Internal messages show Phoebe Gates knew her startup Phia was using a ‘cookie-stuffing’ scheme to generate profit, according to the outlet
Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates’ daughter Phoebe has been accused of knowingly using a “cookie stuffing” scheme at her shopping startup that allowed the company to collect commissions for sales it did not actually generate, according to Bloomberg.
Phia, co-founded by Gates and fellow Stanford graduate Sophia Kianni, markets itself as a digital shopping assistant that finds cheaper products and discount codes. Despite Gates trying to distance herself from the “nepo baby” label and present the venture as independent of her billionaire father, it immediately attracted tens of millions of dollars from prominent Silicon Valley and celebrity investors during its first funding round and was actively promoted by Bill Gates.
The controversy around the company first erupted last month, when Bloomberg reported that Phia’s browser extension was automatically inserting affiliate tracking “cookies” into online purchases, allowing it to claim commissions even when shoppers had not used its coupons or links.
The practice, known as “cookie stuffing,” can constitute federal wire fraud, which carries a maximum prison sentence of 20 years.
Phia responded to the initial report by saying it had only discovered the problem within the previous 24 hours and described it as a software issue that was quickly fixed.
However, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday that internal Slack messages and source code show Gates and Kianni had known about the practice for months.
In one December exchange, Gates reportedly asked developers to ensure automatic cookie drops were working across retailers so Phia could monetize “every transaction.” Kianni later told engineers that “whatever we can do to keep these cookies dropping will be amazing.”
After the features were disabled in July, average daily revenue reportedly fell from about $80,000 to between $10,000 and $28,000. Phia claims part of the decline came from suspending other monetization tools and says it has begun reversing improperly attributed commissions while hiring a compliance chief.
The controversy comes amid continued scrutiny of Bill Gates over his relationship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The Microsoft co-founder featured prominently in recently released Epstein files, which contained allegations concerning extramarital encounters, requests for medication to treat a purported sexually transmitted infection, and discussions with Epstein about global health initiatives and a proposed pandemic simulation.
Gates has denied involvement in Epstein’s crimes and told Congress this year that the financier had tried to blackmail him over his extramarital affairs. He has called his association with Epstein a serious mistake.
Valery Melnikov says his Mariupol series was pulled after complaints over his past work for RIA Novosti
German camera maker Leica has excluded a Russian photographer from its prestigious Oskar Barnack Award (LOBA) following Ukrainian criticism over his links to the Russian RIA Novosti news agency.
Valery Melnikov, a three-time World Press Photo winner, said in a social media post this week that his long-term series, ‘Mariupol. Open Wounds,’ had initially been selected by the Leica jury for the 2026 shortlist before being dropped.
The project, which Melnikov has worked on since 2022, documents civilians living in the Black Sea port city of Mariupol, in the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR). The city was liberated by Russian forces in May 2022 following an 85-day battle that left much of it in ruins. The DPR, along with Lugansk, Kherson and Zaporozhye Regions, voted to join Russia in referendums later that year.
Leica had initially described the series as focusing on residents who “suffer the unbearable humanitarian consequences of the war.”
Melnikov said the complaints came from “either photographers or bloggers from a neighboring country” who described him as a “Kremlin-media-linked photographer.”
Ukrainian photographer Sergey Korovainiy, who has covered the conflict, had publicly criticized Leica’s decision to shortlist Melnikov, according to media reports.
According to Melnikov, Leica representatives told him that some of the photographs in the project had been taken while he was working for RIA Novosti. He stressed that his employment history had always been public, adding that the competition rules contained no restrictions on such circumstances.
Melnikov also stated that shortly before his project was removed, a vice president from Leica AG suggested that he personally request the withdrawal of the project while mentioning the potential for future collaboration. The photographer said he refused and that the executive declined his request to put the proposal in writing.
Leica has not publicly addressed Melnikov’s account of the conversation.
The photographer also stressed that the series is a personal project produced not in the interests of “corporations or states, but for ordinary people and for history.”
Since the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022, several EU member states have seen discrimination against performers from other nations perceived to have sympathy for Russia. Moscow has denounced such measures as “Russophobic censorship,” warning that attempts to “cancel” Russian culture will ultimately fail.
Melnikov, a 2015 LOBA finalist, has covered global conflicts, including in Syria, Afghanistan, and Mali. The winners of the 2026 award are due to be announced on October 8 in Wetzlar, Germany.
Angelina Melnikova emerged victorious, while Anna Kalmykova claimed the second place in the competition underway in Croatia
Two Russian athletes won the first and the second places in the women’s all-around on the first day of the European Gymnastics Championship underway in Croatia.
World champion Angelina Melnikova scored the gold medal, while her teammate Anna Kalmykova received the silver. Another Russian athlete, Liudmila Roschina, narrowly missed the podium to French newcomer Elena Colas, who is now in her first senior year.
The participation of the Russian team was marred by hostile actions of Zagreb, which initially refused to provide visas to nine members of the country’s delegation, including both of the medal winners, a coach, and the team’s physician. Russian diplomats managed to secure visas for four of the affected athletes, while others remained barred from entering the country.
Apart from the visa troubles, the host country also refused to allow Russian athletes to compete under their national flag.
The European Gymnastics association reinstated Russian athletes at competitions earlier this year, enabling them to perform under the national flag, following the ruling of the World Gymnastics federation.
Still, for the events for which hosting rights were awarded before July 28 this year, the Russian teams can be barred from displaying the country’s flag and other symbols at the host’s decision.
Mike Huckabee has condemned a days-long blockade of several homes in the West Bank, including one owned by a dual US citizen
US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee has branded Israeli settlers besieging three Palestinian families in their West Bank homes “terrorists.” The days-long siege has targeted several properties, including one owned by a dual US citizen.
According to the UN, the blockade in the village of Qusra began last Sunday, leaving approximately 15 Palestinians, including at least two children, trapped in their homes without access to electricity or water supplies. The Palestinians are also believed to be running out of food and medicine.
Huckabee, known for his pro-Israel views and support for the settler movement, issued the rare rebuke in a post on X on Thursday.
“The actions of those doing this to this family’s home is criminal… Actions by those who carried out this horrific act of terror meant to intimidate and harass this family are disgusting. No excuse for such thuggish behavior,” the diplomat wrote.
The US envoy also claimed that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and the police had removed the “Israeli terrorists” from Qusra at the US Embassy’s request.
The IDF claimed on Thursday that its forces had “dismantled two illegal outposts” erected by the settlers on the outskirts of the Qusra and Jalud areas, detaining one Israeli. In a post on X, the IDF also said that its troops would “carry out defensive missions and patrols in the area to maintain security and protect the area.”
However, the siege appears to have continued unabated, with settlers still overrunning the village located south of the city of Nablus.
The West Bank, which has been occupied by Israel since the 1967 Six-Day War, is home to around three million Palestinians and more than 500,000 Israelis. The latter live in dozens of settlements, which are considered illegal under international law.
Israel insists that the West Bank is disputed territory with deep historical and biblical ties to the Jewish people.
In mid-July, the Israeli government allocated 1.3 billion shekels ($431 million) to set up 34 new settlements in the West Bank, despite growing criticism of its expansionist policies by the UN, Arab nations, and many EU member states.
Settler violence against Palestinians has been on the rise in the West Bank since the surprise attack on Israel by Hamas in October 2023, which triggered a major conflict in Gaza.
RT’s Charlotte Dubenskij traveled to Qusra but was unable to reach the besieged Palestinian homes when Israeli settlers harassed her crew. That is despite her having received clearance from the IDF.
The intelligence on the alleged threat reportedly originated from Israel and was met with skepticism by American spies
The US intelligence community doubted reports of an Iranian plot to kill President Donald Trump by shooting down Air Force One as it departed a NATO summit in Türkiye, the Washington Post has reported. Their assessment was reportedly conveyed to the administration, yet the Secret Service still opted to covertly move Trump to another aircraft.
US media broke the story of the clandestine maneuver this Monday. On leaving the meeting, Trump abruptly switched from his new Qatari-gifted Boeing 747-8 to the previous Air Force One, but it turned out he secretly left that aircraft as well in an airport catering truck, flying aboard a smaller military plane to the UK. He is said to have reboarded the older Air Force One there to create the impression that he was on it the entire time.
CIA analysts were highly skeptical of intelligence on an imminent assassination plot and conveyed that position to the administration. Reports about the threat were “Israeli-derived, not US-generated, and viewed as low confidence,” an unnamed intel official told the Post.
The latest report adds more color to the whole affair, which has already sparked a major scandal. Reporters and many high-ranking officials were left in the dark about Trump’s maneuver and the perceived threat. Journalists felt they had been treated like “unwitting and unknowing decoys very much in the line of fire,” CNN senior reporter Aaron Blake has said.
Trump admitted to switching planes on Tuesday, insisting he was only doing what the Secret Service considered the best course of action. “I go by Secret Service and the military. They wanted me to go in a different flight, different plane. I just have to do what they say,” Trump told reporters.
The scandal also coincides with the departure of White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, who announced on Wednesday she would leave her position at the end of the month “so she can spend more time” with her family. The 28-year-old, who became a mother for the second time in May, returned to the White House after a hiatus in June. Leavitt’s abrupt departure has sprouted theories that she was among the unwitting officials left on the decoy aircraft and that the affair may have been the final straw for her.
