November 4, 2026

U.S. ELECTIONS | In developments from yesterday's mid-term elections in the United States:

• Democrats won control of both the House of Representatives and the Senate, flipping at least seven Republican-held Senate seats, with races in Alaska and Mississippi still too close to call. [more]
• In interviews last night and today, President Donald Trump congratulated Democrats on the election and said he will accept the results. [more]
• Among the night's Senate results, Democrat James Talarico defeated Republican Ken Paxton to become Texas' first Democratic senator since 1993, Abdul El-Sayed won in Michigan to become the first Muslim elected to the Senate, and Republican Senator Susan Collins of Maine lost her bid for a sixth term. [more on Texas] [more on Michigan] [more on Maine]
• In governors' races, Democrats won a majority of the country's governorships for the first time in 16 years, as Gina Hinojosa ousted Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, and Keisha Lance Bottoms became the first Black woman elected governor in U.S. history with her win in Georgia. [more]
• House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries is expected to become the first Black speaker of the House when the new Congress convenes on January 3. [more]

MIDDLE EAST WAR | Day 250.

• Mohsen Rezaei, the secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, said yesterday that the U.S. response to Iran's most recently communicated conditions for reopening the Strait of Hormuz, which include the lifting of sanctions and an end to the U.S. naval blockade, was "not convincing." [more]
• According to Iranian state television, Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard said overnight that four oil tankers attempting to use what it called a "prohibited passage" south of the Strait of Hormuz were destroyed after striking naval mines. The claim follows reports by the British military's U.K. Maritime Trade Operations center of two attacks on vessels in the Strait this week. [more]
• A senior advisor to the commander of Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard warned today that Iran will broaden its response beyond U.S. military bases if Gulf states, including the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, allow the U.S. to launch attacks on Iran from their territory. [more]

UKRAINE | Today is day 1,712 of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Here are your updates:

• At least 73 people were injured yesterday in a Russian airstrike on a hospital in the northeastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, according to regional authorities, who say 226 patients had to be transferred to other hospitals. [more]
• Regional officials say the death toll from Monday's Russian bomb strikes on a school used for humanitarian aid distribution in the village of Komyshuvakha, in Ukraine's southern Zaporizhzhia region, has risen to 37, with some 38 people possibly still trapped under the rubble. [more]

U.S. EMPLOYMENT | Labor Department data released yesterday indicates that job openings in the U.S. rose to 7.5 million in September – up from a revised 7.19 million in August and the highest level since May. Layoffs fell to 1.64 million, the fewest since March 2025, while the number of people quitting their jobs rose to 3.37 million. [full JOLTS report] [more]

U.S. IMMIGRATION | A federal judge in New York yesterday temporarily blocked the Trump administration from deporting Afghans detained in the U.S. to Afghanistan or Pakistan, after advocates and dozens of members of Congress warned that their lives would be at risk. The judge's order expires Saturday. [more]

U.S. AND ISRAEL | U.S. President Donald Trump said in a television interview yesterday that the U.S. will stop providing $4 billion a year in aid to Israel after this year, though it will continue to sell weapons to the country. Reports note that the agreement under which the U.S. provides some $3.8 billion a year in military aid to Israel does not expire until September 2028. [more]

U.S., DENMARK, AND GREENLAND | Greenland's parliament voted yesterday to approve a security agreement between the island, Denmark, and the U.S. that paves the way for more U.S. military bases in Greenland while keeping the semiautonomous territory under Danish control. The vote follows months of pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump, who has repeatedly called for Greenland to become part of the United States. [more]

EUROPEAN AVIATION | Several passenger flights across Europe, including two Ryanair flights to Rome and planes in Poland, Spain, and Bulgaria, were searched or diverted yesterday following hoax bomb threats. No explosives were found on the affected planes, and the source of the threats has not yet been established. [more]

EUROPEAN ECONOMY | E.U. statistics agency Eurostat estimates that annual inflation in the 21 countries using the euro rose to 4.0% in October – up from 3.8% in September and the highest level in three years. Energy prices were up 20.8% from a year earlier, compared with 18.9% in September. [full report] [more]

POLAND AND RUSSIA | Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, without providing additional details, said yesterday that Poland had prevented what appeared to be an attempted provocation overnight on its border with the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad. Tusk also noted that NATO's top military commander in Europe, U.S. General Alexus Grynkewich, had recently warned Poland of possible Russian provocations along its northeastern border. [more]

U.K. | Saying that too many private-sector workers reach retirement "without a genuine pension," the British government yesterday unveiled a plan, called Guided Retirement, that would make a guaranteed income for life the default retirement option for some 17 million workers saving into defined contribution pension plans. [U.K. government announcement] [more]

HAITI | Amidst concerns that troops from El Salvador have been acting on their own, Haitian Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aimé said yesterday that Haiti is responsible for directing the foreign forces fighting gangs in the country. The statement comes after El Salvador sent more than 2,000 troops to Haiti following the disappearance of four Salvadoran aviation technicians there last month. [more]

PARAGUAY | Citing a capital shortfall, Paraguay's central bank yesterday took control of Ueno Bank, a major digital lender with close ties to President Santiago Peña. The takeover has frozen the accounts of the bank's roughly 3 million customers, along with some $800 million in public funds. [more]

TECH INDUSTRY | Saying its growth has slowed for the first time in a decade, Australian graphic design company Canva announced yesterday that 1,271 of its employees, about 22% of its workforce, will lose their jobs, be asked to relocate, or change roles. Reports say the company's valuation has fallen this year amidst concerns about the impact of artificial intelligence on its business. [more]

COLLEGE FOOTBALL | The first College Football Playoff rankings of the season were released yesterday, with Miami at No. 1, followed by Georgia, Utah, Indiana, and Alabama. [full rankings] [more]

BASEBALL | Ahead of the December 1 expiration of Major League Baseball's labor contract, team owners yesterday proposed delaying the start of a salary cap until 2028, saying teams have too many payroll commitments for next season to cut spending quickly enough. [more]

TODAY IN HISTORY | On this date in 1979, militants seized the U.S. Embassy in Tehran in the wake of the Iranian Revolution, beginning the Iran hostage crisis, in which 52 Americans were held for 444 days. [more history]