Global Express | November 2, 2026 — Spain confirms 69 dead in train crash, including one Canadian

1. Spain train crash: 69 dead, including one Canadian

Source: The Guardian

Spain's victim identification body said late on Sunday that four US citizens and one citizen each from Canada, Japan, Argentina, Mexico, Tunisia and the Czech Republic were among the 69 people killed in last week's high-speed train collision. A French and a Portuguese victim had already been confirmed along with 54 Spaniards, leaving only three of the 69 unidentified. Three missing-person reports remain active, for two Australians and one Japanese citizen whose families want to travel to Spain to identify them in person.

The crash happened when a Renfe train ran into the back of a stationary Iryo train outside the village of Urda, about 130km (80 miles) south of Madrid. A failure of an automatic safety system halted all trains on a 63km stretch of track, but a control centre authorised the Renfe service to resume its journey while the other train was still there.

It was Spain's second high-speed collision this year, after 46 people died in the southern region of Andalusia in January, and has raised fresh questions about rail safety. The disaster came a month before a 29 November general election in which Socialist leader Pedro Sánchez will seek to extend his eight-year premiership.

Source

2. Bulgaria: Yotova set to become first female president

Source: Euronews

Acting President Iliana Yotova appeared to win Bulgaria's presidential runoff, with initial results giving her between 57.4% and 58.2% of the vote against banker and former caretaker prime minister Andrey Gyurov on 38.6% to 39.6%, according to estimates from several polling institutes. Gyurov conceded defeat, saying "this is how the Bulgarian citizens have voted" and that the results had to be accepted. If confirmed, the 62-year-old would become Bulgaria's first elected female head of state.

Yotova, an ally of Prime Minister Rumen Radev's Progressive Bulgaria party, took over the presidency in January when Radev stepped down to run for parliament. The post is largely ceremonial — the president leads the armed forces, can veto legislation, signs international treaties and appoints ambassadors, but all major policies must be approved by parliament.

The war in Ukraine dominated the campaign in the NATO member on the alliance's eastern flank. Yotova repeatedly advocated a peaceful solution through negotiations with Russia and said she wanted to be a "President of Peace", while Gyurov signalled closer alignment with Western partners and stronger support for Kyiv. Drone attacks on merchant ships have become increasingly frequent in Bulgaria's Black Sea economic zone in recent weeks.

Source

3. Zelensky ready to meet Putin in Turkey, rejects Donbas handover

Source: Kyiv Post

President Volodymyr Zelensky told CNN Türk he is ready to meet Vladimir Putin in Turkey, saying he hopes Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan can help arrange talks at presidential level. "We are ready for this meeting in Turkey. I know that President Erdoğan has his own ties with Putin. That is why we support holding a meeting in Turkey," he said, arguing that direct talks are needed because contacts between delegations and working groups have failed to end the war.

Zelensky said a ceasefire along the front line, a mechanism to monitor compliance, security guarantees, Ukraine's reconstruction and the status of occupied territories should be on the agenda. He ruled out handing over the Donbas or recognising Crimea as Russian territory, saying such concessions would violate Ukraine's constitution, and insisted that any negotiations must include Kyiv. "You cannot decide Ukraine's fate without Ukraine," he said.

On a possible G20 summit in Miami in December, Zelensky said Ukraine has not received an official invitation. Washington invited Putin in September, and the Kremlin previously rejected Zelensky's proposal to meet on the sidelines. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Oct 31 that Washington might invite Zelensky if his participation could help produce positive results, and Trump did not rule it out on Nov 1.

Source

4. Ukraine and Russia report emergency alert app hacks

Source: NBC News

Ukrainians received a wave of baseless alerts on Sunday night warning of radiation hazards, chemical threats and street fighting, after the country's emergency alert app was targeted in a cyberattack. Messages began around 10:45 p.m. Kyiv time (3:45 p.m. ET); one, in Russian, said all of Ukraine was under nuclear alert and that the nuclear-capable Oreshnik missile was "in action". Ukraine's Air Force said the app had likely been "compromised by the enemy" and confirmed there was no radiation threat, while sirens and loudspeakers in the western Lviv region broadcast a "radiation hazard" signal.

