Politics:
The Democrats have managed to hold on to their majority in the Senate in the US midterm elections while the outcome in the House of Representatives is still undecided, although a Republican victory there is unlikely. This is the first time in 20 years that the President's party has managed to hold the Senate in an election that usually favours the opposition, and many of the radical Trump-endorsed candidates have failed, opening up questions about the future of the Republican party and the ticket for the 2024 Presidential election.
Lula Da Silva defeated Jair Bolsanaro in the Brazilian Presidential election. Brazil, Indonesia, and the Democratic Republic of Congo have pledged to create a funding mechanism that will help protect rain forests.
Russia has retreated from the Ukrainian city of Kherson, the only regional capital it had captured in its invasion of a sovereign country.
Pop Culture:
The most recent episode of You're Wrong About covers the 1972 crash of Flight 571 in the Andes, and the way Blair Braverman recounts the harrowing tale of survival is some of the best and moving non-fiction storytelling of this year (her novel Small Game is also highly recommended).
Other book recommendations: Nona the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir, the third part of the Locked Tomb Series, Babel, Or the Necessity of Violence by RF Kuang, and Freya Marske's A Restless Truth, a murder mystery with magic, set on a ship traveling from the US to England in the 19th century.
