The hour was dominated by the eve of the US midterms, with a New York Times/Siena poll showing Democrats leading in all seven Senate battlegrounds and just 38% of likely voters approving of Trump's job performance ^1,2. In Texas, James Talarico leads Ken Paxton 50% to 43% . In Michigan, Abdul el Sayed leads Mike Rogers 53% to 42%, a race now clouded by Democrat Haley Stevens endorsing Rogers after the polling was largely completed and then struggling to defend that choice on CNN ^1,3. The legal fight over the vote is already live. Judge Sharon Gleason blocked a Justice Department lawsuit in Alaska over a lesser-known candidate sharing Sen. Dan Sullivan's name, and the DOJ plans to appeal ⁴. Republican senators are also signaling they may refuse to seat Mary Peltola if she wins there ⁵. Trump separately said he would offer protective pardons to Elon Musk and close aides if Democrats take Congress ⁶. Markets were cautious: European stocks edged down on midterm wariness, and Treasuries held steady as traders weighed the vote and the AI trade ^7,8. The second thread is Iran. Oil dropped more than 4% on talks aimed at ending the US-Iran war ⁹. Iran said contacts continue despite no breakthrough, with Qatar facilitating indirect exchanges built on Tehran's seven-step plan ^10,11. Gulf officials at a Bahrain summit backed that mediation and opposed renewed US strikes ¹². Against this, Axios reported that Netanyahu is pressing Trump to bomb Iran immediately after the midterms, while Trump wants to give negotiations a chance first ¹³. The waterway itself remains dangerous. An Emirati-owned tug was struck and seen partially sinking near Hormuz, and Iran's navy said a tanker caught fire after hitting a mine east of the strait ^14,15. In AI finance, Oracle launched a $10 billion bond sale and filed for $10 billion in stock. That came just five days after it capped capital raises at $20 billion through FY30, and after burning $23.7 billion in free cash flow in fiscal 2026 ¹⁶. The move landed amid wider concern about debt-fueled AI buildout ¹⁷ and the same day Marvell agreed to buy Lumentum for $115 billion in stock ¹⁸. In Ukraine, Russian attacks caused outages across nine oblasts, with 94 strikes on the energy sector in a week ¹⁹. Both Ukraine's and Russia's emergency alert apps were hacked with fake nuclear warnings ²⁰. Russia's exit from the Anti-Torture Convention took effect, ending independent inspections of its detention sites ²¹. Freezer-temperature hacks spread to supermarkets in Ireland, Estonia, Belgium, Sweden and Luxembourg ^22,23. Outside the wire, Congo's Ebola death toll has passed 5,000 .