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  • Record Store Day Black Friday 2026 Lineup Unveiled: Noah Kahan, Katseye, Sombr, Springsteen, ‘Wicked,’ ‘KPop Demon Hunters’ and 180 More Exclusives

    Record Store Day Black Friday 2026 Lineup Unveiled: Noah Kahan, Katseye, Sombr, Springsteen, ‘Wicked,’ ‘KPop Demon Hunters’ and 180 More Exclusives

    Another Black Friday, another Record Store Day Black Friday… that also happens to be pink Friday, yellow Friday, silver Friday, crystal clear Friday, “red and yellow splatter” Friday, “organic earth brown” Friday, “sky blue” Friday, “black-and-white galaxy” Friday and… well, you get the picture. But the semiannual Record Store Day sales events in independent retail shops that happen in April and again in November are not just about fetishizing colored vinyl, but about giving the LP-loving public a shot at material that is either heretofore unreleased, not previously available to the public in this format, or long out of print.

    Plus, this year, RSD has a growing number of CDs — it’s the kids’ new fad!

    The lineup for Record Store Day Black Friday 2026 is out now, with about 185 exclusive titles lined up to go into the bins the morning after Thanksgiving. You can take a look at the official RSD website here for a full list of releases, as well as a guide to participating stores. But for starters, you can first check out our cheat sheet that previews 13 top titles that are either bound to be top sellers or otherwise caught our eye. These include titles from artists who’ve had a big footprint in RSD events of the past — like Prince, Bruce Springsteen, Joni Mitchell, the Grateful Dead and even the “Wicked” and “KPop Demon Hunters” franchise and Noah Kahan — to first-time participants like Katseye, Sombr, Victoria Monet and Playboi Carti.

    Before scanning these highlights, know that the ’26 roster also includes artists such as Cher, 2Pac, the B-52s, George Harrison, Tori Amos, the Eagles, Coco Jones, Sparta, New Edition, Jason Falkner, Tom Verlaine, Rainbow KItten Surprise, Biz Markie, King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard, Charlie Parker, Rae Sremmurd, Godsmack, the 13th Floor Elevators, XTC, INXS, NRBQ, Genesis, George Strait, Florence + the Machine, Motley Crue, Motorhead, Traveling Wilburys, Funkadelic, Albert Ayler, They Might Be Giants, the Pandoras, Jefferson Airplane, Old 97s, the Jerry Garcia Band and the Vince Guaraldi Trio. Again, consult the host website for details on all 185.

    Now, our selection of teasers that are sure to have something to ensnare music buffs’ pre-holiday wallets and ensure they have little left over for friends and family:

    Noah Kahan, “The Last of the Bugs”
    10,000 copies
    12-inch EP
    Kahan has recently achieved the rare feat of having two albums in the top 10 on a regular basis. With this EP, he will up that total to three concurrent bestsellers, if only for the short time it takes this to sell out. “The Last of the Bugs” is made up of four bonus tracks that have accompanied his latest album, “The Great Divide,” in digital formats — including “Orbiter,” which has become a staple of his stadium shows, as well as “Lighthouse,” “Staying Still” and “A Few of Your Own.” Kahan has become one of RSD’s biggest draws with his regularly timed special releases, so fans will be happy Thanksgiving 2026 is no exception for him. As a bonus, he has a separate release also hitting the racks for RSD-BF: a 7-inch single of “Draw You Out,” his song from “The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping,” pressed on “porcelain powder”-colored vinyl.

    Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band, “Live at Tower Theater Philly 1975”
    14,500 copies on 4-LP vinyl
    3,720 copies as 2-CD set
    For a lot of Bruce buffs, 1975 is where it’s at, and they’ll get plenty of it with this set — available as a limited-edition double-CD as well as on vinyl. There’ll be lots of flipping to get across all eight sides of the four-LP set, but it will be worth it to have all 18 songs in their entirety. The show was recorded on New Year’s Eve during the group’s run Philadelphia’s Tower Theater in the wake of “Born to Run” changing everything. How expansive are some of those 18 tracks? Well, for one, his cover of “Quarter to Three” gets its own side (side G, if you must know).

    Katseye, “KATSEYE: The Dance Breaks”
    5,000 copies
    12-inch yellow vinyl EP
    Includes three “dance break” live arrangements, as heard on the group’s “Beautiful Chaos” tour: “Debut,” “Gnarly,” and “Gabriela,” all on one side with an etching on the flip side of the yellow vinyl. (Each copy includes 2 of 6 randomly selected unique photocards.)

