Biden autopen investigation ‘has heated up’ as DOJ looks at Delaware, DC: source
An investigation into the autopen controversy involving former President Joe Biden is gaining momentum in Delaware and Washington, D.C., Fox News has learned. A source familiar with the situation told Fox News on Wednesday morning, “It looks like the investigation has heated up in recent weeks and it appears there’s a focus in Delaware as well as Washington, D.C.” On Tuesday, Attorney General Pam Bondi wrote in a post on X that her “team is reviewing the Biden administration’s reported use of autopen for pardons.” Bondi’s post came as the House Oversight Committee released a 100-page report on Tuesday morning detailing findings from its monthslong probe into Biden’s White House, specifically whether his inner circle covered up signs of mental decline in the ex-president, and if that alleged cover-up extended to executive actions signed via autopen without Biden’s full awareness. PRESIDENT WHO GOT MOST VOTES IN US HISTORY NOW POLITICAL ‘KRYPTONITE’ AS 2025 CAMPAIGNS DODGE BIDEN AND HARRIS The report also detailed a “haphazard documentation process” for pardons made by Biden, which the committee argued left room for doubt over whether the former president made those decisions himself. “In the absence of sufficient contemporaneous documentation indicating that cognitively deteriorating President Biden himself made a given executive decision, such decisions do not carry the force of law and should be considered void,” the GOP report said. A Biden spokesperson pushed back on the committee’s conclusions in a statement to Fox News Digital made Tuesday morning, however. JOHNSON ARGUES BIDEN PARDONS ‘INVALID’ AFTER BOMBSHELL AUTOPEN REPORT “This investigation into baseless claims has confirmed what has been clear from the start: President Biden made the decisions of his presidency. There was no conspiracy, no cover-up, and no wrongdoing. Congressional Republicans should stop focusing on political retribution and instead work to end the government shutdown,” the spokesperson said. In an interview with The New York Times in July, Biden affirmed he “made every decision” on his own. Fox News Digital’s Elizabeth Elkind contributed to this report. This is a developing news story; check back for updates.
States sue Trump admin over billions in looming cuts to SNAP, food stamps
A coalition of 25 Democratic governors and attorneys general on Tuesday sued the Trump administration over its refusal to fund the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits during the ongoing government shutdown — arguing that a suspension of the aid threatens to disproportionately harm millions of vulnerable and low-income Americans. The lawsuit, filed in Massachusetts, asks a federal judge to force the U.S. Department of Agriculture to release a portion of the $9.2 billion in SNAP benefits allocated for the month of November. The Trump administration said Friday that it would not use the Agriculture Department’s roughly $5 billion contingency fund to cover the food stamp benefits provided by SNAP for the month of November. Instead, they said, the agency is planning to keep it on hand to respond to natural disasters. SENATE GOP DIVIDED AS MILLIONS RISK LOSING FOOD AID IN SHUTDOWN STANDOFF States warned in the lawsuit Tuesday that halting the SNAP payments, even in the near-term, threatens disproportionate harm for the roughly 42 million Americans that currently receive SNAP aid beginning on Nov. 1, when the food assistance is slated to expire. “Shutting off SNAP benefits will cause deterioration of public health and well-being,” state leaders said in the lawsuit. “Ultimately, states will bear costs associated with many of these harms,” they added. “The loss of SNAP benefits leads to food insecurity, hunger, and malnutrition, which are associated with numerous negative health outcomes in children, such as poor concentration, decreased cognitive function, fatigue, depression, and behavioral problems.” NEW YORK ATTORNEY GENERAL LETITIA JAMES ENTERS PLEA IN FEDERAL MORTGAGE FRAUD CASE The lawsuit was filed by a coalition of attorneys general and governors from Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, D.C., Hawaii, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington and Wisconsin. In the near-term, the states asked U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani, the federal judge in Massachusetts assigned to the case, to order the Trump administration to release the USDA contingency funds to help ensure there is not a lapse in SNAP program benefits beginning Nov. 1. Judge Talwani will hear from both parties during an emergency status hearing Wednesday, during which she will weigh the states’ request for an emergency order to force USDA to release a portion of its emergency funds to SNAP recipients. SCHUMER AGAIN BLOCKS GOP BID TO REOPEN GOVERNMENT AS AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLERS GO UNPAID The USDA, for its part, has not yet shared details on the policy decision or decision not to funnel the contingency funds to SNAP beneficiaries. A note on its website states simply that, “[T]he well has run dry.” “At this time, there will be no benefits issued November 01,” the agency said.
