Virginia Times published 17 stories on Sunday, November 8, 2026 — a day dominated by the Iran confrontation, from a U.S. request that Iraq shut all but two of its Iran crossings and a new CENTCOM task force in Tampa to President Trump's “highly unlikely” on renewed strikes, missiles intercepted over Riyadh, Ukraine's week under 115 missiles and more than 3,000 drones, and political turns in Washington, Jerusalem and Asunción.
In This Recap
- Iraq Says US Asked It to Shut All but Two Iran Crossings
- Biden Says Cancer Will Limit Talks for His Presidential Memoir
- NVIDIA Board Opens Probe After Report of Foreign Effort Targeting CEO
- Yemen Demands Iran Halt Houthi Arms, Withdraw Experts
- Jeffries Backs Hegseth Impeachment, Rules Out Working With Miller
- Trump: Renewed Iran Attacks ‘Highly Unlikely’ if Talks Progress
- Death Toll in Senegal Boat Sinking Rises to 34, APS Says
- Zaporizhzhia Plant Back on Diesel Generators After Line Fails
- Houthis Claim Missile and Drone Strikes on Riyadh Airport, Aramco Sites
- Heavy Rain Floods 70,000 Tents in Gaza, Authorities Say
- Missiles Intercepted Over Riyadh, Debris Damages Aramco Tower
- Zelenskyy Says Russia Fired 115 Missiles, 3,000 Drones in a Week
- Messi Wins the MLS Golden Boot for a Second Straight Year
- At LSU, Melania Trump Unveils $7.2 Million Endowment for Foster Youth
- CENTCOM Launches Task Force Iron Gate to Curb Iran Land Routes
- Herzog Tasks Eisenkot, Not Netanyahu, With Forming a Government
- Judge Orders Paraguay’s Ex-President Peña Held Before Trial
1 Iraq Says US Asked It to Shut All but Two Iran Crossings
Iraq's foreign minister, Fuad Hussein, said the U.S. Treasury has asked Baghdad to close all of its border crossings with Iran except two, a step he called difficult for Iraq's economy while talks continue. Hussein put Iraq's war and oil-export losses at $60 billion, and said Baghdad and Washington have reached understandings that would let Iraqi oil pass through the Strait of Hormuz using a lane near Oman.
2 Biden Says Cancer Will Limit Talks for His Presidential Memoir
Former President Joe Biden said his presidential memoir, “Promise Me, America,” will be released on Nov. 17, covering his years in office, the decisions he made and his faith in American self-governance. Biden said he was diagnosed with cancer while writing the book, that his response to treatment continues to encourage his doctors, and that the illness will limit how many conversations he can hold about the memoir.
3 NVIDIA Board Opens Probe After Report of Foreign Effort Targeting CEO
NVIDIA's board of directors said it is launching an independent investigation, overseen by a committee of independent directors with outside counsel, after reporting that founder and CEO Jensen Huang was targeted by a foreign intelligence effort. The board said it has no reason to believe national security or NVIDIA secrets were compromised, and that Huang fully supports the review and will cooperate with it.
4 Yemen Demands Iran Halt Houthi Arms, Withdraw Experts
Yemen's foreign ministry condemned an Iranian statement as misleading interference and demanded that Tehran stop arming the Houthi militia, withdraw its experts and end its interference in Yemen's affairs. The ministry cited 21 foreign experts working with the Houthis — 14 from Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and seven from Hezbollah — covering command and control, ballistic missiles, drones and maritime operations.
5 Jeffries Backs Hegseth Impeachment, Rules Out Working With Miller
House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries said Sunday he is a “hard yes” on impeaching Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, predicting incredibly strong Democratic support for Rep. Thomas Massie's eight-article resolution when the caucus takes it up on Tuesday. In the same interview, Jeffries ruled out working with Stephen Miller, who becomes White House chief of staff on Monday, calling him the architect of President Trump's mass deportation programme.
6 Trump: Renewed Iran Attacks ‘Highly Unlikely’ if Talks Progress
President Donald Trump told CNN on Sunday that renewed U.S. attacks on Iran are “highly unlikely” if negotiations over Tehran's nuclear programme and the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz show progress — a point he repeated five times in a 20-minute interview. Trump said U.S. forces, including three aircraft carriers, are in position if he orders strikes, but that he would rather not destroy infrastructure that would take years to rebuild.
7 Death Toll in Senegal Boat Sinking Rises to 34, APS Says
The death toll from a migrant boat that sank off Kébémer, Senegal, rose to 34 on Sunday, the official news agency APS reported, up from the Interior Ministry's provisional count of 21 bodies and one survivor on Saturday evening. The wooden pirogue capsized off the Loumpoul dunes as its passengers attempted an irregular migration crossing, and the search continued as the interior minister prepared to visit the scene on Monday.
