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)
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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 accurate elections, and if they could make us fight among ourselves, they could count that as a victory.”

Russia denied involvement, claiming to “never” have interfered in elections in the U.S. or elsewhere. Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and the Russian Embassy in the U.S. used similar language, calling the FBI allegations “malicious slander.”

That belies a well-documented decades-long history of Russian attempts to meddle in the domestic affairs of numerous nations across continents, including systematic efforts against the United States, ranging from malicious cyberattacks to multimillion-dollar disinformation campaigns.

Just last week, German officials said Russia organized bomb threats targeting polling stations during the presidential elections in Moldova, where the Kremlin is accused of trying but failing to replace the pro-Western president, Maia Sandu, with a more amenable candidate.

As it became clear that former U.S. President Donald Trump was poised to return to power, Russian officials and state media signaled their satisfaction with the result.

Vice President Kalala Harris, the Democratic candidate, “is finished,” former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev posted on social media platform X. “The objectives of the Special Military Operation [Russia’s war in Ukraine] remain unchanged and will be achieved.”

The Kremlin-owned Sputnik News branch in India posted on X a short AI-generated video showing a laughing Harris against a background of exploding bombs and destroyed towns in Ukraine. Harris is leaving behind a “rich foreign policy legacy,” the post said.

Russia-linked accounts shared posts saying goodbye to nearly all officials in the current U.S. administration, including Secretary of State Antony Blinken, whom they called a “butcher” for his support to Ukraine.

Russia’s state-controlled news network RT [formerly Russia Today] published an election night story featuring its U.S. correspondent Valentin Bogdanov’s experience among Trump’s “most loyal supporters” near his Mar-a-Largo residence in Florida.

Bogdanov described the affairs in the U.S. as “a deep people against a deep state,” and predicted a civil war in a “dysfunctional state.” He painted a picture of a chaotic, fraudulent election with officials at polling sites in Michigan, Arizona and Maryland among other states faking technical issues to cast Trump votes for Harris.

None of those claims proved credible. The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency described the elections as “free, fair and safe.”

Russia’s meddling efforts are not limited to its alleged role in the hoax bomb threats on Election Day. On November 1, the Office of the Direction of National Intelligence, the FBI, and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency issued a joint statement from the U.S. Intelligence Community stating that “Russian influence actors” created a fake video falsely showing people claiming to be from Haiti voting illegally in various Georgia counties.
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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 country’s forces have engaged in battle with the North Korean troops that were deployed to Russia to assist in its war on Ukraine.

“The first battles with North Korean soldiers open a new page of instability in the world,” Zelenskyy said Tuesday in his daily address — his first official acknowledgement of the encounter between the two forces.

Rustem Umerov, Ukraine’s defense minister, has also confirmed the arrival of the North Korean forces. In an interview with South Korea’s public broadcaster KBS, he said the Ukrainian and North Korean forces have engaged in “small-scale” fighting.

“The first North Korean troops have already been shelled in the Kursk region,” said Andrii Kovalenko, the head of the counter-disinformation branch of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council.

According to a U.S. official quoted by The New York Times late Tuesday, a “significant number” of North Korean troops had been killed, though the report said it was not clear when the fighting had occurred.

Some information for this story was provided by Agence France-Presse, Reuters and The Associated Press. 
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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,” or the coalition is finished.

“We need a real change in direction,” FDP parliamentary chief Christian Duerr said on Tuesday.

Scholz, Finance Minister Christian Lindner of the FDP and Economy Minister Robert Habeck of the Greens are set to hold two crisis meetings on Wednesday, in addition to attending a cabinet meeting with a packed agenda.

Then they will join a broader gathering of parliamentary and party leaders from the three camps at 6 p.m. (1700 GMT) that could extend into the night.

The chancellor and his two top ministers hope to reach a preliminary agreement on how to plug a multi-billion-dollar hole in the budget and forge a compromise on economic policies that they can present to their respective parties.

“It’s clear it is possible,” Scholz told reporters on Tuesday.

