Democrats win Congress, but Europe remembers Trump is still president.

Hello everybody and good afternoon. My name is Don Arlith and you're watching Midday Report here on TVP World where we're bringing you today's most important stories. We start off in the United States with midterm elections. Democrats pulled off a blue wave, taking control of both the Senate and the House of Representatives. Now let's go live to our correspondent, Kashmir Zwysiak, who's on the ground in Michigan, where progressive Democrat Abdul El-Sayed has won the Senate seat, helping tip the scales for the Democrats. Good morning to where you are there, Kashmir. So tell us, what's the latest on this blue wave? Good afternoon Don. This is indeed a blue wave or as some are calling it here a blue tsunami since the Democrats have achieved sweeping victories for the majority of seats in the Congress and the Senate including here in Michigan where Abdul El-Sayed has become the first ever Muslim US Senator. In his election campaign he was focusing a lot on the domestic issues, on Taking money out of politics on... Getting rid of corruption and on the issue of high fuel prices, on high cost of living. It's the pumps, like the one right there behind me, which in many ways have decided this vote. Abdul El-Sayed, victorious here in Michigan. They might have been pointing to my name and my faith, but we all know that my name and my faith aren't the reason you can't afford your gas. Not the reason you can't afford your groceries. Not the reason you can't see a doctor. We built a movement. Government of the people, by the people, and for the people. We showed that in a battle between the money and the many, that the many really can win. It's been corruption and high fuel prices which have dominated the public discussion here during these midterm elections. And it seems like it has really worked against the Republicans and President Donald Trump. Thank you, Tom. We've seen some dramatic victories in some traditionally very red states, in Texas, in South Carolina, in Kansas. In Kansas, the first democratic senator in 94 years. So it really does tell you something about Americans being fed up with their economy. We've been also speaking here on the ground in Michigan, whether the war in Ukraine was a topic for many voters here. Yes, because there is a large Polish diaspora here, 8%. of the state's population and this election could have drastic consequences for foreign US policy as the democrats are promising to push back against some of Trump's more controversial policies like pulling troops out of Europe, like putting pressure on NATO when it comes to commitments to NATO and when it comes to the war in Ukraine, to lifting sanctions off of Russia. Of course we will be waiting to see how that develops since Trump already says he may have to become Mr. Veto. He now says that if he was on the ballots, if he was running in this election, the Republicans would have won in a landslide. However, this did not happen. And the Democrats have taken this dramatic, immense win in these midterm elections. So in the next two years, when we're going to the presidential vote, we will see whether this will be a boost that they need to then. Win back the presidential seat as well. In the meantime, back to you in the studio. All right, Kazimierz Wysiak reporting there from Michigan. Thank you. Today, democracy won in America, said Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk, commenting on the Democrats' win in the U.S. midterm elections. His congratulations join a choir of other European officials, with some adding a note of prudence. The US midterm results are in. The Democrats have won a majority in both houses of Congress. This was met with an enthusiastic approval from several European leaders. Today democracy won in America. Democracy is amazing. I love democracy. I hope that The result will stabilize the situation also in our region. Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, who has been at odds with the Trump administration over the wars in Gaza and Iran, struck a note of anti-privileged socialism. Yesterday, American society voted against the policies that only impoverish, against hate, against machismo, against climate denialism, and against the privileges of the elite. For German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius, he put the Democrats' win in terms of a historic victory. He also said that Berlin will continue cooperating with Washington. Here's the caveat. President Trump is still the president. Which explains some of the less enthusiastic reactions. I Either Trump decides to rise above the fray, acknowledging that changes are necessary, particularly regarding gasoline prices, which directly affect people in toning down his international involvement, or he does not. I don't know, and frankly... With foreign policy still part of Trump's primary sphere of influence, the global head of macro for ING Research warned he may launch a new trade war with Europe. And the risk is that also Europe hoping that there are only two more years with Trump in the Oval Office, that Europe in turn will also react more forcefully and that