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The 16th-century monks of Évora knew life was short. As if to ram home the point, they decorated an entire chapel with bones dug up from the town’s overflowing cemeteries. The sign outside the Chapel of Bones roughly translates as “We bones in here wait for yours to join us”. Cheerful lot, those monks. Columns, walls, arches – all are covered in skulls, tibias, fibulas, clavicles. Rapt, I can’t stop staring, then start to chuckle when I see skulls curving round frilly frescoes of cherubim on vaulted ceilings, a whimsical touch of chintz among the ghoulishness.

Évora has me in its grip even before I come to the Chapel of Bones. This former royal city of Portuguese kings and capital of the Alentejo region has so many architectural and cultural treasures wedged within its historical centre that it’s often referred to as a living museum. But in a museum, you generally have to keep your voice down: here in Évora, there’s the buzz you get with 11,000 university students roaming round a Unesco world heritage site old town that’s encased within medieval walls.

I feel a pang of envy when I visit the 16th-century College of the Holy Spirit within the University of Évora, which is open to the public willing to pay €3 and take pot luck as to which of the ridiculously beautiful classrooms are free at that moment. My guide, Andre Birken, came to Évora from Germany as an Erasmus student years ago and decided to stay. Chilly northern Germany or laid-back southern Portugal, where even in late October it’s still 23C? Bit of a no-brainer, he tells me. He shows me classrooms decorated in the azulejo tiles for which Portugal is renowned, and where, if the lecture gets dull, you can lose yourself in bucolic blue-and-white scenes.

The ancient Romans, rather than the Greeks, left their mark on Évora in a more monumental style, including an enormous aqueduct that’s one of the first things visitors see as they approach the city. Rising in the centre of the old town are the 14 graceful Corinthian columns of the Roman temple built for emperor Augustus around the 1st century AD (and not, as is commonly assumed, dedicated to the goddess Diana). Surrounding it are buildings that typify most of the architecture here – low-slung, whitewashed, trimmed in ochre and usually sporting wrought-iron balconies. One of them is my hotel, a 15th-century former convent turned into the Pousada del Convento Évora. Every cobbled lane in the old town has this same style of architecture, and I find its uniformity immensely pleasing and harmonious – the white reflecting the sun, the mustardy ochre reminding me of the landscapes of the Alentejo around me, whose brownness is dotted with olive groves and cork forests.

And vineyards, of course, all of them blazing with autumnal colours. Alentejo is one of Portugal’s major wine regions, and its subregion of Baixo Alentejo will be 2026’s European Wine City. About 10 minutes’ drive from Évora is Fitapreta Winery, the brainchild of the innovative Portuguese winemaker António Maçanita and the British viticulturist David Booth. In 2015, Maçanita bought an old fortified manor house that had been in the same family since the 14th century, resurrecting ancient grape varieties, planting new vineyards and sticking to organic production. It’s an idyllic spot for a leisurely wine-tasting, followed by an even more leisurely lunch.

Within the modern winery (its facade clad in cork in a nod to Portugal’s millions of cork forests), André Alves leads me through a tasting of five of the winery’s 22 varieties – all indigenous. A deliciously bone-dry rosé (amusingly named Freshly Squeezed), a fresh-tasting orange-type wine that technically wasn’t an orange wine (A Laranja Mecânica) and the very elegant red Enxarrama all made me wish I had room to stash these in my luggage.

This is only the preamble. Sommelier Francisco Cunha of the winery’s A Cozinha do Paço restaurant then guides me into the part of the manor house that was originally the chapel, and whose galleried upper floor is one of the many atmospheric spots where they serve a seven-course lunch that deserves some serious Michelin attention. Braised fennel and a gorgeous sheep’s milk cheese sauce with turbot, and the famed black pig of the Alentejo paired with a cauliflower cream quenelle were exquisite.

In fact, excellent food is a given in Alentejo. At Enoteca Cartuxa near the Roman temple, they serve their own wines to go with plates of thin buttery slices of cured black pig and chorizo; not to mention the sublime Monte da Vinha sheep’s milk cheese that’s as gooey and as good as an Époisses. The venerable Restaurante Fialho comes out with classic Alentejo dishes done expertly: pigs’ cheeks braised in red wine melt in the mouth, and pork and clams unite in a piquant red peppery stew.

Évora’s food and wine alone make it a worthy holder of the 2027 European Capital of Culture title, even without its architectural marvels. Then again, Évora Cathedral is magnificent, with a typical mishmash of architectural styles, from romanesque and gothic to Renaissance and baroque. From here, it’s almost a rite of passage to walk down the narrow pedestrianised Rua Cinco de Outubro and its souvenir and craft shops wedged into white and yellow houses. Yes, it’s touristy, but delightful nonetheless, with cork handbags and ceramics actually made in Portugal.

This takes me to Évora’s historical heart, Praça do Giraldo, an expansive square filled with cafe terraces, arcaded shops, more of those lovely wrought-iron balconies and a huge 16th-century marble fountain that instantly grabs your attention. This is the spot for lazy and mild autumn mornings with a coffee and a pastel de nata custard tart or a cheesy tart called queijada de Évora, before heading off in search of more of the town’s oddities.

One in particular catches my eye: the row of very cute houses built under the 16th-century aqueduct Água de Prata, in the north-western part of the old town. I need more time here, yet I end up following the tourist trail out of Évora for a morning in the hilltop village of Monsaraz, right by the Spanish border. Here, in this all-white village, where craft boutiques and wine shops attract the tourists, it feels less real, more toytown. It’s all very pretty, and I even get a closer look at the beaches of Alqueva, western Europe’s largest artificial lake, just outside the village.

But I was missing Évora, which manages to hold on to its mellowness despite the growing number of tourists. I recall a chat with my guide, Andre, who mentioned the number of people who take day trips from Lisbon (only 90-odd minutes away) and tour groups who stop for a night or two. But they need four, five days, maybe a week, he says, to get the most out of it. I’m inclined to agree, as these too-short days fly by and I don’t get round to following the nature trails out of the town, or visiting all of the museums, or having another lazy coffee and eating a pastel de nata in the sunshine. Those monks were right: life really is too short.

