School in Komyshuvakha in the Zaporizhzhia region was struck on Monday

Meanwhile, the Kremlin said that ⁠it ​hopes that the ⁠results of the US ⁠midterm ​elections ‌will not impact ‌what it ‌said were president Donald Trump’s “peacemaking efforts" on Ukraine, Reuters said.

In comments ‌broadcast by Russian state ​media, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said:

“We ⁠are sincerely ​counting on [Trump] ​continuing ​his peacemaking ​efforts.“

“Governing in the United States will be almost impossible in the coming years given the level of internal division and polarisation. As a European politician I will mainly look of course to trade policies, ⁠support to Ukraine and Nato.”

Democrats flip Senate seats in Texas, Iowa, Kansas, North Carolina, South Carolina and Ohio; voters reject Trump’s agenda in ‘blue wave’

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• Full report: Democrats win control of Congress in ‘blue wave’

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As we bring you the latest from around the country, Donald Trump is certainly paying attention. From the White House, the president said that he was tuning into coverage on Fox News.

“I can’t stand Jessica Tarlov’s voice,” Trump said of the Democratic strategist and Fox News contributor in a post on Truth Social. The president called Tarlov “DUMB AS A ROCK”.

This live blog is now closed. You can follow election night live here.

• Election night – live updates

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It has just gone past 06:30 in North Carolina, Ohio and West Virginia where polls have now opened.

Here are some of the key voter issues shaping the US midterm elections:

The economy: Despite Trump’s 2024 campaign pledge to tackle affordability issues, the economy consistently ranks as voters’ top concern.

Iran: Trump’s decision to go to war with the Tehran regime has exacerbated economic worries. Iran’s retaliatory decision to close the strait of Hormuz has driven up gasoline prices for US motorists. It also represents a breach of his pledge to end the US’s supposed addiction to “forever wars”.

Immigration: Enforcement and closing the border remains a signature issue for Trump. He repeatedly boasts of the impact of his closure of the southern border as one of his biggest achievements, making comparisons with the performance of Joe Biden.

AI and datacenters: AI has emerged as a key campaign issue, with surveys showing a majority of voters holding negative views on it, even as Trump champions its development and attempts to rename it “super intelligence”.

Supermarkets across Europe have experienced temperature-control meddling

The fake nuclear threats to Ukraine came as Russia resumed its attacks on the southern city of Kherson, just hours after the end of a ceasefire during which hundreds of people were evacuated from the nearby Kremlin-controlled town of Oleshky.

Kherson’s military administration said a Russian drone hit a hospital at 7.40am. Video footage showed wrecked rooms, with windows blown out, doors broken, and debris on the street. Nobody was hurt, officials said.

At the same time, the president lobbed anti-Muslim insults at Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed, calling him a ‘jihadist’

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At the end of 2022, the four largest US cities – New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and Houston – all had Black mayors. It was a historic alignment made possible by the aftereffects of the Black Lives Matter civil rights movement and the unprecedented wave of protests following the killing of George Floyd in 2020.

Six years on, only one of those mayors remains: the embattled Karen Bass of Los Angeles, who is facing a strong challenge from a younger, even more progressive challenger. Bass’s opponent is Nithya Raman, a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, although the group is considering rescinding its endorsement over her refusal to explicitly embrace the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against Israel.

Tensions had flared after Stevens gave a precondition for her appearance: El-Sayed must denounce an ad attributing rising costs to US support of Israel

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Located further west than the Hawaiian islands, Unalaska is closer to Beijing, Tokyo and Seoul than Washington DC. Most visitors arrive on flights from Anchorage, which cost at least $1,600 round trip and are prone to cancellation, due to the region’s unpredictable storms and fog.

But Unalaska is by no means a backwater. It has been the country’s most productive seafood port by volume for more than two and a half decades, and when its crab and pollock seasons are open, thousands of deckhands and processors arrive from elsewhere to work tough but well-paying jobs on boats offshore and in seafood plants crowded in the city.

France’s interior minister, Laurent Nuñez, has warned protesters that covering their faces with Halloween costumes could result in fines

Protesters in Paris have begun marching from Porte de Bagnolet, with demonstrations also taking place in Lille and Lyon.

Crowds of people have gathered in Paris for the protests, where two French student unions have called for a blockade of schools and universities on Tuesday and Thursday.

