Israelis head to the polls today in what many analysts are calling the country's most consequential election in years. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is seeking to extend his grip on power amid ongoing conflicts in Gaza, Lebanon and Iran, while voters weigh issues ranging from security and accountability over the October 7 attacks to the cost of living, military service and Israel's growing international isolation. To unpack what's at stake, we're joined by Dr Kingsley Makhubela, former diplomat and Director at RiskRecon.

We a also look at the following leading international news 

The United States will host G20 foreign ministers in Atlanta later this week amid renewed calls for Washington to lift South Africa's exclusion from the group's meetings. Germany and Russia have reiterated their support for Pretoria's participation. Secretary of State Marco Rubio will chair the two-day gathering from Friday, focusing on economic security and geopolitical crises disrupting the global economy. Sherwin Bryce-Pease reports.


Meanwhile President Emmanuel Macron of France, says social media and the internet- have damaged democracy. This comes after weeks of student protests descended into violence and looting. Macron says  social media was used to mobilize the worst impulses in people...
 
Also of international interest; one of the world's most famous shopping areas is going traffic free from Tuesday with the pedestrianisation of almost a kilometre of London's Oxford Street. The city's Mayor Sadiq Khan has called the move a momentous occasion for the British capital. He says he wants to move away from a decade of decline on Oxford Street...


Pope Leo's trip to Uruguay, Argentina and Peru, scheduled for November 6-17 will go ahead, indicating that Leo's recovery from lung cancer surgery was on track. The Vatican indicated that doctors said he was fit enough to make the trip.