Morning Brief, Thursday 5 November

Democrats won both the House and the Senate in the 3 November midterms, turning Donald Trump's unified control of Washington into two years of divided government. The party flipped Republican-held ground across the map, including James Talarico's Texas Senate victory, Annie Andrews's defeat of Darline Graham in South Carolina, Abdul El-Sayed's win in Michigan and Troy Jackson's defeat of Susan Collins in Maine. The AP Voter Poll found that about six in ten voters said the Iran war was wrong, although roughly half named living costs or corruption as crucial to their vote, against about one-third who said that of the war.

JD Vance broke with the president's line more sharply than any Republican likely to eye 2028. The former Marine wrote that the war caused the defeat and challenged supporters of the conflict to defend the price Republicans had paid.

Donald Trump said he would order the war again, arguing that stopping an Iranian nuclear weapon remained the only long-term solution. He admitted the conflict had nudged petrol prices higher and said that price shock, more than the war itself, probably cost Republicans. Democrats now plan investigations into senior officials and into how Donald Trump enriched his family, while impeachment of Donald Trump and his officials is not ruled out.

Hackers changed temperature and defrosting thresholds in three cold rooms used by France's national blood service, EFS, on 2 November. Le Canard Enchaîné reported that settings normally fixed at -30°C rose to 110°C, a number that sounds less like sabotage than a badly written oven recipe. EFS said alarms detected the anomalies immediately, staff moved or secured plasma bags and samples, and no blood product was compromised. Blood collection and distribution continued without interruption.

EFS denied it had been the direct target and pointed instead to a supplier's service. Coolworld, which supplies the refrigeration equipment, said the weakness lay in a component from an external supplier, outside its direct control, and that only a limited number of units were affected. On the same Monday, supermarkets in Belgium, Sweden and Luxembourg reported sudden temperature rises that spoiled food, while Italian police opened an inquiry after hackers broke into a supermarket chain's central server in Isernia and caused more than €6,000 in damage.

Italy's National Cybersecurity Agency urged operators using cold-chain technology and remote industrial supervision to verify and mitigate their systems with urgency. The National Blood Centre asked blood banks to raise vigilance with the Ministry of Health, and Zscaler said remote maintenance links, old software, default passwords and forgotten devices leave physical systems exposed. Alex Fray of Zscaler put the lesson in unusually plain terms.

Ukraine said Russian forces struck Komyshuvakha in the Zaporizhzhia region on 2 November, hitting a former school that residents used as an aid distribution point and shelter. Ukrainian officials said nine glide bombs fell while people gathered for food and medicine, then a follow-up strike hit the underground shelter where residents had taken cover. Volodymyr Zelenskyy raised the toll to 40 on 4 November and said more than 30 people may still be under the rubble, while regional officials gave different estimates for the missing and trapped.

The same wave of reporting widened the picture beyond one village. A Russian bomb hit a hospital in Kharkiv early on 3 November, injuring patients, staff and neighbours and forcing the transfer of 226 patients. A few hours later, a missile hit a combined hospital and hospice in Dnipro, where more than 100 patients were moved. The World Health Organisation says more than 3,400 attacks on Ukrainian healthcare have occurred since February 2022, including 590 in 2026.

Russia's Defence Ministry, according to RTE, said the Komyshuvakha attack targeted Ukrainian military units around that village and two other settlements. The BBC reported that the Russian military had not publicly commented. Volodymyr Zelenskyy used a surprise trip to Madrid to press for air defence and said the weak international reaction showed the pressure on Moscow remained insufficient.

US envoy Steve Witkoff said Ukrainian and Russian delegations are due to meet in Abu Dhabi on 10 and 11 November to discuss de-escalation, humanitarian measures, security after the war and possible steps toward ending it.

A Hong Kong court sentenced Joshua Wong to 10 years in prison on 5 November for colluding with foreign forces under the national security law imposed by China in 2020. Judge William Tam called the offence grave, a classification that requires at least 10 years in prison. Joshua Wong had pleaded guilty in September, and the maximum penalty was life imprisonment. He was already serving time for subversion and had been due for release early next year before the latest charges arrived.

Prosecutors said Joshua Wong conspired with other campaigners, including the self-exiled activist Nathan Law, to lobby foreign governments for sanctions and blockades against Beijing between July and late November 2020. The judge described Joshua Wong and Nathan Law as ringleaders and said the sentence needed to deter similar conduct. Joshua Wong and Nathan Law had co-founded Demosisto, the pro-democracy party that dissolved after Beijing tightened control over the territory.

The court scene carried the usual Hong Kong choreography of a political case. Joshua Wong wore a dark blue long-sleeved shirt, khaki trousers and black-rimmed glasses, nodded to the packed public gallery and took notes as the judge read the reasons for sentence. Dozens queued for hours to get in, and police stood outside in force. Before officers led him away, he smiled at the gallery and thanked supporters in Cantonese.

The ruling extends the pressure on a movement that once filled Hong Kong's streets. Critics say the security law has silenced dissent, while authorities say it protects stability. Amnesty International had warned that the charges showed how far the authorities would go to keep prominent dissidents behind bars, and legal specialists note that nearly all national security cases end in conviction.

Óscar Puente resigned as Spain's transport minister on 3 November after a four-hour appearance in the lower house of parliament. The move followed the rail crash at Urda in Toledo, which killed 69 people, and a January collision at Adamuz in Córdoba that killed 46. Pedro Sánchez learned of the resignation only minutes before Puente announced it, making it the first ministerial resignation in Sánchez's government since 2018. Carlos Cuerpo, the first vice-president and economy minister, took over ordinary transport affairs on an interim basis from 4 November.

The disruption from Urda still runs through Spain's rail system. Ouigo extended cancellations of its Madrid-Andalusia high-speed trains until at least 15 November and promised full refunds. A volunteer ride-sharing platform, TeHagoHueco, has drawn more than 30,000 visits, more than 500 registered users, 110 trips offered by more than 100 drivers and nearly 300 seats across 80 routes, mostly between Madrid and Seville.

The political pressure spread south. Andalusia said it would restore aid for Urda victims at the same level approved after Adamuz, and court-appointed experts in the Adamuz case asked a judge to make Adif hand over track inspection reports from before and after that crash. Carolina España, the Andalusian government's spokeswoman, set out the fatality payment.

The funeral Mass for the Urda victims is now set for 10 November at Toledo Cathedral, where King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia are expected to attend. Spain votes in a general election on 29 November, and Puente's name stays on the Valladolid ballot even after his resignation.