Spain’s transport minister on Friday rejected calls for his resignation over the second train accident on his watch to cause mass casualties this year, as authorities worked to identify the victims from a crash that left at least 69 dead.

Lawmakers from across the political spectrum this week condemned Transport Minister Oscar Puente for attributing Wednesday’s crash to a break in protocol by control centre operators rather than accepting responsibility, with rail workers’ unions calling for his immediate dismissal.

The crash, which happened near the town of Urda in central Spain, followed another accident involving the same rail companies on the same line that left 46 dead in January.

It has reopened a debate about safety and maintenance on Spain’s high-speed rail network, the most extensive in Europe, as the country prepares for an election that left-leaning Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has called for November 29.

“My duty now is not to focus on discussing whether I will remain in office, but on solving the problem, determining exactly what happened and providing clear explanations,” Puente said at a press conference on Friday.

The train that smashed into a second stationary one was travelling at a speed between 160 and 200 kph when the collision occurred, according to a preliminary report released on Thursday by the Independent Authority for the Technical Investigation of Accidents and Incidents (AITAT).

“The sequence of malfunctions, instructions, and actions eventually led to the collision, in the absence of the necessary mitigating barriers,” AITAT said in the report.

AITAT said it would not be able to confirm the exact speed of the train until it extracted information from the train’s black box.

At the scene of the crash, large cranes were lifting the mangled wreckage as the Civil Guard listed 64 people as missing in what is already Spain’s deadliest train accident since 2013.

Authorities have carried out 49 autopsies so far and formally identified five people — three women and two men — Esther Padilla, spokesperson for the Castilla-La Mancha regional government, said on state television network TVE.

“Testing is proceeding slowly, although families will be contacted throughout the day so that they can come and collect their results,” Padilla said on Friday.

It was unclear if all those missing were accounted for in the death toll.

Authorities can’t rule out more fatalities

No additional bodies were found when rescue teams overturned a train carriage on Thursday, Castilla-La Mancha regional leader Emiliano Garcia-Page said on TVE.

Identifying the bodies was proving difficult because many were in pieces, he said. On Thursday, rescue teams had placed partial remains in 31 bags.

“The truth is that we cannot rule out the possibility that there may be more fatalities,” Garcia-Page said.

As identification of the dead continued, the debate about who was at fault intensified, with unions saying it was unfair to lay the blame on human error.

Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on Friday vowed to find out what caused the accident.

“It is unacceptable for a country like Spain, with such a strong high-speed rail system, to suffer two accidents of this nature and magnitude in a single year,” he said.

The collision occurred after several trains were automatically stopped due to the failure of a signalling system, after which the central control centre in Madrid took over. A train operated by state-owned Renfe was authorised to proceed, even though there was a stationary Iryo-operated train ahead, according to Puente.

Audio of communications between the control centre and the train drivers obtained by El Pais showed how a controller authorised the Renfe train to continue on its journey at a normal speed, which Puente said disregarded a protocol to travel at no more than 40 kph in such circumstances.

The audio also showed the controller authorised the Renfe train, carrying 379 passengers and seven crew, to resume its journey even though the Iryo train, carrying 147 passengers and five crew, should have proceeded first according to protocol.

Controllers say focus should be on failed signal system

Raquel Ayllón, a union leader for state-owned infrastructure operator Adif, said controllers were having to operate under difficult working conditions.

“Human error is being criticised and questioned very quickly, while people are not really focusing on the central issue: the failure of the safety system,” Ayllón said on TVE.

The LZB system which failed, triggering the sequence of events that led to Wednesday’s crash, was behind schedule for an upgrade, public documents show.

In September 2021, Adif awarded a contract to Thales Espana, the Spanish arm of the French equipment maker, to complete the installation of a new, standardised European system called ERTMS by early 2026 for 93.8 million euros ($105m), according to press releases on the tender.

The system has been installed across most of Spanish high-speed rail, according to a factsheet by European rail association UNIFE, which developed the new ERTMS standard. But the Madrid-Seville line, site of two fatal crashes, had fallen behind, according to the tender contract.

The contract was passed to Hitachi Rail in 2024, according to Thales, which declined to provide comment on the delay of the rollout.

Hackers stole $6.3 billion from Binance in the world’s biggest crypto heist, putting a spotlight on how cryptocurrency exchanges insure their digital assets against theft and cyberattacks.

But insurance protection is far from uniform. Coverage depends on how assets are stored, how hackers gain access and the specific terms of the policy.

Limited regulation and volatile crypto prices have long made insurers wary of the sector, despite growing demand for protection against digital asset theft and claims against company executives.

While both crime and demand for protection have tracked cryptocurrencies’ meteoric rise, underwriting such risks remains a niche business offered largely by specialist insurers in the Lloyd’s market and in Bermuda.

What is digital asset insurance?

Digital asset insurance is a range of policies designed to protect cryptocurrency exchanges, custodians and other companies operating in the sector against financial losses arising from the theft of digital assets, cyberattacks, technology failures and other business risks.

Unlike traditional insurance, these policies are tailored to risks associated with blockchain technology, including the theft or loss of private keys, wallet security breaches, smart contract vulnerabilities and failures in digital asset custody.

The global crypto insurance market was valued at $9.37bn in 2025 and is projected to reach $184.98 billion by 2033, according to Data Bridge Market Research.

The research firm cited growing institutional adoption of cryptocurrencies and rising incidents of cyberattacks and digital asset theft among the factors driving demand.

Coverage can include several types of policies: crime insurance for theft, social engineering and scams; cyber liability for breaches, hacks and regulatory response; errors and omissions insurance for software bugs; smart contract failures; directors and officers insurance for lawsuits targeting executives; and technology liability for infrastructure providers.

How are losses covered?

When a crypto exchange suffers a hack, losses can be covered through a combination of insurance payouts, the company’s own capital and emergency funds set aside to compensate customers.

The extent of insurance coverage depends on the policies held by the exchange, including their limits, deductibles and exclusions. Where losses exceed the insured amount, the company must rely on its own financial resources or other recovery arrangements to meet its obligations.

Some exchanges also maintain reserve funds to reimburse customers following security breaches. Binance established the Secure Asset Fund for Users (SAFU) in July 2018 as an emergency reserve to protect users in extreme cases, such as security breaches or platform-level incidents.

As of 2026, the SAFU fund holds crypto assets worth roughly $1bn, entirely in bitcoin, according to Binance’s website. The company did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request for comment on its insurance coverage.

What can prevent an insurance payout?

Exclusions that let insurers deny certain claims are common in policies covering digital assets and the personal liabilities of directors and officers at cryptocurrency companies. These can limit the scope of protection available to companies and make it harder for them to secure coverage.

Common exclusions in these policies include value fluctuations, fraudulent acts by the policyholder and unsecured or negligent key management.

Do traditional crime and cyber insurance policies cover crypto?

Most standard crime insurance policies do not cover cryptocurrency losses, as they were originally designed to protect physical property such as cash, securities and precious metals.

Traditional cyber liability policies also do not always cover the value of digital assets stolen in a hack. While cyber policies can cover both first-party losses and third-party liabilities, including forensic investigations, customer notifications and legal expenses, they generally exclude the loss or transfer of funds.

