US tells Gulf allies to prepare for post-midterm Iran strikes as talks effort continues

With about 85-90% counted, Netanyahu's bloc has 53 seats, Eisenkot's 48 and Arab-led parties 19; 61 are needed. Absentee ballots are now being counted. Likud says Arab parties 'stole' the election and has given police, the Shin Bet and election officials hundreds of pieces of evidence; Joint List's Ahmad Tibi calls it 'the rhetoric of the defeated'. President Herzog urged leaders to avoid a repeat election. Eisenkot's bloc is waiting for final results, while Netanyahu tries to block it from appointing a new Knesset speaker.

At least 68 people died when a high-speed train hit the rear of a stopped train near Toledo, Spain's second fatal rail crash this year and Europe's deadliest since 2013. Transport Minister Óscar Puente said a train was told to proceed despite a stop signal, and Spain declared three days of mourning. Overnight, far-right demonstrators clashed with police in Madrid, and riot police were deployed.

Russian strikes hit Kharkiv's Kholodnohirskyi district early on October 29, causing a fire, and a drone hit an educational institution in the Saltivskyi district. A Canadian animal-rescue volunteer, Jesse Adams, was killed by a drone in Kramatorsk. Separately, amid a US-Ukraine spat over Starshield access, the Pentagon's inspector general rejected a bipartisan request to investigate the Starlink disruption, which sources read as avoiding scrutiny of Elon Musk.

Federal judge David Carter declined to order California to segregate or stop processing ballots of up to 20,000 people the Justice Department calls non-citizens, warning it would 'wreak havoc' on the midterms. The case is expected to be appealed. Separately, the administration has issued subpoenas for voter records in several states, which legal experts say could be used to contest close results.

Major US and foreign airline groups asked the US CDC to reconsider a new rule requiring all US-bound travellers to attest they have not been in Congo in the past 21 days. Congo's outbreak has passed 10,000 confirmed cases, the largest on record, and Africa CDC's Jean Kaseya has warned it could reach the UK.

Videos show settlers, some armed, assaulting US journalist Jasper Nathaniel, activist Adele Shoko and Israeli-Russian activist Andrey X near Hebron. Andrey reportedly lost consciousness and was held at a police station without medical care. It follows Israeli raids and demolitions that resumed after the election break, with seven attacks on farmers reported in 12 hours.