Watch: Trees ripped up as Storm Austen batters Britain The first named storm of the season brought powerful gusts to Jersey, and in southern England the wild weather disrupted travel with fallen trees blocking railway lines and roads.
Mystery over source of Ebola infection in Nigeria fuels concern about spread of virus Switzerland says patient is wife of Swiss diplomat and believed to have contracted virus while travelling in UgandaHealth officials across Africa are racing to determine how Nigeria's first Ebola patient in more than a decade became infected, amid fears the outbreak could spread further after reaching a fourth African country.The Swiss foreign ministry said on Friday the patient in Nigeria, the Ugandan-born wife of a Swiss diplomat based in Abuja, had not travelled to the Democratic Republic of Congo, where the outbreak was first detected in mid-May before spreading to Uganda, Kenya and now Nigeria. The woman was believed to have contracted Ebola while travelling with her husband in Uganda, the ministry added. Continue reading...
41-year-old set on 'dream to be able to race in Africa'
Rwanda to host despite criticism of human rights record
Lewis Hamilton has said he hopes to remain racing in Formula One until he can take part in the African Grand Prix which is set to take place in Rwanda in the 2030s. The seven-time world champion believes it is right that F1 is to hold a race there despite criticism of the country's human rights record.Last week F1 confirmed Rwanda was to host the African Grand Prix having concluded a 10-year agreement for the meeting on a purpose-built circuit, with the first race set for the early 2030s. It is lined up to be held on a circuit in Bugesera, 25 miles south of the capital, Kigali, which has yet to be constructed and marks a return to the African continent for the first time since it last held a race at Kyalami, South Africa in 1993. Continue reading...
Controversial US-backed vaccine trial in African newborns halted Hepatitis B study in Guinea-Bissau that was to be funded by CDC and that drew global backlash 'will not move forward'The US-backed hepatitis B vaccine trial in African newborns that drew global backlash was halted, the lead researcher said on Wednesday.It was "now clear" that the study "will not move forward in Guinea-Bissau", Frederik Schaltz-Buchholzer, a Danish researcher, wrote on LinkedIn, adding, "we were not given the necessary governmental approval." Continue reading...
Relatives of gravely ill detainees at two Floridaimmigration jails say authorities are about to deport their loved ones to unknown countries in Africa despite worsening medical conditions.Flights are scheduled as early as Wednesday, according to the families and the immigration advocacy group the Workers Circle, which has been monitoring conditions and speaking with detainees inside two Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facilities in south Florida. Continue reading...
Nigeria confirms Ebola case as outbreak spreads into western Africa Case in Africa's most populous country was detected in a woman who had travelled from UgandaNigeria has confirmed an Ebola case in its capital, Abuja, after a woman who arrived from Uganda tested positive for the virus, the health ministry said.The woman began showing symptoms on 7 October and was admitted to a hospital in Abuja four days later, where she was later diagnosed with Ebola. It is unclear when she arrived in Nigeria, Africa's most populous country. Continue reading...
Brazil's election and the battle for the Amazon - podcast Our Latin America correspondent, Tom Phillips, heads to Roraima to hear what's at stake for the rainforest and the communities that live there in the Brazilian presidential runoff on Sunday. Send your comments and questions to tif.questions@theguardian.comFor the Amazon and the communities who live there, the stakes in Sunday's Brazilian presidential election runoff could scarcely be higher.Our Latin America correspondent, Tom Phillips heads to Roraima, the country's most northern state, to hear from voters, preachers and politicians in a region that heavily backed Flávio Bolsonaro in the first round. Continue reading...
