PRESS REVIEW - Monday, September 29, 2025: First, Moldovan papers react to the country's parliamentary election results. Next, New York is getting ready for the last month of the mayoral race, as Eric Adams drops out. Also, a comedy festival in Saudi Arabia is no laughing matter. Finally England's Red Roses celebrate, as Australia names its cow-pat discus champions.

The Moldovan press is discussing the country's elections, where the pro-EU PAS has retained its majority in parliament. The Chisinau Jurnal discusses how the diaspora voted overwhelmingly for the pro-EU party. Moldova Live, meanwhile, discusses bomb threats which targeted polling stations abroad on Sunday. Ziarul de Garda looks into Russian influence campaigns which plagued the election. One of their journalists infiltrated the "Kremlin's digital army", a network of Russian agents, where she was paid in cryptocurrency and was trained to push Russian propaganda posts online. Radio Free Liberty calls the result a political "hat-trick for Sandu". Now, it says "Moldova is the locomotive that pulls Ukraine with it into the European Union".

From one dramatic election to another, the electoral race for New York mayor has taken another turn. The Trump-supporting New York Post is talking about Eric Adams dropping out of the race. The New Yorker says that he made official what had been obvious for some time and tears through Adams' record as mayor. AM New York says Zohran Mamdani is still well ahead in the polls, in the run-up to election day on November 4. 

In Saudi Arabia, a comedy festival has made headlines. NPR talks about the comedy figures who have accused the festival of being designed by the Saudi government to deflect attention from its brutal repression of free speech and other pervasive human rights violations. Deadline illustrates the extent to which the event is controlled by the government and reveals the terms of the contracts, which include strict censorship rules. Human Rights Watch has a report which names a few of the A-listers taking part, including Bill Burr, Jimmy Carr, Aziz Ansari, Dave Chapelle, Pete Davidson and many others.

Finally, the Guardian is celebrating the English Red Roses and their Women's Rugby World Cup win. Meanwhile in Australia, ABC is covering the Outback festival and its cow-pat discus competition.

You can catch our press review every morning on France 24 at 7:20 am and 9:20 am (Paris time), from Monday to Friday.