JQJO — Your world, one story at a time · Page 1270

Psychologist Dr. John Gartner told The Daily Beast Podcast he sees a massive rise in clinical signs of dementia in President Donald Trump, arguing worsening cognitive decline is intensifying his malignant narcissism. He cited wandering, nonsensical speeches, including a military address that digressed to "gorgeous paper," word errors he called phonemic paraphasia, and repeated mix-ups of countries and names, such as Iran/India and Hakeem Jeffries. Gartner warned the behavior poses grave risk with the nuclear football, predicting increasingly irrational decisions as Trump ages amid questions about his physical health.

Near the seventh hole of Tallahassee’s Capital City Country Club, National Park Service archaeologists found 23 unmarked graves and 14 possible graves believed to be of enslaved people, less than a mile from the Capitol. More than four years after commissioners approved a memorial, none has been built. The city is weighing a $1.25 million sale of the city-owned course, leased by the club for $1 a year since 1956, sparking uproar from residents and advocates. After a crowded meeting, commissioners postponed the vote as calls grow to protect and identify the dead.

The Trump administration is negotiating equity-for-funding deals with quantum-computing firms, including IonQ, Rigetti Computing and D-Wave Quantum, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing anonymous sources. Quantum Computing Inc. and Atom Computing are weighing similar arrangements. Shares jumped in early Thursday trading: IonQ and D-Wave up 9%, Rigetti 7%, Quantum Computing 11%. The talks echo recent U.S. moves to take stakes in strategic companies, after investments in MP Materials and a roughly 10% position in Intel. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Washington will avoid nonstrategic sectors, as quantum’s economic and security implications loom amid competition with China.

U.S. single-family rents rose 1.4% in August from a year ago, down from July’s 2.3% and the smallest increase in 15 years, Cotality said. Growth cooled across price tiers, with high-end up 1.6% versus 1.1% for low-end. Chicago led at 4.7%, while Dallas fell 0.6% amid a wave of new apartments. Cotality’s Molly Boesel said local factors keep Los Angeles resilient, now slightly above its pre-wildfire January level. Multifamily rents slid 0.8% in September, Apartment List found, as vacancies hit a record 7.1% and the national median fell to $1,394—$48 below its August 2022 peak.

The European Union announced fresh sanctions on Russia, aligning with U.S. measures a day earlier against its oil industry, in a bid to squeeze revenues fueling the invasion of Ukraine. The package targets Russian LNG, bans more 'shadow fleet' tankers, restricts crypto transactions, curbs Russian payment systems, and limits AI and high-performance computing services, alongside expanded export bans and tighter rules for diplomats. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy hailed the move; Moscow dismissed it. Oil prices rose over $2 a barrel, as overnight drone strikes hit Ukraine and were intercepted over Russia and Crimea.

Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman will leave Strictly Come Dancing at the end of the current season, announcing on Instagram they always intended to depart together and that "now feels like the right time." The duo, who have fronted the BBC hit since 2013, said they’ll savor the rest of the series, with their final show airing on this year’s Christmas episode. The BBC hailed their "passion and dedication," calling it "the end of an era," as attention turns to potential replacements amid recent scandals.

On a cloudy morning in southeast Mongolia, paleontologist Chinzorig Tsogtbaatar spotted a gleaming dome on a Cretaceous outcrop—the skull of a new pachycephalosaur. Described in Nature as Zavacephale rinpoche, it is the first definitive early Cretaceous member of the group and 15 million years older than any previously known. Excavation yielded the most complete pachycephalosaur skeleton yet: a juvenile with a fully developed, spike-edged dome, tiny hand bones, stomach stones, and a tail stiffened by bony tendons. Researchers were 'enchanted' and 'stunned,' and the specimen has returned to Mongolia’s Academy of Sciences for safekeeping and study.

BBC Verify found no evidence for Donald Trump’s claim that every "drug boat" targeted off Venezuela or in the eastern Pacific would save 25,000 American lives. The White House offered no data, saying any boat "has the potential" to kill that many. With 73,690 overdose deaths reported between April 2023 and April 2024, Trump’s math would mean three boats avert a year’s toll—an assertion an epidemiologist called implausible, noting most fentanyl enters overland from Mexico. Separately, verified videos show a deadly explosion at a munitions plant in Russia’s Kopeisk; Izvestia reports 12 dead, cause unconfirmed.

Netflix’s Nobody Wants This returns with new showrunners Jenni Konner and Bruce Eric Kaplan, but its second season loses much of the first season’s charm. While attempts to soften earlier portrayals of Jewish women sideline Bina and make Esther and Morgan less problematic, Noah and Joanne repeat old insecurities and their chemistry cools. Expanded subplots and a contrived crisis leave Noah smarmier and condescending and Joanne over-explained. The season leans on Talmud-tinged speeches yet wavers on perspective, even with a full Purim episode, delivering laughs but a familiar finale that’s hard to care about.

The Treasury Department says Americans have lost more than $16.6 billion to an online scam industry rooted in Southeast Asia, where compounds relying on forced labor flourished during the pandemic. Fraud rings use “pig butchering,” romance ploys, and phone ruses, deploying native speakers trafficked from China and beyond. Many operate from special economic zones in Cambodia, Laos, and Myanmar along Thailand’s border, drawing on Thai power and transit. Despite sanctions and rescue flights, and actions including Thai utility cuts and Chinese death sentences, experts warn dismantling the criminal syndicates will require far more work.