❌

Normal view

Congressman says he was praying at Hindu temple during alleged mass shooting attempt

15 October 2026 at 21:58

Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi was worshipping at a Hindu temple in suburban Chicago over the weekend when a 19-year-old man allegedly attempted to carry out a mass shooting, the Illinois Democrat said Thursday.

Illinois State Police said they arrested Alexandros Paporakis of Palatine on Sunday, hours after authorities received a tip that he was planning to attack people of Indian descent at the Sri Venkateswara Swami (Balaji) Temple in Aurora. Paporakis’ co-workers at Taco Bell called 911 on Sunday after he told them he went to the temple to carry out the attack but his gun jammed and that he planned to try again, prosecutors said.

“I am horrified that a white supremacist attempted to carry out a mass shooting targeting Indian Americans at the Hindu temple in Aurora where my family worships,” Krishnamoorthi said in a statement. “My family and I were there when the attack was attempted last Sunday.”

“The threat of such violence shows how dangerous anti-Indian hatred and white supremacy have become, and we cannot wait until innocent people are killed to take these threats seriously,” he continued. “Every American deserves to live and worship without fear, and we must stand together against hatred in all its forms.”

Investigators recovered a rifle, multiple loaded rifle magazines, body armor and hundreds of rounds of rifle ammunition from Paporakis’ home, according to authorities. They also said they found an eight-page document in which Paporakis describes himself as a “sociopathic white supremacist Neo Nazi” and espouses racist views against South Asian communities, particularly those of Indian descent, as well as other nonwhite people, including Black and Jewish people.

Paporakis has been charged with making a terrorist threat and unlawful possession of a weapon, which are both felonies. A judge on Wednesday ordered Paporakis to remain in custody pending trial, with his next court hearing scheduled for Oct. 30.

Several South Asian lawmakers expressed concern about the planned attack and support for Krishnamoorthi.

“I am incredibly grateful that local law enforcement thwarted this attempted mass shooting by a white supremacist and that the worshipers at this temple are safe,” Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., said Thursday. “Attacks on South Asians have been on the rise, online and by leaders in our own government. This hate, racism, and violence are absolutely unacceptable, are traumatizing our communities, and must end.”

Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., who is Hindu, said in a video shared Thursday that he is “angered” by the attempted mass shooting at the temple.

“His evil is only surpassed by his ignorance,” Khanna said of the suspect. “Hinduism, ironically, is a faith that believes in nonviolence. This kind of hate crime has no place in our society.”

The post Congressman says he was praying at Hindu temple during alleged mass shooting attempt appeared first on MS NOW.

Ukraine’s military now orders supplies based on real front-line data, not guesswork, lawmaker says. Shift comes under new commander-in-chief

15 October 2026 at 21:41

The image shows Ukrainian soldiers on motorcycles. Source: The 3rd Separate Assault Brigade

New Ukrainian Commander-in-Chief Mykhailo Drapatyi is moving away from his predecessor’s legacy on several fronts, making the army more human-centric and tying procurement to its real needs, lawmaker Yehor Cherniev of the Parliamentary Defense Committee says, per NV.

Drapatyi took over as commander-in-chief on 21 July 2026, after protests over the sacking of Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov widened into demands for a military shake-up. His guiding principles, Cherniev says, differ sharply from those of his predecessor, Oleksandr Syrskyi.

The change is spelled out in a document Drapatyi published, “Principles of Leadership of the Commander-in-Chief and the Development of the Force in Wartime,” which sets out his intent and priorities. Its core is human-centricity.

“War demands resolve, but never recklessness. Every unjustified loss weakens the Armed Forces,” Drapatyi writes in the document, addressing commanders.

A command philosophy built around the soldier

The document sets out a single objective, eight priorities, 14 requirements for commanders and eight expectations of headquarters, with the protection of the country, its cities, villages and critical infrastructure at the top of the list. People, it says, are the most valuable combat capability.

Commanders and staff are required to give honest assessments and not let optimism, fear or personal ambition distort reality while preparing soldiers for combat, reducing unjustified risk, caring for the wounded, honoring the fallen and supporting their families.

Support does not end when service does: those who defended Ukraine must get proper rehabilitation, recognition and opportunities, the document says.

Buying what the front actually needs

The second shift Cherniev flags is in procurement. Under Drapatyi, the General Staff began shaping the army’s purchasing needs anew, adapting them to approaches introduced at the Defense Ministry under Fedorov, so orders follow real front-line demand rather than guesswork.

“The General Staff now works from real data, not just pointing a finger at the sky, but this product is needed in this quantity. That makes procurement fairly transparent and clear,” Cherniev says.

He frames both changes, on people and on purchasing, as the most important Drapatyi has brought to the armed forces.

