#Gaza death toll tops 69,000 as Israel and militants again exchange remains.

The latest jump in deaths occurred as more bodies are recovered from the rubble in the devastated strip since the ceasefire began on Oct. 10, and as previously unidentified bodies are identified. The toll also includes Palestinians killed by strikes since the truce took hold, which Israel says target remaining militants.

Israel on Saturday returned the remains of another 15 Palestinians to Gaza, according to hospital officials in the strip, a day after militants returned the remains of a hostage to Israel. He was identified as Lior Rudaeff, according to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ‘s office. The Hostages and Missing Families Forum said Rudaeff was born in Argentina.

The exchanges are the central part of the ceasefire’s initial phase, which requires that Hamas return all hostage remains as quickly as possible. For each Israeli hostage returned, Israel has been releasing the remains of 15 Palestinians.

Trump accuses foreign-owned meat packers of inflating U.S. beef prices and calls for investigation.


The Republican president announced the move on social media days after his party suffered losses in key elections in which the winning Democratic candidates focused relentlessly on the public’s concerns about the cost of living. But experts said it’s unlikely that an investigation would result in lower prices at grocery stores, and a trade group representing meat packers said they’re not to blame.

Trump did not present evidence for his claims, writing on social media that “I have asked the DOJ to immediately begin an investigation into the Meat Packing Companies who are driving up the price of Beef through Illicit Collusion, Price Fixing, and Price Manipulation.”

He said he was taking the action to help ranchers, who were recently angered by his suggestion that the U.S. would buy Argentine beef to bring down stubbornly high prices for American consumers.

“We will always protect our American Ranchers, and they are being blamed for what is being done by Majority Foreign Owned Meat Packers, who artificially inflate prices, and jeopardize the security of our Nation’s food supply,” Trump said.
Why beef prices have climbed

Beef prices have soared to record levels in part after drought and years of low prices led to the smallest U.S. herd size in decades. Trump’s tariffs on Brazil, a major beef exporter, have also curbed imports.

Meanwhile, demand for beef remains strong. Prices are high because consumers want to eat it, and they’re willing and able to pay for it, said Glynn Tonsor, who leads the Meat Demand Monitor at Kansas State University.

Tonsor said the ownership mix in the meat packing industry has not changed significantly in the past four years.

Concentration in the meat packing business has been a longtime concern for farmers and politicians on both sides of the aisle. Four major meatpacking companies dominate the beef market in the United States.

There’s no evidence to back up claims that the big packers have undue market power and use it to drive up beef prices, said Derrell Peel, an agricultural economist at Oklahoma State University.

“The packing industry in this country has been investigated and researched for 50 years, and it’s been an issue for over a hundred years, at least, for some producers,” Peel said, expressing skepticism that consumers or producers will benefit from the investigation Trump announced.

“If the outcome is to break up the big packers, the outcome will be higher beef prices for consumers, and lower cattle prices for producers,” Peel said.
Meat packers say they’re getting pinched by high prices

Oklahoma Sen. Markwayne Mullin said Friday that he and fellow Republican senators Cindy-Hyde-Smith of Mississippi and Tim Sheehy of Montana visited the White House earlier in the day to speak with Trump about recent volatility in the beef market. Mullin said Trump agreed to have the U.S. Justice Department look at the issue.

Mullin blamed meat processors, saying that “we’re seeing the same exact game play again out” as a 2019 lawsuit against large meatpackers for violating antitrust laws.

JBS, which is based in Brazil, is the largest U.S. beef producer and its second-largest producer of poultry and pork. Half of its annual revenue comes from the U.S., where it has more than 72,000 employees.

The company has faced price-fixing charges before. In 2022, JBS agreed to a US$52.5 million settlement with grocery stores and wholesalers who accused JBS, Arkansas-based Tyson Foods and other companies of working together to suppress the number of cattle being slaughtered in order to drive up beef prices.

JBS did not admit wrongdoing as part of that settlement. Messages seeking comment were left Friday with JBS USA.

Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., last week called on the administration to renew an investigation into meat packers that was opened in Trump’s first term. Cramer’s office said he has pushed for such a probe since March 2020.

The Meat Institute, a trade group that represents JBS and other meat producers, said its industry is being pinched by the price of cattle, despite record prices for U.S. beef.

“For more than a year, beef packers have been operating at a loss due to a tight cattle supply and strong demand,” Meat Institute President and CEO Julie Anna Potts said in a statement. “The beef industry is heavily regulated, and market transactions are transparent. The government’s own data from #USDA confirms that the beef packing sector is experiencing catastrophic losses and experts predict this will continue into 2026.”