    Prince, “3121 Las Vegas Live”
    9,400 copies on 3-LP Crystal Blue Caraçao vinyl
    2,700 copies as a 2-CD set
    In January 2007, coming off his “3121” studio album, Prince was midway through a six-month Las Vegas residency and just says away from his legendary Super Bowl halftime show. This action-packed two-hour-plus set includes its fair share of greatest hits, but dig if you will the covers, including a Mavis Staple guest appearance on “I’ll Take You There” and dips into the catalogs of everyone from Chuck Berry and the Beatles to Janet Jackson, Mary J. Blige and Gnarls Barkley.

    Billy Joel, “Billy Joel Tonight”
    4,600 copies on 2-LP black vinyl
    And so it goes: That HBO doc has brought Billy back into the forefront of half the country’s consciousness, if it ever left, so this will be one of RSD’s hotter items. This post-“Turnstiles” show was captured on December 5, 1976 at Connecticut College for Joel’s first television special. Fifty years, Legacy says the show is being presented in stereo, newly mixed from the original multitracks. It also includes “I’ve Loved These Days” and “Souvenir” from a production session that took place the following day.

    JID, “JID Live from NPR’s Tiny Desk”
    4,000 copies
    Recorded in NPR’s offices weeks before the release of “The Forever Story,” JID’s set features a live band and background singers and includes live debuts as well as older fan favorites, from “Never” and “Surround Sound” to the closer, “Kody Blu 31.”

    Carly Rae Jepsen, “Day and Night (Continued)”
    4,000 copies
    Her recent studio album “Day and Night” gets a vinyl sequel with this collection of all eight bonus tracks, previously only available digitally, including “Reaching for a Star” and “In Pure Faith.”

    Soundtrack, “Wicked + Wicked: For Good”
    3,000 copies of pink and green-colored vinyl boxed set
    The two previous “Wicked” soundtrack releases have been among the hardest-to-get RSD releases, and with only 3,000 pressed of this boxed set newly combining the two, you can once again to expect “Wicked” heads to be at the front of the line Thanksgiving night. Actually, if you’re not already in line, it may be too late.

    Joni Mitchell, “Live at Carnegie Hall – 1972”
    5,000 copies on 2-LP 180g black vinyl
    Her second solo appearance at NYC’s world famous Carnegie Hall, broken out as an individual item from the “Joni Mitchell Archives, Vol. 3” CD boxed set, in a gatefold jacket. Includes many of her most classic songs, from “A Case of You” to “The Circle Game.”

    Sombr,”In Another Life”
    7,500 copies on 12″ EP
    Sombr still seems like such a fresh presence in pop that it does’t feel like he’s been around since 2023, but yes, his debut EP came out just over three years ago, and it finally makes its vinyl debut xclusively for Record Store Day on silver-colored vinyl.

    Victoria Monet, “Life After Love, Pt. 1 & Act 2”
    1,500 copies on brown and tan galaxy vinyl
    Monet’s twin EPs put her on the map but have only ever been issued individually as physical releases until now. As the description says, “The dual project charts a complete emotional arc, chronicling the delicate journey from heartbreak to self-actualization. Part 1 delves into the raw vulnerability and quiet introspection of a breakup’s immediate fallout”, while Part 2 “turns the page toward rediscovery, blooming into an exploration of newfound confidence and sensuality… By pressing these two landmark EPs together on wax, this release offers long-time fans and vinyl collectors the ultimate way to experience Monét’s early masterwork as a unified narrative.”

    Soundtrack: “Kpop Demon Hunters”
    10,000 copies on “Derpy Sussie splatter” vinyl
    As with the “Wicked” release, these “Demon Hunters” are no strangers to RSD already, but this version features “exclusive, all-new art created by official KPop Demon Hunters production designer Mingjue Helen Chen and visual development artist Marion Bordeyne Further expect holographic art on the front cover and triple gatefold, plus 3 of 6 mini inserts, 1 of 3 holographic mini inserts, a sticker sheet, and an oversized poster.

    The Doors, “1966”
    7,000 copies
    Hope you like “Moonlight Drive” and “Indian Summer,” because those are the only two songs on this disc — even though it includes 28 (!) tracks. It’s look deep into a Doors session at Sunset Sound on August 29, 1966 as they laid down their debut album; the disc’ multiple takes “include chatter, complete takes, false starts, etc.” Neither of those two songs ended up making the final album, but they get their vengeance and then some here.

