Power outages are intensifying in Alabama and Florida. About 329,000 customers are without electricity in Florida and 124,400 in Alabama, according to tracking site PowerOutage.us. The outages are largely concentrated along the two states’ borders.
The co-pilot who tried to seize control of a flydubai jet flying from Dubai to Tel Aviv last week had been radicalised while studying in Australia, prosecutors in the United Arab Emirates said on Friday. Passengers and crew on the 30 September flight, which had 182 people onboard, intervened to stop 29-year-old Omani national Hammam al-Hammami’s alleged attempt to hijack the plane on its way to Israel. Dr Hamad Saif al-Shamsi, attorney general of the UAE, said al-Hammami’s shift towards extremism and terrorism began while he was studying at RMIT University in Melbourne. During his time in Melbourne, he was influenced by the hardline takfiri ideology through reading extremist literature and online content glorifying terrorist organisations and suicide attacks, the attorney general said. The statement was shared on UAE government social media and first reported by the state-run Emirati news agency, known as WAM. According to the statement, al-Hammami allegedly told prosecutors he adopted ideas advocating violence and terrorism and drew inspiration from the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks. “The idea of carrying out a similar operation using an aircraft became firmly established in his thinking,” the statement said. al-Hammami allegedly prepared himself both psychologically and physically to carry out the alleged terror plot by intensifying his exposure to material promoting terrorism and training in boxing under a private coach. On Monday, RMIT University confirmed that he had studied at its Melbourne campus, but “did not successfully complete an engineering qualification”. Guardian Australia sought further comment from the university on Saturday. Last weekend, Australian security agencies launched an investigation after it emerged al-Hammami spent about two years in the country as a student until 2017. More details soon …
Women living with a chronic hormonal condition should have access to taxpayer-funded weight-loss medications, advocates say. The Polyendrocrine Metabolic Ovarian Syndrome Association of Australia (POSAA) is urging for GLP-1 drugs to be approved on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme for people living with the condition. Formerly known as polycystic ovarian syndrome, PMOS affects one in eight women. Symptoms can include irregular periods, excess hair growth on the body and face, weight gain and hair thinning. The lifelong condition, for which there is no cure, can lead to an increased risk of type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease and endometrial cancer. While GLP-1s are not specifically approved by the Therapeutic Goods Administration to treat PMOS, patients are being prescribed the medications off-label. Half a million Australians are estimated to be using weight-loss medications regularly, a University of New South Wales study found in July. Lorna Berry, a spokesperson for the POSAA who was diagnosed with the condition at 32, said she would welcome GLP-1s being subsidised for patients diagnosed with PMOS, in addition to funding for evidence-based research. “It’s important for people to have access to medications, irrespective of where they live or where they were born … it’s really important that there’s equitable access,” she told the Guardian. Sign up for the Breaking News Australia email Berry said some women living with the condition were already missing out on being able to access the medications due to their high cost, which can set patients back several hundred dollars each month. Associate professor Magdalena Simonis, the women’s health spokesperson for the Royal Australasian College of Physicians, said the college did not currently have a position on whether GLP-1s were appropriate for the management of PMOS. “They’re not necessarily the only tool we have available to us, and that is important because long-term use is expensive, and it doesn’t look like these are going to be on the PBS anytime soon, and maybe not ever for conditions such as PMOS,” she said. “Because traditionally women’s conditions are not included in these changes.” Simonis, a GP with an expert interest in PMOS, said should research find the weight-loss medications more effective than existing treatments, a broader discussion about health equity would be needed. “That is a conversation that we’re having about obesity as a national issue,” she said. GLP-1 drugs – glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists – mimic a naturally occurring hormone which helps manage blood sugar levels and reduces hunger. Ozempic is listed by the PBS, but only for the treatment of diabetes. The Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee last November recommended Wegovy be subsidised for those with a body mass index above 35. The committee will meet next month when it will consider Novo Nordisk’s revised proposal to list Wegovy for obesity following protracted negotiations. The Danish pharmaceutical company produces both Ozempic and Wegovy. They contain the same active ingredient – semaglutide – but Wegovy has a higher dose. “Novo Nordisk is continuing to work constructively with the Department of Health to try to negotiate a solution for the PBS listing of Wegovy,” a company spokesperson said. “We remain committed to improving access for eligible Australians living with obesity.” QENDO, an organisation advocating for people affected by PMOS and other women’s health conditions, said it recognised “growing interest in GLP-1 medications for managing PMOS, particularly for people experiencing metabolic complications and challenges with weight management”. “While emerging evidence suggests potential benefits for some patients, further research is needed to establish their long-term effectiveness and safety specifically for PMOS,” QENDO’s acting chief executive, Kate Fisher, said.
