India bridge collapse: Hundreds plunged into river and dozens killed in Gujarat - BBC

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By Merlyn Thomas

BBC News

At least 60 people have died after a bridge collapsed in India's western state of Gujarat, officials say.

Hundreds of people were plunged into River Macchu in Morbi town. Local footage shows survivors hanging off the partly-submerged suspension bridge.

Reports say as many as 400 people were on the structure at the time. Authorities said rescue efforts were continuing through the night.

The incident comes just days after the bridge was reopened following repairs.

The 230-metre-long (754 feet) colonial-era crossing was built during British rule of India in the 19th Century.

Videos show scenes of chaos as onlookers on the river banks attempt to rescue those trapped in the water as darkness fell.

Another video shows people climbing up netted wire remains of the bridge to escape the water.

The suspension bridge, locally known as a Julto Pool, is a popular tourist attraction in the area.

Emergency responders from neighbouring districts were sent to the scene to help with rescue efforts.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is in his home state of Gujarat on a three-day visit, said he was "deeply saddened by the tragedy".

Mr Modi has announced compensation for the injured, as well as the next of kin of those who have died.

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Nancy Pelosi breaks silence on husband Paul's attack: 'Heartbroken and traumatized' - Fox News

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in a letter to all members of Congress that her family is "heartbroken" after a "violent man" attacked her husband, Paul Pelosi, on early Friday morning in the couple's San Francisco residence.

"Yesterday morning, a violent man broke into our family home, demanded to confront me and brutally attacked my husband Paul. Our children, our grandchildren and I are heartbroken and traumatized by the life-threatening attack on our Pop. We are grateful for the quick response of law enforcement and emergency services, and for the life-saving medical care he is receiving," Nancy Pelosi said in the "Dear Colleague" letter to all members of Congress on Saturday.

Nancy Pelosi said that her family has received an "outpouring" of support from other members of Congress, and wrote that Paul Pelosi's "condition continues to improve."

"Please know that the outpouring of prayers and warm wishes from so many in the Congress is a comfort to our family and is helping Paul make progress with his recovery. His condition continues to improve," Pelosi wrote. "We are also comforted by the words of the Book of Isaiah: ‘Do not fear, for I am with you. Do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.'"

PAUL PELOSI JR. UPDATES ON FATHER'S CONDITION OUTSIDE SAN FRANCISCO HOSPITAL AFTER HAMMER ATTACK

(Left) Paul Pelosi and Nancy Pelosi attend the Pre-GRAMMY Gala. (Right) David DePape (Michael Short/ San Francisco Chronicle )

"We thank you and pray for the continued safety and well-being of your family," Nancy Pelosi wrote.

San Francisco Police Chief William Scott said that David DePape, 42, now faces charges of attempted homicide, assault with a deadly weapon, elder abuse, burglary and other felonies in relation to the attack, which happened after 2 a.m. on Friday.

Paul Pelosi Jr. speaks to FBI investigators outside the home of his parents Nancy and Paul Pelosi, Friday October 28, 2022. His father, Paul was the victim of a violent home invasion earlier this morning. (Flightrisk for Fox News Digital)

When police officers arrived at the Pelosi's residence, Scott said that Paul Pelosi and DePape were struggling over a hammer. Officers gave an order for the men to drop the hammer, and, according to Scott, DePape began attacking Paul Pelosi.

DePape was then tackled by police officers and taken into custody. Officials are investigating a possible motive.

PELOSI ATTACK: WOMAN CLAIMING TO BE SUSPECT DAVID DEPAPE'S STEPDAUGHTER SAYS HE WAS ABUSIVE

The San Francisco home of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Paul Pelosi is seen after police say David DePape violently assaulted Paul Pelosi early Friday, Oct. 28, 2022. (KGO-TV)

Scott said that Paul Pelosi was hit at least once with the hammer.

Paul Pelosi was sent to a local hospital, where he went through surgery to repair a skull fracture in addition to other injuries, according to a spokesperson for Nancy Pelosi, who said he's expected to make a full recovery.