    Playboi Carti, “Music – Sorry 4 Da Wait”
    5,000 copies on red 2-LP set
    It’s sometimes seemed like there is a dearth of hip-hop at Record Store Day, but this year feels like a different ballgame, with the first vinyl edition of Playboi Carti’s album from last year hitting as a red vinyl double-album on Black Friday.

  • Man rescued after spending hours trapped inside a bin lorry

    Man rescued after spending hours trapped inside a bin lorry

    A man was transported to hospital in serious condition after being trapped inside a bin lorry in San Francisco last month.

    The San Francisco Fire Department (SFFD) heard screaming coming from a garbage truck at around 4:11am on 2 September 2026.

    In a statement, the SFFD said a fire truck was ‘dispatched to a report of a person trapped inside a Recology garbage truck on the 100 block of Mason St.’

    “The driver of the truck had been flagged down and was told there was yelling inside the garbage area of his truck,” they said.

    “Crews are currently working to remove all the garbage to access the victim.”

    SFFD public information officer Capt. Mariano Elias told PEOPLE that 25 firefighters were called to help pull the man out of the lorry for over two hours.

    During the rescue, the man remained conscious and ‘verbal’, Elias said.

    (San Francisco Fire Department)

    (San Francisco Fire Department)

    “I personally heard him yell a few times,” he recalled. “I don’t know if that was in pain or just frustration.”

    Once the individual, whose identity hasn’t been shared publicly, was successfully removed from garbage truck, paramedics accessed the man’s arm to administer an intravenous drip to protect him from crush syndrome.

    According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, crush syndrome is a life-threatening condition that could cause muscle breakdown, releasing ‘potentially toxic muscle cell components and electrolytes into the circulatory system’.

    It can cause local tissue injury, organ dysfunction, and metabolic abnormalities, including acidosis, hyperkalemia and hypocalcemia.

    “It’s an unfortunate situation to lead someone to go into a dumpster, whether that was to sleep or fish through some things to find something for himself or something to eat, but the good part of his outcome is that he’s alive,” Elias said.

    Recology spokesperson Robert Reed said the incident was ‘pretty unusual’.

    Samuel Menchaca, a public information officer with the Fire Department, said one firefighter suffered a laceration injury and was taken to a hospital in stable condition.

    LADbible Group has reached out to the San Francisco Fire Department for an update.

  • Warner Bros. Water Tower Already Repainted to Add ‘A Skydance Corporation’ After Merger Closes

    Warner Bros. Water Tower Already Repainted to Add ‘A Skydance Corporation’ After Merger Closes

    David Ellison wasted no time in adding the Skydance name to the iconic Warner Bros. water tower in Burbank.

    On Tuesday morning, shortly after Paramount officially closed its $111 billion merger with Warner Bros. Discovery to form Skydance, the famous landmark on the Warner Bros. studio lot was updated with a new line: “A Skydance Corporation.”

    There’s precedent for the move: After Ellison closed Skydance Media’s takeover of Paramount Global in August 2025, the water tower on the Paramount Studios lot in Hollywood was updated to add “A Skydance Corporation” as well. That indicates, by the way, that Ellison’s plan all along was to rename a merged Paramount-WBD as Skydance, the name of the film production firm he founded in 2006.

    Here’s a photo of workers adding the Skydance name to the WB water tower:

    Getty Images

    The merger — which had been opposed by many actors, filmmakers and other industry professionals — brings together the two major studios; TV networks including CBS, CNN, Comedy Central, MTV and TNT; and streaming services Paramount+ and HBO Max. The new Skydance will have annual revenue of nearly $70 billion, according to the company, but it also will have to manage paying down some $80 billion in net debt.

    The Ellison family, with the backing of Larry Ellison, David’s multibillionaire father, holds the largest equity stake in Skydance. The Ellisons and investment firm RedBird Capital Partners together are the sole holders of Paramount Class A common stock, which gives them 100% control of the combined company’s voting shares.

    David Ellison, who is the new Skydance’s chairman and CEO, and co-CEO Ynon Kreiz (formerly chief exec of Mattel) sent a lengthy memo to employees at the combined company Tuesday morning. They outlined their goals for Skydance, while acknowledging that there will be job cuts coming as a result of integrating the operations of Paramount and Warner Bros.

