Sometime in 2014, a group of analysts walked into the office of Eugene Kaspersky, the ebullient founder of Russian cybersecurity firm Kaspersky Lab, to deliver some sobering news. The analysts were in possession of a cache of files belonging to the Equation Group, an extraordinarily powerful band of hackers that would later be exposed as an arm of the U.S. National Security Agency. But the analysts were worried; the files were classified.

“They immediately came to my office,” Kaspersky recalled, “and they told me that they have a problem.”

According to him, there was no hesitation about what to do with the cache.

“It must be deleted,” Kaspersky says he told them.

The incident, recounted by Kaspersky during a brief telephone interview on Monday and supplemented by a preliminary timeline provided by company officials, could not be immediately corroborated. But it’s the first public acknowledgement of a story that has been building for the past three weeks — that Kaspersky’s popular anti-virus program uploaded powerful digital espionage tools belonging to the NSA and sent them to servers in Moscow.

The account provides new perspective on the U.S. government’s recent move to blacklist Kaspersky from federal computer networks, even if it still leaves important questions unanswered.

To hear Kaspersky tell it, the incident was an accident borne of carelessness.

Kaspersky was already on the trail of the Equation Group when one of its customers in the United States — Kaspersky referred to them as a “malware developer” — ran at least two anti-virus scans on their home computer after it was infected by a pirated copy of Microsoft Office 2013, according to Kaspersky’s timeline. That triggered an alert for Equation Group files hidden in a compressed archive which was spirited to Moscow for analysis.

Kaspersky’s story at least partially matches accounts published in The New York Times, The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal. All three publications recently reported that someone at the NSA’s elite hacking unit lost control of some of the agency’s powerful surveillance tools after they brought their work home with them, leaving what should have been closely guarded code on a personal computer running Kaspersky’s anti-virus software.

But information security experts reading the bits of information dropped by anonymous government officials are still puzzling at whether Kaspersky is suspected of deliberately hunting for confidential data or was merely doing its job by sniffing out suspicious files.

Much of the ambiguity is down to the nature of modern anti-virus software, which routinely submits rogue files back to company servers for analysis. The software can easily be quietly tweaked to scoop up other files too: perhaps classified documents belonging to a foreign rival’s government, for example.

Concerns have been fanned by increasingly explicit warnings from U.S. government officials after tensions with Russia escalated in the wake of the 2016 presidential election.

Kaspersky denied any inappropriate link to the Russian government, and said in his interview that any classified documents inadvertently swept up by his software would be destroyed on discovery.

“If we see confidential or classified information, it will be immediately deleted and that was exactly [what happened in] this case,” he said, adding that the order had since been written into company policy.

An AP request for a copy of that policy wasn’t immediately granted.

Kaspersky’s account still has some gaps. How did the analysts know, for example, that the data was classified? And why not alert American authorities to what happened? Several reports alleged that the U.S. learned that Kaspersky had acquired the NSA’s tools via an Israeli spying operation.

Kaspersky declined to say whether he had ever alerted U.S. authorities to the incident.

“Do you really think that I want to see in the news that I tried to contact the NSA to report this case?” he said at one point. “Definitely I don’t want to see that in the news.”

So did he alert the NSA to the incident or not?

“I’m afraid I can’t answer the question,” he said.

Even if some questions linger, Kaspersky’s explanation sounds plausible, said Jake Williams, a former NSA analyst and the founder of Augusta, Georgia-based Rendition InfoSec. He noted that Kaspersky was pitching itself at the time to government clients in the United States and may not have wanted the risk of having classified documents on its network.

“It makes sense that they pulled those up and looked at the classification marking and then deleted them,” said Williams. “I can see where it’s so toxic you may not want it on your systems.”

As for the insinuation that someone at the NSA not only walked highly classified software out of the building but put it on a computer running a bootleg version of Office, Williams called it “absolutely wild.”