we then have a more or less an accidental trade war in the global economy. Donald Trump's second presidential term is scheduled to end January 20th, 2029. Hours without power, heat or water. That's the reality for millions of Ukrainians as Russia keeps hammering the country's energy grid almost daily. Kyiv is among the hardest hit and constant air raid alerts are slowing repairs. Now Volodymyr Zelensky is warning energy companies that lagging behind. You better speed up or face consequences. Now let's go live to our correspondent in Kyiv, Oz Katergy. Good afternoon, Oz. So how is Ukraine dealing with this latest round of strikes on its energy infrastructure? Well, there are power outages being introduced in large parts of Ukraine following these strikes. We had water cut off in our apartment. Thank Yesterday, and it's only just resumed a couple of hours ago, but there are still parts of the city without water, parts of the country without water. you It's not just electricity that's impacted, it's also heating, it's also lots of things. very As the temperature really starts to turn cold, President Zelensky praising rescue workers and the repair workers for the work they much. are doing under these constant Russian strikes, Six people killed, 50 injured in Russian attacks across Ukraine. On Wednesday, President Zelensky says that the repair workers are trying to restore service across the country, but that their work is being hampered by more Russian attacks. We've just had one just before going to air another air raid here in the Ukrainian capital. So Ukraine really struggling to deal with these attacks at the moment. It's energy infrastructure struggling to cope with the level of Russian attacks on critical energy infrastructure across the country. Thank you very much. Ultimately, the decisions that President Zelenskyy needs to make are difficult and President Zelenskyy making it clear that he's seeking more support from his European partners with regards to helping Ukraine deal with these energy attacks, deal with the air defence shortage that they have at the moment. But Ukraine is in a very difficult position ahead of the winter period. They'll be hoping for some good news. from Congress next year with regards to aid, with regards to air defense and issues such as that, Don. Certainly, and the cold's just starting to set in, so hopefully something can be done to try and prevent these drastic attacks on Kyiv's energy infrastructure. Oz Katerji reporting from Kyiv. Thank you. A fire broke out at Ozone Logistics Center in Adygea in Russia overnight into Wednesday, following what Russian authorities and the company described as a Ukrainian drone attack. All staff were evacuated safely The attack is the latest in a string of strikes targeting the Russian e-commerce giant. with no reported injuries. Ozone said in late October that drone attacks on its warehouses had cost the company roughly $368 million in the third quarter, while a previous wave of attacks in August saw its shares fall more than 12 percent on the Moscow Stock Exchange. Often dubbed the Amazon of Russia, Ozone is one of the country's leading online retailers. Ukraine will likely have to wait until the end of 2030 to receive the next batch of U.S. Patriot interceptor missiles, with deliveries spread out across several years. On Oct. 30, the U.S. State Department authorized the sale of Patriot missiles to Ukraine. The decision was welcomed by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who said it was a strong However, Kyiv will probably have to wait until the next decade for the arrival of 500 Patriot missiles to defend itself against Russian aerial attacks. Since the summer, Ukraine has come under relentless Russian missile and drone assaults, targeting civilian infrastructure, particularly the country's energy network. The U.S. State Department said that the advanced PAC-3 interceptor missiles would cost $2.1 billion and would be funded entirely by Kyiv's allies in Europe and Canada. On Friday night, Zelenskyy repeated calls for the United States to speed up the release of its Patriots to counter nearly daily Russian strikes on Ukrainian cities. Washington's approved sale of Patriot missiles comes after a row between Zelensky and President Donald Trump earlier this month when the U.S. eased sanctions on Russia as part of a deal to secure Russian diesel. One vote short, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico has lost his parliamentary majority after another lawmaker switched sides, leaving his government at the mercy of a former minister he helped push out just weeks ago. All votes are now on hold until next week, as Fico scrambles to win back support, and two controversial bills hang in the balance. Our correspondent Andrew Sweeney is in Slovakia and joins us now. Hello, Andrew. Good to have you with us. So tell us about these controversial bills. And can Fico pick up the one vote that he lacks to get that majority back in parliament? Well, the eyes of the world may well be on the U.S. midterms, but who says that Slovak politics can be just as dramatic as well? Well, the lawmaker in question, Roman Malatinec, is from