The Democrats will keep control of the US Senate after a projected win in the state of Nevada.
Democrat incumbent Catherine Cortez Masto is sitting on 48.7% of the vote – a narrow edge over Republican former state attorney general Adam Laxalt on 48.2%.
Ms Cortez Masto, 58, campaigned heavily on the issue of abortion and also criticised Mr Laxalt over his ties to major oil companies, which have enjoyed record profits in recent months.
Mr Laxalt had tried to tie Ms Cortez Masto to President Joe Biden’s economic policies, blaming them both for inflation and rising fuel prices.
The election result comes a day after Democrat Mark Kelly claimed victory in Arizona, beating his Republican challenger Blake Masters, who – like Mr Laxalt – had been endorsed by former president Donald Trump.
This means the Democrats have 50 seats in the Senate.
Democrat vice president Kamala Harris can break ties in the 100-member chamber, meaning that the party can secure victories for President Biden.
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This will be particularly important if a seat on the US Supreme Court – which currently has a 6-3 conservative majority – were to open up in the final two years of Mr Biden’s term.
Speaking to journalists in Cambodia ahead of an East Asia Summit, President Biden said he was “incredibly pleased” with the election results.
He said: “We’re focusing now on Georgia. We feel good about where we are. And I know I’m a cockeyed optimist. I understand that.
“Again, I’m not surprised by the turnout. I’m incredibly pleased. And I think it’s a reflection of the quality of our candidates.”
He added: “I feel good. I’m looking forward to the next couple of years.”
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said: “We got a lot done and we’ll do a lot more for the American people.
“The American people rejected – soundly rejected – the anti-democratic, authoritarian, nasty and divisive direction the MAGA Republicans wanted to take our country.”
The final state to decide is Georgia, where Democratic senator Raphael Warnock faces a run-off against Republican Herschel Walker on 6 December.
The 435-seat House of Representatives remains in the balance, however.
The Republicans have the edge but votes are still being counted in several races, including many in liberal-leaning California.
If Democrats manage to pull off a win in the House, it would mean full control of Congress for Democrats – and another chance to advance Mr Biden’s priorities.
The party still lacks the 60 votes in the Senate needed to move many kinds of major legislative changes.
Democrats’ unexpected performance will leave Republicans reassessing ties to Trump
The midterm elections are said to be a referendum on the success, or otherwise, of the sitting president and his first two years in the White House.
President Biden’s approval rating is underwater, inflation is soaring and he makes a gaffe almost every time he opens his mouth, so the success of Democrat candidates makes no sense when applying normal rules.
But this was no ordinary election.
One way to explain it is by viewing it, instead, as a referendum on the extreme right wing politics of the “Make America Great Again” candidates who were recruited, in some cases, and endorsed by the former president Donald Trump.
Take Adam Laxalt, the Republican defeated in the decisive Senate race in Nevada, a fully paid-up member of the election denial lie peddled by Trump.
There was “no mathematical way” he could lose, said Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, perhaps forgetting to factor a discerning electorate into his equation.
Across the country and up and down the ballot – with a few, but not many exceptions – voters delivered a rebuke to Trumpism.
From Mehmet Oz, a celebrity TV doctor beaten in Pennsylvania, to anti-abortionist Yesli Vega beaten in a key race in Virginia, it was not the red wave the Republican party was expecting and they now must decide whether they continue to ally themselves with the former president.
Nine of a doctor’s 10 children have been killed in an Israeli missile strike on their home in Gaza, which also left her surviving son badly injured and her husband in a critical condition.
Warning: This article contains details of child deaths
Alaa Al Najjar, a paediatrician at Al Tahrir Clinic in the Nasser Medical Complex, was at work during the attack on her home, south of the city of Khan Younis in southern Gaza, on Friday.
Graphic footage shared by the Hamas-run Palestinian Civil Defence shows the bodies of at least seven small children being pulled from the rubble.
Rescuers can be seen battling fires and searching through a collapsed building, shouting out when they locate a body, before bringing the children out one by one and wrapping their remains in body bags.
In the footage, Dr Al Najjar’s husband, Hamdi Al Najjar, who is also a doctor, is put on to a stretcher and then carried to an ambulance.
The oldest of their children was only 12 years old, according to Dr Muneer Alboursh, the director general of Gaza’s health ministry, which is run by Hamas.
Image: Nine children were killed in the strike. Pic: Palestinian Civil Defence
“This is the reality our medical staff in Gaza endure. Words fall short in describing the pain,” he wrote in a social media post.
“In Gaza, it is not only healthcare workers who are targeted – Israel’s aggression goes further, wiping out entire families.”
Image: Pic: Palestinian Civil Defence
British doctors describe ‘horrific’ and ‘unimaginable’ attack
Two British doctors working at Nasser Hospital described the attack as “horrific” and “unimaginable” for Dr Al Najjar.
