The network announced Friday that Brees, the MVP of Super Bowl XLIV, has been hired as an NFL game analyst. He will join play-by-play announcer Adam Amin in the booth starting Nov. 16.
Amin had previously been paired with Sanchez, who is facing a felony battery charge after a physical altercation with a 69-year-old truck driver in Indianapolis last month. Sanchez, who was stabbed in the abdomen during the incident, has not been on the air since then, and a Fox Sports spokesperson told The Times on Friday that he “is no longer with the network.”
“There will be no further comment at this time,” the spokesperson added.
Sanchez has been charged with a level five felony of battery involving serious bodily injury as well as two misdemeanors — unauthorized entry of a motor vehicle and public intoxication — after an Oct. 4 scuffle with Indiana resident Perry Tole.
Sanchez was in Indianapolis that weekend to cover the Colts’ game against the Las Vegas Raiders. According to a probable cause affidavit filed by the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department, Sanchez threw Tole toward a wall and also onto the ground during the altercation, while Tole sprayed Sanchez with pepper spray and eventually stabbed him.
Tole spent two days in the hospital after suffering a deep laceration on his left cheek that his attorney said affected his ability to speak. On Oct. 6, Tole filed a civil lawsuit against Sanchez, alleging he had suffered “severe permanent disfigurement, loss of function, other physical injuries, emotional distress, and other damages” as a result of the 38-year-old former NFL player’s actions.
Fox Corp. was named as a co-defendant in the case.
Sanchez remained in the hospital for a week after the incident. He was excused from attending an Oct. 22 pre-trial conference for his criminal case, as his attorney said he was still recovering from his injuries. The trial is set to begin Dec. 11.
With Brees, Fox has replaced Sanchez with one of the NFL’s all-time greats at quarterback. Brees played for the San Diego Chargers and New Orleans Saints during his 20 years in the NFL and is second behind Tom Brady in many of the league’s passing records, including touchdowns and yards. In his first year of eligibility, he is among the 52 modern-era players under consideration for the 2026 Pro Football Hall of Fame class.
“Drew is one of the best to ever play the game, and we couldn’t be more excited to have his prolific credentials and unique insights as part of our coverage on Sundays,” Brad Zager, president of Production and Operations at Fox Sports, said in a statement. “We’re thrilled to welcome him to the Fox Sports family.”
Upon retiring in 2020, Brees called games on NBC for one season. More recently, he has appeared on in-studio shows on various networks and is slated to be part of Netflix’s coverage of Christmas Day games for the second year.
“I appreciate the opportunity Fox has given me in the booth and with their team,” Brees said in a statement. “I hope my passion for this game is reflected in the knowledge and insights I provide to the fans each Sunday.”
As a 12th-year pro, Davante Adams knows the value of rest during a bye week. So before the Rams played the Jacksonville Jaguars in London on Oct. 19, Adams looked forward to days off that awaited.
Then Adams, flashing his three-time All-Pro form, caught three touchdown passes.
Was there any part of him that did not want a break?
“Oh, hell yeah,” Adams said this week, noting that he told coach Sean McVay, “‘I wish we could keep rolling at this point.’”
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Gary Klein breaks down what to expect from the Rams on Sunday when they face the New Orleans Saints at SoFi Stadium.
So did McVay.
“He’s like, ‘Man, I don’t want to have a week off,’” McVay recalled. “I said, ‘Hey, just enjoy it.’”
Adams, rested and ready after spending part of last week in Mexico with family, intends to pick up where he left off two weeks ago when the Rams play host to the New Orleans Saints at SoFi Stadium.
But the Rams will be without speedy receiver Tutu Atwell, who will be sidelined for at least four games on injured reserve because of a hamstring injury.
McVay and quarterback Matthew Stafford showed against the Jaguars that the Rams’ weapons go beyond Nacua and Adams. Four tight ends — Tyler Higbee, Colby Parkinson, Davis Allen and rookie Terrance Ferguson — were among the 10 players who caught passes in the 35-7 victory that improved the Rams record to 5-2.
“The more people we can get involved in the game, the better we are,” said Stafford, who has passed for 17 touchdowns, with only two interceptions. “We have a couple of extremely talented players, quite a few that are difference-makers in this league. When we can spread the ball around and make everybody defend all the guys, all the eligibles, every blade of grass, that’s when we’re at our best.”
The Rams signed Adams aiming to capitalize on his experience and playmaking, his elite separation skills and the threat he poses near the goal line.
Stafford, 37, and Adams, 32, combined for a few highlight-reel plays in the first six games. But they acknowledged in the week leading up to the game against the Jaguars that they were still working to get completely in sync.
They found their rhythm against the Jaguars.
Adams made dynamic catches from inside the two-yard line for all of his touchdowns.
Offensive coordinator Mike LaFleur said the Rams “absolutely” envisioned those kinds of plays when they pursued Adams, who has 109 career touchdown catches, the most among active players.
“There’s a reason he has over a hundred touchdowns,” LaFleur said, adding, “It’s not shocking.”
Did the Rams find something they can build on?
“Yeah, we’ll see what the red-zone targets look like this week and then we’ll be able to fully tell you,” Adams said, chuckling. “But definitely it’s not a secret that I’ve been able to make plays in the red zone.
“I think a lot of it was just getting on the same page, us feeling each other out and coming up with a good plan. The coaches did that and we were able to connect.
“I think the more you make plays, the more you build that confidence and then you stop straining and pressing to make plays and you just be yourself and go out there and be natural.”
Adams has 31 catches for 431 yards and six touchdowns.
With Stafford and Adams continuing to solidify their connection, the offense is poised to remain productive as the Rams drive toward a playoff spot.
“Me being who I am and Matthew being who he is and just having the team that we do, my expectations are really high and standards are really high for what I should bring and what this team should be able to do,” Adams said. “I’m definitely not satisfied with what we’ve done, but happy with where we are.”
WASHINGTON — The White House pressed U.S. Navy officials to launch 2,000-pound live bombs instead of dummy explosives during an elaborate military demonstration for the service’s 250th anniversary celebration that President Trump attended, two people familiar with planning for the event told the Associated Press.
One person familiar with the planning said White House officials insisted to Navy planners that Trump “needed to see explosions” instead of just a “big splash” during the Oct. 5 demonstration.
Original planning for what the Navy dubbed the Titans of the Sea Presidential Review called for military personnel to use dummies and not live bombs, a third person familiar with the Navy’s planning said.
That person, who like the others was not authorized to speak publicly on the matter and spoke on the condition of anonymity, would not comment on why the Navy decided to switch to live bombs.
The White House said no switch was made. Deputy press secretary Anna Kelly in a statement said: “Organizers always planned to use live munitions, as is typical in training exercises.”
The episode is the latest example of the Trump administration turning the military toward the president’s wishes in ways large and small — from summoning generals from around the world to Washington for a day of speeches to his lethal strikes on alleged drug boats in the Caribbean.
The Navy and other military branches typically use dummy, or inert, bombs for training and demonstrations. Dummies are cheaper than live bombs because they do not contain expensive explosives, fuses and other components. They’re also safer.
However, military officials often argue that the use of live ammunition for events like the 250th birthday celebration also fulfills a training purpose and that the ordnance would have been expended anyway at a later date. The Navy declined to comment.