The co-pilot who tried to seize control of a passenger jet flying from Dubai to Tel Aviv last week was planning to launch a suicide attack targeting the passenger terminal at Israel’s international airport, prosecutors in the United Arab Emirates said on Friday. Hammam al-Hammami attacked the plane’s Indian pilot with an emergency axe, but failed to prevent his badly injured colleague from opening the cockpit’s security door to allow passengers to overpower his assailant. Passengers then tried to control the aircraft, which was safely landed in Saudi Arabia by an off-duty relief pilot who was among about 180 passengers. Dr Hamad Saif al-Shamsi, attorney-general of the UAE, said on Friday that al-Hammami, who is in Emirate custody, had admitted he had tried to execute a “premeditated terrorist plot to … launch a suicide attack targeting the passenger terminal at Ben Gurion airport near Tel Aviv, with the aim of causing the greatest possible loss of life”. The 29-year-old, who was hired by flydubai, a government-owned low-cost airline, began a process of radicalisation while studying in Australia when he was influenced by the hardline takfiri ideology through reading extremist literature and online content glorifying terrorist organisations and suicide attacks, al-Shamsi said in a statement. “[Al-Hammami] subsequently developed … ideas advocating violence and terrorism. He also drew inspiration from the 11 September 2001 attacks, and the idea of carrying out a similar operation using an aircraft became firmly established in his thinking. According to his confession, this was linked to his decision to pursue a career in aviation.” Over the weekend, Australian security agencies launched an investigation after it emerged al-Hammami spent about two years in the country as a student until 2017. He left the country without completing his engineering degree. New Zealand authorities have launched their own investigation after police confirmed al-Hammami underwent flight training there about a year after he abandoned a degree in Australia. There has been widespread concern about how al-Hammami was able to pass vetting and join a crew flying to Israel. An Omani national, he earned a distance-learning aviation management degree from Buckinghamshire New University in 2023 and was employed by Oman Air from 2020-24, joined Royal Air Maroc in early 2025 and worked there for several months before moving to flydubai in January 2026. Security officials have been keen to understand if al-Hammami was acting alone or had become involved with a group such as al-Qaida or Islamic State, which could suggest further such attacks might be planned. Emirate authorities believe this is not the case. “In the presence of his lawyer and with all legally prescribed safeguards ensured, the suspect provided a detailed confession outlining his motives and the stages of planning and execution. He admitted that he had acted alone, without the involvement of others, although investigations are continuing to verify this claim,” al-Shamsi said. Investigators have found al-Hammami had used two previous flights to Tel Aviv to “familiarise himself with the flight route and the airport”, the Emirati state news agency WAM reported. The passengers on board the aircraft were overwhelmingly Israeli, with prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu hailing them and the pilot for their bravery after the foiled attack.
