World Brief: November 6, 2026

Global markets tumble as AI fears spill from Wall Street into Asia and Europe. The White House says Pete Hegseth and Marco Rubio are staying put as an impeachment push looms. Paraguay’s Santiago Peña resigns into impeachment over the Ueno bank collapse. Zaporizhzhia’s aid-hub death toll rises to 53. Plus Pope Leo begins his Latin America tour weeks after lung surgery, Europe’s airspace takes another wave of hoax bomb threats, Kenya jails cult leader Paul Mackenzie for 200 years, the ANC slides in South Africa’s local elections, Macau hands down its first national-security sentence, and Holocaust survivor Eva Geller dies nearly a year after Bondi Beach. Ten stories as of Friday morning, November 6.

1. New York, Tokyo, Seoul / Global markets. A tech sell-off that began on Wall Street spilled into Asia and Europe on Friday as investors fretted that Democrats’ midterm win could slow the artificial-intelligence boom, BBC News reported. The Nasdaq fell 5.5% on Thursday — its worst day in 19 months — and entered correction territory, more than 10% below its recent high. The “Magnificent Seven” shed about a trillion dollars in a day; Nvidia dropped more than 9%. Japan’s Nikkei closed down 6% Friday. South Korea’s Kospi plunged more than 8% at one point, triggering a circuit breaker, before closing down about 6%. In early European trade, the FTSE 100 and Germany’s Dax were each lower as the sell-off spread, BBC News said. Investors also worry whether the huge sums poured into AI will pay off. Later Friday the Nasdaq opened higher after an unexpectedly strong September jobs print of 165,000, BBC News said.

2. Washington / United States. The White House denied rumors that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio might leave after Republican midterm losses blamed on the Iran war, BBC News reported. Outgoing Republican Rep. Thomas Massie told Politico he will trigger a resolution to impeach Hegseth early next week. Hegseth answered in a video statement, calling the effort “sham articles of impeachment” from a “disgruntled, defeated congressman” and saying: “We will not back down.” President Trump told ABC News he has “every intention” of keeping Hegseth and later said at the White House that “Pete Hegseth has done a fantastic job.” Rubio was rumored to be eyeing a presidential run; the White House said both men remain in place.

3. Asunción / Paraguay. President Santiago Peña announced his resignation after the collapse of digital lender Ueno Bank, which had about three million customers — roughly 60% of Paraguay’s adults — then faced impeachment minutes later as Congress pressed on, BBC News and NPR reported. “I want to apologise to the people if at any point I failed,” he said in a video message. Congress must approve a resignation; a special session adjourned in favour of impeachment, which the lower house voted to pursue. Peña, a shareholder in the bank’s owner until last year, denies wrongdoing and says he will appear before the Senate “to exercise my right to a defence.” The Colorado Party dropped its case against Vice President Pedro Alliana, who is next in line. Police and protesters clashed outside Congress on Thursday.

4. Komyshuvakha / Ukraine. The death toll from Monday’s Russian strike on an aid distribution center in Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region rose to 53, acting regional governor Mykhailo Semikin said, making it one of the deadliest Russian attacks this year, Al Jazeera reported, citing Anadolu and Reuters. Ukraine’s emergency service said eight more bodies were recovered Friday, bringing its count to at least 50. Local police said Wednesday that 59 people were listed as missing and as many as 39 may still be trapped under debris; rescuers are taking DNA samples to identify victims. Ukraine says Russian aircraft bombed a former school in Komyshuvakha that civilians used for weekly aid handouts. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said a second wave of nine bombs hit the underground shelter where people had taken cover. Four police officers and two rescue workers were among the dead.

5. Rome, Lisbon, Prague / Europe. A fresh wave of hoax bomb threats hit European aviation on Friday after nearly 30 aircraft and several airports were disrupted earlier in the week, BBC News reported. Multiple flights to and from Lisbon, Rome, Prague and Sofia were targeted; three planes were escorted by Hungarian fighter jets. High-profile media organisations, including Ireland’s RTÉ, were evacuated after separate threats, with no concrete link established between the airline and broadcaster messages. The UK has called the earlier wave a “malicious hoax.” A Russian extremist group named in a Thursday email to Rome’s airports — the banned “Male State” — denied any link, telling the BBC a Telegram account linked to the group said it “hasn’t existed for many years.” No explosives were found on any aircraft.

