Israel’s President Isaac Herzog is known for his unassuming and mild manner, but all eyes will soon be on him as he decides who to task with forming the next coalition government.

The decision is a weighty one given that partial results from Tuesday’s elections show neither the camp of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu nor that of his rival Gadi Eisenkot securing a majority in parliament.

After the official announcement of the results, Herzog will consult with party representatives and name a candidate who has the best chance of forming a government — not necessarily the one whose party holds the most seats.

Under the law, the president, whose position is otherwise largely ceremonial, is afforded broad discretion, with no guidelines on how to make the choice.

As votes were being tallied on Wednesday, Herzog said he would receive the official results the following week, after which consultations would begin.

“One thing must be clear, and I said this before the elections too: we must do everything we can, certainly after yesterday, to avoid another round of elections,” he said.

“So I expect everyone who comes here to come with an open mind.”

Ahead of Tuesday’s pivotal vote, Herzog acknowledged there would be tremendous pressure, but vowed not to let outside influence, notably from US President Donald Trump, sway his decision.

“I don’t think the president of the United States or anybody else can intervene in my discretion,” he told US outlet MS Now.

“It’s Israel’s democracy and Israel’s constitution, and that’s what counts for me.”

Herzog told MS Now he would do everything he could to avoid a fresh election — a possibility if neither camp can cobble together a coalition — including backing a unity government between Netanyahu and Eisenkot.

‘Worthy and wonderful man’

Modest, diplomatic and with a strong political pedigree, 66-year-old Herzog was sworn in as Israel’s president in 2021 after being elected by lawmakers in a landslide.

Yair Lapid, now a member of Eisenkot’s broad opposition bloc, praised Herzog at the time as “a worthy and wonderful man who is always focused on the good of the country and the Jewish people”.

As president, Herzog has faced pressure from Trump to grant Netanyahu a pardon in his long-running corruption trials, which could land him in prison if he loses power.

In April, Herzog invited Netanyahu’s lawyers and prosecutors to his residence for talks on the issue.

Before he served as head of state, Herzog was elected to Israel’s parliament in 2003 and held portfolios including housing, tourism and welfare.

In 2015, as leader of Israel’s centre-left Labour party, Herzog vied to oust Netanyahu as prime minister, presenting himself as a subdued, even-keeled alternative to the bombastic “Bibi”.

Netanyahu, now 77, is Israel’s longest-serving premier, having governed on-and-off for nearly two decades.

Tuesday’s election was seen as a referendum on the veteran leader’s tenure after he pushed the country sharply to the right and unleashed a wave of military campaigns in response to Hamas’s Oct 7, 2023 attack.

‘Bring a real change’

In an interview with AFP in March 2026, Herzog said the ongoing US-Israeli war with Iran marked a “historical juncture”.

“There comes a moment that after well over a generation of endless wars, bloodshed and terror, the root cause of it, which comes from Tehran, will be blocked and stopped, and the whole direction of the region will change,” he said.

“Let’s help us bring a real change so that there will be a different future in the region.”

He also stressed the importance of talks with Lebanon, with the two sides sitting down the following month for direct negotiations that are still ongoing.

Herzog’s Irish-born father, Chaim Herzog, served as head of Israel’s military intelligence, then went on to become its ambassador to the United Nations and finally its sixth president, from 1983 to 1993.

Herzog’s grandfather and namesake — Rabbi Yitzhak (Isaac) HaLevi Herzog — was the first chief rabbi for Israel’s Ashkenazis, the branch of Judaism whose roots are in eastern Europe.

At the helm of the Labour party, Herzog worked to steer its focus back to peace with the Palestinians.

He answers to the nickname “Bougie” — reportedly given to him by his Egyptian-born mother, who mixed the French word for doll “poupee” with its Hebrew equivalent “buba”.

As labourers gathered at a roadside in northern Afghanistan, Ghulam Sakhi Barat joined the search for work, with millions of new arrivals intensifying pressure for jobs and homes.

More than six million Afghans have returned from Iran and Pakistan in little over three years as the neighbouring countries have launched deportation drives after decades hosting those fleeing conflict.

With seven relatives to support in Sheberghan, the capital of Jawzjan province, Barat said “people are going hungry” as a result of the influx.

