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Luigi Mangione pleaded guilty. No plea deal. No promise of leniency. Federal prosecutors still want LIFE. So why do it? The answer may lie in a 2,000-year-old legal principle — and a controversial Supreme Court doctrine that allows two governments to prosecute the same conduct. MANGIONE IN JEOPARDY One killing. Two sovereigns. And an ancient rule against trying a man twice. Our latest Short Stop Media legal deep dive: 👇 shortstopmedia.substack.com/…

𝐁𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐩𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐇𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐥 𝐊𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐫 𝐆𝐞𝐭𝐬 𝟐𝟑 𝐘𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐋𝐢𝐟𝐞 Sgroilin Santana, 23, of Tamaqua, Pennsylvania, was sentenced in Nassau County to 23 years to life in prison for shooting a construction worker to death in a Bethpage hotel parking lot. Judge Robert Bogle imposed the term after Santana pleaded guilty on September 15 to second-degree murder, second-degree attempted murder and second-degree criminal possession of a weapon. The victim, Jorge Vazquez, 35, of Tampa, Florida, was in town working on a nearby construction project and staying at the Extended Stay America on Oyster Bay Road. Earlier on April 2, 2025, Vazquez had a physical altercation with Alexander Garcia, 40, of Reading, Pennsylvania, a co-worker at the site. Santana is the boyfriend of Garcia’s daughter, and prosecutors say he was driven from Pennsylvania to settle the score. Around 9:30 that night he shot Vazquez multiple times in the torso and abdomen, then fired at another person, who was not hurt. Officers responding to a 911 call about 10 minutes later found Vazquez on the sidewalk near the hotel entrance, and he was pronounced dead at the scene. Nassau County Police homicide detectives used video surveillance to identify both men, and Santana was tracked down in Tamaqua on April 30, 2025, with help from the Pennsylvania State Police and Tamaqua police. Garcia was arrested in Reading on May 14, 2025, is charged with second-degree murder and conspiracy, and awaits trial. District Attorney Anne T. Donnelly said Santana “used cold-blooded violence to settle an argument that did not even involve him.” Senior Litigation Counsel Tracy Keeton of the Homicide Bureau prosecuted, and Santana was represented by Joseph Lopiccolo.

𝐖𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐁𝐚𝐛𝐲𝐥𝐨𝐧 𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐲 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐛𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐄𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐆𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐭𝐲 𝐏𝐥𝐞𝐚 Aiden Zachary, 18, of Syosset, pleaded guilty in Suffolk County to first-degree manslaughter for fatally stabbing 15-year-old Liam Delemo at a West Babylon house party. Zachary was 17 when the killing happened at about 10 p.m. on November 3, 2025. Prosecutors say he arrived at the large gathering uninvited and was asked to leave. He then got into an altercation with Delemo, pulled a knife and stabbed the teenager in the abdomen and arm. Zachary fled, and Delemo died at Good Samaritan Hospital. Suffolk County Police homicide detectives, led by Detective Frankie Sierra, arrested Zachary on November 10, 2025. He entered his plea on October 15 before Acting Supreme Court Justice Karen Kerr to a class B violent felony. Sentencing is set for November 4, 2026. Assistant District Attorney Sheetal Shetty of the Homicide Bureau handled the case for District Attorney Raymond A. Tierney, and Zachary was represented by Jacon Kaplan. The case adds to a run of Suffolk prosecutions involving teenagers and fatal violence, and it leaves a 15-year-old’s family waiting on a sentence that is now less than two weeks away.

