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TDFP News Roundup – 10/25/26

Writer: Yossi Schmidt
Yossi Schmidt
2 days ago
7 min read

Today’s 20 stories from The Digital Free Press, led by two former senior FBI officials charged with lying to Congress about the Hunter Biden investigations, Brazil’s tight presidential runoff, the Conservatives’ first British Columbia win since 1928, and Elon Musk’s claim that Ukraine broke Starlink’s terms of service.



Part 1: Top 10 Stories


1. Two former senior FBI officials charged with lying to Congress about the Hunter Biden investigations

Nikki Floris, 46, and Bradley Benavides, 56, who led the FBI’s now-dissolved Foreign Influence Task Force, surrendered Friday on charges of making false statements to lawmakers, the Justice Department said. Prosecutors say emails contradict their 2023 House Judiciary Committee testimony; Floris answered no when asked whether she had “any involvement in the Hunter Biden investigation,” Fox News reported. The charges are accusations, and both are presumed innocent.


2. Brazil votes in a tight presidential runoff between Lula and Sen. Flávio Bolsonaro

Brazil’s estimated 158 million voters head to the polls Sunday in a runoff between President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and conservative Sen. Flávio Bolsonaro, Fox News reported. Bolsonaro beat the polls in the first round three weeks ago, edging Lula 47% to 45%, according to Fox News. A Bolsonaro win would extend a string of conservative victories across Latin America that began with Javier Milei in Argentina in 2023.

Source: Fox News


3. Conservatives win British Columbia for the first time in nearly a century

The Conservative Party won 64 of British Columbia’s 93 seats, ending nine years of New Democrat rule and marking its first provincial election win since 1928, provisional results showed Sunday, Reuters reported. Leader Lorne Doerkson, the incoming premier, pledged to double natural gas production by 2032 and said, “We will cut red tape like it’s never been cut before.” The party also promised to end emissions limits and replace the province’s carbon tax framework, according to Reuters.


4. Musk says Ukraine broke Starlink’s terms “to kill people” as Kyiv’s service is restored

Elon Musk said Saturday that Ukraine “violated Starlink terms of service and used it for offensive drone strikes to kill people,” adding, “That loophole was closed last week,” after more than a week of speed restrictions disrupted Ukraine’s war effort, Fox News reported. Musk wrote that “any limits on speed or usage are decided by the US military and ultimately POTUS.” Trump told reporters Saturday he had spoken to Musk about the issue but would not elaborate, according to Fox News.

Source: Fox News


5. CIA contractor charged with leaking top secret reports that ended up on a Substack

Ian A. Brinksman, 42, of Washington, D.C., was arrested Friday and charged with unlawfully transmitting national defense information, the Justice Department said. An FBI affidavit alleges that on five occasions this year he opened classified reports outside his job’s scope, and a romantic partner identified only as “Individual 1” then published similar content on her Substack. CIA Director John Ratcliffe said the arrest followed a referral from the agency; the charges are accusations.


6. Military review boards keep transgender troops despite Hegseth’s ban

Nine of 12 Navy and Marine Corps separation boards have recommended retaining transgender service members despite Pentagon directives calling for their discharge, the Daily Caller reported, citing The New York Times. Hundreds left after the Pentagon offered payments for voluntary separation, and those who challenged dismissal went before three-member boards, according to the report. The Pentagon told the Daily Caller News Foundation it does not comment on ongoing litigation.

Source: Daily Caller


7. Iran’s army says it shot down a U.S. drone over Bandar Abbas

Iran’s air defense systems shot down a U.S. LUCAS drone over the southern port city of Bandar Abbas, the Iranian army said Sunday, according to the semi-official Tasnim news agency, Reuters reported. The report carried no U.S. comment on the claim.


8. Serbia votes as a student movement tries to unseat Aleksandar Vucic

Serbian voters turned out in force Sunday in snap parliamentary elections as a student-led protest movement seeks to end Aleksandar Vucic’s long hold on power, Reuters reported. The protests began after 16 people died when a train station canopy collapsed in Novi Sad in 2024, according to Reuters. Turnout hit 12% by 9 a.m., more than double the same point in 2023, and Vucic, who resigned as president to run for prime minister, waited nearly two hours to vote.


9. Trump votes early in West Palm Beach and vows to keep up his midterm campaign pace

President Trump cast his ballot alongside first lady Melania Trump in West Palm Beach on Saturday before heading to a rally in Georgia, the New York Post reported. “It’s a strain on your voice… it’s not normal, what I’ve done,” Trump told reporters, adding, “I’m campaigning for other people, some of whom I don’t know.” Trump said “a sitting president always does badly in the midterms” but claimed “there’s no president that’s ever campaigned like I have,” according to the Post.