As a result, standalone cyber policies typically do not cover the full value of stolen cryptocurrency unless specific digital asset coverage has been added.

How do insurers assess crypto theft claims?

Insurers examine how a breach occurred, which systems were compromised and whether the resulting loss falls within the policy’s coverage.

They may also assess whether the exchange followed required security procedures, including controls over private keys, wallet access and transaction approvals.

The distinction between an external hacker stealing credentials and an employee deliberately transferring assets can determine whether a crime or cyber insurance policy covers the loss.

US stock prices retreated on Thursday, with investors reassessing big tech’s massive AI spending spree as they digested high-profile earnings, crucial inflation data and the US Federal Reserve’s policy decision.

All three major US stock indexes were in negative territory, with the Nasdaq dragged sharply lower by tech and tech-related megacaps in the wake of Alphabet’s disappointing quarterly results released late Wednesday.

In contrast, the smallcap Russell 2000 advanced 0.8 per cent.

Semiconductor stocks were poised to snap their four-day winning streak, dropping 2.0pc as investors sought to distinguish between companies that can fund their lofty AI ambitions from those that burn through cash and borrow funds to realise their ambitions.

Alphabet was in the latter camp following its quarterly report released late on Wednesday. The Google parent’s revenue miss was compounded by its accelerated AI-related cash burn. Its shares slid 13.2pc.

“A risk-off day like this, with small caps outperforming, is a good sign that thus far the market’s interpretation of cracks in the AI story doesn’t mean cracks in every corner of the market,” said Ross Mayfield, investment strategy analyst at Baird in Louisville, Kentucky.

“There’s plenty of other places to go with your money outside of the AI trade that have pretty decent prospects.”

On Wednesday, Federal Reserve policymakers chose to hold US rates steady, acknowledging that while price pressures remain “elevated”, the central bank will decide on its next move as it “accumulates more information”.

A raft of economic data released on Thursday answered that call, with a first take on third-quarter GDP that showed the US economy grew at a faster-than-expected pace in the third quarter, while price growth continued to gain heat with a war-related oil supply crunch feeding into broader, systemic inflation.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 315.36 points, or 0.59pc, to 52,163.07, the S&P 500 lost 48.73 points, or 0.63pc, to 7,695.25 and the Nasdaq Composite lost 441.15 points, or 1.66pc, to 26,108.35.

Among the 11 major sectors in the S&P 500, communication services and tech were down the most, while healthcare led the gainers.

Third-quarter earnings season has crossed the halfway point, with 253 of the companies in the S&P 500 having reported. Of those, 81pc have beaten analyst expectations, according to the most recent LSEG data.

Analysts now expect aggregate third-quarter S&P 500 earnings growth of 31.0pc, year-on-year, per LSEG.

Caterpillar topped quarterly profit estimates but left its growth targets unchanged. The heavy equipment maker’s shares tumbled 9.5pc.

Eli Lilly jumped 6.3pc after the drugmaker lifted its revenue outlook on the strength of weight-loss drug sales.

Ford gained 2.9pc following the automaker’s third-quarter revenue beat.

Merck beat earnings expectations on the strength of its cancer drug Keytruda and its HPV vaccine Gardasil. The drugmaker’s shares advanced 4.4pc.

Software stocks were broadly weak. Fortinet and ServiceNow dropped more than 20pc each after their quarterly results.

Marvell Technology slumped 12.8pc after media reports said the company was in advanced talks to buy data-centre optics maker Lumentum Holdings. Lumentum shares rose 2.0pc.

Amazon’s shares were off 3.9pc ahead of its earnings report, expected after the closing bell.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.59-to-1 ratio on the NYSE. There were 113 new highs and 155 new lows on the NYSE.

On the Nasdaq, 2,416 stocks rose and 2,221 fell as advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.09-to-1 ratio.

The S&P 500 posted 19 new 52-week highs and six new lows, while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 81 new highs and 131 new lows.

Former Afghanistan captain Rashid Khan became the first bowler to claim 200 wickets in men’s Twenty20 Internationals on Thursday, reaching the milestone during Afghanistan’s second T20 against Zimbabwe in Sharjah.

The leg-spinner brought up the landmark when he trapped Tadiwanashe Marumani lbw for two in the ninth over.

Rashid achieved the feat in his 120th T20 international, with the 28-year-old boasting an average of 13.96 and an economy rate of 6.13 in the format.

His record includes two five-wicket hauls, with best figures of 5-3.

The Afghan sits comfortably atop the list of leading wicket-takers in men’s T20 internationals with 200 wickets, 29 clear of England’s Adil Rashid in second place.

Rashid Khan became the first Afghanistan bowler to reach 200 ODI wickets during a match against Bangladesh in Abu Dhabi in October last year.

Former US president Barack Obama on Wednesday mocked President Donald Trump for mobilising a government-wide response to his earlier remark that Trump had “got the White House looking like Saddam Hussein opened a Cheesecake Factory”.

“The White House even called the Secretary of Treasury,” Obama remarked, as he continued his campaign ahead of the congressional races in the US.

Obama quipped, “This is the man who is in charge of the economy. The person who’s supposed to be figuring out how to make your life more affordable… They told him he should hold a press conference in front of the Cheesecake Factory.”

Trump defended his White House decor and said Obama left the property deteriorated.

“The White House, I think, is the number one symbol of our country, and we can’t have a White House with broken windows, with broken stone that hasn’t been painted in 30 years,” Trump said in Ohio.

Neither man is on the ballot, but Republican President Trump and Democratic former president Obama took prominent roles on the campaign trail on Wednesday, with less than a week to go before congressional races that could shift the balance of power in Washington.

While Trump has been on a weeks-long campaign blitz that has underlined Republican concerns about losing control of Congress for the final two years of his presidency, Obama had kept a relatively low public profile until the past week, during which he has delivered blistering speeches criticising Trump.

Thirty-five of the 100 Senate seats and all 435 seats in the House of Representatives are being contested next Tuesday. Nonpartisan analysts generally favor Democrats’ chances of capturing a majority in the House, with the contest for the Senate seen as very close.

On Wednesday, Obama appeared in Morrow, Georgia, near Atlanta, where he urged voters to support Democratic Senator Jon Ossoff, who faces a challenge from Representative Mike Collins, a Republican.

While delivering the standard Democratic critique of Trump for imposing tariffs and going to war in Iran, Obama also said America’s values were on the ballot, as he recalled the vision of slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., who is buried in Atlanta.

“There is a moral component to the choices we face right now,” Obama said.

“We are not going to fix the system that’s broken, we’re not going to unrig our economy, so long as we’ve got a culture where anything goes, where people in the highest offices of the land think it’s OK to lie and cheat and bully, if we continue to have a culture where money is deemed the only measure of our worth,” Obama said.

Trump’s public approval rating has fallen to a near record low, with Americans increasingly sour on the high cost of living and the Iran war, but he remains an animating force in the party and has campaigned hard to increase Republican turnout.

Americans have been voting for weeks, with 40 million ballots already cast, according to the University of Florida’s Election Lab. A total of 45.9 million Americans voted early in the last midterm elections in 2022.

