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Repressive, secretive and highly militarised: Eritrea, the east African country facing UK visa ban threat

Eritrea, the east African country embroiled in a row with the UK over its refusal to accept the return of rejected asylum seekers and criminals, is considered one of world’s most secretive and repressive states, with reports of arbitrary detention and severe restrictions on freedom of expression, opinion and religion. Situated in the Horn of Africa and bordering Sudan, Ethiopia and Djibouti, it became a sovereign state after gaining independence from Ethiopia in 1993 following a 30-year war. The country is run by an authoritarian regime under Isaias Afwerki, who led separatist forces to defeat Ethiopian forces in 1991 and became president in 1993. He has served as president since independence and heads the People’s Front for Democracy and Justice, the country’s only legal political party. Eritrea has not held a national election since independence. A constitution that was ratified in 1997 by the constituent assembly has still not been implemented nearly three decades later. In 2001, the government shut down all independent newspapers after the publishing of an open letter by senior ruling party officials calling on the government to implement the constitution and hold elections. A highly militarised state, Eritrea runs a compulsory national service system that requires students to study at a military training centre in their final year of secondary school. They undergo military training and political education before working in either military units or civilian national service roles that can last decades. The repression and conscription has forced many Eritreans to risk harsh punishment for evading, deserting or escaping the military by fleeing the country. It is estimated that up to one-third of the Eritrean-born population lives abroad. Eritreans were the most common nationality arriving by small boat to the UK in the year ending June 2026. Earlier this year, Eritrea abruptly withdrew cooperation with the UK on migrant returns, and on Thursday the UK home secretary, Shabana Mahmood, said all Eritreans could be stopped from coming to the UK unless the country agreed to accept more rejected asylum seekers and criminals. Eritrea’s political, economic and social framework has been defined by a doctrine of economic self-reliance, with the country notably rejecting foreign aid. It was an Italian colony and parts of the country feature early to mid-20th-century Italian modernist architecture. The capital, Asmara, was inscribed as a world heritage site in 2017, with Unesco describing it as “an exceptional example of early modernist urbanism at the beginning of the 20th century and its application in an African context”. A multi-ethnic country, Eritrea is mainly made up of the Tigrinya people. Its extensive Red Sea coastline (1,388 miles) gives it a strategic position along the Red Sea corridor. The country has been in the spotlight in recent weeks because of fears of war with Ethiopia. Both countries have accused each other of aggression. Ethiopia has claimed Eritrean troops crossed up to 60km (37 miles) into Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region, while Eritrea has said the accusation is a fabrication to create a pretext for war. The escalation is linked to renewed fighting between Ethiopian government forces and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), an armed opposition group, in Tigray, which borders Eritrea. Ethiopia has accused Eritrea of supporting the TPLF, a claim that Eritrea has denied. On Tuesday, Ethiopian forces advanced to Zalambessa, a town on the border with Eritrea that was under Tigrayan rebel control.

EU must curb energy prices to prevent people turning to populists, commissioner warns – as it happened

And, on that note, we will be closing the blog for today. Europe has to take action to curb soaring oil and gas prices to prevent people from turning to populists and extremists, a senior EU official has said (16:03). If EU citizens don’t see their “fundamental problems” addressed, they may turn “to populists and extremists,” Dan Jørgensen said. In other news, EU leaders are meeting in Brussels to discuss energy prices, EU budget, Middle East, and Ukraine during a two-day summit attended by Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy (11:16, 11:57, 13:25, 15:08). The meeting comes amid heightened tensions between Ukraine and the US, with EU leaders joining Kyiv in criticising the US-Russia diesel deal (10:36) and reported Starlink disruptions (9:45, 9:49). We will pick up on tonight’s developments in tomorrow morning’s blog. Separately, the leaders of Romania and Bulgaria held urgent talks with Nato’s secretary general Mark Rutte over repeated drone attacks on ships off Black Sea coast (14:31, 15:26), with seven people missing after latest incidents last night (12:03, 13:01). If you have any tips, comments or suggestions, email me at jakub.krupa@theguardian.com. I am also on Bluesky at @jakubkrupa.bsky.social and on X at @jakubkrupa.