𝐑𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐍𝐘𝐏𝐃 𝐃𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐠𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐆𝐖𝐁 𝐑𝐨𝐚𝐝-𝐑𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐊𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 Victor Romero, 62, of Haverstraw, a retired New York City police detective, has been arrested and charged with murder in the road-rage shooting of Con Edison worker Koran Irvine on the George Washington Bridge. Irvine, 46, of Valley Cottage, was off duty and driving a Volkswagen Golf on the ramp to the westbound upper level around 7 p.m. Tuesday when his car nearly collided with another vehicle and a dispute began. As both cars continued toward New Jersey, someone in the other vehicle fired a shot that struck Irvine in the back of his right shoulder and shattered the car’s glass. His Golf came to rest against the median near the middle of the span, and he was taken to Englewood Hospital, where he died. The other vehicle fled, and the westbound upper level stayed closed for hours until shortly before 1 a.m., snarling the end of the evening rush. Romero was taken into custody Wednesday. He left the NYPD in 2001, and in June 2000 he was wounded in the hand and chest in an off-duty shootout with men trying to rob his family’s Brooklyn laundromat while he was a Brooklyn drug detective. Port Authority Police and the NYPD worked the case. Con Edison called the killing a “senseless act of violence.” Arraignment, bail and the identity of Romero’s lawyer had not been made public.

𝐌𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐜 𝐏𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐜 𝐓𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐬 𝟓𝟎 𝐚𝐭 𝐁𝐫𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐥𝐲𝐧 𝐌𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐮𝐦 The sisters behind Manic Panic, Tish and Snooky Bellomo of the Bronx, are being honored with a 50-year retrospective at the City Reliquary in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. The exhibit, “Still Manic After All These Years: 50 Years of Manic Panic,” runs through March 28. In 1977 they opened what is described as the nation’s first punk rock boutique on St. Mark’s Place in the East Village, and their mother, Estelle, named it Manic Panic. The shop sold hair color, Tish’s designs, Snooky’s knitted sweaters, records, posters and fanzines. Today Manic Panic is an international hair dye brand with more than 50 colors. The sisters also performed as singers, including in an early lineup of Blondie, and Debbie Harry’s platform shoes are part of the display. Curator Lee Berman drew on the sisters’ archives, including photos from before the shop opened and images of their bands and famous friends. They went international despite advisers who urged them not to, because they wanted to spread the word. The City Reliquary began in 2002 as a window display in founder Dave Herman’s apartment and now holds subway tokens, Statue of Liberty postcards and paint chips from the L train platform.

𝐑𝐡𝐨𝐝𝐞 𝐈𝐬𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐆𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫 𝐂𝐥𝐚𝐢𝐦𝐬 𝐑𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝟑,𝟏𝟓𝟔-𝐏𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐏𝐮𝐦𝐩𝐤𝐢𝐧 A Rhode Island grower has set what appears to be a new world record for the heaviest pumpkin, a 3,156-pound behemoth weighed earlier this month. Ron Wallace of Greene, Rhode Island, brought the pumpkin to the Southern New England Giant Pumpkin Growers Weigh-Off at Frerich Farm in Warren, where official scale weigher John Russo recorded the weight on Saturday, Oct. 10. It beat the previous mark by nearly 300 pounds, though Guinness World Records has not yet verified the result. The Guinness-listed record had belonged to Ian Paton of Lymington, England, whose pumpkin weighed 2,857 pounds and was set only days earlier. Two days after Wallace’s weigh-in, Travis Gienger of Anoka, Minnesota, won the 53rd Safeway World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-Off in Half Moon Bay, California, with a 2,389-pound pumpkin named “Rocky.” It was Gienger’s fifth world championship, and he took home $21,501 in prize money. Because Rocky fell short of the record, Gienger missed out on a $30,000 bonus for a world-record weight. Gienger’s earlier winners include Rudy in 2024 at 2,471 pounds and Michael Jordan in 2023 at 2,749 pounds, which was a world record at the time. Wallace’s gourd would dwarf them all.

