The most important world events of the past 24 hours
Israel votes in Knesset election, Netanyahu faces first test since October 7
π± Scout anchor Β· Israel votes in Knesset election
Israelis vote on Tuesday in a Knesset election, with polling stations open from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m., the country's first national vote since the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack. Final polls put Gadi Eisenkot's Yashar party ahead at around 22 seats against Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud at around 20, but neither the opposition bloc (around 54 seats) nor the Netanyahu bloc (around 50) is near the 61 seats needed to govern, leaving Arab parties at around 14 seats as a key variable.
Background: Thirty-eight lists were approved to run, and any party below the 3.25% threshold wins no seats, so small parties near the threshold could decide the majority.
Trump : Iran decision nears β deal or "finish it off," no strike on Sunday
π± Scout U.S. anchor Β· Trump says Iran decision nears
President Donald Trump said in a Fox News interview on Sunday that it is "decision time" on Iran β make a deal or "finish it off" β but told reporters later that day there would be no strike on Iran that day. The New York Times, citing U.S. officials, reported that Trump is privately leaning toward a new round of strikes, with an expanded target list including Iran's energy infrastructure, while a third carrier strike group, the USS Theodore Roosevelt, is heading to the Middle East.
Background: The U.S.-Iran war that began in late February has left a ceasefire and a peace memorandum in place, but negotiations have stalled for weeks, with reports pointing to possible new strikes after the November 3 midterm elections.
Sources: Bloomberg, Fox News (interview) (2 outlets)
Anthropic published its U.S. IPO prospectus on Monday, moving toward what could be the first stock market debut by a frontier AI lab. Investors currently value the company at about $1.5 trillion, down from roughly $2 trillion a week earlier, Reuters previously reported. The filing shows revenue of about $16.3 billion in the first half of 2026 against a net loss that widened to $80.7 billion, driven largely by the rising fair value of convertible bonds, with Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley named as lead banks.
Background: The debut will test investor appetite for the debt-fueled AI infrastructure boom, as markets have swung sharply on doubts about whether AI spending will pay off fast enough.
UN inquiry says Israel kept committing genocide in Gaza after truce; Israel rejects report
π± Scout field reporter Β· UN says Israel kept committing genocide in Gaza after truce
A UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry said in a report published on Monday that Israel continued to commit genocide in Gaza after last October's U.S.-brokered ceasefire, with 1,431 people killed since the truce began, including at least 300 children and 130 women. The report says Israeli forces kept using heavy munitions, drones and sniper fire in densely populated areas. Israel's mission in Geneva dismissed the report as part of a "misinformation campaign," insisting its strikes target Hamas ceasefire violations.
Background: The commission reached a similar conclusion in September last year, which Israel also rejected as scandalous.
Political developments and international relations
Serbia : Student list wins, but how it will govern is the big question
A day after the student-backed list won Serbia's parliamentary election with 52.7% of the vote and 139 of 250 seats, Belgrade was still celebrating, but how the student leaders will form a government and deliver on anti-corruption promises remains unclear. Under the constitution, up to 90 days are allowed to form a government once the election commission announces final results and parliament is convened. Aleksandar Vucic's ruling alliance took 39.2% and 97 seats, with the rest going to minority lists.
Background: The movement grew out of anti-corruption protests after the November 2024 Novi Sad station canopy collapse that killed 16 people.
Machado : Reaches Caracas to cheering crowds, walks tightrope with Trump
Venezuelan opposition leader and Nobel laureate Maria Corina Machado traveled from Lara state to Caracas on Sunday, greeted by tens of thousands of supporters along the route, and she has said a presidential vote should happen in 2027. But a Reuters analysis warns she is walking a tightrope: Washington backs a negotiation process between the interim government and opposition groups that excludes her Vente Venezuela movement, and President Trump said on Sunday he was unaware of her return while continuing to support interim President Delcy Rodriguez.
Background: Machado left Venezuela in December 2025 to collect her Nobel Peace Prize, after years in hiding following the disputed 2024 election.
Wall Street rebounds on Anthropic IPO boost while Brazil stocks and real plunge
Anthropic's IPO filing revived the AI trade on Monday, lifting the S&P 500 by 0.70% to 7,676.77, the Nasdaq 100 by 1.09% and the Dow by 0.28%, with chip stocks leading β Nvidia up about 2.4% and Micron about 3%. In contrast, Brazil's Ibovespa plunged 13.88% after Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's surprise runoff win, and the real fell sharply, with Reuters calling it the biggest drop since the 1999 devaluation.
Background: The Nasdaq 100 fell 5.5% last week, its biggest weekly drop since April 2025, as worries about the payoff from heavy AI spending rattled markets.
Meta plans up to $95 billion equity raise, its largest ever, to fund AI expansion
Meta said on Monday it plans to raise up to $95 billion in its largest-ever equity fundraising: about $35 billion in underwritten offerings now β $22.5 billion of Class A stock and $12.5 billion of mandatory convertible preferred depositary shares β plus a planned at-the-market program of up to $60 billion once its new non-voting Class C shares begin trading in the first quarter of 2027. Nvidia, AMD and Broadcom have shown interest in up to $5 billion combined, raising concerns about chip suppliers financing one of their biggest customers.
Background: Meta expects capital expenditure of $135 billion to $145 billion this year, as big tech shifts from funding AI with cash flow to tapping debt and equity markets.