Ryan Rickelton and Wiaan Mulder made fine centuries as South Africa fought back to set up a fascinating final day

52nd over: South Africa 151-4 (Breetzke 23, Rickelton 15) There they go! Rickelton gets a ball from Lyon that is not exactly short, but the batter gets back and leans away to make the length and the width he wants, cuts behind point for four. One good partnership and this could very much be South Africa’s day.

“Morning Geoff. Fire up the CRUCIAL FIRST SESSION machine, this really will decide the match. I’m wondering, do you think South Africa missed a trick with only one frontline spinner here? Given the turn and it only getting more exaggerated through the game, Lyon is backed up by Connolly and Renshaw? Coetzee hasn’t really fired - yet - so you wonder what Maharaj could’ve done here...”

This blog is now closed, you can read more on this story here

Peunte begins by paying tribute to all affected by the incident.

He says that “at present, evidence points to a failure within Adif’s command and control centre,” but adds that investigators are still looking “to clarify what exactly happened.” He says he still has confidence in the system.

⚽ News and previews heading into the weekend’s action
⚽ Premier League: 10 things to look out for | Mail Andy

Dejan Kulusevski returned to competitive action for Tottenham after a 17-month injury layoff to play the last few minutes in the club’s 3-1 home victory against Coventry last week and followed that up with another substitute appearance in Saturday’s win at Chelsea.

Kulusevski had multiple setbacks after knee surgery in May 2025. But a second procedure in March finally set him on the road to recovery.

Blockchain intelligence firm TRM says North Korea’s TraderTraitor hacking unit is responsible for the largest crypto theft on record

• Explainer: How big a deal is this, who did it, and are investments safe?

• Tell us: have you been affected by the Binance hack?

• Full story: North Korean group blamed for biggest ever crypto heist

Most major cryptocurrencies have fallen in value since news of the Binance theft broke, Coinmarketcap data shows.

That includes:

Bitcoin: -2.35% over the last 24 hours, to $77,940

Ethereum: -3.6%, to $2,227

BNB: -5.6%, to $706

Solana: -2.67%, to $97

Chainlink: -3.1%, to $11.02

Temporarily suspended withdrawals while we complete a security revamp of the withdrawal service and its related addresses

Revoked the affected address authorizations

Engaged law enforcement and blockchain intelligence partners to trace and recover funds

Our team hasn’t stopped. We’re working closely with law enforcement to ensure the matter is handled appropriately - and I’ll share what I can, as soon as I can.

Acclaimed British stage and screen actor also known for X-Men among many roles has died aged 86 at home on Wednesday

• Patrick Stewart, titan of stage and screen, dies aged 86

Actor Bryan Batt, who starred with Stewart in the 90s romantic comedy Jeffrey, said he was heartbroken at the news of his passing.

Batt wrote in a tribute on Instagram:

He was one of the most talented, kindest, and generous actors I’ve ever had the honor of working with. I was lucky to play his lover in the film of Paul Rudnick’s Jeffrey.

I learned it when I was 14. I memorized all the soliloquies just because I thought they were great. And they stuck, so I didn’t have to learn those bits of the play, which is a blessing, because learning lines has now become the one curse of this job.

Netanyahu’s claim of interference in election also dismissed by Israeli police and opposition parties

• Israel’s choice: Netanyahu remaining in power or a Palestinian-backed coalition

Gadi Eisenkot, leader of the Yashar party and Benjamin Netanyahu’s main rival, has warned political opponents against exploiting allegations of foreign interference in Israel’s election to delay the swearing-in of the next Knesset.

In remarks posted on X, Eisenkot said:

Israel must safeguard the integrity of the elections against any attempt at interference, spin and manipulation, and examine every complaint thoroughly. On the other hand, political actors must not be allowed to exploit the situation and affect the swearing-in date of the 26th Knesset.”

Trump and Obama campaign in key states in the final days before US midterm elections as both parties aim to control Congress

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For months, Mary Peltola’s campaign for Alaska’s Senate seat has denied any connection to a separate campaign launched by a man who, coincidentally, shares the exact same name as Peltola’s Republican opponent, Dan Sullivan.

New reporting from the New York Times undercuts that claim. The outlet reported, based on interviews, obtained text messages and legal filings, that the Peltola campaign had not only recruited Mr Sullivan (not the Republican), but had sought out a number of Dan Sullivans across the state for potential candidacy, as well as others who could peel votes away from Peltola’s main opponent.