Fico's junior coalition partners. He was elected for Voice SD, but he's now joined the former minister, Tamás Taraba, who was ousted by the Slovak National Party. So all of this is really coming from Fico's ...coalition allies. But as you said, now he has 75 seats in the Slovakian parliament out of 150. It does look likely that the coalition will be able to continue. Taraba wants to make himself a kingmaker in Slovak politics now, so he's going to support Fico's coalition on a bill-by-bill basis, as he says. Now, those bills have been delayed to November 10th, but the key question really is can the coalition... Limp on until the next parliamentary elections. Well, it does seem that they will do everything that they can with Taraba playing the role of confidence and supply, trying to be the kingmaker, as I said. As for the early elections at Vistula... Previously threatened his coalition partners with over Taraba. Well, that's very unlikely at the moment. There was some speculation that could happen as early as January. But as of now, with Fico now relying on his diminishing coalition partners to keep the coalition alive, that's very unlikely to take place. So that will most likely take place in September next year. As for the bills, as you mentioned, well, they're going to be debated on November 10th. And that's where we're really going to see whether or not Fico can keep this coalition together. Back to you. All right, Andrew Sweeney reporting from Slovakia. Thank you so much for that update. Now, Hungary is opening the files on its communist past. 36 years after the regime fell, the government has published the names of some 60,000 secret police informants in an online database. It's a campaign promise kept by Prime Minister Peter Magyar and a step many observers call historic. The Hungarian government has revealed the names of state informants from the country's communist era. 36 years after the fall of communism, the files of some 60,000 collaborators have been made public. ...radicalism... No such radical measures regarding public disclosure or legislation of this kind were introduced in any partner institution or former Warsaw Pact member state. I too consider this a historic step. It essentially makes the surviving records of the former networks accessible to everyone. The secret police files are now available in an online database. More will be made public in February 2027. The release of the communist records was one of the campaign promises of incumbent Prime Minister Peter Modzor. The move aims to confront the country's difficult past in an effort to rebuild public trust. Pleviataroskin. As both an archivist and a historian, I believe that passing judgment based on this information is inappropriate. However, I do think it is possible to gain insight into life stories and face our past more deeply, not only at an individual level, but also at a societal one. Number one. Ahead of the release of the documents, former Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said the communist secret police wanted to recruit him while in military service. He said that his refusal made him the target of intense police surveillance. The CEO of Westinghouse Poland, the country's branch of the American Energy Company, has been detained, according to local media reports. The move is part of a wider investigation into the most controversial energy project in the country, harking back to the previous government. This is the project in question, the power station in Ostrołęka, a town in Poland's northeast region. The plan to build a third power unit here, a coal-powered one, became synonymous with the previous government's failed energy policies. On Wednesday, November 4th, 25 people were detained by the Central Anti-Corruption Bureau agents as part of an investigation into managers' misconduct that goes back to 2018 and 2019. The misconduct in question caused losses amounting to around 230 million euros. The decision to build a third power unit in Ostrołęka was made in 2018. In line with the then government's energy policy, it was meant to burn coal, hailed as a source of Poland's energy independence. But as the project progressed, the cost of carbon allowances shot up, which would have increased the price of electricity generated with the unit. So, mid-construction, the project was switched from coal to natural gas. This project had no economic sense whatsoever. The decision to go ahead with it should have never been made. But it was made nonetheless, probably due to political pressure. One of the detained managers is Mirosław Kowalik, the CEO of Westinghouse Poland, the country's branch of an American firm supplying Poland with its first nuclear reactor. In 2018, Kowalik was the CEO of Enea, one of the companies that co-owned the Ostrołęka power station. They were instrumental in greenlighting the failed investment. According to the Polish daily, Gazeta Polska, Kowalik's detention does not impact the schedule of Poland's first nuclear power station, built by the Westinghouse Bechtel consortium. And that's a wrap here on Midday Report. Thank you for watching. Have a wonderful day, and we'll see you next time. Goodbye.