Trump says he ordered lawsuit to potentially block certification of Alaska Senate race Trump says he ordered lawsuit to potentially block certification of Alaska Senate racePresident Donald Trump on Friday said he told his administration to file its lawsuit to block certification of the U.S. Senate race in Alaska if Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan loses, kicking off what many fear could become a lengthy battle between the government and states over certifying an election where the president's party is struggling. "I'm the one that said do it," Trump told reporters as he landed for a campaign rally in Florida. The lawsuit, filed late Thursday, centers on one of the president's longstanding complaints in the Senate race - the presence of a second candidate named Dan Sullivan, who Republicans fear could siphon away votes from the incumbent in what's likely to be a photo-finish contest with Democrat Mary Peltola, the state's former congresswoman. The second Sullivan, who is Daniel J. Sullivan from the tiny fishing community of Petersburg, has said he decided to run on his own, but Republicans have contended he is a Democratic plant to siphon votes away from their candidate. The lawsuit by the Republican president's Department of Justice in federal court in Alaska demands that the state be blocked from certifying a Peltola win if Daniel J. Sullivan remains on the ballot. "The United States accordingly brings this lawsuit to protect the integrity of the 2026 Senate election in Alaska," the lawsuit says. The legal challenge came 11 days before the Nov. 3 election and months after the final ballot was set. It is the latest example of the Department of Justice bolstering Trump's political operation, targeting his enemies and suing Democratic-controlled states before the election. Democrats and many voting rights advocates have long feared that the administration will try to block certification of elections that Trump's party loses, much as he unsuccessfully tried to do when he lost the 2020 White House race to Democrat Joe Biden. The Alaska Supreme Court rejected a previous Republican effort to remove Daniel J. Sullivan from the ballot, and the state's Republican officials made the decisions about how to list him on the ballot. He will appear without a party designation next to his name, while the senator will be listed as the Republican incumbent. Alaska's ranked choice voting system also will allow voters to select both of the men if confused.
Peltola and Sen. Sullivan were top vote-getters in nonpartisan primary
The senator received more than 68,000 votes in the August primary, while the challenging Sullivan got 4,107, about 2% of the total vote. Peltola, who had previously served one term in the House, was the top vote-getter in the nonpartisan primary. Both parties expect that whoever wins in November will do so by a tight margin in a state of 738,000 people. The campaign for Sen. Dan Sullivan did not address whether the senator supports the Department of Justice's intervention. "We'll let the DOJ complaint run its course," campaign spokesman Nate Adams said in a text message. "Alaskans can tell the difference between a Democrat sideshow and Senator Sullivan's strong record of delivering for Alaska." Daniel J. Sullivan, whose presence on the ballot is at issue in the lawsuit, did not respond to a request for comment. "Donald Trump knows that Dan Sullivan is going to lose the election, so now his Department of Justice is filing a sham lawsuit to overturn the will of Alaska voters and steal an election when he loses," said Devan Barber, executive director of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. Peltola, on her Substack, wrote, "This is a blatant, despicable political threat - all because a historically unpopular 12-year incumbent is scared that he's going to lose the Senate seat that belongs to Alaskans." In a statement Friday, the Department of Justice noted that Alaska's election officials, who are Republicans, determined the other Sullivan's campaign was an attempt to "mislead" voters and wanted him removed from the ballot. Both a state court and Alaska's Supreme Court disagreed and kept the second Sullivan on the ballot. "The Justice Department, consistent with the National Voter Registration Act enacted by Congress, is taking the necessary steps to ensure that this frivolous candidacy does not undermine the integrity of Alaska's election or the will of its voters," the department's statement said. Concerns about the Department of Justice's role in the election had already reached a fever pitch this month after it filed an unusual, last-minute lawsuit demanding California segregate ballots from 20,000 voters who the Trump administration believed could be noncitizens. California said that it appeared many of those identified were indeed citizens and that they had no time to carefully investigate, as the administration threatened to prosecute the state's election workers if there was illegal voting. U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche denied the action was a prelude to challenging certification of the midterm results in that state, adding that such a move may happen under a "doomsday" scenario but was unlikely. "It is not DOJ's intention to, and it's never our intention to, improperly interfere with elections or the state certification process," he told reporters Thursday in Virginia before the Alaska lawsuit was filed. The lawsuit was signed by Associate U.S. Attorney General Stanley Woodward, who represented Trump allies and Jan. 6 defendants before becoming one of the top appointees at the department.
