Israel's national election remains too close to call after voters turned out in record numbers to decide whether Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should stay in office or be replaced. Netanyahu is locked in a tight contest with his main rival, Gadi Eisenkot, a center-right former military chief of staff.
NPR's Daniel Estrin reported that many Israelis went to bed believing Eisenkot held the advantage, but by morning Netanyahu had pulled ahead. Election officials told NPR they expect to finish counting votes by the afternoon of Oct. 29. If neither bloc wins an outright majority, party leaders could need days or weeks to assemble a governing coalition and settle on the next prime minister.
Whoever leads will have six weeks to build a coalition, and the two sides will likely compete for defectors from each other's camps. Estrin said Eisenkot could win the backing of a majority of lawmakers in parliament thanks to a strong showing by Arab-led parties that want to see him become prime minister. But his camp is wary of a coalition with those parties, citing mistrust and the demonization of Arab political leaders after the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks. Estrin said neither candidate has a clear path to a majority coalition.
Elsewhere, the Ebola outbreak declared in May has now infected more than 10,000 people, according to the latest figures from the Democratic Republic of Congo. It has spread faster than any outbreak on record and is the largest in geographic reach, stretching from Nigeria to Kenya. With nearly 5,000 deaths, it ranks second in death toll, and around one-third of those who have died have been children.
On the economic front, the Federal Reserve is meeting on Oct. 28 as prices continue to rise faster than average wages. The Fed typically fights inflation by raising interest rates, but investors do not expect an increase at this meeting. The Labor Department's latest cost-of-living report showed consumer prices rose 3.7% in September compared with a year earlier, a bigger annual increase than the month before, NPR's Scott Horsley reported.
Fed policymakers already raised rates in September. Horsley said investors believe the central bank will keep a low profile ahead of Election Day and may raise rates again in December.
That election is the U.S. midterms, and the money behind them is breaking records. Midterm ad spending has passed $11 billion, according to Ad Impact. An NPR analysis found that candidates in four major Senate races spent more than $15 million on fundraising ads during the 2025-26 cycle. President Trump has been campaigning in tight races in states including Texas, Mississippi and Kansas.
NPR's Danielle Kurtzleben said Trump has strayed from his standard midterm pitch of promoting GOP tax cuts and attacking Democrats. His jokes, including remarks about Ohio Sen. Jon Husted's physique, entertain rally crowds but pull attention from issues the median voter cares about, such as the economy and gas prices. She noted that the Republican base still backs him, which suggests many MAGA votes are available, but that his need to rally support in very red states points to a possible problem for his party.