Addressing a rally inside a modest college gymnasium in the Ohio town of Chillicothe, the president appeared with Senator Jon Husted of Ohio as he faces a challenge from Democratic former senator Sherrod Brown.

Trump attacked Brown for supporting immigration policies the president said had overwhelmed Springfield, Ohio, with Haitian migrants. “The town went to hell,” he said.

Trump spread false claims during the 2024 presidential campaign that Haitian immigrants in Springfield were eating cats and dogs, allegations local officials repeatedly said were untrue.

Trump faces protesters

Enthusiastic crowds have cheered Trump at rallies throughout the campaign, but hundreds of protesters lined Trump’s motorcade route in rural Chillicothe, raising banners that read, “Republican against Trump,” “Grab them by the ballot” and “GOP: Guardians of pedophiles.”

During the rally, protesters interrupted Trump several times, including at least one who shouted about deceased convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

“I threw Jeffrey Epstein the hell out of Mar-a-Lago,” Trump said in response.

Trump and Epstein socialised in the 1990s and early 2000s, but Trump has said they later had a falling out and that he barred Epstein from Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s private club in Palm Beach, Florida.

Justice Department releases from the Epstein files have included references to Trump, as well as many other prominent figures. The department has cautioned that some materials contain allegations that were unverified or uncorroborated.

Protesters have interrupted Trump at virtually all his recent rallies. He typically accuses them of being paid protesters as they are carted off by security.

Alaska, Michigan races

Democrats will need to pick up seats in traditionally Republican-leaning states such as Ohio, Iowa or Alaska to overcome the current 53-47 Republican majority in the Senate.

The New York Times reported that aides to Mary Peltola, the Senate Democratic nominee in Alaska, worked with the campaign’s lawyers and senior staff at Senate Democrats campaign arm to recruit two candidates who are on the ballot and could siphon votes from incumbent Republican US Senator Dan Sullivan.

Representatives for Peltola did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

“Mary Peltola should resign from the race. I think she should be criminally prosecuted for what she did,” Trump told reporters before departing for Ohio.

In Michigan, where Republican Mike Rogers and Democrat Abdul El-Sayed are locked in a tight race for the Senate seat being vacated by Democratic Senator Gary Peters, both campaigns are relying on high-profile allies to energise supporters and boost turnout.

Rogers spent the day campaigning with Senator Ted Cruz of Texas on a four-stop bus tour culminating in Imlay City, a small community northeast of Detroit. El-Sayed, meanwhile, was scheduled to join Peters and fellow Michigan Senator Elissa Slotkin for an evening canvassing rally in Downriver, southwest of Detroit.

WASHINGTON: Global commodity prices are set to surge 23 per cent in 2026, the World Bank said on Wednesday, citing rising energy prices and disruptions to cargo shipping during the Middle East war, grain shipment problems in the Black Sea and high demand for safe-haven assets such as gold.

Oil, natural gas, food and metals prices all rose sharply this year as global shocks mounted, the World Bank said in its latest Commodity Markets Outlook. It said the situation could worsen if the conflict in the Middle East ratcheted up and damage to Russian oil infrastructure continued.

Commodity prices were expected to ease by 7pc next year, it said, but continued shocks — including forecasts for the worst El Nino weather effect since 1950 — could keep food commodity prices elevated, raising the spectre of higher inflation and tighter monetary policy.

The global economy was more vulnerable to future supply shocks at the moment. Global oil stocks have been depleted during the war in the Middle East, and global oil supply is expected to drop 5.2% in 2026, the biggest drop in four decades outside the 2020 global recession, the bank said.

Energy up 32pc, metals 25pc, gold 40pc in 2026; food prices face El Nino threat

“Commodity markets are being hit by several major shocks at once,” said Ayhan Kose, the World Bank’s deputy chief economist. “Higher energy costs and trade disruptions are driving up prices across a broad range of commodities, threatening to worsen inflation, food insecurity, and economic growth.” The bank released its twice-yearly report on Wednesday, two days before foreign ministers from the world’s 20 largest economies are due to gather in Atlanta, Georgia for a meeting that will focus on the wars in the Middle East and Ukraine.

Kose said the World Bank was focused on protecting the world’s poorest people and supporting low-income countries alrea­­dy grappling with heavy debt burdens.

The bank had already provided $8.7 billion in low-cost loans and other aid to 25 countries affected negatively by the war in the Middle East, the report said. This included 10 countries that retooled existing programs to cover crisis-related expenses, and 19 that had tapped new resources, with some using both.

The report, released twice a year, said global energy prices surged 32pc in 2026, reaching their highest level since Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

With oil output down, Brent oil prices were expected to remain elevated in the near term, averaging $92 per barrel for the year. Prices would be even higher if oil demand were not forecast to drop 2.5pc this year, the third-largest drop behind the 2020 Covid shock and the 1980 oil crisis.

It said food commodity prices were set to rise just over 10pc in 2026 due to grain shipment disruptions caused by hostilities between Russia and Ukraine in the Black Sea, and another 7pc plus in 2027, for a cumulative increase of nearly 18pc.

An adverse scenario that coupled a record El Nino, more Black Sea grain shipment disruptions, escalation in the Middle East conflict and ongoing damage to Russian oil infrastructure could drive food prices 12pc higher than expected, it said. That could trigger a food crisis like the one seen in the early 2010s, when more than 40 million additional people were pushed into extreme poverty, the bank noted.

Fertiliser prices were expected to rise 14pc in 2026 due to a surge in urea prices, then return to 2025 levels in 2027.

Metals prices were projected to rise 25pc and hit a new high in 2026, with aluminium, copper and tin all setting new records as a result of supply disruptions and strong demand from investments in renewable energy, electric vehicles and data centres, the bank said.

Precious metals prices were projected to surge by 40pc in 2026, amid elevated demand for safe-haven assets triggered by geopolitical and policy uncertainty, with some moderation seen in 2027.

Published in Dawn, October 29th, 2026

With Israel’s election yielding no clear winner, US President Donald Trump could face prolonged uncertainty over who will lead Washington’s closest Middle East ally as he confronts challenges from Iran and Gaza across the region.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing bloc secured the most seats in Israel’s parliament but still lost its parliamentary majority on Tuesday, despite Trump having endorsed him against a rival alliance of parties led by hawkish former military chief Gadi Eisenkot.

While Netanyahu seemed in a stronger position, neither side was projected to have an outright path to form a new government after Israel’s first election since the Hamas-led attacks of Oct 7, 2023, and the ensuing wars in Gaza, Lebanon and Iran.

The stage appeared to be set for a period of painstaking coalition bargaining or possibly another election while Netanyahu remains in power in a caretaker capacity.

The outcome will have implications for US-Israeli relations, which have been dominated by the joint fight against Iran, stalled Gaza peace efforts and signs of eroding US public support for Israel.

The uncertainty comes at a sensitive moment for Trump, when he and Netanyahu have threatened to join in another round of attacks against Iran.

“Israeli politics can be messy,” said Aaron David Miller, a former Middle East adviser in Democratic and Republican administrations.

From the US perspective, he said, “It would be good to get some clarity, but that’s easier said than done.”

Which outcome would Trump prefer?