10. Saudi Arabia intercepts drones and missiles as the Houthis threaten Riyadh’s airport again

Saudi Arabia intercepted drones and missiles fired toward Riyadh and southern cities on Sunday, the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen said, and later reported intercepting 10 ballistic missiles aimed at southern Saudi Arabia, Reuters reported. Houthi spokesman Yahya Saree called Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport a “military target” as it reopened two terminals Sunday. An Oct. 10 attack claimed by the Houthis killed 13 people at the airport, according to Reuters.


Part 2: 10 More Stories, Only on TDFP


11. Iwo Jima statue near Quantico damaged with a sledgehammer; suspect lost DACA, sources say

A 27-year-old Stafford, Virginia, man is charged with knocking the head off a Marine figure on the Iwo Jima flag-raising statue near Marine Corps Base Quantico, Prince William County police said. Federal sources told Fox News that Miguel Alonso Maldonado Soriano entered the U.S. illegally in 1999 and lost his DACA protection in August. He faces felony charges, is held without bond and has not been convicted.


12. Ilhan Omar hires Biden’s personal attorney as federal agents probe her immigration history

Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) is represented by Amy Jeffress, who became former President Joe Biden’s personal attorney in 2025, and Joshua Matz, both partners at Hecker Fink, the Daily Wire reported, citing the New York Post. Homeland Security Investigations agents searched Omar’s Washington home on Oct. 12 and seized her phone, passport and computers, according to the report. Investigators are examining whether her age was misstated on naturalization paperwork; her lawyers called it a “vindictive, retributive, and politically motivated criminal investigation.”


13. Mamdani releases a Spanish-language video telling New Yorkers how to handle ICE encounters

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani posted a Spanish-language video Friday advising residents how to respond to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, including keeping the door closed without a judge-signed warrant, the Daily Wire reported. “If you encounter ICE, these are your rights,” Mamdani said, adding, “The city, including local police, do not assist in the enforcement of civil immigration law.” He also urged viewers to stay silent if stopped and to consult a lawyer before signing documents.


14. Gunmen kill nine at a church funeral in Jordan; officials blame extremist ideology

Gunmen stormed a Greek Orthodox church in Karak, about 55 miles south of Amman, during a funeral Friday, killing nine people and injuring more than two dozen, Fox News reported, citing Jordanian authorities. Government spokesman Mohammad Momani said the attackers held “extremist takfiri ideology,” according to Fox News. King Abdullah II called the attack an act of terrorism.

Source: Fox News


15. Protesters breach Rome’s Colosseum as clashes with police spread across Italy

About 500 protesters got past police and briefly breached the Colosseum in Rome on Saturday as demonstrations against the government spread across Italy, Breitbart News reported. Police used water cannons in Rome, but Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s government said expanded police powers, including preventive detention, headed off wider disorder, according to the report. Authorities arrested one of the alleged organizers of last weekend’s riots in Milan.


16. Trump administration has given farmers $43 billion in subsidies beyond what Congress approved

The Trump administration has directly authorized about $43 billion in farm subsidies on top of what Congress has enacted, the Washington Examiner reported. Critics argue the aid would not have been needed without tariffs and the war with Iran, according to the Examiner. This month, Trump announced the Agriculture Department’s $8 billion Harvest Fuel Relief Program for farmers facing record-high diesel prices.


17. Kim Jong Un makes a surprise one-day trip to China ahead of Trump’s visit to the region

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un returned from a one-day trip to the Chinese border city of Dandong, where he visited a Korean War memorial, state media said Sunday, Reuters reported. Kim crossed a newly opened bridge between the two countries, and the trip came as Beijing and Pyongyang seek to expand trade ahead of President Trump’s trip to the region next month, according to Reuters. Kim praised the “glorious years of fighting alongside the Chinese people,” state media reported.


18. Bulgaria votes for president after deadly drone strikes on ships off its coast

Bulgarians voted for president Sunday after a series of drone attacks on merchant ships off the country’s Black Sea coast likely killed some two dozen seafarers, Reuters reported. Acting President Iliana Iotova and former caretaker Prime Minister Andrey Gyurov lead a field of 27 candidates, according to Reuters. Bulgaria has not directly accused Russia, but Prime Minister Rumen Radev said the attacks’ outcome “benefits the Russian Federation.”


19. Fire guts Hitler’s former Eagle’s Nest retreat in Bavaria; prosecutors suspect arson

A fire late Friday destroyed almost all of the Kehlsteinhaus, the Alpine lodge known as the Eagle’s Nest, above Berchtesgaden in the Bavarian Alps, the Daily Caller reported. About 200 firefighters responded and no one was hurt, according to the report. Prosecutors in Traunstein said clear indications point to a detained motorcyclist, whom they described as mentally ill, and officials say the building will be rebuilt.

Source: Daily Caller


20. Gunmen kill at least 40 people in a village in northeastern Nigeria

Gunmen killed at least 40 people in an attack on Binnari village in Nigeria’s Taraba state on Friday afternoon, Amnesty International said, according to Reuters. Police said a large group of attackers invaded the village with heavy gunfire and looted food from shops; police had earlier confirmed 10 deaths before more bodies were recovered Saturday, Reuters reported.


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