HAVANA TIMES – We bring you some of the top international news stories compiled by Democracy Now on Tuesday, November 3, 2026.
WSJ: U.S. Carries Out Strikes Around Strait of Hormuz on Eve of Midterm Elections
Nov 03, 2026
In Iran, several explosions were reported overnight on Qeshm Island and in the port city of Bandar Lengeh, as The Wall Street Journal reported the U.S. had carried out strikes around the Strait of Hormuz. The attacks came on the eve of today’s midterm elections, which will determine the balance of power in the House and Senate, and just hours after President Trump declared that the U.S. is not at war with Iran. Trump spoke by phone with Fox News’s Sean Hannity.
President Donald Trump: “We’re not fighting a war. You know, everyone says, ’You’re at war!’ Well, when was the last time we fired anything? This isn’t a war. This is a very soft war.”
The latest U.S. attacks on Iran came amid reports that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is pushing for a massive wave of new strikes after today’s U.S. midterm elections. That could help Netanyahu form an emergency government, following his far-right coalition’s losses in last week’s elections in Israel. This comes as Iran’s Foreign Ministry said Monday it is prepared to reopen the Strait of Hormuz in two days if the U.S. agrees to a set of demands.
SCOTUS Rejects Trump Admin’s Attempt to Force California to Set Aside 20,000 Mail-In Ballots
Nov 03, 2026
The Supreme Court has rejected the Trump administration’s attempt to force California to set aside 20,000 mail-in ballots it claims may have come from noncitizens. On Monday, justices issued a short, unexplained order just hours after the Justice Department filed its emergency request. An analysis by UCLA researchers found the Trump administration flagged thousands of U.S. citizens as ineligible to vote, while more than 40% of the names provided could not even be found in California’s voter rolls. In a statement, California’s Attorney General Rob Bonta said, “This latest decision should put an end to the administration’s attempt to disrupt California’s elections through emergency court orders. But our work is not over. We will remain vigilant and keep fighting back against federal efforts to undermine our democracy.”
Federal Judge Denies Attempt by NAACP to Block DOJ from Deploying Election Monitors
Nov 03, 2026
A federal judge on Monday denied an attempt by the NAACP and the NAACP Legal Defense Fund to block the Justice Department from deploying federal law enforcement to serve as so-called election monitors at polling locations. The civil rights groups had argued that the presence of federal agents could intimidate voters and deter them from casting their ballot. The judge ruled that the 1,000 poll monitors sent by the Justice Department “will not be armed with firearms, not be in uniform, not carry any insignia of their law enforcement association, and will not be sworn law enforcement officials and therefore will not possess the power to arrest.” Later in the broadcast, we’ll be joined by Kristen Clarke, general counsel of the NAACP.
Michigan Democratic Senate Nominee Dr. El-Sayed Raises $2.4 Million in One Day
Nov 03, 2026
In Michigan, Democratic Senate nominee Dr. Abdul El-Sayed says he raised $2.4 million on Sunday alone. The campaign called it its best fundraising day ever, with more than 65,000 donors. The surge came after Democratic Congressmember Haley Stevens, who narrowly lost to El-Sayed in the primary, switched her endorsement to MAGA Republican Mike Rogers. This is Dr. El-Sayed speaking on Monday.
Dr. Abdul El-Sayed: “I don’t know that Donald Trump actually knows what my name is. It’s either Abdul or Mohammed. The reality of it is that I don’t really need him to know my name. He can just go ahead and call me senator after tomorrow.”
Top Republicans have repeatedly attacked El-Sayed over his Arabic name and his faith. If elected, he’ll become the first-ever Muslim U.S. senator. Their racist and Islamophobic attacks were led by President Trump.
President Donald Trump: “His name is actually Abdullah Sabtadullah. It’s Abdullah Bababababa Mohammed El-Sayed. So his middle name is Mohammed. So I was right, almost. Oh, by the way, how about that guy? He’s a jihadist.”
Trump also said El-Sayed would need to go through a special metal detector before being allowed into the Senate, said he was “on the side of the terrorists,” and compared stopping El-Sayed’s Senate campaign to the passengers who confronted hijackers aboard United Flight 93 during the 9/11 attacks. Joining
Trump’s recent racist attacks on El-Sayed was Texas Republican Senator Ted Cruz, who traveled to Michigan to campaign with Mike Rogers last week. Cruz repeated unsubstantiated claims that El-Sayed is a supporter of the Muslim Brotherhood.
Sen. Ted Cruz: “I’m sorry, my nickname for the guy is the ‘jihadist leprechaun.’ … And if I am correct that he is a passionate supporter of the Muslim Brotherhood, there is a very real risk that Americans will die as a result.”
Republican Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina accused El-Sayed’s family of “funding Osama bin Laden.” Meanwhile, Health and Human Services Secretary RFK Jr. went on a racist diatribe during a recent campaign event for Mike Rogers in which he falsely stated that Arabs never won leading awards in science or literature.
HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.: “There’s 500 million Arabs in the world, and yet they don’t produce science. They don’t win the Nobel Prize. They don’t win the Field Prize. They don’t win the Wolf Prize. They don’t produce literature.”
Aide to Georgia GOP Senate Candidate Mike Collins Posted Online Slurs and Calls to Violence
Nov 03, 2026
The Washington Post reports that an aide to the Republican Senate candidate in Georgia, Congressmember Mike Collins, is linked to an anonymous social media account that attacks female politicians, endorses political violence, rejects democracy and opposes civil rights protections. The aide, 25-year-old Jonathon Hatzistefanou, had also worked for four GOP congressional representatives over four years. Most recently he worked with Collins from May 2023 to March 2024. Hatzistefanou is linked to an account on X that called Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski an “old hag” and referred to Senator Amy Klobuchar as a “bitch.” One post said that Turning Point USA, the political nonprofit founded by the late conservative activist Charlie Kirk, employed too many women. Another post calls a female former diplomat a “fat pig.” The account also describes Islam as a “desert slave religion.”