𝐍𝐞𝐭𝐟𝐥𝐢𝐱 𝐒𝐥𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐬 𝐓𝐨 𝟓𝟐-𝐖𝐞𝐞𝐤 𝐋𝐨𝐰 𝐎𝐧 𝐖𝐞𝐚𝐤 𝐎𝐮𝐭𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤 Netflix shares fell to a 52-week low after the streamer issued weaker-than-expected fourth-quarter guidance that overshadowed a third-quarter earnings beat. Third-quarter revenue was $12.874 billion, up 12% from a year earlier and a hair below the $12.876 billion estimate, while earnings of $0.87 a share beat the $0.82 consensus. For the fourth quarter, Netflix projected revenue of $13.442 billion and earnings of $0.67 a share, both under analyst estimates of $13.517 billion and $0.73. The stock dropped about 6.6% to $64.14 in premarket trading Wednesday and closed down 5.31%, having already shed roughly a quarter of its value heading into the report. Analysts pointed to slowing viewer engagement, softer advertising growth and rising competition from Disney, HBO Max and Paramount. Mark Mahaney of Evercore ISI said Netflix must fix its content to revive engagement. Kevin Mayer, co-CEO of Candle Media, said the company appears to have hit a ceiling in engagement and needs fresh hits. Peter Rice, the incoming content chief, is expected to focus on relevant programming and selective sports rights after recent leadership changes in the content division. Wedbush’s Dan Ives said the streamer cut “two of the numbers that matter most.” The shares now trade at about 15 times

𝐓𝐞𝐬𝐥𝐚 𝐁𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐬 𝐎𝐧 𝐂𝐚𝐬𝐡 𝐅𝐥𝐨𝐰 𝐀𝐬 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐟𝐢𝐭 𝐒𝐥𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐬 Tesla reported third-quarter revenue of $28.05 billion, essentially flat from a year earlier, but it beat expectations on adjusted earnings and swung to positive free cash flow. Adjusted earnings were $0.48 a share against a consensus of roughly $0.44, while GAAP net income fell 43% to $787 million, or $0.22 a share. Operating income dropped 56% to $718 million, a 2.6% margin, as operating expenses rose 39% to $4.78 billion on spending for artificial intelligence and robotics. Free cash flow was positive $1.53 billion, against a company-compiled consensus forecast of a $4.51 billion burn, with operating cash flow of $6.26 billion. Capital expenditures were $4.73 billion, well below the roughly $7.5 billion analysts expected, and Tesla cut its full-year 2026 spending guidance to about $20 billion from more than $25 billion. Chief Financial Officer Vaibhav Taneja tied the lower outlay to “managing our capital deployment efficiently.” Energy revenue fell 16% to $2.88 billion even as storage deployments rose 10% to 13.7 gigawatt-hours, while services revenue rose 33% to $4.61 billion. Active Full Self-Driving subscriptions reached 1.74 million, up 67%, and gross margin improved to 19.6% from 18.0%. Elon Musk said reaching 20,000 Optimus robots a week would take “probably at least a year, maybe a

𝐒𝐩𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐗 𝐏𝐨𝐬𝐭𝐬 𝐅𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐟𝐢𝐭 𝐀𝐬 𝐀 𝐏𝐮𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐜 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐧𝐲 SpaceX reported third-quarter net income of about $4.4 billion, its first profit as a public company, compared with a net loss of about $1.1 billion a year earlier. Revenue rose 161% to about $14.6 billion, well above the $12.7 billion analysts expected, and diluted earnings were $0.35 a share against expectations of roughly $0.14. Adjusted EBITDA reached $8.8 billion. The company’s Super Intelligence segment brought in $7.56 billion, about 52% of revenue, overtaking the Starlink-linked Connectivity business and posting its first operating profit, $431 million. That AI unit’s 5.7% operating margin still trails Connectivity’s 45.1%. Starlink consumer subscribers rose by 1.6 million to 13.6 million, but average revenue per consumer fell to $69 from $83 as growth shifted toward cheaper plans. Capital spending hit $19.6 billion, about 134% of quarterly revenue. Shares rose 7.8% on Wednesday to close at $159.31. Elon Musk said the boards of SpaceX and Tesla have formed committees to discuss a merger, arguing there is “a lot of merit” in combining the companies, though the earnings release contained no terms. Wedbush analyst Dan Ives estimated an 80% to 90% chance of a merger by the end of 2027.

