World Brief: November 5, 2026

Vice President JD Vance says the Iran war cost Republicans Congress, and Trump calls that “largely true” while saying he would do it again. Hong Kong jails Joshua Wong for 10 more years. Paraguay’s Colorado Party turns on President Peña as the lower house moves to impeach him over the Ueno bank collapse. Bavaria’s Hubert Aiwanger is found dead in a Berlin hotel. Plus French unions fill the streets, Ethiopia and Sudan expel each other’s consular staff, Seoul expands its Cheonghae anti-piracy mission toward Hormuz, David Jones collapses into administration after 188 years, Eisenkot gains Arab-list backing in Jerusalem, and Melania Trump hosts Russians and Ukrainians at the White House. Ten stories as of Thursday morning, November 5.

1. Washington / United States. “The reason we lost is the war,” Vice President JD Vance wrote Wednesday in a lengthy post on X after Democrats took both chambers of Congress, BBC News reported. He said pollsters told him Trump/Vance 2024 voters showed up but many switched to Democrats, angry over the Iran war, cost of living and the US relationship with Israel. “If you’d like to argue it was worth it, that losing the Senate for the next 6 years was worth it, then do so,” he wrote. “But everyone knows why we lost.”

President Trump told reporters Vance’s assessment was “largely true,” but said of the war: “I would have done nothing different,” and that Iran “will never have a nuclear weapon,” BBC News reported. Oil prices slumped on the comments: Brent fell more than 8% to about $95 a barrel and West Texas Intermediate to about $88, both the lowest in more than two months. Vance’s four-point roadmap for winning voters back: end the war, focus on cost of living, put America First, and change the relationship with Israel.

2. Hong Kong / China. A Hong Kong court sentenced Joshua Wong, once the teenage face of the city’s democracy movement, to 10 years in prison Thursday for conspiracy to collude with foreign forces under the Beijing-imposed national security law, BBC News and AP reported. Wong, 30, was already serving a subversion sentence and had been due for release in January; two months and two days of the new term run concurrently, so he is not due out until late 2036. Prosecutors said he conspired with exiled activist Nathan Law to lobby for foreign sanctions against Beijing. Chief Executive John Lee called Wong and Law “among the primary culprits” undermining Hong Kong’s stability. The UK called the sentence “a clear example” of the law being used against political expression; Human Rights Watch called it “cruel and unjust.”

3. Asunción / Paraguay. Paraguay’s Chamber of Deputies convened an extraordinary session Thursday to open impeachment proceedings against President Santiago Peña after the central bank seized digital lender Ueno Bank, leaving nearly 3 million customers unable to reach their accounts, Reuters and Clarín reported. Both Colorado Party factions in the lower house said they would back the accusation, with former president and Colorado leader Horacio Cartes saying the party would “accompany” the juicio político. Lawmakers accuse Peña of conflicts of interest and misuse of pension funds; he held shares in a group that controlled Ueno until last year. A two-thirds vote in the 80-seat Chamber would send the case to the Senate, which needs 30 of 45 votes to remove him.

4. Berlin / Germany. Hubert Aiwanger, Bavaria’s deputy premier, economy minister and leader of the right-wing populist Free Voters party, was found dead Wednesday evening in his hotel room in Berlin-Mitte, DW and AP reported. He was 55. He had canceled a planned speech at a Free Voters office opening after feeling unwell. Berlin prosecutors opened a death investigation; a preliminary autopsy on Thursday morning found no indications of third-party culpability, with further forensic work still under way, the Berlin Generalstaatsanwaltschaft said. Bavarian premier Markus Söder called the death “an absolute tragedy.”

5. France / Europe. Five unions staged a nationwide day of strikes and protests Thursday over wages, the cost of living and public services, joining high-school students who have been marching since September, BBC News reported. CGT leader Sophie Binet said more than 250,000 people were on the streets in nearly 70 towns by early afternoon and that mobilisation had “reached a new level.” The Eiffel Tower and some Louvre rooms closed; schools, hospitals and transport were disrupted, and workers were asked to halt production at oil refineries. Unions want a higher minimum wage (Smic is €12.31 an hour) and a net €100-a-month raise. Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez deployed 70,000 police; a car was set alight in Lyon as black-bloc protesters clashed with police, and there were clashes in Rennes.