The switch required Navy officials to change up detailed plans for the Norfolk military demonstration to ensure safety protocols were met, according to the three people familiar with the planning.
The White House pushed forward with the event despite a U.S. government shutdown, which has led nonessential federal workers to be sent home without pay and reduced operation of many non-critical government services.
A celebration for the Marines also used live artillery
Confirmation that the Navy decided to use live bombs instead of dummies at the Naval Base Norfolk event comes as the administration faces scrutiny over an Oct. 18 live fire demonstration at Camp Pendleton, in which a misfire of a live artillery round led to shrapnel spraying onto Interstate 5 in Southern California.
No one was injured when shrapnel struck two California Highway Patrol vehicles. That Camp Pendleton event marking the Marines 250th anniversary was attended by Vice President JD Vance and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
Last week, 27 members of the California congressional delegation and the state’s two senators sent a letter to Hegseth asking whose decision it was to shoot live artillery over the busy freeway and how authorities planned for the safety risks.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat who says he’ll weigh a 2028 White House run after the midterm elections next year, criticized the decision and closed a section of the roadway connecting San Diego to Los Angeles for hours during the Oct. 18 Marine showcase. The White House criticized him for closing the highway and said the Marines said there were no safety concerns.
Trump is a fan of military pomp
Trump hasn’t been shy about his fondness for pomp and pageantry that celebrates military might.
In his second term, he has pushed the U.S. services to hold big parades and demonstrations, an idea inspired by a Bastille Day parade he attended in France early in his first term. He was a guest of honor at the 2017 event, which commemorated the 100th anniversary of the U.S. entry into World War I.
The Army included tanks in a June parade in the nation’s capital, requested by Trump, to mark its 250 years despite concerns from city officials that the heavy vehicles would damage the city’s streets. And he appeared to relish the massive military welcome he received last month during his second state visit to the United Kingdom.
At the Navy celebration this month in Norfolk, the president and first lady Melania Trump watched the military demonstration from the deck of an aircraft carrier before Trump delivered a speech in which he criticized his political opponents and attacked Democratic lawmakers.
At sea, the Navy had seven Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyers fire a variety of their guns, including a large 5-inch gun. Four destroyers also launched the Navy’s Standard Missile 2 (SM-2). Each missile costs approximately $2 million.
Meanwhile, aircraft from USS Truman’s air wing fired missiles and general-purpose bombs and performed a strafing run with their gatling guns. The Navy’s MH-60S Seahawk helicopters also fired hydra rockets and guns.
Trump then spoke on a pier between two towering Navy vessels, an aircraft carrier and an amphibious assault ship. The carrier displayed a Navy fighter jet that had the words “President Donald J. Trump ‘45-47’” printed on the fuselage, right under the cockpit window.
A Navy spokesperson told the AP shortly after the event that sailors put the president’s name on the aircraft for the visit and this was “customary for visits of this type.”
In addition to the live bomb demonstration, Navy destroyers launched missiles and fired shells into the Atlantic Ocean, and Navy SEALs descended from helicopters and fighter jets catapulted off vessels.
The shift to live bombs also required further spreading out of the guided missile destroyers in the waters off Norfolk for the military demonstration.
Madhani, Toropin and Mascaro write for the Associated Press.
L.A. County is bringing on a retired judge to tackle a $4-billion question: How can officials ensure that real victims are compensated from the biggest sex abuse payout in U.S. history — and not people who made up their claims?
The county has tapped Daniel Buckley, a former presiding judge of the county’s Superior Court, to vet cases brought by Downtown LA Law Group after The Times found nine people represented by the firm who said they were paid to sue the county by recruiters. Four of the plaintiffs said they were told to fabricate the claims.
Downtown LA Law Group, or DTLA, has denied paying any of its roughly 2,700 clients, but agreed to cover the cost of Buckley to examine their cases in the $4-billion sex abuse settlement.
In a letter sent to clients Monday, Andrew Morrow, the lead attorney in the firm’s sex abuse cases, noted there are “additional safeguards” and “vetting protocols” underway following recent reports of paid clients, but did not specifically mention the new judge.
“While we categorically deny this ever occurred, we take these matters seriously and welcome the implementation of additional review procedures to ensure false claims do not move forward in the process,” wrote Morrow, the chairman of the firm’s mass torts department.
On Oct. 17, Dawyn Harrison, the top attorney for the county, requested an investigation from the State Bar based on The Times’ reporting, saying she believed some of the settlement would flow to “the pockets of the plaintiffs’ bar” rather than victims.
“The actions described in the article, if true, are despicable and run afoul of ethical duties of attorneys and criminal law in California,” Harrison wrote in a letter to Erika Doherty, the bar’s interim executive director. “I request the State Bar investigate all of the potential fraudulent and illegal activities described in this letter.”
DTLA declined to comment last week. The firm has previously said it works “hard to present only meritorious claims and have systems in place to help weed out false or exaggerated allegations.”
The bulk of the claims will be reviewed by retired Superior Court Judge Louis Meisinger, who will decide awards between $100,000 and $3 million.
The amount will depend on the severity of the abuse, the impact on the victim’s life and the amount of evidence provided, according to the allocation protocol. The money will be paid out over five years unless the victim opts to get a one-time check for $150,000.
If the judges find cases they believe are fraudulent, the county can either resolve them through a $50,000 payment or get them removed from the settlement. The county saves money in that case, but runs the risk of the plaintiff continuing to litigate and landing a larger payout from a jury trial.
It’s unusual — but not unheard of — for a neutral arbiter to be appointed to investigate cases from a specific firm in a massive settlement.
Retired U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Barbara Houser, who is overseeing the $2.4-billion trust for victims of the Boy Scouts of Americas sex abuse cases, said last month that she had asked for an “independent third party” to vet the claims brought by Slater Slater Schulman after finding a pattern of “irregularities” and “procedural and factual problems” among its plaintiffs.
Slater Slater Schulman, headquartered in New York City, represents roughly 14,000 victims in the Boy Scouts case. It also represents roughly 3,700 people in the L.A. County settlement — the most of any firm, by far.
On Oct. 14, Lawrence Friedman, a former Department of Justice attorney who headed up the federal watchdog office for the bankruptcy system, spearheaded a blistering motion asking Houser to reduce Slater’s attorneys fees, which he estimated were at least $20 million. Friedman is seeking to push them out of the case, alleging the firm had “run amok” and “dangled the prospect of lottery sized payouts” in front of clients without vetting them.
“The SLATER law firm has little if any quality controls in place to validate the information in the 14,600 claims other than validating that they were real people who had filed the claim,” the motion stated. “…What SLATER has effectively created is simply a ‘Claims Machine’ designed to spit out huge wads of cash for itself!”
Clifford Robert, an outside attorney who is representing Slater Slater Schulman in its issues with the Boy Scouts cases, said the firm’s priority “has been and always will be securing justice on behalf of sexual abuse victims.”
Friedman, who has been outspoken about misconduct by mass tort attorneys in bankruptcy cases, said he now represents dozens of former Slater plaintiffs. The ex-clients alleged the firm waited more than a year before informing them their cases were undergoing additional vetting and their payments would be delayed. The firm told them this September about the outside investigation, which began in June 2024, according to an email attached to the Oct. 14 motion.
