Daily Brief

US

Two helicopters collide near Oregon airport, killing three

Two helicopters collided midair Oct. 29 near McMinnville Municipal Airport, about 35 miles southwest of Portland, Oregon, killing all three people aboard, the Yamhill County Sheriff's Office said. According to the sheriff's office, a Robinson R22 carried a flight instructor and a student pilot, and an Airbus helicopter carried its pilot. One aircraft belonged to a local flight school. Both came down in a farm field next to Highway 233. The NTSB is investigating; no cause has been released.

CBS News · OPB

• DHS reports 4,170 arrests in 10-day Texas immigration operation. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said ICE's Oct. 19-29 "Lone Star Mission" led to 4,170 arrests in Texas and that about 60% of those arrested had criminal histories; DHS gave no breakdown. DHS · Texas Newsroom
• Bodum recalls 5.9 million French press coffee makers. Bodum and the CPSC recalled 5.9 million 8- and 12-cup glass-carafe French presses after 70 breakage reports, including 48 burns. Owners should stop stirring with metal spoons and contact Bodum for a free plastic spoon. CPSC · CBS News
• California high-speed rail CEO resigns after spending probe. Ian Choudri resigned as CEO of the California High-Speed Rail Authority, citing personal and family reasons, after an inspector general report on improper consultant travel reimbursements. Finance Director Joe Stephenshaw is interim CEO. CalMatters · Sacramento Bee · KCRA
• Update: Pentagon makes criminal referral in leak case against fired general. The Pentagon referred an alleged leak case against Lt. Gen. Brett Sylvia, the Joint Staff's top planner fired by Hegseth, to the Justice Department. Axios reported an internal report says he admitted leaking; two Pentagon sources told CBS the accusations are untrue. Washington Post · Axios · CBS News
• Actor Patrick Stewart dies at 86. Stewart, Capt. Jean-Luc Picard in "Star Trek" and Professor X in "X-Men," died Oct. 28 at his Los Angeles home after Alzheimer's disease and Lewy body dementia, his spokesperson said. NPR · NBC News

Politics & Elections

House Oversight Chair Opens Probe Into Alaska Senate "Second Sullivan" Allegations

House Oversight Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) on Thursday opened an investigation into a New York Times report that Democrat Mary Peltola's Senate campaign helped recruit Dan J. Sullivan, who shares a name with Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan. Comer asked ex-Peltola campaign manager Elisa Rios and Democratic operative Jerid Kurtz to sit for voluntary interviews Nov. 5 and 6. Peltola said she "knew nothing"; her campaign and the DSCC deny involvement, and Dan J. Sullivan denies running at Democrats' behest. Trump said the race would be "dishonest" unless corrected.

House Oversight Committee · Washington Times · CBS News · Roll Call

• Trump Cancels Kansas and Iowa Rallies for Tele-Rallies. After a Rock Hill, S.C., rally for Sen. Darline Graham, Trump canceled weekend rallies in Kansas and Iowa; two White House officials told NBC News he plans more than 20 tele-rallies before Election Day. NBC News · Roll Call
• Early Ballots Top 43 Million Nationwide. More than 43 million mail or early in-person ballots had been cast as of Thursday, according to the University of Florida Election Lab and NBC News, ahead of the Nov. 3 midterms. BBC · NBC News · UF Election Lab
• Justice Department amends Alaska Senate lawsuit. The DOJ filed an amended complaint in Anchorage federal court seeking to block certification of Alaska's Senate result if Sullivan narrowly loses, citing the "second Sullivan" report. State election officials asked the judge to expedite dismissal. CNBC · Al Jazeera
• DOJ subpoenas Los Angeles County election workers. The Los Angeles County registrar said three employees received federal grand jury subpoenas to testify Nov. 4 about the county's noncitizen-voting screening. The DOJ declined to comment; registrar Dean Logan called its approach "confrontational." NPR · Politico · ABC News

Business

US economy grew at 3.4% rate in third quarter; September inflation picked up

Real GDP grew at a 3.4% annualized rate in July-September, up from 2.2% in the second quarter, the Commerce Department's advance estimate showed Oct. 29; economists had expected about 3.2%, Axios reported. Business investment grew nearly 13%, led by computer equipment, while trade subtracted 3.3 percentage points. A separate report showed the PCE price index rose 0.5% in September, lifting annual inflation to 3.6% from 3.4%; core PCE rose to 3.1%. The next GDP estimate is due Nov. 25.