Tokyo is building a military and intelligence architecture very different from the one that defined its postwar era
Released in early August, the Japanese Ministry of Defense’s latest white paper signals that Tokyo, under Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, is converting years of incremental modernization into a more integrated and far-reaching national-security architecture – one that is altering the strategic landscape along China’s eastern periphery. It envisages a system designed not merely to absorb an attack, but to conduct strikes farther from Japanese territory.
The white paper frames Japan’s security environment as the most severe and complex since the end of World War II. It points to Chinese military activities near Japanese waters, the Taiwan question, North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs, and closer coordination among China, Russia, and North Korea. These are Tokyo’s stated assessments. More consequential is the early revision of Japan’s three core security documents – the National Security Strategy, National Defense Strategy, and Defense Buildup Program – and the translation of the post-2022 defense expansion into a tighter, more comprehensive system.
Two developments stand out: a major reorganization of intelligence and the military and the operationalization of long-range counterstrike systems that extend Japan’s reach well beyond its traditional defensive perimeter.
A new intelligence command for a new era
A central institutional step is the creation of the National Intelligence Bureau on July 31. Upgrading the former Cabinet Intelligence and Research Office, the bureau consolidates information from across government agencies and operates with roughly 700 personnel as the secretariat of a National Intelligence Council chaired by the prime minister. Japan has long managed with fragmented intelligence structures; the new body is designed to function as a stronger central ‘control tower’.
This move coincides with expanded satellite and maritime surveillance, cyber and electromagnetic capabilities, and improved joint command arrangements under this year’s reorganization of the military. The white paper lists command-and-control and intelligence functions among seven priority areas and describes a national defense architecture that deliberately links diplomatic, intelligence, economic, and technological instruments.
Further steps – anti-espionage legislation and the possible creation of a dedicated foreign-intelligence agency – remain under discussion. The direction is clear: tighter integration of intelligence collection, analysis, economic security, technology policy, and military planning.
Counterstrike capabilities and the limits of ‘senshu boei’
The second defining change concerns counterstrike. The white paper identifies stand-off defense systems as a core pillar of the buildup and presents counterstrike capabilities as essential for deterring invasion. Japan maintains that these systems remain consistent with senshu boei – its exclusively defense-oriented policy – while seeking the ability to address threats before they reach Japanese territory.
In practice, the shift alters Japan’s traditional posture. For decades, Japanese defense emphasized territorial protection, missile interception, and responses after an attack had begun. Long-range systems change that. Japan is acquiring Tomahawk cruise missiles and upgrading indigenous stand-off weapons. Among the systems drawing particular attention is the Type-25 anti-ship missile, designed to engage naval targets at greater distances. Development of hypersonic weapons and unmanned platforms – aircraft, surface vessels, and underwater vehicles grouped under a SHIELD (Synchronized, Hybrid, Integrated and Enhanced Littoral Defense) concept – is also advancing. These elements form a more complete kill chain linking intelligence, surveillance, command, and distant engagement.
From a regional perspective, such capabilities complicate security calculations along the first island chain and in waters near Taiwan. Japanese territory can increasingly function not only as a defensive position but as a platform supporting or conducting operations farther from the home islands.
Resources, industry, and structural change
Financial resources are expanding in parallel. Japan accelerated its target of defense spending equivalent to 2% of GDP. Fiscal 2026 expenditures, including costs related to the Special Action Committee on Okinawa and the realignment of US forces, exceeded ¥9 trillion (almost $56.5 billion) for the first time. The white paper elevates defense production and the technological base to a central place, treating them as integral to overall defense capability.
This year’s reorganization of the military reflects this approach. Joint command structures are being strengthened, procurement is being linked more closely to domestic industry and dual-use technologies, and greater participation by startups is being encouraged. The April revision of the Three Principles on Transfer of Defense Equipment and Technology further eases restrictions on exports, presenting them as means to strengthen deterrence, support partners, and sustain production capacity.
These steps increase the potential for joint production, maintenance, and supply-chain integration with the United States and other partners, positioning Japan as a more active node in a wider defense-industrial network.
Latent nuclear capability and softening boundaries
Nuclear policy remains formally constrained. Japan has not decided to acquire nuclear weapons, and Prime Minister Takaichi has repeatedly stated that the country upholds the Three Non-Nuclear Principles of not possessing, producing, or permitting the introduction of nuclear weapons. At the Nagasaki Peace Memorial Ceremony on August 9 marking the 81st anniversary of the atomic bombing – and days earlier in Hiroshima – she affirmed that the country “firmly upholds the three nonnuclear principles” while promoting “realistic and practical initiatives” toward a world without nuclear weapons.
Yet the wording has drawn attention for its careful ambiguity. Takaichi described Japan’s current stance without offering an explicit pledge that the principles would remain unchanged in the security documents now being revised. Discussion around the third principle in particular – the ban on introducing nuclear weapons into Japanese territory – has become more flexible. Government experts reviewing the documents have examined whether that restriction should be reconsidered, with some officials arguing that changed circumstances require a fresh look at nuclear deterrence.
Japan’s advanced civilian nuclear industry, reprocessing facilities, and technical expertise already constitute a latent nuclear capability – an industrial and scientific foundation that could, under certain conditions, be redirected more rapidly than that of most non-nuclear states. This debate does not inevitably lead to a decision to weaponize, but it does indicate that the political boundaries around nuclear policy are less rigid than in previous decades. Given the existing technological base, any long-term movement in this area would carry significant regional implications.
Why China is watching closely
China has responded with diplomatic criticism and military signaling. Chinese officials have described Japan’s accelerated military development as a dangerous turn toward remilitarization and have objected particularly strongly to Japan’s long-range strike capabilities. Beijing has also continued maritime and military activity around areas of strategic importance to Japan, while China-Russia military cooperation has remained an important element of the regional security environment.
Beijing is responding not just to Tokyo’s aggregate military strength, but to its position inside a wider regional network. Japan’s defense cooperation with the US, Australia, the Philippines, South Korea, and other countries is becoming more interconnected. The Japanese strategic documents themselves describe the objective as building multilayered networks and improving interoperability in training, operations, equipment, and industrial bases.
The result is a changing equation. Japan remains much smaller than China in population, military expenditure, and overall military capacity. But it is becoming a considerably more capable, connected, and technologically sophisticated military power than before.
For China, that means the strategic environment along its eastern periphery is changing. Japan is no longer simply the relatively constrained maritime power of the postwar decades. It is developing the intelligence, strike, industrial, and technological capabilities required to act earlier and farther from its territory, while remaining closely integrated with the US-led security system. In short, a more assertive Japan is redrawing the map of East Asian security – and Beijing knows it.
Iranian air defenses have proven the long-range UAVs obsolete
The US military lost 45 MQ-9 Reaper drones, or a quarter of its entire supply of the reconnaissance craft, during its war on Iran, the Washington Post has reported. The loss cost the US taxpayer an estimated $1.3 billion.
The loss figures were revealed by the Washington Post on Thursday, citing three unnamed US officials. A fourth US official told the newspaper that not all the lost drones were shot down. Some, they said, crashed after losing communications with their operators.
A successor to the MQ-1 Predator, the MQ-9 Reaper is a medium-altitude long-endurance (MALE) drone, capable of flying for up to 30 hours while carrying out surveillance missions or targeted strikes with Hellfire missiles. One of these craft costs between $30 and $50 million, and the US military had approximately 185 before the US-Israeli war on Iran began on February 28 – 165 in the Air Force, and 20 operated by the Marine Corps.
Within hours of the war beginning, reports of downed Reapers began circulating on Iranian Telegram channels. Video footage soon followed, with the Iranian military claiming to have shot down multiple MQ-9s mid-flight, and destroyed others as they sat in hangars at US bases across the Gulf region.
By the time the US and Iran reached a tentative ceasefire on April 9, preliminary reports in US media suggested that around two dozen Reapers had been shot down by Iranian forces. If the Washington Post’s figures are accurate, the initial accounts may have undercounted the losses by almost half.
The MQ-9 Reaper entered service with the US Air Force in 2007, and was extensively used in Iraq, Afghanistan, and in the US’ undeclared wars in Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen, and beyond. Synonymous with President Barack Obama’s drone assassination program, the MQ-9 Reaper was viewed as untouchable until 2017, when Houthi forces in Yemen managed to shoot one down with a Soviet-era anti-air missile.
A string of losses followed, and by the time the US and Israel began striking Iran in February, the Reaper was already considered obsolete and ineffective against any military with anti-air capabilities.
However, the US has no viable replacement for the Reaper. General Atomics stopped production of the drone in 2020, and the Pentagon is not expected to launch its program to select a successor until later this year. Meanwhile the Senate Armed Services Committee has recommended that MQ-9 production be restarted, while Air Force Deputy Chief of Staff David Tabor told a Senate hearing in June that the Pentagon is “looking at options to buy back as many of the MQ-9As as we possibly can” from US allies.
The Reaper is one of multiple weapons systems left in short supply by the Iran war. The US has reportedly used more than half of its Patriot and 80% of its THAAD anti-air missiles, and a third of its Tomahawk cruise missiles since February 28. US President Donald Trump has denied that the US is facing a missile shortage, but has asked Congress for $87.6 billion to cover “urgent needs” related to the war, including $21 billion for munitions.
