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Oct 16, 2026 - World

Two Americans were “severely” beaten Thursday and Friday in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, and outrage poured in as U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee remained silent on the matter.Heidi Levine, a veteran journalist and photographer for The Washington Post, was “severely” beaten Friday, the Post reported, while “wearing a protective vest clearly marked PRESS on front and back.” She was “kicked repeatedly” after being knocked to the ground, and “stripped of her cameras and phone” by Israeli settlers.“I just got back actually two days ago from three weeks in Ukraine,” Levine said from a hospital bed, video shared by independent journalist Jasper Nathaniel showed. “I’ve been covering this conflict here for over three decades, and this is the second time that I’ve been brutally attacked — 15 years ago I was also attacked in front of the [Israeli] army.”Haitham Taysir, a U.S. citizen, was assaulted on Thursday “while working in his family’s olive groves,” The Vulnerable People Project reported.Huckabee, the chief diplomatic representative in Israel whose top responsibilities include protecting U.S. citizens, has condemned Israeli settler violence in the past. He has also, however, ignored violent attacks on Americans in Israel.“An American citizen, Haytham Taysir, was just severely beaten by settlers in his olive groves in Burqa, Ramallah,” wrote Nathaniel in a social media post on X. “[Huckabee], how’s that crackdown on settler terrorists going?”Nathaniel, who rushed to Levine’s aid shortly after the attack, provided additional details on the incident.“The [Israel Defense Forces] provided cover, with tear gas and machine guns, while the settlers beat Washington Post journalist Heidi Levine nearly to death,” Nathaniel wrote. “Then the IDF shot a Palestinian bystander, and aimed their guns and shoved the paramedics who were trying to treat him. All of this [is] documented.”Journalist and former MSNBC host Mehdi Hasan was left shaken by video of Levine receiving medical treatment.“Israeli settlers, funded and protected by the United States, attacked this female American journalist in her sixties,” Hasan wrote in a social media post on X.There are more than 700,000 Israeli settlers illegally living in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, with instances of Israeli settler violence reaching record-high levels in recent months.Heidi Levine is up and speaking from the hospital in Ramallah. https://t.co/VAar6Z7PSS— jasper nathaniel (@infinite_jaz) October 16, 2026

Oct 16, 2026 - World

Landslide blocks river and triggers downstream flooding, while summer temperatures persist in PortugalFlash floods have swept through Nepal’s central Gorkha district after a pre-dawn landslide on 11 October blocked the Budhi Gandaki River, triggering severe downstream flooding. Two villages in the worst-affected Chumanubri rural municipality were reportedly destroyed, with homes, roads and bridges washed away. Part of a hydropower station was also damaged.After river levels surged from 2 metres to nearly 8.5 metres within hours, the national disaster risk reduction and management authority reported that 204 homes were damaged, and more than 650 people had been affected. More than 100 foreign trekkers were stranded in the popular hiking region. The floods come just two months after catastrophic flooding and landslides devastated parts of the country on the border with Tibet, leaving thousands dead or missing. Continue reading...

Oct 16, 2026 - World

Images from New Zealand aerial survey of Nikumaroro in 1938 offer new clues over aviator’s disappearanceA New Zealand museum has released nearly 50 photos from a 1938 aerial survey of the island where Amelia Earhart is believed to have crash-landed, offering amateur sleuths new evidence to scour for traces of the pioneering aviator and her plane.The black-and-white images were published by the Air Force Museum of New Zealand after renewed interest in one of the biggest mysteries of the 20th century, spurred by a US expedition to the Pacific atoll of Nikumaroro in search of new clues. Continue reading...

Oct 16, 2026 - World

Mines in supply chains of western carmakers linked to widespread deforestation of primary rainforest in nickel-rich lands inhabited by Tolaki people in IndonesiaVolkswagen, Ford and Tesla are among the electric carmakers whose batteries may contain nickel mined in indigenous woodlands plagued by deforestation, an analysis has found, highlighting the struggle to make vehicles that are free from environmental destruction.Corporate disclosures and trade flows from the last two years show mines in the battery supply chains of automotive giants are linked to the loss of trees in Sulawesi, a wildlife hotspot in Indonesia that houses the world’s largest nickel deposits. The metal is widely used in cathodes in car batteries because it boosts energy density and increases range. Continue reading...

Oct 16, 2026 - World

Critics of President Donald Trump unloaded on his White House after a new report traced a deadly battlefield decision straight to his doorstep.Reuters reported Thursday that the order to limit Starshield, the military-grade version of SpaceX's Starlink service that Ukrainian troops use for drone operations and battlefield communications, came from inside the White House, according to two U.S. officials and a Western official briefed on the matter.Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said people were killed when interceptor drones relying on the system stopped working. On Wednesday, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk pinned the limits on the U.S. military and "ultimately" the president. A senior U.S. official insisted to Reuters that "no such request was ever made by the president."Marc Polymeropoulos, a former senior CIA operations officer, warned the fallout reached far beyond the battlefield."If true, this is a very big deal. Not just in terms of Ukrainian lives that were lost. I'm not sure if people realize that this put the lives of US embassy officials and US citizens at large in Ukraine at great risk," he cautioned on X. "This is madness. The White House did this. I've never seen anything like this in my career. Heads should roll."California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) zeroed in on a possible motive. "How much did Putin pay. And to whom?" he asked.Former Illinois Republican Rep. Joe Walsh didn't hold back in his reaction. "Trump is on Putin's side. Always has been," he fumed. "Trump is actively helping Putin kill Ukrainian men, women, and children." Walsh went on to brand the president a traitor who "should be treated as such."Miles Taylor, who served as Department of Homeland Security chief of staff during Trump's first term, called the revelation "a bigger scandal than Trump's first Ukraine impeachment."The Bulwark's Tim Miller skewered the White House order as "a huge gift from Trump to our ally Russia." His colleague Sam Stein, The Bulwark's managing editor, hailed the report as a "big scoop."MeidasTouch co-founder Ben Meiselas argued the order came from the "exact place the orders came from to cover up the Epstein Files, or destroy the Kennedy Center, or chop down the trees at the DC Golf Course."Journalist Michael Weiss summed up his reaction in a single sarcastic word. "Surprise," he quipped.If true, this is a very big deal. Not just in terms of Ukrainian lives that were lost. I’m not sure if people realize that this put the lives of US embassy officials and US citizens at large in Ukraine at great risk. This is madness. The White House did this. I’ve never seen anything like this in my career. Heads should roll. If true…— Marc Polymeropoulos (@Mpolymer) October 16, 2026