Russia and Ukraine trade strikes as Trump ‘energy ceasefire’ collapses

The White House’s unilateral effort to negotiate an energy ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine has collapsed as Moscow sent a record swarm of drones overnight to attack infrastructure in central Ukraine and Kyiv appeared to resume strikes on Russian oil refineries despite warnings from Donald Trump. Moscow accused Ukraine of launching a strike against a Russian oil refinery in the Ryazan region, its first since Trump abruptly declared an “energy ceasefire” that neither Russia nor Ukraine said they had agreed to. Trump has demanded that Volodymyr Zelenskyy stop attacking Russian oil refineries, claiming it is the cause of a global rise in the price of diesel fuel. An attack on two neutral ships in Romanian territorial waters at the mouth of the Danube River indicated that strikes against vulnerable commercial targets are set to expand. The Romanian president, Nicușor Dan, said two Russian drones violated Romanian airspace and struck two chemical tankers, setting the ships ablaze. Rescue crews were searching for at least seven missing sailors. “The situation in the Black Sea is serious,” he said. “Commercial ships are being attacked and sunk. Seafarers killed, injured and missing, very close to the shores of Romania and Bulgaria. This is unacceptable and it has to stop.” Zelenskyy said on Wednesday he would resume strikes on Russian oil refineries, after briefly halting them to demonstrate that Ukraine was ready for peace talks. “The block [on attacking refineries] is out. We’re done,” he told the Financial Times. He also attacked a gap in US intelligence sharing as “dangerous”. Images from Ryazan showed flames at the refinery, which regional officials said had been targeted by 69 drones and four Flamingo cruise missiles. Moscow claimed debris from a drone struck by anti-aircraft fire had hit the refinery and sparked the fire. Ukraine also struck back at Russia’s military, hitting four Sukhoi Su-34 fighter/bomber jets and damaging two more, according to Zelenskyy. Ukraine’s military said it had used a Neptune cruise missile to strike an airfield in Russia’s southern Voronezh region. “These very warplanes were ready to launch new attacks on Ukraine and were loaded with aerial bombs,” Zelenskyy said, publishing a satellite photo of the damaged airfield. In Ukraine, more than 360 Russian drones targeted Kirovohrad, a central region that has been hit less hard than others closer to Russia, in attacks that killed three people and injured six. “The enemy deliberately hit critical infrastructure, transport enterprises, logistics ⁠facilities and residential homes,” the regional governor, Andriy Raikovych, said in a statement. Zelenskyy said Russia had attacked Ukraine with more than 850 Shahed drones at a time when the speed of Ukraine’s defensive capabilities was being “artificially restricted”, a reference to sudden limitations on Ukraine’s use of the Starlink and Starshield mobile internet terminals. “It is obvious that Russia deliberately chose to escalate its attacks after receiving sanctions relief and seeing attempts to pressure Ukraine,” Zelenskyy said in a social media post on X, referring to a growing quarrel with the Trump administration. “Ukraine needs steady support, above all in defending our skies. We need HONESTY from our partners about this war: It is important that everyone in America stand not with the aggressor, but with our efforts to protect lives, end this war, and guarantee security,” he said. Trump suddenly declared an “energy ceasefire” last week, writing on TruthSocial: “Effective immediately, there is an ENERGY CEASEFIRE in the War between Russia and Ukraine. Both parties have agreed. Do not break it!” Despite Trump’s claims, however, Russia continued to launch heavy strikes on Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure, using hypersonic and ballistic missiles to target key Ukrainian power plants, leaving cities including Kyiv without power and water for hours. Ukraine said it would not strike Russian oil refineries in the interim in order to show that it was ready for negotiations. But the White House piled pressure on Zelenskyy to capitulate to Russia by threatening to cut programmes to deliver arms to Ukraine and to stop sharing US battlefield intelligence with Ukraine. The US appeared to make good on some threats. Ukraine said it had not received advance warning from Washington of Russian missile strikes for several days this week. And on Wednesday, Ukrainian soldiers complained that their access to Starshield programmes controlled by the US military had been restricted, scuppering drone missions on the frontlines. The feud between Zelenskyy and Trump has spun out of control over the last week. Trump, who believes his support for Ukraine should come with a degree of control over the country’s leadership, has said Ukraine should “get a new president”. Zelenskyy, when asked on Thursday by Piers Morgan whether he felt betrayed, said yes. “It’s a pity that we are losing, we are losing a strong partner,” he said. Musk, the head of SpaceX, which produces the Starlink terminals used by Ukraine’s military, has emerged as a leading critic of Zelenskyy in the US. On Thursday, Musk denied throttling the Starlink systems and said they were controlled by the US government. But in a social media post commenting on a Zelenskyy statement that Ukraine would continue to fight until Russia’s defeat, he wrote: “And so the slaughter continues … Time for Zelensky to go.”