“It’s hard to imagine a worse PR nightmare for the NSA,” he said.
…

Three-quarters of the world’s people live in countries that either restrict the right to religion or belief or have “a high level of social hostility involving religion or belief,” the U.N. special investigator on religious rights said Tuesday.

Ahmed Shaheed told the General Assembly’s human rights committee that religious intolerance is prevalent globally – and rising around the world.

He said over 70 countries currently have anti-blasphemy laws that can be used to suppress dissenting views, in violation of international human rights standards.

Shaheed, a former politician and human rights expert from the Maldives, urged those countries to repeal the blasphemy laws.

He also called for the repeal of all laws that undermine the exercise of the right to freedom of religion or belief – or discriminate against that right.

Shaheed urged countries to adopt and enforce “adequate criminal sanctions penalizing violent and particularly egregious discriminatory acts perpetrated by state or non-state actors against persons based on their religion or belief.”

He said governments must also pay “particular attention” to uphold the obligation to protect religious minorities.

“Increases in unlawful government restrictions against religious groups remain one of the primary and most fundamental factors resulting in higher levels of religious intolerance in any given society,” Shaheed said.

Some forms of discrimination are direct, such as prohibiting some or all religions or beliefs, he said. But others may be indirect, like zoning laws that prevent construction of certain houses of worship or bans on refugees or immigrants, “ostensibly for national security reasons, from countries where majority populations belong to particular faith communities,” he said.

The special investigator, or rapporteur, on freedom of religion or belief is an independent expert appointed by the Geneva-based U.N. Human Rights Council. Shaheed previously served for almost six years as special rapporteur on the human rights situation in Iran.
…

Russia used its U.N. veto Tuesday to block a resolution extending the mandate of the investigators probing chemical weapons attacks in Syria.

In a Security Council vote, 11 countries supported extending the mission for another year, while Russia and Bolivia voted against the measure, and China and Kazakhstan abstained.

The investigating team, known as the Joint Investigative Mechanism or JIM, is expected to make public a report on Thursday that could identify the party responsible for a deadly April 4 attack in the rebel-controlled town of Khan Sheikhoun in southern Idlib that killed and sickened scores of civilians.

Three days later, the United States launched an airstrike on a Syrian air base which Washington accused the regime of Bashar al-Assad of having used to launch the poison gas attack.

Accountability

While the question of whether sarin or a sarin-like substance is not disputed, who used it still has to be officially confirmed, and it is anticipated the JIM’s report could shed light on the matter.

It would be politically embarrassing for Russia, a staunch ally of President Assad, if evidence shows that the regime — and not, for example, Islamic State militants — are responsible for the attack. In Syria, the government is the only party to the conflict that possesses air capabilities. Russia has previously suggested that the gas was released from a bomb on the ground and not in the air.

Russia’s U.N. envoy, Vassily Nebenzia, first sought to postpone Tuesday’s vote through a procedural measure until after the release of the JIM’s report, saying the hastily-called vote was an effort by Washington to embarrass Moscow.

“You need to show up Russia and show that Russia is guilty of not extending the JIM, in fact you are the one who is begging for confrontation,” Nebenzia said of the U.S. delegation, which drafted the text and pushed for the vote.

While the procedural vote had the support of China, Kazakhstan and Bolivia, it fell short of the required eight-vote majority and failed to prevent the other vote going ahead, forcing Russia to use its veto.

Eighth veto on Syria

“I want to underscore that today’s voting is senseless also, because it won’t have any impact on the future of the JIM,” Nebenzia said after casting his veto — the eighth time Russia has done so on Syria. “We will return to the issue of extension in the future — we have not stopped it.”

The mission’s mandate does not expire until November 16, so the council has three weeks to approve an extension without disrupting the team’s work, as happened last year when consensus could not be reached on the JIM’s extension.

“The question we must ask ourselves is, whether the JIM is being attacked because it has failed in its job to determine the truth in Syria, or because its conclusions have been politically inconvenient for some council members,” said U.S. envoy Michele Sison.

