Lazdijų hipodrome šeštadienį vyks paskutinis nacionalinės mobilizacijos sistemos pratybų „Vyčio skliautas 2026“ etapas.

Vilniuje šeštadienį planuojamos trys protesto akcijos dėl Lietuvos vykdomos migracijos politikos.

The defeat raises pressure on Sánchez to call a snap election, after a series of scandals affecting his party and allies.

A movement that started nearly two weeks ago has spread, and in France young people on the streets spells trouble, writes Hugh Schofield.

The co-ordinated release is aimed at heading off further price spikes and avoiding a ban on US diesel exports.

The rise in global oil prices has been pushing up the pump prices of petrol and diesel in the UK.

RIGA — Latvia’s populist Prime Minister Andris Kulbergs will face his first electoral test Saturday — but his head start in the polls is unlikely to shield him from coalition headaches in a contest where Ukraine and Russia are looming large. After a campaign partially fought in Brussels’ corridors, Kulbergs could see two of his allied parties fail to reach the 5% threshold to get seats. And if his centrist allies fail to make it into parliament, the pro-Ukraine prime minister might struggle to get enough backing. In this worst-case scenario, he may even need to open talks with Ainārs Šlesers, a right-wing veteran of Latvian politics who opposed restrictive tariffs on Russia. But Kulbergs, who took office in May after his predecessor, Evika Siliņa, was engulfed in backlash over stray Ukrainian drone strikes, dismissed this idea as speculation, as he is aiming to keep Latvia among the EU’s Russia hawks. Latvian politics spilled into Brussels last week, when a push from France, Luxembourg and Slovakia to delist two Russian billionaires from the EU sanctions list turned into a standoff between Paris and Riga. Latvia was the last holdout in a decision requiring agreement from all 27 member countries. Kulbergs filmed social media vlogs ranting about the proposed delistings, which would free up the European holdings of the men in question and allow them to travel to the bloc. In the end, he lost lost that battle, if only partially. Despite the tycoons being delisted, the overall sanctions regime with almost 3,000 listings is now locked in for three years — a massive achievement considering EU capitals hitherto had to agree every six months. Latvia also said it would start negotiating with France on enhancing military cooperation and initiate talks on Paris’ nuclear deterrence initiative. Kulbergs’ expected win on Saturday might be just as bittersweet, despite his right-wing United List party polling in first place at around 20% — a good showing in Latvian parliamentary politics. His center-right partners, New Unity, are struggling to cross the 5% electoral threshold, which would be a floundering performance for a party that has been home to many Latvian prime ministers, including current European Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis. But for the party’s prime ministerial candidate and ex-Finance Minister Arvils Ašeradens, the low polling numbers are simply the “political pendulum which shifts from one way to the other,” he told POLITICO in Riga last month. During the last election in 2022, New Unity was the major beneficiary of a rally-round-the-flag moment as Russia had just launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. But in 2026, voters seem frustrated with Latvia’s high inflation, the ongoing uncertainty surrounding national airline airBaltic and instrumentalized migration orchestrated by Russia and Belarus. The prime minister may need to open talks with Ainārs Šlesers, a right-wing veteran of Latvian politics. | Robert Hegedus/EPA Kulbergs’ other coalition partner, the agrarian Union of Greens and Farmers (known as ZZS), is also polling below the threshold. And if neither party manages to scrape by, it might force Kulbergs to work with the controversial businessman Šlesers, who carefully advocated expanding trade with Russia. Kulbergs has dismissed this possibility — “as it is given now: no,” he told POLITICO in early September — because he does not trust the people Šlesers has surrounded himself with. Just weeks earlier, however, he had been less definitive, telling POLITICO in July: “I have to see what chess pieces I will get … to make a coalition.” Šlesers has been a central figure in Latvian politics for decades, most notably as a local “oligarch” who, via family holdings, exerts influence over the Port of Riga. The capital’s harbor has seen its largely Russian and Belarusian hinterland slowly carved off by EU sanctions.  And after Kulbergs slapped 300% tariffs on transited Russian grain this month , Šlesers told Latvian national TV such transit should be allowed, though he supports Ukraine’s EU accession. Šlesers had distanced himself from politics for a time, after he was caught on tape plotting to divvy up influential posts with fellow oligarchs about 15 years ago. But he has now captured part of the Russian-speaking vote with his conservative-populist rhethoric. For Latvian political scientist Una Bergmane at the University of Helsinki, there is a clear scenario where Šlesers, a former transport minister, ends up in government. “There is a possibility: If ZZS makes it into the parliament then there might be a temptation [for Kulbergs] to do something with ZZS and Šlesers.” But it’s not all doom and gloom for the prime minister. Last week’s sanctions standoff could prop him and his New Unity partners up, said Bergmane. “[Foreign Minister Baiba] Braže is the most positively recognizable New Unity member, so everything she does helps the party, but at this point Kulbergs gets most visibility anyway,” she explained.  Kulbergs’ short time in office could play in his favor too. The prime minister and his party, Bergmane said, are in “this very, very comfortable place where they haven’t been in power for a long time” but still hold the most influential office in the country of 1.9 million.