Fed decision due Wednesday, markets widely expect rates to stay on hold
The Federal Reserve's two-day policy meeting begins on Tuesday, with a decision due on Wednesday, and markets widely expect interest rates to stay on hold. GDP and core PCE inflation data are also due later in the week, alongside policy meetings at the European Central Bank and the Bank of Japan. Analysts warn that big tech earnings, scrutinized for AI capital spending sustainability, could trigger another tech selloff.
Background: The 10-year Treasury yield hit 5.36% earlier this month, its highest in more than two decades, as high energy prices kept inflation expectations elevated.
Tech companies, research breakthroughs and digital policy
NASA accelerates moon plans: Artemis III to fly Earth-orbit docking test next summer, Artemis IV to land in 2028
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said on Friday that Artemis III remains on track to launch next summer on a docking exercise with SpaceX and Blue Origin lunar landers: four astronauts will spend two weeks in Earth orbit, with no moon trip this time. Artemis IV, the first crewed moon landing since Apollo, remains scheduled for 2028. Isaacman conceded the "new space race" against China will be "much closer than it ever needed to be" after slow progress in past years.
Background: Artemis II flew four astronauts around the moon about six months ago, humanity's first lunar trip in more than half a century.
SpaceX turns to a new financing trick: Apollo affiliate to buy $40 billion of chips and lease them back
SpaceX said on Monday that an affiliate of Apollo Global Management will buy AI chips and server hardware and lease them to the rockets-to-AI company, in a deal with total principal payments of about $40 billion. It is a new structure for funding AI computing capacity, coming as Elon Musk claimed a separate $40 billion chip debt financing had closed, while Bloomberg cited sources saying pricing talks were still under way late on Sunday.
Background: AI infrastructure needs have grown so large that even the richest tech companies can no longer fund the buildout from cash flow alone, pushing debt, equity and leasing structures into rotation.
Military developments, security situations and conflicts
Ukraine : Martial law extended to January 2027 as Kyiv missile strike kills one
Ukraine's parliament extended martial law and general mobilization until January 29, 2027, and the Cabinet issued Resolution No. 1328 on Monday creating a temporary Coordination Center to manage the "booking" of military-age workers, with reservations of up to 95% for fuel-energy and defence firms. The front saw 185 engagements on October 26, a Russian ballistic missile strike on Kyiv killed at least one person, and a local ceasefire in Oleshky agreed for October 27 will allow aid deliveries and civilian evacuations.
Background: President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on October 26 that NATO-funded Patriot and NASAMS interceptors have awaited U.S. authorization for nearly a month.
UN inquiry: Russian strikes on Ukraine's energy system are war crimes and crimes against humanity
A UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry said in a report on Monday that Russia deliberately attacked Ukraine's power plants, heating networks and other energy facilities as state policy, committing war crimes and crimes against humanity. Investigators said Russian commanders knew the facilities were indispensable to civilians, particularly in winter. The report also cited "compelling evidence" that Russia recruited trafficked men from 29 countries for front-line service.
Background: Temperatures plunged to minus 21 degrees Celsius last winter, and one 53-year-old man told investigators that falling asleep felt like torture for fear of dying from cold.
France : Arrests rise to 1,435 after Saturday protests; minister warns of another big day on October 31
French Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said 1,435 people were arrested and 267 police officers injured in Saturday's protests, and flagged a new phenomenon of organized far-right gangs confronting far-left activists in cities including Nice and Montpellier. Ten adults are due in court on Tuesday on charges of criminal association and carrying weapons. Nunez warned of another big mobilization on October 31 with a "very robust security system" prepared, while student protesters said the government's offer does not go far enough.
Background: The protests began in mid-September with student school blockades and have widened into a cost-of-living movement over fuel prices and public spending cuts.
Sources: Reuters, French Interior Ministry (2 outlets)
Riyadh Air : Moves flights 270 miles to Al Qassim airport, busing passengers to the capital
Saudi startup Riyadh Air has temporarily moved its hub operations to Al Qassim Airport, 434 kilometers (270 miles) from Riyadh, with passengers checking in at a hotel and taking a free coach for about four and a half hours to the capital. Flights to Cairo, Jeddah, Dhaka, London, Lahore and Islamabad now operate via Al Qassim until further notice. The move comes even though King Khalid International Airport partially reopened on Sunday, after the Houthis warned it would "never be safe" as a military target.
Background: A Houthi attack on Riyadh airport this month killed 13 people and wounded more than 300, the deadliest attack in the kingdom in more than a decade.
China-related news (international media coverage only)
Reuters: China's AI bubble has already burst, with STAR 50 down 40% in under four months
China's AI and semiconductor leaders have already crashed, Reuters reported on Monday, with the STAR 50 index down 40% in less than four months and some $480 billion in market value wiped out. The broad CSI 300 index is down about 20% from its June highs. Goldman Sachs data cited by Reuters put AI stocks at 42% of China's market capitalization and 57% of turnover, leaving few investors in the retail-dominated market unscathed.
Background: The selloff ends a rally that began two years ago on stimulus promises and stalls Beijing's push for a "slow bull" market that delivers reliable performance.
Chinese beauty brands push abroad: Proya to enter 400 Ulta stores in the U.S.
Chinese beauty brands are stepping onto global shelves, Reuters reported on Monday: Proya Cosmetics will sell its skincare lines in 400 Ulta stores and on Ulta.com in the United States from November, and opened a Paris research and development center this month. Florasis opened its first overseas flagship in Tokyo's Ginza district last year, while Joocyee and Judydoll opened shops in Singapore last year. Industry executives say years of weak domestic consumer spending are driving brands abroad for new growth.
Background: A halo effect from Chinese innovation in cars, smartphones and AI models is now extending to consumer categories such as beauty.
