Leo landed at Buenos Aires’ Aeroparque airport Sunday afternoon, where a military honor guard and President Javier Milei awaited him at the foot of the aircraft steps — hours after he celebrated Mass in Florida, Uruguay, thanking the mothers and grandmothers who passed on the faith in Latin America’s most secular country. It is the first papal visit to Argentina since 1987: Francis never returned home in his 12 years as pope, and the Church has been one of the sharpest critics of Milei’s austerity — which has cut the health budget 48% in real terms — while police arrested a man Saturday over death threats against the pope.
Official Vatican programme for the trip | Pope Leo heads to a divided Argentina, still reckoning with Francis’ legacy
ELECTIONS & CONGRESS
TRUMP DECLARES ALASKA DECIDED — THE AP HASN’T CALLED IT — Trump posted Saturday that Sen. Dan Sullivan had “won” Alaska; the AP still shows Mary Peltola ahead by 637 votes with about 74% counted, and neither the AP nor Decision Desk HQ has called it. In Mississippi, Scott Colom leads Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith by 2,574 with about 97% counted; mail ballots arrive through Nov. 10, certification is due Nov. 13, and the GOP has sent 50-plus lawyers to watch the count and asked all 82 counties to preserve affidavit ballots. The House stands at 254 Democrats, 162 Republicans, 19 uncalled.
JEFFRIES LAUNCHES SPEAKER BID, WOULD BE FIRST BLACK SPEAKER — In a letter Wednesday he laid out priorities of “Affordability,” “Accountability” and “American Values,” with a 100-day agenda and impeachment on the table; the floor vote is Jan. 3, 2027, and Katherine Clark is bidding for majority leader.
SCALISE, JORDAN VIE FOR TOP GOP POST AS JOHNSON STEPS ASIDE — Mike Johnson won’t seek House minority leader, leaving Steve Scalise and Jim Jordan to fight for the post in a vote Nov. 10; Schumer and Jeffries face progressive challenges of their own, and government funding expires Dec. 11.
JEFFRIES HAS A PLAN TO UNDO TRUMP’S POLICIES IN HIS FIRST 100 DAYS — Jeffries pledged Democrats would prioritize reversing Medicaid cuts, restoring SNAP funding, extending ACA tax credits and eliminating Trump-era tariffs in their first 100 days, plus aggressive oversight of the administration.
BUSINESS & YOUR MONEY
OIL HOLDS NEAR ONE-MONTH HIGHS AS HORMUZ TRAFFIC COLLAPSES — Brent jumped 9.6% in a single day Monday, its biggest move since May 2020, and Hormuz transits have fallen to as few as 10 a day; Eurasia Group sees $95 crude if the disruption persists, TD Securities $100, and GasBuddy expects U.S. pump prices to hit $4 a gallon within days. Trump dropped his 20% protection toll after the International Maritime Organization called mandatory strait tolls illegal.
INSURER STOCKS WATCH NEW CONGRESS AS OBAMACARE SUBSIDIES LAPSE — Democrats vow to restore the enhanced ACA credits, which could bring back some of the 3 million-plus people who walked away from coverage; Oscar Health and Centene fell Friday on the churn, but Oscar’s premiums are set to reach a record $19 billion this year. A Trump veto likely leaves any restoration until 2029, not 2027.
HOME PRICES FALL FOR THIRD STRAIGHT WEEK AS PENDING SALES HIT RECORD LOW — Sale prices kept declining for a third consecutive week while pending sales fell to a record low, as high rates keep buyers on the sidelines.
QUICK HITS
2026 MIDTERMS POST-ELECTION REPORT
FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
TRUMP: NEW IRAN STRIKES “HIGHLY UNLIKELY” IF TALKS PROGRESS — In a 20-minute phone interview with CNN on Sunday, Trump said five times it was “highly unlikely” he would need to order fresh attacks on Iran as long as negotiations over its nuclear program and reopening the Strait of Hormuz make progress — “It depends on whether or not they sign a very strong agreement.” He also said the U.S. has identified 38 bridges it could “knock down in literally one hour,” and that three aircraft carriers are in the region, “fully locked and loaded.”
