Oct 26, 2026
5 min read
Brazil's President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva won a fourth term, and Serbia's Aleksandar Vučić conceded defeat to a student-led movement. Regional powers sent envoys to Tehran as fears of renewed war with Iran grew, and China's Communist Party opened a key meeting.
Lula wins fourth term, Bolsonaro seeks annulment
President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva won Brazil's presidential run-off on Sunday with 51.76% of valid votes against 48.24% for right-wing Senator Flávio Bolsonaro, with 99.77% of votes counted, electoral authority data showed. The margin was more than 4 million votes. Bolsonaro refused to concede. "We will request the annulment of these elections," he said, citing a Supreme Court justice's two-hour extension of voting. He presented no evidence of irregularities. "Brazil is no one's backyard," Lula said. His new term begins on 5 January.
Vučić concedes defeat to Serbian students
Serbia's Aleksandar Vučić conceded defeat in Sunday's parliamentary election to a student-led movement that grew out of two years of protests. "It is clear that we have lost these elections," he said. Vučić said a vote sample gave the Student List 135 to 140 of 250 seats and his list about 105, with final results pending. Turnout was the highest since 1992, officials said. Vučić resigned as president in September to run for prime minister. The protests began after a station canopy collapse killed 16 people in 2024.
Regional envoys in Tehran as Trump weighs options
Saudi Defence Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman, Pakistan's army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir and Turkish intelligence chief Ibrahim Kalin were in Tehran for talks on Monday, seeking "ways to de-escalate tensions", Saudi Arabia said. Qatari mediators visited Tehran on Sunday in coordination with Washington, Reuters reported. President Donald Trump told Fox News on Sunday: "Do I make a deal with them, or do I finish them off?" He later said there would be no strike that day. Iran's foreign ministry said diplomacy remained open.
Kremlin says Putin, Xi, Trump summit possible
Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said on Sunday that Russia, China and the United States were "in principle" ready for a three-way summit of their leaders at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meeting in Shenzhen on 18 and 19 November. He said preparations had begun. Ushakov also said Moscow would be ready to resume three-way talks with Ukraine and the United States after 4 November, Russia's National Unity Day, but warned expectations should not be high. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said technical talks are planned for November.
China's Communist Party opens key plenum
China's ruling Communist Party opened the fifth plenary session of its Central Committee in Beijing on Monday, a closed-door meeting that runs until Thursday. President Xi Jinping presented a draft decision on "full and rigorous Party self-governance", the Xinhua news agency reported. About 300 members are attending, with 15 under investigation, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported. Analysts see the meeting as a chance for Xi to tighten his authority before next year's party congress, where he is expected to secure a fourth term.
Israel prepares for Tuesday's general election
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned on Sunday that Iran or its allies might try to disrupt Tuesday's general election. "Don't test us. You will suffer disproportionate blows," he said, adding that the military was "ready both to defend and to strike", the Associated Press (AP) reported. Polls open at 7am on Tuesday. Netanyahu's Likud faces challenges from former military chief Gadi Eisenkot, whose party aims to finish first, and former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett. Smaller parties are fighting to clear the electoral threshold.
Houthis claim strikes on Saudi oil sites
Yemen's Houthis said on Monday that they had attacked Saudi Arabia's East-West crude oil pumping stations and Riyadh's King Khalid International Airport, Reuters reported. There was no immediate Saudi confirmation. The Saudi-led coalition said it intercepted a ballistic missile aimed at Riyadh and destroyed two missile launchers in the Yemeni capital Sanaa. The airport had reopened two terminals on Sunday after a Houthi-claimed attack earlier this month killed 13 people, the deadliest in the kingdom in more than a decade.
Asian chip stocks fall, oil retreats
Asian chip stocks fell on Monday ahead of a week of Big Tech earnings. Japan's Nikkei 225 lost 0.8% to 62,189.65 and South Korea's Kospi fell 1.5% to 5,469.47, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 0.5%. Brent crude fell 1.9% to $114.51 a barrel in early Asian trade on hopes of easing United States-Iran hostilities, after gaining 6% last week. Investors await the Federal Reserve's rate decision on Wednesday, with the 10-year Treasury yield near 5% and gold around $4,000 an ounce.
Jordan arrests three over church attack
Jordanian security forces arrested three suspects early on Monday over Friday's shooting at a Greek Orthodox church in Karak governorate that killed nine people during a funeral. The men were wounded in a shootout after refusing to surrender in an abandoned house, the Public Security Directorate said. No security personnel were hurt. Interior Minister Mazen al-Faraya called the attack a "terrorist act". King Abdullah II ordered an "iron fist" response. No group has claimed responsibility.
Trump calls Michigan Democrat a "jihadist"
President Donald Trump rallied Republicans in Port Huron, Michigan, on Sunday, nine days before the 3 November midterm elections. He backed former Representative Mike Rogers for the state's open Senate seat and attacked Democratic nominee Abdul El-Sayed, saying he wanted to keep "a jihadist Muslim brotherhood member" from becoming a senator. El-Sayed has repeatedly denied ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, and Democrats called the claims attacks on his faith. Republicans hold the Senate 53 to 47.
Anthropic's Claude pulled Georgia voting data
Anthropic and Georgia officials confirmed on Sunday that the company's Claude AI model, used internally for a statistics project, obtained aggregate vote-count data that the state normally sells for a fee. "Without being asked to, the model requested a token to query a dashboard," Anthropic said, adding that it had put mitigations in place. The model did not access voter registration systems, the company and the state said. "This was publicly available data accessed through our data hub," said Deputy Secretary of State Jordan Fuchs.
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