The trip was provided by Kirker Holidays, which has three-night breaks at Pousada Convento Évora in November from £819pp, including breakfast, car hire and flights, although rail options are also available. Further information: visitalentejo.pt

Nov. 4 (UPI) — Bomb threats have shut down polling stations throughout New Jersey Tuesday, and officials have moved several to new election sites.

Officials have said the threats, which were sent via email, were not credible.

“Early this morning, law enforcement responded to threats that were received by email involving certain polling places in Bergen, Essex, Mercer, Middlesex, Monmouth, Ocean, and Passaic counties,” the state Office of the Attorney General said in a statement Tuesday, NJ.com reported. “Law enforcement officers have responded at each affected polling place, and they have worked swiftly to secure these polling locations and ensure the safety of every voter. Some of these polling locations have already re-opened to the public. At others, voters will be directed to a nearby polling location to cast their ballot.”

The threats appear to have come from out of the country, said Paterson Mayor Andre Sayegh, PIX11 reported.

“We are doing everything in our power to protect voters and poll workers and coordinate closely with state, local and federal partners to ensure a smooth and safe election,” said Lt. Gov. Tahesha Way, who also serves as the New Jersey secretary of state.

The election Tuesday focuses on the New Jersey governor’s race. PIX11 New York said Republican nominee Jack Ciattarelli and Democratic nominee Mikie Sherrill are tied in polling.

“Voters should continue to have confidence that they can cast their ballot without fear of intimidation, and we will continue to work tirelessly to ensure a free, fair, and secure election,” said State Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin.

Satellite imagery shows China has been building at least two facilities featuring hardened shelters with retractable roofs along its heavily disputed border with India. These look to be examples of a new pattern of air defense site, with the shelters allowing for surface-to-air missiles to be fired from transporter-erector-launchers situated within. The shelters, which offer added protection against various threats and create complexities for enemy forces, reflect larger trends when it comes to hardening of military infrastructure in China and elsewhere globally.

Geospatial intelligence firm AllSource Analysis was the first to call attention to the two sites in western China, which it assessed using satellite images from Planet Labs taken between August and September. Additional satellite imagery captured in September from Vantor (formerly Maxar Technologies), first obtained by India Today, offers further insights.

One of the sites is situated within Gar County, while the other is near the eastern end of Pangong Lake (also known as Pangong Tso). Both are located inside China’s Tibet Autonomous Region in relatively close proximity to the so-called Line of Actual Control (LAC), which forms the current de facto border with India. Pangong Lake and other areas along the LAC have seen repeated confrontations between Chinese and Indian forces over the years that have sometimes escalated into violent skirmishes. In 2022, TWZ noted an already significant expansion of Chinese military infrastructure on that country’s side of the LAC following the conclusion of a particular serious flare-up in the border dispute that had first erupted two years earlier.

Static surface-to-air missile sites are present at bases across China, especially in border areas and along its coasts, all of which share common circular design patterns. The typical mode of operation at those facilities involves TELs moving out from garages to open positions when ordered.

The facilities in Gar County and near Pangong Lake, which are enclosed inside heavy perimeter walls, have distinctly different configurations from what is typically seen at Chinese air defense sites. Each one has four hardened shelters with retractable roofs, all with the same trapezoidal design. From what can be seen in additional satellite imagery from Vantor, the shelters look to have a reinforced concrete garage-like central section with angled additions, which may just be earthen berms, on three sides.

The Gar County facility also has what appears to be two radars in elevated positions, as well as channels linking them to the shelters and what looks to be the main command center. Communications cables could be laid in those channels.

Similar channels are visible at the facility near Pangong Lake, but there are no apparent radar positions currently. There are signs that construction is still ongoing at both locations to differing degrees.

The facilities in Gar County and along the shore of Pangong Lake also have an array of other structures that look to provide for munitions storage, vehicle maintenance, living spaces for personnel, command and control, and more. Each one also has a pair of basketball courts, a common feature at People’s Liberation Army (PLA) bases, large and small, across China.

Beyond the shelters, many of the other buildings at both locations, including the main command centers, look to have been built to extremely similar, if not identical patterns. This, in turn, points to the sites, which have different overall layouts, having the same core purpose.

As mentioned, the combination of the shelters, radar positions, and other features seen at the Gar Country site, in particular, points to an air defense mission for both facilities. AllSource Analysis assessed that the sites would be sufficient to support an HQ-9 long-range surface-to-air missile system. The HQ-9 is in widespread Chinese service today and is broadly analogous to later models of the Soviet-designed S-300P series. A typical complete HQ-9 system includes a number of 8×8 wheeled transporter-erector-launchers (TEL), each of which can be loaded with up to four interceptors at a time, and offboard search and fire control radars.

The HQ-9 TELs fire their missiles vertically, which aligns with shelters with retractable roofs. One of the Vantor satellite images of the Gar County site shows the roofs of two of the shelters retracted, revealing objects inside that are consistent with HQ-9 TELs in their deployed positions.

Other surface-to-air missile systems that launch their interceptors vertically could also potentially make use of the shelters. It is also possible that they could be used in combination with surface-to-surface missile systems, though this seems far less likely to be the intent with everything else that is visible at both sites.

First and foremost, the ability to fire anti-air interceptors from within hardened shelters offers additional protection for those assets, which could be particularly valuable for Chinese forces arrayed along the LAC with India. The facilities help extend the PLA’s anti-access and area denial bubbles deeper into Indian territory – India Today‘s report noted that there is an Indian air base on the opposite side of the LAC from where the site in Gar County is situated – but are also within range of Indian standoff strikes as a result. Their location also opens them up to the possibility of more direct and shorter-range attacks in the event of a major conflict, including ones involving armed drones or even ground raids. As mentioned, the facilities in Gar County and near Pangong Lake also have fortified perimeters.

The shelters also make it harder for enemy forces to readily determine what is inside, which could lead to opponents expanding valuable resources to destroy empty structures. They also simply provide a way to help shield assets and personnel from extremely low temperatures, harsh weather conditions, and other potentially problematic environmental factors commonly found in this part of the world.

