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.
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.
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.
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.
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 US president has defended holding back sanctions on Russia to preserve negotiations, while Moscow says it values Washington’s mediation efforts
Negotiations to end the Ukraine conflict are making “great progress,” US President Donald Trump has said, defending his decision to hold back economic pressure on Russia to keep diplomacy moving.
In a Truth Social post on Sunday, Trump said his priority is securing a settlement rather than taking steps that could undermine ongoing negotiations.
“I am in the process of negotiating peace in the war between Russia and Ukraine, and don’t want to do anything that will drive, foolishly, Russia away from the bargaining table,” he wrote.
“Great progress is being made, and that includes current hostage negotiations!” Trump added, without specifying who he meant. His administration has previously negotiated the release of several Americans jailed in Russia and has also helped mediate several prisoner-of-war exchanges between Moscow and Kiev, including a May agreement providing for the return of 1,000 prisoners on each side.
The president’s remarks followed his waiver of sweeping penalties pushed by the late US lawmaker Lindsey Graham, dubbed the “sanctions from hell,” including tariffs targeting Russia and major purchasers of its energy. Washington also eased restrictions on Russian diesel exports earlier this month to alleviate rising global fuel prices.
Trump noted that he retains the option to enact the sanctions later, but argued that Russia is “doing very little, if anything, to help the Islamic Republic of Iran, compared to what they could be doing, and I want to keep it that way, and will, unless stupid people get in the way.”
He also accused Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky of resisting a settlement despite extensive Western funding, while criticizing Kiev’s continued attacks on Russian refineries for disrupting global diesel markets.
Moscow welcomed Washington’s continued diplomatic engagement on Monday. “The American side continues its mediation and peacemaking efforts, which we highly appreciate,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
However, a final settlement is impossible without participation by someone representing Kiev who is prepared to take responsibility, he added.
Kirill Dmitriev, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s investment envoy and a participant in negotiations, also applauded Trump’s message for exposing Zelensky’s “true hidden motivation” and pointing out that the Ukrainian leader “doesn’t want to end this war, and probably never did.”
At Friday’s EU summit in Brussels, Zelensky sought another €70 billion ($78.5 billion) in foreign financing for next year, in addition to the €90 billion already being paid out by the bloc to bankroll Kiev’s war effort.
Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico rejected participation in further financing, while Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis ruled out guarantees from Prague. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, however, said the European Commission would nevertheless examine further funding options.
The conflict must end through a negotiated settlement, not victory over Russia, Scott Bessent has said
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has rebuked Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky over his insistence that his country must defeat Russia, rejecting his all-or-nothing stance as a “false binary” and insisting that the conflict must end through a negotiated settlement.
Speaking to NBC’s ‘Meet the Press’ on Sunday, Zelensky said Ukraine must win the conflict with Russia, calling victory essential to preserving the country’s independence, geopolitical alignment, and national identity. He lamented that Ukraine “will not prevail” if the US sides with Russia.
“Zelensky presents a false binary this morning that Ukraine must win,” Bessent told the show shortly after Zelensky’s appearance, arguing that the priority should be ending the conflict rather than determining a winner. “The war must end, and that will be with some kind of a negotiated settlement.”
Bessent stressed that Trump made it clear “he wants to end this war,” noting that the president’s decisions are aimed at securing a negotiated settlement.
Zelensky’s remarks came amid a growing spat with Trump over sanctions on Russian and Ukrainian strikes on Russian energy facilities. Last week, Trump invoked a national-interest exemption to suspend the sanctions he signed into law last month, including 500% tariffs on Russian imports and 100% tariffs on major buyers of Russian oil and gas.
The move followed Trump’s decision days earlier to lift sanctions on Russian diesel exports to ease rising fuel prices. According to US media reports, Trump eased the restrictions after Zelensky refused to halt strikes on Russian energy facilities, which the president blamed for global fuel shortages and soaring prices at the pump – a critical issue just weeks before the US midterm elections. The moves sparked outrage in Kiev, where they were seen as a betrayal of Ukraine’s efforts to maintain Western pressure on Russia.
In a Truth Social post on Sunday, Trump defended the moves, saying Ukrainian strikes on Russian refineries are driving up prices, while stressing that he is focused on brokering a peace deal and does not want to “do anything that will drive, foolishly, Russia away from the bargaining table.” Trump also argued that Zelensky does not want to end the conflict and probably never did, despite receiving billions in Western aid.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov echoed his criticism, suggesting on Sunday that Zelensky has “no desire” to reach a settlement because his government would collapse if Ukraine signed a deal that’s acceptable to both the US and Russia.
Zelensky, whose presidential term expired in 2024, has refused to hold a new election, citing martial law. Moscow maintains that Zelensky is illegitimate; Trump recently called for his resignation, saying Ukraine should get “a new president.”
