SYDNEY, Oct 19 (Reuters) - Australian lawmaker Helen Haines was in a critical condition on Monday after being deliberately struck by a car outside her office in Wangaratta, police and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said.
Victoria Police said a 43-year-old man had been arrested after the attack on independent MP Haines in Wangaratta, around three hours' drive northeast of Melbourne.
Haines, 65, was airlifted to hospital, Albanese said.
"All of our thoughts are with Helen, her family, her friends, her team, and her community at this extremely difficult time. We are praying for her full recovery," Albanese told a press conference.
Victoria Police Acting Superintendent Ashley Mason told a press conference there was no further threat to the public.
Albanese said it was too early to determine the motive for the attack, though a terrorism taskforce would be investigating the arrested suspect.
"We thank the swift assistance of bystanders and the dedicated health workers who assisted her, and police for their response," a statement by Haines' family posted on her Facebook page said.
(Reporting by Alasdair Pal in Sydney and Shivani Tanna in Bengaluru; Editing by Kevin Liffey and Saad Sayeed)
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Carney: 'Canada must now serve' service members killed in fire
Four members of the Canadian military have died and dozens were injured at a base in the province of Alberta after a fire broke out in a grassy training area and spread rapidly due to strong winds.
Addressing the nation on Sunday from Ottawa, Prime Minister Mark Carney described it as "one of the worst tragedies for the forces on Canadian soil in peacetime".
The fire broke out at about 16:00 local time (22:00 GMT) on Saturday at Canadian Forces Base Wainwright, one of the country's busiest military training bases, and is now contained.
"The nation is in mourning for those brave members of our armed forces who we have lost," said Carney.
The BBC has confirmed that Sgt Morgan Wong, Pte Shaun Farrell, Pte Aidan Goulding and Pte Hayden Lykkemark have died.
Of the 39 injured people being cared for in hospital, at least 19 are in a critical condition, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said at a press briefing on Sunday evening.
Fire and rescue teams are remaining at the scene to contain any potential flare-ups, Wainwright Mayor Bruce Pugh told the BBC.
Members of the infantry had been conducting "high-intensity combat training with live munitions" at a grenade range and attack range, where 10 soldiers practise attacking a simulated enemy, Maj-Gen Wade Rutland told reporters at the briefing.
"There was a multitude of ordnance moving through the Wainwright training area," he said, including a grenade launcher, grenades, small arms and ammunition.
A grass fire ignited about 1km (0.6 miles) away, with the cause currently under investigation, and moved toward the attack range.
"What I would say is there was multiple training activities happening throughout the training area at the time," he said. "Uncommonly strong winds caused the fire to spread rapidly and shift direction towards the range administrative area."
Cannon fire had been heard coming from the base on Saturday before it suddenly stopped, Mayor Pugh told the BBC, noting it's not uncommon to hear cannons being fired there.
News then came through that local emergency services had been deployed to an "all hands on deck" situation.
Carney said military and emergency crews fought the flames throughout the night in "some of the worst conditions imaginable".
The people who were hurt were on the attack range and included reservists and soldiers from the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, officials said.
In a statement early on Sunday, the Canadian Armed Forces said that "while the incident remains under investigation, at this time, there are no indications that it was the result of any terrorist activity".
Rutland told the briefing: "We do not believe this [incident] to be a result of any oil and gas infrastructure nor any outside interference".
[BBC]
Wainwright, about 210km (130 miles) east of Edmonton, Alberta's capital, is one of the main bases used by the Canadian military for live-fire training exercises, and it houses troops from Canada and allied countries. About 690 military personnel and 300 civilian workers are on site on a typical day.
Warren Thirsk, an emergency department doctor at the Royal Alexandra Hospital, told broadcaster CBC that the number of patients involved in the incident had "completely overwhelmed" healthcare facilities in Wainwright.
The Royal Alexandra Hospital is in Edmonton, where patients are being transferred. The hospital at first declared a code orange - a disaster-response protocol for a high-casualty incident. That has since been stood down.
