U.S. and world news for Nov. 5

Voters reject Trump in key elections; Trump says they didn’t

Democrats secured significant wins against Republicans in key races across the U.S. on Tuesday. A major theme among Democratic candidates was countering President Donald Trump’s agenda, with campaigns centered on protecting democracy, cost-of-living issues and more. Trump this morning in an internet post blamed Republican defeats on the government shutdown, not on him or his policies. In New York City, Democrat Zohran Mamdani was elected mayor. Trump had urged his defeat. Mikie Sherrill won the race for New Jersey governor against Jack Ciattarelli, who received heavy support from Trump. Democrat Abigail Spanberger won the governorship of Virginia. In California, voters approved Proposition 50 to allow redistricting to counteract Republican efforts to create districts that would vote Republican in the 2026 Congressional elections.

At least nine dead in UPS plane crash at Louisville

The death toll in the crash of a UPS cargo aircraft that was taking off from Louisville late Tuesday afternoon rose to nine on Wednesday, with at least 11 injured. In addition, about a dozen families reported people missing. The fire that broke out was controlled by Wednesday morning. Images showed the airplane was on fire as it took off. It then sliced through the roof of a UPS building near the end of the runway and crashed into an industrial area. A 28-member National Transportation Safety Board investigation team was due to arrive in Louisville today.

Supreme Court to decide on Trump’s tariffs

The Supreme Court was scheduled to hear arguments today on a blockbuster case that will decide whether President Trump’s sweeping emergency tariffs are legal. The battle to stop Trump’s tariffs is being waged by a group of small businesses who say the president’s moves are driving costs — and uncertainty — to intolerable levels. Trump said the stakes of the case are high when it comes to his economic agenda, although he has avoided directly criticizing the companies involved in the litigation. The case will specifically determine the fate of Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs announced in April, as well as the duties he has imposed on imports from China, Mexico and Canada.

Putin sends nuclear threat

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday gave state awards to the developers of the nuclear-powered Burevestnik cruise missile and the Poseidon underwater torpedo. Notably, neither weapon is new: Putin unveiled both in 2018. Analysts say Russia is using previously announced missile technology to send new nuclear threats to the West and to discourage the U.S. from supporting Ukraine. Russia’s repeated emphasis on its long-range capabilities “indicates that the intended target would be the United States, not a regional adversary that Russia could strike with much cheaper shorter-range systems,” the Center for Strategic and International Studies said in a report published Tuesday. The report also noted Trump’s plan to build a “Golden Dome” missile defense system to shield the U.S. from foreign attacks.

China space mission extended

Three Chinese astronauts have been forced to extend their six-month stay in space over concerns their return ship may have been hit by debris. Chen Dong, Chen Zhongrui and Wang Jie were due to return to Earth today — and had even handed over the keys to the Chinese space station to a new crew –– but their journey home was postponed due to a suspected impact on their Shenzhou-20 spaceship, China’s National Space Administration said. The agency did not specify how long it might take to check the ship, which blasted off from China in April. This comes as the international space race is intensifying, with the U.S. aiming to return astronauts to the moon as early as 2027. China aims to land its astronauts on the lunar surface by 2030.

Estimated cost of government shutdown: up to $14 billion

The ongoing government shutdown is now the longest in American history. The 36-day lapse in funding that began on October 1 is already dealing a significant blow to the world’s largest economy. “The current shutdown looks likely to have the greatest economic impact of any shutdown on record,” Alec Phillips, chief political economist at Goldman Sachs, wrote in a recent report. Even if the shutdown ends by next week, it will likely slow down the growth of real gross domestic product (GDP) — the broadest measure of economic output, without considering inflation — by 1.15 percentage points during the fourth quarter, according to Goldman Sachs. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates that although most of the economic hit will be recovered between $7 billion and $14 billion will be permanently lost during the shutdown.