Australian police charged a man on Tuesday over what they alleged was a "targeted" attack with a vehicle on independent lawmaker Helen Haines.

Haines has reportedly lost one of her legs in the aftermath of the incident on Monday afternoon, in which a car rammed into her multiple times as she stood near the trunk of her own parked vehicle in the southeastern city of Wangaratta, according to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

Authorities said the 65-year-old was getting something from the back of her car when her alleged attacker drove past in a Toyota Land Cruiser. He allegedly turned the car around before veering into Haines, pinning her against her own vehicle and then reversing before ramming into her again, according to local authorities and Australian Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke.  

Brendan Nugent, from nearby Tarrawingee, was charged with intentionally causing serious injury, dangerous driving causing serious injury and causing harm to a federal official, police said in a statement on Tuesday.  

Police have said little about the suspect's potential motive, but they have characterized the incident as a "deliberate" act of violence. 

Political violence is historically uncommon across Australia, though data show threats have grown in recent years.

Suspect to face court on Wednesday

Nugent has been in police custody since shortly after Haines was injured and a crowd of bystanders subdued him. He will appear in a Wangaratta court on Wednesday, when he could potentially be released on bail.

His father, Rod Nugent, released a statement Tuesday describing Haines as a "deeply respected, valued and much-loved member of our local community." 

"Helen has been our friend for more than 20 years and what happened to her yesterday is devastating and unfathomable," the father said, adding that he would cooperate with police.

"Absolutely devastated"

Wangaratta Mayor Irene Grant said a somber mood had settled over the town of about 30,000 people, a regional hub about 250 kilometers, or 155 miles, northeast of state capital Melbourne.

"Helen was well-respected. She was diligent and hard working," Grant told AFP. "What has happened to Helen has caused the community to step back in utter disbelief. We can't believe it, people are horrified by what has happened."

Locals, meanwhile, are struggling to comprehend why anyone would wish harm on the well-liked Haines.

Florist Jess Woodrow said Haines was a friendly face who would pop into the store when she was not tied up in the capital Canberra.

"We are absolutely devastated to hear what has happened. Helen was a beautiful person. She didn't have a bad bone in her body," Woodrow told AFP. "It's the last thing you would think would happen here."

Haines entered parliament as an independent lawmaker in 2019, representing the sprawling seat of Indi. Her popularity led to her holding the seat in the 2025 election, with a hefty margin of more than 18,000 votes.

Haines was a vocal champion for greater climate action, better rural healthcare, and help for struggling small businesses, while the First Peoples' Assembly of Victoria said Haines was a "staunch supporter" of Indigenous rights as well. But it was her work to hold politicians to account that perhaps earned Haines the most respect both inside and outside parliament.

"Helen Haines is characterized by her kindness, her compassion, her diligence, her intelligence," Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said. "She's someone who is such a strong advocate and is widely respected right across the political spectrum because the way that she advocates is very respectful."

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in an interview published Tuesday that if President Trump "cannot rein Putin in," he should provide long-requested interceptor missiles so Ukraine can defend itself, as the war of words between the two leaders continues to escalate.

"If you cannot rein Putin in, then give us interceptor missiles so I can protect our energy infrastructure," Zelenskyy told the Italian newspaper Corriere Della Sera, referring to Russia's autocratic President Vladimir Putin. 

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said later Tuesday that Mr. Trump has been "frustrated" by what he described as false accusations that "he is doing things to deliberately harm Ukraine." He insisted that nothing had been "deliberately denied to Ukraine," but added: "It's simply, it's a balance between our obligations to other partners and frankly our own ... requirements for our own facilities as well." 

The exchange came as Zelenskyy prepared to meet U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff in Norway on Tuesday, with his fellow envoy, Mr. Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, expected to join remotely.

Zelenskyy has accused the Trump administration this week of delaying shipments of interceptor missiles to Ukraine, as well as constraining Starlink satellite data that is vital to Ukrainian forces' ability to intercept incoming Russian attack drones.

Ukraine has nearly run out of the U.S.-made Patriot air defense interceptors used to take down Russian ballistic missiles, and Zelenskyy has long pleaded for more. This week he said the U.S. was delaying delivery of Patriots already purchased by European nations for Ukraine.

Rubio, on a visit to India, said "every other country in the world" also wanted Patriots. 

"I also talked to Saudi Arabia today. They'd like interceptors. Israel would like interceptors. We would like interceptors. Every country in the world would like interceptors," he said. "It's probably the most in-demand product right now in the defense field. So, when a country doesn't get interceptors from the United States, it's not because we're denying."  

