Despite once promising he’d dial back his campaign contributions, the tech billionaire remains one of the GOP’s top donors
Elon Musk has quietly forked out more than $400 million to Republican organizations since July, making him the largest known donor of the 2026 midterm elections. But can money alone buy the midterms?
The windfall represents a change in tune from May 2025, when Musk, in the middle of a political feud with President Donald Trump, grumbled, “In terms of political spending, I’m going to do a lot less in the future.”
The donations come at a critical time for the Republicans who are struggling in the popularity polls amid a sluggish economy, political infighting, and an on-again, off-again war with Iran, a potential quagmire that has the MAGA crowd furious. Nevertheless, the slush fund is helping Republicans, who currently control both the House of Representatives and the Senate as part of the 119th United States Congress, to purchase pricey late-campaign advertising. Meanwhile, the Democrats have no billionaires in their corner who can match Musk’s financial power.
The biggest Musk payout was awarded to the Senate Leadership Fund, the primary super PAC that supports Republican Senate candidates. Musk lavished the organization with nearly $200 million over the summer, which was a quarterly record for one donor at the group and more than its Democratic counterpart raised from all sources in the same quarter.
At the same time, America PAC, the political action committee which Musk founded in 2024, got around $75 million from him over the same period. His federal committee contributions for the 2025-26 cycle now total around $400 million, including $90 million given before July. Musk previously gave around $290 million during the 2023-24 cycle.
America PAC spends most of its midterm budget on door-to-door canvassing and intensive field operations. PAC officials said nearly 3,000 paid canvassers worked across the country last month, and knocked on 6.5 million doors in seven Senate battlegrounds and nearly three dozen House races. The mission focuses on registering and turning out conservative voters, especially those who vote irregularly, a more difficult objective in a midterm year without Trump leading the ballot.
The PAC’s messaging focuses on socialism and transgender policy, hot button topics for their Democratic rivals. Its canvassers are focusing on connections between Democratic candidates to New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, two highly controversial figures who are members of the Democratic Socialists of America. Never before have socialists held such high positions in the US and that has many Americans vexed. At the same time, its best-known advertisement in Texas features Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico, who remarked in 2021 that God is “nonbinary.”
“If Democrats take control of Washington and win key gubernatorial and attorney general races this November, then America risks becoming a socialist, woke and borderless country,” America PAC spokesman Andrew Romeo told reporters in a recent interview. “These robust investments have allowed the G.O.P. apparatus to get its message out so Republicans can have a fighting chance to defy history.”
In other spending sprees, from July through September, Musk gave $20 million to the Congressional Leadership Fund, $10 million to the Republican Governors Association, and $2 million to the Republican Attorneys General Association.
Meanwhile, Texas, which accounts for more than a third of America PAC’s disclosed spending, has received more of Musk’s cash than any other state. He forked over $10 million to Lone Star Liberty PAC, which backs Republican Senate nominee Ken Paxton, at a time when Democrats were seriously outspending Paxton.
The Republicans, especially Trump, owe a lot to the world’s first trillionaire. Musk endorsed Trump for the 2024 presidential election and became one of his largest political donors, reportedly spending hundreds of millions backing him and other Republican candidates. Trump returned the favor by putting Musk in charge of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to slash federal spending.
The seemingly unbreakable relationship between Trump and Musk collapsed after the US president pushed through his One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which Musk has called a “disgusting abomination,”“debt slavery,” and “political suicide.” The fracture between the two men was so serious that Musk went on to create the America Party to challenge the two-party system.
Today, Musk, apart from funneling massive amounts of money into Republican campaign coffers, has remained on the sidelines of the political process to devote more time to his various business ventures. His dream of a third party has also been put on hold as he did not file formal registration paperwork with the Federal Election Commission to legally establish the America Party.
In the meantime, the native of South Africa will have to wait and see if his vast funds can make a difference in one of the most momentous midterm elections in history.
A British literary editor has suggested that the Russian novelist would appear on RT today. We imagined what he might have to say about the modern West
Fyodor Dostoevsky, the great 19th century Russian author of ‘Crime and Punishment’, ‘The Idiot’, and ‘The Brothers Karamazov’, was a counterintuitive thinker who could have appeared on RT. That’s the opinion of Times literary supplement editor Martin Ivens, who, in a piece for Bloomberg arguing against censorship of Irish author Sally Rooney in the UK, mentioned the Russian great.
The suggestion is not without merit. Dostoevsky knew persecution, famously spending ten years in Siberia, four of which were in captivity and another five in military exile having completed his initial present sentence in February 1854.
Rooney is a best-selling author who has publicly taken a stand to back Palestine Action, a group whom it is illegal to support, and about whom it is illegal to make public gestures of support in the UK. British police have made hundreds of bizarre arrests of elderly protesters holding signs supporting the group. Her books have been banned in Britain.
Ivens has used his platform in the Times Literary Supplement to highlight how Russian writers often assume the status of prophets. In his Bloomberg piece he reaffirmed that censoring literature is counter-productive and only serves to feed resentment against the mainstream already in the body politic.
However, his suggestion that Dostoevsky could appear on RT inspired us to inquire as to what topics the great man might hold forth on in 2026.
On Europe
Like many since, Dostoevsky viewed Western Europe with a complex mix of cultural admiration and affinity, moral revulsion, and spiritual anxiety. His experience in captivity – where he was subject to a mock execution – is said to have destroyed his faith in secular humanism. He argued that discarding God led to a moral chaos where “everything is permitted.”
“Conscience without God is a terrible thing; it can stray into the depths of immorality.”
He also predicted that attempts to build a so-called paradise on earth through rationalism and secularism alone would inevitably lead to political tyranny.
On the EU’s crisis
Dostoevsky would likely and emphatically make the case that Western European leaders have by now displayed a total political bankruptcy and that Western Europeans should renounce materialism and seek meaningful social relations. The riots engulfing major European capitals, and the unfettered profiteering and immigration that have given rise to such tensions, are a symptom of the malaise of the Western European mind. Forcing humanity into rationalist conformity will only lead to extreme bloodshed, he claimed.
“Starting from unlimited freedom, I arrive at unlimited despotism.”
On liberalism
Dostoevsky would have undoubtedly lamented the emergence of the European Union as a bureaucratic bearer of so-called liberal values. He would have highlighted how his book ‘Demons’ predicted the so-called democratic deficit that characterizes the EU – a tiny, largely unelected bureaucratic elite unreachable to the regular population who are stripped of freedoms.
He would have called the Covid-19 pandemic a brutal event in the restriction of human experience.
Abandoning God and zealously attempting to replace spiritual authority with a moral relativism where everything is permitted will only lead to social and spiritual collapse, Dostoevsky believed. He would have stoutly defended the emphasis and respect for traditional values in popular Russian culture.
“The Westernizers have placed themselves above the people as a paternalistic intelligentsia, rejecting the people.”
He also enjoyed the mess, and this is where he probably would’ve got into trouble with Brussels. The EU notoriously wishes to regulate everything, where Dostoevsky emphasized the irrational and fundamentally spiritual nature of human beings.
