The death toll from Tropical Storm Rachel in Mexico's northwestern state of Baja California has risen to eight, local authorities said Wednesday, reported Xinhua. All eight deaths occurred in the municipality of Ensenada, the hardest hit by the storm over the weekend. Four of the victims were minors, according to local media reports. Gen. Daniel Gallegos, commander of the Second Military Zone, said search efforts were continuing for two people who remained missing. He added that one minor had been found alive. Baja California Governor Marina del Pilar Avila warned that the emergency "remains active" and urged residents to heed civil protection alerts and avoid crossing streams. Mexico forecast 18 to 21 named cyclones in the Pacific this season, of which four to five could become major hurricanes.

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A Palestinian was killed in an Israeli airstrike on the Gaza Strip, according to Palestinian medical sources on Thursday, reported Xinhua. Eyewitnesses reported that an Israeli drone targeted a group of Palestinians near the Abd al-Rahman School in the al-Safatawi area, north of Gaza City, with a missile. Medical sources told Xinhua that one Palestinian was killed and several others were wounded. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli army on the airstrike. Gaza-based health authorities reported in the latest update that the death toll since the ceasefire came into effect in October 2025 has reached 1,505, with 5,332 wounded, bringing the total since October 7, 2023, to 74,396 dead and 175,449 wounded. In a separate statement, the health authorities said that Israeli authorities continue to close the Rafah border crossing for the second week in a row, preventing the evacuation of patients and the wounded for treatment abroad. The health authorities warned of the repercussions of the closure, which has led to "a dangerous and rapidly increasing backlog of critical cases" and called on relevant parties to exert pressure on the Israeli authorities to open the Rafah crossing and all other crossings. According to Palestinian medical sources, 21,000 patients in Gaza are in need of medical evacuation. Also on Thursday, the Hamas-run Government Media Office denied Israeli claims that Hamas was imposing fees on commercial trucks entering the Gaza Strip, calling on mediators to pressure Israel to allow 600 trucks to enter the enclave daily. Israel's Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories said Wednesday that Hamas operatives were allegedly attempting to impose a levy of about 10,000 shekels (about 3,100 U.S. dollars) on each truck entering the enclave.

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A SpaceX Dragon cargo spacecraft arrived at the International Space Station (ISS) on Thursday, delivering scientific equipment and supplies to the orbiting laboratory, NASA said, reported Xinhua. The spacecraft, carrying about 2,860 kilograms of cargo, lifted off at 6:33 a.m. Eastern Time (1033 GMT) on Tuesday from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in the U.S. state of Florida. The Dragon spacecraft docked autonomously with the ISS at 10:27 a.m. Eastern Time (1427 GMT) on Thursday. The cargo delivered consisted of supplies for the station's crew and a range of scientific investigations, including the final set of ISS Roll-Out Solar Arrays, hardware for manufacturing artificial retinas in microgravity, and three-dimensional heart tissue models to advance large-scale drug testing, according to NASA. The spacecraft is scheduled to remain at the space station until mid-November before departing the orbiting laboratory and returning to Earth with time-sensitive research and cargo, splashing down off the coast of California. The mission marks SpaceX's 35th commercial resupply services mission to the ISS for NASA.

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Ukraine said U.S. aerospace company SpaceX restricted Starlink services on Wednesday, hampering the country's attack and air-defense drone missions, reported Xinhua. SpaceX introduced speed limits for Starlink terminals in Ukraine, Ukrainian presidential adviser Serhii Beskrestnov said Wednesday on Telegram. "Our defense forces received no warning of such a restriction, and this led to the disruption of a number of missions," he said, suggesting that the move could be linked to the "current political situation." Regarding the restriction on the military version of Starlink services in Ukraine, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said: "It's a big mistake... This decision will bring a lot of human losses." SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said that the U.S. government controlled the speed of the satellite communications system and that any limits on the system's speed or usage were decided by the U.S. military and ultimately the U.S. president. Trump said on Sunday that Russia and Ukraine had agreed to halt attacks on energy targets, although neither side confirmed the agreement. The developments came as Russia launched more missiles and drones at Ukrainian cities, hitting energy and critical infrastructure and leaving at least 600,000 people without power, according to Zelensky. After a night of bombardment of Kiev, Russian strikes continued throughout Wednesday, with six people killed in the western city of Lutsk, according to local officials. Ukraine, for its part, continued long-range strikes on Russia, hitting Russia's biggest data center, but said it was holding back from hitting energy targets for now to show respect for Trump. Ukraine has also accused the United States of helping Russia by failing to warn it of incoming missile strikes.