It’s interesting to note here that this is not the first time that structures with retractable roofs that look intended, at least in part, to be used in combination with surface-to-air missile systems, and the HQ-9 specifically, have appeared at Chinese military bases.

In 2017, Reuters reported on the appearance of far less hardened structures with retractable roofs on China’s man-made island outposts in Subi, Mischief, and Fiery Cross reefs, all part of the hotly disputed Spratly Islands chain in the South China Sea. The suggestion, even then, was that those buildings were reflective of a broader trend in Chinese air defense sites.

Heathrow, NatWest and Minecraft are among some of the sites and services experiencing problems amid a global Microsoft outage.

Outage tracker Downdetector showed thousands of reports of issues with a number of websites globally on Wednesday.

Microsoft said some users of Microsoft 365 might see delays with Outlook and some other services.

The company’s Azure cloud computing platform, which underpins large parts of the internet, reported a “degradation of some services” at 1600 GMT.

It said this was due to “DNS issues” – the same root cause of the huge Amazon Web Services (AWS) outage last week.

Amazon says AWS is currently operating normally.

Other impacted sites in the UK include supermarket Asda and mobile phone operator O2 – while in the US, people have reported issues accessing the websites of coffee chain Starbucks and retailer Kroger.

Microsoft said business Microsoft 365 customers might see problems.

Some web pages on Microsoft also directed users to an error notifications that read “Uh oh! Something went wrong with the previous request.”

A Microsoft spokesperson said it is working to “address an issue affecting Azure Front Door that is impacting the availability of some services,” adding that it is sharing updates on the Azure status page.

It said it had found parts of its infrastructure with connectivity issues, and was working to “reroute affected traffic to restore service health”.

It has started a thread on X with updates after some users reported they could not access the service status page.

Meanwhile, business at the Scottish Parliament has been suspended because of technical issues with the parliament’s online voting system.

A senior Scottish Parliament source told BBC News they believe the problems are related to the Microsoft outage.

While NatWest’s website was impacted, the bank’s mobile banking, web chat, and telephone customer services are still available.

NatWest customers with online banking bookmarked were able to access that service as well, the bank said.

On its service status page, Azure’s network infrastructure was showing as “critical” in every region in the world.

Exactly how much of the internet is impacted is unclear, but estimates typically put Microsoft Azure at around 20% of the global cloud market.

The firm said it believed the outage was a result of “an inadvertent configuration change”.

In other words, a behind-the-scenes system was changed, with unintended consequences.

Microsoft said it plans on fixing the problem by effectively replacing its service with a recent backup it knows was working properly.

But it could not give an estimate for how long this would take.

The concentration of cloud services into Microsoft, Amazon and Google means an outage like this “can cripple hundreds, if not thousands of applications and systems,” said Dr Saqib Kakvi, from Royal Holloway University.

“Due to cost of hosting web content, economic forces lead to consolidation of resources into a few very large players, but it is effectively putting all our eggs in one of three baskets.”

Hundreds of asylum seekers could be housed in two military sites in Inverness and East Sussex as the government aims to end the use of hotels.

Discussions are under way over the use of the sites to accommodate 900 men, as first reported in the Times.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has instructed Home Office and Ministry of Defence officials to accelerate work to locate appropriate military sites, the BBC understands.

The government has pledged to end the use of asylum hotels, which have cost billions of pounds and become a focal point for anti-migrant protests, by the next election.

Migrants are due to be housed in the Cameron Barracks in Inverness and Crowborough army training camp in East Sussex by the end of next month, under plans being drawn up by ministers.

Defence Minister Luke Pollard told BBC Breakfast that the sites were not “luxury accommodation by any means,” but “adequate for what is required”.

“That will enable us to take the pressure off the asylum hotel estate and enable those to be closed at a faster rate,” he said.

Pressed on whether military sites would be cheaper for the government than hotels, Pollard said the cost was currently being assessed and that “it depends on the base”.

He said: “But I think there’s something that is of greater significance that we’ve seen over the past few months, and that is the absolute public appetite to see every asylum hotel closed.”

Pollard would not be drawn on how many asylum seekers were to be moved or when that would happen.

He said there would have to be sufficient engagement with local authorities and adequate security arrangements in place. “Those conversations have been going on for some time now,” he added.

Inverness’s Liberal Democrat MP Angus MacDonald told the BBC he supported the use of military sites to house asylum seekers, but that the chosen base seemed “a bit odd” given it is in the town centre.

“It’s effectively the same,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, adding that to his knowledge it was an open barracks without security.

“I very much thought the idea of putting them in army camps was to have them out of town, and make them less of an issue for the local population.”

He said he had first been given a “tip-off” about the use of Cameron Barracks about a month ago by someone in the army, when its occupants had been given notice to leave, and recently learned the plan was to house 300 asylum seekers there.

MacDonald added that Scotland did not have a “great track record” of migrants staying put there – and that the Home Office would need to consider whether they would “just up sticks and leave”.

Ministers are also considering industrial sites, temporary accommodation and otherwise disused accommodation to house asylum seekers.

Government sources told the BBC that all sites would comply with health and safety standards.

A Home Office spokesperson said: ”We are furious at the level of illegal migrants and asylum hotels.

“This government will close every asylum hotel. Work is well under way, with more suitable sites being brought forward to ease pressure on communities and cut asylum costs.”

Around 32,000 asylum seekers are currently being accommodated in hotels, a drop from a peak of more than 56,000 in 2023 but 2,500 more than last year.

A report on Monday found billions of taxpayers’ money had been “squandered” on asylum accommodation.

The Home Affairs Committee said “flawed contracts” and “incompetent delivery” had resulted in the Home Office relying on hotels as “go-to solutions” rather than temporary stop-gaps, with expected costs tripling to more than £15bn.

Commenting on the report’s findings, Sir Keir said he was “determined” to close all asylum hotels, adding: “I can’t tell you how frustrated and angry I am that we’ve been left with a mess as big as this by the last government.”