President who got most votes in US history now political ‘kryptonite’ as 2025 campaigns dodge Biden and Harris
Former President Joe Biden, who holds the record for most popular votes in a presidential election in U.S. history, and former Vice President Kamala Harris were both at the top of the Democratic Party in 2024, but they overwhelmingly have been absent from the 2025 off-season election cycle as other big-name Democrats have been hitting various campaign trails to rally support. According to political pundits and lawmakers who spoke to Fox News Digital, their presence on the campaign trail likely would not generate warm welcomes following the fallout of the 2024 race. “The one thing you could probably get progressives and moderates inside the Democratic Party to agree on is that the Biden/Harris administration did not score very high marks,” former chief counsel to House Judiciary Committee Democrats Julian Epstein told Fox Digital Monday. “I’m not sure why any candidate would want to go to either of them who voters rejected in one way or another and to who are widely seen that leading the party into the wilderness.” The nation is facing only a handful of big-ticket races in 2025, with four most notably garnering national attention: the Virginia gubernatorial race, the New Jersey gubernatorial race, the New York City mayoral race, and California’s special election to vote on a ballot measure that would redistrict the state’s congressional lines. THE ONLY GOP GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATES RUNNING IN 2025 ELECTIONS LEAN INTO TRUMP’S MAGA CAMPAIGN TACTICS The trio of elections in New Jersey, New York City and Virginia have especially attracted a handful of high-profile Democrats offering official endorsements of the candidates or traveling to those jurisdictions to help rally support among locals. Former President Barack Obama, for example, offered official video endorsements of New Jersey Democratic gubernatorial candidate Rep. Mikie Sherrill and Virginia Democratic candidate Abigail Spanberger earlier in October, and is scheduled to attend two separate rallies for the individual candidates Saturday. Former Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and others also have joined the gubernatorial candidates at various campaign fundraisers and events. Biden and Harris have meanwhile been largely absent from the 2025 campaign fray. “Of course Democrats are running away from the disasters they created with Joe Biden and Kamala Harris,” Republican Rep. Andy Barr, who is running for U.S. Senate in Kentucky, told Fox News Digital. “It will take years to undo the damage they inflicted on our economy, our border, and our national security. Every Democrat on the ballot owns that record. Kentuckians will reject it and stand with us to fully advance President Trump’s America First agenda.” Biden has not joined campaign events, with Fox News Digital also unable to find any public endorsements of 2025 political candidates as of Tuesday. Biden, notably, revealed in May that he was diagnosed with an aggressive form of prostate cancer that had metastasized to his bones. Biden has taken a step back from the public spotlight since his administration ended, but he did attend an event Sunday, when he received a lifetime achievement award for inspired leadership from the Edward M. Kennedy Institute. TRUMP’S SHADOW LOOMS LARGE OVER HEATED RACES ONE MONTH BEFORE ELECTION DAY “Friends, I can’t sugarcoat any of this. These are dark days,” Biden said during the event, adding that “our very democracy is at stake in my view.” Biden received the most votes in U.S. history during the 2020 race, at 81,283,501 votes, beating Obama’s 2008 record of about 69,498,516 votes, and President Donald Trump‘s 2024 election that delivered him 77,302,580 votes. Harris, meanwhile, is in the midst of an book tour to promote her new memoir, “107 Days,” which recounts her experiences on the 2024 campaign trail, including when Biden decided to drop out of the race July 21, 2024, and the party’s mad dash to rally around Harris as his replacement with just more than 100 days until Election Day. In New York City, socialist mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani is building endorsements and support from Democrats and left-wing members of the party, including New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries. Harris did offer support for Mamdani’s nomination to lead New York City while on her book tour, but has not offered endorsement campaign videos, joined rallies or taken part in other official campaign events like her party colleagues, Fox Digital found. “Look, as far as I’m concerned, he’s the Democratic nominee, and he should be supported,” Harris told MSNBC of