On techno-fetishism
He foresaw the loss of grace in the world and its replacement by either authoritarian Catholicism, rational individualistic Protestantism, or indeed technological fetishism. Artificial intelligence in this respect may have represented the apotheosis of his foreboding.
Similarly, Dostoevsky rejected the idea that humans could be rendered calculable and rational beings in their entirety and in that sense would undoubtedly have been horrified at the creeping legislation and legalization of everyday life.
“Human nature acts as a whole, with everything it possesses, consciously and unconsciously.”
The European Union’s Digital Services Act, which allows the behemoth to interfere in the local elections of member countries, would represent such a bureaucratic and legalistic invasion. He would’ve taken a strong stand against the nullification of anti-systemic narratives but would also have emphasized that such political and authority and overreach was inevitable given the collapse of religion and morality.
Dostoevsky would have been as much energized as he would have been horrified by developments in 2026. Were he to be with us today it’s highly likely his voice would contribute to the choir of outspoken and brave commentators who make the channel what it is.
A Florida court has approved legal action against the former Cuban leader over the 1996 shooting down of two US planes
A Florida judge has issued an arrest warrant for former Cuban President Raul Castro, 95, the state’s attorney general announced on Monday. The move marks another escalation in Washington’s months-long pressure campaign against Havana.
The warrant pertains to the 1996 shooting down of two American planes operated by anti-communist Cuban exiles off Cuba’s coast. US authorities accuse Castro of ordering the attack.
“Today, we are announcing state charges against Raul Castro with an arrest warrant for conspiracy to commit first-degree murder,” Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier said at a press conference in Miami. Prosecutors had gathered evidence and witness testimony linking a Cuban spy network to the operation that allegedly led Castro to order the planes shot down, he said.
In May, the US Justice Department separately indicted Castro and five others on charges including murder, conspiracy to kill US nationals and destruction of aircraft. Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel called the indictment a “political maneuver, devoid of any legal foundation” and accused Washington of using it as a pretext to justify future military action against Havana.
In February of 1996, Cuban fighter jets shot down two US planes operated by Brothers to the Rescue, a Miami-based Cuban exile group, killing four men. Havana has maintained that it acted in self-defense against aircraft that violated its airspace.
The CIA has a long history of working with Cuban exile groups against Havana, most notably during the failed Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961. Washington imposed a broad trade embargo on Cuba the following year.
US President Donald Trump has intensified pressure on Havana as part of what he called the “Donroe doctrine” – a modern interpretation of the 19th-century hegemonic political strategy known as the Monroe Doctrine, which aims to assert US dominance in the Western Hemisphere.
After US forces kidnapped Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in January, Trump imposed a near-total energy blockade of Cuba and announced that the island will be “next” in line for regime change. The restrictions have led to a widespread energy crisis and frequent blackouts in Cuba.
Russia, China, Mexico and several other nations have provided humanitarian aid to Cuba. Moscow delivered around 700,000 barrels of oil to the island in March.
More than 60 villages have been wiped out in the country’s south, where the IDF is threatening to establish a permanent military presence
Israel is threatening to turn its occupation of southern Lebanon into a permanent military presence while pursuing the so-called “Gaza model.” RT correspondent Steve Sweeney reports from Beirut on the destruction of entire villages, mass displacement and efforts to secure an Israeli withdrawal.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz declared over the weekend that troops would not withdraw from areas they currently control and warned that the military could advance further towards Nabatieh and the Litani River if Hezbollah launches additional attacks on Israel.
Katz claimed that more than 60 villages and 23,000 homes had been destroyed across an Israeli-controlled area of approximately 700 square km in southern Lebanon and that around 200,000 residents had been displaced.
“All the villages have been wiped out,” he said. “This is the Gaza model, and this is the model we are implementing.”
The reference is to Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, launched in response to the Hamas-led attack in October 2023, which killed around 1,200 people and saw 251 taken hostage. The offensive has left much of the Palestinian enclave in ruins, displaced most of its population and killed more than 74,000 people, according to local health authorities.
Fighting in Lebanon has subsided since a US-brokered ceasefire took effect in June, although Israeli strikes and demolitions have continued in the south. The UN estimated that approximately 330,000 people remained displaced as of late September.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has also insisted that the IDF would remain in southern Lebanon until Hezbollah is disarmed.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun has accused the Jewish state of violating the June agreement through continued attacks and demolitions. He has also warned that the occupation itself is preventing the Lebanese army from deploying along the internationally recognized border, as required under UN Security Council Resolution 1701.
The latest escalation began in early March, after Hezbollah attacked Israel following the start of US-Israeli strikes on Iran. Israel responded with a major air and ground campaign.
The June agreement envisages a gradual Israeli withdrawal alongside Lebanese army deployments and the removal of Hezbollah’s weapons and infrastructure from designated areas. However, its implementation has stalled.
At least 4,389 people have been killed and 12,424 injured in Lebanon since March 2, according to recent Health Ministry figures.
A Lebanese military delegation is due to attend US-brokered talks in Tampa, Florida, on Tuesday, where Beirut will seek an end to Israeli attacks and a timetable for withdrawal.
“The question is whether these talks can deliver an end to occupation or whether Israel intends to make its presence in southern Lebanon a permanent reality,” Sweeney said.
The International Modern Pentathlon Union has reportedly ruled that host nations must guarantee equal opportunities to all athletes
Lithuania has been stripped of the right to host stages of the 2027 Modern Pentathlon World Cup over its refusal to admit Russian and Belarusian athletes, local media reported on Monday.
The decision was reportedly made at the International Modern Pentathlon Union (UIPM) executive board meeting earlier this month. Lithuanian Modern Pentathlon Federation President Justinas Kinderis called the move “sad” but unsurprising, as the international body has repeatedly questioned Lithuania’s refusal to admit Russian and Belarusian competitors.
In a letter cited by Delfi, UIPM President Rob Stull said host countries must comply with International Olympic Committee (IOC) recommendations and ensure equal opportunities for athletes seeking to qualify for the 2028 Olympics.
In July, the IOC decided to provisionally lift restrictions on the Russian and Belarusian Olympic committees, potentially opening the way for their athletes to compete at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics under national symbols. It also recommended that international sports federations let athletes from both nations enter championships.
Last month, the Lithuanian Science, Sport and Education Ministry condemned the decisions by the IOC and international sports organizations to ease the restrictions and said that its own recommendations to national sports bodies to ban athletes from both nations stay in place.
Kinderis also criticized the UIPM for failing to understand Lithuania’s position. “We would like our many years of work organizing championships and winning medals to be respected and appreciated more. We expected simple human decency,” he told Delfi on Monday.
According to the Lithuanian federation head, the nation could also lose its right to host the 2028 World Cup stage and the junior and youth championships.
Russia and Belarus have yet to comment on the development.
National federations have until October 25 to submit bids to host the stage that was originally scheduled to take place in the Lithuanian city of Kaunas. If no candidate comes forward, the UIPM could hold just three stages next year instead of four, according to Delfi.
Lithuania, along with fellow Baltic nations Latvia and Estonia, has taken one of the most hardline anti-Russian stances in the wake of the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in February 2022. The three former Soviet republics, which all have sizable Russian-speaking minorities, introduced travel restrictions targeting Russian nationals and intensified efforts to counter what they claimed was Russian influence.
