German AfD Leader Alice Weidel:

What is our government doing? Nothing to send these Syrians back to Syria.

The Syrian foreign minister said they are not taking back their Syrian citizens because they are a strategic asset in Germany.

Our chancellor just talks and does nothing. He said we need to send back 80% of Syrians. No one has been sent back.

Zelensky:

We need 9.5 million people who lost their housing, who are abroad everywhere — we need them to come back to Ukraine, just to live and to build their country.

German AfD Leader Alice Weidel on Switzerland:

We have a huge brain drain. Thousands of qualified Germans are leaving our country.

People would rather work in the U.S. or Switzerland than in Germany anymore.

German AfD Leader Alice Weidel:

We have a lot of violence in schools, imposed, I'm very sorry to say, but we have to talk about it, by children of Muslim descent, beating up our children in school.

People are very afraid.

BIG: Finland plans to buy one million anti-personnel landmines from domestic manufacturers.

The Finnish Defence Forces have earmarked around €100 million for the purchase.

They aim to have domestic production running by 2028.

Source: Yle

German AfD Leader Alice Weidel:

I think Germany has the stupidest and dumbest energy policy worldwide, and it continues.

When the wind doesn't blow and the sun doesn't shine, we depend on our neighbors to import energy at tremendously high prices.

Our energy costs are too high. We are no longer competitive in the world market.

German AfD Leader Alice Weidel:

There is this myth that we want to leave the EU and leave the euro. It's wrong.

Our program states that we would like to reform the European Union first.

We think the European Union should be a community of sovereign states with a free trade area.

What we don't want is a European Commission with lots of bureaucrats, like a Soviet Union, interfering in your privacy, telling companies what to produce and consumers what to buy or install.

NEW: Iraq closed its main southern border crossing with Iran until further notice, on the orders of Prime Minister Ali Al Zaidi.

Officials said the closure allows a security review and the installation of equipment to stop the smuggling of prohibited materials.

Al Sheeb is a key route for food, construction materials and Iranian pilgrims heading to Najaf and Karbala.

Officials said other crossings with Iran are expected to close gradually, which could disrupt trade and raise prices in southern Iraq.

Trade between the two countries topped $10 billion last year.

Tehran protested that it received no advance notice, as bilateral rules require.

Putin to Witkoff:

As for the farmers, I know President Trump even mentioned this during our telephone conversations.

We could supply fertilizers in large quantities, including to the American [market].

Witkoff to Putin:

You talk so much about President Trump being a humanitarian.

You are a humanitarian also, sir, and I salute that. I commend you.

Senior Iranian MP Ebrahim Azizi:

Whatever the results of your elections may be, we have no doubt about your hostility.

We are ready to wipe you off the map in response to any operational misstep.

Slovakia will resume cooperation talks with Russia in Moscow on October 26, the first since Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

Discussions will focus on oil, gas, nuclear energy and economic cooperation, despite EU plans to end Russian gas imports by late 2027.

Source: Reuters

A Su-30SM fighter jet crashed in Russia’s Kaliningrad region on Wednesday.

Both pilots managed to eject but sustained injuries and were hospitalized.

The cause of the crash remains unknown.

A new poll by Israel’s Channel 16 shows Trump’s endorsement of Netanyahu had little impact on voters: 77% said it made no difference, while just 1% said it persuaded them to vote for Likud.

WATCH: Russian Su-30SM fighter jet crashing in Chernyakhovsk district of Kaliningrad region.

Both pilots ejected but were injured and taken to hospital.

Reporter: Has the date for your visit to Damascus been finalized?

President Erdogan: The date hasn’t been finalized yet, but we will make the visit.

WATCH: Argentine President Javier Milei called Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez an “unpresentable dictator” during a speech in Spain.

He linked Sánchez to what he called the “sinister socialism of the 21st century,” and to its Argentine branch, Kirchnerism.

Germany’s Chancellor Merz:

Not one single member state of the European Union still has a trade surplus with China. We all are having deficits.

This deficit is up to far more than €300 billion a year. That means almost 1 billion every day.

This is as well due to overcapacities, high subsidies on the automotive sector and others, and, as I said, an artificially undervalued currency. And this has to be addressed.

Interviewer: We already have a trade war with China, don’t we?

Germany’s Chancellor Merz: No, we don’t have it. And we are not looking for that.

The right opposite is true. We are looking for a fair trade with China.

Germany’s Chancellor Merz:

My biggest concern at the moment is not our economy, is not the European Union, is not America, is not China.

My biggest concern is the impact of Russia on our society and how they are succeeding in destabilizing our societies.