Evening News – October 19, 2026

Here’s what happened today, Monday, October 19.

INTERNATIONAL

Houthi missile strike kills at least 53 at Yemeni government training camp

Iran-backed Houthi rebels fired three ballistic missiles at a Yemeni government training camp Monday, killing at least 53 people and wounding 200 more, according to Yemeni officials.

The missiles hit the al-Alam military camp, also called the Ahmed Al-Sulaimani Training Centre, in Jardan district in Shabwa province in southern Yemen. The recruits were lined up for a training session when the missiles landed. The Shabwa provincial government described the casualty count as preliminary; a medical source earlier reported at least 25 dead before the number rose.

The Houthis acknowledged targeting the camp. Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree claimed the camp was associated with Saudi forces and that Saudi personnel were among the casualties. That claim has no evidence behind it, and Saudi Arabia has not responded.

Shabwa’s provincial government called the strike a “dangerous escalation.” Rashad al-Alimi, chairman of Yemen’s Presidential Leadership Council, condemned the attack and pledged a “firm response.”

The strike comes as Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia widen. In recent days the Houthis fired missiles toward Riyadh’s international airport and the state oil giant Saudi Aramco. On Monday, Saudi Arabia postponed its Future Investment Initiative investor conference, scheduled for October 26–29 in Riyadh, to 2027, and extended remote schooling in and around Riyadh as the missile threat grows. The fighting also threatens the Bab el-Mandeb shipping route, a key chokepoint for global trade.

Sources: Associated Press; Reuters. Casualty figures are official Yemeni government claims, not independently verified.

Putin floats a Trump–Xi summit on Ukraine — without Zelensky

Russian President Vladimir Putin has proposed that he, President Trump, and Chinese President Xi Jinping meet next month to negotiate an end to the four-year war in Ukraine. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky would not be invited.

The Wall Street Journal reported the proposal Sunday. Putin floated the idea during an October 9 phone call with Trump — the same call that produced a deal for the United States to buy Russian diesel fuel and help sell it around the world. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed that talks are underway: “There is no clear understanding yet regarding the meeting itself or its potential agenda.”

A senior U.S. official said Trump had not agreed to the summit but could be open to it. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, speaking Monday from Samarkand, Uzbekistan, said, “I think there’s been talks of a meeting. I don’t know everything’s been finalized.” The Kremlin has suggested holding it on the sidelines of the November 18–19 APEC summit in Shenzhen, China.

On the same day, Zelensky publicly disputed that U.S. intelligence sharing with Ukraine had resumed. His adviser Serhii Beskrestnov told the BBC that Ukrainians are dying because American intelligence restrictions leave too little time to warn civilians about incoming missiles. The White House said there have been no changes to intelligence sharing.

Sources: Wall Street Journal; Mint. The summit proposal itself is sourced to the Journal’s reporting; Peskov, Rubio, and a U.S. official all confirmed talks are ongoing.

Australian lawmaker critically injured in “deliberate” car attack

Independent Australian lawmaker Helen Haines, 65, was struck by a car outside her office Monday in what the country’s prime minister called a “deliberate act” of political violence.

Haines, who represents the federal seat of Indi, was hit by a white Toyota Land Cruiser at about 3:30 p.m. local time outside her electorate office in Wangaratta, a rural town in Victoria about 200 kilometers northeast of Melbourne. She was removing items from the boot of her car when she was struck. She was airlifted to a Melbourne hospital in critical condition with serious leg injuries.

Bystanders detained the 43-year-old driver until police arrived. Victoria Police found a knife inside the vehicle.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told the ABC late Monday that it appeared to be a “deliberate act.” “There’s no place for political violence in a democracy,” he said, while adding that no motive has been established and he was not aware of any individual threats against Haines.

A multi-tiered investigation is underway involving the Australian Federal Police, Victoria Police, the ASIO intelligence agency, and the Joint Counter-Terrorism Team. Political violence is rare in Australia, though federal police say harassment and threats against politicians have risen in the past year.