Mamdani’s candidacy in a September interview, before offering stronger support days later while recounting a phone conversation she shared with the candidate. OBAMA, PELOSI, OTHER TOP DEMS RESISTED INSTANT HARRIS ENDORSEMENT CITING NEED TO ‘EARN IT,’ ‘HIKING’ EXCUSE When asked about Harris not having officially endorsed candidates in the three major 2025 elections, a spokesperson contended, “This isn’t true at all. I would do more research and come back to me when you’ve got the facts sorted out.” When it was noted that Harris has made some favorable comments about Mamdani but has yet to offer him a more formal endorsement or appear with him, Spanberger or Sherrill, Harris’ team was similarly dismissive, pointing to fundraising emails and “events for senate candidates,” although there are no candidates for U.S. Senate in the 2025 race. Harris did take part in a roughly two-minute prerecorded video message to young voters in July, as reported by the New York Post, rallying young voters to get involved in politics and stay committed to the “fight,” but did not cite specific campaigns. “Keep building your political power, keep building community, keep building coalitions, keep challenging the status quo,” Harris said in the prerecorded video. “And born out of our love for our country, keep fighting to build a country and a nation that works for everyone,” she said. “And I look forward to continuing in the fight alongside you. You take care.” Gen Z conservative podcast host and political commentator Brilyn Hollyhand told Fox News Digital, when asked about
‘Unprecedented’ antisemitism panel tackles surging national issue
EXCLUSIVE: Federal judges will tackle antisemitism at an annual convention next week, joining a rare multi-judge panel in a forum typically reserved for one-person lectures, Fox News Digital has learned. U.S. District Judge Roy Altman, who will moderate the discussion, said the panel is “unprecedented” and a needed change to address what he said was a rise in antisemitism in the aftermath of Hamas’ terrorist attack on Israel in 2023. The panel is part of the Federalist Society’s annual National Lawyers Convention. “This conversation on faith, understanding, and moral responsibility could not be more timely,” Altman said. “It reflects the importance of the moment, the endurance of Western values, and Judge [Robert] Bork’s abiding belief in moral clarity and in the strength that comes from open dialogue.” NYU BLOCKS OCT. 7 CAMPUS TALK BY JEWISH CONSERVATIVE, CITING SECURITY CONCERNS The event has for years been named after the late Bork, who, incidentally, once helped break a law firm’s avoidance of hiring Jewish lawyers, according to Senate testimony by his peers in 1987. The judges who will participate in the discussion include seven Trump appointees, including Altman, one appointee of former President George Bush, and a justice of the Texas Supreme Court. In an interview with Fox News Digital, Altman, a vocal Jewish judge who is based in the Southern District of Florida, said he has also arranged numerous trips for federal judges of varying faiths to visit Israel after the Oct. 7 attack. He said that although his personal conversations about Israel had largely been centered on campuses, “it became clear” to him that the judiciary needed to chime in because heated discourse surrounding the topic involved legal questions. The deadly attack in Israel reignited conflict in Gaza and led to nationwide anti-Israel protests, especially on U.S. college campuses. Protesters claimed Israel was killing thousands of innocent Palestinians in Gaza indiscriminately, while the Israeli government said it gave fair warning about its offensive and that its targets were Hamas terrorists. “Those claims, is Israel violating the laws of war? Is it an apartheid state? Does it occupy land that doesn’t belong to it?” Altman said. “Those are just legal questions with legal answers, and I thought, who better than federal judges to understand what the applicable legal rule is, to adduce and find out what the relevant facts are, and then to apply the facts to the law and issue a judgment, than a federal judge.” Some of the judges who will participate on the panel have been on Altman’s Israel trips. The Federalist Society indicated that the judges plan to speak about their personal experiences talking with people of other faiths about anti-Jewish sentiments. They also plan to address First Amendment concerns surrounding antisemitism. FEDERAL JUDGE LAUNCHES SCATHING BROADSIDE OF TRUMP’S EFFORTS TO DEPORT PRO-PALESTINIAN PROTESTERS The discussion comes as the Trump administration has aggressively targeted noncitizens for speech that it has claimed in court is at odds with its national security posture