“We now agree that there are procedural and factual problems in some of our claim submissions to the Trust,” the three partners of Slater Slater Schulman wrote in a joint email to clients on Sept. 9. “Because of the problematic claims, we have agreed that all of our claim submissions to the Trust be vetted by an independent third party.”
Both judges who will vet the L.A. County sex abuse payouts work for Signature Resolution, a firm that specializes in resolving legal disputes outside the courtroom with a heavyweight roster of former judges and lawyers. Litigation management company BrownGreer will be the settlement administration arm, responsible for making sure the checks go out, liens are settled and the judges have the records they need from the 11,000 plaintiffs.
An additional 414 sex abuse claims that led to a separate $828-million settlement announced Oct. 17 will be reviewed by a different judge with the money distributed over the course of three years. That settlement, which involves claims from three firms that opted to litigate separately from the rest, is expected to receive final approval from the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday.
The county will give the first tranche of money to the fund administered by BrownGreer in January, though it’s unclear when that money will trickle down to victims. The additional fraud review could slow the process as the judges will need to decide what all 11,000 of the claims are worth before any of the money goes out.
“They should have had their duck in the rows at the beginning,” said Tammy Rogers, 56, who sued over sex abuse at a county-run shelter for children in 2022.
Rogers said she has seen her bank account depleted recently following a shoulder surgery and her daughter’s funeral. She said she’s grown skeptical the settlement money will come her way anytime soon after reading the recent coverage of plaintiffs who say they were paid to sue.
“They should have known people were going to come out of the woodwork and do stuff like this,” she said. “They should have taken this time in the beginning, not in the end.”
Tammy Rogers, one of the plaintiffs who sued L.A. County over alleged abuse at MacLaren Hall, says she’s worried the extra vetting may delay payments to victims.
(Carlin Stiehl/Los Angeles Times)
The number of claims has fluctuated in recent months as some of the firms have dismissed cases from plaintiffs who died, lost interest in their lawsuit, or stopped responding. Since the Times initial investigation ran on Oct. 2, DTLA has asked for the dismissal of at least 14 plaintiffs, according to a Times analysis of court records.
On Oct. 17, the firm asked a judge to dismiss three people in a 63-plaintiff lawsuit filed April 29 who told The Times they’d been paid to sue the county for sex abuse.
Quantavia Smith, whose case DTLA asked to be dismissed without prejudice, previously told The Times a recruiter paid her to join the litigation, but said she had a legitimate sex abuse claim against the county. She said the recruiter drove her to the office of a downtown law firm and then gave her $200.
The firm also asked to dismiss the cases of Nevada Barker and Austin Beagle with prejudice, meaning the cases can’t be refilled. The Times reported this month that the Texan couple were told to make up allegations of abuse at a county-run juvenile hall and provided a script by someone inside the firm’s downtown office. Both said they left the firm with $100.
The Times could not reach the alleged recruiter for comment.
Austin Beagle and Nevada Barker say they were unwittingly ushered into a fraudulent lawsuit against L.A. County filed by Downtown LA Law Group.
(Joe Garcia/For The Times)
On the morning the story published Oct. 16, Beagle and Barker each received an automated email from Vinesign, a legal e-signature site, telling them Downtown LA Law was requesting their signature on a document.
“I wish to affirm my claim that I was sexually abused in a Los Angeles County juvenile facility, and I was never paid to bring this claim forward,” stated the DTLA declaration, which they were asked to sign under the penalty of perjury.
Both said they did not want to sign as it was not true — and the opposite of what had just been published that morning in The Times. Beagle said the firm called twice that morning to discuss.
“We told them just dismiss it,” said Beagle. “We ain’t talking about it.”
Times assistant data and graphics editor Sean Greene contributed to this report.
WASHINGTON — Late last month, an immigrant seeking asylum in the U.S. came across social media posts urging her to pay a new fee imposed by the Trump administration before Oct. 1, or else risk her case being dismissed.
Paula, a 40-year-old Los Angeles-area immigrant from Mexico, whose full name The Times is withholding because she fears retribution, applied for asylum in 2021 and her case is now on appeal.
But when Paula tried to pay the $100 annual fee, she couldn’t find an option on the immigration court’s website that accepted fees for pending asylum cases. Afraid of deportation — and with just five hours before the payment deadline — she selected the closest approximation she could find, $110 for an appeal filed before July 7.
She knew it was likely incorrect. Still, she felt it was better to pay for something, rather than nothing at all, as a show of good faith. Unable to come up with the money on such short notice, Paula, who works in a warehouse repairing purses, paid the fee with a credit card.
“I hope that money isn’t wasted,” she said.
That remains unclear because of confusion and misinformation surrounding the rollout of a host of new fees or fee increases for a variety of immigration services. The fees are part of the sweeping budget bill President Trump signed into law in July.
Paula was one of thousands of asylum seekers across the country who panicked after seeing messages on social media urging them to pay the new fee before the start of the new fiscal year on Oct. 1.
But government messaging about the fees has sometimes been chaotic and contradictory, immigration attorneys say. Some asylum seekers have received notice about the fees, while others have not. Misinformation surged as immigrants scrambled to figure out whether, and how, to pay.
Advocates worry the confusion serves as a way for immigration officials to dismiss more asylum cases, which would render the applicants deportable.
The fees vary. For those seeking asylum, there is a $100 fee for new applications, as well as a yearly fee of $100 for pending applications. The fee for an initial work permit is $550 and work permit renewals can be as much as $795.
Amy Grenier, associate director of government relations at the American Immigration Lawyers Assn., said that not having a clear way to pay a fee might seem like a small government misstep, but the legal consequences are substantial.
For new asylum applications, she said, some immigration judges set a payment deadline of Sept. 30, even though the Executive Office for Immigration Review only updated the payment portal in the last week of September.
“The lack of coherent guidance and structure to pay the fee only compounded the inefficiency of our immigration courts,” Grenier said. “There are very real consequences for asylum-seekers navigating this completely unnecessary bureaucratic mess.”
Two agencies collect the asylum fees: U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), under the Department of Homeland Security, and the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR), under the Department of Justice, which operates immigration courts.
Both agencies initially released different instructions regarding the fees, and only USCIS has provided an avenue for payment.
The departments of Homeland Security and Justice didn’t respond to a request for comment. The White House deferred to USCIS.
USCIS spokesman Matthew J. Tragesser said the asylum fee is being implemented consistent with the law.
“The real losers in this are the unscrupulous and incompetent immigration attorneys who exploit their clients and bog down the system with baseless asylum claims,” he said.
The Asylum Seeker Advocacy Project (ASAP), a national membership organization, sued the Trump administration earlier this month after thousands of members shared their confusion over the new fees, arguing that the federal agencies involved “threaten to deprive asylum seekers of full and fair consideration of their claims.”
The organization also argued the fees shouldn’t apply to people whose cases were pending before Trump signed the budget package into law.
In a U.S. district court filing Monday, Justice Department lawyers defended the fees, saying, “Congress made clear that these new asylum fees were long overdue and necessary to recover the growing costs of adjudicating the millions of pending asylum applications.”
