Hundreds of supporters from Georgia’s main opposition party gathered Thursday in the capital, Tbilisi, demanding their ex-leader’s release from prison on the 20th anniversary of the country’s pro-democracy revolution.

Mikheil Saakashvili spearheaded the bloodless Rose Revolution in 2003 and led the Black Sea nation for nine years before going into exile. After his return, he was arrested on abuse-of-power charges that rights groups say were politically motivated.

“The idea of a united, strong, democratic, European, free Georgia was a driving force of the Rose Revolution and its leader, Saakashvili,” a leader from his United National Movement (UNM) party, Tina Bokuchava, told the gathering.

“The terrible injustice of Saakashvili’s imprisonment must end,” she said.

Saakashvili, 55, has accused prison guards of mistreatment, and doctors have raised serious concerns about his health since he staged a 50-day hunger strike.

“The Rose Revolution has changed Georgia’s history for good, put it on a world map,” Saakashvili wrote on Facebook. “Our revolution has laid the ground for dismantling the post-Soviet Russian system and made Georgia an example to follow for the whole world.”

The Rose Revolution, which saw tens of thousands take to the streets against rigged elections and rampant corruption, reshaped Georgia and enabled sweeping political and economic reforms that helped to bring a more than threefold increase of per capita GDP.

But opponents have criticized the rule of its leaders – which saw police crackdowns on anti-government protests and abuse of inmates in prisons – as authoritarian.

The revolution also had a wider impact on post-Soviet countries such as Ukraine, where corrupt elites were ousted in the Orange Revolution the following year.

But the so-called “color revolutions” in Georgia, Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan have led to confrontation with the Kremlin, which has perceived the popular uprisings as a threat to its influence in what it sees as its backyard.
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Turkey’s central bank delivered another huge interest rate hike on Thursday as it tries to curb double-digit inflation that has left households struggling to afford food and other basic goods.

The bank pushed its policy rate up by 5 percentage points, to 40%, marking its sixth big interest rate hike in a row focused on beating down inflation that hit an eye-watering 61.36% last month.

However, the bank said its rate hikes would soon end.

“The current level of monetary tightness is significantly close to the level required to establish the disinflation course,” the bank said. “Accordingly, the pace of monetary tightening will slow down, and the tightening cycle will be completed in a short period of time.”

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has long been a proponent of an unorthodox policy of cutting interest rates to fight inflation and had fired central bank governors who resisted his rate-slashing policies.

That runs counter to traditional economic thinking, and many blamed Erdogan’s unusual methods for economic turmoil that has included a currency crisis and an increasingly high cost of living.

Other central banks around the world have raised interest rates rapidly to target spikes in consumer prices tied to the rebound from the COVID-19 pandemic and then Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Following Erdogan’s reelection in May, he appointed a new economic team, which has quickly moved toward reversing his previous policy of keeping interest rates low.

The team includes former Merrill Lynch banker Mehmet Simsek, who returned as finance minister, a post he held until 2018, and Hafize Gaye Erkan, a former U.S.-based bank executive, who took over as central bank governor in June.

Under Erkan’s tenure, the central bank has hiked its main interest rate from 8.5% to 40%.
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The European Parliament on Thursday condemned what it said were Iran’s rights abuses against women, including “brutal murders,” and its detention of EU nationals.

A nonbinding resolution slammed the “deterioration of the human rights situation in Iran, and the brutal murders of women by the Iranian authorities, including the 2023 Sakharov Prize laureate Jina Mahsa Amini,” a 22-year-old Iranian Kurd who died last year in police custody.

Parliament members also called for the immediate release from detention of human rights defenders, including Nobel Peace Prize winner Narges Mohammadi.

The motion was adopted 516-4, with 27 abstentions.

Parliament members urged Tehran “to end immediately all discrimination against women and girls, including mandatory veiling, and to withdraw all gender discriminatory laws.”

Amini’s death last year sparked widespread street demonstrations against the Iranian government that security forces put down brutally.  Hundreds of people have been killed or executed in the repression, and thousands have been arrested.

In October, the European Parliament awarded the EU’s top rights honor, the Sakharov Prize, to Amini and to the “Woman, Life, Freedom” movement that sprang up after her death.

European lawmakers reiterated a call for EU states to designate Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a “terrorist organization” and for sanctions against the country’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and other top officials for human rights violations.

They also condemned Iran’s “hostage diplomacy,” which European governments say Iran uses to extract concessions from the West or gain the release of Iranians imprisoned abroad.
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Geert Wilders, the outspoken Dutch far-right leader who has frequently been compared to former U.S. President Donald Trump, is set to begin negotiations on forming a government after his shock win in Wednesday’s election.

However, Wilders is still dozens of seats short of a working majority, and it remains unclear whether other parties are willing to work with him and enter into a coalition government. Negotiations are expected to take several months.

