November 4, 2025

MIDDLE EAST | Update from regional conflicts:

• Red Cross officials say Israel handed over the bodies of 45 Palestinians yesterday – a day after Hamas militants returned the remains of three deceased Israeli hostages. [more]

UKRAINE | Today is day 1,349 of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Here is your update:

• Russian media cites local officials as saying long-range Ukrainian drones targeted multiple sites deep within Russia overnight, including: an industrial plant and water treatment facility in Sterlitamak and an oil refinery and a petrochemical plant in the Nizhny Novgorod region. [more]

U.S. ELECTIONS | Elections for governor in Virginia and New Jersey, the mayoral election in New York City, a re-districting ballot initiative in California, and Pennsylvania's state Supreme Court race are among the most-watched political action today in what is widely seen as the first major testing of political sentiment of the second Trump administration. [more]

U.S. GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN | Amidst the ongoing government shutdown, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said yesterday that, in compliance with court orders, it will use $4.65 billion in emergency funds to partially fund Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, payments for November. Reports note that the program provides food purchasing assistance to about 1 in 8 Americans and costs more than $8 billion per month nationally. [more]

U.S. IMMIGRATION | A federal judge is scheduled to hear arguments today in a case brought by the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois and the MacArthur Justice Center in which plaintiffs allege that "inhuman" conditions for detainees at Chicago's Broadview immigration detention facility constitute a "human rights emergency," saying that detainees have been denied proper access to food, water, medical care, and private communication with attorneys. [more]

GLOBAL CLIMATE | Ahead of this month's COP30 U.N. climate summit in Brazil, a group of 300 mayors of large cities around the world gathered in Rio de Janeiro yesterday and pledged to coordinate climate action and address rising temperatures that they say is hurting many of their residents. [more]

TANZANIA | Opposition leaders in Tanzania claimed today that government security forces were secretly dumping the bodies of hundreds of people killed in violence that followed the African country's elections last week. Rights groups and multiple countries have condemned violence in the country amidst what they say are credible reports of a large number of post-election fatalities. [more]

SUDAN | In an interview yesterday, U.S. adviser for African affairs Massad Boulos said the U.S. is working with both the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces to secure a potential deal for a humanitarian truce in Sudan's ongoing civil war. [more]

MORE SUDAN | International Criminal Court prosecutors say they are undertaking efforts to preserve evidence of atrocities last week in Sudan's Darfur region in which hundreds of people are alleged to have been killed at a hospital in el-Fasher by Rapid Support Forces fighters. [more]

NETHERLANDS | According to tallies by national news agency ANP, the centrist D66 party won the most votes in the Netherlands' tightly contested national election, though D66 and the far-right Party for Freedom are each projected to have 26 seats in parliament. The country's independent Electoral Council is scheduled to certify the final results on Friday. [more]

PHILIPPINES | Authorities say at least 26 people in the Philippines have died in damage and flooding caused by Typhoon Kalmaegi, which crossed the central part of the country early today. Reports also note that an air force helicopter taking part in disaster response operations crashed in the country's Agusan del Sur province today and that the fate of the five crew members aboard the aircraft remains unknown. [more]

CHINA AND RUSSIA | Following a meeting with Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin today in Beijing, Chinese leader Xi Jinping said his country's relations with Russia were advancing despite a “turbulent external environment” and called for greater economic co-operation between the two nations. [more]

PERU AND MEXICO | The Peruvian government announced yesterday that it was severing diplomatic relations with Mexico over the granting of asylum at Mexico's embassy in Lima to former Peruvian Prime Minister Betssy Chávez, who is under investigation for rebellion. [more]

AUSTRALIA | Energy minister Chris Bowen announced today that Australia will offer at least three hours of free solar-generated power every day to households – including those without solar panels – under a program that will go live next year in the states of New South Wales, South Australia, and Queensland. [more]

TECH INDUSTRY | Artificial intelligence giant OpenAI, maker of ChatGPT, and Amazon announced a $38 billion deal yesterday under which OpenAI will run its AI systems on Amazon's data centers in the United States. [more]

R.I.P. | Actress Diane Ladd, best known for her Oscar-nominated roles in “Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore," "Wild at Heart," and "Rambling Rose," died yesterday at the age of 89. [more]

MORE R.I.P. | Former U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney, who served during the George W. Bush administrations, died yesterday at the age of 84, according to a statement from his family. [more]

TODAY IN HISTORY | On this date in 1946, UNESCO – the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization – was officially established as its constitution went into effect. [UNESCO website] [more history]