A coalition collapse could leave Scholz heading a minority government and relying on ad hoc parliamentary majorities to govern, or trigger an early election – which surveys suggest would be disastrous for all three coalition parties.

The SPD and Greens are polling well below their scores in the 2021 election, while the FDP could be ejected from parliament altogether.

The three parties are at odds over how best to rescue Europe’s largest economy, which is now facing its second year of contraction and a crisis in its business model after the end of cheap Russian gas and amid increasing competition from China.

The FDP has proposed public spending cuts, lower taxes and less regulation as the answer to this malaise. It also wants to slow down Germany’s shift to a carbon-neutral economy.

The SPD and the Greens, meanwhile, while at odds on a host of other issues, agree that targeted government spending is needed.

Still, Habeck made a major concession towards the FDP on Monday, saying the funds earmarked as subsidies for a new Intel chip factory could now be used to plug the hole in the budget.
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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.
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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 get inside the building and hand over their demands that those responsible for the canopy collapse face justice. 

Serbia’s autocratic President Aleksandar Vucic said the police are “showing restraint,” but also issued a warning saying “horrific, violent protests are underway.” 

“People of Serbia, please do not think violence is allowed,” he said on X, formerly Twitter. “All those taking part in the incidents will be punished.” 

Protest organizers said they wanted to enter the Hall and submit their demands. 

Miran Pogacar, an opposition activist, said “one glass window can be mended but we cannot bring back 14 lives. People are angry. Serbia won’t stand for this.” 

Bojan Pajtic, an opposition politician, said he believed the violent incidents were stoked deliberately by provocateurs, a tactic used before in Serbia to derail peaceful anti-government protests and paint the opposition protesters as enemies of the nation. 

Thousands first marched through the city streets demanding that top officials step down because of the fatal outer roof collapse last Friday, including President Vucic and Prime Minister Milos Vucevic. 

The protesters first gathered outside the railway station where they held a moment of silence for the victims as organizers read their names. The crowd responded by chanting: “arrest the gang” and “thieves.” 

The protest started peacefully but some demonstrators later hurled plastic bottles and bricks at the headquarters of Vucic’s ruling Serbian Progressive Party and smeared red paint on posters of the Serbian president and the prime minister — a message that they have blood on their hands. 

The protesters removed most of the Serbian national red, blue and white national flags that were apparently hung on the headquarters to prevent it from an attack. That triggered an angry reaction from the president. 

“Our Serbian tricolor has been destroyed, hidden and removed by all those who do not love Serbia,” Vucic wrote on X. “Tonight, in Novi Sad, this is being done by those who tell us that they love Serbia more than us, the decent citizens of this country.” 

Critics of Serbia’s populist government have attributed the disaster to rampant corruption in the Balkan country, a lack of transparency and sloppy work during renovation work on the station building which was part of a wider railway deal with Chinese state companies. 

The accident happened without warning. Surveillance camera footage showed the massive canopy on the outer wall of the station building crashing down on the people sitting below on benches or going in and out. 

Officials have promised full accountability and, faced with pressure, Serbia’s construction minister submitted his resignation Tuesday. 

Prosecutors have said that more than 40 people already have been questioned as part of a probe into what happened. Many in Serbia, however, doubt that justice will be served with the populists in firm control of the judicial system and the police. 

Opposition parties behind Tuesday’s protest said they are also demanding the resignation of Vucevic and that documentation be made public listing all the companies and individuals involved. 

The victims included a 6-year-old girl. Those injured in the roof collapse remained in serious condition Tuesday. 

The train station has been renovated twice in recent years. Officials have insisted that the canopy had not been part of the renovation work, suggesting this was the reason why it collapsed but giving no explanation for why it was not included. 

The Novi Sad railway station was originally built in 1964, while the renovated station was inaugurated by Vucic and his populist ally, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, over two years ago as a major stopover for a planned fast train line between Belgrade and Budapest. 
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London — Two new cases of the mpox variant clade 1b detected in the U.K. are the first locally transmitted cases in Europe and the first outside Africa, the World Health Organization said Tuesday.