Jim Bakker obituary

Jim Bakker, who has died aged 86, was one of the most popular and influential US television evangelists of the 1970s and 80s, but he was brought down, as were many of his preaching contemporaries, by the twin sins of greed and lust. Bakker and his wife, Tammy Faye, built an empire around their Christian chatshow PTL (for Praise the Lord), which spawned their own satellite TV network based in Charlotte, North Carolina. At their peak, their broadcasts attracted more than 13 million viewers and $1m a day in donations; and their Disney-style theme park, Heritage USA, at Fort Mill, South Carolina, drew six million visitors a year. In 1980, Bakker joined President Jimmy Carter on Air Force One to pray for the American hostages held in Iran – but Bakker’s support and that of his fellow conservative evangelicals soon proved key in electing Ronald Reagan president. The Bakkers preached the “prosperity gospel”, growing from the Calvinist idea that material success was a sign of God’s blessing, and flaunted those blessings. “Excess and success are close together,” Bakker claimed. They never skimped on opulence, with everything from a fleet of luxury cars to jewellery for Tammy Faye and an air-conditioned dog kennel. But the mansion crumbled from within when, in 1987, Bakker was revealed to have paid $265,000 in hush money to Jessica Hahn, a secretary in his Assemblies of God ministry, who said she had been drugged and raped in 1980 by him and his fellow PTL host John Wesley Fletcher. Hahn then told her story and posed for Penthouse magazine, while Fletcher wrote his own story for Penthouse, The Devil in Jim Bakker, claiming he had been both Bakker’s lover and his pimp for other gay men. Bakker was stripped of his ministry in the Assemblies of God. He resigned as head of PTL and was replaced by Jerry Falwell, who called him “the greatest scab and a cancer on the face of Christianity in 2,000 years of church history”. Bakker had passed PTL on to Falwell to prevent another Assemblies of God preacher, Jimmy Swaggart, from taking it over. Swaggart, who faced his own sex scandal years later, called Bakker “a cancer on the face of God”. The sex scandal opened the doors to revealing Bakker’s frauds. PTL was nicknamed “Pass the Loot”. Under Reagan, the Federal Communications Commission, the government regulatory agency, had buried its investigation into the Bakkers’ soliciting donations for overseas aid that instead went to Heritage USA and into their own pockets. The Internal Revenue Service had sat for years on a report recommending that PTL should lose its tax-exempt status. But the Charlotte Observer’s reporting of PTL selling far more “lifetime memberships” guaranteeing annual three-night stays at Heritage USA than it was able to provide, led to a trial. In 1989, a jury convicted Bakker on all 24 counts, and Judge Robert “Maximum Bob” Potter sentenced him to 45 years, saying: “Those of us who do have a religion are sick of being saps for money-grubbing preachers and priests.” That animus led to the sentence being reduced to eight years on appeal. By the time Bakker emerged from prison, Tammy Faye had divorced him, and married Roe Messner, one of the principals of Heritage USA. Messner would be convicted of bankruptcy fraud two years later. Bakker was born in Muskegon, Michigan. His father, Raleigh, a machinist, and his mother, Furnia (nee Irwin), came from Pentecostal families. Jim studied at the Assemblies of God’s North Central Bible College in Minneapolis, where in 1961 he met Tammy Faye LaValley. Although he was engaged to his high-school sweetheart in Muskegon, three weeks later he and Tammy Faye married, leaving college and becoming travelling evangelists. In 1966 they caught the eye of Pat Robertson, who hired them for his Christian Broadcasting Network. Their children’s show, Come On Over, featuring Tammy Faye using puppets, became so popular that Robertson gave them a talkshow, The 700 Club, named in the then-optimistic hope of attracting $700 a month from loyal viewers. They left Robertson in 1973 to co-found the Trinity Broadcasting Network in Los Angeles, where they launched PTL. After quickly falling out with their partners, they moved to Charlotte, where they created the PTL Network. “I believe if Jesus were alive today, he would be on TV,” said Bakker, a statement that helped inspire Ray Stevens’ 1987 hit song, Would Jesus Wear a Rolex?. At Bakker’s 1994 parole hearing, his lawyer, Alan Dershowitz, pledged to “guarantee that Mr Bakker would never again engage in the blend of religion and commerce that led to his conviction”. That did not last long. His 1996 book I Was Wrong was more a rationalisation than confession. Bakker worked at the Los Angeles International Church (also known as the Dream Center), where in 1998 he met and married Lori Beth Graham, a youth preacher who had a strong resemblance to Tammy Faye. By 2003 they were broadcasting The Jim Bakker Show from Branson, Missouri. Bakker’s pitch switched from prosperity to apocalypse, selling “doomsday survival gear” including freeze-dried beans on toast. He said PTL now stood for Prophets Talking Loud and used natural disasters as examples of God’s vengeance against Americans who did not support him – and later Donald Trump. Barack Obama, he said, was “a representative of the antichrist” and he called Hillary Clinton “the bride of Satan”. During the Covid pandemic, Bakker sold colloidal silver supplements he claimed could cure the disease. He was prosecuted by state authorities in Missouri and Arkansas and forced to refund buyers. In 2020 he had a stroke. He is survived by his wife and their five children, Maricella, Lori, Clarissa, Marie and Ricky, and by a daughter, Tammy Sue, and son, Jay, from his first marriage. • James Orsen Bakker, television evangelist, born 2 January 1940; died 5 October 2026

