| Court Clearance | Romania’s top court rejected a challenge that sought to annul the first round of the presidential election after anti-establishment and pro-Russian candidate Calin Georgescu unexpectedly placed first. The ruling clears Georgescu to face opposition leader Elena Lasconi in a Dec. 8 runoff. Georgian Protests | Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze ruled out talks with the opposition as pro-EU protesters clashed with law enforcement for a fourth day. The protests started after the ruling Georgian Dream party said it would delay accession talks with the EU until 2028. The party won another four-year term in October, which the opposition claims was fraudulent. Defense Fund | EU countries are nearing a deal on a new €1.5 billion fund to help bolster the bloc’s defense industry and assist Ukraine over the next three years, we learned. Talks on the fund will likely conclude by the end of the year, and would allow purchases of military equipment consisting of up to 35% of components from outside the EU. Surveillance Probe | A Polish central banker was detained for questioning regarding the previous government’s alleged use of Pegasus spyware. Piotr Pogonowski, a member of the central bank’s management board, used to run the country’s Internal Security Agency between 2015 and 2020. He previously refused to testify before a parliamentary committee citing security concerns. Carbon Capture | A new carbon-capture plant installed at a cement factory in Norway is ready to go, according Heidelberg Materials, its German owner. The facility is expected to capture about 400,000 tons of carbon dioxide annually and move them to a storage facility near Bergen. The EU says hundreds of millions of tons of CO2 needs to be captured in order for the bloc to reach net zero by 2050. | 