Estonia has similarly lost the right to host two international sports tournaments over its hardline position on Russian and Belarusian athletes. In January, the International Fencing Federation (FIE) stripped it of the right to hold the 2026 European Fencing Championship. The next year’s European Air Weapons Championship was also moved from Estonia to Spain.
The EU is reportedly considering measures to curb the return of Russian and Belarusian athletes to international sports under their national flags. According to Euractiv, proposals discussed include targeted sanctions, visa restrictions, and cuts to funding for sports organizations that allow athletes from the two countries to compete under their national flags.
Tirana is burning and Prime Minister Edi Rama is pointing his finger at anyone but himself
Anti-government rioters have torched Albania’s education ministry and supreme court, as protests spread across the Balkan nation. Prime Minister Edi Rama is refusing to step down and blames the unrest on Russia. What’s really going on?
As of October 19, the Albanian capital of Tirana has been rocked by seven consecutive days and nights of rioting, while protests and clashes between demonstrators and police have been reported in the cities of Lezhe, Vlore, Elbasan, and Shkoder. A large group of rioters breached the perimeter of the education ministry in Tirana on October 14, setting the building on fire.
Running battles between demonstrators and police have broken out around the ministry on several occasions since. On October 19, hundreds of demonstrators pelted rocks at riot police, who responded with tear gas and rubber bullets. The previous night, offices of the Albanian Supreme Court were set on fire, and arson attacks on several police stations in the city were reported.
Some 500 demonstrators had been detained and 167 of them formally arrested as of October 17, according to Reuters. 295 people had been injured, including 196 police officers, as of October 19, according to Interior Minister Ervin Demo.
What do the protesters want?
The protests follow more than a year of unrest in Albania, which began when Rama banned TikTok in the runup to last March’s parliamentary elections, following similar measures inposed by the EU during every major election across the bloc since 2024. The ban was lifted in February of this year, but demonstrations broke out again in May after Rama’s government authorized the sale of protected wetlands to a development company operated by US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner.
The protesters demanded the resignation of Rama and his entire cabinet, and the cancellation of a planned twin-phase resort project on the wetlands and on nearby Sazan Island.
The protesters’ core demand – that Rama resign – remains unchanged. However, the movement is now calling for a root-and-branch reform of the entire Albanian establishment, with demonstrators accusing both Rama and opposition leader Sali Berisha of corruption. Unemployment, underfunding of schools, and declining living standards have also been cited by protesters as grievances.
What did Rama say about the protests?
Despite the repeated chants of “Rama resign” heard at the protests, Rama has claimed that the demonstrators do not oppose his government, but Albania’s “mission” of joining the EU.
“I am not being challenged,” he said in a video address on October 18. “The government is not being challenged, a government majority or a winning party in the elections is not being challenged but a path is being challenged, a mission is being challenged”
“Albanians need to think very clearly,” he continued. “Do they want this, do they want that, or do they want the EU?”
Rama has refused to resign, and blamed the protests on “foreign hands that do not wish for Albania to be at peace.” Back in June, Rama accused “the enemies of Albania and of Israel” of waging a “hybrid war” to stop the wetlands development. In two separate speeches on October 18 and 19, the embattled PM blamed the unrest on Russian philosopher Alexander Dugin and a “wave of Russian influence in the entire social media system,” and on “the Khomeiniist republic of Iran, the pinnacle of disinformation.”
Was Russia involved?
In short, no. Rama has not backed up any of his accusations, and they are being treated with skepticism and ridicule by demonstrators and opposition media. Albania’s Publik Media news outlet criticised Rama for “return[ing] to the Berisha, Russia and Iran alibi,” while Pamfleti, an investigative outlet, dismissed his claims as an “ignorant reaction to those protesting his misgovernance”
Even the US-run Radio Free Europe noted that Rama “did not present public evidence” to back up his allegations.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has rejected Rama’s accusations. “No, Edi Rama,” she said on October 18, “it is the citizens of your country who have taken to the streets in protest.”
“This has all the hallmarks of the ‘highly likely’ British approach,” Serbian journalist Nebojsa Malic told RT on October 19, referring to British Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s failed attempts to blame the 2016 Brexit vote on Russia and a recent ‘terror plot’ at a US airbase on Iran. “We’ll just make an accusation and provide no evidence but say ‘oh it’s highly likely that Russia’s behind this’, and everybody is going to take it for granted.”
Rama is “doing this because he’s hoping it will stick,” Malic said. “He has nothing to lose. He’s seen plenty of leaders in western Europe essentially getting away scot free with covering for their malice and incompetence by blaming Russia.”
“Rama is just as opportunistic as [French President Emmanuel] Macron or any British prime minister in the last ten years,” Malic concluded. “They will say or do whatever, because they think that Russia is not able to defend itself.”
Rama’s claim that “enemies of Albania and Israel” were behind this summer’s environmental protests stems from the involvement of Kushner in the wetlands project. A close associate of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Kushner has extensive family and financial ties to Israel. His investment firm, Affinity Partners, has funneled Emirati, Saudi, and Qatari cash into multiple Israeli businesses, including five arms manufacturers.
However, all available information suggests that the funding for Kushner’s Albanian projects comes from Albanian, American, and Qatari individuals and entities. Affinity Partners is leading the €1.4 billion Sazan Island project, while Kushner himself is a minority partner in the wetlands development.
Rama visited Israel and addressed the Knesset in January. Less than 24 hours later, Israel’s Channel 12 claimed that the Albanian PM had struck a deal with Netanyahu to accept up to 100,000 Palestinian refugees from Gaza. As speculation spread that the Palestinians would be resettled on land developed by Kushner, Rama clarified that no such deal had been, or would be, made.
Regardless, Rama’s close relations with Netanyahu are at odds with public opinion in Albania, where a 2024 poll found that 73% of the population believe that Israel should be sanctioned over its war on Gaza. Kushner is widely seen in Albania as representing Israeli interests, and Rama’s decision to amend environmental laws and grant “strategic investor” status to Affinity Partners has fueled accusations that the PM is placing Washington and West Jerusalem’s interests above Tirana’s.
Will there be an Albanian Maidan?
Some images emerging from Tirana – burning barricades, police officers set on fire with Molotov cocktails, and smouldering government buildings – are reminiscent of the scenes that played out during the 2014 ‘Maidan’ coup in Ukraine. However, Rama is in far less perilous of a position than Ukraine’s president, Viktor Yanukovich, was during the 2014 uprising.
Unlike the present unrest in Albania, the Maidan coup was planned and directed by foreign actors, namely the US State Department and the British embassy in Kiev. Rama, on the other hand, is a close partner of the EU and US, and neither Washington nor Brussels have backed the protesters. Instead, Rama has apparently been given carte blanche to squash the demonstrations, with columns of military vehicles seen entering Tirana between October 15 and 19.
The EU has condemned the use of violence by protesters, with the European Commission criticizing them for “arson, attacks on State institutions and the destruction of public and private property.” In a statement on October 18, the commission praised Rama’s progress toward EU membership and welcomed his “commitment that the right to protest will be protected.”
One week earlier, an EU delegation in Tirana said that Brussels was “aware of allegations of excessive use of force by the police against protesters and journalists,” adding that the government’s response to protests and riots “must remain within the law.”
