1. Prop gun in Alec Baldwin accidental movie set shooting had live rounds, police say

Alec Baldwin was handed what was described as a safe “cold gun” on the set of his movie “Rust”, but the prop gun contained live rounds when it was fired, according to details of the police investigation into the fatal shooting released on Friday. The shot hit cinematographer Halyna Hutchins in the chest, and director Joel Souza who was behind her, in the shoulder, according to a county sheriff’s affidavit filed in Santa Fe magistrates court.

Hutchins died of her wounds and Souza was injured but has since been released from a local hospital. The assistant director who handed Baldwin the prop gun did not know it contained live rounds, the affidavit by Santa Fe Sheriff’s Department Detective Joel Cano said. Baldwin said on Friday he was in shock over the accidental shooting as reports emerged of walk-outs on the “Rust” set earlier in the week over unsafe conditions. The actor said he was “fully cooperating” with authorities to determine how the incident occurred on Thursday.

2. Indian travel blogger among 2 killed in Mexico’s Tulum

A San Jose, California woman born in India was one of two foreign tourists killed in the apparent crossfire of a drug-gang shootout in Mexico’s Caribbean coast resort of Tulum.

People look on outside a restaurant where, according to local media, two foreigners were killed and three injured during a shooting occurred between suspected gang members, in Tulum, Mexico on Oct 22, 2021. (inset) Anjali Ryot.(Reuters, Instagram)

Authorities in Quintana Roo, the state where Tulum, Playa del Carmen and Cancun are located, said one of the dead women was Anjali Ryot. An Instagram account under the same name showed a post of Ryot lounging and smiling on a seaside pier in Tulum two days ago. It listed her as a travel blogger from Himachal, India, living in California. A linked Facebook page said she lived in San Jose.

3. US says it killed senior al Qaeda leader in Syria with drone strike

The US military killed senior al Qaeda leader Abdul Hamid al-Matar in a drone strike in Syria on Friday, a US Central Command spokesman said. “The removal of this al Qaeda senior leader will disrupt the terrorist organisation’s ability to further plot and carry out global attacks threatening US citizens, our partners, and innocent civilians,” US Army Major John Rigsbee said in awritten statement. The strike comes two days after a US outpost in southern Syria was attacked. Rigsbee did not say if the US drone strike was carried out in retaliation.

4. Israel outlaws Palestinian NGOs citing anti-terrorism laws

Israel’s Defense Ministry on Friday listed six Palestinian NGOs as “terrorist organisations,” a move that makes them vulnerable to raids and arrests by Israeli security forces. The groups listed were: the Union of Palestinian Women’s Committees (UPWC), Addameer, Bisan Center for Research and Development, Al-Haq, Defense for Children International – Palestine (DCI-P) and the Union Of Agricultural Work Committees (UAWC).

A Defense Ministry statement said that these groups were “controlled” by senior members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a group that became infamous in the 1970s for its use of plane hijackings. Israel alleged that the groups use humanitarian funding from European governments “as a central source for the financing of the PFLP’s activity.”

5. Turkish lira continues to slide after interest rate cut

The Turkish lira continued to slide and reached a record low against the US dollar Friday, a day after the Central Bank sharply cut interest rates. It was another hit after a global financial watchdog placed Turkey on a list of countries to monitor for money laundering and terrorism financing.

The lira dropped to an all-time low of 9.66 against the dollar early Friday before settling at around 9.61 against the US currency. The lira has lost more than 20% of its value since the start of the year.