The Telegraph, Reuters and the Express report on US President Donald Trump’s new Iran sanctions. The Telegraph reports that the slowing world economy is “not strong enough to handle an oil supply shock. At this juncture it would trigger a full-blown slump. Yet that is exactly what we risk as Donald Trump tries to drive every last barrel of Iranian crude oil off the global market”. Reuters reports that President Trump said on Wednesday in a presidential memorandum that he had determined there was sufficient supply of petroleum and petroleum products from nations other than Iran to permit a reduction in purchases from that country. The memorandum, addressing the secretaries of State of Treasury and Energy, comes days ahead of the administration’s renewed sanctions on Iranian oil exports, planned to come into effect on 5 Nov. Reuters reports that US National Security Adviser John Bolton said on Wednesday the Trump administration wants sanctions on Iran’s crude exports to strain Tehran, but does not want to harm countries that depend on the oil. The Express reports that Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani said 5 November “signifies a new injustice from Americans”. He admitted the Iranian people might face a “difficult” few months but vowed his government will do everything it can to minimise the impact on oil sanctions. President Rouhani is quoted by the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) as saying: “November 4 of this year signifies a new injustice from Americans. But the people should know with certainty that the government has no fear of American threats.” He added: “In the past few months our people have faced difficult times and it’s possible that the next few months will be difficult. “But the government will use all its power to reduce these problems.”

The Express and Business Insider via AP report that Denmark wants harsh consequences for Tehran due to the assassination plot. The Express reports that officials in Copenhagen yesterday announced they traced a foiled assassination attempt back to government intelligence services in the Islamic Republic. The target of the alleged attack was an opposition activist campaigning for greater independence for the Arab minority in Iran. But the plot was stopped when a Norwegian citizen of Iranian background – said to be linked to the assassination attempt – was arrested in Sweden on October 21 and extradited to neighbouring Denmark. Danish Foreign Minister Anders Samuelsen said it was now time for Brussels to toughen its stance against Iran. Business Insider reports that Iran on Wednesday summoned the Danish ambassador to Tehran over Copenhagen’s allegations about an Iranian plot to kill an opposition activist in Denmark, the official IRNA news agency reported. Iran expressed a “strong protest” to Ambassador Danny Annan over what it described as the Danish official’s “hasty, political” and “uncalculated actions” in the case.

The Daily Mail reports that Bar Refaeli has sparked outcry in the latest advert for her Israeli clothing brand by pulling off a niqab and saying, “Freedom is basic.” The advert for Hoodies’ winter collection was launched on Monday on YouTube and was shared on Bar Refaeli’s Instagram. She has since deleted the post which was visible to her 2.7m followers, but it remains on the clothing brand’s YouTube account.

The Daily Mail reports that an Omani minister met Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Wednesday and delivered a letter about Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s surprise visit to the Gulf sultanate last week, official Palestinian media said. Yusuf bin Alawi, minister in charge of foreign affairs, gave Abbas the letter from Oman’s Sultan Qaboos. It gave no further details on their discussions in Ramallah. The Palestinians have been concerned by Israel’s bid for rapprochement with Gulf countries.

 Reuters and the Daily Mail report about the municipal elections in Israel. Reuters reports that the race for mayor of Jerusalem, a role shaping Israel’s rule over the sacred city at the heart of its conflict with the Palestinians, will go to a run-off between religious and secular Jewish candidates. The Daily Mail reports that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s pick for Jerusalem mayor has failed to make it past the first round of polling. None of the six candidates for mayor, all Jewish, won the 40 per cent threshold required to be elected in the first round held on Tuesday. A run-off between the top two will be held on 13 November. Minister for Jerusalem Affairs Zeev Elkin, a member of Netanyahu’s right-wing Likud party and who received the premier’s endorsement, won only 20 per cent of the vote. Moshe Leon, another right-winger, garnered the most votes with 33 per cent, according to official figures. Leon has the backing of hawkish Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman and of ultra-Orthodox Jewish factions. The ultra-Orthodox, who make up some 10 per cent of Israel’s population, wield particular influence in Jerusalem, and the city has previously had an ultra-Orthodox mayor. In comparatively liberal Tel Aviv, Labour mayor Ron Huldai was elected to a fifth five-year term. In Haifa, also a traditional Labour stronghold, the party’s Einat Kalisch Rotem became the city’s first woman mayor and first female to head any of Israel’s three largest cities.

 Reuters, The Sun, The Telegraph and the Express report that Indonesia has protested to Saudi Arabia after the execution of a maid convicted of murder. A workers’ rights group said the maid’s employer was trying to rape her at the time. President Joko Widodo said he called Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister, Adel al-Jubeir, to lodge a protest and demand to know why Indonesia had not been informed about the execution of Tuti Tursilawati. “We have called Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister and conveyed our protest,” Widodo was quoted by the office of his cabinet secretary.

The BBC and The Telegraph report that the police in New York are investigating the deaths of two sisters from Saudi Arabia who were found duct-taped together in the Hudson River last week. Tala Farea, aged 16, and Rotana Farea, aged 22, were discovered facing each other and fully clothed without any obvious signs of trauma, police say. Investigators say it is too early to determine if any crime occurred or if their deaths were caused by suicide. The girls had recently applied for US asylum, police said. The Farea sisters moved from Saudi Arabia to Fairfax, Virginia, in 2015 with their mother, and had a history of running away from home, according to US officials. But investigators say it remains a “puzzle” as to how they came to be found dead on a riverbank more than 250 miles from their family’s home. The Saudi Consulate General said in a statement that embassy officials had contacted their family, and added that the sisters were students “accompanying their brother in Washington”.

