Tories plan to expand free childcare to high earners to end ‘cliff edge’

• Aram Safaryan, director of the Russian Studies Centre at Yerevan State University, proposed restoring the railway link through Abkhazia to create a unified transport system for the South Caucasus. • Safaryan stated that the project is back on the agenda due to a "significantly changed" political and geopolitical situation.

• Egypt and Ethiopia expelled each other's diplomats this week as part of a tit-for-tat diplomatic row. • These expulsions occurred one day after Ethiopia closed its embassy in Eritrea.

• Interlocking proxy disputes and tensions in the Red Sea are increasing the risk of Ethiopia being drawn into a regional war. • Sudan has been destabilized by a three-year power struggle between its military and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.

• Federal troops and a rebel alliance led by Tigrayan forces began fighting in northern Ethiopia on October 2 after months of tension. • The conflict occurs while Ethiopia is at odds with neighboring countries over the development of a giant hydroelectric dam that could threaten regional water access.

• Ethiopia and Eritrea severed diplomatic ties as Ethiopian forces continued battling rebel fighters across the northern Tigray region. • UN spokesman Stéphane Dujarric reported that drone activity and air strikes are endangering civilians, vital infrastructure, and aid operations.

• The United Nations released $160 million to support 12 severely underfunded humanitarian crises. • This funding focuses on improving aid for people with disabilities in conflict-affected and fragile regions.

• Violence surged across the Middle East following the October 7, 2023, attack on Israel by Hamas and the subsequent war in Gaza. • Iran expanded the conflict by mobilizing its Axis of Resistance, a network including Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen, and militias in Iraq and Syria.

Forty-year-old victim declared dead at the scene in East Acton in a ‘senseless act of violence’A murder investigation has been launched after a 40-year-old man was shot dead in a “senseless act of violence” during a memorial service in west London, police have said.Police were called on Friday at 7.47pm after multiple shots were heard in East Acton. Continue reading...

President appeared to share phone number of Tom Cotton for people to call to push him to support measureDonald Trump on Saturday put pressure on the US senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas to support a bill to make daylight saving time permanent, urging Americans to call what appeared to be the personal cellphone number of his fellow Republican and the chair of the Senate intelligence committee.The Sunshine Protection Act passed the House in July, but it faces roadblocks in the Senate, where some Republicans are strongly opposed to it. Proponents, including the president and his administration, argue that the change would provide more daylight during the times that Americans are most active. Detractors said permanent daylight saving time would lead to darker and potentially more hazardous winter mornings when children will be waiting for school buses and parents will be driving to work in darkness. Continue reading...

Frank Strada leaving position as state launches independent investigation into what went wrongTennessee’s top prison official is stepping down in the aftermath of the failed execution of death row prisoner Christa Pike, the state’s governor Bill Lee announced Saturday.Frank Strada, the department of correction commissioner, will leave his position later in October as the state launches an independent investigation into what went wrong during Wednesday’s botched execution of Pike, according to Lee. Continue reading...

The plane was undertaking a medical evacuation from Bermuda with six people onboard when it lost contactThe US Coast Guard is searching for an air ambulance jet with six people onboard that lost contact with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) during a flight from Bermuda to Boston early on Saturday morning.In a statement to the Guardian, an FAA spokesperson said that the agency issued a search-and-rescue alert notice for a Gulfstream G-100 at about 1.20am local time on Saturday. Continue reading...