New Mexico will become the first state to offer free universal childcare, the governor Michelle Lujan Grisham announced this week, an expansion of an existing program that has helped lift tens of thousands of people out of poverty.
Beginning 1 November, the state will guarantee no-cost childcare to all residents, regardless of their income level in what the governor’s office described as a “groundbreaking new initiative”.
“Child care is essential to family stability, workforce participation, and New Mexico’s future prosperity,” Lujan Grisham said in a statement. “By investing in universal child care, we are giving families financial relief, supporting our economy, and ensuring that every child has the opportunity to grow and thrive.”
In 2022, the state became the first to offer childcare at no cost to most families, making it free for those who earned up to 400% of the federal poverty level, which amounts to about $124,000 for a family of four. About half of the children in the state qualified.
New Mexico becomes first state to offer free childcare for all: ‘model for the nation’
Macron appoints Defense Minister Lecornu as France’s latest prime minister
French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday appointed Defense Minister Sébastien Lecornu as new prime minister and tasked him with immediately trying to get the country’s fractious political parties to agree on a budget for one of the world’s biggest economies.
Lecornu, 39, was the youngest defense minister in French history and architect of a major military buildup through 2030, spurred by Russia’s war in Ukraine. A longtime Macron loyalist, Lecornu is now France’s fourth prime minister in barely a year.
A former conservative who joined Macron’s centrist movement in 2017, Lecornu has held posts in local governments, overseas territories and during Macron’s yellow vest “great debate,” when he helped manage mass anger with dialogue. He also offered talks on autonomy during unrest in Guadeloupe in 2021.
His rise reflects Macron’s instinct to reward loyalty, but also the need for continuity as repeated budget showdowns have toppled his predecessors and left France in drift.
Democrat wins Virginia special election to replace deceased Rep. Gerry Connolly
Fairfax County Supervisor James Walkinshaw (D) on Tuesday won the special election to replace his former boss, the late Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.), according to Decision Desk HQ.
Walkinshaw defeated Republican Stewart Whitson, an Army veteran and FBI agent.
Prior to being elected county supervisor in 2019, Walkinshaw served as Connolly’s chief of staff.
Connolly’s seat has been vacant since his death in May. Walkinshaw’s win narrows the Republican majority in the House to 219-213.
The vacancies have likely helped Republicans during crucial votes this year, including the vote to pass the GOP spending megabill, also known as President Trump’s “big, beautiful bill,” in May. The legislation passed by one vote.
Congress holds hearing on UAPs (or UFOs). What are they?
Four witnesses talked about seeing UFOs – or UAPs as they’re now known – in testimony given to the House Oversight Subcommittee on Sept. 9.The subcommittee heard their statements as part of an examination of a purportedly secret UFO retrieval program managed by the Pentagon. The hearing is the third in as many years since a fiery hearing in July 2023 reignited public fascination in mysterious airborne craft.
The government has rebranded UFOs with its preferred acronym of UAP – short for Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena. Hours of compelling testimony about not just strange craft whizzing unchecked through U.S. airspace, but about a concerted effort of our government to capture and study those craft, does little to dispel those "X-Files"-esque associations. Especially in a nation where nearly half of Americans believe the U.S. government is concealing information about UFOs.
A look at some common UAPs reported in that period:
Netanyahu takes credit for Israeli strikes targeting Hamas leaders in Qatar
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his country "takes full responsibility" for an unprecedented airstrike on Hamas leaders in Qatar.
"Today's action against the top terrorist chieftains of Hamas was a wholly independent Israeli operation," Netanyahu's office said in a statement Sept. 9. "Israel initiated it, Israel conducted it, and Israel takes full responsibility."
Israel launched the attack on Hamas leadership in Doha, Qatar's capital, on Sept. 9. The strike is an expansion of military actions that have ranged across the Middle East to include the Gulf Arab state where the Palestinian Islamist group has long had its political base.
Reuters and Al Jazeera, citing Hamas sources, reported that Hamas negotiators targeted by Israel had survived. Air raid sirens wailed in Jerusalem around 8 p.m. local time as the military reported an incoming rocket attack from Yemen and residents briefly took cover.
Netanyahu warns Palestinians ‘leave now’ before ‘hurricane’ strikes as six killed in Jerusalem
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has warned residents of Gaza City to leave straight away, as Israel said it would ramp up air strikes on the territory hours after six people were shot dead in Jerusalem.
“I say to the residents of Gaza, I take this opportunity and listen to me carefully: you have been warned – leave now,” he said at the Air Force Command Centre in Tel Aviv, adding that Israeli forces were organising and assembling in the heart of the war-torn strip for a ground “manoeuvre”.
Israeli defence minister Israel Katz warned on social media earlier that “a powerful hurricane will strike the skies of Gaza City” after the IDF struck numerous high-rises over the past few days.
Drone said to strike main boat of Thunberg-led Gaza flotilla in Tunisian port
A drone allegedly targets the lead boat of a large flotilla set to try to break the Israeli maritime blockade on the Gaza Strip, according to organizers.
The incident is said to have occurred inside the Tunisian port of Sidi Bou Said, from which the Global Sumud Flotilla plans to depart on Wednesday.
The lead boat, “Family,” is set to carry Greta Thunberg and other activists.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/drone-said-to-strike-main-boat-of-thunberg-led-gaza-flotilla-in-tunisian-port/
The organizers say the vessel, carrying members of its steering committee, was struck by what is suspected to be a drone, with all passengers and crew reported safe.
Francesca Albanese, the staunchly anti-Israel UN rapporteur from the Palestinians, tweets that she is “at the port now trying to figure out the facts, with local authorities and flotilla people.
Fatal stabbing of Ukrainian refugee in North Carolina ignites crime debate
The murder of 23-year-old Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska on a train in North Carolina last month has sparked ongoing concerns about crime in the US.
A video released on Friday by the Charlotte Area Transit System shows Ms Zarutska seated on a train when she is stabbed from behind several times in what appears to be a random attack.
The suspect, 34-year-old Decarlos Brown Jr, is charged with first-degree murder. The graphic video has circulated on social media, attracting the attention of influencers, commentators and politicians.
Charlotte's mayor on Monday called the killing "a tragic failure by the courts and magistrates". She vowed to deploy more officers to public transit sites.
France's government collapses after the prime minister loses a confidence vote
Legislators toppled France's government in a confidence vote on Monday, a new crisis for Europe's second-largest economy that obliges President Emmanuel Macron to search for a fourth prime minister in 12 months.
Prime Minister François Bayrou was ousted overwhelmingly in a 364-194 vote against him. Bayrou paid the price for what appeared to be a staggering political mishttps://www.npr.org/2025/09/08/g-s1-87610/france-government-collapse-confidence-vote-macron-bayroucalculation, gambling that lawmakers would back his view that France must slash public spending to rein in its debts. Instead, they seized on the vote that Bayrou called to gang up against the 74-year-old centrist who was appointed by Macron last December.
The demise of Bayrou's short-lived minority government — now constitutionally obliged to submit its resignation after just under nine months in office — heralds renewed uncertainty and a risk of prolonged legislative deadlock for France as it wrestles with pressing challenges, including budget difficulties and, internationally, wars in Ukraine and Gaza and the shifting priorities of U.S. President Donald Trump.
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