Netanyahu a consummate political survivor who has had a close but sometimes turbulent relationship with Trump dating back decades may have survived again.

He is the longest-serving Israeli prime minister and the only one the US president has ever worked with.

Eisenkot, who projected an image as a political outsider and security-minded former general during the campaign, has seen his governing chances dimmed but not extinguished. He is not known to have ever met Trump.

Some analysts say creation of a broad unity government keeping Netanyahu in power might serve Trump’s interest in a politically stable Israeli partner. But neither side has shown a willingness to take that path.

Asked whether he was going to get involved in an effort to form a Netanyahu-led unity government, Trump told Axios on Wednesday he hadn’t thought about it, adding: “I will take a look.”

What does the election mean for the war in Iran?

Topping the list is how Trump might engage with Israel in the war against Iran, which has rocked the Middle East.

The eight-month-old conflict has disrupted global energy supplies, pushed up US gasoline prices and driven down his approval ratings, imperiling his Republicans’ control of Congress in the Nov 3 midterm elections.

Trump, in his Oct 18 endorsement, insisted he wanted Netanyahu to remain in power to help him soon “finish the job” against Iran. The president said overnight that Netanyahu, who outperformed pre-election polls, had done “very well” and that his backing had boosted the Israeli leader.

Trump has repeatedly signalled that the US and Israel could restart attacks on Iran after the midterms, with some critics, including in Israel, suggesting Netanyahu might see it as a way to bolster his political standing as caretaker prime minister.

Jonathan Panikoff, a former deputy US national intelligence officer on the Middle East, said any future Israeli leadership would likely be on the same page as Trump if he decides to escalate from the current stalemate with Israel’s regional arch-foe.

“It’s hard to imagine any real daylight between them on that point,” said Panikoff, now at the Atlantic Council think tank in Washington.

Where Netanyahu and many Israelis have sometimes differed with Trump is when he has offered concessions in now-stalled negotiations with Tehran.

What are the implications for Gaza peace efforts?

No matter how Israel’s next government shapes up, there is little reason to believe there will be any sweeping shift in tough policies toward the Palestinians.

This does not bode well for breaking the diplomatic deadlock between Israel and Hamas and fully implementing Trumps Gaza peace plan following the war there.

Israel, in response to the group’s deadly cross-border attack, levelled much of the enclave and killed tens of thousands of Palestinians.

Administration officials have privately expressed frustration over what they see as intransigence by Netanyahu, who has insisted that Hamas must first disarm.

Eisenkot, who lost a son and two nephews in the Gaza war, stressed his military credentials while positioning himself as a centrist domestically during the election campaign.

He has vowed to break with Netanyahus far-right coalition allies, but not with the hawkish approach to security that has become more entrenched since the 2023 Hamas attack.

Like Netanyahu, Eisenkot opposes Palestinian statehood and says Hamas’s military wing must be destroyed.

But he has pledged to prevent violence by Israeli settlers against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, which Netanyahus government has been accused of tolerating. Settler attacks have drawn criticism in recent weeks from US officials worried the territory could become another Middle East flashpoint.

What about Israel’s growing isolation?

Even as Israel’s political climate is expected to remain unsettled for some time, Trump may have to contend with what opinion polls project could be the Democrats’ takeover of one or both chambers of Congress in the midterms.

That could mean increased pressure from Democrats, whose support for Israel plunged over its conduct in the Gaza war, to curb billions of dollars in US aid and weapons supplies.

Some members of Trumps MAGA base have also become increasingly critical of Israel, accusing it of having misled Trump who campaigned for a second term on a promise to avoid foreign military interventions into believing Iran could easily be defeated.

Trump, in an interview with Axios in June, cautioned Netanyahu about Israel’s deepening international isolation, and most analysts say the trend may be irreversible, even with a new government.

Brazilian Senator Flavio Bolsonaro and his family arrived in Miami on Wednesday, where the United States government would grant them entry visas after he refused to comply with a Brazilian Supreme Court order to surrender his passports.

Bolsonaro, who lost last Sunday’s presidential election to leftist incumbent Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, left Brazil under a shroud of secrecy after the court order, which relates to a money-laundering investigation in which he denies wrongdoing.

Images showed Bolsonaro, his wife and two daughters disembarking from a Gulfstream G400 and heading into Miami’s Opa-Locka Executive Airport.

Their journey to the United States captured attention across the region. They entered northern Argentina late on Tuesday evening, according to the country’s migration department, and then took a private jet to the Ecuadorean city of Guayaquil. From there, they flew to Miami.

Neither Argentina’s presidency, Ecuadorean ministries nor Baires Fly, the operator of the private jet, responded to requests for comment.

Fresh Brazil-US rift

Bolsonaro’s departure threatens to deepen a rift between the two most populous nations in the Americas.

Lula has accused Washington of colluding with the Bolsonaro family to help return them to power. Ahead of Sunday’s election, Reuters reported on a US State Department campaign to restore the Bolsonaros to office.

Trump told reporters on Wednesday that he would approve of Bolsonaro coming to the United States, after his State Department said it would give them entry visas.

Trump has previously alleged that Flavio’s father, former president Jair Bolsonaro, was a victim of judicial persecution in Brazil.

Jair Bolsonaro also travelled to the United States after refusing to concede defeat to Lula in 2022, during Joe Biden’s presidency. He eventually returned to Brazil but was later sentenced to 27 years in prison for plotting a coup after supporters stormed government buildings in Brasilia.

Flavio Bolsonaro had been widely expected to win Sunday’s election but suffered a shock defeat.

Bolsonaro, who loses his immunity from prosecution when his Senate term ends in February, said on Monday after the order to hand in his passports that he had no plans to flee.

“I have never thought about leaving the country,” he said. “I will hand over my passports and defend myself against this travesty, which is a clear attempt to intimidate me.”

The US military has spent over $47 billion so far to prosecute the war in Iran, more than 25 per cent higher than the Defense Department’s estimate in July, according to Pentagon data obtained by Reuters.

The Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request for comment on its estimate, which has not been shared publicly.

The disclosure about the rising cost of the Iran war comes as Republicans wrestle with the political fallout of the unpopular conflict ahead of the November 3 election that will determine control of Congress for the next two years.

The war’s impact on global energy costs has weighed on support for Republican candidates and hurt President Donald Trump’s approval ratings. Trump’s Republican Party holds a narrow majority in both chambers of Congress.

The Pentagon’s latest estimate was tied to the operational costs of carrying out the war, with a projected cost of more than $29 billion to replace expended munitions used in the conflict.

More than $6 billion would be needed to replace military equipment and so-called “platform losses,” which include the loss of aircraft, including many drones lost during the war.

Trump launched the Iran war jointly with Israel in February, predicting that the conflict would last a short time.

Trump’s initial strategy in the Iran war focused on first using expensive, high-end precision missiles to bomb Iran’s defenses so it could later use less expensive munitions, including gravity bombs like the air-launched JDAMs, which are plentiful.

But an April ceasefire gave time for Iran to dig out underground storage facilities, bringing back online some Iranian defenses, as well as missiles and drones that had been inaccessible.

