Israel vote deadlock confirmed by near-complete official results
Jerusalem: Near-complete official results Friday confirmed a deadlock in Israel's general election this week, putting Benny Gantz's party as the largest but without an obvious path to form a majority coalition.
The results from Israel's election committee showed Gantz's centrist Blue and White with 33 seats out of 120 and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's right-wing Likud with 31.
Final results will be published on Wednesday, it said, and there could be changes before then. The committee said the results did not include 14 polling stations where verifications were still ongoing. Israeli media said that meant 99.8 percent of the votes had been counted. The third-largest total was the mainly Arab Joint List alliance, which won 13 seats, followed by the Jewish ultra-Orthodox party Shas with nine.
Another ultra-Orthodox party, United Torah Judaism, won eight seats, as did ex-defence minister Avigdor Lieberman's nationalist Yisrael Beitenu. The results have put Netanyahu's long tenure in office at risk.
On Thursday, he acknowledged the results did not allow him to form a right-wing coalition as he hoped and instead called on Gantz to form a unity government with him. Gantz responded by saying he would have to be prime minister in a unity government since Blue and White was the largest party.
Israeli President Reuven Rivlin plans to begin consultations with all parties voted into parliament on Sunday to decide who to choose to try to form a government.
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4 held for sexually assaulting woman, girl on moving bus after social media alert in UP's Agra
Agra (UP) (PTI): Four people were arrested, after a prompt response by police following a social media alert, for allegedly sexually assaulting a woman and a girl inside a moving bus here, officials said on Tuesday.
According to an official police statement, at 12:27 am on April 27, information was received on the social media platform X about an incident of sexual assault on a bus travelling from Kanpur to Ahmedabad, which was approaching Namner crossing in Agra.
Acting under the direction of Police Commissioner Deepak Kumar, the Agra Police social media team immediately alerted the Rakabganj police station within minutes and coordinated with the victims to confirm the incident and obtain the exact location, it stated.
Police teams launched intensive checking at Namner crossing and intercepted the bus as it reached the spot. The four accused involved in the incident were apprehended on the spot, and legal action was initiated against them, the statement said.
The police said the swift response and coordination between the social media team and field units ensured timely action, bringing relief to the victims and other passengers, who expressed gratitude towards the police, it added.
