US President Donald Trump is scrapping two of his last midterm election rallies, his Republican Party said Thursday, as the 80-year-old leader lashed out at a reporter who asked if he was “sick of travelling”.

“You’re sick to ask that question. You are sick,” Trump told the reporter after returning to Washington from a campaign trip to South Carolina.

“I feel perfect. You are disgusting. Put yourself in shape, you look like hell.”

Trump told reporters he did not “feel like I have to go to Kansas,” a Midwestern state where Senator Roger Marshall, a fellow Republican, is in an unexpectedly competitive race with Democratic challenger Adam Hamilton.

“He is doing very well,” Trump said of Marshall.

“We are going to have a strong Tuesday night.”

Later on Thursday, the Republican National Committee said in a statement that it would also cancel a planned rally in Iowa, home to several competitive congressional races.

Instead of the events in Kansas and Iowa, Trump will hold a “large number” of virtual “telerallies” in a series of states, the Republican National Committee said.

The canceled in-person rallies were set for Salina, Kansas, on Saturday, and Dubuque, Iowa, on Sunday.

Republicans are fighting to keep control of Congress in the November 3 midterms. Trump has urged the party to “pretend I’m on the ballot” to maximise turnout despite his poor approval ratings.

“With Republicans in a strong position in Kansas and Iowa, previously planned in-person rallies in those states will no longer take place as scheduled,” the RNC statement said.

The president is still expected to travel to rallies in several states before Tuesday’s election. Trump’s final election rally is now set to be in Florida on Friday.

Despite being the oldest elected president in US history, Trump has kept up a gruelling schedule of near-daily rallies throughout October to help Republicans in the midterms.

Since October 1, Trump has hosted 25 rallies in 19 states, often speaking for his party in rural areas of Republican-friendly states. Tuesday’s midterm elections will determine whether Republicans retain narrow control of the US Senate and House of Representatives.

MAGA Inc, a campaign funding group aligned with Trump, said on Thursday it would host a series of “tele-rallies” with the president in at least 19 states, including Kansas and Iowa, before Election Day.

Trump has noted that his recent series of more than hour-long campaign speeches has been challenging. Sounding hoarse in Mississippi on Monday, Trump said, “God didn’t make your vocal cords to do a rally every day.”

On Thursday, after campaigning for Senator Darline Graham in South Carolina, Trump ridiculed a Reuters reporter who asked how he felt after weeks of rallies and whether he was sick of travelling.

“You’ve been following me for two weeks,” Trump said before boarding his motorcade back to the White House.

“I feel perfect.”

Cinco grupos externos financiados en gran medida con dinero de origen opaco han inyectado más de 1.000 millones de dólares en la campaña de las elecciones de mitad de mandato de Estados Unidos. A poco más de una semana de la jornada electoral, se han batido todos los récords dentro del sistema electoral estadounidense, conocido por su elevado coste.

Un análisis de AFP de los datos federales muestra que solo cinco grupos conocidos como super PAC —comités de acción política— concentraban, a fecha del 25 de octubre, casi un tercio de todo el gasto ajeno a los partidos durante este ciclo electoral. Tres de esos cinco grupos se inclinan hacia los republicanos, y alrededor de dos tercios de los 1.000 millones de dólares gastados beneficiarán al Partido Republicano (GOP), impulsados por donantes ultrarricos próximos a los republicanos como Elon Musk, uno de los principales aliados del presidente Donald Trump.

Solo Musk ha aportado casi 450 millones de dólares a grupos republicanos, entre ellos el mayor de los super PAC, el Senate Leadership Fund. Mientras tanto, los demócratas cuentan con ventaja en la captación de fondos cuando se trata de donaciones directas a las campañas de los candidatos y a los comités nacionales del partido. Los candidatos demócratas en las contiendas competitivas por el Senado y la Cámara de Representantes han recaudado de forma constante más dinero que sus rivales republicanos.

Esto sugiere que los pequeños donantes de la base demócrata están altamente movilizados. Sin embargo, las complejas leyes electorales estadounidenses imponen límites estrictos a la cantidad que pueden donar los particulares, mientras que no existe límite —ni prácticamente control alguno— sobre cuánto pueden gastar los super PAC en favor o en contra de los candidatos.

