With the US midterms days away, the hour's dominant thread was the fight over the vote itself. Federal Judge Sharon Gleason dismissed the Justice Department's suit seeking to halt certification of Alaska's Senate race, ruling in a 20-page order that the department lacked standing because it offered no workable remedy ^1,2. The dismissal was without prejudice ². In parallel, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said noncitizens on voter rolls could top 300,000, up 50,000 from his July estimate ³. DHS general counsel James Percival vowed to charge and deport noncitizens who vote illegally, while Washington's Secretary of State Steve Hobbs disputed a federal list of more than 400 noncitizens registered in his state ⁴. Trump told Fox News he would become 'Mr. Veto' if Democrats take Congress, blocking their bills until they negotiate with him ^5,6. The Senate remains a toss-up, with competitive races in Michigan, Ohio, Texas and Maine . Michigan produced the hour's biggest jolt: Democratic Rep. Haley Stevens endorsed Republican Mike Rogers over Abdul El-Sayed two days before the election, despite having once called Rogers 'the worst kind of politician' ^7,8. Her staff resigned en masse and the state Democratic Party condemned her . The election calendar is also shaping foreign policy, with Netanyahu reportedly urging renewed strikes on Iran immediately after Tuesday's vote while Trump favors diplomacy and Qatari mediators work to restart direct talks ⁹. Separately, Connecticut Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy, 53, is being treated at Johns Hopkins after a Saturday stroke, and his office is optimistic about a full recovery ¹⁰. In markets, Binance users withdrew US$3.64 billion, about 2.1% of assets, as the exchange came back online after a US$6.3 billion hack the FBI links to North Korea ¹¹. Binance says it will reimburse users whose assets were stolen ¹². Beijing is reportedly convening regulators, securities firms and funds Monday to bolster a buyback relending program after the CSI 300 entered a bear market, falling 8.5% in October and declining for a record 12 straight weeks ¹³. In Ukraine, Russia refused to extend the localised Kherson ceasefire, the war's longest, which was set to lapse Sunday evening ¹⁴. A Russian drone strike on a vocational school dormitory in Vinnytsia Oblast killed a 13-year-old ¹⁵.