The provincial health agency said in a statement on Sunday that it deployed 30 units directly into Wainwright, including 22 ground ambulances, six fixed-wing and two rotary wing units.
"It is anticipated that care for patients impacted by this incident will be intensive and will add to existing high demand on acute care in Alberta," it said, adding that patients were being treated at facilities across the province.
STARS, the regional air ambulance service, said aircraft and crews from Edmonton, Saskatoon, and Calgary had been deployed.
Brandon Simmons, who lives in long-term care at the Wainwright Health Centre, told Reuters that when code orange was announced, nurses dropped everything and immediately started grabbing stretchers, gurneys and medical equipment before running to the front entrance.
Ambulances kept coming "throughout the night", he said.
"I heard people screaming inside of those vehicles that will never end up being out of my mind," he recalled, saying it was "like a scene from a war movie".
Additional reporting by Lisa Lambert
Wainwright is about 200km (125 miles) from Edmonton, the provincial capital [EPA]
The BBC’s Quentin Sommerville joins officers at Cook County as they carry out an early morning raid
Warning: This story contains descriptions of drug-taking from the start and discusses suicide
The few grains of fentanyl sit in the silver foil as a straw, held between Mike's lips, hovers above, with a cigarette lighter below. The 48-year-old army veteran is crouched low in an alleyway in Columbus, Ohio's Linden neighbourhood.
"This drug will damn near make you do anything, unfortunately," he says.
The hit he's smoking cost three or four dollars.
"You can snort too much and you can't take it back. Kind of like a gunshot. Can't call the bullet back," he says.
He burns the foil and inhales. As the opioid takes hold, he grips the fence behind him. He sways as a low moan comes from deep in his throat - he could be humming a tune.
We've spent a few days with Mike - he's been our guide through the neighbourhood's back streets. Everyone seems to know him and he's regarded fondly. He helps out at a local pawn shop and gas station, and that's how he feeds his 20-year-old opioid addiction.
Synthetic opioids are more powerful and in plentiful supply, and they have transformed the drugs landscape.
Fentanyl, which is entirely man-made, is 50 to 100 times more powerful than heroin, which is cultivated from poppies. It is now often cut with synthetic tranquillisers, which make reviving overdose victims more difficult. These are homemade threats, where cocktails of synthetics can be made in American basements and bathtubs.
"This drug will damn near make you do anything, unfortunately," says Mike as he lights up a few grains of fentanyl [Darren Conway/BBC]Mike, a former army veteran, acts as our guide through the neighbourhood's back streets [Darren Conway/BBC]
We have Naloxone (brand name Narcan) in our pockets, in case anyone on our team comes into contact with fentanyl or anyone around us overdoses. It's a nasal spray that immediately reverses opioid overdoses and its widespread adoption has transformed the number of fatal overdoses in the United States.
At its peak in 2022, 110,000 Americans were dying from overdoses, mostly from opioids. The number has been dropping since, down to around 70,000 last year. But that doesn't mean the opioid crisis is over.
It's likely that the reversal drug in my pocket, which has saved tens of thousands of drug users' lives, would not have worked on Mike. Because he wasn't just smoking fentanyl.
The pupils in his milky blue eyes shrink to pin pricks. "Opioids make your pupils go smaller, but not that small," he says in a singsong voice. Even the fentanyl, dangerous enough on its own, has other synthetics added.
When we ask what he thinks his drugs have been cut with, he replies: "Xylazine, and the one we can't pronounce."
Medetomidine is what he means. Like xyalzine, it is also referred to as tranq and both are synthetic animal tranquilisers. "Large animal tranquilisers," as one recovery expert told me.
They help prolong the high from the fentanyl but are a sedative that slows breathing and, importantly, naloxone doesn't work against them. Xylazine also causes necrotic skin ulcers, wounds so deep they can make it down to the bone and are difficult to treat.
