JQJO — General news · Page 29

Three years after Shinzo Abe's daylight assassination, Tetsuya Yamagami pleaded guilty in a Nara courtroom, saying, "Everything is true." Led in handcuffed with a rope at his waist, the 45-year-old spoke in a barely audible voice as his lawyers signaled they will contest some arms-control charges tied to his alleged handmade gun. Prosecutors said Yamagami targeted Abe to draw attention to the Unification Church, which he blamed for upending his life; hundreds queued for limited gallery seats. The case has fueled scrutiny of the sect and spurred tighter gun-control laws in 2024.

PayPal will let shoppers pay inside ChatGPT starting in 2026, adopting OpenAI’s Agentic Commerce Protocol and tapping the app’s Instant Checkout to confirm orders without leaving the chat. Customers can use PayPal wallets—with buyer and seller protections—or card payments via a separate API. Beginning next year, PayPal merchants’ products will be discoverable on ChatGPT in categories like apparel, fashion, beauty, home improvement, and electronics, with no new integrations required. PayPal is also launching an agentic commerce suite for catalogs and insights, after recent tie-ups with Perplexity and Google, and giving employees enterprise access to ChatGPT.

UPS topped Wall Street expectations ahead of the holidays, sending shares up 10% premarket. The company posted adjusted EPS of $1.74 on $21.4 billion in revenue, and net income of $1.31 billion, down from $1.99 billion a year ago. UPS detailed a sweeping turnaround: 34,000 job cuts, reduced Amazon work, a five‑property sale‑leaseback yielding a $330 million gain, and closure of 93 sites, driving $2.2 billion in savings so far and targeting $3.5 billion in 2025. It guided Q4 revenue to $24 billion with an 11%–11.5% operating margin, calling the shift its most significant yet.

On an Asia tour, US President Donald Trump unveiled a spate of rare‑earth agreements with Japan, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia, seeking to diversify supplies away from China ahead of talks with Xi Jinping. The deals—some non‑binding and short on detail—follow an $8.5bn cooperation pact with Australia to expand processing capacity. Washington touts coordinated investment, stockpiles and preferential export rules, but analysts warn breaking Beijing’s grip will take years, heavy capital and stricter environmental compliance. Recent Chinese export curbs have rattled manufacturers, underscoring fragile supply chains despite new commitments.

Louisiana’s worst whooping cough outbreak in 35 years unfolded as state health officials delayed warnings to the public and doctors, even after two infants died by late January 2025. Internal emails show more hospitalizations followed while the state surgeon general halted general vaccine promotion in February and criticized prior recommendations. Public outreach trickled out in March and May; by mid-May, 42 people had been hospitalized, most not up to date on shots, and most were babies under 1. Cases climbed through summer to 387 by Sept. 20, with long gaps in communication.

The Washington Post faces scrutiny after three recent editorials touched Bezos-linked interests without initial disclosure. The latest defended President Trump’s plan to raze the White House East Wing for a ballroom, even as Amazon helped defray costs; a disclosure was added only after veteran editor Bill Grueskin flagged the omission, with no note of the change. Similar lapses accompanied pieces promoting microreactors and self-driving cars as Amazon and Bezos hold stakes. Amid an overhaul of the opinion section under new editor Adam O’Neal, resignations and mass subscriber cancellations mounted, and former editor Ruth Marcus warned trust is at risk.

Supercharged to Category 5 with 175 mph winds, Hurricane Melissa is crawling at 2–3 mph toward Jamaica, where more than 800 shelters are open and evacuations ordered in parts of Kingston and Port Royal. Forecasters warn of 30–40 inches of rain, 9–13 feet of storm surge along southern coasts, and prolonged flooding and landslides. Severe hits to power, water and communications are likely. At least three deaths in Haiti and one in the Dominican Republic were reported before full landfall. The storm is forecast to move on to eastern Cuba, then the Bahamas and Turks & Caicos.

Commanders’ fourth-down gambles backfired Monday night, and the Chiefs made theirs count. The Commanders failed on both tries — Marcus Mariota threw incomplete on one, then gained five yards on fourth-and-6 — while the Chiefs converted twice, with Patrick Mahomes throwing a touchdown and Kareem Hunt rushing for a first down. After the 28-7 defeat, head coach Dan Quinn lamented missed chances, including not capitalizing on turnovers and fourth downs. Chiefs coach Andy Reid called the four fourth-down snaps among the game’s biggest.

Dancing with the Stars competitor Jen Affleck defended her pro partner Jan Ravnik after alum Maksim Chmerkovskiy blasted him on The Penthouse with Peta podcast, saying Ravnik had “no business” being a pro. During a discussion of Affleck and Ravnik’s Wicked-themed foxtrot, host Peta Murgatroyd urged patience for the first‑season pro but admitted the routine was “very hard to watch.” Chmerkovskiy doubled down, citing a lack of technique and guidance, calling the casting a “missed opportunity” that leaves Affleck, star of The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, at a “major disadvantage.”

Google is opening a preview of its redesigned Fitbit app on Android starting October 28, but many features are missing. Eligible users—Android owners with Fitbit Premium and a compatible Fitbit or Pixel Watch—can test an AI-powered Fitbit Coach with an “Ask Coach” chat. During the preview, menstrual, nutrition, hydration, glucose, and temperature tracking are unavailable, as are sleep edits, heart-rate zone analysis, social features, badges, TCX export, Aria Air syncing, and Health Connect can’t import exercise sessions, routes, or health metrics from third-party apps. If gaps sting, users can switch back via the app’s “Switch app version” setting.