berlin — U.S. President Joe Biden and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz will discuss increased reports of antisemitic acts in both countries over the last year as war has raged in the Middle East when they meet Friday in Berlin, a Biden administration official told reporters on the eve of Biden’s state visit to Germany.

“This is an area where the United States and Germany have worked very closely,” said the official, who was not named as a condition of the Wednesday night briefing.

The official added that while Biden is unlikely to hold a specific event centered on antisemitism during his one-day visit, the issue is “very important to President Biden, and one that he has, that we have, discussed with the German government over the years and continue to do so.”

The official did not give any more details on engagements or plans.

Watchdogs have sounded the alarm in both countries: According to a German government report, antisemitic incidents rose by about 83% last year. In the United States, the Anti-Defamation League has said that U.S. antisemitic incidents “skyrocketed” in the months after Hamas militants attacked Israel last October.

Biden has clearly tied the recent rise in anti-Jewish acts to a growing backlash over his staunch support of Israel.

In May, he spoke at the first Holocaust Remembrance Day since the start of the war on October 7, 2023. He warned of a “ferocious” rise in antisemitic incidents and said that, at the height of university protests, “Jewish students [were] blocked, harassed, attacked, while walking to class.”

He said protesters used “antisemitic posters, slogans calling for the annihilation of Israel, the world’s only Jewish state.”

Earlier this month, he spoke of his belief that “without an Israel, every Jew in the world’s security is less stable.”

He added, “It doesn’t mean that Jewish leadership doesn’t have to be more progressive than it is, but it does mean it has to exist, and that’s what worries me most about what’s going on now.”

Germany’s World War II history makes it particularly sensitive to this type of hatred, but critics say it has taken steps that stifle legitimate criticism.

In November, weeks into the Gaza conflict, a German museum canceled a show by a South African artist after she expressed support for the Palestinian cause. Candice Breitz, the artist, who is Jewish, called the act another example of “Germany’s increasingly entrenched habit of weaponizing false charges of antisemitism against intellectuals and cultural workers of various descriptions.”

In March, police canceled a conference of pro-Palestinian activists because a planned speaker had previously made antisemitic remarks. They blocked him from entering Germany and cut power to the Berlin building where conference participants had gathered to watch him on a livestream.

On the first anniversary of the war, Scholz warned against growing anti-Jewish sentiment and affirmed his support for Israel.

“We will never accept antisemitism and blind hatred of Israel. The Jewish people here in Germany have the full solidarity of our state,” he said.

A difficult definition

Key to managing antisemitism is the question of whether criticism of Israel is, by definition, antisemitic.

The Federal Association of Research and Information Centers for Antisemitism, Germany’s antisemitism watchdog, uses a working definition from the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, describing antisemitism as “a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews.” Although its definition of antisemitism does not mention Israel, many of its cited examples of antisemitism do.

The U.S. State Department also uses that definition, but when the White House produced its first strategy on antisemitism last year, before the start of the Gaza war, the strategy was not based solely on that definition.

One Jewish rights group that worked with the White House on the strategy said the decision to codify the definition of antisemitism “would only have made it harder to recognize and respond to antisemitic attacks in context” and “would have opened the door to infringement of First Amendment rights.”

That group, T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights, also opposed a proposed bill in Congress using the group’s definition, with CEO Rabbi Jill Jacobs saying in a statement: “The profoundly misguided Antisemitism Awareness Act does nothing to keep Jews safe, while also threatening the civil liberties fundamental to this country.”

Second gentleman Douglas Emhoff, who led the rollout of the White House strategy, said it is more important to look at what antisemitism does than what it is.

“At its core, antisemitism divides us, erodes our trust in government, institutions and one another,” he said. “It threatens our democracy while undermining our American values of freedom, community and decency. Antisemitism delivers simplistic, false and dangerous narratives that have led to extremists perpetrating deadly violence against Jews.”

History professor Jonathan Elukin of Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut, said the definition of antisemitism has shifted over the centuries. He focuses on antisemitism in the medieval and early modern periods — before Israel was founded.

This iteration of antisemitism in the U.S., he told VOA, is “more associated with a kind of larger sense of an anti-Western, anti-modern kind of feeling, both on the far right and on the far left. They both seem to be converging in some ways on resentment, hatred, suspicion, anxiety about the Jews.”

As for the sentiment on the far right, he said, “I think it’s more a kind of tribal nostalgic sense that America is supposed to be or was thought to be kind of a Christian nation.”

He said the debate over definitions obscures a problem.

“Does it even matter whether it fits some kind of arbitrary notion of antisemitism, which in itself is a very arbitrary and time-bound definition?” he asked.

But, he said, talking about the problem is a start.

“In the short term, obviously it requires education, activism, political leadership to draw the line at acceptable or what’s not acceptable expressions of anti-Jewish sentiment,” he said. “Both here and abroad.”

Kim Lewis contributed to this report.
…

The government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is facing mounting criticism over the rise of gender-based violence in Turkey, which ranks among the world’s worst countries for violence against women. 

Just last week in Istanbul, a 19-year-old Turkish man killed two young women — first, his 19-year-old girlfriend at his home, and then a woman, also 19, whom he met in the city. He beheaded the second victim and threw her head over a wall onto a crowded street before taking his own life. 

Critics contend that the traditional values-based policies of Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) are contributing to a growing number of femicides — the killing of women — and Turkey’s entrenched domestic violence problem.  

“We Will Stop Femicide Platform,” a Turkish advocacy group known by the initials KCDP, reported 3,185 women were killed by men between 2008 and 2019, and at least 1,499 from 2020 to September 2024, with the number of femicides rising each year. The deaths of about 1,030 women were also found suspicious.  

More than 1.4 million women reported they had faced domestic abuse between January 2013 and July 2024, the Turkish Minute news site reported, citing data received from the Family and Social Services Ministry by the daily newspaper Birgün. 

Hundreds of demonstrators took to the streets of Istanbul and other cities in Turkey last week accusing Erdogan of failing to protect women from violence. 

In the facing of such accusations, Erdogan vowed last week to strengthen legal regulations concerning crimes against women and children and promised to set up a new unit at the Justice Ministry to monitor such cases.  

However, the Bursa Women’s Platform, which organized sit-in protests in Turkey’s Bursa province, accused Turkish authorities of acting only on “social media reactions rather than the testimonies of those subjected to violence.” 