Contribuciones ilimitadas

Los cinco grandes grupos que más gastan en este ciclo son, técnicamente, una combinación de super PAC y PAC híbridos, entidades que ni siquiera existían antes de 2010. Su auge se produjo a raíz de una sentencia del Tribunal Supremo conocida como Citizens United, que estableció que el Gobierno no puede limitar el gasto político de empresas, sindicatos y otros grupos siempre que este se realice de forma independiente de los candidatos.

Una decisión posterior de un tribunal inferior determinó además que estas organizaciones podían recaudar cantidades ilimitadas de dinero procedente de donantes. El resultado es que los grandes donantes pueden canalizar enormes sumas de dinero para tratar de influir en las elecciones y permanecer en el anonimato mediante aportaciones realizadas a través de organizaciones intermediarias.

En cambio, las contribuciones directas a la campaña oficial de un candidato están limitadas a apenas 3.500 dólares, mientras que las donaciones a los comités nacionales de los partidos tienen un tope de 44.300 dólares. El gasto de los PAC no ha dejado de crecer durante la era Trump, y las donaciones multimillonarias de Musk simbolizan la nueva realidad de una política en la que el dinero da acceso e influencia.

Pero el dinero por sí solo no basta, afirma Jen Heerwig, profesora asociada de Sociología en la Universidad SUNY-Stony Brook. «Lo que hemos visto es que, incluso en campañas en las que se gastan cientos de millones de dólares procedentes de super PAC, no tengo claro que eso vaya a comprar el resultado cuando no existe ese tipo de entusiasmo o respaldo de base hacia el candidato en esa circunscripción concreta».

Gasto dirigido

En todo el país, los super PAC han destinado mucho más dinero a las carreras por el Senado y lo han empleado principalmente en anuncios de ataque. La elección al Senado en Texas encabeza la lista en términos de gasto. El demócrata James Talarico se ha enfrentado a más de 200 millones de dólares en gasto externo en su contra mientras trata de convertirse en el primer demócrata en ganar una elección al Senado en Texas desde 1988.

En segundo lugar se encuentra la elección especial al Senado en Ohio, donde el demócrata Sherrod Brown también se ha enfrentado a una intensa campaña de gasto externo en su contra —casi 170 millones de dólares— en su intento de regresar al Senado. Este elevado volumen de anuncios de ataque es habitual, según Heerwig, ya que los super PAC tienden a producir principalmente contenido negativo y hacen el «trabajo sucio» de atacar a los rivales de los candidatos a los que apoyan.

Aunque ese gasto no garantice la victoria, la negatividad constante «es un problema porque alimenta nuestra sensación de desilusión y la escasa confianza en las instituciones que nos gobiernan», afirmó Heerwig.

© EUROPAPRESS

JAKARTA, Indonesia — Air pollution from smoke emitted by months of wildfires across Indonesia caused an estimated 3,560 deaths in the vast Southeast Asian archipelago in September alone, according to a scientific study. The same month, about 57.8 million people were inhaling unhealthy to hazardous air, said the report by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA), a Helsinki-based think tank. "Worsening air quality due to forest and land fires in Indonesia pushed the estimated death toll to 3,560 cases in September 2026, a twofold increase from the August estimate," said a CREA statement. The study estimated the number of deaths brought about by short-term exposure to PM2.5 pollution, which are deaths occurring within days of exposure. Most occurred on Indonesia's part of Borneo island as well as on Java and Sumatra islands and the country's east. The researchers also looked at non-fire pollution from urban and industrial emissions, and found it had caused a further 1,750 deaths in September for a total of 5,310 in the country of around 278 million people.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s camp finished ahead of the opposition but remained well short of a majority, final results from general election showed on Friday, setting the stage for tough coalition talks or potentially another vote.

Netanyahu’s coalition of right-wing and far-right parties won 53 of the Knesset’s 120 seats, with his Likud party remaining the largest faction with 27 seats.

The opposition bloc, led by centrist Gadi Eisenkot, secured 48 seats.

The results from the Central Elections Committee also cemented the emergence as potential kingmakers of the Arab party groupings Raam and the Joint List, with the two winning a combined 19 seats.