“Russia called for the formation of the JIM, they negotiated its terms, they agreed its mission, and yet when faced with the prospect of the JIM revealing the truth, why has Russia alone chosen to shoot the messenger?” asked British Ambassador Matthew Rycroft.

Some diplomats said the move for the vote now was intended to avoid politicizing whatever conclusions the report draws and avoiding having them affect votes for the extension.

All council members expressed the hope that they could return to the issue and reach consensus on extending the JIM’s mandate before it expires next month.
…

A trial began in Istanbul Tuesday for eleven prominent human rights activists, including two foreign nationals, in a case that is drawing criticism from international human rights organizations who say it is part of a campaign by the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to silence criticism and scrutiny in Turkey in the wake of last year’s coup attempt.  

The defendants face prison sentences of up to 15 years in prison.

Amnesty International’s chairman in Turkey, Taner Kilic, and Idil Eser, Amnesty International’s Turkey director, are among those on trial. The case centers on a digital security seminar that was held on Buyukada, an island on the Sea of Marmara near  Istanbul, that focused on security and coping with stress. In a 15-page indictment, prosecutors allege the meeting was part of a conspiracy to unseat the government by inciting civil unrest

“It’s a completely baseless case, there is not a shred of evidence,” said Andrew Gardner, Amnesty International’s Turkey researcher. “It’s an attempt to scare and silence human rights civil society. That’s why Turkey’s most prominent human rights defenders and human rights organizations have been swept up in this case,” he said.

Key members of the Helsinki Citizens Assembly, one of Turkey’s most respected and oldest human rights groups, are among those on trial Tuesday.

Erdogan has vigorously defended the charges against the activists, portraying the case as an example that no one is above the law and evidence that Turkey faces a threat by international conspirators and unidentified countries following the failed coup. Erdogan on Tuesday lashed out at EU nations whose leaders have been critical of his crackdown and what they see as tightening controls on free speech.   “We expect European leaders to stop targeting Turkey and to return to common sense,” the Turkish leader said at an event in the capital, Ankara, on Monday.  

Mounting tensions with Europe

Tuesday’s trial is likely to further ratchet up tensions between Turkey and Europe. Two of the defendants are European nationals:  Swedish national Ali Gharavri and German Peter Steudtner, both of whom were giving seminars at the meeting where the human rights advocates were arrested.  German Chancellor Angela Merkel has strongly criticized the arrests, saying “Innocent people are caught up in the wheels of justice,” in Turkey.”

“Linking the work of Steudtner and other human rights activists, who are on trial with him, to the support of terrorism, to imprison and prosecute them, is highly absurd,” wrote European Parliamentarian Rebecca Harms in a statement released Tuesday. “The arbitrary detention of foreign citizens in Turkey proves to be more and more a measure by which the Turkish leadership wants to pressure the home countries of those concerned,” she said.

Under emergency rule introduced last year following the botched military coup, more than 50,000 people have been arrested and 150,000 others have lost their jobs.

Critics point to what they see as a lack of evidence to justify many of the prosecutions.

“If you look at the evidence, for example, against Idil Eser, Amnesty International’s director, it’s all to do with an Amnesty International campaign and public documents,” said Gardner. “The prosecutors have had three months of investigations to come up with evidence against human rights defenders and came up with nothing.”

Among the evidence against the defendants is a Tweet telling participants to turn off their phones and “enjoy the boat ride” to the island where the seminar was being held.

Courts as intimidation tool

There is a growing suspicion among observers that the trial is part of a campaign to intimidate wider civil society.

“The arrests of the human rights activists, I think, gives us a very bleak picture of the Turkish civic society, or what the regime means by ‘civic society,'” observes political scientist Cengiz Aktar. “It’s not very different from what we see in Russia, completely curtailed and diminished.”

