What happened
Plaid Cymru has claimed a historic victory in the Caerphilly by-election, overturning a large Labour majority and redrawing the political map of Wales. Lindsay Whittle secured 15,961 votes for the pro-independence party, defeating Reform UK’s Llyr Powell on 12,113. Labour’s Richard Tunnicliffe finished a distant third with 3,713 votes.

Who said what
In his acceptance speech, Whittle paid tribute to the late Hefin David, whose death triggered the contest, promising to “walk the same path that he did”.

This was “a disastrous result” for Keir Starmer, said Amy Gibbons in The Telegraph. It “will also be seen as a disappointing result for Reform UK”. Certainly Reform’s immigration agenda had “grabbed headlines during the by-election”, said Steven Morris in The Guardian. But while this was indeed a “blow” for Starmer, “the people of Caerphilly may have been more concerned about issues that Labour in Wales does have control of, such as health and education”.

What next?
The result deepens Labour’s problems in Wales, where the party now holds only 29 of the 60 Senedd seats and faces difficulty in passing its budget. Analysts warned that the vote marked a “fundamental realignment” in Welsh politics, with Plaid and Reform poised to dominate next year’s elections.

What happened
Resident doctors, formerly known as junior doctors, will walk off the job for five days next month over pay and conditions.

The industrial action will begin at 7am on Friday 14 November and last five days, “threatening chaos for the NHS as it enters a busy winter period”, said The Telegraph.

Who said what
Jack Fletcher, chair of the BMA resident doctors committee, said the union had “talked with the government in good faith”, but had been left with “little option but to call for strike action”. Health Secretary Wes Streeting labelled the announcement “preposterous”.

The planned action “will cast yet more doubt over Wes Streeting’s ability to meet his commitment that, by 2029, the vast majority of people will wait no more than 18 weeks to begin non-urgent hospital treatment after referral to a consultant”, said the Financial Times.

What next?
The doctors, who make up nearly half of the NHS’s medical workforce, will walk out of both emergency and routine care roles, with senior doctors brought in to provide cover.

The Earth is reflecting less light than it used to, especially in the Northern Hemisphere. While climate change is to blame, the reverse is also true: the planet being darker – and absorbing light instead of reflecting it – is in turn worsening climate change.

Climate change is darkening the Earth, according to a study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Data from Nasa’s Clouds and the Earth’s Radiant Energy System satellites found that the planet was reflecting much less light into space than it did two decades ago. In addition, while both sides of the planet should be receiving and reflecting equal amounts of sunlight, the Earth’s Northern Hemisphere is reflecting less than the Southern Hemisphere, thus retaining more heat and appearing dimmer.

This affects the Earth’s radiation budget, which is the “amount of light the planet absorbs and re-emits into space as outgoing longwave radiation”, said Popular Mechanics. Any imbalance between the hemispheres is typically “offset by the oceanic currents that transport energy from the Southern Hemisphere to the Northern Hemisphere”. But this research suggests that “surface changes have tipped the balance so much that ocean currents haven’t been making up the difference for the past two decades”.

In a positive feedback loop, the Earth’s darkening is “accelerating the effects of climate change and an asymmetric hemispheric darkening could produce its own complex impacts, including disruptive shifts in precipitation”, said 404 Media.

“All of this means that our planet isn’t just growing darker to outside observers,” said Vice. “Darkness is a symptom of a planet that is getting hotter – so hot that it’s essentially causing a planet-wide brownout.”