Footage shared by lab director Aniket Bera on LinkedIn shows the drone navigating between trees while tracking a moving person. The system predicts the person's movements when they temporarily disappear behind obstacles, allowing it to continue following them. Sensor data and navigation tasks are processed onboard, enabling operation in environments where satellite signals are unavailable or unreliable.

This is a research demonstration (not a peer-reviewed publication, and no detailed performance metrics such as flight time or range have been released). The video's telemetry and lab comments indicate that the motion planner (SUPER) and localization (FAST-LIO) are based on open-source packages from the University of Hong Kong's MaRS Lab.

The exact sensor setup (described in the original post as visual-inertial odometry, but consistent with LiDAR-inertial in the footage) and any specific search-and-rescue applications remain undetailed.
Source: Linkedin post by Aniket Bera / IDEAS Lab, Purdue University (October 2026)

This article has since been updated.

Updated headline and article.

"Hackers target US FEC system, disrupting campaign finance disclosures days before midterms"

NEW YORK, Oct 27 (Reuters) - The US Federal Election Commission's website has been targeted by a hacker or hackers, according to an email seen by ​Reuters, disrupting the agency's electronic filings system a week before the November 3 elections. The cyberattack comes as so-called super ‌PACs and dark money groups spend record sums in the final days of the races. The elections will determine whether President Donald Trump's Republicans maintain their majorities in Congress for the next two years.

In a statement, the FEC said, "at this time, the FEC’s electronic filing system is currently offline and our IT ​staff are actively working to restore service." The FEC, which tracks the spending of candidates and political committees, said users could ​still search the website for past reports. It declined further comment on the outage.

The FEC does not ⁠play a role in administering US elections and the outage should have no effect on voters' ability to cast ballots. The outage prevents ​organizations from filing the FEC's 24-hour and 48-hour spending reports, which show how much political groups and others are spending on specific races.

"I've never ​seen this in 26 years," said Steven Mele, president and CEO at political finance compliance firm MBA Consulting Group. "The result is there will be less disclosure on the elections" until it's fixed. A status message, opens new tab posted by the FEC said its filing system had been down since around 10 p.m. ET on Monday (0200 GMT ​Tuesday). The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency referred questions to the FEC. The FBI did not immediately return messages seeking comment. The FEC posted ​the notice after campaign finance officers couldn't file mandatory reports late on Monday.

"We have a bad actor attempting to breach FEC systems. As a result, ‌we’ve had ⁠to temporarily shut down our web facing services," an FEC electronic filings officer said in the email to several campaign compliance firms that night.

The midterms are now the most expensive US election in history with roughly $11.21 billion spent on advertising and future reservations so far, according to political ad tracker AdImpact. It's surpassed the previous record set in the 2024 elections when $11.2 billion was spent on all races, including $3.2 ​billion on the presidential race between ​Trump and former Vice President ⁠Kamala Harris, AdImpact said.

Much of the spending is being driven by super PACs, which can accept unlimited amounts of money from wealthy individuals and corporations, opens new tab and spend as much as they want on campaigns with few ​restrictions.

The sums being spent in recent weeks are staggering as Democrats gain ground in several Republican ​strongholds.

Super PACs and ⁠dark money groups have spent an average of over $50 million per day over the last week, said Brendan Glavin, research director at nonpartisan campaign watchdog group OpenSecrets. More than $250 million in spending was reported on October 20 alone, he added. "It's a big deal," he said of the outage, which ⁠leaves voters ​in the dark until the filing system is back online.

"These are the key ​reports that tell us what is happening," Glavin said. "In the last days of the election this is the only way for us to keep track of where the money's ​being spent" and who's spending it.

Orignal article.

A hacker is attempting to breach the US Federal Election Commission's ​systems and that agency has ​had to "temporarily shut down" its ⁠web-facing services as a result, ​according to an email seen ​by Reuters.

In a statement, the FEC said that, "at this time, the FEC’s electronic ​filing system is currently offline ​and our IT staff are actively working ‌to ⁠restore service." It declined further comment.

A status message, opens new tab posted by the FEC noted that its filing ​system had ​been ⁠down since around 10 p.m. ET on Monday. The Cybersecurity ​and ⁠Infrastructure Security Agency and the FBI did not immediately return messages ⁠seeking ​comment.

Two US senators say the Trump administration is breaking the law by withholding the FISA court decision while it presses Congress to renew America’s most sweeping surveillance program.

Two Democratic senators who have long overseen US intelligence say the Trump administration is illegally withholding a secret court’s findings from Congress until lawmakers renew a program that lets federal agents read Americans’ communications without a warrant.

Seven months ago, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court objected to search filters that let intelligence analysts pull Americans’ messages from intercepted data without the approvals, written justifications, or records the law requires. The court approved another year of surveillance anyway. The ruling has never been made public, and Senators Ron Wyden of Oregon and Adam Schiff of California say the administration’s own deadline for releasing it passed in September.

The program, Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), lapsed in June after Congress failed to renew it, though collection continues under the court’s March approval. The administration’s own public documentation says rulings like this one are reviewed for public release “within 180 days of issuance.” That window closed September 13, even as intelligence officials press lawmakers to reauthorize the program by the end of the year.