Trump’s accusations have renewed a bipartisan presidential fight against rising food prices.

Senate Republicans vote down legislation to limit #Trump’s ability to attack #Venezuela.

#WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Republicans voted to reject legislation Thursday that would have put a check on President Donald Trump’s ability to launch an attack against Venezuela, as Democrats pressed Congress to take a stronger role in Trump’s high-stakes campaign against Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.

Lawmakers, including top Republicans, have demanded that the Trump administration provide them with more information on the U.S. military strikes against alleged drug-smuggling vessels in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean. But Thursday’s vote, on legislation that would essentially forestall an attack on Venezuelan soil without congressional authorization, suggested Republicans are willing to give Trump leeway to continue his buildup of naval forces in the region.

“President Trump has taken decisive action to protect thousands of Americans from lethal narcotics,” said Sen. Jim Risch, the Republican chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Still, the vote allowed Democrats to press their GOP colleagues on Trump’s threats against Venezuela. The legislation failed to advance 49-51, with Sens. Rand Paul of Kentucky and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska the only Republicans voting in favor.

The U.S. is assembling an unusually large force, including its most advanced aircraft carrier, in the Caribbean Sea, leading many to conclude that Trump intends to go beyond just intercepting cocaine-running boats. The campaign so far has killed at least 69 people in 17 known strikes, the latest carried out Thursday against a boat in the Caribbean.

“It’s really an open secret that this is much more about potential regime change,” said Sen. Adam Schiff, a California Democrat who pushed the resolution. “If that’s where the administration is headed, if that’s what we’re risking — involvement in a war — then Congress needs to be heard on this.”

Some Republicans are uneasy with Caribbean campaign

Republican leadership pressed Thursday to make sure the legislation failed, but several senators still carefully considered their vote.

Sen. Thom Tillis, a North Carolina Republican, another Republican who voted against the resolution, said that he still has doubts about the campaign. He pointed out that it was expensive to change the deployment location for an aircraft carrier and questioned whether those funds could be better used at the U.S.-Mexico border to stop fentanyl trafficking.

Tillis said that if the campaign continues for several months more, “then we have to have a real discussion about whether or not we’re engaging in some sort of hybrid war.”

Sen. Todd Young, an Indiana Republican, said in a statement that he voted against the legislation because he didn’t believe it was “necessary or appropriate at this time.”

But he added that he was “troubled by many aspects and assumptions of this operation and believe it is at odds with the majority of Americans who want the U.S. military less entangled in international conflicts.”

The push for congressional oversight

As the Trump administration has reconfigured U.S. priorities overseas, there has been a growing sense of frustration among lawmakers, including some Republicans, who are concerned about recent moves made by the Pentagon.

At a hearing in the Senate Armed Services Committee earlier Thursday, Sen. Roger Wicker, the Republican chair, said that many senators have “serious concerns about the Pentagon’s policy office” and that Congress was not being consulted on recent actions like putting a pause on Ukraine security assistance, reducing the number of U.S. troops in Romania and the formulation of the National Defense Strategy.

GOP senators have directed their ire at the Department of Defense's policy office, which is led by Elbridge Colby, an official who has advocated for the U.S. to step down its involvement in international alliances.

“It just seems like there’s this pigpen-like mess coming out of the policy shop,” said Sen. Tom Cotton, an Arkansas Republican who chairs the Senate Intelligence Committee, during another Armed Services hearing earlier this week.

As pushback has mounted on Capitol Hill, the Trump administration has stepped up its outreach to lawmakers. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth held a classified briefing for congressional leaders Wednesday. The officials gave details on the intelligence that is used to target the boats and allowed senators to review the legal rationale for the attacks, but did not discuss whether they would launch an attack directly against Venezuela, according to lawmakers in the meeting.

Still, Democrats have tested the unease among Republicans by forcing the vote on the potential for an attack on Venezuela under the War Powers Resolution of 1973, which was intended to reassert congressional power over the declaration of war. A previous war powers vote pertaining to the strikes against boats in international waters also failed last month on a 48-51 vote, but Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia, who pushed the legislation, said he still plans to force more votes.

“We should not be going to war without a vote of Congress. The lives of our troops are at stake,” Kaine said in a floor speech.

Democrats also argued that the Trump administration was using a flimsy legal defense for an expansive military campaign that is putting U.S. troops and the nation’s reputation at risk. Sen. Jack Reed, the top Democrat on the Armed Services panel, charged that Trump is engaging in “violence without a strategic objective” while failing to take actions that would actually address fentanyl smuggling.

