“New Zealand voted in a new government as fog choked the capital, Wellington, on Saturday – and the mood was as palpable as the grey weather. ‘It’s pretty flat,’ 21-year-old Imogen Vlutger says. ‘There’s this kind of apathy and a bit of dread.’ ‘Tired. I think we’re all tired,’ Symone, 28, admits. ‘I didn’t even vote,’ one man in his 40s sheepishly confesses. He couldn’t bring himself to tick any of the boxes, he explains, declining to chat further. ‘Wellington’s a bit of a bubble,’ another voter says, expressing a caveat I heard often, before describing feeling disillusioned. But polling shows this is a pervasive sentiment across the country: the national mood is low and faith in politics is even lower. More than half the country no longer sees it as a land of opportunity, a recent study found, while a similar portion fears that the future looks even worse.” (11/07/26)
“Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy (R) provided an update on the Last Frontier’s closely watched Senate race as vote counting continues in the state. ‘It’s very close,’ the Alaska Republican said in an interview with John Catsimatidis on WABC radio giving an update on what lies ahead in the process of counting votes. He said that there is a ‘big batch’ of votes coming in next week on Nov. 13, followed by a ‘smaller batch’ on Nov. 15. The final count will happen on Nov. 25. … The race has been neck-to-neck with Peltola taking a slight lead over the incumbent with a little over 48 percent of the votes, according to Decision Desk HQ. Sullivan, on the other hand, has secured 47.9 percent of votes with 70 percent of the expected votes counted.” (11/08/26)
“Media linked to the Houthi movement in Yemen say that at least 25 people, including women and children, have been killed in airstrikes by Saudi Arabia. There has been no comment from the Saudi-led coalition backing the internationally recognised government in Yemen. Live video footage on Al Masirah – a television station run by the Houthis – has shown rescuers pulling bodies out of the rubble of several buildings in al-Shariyah, a town to the east of the capital, Sanaa. The bodies of young children can be seen among those dug out from the ruins. The television station has also shown a number of injured people being carried on stretchers to hospital. Saba news agency, which is also run by the Houthis, said the attack was carried out by Saudi Arabia.” (11/07/26)
“The African National Congress (ANC) faces a difficult balancing act after suffering major losses in the 2026 local government elections: regrouping quickly to negotiate from a position of strength, while determining which parties to partner with to retain municipal influence. The party has been pushed out of the leading position in several key metropolitan councils, including Johannesburg, Tshwane and Ekurhuleni, where the Democratic Alliance (DA) has emerged as the leading party. In eThekwini, the uMkhonto Wesizwe (MK) party leads, while the ANC remains the top party in Buffalo City. Mangaung also faces tight contention, making securing a governing majority a tough task for the party. The results emphasise the scale of the ANC’s electoral setback and the challenge confronting its leadership as it prepares to enter coalition negotiations across the country.” (11/07/26)
“Democrat Scott Colom hasn’t won Mississippi’s U.S. Senate race, but the local prosecutor was welcomed as a historic figure Friday as he strolled through the Farish Street business district where civil rights leaders once organized. ‘It’s so wonderful! It’s so wonderful to have Scott Colom as our representative,’ said Maati Jone Primm, who owns Marshall’s Music & Bookstore in Jackson. The state is still tallying ballots that could make Colom the first [b]lack senator from this Deep South state since post-Civil War Reconstruction. The possibility of Colom defeating Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith puts many [b]lack voters somewhere between cautious optimism and outright celebration in a state where nearly 40% of the population is [b]lack but the top representation for generations has been white.” (11/07/26)
“President Donald Trump said Saturday that he has offered the job of White House press secretary to his friend and UFC boss Dana White, an announcement unconventional even for the norm-busting president. White said Saturday that he plans to meet with Trump on Monday at the White House. … White, who was in London on Saturday for a boxing event, was asked at a news conference about Trump’s post and responded by saying that he planned to fly to Washington right after and meet with Trump on Monday. When asked how he would balance the job with the current positions he has in the fighting world, White seemed confused by the question and then said, ‘Yeah, I got a lot of jobs already.'” (11/08/26)
“Italy’s Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani says he has been targeted by ‘cyber-criminals’ who published his personal data online because of his country’s support for Ukraine. ‘For days now, cyber-criminals have been publishing my personal data on the dark web and seeking further information, effectively exposing me to new threats and intimidation,’ Tajani wrote on X. He did not specify the nature of the threats, but said the hackers were also targeting his family. The dark web is a hidden part of the internet that is not indexed by common search engines and can only be accessed with specialist software. ‘Our position on Ukraine is the political reason I have been targeted,’ Tajani said.” (11/07/26)
“Paraguay’s Senate on Friday impeached President Santiago Pena over a banking crisis that left millions of people unable to access their deposits. Senators voted overwhelmingly to remove Pena for misconduct in office. The move cleared the way for Vice President Pedro Alliana to succeed him. He will serve the rest of the presidential term, which ends in August 2028. Pena had already resigned on Thursday, but by impeaching and convicting him instead of accepting his resignation, senators stripped him of the lifetime Senate seat and immunity granted to former presidents, leaving him vulnerable to prosecution. Following the Senate vote, prosecutors ordered the arrest of the ousted president alongside former central bank chief Carlos Carvallo as part of a criminal investigation. Officials later said Pena was placed under house arrest pending a decision by the public prosecutor’s office on the final charges against him.” (11/07/26)
“On the morning of July 10, 2025, North Carolina resident James Gates suddenly became violently ill, he said. He said he was struck with abdominal pain, uncontrollable shaking and weakness and wasn’t able to leave his couch for nearly three days. But it wasn’t until a couple of months later that Gates suspected he had been poisoned, according to a lawsuit against ChatGPT maker OpenAI he filed in San Francisco County Superior Court on Oct. 14, which said that in September of last year he found a handwritten note referencing chemicals and dosage instructions, allegedly written by his estranged wife. The top of the note read ‘clear all convos’ and ‘log out of chat GPT’, Gates’ complaint alleged. The Charlotte District Attorney’s Office charged Cheryl Gates with attempted murder …. However, prosecutors dismissed all criminal charges in April due to insufficient evidence, Cheryl Gates said in a statement via her attorney Jennifer Tosi to SFGATE.” (11/06/26)
“President Donald Trump said Friday that Stephen Miller was replacing Susie Wiles as White House chief of staff, installing as his closest adviser a loyal, combative bulldog for his ‘America First’ [sic] agenda as the president prepares to stare down a newly empowered Democratic Congress next year. Miller, long a member of Trump’s tight inner circle, is a key architect of the administration’s hard-line immigration policies. He is one of Trump’s longest-serving aides, joining his long-shot 2016 presidential campaign as a speechwriter. He most recently has served as White House deputy chief of staff for policy and oversees a broad portfolio, though he is best known for his role in Trump’s immigration policy.” (11/06/26)
