A popular car brand has plunged to a $9.2 billion quarterly loss, with its finance chief dropping an ominous warning.
This article covers world events on Thursday (Australia time). For Friday’s live updates, click here.
The German manufacturing giant’s third-quarter loss widened from about $1.7 billion a year earlier. Worldwide vehicle deliveries fell 14.3 per cent, while deliveries in China collapsed almost 40 per cent.
It comes as the state of New York moved to stop AI chatbots posing as children’s friends, signing a landmark law that puts some of the technology’s most human-like features behind an age check.
It is one of the more successful moves in the frantic push to legislate the emergent technology, which has been predicted to introduce an immeasurable amount of social problems as the planet rapidly integrates it into daily life.
Meanwhile, Donald Trump has been accused of a “brutal” 1993 rape by a former Miss Switzerland, according to a report released by Democrats. The White House denies Beatrice Keul’s allegations and Mr Trump was never charged.
In Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu has alleged the election was “stolen” and that “envelopes stuffed with cash” helped Arab parties’ huge gains.
Volkswagen posts huge loss as Chinese competition ramps up
Volkswagen has plunged to a $9.2 billion quarterly loss as its China business buckles, with its finance chief dropping an ominous warning.
“We no longer have unlimited time,” Arno Antlitz said this week.
The German carmaking giant’s third-quarter loss widened from about $1.7 billion a year earlier. Worldwide vehicle deliveries fell 14.3 per cent, while deliveries in China collapsed almost 40 per cent.
Revenue dropped 6.3 per cent to roughly $119 billion.
The group behind Volkswagen, Audi, Skoda and Porsche is currently being squeezed by fierce Chinese competition and the costly transition to electric vehicles.
The auto manufacturer plans to cut 120,000 jobs across the group by 2030.
“What matters now is swift and consistent implementation,” Antlitz said.
“We cannot lose any time and need to act quickly and decisively.”
Writedowns and other special charges accounted for approximately $12.3 billion of the quarterly hit, including charges linked to Porsche.
But even excluding special items, Volkswagen’s operating margin over the first nine months was just 3.8 per cent, leaving little room to fund its next generation of vehicles.
“That is not enough in the long term,” Antlitz said.
‘Horrific’ Russian drone strike kills 13 at Ukraine train station
A Russian drone slammed into a busy platform at a railway station in Ukraine’s Dnipro on Thursday killing at least 13 people in what President Volodymyr Zelensky called a “horrific” attack that demands a response from Kyiv’s allies.
The strike came as Ukraine and Russia strive to uphold a fragile local ceasefire in the ravaged city of Oleshky – under Russian occupation since 2022 and where residents have faced months of food, water and medicine shortages.
The truce was holding into its third day, both countries said, with the Ukrainian human rights ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets announcing that he had “set out with the Ukrainian delegation towards Oleshky” through Belarus and Russia.
But elsewhere, Moscow continued to pummel Ukraine.
The strike at the Dnipro train station hit a platform “where a regular commuter train and a regular passenger train were standing”, Mr Zelensky said.
“Sanctions against Moscow and its war machine must not be eased for as long as this Russian war continues,” he added, slamming the attack as “horrific”.
Images released by Ukrainian emergency services showed bodies on the platform, rescuers helping victims to safety and two burnt-out passenger trains with their windows shattered.
Russia has fired drones on trains across Ukraine since the first days of its 2022 invasion – destroying hundreds of locomotives and killing several railway workers.
In September alone, passengers were evacuated from more than 5,800 Ukrainian train services due to the threat of Russian drone strikes, the national railway operator told AFP.
Ukraine’s vast train network is a vital form of transport in the country, where journeys between east and west can take 24 hours.
Zelensky slams sanctions relief
Ukraine’s air force said it had intercepted three jet-powered drones in a daytime attack, but that a fourth evaded its defences and hit the station.
The head of Ukraine Railways, Oleksandr Pertsovsky, said an elevated threat level had been announced.
“But unfortunately there were still a large number of people on the platform,” he said on Facebook.