The U.K. Health Security Agency (UKHSA) confirmed late Monday that the two new cases were household contacts of Britain’s first case identified last week, bringing the country’s total confirmed cases to three.

The WHO warned that European states should be prepared for “rapid action” to contain the latest mpox variant, which spreads through close physical contact including sexual relations and sharing closed spaces.

The two cases are also the first to be locally transmitted outside Africa since August 2024, when the WHO declared the outbreak of the new variant an international public health emergency — its highest level of alarm.

Those affected are under specialist care and the risk to the U.K. population “remains low,” UKHSA said.

The original case was detected after the person traveled to several African countries on holiday and returned to the U.K. on Oct. 21.

The patient developed flu-like symptoms more than 24 hours later and, on Oct. 24, started to develop a rash that worsened in the following days.

Mpox, a viral disease related to smallpox, has two types, clade 1 and clade 2. Symptoms include fever, a skin rash or pus-filled blisters, swollen lymph nodes and body aches.

The WHO first declared an international public health emergency in 2022 over the spread of clade 2. That outbreak mostly affected gay and bisexual men in Europe and the United States.

Vaccination and awareness drives in many countries helped stem the number of worldwide cases and the WHO lifted the emergency in May 2023 after reporting 140 deaths out of around 87,400 cases.

In 2024, a two-pronged epidemic of clade 1 and clade 1b, a new strain that affects children, has spread widely in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The new strain has also been recorded in neighboring Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda, with imported cases in Sweden, India, Thailand, Germany and the U.K.
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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 was fine, that we shouldn’t worry.” 

But when Maria set out into the streets of Sedavi to try to rescue him from the water washing away everything in its path, he was nowhere to be found. 

“He held up until 1 in the morning,” she said. “By 2, I went outside with a neighbor and a rope to try to locate him. But we couldn’t find him. And since then, we haven’t heard anything about him.” 

At least 218 have been confirmed dead after a deluge caused by heavy rains late on October 29 and the next morning swamped entire communities, mostly in Spain’s Valencia region, catching most off guard. Regional authorities have been heavily criticized for having issued alerts to mobile phones some two hours after the disaster had started. 

Authorities have yet to any give an estimate of the missing seven days on. Spanish state broadcaster RTVE, however, shows a steady stream of appeals by people who are searching for family members who are not accounted for. 

Maria Murgui herself has posted a missing person’s message on social media with a photo of her father, a 57-year-old retiree. 

“This is like riding a roller coaster. Sometimes I feel very bad and sometimes I feel better. I try to stay positive,” she said. “This truly is madness. We don’t know what else to do. Neither does anybody else in town.” 

Relief package 

While many search for their loved ones, the gargantuan recovery efforts in Sedavi and dozens of other communities slowly moved forward. 

To aid those in need, the central government approved a 10.6-billion-euro relief package for 78 communities on Tuesday. Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez compared it to the measures taken during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The package includes direct payments of 20,000 euros to 60,000 euros to owners of damaged homes, among other financial aid for businesses and municipal governments. 

“We have a lot of work left to do, and we know it,” Sanchez said.  

Sanchez said that he will ask the European Union to help pay for the relief, saying, “it is time for the European Union to help.” 

Many people are still without basic goods amid scenes of devastation. 

Street after street in town after town is still covered with thick brown mud and mounds of ruined belongings, clumps of rotting vegetation, and wrecked vehicles. A stench arises from the muck.

In many places, people still face shortages of basic goods, and lines form at impromptu emergency kitchens and stands handing out food. Water is running again but authorities say it is not fit for drinking. 

The ground floors of thousands of homes have been ruined. It is feared that inside some of the vehicles that the water washed away or trapped in underground garages there could be bodies waiting to be recovered. 

Thousands of soldiers are working with firefighters and police reinforcements in the immense emergency response. Officers and troops are searching in destroyed homes, the countless cars strewn across highways, streets, or lodged in the mud in canals and gorges. 

Authorities are worried about other health problems caused by the aftermath of the deadliest natural disaster in Spain’s recent history. They have urged people to get tetanus shots and to treat any wounds to prevent infections and to clean the mud from their skin. Many people wear face masks. 