Political earthquake

Dutch voters sent political shockwaves across Europe late Wednesday as exit polls showed a clear lead for the Freedom Party, led by Wilders. His party won 37 of the 150 seats available, easily beating his closest rival, a joint Labor and Green party ticket, which secured 25 seats.

The center-right People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy of outgoing Prime Minister Mark Rutte won 24 seats in a disappointing night.

Wilders has long been a provocative figure in Dutch politics but has never before enjoyed this level of success. Following the result, the 60-year-old doubled down on his anti-migrant rhetoric.

“The people have spoken. The people said, ‘We are sick and tired of this. We will make sure the Dutch people will be number one again,’” he said.

“The Dutchman also has hope. The hope is that people get their country back. That we make sure that the Netherlands is for the Dutch again. That we will limit the asylum tsunami and migration,” Wilders told cheering supporters in The Hague as the scale of his victory became clear Wednesday.

“Less Islam”

Wilders’ party manifesto promises “less Islam in the Netherlands.” In 2016 he was convicted of inciting hatred and discrimination after leading a crowd chanting for fewer Moroccans in the country.

Minority groups have voiced concern at the election result, in a country where Muslims make up around 5% of the population. “We have great concerns about the future of Islam and Muslims in the Netherlands,” Muhsin Koktas of the Dutch Muslim organization CMO told Reuters.

Following his victory Wednesday, Wilders appeared to tone down his anti-Islam rhetoric. “If I become prime minister, I will be that for all Dutch people, regardless of who they are, their gender or religion, where they come from. For everyone,” he said.

Softened tone

That civilized tone won him voters during the campaign, said Rachid Azrout, a political analyst at the University of Amsterdam.

“Basically, what he said is, ‘Of course, my hatred for Islam will still be a part of me, but I will put it aside and that doesn’t need to be part of the government. So that way, I can become a more viable coalition partner,’” Azrout told VOA.

The election was held after the former government collapsed in July in a disagreement over a cap on the number of family members permitted to join immigrants in the country.

“Because the government collapsed on the topic of immigration, that made the topic really important in the campaign. And so then actually, Geert Wilders was the one that actually profited from that,” said Azrout.

Trump comparisons

Wilders’ mane of dyed blonde hair and conservative political agenda have drawn comparisons with Trump — a figure the Dutch politician has frequently praised in the past. Wilders’ program pledges “Netherlands first,” echoing the slogans of populist parties in Europe, the United States and beyond.

“This is the international trend — a huge, anti-establishment populist revolt all over the place, all over the world,” Rene Cuperus of the Clingendael Institute, a Dutch policy analyst group in The Hague, told Reuters.

Wilders has campaigned for the Netherlands to leave the European Union. He opposes Ukraine’s proposed membership of the bloc and wants to stop Dutch military support for Kyiv.

However, any coalition agreement will likely force Wilders to soften his stance.

“A large majority of the Dutch population, but also most of the political parties, are very much in favor of the Netherlands being part of the European Union, and also that we should support Ukraine in the war against Russia,” said analyst Azrout.

“And so, yes, Geert Wilders and his party, they say we should have a ‘Nexit’ — so that the Netherlands should leave the European Union — that we should have the guilder [old currency] back instead of the euro and not support Ukraine. But he realized, of course, that he is alone in that sense,” Azrout said.

Coalition talks

Wilders’ path to power will likely depend on whether the center-right People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy, under new leader Dilan Yesilgoz — the daughter of Turkish immigrants — is willing to form a coalition with the far-right party, along with the centrist New Social Contract party under Pieter Omtzigt.

Both Yesilgoz and Omtzigt said during the campaign that they did not want to work with Wilders, although his clear victory could pressure them into opening coalition talks.

The center-left has already ruled out any coalition with Wilders and said its job was now to defend democracy. Analysts say a broad coalition between left and right parties is seen as unlikely at this stage.

Party leaders are due to meet on Friday to choose an “explorer,” an independent go-between who will hear from each party on what possibilities they envisage in potential coalition talks.

Meanwhile, far-right leaders across Europe sent Wilders their congratulations.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said the “winds of change” had arrived, while France’s Marine Le Pen said it was a “spectacular performance.”
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Ten years ago, thousands of Ukrainians gathered in Kyiv’s Independence Square to demand a European future for their country. Their actions set into motion a decade of revolution, turmoil and conflict, culminating in Russia’s full-scale invasion of the country in February 2022.

A decade on from the protests, Ukraine’s path in the European Union is set to be decided at an upcoming summit in Brussels.

Euromaidan

In late November 2013, under intense pressure from Russia, Ukraine’s then-President Viktor Yanukovych pulled out of signing an association agreement with the European Union, opting instead to sign a loan and energy deal with Moscow.

His decision triggered fury among Ukrainians who dreamed of a democratic future in the EU, outside the political orbit of Russia. Thousands of protesters filled Kyiv’s Maidan Square, waving the twin blue and gold colors of the Ukrainian and European Union flags.