Constitution gives states the power to run elections
Derek Muller, a law professor at the University of Notre Dame, said the lawsuit would likely only kick in if Republicans narrowly lose the Alaska Senate race and that it probably would not survive long. "The statute simply doesn't let the Department of Justice enjoin certification," Muller said. "The lawsuit could well be mooted by a wide Democratic victory or a narrow Republican one, and if not, the court will likely dismiss it next month." The U.S. Constitution grants states the power to run their own elections. Elections for federal office like the Senate must comply with standards set by Congress. That division of power has frustrated Trump, who repeatedly has tried to seize control of election procedures through executive orders that courts have blocked. The final step for a state election is formally certifying the winner, the act that the administration's lawsuit seeks to prevent, it requests, "pending an investigation to determine whether votes cast for Daniel J. Sullivan were meant to be cast for Senator Sullivan." The process in Alaska is complicated by the state's ranked choice voting system, which Trump opposes, and many expect it to take weeks before a winner is known. Also on the state's ballot is an initiative to repeal that system.
Trump has stepped up complaints about a ballot with dueling Sullivans
Trump has complained about Daniel J. Sullivan's presence on the ballot, making reference to it during a rally in Alaska this month and in repeated social media posts, including one this week where he called it "CHEATING." "We are looking at powerful legal options to remove the fraudulent Daniel J. Sullivan Jr. from the Ballot, and holding the Democrats accountable for their Election Interference, in the pursuit of Justice and Fairness," the president wrote on Wednesday. Clogging a ballot with third-party candidates to siphon off votes from the other major party is a long-standing tactic in the country's two-party system. Republicans have been linked to an effort to persuade Ohio voters to support a socialist in that state's Senate race, which could help Republican Sen. Jon Husted fend off a challenge from former Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown. ___ Associated Press writers Becky Bohrer in Juneau, Alaska, Ali Swenson in New York and Alanna Durkin Richer in Washington contributed to this report.This article originally appeared on Associated Press at https://www.yahoo.com/news/politics/articles/trump-administration-sues-block-alaska-144654098.html
2 former FBI officials charged with lying to Congress about Hunter Biden laptop probe 2 former FBI officials charged with lying to Congress about Hunter Biden laptop probeJeanine Pirro, U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia. (Aaron Schwartz / Bloomberg via Getty )WASHINGTON - Two former FBI officials who have come under withering criticism from allies of President Donald Trump have been charged with allegedly lying to Congress over the investigation into former President Joe Biden's son Hunter Biden. A court docket shows that Nikki Floris, the former deputy assistant director of the FBI's Counterintelligence Division, and Bradley Benavides, another FBI official, were facing one count of the rarely-charged criminal offense which can be difficult to prosecute. Hunter Biden was investigated, charged and eventually convicted of gun and tax crimes, before his father pardoned him shortly leaving office. U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro said in a social media post that Floris and Benavides had surrendered Friday morning. She alleged that the duo lied about their roles in the Foreign Influence Task Force and "about their roles in the FBI's Hunter Biden investigations."Attorneys for Floris said in a statement that Floris was "a patriot" who "served our nation as a dedicated FBI intelligence officer for nearly 20 years" and was charged so the administration could "push a false narrative for a shot at political points."Deputy Assistant Director for Counterterrorism at the FBI Nikki Floris testifies before the House Judiciary Committee hearing on Capitol Hill on Oct. 22, 2019. (Susan Walsh / AP)Attorneys Margaret Donovan, Chris Mattei, Mary Dohrmann and Kyle R. Freeny said in a statement that the "DOJ has accused her falsely of a crime on the say-so of politicians, not on the facts. It's no coincidence the government is filing these nonsense charges now, years later, on the eve of an election." One of the attorneys for Benavides, Ronald S. Safer, called the charges a disgrace and said Friday that his client "worked tirelessly to protect the public from terrorists and agents of foreign governments" for 20 years and "protected our democracy against those who would destroy it.""In return, today, the government that he loves brought baseless criminal charges against him in a transparently political complaint," Safer said. "This is another sad day for the Department of Justice. But now we are in court, and the truth will come out: Brad Benavides is a true patriot who devoted his career to protecting this country and its people."The case was brought through a criminal complaint. Neither defendant has yet been indicted by a federal grand jury in D.C., where grand jurors have been skeptical of cases brought during Trump's second term. Earlier this year, federal grand jurors rejected an attempt to indict six sitting Democratic members of Congress over a video Trump criticized.Flores was the FBI's security lead for the 2020 presidential election, which Trump has falsely claimed was stolen. A mob of Trump supporters violently broke into