Saturday, October 31, 2026 — Evening edition. Protests filled streets in France, an Ebola outbreak in Congo passed a grim milestone, and the U.S. midterm campaign entered its final weekend with record early voting already in. Here is what happened today.
INTERNATIONAL / INTERNACIONAL
France: 320,000 protest over the cost of living; clashes in Paris
About 320,000 people demonstrated across France on Saturday, according to the Interior Ministry, including about 70,000 in Paris. Police made 511 arrests nationwide, and 70,000 police officers were deployed. About 150 gatherings were planned across the country.
The protests, now in a third weekend, started with students angry about crowded schools and staffing, and grew to include trade unions and the Yellow Vest movement. People are protesting the cost of living, public services, and President Emmanuel Macron’s government. A planned Paris march between Place de la République and Place de la Bastille was banned by France’s top administrative court and rerouted to boulevards on the city’s eastern edge.
In Paris, clashes broke out as the march ended, with police using tear gas and water cannon and some protesters throwing projectiles, including a Molotov cocktail, according to reports. The Chamber of Commerce estimates retail losses from the unrest at more than €1 billion. The government is pushing a law that would make rioters liable for up to €10,000 in damage.
DR Congo: Ebola deaths pass 5,000
Deaths in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s Ebola outbreak have passed 5,000. Congolese Ministry of Health data reported Saturday showed 5,026 deaths among 10,351 infected people, with 2,788 people recovered.
The outbreak, caused by the Bundibugyo species of Ebola, was declared on May 15. It has spread across 67 health zones in eight provinces. There is no approved vaccine or treatment for this species for routine use, according to reports. Kenya has confirmed eight cases and two deaths, and Nigeria’s single confirmed case was evacuated to Switzerland. This is now the second-deadliest Ebola outbreak on record, after the 2014–2016 West Africa outbreak that killed more than 11,000 people.
POLITICS / POLÍTICA
Midterm final weekend: record early voting, Alaska probe, California ballot fight
The campaign for control of Congress entered its final weekend on Saturday, three days before Election Day on Tuesday, November 3. All 435 House seats and 35 Senate seats are on the ballot. Republicans now hold a 53–47 Senate majority and a narrow House edge.
More than 51 million Americans had already voted in person or by mail, according to the University of Florida’s Election Lab, up from nearly 46 million before Election Day in the 2022 midterms — a record for a midterm.
In Alaska, federal prosecutors are investigating whether aides to Democratic Senate challenger Mary Peltola helped recruit a retired schoolteacher, Daniel J. Sullivan Jr., to run because he shares a name with Republican incumbent Senator Dan S. Sullivan. U.S. Attorney Michael Heyman said Friday that a news report about the recruitment drove a “surge” of FBI resources onto the case.
In California, a federal appeals court ruled 2–1 this week that the Justice Department had not justified an emergency bid to force the state to set aside mail ballots from more than 20,000 registered voters it alleges are likely noncitizens. The administration said Saturday it would likely take the fight to the Supreme Court. A federal judge in San Francisco separately issued an order on October 30 barring the Justice Department and Homeland Security from threatening election officials over how they handle those ballots. That order lasts until November 16, with a hearing November 13.
President Donald Trump spent Saturday at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida. He returns to the campaign trail Sunday in Kansas and Iowa, after earlier cancellations of those stops were reversed.
IMMIGRATION / INMIGRACIÓN
Green card lottery DV-2027 stays on hold after appeals court pause
The Diversity Visa lottery for 2027 stays closed for now. On October 29, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals temporarily blocked a lower court’s order that would have required the State Department to reopen DV-2027 registration. The lower court’s schedule had called for a registration announcement by October 29, entries to open by November 1, and selection notices by December 3. All of those deadlines are now paused while the appeal continues, and the court gave no new opening date. The official entry website says entries are not being accepted.
Separately, ProPublica reported this week that immigration agents have detained at least 519 U.S. citizens since January 2025, in 302 incidents, including 70 people who were minors. ProPublica added 13 citizens to its database on October 29 and said its total is almost certainly an undercount because the government does not track these cases. ProPublica said Immigration and Customs Enforcement acknowledges that almost every one of these incidents happened, though the agency does not call them arrests or detentions.