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The Finnish government criticised the European Commission proposal for a Regulation on affordable housing (Affordable Housing Act) and called for changes to the proposal. The government on Thursday submitted a Union communication to Parliament where it outlined its position concerning the Commission proposal, said the Ministry of the Environment in a press release. It sought changes as the draft proposal is considered to significantly restrict the competence of the Member States by virtue of internal market regulation. The European Commission published its proposal for the Affordable Housing Act on 9 September 2026. The act would create a framework for measures by the Member States to safeguard housing affordability and availability. The proposal is part of the European Affordable Housing Plan published by the Commission on 16 December 2025. A Europe communication on this was submitted to Parliament on 17 April 2026. The aim of the Commission proposal is to clarify the conditions based on which the Member States could safeguard housing affordability and availability in accordance with the EU internal market rules. The proposal would create a common framework for assessing such measures. The regulation could apply to measures by authorities of the Member States that restrict short-term accommodation rental services (such as Airbnb) or acquisition and use of dwellings for purposes other than permanent residence. The Commission proposal is targeted to areas where housing demand exceeds the supply and the affordability and availability of housing has suffered from this. These include large cities and tourist destinations. The competent authorities should be able to provide evidence of such housing pressure before introducing any restrictive measures. The government emphasises that housing policy falls within the national competence of the Member States. Housing and the housing market are very much local in nature and their development is influenced by earlier housing policy decisions. These decisions have long-term impacts that are reflected in the housing stock, urban structure and systems concerning housing. The government considers that the Commission proposal is not proportionate. Through the internal market competence it addresses matters that would be much more effectively regulated locally and without EU-level regulation. It considers that the proposal should specify in more detail how the areas affected by housing pressures would be defined in practice, as this is one of the elements that will determine the significance of the proposal. Too rough NUTS (Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics) division would not recognise local differences in the housing market because there may be both cities suffering from housing shortage and areas with an abundant supply of housing within the same region. This could make it difficult to target the measures to areas where the need is the greatest. “The housing market situations and problems related to housing vary a great deal in different parts of the large EU area. It simply does not make any sense to try to regulate the housing market of Oulu or Espoo with the same rules as the market of Barcelona or Amsterdam. The Commissions proposal does not solve the problems that it aims to address,” said Minister of Climate and the Environment Sari Multala in the press release. The Union Communication will be referred to the Grand Committee of Parliament for consideration. In the EU a national Parliament can give a reasoned opinion to the Presidents of the European Parliament, Council and Commission of the reasons based on which it considers that the proposal does not comply with the principle of subsidiarity. The reasoned opinion must be submitted within eight weeks from the publication of the proposal concerning a legislative act in all official languages of the European Union. The deadline for submitting the opinion on

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Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores on Thursday pleaded not guilty to new U.S. charges of torture, reported Xinhua. The couple was brought to a Manhattan federal court to face a rewritten indictment, which accuses them of overseeing a violent system that committed torture against victims, including U.S. citizens held in Venezuelan detention. Maduro, in court, condemned the latest charges as "false accusations and false testimony," while Flores told the judge she was "completely innocent" and "not guilty." The couple was previously charged with drug trafficking and firearms crimes, to which they pleaded not guilty. The judge postponed the start of the trial by two weeks to June 14, 2027, due to the new charges. Maduro's lawyers have sought to have the case dismissed, arguing that he was the incumbent president of Venezuela at the time of his capture and was therefore entitled to immunity from foreign criminal jurisdiction. On Jan. 3, U.S. forces launched a military operation in Venezuela and forcibly seized Maduro and his wife before transporting them to New York. The couple has been held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn since their capture in Caracas.

