Since stepping down as Germany’s chancellor, Angela Merkel’s legacy has come under scrutiny – particularly over reliance on Russian gas and the rise of the far right. But Merkel insists it doesn’t make sense to look at these in hindsight, when I spoke to her in DC this week. “President Trump lives off actually acting unconventionally and, in this way, draws the attention of people to himself,” Angela Merkel tells me. Nonetheless, “looking back… we were actually able to get to sensible agreements with him.”

Last time I interviewed Siamak Namazi, he was inside Iran’s Evin Prison. A year after his release, he says he’s more relaxed for our second interview: “It is such a joy to be talking to you and not worrying about someone dragging me to a solitary cell somewhere because of it.” In the year since he was freed from Iranian prison, Siamak Namazi tells me that adjusting to normal life “is a very difficult process. I remember having to set an alarm to remind myself to leave the apartment… I just wasn’t used to doing that.”

“By targeting our civilians… [Russia is] trying to break our will to win,” says General Oleksandr Syrskyi, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. I spoke to him at an undisclosed location near the frontlines, in his first TV interview as Ukraine’s top commander. Russia planned a new attack from Kursk before Ukraine’s incursion, General Syrskyi tells me. “We moved the fighting to the enemy’s territory so that he could feel what we feel every day… In addition, we took a sufficient number of prisoners. We created an ‘exchange fund’”.

The National Rally was “surprised” that Macron called parliamentary elections so soon after the EU elections, Marine Le Pen @MLP_officiel tells me. As the left and center coalesce against her party ahead of the second round, I asked her how it feels to be considered so dangerous. @MLP_officiel French soccer star Killian Mbappé has urged his compatriots not to vote for the extremes. The National Rally’s Marine Le Pen tells me she’s “not much of a football enthusiast,” but that his intervention “is starting to not be well received in our country.”

Renowned Iranian human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh has been arrested and beaten after attending the funeral of Armita Geravand, according to her husband and fellow human rights campaigner Reza Khandan. Iranian teenager Armita Geravand fell into a coma after allegedly being assaulted by Iran’s morality police for not wearing a headscarf. On Saturday, Iranian state media reported that Geravand had died. edition.cnn.com/2023/10/28/wor…

“I've been a hostage for seven and a half years now.” US citizen Siamak Namazi is the longest serving American in Iranian prison. Now, he’s speaking in an unprecedented interview from inside Evin prison to plead President Biden to get him released. “This is a desperate measure.” “I know what it feels like to be left behind and I wouldn’t wish it upon my worst enemy,” Siamak Namazi tells me from inside Evin prison. He is pushing for President Biden to get him & his two jailed compatriots, Morad Tahbaz and Emad Sharghi, freed. “We’re all in this together.”

Protests are sweeping Iran & women are burning their hijabs after the death last week of Mahsa Amini, following her arrest by the “morality police”. Human rights groups say at least 8 have been killed. Last night, I planned to ask President Raisi about all this and much more. 1/7 This was going to be President Raisi’s first ever interview on US soil, during his visit to NY for UNGA. After weeks of planning and eight hours of setting up translation equipment, lights and cameras, we were ready. But no sign of President Raisi. 2/7

The Taliban have ordered female news presenters to cover their faces. We visited @TOLOnews this morning, as the newsroom worriedly discussed this new Taliban edict, and whether to keep going at all. 🧵 1/9 Station director Khpolwak Sapai considered just shutting down and leaving – but then decided against it. @TOLOnews has many female journalists, and “we will leave the last decision to them,” he says. 2/9

This morning, we visited a Kabul fashion studio turned alternative education facility. It’s operated behind closed doors ever since the Taliban stopped girls attending public high school. The hope is to help girls who are prevented from going to school to learn a vocation. 🧵 1/9 17 year old Rokhsar wanted to be a doctor. Now she’s training as a dressmaker. “We are feeling very bad,” she tells me. “Girls are not able to go to school, staying home, doing nothing.” She hopes at least as a dressmaker, she can earn money to support herself and her family. 2/9

President Zelensky made this VERY important statement this week, via @ABC: "Regarding NATO, I have cooled down regarding this question a long time ago, after we understood that NATO is not prepared to accept Ukraine..."

1/5 @ABC "… The alliance is afraid of controversial things and confrontation with Russia."

Zelensky added: "I'm talking about security guarantees…"

2/5

.@melindagates: “After 20 years of gains on extreme poverty, we now have another over 35 million people dropping backwards into extreme poverty, which means they live on less than $1.90 a day. That is unbelievable… We’re going to have a lot of building back to do – a lot.” “It’s going to take us probably decades – probably one decade, and in some areas two, to regain back” what has been lost due to coronavirus, says @melindagates.

When investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia was murdered by car bomb in 2017, it was a shocking attack on freedom of the press and a heartbreaking loss for her family.

Now we may be getting that bit closer to bringing those responsible to justice. Six months after Daphne was killed, I spoke with her sons, Matthew and Paul. They swore they would stop at nothing to bring those responsible to justice: edition.cnn.com/videos/world/2…

THREAD: Just two weeks ago, I spoke with @HurdOnTheHill.

cnn.it/31bBaRG

On Thursday, he announced he wouldn't run for re-election.

On July 15, he told me: "I go into communities that most Republicans don't show up in order to take a conservative message." @HurdOnTheHill 2/ I read Hurd a quote from Joe Straus, the Republican former speaker of the Texas House of Representatives.

Straus said: “I think he is Exhibit A in Texas for what the future of the Republican Party needs to be.”