Since returning to office, Trump has revived talks with Russia, which were largely suspended under his predecessor, Joe Biden. His efforts to broker peace have produced some results, including POW exchanges, but the diplomatic push has been overshadowed by the US war against Iran and has yet to yield a peace deal.
Moscow has said it would prefer a negotiated settlement. Last month, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia expects to hold trilateral talks with Ukraine and the US in the foreseeable future. President Vladimir Putin, however, stressed that the conflict must end on terms that are acceptable to Russia – stressing that a settlement must address the root causes of the conflict and include the withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from Russian territory, protection for Russian-speakers in Ukraine, as well as denazification and neutral, non-nuclear status for Ukraine.
Marine Le Pen’s potential victory in next year’s French presidential election could leave the bloc deadlocked
Kiev and Brussels fear the EU’s next package of sanctions against Russia could be its last, with officials rushing to secure its adoption before Marine Le Pen potentially becomes France’s next president, according to The Telegraph.
The right-wing National Rally politician, who opinion polls put in the lead of the race, has strongly criticized Brussels’ approach to Ukraine. She has compared Kiev’s proposed accession to the EU to economic suicide and repeatedly called for suspending all aid to the country.
Kiev and Brussels are “wargaming contingency measures” in case Le Pen wins the election next April, The Telegraph reported on Sunday. One source described February as possibly the “last opportunity” to adopt new sanctions against Russia.
The EU has imposed 21 rounds of sanctions since the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022 and is preparing a 22nd. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Friday contrasted the bloc’s unwavering stance with that of US President Donald Trump, who has eased restrictions on Russian diesel to alleviate domestic fuel shortages.
Some observers, including The Telegraph, count the recent addition of roughly 1,600 Russian individuals and organizations to the EU’s blacklist as the 22nd package.
As the Ukraine conflict has dragged on, Brussels has found it increasingly difficult to identify new Russian targets for sanctions. The latest negotiations reportedly stalled over France’s push to remove billionaire Alisher Usmanov from the EU’s blacklist.
The move was presented in the media as part of a backroom deal to secure the release of convicted French spies in Azerbaijan. Skeptics, however, pointed to Usmanov’s successful legal challenges exposing weaknesses in the EU’s justification for sanctioning him as another major factor.
Negotiations over the 21st sanctions package, adopted in July, also faced firm resistance from several member states. Greece secured an exemption allowing Greek shipping company Dynagas to continue transporting LNG from Russia’s Yamal project. Bulgaria prevented the blacklisting of Russian Orthodox Church leader Patriarch Kirill, while Germany and Portugal defended their imports of Russian seafood. Tourist destinations France and Italy, meanwhile, opposed tighter entry restrictions on Russian military personnel.
The concessions substantially weakened the commission’s original proposal. This happened despite the replacement of former Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who supporters of Kiev had frequently portrayed as the principal obstacle to new sanctions during earlier negotiations.
Cairo has promised assistance as Riyadh seeks help following deadly attacks on airports and oil facilities
Egypt has pledged to support Saudi Arabia in its escalating conflict with Yemen’s Iranian-backed Houthi rebels, the country’s top security body has announced.
Riyadh has been pressing allies for assistance following Houthi attacks on Saudi airports and oil facilities in retaliation for its military operations in Yemen. The group has demanded that Saudi Arabia lift its blockade of Yemeni airports and ports, describing its approach as “an eye for an eye.”
Egypt’s National Defense Council, chaired by President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, announced the decision on Sunday, a day after he sought parliamentary authorization to deploy troops and military equipment abroad. The council pledged “all possible forms of support” to help Saudi Arabia defend its security but did not specify what assistance Egypt would provide.
The renewed confrontation began in July when Saudi-backed Yemeni government forces struck Houthi-held Sanaa Airport, ending years of relative calm following a UN-brokered truce in 2022.
The Houthis retaliated with missile strikes, declared a maritime blockade, and seized territory along Yemen’s Red Sea coast, including Mokhaa and islands in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. Riyadh subsequently intensified its airstrikes and backed a counteroffensive by Yemen’s internationally recognized government.
Houthi strikes on Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport on October 10-11 killed at least 14 people and wounded more than 300, according to the Saudi authorities. Last week, Saudi-led forces struck oil storage facilities in Sanaa.
An airstrike on a house in Yemen’s northern Saada province killed at least nine people, including five children and two women, and wounded 19 on Sunday, the Houthi-run Health Ministry said. It blamed Saudi Arabia, which did not immediately comment. Across the border, the Saudi authorities said a Houthi projectile wounded six people in a residential area of Najran province.
