France is looking at a second Trump presidency with a mix of trepidation, stoicism and — in some cases— joy. Even as President Emmanuel Macron rushed to congratulate Donald Trump for his win, French businesses worry about threatened tariffs and critics fear a similar tilt to the right could usher France’s far-right National Rally party to power. Lisa Bryant reports on the fallout from Paris. …
Over 160,000 Ukrainians fled their home country and came to the Baltic states of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia since the Russian invasion. Physicians were among the 50 thousand or so refugees who came to Latvia. Vladislavs Andrejevs spoke with some of them in Riga. Anna Rice narrates his story. (Camera: Vladislavs Andrejevs ; Produced by Yuriy Zakrevskiy) …
The FBI said more than 50 election sites across five battleground states received hoax bomb emails on Election Day in the U.S., and the emails in four of these states came from a Russian domain. None of the threats sent to polling sites in Georgia, Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Arizona were deemed credible, and while causing a brief disruption, they did not affect the voting, the FBI said. “We identified the source, and it was from Russia,” Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said in a news conference, adding that the Russians “don’t want us to have free, fair and …
Ukraine’s military said Wednesday it shot down 38 of the 63 aerial drones that Russian forces launched in overnight attacks. The Ukrainian air force said it intercepted the drones over the Cherkasy, Chernihiv, Kirovohrad, Kyiv, Mykolaiv, Odesa, Sumy, Zhytomyr and Zaporizhzhia regions. Vitaliy Kim, the governor of Mykolaiv, said on Telegram that Russia’s attack damaged energy infrastructure, but did not hurt anyone. Russia’s Defense Ministry said Wednesday it destroyed two Ukrainian drones over the Kursk region and another drone over Oryol. Russian officials said there were no reports of damage or casualties. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Tuesday that his …
berlin — German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s coalition faces a make-or-break moment on Wednesday as leaders of the three parties convene to forge compromises between their differing visions on rescuing the economy from decline. Relations between Scholz’s center-left Social Democrats (SPD), the Greens and free-market Free Democrats (FDP) have sunk to new lows over the past week as they aired their respective strategies without consulting one another. The FDP, long the odd-one-out in the ideologically mismatched and fractious coalition, has doubled down on its ultimatum: that some key deals must be reached in what the party has called an “autumn of decisions,” …
NOVI SAD, Serbia — Protesters threw flares and red paint Tuesday on the City Hall building in the Serbian city of Novi Sad in rage over last week’s collapse of a concrete canopy at the railway station that killed 14 people. Police responded by firing tear gas canisters. The protesters surrounded the building in central Novi Sad, breaking windows and throwing stones and other objects despite calls by organizers to remain calm. Special police troops were deployed inside the building. Some of the angry protesters wearing masks, believed to be soccer hooligans who are close to the populist government, tried to …
In Turkey, listeners of Acik Radyo are protesting after regulators revoked the Istanbul-based station’s license. For nearly 30 years, Acik sought to bridge the country’s divides. Analysts say the action against it is part of a wider government media crackdown. Dorian Jones reports from Istanbul. …
MALMO, Sweden — A Swedish court sentenced a far-right politician Tuesday to four months in jail for two counts of “incitement against an ethnic group” after making hateful comments at political rallies two years ago. The Danish-Swedish 42-year-old man, who was not named but has been identified by Swedish media as Rasmus Paludan, founder and head of the Danish nationalist anti-immigration party Stram Kurs, had been previously convicted and sentenced by a Danish court on a similar charge, the Malmo District Court said. In 2022, Paludan made his offensive remarks directed at Muslims, Arabs and Africans during protests that he led …
LONDON — Russia is “flagrantly violating” its agreements with the OPEC oil cartel by concealing the true amount of oil it is producing and selling, according to a new report that says the profits are funding Moscow’s war on Ukraine. The investigation by the Ukrainian Center for Defense Reforms asserts that Russia is breaching an OPEC agreement to cut oil production. The think tank is chaired by Oleksandr Danylyuk, a former chief adviser to the Ukrainian defense minister. Oil cut “In 2016, amid declining oil prices and to stabilize the market, OPEC reached an agreement with ten additional oil-producing countries, including …
SEDAVI, Spain — Francisco Murgui went out to try to salvage his motorbike when the water started to rise. He never came back. One week after catastrophic flooding devastated eastern Spain, Maria Murgui still holds out hope that her father is alive and among the unknown number of the missing. “He was like many people in town who went out to get their car or motorbike to safety,” the 27-year-old told The Associated Press. “The flash flood caught him outside, and he had to cling to a tree in order to escape drowning. He called us to tell us that he …
DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES — An Iranian official claimed Tuesday that Iranian-German prisoner Jamshid Sharmahd died before Tehran could execute him — directly contradicting the country’s earlier announcement he had been put to death. The comment by Asghar Jahangir came after Germany shut down all three Iranian consulates in the country over Sharmahd’s death, leaving only the embassy in Berlin open. Germany later disputed Jahangir’s remark. Meanwhile, even Iran’s reformist President Masoud Pezeshkian has offered his own criticism of Germany’s response to Sharmahd’s death as tensions remain high between Tehran and the West over its rapidly advancing nuclear program and the …