“You cannot bomb your way out of a drug crisis,” he said.

Stephen Groves, The Associated Press

Putin tells officials to submit plans for possibly resuming nuclear tests after Trump’s remarks.

MOSCOW -- Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered officials on Wednesday to submit proposals for a possible resumption of nuclear tests in response to President Donald Trump’s statements last week that appeared to suggest the U.S. will restart its own atomic tests.

Speaking at a meeting with his Security Council, Putin reaffirmed his earlier statement that Moscow will only restart nuclear tests if the U.S. does so first. But he directed the defence and foreign ministries and other government agencies to analyze Washington’s intentions and work out proposals for resuming nuclear weapons tests.

On Oct. 30, Trump appeared to signal that the U.S. will resume testing nuclear weapons for the first time in three decades, saying it would be on an “equal basis” with Russia and China.

But U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright said Sunday that new tests of the U.S. nuclear weapons system ordered by Trump will not include nuclear explosions.

Trump made the announcement on social media while in South Korea, days after Putin announced successful tests of the prospective nuclear-powered and nuclear capable cruise missile and underwater drone. Putin’s praise for the new weapons that he claimed can’t be intercepted appears to be another message to Trump that Russia is standing firm in its maximalist demands on settling the conflict in Ukraine.

The U.S. military also has regularly tested nuclear-capable weapons, but it has not detonated atomic weapons since 1992. The Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, which the U.S. signed but did not ratify, has been observed since its adoption by all countries possessing nuclear weapons, North Korea being the only exception.

Putin in 2023 signed a bill revoking Russia’s ratification of a global nuclear test ban, which Moscow said was needed to put it on par with the U.S. The global test ban was signed by President Bill Clinton but never ratified by the U.S. Senate.

During Wednesday’s Security Council meeting, Defence Minister Andrei Belousov reported to Putin about U.S. efforts to modernize its atomic arsenals, arguing that along with a possible resumption of nuclear tests by Washington they “significantly increase the level of military threats to Russia.”

Belousov suggested that Moscow immediately start preparations for nuclear tests on the Arctic Novaya Zemlya archipelago. He added that the site, where the Soviet Union last tested a nuclear weapon in 1990, was ready for quickly resuming the explosions.

Gen. Valery Gerasimov, the chief of the military’s General Staff, also vouched for quickly starting preparations for tests.

“If we don’t take appropriate measures now, we will miss the time and opportunity to respond promptly to the U.S. actions, as it takes from several months to several years to prepare for nuclear tests, depending on their type,” Gerasimov said.

After hearing from military leaders and other top officials, who noted the conflicting signals from Washington on whether the U.S. will restart nuclear explosions, Putin ordered government agencies to “gather additional information on the issue, analyze it within the framework of the Security Council and submit co-ordinated proposals on the possible start of work on preparations for nuclear weapons tests.”

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov emphasized that Putin didn’t order a start to preparations for nuclear tests and for now only told officials to analyze whether it’s necessary to begin such work. He said in remarks carried by the state Tass news agency that Moscow needs to fully understand U.S. intentions before making further decisions.

Later, Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy head of the Security Council chaired by Putin, said the Russians have no choice but to treat Trump’s comments seriously.

“No one knows what Trump meant about `nuclear testing’ (he probably doesn’t himself),” Medvedev posted on X. “But he’s the president of the United States. And the consequences of such words are inescapable: Russia will be forced to assess the expediency of conducting full-fledged #nuclear tests itself.”

North #Korea slams U.S. sanctions on cybercrimes and says pressure tactics will fail.

The statement by a North Korean vice foreign minister came after the U.S. Treasury Department on Tuesday imposed sanctions on eight individuals and two firms, including North Korean bankers, for allegedly laundering money from cybercrime schemes.

The Treasury said North Korea’s state-sponsored hacking schemes have stolen more than US$3 billion in mostly digital assets over the past three years, an amount unmatched by any other foreign actor, and that the illicit funds help finance the country’s nuclear weapons program. The department said North Korea relies on a network of banking representatives, financial institutions and shell companies in North Korea, China, Russia and elsewhere to launder funds obtained through IT worker fraud, cryptocurrency heists and sanctions evasion.

The sanctions came even as U.S. President Donald Trump continues to express interest in reviving talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Their previous nuclear discussions collapsed in 2019 during Trump’s first term amid disagreements over trading relief from U.S.-led sanctions on the North for steps to dismantle Kim’s nuclear program.