The app's creators said unauthorised third parties interfered with its operation, forcing a temporary suspension, and later called the incident a cyberattack. Hours later, Russia's emergencies ministry said its own mobile app had suffered a "massive cyberattack" that spread fake information about "nuclear warheads" launched at Russia; it did not say who was to blame, and it was not clear whether the two incidents were linked.

The alerts came just as a rare humanitarian ceasefire in the Kherson region ended. The truce, brokered with involvement from first lady Melania Trump and Pope Leo XIV, held without violations for six days and allowed the evacuation of hundreds of residents from the front-line town of Oleshky.

Source

5. Israel election body says results stand as Netanyahu cries foul

Source: Al Jazeera

The head of Israel's Central Elections Committee said on Sunday that the results of the general election would stand even if claims of foreign interference were substantiated. "Even if the suspicions are substantiated, this would not undermine the integrity of the electoral process or the election results as a whole," Noam Sohlberg said in a video statement alongside the head of the Shin Bet and the attorney general.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party had questioned the results, saying without providing evidence that Arab-led parties, which made significant gains in Tuesday's vote, "stole" the election and accepted funding from Qatar. Qatar has rejected the allegations as a disinformation campaign.

Police released two of three political activists arrested before polls opened carrying envelopes of cash allegedly meant to bribe voters; one was released on unspecified conditions and another ordered to remain under house arrest. Opposition leader Gadi Eisenkot accused Netanyahu of an "orchestrated and organised campaign to delegitimise the results". Netanyahu's bloc won 53 seats and the opposition 48, with Arab-led parties taking a record 19; a coalition with Eisenkot would hold 67 seats. Results are due to be certified this week.

Source

6. Oil falls below $100 as US-Iran diplomacy surfaces

Source: CNBC

Oil prices fell sharply early on Monday amid reports that both the US and Iran are seeking diplomatic options to end the Middle East conflict. Brent crude futures for January delivery fell 4.61% to $108.20 a barrel as of 5:49 a.m. ET, while US West Texas Intermediate futures for December declined 4.44% to $99.50.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said President Donald Trump prefers not to use military force and would like to resolve the Iranian war "diplomatically". "The president hasn't made a decision... if we needed to do something militarily, we would have the ability to do it... But we would prefer to do it peacefully," Rubio told reporters over the weekend. Iranian authorities also signalled a deal is still possible after two days of Qatar-mediated talks, as long as demands are implemented tangibly, according to Al Jazeera.

The moves follow reports in The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times that both sides are preparing for possible renewed military action after the Nov 3 midterm elections. Iran's Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei on Saturday called for the armed forces to meet "any level or type of threat" with an "immediate, impactful and geographically unrestricted response".

Source

7. Nine oil majors set for more than $95bn quarterly profit

Source: The Guardian

The world's nine biggest listed oil producers are on course to amass profits of more than $95bn in the third quarter, according to analysis by investment broker AJ Bell, following a second quarter in which the same companies made $96bn. The windfall comes seven months after the US-Israel war on Iran drove global oil prices above $126 a barrel.

Saudi Arabia's state-owned Aramco is expected to top the table: analysts anticipate the $1.7tn company will report a 7% increase in quarterly net income to $30bn, even though it was targeted by Iran-backed Houthi forces. BP, listed in London, reported quarterly profits of $8.46bn, its biggest since 2008, helped by refining divisions that capitalised on higher prices and filled a supply shortfall after shipments through the strait of Hormuz were disrupted.

The windfall has prompted calls for oil companies to pay for environmental damage and help fund the transition away from fossil fuels. "They are raking in enormous profits while millions of people struggle to afford their energy bills and the planet burns," said Mike Childs of Friends of the Earth. Britain's energy secretary, Miatta Fahnbulleh, is weighing whether to approve the Rosebank oilfield in the North Sea, which experts estimate could emit an extra 1m tonnes of CO2 a year by 2042.