Recovery group offering hope
At the Glenwood Church on the other side of town, members of the Hope Dealer Community, a recovery group, gather for a weekly meeting. For many, their struggles are written in their care-worn faces, and their eyes are those of survivors of a great trauma.
They take to the stage at the front of the church and share their stories with a brutal and courageous honesty.
One man tells the story of his overdose in July 2022. Two paramedics worked on him, trying to save his life. He had naloxone drips in both arms. They hit him with the opioid reversal three times to no avail. "That's it, I'm gonna call it," said one of the medics. But the other insisted on one more try, and it was that which saved his life.
As the crowd shouts encouragement, Tonya takes to the lectern. She recounts how her nephew died of an overdose while she was overdosing at the same time from crack cocaine, a stimulant spiked with fentanyl, a synthetic opioid.
"It's not luck. I'm supposed to be here," she says with tears in her eyes. The audience yells its agreement.
Members of the Hope Dealer Community, a recovery group, gather for a weekly meeting at Glenwood Church [Darren Conway/BBC]One of those gathered at the church, Tonya, recounts how her nephew died of an overdose while she was overdosing at the same time [Darren Conway/BBC]
Both in Columbus, and later in Chicago, we would hear of crack cocaine users who had died of overdoses after their drugs contained fentanyl. On the street, it's called a "hot dose".
"In the last 12 months in Franklin County [Columbus], 78% of fatal overdoses are from stimulants," explains Scott Sanders, 65, who runs Hope Dealers.
Scott is almost 10 years sober, a powerfully built man in his early 60s with an electric energy. When he asks the room to raise their hands if anyone has overdosed, most of the gathering does so.
"The crisis has just shifted," Scott tells me afterwards. "The tragedy is stimulant users who are purchasing crack think that's what they're getting, and they're not. They're getting crack mixed with fentanyl or other opioid cocktails and overdosing without being aware of it."
Scott Sanders, 65, is almost 10 years sober and runs Hope Dealers [Darren Conway/BBC]
Overdose deaths among black men in Ohio are actually increasing, he adds.
His organisation works with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on a drug sampling programme. Participants bring their needles or pipes for swabbing and the samples are sent to the CDC's laboratory in North Carolina.
That's how we learned that Mike's instincts were right, he likely wasn't just smoking fentanyl. One of the drug kits he brought in tested positive for medetomidine.
"The drug supply in 2026 is this: we think we are buying crack but we're not, we're buying a number of different things," says Scott. "Today it is mixed, not just cut, but mixed with other drugs such as fentanyl or meth, and then other adulterants chemicals that are made in basements."
And it was basement-made synthetic drugs that would cause a dramatic increase in overdose deaths one state over, in Illinois.
I meet a dealer in Chicago who works for the Mexican cartels selling fentanyl. He would only speak to us if we agreed to mask his identity.
Challenged on his role in the 50,000 people dying each year because of the opioid crisis, he says he knows it is wrong. But when asked why he keeps doing it, he said the end justifies the means.
He told me that despite the latest efforts by the US government to target the cartels by declaring them terrorist groups and labelling fentanyl a weapon of mass destruction, his supply chain is as strong as ever.
When I ask him if the targeting of boats containing suspected traffickers by the Trump administration has made any difference, he replies that his product is still getting through from Mexico.
"If it doesn't go over the wall, it goes under the wall. If it doesn't go through the border, it comes through the top border. This game is about adaptability."
And when I asked what has changed in his business, his answer was clear.
"Synthetics. We haven't seen... what synthetics can do yet. It's not even the tip of the iceberg," he tells me.
A novel approach
Chicago's largest jail, one of the largest jails in America, is Cook County. Traditional drugs were usually brought into the jail in body cavities, so the jail had the same body scanners you find at airports to prevent that happening.
"In 2023, all of a sudden we saw a spike in overdose deaths, but then hand in hand with that we saw, around persons that had either passed away or people we revived, paper all over the place," explains Sheriff Tom Dart, who runs the jail. "We were seeing paper that was being burned and all of this was completely novel."