Tuesday’s prosecution of human rights advocates comes amid a rash of arrests and trials of journalists. Media freedom groups have dubbed Turkey the world’s worst jailor of journalists, claiming more than 150 reporters are imprisoned.

On Tuesday, six more journalists went on trial for reporting on leaked emails that allegedly were written by Berat Albayrak, son-in-law of President Erdogan, and Turkey’s energy minister. The emails are considered to be in the public domain, yet observers note the journalists are being prosecuted for publishing state secrets.

The clampdown on media and freedom of expression is drawing further condemnation among Europeans already skeptical of Turkey’s readiness to continue its bid to some day join the EU.

“There cannot be an effective political debate when journalists cannot report or question political leaders without fear of harassment or arrest,” said Tanja Fajon, a Slovenian politician with the Social Democrats and member of the European Parliament. “As Turkey’s political situation worsens, it remains imperative to offer support to, and speak about, those imprisoned for their journalism.”

 
…

The international aid group Save the Children is suspending its efforts to rescue migrants making the dangerous Mediterranean Sea crossing from Libya.

Tuesday, the organization said the combination of falling numbers of crossings and worsening security forced it to stop sending its ship, the Vos Hestia, out from its port in Italy.

Save the Children said the ship rescued as many as 10,000 migrants over the past year after the smugglers’ vessels they were in foundered at sea.

The announcement comes just a day after Italian authorities searched the Vos Hestia as part of Rome’s efforts to deter people smuggling across the Mediterranean. Save the Children said the decision to suspend operations wasn’t related to the search and it told journalists that Italian prosecutors had given assurances it is not under investigation. It seems the search might be linked, however, to crew members on the boat.

In August, police seized a boat operated by a German aid organization, saying there was evidence some people smugglers escorted migrants to that boat. Save the Children says it has nothing to do with that case.

Save the Children was one of the first aid groups to sign a voluntary code of conduct with the Italian government to ensure they aren’t colluding with or encouraging smuggling.

The number of arriving migrants is down about 25 percent so far this year from last year, to around 110,000. And the drop will get worse as the winter closes in. Very few rescue boats are heading out into the Mediterranean now because of falling need.

Tens of thousands of migrants from Africa, the Middle East and elsewhere have struggled to sail from Libya to Italy over the past few years. Hundreds of thousands of migrants have also trekked through Turkey to Europe.

Thousands have died in the sea crossing, prompting both rescue efforts by private aid groups and efforts by the Italian government to staunch the flow.

Rome, with the EU’s backing, has helped Libya with efforts to police its vast desert land borders and to patrol its coast to prevent migrants from entering.
…

Britain’s democracy is one of the most secure in the world and will remain so, a spokesman for Prime Minister Theresa May said on Monday in response to a question about a suggestion that there may have been foreign interference in the Brexit vote.

Opposition lawmaker Ben Bradshaw last week urged the government to look into reports by an advocacy group suggesting that the origin of some Brexit campaign funds was unclear.

Bradshaw said in parliament the issue should be investigated “given the widespread concern over foreign and particularly Russian interference in Western democracies.”

At a regular briefing with reporters, May’s spokesman was asked if the prime minister was concerned about the reports. “I am not aware of those concerns,” he said.

“More broadly, as we’ve always said, the UK democratic system is amongst one of the most secure in the world and will continue to be so.”

The Electoral Commission, which regulates political finance in Britain, said in April it was investigating campaign spending by pro-Brexit organization Leave.EU, without giving details.

A spokeswoman for the Electoral Commission said on Monday that investigation was still going on and it would not provide any further information until it was complete.

 
…

The building that houses EU summits, where toxic fumes forced EU leaders to switch venues last week, will be closed for a further week as investigators

seek to resolve the problem.

The fumes leaking from the drains have forced the Europa Building, also known as “The Egg,” to be evacuated twice this month, including before a summit of EU leaders on Thursday and Friday.

The new building was opened in January amid controversy over its 321-million-euro ($378 million) price tag.