    “Integrating two companies will bring change, including difficult decisions that affect our workforce,” the execs wrote in the memo, a copy of which was obtained by Variety. “We are committed to handling this process thoughtfully and respectfully.”

  • Solana Debuts Institutional Settlement Standard With J.P. Morgan Input

    Solana Debuts Institutional Settlement Standard With J.P. Morgan Input

    In brief

    • The Solana Foundation launched Solana DvP, an open-source escrow program giving financial institutions a standardized API for delivery-versus-payment settlement, released under the MIT license with input from J.P. Morgan.
    • The tool compresses the multi-day clearinghouse-and-custodian process into a single atomic transaction where both the asset and payment settle together or neither does.
    • It builds on Solana’s growing institutional pull in tokenized assets.

    The Solana Foundation is making a direct play for institutional finance, launching an open-source program designed to let banks settle trades on the network with the certainty they expect from traditional markets.

    Announced Monday, the tool, called Solana DvP, is an open-source escrow program that gives financial institutions a standardized API for delivery-versus-payment settlement, the bedrock mechanism that ensures an asset and its payment change hands simultaneously.

    Myriad: Where does Solana go next? Click to make your prediction.
    Myriad: Where does Solana go next? Click to make your prediction.

    Released under the permissive MIT license, it aims to bring that settlement guarantee to public blockchain infrastructure as a reusable standard rather than the bespoke smart contracts institutional trades have typically relied on.

    The foundation said J.P. Morgan provided input on institutional settlement practices that shaped the design.

    “Atomic settlement removes counterparty risk that is inherent in traditional finance,” said Catherine Gu, the foundation’s head of product for digital assets, adding that the program offers institutions a single open standard “with finality in seconds instead of days.”

    Rhodel D’souza, J.P. Morgan’s head of markets digital assets, said a shared, open standard for atomic delivery-versus-payment is “exactly the kind of foundational infrastructure institutional market participants require.”

    In conventional markets, delivery-versus-payment runs through a multi-day chain of clearinghouses, depositories and custodians that can tie up capital for a day or two. Solana DvP compresses that into a single atomic transaction, where both legs settle together or neither does. The program supports SPL Token and Token-2022, including extensions regulated issuers depend on like permanent delegate, pausable tokens and transfer hooks, and has undergone external security audits. The foundation said it plans to add privacy features so settlements can be kept confidential.

    The launch builds on Solana’s growing pull among institutions chasing tokenized real-world assets.

    BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, in August launched a tokenized money market fund for stablecoin reserves that records ownership on Solana alongside Ethereum, structured to qualify as a reserve asset under the GENIUS Act.

    Kraken, meanwhile, has used Solana to offer tokenized U.S. stocks to overseas customers through its xStocks product. Solana has emerged as a leading venue for tokenized equities, and infrastructure like DvP is aimed at deepening that lead by giving regulated players a trusted way to settle on-chain.

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  • Crunchyroll’s Inaugural Anime Future Forum Hopes to Connect Fans and Creators

    Crunchyroll’s Inaugural Anime Future Forum Hopes to Connect Fans and Creators

    Anime giant Crunchyroll kicks off its inaugural Anime Future Forum at New York’s Javits Convention Center, on Oct. 7. The event will serve as a precursor to New York’s Comic Con.

    Over 90 companies will be represented, with top anime studios showcased. These include leaders from Toho (Taichi Ueda, film producer and executive officer), MAPPA (Manabu Otsuka, president and CEO) and Sony Music’s Aniplex (Atsuhiro Iwakami, group CEO, representative director of Sony Music Entertainment (Japan) Inc. and chairman of Aniplex Inc.). In addition, over 500 people are expected to attend with 200 people flying in from Japan.

    Crunchyroll’s Chief Operating Officer, Gita Rebbapragada, says, “Four years ago, we brought the Crunchyroll Anime Awards to Tokyo so more of the creators behind anime could be in the room as their work was recognized. We were overwhelmed by the energy — not only around the awards, but in the conversations happening between people who care deeply about anime and its future. That stayed with us. The Anime Future Forum grew from a simple idea: create a place for those conversations to happen, ideas to be exchanged and the people shaping anime to imagine what comes next together.”

    The conference tracks will focus on four key themes: fandom, technology, storytelling and IP protection. Fandom will be a key spotlight during the forum.