𝐄𝐥-𝐒𝐚𝐲𝐞𝐝, 𝐑𝐨𝐠𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐂𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐡 𝐎𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐌𝐮𝐬𝐥𝐢𝐦 𝐁𝐫𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐡𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐂𝐥𝐚𝐢𝐦𝐬 Democrat Abdul El-Sayed and Republican Mike Rogers have clashed in Michigan’s open Senate race over allegations about the Muslim Brotherhood, including a 2012 letter El-Sayed signed and posts by his half-sister. MAGA Inc. has spent $25 million supporting Rogers, its second-largest Senate ad expenditure after the $46 million it has put behind Ken Paxton in Texas. The hosts of “Pod Save America” urged El-Sayed to tone down his condescension when answering questions about the Muslim Brotherhood. El-Sayed also defended Sen. Elissa Slotkin after backlash over her comments about working for the Trump administration. Wedgewood Polling admitted it used “fabricated numbers” in surveys cited by El-Sayed’s campaign. Rogers, a former congressman, lost to Slotkin in 2024. El-Sayed is a physician and former Detroit health director who ran for governor in 2018. The seat is open because Sen. Gary Peters is retiring.

𝐓𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐬/𝐒𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐚 𝐏𝐨𝐥𝐥 𝐆𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐬 𝐃𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐜𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐬 𝟏𝟏-𝐏𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐭 𝐇𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐄𝐝𝐠𝐞 Democrats hold an 11-point advantage in the fight for the House, with 52% of likely voters saying they are more likely to back the Democratic candidate in their district and 41% the Republican, according to a New York Times/Siena College poll. The survey of 3,494 likely voters was conducted Oct. 12 to 19 and carries a margin of error of 1.9 percentage points. Kamala Harris is on a five-state swing through Nevada, Mississippi, New Hampshire, Wisconsin and Georgia, and spoke at a union event in Las Vegas. Former President Bill Clinton is campaigning in Florida for gubernatorial candidate David Jolly. Senate Majority PAC is spending $1.2 million on television ads in Mississippi for Scott Colom against Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, in a state Trump carried by nearly 23 points in 2024. In Kansas, Sen. Roger Marshall and Democrat Adam Hamilton debated in Kansas City, Missouri, in a state that has not elected a Democratic senator since 1932. In Maine, former Sen. Joe Manchin, now an independent, campaigned with Republican Sen. Susan Collins against Democrat Troy Jackson and criticized Chuck Schumer for opposing Collins. Senate Majority Leader John Thune said he is not giving up on tight races, though shifting money and polls suggest some may be lost.

𝐓𝐞𝐱𝐚𝐬 𝐒𝐞𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐑𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐓𝐢𝐞𝐝 𝐀𝐬 𝐌𝐮𝐬𝐤 𝐁𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐬 𝐏𝐚𝐱𝐭𝐨𝐧 Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is the Republican nominee for the U.S. Senate, and Democrat James Talarico is his opponent. The two are tied at 49% among likely voters, according to a new Fox News poll. The same survey found Texas voters favor Republican control of the Senate by 51% to 47%. Elon Musk has urged Texans to vote for Paxton. MAGA Inc. has spent $46 million backing Paxton, its largest Senate ad expenditure of the cycle. Barbara Bush donated $2,500 to Lone Star Rising PAC, which supports Talarico. No Democrat has won statewide office in Texas since 1994, which makes a tie in a Senate race notable. Election Day is Nov. 3.

𝐃𝐫𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐒𝐡𝐨𝐭 𝐃𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐎𝐧 𝐆𝐞𝐨𝐫𝐠𝐞 𝐖𝐚𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐭𝐨𝐧 𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐝𝐠𝐞 A driver was shot and killed on the upper level of the George Washington Bridge on Tuesday night, and the gunman remains at large. The shooting happened around 7 p.m. on the westbound side of the span linking Manhattan and Fort Lee, New Jersey. It shut down the bridge, and all lanes did not reopen until about 1 a.m., snarling one of the busiest crossings in the country through the night. Police have not released the victim’s name while they notify his family, though sources described him as a 46-year-old off-duty Con Edison worker. Investigators suspect a road rage dispute led to the shooting. The shooter has not been identified, and police have released no description of him. No arrests or charges have been announced. The gunman is wanted for the killing, and the investigation is ongoing.