European Commission statements on the protests in Albania (L) and the 'Maidan' movement in Ukraine (R)
The EU took a far more interventionist position in 2014, sending officials to meet with demonstrators in Kiev and endorsing protests even as they devolved into violent riots. Brussels prepared sanctions on Yanukovich, and once he had been toppled, it gifted an €11 billion aid package to Ukraine, which would elect the pro-EU Petro Poroshenko president months later.
The West is still firmly on Rama’s side, and he is unlikely to face any calls for resignation from abroad. However, he is still facing the most sustained public pressure campaign of his 13-year stint in power, and if the protests continue and more buildings burn, he may be left with no choice but to admit defeat and step down.
Moscow’s diesel agreement with Washington marks a diplomatic success, but offers no guarantee of a Ukraine peace deal
The diesel deal between Moscow and Washington has once again shaken up the geopolitical chessboard, with each passing day bringing fresh and unexpected developments. Most striking is Kiev’s behavior. Despite his enormous dependence on Washington, Vladimir Zelensky has decided to challenge Donald Trump directly, adopting an unusually confrontational approach.
A more pragmatic politician might have announced a moratorium on strikes against Russian oil refineries until the US congressional elections, particularly as Washington had demanded no further concessions. Instead, Zelensky has chosen confrontation, creating a diplomatic crisis of his own making, but whether it develops into something more serious remains to be seen.
Relations between Kiev and Washington have deteriorated before, most notably following the notorious Oval Office confrontation, although that rupture lasted only a few weeks. Western European leaders and congressional hawks worked tirelessly to repair the damage. This time, however, the circumstances are different.
The NATO Europeans appear to have abandoned attempts to charm Trump, Senator Lindsey Graham is no longer on Capitol Hill, while Keith Kellogg, previously sympathetic to Kiev, has departed the administration, thus the pressure on Trump has diminished, although that hardly guarantees a fundamental change in American policy.
For one thing, the diesel agreement has done little to clarify the prospects for peace, given, according to leaks from Washington, American officials continue to promote proposals, including freezing hostilities along existing lines, that Moscow considers unacceptable.
Even if Washington succeeds in forcing Kiev back to the negotiating table, there’s no guarantee that the understandings reached at Anchorage can be revived and Trump could just as easily reverse course, as he has done before, and blame Russia for another diplomatic deadlock. Meanwhile, influential figures within his administration, particularly Secretary of State Marco Rubio, remain deeply skeptical of Moscow, so their relative silence should not be mistaken for acquiescence.
Nor is there much reason to believe Russian diesel exports to the US will quickly bring down fuel prices or transform the electoral landscape.
The agreement is primarily a political gesture, intended to reassure Trump’s increasingly disillusioned core supporters that their president understands their economic difficulties and is attempting to find a way out, yet it’s unlikely to prevent Republicans from losing control of the House of Representatives. The Senate remains uncertain, but its fate will depend on numerous factors, with diesel prices only one consideration.
A Democratic-controlled Congress would almost certainly confront the White House over Ukraine, seeking to preserve American assistance to Kiev, while another impeachment campaign cannot be ruled out either. Such a confrontation could consume Trump’s attention and leave greater responsibility for foreign policy in the hands of officials such as Rubio, whose instincts towards Russia are considerably less accommodating.
There’s also the possibility of a more fundamental reshaping of the Ukrainian political project, where replacing Zelensky, under external pressure, with a leader more acceptable to Washington could help reconcile American and Western European approaches and the growing crisis of governance in Kiev makes this scenario increasingly conceivable.
None of this diminishes Moscow’s diplomatic achievement in securing the diesel agreement, where it’s demonstrated that Washington is prepared to negotiate directly with Russia when American interests demand it, regardless of Kiev’s objections.
But diplomatic success shouldn’t breed complacency and the underlying contradictions remain unresolved, the prospects for a durable settlement are uncertain, and too many powerful interests still favor prolonging the confrontation.
The diesel deal may have changed the immediate political calculations, but it hasn’t altered the fundamental dynamics of the conflict.
This article was first published by Kommersant, and was translated and edited by the RT team
Weeks of protests over rising living costs and deteriorating public services have descended into violent clashes and widespread destruction
France will introduce localized curfews as the unrest over rising living costs and deteriorating public services has escalated into widespread violence and destruction, leaving the authorities struggling to restore order.
The unrest escalated over the weekend, with nearly 2,400 people arrested, hundreds of businesses looted, and buildings set on fire across the country. Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said police lost control in several major cities.
French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu announced on Monday that he instructed the regional authorities to introduce curfews following an emergency government meeting.
“They will be partial and may be highly localized,” Lecornu said, adding that declaring a state of emergency cannot be ruled out.
Later on Monday, Paris police imposed an overnight curfew from 11pm to 6am in designated areas around Republic Square and the Les Halles district, restricting access for both adults and minors.
Nearly 1,000 police officers and gendarmes were injured over the weekend, according to the Interior Ministry. In Limoges, rioters set fire to the city’s historic 19th-century town hall, causing the roof to collapse. Clashes, arson, and looting were also reported in Paris, Marseille, Lyon, and other cities.
Nunez offered his resignation on Sunday, acknowledging failures in anticipating and containing the violence. President Emmanuel Macron refused to accept it, instead ordering a review of security planning and intelligence failures and demanding changes to policing tactics.
More than 2,500 businesses were targeted on Saturday alone, according to Alain Di Crescenzo, the president of the French Chambers of Commerce and Industry.
The Association of Mayors of France called for gatherings outside town halls on Monday, denouncing failures in policing and warning of a “real risk to the entire nation.”
The protests began in September at a high school in Creteil, near Paris, over teacher shortages and deteriorating facilities. The movement has since spread to public sector workers and trade unions demanding higher wages, better services, and relief from rising living costs, while opposing spending cuts in the government’s proposed 2027 budget.
France is grappling with growing public debt (around 119% of GDP) and a substantial budget deficit. The government is seeking to reduce the shortfall through spending cuts and tax measures, while growing political uncertainty has pushed borrowing costs to the highest levels in more than 20 years.
The protests echo the 2018 Yellow Vest movement, which challenged Macron’s economic policies. Yellow Vest activists have joined the demonstrations and called for another round of protests on October 24.
The crisis has intensified pressure on Macron in the final months of his presidency, drawing criticism from across the political spectrum ahead of the 2027 election.
Right-wing politician Marine Le Pen, who leads in first-round presidential polling, called Macron a president “without credibility or authority” who has “lost all touch with reality.”
Jean-Luc Melenchon, leader of the left-wing La France Insoumise (LFI) party, blamed “ten disastrous years”of Macron’s policies for the crisis and accused Nunez and police commanders of “complete incompetence.”
The brutal beatings drew international condemnation and demands from West Jerusalem to take action against the perpetrators
Israeli security forces arrested ten suspected extremist settlers in the occupied West Bank on Monday following attacks on a US journalist and European diplomats that sparked international outrage.
The suspects were detained during a joint operation dubbed “Olive Leaf,” involving police, the Shin Bet security agency, and the IDF, Israeli police said in a statement on Monday.
