Global and U.S. News

The New York Times reports that its final Times/Siena polls before Tuesday's midterms find Democrats ahead in Senate races in Michigan, Texas, Kansas, Maine and Ohio, with an edge in Alaska and effectively tied with Republicans in Iowa. The paper's companion surveys find Democrats leading or tied in seven battleground governor's races.

The New York Times reports that Elon Musk has spent nearly half a billion dollars on this year's midterms, more than any ultrawealthy person not running for office has spent in a single election cycle. Al Jazeera put his total at $366 million on 12 October, $158 million of it to a super PAC backing Republican Senate candidates, which made him the year's largest single donor.

Shootings over the Halloween weekend left at least 24 people dead and 94 wounded nationwide, the New York Times reports, citing experts who rank Halloween among the year's most violent days. An earlier AP tally of the weekend's mass shootings counted four dead and 15 hurt in three shootings in Dallas's Deep Ellum nightlife district and one dead and eight wounded outside Birmingham's Legion Field after the Magic City Classic.

MINURSO, the UN mission set up with a cease-fire in Western Sahara in 1991, stopped operating on 1 November after Russia vetoed a U.S. draft that would have backed Morocco's sovereignty claim and wound the mission down next year, and a rival Russian draft to extend it was voted down, AP reports via NPR. The UN has begun liquidating the mission, which was authorized 534 personnel and a budget of over $62 million. Morocco welcomed the end of what its palace called an instrument to internationalize the dispute; the Polisario Front called it unacceptable and Algeria criticized the U.S. draft's bias, while the secretary-general warned of escalation in a conflict where low-intensity fighting has run since the Polisario left the cease-fire in 2020.

The Wall Street Journal reports that Saudi Arabia's economy shrank 3.8% as oil output fell. Its description says the Arab world's largest economy was struggling to contain the fallout from the Iran war even before the latest escalation with Yemen's Houthis.

Hebron's governor, Khaled Dudin, said Israeli forces withdrew from the West Bank city on Monday and Palestinian security forces took full control, ending a siege that began on 23 October after two Israeli soldiers were killed near the city. The municipality counts 15 homes and structures demolished, 327 shops shut and losses above 12 million shekels ($3.8m) a day, and more than 3,300 people displaced or affected across the governorate; about 80,000 students return to classes. Al Jazeera cites Palestinian officials and the Wafa news agency; it carries no Israeli military statement.

Oil prices fell more than 3% on Monday as Iran's peace talks eased fears over supply, the Wall Street Journal reports. Iran's foreign minister said discussions with Qatari mediators on a proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz were continuing but had not produced an agreement, according to the ICANA news agency.

The Financial Times reports that average fuel costs during Trump's second term have passed Biden-era levels, with affordability dominating Tuesday's midterms. A Reuters analysis of AAA data a week earlier put regular gasoline at an average $3.472 a gallon since January 2025, a fraction above the $3.471 of Biden's term, and diesel at $4.343 against $4.078, after diesel hit a record $6.523 on 22 September as the wars in Ukraine and Iran disrupted supply.

Ryanair is considering a temporary pay freeze as multi-year union agreements expire, after forecasting that its fuel bill will run €2bn higher in the short term and stay high well into 2027 without a swift end to the war with Iran, the BBC reports. Pre-tax profit fell 16% to €2.4bn in the six months to September as fuel costs rose 15%; about 80% of its fuel is hedged, and the cost of the rest has doubled. Michael O'Leary has said European fares could rise 15 to 20% next year, which he called the biggest increase in history.

Alstom's shares fell 28% after the French train maker cut its profit forecast, the Financial Times reports, in the second major profit warning under chief executive Martin Sion. The company also set out a plan to cut €2bn of debt.

Japanese groups have struck $21bn of deals to secure gas supplies, the Financial Times reports, with the world's second-biggest LNG buyer targeting shale resources on the U.S. Gulf Coast amid upheaval in energy markets.

Ukraine's Air Alert app pushed fake warnings of nuclear and chemical threats and an Oreshnik missile launch around Kyiv just after 10pm on Sunday, and on Monday morning Russia's emergencies ministry said a massive cyberattack on its own warning app had sent false drone alerts. Kyiv blamed Moscow, citing Russian-language text in one message; it appears to be the first hack of either country's official alert system. The alerts began the day the six-day Kherson truce ended.

Al Jazeera reports that Bulgaria has its first elected female president after Sunday's run-off, which Iliana Iotova, seen as the more Moscow-friendly candidate, led on exit polls against former prime minister Andrey Gyurov.

India's Andhra Pradesh had moved about 2,000 people from low-lying coastal areas by Monday, of some 30,000 it plans to evacuate, as Cyclone Murasu heads for landfall near Ongole overnight as a severe cyclonic storm with winds of 100–110 km/h. Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu warned that 6,000 to 8,000 electricity poles could be damaged; schools are closed in Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Odisha. Murasu is forecast to be weaker than Cyclone Arnab, which struck the same coast last Wednesday and killed six.

The Reserve Bank of Australia is widely expected to raise rates for a fifth time on Tuesday, taking the cash rate to its highest since 2008, and the banks are cutting their outlooks: CBA's Belinda Allen now sees growth falling to 1% by mid-2027, NAB sees unemployment rising from 4.7% to as high as 5.4%, and AMP's Shane Oliver says home prices could fall up to 15%, with Sydney already 10% off its peak. The Guardian ties the squeeze to the Middle East war, which has lifted Brent from about $72 in July to above $110.