The Houthis’ chief negotiator, Mohamed Abdulsalam, blamed Riyadh for the escalation and accused it of obstructing mediation efforts. He said Oman proposed a five-day truce to facilitate talks and that the rebels agreed to halt attacks if Saudi Arabia meets unspecified humanitarian demands.
A Saudi diplomat offered a conflicting account last week, saying the kingdom proposed talks in Oman in July to resolve their differences but that the Houthis refused to take part.
Ukrainians living in italy do not want to return to their country, while Defense Minister Guido Crosetto urges continued support of Kiev despite widespread public opposition
Most Italians oppose aid to Ukraine in the conflict with Russia, Defense Minister Guido Crosetto has said, as the country grapples with cost-of-living protests.
“We are fully aware that the majority of our public opinion, also influenced from abroad, is opposed to aiding Ukraine,” he told the BBC in an interview published on Saturday.
“It is difficult to explain that you have to help a nation resist and that helping it resist does not mean that you are opposed to peace.”
He nevertheless argued that Italy should continue to support Kiev, while acknowledging public anger over rising energy prices linked to the sanctions on Russia. He went on to claim that ‘Russian disinformation’ is fueling discontent.
“We cannot give in to public opinion when we believe that public opinion is wrong,” Crosetto said, adding that “it is difficult to explain that, at this moment, we cannot give Russia any gift.”
An Eumetra poll conducted last month found that 61% of Italians opposed supplying weapons to Ukraine, while 20% supported it and 18% expressed no opinion.
Around 290,000 Ukrainian citizens are officially resident in Italy, according to the latest figures from the Istituto Nazionale di Statistica. Most of them are reluctant to return to their home country, Italian media reports.
US President Donald Trump lifted sanctions on Russian diesel exports earlier this month after Kiev refused to halt strikes on Russian refineries, which Trump blamed for soaring prices. Crosetto argued that it was “a major mistake” for Trump to reduce support for Ukraine at such a critical time.
Crosetto’s remarks came as anti-government demonstrations swept northern Italy over the weekend, with clashes erupting in Milan, Turin, and Bologna. Protesters demanded more funding for public services and accused Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s government of prioritizing military spending over education and welfare. Demonstrators in Milan chanted “more money for families, less for wars.”
Under Meloni, a staunch supporter of Kiev, Italy has maintained military assistance to Ukraine, totaling more than €3 billion ($3.4 billion) since 2022. Supplies have included artillery systems, armored vehicles, and SAMP/T air defense systems developed jointly with France. Italian media also reported deliveries of Storm Shadow cruise missiles capable of striking targets deep inside Russia.
Meloni’s policy has faced resistance within her governing coalition, including from Matteo Salvini’s League party. Last week, Roberto Vannacci, the leader of the right-wing National Future party, accused Vladimir Zelensky of treating Europe “like an ATM” after the Ukrainian leader requested another €70 billion ($79 billion) in aid. Vannacci argued that Italian taxpayers should not have to foot the bill.
Bulgarian fighter jets escorted an Austrian Airlines plane carrying 57 people to Sofia after its crew reported a security threat
An Austrian Airlines flight carrying 57 people from Tel Aviv, Israel to Vienna made an emergency landing in Bulgaria following a bomb threat.
According to a statement from Bulgaria’s Transport Ministry, the crew of Austrian Airlines flight OS82, an Airbus A320, reported that it received a bomb threat while flying near the Romanian border on Sunday.
Bulgarian MiG-29 fighter jets were scrambled to escort the aircraft to Vasil Levski Sofia Airport. All 51 passengers and six crew members disembarked safely.
Austrian Airlines spokeswoman Anita Kiefer said the passengers will be rebooked on alternative flights following a police search of the aircraft.
The incident follows two bomb threats involving Delta Air Lines flights between New York and Tel Aviv on October 13. One aircraft was evacuated and searched after landing at Ben Gurion Airport, while another was held at New York’s JFK Airport before departure. Both were cleared after security inspections found no explosives.
The latest scare also comes after an attempted terrorist attack aboard a Flydubai flight carrying mostly Israeli passengers from Dubai to Tel Aviv on September 30. A co-pilot attacked the captain with an emergency axe and attempted to seize control of the aircraft. Passengers and crew members overpowered the assailant, allowing the plane to make an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia. The pilot, Indian national Smit Machchhar, sustained serious injuries.
According to Emirati prosecutors, the suspect, an Omani national, planned to crash the aircraft into the passenger terminal at Ben Gurion Airport to cause mass casualties.
Following the attempted hijacking, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered tighter security checks on foreign airline crews and a comprehensive review of security procedures.
Politicians from across the political spectrum have accused the French president of undermining public services and failing to maintain order
French opposition leaders have blamed President Emmanuel Macron and his government’s policies for the wave of violent unrest sweeping the country.
