At least 150 killed in crowd crush during Halloween festivities in Seoul

The Guardian says South Korea was plunged into mourning as it attempted to make sense of the deaths of at least 151 people who were crushed and trampled to death in a narrow alley during Halloween celebrations in Itaewon, a packed nightlife area of Seoul.

An estimated 100,000 people, many in costume, gathered in Itaewon on Saturday night as the lifting of social distancing, mask mandates and other anti-Covid measures cleared the way for the first Halloween party in three years.

Revellers reported chaotic scenes caused by the sheer volume of people on the streets before the deadly crush occurred shortly after 10pm. Many of the alleyways off the main thoroughfare in the area are narrow and sloped. It was on one such sloped street, located near the Hamilton Hotel and little more than four metres wide, that so many were killed and injured.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/oct/29/dozens-of-people-crushed-by-large-crowd-at-halloween-festivities-in-south-korea

‘Don’t embarrass the king’: Liz Truss told to forgo a lengthy honours list

The Guardian says Liz Truss will be advised by Buckingham Palace not to present a long list of resignation honours after her short and disastrous premiership, according to senior figures with experience of the system.

One source with close knowledge of honours protocol told the Observer that, given her time in No 10 lasted just seven weeks and was marred by economic crisis and U-turns, rewarding lots of allies and friends would be seen as inappropriate by the Palace, by cabinet secretary Simon Case and almost certainly by the new prime minister, Rishi Sunak.

“These things are done in a very British way,” said the source. “I think it will be clear that this would not be right. It will a be a case of … you don’t want to embarrass the king, do you?

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/oct/30/liz-truss-king-honours-list-former-prime-minister-reward-allies

Brazilians go to polls with Lula slight favourite to oust far-right Bolsonaro

The Guardian says Brazilians head to the polls on Sunday in their most important election for years, with leftist challenger Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva the slight favourite to put an end to four years of destructive government by the far-right president Jair Bolsonaro.

Opinion polls on the eve of the ballot gave Lula, as the Workers’ party candidate is known, a lead of between four and eight percentage points.

However, polls before the first round underestimated the incumbent’s numbers and there is no guarantee he will not spring a surprise and win another four years in power.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/oct/30/brazil-election-lula-bolsonaro

Car bombings kill at least 100 in Mogadishu, says Somali president

The Guardian says Somalia’s president says at least 100 people were killed on Saturday in two car bombings at a busy junction in the capital, Mogadishu, and the toll could rise in the country’s deadliest attack since a truck bombing at the same spot five years ago killed more than 500.

President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, at the site of the explosions in Mogadishu, told journalists that nearly 300 other people were wounded. “We ask our international partners and Muslims around the world to send their medical doctors here since we can’t send all the victims outside the country for treatment,” he said.

The al-Shabaab extremist group, an al-Qaida ally which often targets the capital and controls large parts of the country, claimed responsibility, saying it targeted the education ministry. It claimed the ministry was an “enemy base” that receives support from non-Muslim countries and “is committed to removing Somali children from the Islamic faith”.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/oct/30/car-bombings-kill-at-least-100-in-mogadishu-says-somali-president

Jury selection to begin in New York City Trump Tower protest lawsuit

The Guardian says Efrain Galicia, an activist of Mexican origin who claims that Donald Trump’s security guards roughed him up outside Trump Tower during a peaceful protest in September 2015, will have an opportunity to bring these allegations before a jury this week.

On Monday, jury selection will start in the New York City civil trial over Galicia’s allegations that Trump’s security guard roughed him up at “the express or implied direction” of Trump. Galicia and several other activists filed a suit against Trump and a handful of the then presidential candidate’s cronies days after the incident, alleging assault and battery.

The trial comes as Trump does battle with legal woes on a variety of fronts. Federal prosecutors have commenced a criminal inquiry over the former president’s handling of secret documents at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, and Georgia prosecutors are investigating whether he tried to overturn the 2020 presidential election results.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/oct/30/donald-trump-lawsuit-bronx-jury-selection