as she cast her vote on sunday, president maia sandu urged people to protect their independence, warningotes. her opponent, backed by the pro—russian party of socialists, had promised a closer relationship with moscow. liana fix is a resident fellow at the german marshall fund in washington. i asked her what was at stake as moldovans went to the polls. formal dover it was a choice between europe and russia but not the first time moldovans had to take these choices. these concerns were particularly high after russia's invasion of ukraine, which has confirmed moscow is not only using violent means but also political subversion as a means of getting neighbouring countries' support. does this victory for sandu put moldova on a closer path to eu integration? it very much will, there will still be elections in moldova next year, which will be important, but it has been an important signal because it shows despite widespread claims about russian interference and russian vote buying, the majority of moldovans still want to take the country to the west. it was a very narrow vote in a referendum f

maia sandu has claimed victory, she is to be remaining as president of moldova.. mr; thoughts on what this means going forward-— thoughts on what this means going forward. my thoughts are this is an important _ going forward. my thoughts are this is an important victory - this is an important victory but not a final victory. we have to be careful not to cast this exclusively in terms of the west or the eu versus russia. it is about the economy, moldova is a desperately poor country, as you noted in the introduction, and what's more, more than a quarter of the population live abroad and it is more like a third because there is no work, there is grinding poverty at home and the moldovan economy would collapse if not for these remittances that make up more than a quarter of gdp. this party must prove, reward the voters with substantial economic progress, meaning the eu has to help moldova that much more than it has in the past or the next election could swing back in moscow's favour because moscow offers cheap energy, cheap credits, and they are very lower in four c

turning to moldova now where the country's pro—eu president maia sandu has claimed victory in a closey as a choice between europe and russia. with most preliminary results counted, sandu was leading with almost 55% of the vote, and in a late—night speech she promised to be president for all moldovans. her election would give her a second term in office and would be a boost for moldovan aspirations of becoming an eu member state. her opponent, backed by the pro—russian party of socialists, had promised a closer relationship with moscow. during the vote, the president's national security adviser said there had been "massive interference" from russia in the election. liana fix is a resident fellow at the german marshall fund in washington. she told me what was at stake and what this election result could mean for moldova. for moldova it was a choice between europe and russia but not the first time moldovans had to take these choices. it was a choice between europe and russia but not the first these concerns were particularly high after russia's invasion of ukraine, which has confirmed mo

with more than 96% of the vote counted, maia sandu has more than 53% of the vote.exandr stoianoglo, was around 46%, which means he can no longer overtake her. it has been so tight that exactly an hour ago we were thinking that the pro—russian candidate was in the lead. there are a large number of diaspora votes to count for people outside of moldova who had voted. those have been counted in the latter stages of the count and they have put maia sandu ahead. it is being seen as a choice between europe and russia, and there have been many, many accusations of russian interference in the former soviet republic, thanked very significantly by ukraine and romania. here in the uk — in herfirst interview as conservative leader, kemi badenoch has said her approach to the economy would be "completely the opposite" to that of labour's chancellor. speaking on sunday with laura kuenssberg, mrs badenoch said she'd reverse the move to charge tax on private school fees. our political correspondent iain watson has more. have you got a lot of work to do, miss badenoch? can you unite

official figures give maia sandu an undecidable lead with nearly all of the votes counted and the finald in the coming hours. taking two thirds supporters who promised to be president all moldovans. translation: moldova, | you are victorious, today, dear moldovans, you have given a lesson in democracy worthy of being written in history books. today you have saved moldova. moldova has been under an unprecedented attack. dirty money, illegal vote buying, the interference in electoral processes by hostile forces from outside the country and by criminal groups, lies sowing hatred and fear within our society. our people have united, and freedom and the citizens have won. peace and hope for a better life have prevailed. the victory of maia sandu comes two weeks after a knife edge referendum back to you membership is former soviet republic fight by ukraine and romania has oscillated between russia and the rest of europe. her rival who was backed by the pro—russian party of socialists had promised closer relationship with moscow but denies being a kremlin candidate. the election outcome will be

maia sandu, president of georgia, says there was, "clear evidence..." of moldova.minal "groups working with foreign forces hostile to our national "interest tried to buy off "hundreds of thousands of votes." you know she's talking about russia. she gets a teeny majority in this referendum due to the polling stations opened abroad, mainly in italy, austria and all others where most of moldovans are living. but they have opened only two, uh, stations inside russia, where there is a half a million of moldovans. they didn't have a right to vote. and do believe me, if they did have a right to vote, well, the referendum will have a different, absolutely different outcome. same in georgia. you know that half a million of georgians are living inside russia, but there was no opening for them to cast a vote over there. it's notjust in those two countries where russia faces allegations of interference, meddling, covert operations, even hybrid warfare. here are the words recently of david lammy, the uk foreign secretary. "putin. .." — quote — "putin and his mafia state are try

