Global Express | November 4, 2026 — Democrats Retake Both Chambers of Congress, Dow Futures Jump 803 Points

1. Democrats Retake Both Chambers; Texas Turns Blue for First Time in 38 Years

Source: DW

Democrats have won control of both the House of Representatives and the Senate in the U.S. midterm elections held on November 3, a heavy blow to President Donald Trump and his Republican Party. Republicans entered the vote with a slim 218-seat edge in the House and 53 seats in the Senate, meaning Democrats needed a net gain of at least four seats in each chamber to flip them.

Texas delivered the biggest upset: Democrat James Talarico defeated Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton for a U.S. Senate seat, the first Democratic Senate win in the state in 38 years. Democrat Gina Hinojosa also won the Texas governor's race. "We beat Goliath," Talarico said.

Trump acknowledged in a Fox News interview on Wednesday that the war with Iran was one reason for the Republican rout, telling The Wall Street Journal, "I did the right thing," and "if I had to do it again, I would." Elon Musk, who spent nearly $500 million backing Republicans, joked on X that his "space lasers" had not worked this time. German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius called the result a "historic victory" for the Democrats.

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2. Iran Calls U.S. Reply 'Unconvincing'; Trump Confirms Strike on Qeshm Island

Source: Al Jazeera

Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, said on X Tuesday that Washington's response to Tehran's seven conditions was "not convincing" and that the United States must address those conditions fully and explicitly and act on them. "Only in this case will the Strait of Hormuz be reopened," he wrote. Iran has proposed reopening the waterway within two days in exchange for the lifting of sanctions and an end to the U.S. naval blockade.

Trump confirmed to Fox News the same day that U.S. forces struck an Iranian anti-aircraft facility early Tuesday, describing it as a "minor attack" that "wasn't war." He said the site took about two months to build: "As soon as it was completed, we hit it last night." Iranian media said the target was Qeshm Island near the strait, while U.S. officials described the operation as defensive and said it followed Iranian fire at an American aircraft.

Qatar's foreign ministry spokesperson, Majed al-Ansari, said both sides "remain committed to the negotiation process," with Doha facilitating a real-time exchange of proposals. Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps said Wednesday that four oil tankers were destroyed by naval mines in a prohibited shipping lane south of the Strait of Hormuz and that two other vessels were detained. The UK Maritime Trade Operations reported that two unidentified projectiles struck a tanker's engine room near Oman, with no casualties.

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3. Israel's President Accepts Certified Election Results, Opens Coalition Talks

Source: NBC News

Israeli President Isaac Herzog accepted the certified results of last week's parliamentary election on Wednesday and said he would begin consultations with party representatives on forming a new government. Earlier in the day, Israel's election commission said it found no fraud in the vote, dealing a blow to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's attempts to discredit the outcome.

The results showed Netanyahu's religious-nationalist bloc losing its parliamentary majority while Arab-led parties made substantial gains. Neither Netanyahu's party nor that of his main challenger, former military chief Gadi Eisenkot, secured an outright majority, and the two sides are now in hard-fought negotiations to win over smaller parties.

Dean Livne, acting director of the elections committee, said every complaint was examined "individually and thoroughly" and no evidence was found to support claims that the results were invalid. Committee head and Supreme Court Justice Noam Sohlberg said that even if suspicions of foreign interference were substantiated, they would not undermine the integrity of the election. A separate Shin Bet investigation into the foreign interference allegations is ongoing.

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4. Death Toll Reaches 31 at Ukrainian Aid Site; More Than 45 Missing

Source: NBC News

A humanitarian aid hub and underground shelter in the village of Komyshuvakha in Ukraine's southern Zaporizhzhia region was bombed by Russian forces, and rescuers continued searching the rubble on Tuesday. Local officials said at least 31 people were killed and more than 45 residents were still missing. The dead included four police officers and two rescue workers, and at least five people were wounded.

Acting regional governor Mykhailo Semikin said that in terms of civilian casualties it was one of the worst tragedies in the region since the full-scale war began, and three days of mourning were declared in Zaporizhzhia. Russia used bunker-busting bombs in the attack, some filled with nearly 1.5 tons of explosives.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia launched 289 attack drones, 17 ballistic missiles and 59 cruise missiles across nine regions overnight, triggering emergency power cuts, and noted the barrage coincided with U.S. election day. A medical facility in Kharkiv was damaged, at least 62 people were wounded and more than 200 patients were transferred to other hospitals. "The Russians think America won't notice this signal of theirs," he said.

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5. Dow Futures Surge 803 Points as Markets Bet on Gridlock

Source: CNBC

U.S. stock futures jumped on Wednesday after Democrats' decisive midterm victory and Trump's acceptance of the results removed the political uncertainty that had hung over Wall Street. Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 803 points, or 1.5%, S&P 500 futures gained 0.9% and Nasdaq-100 futures added 0.5%, after sharp overnight losses.

Economically sensitive shares led the advance, with Walmart up 2% and Bank of America up 1.9%. Health insurers and hospital operators, which could benefit from Democratic policies, also gained: Molina Healthcare rose 6.3%, Centene 4.7% and UnitedHealth 1.4%. The Invesco Solar ETF jumped 5%.

Data center-linked stocks lagged. Gina Hinojosa, who won the Texas governor's race, has pledged an immediate moratorium on data centers, weighing on Oracle, CoreWeave and Texas-headquartered SpaceX. Jay Woods, chief market strategist at Freedom Capital Markets, said the rebound was partly due to the president's initial tone on the results. "Still more uncertainty looms, but one thing is certain, there will be gridlock and historically this is good for the market," he said.

