Afternoon Premium Edition · Thu, Nov 5 · 12:54 p.m.

The Essential 10 · about 3 minutes

1. Continuing

   Democrats won control of both chambers of Congress in midterm elections

   Democrats won both chambers of Congress in Tuesday’s midterms, setting up two years of divided government. Their victories included Republican strongholds Texas, Kansas and South Carolina. Texas is sending a Democrat to the Senate for the first time since 1988. Trump said he would probably get along with Democrats, citing his veto power.

   Reporting: Deutsche Welle, U.S. News & World Report, ABC7 News

   Updated since this edition · Read the latest

2. New

   Investors sold chip and AI-infrastructure stocks, plunging the Nasdaq Composite Thursday

   U.S. stocks plunged Thursday, led by technology shares, as investors weighed whether Democrats’ midterm gains could slow data-center development. The Nasdaq Composite fell more than 5% in late-morning trading, then recovered somewhat by midday, leaving it closer to correction territory; the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index was down more than 9% at midday, Axios reported.

   Reporting: NBC News, Axios, CNN, Kitco News (with Reuters), Barchart, Investing.com News, fool.com

   Updated since this edition · Read the latest

3. Updated

   Airlines received renewed bomb threats targeting commercial flights across Europe

   A renewed wave of bomb threats disrupted flights across Europe Thursday, following at least seven flights targeted Tuesday. Fl360aero.com, citing Reuters, reported threats against at least 25 flights, while CBS News counted 15. Aircraft were diverted or escorted by military jets; no explosives had been found aboard the affected planes, and CBS said the incidents appeared to be hoaxes.

   Reporting: Bloomberg, CBS News, Open Magazine, Business Insider, fl360aero.com, aerospaceglobalnews.com, theaviationist.com

   Updated since this edition · Read the latest

4. New

   Paraguayan President Santiago Peña resigned

   Paraguayan President Santiago Peña resigned Thursday after the central bank seized Ueno Bank, a digital lender close to his government, amid a solvency crisis. Customers could not access frozen accounts. Peña said he had acted with stability and social peace in mind, as lawmakers debated his removal. Deutsche Welle reported Ueno held hundreds of millions of dollars in public funds.

   Reporting: Reuters, Bloomberg, CNN, Deutsche Welle, Killeen Daily Herald, NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth

   Updated since this edition · Read the latest

5. New

   Six people died and seven were injured in a Brooklyn house fire

   A fire at a two-story home on 58th Street in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, killed six adults and injured seven early Thursday, the Fire Department said. The New York Times reported it was New York City’s deadliest fire this year. Fire marshals are investigating. ABC News reported a lithium-ion battery was found, but its connection to the fire was unknown.

   Reporting: NBC News, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, ABC News, The Guardian, New York Post, ABC7 New York, ABC7 Los Angeles

   Updated since this edition · Read the latest

6. New

   Iran reported that three more tankers were damaged in the Strait of Hormuz

   Iran said three more tankers were damaged in the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday, Reuters reported, warning that shipping would remain at risk while the Gulf war continues. Iran’s Guards warned that attempts to violate rules in the strait would bring the United States further financial losses and political defeats.

   Reporting: Devdiscourse, rudaw.net

7. New

   Police took a woman into custody after a shooting at Des Moines post office

   Police took a woman into custody after two people were shot at Des Moines’ main post office Thursday and a third was injured while trying to flee. CNN reported the suspect is a Postal Service employee accused of shooting two co-workers. Des Moines police Sgt. Paul Parizek said none of the injuries was believed life-threatening.

   Reporting: CBS News, NBC News (with Associated Press), ABC7 New York, ABC7 Los Angeles, kwwl.com, fox29.com

8. New

   JD Vance blamed the war against Iran for Republicans' midterm election losses

   JD Vance blamed the war against Iran for Republicans’ 2026 midterm losses, The Wall Street Journal reported, in a rare public rebuke of the military campaign Donald Trump still supports. TeleSUR English reported internal friction in Trump’s administration and said Iranian officials characterized the losses as a rejection of the conflict by U.S. voters.

   Reporting: The Wall Street Journal, teleSUR English, Yeni Şafak

9. Updated

   Representative Robert Garcia outlined House Oversight Committee investigations into the Trump administration

   Incoming House Oversight chair Representative Robert Garcia said Democrats plan four investigations into the Trump family, DHS and ICE abuses, corporate corruption and Jeffrey Epstein files. Garcia issued a two-word warning: “Lawyer up.” Senator Ron Wyden, expected to lead the Senate Finance Committee, said Democrats intend to investigate drug-pricing agreements between the Trump administration and pharmaceutical companies, Reuters reported.

