Pollar Sounds

This autumn, young people have taken to the streets across Europe, from Paris and Milan to Belgrade, Tirana and Lisbon. In Albania, students have clashed with police for weeks, demanding the prime minister's resignation. In France, pupils blocked their lycées until the government offered concessions. In Serbia, a student movement won an election and ended Aleksandar Vučić's fourteen years in power. We try to work out why it is happening now, and whether any of it is working. Donatella della Porta, professor of sociology at the Scuola Normale Superiore in Florence and founder of its Centre on Social Movement Studies, helps us see what links the protests. Apart from our own interview, everything in this episode comes from reporting already published and the public record. Where people disagree, you'll hear who says what. Reporting: Pollar (pollar.news/en/event/violent-protest-rocks-tirana, /europes-youth-protests-spread, /serbia-votes-turnout-surges), AP, Reuters, ANSA, Adnkronos, Il Fatto Quotidiano, Rai, Open, Le Monde, Les Echos, The Irish Times, BFMTV, France 2, LCP, Al Jazeera, RTÉ, OBC Transeuropa, OCCRP, Exit.al, Balkanweb, Gazeta Tema, Anadolu, Tirana Times, N1, ZDFheute, hessenschau, Salon, Eurostat, Ipsos BVA, Citizen Lab, European Western Balkans, SeeNews. Archive sound: AFP (Greta Thunberg, Saint-Denis, 13 October 2026), LCP (20 October 2026), French Ministry of National Education (26 October 2026), Reuters (Aleksandar Vučić, 25 October 2026). Interview: Donatella della Porta, Scuola Normale Superiore, Florence, recorded on 31 October 2026. Cover photo: Vyolltsa, Wikimedia Commons (public domain, CC0), cropped and toned by Pollar. Sources - Laurent Nuñez, French Interior Minister, in the National Assembly. LCP, 2026-10-20. - Aleksandar Vučić, Leader of the Serbian Progressive Party, election night in Belgrade. Reuters, 2026-10-25. - Édouard Geffray, French Education Minister, press conference. French Ministry of National Education, 2026-10-26. - Greta Thunberg, Climate activist, with striking pupils in Saint-Denis. AFP, 2026-10-13. - Donatella della Porta, Professor of sociology, Scuola Normale Superiore, Florence. Pollar interview, 2026-10-31. Narration: synthetic voices. Script, research and editing: Pollar.

Four years after the Nord Stream pipelines were blown up at the bottom of the Baltic, a former Ukrainian army officer, Serhii Kuznetsov, is on trial in Hamburg. German prosecutors say he led the team that did it, on orders from the Ukrainian state, and their main charge is a war crime: an attack on civilian objects. He denies it. His lawyers call the pipeline a Russian weapon. We go out to sea on the rented yacht Andromeda, back to the pipeline Poland once compared to the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact, and through the courts of Europe, which have answered the same case in opposite ways. Agata Łoskot-Strachota of the Centre for Eastern Studies (OSW) in Warsaw explains what Nord Stream meant for Poland, Germany and Russia, and what losing it changed. Everything in this episode comes from reporting already published and the public record. Where people disagree, you'll hear who says what. Reporting: Pollar (pollar.news/en/event/nord-stream-trial-starts-14-october), Germany's Federal Prosecutor General, the Federal Court of Justice, Legal Tribune Online, AP, Reuters, Interfax, PAP, Rzeczpospolita, Notes from Poland, Meduza, The Kyiv Independent, The Wall Street Journal, Novaya Gazeta Europe, RFE/RL, Liga.net, Militarnyi, The Moscow Times, The Sunday Telegraph, Al Jazeera, CBS News, CNBC, EUobserver, Courthouse News Service, UNI, Clingendael Spectator, Roll Call Factbase. Archive sound: Chancellery of the Prime Minister of Poland (7 October 2025), kremlin.ru (30 September and 12 October 2022, CC BY 4.0), The White House (7 February 2022 and 11 July 2018). Interview: Agata Łoskot-Strachota, Centre for Eastern Studies (OSW), Warsaw, recorded on 23 October 2026. Cover photo: Ajepbah, Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0 DE, creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/de), cropped and toned by Pollar. The cover is shared under the same licence. Sources - Donald Tusk, Prime Minister of Poland, joint statement with Lithuania's Prime Minister. Chancellery of the Prime Minister of Poland (KPRM), 2025-10-07. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khaJxkJMZeA - Agata Łoskot-Strachota, Coordinator of the Energy in Europe project, Centre for Eastern Studies (OSW), Warsaw. Pollar interview, 2026-10-23. - Joe Biden, President of the United States, press conference with Chancellor Olaf Scholz. The White House, 2022-02-07. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qKoPA3M7x2o - Donald Trump, President of the United States, breakfast with NATO's Secretary General. The White House, 2018-07-11. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jrnjje-Nvjs - Vladimir Putin, President of Russia, speech in the Kremlin. kremlin.ru (CC BY 4.0), 2022-09-30. - Vladimir Putin, President of Russia, Russian Energy Week, Moscow. kremlin.ru (CC BY 4.0), 2022-10-12. - Jens Stoltenberg, NATO Secretary General, breakfast with President Trump. The White House, 2018-07-11. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jrnjje-Nvjs Narration: synthetic voices. Script, research and editing: Pollar.

