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Today's Brief: Rails, Ballots, and a Brewers Title

The Homebrew · · Posted · AI-drafted daily brief, synthesized from Left, Center, and Right coverage. Facts may be inaccurate — verify with the cited sources below.

Spain began three days of mourning Thursday after at least 69 people were killed in its deadliest train crash in decades, and anger is mounting over how it happened, NBC News reported. Israel's election still has no winner, with neither bloc reaching the 61 seats needed to govern with nearly 90% of ballots counted, Al Jazeera reported. The Federal Reserve held rates steady, with two officials voting for a hike. And the Milwaukee Brewers won the first World Series title in franchise history.

Spain train crash. A state-operated Renfe train ran into the back of a stationary train operated by Iryo near the town of Urda on Wednesday morning, on the high-speed line from Madrid to Seville, the BBC reported. More than 540 people were on board both trains; more than 100 were treated for injuries, and by the next day 50 were still in hospital, 15 in critical condition, according to Spanish authorities cited by the BBC.

Transport minister Óscar Puente said a computer failure at about 08:30 led to the halt of six moving trains, including the two that collided, and that the control centre then allowed the trains to move again without speed restrictions "under inexplicable circumstances," the BBC reported. Audio recordings obtained by Spanish media appear to show one train being cleared to move at normal speed even though another about 25 km ahead had stalled, according to the BBC. Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said that "if there has been any negligence, it will come to light," the BBC reported.

Riot police used tear gas outside the transport ministry in Madrid late Wednesday after far-right protesters pushed against a police cordon, NBC News reported. The crash comes four weeks before a national election, NBC reported, and it is the second high-speed rail tragedy in Spain this year, according to the BBC.

Israel counts. The Central Elections Committee had counted more than five million votes by Wednesday evening, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's bloc on course for 53 seats in the 120-member Knesset and Gadi Eisenkot's opposition bloc 48, Al Jazeera and the Turkish news agency Anadolu reported. Arab parties could hold a record combined 19 seats, and more than 500,000 special ballots, including soldiers' votes, remain to be counted; final results could come as early as Thursday evening, according to Al Jazeera.

Netanyahu wrote on X that the election had been "stolen by Arab parties that support terrorism," alleging bribery, threats, violence, forgery and the use of prohibited software to mobilize voters, Fox News reported; Al Jazeera attributed the same statement to his Likud party. Fox reported that the Joint List was projected to win 12 seats and Mansour Abbas's Ra'am seven. Joint List leader Yousef Jabareen said the alliance could back an anti-Netanyahu government from outside but would not join it, Al Jazeera reported. Before the vote, both Eisenkot and Netanyahu ruled out a minority government relying on Arab-led parties, according to Al Jazeera.

The Fed and the markets. The Federal Reserve kept its target range at 3.75% to 4% on a 10–2 vote, with Governor Lisa D. Cook and Cleveland Fed President Beth M. Hammack preferring a quarter-point hike, according to the Fed's statement, which said, "Inflation remains elevated." It was Cook's first dissent since joining the Fed in 2022, CNBC reported. Chair Kevin Warsh said one FOMC meeting in 2027 will focus "exclusively on broad monetary policy strategy," with no rate vote, CNBC reported.

The S&P 500 rose 0.28% to 7,743.98 on Wednesday, the Nasdaq added 0.27% to 26,549.85 and the Dow climbed 97.53 points to 52,475.10, the third straight winning day for all three, CNBC reported. After the bell, Microsoft reported quarterly revenue of $92.3 billion, up 19%; Alphabet reported revenue of $127.6 billion, up from $102.3 billion a year earlier, with Google Cloud up 103% to $30.7 billion; and Meta reported revenue of $64.60 billion, up 26%, and costs that included a $9.89 billion charge tied to its settlement with 52 attorneys general over teen mental health litigation, according to the companies' releases.

DoorDash said Thursday it will buy Instacart for $17 billion, or $65 a share, CBS News reported. DoorDash shares gained more than 9% in pre-market trading, NBC News reported. And European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde will step down Feb. 7, nine months before her term ends, the Associated Press reported in a story published by the New York Post.

Iran and Brazil. A British navy maritime agency said a ship was burning in the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday, and Iran claimed three oil tankers were on fire after hitting sea mines, CBS News reported. An official told CBS that Qatari mediators had presented Iran with a new draft deal to end the war, with a response expected by the end of the week, while a senior Iranian official denied a new proposal had been made, Reuters reported, according to CBS. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth fired the Pentagon's top military planner, Lt. Gen. Brett Sylvia, after he was accused of leaking classified information related to the war, a Pentagon official told CBS.

Flávio Bolsonaro and his family landed at Miami-Opa Locka airport on Wednesday after leaving Brazil through Argentina and Ecuador, the Guardian reported. He published a letter calling himself Brazil's "true president," then deleted it and posted one describing himself as "the leader of Brazil," according to the Guardian. His party has recognised Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva's victory, and his claim of "electoral fraud" has been rejected by Brazil's electoral court and supreme court, the Guardian reported. Lula called the departure "shameful," according to the Guardian.

Sports. The Brewers beat the Tampa Bay Rays 4-1 in Game 5 to win the first World Series title in franchise history and Milwaukee's first since the 1957 Braves, MLB.com reported. Jacob Misiorowski threw 5 2/3 scoreless innings before calf cramping ended his start, according to MLB.com.

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