World
Georgia votes in high-stakes election affecting EU membership ambitions
Voting is under way in Georgia’s parliamentary elections that could shape the future of the country’s young democracy and its European ambitions.
Saturday’s vote will see an unprecedented alliance of pro-Western opposition parties challenging the governing Georgian Dream party, which has faced criticism for stifling democracy and drifting towards Russia.
The European Union has warned that the election will determine the country’s chances of joining the 27-nation bloc. Polls suggest most Georgians favour joining the EU, but accession talks were frozen after Georgian Dream passed a law cracking down on freedom of speech in June.
Polls opened at 8am (04:00 GMT) and are set to close 12 hours later, with some 3.5 million Georgians eligible to cast ballots.
Opinion polls indicate opposition parties could get enough votes to form a coalition to supplant Georgian Dream, controlled by billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili, who set up the party and made his fortune in Russia.
“Tonight, there will be victory for all of Georgia,” said pro-Western President Salome Zourabichvili, who is at loggerheads with the governing party, after casting her ballot.
Georgian Dream’s reclusive founder and former prime minister, Bidzina Ivanishvili, said the election was “a very simple choice”.
“Either we elect a government that serves you, the Georgian people … or we elect an agent of a foreign country that will only fulfil the tasks of a foreign country,” he said as he cast his vote in the capital, Tbilisi, on Saturday.
Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze said he was confident Georgian Dream would win a commanding majority in the 150-seat parliament and called for “maximum mobilisation” of supporters.
Central Election Commission spokeswoman, Natia Ioseliani, said turnout was 9 percent by 10am (06:00 GMT), two hours after voting began.
Georgians will elect 150 lawmakers from 18 parties. If no party wins the 76 seats required to form a government for a four-year term, the president will invite the largest party to form a coalition.
‘Dragging us back’
Many voters believe the election may be the most crucial vote of their lifetimes, determining whether Georgia gets back on track to EU membership or embraces authoritarianism and leans towards Russia.
“Most Georgians have realised that the current government is dragging us back towards the Russian swamp and away from Europe, where Georgia truly belongs,” 48-year-old musician Giorgi Kipshidze told an AFP news agency reporter at a polling station in central Tbilisi.
In power since 2012, Georgian Dream initially pursued a liberal pro-Western policy agenda. But over the last two years, it has reversed course.
Its campaign has centred on a conspiracy theory about a “global war party” that controls Western institutions and is seeking to drag Georgia, still scarred by Russia’s 2008 invasion, into a war that only Georgian Dream could prevent.
“Right now, some people don’t understand the danger they might face if we’re defeated. But we will try our best to win and show the people the correct path,” Georgian Dream activist Sandro Dvalishvili told the Reuters news agency.
Georgia, which lost swaths of its territory to Russian-backed separatists in the 1990s and was defeated in a brief Russian invasion in 2008, was for decades one of the most pro-Western states to emerge from the Soviet Union. But since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Georgian Dream has moved the country decisively back towards Moscow’s orbit, accusing the West of trying to lure it into war.
Opposition parties and President Zourabichvili accuse Georgian Dream of buying votes and intimidating voters, which it denies.
Georgian Dream’s adoption of a controversial “foreign influence” law this year targeting civil society prompted weeks of mass street protests and was criticised as a Kremlin-style measure to silence dissent.
Russia on Friday blasted “unprecedented attempts at Western interference” in the vote, accusing it of “trying to twist Georgia’s hand” and “dictate terms”.
![Supporters of the ruling Georgian Dream party attend a rally in the center of Tbilisi, Georgia, Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2024. [AP Photo/Shakh Aivazov]](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///ywAAAAAAQABAAACAUwAOw==)
More than 1,600 rescue workers have arrived and 25 flights filled with aid will land over the next day in Venezuela after earthquakes devastated the country on Wednesday, according to Venezuela’s vice minister of foreign affairs, Oliver Blanco.
World
American rescue teams pull infant alive from rubble in Venezuela days after devastating twin earthquakes
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American search-and-rescue teams pulled an infant alive from beneath the rubble in Venezuela days after the country’s devastating earthquakes, the U.S. Department of State said Saturday.
The State Department shared video on social media showing U.S. personnel pulling the infant from the rubble as rescue crews continued searching for survivors more than 72 hours after two powerful earthquakes struck the South American country.
The infant was 9 months old and was rescued along with her mother, the State Department told Fox News Digital. Both suffered only minor injuries, according to the rescue team.