The arrests were part of an investigation assigned to the police’s Judea and Samaria District investigative unit, the authorities said, using Israel’s name for the West Bank. Ten suspects were arrested in the pre-dawn operation, evidence linking them to the incidents was seized, and several vehicles were confiscated, the police said.
“The law in Judea and Samaria applies to everyone, regardless of identity or affiliation,” Israeli Police Commissioner Danny Levy stated.
The first attack took place on Friday, when Israeli settlers brutally beat Washington Post photojournalist Heidi Levine during their reported raid on an olive harvest in the West Bank, breaking four of her vertebrae and a rib, according to WaPo. IDF soldiers reportedly witnessed the event, but did nothing to help her.
The following day, masked settlers attacked a convoy of European diplomats in the Palestinian territory. Bernard Baudoux, mayor of the French town of Aulnoye-Aymeries, accused the attackers of kicking him and beating him with metal bars.
The attack drew condemnation and demands for action from France, Belgium, and Poland, whose diplomats were part of the delegation. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Saturday that Washington had urged Israel to “crack down” on the violence.
The violence came amid Israel’s accelerating expansion of settlements in the occupied West Bank, where they are considered illegal under international law. Israel advanced plans for nearly 11,000 settlement homes this year in a push championed by far-right members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet, according to Israeli watchdog Peace Now.
More than 2,060 settler attacks resulting in casualties or property damage took place this year to date, with 244 incidents since late September, the UN said last week. More than 160 attacks targeting the Palestinian olive harvest were recorded in the two weeks covered by the report, it added.
The American diplomat’s planned visit to a refinery comes amid a global diesel shortage and President Trump’s sanctions waiver on Russian oil
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio will meet Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar in Mumbai on Tuesday and visit a major oil refinery in western India the next day as he makes his second visit to the country this year.
Washington’s top diplomat is leaving New Delhi out of his itinerary and is focusing instead on diesel supplies and business deals as high fuel prices weigh on the prospects of US President Donald Trump’s Republican Party ahead of November’s midterm elections.
Rubio is scheduled to visit the Jamnagar refining complex of Indian conglomerate Reliance Industries on Wednesday, where he is expected to meet with its billionaire owner Mukesh Ambani.
The Trump administration is emphasizing business deals over policy and politics as American voters focus on the economy, experts told CNBC.
Why Jamnagar has become important for US
Reliance, India’s largest private company, operates the world’s biggest single-site refining complex at Jamnagar – in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Gujarat state – which is capable of processing around 1.4 million barrels of crude a day.
The facility’s importance as a major supplier of refined fuels globally has increased as disruptions in the Middle East and Russia squeeze diesel supplies, with ripple effects on US markets.
US diesel prices averaged $6.29 a gallon in September, according to the Energy Information Administration. The International Energy Agency has warned that global shortages could persist into 2027.
Reliance has cranked up increased exports amid the crunch. Its diesel shipments to Europe reached around 4-5 million barrels in July, a ten-month high, while exports to Brazil also rose, Reuters reported.
Any additional Indian diesel flowing to global markets would help ease diesel prices and explain Rubio’s trip to Jamnagar.
Reliance, long a major buyer of Russian crude, has increasingly turned to Venezuela after receiving US authorization to purchase oil directly from the South American country earlier this year.
Jamnagar, unlike many other refineries in India, can process Venezuela’s heavy crude. Venezuelan deliveries scheduled for India could more than double to around 465,000 barrels a day in October, according to ship-tracking firm Kpler. All of those listed Sikka, the port serving Jamnagar, as their destination, Bloomberg reported.
Trump has also waived key sanctions and tariff provisions under a new law targeting the Russian energy trade, potentially making more Russian crude available to refiners. Rubio said that Washington was assessing the economic impact of further restrictions, including on countries dependent on Russian oil such as India.
Ambani has invested in Trump’s dream
Rubio’s meeting with Ambani is significant for another reason.
Reliance is backing a proposed refinery in Brownsville, Texas, designed to process American shale oil. The planned facility would handle 168,000 barrels a day, with the company agreeing to purchase the output under a 20-year arrangement, Reuters reported.
The developer has described it as the first new US refinery in half a century. It will be designed designed for American shale oil. The full investment and construction costs remain undisclosed.
The refinery is key to bringing to the US consumer the benefits of Trump’s efforts – under the political slogan “drill, baby, drill” – to increase domestic fossil fuel production.
The project also adds another strand to the economic ties between New Delhi and Washington, even as both countries inch toward closing a bilateral trade deal following months of negotiations.
The deal’s first phase has entered legal drafting, Indian Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal said last week.
Washington and New Delhi are “very close” to finalizing the deal, Rubio said Monday, adding that trade negotiations were among the factors considered in Washington’s sanctions decisions.
Rubio’s expected meeting with Ambani comes on the heels of Elon Musk’s public outbursts attributing delays to the launch of his Starlink satellite internet service in India to the Indian billionaire.
Musk, who has Trump’s ears, accused powerful business interests of obstructing Starlink’s entry and even blamed Ambani for the delay, referring to him as “Prime Minister Ambani” in a X post.
Reliance, whose telecommunications business Jio serves more than 530 million customers in India, has denied blocking competition. It has welcomed Starlink and pointed out that its own satellite venture was awaiting New Delhi’s security clearance.
India has also denied favoring domestic companies in the approval process. Musk subsequently acknowledged Reliance’s response, saying, “Much appreciated.”
Rubio’s decision to hold talks in Mumbai rather than New Delhi has drawn criticism from India’s opposition Congress party.
Opposition leader Rahul Gandhi snarked that Rubio “summoned his employee to Mumbai,” while senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh questioned why the American ambassador announced details of Jaishankar’s schedule.
In the US, six Democratic lawmakers urged Rubio to raise concerns over the detention of anti-government protesters in New Delhi and the alleged use of excessive force. Their October 16 letter also sought an investigation into reports that Indian diplomatic missions monitored protesters in the US.
Meetings with foreign dignitaries outside the capital are not unusual, India’s Foreign Ministry pointed out, citing previous engagements in several cities. It confirmed that Rubio and Jaishankar would discuss energy, trade, investment, defense, and emerging technologies.
The Trump administration prioritizes business over politics, and it may well be that the global energy situation – and a billionaire – have placed New Delhi in a sweet spot to benefit from that.
West Jerusalem reportedly facilitated nearly $2 billion in Qatari funds to the enclave even as Israeli officials accused Doha of financing Hamas
Israel helped facilitate nearly $2 billion in Qatari payments to Gaza over more than a decade and urged Doha to maintain the funding, even as Israeli officials publicly accused the country of financing Hamas, Time Magazine reported on Sunday, citing official correspondence and testimony from senior Israeli, US, and Arab officials.
Qatari payments to Gaza, long a source of controversy, came under renewed scrutiny after the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel. Qatar has denied that the funds were intended for Hamas and has argued that Israel was responsible for any money that reached the group, as West Jerusalem oversaw the aid mechanism.
According to Time, Israel’s role went beyond simply allowing Qatar to send aid to Gaza. Israeli officials reportedly determined who received the money, facilitated cash deliveries into the enclave, and pressed Doha to keep the payments flowing.