In the aftermath of the attack, Mr Zelensky refreshed his criticism of a deal struck this month between US President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to ease some sanctions on Russia allowing Moscow to release diesel onto global markets.
“How many such terrorist strikes has Russia carried out against our people since sanctions were lifted on some Russian oligarchs and energy sector, instead of de-escalating,” he asked.
At least five others were killed across Ukraine in separate Russian attacks, according to local officials.
Two teenagers killed
A strike on the city centre of Chernigiv, north of Kyiv, killed two 15-year-old girls and wounded more than a dozen, the head of the city’s military administration, Dmytro Bryzhynsky, said.
A drone also slammed into a multi-storey residential building in the central city of Kremenchuk, killing two and wounding several – including a six-year-old – the local governor said.
Russia has intensified drone and missile attacks on Ukraine in recent weeks, hitting energy sites around major cities in what Kyiv says is a bid to plunge the country into cold and darkness throughout the winter.
The Kremlin earlier this week vowed not to let up in the overall pace of the war even as the sides prepare to restart stalled talks under US mediation.
Mr Zelensky said on Wednesday it would be a “huge success” if the local ceasefire in Oleshky – brokered by US First Lady Melania Trump – allowed for the evacuation of stranded citizens.
Locals caught there have resorted to hunting and eating pigeons in recent months, former residents in touch with those in the city told AFP.
Russia and Ukraine are to meet next month with US envoys to discuss ways to end Europe’s worst conflict since World War II, with no firm dates set for the talks yet.
Several previous rounds have failed to move the sides closer to a deal. Russia demands more territory in eastern Ukraine and sweeping military and political restrictions on Kyiv.
Ukraine and its allies say ceding ground to Moscow would be tantamount to a capitulation and leave Kyiv vulnerable to future Russian attacks.
New York's landmark move against AI industry
The state of New York has moved to stop AI chatbots posing as children’s friends, signing a landmark law that puts some of the technology’s most human-like features behind an age check.
It is one of the more successful moves in the frantic push to legislate the emergent technology, which has been predicted to introduce an immeasurable amount of social problems as the planet rapidly integrates it into daily life.
“No longer will minors have access to chatbots that pretend to be their friends, boyfriends and girlfriends,” Governor Kathy Hochul said on Wednesday.
“No longer will chatbots be able to keep sensitive information about a minor’s emotional and physical health,” Hochul added.
The legislation, which takes effect on January 1, also targets sexually explicit content, encouragement of self-harm and attempts to persuade children to keep secrets or avoid seeking help.
It is not a blanket ban on children using AI, but companies must now establish that users are adults before offering the restricted features.
However, the exceedingly wealthy tech industry is now arguing the wording could sweep up useful services alongside the harmful ones.
It aligns with the industry’s broader claim that restricting AI use will lead to one falling behind in the job market.
“Keeping kids safe online should not mean cutting them off from tools that help them learn and prepare for careers,” industry group Tech:NYC said, criticising the law’s “vague language”.
Children’s advocacy group Common Sense Media meanwhile welcomed it as “the strongest kids’ AI safety bill in the country”.
“AI companies offer chatbots with features that are dangerous, and even deadly, for kids and teens…Now, those harmful features will be outlawed in New York,” chief executive Jim Steyer said.
“That is not innovation; it is reckless endangerment of our children.”
North Korea fires 'about a dozen' ballistic missiles
North Korea has fired “around a dozen” short-range ballistic missiles off its east coast, days after Kim Jong Un’s sister warned that new military units had taken up firing positions along the border with the South.
Seoul’s military said Thursday’s launches came from the Wonsan area, with missiles heading towards the Sea of Japan.
“Our military has stepped up surveillance and vigilance against possible additional launches,” the Joint Chiefs of Staff said.
The barrage follows a week of threats from Kim Yo Jong, Kim Jong Un’s sister, who inspected border fortifications before declaring the North’s new firepower was in position. Her particularly ominous comments sent a ripple across the developed world.
“Our military leadership underlined the need to make those rogues aware that our new firepower units have taken their firing positions,” she said on October 21.
The following day, she threatened to put propaganda loudspeakers on standby along the frontier within days and warned South Korea would “face the most horrible and distressing situation” if it made a mistake, intentional or otherwise.