Two former military sites – MDP Wethersfield, a former RAF base in Essex, and Napier Barracks, a former military base in Kent – are already being used to house asylum seekers after being opened under the previous Tory government.

The U.S. Department of Justice will monitor polling sites in five California counties as voters decide on Proposition 50 on Nov. 4, it said Friday, after being asked to do so by state GOP officials.

Monitoring, which is routinely conducted by the Justice Department, will occur across Southern California and in the Central Valley, in Fresno, Kern, Los Angeles, Orange and Riverside counties, the Justice Department said.

Proposition 50 — one of November’s most hotly-watched electoral issues, with national political implications — asks California voters whether the state should redraw its congressional districts to better favor Democrats. It is a response to President Trump’s pressure campaign on Texas and other red states to redraw their lines in favor of Republicans, and is considered a must-pass measure if Democrats hope to regain control of the House in next year’s midterms.

The Justice Department said its monitors would work to “ensure transparency, ballot security, and compliance with federal law,” including the Voting Rights Act, National Voter Registration Act, Help America Vote Act, Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act, and the Civil Rights Act.

“Transparency at the polls translates into faith in the electoral process, and this Department of Justice is committed to upholding the highest standards of election integrity,” Atty. Gen. Pam Bondi said. “We will commit the resources necessary to ensure the American people get the fair, free, and transparent elections they deserve.”

“Our democracy depends on free and fair elections,” said acting U.S. Atty. Bill Essayli, the top federal prosecutor in the L.A. region, who will be helping to coordinate the monitoring effort. “We will work tirelessly to uphold and protect the integrity of the election process.”

The Justice Department also announced monitors will be stationed in Passaic County, N.J. That state is holding a consequential gubernatorial election.

While federal monitoring is routine, it has been viewed with heightened skepticism from both parties in recent years. When the Justice Department under President Biden announced monitoring in 86 jurisdictions across 27 states during last November’s presidential election, some Republican-led states balked and sought to block the effort.

Democrats have been highly skeptical of the Trump administration’s plans for monitoring elections, in part because of Trump’s relentless denial of past election losses — including his own to Biden in 2020 — and his appointment of fellow election deniers to high-ranking positions in his administration, including in the Justice Department.

Corrin Rankin, chair of the California Republican Party, had specifically asked the Justice Department to send monitors to the five counties in a letter to the Justice Department on Monday.

Rankin wrote that the party had “received reports of irregularities” in each of the counties during recent elections, which they feared could “undermine either the willingness of voters to participate in the election or their confidence in the announced results of the election” this November.

Rankin called Proposition 50 a “politically charged question,” and said it was “imperative to have robust voter participation and public confidence in the results regardless of the outcome.”

Matt Shupe, a spokesperson for the California GOP, declined to comment on the letter Friday.

California officials, including Secretary of State Shirley Weber and California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta, have promised safe and fair elections and said their teams will also be out in the field enforcing California’s election laws in November.

“Our election laws provide the backbone for a free and fair election, and as California’s top law enforcement officer, I will do everything in my power to protect your right to vote,” Bonta recently said. “In the lead-up to the election and on Election Day, my office will be on call to provide assistance to the Secretary of State’s Office in enforcing California’s election laws, as needed, through a team of attorneys and administrative staff located across the state.”

Dean Logan, elections chief for Los Angeles County, said in a statement Friday that federal election monitors are welcome to view election activities and that the state has “clear laws and guidelines that support observation and prohibit election interference.”

“The presence of election observers is not unusual and is a standard practice across the country,” Logan said.

Logan didn’t directly address the California GOP’s specific statements about Los Angeles County, but said that the county regularly updates and verifies voter records in coordination with state and federal agencies and protects the integrity of the election process.

“Voters can have confidence their ballot is handled securely and counted accurately,” he said.

This article will be updated.

Connectivity issues for many companies around the world disrupted as outage hits Amazon Web Services.

MEXICO CITY — Amid the constant blare of car horns in southern Mexico City, it’s hard to imagine that Cuicuilco was once the heart of a thriving ancient civilization. Yet atop its circular pyramid, now surrounded by buildings and a shopping center, a pre-Hispanic fire god was revered.

“This is incredible,” said Evangelina Báez, who spent a recent morning at Cuicuilco with her daughters. “In the midst of so much urbanization, there’s still this haven of peace.”

Her visit was part of a monthly tour program crafted by the National Institute of Anthropology and History, known by its Spanish initials as INAH.

Aside from overseeing Mexico’s archaeological sites and museums, the institute safeguards the country’s cultural heritage, including restoring damaged monuments and artworks as well as reviewing construction projects to ensure they don’t harm archaeological remains.

Its historians and archaeologists also lead excursions like the one in Cuicuilco. Each academic expert picks a location, proposes a walking itinerary to the INAH and, once approved, it’s offered to the public for about 260 pesos ($15).

“I joined these tours with the intention of sharing our living heritage,” said archaeologist Denisse Gómez after greeting guests in Cuicuilco. “Our content is always up to date.”

According to Mónica de Alba, who oversees the tours, the INAH excursions date to 1957, when an archaeologist decided to share the institute’s research with colleagues and students.

“People are beginning to realize how much the city has to offer,” said De Alba, explaining that the INAH offers around 130 tours per year in downtown Mexico City alone. “There are even travel agents who pretend to be participants to copy our routes.”

María Luisa Maya, 77, often joins these tours as a solo visitor. Her favorite so far was one to an archaeological site in Guerrero, a southern Mexican state along the Pacific coast.

“I’ve been doing this for about eight years,” she said. “But that’s nothing. I’ve met people who have come for 20 or 25.”

Traces of a lost city

Cuicuilco means “the place where songs and dances are made” in the Nahua language.

Still, the precise name of its people is unknown, given that the city’s splendor dates back to the pre-Classic era from 400 to 200 B.C. and few clues are left to dig deeper into its history.

“The Nahuas gave them that name, which reveals that this area was never forgotten,” said archaeologist Pablo Martínez, who co-led the visit with Gómez. “It was always remembered, and even after its decline, the Teotihuacan people came here to make offerings.”