Human Rights Foundation, a New York-headquartered international watchdog, accused the Erdogan government this week of failing to “adequately prevent femicide and violence against women, children, and gender minorities.” 

The Turkish government exercises “increasing control over social media platforms” posing “serious threats to freedom of expression,” the HRF said Thursday in a letter to the United Nations Human Rights Council. 

Independent research published this year in Frontiers in Psychology argued that the Turkish government’s tightening grip over what people can see in the media and the ruling party’s gender policies based on the stereotypes of women’s societal role and appearances contribute to the stigmatization of feminism and dehumanization of women. 

Erdogan’s own words have been cited as contributing to the problem. In widely quoted remarks made in 2014, he said it is “against nature” to “put men and women on equal footing,” and argued that feminists do not understand the importance of motherhood.  

“President Erdogan and the AKP have increasingly taken an explicitly anti-feminist stance, in particular over the last decade. Consequently, anti-feminism in Turkey has taken on a top-down outlook,” said a recent article in the peer-reviewed academic journal Mediterranean Politics. 

The article said an “environment created by the AKP” had empowered anti-feminist actors in Turkey to push back against legal reforms advocating for gender equality and women’s rights. 

The paper uncovered an AKP-linked Turkish network of social media accounts including conservative civil society organizations, media representatives, social media influencers, writers and academics, celebrities” who articulate and amplify anti-feminist sentences, while exerting “significant influence in political sphere.”  

VoxEU, a forum for columns by leading economists, published a study in March finding that victim-blaming is common in Turkish society, along with an attitude that a woman should not provoke her husband. 

Hardliners from Erdogan’s party have argued that a man’s testimony should be given more weight than a woman’s in domestic violence cases.  

Turkish judges hand down lenient sentences to domestic abusers, or otherwise impose minimal sanctions against abusers who violate civil protection orders. Law enforcement, the analysts and activists say, is often slow to react to instances when these civil protection orders are violated.  

KCDP and others have documented instances when women were killed by men against whom they had taken out restraining orders. Women are particularly prone to facing violence at home, and the perpetrators are overwhelmingly spouses, men they are romantically involved with, family members, or other acquaintances.  

In July 2021, Turkey withdrew from The Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence, also known as the Istanbul Convention. Turkey was the first country to sign the Istanbul Convention in May 2011.  

Turkish authorities claimed to be acting because the Istanbul Convention had been “hijacked by a group of people attempting to normalize homosexuality,” which it said, “is incompatible with” the country’s “social and family values.” 

On October 8, Erdogan said Turkey’s “withdrawal from the Istanbul Convention has not had the slightest negative impact on women’s rights,” adding “there is no opposition party that can teach us a lesson on women’s rights” or “help us strengthen women’s status.” 

Republican People’s Party leader Ozgur Ozel disagreed. 

“This government has not only failed to protect women and children but is also stepping back from positive actions. The clearest example is the sudden withdrawal from the Istanbul Convention in 2021,” Turkiye Today cited Ozel as saying on October 8. 
…

As the Republic of Georgia prepares to hold crucial elections on October 26, there are fears that the ruling Georgian Dream party may not easily give up power. As Henry Ridgwell reports from the capital, many civil society groups are mobilizing to ensure the election is free and fair.
…

Moldovan analysts are warning of a Russian “large-scale hybrid war” against their country as it moves toward a presidential election on Sunday, when a referendum on future relations with the European Union will also be held.

Moldova’s incumbent president, Maia Sandu, supports the country’s integration with Europe and enjoys a comfortable lead in opinion polls over her 11 challengers. Sunday’s referendum will ask Moldovan voters whether they support declaring the country’s EU accession as a strategic goal in its constitution.

In an interview with Voice of America’s Russian Service, Victor Zhuk, director of Moldovan State University’s Institute of Legal, Political and Sociological Research, said that Russia believes now is the time to direct all its efforts to preventing Moldova from taking the “European path.”

“There will be a referendum and presidential elections now, and parliamentary elections in 2025, so Russia believes that it is necessary to conduct a large-scale hybrid war against our country,” he said.

According to Zhuk, three of the candidates running against Sandu are “pro-Russian politicians.” He added that while a fourth candidate, former prosecutor and lawmaker Alexandr Stoianoglo, “personally advocates the European path of Moldova,” he was nominated by the Party of Socialists, led by former Moldovan President Igor Dodon, “who also opposes the referendum and the European path.”

“So, the Russian Federation has the ability to torpedo public consciousness in the republic from the outside with various fake news, and there are political parties inside that destabilize the situation and oppose Moldova’s accession to the EU,” Zhuk said.

Alleged attempts at bribery

Sergiu Musteata, a Moldovan historian and dean of the history and geography faculty of Moldova’s Ion Creanga State Pedagogical University, contended that Russia has attempted to “bribe” Moldovan voters to cast their ballots in a way that serves Russia’s interests. He alleged that this attempted bribery involved people connected to Ilan Shor, a fugitive pro-Russian Moldovan oligarch.

“Various people from Ilan Shor’s entourage and even priests were invited to Moscow for instructions, from where they returned with money,” Musteata told VOA. “Now the special services and police of the Republic of Moldova have spoken out on this matter and stated that more than $100 million has been invested in this election campaign against Maia Sandu and against the referendum.”

Earlier this year, Shor reportedly obtained Russian citizenship and identity documents after being sentenced in June 2023 to 15 years in prison for alleged involvement in a $1 billion bank fraud and other illicit schemes. That same month, Moldova’s Constitutional Court declared Shor’s pro-Moscow opposition party unconstitutional.

Shor has been sanctioned by the U.S. and EU for attempts to destabilize Moldova.

According to Musteata, Russia is supporting candidates in Moldova who oppose Sandu while at the same time “calling for a boycott of the referendum, which is very important for the future pro-European vector of the country.” More than 33% of eligible voters must participate for the referendum to be considered valid.

‘Inevitable’ move

Sandu has consistently condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine — a position that, according to Zhuk, is shared by a majority of Moldova’s voters.

“Of course, they always think that in the event of Ukraine’s defeat, Russia’s aggression against the Republic of Moldova is practically inevitable,” he said.