Wyden, the longest-serving member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, and Schiff, the former chair of its House counterpart, say the administration owes Congress an explanation for the delay, and the names of the officials responsible, by November 6.

“If this administration won’t follow this simple statutory directive,” the senators told Director of National Intelligence Jay Clayton and Attorney General Todd Blanche in a demand letter obtained exclusively by WIRED, “it is unclear why Congress or the American people should trust this administration to follow any of the other legal limits to Section 702.”

Outside Congress, Demand Progress and 22 other civil liberties and government accountability groups on Monday urged congressional leaders to refuse to reauthorize Section 702 “while the administration actively withholds legally mandated information about how the surveillance program operates.” Signatories range from the American Civil Liberties Union to the conservative-backed Project for Privacy and Surveillance Accountability.

The Trump administration has already been pressed, and has promised, to release the ruling. In April, senators Tom Cotton and Mark Warner, the Intelligence Committee’s Republican chair and Democratic vice chair, pressed the administration to release it within 15 days so it could inform the Senate’s debate. In July, asked in writing whether he would commit to declassifying it by the 180-day deadline, Blanche replied, “Yes.”

Warner “has been clear that he supports transparency with regard to Section 702,” his communications director, Rachel Cohen, tells WIRED. Neither former director of national intelligence Tulsi Gabbard nor Bill Pulte, who briefly replaced her as acting director, “were responsive,” Cohen says, “but Senator Warner expects that DNI Clayton will declassify the opinion, consistent with the bipartisan letter and as required by law.”

Cotton’s office did not respond to a request for comment. The White House, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, and the US Justice Department did not answer questions WIRED sent Friday about the delay.

Clayton, who is legally responsible as director of national intelligence for declassifying the ruling, has made no such promise. Asked before his July confirmation whether he would ensure the opinion was public before Congress voted on reauthorization, he wrote only that the government was “working arduously to expeditiously declassify” it and had made the full opinion available to lawmakers.

Some of what the court found is already known. A FISA court opinion declassified last year described a similar FBI tool, a “participants filter” that let agents select people in contact with surveillance targets and read their messages. In February 2025, the Justice Department’s National Security Division told the court the tool had been running searches no one counted. The FBI shut it off the next month and switched it back on later that year, after the department approved a rebuilt version.

This year’s ruling went beyond that. The court found that tools agencies use to narrow intercepted data to an American’s messages amount to searches of Americans, subject to the same limits, and ordered them rebuilt, The New York Times reported in April, citing unclassified administration talking points sent to lawmakers. Senator Alex Padilla said in a written question to Blanche that the Justice Department “is appealing portions” of the ruling “limiting the government’s use of certain filtering tools.”

While the ruling stayed secret, seven intelligence agency fact sheets from March 2026, one dated the day of the ruling, cited a 98.9 percent compliance rate for FBI searches of Americans and credited Section 702 with stopping a planned terrorist attack on a Taylor Swift concert in Vienna. None mentions the court’s findings. The figure appears nowhere in the Justice Department inspector general’s October 2025 review of those searches, which put the compliance rate at 98.6 percent and could not conclude that “the FBI’s querying compliance issues are entirely in the past.”

According to the fact sheets, FBI auditors review every such search. FBI director Kash Patel closed the bureau’s Office of Internal Auditing last May and moved its auditors into another division. The bureau’s search counts before 2025 also omit queries run through the participants filter, searches the government’s own privacy watchdog says are “not possible to track.”

Lawmakers who have read the ruling hint that it says more. Senator Dick Durbin, the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, urged colleagues on the Senate floor in June to read it in a secure room. “I have seen it,” he said. Once they did, he told them, “your opinion of the role of FISA and the rights of Americans will be impacted for sure.”

Wyden has also warned about a classified interpretation of Section 702 that he says multiple administrations have relied on and refused to declassify. “When it is eventually declassified,” he said in March, “the American people are going to be stunned that it took so long and that Congress had been debating this authority with insufficient information.”

The Trump administration has until November 6 to answer the senators. The court’s current approval of the program expires in March.

Surveillance reform advocates say the administration may try to avoid that fight by attaching a renewal to the annual defense authorization bill, which Congress usually finalizes in December. In 2023, lawmakers extended Section 702 for four months through that year’s defense bill after a Senate effort to strip the provision failed. This year’s House and Senate versions of the bill do not yet include it.

Nearly half of the people confirmed to have the virus have died in DRC’s fastest-growing Ebola outbreak on record.

Confirmed Ebola cases in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) have surpassed 10,000 as the outbreak continues to spread across the country and beyond its borders.

Government data released on Tuesday put confirmed cases at 10,060 and deaths at 4,887.

It is the fastest-growing Ebola outbreak in the country’s history and nearly half of the 10,060 confirmed to have the virus have died, according to data from the DRC’s Ministry of Public Health. That also makes it the deadliest outbreak of the disease in the country’s history.

With cases also mounting outside the DRC, the wider outbreak is also the second-largest and second-deadliest on record, trailing only the 2014-2016 West African epidemic, which saw 28,600 infected and more than 11,000 dead within two years.

