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1. Roundup: Here's What The Critics Have To Say About Gears Of War: E-Day  Pure Xbox
2. Gears of War: E-Day review – an alien invasion shouldn’t be this boring  The Guardian
3. Gears of War: E-Day Performance Benchmark Review - 35 GPUs Tested  TechPowerUp
4. Gears of War E-Day is an uncharacteristically CPU-heavy Unreal Engine 5 game — benchmarking 25 CPUs from Intel and AMD and investigating ‘low core mode’  Tom's Hardware
5. The ‘Gears Of War: E-Day’ Metacritic Review Score Is In, And It’s Great  Forbes

1. Roundup: Here's What The Critics Have To Say About Gears Of War: E-Day  Pure Xbox
2. Gears of War: E-Day review – an alien invasion shouldn’t be this boring  The Guardian
3. Gears of War: E-Day Performance Benchmark Review - 35 GPUs Tested  TechPowerUp
4. Gears of War E-Day is an uncharacteristically CPU-heavy Unreal Engine 5 game — benchmarking 25 CPUs from Intel and AMD and investigating ‘low core mode’  Tom's Hardware
5. The ‘Gears Of War: E-Day’ Metacritic Review Score Is In, And It’s Great  Forbes

The BBC's Stephanie Hegarty looks at why two attempts to execute the US convicted murderer by lethal injection failed.

1. Christa Pike is alive and receiving ‘life saving medical care,’ lawyers say  Global News
2. Tennessee governor calls failed Christa Pike execution "a tragedy"  Yahoo News Canada
3. A Terrible Way to Die, a Terrifying Way to Survive  The Atlantic
4. ‘It was a mess’: Tennessee fails to execute woman after 2 lethal injections  NBC News
5. Christa Pike case: Pike in critical condition, attorneys say  The Tennessean

Pike, 50, was alive and making audible snoring sounds after receiving the drugs and was taken by ambulance from the prison, her lawyers said.

More than 625 people, mostly students, have been arrested over two days of violent protests near schools and universities across France over what students say are staffing shortages, dilapidated buildings, overcrowded classes, government budget cuts and long schedules.

Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu convened a crisis meeting Thursday, canceling ministers’ trips to focus on the protests, which began last week in Paris-region schools and have snowballed. 

EUROPE’S LEFT COURTS MUSLIM VOTERS AS ANTI-ISRAEL POLITICS RESHAPE CONTINENT

Reports say over 350 high schools and about 30 university campuses were affected by the movement on Thursday alone. RFI reported 83 police and gendarmes were wounded today, with 119 students and school staffers injured since the start of unrest last week.

Reuters reported the principal of Marseille’s Victor Hugo high school was doused in gasoline and injured, while two other principals were injured in attacks in Rouen and Petit-Quevilly. Police used tear gas in several cities, with Reuters reporting students accusing authorities of heavy‑handed tactics. Meanwhile, authorities are warning of "urban violence" and attempted arson at multiple schools.

The protests coincide with the government announcing a series of unpopular spending cuts in its 2027 budget two weeks ago and have become a political flashpoint at a ​sensitive moment for the French government.

GLOBAL RISE IN ANTISEMITISM LEAVES JEWISH COMMUNITY ISOLATED; RABBI SAYS WORLD AT 'A TIPPING POINT'

Interior Minister Laurent Nunez told Reuters that, "in certain places, there were individuals acting as agitators — people who moved from one school to another to stir up high school and other students and incite them to commit acts of violence." Education Minister Edouard Geffray called for schools to hold classes remotely if protesters were blocking their premises, posting on X: "Violence will not keep our students from their fundamental right to ​an education."

Senior Envoy to Europe at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies Simone Rodan-Benzaquen told Fox News Digital, "The students’ grievances about missing teachers and deteriorating schools were real at first. But dousing a principal in gasoline and attacking firefighters are acts of extreme violence. What makes this politically significant is the effort to turn frustration over schools into a much broader confrontation with the government."

