UNITED STATES
Transgender teen crowned
A transgender Maine teen who was crowned homecoming king at his new school said he wants to use the attention to spread love and tolerance. Noble High School in North Berwick named Stiles Zuschlag homecoming king on Friday. He came out as a transgender male in 2015. Zuschlag said he transferred to Noble after he was asked to leave Tri-City Christian Academy in Somersworth, New Hampshire, because of his gender identity. His story has been widely circulated on social media since he was crowned homecoming king. He said he has received some blowback, but he has “done nothing, but spread awareness and love.”
BRAZIL
Officials start probes of sect
Authorities said they have launched several investigations connected to two local branches of Word of Faith Fellowship, a secretive evangelical sect based in North Carolina. Authorities are investigating whether a picture framing factory connected to the Franco da Rocha-based church broke labor laws. Investigators have said they are also probing how land bought in the name of that branch ended up being legally owned by two pastors. The investigations were spurred by reports in July detailing allegations that the Word of Faith Fellowship funneled young Brazilians congregants to the US and forced them to work at church-affiliated businesses for little or no pay.
HUNGARY
Minister slams Ukraine law
Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Peter Szijjarto yesterday said he would ask the EU to revise its association agreement with Ukraine, claiming its new language law limits the rights of minorities. Szijjarto said that increasing international pressure is the only way to get Ukraine to change the law, affecting about 150,000 ethnic Hungarians and other minorities, including Russians, Romanians and Moldovans. Kiev said the law signed last month by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko strengthens Ukrainian-language education while protecting minority rights.
UNITED STATES
Flavor dedicated to refugees
A New York ice creamery is dedicating a new ice cream flavor to Syrian refugees and donating part of the profits to efforts to help them. The Adirondack Creamery in Saratoga Springs said its new flavor is inspired by a popular Syrian pastry called ma’amoul. The New York Times reported that the ice cream combines dates and walnuts into a sweetened confection. A pint of the new flavor has calls for unity plastered all over, including the word “peace” in English, Arabic and Hebrew. The newspaper reported that 50 percent of the profit made from each pint would be donated to the International Rescue Committee’s efforts to assist Syrian refugees. Pints of the new flavor are available at multiple stores and online.
THE VATICAN
Pope to call astronauts
Pope Francis is to get closer to the heavens this month when he puts in a call to the International Space Station. The Vatican on Monday said the pope would make the call at 5pm on Oct. 26. It gave no further details, but Francis has supported the work of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, which regularly brings together scientists from around the world to exchange views on topics such as climate change.
MONEY MATTERS: Xi was to highlight projects such as a new high-speed railway between Belgrade and Budapest, as Serbia is entirely open to Chinese trade and investment Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic yesterday said that “Taiwan is China” as he made a speech welcoming Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) to Belgrade, state broadcaster Radio Television of Serbia (RTS) said. “We have a clear and simple position regarding Chinese territorial integrity,” he told a crowd outside the government offices while Xi applauded him. “Yes, Taiwan is China.” Xi landed in Belgrade on Tuesday night on the second leg of his European tour, and was greeted by Vucic and most government ministers. Xi had just completed a two-day trip to France, where he held talks with French President Emmanuel Macron as the
With the midday sun blazing, an experimental orange and white F-16 fighter jet launched with a familiar roar that is a hallmark of US airpower, but the aerial combat that followed was unlike any other: This F-16 was controlled by artificial intelligence (AI), not a human pilot, and riding in the front seat was US Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall. AI marks one of the biggest advances in military aviation since the introduction of stealth in the early 1990s, and the US Air Force has aggressively leaned in. Even though the technology is not fully developed, the service is planning
INTERNATIONAL PROBE: Australian and US authorities were helping coordinate the investigation of the case, which follows the 2015 murder of Australian surfers in Mexico Three bodies were found in Mexico’s Baja California state, the FBI said on Friday, days after two Australians and an American went missing during a surfing trip in an area hit by cartel violence. Authorities used a pulley system to hoist what appeared to be lifeless bodies covered in mud from a shaft on a cliff high above the Pacific. “We confirm there were three individuals found deceased in Santo Tomas, Baja California,” a statement from the FBI’s office in San Diego, California, said without providing the identities of the victims. Australian brothers Jake and Callum Robinson and their American friend Jack Carter
CUSTOMS DUTIES: France’s cognac industry was closely watching the talks, fearing that an anti-dumping investigation opened by China is retaliation for trade tensions French President Emmanuel Macron yesterday hosted Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) at one of his beloved childhood haunts in the Pyrenees, seeking to press a message to Beijing not to support Russia’s war against Ukraine and to accept fairer trade. The first day of Xi’s state visit to France, his first to Europe since 2019, saw respectful, but sometimes robust exchanges between the two men during a succession of talks on Monday. Macron, joined initially by EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, urged Xi not to allow the export of any technology that could be used by Russia in its invasion