“Living under Yanukovych in Ukraine was humiliating. Nobody cared about the people. The authorities didn’t hide their criminal, completely pro-Russian nature,” said Dmytro Riznychenko, who took part in the demonstrations. “We wanted to find human dignity. We wanted freedom.”

“Revolution of dignity”

After several days of peaceful protests, Ukrainian police converged to clear Independence Square in a brutal crackdown on the show of dissent. In response, thousands more Ukrainians joined the protests from across the country. In the grip of winter, central Kyiv was barricaded by the demonstrators, as riot police formed lines to protect government buildings.

Heavily armed riot police tried to take back control of the capital in February 2014. In the violence, 108 protesters were killed, with dozens shot by police snipers. A global outcry triggered the resignation of Yanukovych, who fled to Russia.

The events became known as Ukraine’s “revolution of dignity.” Its victims are commemorated via memorials in Independence Square.

Russian invasion

Olga Tokariuk, who now works for the British policy group Chatham House, took part in the Euromaidan demonstrations.

“We had no idea what was ahead,” she told VOA. “Of course, we could not have imagined that there would be Russia’s invasion and that there would be war that would last for nine years already, that there would be Russia’s full-scale invasion, that millions of Ukrainians would have to leave their homes. Thousands would be killed in this war. Many of the people who were on the square in Maidan would be killed in this war.”

Russia forcefully annexed Crimea in March 2014, and fomented a separatist war in eastern Ukraine, a prelude to its full-scale invasion eight years later.

“Buffer zone”

Ukraine elected a pro-Western government following the revolution and demanded EU membership. But Brussels said Ukraine wasn’t ready — and that proved fateful, says Tokariuk.

“Ukraine paid a huge price for its desire to be a part of the European family, where it rightfully belongs. And unfortunately for a very long time, Ukraine was denied this possibility. Ukraine was kept in this back room somehow in, in limbo. Ultimately, that’s what compelled Russia to invade Ukraine on a large scale. It was left as a buffer zone,” Tokariuk said.

Ukraine is now engaged in a full-scale war against Russia. More than 10,000 civilians have been killed since Moscow’s invasion in February 2022.

EU summit

At a summit in Brussels next month, European leaders will decide whether to begin formal negotiations on Ukraine’s EU accession. Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says it is his country’s destiny.

“Twenty years ago, it was a romantic dream. Ten years ago, it was an ambitious goal. And today it is a reality in which it is no longer possible to stop our progress,” he said in a televised address Tuesday, on the anniversary of the Euromaidan protests.

Visiting Kyiv to mark the anniversary, Charles Michel, the president of the European Council, offered his support and urged the EU’s 27 member states to back Ukraine’s membership.

“Ukraine’s progress has been remarkable, especially during a full-blown war, and it continues to get closer to the EU,” Michel said. “Enlargement is a strategic investment for the EU — so it’s been for peace, prosperity and democratic values. I want to be clear I intend to do everything to convince my 27 colleagues that we need a positive decision in December.”

European hopes

It’s vital that the EU offers Ukraine hope for the future, said analyst Olga Tokariuk.

“It was a huge mistake to keep Ukraine in this waiting room for such a long time. So only with Ukraine fully integrated into the European Union — but also into NATO — peace is possible on the entire European continent. It will be blow to Russia, of course, because that would mean that Ukraine has once and for good departed from the so-called Russian sphere of influence,” Tokariuk said.

Ten years since the Euromaidan protests, Ukraine has suffered death and destruction on a scale few could have imagined.

“Because the sequence of events that followed was so dramatic and so tragic, I think myself — and many people who were there at Maidan — we ask ourselves occasionally, was it worth it? You know, if we knew what would follow, would we still go out to the square and protest? And the answer in most cases is ‘yes,’” Tokariuk told VOA.
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Russian state television said Thursday one of its journalists died after being hurt in a Ukrainian drone attack in the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia region of southern Ukraine.

The Russian network announced the death of Boris Maksudov a day after the Russian defense ministry said he was hit while working in Zaporizhzhia.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian officials said Thursday that Russian shelling killed one person and injured another in southern Ukraine’s Kherson region.

The officials said the areas hit by the Russian shelling included a residential building.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy used part of his nightly address Wednesday to highlight new military aid packages from allies that he said include help for his country’s air defenses.

Zelenskyy said the aid would better protect Ukraine’s cities and towns from Russian attacks and that “Ukraine’s sky shield is getting more powerful literally every month.”

Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
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German authorities carried out raids Thursday in connection with a ban on the Palestinian militant group Hamas and the pro-Palestinian group Samidoun.

Germany’s Interior Ministry said the raids took place at 15 properties in four states.

“With the bans on Hamas and Samidoun in Germany, we have sent a clear signal that we will not tolerate any glorification or support of the barbaric terror of Hamas against Israel,” Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said in a statement.

The ministry says there are about 450 Hamas members in Germany and that they have engaged in propaganda and fundraising efforts.

