From the World & Whatnot desk
World & Whatnot
The news, fully digested. Our published World & Whatnot stories, newest first.
ISRAEL HELD AN ELECTION, AND NOBODY GOT TO 61
Israel held its first election since the October 7, 2023 attacks and produced no winner. The exit polls kept moving all night, Arab parties posted a record result that both candidates immediately refused to touch, and Netanyahu stays in the chair as caretaker while everyone argues. We walk through the numbers, includin
ISRAEL'S TOP GENERAL REPORTEDLY WANTED THE IRAN ORDER IN WRITING
Israel votes Tuesday, and the final polls all landed on the same stuck number for Netanyahu's bloc. Meanwhile Channel 12 says his own army chief pushed back on an Iran order and asked for the legal paperwork signed. Netanyahu says that never happened, which is its own kind of news.
PENTAGON REPORTEDLY HAS A THREE-DAY IRAN PLAN SCHEDULED AROUND YOUR BALLOT
The New York Times says the US and Israel have drawn up plans to hit Iran again, timed for after the November 3 midterms. Three aircraft carriers are due in place by early November, and planners reportedly like the date partly because the nights get longer. Meanwhile Netanyahu is calling a separate report about an Octo
RAMASWAMY CAMPAIGN PUTS OUT AD FEATURING ACTON'S ESTRANGED MOTHER
Ramaswamy's campaign spent Tuesday refusing to answer whether it produced the ad featuring Amy Acton's estranged mother, then confirmed that night that it did and announced $4 million to run it. The ad says Acton lied about growing up in a tent. Mahoning County court records say her stepfather was indicted for raping h
FRANCE CALLS IN THE ARMY TO GUARD TRAIN STATIONS SO COPS CAN GO CHASE LOOTERS
France arrested about 2,400 people in a single Saturday, and now soldiers from its anti-terror patrol force are taking over guard duty so police can chase rioters. Paris banned carrying gasoline cans until Thursday. Macron is following all of it from a tour of the Persian Gulf.
PM GOES ON NATIONAL TV TO CONFIRM THAT RAMMING AN MP TWICE WAS NOT AN ACCIDENT
Independent MP Helen Haines was hit by a Land Cruiser outside her own electorate office in Wangaratta, then hit again when the driver reversed. A bystander pulled the 43-year-old out of the car, police found a knife inside, and the Prime Minister went on the ABC to state the obvious out loud. We get into why four agenc
FRANCE BURNS DOWN FRANCE
France marched Saturday over prices and school conditions, and a chunk of it ended in looting, fires and a torched town hall in Limoges. The politicians spent Sunday pointing at each other. The vote that actually decides anything is Tuesday, and nobody was talking about it.
REPUBLICAN SENATORS JOIN DEMOCRATS, INCREASE PUSHBACK ON PUTIN DEAL
Trump cut a deal with Putin to put Russian diesel back on the global market. Twelve senators, half of them Republicans, signed a letter calling it a gift to an adversary and a betrayal of allies. The joke is the timing: he signed a big Russia sanctions law three weeks earlier.
POPE LEO DIAGNOSED WITH LUNG CANCER
Pope Leo XIV had the lower lobe of his right lung removed Tuesday in Rome, and the Vatican confirmed it was cancer. Doctors say the operation went fine, and oncologists like his odds because it was caught early. We go through what the medical bulletin actually said, and the fairly big thing it left out.
RIYADH'S AIRPORT HIT IN DEADLY STRIKE ON SAUDI SOIL
A Houthi missile hit Riyadh's main airport Saturday, killing at least 12 people from nine countries and wounding 309. A day later a projectile set Terminal 4 on fire, and Saudi air defenses intercepted a cruise missile after the building was already burning. Trump spent months telling the Saudis to handle Yemen themsel
BRAZIL'S FRONTRUNNER IS THE SON OF A MAN DOING 27 YEARS FOR A COUP
Thousands of students marched through downtown Rio on Wednesday holding signs that said no to the father, no to the son. The father is in prison for plotting a coup. The son just won the first round of Brazil's presidential election, and the runoff is October 25.
FRANCE SENT RIOT POLICE BECAUSE IT COULDN'T FIND ENOUGH SUBSTITUTE TEACHERS
French high schoolers started walking out in September over rats, broken buildings and classes of 35. By Tuesday it was 256,000 people nationwide, and the government's answer has been tear gas and over 5,000 arrests, most of them minors. We get into the part where the education ministry's own stats prove the kids right
FLYDUBAI FLIGHT TO ISRAEL HIJACKED MID AIR
A Flydubai co-pilot allegedly stabbed his captain and put a 737 into a 16,000-foot drop with 174 people on board. Passengers broke into the cockpit and tied the guy up with headphone cords. The airline's official description of all this was the word "incident."
AMERICA SAYS GOODBYE TO IRAQ AFTER 23 YEARS
The last US troops leave their final Iraqi bases by Wednesday, closing a war that started in 2003 and killed 4,500 Americans. Iran and its armed factions are treating it as a win, and the militia disarmament that was supposed to happen the same day has already been pushed to 2027. We go through who is celebrating and w
TRUMP SAYS THE US HAD THE FAIRFORD SUSPECTS 'UNDER VIEW FOR A LONG TIME.' A FARMER FOUND THEM AT 12:45 A.M.
A farmer near RAF Fairford came across masked men and three vans in the middle of the night and called 999. That set off bomb disposal robots, 85 evacuated households and five terror arrests. Then Trump said US and UK authorities had been watching these guys for ages, which is not what Whitehall told the BBC.
TRUMP REJECTS IRAN'S SEVEN-DAY DEAL, PENCILS THEM IN FOR MONDAY
Iran offered to reopen the Strait of Hormuz within a week if the US drops the naval blockade and the oil sanctions. Trump turned it down on the White House lawn, then said he expects to be talking to Tehran again Monday through Qatari mediators. The fun part is that he's calling the strait fully under American control
REBELS TAKE THREE AIRPORTS, ETHIOPIAN AIRLINES BLAMES THE 'CURRENT SITUATION'
Tigray fighters took the airports at Mekelle, Axum and Shire, and Ethiopian Airlines pulled every flight while blaming "the current situation." Both sides say the other one opened fire first, and one of them is run by a Nobel Peace Prize winner. We go through what's confirmed and what isn't.
XI FLIES TO WASHINGTON TO ARGUE ABOUT A 1982 DOCUMENT, POSSIBLY INSIDE THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES
Xi Jinping is in Washington this week and is expected to ask Trump to stop selling weapons to Taiwan, citing a joint communiqué from 1982. He may make the ask during a visit to the National Archives, which is the building where America keeps old documents. Meanwhile Trump is still sitting on $14 billion in missiles he
LEGACY MEDIA ALL DECIDE TO FADE THE WHITE HOUSE
Trump banned CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House, and CNN happened to be next up to run the TV pool camera. The other four networks refused to fill in, so Monday's helipad ribbon-cutting went out on the White House's own livestream with the chopper burying his voice. All three outlets are now suing.
HOUTHIS SAY THEY SHOT DOWN A SAUDI F-15 WITH A HOMEMADE MISSILE
The Houthis put out video Wednesday of wreckage they say is a Saudi F-15, downed over Marib by a missile they claim they built themselves. Saudi Arabia has not confirmed it, denied it, or said anything at all. The bit here is the silence, plus the part where a war over Yemen's oil fields has pushed 85,000 people out of