60 MINUTES AIRS TONIGHT: TRUMP SAYS “A FEW” CABINET CHANGES ARE COMING — In his first sit-down interview since the midterm losses, taped Friday and airing at 7 p.m. ET tonight, Trump told Ross Douthat he expects to fire Cabinet members: “I love my Cabinet. I think they’re good. But I’ll be doing maybe a few changes.” He said he still has confidence in War Secretary Pete Hegseth, who may face an impeachment vote when the House reconvenes next week.
JUDGE ORDERS NYC TO HAND ICE BRONX SHELTER RECORDS — U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan ruled Friday that Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s administration must comply with an ICE subpoena for names and birth dates of noncitizen men with criminal histories at a Bronx homeless shelter, rejecting the city’s sanctuary objections. A special master will review the records, and the city and DOJ have two weeks to agree on the process.
MILLER TAKES OVER MONDAY AS LAME-DUCK CONGRESS FACES DEC. 11 FUNDING DEADLINE — Stephen Miller replaces Susie Wiles as chief of staff Monday, days after Republicans lost Congress; government funding runs out Dec. 11 and the defense authorization expires Dec. 31, with Democrats taking both chambers in January.
TRUMP OFFERS UFC’S DANA WHITE THE PRESS SECRETARY JOB — Trump posted Saturday that he offered the vacant press secretary job to “the Great Dana White” and asked him to bring UFC fighters as assistants; White, in London for a boxing event, said he will fly to Washington and meet Trump on Monday — without saying whether he will take it.
HOW A CHINESE OPERATIVE CULTIVATED A FED ADVISER — Federal Reserve senior adviser John Harold Rogers, who had FOMC access from 2010 to 2021, was sentenced July 15 to 38 months for lying to investigators and acquitted of economic-espionage conspiracy; a July 15 inspector general report found the Fed is not managing insider risks.
BUSINESS & YOUR MONEY
KOREA MARGIN WAIVER TAKES EFFECT MONDAY AS MARKETS REEL — Mirae Asset cuts its collateral requirement from 140% to 130% from Nov. 9 to Jan. 31, while other brokerages defer forced liquidations only on separate application — relief, not a ban on forced sales — after the KOSPI’s 6% plunge Friday.
YOUTUBERS ARE TAKING OVER HOLLYWOOD — Two horror films by YouTube creators — “Backrooms” ($10 million budget, $370 million-plus worldwide) and “Obsession” — outgrossed nine-figure franchise releases this summer, and studios now see creators as a talent pipeline with built-in audiences of millions. YouTube already holds the largest single share of American TV viewing, per Nielsen.
GOLD AT $4,045 AFTER HOT JOBS REPORT LIFTS HIKE ODDS — Gold held $4,045 into the weekend as December hike odds rose after the 165,000-jobs report; traders eye $4,135 to the upside and $3,990 below, with Tuesday’s CPI the next catalyst.
QUICK HITS
FED RATE-HIKE ODDS JUMP AFTER OCTOBER JOBS REPORT
THE GLOBAL CLOSE: CHIPS BOUNCE AS HOT PAYROLLS LIFT DECEMBER HIKE ODDS
MILLER PLEDGES “ABSOLUTE LOYALTY” TO TRUMP IN FIRST SPEECH AS CHIEF OF STAFF
TRUMP OPENS DOOR TO TALKS WITH DEMOCRATS, NAMES MILLER CHIEF OF STAFF
GEOPOLITICS
THREE TANKERS BURNING IN HORMUZ AS IRAN, U.S. TRADE BLOWS AT SEA — Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said two oil tankers caught fire Sunday after striking naval mines on unauthorized routes through the Strait of Hormuz; the semi-official Fars agency reported a third tanker fire. Neither tanker was named. U.S. Central Command said it disabled the bulk carrier M/V Huda in the Gulf of Oman after it tried to breach the blockade, and the cause of Saturday’s explosions on Qeshm Island remains unexplained — Iranian state TV suggested its own military activity.