Some information for this report came from Agence France-Presse and Reuters.

 
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King Charles III honored the K-pop band Blackpink on Wednesday for their work in raising awareness about climate change, as South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and Prime Minister Rishi Sunak pledged closer cooperation between their two countries on technology and defense.

On the second day of Yoon’s three-day state visit to London, Charles made Blackpink members Jennie Kim, Jisoo Kim and Lalisa Manoban honorary Members of the Order of the British Empire.

Bandmate Roseanne (Rosé) Park also received an MBE, although hers came without the “honorary” qualifier because she has dual citizenship in New Zealand, one of the 14 countries where the U.K. monarch is head of state.

The honors were presented during a ceremony at Buckingham Palace in recognition of Blackpink’s role in promoting the work of the COP26 summit on climate change two years ago in Glasgow, Scotland. The awards are part of Britain’s honors system, which recognizes outstanding service to the nation and the wider world.

Charles had lauded the K-pop girl group on Tuesday during a state banquet in honor of Yoon and first lady Kim Keon Hee “for their role in bringing the message of environmental sustainability to a global audience.

“I can only admire how they can prioritize these vital issues, as well as being global superstars,” Charles said at the banquet.

The Korean president is being treated to royal and diplomatic pomp on the visit, which the U.K. government hopes will help cement an “Indo-Pacific tilt” in its foreign and trade policy.

Yoon met Prime Minister Rishi Sunak at the British leader’s 10 Downing St. residence for talks focused on trade, technology and defense.

To coincide with the visit, U.K. and Korean officials launched talks on an “upgraded” free trade agreement to replace their current deal, which largely replicates the arrangements the U.K. had before it left the European Union.

The leaders also signed an agreement dubbed the “Downing Street Accord,” pledging closer cooperation on defense and technology, including artificial intelligence. Britain hosted the first international AI Safety Summit this month, and South Korea intends to hold a follow-up event next year.

The two countries also agreed to joint naval patrols to curb smuggling and enforce U.N. sanctions imposed on North Korea to curb its nuclear weapons ambitions.

“Your state visit underlies the deep partnership and friendship between our two countries and the signing of the Downing Street Accord today strengthens that friendship,” Sunak told the South Korean leader.

Yoon has not commented directly on North Korea’s launch of a spy satellite on Tuesday or its suspected failed missile test on Wednesday, both of which took place while he was in London.

In a speech to both houses of Britain’s parliament on Tuesday, Yoon said Britain and South Korea would work together on “geopolitical risks like the war in Ukraine, the Israel and Hamas conflict, and the North Korean nuclear threats.”

“Korea stands united with the United Kingdom and the international community to fight against illegal aggression and provocations,” he said.
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The United States and Germany, the two top providers of military aid to Ukraine, pledged continued support this week as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy declared his core goal was securing international assistance for the year ahead. But experts caution that the US and Germany risk being perceived as too closely tied to Ukraine’s grinding war with Russia. VOA’s Senior Diplomatic Correspondent Cindy Saine reports.
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From headlines taken out of context to the framing of fringe figures as representative of wider American views, Russian state-run outlets are cherry-picking U.S. content to back up Kremlin narratives.

And it comes with results. Headlines such as “Biden accused of concealing extent of corruption in Ukraine” and “US highlights NATO inability to withstand Russia for extended period” regularly propel state-run stories into the top five spots on Russian search engines, with a potential reach of millions of views.

Americans regularly cited by Russian media include former Fox News commentator Tucker Carlson, Republican Representative James Comer, and members of “The Squad,” a group of Democrats who push more leftist ideals in Congress.

Extremes of the political spectrum are wrapped into Russian disinformation efforts to both amplify issues and lend an air of legitimacy to anti-Western and anti-Ukrainian narratives, said Nina Jankowicz, vice president of the Centre for Information Resilience and a former disinformation chief under the Biden administration.

“We see Russia identifying individuals on the left or right of the political spectrum who might already be critics of NATO, critics of Ukraine,” Jankowicz told VOA.

That strategy is employed by Vladimir Soloviev, a Russian TV presenter whose Telegram channel has more than a million subscribers. Soloviev gained notoriety by advocating for the invasion of Ukraine, actively supporting President Vladimir Putin and promoting the idea of nuclear warfare against the West.

To reinforce those views, he regularly references Carlson. A search by VOA for Carlson references on the Telegram account between June 2020 and November 2023 returned more than 230 instances. The number of references spiked following the full-scale invasion.

The key narratives of Carlson selected by Soloviev and Russian propaganda channels include the conservative pundit’s false claims that Christians in Ukraine are persecuted, that America’s white population is oppressed and Tucker’s characterization of some U.S. media coverage of Ukraine as lies.

Other outlets take fringe commentators most Americans are unlikely to have heard and present them as having a wider influence.