Trump has since imposed a naval blockade on Iran to starve it of oil export revenue and held out the possibility of restarting combat operations after the midterm elections.

US officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, say the Pentagon has been planning to restart heavy fighting if ordered to do so.

The latest Pentagon estimate compares to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s July estimate of $37.5 billion for the cost of the war.

While the figures include a host of operational costs, from flight operations to cyber support, the US military’s Iran war cost estimates did not clearly account for the massive expense expected to repair damage to US bases sustained by Iranian missile and drone attacks.

GUWAHATI: India has deployed hundreds of additional security personnel in its remote northeast, authorities said on Tuesday, after youth protesters clashed with police last week over a plan to build a mega-dam to counter a Chinese hydropower project upstream.

Protests in Arunachal Pradesh’s Siang Valley, which borders Tibet, turned violent last week, triggering clashes with police, who made at least 21 arrests.

Police fired tear gas shells, while youth protesters pelted stones and set fire to a police station and an office of the state-owned National Hydroelectric Pow­er Corporation, authorities said.

“Forces are being increased in the places where it is required. We do not want any law and order problem,” SD Singh Jamwal, police chief of Arunachal Pradesh, told Reuters.

Sporadic protests have taken place in the Siang Valley in the last two years, the location of the proposed 11,200-megawatt Siang Upper Multipurpose Project, which will be developed by state-run National Hydroelectric Power Corporation.

Villagers who oppose the project fear that the dam would submerge ancestral villages belonging to the Adi tribe.

“We will keep opposing this dam till they cancel it. If it is constructed, 27 of our ancestral villages will be completely submerged. At least 40 or 50 more will be affected,” Gegong Jijong of the Siang Indigenous Farmers’ Forum told Reuters.

The Siang river flows into Arunachal Pradesh from Tibet, where it is known as the Yarlung Zangbo. China anno­unced plans in December 2024 to build the world’s largest hydropower dam upstream, triggering fears in New Delhi that its longtime strategic rival could weaponise its control of the river.

China claims Arunachal Pradesh, which it calls Zangnan, as part of southern Tibet. India says the state is an integral and inalienable part of its territory.

Arunachal Pradesh’s BJP-aligned chief minister has called the Chinese project an existential threat.

Published in Dawn, October 28th, 2026

Israel continued to commit genocide in Gaza after last October’s US-brokered ceasefire in the enclave, a UN commission said in a report published on Monday.

The report ​by the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel, examined violations ‌against Palestinian civilians, including children, since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas on October 7, 2023, up to September this year.

It said Israeli authorities had kept committing “genocidal acts with the genocidal intent to destroy, in whole or in part, the Palestinians in Gaza”, and that the situation had also continued ​to deteriorate in the occupied West Bank.

Another report by the commission in September last year found that Israel had committed genocide ​in Gaza and that top Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, incited these acts — accusations that ⁠Israel called scandalous.

The Israeli mission in Geneva said the latest report was part of a misinformation campaign to demonise the State of ​Israel.

“The attempt to destroy the Jewish state … continues today through efforts by actors such as the UN Commission of Inquiry to undermine Israel’s ​legitimacy and deny its fundamental right to exist and defend itself,” Ambassador Daniel Meron claimed in a statement.

Heavy munitions hit populated areas, commission says

The commission found that Israeli forces continued using heavy munitions, drones, quadcopters, artillery and sniper fire in densely populated areas during the ceasefire in Gaza.

It said the “Yellow Line”, which was ​presented as a temporary ceasefire demarcation, was encroaching increasingly into Gaza, and becoming a de facto border, which the report said reflected ​Israel’s expanding territorial control of Gaza.

Palestinian authorities say more than 74,000 people have been killed in Israel’s assault on Gaza, launched after Hamas-led fighters killed ‌about 1,200 ⁠people in southern Israel on Oct 7, 2023.

In its report to the UN General Assembly, the commission said the situation in the West Bank had also deteriorated sharply, with the number of Palestinians killed in airstrikes increasing from six between 2008 and Oct 6, 2023, to 254 between Oct 7, 2023 and Sept 30, 2026.

The report said Israeli military operations, alongside sustained settler violence, formed part of a widespread ​and systematic attack against the ​civilian population in the West ⁠Bank since Oct 7, 2023.

“The Commission concludes that the Israeli authorities and forces have committed the crimes against humanity of extermination, torture, rape and other forms of sexual violence in the West Bank, as ​well as persecution based on intersecting discriminatory grounds, with nationality, race and ethnicity at its core.”

Commenting ​on the report, the ⁠Israeli mission said the international community should reject what it described as distortions, and “repudiate the Commission’s findings”.

Commission Chair Srinivasan Muralidhar said the intentional killing of Palestinian civilians and destruction of homes in the West Bank formed part of a broader strategy to exterminate and displace Palestinians.

Military operations ⁠since January ​2025 have led to the largest displacement of Palestinians in the West Bank since ​1967, with 34,176 Palestinians remaining displaced as of August 2026, the report said.

The commission also faulted the Palestinian Authority, saying it had targeted Palestinians who voice dissenting views ​and that journalists and human rights defenders had been killed and injured.

An Indian court has ordered the takedown of an online documentary posted by Hotmail co-founder Sabeer Bhatia accusing Prime ​Minister Narendra Modi and billionaire Gautam Adani of cronyism, after Adani Enterprises sued, calling it defamatory.

Adani’s flagship firm, Adani ‌Enterprises, told the high court in the eastern city of Kolkata that the documentary, which garnered millions of views on social media in recent days, was riddled with false content and had prompted inquiries from some investors in the company, whom the court order did not name.

The documentary “is not a news report or an ​account of proceedings. It is a dramatised narrative,” the court’s takedown order for YouTube, X and Meta issued late on Monday ​said.

Adani Enterprises, Modi’s office and Bhatia did not respond to requests for comment, and neither did the social ⁠media companies.

Modi’s opponents have often accused the prime minister of having close ties with Adani, saying the business tycoon has received favourable ​treatment over the years. The Indian government and the Adani group have repeatedly denied those allegations.

In its challenge, Adani Enterprises told the court ​that it does not seek to restrain constructive criticism of government policy or of business concentration, but Bhatia had suppressed material facts, according to the court order.

Bhatia, who is based in the US, wrote on his X account that the lawsuit demands 500 million rupees ($5.25 million) in damages. In one X post, he wrote: “Truth ​is on my side”.

“I believe the documentary has rattled Adani Enterprises Limited and struck a nerve at the highest levels,” he wrote.

Bhatia is ​the co-founder of the once-popular email service Hotmail, which he sold to Microsoft in 1997.

Order to take down

In an interim order in force until January 31, 2027, the ‌court ordered ⁠YouTube, X and Meta’s Instagram to remove several posts of the 36-minute film, “The Friendship Files”. It also restrained Bhatia from disseminating the video.

Hearings in the case are likely to resume in January.

Ahead of the court challenge, police in the state of Maharashtra, which is led by Modi’s ruling alliance, sent a takedown notice to Bhatia on October 19, saying the content “made serious unsubstantiated allegations”.

Modi’s political opponents have repeatedly been sharing the ​documentary, saying it reflected similar ​allegations they had made about the ⁠two men.