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Sweden's parliament on Thursday rejected Social Democratic Party leader Magdalena Andersson's nomination as new prime minister (PM), prolonging a political deadlock over government formation following last month's general election, reported Xinhua. Andersson, who served as Sweden's PM from 2021 to 2022, received 99 votes in favor and 248 against in the 349-member Swedish parliament, the Riksdag, according to Swedish Television (SVT). Following the vote, Andersson told SVT that the Riksdag was facing a difficult situation and that several rounds of voting might be needed before a new government could take office. The vote came after Parliament Speaker Andreas Norlen nominated Andersson on Tuesday to lead a single-party Social Democratic government, despite the failure of negotiations among four parties that together secured a narrow parliamentary majority in the September election. The Social Democratic Party, Left Party, Green Party and Center Party won a combined 176 seats, but remain divided over the composition of a new government. According to SVT, coalition talks have been hampered mainly by disagreements between the Center Party and the Left Party, with the latter insisting on joining the government and securing cabinet posts, while the Center Party refuses to serve in the same government. The Left Party, Green Party and Center Party all announced ahead of Thursday's vote that they would oppose a single-party Social Democratic government. Andersson acknowledged Tuesday that although progress had been made in coalition negotiations, conditions were still not in place to form a government capable of securing sufficient parliamentary support. The former PM was first tasked with exploring the formation of a new government on Sept. 18, after outgoing PM Ulf Kristersson requested to be relieved of his duties following the election. However, she returned the mandate on Sept. 28 after the Left Party backed the Moderate Party's candidate rather than the Social Democratic Party's candidate in the parliamentary speaker election. Norlen subsequently reassigned her the task in early October, but negotiations remained inconclusive. Under Sweden's system of negative parliamentarism, a PM candidate can take office unless at least 175 of the 349 lawmakers vote against the nomination. Following Thursday's rejection, Norlen will have to put forward another candidate. Under Sweden's constitution, if parliament rejects four proposed PM candidates, an extraordinary election must be held.

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Yemen's government said Thursday that five people were killed and 16 others wounded in an attack launched by the Houthi group on the presidential palace compound in the southern port city of Aden earlier in the day, reported Xinhua. In a statement, Minister of Public Health and Population Qassem Buhaibeh condemned the attack and said those killed and wounded included security guards and civilian employees working at the Al-Ma'ashiq Presidential Palace compound, the temporary seat of the internationally recognized Yemeni government. Earlier on Thursday, a local security official told Xinhua that five missiles had struck the presidential palace compound, while another attack targeted the headquarters of the Saudi-led coalition forces in Aden's Al Buraiqa district. The Houthi group later claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it had targeted a "Saudi military operations headquarters" inside the presidential palace compound. Houthi-run al-Masirah TV, citing a Houthi military leader, claimed that Saudi military officers were killed or wounded in the strike and weapons depots belonging to Saudi forces targeted. Saudi Arabia and the Saudi-led coalition have not commented on the claim. Thursday's strikes marked a further escalation in the confrontation between the Houthis and Saudi Arabia, with the two sides trading intensified strikes in recent days. Yemen has been mired in conflict since late 2014, when the Houthis seized the capital Sanaa and much of northern Yemen, forcing the government out of the capital.

