Middle East

The USS Colorado, a Virginia-class nuclear-powered attack submarine, arrived at HMAS Stirling in Western Australia for a scheduled month-long maintenance period, serving as a trial run ahead of its formal assignment to the Submarine Rotational Force-West starting in late 2027. The rotation, announced jointly by US, Australian, and UK defense officials, is part of Pillar 1 of the AUKUS pact, under which the US and UK are helping Australia build a fleet of nuclear-powered submarines. More than 30 Australian technicians, backed by US Navy specialists, will perform the work. HMAS Stirling has also hosted US and Royal Navy submarines previously, underscoring expanding trilateral maintenance cooperation despite industrial-capacity concerns.

A new Detroit News/WDIV poll of likely Michigan voters finds President Trump's job approval largely unchanged since late summer, with about 59% disapproving versus 39% approving—among the weakest pre-midterm numbers for a president in recent history, comparable to George W. Bush in 2006. Disapproval is even steeper on Trump's handling of the Iran War and U.S.-Canada relations. Pollster Richard Czuba says Trump's approval has become the central dividing line in Michigan's 2026 races, including the competitive U.S. Senate contest between Republican Mike Rogers and Democrat Abdul El-Sayed, where Rogers currently trails. Analysts say the dynamic echoes the 2022 midterms, when abortion politics drove Democratic wins statewide.

At a Florida campaign rally ahead of midterm elections, President Trump suggested U.S. warships returning from the Iran conflict could stop near Cuba, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio sent to "finish up the deal." It is his latest comment raising the prospect of intervention in Cuba, an idea first floated earlier this year alongside criminal charges against former leader Raúl Castro. Rubio soon after posted on social media urging a "discrete partnership with the CIA" for change in Cuba. Both officials have cited Cuba's economic collapse and ties to U.S. adversaries, while talks between the two governments have yielded only new sanctions rather than diplomatic progress.

Polling and interviews across Texas point to a significant erosion of Latino support for President Trump since his 2024 gains, driven by frustration over high prices, gas costs, and aggressive ICE enforcement that has rattled South Texas communities and economies. Strategists describe the shift as a rebuke of Republicans rather than genuine enthusiasm for Democrats, who still carry a damaged brand with many Latino voters. The trend could shape Texas's competitive U.S. Senate race between Ken Paxton and James Talarico, as well as newly redrawn majority-Hispanic congressional districts. Analysts expect Latino support for Democrats to partially rebound toward 2018 levels, but caution that voters remain persuadable and increasingly judge candidates individually rather than by party.

Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed has repeated his assertion that Israel is "not actually our friend," making the case in interviews with ABC News and MS NOW ahead of his final debate against Republican Mike Rogers. El-Sayed argues Israel has lobbied the U.S. into conflicts, including pushing for action against Iran, and accused the Israeli military of war crimes. He has also faced criticism for deflecting questions about alleged family ties to the Muslim Brotherhood and past appearances with controversial streamer Hasan Piker. At the debate in Detroit, El-Sayed also opposed the SAVE America Act's voter ID and citizenship-proof requirements, calling them voter suppression, while Rogers defended the measure as reasonable. The race remains competitive ahead of the Nov. 3 election.

Republicans have spent heavily — about $19 million through mid-October — on ads in competitive Ohio races promoting the tax law dubbed the "One Big Beautiful Bill," the largest such ad push of any state this cycle. The pitch aims to boost vulnerable GOP candidates, including Sen. Jon Husted, who faces Democrat Sherrod Brown in a tight Senate race, by highlighting tax cuts on tips, overtime, and Social Security. But polling shows the message struggling against voter frustration over tariffs, inflation, and gas prices; a New York Times/Siena poll found 79 percent of likely Ohio voters disapprove of President Trump's handling of gas prices, complicating Republicans' efforts in a once reliably red state.

A Trump administration proposal to remove race and ethnicity questions from the 2030 Census is alarming Arab American advocates, who had expected a new Middle Eastern or North African (MENA) category to debut after decades of organizing. The federal government approved MENA as a distinct classification in March 2024, ending a long practice of counting Arab Americans as white, with implementation expected by March 2029. Michigan, home to large Arab American communities in Dearborn, Detroit and Flint, has much at stake.

The proposal would strip race, ethnicity and sexual orientation questions from the decennial questionnaire, with the Census Bureau arguing this protects privacy and boosts participation; detailed demographics would still be gathered via the American Community Survey. Advocates, including the Arab American Heritage Council and former federal policy manager Adam Beddawi, say that survey cannot replace a full population count used for funding and civil rights advocacy. A second provision would exclude certain noncitizens from congressional apportionment counts. Public comments are open through Nov. 2, and the proposal has not been finalized.