Bring a bottle: Viennese dog owners told to rinse pets’ urine from trees

A neighbourhood in Vienna has introduced guidelines for dog walking, including the use of bottled tap water to rinse away urine and protect vulnerable trees. Neubau, an up-and-coming, densely populated district dotted with cafes and galleries, rolled out the Schönes Gassi (nice dog walk) campaign this week. The project addresses the impact of the area’s 600 dogs on greenery, including about 250 trees planted over the past decade to help mitigate the effects of the climate crisis. Using the slogan Das Flascherl zum Sackerl (the bottle to go with the bag), the guidelines say animal urine corrodes tree bark, weakening its protective layer and potentially letting corrosive pathogens and fungi penetrate the trunk. “While marking territory is a form of communication for dogs, it causes stress for urban trees,” said Grätzllabor, a community group that takes its name from the Viennese slang for quarter or neighbourhood. “This results in rot and, in the worst case, compromised stability.” The group said the campaign had been launched in concert with “concerned citizens” in the Austrian capital. It also asks owners to carry plastic bags to clean up after their pets. Owners can pick up a free 270ml water bottle at the town hall to rinse areas used by their dogs. The voluntary scheme could be expanded to other districts. Fresh canine urine is highly water-soluble and dilution significantly reduces the concentration of ammonia and other harmful substances seeping into the soil, while also softening the smell. Grätzllabor said the rinsing strategy should not be interpreted as a “licence” for dogs to mark trees or green space but rather as an action owners could take to minimise harm caused by their pets. Conny Sporrer, who is a dog trainer, said the Schönes Gassi campaign could help head off more drastic calls to mitigate problems linked to animal waste. “In Vienna, we don’t need a city full of dog bans, or a city where dogs are just allowed to urinate anywhere they please,” she told reporters, saying most pets could be taught where to relieve themselves. “What we need is consideration, education and sufficient suitable facilities for dogs.” Similar schemes have been introduced in Japan, Italy, Switzerland and Spain, which has the highest share of dog-owning households in the EU at 70%. Austria has relatively low levels of ownership, at just 17% of households. Berlin, where more than 100,000 dogs are kept as pets after an increase in ownership during the pandemic, has also begun addressing the problem by stopping the planting of black locust trees in some areas because they are particularly sensitive to urine. In the spring, the western district of Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf began installing “pee stones” for dogs to use as a target, instead of trees.