“Now that the present U.S. administration has clarified its stand to be hostile towards the DPRK to the last, we will also take proper measures to counter it with patience for any length of time,” the North Korean vice minister, Kim Un Chol, said in a statement, invoking the North’s formal name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

He said U.S. sanctions and pressure tactics will never change the “present strategic situation” between the countries or alter the North’s “thinking and viewpoint.”

Kim Jong Un has shunned any form of talks with Washington and Seoul since his fallout with Trump in 2019. He has since made Russia the focus of his foreign policy, sending thousands of troops and large amounts of military equipment to help fuel President Vladimir Putin’s war on Ukraine, while pursuing an increasingly assertive strategy aimed at securing a larger role for North Korea in a united front against the U.S.-led West.

In a recent speech, Kim urged Washington to drop its demand for the North to surrender its nukes as a precondition for resuming diplomacy. He ignored Trump’s proposal to meet while the American president was in South Korea last week for meetings with world leaders attending the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit.

Kim Tong-hyung, The Associated Press

Brazil’s Lula puts forward new vision for protecting the Amazon rainforest

#Israel says returned hostage remains are those of seized soldier. Israel confirmed Wednesday that the remains handed over by Hamas the day before belonged to Israeli-American soldier Itay Chen, who was seized by Palestinian militants during the October 2023 attacks that sparked the Gaza war.

The remains were returned by Hamas on Tuesday evening as part of the ongoing Gaza ceasefire deal brokered by U.S. President Donald Trump.

“Following the completion of the identification process... IDF representatives informed the family of the fallen hostage, Staff Sergeant Itay Chen, that their loved one has been returned to Israel and positively identified,” the prime minister’s office said.

The Israeli military also confirmed Chen’s identity in a separate statement.

Chen, a dual Israeli-U.S. national, was working at the border with the Gaza Strip when Hamas and its allies launched their attacks on Israel on October 7, 2023.

He gave a last sign of life to his parents when the attack started.

The Israeli military only announced his death five months later in March 2024. It said he had died in combat and his body had been taken to Gaza.

Hours before Chen’s body was handed over on Tuesday, his parents had told AFP they hoped Israeli authorities would not leave their son in Gaza.

“We feel the support of the entire nation, the people are behind us and want to see all the hostages returned,” said Ruby Chen, Itay’s father.

“I hope the prime minister and the chief of staff understand this too -- seize the opportunity (of the ceasefire) to finish this mission,” he said.
‘Unbearable’ pain

Itay’s mother, Hagit Chen, said she would “not be able to take a single step forward in my life without Itay’s return”.

“Even when we break down, which happens every day, I remind myself that we have not finished our mission,” she said.

“We miss him; the pain is unbearable.”

Itay Chen, who was 19 when he was abducted, is the 21st deceased hostage whose remains have been handed over by Hamas to Israel since a ceasefire in Gaza took effect on Oct. 10.

Hamas’s armed wing said earlier on Tuesday that his body had been recovered in “the Shujaiya neighbourhood east of Gaza City during ongoing search and excavation operations inside the yellow line”, referring to the boundary marking Israeli military positions within Gaza.

At the start of the truce, Hamas held 48 hostages in Gaza -- 20 alive and 28 deceased.

The militants have since released all the surviving captives.

The 21 deceased hostages whose remains have been repatriated include 19 Israelis, one Thai national and one Nepali.

In a statement on Tuesday, Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem said the militant group was working on “completing the process of handing over the bodies of the Israeli captives despite the difficulties and obstacles”.

“We are working to complete the entire exchange process as soon as possible,” he added.

Israel has accused Hamas of dragging its feet in returning the bodies of deceased hostages, while the Palestinian group says the process is slow because many are buried beneath Gaza’s rubble.

The group has repeatedly called on mediators and the Red Cross to provide it with the necessary equipment and personnel to recover the bodies.

Trees, targets and trillions: what’s on the agenda at COP30?

This year’s United Nations climate summit promises to be symbolic, marking a decade since the Paris Agreement and taking place in the environmentally vulnerable Amazon. But what is actually on the agenda?

The marathon negotiations gather nearly every country to confront a challenge that affects them all but unlike recent editions, this “COP” has no single theme or objective.

That does not mean big polluters will get off easily at COP30 in Brazil, with climate-vulnerable nations frustrated at their level of ambition and financial assistance to those most affected by a warming planet.