About 80 percent of new cases are coming from outside the chains of transmission that health authorities are monitoring.

The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) has said at least 95 percent of cases must come from the known contacts of infected people for the outbreak to be considered under control.

The outbreak, declared on May 15, is caused by the Bundibugyo virus, a rare Ebola strain for which no vaccine or treatment has been approved. On Friday, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced that the first clinical trial for a vaccine had been rolled out.

Healthcare shortages

Five months into the outbreak, responders in the DRC say some treatment centres are overwhelmed, while remote and newly affected areas are short of medical supplies and health workers.

Cases have been recorded in 66 health zones across eight provinces, up from just three in the first days.

Many teams lack adequate vehicles and struggle to persuade families to hand over the sick for treatment and the dead for safe burial. At least half of those who have died were never admitted for treatment.

The outbreak has disrupted routine care such as childhood vaccinations, and maternal deaths doubled in some provinces soon after it was declared.

Strikes over delayed or unpaid wages are common. Last week, Ebola responders in Nia Nia, Ituri province, stopped work over bonuses owed since late August.

Health workers have also come under attack amid public mistrust and frustration with the government’s response.

On Saturday, assailants killed a nurse and seriously injured a colleague as the two responded to a suspected Ebola case in Bafwasende, Tshopo province, the WHO said.

“Everyone working to protect communities from this deadly disease must be able to work in dignity and safety,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on X.

Last month, Marie-Celestin Karondwa, a local politician, was fatally beaten after defending the Ebola response on the radio, his party said.

Cross-border infections

The virus has had a wider cross-border reach than any earlier Ebola epidemic. Governments and international organisations have worked to contain cross-border infections.

In neighbouring Uganda, Health Minister Chris Baryomunsi announced on Sunday that citizens returning from the DRC must quarantine for 21 days at their own expense as a precautionary measure.

The country’s officials have said there are no active infections in the country after recording 20 cases – mostly imported from the DRC – and two deaths over the summer.

Swiss authorities, however, have said a woman married to a Swiss diplomat was infected during a September visit to Uganda.

Last week, she was diagnosed with Ebola while visiting Nigeria – making it the fourth African country impacted by the outbreak. Nigerian officials have responded by instituting heightened screening for the disease at airports. On Monday, the patient was evacuated to Switzerland for treatment.

In Kenya, confirmed infections rose rapidly in October. Twenty contacts of the country’s first patient were released from a mandatory quarantine on Monday after 21 days, while 98 remain under monitoring, the WHO said. Kenya’s tally has since risen to nine confirmed cases, two of them fatal.

As Brussels warns that Europe must prepare for increasingly extreme weather, new EU rules will require governments to clarify who is responsible for climate preparedness – but no new funding is being offered to help households adapt.

The European Commission will unveil new climate rules on Tuesday requiring EU governments to clarify who is responsible for protecting citizens from climate disasters, Climate Action Commissioner Wopke Hoekstra told Euronews.

The move comes as Brussels warns that Europe must prepare for increasingly extreme weather, including scenarios involving 3°C of global warming by 2100.

Hoekstra warned that the world is heading towards a temporary or potentially prolonged overshoot of the Paris Agreement’s 1.5°C warming limit, making it essential for governments to prepare for more extreme heat and climate disasters, even if efforts to cut emissions succeed.

“It is up to member states to decide where they want to put that responsibility. But what we do make mandatory is that they do have to appoint and articulate where the responsibility is going to lie,” Hoekstra said.

While the EU continues to pursue emissions reductions, the costs of adapting to a hotter world are becoming harder to ignore, from rebuilding after wildfires and floods to protecting homes, roads and public infrastructure.

The Dutch Commissioner estimated the economic damage from this summer's extreme weather at more than €100 billion.

Asked what a 3°C rise above pre-industrial temperatures could mean for Europeans, Hoekstra pointed to heat plans for cities and the need to prepare infrastructure for a hotter future, rather than relying on historical weather patterns.

The reference trajectory is based on scientific research, including work by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and advanced European climate modeling, he said.

The Commission's projections envisage 2°C of global warming by 2050 and 3°C by 2100 for Europe, reflecting Brussels' assessment that Europe is warming roughly twice as fast as the global average.

The trajectory is intended to be translated into national and local risk assessments, taking account of the uneven distribution of climate impacts.

“Even if we get all of this right, we have no way to avoid more summers than the one we saw last year,” the Commissioner said, arguing that readiness, resilience and preparedness must become the priority alongside emissions cuts.

The proposed legislation would require EU countries to specify whether national, regional or local authorities are responsible for preparing for climate disasters.

Governments would retain flexibility over how they allocate responsibilities, but would have to specify who is accountable — an attempt to prevent political disputes over who failed to prepare when floods or wildfires destroy homes.

The Commission also wants climate scenarios to be considered when planning new roads, bridges and neighbourhoods, recognising that infrastructure designed for past weather conditions may no longer be fit for purpose.

"We want to introduce a culture of preparedness and resilience by design, rather than dealing with the damages in the aftermath, which is often very ad hoc and doesn't always build back better," a senior Commission official said on Monday on condition of anonymity.