the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, in a failed effort to stop the certification of Democrat Joe Biden as president. They beat and bloodied law enforcement, shattered windows and broke through barriers. She joined the FBI as an intelligence analyst in 2005, working on the director's daily briefing staff and helped produce intelligence documents. She was promoted in 2017 to the department's counterterrorism division. Benavides is a former colleague of Floris who focused on election security, foreign influence and Chinese intelligence threats. Floris has also been under criticism from Republicans over emails in which she discussed intelligence work that were obtained by Congress and declassified in July by Trump. Republicans have alleged that FBI officials buried what they describe as a credible report on China's efforts to influence the election in an effort to protect then-FBI Director Christopher Wray. Intelligence officials and her legal team have said the pullback was a standard administrative move for a report that may have been unverified or had flawed intelligence.This article was originally published on NBCNews.comThis article originally appeared on NBC News at https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/doj-charges-former-top-fbi-officials-frequent-targets-trump-allies-rcna605219
Kushner pushes back on report involving phone, spies, transfer Kushner pushes back on report involving phone, spies, transferJared Kushner is pushing back on a report involving a hacked iPhone, international spies and billion-dollar transfers from foreign governments. An upcoming book by journalist Matthew Cole claims Kushner, who is President Trump's son-in-law, had access to more than $2 billion in "slush money funds" from Middle Eastern leaders in an attempt to influence U.S. foreign policy. An excerpt of the book released Thursday details allegations encompassing Kushner's time as a senior White House adviser during the first Trump administration, which included a lead role in U.S. policy in the Middle East. Kushner had a major hand in negotiating key foreign policy deals that involved Israel, the Gulf states, China and Russia during that period. Kushner and his legal team released fiery statements Thursday night categorically denying all accusations against him. Kushner said, "The allegations made by this author are completely insane and never happened." His attorney called them "false and defamatory" and said they intend to pursue legal action against those responsible, but did not specify whom. The new book, "Princes and Thieves: Jared Kushner and Mohamed bin Zayed's Secret Plot to Remake the Middle East," alleges Kushner had access to billions of dollars in undisclosed foreign bank accounts intended to pay for "influence within the U.S. government." An excerpt from the book that was published in "Vanity Fair," but not independently verified by CBS News, says Dutch intelligence agents learned the Russians had hacked Kushner's iPhone in 2017 after flipping a Russian spy and subsequently gained access to Kushner's phone as well. According to the report, "when Kushner used the phone, they could see his screen. Almost as soon as they got inside, the intelligence service began capturing every image of Kushner's screen as he used it." At the time, Kushner served as a senior White House adviser to President Trump, including on Middle Eastern diplomacy. The report alleges Dutch spies witnessed him log into a United Arab Emirates account that had allegedly received hundreds of millions of dollars from a bank in Azerbaijan, and claims the leaders of Saudi Arabia and the UAE put at least $2 billion into multiple bank accounts linked to Kushner, including an account with Israel's Central Bank. According to the book excerpt, the owners and managers of the accounts were often disguised as official government entities or charities, but the funds were actually intended for "off-the-books diplomatic objectives" such as striking a deal to end the Israeli-Palesteinian conflict. The report also claims Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman put roughly $1 billion into at least one account for Kushner, citing a "person with knowledge of the money" saying "its allocation was for Kushner's personal benefit." Kushner forcefully denied the accusations leveled in the "Vanity Fair" excerpt, writing in part, "The allegations made by this author are completely insane and never happened." "We denied every claim on the record, yet the author provided not a single shred of verifiable evidence to substantiate them," he said. "No bank statements, wire transfer records, account numbers, transaction dates, or other verifiable details were provided to support these extraordinary accusations," he said. CBS News reached out to the White House, which referred us to a statement from Steven Cheung, who is assistant to the president and White House director of communications. Cheung said the "bull**** Vanity Fair article comes from a book that is complete fiction, and was fabricated from the warped mind of failed spy thriller writer." "He presents no evidence or even a shred of documentation. Just mysterious words from unnamed sources," Cheung said on X. This article originally appeared on CBS News at https://www.cbsnews.com/news/jared-kushner-pushes-back-report-hacked-phone-spies-transfer/
It's crunch time. With less than two weeks to go until the 2026 midterm elections, Democratic and Republican candidates for the U.S. House of Representatives nationwide are making one last push to persuade voters in their districts - and help their party win or retain control of the chamber on Nov. 3.
