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Tuesday’s midterms unfolded as U.S. forces struck Iran, Russian attacks killed civilians in Ukraine, and voters faced disrupted polling in parts of the American West.
Tuesday, November 3, 2026. United States midterm voting took place as American forces carried out strikes in Iran, Russian attacks hit Ukrainian communities and energy supplies, and flooding disrupted some polling plans in the American West. The results could reshape Congress and the political limits on President Donald Trump.
The United States carried out a series of strikes on Iranian locations near the Strait of Hormuz, in what it described as defensive action. Explosions were heard on Qeshm Island. The strikes followed reports from Iranian state media that Iran had destroyed a United States drone. Vice President JD Vance described progress in talks with Iran, while Qatar continued to mediate indirect discussions. Iranian officials said proposals were still under consideration, but there was no reported breakthrough. The military action and diplomacy were both continuing as the two sides weighed their next steps. In Ukraine, a Russian strike on a humanitarian aid site in the south killed 29 people, and 48 others remained missing, according to the account available Tuesday. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russian forces had also attacked targets across nine regions overnight. The attacks damaged hospitals and power plants and led to emergency power cuts. In Kharkiv, Ukrainian officials reported at least 73 injuries after a hospital was damaged. Energy infrastructure in several regions was also hit. Russia said it had targeted facilities supplying the Ukrainian military and factories. United States, Russian and Ukrainian officials were planning talks in Abu Dhabi. Another regional dispute widened around Sudan. Sudan accused Ethiopia of allowing the Rapid Support Forces, or RSF, to launch drone attacks from Ethiopian territory. Khartoum filed complaints with the United Nations Security Council and the African Union. Ethiopia denied the allegation and accused Sudan of supporting rebels. The dispute added to tensions already involving Sudan’s war, the Nile dam and competing regional alliances. In the United States, voters went to the polls for midterm elections that will decide control of Congress. Republicans made a final campaign push to hold their position, while Democrats sought gains that could give them control of the House. A Democratic majority there would give the party a greater ability to constrain Trump’s agenda. In Michigan, former medical administrator Abdul El-Sayed made a closing appeal to voters in a closely watched Senate race. He has campaigned on making health care free for all Americans. In Texas, Democrat James Talarico challenged Republican Ken Paxton for a Senate seat in a state that has long favored Republicans. Talarico had performed well in polls, while Paxton’s legal troubles cast a shadow over his campaign. Flooding across the Four Corners region disrupted voting arrangements in parts of Colorado and Utah. Officials changed some polling locations or offered alternatives. Arizona urged voters to check road conditions. New Mexico said polling places would open as planned. A federal judge temporarily barred the Trump administration from sending states lists of people it suspected of being noncitizens who had voted. The ruling came shortly before the election. It did not resolve the underlying lawsuit, but it prevented the administration from sharing those lists with state and local election officials for now. California voters were also deciding whether to impose a one-time tax on the net worth of billionaires who live in the state. Proposition 40 would direct most of the revenue toward replacing federal cuts to health care funding. The vote put a proposed state tax directly alongside a national election in which control of Congress was at stake. In business, Saudi Aramco reported third-quarter net profit of $36.25 billion, up 34 percent. The company said higher oil prices offset supply disruptions linked to the war with Iran, despite attacks on its infrastructure and headquarters. In Britain, supermarket chain Asda appointed former Morrisons chief executive David Potts to run the company immediately. The change came as Asda struggled with sales. Executive chair Allan Leighton is moving to a non-executive role focused on long-term strategy. The United Kingdom and European Union finalised a deal to remove many checks on food and animal products traded between them. It is expected to take effect in the first quarter of 2028. Before then, Britain will align its food standards with EU rules, and some products will go through a transition period. British drivers affected by mis-sold car finance may receive compensation offers before a wider process is complete. The Financial Conduct Authority said lenders could make early offers if they were no worse than payments under its proposed scheme. Most drivers are expected to wait for a legal challenge in February, and payments under the scheme may not arrive until late next year. Virgin Media O2 said it planned to cut jobs and reduce other costs to save £800 million a year by 2029. The company has not specified the number of jobs involved. It is also carrying £22 billion in debt, plans to make greater use of artificial intelligence, and expects to limit some network investment. In the United States, SpaceX was exploring a possible entry into wireless service. Talks with EchoStar and potential spectrum deals could support a network that might compete with Verizon, AT and T and T-Mobile. The prospect remained at an early stage, with high costs, regulatory hurdles and the difficulty of building reliable nationwide coverage still to overcome. Technology featured in both cyber security and science. The United Kingdom’s National Cyber Security Centre said hackers had exploited vulnerable technology in a couple of incidents affecting British organisations. The disclosure followed attacks on supermarket refrigeration systems in several European countries. In France, hundreds of stores were targeted in early October. At CERN’s Large Hadron Collider, researchers led by scientists based in Cambridge reported signals from interactions involving beauty quarks at a scale about a billion-trillionth of a metre. The scale is roughly 100 billion times smaller than an atom, and has been nicknamed the “zeptoverse.” The findings could help test theories about how the universe works, including ideas relevant to dark matter. The researchers did not detect dark matter itself, and said they needed more data. In Britain, a BBC investigation found that four planned large data centres were considering gas-fired power while waiting for connections to the electricity grid. Together, the sites could require 1.3 gigawatts of power. If they ran continuously at full capacity, their estimated emissions would be 4.1 million tonnes of carbon dioxide a year, raising concerns about Britain’s 2050 net-zero target. Separately, four Democratic senators accused Elon Musk’s social media platform X of giving prediction market Polymarket preferential treatment in its timeline. Their letter included screenshots of three apparent attempts to report Polymarket advertisements. North Korea denied United States claims that its hackers stole more than $6 billion from Binance. Kim Yo Jong called the FBI’s attribution to the TraderTraitor group a provocation. The FBI had linked that group to an earlier major cryptocurrency theft.
Spanish club Tenerife announced that forward Jesús de Miguel had died after a collision late in its second-division match against Andorra on Monday. The match was abandoned after he received medical attention. Tenerife said his condition had worsened after he suffered head and chest injuries; Spanish media reported that he had a cardiac arrest in the ambulance and was resuscitated by paramedics. International Olympic Committee President Kirsty Coventry urged young athletes facing bullying to tell their bullies to “sod off.” She spoke about the advice and her own experience as a young athlete ahead of the Youth Olympics in Senegal. India and Pakistan’s group-stage match at the 2027 Cricket World Cup drew 8.4 million ticket requests, according to the International Cricket Council. That exceeded the nearly eight million requests for the final. The tournament is scheduled to run from October 7 to November 21 across South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia. West Ham United sacked head coach Nuno Espírito Santo after a poor start to its Championship season. Mark Noble, Steve Potts and Gerard Prenderville were named to lead the team temporarily while the club looks for a replacement. In Formula One, Max Verstappen won the Mexico City Grand Prix, with Lewis Hamilton second and Kimi Antonelli third. Hamilton said Ferrari needed talks after he and Charles Leclerc fought on the opening lap, allowing Verstappen to pass. Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur said he was frustrated; Leclerc called it part of racing. That's the day. The Actual News.
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