𝐎𝐦𝐚𝐫’𝐬 𝐋𝐚𝐰𝐲𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐒𝐚𝐲 𝐃𝐎𝐉 𝐁𝐫𝐨𝐤𝐞 𝐑𝐮𝐥𝐞𝐬 𝐈𝐧 𝐇𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐒𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡 Lawyers for Rep. Ilhan Omar have accused the Justice Department of violating a magistrate judge’s orders during the Oct. 12 search of her Washington home, a charge the department flatly rejects. Agents from Homeland Security Investigations carried out the search under a judicially authorized warrant as part of a criminal investigation reported to involve immigration fraud. In an Oct. 16 letter, attorneys Amy Jeffress and Joshua Matz said agents skipped protocols meant to protect the rights of a member of Congress and never notified Omar or the House Office of General Counsel that the warrant was being executed. They also said Omar was kept from contacting her attorney for more than an hour after the search began, though she was supposed to receive a copy of the warrant at the outset. The lawyers called the search politically motivated and said it came too close to an election, something the department has historically avoided, and they demanded the immediate return of her property and preservation of all recordings of the search. A Justice Department spokesperson said the letter was “riddled with false allegations and inaccuracies,” that agents and attorneys “complied with all court orders and legal obligations,” and that “leaking a letter to the press right after sending it is not good faith.” The warrant was first presented to the magistrate judge about a week before the search, grand jury subpoenas had gone to some of Omar’s relatives days earlier, and Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin discussed the investigation on a podcast the Friday before. On MS NOW this week, Omar denied that she married her brother. She has since decided to leave the Washington apartment that was searched. The magistrate judge in the case has not been named in the reporting.

𝐔𝐒 𝐏𝐮𝐥𝐥𝐬 𝐃𝐢𝐩𝐥𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐬 𝐅𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐒𝐚𝐮𝐝𝐢 𝐀𝐫𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐚 𝐀𝐬 𝐈𝐫𝐚𝐧 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐨𝐟𝐟 𝐅𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬 The State Department on Wednesday ordered non-essential personnel and family members out of Saudi Arabia, citing the threat from Iran-backed Houthi forces, as the months-long standoff with Iran showed fresh signs of flaring. Smaller adjustments were reported at other Middle East embassies. The same day, an attack on King Fahd International Airport in Dammam killed at least one person and injured eight, according to Saudi Civil Aviation. The Houthis have repeatedly struck Saudi military and oil facilities, and Saudi Arabia has assembled an international coalition against them. At sea, the UKMTO reported a tanker struck by a projectile near Al Faw, Iraq, on Tuesday with no reported damage, and another tanker was hit off Oman early Wednesday, causing a fire that was later extinguished. The conflict dates to Feb. 28, when President Trump announced “major combat operations” against Iran; talks produced a memorandum of understanding in June, but negotiations have since stalled and the two sides have traded strikes. The United States is enforcing a blockade of Iranian shipping, Iran says the Strait of Hormuz remains closed, and Washington accuses Tehran of attacking commercial vessels there. A source told ABC News the military has recently repositioned personnel at Middle East bases in a pattern similar to the moves before February, though the source said it is not tied to a plan to resume combat, and CENTCOM spokesman Capt. Tim Hawkins said forces are “regularly” moved and declined to discuss specifics. Brig. Gen. Yadollah Javani of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard warned that Iran could target seven undersea internet cables in the Strait of Hormuz if the United States resumes attacks, while Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Iran’s nuclear capability is “at the core” of the U.S. approach. For American drivers and markets, the stakes show up in oil: Brent crude settled at $108.82 a barrel Wednesday after briefly topping $110.