6. Uruguay, Argentina and Peru / Latin America. Pope Leo XIV began a 12-day trip to Uruguay, Argentina and Peru on Friday, three weeks after surgery that removed a lung tumor with the lower lobe of his right lung, BBC News and NPR reported. The Vatican says no extraordinary measures are being taken, describing him as a “71-year-old who has undergone an operation.” His medical team said the cancer had not spread. The tour starts in Uruguay — its first papal visit in four decades — then Argentina, homeland of Pope Francis, and ends in Peru, where the American-born pope spent almost 20 years and holds citizenship. A Vatican spokeswoman said Leo had “fantastic stamina” and personally confirmed the schedule with no changes.

7. Malindi / Kenya. A Kenyan court sentenced doomsday cult leader Paul Mackenzie to 200 years in prison Friday for murdering 191 people — 190 of them children — in the Shakahola forest, BBC News and The Guardian reported. Mackenzie and 28 others were found guilty on October 19 of instructing members to starve their children to death so they could “meet Jesus.” Justice Diana Mochache said he bore “primary criminal culpability” and called the killings “cold and calculated.” He received 100 years for homicide and another 100 for starvation offences; the two sets run consecutively. Prosecutors had sought the death penalty; the judge declined, saying it would remove any prospect of rehabilitation. Kenya has not carried out an execution since 1987. Co-accused received up to 160 years. Mackenzie was arrested in 2023 after more than 400 bodies were found in shallow graves.

8. Johannesburg and Durban / South Africa. The African National Congress is on course for a bruising defeat in this week’s local elections, falling to under a third of the national vote with more than 80% of ballots counted, The Guardian reported. The ANC stood at about 31.8% — almost 14 points below its 2021 local result — with the Democratic Alliance on about 24.1% and former president Jacob Zuma’s MK party on about 9.3%. Turnout rose to an estimated 54.5%, from 46% five years ago. Final results are expected Sunday. The ANC is projected to lose its status as the biggest party in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal. In Johannesburg, with just over half counted, the DA led with about 40% and the ANC had about 17.5%. Coalition talks are under way; councillors have two weeks to elect mayors.

9. Macau / China. Macau sentenced former lawmaker and pro-democracy campaigner Au Kam San, 69, to 12 years and six months in jail Friday in the city’s first national security case, BBC News and NPR reported. Au was convicted of subverting state power and related offences after a closed-door trial. Prosecutors accused him of collaborating with “external hostile organisations.” His wife, Virginia Cheang, called the case a “groundless persecution designed to humiliate Au.” His family said he was not allowed his own lawyer and was assigned one by the court. Macau’s security law, in force since 2009, was widened in 2023. Au served 20 years in the legislature as one of a handful of pro-democracy voices.

10. Sydney / Australia. Eva Geller, a 90-year-old Holocaust survivor shot in last December’s Bondi Beach attack, has died in a Sydney hospital almost a year later, BBC News reported. Geller was among those seriously injured when two gunmen opened fire on a Jewish event at Bondi Beach on December 14; fifteen people were killed, including a 10-year-old girl. Rabbi Aron Moss of the Nefesh Synagogue said she died Thursday night and had stayed “positive, loving, and strong throughout her life, right until the end.” Doctors told her she would never walk again, Moss said, but she did. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Australia would never forget those who “continue to carry the pain” of the attack. One gunman was killed by police; his son faces murder charges.

Sources: BBC (markets; Hegseth; Peña; bomb threats; Pope; Mackenzie; Macau; Geller), Al Jazeera (Zaporizhzhia), NPR (Paraguay; Pope; Macau), The Guardian (ANC; Mackenzie).