November 5, 2026

MIDDLE EAST WAR | Day 251.

• Iranian state media cites the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard as saying that two oil tankers and a tugboat caught fire overnight after striking mines in the Strait of Hormuz while using what it called an "unauthorized route" through the waterway, and that its electronic warfare units captured two U.S. drones intact over the Strait. [more]
• The British military's U.K. Maritime Trade Operations center reports that a tanker was struck by two projectiles late yesterday in the Persian Gulf, about 50 nautical miles north of Qatar. The status of the tanker's crew has not yet been confirmed. [more]
• The U.S. Treasury Department announced new sanctions yesterday on an India-based couple, and nine companies linked to them, that it accuses of issuing false flags and certifications that allowed sanctioned tankers carrying Iranian oil to keep operating, and on a Turkey-based company alleged to have provided services to sanctioned Iranian airlines. [press release] [more]

UKRAINE | Today is day 1,713 of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Here is your update:

• Russia and Ukraine traded large-scale drone attacks overnight, with Russia's Defense Ministry saying its forces struck a postal logistics hub near Kharkiv, a power substation, and a cargo ship off Odesa. Russian officials also say more than 200 Ukrainian drones attacked the Ryazan region, causing fires at several industrial sites. [more]

U.S. GUN VIOLENCE | Authorities in Tampa, Florida, say a gunman crashed a car into a courtyard at a Citibank office complex yesterday and opened fire with a rifle, killing a woman before a security guard shot and killed him. The motive for the shooting has not yet been determined. [more]

U.S. ELECTIONS | In further developments following Tuesday's mid-term elections in the United States:

• Both President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance suggested yesterday that the widespread Republican election losses were linked to the war in Iran. Trump noted that, despite the losses, he would make the same decisions regarding Iran again. [more]
• House Speaker Mike Johnson will reportedly not seek to remain the leader of House Republicans after his party's election losses. Representatives Steve Scalise and Jim Jordan have announced plans to seek the minority leader position. [more]
• Ahead of internal Democratic leadership elections scheduled for November 18, House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries formally announced in a letter to colleagues yesterday that he will seek to become speaker of the House. [full letter] [more]
• As of last night, two Senate races remained uncalled: in Mississippi, Democrat Scott Colom led Republican Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith by about 1,100 votes, with thousands of mail and provisional ballots still to be counted, and in Alaska, Democrat Mary Peltola led Republican Senator Dan Sullivan by about 600 votes, with an estimated 75% of the vote counted. [more on Mississippi] [more on Alaska]

U.S. EMPLOYMENT DISCRIMINATION | The Justice Department and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission announced this week that defense contractor Lockheed Martin has agreed to pay $29.5 million to settle claims that it discriminated against white workers through diversity efforts in an internal bonus program. The company, which denied the allegations, says it settled to avoid the expense of prolonged litigation. [press release] [more]

U.S. POLLUTION | Chemical manufacturer 3M has agreed to pay up to $7.35 billion over nine years to settle lawsuits by as many as 120,000 people who say they were harmed by groundwater contamination from so-called "forever chemicals," known collectively as PFAS, used in firefighting foam and other products. The company did not admit liability under the agreement. [more]

U.S. MARKETS | Following Tuesday's mid-term elections, in which Democrats won control of both houses of Congress, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose more than 1,500 points, or 3%, yesterday, and the S&P 500 had its best day in three months. The price of Brent crude oil fell 8.7% to about $95 a barrel – its lowest level in two months – amidst expectations that a Democratic-led Congress could press for an end to the Iran war. [more]

PENNSYLVANIA | State health officials say an unvaccinated resident of Pennsylvania's Jefferson County has died of measles – the state's sixth measles-associated death this year amidst an outbreak that has reached 1,467 cases. [press release] [more]

EUROPEAN AVIATION | For the second time this week, bomb threats forced several passenger flights across Europe to divert or make emergency landings today, including an Aer Lingus flight from Dublin to Rome that was diverted to a French military air base and three Ryanair flights that landed in Bulgaria. The source of the threats has not yet been established, but they come amidst what European officials describe as "hybrid attacks" by Russia and Iran. [more]

EUROPEAN UNION | In its annual enlargement report, the European Commission said yesterday that Montenegro is on track to become the E.U.'s 28th member state in 2028, and that Albania and Moldova could join the following year. The Commission also offered Serbia renewed prospects in its membership talks if the student-led movement that won last month's election forms a government willing to strengthen democratic institutions. [European Commission announcement] [more]

FRANCE | The French Interior Ministry says some 70,000 police officers are being deployed across France amidst nationwide strikes by trade unions and some 260 demonstrations over wages and rising living costs. [more]

SUDAN AND ETHIOPIA | Amidst Sudan's accusations that drones used in attacks on its infrastructure are being launched from Ethiopian territory, Ethiopia and Sudan this week closed each other's consulates near their shared border and expelled the diplomats working there. Ethiopia, which denies the claim, has accused Sudan of backing rebels in its northern Tigray region. [more]

HONG KONG | Prominent pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong, who had been due for release in January 2027 from an earlier prison term, was sentenced today to 10 more years in prison on a charge of conspiring to collude with foreign forces under Beijing's 2020 national security law. [more]

INDONESIA | Reports say Indonesia's military is deploying more than 20,000 troops and other personnel to the capital, Jakarta, amidst unease following the arrest of three senior police generals in an alleged illegal wiretapping operation targeting President Prabowo Subianto. Officials have not said whether the deployment is connected to the investigation, which the presidential palace says could involve conduct "leading toward treason." [more]

U.K. ECONOMY | Citing inflationary pressure from rising energy prices amidst the Middle East war, the Bank of England raised its key interest rate by a quarter of a percentage point today to 4%. The bank says it now expects U.K. inflation, which rose to 3.5% in September, to reach about 5% by the middle of next year. [Bank of England policy summary] [more]

SOCCER | Cristiano Ronaldo announced his retirement from international soccer today in a video posted to social media, ending a 23-year career with Portugal's national team in which he set men's international records with 234 appearances and 146 goals. The 41-year-old will continue to play for Saudi Arabian club Al Nassr. [more]

MORE SOCCER | Japanese media report that FIFA Council member Kohzo Tashima, a former president of Japan's soccer federation, intends to run against incumbent Gianni Infantino in the election for FIFA president scheduled for March 18. [more]

LITERATURE | Classics professor Edmund Richardson's "Alexander: God, King, Man," a biography of Alexander the Great, has been named the winner of the 2026 Baillie Gifford Prize for non-fiction. [full awardee info] [more]

TODAY IN HISTORY | On this date in 1605, English authorities discovered Guy Fawkes with barrels of gunpowder in a cellar beneath the House of Lords in London, foiling the Gunpowder Plot, a plan by a group of English Roman Catholics to blow up Parliament and assassinate King James I. [more history]