Some of the confusion resulted from contradictory information.
A notice by USCIS in the July 22 Federal Register confused immigrants and legal practitioners alike because of a reference to Sept. 30. Anyone who had applied for asylum as of Oct. 1, 2024, and whose application was still pending by Sept. 30, was instructed to pay a fee. Some thought the notice meant that Sept. 30 was the deadline to pay the yearly asylum fee.
By this month, USCIS clarified on its website that it will “issue personal notices” alerting asylum applicants when their annual fee is due, how to pay it and the consequences for failing to do so.
The agency created a payment portal and began sending out notices Oct. 1, instructing recipients to pay within 30 days.
But many asylum seekers are still waiting to be notified by USCIS, according to ASAP, the advocacy organization. Some have received texts or physical mail telling them to check their USCIS account, while others have resorted to checking their accounts daily.
Meanwhile the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) didn’t add a mechanism for paying the $100 fee for pending asylum cases — the one Paula hoped to pay — until Thursday.
In its Oct. 3 complaint, lawyers for ASAP wrote: “Troublingly, ASAP has received reports that some immigration judges at EOIR are already requiring applicants to have paid the annual asylum fee, and in at least one case even rejected an asylum application and ordered an asylum seeker removed for non-payment of the annual asylum fee, despite the agency providing no way to pay this fee.”
An immigration lawyer in San Diego, who asked not to be named out of fear of retribution, said an immigration judge denied his client’s asylum petition because the client had not paid the new fee, even though there was no way to pay it.
The judge issued an order, which was shared with The Times, that read, “Despite this mandatory requirement, to date the respondents have not filed proof of payment for the annual asylum fee.”
The lawyer called the decision a due process violation. He said he now plans to appeal to the Board of Immigration Appeals, though another fee increase under Trump’s spending package raised that cost from $110 to $1,010. He is litigating the case pro bono.
Justice Department lawyers said Monday that EOIR had eliminated the initial inconsistency by revising its position to reflect that of USCIS and will soon send out official notices to applicants, giving them 30 days to make the payment.
“There was no unreasonable delay here in EOIR’s implementation,” the filing said. “…The record shows several steps were required to finalize EOIR’s process, including coordination with USCIS. Regardless, Plaintiff’s request is now moot.”
Immigrants like Paula, who is a member of ASAP, recently got some reassurance. In a court declaration, EOIR Director Daren Margolin wrote that for anyone who made anticipatory or advance payments for the annual asylum fee, “those payments will be applied to the alien’s owed fees, as appropriate.”
Alphabet’s stock has had an impressive run over the past few months.
Earnings season is upon us, and it’s possible that some stocks could make some large movements following their quarterly announcements. One that I’ve got my eye on that has significant momentum is Alphabet(GOOG 0.86%)(GOOGL 0.82%). Since reporting Q2 earnings on July 23, Alphabet has received several positive developments, including a judge’s decision not to seek a breakup of Alphabet’s core business.
The good news sent shares soaring, with the stock up over 30% since reporting Q2 earnings. That’s a monstrous move for a large company like Alphabet (it’s currently the fourth-largest company in the world and recently crossed the $3 trillion valuation mark for the first time), but can it continue?
I think management’s Q3 outlook could be another catalyst for the stock to go higher, and buying it before it reports earnings on Oct. 29 is a smart move.
1. Persistent advertising growth
Throughout most of 2025, the consensus is that Alphabet’s primary property, the Google Search engine, was in trouble. Everyone was worried about how it would fare against generative AI competition, but it turns out it will be just fine. Google’s revenue growth has been resilient even in the face of rising competition from generative AI models, with its revenue growing at a 12% pace in Q2.
Part of the reason for this growth is that Google has incorporated AI search overviews into every Google search. This results in a hybrid search experience, combining traditional search with a generative AI-powered one. Management also commented that the AI search overview has about the same monetization as a standard search, so it’s not losing any money on this switch either.
If Alphabet reports growing Google Search revenue during this quarter, it will confirm that Google is continuing to excel even when everyone assumed that it couldn’t. With Alphabet’s core business doing well, I think it makes the stock a great buy.
2. Rising cloud computing demand
Another exciting area for Alphabet is its cloud computing division, Google Cloud. Cloud computing is one of the fastest-growing industries around, and is benefiting from a general migration to the cloud alongside rising AI demand. Google Cloud has become a great partner in this realm and has won business from OpenAI (the makers of ChatGPT) and Meta Platforms(META 0.82%).
While Google Cloud isn’t as large as some of its competitors, it’s growing at a healthy rate, with revenue rising 32% year over year in Q2. It’s also dramatically improving its operating margin, increasing from 11% last year to 21% this year. Investors are going to want to see this trend continue, and if it does, the stock could respond positively as a result.
3. Alphabet has a reasonable valuation
Lastly, Alphabet is still valued at a discount to its peers. Despite having an impressive run over the past few months, Alphabet still trades at a discount to all of its big tech peers from a forward price-to-earnings (P/E) standpoint.
However, after its monstrous run, it’s extremely close to swapping places with Meta Platforms. Still, Alphabet is trading at a discount to others like Microsoft(MSFT 0.50%) and Apple(AAPL 2.04%). If all companies had an equal valuation, Alphabet would actually be the world’s largest because it generates the most net income out of all of them.
However, that’s not the way the stock market works, but it does give Alphabet an edge in future investments, as it has significant cash flows that it can buy back stock with, invest in AI, or potentially acquire a business.
Regardless, Alphabet is a highly profitable business with a reasonable valuation that’s growing at a healthy pace. I still think there’s plenty of room for the stock to run, and another catalyst could arrive when it reports earnings on Oct. 29. By buying now, investors can ensure that they get in on a potential pop following the earnings announcement.
Keithen Drury has positions in Alphabet and Meta Platforms. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Alphabet, Apple, Meta Platforms, and Microsoft. The Motley Fool recommends the following options: long January 2026 $395 calls on Microsoft and short January 2026 $405 calls on Microsoft. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
1 of 6 | President Barack Obama delivers remarks during the bicentennial celebration of President Abraham Lincoln’s birth as he stands in front of John Trumbull’s 1817 painting “Surrender of Lord Cornwallis,” in the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on February 12, 2009. On October 19, 1781, Britain’s Lord Charles Cornwallis surrendered with more than 7,000 troops to Gen. George Washington at Yorktown, Va., effectively ending the American War of Independence File Photo by Kevin Dietsch/UPI | License Photo
Oct. 19 (UPI) — On this date in history:
In 1781, Britain’s Lord Charles Cornwallis surrendered with more than 7,000 troops to Gen. George Washington at Yorktown, Va., effectively ending the American War of Independence and guaranteeing the colonialists freedom from the crown.
In 1789, John Jay, one of the founding fathers and president of the Continental Congress, was sworn in as first chief justice of the Supreme Court of the United States.
In 1812, Napoleon’s beaten French army began its long, disastrous retreat from Moscow.
In 1973, the Israeli military was pitched in a two-front battle against Arab forces, in the south against Egypt, and in the north against the armies of Syria, Iraq and Jordan. Subsequently, Saudi Arabia threatened a total cutoff of oil shipments to the United States unless they halted all military aid to Israel. This standoff would lead to the 1973 oil crisis.