8 Zaporizhzhia Plant Back on Diesel Generators After Line Fails
The Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant lost its outside electricity supply on Sunday when the Ferosplavna-1 line disconnected, and backup diesel generators are again cooling its fuel, the IAEA and the plant's Russian-installed management said. Fuel on site can run a limited number of the emergency generators for about two weeks, Ukraine's Energoatom counted this as the plant's 16th complete loss of outside power this year, and radiation levels were reported as normal.
9 Houthis Claim Missile and Drone Strikes on Riyadh Airport, Aramco Sites
Yemen's Houthi forces claimed four missile and drone operations against Saudi Arabia on Sunday, saying the strikes hit Riyadh's King Khalid International Airport, Aramco storage tanks and the capital's financial centre, in response to airstrikes in Yemen. Saudi Arabia described a far more limited outcome, saying its air defences intercepted the missiles and that falling shrapnel caused only minor damage to an Aramco administrative building, with no injuries reported.
10 Heavy Rain Floods 70,000 Tents in Gaza, Authorities Say
Heavy rain flooded at least 70,000 tents sheltering displaced Palestinians across Gaza in 12 hours, the Hamas-run government media office said, washing away shelters and soaking bedding as residents tried to hold back the water with sand. The civil defence service said it had received 1,500 distress calls, and municipal crews said fuel shortages and damaged equipment left them unable to cope, while U.N. figures showed shelter stocks inside Gaza far below what is needed for the rainy season.
11 Missiles Intercepted Over Riyadh, Debris Damages Aramco Tower
Missiles fired at Riyadh were brought down early Sunday, and debris from the interceptions fell on an Aramco office building in the capital's King Abdullah Financial District, Saudi officials said. The Saudi-led coalition said it destroyed two ballistic missiles and later two cruise missiles, the Energy Ministry put the damage to the Aramco Tower down as limited with no one injured, and Civil Defense alerts for the capital and the Eastern Province were later lifted.
12 Zelenskyy Says Russia Fired 115 Missiles, 3,000 Drones in a Week
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia launched 115 missiles, nearly 1,900 guided aerial bombs and more than 3,000 attack drones against Ukraine in the past week, as a Russian FPV drone struck Komyshuvakha, where rescue crews have spent seven days digging through rubble, and strikes on energy infrastructure left more than 600,000 people in Dnipro and its region without power. Zelenskyy urged partners to synchronise sanctions on Russia's missile production, arguing the missiles must be stopped on the production lines.
13 Messi Wins the MLS Golden Boot for a Second Straight Year
Lionel Messi outscored everyone in MLS for a second straight year, taking the 2026 Golden Boot presented by Audi with 26 goals in 31 regular-season matches for Inter Miami — the first player ever to win the award in consecutive seasons. FC Dallas forward Petar Musa came closest with 22 goals and Nashville's Sam Surridge took third with 21, while Messi's 43 goal contributions were also a league high.
14 At LSU, Melania Trump Unveils $7.2 Million Endowment for Foster Youth
First lady Melania Trump travelled to Baton Rouge on Saturday to launch a $7.2 million endowment at Louisiana State University for students who grew up in foster care, under her Fostering the Future programme. MMR Group put in $5 million and other donors contributed the rest through the LSU Foundation, and the launch was showcased across Saturday's LSU–Alabama football game, with 14 Fostering the Future scholars now at LSU and 100 across 26 universities this semester.
15 CENTCOM Launches Task Force Iron Gate to Curb Iran Land Routes
U.S. Central Command said its commander, Adm. Brad Cooper, has directed the creation of Task Force Iron Gate, a roughly 20-person team based in Tampa, to stop Iran from using ground routes and the Caspian Sea to move advanced weapons, dual-use technology and sanctioned goods. CENTCOM cast the unit as the land counterpart to its naval blockade, while former counterterrorism chief Joe Kent publicly objected that the move would escalate tensions and undermine peace talks.
16 Herzog Tasks Eisenkot, Not Netanyahu, With Forming a Government
Israeli President Isaac Herzog will give opposition leader Gadi Eisenkot the first chance to form a government, after 67 lawmakers recommended him against 46 for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose Likud took the most seats in last month's deadlocked election. Eisenkot, a former military chief of staff, will receive the mandate on Sunday and have 28 days to build a coalition, while Netanyahu stays on as caretaker prime minister and pushes for a national unity government instead.
17 Judge Orders Paraguay’s Ex-President Peña Held Before Trial
A judge ordered former Paraguayan President Santiago Peña held in pretrial detention at a military facility on Saturday, a day after the Senate removed him from office over the collapse of the digital lender Ueno. Peña, who denies wrongdoing, is charged with breach of trust and administration for personal gain in a case that has brought charges against 27 people, while the central bank said the equivalent of $160 million had been repaid to nearly 1.2 million savers under the state deposit guarantee.
Editor’s Note: This recap was prepared with the assistance of AI tools. Virginia Times gathered the source material from multiple sources and thoroughly reviewed the information before publication.
Have something to promote?
Bring your business, services or event to our readers.