The stakes are high. President Trump has enjoyed complete Republican control of Congress for the first half of his second term. Flipping the House would give Democrats the power to block parts of the president's agenda, investigate his administration and even impeach him (again).
Historically speaking, a president's party almost always loses seats when voters return to the polls to judge his first two years in office. (The average number lost since World War II? Twenty-six.) Sometimes, the backlash is so pervasive that the president's party loses seats across a wide range of competitive districts - a phenomenon known as a "wave" election.
But the past doesn't necessarily predict the future, and Republicans have certain advantages today that they didn't have before. Here's what needs to happen for each party to come out on top.
Yahoo
The races to watch
The first thing to know about any House election is that while all 435 congressional districts are technically up for grabs, roughly 80% of those contests (representing about 350 seats) are not considered competitive.
House incumbents have always had huge advantages: money and name recognition, mostly. But their head start has only widened in recent years as partisan polarization and redistricting have helped make the vast majority of congressional districts "safe" for one party. These days, incumbents tend to focus more on fending off primary challengers. The general election can be a breeze in comparison.
As a result, this year's true battleground is relatively small. According to the nonpartisan Cook Political Report's "race ratings," just 17 contests are genuine "tossups" at this point. Another 16 "lean Democratic," and 17 "lean Republican." There's also a third competitive category that includes 18 seats where Democrats are the "likely" winners, and 13 seats where the same could be said about Republicans.
That's 81 competitive districts - again, out of 435.
It's clear from looking at this year's ratings which party is playing more defense and which is playing more offense - and where. Only 30 Democratic seats are considered competitive, and more than half of them (17) are "likely" to remain Democratic, according to Cook. Just five Democratic seats are tossups. Just two are leaning Republican.
In contrast, a full 51 Republican seats are considered competitive - and about half of them are tossups (12) or leaning Democratic (12).
Geographically, this year's tossups are concentrated in certain kinds of places: Rust Belt districts in states that have swung from party to party in the past (such as Michigan, Pennsylvania and Ohio); Mid-Atlantic suburbs (in states such as New York, Virginia and North Carolina) where Trump has scrambled some of the usual coalitions; and Sun Belt districts (think Florida, Texas, California and Nevada) where Latinos factor heavily. Trump carried many of these areas in 2024.
"Republicans' path to keeping control of the House has all but evaporated," Cook's House analyst wrote. "Following this latest round of ratings changes, Democrats now are favored outright in the 218 seats they need to win control of the House. In other words, 220 seats are rated either Solid, Likely or Lean Democrat. Republicans, meanwhile, are favored in 198 seats, rated Solid, Likely, or Lean Republican."
Overall, the map gives Democrats more pickup options - which means more paths to a House majority.
The path to a Democratic House
Senate and governor contests can be quirky - more state-specific and personality-driven. But national dynamics tend to play a larger role in shaping the composition of the incoming House.
So it's not just a matter of who has more targets on the board. It's that the board itself tends to tilt to one side or the other, taking most of those targets with it. A recent example was the 2010 midterm election, when impatience with America's slow recovery from the 2008 financial collapse and frustration with President Barack Obama's response helped Republicans gain 64 House seats.