Sources: CNN; The Times. The motive is unknown; the “deliberate act” characterization is the prime minister’s, not yet a formal police finding.

Mexico arrests five cartel suspects linked to murders of 10 Canadian mining workers

Mexican authorities announced Sunday the arrest of five men linked to the January kidnapping and murder of 10 workers from a Canadian mining company’s project in Sinaloa.

The workers — all Mexican nationals — were kidnapped at gunpoint on January 23 from the silver mining project of Vancouver-based Vizsla Silver near Concordia, Sinaloa. Their bodies were later found in clandestine graves. The victims included two engineers and a geologist.

Mexico’s defense ministry said the suspects belong to the “Los Chapitos” faction of the Sinaloa cartel — the sons of Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán. One suspect was identified as Jesús Abraham, alias “Taliban.” Officials say the workers were mistaken for members of a rival faction, though that motive is the officials’ account and has not been independently verified. One of the five detainees is a Colombian national. The detainees were also linked to the February kidnapping of four tourists in Mazatlán.

Separately on Sunday, one victim’s family identified him as José Manuel Castañeda Hernández, 43, a husband and father of two, from photos shown by officials in Mazatlán.

Sources: CBS News; QNC News. The arrests and cartel affiliations are Mexican defense-ministry claims.

POLITICS

Obama defends Rep. Ilhan Omar, calls Trump’s citizenship probe “appalling”

Former President Barack Obama defended Rep. Ilhan Omar on Sunday after the Trump administration opened an investigation aimed at revoking her citizenship and deporting her.

Obama posted a lengthy statement on X calling the probe “appalling.” “It is a basic principle of American democracy that the government can’t selectively target individuals simply because of their political beliefs or what they say,” he wrote.

Agents from Homeland Security Investigations, the investigative arm of ICE, searched Omar’s Washington, D.C. residence on October 12 under a warrant tied to alleged immigration fraud and false statements. The Justice Department has also subpoenaed some of Omar’s relatives. Investigators are looking at whether Omar or her father committed fraud on immigration paperwork when she became a U.S. citizen decades ago.

Obama wrote that Omar arrived in the U.S. with her father at age 12 and automatically became a citizen at 17 when her father was naturalized — and that the administration’s case rests on an “unsubstantiated theory” that she was actually 18 at the time and had to apply separately.

Omar called the search “just the latest in [Trump’s] campaign of political intimidation.” No charges had been filed as of Sunday.

Sources: USA Today; Fox News.

Slotkin “deterrence” remarks spark GOP backlash; Trump responds Monday

Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.) drew sharp Republican criticism — and a personal response from President Trump — over remarks she made about using congressional oversight as “deterrence” against working for the Trump administration.

At an October 13 event at the University of Chicago, Slotkin was asked how Congress could reassert itself as a check on the administration. She said that if Democrats regain the majority, they should use oversight to focus on “signature” examples of corruption — targeting not just the president but “the people who enabled him.”

“I want young people coming out of school to say, ‘Should I go work for the Trump administration?’ … I want them to be like, ‘Lord, that might be buying myself a ton of problems that I don’t want. And so let me avoid participating in that.’ I want that deterrence message sent,” she said.

On Monday, Trump called Slotkin a “lowlife who’s ruining her state.” Sen. Mike Lee accused her of threatening young politically inclined Americans. Conservative legal activist Mike Davis wrote that she should “learn about the Second Amendment, sweetheart” — which Slotkin said amounted to mobilizing “death threats” against her and her staff “for sport.”

Sources: CNN; Fox News.

Trump sets October 27 Texas rallies for Paxton in dead-heat Senate race

President Trump will campaign in Texas next Tuesday, October 27 — one week before the November 3 midterms — for Republican Senate nominee Ken Paxton in his race against Democrat James Talarico.

The Lubbock rally will open doors at 11 a.m., start the program at 1 p.m., and Trump is scheduled to speak at 2:30 p.m., according to the event announcement. Registration is limited to four tickets per signup, and the venue has not been announced. FOX 4 Dallas-Fort Worth, citing Republican National Committee officials, confirmed a second event the same day in Waco at 6 p.m., with Paxton appearing at both.

