World Brief: November 2, 2026

Iran’s negotiators leave Doha with a draft US deal in circulation and no handshake, while Yemen’s Houthis push to within 80 km of Aden. Shop freezers in seven European countries go warm in a cyber-attack. The Oleshky truce is over and Russian drones are back over Kherson. Plus Israel’s Arab parties line up behind Eisenkot, the last day before the US midterms, Antigua’s prime minister says he is a republican, Belgium’s government offers to quit, Uganda starts bringing its troops home from Somalia, a truck bomb in Colombia’s Tolima and Australia’s fifth rate hike in waiting. Ten stories as of Monday morning, November 2.

1. Doha / Qatar; Tehran / Iran; Aden / Yemen. Iran’s delegation, led by Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi, left Doha on Sunday after three days of Qatari-mediated talks, and an official told Reuters the exit was not over difficulties: a draft proposal for a US deal is being circulated and a follow-up meeting is possible. Foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said “the issue is complex.” The basis is still Iran’s seven-step September plan, now squeezed into two days, and Tehran’s line is that no final deal can start and the Strait of Hormuz cannot reopen “unless the US naval blockade is brought to an end.” It also says no to shipping out its highly enriched uranium. President Pezeshkian says Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei has handed the government “certain authorities” over the talks, oil fell nearly 4% on Monday, and President Trump says there will be no new attacks before Tuesday’s vote (AP). China’s Wang Yi met Iranian and Saudi officials to push dialogue (Reuters).

In Yemen, the Houthis have advanced to within 80 km of Aden, their closest since 2015, four military sources told Reuters. Fighting is at a camp at the entrance to Tur al-Bahah in Lahij, after the group took Al-Maqatirah district in three days, and the push threatens the Aden–Taiz road. Taiz has been encircled since early October and more than 100,000 people have been displaced; the Houthis hit Aden airport on Wednesday. Government forces say they repelled attacks on the Tur al-Baha front (Al Jazeera).

2. Brussels / Belgium; Stockholm / Sweden; Dublin / Ireland. Dozens of supermarkets in seven countries, Belgium, Luxembourg, Sweden, Ireland, the Netherlands, Estonia and Finland, had their freezers switched into defrost mode in what the refrigeration firm calls a cyber-attack, the BBC reports. About 40 Delhaize stores in Belgium and Luxembourg were hit, along with 15 Carrefours in Belgium, an Ikea in Mons, seven of Coop Sweden’s 800 shops and 13 SuperValu stores in Ireland. Some units reached 50C. Stephan Moelans, CEO of Sabcobel, which runs Delhaize’s systems, told Belga his team had been “working all night and morning to disconnect the affected units from the network.” It looks like the same method used on hundreds of French supermarkets last month. One Delhaize in Hoeilaart lost €100,000 of stock. Nobody has said who did it, and US officials are still looking into refrigeration failures at American military bases in August.

3. Kherson / Ukraine; Kyiv; Ankara / Türkiye. The Oleshky truce, the longest pause of the full-scale war, ended late Sunday after Moscow turned down an extension. By 8 a.m. Monday a Russian drone had hit a car in Kherson’s Korabelny district, wounding a 62-year-old woman and a 73-year-old man, and one person was killed in Izium (Euronews). Ukraine’s General Staff says Russia used the pause to reinforce, rotate troops and bring up ammunition; Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov called regrouping “standard practice.” Zelensky told Fox News Ukraine would stop hitting Russian refineries for a month if the US supplies Patriot interceptors for a month: “We will find money; it’s not just aid.” Washington approved a $2.1 billion sale of 500 PAC-3s on Friday, but he says deliveries may be years off (RFE/RL). He also told CNN Türk he is ready to meet Putin in Türkiye. This comes a day after hackers pushed fake nuclear alerts through both countries’ air-raid apps (BBC). US-mediated talks are due to resume this month.

4. Jerusalem / Israel. Israel’s two Arab-led parties say they will back Gadi Eisenkot to unseat Benjamin Netanyahu, without joining a government. The Joint List (11 seats) under Yousef Jabareen would keep a minority government alive from outside, and Mansour Abbas’s Ra’am (8) has signalled it is ready to go further and wants the internal security portfolio, Al Jazeera reports. The count stands at 53 for Netanyahu’s bloc, 48 for Eisenkot’s and a record 19 for the Arab parties, with 61 needed. Jabareen told the Guardian it has been “an awful four years” and that Arab turnout more than doubled to about 80%. Eisenkot’s conditions for Arab partners include recognising Israel as a Jewish state and denouncing Hamas. Results are certified Wednesday, after which President Herzog consults the parties. Dozens protested outside Eisenkot’s home.