Thousands of volunteers are helping out, filling the void left by authorities. But the frustration over the crisis management boiled over on Sunday when a crowd in hard-hit Paiporta hurled mud and other objects at Spain’s royals, Sanchez and regional officials when they made their first visit to the epicenter of the flood damage. 

Sanchez’s national government is set to announce a new package of relief on Tuesday. 
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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 said Tuesday it destroyed six Ukrainian aerial drones over the Kursk region.

The governor of Bryansk, Alexander Bogomaz, said on Telegram there were no reports of damage or casualties.

A spokesperson for the South Korean Defense Ministry said at a briefing Tuesday that there are more than 10,000 North Korea soldiers currently in Russia, including a portion deployed to frontline areas such as in Kursk.

The statement, which spokesperson Jeon Ha-Gyu said was based on intelligence authorities, came a day after a similar assessment from the U.S. Defense Department.

Pentagon press secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder told reporters that there could be as many as 11,000 to 12,000 North Korean troops in Russia, with most of them in Kursk.

Ryder said the Pentagon could not corroborate reports that the North Koreans were engaged in combat.

Some information for this story was provided by Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
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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, according to a message that Andriy Kovalenko, the head of the Ukrainian Center for Countering Disinformation, posted on Telegram on Monday.

The U.S. estimates that 8,000 soldiers are in the Kursk Oblast to fight in front-line operations against Ukraine forces in the coming days.

“There is no more significant and long-term a commitment one country can make to another than sending troops at wartime,” Victor Cha, president of the Geopolitics and Foreign Policy Department and Korea Chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), told VOA.

“I never believed this was short term, at least from the North Korean perspective,” said Cha, who formerly served as the deputy head of the U.S. delegation to the Six Party Talks with North Korea.

Cha added that Kim could face many risks by deploying troops  thousands of miles away from home and exposing them to fight alongside Russian soldiers.

“What if North Korean soldiers desert or are captured? What is the future of DPRK-Europe relations? What if South Korean weapons [supplied via the U.S to Ukraine thus far] kills North Korean soldiers? What if Ukraine makes a point of targeting North Korean soldiers for propaganda purposes?” he asked.

Long-term commitment

Cha, in an article CSIS published October 23, said that by sending troops, North Korea may have crossed the point of no return in its ties with Russia.

South Korean Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun said during a news conference in Washington, held last week after a security meeting, that Seoul is looking to send a team to Ukraine to monitor North Korean troops.

When Kim visited Russia last year and began sending munitions the same year, some analysts saw him as largely engaged in a short-term transactional relationship with Moscow.

But after North Korea deployed troops to Russia — a move in line with a mutual defense treaty the two signed this summer — and joined Moscow’s war efforts against Ukraine and, by default, against NATO and U.S. interests, Kim is viewed as engaged in an “all-in” relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin that comes with major risks.

Evans Revere, a former State Department official with extensive experience negotiating with North Korea, said, “Kim Jong Un’s willingness to take these risks suggests he is ‘all in’ on the relationship with Moscow and prepared to make important sacrifices to show support for his Russian patron, in the hope that doing so will yield the benefits he seeks.”

Revere added, “This tells us a lot about what Kim is prepared to do to receive key military and space technologies. It remains to be seen whether Moscow is prepared to provide all the technologies and support Kim wants. If it does not, it will leave the North Korean ruler in a very difficult position.”

South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul and EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell held talks Monday in Seoul and condemned North Korea’s troop deployment and possible military technology transfers Russia could make in return.

North Korea launched a Hwasong-19 intercontinental ballistic missile Thursday in demonstration of what it described as the “world’s most powerful strategic deterrent.”

In addition to technologies Kim might want to further advance Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile programs, North Korea will receive about $200 million from Moscow for its troop deployment, according to an estimate from South Korea’s National Intelligence Service.

“North Korea is not necessarily wanting to back away from the relationship at the moment because it’s given a lifeline as well as a hedge partner against China,” said Samuel Ramani, an associate fellow at the Royal United Services Institute in London.