    Rebbapragada explains, “With growth comes diversity. We don’t say it’s a genre; it’s a medium. For us, it’s our whole world and we see so much diversity within anime and we’re excited to share some of those learnings.”

    Technology will be another fundamental topic. “You can’t ignore that there is a lot of innovation happening in technology, and it is great to hear from people who are using it and just do knowledge sharing on that,” Rebbapragada says. “We want to protect the creative integrity — that’s a big area we want to share information on as well. Storytelling is kind of at the heart of it all. We’ve got some amazing storytellers too, from all different types of content, sharing their stories, what they’ve learned, their successes and mistakes. I think that knowledge sharing is incredibly important.”

    Also participating in the forum are director James Gunn plus Bob Persichetti and Justin K. Thompson, directors of Sony Pictures’ upcoming animated sequel “Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse.” Anime influencers including Amber Glenn, Big Sean and Jordan Howlett will also attend. Sony’s top leaders will be out in force to support the event.

    Crunchyroll boasts the largest library of anime for streaming and has been under the Sony Pictures Entertainment umbrella since 2021, when the studio acquired Crunchyroll and merged it with Sony’s existing Funimation unit.

    The subscription streaming platform has blossomed into Sony’s biggest footprint in streaming and an engine of distinctive content for the company. Crunchyroll partnered with Sony Pictures for the theatrical rollout of 2025’s “Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle,” which set U.S. box office records for an anime feature.

    Rebbapragada stresses the company’s deep mission, is to connect fans and creators. She adds, “We want to do more with fans. We want to contribute to the anime ecosystem. This is one way where we feel like we have the opportunity to bring a lot of people together, and everyone comes out of it learning something new.”

  • Nasa shares image of spooky ‘witch head’ spotted lurking in deep space

    Nasa shares image of spooky ‘witch head’ spotted lurking in deep space

    The Witch Head Nebula in space.
    The Witch Head Nebula, officially known as IC 2118, appears to resemble the profile of a witch in deep space (Picture: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cover Images)

    We’re just a few weeks away from Halloween, and Nasa has shared an appropriately spooky sight lurking in deep space.

    The eerie image shows a nebula that seems to resemble a witch’s head in profile — and has been given the fitting name ‘Witch Head Nebula’.

    Officially known as IC 2118, the ghostly formation lies between the constellations Orion and Eridanus, around 900 light-years from Earth.

    Its distinctive silhouette appears to form the profile of a witch, complete with a prominent chin and hooked nose.

    But rather than being anything supernatural, the apparition is a vast cloud of interstellar gas and dust illuminated by nearby supergiant star Rigel.

    The Witch Head is a reflection nebula, meaning it shines by reflecting light from a neighbouring star.

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    Its striking appearance is particularly blue because the dust grains scatter blue light more efficiently than red – similar to the process that makes Earth’s daytime sky appear blue.

    The nebula is difficult to spot with the naked eye, but Nasa says keen stargazers can improve their chances of seeing it by heading to a dark location and using a large-aperture telescope at low magnification.

    An infrared image previously captured by Nasa’s Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) also revealed clouds within the Witch Head where new stars are forming.

    And the cosmic witch even has a broom – with another formation nicknamed the Witch’s Broom found in the Western Veil Nebula in the constellation Cygnus.

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  • Google’s AI Phone Calls May Soon Chat to Your Mom for You

    Google’s AI Phone Calls May Soon Chat to Your Mom for You

    Google’s Gemini-powered Call for Me feature debuted on Pixel phones last month, letting you instruct its AI to handle calls to local businesses and other errands. Weeks after launch, the first signs of an expansion are appearing, which may bring the tool to update your family and friends.

    As spotted by Android Authority, early versions of Android software now reference Call for Me conversations outside business tasks and toward more personal requests. The options were spotted in the Gemini Calling section, though it’s unclear whether each will make it into a final Android release.

    The examples suggest using its AI assistant to ring your mom to “tell her I will be 15 minutes late,” or to call John to “ask if he is coming for dinner.” The instructions sit alongside other, more typical examples of the feature, such as a call to a restaurant to make a booking and a query to find a dentist appointment.

    Google’s marketing and support pages were all tailored around how Call for Me could help with everyday errands, but there’s no reason it couldn’t be expanded to help you communicate with everyday people. It’s unclear whether the feature can use your contacts, but the use of phrases like “John” and “Mom” suggests that it is Google’s eventual aim.

