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World
Israel's president has asked ex-army chief Gadi Eisenkot to try to build the next government after an October vote left Netanyahu and Eisenkot both short of a majority.
Isaac Herzog gave Eisenkot the first attempt, with 28 days and a possible 14-day extension. Netanyahu's camp holds 53 seats and Eisenkot's bloc 48, so Arab parties with 19 seats could decide the outcome. If every attempt fails, new elections are likely.
Republicans are debating their future after heavy midterm losses, with divisions over whether to keep Trump's course or move in a new direction.
The party lost the House, the Senate and several state governments. Vance blamed the Iran war and other issues, while Trump named Stephen Miller as chief of staff. The result has opened up the 2028 nomination race.
Police in New York have arrested a 27-year-old former officer and school aide on a murder charge over the fatal stabbing of a woman running in Brooklyn on October 30.
Sayed Mohassib is accused of killing Katie Suarez, 28, beside the Shore Parkway path. He also faces evidence tampering and weapon charges. Officials have questioned how he came to work in a school, and police believe the attack was random.
A run of cyber-attacks, including one that overheated shop fridges across Europe, has led UK officials to warn of many more incidents as AI exposes weaknesses.
Attacks also included a $6.3bn theft from Binance and a fake nuclear alert in Kyiv. Experts disagree on whether this is a new era or a periodic wave. Many of the fridge systems were old and no longer updated.
As Emmanuel Macron's time in office nears its end, many allies, from lawmakers to ministers and advisers, are looking for new jobs before the 2027 election.
Two recent departures illustrate the mood: a lawmaker left parliament for the Conseil d'État, and a rural affairs minister quit to lead a mayors' association. Uncertainty about the presidential vote is driving the moves.
Germans are arguing over whether to rebuild, partly restore or clear away Hitler's Eagle's Nest retreat after a suspected arson attack last month.
Bavarian ministers favour rebuilding, while some historians prefer clearing the ruins or a modern partial reconstruction. A man with a history of mental illness is held on suspicion of arson. The debate comes amid a far-right revival.
Saudi airstrikes on homes in a town near Sanaa killed at least 33 people and wounded 39, according to Houthi-run media.
Saudi Arabia said it was investigating the report. The fighting resumed in July and broke a 2022 UN-brokered truce. Houthi forces have hit Saudi sites and are fighting for the city of Taiz.
Police searched the flat of a 24-year-old suspect in Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski after a deadly shooting in Kraków, using a drone, and found three bodies there.
The gunman fired from a car on Kraków's main square, killing six people and wounding at least 16. Prime Minister Tusk said the bodies in the flat appear to be close family. The suspect was shot and is in hospital.
Also: A run of major cyber-attacks and AI-found flaws; Macron allies seeking new posts before 2027; debate over Hitler's burned Eagle's Nest retreat; deadly Saudi airstrikes near Sanaa in Yemen; police search of a Kraków shooter's flat.
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Economy
A commentary says the planned Berlin documentation centre on German occupation in Europe has been left stalled by the government, despite repeated parliamentary decisions.
The author argues that Germans know little about daily life under occupation and that the centre would fill a gap in remembrance. A small team has worked year to year, and a temporary exhibition showed the project's potential but cannot replace the centre.
A commentary says the Czech central bank's independence protects the koruna, after the prime minister attacked its latest interest rate increase.
Babiš called Thursday's rate rise scandalous and said it helps only banks. The author sees paradoxes in his stance, noting that higher rates support the koruna and his own voters, and that governor Aleš Michl once advised him.
Some Polish exchange shops sell Norwegian kroner far below the market rate, but the deal works mainly for cash spent in Norway.
A reporter received about 20 percent more kroner than expected. Shop staff said Scandinavian cash is hard to pass to banks, so they buy it cheaply too. Online and bank rates stay higher, and Norwegians rarely use cash.
After Democrats won both chambers of Congress, Trump ordered a Justice Department probe of them and reshuffled his team, including the departure of his chief of staff.
A live report covers the fallout from the midterms. Trump said Democrats threaten and blackmail officials, chief of staff Susie Wiles is moving to a political role, and Democrats now complicate his last two years in office.
Polish owners must hand over an energy performance certificate when selling or renting a home, and missing it can bring a fine.
The certificate lasts ten years and must be made by a registered expert. Owners living in their own flat need none. Experts warn against online certificates made without checking the property.
Official data show the highest average pay in Poland is in towns around Warsaw, led by Podkowa Leśna at about 15,500 zloty gross.
Five places exceed 14,000 zloty gross in May. Medians are much lower, which points to many managers and business owners. Other pay clusters appear near Wrocław, Kraków, Poznań and the KGHM area.
Cathie Wood says market worry after a sharp tech sell-off supports her view that the bull market is intact.
US stocks fell on Thursday, with AI shares leading and the Nasdaq entering correction. Wood links part of the drop to rising bond yields and advises investors to concentrate on their strongest positions.