BEA · Axios

Stocks slip as Alphabet falls 12.6% after earnings

The S&P 500 fell 0.3% to 7,720.39 on Oct. 29, ending a three-day advance, as Alphabet shares fell 12.6% after third-quarter revenue missed analysts' expectations. NBC News reported it was the stock's largest one-day percentage drop on record, erasing about $500 billion in market value. The Nasdaq fell 1.38% and the Dow 0.25%. Caterpillar fell more than 9% despite results that beat estimates.

CNBC · NBC News

ADT agrees to $15.3 billion sale to Thrive Holdings

Home security company ADT agreed Oct. 29 to be acquired by Thrive Holdings, spun out of venture firm Thrive Capital, in an all-cash deal valuing ADT at about $7.6 billion in equity and $15.3 billion including debt. Shareholders would receive $10 a share, a 45.6% premium to the Oct. 27 close, the company said. Funds managed by Apollo affiliates are providing financing. ADT may seek competing offers until Nov. 28; closing is expected in the first quarter of 2027, pending approvals.

ADT · TechCrunch

• Amazon sales rise 12%; shares fall after hours. Amazon's third-quarter sales rose 12% to $201.9 billion and AWS sales 39% to $46.0 billion; trailing 12-month free cash flow was an outflow of $42.4 billion, mainly from AI-related spending. Shares fell more than 6% after hours, CNBC reported. Amazon · CNBC
• Bank of Japan holds rates at 1.25%, says inflation goal met. The BOJ held its policy rate at 1.25% on Oct. 30 in an 8-1 vote and said underlying inflation is "generally consistent" with its 2% target, its first such assessment since adopting the target in 2013. CNBC · Nikkei Asia
• ServiceNow shares fall 27%, their worst day on record. ServiceNow fell about 27% on Oct. 29 after its outlook for remaining performance obligations, an indicator of upcoming revenue, missed estimates. Fortinet fell 20% after lowering its service revenue forecast. CNBC · Yahoo Finance

AI

Canada to take up to C$1.6 billion equity stake in AI developer Cohere

Prime Minister Mark Carney said Thursday that Ottawa will invest up to C$1.6 billion, in stages, in Toronto-based Cohere as part of a planned C$7 billion round led by Germany's Schwarz Group, with Nvidia and Bell participating, valuing Cohere at about C$36 billion. Cohere committed to keep its Canadian incorporation and headquarters, add at least 1,000 technical jobs and spend at least C$1.7 billion on Canadian computing by 2030. Only an initial close of the round has been completed.

Prime Minister of Canada · CBC News · The Globe and Mail

Mistral releases open weights for trillion-parameter Large 4 model

French AI company Mistral on Thursday released downloadable weights for Mistral Large 4, a 1-trillion-parameter multimodal model. Mistral says it is the strongest open-weight model for coding and scores 51% on Artificial Analysis's Cyber Index for finding and patching vulnerabilities, while refusing 96.6% of malicious cyber requests in its tests. The company said it sees "a potential for uplift to conduct real attacks" and is tightening guardrails. The license allows free commercial use and self-hosting, but model-as-a-service providers need a separate license.

Mistral · TechCrunch

• OpenAI rewrites its Model Spec around five core values. OpenAI reorganized its public model-behavior rules around five values: faithfulness to human intent, harm minimization, honesty and transparency, human agency, and care. It retired much style guidance and said current models do not yet fully reflect the update. OpenAI · Reuters

Tech

Binance says hack affected about $6.3 billion in assets; withdrawals paused

Binance, the largest crypto exchange, said Thursday that about $6.3 billion in digital assets were affected by a security incident and that about half had been frozen. Early findings point to a compromised engineer's laptop. Withdrawals remain disabled, and Binance said it will cover all losses. TRM Labs and Chainalysis attributed the theft to North Korea's TraderTraitor group; Binance has not confirmed attribution. The amount exceeds the $1.5 billion Bybit theft in 2025, previously the largest on record.