These are often used to reinforce Russia’s narrative of a “declining” West, with state-run media citing figures such as Jackson Hinkle and Jack Posobiec, who are largely unknown in the United States but are favored among the far right and in conspiracy circles on X, formerly Twitter.

RIA Novosti, for instance, highlighted Posobiec’s mocking comment about Kyiv’s interest in Abrams tanks, presenting it as a view from a respected veteran and combining it with a quote from Putin emphasizing Moscow’s purported aim to end, not escalate, the conflict.

Similarly, Russian news outlet Lenta.Ru used a headline quoting Hinkle’s suggestion that the Ukrainian Armed Forces’ counteroffensive be labeled as a suicide mission.

And Soloviev frequently references both Americans in his Telegram channel, portraying them as influential bloggers, talk show hosts, or renowned U.S. journalists.

The approach helps Russia create the appearance of more significant support for opinions that — according to analysts who spoke with VOA — are better characterized as fringe views.

And it can lead regular Russians to believe the views are more representative of how most Americans think, Jankowicz said.

Outlets such as Breitbart and Fox News on the right and The Grayzone on the left are also used by Russian state media, with stories circulating between the Russian and U.S. organizations, she said.

Jankowicz said that while she was in her role on the U.S. Disinformation Governance Board, American right-wing media outlets falsely characterized the board’s role as being to censor Americans.

“This was absolutely not true, and within a couple of days after that, we saw [the same report] on Russian Channel One with the same quotes, the same pictures, the same narratives overarching,” Jankowicz said.

The disinformation governance board — formed by the U.S. Homeland Security Department to counter misinformation — was disbanded after only a few weeks.

Featuring statements from American figures and media outlets lends a sense of credibility, she said.

“Showing these extreme viewpoints also hammers home the ideas about Ukraine or about U.S. foreign policy that the Kremlin wants its audiences to believe,” Jankowicz said.

Dominik Stecula, an assistant professor of political science at Colorado State University who focuses on political polarization, has seen similar trends. Stecula said the commentator Carlson has repeated Russian propaganda narratives on his TV show.

But Carlson’s departure from Fox in April, along with a shift in media attention to other news stories such as the Israeli-Hamas conflict, slightly changed the U.S. media landscape on the right, Stecula said. “Whoever is filling in his shoes hasn’t really spent as much time on this topic at all. The general focus on Ukraine dissipated.”

Another aspect that unites some far-left and far-right political actors is populism, Stecula said. “They were repeating some of the Russian propaganda about Ukraine, about politicians in Ukraine, like President [Volodymyr] Zelenskyy.”

The academic said that far-right actors in the U.S. root their narratives primarily in the idea of America-first nationalism, while those on the far left see it “through the lens of American imperialism wielded through the power of NATO.”

Overall, Carlson, Elon Musk and niche bloggers such as Hinkle and Posobiec have significant influence within their respective ideological echo chambers, Stecula said.

At the same time, members of “The Squad” — U.S. Congresswomen Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Ayanna Pressley and Rashida Tlaib — have substantial influence within the Democratic Party, while not wholly representing the party’s mainstream, Stecula said.

“They’re not just your average social media influencer,” Stecula said. “These are people with significant platforms and actual positions of power. Which is why it was disappointing to see some of their behavior during the initial months of the Russian invasion and Ukraine, when they were taking stands aligned with some of right-wing Republicans.”

What the Russian invasion of Ukraine really highlighted, the academic noted, is that populism and a rejection of the mainstream have significantly united those on America’s far left and far right.

Jankowicz said that while a certain percentage of Americans may share the views of some of these people, the reality is that opinion is far more varied.

“And so, I think showing these extreme viewpoints also hammers home the ideas about Ukraine or about U.S. foreign policy that the Kremlin wants its audiences to believe,” she said.

This article originated in VOA’s Russian Service.
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As Ukraine’s forces continue their counteroffensive, mines and explosives threaten its people in de-occupied regions. According to the Ukrainian government, since the start of the Russian invasion, mines have killed at least 264 civilians and injured more than 830. Demining efforts, led by various entitles, are actively underway. Myroslava Gongadze tells the story. (Camera: Eugene Shynkar; Produced by Daniil Batushchak)
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Dutch voters cast their ballots on Wednesday in a nail-biting election in which opinion polls show at least three parties — including the far right — could hope for the top spot.

A weighted poll published on the eve of the vote showed anti-Islam firebrand Geert Wilders’ Freedom Party, or PVV, tied for the lead with the conservative People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy, or VVD, of outgoing Prime Minister Mark Rutte.

“I hope I don’t wake up tomorrow and we have Wilders as a prime minister. That’s a nightmare,” said Amsterdam resident Arie van der Neut, an architect, after he cast his ballot for the pro-European, center-left Volt party.

Only one thing is certain: The Netherlands will get its first new prime minister in over a decade. Rutte resigned in July as his fourth coalition government collapsed, ending a 13-year tenure.