The meeting comes as daily Russian drone and missile attacks on Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities continue claiming civilian lives, and as relations between Kyiv and Washington appear more strained than they have been since Zelenskyy's tumultuous February 2025 meeting in the Oval Office.

The Ukrainian president said Monday that his country had suffered another night of Russian strikes, "and again there was no warning from partners." At least four people were killed in the capital in the latest attacks, Kyiv officials said Tuesday.

Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store said Finnish President Alexander Stubb would also join the talks in Oslo, with "the aim to put diplomatic efforts on a more constructive path," according to a statement from the prime minister's office.

Starshield and Patriots

Mr. Trump on Friday waived some sanctions against Russia, reducing penalties for its energy sales in a bid to ease rising U.S. gas prices caused by the ongoing war with Iran — a policy Zelenskyy says could embolden Moscow to step up its four-and-a-half-year invasion of Ukraine.

Mr. Trump has criticized Zelenskyy for saying he would resume strikes on Russian refineries in retaliation for the latest Russian onslaught.

Zelenskyy said Saturday that Ukraine was still unable to use Starshield — the military-grade version of SpaceX's Starlink satellite network — to intercept Russian drones.

The Trump administration has denied ordering Starshield restrictions. A senior Pentagon official told CBS News Monday that there had been "no change to Department of War policy regarding intelligence sharing or any capabilities we are enabling Europeans to provide to Ukraine."

In recent days, Mr. Trump has intensified his public criticism of Zelenskyy, saying in a Truth Social post that the Ukrainian leader "doesn't want to end this war, and probably never did," and telling reporters, "maybe it's time for Zelenskyy to get somebody else to negotiate."

Mr. Trump has never publicly acknowledged that Russia started the war against its neighbor, which initially began in 2014, and has at times blamed Zelenskyy for the full-scale invasion ordered by Putin on Feb. 24, 2022.

Ahead of his Tuesday meeting with Mr. Trump's envoys, Zelenskyy said he had a "substantive conversation" with Rubio the previous day in which he stressed that Starshield "needs to be restored" and ballistic missile interceptors "are needed to protect lives."

Zelenskyy told a bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers via video call on Monday that "the Pentagon is delaying the delivery of missiles" already paid for by European countries. He said Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth hadn't signed off on the shipment.

Multiple European countries were waiting for U.S. approval to transfer their own Patriot interceptors, he added, saying he believed "some political decision has been made to slow down ... support for us."

Rubio said Tuesday that it ⁠could be accurate that a batch ‌of interceptors purchased for Ukraine ⁠had not been delivered, but he told reporters: "I think the important takeaway for ⁠you is that there has not been some ‌deliberate political directive to go out and harm Ukraine."

Rubio also said Mr. Trump was "frustrated because, first of all, he doesn't like to be blamed for things that aren't true, including accusations that somehow he had ordered intelligence sharing to be cut off. And that's not true. He's said that repeatedly."

"I think the president, more than anything, is responding to the insinuation that somehow he is doing things to deliberately harm Ukraine — which is not fair and not true," he added.

In his interview with the Italian newspaper, published hours earlier, Zelenskyy said Ukraine had built its relationship with Washington "on honesty, fairness, and, most importantly, transparency."

"When you lie while your people are at war, it is very painful. That is why I have always wanted to hide nothing and never lie to the President of the United States," Zelenskyy told the paper, adding: "We would like to continue having the same open, honest, and pragmatic relations with America that we have today."

"The Russians are striking. America cannot stop them," he said. "Let's believe that America really wants to, but cannot. Then, as a partner, I am willing to meet President Trump halfway: if they strike us and we cannot strike back — that is neither honest nor fair — but if this is what you need, if you cannot rein Putin in, then give us interceptor missiles so I can protect our energy infrastructure."

Trump-Xi-Putin summit on Ukraine?

U.S.-led efforts to end the nearly five-year conflict have stalled in recent months, with Washington more focused on its war with Iran.

Mr. Trump recently said he was ready to meet with Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping in China next month for talks that could include discussion of the Ukraine war.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has confirmed that "the topic of such a hypothetical has indeed been mentioned."

Ukraine's Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said this week that any such meeting on his country's fate, without Ukraine at the table, would "only encourage Putin to continue this war."

Christina Applegate announced Tuesday that she was misdiagnosed with multiple sclerosis, more than five years after announcing she had been told she had the chronic condition. 

Applegate, 54, shared the news in a double episode of her podcast MeSsy, where she and co-host Jamie-Lynn Sigler discuss life with multiple sclerosis. Applegate had taken a break from the podcast in recent weeks. She said Tuesday she had taken that time to process the new information. 

