Democrats win full control of Congress in a historic rebuke of Trump

Democrats took both chambers of Congress in Tuesday’s midterms, a rout widely read as a referendum on Trump’s second term. The party now holds subpoena power and committee chairs, and can block Trump’s legislative agenda for the rest of his term. House Speaker Johnson blamed “Marxism”.

The wave reached states that Republicans thought were safe. Adam Hamilton won Kansas, the first Democratic Senate win there since 1932. James Talarico flipped Texas for the first time since 1988. Annie Andrews won South Carolina, and Troy Jackson ended Susan Collins’s nearly 30 years in the Senate. Abdul El-Sayed won Michigan and becomes the first Muslim American senator. Josh Turek flipped Iowa. Several of these seats had been redrawn specifically to keep them Republican.

Abroad, the reading is cautious. Bloomberg reports that Moscow is already planning how to exploit a “weakened Trump”. Experts quoted by The Parliament Magazine say Trump’s position on Ukraine and Europe will not change, because the executive branch drives those decisions. (Governors and other firsts in World.)

Russia’s largest energy strike of the war hits a nuclear plant substation

On US election night, Russia launched 289 drones, 17 ballistic missiles and 59 cruise missiles across nine oblasts. Ukrenergo called it the most serious attack on energy infrastructure to date. Three drones hit a substation that is critical to the Khmelnytskyi Nuclear Power Plant. Ukraine’s energy minister warned of “nuclear safety risks across Europe” and notified the IAEA. Five oblasts lost power, and all of Zhytomyr went dark.

At least 38 people were killed and more than 160 injured in 24 hours. A hospital complex in Kharkiv was hit, wounding 73 patients and medical staff, and hospitals in Dnipro were struck in a morning missile attack. Russia followed up overnight into Wednesday with 310 more drones. Kyiv’s heating season opened on 2 November.

Hormuz: four tankers mined as Iran calls the US reply “not convincing”

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards say naval mines destroyed four tankers that tried to cross a “prohibited route” in the Strait of Hormuz. Iran’s security council chief called Washington’s response to Tehran’s seven-point reopening plan “not convincing”. Trump confirmed a US strike on an Iranian anti-aircraft facility, which he called “a minor attack” and “not war”. Qatar is passing real-time messages between the two sides. Ursula von der Leyen says the closure has cost the EU an extra €127bn.

On election day, Trump also said he would end the US’s roughly $4bn in annual military aid to Israel by the end of the year, because Israel “doesn’t need” it. Meanwhile, AP reports that Netanyahu is pressing Trump to strike Iran’s nuclear programme now that the midterms are over. Netanyahu lost his Knesset majority and now claims the election was stolen. (More in Investigations.)

The cold-chain hack spreads to ten countries and reaches French blood plasma

The cyberattack that raised supermarket freezer temperatures in seven European countries has spread to at least ten. In France, hackers took over blood plasma storage units and raised the temperature from −30°C to 110°C, which could destroy critical medical supplies. Estonia, Sweden, Portugal, Italy, Ireland and Belgium are also affected, and UK meat industry operations were disrupted. On the same day, seven passenger flights across Europe received coordinated bomb threats. All were false alarms. Investigators are examining whether the threats are part of Russia’s hybrid campaign against European transport.