No party is on track to take more than 20% of the vote, and with late polls showing Labour leader Frans Timmermans and Wilders making gains — and a large number of Dutch still undecided ahead of the vote — many scenarios are possible.

Although it is the tradition, there is also no guarantee that the party winning the most seats will end up delivering the prime minister. In a country where the vote is split among many parties, coalition talks can take months.

Restricting immigration — the issue that triggered the collapse of Rutte’s last cabinet — has been a key issue in the campaign, alongside climate change.

“It’s been enough now. The Netherlands can’t take it anymore. We have to think about our own people first now. Borders closed. Zero asylum seekers,” Wilders said in a television debate late on Tuesday.

Justice Minister Dilan Yesilgoz, a Turkish immigrant tough on immigration and Rutte’s successor at the helm of the VVD and who is hoping to become the country’s first woman prime minister, responded:

“I don’t think anyone believes Wilders would be a prime minister for all. He’s all about closing borders, excluding groups who he feels don’t belong in the Netherlands.”

Lawmaker Pieter Omtzigt, a centrist who founded his own party after breaking with the Christian Democrats, is trailing slightly behind the first three in the latest polls but will likely play an important role.

At stake in the election is also whether voters in one of Europe’s most prosperous countries are willing to continue funding climate policies, such as an expensive rollout of offshore wind farms, amid a cost-of-living shock across the continent.

With the Netherlands a founding member of the EU and Rutte a key operator in EU summits, fellow leaders will also be scrutinizing the outcome as parties on the right have suggested seeking exemptions from the bloc’s rules on agriculture and immigration.

Voting booths will close at 9 p.m., when national broadcaster NOS publishes its first exit poll.

A first-place finish for Wilders could lead the Netherlands to a hard-right coalition with a strong anti-immigration line, even though he has been seeking to soften his image in the hope of entering government.

A hard-right coalition could also soften plans to reduce livestock and fertilizer use, which are strongly opposed by farmers.

If Timmermans is better placed, this could swing the next government toward the center and more spending on climate policies and increase social spending, including raising the minimum wage.

Rutte will remain in a caretaker role until a new government is installed, likely in the first half of 2024.
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The Kremlin on Tuesday hosted Palestinian representatives and foreign ministers from Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Indonesia in what observers say was a bid to showcase its position on the Israel-Hamas war. Elizabeth Cherneff narrates this report from the VOA Moscow Bureau. VOA footage by Ricardo Marquina.
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King Charles III hosted South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and his wife at a glittering banquet at Buckingham Palace Tuesday, as Britain rolled out the red carpet for a formal state visit aimed at strengthening trade and defense ties between the two countries.

The U.K. government hopes the Korean leader’s three-day visit will help cement an “Indo-Pacific tilt” in its foreign and trade policy.

The king and Queen Camilla hosted Yoon and first lady Kim Keon Hee at a sumptuous white tie and tiara banquet at Buckingham Palace, where Charles paid tribute to South Korea’s political and economic advances and celebrated its culture. The monarch even singled out for praise the K-pop girl group Blackpink, whose members were among more than 170 guests in the grand ballroom.

“I applaud Jennie, Jisoo, Lisa and Rose, better known collectively as Blackpink, for their role in bringing the message of environmental sustainability to a global audience,” Charles said in his banquet speech. “I can only admire how they can prioritize these vital issues, as well as being global superstars.”

“Sadly, when I was in Seoul all those years ago, I am not sure I developed much of what might be called the Gangnam Style!” he joked, referring to the global hit song by Korean rapper Psy.

Camilla donned the late Queen Elizabeth II ‘s ruby and diamond Burmese tiara and a red gown for the occasion, while Catherine, the Princess of Wales, chose a white gown paired with what’s known as the Strathmore Rose tiara. The headpiece had belonged to Elizabeth’s mother, known as the Queen Mother.

Earlier Tuesday Charles and Camilla welcomed Yoon and his wife at Horse Guards Parade, a military parade ground in central London. Heir to the throne Prince William and government ministers also attended the welcome ceremony, where the king and president inspected rows of soldiers from the Scots Guards in gray tunics and bearskin hats.

The visiting couple traveled by horse-drawn coach down an avenue lined with British and Korean flags to Buckingham Palace.

Yoon also is scheduled to hold talks Wednesday with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak focused on trade, technology and defense. A defense agreement will see the two countries’ navies work together to curb smuggling and enforce U.N. sanctions imposed on North Korea to curb its nuclear weapons ambitions.

U.K. and Korean officials also will officially launch talks on an “upgraded” free trade agreement to replace their current deal, which largely replicates the arrangements the U.K. had before it left the European Union.

Britain has launched trade talks with several countries since leaving the EU in 2020, though it has finalized deals only with Australia and New Zealand. The U.K. also has joined the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership, or CPTPP, an Asia-Pacific trade bloc that includes Japan and 10 other nations.