moldova's pro—eu president maia sandu claims victory in a pivotal run—off election, seen as a choiceth frustration and anger from those affected by the flooding in valencia. forecasters say more rain is on the way. and prince william announces the finalists for the £1 million earthshot prize. hello, i'm sally bundock. with the us election campaign reaching its final phase, both candidates have been concentrating on the seven swing states most likely to decide the outcome. polls suggest the eventual result could be extremely tight. visiting pennsylvania the republican, donald trump, complained not all states require voters to show identification. he suggested this could only be to allow cheating. he also suggested he wouldn't mind journalists being shot, though his campaign team has insisted the comments

and moldova's pro—eu president maia sandu claims victory in a pivotal election run—off, seen as a choicelai. as tuesday's election draws closer, kamala harris and donald trump are continuing to focus on the seven swing states that will ultimately decide the winner. donald trump has been visiting north carolina, georgia and pennsylvania. while there, mr trump told supporters that the us is a "crooked country". and he reiterated his false claims of election fraud in the 2020 election. kamala harris has been campaigning in michigan, a crucial industrial swing state. early on sunday, she attended a church service and then called in at a restaurant in detroit. while in the state, she urged supporters to vote on tuesday. here we are on the sunday before the election and i would ask in particular people who have not yet voted to not fall for his tactic, which i think includes suggesting to people that if they vote, their vote won't matter, suggesting to people that somehow the integrity of our voting system is not intact so that they do not vote.

moldova's pro—eu president maia sandu claims victory in a pivotal election run—off seen as a choice betweeneve lai. as election day in the us draws closer, kamala harris and donald trump continue to focus on seven crucial swing states — the states that may well decide this election. donald trump is visiting north carolina, georgia and pennsylvania. while there mr trump told supporters that the us is a "crooked country" and reiterated his false claims of election fraud in the 2020 election. kamala harris is campaigning in michigan, an industrial state, and it's a crucial one for her to win. early on sunday, she attended a church service and then called in on a restaurant in detroit. here's some of what both candidates have been saying. here we are on the sunday before the election and i would ask in particular people who have not yet voted to not fall for his tactic, which i think includes suggesting to people that if they vote, their vote won't matter.

european leaders congratulate maia sandu, as moldova's pro eu president claims victory in the country's run off election. prince william arrives in cape town to present this year's global environmental award the earthshot prize. hello, welcome to bbc news now, three hours of fast moving news, interviews and reaction. barcelona's main airport has diverted dozens of flights because of torrential rain hitting the area. water has entered some areas of the airport, including terminal one. the severe weather has also led to rail services being suspended and motorways being flooded. the spanish weather service has issued a "red alert" for the region. 217 people have lost their lives across the region. these are the pictures we have just had it in from the airport in barcelona. we now know that 217 people died during last weekflooding in valencia. spain's civil guard says it has deployed more staff to help as rescuers focused their search on inundated garages to find bodies on monday. a british couple who disappeared when spain was hit by flash flooding have been found dead in their car. author

president maia sandu, who wants closer ties with europe, is facing aleksandr stoianoglo, who is supportedsocialist party. a referendum two weeks ago narrowly backed a change to the constitution to include a wish for european union membership. that vote was much closer than expected, as were the first round presidential results on the same day. they prompted accusations of a large—scale attempt, orchestrated from russia, to bribe moldovans against voting for ms sandu. 0pposition candidates and russia rejected the allegation. here in the uk, the chancellor rachel reeves has been defending measures taken in wednesday's budget, insisting that achieving economic growth is her number—one mission. reeves says raising employer national insurance, contributions to pay for the health service and benefits, was not on the agenda before the election but that the government had to raise the money. with more on this is our political correspondent shelley phelps. good to have you on the programme. a lot of questions therefore the chancellor to answer. fix, therefore the chancellor to answer. �* ~' therefo