The archaeological site is a quiet corner nestled between two of Mexico City’s busiest avenues. Yet according to Martínez, the settlements went far beyond the vicinity and Cuicuilco’s population reached 40,000.

“What we see today is just a small part of the city,” he said. “Merely its pyramidal base.”

Now covered in grass and resembling a truncated cone, the pyramid was used for ritual purposes. The details of the ceremonies are unknown, but female figurines preserved at the site’s museum suggest that offerings were related to fertility.

“We think they offered perishable objects such as corn, flowers and seeds,” Gómez said. “They were feeding the gods.”

Echoes of living heritage

According to official records, Mexico’s most visited archaeological sites are Teotihuacán and Chichén Itzá. The first is a pre-Aztec city northeast of the capital known for its monumental Sun and Moon pyramids. The latter is a major Mayan site in the Southeast famed for its 12th-century Temple of Kukulkán.

The INAH oversees both. But its tours focus on shedding light on Mexico’s hidden gems.

During an excursion preceding Cuicuilco’s, visitors walked through a neighborhood in Ecatepec, on the outskirts of Mexico City, where open-air markets, street food and religious festivals keep local traditions alive. A few days prior, another tour focused on La Merced market, where flowers, prayers and music filled the aisles during the feast of Our Lady of Mercy.

October’s schedule takes into account Day of the Dead traditions. But tours will feature a variety of places like Xochimilco, where visitors can take a moonlit boat tour through its canals and chinampas, and Templo Mayor, the Aztec empire’s main religious and social center in ancient Tenochtitlán.

“These tours allow the general public to get closer to societies that are distant in time and space,” said historian Jesús López del Río, who will lead an upcoming tour on human sacrifices to deities in Mesoamérica.

“Approaching the pre-Hispanic past is not only about how the Maya used zero in their calculations or how the Mexica built a city on a lake,” he added. “It’s about understanding how those societies worked — their way of seeing and relating to the world.”

Hernández writes for the Associated Press.

Unidentified drones seen at several places, including the biggest army base, after a slew of earlier sightings that Denmark calls a ‘hybrid attack’.

Unidentified drones have flown over Denmark’s military sites, including its biggest base, the latest in a slew of incursions near airports and critical infrastructure this week, which officials have called a “hybrid attack” and hinted at possible Russian involvement.

“The Danish Defence can confirm that drones were observed at several of the Danish Defence’s locations last night. Several capabilities were deployed,” an army spokesperson said on Saturday, without specifying where the drones were observed.

Police said “one to two drones” were observed at about 8:15pm (18:15 GMT) on Friday near and over the Karup military base in western Denmark, the country’s biggest base, which houses all of the armed forces’ helicopters, airspace surveillance, flight school and support functions.

Police spokesman Simon Skelkjaer said they could not comment on where the drones came from, adding: “We didn’t take them down.”

The Karup base shares its runways with the Midtjylland civilian airport, which was briefly closed, though no flights were affected as none were scheduled at that hour, Skelkjaer said.

Mysterious drone observations across the Scandinavian country over the past week have prompted the closure of several airports, including Copenhagen airport, the Nordic region’s busiest, which closed for several hours late on Monday.

Five smaller airports, both civilian and military, were also shut temporarily in the following days.

Drone reports also closed Oslo airport for several hours earlier in the week, following drone incursions in Polish and Romanian territory and the violation of Estonian airspace by Russian fighter jets, which raised tensions in light of Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine.

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen on Thursday said “over recent days, Denmark has been the victim of hybrid attacks,” referring to unconventional warfare.

Investigators have so far failed to identify those responsible, but Danish Defence Minister Troels Lund Poulsen said on Thursday the flights appeared to be “the work of a professional actor”.

Frederiksen has pointed the finger at Russia, saying it is the “main country that poses a threat to Europe’s security”.

Moscow said on Thursday it “firmly rejects” any suggestion that it was involved in the Danish incidents. In a social media post, its embassy in Copenhagen called them “a staged provocation”.

The drone flights began just days after Denmark announced it would acquire long-range precision weapons for the first time, as Russia would pose a threat “for years to come”.

Defence ministers from about 10 European Union countries agreed on Friday to make a so-called “drone wall” a priority for the bloc.

EU Defence Commissioner Andrius Kubilius said Europe needs to learn from Ukraine and swiftly build anti-drone defences.

“We need to move fast,” Kubilius told AFP news agency in an interview. “And we need to move, taking all the lessons from Ukraine and making this drone wall together with Ukraine.”

Copenhagen will host an EU summit gathering heads of government on Wednesday and Thursday. It said on Friday it had accepted Sweden’s offer of its anti-drone technology to ensure the meeting could go ahead without disruption.

La Gomera is one of the smallest island in the Canaries and offers a cheaper and more relaxing option, the weather reaching 26C in October is perfect for an autumn getaway

The Canary Islands are a top pick for Brits seeking sun-soaked holidays abroad.

In 2023, the Canaries welcomed a record-breaking 16 million visitors, with 14.1 million from overseas, including a whopping 5.7 million Brits, marking a 13 percent surge from the previous year.

While Tenerife and Lanzarote are popular choices, La Gomera, the third smallest island in the archipelago, is being touted as an excellent alternative. Offering a more affordable and tranquil experience, La Gomera boasts fantastic weather, reaching highs of 26C in October.

READ MORE: Pretty UK village with ‘miles of golden sand’ is a must-visit this autumnREAD MORE: UK households urged to make one bedroom change in autumn to slash heating bills

Famed for its black sandy beaches and balmy climate, it’s a paradise waiting to be discovered, reports the Express. San Sebastian, one of Spain’s most underappreciated towns, calls La Gomera home.

Travel website Cosa Crusies describes San Sebastian de la Gomera as a place where “time seems to have stopped a hundred years ago”. Perched on volcanic rock, the town has ties to the renowned explorer Christopher Columbus and features several monuments dedicated to him.

Among these is Columbus’ House, known for its “amorous” rendezvous. Adding to the town’s allure is the quaint stone watchtower, Torre del Conde.

