USA - There were 47 local referendums on data centres this week; 46 voted to make it harder to build the giant facilities that are crucial to artificial intelligence. Combined with a blue wave that elected many anti-data centre Democratic candidates, the results sent a straightforward message. Despite the promise of jobs and investment, Americans do not want data centres where they live – if they want them at all. Pollsters had anticipated a backlash to Donald Trump’s war in Iran and the cost of living, but the scale of the rebuke to data centres ignited a global market panic. The Nasdaq suffered its worst day for more than a year and a half, with $2.5 trillion wiped off the world’s top tech companies. The resounding vote has led to fears that the AI boom and data centre building blitz – loudly championed by Trump – may now go into reverse, with serious implications for America’s economy and its hopes of being an AI leader. In the wake of the vote, OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT, promised to listen to local communities and protect energy costs. Observers believe that now they have won power, Democrats will moderate their positions. “AI’s importance to US economic growth and competition with China will remain powerful drivers of expansion”.

USA - “It’s the economy, stupid.” When it comes to US elections, quoting this utterance from Bill Clinton’s ebullient adviser James Carville is almost a cliché. But Carville’s insight is deservedly famous. Writing the phrase on a whiteboard in 1992, as an internal reminder to campaign staff, Carville wanted his team focused on voters’ “pocketbook concerns”, rather than getting distracted by other issues, during the race against incumbent George Bush Snr. And it was, of course, “the economy, stupid” which did it for Donald Trump’s Republicans in last week’s midterm elections. Back in 2024, Trump secured his second White House term after promising to control inflation. But some of his most important policy decisions – most notably, his “liberation day” tariffs and war against Iran – have increased price pressures instead. It was this economic fallout that shattered Trump’s support base, with Democrats turning over Republican majorities in both the House of Representatives and the Senate.

SAUDI ARABIA - A Houthi missile struck a skyscraper in Riyadh’s financial district. The projectile hit the offices of Aramco, the state-owned oil giant, tearing a gaping hole in the side of the building. The strike marks another escalation in the kingdom’s war with the Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen. Houthi fighters have attacked Riyadh airport in recent weeks while gaining territory against Saudi-backed forces along Yemen’s Red Sea coast. Video footage from Riyadh on Sunday morning showed smoke rising from the damaged Al-Aqiq commercial tower. Clips showed significant structural damage to the upper floors, with glass shattered and damage to part of the tower’s façade. Information on missile attacks is tightly controlled but one witness on the ground told the AFP news agency: “Aramco tower in KAFD has been targeted, that’s the sure thing.”

MIDDLE EAST - Syria and Saudi Arabia signed a defense cooperation agreement Wednesday during Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa’s visit to Riyadh, expanding their growing partnership as Saudi Arabia seeks regional military support against attacks by Yemen’s Houthi movement. The agreement between the countries’ defense ministries was signed during talks between al-Sharaa and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on November 4. Neither government disclosed its provisions, leaving unanswered whether cooperation will involve military training, intelligence sharing, or operational assistance. The agreement comes as Damascus considers a broader role in regional security arrangements.

USA - Donald Trump is building a war bunker. The president’s decision to appoint Stephen Miller as White House chief of staff following Susie Wiles’s departure says everything about how he will approach his final two years as a lame duck. Mr Miller’s elevation on Friday came days after American voters delivered a stunning rebuke to the US president’s approach to his second term and handed Democrats control of both the House of Representatives and the Senate. Rather than interpreting the political hammering as reason to moderate his agenda by softening his immigration stance and ending the war in Iran, Mr Trump has promoted one of its architects. The White House is being reorganised for a siege. And the US president has chosen one of his most uncompromising loyalists to run the bunker. “Miller is a hammer – and we need a hammer now,” Steve Bannon, Mr Trump’s former chief strategist and architect of MAGA, told The Telegraph. Mr Miller is no ordinary political adviser. He has been by Mr Trump’s side since the 2016 presidential campaign and has spent his time masterminding some of the most extreme immigration policies in US history.