   Reporting: CNBC, ABC7 Los Angeles, NBC Los Angeles, federalnewsnetwork.com, pymnts.com

   Updated since this edition · Read the latest

10. New

    Russia and Ukraine traded overnight airstrikes

    Russia and Ukraine exchanged overnight airstrikes Thursday as reconstruction and security talks continued in Brussels. Ukraine’s lead negotiator Rustem Umerov said talks would continue for a second day. Kremlin-installed officials said a Ukrainian attack killed five and wounded 13 in occupied Luhansk. Rescuers continued searching for more than 30 people believed trapped after Monday’s strike in southern Ukraine.

    Reporting: Greenwich Time, Military.com

More stories

U.S.

11. New

    Harmeet Dhillon resigned from the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division

    Harmeet Dhillon resigned Thursday as the Justice Department’s assistant attorney general for civil rights, CBS News reported. Fox News, citing sources, reported that Dhillon took office in April 2025 and resigned after Donald Trump’s Republican Party lost the House and Senate in this week’s midterm elections.

    Reporting: CNN, CBS News, Fox News, wfmd.com

    Updated since this edition · Read the latest

12. New

    Democrats won control of the Texas House in Tuesday’s midterm elections

    Democrats took control of the Texas House in Tuesday’s midterms, the Associated Press reported, following historic wins for governor and U.S. Senate. Nationwide, Democrats gained at least 330 state legislative seats and full control of 22 state governments, The New York Times reported. Heather Williams, president of the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, said the victories had “shattered Republicans’ grip.”

    Reporting: PBS News, The New York Times

13. Continuing

    Scott Colom and Cindy Hyde-Smith remain in an undecided Mississippi Senate race

    Mississippi’s U.S. Senate race between Democratic candidate Scott Colom and Republican incumbent Cindy Hyde-Smith remained unresolved Thursday, with ballots still outstanding. Scripps News reported just over 1,000 votes separated them, while an Associated Press tally cited by WTNH put Colom ahead by a few dozen. Colom’s campaign estimated about 15,000 affidavit ballots remained; a recount requires a court order.

    Reporting: WAPT 16 News, Scripps News, WREG News Channel 3, wtnh.com

    Updated since this edition · Read the latest

14. New

    Decision Desk HQ projected Nithya Raman to win the Los Angeles mayoral race

    Los Angeles City Council member Nithya Raman is projected to defeat incumbent Mayor Karen Bass, ending Bass’s tenure after one term, according to Decision Desk HQ. Raman leads by about 26,000 votes, roughly 3% of 784,262 votes cast. Raman belongs to the Los Angeles chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America, and Bloomberg described her as a democratic socialist.

    Reporting: Bloomberg, The Hill, NewsCord

    Updated since this edition · Read the latest

15. New

    Google, Meta, and TikTok sued California over a child social media addiction law

    Google, Meta Platforms and TikTok sued California to block enforcement of a new law intended to limit social media addiction risks for children under 16, Reuters reported. Known as Assembly Bill 1709, the statute bars platforms from offering minors features described as psychologically exploitative, including personal recommendations and sending videos through autoplay features, according to The News International.

    Reporting: Reuters, The News International

16. New

    A security guard fatally shot the gunman who killed a woman at Citibank's Tampa campus

    A gunman drove a car into a courtyard at Citibank’s Tampa business campus Wednesday and opened fire with a rifle, killing a woman before a security guard fatally shot him, authorities said. The attack left two dead. Hillsborough County Chief Deputy Frank Losat said four others were hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries. Authorities have not disclosed a motive.

    Reporting: AL.com, WKMG News 6, Telegraph Herald

World

17. New

    Melania Trump urged Russian and Ukrainian envoys to build on the Oleshky truce

    First lady Melania Trump hosted Russian and Ukrainian representatives at the White House on Thursday, urging them to build on a short-lived local ceasefire in Oleshky. Bloomberg reported that the White House credited Trump with brokering the truce, which allowed civilians to be evacuated; refugees returned to free Ukrainian territory on Oct. 31.

    Reporting: Bloomberg, Washington Examiner

    Updated since this edition · Read the latest

18. New

    Melania Trump hosted human rights chiefs from Moscow and Kyiv at the White House

    First Lady Melania Trump will host Russian and Ukrainian officials, including human rights chiefs, at the White House on Thursday ahead of Abu Dhabi talks aimed at ending the war in Ukraine. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he had “very detailed, hour-and-a-half-long” conversations with envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner before next week’s meeting.

    Reporting: France 24

19. New

    Helsinki court sentences Fitburg captain and boatswain over Gulf of Finland cable damage

    A Helsinki court sentenced the Russian captain and Azerbaijani boatswain of the cargo ship Fitburg to prison for damaging two undersea telecommunications cables in the Gulf of Finland. The court said they intentionally dragged the ship’s anchor along the seabed for about 130 kilometers. Both denied wrongdoing; the captain plans to appeal, while the boatswain has not decided.