𝐒𝐮𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐞 𝐂𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐭 𝐊𝐞𝐞𝐩𝐬 𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐬 𝐏𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐂𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐈𝐧 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞 The Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to let the Trump administration end hormone therapy and other gender-affirming care for transgender inmates in federal prisons, leaving a lower-court injunction in force while the litigation continues. The unsigned order, issued in Kingdom v. Trump, said only that the application for a stay “presented to The Chief Justice and by him referred to the Court is denied,” and it offered no explanation. Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito would have granted the administration’s request, and no written opinion accompanied the order. The case was brought on behalf of roughly 1,000 inmates with a gender dysphoria diagnosis, about 800 of whom the American Civil Liberties Union believes have been prescribed hormone therapy. U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth barred the Bureau of Prisons earlier this summer from carrying out its policy to end the treatments, and the D.C. Circuit declined to pause his order. Solicitor General D. John Sauer then took the dispute to the high court, arguing in part that the care could make recipients “targets for attacks” and “breed resentment” among other prisoners. The ACLU countered that the Bureau of Prisons has treated gender dysphoria since at least 1992 and called the government’s newer arguments a “glaring omission” from the administrative record. The bureau stopped publishing data on transgender inmates after 2025, and the ACLU estimates more than 2,000 transgender people are in federal custody. The outcome sits uneasily beside recent Court decisions that let states bar transgender girls from school sports and upheld state bans on gender-affirming care for minors. Wednesday’s order is not a ruling on the merits, so the fight over the policy will keep moving through the lower courts.

𝐔𝐊 𝐈𝐧𝐟𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐉𝐮𝐦𝐩𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝟑.𝟓% 𝐚𝐬 𝐅𝐮𝐞𝐥 𝐂𝐨𝐬𝐭𝐬 𝐒𝐮𝐫𝐠𝐞 UK consumer price inflation rose to 3.5 per cent in the year to September, up from 3.1 per cent in August and above the 3.4 per cent economists expected, the Office for National Statistics reported. It was the third consecutive monthly increase after 2.9 per cent in July, and the measure that includes owner-occupiers’ housing costs, CPIH, climbed to 3.6 per cent. Motor fuel prices were up 29.8 per cent on the year, the highest fuel inflation since August 2022, making transport the largest contributor to price growth. Core inflation, which strips out food, energy, alcohol and tobacco, rose to 2.8 per cent, while falling hotel and restaurant prices partly offset the energy-driven increase. JPMorgan’s Scott Gardner said the rebound “has consumed the disinflation gains achieved in the spring” and flagged services inflation as the bigger worry because of the risk of second-round effects. Markets now price a 98 per cent probability of a 25-basis-point Bank of England rate rise to 4 per cent at next month’s meeting, with most traders expecting another increase in December. David Hollingworth of L&C Mortgages said “the overwhelming direction for fixed rates in recent months has been up”, and tracker-mortgage borrowers would face higher payments if the base rate rises. John Phillips, chief executive of Just Mortgages and Spicerhaart, said the market is awaiting the Budget next week. The next inflation release is due on 18 November, ahead of the December rate decision.

𝐂𝐡𝐢𝐩 𝐑𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐀𝐬𝐢𝐚, 𝐅𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐡 𝐘𝐢𝐞𝐥𝐝𝐬 𝐁𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐤 𝟓%, 𝐁𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐓𝐨𝐩𝐬 $𝟏𝟏𝟏 Global markets diverged on Thursday, with Asian technology stocks reversing Wednesday’s rebound while European and US equities advanced on strong earnings. South Korea’s Kospi fell more than 3 per cent, Japan’s Nikkei 225 lost about 2 per cent and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng dropped 2.7 per cent as investors questioned whether massive AI spending will produce sustainable profits; SK Hynix fell nearly 6 per cent and Tokyo Electron 5.9 per cent. In Europe, the Stoxx 600 rose 0.9 per cent, the DAX gained 1.3 per cent, the CAC 40 added 1.1 per cent and the FTSE 100 edged up 0.2 per cent, although Carrefour tumbled 13.8 per cent after warning that unrest in France would hurt its earnings. On Wall Street the S&P 500 rose 0.6 per cent to 7,757.17, with SpaceX up 7.8 per cent on its first profit as a public company, while Tesla slipped 3.3 per cent after hours despite beating profit estimates because of reduced capital spending plans. The bond market delivered the sharper warning: France’s 10-year OAT yield closed at 5.013 per cent, its first daily close above 5 per cent in more than 24 years, and the spread over German Bunds widened to more than 159 basis points, the widest since 2012. US 10-year Treasury yields ended Wednesday at 5.12 per cent before easing to about 5.08 per cent. Brent crude rose 2 per cent to above $111 a barrel after a drone strike on Saudi Aramco’s Shaybah field, which left operations unaffected, and a separate attack on Dammam’s airport that killed one person. Higher energy prices stoked inflation and rate worries, pushing spot gold down 1.3 per cent to around $4,090 an ounce, silver down 3 per cent to $56.20 and copper down 1.5 per cent. The Australian dollar slipped toward 0.7015 on weaker metals prices, and sterling firmed after EUR/GBP rebounded from a 17-month low of 0.8372. Investors now watch whether the oil spike and French fiscal strain feed into central-bank decisions, with UK inflation data already pointing to a Bank of England rate rise.