The facility, which averages one or two overdose deaths a year, lost eight inmates that year to fatal seizures.
Security footage shows prisoners spasming and collapsing. It also showed them lighting paper in microwaves in the cell block kitchens.
It was indeed, as Dart said, a novel approach. Drugs were being mailed into the jail soaked in the pages of books and in letters.
"Cannabinoids and being soaked in a range of other things that were then subsequently lit on fire and inhaled to get high", the sheriff explained.
Cannabinoids, sometimes know as K2, are an entirely synthetic version of a cannabis plant extract. They are extremely dangerous and were to blame for the fatal seizures.
In Chicago's largest jail, drugs were soaked in the pages of books and in letters [Darren Conway/BBC]
In August, I joined Dart's corrections officers as they prepared for an early morning raid on the jail's high security D block. Around two dozen officers tread lightly and speak in hushed tones as they gather outside the block door. "Don't let them hear you. Silence, silence," commands one of the officers leading the search.
As the officers rush in, I smell burning paper in the air and can hear the sound of toilets flushing, presumably as contraband is hurriedly disposed of.
As the search gets under way, the focus is on any paper in the cells - the books and letters belonging to inmates.
The detainees are escorted to a holding area as the cells are turned over. Every scrap of paper in the rooms is checked by the officers. There are burn marks on the vents in many of the cells, where inmates place smoulder tapers that allow them to ignite the drug-soaked paper.
Now every piece of post that enters the jail is scanned for moisture. Somewhere between a quarter and a fifth of all packages and letters test positive and are rejected.
Between a quarter and a fifth of all packages and letters that enter the jail test positive for moisture [Darren Conway/BBC]
Outside the jail's walls, it's not hard to encounter the effects of the synthetic drugs wave on Chicago's streets. In the west of the city, day and night, men and women are bent double, swaying, as Mike did, as fentanyl and other synthetics surge through them.
In the upscale Oak Park neighbourhood, the local metro station has a vending machine that dispenses naloxone for free. Nearby, a gaunt-looking man in a wheelchair has deep wounds in his legs, likely from xylazine use. He's being tended to by 40-year-old Karen Bell.
Karen is a recovery worker with the group Liv4Lali. A former heroin user, she's 17 years free from hard drugs.
She exudes kindness, and when I ask her about the drugs being used now, she says, "so many things are being mixed in right now. And it's affecting our bodies, whether it's the wounds, whether it's the withdrawals - and sometimes wounds can extend to the point where it's life changing."
Her organisation, like Hope Dealers in Columbus, distributes test strips which check drugs for fentanyl, medetomidine, xylazine and other adulterants.
The drugs now, says Karen, are "way more dangerous".
"Because before, back in my day, I stopped using heroin 17 years ago, right. That was still heroin. When you bought that you knew it was heroin. But now, when you buy a bag, you don't know really what it is," she tells me.
Karen, a recovery worker, tends to a gaunt-looking man in a wheelchair in an upscale part of town [Darren Conway/BBC]
Dart has been sheriff of Cook County for 20 years, so I ask him how the war on drugs was progressing. "I don't think there's anybody involved with it who would sit there and say it's a raging success. It's not," he tells me.
And the new problem, he says, reiterating the Chicago drug dealer, is synthetics.
"The tradition has always been that law enforcement had an even more vital role because everything that was potent was coming across the border, whether it was coming from Colombia, Mexico, China, the poppy fields of Afghanistan. Now, with the explosion of synthetic drugs, people can do this in their house, in their sink, in their bathtub, you name it."
Victory in the war on drugs won't come from focusing just on the supply side, the sheriff adds. "Front and centre there's got to be huge substance abuse treatment," he says, mentioning a number of recovery programmes running in his jail.
"You can reduce the market if you can address people's issues with substance abuse. And I know many people who, after long struggles, have come out on the other side in a really good way."