    Reporting: Reuters, ABC News, Deutsche Welle, South China Morning Post, NV News, The Moscow Times, srnnews.com (with Reuters), theins.press

20. New

    Moscow planned to provide Iran with 90 helicopter-based missile launch systems

    Russia agreed to supply Iran with 90 helicopter-mounted launchers for a precision-guided missile used extensively by Russian forces in Ukraine, the Financial Times reported. The report cited a 2024–2025 Vympel Design Bureau production schedule provided by Ukrainian intelligence and research group Dallas Analytics. It remains unclear whether the launchers were delivered.

    Reporting: The Times of India, Demokratis, Suara Garut, Iran International, The Jerusalem Post, Ukrainian National News, theins.press

21. New

    Putin met Iranian security council chief Mohsen Rezaei at the Kremlin

    Vladimir Putin met Iranian security council chief Mohsen Rezaei at the Kremlin on Thursday, the Russian president’s office said, Reuters reported. Iranian state media said Rezaei delivered a message from Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, but did not disclose its contents. A Kremlin-circulated image showed foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov and military intelligence chief Igor Kostyukov in the Russian delegation.

    Reporting: Reuters, AOL (with Reuters), Middle East Eye

22. Updated

    More than 600,000 people rallied across France over pay and public services

    More than 600,000 people rallied across France Thursday during a nationwide strike and protest over wages, living costs and public services, the New York Post reported. Workers, students and retirees joined the action as unions pressed for higher wages and school funding. The Paris march proceeded peacefully, though Reuters captions showed clashes there and a burning car in Lyon.

    Reporting: The New York Times, Euronews, Le Monde, U.S. News & World Report (with Reuters), New York Post, Central Oregon Daily, The National, Radio France Internationale

23. New

    A London jury convicted Russell Brand of rape and sexual assault

    A London jury on Thursday convicted comedian and actor Russell Brand, 51, of one count of rape and three counts of sexual assault involving four women. Brand, who denied the charges, was taken into custody. Judge Joel Bennathan said Brand faces a “significant” prison term when sentenced Monday. He was acquitted of two rape counts and one count of attempted indecent assault.

    Reporting: Associated Press, Los Angeles Times, PBS News (with Associated Press), NBC News, The New York Times, National Public Radio, CBC News, Courthouse News Service

24. New

    The Metropolitan Police is investigating two further rape allegations against Russell Brand

    The Metropolitan Police is investigating two further rape allegations against comedian Russell Brand following his conviction for rape and sexual assault. The complaints, made by two women, can now be reported. Police said files concerning both have been sent to the Crown Prosecution Service. Police have warned that further victims may come forward.

    Reporting: BBC News, The Independent, Courthouse News Service, walesonline.co.uk, huffingtonpost.co.uk, radionewshub.com

Business & Markets

25. New

    The Bank of England raised its main interest rate to 4%

    The Bank of England raised its main interest rate by a quarter point to 4% from 3.75%, its first increase in more than three years, to address inflation stoked by the Iran war. The bank signaled further increases remain possible. External Monetary Policy Committee member Catherine Mann favored a larger, half-point increase to 4.25%.

    Reporting: Bloomberg, Reuters, CNBC, The Wall Street Journal, Telegraph Herald (with Associated Press), morningstar.com

26. New

    U.S. weekly initial jobless claims fell to 189,000 in late October

    U.S. weekly jobless claims hit a 57-year low, which Reuters said pointed to labor-market resilience. Benzinga reported claims fell 6,000 to 189,000 in the final week of October, below the 196,000 forecast. Third-quarter nonfarm productivity rose 3.6%, above expectations, while unit labor costs fell 0.7%.

    Reporting: Reuters, Demokratis, Benzinga

27. New

    CVS announced a plan to split into two publicly traded companies

    CVS Health plans to split into two publicly traded companies by the first half of 2028, separating its pharmacy business, including roughly 9,000 retail locations, from its insurance business and pharmacy benefit manager Caremark.

    Reporting: CNBC, Fox Business, healthcareuncovered.substack.com

Health

28. New

    Researchers found newborn bleeding risks rose with declining vitamin K shots

    Infant bleeding cases surged last year amid an increase in parents declining newborn vitamin K shots, a JAMA Pediatrics study reports. The share of babies not receiving the shot more than doubled, from 3.1% in 2017 to 6.8% in 2025. These babies had a 47% higher risk of bleeding in their first six months.

    Reporting: The New York Times, The Washington Post, southernillinoisnow.com