Sunak and Yoon are expected to sign an agreement covering cooperation in defense and technology, including artificial intelligence. Britain hosted the first international AI Safety Summit this month, and South Korea intends to hold a follow-up event next year.

Britain also plans to invest in South Korean semiconductor manufacturing as part of international efforts to diversify the supply of the key computer components. Many of the advanced chips are produced in Taiwan, and the coronavirus pandemic and an increasingly assertive China have heightened concerns about future supply.

Sunak said agreements made during Yoon’s visit would “drive investment, boost trade and build a friendship that not only supports global stability, but protects our interests and lasts the test of time.”
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Ukraine said Wednesday Russia launched 14 drones and a cruise missile as part of its latest attacks.

The Ukrainian air force said its air defenses downed all of the drones, which were directed at parts of central, southeastern and western Ukraine.

There were no immediate reports of major damage or casualties.

The Ukrainian military also said the Russian X-22 missile fell into a field in the Zaporizhzhia region without reaching its target.

Ukraine identified the Russian drones as being Shahed drones made by Iran, and the latest attacks followed warnings by the United States that Iran could provide Russia with ballistic missiles to use in its war in Ukraine.

“In return for that support, Russia has been offering Tehran unprecedented defense cooperation, including on missiles, electronics and air defense,” National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby told reporters Tuesday.

Kirby said that in addition to drones, Iran has already provided Russia with guided aerial bombs and artillery ammunition for use in Ukraine.

Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters

 
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It has been 10 years since the start of the uprising known as Maidan, or the Revolution of Dignity in Ukraine. The wave of civil unrest was sparked by the Russian-backed President Viktor Yanukovych’s decision to not sign an association agreement with the European Union, which set off a three-month resistance movement. VOA met with three Maidan activists, whose lives — along with their country — changed forever in November 2013.
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U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin is warning that if Russia is successful in Ukraine, China will be emboldened to use military force to expand its territory in the Indo-Pacific.

“We can’t live in that kind of world,” Austin told U.S. troops at a military installation in eastern Poland Tuesday after a surprise stop the day before in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv.

“If you’re another autocrat, say China, and you want to take over more ground [and] more territory, and you saw what happened in Ukraine and there were no consequences to be paid, you’d feel pretty good about it,” Austin said.

Austin also warned that Russian President Vladimir Putin will continue his push to overrun sovereign democracies in eastern Europe if he isn’t shut down in Ukraine.

“Putin won’t stop if he takes Ukraine,” Austin said. “The next thing is he’s rolling across the Baltics … and the next thing you know, you and your comrades will be on the frontlines fighting against a Putin that we should have stopped, or Ukraine could have stopped early on.”

Austin comments echo many concerns voiced by NATO allies in eastern Europe since the invasion began. Eastern European nations like Estonia, Romania and Poland have hosted increasing numbers of U.S. troops and weaponry, while also building up their own defenses to deter Russian aggression.

Austin spoke with Poland’s Minister of Defense Mariusz Blaszczak while visiting the Polish base, which officials asked to remain unnamed because of the major role it plays in pushing U.S. and Western military aid into Ukraine.

“This matters, because people are trying to survive on the other end,” Austin said. “There are people dying every day.”

Austin’s trip to Kyiv on Monday was a display of Western solidarity amid increasing concerns that support for Ukraine could be waning as U.S. attention is directed to the conflict in the Middle East.

U.S. Congress has yet to fund additional assistance to Ukraine, which in turn has caused the Pentagon to start sending smaller military aid packages to Kyiv in an effort to make the funding they have left last longer.

During the visit, Austin announced a new U.S. aid package of up to $100 million from the Pentagon’s weapons stockpiles, including an additional HIMARS artillery rocket system and more munitions. Prior to the announcement, he spoke with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and members of his cabinet about the immediate winter fight and planning for future security assistance.

Monday marked the defense secretary’s first visit to the Ukrainian capital since April 2022, shortly after the nearly two-year war began. Russia launched an unprovoked invasion of Ukraine in February of that year, calling the war a “special military operation.”

“We don’t want to live in a world where an autocrat can wake up and … take over his neighbor’s property,” Austin said Tuesday.

The U.S defense secretary will host another round of talks of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group virtually from the Pentagon on Wednesday. The Pentagon says more than 50 nations are expected to participate in the talks, which help Ukraine’s partners coordinate military aid sent to Kyiv.

Defense officials say the U.S. will provide a steady stream of security assistance throughout the winter, and Austin told reporters on Monday he expects the Ukrainians to be “aggressive” in the weeks ahead.
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The European Union said on Tuesday a review of its development aid to Palestinians, ordered after the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel, found no evidence of funds going to the militant group and that its assistance would continue.

The EU is the biggest provider of such aid to Palestinians. It has earmarked $1.3 billion for its programs for the period between 2021 and 2024.

The European Commission, the EU’s executive body, announced the review two days after Hamas militants attacked Israel from Gaza, killing 1,200 people and taking some 240 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.

