Rep. James Walkinshaw pointed out the two-track economy operating in Trump’s America—one for the inner circle where Trump’s sons’ companies landed billions in taxpayer funds and Guilfoyle offered access for cash, and one for ordinary Americans where prices rose 3.7%. The corruption paper trail Walkinshaw references includes the SpaceX bond purchase before deregulation, the CFTC probe, and the pay-to-play pardon operation.

Kristi Rogers, wife of Michigan Republican Senate candidate Mike Rogers, spent Wednesday handing out $10 gas gift cards to drivers in Detroit, while President Donald Trump's war with Iran keeps fuel prices high.

The giveaway took place on October 14 at a Freedom Fuel station on the city's east side. Mike Rogers is calling for a suspension of both the state and federal gas taxes, and the campaign chose $10 because, by its own estimate, that is what drivers would save from such a suspension.

Critics saw something different. One commentator called the cards a bribe, and the math shows why the gesture looks so small to many people: at current prices, $10 buys barely two gallons of gas in Michigan. The national average is $4.33 a gallon, according to AAA, which is about $1.27 more than a year ago.

Then there is the legal question. Buying votes is generally illegal, yet experts say a campaign effort like this one can be lawful if the cards are handed over without conditions. Election lawyer Mark Brewer, a former chair of the Michigan Democratic Party, says the answer depends on what Kristi Rogers told drivers.

Videos do not show her making the cards conditional, but recipients told Michigan Chronicle reporter Sam Robinson that she asked them to think about voting for her husband, and drivers also received campaign literature promoting Rogers and criticizing El-Sayed.

Rogers, a former congressman, is running against Democrat Abdul El-Sayed in a Michigan race that could help decide which party controls the Senate. Rogers has recently criticized the effects of the Iran war, a conflict he initially supported.

As of October 14, the national average had topped $4 a gallon on a record 158 days this year, according to the fuel-price tracker GasBuddy.

Twenty-two days before the midterm elections, Homeland Security Investigations agents executed a search warrant on the Washington D.C. area home of Rep. Ilhan Omar, a U.S. citizen for 26 years who arrived in the United States in March 1995 after fleeing Somalia’s civil war as a child refugee. The Justice Department confirmed the search is part of an ongoing federal criminal investigation but provided no further details. Fox News reported the investigation concerns immigration paperwork filed by Omar’s late father, allegations Omar has repeatedly denied since they first surfaced in 2016, calling them “complete shams.”

Elon Musk immigrated from South Africa, and Melania Trump immigrated from Slovenia; both have faced questions about their immigration processes.

Paul McCartney didn’t mince his words when it came to the menu at a major climate summit 🥩🌍

Ahead of COP30, the UN climate conference held in Brazil last November, the Beatles legend wrote to the summit’s president urging organisers to go fully vegetarian. He’d been shocked to learn that only around 40% of the food on offer was set to be meat-free, at an event hosted on the doorstep of the Amazon.

“Serving meat at a climate summit is like handing out cigarettes at a cancer-prevention conference!”

For Paul, it’s a cause that goes back decades. He and his late wife Linda gave up meat in 1975 and later launched their own vegetarian food brand. In 2009, he founded the Meat Free Monday campaign with daughters Mary and Stella, encouraging people to skip meat just one day a week.

His argument is that animal agriculture is a major driver of deforestation and emissions, so a summit about protecting the planet should lead by example.

Not everyone agrees, of course. Critics say menus are a sideshow compared to the big decisions on energy and emissions made inside the negotiating rooms, and that people should be free to choose what they eat.

Still, the comparison certainly got people talking.

When 89-year-old Christopher Cooksey’s family put out an appeal for a Highland cow to visit his bedside, they had no idea whether anyone would answer. Someone did, and she brought Margaret 🐮

Christopher has had a soft spot for Highland cattle ever since he courted his wife on holiday in the Scottish Highlands. Now receiving palliative care at home in Basildon, Essex, his final wish was to see one again.