CORPORATE WATCH / EMPRESAS BAJO LA LUPA
Binance says 90% of stolen crypto replaced after record $6.3 billion hack
Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, said Saturday it has replaced 90% of the crypto stolen in a record hack on October 29, using company money to buy new tokens. Co-CEO Richard Teng said the remaining 10% is in less liquid tokens that may take longer to buy, and that users will not bear the financial impact.
About $6.3 billion in crypto was taken from Binance wallets in about 20 minutes on October 29. About $3 billion in affected assets was frozen with help from blockchain partners. Blockchain analytics firm TRM Labs attributed the attack to TraderTraitor, North Korea’s hacking unit. Binance said its investigation found a compromised laptop and malicious software designed to delete evidence, and it has not itself named the attackers in the reports reviewed. Withdrawals were frozen after the hack, and Binance said Saturday it was still on track to reopen them on Sunday.
MARKETS / LA BOLSA
October ends split: Nasdaq down 5.3% for the month, Dow up 1.7%
Friday, October 30, was the market’s worst day since June. The Nasdaq fell 2.86% to 25,437.00, the S&P 500 lost 1.82% to 7,580.07, and the Dow fell 572 points, or 1.09%, to 51,770.31. Smaller companies in the Russell 2000 fell 1.66%.
For October as a whole, the Nasdaq lost 5.3%, its worst month since March 2025, and finished 7.8% below its October 6 record of 27,599.79. The S&P 500 slipped 0.9% for the month. The Dow rose 1.7% and the Russell 2000 rose 0.5%. Intel fell about 29% in October, including about 28.6% on Friday after a weak fourth-quarter outlook. Alphabet fell about 12.5% on Thursday after its cloud spending turned free cash flow negative. November opens with Apple’s results on Monday, the midterms on Tuesday, and the October jobs report on Friday.
BREAKING / ÚLTIMA HORA
U.S. Embassy warns of credible mass-casualty threat at Moscow museum park
The U.S. Embassy in Moscow warned Saturday of a “credible threat of a mass casualty event TODAY October 31” at the Tsaritsyno Museum Reserve, at Dolskaya Ulitsa 1 in Moscow. The embassy told Americans to avoid the site, stay alert, and avoid crowds, and said the U.S. government was coordinating with Russian authorities.
Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) later confirmed it had received information from the United States about preparations for a terrorist attack in Moscow and was taking appropriate action. The museum grounds were temporarily closed, according to Russian state news agencies. No incident or casualties had been reported by Saturday evening, and neither side publicly named suspects or described a planned method.
OTHER STATES / OTROS ESTADOS
Texas: nearly 7.5 million early ballots, a midterm record
Nearly 7.5 million Texans cast ballots during the state’s 12-day early voting period, according to state figures released Saturday — just over 39% of registered voters. That breaks the previous record for early ballots in a Texas midterm and nearly matches the early turnout rate of 2018, which was just shy of 40%.
A tracker based on Texas Secretary of State reports showed 6,857,566 early votes as of October 30, including 6,602,045 in person and 255,521 by mail, compared with 5,497,027 at the same point in 2022. Early voting in Texas closed Friday. Election Day is Tuesday, November 3.
Also in Texas, Washington approved the state’s appeal for FEMA Individual Assistance after the July storms and flooding, covering 20 counties including Bexar, Kerr, Uvalde, and Val Verde, Governor Greg Abbott announced Friday.
Sources / Fuentes
Reuters (via Northland News Radio and other outlets) and NPR — midterm campaign, Alaska and California ballot cases; Associated Press via MedicalXpress and Reuters — DR Congo Ebola; Reuters, New York Post, and Press TV — France protests; U.S. Embassy in Moscow, New York Post, and Clash Report — Moscow threat; Reuters via KTWB, USA Today, and Cointelegraph — Binance hack; Trade2Spike, Swingfolio, and Money and Inspiration — October markets; The Wall Street Journal and Texas Secretary of State early-voting reports — Texas early voting; Immiva and Welbright (citing the October 29 Ninth Circuit order and Fragomen’s October 30 update) — DV-2027; ProPublica via Austin Kocher — U.S. citizens detained; The Texian Partisan daily briefing — Texas FEMA assistance. Photos are real photographs found by image search; the Paris crowd photo is a file photo, not a photo from today’s protest.
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