Officials said the review was ordered as a precaution, not because they had any indications EU money was going to Hamas.

“The review found no indications of EU money having directly or indirectly benefited the terrorist organization Hamas,” said Commission Executive Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis.

Development aid is used for projects designed to have a long-term impact, such as paying the salaries of officials at the Palestinian Authority, which governs the West Bank, and the work of U.N. Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA.

It is separate from humanitarian aid, meant for urgent needs for essentials such as food, water and shelter.

“The review found that the control system in place has worked. As a result, payment to Palestinian beneficiaries and UNRWA will continue without any delays,” Dombrovskis told reporters.

The Commission said, however, that it would not proceed with plans to provide $82.5 million for Gaza infrastructure projects that were not “feasible in the current context.” That money will now go to other projects.

Israel launched heavy bombardment of Gaza after the October 7 attacks as part of a campaign to defeat Hamas.

The enclave’s Hamas-run government says at least 13,300 Palestinians have been confirmed killed — including at least 5,600 children — during Israel’s aerial blitz and invasion. 
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A surge in the number of migrants making the treacherous journey from West Africa to the Spanish Canary Islands is straining local authorities, with human rights groups warning that many child migrants are being wrongly classed as adults by Spanish police, putting them at increased risk.  

So far this year, more than 32,000 migrants have arrived on the Canary Islands from West Africa – the highest number since 2006.

Unaccompanied children 

Fifteen-year-old Moussa Camara was orphaned following the 2021 coup in his home country of Guinea. He chose to escape, spending 11 days at sea in a wooden boat on the treacherous journey from Senegal to the Spanish island of Tenerife, along with 240 other migrants. For half that time, he had no food or water. Twenty people died on that crossing, he says, their bodies tossed over the side of the boat. 

Bearing sores from the sun, famished and dehydrated, Camara eventually arrived on Tenerife on October 27, 2021. But his ordeal was not over. Spanish authorities classified Camara and his friend as adults rather than children, meaning they were not allowed to stay at a center for minors or access the better opportunities available to those under 18. 

“At the center, we said we were fifteen years old. But they didn’t write that – they took us as if we were adults. But we are children, we are children – but they sent us here. They brought our papers. They betrayed us,” Camara told Reuters. 

Spanish police sent the two boys to Las Raices, an old military base in Tenerife’s mountains, where around 2,000 adult migrants await transfers to the mainland of Spain. 

Wrongly classified 

In a recent investigation, the human rights group Amnesty International interviewed 29 migrants on the Canary Islands. The group says 12 of them were under 18 years old but had been incorrectly classified as adults and were being held at adult detention centers, in breach of Spanish and international refugee laws. 

“This is very concerning because they were along with adults they weren’t related to and without the protection of the authorities. We were talking with one girl, she was 17, and she was detained for three days with men and women in a place without any oversight by the authorities. She was sleeping on the floor. And no one was asking about her needs,” said Amnesty’s Virginia Alvarez, who travelled to Tenerife and El Hierro between October 25 and 28. 

Legal rights 

The child migrants often had their belongings, including mobile phones, confiscated by the police. Most were not told of their legal rights, according to Alvarez. 

“If they are treated as adults, they can be expelled to their countries of origin. They are also leaving (state) protection. Sometimes they are transferred to the mainland and they are without protection, they are alone as minors in Spain or maybe they can travel to other European countries,” Alvarez said.  

A bone test is required to prove a migrant’s age but these can take months to arrange. Child migrants are given extra support to find residency and education until they reach 18 years old. However, if they are classified as adults, they receive little government help. 

Overwhelmed 

Local authorities say Spain’s central government isn’t doing enough to help. 

“They have left us with 4,700 minors, with NGOs and resources saturated, with difficulties because the screening of who is a minor and who is not a minor is not being done – it is taking at least three, four months. And you have adults in center for minors and minors in centers for adults. So, we have this difficulty,” said Fernando Clavijo, the president of the Canary Islands regional government. 

He said the European Union should do more to tackle the root causes of emigration from Africa. 

“Do you know what a mother or father has to go through to put their six-year-old or seven-year-old son in a cayuco [small wooden boat] with 200 or more people they don’t know, and throw them into the open sea at night? These people don’t do it for fun,” Clavijo told Reuters. 

EU demands 

Amnesty International is calling on the Spanish government and the European Union to make sure that child migrants are properly screened and to provide safer routes for refugees. 

The Spanish Public Prosecutor’s office told Reuters on November 14 that it had looked into 48 cases of suspected minors at the Las Raices camp in Tenerife. Of those migrants, four were confirmed as children, 30 were sent to a children’s facility pending age tests, and the other 14 were still in assessment. 
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A surge in the number of migrants making the treacherous journey from West Africa to Spain’s Canary Islands is straining local authorities. Human rights groups say many child migrants are being wrongly classified as adults by Spanish police — putting them at increased risk. Henry Ridgwell reports.
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