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Conservation officers say more than one bear may have been involved in attack on women near their homeSearch teams in Canada have discovered the body of a 20-year-old woman and confirmed that both she and her mother were killed in an attack that conservation officers now believe could have involved multiple grizzly bears.Late on Tuesday, conservation officers in British Columbia said the two women, who were reported missing over the weekend, were located near a trail a short distance from their home. Continue reading...

Even Trump seems to recognize that the relationship has become a political liability, and may never be the sameQ&A: Ask your questions about Democrats’ win in the midtermsTrack live results from all 50 statesOn the eve of a midterm election that ended in an unequivocal rejection of his brand of politics, even Donald Trump seemed to recognize that the US-Israel relationship had become a political liability.Trump’s 11th-hour suggestion, on election morning, that he would cut military aid to Israel at the end of the year because, as he put it, “they don’t need it”, was condemned across the board – with pro-Palestinian advocates dismissing it as “desperate” and pro-Israel ones as “unserious”. Continue reading...

Patient is ⁠in ​stable condition and will be transferred to a specialist ‘high consequence’ infectious disease unitA British healthcare worker with Ebola is being evacuated from the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the UK for medical treatment, it has been confirmed.“A British citizen currently in the DR Congo has tested positive for Ebola,” a spokesperson for the UK government said in a statement on Wednesday. “The UK has well-established procedures for dealing with cases like this, and those processes have been activated … The risk to the UK public from Ebola remains low.” Continue reading...

The massive electoral wipeout Republicans suffered on Tuesday did not go unnoticed by Iran’s leadership.According to Politico, Tehran took a victory lap as voters dealt a resounding blow to President Donald Trump’s Republican Party.“Conscience or the cost of living, Americans said NO TO WAR, and we endorse this message,” Iranian parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf wrote on X as the results came in.Ghalibaf, who has played a prominent role in negotiations to end the monthslong war, also threatened retaliation if Washington resumes all-out fighting, Politico is reporting.“If the US govt betrays their public will to serve international paymasters and blackmailers, it will learn our NO comes with a Nightmare,” he wrote.Tehran had been anxiously watching the midterms for weeks. According to Politico, Iranian negotiators reportedly even stalled recent talks to keep gas prices high and fuel voter frustration with the Trump administration over affordability.Iranian state media also had a field day as Democrats flipped both the House and the Senate, according to the report.“War on Iran Emerges As Major Factor in Republicans’ Midterm Defeat,” read one headline from Tasnim News Agency, which is affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.State-run IRNA led with a headline announcing a “heavy defeat for Trump and his supporters,” citing “an unprecedented level of dissatisfaction with US President Donald Trump,” driven in large part by the war.Some anti-war voices in Washington also declared the vote a win for Tehran, Politico also reported.“The Democrats didn’t win the midterms,” wrote Trita Parsi, co-founder of the anti-interventionist Quincy Institute. “Iran did.”

Guardian and Mongabay reveal approaches to officials and MPs on behalf of Vantara zoo ahead of UK-chaired Cites meeting on endangered animal importsBritish government ministers were told not to engage formally with Vantara, the controversial mega-zoo run by the Indian billionaire Anant Ambani, after lobbying efforts by the private animal sanctuary in the run-up to a UK-chaired meeting on the trade in endangered species, according to documents.This week, the UK heads a 32-country committee meeting in Geneva of Cites, the United Nations body that regulates trade in endangered species. The meeting will examine how India has responded to compliance concerns about imports of endangered animals. Continue reading...

The Trump administration sparked immediate outrage after it conducted what some described as a "secret" bombing campaign on the eve of the midterm elections. Barak Ravid, global affairs correspondent for Axios, reported Monday night that a U.S. fighter jet destroyed an Iranian weapon on Qeshm Island. The strikes mark a significant escalation in the conflict as the Trump administration braces for a midterm election where Republicans are expected to lose the House of Representatives, and possibly the Senate as well. "Senior U.S. official: A U.S. Army fighter jet conducted a self-defense strike and destroyed a surface-to-air missile launcher on Qeshm Island after the Revolutionary Guards launched an anti-aircraft missile from it," Ravid posted on X. The move outraged Jamal Abdi, president of the National Iranian American Council."After eight months of an illegal war, there was finally some hope that a diplomatic agreement might be within reach and this war could end through negotiations rather than spiral into the violent scenarios being threatened after the midterm elections. But these deeply alarming revelations suggest we may be heading in precisely the opposite direction," he said in a statement.

Independent journalist Ken Klippenstein reports that a military source of his gives even odds that the U.S. will strike Iran after the midterms — but says any attack would be smaller than first planned.Klippenstein writes that President Donald Trump’s plan for a decisive attack on Iran is now in doubt. Trump said last month the U.S. would not attack before the election, but Klippenstein says target sets were drafted and forces were being positioned, including a third aircraft carrier and two amphibious groups carrying about two dozen additional F-35s.Gulf Arab allies, he says, told Washington they would help defend themselves but would not join an offensive.He reports the plan frayed further when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu lost his majority, leaving planners unable to count on Israel until a new government forms.In his account, Hegseth told the White House that a sea-based strike without Israel or Gulf bases remained workable. Gulf states objected to hitting energy infrastructure, and some military leaders warned that strikes on power production might violate the law of war. Hegseth responded by firing Army Lt. Gen. Brett Sylvia, the top Joint Chiefs war planner, Klippenstein says.Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) said last week, “Their plan is insane,” and predicted “devastating escalation.”Klippenstein says Murphy was referring to classified briefings. Citing military sources, he writes that Trump has criticized the proposed attack as “uninspired, worthless, and weak” and wants Iran’s nuclear program as its focus. He says Trump hinted on Halloween at hitting one or two remaining nuclear sites.Additionally, Iran has threatened retaliation beyond the Middle East, and people in Trump’s orbit have discussed responding at home with a national emergency, wrote Klippenstein.

Republican Senate candidate Mike Rogers of Michigan was paid more than $420,000 while serving on the board of the MITRE Corporation, a consultancy that is now working with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on the future of U.S. warfare, according to tax filings reported by Drop Site News.Rogers sat on MITRE’s board of trustees, at one point as chair, for six years until 2023, when he stepped down to run for Senate, the outlet says.IRS records show his yearly pay, and MITRE’s CEO has said Rogers was recruited for his “vast national security expertise.”MITRE is coordinating Project Meridian, which Hegseth announced Sept. 30 as a study of future warfare. Hegseth named tech tycoon Elon Musk, former GOP congressional leader Newt Gingrich, and defense entrepreneur Palmer Luckey as top officials.Drop Site says some have raised conflict-of-interest concerns, noting that former defense officials told NPR the project could push the military toward drones and space systems built by Musk’s and Luckey’s companies. Musk is one of Rogers’ biggest backers through his America PAC.Rogers’ support for the Iran war has been a liability as he has navigated his fight against Democratic opponent Abdul El-Sayed, the report noted. A poll cited by the outlet shows up to 67 percent of Michigan voters disapprove of the war.In March, Rogers said the war’s end “should be conditional,” but in recent weeks he has been trying to downplay his old hawkishness, even telling Fox News “we need to start wrapping it down.”