Here are the big issues to look for as world leaders gather in the city of Belem on Thursday and Friday before the start of formal negotiations the following week:
Emissions

The world is not cutting emissions fast enough to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement and no amount of pomp and pageantry at COP30 will be able to sugarcoat that uncomfortable reality.

Under the climate accord, signatory nations are required every five years to submit stronger targets for cutting greenhouse gas emissions, thereby steadily raising the collective effort to reduce global warming over time.

The latest round of pledges for 2035 were due in February to give the UN time before COP30 to assess the quality of these commitments.

Most nations missed that deadline but by early November, about 65 had turned in their revised plans. Few have impressed and China’s target in particular fell well below expectations.

The European Union, riven by infighting between member states, cannot agree on its target, while India is another major emitter yet to finalise its pledge.

A reckoning could be coming in Belem. Brazil -- which described the latest round of pledges as “the vision of our shared future” -- is facing pressure to marshal a response.
Money

Money -- specifically, how much rich countries give poorer ones to adapt to climate change and shift to a low-carbon future -- is a likely point of conflict in Belem, as in past COPs.

Last year, after two weeks of acrimonious haggling, COP29 ended unhappily with developed nations agreeing to provide $300 billion a year in climate finance to developing ones by 2035, well below what is needed.

They also set a much less specific target of helping raise $1.3 trillion annually by 2035 from public and private sources. Developing nations will be demanding some actual detail about this at COP30.

Adaptation is a major focus of the summit, particularly a funding shortfall to assist vulnerable nations in protecting their people from climate impacts, such as building coastal defences against rising seas.
Forests

Brazil chose to host COP30 in Belem because of its proximity to the Amazon, an ideal stage to draw the world’s attention to the vital role of the rainforest in fighting climate change.

At COP30, the hosts will launch a new, innovative global fund that proposes rewarding countries with high tropical forest cover that keep trees standing instead of chopping them down.

The Tropical Forests Forever Facility (TFFF) aims to raise up to $25 billion from sponsor countries and another $100 billion from the private sector, which is invested on financial markets. Brazil has already kicked in $1 billion.

Clement Helary, from Greenpeace, told AFP the TFFF “could be a step forward in protecting tropical forests” if accompanied by clearer steps at COP30 towards ending deforestation by 2030.

The destruction of tropical primary forest hit a record high in 2024, according to Global Forest Watch, a deforestation monitor. The equivalent of 18 football fields per minute was lost, driven mostly by massive fires.

German-American model and TV personality Heidi Klum wore a Medusa costume for her annual Halloween event.

Truck rams into bus in southern India, killing at least 20 people, The state-run transport bus was carrying around 70 passengers en route to the city of Hyderabad in southern Telangana state when a truck coming from the opposite direction collided with it near the town of Chevella, local district official K. Chandrakala told The Associated Press.

The front of the bus was badly mangled, trapping several passengers inside. Heaps of stone chips or gravel were seen dumped inside the bus, burying alive at least one passenger who was later counted among the dead.

The rescue teams struggled to cut through the bus to retrieve the bodies.

Rajendra Prasad, superintendent at Chevella hospital said 20 bodies were moved to the mortuary and will be handed over to their families after identification.

Drivers of both the vehicles were among those dead.

So were three siblings in college from a family in Tandur town. “What will I do without my daughters,” their mourning father, Yellaiah Goud, said as relatives tried to console him.

Footage aired in local media showed a mother and her infant lying next to each other, both dead.

The bus conductor, Radha, who goes by single name, said there was “ear shattering noise when the truck hit the bus.” She sustained head injuries and was being treated.

The accident came a day after a minibus carrying passengers in western state of Rajasthan rammed into a parked truck late Sunday, killing at least 15 people and injuring two others.

The passengers were returning to the desert city of Jodhpur after offering prayers to a Hindu deity in the pilgrimage town of Kolayat, officials said.

Among the dead were 10 women, four children, and the driver, senior government official Shweta Chauhan told The Associated Press. The injured were hospitalized.

The victims were trapped in a mangled mass of metal, Chauhan said.

Senior police officer Kundan Kanwaria said the driver was trying to overtake another vehicle but crashed into the truck parked on the highway.

It is not uncommon in India for vehicles to be parked haphazardly along highways, often without warning lights or reflectors. They pose serious risks for nighttime drivers and have led to several deadly crashes in recent years.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi offered his condolences to the bereaved families of both accidents.

The crash in Rajasthan came less than three weeks after a suspected short circuit sparked a fire on a passenger bus in the state, rapidly engulfing the vehicle in flames and burning at least 20 people to death.

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Rajesh Roy And Omer Farooq, The Associated Press