Beyond the history of midterm backlash against the president's party, Democrats have two big advantages right now. One is that the current Republican majority is so minuscule - just 219 votes to 214, including an independent who caucuses with Republicans - that Democrats only need a net gain of three seats to win back the House.
The other is that the board seems to be tilting in Democrats' favor - assuming the polls are right.
Surveys suggest there's one underlying factor pulling the national electorate to the left: dissatisfaction with Trump. According to the data journalists at Silver Bulletin, an average of 60% of Americans currently disapprove of how Trump is handling his job vs. 37% who approve. That puts the president's net approval rating at -23% - near his all-time low.
Trump is earning even lower marks on voters' top issue this year: the cost of living. Shortly after he returned to office, roughly equal numbers of Americans approved and disapproved of how the president was handling inflation. But today - as tariffs and the Iran war help drive prices up - 71% disapprove and 25% approve. That's a 46-point gap.President Trump arrives to speak at a campaign rally at F&M Bank Arena on Oct. 10, 2026, in Clarksville, Tenn.
AP Photo/Alex Brandon
Democrats aren't particularly popular. But for the party in power, it may be hard to overcome this level of dissatisfaction with the status quo. That's why, when pollsters ask their so-called generic ballot question - If an election for U.S. Congress were held today, which party's candidate would you vote for in your district? - Americans are currently giving Democrats a substantial lead of more than 9 percentage points, on average.
Making matters worse for Republicans, that lead has grown over the last month as swing voters who favored Trump in 2024 - including some Latinos and independents - say they're planning to vote Democratic.
To put a 9-point lead in perspective, Democrats were leading by an average of 7.6 points on the generic ballot at this point in 2018, with Trump as president and Republican majorities in the House and Senate. On Election Day, they picked up 41 seats and flipped the House.
If the polls are right, Democrats might win control of the House again.
They're not wrong to say the polls have missed in the past. Polling errors are commonplace; they happen in most elections. But they tend to be random and to change directions from one cycle to another. The Trump era has been a little different. In each of the three presidential contests that Trump himself has competed in, the final average of polls conducted before Election Day underestimated Republicans' performance in the popular vote by an average of 3.8 percentage points, according to data journalist Nate Silver.
The theory is that a phenomenon called nonresponse bias - in which Democratic voters are more eager or available to respond to pollsters than Republican voters - might have made Democratic support look stronger than it actually was.
Pollsters try to adjust for this by weighting their results - that is, using statistical methods to give less weight to respondents who are overrepresented demographically and more weight to respondents who are underrepresented demographically. But it's difficult to predict in advance who will show up on Election Day.
Could that mean Republican candidates in those places will outperform their polling? Possibly. But experts say it may also mean that rural Republicans are less supportive of the GOP than they were in 2024 - potentially voting Democratic or staying home on Nov. 3. A voter walks toward his polling place.
REUTERS / REUTERS
After all, there's been virtually no polling bias toward Democrats in Trump era elections when Trump himself wasn't on the ballot. In fact, the polls since 2016 have overestimated Republican support in midterm elections (by an average of 0.2%) and off-year, special and runoff elections (by an average of 1.3%), according to Silver.
Redistricting is the other Republican advantage. House redistricting efforts typically take place every 10 years, after each new census reveals changes in population distribution. But last summer, Trump successfully pushed GOP legislators in Texas to pass new congressional district boundaries five years earlier than normal to help Republicans win five additional House seats in 2026. This kicked off a tit-for-tat cycle that saw nine states adopt new congressional maps for the midterms - some to benefit Democrats, others Republicans.
Now that the dust has settled, Cook projects that Republicans could win nine seats because of redistricting (in Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, North Carolina, Ohio, Tennessee and Texas), while Democrats could win five (in California and Utah). If that plays out, it would net the GOP four seats overall.
It's not what Republicans initially hoped to gain from gerrymandering. "We're not gonna win all 13 of those redistricted seats. That's correct. We're not," GOP House Majority Whip Tom Emmer of Minnesota told Axios recently. But it's also not nothing.
