On 30 Oct, Pope Leo XIV sent a mail‑in ballot from Chicago for the United States midterm elections on 3 Nov, marking the first time a sitting pope has voted in a US general election. The 71‑year‑old pontiff, a dual US‑Peruvian citizen recovering from lung‑cancer surgery, is registered in the New Lenox suburb and his ballot covers the Illinois governor race, a Senate seat and a House contest. He will travel to Uruguay, Argentina and Peru from 6 to 17 Nov after the election.
Chicago
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30 October 2026
29 October 2026
President Donald Trump defended the White House renovation, saying he used the finest artisans, after former President Barack Obama likened the decor to a Cheesecake Factory. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent then visited a Cheesecake Factory in Washington, D.C., criticized Obama’s comment, ordered his regular French Dip Cheeseburger priced at $22.95, and posted a recommendation for the Cheeseburger Spring Rolls on X. The restaurant chain reported record quarterly revenue with sales up 15% and a stock that has more than doubled this year.
28 October 2026
Anthropic has filed an S-1 registration statement with the US Securities and Exchange Commission ahead of a planned stock market listing. The risk factors section runs 93 pages and more than 70,000 words. It warns that near-future AI systems able to largely automate AI research could pose catastrophic or existential risks to humanity, and that AI could be misused for cyberattacks or designing biological weapons. Anthropic researcher Evan Hubinger has put the chance of AI destroying humanity over the next decade above one in 10. Anthropic is a public benefit corporation, legally required to weigh shareholder returns against its social mission.