No new money

However, the question of how to pay for climate adaptation remains unresolved.

No new financial commitment to household support is expected from the Commission's climate resilience strategy, despite concerns that ordinary citizens may struggle to afford the investments needed to adapt.

Hoekstra pointed to the Commission's proposal to devote 35% of the EU budget to climate and nature.

But the strategy's effectiveness will depend partly on the outcome of ongoing negotiations over the EU's next multiannual budget, with climate spending competing against priorities such as defence, security, competitiveness and agricultural support.

The Commission is also counting on the recently announced €30 billion from the European Investment Bank for climate adaptation through 2030.

Nonetheless, the lack of new funding is a potential weakness in the Commission's ambition.

The Commissioner argued that preventive investment is economically worth it but did not announce a new household support scheme or explain how the EU would ensure that lower-income households could afford necessary improvements.

In an attempt to fill the bloc's climate protection gap, Brussels wants to work with the insurance sector, as Commissioner Hoekstra pointed out that many areas in Europe are underinsured against climate disasters.

According to the senior Commission official, only around 25% of assets exposed to climate impacts are insured, leaving governments and property owners vulnerable to substantial losses.

“The fact that so many areas are underinsured” is one of the issues the Commission will examine, Hoekstra said.

The strategy could therefore expose another fault line between Brussels' climate ambitions and the cost-of-living pressures facing European voters.

Compared with earlier influence operations, these attacks increasingly involve physical violence.

The threat to merchant ships has become acute in the Black Sea off the coasts of Romania and Bulgaria.

The Swedish Armed Forces say Europe must prepare for a prolonged confrontation.

A joint investigation by 17 European public broadcasters shows that physical hybrid attacks linked to Russia have become increasingly frequent and dangerous. Over the past six months, investigators identified 54 incidents, including arson, attempted sabotage, drone attacks and airspace violations.

An investigation conducted jointly by Swedish public broadcaster SVT and the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) found that at least 54 physical hybrid attacks or plots took place in Europe between April 1 and October 15, 2026, which authorities or journalists have linked to Russia.

Poland, Romania and Latvia recorded the highest numbers of such incidents.

These cases represent only part of the hostile activity linked to Russia. The tally excludes cyberattacks, influence operations and conventional espionage, as well as incidents that security as well as incidents that security agencies have not publicly disclosed.

Attacks Are Becoming Increasingly Violent

According to the Helsinki-based European Centre of Excellence for Countering Hybrid Threats, Hybrid CoE, the attacks are not only growing in number but also changing in nature. Alongside influence operations, perpetrators are increasingly resorting to physical violence and tactics that could cause casualties.

The center’s director, Teija Tiilikainen, explained that new technologies are being introduced, while established influence and sabotage tactics remain in use. Among the aims of these operations, she said, is to weaken Western support for Ukraine.

Operations linked to Russia have sought to damage infrastructure and have included arson, drone attacks and military provocations along European countries’ borders.

The situation has become particularly dangerous in the Black Sea, where merchant ships have been targeted by drone attacks off the coasts of Romania and Bulgaria. According to the EBU, at least two people had been killed and at least 10 were missing following such attacks since the beginning of October.

Hybrid CoE assesses that these developments are expanding the gray zone between peace and war. It is becoming increasingly difficult to determine when sabotage, a border violation or other hostile activity crosses into outright military aggression.

Sweden Warns of a Long-Term Threat

Swedish Armed Forces Chief of Staff Carl-Johan Edström says Europe must prepare for a prolonged confrontation.

“This is not something that will pass in a year or two. We have entered a period that could last 10 to 15 years,” Edström told SVT.

In his assessment, Russia is currently focusing primarily on Poland and the Baltic states, where it can achieve a greater impact with limited resources.

That does not mean other countries bordering the Baltic Sea are safe.

“There is a significant risk that this activity will spread to other countries in the Baltic Sea region,” Edström warned.

Mikael Frisell, director general of Sweden’s civil defense agency, stressed that countries must prepare for even the most severe scenarios, including bombings, assassinations and damage to critical infrastructure.

NATO Seeks to Avoid Being Provoked

The EBU investigation also examines NATO’s response to hybrid attacks.

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said Russia’s hybrid activities are intended to intimidate Western countries and weaken their support for Ukraine.

Rutte said NATO should not respond to provocations in ways that deliver the outcome Russia wants. In his view, the alliance must respond where necessary while avoiding unwarranted escalation.

The Actual Number May Be Higher

The journalists behind the EBU investigation emphasize that incidents documented through public sources do not provide a complete picture of Russia’s hybrid activities.

The investigation’s broader dataset covered hundreds of reports from 17 European countries. Incidents were assessed both by their nature and by the evidence linking them to Russia.

Russia has repeatedly denied involvement in sabotage and hybrid attacks in Europe. Moscow’s Foreign Ministry has, in turn, accused Western countries of waging a hybrid war against Russia.

An earlier investigation by SVT and the EBU, published last year, identified 60 hybrid attacks linked to Russia in 2024 and 2025.

Although this year’s 54 incidents indicate intense activity over a much shorter period, the two investigations do not support a precise conclusion about how quickly the number of attacks is growing without further comparison of their counting methods.