president of neighbouring moldova, maia sandu, has "strongly condemned russia's massive air strikes".n his x account, president zelensky shared video from the scenes of sunday's attacks. the video was given an audio track, and is a call for more support from ukraine's allies. we will shortly go live to kyiv to speak to a ukrainian politician. but first we can have an update. our correspondent paul adams joined us from dnipro. we had sirens in the early hours, and the latest information from the city was that two railway workers were killed, among five people killed across the country overnight, in what seems to have been the largest concerted russian drone and missile attack, certainly since early september. and it does seem as though the principal targets were once again ukraine's energy infrastructure. i was speaking to someone from one of the largest energy companies just a short time ago who said, it looks like they're starting again. in other words, as winter arrives and we have had the first snow here in the last few days, once again russia turns its attention to ukraine's energ

moldova's pro—eu president maia sandu claims victory in a pivotal election run—off seen as a choice betweenon seven crucial swing states, the states that may well decide this election. donald trump is visiting north carolina, georgia and pennsylvania. while there, mr trump told supporters that the us is a "crooked country". and he reiterated his false claims of election fraud in the 2020 election. kamala harris is campaigning in michigan, an industrial state, and it's a crucial one for her to win. early on sunday, she attended a church service and then called in on a restaurant in detroit. here's some of what both candidates have been saying. here we are on the sunday before the election and i would ask in particular people who have not yet voted to not fall for his tactic, which i think includes suggesting to people

as she cast her vote, president maia sandu urged people to be united and protect their independence,s. russia has denied any claims of interference. turnout has been higher than in the first round where several polling stations abroad had to close down because of bomb threats. there has been a particular surge in last—minute voting from the diaspora, moldovan diaspora, that has yet to be counted. so the results are not to be confirmed at this stage. two weeks ago, with the eu referendum in moldova, the late counting of the vote from the diaspora actually turned into a last—minute surge for the yes campaign, that change the result, bring eightjust over the 50% needed. so this time, a fifth of the votes in this vote had been abroad, and therefore it is being waited until the very last minute for the confirmed results from the moldovan presidential run—off. the second round of the presidential election. let's just go back to what has been going on in the usa and give you another snapshot of the frenetic campaigning that has been going on in the swing states. former president trump, vice

the national security adviser to the incumbent, maia sandu, has warned of russian meddling in the electionned by security guards after stripping to her underwear in public at a university in tehran. a spokesman for the islamic azad university said she'd been found to have a "mental disorder". but many social media users in iran say her actions were more likely a protest against the country's strict dress code. what has happened to her since being detained is unknown. rana rahimpour is an iran analyst and a former bbc persian presenter. the details of exactly what happened, it's still unclear and a lot of rumours are going around on social media. but one thing that is clear is how this woman's protest has been received by large parts of the iranian society. many believe that this is a very brave act of protest against compulsory hijab. there are reports on social media that suggests that this woman was harassed by the so—called security officers, orforces at the university, or a member of basij, the militia. and because she wasn't wearing a headscarf when she was entering the university, an

maia sandu defeated a russia-friendly opponent in a race that was marred by claims of russian interference fraud. in a statement, president joe biden congratulated sandu on her historic reelection, saying, "russia sought to undermine moldova's democratic institutions and election processes, but failed." sandu campaigned on a promise to push forward moldova's candidacy for european union membership. the country appplied to join the e.u. shortly after russia's invasion of ukraine in 2022. the u.s. supreme court will take up a long-running dispute over redistricting in louisiana involving two mostly black districts. the decision marks at least the third me the justices will step into the battle over voting lines in the state. a lower court had invalidated the most-recent map, saying it relies too heavily on race. but the justices allowed it to be used in this election cycle after civil rights groups appealed. the supreme court will hear arguments early next year with a decision expected by summer of 2025. in ohio, a white former police officer has been convicted of murder in the fatal shootin

president maia sandu, who wants closer ties with europe, is facing aleksandr stoianoglo, who is supported referendum two weeks ago narrowly backed a change to the constitution to include a wish for european union membership. that vote was much closer than expected, as were the first round presidential results on the same day. they prompted accusations of a large—scale attempt, orchestrated from russia, to bribe moldovans against voting for ms sandu. 0pposition candidates and russia rejected the allegation. the chancellor, rachel reeves, has been defending measures taken in wednesday's budget, insisting achieving economic growth is her "number one mission". in the budget, ms reeves announced £40 billion of tax rises, including increases to employers' national insurance contributions and changes to inheritance tax, to pay for investment in public services. in an interview with the bbc�*s laura kunessberg, ms reeves insisted raising employer national insurance hadn't been on the agenda before the election and said ministers had faced difficult choices. 0ur political correspondent shelley phe