Global Express | November 5, 2026: Hong Kong Activist Joshua Wong Sentenced to 10 Years

1. Hong Kong activist Joshua Wong sentenced to 10 years

Source: NPR

Prominent Hong Kong activist Joshua Wong was sentenced Thursday, November 5, to 10 years in prison over his second conviction under the Beijing-imposed national security law. He was charged in 2025 with conspiracy to collude with foreign forces to endanger national security and pleaded guilty in September, a move that can typically reduce a sentence.

Judge William Tam said the offence was grave and rejected that Wong's role was limited. He took 13 years as a starting point and reduced it because of the guilty plea, allowing the two sentences to run concurrently.

Wong, 30, is already serving four years and eight months in the city's biggest national security case, linked to an unofficial primary, and had been expected to be freed in January 2027. Only about two months were left on that sentence. He looked calm and thanked supporters before leaving court, while Tiffany Chin, a former member of the disbanded Scholarism group he once led, was in tears.

2. Bomb threats hit European flights for the second time this week

Source: BBC

Flights across Europe were targeted by bomb threats for the second time this week, with services bound for Italy, Poland, Bulgaria, Austria and Czechia affected. An Aer Lingus flight from Dublin to Rome was diverted to Evreux air base in northern France on Thursday morning; the airline said it landed safely and that it would work to re-accommodate customers as soon as possible.

Italian fighter jets escorted a Finnair flight from Helsinki to Rome, which landed as scheduled. The incidents came just days after eight European flights, including two from the UK, were targeted by suspected bomb threats; no explosives were found on any of the planes after searches.

UK Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander described the incidents as "malicious hoax threats". Marco Chan, an aviation expert at Kingston University, told the BBC the threats were "most likely a hoax, but the system is right to treat it as real", adding that some experts saw them as "possibly part of a pattern of cheap, deniable disruption" to air travel.

3. Death toll in Russian strike on Ukrainian aid site rises to 40

Source: NBC News

The death toll from a Russian bombing of an aid distribution point in Ukraine's southeastern Zaporizhzhia region has risen to 40, with dozens still missing, officials said, in one of the deadliest strikes on civilians this year. Ivan Fedorov, co-head of the Zaporizhzhia Regional Defence Council, said on Telegram that 59 people were missing.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russian forces first dropped aerial bombs on an underground school being used as a distribution point as people arrived to collect aid, then struck the shelter with more bombs. Two members of a rescue crew and four police officers were among the dead. The village of Komyshuvakha lies about 11 miles from the nearest Russian positions, and classes had long been suspended at the school because of its proximity to the front.

Russia's defence ministry said the attack targeted Ukrainian military units around Komyshuvakha and two other settlements, and that up to 25 Ukrainian servicemen were killed. Both countries deny deliberately targeting civilians. The attack came a day after a brief US-brokered local ceasefire expired, less than a week before Washington is due to bring Ukrainian and Russian delegations together in Abu Dhabi for talks.

4. Israel's Herzog accepts election results and opens coalition talks

Source: Al Jazeera

President Isaac Herzog accepted the certified results of last week's parliamentary elections on Wednesday and began consultations with party leaders on whom to task with forming the next government, dealing a blow to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's efforts to discredit the vote.

In the October 27 election, Netanyahu's coalition won 53 of the 120 seats and the bloc of opposition leader Gadi Eisenkot took 48, neither reaching the 61 needed to govern. Arab-led parties secured a record 19 seats.

"The elections are over. Now is the time to face reality," Herzog said. He met representatives of Religious Zionism and Zehut, Shas and Yisrael Beytenu on Wednesday, with talks continuing on Thursday. Ra'am has said it will recommend Eisenkot, lifting his expected support to 56 lawmakers according to the Israeli news site Ynet, still short of a majority. The Joint List, with 11 seats, has not announced its position and could push him past 61.

5. Rheinmetall shares plunge 17% after guidance cut

Source: CNBC

German defence giant Rheinmetall cut its full-year guidance late Wednesday, citing delays to military contracts and ammunition deliveries, its second outlook cut since August. It now expects 2026 sales of around 13.2 billion euros ($14.9 billion), down from a prior range of 13.7 billion to 14.2 billion euros, and an operating margin of about 18.5%, down from 19%.

The company blamed delays in the German military's Arminius project, a major procurement programme for Boxer armoured vehicles, and setbacks in artillery ammunition acceptance testing. Shares fell more than 17% in early trading, bringing year-to-date losses to about 46%, after average annual gains of 119% over the previous four years.

RBC analysts called the announcement "clearly negative" and warned it could fuel broader investor concerns about traditional defence technology. Third-quarter sales still rose 32% year on year to 3.15 billion euros, operating profit jumped 62% to 553 million euros, new order intake was 2.89 billion euros and the backlog reached 78 billion euros.

6. China extends tariff relief for Canadian farm and seafood exports to 2028

Source: CBC News

The federal government announced Wednesday that China will extend its soon-to-expire tariff-free treatment for some Canadian agricultural and seafood products for another two years, through the end of 2028. The relief covers canola meal, peas, lobster and crab, and had been due to lapse at the end of this year.