Russia and Iran are expanding their nuclear cooperation as both countries face Western sanctions and international isolation. Their partnership includes the construction of nuclear power plants, fuel supplies, and broader technological cooperation.

While Bushehr, Iran’s first operating nuclear power station, has long been the centerpiece of their relationship, Moscow and Tehran are planning new nuclear facilities and cooperation in other areas of technology, raising questions about the ability of international agencies to monitor Iran’s nuclear activities.

Russia’s state nuclear corporation Rosatom has played a key role in completing and operating Bushehr, on Iran’s southern coast. A contract to complete the plant’s first reactor was signed in 1995, but the unit did not begin full commercial electricity generation until 2013.

Rosatom has continued work at the site despite the military escalation in the Middle East. After the start of the US-Iran war in February, Rosatom evacuated most of its workers from Iran. But many of the personnel have since returned; by October 11, the Russian nuclear body reported that 135 engineering and technical specialists were back working at the site.

Construction is also continuing on two additional reactor units at Bushehr. Work on a second unit has progressed beyond 60 percent completion, with a target of starting operations in 2029, while construction of a third unit is also under way, according to Rosatom.

Who Benefits Most From The Cooperation?

The Bushehr plant has taken on broader strategic significance as Moscow and Tehran deepen their relationship. The legal foundation of this cooperation is the two countries' Comprehensive Strategic Partnership Treaty, which officially entered into force in October 2025. The practical road map, however, is the intergovernmental Cooperation Plan For 2024–2026, which was approved in September 2024.

For Russia, the nuclear partnership provides commercial opportunities and a way to maintain influence in the Middle East. For Iran, Russian assistance offers access to nuclear technology, expertise, and fuel supplies.

The benefits are not necessarily equal, though. In a November 2025 article for the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, analyst Nikita Smagin wrote that “the balance in the relationship is once again shifting in Russia’s favor."

Iran is in dire need of investment, and "Russia remains one of the few available sources," Smagin wrote.

Analysts at Israel’s Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) have argued that Russia increasingly views cooperation with Iran as a way to strengthen its position in negotiations with Washington. In a June analysis, INSS researchers Dmitry Kovchegin and Arkady Mil-Man described Moscow’s policy toward Iran’s nuclear program as a “calculated balancing strategy.”

"[Russia's policy comprises] rhetorical condemnation of military escalation, particularly strikes against nuclear facilities; the provision of limited assistance that does not affect the balance of power between the parties to the conflict; and the offering of mediation services, while seeking to improve its relations with the United States," the authors wrote.

New Nuclear Power Plant

The nuclear partnership is not limited to Bushehr.

In September 2025, Russia and Iran signed an agreement for the construction of a new nuclear power plant, Sirik, in Iran’s southern Hormozgan Province, near the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran’s state news agency, IRNA, reported that the deal was worth $25 billion and that the units would have a combined capacity of about 5 gigawatts. (By comparison, the finished Bushehr complex would have a capacity of under 3 gigawatts.) If completed, Sirik would further tie Iran’s civilian nuclear energy sector to Russian technology and fuel supplies for decades.

Russia and Iran have strengthened their political, economic and military ties in recent years, with Western sanctions encouraging both countries to develop alternative channels for trade and technological cooperation.

A 2025 analysis by the US-based Center for Naval Analyses (CNA) found that Russia and Iran had expanded military contacts, arms transfers, and technical cooperation since Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

The two countries have also pursued new trade agreements, closer links between their banking sectors, increased cross-border trade, and investment in strategic sectors. However, the CNA researchers pointed out that competition between the two economies could constrain the longer-term growth of their economic relationship.

Monitoring Concerns

This burgeoning Russian-Iranian cooperation, especially in the nuclear sphere, comes as the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) faces major obstacles in monitoring Iran’s nuclear activities.

In a report published on June 4, the agency said it had conducted an inspection at Bushehr on June 1–3 but had not been able to carry out inspections during the reporting period at other declared nuclear sites, the most sensitive of which are four uranium enrichment facilities.

The IAEA also said it could not verify the status of nuclear material at those sites or confirm whether Iran had suspended uranium enrichment, reprocessing of spent reactor fuel, and heavy-water-related activities -- processes that can support the production of nuclear weapons -- as required by relevant UN Security Council and IAEA resolutions.

The report highlighted a significant gap in international oversight, but its findings describe the situation during the reporting period and should not be taken as a real-time assessment of access to Iranian facilities today.

Russia faces extensive Western sanctions imposed after its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

The measures target key sectors of its economy, including energy, finance, trade, and defense, and are intended to limit Moscow’s ability to finance the war and access technology used by its military. Russia has also faced sanctions over human rights abuses and actions viewed by Western governments as threats to international security.

Iran has faced decades of US and international sanctions over its nuclear program, concerns about possible nuclear weapons development, and its support for armed groups across the Middle East.

Additional restrictions target Iran’s ballistic missile program, military activities, and human rights abuses. Sanctions were tightened further in recent years amid growing concerns over Iran’s nuclear activities and its military cooperation with Russia, including Tehran's supply of drones used in Russia’s war against Ukraine.