The film used archival footage to trace the history of the relationship between Modi and Adani, starting in the western state of Gujarat, where both men come from.

It raised questions about Adani’s winning ​bid for six airports in 2019 after a government rule change that critics say favoured his enterprise — allegations ​similar to those ⁠levelled by the opposition Congress party.

The Adani group has denied such allegations and the government says all regulations were complied with and there is no favouritism.

Earlier, regional opposition leader and Modi critic Raj Thackeray shared the documentary on his X account, where it garnered 4.8 million views, but took ⁠it down, ​saying he was doing it at the request of the Mumbai police commissioner.

Mahua Moitra, ​another political opponent of Modi and a lawmaker, posted the documentary on October 11 and said it was still online.

“I posted this on Oct 11th. It is still ​on my timeline, so do watch it,” she wrote on X on Monday night.

Americans have paid more for their gasoline and diesel at the pump on average during President Donald Trump’s second term than they did under his Democratic predecessor, Joe Biden, according to the American Automobile Association (AAA).

Surging fuel prices are a major thorn in Trump’s side as midterm elections loom and the Republican Party looks to defend narrow majorities in both legislative chambers on November 3.

The price of a gallon of regular gasoline has averaged $3.472 since Trump took office almost two years ago, edging out the $3.471-per-gallon average for Biden’s term, according to data from the AAA.

Russia’s war in Ukraine, now in its fifth year, as well as the US-Israeli war with Iran, almost in its ninth month, have both squeezed global crude and fuel supplies and forced emergency oil releases in the US and Europe.

The war in Iran has spilled out across the Middle East, with much of the conflict centered around the Strait of Hormuz, through which around a fifth of global oil and gas supplies flowed before the war broke out in February.

“Once this conflict comes to an end, gas prices will drop drastically… Thanks to the exceptional work of the US military, more oil is now flowing out of the Persian Gulf than before the Iran conflict began,” said White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers.

The seven-day moving average for Middle East oil exports, including Hormuz flows and Gulf of Oman shipments as well as Red Sea shipments, reached 24.6 million barrels per day in the week to October 18, according to Kpler, its highest level since the war broke out in late February, and surpassing pre-war levels.

Sticky inflation

Sticky inflation makes nominal price comparisons misleading, analysts said, with consumer expectations for inflation over the next year nudged up to 4.7 per cent from 4.6pc in September, a survey showed last week.

Twelve-month inflation expectations have surged from 3.4pc in February before the US-Israeli war with Iran started.

“Adjusting for inflation puts this into context as the value of the dollar continues to impact prices over the longer run. Americans are still not paying record amounts of their income on filling up their tanks,” said Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, on average fuel prices under Trump surpassing those under Biden.

Trump’s approval rating fell to a record low this month as Americans worried about high gasoline prices, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll published on October 19.

Some 31pc of Americans approve of Trump’s performance in office, down a percentage point from two weeks earlier and the lowest level in either of his presidential terms, the four-day poll showed.

Just 23pc of adults polled nationwide approve of his handling of the economy.

Prices for diesel, the fuel that powers the global economy from agriculture and heavy industry to shipping, have also surpassed Biden’s national average under Trump, at $4.343 a gallon compared with $4.078 a gallon. US diesel hit a record high on September 22 at $6.523 a gallon.

India has faced no pressure from ​the US to reduce its Russian crude ‌imports, oil minister Hardeep Singh Puri said on Tuesday at an industry event.

“I never felt anything,” Puri said when ​asked if there has been pressure to ​cut Russian oil imports.

Puri said Middle East oil ⁠supplies have been rising as the region is ​able to ship out more cargoes.

He said India ​was getting 0.2 per cent of its oil imports from Russia before the Ukraine war, while imports have surged since the war ​started due to discounts on Russian oil.

India’s imports ​of Middle Eastern crude oil surged in September, returning to pre-war ‌levels, ⁠while its refiners cut back purchases of Russian oil amid stiff competition from China, ship-tracking data showed.

The minister said that the purchase of Russian oil ​is linked ​to discounts ⁠and pricing when compared with other grades. Russian oil imports have been reduced ​as the refiners are buying more Gulf ​oil ⁠sold at a discount, he added.

“Whatever people say or do, ultimately it is anchored in their self-interest,” ⁠he ​said.

The minister also said India ​is expanding its refining capacity to help meet local demand and ​export commitments.

PORT HURON: President Donald Trump at a Sunday campaign rally ratcheted up his push to link US Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed to Muslim extremists, comparing him to the 9/11 attackers while saying Democrats would let violent anti-American terrorists into the United States.

“I’m here to keep a jihadist, Muslim Brotherhood member from becoming a United States senator,” the president told a receptive audience in Port Huron, which is in a Michigan area where 66pc of the vote went to Trump in the 2024 presidential election.

If El-Sayed wins, he would be the first Muslim elected to the US Senate. Trump has sought to paint him as an anti-American Muslim radical, and on Sunday he took the rhetoric to a new level, likening El-Sayed to the attackers who took over United Flight 93 during the Sept 11, 2001, attacks.

Michigan has one of the nation’s most competitive US Senate contests going into the Nov 3 midterm elections, with former US Representative Mike Rogers, a Republican, and El-Sayed vying for an open seat that will help to decide control of the chamber.

The president on Sunday compared voting against El-Sayed to the actions of Michigan native Todd Bea­mer and others who fought back aga­i­­nst the Flight 93 hijackers. “Twenty-five years later, Michigan needs to stand up and fight, just like Todd did, to stop a jihadist from walking into the Capitol,” said Trump.

If El-Sayed wins, “he would be the only senator that will have to go through a metal detector before he’s allowed to go in the Senate,” Trump said.

El-Sayed has dismissed the accusations against him, and at a Sunday night event, he suggested that Trump’s frequent emphasis of El-Sayed’s name contains a measure of hypocrisy. “I get that the president of the United States takes personal offence to my first name,” El-Sayed told an audience in Grand Rapids, Michigan. “He doesn’t mind as much when it’s a shared name from the Saudis who are funding his son-in-law’s private equity, doesn’t seem to mind as much when it’s the Qataris who are giving him a $400 million private jet.” Affinity Partners, Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner’s investment fund, has reportedly received billions from a Saudi Government entity. Qatar gifted Trump a Boeing 747 jet.

The mostly White crowd at Sunday’s rally cheered Trump’s comments on El-Sayed. Some attendees yelled traitor and others yelled deport, although El-Sayed was born in Michigan. Terrance Camburn, a 52-year-old disabled Army veteran from Sandusky, Michigan, said he supported Trump’s criticism because of El-Sayed’s political beliefs.

“I’ve been down to Dearborn and I’ve seen many of the things he agrees with,” Camburn said when asked about Trump’s 9/11 comments. Dearborn, Michigan, has the highest per-capita concentration of Muslims of any US city.

As he left the venue after the rally, Rogers did not respond to questions about Trump’s invocation of 9/11. But earlier on Sunday, he said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that he did not agree with the notion that El-Sayed is a violent terrorist. “I’ve never called him a terrorist,” Rogers told NBC.

