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Democrats had a feeling that the midterms would go well for their candidates. But few would have predicted that traditionally red states like Mississippi would flip. Now, Scott Colom will head to Washington as the state’s first Democratic senator since 1982.

The House tried and failed to impeach the Defense Secretary Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth this week. Republican Rep. Thomas Massie sponsored a resolution to effectively fire the head of the military. But his fellow GOP members did not back him.

And Jensen Huang, the co-founder and now former CEO of Nvidia, resigned on Thursday. That’s after revelations of several affairs with his employees and a potential Chinese spy.

And, in global news, President Donald Trump said he would hold off on new military action against Iran after appeals from Gulf allies, but the U.S. military continues to build its presence in the Middle East region.

Saudi air defences intercepted Houthi missiles and drones launched towards Riyadh, Mecca, and other regions. Houthis have denied targeting Mecca, saying they only target oil facilities and military bases.

And there were two days of U.S.-mediated peace talks between Russia and Ukraine in Abu Dhabi. They ended with no major breakthrough. It was the first meeting between the two delegations in nine months.

We cover the most important stories from around the globe in the international hour of the News Roundup.

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The weekend before election day, Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy was hospitalized after a stroke. He is 53. He has since left the hospital and is continuing his recovery at a rehabilitation center.

A stroke at 53 may sound surprising. Of course, the risk of stroke rises with age. But researchers say strokes in younger adults are becoming more common.

A study published in September in the journal Neurology tracked stroke cases in the Cincinnati area for nearly three decades. Among adults ages 20 to 54, the rate nearly doubled. Nationwide, nearly 800,000 people have strokes each year. That’s about one every 40 seconds.

In this edition in our series, “In Good Health,” we talk about strokes and put your questions to the experts.

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Corporate intrigue. National security secrets. A suspected Chinese spy. The rise and possible fall of a powerful man. 

The Nvidia espionage story has the makings of a great spy movie. But the implications are very real. CEO Jensen Huang is facing an investigation — and federal scrutiny— after admitting to an affair with a business executive believed by U.S. intelligence to be a spy for Beijing.

But this isn’t just corporate gossip. Nvidia’s microchips fuel the AI race. Did tech secrets change hands? And what does this mean for national security and the global economy?

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“Today, the convergence of automation, robotics and A-I is rapidly transforming the very structure of work. It is said that this will bring great improvements for everyone. In reality, however, the “new ways” of working are not necessarily better,… …it is necessary to design systems that are centered on the human person and not solely on performance.” 

That critique of artificial intelligence is one you might expect to find in an op-ed or an online forum. It’s actually from Pope Leo the XIV, writing recently about protecting humanity in the AI era.

The risks that generative artificial intelligence pose to human work are a common source of worry. A summer survey from Pew showed a majority of respondents – 52 percent – are more concerned than they are excited about the technology. And for the first time in five years of asking the question, a majority of people surveyed under 30 years old said they were more concerned than excited.

How much of this worry about work and AI is based in reality? How are employees changing their work to include AI?

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It’s a historic moment for the Democrats. Right now, the party is basking in a landslide victory glow. But after taking back the House and Senate and taking wins in reliably red areas across the U.S., the real work is just beginning.

Last week, voters delivered a rebuke to the Trump administration and its policies. Now, they’re looking to the left to deliver on their key concerns.

How will the Democrats take on the issues that matter most to Americans right now? How much of that is investigations and accountability versus actual legislation? What will they actually be able to get done?

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