On Tuesday, White House national security communications adviser John Kirby told reporters in Washington:

“In recent months, the U.S. government, Moldovan President Sandu, the Moldovan security services, and other allies and partners have warned that Russia is seeking to undermine Moldovan democratic institutions in the lead-up to the presidential election and referendum on Moldova’s EU membership.

“Now, with Moldova’s election just days away, we remain confident in our earlier assessment that Russia is working actively to undermine Moldova’s election and its European integration.”

Kirby said Russia in recent months has put millions of dollars “toward financing its preferred parties and spreading disinformation on social media in favor of their campaigns.” He added that Shor “has invested tens of millions of dollars per month into nonprofit organizations that spread narratives about the election that are in line with Russian interests.”

Kirby concluded by saying that “the United States will continue to support Moldova and the Moldovan people, and to expose and counter Russian efforts to undermine Moldovan democracy.”

This article originated in VOA’s Russian Service.
…

TBILISI, GEORGIA — An uneasy calm has descended on the streets of Tbilisi ahead of a crucial election on October 26, widely seen as a referendum on Georgia’s future.

Beneath the surface, there is palpable tension.

Campaign billboards, most for the ruling Georgian Dream Party, vie for voters’ attention with countless European Union, NATO and Ukrainian flags hanging from windows and graffitied on the city’s red brick buildings alongside anti-Russian slogans.

Six months ago, tens of thousands of people took to the streets of Tbilisi to protest the reintroduction of a so-called “foreign agent” law, which compels any organization receiving more than 20% of its funding from overseas to register with the government and submit to detailed financial investigation.

A brutal crackdown on the demonstrations prompted Western powers to impose sanctions on some Georgian officials.

Critics say the law mimics Russian legislation used to silence political opponents and independent media. The Georgian government insists the law is necessary to show who is funding political organizations.

Defiance

The foreign agent law came into force in September. However, most foreign-funded civil society groups have refused to comply. Dozens of the organizations are now working together to act as election monitors amid fears that Georgian Dream may not easily give up power, even if they lose the election.

Among the chief targets of the foreign agent law is Eka Gigauri, head of the anti-corruption group Transparency International. Alongside other prominent civil society leaders, she appears on government propaganda posters, accused of selling out Georgia and getting rich on foreign money. Their faces are marked with red crosses.

“This is a matter of dignity,” Gigauri told VOA. “We are not spies. We are not undermining the interests of the country. We are the patriots of this country, and we served this country and the people of this country for many years.”

Transparency International has refused to register as a foreign agent, risking prosecution and heavy fines for the organization and its staff.

“We are using all the legal tools, everything, to fight, to resist, not to comply, to inform the citizens about the wrongdoings of the government,” she said. “Still, we see that at any time, the government can enforce this law.

“And now especially, when there is this preelection period and the majority of the NGOs are involved in observing the elections, definitely it will be [an] additional obstacle for us if it happens. However, it did not happen yet.”

Transparency International said most foreign-funded civil society organizations have refused to comply with the new law, with only 41 organizations having so far registered as foreign agents.

Free media

Tabula Media, an independent multimedia organization, is one of several groups seeking to circumvent the legislation.

“We had to reestablish the organization in an EU country — Estonia — which deeply complicates financial operations,” Tabula editor-in-chief Levan Sutidze told VOA.

“We are familiar with this path and where it leads. It leads to Russia, to the complete silencing of critical voices, to the annihilation of independent media outlets and NGOs, and it will have catastrophic consequences in the future,” Sutidze said. “Even if the situation worsens, we will not submit to this insult.”

The investigative organization Realpolitika has also registered its headquarters in Tallinn, Estonia, in a bid to avoid prosecution under the foreign agent law.

“For now, this law does not apply to us. However, this could change after the election,” said editor-in-chief Aka Zarqua.

“Pressure from the international community and the backlash within Georgian society have both contributed to the government not fully enforcing this legislation before the election, and we can see their partial retreat,” Zarqua said. “It’s clear that October 26 will be decisive in this regard.”

Backlash

For some civil society groups, navigating the foreign agent law has been a traumatic process.

The pro-democracy organization Shame was founded in 2019 after the ruling Georgian Dream Party allowed a visiting Russian prime minister to address lawmakers from the speaker’s chair in the Georgian parliament, prompting widespread outrage.

In August, the organization decided to comply with the foreign agent law and register with the government “because we believed there was no other way to save the organization and continue its work if Georgian Dream somehow managed to win the election and the law remained enforced,” according to Dachi Imedadze, Shame’s head of strategy.

The organization, however, reversed its decision after a bitter public backlash.

“It escalated into conspiracy theories and personal attacks, with people calling us traitors,” Imedadze said.

Shame is now campaigning to get young people to vote.

“One-third of young people, aged 18 to 25, do not participate in elections. This represents approximately 250,000 potential voters,” Imedadze told VOA. “Our main target audience is this group, many of whom will be voting for the first time in this election.”

‘Russian swamp’

Nino Lomjaria, a former public defender of Georgia, now heads Georgia’s European Orbit, a civil society group partly funded by the U.S.-based Soros Foundation.

Lomjaria and her team have traveled across the country urging people to turn out and vote. Their election leaflets mimic the election ballot but offer only two choices.

“It says: ‘Are you choosing European well-being or the Russian swamp?’” she said.

Georgian Dream insists it is not pro-Russian and wants to join the EU. Party leaders say they are seeking to improve relations with Moscow to avoid further conflict, accusing critics and rivals of being part of a “global war party” that is seeking to profit from war with Russia.

Lomjaria scoffs at that accusation.

“We know who starts wars. We know that the ‘global war party’ is Russia. It’s not the West. And for us, the European Union is the safe place. That’s why we want to join this community, because we consider that being the member of the European Union, being the member of NATO, this is something where we will find peace and stability,” she told VOA.

Election monitors

Georgia’s European Orbit has joined a coalition of nongovernmental organizations that are planning to monitor the election, “which is composed of up to 30 organizations,” Lomjaria said.

“And our plan is to be present at every polling station to observe the whole process of voting and vote tabulation. We will have evidence of how elections have been conducted in this country, and we will litigate if we find out that there was some manipulation or electoral fraud,” she said.

Gigauri of Transparency International doubts Georgia’s judicial system is robust enough to cope with such a crisis.