Revealed: Serbian ruler’s secret role in ‘illegal’ effort to help Trump business

Serbia’s authoritarian ruler personally intervened to advance an allegedly illegal scheme to hand over a protected site in Belgrade for a Trump tower, the Guardian can reveal. Aleksandar Vučić summoned officials to a meeting at his presidential offices about the project, which has culminated in a landmark indictment of senior figures from his regime on charges of abuse of public office. The criminal case is believed to be the first resulting from the Trumps’ global moneymaking campaign, described by critics as a “pay to play” arrangement where everything from sanctions relief to cutting-edge chips is available to those who enrich the first family and their associates. The alleged scheme to override the protected status of a historic building in the Serbian capital looms over an election scheduled for 25 October, when Vučić will seek to extend his 12 years in power in the face of a mass protest movement spurred by government corruption. A nationalist former propaganda chief under Slobodan Milošević, Vučić hosted the US president’s son Donald Trump Jr and son-in-law Jared Kushner in Belgrade as they developed plans for a $500m hotel and residential tower to add to their global property portfolios. After the abuse of power charges were brought last December, Kushner’s company announced the project would not proceed “at this time”. Vučić threatened reprisals, calling the prosecutors “corrupt gangs” who “fabricated cases”. “We have lost an exceptional investment,” the Serbian president said. “I will personally ensure that everyone who participated in causing this damage is held accountable.” Vučić’s culture minister is among those charged with abuse of power. But a Guardian investigation, drawing on interviews and leaked documents, reveals that the Serbian president himself led the initial meeting where the alleged scheme was discussed. This crucial meeting is not mentioned in the indictment, raising questions about what information the prosecutors are holding back and why. Representatives of the Trumps and Kushner said they had no part in the removal of the building’s protected status and that it would be “false” to say the Belgrade project was part of a “pay to play” scheme. Vučić did not respond to requests for comment. His decision to call a snap election means that a hearing at which witnesses might reveal details of his involvement will not take place until after the vote. A free 99-year lease On 6 February 2024, Dubravka Đukanović, a Serbian conservation professor in her 60s, arrived for a meeting at the presidency, a domed former royal palace. For three years, she had been the director of the country’s institute for the protection of cultural monuments. The topic was the General Staff building, the former Yugoslav ministry of defence in central Belgrade. The building, an architectural gem seen as an emblem of resistance to the Nazis, was already cherished when Nato forces bombed it in 1999 during its campaign to force Milošević to withdraw from Kosovo, deepening its resonance. Vučić himself had reaffirmed the General Staff building’s legally protected status in 2016. Now, the president said he wanted Đukanović to rescind it, according to two people with knowledge of the meeting. Some unspecified “foreign investor” was keen on the site. Under Serbian law, stripping the General Staff building of its protected status was not in Đukanović’s gift. Her institute would have to commission an expert opinion, which would have to conclude that there were good reasons why protected status was no longer merited. But the president wanted it done. At 6ft 6in and intolerant of dissent, Vučić can be intimidating. His tone towards Đukanović and another heritage official present was unpleasant, the sources said. He told them they were lazy and incompetent. The message was clear: do what I want or resign. A plausible explanation for Vučić’s forceful intervention came the following month, when an agreement between the Serbian government and Kushner’s real estate company leaked. Married to Trump’s daughter Ivanka, Kushner had been an influential White House aide during his father-in-law’s first term. Since Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 election, Kushner had been concentrating on his investment fund. By early 2024, Trump was storming to the Republican nomination and was favourite to win the coming election. If Trump took back the White House, Kushner would once more be one of the most influential people on the planet. The leaked agreement showed the Serbian authorities had granted Kushner’s company a 99-year lease over the General Staff site, free of charge. Kushner, whose spokesperson said he had been looking at the project since 2021, posted an image of the design on X, professing himself “excited”. The news was not universally welcomed in Belgrade. “Serbia is not a buffet, and Vučić is not a waiter,” said Aleksandar Jovanović Ćuta, an environmental activist who revealed the agreement. “This is not his private property.” Yet Vučić’s regime proceeded to sign a contract, dated 13 May 2024 and seen by the Guardian, undertaking that the “cultural heritage designation” of the site would be removed “to the satisfaction” of Kushner’s company. Comply or resign The week after the contract was signed, Đukanović was summoned to another meeting. The president was not there this time. Siniša Mali, his finance minister and right-hand man, took charge. Mali urged Đukanović and Olivera Vučković, Belgrade’s top heritage official, to cancel the General Staff site’s protected status, according to the indictment’s summary of testimony the two women would later give prosecutors. It makes no reference to the earlier meeting with the president but indicates that the subject had previously been broached. “Mali asked them if they had given it any thought,” the indictment says, “and if they would initiate the procedure to remove the building’s protected status.” The women refused, “believing that the legal conditions for it were not met”. In that case, Mali told them, repeating his boss’s ultimatum from February, they should resign. They did. In her resignation letter, which the Guardian has seen, Đukanović wrote that she could not agree “to inappropriate interventions that would permanently destroy all the values of the complex, which testifies to the highest achievements of contemporary Serbian architecture and is of incalculable importance for preserving enduring creative values, the education of future generations, and the strengthening of the cultural identity of the Serbian people”. Approached by the Guardian, Đukanović and Vučković confirmed the accuracy of this account. Đukanović added: “I prefer not to make any statement on this matter while the court proceedings are ongoing.” Little was heard of the General Staff plan for months. In November, Trump beat Kamala Harris to win re-election. Ten days later, Vučić’s government announced that the General Staff site had been stripped of its protected status. Keeping it in the family One of the first things Trump did upon regaining the presidency was to ditch the pledge he made in his first term that his family business would refrain from doing deals abroad while he was in office. “The scale of corruption will be orders of magnitude greater than what we saw in the first Trump administration,” Kathleen Clark, a government ethics lawyer at Washington University School of Law, warned at the time. Trump had made it much easier, she said, to buy his favour. The family business remained officially under the control of his two oldest sons, Don Jr and Eric. In January 2025, four days after their father’s inauguration, Eric spoke about some new projects. The