Greetings! Happy National One-Hit Wonder Day to those celebrating.

Let’s get into today’s top stories.

🇵🇸 Abbas to UNGA: “Palestinians will not leave”. Addressing the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) after a U.S. visa revocation, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas told world leaders that Hamas will have no role in governing Gaza after the war, demanding disarmament and a political track that recognizes Palestinian statehood. His message arrives as recognitions climb past 150 countries and pressure mounts for a durable cease-fire and unfettered aid access. The 89-year-old said, “There can be no justice if Palestine is not freed”. The speech sharpened UNGA’s focus on legal accountability, with more leaders condemning Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza and urging compliance with ICJ orders; in related news, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s flight path reportedly avoided parts of Europe to reduce exposure to possible arrest on charges of crimes against humanity, according to Haaretz. Israel’s government reiterated opposition to a sovereign Palestinian state, setting up another bruising diplomatic round during this week’s General Assembly.

🇫🇷 Historic verdict: Sarkozy gets 5 years in Libya-finance case. A Paris court sentenced former French President Nicolas Sarkozy to five years after finding him guilty of criminal conspiracy tied to alleged Libyan funding of his 2007 campaign, the first time a modern French head of state has received an actual prison term. Judges said the scheme corroded public trust, while acquitting him of passive corruption, illegal campaign financing, and related charges for lack of proof that Libyan cash directly reached the campaign; Sarkozy, 70, called the ruling a scandal and will appeal. The court said he must begin serving time even if he appeals, underscoring the gravity it assigned to the offense. Several allies received penalties in the sprawling case, and a separate witness-tampering matter still looms. The decision jolted French politics as conservatives weigh succession plans and rivals eye how the verdict reshapes 2027 dynamics.

🎖️ Hegseth summons top commanders to Quantico in rare all-hands. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered hundreds of one-star-and-above generals and admirals to assemble at Marine Corps Base Quantico next week for a sudden, in-person briefing. The directive did not include an agenda or rationale, an unusual omission for a gathering of this scale. Officers stationed overseas are being told to travel, raising inevitable questions about logistics, cost, and how commands will maintain continuity of operations during the absence of senior leaders. Pentagon officials characterized the conclave as a high-level update, but privately acknowledged that convening so many flag officers at once is exceedingly rare outside wartime transitions. The summons follows months of turbulence at the top ranks, and will be closely watched for signs of further structural changes or new operational guidance, as will the Pentagon Pizza Index.

📸 Instagram under fire after report says teen safeguards mostly don’t work. A new evaluation of 47 Meta teen-safety features on Instagram found most were unavailable, ineffective, or limited, with only 8 working as intended, shifting scrutiny from moderation after the fact to product design up front. Meta ($META) disputed the analysis as misleading and said several protections are mid-rollout, which complicates snapshot testing. The findings land as lawmakers weigh stricter age-verification, default privacy settings, and data-minimization mandates aimed at under-18 users. Regulators are also pressing for clearer disengagement tools so teens can actually opt out of algorithmic rabbit holes. Schools and pediatric groups keep flagging time-on-platform as a proxy for risk, which is why time limits and sleep windows matter more than press releases. For parents, the practical playbook is boring but effective: review account privacy, disable unknown DMs, restrict contact syncing, and set daily time caps. Until the defaults change, vigilance is the price of using the app.

🛒 Amazon to pay $2.5B to settle FTC claims over Prime “dark patterns”. Amazon ($AMZN) agreed to a $2.5 billion resolution, including $1.0 billion in civil penalties and $1.5 billion for consumer redress, addressing allegations it steered users into Prime and made cancellation overly difficult. The agreement requires product changes such as simplified, one-click cancellation, clearer disclosures, and explicit opt-in consent for auto-renew. Amazon denies wrongdoing but said it will comply with the terms. Refunds will be distributed in phases, with priority for cases that meet the settlement’s eligibility criteria over a defined lookback period. Oversight provisions include independent assessments and audit logging to verify adherence. Executives who attest to compliance face personal accountability if requirements are not met. The settlement arrives amid broader regulatory scrutiny of large technology platforms and is expected to influence subscription and checkout design standards across the sector.

📚 Merriam-Webster overhauls its Collegiate dictionary with 5,000+ additions. Merriam-Webster unveiled a fully revised 12th edition of its “Collegiate Dictionary,” the first comprehensive update in 22 years, adding more than 5,000 entries. New terms span technology, culture, and everyday speech, with examples including “dad bod”, “dumbphone”, “ghost kitchen”, “hard pass”, “rizz”, and “side-eye”. The print overhaul accompanies expanded usage notes and more than 20,000 new example sentences intended to clarify context and nuance. Editors also trimmed obsolete or redundant material, shifting biographical and geographical detail to the web while retaining core reference features. The company said U.S. print dictionary sales slipped about 9% over the past year, though it still sells roughly 1.5 million dictionaries annually and has seen nearly 500% digital growth over the past decade. Preorders are open, with the new edition scheduled for release on November 18, 2025.

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That’s all for today!

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