Israeli voters headed to the polls Tuesday for a closely watched election that is widely regarded as a referendum on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his administration.  The election, which could endanger Netanyahu’s nearly 19 years leading the country, has seen record turnout. Voting closed at 10 p.m. local time, or 4 p.m. EDT.  Here’s…

Democratic lawmakers urged the Venezuelan government to hold elections following opposition leader María Corina Machado’s recent return to the country after nearly a year in exile. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, called Machado’s return to Venezuela “welcome news” in a statement shared to social platform X Monday.…

The leaders of Finland and Norway initiated a direct call with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday morning amid broader diplomatic efforts to wind down Russia’s yearslong war with Ukraine.  Finnish President Alexander Stubb and Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre noted in a joint press release that they did not speak on behalf of…

A localized ceasefire agreement between Ukraine and Russia took effect on Tuesday after first lady Melania Trump announced last week she secured a temporary humanitarian agreement for the border city of Oleshky.  The Russian-occupied town is located in southern Ukraine, and residents have faced shortages in food and medicine amid the ongoing war. The pause…

President Trump’s approval rating inched up by 1 point from a record low last week, according to a new poll. The Reuters/Ipsos survey, released Monday, found 32 percent of U.S. adults support the president’s job performance, while 66 percent disagreed. This is a slight uptick from the pollster’s previous findings, which showed Trump with a…

Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) is locked in a tight race against her Democratic challenger, Troy Jackson, according to a new survey. The Marist University poll, released one week before the midterms, found the incumbent trailing Jackson by 2 percentage points among likely voters in the state — a lead that falls within the survey’s margin…