BBC · TRM Labs · Binance

Intel shares fall after hours on weak fourth-quarter forecast

Intel reported third-quarter revenue of $16.5 billion Thursday, up 21%, and adjusted earnings of 52 cents a share, above the 40 cents expected, per LSEG. Data center and AI revenue rose 78%; PC chip revenue fell 5%. Intel forecast fourth-quarter revenue of $15 billion to $16 billion, below the roughly $17.1 billion expected. The CFO said an October explosion at its Israel plant will cost about $600 million in revenue over two quarters. Shares fell more than 20% after hours.

Intel · CNBC

• FCC proposes more spectrum for satellite-to-phone service. The FCC voted unanimously Thursday to propose adding more than 480 MHz to its satellite direct-to-device framework and advanced a planned auction in the 1675-1695 MHz and 2020-2025 MHz bands. FCC · Broadband Breakfast
• Reddit to shift to a mainly logged-in experience. Reddit said Thursday it will move to a primarily logged-in site, testing the change outside the US this quarter, after reporting that search referral traffic was "down meaningfully" in the third quarter. Axios · TechCrunch

Law & Courts

Judge blocks Medicaid work-rule definition of "medically frail"

Judge Richard Stearns in Boston ruled Thursday that June federal guidance narrowing who qualifies as "medically frail" under new Medicaid work requirements is unlawful. The CMS guidance required that a condition significantly impair a person's ability to comply. The ruling is a partial win for the 25 states and the District of Columbia that sued: it leaves in place the 2025 law's 80-hour monthly requirement, effective Jan. 1, and upholds limits on medical documentation and self-attestation. CMS did not immediately comment.

NBC News · Stateline

Judge bars race-based immigration stops in Southern California

U.S. District Judge Maame Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong issued a preliminary injunction, made public Thursday, requiring immigration agents in the Central District of California to have individualized reasonable suspicion before detaining someone; appearing Latino and working class is not enough, she ruled. Citing body-camera footage and agents' texts, she found plaintiffs likely to prove Fourth and Fifth Amendment violations. Ports of entry and checkpoints are exempt. The Justice Department has appealed, saying the order "gravely hinders" enforcement.

Los Angeles Times · Bloomberg Law · ACLU of Southern California

GM to pay $220 million to settle states' driver-data claims

General Motors agreed to pay $220 million to settle claims by attorneys general from 35 states and the District of Columbia, led by Washington and Oregon, announced Thursday. The states alleged GM sold drivers' behavior and location data from its Smart Driver program to data brokers, who sold it to insurers. GM must limit the driving data it collects and obtain express consent before collecting or sharing it. A GM spokesperson said the settlement reinforces privacy steps the company has taken.

Reuters · Washington Attorney General

• Bayer wins first Roundup trial since Supreme Court ruling. A St. Louis jury unanimously rejected three women's claims that Roundup caused their non-Hodgkin lymphoma, the first trial since the Supreme Court barred failure-to-warn claims in June. A proposed $7.25 billion settlement remains under court review. Reuters · Bloomberg Law
• FTC and states sue Toast over alleged hidden fees. The FTC, seven states and two California localities sued restaurant software company Toast, alleging hidden and unauthorized fees, false "24/7/365" support claims and hard-to-cancel subscriptions. Nebraska Attorney General · Reuters
• Ninth Circuit keeps California's "captive audience" law on hold. A Ninth Circuit panel upheld an injunction against SB 399, which bars discipline of workers who skip employer meetings on political or religious views, finding the law likely violates employers' First Amendment rights. Courthouse News · Reason
• Australian court upholds Erin Patterson's mushroom-murder convictions. Victoria's Court of Appeal upheld Erin Patterson's three murder convictions and one attempted-murder conviction, and granted the prosecution's sentencing appeal, removing her 33-year non-parole period so she will serve life without parole. ABC News Australia · The Guardian

Global

Israel's final results leave both blocs short of a majority

Israel's Central Elections Committee completed the count from Tuesday's election: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's bloc won 53 of 120 Knesset seats, the bloc backing Gadi Eisenkot 48 and Arab-led parties a record 19. Neither bloc reached the 61 needed to govern; Likud is the largest party with 27. Before the vote, Netanyahu and allies amplified allegations of Qatari interference involving Arab parties, which Qatar and Ra'am denied. The Shin Bet is investigating; the committee said the probe will not affect results, which go to President Isaac Herzog Nov. 4.