Applegate said that "all of a sudden, a few years ago," her doctor wanted to take her off an infusion treatment and see how her B cells reacted. The cell count didn't increase or decrease after the treatment stopped, which began "kind of a study into my diagnosis," Applegate said. Eventually, her doctor had surprising news: Applegate had never had multiple sclerosis at all. 

"She came into my room and said, 'Congratulations, you don't have MS,' " Applegate said. "I was, like, not happy at all. Everybody else was so happy."

Multiple sclerosis, or MS, is a disease where the body's immune system attacks the central nervous system. Symptoms vary from person to person, according to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, and there are multiple types of the disease. The condition has no known cause, and its progression is impossible to predict. 

Dr. Marwa Kaisey, an associate professor at the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center department of neurology, said on the podcast that almost one in five people who have been told they have multiple sclerosis "didn't actually have it." Misdiagnoses with the condition are "fairly common," she said, because there is no one test for it. 

Applegate said at the time of her initial diagnosis, she underwent tests including a spinal tap and MRIs. Scans showed lesions on her brain, she said. 

Applegate said that she continues to have debilitating symptoms that affect her daily life and mobility. 

"You don't get misdiagnosed and then all of the sudden I'm better," Applegate said. "If anything, I've gotten worse. So I'm back at square one where I don't know what's going on with me. And that's going to be an online investigation that my doctors are going to be getting into just to find out what has been going on since 2021, why did this happen?"

The investigation will begin next week, she said. 

Applegate has previously described living with symptoms including numbness, an off-balance feeling, and a tingling sensation in the limbs. She said in a 2022 interview with The New York Times that she "can't walk without a cane."  

In the same interview, she said she used a wheelchair during filming of the Netflix hit "Dead To Me," and the show's script was adjusted to accommodate her symptoms. In 2023, Applegate said her symptoms might lead to her giving up acting on camera. She said Tuesday that she has physical therapy three times a week. 

After she was officially diagnosed with the disease, she became an outspoken advocate for MS. On Tuesday, she said the misdiagnosis made her feel "like I let everybody down." 

"It's very unnerving and it's really confusing for me," Applegate said. 

Nine days after next month's midterm elections, three prominent Democrats  who are widely believed to have presidential ambitions will join other potential 2028 party contenders in Denver to discuss the future of the party.

Sens. Cory Booker of New Jersey and Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, as well as Rep. Ro Khanna of California, are among the latest additions who plan to join the "What's Next" summit, according to an updated list of attendees first shared with CBS News. 

All three lawmakers identify as progressives, and all three have drawn national attention over their political ambitions in recent years. Booker ran for president in 2020 but dropped out before the first primary contests. Khanna has described himself as a "long-shot presidential candidate," and Van Hollen has acknowledged that he is "kicking the tires" on a possible 2028 run. 

The three have also introduced tax plans that could be precursors to 2028 platforms.

The meeting will take place from Nov. 12 to 14, and is being hosted by Majority Democrats, a group formed last year by largely moderate elected officials and other high-profile Democrats who say they are "committed to reshaping and growing the Democratic Party."  

Chaired by Rep. Jake Auchincloss of Massachusetts, the organization says it aims to take lessons from the 2026 races into the upcoming presidential election, in part by bringing together leading voices from across different factions within the party.

"Democrats have talked a big game about building a 'big tent' that can hold onto a majority. The sad reality is, we were all hat, no cattle when it came time to live up to those ideals," said Matt Corridoni, a spokesperson for Majority Democrats. "What's Next is an opportunity for Democrats from every wing of the party to have the open and often difficult conversations we need to win in 2028."

The three latest entrants join an initial lineup of other possible presidential candidates including former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and Sens. Raphael Warnock of Georgia, Ruben Gallego of Arizona and Chris Murphy of Connecticut.

Govs. Abigail Spanberger of Virginia and Mikie Sherrill of New Jersey plan to attend, as well as other members of Congress and political strategists.

Democrats hope to win control of the House in November's midterm elections and carry the momentum into the 2028 presidential race. 

Many feel the party has not settled on a political identity after losing the White House in 2024, and moderate and progressive Democrats disagree on the party's direction.That split has not helped the party win over voters: In a February CBS News poll, most voters described the Democratic Party as "weak." 

Presidential contenders could begin launching their campaigns in the coming months, and some possible 2028 candidates have sought to raise their profile on the midterm trail, appearing alongside Democrats in key states. New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez and former Vice President Kamala Harris have both visited Michigan this fall to campaign with Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed. California Gov. Gavin Newsom campaigned in New Hampshire last weekend with Rep. Chris Pappas, who is in a tight race for Senate. 

