International News Bulletin — November 2, 2026

Politics

• Israel’s election chief says the results stand despite Likud’s fraud claim – Noam Sohlberg, head of the Central Elections Committee, said on Sunday that even if suspicions raised about the vote were substantiated, they would not undermine the integrity of the electoral process, Al Jazeera and AP reported. Netanyahu’s Likud party had alleged without evidence that Arab-led parties “stole” the vote with Qatari funding, a claim Qatar rejected as disinformation, and opposition leader Gadi Eisenkot said the bid to discredit the results had failed, according to Anadolu. The results are due to be certified this week, after which President Isaac Herzog must nominate a candidate to form a government.
• Iliana Yotova wins Bulgaria’s presidential runoff, according to exit polls – Parallel counts by five polling agencies gave acting president Iliana Yotova between 56.6 and 58.2 percent of Sunday’s runoff vote against 38.6 to 40.6 percent for pro-Western challenger Andrey Gyurov, Anadolu reported. Gyurov said in Sofia that he accepted the result, and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen congratulated Yotova on X. Yotova becomes the first woman elected to Bulgaria’s presidency; official results were not yet published.
• Republicans fight a projected Democratic wave before Tuesday’s US midterms – A record 54 million Americans had cast early ballots ahead of the November 3 vote, AFP reported, with polls showing Democrats close to certain of winning the House. The final New York Times/Siena poll had Democratic Senate candidates leading in the seven most competitive races, five of them within the margin of error, while Republicans hold the chamber 53 to 47. Al Jazeera reported that President Donald Trump said he would “love” for Michigan Democrat Haley Stevens, who endorsed a Republican Senate candidate, to join his party.
• UN peacekeeping mission in Western Sahara ends after 35 years – MINURSO entered its liquidation phase on Sunday after Russia vetoed a US draft to extend it, a text backed by 11 of the Security Council’s 15 members that would have made Morocco’s autonomy plan the sole basis for talks, Al Jazeera and France 24 reported. A rival Russian resolution was also rejected, so the mandate lapsed. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, through his spokesman, voiced concern about the risk of hostilities escalating, while Morocco’s royal palace called the outcome a “significant development”.
• Indian opposition rallies in New Delhi against the chief election commissioner – Congress leader Rahul Gandhi led tens of thousands of protesters to Ramlila Maidan on Sunday to demand the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over a nationwide revision of voter rolls, AFP and Al Jazeera reported. Opposition parties say more than 130 million names have been removed, disproportionately affecting Muslims, which the commission and the ruling BJP deny. Health Minister Jagat Prakash Nadda, a senior BJP figure, dismissed the rally as a staged drama by parties the voters had rejected.

Economy

• Oil falls and Asian stocks trade mixed on hopes for Iran talks – Brent crude was down between 2 and 3 percent at around $110 to $111 a barrel in early Monday trading, according to AFP and Yahoo Finance data, after reports that President Donald Trump wanted negotiations with Tehran to continue. Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 swung around the 63,000 mark while Shanghai and Hong Kong edged up, AFP reported, and Japanese memory maker Kioxia fell more than 15 percent after a cautious outlook. Investors are also watching Tuesday’s US midterm elections.
• South Korea’s Lee seeks a record budget doubling AI spending – President Lee Jae Myung asked parliament on Monday to pass a 2027 budget of 821 trillion won, up 12.8 percent on the year and the largest on record, AFP reported. The plan sets aside 21.3 trillion won (about $16 billion) for chipmaking and artificial intelligence, close to twice this year’s amount, and 73.3 trillion won for defence. The government first presented the figures to the cabinet on September 1, according to The Korea Times, and lawmakers are expected to finalise the bill by December.
• Binance resumes withdrawals after the $6.3 billion hack – Binance restarted withdrawals on Sunday, beginning with the Bitcoin network, after suspending them following last week’s theft of about $6.3 billion in tokens, France 24 reported. The exchange said it had set aside more than $6.34 billion of company funds so that users would not bear the losses. The FBI has attributed the theft to North Korea’s TraderTraitor group.
• Japan and Taiwan negotiate a broad trade pact, Nikkei Asia reports – Tokyo and Taipei are negotiating a trade framework designed to “minimize political sensitivity” amid pressure from Beijing, Nikkei Asia reported on Monday, citing unnamed sources with direct knowledge of the talks. The report compares the planned deal to Taiwan’s existing pact with the United Kingdom. No officials have commented, and no signing date or terms were given.

World News

• Iran’s Revolutionary Guards say two tankers caught fire in Hormuz – The IRGC said two crude oil tankers caught fire after hitting mines in the Strait of Hormuz, Al Jazeera reported, a claim not independently confirmed. The UK Maritime Trade Operations agency separately reported that a vessel was struck by an unknown projectile in the strait at 15:09 GMT on Sunday, without details on damage or casualties, according to Anadolu. President Donald Trump said the war with Iran would end “very soon, one way or the other”, while Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said talks with mediators on a two-day plan to reopen the strait were continuing.
• Ukraine’s Kherson truce ends as alert apps on both sides are hacked – A localised ceasefire brokered by US first lady Melania Trump for evacuations from occupied Oleshky ended on Sunday after Russia refused Kyiv’s offer to extend it, Ukrainian officials told AFP; Anadolu reported that nearly 800 people were evacuated. Hours later Ukraine’s national air-raid app sent false warnings of nuclear and chemical threats around Kyiv, and the Ukrainian air force said the app appeared to have been subjected to “enemy influence”, Al Jazeera reported. Russia’s Emergencies Ministry said a “massive cyberattack” had spread false information on its own warning app, without naming a culprit.
• Israeli strikes kill at least eight Palestinians across Gaza – At least eight people were killed on Sunday, including five police officers in a drone strike in al-Mawasi and a four-year-old boy in Gaza City, hospital sources told Al Jazeera. The Israeli army said the strike in southern Gaza targeted “a terrorist”. Gaza’s Interior Ministry said at least 75 police and security personnel have been killed since the ceasefire took effect in October 2025.
• Business jet crash in South Florida kills all nine on board – A Learjet 60 flying from Austin, Texas, to North Eleuthera in the Bahamas crashed into a residential area of Palm Beach County at about 12:50 local time on Sunday, killing all nine people aboard, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said, according to France 24 and Anadolu. Governor Ron DeSantis said there were no immediate reports of casualties on the ground. The NTSB is leading the investigation with the FAA.
• Japan opens a national agency for disaster management – Japan’s National Disaster Management Agency began work in Tokyo on Monday under Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, Anadolu reported, citing Kyodo News. It is the first body placed directly under cabinet supervision since the Digital Agency in 2021 and will prepare for major earthquakes along the Nankai Trough and beneath the capital. Regional hubs are to be chosen by summer 2027 and operating by July 2028.

Bulletin automatically generated on November 2, 2026.