The US will elect a new House of Representatives and a third of the members of the Senate in its midterm elections on 3 November. For President Donald Trump a lot is at stake: if the Republicans lose their majority in Congress it will be far more difficult for him to pursue his policies. Europe's press discusses the ramifications of the midterms for the US, Ukraine and Europe.

The Vatican has announced that Pope Leo XIV underwent surgery on Tuesday to remove the lower lobe of his right lung after an adenocarcinoma was discovered during a routine check-up. The operation is reported to have been successful and without complications. The media look at what the 71-year-old pope's illness could mean for the Catholic Church.

The trial over the attack on the Nord Stream gas pipelines in September 2022 has begun in Hamburg. Ukrainian ex-officer Serhii K. has been charged with leading a group of divers who blew up three of the four gas pipelines that run between Russia and Germany. The public prosecutor's office classifies such acts as a war crime against civilian infrastructure.

Parts of the Czech government want to scale back the inclusion of children with disabilities in the country's mainstream schools. Headteachers are to have the right to refuse pupils with health impairments. Commentators in the national press view this is the wrong approach.

Google plans to build several data centres in Finland and invest around 13 billion euros in digital infrastructure. At one location, 300 hectares of woodlands were cleared before the environmental impact assessment had been completed. The Finnish supervisory authority ordered all environmentally detrimental construction work to be suspended. After a long silence, Google has apologised and work on the sites has been suspended.

The negotiations on the EU budget for the years 2028 to 2034 are entering a critical phase. The Commission had presented a draft budget of about two trillion euros which has immediately come under fire from the net contributors – Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden and Austria. The Irish EU presidency has now proposed a new budget for around 160 billion euros less as a compromise.

US President Donald Trump has struck a diesel deal with Russian leader Vladimir Putin while the EU is struggling to reach a consensus on the next package of sanctions against Moscow. At the same time, voices within the EU are increasingly calling into question aid for Ukraine. Commentators ask how Europe should position itself to find an appropriate response.

The scandal-hit US Ambassador to Greece, Kimberly Guilfoyle, has resigned at Donald Trump's request amid allegations that she suggested in Athens that Washington could topple governments in the region if they refused to buy expensive US liquefied natural gas. Shortly afterwards, Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan's government in Romania collapsed.

After a week of attacks on airports and industrial facilities in Saudi Arabia, the Iran-backed Houthi militia is threatening further escalation. Saudi Arabia supports the internationally recognised government in Yemen, which is fighting the Houthi. The US and the Mecca Alliance have so far been cautious in showing support for Riyadh.

British Prime Minister Andy Burnham has said in an interview that it is "clear" that Russia interfered in the 2016 Brexit referendum, but did not provide further details about the nature or impact of the interference. He warned, however, that voters in Germany and France should "understand that some of this politics is instigated via our enemies, namely Russia."

US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth has announced plans for the country's first military execution in more than 60 years. The execution by firing squad of Nidal Hasan, who killed 13 people in an attack on the Fort Hood military base in 2009, is to be livestreamed. Human rights activists, as well as Democratic and Republican politicians, have sharply criticised the plan. Commentators are also appalled.

US President Donald Trump announced on Friday that he had reached a deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin on diesel shipments and a temporary easing of US sanctions against Russia. The deal, which is aimed at bringing down domestic fuel prices, foresees an initial shipment of 300,000 tonnes of Russian diesel in October, with further deliveries to follow. Europe's media discuss wider implications and the impact on the US's credibility as an ally.

US President Donald Trump on Friday announced he had reached a deal on diesel deliveries with Vladimir Putin and a temporary easing of US sanctions against Russia. The US is to receive an initial shipment of 300,000 tonnes of Russian diesel, with further deliveries of millions of tonnes planned. The deal is a bid to bring down high fuel prices in the US. Europe's media discuss the ramifications for Ukraine and the credibility of the US as an ally.

South African lawyer and human rights activist Navanethem "Navi" Pillay has been announced as the winner of this year's Nobel Peace Prize. Pillay served as a judge at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague from 2003 to 2008 and then as UN High Commissioner for Human Rights until 2014. Just a few hours after the Nobel Prize Committee in Oslo announced its decision on Friday, the US tightened its sanctions against the ICC.

In France, MEP Raphaël Glucksmann has won the social democrats' primary to become the centre-left's presidential candidate. In a joint primary organised by his party, Place Publique, and the Socialist Party (PS), he secured around 66 percent of the vote, finishing well ahead of PS leader Olivier Faure and former minister Ségolène Royal. What does his victory mean for the left?

Ten years after its sudden closure, the Hungarian daily Népszabadság has been relaunched and will now be published as a weekly paper and news website. In 2016 the owner at the time, Austrian investor Heinrich Pecina, closed down what was Hungary's highest-circulation newspaper without warning and sold the publishing house to a businessman with close ties to Viktor Orbán. Four Hungarian private investors are behind the relaunch.

In response to the school protests in France, Education Minister Edouard Geffray announced on Thursday that more than 3,000 supply teachers would be recruited at short notice. The protests against poor school conditions, which began in September at a secondary school in Créteil, have quickly spread across the country, with riots breaking out in several towns. The press takes stock.

Italy's Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, has successfully steered her "Stabilicum" electoral reform bill through parliament after it was passed by the Chamber of Deputies by 227 votes to 164 in the final vote. The Senate – the second chamber of the Italian parliament – had already approved the bill in mid-September.

Cemil Tugay, the mayor of İzmir, on Tuesday switched alliegences from the opposition CHP to the ruling party AKP. President Erdoğan welcomed him personally at a parliamentary group meeting and presented him with a party pin. Tugay's switch is the latest in a series of defections across Turkey, and has sparked protests in İzmir, a CHP stronghold. Reactions in the Turkish press vary.

Two weeks after her eviction from the Madrid home she had lived in for seven decades, 87-year-old Maricarmen Abascal has died. Her eviction sparked nationwide protests against the housing crisis in Spain. A general strike has been called for 11 November to protest the problem. The media examine the symbolic power of Maricarmen's death.