Local cattle owner Chloe Lucas, a 40-year-old nurse, saw the callout and made it her “mission.” She stayed up all Sunday night sorting paperwork, insurance and a truck and trailer big enough for Margaret, a nearly two-year-old cow weighing around 250kg. The visit was kept as a surprise until Margaret’s hooves walked through the front door.

“I spent most of the day crying yesterday. It was just incredible,” Chloe told BBC News, calling the moment Christopher gave Margaret a kiss “the most amazing moment.”

His daughter Helen thanked Chloe for moving “heaven and earth” to make it happen, adding: “People are so, so kind and it was one of the most amazing precious memories that we’re going to have.” ❤️

Donald Trump told a female reporter “Quiet, piggy” when she asked him a question. He barred the Associated Press from the Oval Office. Now the rest of his party is following his lead.

Republican Rep. Andy Harris of Maryland threatened to have a student journalist prosecuted Tuesday night for doing exactly what every other reporter in the room was doing: recording him.

The reporter, Cat Murphy, works for Capital News Service, the student-staffed newswire at the University of Maryland. She asked Harris about the war in Iran, noting that he had said it could have gone smoother, and she wanted to know what he meant.

Harris never answered, and instead told her, "You do not have my permission to record," adding that he would send her case to a prosecutor. He pointed to Maryland's two-party consent law, which bars recording electronic communications unless everyone involved agrees. Murphy noted that the whole room was recording. Harris called for an officer anyway, insisting, "I actually know the law well."

That law protects private conversations, not news conferences, where nobody can expect privacy. Other journalists in the room told him it was a public forum and that recording was allowed. Police did not remove Murphy, and Harris walked out and told the remaining reporters that she was spoiling their chance to get answers.

The dean of the university's journalism college, Rafael Lorente, defended his student, saying, "Cat recorded openly in a public space alongside other news outlets, and that is her legal right," adding that he was proud of how she handled a difficult situation.

Every time Sirga the lioness spots her favorite person, she takes off running. And she doesn't stop until she's wrapped her enormous paws around him in a hug.

That person is Valentin Grüner, the wildlife conservationist who raised her by hand after her mother stopped feeding her as a tiny cub.

Sirga was the only one of her siblings to survive, and Valentin became the person she trusted most.

Years later, she's grown into a powerful adult lioness, but her excitement whenever she sees him hasn't changed.

Today, Sirga lives on a 2,000-hectare reserve in Botswana, where she has space to roam and hunt.

Valentin spends his days alongside her, walking through the bush, resting in the shade, and sharing those famous cuddles.

Their bond is extraordinary, but Valentin is careful to remind people that Sirga remains a wild animal.

She trusts him because of their shared history, and approaching her would be dangerous for anyone else.

📸: sirgathelioness/TikTok

Ukrainian drone strikes on three Yandex data centres—Russia’s equivalent of Google—were followed by a 94% drop in automated traffic from Yandex’s network, according to Cloudflare Radar data. Zelensky told the Warsaw Security Forum on Monday that social media became “noticeably less hostile” after the strikes, with “less hate, less division and fewer provocations because there were fewer bots.”

In the U.S., users on X reported fewer apparently automated pro-conservative responses following the attacks. Similar drops in bot activity around Germany’s AfD and Britain’s Reform UK were also reported, though not independently verified.

Agenor Tupinamba is a Brazilian agronomy student, and his best friend is a capybara named Filo.

He studies in the city during the week and returns to his family farm in Autazes, in the Amazon, on weekends. Filo was only a newborn when she was given to Agenor, and she now lives freely on the farm, eating grass and drinking milk. He checks her for ticks every day.

In 2019, Agenor began sharing videos of their routine. Today he has over 94,000 followers on Instagram and over 640,000 on TikTok, and his latest video of life with Filo has nearly 30 million views.

His advice for winning an animal's love is simple: "First step trust, respect, then captivate them."