The expansion of nuclear projects alongside reduced international oversight has prompted concerns among nonproliferation specialists about transparency and the potential for sensitive technologies to be diverted.

Some analysts have argued that Russia’s civilian nuclear cooperation with Iran could have consequences beyond electricity generation, namely Iran’s accumulation of uranium enriched to 60 percent.

Uranium enriched to that level is not weapons-grade, but it can be enriched further to around 90 percent, the level generally associated with nuclear weapons.

In a June 2025 analysis, the US-based Arms Control Association said that enrichment to 60 percent “has no civil justification and puts Iran in a better position to quickly produce enough weapons-grade material for a bomb.”

The cabinet announced that it wants to get rid of 25,000 full-time jobs by 2035.

No job is secure from the advent of artificial intelligence's rapid growth. In a lengthy post detailing how the Dutch government plans to improve efficiency, it announced that it would get rid of 25,000 full time jobs over the span of a few years as part of cost-cutting measures. As part of that effort, the government is also planning to lean on AI to contribute to productivity.

According to the Dutch government, the goal is to cut back 900 million euros, or around $1 billion, in costs by 2027, with that estimate rising to 3.5 billion euros, or approximately $3.9 billion, by 2035. The post detailed that not all government agencies will be affected, with police and defense being excluded.

It's unclear how the government plans to deploy AI to reduce costs, but the post read that the Dutch cabinet will "come up with goals and savings plans for deploying AI to work more productively," in the first quarter of 2027. The country's state secretary, Eric van der Burg wrote in a letter to the Dutch parliament that this overall effort was part of a push to make the government "simpler, smart and smaller."

Earlier reports from Dutch news outlets reported that the government had been planning to incorporate AI in its cost savings efforts since earlier this year. As reported by Bloomberg, van der Burg wants to "apply AI even more broadly," after several AI initiatives have already been established across different government sectors.

This is the third time a statement like this has been made publicly in the past two years. The previous two statements like this came just before military action by the United States in Venezuela, and then Iran.

Full article.

"The commander of U.S. Southern Command, Gen. Francis Donovan, called on Cubans to work with U.S. intelligence agencies.

U.S. Southern Command’s top general publicly urged Cubans to take action to change their country’s future over the weekend, amplifying a Central Intelligence Agency appeal for intelligence cooperation that Secretary of State Marco Rubio had endorsed days earlier.

Gen. Francis Donovan wrote that the “now is the time” for Cubans to “seize the moment,” in a statement on X, sharing a post by the CIA that called for them to work together. Donovan’s message comes as several U.S. government officials and senior military leaders appeared to set their sights on Cuba in a series of statements calling for “change.”

On Monday, the U.S. Embassy in Havana announced that its chief of mission, Mike Hammer, had met with Donovan. The embassy offered few details about the discussion, writing on X that the two had “plenty to talk about regarding Cuba.” Southern Command reposted the announcement.

“Cuba’s future belongs to those who act. Seize the moment and build the change you want to see,” Donovan, the commander of U.S. Southern Command, said in a statement on X. “No more broken promises, rampant corruption, or tolerating an elite class living in luxury while the citizens are ignored. Now is the time.”

Secretary of State Marco Rubio last week also urged Cubans dissatisfied with their government to pursue political change through a covert relationship with the U.S. intelligence agency.

“To those who seek to create positive change in Cuba – now is the time,” Rubio wrote on X. “The disappointment of failed promises, corruption, and the privileged lives of only a few; seize this opportunity to create the change you desire through a discreet partnership with the CIA.”

Since returning to office in 2025, President Donald Trump has repeatedly talked about possible military operations against Cuba, as part of a wider push to buy or seize several countries and territories in the Western Hemisphere. It enacted an oil blockade on the country, and several naval deployments to the Caribbean, such as the USS Nimitz this May, have been characterized as shows of force. The blockade has caused an energy crisis on the island in recent months, causing widespread blackouts that have impacted hospitals and other infrastructure, as reported by the New York Times.

According to the United Nations, approximately 3.5 million people have faced water shortages, while more than 100,000 patients, including 11,000 children, were awaiting surgeries delayed by power outages and supply shortages earlier this year.

This summer, CBS News reported that the Pentagon was looking at options for strikes on Cuba, including air assaults by the 101st Airborne Division. In September, CBS News reported that the Army Reserve was reviewing its capability to provide support units for a military mission in Cuba. A document reviewed by CBS News noted SOUTHCOM would oversee the troops, which would “possibly [be] needed in 90-120 days.”

Also on Friday, President Trump floated the possibility of military action against Cuba. Speaking at a rally in Florida, Trump said that ships returning from the war with Iran could travel to Cuba.

“Those beautiful [U.S. Navy] ships will pass Cuba. We’ll have one of them stop about 50 yards off the coast,” he said. “They’ll raise up their hands. And then we’re going to send Marco Rubio in to finish up the deal.”

It is unclear whether the government’s statements indicate pending military action toward Cuba, or if Southern Command is preparing for imminent operations.

SOUTHCOM did not respond to Task & Purpose’s questions about the statements by publication time.