Seoul said at the time it had detected no signs of new North Korean weapons being deployed along the border.
Bolsonaro claims he is Brazil’s true 'leader' after fleeing to US
Brazil’s defeated right-wing presidential candidate Flavio Bolsonaro insisted on Wednesday he is his country’s rightful leader, after fleeing to the US to start a self-imposed exile.
Mr Bolsonaro’s defiance on arrival in Florida signalled continued upheaval for Brazil, where leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva won a dramatic runoff election Sunday.
“I am the elected president, and the criminals who stole Brazil’s election are part of a criminal organization that has established a tyranny,” Mr Bolsonaro said in the statement published on his X account, slamming “electoral fraud”.
“I will lead the opposition from here,” he said. In a subsequent statement, he revised his claim, saying he is the “leader”, rather than “president”.
Mr Bolsonaro, 45, touched down earlier on Wednesday in a private jet at Opa-Locka Executive Airport near Miami.
Rogerio Marinho, the leader of Mr Bolsonaro’s Liberal Party in the Senate, told reporters in Brasilia that he was in “solidarity” with the former candidate, describing him as a “political exile”. However, he distanced himself from Mr Bolsonaro’s statement, and refused to back up Mr Bolsonaro’s claims of electoral fraud.
“The Liberal Party cannot make that claim,” he said. “There is no evidence of that.”
Flavio Bolsonaro “is an expression of the right in Brazil today … he calls himself a leader and it’s true: he’s a leader,” Mr Marinho told reporters.
US President Donald Trump’s hard-right administration has strong links to Mr Bolsonaro and his father Jair Bolsonaro, who is under house arrest in Brazil after attempting to overturn his own electoral loss to Lula in 2022.
Mr Trump reiterated his stand that Brazil’s election was “very strange” but told reporters he “won’t get involved” in Flavio Bolsonaro’s claim to the presidency.
Details of how Mr Bolsonaro, accompanied by his wife and daughters, made it to US soil are still emerging.
Trump calls for Alaska Dem candidate to face prosecution
President Donald Trump on Wednesday called for Alaska Democratic Senate candidate Mary Peltola to drop out of the race and be criminally prosecuted after it was revealed that her allies were behind an effort to bring a candidate into the race that had the same name as her GOP opponent.
“Mary Peltola should resign from the race. I think she should be prosecuted criminally for what she did,” Mr Trump told reporters at Joint Base Andrews ahead of his trip to Ohio to campaign for Republicans there.
He said any of her allies who worked to recruit Daniel J. Sullivan into the race to compete against incumbent Republican Senator Dan Sullivan should also face criminal charges.
Top aides of Ms Peltola were behind the recruitment effort, The New York Times reported. She had originally denied any involvement, but Wednesday’s shock report revealed she was “definitely aware” of the scheme.
“They said they didn’t do it, and they did do it, and they got caught. And in fact, it was a plot by the Democrat Party, and frankly, they should be, I think they should be prosecuted. To me, that’s voter fraud at the highest level,” the President said.
The Justice Department is conducting an “aggressive criminal investigation” into Daniel J. Sullivan’s appearance on the ballot, with subpoenas expected to be issued in the coming days, Fox News reported.
Phone companies have been told to preserve text messages and emails. The Times cited such material in its timeline on how Daniel J. Sullivan was recruited.
The DOJ probe has been underway for months but took on new intensity after the reporting.
The investigation is being handled by the US Attorney’s Office in Alaska. Charges could be related to the deprivation of rights of Alaska voters.
Elisa Rios, Peltola’s former campaign manager, spoke to The New York Times about the plot to bring “Decoy Dan”, as his critics call him, into the race. “Alaskan voters need to know,” said Ms Rios, who was ousted during a dramatic staff overhaul in August.
“There was a lot of speculation, and voters should get the full picture when making their decisions,” she added, noting that Ms Peltola was not directly involved in the recruitment effort, but “definitely aware”.
Aides at the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) were also involved in the gambit, which was aimed at pulling votes away from Senator Sullivan through confusion. The DSCC denied involvement.