Organizers chose to hold the inaugural What's Next summit in Denver as it is one of the cities under consideration to host the 2028 Democratic National Convention. Over 2,000 people are expected to attend, according to a person familiar with the planning.

"Winning in 2028 will require us coming together to take the best ideas from every corner of the Democratic Party and forging them into an agenda that can build a durable majority and deliver for the American people," said executive director of Majority Democrats Rohan Patel. 

A woman died after being mauled by a shark while swimming off a popular beach on South Africa's southeastern coast on Tuesday, witnesses and authorities said.

Fatal shark attacks are uncommon worldwide but South Africa has a history of deadly encounters along its long coastline.

Tuesday's attack was at Orient Beach in KuGompo City, previously known as East London. 

Police said they were called to the scene at around 7:00 am local time, where they found the body of a 65-year-old woman with "open wounds."

Local media reported the woman was a regular swimmer and had been swimming with a group when the attack occurred. A local community group said other swimmers had spotted a shark's tail and fin. The group said the woman sustained "severe injuries to the right side of her arm and leg." 

After the attack, the municipality closed nearby beaches and urged the public to stay out of the water.

"It has been confirmed that a shark attack occurred at Orient Beach this morning, and this resulted in a tragic incident," the city said in a statement.

The incident comes about one month after a man was killed by a shark in front of beachgoers as he swam off a Western Australian city shore.

There were 65 unprovoked shark bites worldwide in 2025, up from 47 the previous year, including nine fatalities, according to the University of Florida's International Shark Attack File. There was one unprovoked attack in South Africa last year, which was fatal. By contrast, there were 25 unprovoked attacks in the U.S. (one fatal) and 21 unprovoked attacks in Australia (five fatal).

In 2022, there were two fatal shark attacks in South Africa, including a 39-year-old woman who was on vacation with her husband and young child when she was killed.

Researchers say encounters can be influenced by a range of factors, including growing coastal populations, increased use of marine waters, environmental changes and shifts in the distribution of sharks and their prey.

Tel Aviv — At least 40 ultra-Orthodox Jewish men were arrested upon arriving Tuesday morning at Israel's Ben Gurion Airport on suspicion of attempting to evade the country's military draft, the Israel Defense Forces said.

"The aforementioned individuals, who passed through the border crossing at Ben Gurion Airport, are subject to mandatory military service and will be tried in accordance with the law," the IDF said in a statement.

The mass-arrest by military police was unusual in its scale, and it came amid a national reckoning over whether the ultra-Orthodox should have to serve in the military like the rest of Israel's Jewish citizens.

The ultra-Orthodox have traditionally been exempt from military service, but in 2024, Israel's Supreme Court ruled that in the absence of any law legalizing the exemption, the military must start drafting them.

Since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attacks on Israel and the subsequent multi-front war, the issue of equality of service has been thrust to the forefront of political debate ahead of Israel's looming national elections on Oct. 27.

Many Israelis who serve in the military, particularly in the reserves, have complained of having to take on an unfair amount of the security burden for the state.

Ultra-Orthodox or Haredi Jews make up around 13% of Israel's population, but that number is growing faster than any other group in the country. They are expected to represent close to 25% of the population by 2050, according to projections by Israel's Central Bureau of Statistics.

Rather than serve in the military, most ultra-Orthodox men study full-time in religious seminaries.

Ultra-Orthodox political leaders have demanded a law to formalize the group's broad exemption from the draft, but one that would also determine a percentage of ultra-Orthodox men and women who would be subject to compulsory service.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has relied directly, since the last national elections in 2022, on the support of ultra-Orthodox parties to remain in power, and he has had to walk a tight line between their demands and those of other supporters demanding equality of service.

In an interview Tuesday morning with the ultra-Orthodox radio station Kol Barama, Netanyahu said he opposed the arrests of ultra-Orthodox draft evaders, arguing that it harmed efforts to enlist them without coercion.

A group of Democratic senators is demanding that the federal agency overseeing Medicaid — the health coverage program for people with low incomes or disabilities — institute tougher standards for government contractors running complex computer systems that millions of people rely on to get benefits.

Three Democratic senators issued recommendations a year after launching an inquiry into companies — Deloitte, General Dynamics Information Technology, Gainwell Technologies, and Conduent — that are paid billions in taxpayer dollars to build or run eligibility systems for safety net health coverage. Those benefits, provided to the poorest Americans, can mean the difference between having medical care or going without.

