World
Ukrainian drone strikes on St Petersburg killed at least one person and injured five, according to the city's governor, with fires at the St Petersburg oil terminal, the Ruchi oil depot and warehouses in Kolpino. Flights were restricted at the main airport, an Ozon logistics hub burned and VK said its data centre in the Leningrad region was attacked. The regional governor said 145 drones were downed and about 20,000 people lost power. Moscow said 1,015 Ukrainian drones were neutralised overnight. President Zelenskyy said Russian strikes killed two people in Ukraine and that Moscow had hit energy sites 76 times since a US-brokered energy ceasefire was announced a week ago.
Al Jazeera
Politics
A Fox News poll of 1,202 registered voters conducted October 9 to 12 found 36 percent approve of Trump's job performance and 64 percent disapprove, the lowest rating the network has recorded for him in either term. Approval had held at 39 percent since May, and the drop was sharpest among voters under 45, households below $50,000, non-White voters and people without a college degree. Approval of his handling of inflation fell to 22 percent, 74 percent rated the economy negatively and 53 percent expect it to worsen. The result comes three weeks before the November 3 midterm elections.
Fox News
Business
Bank of America was ordered to pay $1.21 billion to the US Treasury for anti-money laundering and sanctions violations, the third-largest penalty in the department's history. The bank admitted it willfully violated the Bank Secrecy Act and failed to file required suspicious activity reports, including for more than $5 billion in transactions. It also settled 475 apparent violations of sanctions programmes covering Russia, Belarus, Iran, Burma, Somalia, narcotics and global terrorism. Of the total, $750 million goes to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, its largest fine ever. The bank said it has invested billions in financial crime controls.
NBC News
Technology
Ricursive Intelligence, founded by Anna Goldie and Azalia Mirhoseini, is building AI systems that design chips, learn from each iteration and improve the next design. Speaking at TechCrunch Disrupt, the founders said demand for compute could rise 10,000-fold in five years and that the answer is more efficient silicon rather than more data centres. Their approach optimises whole chips instead of partitioning them into dozens of blocks, a method that produced the unexpected donut-shaped layouts of their earlier AlphaChip work. They argue that cutting design time from years to a week would make custom chips viable for space, AR, VR and biological computing.
TechCrunch
Science
Scientists at the University of Cambridge tested 39 sweeteners against 25 species of gut bacteria and found that about three-quarters altered the growth of at least one species. Some slowed or stopped microbes associated with a healthy digestive system. The strongest effect came when the sweetener isosteviol was combined with the antidepressant duloxetine, which suppressed two bacteria involved in digestion and blood sugar regulation and disturbed a simulated microbiome. The study, published in Molecular Systems Biology, was done in the laboratory rather than in people, and the authors say more work is needed before drawing conclusions about human health.
ScienceDaily
Sports
Manchester United drew 1-1 at Leeds United on Sunday, leaving Michael Carrick's side without a Premier League win since August. Bryan Mbeumo put United ahead before Dominic Calvert-Lewin equalised at Elland Road in a scrappy, intense derby. Lisandro Martinez kept his place after apologising for a midweek outburst at the club's hierarchy following a 2-0 Champions League defeat at Atletico Madrid. Leeds, who have started the season well, were chasing a first home win over United in 24 years. United have now won once in seven league matches and remain in the bottom half of the table.
Sky Sports
Health
CVS Pharmacy and its subsidiaries agreed to pay $315 million to settle a Justice Department lawsuit accusing them of dispensing medically unnecessary prescriptions for highly addictive opioids. The case, filed in 2024, alleged the company's staffing levels, performance metrics and incentive pay pushed pharmacists to fill prescriptions without checking whether they were legitimate, with many billed to Medicaid and other federal programmes. CVS denied wrongdoing. The settlement requires extra safeguards on dispensing controlled substances. It is the latest in a series of opioid settlements that have totalled more than $50 billion across the industry over the past decade.
Associated Press
Environment
NASA satellites have recorded a sharp rise in fires and smoke across the central and eastern Amazon since September 2026, with burning from around Manaus and Santarem east towards the mouth of the river. On October 12 the MODIS instrument on the Aqua satellite captured large smoke plumes on both sides of the Amazon. Fine particle pollution in Manaus passed 135 micrograms per cubic metre, schools closed and public events were cancelled. NASA scientist Douglas Morton describes a cascade in which El Nino drought ignites peat fires in Indonesia first, then spreads to the Amazon, with the risk that burning continues into 2027.
NASA Earth Observatory