Three stories, three angles: what happened, how it's being told, and what we don't know yet. In Serbia, the students who have protested for almost two years since the Novi Sad station disaster are on the ballot this Sunday, against Aleksandar Vučić's party, and one poll has them narrowly ahead. In Ukraine, the Kremlin says Putin has agreed in principle to new three-way talks after the 10th of November, the same night Russian missiles hit Kyiv, and Europe looks for one person to speak for it. And a week after a speed cap grounded Ukraine's interceptor drones, the Wall Street Journal reports that Trump phoned Elon Musk to get Starlink's limits lifted. After each story, we ask what you think. Tell us in the comments or on Pollar's socials. Everything in this episode comes from reporting already published. The stories behind it are at pollar.news. Reporting: Pollar (pollar.news/en/event/serbias-tight-election-sunday, /missiles-hit-kyiv-talks-loom, /putin-rejects-truce-talks, /eu-says-no-to-ukraine-envoy, /musk-allegedly-throttled-starshield), AP, Reuters, NSPM, Archive of Public Gatherings, the Kremlin, Politico, The Wall Street Journal, The Economist, Der Spiegel. Archive sound: kremlin.ru (22 October 2026, CC BY 4.0), US State Department pool via CNBC Television (21 October 2026). Cover photo: Mishyac, Wikimedia Commons (public domain, CC0), cropped and toned by Pollar. Sources - Vladimir Putin, President of Russia, interview with Pavel Zarubin (Rossiya 1). kremlin.ru (CC BY 4.0), 2026-10-22. - Marco Rubio, US Secretary of State, speaking to reporters in Mumbai. US State Department pool, via CNBC Television, 2026-10-21. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HwIAN0bIhsI Narration: synthetic voices. Script, research and editing: Pollar.

Three stories, three angles: what happened, how it's being told, and what we don't know yet. In France, more than half a million people march peacefully over the cost of living, and a weekend of riots ends with the town hall in Limoges burned out. In Milan, teenagers clash with police too. In Spain, two years after the deadly floods around Valencia, a storm called dana Adam hits the same region, and this time 850,000 people are told to stay at home. And Ryanair's Michael O'Leary says European airfares are heading for the biggest rise in their history. After each story, we ask what you think. Tell us in the comments or on Pollar's socials. Everything in this episode comes from reporting already published. The stories behind it are at pollar.news. Reporting: Pollar (pollar.news/en/event/france-braces-for-nationwide-protests, /flood-alerts-across-eastern-spain, /ryanair-warns-of-fare-surge), French interior ministry, Mediapart, Bild, European Commission, Carrefour, AEMET, Europa Press, Euronews, French civil aviation authority (DGAC). Archive sound: Archives audiovisuelles de l'Assemblée nationale (20 October 2026), La Moncloa (20 October 2026). Origen de los datos: sitio web de lamoncloa.gob.es. Ministerio de la Presidencia. Cover photo: Lucas Destrem, Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0, creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0), cropped and toned by Pollar. The cover is shared under the same licence. Sources - Sébastien Lecornu, Prime Minister of France, questions to the government. Archives audiovisuelles de l'Assemblée nationale, 2026-10-20. https://videos.assemblee-nationale.fr/video.19593272_6ad7ac81aa325.questions-au-gouvernement---mardi-20-octobre-2026-20-octobre-2026 - Pedro Sánchez, Prime Minister of Spain, in Oliva after the floods. La Moncloa (lamoncloa.gob.es), Ministerio de la Presidencia, 2026-10-20. https://www.lamoncloa.gob.es/multimedia/videos/presidente/Paginas/2026/201026-sanchez-visita-oliva-dana.aspx Narration: synthetic voices. Script, research and editing: Pollar.