The Express reports that the King of Saudi Arabia’s brother has returned to Riyadh to mount a challenge against the “toxic” de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in the wake of Jamal Khashoggi’s murder.

Reuters reports that the outcry in the US demonising Saudi Arabia over the murder of Khashoggi in the kingdom’s consulate in Istanbul threatens US-Saudi strategic ties, the former Saudi intelligence minister warned on Wednesday.

The BBC reports that Turkey has given its first official statement on how it believes Saudi writer Khashoggi was killed, saying he was immediately strangled when he entered the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.

Reuters reports that a 2014 oil spill by a secretive state-run company that flooded an Israeli nature reserve caused 281 million shekels ($76 million) worth of damage, Israel’s Environmental Protection Ministry said on Wednesday. The ministry sent its estimate to a mediator for its case against the Eilat-Ashkelon Pipeline Company (EAPC), a major oil distributor in Israel. Worried about national security, the Government maintains tight control over EAPC, and much of its business dealings are under military censorship. There is also a criminal investigation into EAPC over what experts called the worst spill in Israel’s history.

The Israeli media continues to report the results of the municipal elections that took place on Tuesday. Kan radio news reports the results the surprise result in Beit Shemesh where Aliza Bloch beat incumbent Mayor Moshe Abutbul by 533 votes. Bloch said in her victory speech at the municipality square that the people of Israel were looking toward Beit Shemesh and were awaking to new hope. She said that Beit Shemesh has decided to take down the barriers that have been erected in the city and to become one city and a united society. She said that as mayor, she intended to work for the common good and to turn the city into a model for Israeli society. She called on the representatives of all parties to join the city’s leadership and to create a new type of politics in which they fight for all residents of the city and not just for certain sectors. Yediot Ahronot prominently focuses on two races where Prime Minister Netanyahu’s preferred candidate lost: “Jerusalem and Yeruham are both cities that vote Likud. Nevertheless, Elkin and Aharon were defeated at the polling stations. Elkin won 19.8 per cent of the vote, coming in third out of the four candidates. Aharon received 32 per cent, losing to Tal Ohana, who received 59 per cent of the vote. Aharon’s candidacy, which reflects other races across Israel, teaches us that Netanyahu’s choices failed to have a decisive impact, if any impact at all, on the results. The winners won in their own right; the losers lost in their own right. Aharon, a protégé of Miri Regev, was forced onto the Likud branch in Yeruham. ‘We love Bibi, we’re voting for Ohana,’ was the battle cry that the Likudniks in Yeruham adopted. This doesn’t necessarily say much about the anticipated results of the upcoming national elections, but it does say something about what has happened to Netanyahu and the party he heads.”

Maariv reports Prime Minister Netanyahu’s address to the Knesset yesterday that “the rumours about the death of Israeli democracy were exaggerated,” referring to the elections for the local authorities, “Members of Knesset, I have heard quite a few statements by the opposition about the end of democratic life in this country. These statements are baseless. They stand in total opposition to what we saw yesterday across the country — a celebration of democracy, free and popular elections, the results of some of which were surprising.” He then commented on Ron Huldai’s fifth victory in the election for mayor of Tel Aviv-Jaffa. “Huldai was elected in Tel Aviv. It is interesting that it is very trendy in Tel Aviv to elect an experienced candidate, time after time, again, and again. Kudos Ron,” Netanyahu said as he hinted to the arguments sometimes made by the opposition that the time has come for him to leave the stage. He then added that “as chairman of the Likud, I am pleased with the results, though not everywhere. The Likud not only maintained its strength, it increased it by more than 20 per cent. It was a disappointment that Elkin was not elected in Jerusalem. That’s what happens in politics. But we are moving forward full strength with unprecedented accomplishments.” Netanyahu then hinted that he did not intend to descend the political stage so quickly and said: “They ask, ‘what legacy are you leaving behind?’ I do not intend to leave anything behind so quickly, but I will leave behind a legacy of developing the country and improving our national strength and foreign relations.”

Army radio reports on Egyptian efforts to reach inter-Palestinian reconciliation. The outline for the agreement is for Hamas and the Palestinian Authority (PA) to begin a gradual reconciliation. The PA will initially assume civil responsibility for the Gaza Strip and government ministries. At a later stage they will extend their responsibility to the police and the border crossings and within a few years to Hamas’s military wing.

Israel Hayom runs an excerpt from an exclusive interview with the Brazilian President-elect, Jair Bolsonaro, which will be published in full by the newspaper in its weekend edition. Bolsonaro is quoted saying that Israel “can count on our vote at the UN,” adding that he would relocate Brazil’s embassy to Jerusalem: “Israel is a sovereign country. If you decide what your capital city is, we’ll go along. When I was asked during the campaign if I would move the embassy if I were elected president, I answered yes. You are the ones who decide your capital city, not other countries.”

 Yediot Ahronot reports that Israel’s Mossad provided Denmark and Sweden with the intelligence used to expose a plot by the Iranian intelligence service to assassinate an Iranian Arab opposition figure on Danish soil. An Israeli diplomat said that due to increased efforts to foil attacks on Jewish and Israeli institutions, the Israeli spy agency collects a lot of information, including intelligence about plots that don’t necessarily target Israel or Jews. It is understood Israel provided information that allowed the Danes to prevent the attack at early stage, even though they already had explosives in their possession.