A handful of states directly operate their Medicaid eligibility systems, but most rely on contractors to build and run them. KFF Health News found that Deloitte dominates this slice of government business. Deloitte-run systems have been plagued by errors that can result in eligible people losing their health coverage, previous KFF Health News investigations have shown. Malfunctions can cost millions of taxpayer dollars and take years to fix.

"Administrative errors in this line of work are not like errors in other fields," the senators wrote in a new report. "There are life-and-death consequences for sick Americans who seek care only to find that their Medicaid coverage has been terminated."

President Donald Trump's signature tax and domestic policy law has mandated Medicaid changes that are forcing states to adapt their computer systems on a compressed timeline. Medicaid policies under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act add red tape and restrictions that make it harder for people to stay enrolled.

Those include the first federally mandated work requirements in Medicaid's history. Next year, to keep benefits, millions of adult Medicaid enrollees in more than 40 states must prove they're working or doing a similar activity for at least 80 hours a month, unless they qualify for an exemption.

Democratic senators Ron Wyden of Oregon, Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, and Raphael Warnock of Georgia say the new restrictions — layered atop computer systems with histories of problems — will result in large numbers of people improperly losing health coverage.

State eligibility systems "have been built up, patched, and frankensteined for decades," the senators said.

The senators sit on the powerful Senate Finance Committee, which oversees government health programs such as Medicare and Medicaid. Many of their recommendations target the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Their ideas face long odds at the moment. Republicans control executive branch agencies, and any potential legislation would need to advance in a Republican-controlled Congress.

That balance of power could shift if Democrats win a majority of Senate seats in November's midterm elections. The three lawmakers called on CMS to establish mandatory standards in state contracts with companies so states can receive federal funds.

These companies sign contracts with state governments, but the federal government approves them and pays the bulk of the cost. The federal government covers 90% of state costs to develop and implement state Medicaid eligibility systems and 75% of ongoing maintenance and operations expenses, according to federal regulations.

The lawmakers also said CMS should publicize the contracts and contract amendments. Currently, those documents can be obtained from state governments, but accessibility varies significantly.

The senators also said CMS should publicly disclose companies' performance data and change orders. Change orders are used to adjust computer systems, and states set aside millions of dollars for them. But systems may require fixes beyond the agreed-upon work.

"The millions of Medicaid enrollees who will be required to prove their eligibility every six months, to document every hour of work on a glitchy portal, to find a doctor willing to certify that their cancer or their chronic condition is bad enough to qualify for an exemption — deserve contractors who are accountable for what happens when the system fails them," they wrote.

In October 2025, the three Democratic senators, as well as Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), sent letters to several companies that CMS identified as eligibility system contractors. At the time, they wrote that it is each company's responsibility to build functioning eligibility systems, "rather than to prioritize their bottom line."

As of June, 66 million people were enrolled in Medicaid, according to CMS.

The lawmakers had asked the companies about their contracts, lobbying expenditures, and protocols for making changes in light of system errors, among other issues. The companies provided the lawmakers with some details but often did not answer their questions.

The companies said states are responsible for making the final call on whether a person receives benefits. State workers approve or deny eligibility, Deloitte said in its response letter, "not a private contractor or an automated system acting alone."

The companies did not provide the senators with specific details about documents or processes they use to help states make eligibility determinations.

The companies also denied they have any financial incentives to remove people from Medicaid. Conduent said it gets paid less if enrollment drops.

The companies did not say whether states are on the hook for paying to fix the companies' errors.

Deloitte, Gainwell, GDIT, and Conduent said it's common for states to require that they meet certain performance metrics.

Gainwell told lawmakers, "We take seriously the issues raised." GDIT said it would answer additional questions from lawmakers.

Deloitte said in its response to the lawmakers: "We are proud of our work serving individuals and families across the U.S."

CMS did not respond to a request for comment.

CMS takes steps to check whether Medicaid eligibility systems are working properly. As part of the process for certifying states' systems, federal officials check certain metrics. They include whether states are correctly calculating people's incomes, whether individuals are given timely eligibility decisions, and whether eligibility categories are accurate. However, it is rare for the federal government to withdraw federal money from states for falling short.

In August, CMS announced it intends to develop standards for Medicaid systems. The ultimate goal is to improve enrollees' access to care and their experiences with these systems, CMS said. The agency also has said the standards will hold companies accountable to deliver systems that are "continuously improving" and have a "stronger capacity to implement critical policy changes."

KFF Health News is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF — the independent source for health policy research, polling, and journalism.