Trumps and the Kushners, New York real estate families united by marriage, had decided to embark on their first venture together: Kushner’s Belgrade hotel and tower would bear the Trump name. “It’s going to be fun to bring the family together,” Eric told the New York Times. “Serbia is one of the fastest-growing countries in Europe, and we’re incredibly honoured to be there.” Kushner, who had travelled to Belgrade for what Vučić called an “inspiring” meeting with the Serbian leader, added: “Our research showed that the Trump brand would be the best for this market.” That brand has enjoyed a surge in demand around the world during Trump’s second term, accompanied by allegations that it comes with a quid pro quo. In Vietnam, Eric was showered with confetti at the groundbreaking ceremony for a £1.5bn golf resort, the permits for which were granted with unusual speed. Then Trump halved Vietnam’s tariffs. The Saudis poured money into Kushner’s fund, and plans emerged for a Trump plaza in Jeddah. Then Trump agreed to sell the kingdom new US fighter jets. A cryptocurrency baron’s company and senior Emiratis cut a lucrative transaction with World Liberty Financial, the digital currency venture Don Jr and Eric founded. Trump gave the crypto baron a pardon and the Emiratis access to restricted US chips. Asked about such deals last year, Kushner, now a presidential envoy to Russia, Israel and elsewhere, said: “What people call conflicts of interests … I call experience and trusted relationships that we have throughout the world.” Those who strike up “trusted relationships” with the Trumps, even if there is not an obvious quid pro quo, gain something less tangible but maybe still more valuable: the aura of friendship with a president who is happy to wield his superpower to make or break smaller nations and their leaders. Vučić has plenty in common with Trump. Both are friendly with Vladimir Putin and contemptuous of the EU – in Vučić’s case, despite his country having applied to join. A shared disdain for Nato may help explain why the one part of the General Staff building’s heritage that the redevelopment pledged to retain was a memorial to the alliance’s “aggression” against Serbia. And there is a lot that Vučić could use US help with, not least the fate of Kosovo, which he says is still part of Serbia. Not long after his father returned to office, Don Jr landed in Belgrade. Vučić said that during their meeting he “emphasised the importance of the economic and political relations between Serbia and the USA and stressed the importance of strategic cooperation between the two countries and joint projects in the years to come”. When Don Jr returned the following month, Vučić fed him a choice sucking-pig. For Vučić, the support of the first family was timely. Days before his regime stripped the General Staff site of its protection, the collapse of a canopy at Novi Sad railway station, which killed 16 people, triggered rolling protests against graft. The student organisers’ slogan has become “Serbia or mafia”. Don Jr’s visit came on the eve of the biggest demonstration in Serbia’s history. He invited Vučić on to his podcast, Triggered, and declared that the Serb ruler’s opponents were “weaponising” the Novi Sad disaster, just as Trump’s had done with the Capitol riots after his 2020 election defeat. But the protesters maintained their momentum, and began to rally against the Trump tower. In May 2025, Vučić went to the US, hoping to visit Trump at Mar-a-Lago, his Florida members’ club. He got to see Rudy Giuliani, Trump’s disgraced lawyer, but not the president. State media reported this was because Vučić fell ill. No sooner was Vučić home than police arrested Goran Vasić, the man who had been installed as head of the heritage institute to replace Dubravka Đukanović following her resignation. To achieve the cancellation of the General Staff building’s protected status, prosecutors said, Vasic had forged a supportive expert opinion. More arrests followed. In December 2025, Vučić’s culture minister was indicted for abuse of office for his alleged part in the General Staff scheme. Within days, Kushner’s company announced the project was off. Coup or cover-up? Vučić’s threat of reprisals was not idle. His allies attacked Đukanović, claiming that she had tried to profit personally from her time as a heritage official. Her deputy, who received a visit from the state security service after she went on television to denounce the cancellation of the General Staff building’s protection, has been accused of unrelated misconduct. The Serbian conservators’ industry body said this had “the obvious aim of discrediting her”. Both are expected to give evidence in the criminal proceedings. For the specialist unit of organised-crime prosecutors who brought the charges, this is a watershed case. Never before has a serving Serbian minister been indicted. Vučić accuses the prosecutors of staging a coup. Others, though, fear they are pulling their punches. That concern increased when Nikola Selaković, the indicted culture minister, used a court appearance in April to reveal that, while police were raiding his ministry, he was in his office sipping plum brandy and smoking cigarettes with Mladen Nenadić, the head of the organised-crime prosecutors’ unit. The unit’s spokesperson said there was “no discussion regarding the course of the case”. “In everything that happened regarding potential investments, I saw a chance for our country and citizens,” said Selaković, who faces three years in prison if convicted. Vučić has not been charged. Neither has his lieutenant, Mali. Both deny wrongdoing. The indictment refers to evidence from witnesses who were present at the Vučić meeting in February 2024 but does not mention it, raising questions about the apparent decision to omit what would appear to be a key part of the narrative. The spokesperson for the organised crime prosecutors’ unit said that it had evidence regarding Vučić’s February 2024 meeting with the heritage officials. Beyond those already indicted, prosecutors were “conducting pretrial proceedings in this case to determine potential criminal liability of other persons as well”, the spokesperson added. Vučić has stepped down and cannot seek another term but is expected to retain his control over the regime if he is elected prime minister on 25 October. In one of his last acts as president, he issued 49 pardons. Some of the recipients have not been identified and it is not clear whether they include defendants in the General Staff case. The White House referred questions to the Trumps’ company. Its representative said: “The Trump Organization has no plans to develop any project in Belgrade, was never, at any point, involved in any discussions or negotiations to acquire any site in Belgrade and denies any involvement in or knowledge of the alleged claims.” Kushner’s spokesperson said: “The suggestion that Jared Kushner pursued the Belgrade project as part of any political arrangement or ‘pay to play’ scheme is categorically false.” Rather, it was “an opportunity to transform a site associated with a painful chapter in Serbia’s history into a symbol of healing and reconciliation, while bringing substantial private investment, jobs and economic opportunity to Belgrade”. The spokesperson added: “Jared had no involvement in the Serbian government’s internal processes concerning the site’s protected status.” For all Vučić’s difficulties, the tale of the Trump Tower Belgrade does not appear to have put others off doing business with the first family. Trump retains stakes in dozens of his companies, even if his sons nominally run them. In July, he released his financial disclosure for his first year back at the White House. It showed he had made $2bn.