The tale of colonial excess comes as France tries to salvage its reputation among its former subjects
France’s ambassador to the Central African Republic has been disciplined for sexual misconduct with around 30 local women at his official residence in Bangui, according to French media.
Ambassador Bruno Foucher brought around 30 women between the ages of 20 and 30 into his residence between January 2024 and March 2026, French magazine Le Canard Enchaine reported on Wednesday. These late-night visits, some of which involved the women sleeping over, reportedly alarmed Foucher’s security detail, who alerted his higher-ups in Paris.
The French Foreign Ministry told the Guardian that an investigation was carried out, resulting in “disciplinary proceedings against the ambassador.” These proceedings, the ministry said, are “ongoing.”
Foucher has admitted to having sexual relations with two of the women, Le Canard Enchaine reported. According to the magazine, the ambassador paid money to at least one of them, handing “envelopes of cash” to a nursing student named ‘Gypsie’.
Foucher has not been accused of sexual abuse, as the ministry sees his conduct more as embarrassing than criminal. According to the magazine, the French Foreign Ministry’s Inspectorate General determined that “his inappropriate behavior had serious consequences for security and reputation, and was detrimental to French interests.”
France losing influence in Africa
France’s influence in the CAR has waned dramatically over the past decade. Although the CAR gained independence from France in 1960, Paris continues to control its currency, and France intervened militarily during multiple civil wars in the 2000s and 2010s. However, French troops had been widely seen as incapable of ensuring stability, so President Faustin-Archange Touadera turned to Russia for security assistance following his election in 2016.
French troops left the CAR in 2022, and now Russia’s Wagner private military company and Africa Corps are the sole foreign forces on its soil. Russia has also ramped up development aid to the CAR, and both countries have strengthened their economic ties since Touadera took office.
The trajectory of the CAR follows those of Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger, all of which are former French colonies. All three countries have expelled French troops, with Russia’s Africa Corps stepping in to fight jihadists in Mali, and Russia providing military aid and training to Burkina Faso and Niger.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot visited Bangui in March, ending a period of disengagement that he termed “cooling off,” and reassuring Touadera that “the Central African Republic matters to France.” Amid this outreach campaign, Ambassador Foucher’s conduct is an embarrassment to Paris and a potential impediment to diplomacy.
The US military buildup in the region is relying on heavily dilapidated infrastructure, a new report by the Pentagon inspector general has indicated
US military installations across the Pacific are in an alarming state of decay, a new Pentagon inspector general’s report has found, calling for “immediate attention” to fix crumbling infrastructure.
The heavily redacted report, released this week, is part of an ongoing audit of US military facilities in the region. Inspections at 11 installations have revealed various severe issues, including collapsing ceilings, corroded walls, and a significant presence of mold. Additionally, there is extensive use of hazardous construction materials such as asbestos and lead-based paints.
The unclassified “management advisory,” dated August 6, goes on at length about the Kadena and Yokota air bases in Japan. The uncovered issues affected both “mission‑critical systems” and “other critical infrastructure… and housing infrastructure.” Multiple buildings at the bases have “visible corrosion, visible mold, visible fire damage, visible cracks on the building exterior and interior, visible concrete spalling, and exposed rebar,” as well as “inoperable communication connections” according to the advisory.
In some instances, storage buildings had multiple rusted-through holes exposing the hardware inside to the elements. Housing units have suffered from “ceiling collapses, visible mold, or visible concrete spalling,” repeatedly prompting relocation of assigned servicemen and their families. Some of the buildings also had crumbling facade elements “ranging from small fragments to large slabs” falling off, posing a threat to personnel.
The officials stationed at the inspected facilities blamed the situation on the age of the bases, which date back to the 1970s, as well as on “recurring environmental conditions, such as typhoons, earthquakes, and tsunamis that further degrade the infrastructure,” according to the advisory. They also pointed to convoluted schemes of funding, which come from both the US and Japan, with the latter funds geared largely “toward broader strategic objectives” rather than fixing dilapidated infrastructure.
The decay of US military installations in the Pacific has been a persistent issue for years, yet neither civilian nor military authorities have been able to reverse it. In 2024, for instance, the Biden administration launched an Installation Infrastructure Action Plan to address the disrepair at bases overseas. According to the plan, at least “70 percent of utility systems at Pacific Air Force locations [were] severely degraded due to the highly corrosive environment.”
Meanwhile, the Trump administration has been pushing a staggering $1.5 trillion defense budget for fiscal year 2027, a sharp increase over the more than $901 billion enacted for the current year. The massive $600 billion increase alone is almost twice the total annual military budget of China, which has been painted as the main US rival by the White House. The administration has repeatedly singled out the Pacific as its priority, rallying local allies to spend more on defense, citing China’s alleged military buildup.
From revolution and Cold War confrontation to historic ties with Moscow, RT explores the legacy Fidel Castro left behind
Fidel Castro, the revolutionary leader who ruled Cuba for nearly five decades, was one of the defining figures of the Cold War, defying successive US administrations and surviving hundreds of reported assassination attempts.
To mark the 100th anniversary of Castro’s birth, a new RT documentary looks back at his rise to power, his confrontation with Washington, and the ideas that shaped Cuba under his rule.
A key Soviet ally in the Western Hemisphere, Castro stood at the center of the Cuban Missile Crisis, which brought the world to the brink of nuclear war. Under his rule, Cuba endured decades of US economic pressure while making major advances in healthcare, science, and education.
The film also explores Castro’s historic ties with Moscow and the legacy of a leader whose influence reached far beyond his Caribbean island.
The Ukrainian leader’s latest request to Washington falls apart when measured against Moscow’s current rate of ballistic attacks
Vladimir Zelensky has made an unusually specific claim about what Ukraine needs to defend itself against Russian ballistic missiles.
In an interview with CNN, Zelensky said Ukraine currently has enough Patriot interceptors to amount to roughly 1% of America’s existing stockpile – itself reportedly depleted by the war with Iran and a source of some acrimony between US President Donald Trump and his War Secretary, Pete Hegseth.
Nevertheless, Zelensky used the CNN interview to call on Washington to sell Ukraine 5% of its remaining Patriot missile stockpile, which he claimed would be enough to get Kiev through the winter. The former actor went further on air, saying that 10% of the US inventory would allow Ukraine to shoot down every Russian ballistic missile fired at the country.
But the numbers quickly begin to fall apart under scrutiny.
How many missiles does the US have, and what does Zelensky want?
The total number of Patriot interceptors currently at America’s disposal is classified, but the most recent estimates put the figure at around 800, after the US reportedly burned through some 65% of its total inventory during the war on Iran.
Zelensky’s proposed 10% transfer would therefore amount to about 80 Patriot interceptors.
That may sound substantial – until it is compared with the rate at which Kiev has been using them. Zelensky adviser Dmytro Lytvyn told the New York Times in March that Kiev had received and used some 600 Patriot missiles over four years. There is also the rate at which Russia is firing ballistic missiles to consider.
How many missiles does Zelensky claim Russia is firing at Ukraine?
Zelensky himself told Axios in late July that Russia was firing 30 to 40 ballistic missiles in each major attack, with such strikes occurring three to five times a month.
On July 5–6, Russia reportedly launched 29 ballistic or similarly high-speed missiles in an attack focused heavily on Kiev. Ukraine intercepted none of them, with Ukrainian officials attributing the failure to a shortage of interceptors.
Less than two weeks later, Russia reportedly launched 25 Iskander-M/S-400 ballistic missiles and ten Zircon missiles – 35 in total – alongside several other weapons in another barrage focused largely on Kiev. Ukraine claimed to have intercepted 17 of the Iskander/Zircon/S-400 missiles.
Does Zelensky’s missile math make any sense?
Even under the extraordinarily favorable assumption that every Patriot interceptor destroys an incoming ballistic missile, 80 interceptors would be enough to defeat only 80 targets. At the rate of 30–40 ballistic missiles per major attack cited by Zelensky himself, that would provide enough ammunition for roughly two large-scale attacks – again, assuming every interceptor hits its target.
US and NATO defense doctrine calls for launching between two and four Patriot interceptors at each incoming missile. Zelensky’s claim that a Russian barrage involves 30 to 40 ballistic missiles would therefore mean that Kiev could expend as many as 80 interceptors – or 10% of the estimated US inventory – on a single attack.
Three to five such attacks a month, involving 30 to 40 ballistic missiles each, would amount to roughly 90 to 200 incoming ballistic missiles per month. Eighty Patriot interceptors could not destroy all of them even with an impossible 100% success rate.
At a 1:1 interception ratio, 80 Patriots would cover 80 ballistic targets. At 2:1, they would cover 40. At 3:1, about 27.
Does Zelensky’s claim of protecting Ukraine through the winter add up?
In other words, 10% of America’s estimated stockpile of roughly 800 interceptors could plausibly provide enough ammunition for robust ballistic-missile defense against one major barrage, or perhaps several weeks to a month of more selective protection.
It could not literally “destroy all the Russians’ ballistic missiles,” as Zelensky told CNN.
There is another inconsistency, however. According to Axios, just weeks before making his 10% proposal, Zelensky said he needed 300 Patriot interceptors before winter because of the scale and frequency of Russian ballistic-missile attacks.