The report highlights a contradiction between Israeli officials’ public accusations that Qatar was financing Hamas and their private requests for Doha to continue the payments. The discrepancy reportedly angered Qatari officials, according to source in the first administration of US President Donald Trump as cited by Time.
The publication also details how Israel facilitated the payments, including cash deliveries to Gaza in suitcases and a UN-backed payment mechanism. The magazine cited a 2020 letter in which then-Mossad chief Yossi Cohen thanked Qatar’s Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani for the assistance. Two weeks before the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack, then-Mossad chief David Barnea reportedly traveled to Doha and asked Qatar to renew the funding for another two months.
By 2018, Qatar had sent roughly $1.1 billion to Gaza, according to an analysis provided to Israeli ministers. The funds covered humanitarian assistance, fuel, and government salaries. Under the arrangement, Qatar paid for fuel and electricity purchased from Israel, financed projects through the UN, and provided monthly $100 payments to some of Gaza’s poorest families, distributed by the World Food Programme after Israeli authorities vetted recipients.
Netanyahu defended the policy as necessary to avert a humanitarian crisis and maintain essential services in Gaza, the magazine noted. The PM’s office has declined to comment on the latest findings.
Qatar told Time that all its assistance was intended for Palestinian civilians and delivered through mechanisms coordinated with Israel and international partners. At the same time, Doha argued that Israel bore responsibility if any funds reached Hamas because it had overseen delivery and created the mechanism.
The Israeli prime minister has pledged to overthrow Tehran’s government and made striking first a central principle of his security doctrine
Israel is prepared to attack Iran without US participation if necessary, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said, pledging to overthrow Tehran’s government and make striking first a central principle of his security doctrine.
The declaration comes amid ongoing indirect negotiations over the war launched by the US and Israel in February. Israel, a major recipient of American military funding and weapons, has justified its offensives on security grounds, even as the conflict has spread across the region, disrupted Hormuz shipping, and driven up global energy prices.
Presenting his security doctrine in a speech on Sunday, Netanyahu argued that Iran would rebuild its nuclear and military capabilities as long as its government survived and made clear that Israel was prepared to launch further attacks without waiting for American participation.
“If we need to act alone, we will act alone,” he said.
Netanyahu presented Israel’s earlier campaign against Iran as a model, recalling that he told US President Donald Trump he would attack Tehran “either way” and invited American participation in a strike on the Fordow nuclear facility.
He framed further action against Iran as unfinished business, explicitly identifying the overthrow of the country’s government as the ultimate objective. “We are working on it and we will do it,” Netanyahu said.
Despite Tehran repeatedly stressing that its nuclear program is peaceful and denying seeking nuclear weapons, Netanyahu once again claimed that the US-Israeli attacks had prevented Iran from acquiring an atomic bomb intended to destroy Israel.
Netanyahu framed the renewed strikes as part of a broader doctrine prioritizing attack over defense. He compared striking first to gaining the advantage in childhood street fights and said Israel could establish bases far beyond its borders.
“We will have to live by our sword in order to live for many years,” he said.
He also described plans to seize and destroy what he called threat centers in the occupied West Bank, listed preventing Palestinian statehood as a fundamental principle, and included disrupting military and “civilian systems” in his deterrence strategy.
US-Iran negotiations are already deadlocked. Trump rejected Tehran’s proposal last month as “unacceptable,” insisting the US blockade had left Iran “losing so badly” and seeking a deal on Washington’s terms.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi reiterated on Saturday that normal shipping in the Strait of Hormuz could resume within seven days if Washington accepted Tehran’s conditions, including lifting the naval blockade, easing oil export restrictions, releasing frozen assets, and ending hostilities on all fronts, including Israel’s operations in Gaza and Lebanon.
Trump has nevertheless threatened renewed bombing, with Axios recently reporting that US officials expected major combat operations could resume after November’s midterm elections.
Tehran has warned that another attack would trigger broader retaliation, potentially targeting American technology infrastructure across the Gulf.
Agnes Ngetich and Alexander Mutiso won the women’s and men’s races despite a challenging course
Kenyan runners Agnes Ngetich and Alexander Mutiso set new course records after winning the women’s and men’s races at the Tokyo Legacy Half Marathon in Japan on Sunday.
Ngetich finished the 21.1km race in one hour, four minutes and 23 seconds (1:04:23), cutting three minutes off the previous women’s course record. Her compatriot Tabitha Njeri Kamau came second in 1:08:28, according to the results.
Mutiso won the men’s competition in 59 minutes and 51 seconds, beating the previous course record by one second. He finished five seconds ahead of fellow Kenyan Kiprono Sitonik, who took second place.
Speaking after the race, Ngetich said she that was pleased with her victory and surprised by her finishing time. She also noted that the course had been challenging, with hills and numerous sharp turns. “I didn’t think I’ll get that time. The course was not easy,” she said.
Mutiso said his victory had boosted his confidence ahead of his next marathon. He explained that he made his decisive move on a hilly section of the course between the 17km and 18.5km marks.
“I feel good. I see now I am in a good position to prepare well for [my] coming marathon,” he said.
The course began and ended at Japan’s National Stadium and followed roads used during the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games.
Ngetich’s victory came less than a month after she broke the women-only half marathon world record at the World Athletics Road Running Championships in Copenhagen. The 25-year-old completed that race in 1:05:15.
Kenyan distance runners have also recorded major victories in other international competitions this year. In April, Sebastian Sawe became the first athlete to complete an official competitive marathon in under two hours, winning the London Marathon in a world-record 1:59:30. Fellow Kenyan John Korir also won the Boston Marathon that month, setting a course record of 2:01:52.
The London Marathon also saw a record-breaking performance in the women’s race. Ethiopia’s Tigst Assefa set a new women’s-only marathon world record of 2:15:50.
Protests over rising living costs and education funding have swept major French cities over the weekend
Nearly 350 people were arrested in Paris on Sunday and overnight amid violent unrest sweeping France despite President Emmanuel Macron’s appeals for calm, the authorities said on Monday.
Hundreds of thousands protested rising living costs and education funding cuts over the weekend, with demonstrations escalating into clashes with police, arson and looting.
The violence erupted Saturday as Yellow Vest demonstrations merged with student protests that began last month at a high school in Creteil, near Paris, over teacher shortages and deteriorating facilities. The movement has since broadened into protests against inequality and rising living costs, with labor unions joining in opposition to the government’s proposed 2027 budget and spending cuts.
Despite Macron’s Friday appeal for “calm and respect,” Paris endured two days of rioting. On Sunday, protesters clashed with police near Place de la Republique as vehicles and trach cans burned, shops were looted and officers deployed tear gas and water cannons.
A crowd also attacked RT Arabic correspondent Wafa Fakkani while she was filming the protests. Her cameraman captured the incident before the crew escaped and resumed reporting.
A day prior, violence hit some of the capital’s wealthiest shopping districts, where luxury retailers were targeted by vandals and looters. Paris Mayor Emmanuel Gregoire said “entire streets” had been “systematically devastated.”
Galeries Lafayette in Paris is being looted tonight.
