🚨 HAPPENING RIGHT NOW 🚨
Israel's first national election since the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack remains unresolved a day after voting, with partial returns reversing overnight momentum: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's right-wing bloc has climbed to 57 Knesset seats against 47 for Gadi Eisenkot’s opposition and 16 for Arab parties, still four short of the 61 needed to govern. President Trump credited his endorsement for Netanyahu's late surge, saying the race could end “something like a tie, maybe even a win,” while cautioning “it's still a little early.” More than 650,000 special and military ballots remain uncounted, with official results due by November 4.
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 28th, 2026
Before we get to today's news, here's what happened on this date in history.
St. Louis' Gateway Arch, the soaring monument to America's westward expansion, was finished on October 28, 1965, nearly two decades after architect Eero Saarinen won a nationwide design competition for it in 1947. Saarinen died of a brain tumor in 1961, two years before construction even began, and never lived to see his 630-foot stainless-steel catenary curve rise over the Mississippi riverfront. Built on foundations sunk 60 feet into the ground and engineered to withstand earthquakes and high winds, the arch anchors the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial honoring Thomas Jefferson's 1803 Louisiana Purchase, and still draws roughly 4 million visitors a year to a summit where sightseers can see up to 30 miles on a clear day.
A rain-soaked crowd of more than a million people turned out on and around Bedloe's Island on October 28, 1886, as President Grover Cleveland formally accepted the Statue of Liberty from France during a ceremony marked by fog, cannon fire and a 300-ship naval parade up the harbor. Sculptor Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi, waiting inside the statue's crown, dropped the French flag draped over her face in the middle of a speech and declared, “The dream of my life is accomplished,” while Cleveland hailed him as “the greatest man in America today.” The statue marked the centennial of the Declaration of Independence and the friendship between the two republics.
🇨🇺 Waltz, Cuban Foreign Minister Spar on UN Floor as US Envoy Refuses to Back Down
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz and Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla clashed on the UN General Assembly floor Tuesday, with Parrilla advancing on Waltz and accusing him of lying about Cuba after Waltz displayed photos of Fidel Castro and President Miguel Díaz-Canel wearing luxury Rolex watches amid the island's economic crisis.
Waltz said the Castro-family timepiece alone, by the regime's own wage statistics, would cover “55 years of an average Cuban wage,” and told Parrilla the corruption “didn't just start with Castro.”
As Parrilla moved toward him, Waltz stood his ground, repeatedly telling him to “Back up!” and declaring, “He's not going to intimidate me in the United States of America. This is America.”
A member of the Cuban delegation separately tried to knock a phone out of the hand of Waltz's spokesman, J.P. Freire, who was recording the confrontation on video.
🏥 Texas Children's Hospital Opens Nation's First Detransition Clinic Under Paxton Settlement
Texas Children's Hospital opened the country's first dedicated detransition clinic this week under a settlement with Attorney General Ken Paxton and the Justice Department resolving allegations it billed government programs for gender-transition treatments using false diagnosis codes, a deal that also cost the hospital $10 million and the privileges of three current physicians.
Paxton called it “the nation's first-ever Detransition Clinic,” serving patients through age 21 with free services for five years; the case began with a 2024 whistleblower complaint from former nurse Vanessa Sivadge, who says she was fired in retaliation.
Detransitioners largely welcomed the move: Sivadge said patients “deserve to be seen, supported, and treated with dignity,” and Prisha Mosley said “finding the right care, and not more harm, is key to healing.”
Not everyone was convinced — detransitioner Maia Poet called it a potential starting point but said she's “not super convinced” it survives beyond the lawsuit, citing the age cutoff and cost and housing barriers.
⚖️ Judge Strikes New Charges Against Ex-FBI Officials in Hunter Biden Laptop Case
A federal magistrate judge struck new obstruction charges against two former FBI counterintelligence officials accused in the Hunter Biden laptop probe, ruling the Justice Department's superseding complaint was improperly filed as an unsigned, unsworn document after midnight on the public docket.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Zia Faruqui told prosecutors, “We have never had complaints filed that are unsigned. It is inappropriate. It harms the defendants,” adding he was “much more concerned that it is filed on the public record.”
Nikki Cole Floris and Bradley Benavides were already charged last week with lying to Congress about their roles investigating Hunter Biden's laptop; the DOJ can still attempt to refile the obstruction charges through the proper process.
U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro has said “lying to Congress by anyone strikes at the heart of our democratic system,” while Floris's attorneys call the case politically timed, filed “on the eve of an election.”
🗳️ Maine Senate Race Tightens Again as Collins and Jackson Battle to the Wire
Sen. Susan Collins and Democrat Troy Jackson remain locked in a dead heat one week before Election Day, with a Fox News poll showing them tied at 49% apiece even as a separate survey published Tuesday had Collins trailing by 2 points.
The Fox News poll, fielded Oct. 16-20 after the candidates' Oct. 15 debate, found Trump's approval in Maine underwater by 25 points, with 62% disapproving of his job performance.
Jackson leads by 40 points among voters who have already cast ballots, while Collins leads by 12 among those planning to vote on Election Day, reflecting starkly different turnout coalitions.
Beacon Research's Linder, polling for Democrats, said Jackson “has an opening if he can carry that momentum beyond his base and across the finish line,” while Republican pollster Daron Shaw said the GOP is “struggling with White rural voters this cycle.”
🛂 DHS Suspends Visa-Free Travel for Chinese Nationals in Mariana Islands, Citing Birth Tourism
DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin suspended a Biden-era program that let prescreened Chinese nationals visit the Northern Mariana Islands for up to 14 days without a visa, with the federal notice citing birth tourism, espionage and illegal onward travel to nearby Guam as risks.
More than 3,000 Chinese nationals used the Economic Vitality & Security Travel Authorization Program to enter the islands in fiscal year 2025 alone; the suspension takes effect at 2 p.m. EDT on Oct. 30 while DHS reviews the program with the State and Interior departments.
Sen. Mike Lee, who led a bipartisan-style GOP push in April with Sens. Rick Scott, John Cornyn and Bill Cassidy to end the program, said “America is not a nursery for the CCP to steal citizenship.”
Rep. Chip Roy's office, which raised concerns alongside Rep. Tom Tiffany back in March, said Roy “is pleased to hear the Trump Admin closed this dangerous loophole.”