because it is too critical of Israel and potentially supportive of Hamas. Free speech proponents have warned that offensive and politically charged speech is protected under the Constitution. In the case of Mahmoud Khalil, which has become a flashpoint in these discussions, the courts have been examining the extent to which noncitizens enjoy First Amendment protections. Altman said he has observed a one-sidedness in the opposite direction on campuses and that pro-Israel expression has been suppressed. Just this year, New York University canceled Jewish legal scholar Ilya Shaprio’s talk there because of what it said were security risks from protesters. “I was shocked, honestly, to discover that so many young people in our country, especially on our college campuses, had a totally incorrect view about the one Jewish state in the world and its role in the Middle East and its history and how it came to be, and it also became clear that the sort of debate that was taking place on campus wasn’t really a debate, because only one side of the story was being told,” Altman said.
Beijing is quietly dictating the trade war’s next moves as Trump and Xi prepare to meet
The U.S.-China trade war is shifting from a tariff fight to a contest of leverage – and Beijing is quietly setting the tempo. As President Donald Trump raises the volume, Beijing is adjusting the dials, fine-tuning export controls, critical minerals and supply chains. The move leaves Washington reacting to Beijing’s playbook instead of writing the next move, a dynamic that will hang over Trump’s next encounter with Chinese President Xi Jinping. On Thursday, the two leaders of the world’s largest economies are set to meet on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit in Busan, South Korea. It will be their first face-to-face meeting since Trump’s return to office. CHINA BLASTS NEW US TRADE CURBS, AS TREASURY SECRETARY NOTES TALKS BACK ON TRACK For Trump, the visit is more than diplomatic choreography, it’s a stage for his economic doctrine. He’s anchored his Washington comeback on the idea of U.S. economic firepower, framing his battle cry around restoring American dominance in global trade and emerging technologies. In doing so, his administration has pressed allies and rivals alike to revisit trade terms, wielding tariffs as both weapon and warning. “There are a lot of arrows in the Chinese quiver,” Bryan Burack, a senior policy advisor for China and the Indo-Pacific at the Heritage Foundation, told Fox News Digital. “The fact of the matter is that they can literally make more moves than we can. They have more coercive tools to use against us, and they can deploy them easier,” Burack added, pointing to U.S. industrial dependencies. “China has been decoupling from us for a long time,” Burack said. “So a lot of these moves that look like retaliation are really part of Xi Jinping’s long-standing effort to sever dependence on the United States and build self-reliance on critical technologies. Unfortunately, the only way for us to respond is to do the same and that process is painful and excruciating,” he added. Clark Packard, a research fellow at the Herbert A. Stiefel Center for Trade Policy Studies at the Cato Institute, said the perception that China now holds the upper hand is misplaced. TRUMP’S FOCUS TURNS TO JAPAN AND SOUTH KOREA AS ASIA TRIP CONTINUES “It is the most important bilateral relationship. It’s the most important geopolitical relationship,” Packard said. “But policymakers in the United States are overestimating China’s economic strength. Beijing believes global power is tilting its way, but that kind of defeatism in Washington is overdone. China’s economy isn’t nearly as strong as many people think.” He pointed to deep imbalances within China’s economy as evidence. “It’s focused far too heavily on manufacturing and not enough on domestic consumption,” he said. “The country is increasingly dependent on exports and much of the world is growing uneasy with China’s outsized share of global trade,” Packard added. Henrietta Levin, a senior fellow on China studies at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit, said Trump and Xi will likely try to cool tensions on Thursday, at least for now. “Both sides are seeking a period of stability in the relationship,” said Levin, a former deputy China coordinator at the State Department. “They may reach a limited arrangement, but on whose terms remain to be seen. China is confident it has the upper hand in the trade war and the broader relationship, so Beijing will be reluctant to make meaningful concessions without getting much more in return.” CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Levin said that confidence stems from Beijing’s belief that the