    However, it doesn’t look like Call for Me will be able to tackle a full conversation. The examples given lean toward announcements to friends and family, which may prove helpful when you need a quick update, such as when you’re driving or too busy to wait for someone to pick up the phone.

    An exact release date remains unclear, and we won’t officially know these tools are coming until we hear directly from Google.

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    Call for Me launched in late September with strict rules around who could use it. You need to be over 18 and based in the US; even then, only select users can interact with the tools. You also need a Pixel 11, Pixel 11 Pro, Pixel 11 Pro XL, or Pixel 11 Pro Fold, though it may eventually come to other devices.

    Another big restriction is that you need a Google AI subscription, which costs $4.99 per month with AI Plus access.

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  • ‘Smash the patriarchy’: Activists graffiti Cornell hall over gang rape case

    ‘Smash the patriarchy’: Activists graffiti Cornell hall over gang rape case

    Student groups call for the abolition of Greek life and punitive action in wake of fraternity assault allegations.

    Published On 5 Oct 2026

    Protesters in the United States have shattered a glass door at Cornell University’s main administrative headquarters and spray-painted messages on the building’s walls as backlash continues following allegations about a 2024 gang rape at a local fraternity.

    In the early hours of Monday, the glass panes on an entrance door for the building, Day Hall, were smashed, leaving shards strewn across the floor.

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    Activists, outraged at the school’s handling of the case, also graffitied nearby walls with slogans like “At Cornell rapists are protected protesters are expelled” and “Smash the patriarchy”.

    The predawn incident came ahead of a rally demanding “justice for survivors” by student groups on Monday.

    Cornell spokesperson Kyle Kimball said Monday that the university was investigating the vandalism.

    “We understand the frustration and strong emotions being expressed across our community,” Kimball said. “Those concerns deserve to be heard, but damaging property is not the answer.”

    Cornell, a prominent Ivy League university in the state of New York, has been at the centre of a national firestorm over sexual violence on US campuses, after an anonymous student, Jane Doe, filed a civil lawsuit last month alleging a gang rape at the fraternity Chi Phi.

    Her complaint accuses seven former students of perpetrating “heinous criminal sexual acts” against her during a fraternity party on the night of October 19, 2024, after she says she was pressured to drink and take the drug ketamine.

    The fraternity, Cornell University and others are named as co-defendants in the suit. Lawyers for two of the former students have rejected claims that they participated in sexual assault.

    The case has elicited outcry over how sexual assault is handled on campuses across the country.

    At Monday’s demonstration, students demanded an overhaul of the university’s sexual assault complaint process, the termination of certain school officials and stricter disciplinary action against alleged abusers.

    In a statement to the student news outlet The Cornell Daily Sun, student organisers wrote that they were calling for the “abolition” of the Interfraternity Council system on campus and the “expulsion/revocation of degrees for all Chi Phi members involved in the rape”.

    They also demanded that Cornell’s Office of Student Conduct and Community Standards be replaced by a “democratic disciplinary system”. Monday’s protest, they added, was designed to draw attention to the systemic failures that allow sexual violence to occur.

    “We wanted to ensure that Day Hall, the centre of Cornell’s administrative function, was not able to continue business as usual,” the students told the campus paper.

    The alleged crime at the fraternity, they wrote, was part of a “rampant pattern of sexual assault perpetrated by members of Greek life at Cornell University and hundreds of other academic institutions throughout the country”.

    Under pressure by New York Governor Kathy Hochul and Attorney General Letitia James, the university announced this week it would be appointing a law firm to conduct an independent internal review of how it initially handled the case.

    A transcript, obtained by US media, shows that although no charges were filed, Doe told campus police at the time that she could “say with 100% confidence I was raped”.

    Her lawsuit also alleges that Cornell “afforded” the accused fraternity members “the opportunity to mitigate their conduct by submitting essays” to the school. Two were later expelled, and another two were suspended.

  • Trump’s approval hits new low among Hispanic voters ahead of midterms

    Trump’s approval hits new low among Hispanic voters ahead of midterms

    Hispanic voters are twice as likely to favour Democratic Party over Trump’s Republican Party in the November elections.

    Published On 5 Oct 2026

    A new poll from the news agency Reuters and the research firm Ipsos has found that United States President Donald Trump’s approval rating remains at a record low as the midterm elections approach in November.

    The six-day survey, completed on Monday, found that just 32 percent of US voters approve of the job Trump is doing as president.