NBC News · Ynet

Iran says it has not answered Vance letter as Hormuz incidents continue

Iran's Tasnim and Fars news agencies reported Thursday that Tehran received a letter from Vice President JD Vance to security chief Mohsen Rezaei but has not replied; Tasnim said Iran's seven conditions for reopening the Strait of Hormuz still stand. President Trump said the contact concerned Iran's need for medical supplies. Britain's UKMTO reported a vessel on fire off Oman. Iran's Revolutionary Guards said three tankers hit mines on an "unauthorized" route, and Iran said it downed a US drone; neither claim has been independently verified.

Arab News · Anadolu · DW

Russian drone kills 14 at Dnipro station; Moscow reports 862 drones overnight

A Russian jet-powered drone hit a crowded platform at Dnipro's railway station Thursday, killing 14 people and wounding 14, Ukrainian officials said; Russia says it does not target civilians. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said 862 Ukrainian drones flew toward the Moscow region overnight and 170 were downed on the approach to the city; Moscow airports halted flights. Russia said Friday it struck energy facilities around Kyiv. A local ceasefire held in Russian-occupied Oleshky as an aid convoy moved in, Russian officials said.

BBC · Kyiv Post · Interfax · France 24

• China's Communist Party expels a record 33 officials at plenum. The party's fifth plenum confirmed 33 expulsions, 16 of them from the military, and elevated Central Military Commission vice chairman Zhang Shengmin to the Politburo. Attendance fell to 279 Central Committee members. BBC · NBC News
• Serbia's election winners call for police, intelligence and judicial chiefs to resign. The Student List, which won a parliamentary majority in preliminary results, also demanded corruption investigations. Results are not yet final, so the new parliament cannot convene. BBC · Reuters
• Venezuela's Machado, back in Caracas, calls for 2027 presidential election. Opposition leader María Corina Machado said a US plan outlined by Secretary of State Marco Rubio makes clear there will be a 2027 vote. Interim president Delcy Rodríguez said elections will be held but gave no date. BBC · Reuters
• EU peacekeeping helicopter crash in Bosnia kills four. An Italian CH-47 Chinook with the EUFOR Althea mission crashed Thursday near Brčko, killing four Italian personnel and injuring 11, officials said. The cause is under investigation. Euronews · Reuters

Level Up

Turn goals into "if-then" plans

Saying "I'll do my long run this weekend" or "I'll finish the memo this week" sets a goal but no trigger; an implementation intention adds one: "If it is 6:00 a.m. Saturday, then I put on my shoes and start the 2-hour run," or "If my 1:00 p.m. calendar block starts, then I open the memo draft before email." A meta-analysis of 94 independent tests covering 8,461 participants (Gollwitzer & Sheeran, 2006) found that adding if-then plans to goals improved goal attainment by a medium-to-large effect (d = 0.65). Write one if-then plan today for the task you keep deferring, and a second one for the most likely obstacle ("If a client call runs over, then I move the block to 4:00 p.m., not tomorrow").

Advances in Experimental Social Psychology · University of Konstanz

Prompting AI on long documents: context first, question last, quotes before answers

When you give an AI model a long document such as a contract, deposition or policy manual, paste the document first and put your instructions and question at the end; Anthropic's prompting guide says queries at the end can improve response quality by up to 30% in its tests, and Google's Gemini guide gives the same advice. Then ask the model to pull exact quotes before it answers, for example: "First, list the verbatim clauses relevant to termination and indemnity in <quotes> tags, with section numbers. Then, using only those quotes, summarize Party B's exit rights. If something isn't in the text, say so." This makes the output easy to check against the source, which matters when the work product goes to a client. Both guides also recommend adding a few short examples of the output you want (few-shot prompting) to improve consistency.

Anthropic · Google AI for Developers