Thursday evening roundup for October 29, 2026. A drone strike hit a crowded rail platform in Ukraine, Spain raised the death toll from its train crash to 69, North Korea fired about 10 missiles, and U.S. stocks fell as tech shares dropped.
BREAKING / ÚLTIMA HORA: Drone strike hits Dnipro rail platform
A Russian drone hit a crowded platform at the main railway station in Dnipro, Ukraine, on Thursday. Reuters reported at least 13 people killed, citing officials; the New York Post reported at least 14. The reports differ on the toll, and the number may still change.
Ukraine’s state railway, Ukrzaliznytsia, said a jet-powered drone hit a platform where a train was preparing to leave for Zaporizhzhia. Regional governor Oleksandr Hanzha said at least five more people were wounded. The railway said a heightened danger warning was in effect and people were still on the platform when the drone hit.
No fitting real photo of this attack was available, so this story runs without a photo rather than with a wrong image.
INTERNATIONAL: Spain raises train crash death toll to 69
Spain raised the death toll from Wednesday’s high-speed train collision near Urda, in Castilla-La Mancha, to 69 on Thursday. The crash happened when a Renfe train ran into the back of a stationary Iryo train on the Madrid-Seville line.
Transport Minister Óscar Puente said the Renfe train was authorized to proceed despite an active red signal, after a computer communications failure stopped traffic. He called the decision to restart the train an error. Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez visited the site, pledged a full investigation, and declared three days of national mourning starting Thursday.
Regional president Emiliano García-Page said 60 patients had been discharged and 50 remained in hospitals. This was Spain’s second deadly high-speed rail crash this year. In January, 46 people died when a train derailed in southern Spain.
INTERNATIONAL: North Korea fires about 10 missiles toward the sea
North Korea fired about 10 short-range ballistic missiles from the Wonsan area toward the sea off its east coast on Thursday, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said. Each missile flew about 250 kilometers (155 miles).
South Korea’s presidential National Security Office held an emergency meeting and called the launches a serious violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions. Japan’s Defense Ministry said the missiles did not appear to land in Japan’s exclusive economic zone.
Tensions have risen since two landmine explosions in the Demilitarized Zone on September 21 wounded three South Korean soldiers. Seoul blamed North Korea for planting the mines. Pyongyang denied it.
POLITICS: Trump cancels Kansas rally, heads to Florida instead
President Donald Trump canceled a campaign rally planned for Saturday, October 31, at the Salina airport in Kansas. The Kansas Republican Party said he is shifting from in-person rallies to tele-town halls to reach more voters before Election Day on November 3.
Trump said Thursday he is going to Florida on Friday for a rally in Daytona instead, and that Senator Roger Marshall is doing very well in Kansas. USA Today also reported a CNN poll released October 29 showing Marshall trailing Democrat Adam Hamilton 49% to 45% in Kansas.
In Michigan, a CNN poll released Thursday showed Democrat Abdul El-Sayed leading Republican Mike Rogers 49% to 42% in the open U.S. Senate race, with a margin of error of plus or minus 4.7 points. Other recent Michigan polls also showed El-Sayed ahead, by 3 to 7 points.
IMMIGRATION: ICE reports 4,170 arrests in 10-day Texas operation
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin announced in Dallas on Thursday that ICE’s Texas-wide “Lone Star Mission,” run October 19-29, resulted in 4,170 arrests. The operation brought together ICE field offices in Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, El Paso, and Harlingen.
DHS said those arrested included people convicted of murder, sexual assault, drunk driving, and smuggling. These are the department’s own figures from its announcement.
Separately, USCIS reported Thursday that it has taken nearly 2.2 million immigration enforcement actions since January 20, 2025, to revoke or terminate immigration status. The department said that total groups different administrative measures together. It is not a count of completed removals.
CORPORATE WATCH: DOJ cracks down on “ghost student” aid fraud
The Justice Department announced “Operation Ghostbusters” on Thursday, a crackdown on a student aid fraud scheme it says has run since at least 2021. Prosecutors charged five people and seized more than $750,000 in cryptocurrency linked to networks in Kenya.
Officials said fraudsters used stolen identities to enroll fake “ghost students” at colleges, used artificial intelligence to fill out applications and coursework, and diverted leftover federal aid to accounts they controlled. Investigators flagged more than 830,000 suspicious student aid accounts. They identified more than $32 million in losses so far, and said total losses could reach several hundred million dollars.