Demand for Labubu collectable dolls is cooling, and Pop Mart reported sharply lower sales in the three months to September.
Sales fell by as much as 50 percent, with US revenue down at least 70 percent. Analysts say exclusivity faded as production rose, and rivals are gaining popularity.
Also: US politics after the midterm elections; Official data show the highest average pay in Poland is in towns around Warsaw; falling sales of Labubu toys.
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Politics
A review of a book by YouTuber Wolfgang Holzhauser, who uses humour and analysis to counter far-right content and disinformation online.
Holzhauser runs the channel Hey Wolfi and has put his videos' ideas into a book. The reviewer finds it loosely structured but clear on social media and extremism. His main advice is to laugh at attacks, as this creates distance from hatred.
President Isaac Herzog has asked opposition figure Gadi Eisenkot to try to put together Israel's next government after an inconclusive election.
The 27 October vote left no party with a clear majority in the Knesset, and the governing bloc around Benjamin Netanyahu lost its majority. Eisenkot now gets the first chance to build a coalition, which could end Netanyahu's long period in office.
A 24-year-old gunman killed six people in Krakow's main square, and prosecutors are treating the attack as terrorism.
Sixteen others were wounded, including two police officers who stopped the attacker. Three relatives were found dead at his home. Krakow and Poland declared mourning, and the government promised a full investigation.
Jannik Sinner says he is accepting a long break from tennis because of a knee problem and plans to return in 2027.
In an interview he says he stayed busy away from the court and stresses patience. He also discusses young athletes, his rivalry with Carlos Alcaraz and his family.
Andy Burnham's preference for social media and podcasts over traditional press access has prompted questions about scrutiny.
At a Commonwealth summit he took few reporters and faced about seven and a half minutes of questions. Downing Street says he does not avoid scrutiny, but critics warn the press could react harshly if things go badly.
After the Krakow attack, political figures and commentators on both sides traded blame online while the leaders urged restraint.
The commentary says leaders, including Tusk, Nawrocki and Kaczyński, responded with restraint. Many media figures and politicians instead blamed the government or called for new policies while the injured officers were still in surgery.
Architect Massimiliano Fuksas says good architecture should serve everyone and calls for flexible, low-cost housing.
In an interview he discusses a documentary about him by his daughter Elisa, the housing crisis and his work in Bilbao. He says Italian authorities have not responded to his housing proposals.
A magnitude 5.7 earthquake struck central Japan on Sunday, injuring at least 20 people and disrupting some train services.
The quake was centred in Shizuoka prefecture at 40 kilometres depth, with no tsunami alert. None of the injuries were serious, and the operator reported no problems at the nearby Hamaoka nuclear plant.
Also: Jannik Sinner on his injury break from tennis; an architect on affordable housing and a new film; an earthquake in central Japan.
Curious for more? ↓That was your list for this morning.
Sport
Nottingham Forest beat Manchester City 3-1 at home, with Liam Delap scoring twice, giving City a third straight league defeat.
Forest ended a long home scoring drought and moved out of the relegation zone. City, who won their first seven games, are now six points behind Arsenal, and their manager said his side lacked intensity.
Cheavon Clarke stopped former world champion Chris Billam-Smith in round seven in London, knocking him down twice.
It was the first time Billam-Smith had been floored or stopped in his career. He protested the referee's decision, and promoter Dana White felt it came a little early. Clarke had also beaten him as an amateur.
Retired batter Usman Khawaja defended his claims that the whole Australian team knew about the 2018 ball-tampering plan, saying he blamed nobody.
Khawaja said he promised friend David Warner he would tell the story after retiring, and that Steve Smith once persuaded him to stay quiet. Cricket Australia still says only three players knew, and several bowlers deny any knowledge.
World number one Elena Rybakina pulled out of the WTA Finals the day before it began, because she was not fit enough to play.
The defending champion had a very successful year, winning two Grand Slam titles. Marta Kostyuk takes her place in the draw at Indian Wells. Rybakina plans to rest and prepare for 2027.
An analysis explains how Brighton's mix of man-to-man marking and an extra defender has made them hard to beat this season.
Brighton have conceded only seven league goals and beaten both Arsenal and Manchester City. The piece describes their high press and the way they keep an extra player at the back.
London club Cray Wanderers reached the FA Cup first round for the first time and now host Stockport County.
The club, founded in 1860, won a penalty shootout after a replay to get through. They play from the seventh tier, and their tie with Stockport sold out in minutes.
A sports page offers daily quizzes, including a game where readers guess a footballer from clues.
Readers earn more points for guessing with fewer clues. Two other quizzes are listed alongside it.
Tennessee hosted Kentucky in an SEC college football game, with playoff hopes on the line for both teams.
Kentucky came in ranked sixth at 7-1, while Tennessee was 13th at 6-2. Tennessee were favoured at home, and one preview picked a low-scoring game.
Also: The top seed leaving the WTA Finals; how Brighton's man-to-man defence works; a daily sports quiz page; a college football rivalry preview.