PARAGUAY’S NEW PRESIDENT VOWS FULL REPAYMENT AFTER UENO BANK COLLAPSE — Pedro Alliana, sworn in Friday after Congress removed Santiago Peña, promised millions of Ueno depositors “will be fully compensated” and ordered regulators to speed payouts, starting with low-income savers; the collapse froze the accounts of 2.94 million customers, nearly half the population. The central bank said Saturday the equivalent of $160 million has already been paid to nearly 1.2 million savers, while Peña sits in pretrial detention at a military facility.
UKRAINE: 850,000 WITHOUT POWER AS RUSSIA POUNDS GRID BEFORE ABU DHABI TALKS — Overnight Russian drone and missile attacks damaged energy infrastructure across 12 regions, with Kyiv hit hardest — 172 drones and 36 ballistic missiles, the North Bridge damaged, and substations linking two nuclear plants to the capital struck. Zelensky said North Korean-made KN-23 missiles were used. More than 600,000 are without power in Dnipropetrovsk and nearly 250,000 in Kharkiv, days before U.S.-brokered trilateral talks Tuesday in Abu Dhabi.
EISENKOT GETS THE MANDATE TO FORM ISRAEL’S NEXT GOVERNMENT — President Herzog handed Yashar leader Gadi Eisenkot the mandate at a ceremony in Jerusalem on Sunday; he has 28 days to assemble a coalition, with a possible 14-day extension, and is expected to meet Naftali Bennett tonight and Avigdor Liberman on Monday.
146,000 MARCH IN FRANCE AS STUDENT PROTESTS SWELL — Some 146,000 people marched nationwide Saturday, the Interior Ministry said, with ~350 arrests and 46,000 in Paris; organizers claimed 250,000-plus, and Prime Minister Lecornu meets unions Monday as the government intends to raise the minimum wage. Students and teachers have called a national education strike for Tuesday.
BLASTS ON QESHM ISLAND AS U.S. PRESSES IRAQ TO CLOSE IRAN BORDER CROSSINGS — Residents reported explosions Saturday evening on Qeshm Island and near Jask, in the Strait of Hormuz; Iran’s Tasnim agency denied they were missile strikes, and officials have not confirmed a cause. The U.S. is pressing Iraq to close most border crossings with Iran as the tanker war chokes the world’s most important oil waterway.
BUKELE’S TROOPS IN HAITI: CAN THEY DO WHAT HAITI’S POLICE COULDN’T? — More than 2,000 Salvadoran troops are now backing Haitian police against gangs that control 70% of Port-au-Prince, after four Salvadoran technicians went missing in an Oct. 18 ambush; a gang leader has asked the U.N. to mediate, warning of reprisals, and Haiti has set its first elections in a decade for July 2027.
BUSINESS & YOUR MONEY
CVS TO SPLIT IN TWO, SEPARATING PHARMACY FROM INSURANCE — CVS Health will split by the first half of 2028, putting its ~9,000 pharmacies into a standalone CVS Pharmacy while Aetna and Caremark stay in CVS Health; shares fell 12.5% to $79.96 on the news.
ASIA’S BAILOUT BRIGADE: TAIWAN CURBS SHORTS, READIES $15B FUND; SEOUL WAIVES MARGIN CALLS — Taiwan will curb short selling from Monday and has a $15 billion stock stabilisation fund ready, while Seoul waives margin calls to stop the rout after the KOSPI’s plunge.
