More than 50,000 demonstrators gathered today in the center of Valencia to honor the victims of last year’s floods and to protest against the regional authorities.

They called for the resignation of the regional government president Carlos Mason, whom they consider responsible for the poor management of the disaster.

The floods in October 2024 claimed 229 lives in the Valencian region — the biggest catastrophe to hit Spain in recent decades.

The figure of 50,000 people was confirmed to Agence France-Presse by local authorities, while the organizers have not issued any statement — reports Danas.

Among the demonstrators marching to the regional government headquarters, some wore T-shirts printed with the faces of their deceased loved ones.

• Fifty Thousand People Protest in Valencia, One Year After the Deadly Floods
• Portuguese Parliament Passes Ban on Face Coverings in Public

“People are still angry! Why didn’t they evacuate people despite the heavy rain? It’s incomprehensible,” one of the protesters told reporters.

Even back then, when images of flooded and muddy streets from Valencia spread across the world, residents criticized the authorities’ actions and the way they were warned and rescued, while the left-wing federal government in Madrid and the right-wing regional authorities blamed each other.

In Spain, a highly decentralized country, managing climate disasters falls under the jurisdiction of the regions.

Since then, public anger has not subsided.

Residents continue to tirelessly demand accountability from regional president Carlos Mason, whom they accuse of failing to adequately warn them of the dangers posed by the rainfall.

The floods affected around 80 towns in the Valencia region.

A few days ago, the body of a man was found several dozen kilometers from where he disappeared a year ago.

The Portuguese parliament today passed a law banning face coverings in public for “gender or religious” reasons.

MASKED members of Hamas entered several neighborhoods of Gaza and in public executions executed at least 33 people they accused of spying for Israel or belonging to rival armed groups, multiple reports and videos show.

Random killings on the streets

Video clips on social media show men forced to kneel while masked militants shoot them in the head in front of gathered crowds.

A verified clip examined by ABC was located in the Sabra neighborhood of Gaza City and shows armed men, some wearing green bands associated with Hamas’s military wing, carrying out public executions in front of gathered citizens. Hamas’s Telegram channel attached the same video with the message: “The liberation forces have carried out the death penalty against numerous collaborators and criminals in Gaza City.” - writes Index.

Security sources and witnesses say the wave of executions followed just a few hours after the last living Israeli hostages were released as part of the truce. Experts and local activists interpret the carried-out executions as a brutal attempt by Hamas to quickly assert control over the streets and to intimidate clans and gangs that for years acted as rivals in the Gaza Strip.

We warn that the following footage is disturbing

Hamas publicly executed three Palestinians last week.

Mehdi Hasan? Not a word.

Ana Kasparian? Not a word.

Cenk Uygur? Not a word.

https://t.co/J2Pesl9tPF

— Eyal Yakoby (@EYakoby) September 28, 2025

Crackdown on rivals

Palestinian-Swedish political scientist Abdalhadi Alijla described the events as “extra-judicial executions” and warned that, in the absence of judicial institutions, there is a real danger that innocent people will be liquidated. “There are no functioning courts, no institutions — that is why such procedures occur,” Alijla told ABC.

Hamas responded by saying it is targeting “collaborators and criminals” who they claim took part in looting humanitarian aid and cooperated with opponents. Influential clans are mentioned among them, such as Doghmosha and Helles from Sabra, a neighborhood in Gaza, which had previously clashed with Hamas and which, according to some sources, had ties to armed groups like ISIS.

Israel admitted arming a Bedouin clan, opponents of Hamas

Earlier this year Israeli authorities acknowledged arming a Palestinian Bedouin clan in Gaza that is fighting against Hamas and which is now, among other things, also being targeted by Hamas, justifying the move as a legitimate means of warfare. Reuters reports that clashes between Hamas and local clans are part of a broader struggle for control in areas from which Israeli forces have partially withdrawn.

The new wave of violence comes at a time when, as part of the truce, hostage exchanges and the return of bodies have begun, and international mediators are working on the next phases of the agreement. U.S. President Donald Trump said in a recent statement that he had granted Hamas authority to “manage internal security in Gaza” under the agreement. Yesterday he also said he is not overly concerned with what Hamas does in Gaza.