If the relevant US inventory is around 800 missiles, 300 would represent nearly 40% of the total. Yet Zelensky is now suggesting that approximately 80 – barely a quarter of his previous request – could accomplish something far more ambitious.
What's the bottom line?
Moscow’s most recent ballistic-missile barrages against Ukraine have reportedly further eroded Kiev’s ability to mount even a token defense. Zelensky’s 40-day influence operation has also significantly backfired, earning him a dressing-down from Washington over attacks on shipping in the Black Sea. His apparent failure to anticipate that Russia would respond in kind and shut down Ukraine’s Black Sea ports could reportedly cost the Ukrainian economy another 1.5% of GDP.
Zelensky may be working from a different estimate of America’s missile inventory, or assuming that US production would provide a recurring supply in the future rather than a one-time delivery. Alternatively, his use of the phrase “destroy all” may simply be another example of his usual rhetoric rather than a literal claim that Ukraine could intercept every ballistic missile Russia launches.
That leaves two possible interpretations. Either Zelensky is using his own media-manipulation techniques to deliberately simplify or exaggerate the figures in an effort to strengthen his case for further depleting America’s stockpiles, or his assessment of how long such a stockpile would last is seriously mistaken.
Tyler Robinson’s lawyers argued that he can’t be charged with aggravated murder because he “hit the intended target” without endangering others
The defense team of Tyler Robinson, the man accused of killing conservative activist Charlie Kirk last September, has argued that the defendant should be spared the death penalty, as he only “hit the intended target.” The defense attorneys insist that the prosecution has been unable to prove the alleged shooter put other people’s lives at risk, thus committing aggravated murder.
The latter, which is a capital crime in the state of Utah, requires at least one “statutory aggravating factor” to qualify as such.
Kirk, a popular podcaster and co-founder of Turning Point USA, was shot in the neck and killed while speaking to about 3,000 attendees of an event at Utah Valley University in Orem on September 10, 2025.
Robinson was apprehended two days later. Investigators allege that he was the sniper who fired the fatal shot from a rooftop, about 130 meters (140 yards) from the packed venue.
In Tuesday court filings, Robinson’s defense attorneys argued that prosecutors had failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant “knowingly created a great risk of death to another other than Charlie Kirk.” Kathy Nester, Michael Burt, Richard Novak, and Staci Visser wrote that the “only evidence presented supports that the bullet traveled above, not through, the crowd,” and thus no one other than Kirk was in the line of fire.
Robinson’s defense team also pointed out that the alleged shooter did not specifically mention “any threat or intended harm to any other individual(s)” in communications with his romantic partner, Lance Twiggs, which was cited as evidence by the authorities.
The lawyers also sought to refute another potential aggravating factor, namely that Robinson targeted Kirk for political reasons. Citing the text messages between the defendant and his transgender lover, the defense team insisted that Robinson’s explanation that he had “had enough of [Kirk’s] hatred” refers to general “hatred” rather than a specific political viewpoint.
The prosecutors, in turn, contend that Robinson’s alleged motivation for the assassination stemmed from Kirk’s public opposition to same-sex marriage and gender transitioning.
According to family members and media reports, Robinson became radicalized and mentioned the conservative activist in conversations before the shooting. The unfired rounds recovered from the rifle allegedly used in the assassination reportedly bore inscriptions, including “Hey, fascist! Catch!”
Robinson’s defense team had petitioned Utah District Judge Tony Graf to bar prosecutors from seeking the death penalty back in June, accusing them of staging a “media tour” concerning a bullet fragment recovered from Kirk’s body. The defense attorneys alleged that this constituted a violation of restrictions on public comments on the case.
The hearing is expected to resume on September 1, with Robinson yet to enter a plea.
Prolonging the conflict until Trump leaves office is among Tehran’s options, Mohammad Reza Naqdi has said
Iran can stay in the fight in a prolonged armed conflict with the US, even if it lasts the rest of Donald Trump’s term in office, a senior Iranian general has said.
Brig. Gen. Mohammad Reza Naqdi of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) voiced confidence in Tehran’s ability to sustain a long-term confrontation during an interview with PBS on Tuesday. His remarks came amid media reports of pressure on US munitions stockpiles and declining morale among American forces deployed in the Middle East.
Tehran’s objective is “to attain deterrence so that the enemy never dares to attack us, so we can live with security,” Naqdi told the US broadcaster when asked whether Iranian commanders intended to “drag out” the conflict until Trump was no longer in office.
“One way is to prolong this war until we get to the next term of the presidency and cause attrition, so that if anyone else wants to attack Iran, they will know there is a cost,” he said.
Trump launched a 40-day bombing campaign against Iran in late February. Despite the loss of senior officials, the government in Tehran retained control of the country and responded with attacks on US military facilities in the region, while also exerting economic pressure on Washington’s allies and global markets.
The conflict has become increasingly unpopular among US voters, raising concerns among Republicans ahead of the November midterm elections.
Trump has alternated between threats of further military escalation and claims that Iran has been weakened to the point of almost accepting a peace agreement favorable to Washington. On Wednesday, he claimed that the US naval blockade of Iranian ports, imposed in April, had been widely described as a “wall of steel” and that Tehran “has no money.”
“The longer this war lasts, the more experience we gain,” Naqdi told PBS. “We had never seen a real war to gain real experience to learn how to fight with America. In these five months, we have learned how. We have also seen how the American military is weaker than what we perceived.”
Naqdi also claimed that Iran is producing drones and missiles at a faster rate than it is expending them and could continue fighting for years.
Should those stockpiles eventually be exhausted, he added, Tehran could instead target what he described as “thousands of [American] economic interests throughout the world.”
Benjamin Netanyahu’s government has vowed to defy Washington and maintain its occupation of Lebanese territory
The US State Department reportedly ordered Israel to stick to its word and pull its troops out of Lebanon after Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said his forces were “here to stay” in the south of the country.
Under a US-brokered framework signed on June 26, Israel agreed to leave the territory it currently occupies in Southern Lebanon in exchange for the Lebanese government disarming Hezbollah and establishing its own military as the sole armed group in Lebanon. During a visit to the occupied territory on Wednesday, Katz declared that “the IDF is here to stay in the security zones in Lebanon, Syria, and Gaza.”
“The United States expects all parties to act in accordance with the framework agreement they have agreed upon, and Israel has clearly stated that it has no territorial aspirations in Lebanon,” a State Department official told Barak Ravid – an Axios reporter whom Israeli politicians and security officials regularly leak to – on Wednesday.
🇺🇸🇮🇱🇱🇧The Trump administration criticized Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz's remarks about maintaining Israel's occupation of southern Lebanon, stressing that his comments contradict commitments the Israeli government made under the framework agreement with the United States…
“A permanent Israeli military presence in southern Lebanon is inconsistent with the commitments given in the framework agreement and does not align with the long-term peace and security of both countries,” the official added.
Israel currently occupies roughly 600 square kilometers of southern Lebanon, including some territory north of the Litani River. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have demolished dozens of villages, and the occupation has resulted in the forced expulsion of more than 1.2 million Lebanese civilians.
“I have instructed the IDF to take all necessary steps to prepare for a long-term stay in the field,” Katz said on Wednesday. “As the Prime Minister and I have clearly stated, we are not withdrawing from this security zone… under no circumstances will we withdraw.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has suggested that Israel could permanently annex certain areas of southern Lebanon. In an interview with Fox News last month, Netanyahu claimed that some Christian villages in Lebanon “have actually asked to be annexed to Israel because we protect them against the Hezbollah fanatics who want to kill them.”
Netanyahu did not name any of the villages, and more than a dozen local Christian leaders in southern Lebanon issued a statement calling his remarks “completely fabricated” and “unrelated to reality.”
Israel’s war on, and occupation of, Lebanon has directly interfered with US-Iran peace talks. The July 17 memorandum of understanding agreed by Washington and Tehran reportedly called for the “immediate and permanent termination of military operations on all fronts, including in Lebanon,” a clause that Israel has not heeded.
Ceuta and Melilla are “untouchable,” Spanish Defense Minister Margarita Robles has said
Spain will not discuss the sovereignty of Ceuta and Melilla with Morocco, Spanish Defense Minister Margarita Robles has said after Rabat publicly renewed its claim to the North African enclaves.
The exchange comes nearly two weeks after tens of thousands of people crossed the border of Ceuta in an unprecedented influx that overwhelmed the city. At least 100 people reportedly died, many while attempting the crossing by sea, while Madrid deployed troops and accelerated returns. Most of those who entered have since been sent back, but between 3,000 and 5,000 remain on Spanish territory, according to local officials.
Moroccan Justice Minister Abdellatif Ouahbi told Asharq TV on Tuesday that Rabat regularly raises the status of Ceuta and Melilla in negotiations with Madrid and seeks a long-term resolution through dialogue.
“This issue remains unresolved, and whenever we meet with the Spaniards, we raise it. We remain committed to our territories. This requires patience, and we want to resolve the issue through dialogue,” Ouahbi said.
In response, Spanish Defense Minister Margarita Robles told reporters during a visit to Ceuta on Wednesday that the two cities were “thoroughly Spanish” and “untouchable.” She described any challenge to the cities as an attack on Spain and warned that the border crisis “must never happen again.”
