Politics & World Affairs — November 5, 2026

Jeffries launches speaker bid. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries formally launched his bid for House speaker after Democrats’ midterm sweep. He is expected to lead the incoming majority.

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Vance blames Iran war. Vice President JD Vance blamed the Iran war for Republicans’ midterm defeat and began courting disaffected GOP voters. Trump conceded the war hurt the party but defended the campaign.

The BBC characterized the vice president’s public criticism as one of the sharpest breaks with a sitting president in recent memory, noting Vance is walking a political tightrope by faulting the Iran war while serving in the administration that waged it. His outreach to disaffected Republican voters follows what the outlet described as a historic midterm defeat for the party, with Trump acknowledging the war’s electoral cost even as he stood by his campaign.

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Hong Kong court sentences Wong. A Hong Kong court sentenced pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong to 10 additional years in prison on his second national security conviction; Wong, 30, has been in prison since 2020.

The sentence stems from Wong’s second conviction under the national security law that Beijing imposed on Hong Kong, and NPR reports critics view the case as part of a broader crackdown on what was once a thriving pro-democracy movement in the city. Wong, who has been incarcerated since 2020, now faces a decade more behind bars, a punishment described as the harshest blow yet to the movement he helped lead.

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