Global Express | November 13, 2026: Finland Reports Strike on Russian Warship in Baltic as US Envoys Meet Zelenskyy

1. Finland Says It Detected a Strike on a Russian Warship in the Baltic as US Envoys Meet Zelenskyy

Source: Al Jazeera

Finland's military says its forces detected a strike on a Russian navy vessel in the Baltic Sea, describing it as a rare incident. A spokesperson for the Nordic country's military told Reuters by email that its forces detected a strike on a Russian warship in the Gulf of Finland area and were monitoring the situation, adding that Finland faces no immediate military threat. The statement gave no details on where the strike originated, or its location, timing or how it was detected.

Reuters said it was not immediately clear whether there were any casualties or what caused Wednesday's strike. Local media in Estonia, which shares a narrow arm of the Baltic Sea with Finland, reported that the vessel was a small Russian navy ship that had returned to Saint Petersburg after the attack. Ukraine's Security Service said it carried out the strike, according to Finnish broadcaster Yle. In recent days, Russia said it had intercepted at least 146 Ukrainian drones in the northwestern Leningrad region. On Wednesday, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania warned citizens to take shelter because of drones in their airspace, and NATO warplanes were scrambled.

The incident comes amid US shuttle diplomacy. On Thursday, US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner met Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow before meeting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Ireland. The talks followed trilateral negotiations in the United Arab Emirates this week that produced no major breakthrough beyond an agreement to swap a large number of prisoners. Russia's TASS news agency reported that the exchange should take place in two to three weeks. Kushner said on X that the two sides were working toward what would be the largest prisoner exchange of the war, potentially reuniting thousands of people with their families.

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2. Second Car Bomb in Two Days Hits Moscow

Source: NBC News

A onetime spokesman for a pro-Russian former prime minister of Ukraine was wounded by a car bomb in Moscow on Friday, Russian media reported. The Kommersant newspaper reported that Sergei Zavorotniy, once a top aide to Mykola Azarov, who served as Ukraine's prime minister from 2010 to 2014, was hospitalized after a car exploded on a street in Chertanovo, a district of the Russian capital. It was the second car bombing in Russia in successive days. Moscow has blamed Ukraine for previous assassinations of senior military officials and people linked to Russia's war effort. There was no immediate comment from Ukraine on Friday.

Ren TV and the 112 Telegram channel both reported that Zavorotniy had lost his left arm, and that he was in hospital with a concussion, rib fractures and other injuries. The Baza Telegram channel published a photograph of a black four-door car with a smashed windshield, doors and front bumper on a city street. Russia's Investigative Committee, which handles serious crimes, said it had opened an investigation.

Zavorotniy's former boss Azarov fled to Russia in 2014, when Ukraine's Maidan Revolution ousted pro-Russian president Viktor Yanukovych. Azarov told Russia's TASS state news agency on Friday that he had no information about the car bomb beyond the fact that Zavorotniy had survived. On Thursday, a member of the Russian military was killed in a car bomb in St Petersburg.

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3. Israeli Strike on Gaza's Nasser Hospital Kills at Least Six

Source: NBC News

An Israeli airstrike on a hospital in southern Gaza overnight killed at least six people, the Health Ministry in the Palestinian enclave said. The strike hit a surgery building at Nasser Hospital, with medical staff and patients among those killed, including a surgeon and a 13-year-old boy. The Israeli military said it was targeting a Hamas commander and other militants.

The strike came despite an ongoing US-backed ceasefire. It shattered ceilings and left debris strewn across wards inside the hospital, one of the few functioning medical facilities left in Gaza after Israel's yearslong military assault. The Health Ministry said Palestinian surgeon Dr. Rizk Abu Shaira was among those killed. He was featured in the 2026 documentary "American Doctor," which followed three American doctors helping to provide medical care in Gaza.

An array of munitions debris was displayed at the hospital site as media visited on Thursday. Two munitions experts said an image supplied to NBC News appeared to show debris from a GBU-39 Small Diameter Bomb. The US is known to supply Israel with GBU-39 munitions, which are produced by Boeing in the United States and sold to a number of countries. The IDF and Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request for comment on whether US-manufactured munitions were used. NBC News said it could not independently confirm that they were the munitions used in the attack.

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4. Tigray: Has Abiy Ahmed Defeated the TPLF?

Source: BBC

Running a hair salon in Mekelle, capital of Ethiopia's troubled northern Tigray region, is not easy at the moment. "People can't prioritise beauty over daily basic needs. For many residents, thinking about self-care is a luxury, at a time when they can't feed their kids," Firut Me'ar told the BBC. The single mother of a 10-year-old daughter said things are better than during the war, but people still have no money and no morale, and business is almost non-existent.