U.S. can’t absorb economic pain as deeply or as patiently as China can, betting that any trade war will hurt Washington faster and harder. “What would really strengthen the U.S. hand is deepening partnerships, especially in Asia. Creating a common front against Chinese aggression and unfair trade practices, rather than trying to confront China and its allies at the same time.” Levin added that Washington must also regain control of the diplomatic narrative. “The U.S. would be better off setting the terms of the relationship rather than merely reacting,” she said. “It feels like we may have lost the plot in our diplomacy with China and have lost sight of the structural economic issues the trade war was originally meant to address.”
Federal court to review case relating to Trump’s authority to send National Guard troops to Portland, Oregon
A federal court will rehear a case relating to President Donald Trump’s authority to send National Guard troops to Portland, Oregon. The decision from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit happened after U.S. District Judge Karen Immergut issued two back-to-back restraining orders blocking Trump from deploying California National Guard soldiers to Portland and blocking Trump from deploying any National Guard soldiers to Portland, respectively. The government appealed the first order, and a Ninth Circuit panel decided last week in a 2-1 decision to side with Trump in that matter. Then on Tuesday, the appeals court decided it would rehear the case over Trump’s authority with a larger panel of 11 judges and vacated the ruling from the three-judge panel that sided with the administration. TRUMP TEAM URGES OREGON JUDGE TO END RESTRAINING ORDER BLOCKING NATIONAL GUARD “Upon the vote of a majority of nonrecused active judges, it is ordered that this case be reheard en banc pursuant to Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 40(c),” the court said in a short order issued Tuesday. There is no immediate timetable when the “en banc” court – consisting of a random selection of 11 Ninth Circuit judges – will hear the case. Immergut, a Trump appointee, will preside over the trial in Portland set to begin Wednesday stemming from a lawsuit filed by the city and state against the Trump administration in a bid to block the troop deployment. During the trial, witnesses are expected to take the stand for both sides and face cross-examination. The federal defendants will call officials from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the War Department and the Federal Protective Service, the agency that provides security for federal buildings. Immergut previously categorized protests in the city as relatively small and said such demonstrations did not justify the use of federalized forces and that the deployment could harm Oregon’s state sovereignty. “This country has a longstanding and foundational tradition of resistance to government overreach, especially in the form of military intrusion into civil affairs,” Immergut wrote in one filing, adding, “This historical tradition boils down to a simple proposition: this is a nation of Constitutional law, not martial law.” 9TH CIRCUIT COURT RULES ON TRUMP’S NATIONAL GUARD DEPLOYMENT IN PORTLAND Trump has deployed or threatened to deploy troops in several U.S. cities, particularly ones led by Democrats, including Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., Chicago and Memphis, Tenn. “I looked at Portland over the weekend, the place is burning down, just burning down,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office last week. Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield has said, “Portland is not the president’s war-torn fantasy.” “Our city is not ravaged, and there is no rebellion,” Rayfield also said. “Members of the Oregon National Guard are not a tool for him to use in his political theater.” Fox News Digital’s Ashley Oliver, Lee Ross and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
House conservatives to lead prayer for end to political violence, government shutdown
