The US midterms take place in just a few days' time: on 3 November the House of Representatives and a third of the Senate will be up for election. According to the polls it cannot be ruled out that the Democratic Party will win a majority in one or even both chambers of Congress, which would make governing the country considerably more difficult for US President Donald Trump. Commentators are on tenterhooks.

Sixty-eight people lost their lives on the high-speed railway line from Madrid to Andalusia on Wednesday, when one train crashed into another that was stationary on the open track. This is the second serious train accident on the route this year. The media examine the causes and consequences for the country, where a snap election is due to take place in a month's time.

Norway's Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre and Finland's President Alexander Stubb have had a phone conversation with Vladimir Putin for the first time since the war began. Their initiative has drawn sharp criticism from their Nordic partners. Who should negotiate with Moscow, and what role can Europe play? Nordic media discuss diplomatic solo efforts and how to deal with Russia.

The formation of a new government looks set to be a complicated process after the Israeli election on Tuesday. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's bloc is slightly ahead of the opposition alliance led by Gadi Eisenkot, former chief of staff of the Israel Defence Forces, but with around two-thirds of the votes counted neither camp appears to have secured the required majority of 61 seats. The provisional final result is expected on Thursday.

A ceasefire has come into force in the Russian-occupied city of Oleshky in southern Ukraine, to allow humanitarian aid to be delivered and the remaining civilian population to be evacuated. Residents of the city are starving because they have had little access to food, water or other supplies for a long time due to landmines and drone attacks. Melania Trump played a key role in securing the truce.

The president of the Hellenic Basketball Federation, Vangelis Liolios, has been arrested on suspicion of bribery and match-fixing. Arrest warrants have also been issued for several referees. Liolios has stepped down from his post but denies the allegations. Around 50 matches are under investigation, with the alleged irregularities dating back to 2016. The Greek press discusses the scandal.

The conservative Partido Popular (PP) and the far-right Vox have agreed to present joint lists of candidates in a bid to secure a right-wing majority in the upper house of the Spanish parliament, the Senate, in the run-up to the general election. Under the deal, Vox will refrain from fielding its own candidates in 14 provinces and instead place an independent candidate on each of the PP's lists. In exchange, the PP will stand aside in three constituencies.

Israelis elects a new parliament today. Following the devastating Hamas massacre on 7 October 2023 and three years of war, a deeply polarised country will decide which direction its politics take. According to polls, it looks set to be a close race between Benjamin Netanyahu's right-wing religious bloc and the more moderate opposition alliance led by Gadi Eisenkot, former chief of staff of the Israel Defence Forces.

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has narrowly won the presidential election in Brazil. His victory against Flávio Bolsonaro is making waves across the globe. How will Lula's fourth non-consecutive term impact relations with the US, Europe and China? And what does his re-election mean for global climate action? The international press sizes up Brazil's future role in global politics.

According to a report in the Wall Street Journal, the Trump administration is pushing former Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán as a candidate for the post of UN Secretary-General. There is speculation that Orbán could even be nominated as a joint candidate by the US, Russia and China. The reports have sparked a lively debate among commentators in Hungary.

Israelis elects a new parliament today. Following the devastating Hamas massacre on 7 October 2023 and three years of war, a deeply polarised country will decide the direction its politics should take. According to the polls it looks set to be a close race between Benjamin Netanyahu's right-wing religious bloc and the more moderate opposition alliance led by Gadi Eisenkot, the former chief of staff of the Israel Defence Forces.

The grassroots Student List movement, which stood for the first time for election, has won a clear victory in Serbia's snap election, securing 54 percent of the vote and thus an absolute majority in the parliament. Former President Aleksandar Vučić has conceded defeat. Europe's media assess the challenges and the foreign policy implications of the change of government in Belgrade.

The Czech Republic's governing parties passed a bill on Friday night reforming the funding of the country's public service broadcasters. Under the new legislation, radio stations and TV channels will see their funding cut by 15 percent – and the money will no longer come from licence fees but from the state budget. The opposition has described the reform as an attack on freedom of expression and protests have been held in Prague and other cities.

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has narrowly won Sunday's runoff vote for the Brazilian presidency. The left-wing incumbent president secured 51.8 percent of the valid votes while his right-wing challenger Flávio Bolsonaro received 48.2 percent. Commentators ask what direction the country will take during Lula's fourth term in office.

Israelis will elect a new parliament next Tuesday. The main issues in the campaign are foreign and security policy, mistakes regarding the 2023 Hamas attack, military service for ultra-Orthodox Haredi Jews, and high inflation. The right-wing religious bloc led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the more moderate forces led by former chief of staff of the Israel Defence Forces Gadi Eisenkot are neck-and-neck in the polls.

A serious security vulnerability in the PHP programming language has set off alarm bells worldwide. Government agencies, hospitals and universities have taken their websites offline as a precaution, while cybercriminals have made millions of attempts to exploit the vulnerabilities. Around 70 percent of the world's websites use PHP. Commentators discuss the role of AI in both detecting and exploiting such security flaws.

Following the meeting between Vladimir Putin and US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff in St Petersburg, talks between Russia, Ukraine and the US are set to resume. However, Witkoff describing Putin as a "humanitarian" during the meeting has drawn criticism even from US Republicans. The press looks at who stands to benefit from Trump's attempts at mediation.

Relations between Turkey and Azerbaijan appear to have deteriorated sharply. A speech delivered at a party conference in which President Ilham Aliyev emphasised his country's independence has been interpreted as an attack on Ankara. A ban on headscarves in Azerbaijani schools has met with sharp criticism in Turkey, and now Baku has imposed entry bans on 31 Turkish nationals.

Following the meeting between Vladimir Putin and US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff in St Petersburg, talks between Russia, Ukraine and the US are set to resume. Witkoff's description of Putin as a "humanitarian" has also drawn criticism, even among US Republicans. The press is asks who stands to benefit from Trump's attempts at mediation.

Russian President Vladimir Putin received Donald Trump's chief negotiator on Ukraine, Steve Witkoff, in Saint Petersburg on Wednesday. According to Moscow, it was agreed that trilateral talks between Russia, Ukraine and the US would resume. Witkoff had met with European representatives and Volodymyr Zelensky in Oslo before heading to Saint Petersburg. The media discuss the prospects of a peaceful resolution against the backdrop of Trump's new hard line on Ukraine.