“The state institutions in Georgia are captured. This is a very unfortunate fact and the reality. Definitely it’s very difficult for everyone to operate. But we also see that more and more, it is very difficult for those institutions to deal with the resistance from the people,” Gigauri told VOA.

The government insists it will respect the election result.

“Georgian Dream is based on democratic principles, and therefore it will respect every decision made by the Georgian people. We will accept the people’s decision, whatever it may be,” Nikoloz Samkharadze, chairman of the parliamentary Foreign Relations Committee, told VOA in an interview.

“At the same time, I want to emphasize that we are confident the vast majority of Georgians will support Georgian Dream.”
…

London/Beijing — British Foreign Secretary David Lammy will visit China on a two-day visit starting on Friday in a bid to improve relations between the two countries after years of tensions over security concerns and alleged human rights abuses.

Lammy will hold talks with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi in Beijing before visiting Shanghai to meet British businesses operating in China, a spokesperson for Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on Thursday.

“It’s all about bringing a consistent, long-term and strategic approach to managing the U.K.’s position on China,” the spokesperson told reporters, adding that Britain was prepared to challenge China where needed but also identify areas for co-operation.  

Mao Ning, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson, said the talks would focus on improving cooperation in various fields.  

It will be only the second visit by a British foreign minister in six years after Lammy’s Conservative predecessor James Cleverly’s trip last year. Before that, there had been a five-year gap in a visit to China by a British foreign minister.

Labour, who won a landslide election victory in July, is seeking to stabilize relations with Beijing after clashes over human rights, Hong Kong, and allegations of Chinese espionage.

Starmer told President Xi Jinping in the first conversation between the two in August that he wanted Britain and China to pursue closer economic ties while being free to talk frankly about their disagreements.

China’s Vice Premier He Lifeng and British finance minister Rachel Reeves last month discussed how they can work together to boost economic growth.

Following the exchange, Beijing said it was willing to resume the UK-China Economic and Financial Dialogue – an annual forum for talks on trade, investment and other economic issues, which had not taken place since 2019.

Under the previous Conservative government, Britain expressed concern about China’s curbing of civil freedoms in Hong Kong, which was under British control until 1997, and its treatment of people in its western Xinjiang region.

Britain and China also traded accusations over perceived spying.

China is Britain’s sixth-largest trading partner, accounting for 5% of total trade, British government figures show.
…

The European Central Bank, which sets interest rates for the 20 countries that use the euro currency, cut borrowing costs once again on Thursday after figures showed inflation across the bloc falling to its lowest level in more than three years and economic growth waning. 

The bank’s rate-setting council lowered its benchmark rate from 3.5% to 3.25% at a meeting in Llubljana, Slovenia, rather than its usual Frankfurt, Germany, headquarters. 

The rate cut is its third since June and shows optimism among rate-setters over the path of inflation. Inflation sank to 1.8% in September, the first time in three years that it has been below the ECB’s target rate of 2%. 

Inflation has been falling more than anticipated — in September, it was down at 1.8%, the first time it has been below the ECB’s target of 2% in more than three years — and analysts think the bank will lower rates in December, too. Mounting evidence that the eurozone is barely growing — just 0.3% in the second-quarter — has only accentuated the view that ECB President Christine Lagarde will not seek to dislodge that expectation. 

“The trends in the real economy and inflation support the case for lower rates,” said Holger Schmieding, chief economist at Berenberg Bank. 

One reason why inflation has fallen around the world is that central banks dramatically increased borrowing costs from near zero during the coronavirus pandemic when prices started to shoot up, first as a result of supply chain issues built up and then because of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine which pushed up energy costs. 

The ECB, which was created in 1999 when the euro currency was born, started raising interest rates in the summer of 2021, taking them up to a record high of 4% in Sept. 2023 to get a grip on inflation by making it more expensive for businesses and consumers to borrow, but that has come at a cost by weighing on growth. 
…

Bengaluru, India — The latest in a string of hoax threats made against Indian airlines targeted a flight from Germany, the airline said Thursday, with the plane landing safely in Mumbai.

More than a dozen fake bomb threats have been made against flights operated by multiple Indian air services this week, prompting government and civil aviation authorities to warn that “very strict action” will be taken.

India’s Vistara airline said Thursday that its passenger jet flying from Frankfurt to Mumbai the day before had received a “security threat” on social media, but landed safely at its planned destination.

“We are fully cooperating with the security agencies to complete the mandatory security checks,” Vistara said in a statement.

India’s aviation minister Ram Mohan Naidu said late Wednesday that the police had arrested “a minor responsible for issuing bomb threats” against three flights.

“All others responsible for the disruptions will be identified and duly prosecuted,” Naidu said.

Flights impacted include an Air India plane from New Delhi to Chicago, forced to make an emergency landing in Canada on Tuesday.

On the same day, Singapore scrambled fighter jets to escort an Air India Express plane.     
…

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — Former One Direction singer Liam Payne was found dead after the 31-year-old fell from his third-floor room balcony at a hotel in Buenos Aires, Argentine police said on Wednesday.

Police said in a statement that they were called to the CasaSur hotel in the capital’s leafy Palermo neighborhood after being notified of an “aggressive man who could be under the effects of drugs and alcohol.”

When they arrived, the hotel manager reported he had heard a loud noise from the inner courtyard and the police found that a man had fallen from the balcony of his room, the statement said.

In audio related to the case obtained from the Buenos Aires security ministry, a worker can be heard asking for police help.

“When he is conscious he is destroying the entire room and we need you to send someone,” the worker said, adding that the guest’s life was at risk because the room had a balcony.

Shooting to global fame as part of one of the best-selling boy bands of all time, Payne – like his band mates Harry Styles, Zayn Malik, Niall Horan and Louis Tomlinson – went on to pursue a solo career after they went on an “indefinite hiatus” in 2016. Payne’s last single was “Teardrop,” released in March this year.

While many of the details surrounding the circumstances of his death remain unclear, Payne had spoken publicly about his struggles with mental health and using alcohol to cope with the pressures of fame.

His death led to an outpouring of grief from music industry stars and fans, including those among the crowd who gathered outside the hotel.

Violeta Antier said she had come straight away after being told Payne had died.

“I saw him two weeks ago at a Niall (Horan) concert, another One Direction member. He was there, I saw him,” she said.

“He was ok.”

