European Union offers a new growth plan to Western Balkans

TIRANA, Albania (AP) — European Union leaders offered a new growth plan Monday to the six Western Balkans countries that opens parts of the EU single market to them in return for deep reforms, ahead of their full membership in the bloc. The integration of Albania, Bosnia, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia into the EU was discussed at a summit Monday in Albania’s capital as part of annual talks called the Berlin Process. The meeting was attended by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Charles Michel, as well as German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

France’s Macron holds security meeting amid heightened alert

ARRAS, France (AP) — French President Emmanuel Macron held a special security meeting on Monday amid heightened alert against feared terror threats, as a high school where a teacher was fatally stabbed in an attack last week has been evacuated over a bomb threat. Several hundreds of students and teachers went back into the high school in the northern town of Arras after what appeared to be a false alert. All French schools held a moment of silence on Monday afternoon in homage to the teacher who was killed in Friday’s attack by a former student suspected of Islamic radicalization.

Australian safety watchdog fines social platform X $385,000

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australia’s online safety watchdog said on Monday it had fined X — the social media platform formerly known as Twitter — 610,500 Australian dollars ($385,000) for failing to fully explain how it tackled child sexual exploitation content. Australia’s eSafety Commission describes itself as the world’s first government agency dedicated to keeping people safe online. The commission issued legal transparency notices early this year to X and other platforms questioning what they were doing to tackle a proliferation of child sexual exploitation, sexual extortion and the livestreaming of child sexual abuse.

Russia’s assault on a key eastern Ukraine city reported to be weakening

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A dayslong attempt by Russian forces to storm a strategically important city in eastern Ukraine appears to be running out of steam, Kyiv officials said Monday, as the Kremlin’s war entered its 600th day. Ukrainian forces repelled 15 Russian attacks from four directions on Avdiivka over the previous 24 hours, the Ukrainian General Staff said. That compared with up to 60 attacks a day in the middle of last week, according to Vitalii Barabash, head of the city administration.