Albania’s prime minister vows not to resign over student-led protests

Albania’s prime minister, Edi Rama, has said he will not resign over student-led demonstrations, as protesters and police clashed in the country’s capital for a third consecutive day. Police used teargas and water cannon to disperse demonstrators marching along several main roads around Tirana, while protests spread to other cities. Demonstrators are demanding Rama’s resignation and more support for students in the country, citing poor university conditions and high tuition fees. “As for calls for my resignation, governments are changed through democratic elections. ⁠We had elections last year, not a revolution,” Rama said in written responses to Reuters. “My responsibility ‌is to listen, address ‌legitimate concerns and keep Albania moving forward. The alternative would be a betrayal ‌of the Albanians who gave me a strong mandate to complete negotiations on European Union membership.” Rama said he would be ready to discuss the rising cost of education, but added: “Attacking institutions, destroying public property and threatening public safety have nothing to do with the legitimate ‌demands of students.” There were hours of violent clashes between police and demonstrators in Tirana on Tuesday and Wednesday, when protesters smashed their way into several government buildings and set at least one on fire. Police said 51 officers were injured during Wednesday’s protests and 65 people were arrested on suspicion of “attacking police officers, institutions, public and private property”. Police did not give figures for the number of protesters hurt but Tirana public hospital reported that “seven protesters injured in the violence sought medical treatment”. The protests mark the biggest challenge yet to Rama, who won a fourth term last year. The unrest follows months of mostly peaceful demonstrations sparked by plans to build a luxury resort on Albania’s southern coast backed by Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, a project that has faced legal challenges. “Corruption must be ⁠confronted and, as the EU itself has recently reaffirmed, Albania is tackling it as never before,” Rama said. “Perhaps some forces, at home and abroad, do not want Albania to succeed as ‌a forerunner for EU membership. But I will not allow violence to derail Albania’s European future.” The EU’s delegation in Tirana repeated its earlier calls for de-escalation, strongly condemning the “violent escalation at the protest and the destruction of public and private property”. “We call on protesters to exercise restraint and to refrain from any acts of violence. Violence has no place in democracies,” it said in a statement. Along with Montenegro, Albania is leading the EU accession process among Balkan countries and is aiming for entry as early as 2028.

