A Week of Ballots, Barrels and Big Tech

Elections Under Federal Pressure

Two weeks before the midterms, the federal government's role in American elections widened on several fronts. The Justice Department announced criminal charges Monday against 28 people in California accused of voting illegally as noncitizens, arresting more than two dozen foreign nationals in the sweep. The department also filed an emergency request in federal court seeking to stop California from processing returned ballots from voters the federal government says are likely noncitizens. NPR reported the moves have raised tensions in the state ahead of the vote.

By Friday, the stakes had sharpened. Attorney General Todd Blanche declined to rule out Justice Department intervention in states' midterm election certification processes, saying the department could act in a hypothetical "doomsday" scenario. The same day, a federal judge moved in the opposite direction, restricting Department of Homeland Security investigations into suspected noncitizen voting in nine states, citing concerns the agency's tactics could intimidate eligible voters.

The election story was not confined to the United States. President Trump endorsed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for reelection ahead of the Oct. 27 Knesset elections, calling him "a Great Warrior Prime Minister" and warning that the U.S. would have to "finish the job" against Iran alone if Netanyahu loses. Sitting U.S. presidents rarely intervene in foreign elections; this endorsement went further by tying the vote's outcome to American policy toward Iran. And on Sunday, nearly 159 million Brazilians were eligible to vote in a tight presidential runoff between President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, seeking a fourth term at 80, and Sen. Flavio Bolsonaro, son of the country's imprisoned former president. Reports describe the race as tight and highly unpredictable, with results that will decide whether Latin America's largest country moves right or retains a leftist government.

Oil Above $100, Diplomacy in Motion

The week's foreign policy developments pulled in two directions at once. In the Middle East, the United States and Israel are preparing for renewed strikes on Iran, Stars and Stripes reported, as attacks on commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz increased. Iran's government said seven oil tankers have caught fire or sustained damage in the waterway. U.S. crude held above $100 per barrel and Brent reached a five-month high. President Trump accused Iran on Thursday of trying to manipulate the oil market; Iran said it is prepared for warfare. Trump envoy Mike Waltz said the U.S. is prepared for a long standoff and warned Tehran it must reach a "meaningful agreement" on its nuclear program.

On the Russia front, the movement was toward de-escalation. Russia released imprisoned U.S. citizen Stephen Hubbard on Wednesday, with President Vladimir Putin saying he freed Hubbard, captured years ago in Ukraine, following a request from Trump. The announcement came after Putin met White House envoy Steve Witkoff in St. Petersburg, where Witkoff presented an updated proposal to end the war in Ukraine following talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Oslo. It marked the most concrete movement yet toward ending the war.

In Europe, a core U.S. ally struggled to restore order at home. French authorities imposed partial curfews in Paris, Nice and other cities Monday night after cost-of-living and anti-government protests descended into rioting and looting over the weekend. Interior Minister Laurent Nunez offered his resignation, but President Emmanuel Macron asked him to stay. Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu said Tuesday that some areas would remain under curfew, and the restrictions appeared to help calm the unrest.

Markets Rebound, Musk Thinks Bigger

The week opened with U.S. stock futures rising sharply after the Nasdaq 100's biggest weekly drop since April 2025, a rebound that happened to land on the 39th anniversary of 1987's Black Monday crash. The question hanging over the week was whether earnings from Netflix, Tesla and Meta would confirm the AI selloff was over. The first answer was mixed: Netflix beat third-quarter earnings expectations, but shares fell on soft advertising and revenue guidance as viewing time declines.

The biggest corporate surprise came Wednesday, when Elon Musk said Tesla and SpaceX are exploring a possible merger, with both boards forming special committees of independent directors to review the combination. Musk, who supports the idea but sits on neither committee, made the announcement on SpaceX's earnings call, where the company reported $14.6 billion in quarterly revenue, up 161% year over year on demand for AI compute. The news moved stocks globally overnight.

Meta had a harder week. A New Mexico judge formally ordered the company to pay $25 billion in penalties over its handling of user data, following a September jury verdict that found it misled users. The fine, stemming from a trial tied to the Cambridge Analytica scandal, is the largest privacy penalty ever imposed on a U.S. tech company, topping Meta's earlier $18 billion deal in California.

The technology story with the broadest reach, though, was not about any single company. Two critical, AI-discovered vulnerabilities in PHP, dubbed PHP2Shell, forced major websites offline worldwide, including Wikipedia, 4chan and DeviantArt. The FBI's cyber division and the NSA issued warnings, Amazon Web Services logged exploitation attempts four days before patches were released, and attackers are now exploiting the flaws broadly. Because PHP powers a huge share of websites, security teams are urging administrators to patch immediately; unpatched servers remain exposed. Elsewhere in business, Barclays said it will cut about 5,000 jobs, roughly 5% of its workforce, saying AI tools are making employees more productive, and China's third-quarter GDP rose 4.5% year over year, beating forecasts on AI-linked electronics exports.

The Week Ahead

Beyond the headlines, the week produced its share of firsts. The Rays-Brewers World Series ends a 46-year drought, the first matchup since 1980 guaranteed to crown a first-time champion, and Brewers pitcher Jacob Misiorowski opened Game 1 with a 103.5 mph fastball, the fastest pitch ever recorded in Series history. Researchers used prime editing, a high-precision form of CRISPR, to alter DNA inside a living patient for the first time. Governments voted to abolish the leap second in favor of a leap hour, ending a 54-year-old practice that increasingly threatened computing systems. And a Rhode Island grower produced a 3,156-pound pumpkin, the first to top 3,000 pounds and officially the largest fruit ever grown.

The coming week offers two dates to circle. October's full moon, the Hunter's Moon, rises into the autumn sky, best caught climbing just after moonrise. And Halloween lands on a Saturday, a big night for retailers, with candy and costume spending in the spotlight.

A closing thought from Pablo Picasso, born on this day in 1881: "Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life."