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    While that low rate has held steady since September, the latest Reuters-Ipsos poll suggests his support among Latino voters is continuing to slide.

    Trump’s approval rating shrunk this month to 24 percent among Hispanic voters, its lowest point in either of his two terms in office.

    The Republican leader had previously made substantial inroads with that constituency.

    The Pew Research Center estimated that Trump and his Democratic rival, Kamala Harris, were within three percentage points of each other in the 2024 presidential race, earning 48 percent and 51 percent of the Hispanic vote, respectively.

    That rate marked a significant jump for Trump over the 2020 election, when he only earned 36 percent of the Hispanic vote.

    Experts have credited the boost in Hispanic support with helping Trump win the 2024 race. His 2020 bid, by contrast, ended in defeat to Democrat Joe Biden.

    The Monday poll found that Trump’s gains among Hispanics have largely evaporated.

    About 52 percent plan to vote for the Democrats in the November midterms, compared to 26 percent for Republicans.

    The upcoming midterm is largely viewed as a referendum on Trump’s second term and will decide whether the Republicans maintain their majorities in the US House of Representatives and the Senate.

    Democrats have seized on Trump’s low approval ratings, hoping to translate frustration with the president into voter momentum for their party.

    A Democratic majority in one or both houses of Congress would place substantial constraints on Trump’s agenda for the remainder of his time in office.

    But Trump has also faced rumblings from within his Republican Party as the November 3 midterms approach.

    One Republican incumbent, Representative Maria Elvira Salazar of Florida, released a campaign advertisement last month that addressed Trump directly, saying, “The same Hispanics who helped you get to the White House in 2024 feel betrayed today.”

    She cited Trump’s hardline immigration crackdown as a source of tension. “Some of your immigration enforcement efforts have gone too far,” she said, pointing to the detention and deportation of immigrants with no criminal record.

    Experts have also warned that the president’s shrinking popularity, driven in part by concerns about the cost of living and his decision to launch a war on Iran, could weigh down Republican candidates in key races across the country.

    Still, Trump has continued to express confidence about the prospects of his Republican Party in the upcoming midterms.

    He has also defended his decision to place himself at the centre of the Republican election campaign strategy. Trump recently launched a 32-day blitz of cross-country rallies ahead of the November 3 midterms.

    “Just so you understand, they all want me to go,” Trump said, denying that some Republicans would prefer he keep his distance. “They all want me to go campaign.”

  • New York state declares measles disaster amid resurgence of disease in US

    New York state declares measles disaster amid resurgence of disease in US

    The US had largely eliminated measles by 2000 but has seen several outbreaks amid declining vaccination rates.

    Published On 6 Oct 2026

    New York state has declared a disaster emergency over an outbreak of measles, as cases of the disease that had once been all but eliminated in the United States continue to rise.

    New York Governor Kathy Hochul said on Monday that she was temporarily expanding the ability of health professionals to administer measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccines.

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    “No one should get seriously ill or die from a vaccine-preventable disease,” Hochul said in a statement, adding that New York has recorded 108 cases of measles this year, as of October 3. The declaration will remain in effect through November 4.

    Hochul’s announcement marks the first such declaration since measles cases began to tick up in 2025. She said that seven cases were recorded in New York City and 101 elsewhere in the state.

    Hochul’s declaration says 92 cases have been recorded since July 15 in a handful of rural communities with insufficient vaccination rates.

    Officials in neighbouring Pennsylvania also announced that the state has surpassed 1,000 measles cases this year, the largest outbreak in the US in the last three decades. Outbreaks have also been recorded in Texas, Utah, Ohio and South Carolina.

    Health experts attribute the resurgence to a decline in vaccination rates below the 95 percent rate they say is necessary to prevent outbreaks.

    Critics say the decline has been spurred by an anti-vaccination movement that has surged in popularity and gained advocates inside the administration of President Donald Trump, including Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr.

    The US had eliminated the domestic spread of measles by 2000, with the last outbreak of more than 1,000 cases occurring over several years in New York City in the early 1990s.

    International officials from the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) are set to meet in November to determine whether the US and Mexico will retain their measles-free status, or whether the public health designations will be updated.

    “PAHO reiterates the importance of maintaining high and homogeneous vaccination coverage, strengthening epidemiological surveillance, and ensuring timely outbreak response, as essential pillars to halt transmission and sustain measles elimination in the countries of the Americas,” the organisation said in a previous statement.