'A lot of people are struggling'
Karen knows how difficult it is to quit. She was still using heroin when she got pregnant with her daughter, Abby, now 17. After our meeting at the metro station, I meet them both in a country park in a suburb outside Chicago. With typical care, Karen tells me to watch out for the poison ivy as we walk along a muddy track.
It wasn't far from here, around 17 years ago, that she was at her lowest ebb.
Karen says her pregnancy was an opportunity to get clean. She's 17 years free from hard drugs [Darren Conway/BBC]
As the wind blows through a tall oak tree beside us, she says: "The day I found out I was pregnant, I was on my way to commit suicide. I was so fed up with trying to quit. I was so fed up with living in a tent in the woods, using a bucket. I was so fed up with losing my friends and family because I was just so ashamed."
A pregnancy test changed her mind. She then spent time in Cook County jail for theft. Her parents, sensing an opportunity for her to get clean, refused to pay her bail money. So Karen got clean and Abby was born inside the jail.
When I ask Abby, who wants to become a tattoo artist, whether she's ever been tempted to experiment with drugs, she says: "Nah, I've seen it mess with my family too much, with my dad, my mum, killing my aunt, my uncles. You know, it's not worth it to get high for like a couple of hours."
She continues: "There's a lot of people are struggling, especially that our country is raising our prices, raising the prices on food and it's causing it. A lot of mental health now is very expensive so people can't get help, and one way they can turn to that is by drugs."
Generations of Americans have endured the drugs crisis, but it is never the same crisis. It has shifted from heroin, to prescription opioids to fentanyl and now to a whole new range of synthetics.
Successive administrations have fought - and lost - the war against drugs. The dealers, the suppliers, the cartels and users all adapt, always a few steps ahead of efforts to stop them.
Additional reporting by Darren Conway
If you are suffering distress or despair and need support, you could speak to a health professional, or an organisation that offers support. Details of help available in many countries can be found at Befrienders Worldwide.
A list of UK organisations that can help is available here.
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A coastal storm is forecast to develop this weekend along the same cold front that brought the rain, wind and cooldown to the eastern U.S.
The storm is expected to develop along the Carolina coast later Sunday, bringing persistent, long-duration coastal flooding and beach erosion through mid-week.
In anticipation of this coastal storm, North Carolina's Dare County has issued a state of emergency for Hatteras Island and a mandatory evacuation for visitors on the island.
NC Emergency Management - PHOTO: In this screen grab from a video released by NC Emergency Management on Oct. 17, 2026, large waves are shown.
This is the same area on the Outer Banks that has produced the striking visuals of homes falling into the sea during periods of rough surf and coastal flooding from other coastal storms and systems.
Coastal flood alerts are up from Morehead City, North Carolina, through the Outer Banks and for portions of coastal Virginia and Maryland.
This includes locations such as Kitty Hawk, North Carolina; Virginia Beach, Virginia; and Ocean City, Maryland.
There is a possibility of minor to moderate flooding during high tide later on Saturday through at least Monday evening, possibly into the middle of the week.
Wind Advisories have also been issued for parts of eastern North Carolina, where wind gusts up to 50 mph are possible through Monday evening.
Very rough surf and rip currents are also likely with this coastal storm. Breaking waves of 8 to 15 feet are possible for parts of the Outer Banks and coastal Delmarva.
ABC News - PHOTO: storm track sunday map
With the coastal low likely to stall and bring several days of coastal flooding and rough surf over a focused area, significant coastal erosion is possible for the Outer Banks.
ABC News - PHOTO: storm track monday map
This coastal low is expected to remain offshore of the Carolinas into Monday and potentially into Tuesday or Wednesday.
Ultimately, the greatest impacts will be determined by the storm's track, but periods of heavy rain and wind, along coastal flooding, beach erosion, and hazardous surf are a concern, especially for the Carolinas and mid-Atlantic.