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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told British media that Ukraine would restart strikes on Russia's oil refineries and described recent U.S. moves as a betrayal of Kyiv, according to reports on Thursday, said Xinhua. "The block (on attacking refineries) is out. We're done," Zelensky said in an interview with the Financial Times, arguing that Ukraine had paused energy strikes for three days to comply with the U.S.-announced "energy ceasefire," while Moscow continued to attack Ukrainian energy infrastructure. U.S. President Donald Trump said last week that Russia and Ukraine had agreed to an immediate "energy ceasefire." Zelensky also said the U.S. cutting off intelligence and restricting Starlink internet service has been "dangerous" for Ukraine. On Wednesday, Ukraine said U.S. aerospace company SpaceX restricted Starlink services, hampering the country's attack and air-defense drone missions. Visiting London on Wednesday, Zelensky admitted to British broadcaster Piers Morgan he felt "betrayed" by the recent U.S. moves. "They (the United States) wanted us not to attack diesel. My opinion was it's not fair," he said, adding that it was "really strange" and "something absolutely crazy" for the United States to restrict Starlink services. "I think he is not right. It's a big mistake," replied Zelensky when asked if he was angry at SpaceX CEO Elon Musk. "I don't know him or (if) somebody pushed him to ... I don't know really." Meanwhile, Ukrainian forces struck six Su-34M bombers at the Borisoglebsk military airfield in Russia's southwestern Voronezh region overnight on Thursday, the Ukrainian Navy said in a report, according to Xinhua. The aircraft were hit using the Neptune coastal missile system. The strikes also targeted technical equipment supporting aviation operations. Secondary explosions and a fire were observed at the airfield, the report said. The Navy said it expects the operation to weaken Russia's aviation capabilities and reduce the intensity of tactical aviation operations. The Russian air defense forces intercepted and destroyed 166 Ukrainian aircraft-type unmanned aerial vehicles over the territories of the Belgorod, Bryansk, Kursk, etc. overnight, the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement on Thursday. The Russian military also hit infrastructure at the port of Izmail in the Odessa region that was used by the armed forces of Ukraine, the ministry said.

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At least 33 people were killed and 17 others injured when a school roof collapsed in Pakistan's northwest Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on Thursday, hospital officials and a rescue service spokesperson told Xinhua. According to a report from the Bed Management Office of Lady Reading Hospital in Peshawar, 53 patients were brought to the hospital, including 33 who died and three who remained under observation. Seventeen others were discharged after observation. The hospital list included children aged 4 to 14, as well as a 25-year-old woman. Bilal Ahmed Faizi, spokesperson for Rescue 1122, told Xinhua that police were investigating the incident. Initial investigations suggested that heavy rainfall had caused the roof of the two-story school building in Dir Colony to collapse. President Asif Ali Zardari expressed condolences over the loss of lives and directed the authorities to ensure medical facilities for the injured, according to his office. In a post on X, he also called for a comprehensive investigation into building safety standards at educational institutions. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif ordered expedited relief operations and directed that all possible medical assistance be provided to the injured. Meanwhile, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Faisal Karim Kundi ordered an inquiry into the incident.

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Emergency warnings will also be delivered directly to mobile phones through FI-Alert, in addition to the existing channels as the new act in this regard is scheduled to enter into force on November 1. The government on Thursday sent the bill for approval of the President and the President is expected to approve it on Friday, said the Ministry of the Interior in a press release. FI-Alert will allow the authorities to send emergency warnings almost instantly to mobile phones in a specific geographical area. Earlier in August, the Government submitted a proposal to Parliament to amend sections 5 and 7 of the Act on Emergency Warnings with the provision for introducing new warning channels. The changed security situation has highlighted the need to further improve the authorities ability to reach the public and to make the warning system faster, particularly during emergency conditions. In future, people will also receive emergency warnings through a cell broadcast system. The new system is called FI-Alert. It will complement Finlands existing multi-channel public warning system. Currently, people can receive emergency warnings on smartphones through the 112 Suomi app or the Finnish Broadcasting Companys Yle app. Emergency warnings are also broadcast on radio and television, displayed on teletext page 112, and published on the 112.fi and yle.fi websites. In addition, authorities may use public warning sirens to sound the public warning signal.

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The City of Helsinki is testing AI-based documentation assistant in health and social services in October, said the City in a press release on Thursday. The aim of the documentation assistant is to speed up the documentation process and free up the time of professionals so that they can focus on interacting with clients. A professional will ask for clients´ consent to use the AI-based assistant during a meeting or appointment. The documentation assistant has been tested in the City of Helsinkis physiotherapy and occupational therapy services since the summer. In October, the authority is expanding the testing to include units from student health services, dental care and social services, among others. The AI-powered assistant generates draft documentation based on the conversation that takes place during an appointment. The professional then checks and completes the documentation before saving it in the patient information system. The documentation assistant does not store patients´ data and it will not be used to train the assistant. The pilot is part of a comprehensive reform of health and social services. “Over the course of this year and next, we will be developing our digital service channels to ensure that Helsinki residents can access our services as smoothly as possible. At the same time, we are providing our staff with new tools to make their everyday work easier,” said Mika Perttu, programme director of the digital services reform.

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