How to make a Grimace shake: Save this recipe for after the Grimace Birthday Meal ends

AFP
Pyongyang to 'permanently' shut border with South Korea
North Korea's army said Wednesday it was moving to "permanently shut off and block the southern border" with Seoul and had informed the US military to prevent an accidental clash.It added it had sent a telephone message to US forces Wednesday morning to "prevent any misjudgment and accidental conflict over the fortification project to be launched in the acute southern border area".
NBC News
Hurricane Helene was wetter and windier due to climate change, report finds — with same expected of Milton
As Hurricane Milton barrels toward Florida’s west coast, a new report estimates how much more intense Hurricane Helene’s winds and rain were because of climate change.
AFP
Trumpet star Marsalis says jazz creates 'balance' in divided world
Renowned American trumpeter and composer Wynton Marsalis believes the universal language of jazz can bridge divides with a common story of humanity."I'm a guest, and I come there trying to figure out what it is that we have in common that I can accentuate to ease the pathways for us to communicate."
AFP
No children left on Greece's famed but emptying island
When winter draws in on Antikythera, the already meagre population of the isolated Greek island shrinks to almost nothing.In winter, the island has only one cafe, which serves both as a tavern and a small store.
Reuters
Italy's demographics are worst in Europe for growth, Scope Ratings says
Italy's demographics are the worst in Europe in terms of economic growth potential between 2023 and 2040, Scope Ratings said on Wednesday, with a rapidly ageing population posing a threat to the country's strained public finances. Last year births in Italy fell for a 15th consecutive year to hit a new record low of 379,000, the lowest number since the country's unification in 1861, official data showed. Italy's "working age population is set to record an almost 19% decline between 2023 and 2040 - the biggest reduction in Europe - outpacing reductions expected in Germany, Spain (both at 14%) and France (2%)," the Germany-based agency wrote in a report.
Reuters
ASEAN holds summit in Laos as Thailand floats new plan for Myanmar crisis
Southeast Asian leaders met in Laos on Wednesday for a summit expected to find ways of tackling a worsening civil war in Myanmar, with Thailand set to propose a new path for a political solution after a regional peace effort made scant progress. Chaos has prevailed in Myanmar since a 2021 military coup sparked a nationwide rebellion and a civil war that has ravaged the nation of 55 million. Thailand offered this week to host an "informal consultation" of the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in December to try to find a way out of the intractable conflict that has displaced millions of people.
Reuters
Trump looks to make inroads into Biden country with Scranton stop
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump will stage a rally in President Joe Biden's hometown of Scranton, Pennsylvania, on Wednesday as he looks to win over the blue-collar voters who have traditionally been Biden loyalists in the critical state. It will be Trump's second visit in just five days to Pennsylvania, as he holds rallies in regions heavily populated by the working-class, who are seen as a key voting bloc in the hard-fought race between Trump and his Democratic challenger Kamala Harris. While Biden is mostly associated with Delaware as a former senator there, Scranton is a fabled part of his origin story.
Associated Press
China stocks decline amid economic recovery disappointment, while other markets in Asia rise
Shares in China slumped on Wednesday as details of economic stimulus plans from officials in Beijing failed to live up to investors' expectations, while other markets in Asia rose. Stocks in Hong Kong fluctuated between gains and losses, with the Hang Seng Index falling by 2.4% to 20,418.61. “A lack of new stimulus has been the cause of disappointment, with many market participants hoping that its fiscal policies will follow in the footstep of the financial ‘bazooka’ delivered in late-September, but there was clearly a step-down in yesterday’s announcement,” Yeap Jun Rong of IG said in a commentary.
Reuters
Turkey blocks instant messaging platform Discord
Turkey has blocked access to instant messaging platform Discord following a court decision, the country's infotech regulator said on Wednesday. Turkey's Information Technologies and Communication Authority (BTK) published the access ban decision on its website. Turkish Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunc said a court in the capital Ankara decided to remove access from Turkey to San Francisco-based Discord due to sufficient suspicion that the crimes of "child sexual abuse and obscenity" have been committed.
NBC News
Afghan national living in the U.S. charged with plotting an Election Day terrorist attack
Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi, a resident of Oklahoma City, was charged with conspiring to carry out a terrorist attack on behalf of ISIS on Election Day, according to federal prosecutors.
Associated Press
Supreme Court takes up death row case with a rare alliance. Oklahoma inmate has state's support
The Supreme Court is returning to the case of Richard Glossip, who has spent most of the past quarter century on Oklahoma's death row for a murder he says he did not commit. In a rare alliance, lawyers for Glossip and the state will argue Wednesday that the justices should overturn Glossip's conviction and death sentence because he did not get a fair trial. Glossip has always maintained his innocence in the 1997 killing in Oklahoma City of his former boss, motel owner Barry Van Treese, in what prosecutors have alleged was a murder-for-hire scheme.
Reuters
Australia, New Zealand brace for looming bird flu threat
Australia and New Zealand are bracing for the arrival of a destructive bird flu strain by tightening biosecurity at farms, testing shore birds for disease, vaccinating vulnerable species and war-gaming response plans. Oceania is the last region of the world free of the H5N1 clade 2.3.4.4b avian influenza that has killed hundreds of millions of birds and tens of thousands of mammals since appearing in Asia, Europe and Africa in 2020, littering beaches with corpses and upending the agricultural industry. Scientists and officials say there is a higher risk, particularly in Australia, of it arriving with smaller migratory shore birds during the Southern Hemisphere springtime months from September to November.
Associated Press
House Democrats in close races try to show they hear voter concerns about immigration
In some of the closest House races in the country, Democratic candidates are leaning into an issue that Republicans have made a centerpiece of their efforts to expand their majority — immigration. Rep. Marcy Kaptur, D-Ohio, says that anyone who crosses the border must do so legally.
NBC News
Map: Track Hurricane Milton's path, forecast and status
Hurricane Milton is expected to continue to develop rapidly as it crosses warm water in the Gulf of Mexico.
Associated Press
Voters in the US don't directly elect the president. Sometimes that can undermine the popular will
The U.S. has a unique system for electing a president, the Electoral College. There are seven of them this year — Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. The lack of attention to other states leaves voters in much of the country feeling as if they and the issues they care about are being overlooked during the presidential contest. What is the Electoral College?
AFP
Climate change made deadly Hurricane Helene more intense: study
Hurricane Helene's torrential rain and powerful winds were made about 10 percent more intense due to climate change, according to a study published Wednesday by the World Weather Attribution (WWA) group.The research by WWA, an international group of scientists and meteorologists who study the role of climate change in extreme weather events, comes as the southeastern US state of Florida prepares for the arrival of another major hurricane, Milton, just 10 days after it was hit by Helene.
AFP
A US climate scientist sees hurricane Helene's devastation firsthand
Carl Schreck spent his career studying tropical storms thousands of miles away from home.Schreck, a scholar at the Institute for Climate Studies at North Carolina State University, and his colleagues had been studying Helene's formation in the Caribbean for days -- until it pummeled Asheville on September 26-27.
Associated Press
Time to evacuate is running out as Hurricane Milton closes in on Florida
Hurricane Milton churned Wednesday toward a potentially catastrophic collision along the west coast of Florida, where some residents insisted they would stay after millions were ordered to evacuate and officials warned that stragglers would face grim odds of surviving. The Tampa Bay area, home to more than 3.3 million people, faced the possibility of widespread destruction after avoiding direct hits from major hurricanes for more than a century. The National Hurricane Center predicted Milton, a monstrous Category 5 hurricane during much of its approach, would likely weaken but remain a major hurricane when it makes landfall late Wednesday.
AFP
Chinese shares drop on stimulus upset, Asia tracks Wall St higher
Stocks in mainland China and Hong Kong tumbled Wednesday on another volatile day after Beijing disappointed investors over a lack of fresh stimulus and scant detail on its plans for implementing a raft of measures already unveiled.Hong Kong had soared more than 20 percent between the first batch of measures being announced and Monday, but it collapsed more than nine percent Tuesday -- its worst day since 2008.
Politico
Oklahoma amends request for Bibles that initially appeared to match only version backed by Trump
The request no longer requires the Bibles to include American historical documents.