Payne attended an October 2 concert by Horan in Buenos Aires. The two had posted videos together and with fans.

American singer Charlie Puth was among those expressing their grief.

“I am in shock right now. Liam was always so kind to me,” he said on Instagram. “He was one of the first major artists I got to work with. I cannot believe he is gone.”

Payne auditioned for the British version of X Factor for a second time in 2010 at the age of 16 and was put into a group with his future band mates by music mogul Simon Cowell.

Cowell told Rolling Stone in a 2012 interview that he’d “always backed” Payne at the time of his first audition in 2008 but he didn’t quite make it because he had been too young.

“But I always knew that with confidence he would be a valuable member of this band, so I had no hesitation in bringing him back,” he said.

The band may have finished third in X Factor that year but it went on to have more than 29 hits on Billboard’s Hot 100 with six in the top 10, including “What Makes You Beautiful,” “Story of My Life” and “Live While We’re Young.”

Payne’s co-writing credits include “Story of My Life” and “Night Changes”.

He teamed up with Rita Ora on the 2018 song “For You” and released his first studio album LP1 in 2019.

According to Celebrity Net Worth, Payne’s One Direction and solo career helped garner him a net worth of some $70 million.

Payne had a son named Bear with British TV personality and Girls Aloud singer Cheryl.

Last year, he published a video to fans on his YouTube channel in which he spoke about his family, making new art and performing again after having given up alcohol. He thanked supporters for sticking with him through difficult times.

Earlier on Wednesday, Payne had appeared to post on Snapchat about his trip in Argentina, talking about riding horses, playing polo, and looking forward to returning home to see his dog.

“It’s a lovely day here in Argentina,” he said in the video.
…

Tbilisi, Georgia — On a clear October day, the snow-capped Caucasus mountain peaks of Georgia’s South Ossetia are visible from Tbilisi. Yet for most Georgians, the region is off-limits. 

South Ossetia, and Abkhazia farther to the west, have been under the control of Russian-backed separatists since 1992. Both regions broke away from Georgia during the collapse of the Soviet Union, in brutal ethnic conflicts stoked by Moscow.  

Russia’s historical influence looms over Georgia’s upcoming election on Oct. 26, which is widely seen as a referendum on a future aligned to the West or to Moscow. 

The ruling Georgian Dream party has pledged to reconcile with the breakaway regions and reunite Georgia. 

“I want to use this opportunity to address our people on the other side of occupation land in Abkhazia and Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) regions,” Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze said at the United Nations’ General Assembly last month. 

“Whatever actions we take are done to help our people, so that one day with our children we can live together in one happy, united and developed Georgia. On this side of the occupation line, we will always meet you with an open heart. We have to rebuild all the broken bridges in our country,” Kobakhidze added. 

Russian forces invaded Georgia in 2008, before formally recognizing South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent states. Several hundred Georgian soldiers and civilians died in the five-day conflict. Russia’s troops still occupy 20% of Georgian territory, including the two breakaway regions. 

Yet the billionaire founder of Georgian Dream, Bidzina Ivanishvili, blames Georgia for the conflict, accusing the “criminal regime” of former Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili of starting the war on the orders of foreign powers. 

“Immediately after the October 26 elections, those who instigated the war will face justice,” Ivanishvili said at a campaign event on Sept. 15 in Gori, a city briefly occupied by Russian forces in 2008. He said that Georgia would then apologize for the war. 

Ivanishvili’s comments sparked widespread anger among Georgians.  

Critics said it’s a stark example of Georgian Dream’s closer alignment with Russia — but this time, it backfired. 

“In this case, they didn’t get a favorable response from Russia,” noted political analyst Ghia Nodia of Georgia’s Ilia State University. “Russia stated that Abkhazia and South Ossetia are independent states, and reunification with Georgia isn’t going to happen.” 

Georgian Dream officials defended Ivanishvili’s comments. 

“In order to resolve this conflict, of course, there’s the issue with Russia, but there’s also the problem between Georgian society and the Ossetians and Abkhazians,” said Nikoloz Samkharadze, a member of Georgian Dream and chairman of the parliamentary Foreign Relations Committee. “Reconciliation won’t happen unless these societies forgive and apologize to one another.” 

The legacy of Stalin 

The weight of history on the upcoming election extends from well before the collapse of communism and Georgian independence in 1991.  

Giorgi Kandelaki is from the Tbilisi-based Soviet Past Research Laboratory, an organization dedicated to busting romanticized myths about the Soviet Union and uncovering the truth of Communist rule. He said Georgian Dream’s leaders, aided by Moscow, are attempting to rewrite the history of Georgian-born Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin — an effort to stoke divisive culture wars ahead of the election. 

“Many polls indicate that Stalin’s popularity is rising in Georgia, with him being seen as a model of Georgian patriotism,” Kandelaki told VOA. 

“This narrative paints Western civilization as a threat, for example by attempting to ‘make us all gay,’ while portraying the Russian world, with an emphasis on religion, as the savior of our souls. In this project, Stalin, as an icon of Georgian patriotism, plays a crucial role.

“Georgian Dream, especially its grassroots supporters and local leaders in the regions, also plays a role in promoting this narrative,” he added. 

More than 70 years after his death, the debate over Stalin’s legacy remains a live issue in Georgia’s election.  

The European Union has frozen accession talks with the Georgian government, citing concerns over a slide towards autocracy. Last Friday, EU lawmakers approved a resolution that expressed regret over the “growing cult of Stalin and the related increase in Soviet nostalgia in Georgia, supported by the ruling government, which underscores its closer alignment with Russia.”  

Georgian Dream strongly rejected that characterization.  

“This is utter nonsense and absurd. No one is promoting the cult of Stalin in Georgia,” Samkharadze told VOA. “I urge [EU lawmakers] to once again come to Georgia and show me the processes that supposedly contribute to promoting the cult of Stalin. This is especially offensive to me, considering I come from a family that was repressed by the Stalin regime.” 

The EU resolution, which calls for sanctions to be imposed on Ivanishvili, also suggested that the Georgian government was trying to bury the truth about what happened during Soviet times.

“Some of Georgia’s most important Soviet-era archives (including the archives of the former KGB and the former Central Committee of the Communist Party) have been completely closed since October 2023 without any explanation,” according to the EU parliament resolution. 