Staff and meetings will be temporarily transferred to the next door Justus Lipsius building until the issue is resolved.

About 20 catering staff had to go to hospital on October 13 and an unspecified number on Wednesday. An EU official said the Council and Belgian health and safety agencies believe the two incidents were due to the same source.

Reporting by Lily Cusack; editing by Philip Blenkinsop and Toby Chopra.
…

U.S. and Turkish diplomats continue talks on resolving a dispute over recent visa curbs, as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan steps up his rhetoric against Washington. Bilateral relations are set to be further strained by an upcoming court case over Iranian sanction busting involving Turkish citizens.

Erdogan launched a scathing attack Sunday on the country’s Western allies.

He warned Turkey would respect its strategic alliances with its partners as long as those countries respected the law. Ankara has accused some of its NATO partners of conspiring against it and offering sanctuary to people it accuses of being involved in last year’s coup.

Erdogan specifically targeted Washington.

“They say the United States is the cradle of democracy. This can not be true, this can not be democracy,” he said. ” If the United States issues arrest warrants for my 13 bodyguards in a country where I went upon invitation, I am sorry, but I will not say that country is civilized.”

Erdogan’s body guards are accused by U.S. prosecutors of assaulting peaceful protesters outside the Turkish embassy during his visit to Washington in May.

The Turkish president’s scathing attack comes as diplomats from both countries are continuing efforts to resolve the mutual curbing of visas.

Washington imposed visa restrictions following the arrest on terrorism charges of two local employees working at U.S. diplomatic missions in Turkey.

That move saw Ankara retaliating with its own visa restrictions.

The U.S. State Department described the talks Thursday as productive.

Political columnist Semih Idiz of Al Monitor website said Erdogan’s increasingly tough rhetoric against Washington should be viewed in a wider context of the importance of bilateral relations to both sides.

“He [Erdogan] is a master of coming out with bellicose remarks at unexpected and sensitive moments. But we must realize Erdogan was in New York very recently and had a very chummy meeting with Donald Trump who called him a special friend. So Turkey is aware for all the problems it has with America, [it] too it has to tread carefully,” said Idiz.

Observers point out Erdogan’s tough rhetoric is in part motivated by domestic politics. A tough anti American stance plays well with Turkish nationalists Erdogan is courting for 2019 presidential and general elections.

But U.S. Turkish relations could be further strained with an upcoming Iranian sanction busting court case in the United States that involves Turkish-Iranian businessmen Reza Zarrab and senior members of a Turkish State bank.

Political consultant Atilla Yesilada of Global Source partners warns the case can only add to bilateral tensions.

“This upcoming Reza Zarrab case which we [Turkey] consider a big conspiracy of the American deep state, so the possibility of these political shocks tampering off is almost nil,” said Yesilada.

Washington’s ongoing support of Syrian Kurdish militia fighting the Islamic State, also continues to infuriate Ankara who accuse the militia of being, linked to an armed insurgency in Turkey.
…

Amid the turmoil in Spain’s separatist-minded Catalonia region, two wealthy Italian regions voted overwhelmingly Sunday for more autonomy from Rome.

Referenda were held in Veneto – the northern region that includes the tourist haven of Venice – and in Lombardy, another northern region with the city of Milan as its main attraction.

The presidents of both regions say more than 90 percent of those who cast ballots voted in favor of more autonomy.

Both referenda are non-binding. But the presidents say the voices of their people give them a strong mandate and more leverage when they open talks with Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni.

Leaders of both regions want to keep more tax revue and have a greater say over such matters as education, immigration, security, and the environment.
…

Several thousand Maltese citizens rallied Sunday to honor an investigative journalist killed by a car bomb, but the prime minister and opposition leader who were chief targets of Daphne Caruana Galizia’s reporting stayed away from the gathering.

Participants at the rally in Malta’s capital, Valletta, placed flowers at the foot of a memorial to the 53-year-old reporter that sprang up opposite the law court building after her October 16 slaying.  

