Plus, UPS plane crashes in fireball on takeoff.

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Daily Briefing

Daily Briefing

By Kate Turton

Hello. In the US, Democrats swept a trio of races in the first major elections since Trump regained the presidency. Meanwhile, Japan dispatches troops to help combat deadly bear attacks, and Brazil's deadliest police raid puts Lula in a political bind.

Plus, the dark side of Italy's gambling passion.

 

Today's Top News

 

Smoke rises from the wreckage of a UPS MD-11 cargo jet at Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport. November 4, 2025. Jeff Faughender/USA Today Network via REUTERS.

United States

  • A UPS wide-body cargo plane crashed and erupted into a fireball moments after takeoff from the international airport in Louisville, Kentucky, killing seven, including all three aboard, and injuring 11 on the ground, officials said.
  • Democrats swept a trio of races, elevating a new generation of leaders and giving the beleaguered party a shot of momentum ahead of next year's congressional elections. Democrats' hopes for 2026 were also boosted by a critical California vote.
  • Listen to today's episode of the Reuters World News podcast as host Kim Vinnell chats with Maria Tsvetkova, Bo Erickson and Daniel Trotta about the key election takeaways.
  • Bipartisan efforts in the US Senate to reopen the federal government as early as this week gave way to fresh signs of frustration, even as Republicans and Democrats aired details of a possible path out of the five-week-old impasse.

In other news

  • Japan's military deployed troops to the country's mountainous north to help trap bears after an urgent request from local authorities struggling to cope with a wave of attacks.
  • The Trump administration is considering a Saudi Arabian request to buy as many as 48 F-35 fighter jets, a potential multi-billion-dollar deal that has cleared a key Pentagon hurdle ahead of a visit by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, two sources familiar with the matter said.
  • As the death toll from Typhoon Kalmaegi in the Philippines climbed to 66, residents in the hardest-hit province of Cebu are confronting the devastation it left behind: homes reduced to rubble, streets choked with debris, and lives upended.
  • EU climate ministers agreed a 2040 climate change target after watering down the goal in last-minute negotiations, as they raced to clinch the deal before the U.N. COP30 summit in Brazil.
  • Brazil's most lethal police operation ever has left President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva stunned and struggling to handle the political fallout, as he attempts to reconcile international concerns over human rights violations with growing public support for a crackdown on crime.
 

Business & Markets

 

Varieties of Ben & Jerry's ice cream sits on display at a store in the Queens borough of New York City, September 17, 2025. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton 

  • The Magnum Ice Cream Company has concluded that the chair of its Ben & Jerry's brand no longer "meets the criteria" to serve as a board member after internal investigations, it said in an SEC filing, as an ongoing internal feud continues.
  • China will suspend retaliatory tariffs on US imports, including duties on farm goods, after last week's meeting of the two countries' leaders, Beijing confirmed, but imports of US soybeans still face a 13% tariff.
  • The Chinese government has issued guidance requiring new data center projects that have received any state funds to only use domestically-made artificial intelligence chips, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.
  • Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney promised that his first budget would be a bold blueprint for "generational investments," to bolster the economy and withstand a trade war with the US, but to some analysts the document he unveiled was a missed opportunity.
  • Investors in pure-play quantum computing stocks are grappling to value these futuristic companies, making prices highly volatile for the latest hot trend on Wall Street.
  • A tumble on Wall Street turned into a full-on slide in Asian stocks, as fears are growing that AI stocks could be in bubble territory. The Supreme Court is also set to consider whether Trump's tariffs are legal, as Elena Casas explains in our daily market rundown. 
 

Betting on misery: The dark side of Italy's gambling passion

 

Datawrapper/Stefano Bernabei

When Luciano walked into an anti-addiction clinic in the central Italian city of Pisa, the only thing he had not lost to years of gambling were the clothes he was wearing. Everything else - family homes, savings, his dignity - was gone.

"I devoted myself to casinos, horses, everything. Basically, I toured all the casinos in Europe; I spent all my assets, I gambled them, I gambled everything away in those places," the 69-year-old retired railway worker told Reuters.

Luciano's story exemplifies some of the darker realities behind Italy's emergence as Europe's largest gambling market, with the spread of online and smartphone betting making it ever easier to place wagers.

Read more
 

And Finally...

Relatives and friends toss rice at Apostolos Gatidis and Apostolia Chatzivretta, Thessaloniki, Greece, October 25, 2025. REUTERS/Alexandros Avramidis

Faced with droughts and sharper competition, Greek rice farmers are tapping into a new revenue stream: selling their cheap, broken rice to wedding goers instead of discarding it or using it for animal feed.

Read more