“Since the returnees arrived, there have been fewer jobs for local people,” the 83-year-old said, wearing a frayed waistcoat.

“Help is being given to the returnees, but no help is being given to the people who were already living here.”

Jawzjan may be hundreds of kilometres (miles) from the frontiers with Iran and Pakistan, but Afghans have travelled far and wide to reach areas they or their relatives fled years earlier.

Abdul Qader Hotak, 60, returned to the province after two decades in Pakistan, despite his family having no land or property in the area.

“My children used to go to school and study in Pakistan … Now, all of them collect rubbish to earn something,” he said, eight months after being deported.

In one part of the province, Aqcha, the United Nations projects the population will surge by more than 26 per cent due to the mass returns, with water becoming a “critical flashpoint” in the drought-hit district.

Faqir Mohammad Khudabakhsh, a mason who has spent two decades going back and forth to Iran, said he is now only able to get work three days a week.

“Everyone who has returned to Afghanistan needs a place to live and a job, but they have neither,” the 54-year-old said, surrounded by fellow labourers in Sheberghan.

“Instead of spending money on food and clothes, they have to spend it on rent. I’m sorry to say this, but we are suffering from malnutrition,” he added, in paint-splattered khaki trousers.

Nearly one in three Afghans — 15.9 million people — are facing food insecurity at crisis levels or worse, according to UN data.

Competition for housing is fierce, with residents who spoke to AFP reporting rent surging by as much as 150 percent in recent years.

‘God will surely provide’

At the provincial information directorate, the director said there are “no unresolved issues facing local residents or returnees”.

“We have no unemployed people in Afghanistan, unless someone is simply too fond of their own comfort and chooses not to work,” said Saifuddin Muhtasem, sitting beside a globe and a bookshelf shaped like the map of Afghanistan.

The government has established a committee operating nationwide to control rent prices and prevent hikes, he said.

But a 30-year-old civil servant told AFP he had never heard of such a committee and that his rent has doubled in 18 months.

“Economic problems have increased since the returnees arrived,” said Ahmadi, who only gave one name for security reasons.

Sustained support is vital for both the returnees and the communities hosting them, the UN warned in September.

“Competition over scarce resources risks fuelling grievances, increasing displacement and promoting instability,” said Georgette Gagnon, the deputy special representative of the UN mission in Afghanistan.

The challenges are compounded by prolonged drought in Jawzjan, where the air is imbued with dust and the landscape dotted with domed mud homes and camels grazing.

Most of the province’s water is now unfit for drinking or farming, said the information director, putting his hopes in a canal project which is expected to take another two years to complete.

“While the people of Afghanistan are not dying of hunger or thirst, they are in dire need of shelter,” said Muhtasem, who encouraged international organisations to come and build homes for returnees in the province.

“As for the rest, God will surely provide.”

President Donald Trump may be facing a political pounding at the US midterm elections next month — but in Europe expectations are low that a big Democrat win would change much.

From the battlefields of Ukraine to the boardrooms of Europe, Trump has sent multiple shockwaves across the continent since returning to power last year.

During a head-spinning 22 months, the mercurial leader has turned spectacularly on Kyiv, imposed tariffs on allies and threatened to take Greenland.

Ahead of the November 3 polls, it looks like American voters could punish Trump’s Republican party and hand control of one or both of the US House of Representatives or Senate to the Democrats.

But while the hope may be that Trump could be reined in by a hostile Congress, multiple officials at the EU and NATO told AFP they doubt a big loss would muzzle him on the international stage.

“We don’t think the unpredictability is going to change,” said one senior EU diplomat.

Publicly the European Union is keeping its cards close to its chest.

“We will not comment on any elections in the EU or abroad. Let’s wait for those and we’ll see where it goes,” said European Commission spokeswoman Paula Pinho.

Behind closed doors as well, officials say that the midterms are not featuring much in the bloc’s internal discussions.

“I suspect because a) it is difficult to really predict the result, b) one wouldn’t want to get too high hopes for change and c) not sure how much even a Democratic wave would impact foreign policy issues,” said a second senior EU diplomat.

Ukraine, tariffs

Ahead of the midterms, Trump has rattled Europe by yet again lashing out at Ukraine and cosying up to Russia as Washington has renewed its push to end the fighting.