After building up a large force in the Caribbean last fall, the U.S. military carried out a raid into Venezuela in January, capturing President Nicolas Maduro following an indictment of him by the Justice Department. In May, the Justice Department issued indictments for multiple Cuban officials, including former President Raul Castro.

Although the large naval force that had been in the region at the start of the year has shrunk, the Pentagon has several elements still in the Caribbean that could be used in the event of a future strike on Cuba. Those include drones and aircraft deployed to bases in Puerto Rico, as well as Marines with Littoral Combat Force-24, which is operating out of the island when not in the Eastern Pacific as part of Joint Task Force-Western Hemisphere."

Millions of Americans could face hurdles in keeping their Medicaid coverage next year, and a new survey found nearly half of program recipients are unprepared to navigate the changes.

Starting January 1, certain adults will have to demonstrate at least 80 hours per month of work, education, community service or other qualifying activities to enroll in or maintain their Medicaid coverage.

With the changes pending, a new survey commissioned by Aeroflow Health found that while 63 percent of respondents said they were aware of the coming requirements, 44 percent said they were not prepared to submit the documentation needed to comply.

Why It Matters

Medicaid provides health coverage to lower-income Americans and is financed by both the federal government and states. The new requirements mark a major change to eligibility for many working-age adults previously covered by the program.

Under rules of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), the requirement generally applies to non-pregnant adults ages 19 through 64 who are not enrolled in Medicare and who receive coverage through the Medicaid expansion population or certain Section 1115 demonstration programs.

Those affected by the change can satisfy the new requirement through at least 80 hours per month of qualifying activities, which can include employment, work programs or community service. Enrollment in an educational program at least half time can also qualify, and the activities can be combined.

However, experts say, the stakes go beyond whether beneficiaries actually work enough hours.

"One of the biggest concerns with Medicaid revisions was additional requirements that most beneficiaries would fail to realize only after their implementation," Alex Beene, financial literacy instructor for the University of Tennessee at Martin, told Newsweek.

The Aeroflow Health findings suggest that some people who are eligible for coverage could still struggle with the administrative process needed to prove it.

"People should not lose Medicaid coverage because the reporting process was confusing, especially when they have met the requirements or qualify for an exemption," Casey Hite, CEO of Aeroflow Health, said in a statement. "That is the risk our findings expose. Awareness is not readiness."

Nearly Half Say They Aren't Ready

Although nearly two-thirds of the Medicaid members surveyed knew the requirements were approaching, being ready for them was a different matter. Roughly 44 percent said they were not ready to submit the required documentation, and 46 percent said they had received no reminders about the coming mandates. Another 42 percent said they received between one and three reminders. One-third said their biggest concern was figuring out whether they qualified under the new rules.

"This new rule covers ages 19-64 and while there will be exceptions, for the majority of beneficiaries, this is the new normal," Beene said. "Preparing for this change and additional paperwork involved is key."

The consequences of a coverage disruption could be severe. The survey found 53 percent said they had already delayed or altered healthcare due to concerns about coverage, while 89 percent said losing Medicaid would affect their ability to obtain care or medical supplies.

Who Will Have to Meet the New Medicaid Requirements?

Not every person receiving Medicaid will be subject to the new policy.

CMS has said the requirement generally applies to non-pregnant adults ages 19 to 64 who are not entitled to or enrolled in Medicare and are in the Medicaid adult expansion group or demonstration programs.

People subject to the rule can comply as long as they prove 80 hours a month of qualifying activities, whether through employment, work programs, community service or through half time or more enrollment in an educational program.

“The priority is reporting and making sure you hold those who are requesting benefits remain accountable,” Kevin Thompson, CEO of 9i Capital Group and host of the 9innings podcast, told Newsweek. “The concern for the administration is to root out what they deem waste and abuse of the system, although very little has been discovered.”

Recipients exempt to the new rule include those pregnant and postpartum, people who are disabled or medically frail, parents and caregivers of children under age 14 or people with disabilities, and American Indians and Alaska Natives, depending on their circumstances.

How Many People Could Lose Medicaid?

CMS has previously said that around 2.3 million people could lose Medicaid coverage in 2027 and roughly 3.2 million annually thereafter. This projection assumes some people will lose coverage for failing to satisfy the requirements and others will lose it because of paperwork or other administrative barriers.

But other estimates are considerably higher.

Manatt Health predicted average annual Medicaid coverage losses of about 8.2 million people from federal fiscal years 2027 through 2034.

Concerns Over Paperwork and Coverage Loss

While state Medicaid agencies are working to update information technology systems and staffing ahead of the January rollout, navigating eligibility systems and the administrative hurdles can still be challenging for many.

CMS said itself in a website post that “implementation of the new community engagement requirements necessitates major system, policy, and operational changes to state programs in the coming years.”

Thompson said the new work requirements will pose issues, mainly due to the enhanced documentation and filing: “You will now be required to report every six months with mandatory tracking of 80 hours per month.”

"Claude didn't access ​the state's voter registration system or ⁠change or pull any voting records," ​Anthropic said, adding that it has ​since taken steps to block these kinds of actions.

