World
Britain's domestic intelligence service says it now spends more on countering hostile states than it did during the Cold War. In his annual threat update, MI5 Director General Ken McCallum said the state threats caseload has quadrupled in a decade and that artificial intelligence is raising the ceiling for spies and terrorists alike. He named Russia as the top aggressor, said Iran is moving against harder targets such as military sites, and warned that violent groups could try to use AI to build bioweapons. Prime Minister Andy Burnham said Tehran was highly likely behind a suspected plot against RAF Fairford, a base used by US bombers.
Reuters
Politics
Elon Musk has become the biggest known donor of the 2026 midterm elections, directing $276 million toward an effort to keep Republicans in control of the Senate, according to reporting by The New York Times. The money ranks among the largest political donations by an individual in American history. Republicans are defending a narrow majority in a year when job growth has slowed, wage gains have trailed inflation and mortgage rates have climbed. The spending is concentrated on Senate races, where a single seat can decide who chairs committees and controls the confirmation calendar in Washington.
The New York Times
Business
Tencent Holdings raised about $5.7 billion on Tuesday through US dollar and offshore yuan bonds after investor orders came in at close to four times the amount the company had targeted. The Chinese technology group had been seeking at least $4.5 billion across four tranches. Demand held up even as concerns about the scale of global AI spending pushed technology shares lower earlier in the week. Tencent's capital spending more than doubled in the first half of 2026. Goldman Sachs credit strategists say AI-related debt issuance worldwide has passed $575 billion so far this year.
Reuters
Technology
Character Technologies, the company behind the Character.ai chatbot platform, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in Delaware on Oct. 12, listing estimated assets and liabilities of between $50 million and $100 million each. Disney agreed before the filing to act as stalking horse bidder, offering $20 million for a non-exclusive perpetual license to certain intellectual property plus transition services from former Character.ai employees it has hired. The platform is meant to keep running during the sale process. The company has faced lawsuits claiming its app contributed to mental health problems and suicides among teenagers.
CNN Business
Science
Researchers at EPFL in Switzerland have built the first three-dimensional atlas of the brain based on fats rather than genes, published in the journal Nature. The map revealed 539 chemically distinct regions, which the team calls lipizones. Some line up with structures scientists already knew, while others mark boundaries no gene-based map had shown. Regions far apart but linked by nerve fibres often share similar lipid patterns, and white matter turned out to be a patchwork of different chemical territories. The atlas gives researchers a reference for comparing healthy and diseased tissue in Alzheimer's research.
ScienceDaily / EPFL
Sports
The Portuguese Football Federation has suspended Cristiano Ronaldo and opened disciplinary proceedings after he walked out of the national team camp during the October international window. The 41-year-old left after a dispute with new coach Jorge Jesus over his lack of playing time in the Nations League. The case has gone to the federation's disciplinary investigation committee, and its findings will stay confidential. Under federation rules, abandoning a training session or national team activity without justification can bring a suspension of one to six months plus a fine. Portugal won all three games he missed.
Associated Press
Health
Kenyan health authorities are tracing 57 people who had contact with the country's first imported case of Bundibugyo virus disease, a form of Ebola. Ten contacts are in quarantine at the National Police Service Hospital in Nairobi. The patient travelled by land from the Democratic Republic of the Congo to Uganda, then flew to Nairobi on Oct. 3, and Kenya confirmed the case on Oct. 6. There is no approved vaccine or specific treatment for this strain. The World Health Organization says contact tracing and quarantine remain the main tools for stopping transmission, and has shipped medical supplies.
WHO / UN News
Environment
Rotting food waste produces up to 10 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions, about five times the total from the entire aviation industry, the UN Environment Programme warned this week. More than one billion meals are left uneaten every day, with about 60 per cent of the discarded food coming from households. The climate impact comes mostly from methane released when food decomposes in landfills; food waste alone accounts for up to 14 per cent of global methane emissions. The Food Waste Breakthrough launched at COP30 aims to halve food waste by 2030.
UN News / UNEP