A Romanian court has annulled the first round of the country's presidential election after Russia allegedly ran a coordinated online campaign to promote a far-right outsider. Romanians were due to go to the polls again on Sunday in a second-round runoff vote, but the "momentous" move by the country's constitutional court, said The Guardian, "effectively voids the national election."

What's happened? 
Last Wednesday, Romania's outgoing president, Klaus Iohannis, declassified intelligence documents that suggested almost 800 TikTok accounts created by a "foreign state" in 2016 suddenly became active last month to back independent far-right candidate Calin Georgescu (pictured above). Another 25,000 pro-Georgescu TikTok accounts began posting two weeks before the first round, which Georgescu won with 23% of the vote.  

The surge in support for Georgescu, who emerged from almost total obscurity, was due to a "highly organized" and "guerilla" campaign, said Romanian intelligence services. The files also alleged that he illegally benefited from extensive electoral promotion during periods when campaigning was prohibited and that his campaign had received foreign financial support, despite Georgescu consistently claiming he had spent "zero" on campaigning.  

What did the court say? 
Judges from the constitutional court met last Friday to consider a string of requests to annul the first round in light of the intelligence reports. In a single-page judgment, the court said that it had unanimously decided to annul the vote and that the government must establish a new date for a rerun of the contest. It was a significant decision from a court that just days before had validated the first round of voting, following a recount of all 9.4 million votes cast.  

What has the reaction been? 
Georgescu claims he's a victim of a plot by the political elite to keep him out of power. Less predictably, his main opponent, pro-Western centrist Elena Lasconi, also denounced the court's decision, saying democracy was being "trampled" by the state. The vote is now due to be rerun, probably in three or four months' time, and Iohannis will remain in post until his successor is elected. 

Russia has been accused of trying to influence votes in Moldova and Georgia, too, although Moscow denies the allegations. But Romania is the "first democracy to cancel an election over alleged Russian interference," said the Financial Times.

About two-thirds of Greenland lies above the Arctic Circle, so while it remains a popular tourist destination for cold-weather lovers, getting there has never been easy — until now. The territory unveiled a renovated airport, Nuuk International Airport, last month that will serve as the first major international airport in the Arctic. Greenlanders hope this encourages more people to choose the island for their travel itineraries.

How will it make travel to Greenland easier?
The heart of the wintery territory will now be more accessible. Nuuk is Greenland's major tourism hub and largest city, but getting there has been challenging because previously international tourists had to "fly into Kangerlussuaq, an old U.S. air base located in the center of the west coast, and then transfer to a smaller plane for any onward travel," said Condé Nast Traveler. 

Getting from that air base to other locations in Greenland is difficult. The island has only "56 miles of paved roads across its entire 830,000 square miles and no drivable routes exist at all between settlements and towns."

The new airport will "allow larger planes to connect the Arctic territory with the rest of the world," said CNN, with the airport's longer runway able to accommodate major commercial jets. The airport will "serve as the base for Air Greenland, which will operate an Airbus A330neo plane on a route to Copenhagen, Denmark." 

Other airlines are already taking notice. United Airlines will begin offering a direct flight from Newark, New Jersey, to Nuuk starting in 2025.

How much of a tourism boost will it create?
The number of tourists entering the territory will likely increase significantly. Passenger air traffic is "expected to double to over 100,000 from more than 50,000 annually in the first year," Jens Lauridsen, the CEO of Greenland Airports, said to Danish outlet Finans, per Bloomberg. 

This will also mark a massive boost for travel into Nuuk. In 2023, only 5,000 people flew to the city's existing domestic airport, according to Greenland's tourism board. Two more airports are slated to open in Greenland in 2026, paving the way for all the more tourism.