World
Exit polls from Israel's main television stations showed neither Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's bloc nor the alliance led by former military chief Gadi Eisenkot reaching the 61 seats needed for a Knesset majority. Turnout passed 74% by 8 p.m., eight points above the 2022 race and the highest at that hour in decades. Official results are due by November 4, after which President Isaac Herzog has a week to consult party leaders and pick a candidate to form a government. Arab-led parties could decide who governs. The vote was the first national election since the Hamas attack of October 7, 2023, and worked as a verdict on Netanyahu's wartime record and his corruption trial.
AP / Politico
Politics
The Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to restore an immigration rule that allowed judges to suspend some deportation cases. In an unsigned order with no noted dissents, the justices refused a request from Baltimore, New Haven, Columbus and a legal services group to pause an agreement between Texas and the Justice Department. The rule, adopted in 2024, permitted administrative closure so crime victims or witnesses could pursue relief. Texas sued in June, the Justice Department joined, and a single-judge courthouse in Wichita Falls granted a final judgment the same day. The court acted four days after briefing closed, and judges are now expected to decide cases rather than shelve them.
SCOTUSblog / Reuters
Business
Consumer goods companies told investors this week that commodity and fuel costs linked to the war with Iran will keep pushing prices up into next year. Procter & Gamble put the hit at about $1 billion and guided to flat-to-3% adjusted earnings growth, after reporting quarterly core earnings of $2 a share against estimates of $1.88 and net profit of $3.04 billion. Unilever said it will raise prices again, and Nestle has issued similar warnings. US consumer prices show the pattern: energy costs are up 20.4% over twelve months and gasoline 34.2%, with freight, packaging and fertiliser adding to the bill for food and household goods.
Reuters
Technology
The United States and China are building rival technology clubs, and middle powers are discovering that membership may soon be exclusive. Washington has told partners they cannot sit inside both the US-led Pax Silica grouping and China's World AI Cooperation Organization. Kazakhstan tried: its AI minister joined US supply chain talks in Washington in June, then signed in Shanghai three weeks later as a founding member of the Chinese initiative. China has funded AI projects in at least 77 low- and middle-income countries, according to AidData, while US export controls keep the most advanced chips on one side of the line.
AP
Science
Astronomers using the James Webb Space Telescope found that water ice in the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS is bound up with dark rocky material in grains smaller than a few micrometres. The spectrum lacks the weaker ice features usually seen in comets born around the Sun, and instead resembles icy worlds beyond Neptune. The team observed the comet three times with the NIRSpec instrument between August 2025 and April 2026, spanning its closest approach to the Sun. They suggest the building blocks of planets around different stars may share a range of ice grain properties, with 3I/ATLAS sitting at the dust-rich end of that range.
Sci.News / Astrophysical Journal Letters
Sports
The Golden State Valkyries beat the Atlanta Dream 64-55 at Chase Center on Monday to take a 3-2 lead in the WNBA Finals, putting the second-year franchise one win from a championship. Atlanta shot 29% from the field and 23% from three and turned the ball over 15 times. Golden State shot 39% and gave it away seven times. Kiah Stokes hit two three-pointers and blocked two shots in the third quarter, and the crowd chanted MVP. Rhyne Howard scored 20 for Atlanta. Game 6 is Thursday in Atlanta, with tip-off moved to 9:30 a.m. Pacific time. Golden State has led the series twice and lost the lead once.
WNBA / Bleacher Report
Health
A twenty-year study of 28,512 US adults found that repeated exposure to outdoor heat-index conditions of 103F or higher was linked to higher dementia risk, while milder heat days were not. People with more than seven such days a year had a 23% higher hazard than those with almost none, and those with 0.4 to 1.8 days a year had a 14% higher hazard. The link was strongest in socially vulnerable neighbourhoods, at 40% against 11%, and in areas with less central air conditioning, at 36% against 13%. Heat exposure was counted over five-year windows as participants aged. The findings appear in the journal Alzheimer's & Dementia.
News-Medical / Alzheimer's & Dementia
Environment
An oil spill from a tanker damaged near the Strait of Hormuz is spreading along the northern coast of the United Arab Emirates, forcing beach closures in Umm Al Quwain and Sharjah. Satellite images from the EU's Copernicus network dated October 24 show the slick widening toward shore. The ship matches the location and size of Gem No.2, which was hit between October 9 and 10 during a surge of vessel strikes. The Ministry of Climate Change and Environment says containment work is under way. Researchers at Sharjah Marine Science Research Centre say an impact on marine life is inevitable but too early to measure.
Reuters / BBC