An Italian CH-47 Chinook helicopter serving the EU's EUFOR mission crashed on 29 Oct near Gorica in the Brčko district of Bosnia and Herzegovina during a routine flight. Four people died and eleven were injured, according to a hospital spokesperson, with the injured treated at a hospital in Brčko. The dead reportedly included two Italian soldiers and two Italian Red Cross volunteers. The Italian Defence Ministry says the cause is under investigation, and EUFOR is conducting a full investigation.
News of 30 October 2026
11 stories
World
The US Justice Department has amended its federal lawsuit over Alaska's Senate race, citing a New York Times report that Democratic operatives working with Mary Peltola's campaign sought to recruit spoiler candidates to draw votes from Republican Senator Dan Sullivan. One recruit, Dan J. Sullivan, a retired teacher from Petersburg, entered the race in May. The suit asks to block certification of any result affected by voter confusion. Governor Mike Dunleavy has ordered a state probe into whether laws were broken. Peltola's campaign denies involvement with either Sullivan campaign. Polls close in Alaska on 3 Nov, and Peltola leads narrowly.
Everton beat Newcastle United 3-1 in the Carabao Cup fourth round, booking a quarter-final against Fleetwood Town. Jack Grealish, the Manchester City player on loan at Everton, was left out of the squad after the club said he breached club discipline by missing training without permission. Manager David Moyes declined to discuss the decision further, calling it a club matter. Grealish had missed the 2-0 league defeat at Arsenal the previous weekend through illness and has six Everton appearances this season.
DoorDash has agreed to acquire Instacart in a deal valued at about $17 billion, paying $65 per Instacart share, a 26% premium over the 22 Oct closing price. Both boards approved the transaction, which is 75% cash. The combination would bring together the two largest US grocery delivery services. Instacart will keep its brand and app, and users gain access to more than 50,000 additional stores. The deal is expected to close by late 2027 or early 2028, subject to regulatory approval, and antitrust scrutiny could affect it.
Economy
Piero Cipollone, a member of the Executive Board of the European Central Bank, said Europe will move to T+1 securities settlement on 11 October 2027, cutting the settlement period from two days to one. He spoke at an EU T+1 Industry Committee event in Frankfurt am Main on 29 October 2026. According to his remarks, a shorter cycle can reduce market and counterparty risk. He framed the change as part of wider work to make Europe's financial system more efficient, resilient, safer and competitive.
The Federal Reserve Board has approved an application by The Bank of Nova Scotia, a Toronto-based lender, to become a bank holding company. The approval relates to an acquisition involving Maple Financial Holdings, Inc., of Dallas, Texas, which would indirectly bring MapleMark Bank of Tulsa, Oklahoma, under the Canadian bank's control. The Federal Reserve Board announced the decision at 4:30 p.m. EDT on 29 Oct.
Tech & Science
Google has released Gemini 4 Carbon, an AI model aimed at cybersecurity work such as vulnerability discovery, exploitation and software patching. The company says Carbon generates secure code at more than twice the success rate of its predecessor, Gemini 4 Argon, on internal benchmarks. Carbon scored 59 on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index v5.0 and leads that benchmark, according to The Verge. Google priced the model at $2 per million input tokens and $10 per million output tokens. Access is initially limited to a select group of cybersecurity defense companies, with wider availability planned through the Fairwind Program.
Hubble and Webb telescopes have jointly imaged the Cat's Head Nebula, a star-forming region within the Carina Nebula about 7,500 light-years from Earth. Hubble's visible-light view shows a dark elongated dust pillar with hints of young forming stars, while Webb's infrared imagery reveals many hidden stars and details. ESA says ultraviolet light from nearby massive stars is heating and evaporating gas along the pillar's edge. Separately, a University of Arizona team reported Hubble visible-light images of the Cat's Tail, a structure in the Beta Pictoris debris disk 63 light-years away in Pictor, published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters.
Nvidia says the allegations that U.S. intelligence surveilled a Megaspeed executive as a Chinese spy targeting CEO Jensen Huang are unfounded and were investigated and dismissed last year. The company notes that Megaspeed is a regular regional cloud customer and that Huang’s meetings with its staff are routine for a CEO who talks to thousands of clients annually. Nvidia adds it would be alerted if any government deemed a person a threat to American industry. The dispute follows reports that Alice Huang, a former senior Megaspeed executive, passed Nvidia chip information to Beijing and that President Donald Trump was briefed but did not act.
Climate & Environment
Modeling shows that sowing bambara groundnuts in October produces the highest yields across southern Africa. Researchers used five decades of climate and soil records to run simulations for 49 growing seasons, covering thousands of altitude zones in South Africa, Lesotho and Eswatini while accounting for frost risk and omitting unsuitable lands. The legume supplies fiber, protein and essential minerals, and scientists stress that broader crop diversity is needed for climate resilience.
Sport
The Atlanta Dream beat the Golden State Valkyries 80-69 in Game 6 of the WNBA Finals, forcing a seventh and deciding game, the first such game in the series' history. Atlanta led 46-26 at half-time after Golden State trailed 32-15 at the end of the first quarter. Allisha Gray scored 23 points and Rhyne Howard 21 for Atlanta, while Gabby Williams led Golden State with 26 points. Angel Reese added 15 points and 13 rebounds for Atlanta. Game 7 is scheduled for Sunday in San Francisco after the fixture was moved and brought forward to accommodate an Atlanta Hawks NBA game.