Some wore T-shirts or carried placards emblazoned with words from Caruana Galizia’s final blog post: “There are crooks everywhere you look now. The situation is desperate” in the European Union nation of some 400,000 people.

Police removed a banner describing Malta as a “Mafia state.”

Hundreds of participants later held a sit-in outside police headquarters, demanding the resignation of Malta’s police commissioner. Some hurled tomatoes, cakes and coins against an enlarged photograph of the commissioner spread out on the street.

The homicide of a journalist who devoted her career to exposing wrong-doing in Malta and raised her three sons there united many of the nation’s oft-squabbling politicians, at least for a day.

Caruana Galizia had repeatedly criticized police and judicial officials.

Malta’s two dominant political forces, the ruling Labor and opposition Nationalist parties, participated in the rally which was organized to press demands for justice in her slaying.

Official no-shows

But Prime Minister Joseph Muscat told his Labor party’s radio station a few hours before the event’s start time that he wouldn’t attend because he knew the anti-corruption reporter’s family didn’t want him to be there.

“I know where I should be and where I should not be. I am not a hypocrite and I recognize the signs,” Muscat said, adding that he supported the rally’s goals of call for justice and national unity.

Nationalist leader Adrian Delia also skipped the rally, saying he didn’t want to “stir controversy.”

“Today is not about me, but about the rule of law and democracy,” Delia told reporters.

Muscat and Delia, while fierce political rivals, have another thing in common:  Both brought libel lawsuits against Caruana Galizia. Delia withdrew his pending libel cases last week after her killing.

Caruana Galizia’s family has refused to endorse the government’s offer of a 1 million euro ($1.18 million) reward and full protection to anyone with information that leads to the arrest and prosecution of her killer or killers.

Instead, the family, which includes a son who is an investigative journalist himself, has demanded that Muscat resign. In their quest for a serious and efficient investigation, Caruana Galizia’s husband and children also want Malta’s top police office and attorney general replaced.

“The killers decided to silence her, but they won’t silence her spirit, they won’t silence us,” Christophe Deloire, a French journalist from the journalism advocacy organization Reporters Without Borders, said.  “From us they will not have more than one minute of silence.”

On Sunday morning, all seven national newspapers had their front pages black in Caruana Galizia’s memory. Printed in bold letters against the black backgrounds were the words: “The pen conquers fear.”

‘Crooks everywhere’

Just before her death, Caruana Galizia had posted on her closely followed blog, Running Commentary, that there were ‘crooks everywhere’ in Malta. The island nation has a reputation as a tax haven in the European Union and has attracted companies and money from outside Europe.

The journalist focused her reporting for years on investigating political corruption and scandals, and reported on Maltese mobsters and the island’s drug trafficking. She also wrote about Maltese links to the so-called Panama Papers leaks about offshore financial havens.  

After the rally ended, several hundred participants walked to police headquarters, and sat in the street outside shouting “Shame on you!” and “Resign!”

Malta President Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca received a delegation from the Civil Society Network, a non-partisan organization of university professors, businessmen, opinion writers and authors in Malta.

The car bombing was “an attack on all of us, every single one of us,” Coleiro Preca told them. “We need to see how we are going to work together. We need to unite to have the reform that is needed.”
…

Slovenia’s incumbent president Borut Pahor won the most votes in Sunday’s election, but not enough to avoid a runoff.

With nearly all the ballots counted, Pahor is expected to finish with 47 percent, while his main challenger, former comedian Marjan Sarec, will win about 25 percent.

Pahor said he expects to win the November 12 runoff as he thanked voters for backing him in Sunday’s first round.

Slovenia is a former Yugoslav republic which has frequently been in the news in the past year as the birthplace of U.S. first lady Melania Trump.

The Slovenian presidency is a largely ceremonial office. But the president nominates the prime minister, and presidential opinions greatly influence government policies.

