What's Going On Around The World Today

Poland’s right-wing Law and Justice party won a parliamentary majority in yesterday’s elections.

The conservative party — which is skeptical of the European Union, has spoken out against immigration, and has said it would ban abortion and in-vitro fertilization — stands to win 232 seats in Poland’s 460-seat lower house of parliament, The Guardian writes. Civic Platform, the current, pro-European ruling party conceded defeat.

Beata Szydło, 52, is set to become the country’s next prime minister, ousting current Prime Minister Ewa Kopacz. It was the first time in more than 20 years that two women went head to head in a European election, The Telegraph writes.

Law and Justice “wants more sovereign control and believes a strong NATO hand is required to deal with Russia. The party promises more welfare spending, a lower retirement age and new taxes on foreign banks,” The Guardian writes.

And a little extra.

Guatemala, Argentina, Tanzania, the Ivory Coast, and Haiti also held elections yesterday.

• Guatemala: Jimmy Morales, a former comedian without any prior experience in government, won a runoff vote in Guatemala’s presidential election in a landslide. Morales used his status as a political outsider to his advantage and promised a clean government and defeated former first lady Sandra Torres, BBC News writes. Guatemala’s former president, Otto Pérez Molina, resigned in early September amid a lengthy customs corruption scandal.

• Argentina: The South American country will head back to the polls for a runoff election on Nov. 22, “the first time an Argentine election will be decided by a second round,” BBC News writes. Moderate candidate Daniel Scioli took the lead in yesterday’s vote, according to exit polls. Outgoing President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner served two consecutive terms and Argentina’s constitution bans her from running for election again until 2019.

• Tanzania: An opposition party in the East African country challenged the ruling Revolution party — which has been in power for more than 50 years. Analysts predicted the ruling party to win the tight race. Officials said they plan to release preliminary election results today, Voice of America writes.

• Ivory Coast: Voters in the West African country are expected to have re-elected incumbent President Alassane Ouattara. It was the country’s first presidential election since the civil war ended in 2011. The last presidential election was in 2010.

• Haiti: Voters chose from 54 presidential candidates on Sunday. “Electoral officials said there might be partial results in 10 days but final results would not be ready until late November,” the Washington Post writes.

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WE’RE KEEPING AN EYE ON

Another 100,000 spaces will be created in refugee reception centers in Europe along the route from Greece to Germany.

European Union and Balkan leaders came to this agreement at an emergency summit in Brussels. The 17-point agreement aims to slow the movements of the thousands of people who are traveling through to Western Europe after arriving from Balkan states such as Greece or Turkey, the AP writes.

About 9,600 people arrived in Greece in each of the past five days last week — totaling approximately 48,000 refugees and migrants — which marks the highest rate of the year, according to the International Organization for Migration.

What’s next?

Winter is coming. And as unprecedented numbers of people continue to arrive in Europe, their journeys are bound to become more dangerous due to cold weather. British Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron told BuzzFeed News the migration crisis would become “just tragic and unbearable.” Farron warned British Prime Minister David Cameron, whose policy toward the migration crisis he called “inhuman,” to prepare for more casualties.

“If you think the TV pictures are bad now,” Farron said, “just you wait till you get closer to Christmas, and people’s minds turn to goodwill towards all mankind, and we see families dying in the snow that we could have helped.”

Two Turkish fishermen saved an 18-month-old Syrian refugee after they initially thought he had drowned, BuzzFeed News’ David Mack reports.

DID YOU HEAR ABOUT THIS?

A man failed a paternity test due to his vanished twin’s DNA.

“How can a man who was never born father a son? When the ghost of his genes lives on in the DNA of his brother, genetics researchers have found,” BuzzFeed News’ Dan Vergano writes. “A 34-year-old U.S. man is the first ever reported case of a paternity test fooled by a human ‘chimera’ — someone with extra genes absorbed from a nascent twin lost in early pregnancy,” Vergano writes.

Quick things to know:

• At least 43 people are dead after a massive magnitude-7.5 earthquake hit eastern Afghanistan on Monday, sending tremors to India and Pakistan. (BuzzFeed News)

• At least five people died after a tour boat with 27 people on board sunk off the coast of Canada. One person is still missing. (BuzzFeed News)

• Four people were killed and almost four dozen others were injured when a 25-year-old woman drove her car into a crowd at Oklahoma State University’s homecoming parade on Saturday. Driver Adacia Chambers was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence. She is also facing second-degree murder charges. (BuzzFeed News)

• Texas, Ohio, and Arizona corrections officials have hired private lawyers to help them obtain execution drugs from overseas that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and a related court order have declared are illegal to import. (BuzzFeed News)

• No deaths have been reported as a result of Hurricane Patricia, which at one point was the strongest ever recorded storm in the western hemisphere, “but many along Mexico’s Pacific Coast have lost almost everything they had after the storm hit Friday night.” (BuzzFeed News)

• Republican U.S. presidential candidate Ben Carson is surging in the polls. (New York Times) And over the weekend, Carson said that abortion should be outlawed under all circumstances. (New York Times)

• Meet the Nebraska woman who allegedly frauded Square out of millions of dollars. (BuzzFeed News)

• This is one woman’s tale about an accidental one night stand with a racist. (BuzzFeed)

• Internationally bestselling young adult author James Dawson comes out as transgender. Dawson spoke to BuzzFeed News about his gender transition, why he’s still using “he,” and why he refuses to hide away. (BuzzFeed News)

• Wouldn’t you like to know if you can get smarter? (New York Times)

• Sausages and bacon do cause cancer, according to the World Health Organization. Processed meats are now classed as a carcinogen. (BuzzFeed News)

• Here’s what went on backstage at Sunday night’s MTV Europe Music Awards. (BuzzFeed) People loved co-host Ruby Rose’s comments on gender fluidity. (BuzzFeed) And here’s what everyone wore. (BuzzFeed)

Happy Monday

If you are still looking for a solid Halloween costume, worry not. Because an impressive outfit doesn’t have to be all that complicated. BuzzFeed Life compiled 29 Halloween costumes you can create with three things or less. An avocado, for example, just needs a piece of cardboard, some paint, and your own belly. And an adult baby is literally just you, in a onesie. With Halloween less than a week away, we got you covered.

This letter was edited and brought to you by Claire Moses and Millie Tran. You can always reach us here.