After Prime Minister Mark Carney's January trip to Beijing, China paused its 100 per cent tariffs on Canadian canola meal and peas and 25 per cent tariffs on lobster and crab under a deal that took effect in March, but only until the end of 2026. International Trade Minister Maninder Sidhu said the extension gives farmers, producers and harvesters predictable access to the Chinese market and is how Canada will grow exports to China by 50 per cent by 2030.

In exchange, Canada agreed to allow up to 49,000 Chinese electric vehicles a year at a tariff rate of 6.1 per cent, down from the 100 per cent rate set by the Trudeau government in 2024. Ottawa said Wednesday it is also extending market access for certain Chinese steel and aluminum products until the end of 2028.

7. Canadian mother and daughter killed in suspected grizzly attack

Source: Fox News

A Canadian woman and her daughter were killed in a suspected grizzly bear attack while hiking on a trail near their home in Bella Coola, British Columbia. Jennifer Balcarras, 48, an art therapist, and her daughter Selah Reed, 20, went missing on Saturday after setting out on the Snooka West Trail, minutes from home.

Loved ones grew concerned when Balcarras failed to show up for a scheduled online meet-up, her brother Matt Balcarras told The Vancouver Sun, and relatives asked the RCMP for a welfare check on Sunday morning. Her vehicle was found at the trailhead; her body was recovered Monday and Reed's on Tuesday. Jeff Tyre of the BC Conservation Officer Service said there was evidence to suggest a bear may have been involved and officers were working to locate and capture any bears, adding it was not immediately clear if more than one animal was responsible.

Any captured bear will be assessed and, if determined to have been involved, dispatched under provincial human-wildlife conflict guidelines, officials said. Matt Balcarras said the two were experienced in the area: "They were not naive city folks. They were strong women living the life." Less than a year earlier, a grizzly injured 11 people, including fourth- and fifth-grade students, on a school field trip near Bella Coola.

8. Two helicopters collide near Everest base camp, killing one

Source: CBS News

Two helicopters collided Tuesday while trying to land just below Mount Everest's base camp, killing at least one person and injuring two others, officials said. The aircraft were ferrying trekkers during Nepal's popular trekking season, after heavy snow had covered the route before the weather improved on Sunday and thousands of trekkers were able to move around.

The crash happened at Pheriche village, at an altitude of 13,780 feet. A 47-year-old tourist from India was killed, according to Bhupendra Thapa, a Solukhumbhu district administration officer, and arrangements were being made to airlift the remains to Kathmandu. A passenger from New Zealand was injured and was being transported to Kathmandu for treatment, while a Nepali pilot was treated locally. The number of people on the two helicopters was not clear.

It was the second incident along the route to Everest base camp this week. On Friday, October 30, a fire broke out at a hotel in Dingboche, possibly sparked by a cooking gas cylinder explosion, local media reported. Guests and staff were safely evacuated and no injuries or fatalities were reported.

9. SpaceX teams up with Qualcomm to build Starlink Mobile 5G

Source: The Verge

SpaceX is teaming up with Qualcomm to build out its nationwide mobile network, bringing Qualcomm's Dragonwing technology to "tens of thousands" of 5G cell sites across the US under a multi-year deal, with the first deployments set for 2027.

The partnership is part of SpaceX's push to make Starlink Mobile a "major" US carrier competing directly with T-Mobile, AT&T and Verizon. The Elon Musk-owned company has already snapped up a swath of spectrum, and recent reports suggested it was exploring an acquisition of Boost Mobile. SpaceX plans to combine Qualcomm's cellular infrastructure with its constellation of direct-to-cell satellites.

"Together with SpaceX, we are building world-leading cellular infrastructure in the United States, advancing 5G today," said Durga Malladi, Qualcomm's executive vice president and general manager of technology planning, edge solutions and data center. He added that the companies have the opportunity to "lay the foundation" for 6G in the coming years.

10. Japan weighs exceptions to its three non-nuclear principles

Source: Guancha

Japanese government sources told media on November 5 that Tokyo is considering spelling out "exceptions" to its three non-nuclear principles in the National Security Strategy due to be revised at the end of the year. Kyodo News, citing the source, said the likeliest option is to allow nuclear weapons to be brought into Japan in emergencies, without changing the principles themselves for now.

Tokyo's official interpretation of the principles is that Japan does not possess, produce or permit the introduction of nuclear weapons into its territory and territorial waters. In 2010, then foreign minister Katsuya Okada left an opening during a Diet session, saying the government could make a "major decision" to allow a nuclear-armed warship to call at a Japanese port if the country's security could not otherwise be guaranteed.

In October, Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi told a lower house budget committee that there was room to discuss US "extended nuclear deterrence" and Okada's exception. China's foreign ministry has said Japan is seeking "nuclear sharing" and to revise the three principles in order to bring allied nuclear weapons back to Japan, and accused right-wing conservative forces of reviving militarism and accelerating "remilitarisation".