Fighting broke out in late September between the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) and the national army, a resumption of the two-year civil war that officially ended in 2022. But within less than two weeks, federal forces marched into Mekelle. The TPLF made what it called a "strategic withdrawal" so the army encountered little resistance. Hundreds of people are reported to have died, including dozens killed by drone strikes and bombing raids by the air force. Ethiopian government officials and supporters argue the war is effectively over and that the only remaining task is to clear Tigray of TPLF elements. Getachew Reda, a senior TPLF official who switched sides and is now an adviser to the prime minister, declared that the war had ended and that stabilising the region should be the immediate priority.

Analyst Cameroon Hudson says the TPLF lost popular support at home, is fragmented, lacks the advanced military technology to match the Ethiopian National Defence Forces, and has lost many of its generals, strategic thinkers, diplomats and fighters through defections or arrests. Abraha Hailezgi, a scholar at Mekelle University, says the army lacks a clear political vision and has become associated with coercion, abuses, forced recruitment and arbitrary actions, so many people now view it as an adversary. TPLF spokesperson Mikael Asgedom, speaking by telephone from an undisclosed location, denies the group has lost, describing a deliberate tactical and strategic retreat. He says the TPLF intentionally allowed the army to advance deeper into Tigray's heartland where it can be isolated, and that it is preparing a major counteroffensive. Residents say fighting continues in central, northern and north-western Tigray with heavy artillery and drone strikes.

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5. US Stock Futures Edge Higher After Nvidia CEO's Resignation

Source: CNBC

US equity futures were slightly higher Friday, a day after major indexes declined and Nvidia shares fell following the exit of the chipmaker's founder and CEO Jensen Huang. Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average were up 68 points, or 0.1%. S&P 500 futures added 0.2%, and Nasdaq-100 futures advanced 0.1%. On Thursday the Dow, S&P 500 and Nasdaq all pulled back, led by a 4.3% drop in Nvidia after Huang stepped down following reported extramarital affairs, including a relationship with a woman US intelligence officials believe is a Chinese spy. Analysts told CNBC that Huang's exit could trigger a 20% correction in the stock.

Nvidia's chief financial officer Colette Kress, who has worked at the company for more than a decade, will lead the chipmaker as interim CEO. The board is looking both internally and externally for a full-time replacement. A jump in oil prices also kept stocks under pressure Thursday, with Brent crude rising more than 3% to settle at $95.82 a barrel, after President Donald Trump said in a Truth Social post that "We don't need a deal with Iran."

Another market catalyst awaits on Friday in the form of October's producer price index. Economists polled by Dow Jones see headline PPI rising 0.4% on the month and 6.6% from a year earlier. Even with the latest turbulence, the major averages are heading for weekly advances: the Nasdaq is up 3.2%, the S&P 500 is on pace for a 2.9% advance and the Dow is poised for a nearly 2% jump, the best weekly performances since early August. Bitcoin dropped 3% to trade below $70,000 for the first time since August, last at $69,231.05 and on pace for its sixth consecutive weekly decline.

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6. US Labor Market Holds Up as Existing Home Sales Hit More Than 16-Year Low

Source: Yahoo Finance / Reuters

The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits increased more than expected last week but remained at a level consistent with a stable labor market, allowing the Federal Reserve to focus on fighting inflation. Initial claims rose 9,000 to a seasonally adjusted 200,000 for the week ended November 7, the Labor Department said. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast 195,000. Claims have stayed at or below 200,000 since mid-September and remain close to the 189,000 level touched in mid-July, the lowest since 1969.

Continuing claims fell 20,000 to a seasonally adjusted 1.697 million in the week ended October 31. The median duration of unemployment jumped to 11.9 weeks in October, the longest since November 2021, from 11.5 weeks in September. Government data last week showed a surge in nonfarm payrolls in October and a decline in the unemployment rate to 4.1% from 4.2% in September. Existing home sales, meanwhile, hit a more than 16-year low in October.

Fed Governor Michael Barr warned on Thursday that the nation should be prepared for "serious short-term disruptions" to the job market because of AI, which depending on how fast it is deployed could begin displacing workers at scale and widening inequality in favor of investors. Data this week showed consumer prices increasing faster than expected in October. That, together with comments from Fed Governor Christopher Waller, prompted financial markets to almost fully price in a 25-basis-point rate hike in December and to anticipate another increase in January. The Fed left its benchmark overnight interest rate in the 3.75%-4.00% range last month.

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7. Teen With Autism Found Alive After Six Days Lost in Australian Wilderness

Source: CBS News

A 17-year-old boy with autism was found alive Thursday after six days lost in eastern Australian woodlands. The boy, whom police identified only as William, had begun camping with a teenage friend when he disappeared last Friday near Walhalla, a former gold-mining town 185 kilometers east of Melbourne. A police helicopter crew found him lying asleep on a flat rock beside a creek, surrounded by wilderness. He was later reunited with his mother, and police said he was in good spirits and mostly in good health.

