A Russian disinformation campaign is doctoring celebrity videos to meddle in the midterms

The Kremlin-backed operation, known as Matryoshka, has Hollywood actors telling voters to disavow the Democratic Party and vote Republican.

MS Now

Court Blocks Trump’s “Loyalty Question” on Civil Service Job Applications

Unions sued over the question, which asks job applicants to share how they would further the president’s agenda.

Truthout

Trump Lunges at Female Reporter Asking About Those Supposed $5K Checks

Donald Trump can’t handle even simple questions about his midterm bribe.

The New Republic

In Laredo, a County Judge and MAGA Convert Seeks to Topple Henry Cuellar

Tano Tijerina, who prominently switched parties after Trump’s 2024 inroads in South Texas, is trying to cash in on political connections while also casting himself as the insurgent outsider.

Texas Observer

Several Texas Republicans condemn Bo French’s racist posts calling Asian students at UT a “problem”

French, the Republican nominee for a statewide position regulating Texas’ oil and gas industry, posted a photo of University of Texas students, while decrying “foreigners” displacing Americans.

The Texas Tribune

25 years of reporting on the state of American Muslims 

During Trump’s second term, we’re seeing the emergence of a doggedly stronger and more unapologetic ownership of what it means to be American Muslim.

Religion News Service

They’ve Long Clashed on Voting Rights. Now They’re Facing Off for a Supreme Court Seat.

North Carolina Justice Anita Earls, a former voting rights lawyer, and Sarah Stevens, a longtime legislator, have been on opposite sides of election issues for over a decade.

Bolts

America’s air monitors are disappearing. So is your power to expose polluters.

Across several states, a quiet chemical industry campaign is making it harder to hold polluters accountable.

Verite News

Elon Musk Spends $100 Million on Anti-Trans Ads Targeting Dems in Midterm Races

Some of the candidates being targeted have already capitulated to the right on trans rights.

Truthout

Trump orders BLM to find public land for data centers

The Interior secretary is quietly meeting with AI hyperscalers while seeking to accommodate them on his department’s land.

The Salt Lake Tribune

Actor Tatyana Ali is advocating for Black and Indigenous maternal health

Actor and singer Tatyana Ali has become an important voice in a growing movement to improve maternity health outcomes for Black and Indigenous mothers and babies by addressing systemic racism and inequity in maternity care. Ali has been calling for reproductive justice since experiencing what she calls “obstetric violence” during the delivery of her first-born son Aszi in 2016.

NPR

Alien Terrorist Removal Court deports legal US resident to Afghanistan in first-ever case

Prosecutors alleged Nazira Haji Zada, 47, originally from Afghanistan, supported a plan by her son and son-in-law to commit an Islamic State-inspired mass shooting on Election Day in 2024, according to court documents. Both men have already been charged and will be deported following their release from prison. Haji Zada’s son, Abdullah Haji Zada, 19, was sentenced to 15 years in prison.

WFDD

As Data Centers Expand, Advocates Call for Regulations on Lights

Gokhale acknowledges that his cause might not be the first or second priority for most communities. It might not even be third, he said. Yet, he argues that it may be the easiest of environmental problems to solve.

“You don’t need to light up the place for these computers and memory banks to work. They’ll still work even if it’s completely dark,” Gokhale said. “You need light for certain other things, but you can minimize the pollution without affecting the quality of the data center product. You can’t make that same case with water and energy.”

Mississippi Free Press

In Japan, Ryūkyūan Indigenous claim hindered by U.S. military bases in Okinawa

It was not the first time this issue had arisen. Since 2008, various UN committees have issued six separate recommendations that the Japanese government recognize the Ryūkyūan people as an Indigenous group. Even so, the Japanese government has repeatedly refused to grant them Indigenous status.

Global Voices

Indonesia continues search for at least 129 missing after ferry capsizes, 6 bodies recovered

The ferry, with more than 240 people on board, was traveling from Surabaya in East Java to Banjarmasin in South Kalimantan province, on Borneo Island, officials said.

AP News

BRICS leaders meet in India as wars and US tensions test the bloc

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is hosting Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese President Xi Jinping, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and counterparts from the other eight BRICS members. The summit comes as wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, along with rising U.S.-China tensions, test the bloc’s ability to find common ground among countries with competing geopolitical interests.

NPR

UK Sanctions on Israeli Settlements Are a First Step. They Must Go Further.

The new sanctions may be groundbreaking, but they’re also full of loopholes — including for certain weapons exports.

Truthout

President Donald Trump touches a nerve while in Ireland by saying reunification would be ‘fantastic’

“I don’t want to cause any problems but I’d love to see it unified,” Trump told a reporter who sought his opinion on the issue. “It’s going to happen eventually. It may as well happen now.

“I think it would be a fantastic thing,” the Republican president said, adding that “the U.K. will have something to say about it, obviously.”

Chicago Tribune

One dead, more than 30 missing after Vanuatu ferry sinks, PM’s office says

Rescuers continue searching for survivors as the government scales back operations in open waters.

AlJazeera

Research: Average sea temperature hit record for 100 days

The researchers pointed out that the current sea surface temperature is about 1 degree Celsius higher than the average between 1982 and 2010. They said more than 90 percent of the excessive heat generated by global warming is absorbed by the ocean, leading to the rise.

NHK World

In cod we trust

As Northern cod stocks rebound, Newfoundlanders are expressing cautious optimism over a fish they nearly lost

Canadian Affairs

How Croatian communities are taking on planned poultry slaughterhouses

PCC, which said that more than 90 percent of production from its proposed Sisak-Moslavina project would be intended for export, valued its proposed investment at EUR 608 million (just over USD 708 million), while MHP’s separate Sisak-area project — paused in 2025 — was valued at EUR 350 million (close to USD 408 million).

Global Voices

Early apes may not have evolved in East Africa

A fossil jawbone suggests apes may have emerged in Africa’s north

Science News

Red Sea nations watch as Houthis seize Bab al-Mandeb strait

The seizure of Yemen’s coast creates an economic bottleneck for Egypt, security risks for Sudan and Somalia, and leverage for Eritrea and Djibouti.

AlJazeera

Mexican Activists Are Fighting Climate Crises by Stopping Extractive Violence

Indigenous activists and water defenders in Mexico are organizing to combat what they call “signs of planetary death.”

Truthout

Mark Carney’s Audacious Bid to Make Canada an ‘Associate Member’ of the EU

As trade talks with the U.S. collapse, prime minister pursues a major—and risky—pivot to Europe; an Ottawa book club plays its part

The Wall Street Journal

Kosovo protesters rally in support of ex-president ahead of war crimes trial verdict

Thousands of people rallied in Pristina on Saturday in support of Kosovo’s former President Hashim Thaci and three other ex-fighters ahead of their verdicts next week in a war crimes trial.

Thaci and three other former Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) commanders are facing alleged war crimes charges connected to the 1998-1999 separatist war from Serbia.

AP News

How a young woman was recruited to ISIS — and how she eventually escaped

“I started to make friends with some girls, and one of them was a returnee from Somalia who joined a terrorist organization called al-Shabab.” Al Shabab is a rebel group with ties to al-Qaida.

NPR