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EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) — Canada’s defense minister said Saturday that people were killed and injured in an incident at a military base in Alberta that caused a major fire, while reports said that large numbers of injured people were being transported to hospitals.
Fire crews scrambled late into the night as fierce winds whipped flames beyond Canadian Forces Base Wainwright and into the surrounding rural area.
It was not immediately clear how many people were killed or injured, but a doctor at a hospital in the city of Edmonton, 180 km (120 miles) northwest, told Canada’s national broadcaster that patients were being brought to hospitals across the city as health-care facilities around the base became “completely overwhelmed” by the number of people needing care.
“This number of patients would overwhelm the city of Edmonton,” Dr. Warren Thirsk, an emergency department physician at the Royal Alexandra Hospital, told CBC News. “It is more patients than any of us want to count right now. It’s a disaster. It’s a one in every 15 to 25-year disaster.”
The town of Wainwright, near the base, has about 7,000 residents.
Defense Minister David McGuinty said the Royal Canadian Mounted Police were involved in investigating the incident and described the situation as “very, very active and delicate.” He said authorities were still working to determine what happened and expected to provide further information.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police said officers were called shortly after 4 p.m. Saturday following reports of a fire in a training area at the base.
Firefighters faced a volatile situation. Large areas of the province were hit during the day by a windstorm with gusts up to 100 kilometres an hour. The wind toppled some trees and sent signs flying and garbage cans rolling down streets.
By 11 p.m., the Municipal District of Wainwright said on social media the fire was being held and that property and critical infrastructure were protected. There was no evacuation order for residents.
Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe said his province was sending assistance to Alberta but did not specify what resources were being deployed.
“Our thoughts are with all the brave women and men affected,” Prime Minister Mark Carney said earlier in a social media post.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith described the fire as “significant and tragic” and said it was affecting many military personnel.
CFB Wainwright is one of Canada’s busiest military training bases, where soldiers prepare for combat operations. It is home to the Canadian Manoeuvre Training Centre, which conducts realistic battlefield exercises, and the 3rd Canadian Division Training Centre, which provides military training.
Canadian Conservative opposition leader Pierre Poilievre said he had spoken with Carney and the defense minister to offer support to those affected by the fire.
“Pray for Wainwright, everyone,” Poilievre said in a social media post. He urged people in the area to follow emergency instructions and keep roads clear for first responders.
The fire also disrupted advance voting ahead of Monday’s referendum on whether Alberta should begin a process that could lead to independence from Canada. Elections Alberta said two polling locations, in Lloydminster and Vermilion, closed early Saturday and the ballots were transported securely.
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Iranian chess grandmaster Mitra Hejazipour made headlines in 2020 when she was expelled from the Iranian women's national chess team for refusing to wear the mandatory hijab.
She now lives in Paris and recently became the French women's champion in the lightning blitz competition. She has been a French citizen for a few months and will probably play in the French women's national team in the future. Currently, Hejazipour works for an engineering company in Paris, having studied software engineering in France.
We met up with Hejazipour in Paris to talk about her decision to abandon the mandatory hijab and how Vida Mowahed - the young girl who, five years ago, decided to hang her scarf on a stick near the Revolution Square in Tehran - has impacted her personal life.
Can you tell us about your first encounter with the mandatory hijab?
Mitra Hejazipour: Since I grew up in a religious and traditional family, accepting hijab was a normal thing for me. But the first time I was told that you must wear this mask, I did not like it and felt bad. When we left the country and travelled to other countries, I saw that female athletes sometimes fell behind because of the mandatory hijab and had to work harder to make up for the lost points. Of course, in chess, the hijab is less of an intervention, but as soon as they impose the hijab on you and keep repeating it, it gets on your nerves.
Mandatory hijab is a double pressure, especially when you don't believe in something from the bottom of your heart and you think you have to accept what you don't accept.
I also remember that I was nine years old and I was second in the world under 10 girls chess tournament. A German chess-playing boy of my age wanted to shake my hand to congratulate me, but my manager told me that it was not right."