In 1982, carmaker John DeLorean was arrested in Los Angeles and charged in a $24 million cocaine scheme aimed at salvaging his bankrupt sports car company. He was tried and acquitted.
File Photo by Phil McCarten/UPI
In 1987, U.S. Navy ships bombarded an Iranian oil platform in retaliation for a missile attack on a U.S.-flagged ship and Iran threatened a “crushing response,” warning the United States “has got itself into a full-fledged war.”
In 2003, Pope John Paul II beatified Mother Teresa before hundreds of thousands of pilgrims packed into St. Peter’s Square in Vatican City. This was the last formal step before her sainthood in 2015.
In 2024, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inducted Cher, Mary J. Blige, Ozzy Osbourne, the Dave Matthews Band, Foreigner, Peter Frampton, Kool & the Gang and A Tribe Called Quest.
1 of 3 | Men walk down the streets of Valdez, Alaska, ca. 1908. On October 18, 1867, the United States completed its purchase of Alaska for $7.2 million, taking possession of the territory from Russia. File Photo courtesy of the Library of Congress
Oct. 18 (UPI) — On this day in history:
In 1776, the border between Maryland and Pennsylvania was established. Dubbed the “Mason-Dixon” line, it became the unofficial boundary between North and South.
In 1851, Moby-Dick by Herman Melville was published. A small band of Herman Melville devotees orated their way through the 135-chapter opus, which took 22 hours and 38 minutes to complete.
In 1867, the United States completed its purchase of Alaska for $7.2 million, taking possession of the territory from Russia. It would be 92 years before Alaska was admitted to the Union.
In 1898, the United States took control of Puerto Rico one year after Spain had granted self-rule to the Caribbean nation.
File Photo by Monika Graff/UPI
In 1922, the British Broadcasting Corp. was established.
In 1931, Thomas Alva Edison, one of the most prolific inventors in history, died in West Orange, N.J., at the age of 84.
In 1959, the Soviet Union announced that Luna 3, an unmanned space vehicle, had taken the first pictures of the far side of the moon. In 1987, a former Mexican spy claimed his intelligence unit stole the Soviet satellite while it was on tour in Mexico in 1959, providing the United States with valuable intelligence.
In 1974, the jury in the Watergate cover-up trial heard a tape recording in which U.S. President Richard Nixon told aide John Dean to try to stop the Watergate burglary investigation before it implicated White House personnel.
In 2002, North Korea revealed it was working on a secret nuclear weapons program. U.S. intelligence officials concluded critical equipment for it came from Pakistan.
In 2007, former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto returned home after eight years in exile to triumphant fanfare that gave way to panic when a suicide bomber killed more than 140 people in her convoy. She wasn’t hurt in that attack but was assassinated on Dec. 27 of that year in Rawalpindi.
In 2011, Gilad Shalit, a 25-year-old Israeli soldier kidnapped by the militant Palestinian group Hamas in a high-profile incident, was freed after being held for more than five years. His release came in exchange for 1,000 Palestinians who had spent years in Israeli jails.
In 2024, the electric grid on the island of Cuba went entirely offline after the failure of a major power plant east of Havana. Power returned four days later. The outage was one of several blackouts from 2024 to 2025 amid an economic crisis.
DIVISION 2 Bishop Amat at Cypress Cajon at Redlands East Valley Shadow Hills at Portola Tesoro at Newbury Park Fullerton at Ventura Northwood at Woodbridge Corona Del Mar at Agoura Palos Verdes at Linfield Christian San Dimas at Downey San Clemente at Yorba Linda Bonita at Beckman Westlake at Mater Dei Warren at Aliso Niguel Sherman Oaks Notre Dame at El Toro Western Christian at Upland Gahr at Beaumont
DIVISION 3 La Serna at Mira Costa Foothill at Ayala Moorpark at South Hills Sunny Hills at California Hemet at Norco Long Beach Poly at Villa Park Placenita Valencia at Millikan Glendora at Torrance Irvine University at Mission Viejo Patriot at Corona Santiago Santa Monica at El Modena Kaiser at Rancho Cucamonga Sonora at Eastvale Roosvelt Channel Islands at Santa Paula Chino at Bellflower San Marino at La Habra
DIVISION 4 Alta Loma at Temecula Prep Canyon Springs at West Covina Laguna Hills at Inglewood West Ranch at Chaparral Loma Linda Academy at Riverside King Ramona at Gardena Serra North Torrance at Schurr Great Oak at Covina Temecula Valley at Corona St. Mary’s Academy at La Palma Kennedy Temescal Canyon at Riverside Poly Murrieta Mesa at Chaminade La Canada at Claremont Compton at Sierra Vista Royal at Hart Serrano at Antelope Valley
DIVISION 5 Lancaster at Quartz Hill Moreno Valley at Jurupa Hills Rancho Alamitos at Lawndale Rialto at San Gorgonio Orange at Norte Vista El Segundo at Northview Montclair at Hacienda Heights Wilson Castaic at Highland Elsinore at Don Lugo Valley View at Azusa Anaheim at San Jacinto Valley Costa Mesa at Long Beach Jordan Windward at Westridge Vasquez at South El Monte Buena Park at St. Paul Garden Grove at Vista Murrieta
DIVISION 6 Pioneer at Brentwood Norwalk at Leuzinger Westminster La Quinta at Montebello Saddleback at Cerritos Miller at Garey Bell Gardens at Loara Tahquitz at Artesia Los Amigos at Adelanto Ramona Convent at El Rancho Estancia at Palm Springs SEED LA at BIshop Alemany Fontana at Paramount Workman at Gabrielino Indian Springs at Palm Desert Godinez at Rosemead Pomona at Hillcrest
WEDNESDAY’S SCHEDULE
First Round
DIVISION 1 Trabuco Hills at JSerra Anaheim Canyon at Santa Margarita Edison at Newport Harbor Etiwanda at Dos Pueblos Esperanza at Huntington Beach Oxnard at Camarillo Lakewood St. Joseph at San Marcos Redondo Union at Orange Lutheran
Note:Second round (Divisions 2-6) Oct. 25; Quarterfinals (Division 1), Oct. 27; Quarterfinals (Divisions 2-6) Oct. 28; Semifinals (all divisions) Nov. 1; Finals (all divisions) Nov. 7-8 at Fred Kelly Stadium.
Artificial intelligence is driving an acceleration in Microsoft’s cloud revenue growth.
Over the next few weeks, many of America’s largest technology companies will report their operating results for the quarter ended Sept. 30. They will provide investors with a valuable update on their progress in the artificial intelligence (AI) race, which is driving an enormous amount of value right now.
Sept. 30 marked the end of Microsoft‘s (MSFT -0.43%) fiscal 2026 first quarter, and it is scheduled to report those results on Oct. 29. The company’s Azure cloud computing platform and its Copilot virtual assistant will be key points of focus for Wall Street because they are at the center of the company’s AI strategy.
Microsoft stock has already climbed 25% year to date. Is it still a buy ahead of the Oct. 29 earnings report?