The Associated Press reported the protests are quickly blowing up as a hot topic in the election campaign to replace President Emmanuel Macron next May. Far-left presidential hopeful Jean-Luc Mélenchon has decried the government response to the protests as repressive. Critics have accused his party, La France Insoumise, (LFI), of seeking to use the unrest to score points in the presidential campaign and of inciting violence.

GERMAN OFFICIALS WARN ISLAMIST, FAR-LEFT RHETORIC DRIVING SPIKE IN ANTISEMITIC ATTACKS

Rodan-Benzaquen says the LFI has "actively supported the mobilization. Activists circulate footage of clashes, party accounts amplify it and elected officials present themselves as the students’ defenders." With an election next year, she said, "Mélenchon sees these mobilizations as a way to consolidate young voters and marginalize the moderate left. At a time of deep political, geopolitical and economic challenges, this is a very dangerous situation for France."

Video posted to social media shows the Seine-Saint Denis mayor, Bally Bagayoko of the LFI, joining in with students, smiling and high-fiving pupils after a trash can was set on fire in the street. And the president of the Île‑de‑France region told Radio Monte Carlo, "There is a call to action being issued by LFI today: ‘Trash your high school.’ It is being spread via TikTok challenges."

In Madrid on Wednesday, Macron told reporters, "High schools are meant to be open and to share knowledge. They are not meant to be blockaded or to have trash cans set on fire."

The Associated Press, Reuters contributed to this report.

Counter Terrorism police also questioned a UK national, days after five others were arrested and released on bail.

The Big Apple joins a growing number of jurisdictions adopting 'click to cancel' rules as the future of a federal standard remains unsettled.

1. Sony brings AI graphics upscaling to the regular PS5  The Verge
2. AI upscaling is coming to PS5  PlayStation.Blog
3. Hands-On With QSSR: AI-Driven Upscaling for the Standard PS5  Digital Foundry
4. Base PS5 Is Getting AI Upscaling Starting With Wolverine And Ghost Of Yotei To Make The Smallest Details Look Even Crisper  Kotaku
5. Sony Announces QSSR, a Trimmed Down Version of PSSR That Finally Brings AI Upscaling to Base PS5  IGN

1. Sony brings AI graphics upscaling to the regular PS5  The Verge
2. AI upscaling is coming to PS5  PlayStation.Blog
3. Hands-On With QSSR: AI-Driven Upscaling for the Standard PS5  Digital Foundry
4. Base PS5 Is Getting AI Upscaling Starting With Wolverine And Ghost Of Yotei To Make The Smallest Details Look Even Crisper  Kotaku
5. Sony Announces QSSR, a Trimmed Down Version of PSSR That Finally Brings AI Upscaling to Base PS5  IGN

This week's roundup for staffing changes on Parliament Hill.

1. Alberta’s top court upholds convictions of leaders of the COVID-19 blockade  The Globe and Mail
2. Alberta men convicted in Coutts border blockade lose appeals  CBC
3. Alberta's top court upholds conviction of Coutts border blockade leaders  Calgary Herald
4. Alberta’s top court upholds convictions of two leaders of COVID-19 border blockade  CTV News
5. CP NewsAlert: Alberta’s top court upholds convictions of leaders at Coutts blockade  Winnipeg Free Press

No spoilers here – TV’s grand illusionist meets his match when he moves in with Theranos founder and her family

For anyone remotely near the worlds of documentary, comedy or medical fraud, there has been one thing on the mind for weeks now: a single-minute clip of Nathan Fielder, the absurdist comedian whose boundary-pushing HBO series The Rehearsal cemented his status as docu-reality’s premier auteur, staring into the deep blue eyes of Elizabeth Holmes, the disgraced founder of blood-testing startup Theranos. Unblinking, faces inches apart, the famously dry purveyor of harebrained business schemes and the convicted fraudster appeared locked in a battle of wills. “Are you being real right now?” Fielder asked her, in a classically meta bit – could Fielder really have spent years filming a secret documentary with one of Silicon Valley’s most notorious pariahs?