Clashes also erupted in Marseille, Lyon, Lille, Bordeaux, Angers, and Limoges, damaging businesses and public buildings. Alain Di Crescenzo, head of the CCI France chamber of commerce network, estimated that more than 2,000 businesses were affected, with damage reaching “hundreds of millions of euros.”
Justice Minister Gerald Darmanin put nationwide turnout at 550,000, including 110,000 in Paris, while organizing trade unions, including the CGT, and student groups estimated that 800,000 people took part. Darmanin told France 2 on Monday that, in total, more than 2,330 people had been detained over the weekend, including around 855 in the capital. Nearly 1,000 police officers and gendarmes were reportedly injured.
Although the worst rioting had subsided by Monday morning, students and union activists blocked access to the iconic Louvre Museum, denouncing “police repression.” Footage showed demonstrators gathering outside the museum’s glass pyramid after passing security, prompting its temporary closure.
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Devant la pyramide du Louvre à Paris, des étudiants d’écoles d’art et de culture manifestent et bloquent l’entrée du musée.
Politicians across France’s political spectrum blamed Macron and his government for the unrest, accusing the administration of undermining public services and failing to maintain order.
Marine Le Pen, who leads first-round polling for the 2027 presidential election, called Macron a president “without credibility or authority,” describing his administration as “a government on its last legs.” Jean-Luc Melenchon, leader of the left-wing France Unbowed party, blamed “ten disastrous years” of Macron weakening public services. The mayors of Paris, Marseille and Limoges accused Interior Minister Laurent Nunez and police commanders of incompetence in maintaining public order.
Nunez initially blamed “opportunistic troublemakers” for the unrest, but admitted Monday that police had suffered “a loss of control” due to poor planning. He said he offered his resignation Sunday, but Macron refused, instead ordering a new policing strategy, faster deployment and transparency over intelligence failures. Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu ordered partial curfews in several cities.
Macron condemned the rioting, insisting there was “no place for violence” and promising punishment for vandals and looters. In a televised address Sunday, he said “nothing justifies” the destruction, but pledged to address students’ complaints over school conditions. Meanwhile, he portrayed the unrest as an attempt by political opponents to disrupt the democratic process and influence voters ahead of the presidential election in six months.
Despite the unrest, Macron departed on Monday for a three-day visit to the Middle East, leaving his government to deal with the fallout at home.
The crisis comes as Macron’s approval ratings hit record lows. An October Ipsos BVA-CESI poll for La Tribune Dimanche put his approval at 15%, with 82% disapproving, the lowest since he took office in 2017. An Ifop survey recorded 17% approval and 83% dissaproval. Le Pen leads first-round polling for the April 2027 election with 32-36% support.
Protests spread beyond France
France was not alone in facing unrest over the weekend, as tens of thousands protested living costs, housing shortages and government policies across Europe. Demonstrations in several countries escalated into clashes, vandalism and arson.
In Belgium, students opposed rising education costs and reforms they say threaten access to higher education. In Italy, marches against living costs and wars turned violent in Milan and Bologna. In Portugal, tens of thousands protested low wages, rising rents and housing shortages. In Albania, student-led protests entered a fifth day, with demonstrators demanding Prime Minister Edi Rama’s resignation over corruption allegations, unemployment and poor prospects for young people.
Former Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz described the unrest across Europe over the weekend as resembling “scenes from a civil war,” warning in a post on X that “we risk seeing the same scenes soon in Berlin, Vienna and Munich.”
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov described the European unrest as “bordering on chaos,” calling it a major crisis.
“It’s hard to say whether the crisis is systemic or not, but it is obvious that it is a big crisis,” he told reporters on Monday.
Some experts who spoke to RT linked the unrest to EU’s confrontation with Russia. Italian journalist Davide Carbonaro called the severing of economic ties with Moscow “economic and political suicide,” saying that young Europeans felt betrayed and deprived of a future. Serbian journalist Nebojsa Malic accused Western leaders of scapegoating Russia to hide their failures.
RT’s Chay Bowes examined how Europe’s continued support for Ukraine and sanctions against Russia are fueling economic pressures and public discontent as unrest spreads across the continent.
Warships practiced live-fire artillery, counter-drone operations, and the rescue of a hijacked vessel during the Indra-2026 drills
Russian and Indian warships have completed joint naval drills off Russia’s Pacific coast, conducting live-fire exercises and practicing defenses against drone attacks as part of the wider Indra-2026 military exercise.
The maritime phase of the drills took place in the Gulf of Peter the Great near Vladivostok, involving the Russian Pacific Fleet corvette Aldar Tsydenzhapov and the Indian Navy frigate INS Sahyadri, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Saturday.
INS Sahyadri arrived in Vladivostok on October 10 and conducted harbor engagements before operations at sea.
The crews fired naval artillery at surface and aerial targets, carried out coordinated maneuvers, and tested communications between the vessels. They also practiced repelling attacks by unmanned boats and aerial drones representing a simulated enemy. The Russian corvette used 30mm automatic guns, small arms, and electronic warfare systems to counter the simulated threats.
The exercises culminated in a simulated joint operation to rescue a civilian vessel seized by pirates. Russian and Indian naval counterterrorism units boarded the vessel and neutralized the attackers, with drone operators coordinating their movements.
The two navies also practiced helicopter operations, including reconnaissance, cross-deck landings, and medical evacuations.
An Indian helicopter landed aboard the Russian corvette shortly after a Russian helicopter took off. The crews then exchanged mannequins representing wounded sailors as part of a casualty evacuation exercise, RT correspondent Igor Zhdanov reported from aboard the Russian warship.
Indra-2026 began on October 14 and involves land, naval, and air forces from both countries.
The land component will continue in Russia’s Chelyabinsk Region until October 23, with troops practicing joint command and control and operations against simulated armed groups. Russian and Indian aircrews are also conducting exercises involving Su-30SM fighter jets and Mi-8 helicopters.
The previous edition of the exercise was held off the coast of the southern Indian city of Chennai.
The deployment builds on the longstanding defense partnership between Moscow and New Delhi and carries forward cooperation discussed during Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit to India last December, India’s Defense Ministry said.
The Ukrainian leader, whose term expired two years ago, wants to run again despite promising that he would only serve one term
Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky has said he wants to run for president again if an election is held before the conflict with Russia ends. His five-year term expired two years ago, prompting Moscow to question his legitimacy, while US President Donald Trump has called for him to be replaced.
Zelensky has refused to call a new election since his term expired in May 2024, citing martial law, which was imposed after the conflict with Russia escalated in February 2022. During his 2019 election campaign, he promised to only serve one term.
Speaking to NBC News’ ‘Meet the Press’ on Sunday, Zelensky said he would seek another term if an election is held while the fighting continues.
“If it will be during the war – of course. It’s my responsibility, because I have to defend my country from the very beginning to end of this war,” he stated.
Zelensky once again demanded a ceasefire of at least 60 days to prepare for the election, claiming that the country needs time to amend its laws and put election infrastructure in place.
Moscow has rejected the demand. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said Kiev could use an election as a pretext to secure a 60-day ceasefire to “regroup,” recover its military losses, and resume the fighting. He added, however, that Russia is prepared to suspend strikes on election day.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has argued that Zelensky’s presidential powers should have passed to the parliament after his mandate expired, and questioned whether he can sign binding peace agreements. He called Zelensky’s refusal to hold elections a “strategic mistake.”