Israel Cuts Off Commercial Goods From Entering Gaza as It Continues Attacks

15 October 2026 at 21:40
Israel has cut off the shipment of commercial goods from Israel into the Gaza Strip, tightening the siege of the besieged Palestinian territory, as its forces continue daily attacks in violation of the US-backed ceasefire deal. According to a report from The Associated Press, the Israeli military’s occupation authority, COGAT, announced on Thursday that commercial […]

Nineteen injured in collision between minibus and train on Eurotunnel loading platform

Two people critically hurt when vehicle carrying HGV drivers hit stationary train in Calais, say French authorities

Nineteen people have been injured after a minibus collided with a stationary freight train at the loading platform of the Eurotunnel near Calais, French authorities have said.

Pas-de-Calais underprefect Agathe Cury said 18 passengers and the bus driver were injured in the incident.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: MAXPPP/Alamy

© Photograph: MAXPPP/Alamy

© Photograph: MAXPPP/Alamy

Trump administration sues California to block ballots from alleged noncitizens

15 October 2026 at 21:26

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — The Trump administration sued California election officials Thursday, asking a judge to bar the state from counting mail-in ballots for next month’s midterm elections from people the federal government has identified as “likely” noncitizens until their status can be confirmed.

The lawsuit comes after the Justice Department said California officials failed to meet a 48-hour deadline to review a password-protected thumb drive that contains a list of 20,000 names the federal government believes are likely noncitizens who were sent ballots to participate in the Nov. 3 election. The state mails ballots to all registered voters. A top Justice Department official had sent a letter earlier this week threatening potential legal action if California didn’t comply.

California Secretary of State Shirley Weber said in a letter to the Justice Department that the federal government hasn’t provided evidence to support its allegation that 20,000 names on the state’s voter rolls are of noncitizens. She referenced an instance in which the federal government alleged nearly 16,000 possible noncitizens were listed on Nevada’s voter rolls, but the state determined that all were, in fact, U.S. citizens.

She also noted that voting is already underway in the state. Weber, a Democrat, said the Justice Department was “demanding unprecedented measures that threaten thousands of Californians’ right to vote, based on unverifiable information or methodology that you still fail to explain or provide.”

California’s elections are in “full compliance” with federal law, she added.

Los Angeles County Registrar Dean Logan said in a statement that his office received the letter and thumb drive this week, along with a “hand written note providing a password” to access the list of alleged noncitizens on the voter rolls. He said he did not consider the thumb drive a secure device. The secretary of state’s office said the password was written “on a sticky note.”

The Justice Department’s lawsuit says the federal government sought to “work collaboratively” with California to identify noncitizens registered to vote in the state, and “California made no serious effort to do so.”

“The United States thus seeks commonplace election relief when a ballot is called into question,” the lawsuit says. “This Court should enjoin California from presently tabulating vote by-mail ballots from likely noncitizens in the upcoming federal election until the voter’s citizenship status can be determined,” the lawsuit says.

Weber, who is named in the lawsuit, suggested the federal government’s outreach had not been collaborative.

She said that over the summer, the Department of Homeland Security claimed that California had 190,000 noncitizens on its voter rolls but refused to provide the methodology or data sources when the office asked for them.

The post Trump administration sues California to block ballots from alleged noncitizens appeared first on MS NOW.

Posting strike videos online may help Russia tune its drones’ optical targeting. Moscow now pays people to film hits, Ukrainian adviser warns

15 October 2026 at 21:20

Jet powered Shahed-136 kamikaze drone Credit: Open sources

Filming a drone strike and posting it online may be quietly teaching Russia’s drones to aim better. Russia is collecting footage of its Geran attack drones striking Ukraine, probably to check how its optical target-recognition and guidance algorithms perform in combat, presidential defense-technology adviser Serhii “Flash” Beskrestnov says.

Russia has fitted its jet-powered Geran drones with machine vision that lets them recognize and track targets on their own in the final seconds of flight, a capability Ukraine’s electronic warfare cannot easily defeat. Now, Moscow is paying people inside Ukraine to film where those drones land, which Flash says is no coincidence after four years of not asking.

“Across many Telegram channels, the enemy is asking traitors to film videos of ‘Geran’ impacts and transmit information for a reward. For four years they didn’t ask, and suddenly it has become so crucial,” Beskrestnov notes.

The reason, he believes, lies in those optical guidance systems. Russian forces need impact footage to see how its algorithms are performing in real combat conditions, according to the expert.

The warning Flash is pressing on civilians

His takeaway for them is blunt: stop posting the videos of Russian assaults. He stresses the serious danger of publishing footage of impact sites and urges people not to film or share it.

“This serves as a signal to everyone: do not film and do not publish videos of ‘Shahed’ hits. You see how vital and necessary this is to Russia,” Beskrestnov adds.