The prospect of TV’s grand illusionist versus emblematic girl-boss scammer seemed potentially too good to be true; buzz for You Can See Everything, Fielder’s furtive documentary co-directed with wunderkind du jour Lance Oppenheim (whose narrative feature debut, the Robert Pattinson-starring Primetime, premiered last month) was such that access to the film’s New York film festival premiere on Wednesday became this fall’s hottest ticket.

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The remains of 105 people were buried in the Sheikh Radwan cemetery, northwest of Gaza City.

The SEC wants retail investors to access private markets, and with all the hype around tech darlings going public, there's plenty of potential reward and risk.

Rantzen was one of the most powerful women in British television. From making vegetable innuendos to changing lives and bestowing her own medals on brilliant people – here are her finest small-screen moments

• Dame Esther Rantzen obituary
• Esther Rantzen: one of the UK’s boldest, bravest ever campaigners – right to the very end

Esther Rantzen, who has died aged 86, revolutionised three areas of TV: consumer journalism, the visibility of presenters and viewer participation. Hers was a remarkable career full of landmarks – and here are some of the highlights.

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Ministers discuss drawing down EU countries’ reserves after Donald Trump threatens to cut off US supplies

Britain is in talks with European allies over releasing emergency diesel stockpiles after Donald Trump threatened to cut off US supplies of the fuel.

Ministers held calls with counterparts from the European Commission, Germany, France, Italy and Ireland on Thursday to discuss whether to draw down reserves after the Trump administration told Germany and France to release their stockpiles to help ease soaring global energy prices or face a US export ban.

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LOS ANGELES — One of Hollywood's top executives offered praise for President Donald Trump as he rallied behind a proposed federal tax credit aimed to bringing back American jobs in the entertainment industry.

Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos was asked Wednesday by Bloomberg News' Lucas Shaw what his relationship with Trump is like as the two of them became more acquainted as the streaming giant pursued a buyout of Warner Bros. Discovery, ultimately losing to Paramount.

"Well... for everything else you wanna think, he's a guy who really cares about the entertainment business," Sarandos said at the outlet's annual Bloomberg Screentime summit. "And he cares about protecting the industry and creating jobs. And he loves creating jobs in the entertainment business in America."

TRUMP CALLS HOLLYWOOD A 'TOTAL DISASTER,' PUSHED FEDERAL TAX INCENTIVE FOR A FILM AFTER MEETING JON VOIGHT

In August, Trump expressed support for the federal tax incentive to keep film and television productions within the U.S. versus overseas. Over the past several years, countries like the United Kingdom, Australia and Canada have lured major Hollywood projects using tax credits, and the result was that it could become less expensive to shoot a production across the ocean than to film on the backlot of a legacy studio.

The proposed bill, formally introduced last week, has bipartisan support with Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C. and Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., co-sponsoring the legislation.

TRUMP, SCHIFF FORGE UNLIKELY ALLIANCE AS HOLLYWOOD BLEEDS JOBS

When asked whether he believed the bill will become law, Sarandos expressed some skepticism, citing "a couple of wild card things," such as the result of next month's midterms.

"I think it's a bipartisan approach, which helps a lot. I think it's completely sound, and it has a working model that's proven, that you can put a dollar in and get six to nine dollars out, depending on how well you administer the incentive," Sarandos said. "The problem is, is you have, depending on what's going to happen in a couple of weeks, you've got a lame duck session, and if you have a change in control and who wants to champion what, who wants to give you a win. The win for America is if that — if we got it. That would be a win for the country."

CLICK HERE FOR THE LATEST MEDIA AND CULTURE NEWS

The Netflix boss dinged Democrat-controlled California for allowing jobs to flee the state over the years.

"I just think over the years, California got, I think, complacent that the talent was here. They let the infrastructure age. They make it very difficult to shoot in the city of Los Angeles," Sarandos said.

Sarandos continued, "We just finished David Fincher's movie — [it] was no walk in the park. "Animals" ... we shot that in LA. We shot "Cliff Booth" in LA. And we shot the new season of ["Nobody Wants This"]... just those three productions alone — over $400 million in production spending in Los Angeles — without, you know, the best incentives."