Mitra Hejazipour
-
Mohsen Bezenjani
Your trips were often monitored by security forces. Can you tell us about those experiences?
Surveillance was everywhere, they were trained to be with us and monitor everything. They kept warning us. I remember my first foreign trip with the youth team, when the security forces checked that we ate halal food and that we wore loose-fitting clothes. They kept reminding me to wear hijab. We could not even leave the hotel without their permission. Everywhere you turned, they were present and all our behaviour was monitored.
Tell us about your decision to attend the Moscow chess tournament without the mandatory hijab?
In December 2019, I participated in the Moscow competition without a hijab. Of course, before that I also wrote a text on Instagram and supported the women of Elkhebal Street. When the women of the revolution took off the headscarf, many people criticized them. This made me angry and I wanted to support them. But they called me and my family on behalf of the federation and threatened me."
What threats?
They told me to delete this post quickly. But I had made my decision and I was angry and I didn't answer the phones. My mother was called and she told me crying that they might arrest me. They were very scared. That's why I had to take that post down.
How did you come to the decision to appear in the Moscow chess tournament in 2019 without a hijab?
At that time, I was playing in a club in France and I went to Moscow directly from France. Since the beginning of the competition, I used to travel everywhere without hijab. Probably the teammates were in contact with the federation and the story had reached their ears.
First, they called very simply and said that you should wear hijab and if you don't, they may boycott the federation. The head of the federation sent me a message saying that you must observe your hijab. He said, "It's very important for us, otherwise we'll throw you out of the tournament and you won't be able to play anymore." Threats like that. But I had made my decision and I wanted to support Vida Mowahed and the women of Elkhebal Street, and deal with the issue of compulsory hijab.
After I played without a hijab, the head of the federation made a statement and said that I was kicked out of the national team and that I will not be able to play for the rest of my life.
Mitra Hejazipour
-
Mohsen Bezenjani
Did you inform your family at the time that you weren’t going to appear with a hijab?
No, this was a personal decision. As I said, I had not talked to my family. I knew that this decision had consequences, but I wanted not to drown myself in it so that they would not stop my decision.
What was the reaction of other chess players?
I was not supported - at least among chess players. They almost cut off contact with me. I only had a relationship with Sara Khadim al-Sharia and we used to talk to each other. Sara recently decided to participate in the same competitions without hijab and left the country.
What of the stereotypes outside of Iran – how have you experienced your life in France?
Although I carry those stereotypes here too, the experience I had made me get out of these frameworks and think more easily and set higher goals for myself and be sure that I can achieve my goals. Here you think, wanting is being able. Here, women are not considered the second gender. And I can draw important goals for myself and try to achieve them.
What was the impact of Vida Mowahed and the women of Elkhebal Street on changing your approach to the hijab issue?
When Vida Mowahed went to the electrical box near the Revolution Square in Tehran, took off her hijab and tied a scarf on a stick, her decision had a great impact on me. His work was shocking to me. I was asking myself why I didn't protest against this forced pressure all these years and why I was with the crowd and obeyed like everyone else. Her courage was very admirable to me. I was very impressed by Vida Mohed.
Vida Mowahed
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Social Networks
How did Mahsa Amini's death affect you?
The death of this young girl was very sad. It was a great sadness for her family and the people of Iran. But I think the killing of this young girl was a turning point for Iran. Mehsa Amini's death was the beginning of the end of this regime. We know that during these years, many people have been killed and imprisoned by this regime, but this was a turning point for Iran.
How do you see the return of Irshad Patrol (morality police) to the streets?
I have no doubt that this regime does not hesitate to take any measures to suppress people and prevent people from moving. But at the same time, I believe that the change that occurred. When the women of Iran tasted the sense of freedom from the Islamic Republic - this is irreversible. And once you have tasted the feeling of freedom, you will never go back. The regime can no longer stop this movement.