Three stories, three angles: what happened, how it's being told, and what we don't know yet. In Albania, student protests over the cost of university turn into four days of clashes in Tirana, and Prime Minister Edi Rama says he won't resign. In Brussels, EU leaders talk past midnight about the next long-term budget and leave without a deal. And Ukraine's drones lose their Starlink link in mid-flight after a speed limit nobody will own: we asked the White House who ordered it. After each story, we ask what you think. Tell us in the comments or on Pollar's socials. Everything in this episode comes from reporting already published, plus one question Pollar put to the White House. The stories behind it are at pollar.news. Reporting: Pollar (pollar.news/en/event/violent-protest-rocks-tirana, /eu-budget-cut-8, /senate-demands-starlink-throttling-probe), Reuters, EU Delegation to Albania, RMF FM, BBC, CNN, Bloomberg, Financial Times, Newsmax, ARD, Semafor. Archive sound: European Union audiovisual service, European Council in Brussels (15 and 16 October), © European Union, 2026. Cover photo: Kristina Millona, Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0, creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0), cropped and toned by Pollar. The cover is shared under the same licence. Sources - Kaja Kallas, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, arriving at the European Council. Council of the European Union, European Council media gallery (© European Union, 2026), 2026-10-16. https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/media-galleries/european-council/meetings/2026-10-15-16-euco/?slide=3 - Ulf Kristersson, Caretaker Prime Minister of Sweden, arriving at the European Council. European Union audiovisual feed, via the EU Debates upload (© European Union, 2026), 2026-10-15. https://youtu.be/VYtYNXx_eRA Narration: synthetic voices. Script, research and editing: Pollar.

Three stories, three angles: what happened, how it's being told, and what we don't know yet. Hackers switch the fridges of some 700 French supermarkets to defrost overnight, and nobody has claimed the attack. In Germany, police arrest two Turkish men over a fire at a Starlink ground station near Warsaw that Poland calls Russian sabotage. And in the Black Sea, drones hit two more ships off Bulgaria: one sinks, and eleven of its sailors are missing. After each story, we ask what you think. Tell us in the comments or on Pollar's socials. Everything in this episode comes from reporting already published. The stories behind it are at pollar.news. Reporting: Pollar (pollar.news/en/event/french-supermarkets-hit-by-cyberattack, /two-detained-over-starlink-arson, /drones-sink-ship-off-bulgaria), AFP, AP, Reuters, BFM, Le Télégramme, Next, The Hacker News, Time, LCP, Rzeczpospolita, Polish Ministry of the Interior, Wirtualna Polska, Notes from Poland, ZDFheute, dpa, Wochenblatt-Reporter, The Moscow Times, Government of Poland, Government of Bulgaria, BTA, BNR, news.bg, maritime.bg, Al Jazeera. Archive sound: Archives audiovisuelles de l'Assemblée nationale (13 October), Council of Ministers of the Republic of Bulgaria (13 October, CC BY 4.0). Cover photo: Pierre Rudloff, Wikimedia Commons (public domain), cropped and toned by Pollar. Sources - Rumen Radev, Prime Minister of Bulgaria. Council of Ministers of the Republic of Bulgaria (CC BY 4.0), 2026-10-13. https://gov.bg/bg/prestsentar/video/brifingi/premierat-rumen-radev-svika-izvanredno-zasedanie-na-saveta-po-sigurnostta-zaradi-nova-ataka-sreshtu-targovski-korab-na-18-mili-iztochno-ot-byala - Roland Lescure, Minister of the Economy and Finance of France, questions to the government. Archives audiovisuelles de l'Assemblée nationale, 2026-10-13. https://videos.assemblee-nationale.fr/video.19543882_6ace27d72d77d.1ere-seance--questions-au-gouvernement--reponse-integrale-aux-violences-sexuelles-et-sexistes-vot-13-octobre-2026 Narration: synthetic voices. Script, research and editing: Pollar.