The fragmented outcome sets the stage for difficult negotiations to form a government that could last weeks, with no single bloc able to reach the 61-seat threshold needed and the prospect of another election remaining if talks fail.

The final tally came after Netanyahu’s camp spent Thursday amplifying unproven allegations that Arab-Israeli groups received foreign funding to influence the vote, accusations rejected by both Arab-majority lists and Qatar.

Israel’s Shin Bet domestic security service said it was investigating suspected irregularities, but stressed the probe was not intended to “cast aspersions or place blame on an entire sector that went out to vote in a democratic and lawful manner”.

The electoral commission also sought to calm tensions, with its acting director general Dean Livne saying any suggestion of widespread issues was “entirely groundless”.

Political earthquake

The controversy centred on allegations that Raam received money from Qatar, the energy-rich Gulf powerbroker that has channels to Hamas, to finance vote-buying operations.

“The Raamgate scandal is a political earthquake. Israel’s elections have been stolen!” Netanyahu’s Likud party alleged on Thursday.

Raam leader Mansour Abbas denied any wrongdoing and welcomed an investigation, while the Joint List accused Netanyahu and his allies of conducting a “campaign of incitement” out of fear of Arab voters’ growing political influence.

Government officials have so far provided no evidence to back the allegations.

Opposition figures accused Netanyahu of attempting to undermine confidence in the results after failing to secure a governing majority.

“He is trying to challenge the election results,” left-wing candidate Yair Golan said.

Eisenkot said he was briefed by the Shin Bet and the election committee, adding it was “too early to understand what happened, and whether anything happened at all”.

But he continued: “It’s already clear that Likud and Netanyahu have embarked on a coordinated, organised campaign seeking to delegitimise the results of the election.”

Netanyahu himself has long been under the cloud of allegations related to Qatar after the arrests last year of two of his aides for allegedly receiving payments from the Gulf state.

Qatar called the latest accusations “ridiculous and dangerous”.

Kingmakers under pressure

Yousef Jabareen, head of the Joint List, told AFP that he is willing to cooperate with the opposition to bring down Netanyahu but without joining it in a government.

Netanyahu had tried during the voting to raise allegations of fraud, saying that Arab parties were caught with envelopes of cash, and Likud peddled the accusations throughout Thursday.

Police said they arrested three suspects but the election commission called it an isolated local case.

Interpretou Shakespeare no teatro, passou pela televisão britânica. Mais foi com o professor Charles Xavier em “X-Men” e o capitão Jean-Luc Picard em “Star Trek” que ganhou o seu lugar entre as estrelas. O ator britânico de formação shakespeariana Patrick Stewart, que se tornou uma megaestrela de Hollywood com os papéis nas sagas “Star Trek” e “X-Men”, morreu em casa, em Los Angeles. Tinha 86 anos. A morte, na quarta-feira, surgiu após uma “breve e comovente batalha” com a doença de Alzheimer e demência com corpos de Lewy, segundo um comunicado oficial nas suas redes sociais. “A sua voz sonora

O fumo proveniente dos incêndios florestais na Indonésia deteriorou drasticamente a qualidade do ar em Singapura nas últimas semanas, atingindo os piores níveis em mais de uma década e levando ao cancelamento de atividades ao ar livre. No sábado, mais de 80 corredores transformaram as galerias do centro comercial Marina Square em pistas de corrida improvisadas, percorrendo dois pisos e dando voltas junto às montras antes da abertura das lojas ao público. As regras eram rigorosas. “É proibido correr a toda a velocidade, ultrapassar ou gritar”, avisou Eugene Beh, de 52 anos, fundador do Singapore Runners Club, perante cerca de

L'acteur britannique Patrick Stewart, devenu une star à Hollywood notamment grâce à ses rôles dans les franchises Star Trek où il incarnait le capitaine Jean-Luc Picard, et X-Men où il campait le professeur Charles Xavier, est décédé, selon un communiqué publié jeudi 29 octobre 2026. Il était âgé de 86 ans.

A atriz, recordada pelos filmes "O Prémio" e "Um Tiro no Escuro", tinha 85 anos e há muito que se retira da vida pública.