The investigation now spans more than 40 cases across 26 FBI field offices. In California, about one-third of community college applications submitted in 2024 were flagged as fraudulent, officials said.
MARKETS: Tech slide pulls stocks down Thursday
U.S. stocks fell Thursday after a tech sell-off. The S&P 500 closed at 7,720, down 0.31%. The Nasdaq Composite finished at 26,185, down 1.38%. The Dow slipped 0.25%.
Alphabet fell 12.64% even though it reported 25% revenue growth and Google Cloud growth of 103%. Investors focused on its spending and cash flow. Amazon closed at $243.79, down 4.25%, ahead of its third-quarter earnings report after the close.
Not everything fell. Eli Lilly rose 6.63% after raising its full-year revenue outlook. Norwegian Cruise Line jumped 13.45% after beating estimates and raising guidance. The Federal Reserve had held its benchmark rate at 3.75% to 4% on Wednesday in a 10-2 vote. The government also reported third-quarter economic growth of 3.4% at an annual rate, and September core inflation at 3.1% from a year earlier.
OTHER STATES: Texas Senate race is a statistical tie
A Texas Southern University poll released October 29 showed Democrat James Talarico leading Republican Ken Paxton 49% to 47% in Texas’ U.S. Senate race, with Libertarian Ted Brown at 3% and 1% undecided. The poll surveyed 2,000 likely voters October 21-25, with a margin of error of 2.19 points, so the 2-point lead is a statistical tie. Early voting in Texas ends Friday, October 30.
OTHER STATES: Arizona lowers flags for Dolores Huerta
Arizona lowered flags to half-staff Thursday in honor of Dolores Huerta, the farmworker and civil rights leader who died Wednesday, October 28, at her home in Bakersfield, California. She was 96. Her family said the cause was cancer.
Huerta co-founded the organization that became the United Farm Workers, coined the slogan “Sí Se Puede,” and received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2012. Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs called her “a true champion of civil rights” and ordered flags at state buildings lowered from sunrise to sunset.
Sources / Fuentes
Reuters, “Russian drone attack on train station kills 13 in Ukraine’s Dnipro” (Oct. 29, 2026); New York Post, “Russian drone strike kills at least 14 on Ukrainian rail platform” (Oct. 29, 2026); Associated Press via WESA, “Spain reckons with 2nd deadly train crash of the year” (Oct. 29, 2026); Le Monde, “They knew the Madrid-Seville line wasn’t safe” (Oct. 29, 2026); Okay News, “Spain Urda Train-Collision Toll to 69” (Oct. 29, 2026); Reuters via BusinessWorld, “North Korea fires around 10 ballistic missiles” (Oct. 29, 2026); Associated Press via Military.com, “North Korea Fires Missile Barrage” (Oct. 29, 2026); USA Today, “Trump cancels Kansas rally” and “Donald Trump cancels Kansas rally amid tight Senate race” (Oct. 29, 2026); Detroit Free Press, “El-Sayed shows strength in polls” (Oct. 29, 2026); U.S. Department of Homeland Security, “Secretary Mullin Highlights Success of ICE’s Lone Star Mission” (Oct. 29, 2026); VisaVerge, “USCIS Reports 2.2 Million Immigration Actions” (Oct. 29, 2026); USA Today, “Operation Ghostbusters: DOJ unveils crackdown on student aid fraud” (Oct. 29, 2026); iHeart, “DOJ’s Operation Ghostbusters” (Oct. 29, 2026); Capital FM, “US uncovers alleged $200m ghost student fraud” (Oct. 29, 2026); Motley Fool, “Stock Market Today, Oct. 29” (Oct. 29, 2026); Curve Ahead Market Strategies, “CAMS Closing Market Recap: October 29, 2026”; USA Today, “New Texas Senate poll shows challenge for GOP” (Oct. 29, 2026); Smithsonian Magazine, NPR, Reuters and AZCentral on Dolores Huerta (Oct. 28-29, 2026).
Note: The Dnipro death toll differs between sources (13 per Reuters, at least 14 per the New York Post). The ICE arrest total and the USCIS action total are the agencies’ own announced figures.
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