“This heroic rescue was carried out in Catia La Mar by the Fairfax County Urban Search and Rescue team (USA-01), which deployed to Venezuela on June 26 following activation by the State Department,” a State Department spokesperson said.
TRUMP SAYS VENEZUELA EARTHQUAKES LEFT ‘DEVASTATING NUMBER OF DEATHS’ AS US READIES AID
American search-and-rescue teams rescued an infant trapped beneath the rubble following this week’s deadly earthquakes in Venezuela, according to the State Department. (Department of State)
The rescue comes as emergency crews race against time to locate survivors before the critical rescue window closes.
“Against impossible odds, hope endures,” the State Department posted on X.
“American search and rescue teams rescued an infant from beneath the rubble following the earthquake in Venezuela,” the post continued. “Every life saved is a victory.”
The White House also shared the video, calling it “America at its best.”
“Thank you to the American search and rescue teams providing assistance in Venezuela,” the White House wrote.
PLAYERS, FANS FLEE STADIUM AS POWERFUL EARTHQUAKES STRIKE DURING VENEZUELA BASEBALL GAME
Rescue workers search through the rubble three days after earthquakes struck Catia la Mar, Venezuela. (AP Photo/Fernando Vergara)
Round-the-clock rescue efforts have continued since magnitude 7.2 and 7.5 earthquakes struck Venezuela’s northern coast Wednesday.
As of Saturday evening, officials said the death toll from the twin earthquakes had reached 1,430.
Earlier Saturday, officials reported that 243 people had been rescued.
FORMER METS PITCHER NARROWLY ESCAPES DEATH IN VENEZUELA EARTHQUAKES THANKS TO ELEVATOR MALFUNCTION
Rescue personnel with a rescue dog assist in rescue efforts after earthquakes hit the country, in La Guaira, Venezuela, Saturday. (REUTERS/Leonardo Fernandez Viloria)
According to The Associated Press, more than 68,000 people remain missing across the country.
Aid groups consider the first 48 to 72 hours after a disaster to be the most critical window for finding survivors, though access to food and water can extend that period.
Venezuelan officials said 17 flights carrying more than 1,600 rescue personnel had arrived Saturday to assist with search-and-rescue efforts.
US RESCUE TEAMS TO DESCEND ON HARD-HIT CARIBBEAN AFTER CATASTROPHIC HURRICANE MELISSA’S IMPACT
Members of the County of Los Angeles Fire Department’s international urban search and rescue team (USA-2) prepare to leave for Venezuela, in Pacoima, Calif., on Thursday. (Blake Fagan/AFP via Getty Images)
Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) teams from Virginia, California and Florida were dispatched to Venezuela on Friday to help search collapsed buildings.
According to the State Department, the three USAR teams include 312 personnel and 18 canine teams, including firefighters, physicians, structural engineers and canine search specialists. The teams also deployed more than 200,000 pounds of specialized rescue equipment.
The Los Angeles County team includes 73 members equipped with concrete-breaking equipment and specialized listening devices used to detect survivors trapped beneath debris.
COLORADO AVALANCHE VICTIM RESCUED IN DRAMATIC VIDEO
Responders search for victims in a demolished building in Caracas, Venezuela, after a magnitude 7.2 earthquake and a 7.5 aftershock struck the region. (Jesus Vargas/Getty Images)
Rescuers have fanned out across La Guaira, where the worst destruction occurred, and parts of Caracas, where families and volunteers have spent days pulling survivors and victims from the rubble.
The United States has pledged $150 million in emergency assistance and support for international relief organizations responding to the disaster.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
Fox News Digital has reached out to the State Department for additional information on the rescue.
Fox News Digital’s James Cirrone, and The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić announced on Saturday that he will resign in the coming weeks and called for early presidential and parliamentary elections.
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“I will be president for only a few weeks, and then I will resign,” Vučić told supporters at a rally in Belgrade. His second and final term was due to expire in mid-2027.
His remarks followed recent comments suggesting he could step down, amid speculation that he may seek a return as prime minister, a position he held from 2014 to 2017
It also follows a year and a half of student-led anti-corruption protests, triggered by the collapse of a railway station canopy in Novi Sad that killed 16 people. The protesters have been demanding early elections.
During his speech, Vučić said he would support his Serbian Progressive Party in the upcoming elections, including snap parliamentary polls originally scheduled for next year.
He did not provide a specific timeline for his resignation or for the dissolution of parliament, which is required before early legislative elections can be held.
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