Kim is “willing to commit almost anything that Putin is willing to ask him to do at this point,” Ramani said.

Transactional relationship

Whether long term or short term, Dan DePetris, a fellow at Defense Priorities, said, “Ties are still very much transactional in the sense that Kim expects Russian President Vladimir Putin to compensate him in some way, shape or form.”

However, DePetris said, “it’s unlikely North Korea will be comfortable putting all its chips in Russia’s basket,” as “betting on Russia over the long term would mean handcuffing North Korea to a single power, limiting the flexibility North Korean officials seek to maintain and giving Russia the ability to blackmail North Korea in the future.”

North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui said Friday, when she met in Moscow with her Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, that Pyongyang would fully back Russia’s war efforts against Ukraine until victory.

Choe also said Kim had already “instructed” North Korean officials to provide support for the Russian army “without regard to anyone” when Russia launched what she described as “the special military operation” against Ukraine in 2022.

In return, Lavrov reaffirmed Moscow’s “full support for North Korea’s measures aimed at countering the aggressive policies of the U.S. and its partners” and its commitment to implement the mutual defense treaty.

“We’ve long thought of North Korea as a rogue state, but the tight cooperation between Putin and Kim Jong Un now makes Russia look like a rogue state, too,” said Stephen Sestanovich, senior fellow for Russian and Eurasian studies at the Council on Foreign Relations who served as U.S. ambassador-at-large for the former Soviet Union from 1997 to 2001.
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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 five years, unless an amicable deal can be struck. 

Electric vehicles have become a major flashpoint in a broader trade dispute over the influence of Chinese government subsidies on European markets and Beijing’s burgeoning exports of green technology to the bloc. 

China alleged that the EU move amounted to “an abuse of trade remedies” that violates WTO rules, and amounted to “protectionist” measures, according to the mission’s statement. 

Valdis Dombrovskis, the executive vice president of the EU’s Commission, last week called the steps “proportionate and targeted” and were aimed to underpin fair market practices and support the bloc’s industrial base.
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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 perform this duty.”

Surveillance camera footage showed the massive canopy on the outer wall of the station building crashing down on the people sitting below on benches or going in and out.

The train station has been renovated twice in recent years. Critics of Serbia’s populist government attributed the disaster to rampant corruption, a lack of transparency and sloppy work during the reconstruction. The renovation was part of a wider deal with Chinese construction companies.

Opposition parties have demanded the resignation of top officials, including President Aleksandar Vucic and Prime Minister Milos Vucevic, accusing them of being responsible for the deadly accident.

Opposition groups plan to hold a rally on Tuesday in Novi Sad and more protests later if their demands are not met.

Vesic said that he does not accept any guilt for the deaths of the victims.

“I cannot accept guilt for the death of 14 people because neither I, nor the people who work with me, bear even a shred of responsibility for the tragedy that happened,” he said. “I urge the authorities to determine as soon as possible who was responsible for this tragedy.”

The dead included a 6-year-old girl. The three injured, who are between 18 and 24 years old, all had to have limbs amputated. They were still in serious condition on Monday without improvement, doctors said.

Populist officials have accused opposition parties of using the tragedy for political gains while pledging accountability. Vucic on Monday promised those responsible will be punished.

“I am certain that the state authorities will determine criminal responsibility for the tragedy that happened in our country,” said Vucic.

Serbian prosecutors said they have already questioned more than 40 people — including Vesic — since opening the probe on Saturday. But critics believe that justice is unlikely to be served with the populists in firm control of the judicial system and the police.

Officials have insisted that the canopy had not been part of the renovation work, suggesting this was the reason why it collapsed but giving no explanation for why it was not renovated.

The Novi Sad railway station was originally built in 1964. The renovated station was inaugurated by Vucic and his populist ally, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, over two years ago as a major stopover for a planned fast train line between Belgrade and Budapest.
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Tbilisi, Georgia — Thousands of opposition supporters rallied outside Georgia’s parliament for the second straight Monday to denounce the Oct. 26 election as illegitimate after the ruling party was declared the winner amid allegations of vote-rigging helped by Russia.