Trump on Hamas: They did take out a couple of gangs that were very bad. They did take them out and killed a number of gang members. That didn't bother me much to be honest with you. That's okay. A couple of very bad gangs. pic.twitter.com/u9GnU8gQRO

— Acyn (@Acyn) October 14, 2025

Hamas takes control

According to sources, Hamas has called up thousands of members of its security forces to reassert control over the areas.

If the truce holds, Alijla believes the terrorist group will not need long to achieve that. “They are not yet the main force, but they are organized,” he said. “It will take some time, roughly a week or two, for them to fully organize and take control in Gaza.”

He does not believe Hamas will disarm, as envisaged in Donald Trump’s 20-point peace agreement. “If they do not disarm, we will disarm them, and that will happen quickly and perhaps violently,” Trump said.

Local health and humanitarian sources warn that such acts will further endanger the already grave humanitarian situation in Gaza and hinder the work of aid organizations. If the truce is broken due to internal reprisals or new clashes, the possibilities for delivering aid and normalizing the situation will be significantly reduced.

Bitcoin, the world’s largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, experienced a sharp drop on Friday after U.S. President Donald Trump escalated the trade conflict with China.

Trump announced an increase in tariffs on Chinese exports to the U.S. to 100% and the introduction of export controls on “all critical software.” This decision is a response to China’s restrictions on the export of rare earth elements, which are essential for technological and industrial production.

Earlier on Friday, Bitcoin had weakened to around $117,000 following Trump’s morning comments, and soon fell below $110,000, marking a 12% drop in the last 24 hours. According to CoinGlass data, traders who bet on price increases suffered liquidations of more than $7 billion.

• Fifty Thousand People Protest in Valencia, One Year After the Deadly Floods
• Portuguese Parliament Passes Ban on Face Coverings in Public

After the close of traditional markets, Trump announced via Truth Social that additional tariffs and export controls would take effect on November 1. At the moment of the announcement, Bitcoin lost an additional $3,000, and the market experienced extreme volatility reminiscent of the market crash in March 2020 triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The drop is on the level of COVID nuclear strikes,” commented well-known trader Bob Loukas.

Ram Ahluwalia, founder of the investment firm Lumida Wealth, said: “A brutal day. Trump’s news, combined with overbought market conditions, led to a sharp decline.”

This year’s Nobel Peace Prize laureate, María Corina Machado (58), is a Venezuelan opposition politician and industrial engineer who entered politics in 2002 as the founder of the election observation group Súmate. She served as a member of the Venezuelan National Assembly from 2011 to 2014 and is currently considered the leader of the opposition in the country.

She is a symbol of resistance against the regime of Nicolás Maduro and the founder of the Vente Venezuela movement. She is known for her relentless criticism of the authoritarian government and her calls to restore democracy in a country devastated by corruption, inflation, and political persecution — reports N1.

As stated in the award justification by the Nobel Committee, she has been a key, unifying figure of an opposition that was once deeply divided — “an opposition that found common ground in the demand for free elections and a representative government.”

“This is precisely what lies at the heart of democracy: our shared willingness to defend the principles of popular rule, even when we disagree. At a time when democracy is under threat, it is more important than ever to defend this common ground,” the Nobel Committee stated.

• Fifty Thousand People Protest in Valencia, One Year After the Deadly Floods
• Portuguese Parliament Passes Ban on Face Coverings in Public

In 2018, she was included in the group of 100 BBC Women, and this year, Time magazine listed her among the 100 most influential people in the world.

Machado has spent the last year in hiding due to serious threats to her life, and the regime of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has banned her from leaving the country.

On August 1, 2024, she published a letter in the Wall Street Journal stating that she would have to remain in hiding “in fear for my life, freedom, and the freedom of my fellow citizens from Maduro’s dictatorship.”

She was a candidate in the 2012 presidential elections but lost to Henrique Capriles.

During the 2014 protests in Venezuela, Machado was one of the leading figures organizing demonstrations against Nicolás Maduro’s government.

In January 2024, as the presidential elections approached, the Supreme Court of Venezuela — controlled by Maduro — disqualified her from politics for 15 years, preventing her from running as a candidate.

She was then replaced by Corina Yoris, who was prevented from registering as a candidate, and was temporarily substituted by Edmundo González Urrutia.

She has received numerous international awards, including the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought (2024) and the Václav Havel Human Rights Prize.