According to officials and sources, the suspect yelled "Where is Nancy?" when he allegedly broke into the house.

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Paul Pelosi, the husband of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, was severely beaten by an attacker who broke into their San Francisco home in the early morning hours of Friday, Oct. 28th, 2022. Paul Pelosi, 82, was taken to the hospital and is being treated by doctors for injuries after he was beaten with a hammer (Fox News)

The son of Nancy Pelosi and Paul Pelosi spoke out on Saturday and said his dad is doing well.

"So far so good, so far so good," Paul Pelosi Jr. told Fox News Digital while outside Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital. 

Fox News' Greg Norman and Andrew Mark Miller contributed to this report.

Adam Sabes is a writer for Fox News Digital. Story tips can be sent to Adam.Sabes@fox.com and on Twitter @asabes10.

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Russia halts Ukraine Black Sea grain exports, Biden outraged - Reuters.com

• Summary

• Russia halts participation in UN grain deal
• Move comes after drone attacks on Crimea
• Russia says British personnel helped drone attack
• Ukraine says Russia invents attacks
• Biden says move is outrageous

Oct 29 (Reuters) - Russia on Saturday suspended participation in a U.N.-brokered Black Sea grain deal after what it said was a major Ukrainian drone attack on its fleet in Crimea, dealing a blow to attempts to ease the global food crisis.

U.S. President Joe Biden denounced the move as "purely outrageous" and said it would increase starvation.

Russia's defence ministry said Ukraine attacked the Black Sea Fleet near Sevastopol on the annexed Crimean peninsula with 16 drones early on Saturday, and that British navy "specialists" had helped coordinate the "terrorist" attack.

The suspension will cut Ukrainian grain exports from its crucial Black Sea ports.

"There's no merit to what they're doing. The U.N. negotiated that deal and that should be the end of it," Biden told reporters in his home state of Delaware.

The deal allows shipments of grain from Ukraine, one of the world's largest exporters, that the Russian invasion had halted.

Russia told U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres in a letter, seen by Reuters, that it was suspending the deal for an "indefinite term" because it could not "guarantee safety of civilian ships" travelling under the pact.

Russia has also asked the U.N. Security Council to meet on Monday on the attack, Russia's Deputy U.N. Ambassador Dmitry Polyanskiy wrote on Twitter.

The U.N. coordinator for the Istanbul-based Black Sea grain deal coordination centre - made up of U.N., Russian, Ukrainian and Turkish officials - said five outbound and four inbound vessels had safely passed through the humanitarian corridor.

"There are more than 10 vessels both outbound and inbound waiting to enter the corridor," Amir Abdulla said in a statement, adding there was no agreement between the parties for the movement of vessels on Sunday.

Britain on Saturday said Russia's claims, including that British navy personnel blew up the Nord Stream pipelines last month, were false and aimed at distracting attention from Russian military failures.

Russia said it had repelled the attack but that the ships targeted were involved in ensuring the grain corridor out of Ukraine's Black Sea ports.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said what he called Russia's nonsensical move required a strong international response from the U.N. and the Group of 20 major economies.

"This is a completely transparent attempt by Russia to return to the threat of large-scale famine for Africa, for Asia," Zelenskiy said in a video address, adding that Russia should be kicked out of the G20.

Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said Moscow was using a false pretext to sink the deal.

"I call on all states to demand Russia to stop its hunger games and recommit to its obligations," Kuleba said.

In a statement, the European Union said "all parties must refrain from any unilateral action that would imperil" a deal it described as a critical humanitarian effort.

'HUNGER GAMES'

Since Russia and Ukraine signed the U.N.-backed Black Sea Grain Initiative in Turkey on July 22, more than 9 million tonnes of corn, wheat, sunflower products, barley, rapeseed and soya have been exported.

But ahead of the Nov. 19 expiry of the deal, Russia had repeatedly said that there are serious problems with it. Ukraine complained Moscow had blocked almost 200 ships from picking up grain cargoes.

The United Nations is in contact with Russian authorities about the situation, a U.N. spokesman said.

