World
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy says the Pentagon is delaying interceptor missiles that European countries have already paid for, and that the shipment is waiting for a signature from US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. Several European states have offered Patriot interceptors from their own stocks but still need US approval to transfer them. The complaint comes as White House envoy Steve Witkoff travels to Oslo to meet Zelenskiy and European leaders, then on to Moscow. Kyiv is also unsettled by Trump's plan to meet Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping in China next month.
Taipei Times / AFP
Politics
A Reuters/Ipsos poll that closed on Monday put President Donald Trump's approval rating at 31%, the lowest of either of his terms, with 68% of respondents disapproving of his handling of the economy. On the generic congressional ballot, Democrats lead Republicans 47% to 35%, a 12-point gap that is the widest of the election cycle and up from seven points two weeks earlier. The survey lands two weeks before the November 3 midterms, with all 435 House seats and 33 Senate seats on the ballot.
Reuters / Ipsos
Business
Saudi Arabia has postponed the Future Investment Initiative, informally known as Davos in the Desert, until 2027. The tenth edition had been due to run from October 26 to 29, with Alphabet president Ruth Porat, Goldman Sachs chief executive David Solomon and BlackRock's Laurence Fink listed as speakers. The decision follows weeks of Houthi strikes on Saudi infrastructure, including Riyadh's King Khalid International Airport, which killed at least 18 people. Government agencies in the capital have told staff to work from home.
Al Jazeera / AFP
Technology
The Department of Homeland Security has ordered federal civilian agencies to remove all products and services linked to Chinese AI developer DeepSeek from their IT systems and to stop buying them. A notice filed on Monday and published in the Federal Register covers the Treasury, State and Justice departments but exempts the Defense Department. DHS said the models present multiple threat vectors, including the risk that sensitive data could be transferred to China. The order relies on a 2018 federal supply-chain law.
DHS notice via POLITICO / Reuters
Science
The Orionid meteor shower reaches its peak on the night of October 21 and the morning of October 22. The meteors are dust shed by Halley's Comet, which passed through the inner solar system in 1986 and will not return until 2061. NASA says a bright Moon will wash out some of the fainter streaks this year, and the best viewing window is the hours before dawn, after the Moon sets. The shower radiates from the constellation Orion, which rises in the east after midnight.
NASA
Sports
The Tampa Bay Rays beat the Cleveland Guardians 7-3 in Game 6 of the American League Championship Series to reach the World Series for the third time in franchise history. Freddy Peralta allowed one run over 5 1/3 innings and was named ALCS MVP after going 2-0 with a 0.75 ERA. Junior Caminero and Yandy Diaz each hit two-run homers. The Rays face the Milwaukee Brewers, who swept the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NLCS. Game 1 is Friday at American Family Field.
theScore / MLB
Health
New CDC survey data show that about 1 in 38 hospitalised patients in the United States had at least one healthcare-associated infection in 2023, compared with 1 in 31 in 2015. The 2023 survey covered 13,653 patients at 218 hospitals in 10 states. An estimated 518,000 such infections occurred in US hospitals that year. Pneumonia, surgical site infections and gastrointestinal infections were the most common, and 61% were not linked to a medical device or procedure.
CDC / NEJM
Environment
Johan Rockstrom, director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, told the Reuters Sustainability Europe conference that global warming is accelerating and that damage to coral reefs and the Amazon rainforest is close to irreversible. He said parts of the Atlantic circulation, including the current that keeps Western Europe mild, are near collapse. The world is on course to exceed 1.5C of warming within a few years, ahead of the COP31 talks that begin on November 9.
Reuters / The Straits Times