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A 70-year-old South Korean woman sued her government, an adoption agency, and an orphanage Monday over the adoption of her daughter, who was sent to the United States in 1976, months after she was kidnapped at age 4.

The damage suit filed by Han Tae-soon, whose story was part of an Associated Press investigation published last month, could ignite further debate on the dubious child-gathering practices and widespread falsification of paperwork that tarnished South Korea’s adoption program, which annually sent thousands of kids to the West during the 1970-80s.

It was the first known case of a Korean birth parent suing for damages against the government and an adoption agency over the wrongful adoption of their child, said Kim Soo-jung, one of the lawyers representing Han.

Han searched for her daughter, Laurie Bender, for more than 40 years before they reunited through DNA testing in 2019. Speaking to reporters in front of the Seoul Central District Court, Han argued that the South Korean government was responsible for failing to prevent the adoption of Bender.

No one is likely to be happy with the projected higher deficits laid out in a new analysis of Kamala Harris’ and Donald Trump’s economic plans.

The analysis released Monday by the nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget suggests a Harris presidency could increase the national debt over 10 years by $3.5 trillion. That’s even though the vice president’s campaign insists her proposed investments in the middle class and housing would be fully offset by higher taxes on corporations and the wealthy. Her campaign policy guide states that Harris is “committed to fiscal responsibility — making investments that will support our economy, while paying for them and reducing the deficit at the same time.”

The same analysis says former President Trump’s ideas could heap another $7.5 trillion onto the debt and possibly as much as $15.2 trillion. That’s even though he suggests growth would be so strong under his watch that no one would need to worry about deficits.

Hurricane Milton rapidly strengthened into a Category 4 hurricane Monday on a path toward Florida population centers including Tampa and Orlando, threatening a dangerous storm surge in Tampa Bay and setting the stage for potential mass evacuations less than two weeks after a catastrophic Hurricane Helene swamped the coastline.

Officials said they are preparing for the largest evacuation since Hurricane Irma in 2017 when about 7 million Floridians left their homes.

AFTER LOSING the by-election in the Toronto–St. Paul’s riding in June, Justin Trudeau’s Liberals took another blow in the LaSalle–Émard–Verdun (LÉV) by-election on September 16. Like St. Paul’s, LÉV was once considered a stronghold of the Liberals: in the 2021 federal election, the Liberal Party had won this southwestern Montreal riding by more than twenty percentage points.

These two crushing defeats, along with over a year’s worth of polling data, reveal a hard truth for the Liberals—they can now lose anywhere in the country. There are no safe seats left for the party.

All the warning signs have been flashing incessantly for over a year. The latest projections show the wear and tear of nearly a decade in power, and the widespread dissatisfaction with the prime minister could lead the Liberals to the brink of collapse in the next general election. This is not an editorial comment but a cold, factual analysis of the available data.

In its current state, however, the technology is built to cater to market demand—and the trends are troubling. Not only are men more likely to use sex bots but female companions are being actively engineered to fulfill misogynistic desires. “Creating a perfect partner that you control and meets your every need is really frightening,” Tara Hunter, director of an Australian organization that helps victims of sexual, domestic, or family violence, told the Guardian. “Given what we know already that the drivers of gender-based violence are those ingrained cultural beliefs that men can control women, that is really problematic.”

Already, we’re seeing male users of Replika verbally abusing their femme bots and sharing the interactions on Reddit. The app’s founder, Eugenia Kuyda, even justified this activity. “Maybe having a safe space where you can take out your anger or play out your darker fantasies can be beneficial,” she told Jezebel, “because you’re not going to do this behavior in your life.”

What Kuyda has yet to address is the lack of adequate safeguards to protect user data on her app. Among other concerns, Replika’s vague privacy policy says that the app may use sensitive information provided in chats, including “religious views, sexual orientation, political views, health, racial or ethnic origin, philosophical beliefs” for “legitimate interests.” The company also shares, and possibly sells, behavioural data for marketing and advertising purposes. Users enter into relationships with AI companions on conditions set by developers who are largely unchecked by data regulation rules.

The U.S. Federal Communications Commission on Sunday allowed Elon Musk's SpaceX and T Mobile to enable Starlink satellites with direct-to-cell capability to provide coverage for cellphones in areas of North Carolina hard-hit by Hurricane Helene.

The FCC often grants such emergency temporary approvals during disasters to help restore wireless and internet services in badly impacted areas and to allow for testing.

An FCC spokesperson said on Sunday that the agency remains "committed to helping with recovery efforts in states affected by Hurricane Helene. We stand ready to do all that is necessary to return connectivity to hard-hit areas and save lives."