Giorgi Kandelaki of the Soviet Past Research Laboratory echoed that complaint. “Since 2013, [the Georgian government] has implemented increasingly restrictive measures, gradually making it harder for researchers to access these archives. Today, it’s easier to study Soviet archives in Russia than it is in Georgia,” he said. 

Again, Georgian Dream denied those accusations. “Regarding the archives, there are no restrictions, except for foreign citizens. Georgian citizens have no restrictions whatsoever,” Samkharadze told VOA. 

Georgian Dream insisted it intends to join the EU by 2030, an aspiration enshrined in the country’s constitution. The party denied it is pro-Russian, highlighting resolutions it has sponsored at the U.N. condemning Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. 

The party has held power since 2012 — but polls suggest it will struggle to retain its majority in the upcoming election.  

Aka Zarqua, the editor-in-chief of the website Realpolitika, said voters no longer trust Georgian Dream. 

“The strategic ambiguity they tried to maintain over the years — claiming to support the EU and the West, while simultaneously taking anti-Western steps — has collapsed,” he said.
…

Washington — Russian-backed radio programmer Sputnik no longer broadcasts in the Washington market after years of criticism that its local radio station, WZHF, carries antisemitic content and false information about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Political cartoonist Ted Rall, who described himself as a guest on Sputnik’s programming, posted a comment Tuesday on X: “Biden/Harris say they’re fighting for democracy. Yet: today Sputnik News US is being forced to shut down today due to Biden/Harris sanctions. My radio show and cartoons for them are being quashed. So are the other amazing shows. I go off the air with the station at noon.” 

Manila Chan, a self-described indie journalist, tweeted Tuesday that she and Rall would be relaunching their show on YouTube “following sanctions that have shut down RT+Sputnik.” 

As first reported by The Desk, a news website on the business of streaming media, Sputnik stopped programming in its Washington-based market and three stations in the Kansas City, Missouri, area this week. 

Last month, the U.S. State Department introduced new sanctions on Russian-backed broadcasters, including television channel RT, for fundraising on behalf of the Russian military in opposition to Ukraine. The sanctions marked the first time the United States accused Russian broadcasters of providing direct and material military support. 

“RT wants its new covert intelligence capabilities, like its longstanding propaganda disinformation efforts, to remain hidden. Our most powerful antidote to Russia’s lies is the truth. It’s shining a bright light on what the Kremlin is trying to do under the cover of darkness,” U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said last month.  

The sanctions did not specifically prohibit the content of the programming but made it more difficult for Sputnik to continue buying airtime on U.S. stations. 

“As Foreign Missions Act-designated entities, Rossiya Segodnya, RIA Novosti, RT, TV-Novosti, Ruptly, and Sputnik will be required to notify the State Department of all personnel working in the United States. The entities will also be required to disclose all real property they hold within the United States,” said the State Department in a September 4 statement. 

RT and RT America, the TV and digital media company founded by Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2005, directs Sputnik. Prior to this week, five U.S. radio stations carried Russian government-backed Sputnik programming. 

Shortly after the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the National Association of Broadcasters said in a statement, “While the First Amendment protects freedom of speech, however, it does not prevent private actors from exercising sound, moral judgment. To that end, given the unprovoked aggression exhibited by Russia against the free and sovereign people of Ukraine, NAB calls on broadcasters to cease carrying any state-sponsored programming with ties to the Russian government or its agents.”

“While we know that airings of such programs are extremely limited, we believe that our nation must stand fully united against misinformation and for freedom and democracy across the globe,” said NAB.

In January, Republican Representative Jack Bergman called on the Federal Communications Commission to revoke the license of Radio Sputnik Washington affiliate WZHF (1390) and its translator W288BS at 105.5 FM. In the letter, Bergman cited a steady stream of antisemitic tropes and false information about the war in Ukraine. 

“An FCC licensee clearly has a First Amendment right to broadcast. However, that right is tempered by its obligation to broadcast programming that is in the public interest and responsive to the needs of the local community,” Bergman wrote in the letter.

He also argued the licensees “have made no effort to ascertain the needs or interests of the local community” and that their programming decisions “are based exclusively on monetary considerations.”

In 2018, three Democratic members of Congress asked then-FCC Chairman Ajit Pai to investigate Sputnik’s alleged efforts to meddle in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. 

“In Washington, D.C., listeners need only tune their radios to 105.5 FM to hear the Russian government’s effort to influence U.S. policy,” the letter from Democratic Representatives Anna Eshoo, Mike Doyle and Frank Pallone said. “Disturbingly, this means the Kremlin’s propaganda messages are being broadcast over a license granted by the FCC.” 

Pai — a Trump administration appointee — declined to investigate, saying the First Amendment prevented the FCC “from interfering with a broadcast licensee’s choice of programming, even if that programming may be objectionable to many listeners.” 

A bipartisan group of members of Congress introduced the Identifying Propaganda on Our Airwaves Act in 2018. 

“Foreign governments shouldn’t be able to hide behind shell companies to fund misinformation and propaganda on American airwaves,” said Democratic Senator Brian Schatz, a member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.

“By giving the FCC the authority to require disclosure of this foreign propaganda, our bipartisan bill will help stop this practice and improve programming transparency on TV and the radio,” he said.

The bill did not advance in Congress. Federal regulations already prevent foreign governments from holding U.S. broadcast licenses. 
…

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called for Ukraine to receive an unconditional invitation to join NATO and for the deployment of a non-nuclear deterrent to Russian aggression as he went before Ukraine’s parliament Wednesday to outline his “victory plan” in the fight against Russia’s invasion. 

“Together with our partners, we must change the circumstances so that the war ends. Regardless of what Putin wants,” Zelenskyy said.  “We must all change the circumstances so that Russia is forced to peace.” 

Other parts of the part plan include post-war reconstruction pledges from Ukrainian allies as well as help in defending Ukraine’s natural mineral resources. 

Zelenskyy has been discussing the plan in recent weeks in meetings with Western leaders. 

He said he will do so again Thursday as he attends a summit of European Union leaders in Brussels. 

Russia has opposed Ukraine joining NATO, a topic that NATO leaders have said is only a matter to be decided between Ukraine and the alliance itself. 

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov dismissed Zelenskyy’s proposal, calling it an “ephemeral peace plan.” 

