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.