Keep an eye on Copilot adoption
Microsoft launched its Copilot virtual assistant in early 2023. It was created using a combination of the company’s own AI models and those developed by its longtime partner OpenAI. The chatbot can be used for free in some of Microsoft’s flagship software products like Windows, Edge, and Bing, but it’s also available as a paid add-on for enterprise products like the 365 productivity suite.
Copilot can rapidly generate content in applications like Word and PowerPoint, autonomously transcribe meetings in Teams, and help users craft email replies in Outlook, so it has the potential to significantly increase productivity for enterprises. Microsoft says organizations around the world pay for over 400 million licenses for 365, all of which are candidates for the paid Copilot add-on, so the AI assistant could generate billions of dollars in recurring revenue for the company over the long term.
During the fiscal 2025 fourth quarter (ended June 30), Microsoft said several large customers expanded their Copilot adoption through 365. Barclays, for example, bought 100,000 licenses for its employees after running an initial test with 15,000, which implies a high degree of satisfaction with the assistant’s capabilities. This is the kind of information investors should look out for on Oct. 29, because it could be a predictor of future revenue.
But 365 isn’t Microsoft’s only enterprise opportunity when it comes to Copilot. There is Copilot Dragon, an innovative healthcare solution that autonomously documents millions of doctor-patient interactions, saving clinicians valuable time. Then there is Copilot Studio, a platform that allows businesses to create custom AI agents to automate workflows in any application, even those outside Microsoft’s ecosystem.
The most important segment to watch on Oct. 29
Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform operates hundreds of data centers spread across dozens of different regions around the world. They are fitted with the most advanced chips from suppliers like Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices, and businesses rent the computing capacity from Azure to power their AI training and AI inference workloads.
Microsoft also launched Azure AI Foundry earlier this year, which ties many of the cloud platform’s AI services together to form a holistic solution for enterprises. It can be used to turn raw data into documents, build AI chat applications, deploy AI software, perform multimodal content processing, and more. It also offers access to the latest large language models (LLMs) from third parties like OpenAI to accelerate AI development.
Azure is regularly the fastest-growing part of Microsoft’s entire business, but it surprised even the most bullish analysts during the fiscal 2025 fourth quarter when its revenue soared by a whopping 39% year over year. It was the fastest growth rate in three years, and it marked a significant acceleration from the 33% growth Azure generated in the third quarter just three months earlier.
Demand for data center capacity and Foundry were the key drivers of the incredible result, so this is where investors should focus most of their attention on Oct. 29.
Should you buy Microsoft stock before Oct. 29?
Microsoft stock isn’t cheap right now. It’s trading at a price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 38.3, which is a 14% premium to its five-year average of 33.5. It’s also notably more expensive than the 33.3 P/E of the Nasdaq-100 index, which is home to many of Microsoft’s big-tech peers.
As a result, investors who are looking for short-term gains over the next few months might be left disappointed. That doesn’t mean the stock is a bad buy ahead of Oct. 29, but investors who pull the trigger must be willing to hold it for the long term — preferably for three to five years — to maximize their chances of earning a positive return.
One single quarter is unlikely to shift Microsoft’s momentum in either direction, but as long as Copilot adoption continues to expand and Azure’s revenue growth maintains its recent momentum, investors will probably be glad this stock is in their portfolio.
Anthony Di Pizio has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Advanced Micro Devices, Microsoft, and Nvidia. The Motley Fool recommends Barclays Plc and recommends the following options: long January 2026 $395 calls on Microsoft and short January 2026 $405 calls on Microsoft. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Can you put a price on the experience of enjoying a World Series game at Dodger Stadium?
Yes, and it’s a very high one.
The Dodgers put tickets for potential World Series games on sale Tuesday, with the cheapest seat available for $881.95, according to an afternoon review of the team website. That seat — $800 for the ticket and $81.95 for fees — is located at the end of the reserve level, high above the field and next to the foul pole.
World Series prices posted on the website Tuesday ranged as high as $1,510.05. The best seats are sold as part of season packages, so that $1,510.05 seat ($1,371 ticket plus $139.05 fees) is located on the field level, near the foul pole and bullpen.
If the Dodgers advance to the World Series and play the Seattle Mariners, the Dodgers would play as many as four home games, starting Friday, Oct. 24. If the Dodgers advance and play the Toronto Blue Jays, the Dodgers would play as many as three home games, starting Monday, Oct. 27.
On Oct. 24, a family of four could get into Disneyland for a total of $796. On Oct. 27, a family of four could get into Disneyland for a total of $676.
Ticket prices are subject to change based on demand.
When the Dodgers put National League Championship Series tickets on sale, the cheapest price was $155. On Tuesday, the cheapest ticket on the team website for Game 3 on Thursday was $168.
However, since the game time has been set at 3 p.m. and weekday afternoon games are not popular, tickets on the resale market could be bought for about $100 Tuesday.
AN Israeli couple whose abduction by Hamas became one of the most haunting symbols of the October 7 massacre have finally been reunited.
Noa Argamani, 27, and her boyfriend Avinatan Or, 32, were seized from the Nova music festival in southern Israel in 2023.
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Released Israeli hostage, Avinatan Or, held in Gaza since the deadly October 7, 2023 attack by Hamas, kisses his girlfriend, Noa Argamani, who was also taken hostage and rescued in 2024Credit: Reuters
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The couple finally reunited after 738 daysCredit: Alamy
Images of Noa screaming as she was dragged into Gaza on the back of a motorbike while reaching for Avinatan became one of the defining moments of the horror attack.
But this week, they were back in each other’s arms.
Video from the Re’im reception site shows Avinatan walking into a room and immediately embracing Noa, the pair clinging to each other after a harrowing 738 days apart.
The IDF shared a photo of him kissing her cheek as she smiled – a stark contrast to the terror captured in 2023.
Avinatan was among 20 hostages freed on Monday as part of a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas brokered by US president Donald Trump.
Noa was rescued by Israeli forces in June 2024 after 245 days in captivity.
Their reunion comes with a dramatic revelation: Avinatan is a member of Sayeret Matkal, Israel’s elite special forces unit modelled on the British SAS.
His identity had been kept secret throughout his captivity amid fears Hamas would retaliate if they learned who he was.
Reports in Israeli media say Avinatan was held in isolation for more than two years, never encountering other hostages.
Hamas release final Israeli hostages on historic day of peace for Middle East as Trump declares ‘war is over’
Medical examinations show he lost between 30 and 40 per cent of his body weight after prolonged starvation in captivity.
After his release, he reportedly asked to spend time alone with Noa – and the two shared what they called their “first cigarette together after two years.”
Noa described the horror of their abduction in a speech in Washington last week, days before Avinatan’s release.
“Avinatan and I came to the Nova music festival just to celebrate our life,” she said.
“We found ourselves in the darkest tunnels of Gaza. I cannot even begin to describe those terrible pictures.”
She said she searched for information about him throughout her captivity.
“I asked about Avinatan everywhere I went,” she recalled.
“I didn’t know if he was murdered or kidnapped, and I was afraid to know the answer.”
Noa, a Chinese-born Israeli citizen, has campaigned for the release of hostages since her rescue.