“The only peace plan there can be is for the Kyiv regime to realize the futility of the policy it is pursuing and understand the need to sober up,” Peskov said. 

Ukraine’s military said Wednesday it shot down 51 of 136 drones that Russia used to target the country in overnight attacks.    

The intercepts took place over the Cherkasy, Chernihiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk, Kharkiv, Kherson, Kirovohrad, Kyiv, Mykolaiv, Poltava, Sumy, Ternopil and Zhytomyr regions, the Ukrainian air force said.    

Serhii Popko, head of the Kyiv City Military Administration, said air raid alerts lasted for two hours in the Ukrainian capital, but that air defenses destroyed all of the drones that targeted the area. There were no reports of damage or casualties, Popko said on Telegram.    

Russia also fired two missiles as part of its attack.    

Russia’s Defense Ministry reported Wednesday that its air defenses destroyed two Ukrainian aerial drones over the Belgorod region and another drone over Voronezh.    

Some information for this report was provided by Agence France-Presse and Reuters. 
…

SHENGJIN, Albania — A ship carrying the first group of migrants to be processed in Albania under a deal with Italy arrived in the port of Shengjin on Wednesday morning, setting in motion Rome’s controversial plan to process thousands of asylum seekers abroad.   

Italy has built two reception centers in Albania, in the first scheme by a European Union nation to divert migrants to a non-E.U. country. The plan aims to deter irregular arrivals to Italy, but has been criticized by rights groups who say it restricts migrants’ right to asylum.   

The Libra, an Italian navy ship, docked at Shengjin, Reuters footage showed. Sixteen migrants were escorted into a newly built processing center at the port, which was ringed by a high metal fence and adorned with Italian and E.U. flags.  

Rising tension in Europe over migration issues has seen many E.U. nations, including Germany and Poland, propose or adopt tougher policies. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said this week that her country was setting an example for the rest of Europe with the Albanian scheme.  

A small group of protesters gathered at the port on Wednesday. “The European dream ends here,” one banner read.  

“These immigrants who have done long, dangerous journeys to make it to Europe are now rerouting to Albania so that they will go back to their home countries… It’s ending for us [the concept of] Europe as a place of democracy, of values, of human rights,” said Arilda Lleshi, an Albanian human rights activist.  

The group of migrants taken to Albania comprised 10 Bangladeshis and six Egyptians who were picked up at sea on Sunday aboard boats that had set sail from Libya.  

After processing in Shengjin, they will be taken inland to the village of Gjader, a 15-minute drive away, where they will be accommodated until their papers are finalized.  

They will then be sent to Italy if their asylum request is granted, or sent to their home country if rejected.  

The facilities in Shengjin and Gjader will be staffed by Italian personnel. Under the deal, the total number of migrants present at one time in Albania cannot be more than 3,000.  

Italy has said only “non-vulnerable” men coming from countries classified as safe would be sent to Albania, to a limit of 36,000 migrants a year.  

At present there are 21 such nations on the Italian list. Last year, 56,588 migrants arrived in Italy from just four of them — Bangladesh, Egypt, Ivory Coast and Tunisia. Most abscond from reception centers and head to wealthier northern Europe. 
…

LONDON — Some of the most prominent artificial intelligence models are falling short of European regulations in key areas such as cybersecurity resilience and discriminatory output, according to data seen by Reuters.

The EU had long debated new AI regulations before OpenAI released ChatGPT to the public in late 2022. The record-breaking popularity and ensuing public debate over the supposed existential risks of such models spurred lawmakers to draw up specific rules around “general-purpose” AIs.

Now a new tool designed by Swiss startup LatticeFlow and partners, and supported by European Union officials, has tested generative AI models developed by big tech companies like Meta and OpenAI across dozens of categories in line with the bloc’s wide-sweeping AI Act, which is coming into effect in stages over the next two years.

Awarding each model a score between 0 and 1, a leaderboard published by LatticeFlow on Wednesday showed models developed by Alibaba, Anthropic, OpenAI, Meta and Mistral all received average scores of 0.75 or above.

However, the company’s “Large Language Model (LLM) Checker” uncovered some models’ shortcomings in key areas, spotlighting where companies may need to divert resources in order to ensure compliance.

Companies failing to comply with the AI Act will face fines of $38 million or 7% of global annual turnover.

Mixed results

At present, the EU is still trying to establish how the AI Act’s rules around generative AI tools like ChatGPT will be enforced, convening experts to craft a code of practice governing the technology by spring 2025.

But LatticeFlow’s test, developed in collaboration with researchers at Swiss university ETH Zurich and Bulgarian research institute INSAIT, offers an early indicator of specific areas where tech companies risk falling short of the law.

For example, discriminatory output has been a persistent issue in the development of generative AI models, reflecting human biases around gender, race and other areas when prompted.

When testing for discriminatory output, LatticeFlow’s LLM Checker gave OpenAI’s “GPT-3.5 Turbo” a relatively low score of 0.46. For the same category, Alibaba Cloud’s 9988.HK “Qwen1.5 72B Chat” model received only a 0.37.

Testing for “prompt hijacking,” a type of cyberattack in which hackers disguise a malicious prompt as legitimate to extract sensitive information, the LLM Checker awarded Meta’s “Llama 2 13B Chat” model a score of 0.42. In the same category, French startup Mistral’s “8x7B Instruct” model received 0.38.

“Claude 3 Opus,” a model developed by Google-backed Anthropic, received the highest average score, 0.89.

The test was designed in line with the text of the AI Act, and will be extended to encompass further enforcement measures as they are introduced. LatticeFlow said the LLM Checker would be freely available for developers to test their models’ compliance online.

Petar Tsankov, the firm’s CEO and cofounder, told Reuters the test results were positive overall and offered companies a roadmap for them to fine-tune their models in line with the AI Act.

“The EU is still working out all the compliance benchmarks, but we can already see some gaps in the models,” he said. “With a greater focus on optimizing for compliance, we believe model providers can be well-prepared to meet regulatory requirements.”

Meta declined to comment. Alibaba, Anthropic, Mistral, and OpenAI did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

While the European Commission cannot verify external tools, the body has been informed throughout the LLM Checker’s development and described it as a “first step” in putting the new laws into action.

