The French Blood Establishment (EFS) said cold rooms storing blood were impacted by hackers.

Russian and Ukrainian delegations will meet the US first lady at the White House on Thursday.

Pound reaches highest level against a basket of currencies since the Brexit referendum a decade ago

Musk spent nearly $500m in the 2026 US midterm elections, an individual election spending record.

What’s bad for Trump is good for Le Pen Anger at the rising cost of living spells danger for incumbents everywhere. By MARION SOLLETTYin Paris Photo-illustration by Gibson Kochanek for POLITICO Beware the angry voter. That’s the message Europeans are taking from the crushing defeat suffered by Donald Trump’s Republicans in the U.S. midterm election.  The fury over the cost of living that helped propel the U.S. president to power has now turned against him. And with elections looming in heavyweight EU countries like Spain, Italy, France, Greece and Poland, Trump’s fate is a warning for incumbents across the continent. Growing anger over rising prices and unaffordable housing is likely to spell trouble for Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who has already faced waves of protests over the cost of fuel. The blowback in the U.S. shows what happens when right-wing populist leaders take charge and then don’t deliver on their promises, said Irene Tinagli, an Italian member of the European Parliament from the opposition Democratic Party.  “Trump came up with the promise of lowering the cost of living. He was attacking the previous administration for the inflation. He promised to bring back quality jobs,” Tinagli said. “This didn’t happen.”  Surveys show voters focused on economic concerns, said Mathieu Gallard, research director at polling firm Ipsos.  Demonstrators protest against rising housing prices in Barcelona on Oct. 5, 2026. | Manaure Quintero/AFP via Getty Images In Spain, affordability is already a major issue in the campaign for an election scheduled for Nov. 29. Most polls predict the far-right Vox party, which has been accusing Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez of failing to meet citizens’ basic needs, will gain enough seats to enter into government for the first time as a coalition partner to the conservative People’s Party. Whatever their political stripes, incumbents are vulnerable, Gallard said.  “The far-right or radical right [leaders], when they arrive in power, find themselves in the same situation as traditional parties and have the same difficulties,” he added, pointing to this year’s defeat of Hungary’s Viktor Orbán and a sharp drop in support for the far-right Sweden Democrats. For insurgents like France’s Marine Le Pen and her far-right National Rally party, however, voter discontent offers opportunity.  The cost of living “will be the major issue in the campaign,” said Alexandre Loubet, a lawmaker for the National Rally and a key architect of Le Pen’s economic platform. “The advantage [for us] is that we are very consistent on this issue. It’s a bit like immigration — we are already in people’s minds on these subjects.”  Le Pen, who is the frontrunner in next spring’s presidential race, has long made cost-of-living a central issue for her platform and is capitalizing on the government’s current economic and fiscal woes. The blocked entrance of the Saint-Sernin high school in Toulouse on Nov.2, 2026. | Matthieu Rondel/AFP via Getty Images She made affordable housing a central theme in her first campaign appearance and has doubled down on her promises to shield pensioners from upcoming budget squeezes. The far-right veteran is also campaigning on lowering energy taxes, brushing aside criticism that her proposals are unaffordable.  At her party congress last week, Le Pen pushed a message of change and hope, adopting her rival President Emmanuel Macron’s catchword, “Renaissance,” as her campaign motto.  The positive tone “was intentional,” said Loubet. “There’s a sense of gloom in the country. We need to offer a little hope, a vision, a direction.” The recent protest movements that have swept Spain, France, Italy and, to a lesser extent, Germany, have centered around complaints about the cost of living, especially for the young. They echo anger in the U.S., where polls showed young Americans felt their economic situation was deteriorating as the country headed in the wrong direction.  “The affordability debate in the United States breaks on class lines,” said Penny Naas, a senior vice president at the transatlantic think tank German Marshall Fund. “If you’re an American and you are not well off and energy plays a much bigger part in your household income, you’re feeling much more hurt by the current situation.”  “There are some similarities with what’s going on in Europe,” she added, pointing at school protests in France that started in the relatively poor outskirts of cities.  A protest to demand more funding for schools and support for housing, on Oct. 30, 2026 in Rome. Filippo Monteforte/AFP via Getty Images So far, centrist candidates have struggled to find the right messaging on the issue. Le Pen’s top centrist challenger, former Prime Minister Edouard Philippe, has struggled to gain traction with a pitch centered on economic realism.  In Germany, Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s conservative Christian Democrats are also feeling the squeeze after suffering a series of electoral defeats, losing to the far right in eastern states and the radical left in Berlin. “What this election shows is that if you want to win the hearts and minds of citizens, you cannot fight populism by trying to be the defender of the status quo,” said Sigrid Friis, a 32-year-old member of the European Parliament from the Danish Social Liberal Party.  “Those who have won this campaign are the young, the progressives, the forces that really are the forces of change,” she added. 