Although the prices in the Western markets were reduced, Russia did not gain anything from this agreement," said Turan Oguz, a Turkish defence analyst. "I think the main reason for Russia's withdrawal is Western indifference towards Russia."

Just 24 hours before Russia's move, a spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres had appealed to the parties to renew the pact.

Russian Agriculture Minister Dmitry Patrushev said Russia was ready to supply up to 500,000 tonnes of grain to poor countries in the next four months for free, with assistance from Turkey, and supplant supplies of Ukrainian grains.

Writing by Guy Faulconbridge, reporting by Reuters reporters; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne, Frances Kerry, Christina Fincher, David Ljunggren and Daniel Wallis

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

David Ljunggren

Thomson Reuters

Covers Canadian political, economic and general news as well as breaking news across North America, previously based in London and Moscow and a winner of Reuters’ Treasury scoop of the year.

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How Elon Musk Became a Geopolitical Chaos Agent - The New York Times

The world’s richest man has inserted himself in some of the world’s most combustible conflicts.

Elon Musk closes his purchase of Twitter and fires several top executives. Follow for the latest news updates.

In the last four weeks, Elon Musk has offered a peace plan for Russia and Ukraine that outraged Ukrainian officials. He has posted a tweet about Iranian internet access that exposed government protesters to a phishing scheme. He has also suggested in a newspaper interview that China could be appeased if it were given partial control of Taiwan. An official in Taipei demanded that he retract his suggestion.

Mr. Musk has in recent months emerged as a new, chaotic actor on the stage of global politics. While plenty of billionaire executives like to tweet their two cents on world affairs, none can come close to Mr. Musk’s influence and ability to cause trouble. He has sometimes waded into situations even after he was advised not to, and has already left behind plenty of messes.

While the bulk of Mr. Musk’s wealth comes from his stake in his electric car company, Tesla, his influence stems largely from his rocket company, SpaceX, which runs the Starlink satellite network. Starlink can beam internet service to conflict zones and geopolitical hot spots, and it has become an essential tool of the Ukrainian army.

Mr. Musk’s influence will grow with the close of the deal to buy Twitter. He has called himself a free speech absolutist, and he is expected to take a light touch to moderating Twitter’s content.

His critics — and there are many — worry that it is difficult to separate Mr. Musk’s opinions from his business interests, especially when it comes to Tesla, which is increasingly dependent on China.

“Technology has become central to geopolitics,” said Karen Kornbluh, a director with the German Marshall Fund, a geopolitical think tank, and a former adviser to President Barack Obama. “It is fascinating and it is messy and there is Elon Musk in the middle of it.”

China is a key part of Tesla’s future.Ritchie B. Tongo/EPA, via Shutterstock

In some cases, Mr. Musk has been a boon. When he provided Starlink internet access in Ukraine earlier in the year and funded at least part of the hardware and service, he equipped both civilians and soldiers with a crucial means of communication during the ongoing conflict with Russia.

But the messages he has delivered have also caused problems. This month, in a Twitter post, he said he could not “indefinitely” fund Ukraine’s use of Starlink, before suddenly reversing course.

Late last month, Mr. Musk attended a private event in Aspen called The Weekend. Organized partly by the former Google chief executive and government adviser Eric Schmidt, the event brought together American business and political leaders, including Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, former Vice President Al Gore and the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Joseph Dunford.

At lunchtime, under a tent on a golf course, Mr. Musk took the stage for a sweeping conversation with the billionaire businessman David Rubenstein, according to two people who attended the event and spoke on the condition of anonymity.

At the end of the conversation, to the surprise of many in attendance, Mr. Musk proposed a peace plan for the war in Ukraine that would allow Russia to annex Ukrainian land, seeming to align himself with the Kremlin.

The idea outraged many at the event, according to attendees. The next day, Jake Sullivan, the national security adviser to President Biden, gave a video talk at the event and a questioner raised the issue of Mr. Musk’s peace plan. Mr. Sullivan did not comment on Mr. Musk’s remarks at the event, according to a National Security Council spokesperson. Nonetheless, Mr. Musk revealed his plan 10 days later on Twitter. The Kremlin publicly supported the idea.