Trump endorsed Paxton in May during the GOP primary runoff against Sen. John Cornyn. The race is a toss-up: a CBS News poll of 1,492 registered Texas voters conducted October 8–16 found Talarico leading Paxton 51% to 49%, within the poll’s 3.4-point margin of error.

Talarico is also holding a Lubbock rally on October 27 at 6 p.m. at Texas Tech’s Frazier Alumni Pavilion, according to the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal.

Sources: Lubbock Avalanche-Journal; FOX 4 Dallas-Fort Worth.

Also in politics: Trump approval falls to 31% in new Reuters/Ipsos poll

A Reuters/Ipsos poll released Monday put Trump’s approval at 31% — the lowest in Reuters/Ipsos tracking across both of his terms — with Democrats leading the generic congressional ballot by 12 points, their widest lead this cycle. The poll surveyed 1,679 adults with a margin of error of ±2 points. It follows Sunday’s record-low readings in the Washington Post-ABC News-Ipsos poll (33%) and the NBC poll (34%).

Source: USA Today, reporting the Reuters/Ipsos poll. The 31% figure is corroborated here by a single outlet; the Sunday polls support the same trend.

IMMIGRATION

U.S. citizen injured in October 17 Long Beach ICE incident; video shows unmarked SUV driving the wrong way

A former Long Beach city employee was injured Saturday during an encounter with ICE agents, and surveillance video obtained by KTLA shows an unmarked SUV driving the wrong way down a one-way street moments before.

The video shows the SUV driving the wrong way as a man on an e-bike turns into the same intersection. The camera angle does not show whether the two collide, but the SUV stops quickly and agents get out.

Long Beach police said ICE personnel requested emergency assistance for “vehicle vandalism” and a person needing medical aid. Officers arriving at Locust Avenue and Ellis Street found a large group disturbance and a handcuffed, bleeding man detained by ICE, whom they transported for medical care.

The man, Ricardo Gonzalez, called 911 himself, according to Mayor Rex Richardson, and told the mayor he is a U.S. citizen. That citizenship claim has not been independently verified. A local activist group alleges the SUV struck Gonzalez’s e-bike, broke his arm, and that agents tased him twice — those allegations have also not been independently verified. Rep. Robert Garcia said on X on October 18 that ICE agents “brutally attacked and broke the arm” of a U.S. citizen; USA Today reports it asked Garcia’s office how he learned those details.

First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli said Monday he does not believe it was a criminal operation and that there “may be charges coming from the incident,” though he added he was “not sure.” ICE and the Department of Homeland Security did not respond to questions.

Sources: CNN; USA Today. The broken-arm, tasing, and citizenship claims are unverified; publish them only as attributed claims, as above.

Sacramento man arrested for wife’s murder after falsely claiming ICE detained her

A Sacramento man was arrested October 14 on murder charges in the death of his wife — after falsely telling detectives that ICE agents had taken her while she was checking the mail.

Gurinder Singh Gill, 28, told detectives his wife Jasmine Gill, 30, was taken into custody by ICE agents outside their Sacramento home. Jasmine was last seen on September 30; her cousin reported her missing on October 4. Burned human remains found on October 1 in El Dorado County were later confirmed to be hers.

Detectives contacted ICE, which confirmed no enforcement activity had taken place at the couple’s residence. The sheriff’s office said investigators found inconsistencies in Gurinder’s statements and learned the couple were in divorce proceedings and a child-custody dispute. He is being held without bail at the Sacramento County Main Jail.

Jasmine Gill was a registered nurse and the mother of an 8-month-old son.

Sources: New York Post; Times Now World. The details come largely from the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office.

CORPORATE WATCH

Equinox pays $1.9M for putting illegal non-compete clauses on low-wage workers

The luxury gym chain Equinox will pay $1.9 million to settle an Illinois investigation that found it forced illegal non-compete clauses on more than 300 of its lowest-earning workers.

Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul announced the settlement on October 9. His office found Equinox violated the Illinois Freedom to Work Act hundreds of times between 2022 and 2025 by putting non-competition clauses in the contracts of 300-plus low-wage workers — and by failing to tell them they could consult a lawyer or give them time to review the contracts.

The money breaks down to $990,000 in restitution for the affected employees and a $910,000 civil penalty. Equinox, which operates more than 100 luxury fitness clubs including five in Chicago, must bring its contracts into compliance within 21 days and put its managers through annual training on the law.

Sources: Illinois Attorney General’s office; LexBlog.

Dollar General pays $1.875M for overcharging New York shoppers

Dollar General will pay $1.875 million to settle a New York investigation that found its stores routinely charged shoppers more than the advertised price.

Her office reviewed more than 900 state Weights & Measures reports from 2021 through 2023 and found that 43% showed price-accuracy failures — far above the state’s 2% threshold. Secret-shopper visits to 11 stores in western New York found investigators were overcharged on about 14% of items. Shelf, advertisement, and coupon prices didn’t match what the register charged, and receipts were confusing.

Here’s the catch for shoppers: the entire $1.875 million goes to Foodlink, a Rochester hunger nonprofit, as donated food and personal goods. Affected shoppers get nothing back. Dollar General must now honor the lowest advertised price at every New York store, reformat its receipts, and submit every store in the state to twice-yearly unannounced independent audits.

Ohio settled the same issue with Dollar General for $1 million in 2023, and Pennsylvania for $1.5 million in 2025.

Sources: New York Attorney General’s office; Democrat and Chronicle.

MARKETS

Wall Street bounces back as AI stocks rebound

Wall Street bounced back Monday after last week’s rout, led by AI and memory-chip stocks. The S&P 500 rose 0.5%, the Nasdaq gained 1.1%, while the Dow slipped 0.1%, according to the AP.

At the closing bell: the Nasdaq Composite finished at 26,430.89, up 290.85 points (+1.11%). The S&P 500 closed at 7,690.73, up 31.29 (+0.41%). The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended at 51,966.03, down 36.38 (−0.07%). The Russell 2000 added 6.93 points to close at 2,728.30 (+0.25%).

The VIX, Wall Street’s fear gauge, closed at 18.44, down 7.75% on the day — ending the fear spike from Friday, when it hit 19.99. The 10-year Treasury yield sat around 5.13–5.15%, up a few basis points. WTI crude fell about 3% to roughly $98.2 a barrel, and gold eased about half a percent to around $4,150 an ounce.

Big movers: Amazon jumped 4.98% after Morgan Stanley named it a top pick. Tesla rose 3.76% ahead of earnings later this week. Micron added 2.97%, Western Digital 6.09%, and SanDisk 5.53%. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index climbed 1.61% to 11,316.34. Intel rose after a JPMorgan upgrade. CoreWeave reversed course, down 0.44%.

The bounce followed the Nasdaq’s worst week since June on doubts about AI spending. But it was a narrow rally: roughly 70% of S&P 500 stocks were actually lower during the day — tech carried the index. Earnings season heats up this week with Meta, Tesla, IBM, Netflix, GM, and AT&T all reporting.

Sources: Associated Press; TradingKey; VistapGlobal; Edge Consultancy.

BREAKING

One man killed in shooting near mosque in Columbus, Ohio

One adult man was shot and killed Monday afternoon near a mosque on Columbus’s Northeast Side, in a shooting police say was not an attack on the mosque.

Columbus police said the shooting happened at 2:11 p.m. in the 2200 block of Albert Avenue, a few hundred feet from the Alrahma Mosque. The man was pronounced dead at the scene at 2:19 p.m.

A police spokesman said the shooting involved two groups of people and may have started at a nearby apartment complex. Police stressed it was not an attack on the mosque and was not related to a funeral taking place inside the mosque at the time.

No suspects have been identified, and police said other victims are possible. Homicide detectives are on the scene. This is a developing story with limited confirmed details.

Source: Columbus Dispatch. This story is still developing and is currently single-sourced.