“The Alaskans for Mary campaign has no involvement with either Sullivan campaign,” Ms Peltola’s campaign told The Post in a statement when asked about the report. “Like Mary, our campaign is focused on lowering costs and fixing the rigged system in DC.”
The campaign also pointed The Post to a list of examples of Republican-led spoiler efforts in Democratic races. The Post also contacted reps for “Decoy Dan”.
Alaskan officials sought to minimise confusion by labelling Senator Sullivan as the incumbent as well as putting the candidates’ initials. Ms Peltola is the only Democrat on the four-person ballot after a successful pressure campaign by Democrats resulted in candidate David Leslie, who ran as a Democrat and originally made the top four, dropping out.
The winner on November 3 will be determined through ranked-choice voting.
Officials with Ms Peltola’s campaign and the DCCC communicated for months about Kurtz’s pursuit, text messages reviewed by The New York Times showed.
Ms Peltola finished first in the open primary held in August and has a 1.2-point edge over Senator Sullivan in the latest RealClearPolitics aggregate of polls.
Before the bombshell report dropped on Wednesday, Republicans were already calling foul in the race.
The Justice Department, at Mr Trump’s direction, filed a lawsuit that demanded the state be blocked from certifying Ms Peltola if she wins — if Daniel J. Sullivan remains on the ballot.
But Alaska state officials filed a motion to dismiss, noting the state’s elections division “has taken significant steps to distinguish” the Sullivans on the ballot so that “voters can easily determine which candidate is which”.
The state’s filing also noted “the United States lacks authority to intervene in state elections at all, much less in support of a favoured candidate”, adding “the complaint has no legal basis”.
US District Judge Sharon Gleason has ordered the case expedited given the fast-approaching election. She could rule on the motions to dismiss the case as early as Friday night.
'You sound like a robot': Katie Zacharia grilled by Piers Morgan
Katie is back.
The shortest serving White House press secretary in history, who stepped down after just five days in the role in the wake of a disastrous 14-minute first briefing, has appeared on Piers Morgan Uncensored for another grilling.
It did not go very well.
Morgan opened the interview by asking Katie Zacharia about the details of her departure, only for the 42-year-old to repeatedly respond with pro-Trump talking points – leading the host to declare “you sound like a robot”. “I’m just not entirely sure you’re no longer the press secretary,” Morgan said. “You do realise you’re not the press secretary?”
Pressed again to open up about the circumstances of her departure and her conversation with President Donald Trump, Ms Zacharia said “this interview should not be about me, it should be about the fact that we are less than five days away from the midterms”.
“Katie, the whole point of the interview was it was about you,” Morgan said. “Let’s cut the crap and have a serious, genuine conversation. You sound like a robot. Has Donald Trump got some program plugged into you to make you come out with all this stuff?”
Ms Zacharia insisted “I do not sound like a robot”.
“What I am is trying to continue a conversation in a forward trajectory about what President Trump is doing which you are not wanting to engage in, which the media doesn’t want to engage in … they didn’t allow me to do my job for those five days because they wanted to make it about me,” she said.
Miss Switzerland alleges 'brutal' Trump rape
Donald Trump has been accused of a “brutal” November 1993 rape by a former Miss Switzerland, according to a report released by Democrats examining the President’s ties to late sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.
Swiss model Beatrice Keul alleged to Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee that Mr Trump raped her in a Plaza Hotel suite in Manhattan when she was 24 and attending the American Dream Pageant, which had a partnership with Mr Trump.
The White House has denied the allegations. Mr Trump was never charged in relation to the claims made by Keul, who has previously spoken in public about sexual assault allegations but whose account Democrats say is “comprehensively set forth for the first time” in the report published Monday.
“None of these allegations are true,” a White House spokesperson told TMZ. “This ‘report’ is nothing more than a desperate attempt by crazed Democrats to distract Americans from the surging Republican momentum driven by President Trump’s historic achievements. The President kicked Jeffrey Epstein out of his club at Mar-a-Lago because he was a creep, and he has been fully exonerated of anything related to Epstein.”