The Church of the Assumption, with its stone archways, bell tower and artwork, is another must-visit spot. In a blog post titled “Go here, not there”, traveller Loria Zaino declared that La Gomera outshines Tenerife.

Loria expressed: “Paradise offering incredible hikes and gorgeous scenery. The island is ideal for anyone looking to trade the busy city for lush greenery.” La Gomera could be perfect for the next trip to escape the cold, rainy autumn season here in the UK.

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A MAJOR pub chain has launched a new loyalty rewards scheme where customers can get freebies including pints and food.

Greene King has relaunched its app and now has a feature where customers can get complimentary drinks and win prizes.

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These include free pints and vouchers to spend in its 2,700 pubs across the UK.

It’s the first time Greene King has offered loyalty rewards to customers.

The pub chain says customers can now “earn perks, unlock surprises, and access exclusive offers – whether they order at the bar or through the app”.

Among the new features for loyalty customers is a chance to “spin the wheel” to win a prize.

If you spin the virtual wheel on the new Greene King app, you’ll win either a free main meal, drink or dessert.

The free drinks include Peroni, Birra Moretti, Rekorderlig, Aspell, Hazy Day, Coca Cola, Schweppes Lemonade and Madri.

And if you place an order through the app worth at least £1, there’s a chance to win a £50 voucher.

There’s also a “Pub Match” game where every time you spend through the app or scan your membership ID at the till, you are in with the chance of winning more freebies.

The aim of the game is to make it onto the interactive leaderboard of loyal customers, and you have a chance to win up to £50 each month. 

The more you use the app, the higher the chance of winning a prize.

The rewards are redeemable at Greene King Pubs, Belhaven Pubs, Flaming Grill, Chef & Brewer, Farmhouse Inns and Hungry Horse.

Kevin Hydes, group marketing director at Greene King, said: “Pubs are about creating feel-good moments, but we know many people are keeping a close eye on costs.

“That’s why we’re always looking for ways to make visiting our pubs even more rewarding and to give back to our customers.

“With Spin to Win, we’re giving new customers a little something extra – a chance to enjoy a free treat on us, just for joining our loyalty programme.”

How can I get my rewards?

You can download the new Greene King app for free on your app store.

The Spin to Win game will appear on the homepage of your app.

You can also click into the Rewards section to see the rewards you’ve earned.

You can claim the reward either when you pay through the app or at the bar.

On the app just add all your items to the basket and then apply the reward at checkout.

If you order at the bar, you need to show your Membership ID to the bartender.

You can find this at the top right of your Rewards section on the app.

What other features are on the app?

The app will also let you make and manage your bookings, customise orders and pay.

Greene King says it will reduce wait times and let you order quickly.

There will also be the option to repeat orders with one click.

Which other pubs have loyalty schemes?

Greene King is not the only chain which has a loyalty scheme.

Butcombe, which runs more than 120 pubs across the UK, lets customers access exclusive discounts for downloading the app.

These include earning points, where you get five points for spending £1. Once you reach 500 points, £5 will be added to your account to spend.

You can also get 25 per cent off food every Wednesday.

O’Neills also gives members signed to its loyalty programme the chance to collect stamps that can be exchanged for rewards.

OFCOM has launched an investigation into at least 22 porn websites over concerns about the age checks they have in place.

Adult platforms have been forced to adopt stricter age verification rules in the UK since the end of July, which require users to share their ID or a selfie to access them.

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Sites that fail to comply with the Online Safety Act risk being slapped with hefty fines and could even be blocked from the UK.

The communications regulator is responsible for checking companies abide by the law, which is designed to protect children from easily stumbling across inappropriate content online.

Today Ofcom bosses announced an investigation into five companies that are known to collectively run at least 22 porn sites.

It’s estimated that the group receive some eight million visitors from the UK every month.

The watchdog said the sites face a “prioritised” probe because of the risk of harm they pose and their user huge numbers.

“We are now gathering and analysing evidence to determine whether any contraventions have occurred,” Ofcom said.

“If our assessment indicates compliance failures, we will issue provisional notices of contravention to providers, who can then make representations on our findings, before we make our final decisions.”

The companies include Cyberitic, LLC, Web Prime Inc, Youngtek Solutions Ltd and ZD Media s.r.o.

Some 47 sites are already being investigated by Ofcom over similar concerns.

Bosses have also revealed that they’re expanding their probe into two companies, 8579 LLC and Itai Tech, over whether they have failed to respond adequately to Ofcom’s requests for information.

The new law triggered a surge in VPN downloads as some try to get around the block.

VPNs – which are used as legal privacy tools to disguise a person’s location – are still in the top download charts.

The regulator has admitted that there’s no way to stop people from using VPNs.

THE SHOCKING STATS

Latest figures show the scale of adult content consumption online…

Ofcom stats:

• Around 8% children aged 8-14 in the UK visited an online porn site or app in a month.
• 15% of 13–14-year-olds accessed online porn in a month.
• Boys aged 13-14 are the most likely to visit a porn service, significantly more than girls the same age (19% vs 11%).
• Our research tells us that around three in ten (29%) or 13.8m UK adults use porn online.
• Pornhub is the most used site in the UK – Ofcom research says 18% (8.4m) visited it in one month.

Children’s Commissioner stats:

Of the 64% who said that they had ever seen online pornography:

• The average age at which children first see pornography is 13. By age nine, 10% had seen pornography, 27% had seen it by age 11 and half of children who had seen pornography had seen it by age 13.
• We also find that young people are frequently exposed to violent pornography, depicting coercive, degrading or pain-inducing sex acts; 79% had encountered violent pornography before the age of 18.
• Pornography is not confined to dedicated adult sites. We found that Twitter was the online platform where young people were most likely to have seen pornography.

Image credit: Getty / The Sun

Head of US Defense Intelligence Agency Jeffrey Kruse fired alongside two senior Navy officials in latest purge.

United States Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has fired a general whose agency’s preliminary intelligence assessment angered President Donald Trump for reporting that the US attack on Iranian nuclear sites in June had inflicted limited damage, according to reports.