SpaceX said the satellites "have already been enabled and started broadcasting emergency alerts to cellphones on all networks in North Carolina." The company said it may "test basic texting (SMS) capabilities for most cell phones on the T-Mobile network in North Carolina."

The United States has spent a record of at least $17.9 billion on military aid to Israel since the war in Gaza began and led to escalating conflict around the Middle East, according to a report for Brown University’s Costs of War project, released on the anniversary of Hamas’ attacks on Israel.

An additional $4.86 billion has gone into stepped-up U.S. military operations in the region since the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks, researchers said in findings first provided to The Associated Press. That includes the costs of a Navy-led campaign to quell strikes on commercial shipping by Yemen’s Houthis, who are carrying them out in solidarity with the fellow Iranian-backed group Hamas.

The report — completed before Israel opened a second front, this one against Iranian-backed Hezbollah militants in Lebanon, in late September — is one of the first tallies of estimated U.S. costs as the Biden administration backs Israel in its conflicts in Gaza and Lebanon and seeks to contain hostilities by Iran-allied armed groups in the region.

IN THE EARLY morning hours last Friday, Nick climbed out of his bunk at Mountain View Correctional Institution in Spruce Pine, North Carolina, and stepped into a pool of water.

As Hurricane Helene unleashed a torrential downpour over Western North Carolina, Nick, whose story was relayed by a relative and who requested to go by his first name for fear of retribution, realized his single-occupancy cell in the state prison had begun to flood. Then he realized that his toilet no longer flushed.

For the next five days, more than 550 men incarcerated at Mountain View suffered in cells without lights or running water, according to conversations with the family members of four men serving sentences at the facility, as well as one currently incarcerated man. Until they were transferred to different facilities, the prisoners lost all contact with the outside world.

As nearby residents sought refuge from the storm, the men were stuck in prison — by definition, without the freedom to leave — in close quarters with their own excrement for nearly a week from September 27 until October 2.

In the ruins of his two-storey home, 11-year-old Mohammed gathers chunks of the fallen roof into a broken pail and pounds them into gravel which his father will use to make gravestones for victims of the Gaza war.

"We get the rubble not to build houses, no, but for tombstones and graves - from one misery to another," his father, former construction worker Jihad Shamali, 42, says as he cuts through metal salvaged from their home in the southern city of Khan Younis, destroyed during an Israeli raid in April.

The United Nations estimates there is over 42 million tonnes of debris, including both shattered edifices that are still standing and flattened buildings.

That is 14 times the amount of rubble accumulated in Gaza between 2008 and the war's start a year ago, and over five times the amount left by the 2016-17 Battle of Mosul in Iraq, the U.N. said.

Piled up, it would fill the Great Pyramid of Giza - Egypt's largest - 11 times. And it is growing daily.

A former Delaware police officer convicted of assault and other charges in connection with a 2021 arrest has been sentenced to probation.

A jury last year convicted former Wilmington officer Samuel Waters of misdemeanor assault, official misconduct and evidence-tampering in the arrest that led to demonstrations after videos were posted on social media. He was acquitted of felony perjury in the case as well as another assault charge in connection with a separate arrest days earlier.

Authorities said Waters confronted a man in a south Wilmington convenience store in September 2021 after police were told that employees of a nearby day care facility were being harassed. Waters is seen on surveillance video approaching the man and speaking to him briefly, then grabbing his arm and turning him toward a plexiglass panel and ultimately shoving him against the panel and slamming his head into it twice before both fall to the floor.

Vice President Kamala Harris opened a media blitz by the Democratic ticket on Sunday by appearing on the popular “Call Her Daddy” podcast about abortion, sexual abuse and other issues that resonate with women, working in some digs at her GOP opponent along the way.

In the roughly 40-minute interview, taped last week, the Democratic presidential nominee spoke about the grit it takes to be a woman seeking public office, the toughness her mother instilled in her and the importance of reproductive rights in this election.

The program is the most-listened-to podcast for women and it has millions of fans tuning in for talk about relationships, sex, mental health and women’s empowerment. The discussion with Harris was on the tame side for the show, with the vice president keeping her message focused, in part, on the value of ignoring people who have doubted her.

In Scott Moe’s Saskatchewan, public policy appears to be open to the “highest bidder.”

Thanks to lax regulations for campaign financing, Premier Moe’s Saskatchewan Party has lined its pockets with donations from corporate landlords, oil and gas companies, financial firms, and the largest landowner in the province.

Since Moe became premier in 2018, the Saskatchewan Party has raised over $6.7 million in corporate donations.

Many of those contributions are from businesses outside Saskatchewan, including Alberta, Ontario, and Manitoba.