Rogers has alleged without evidence that El Sayed has ties to the Muslim Broth­erhood, one of the Arab world’s oldest and most influential Islamist groups. El-Sayed has denied affiliation with the Muslim Brotherhood, saying it is “shameful” for Rogers to question his allegiance to the United States.

Rogers told “Meet the Press” that El-Sayed had not sufficiently responded to questions about the allegations. “He’s a Democrat Socialist of America-aligned candidate who has these pretty radical support groups that don’t like America,” he said.

Trump’s speech in eastern Michigan on Sunday came a day after former President Barack Obama campaigned for Democrats in the state, underscoring its importance in next week’s elections. At a Saturday rally in Detroit, Obama framed the attacks by El-Sayed’s opponents as an attempt to make him look “less American than they are.”

The former president compared them to his own experience as the target of false claims that he was born in Kenya. “This stuff didn’t work on me,” Obama said. “Not in Michigan. It’s not going to work on Abdul.” Dem­­ocrats need to gain just a handful of seats each in the US Senate and House of Repr­esentatives to overturn Repu­blicans’ narrow 53-47 and 218-214 majorities.

Published in Dawn, October 27th, 2026

Harry Kane completed his long quest for football’s highest individual honour on Monday, winning the Ballon d’Or after a record-breaking season that cemented his status as one of the game’s greatest goalscorers.

Kane is the first Englishman to win the prestigious award in 25 years, after Michael Owen won it in 2001.

“Wow, wow, wow!” Kane said after taking the stage. “I am almost speechless. Being here in London made it extra special, and a good omen for me tonight. Thank you to everyone who voted for me. I can imagine it was tough this year.

“Some world-class players in the room tonight. Congratulations to all the winners and nominees tonight, and an impressive showing of determination and hard work can really achieve.”

Spain midfielder Alexia Putellas won the Ballon d’Or Feminin for the third time.

Kane’s move to Bayern in 2023 brought the team trophies that had long eluded him. In 2025-26, he coupled that success with goalscoring numbers that made him the leading Ballon d’Or candidate.

The England captain produced the most prolific campaign of his life, scoring 61 goals in 51 games for Bayern across all competitions as the German giants completed a domestic league and cup double.

By the end of the season, Kane had established himself as Europe’s leading goalscorer, turning every competition into a showcase of his finishing ability.

His influence stretched far beyond club football. As England embarked on another attempt to end decades of hurt at the World Cup, Kane once again emerged as the team’s driving force.

He scored six goals during the tournament and led England to the semi-finals, combining his clinical finishing with the leadership and composure that have defined his international career.

In many ways, the award represents the culmination of a remarkable journey. Few players have experienced a career arc quite like Kane’s.

Once struggling to establish himself at Tottenham Hotspur as a youngster, being sent out on numerous loans, he developed into one of the most complete centre forwards of his generation, capable of scoring every type of goal while also functioning as a playmaker.

The Ballon d’Or has often rewarded players whose success was built on flair and spectacle, but Kane’s triumph is a tribute to consistency, intelligence and productivity on an exceptional scale.

Week after week, he delivered. Match after match, he decided contests. There were no prolonged slumps and few quiet nights.

His numbers were almost impossible to ignore.

Kane finished the campaign with 73 goals for club and country, a total rarely seen in the modern era.

More importantly, those goals arrived in moments of genuine significance, helping Bayern collect trophies and driving England deep into the biggest tournament in the sport.

The competition for this year’s award was fierce.

Kylian Mbappe broke World Cup scoring records. Lamine Yamal helped Spain to World Cup glory. Yet voters ultimately chose Kane, whose excellence lasted the entire season.

At 33, Kane has finally claimed the game’s highest individual honour, adding a Ballon d’Or to a legacy that already places him among football’s greatest strikers as England’s all-time leading marksman and their record World Cup scorer.

Putellas was presented with the women’s award after winning the treble with Barcelona in the 2025-26 campaign, in addition to the Spanish Super Cup. She moved to Women’s Super League side London City Lionesses in July after 14 years at Barca.

Walter Koenig, who brought humor and grit to the role of starship navigator Pavel Chekov on the classic 1960s sci-fi TV series Star Trek and seven subsequent feature films, has died at the age of 90.

“My heart is heavy. Walter Koenig, our Ensign Pavel Chekov, passed away early today,” George Takei, who ‌starred alongside Koenig in the show and was a long-time friend, wrote on Facebook on Monday.

Koenig died at his home in Los Angeles, The Associated Press reported, citing his talent agent.

Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry picked Koenig, who had played only a few prior roles on television, when he decided to add a Russian character to the crew of the fictional Starship Enterprise.

The introduction of a Russian officer who worked harmoniously with a racially ⁠and culturally diverse crew came amid the real-world Cold War tensions of the era.

“We were stating tacitly that peoples of all races and creeds, nationalities could not only co-exist but care for each other deeply, and in doing so we were heralding a future that was very optimistic,” Koenig once told a BBC interviewer.

While Koenig was the son of Russian Jewish immigrants, he used an inauthentic Russian accent that was sometimes played for laughs.

The original TV series ran for three seasons, from 1966 to 1969. Koenig appeared on 36 episodes, and then in seven movies from 1979 to 1994.

“I was informed while I was still there at my audition that I had the role,” Koenig told the Joplin Globe in 2008.

“It ‌seemed like ⁠an engagement that might work out over several episodes, but I had no idea that it would totally shape my career and my life.”

The show remained popular in syndicated reruns and inspired several later TV series and a succession of films. It attracted a devoted worldwide fan base and earned an enduring place in pop culture.

Koenig’s Star Trek fame was a blessing and a curse, as it ⁠was for cast mates such as William Shatner (Captain Kirk), Leonard Nimoy (Spock), DeForest Kelley (Dr McCoy), Nichelle Nichols (Uhura), James Doohan (Scotty) and Takei, who played Lieutenant Sulu.

They were often typecast because they were so closely associated with Star Trek.

“Most of the ‘70s, I didn’t work at all, and I blamed ⁠it on typecasting,” Koenig told the St. Petersburg Times in 1998.

He later landed a regular role on the 1990s sci-fi series Babylon 5 and was an author, script writer and occasional director.

Koenig was born on Sept 14, 1936, raised in New York ⁠City and attended the University of California, Los Angeles, before beginning his professional acting career.

He suffered a personal tragedy in 2010 when his son, actor Andrew Koenig, took his own life. Koenig married his wife Judy in 1965. They also had a daughter, actress Danielle Koenig.

Two states along India’s eastern coast were preparing to evacuate thousands of people ahead of Cyclone ​Arnab, which is expected to make landfall ‌on Wednesday, as one of them said it would close schools in some districts for two days.

Arnab, which formed over ​the Bay of Bengal before intensifying into ​a cyclonic storm, is expected to make landfall ⁠in Andhra Pradesh state by Wednesday morning, with gusts of ​as much as 140 kph (87 mph), India’s weather office ​said.

The cyclone will probably intensify further, it added.

The weather system is expected to bring heavy to extremely heavy rainfall to Andhra ​Pradesh’s northern and central coastal districts, and southern ​regions of neighbouring Odisha.

Andhra Pradesh has called for boats at ‌sea ⁠to return ashore and ordered speedy restoration of power in case of disruptions.

