Russia will recognise the results of the upcoming separatist elections in eastern Ukraine, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Tuesday. ● Separatists in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions plan to hold votes for heads of their self-proclaimed states and for legislatures Sunday, having boycotting Ukraine's parliamentary elections which were held Oct 26, the Moscow Times reported. "We expect the elections to take place as agreed, and we will, of course, recognise their results," Lavrov said. "We count on it that the vote shall be free and nobody from the outside will attempt to disrupt it," he said.

ABCnet.au: Pro-Russian rebel Zakharchenko wins vote in eastern Ukraine; Kiev, West denounce poll
RT.com: Incumbent PM Zakharchenko leads in Donetsk elections – early results
Reuters: Europe won't recognize vote in eastern Ukraine, Merkel tells Putin
New York Times: Rebel-Backed Elections to Cement Status Quo in Ukraine
Christian Science Monitor: Separatists hold elections in eastern Ukraine
PressTV: US empire trying to capture Ukraine: Activist
Stephen Lendman ■ Democratic v. Sham Elections
Stephen Lendman ■ Southeastern Ukrainians Vote
Ramsey Clark ■ Letter To Obama: Stop the War in Ukraine!
Patrick Armstrong ■ A Dozen Theories About What’s Really Happening in Ukraine and One More

Germany has reportedly warned that the UK runs the risk of leaving the European Union (EU) if London insists on curbing immigration from other member states. ● According to German Weekly Der Spiegel the warning was made by German Chancellor Angela Merkel to British Prime Minister David Cameron on the sidelines of the European Union summit last month. According to the report, which cited anonymous government officials, Merkel told Cameron that he was reaching a “point of no return” by pushing his plan to limit immigration from other EU nations. Merkel reportedly added that if Cameron were to go through with his planned quotas on EU citizens moving to the UK, “then that would be it.” In addition, Merkel reportedly said Cameron’s plans undermined the core principles of the EU, such as freedom of movement for all EU citizens within the bloc.

RT.com: ‘Point of no return’: Merkel warns UK could exit EU over immigration policy – report

According to [a] Russian website, 48 of top 200 Russian billionares are Jewish; Putin aide lashes out at ‘Nazi report.’ Close to one quarter of the 200 richest people in Russia are Jewish, according to a report by Russian banking website lanta.ru, which gives the 48 Jews on the list a combined net worth of $132.9 billion. The report also analyzed the nationality of each of the 200 billionaires, finding that just 89 – less than half – were ethnic Russians, even though they make up 81% percent of the population in Russia.

Tom Eley ■ Ten-year-old Tristin Kurilla has now been held in a solitary prison cell at Honesdale, Pennsylvania, for over three weeks. Charged as an adult, Kurilla is accused of murder in the October 11 killing of 90-year-old Helen Novak at his grandfather’s home near Scranton. There is no indication that he will be released or moved to a juvenile facility any time soon. A representative for the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s office, which is trying the case, told the World Socialist Web Site that no determination has been made as to whether or not the boy will be prosecuted as an adult—in which case he could face life imprisonment. The next court date is a preliminary hearing scheduled for November 19. [...] Kurilla is charged on the basis of his own confession, gathered without the presence of an attorney. State Trooper John Decker took the affidavit, allegedly at the insistence of Martha Virbitsky, the boy’s mother. Kurilla said he did not intend to kill Novak. He was nonetheless charged as an adult with first degree murder. [...] On Friday, while millions of American children his age dressed up and went trick-or-treating for Halloween, Kurilla spent his 21st night alone in jail. Days after his imprisonment it was reported that Kurilla described his orange prison jump suit was a Halloween costume “that he would probably never wear.”

Michael Sauga ■ Six years after the Lehman disaster, the industrialized world is suffering from Japan Syndrome. Growth is minimal, another crash may be brewing and the gulf between rich and poor continues to widen. Can the global economy reinvent itself? || A new buzzword is circulating in the world's convention centers and auditoriums. It can be heard at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, and at the annual meeting of the International Monetary Fund. Bankers sprinkle it into the presentations; politicians use it leave an impression on discussion panels. The buzzword is "inclusion" and it refers to a trait that Western industrialized nations seem to be on the verge of losing: the ability to allow as many layers of society as possible to benefit from economic advancement and participate in political life.

The bodies of 286 women have recently been discovered in the eastern Ukrainian city of Krasnoarmeisk while almost 400 women between the ages of 18 and 25 are still listed as missing, Alexander Zakharchenko, prime minister of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic said Friday, according to RIA Novosti. "Around 400 women between the ages of 18 and 25 have gone missing in Krasnoarmeisk where [Ukrainian forces] Dnepr-1 was based. The bodies of 286 women around Krasnoarmeisk who had been raped have been discovered," Zakharchenko said at a meeting with students from Donetsk National Technical University. The city of Krasnoarmeisk is located some 45 kilometers (28 miles) northwest of Donetsk, the capital of the self-proclaimed republic. An armed conflict broke out in the southeastern regions of Ukraine in April, when Ukrainian forces launched a military operation against Donbas independence supporters who opposed the February coup in Kiev.