Video shot from the rescue helicopter showed he was shirtless and sunburned, wearing shorts and boots and using towels as blankets. "I'm just over the moon that he's alive," his mother, Elizabeth, told reporters. "And he's never leaving the house again. He's grounded for life. He's not going anywhere ever again," she joked. William was later taken to a hospital for his health to be monitored. His family says he has Level 2 autism, which requires substantial support.

After becoming lost, William trekked for days up and down some very steep terrain, Acting Police Inspector Jason Benbow said. He spent the last two days where he was found at the creek, trapped by the steepness of his surrounds 2 kilometers from the campsite. "He woke up to the sound of the helicopter, gave them a thumbs up and they winched him to safety," Benbow said. The search involved more than 100 emergency services personnel and volunteers.

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8. Five Found Alive After Three Months Adrift in a 20-Foot Boat in the Pacific

Source: Fox News

Five people, including two children, have been rescued in the remote Pacific Ocean after surviving for three months adrift in a small boat, according to authorities and international news outlets. The three adults and two children were rescued on November 1 and were among nine passengers who set out on July 30. Their trip was intended to be a routine, one-hour crossing between the Micronesian islands of Murilo and Ruo, according to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and The Times of London.

Shortly after departure, a sudden storm pushed the 20-foot skiff off course, leaving it stranded in open waters. After the disappearance, the US Coast Guard launched an extensive search, scouring more than 25,000 nautical miles across 31 search patterns before suspending its active search on August 10. The ordeal ended when residents of Fanning Island in Kiribati spotted the vessel drifting off their coast and brought the five passengers ashore.

Kiribati lawmaker Kaotitaake Rakoroa told news outlets the survivors were taken in by a local church pastor who provided immediate shelter and care. The five were suffering from severe malnutrition and dehydration upon arrival. Paukin Tororo, a nursing officer treating the survivors, told the ABC that the group had started showing positive signs of recovery, including smiling, moving their heads and showing an appetite. Four passengers remain unaccounted for, and authorities have not released details on how the group survived the three-month journey.

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9. SpaceX's Starship Flight 15 to Attempt First Double-Catch Landing

Source: Space.com

SpaceX plans to launch its Starship megarocket on an unprecedented mission on Friday. Starship is scheduled to launch on its 15th test flight from SpaceX's Starbase site in South Texas, during a 75-minute window that opens at 5:45 p.m. EST (2245 GMT). SpaceX plans to bring both of Starship's stages back to Starbase for a catch by the launch tower's "chopstick" arms, something it has never done before.

Starship Flight 15 will last more than 22 hours if all goes according to plan. Starship consists of a huge booster known as Super Heavy and an upper-stage spacecraft called Starship, both designed to be fully and rapidly reusable. Super Heavy will return to Starbase for a touchdown just 6.5 minutes after launch, while Ship continues on to low Earth orbit. The upper stage will deploy 26 of SpaceX's next-gen Starlink V3 satellites during a 42-minute stretch beginning about 35 minutes after liftoff, the second batch of V3 spacecraft to reach orbit after the 26 that went up on Flight 14 on September 28.

SpaceX has already caught Super Heavy on three previous Starship test flights, but it has never tried to do so with Ship. "If successful, this will mark the first full recovery of an orbital launch system and a breakthrough moment in making Starship a reliable, rapidly reusable rocket," the company wrote in a Flight 15 mission description.

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10. Japan to Export Small Modular Reactor Technology to Vietnam

Source: China.com

Vietnam and Japan have signed a memorandum of understanding on small modular reactor cooperation, making Vietnam the first Southeast Asian country to introduce Japanese nuclear technology of this kind. The cooperation is more than an energy project: by exporting the reactors, Japan also locks in decades of nuclear fuel supply, operating and maintenance standards, regulatory systems and talent training. Landing first means holding the technical standard-setting power for follow-up projects, and the core of small modular reactor competition lies in embedding standards.

Japan, the United States and South Korea had earlier reached consensus on deploying related technology, with the goal of gradually building unified technical specifications. Japan chose Vietnam as its breakthrough point in a bid to win rule-making dominance in the regional nuclear power market. This model is less about selling hardware than about exporting the underlying operating system.

Vietnam is pursuing the cooperation because of a long-standing structural power shortage. Past blackouts have caused huge economic losses, demand keeps rising and existing capacity cannot meet it. Vietnam is spreading its bets: it has signed a large nuclear project with Russia, imported cross-border electricity, and now agreed with Japan on small reactors.

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