While You Were Sleeping: 5 stories you might have missed, Nov 1, 2025
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Members of the FBI removing items from a home in Dearborn, Michigan, on Oct 31.
PHOTO: AFP
‘Potential terrorist attack’ thwarted in Michigan
FBI director Kash Patel said on Oct 31 that the agency had thwarted a “potential terrorist attack” planned in the northern US state of Michigan over Halloween weekend.
Mr Patel did not provide any details about the alleged plot but CBS News, citing law enforcement sources, said it was “inspired” by the Islamic State militant group.
“This morning the FBI thwarted a potential terrorist attack and arrested multiple subjects in Michigan who were allegedly plotting a violent attack over Halloween weekend,” Mr Patel said, in a post on X.
CBS said five people between the ages of 16 and 20 were arrested on Oct 31 and one or more of them may have known a former member of the Michigan National Guard who was arrested in May for planning an Islamic State-inspired attack on a US Army site in suburban Detroit.
Ukraine lands special forces in embattled Pokrovsk
Ukraine landed special forces to fight in embattled parts of the eastern city of Pokrovsk earlier this week, just as Russia said it had surrounded Kyiv’s forces in the area, two Ukrainian military sources said on Oct 31.
The operation shows how Ukraine is battling to stabilise the situation in the strategically important city after scores of Russian troops breached its perimeter this month.
Russia’s capture of Pokrovsk, an important road and rail hub, could enable further advances into the eastern Donetsk region, which Russia aims to fully occupy. Moscow’s military has been inching forward towards Pokrovsk for over a year.
China sends its youngest astronaut to space station
China’s Shenzhou-21 space rocket and its crew including the youngest member of its astronaut corps blasted off on Oct 31 atop a Long March-2F rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in north-west China, Chinese state media reported.
It was the seventh mission to the permanently inhabited Chinese space station since it was completed in 2022.
Missions on China’s Shenzhou-21 spacecraft involve trios of astronauts on six-month stays in space, with veteran astronauts increasingly replaced by younger faces.
Fewer than 60 world leaders confirmed for COP30
Brazil said on Oct 31 that fewer than 60 world leaders have confirmed their attendance of an Amazonian summit next week ahead of the annual UN climate conference, a smaller number than previous years.
The COP30 climate conference in the city of Belem from Nov 10 to 21 will be preceded by a summit of heads of state and government on Nov 6-7 – held separately this year to ease accommodation pressures.
Some 50,000 people are expected in Belem, which is home to 1.4 million residents, more than half of whom live in shantytowns.
Shein to go ahead with first physical store, in Paris
Controversial online fast fashion seller Shein will open its first brick-and-mortar store in the world in Paris next week, its new landlord announced on Oct 31.
The planned opening by the Asian clothing giant has been opposed by politicians, unions and top fashion brands, as well as in a petition, but the storied BHV department store in central Paris insisted the move would go ahead on Nov 5.
Founded in China in 2012, but now with a headquarters in Singapore, Shein has faced criticism over working conditions in Chinese factories making clothes sold on the platform, its marketing tactics to tempt young people and its environmental impact.