How to make a Grimace shake: Save this recipe for after the Grimace Birthday Meal ends

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Latest Stories

Pyongyang to 'permanently' shut border with South Korea

Hurricane Helene was wetter and windier due to climate change, report finds — with same expected of Milton

Trumpet star Marsalis says jazz creates 'balance' in divided world

No children left on Greece's famed but emptying island

Italy's demographics are worst in Europe for growth, Scope Ratings says

ASEAN holds summit in Laos as Thailand floats new plan for Myanmar crisis

Trump looks to make inroads into Biden country with Scranton stop

China stocks decline amid economic recovery disappointment, while other markets in Asia rise

Turkey blocks instant messaging platform Discord

Afghan national living in the U.S. charged with plotting an Election Day terrorist attack

Supreme Court takes up death row case with a rare alliance. Oklahoma inmate has state's support

Australia, New Zealand brace for looming bird flu threat

House Democrats in close races try to show they hear voter concerns about immigration

Map: Track Hurricane Milton's path, forecast and status

Voters in the US don't directly elect the president. Sometimes that can undermine the popular will

Climate change made deadly Hurricane Helene more intense: study

A US climate scientist sees hurricane Helene's devastation firsthand

Time to evacuate is running out as Hurricane Milton closes in on Florida

Chinese shares drop on stimulus upset, Asia tracks Wall St higher

Oklahoma amends request for Bibles that initially appeared to match only version backed by Trump