You're listening to the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service.

Hello, I'm Oliver Conway. This edition is published in the early hours of Saturday the 7th of December.

The pro-Russia candidate in Romania's presidential election says a court decision to scrap the poll amounts to a coup.

President Assad's forces are struggling on several fronts across Syria as

Islamist-led and Kurdish rebels gain ground. And the world's oldest Sunday newspaper, The Observer,

is being bought by an online news site. Also in the podcast,

At home, we are not any more safe than women anywhere else.

Violence thrives in silence.

Iceland may top the world rankings in terms of gender parity,

but what is life really like for women there?

We'll start with an update on a breaking news story we covered in our previous podcast,

the cancellation of the results of Romania's presidential election because of alleged meddling by Russia.

The ruling by the constitutional court has been criticized by the apparent frontrunner pro-Russia Kalin Georgescu.

Today's decision by the Constitutional Court represents more than a legal controversy. It's

practically a formalized state coup. The rule of law is in an induced coma and justice is subordinated to political

orders and has practically lost its essence. It's no longer justice. It's on orders.

Kalin Georgescu. Well, the far right candidate was the surprise winner of the first round of the election.

He'd been trailing in

the opinion polls and apparently spent zero campaign funds campaigning only on TikTok. But Romanian

intelligence then revealed details of a major operation to boost his profile on the platform

and influence the vote, funded and coordinated from abroad with Russia, the chief suspect.

His rival in the now-canceled runoff, Elena Laskoni, insisted the vote should have gone ahead.

...