The latest round of demonstrations by students and public sector workers over the high cost of living and deteriorating public services descended into rioting, vandalism, and looting in Paris and other cities on Saturday. Thousands of people were arrested and hundreds of police officers were injured.
Marine Le Pen, who leads first-round polling for the 2027 presidential election, described Macron as a president “without credibility or authority” who has “lost all touch with reality,” calling his government “a government on its last legs.”
“We are experiencing a profound crisis of trust and authority that threatens democracy. This should serve as a warning: Our country is caught in a vice, even held hostage, between violence and powerlessness,” she said in a message on X.
In July, a Paris appeals court upheld Le Pen’s conviction for misusing EU funds but modified her sentence, lifting a ban that prevented the veteran politician from the right-wing National Rally (RN) from running for president. She denied any wrongdoing and argued that the case was politically motivated.
“We are paying the price for decades of laxity, the erosion of authority, and the moral and material weakening of our domestic security forces,” RN President Jordan Bardella said. “I expect Emmanuel Macron to apologize and step down.”
Jean-Luc Melenchon, the leader of the left-wing La France Insoumise (LFI) party, told French broadcaster LCI that the protests are “the result of ten disastrous years during which President Macron has undermined the functioning of the state and public services.”
He accused Interior Minister Laurent Nunez and police leaders of “complete incompetence” in handling the protests and criticized the use of riot-control weapons. LFI previously rejected government accusations that it incited violence.
In a televised address on Sunday evening, Macron distinguished peaceful demonstrators from rioters, insisting that legitimate grievances must be heard while those responsible for violence face punishment.
“We will show no leniency. Listening and dialogue do not mean weakness or impunity,” he said.
Macron also pledged to address the concerns of protesting students, who have complained about staff shortages and poor learning conditions. “Their voices must be heard, without prejudice and without downplaying their difficulties.”
Macron’s approval rating has fallen to just 15-19%, according to opinion polls this month. Le Pen leads first-round polling for the election in April, with support ranging from 32% to 36%.
The US president defended his decision to ease sanctions, blaming Ukrainian strikes on Russian refineries for rising energy prices
Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky does not want to end the conflict with Russia and probably never did, US President Donald Trump has said, citing the billions in aid Kiev has received from the West as among the reasons.
In a post on Truth Social on Sunday, Trump defended his decision to ease the sanctions on Moscow, while reiterating his claim that Ukrainian strikes on Russian oil refineries have contributed to rising energy prices.
“Zelenskyy doesn’t care, and frankly, with all of the money that Europe is famously giving him, and that Crooked Joe Biden gave him in the past, he doesn’t want to end this war, and probably never did. He could have made a better deal two years ago than he can now,” Trump wrote.
He added that Ukraine was “in shambles,” describing its male population as “low, wounded, and/or dead.”
Trump lifted sanctions on Russian diesel exports earlier this month to curb rising energy prices ahead of the US midterm elections. On Friday, he suspended the tariffs targeting major buyers of Russian oil and gas.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump said he is focused on brokering peace between Russia and Ukraine and does not want to “do anything that will drive, foolishly, Russia away from the bargaining table.”
Ukraine defied Trump’s demand to halt strikes on Russian energy facilities, launching a drone attack on an oil terminal in St. Petersburg overnight on Sunday and setting it on fire.
Zelensky said he felt betrayed by Trump. According to US media reports, Ukrainian officials were blindsided by his diesel deal with Russia.
“I hope that he will change his decisions, because I think that it’s all mistakes, and it will not help us, and it will not help [the] United States,” he told NBC News’ Meet the Press on Sunday.
On Sunday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov suggested that Zelensky has “no desire” to reach a settlement because his government would collapse if Ukraine signed a deal acceptable to both the US and Russia. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Ukraine “cannot alter the course of history” by intensifying strikes deep inside Russian territory.
Russia has long accused Ukraine’s Western backers, including former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, of sabotaging the 2022 peace talks in Istanbul. Johnson has denied the allegations.
Zelensky, whose five-year presidential term expired in 2024, has refused to call a new election, citing martial law, which was imposed shortly after the conflict with Russia escalated in February 2022.
He has since argued that an election can only be held after a months-long ceasefire. Russia has warned that Ukraine could use a prolonged truce to replenish its military and has offered to suspend attacks only on election day.
Ukraine has been rocked by a series of high-profile corruption scandals since 2025, including an alleged $100 million kickback scheme in its embattled energy sector that implicated Zelensky’s former business partner, Timur Mindich. His government has also faced political controversies, including attempts to curb the powers of Western-backed anti-corruption agencies and the abrupt dismissal of popular Defense Minister Mikhail Fyodorov in July, which sparked protests in Kiev.
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