OTHER STATES

Florida issues arrest warrant for former Cuban leader Raúl Castro over 1996 shootdown

Florida has issued an arrest warrant for former Cuban leader Raúl Castro, charging him with conspiracy to commit first-degree murder in the 1996 shootdown of two unarmed civilian planes.

Attorney General James Uthmeier announced the warrant Monday at Florida International University’s College of Law in Miami. The no-bond warrant was signed by Chief Judge Ariana Fajardo Orshan of Miami-Dade’s Eleventh Judicial Circuit.

The February 1996 attack killed four men: Carlos Costa, Pablo Morales, Mario de la Peña, and Armando Alejandre Jr. They were flying with Brothers to the Rescue, a group that flew civilian planes over the Florida Straits. Uthmeier said the planes were shot down over international waters with no warning. The affidavit alleges Castro, then Cuba’s defense minister and armed forces chief, was a final decision-maker who authorized the shootdown.

The state case follows a federal indictment in May charging Castro and five others with four counts of murder, two counts of destruction of aircraft, and conspiracy to kill U.S. nationals. Uthmeier announced the warrant two weeks before the November 3 general election. Castro is 95. The charges are allegations, not proven.

Sources: USA Today; Tampa Bay 28. Outlets differ on whether the 1996 incident date was February 24 or February 25.

Bribery trial of ex-NYC Buildings Commissioner Eric Ulrich opens in Manhattan

The corruption trial of former New York City Department of Buildings Commissioner Eric Ulrich opened Monday in Manhattan — a bench trial, with no jury.

Ulrich, 41, a former Queens city councilman, served six months as Buildings Commissioner before resigning. He faces multiple bribery and false-instrument charges stemming from three political posts, indicted in September 2023 across 16 felonies in five indictments.

In opening statements, Manhattan prosecutor Guy Tardanico called Ulrich a “compromised politician,” alleging he accepted tens of thousands of dollars in bribes — including a $10,000 Mets season-ticket plan, bespoke suits, and a painting by a Salvador Dalí apprentice. In exchange, prosecutors say, he expedited building and health inspections and cleared a mouse-infestation closure at Aldo’s Pizzeria in Queens.

Co-defendant Michael Mazzio, a Brooklyn towing company operator, is on trial with him. The pizzeria’s owners, Anthony and Joseph Livreri, pleaded guilty to bribery and conspiracy last month after admitting they paid Ulrich $4,000. Prosecutors plan to present wiretaps, surveillance footage, and financial records. Both sides agree Ulrich had a gambling habit and borrowed heavily. The trial is expected to last several weeks.

Ulrich pleads not guilty and says he is too poor to afford an attorney.

Sources: New York Post; Inner City Press. These are prosecution allegations from opening statements; Ulrich denies the charges.

Pennsylvania measles outbreak reaches 1,286 cases, five deaths

Pennsylvania’s measles outbreak keeps growing. The state health department reported Monday that confirmed cases reached 1,286 — up 26 from the previous Friday update.

Hospitalizations stand at 247, and the state has reported five measles-related deaths. Fewer than 1% of those infected were fully vaccinated, according to local TV station WBRE/WYOU. The hardest-hit counties are in northeastern and central Pennsylvania: Snyder County with 50 cases, Clinton County with 35, and Union County with 18.

Nationally, the CDC recorded 4,410 measles cases in 2026 as of October 15, and said last week it would send additional support to Pennsylvania to help investigate the outbreak.

Sources: Reuters; WBRE/WYOU (Scranton/Wilkes-Barre).

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Sources / Fuentes: Associated Press; Reuters; Wall Street Journal; Mint; CNN; The Times; CBS News; QNC News; USA Today; Fox News; Lubbock Avalanche-Journal; FOX 4 Dallas-Fort Worth; Illinois Attorney General; LexBlog; New York Attorney General; Democrat and Chronicle; TradingKey; VistapGlobal; Edge Consultancy; Columbus Dispatch; Tampa Bay 28; New York Post; Inner City Press; WBRE/WYOU.