World
Protests against war and rising living costs filled squares in Rome, Milan, Turin, Naples and other Italian cities on Saturday, with scattered clashes reported. The wave of unrest started on 16 October with student sit-ins over low wages, high rents and cuts to school funding, and it has since merged with a separate movement of farmers and truck drivers in the south who are angry about diesel prices. Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has condemned the violence, and her cabinet approved a security package that allows troops to guard sensitive sites and sets heavier penalties for riot damage. With national elections due in 2027, the government is under pressure to answer the price question rather than only the policing one.
Reuters
Politics
Kimberly Guilfoyle has left her post as US ambassador to Greece after a report that she asked a donor to President Donald Trump for $100,000 to clear credit card debt shortly before her confirmation hearing. Trump had told reporters he was looking at firing her, and the White House moved quickly to close the issue rather than defend her. The departure removes a public distraction for Republicans weeks before the midterm elections, in which prices, the Iran war and candidate quality are already shaping races. Guilfoyle, a former Fox News host and longtime figure in Trump's orbit, has not given a detailed public account of the allegation.
NBC News
Business
Barclays will cut about 5,000 jobs this year, roughly 5 percent of its global workforce, as it puts more artificial intelligence into operational and functional work. The bank said 1,000 posts have already closed and another 4,000 will go by the end of 2026. Most of the losses fall in UK retail banking, though the investment bank is also affected. Barclays is the latest lender to tie job reductions directly to automation, after Standard Chartered announced more than 7,000 cuts in May. The announcement lands at an awkward moment for the wider economy, with US consumer sentiment near a record low and borrowing costs still elevated.
BBC News
Technology
The Nasdaq Composite fell 2.6 percent on Thursday, its steepest one-day drop since June, as investors questioned whether spending on artificial intelligence can keep paying off. The S&P 500 lost 1.21 percent and six of the seven biggest technology companies closed lower. Meta fell nearly 7 percent after lifting its capital spending forecast to between $135bn and $145bn while missing profit expectations. Nvidia dropped 4.4 percent, Intel and AMD each fell about 8 percent, and Broadcom lost 4.3 percent. Brent crude above $114 a barrel added to the pressure, and Asian markets opened lower on Friday.
Al Jazeera
Science
Researchers at the University of Exeter Medical School have drawn the most complete picture yet of the average human genome, using whole-genome sequences from nearly 900,000 adults in UK Biobank and the US All of Us programme. A typical person differs from the reference sequence at 4.3 to 5.3 million sites, but only about 1.5 percent of those variants are rare. The average genome carries roughly 229 variants predicted to disrupt gene function and one to three classified as pathogenic or likely pathogenic, mostly as healthy carriers of recessive conditions. The team also estimated about 61 new mutations at birth, most inherited from the father.
Sci.News
Sports
Milwaukee beat Tampa Bay 3-2 in Game 1 of the World Series on Friday, the franchise's first win in the Fall Classic since 1982. Rookie ace Jacob Misiorowski allowed one earned run over five innings and threw the fastest first pitch in World Series history, a 103.5 mph fastball to Yandy Diaz. Closer Trevor Megill loaded the bases in the ninth but struck out Jonny DeLuca after a replay review overturned a potential game-ending double play. Christian Yelich, William Contreras and Jackson Chourio each drove in a run. The Rays went 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position. Game 2 is Saturday night in Milwaukee.
theScore
Health
Adding a personalized cancer vaccine to standard immunotherapy after surgery cut the risk of melanoma returning or the patient dying by 42 percent in a phase 3 trial of 1,137 patients. The vaccine, intismeran, is built from each patient's own tumour and was given with pembrolizumab to people with stage IIB to IV melanoma at high risk of recurrence. Results were presented at the ESMO Congress by Professor Georgina Long of Melanoma Institute Australia. Patients who stayed recurrence-free beyond six months saw a 58 percent reduction. Side effects were mostly short-lived injection-site pain, headache and chills, and were not added to those of pembrolizumab.
Medical Xpress
Environment
About 294,000 people in Nepal live in areas of extreme flood risk, according to a study published in Scientific Reports, including 108,000 downstream of glacial lakes that could fail without warning. The research was completed before August's disaster on the Bhote Koshi river, when a rock and ice avalanche off Langtang Lirung sent a debris flow about 120 miles downstream, killing at least 1,455 people and leaving 5,285 missing. The authors found that built-up area within 50 vertical metres of riverbanks grew about 46 percent between 2016 and 2023, driven by tourism, trade routes and hydropower investment.
NBC News