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Tech
After the US midterms, voters rejected data centers in many local votes, and tech commentators say this could bring tougher conditions for AI builders and Elon Musk's companies.
Local ballot measures and new officials such as Texas governor-elect Gina Hinojosa point to more limits on data centers. OpenAI has published a policy blueprint that drops NDAs for its projects. Hosts also saw investor doubts about heavy spending on compute.
A guide explains Kirlian photography, its history and how to build a simple battery-powered device for high-voltage contact prints.
The author says the glowing effects can be explained by physics such as skin resistance, not paranormal forces. The guide warns that the device can give a nasty shock.
A Datasette change stops it sending link rel=next headers to Firefox, which was prefetching the next page of table rows unnecessarily.
The prefetch wasted browser and server effort for the few visitors who click next. Firefox has had an open issue about this for 24 years.
A US intelligence memo reportedly claims an executive at Singapore firm Megaspeed was recruited by Chinese intelligence to spy on Nvidia chief Jensen Huang.
Media reports say the memo also alleged a romantic relationship, while Nvidia calls the contacts not unusual and says it shares no classified information with customers. A separate report questioned New Matrix, a Chinese buyer of advanced Nvidia chips, whose listed address held only an empty shell.
A developer explains why they are moving from Claude Code to the open-source coding tool Pi.
Complaints include IDE connection limits, a buggy extension and frequent changes to system prompts. The author prefers Pi for its stability, minimal design and customisability.
A history page describes the Commodore PET, shown in 1977, as the first personal computer and traces its development and sales.
It covers engineer Chuck Peddle's rushed prototype, Commodore's purchase of MOS Technologies and early pricing. It also notes the BASIC system from Microsoft and later keyboard and case changes.
GitHub has launched an opt-in public preview of a new pull request overview page that shows merge status and next actions at the top.
The redesigned merge box takes less than half the space and adds comment filters and newest-first sorting. GitHub is asking users for feedback.
An article explores the puzzle of making any whole number from four 2s and describes a general solution credited to Paul Dirac.
The method uses nested square roots and base-2 logarithms, with a small trick to reach exactly four 2s.
Also: A memo alleging Chinese spying on Nvidia's chief; a developer switching from Claude Code to Pi; the history of the Commodore PET computer; GitHub's redesigned pull request overview page; a maths puzzle about making numbers from four 2s.
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Science
Space has become a growing part of the war in Ukraine, with strikes on Russian space sites, satellite harassment and efforts to build independent satellite networks.
Ukraine hit a Russian rocket maker in Samara and launched a test satellite with GomSpace for its own network. Experts say Russia's satellite manoeuvres, the Starlink cuts and weapons in orbit show rapid militarisation of space, with weak treaties.
A review of 57 brain imaging studies links sleep disorders to structural changes in brain regions involved in attention, decision-making and emotion.
Researchers at Florida International University found reduced thalamus size across sleep disorders, and extra changes in a region tied to emotion in parasomnias. The work shows an association only and cannot say whether poor sleep or brain differences come first.
The daily astronomy picture shows a bright fireball meteor over the Dolomites in Italy, photographed in November 2017.
The meteor was widely reported in European skies, and its track over Germany fits the Northern Taurid shower linked to dust from Encke's comet.
Scientists produced X-ray flashes lasting about 300 attoseconds and focused them into a spot a few hundred nanometres wide, setting an intensity record.
The experiment at European XFEL used a two-mirror focusing system and tested the beam on copper. The result could help researchers study and perhaps one day control electron motion in chemical reactions.
A study of nearly 200,000 older adults found that a high-dose flu vaccine was linked to a nearly 55% lower Alzheimer's risk.
Researchers at UTHealth Houston compared people aged 65 and over who had high-dose or standard flu shots. Standard doses were tied to a 40% lower risk. The finding is an association, and more research is needed to show cause.
Hydrogen chloride gas seen above fresh cracks near Alba Mons suggests Mars may still have hot magma underground.
The ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter found the gas in early summer, when it should be scarce, above fractures that look recent. The team proposes a dormant magma chamber, which could also feed warm underground environments. Active eruptions have not been confirmed.
A US survey analysis found that adults who use many forms of cannabis report daily use and addiction symptoms far more often than people who stick to one method.
Researchers at NYU Langone grouped about 17,700 adult cannabis users by how they consume it. About two thirds of those using nearly every form met criteria for a use disorder, against 15% of mainly edible users. The study is observational, so it shows an association, not a cause.
A global study of over 10,000 bird species found that cities remove far more bird diversity in the tropics than at high latitudes.
Tropical cities lost about three times more diversity, partly because tropical birds include more habitat specialists. Cities with more green space kept more birds, suggesting greener planning can help.
Also: Record-intensity attosecond X-ray pulses; high-dose flu shots and Alzheimer's risk; gas leaks hinting at volcanic activity on Mars; a US study linking cannabis use methods to addiction; bird diversity loss in tropical cities.
Curious for more? ↓That was your list for this morning.