If you could say something to Vida Mowahed, what would it be?
I am very grateful to her. I appreciate her courage. Her action created a spark in the minds of people like me. For many years, we were used to wearing the compulsory hijab. It was not a question for us why we should wear it when we don't believe in it. Vida Mowahed made me understand that we should not lower our heads in front of forceful words. She made us understand that we can protest. Her work was very valuable to me and I will never forget it.
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The US federal budget deficit for 2026 officially came in Friday at $1.992 trillion, a final tabulation to close out the government's fiscal year and another reminder of Washington's spiraling reliance on red ink.
This deficit number represents about 6% of the US gross domestic product and was a result of $5.403 trillion in total revenues for the fiscal year against total spending of $7.396 trillion.
The 2026 reading is a 12% jump from 2025's $1.775 trillion deficit.
The red ink has led to dire warnings from economists that the US now routinely runs annual deficits that were previously seen only during recessions and wars. The gross US national debt passed $40 trillion in August and now sits above $40.3 trillion.
The latest "Debt to the Penny" reading from the Treasury Department came this past Wednesday, putting the gross US national debt at $40,329,229,827,541.02.
A bus shelter in Washington display the US National debt in August. (Jemal Countess/Getty Images for the Peter G. Peterson Foundation)
The independent budget hawks at the Committee for a Responsible Budget noted in a recent analysis that "the country's future fiscal outlook is even more dismal," noting that annual deficits could reach $3.1 trillion by 2036 without a change in the fiscal trajectory.
The group noted that annual interest costs on the debt are now $1.1 trillion, a record 3.4% of GDP, making it the second-largest line item in the government's budget. Interest on the debt still costs less than Social Security, but it is now more expensive than either Medicare or the defense budget.
Members of President Trump's team have tried to downplay this year's tabulation — the highest annual deficit reading other than 2020 and 2021, when budgets were inflated by COVID-era spending — as a blip and insist that the US fiscal situation is getting under control.
Indeed, the impact of tariff refunds has been significant: $144.6 billion in tariff refunds were given out over the past year — but analyses of the deficit also show a variety of factors that have driven up deficits.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and President Trump are seen during an event in the Oval Office of the White House on Oct. 7. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
Anna Moneymaker via Getty Images
A Hamilton Project tracker of government expenditures shows how government spending has increased at a steady pace in 2026. The tracker looks at spending by calendar year and shows that as of Oct. 14, government spending has jumped each of the last three years.
At this point in 2024 — the last year of Joe Biden's presidency — the government had spent $5.76 trillion. On Oct. 14, 2025, spending had grown to $6.13 trillion. So far this year, the government has spent $6.65 trillion.
One of the drivers, a Bloomberg Government analysis found, is spending on Trump administration priorities, especially the Department of Homeland Security, whose budget is up 146% from 2025 to 2026.
Revenue downturn
The revenue side of the US government's budget equation has also faltered on some fronts in 2026, in part due to tax cuts implemented by Trump's "One Big Beautiful Bill."
A monthly budget review from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released last week noted that tariff revenues declined, as did corporate income tax collections.
The group calculates that corporate income taxes decreased by 16% in 2026 as the new tax cuts allowed corporations to take larger deductions "and offset the increases in those receipts that otherwise would have been expected, given the rise in corporate income."
Tariffs were also a significant factor, with the Supreme Court's decision in February striking down Trump's tariffs leading to a refund process in the months that followed that has made tariffs barely a profitable undertaking for the government in 2026.
The $144.6 billion in tariff refunds nearly halved the gross receipts of $317.8 billion. And at least some additional tariff refunds could be seen in the months ahead, with the government recently launching "Phase 3" of the refund process.
This turnabout in tariffs led to a deficit approximately $140 billion higher than projections from just a few months ago. In February, before the tariff refunds were ordered, the CBO projected a $1.85 trillion annual deficit for this year.
Ben Werschkul is a Washington correspondent for Yahoo Finance.