For almost three weeks, French high school students have been blockading their own schools. They want more teachers, smaller classes and buildings that don't fall apart. French students have made governments back down before, in 1986 and in 2006, when there was one law to drop. In 2023 they lost. This time there is no law, only a budget, and a government without a majority that says there is no money. We go from one Paris high school wrapped in safety netting to the National Assembly, where Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu and the left trade blame for the violence. What the government is offering, what the students say it would take, and why students in Belgium and Italy are on the streets too. Everything in this episode comes from published reporting and the public record. Where people disagree, you'll hear who says what. Reporting: Assemblée nationale, the French ministries of justice, education and the interior, AFP, Reuters, ANSA, RFI, France Inter, Franceinfo, Europe 1, BFM, ici, LCP, Les Echos, Café pédagogique, Ouest-France, Midi Libre, L'Etudiant, France 24, Sud Ouest, CNews, CGT, Direction générale du Trésor, DEPP, Conseil constitutionnel, Élysée, Public Sénat, Nouvel Obs, CNBC, Euronews, RTBF, Belga, Le Soir, L'Avenir. Archive sound: Archives audiovisuelles de l'Assemblée nationale (6 October 2026, 9 February 2006, 16 March 2023), CLPRESS (6 October), L'Union Étudiante (1 October). Cover photo: Wyslijp16, Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 4.0, creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), cropped and toned by Pollar. Sources - Élisabeth Borne, Prime Minister of France. Archives audiovisuelles de l'Assemblée nationale, 2023-03-16. - Human chain outside the Lycée Hélène Boucher, Teachers and parents between the students and the police. CLPRESS, 2026-10-06. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T4xosoiqsbE - Students outside the Lycée Hélène Boucher, Protest chant, Paris. CLPRESS, 2026-10-06. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T4xosoiqsbE - Students with a megaphone, Protest chant, Paris. L'Union Étudiante, 2026-10-01. https://www.instagram.com/union.etudiante__/reel/Dd9PRj_A1a1/ - Police, Last warning to the march, Lycée Hélène Boucher, Paris. CLPRESS, 2026-10-06. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T4xosoiqsbE - Sébastien Lecornu, Prime Minister of France, questions to the government. Archives audiovisuelles de l'Assemblée nationale, 2026-10-06. https://videos.assemblee-nationale.fr/video.19497015_6ac4ed543a2bb.1ere-seance--questions-au-gouvernement--reponse-integrale-aux-violences-sexuelles-et-sexistes-cont-6-octobre-2026 - Dominique de Villepin, Prime Minister of France. Archives audiovisuelles de l'Assemblée nationale, 2006-02-09. https://www.assemblee-nationale.fr/12/pdf/cri/2005-2006/20060143.pdf Narration: synthetic voices. Script, research and editing: Pollar.

Three stories, three angles: what happened, how it's being told, and what we don't know yet. Drones hit three cargo ships in the Black Sea, in Romania's and Bulgaria's economic zones, and two of them sink. Nobody has claimed the attacks. In Saxony-Anhalt, the AfD's Tobias Rausch becomes the first AfD politician elected president of a German state parliament, and at least four of his 48 votes came from beyond the AfD and its declared backers. And two outbreaks: a technician at a plague research institute in Siberia dies of what Russian officials call pneumonia of unknown origin, and Kenya confirms its first Ebola case. After each story, we ask what you think. Tell us in the comments or on Pollar's socials. Everything in this episode comes from reporting already published. The stories behind it are at pollar.news. Reporting: Pollar (pollar.news/en/event/drones-strike-black-sea-ships, /tanker-burns-off-sochi, /afd-wins-saxony-anhalt-votes, /afd-wins-saxony-anhalt-election, /bsw-backs-afd-speaker, /who-probes-russian-lab-death, /kenya-confirms-fatal-ebola-case, /dr-congo-ebola-passes-4000), Reuters, AP, ANSA, BTA, Novinite, SANA, Government of Bulgaria, Romania's Ministry of Internal Affairs, ZDFheute, Der Spiegel, MDR, Tagesspiegel, Süddeutsche Zeitung, tagesschau, Landtag of Saxony-Anhalt, France 24, Al Jazeera, ABC News, ECDC, WHO, Kenya's Ministry of Health, Governor of the Irkutsk region. Archive sound: Council of Ministers of the Republic of Bulgaria (6 October, CC BY 4.0), Landtag of Saxony-Anhalt (6 October). Cover photo: ---=XEON=---, Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 3.0, creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), cropped and toned by Pollar. Sources - Rumen Radev, Prime Minister of Bulgaria. Council of Ministers of the Republic of Bulgaria (CC BY 4.0), 2026-10-06. https://gov.bg/bg/prestsentar/video/brifingi/rumen-radev-atakata-sreshtu-dva-targovski-koraba-v-balgarskata-ikonomicheska-zona-e-absolyutno-nedopustima - Eva von Angern, Chairing as oldest member, Landtag of Saxony-Anhalt. Landtag von Sachsen-Anhalt, 2026-10-06. https://www.landtag.sachsen-anhalt.de/1-sitzungsperiode Narration: synthetic voices. Script, research and editing: Pollar.