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6. Australia Raises Rates to 4.85%, an 18-Year High

Source: CNBC

Australia's central bank raised its benchmark cash rate by 25 basis points to 4.85% on Tuesday, the highest level since November 2008 and its fifth increase this year. Six of the nine board members voted for the move, with three favoring a hold.

Australia's consumer price index rose 4.3% year on year in September, up from 4.0% in August and the highest since March. The Reserve Bank of Australia said inflation is now expected to remain elevated through much of 2027 and not return to its 2% to 3% target range until late 2027, three quarters later than previously forecast, citing higher fuel and commodity prices as well as AI-related investment driving up technology goods prices.

Governor Michelle Bullock previously called inflation "too high," driven by higher oil prices from the Iran war and strong domestic spending, and said further hikes would come "if that's what's needed." Australia's GDP grew 2.1% year on year in the June quarter, down from 2.5% in the March quarter, and Bullock said a recession is "not our base case at the moment."

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7. King Charles III Decries Slavery's 'Monstrous Injustice' but Offers No Apology

Source: DW

King Charles III opened the 28th Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Antigua and Barbuda on Tuesday, with leaders of the 56 member states attending. In his address he said the transatlantic trade in enslaved people "still casts a shadow over these islands and other members of our Commonwealth," describing that "shameful chapter of history" as one that "fills my heart with horror and my soul with the most profound personal sorrow."

Charles spoke of the "monstrous injustice" of the past but stopped short of apologizing for Britain's role in the trade and did not address reparations. "We cannot change the actions of those who came before us," he said. "We can, however, learn from the past," he added, urging leaders to look forward so that "evil need not have the last word."

British Prime Minister Andy Burnham, who attended the summit, had previously said he could be open to an apology, and apologies and reparations dominated the run-up to the meeting. Burnham said he would like to discuss debt resets for smaller Commonwealth nations and announced a €48.2 million ($54 million) investment in critical Caribbean infrastructure over the next three years. Britain joined the institutionalized slave trade in the 17th century.

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8. Five Rescued After Three Months Adrift in the South Pacific; Four Still Missing

Source: CBS News

Five people, including two children, were rescued this week in the Pacific island nation of Kiribati after about three months adrift at sea in a 20-foot skiff, authorities said, while another four remain missing. Villagers found the group on Sunday off Fanning Island; the skiff had drifted an estimated 3,355 miles east from the Federated States of Micronesia.

The U.S. Coast Guard in Guam confirmed on Tuesday that the skiff with nine people aboard had been reported missing after it failed to return to Ruo Island in Micronesia on July 30. The group had been making a one-hour crossing between the islands of Murilo and Ruo. A 10-day search covering 33,000 square miles followed without any sign of the boat or those aboard.

Kiribati lawmaker Kaotitaake Rakoroa said the survivors were being cared for by a pastor on the island. Nursing officer Paukin Tororo said all five were severely dehydrated and malnourished, were put on intravenous drips and were showing signs of recovery. "They can give a smile face, they show the sign they want to eat," she said. Alexander Narruhn, governor of Micronesia's Chuuk state, said he had begun talks with the Kiribati government to bring the survivors home.

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9. Anthropic Says It May 'Imminently' Reach Recursive Self-Improvement

Source: Gizmodo

Anthropic added a new warning to the "Risk Factors" section of the latest revision of its S-1/A filing published Monday, saying that based on internal estimates and expectations about future models — not its current models — it "may imminently meet" its Responsible Scaling Policy's definition of "dramatically accelerated progress attributable to AI." TechCrunch first spotted the change.

Recursive self-improvement, or RSI, describes a point at which a computer system can autonomously improve itself, and the improved version can then improve itself again, and so on. In the filing, Anthropic said it would "explore ambitious and possibly unconventional ways to achieve unprecedented levels of security" and pursue a form of total oversight over its internal activities that it calls "eyes on everything."

The company also said its red-teaming would become strong enough that it would no longer need to rely on bug bounties. The filing gave no timeline, but the word "imminently" has drawn attention.

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10. QS 2027 Asia Rankings: University of Hong Kong Keeps Top Spot

Source: Sina Tech

QS, the international higher education research group, released its 2027 Asia University Rankings, covering 1,722 universities from 26 higher education systems, including 195 first-time entrants — the largest edition in the ranking's history. The University of Hong Kong held the top spot in Asia for a second consecutive year, Peking University stayed second and Tsinghua University rose to third, the first time since 2023 that two mainland Chinese universities have been in Asia's top three at once.

Mainland China was the largest and fastest-growing system in the ranking, adding 53 universities for a total of 448. Fourteen mainland institutions made Asia's top 50 and 28 made the top 100, more than any other system. Among previously ranked mainland universities, 177 moved up, 159 moved down and 59 held steady, for a net improvement rate of 5%.

The University of Science and Technology of China entered the top 20 for the first time, and Tianjin University entered the top 50 for the first time. Eight Hong Kong institutions climbed, with a net improvement rate of 55%, and five are in Asia's top 10. Singapore's two leading universities fell out of the top five, six South Korean universities made the top 20, 16 Malaysian institutions posted their best-ever rankings, Japan declined overall and two institutions from the Maldives debuted.

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