Spain’s Foreign Ministry issued a separate statement saying the country’s territorial integrity “has not been, and will never be, discussed with anyone.”
Ceuta and Melilla are Spain’s only land territories in Africa and form the European Union’s only land borders with the continent. Morocco has regarded the enclaves as occupied territories since gaining independence in 1956 and argues that sovereignty should ultimately be transferred to Rabat. Spain considers them integral parts of its territory, having controlled Melilla since the 15th century and Ceuta since the 17th.
The border has repeatedly become a pressure point between the two countries. In 2021, Morocco relaxed border controls during a diplomatic dispute over Spain’s decision to provide medical treatment to Western Sahara independence leader Brahim Ghali, allowing thousands of people to enter Ceuta.
Relations improved after Madrid endorsed Morocco’s autonomy proposal for the disputed territory in 2022. Rabat, however, has not renounced its claims to Ceuta and Melilla.
Madrid has largely praised the Moroccan authorities for helping repatriate migrants following the July influx, blaming people-smuggling networks for the crisis. The surge came shortly after Spain’s Supreme Court ruled that migrants intercepted at sea while attempting to reach Ceuta or Melilla could not be immediately deported.
The Moroccan Interior Ministry said on Wednesday that it had reinforced security near both enclaves after online calls for another mass crossing on August 15. It warned that organizers and participants could face prosecution and urged Spain to accelerate the return of unaccompanied Moroccan minors remaining in Ceuta.
The government is seeking broad new powers for the BfV to conduct active operations on home soil
A sweeping overhaul of Germany’s intelligence services proposed by the government could infringe on police powers in violation of constitutional safeguards, opposition politicians have warned.
On Wednesday, Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt presented a 730-page package comprising three draft laws that would significantly expand the powers of the Federal Intelligence Service (BND) and the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV), Germany’s foreign and domestic intelligence agencies respectively.
While there is broad political agreement that Germany’s security apparatus requires modernization, critics say the proposed expansion of the BfV’s mandate goes too far. Germany has traditionally maintained a strict separation between intelligence gathering and police work to prevent concentration of power.
“Dobrindt, with these demands that he hastily dictated into the draft legislation, is doing far more harm than good,” Free Democratic Party (FDP) leader Wolfgang Kubicki told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.
The BfV is currently focused on collecting and analyzing data. Under the proposed reform, however, the agency would receive new “operative powers” allowing it to actively disrupt suspected threats. These could include hacking computer systems, feeding false information to targets, altering or deleting data, and secretly sabotaging equipment believed to be connected to hostile operations.
Dobrindt has argued that the proposed intelligence “revolution” is necessary to tackle an evolving “hybrid threat landscape.”
Critics contend that the proposed reform would fundamentally alter the relationship between the state and citizens, particularly because the BfV operates under a different system of legal oversight from ordinary law-enforcement bodies, which generally require judicial authorization for intrusive measures.
“Equipping a secretive security agency with such powers will predictably create more chaos and problems,” Kubicki said.
Green Party MP Konstantin von Notz likewise argued that the reform represents a fundamental departure from existing norms and would “end up before the Federal Constitutional Court.”
Gottfried Curio, the domestic-policy spokesman for the parliamentary group of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, denounced the proposal as a “deliberate attempt to blur the line” between intelligence gathering and policing. He also described it as an “arrogant self-empowerment” by the federal government that should be rejected.
The BfV has for years scrutinized the right-wing, anti-immigration AfD over suspected threats to Germany’s constitutional order, giving the agency expanded legal grounds to surveil its leaders. The AfD has rejected the allegations and accused the authorities of using the agency for politically motivated pressure.
Christian Wirth, another AfD lawmaker, warned last month that the proposed reform could transform the BfV “from an early warning system of democracy into an architect of a totalitarian reality.”
The AfD continues to post strong polling numbers despite other major German parties maintaining a policy of refusing to form governing coalitions with it.
Party co-leader Alice Weidel argued this week that the trend could eventually allow the AfD to form single-party governments in some federal states.
She pointed to recent polling in Saxony-Anhalt showing the party at 43% ahead of an election in early September, more than twice the share of the vote it received there in 2021.
The Shipping Ministry sees a ‘huge possibility’ in the Northern Sea Route, after a 70% jump in cargo traffic via the Chennai-Vladivostok trade link
India is planning to send its first cargo ship on the Arctic route running along Russia’s northern coast next year, as it seeks to deepen trade with Moscow outside of Western sanctions and without disruptions via the Suez Canal.
The 5,600 km Arctic route, or Northern Sea Route (NSR), runs off Russia’s Arctic coastline and is the shortest shipping route between East Asia and Europe. Climate change and receding sea ice open up the route seasonally – but conditions are harsh, requiring specialized ice-breakers to keep channels open.
“In 2027, we are planning to have the first pilot vessel running through the Northern Sea Route,” the joint secretary in the Indian Shipping Ministry, S. Venkatesapathy, told the Arctic-Regions Forum in Arkhangelsk on Thursday.
On Wednesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said New Delhi was showing active interest in the NSR. He said Moscow is seeing “growing interest from countries” about the Arctic route, naming India and China among those talking to Moscow.
Venkatesapathy, who is leading the Indian delegation to the two-day forum, said the Chennai-Vladivostok corridor – also known as the Eastern Maritime Corridor (EMC) – has seen a 70% jump in cargo movement, and there is a “humongous possibility” to extend this success to the NSR.
He also spoke of India’s interest in the multi-modal Trans-Arctic Transport Corridor (TATC).
“We are seeing huge possibilities, not only for the EMC but also for the NSR,” the official said, adding two MOUs were signed last year for the development of the routes. He said India found the routes appealing because of their shorter distances, safety, and commercial viability.
India and Russia have set a bilateral trade target of $100 billion by 2030, and Russian oil now makes up more than half of New Delhi’s imports – making the Arctic route a key trade link for the two countries.
For India, the Arctic route can save up to 40% in distance and about two weeks in travel time to most European ports, compared to the traditional route through the Suez Canal. The Suez route has become dangerous for commercial shipping due to the Mideast conflict.
Russia has invested heavily in developing the NSR’s infrastructure, and in 2023, Moscow struck a deal with Dubai-based DP Word to develop container shipping along the Arctic route. Container traffic has risen as Chinese companies have seized the opportunity offered by the NSR. While 23 voyages were completed last year, some 30 are already planned for this year.
Cargo volumes along the route have exceeded 37 million tons over the past two years, and it is expected to reach 20 million tons by 2030.
Cargo movement between Russia and China through the NSR has already exceeded five million tons this year, the director of the Department for the Development of the Northern Sea Route and the Arctic at Rosatom, Azamat Khochuev, told RT on the sidelines of the Arctic-Regions forum.
The state-owned conglomerate, with its fleet of nuclear-powered icebreakers, is Russia’s designated operator and coordinator of the NSR.
China’s Sea Legend Shipping will launch its first regular service to Europe this month via the NSR. Sea Legend will sail seven vessels along the route – from August to October, Rosatom’s CEO Sergey Likhachev told Russian media.
South Korea is also working on developing cargo traffic through the NSR – with Seoul treating it as a strategic state priority.
The warning by the former Russian president came after Tokyo protested Vladimir Putin’s first-ever visit to the archipelago
The Kuril Islands will forever remain Russian land, with Japan looking for trouble by continuing to stick to its claim over the archipelago, former Russian President Dmitry Medvdev has said.
The Kuril archipelago came under Soviet control at the end of World War II following Japan’s defeat and was subsequently incorporated into the USSR. Tokyo, however, continues to claim the four southernmost islands – Iturup, Kunashir, Shikotan and the Habomai islets – which it calls its “Northern Territories.” The dispute has been the main obstacle to Moscow and Tokyo signing a formal peace treaty in the eight decades since the conflict.
On Thursday, Tokyo lodged a strong protest over Russian President Vladimir Putin’s first-ever visit to the Kurils, with Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi calling the trip “absolutely unacceptable” and saying it “hurts the feelings of the Japanese people.”
Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi also issued a statement, insisting that the islands “are an inherent part of Japan’s territory both historically and under international law.”
The Japanese Foreign Ministry also summoned the Russian ambassador to the country, Nikolay Nozdrev, over Putin’s trip, Kyodo News reported.
In post on X later in the day, Medvedev said that “Takaichi can prattle on all she likes about the Kuril Islands being ‘historically Japanese,’ but this chatter won’t change a thing. They were, are, and will remain Russian land.”
“Anyone who fails to understand this will face the monstrous consequences of their delusion,” the official, who currently serves as deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, warned without elaborating.
Putin traveled to Iturup, the largest of the Kuril Islands, on Thursday morning, touring a local fish processing plant, a medical center, and a school. He is only the second sitting Russian president to visit the Kurils after Medvedev made the trip in 2010.
Putin addressed the dispute on Wednesday while attending the final stage of Russian Pacific Fleet exercises off Sakhalin. He blamed Tokyo for the broader deterioration in relations between the two countries.
The president said he could not understand why Japan “under the pretext of the events in Ukraine and without delving into the causes of that conflict, imposed sanctions on Russia” and why Tokyo “classified Russia as a source of major threats in its latest military doctrine documents.”