‘We expect war to reach the city soon’: Yemenis stockpile as Houthis advance on Taiz

Ali Abdulsamed spent all day waiting and walking. Like many people in the besieged Yemeni city of Taiz, he was searching for some food for his family of six. But each time he reached the end of the queue at the grocers, he was greeted with empty shelves. He would go on foot to the next shop, unable to afford the price of petrol, which more than doubled last week. After visiting more than a dozen stores, Abdulsamed managed to find a 25kg bag of wheat flour – sold at more than twice its usual price. It would have to do, he was lucky to find anything at all. As Iran-allied Houthi rebels advance and the Saudi-backed Yemeni government forces closes off routes into the city, conditions in Taiz have become increasingly difficult. Yemen’s third most populous city has found itself besieged from all sides, with its supplies of fuel, food and other basic goods cut off. The UN World Food Programme (WFP) warned on Monday that the fighting had denied vital assistance to 800,000 people in Taiz: a city of about 1 million, which already had some of the highest levels of food insecurity in the country. The speed of the Houthi advance gave people little time to prepare, prompting a sudden rush on stores and driving up the price of goods still left in the city. Crowds have been gathering around grocery stores and gas stations, trying to stock up on the essentials as fears of shortages spread. “I wasn’t aware that the situation would become difficult so suddenly and that shops would close, but since 3 October, almost all food items have disappeared,” said Abdulsamed, 48. “I don’t have savings to stock up on food for the family, so I resorted to selling my wife’s gold ring.” He, like many others in Taiz, has stopped driving or even taking buses as petrol and bus fares have become too expensive. To avoid paying, Abdulsamed sometimes walks up to 10km (6 miles) a day. Abdulsamed works in a mobile repair shop on one of the main streets in the heart of Taiz. Traffic outside used to be constant and the shop was visited by a steady flow of customers. Now, the street is almost empty, save for those few people in Taiz scrambling to find supplies before hurrying home. The sound of explosions and gunfire echoes throughout the day. Taiz has become the new frontline in the war between the Houthis and Yemeni government forces after the Houthis launched a military campaign last month to take Yemen’s Red Sea coast. The renewed offensive interrupted four years of relative calm in Yemen after a UN-brokered ceasefire froze frontlines in 2022. The Houthis have moved south at a blistering speed, seizing more than 1,000km of territory over the last month, which gives them control over the Bab al-Mandab strait: a vital shipping lane. They have traded strikes with Saudi Arabia, launching attacks on Riyadh airport, with rebel-controlled Sana’a being hit in return, as the Saudis try to support Yemeni government forces. Their offensive was halted at Taiz, a city that has never fallen out of Yemeni government control since the country’s civil war began in 2014, and has been a long-sought goal for the rebels. The city sits at the crossroads between the north and the south, and if it should fall to the Houthis, Aden, the seat of Yemen’s government, will be cut off. So far the Houthis have failed to capture the city. Its rugged terrain is defended by local fighters as well as reinvigorated government forces, who announced a counteroffensive two weeks ago to push back the Houthis. But those who live in Taiz fear the Houthis cannot be kept at bay for ever. Conversations at home, the mosque and at work are all dominated by the war. The latest news is shared at the dinner table, with out-of-school children asking their parents what will happen next. “Residents expect the war to reach the city soon, so everyone is stocking food at home, preparing to stay indoors for a long time and ensuring they have all their necessities,” said Abdulsamed. Life in the once-busy city ground to a halt as fighting drew closer last week. Schools, universities and many public institutions in Taiz closed on 4 October out of concern for the safety of students and employees. “This is not a time for studying. What we need now is to have enough food and water at home and wait until Taiz overcomes this crisis,” said Rawa, a 35-year-old schoolteacher, who asked to be identified only by her first name. Rawa spends almost all of her time at home, only leaving to scrounge for supplies. She used to spend her weekend afternoons at a nearby park, but on Sunday, arriving to find it completely deserted, she turned around and went back home. Even home offers little safety. Rawa’s house is located close to the frontlines in eastern Taiz and the sounds of explosions have been growing closer in recent days. In the past, she would have fled to her ancestral village south of Taiz, as she had done in the past. But now, the road is blocked. As fighting draws closer, she can do little more than make sure she feels prepared for a long siege. But, with each day, food and basic supplies grow more expensive. “We are just lucky we can afford [goods] and now have enough food and water at home,” said Rawa.