President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine and his top aides fiercely rebuked Mr. Musk’s plan. But his shifting positions put them in a bind: Starlink terminals have become a crucial means of communication for the Ukrainian Army.

Mr. Musk did not respond to several requests for comment.

In mid-September, as the army advanced into southern territories previously occupied by Russia, it lost access to Starlink in some areas near the front lines, four people with knowledge of the matter said. Two of them said this was because Mr. Musk had “geofenced” the service so that it was available only in certain areas. It was not clear why the satellite system was not working, and others in Ukraine reported that it was working fine.

Mr. Musk has discussed the matter with both the Ukrainian government and the U.S. government in an effort to determine the locations where the army will have access to Starlink, according to the people. A National Security Council spokesperson said that the council, the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control and “officials across the U.S. government have spoken to Starlink and answered questions about U.S. policy like we do with all companies.”

This month, Mr. Musk delivered more uncertainty to Ukraine when he said he could not keep paying for Starlink service to the country, making it seem like he was shouldering the expense. In fact, the United States, Britain and Poland have paid SpaceX for at least part of the Starlink cost, according to a document outlining the expenditures reviewed by The New York Times.

A Starlink system being used in the Kharkiv region of Ukraine.Yasuyoshi Chiba/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

“He has to decide whether Starlink is a commercial service that provides sometimes lifesaving technology to its customers or a service that is highly dependent on the geopolitical interests of its management and, thus, unreliable for customers who have concerns over national security,” said Dimitri Alperovitch, co-founder of the Silverado Policy Accelerator, a geopolitical think tank in Washington.

While he was in Aspen laying out his peace plan for the war in Ukraine, Mr. Musk also waded into unrest in Iran.

As protests spread across the country and the authorities responded by blocking internet access in some areas, he appeared to come to the rescue. “Activating Starlink,” he said in a Twitter message after the U.S. government lifted some sanctions that limited the ability of American tech companies to operate in Iran so that they could aid protesters.

Starlink offered the potential to bypass the government’s blockade of land-based internet connections that had taken Iranians in many cities offline.

But as many Iranians soon learned, Mr. Musk’s promise did not hold up. Left unsaid by Mr. Musk was any context on what was needed to get Starlink up and running, how long it would take and why Iranian government restrictions would make it nearly impossible to offer the service widely inside Iran.

While Starlink remained unavailable in Iran, hackers believed to have links to the government began a phishing campaign, sending messages inside social media channels with links claiming to provide access to Starlink, according to Amir Rashidi, a digital rights expert from Iran. Rather than providing access to Mr. Musk’s satellite system, the links were malware that gobbled up information from the users’ phones, said Mr. Rashidi, who analyzed at least five versions of the malware.

After protests in Iran prompted the government to block internet access in some cities, a tweet by Mr. Musk implied that Starlink service would be available to its citizens.via Associated Press

A small amount of Starlink internet access is now available in Iran with equipment smuggled across its border, Mr. Rashidi said. That is creating additional concerns that the authorities will be able to identify data transmitted because the satellite signals may be traceable to individuals on the ground.

Mr. Rashidi, who fled the country in 2009, commended Mr. Musk for trying to help but said his tactics were “very irresponsible.”

“It was just someone who wanted to jump up to say, ‘I’m doing something good,’ without understanding what the consequences would be,” he said.

Mr. Musk also recently stepped into perhaps the world’s most delicate geopolitical hot spot: Taiwan.

Tensions between China and Taiwan pose major risks to Mr. Musk’s business empire. Tesla operates a manufacturing facility in Shanghai that produces as much as 50 percent of the company’s new cars. The Beijing government tightly controls how Western companies operate in the country, and observers have long worried about how Tesla’s dependence on China could affect Mr. Musk’s political positions.

This month, Mr. Musk confirmed that he faced pressure from Beijing, when he told the Financial Times that the Chinese government had made it clear that it disapproved of his offering Starlink internet service in Ukraine. Beijing sought assurances, he said, that he would not offer the service in China.