The protesters, who waved Georgian and European Union flags, demanded a new parliamentary election under international supervision and an investigation of the alleged ballot irregularities.

Opposition leaders vowed to boycott sessions of parliament and hold regular protests until their demands are met.

The protest took place under the watch of riot police, reflecting the simmering political tensions in the South Caucasus country of 3.7 million that lies between Russia and Turkey.

The Central Election Commission said the ruling Georgian Dream party won about 54% of the vote. Its leaders have rejected the opposition claims of vote fraud.

President Salome Zourabichvili, who has rejected the official results, says Georgia has fallen victim to pressure from Moscow against joining the EU. Zourabichvili, who holds mostly ceremonial position, has urged the United States and EU support the demonstrations.

Officials in Washington and Brussels have urged a full investigation of the election, while the Kremlin has rejected the accusations of interference.

Georgian Dream, which has been in power since 2012, was established by Bidzina Ivanishvili, a shadowy billionaire who made his fortune in Russia.

The opposition has accused it of becoming increasingly authoritarian and tilted toward Moscow. It has recently adopted laws similar to those used by the Kremlin to crack down on freedom of speech and LGBTQ+ rights.

European election observers said the election took place in a “divisive” atmosphere marked by instances of bribery, double voting and physical violence. Observers said instances of intimidation and other violations were particularly prevalent in rural areas.

The EU suspended Georgia’s membership application process indefinitely because of its passage in June of a Russian-style “foreign influence law.” Many Georgians viewed the parliamentary election as a pivotal referendum on the country’s effort to join the EU.

Georgian Dream promised to continue pushing toward EU accession but it also wants to “reset” ties with Russia, the country’s former imperial master. In 2008, Georgia fought and lost a brief war with Moscow, which then recognized the independence of two breakaway Georgian regions and bolstered its military presence there.

Georgia’s prosecutors last week launched an investigation of the alleged vote-rigging. The opposition immediately objected that the Prosecutor’s Office would not conduct an independent investigation because its head was appointed by the Georgian Dream-controlled parliament.
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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 purchase weapons for the attack, as well as people who are accused of spreading false information online about the teacher and his class.

The proceedings started Monday in the presence of members of Paty’s family, including his two sisters.

The trial was held under high security, with many police officers patrolling and making checks outside and inside the courtroom.

Five of the accused, who are currently imprisoned, were seated in a wide glass box. Three others, placed under judicial supervision, sat on the defendants’ benches outside the box.

France’s secularism at stake

The attack occurred against a backdrop of protests in many Muslim countries and calls online for violence targeting France and the satirical French newspaper Charlie Hebdo. The newspaper had republished its caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad a few weeks before Paty’s death to mark the opening of the trial over deadly 2015 attacks on its newsroom by Islamic extremists.

The cartoon images deeply offended many Muslims, who saw them as sacrilegious. But the fallout from Paty’s killing reinforced the French state’s commitment to freedom of expression and its firm attachment to secularism in public life.

“We expect that the justice system will be up to the crime that has been committed,” Francis Szpiner, the lawyer representing Paty’s 9-year-old son, told reporters. “It’s an unheard-of event in the history of the republic. It’s the first time a teacher has been assassinated because he is a teacher.”

Thibault de Montbrial, a lawyer for Paty’s sister, Mickaelle Paty, said the trial “will enable everybody in French society to become aware of the direct link, extremely clear, that exists between fundamentalist Islam … and the violence that can lead to such a terrifying act.”

A student’s father among the accused

Much attention at the trial will focus on Brahim Chnina, the Muslim father of a teenager who was 13 at the time and claimed that she had been excluded from Paty’s class when he showed the caricatures on Oct. 5, 2020.

Chnina, 52, sent a series of messages to his contacts denouncing Paty, saying that “this sick man” needed to be fired, along with the address of the school in the Paris suburb of Conflans Saint-Honorine.

In reality, Chnina’s daughter had lied to him and had never attended the lesson in question.

Paty was giving a lesson mandated by the National Education Ministry on freedom of expression. He discussed the caricatures in this context, saying students who did not wish to see them could temporarily leave the classroom.

