Latest news for 6 November 2026

PARAGUAY

President steps down.

President Peña has now tendered his resignation following the catastrophic collapse of a fast-growing digital bank he had recently part-owned, leaving half the country’s adults without access to their accounts. He’s now also facing a criminal investigation, pending his formal impeachment as early as today (Friday). (AP)

UNITED NATIONS

Straw poll shuffle.

The latest secret straw poll within the all-powerful Security Council suggests Costa Rica’s Rebeca Grynspan is pulling away from the pack to be the UN’s next secretary-general, scoring 12 out of 15 votes. But she’s still facing three mystery “discourage” votes, raising the prospect at least one of the Council’s permanent five (probably the US and/or Russia) might veto her. (PassBlue)

Comment: Interestingly, the UAE’s Hail Mary candidate (Nusseibeh) placed a distant fourth, suggesting there’s little appetite at this stage to abandon tradition, which would ordinarily see a LatAm or Caribbean candidate now prevail. Nusseibeh is also facing the pushback we flagged from the beginning (her Gulf petrostate’s reported support for RSF war criminals in Sudan).

SOUTH KOREA

Naval deployment.

Shrugging off domestic fears of getting pulled into the Iran war, Seoul now plans to expand its naval operations in the Middle East, projecting further down near Somalia while adding extra military assets to protect shipping routes. (Korea Times)

Comment: This is less a belated favour to the White House, and more a recognition that the Iran war has drained Western naval capacities, with Somali pirates filling the void. For a country importing nearly all its oil, it can no longer afford to delegate the security of its most vital sea lanes.

FRANCE

Strike.

Another 600,000-to-1.5 million (depending who you believe) demonstrators have taken to the streets across France in a nationwide day of action, demanding wage increases and emergency relief against a grinding cost-of-living crisis. Spearheaded by major trade unions, the strike closed schools, disrupted transport, and even shuttered landmarks like the Eiffel Tower. (France24)

Comment: Just six months out from high-stakes elections that the populist-right’s Marine Le Pen is forecast to win, this suggests the initial student-led unrest has snowballed into a broader labour movement. It all leaves Paris in an impossible squeeze: cave to demands and worsen France’s fiscal crisis, or hold the line and watch the demonstrations grow. The populists win either way, though it’s unclear how they’d do any better.

RUSSIA

Missile launchers for Iran.

Leaked defence industry documents reveal a planned deal for Moscow to supply Iran with 90 helicopter-mounted launchers for its advanced LMUR missiles, the same weapons Russian forces have used extensively across Ukraine. (Guardian)

Comment: It’s another layer to the growing stack of evidence that Putin is backing Iran against the US, something the White House still prefers to deny or ignore.

MEXICO

Judge drama.

Federal US prosecutors have charged a Mexican judge with taking a $2M bribe to grant bail for a key lieutenant of Canada’s alleged Olympian-turned-narco, Ryan Wedding. Local authorities took Judge Luis Benítez into custody in Colombia, with extradition procedures now underway. (CBS)

Comment: The arrest is a double-whammy for Mexico’s President Sheinbaum, who a) recently pushed through controversial reforms making judges publicly elected (in hopes of curbing corruption), and b) will now be embarrassed by this latest unilateral US move.

BURUNDI

Pay to play.

President Ndayishimiye has set a May 2027 date for the country’s next election, but the beleaguered opposition isn’t celebrating yet. New-ish electoral rules mean any candidates must now fork over a cool $50k in fees. (Channel Africa)

Comment: In a nation where GDP per capita sits around $250, a $50k entry fee is less an administrative procedure and more a financial moat: ie, a classic autocrat move to price out a cash-strapped opposition.