WASHINGTON — The United States posted strong economic growth in the third quarter, but the Fed's preferred inflation gauge also accelerated, the Commerce Department said on Thursday, in a mixed economic bag for U.S. President Donald Trump ahead of key midterm polls next week. Real GDP increased at an annual rate of 3.4 percent in the third quarter, the department's Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) said in a statement, beating market expectations. "The contributors to the increase in real GDP in the third quarter were increases in investment, consumer spending, and government spending that were partly offset by a decrease in exports," the BEA said in a statement. The U.S. Federal Reserve's preferred gauge for inflation — the Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) price index — rose by 3.6 percent year-on-year in September, an increase from the previous month. Trump's handling of the economy is a key issue for voters heading into midterm elections on Tuesday, where Democrats are seeking to wrest control of both houses of Congress from the president's Republican Party. The U.S.-Israe

WASHINGTON — Senior Democrats demanded Thursday that U.S. President Donald Trump preserve records of any official exchanges with artificial intelligence chatbots, raising questions about whether Elon Musk's Grok influenced sensitive military decisions. In a letter dated Wednesday and first obtained by Politico, congressmen Jamie Raskin and Robert Garcia said questions submitted by Trump and White House aides — and the chatbots' answers — constituted presidential records that must be preserved under federal law. They requested a closed-door briefing by November 11 covering the president's use of AI, security safeguards and whether outside companies could access sensitive conversations. "If the American President is relying on the policy advice of a Musk-designed, Hitler-friendly chatbot with a predilection for child pornography in order to carry out his official duties, Americans have a right to know," they wrote. The language alludes to past controversies over Grok generating antisemitic statements and sexualized images of children. The letter follows reports that Trump spent hours

A líder sindical e ícone dos direitos civis, cujo trabalho  mudou a vida dos trabalhadores migrantes, morreu, anunciou a família na quarta-feira. Tinha 96 anos. “Yes, we can? A Dolores chegou lá primeiro”, disse Obama. Morreu Dolores Huerta, pioneira do sindicalismo nos Estados Unidos, aos 96 anos Durante quase quatro décadas, Huerta foi vice-presidente da United Farm Workers, o sindicato que fundou com Cesar Chavez, organizando greves e paralisações que melhoraram as condições de trabalho dos milhões de homens e mulheres que trabalham nos campos norte-americanos. “É com profunda tristeza que anunciamos que a nossa querida mãe, Dolores Huerta, faleceu

BRUSSELS, Belgium — The European Union said Thursday it does not want any more national-level bans on social media before a pan-European law is approved, as it blocked draft rules put forward by Austria. Under EU law, member states must notify the European Commission to ensure their bills do not break the bloc's rules. Austria wanted to ban children under 14 from social media, but the EU said no. "The commission has decided to postpone for 12 months any draft national laws overlapping with the future harmonized rules," EU spokesman Thomas Regnier said. The European Commission last month proposed to ban children under 13 from social media, and permit only limited, supervised access until the age of 15. The EU believes allowing countries to move ahead with national laws would divide the bloc, creating varying age-limits among member states. Brussels also fears EU countries will not rush to pass the bloc-wide law if they have their own country-level rules in place. "We need to now focus on the negotiations of the EU Kids Act and to ensure an effective enforcement of our rules," Regnier said

The United States has fired a top military planner, US media reported, with some outlets saying the dismissal was due to the officer allegedly leaking classified information.

Army Lieutenant General Brett Sylvia was removed from his role as head of strategy, plans and policy on the Joint Staff, US media reported on Wednesday, citing unnamed sources.

CBS and Fox both reported that Sylvia’s dismissal was related to leaks, with the former citing a Pentagon official as saying the general failed three polygraphs about sharing classified information with the media.

A spokesperson for the Joint Staff, a top Pentagon body that handles planning and other issues, initially issued a statement that confirmed Sylvia’s departure and wished him well but later withdrew it, saying: “Upon further review, we determined that the statement did not appropriately reflect the full circumstances.”

Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell then said in a post on X that the Defense Department “has zero tolerance for the intentional, unauthorised disclosure of classified information” and took “necessary personnel action to protect sensitive information.”