Then he offered a way of easing the tensions: handing some control of Taiwan to China.

The comment, which breaks sharply with the policy of the United States and its allies, drew swift rebukes from Taiwanese politicians.

In a phone interview with The New York Times, Chao Tien-Lin, a member of the Democratic Progressive Party and the Taiwanese legislature’s foreign affairs and defense committee, called on Mr. Musk to retract his statement. “If he does not, I will sincerely advise not just Taiwan but all consumers in liberal democratic countries to boycott Tesla and its related products,” he said.

Some have pointed out that if a military conflict breaks out between the two sides, the Taiwanese, like the Ukrainians, may call on Mr. Musk to provide an emergency means of communication with satellite internet. But given Mr. Musk’s public stance on the situation and links to China, Starlink may not be a viable option.

Reporting was contributed by Farnaz Fassihi, Julian Barnes, Michael Schwirtz, David McCabe and Ryan Mac.

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Suella Braverman was in denial over forced resignation, sources say - BBC

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By Leila Nathoo

BBC political correspondent

Suella Braverman was "amazed" and "in denial" over being forced to resign for breaching the ministerial code, according to sources.

Ms Braverman stood down as then PM Liz Truss's home secretary on 19 October after admitting to a "technical infringement" by sending an official document from a personal email account.

A number of sources have disputed Ms Braverman's version of events.

Rishi Sunak is facing questions over reappointing her six days later.

The new prime minister defended his decision to make Ms Braverman his home secretary, saying "she made an error of judgment, but she recognised that, she raised the matter and she accepted her mistake".

• Sunak should sack Braverman, says Starmer
• No 10 backs Braverman amid MI5 leak row

The BBC has spoken to several people with knowledge of the events surrounding Ms Braverman's resignation.

A number of them dispute Ms Braverman's claim to have reported her mistake to the cabinet secretary - the head of the civil service - as soon as she realised.

When confronted about her transgression she attempted to play down and explain away what had happened, sources suggested.

Ms Braverman had emailed a draft written ministerial statement on immigration policy to her close political ally, Conservative MP Sir John Hayes, using her personal email instead of her official government account.

The document made reference to plans to "make changes to the visa system to support economic growth" and to "ensure our visa system supports priority growth projects" and "extending the high potential individual visa route", the BBC understands.

Ms Braverman had intended to copy in Sir John Hayes's wife, who works in his office. But she chose the wrong recipient and instead sent it to a staff member of another Conservative MP, Andrew Percy, early in the morning of 19 October.

When Mr Percy became aware of what had happened, he approached the chief whip, who is responsible for party discipline. The chief whip in turn passed the issue on to Number 10 and the Cabinet Office.

It's understood Mr Percy's office also made Ms Braverman aware of the error shortly after the mistaken email was received.

Cabinet Secretary Simon Case advised then prime minister Ms Truss that "it was an open and shut case of the ministerial code being breached", according to one government insider. He had not by then been approached by the home secretary herself, according to sources.

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Downing Street has insisted it won't comment on the "timeline" of events.

One source told me "initially [Ms Braverman] was in a state of denial" when Ms Truss made it clear that afternoon she would have to resign.

"She was saying it was a minor thing," the same source added.

Another said Ms Braverman was "amazed" that Ms Truss took the view she did.

A source close to the home secretary said any suggestion she was confronted by the cabinet secretary with evidence of the breach was false, adding: "In advance of the meeting with the prime minister, she had communicated it proactively via official channels, to the cabinet secretary."

Instead of waiting for the resignation to be choreographed by Number 10, Ms Braverman published her resignation letter on Twitter last Wednesday evening.

In the letter, Ms Braverman said she had "serious concerns" about Ms Truss's government's commitment to reducing migration numbers.

Labour is calling on Mr Sunak to sack Ms Braverman, claiming that she poses a potential security risk.

The opposition party is also demanding "urgent reassurances" that the leaked email did not contain "market sensitive information".