Elon Musk Spent Record-Shattering $474 Million on Midterm Elections
Nov 03, 2026
The latest tally of trillionaire Elon Musk’s political giving shows that he contributed $474 million — nearly half a billion dollars — to Republican candidates in this year’s midterm elections. That’s according to The New York Times. No donor has ever spent more in one election cycle. In Texas alone, Musk spent about $224 million, most of which was given directly to Republican Ken Paxton’s Senate campaign. The figures run through October 14 and don’t include the final three weeks of the election. According to the Federal Election Commission, nearly $12 billion was spent in this year’s midterm elections, an all-time record. Tune in tonight for Democracy Now!’s four-hour live election night special starting at 8 p.m. Eastern. We will be streaming live at democracynow.org and on our YouTube channel. Check your local Democracy Now! station for listings.
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Former Head of Chicago FBI Sues DOJ, Alleging Politically Driven Prosecutions
Nov 03, 2026
The former head of the FBI’s Chicago field office sued the Justice department on Monday, alleging the Trump administration pushed him to open politically driven investigations and blamed him when a high-profile prosecution of anti-ICE protesters known as the Broadview 6 collapsed. Douglas DePodesta previously led the FBI’s Chicago office until he was forced to resign in July. His complaint focuses on Andrew Boutros, the U.S. attorney in Chicago. DePodesta says Boutros targeted protesters during last year’s immigration crackdown in Chicago known as Operation Midway Blitz under pressure from the Trump administration, with a particular focus on Kat Abughazaleh, who was a congressional candidate at the time.
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New York Records First Measles Death in Over 3 Decades
Nov 03, 2026
Here in New York, a child has died after contracting measles. It’s the first measles death in the state in 30 years. New York has recorded at least 178 measles cases this year, out of nearly 5,000 confirmed U.S. cases so far this year. That’s twice as many as in 2025.
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Houthis Advance on Aden as Fighting Worsens Yemen’s Hunger Crisis
Nov 03, 2026
In Yemen, fighters with the Ansar Allah movement known as the Houthis have advanced to within 50 miles of Aden, the temporary capital and main stronghold of the Saudi-backed, internationally recognized government. Saudi Arabia’s military responded with strikes on several Houthi-controlled regions that Ansar Allah says killed 10 people and injured dozens of others. Two of the airstrikes reportedly struck the University of Hodeidah’s medical school. Elsewhere, the Saudi-led coalition said it had intercepted ballistic missiles and a drone fired by Ansar Allah toward southern Saudi Arabia. The fighting has exacerbated the hunger crisis in Yemen, where about three-quarters of households are unable to meet their basic daily food needs, according to the U.N. This is a resident of the besieged city of Taiz, whose governor last week declared a famine.
Hassan al-Yasiri: “I think many things have changed in people’s lives. Before the war, people lived with some kind of stability, with the minimum standard of living. There was stability in prices and fuel derivatives. Foodstuffs and other things were available. Now with the war, there is a crisis that, in my opinion, has touched every home and every family. Citizens are living in hardship, in a wretched economic situation. There are frequent fuel cuts and disruption to daily life.”
Displaced Palestinians Return to Hebron as Israel Ends 10-Day Siege
Nov 03, 2026
In the occupied West Bank, Palestinian families are returning to homes, businesses and schools in Hebron, after Israel’s army ended a 10-day siege. The Israeli crackdown followed an October 23 shooting attack — allegedly by two Palestinians — that killed two Israeli soldiers and wounded three others. The two suspects were killed at the scene. Following the attack, Israel forced thousands of Palestinian families from their homes, closed hundreds of shops and canceled classes for about 80,000 school children. Some 800,000 Palestinians were affected by the siege. This is Tamara Obeid, a resident of Hebron who said soldiers raided her home on October 23, pointed weapons at her family and arrested her husband at gunpoint, leaving the couple’s children afraid to return home.
Tamara Obeid: “The children were psychologically affected. I cannot bring them home for them to see the house as it is now. Even the youngest child, when I told him that we can go back home, he said, ‘No, we have soldiers in our house.’ The children need psychological preparation to be able to bring them home.”
Russian Strike on Humanitarian Aid Center in Ukraine Leaves Dozens Injured or Dead
Nov 03, 2026
Ukraine’s government says at least 31 people were killed and dozens of others remain missing after Russia bombed a humanitarian aid site in a village in Ukraine’s southern Zaporizhzhia region. Survivors called it a “double-tap” strike, with Russia first bombing a school building used to distribute aid, before a second wave of attacks on people at a nearby shelter. It’s one of the deadliest Russian strikes on civilians since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine nearly five years ago. It came as Russia attacked nine regions of Ukraine overnight, triggering blackouts and injuring scores of people, including dozens of patients at a hospital in Kharkiv.
Bangladeshi Garment Workers’ Strike Demands End to Poverty Wages
Nov 03, 2026
In Bangladesh, police have used tear gas and sound grenades against thousands of marching workers, as protests over low wages and rising living costs have spread nationwide, temporarily closing about 500 garment factories. Workers are demanding a minimum monthly wage of $242, which is double what they’re currently paid. Bangladesh’s garment industry employs around 4 million workers.
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