“I would like to emphasize that we pose no threat. We have absolutely no grievances against Japan. On the contrary, it’s Japan that has territorial claims against our country, specifically regarding the Kuril Islands issue,” he insisted.
The status of those territories “is enshrined in international documents as a reality resulting from World War II. Yet even on this, Russia was prepared to seek a solution to reach a peace treaty,” Putin said.
Moscow and Tokyo signed a declaration in 1956 that “opened the way” for a peace agreement, but Japan later backed out of it, the president recalled. After the fall of the USSR, Russia also engaged in constructive relations with several Japanese leaders, including Shinzo Abe, who served as prime minister in 2006-2007 and 2012-2020 and “did a lot” to align the positions of the two nations, he added.
Two animals have begun a new life at a Free State sanctuary in South Africa after being rescued from the illegal trade in Israel
Two adolescent lions who were rescued from the illegal wildlife trade in Israel have been relocated to the Animal Defenders International (ADI) Wildlife Sanctuary in South Africa’s Free State province.
The lions, BenTzur and Ori, had been stranded for months due to the conflict in the Middle East, with most flights grounded. Finally, they hitched a ride with the ADI team on a cargo flight from Tel Aviv, which took them on a 50-hour journey via Cairo and Frankfurt before landing in Johannesburg.
According to ADI, over a year ago the 16-month-old lions were seized as tiny cubs by Israel’s Nature & Parks Authority (NPA) during a crackdown on illegally trafficked animals.
“The youngsters had been torn from their mothers, when they should have been suckling, in order to be passed around as ‘trophy pets’ for photos, likes, and shares – the craze being fuelled by social media,” the organisation said.
ADI President Jan Creamer said trophy pets are animals like lions and tigers, and they are taken from their mothers and kept in cruel and unnatural conditions as status symbols.
“They are treated as fashion accessories for social media likes and then get dumped when the owners get bored, or the animals grow too big, dangerous, and expensive to feed. These young animals suffer miserable lives, caged and in tiny spaces, deprived of their mother’s love, social contact with their own kind, living in basements and on chains when they should be running free,” Creamer said.
Ori was found in the basement of a house, and BenTzur was tied to a tree in a backyard on a short rope. ADI explained it previously rescued six young lions in Kuwait, as well as trophy pets that had been dumped in the desert to die or abandoned in the city, tied to lamp posts.
“Social media is providing free advertising for a cruel and abusive trade, with accounts identified by ADI of ‘influencers’ with over six million followers, handling exotic animals, normalising and monetising animal abuse,” it said.
BenTzur and Ori had a lucky escape, and this week made the journey of a lifetime. With very few flights available due to the conflict, they flew from Tel Aviv to Cairo for a two-and-a-half-hour stopover, then on to Frankfurt, Germany, for a 12-hour wait before leaving on their flight to Johannesburg. ADI founders Jan Creamer and Tim Phillips flew with the lions to monitor them, topping up their water and using tongs to give them small pieces of meat prepared in advance through a small hole in the crate.
“The lions travelled well, but it was a long journey, and they were very happy when we finally released them into their house at the ADI Wildlife Sanctuary. They rubbed heads, vocalised, and then curled up together on a nice hay bed to sleep. The other lions at the Sanctuary immediately knew there were new arrivals and announced their presence with roars, which made BenTzur and Ori sit up and listen. They were so young when they were taken; they will not have heard the communications of a lion pride,” Creamer said.
Preparations had been made to account for the young lions arriving from the sweltering heat in Israel to mid-winter in South Africa. They were kept overnight in their heated house and given a light meal.
“On Wednesday morning came the moment the doors were opened, and BenTzur and Ori stepped out onto the land nature intended, on grass, under the African sky, with sights and sounds of the wild all around them,” the organisation said.
The lions have adapted very quickly to their new routine, responding to the voices of their carers, coming into their house to be fed. They have been enjoying toys like giant robust-a-balls and catnip sacks.
“All the stress of trying to get them here and the exhaustion of the journey were forgotten as they stepped out onto African soil. They had never walked on grass before and were cautious, then started to stride together through our dry, golden, winter grass, growing in confidence and looking around, hearing the voices of other lions; you could see they were where they were meant to be,” Creamer said.
“Their instincts took over, and they methodically walked the whole 2.5-acre habitat, mapping it out, noting where everything was, sitting on top of the platforms, investigating the dens underneath and playing with the toys. By the end of their third circuit, they knew where everything was in their territory, and lay on top of the platforms, looking and listening to the roars of their neighbours,” Creamer said.
ADI said the rescue proved to be very expensive due to months of waiting, the scarcity of flights and the escalating cost of aviation fuel, in addition to building a large secure habitat and a brick-heated house. The charity is now looking to cover the costs of BenTzur and Ori’s food, veterinary care, and care team for hopefully the next 20 years, and is appealing for support for these young lions. Due to inbreeding, early-age malnutrition, and associated genetic problems, as well as their close contact with humans, BenTzur and Ori can never return to the wild.
Zambians are choosing between an incumbent promising economic continuity and an opposition leader campaigning on late former President Lungu’s legacy
Zambians are voting in presidential, parliamentary, and local elections on Thursday, with incumbent President Hakainde Hichilema seeking a second five-year term as a bitter dispute over the burial of his predecessor and longtime rival, Edgar Lungu, continues to overshadow the campaign.
Although 14 presidential candidates are in the race, the contest is widely seen as primarily pitting Hichilema against opposition figure Brian Mundubile, a former senior member of the government of late President Lungu.
Nearly 8.8 million people are registered to vote, according to the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ). Under the Constitution, a presidential candidate must receive more than 50% of valid ballots to win outright; otherwise, the two leading candidates proceed to a runoff.
What has happened since Zambia's 2020 default?
Following the country’s 2020 debt default, Zambia signed a $1.3 billion International Monetary Fund (IMF) debt restructuring program though it is reported to owe China, Lusaka’s largest creditor, some $6 billion. However, the standard of living for ordinary citizens remains heavily strained due to painful fiscal austerity measures, high inflation, and severe climate shocks like regional droughts.
Speaking after casting his ballot in central Lusaka, Kantumoya Derrick Mpaka, a Zambian national who studied at the Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia (RUDN University), told RT that voting there had been peaceful and orderly.
“People are very civil. Everyone is calm. There is no chaos whatsoever,” he said. Mpaka described the election as highly unpredictable but said he expected Hichilema to prevail by a narrow margin, stressing that this was his “personal assessment” rather than an “endorsement of the incumbent.”
Who is Hakainde Hichilema?
Hichilema, 64, is a businessman and leader of the United Party for National Development (UPND). He won the presidency on his sixth attempt in 2021, defeating Lungu by nearly one million votes.
His first term has focused on repairing an economy damaged by Zambia’s 2020 sovereign default. The International Monetary Fund says agreements cover approximately 94% of the external debt targeted for restructuring and that Zambia has made substantial progress toward macroeconomic stability.
Who is Hichilema’s main challenger, Brian Mundubile?
Hichilema’s main rival Mundubile, 55, is an accountant, lawyer, and former lawmaker. Under Lungu, he served as Northern Province minister and government chief whip. He later became leader of the opposition in parliament.
Mundubile has criticized Hichilema’s economic and human rights record and promised Zambians a larger share of the country’s copper wealth. His political background suggests greater continuity with the China-friendly policies of the Lungu era, during which Beijing financed major infrastructure projects.
He is running for the presidency under the National Reconciliation Party for Unity and Prosperity banner while leading the Tonse Alliance. The coalition was originally formed around Lungu and brought together several parties seeking to remove the UPND from power.
Mundubile’s most notable political achievement has been reaching an agreement with part of the divided Patriotic Front movement. Makebi Zulu, an ally and former lawyer of Lungu, is his running mate. However, several other opposition figures, including Socialist Party leader Fred M’membe, are running separately, meaning the anti-government vote remains fragmented.
On Wednesday, the Ministry of Commerce, Trade and Industry said investment in critical sectors has increased gross domestic product (GDP) from $19 billion to $40 billion since 2021, generated 7.8% growth, and produced a positive trade balance. The Zambia Statistics Agency, however, put annual growth at 3.8% in 2025, followed by a 7.7% year-on-year expansion in the first quarter of 2026.
Mpaka told RT that the figures do not reflect many voters’ circumstances. “On paper, our economy is doing okay, but in reality people are suffering, especially in rural Zambia, where people are living in poor conditions,” he said, citing a wide gap between rich and poor. High food costs, unemployment, and electricity shortages remain major concerns.
How important is Zambia to the global copper industry?
Hichilema has also introduced free primary and secondary education, recruited tens of thousands of teachers, and attracted billions of dollars in mining investment. A February 2026 World Bank Group report ranks Zambia as Africa’s second-largest and the world’s ninth-largest copper producer. Rising demand for minerals used in electric vehicles and clean-energy technology has intensified international interest.
In May, Foreign Minister Mulambo Haimbe accused Washington of linking a proposed five-year health package worth up to $2 billion to a critical-minerals agreement favoring US companies.
What’s Hichilema’s foreign policy about?
In foreign policy, Hichilema has strengthened relations with the US and Europe while maintaining extensive economic ties with China. Beijing remains a major creditor and investor in Zambia’s mines and infrastructure, including a planned $1.4 billion renovation of the Tanzania-Zambia Railway.