For many Venezuelans, María Corina Machado remains a symbol of courage, civil resistance, and hope that the country will, after years of authoritarian rule, once again find its path to freedom and political change.

The former and most likely future Czech Prime Minister, leader of the populist Action of Dissatisfied Citizens Andrej Babiš, suddenly began to praise the Czech initiative Ammunition for Ukraine after the elections — the same initiative he had threatened to abolish during the campaign ahead of the parliamentary elections on October 3 and 4, as well as support for Ukraine in general.

“Of course, that initiative is certainly good, but it should have been done directly, it should have been carried out by NATO member states, and it should have been transparent. I saw it the way President Trump did: NATO should have mechanisms for how American weapons are sold,” Babiš said today after the formation of the parliamentary group in the Parliament – reports Danas.

Babiš has now completely changed his narrative and said that he has already spoken with Czech President Petr Pavel to learn how the international initiative works. Through this initiative, the Czech Republic mediates the procurement of artillery ammunition in third countries, including Serbia, primarily of post-Soviet origin, which is paid for by Western countries and donated to Ukraine.

Immediately after the election, Babiš changed his tone and emphasized that what bothered him was allegedly Czech arms dealers profiting from mediating in purchases. He said he is ready to talk with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky about making the initiative more transparent.

• Fifty Thousand People Protest in Valencia, One Year After the Deadly Floods
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The Czech Republic is only an intermediary in this initiative. It made a single small payment last year when the initiative started.

Today Babiš also stated that the Czech Republic will no longer provide military aid to Ukraine “directly from the budget.”

“If we are in government, we will say: ‘Czech arms factories, if you want to export weapons to Ukraine, we have no problem with that!’. But we will not give a single crown directly from our budget to Ukraine for weapons, because we claim to give 2.5 billion euros to Europe, which helps Ukraine,” said Babiš.

“We have helped Ukraine and we will continue to help, but now not directly, only through the European Union. We don’t have money here for the Czech Republic,” Babiš added.

Today, Babiš accused the outgoing center-right government of Prime Minister Petr Fiala of leaving behind a paralyzed budget.

The likely future Prime Minister also accused Fiala’s government and especially Defense Minister Jana Černochová of squandering money on weapons purchases.

“We now have tanks but no roads and no medicines. What good are tanks to us…,” said Babiš.

Babiš, an agribusiness and chemical industry tycoon, the seventh richest Czech, announced that by Friday of this week he will know how the division of ministries has been agreed upon with two smaller anti-system parties that want to join his government.

The radical nationalist, anti-immigration, and more anti-Ukrainian than pro-Russian party “Freedom and Direct Democracy” (SPD), which has one-third of its parliamentary group members from marginal extremist parties, plans to send non-partisan experts into the government and wants the position of Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies for its leader Tomio Okamura.

The SPD’s main goal was to obtain the Ministry of the Interior. However, this is no longer on the table because Okamura demanded after the election that the chief of police — who is prosecuting him for racist and brutal anti-refugee campaign posters — be dismissed.

Babiš categorically rejected the idea that politicians can replace the police chief because of their criminal prosecution and added that after these “meaningless and unfortunate statements” by Okamura, it is questionable whether the SPD will get that ministry at all.

The Eurosceptic but not pro-Russian, anti-system right-wing new party Motorists also wants two or three ministries in the government and demands that its honorary president, MEP Filip Turek, become Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Yesterday’s local elections in Georgia took place amid a partial opposition boycott, a low level of credible monitoring, continued repression by the ruling Georgian Dream party, arrests of protesters and opposition members, as well as the suppression of independent media and watchdog organizations, reports the Georgian portal civil.ge.

These elections come roughly a year after the disputed parliamentary elections and only ten months after the start of ongoing protests triggered by the ruling Georgian Dream party’s announcement to halt the country’s integration into the EU.

Parallel to the voting, a mass rally is being held in front of the Parliament in Tbilisi, with the clearly stated goal of “peacefully overthrowing” the Georgian Dream government – reports Danas.

⚡️ BREAKING: Protesters in Tbilisi have stormed the presidential palace, breaking through metal barricades

The situation is escalating.

Earlier today, thousands took to the streets of the Georgian capital to protest against the municipal elections. pic.twitter.com/YoXQahgqD9

— NEXTA (@nexta_tv) October 4, 2025

Protesters broke through barricades near Freedom Square as large numbers of special police forces arrived at the scene.