While a Democrat win could usher in a more vocal pro-Kyiv majority in Congress, the EU is not expecting US support for Ukraine to ramp up again. Officials in Brussels say they are focused on plugging a 70-billion-euro hole in Kyiv’s finances next year.

And while they’re pushing other countries like Britain, Canada and Japan to do more, they are certainly not counting on the United States. Meanwhile, there is equally little optimism for any major reversal on the tariffs Trump has slapped on Europe.

Diplomats and officials point out that it took months to get Democrat President Joe Biden to roll back tariffs on EU steel after Trump’s first term — and even then limitations remained.

In a recent poll from the Washington-based Council on Foreign Relations, only one quarter of Americans backed removing all the tariffs on the EU.

US forces in Europe?

At NATO the story is much the same. European allies are nervously waiting for the results of a Pentagon review of US forces on the continent that looks set to be unveiled in December.

The widespread expectation is that it will see the United States scale back its deployments, although the hope is the cuts will not be too severe.

Multiple diplomats at NATO said they didn’t envision the midterms having an impact on the review.

While a changed Congress could see US lawmakers more outspoken in support of the alliance, the direction of travel is already set with Europe stepping up efforts to take more responsibility for its defence.

“Whatever the outcome, we’ll keep going,” said one European diplomat.

Trump unleashed?

There is also a nagging fear that things could get worse after the midterms. If Republicans cling on, it could embolden Trump, meanwhile, if they lose, he could seek to distract from his woes at home by stirring up things abroad,

“We have a history in America of presidents who get in trouble domestically turning more to the international stage,” said Bruce Stokes, a visiting fellow at the German Marshall Fund think tank. From an escalation in the Iran war to a more concerted push on Ukraine, there are numerous ways the White House can keep worrying Europe.

“Trump has demonstrated they can’t stand not to be the centre of attention,” said Stokes.“If that means he needs to do more on the world stage, positively or negatively, that may be what ends up happening”.

Ferocious winds and torrential rain lashed India’s southeastern coast after a cyclone made landfall on Wednesday, but there were no initial reports of deaths, a top official said.

Cyclone Arnab hit southeastern Andhra Pradesh state as a “very severe cyclonic storm”, with winds of 115-125 kilometres (71-77 miles) per hour and gusts reaching 140 kph, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said in an update at 0830 am (0300 GMT).

It warned of flash floods along the coast between Bapatla and Visakhapatnam.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu said there had been no reported deaths from the storm, congratulating government officers who had “worked tirelessly throughout the night”.

Naidu “expressed satisfaction that no loss of life occurred due to the proactive measures taken”, his office said in a statement on Wednesday morning.

Around 50,000 people were told to move to safer areas in Andhra Pradesh and another 48,000 in neighbouring Odisha state.

“Our homes get flooded, and we have to stay in the water,” said Rajeshwari, 65, who gave only one name and had been taken to a government-run shelter near Kakinada.

Overnight, gales battered trees and heavy rain lashed the port city of Kakinada, close to the heart of the storm, as powerful waves crashed ashore.

But at dawn on Wednesday, residents emerged onto flooded streets to assess what appeared to be limited damage in the city.

‘Safe indoors’

“Thank God, there was not as much damage this time,” said businessman Hussain, 43, who uses one name.“The sea is very rough, several trees have fallen, and sheds and hoardings have been damaged. The government declared a two-day holiday for schools, so people are staying safe indoors.”

Sadiq, 40, a Kakinada city resident, told AFP that the situation had become “very dangerous” on Tuesday night, but early warnings from authorities had helped people prepare.“Many people locked their houses and moved to safer places”, he said.

Cyclones, called hurricanes in the North Atlantic and typhoons in the Pacific, are a regular menace in the Bay of Bengal and northern Indian Ocean.

The storm season, however, has been turbocharged by the El Nino weather phenomenon that has contributed to unprecedented warming.

Neighbouring Sri Lanka closed schools as its Department of Meteorology warned that storms could trigger flash floods and mudslides. Nepal’s disaster authority warned that the storm would move inland towards the Himalayas, bringing heavy rainfall and “a high risk of heavy snowfall, snowstorms and avalanches”.

Nepal is still recovering from a catastrophic August 26 flood triggered by a glacial mountain collapse, which killed more than 1,400 people and left over 5,000 missing.