Parnell did not identify Sylvia by name and said “no further comment will be made regarding the individual or the circumstances of this action”.

“This matter, along with others, have been referred to the Justice Department for potential further legal action,” he added.

The Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Since returning to office early last year, Trump has overseen a purge of top military personnel, including the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, general Charles “CQ” Brown, whom he fired without explanation in February 2025.

Renewed Iran strikes?

Other senior officers pushed out include the heads of the US Army, Navy and Coast Guard, the general who headed the National Security Agency, the vice chief of staff of the US Air Force, a Navy admiral assigned to Nato, and three top military lawyers.

Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth has insisted the president is simply choosing the leaders he wants, but Democratic lawmakers have raised concerns about the potential politicisation of the traditionally neutral US military.

Hegseth said last month that the US had slashed the number of its generals and admirals by 20 per cent, in a move he said was aimed at “accountability”. He suggested the cuts targeted officers who failed to get on board with his efforts to ensure the military is focused on war-fighting rather than the “woke” policies of previous administrations, describing the reductions as an “accomplishment”.

The reported sacking of Sylvia comes as Trump is believed to be weighing fresh strikes against Iran after US midterm elections next Tuesday.

“We may do another little Epic Fury,” Trump said last week, referring to US-Israeli attacks on Tehran in February that triggered the war. He did not give any indication on timing.

Neither the US nor Iran has engaged in major attacks on land-based targets since early September, settling instead into a pattern of strikes on commercial ships.

No reason was given for Sylvia’s reported departure. His previous roles included leading the 101st Airborne Division — the US army’s air assault division — and heading a unit in Iraq.

A landslide triggered by heavy rainfall caused a rock spire to collapse in Turkiye’s Unesco World Heritage-listed Cappadocia region on Thursday, bringing the death toll to three, officials said.

Turkiye’s Cappadocia region, a magnet for tourists from around the world, is home to cone-shaped rock formations known as “fairy chimneys”, created by ancient volcanic activity.

“According to initial findings, two people were killed and five others injured in the incident,” Justice Minister Akin Gurlek said on X.

Rescue teams pulled another body from the rubble, bringing the death toll to three, Nevsehir Governor Huseyin Kok said.

The nationalities of the dead were not immediately known.

“Search and rescue teams are continuing intensive, coordinated operations to locate any other victims who may be trapped under the debris,” the minister said.

Television footage showed heavy machinery digging through the rubble as rescue teams gathered at the site in an effort to recover people. Excavators and rescue workers worked into the night at the site, using powerful floodlights as the search operation continued.

The incident occurred at 3:15pm local time (5:15pm PKT) when a landslide triggered a rockfall in the town of Goreme near the open-air museum, local governor Kok said.

The area was closed to the public following the collapse, according to reports.

Eyewitnesses described hearing a loud noise as the rock spire near a car park collapsed, sending up a huge cloud of dust.

Restoration

Turkiye’s culture and tourism ministry has launched restoration work in the region to help preserve the fragile rock formations from climate-related damage, natural erosion and human activity.

In 2024, another rockfall was reported in Cappadocia, although no deaths or injuries were recorded.

A Unesco heritage site since 1985, Goreme national park and the rock sites of Cappadocia are “a landscape of harmony combining human interaction and settlement with dramatic natural landforms,” according to the UN agency.

Some of the cones and pillars have experienced earthquake damage, but this is seen as a naturally occurring phenomenon.

“Overuse by tourists and some vandalism have been reported and some incompatible structures have been introduced,” it said on its website.

The Cappadocia region is also home to rock-carved underground cities and early Christian churches.

In 2025, some 4.5 million domestic and foreign tourists visited the region, according to tourism ministry figures.

Hot-air ballooning in Cappadocia is a thriving industry that sees dozens of balloons take to the skies on clear mornings. But concerns have been raised about safety following a series of accidents.

The European Union (EU) said on Thursday it does not want any more national-level bans on social media before a pan-European law is approved, as it blocked draft rules put forward by Austria.

Under EU law, member states must notify the European Commission to ensure their bills do not break the bloc’s rules. Austria wanted to ban children under 14 from social media, but the EU said no.

“The commission has decided to postpone for 12 months any draft national laws overlapping with the future harmonised rules,” EU spokesman Thomas Regnier said.