Tech company releases Gemini 4 Argon only to a vetted group of cybersecurity experts to avoid misuse by hackers

Google on Wednesday said it would withhold its most powerful artificial intelligence model from the public for now, releasing Gemini 4 Argon only to a vetted group of cybersecurity experts to avoid misuse by hackers.

“Safely releasing frontier capabilities at this level requires a phased approach,” wrote Koray Kavukcuoglu, Google’s chief AI architect, in a blogpost announcing the model.

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The battle for control of Congress is entering its final sprint, with Republicans and Democrats just over a month away from learning who will wield power for the final two years of President Donald Trump's presidency.

House Democrats lead House Republicans in the most recent Fox News Power Rankings, with the left projected to win 215 seats in the lower chamber compared to 201 for the GOP. But 19 seats are still ranked as toss-ups, meaning the final majority is still anyone's to claim.

One issue that's given Republicans a glimmer of hope in an otherwise bleak cycle is the far-left insurgency that's gripped the Democratic Party. Several key victories by socialist candidates could threaten to push the party further left than most Americans are, a warning that GOP candidates across the country have shared.

FOX NEWS POWER RANKINGS: DEMOCRATS LEAD IN THE HOUSE, BUT REDISTRICTING KEEPS THE GOP IN THE GAME

Below is a list of 10 House districts currently held by Democrats where Republicans could see key victories that help them retain control.

Rep. Shomari Figures, D-Ala., is running for re-election in a congressional district that's been redrawn to significantly favor Republicans.

SUPREME COURT ALLOWS ALABAMA GOP-BACKED CONGRESSIONAL MAP FOR MIDTERMS

A 2023 Supreme Court decision ordered Alabama to create a second Black opportunity district ahead of the 2024 election, meaning Black voters there would have meaningful sway in the general election. The resulting boundaries helped Figures win his seat, which was previously held by Rep. Barry Moore, R-Ala., who ran in a neighboring district that cycle.

But the Supreme Court's ruling in Louisiana v. Callais earlier this year significantly curbed the Voting Rights Act's enforcement of racial considerations in congressional maps, paving the way for southern states to alter district boundaries that were drawn to give minorities more representation.

BLOCKBUSTER SUPREME COURT VOTING RIGHTS RULING IGNITES REDISTRICTING WAR ACROSS SOUTHERN STATES

That hit Figures particularly hard. The new district would have voted for President Donald Trump by roughly 14% in 2024, according to 270ToWin. Both Fox News Power Rankings and the nonpartisan Cook Political Report (CPR) rate it as "likely Republican."

Florida lawmakers also altered their state's map ahead of November, aimed at giving Republicans a slight edge in the already-red state.

Rep. Darren Soto, D-Fla., who is running for a sixth term representing his district, was one of the Democrats whose seat was hit the hardest.

His newly redrawn district voted for Trump by nearly 18%, 270ToWin's analysis states.

REDISTRICTING GIVES REPUBLICANS AN EDGE, BUT AFFORDABILITY WILL DECIDE THE MIDTERMS

Fox News Power Rankings rates it as "lean Republican" while CPR ranks the seat as a "likely" Republican pickup.

The Tampa-area House seat held by Rep. Kathy Castor, D-Fla., was also among the blue seats redrawn by the Sunshine State's government to make it more competitive for Republicans.

The longtime moderate Democrat has served in Congress since 2007 and represented her current district since 2013.

She's facing off against a former Florida state lawmaker, Republican Mike Beltran, who also has name recognition in the area.

Under its new lines, which remove more Democrat-leaning places around the city of St. Petersburg in favor of more rural and suburban areas in the south and east, Trump would have won the district by 10.5% in 2024, according to 270ToWin.

Both Fox News Power Rankings and CPR rate it a "toss-up," meaning it's anyone's game.

