Lithuanian PM says Belarus balloon incidents ‘call for united, resolute response,’ as it closes border with Russia’s ally

 LIVE – Updated at 14:44

Inga Ruginienė says ‘no hybrid attack will be tolerated’ and pledges to shoot down balloons after 66 objects spotted by radar overnight.

The Netherlands gear up for closely contested election this week

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It’s also worth keeping an eye on the Netherlands as the country is preparing for a general election on Wednesday, just under two years from the last one, as voters could swap the most rightwing government in the country’s recent history for a more moderate, commonsense coalition.

Here is a brief explainer from our Europe correspondent, Jon Henley…

… and some colour on what’s at stake from our European affairs correspondent, Ashifa Kassam.

“As polls suggest that Wilders’ party could again emerge with the most votes, the election on 29 October has been recast as a broader litmus test for the country and its democratic ideals.

“It isn’t just about Muslims. What’s at stake is the very idea of what it means to be Dutch,” said Esma Kendir of the Collective of Young Muslims. “So will the Netherlands continue to stand for equality, for human rights, for freedom of religion, or will it move towards exclusion and fear?””

Prof Cas Mudde has this take on the campaign so far:

“Whatever the eventual outcome, one thing is already clear: despite the far right’s evident failure in governing the Netherlands, it retains a magnetic hold over the country.

Party politics remains fragmented yet dominated by the mainstreaming and normalisation of far-right frames and politicians.

Liberal democratic parties devote more energy to fighting each other than the far right.

As far as a cordon sanitaire holds, it does not extend to all far-right parties (like JA21) and rejects its behaviour rather than its ideology.

Ten people go on trial in Paris for online harassment of Brigitte Macron

14:20Angelique Chrisafis

in Paris

Meanwhile over in France, ten people have gone on trial in Paris charged with online harassment of Brigitte Macron – the latest phase in a legal battle on both sides of the Atlantic against the false claim that the French first lady is a man named Jean-Michel Trogneux.

The French trial comes after the president, Emmanuel Macron, and his wife filed a defamation lawsuit in the US at the end of July, in connection with a rumour amplified and repeated online that Brigitte Macron was born a man.

The Macrons’ US lawsuit attacked what it called the “verifiably false and devastating lies” being repeated online by the rightwing podcaster Candace Owens that Brigitte Macron, 72, was born male. The US lawsuit said evidence clearly disproved this “grotesque narrative”, which had become “a campaign of global humiliation” and “relentless bullying on a worldwide scale”.

The French trial for online harassment is separate to the US court action and relates to a legal complaint filed by Brigitte Macron in 2024. Ten defendants – eight men and two women, aged 41 to 60 – are being tried in Paris’s criminal court, accused of online harassment targeting Brigitte Macron. If convicted, they face up to two years in prison.