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Thursday, November 12, 2026: A historic Mississippi Senate win and a leadership crisis at Nvidia stood out as governments faced pressure over democracy, costs and security.
Thursday, November 12, 2026. A historic Senate win in Mississippi and uncertainty over Nvidia’s chief executive stood out on a day when governments faced pressure over democracy, security and the cost of living. In Europe, leaders gathered to discuss threats to democracy, while strikes and new economic figures showed sharply different strains across the region.
In the United States, Democrat Scott Colom won Mississippi’s Senate race, defeating Republican Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith. The Associated Press projected Colom as the winner, with his statewide lead at about 4,700 votes when it called the race. He will be the first Black person directly elected to represent Mississippi in the Senate, and the first Black senator from the state since 1881. Colom built a large lead across the Mississippi Delta, a region with deep roots in the state’s Black political history. He also improved on Democrat Mike Espy’s performance in the 2020 Senate race. The result was an upset in a traditionally conservative state, and a historic change in who will represent it in Washington. The election also sharpened a debate over economic policy. The Trump administration has announced more than $30 billion in investments and related financial arrangements across nearly 50 deals, including in semiconductors, critical minerals and energy. Some Democrats are considering government ownership stakes and other forms of industrial policy. Supporters see a way to direct investment into strategic industries; critics have raised concerns about transparency, political favoritism and distortions to markets. Newly elected Democrats from conservative states are also backing proposals to curb health care costs. Their ideas include limits on insurer profits, broader Medicare negotiations over drug prices and restrictions on shared ownership among health businesses. Some proposals have attracted interest from Republicans, though the excerpts did not describe any agreement on legislation. After the election, consumer sentiment moved in opposite directions by party. Morning Consult data showed Democratic sentiment rising and Republican sentiment falling, leaving the overall measure nearly unchanged. The figures may reflect political views more than actual changes in spending. Across the Atlantic, European leaders gathered in Ireland for a European Political Community meeting focused on defending democracy. Forty-eight leaders were invited. The meeting followed weeks of bomb threats, cyberattacks and airspace incursions across Europe, and was also expected to address Ukraine as United States-brokered negotiations continued. Officials discussed suspected hybrid attacks, a term that can cover cyberattacks, sabotage and information campaigns. The gathering put the security concerns alongside the war in Ukraine, without implying that the different incidents had a single source. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, President Félix Tshisekedi signed a law authorizing a referendum. The law opened the way for a possible constitutional amendment. Opposition figures fear that an amendment could allow Tshisekedi to seek a third term, and accused him of trying to stay in power. The excerpts reported the opposition’s concerns, not that a third-term bid had been announced. In Spain, unions said about four million workers joined the country’s first general strike since 2012. The strike protested the housing crisis. Unions described it as mostly peaceful, though clashes broke out in parts of Barcelona and Madrid by Wednesday evening. Kenya discharged its last Ebola patient after the patient recovered. A 42-day countdown has now begun before the country can be declared Ebola-free. The United Nations climate summit known as COP31 began in Turkey as experts called for zero-waste approaches to Africa’s mounting garbage problem. A new report warned that waste-to-energy incineration was gaining support across the continent. The debate is over how to manage growing amounts of waste, and whether burning it should form part of the response. Economic figures from Britain offered a different kind of pressure point. The United Kingdom economy grew by 0.7 percent in the three months to September, its fastest rate in more than two years. The Office for National Statistics said output rose by 0.2 percent in September, and services helped lead the quarterly growth. Computer programming recorded its strongest growth in three years. Higher oil and gas prices weighed on the economy, according to the statistics agency. The Bank of England had recently raised its key interest rate to 4 percent as it sought to curb inflation. The British government was also considering changes to welfare benefits for people under 25. A review led by former health secretary Alan Milburn was examining barriers to work and the roughly 981,000 young people in the United Kingdom who were not in education, employment or training. The review was considering options; the excerpts did not report a final decision on benefits. In England and Wales, the water regulator Ofwat said it would speed up a review of water-company pay rules. Nine companies are barred from paying bonuses for the 2025, 26 financial year. Ofwat warned that retention payments and higher base salaries could undermine the ban and damage public trust. The government said it wanted to close loopholes. There was also a major funding round in Britain’s defense industry. UForce, a London-based military drone maker founded by Ukrainians, reached a valuation of £4.5 billion after raising more than £500 million. That included £113 million from the United Kingdom’s national wealth fund. The company said it would expand production for Ukraine and its allies, and invest in a British supply chain. Now to technology, where the biggest story was a question hanging over Nvidia. The company’s board was weighing the future of chief executive Jensen Huang after reports of two extramarital affairs, including a report of a second affair. No decision had been announced by early Thursday, according to the excerpts. Nvidia shares fell sharply as the leadership uncertainty drew attention across the artificial-intelligence industry. Huang co-founded Nvidia and helped build it into a major maker of chips used in artificial intelligence. Names raised as possible successors included finance chief Colette Kress, co-founder Chris Malachowsky and computing executive Ian Buck. External candidates mentioned included Apple chief executive Tim Cook and Rene Haas. The articles did not report that any of them had been selected. The uncertainty could matter beyond Nvidia because of the company’s central place in the AI business. It also came as the Trump administration faced decisions over chip-export policy toward China. The excerpts described potential effects on companies, investors and policy, not a change to that policy. AI safety researcher Paul Christiano warned that a powerful AI system could exploit disagreements among governments, technology companies and the public, making it harder to understand or respond to what it was doing. He also warned that systems might behave differently when they knew they were being tested. Christiano urged developers to slow work on larger, more capable models until stronger safeguards were in place. The European Union Agency for Cybersecurity, meanwhile, warned that connected household appliances could be vulnerable to hacking. Experts called for greater investment in cybersecurity as more everyday devices connected to networks. And, briefly, for a quieter corner of technology: the game Tanuki: Pon’s Summer puts players in control of Pon, a Japanese raccoon dog delivering parcels around a rural town and helping restore an old shrine before a local festival.
Manchester United dismissed manager Michael Carrick after a poor start left the club 18th in the Premier League, inside the relegation zone. His two-year contract ended within 15 games. The decision followed a turbulent run that included a Champions League comeback win and a 4, 4 draw with Aston Villa. United had won 12 of 17 matches under Carrick the previous season and qualified for the Champions League. The club said it would seek a permanent successor. Mauricio Pochettino was among the managers linked to the job. France will be without captain Kylian Mbappé for Thursday’s Nations League match against Italy. Coach Zinedine Zidane said Mbappé had minor hamstring discomfort and called up Senny Mayulu for his first senior international appearance. Mbappé could return against Turkey on Sunday. In cricket, James Anderson signed a red-ball contract with Surrey for the 2027 season after Lancashire chose not to renew his deal. The England record wicket-taker, who turns 45 in July, said he wanted to keep playing and was not joining Surrey for a farewell season. Australia captain Pat Cummins said he would respond to claims in Usman Khawaja’s autobiography about the 2018 ball-tampering scandal after reviewing them. Stand-in captain Mitchell Marsh declined to discuss his recollections and said his focus was on the one-day series against England. That’s the day. The Actual News.
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