Republicans redrew Florida's 22nd Congressional District in a way that could have pitted incumbent Reps. Jared Moskowitz, D-Fla., and Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., against each other in a likely expensive and bruising primary.

But both opted to run in other districts, leaving the seat currently occupied by retiring Rep. Lois Frankel, D-Fla., as a potential opportunity for both parties.

Under Florida's new map, 270ToWin projects Trump would have won the district by roughly 10% in 2024.

Democrat Pia Dandiya, a political newcomer, is running against Republican businessman and Marine Casey Askar.

Both Fox News and CPR rank the district a "toss-up."

Rep. Jared Moskowitz, D-Fla., is running in Florida's 25th Congressional District after the GOP's aforementioned redistricting play, a seat that on paper was amended to give Republicans a slight edge.

Redistricting shifted the seat from one that ex-Vice President Kamala Harris won by single digits to one that Trump would have won by nearly 10 points.

Moskowitz has long touted his bipartisan work in Congress and as Florida's emergency management director under Gov. Ron DeSantis, giving Democrats some confidence that he could overcome the political shift in Republicans' favor.

Fox News' latest projections have the seat leaning Democrat, while CPR ranks it a "toss-up."

Rep. Cleo Fields, D-La., is retiring at the end of this year, making his seat another open race.

But the same 2023 and 2026 Supreme Court decisions that affected Figures in Alabama are at play in the Bayou State this year.

After the most recent decision rolling back the Voting Rights Act, Republicans were able to redraw the 6th district in a way that diluted the Black population, who primarily voted Democrat in 2024, to factor in more red-leaning areas.

Because of the Supreme Court’s ruling earlier this year, Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry signed legislation delaying the state’s House primary races to Nov. 3 and the general election to Dec. 12.

Both Fox News’ and CPR’s rankings project the seat to fall into Republican hands.

The retirement of moderate Rep. Jared Golden, D-Maine, has opened up a rare opportunity for a GOP pickup in the American Northeast.

Golden, who is known for frequently breaking from his own party on key issues like immigration and tariffs, represents a district that Trump won by 9% in 2024, according to 270ToWin.

Republicans have a particularly strong candidate in that open race, former Gov. Paul LePage.

Fox News rates the district a "toss-up," while CPR projects it as a likely Republican victory.

Perennial battleground Rep. Don Davis, D-N.C., is facing one of his toughest re-election battles yet thanks to North Carolina also joining the nationwide redistricting fight ahead of November.

Like Golden, Davis also won a district that went to Trump over Harris in 2024.

But under the state’s new maps, Trump’s margin of victory in that state widened considerably — and with it, Republicans’ chances of winning.

Davis is facing Republican Laurie Buckhout, who he defeated in 2024 by less than 2%.

Fox News rates the district a "toss-up," while CPR’s rankings say it leans slightly for Republicans.

Lone Star State Republicans kicked off the nationwide redistricting fight ahead of the 2026 midterms with a map that was redrawn to win the GOP up to five more seats in November.

Among those is a district currently represented by Congressional Progressive Caucus Chair Greg Casar, D-Texas.

But Casar is now running in the nearby 37th Congressional District, leaving the 35th a wide-open race that both parties see opportunity in.

Under the new boundaries, Trump would have won the district by roughly 10%, according to 270ToWin.

A GOP victory there, however, will depend heavily on its considerable Hispanic population shifting to the right again this year.

Both Fox News and CPR project the district leaning slightly in favor of Republicans.

Rep. Marcy Kaptur, D-Ohio, is also running a tougher race this year thanks to her state’s new congressional map.

Kaptur’s battleground district was shifted slightly to include more Republican-leaning areas, making an already difficult re-election bid even more of an uphill battle.

Trump would have won the district by 10.5% under its new lines, according to 270ToWin.

But Kaptur has survived several attempts at redistricting by Republicans since her first victory in 1982. She is the longest-serving woman in congressional history and the longest currently-serving House member from Ohio.

Both Fox News and CPR rated the district a "toss-up" in November.

Fox News' Remy Numa contributed to this report.