DOORDASH STRIKES $17B DEAL FOR INSTACART IN GROCERY BET — DoorDash agreed to buy Instacart for $65 a share, about a 26% premium, in a deal set to close at the end of 2027 or first half of 2028, with regulatory risk and break fees of $650 million and $1.25 billion.
QUICK HITS
KOREA EASES MARGIN-CALL RULES AS KOSPI CLINGS TO 5,000
BUKELE USES X TO CROWDSOURCE COORDINATES IN HAITI
PARAGUAY’S EX-PRESIDENT PEÑA CHARGED OVER UENO BANK COLLAPSE
MORE THAN 40,000 GATHER AS POPE LEO XIV CELEBRATES MASS IN URUGUAY
FRONTLINE: 187 CLASHES, 30 RUSSIAN ASSAULTS ON THREE AXES ON NOV. 7
SPORTS
BRONCOS RALLY PAST PANTHERS 26-21 FOR FIFTH STRAIGHT WIN — Denver trailed late in Charlotte before a fourth-quarter rally sealed another comeback win; the Broncos are 7-2, lead the AFC West and head into their bye with momentum.
GIANTS 19, EAGLES 11 — WINSTON OFF THE BENCH, FIRST PHILLY WIN IN 13 YEARS — J.J. McCarthy left with a hip injury and Jameis Winston came off the bench to lead the go-ahead touchdown drive; rookie kicker Dominic Zvada hit all four field goals, and the Eagles lost their seventh straight to fall to 2-7.
RAMS 20, COMMANDERS 13 — GARRETT’S 3 SACKS IN RETURN — Myles Garrett had three sacks and a forced fumble in his first game back from knee surgery, and Puka Nacua caught 14 passes for 150 yards and a touchdown as the Rams won their third straight to climb above .500 at 5-4.
NBA: CURRY 41 IN OT AS WARRIORS WIN SEVENTH STRAIGHT; WEMBY 29, SPURS ROUT — Stephen Curry scored 41 as Golden State beat Orlando 126-119 in overtime; Victor Wembanyama had 29 in 24 minutes as San Antonio sat its starters for the fourth quarter and still routed Portland 125-103 for an eighth straight win; the Knicks beat the Cavs 109-97.
LIONS 19, DOLPHINS 9 — FOURTH STRAIGHT WIN — Detroit ground out a 19-9 road win in Miami to move to 6-2; the Dolphins fell to 1-7.
TRAVEL
SEOUL’S NAMSAN NIGHT FESTIVAL LIGHTS UP AUTUMN — The festival runs through Nov. 14 in Namsan Park: scenic forest walks, outdoor cinema, live music and a silent DJ experience under the illuminated N Seoul Tower.
HAY FESTIVAL TURNS AREQUIPA INTO A LITERARY PARTY — Peru’s White City hosts the Hay Festival through Nov. 8, with readings and workshops in its UNESCO-listed volcanic-stone center — and Colca Canyon, condor country, an easy side trip.
CORNWALL IN AUTUMN: STARLINGS, FILM FESTIVAL, QUIET BEACHES — The car parks have room again, dogs are back on the beaches, starlings wheel over Marazion Marsh at dusk, and the Cornwall Film Festival runs to Nov. 29 before the Christmas lights go on.
ZURICH IN NOVEMBER: FONDUE DISCO, CHOCOLATE TRAM, FREE ICE SKATING — A vintage tram serves Swiss chocolate through Nov. 15, the Illuminarium lights the National Museum courtyard, fondue meets disco beats, and the city’s rinks offered free admission and skate hire today.
TODAY: NEW ORLEANS PO-BOY FESTIVAL, SCOTTSDALE ART & WINE — Oak Street celebrates the po-boy today in New Orleans, Scottsdale’s Kierland Fine Art & Wine Festival shows 100-plus artists, and Toronto’s Royal Agricultural Winter Fair runs through Nov. 15.