PARIS — French schools are getting torched. The far right’s brightest star is fighting for his political life after being accused of antisemitic remarks. And economic indicators are flashing bright red to warn of a potential sovereign debt disaster in the country. The crises that have rocked France in recent days are exacerbating partisan cleavages in the country’s increasingly no-holds-barred presidential campaign. In the words of one government adviser: “It’s the maxi merde.” Though that individual, who was granted anonymity to candidly discuss the current situation, was only referring to the increasingly violent demonstrations outside secondary schools and the government’s slow-footed response to them, it’s a sentiment likely shared by French voters after a week of particularly bleak headlines. If there are political winners, it’s not immediately clear who they are. Establishment candidates and moderate voices are still struggling to seize the narrative from far-right presidential front-runner Marine Le Pen and her surging far-left challenger Jean-Luc Mélenchon — both of whom want to fundamentally reshape France and its relationship with Europe. A survey by pollster Odoxa this week found that the French disapprove of the government’s handling of the student school protests, but they also disapprove of Mélenchon and his far-left party France Unbowed’s involvement. Mélenchon’s allies have joined demonstrators outside schools, saying they were there to show support and protect minors from confrontations with police. But the government and France Unbowed’s political opponents accuse them of fanning the flames of violence — allegations they deny. “There’s a battle over the narrative” between the political extremes, a Socialist Party adviser said. Whatever the case, the week’s crises are showing just how nasty the campaign can get with two populist candidates unafraid to stoke partisan divisions leading the polls. Diversion tactics The French government has tried to get a grip on the unravelling protests, holding a crisis meeting Thursday and meeting youth representatives on Friday. “Lecornu is always running behind the crises, he’s always reacting,” said a centrist adviser. Le Pen, however, blamed agitators for stirring up violence at the protests and accused France Unbowed of “giving a helping hand” to “agents of chaos and insurrection.” For her National Rally party, the crisis is a useful opportunity to try to convince voters that her party is the best choice for those concerned with public safety. “We have a government that is incapable of maintaining public order and a left that is stoking the fire,” said National Rally MP Laurent Jacobelli in an interview with POLITICO. “We are the only legitimate ones when it comes to [security],” he added. But the unrest is also a useful distraction for Le Pen as her party president and heir apparent, Jordan Bardella, tries to bat down allegations published Monday by investigative outlet Mediapart that he sent antisemitic messages on Facebook Messenger when he was a 17-year-old activist. Bardella vehemently denied the allegations and vowed to sue Mediapart, but the website on Thursday published another story outlining how it verified the claims, which included screenshots and conversation data downloaded directly from Meta with the help of their sources. Bardella was tipped to become Le Pen’s prime minister if she came to power, but his future appears to hang on a thread. “Do we need to unplug him? It’s Marine’s decision,” said a National Rally elected representative. “It all depends on whether the proof is serious.” But Bardella is no small player, and the National Rally’s opponents are hoping that the fallout of his possible resignation would damage Le Pen’s campaign durably. Budget trouble All of this comes just hours after Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu’s minority government introduced a 2027 budget with €43 billion worth of savings designed to reassure markets fretting about France’s massive debt and a stubbornly high budget deficit. But without a parliamentary majority, getting lawmakers to agree to painful cuts will be tough, even if the specter of a potential financial crisis is starting to loom large.  Borrowing cost have reached their highest levels since 2008 and the spread between French 10-year bonds and German ones — an indicator that measures investors’ appetite to hold French debt over more traditionally stable German debt — shot above 150 basis points on Friday, a level not seen in years. One lawmaker from President Emmanuel Macron’s party Renaissance said he doesn’t see how the presidential hopefuls from the political center — former PMs Edouard Philippe and Gabriel Attal — will be spared the fallout. “Every minute spent on the budget is a minute spent staring at our incapacity to get ourselves out of the mess,” the MP said. Meanwhile, Mélenchon has called for his party officials to join more protests planned next Tuesday and protect pupils against alleged police violence. That could propel him to center stage, but it could also backfire if he is seen as taking part in the unrest. Centrist MEP Sandro Gozi said the allegations against Bardella and the far left’s attitude to the protests “complicate the normalization strategy of the two sides.” “Both Le Pen and Mélenchon are extremists who are far from fundamental Republican and European values,” Gozi said. But as Macron’s term winds down, a sense is taking hold that France has been mismanaged and that parts of the country are falling apart. It’s a perception any would-be successor with links to the current president will struggle to combat on the campaign trail. Elisa Bertholomey and Sarah Paillou contributed reporting.

Our live updates on team news, weather forecast, prediction, toss, score and text commentary from the gold-medal match.

Fans forced their way through entrances, damaging a gate at the teams' CONCACAF Nations League match in Santo Domingo.

UK’s Counter Terrorism Policing said Salam Ahmadyan and Rahman Salehi may have been directed from Tehran

Fuel price support and rising inflation put pressure on countries’ public finances

The editorial committees of 39 French media outlets, including FRANCE 24 and RFI, on Friday released a joint statement condemning National Rally (RN) party leader and presidential candidate Marine Le Pen’s recent comments targeting investigative outlet Médiapart as “violent attempts at intimidation” against press freedom in France, qualifying them as “particularly worrying for the right to information" that citizens of a democracy "are entitled to expect”.

First, Ethiopia and Eritrea have severed ties and now with tensions spreading across the region, the African Union is urging all sides to show restraint. Meanwhile, Ethiopia's army is advancing toward the Tigrayan capital as fighting intensifies and new explosions rock Addis Ababa. Then, from boardrooms to cocoa fields, a growing number of urban Ivorians are turning to agriculture. On weekends, civil servants, entrepreneurs and traders leave Abidjan behind to tend farms in the countryside, seeking extra income. But running a plantation from afar comes with challenges. And, Senegal is counting down to a historic moment. In a few weeks, Dakar will host the 2026 Youth Olympic Games: the first Olympic event ever staged in Africa. But the stakes go far beyond sport. We speak to Senegal’s Minister of Sports, Djirèye Clotilde Coly.

Suspected political assassinations in South Africa have claimed at least 43 lives this year to September, with local government elections still one month away, a report said Friday

Haiti's gang violence crisis has left at least 5,700 people dead or wounded this year while more than 1,000 women and girls have been raped, UN human rights chief Volker Turk said Friday