An online campaign against Paty snowballed, and 11 days after the lesson, Anzorov attacked the teacher with a knife as he walked home, and displayed the teacher’s head on social media. Police later shot Anzorov as he advanced towards them armed.

Chnina will be tried for alleged association with a terrorist enterprise for targeting the 47-year-old teacher through false information.

His daughter was tried last year in a juvenile court and given an 18-month suspended sentence. Four other students at Paty’s school were found guilty of involvement and given suspended sentences; a fifth, who pointed out Paty to Anzorov in exchange for money, was given a 6-month term with an electronic bracelet.

A figure promoting radical Islam involved

Abdelhakim Sefrioui, 65, is another key figure in the trial opening Monday for the adult suspects. He presented himself as a spokesperson for Imams of France, although he had been dismissed from that role. He filmed a video in front of the school with the father of the student. He referred to the teacher as a “thug” multiple times and sought to pressure the school administration via social media.

Sefrioui founded the pro-Hamas Cheikh Yassine Collective in 2004, which was dissolved a few days after Paty’s killing. Sefrioui had long criticized and threatened Muslims who advocate friendship with Jews, including the rector of the Grand Mosque of Paris.

Sefrioui and Chnina face 30 years in prison if convicted.

Chnina denied any incitement to “kill” in his messages and video, claiming he did not intend to incite hatred and violence, according to judicial documents.

Sefrioui’s lawyer, Ouadie Elhamamouchi, said he will seek to prove his client is “innocent” and that the video filmed by Sefrioui in front of the school was not seen by the attacker. “In this case, he is the only one who never had any link with the terrorist,” Elhamamouchi said.

Others face charges of complicity

Anzorov, who had wanted to go to Syria to fight with Islamic extremists there, discovered Paty’s name on jihadist social media channels, according to investigators. Anzorov lived 100 kilometers (60 miles) from Paty’s school and did not know the teacher.

Two of Anzorov’s friends face life imprisonment if convicted on charges of complicity in murder in connection with a terrorist enterprise. Naim Boudaoud, 22, and Azim Epsirkhanov, 23, are accused of helping Anzorov buy a knife and a pellet gun. Boudaoud also drove Anzorov to Paty’s school. They turned themselves in at the police station, and deny being aware of the attacker’s intentions.

The other four individuals are charged with criminal terrorist conspiracy for communicating with the killer on pro-jihad Snapchat groups. They all deny being aware of the intent to kill Paty.

On Oct. 13, 2023, another teacher in France was killed by a radical Islamist from Russia, originally from Ingushetia, a region bordering Chechnya.
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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 strong hailstorm pummeled Barcelona some 300 km to the north.

Rescue teams on Monday were searching for bodies in underground garages including a 5,000-car park at Bonaire shopping mall near Valencia airport as well as river mouths where currents may have deposited bodies.

Fatalities from Spain’s worst flash floods in modern history edged higher to 217 on Sunday – almost all of them in the Valencia region and more than 60 in the suburb of Paiporta.

Local residents’ anger was focused on late alerts from authorities about the dangers of flooding and a perceived delayed response by emergency services.

On Sunday, some residents in Paiporta slung mud at Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and King Felipe and his wife Queen Letizia, chanting: “murderers, murderers!”

Transport Minister Oscar Puente said on Sunday the death toll had stabilized because all victims on the surface had been identified.

The torrential rains on Tuesday and Wednesday caused rivers to swell, engulfing streets and the ground floors of buildings, and sweeping away cars and pieces of masonry in tides of mud.

It was the worst flood-related disaster in Europe in five decades

Even though rainfalls have continued during the rest of the week, there has been no more major flooding in the area. The weather agency issued a warning on Monday morning for Barcelona as hailstorm and heavy rains hit Spain’s second largest city.

Some of Sunday’s protesters wore clothing with the symbols of far-right organizations that often stage protests against the leftist government. Robles said extremist groups were taking advantage of the situation for political gains.
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SEOUL, South Korea — The European Union’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell holds talks on Monday with his South Korean counterpart Cho Tae-yul, amid growing concerns in Seoul over the dispatch of North Korean troops to Russia for its war with Ukraine.