Special police used water cannons and tear gas in Atoneli Street, near the presidential palace. A warning siren was sounded, urging protesters to disperse.

Protestors clashing with police in Tbilisi as demonstrators have broken onto the closed property of the Presidential Palace.

If Putin loses Georgia, the dominoes will rapidly fall. pic.twitter.com/0xCJxU6cOL

— Jay in Kyiv (@JayinKyiv) October 4, 2025

Additional units of the special police are moving from Rustaveli Street toward Atoneli Street, near the presidential palace.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs stated that “the current protest violates the provisions of the Law on Assemblies and Public Demonstrations. Organizers have been calling for violence. Security barriers at the Presidential Palace on Atoneli Street were damaged, and an attempt was made to forcibly enter the building.”

The statement continues: “The Ministry of Internal Affairs once again urges all participants in the protest to obey the lawful orders of the police and not to contribute to the artificial escalation of the situation. Otherwise, the police will take appropriate measures in accordance with the law.”

At the headquarters of the Georgian Dream party, leaders are celebrating exit poll results showing that Tbilisi’s mayor, Kakha Kaladze, won 76.3 percent of the vote.

Situation in Georgia's Tbilisi.pic.twitter.com/8q5tcNvPyN

— Clash Report (@clashreport) October 4, 2025

Kaladze, a member of the ruling Georgian Dream party, described the events on Atoneli Street as “a direct attempt at a coup d’état,” promising “an appropriate response” and declaring that those responsible would be brought to justice.

Official results have not yet been announced, but the Prime Minister from the ruling Georgian Dream party, Irakli Kobakhidze, held a briefing stating that the ruling party won more than 70 percent of the vote in all municipalities across Georgia.

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He added that voter turnout exceeded 1,430,000 voters, which he described as “very high” for local elections.

Commenting on the tensions around Freedom Square, Kobakhidze said: “We warned these people about harsh responses.”

“What we saw, for example, on Atoneli Street, is a criminal act. Every person who took part in this violence will be held accountable.”

He also stated: “I assumed that, given this level of violence, we would have to arrest far more than 30 shameless participants.”

On its official Facebook page, Georgian Dream announced that it had won in all municipalities in the first round, with the message:

“We started on October 4 and finished on October 4” – an obvious message to the protest organizers who had claimed their “revolution” would begin and end that day with a change of power.

EU leaders will meet on Wednesday in Copenhagen for informal talks on defense and the war between Russia and Ukraine.

Proposals on the table include the so-called "drone wall" to improve the EU's air defence, as well as loans to Kyiv from Russian assets frozen within the bloc.

"I have some expectations from this meeting, but we need to wait for actions. Words can be loud, but there are no actions… For me the most important question is whether Europe realises that outsourcing security no longer works," said Daria Vilkova, a professor at the Institute for International Relations in Kyiv and a geostrategic analyst for N1.

Vilkova says that Ukraine, with its experience, can help strengthen European security, especially regarding drones.

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• Portuguese Parliament Passes Ban on Face Coverings in Public

"From the Ukrainian perspective, we have experience with all kinds of drones; we face attacks far worse than those in other countries and we can share that experience. That is most important for the EU and NATO. Security must be taken into our own hands," Vilkova says.

She added that she expects more concrete steps from European countries.

"My view is that there are spillover effects from every conflict, especially on the scale we have seen in recent years. Russia is stirring up a hornet's nest and wants to see the reactions. From my experience, I would say the response of the countries under threat is not sufficient. Maybe that's my Ukrainian stance, but the time for rhetoric is almost over. We see that Russia is ready and, to varying degrees, capable of showing its strength; they are threatening. It's nothing new, but they have moved from words to deeds — it's time for others to do the same," she said.

She added that this was not a European war before, but it is now.

"This is evident from the very frightened reaction of leaders of some countries. Drones will affect logistics, trade — this is a pivotal moment. What Russia is doing is not the main question; the question is what Europe will do in response to this show of muscle," Vilkova pointed out.

Regarding the announced delivery of long-range Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine, Vilkova is sceptical.

"Will we see Tomahawk missiles launched from Ukraine at Russia? Of course, I would like to see that, but I'm not sure it will happen. I repeat, rhetoric is not enough; it's time to move to action. If that means shooting down aircraft, perhaps we should do that," Vilkova says.