Speaking in a video diary on Friday night, Dr Graeme Groom said his last patient of the day was Dr Al Najjar’s 11-year-old son, who was badly injured and “seemed much younger as we lifted him on to the operating table”.
Image: Hamdi Al Najjar, Dr Al Najjar’s husband who is also a doctor, was taken to hospital. Pic: Palestinian Civil Defence
The strike “may or may not have been aimed at his father”, Dr Groom said, adding that the man had been left “very badly injured”.
Dr Victoria Rose said the family “lived opposite a petrol station, so I don’t know whether the bomb set off some massive fire”.
Image: Pic: Palestinian Civil Defence
‘No political or military connections’
Dr Groom added: “It is unimaginable for that poor woman, both of them are doctors here.
“The father was a physician at Nasser Hospital. He had no political and no military connections. He doesn’t seem to be prominent on social media, and yet his poor wife is the only uninjured one, who has the prospect of losing her husband.”
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Nineteen of Gaza’s hospitals remain operational, all of them are overwhelmed with the number of patients and a lack of supplies
He said it was “a particularly sad day”, while Dr Rose added: “That is life in Gaza. That is the way it goes in Gaza.”
Sky News has approached the Israeli Defence Forces for comment.
Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza began when the militant group stormed across the border into Israel on 7 October 2023, killing some 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and abducting 251 others.
Israel’s military response has flattened large areas of Gaza and killed more than 53,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry, which does not differentiate between civilians and combatants in its count.
The head of the UN has said Israel has only authorised for Gaza what amounts to a “teaspoon” of aid after at least 60 people died in overnight airstrikes.
UN secretary general Antonio Guterres said on Friday the supplies approved so far “amounts to a teaspoon of aid when a flood of assistance is required,” adding “the needs are massive and the obstacles are staggering”.
He warned that more people will die unless there is “rapid, reliable, safe and sustained aid access”.
Image: A woman at the site of an Israeli strike in Jabalia, northern Gaza. Pic: Reuters
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Gaza: ‘Loads of children with huge burns’
Israel says around 300 aid trucks have been allowed through since it lifted an 11-week blockade on Monday, but according to Mr Guterres, only about a third have been transported to warehouses within Gaza due to insecurity.
The IDF said 107 vehicles carrying flour, food, medical equipment and drugs were allowed through on Thursday.
Many of Gaza’s two million residents are at high risk of famine, experts have warned.
Meanwhile, at least 60 people have been killed by Israeli airstrikes across Gaza overnight.
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Ten people died in the southern city of Khan Younis, and deaths were also reported in the central town of Deir al-Balah and the Jabaliya refugee camp in the north, according to the Nasser, Al-Aqsa and Al-Ahli hospitals where the bodies were brought.
Image: A body is carried out of rubble after an Israeli strike in Jabalia, northern Gaza. Pic: Reuters
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‘Almost everyone depends on aid’ in Gaza
The latest strikes came a day after two Israeli embassy workers were killed in Washington.
The suspect, named as 31-year-old Elias Rodriguez from Chicago, Illinois, told police he “did it for Gaza”.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused Sir Keir Starmer, Emmanuel Macron and Mark Carney of fuelling antisemitism following the shootings.
Mr Netanyahu also accused Sir Keir, Mr Macron and Mr Carney of siding with “mass murderers, rapists, baby killers and kidnappers”.
Image: Palestinians search for casualties in Jabalia, northern Gaza. Pic: Reuters
But UK government minister Luke Pollard told Sky News on Friday morning he “doesn’t recognise” Mr Netanyahu’s accusation.
Earlier this week, Mr Netanyahu said he was recalling negotiators from the Qatari capital, Doha, after a week of ceasefire talks failed to bring results. A working team will remain.
The war in Gaza began when Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel on 7 October 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapping 251 others.
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The militants are still holding 58 captives, around a third of whom are believed to be alive, after most of the rest were returned in ceasefire agreements or other deals.
Israel’s offensive, which has destroyed large swaths of Gaza, has killed more than 53,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry.
A woman has been arrested after 12 people were reportedly injured in a stabbing at Hamburg’s central train station in Germany.
An attacker armed with a knife targeted people on the platform between tracks 13 and 14, according to police.
They added that the suspect was a 39-year-old woman.
Image: Police at the scene. Pic: AP
Officers said they “believe she acted alone” and investigations into the stabbing are continuing.
There was no immediate information on a possible motive.
The fire service said six of the injured were in a life-threatening condition, three others were seriously hurt, and another three sustained minor injuries, news agency dpa reported.
The attack happened shortly after 6pm local time (5pm UK time) on Friday in front of a waiting train, regional public broadcaster NDR reported.
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A high-speed ICE train with its doors open could be seen at the platform after the incident.
Railway operator Deutsche Bahn said it was “deeply shocked” by what had happened.