Borrell arrived in South Korea after a trip to Japan and visited the heavily fortified Demilitarized Zone separating the two Koreas, the diplomat said in a post on social media platform X on Sunday.

“My visit today of the Demilitarized Zone – DMZ – between the Republic of Korea and the DPRK is yet another reminder of the need to invest more in peace,” Borrell said in the post, referring to the initials of the North’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

Borrell is visiting South Korea to take security and defense cooperation between the the EU and Seoul to “the next level,” he said in another post, without elaborating.

The first such Strategic Dialogue meeting between the EU and South Korea comes as Washington and Seoul have been sounding the alarm about the dispatch of North Korean troops to Russia for its war with Ukraine.

Borrell met with South Korea’s defense minister Kim Yong-hyun in Seoul on Monday and expressed concern over the development, the Yonhap news agency reported.

Cho said last week that all possible scenarios were under consideration, when asked about whether Seoul could send weapons to Ukraine in response to North Korea’s aiding Russia.

South Korea has provided non-lethal aid to Ukraine, including mine clearance equipment, but so far has resisted Kyiv’s requests for weapons.

Seoul also sees it as likely that the North will be compensated by Moscow with military and civilian technology, as it races to launch a spy satellite and upgrade its missile capabilities.

North Korea last week flexed its military muscle with the test of a huge new solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile dubbed Hwasong-19.

Washington expects North Korean troops in Russia’s Kursk region to enter the fight against Ukraine in the coming days, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said last week.

North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui said her country intended to back Russia until it achieved victory in the Ukraine war at talks in Moscow on Friday with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
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BEIJING —  

China has urged France to take on “an active role” to push the European Commission toward a solution acceptable to both the European and Chinese electric vehicle industries, Beijing’s commerce ministry said on Monday, citing its minister.

Wang Wentao, in a meeting with French junior trade minister Sophie Primas in Shanghai on Sunday, reiterated the European Union’s investigation into China’s EVs is a major concern and has “seriously hindered” China-EU auto industry cooperation.

The EU launched an anti-subsidy investigation into imports of Chinese-made battery EVs last year and in October voted for tariffs on those vehicles. China in the past year has launched its own investigations into European pork and dairy, and imposed temporary anti-dumping measures on imports of brandy from the EU early this month.

Primas is on a three-day visit to challenge China over its import duties on brandy, which Paris calls political and unjustified, Reuters reported last week.

Wang told Primas China’s trade remedy investigations on EU brandy, pork and dairy products were in accordance with the domestic industry’s applications and complied with the World Trade Organization rules, “unlike the EU” which was “rash” in launching its EV probe.

“China will continue to conduct investigations in strict accordance with the law, safeguard the legitimate rights of enterprises of EU member states, including France, and make rulings based on facts and evidence,” the ministry statement cited Wang as saying.

But he said China is willing to work with the European Commission towards a “proper solution” as well, without elaborating.

China opened an anti-subsidy probe into imported EU dairy products in August and an investigation focusing on pork intended for human consumption in June.
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Taipei, Taiwan — A second Taiwanese volunteer fighting alongside Ukrainian soldiers against Russia has been killed, Taiwan’s foreign ministry said Sunday.

The man was a member of the Ukrainian Foreign Legion, the ministry said in a statement, expressing condolences to his family, who did not want him publicly identified.

The ministry said it was informed of the man’s death Saturday and that Taiwan’s representative office in Poland had verified the information with the Ukrainian Foreign Legion.

No further details were released about how he died.

At the start of the invasion, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy openly invited foreigners to come to his country to join a “foreign legion” that would fight alongside Ukrainians against the invading Russians.

Taiwanese media reported that the soldier returned to Ukraine in July after recovering from a leg injury.

There are currently “five to six” Taiwanese fighters in Ukraine, Taiwanese lawmaker Puma Shen, a member of the parliamentary defense committee, told AFP.

The first Taiwanese volunteer died on the battlefield in Ukraine in November 2022.
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