JQJO — General news · Page 25

After no ticket matched all six numbers Tuesday night, the Mega Millions jackpot rose to $754 million, the year’s second biggest lottery prize. The eventual winner would collect far less after taxes and deductions. The next Mega Millions drawing is Friday night; Powerball sits at $376 million with a Wednesday drawing. The astronomical odds of winning Mega Millions are 1 in 290.4 million, slightly better than the previous 1 in 302.5 million after changes earlier this year. Last month, two Powerball ticket buyers split a $1.78 billion jackpot.

The Federal Reserve is expected to cut its benchmark rate by a quarter point Wednesday—its second in six weeks—as officials prioritize a weakening labor market over still-elevated inflation. Layoff announcements are piling up, including Amazon’s 14,000 corporate cuts, Target’s 1,000 plus 800 unfilled roles, and about 100,000 federal jobs cut in the first eight months. A government shutdown has choked off key data: September’s jobs report is overdue and October’s may not be tallied. With September inflation slightly milder and ADP showing a tepid hiring uptick, Fed official Chris Waller cites softer payroll gains as retailers report solid spending.

Ukraine’s drone maker Fire Point is under fire after leaked customs papers alleged U.S. and European components turned up in FP-1 and Flamingo drones used in strikes deep inside Russia. The Telegram-sourced leak claims third‑party imports that may breach end‑user rules, prompting an EU call for an inquiry and a U.S. request for clarification. Fire Point denies wrongdoing. Rivals decry favoritism, engineers cite a 15% FP-1 failure rate, and officials are split as the Anti-Corruption Bureau reviews 2023–24 procurement records. The CEO, defiant, posted: “We build to defend, not to please.”

Just weeks after astronomers reported Comet 3I/ATLAS reversing its tail near the Sun, the saga deepened. Sources at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory cite “instrument recalibration” for a temporary blackout of solar probe data, even as several telescopes briefly logged unusual radio bursts along the comet’s path. A viral thread by Harvard astrophysicist Avi Loeb floated the idea of an “artificial interstellar object,” which NASA called “science fiction.” Leaked emails mention “anomalous” composition readings, and independent observatories reported reflectivity spikes. With ATLAS hidden behind the Sun until mid-November, speculation is surging.

With Dutch voters heading to the polls Wednesday, a severe shortage of affordable homes — felt most acutely by younger people — dominates the race. Demand far outstrips supply, leaving renters and first-time buyers shut out; gap is roughly 400,000 homes, about 5 percent of stock. Experts cite faster-than-expected population growth, more single-person households, and years of slow building under tight local and environmental rules. Parties pitch fixes: D66 touts 10 new cities; Labor-Green prioritizes public housing and a vacancy tax; Geert Wilders’s PVV urges a crisis plan and fewer rules. For many, the search brings constant stress.

While tracing Shackleton’s Endurance route, researchers in Antarctica’s Western Weddell Sea found more than 1,000 circular fish nests forming a striking geometric neighborhood. Built by yellowfin notie rockcod on seabed once buried beneath a 200-meter ice shelf, the nests were spotless and arranged solo or in sweeping clusters. The layout suggests defense by numbers—central nests safer than those at the edges—while isolated sites likely belonged to stronger fish. Surveying with ROVs and AUVs after Larsen C’s A68 calved, the team identified a vulnerable, unusual habitat, bolstering calls to protect the Weddell Sea.

After leaving Saturday Night Live before Season 51, Heidi Gardner and Ego Nwodim spoke candidly about the show’s demanding culture on Nwodim’s “Thanks Dad” podcast. They described long, intimate hours that can forge closeness or fuel friction, while emphasizing the friendship they built. Gardner said they balanced ambition without letting egos collide, even when success didn’t arrive simultaneously. Nwodim called SNL “not the easiest place to work,” noting it’s hard to feel the cast is “winning together,” and praised Gardner as “such a light.”

With a rate cut expected Wednesday, attention is shifting to whether the Federal Reserve will halt quantitative tightening amid mounting funding strains. Repo rates have brushed the Fed’s ceiling, driving reluctant use of its Standing Repo Facility and sparking debate over reserves. Wrightson ICAP expects runoffs to end now; Barclays says December, while warning an early stop could deepen SRF stigma. JP Morgan argues for ending QT as bill issuance—about $600 billion so far, with $200 billion more expected—pulls cash from repo. SOFR hovered within 5 bps of the SRF’s 4.25% rate, and bank reserves fell below $3 trillion.

South Park returns Friday with a Halloween-tinged episode, "The Woman In The Hat," satirizing Donald Trump’s demolition of the White House’s East Wing. Comedy Central released images of Trump and Satan surveying debris from a $300 million ballroom funded by donations from Comcast, Amazon and Meta; Kristi Noem also appears. The episode airs at 10 p.m. ET/PT, with more set for Nov. 12, Nov. 26 and Dec. 10. The piece notes the East Colonnade, Family Theater and Jacqueline Kennedy Garden were also razed, and The Washington Post reported the Trump administration fired members of the Commission on Fine Arts.

After a terse hearing Tuesday, US district judge Sara Ellis ordered senior Border Patrol official Gregory Bovino to appear in federal court each weekday to report on incidents from Chicago’s immigration raids, tightening oversight of operations dubbed “Operation Midway Blitz.” Citing agents’ repeated violations of court limits on force—including chemical irritants used near a children’s Halloween parade—Ellis also directed Bovino to wear a body camera and complete training by Friday. Plaintiffs accuse agents of “extreme brutality”; officials have cited threats without proof. DHS did not immediately comment. At least 3,000 arrests have occurred since September.