Ukraine’s military said Tuesday it shot down two Russian guided missiles as well as 48 of the 79 drones that Russian forces used in overnight attacks. The intercepts took place over the Cherkasy, Chernihiv, Khmelnytskyi, Kyiv, Odesa, Poltava, Sumy and Zhytomyr regions, the Ukrainian air force said. Ivan Fedorov, governor of the Zaporizhzhia region, said Tuesday a Russian attack killed at least six people and wounded 16 others. Fedorov said on Telegram that Russia hit an infrastructure facility. Officials in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region also reported a Russian attack that injured two people and damaged three apartment buildings. Russia’s Defense Ministry …
GENEVA — China has moved forward with a complaint at the World Trade Organization that alleges the European Union has improperly set anti-subsidy tariffs on new Chinese-made electric vehicles. The Chinese diplomatic mission to the WTO said Monday it “strongly opposes” the measures and insisted its move was designed to protect the EV industry and support a global transition toward greener technologies. The European bloc announced last month it was imposing import duties of up to 35% on electric vehicles from China, alleging the Chinese exports were unfairly undercutting EU industry prices. The duties are set to remain in force for …
washington — Pyongyang may have bet all its chips on its relationship with Moscow by committing the lives of its soldiers to fight for Russia’s war efforts against Ukraine, according to analysts. North Korean soldiers are gearing up for an anticipated battle in the Russian border region of Kursk. According to the Defense Intelligence of Ukraine on Saturday, more than 7,000 North Korean soldiers in the front line near the border were armed with various weapons by Russia. They included 60 mm mortars, AK-12 rifles and rocket-propelled grenade launchers. Some North Korean soldiers in the region have already come under fire, …
belgrade, serbia — Serbia’s construction minister said Monday he was stepping down days after a concrete canopy collapsed at a railway station, killing 14 people and severely injuring three. Minister Goran Vesic announced his resignation at a hastily called press conference as anger mounted in the Balkan country over the fatal collapse that happened just before noon on Friday in the northern city of Novi Sad. Vesic’s resignation needs to be confirmed in Serbia’s parliament. “I would like to inform you that I will formally submit my resignation tomorrow morning,” said Vesic. “Once the parliament accepts it, I will no longer …
New York — Russia refused to confirm its plans for North Korean troops it reportedly plans to deploy in its fight against Ukraine, during a confrontation with the United States Monday at the U.N. Security Council. “I heard the statement [of the Russian envoy], as did others in this room, but the one question still remains that that statement does not address, and that is whether there are DPRK troops on the ground in Russia,” U.S. Deputy U.N. Ambassador Robert Wood told council members, using the abbreviation for North Korea’s formal name. “And my question still stands, and I hope that …
Seoul, South Korea — South Korea and the European Union on Monday jointly condemned North Korea’s supply of weaponry to Moscow and demanded that it withdraw troops it has sent as Russia wages war against Ukraine. The EU and South Korea were holding their first “Strategic Dialogue” meeting in Seoul, shortly after Washington and Seoul sounded the alarm about North Korea sending soldiers to help Russia. In a joint statement, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell and South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul condemned the North’s “unlawful arms transfers to the Russian Federation for its use in attacking Ukraine.” They demanded …
Paris — The trial of eight people in Paris on terrorism charges started on Monday over the beheading of teacher Samuel Paty, who was killed by an Islamic extremist after showing caricatures of Islam’s prophet to his middle school students for a lesson on freedom of expression. Paty’s shocking death left an imprint on France, and several schools are now named after him. Paty was killed outside his school near Paris on Oct. 16, 2020, by an 18-year-old Russian of Chechen origin, who was shot to death by police. Those on trial include friends of assailant Abdoullakh Anzorov who allegedly helped …
Paris — French prosecutors on Monday said they had dropped an investigation into sexual and moral harassment allegations against former French Football Federation president Noel Le Graet. The preliminary inquiry, opened in January 2023, was closed on Oct. 17 due to insufficient evidence, the Paris public prosecution office said in e-mailed comments. Le Graet, 82, who had led the federation since 2011, resigned in February but denied any wrongdoing. His departure followed a government audit that concluded he no longer had “the necessary legitimacy” to lead French soccer. French papers L’Equipe and Le Monde first reported that the investigation into Le …
PAIPORTA, Spain — Spain is deploying 7,500 troops to its eastern region hit by devastating floods, the government said on Monday in the face of rising discontent over the response to the catastrophe that has killed at least 217 people. The army sent about 5,000 soldiers over the weekend to help distribute food and water, clean up streets and protect shops and properties from looters. A further 2,500 would join them, Defense Minister Margarita Robles told state-owned radio RNE. A warship carrying 104 marine infantry soldiers as well as trucks with food and water was approaching Valencia port even as a …