A spokesperson for the European Commission said: “The Commission welcomes this study and AI model evaluation platform as a first step in translating the EU AI Act into technical requirements.”
…

Ukraine’s military said Wednesday it shot down 51 drones that Russia used to target the country in overnight attacks.

The intercepts took place over the Cherkasy, Chernihiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk, Kharkiv, Kherson, Kirovohrad, Kyiv, Mykolaiv, Poltava, Sumy, Ternopil and Zhytomyr regions, the Ukrainian air force said.

Serhii Popko, head of the Kyiv City Military Administration, said air raid alerts lasted for two hours in the Ukrainian capital, but that air defenses destroyed all of the drones that targeted the area. There were no reports of damage or casualties, Popko said on Telegram.

Russia also fired two missiles as part of its attack.

Russia’s Defense Ministry reported Wednesday that its air defenses destroyed two Ukrainian aerial drones over the Belgorod region and another drone over Voronezh.
…

JABLANICA, Bosnia-Herzegovina — Several thousand mourners in southern Bosnia converged Tuesday around 19 caskets covered in traditional Islamic green cloth, part of a funeral service held for those killed during the destructive floods and landslides that hit the country in early October.

Torrential rains and winds slammed four municipalities in central and southern Bosnia early on Oct. 4, catching people by surprise.

Entire areas were cut off as flash floods swept away roads and bridges, and at least 26 people were reported dead. Authorities are still looking for one missing person.

The 19 victims were from Donja Jablanica, a village outside the town of Jablanica where the Bosnian Islamic Community Grand Mufti Husein Kavazovic led the service.

“No words are necessary,” Kavazovic said, addressing the mourners as they stood outside Jablanica Mosque. “Although the grief is deep and unbearable, we are aware that God decides about our lives. We are mortals.”

Burials were to be held separately after the service ended.

People from Donja Jablanica said they heard a thunderous roar before piles of rocks, mud and water descended on the village. Many houses were demolished and some families lost most of their members.

Enes Dzino said his daughter-in-law’s nine family members were killed in the floods, except for one child who has been hospitalized.

“It’s hard, very hard to bear,” he said. “They were all gone in a second, her entire family. All killed.”

Bosnia’s neighbors and European Union countries sent help.

Human-caused climate change increases the intensity of rainfall because warm air holds more moisture. This summer, the Balkans were also hit by long-lasting record temperatures, causing a drought. Scientists said the dried-out land has hampered the absorption of floodwaters.
…

LONDON — British Foreign Secretary David Lammy is expected to visit Beijing and Shanghai, the highest-level trip to China since the Labour government came to power.

Analysts say they will be watching the trip for signs of a possible reset in U.K.-China relations, which have been fraught in recent years. 

Reuters reported last week that Lammy is expected to meet with Chinese officials in Beijing and representatives of British companies in Shanghai. According to sources familiar with the matter, the trip will last two days.

The U.K. Foreign and Commonwealth Office spokesperson told VOA that the secretary’s travel plans have not been publicly announced.

At the same time, sources told Sky News that U.K. Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves is considering a visit to China to resume an economic and financial dialogue that was interrupted in 2019.

During this year’s parliamentary election campaign, the Labour Party promised to conduct a comprehensive audit of U.K.-China relations to develop a “long-term strategic approach” to the relationship.

In August, during a phone call with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said that despite the differences, there was a need to have frank exchanges while promoting closer economic ties and global cooperation.

Over the past decade, ties between the U.K. and China have been on a roller coaster. In 2015, then-Prime Minister David Cameron declared a “golden age” in U.K.-China relations. However, by 2020, Boris Johnson’s government was clashing with Beijing over issues such as the Hong Kong National Security Law and the coronavirus pandemic as well as the exclusion of Huawei from Britain’s 5G network construction.

James Jennion, an associate fellow of the British Foreign Policy Group and co-founder of the Labour Campaign for Human Rights, told VOA that he thinks the visit will focus mainly on cooperative aspects of the relationship.

“It’s been made clear this visit is intended as a ‘reset’ of our relations with Beijing, so trade and investment will be front and center,” Jennion said.

He also said cooperation cannot come at the cost of U.K. values and human rights responsibilities.

“Human rights issues, if discussed, will likely cover ‘third-party’ issues like the Middle East and Ukraine, where possible joint solutions will be discussed. Given the nature and purpose of the trip,” he added. 

“I would be very surprised if controversial [to China] issues like Hong Kong, Xinjiang, and Taiwan are mentioned, as these have been the major friction points in previous years.” 

Observers say the business community generally wants to improve economic and trade relations with China, especially in the post-Brexit era, and note that Britain needs to open new markets. Human rights groups, however, have called for the U.K. not to compromise on human rights and national security.

Megan Khoo, a policy adviser for Hong Kong Watch, a human rights NGO based in London, told VOA the group “hopes that the Foreign Secretary uses his bilateral meetings to draw attention to the declining human rights situation in Hong Kong. This is especially important following the passage of the Safeguarding National Security Ordinance and the recent sentencing of two former Stand News editors under colonial-era sedition laws.”

Khoo said Lammy should make it clear that Britain remains committed to the observance of human rights in Hong Kong, given its historical commitments to the city.

“The Foreign Secretary should also signal that the U.K. takes seriously its duty to protect the more than 150,000 Hong Kongers who are now living in the U.K. and wish to remain free from political repression,” she said.

  

Luke De Pulford, executive director for the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, said Beijing will test Lammy’s resolve. 

“Let’s see if he measures up and sticks with his clear commitments he made to persecuted Uyghurs while in opposition,” De Pulford said, adding that he is not encouraged by the early signs.

“Lammy has an opportunity to show strength in defense of U.K. values, which are core to the national interest,” he said.

China’s recent military exercises around Taiwan could also be a topic of discussion. As an ally of the U.S., the U.K. has been concerned about the security situation in the Indo-Pacific region.

Adrianna Zhang contributed to this report.
…

The republic of Georgia – which was part of the Soviet Union until independence in 1991 – is preparing for a crucial election on October 26th, which is widely seen as a choice between a future aligned with the West or Russia. Western powers accuse the ruling Georgian Dream party of a backsliding of democracy. As Henry Ridgwell reports from the capital, Tbilisi, the party’s leaders are seeking ahead of the election to capitalize on Georgian voters’ fears of war. (Camera: Henry Ridgwell)
…