The European Commission last month proposed to ban children under 13 from social media, and permit only limited, supervised access until the age of 15.

The EU believes allowing countries to move ahead with national laws would divide the bloc, creating varying age-limits among member states.

Brussels also fears EU countries will not rush to pass the bloc-wide law if they have their own country-level rules in place.

“We need to now focus on the negotiations of the EU Kids Act and to ensure an effective enforcement of our rules,” Regnier said. The commission hopes EU countries and the European Parliament will reach a deal on the new rules in the next few months.

There will, however, be exceptions to the EU’s decision.

Although the commission demanded France’s proposed law be reworked, it is not expected to be blocked because Paris notified Brussels of the law before bloc-wide legislation was put forward.

And Greece has been able to pass its own rules, drafted long before September. Regnier would not be drawn on whether France would be prevented from enacting its national legislation.

The EU has yet to deliver verdicts on bans by other EU states, including Italy and Slovakia.

HONG KONG — Hong Kong leader John Lee apologised on Thursday for a deadly fire that killed 168 people, and the city's housing minister resigned after a report found the government partially responsible for the disaster. The November 26 fire at Wang Fuk Court was the world's deadliest residential building blaze since 1980 and engulfed several residential tower blocks. Public pressure for government accountability has grown since then, with calls for Lee and top officials to resign. Lee and seven other top city officials bowed and apologised at a news conference on the report concluding a months-long inquiry into the fire. "I am deeply saddened. I would like to apologise to the affected residents and the general public," Lee said. The city's housing minister, Winnie Ho, who resigned from her post, should "bear political responsibility," Lee added. Four government bodies, including the fire services department, "should bear part of the responsibility for the high casualties caused by this tragic fire," the report released by authorities on Thursday said. The Housing Bureau's Independent Chec

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s bloc on Thursday piled pressure on Israeli Arab leaders over unproven accusations of foreign funding, in a push to neuter parties that could hold the key to forming a government after an inconclusive election.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog called for an investigation into allegations of fraud but cautioned against stigmatising the entire Arab Israeli community, who voted at unprecedented rates.

Israel was nearing the completion of ballot-counting from Tuesday’s election, in which neither Netanyahu nor the opposition bloc led by former military chief Gadi Eisenkot looked able to secure a majority in the parliament known as the Knesset.

The Netanyahu camp’s accusations, which a key Arab party has rejected, could bring uncertainty to the electoral process at a time when the threat of a return to war with Iran looms over the region.

Israel’s election saw soaring participation by Israeli Arabs, descendants of Palestinians who stayed after the country’s creation in 1948, as outrage boiled at calls by officials such as National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir to treat their community much as Israel has dealt with Palestinians in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.

Following Netanyahu’s accusations of impropriety, Ben Gvir went so far as to encourage Israel to “immediately” order the arrests of Arab party leaders.

Raam party leader Mansour Abbas said he welcomed an investigation into claims of wrongdoing, adding that his party had “no connection” with the accusations.

The Arab parties together have enough votes to take the opposition bloc over the finish line, but Eisenkot has baulked after relentless attacks by Netanyahu, who warned his right-wing Jewish base that voting for the opposition would put Arabs in power.

‘Political earthquake’

Supreme Court Justice Noam Sohlberg, a conservative who heads the Central Election Commission, requested an investigation by the Shin Bet security service into allegations that Raam received money from Qatar.

“The Raamgate scandal is a political earthquake. Israel’s elections have been stolen!” Netanyahu’s Likud party said.

Government officials did not offer evidence to back the allegations, and left-wing candidate Yair Golan accused Netanyahu of attempting to stir controversy after failing to get a majority.

“Now he is trying to challenge the election results through an ugly delegitimisation campaign against the will of the people, and against the Arab public in particular.”

Netanyahu himself has long been under the cloud of allegations related to Qatar after the arrests last year of two of his aides for allegedly receiving payments from the Gulf state.

Meanwhile, Qatar’s foreign ministry spokesman on Thursday rejected accusations “made by certain Israeli politicians and their contacts in the media” that his country had interfered in the Israeli elections.