5. Washington / United States; Michigan. It is the last day before Tuesday’s midterms. President Trump wrapped up a 28-stop rally run in Salina, Kansas, on Sunday and gives his closing speech Monday at 2 p.m. EST at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, the site of a troubled renovation (AP). In Michigan, Democratic Rep. Haley Stevens defended endorsing Republican Mike Rogers for the open Senate seat over her party’s nominee Abdul El-Sayed: “I changed my mind,” she told CNN, saying she is “rock solid” on it. Fellow Michigan Democrat Debbie Dingell called the interview “painful,” Chuck Schumer called the switch a “despicable betrayal,” and state party chair Curtis Hertel says Stevens is “not a current member of the Michigan Democratic Party, nor will she be in the future,” the BBC reports.

6. St John’s / Antigua and Barbuda. After a Sunday church service with King Charles and Queen Camilla, Prime Minister Gaston Browne told ITV News, “I am a republican,” and said he would like Antigua and Barbuda to become a republic, though that is the people’s call under the constitution, the Independent reports. He also pressed Prime Minister Andy Burnham to go beyond an apology and pay reparations for slavery, suggesting the money could come from Britain’s overseas development budget: “If there’s no compensation, there’s likely to be a repeat of those atrocities sometime in the future.” Reparations are not on the formal Commonwealth summit agenda, and former St Vincent leader Ralph Gonsalves told the Guardian Britain was “vehement” that they stay off it; the Foreign Office calls that “completely untrue.” The King addresses leaders Tuesday.

7. Brussels / Belgium. Prime Minister Bart De Wever offered his government’s resignation to King Philippe on Monday after overnight talks in his five-party “Arizona” coalition failed to agree a budget that closes a gap of about €10 billion, the AP reports. The king has not accepted it yet. He will consult party leaders from Tuesday and see De Wever again on Friday. Foreign Minister Maxime Prévot said there were “too many sticking points.” Belgium ran a deficit of 5.2% of GDP last year (Politico Europe).

8. Kampala / Uganda; Mogadishu / Somalia. Uganda has started pulling its troops out of Somalia after nearly 20 years fighting al-Shabab. Acting army spokesman Chris Magezi says the first soldiers deployed under a bilateral deal are home, with more within days, and all Ugandan forces, including those in the African Union mission, will be out by the end of 2027, the BBC reports. A first group of 109 left Mogadishu on Friday. “After 20 years of a lot of blood and sacrifice, we are handing over security to our Somali brothers,” army chief Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba wrote. Uganda has about 4,500 troops with the AU force and about 2,000 more under the bilateral deal, and the AU mission’s funding is uncertain. President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud had asked Kampala for more time.

9. Planadas / Colombia. A truck packed with explosives blew up near a military base in Planadas, in Tolima, on Sunday, killing at least four people, a two-month-old girl among them, and damaging a hospital and a pharmacy, the BBC reports. Governor Adriana Magali Matiz called it “a vile and criminal act.” Nobody has claimed it. Armed groups have stepped up attacks on the security forces since President Abelardo de la Espriella took office in August, ended peace talks and started bombing their camps, sometimes using drones to carry explosives. “We will not retreat, not even a millimetre,” he said, promising more bombings and that those responsible would be “hunted down.”

10. Sydney / Australia. The Reserve Bank is widely expected to raise rates for a fifth time on Tuesday, Melbourne Cup day, taking the cash rate to its highest since 2008, the Guardian reports. Union leaders protested outside the RBA in Sydney on Monday morning. CBA now sees growth slowing to about 1% by the middle of next year, mostly because Brent crude has gone from about US$72 in July to above US$110. NAB says unemployment may have to climb from 4.7% to as high as 5.4% to get inflation down. AMP’s Shane Oliver says home prices could fall by as much as 15%, and Sydney values are already 10% off their peak.

Sources: Reuters (Iran talks; Yemen; China), AP (Iran; Trump; Belgium), BBC (freezer cyber-attack; Michigan; Uganda; Colombia; alert apps), Al Jazeera (Israel; Yemen), The Guardian (Australia; Israel; reparations), RFE/RL (Zelensky, Patriots), Euronews (Kherson), The Independent (Antigua), Politico Europe (Belgium).