Closing summary
… and on that note, it’s a wrap!
Moldova’s pro-European ruling party held on to its parliamentary majority after Sunday’s pivotal election, strengthening the country of 2.4 million’s attempt to move towards the EU and away from Moscow (9:34, 14:10).
But obstacles to join the EU remain amid some scepticism among some member states, and Hungary’s Kremlin-friendly government refuses to open substantive negotiations with Ukraine, with the two accession processes informally linked together.
European leaders lined up to congratulate Moldova (9:40, 9:43, 9:57, 10:08, 12:31) ahead of in-person talks expected later this weeks in Copenhagen (11:20, xx:xx)
In other news,
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy celebrated the result in Moldova, saying Russia “failed to destabilise” the country (10:35), and urging European leaders to step up their response as Moscow “is testing har far it can go” (10:40)
Poland’s prime minister Donald Tusk warned that the continent faced “a new type of war” amid growing threats from Russia (10:34), with Danish justice minister saying that hybrid incidents are becoming “part of our new reality” in Europe (15:03).
Former MI5 chief Eliza Manningham-Buller also warned that Britain may already be at war with Russia because of the depth and intensity of cyber-attacks, sabotage and other hostile activity orchestrated by Moscow against the UK (15:32).
Another Nato country, Romania, reported founding “new drone fragments” near its border with Ukraine, with further investigation under way (14:28).
Russian president Vladimir Putin on Monday called up 135,000 men for routine military service, the country’s biggest autumn conscription drive since 2016 (15:45).
And that’s all from me, Jakub Krupa, for today.
If you have any tips, comments or suggestions, email me at [email protected].
I am also on Bluesky at @jakubkrupa.bsky.social and on X at @jakubkrupa.
German man finds €15m winning ticket in coat six months after winning lotto lottery
And for something a bit more optimistic, let me bring you this story from Frankfurt, Germany, about a German man who has won €15.3m in the lottery after discovering a forgotten ticket in his coat pocket six months after he bought it, reported by AFP.
The father from the Frankfurt area had remained oblivious to his winnings all spring and summer despite a poster campaign to find him, the Lotto Hessen company said.
The man had even heard about the campaign to find the lucky winner.
“I heard about it on the radio at the time and thought to myself, ’How stupid can you be not to collect it?’”, he said. “It never occurred to me that I could be the person they were looking for.”
With the weather turning chilly in Germany, the man reached for a jacket he had not worn since March – to discover the ticket in his pocket.
“When I checked the numbers on my phone and saw the winning amount, I was completely shocked – luckily I was sitting down, otherwise my knees would have given way.”
The man plans to spend his winnings on, erm, a new living room sofa.