A senior Andhra Pradesh disaster management official told Reuters on Monday the state government had ​identified 570,000 people ​as vulnerable ⁠and evacuations would start on Monday evening.

Odisha’s government announced the closure of schools and ​colleges in five districts for Tuesday and ​Wednesday, ⁠and said it was preparing to move residents of low-lying areas to cyclone shelters.

The Bay of Bengal is one ⁠of ​the world’s major regions for ​tropical cyclones.

Billionaire American investor Bill Ackman on Sunday said that Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich should not serve in Israel’s next government, saying the two far-right politicians had caused enormous damage to the country’s reputation.

The public intervention by the prominent hedge fund manager, who is Jewish, comes just two days before Israel’s general election, in which polls show a tight race between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition and the opposition.

Ackman wrote on X that from the perspective of someone who had an understanding of how Israel was perceived in the United States, “Ben-Gvir and Smotrich have caused Israel enormous reputational damage with their statements and actions”.

The founder of Pershing Square Capital Management, who praised Netanyahu last week, said a government without the two ministers would send a message that Israel was “turning a new page”.

“This will allow Israel to rebuild lost credibility, increase the opportunity for an expansion of the Abraham Accords, and enjoy a better relationship with Democrats and Republicans and Americans at large,” he said.

The Abraham Accords are the 2020 agreement, mediated by US President Donald Trump’s first administration, that saw Israel establish relations with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain. It later re-established official ties with Morocco.

Representatives for Ben-Gvir and Smotrich did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

As ministers in Netanyahu’s religious-nationalist coalition, Ben-Gvir and Smotrich have overseen policies widely perceived as discriminatory against Israel’s minority Arab population and Palestinians living in the occupied West Bank.

Several countries, including Britain, Canada and Australia, have imposed sanctions on the two ministers over accusations that they have incited violence against Palestinians in the West Bank.

Ben-Gvir’s Jewish Power party is projected to win around 10 parliamentary seats at Tuesday’s election, up from 6, while Smotrich’s Religious Zionism is projected to win 8, up from 7.

Ackman, who was visiting Israel last week, and who along with his wife Neri Oxman owns 5 per cent of the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, supported Trump’s candidacy for president in 2024. Trump last week publicly endorsed Netanyahu for prime minister.

Nimrod Goren, the president of Israeli think tank Mitvim, said Ackman’s statement appeared to reflect a desire among Trump’s circles for Netanyahu to drop his far-right allies after the vote to form a ‘unity government’ with opposition parties.

However, Gadi Eisenkot, the leading challenger to Netanyahu, and other opposition party leaders have ruled out forming a government with Israel’s longest-serving prime minister.

Speaking at a Tel Aviv conference on Thursday, Ackman praised Netanyahu, who he said had done a good job in protecting and defending Israel since the Oct 7, 2023 Hamas attack.

Thousands of Israelis rallied in Tel Aviv on Saturday, calling for an independent inquiry into the attack that killed around 1,200 people.

Relations between United States President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky took a sharp downward turn in recent weeks, with each leader openly criticising the other.

The two have long had a testy relationship, but Trump’s frustration over Ukrainian strikes on Russian energy infrastructure triggered a crisis that Kyiv’s supporters fear could threaten vital US support going forward.

Here’s how the relationship soured:

What is the history of Trump-Zelensky tensions?

Trump has been skeptical of US involvement in Ukraine ever since his first term when, shortly after taking office in early 2017, he was asked to provide lethal aid to Ukraine and approved the sale of Javelin missiles to Kyiv.

“Everyone around him wanted him to do it, and they pushed him hard and he eventually signed off on selling them Javelins, very reluctantly,” said a former senior Trump administration official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. “He didn’t consider it a core US interest. It was a European issue.”

Trump’s first major encounter with Zelensky came in a July 2019 phone call in which the Republican president asked the Ukrainian leader to investigate his Democratic rival Joe Biden and his son Hunter, in exchange for military support Congress had authorised.

That episode led to Trump’s first impeachment. Biden beat Trump in the 2020 presidential election.

Trump also has fostered a relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin that runs against the norms of US foreign policy but echoes his warm ties with authoritarian leaders Xi Jinping of China and North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un.

“Trump has always wanted better relations with Russia,” the former official said.

What deepened the rift between the two leaders?

Trump’s current frustration centres on Kyiv’s attacks on Russian diesel infrastructure.

Diesel prices have hit record highs since the US and Israel launched a war against Iran in February, and global energy costs spiked. US lawmakers in Trump’s Republican party face voter anger over inflation ahead of the Nov 3 midterm elections.

On Sept 13, Trump began publicly calling on Ukraine to stop targeting diesel infrastructure. The following week, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Washington was also concerned that Ukraine had hit US-linked oil shipments.

Ukraine has refused to halt the strikes, saying its long-range drone campaign is its only viable response to nearly five years of Russian bombardment. Moscow was forced in July to ban diesel exports as part of a raft of measures to address domestic fuel shortages.

Angered by Zelensky’s defiance, Trump on Oct 9 announced a deal to buy diesel from Moscow, issuing a temporary general license that allows Russian diesel to reach the global market. He also waived sanctions on Russia authorised by a bill he signed into law in September.

Suriya Jayanti, a former US official who runs a power sector company in Ukraine, said Russia’s strikes on Ukraine’s power grid have increased, despite Trump unilaterally announcing an energy ceasefire on Oct 11.

“It is clear to everyone in Kyiv that the goal is not actually an energy ceasefire, but it is really just an effort to hobble Ukraine and give Russia a decisive advantage,” said Jayanti, who is also a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council think tank.

Has the US threatened to cut off support to Ukraine?

Zelensky has said Ukrainian military officials had been threatened by US counterparts, who said continuing the energy strikes would lead the US to cut off intelligence sharing. A US official familiar with the situation disputed Kyiv’s account.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, the US official said there has been no increase in pressure on Ukraine.

We don’t have to pressure Zelensky. If he wants to make a deal he’ll make a deal. I think Putin is putting a ton of pressure on him and he (Zelensky) is putting some pressure on Russia but Russia doesn’t seem to be minding it as much even though they are getting hit.”

On Thursday, Trump said he had asked SpaceX CEO Elon Musk to restore Ukraine’s access to the company’s Starlink satellite system. Starlink’s disruption temporarily hampered Kyiv’s military drone operations and spurred fears that Kyiv would be left defenceless against Russia’s attacks going into the winter.

What is the status of Moscow-Kyiv peace talks?

Peace efforts have continued but so far have not yielded tangible results.

At talks in Oslo on October 20, Ukraine presented new proposals, and Trump’s son-in-law and envoy Jared Kushner repeated Trump’s demand that Ukraine stop attacking Russian diesel refineries.

The next day, envoy Witkoff — a close friend of Trump’s — met Putin in St. Petersburg. Putin agreed to release detained American Stephen Hubbard in what the two countries called a goodwill gesture.

Zelensky said on Friday that negotiators from Ukraine, Russia and the US would meet in Abu Dhabi in the first half of November, a possible precursor to a meeting of the three countries’ leaders. The last US-mediated peace talks took place in February.