6. Assosa and Gedaref / Ethiopia and Sudan. Ethiopia expelled six Sudanese consular staff from Assosa and closed Khartoum’s consulate there; Sudan answered by declaring Ethiopian consular staff in Gedaref persona non grata and giving them 48 hours to leave, Al Jazeera reported, citing Reuters, AFP and AP. Sudan has accused Ethiopia of allowing the Rapid Support Forces to launch drone strikes on Sudanese infrastructure from its territory — a charge Addis Ababa denies — and lodged complaints at the UN Security Council and the African Union. Ethiopia, for its part, accuses Sudan of backing Tigrayan rebels. Both sides deny the other’s claims. Sudan’s civil war has killed tens of thousands and displaced more than 14 million.

7. Seoul / South Korea; Arabian Sea. South Korea plans to expand its Cheonghae anti-piracy unit’s operating area from the Gulf of Aden northeast to open waters south of Oman — roughly doubling the radius to about 1,930 km and keeping forces out of the Strait of Hormuz itself — and to add a P-8A maritime patrol aircraft, an explosive-ordnance team and unmanned mine-clearing kit, Yonhap reported. Personnel would rise from 320 to 395. The vice-ministerial decision needs Cabinet endorsement and National Assembly consent. A defense official said the reinforcement is “strictly for non-combat purposes,” with the P-8A barred from targeting or monitoring Iranian territory or the interior of Hormuz. Any future mine-clearing inside the strait would need separate parliamentary approval and a “permissive environment” after the US–Iran war ends or a formal deal is signed.

8. Melbourne / Australia. David Jones, the 188-year-old Australian department-store chain, was placed in voluntary administration Thursday after talks with landlord Westfield’s owner Scentre Group broke down, ABC News and The Guardian reported. McGrathNicol were appointed administrators; secured lender Hilco installed FTI Consulting as receivers. The 38 physical stores and online site continue trading under the receivers while operations are reviewed. The chain employs more than 6,000 people. Receiver Christopher Hill cited rising costs, an outdated footprint and supply-chain challenges, and said “difficult decisions” lie ahead; five Westfield sites have already been mooted for closure.

9. Jerusalem / Israel. President Isaac Herzog continued consultations with Knesset parties on Thursday over who should form Israel’s next government after the October 27 election left Netanyahu’s bloc on 53 seats, Gadi Eisenkot’s on 48 and Arab-led lists on a record 19, The Jerusalem Post and Ynet reported. On Thursday the Democrats, Ra’am and the Joint List all recommended Eisenkot, putting him in line for majority backing once talks wrap Thursday evening; Otzma Yehudit backed Netanyahu and United Torah Judaism declined to recommend anyone. Ra’am leader Mansour Abbas told Herzog the party supports full Hamas disarmament and Trump’s Gaza peace plan. Herzog’s deadline to task a candidate is November 10; the new Knesset is sworn in November 10–11.

10. Washington / United States; Ukraine and Russia. First Lady Melania Trump was due Thursday to convene Russian and Ukrainian representatives at the White House on the Oleshky humanitarian ceasefire, speaking at 11am ET, the White House said. Expected attendees include Ukrainian ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets, Ukrainian MP Davyd Arakhamia, Russian ombudsman Yana Lantratova and Kremlin envoy Kirill Dmitriev, BBC News reported earlier. Zelensky awarded Melania the Order of Princess Olga for her role in the Oleshky deal; team-level Ukraine–US–Russia talks are still set for Abu Dhabi on November 10–11.

Sources: BBC (Vance; Trump; Wong; France; Melania), AP (Wong; Aiwanger), Reuters and Clarín (Paraguay), DW (Aiwanger), Al Jazeera (Ethiopia–Sudan), Yonhap (South Korea), ABC News and The Guardian (David Jones), Jerusalem Post and Ynet (Israel), White House (Nov 5 meeting).