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Horror footage from the October 7 attacks showed Noa Argamani being kidnapped by HamasCredit: Not known, clear with picture desk
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Avinatan Or was also filmed as he was taken hostage by the terror groupCredit: Not known, clear with picture desk
When news broke that Avinatan was among those to be freed, she scrambled onto eight separate flights to return from Washington in time for his release.
Adding to the extraordinary turn of events, Avinatan’s employer revealed that his shares in NVIDIA had quadrupled while he was in captivity.
The company’s stock rose from $45.76 at the time of his abduction to $188.32 today.
Families who had campaigned for their return wept and embraced loved ones, some of whom appeared dramatically thinner and frailer than when they were taken.
Brothers David and Ariel Cunio were reunited with their partners Sharon and Arbel, while Omri Miran embraced his daughters – one of whom was just six months old when he was kidnapped.
“I’m on cloud nine,” said Omri’s father Danny.
“One moment I’m crying, the next I’m laughing.”
The hostage release follows a Trump-brokered ceasefire deal aimed at ending the two-year war in Gaza, which has killed tens of thousands and caused a humanitarian crisis.
It also paves the way for future stages including the disarmament of Hamas and the formation of a transitional government.
“After so many years of unceasing war and endless danger, today the skies are calm, the guns are silent and the sirens are still,” Trump said in a speech at the Knesset.
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A free Avinatan Or arriving at the site of Rabin Medical Center-Beilinson Hospital after his release on MondayCredit: Reuters
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Noa Argamani had been released from Hamas’s claws in June last yearCredit: Reuters
Summoned last minute by the president of the United States, the world’s most powerful leaders dropped their schedules to fly to Egypt on Monday, where they idled on a stage awaiting Donald Trump’s grand entrance.
They were there to celebrate a significant U.S. diplomatic achievement that has ended hostilities in Gaza after two brutal years of war. But really, they were there for Trump, who took a victory lap for brokering what he called the “greatest deal of them all.”
“Together we’ve achieved what everyone said was impossible, but at long last, we have peace in the Middle East,” Trump told gathered presidents, sheikhs, prime ministers and emirs, arriving in Egypt after addressing the Knesset in Israel. “Nobody thought it could ever get there, and now we’re there.”
“Now, the rebuilding begins — the rebuilding is maybe going to be the easiest part,” Trump said. “I think we’ve done a lot of the hardest part, because the rest comes together. We all know how to rebuild, and we know how to build better than anybody in the world.”
The achievement of a ceasefire in Gaza has earned Trump praise from across the political aisle and from U.S. friends and foes around the world, securing an elusive peace that officials hope will endure long enough to provide space for a wider settlement of Mideast tensions.
Trump’s negotiation of the Abraham Accords in his first term, which saw his administration secure diplomatic relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco, were a nonpartisan success embraced by the succeeding Biden administration. But it was the Oct. 7 attack on Israel, and the overwhelming response from Israel that followed, that interrupted efforts by President Biden and his team to build on their success.
The Trump administration now hopes to get talks of expanding the Abraham Accords back on track, eyeing new deals between Israel and Lebanon, Syria, and most of all, Saudi Arabia, effectively ending Israel’s isolation from the Arab world.
Yet, while the current Gaza war appears to be over, the greater Israeli-Palestinian conflict remains.
Trump’s diplomatic success halted the deadliest and most destructive war between Israelis and Palestinians in history, making the achievement all the more notable. Yet the record of the conflict shows a pattern of cyclical violence that flares when similar ceasefires are followed by periods of global neglect.
The first phase of Trump’s peace plan saw Israeli defense forces withdraw from half of Gazan territory, followed by the release of the remaining hostages held by Hamas since Oct. 7 in exchange for nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli custody.
The next phase — Hamas’ disarmament and Gaza’s reconstruction — may not in fact be “the easiest part,” experts say.
“Phase two depends on Trump keeping everyone’s feet to the fire,” said Dennis Ross, a veteran diplomat on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict who served in the George H.W. Bush, Clinton and Obama administrations.
“Israeli withdrawal and reconstruction are tied together,” he added. “The Saudis and Emiratis won’t invest the big sums Trump talked about without it. Otherwise they know this will happen again.”
While the Israeli government voted to approve the conditions of the hostage release, neither side has agreed to later stages of Trump’s plan, which would see Hamas militants granted amnesty for disarming and vowing to remain outside of Palestinian governance going forward.
An apolitical, technocratic council would assume governing responsibilities for an interim period, with an international body, chaired by Trump, overseeing reconstruction of a territory that has seen 90% of its structures destroyed.
President Trump speaks during a summit of world leaders Monday in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt.
(Amr Nabil / Associated Press)
The document, in other words, is not just a concession of defeat by Hamas, but a full and complete surrender that few in the Middle East believe the group will ultimately accept. While Hamas could technically cease to exist, the Muslim Brotherhood — a sprawling political movement throughout the region from which Hamas was born — could end up reviving the group in another form.
In Israel, the success of the next stage — as well as a long-delayed internal investigation into the government failures that led to Oct. 7 — will likely dominate the next election, which could be called for any time next year.
Netanyahu’s domestic polling fluctuated dramatically over the course of the war, and both flanks of Israeli society, from the moderate left to the far right, are expected to exploit the country’s growing war fatigue under his leadership for their own political gain.
Netanyahu’s instinct has been to run to the right in every Israeli election this past decade. But catering to a voting bloc fueling Israel’s settler enterprise in the West Bank — long the more peaceful Palestinian territory, governed by an historically weak Palestinian Authority — runs the risk of spawning another crisis that could quickly upend Trump’s peace effort.
And crises in the West Bank have prompted the resumption of war in Gaza before.
“Israelis will fear Hamas would dominate a Palestinian state, and that is why disarmament of Hamas and reform of the PA are so important. Having Saudi leaders reach out to Israeli public would help,” Ross said.
“The creeping annexation in the West Bank must stop,” Ross added. “The expansion of settlements must stop, and the violence of extremist settlers must stop.”
In the immediate aftermath of Oct. 7, Netanyahu faced broad criticism for a yearslong strategy of disempowering the Palestinian Authority to Hamas’ benefit, preferring a conflict he knew Israel could win over a peace Israel could not control.
So the true fate of Trump’s peace plan may ultimately come down to the type of peace Netanyahu chooses to pursue in the heat of an election year.
“You are committed to this peace,” Netanyahu said Monday, standing alongside Trump in the Knesset. The Israeli prime minister added: “I am committed to this peace.”
In 1775, the Continental Congress ordered construction of America’s first naval fleet.
In 1792, the cornerstone to the White House in Washington was laid. It would be November 1800 before the first presidential family — that of John Adams — moved in.
In 1903, the Boston Americans (later known as the Red Sox) beat the Pittsburgh Pirates to win the first modern World Series, five games to three.
In 1917, up to 100,000 people gathered in Fatima, Portugal, for the “Miracle of the Sun” and its strange solar activity and, for many, a reported glimpse of the Virgin Mary.
In 1943, conquered by the Allies, Italy declared war on Germany, its Axis former partner.
In 1972, Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 carrying 45 people, including a rugby team from Montevideo, crashed in the Andes mountains. It would take 72 days for rescuers to learn the fate of the survivors, and by that time, only 16 were left to tell their story. The survivor’s harrowing story was brought to the big screen in the 1993 feature film, Alive.