Zelensky’s ambitions also face opposition at home. A survey in September by the Kiev International Institute of Sociology found that 53% of respondents believe he should only serve one presidential term, up from 46% in December 2025.
Trump has stepped up pressure on Zelensky, accusing him of prolonging the conflict while receiving billions in Western assistance. Earlier this month, he called for a new president, arguing that Zelensky has repeatedly rejected opportunities to end the fighting.
“I suggest they get a new leader who can make a deal,” Trump told reporters.
He also blamed Ukrainian strikes on Russian oil refineries for the worsening global diesel crisis and rising prices which hurt American farmers, accusing Zelensky of creating “problems for the world” despite his repeated demands to stop the attacks.
In a Truth Social post on Sunday, Trump said Zelensky “doesn’t want to end this war, and probably never did,” arguing that he could have secured a better deal with Russia two years ago. He added that Ukraine is “in shambles,” describing its male population as “low, wounded, and/or dead.”
Nine children were among those killed in the RSF attack in West Darfur, according to a regional minister
Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have killed at least 11 people, including nine children, in a drone attack on a displacement camp in West Darfur, according to the region’s Health and Social Welfare Minister, Babiker Hamdin.
In a statement published on Sunday, Hamdin said that the attack targeted displaced civilians on the Sudan-Chad border. According to preliminary figures, the victims included nine children aged between five and ten and two women aged 23 and 36. Five others were injured.
The victims had reportedly fled their villages last year after RSF fighters allegedly burned and looted their homes. They subsequently sought refuge in Sanakit, near the Chadian border, where they were living in difficult humanitarian conditions before the latest attack.
Hamdin condemned the strike as “a horrific crime and a grave violation of international humanitarian law, reflecting the militia’s indifference to the lives of innocent people.”
He called on the international community to hold those responsible accountable and designate the paramilitary group as a terrorist organization.
Sudan was plunged into a civil war three years ago after a struggle for power broke out between the SAF and the RSF.
The RSF has faced similar accusations from rights groups over attacks on civilians. In September, the Sudanese Alliance for Rights reported that five people were killed in an attack on a market in North Kordofan, while the Committee for Justice blamed the group for a courthouse strike that killed ten. On October 9, the Sudan Doctors Network accused the rebels of a drone attack on a displacement camp in Blue Nile state that killed 31 people, including four children.
Earlier this month, Russian diplomat Yulia Zhdanova said that Sudanese troops recovered US-supplied weapons intended for Ukraine from RSF fighters near Bara. Their markings indicated that they had been transferred to Kiev in December 2024, she said, according to TASS.
New Delhi wants Facebook and Instagram to prevent misleading content and certain narratives from being disproportionately amplified
India has asked Meta to review how Facebook and Instagram recommend content, citing concerns that their algorithms disproportionately promote certain narratives, amid protests over disputed voter rolls in New Delhi.
The advisory from India’s Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) calls for changes to content-ranking systems to prevent misleading, manipulated, or out-of-context material from being repeatedly recommended to users, news agency PTI reported on Monday after reviewing the document which was issued on October 10.
Meta has been asked to act immediately and inform the government of the steps taken.
The advisory comes amid demonstrations by the youth-led Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) and opposition parties demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over a nationwide electoral-roll revision.
Opposition groups allege that legitimate voters have been excluded and that the exercise benefits Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The Election Commission and BJP deny manipulating voter lists. The advisory does not identify any specific protest as the reason for its issuance.
The document calls on Meta to prevent users from being disproportionately exposed to a “single or limited set of narratives” and ensure greater diversity of credible information.
India’s IT Ministry has received reports from government agencies suggesting that Meta’s algorithms favor certain kinds of content, PTI reported, citing sources in the ministry.
The ministry has flagged videos, photographs, and graphics relating to public events, particularly police action and restrictions, being promoted without adequate context. It wants stronger checks on old or selectively edited visuals presented as current events and unverified claims about official measures.
Meta has also been asked to identify potentially harmful content gaining significant reach more quickly and cooperate with authorized law-enforcement agencies under India’s information technology laws. The request follows a broader advisory issued to social media companies on October 8, directing them to prioritize complaints from government agencies and label misleading or manipulated content related to public events.
Although the advisory is not legally binding, it amounts to a “continuing censorship directive,” Internet Freedom Foundation founder-director Apar Gupta said. He urged the government to withdraw it and Meta to disclose content removals or reductions in visibility carried out under its provisions.
The tragic incident in Ecuador was captured on camera during a livestreamed service
A Catholic priest in Ecuador has been killed after a large wooden crucifix fell from a church wall and struck him on the head during Mass.
The tragedy occurred on Saturday at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church in the southern city of Guayaquil. The service was livestreamed on social media, according to local media reports.
Footage shows the 53-year-old parish priest, Father Patricio Alfredo Sanchez Molinari, standing near the altar when the crucifix mounted on the wall behind him suddenly tilts forward and falls on him. The incident occurred roughly 30 minutes into the service leaving the congregation stunned and bereaved.
The Archdiocese of Guayaquil subsequently confirmed the priest’s death in an official statement, saying Cardinal Luis Cabrera joined “in prayer for the eternal rest of his soul and expresses its solidarity, affection and love to the Redemptorist family, to his families and friends.”
Parishioners at San Lorenzo in Vinces, where Father Patricio had previously served, also paid tribute to the priest, recalling his “dedication and pastoral love” to their community.
Ecuadorian authorities have not publicly commented on the incident, and the cause of the crucifix’s fall remains unknown.
The Indian prime minister’s visit scheduled for this year could take place next year, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to visit Russia next year for his annual summit with President Vladimir Putin, the Kremlin said on Monday, after preparing for a visit this year.
”More likely next year,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told TASS when asked whether Modi would visit before the end of the year.
Putin invited Modi to Russia for the 24th Russia-India Annual Summit during his visit to New Delhi last December. The two leaders meet on a rotating basis under a strategic partnership established in 2000.
Preparations for the visit were already under way in May. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Modi confirmed during their meeting in New Delhi that it is his turn to visit Russia this year. Lavrov was in India for a meeting of BRICS foreign ministers.
Modi and Putin last met in September during the BRICS summit in New Delhi, when the Russian president renewed his invitation. Modi accepted, with the dates to be finalized through diplomatic channels, according to the Indian Prime Minister’s Office.
Moscow, however, raised the possibility of a 2027 visit last month. A visit this year is possible if Modi’s schedule permits, but Russia will otherwise arrange the meeting in the first half of next year, Kremlin presidential aide Yury Ushakov said.
The two countries are working toward an annual trade target of $100 billion by 2030, with energy, investment, and industrial cooperation central to their economic relationship. Bilateral trade reached $38 billion in the first six months of 2026, Indian Ambassador to Russia Vinay Kumar said at a business forum in Kazan last week.
Cooperation has also advanced on workforce mobility. Putin signed an agreement on the temporary employment of Indian and Russian nationals last week.
India remains a natural partner for Russia as Moscow strengthens its relations with Asian countries, Indian Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar said last week. Maintaining strong ties serves the interests of both nations and the world, he added.
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