⁠Adif President Luis Pedro Marco de la Peña has submitted his resignation to Spain’s new transport minister, Carlos Cuerpo. Adif, responsible for Spain’s rail infrastructure, signaling and traffic control, is under intense scrutiny after last week’s devastating crash near Urda, Toledo, that claimed 69 lives. De la Peña’s resignation was first reported by local media, and confirmed by a Spanish government official in a text message. This marks Cuerpo’s first notable action since stepping into the ministry after former Transport Minister Oscar Puente’s resignation Tuesday night. Puente left his post following a marathon hearing before Congress’ Permanent Deputation, where both allies and opponents urged him to resign. The Urda crash was Spain’s second deadly rail accident of the year, following January’s crash near Adamuz, which killed 46 people. Earlier Wednesday, Cuerpo convened with Marco de la Peña, Renfe President Álvaro Fernández Heredia and Secretary of State for Transport José Antonio Santano. Just a day earlier, a senior government official said there were no plans to remove Marco de la Peña and dismissed rumors of Puente’s resignation. Yet Puente stepped down only hours later.

Social media is awash with reactions to Democrats’ sweeping midterm gains.

Israeli restrictions on travel and medical evacuations prevent children in Gaza from being treated abroad.

Interior ministry claims suspects tortured and intimidated protesters detained in garage of government compoundSerbian authorities detained nine active police officers and one former officer on Wednesday for ⁠allegedly using excessive force against detainees during anti-corruption protests last year in Belgrade, the country’s interior ministry ⁠said.Anti-corruption protests swept ⁠across Serbia, ​a candidate for European Union membership, in 2025 and 2026 after 16 people died when a concrete canopy ⁠on a renovated railway station in the city of Novi Sad collapsed on 1 November 2024. Continue reading...

The cult Italian film-maker began as an assistant to Roberto Rossellini but moved into sex films, believing ‘eroticism to be a fundamental key to human expression’Italian film director Tinto Brass, who was once hailed as the “Antonioni of the 70s” but came to be better known for bringing Italian erotic cinema to a wider audience with films such as Caligula and Salon Kitty, has died aged 93.His wife Caterina Varzi and children Bonifacio and Beatrice Brass announced the news of the director’s death to Italian press agency Ansa on Wednesday. Continue reading...

Two tankers change course in setback to White House gambit to lower fuel prices and shore up political support

Leaders welcome result, but Germany’s Merz said he expected Trump to continue conducting policy by executive orders

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday cited "serious suspicions" around foreign interference in Israel's recent parliamentary elections. He claims foreign countries spent large amounts of money to influence the results, while the largest Arab-Israeli bloc called such accusations "political persecution".

In tonight's edition, a crucial test for South Africa's  ruling ANC as millions vote to elect municipal governments. Also, Ethiopia has expelled six Sudanese diplomats amid accusations it's allowing the paramilitary RSF to launch drone strikes from its territory. And a deepening humanitarian crisis in Ethiopia, where renewed fighting has displaced thousands.

The World Health Organization on Wednesday approved clinical trials for two new Ebola vaccines, as doctors fight to control an outbreak in Africa that has killed more than 5,300 people

The former governor, Naji Issa, submitted his resignation to the two legislative chambers in August without publicly explaining his reasons.