Relations with Moscow have also continued. In a December interview with RT, Foreign Minister Mulambo Haimbe described Russia as an “all-weather” friend and characterized bilateral ties as a “strategic partnership,” highlighting cooperation in education, energy, and trade.
Does Zambia favor the East or the West?
Andrey Maslov, head of the Center for African Studies at Moscow’s Higher School of Economics, told RT on Thursday that regardless of the election results, any leader of Zambia will follow a multilateral policy.
“Larger than any country in Europe, Zambia anchors two rival transport, logistics, and resource strategies: The US seeks to draw Zambia’s resources toward the Atlantic Ocean via Angola, while China finds it more advantageous to develop the Tanzania-Zambia corridor,” he said. “The country itself is attempting to balance these interests and benefit from these contradictions.”
Maslov noted that Washington might view Hichilema as capable of containing China’s expansion and preventing Zambia from aligning with alternative centers of power. However, the expert predicted that any Zambian leader would pursue a multilateral foreign policy while remaining mindful of public opinion, including opposition voters.
"Zambia is traditionally perceived as a source of copper and cobalt for global markets. Its role is, however, gradually evolving – for instance, the country has already become an exporter of electricity," Maslov adds.
Why is the burial of Edgar does Lungu’s controversial?
Former President Edgar Lungu died while receiving medical treatment in South Africa in June 2025, but his remains have not been buried following a dispute between his family and the Zambian authorities.
The government sought to repatriate him for a state funeral at which Hichilema would preside. Lungu’s family opposed the plan, saying the former president did not want his longtime rival involved in his funeral.
In June, South Africa’s Supreme Court of Appeal ruled that the government had not established a legal right to override the family’s wishes. Lusaka subsequently said it would not appeal.
The dispute has nevertheless entered the election campaign. Mundubile and his running mate, Makebi Zulu, who previously acted as the Lungu family’s spokesperson, have promised to give the former president a dignified burial if elected.
Eight drones targeted the city of El Obeid, with further strikes reported in Khartoum and other parts of the country
Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have renewed their assault on the strategically important city of El Obeid, while drone strikes have been reported in several parts of the country, including the capital region, Reuters reported on Wednesday, citing witnesses and local sources.
Eight drones targeted El Obeid, prompting the Sudanese military to activate its air defenses, according to the news agency. Medical sources cited by Reuters said two people were killed and several others wounded.
Drone attacks were also reported in Khartoum, Bahri, Atbara, and other locations, with witnesses saying one UAV crashed into the courtyard of a mosque in Bahri. The report said neither the RSF nor the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) had immediately claimed responsibility for the strikes.
El Obeid has become a key flashpoint in the battle for Sudan’s Kordofan region. The city is home to roughly half a million people, including around 100,000 displaced by the conflict, according to Reuters.
The aerial campaign continued on Thursday, with Sudan Tribune reporting a second consecutive day of drone attacks on the Khartoum area. Military sources told the outlet that air defenses intercepted multiple UAVs over northern and western Omdurman, while residents reported explosions as low-flying drones approached the city.
Fighting has also intensified hundreds of kilometers to the southeast in Sudan’s Blue Nile region. RSF forces and their allies from the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) launched an assault on the border town of Geisan this week, triggering clashes with the Sudanese army.
The latest fighting follows a series of battlefield gains by the SAF. The Sudanese army recently recaptured Kurmuk in Blue Nile state and, in late July, regained several areas in North Kordofan from the RSF, including Bara, Jabra al-Sheikh, and Um Sayala. Army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan subsequently visited frontline positions in the region.
The immigration agency plans to spend up to $20 million on what the DHS calls “conductive distraction and de-escalation devices”
The US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) plans to equip its officers with special gloves capable of delivering painful electric shocks to people resisting arrest, according to a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) notice.
Known as G.L.O.V.E. (Generated Low Output Voltage Emitter), the devices are made by Kentucky-based Compliant Technologies and have already been used by some US prisons and police departments.
ICE plans to spend between $10 million and $20 million on what the DHS calls “conductive distraction and de-escalation devices,” under a contract running through March 2027.
The manufacturer does not publicly disclose the price of the gloves, but AP reported that ICE plans to purchase thousands of the devices.
The DHS plans to award the contract to Compliant Technologies without competitive bidding, with the solicitation expected as early as Friday.
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A DHS spokesman told Time magazine on Wednesday that “ICE is constantly assessing the needs of our officers in the field to ensure they have the tools and equipment necessary to safely arrest and remove criminal illegal aliens from our country.”
When approached by AP, Compliant Technologies founder and CEO Jeff Niklaus said that “unfortunately, we are unable to speak on this subject.”
The glove looks and functions like regular police gear until its electric mode is activated at the press of a button, according to the manufacturer. Direct contact with exposed skin delivers a painful shock designed to force a resisting person into compliance within seconds.
John Peters, president of the Institute for the Prevention of In-Custody Deaths, likened the shock to a bee sting, describing it as “immediate and sharp.”
Peters told AP the gloves could be used to force uncooperative suspects out of vehicles or homes, as well as to maintain order in ICE detention facilities.
The planned purchase has drawn criticism from civil liberties advocates amid mounting scrutiny of ICE’s use of force.
Jenn Rolnick Borchetta, deputy director on policing at the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), said ICE has spent the past year demonstrating that its officers are “too quick to use force.”
“Introducing gloves that can so easily be used to deliver terrible pain in encounters is a recipe for harm to the public,” she said.
The planned acquisition comes after nationwide protests over the fatal shootings of two US citizens by federal immigration agents in Minnesota in January.
ICE has also faced scrutiny over conditions in its detention centers. At least 52 people died in the agency’s custody during the first 500 days of US President Donald Trump’s second term, according to a June report by Human Rights Watch and Physicians for Human Rights.
India and China among the countries discussing ways to work with Russia on the Northern Sea Route, the Russian president says
India is among the countries showing active interest in the Northern Sea Route (NSR), Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday, as fast-growing economies in Asia and beyond seek to develop trade with Russia amid Western sanctions.
“We see growing interest from countries wishing to engage with us on this front,” Putin said regarding the Arctic shipping route. “These partners include, above all, our friends China, India, and other nations who are actively discussing these matters with us.”
Putin, who is visiting Russia’s Far East and Sakhalin Region to oversee naval drills, was speaking to Pacific Fleet personnel aboard the missile cruiser Varyag. He said the interest from partner countries has grown following Western sanctions imposed over the Ukraine conflict, and that cooperation on the NSR would follow international maritime law.
India is a key partner in the Arctic – Regions Forum, being held on August 13-14 in the city of Arkhangelsk in northern Russia.
India one of the key countries showing growing interest in cooperation on Northern Sea Route: Putin
Putin warns of rising artificial tensions in the Arctic as interest in the Northern Sea Route grows, while stressing that cooperation remains within international maritime law. pic.twitter.com/Yrx0LllhZb
With the 10,380-km Chennai-Vladivostok corridor, also called the Eastern Maritime Corridor, operational since 2024, India and Russia have speeded up cooperation on the NSR as they seek to reach their $100 billion bilateral trade target.
Last month, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin said Rosatom – the designated operator and coordinator of the NSR – has been instructed to sign a memorandum with India on maritime cargo transportation along the Arctic route.
The state-owned conglomerate manages Russia’s unique fleet of nuclear-powered icebreakers, essential for keeping the Arctic shipping lane navigable.
Russia is investing heavily in the 5,600-km NSR – which runs through the Arctic Ocean off the country’s northern coastline and is the shortest shipping route between East Asia and Europe – to turn it into a major shipping lane.
The Arctic route offers India alternative passages to ship commodities to markets in eastern and northern Europe, saving up to 40% in distance and about two weeks of travel time compared to traditional routes through the Suez Canal, which are facing disruptions from the Middle East conflict.
India and Russia formalized the Reciprocal Exchange of Logistics Support (RELOS) pact during Putin’s visit to New Delhi in December. The pact offers India access to ports along the NSR, from Vladivostok to Murmansk.
In June, the Russian minister for the development of the Far East and the Arctic, Aleksey Chekunkov, said Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Indian business community are interested in developing trade ties with the Russian Far East.
“We have dramatic common capabilities, common opportunities to jointly develop an ice-level fleet, to jointly develop container shipping, which is happening,” he said.
Indian shipyards are in talks to build non-nuclear icebreaker ships to navigate the harsh icy waters.
Kiev prioritizes publicity over human life, Yana Lantratova has said
Ukraine has been blocking Russian proposals to exchange certain prisoners while publicly accusing Moscow of holding up the process, Russian Human Rights Commissioner Yana Lantratova has said.
Lantratova, whose office is directly involved in prisoner swaps, criticized the Ukrainian authorities on Wednesday, accusing them of misrepresenting Russia’s position on a group of detainees captured between 2014 and 2022 who are from Donbass and Crimea.
“The Ukrainian side published lists of our guys… claiming Moscow refuses to include them in exchanges,” Lantratova wrote.
“Those are our lists,” she added. “We compiled them based on conversations with their mothers, families, and loved ones, and we are fighting for each of them. These are the same names Ukraine cynically publishes while claiming they have been ‘abandoned,’ despite knowing that in reality we are waiting for Kiev to formally respond to our proposal.”