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Some Russian Troop Companies Down 94% in Ukraine, U.K. Intelligence Says - The Daily Beast

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1. Some Russian Troop Companies Down 94% in Ukraine, U.K. Intelligence Says  The Daily Beast
2. Russia Says 82000 New Draftees Arrive in Ukraine as Putin Seeks to Gain the Offensive  The Wall Street Journal
3. Russian Units Severely Undermanned as They Prepare for Kherson Defense—U.K.  Newsweek
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Putin Gives High-Profile Address in Russia: Live Updates - The New York Times

President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia speaking at the annual meeting of the Valdai Discussion Club in Moscow on Thursday.Sputnik/Sergei Karpukhin via Reuters

President Vladimir V. Putin denied that Russia was preparing to use nuclear weapons on Thursday as he reeled off a familiar litany of criticisms of a “cosmopolitan” Western elite seeking to dominate the rest of the world, using an annual foreign policy speech to try to appeal to conservatives in the United States and Europe.

“We have no need to do this,” Mr. Putin said. “There’s no sense for us, neither political nor military.”

It was unclear if Mr. Putin’s comment was the last word on Moscow’s plans. From the start of the war, Russian officials’ comments have presented a confusing mix of truths, half-truths and outright falsehoods. Officials insisted in February, for instance, that Russia had no intention of invading Ukraine just before Russian troops crossed the border.

During his speech, Mr. Putin maintained that Russia did not fundamentally see itself as an “enemy of the West.” Rather, he said — as he has before — that it was “Western elites” that he was fighting, ones who were trying to impose their “pretty strange” values on everyone else.

“There are at least two Wests,” Mr. Putin said in his speech at the plenary session in Moscow of an annual foreign policy conference. One, he said, was the West of “traditional, mainly Christian values,” which Russia was close to.

“There’s another West — aggressive, cosmopolitan, neocolonial, acting as the weapon of the neoliberal elite,” he went on.

Mr. Putin, as he often does, portrayed Russia as threatened by the possible expansion of NATO — and the values of its liberal democracies — to former states that were once part of the Soviet Union, like Ukraine.

Ukraine and its allies in the West, however, say Russia’s invasion is an unjustified attempt to seize a sovereign country, which has been independent since the breakup of the Soviet Union. Moscow’s troops rolled into Ukraine on Feb. 24, destroying cities, killing thousands of civilians and setting off the biggest war in Europe since World War II.

Mr. Putin did not mention the upcoming midterm elections in the United States, but his focus on “elites” was a reminder that he still hoped to build alliances with supporters of Russia in the West, and that American and European voters would eventually lose interest in supporting Ukraine’s resistance to Russia’s invasion. He said he was sure that eventually, the West would be forced to engage Russia and other world powers in talks on a future world order.

“I always believed and believe in the power of common sense,” Mr. Putin said. “I am therefore convinced that sooner or later, the new centers of the multipolar world order and the West will have to start a conversation of equals.”

In a Q. and A. session after the speech, the event’s moderator, the political scientist Fyodor Lukyanov, pressed Mr. Putin on the fact that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine does not appear to have gone according to plan. And he said that there was a widespread view that Russia had “underestimated the enemy.”

“Honestly, society doesn’t understand — what’s the plan?” Mr. Lukyanov asked.

Mr. Putin brushed aside the implicit criticism, arguing that Ukraine’s fierce resistance showed why he was right to launch the invasion. The longer Russia had waited, he said, “the worse it would have been for us, the more difficult and more dangerous.”

Mr. Putin repeated Russia’s unfounded claims that Ukraine was preparing to detonate a radioactive “dirty bomb” on its territory and blame Moscow. While Mr. Putin has repeatedly hinted that Russia could resort to nuclear weapons in what he has cast as an existential conflict in Ukraine, he insisted on Thursday that it was the West that was increasing nuclear tensions.

“We are being blackmailed,” he said, claiming it was the British and other Western leaders that were threatening Russia with a nuclear attack.

President Biden and other Western leaders have said that it is Russia who has repeatedly raised the possibility of using nuclear weapons and that the unsupported claim that Ukraine is preparing a radiological bomb could be used as a pretext by the Kremlin to escalate the war.

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