The Pentagon firings on Friday, which, according to US officials who spoke to the Reuters and Associated Press (AP) news agencies, also include two other senior military commanders, are the latest moves by the Trump administration to purge officials at the Department of Defense .

It was not immediately known on what grounds Lieutenant General Jeffrey Kruse, who led the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) since early 2024, was fired.

But President Trump had previously decried the agency’s initial findings on US strikes against Iran.

The initial DIA assessment – which was widely reported on by US media – contradicted claims by Trump that the strikes totally destroyed the nuclear sites, drawing the ire of both the president and officials within his administration.

Kruse “will no longer serve as DIA director”, a senior defence official said on condition of anonymity on Friday, without providing an explanation for the general’s departure.

Prior to becoming director of the DIA, Kruse served as the adviser for military affairs for the director of national intelligence, and also held positions including director of intelligence for the coalition against the ISIL (ISIS) group.

Hegseth also fired Vice Admiral Nancy Lacore, who is chief of the Navy Reserve, as well as Rear Admiral Milton Sands, a Navy SEAL officer who oversees Naval Special Warfare Command, according to officials who spoke to both AP and Reuters.

All three military officials said they did not know why they were fired by the Trump administration, which has demanded loyalty across the government.

“The firing of yet another senior national security official underscores the Trump administration’s dangerous habit of treating intelligence as a loyalty test rather than a safeguard for our country,” said US Senator Mark Warner, who is the vice chair of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.

Since beginning his second term in January, Trump has overseen a purge of top military officers, including the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Charles “CQ” Brown, whom he fired without explanation in February.

Other senior officers dismissed this year include the heads of the US Navy and Coast Guard, the general who headed the National Security Agency, the vice chief of staff of the US Air Force, a Navy admiral assigned to NATO, and three top military lawyers.

The chief of the US Air Force also made a surprise announcement on Monday that he planned to retire only halfway through his tenure.

Hegseth has insisted the president is simply choosing the leaders he wants in top positions, but Democratic lawmakers have raised concerns about the potential politicisation of the traditionally neutral US military.

Earlier this year, Hegseth additionally ordered at least a 20 percent reduction in the number of active-duty four-star generals and admirals in the US military, as well as a 10 percent cut in the overall number of general and flag officers.

News of Kruse’s firing came two days after Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard announced that she was revoking – on Trump’s orders – the security clearances of 37 current and former US intelligence professionals.

Gabbard has also announced the first major overhaul of her office since its creation, slashing personnel by more than 40 percent by October 1 and saving more than $700m per year.

An American paediatrician who volunteered in the Gaza Strip says the injuries inflicted on Palestinian aid seekers at sites run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) suggest that Israeli forces there shot the men and boys deliberately, by targeting and maiming specific body parts on specific days.

Ahmed Yousaf made the comments to Al Jazeera from the Jordanian capital, Amman, on Tuesday, hours after returning from Gaza, where he had spent two and a half weeks working at Al-Aqsa Hospital in central Deir el-Balah and al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City.

The doctor said he witnessed “mass casualty incidents” from Israeli shootings at the food distribution points run by the United States-backed GHF on an almost daily basis.

The boys and young men came in with very specific injuries, “almost like a daily pattern”, he said.

“Meaning on a given day, say Monday, we’d get 40,60 patients coming in at a given time, and they would all be shot in the legs, or in the pelvic area, or the groin on a given day, just kind of a similar pattern. And the next day, we would see upper body, chest, thoracic pattern, and then there were days we saw only head wounds, upper neck bullet wounds. And what it felt like, at least for me, the position that I went with, was that somebody behind the gun that day was going to choose the way they were either going to maim or decide to kill people,” he said.

“It was age indiscriminate.”

Yousaf’s comments are the latest by medical staff in Gaza that accuse Israeli forces and US contractors of targeted and indiscriminate violence at the GHF sites.

Doctors Without Borders, known by its French acronym MSF, said last week that the GHF-run food distributions in famine-stricken Gaza have become sites of “orchestrated killing and dehumanisation“, while Human Rights Watch said the shootings amount to serious violations of international law and war crimes.

On Tuesday alone, at least 19 aid seekers were killed at GHF sites in Gaza, while many more were wounded, according to medics and witnesses.

At least 1,838 Palestinians have been killed while seeking aid, and another 13,409 have been wounded since the GHF began its operations in late May, official figures show.

Israel and the GHF deny the killings.

‘All of Gaza is a death trap’

Yousaf, the US paediatrician, said the victims at the sites were mainly boys and young men, as they are often the ones taking the risk to try to get food for their families, “given the dynamic of the risk associated with trying to carry a 5-pound [2.3kg] bag of flour, maybe kilometres, sometimes”.

“The people would tell us they were sometimes at the site, or around the area, or they were trying to leave… and they were shot indiscriminately; it was like they were being sprayed. It seemed quite obvious to them and to us, from a pattern-recognition perspective, in terms of who came to the ER [emergency room], that on a given day, whoever was making the decision behind the trigger was choosing a very specific pattern of fire,” he said.

The doctor went on to describe all of Gaza as a “death trap”.

“It is a cage in which people are being marked for death. It almost feels like there is a quota for the number of people that need to be killed on a given day,” Yousaf said.

On the days that Palestinians stayed away from the GHF sites, because Israel allowed in more aid trucks, there would be more intense air attacks, he said.

“The last four days that we were there, when there was a bit more aid access via food trucks that were allowed in, the risk profile changed and them going to the food distribution sites wasn’t nearly worth the risk because there was some food elsewhere, we saw a significant uptick in bomb blasts on the streets, homes, vehicles. So the pattern of the MCIs – the mass casualty incidents – changed from bullet wounds, mostly boys and young men, to just indiscriminate bombings. We saw women and children, elderly, on the days the bombs come in,” he told Al Jazeera.

The doctor described the Israeli atrocities in Gaza as a “genocide”.

One clear aspect of this, he said, was Israel’s refusal to let him and his colleagues take in medical supplies or baby formula.