Source

8. 325 arrested at London protest supporting Palestine Action

Source: BBC

More than 300 people were arrested during a protest in support of the banned group Palestine Action outside the US embassy in London on Saturday. The Metropolitan Police said on Sunday that 325 arrests were made, 320 of them for "expressing support for a proscribed organisation under the Terrorism Act". Hundreds gathered at Nine Elms, many holding signs reading "I oppose genocide, I support Palestine Action".

Officers made arrests into the evening, taking people to police vans to applause from protesters, and in some cases carrying demonstrators who refused to walk. Retired lawyer Charles Allison, 75, who travelled from Cumbria, said he feared civil liberties were "being devalued and watered down" and hoped the Supreme Court would rule the proscription unlawful. Another protester, David Bolden, called the ban an "absurd law".

Defend Our Juries, which has coordinated protests over the ban, said the weekend's detentions took the total past 4,000 since the group was proscribed in July 2025, calling it "truly dystopian". According to Home Office figures seen by the BBC, 3,630 arrests were made in the year ending June 2026; with 134 arrested outside Westminster Magistrates Court earlier this year and those on Saturday, the total reaches 4,089. The UK Supreme Court is due to review the ban after the group's co-founder was granted permission to appeal; the Home Office says it will defend the appeal robustly.

Source

9. FBI blames North Korea for $6.43bn Binance heist

Source: The Hacker News

The FBI has officially attributed the theft of more than $6bn in virtual assets from Binance to TraderTraitor, a North Korea-aligned hacking group also tracked as Jade Sleet, Pressure Chollima and UNC4899. Together with the US Secret Service and IRS Criminal Investigation, the bureau said it observed the actor converting stolen assets primarily into Ethereum and published wallet addresses used for laundering, warning the funds are likely to be moved through DeFi and instant swap services.

The $6.43bn haul, stolen across 11 blockchains with 82% held in Ethereum and Bitcoin, eclipses the $1.46bn taken from Bybit in February 2025 and is the largest cryptocurrency theft on record. Elliptic said the single incident almost doubles the total cryptoassets stolen by the regime, which is believed to have taken more than $6.5bn in recent years. Some $2.85bn has been frozen on-chain by Tether, Circle, Ripple, Arbitrum and Optimism.

Binance paused withdrawals after the incident and began restoring them in phases from Nov 1; it said withdrawals are now available across all 15 networks after processing $4.649bn of withdrawals and $1.01bn of deposits between 06:00 and 15:30 UTC on Nov 1, a net outflow of about $3.64bn. TraderTraitor has been active since at least 2020 and typically lures victims with job-themed lures and malware-laced applications.

Source

10. US midterms: polls favour Democrats, but can they be trusted?

Source: BBC Chinese

Americans vote in the midterm elections on Tuesday, and polls point to a strong night for the Democrats: candidates lead in far more than the 218 districts needed to take control of the House of Representatives, and Senate races are tied or slightly ahead, BBC Chinese reports. A Republican president with record-low approval ratings and public anger over rising food and household bills are weighing on the party in power.

A recent New York Times poll found South Carolina's Senate race tied — a state Trump won by 18 points in 2024 — while CNN surveys showed Democrats ahead in Texas, Kansas and Maine. Yet recent US political history is full of polling misses, even days before elections: Trump beat forecasts in 2016 and 2024 and lost narrowly in 2020. Earlier this year, polls showed Abdul El-Sayed winning Michigan's Democratic Senate primary by double digits; he won by 1%.

Clifford Young, president of Ipsos Public Affairs, says surveys have become harder as Americans drop landlines and screen calls, and as willingness to take part falls — especially among anti-establishment conservatives. If Republican voters are systematically under-represented and models fail to account for it, data can tilt toward Democrats. The article notes that midterm polling proved more accurate in 2022, and that Democrats outperformed most polls in last year's state and special elections as turnout exceeded expectations.

Source