In 1972, more than 170 people were killed in a Soviet airliner crash near Moscow’s Sheremetyevo International Airport.
In 1987, Costa Rican President Oscar Arias Sanchez was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize — the first winner from Central America. Arias was recognized for his work promoting democracy and peace in Central America.
In 1994, two months after the Irish Republican Army announced a cease-fire, the Ulster Volunteer Force and Ulster Freedom Fighters, the two main paramilitary groups fighting to keep Northern Ireland with its Protestant majority in the United Kingdom, announced a cease-fire.
In 2000, the Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded the Nobel Peace Prize to South Korean President Kim Dae-jung for his efforts to reconcile his country with North Korea through a summit earlier in the year with counterpart Kim Jong Il.
In 2010, after more than two months entombed half a mile under the Chilean desert, the first of 33 trapped miners was pulled to safety in a narrow passageway drilled through more than 2,000 feet of rock, to be followed in the next 24 hours by the rest of the crew in a dramatic finale to a remarkable rescue mission.
In 2013, a stampede by masses of worshipers crossing a bridge over the Sindh River at a Hindu festival in India’s Madhya Pradesh state killed more than 100 people and injured scores of others. A police official said people panicked as rumors spread that the bridge was collapsing.
In 2019, American Simone Biles became the most decorated gymnast in history with her record 25th gold medal at the World Championships in Stuttgart, Germany.
In 2021, Star Trek actor William Shatner, at 90, became the oldest person to go to space. He traveled with three others aboard a Blue Origin capsule and returned 11 minutes after reaching space.
In 2024, SpaceX used a tower with arms to “catch” the 20-story-tall booster for its Starship rocket for the first time.
In 1492, Christopher Columbus reached America, making his first landing in the New World on one of the Bahamas Islands. Columbus thought he had reached India.
In 1810, the citizens of Munich were invited to join in celebrating the marriage of Crown Prince Ludwig of Bavaria to Princess Therese von Sachsen-Hildburghausen in what would become the first Oktoberfest.
In 1915, British nurse Edith Cavell, 49, was executed by a German firing squad in Brussels for helping Allied soldiers escape from Belgium in World War I.
In 1933, the United States Army Disciplinary Barracks on Alcatraz Island, otherwise known as The Rock, was acquired by the United States Department of Justice. Less than a year later, the prison would become home to some of the country’s most notorious criminals.
Photo by Terry Schmitt/UPI
In 1945, President Harry Truman awarded the Medal of Honor to Desmond T. Doss, the first conscientious objector to receive the honor. Doss was the subject of Hacksaw Ridge, a 2016 movie starring Andrew Garfield.
In 1960, Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev removed one of his shoes and pounded it on his desk during a speech before the United Nations.
In 1964, the Soviet Union launched Voskhod 1 into orbit around Earth, with three cosmonauts aboard. It was the first spacecraft to carry a multi-person crew and the two-day mission was also the first orbital flight performed without spacesuits.
In 1973, U.S. President Richard Nixon nominated House Minority Leader Gerald Ford of Michigan for the vice presidency to replace Spiro Agnew, who had resigned two days earlier.
In 1984, British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher escaped injury in the bombing of a hotel in Brighton, England. Four people were killed in the attack, blamed on the Irish Republican Army.
In 1992, an earthquake near Cairo killed more than 500 people and injured thousands.
In 2000, 17 sailors were killed and 39 injured in an explosion on the USS Cole as it refueled in Yemen. U.S. President Bill Clinton blamed the attack on al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden.
UPI File Photo
In 2001, the Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan the Nobel Peace Prize for his work to bring peace to the world and his work against AIDS and poverty.
In 2002, terrorist bombings near two crowded nightclubs on the Indonesian island of Bali killed more than 200 people.
In 2010, the U.S. government lifted a ban on deep-water oil and natural gas drilling for companies that obey stricter rules aimed at avoiding a repeat of the massive BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
In 2016, CoverGirl announces its first male model, James Charles. The 17-year-old high school senior caught the attention of the makeup brand through his popular Instagram account.
In 2019, California became the first state in the United States to ban the sale of new fur products.
In 2022, a Connecticut jury ordered Infowars conspiracy theorist Alex Jones to pay nearly $1 billion to the families of eight Sandy Hook shooting victims and an FBI agent who responded to the 2012 massacre for spreading lies and calling the attack a hoax.
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 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.”
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 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.
Another “Real Housewives of Potomac” star is facing legal trouble: Wendy Osefo and her husband, Eddie Osefo, have been arrested for allegedly fraudulently reporting a burglary and theft last year.
A grand jury in Carroll County, Md., indicted the spouses Thursday on “multiple counts related to fraud,” the Carroll County Sheriff’s Office announced Friday in a statement. The reality TV stars, both 41, were booked at Carroll County Central Booking. They were released Friday after posting bond, the statement said.
A representative for the Osefos said Friday that they are “back home safely with their family and in good spirits.”
“They are grateful for the outpouring of concern and support from friends, fans, and colleagues,” the representative continued. “The Osefos, alongside their legal team, look forward to their day in court. At this time, they respectfully ask for privacy as they focus on their family and the legal process ahead.”
Wendy Osefos faces 16 charges, including seven felony charges for alleged false/misleading information fraud involving more than $300, eight misdemeanor conspiracy counts and a misdemeanor for an alleged false statement to an officer. Her husband faces the same charges and is also on the hook for two additional felony counts. They are due back in court in November.
The fraud charges stem from an April 2024 burglary reported at the Osefos’ home in Finksburg, Md., more than 27 miles northwest of Baltimore. The Sheriff’s Office said law enforcement responded to a report of burglary and theft and met with the spouses, who claimed their home “had been entered and numerous items had been stolen” while they were on vacation, the statement said.
“They reported approximately 80 items of jewelry, luxury goods, clothing, and shoes were stolen,” the statement said, “worth a total of more than $200,000.”
Police said Friday that detectives investigating the burglary found that the Osefos had returned more than $20,000 of the “stolen” items to their points of purchase. Detectives also saw images of Wendy Osefo taken after the alleged burglary wearing a ring she said was among items that were stolen.
Court documents show that the Osesfos filed a claim with an insurance company alleging a loss of $450,000 worth of personal property, according to TMZ.
“It became clear that the Osefos had fabricated the burglary and filed a false report [in an] attempt to fraud their insurance company,” Carroll County Sheriff James T. DeWees said during a press briefing Friday.
Wendy Osefo joined “Real Housewives of Potomac” for its fifth season in late 2020 and has been part of the cast since. She is a political commentator, author and lifestyle brand entrepreneur. Eddie Osefo is an attorney and self-proclaimed “serial entrepreneur” whose businesses include a business agency and a cannabis edibles line.
The couple was arrested a year and a half after another “RHOP” personality publicly faced legal woes. Karen Huger, known among fans as the “grand dame,” was arrested in March 2024 for driving under the influence after she crossed a median and hit street signs, crashing her Maserati. She was convicted in December of driving under the influence and negligent driving, among other charges.
She was released from prison in September after serving six months of a yearlong prison sentence.
