Moldova’s pro-European party on course to retain majority in key election

PAS leads with 46% of vote in ballot that will decide whether country steers closer to EU or Russia

Moldova’s ruling pro-European party is on course to retain its parliamentary majority after Sunday’s pivotal election, seen as a test of the president’s push to keep the country of 2.4 million on track for EU membership rather than drifting back towards Moscow.

With more than 90% of the ballots counted, Maia Sandu’s pro-western Action and Solidarity party (PAS) led with 46% of the vote, while a Moscow-leaning alliance of Soviet-nostalgic parties headed by former president Igor Dodon had 27%.

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Keir Starmer attacks ‘racist’ Farage plan to deport people settled in the UK

Prime minister says Reform proposal to abolish indefinite leave to remain could ‘tear this country apart’

Keir Starmer has attacked Reform UK’s plan to deport thousands of people already legally living in the UK as “racist” and “immoral”, as he said that Labour had a generational struggle ahead with the populist right.

The prime minister, in Liverpool for his party conference, said he did not think that Nigel Farage’s party was trying to appeal to racists, and that he understood people tempted to vote for Reform were frustrated and wanted change.

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Zelenskyy says Russia launched 500 drones and 40 missiles in ‘vile attack’ on Ukraine – Ukraine war live

Twelve-year-old girl among those killed in Kyiv as Ukraine president condemns ‘brutal’ Russian strikes

In an address at the UN general assembly in New York on Saturday, Moscow’s foreign minister Sergei Lavrov warned that “any aggression against my country will be met with a decisive response” but insisted Russia has no intention of attacking EU or Nato member states.

In a wide-ranging speech, Lavrov said threats against Russia by western countries were becoming “increasingly common”.

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Poland closes airspace, scrambles jets amid ‘massive’ Russian attack on Ukraine – politico.eu

  1. Poland closes airspace, scrambles jets amid ‘massive’ Russian attack on Ukraine  politico.eu
  2. NATO fighter jets scrambled in Poland as Russia launches deadly strikes on Ukraine  ABC News - Breaking News, Latest News and Videos
  3. NATO Scrambles Fighter Jets As Russia Launches 12-Hour Barrage on Ukraine  Newsweek
  4. Most Poles support shooting down Russian jets violating NATO airspace  TVP World
  5. Russia launches deadly aerial attack on Ukraine as Poland scrambles jets  NBC News
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Iran angry as sweeping UN sanctions take effect after failure of nuclear talks

Foreign ministry attacks ‘unjustifiable’ return of measures expected to have wide effects on troubled economy

Widespread UN sanctions against Iran have come back into force for the first time in a decade, prompting anger from Tehran, after last-ditch nuclear talks with western powers failed to produce a breakthrough.

The sanctions, which came into effect late on Saturday and three months after Israel and the US bombed Iran, bar dealings related to Tehran’s nuclear and ballistic missiles programme and are also expected to have wider effects on the country’s troubled economy.

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Populist threat to rule of law a danger to UK working class, says attorney general

Richard Hermer to aim criticism at Nigel Farage and Robert Jenrick at Labour conference event

Rightwing populists threaten working-class people’s protections under the rule of law, the attorney general will say in his most political intervention yet.

In a criticism directed squarely at Nigel Farage and Robert Jenrick, Richard Hermer will say that populist politicians pose a threat to the “everyday protections to people” who use the legal system and the courts “to right significant wrongs”.

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Crisafulli insists on more shark nets to protect human lives despite trapped mother and baby whale

Queensland premier says he won’t protect whales ‘at the expense of one single human’

Queensland’s premier said the state is “not for turning” on its plan to expand shark netting, and won’t put protecting whales “at the expense of one single human”.

A mother and baby humpback were discovered trapped in shark netting near Rainbow Beach on Saturday, the eighth and ninth whales to become entangled in nine days.

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‘Hundreds’ of Russian missiles and drones hit Ukraine in deadly strikes as Poland scrambles jets

At least four people were killed in the overnight attacks on Kyiv and other regions as Poland takes preventive measure to secure airspace

Russian strikes involving “hundreds” of drones and missiles have killed at least four people, including a 12-year-old girl, and wounded at least 10 people in Ukraine on Sunday, as Poland scrambled fighter jets to secure its airspace.

An air raid alert was in place over the Kyiv region, with the local military administration saying Russia was attacking with drones and missiles.

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Clive Palmer banks on Swiss strategy after court throws out $305bn mine compensation claim

Queensland mining magnate had been ordered to pay $13m after tribunal dismissed claim of being a ‘foreign investor’

Clive Palmer says he will challenge the decision of an international tribunal to dismiss his claim for $305bn in compensation from the commonwealth government, by appealing to a court in Switzerland.

On Saturday the attorney general, Michelle Rowland, announced that the permanent court of arbitration, in The Hague, the Netherlands, had ruled against the Queensland mining magnate.

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