The BBC reports on Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s speech yesterday to mark the 41st anniversary of the seizure of the US embassy in Tehran by radical Iranian students, who took American staff hostage for 444 days. Khamenei said the result of the US presidential election “will not affect” Tehran’s policy towards Washington. “Our policy… is clearly defined. It does not change with the movement of individuals,” he said. “It does not matter to us who comes and goes.”

The Telegraph reports that Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe has not been sent back to prison in Iran, as her family had feared last week, following a court hearing on Monday where she faced fresh charges of “spreading propaganda”. Zaghari-Ratcliffe is now back under house arrest at her parents’ home in Tehran, with no date for the next court hearing, according to her local Labour MP for Hampstead and Kilburn.

The Times leads with the risk of Cedar trees in Lebanon from fires and droughts. In early September, fires engulfed the northern Qammouaa forest in Akkar, near the Syrian border, which is known for its abundance of cedar and juniper trees. Last month two large blazes in the Chouf region, south of Beirut, destroyed 300 acres of oak and pine forests encroaching on a nature reserve for the national tree.

The BBC notes that Lebanon has lengthened a nationwide night-time curfew in place since September by four hours and extended lockdowns in 115 towns and villages, amid a continuing surge in new coronavirus infections. From Monday, people will be required to stay at home and businesses forced to close between 21:00 and 05:00. In areas under lockdown, bars and nightclubs are not allowed to open at all, restaurants and cafes can operate at 50% capacity, and public gatherings are banned. T

The Financial Times reports that panic buying, particularly for pharmaceutical goods, has escalated in Lebanon. In recent weeks, the health ministry has asked pharmacists to limit the quantity of drugs they sell to customers to stem panic buying, triggered by a central bank warning on an expected shortage of hard currency for vital imports, including medicine, by year’s end.

The Guardian and Independent run an obituary for veteran journalist and author Robert Fisk.

Qatar has announced it will hold direct elections to the country’s top advisory body for the first ever time, a long-promised political reform, according to the Independent and Financial Times. The country’s emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, said the reform would be “an important step towards strengthening Qatari advisory traditions and developing the legislative process with a wider participation of citizens”.

Army Radio News reports that Israeli Ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan said in an interview this morning that Israel would work in full cooperation with whichever candidate wins the American presidential elections. Erdan said: “Our partnership with whomever is elected is not a personal partnership; it is a strategic partnership. It is deep. Therefore, no matter which administration is elected into office either today or in the coming few days, Israel will continue to be its strategic ally.” Erdan also said: “Joe Biden insisted that the military aid would continue to be delivered to Israel, even though there were some people his party who called for that to be made contingent on Israel stopping its annexation plans.”

All newspapers are focusing on the tight battle between Donald Trump and Joe Biden in the US presidential elections. Haaretz focuses on several contests involving Jewish politicians for the Senate and the House, noting that two prominent Democrats comfortably won their re-election in south Florida, Kathy Manning, a former immigration attorney who led two national Jewish organizations, won a congressional seat in North Carolina, whilst Democratic Congressman Max Rose may be losing his seat in New York’s 11th district, according to early votes tallied on Tuesday night. Israel Hayom’s Boaz Bismuth writes: “In effect, if four years ago we were asking if Trump would manage to break through the Blue Wall in the Midwest, this year we’ve been asking if the Democrats will be able to rebuild it. According to the polls as of Tuesday morning, it appeared as if they managed to repair the wall in Wisconsin and Michigan, but not in Pennsylvania. Which is why Pennsylvania is so critical. Because in so many models it is the difference between a victory and a loss for Trump.”

The other major story reported in Israeli media this morning is the High Court of Justice last night announced that the conscription exemption that has been given to Haredi yeshiva students will not be extended beyond 1 February 2021. This means that the government must incorporate into new legislation conscription exemptions for ultra-Orthodox students by the deadline, otherwise the draft will be enforced equally on all parts of the population. Yediot Ahronot argues: “One of the political by-products of the High Court of Justice’s ruling is that the Haredi parties will not agree to allow the Knesset to be dissolved in the next three months unless a new military draft bill is first passed into legislation that exempts the Haredi sector from military service. Maariv quotes Opposition leader Yair Lapid, who said of the ruling: “The Netanyahu government has been dodging the military draft law for five years. The time has come to restore an equal sharing of the burden. No one gets any discounts.”

Israel Hayom reports that Malawi has announced it will open a full embassy to Israel in Jerusalem, becoming the first African nation to do so in the contested city. In a video statement during a visit to Israel, Malawi Foreign Minister Eisenhower Mkaka called the decision a “bold and significant step”. Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi said alongside Mkaka: “I look forward to your embassy opening soon, and I’m sure that more African leaders will follow this decision.”

Israel Hayom also reports that Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has blamed Israel for the recent terrorist attacks in France. “Today, the main enemies of Islam are the arrogant powers and Zionism,” Khamenei said yesterday. He added that “the last manifestation of their enmity was the Paris incident,” referring to the cartoons featuring the Prophet Muhammad that were shown by a teacher in a Paris classroom, which resulted in the man’s decapitation. “The issue is not merely about an artist’s deviation and corruption. Rather, there are hands behind this incident,” Khamenei said.

Israeli media also report that the State Audit Committee was convened yesterday to discuss the impact coronavirus was having on small business-owners and independent contractors, many of whom have been forced to shut their businesses over the lockdown period. Roee Cohen, the president of the Israel Federation of Small Business Organizations, said yesterday at a meeting of the Knesset’s State Audit Committee: “Tens of thousands of self-employed [Israelis] are roaming about the streets like zombies and they don’t have anything to eat. Their source of sustenance has been hurt.” Cohen went on to accuse the authorities of “thinking that we’re thieves and crooks.”