Earlier, Ukrenergo board chairman Vitaly Zaichenko said that a Russian drone severed a unique power transmission tower at the Dnipro River crossing in Kyiv, and it cannot be restored. He added that the company was developing new technical solutions "on the fly, and very fast."

It would start the procedures for those solutions from 15 October. Russia’s use of drones able to sever metal towers is a new and serious challenge for Ukraine’s power engineers.

Ukraine’s shell factories outpace state orders, arms company chief says: Kyiv spent five months buying from them this year, leaving six to produce

15 October 2026 at 20:59

ukraine now makes nato-standard tank shells abrams leopard 2 tanks · post crew member ukrainian army 2a4 carrying 120 mm shell during field loading armyinform image_672f38bb44146779194270 news reports

Ukraine has built an artillery-ammunition industry whose capacity now exceeds what the state budget can order. Yet its main problem is not production but the absence of a predictable state order, Ukrainian Armor chief executive Vladyslav Belbas said on Radio NV.

Private firms built those plants with their own money under constant Russian fire, but they still do not know how much the state will buy next year, or when it will sign the contracts that keep the lines running. The paradox is stark: Ukraine went from depending on Western shell deliveries at the start of the invasion to making more than its budget can buy, with room to export as much again.

“Now we supply ourselves with more than the budget can buy, and we can supply the same amount again for export. The building of an artillery-ammunition industry has happened. For certain types of ammunition, we can even speak of a closed cycle,” Belbas says.

He calls the shift a clear gain of recent years, with similar progress across many types of weapons.

Factories built on private money, waiting on the state

The producers are flying blind on demand. Private makers receive no state investment and are paid only for finished products, having built their plants themselves, yet they do not know in advance how much the state will buy or when it will sign contracts, he explains.

“All producers have been saying for years that we need a stable, clear order so that plants and workshops run without stopping. Private producers have not received a single coin of investment from the state. It is very hard to live and develop without forecasting,” Belbas says.

A procurement clock that runs out before the shells do

The calendar works against the factories. Contracting for next year has not begun because the budget is not yet set, and the procedures drag on: this year buying artillery ammunition took five months, leaving six for production, he notes.

For now, long-range ammunition is being actively contracted, and foreign deliveries are arriving, and he expects no supply problems by year’s end except for special munitions, including cluster rounds.

Trump administration sues California to block counting of alleged noncitizen mail ballots

The Trump administration sued California election officials Thursday, asking a judge to bar the state from counting mail-in ballots for next month's midterm elections from people the federal government has identified as "likely" noncitizens until their status can be confirmed.

FBI agents and analysts who were fired for working on Trump classified files probe sue to get their jobs back

The investigation resulted in a dramatic 2022 FBI search of Mar-a-Lago that recovered classified records and later produced an indictment in federal court in Florida charging then-former President Donald Trump with dozens of felony counts.

Report: Pentagon Plans To Withhold Report on Minab School Massacre Past Midterms

15 October 2026 at 20:01
Bloomberg reported on Thursday that top Pentagon officials have expressed that they will withhold the release of an internal report on the US bombing of the Shajareh Tayyebeh Elementary School in Minab, southern Iran, which massacred at least 120 children, through the midterm elections. According to an earlier Bloomberg investigation into the attack, within hours […]

Regional Security, Nuclear Deterrence, Humanitarian Risks Dominate First Committee Debate

14 October 2026 at 22:59
The challenges and prospects of regional security architecture in Europe, Middle East and East Asia were in focus as the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) continued its general debate today, with delegates presenting contrasting views on nuclear deterrence, non-proliferation and the humanitarian dimensions of nuclear weapons. The representative of Ukraine recalled that, in1994, his […]

CIA Report Warns Israel Barreling Toward Civil War, Total Collapse

15 October 2026 at 19:26

Israel is barreling toward civil war and state collapse, a classified CIA assessment has warned, as the country’s ruling coalition is engulfed in a perfect storm of political, economic, and social fractures — deepened by [...]

The post CIA Report Warns Israel Barreling Toward Civil War, Total Collapse appeared first on The People's Voice.

Wes Streeting urges US to back Ukraine on Washington visit after Starlink row

UK defence secretary says he has been ‘reassured directly’ counterpart Pete Hegseth that Starlink system has been restored as he seeks to cool tensions

Wes Streeting urged the US to stand by Ukraine on his visit to the American capital and sought to cool tensions between the two countries in the wake of the Starlink row that is threatening to set back Kyiv’s war effort.

The British defence secretary, giving a speech before a meeting with his US counterpart, Pete Hegseth, argued that supporting Ukraine was in the long-term interests of Washington, and a business opportunity.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP

© Photograph: Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP

© Photograph: Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP

❌