𝐀𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐚 𝐚𝐭 𝐚 ‘𝐂𝐫𝐨𝐬𝐬𝐫𝐨𝐚𝐝𝐬’ 𝐚𝐬 𝐏𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐖𝐚𝐫𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐡 𝐑𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 Senior Australian security officials have told a parliamentary inquiry the country faces a “tsunami” of youth radicalisation online. Sandra Booth, Acting Deputy Commissioner of the Australian Federal Police, told the Joint Parliamentary Committee on Intelligence and Security that radicalisation that once took months or years now happens within days. She said children are being targeted by “sadistic” predators, who sometimes turn victims into perpetrators by blackmailing them into livestreaming animal cruelty or assaulting siblings. ASIO Deputy Director-General Claire McGinnis said the counter-terrorism caseload is getting younger and that potential offenders have used AI chatbots to research and plan attacks, saving hours of work. Since 2020, counter-terrorism authorities have targeted 65 children aged 12 to 17, with 35 of those investigations leading to charges, and an 11-year-old has taken part in a de-radicalisation program. Among recent cases, a 13-year-old boy was charged after police allegedly found a notebook outlining plans to shoot classmates. Brendan Dowling of Home Affairs said most referrals to de-radicalisation programs come from law enforcement, suggesting authorities are intervening too late, and that some young people who completed programs later returned to extremist ideologies. ASIO director-general Mike Burgess has described the threat environment as “unprecedented”, with the national terrorism threat level at “probable”. The AFP is considering seeking powers to more actively disrupt harmful online chat groups, including by posting messages alerting users that police are present. Encrypted apps remain an “enduring challenge” for ASIO, and the spy chief said privacy is important but should not be absolute when significant threats are involved.

𝐂𝐨𝐮𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐅𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐃𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐚𝐭 𝐁𝐫𝐚𝐲 𝐇𝐨𝐦𝐞; 𝐆𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐚í 𝐎𝐩𝐞𝐧 𝐈𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐠𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 Gardaí have opened an investigation after the bodies of Jamie McGinn, 38, and Bridget “Biddy” O’Brien, 45, were found at their home in the Cois Cairn estate on Old Connaught Avenue in north Bray, Co Wicklow, on Wednesday morning. Gardaí were alerted just after 8am and both were pronounced dead at the scene. McGinn was found outside the house with visible injuries, while O’Brien was in an upstairs bedroom. Gardaí believe violence was a factor but have found no evidence that anyone else was present, and the Irish Times reported on Thursday there were no obvious indications that O’Brien had suffered violence. A senior investigating officer has been appointed and an incident room set up at Dún Laoghaire Garda station, with the Garda Technical Bureau examining the scene and post-mortems to be arranged through the coroner and the Office of the State Pathologist. The couple’s story is bound up with one of Ireland’s worst tragedies: on 8 March 2017 a fire at a Clondalkin facility for women leaving domestic violence killed four people, including O’Brien’s children, Holly, 3, and Jordan McGinn, 4. O’Brien survived with extensive burns and spent a long period in intensive care, missing the funerals and learning of her children’s deaths about six weeks after the fire. McGinn later developed a cocaine habit that a court heard was linked to his trauma, and he received a 4½-year sentence, with the final three years suspended, after gardaí found cocaine and cannabis worth nearly €200,000 at his home. Neighbour Harry Gilbert, who lost family in the 2015 Carrickmines fire, called the couple “lovely”, and a local source said they “lived for each other” after their children died. Jim O’Brien of the Bray Travellers Community Development Group said the organisation was devastated and offered support to both families.