 
…

Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy announced Saturday he would dismiss Catalonia’s separatist government and call for new elections in an attempt to prevent the semi-autonomous region from declaring its independence.

Rajoy made the announcement after an emergency Cabinet meeting to deal with the political crisis caused by secession efforts undertaken by the regional leadership of Catalonia.

Rajoy’s office invoked Article 155 of Spain’s constitution, which gives the government the power to take away some or all of Catalonia’s autonomy. Opposition political parties have agreed to support the imposition of central rule over Catalonia. Rajoy is nearly certain to get the required votes next week from Spain’s upper legislative body, which is ruled by Rajoy’s conservative party.

Carles Puidgemont, Catalonia’s leader, said the prime minister’s move was “the worst attack on institutions and Catalan people” since the era Francisco Franco, and called for a meeting of the Catalan parliament. Franco was Spain’s military dictator from 1939 to his death in 1975.

“Mariano Rajoy has announced a de facto coup d’etat with he goal of ousting a democratically elected government,” said Catalan parliament speaker Carme Forcadell. She said Rajoy’s new move is “an authoritarian blow within a member of the European Union.”

Rajoy said Saturday Puidgemont’s threat to secede “has been unilateral, contrary to the law, and seeking confrontation.”

Barcelona police say 450,000 demonstrators took to the streets in the regional capital Saturday with many waving Catalonia’s red and yellow separatist flag. Some protesters shouted “freedom” and “independence.”

“We are here because the Spanish government made a coup without weapons against the Catalan people and their government institutions,” said Joan Portet, a 58-year-old protester.

Voters in Catalonia voted in favor of independence in the October 1 referendum, but fewer than half of those eligible to cast a ballot took part, with opponents boycotting the process. Rajoy’s government dismissed the referendum as illegal.
…

Alexei Navalny, Russia’s most prominent opposition figure, has been released from jail after a 20-day sentence for calling an unauthorized demonstration.

Navalny was arrested on Sept. 29 as he planned to travel to the city of Nizhny Novgorod for a rally that had been given official permission. But a court sentenced him for calling another rally, an unauthorized protest in St. Petersburg, President Vladimir Putin’s hometown.

Navalny, who plans to run for president against Putin in next March’s election, has repeatedly served jail terms connected to rallies. After his release Sunday, Navalny said on social media that he hopes to attend an evening demonstration in the southern city of Astrakhan.

The anti-corruption campaigner this year twice called for demonstrations nationwide whose size and extent rattled the Kremlin.

 
…

Slovenians are voting in a presidential election Sunday that is expected to be an easy re-election for President Borut Pahor, a veteran politician and former model known for his use of social media.

Some 1.7 million voters were choosing among nine presidential candidates, including five women, for the largely ceremonial but influential post. This nation in Central Europe is a member of the European Union and the homeland of U.S. first lady Melania Trump.

Slovenia’s presidency holds no executive powers, but the president proposes the prime minister, who runs the government, and the president’s opinion carries weight on important issues.

Pre-election surveys say the 53-year-old Pahor could possibly win a majority of votes and avoid a runoff. His main opponent is Marjan Sarec, a former comedian who is the mayor of the northern town of Kamnik. 

Pahor has been nicknamed Slovenia’s “King of Instagram” for his frequent presence on social media. He walked about 700 kilometers (420 miles) during the presidential campaign, posting photos and short videos all along the way. 

Critics think Pahor has degraded the presidency by turning himself into a celebrity.

Sarec starred in Slovenian satirical shows until he mounted an independent bid for mayor in 2010 and won against an established candidate. The 39-year-old is serving his second term as mayor.

Other presidential candidates include Romana Tomc, a tax expert backed by the conservatives; Ljudmila Novak, a former teacher who leads the New Slovenia Christian-Democrats; and Angelca Likovic, who is promoting Catholic Christian values.

Key topics facing Slovenia include the economy and a border dispute with neighboring Croatia stemming from the 1990s’ breakup of the former Yugoslavia.
…