FOOD
NADIA SANTINI’S LEGENDARY PUMPKIN TORTELLI — Dal Pescatore’s pumpkin tortelli — velvety pumpkin, mostarda, a hint of amaretti — captivated chefs from Bocuse to Marchesi over four generations; Santini, the first woman in Italy to earn three Michelin stars, in 1996, recently died, leaving this small masterpiece on the menu.
JOHN WAYNE’S FAMOUS CASSEROLE IS THE ULTIMATE THROWBACK DINNER — Buttery biscuits, taco-seasoned beef, corn and peppers under a creamy blanket of sour cream, mayo and melted cheese — the Duke’s contribution to a 1979 charity cookbook, still feeding families.
GREEK PASTA SALAD WITH FETA AND CHICKPEAS — Bow-tie pasta, plum tomatoes, Kalamata olives and crumbled feta tossed in a lemon-garlic vinaigrette — a make-ahead side that eats like lunch on its own.
CHICKEN PAKORAS WITH A TWIST AT SHARJAH BOOK FAIR — Cook Kausar Raja fried up chicken pakoras with green chutney at the Sharjah International Book Fair — chickpea-flour batter, cumin, garam masala, turmeric and ajwain — from her debut cookbook “Spice Tonight.”
ERIC KIM’S VIETNAMESE-INSPIRED ROAST CHICKEN — The flavors of phở gà on a roast chicken: a dry brine of fennel, cinnamon, coriander and cloves, butter-basted with ginger and onion, finished with lime, herbs and sriracha — a strong candidate for the Thanksgiving turkey treatment.
BACKLASH AGAINST AI — THE DATA-CENTER BACKLASH IS NOW A POLITICAL FORCE — An NBC exit poll found more than half of voters believe AI will do more harm than good, almost 80% oppose data centers in their neighborhoods, and nearly 60% called the issue a crucial or major voting factor — and the millions AI PACs spent delivered mixed results, with pro-industry groups losing the South Carolina Senate race they backed with $4.8 million. With Democrats in control, the Sanders–Ocasio-Cortez data-center moratorium gets a hearing it never had. And in Indiana, Bloomington’s city council voted Wednesday to ban superintelligent AI inside city limits — a template, its sponsors say, for other cities to copy. Bloomington, Indiana, bans superintelligent AI
HEALTH CARE — OBAMACARE BENCHMARKS UP 13% FOR 2027, 42% IN TWO YEARS — KFF’s open-enrollment watch: benchmark silver premiums rise 13% for 2027 after 26% for 2026 — 42% in two years — while enrollment has fallen 2.6 million to 19.2 million and the CBO projects 13.1 million by 2027. Five states — New Mexico, California, New Jersey, Rhode Island and Virginia — are backfilling the lost federal credits with state money. Jeffries’ 100-day plan would restore the enhanced credits; the question is whether the slide reverses before the market hollows out further.
AFFORDABLE HOUSING — NEW JERSEY: ELIZABETH VOTERS CAP RENT HIKES AT $20 — Elizabeth, N.J., voters backed a measure Tuesday with roughly 68% support, restoring a decades-old rule capping annual rent hikes on rent-controlled apartments at 3% or $20, whichever is less — a tenant paying $1,500 a month can now see no more than a $20 rise instead of $45. The ordinance expires in December 2027, and landlords warn the strict cap will squeeze maintenance and investment. It is the second state filing on this thread: Pennsylvania opened it Thursday with a $141,891 tenant settlement in Philadelphia.
IMMIGRATION — WHITE HOUSE: NO EASING OF DEPORTATION DRIVE AFTER MIDTERMS — In a statement to the BBC on Sunday, the White House said there will be no easing of the mass deportation program “whatever the election result” — enforcement continues at full pace, and ICE’s daily arrest target has risen to about 2,700 from 2,000. On Friday, Judge Kaplan ordered New York City to hand ICE the records of a Bronx homeless shelter. The new Congress inherits a policy the White House says the election didn’t change — and a chief of staff, Stephen Miller, who built it.
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