WEZZEL NEWS

US resumes intelligence-sharing with Ukraine after pause, Zelenskiy says

The United States has resumed providing Ukraine with critical intelligence to spot Russian ballistic missiles after a brief pause, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in comments published Sunday on NBC's “Meet the Press”, telling the program the sharing had been interrupted and then “de-blocked”, adding “Now it works,” Reuters reports. Ukraine relies on US intelligence to identify the fast-moving ballistic missiles Russia has fired in waves at its cities, after Ukrainian officials said some recent strikes had come without warning, per Reuters. Zelenskiy added that other US moves, including signing a deal to import Russian diesel and waiving sanctions that had been slated to take effect this week, would hurt Ukraine, warning “If the United States will officially take the side of Russia... we will not prevail and we will not be able to stand,” while Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, speaking on the same program, would not say directly whether the US views Ukraine as an ally, saying the war must end with some kind of a negotiated settlement, Reuters reports.

Replit makes OpenAI its default over Anthropic, CEO says

Replit is no longer working with Anthropic and has made OpenAI's ChatGPT the default model for its AI coding agent, CEO Amjad Masad said Thursday onstage at TechCrunch Disrupt, citing cost, partnership strength and benchmark performance; “I think ChatGPT is better now,” he told TechCrunch. Customers can still select Anthropic's Claude on the platform, but Replit had until recently been a top-five customer of Anthropic's, TechCrunch reports. Insiders familiar with the partnership disputed the framing, with one person familiar telling TechCrunch the Anthropic partnership was still in place.

Egypt to provide ‘necessary’ support to Saudi Arabia amid Houthi attacks

Egypt's National Defence Council, chaired by President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, said Sunday that Egypt stands fully with Saudi Arabia and is ready to provide “all necessary and possible support” to defend the kingdom's safety, stability, resources and Islamic holy sites as Iran-backed Houthis press attacks that have struck Riyadh's international airport and Aramco, Al Jazeera reports. Sisi also called an emergency parliamentary session, held Sunday, to authorise him to approve any Saudi requests for defence assistance, while the presidency said Cairo would intensify diplomatic efforts for de-escalation.

Blaze at St Petersburg oil sites as Kyiv launches more than 1,000 drones at Russia

Ukrainian drones set St. Petersburg's main oil export terminal and the city's Ruchi oil depot ablaze on Sunday, part of a barrage the AP describes as one of Kyiv's largest ever, with Russia's Defense Ministry saying it destroyed 1,015 Ukrainian drones over 15 regions. St. Petersburg Gov. Alexander Beglov said one person was killed and five wounded, and retailer Ozon and tech giant VK confirmed their logistics center and data center were also targeted. The strikes land amid deepening friction with Washington: President Trump on Friday signed an executive order waiving planned Russia sanctions and has criticized Kyiv's oil strikes, while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says Russia has hit Ukraine's energy sector 76 times since Trump announced an “energy ceasefire” on Oct. 11.

Violent clashes, looting and buildings ablaze in France as more than 1,200 arrested after protests

Saturday's cost-of-living and schools protests in France turned violent, with at least 1,200 people arrested and an estimated 550,000 taking to the streets in what the government called an escalation in violence, BBC News reports. Rioting hit cities across France: shops were looted and Paris vehicles torched at Place de la République, an Apple store in Lille was emptied, Lyon's tourist office burned, and a fire partly collapsed the roof of Limoges town hall, while Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu said 150 police officers were injured. President Emmanuel Macron promised that those who attacked prefectures, businesses and town halls would be prosecuted and punished, and the unrest adds to political uncertainty ahead of April's presidential election, ending a day of demonstrations that this page first covered on October 17.

Apple's updated App Store rules go after 'nudify' AI apps

Apple has updated its App Review Guidelines to more explicitly ban 'nudify' apps that generate nonconsensual intimate imagery with AI, The Verge reports, saying developers 'must proactively prevent and remove' such images and can be dropped from the App Store if they fail to implement adequate safeguards. The update, announced Friday, also targets 'bait-and-switch' apps that add nudification or other features after approval, and now spells out that apps facilitating human trafficking or the exploitation of children will be pulled and blocked from alternative distribution, per The Verge. The changes follow months of criticism over AI-generated deepfakes, including protest demands to remove nudify tech and a July San Francisco city attorney's order that led Apple to take down 13 nudify apps, The Verge reports.

Fatalities, injuries reported after incident at Alberta Canadian Forces base: Defence minister

Federal Defence Minister David McGuinty says there have been both fatalities and injuries after an incident at Canadian Forces Base Wainwright in east-central Alberta on Saturday that caused a major fire, telling a news conference in Ottawa “I cannot recall an incident like this in recent memory,” CBC News reports. The RCMP is investigating the incident, per the CBC, while Prime Minister Mark Carney said a “serious incident creating a major fire” occurred at the base and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said the fire was affecting “many of our brave military personnel.” The Municipal District of Wainwright said the fire south of Wainwright crossed the base fence and was being actively managed, while an Alberta MP cited unverified reports of “significant casualties” after an explosion and fire.

At least 17 dead in crush at Hindu festival event in India

At least 17 people were killed and many more injured in a crush at an event in the Indian city of Kolkata marking the Hindu festival of Durga Puja after sudden rainfall prompted a crowd surge, the BBC reports, with a senior police official telling AFP that an announcement caused commotion as people pushed, pulled and fell to the ground; a seven-year-old girl was among the dead, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi called the incident tragic. West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari later confirmed the death toll had risen to 19, with 25 people treated in hospital and one critical, Xinhua reports; he said most of the dead were women and children, blamed the crush partly on heavy rains and shortcomings in the organizers' arrangements, and according to Xinhua-cited media reports Kolkata Police detained around 10 people, including organizers and private security personnel, for questioning.