FIRST ON FOX: The House Freedom Caucus is holding an event this week aimed at praying for an end to political violence as well as those affected by the ongoing government shutdown. The conservative caucus’ prayer call will be co-led by the Family Research Council, a Christian public policy group. Attendees are expected to include House Republicans in the Freedom Caucus, former Trump Cabinet official Ben Carson and Frank Turek of Turning Point USA, whose founder Charlie Kirk was assassinated in an act of political violence earlier this year. BATTLEGROUND REPUBLICANS HOLD THE LINE AS JOHNSON PRESSURES DEMS ON SHUTDOWN In addition to prayers for an end to political violence and the government shutdown, attendees are also expected to pray for President Donald Trump, Congress and peace for Israel. The event is slated for Thursday, which will mark Day 30 of the ongoing government shutdown. There appears to be no clear end in sight to the fiscal standoff, with both Republicans and Democrats still firmly entrenched in their positions. Republicans are pushing for a short-term extension of fiscal year (FY) 2025 federal spending levels called a continuing resolution (CR), aimed at giving congressional negotiators more time to strike a more enduring deal for FY2026, which began on Oct. 1. The GOP bill also included some $88 million in increased security spending for Congress, the White House and the Supreme Court, given the heightened political threat environment. 58 HOUSE DEMS VOTE AGAINST RESOLUTION HONORING ‘LIFE AND LEGACY’ OF CHARLIE KIRK That measure passed the House on Sept. 19 with support from just one Democrat and all but two Republicans. It’s stalled in the Senate, however, where at least five more Democrats are needed to overcome a filibuster. Democratic leaders are demanding any funding bill be paired with an extension of COVID-19-era Obamacare subsidies that are set to expire at the end of this year. Senate Democrats tanked the GOP’s bill 13 times since Sept. 19.
GOP senators push for Charlie Kirk statue in Trump’s National Garden of American Heroes
FIRST ON FOX: More than a dozen Republican senators want to see the slain conservative activist Charlie Kirk included in President Donald Trump’s proposed pantheon of American heroes. In a letter to Trump led by Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., the lawmakers requested that Kirk be included in the National Garden of American Heroes, a massive project of 250 life-size statues of some of the country’s most notable figures. If included, Kirk would join the likes of Abraham Lincoln, Kobe Bryant, Martin Luther King Jr., Amelia Earhart and Albert Einstein, among several others, in the proposed statuary park. CHARLIE KIRK ASSASSINATION SPARKS SENATE HEARING ON ‘LEFT-WING POLITICAL VIOLENCE,’ SCHMITT VOWS ACTION “The inclusion of Mr. Kirk in the National Garden would not only honor his personal achievements but would also underscore the vital role that civic engagement plays in our national heritage,” the lawmakers wrote. “Recognizing leaders who encourage participation and dialogue ensures that the Garden reflects both the historical and contemporary voices that continue to shape America.” Kirk was assassinated last month in Orem, Utah, while addressing an audience at Utah Valley University. Since then, lawmakers have pushed for a commemorative coin in his honor; he was posthumously honored by Trump with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and his birthday, Oct. 14, was honored as the Charlie Kirk Day of Remembrance. SCHUMER ACCUSES TRUMP OF EXPLOITING CHARLIE KIRK’S DEATH TO LAUNCH POLITICAL ‘WITCH HUNT’ The latest move to see a statue of Kirk erected in the proposed park in South Dakota, which would sit near Mount Rushmore, also has the backing of his widow, Erika Kirk. She said in a statement to Fox News Digital that her late husband “forever changed the direction of this country, and he made it [a] better place for our children, young people and families. Charlie’s legacy will be felt for generations to come.” CHARLIE KIRK COULD BE PLACED ON US CURRENCY UNDER NEW HOUSE GOP PROPOSAL “My husband was a modern American Founding Father, and he deserves every honor and accolade this nation can bestow on him,” she said. “I am grateful to Senator Cassidy and the 14 other senators who have nominated Charlie for this tremendous honor.” The National Garden of Heroes was first established by Trump through an executive order in 2020 and later reaffirmed in one of his last executive orders during his first term in early 2021. It later got an injection of $40 million in funding from his “big, beautiful bill,” which he signed into law in July. In the order, Trump said that the garden would be “built to reflect the awesome splendor of our country’s timeless exceptionalism.” “In short, each individual has been chosen for embodying the American spirit of daring and defiance, excellence and adventure, courage and confidence, loyalty and love,” Trump said. “Astounding the world by the sheer power of their example, each one of them has contributed indispensably to America’s noble history, the best chapters of which are still to come.” Trump’s plan, according to a grant application portal that teed up the project’s ambitious timeline, is to have the marble, granite, bronze, copper or brass life-size statues created and situated in the garden by July 2026 to commemorate the country’s 250th anniversary.
Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 1,343
Here are the key events from day 1,343 of Russia’s war on Ukraine. Published On 29 Oct 202529 Oct 2025 Click here to share on social media share2 Share Here is how things stand on Wednesday, October 29, 2025: Fighting Russia launched 396 attacks on 15 settlements in Ukraine’s southern Zaporizhia region, killing one person and injuring three others, Governor Ivan Fedorov said on Tuesday. Russian forces also launched drone attacks, air strikes and artillery shelling across Ukraine’s Kherson region, killing one person and wounding six, the head of the Kherson Regional Military Administration, Oleksandr Prokudin, said on Tuesday. A woman who was wounded in a Russian attack on the Kherson region on Monday died as a result of her injuries, Prokudin added. The head of the Kharkiv Regional Military Administration, Oleh Syniehubov, said on national television that only 561 residents remain in the city of Kupiansk, in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region, as of midday on Tuesday. Thousands of people have been evacuated from the city, which had a population of more than 26,000 prior to the war, as Russian forces advanced. Ukrainian attacks killed an 85-year-old woman in the Russian-occupied part of Ukraine’s Kherson, according to a local official. The Russian-installed Governor of Kherson, Vladimir Saldo, said that Ukrainian attacks on power lines and substations in the region had left 5,800 people without electricity. In Russia, Ukrainian forces sent drones towards Moscow for a third consecutive night, disrupting air traffic around the Russian capital, authorities there said late on Tuesday. Ukrainian forces killed a person in the Russian border region of Bryansk, according to a local official. Ambassador-at-Large of the Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Rodion Miroshnik told the TASS state news agency that Ukrainian attacks on Russian regions in the past week killed nearly 20 people, including a child. Russian forces shot down 124 Ukrainian drones in a 24-hour period, TASS reported, citing the Russian Ministry of Defence. Advertisement Politics and Diplomacy Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Tuesday that Kyiv was ready for peace talks with Russia, but it would not cede more territory as Moscow has demanded. He also said that Ukrainian and European officials would meet at the end of the week to discuss the details of a ceasefire plan. “It is not a plan to end the war. First of all, a ceasefire is needed,” Zelenskyy said. “This is a plan to begin diplomacy… Our advisers will meet in the coming days; we agreed on Friday or Saturday. They will discuss the details of this plan.” The Ukrainian leader also urged United States President Donald Trump to pressure Chinese leader Xi Jinping to end his support for Russia when the two leaders meet later this week. He added that Ukraine needs European financial support to continue its defence against Russian forces for another two or three years. Germany’s economy minister, Katherina Reiche, told Reuters that the US government has provided written assurances that the German business of Russia’s Rosneft company would be exempt from new oil sanctions because the assets are no longer under Russian control. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the Kremlin acknowledges Trump’s statements urging other countries to stop buying Russian oil, but that Russia’s partners will make their own decisions on whether to continue buying its energy products. Peskov also claimed that Russia cannot assess the status of peace negotiations with Ukraine because Kyiv has put them on hold, and is unwilling to answer questions posed by Russia. Many Indian refiners have paused new orders for Russian oil since the US’s latest sanctions on Moscow, according to Reuters, but the state-run Indian Oil said it would not stop buying Russian oil as long as it is complying with sanctions. “Russian crude is not sanctioned. It is the entities and the shipping lines which have got sanctions,” Anuj Jain, Indian Oil’s finance director, said. “Today, if somebody comes to me with a non-sanctioned entity, and the cap is being complied with, and the shipping is OK, then I will continue to buy it,” he said. The Indian state-owned warplane maker Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd said on Tuesday that it signed an initial agreement to build civil commuter aircraft with the United Aircraft Corporation, a Russian aerospace firm subject to Western sanctions. Weapons Zelenskyy said that Ukraine, which has significantly increased its production of weapons during the war, is planning to begin controlled exports of arms from next month. US Permanent Representative to NATO Matthew Whitaker told Bloomberg that he expects $12bn to $15bn dollars will be raised to buy weapons for Ukraine into 2026. “It’s going to be US weapons… And I think this is another example of Europe stepping up, of our NATO allies here on the continent, stepping up and supporting Ukraine,” he said, referring to the Trump administration’s move towards ensuring European countries buy US weapons to support Ukraine, rather than the US government providing them. Advertisement Adblock test (Why?)
North Korea test-fires cruise missiles as Trump visits South Korea
Pyongyang says the tests in the Yellow Sea were aimed at impressing its abilities upon its ‘enemies’. Published On 29 Oct 202529 Oct 2025 Click here to share on social media share2 Share North Korea has test-fired several sea-to-surface cruise missiles into its western waters, according to state media, hours before United States President Donald Trump begins a visit to South Korea. The official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said on Wednesday that the missiles, carried out in the Yellow Sea on Tuesday, flew for more than two hours before accurately striking targets. Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of list Top military official Pak Jong Chon oversaw the test and said “important successes” were being achieved in developing North Korea’s “nuclear forces” as a war deterrent, according to KCNA. The test was aimed at assessing “the reliability of different strategic offensive means and impress their abilities upon the enemies”, Pak said. “It is our responsible mission and duty to ceaselessly toughen the nuclear combat posture,” he added. South Korea’s joint chiefs of staff said on Wednesday that the military had detected the North Korean launch preparations and that the cruise missiles were fired in the country’s northwestern waters at about 3pm (06:00 GMT) on Tuesday. The joint chiefs said South Korea and the US were analysing the weapons and maintaining a combined defence readiness capable of a “dominant response” against any North Korean provocation. North Korea’s latest launches followed short-range ballistic missile tests last week that it said involved a new hypersonic system designed to strengthen its nuclear war deterrent. The latest test came hours before an expected summit between Trump and South Korean President Lee Jae Myung in the city of Gyeongju, where South Korea is hosting this year’s Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meetings. Advertisement Trump has expressed interest in meeting with Kim during his stay in South Korea, where he is also scheduled to hold a summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping. However, South Korean officials have said that a Trump-Kim meeting is unlikely. Kim has said he still personally holds “fond memories” of Trump, but has also said he would only be open to talks if Washington stops insisting his country give up its nuclear weapons programme. North Korea has shunned any form of talks with Washington and Seoul since Kim’s high-stakes nuclear diplomacy with Trump fell apart in 2019, during the US president’s first term. Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi meet with relatives of Japanese nationals abducted by North Korea, at the Akasaka Palace state guest house in Tokyo, Japan, on Tuesday [Kiyoshi Ota/Pool via Reuters] Before flying to South Korea, Trump was in Tokyo, where he met with families of Japanese abducted by North Korea on Tuesday, telling them that “the US is with them all the way” as they asked for help to find their loved ones. After years of denial, North Korea admitted in 2002 that it had sent agents to kidnap 13 Japanese people decades ago, who were used to train spies in Japanese language and customs. Japan says that 17 of its citizens were abducted, five of whom were repatriated. North Korea has said that eight are dead as of 2019, and another four never entered the country. Adblock test (Why?)