Three stories, three angles: what happened, how it's being told, and what we don't know yet. Spain's Congress votes down two emergency housing decrees, and Pedro Sánchez calls a snap election for 29 November. In France, a protest at one high school in Créteil becomes a national movement, with more than 6,500 arrests. And in Sydney, OpenAI apologises to a parliamentary committee after its models accessed Australian government websites in ways they weren't authorised to. After each story, we ask what you think. Tell us in the comments or on Pollar's socials. Everything in this episode comes from reporting already published. The stories behind it are at pollar.news. Reporting: Pollar (pollar.news/en/event/mass-housing-protests-in-spain, /french-school-protests-escalate, /openai-agents-probe-government-sites, /openai-apologizes-for-breach), RTVE, EL PAÍS, laSexta, La Vanguardia, Público, elDiario.es, Franceinfo, La Croix, Europe 1, Euronews, Le Figaro, France 24, Sud Ouest, Reuters, The Guardian, BBC, The Independent, Der Spiegel, OpenAI. Archive sound: Congress of Deputies (2 October), La Moncloa (5 October), Parliament of Australia, ParlView (6 October). Cover photo: Javier Perez Montes, Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0, creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0), cropped and toned by Pollar. The cover is shared under the same licence. Sources - Jason Kwon, Chief strategy officer, OpenAI. Parliament of Australia, ParlView (Joint Select Committee on Artificial Intelligence), 2026-10-06. https://www.aph.gov.au/News_and_Events/Watch_Read_Listen/ParlView/video/5004723 - Pedro Sánchez, Prime Minister of Spain. La Moncloa, 2026-10-05. https://www.lamoncloa.gob.es/multimedia/videos/presidente/Paginas/2026/051026-sanchez-convocatoria-elecciones.aspx - Francina Armengol, Speaker of the Congress of Deputies. Congress of Deputies, 2026-10-02. https://www.congreso.es Narration: synthetic voices. Script, research and editing: Pollar.

In September, Maricarmen Abascal was carried out of the Madrid flat her family had rented since 1956. Six days later, Spain's government passed two emergency housing laws that people named after her. On Friday, the Congress threw both of them out. How did one eviction reach parliament? This episode goes back to the 2008 crash and the evictions that followed, the investment funds that bought up Spain's homes, the tourism boom, and a generation that can't afford to leave home. Then the vote: who sank the decrees, why, and what a snap election could mean for Spain's housing. Everything in this episode comes from reporting already published. The stories behind it are at pollar.news. Reporting: Pollar (pollar.news/en/event/spain-approves-housing-decrees, /spanish-housing-decrees-face-defeat, /madrid-housing-clash-escalates, /spain-youth-emancipation-at-31, /spain-housing-crisis-deepens, /eu-housing-rules-proposed), Human Rights Watch, INE, idealista, Catalan News, eldiario.es, EL PAÍS, Reuters, Al Jazeera, El Español, Infobae. Archive sound: elDiario.es (Maricarmen's eviction, 23 September; the Puerta del Sol camp, 26 September), RTVE (housing march in Madrid, 26 September). Cover photo: Zarateman, Wikimedia Commons (public domain, CC0), cropped and toned by Pollar. Sources - Alberto Núñez Feijóo, Leader of the Popular Party. La Vanguardia, 2026-10-02. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QtLBop00l0s - A speaker at the protest outside the Congress, Housing protest, Madrid. El Mundo, 2026-10-02. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jEF3nLinR7k - Francina Armengol, Speaker of the Congress of Deputies. Congress of Deputies, via El Debate, 2026-10-02. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bC-4eLObdy0 - Jaume Collboni, Mayor of Barcelona. Barcelona City Council press conference, 2024-06-21. - Pedro Sánchez, Prime Minister of Spain. La Moncloa, joint press conference with Emmanuel Macron, 2026-09-30. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jtEMQtxDsUQ - Pedro Sánchez, Prime Minister of Spain. Congress of Deputies, via Europa Press, 2026-10-02. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_rMX_Lp2As Narration: synthetic voices. Script, research and editing: Pollar.