“When we were screened by the [Israeli military] at the border, the vast majority of us had things confiscated from our bags. Things like food and multivitamins and antibiotics and medical supplies, like stethoscopes, everything you can imagine, that we wished we could have to treat the people on the ground in Gaza,” he said.

“And this resulted in a situation in which, when those patients came in, in different stages of dying, screaming in pain for their mothers… we knew that in any other environment, we could have done something for them, but in the environment of Gaza, in the death trap that is Gaza completely, we were unable to give them the aid that they deserve, to provide the human dignity and humanity that they deserve.”

‘People are being shot like animals.’ Doctors Without Borders (MSF) is calling for Gaza’s GHF aid sites to be shut down after its report found Israeli troops are deliberately killing Palestinians trying to access food, in what it describes as ‘orchestrated killings’.

As Israel’s forced starvation tightens its grip on Gaza’s entire population, an increasing number of Palestinian families are frantically searching for news of relatives who undertook perilous journeys to get food from aid distribution points, never to return.

Khaled Obaid has been searching for his beloved son, Ahmed, for two months, scanning every passing vehicle on the coastal road in Deir-el-Balah, hoping against all odds that one of them might bring him home.

The boy had left the displaced family’s tent in the central town to find food for his parents and sister, who had lost her husband during the war, and headed to the Zikim crossing point, where aid trucks enter northern Gaza.

“He hasn’t returned until now. He went because he was hungry. We have nothing to eat,” the distraught father told Al Jazeera, breaking down in tears with his wife under the blue tarpaulin where they are sheltering.

Khaled reported his son’s disappearance to the International Committee of the Red Cross, and every official body he could reach, to radio silence. To this day, he has received no answers on Ahmed’s whereabouts.

Khaled’s story is all too common under Israel’s ongoing punishing blockade of Gaza, where the largely displaced population faces a stark choice between starvation and braving the bullets fired by Israeli soldiers and United States security contractors in a bid to get food from Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) sites. These distribution points have been dubbed “death traps” and “human slaughterhouses” by the United Nations and rights groups.

It is a life-or-death gamble that has taken the lives of nearly 1,400 people, shot dead mainly by the Israeli army, at the aid sites since they started operations in late May and along food convoy routes, according to figures released by the UN last week. That is, without counting the untold numbers of missing aid seekers, like Ahmed.

Human rights monitors have been collecting harrowing firsthand accounts of people who have gone missing in Gaza, only to be found later, killed by Israeli forces.

“In many cases, those who went missing are apparently killed near the aid distribution points, but due to the Israeli targeting, their bodies remained unreachable,” Maha Hussaini, the head of media at the Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor, told Al Jazeera.

“Many Palestinians left home with empty hands, hoping to return with a bag of flour. But many never came back,” said Al Jazeera’s Tareq Abu Azzoum, reporting from Deir-el-Balah. “In Gaza, the line between survival and disappearance is now heartbreakingly thin.”

As the number of missing aid seekers mounts, famine stalks the enclave, with more than 80 adults reportedly dying of starvation over the past five weeks alone, and 93 children succumbing to man-made malnutrition since the war began.

Authorities in Gaza say an average of 84 trucks have entered the besieged enclave each day since Israel eased restrictions on July 27. But aid organisations say at least 600 aid trucks are needed per day to meet the territory’s basic needs.

‘Death circle’

On Monday, amid growing international condemnation over the mass starvation, seen by many as being deliberately engineered by Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appeared to double down on his war goals.

Netanyahu announced that he would convene a meeting of his cabinet on Tuesday to ensure that “Gaza will no longer pose a threat to Israel”. Israel’s Channel 12 cited an official as saying that Netanyahu was tending towards expanding the offensive.

The announcement came on another bloody day in the Strip, with at least 74 Palestinians killed in Israeli attacks since dawn on Monday, including 36 aid seekers, according to medical sources.

Among the attacks, at least three people were killed by an Israeli strike on a house in Deir el-Balah, according to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital.

A source at al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza City reported that seven people were killed in Israeli shelling on multiple areas in the Shujayea neighbourhood, east of Gaza City.

Emergency services said that two were killed in an Israeli bombing of Beit Lahiya, in northern Gaza.

It also emerged on Monday that a nurse at Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir el-Balah was killed when he was hit by an airdropped box of aid.

This week, Philippe Lazzarini, the head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, described the dangerous airdrops as a “distraction” and smokescreen.

On Monday, UNICEF warned that 28 children – essentially an entire “classroom” – are dying each day from Israeli bombardment and lack of aid.

“Gaza’s children need food, water, medicine and protection. More than anything, they need a ceasefire, NOW,” said the UN agency on X.

Death by bombardments.
Death by malnutrition and starvation.
Death by lack of aid and vital services.
In Gaza, an average of 28 children a day – the size of a classroom – have been killed.

Gaza’s children need food, water, medicine and protection. More than anything, they need a… pic.twitter.com/7QIQQ6IAoG

— UNICEF (@UNICEF) August 4, 2025

The Palestinian Foreign Ministry called on the UN Security Council to “assume its responsibilities” by enforcing an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, conducting an official visit to the territory and implementing calls at a recent UN conference in New York for a two-state solution.

In a statement posted on social media on Monday, the ministry warned that more than two million Palestinians in Gaza are “living in a tight death circle of killing, starvation, thirst, and deprivation of medicine, treatment, and all basic human rights”.

“I call that a war crime.” Anthony Aguilar told Al Jazeera about what he says were deadly and unprofessional practices he witnessed firsthand at Gaza Humanitarian Foundation aid distribution sites in Gaza.

The US special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, has visited aid distribution sites in Gaza amid mounting global outrage over deepening famine in the Strip. The aid sites, run by the controversial US- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, have been linked to over 1,000 deaths since May. Witkoff said his visit aims to help President Donald Trump shape a plan “deliver food and medical aid to the people of Gaza”.

Palestinians take Al Jazeera on journey showing how hard it is to get food at the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation’s distribution hubs. Israeli forces have killed more than 1,000 people at GHF sites since May. Observers say Israel’s aid management is cruel and farcical.