November 5, 2024

U.S. ELECTIONS | As Election Day opens, data compiled by the Associated Press indicates that about 82 million people across the U.S. had cast early in-person or mail-in ballots as of yesterday. On the final day of campaigning, presidential candidates Kamala Harris and Donald Trump focused their efforts on the battleground states of Pennsylvania and Michigan. Analytics firm Adimpact reports that more than $2.6 billion has been spent on efforts to support candidates throughout the campaign cycle. [AP early voting tracker] [AP election results tracking website] [more]

MIDDLE EAST | Updates from regional conflicts:

• Palestinian officials say at least 20 people were killed in an overnight Israeli airstrike in the northern Gaza town of Beit Lahiya. Local health officials say the airstrike hit a home being used to shelter displaced Palestinians, while the Israeli military says it struck a militant weapons storage facility. [more]
• Nine days before the expiration of a 30-day deadline set by U.S. officials for Israel to improve the delivery of humanitarian aid in Gaza, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said yesterday that Israel has failed to make significant progress for such improvement. [more]

WASHINGTON | Striking workers voted yesterday to accept a new contract offer from aerospace giant Boeing, ending their nearly two-week strike against the Washington-based company. Analysts estimate that the strike cost Boeing as much as $50 million per day. [more]

POLAND AND RUSSIA | Poland’s National Prosecutor’s Office says authorities have arrested four people in connection with a suspected covert Russian plot to start fires aboard cargo or passenger planes flying to North America. [more]

TROPICAL STORM RAFAEL | Emergency preparations are underway, and some schools and services have been suspended, in Cuba and the Cayman Islands ahead of the arrival of Tropical Storm Rafael, which formed yesterday in the Caribbean and is expected to strengthen into a Category 1 hurricane as it approaches Cuba. [more]

NORTH KOREA | Japanese and South Korean officials say North Korea fired at least seven short-range ballistic missiles into the sea off its eastern shore today in a show of force that had been predicted ahead of the U.S. presidential election. [more]

JAPAN | The Tokyo Electric Power Company says a robot was used over the weekend to successfully retrieve, for the first time, a tiny piece of melted nuclear fuel from the wrecked Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant as part of efforts to plan decommissioning strategies and to develop related technologies. [more]

GERMANY | Eight suspected members of the far-right Saxonian Separatists militant organization were arrested in Germany today on charges related to alleged plans to seize power in the Saxony region and establish governmental and societal structures inspired by National Socialism. [more]

E.U. AND CHINA | Chinese officials filed a complaint yesterday with the World Trade Organization accusing the European Union of improperly imposing tariffs on new Chinese-made electric vehicles, which E.U. regulators say are unfairly subsidized by the Chinese government. [more]

MEXICO | Mexico’s Supreme Court is expected to rule today on a proposal that seeks to invalidate portions of the country’s recently approved judicial reform that requires all judges to be elected by popular vote. [more]

INDONESIA | Authorities say an estimated 16,000 residents from villages around Indonesia’s Mount Lewotobi Laki-laki volcano, which erupted this week, killing at least nine people, will be evacuated as concerns over additional eruptions persist. [more]

NIGERIA | Reports say Nigerian authorities have dropped treason and other charges against more than 30 children arrested in August after taking part in anti-government demonstrations. The move follows allegations that the children were abused while in custody awaiting trial. [more]

SOCIAL MEDIA PRIVACY | South Korea’s Personal Information Protection Commission announced a $15 million fine today against social media giant Meta, saying the company illegally collected, and sold to advertisers, sensitive information such as religion, political views, and sexual orientation about more than 900,000 Facebook users. [more]

TODAY IN HISTORY | On this date in 1872, Susan B. Anthony, a leader in the American women's suffrage movement, cast a ballot in the U.S. presidential election. She was later arrested for voting illegally, convicted in a trial she called “the greatest outrage history ever witnessed,” and fined $100, which she refused to pay. [more history]