“We categorically deny allegations that Qatar has interfered in Israeli elections or funded any activities intended to influence their outcome,” said Majed Al Ansari.

“They accuse Qatar of buying off Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli political left and now, in this latest campaign, the Arab vote […] These accusations are ridiculous and dangerous in equal measure.”

Kingmakers under pressure

With nearly 93 per cent of the vote counted, Netanyahu’s bloc was at 53 seats and the opposition forces led by Eisenkot on 48 — both well under the 61 needed to form a government.

The two main Arab formations were on track for an unprecedented 19 seats between them.

Some observers quickly said that the allegations would help Netanyahu by making the Arab lawmakers even more toxic to Eisenkot.

Yousef Jabareen, the head of the leftist Arab-majority Joint List, told AFP on Wednesday that he was willing to cooperate with the opposition to bring down Netanyahu but without joining it in a government.

In response to the new allegations, Eisenkot said he was receiving updates and promised “utmost vigilance” against election interference.

“On the other hand, we cannot allow political actors to exploit the situation and influence the timing of the inauguration of the 26th Knesset,” he said.

One of Eisenkot’s right-leaning allies, Avigdor Lieberman, called the allegations “dramatic and unprecedented” and urged a swift investigation.

An Israeli police statement said that they would investigate every complaint about election integrity.

The great survivor

Netanyahu, who has led Israel on and off for more than 19 years, is known as a wily political operator.

He tried on Tuesday to raise allegations of fraud, saying that Arab parties were caught with envelopes of cash, and his Likud party peddled the accusations throughout Thursday.

Police said they arrested three suspects but the election commission called it an isolated local case.

Another factor that could play into the formation of a government is an attack on Iran.

Netanyahu has repeatedly threatened to strike Iran, with his ally US President Donald Trump signalling he was ready to attack after next Tuesday’s US midterm elections, in which his Republican Party is forecast to lose ground.

Eisenkot has warned the military that Netanyahu has no mandate and that officers must put Israel’s security over the premier’s “political needs”.

An attack could raise pressure on Eisenkot to join an emergency unity government, an option he has publicly ruled out, or keep the clock running until Israel can call new elections.

President Herzog will decide after the publication of the official results which person to task with a first chance of forming a government.

Palestinian president says hopes for peace talks with new govt

Meanwhile, Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas said on Thursday that he hoped the election of a new Israeli government would allow for the resumption of peace talks.

“For many years now, we have been extending a hand to the Israeli side in order to achieve peace with them, so that Israel and Palestine may live in security, stability and peace,” Abbas said during a meeting with Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides in Nicosia.

“We hope that, immediately after a new Israeli government is formed, we will be able to engage in dialogue together,” he added.

The Israeli-Palestinian peace process has been stalled for years, despite the recognition of the State of Palestine by a growing number of countries.

Under Netanyahu’s watch, settlement construction and violence against Palestinians has soared in the occupied West Bank, where Abbas’ Palestinian Authority exercises limited self-rule.

Au moins 14 personnes ont été tuées et 14 autres blessées ce jeudi 29 octobre lors d'une frappe de drone russe près d'un train à l'arrêt sur un quai de la gare de Dnipro, grande ville du centre-est de l'Ukraine, ont indiqué les autorités. Une nouvelle attaque russe dénoncée par le président ukrainien. Volodymyr Zelensky a ainsi appelé les Occidentaux à l'action.

Le suspect de l'attaque à Trappes, en région parisienne, a admis avoir « spécifiquement ciblé des personnes de type musulman, africain ou nord-africain », a indiqué jeudi 29 octobre le procureur national antiterroriste (Pnat), Olivier Christen. L'assaillant présumé, Kévin T., a été présenté à un juge dans la journée. Il a été mis en examen à Paris et écroué.

Le vice-président américain J.D. Vance a adressé une lettre au secrétaire du Conseil suprême de sécurité nationale iranien Mohsen Rezaï afin de tenter de relancer les négociations avec Téhéran et d'écarter la perspective de nouvelles frappes américaines, rapportait ce 28 octobre le Wall Street Journal. Mais à l'annonce par la presse du limogeage d'un nouveau général de l'armée américaine, Donald Trump semble ne pas y avoir totalement renoncé.