Thursday morning news: October 29, 2026

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United Nations » The U.S. government gave the boot to a Cuban diplomat after a confrontation at United Nations headquarters in New York.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio signed an order expelling that diplomat, without naming him publicly. That came after Ambassador Mike Waltz said the man tried to physically intimidate a U.S. official

Waltz said Wednesday.

WALTZ:  He was attacked, pushed, slapped. You know, the, the, the Cuban slapped the phone out of his hand. And, uh, I can tell you what, under President Trump, and now on the order of Secretary Rubio, that individual will be on a flight back to Havana and out of this country today. We're not gonna put up with it.

On Tuesday, Cuban diplomats angrily interrupted Waltz as he accused the Castro regime of confiscating property from ordinary Cubans to enrich its leaders.

CUBAN: You’re a liar!

WALTZ: Back up! Ambassador, back away! This isn’t Havana…

PRESIDENT: I’m suspending the meeting…

Waltz was defending U.S. sanctions on Cuba, against a resolution up for debate.

Cuba says the U.S. is choking its economy by blocking shadow fleet tankers from delivering oil. But the U.S. says Cuba’s dictatorship and socialist policies are to blame for the blackouts and shortages on the island.

Israel update » Vote tallies continue to roll from Israel's historic election. WORLD's Travis Kircher is in Jerusalem and spoke with a political analyst who talked about some of the surprises from Tuesday's vote.

TRAVIS KIRCHER: It is still unclear at the moment who will lead the Jewish state going forward.

Both sides can claim victories. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud Party appeared Wednesday to have scored slightly more seats than challenger Gadi Eisenkot's Yashar! Party, but neither party had a majority.

Political analyst Jacob Laviel Dallal says one surprise was the number of votes for Arab parties.

DALLAL: There was a very large voter turnout in the Arab sector much more than usual.

KIRCHER: The Arab parties are projected to win a historic 19 seats, and their support could help Eisenkot get the first chance to form a government. But that depends on whether those parties agree to back him.

DALLAL: He could be. He definitely could be. But again, how he does, you know, what he does with that is difficult to know...

KIRCHER: Another wild card: The possibility of renewed military action against Iran.

DALLAL: It's in my view very likely. Even though people here are so absorbed with the election that they're forgetting that there might be a war in a week, they check their calendar, but that'll create a sense of urgency.

KIRCHER: President Trump has threatened renewed strikes in Iran after U.S. midterm elections — IF the two sides don’t strike a deal soon to end Iran’s nuclear program.

Reporting for WORLD, I'm Travis Kircher in Jerusalem.

Spain train accident » A high-speed train slammed into the back of another train stopped on the tracks in Spain on Wednesday, killing at least 68 people and injuring dozens.

One passenger said the impact threw her and her husband from their seats.

AUDIO: It happened very quick. In a split of seconds, I found myself, like I saw him on the aisle, like he flew from the aisle, and then I was already on his seat because I'm on the window side

The trains collided amid olive fields south of Madrid, near the town of Urda. Another passenger described the moment of impact.

AUDIO: Our train was stopped there, middle of the track for seven, eight minutes, and then it's suddenly everything start falling apart. Bang, we fell down. Then we realized something hit

Spain’s transport minister says a safety system failed, but controllers then allowed one train to move again without speed restrictions.

Authorities are investigating the crash.

Several Spanish regions have declared three days of mourning. Another high-speed train collision killed 46 people in January.

Bolsonaro arrives in U.S. » Brazilian Senator Flávio Bolsonaro arrived in Florida on Wednesday:

SOUND: [Bolsonaro arrival in Miami]

…after losing Brazil’s presidential election, a result he disutes. He then escaped from the country with the help of the US government. WORLD’s Kristen Flavin reports.

KRISTEN FLAVIN: Flavio Bolsonaro, his wife and their two daughters stepped off of a private jet onto a tarmac in Miami. They traveled through Argentina and Ecuador after the Trump administration granted them visas.

He left despite a Brazilian court order barring him from leaving.

Bolsonaro lost Sunday’s election to left-wing President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. But he challenged the result, pointing to a last-minute court order extending voting by two hours.

But election officials say the extra votes could not have erased Lula’s lead of more than four million.

President Trump, though, was not convinced.

TRUMP: Well, it looked terrible. I thought it was terrible. I didn’t take sides, but it looked like another rigged election, frankly.

FLAVIN: A Brazilian Supreme Court justice had ordered Bolsonaro to surrender his passports. He faces investigations into corruption, money laundering and tax evasion. He denies wrongdoing. His allies call the cases political persecution.

His father, former President Jair Bolsonaro, is serving a 27-year sentence under house arrest after the Supreme Court ruled that he plotted a coup following his 2022 election loss.

For WORLD, I’m Kristen Flavin.

World Series » For the first time ever, the Milwaukee Brewers are World Series champions.

AUDIO (game call): Palacios, grounds one softly … unshakable, unstoppable! And champions at last! The Milwaukee Brewers!

The Brewers defeated the Tampa Bay Rays last night 4 to 1 in game 5 of the Fall Classic behind strong pitching.

Jacob Misiorowski pitched nearly 6 shutout innings for the win.

That caps what was a Major League best 103-win season for Milwaukee.

In the Brewers 58-year history, the team had never won the World Series until now. The last time they had even played in one was all the way back in 1982.

I'm Kent Covington.

Coming up, voters in Texas weigh their options. Plus, the superpowers of seaweed.

This is The World and Everything in It.

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