slated to come into effect on October 1. But Pfizer unveiled its deal with the Trump administration on September 30, and the tariffs were subsequently postponed.

In Friday’s Oval Office appearance, Soriot acknowledged that, like Pfizer, he had negotiated a delay for any tariffs against AstraZeneca. In exchange, he pledged to increase US investments to $50bn by 2030.

“I appreciate very much Secretary Lutnick granting us a three-year tariff exemption to localise the remainder of our products,” Soriot said. “Most of our products are locally manufactured, but we need to transfer the remaining part to this country.”

Just one day earlier, AstraZeneca had revealed it would construct a “multi-billion-dollar drug substance manufacturing centre” in Virginia, with a focus on chronic diseases, a top priority for the Trump administration.

Trump himself touted his tariff threat as the impetus for the recent string of drug deals. When asked by a reporter if he could have brought the pharmaceutical companies to the negotiating table any other way, Trump was blunt.

“ I would never have been able to bring him,” he replied, with a gesture to Soriot. “ Now, I’m not sure that Pascal would like to say, but behind the scenes, he did say tariffs were a big reason he came here.”

Since returning for a second term as president, the Republican leader has relied heavily on tariffs – and the threats of tariffs – as a cudgel to bring foreign governments and businesses in line with his administration’s priorities.

He has called the term “tariff” the “most beautiful word” in the dictionary and repeatedly labelled the dates he unveiled such import taxes as “Liberation Day”.

But earlier this year, it was unclear if his sabre-rattling would pay dividends. In May, for instance, Trump issued an executive action calling on his government to take “all necessary and appropriate action” to penalise countries whose policies he understood as driving up US drug costs.

He also called on Secretary Kennedy to lay the groundwork for “direct-to-consumer” purchasing programmes where pharmaceutical companies could sell their products at a discount.

Trump, however, lacked a legal mechanism to force participation in such a programme.

In July, he upped the pressure, sending letters to major pharmaceutical manufacturers. The letters warned the drug-makers to bring down prices, or else the government would “deploy every tool in our arsenal” to end the “abusive drug pricing practices”.

He also openly mused that month about hiking tariffs on imported medications.

“We’ll be announcing something very soon on pharmaceuticals,” Trump told a July cabinet meeting. “We’re going to give people about a year, a year and a half, to come in, and after that, they’re going to be tariffed if they have to bring the pharmaceuticals into the country, the drugs.”

“They’re going to be tariffed at a very, very high rate, like 200 percent,” he added.

The “most-favoured nation” pricing scheme is an idea that Trump tried but failed to initiate during his first term as president, from 2017 to 2021.

How that project might shape up in his second term remains to be seen. The TrumpRx website – which the president insists he did not name himself – has yet to offer any services.

Those are expected in 2026.

The US president told reporters that the bodies of Israelis who died in captivity in Gaza are ‘being unearthed’.

Israelis held in Gaza by Hamas and other armed groups are slated to “come back” on Monday, United States President Donald Trump said, with 20 living captives and the bodies of 28 others who died in captivity due to be handed over as part of the US-backed ceasefire deal.

Speaking to reporters at the White House late on Friday, Trump said Monday will be “big” as Hamas exchanges all 48 Israeli captives, both living and deceased, for roughly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails.

“Some of those bodies are being unearthed right now, as we speak. They’re working on it right now,” Trump said.

“It’s a tragedy. It’s a tragedy,” he said.

Of the living captives still held in Gaza, the US president added, “they’re in some pretty rough places, where only some people know where they are”.

Trump said he plans to travel to Cairo this weekend and separately speak at the Israeli Knesset before returning to the US.

Under the terms of the US-brokered peace deal for Gaza, Hamas agreed to release all captives within 72 hours following the start of a ceasefire.

Israel’s government ratified the ceasefire in the early hours of Friday, and it came into force later in the day. Israeli troops then began to withdraw from areas in Gaza to designated locations, and the countdown began on the 72 hours for Hamas to release captives.

Reports surfaced earlier this week that Hamas may struggle to locate and gather the remains of all the deceased captives, potentially complicating the planned exchange on Monday.

As Palestinians began to return to their war-torn homes on Friday amid the Israeli pullback, key questions about Gaza’s future remain uncertain – including plans for a future Palestinian state.

Trump, however, maintained an optimistic tone about both the first and later phases of his unfolding ceasefire plan.

Both Hamas and Israel, he said, are “all tired of fighting”.

“There is consensus on most of it and some of the details, like anything else, will be worked out,” Trump said.

“Because, you’ll find out that when you’re sitting in a beautiful room in Egypt, you know, it’s easy to work something out,” he said.

“But then sometimes it doesn’t work from a practical standpoint. But for the most part, there’s consensus,” he added.

The US president also appeared to be pleased with support for the deal from the European Union, Iran and Russia, saying that the peace plan will extend “beyond Gaza”.

“This is peace in the Middle East, and it’s a beautiful thing,” he said.