The hope for the GOP is that some combination of polling error and redistricting boost - along with a late influx of hundreds of millions of dollars to help defend districts Trump won in 2024 - will be just enough to preserve their slim House majority.This article originally appeared on Yahoo News at https://www.yahoo.com/news/politics/article/midterms-2026-will-republicans-or-democrats-win-control-of-the-house-these-are-the-key-races-to-watch-170805806.html
Employee error blamed for toxic chemical leak that sent 60 people to hospital in Ohio Employee error blamed for toxic chemical leak that sent 60 people to hospital in OhioA chemical leak that sent 60 people to the hospital and forced hundreds of people to flee their homes has been blamed on an employee error.Mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz announced the cause of the tank leak at a news conference on Friday and said that all remaining evacuation orders in Toledo, Ohio.The chemical leak happened Tuesday night when an employee of MC Tank Transport "introduced a temperature level to the tank in the process of trying to transfer the liquid" that caused a chemical reaction, the mayor said.MC Tank Transport said the tank contained glycidyl methacrylate, which it described as "an industrial chemical used to make certain plastics, paints and coatings perform better." A plume of smokes rises from MC Tank Transport Inc., where a chemical tank exploded overnight, prompting hundreds of residents to evacuate or shelter in place amid concerns about a potential toxic release, Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2026 (AP)The evacuation orders were lifted after the company finished venting the tank that ruptured. That allowed a hazmat team to enter the site and test safety levels."At this time, we do feel confident that the site is safe," Toledo Fire and Rescue Battalion Chief Blake Molnar said.Dr Brian Kaminski, vice president of medical affairs for ProMedica hospitals, said about 60 patients were treated at the hospital, most suffering relatively minor symptoms. A small number of patients who had underlying health conditions were admitted, he said, and all patients were expected to recover.The company has "accepted responsibility" for what happened, the mayor said.The U.S. EPA on the scene near MC Tank Transport Inc. (AP)"There was no fire, there was no explosion. There was a very serious chemical reaction, which now happily has run its course, and we're now finally able to return to some level of normalcy here in our community," he said.Based on data that officials have seen so far, the amount of the chemical in the air didn't reach levels high enough to have "a long-term meaningful impact on human health," according to Kapszukiewicz.However,, some wuestions remain unanswered at the investigation is ongoing, he added.This article originally appeared on The Independent at https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/toledo-chemical-leak-ohio-cause-employee-error-b3072502.html
Oil prices climbed to a 6-month high on Friday as traders priced the odds of escalating fighting in the Middle East. Attacks near the Red Sea also stoked worries of further constraints on oil supplies from the region.
Brent crude (BZ=F) futures for December delivery settled at $116.72 per barrel. The international benchmark posted its third consecutive week of gains. Meanwhile, West Texas Intermediate crude (CL=F) closed just above $103 a barrel.
President Trump telegraphed an escalation in Iran after the midterm elections and an extended stand-off, with the Strait of Hormuz remaining at the center of the conflict.
This week, the New York Times reported that the US and Israel have reportedly drawn up plans for renewed attacks on Iran after the Nov. 3 elections. The US has ordered nonessential embassy personnel to depart Saudi Arabia after a series of attacks at the country's airports and oil fields.
President Trump has said he will not attack Iran before the midterms and has suggested that fuel prices will fall afterward.
Meanwhile, the Red Sea area has seen increased attacks recently, including on Saudi Arabian airports and on an Aramco oil field this week.
On Friday, the national price of gasoline stood at $4.29 per gallon, roughly $1.22 higher than a year ago. Diesel hovered around $6.31, about $2.68 more than this time last year.
A power outage at a refinery in the Chicago area is expected to send refined fuel prices even higher in the region.
"You're going to see a lot of $5 gas prices in places like Michigan, Ohio, Minnesota, Illinois, and Indiana," Gulf Oil chief energy adviser Tom Kloza told Yahoo Finance on Thursday.
Ines Ferre is a senior business reporter for Yahoo Finance.This article originally appeared on Yahoo Finance at https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/article/brent-crude-tops-116-as-traders-price-in-middle-east-escalation-192101547.html
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