Anthropic said in a blog post earlier ​this month it found examples of ​Claude "working around a restriction to reach data that ‌was ⁠gated by a token or a fee" and some of these cases involved websites run by US ​government agencies ​at the ⁠federal, state, and local levels.

The secretary of state's office ​in Georgia did not respond ​to ⁠a Reuters request for comment outside regular business hours.

Axios first reported the ⁠unauthorized ​action by Claude.

IMO this is a pretty big deal and foreshadowing for what's to come with AI agent swarms....

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_October_(information_security)

How do you best prepare for this? Keep a good chunk of cash on hand?

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/oct/23/severe-flooding-west-triggers-rescues-evacuations

Severe flooding in the Four Corners region on Friday led to water rescues – some from rooftops – and impassable roads, with some residents being told to evacuate low-lying areas of Colorado and New Mexico and others advised to shelter in place until water levels go down.

It followed several busy days of flooding in the region that swamped dozens of homes in Utah. Earlier in the week, tornadoes blew off roofs, knocked trees on to houses and downed power lines in Arizona. At least one person was injured.

An unknown number of people were rescued overnight and continued to be rescued on Friday by New Mexico guard boats, helicopters and amphibious vehicles, Devin Neeley, a San Juan county spokesperson, said.

“We’re picking people off of roofs and pulling people out of houses that have 3 or 4ft (1-1.5 metres) of water in them, and there’s more water coming,” Neeley said.

Skies were clearing but the rivers continued to rise, with forecast crests surpassed, he added.

“This is serious. We’re still sending deputies as I speak to get people out of their homes right now. In fact, our sheriff is damn near going to lose his home today,” Neeley said.

About 600 households were told to evacuate in Farmington, where areas along the San Juan River were closed off, city spokesperson Gina Intoppa said.

“We are kind of all hands on deck,” Intoppa said.

In a Facebook post on Friday morning, Farmington police said: “Agencies have been working through the night and are doing everything they can to respond as quickly as possible.”

Additionally, a flood warning in Rio Chama said: “The current extent of the flooding along the San Juan River in New Mexico has not been observed since before the completion of Navajo dam in 1962.”

On Friday, the National Weather Service issued a flood warning across west central Montezuma county in southwestern Colorado

Farmington is the biggest city in the Four Corners, the only place in the US where four states – Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona and Utah – come together.

National guard members also were deployed to assist with flooding in south-west Colorado. Rising waters prompted mandatory evacuations along four rivers, including the San Juan River through Pagosa Springs. The resort town famous for its riverside hot springs suffered flooding from a similar weather pattern a year ago.

“Please shelter in place, water levels are beginning to recede, but many roads are impassable and unsafe for travel,” the Archuleta county sheriff’s office posted online on Friday.

In nearby Rio Grande county, trailers at a campground were surrounded by high water and trucks were partially submerged in other areas.

Some homes along the Conejos River in the San Juan Mountains experienced up to 7ft of interior flooding, while homes in the South Fork area saw water levels reach 4-5ft, the Colorado Sun reported.

The small mountain town of South Fork reported a missing bridge that extended over Forest Service Road 380, the outlet added.

Meanwhile, the sheriff’s office of Archuleta county warned residents on Friday to shelter in place, saying: “Water levels are beginning to recede but many roads are impassable and unsafe for travel.

“The evacuation check-in center is not currently accessible, if you need an evacuation location the PLPOA Clubhouse at 230 Port Ave, Pagosa Springs CO is open and available,” it added.

Photos posted online by the Colorado Department of transportation showed a road washout near Silverton on Highway 550, where brown floodwaters surged across a large section of the damaged roadway, Colorado Public Radio reported.

Jared Polis, Colorado’s governor, had declared a disaster emergency in 11 counties in response to heavy rain and flooding in the south-west part of the state.

The city of Hurricane in far south-western Utah was cleaning up after declaring a state of emergency on Thursday. Reddish-brown flood water lapped into and about 80 homes in a neighborhood and 50 recreational vehicles in an RV park.

Surreal scenes included a shipping container drifting slowly down a street.

An evacuation order was issued for the Willow Wind RV Park in Hurricane.

Other videos posted online showed people in Hurricane leading horses to safety through murky floodwaters.

“The full extent and severity of the damage, as well as the potential displacement of residents, remain under assessment,” Hurricane officials said, adding that the floods have damaged or affected bridges, culverts, public roads and electrical power boxes.

The flooding was not unexpected, just the latest from two months of heavy rain that ended a summer of drought. While parts of the south-west are rocky with little vegetation and are naturally prone to flash flooding, the recent rains have made flooding everywhere more likely, said Kate Abbott, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Grand Junction, Colorado.

“At this point we’re saturated and can’t take too much more without flooding,” Abbott said. “This is the third or fourth round of this kind of moisture we’ve seen in as many weeks.”

The severe flooding follows weeks of extreme weather across the south-west, including Thursday’s storms in Arizona, which brought golf ball-size hail and tornadoes, and a prolonged heat dome that pushed temperatures across the region into the triple digits.

Meanwhile, California was gripped by an unprecedented heatwave last week, with downtown Los Angeles reaching a record 104F, surpassing the previous high of 101F set in 1953.