A leading pro-Kremlin Russian military blogger with reported ties to Russia’s intelligence services has been arrested in Montenegro, after warnings of attempts to destabilise the Balkan country, officials have said. Mikhail Zvinchuk, the founder of the influential Rybar war blog, was detained on Friday alongside his wife and three other Russians by police and security agents in the Adriatic resort town of Risan, on suspicion of spreading Russian influence, local media reported. Montenegro’s prime minister, Milojko Spajić, confirmed Zvinchuk’s detention in a post on X, saying it followed warnings that the country would face attempts at destabilisation and hybrid warfare. The Montenegrin news outlet Vijesti reported later on Friday that Zvinchuk and the other detainees were to be expelled from the country on national security grounds. The Russian Telegram news channel Baza said officers detained Zvinchuk at the luxury Mövenpick hotel in Risan. It said the group was taken to Podgorica, Montenegro’s capital, for questioning and their phones and passports were confiscated. Founded in 2018 by Zvinchuk, a former press officer at Russia’s defence ministry, Rybar is one of the most popular Russian military blogs covering the war in Ukraine, with more than 1.5 million subscribers on Telegram. It forms part of a sprawling online media ecosystem that promotes Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. But Rybar’s activities extend well beyond Ukraine, with the channel promoting pro-Kremlin narratives in Africa and the Middle East. More recently, it has been accused of amplifying far-right narratives surrounding the migration crisis in Ceuta, a Spanish enclave in north Africa. “At the moment, the project team is in contact with Russia’s foreign ministry, which is working to resolve the situation. Since there were no violations of local legislation, we expect all detainees to be released,” the channel said on Telegram. Britain sanctioned Zvinchuk and Rybar in December 2025 over their role in spreading Kremlin propaganda and undermining support for Ukraine. The British government said Zvinchuk received funding from the Russian state-owned defence conglomerate Rostec, and worked with members of Russia’s intelligence services. The US has separately accused Zvinchuk of attempting to interfere in the 2024 presidential election, offering a reward of up to $10m for information about those involved. Days before his arrest, Zvinchuk boasted on social media that he had managed to enter Montenegro despite being subject to western sanctions and an entry ban. He mocked a border guard who, he said, had searched his belongings but failed to check his name against a database. The Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, said Moscow was aware of Zvinchuk’s detention and would work to secure his release. Russia’s former president Dmitry Medvedev suggested Moscow could detain European and American citizens to use in prisoner exchanges to secure Zvinchuk’s release. “We will probably have to replenish our pool of prisoners for exchange with European and American idiots in order to get our own people back,” he wrote on social media. The arrest is likely to further strain relations between Montenegro and Russia, which have long been tense. In 2016, Montenegrin authorities accused Russian operatives of plotting with Serbian ultranationalists to stage a coup, allegations Moscow denied. Montenegro, which joined Nato in 2017 and is seeking membership of the EU, imposed sanctions on Russia after its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The country recently approved plans to end visa-free travel for Russian citizens from 1 November, closing off a popular holiday destination for Russian tourists as it brings its visa policy into line with the EU.
And, on that note, we will be closing the blog for today. The Nobel peace prize has been awarded to Navi Pillay, the South African former UN human rights chief who chaired the UN commission that concluded Israel was guilty of genocide in Gaza (11:02, 11:04, 11:06, 11:11). In her first reaction, Pillay specifically paid tribute to all people defending human rights everywhere, as she joked to her associates that “if you clap a little bit more I may share this prize with Trump” (11:53, 12:02). Her win was widely celebrated by senior judges and human right campaigners, who offered their congratulations (11:33, 12:06, 12:17, 12:21, 13:22, 15:25), including the president of the international court of justice, of which she is a former judge (12:58). But Israel reacted angrily to the award, saying that “it’s the grotesque weaponisation of an award to legitimise anti-Israel hatred and prejudice” (13:52). US president Donald Trump also reposted a critical comment saying the Nobel committee “shamed itself beyond repair and demeaned” the prize (16:06). Just hours after the announcement, which was explicitly meant as the Nobel Committee’s backing for the international court of justice, the US has imposed sanctions on the court (16:20). If you have any tips, comments or suggestions, email me at jakub.krupa@theguardian.com. I am also on Bluesky at @jakubkrupa.bsky.social and on X at @jakubkrupa.