PHOTO: AFP
While You Were Sleeping: 5 stories you might have missed, Nov 3, 2026
· The Straits TimesTrump makes final US midterm pitch at troubled Reflecting Pool
Donald Trump chose Washington’s Reflecting Pool – an iconic landmark where botched repairs came to symbolise the 80-year-old’s chaotic presidency – for a final speech on Nov 2 to rally Republicans against a predicted tide of Democratic victories in midterm elections.
“This is the last day before the midterm elections, the most important midterm I believe in our lifetime,” Trump said 26 minutes into a rambling speech which focused on his project to renovate monuments in the US capital, rather than inflation, the Iran war and other issues driving voters.
Polls show Democrats poised to seize the House of Representatives and within reach of the Senate in the Nov 3 vote – a shift that would impose tight political constraints on the president since he took office nearly two years ago.
Americans are increasingly dissatisfied with the economy, while Trump’s own approval ratings have hit record lows.
Ukraine says Russian strikes dash peace progress hopes after 26 killed
Ukraine on Nov 2 said multiple Russian strikes on a school where humanitarian aid was distributed killed at least 26 people and dashed fragile hopes of “progress toward peace” after a local ceasefire in the south expired without violations.
Russia resumed its strikes on the southern region of Kherson after the end of a local ceasefire in the area, the longest truce in the war raging between the neighbours since Russia’s 2022 invasion, Kyiv said.
A rare pause in the fighting, brokered by US First Lady Melania Trump to enable a mission to the Russian-occupied city of Oleshky, ended on Nov 1, with neither side reporting breaches.
Yemen’s Houthis advance to within 80km of Aden, sources say
Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis have advanced to within 80km of Aden, the main stronghold and temporary capital of the country’s internationally recognised government, four military sources told Reuters on Nov 2.
The advance brings the Houthis closer to Aden than at any point since the early months of the war in 2015, when they briefly entered the city before being driven out.
The latest offensive has opened a volatile new front in the wider US-Israeli war on Iran, drawing both the Houthis and Saudi Arabia deeper into the regional conflict.
UN reports warn of large-scale damage to Earth’s ice from climate change
Exceeding 1.5 deg C of global warming will have “irreversible” consequences for glaciers, sea ice and the Earth’s frozen regions, two UN reports warned on Nov 2, calling for urgent action.
The landmark 2015 Paris Agreement commits the world to limiting warming to well below 2 deg C and pursuing efforts to hold it at 1.5 deg C to try to avoid the worst effects of climate change.
One of the reports said overshooting the 1.5 deg C target “will bring large-scale and in many cases irreversible impacts” for the cryosphere – Earth’s ice in all its forms.
Anthropic says revenue surged 1,100% ahead of IPO
Anthropic, one of the world’s leading artificial intelligence companies, on Nov 2 reported a more than 1,100 per cent surge in quarterly revenue and nearly US$900 billion (S$1.1 trillion) in spending commitments as it counts down to its Wall Street listing later in November.
The San Francisco-based company was founded in 2021 by former OpenAI researchers led by chief executive Dario Amodei and his sister Daniela, now its president, with AI safety as its focus.
The listing comes amid growing nervousness among investors about the huge sums being poured into AI.