Iranian leader Khamenei said to order reprisal attack on Israeli military sites – The Times of Israel

  1. Iranian leader Khamenei said to order reprisal attack on Israeli military sites  The Times of Israel
  2. The latest on war in the Middle East: Live updates  CNN
  3. Iran preparing major retaliatory strike from Iraq within days, Israeli intel suggests  Axios
  4. Iranian Officials Threaten Retaliation for Israeli Strikes  The New York Times
  5. Was Israel’s tempered response to Iran prelude to something bigger?  The Hill
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Head of government’s new value for money office ‘to be paid £950 a day’

David Goldstone to advise chancellor and chief secretary to the Treasury on ways to cut public spending

David Goldstone, the government’s new value for money chair, will receive a daily salary rate of £950, it has been reported.

The position was announced by the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, as part of Wednesday’s budget statement. She said Goldstone, who will be in post for a year, would “help us realise the benefits from every pound of public spending”.

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At least 46 Palestinians killed in Israeli strikes, hospital hit, says Gaza ministry – Reuters.com

  1. At least 46 Palestinians killed in Israeli strikes, hospital hit, says Gaza ministry  Reuters.com
  2. IDF hits north Gaza’s last functioning hospital, officials say; U.S. envoys visit Israel  The Washington Post
  3. Strike on Gaza Hospital Destroys U.N. Supplies, Palestinian Officials Say  The New York Times
  4. IDF says it hit terrorists hiding in Gaza hospital, claims Hamas crumbling in Jabalia  The Times of Israel
  5. Director of north Gaza hospital won’t leave despite killing of his son  Al Jazeera English
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Russian court fines Google $2,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 for blocking YouTube content – Fox Business

  1. Russian court fines Google $2,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 for blocking YouTube content  Fox Business
  2. Russia fines Google $20,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000  CNN
  3. Russia fines Google $20 decillion, more than the world's GDP  NBC News
  4. Russia says $20 decillion fine against Google is ‘symbolic’  The Guardian
  5. Russia fines Google $2.5 decillion for YouTube bans—eclipsing global GDP  Fortune
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Israel-Hezbollah: US envoys in ceasefire push – BBC.com

  1. Israel-Hezbollah: US envoys in ceasefire push  BBC.com
  2. Live Briefing: U.S. pushes to rekindle peace talks; hospital hit in northern Gaza  The Washington Post
  3. US attempts to broker ceasefire as civilians killed in Lebanon and Israel  The Guardian
  4. Israel said seeking US commitment for freedom of action if Hezbollah breaches truce  The Times of Israel
  5. Israel wants to enforce any Lebanon ceasefire deal, Netanyahu tells US envoys  Reuters
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Foreign governments are using ChatGPT to influence voters, report finds – NBC Washington

  1. Foreign governments are using ChatGPT to influence voters, report finds  NBC Washington
  2. Foreign Adversaries Target Specific Demographics in Attempt to Sway U.S. Election  The Wall Street Journal
  3. Russian disinformation network with ties to notorious ‘troll factory’ is taking aim at the US election, analysis finds  CNN
  4. Rival nations try to ‘divide, degrade, deceive’ US voters, experts say  Military Times
  5. How Russia, China and Iran Are Interfering in the Presidential Election  The New York Times
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Reeves told she will have to raise further £9bn to avoid UK public service cuts

Warning from comes after Rachel Reeves’s record tax-raising budget sent tremors through financial markets

Rachel Reeves has been warned an extra £9bn of tax rises may be required to avoid a fresh austerity drive in key public services as her record tax-raising budget sent tremors through the financial markets.

Threatening to undermine the chancellor’s claim that her budget would restore economic stability to Britain, government borrowing costs rose sharply in the City on Thursday as traders turned on Reeves’s tax and spending measures.

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Sara Sharif’s father ‘hit her like crazy’ and made her do sit-ups all night, court hears

Stepmother’s WhatsApp messages read out at Old Bailey in trial over death of 10-year-old in Surrey last year

The father of Sara Sharif forced his daughter to do sit-ups all night because she hid his keys, a court has heard.

Urfan Sharif was also said to have made the schoolgirl put her hands in the air after beating her so badly her stepmother, Beinash Batool, feared he would break her arms and legs.

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Authorities in Mexican state warn residents to avoid Halloween costumes

In Sinaloa state, police have asked for security measure so revelers aren’t mistaken for criminals amid cartel violence

Authorities in the Mexican state of Sinaloa have ordered residents not to don masks or costumes for Halloween to avoid being confused with criminals amid a worsening cycle of cartel violence.

Home to the powerful Sinaloa cartel, the north-western state has been wracked by deadly infighting between factions of the group following the arrest of one of its leaders, drug trafficker Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, in the United States in late July.

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U.S. Officials Try to Advance Israel’s Cease-Fire Talks With Hezbollah and Hamas – The New York Times

  1. U.S. Officials Try to Advance Israel’s Cease-Fire Talks With Hezbollah and Hamas  The New York Times
  2. Hamas rejects any hostage deal that doesn’t end war, despite mediators’ efforts  The Times of Israel
  3. Hamas rejects proposal for 30-day Gaza ceasefire  Semafor
  4. Israeli Strike in Iran Should Mark End of Tit For Tat Between Two Nations  Department of Defense
  5. Hamas open to discussing new deal securing end to Gaza war, Israeli pull-out, group official says  Reuters
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About 8,000 North Korean soldiers at Ukraine border, says US

Antony Blinken warns that Russia is preparing to deploy the troops into combat ‘in the coming days’

About 8,000 North Korean soldiers are stationed in Russia on the border with Ukraine, the US secretary of state has said, warning that Moscow is preparing to deploy those troops into combat “in the coming days”.

Antony Blinken said the US believed that North Korea had sent 10,000 troops to Russia in total, deploying them first to training bases in the far east before sending the vast majority to the Kursk region on the border with Ukraine.

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Rachel Reeves’s most irritating manifesto fudge: private equity’s tax loophole | Nils Pratley

Labour said it would bring taxation of performance-related pay in the industry in line with others – but the chancellor had a change of heart

It has been almost two decades since Nicholas Ferguson, a grand figure in the private equity business, caused a storm by talking out loud about his industry’s dirty little secret. It could not be right, he said, that highly remunerated private equity executives could pay less tax than a cleaner or other low-paid workers.

Things have moved on a bit since 2007. So-called “carried interest”, or carry – the portion of an investment profit that the private equity managers retain as a bonus for success – is now taxed at 28% under the capital gains regime; in the old days, rates in effect as low as 10% could be secured thanks to various exceptions.

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