Pedro Sánchez says the government will act with urgency to ‘clarify what has happened, why this tragedy occurred’

• Full report from Spain

At least 30 people are believed to have died after two high-speed trains collided in the province of Toledo in Spain, with concerns the death toll could be much higher.

The number of people affected is expected to rise (10:46), local authorities said, with growing concerns about a “major tragedy” (11:03).

The affected trains are understood to be Iryo 7076 with 146 passengers plus one baby on board, and AVE 2080 with 397 passengers on board, making it 544 people in total on board of both train (11:00).

The incident comes less than a year after a similar crash in Adamuz, the province of Córdoba, which killed 46 and injured 152 in January this year (11:00).

Spain’s high-speed railway network ranks as the largest in Europe and the second biggest in the world after China, carrying 25 million passengers in 2024.

Spain’s prime minister Pedro Sánchez said he was “shocked” by the accident (11:05), with transport minister Óscar Puente working at the emergency control centre to “obtain all possible information about what happened” (11:16).

Updated at 10:50am UK to reflect the new death toll

“In the [emergency] control center since 9:40 trying to obtain all possible information about what happened.”

Opposition bloc and Netanyahu’s coalition predicted to fall short of 61 seats needed to form a government, while Palestinian parties set for big gains

• Full report: Coalition talks loom in Israel

• Analysis: Rise of Palestinian parties will redraw political landscape

• Israel election: what we know so far

One apparent loser from Tuesday’s election was far-right national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who was expected to better his party’s result of six seats from the 2022 elections.

But instead there was stunned silence at the watch party for Otzma Yehudit (Jewish Power) in central Israel as results from the exit polls flashed across the screen, with most channels suggesting the party would remain on just six seats.

Jonas Gahr Støre says he and Finland’s Alexander Stubb had ‘substantive’ discussion with Russian president on behalf of their two countries only

Meanwhile, Wes Streeting, the defence secretary, has warned that Russia’s Vladimir Putin is “testing us and testing Nato’s resolve” as he condemned hybrid threats and “state-sponsored terrorism” from Russia.

Streeting repeated his recent warnings that “we have to be ready for a scenario in which the United Kingdom and the Nato alliance finds itself at war with Russia”. He went on:

Not because we want war – we have no quarrel with the Russian people, and we have no desire for war with Russia; Nato is a defensive alliance – but when Putin gives assurances that he has no intentions to provoke a war with Nato, we are reminded of what he said about Ukraine only days before the invasion.

The more ready we are to face against Russia, to defend every inch of Nato territory, the less likely we are to find ourselves in that scenario.

Poland is one of our greatest and certainly our most reliable friend in Europe, and we value and treasure this friendship very much.

Hopes raised for a reset in relations with EU and other partners following the defeat of authoritarian president

• Serbian leader ousted by student movement in seismic election

Back to Serbia, we are expecting to hear from two groups of election monitors in the coming hours: first, very shortly, from Serbia’s Center for Research, Transparency and Accountability (CRTA), and then a bit later from a group of international observers, including from the OSCE, the ODIHR, and the European parliament.

I will keep an eye on their findings and bring you the key lines.

Leftist president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva defeated the far-right senator and was elected president of Brazil for a fourth non-consecutive term

• Full report: Lula wins fourth term as Brazil’s president over Flávio Bolsonaro

• Live second round results

The local electoral court ordered the immediate restoration of 100% of the bus fleet and ordered the arrest of the municipal transport secretary, Pablo Souza, on suspicion of an electoral offence and disobeying court orders. The arrest warrant could not be carried out, however, because he is in Paris on what the city government described as an “official mission”, and is not expected to return to Brazil until Monday.

Late in the afternoon, Flávio Bolsonaro also filed requests for voting to be extended by two hours in cities in the states of São Paulo, Paraná and Santa Catarina, but because of heavy rain that he said had prevented voters from turning out.

French police have made 1,000 arrests and Italian officers have raided homes in Milan, with protests also taking place in Spain and Albania

Jesse, 40, a charity worker from the north of Paris, had turned out for the street march.

She said: “I’m so angry. I’m here to support schoolchildren’s demands for better conditions. I’m so proud of them and we have to stand together.”