Keul told Democrats that she was recruited by event promoter Jill Harth to go to the beauty pageant, only to find “Epstein, Trump, and others used this pageant as a ‘hunting ground’ to prey on vulnerable young women and girls”, according to the report.
“Later that day, Donald Trump’s representative invited Keul to go upstairs at the Plaza Hotel to meet with Trump. Believing this meeting to be a lucky break for the purpose of furthering her career and education, Keul accompanied Trump’s representative upstairs,” the report stated.
“He ushered her into the suite, where upon entering, Trump reportedly grabbed Keul from behind and forcibly raped her; in the process, tearing her dress and causing bleeding and bruising on multiple parts of her body. Keul described the rape as ‘brutal’. Following the assault, according to Keul’s report, Trump sat her on the edge of the bed, repeated his promises to arrange for a visa and NYU admission, and made her promise she would keep quiet, saying, ‘[T]he show must go on.’
“Keul reports that she finished the pageant in a terrified ‘daze’ as her passport had been taken from her on her arrival. She did not ask for her passport to be returned before the contest was over, lest she indicate to Trump that something was wrong.
“She returned to Switzerland, declining to participate in an additional Trump-sponsored pageant in Hawaii several weeks later. Several months after the assault, Trump called Keul in Switzerland and reiterated his offer to set her up with a visa and admission to NYU. She declined.”
Criminal probe after two candidates with same name end up on ballot
Federal prosecutors in the US are conducting an “aggressive criminal investigation” into how a second candidate named Dan Sullivan secured a spot on Alaska’s Senate ballot, two sources familiar with the investigation told Fox News.
The investigation, led by the US Attorney’s Office in Alaska, has been underway for several months but intensified following a New York Times report detailing an alleged Democrat effort to recruit spoiler candidates to siphon votes from incumbent Republican Senator Dan S. Sullivan.
Multiple grand jury subpoenas are expected to be issued in the coming hours and days, according to the sources. Investigators are also preparing preservation orders for phone companies to secure text messages and emails that could help establish a timeline surrounding Daniel J. Sullivan Jr.’s candidacy.
Federal prosecutors are examining potential charges involving the deprivation of Alaska voters’ rights, the sources said. The investigation is expected to continue beyond Tuesday’s midterms election. The Justice Department declined to comment when contacted by Fox News about the existence of an investigation.
Albania imposes stiff fines on violent protesters
Albania on Wednesday introduced stiff fines for violent demonstrators gathering daily since mid-October in the capital Tirana seeking the prime minister’s resignation. The Balkan nation has been wracked by months of anti-government protests that in recent days have deteriorated into pitched battles between the security forces and protesters on the streets of Tirana.
The leaderless movement started peacefully in May, with rallies against a luxury hotel project in a nature reserve, linked to US President Donald Trump’s family. It morphed in mid-October into a wave of protests against perceived corruption, shortcomings in the health system and the lack of prospects for young people in the country of 2.3 million.
On Wednesday, Prime Minister Edi Rama’s government adopted legislative measures imposing fines of up to 500,000 leks ($8690) for “anyone who chooses to remain in a crowd” that is carrying out acts of violence or looting in a public space, or “concealing their identity”. The average salary before tax is 930 euros ($1470) per month. Police were also given powers to temporarily restrict gatherings in certain areas, including near educational, healthcare and government institutions if there was a risk of violence.
The measures also provide for sanctions against online incitement to violence and compensation for small companies damaged during protests. The measures take immediate effect but must be approved by parliament within 45 days to remain in force. Mr Rama said on Sunday that he was inspired by a French bill, passed by the parliament’s upper house on Wednesday, that would make protesters financially liable for damage caused during street demonstrations.
He has repeatedly blamed “foreign actors” for the violence and accused both Russia and Iran of driving online misinformation. The socialist prime minister has also called for “dialogue”. Official estimates put the damage caused by protests since mid-October at more than €2 million ($3.2 million).
The violent clashes in which police used tear gas and water cannon to disperse crowds left more than 350 people injured. More than 1.5 million people have left Albania since the fall of communism in the 1990s. The population now stands at 2.3 million.