Melania Trump didn’t support White House East Wing demolition, report says

First lady Melania Trump reportedly didn’t support her husband’s decision to order demolition of the White House’s East Wing to make room for his glitzy $300 million ballroom.

The president’s wife privately asked Donald Trump to spare the historic wing that housed her offices and has been home to first ladies’ offices for decades, the Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday.

Melania Trump “raised concerns about tearing down the East Wing” and “told associates it wasn’t her project,” the paper reported, citing unnamed White House sources. The first lady hasn’t publicly commented on the razing of the space where her offices were.

Melania Trump lives mostly in New York and has rarely visited the White House for official events since her husband returned to power after winning a historic second term. The White House didn’t comment on the report but defended the ballroom project as a win for the American people.

—New York Daily News

Do Americans believe in paranormal beings? What poll shows as Halloween nears

For many Americans, the spooky season is about more than just costumes and candy.

A substantial slice of the country believes in the existence of eerie supernatural beings, including ghosts and demons, according to a new YouGov survey, which comes just days before Halloween.

A majority of Americans also believe they’ve had at least one encounter with the paranormal, and many are convinced they possess paranormal powers of their own.

The poll sampled 1,136 U.S. adults Oct. 1-6, and it has a margin of error of about 4 percentage points.

—Miami Herald

Bill Gates calls out ‘doomsday’ view of climate change in memo

Bill Gates, the billionaire philanthropist and co-founder of Microsoft Corp., says it’s time to adopt a more measured tone when addressing climate change and the threat it poses to the world.

In a memo published on Tuesday, he called out what he characterized as a “doomsday view of climate change.”

According to Gates, who has long stood out as a vocal defender of the need to fight global warming, prioritizing the fight against rising temperatures above all else means that issues such as human health and equality risk being overshadowed.

“Climate change is serious, but we’ve made great progress,” he said in the memo. “We need to keep backing the breakthroughs that will help the world reach zero emissions. But we can’t cut funding for health and development — programs that help people stay resilient in the face of climate change — to do it.”

—Bloomberg News

Mexican President condemns US strikes that killed 14 alleged drug traffickers

MEXICO CITY — The Trump administration has widened its war on alleged drug boats, announcing that it had attacked four vessels off what Mexico said was its Pacific coast, a move condemned by Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum.

The Pentagon said 14 people were killed in several strikes carried out Monday in international waters in the eastern Pacific Ocean. One survivor was rescued by Mexico's navy, according to the Pentagon and Sheinbaum.

At her daily news conference Tuesday morning, Sheinbaum denounced the attacks and said she had asked Mexico's ambassador to the United States to address them with officials in Washington. "We do not agree with these attacks, with how they are carried out," Sheinbaum said. "We want all international treaties to be complied with."

The Pentagon did not give exact geographic coordinates of the attacks. In a post on X, Mexico's navy said that at the behest of the U.S. Coast Guard, it conducted a search-and-rescue operation 400 miles south of the Pacific resort city of Acapulco.

—Los Angeles Times