UK - National Grid, once among Britain’s most respected public utilities, is set to gain a new title – one of the UK’s most indebted private companies. Its latest accounts show the power grid operator has built up net debts of £48 billion as of September 30 – set to rise by another £4 billion within the next six months. Much of the planned spending is driven by Labour’s net zero and decarbonisation targets. By 2031, National Grid will owe far more. “I’d expect my overall net debt to be growing into the £60 billion to £70 billion range,” Andy Agg, the chief finance officer, told The Telegraph earlier this year. National Grid argues its borrowing is essential to power the net zero investments demanded by the Government.

USA - Donald Trump is deciding whether to restart the bombing of Iran, and his own officials rush towards securing a peace deal with the regime. Trump met his national security team at the White House on Wednesday and again on Thursday to weigh resuming military operations against Iran, according to multiple reports. It was the president's first session on the war since Democrats seized both chambers of Congress on Tuesday. Officials told the presiden t that this Monday brings a new moon over the Middle East, leaving next to no moonlight and the kind of cover commanders want for air operations, sources told Fox News. Trump told reporters in the Oval Office hours earlier that Washington would ‘make a decision’ on resuming the war, and asked whether to ‘go further’ to ensure Iran’s nuclear program is finished for good. Tehran fears the next American strike will hit Pickaxe Mountain, the nuclear complex buried as deep as 100 meters under granite near Natanz.

IRAN - The Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has reported the shootdown of a US MQ-1C Gray Eagle unmanned aerial vehicle over Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz, marking the latest in a series of American drone losses during the ongoing conflict. The US Air Force is facing an unexpectedly severe capability gap after suffering extensive drone losses, leading the service to initiate an urgent search for replacement aircraft. This has included efforts to purchase unused MQ-9A Block 5 airframes from the producer, General Atomics, although fewer than ten new aircraft remain available worldwide. The fallout from the losses has been interpreted by analysts as an important indication of how limited the United States’ ability is to rapidly regenerate its forces have become. The US-led assault on Iran has depleted inventories of a very wide range of armaments types including Precision Strike Missiles (PrSM), Patriot, THAAD, SM-3, and SM-6 air defence interceptors, Tomahawk cruise missiles, and GBU-57 penetrative bombs, among others, with Reaper drones representing the bulk of the American aircraft lost in the conflict.

USA - The Trump administration is putting a massive $20 MILLION bounty on information about Iran’s nuclear program, offering potential informants not only a staggering financial reward but also the possibility of relocation. On Friday, US Central Command (CENTCOM) publicized the State Department’s Rewards for Justice initiative, seeking information about the Iranian regime’s nuclear infrastructure, sensitive equipment, scientists, and the movement of nuclear-related materials and personnel. The announcement comes as President Donald Trump continues his campaign to prevent Tehran from developing nuclear weapons, following devastating American military strikes against Iranian nuclear facilities. This bounty comes amid the ongoing conflict that began with US and Israeli strikes on Iranian nuclear sites. President Trump has repeatedly stated that key facilities at Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan were “completely and totally obliterated” in the June 2025 strikes. Tehran continues to defy inspectors while pursuing enrichment and supporting proxy attacks across the region.

USA - American voters elected a record seven Muslims to the US Congress on November 3, 2026, the eve of the 47th anniversary of Iran’s seizure of the US Embassy in Tehran, and all seven have called for ending the US war with Iran or voted to end it. Abdul El-Sayed defeated Republican former Representative Mike Rogers in Michigan to become the first Muslim elected to the US Senate. Before the election, he called for a war powers resolution to stop “the folly of this stupid war.” At an October debate, El-Sayed was asked whether Israel or Iran poses the greater threat to America, and he called the question a “ridiculous hypothetical.” He has also said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pushed the US into the war.