Lantratova also pointed to a list of 224 Ukrainian citizens whom she said Russia is prepared to release in exchange for prisoners held by Kiev, but whom the Ukrainian government has declined to accept.
“Ukraine refuses to take them back. They don’t want those 224 people. They value publicity, not human life,” she stated.
On Thursday, Lantratova released another list containing the names of 273 Ukrainians whom she said could also be included in a prisoner exchange.
Last week, several pro-Ukrainian Telegram channels published the personal data of around 150 prisoners from Donbass, alleging that Russia regarded them as “expendable.”
The Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics broke away from Ukraine after the 2014 Western-backed coup in Kiev, which overthrew the country’s elected government and brought anti-Russian forces to power. The ensuing conflict saw Kiev launch a military operation against the two Donbass republics. Russia initially pushed for their peaceful reintegration into Ukraine under the Minsk agreements, which envisaged special status for the region.
Former Ukrainian and Western leaders later acknowledged that the Minsk process had bought Kiev time to strengthen its military with Western support. After the conflict escalated in 2022, Donetsk and Lugansk held referendums on joining Russia and were subsequently incorporated by Moscow.
Kiev officials have at times openly disparaged the population of Donbass. Maj. Gen. Mikhail Drapaty, who later became commander-in-chief of Ukraine’s armed forces, described the region in a 2023 interview as heavily populated by “settlers and criminal elements” who “do not want to work, want handouts, and do not care which country they live in.”
The number of minors held without charge or trial has nearly doubled in just over a year, according to Israeli prison data
Nearly 370 Palestinian children are being held in Israeli prisons, many without having been convicted of a crime, RT’s Charlotte Dubenskij has reported, citing Palestinian and Israeli rights organizations.
The number of minors held under administrative detention – which allows imprisonment without charge or trial – has almost doubled in just over a year, according to the latest figures from Israel’s prison service.
Israel says around 90% of the detained minors are being held for security-related reasons but have not been convicted, according to an RT report. Prison terms generally range from two to three years, although some minors have received sentences of between ten and 20 years.
Israeli police also report that around 100 minors are detained each month for entering Israel without a permit.
The detentions have come amid mounting allegations of mistreatment inside Israeli prisons. Former detainees and rights organizations have reported abuse, torture, starvation, physical and psychological harm, sexual violence and denial of medical treatment.
Israel is also holding the bodies of more than 100 Palestinians who died in its custody, according to a recent report cited by RT.
The situation in the West Bank has received comparatively little international attention amid the war in Gaza, where Israeli military operations have caused widespread destruction and displacement.
Gaza’s Health Ministry has put the Palestinian death toll since October 2023 at 73,386, with another 174,250 people wounded. Israel launched its military campaign following the Hamas-led October 7 attack on southern Israel, in which around 1,200 people were killed and more than 250 taken hostage.
Meanwhile, arrests and raids have continued across the West Bank, leaving a growing number of Palestinian minors in Israeli custody.
Watch the full report by RT correspondent Charlotte Dubenskij below.
Warsaw’s response to the billionaire’s roaming restrictions could have implications for Ukraine’s military communications
Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski has threatened to reconsider Warsaw’s $50 million annual spending on Elon Musk’s Starlink after the satellite internet provider excluded Polish customers from its European roaming region.
Starlink’s new roaming system groups 36 European countries and territories into a single region, allowing customers to use the service across participating states. Poland, however, has been specifically left outside the zone.
“Hey, @elonmusk, big man, stop discriminating Polish users of Starlink or we might re-think paying you $50 million p.a. for your services,” Sikorski wrote on X on Wednesday.
The “big man” jab appeared to revive a public spat between Sikorski and Musk last year. After the Polish minister suggested Warsaw might seek an alternative to Starlink if the service became unreliable, Musk told him to “be quiet, small man,” accused him of exaggerating Poland’s contribution, and insisted there was “no substitute for Starlink.”
Starlink operator SpaceX has not explained why Poland was singled out for the latest restrictions, fueling speculation in the Polish media that the decision could be connected to the large number of Starlink terminals purchased in the country and subsequently sent to Ukraine.
According to the Polish government, the country has purchased around 25,000 Starlink terminals for Ukraine and pays to keep them connected. Polish-supplied devices have at times accounted for almost half of Kiev’s Starlink terminals.
That support has become particularly important to Kiev’s military in the conflict with Russia. Starlink is widely used by Ukrainian troops for frontline communications, drone operations, surveillance, and targeting. Musk himself has called the network the “backbone” of the Ukrainian Army and claimed that Kiev’s “entire front line would collapse” if he switched the service off.
While the new roaming restrictions do not themselves appear to cut Polish-funded terminals in Ukraine off, Sikorski’s threat could jeopardize connectivity used by Kiev’s forces.
The potential battlefield impact is not merely theoretical. Reuters reported that Musk ordered Starlink coverage to be shut down in parts of Ukraine during a 2022 counteroffensive, leaving troops without communications, knocking reconnaissance drones monitoring Russian forces offline, and disrupting artillery operations. SpaceX called the report “inaccurate” without specifying which claims it disputed, and said Starlink remained fully committed to providing service to Ukraine.
Russian officials have criticized the use of commercial satellite infrastructure by Ukrainian forces, arguing that it has effectively become part of Kiev’s military apparatus.
Polish Digital Affairs Minister Krzysztof Gawkowski has likewise demanded that SpaceX reverse the decision.
“I do not agree with a global technology company treating Poles worse than other Europeans,” Gawkowski wrote on X.
Severe storms have killed at least three people across the US Midwest
A lightning strike at an Ohio prison injured 16 inmates, leaving one seriously hurt, as deadly storms swept across the US Midwest, state authorities said.
Lightning struck the Grafton Correctional Institution on Tuesday as a group of “incarcerated individuals were returning from the evening meal,” the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction (ODRC) said.
All 16 were initially taken to outside hospitals, with one evacuated by air ambulance. By Wednesday, four remained hospitalized, including one with serious injuries, according to Governor Mike DeWine. No deaths or staff injuries were reported.
The lightning strike came during severe storms that swept across the US Midwest, bringing tornadoes, flash flooding, powerful winds, and widespread power outages.
video released from the State prison complex in Grafton yesterday evening as over a dozen inmates were injured by an apparent lightning strike pic.twitter.com/MAAWTnf8Fw
Preliminary data from the US weather service’s Storm Prediction Center indicated that the system could qualify as a derecho – a widespread, long-lived windstorm associated with a fast-moving line of thunderstorms.
Absolutely INCREDIBLE storm structure moved through Phillipsburg, Ohio a short time ago!
Video published by the Ohio Department of Transportation shows powerful winds flipping a moving car on a highway in Columbus.
BREAKING: Severe Derecho Storm With Winds In Excess Of 100mph Steamrolling Through Midwest. Car On Ohio Freeway Thrown & Rolled Over By Severe Thunderstorm Derecho Winds! pic.twitter.com/kNgi0kaaHn
An Ohio resident died during a medical emergency after flash flooding prevented first responders from reaching him, Governor Mike DeWine said. A four-year-old boy was killed after a tree fell on a home in Indiana on Tuesday, according to local authorities. A third person died in a house explosion in Portage, Indiana, which authorities were investigating as potentially weather-related, the Associated Press reported.
The Russian border region has faced some of the most intense attacks over the past week, according to officials
Children are among the mounting casualties of Ukraine’s intensifying drone campaign against Russia’s Belgorod Region, where RT has visited a hospital treating some of the youngest victims.
Kiev has escalated long- and mid-range strikes on Russia in recent months. The campaign has killed at least 43 civilians, including four children, and wounded more than 400 others over the past week, according to Russian Ambassador-at-Large Rodion Miroshnik. Belgorod Region, which borders Ukraine’s Sumy and Kharkov regions, has been among the areas hardest hit.
In an exclusive report released on Wednesday, RT spoke to several young survivors receiving treatment at the region’s main children’s hospital. More than 260 children have been treated there for serious injuries since Ukrainian attacks on the region intensified, including patients who have suffered amputations.
The youngest, Ulyana, is just two-and-a-half years old and is recovering from a leg injury.
Vladimir, another young patient, said he suffered multiple wounds.
“My legs, arms, torso, and head were stitched up,” he told RT. “It was scary when I was lying in the ambulance. And they kept telling us: ‘It’s coming.’ And then it hit us like a lightning bolt.”
Belgorod’s chief educational psychologist, Ekaterina Viktorova, said helping children understand that they still have a future is a crucial part of recovering from life-changing injuries.
“When a child realizes they’re not stuck in the day they were injured but continue to live, this is the next step toward recovery,” she told RT.
Belgorod Governor Aleksandr Shuvaev said the region was targeted by more than 7,000 Ukrainian drone attacks in June. At the current rate of escalation, that figure could reach 12,000, he warned.
The American journalist has faced accusations of anti-Semitism over his criticism of Israel and of racism over his stance on immigration
American journalist Tucker Carlson has told RT that he is not afraid of being killed for using his platform to say what he believes is true.
The former Fox News host has adopted a staunch non-interventionist stance toward US involvement in foreign conflicts in recent years, breaking sharply with President Donald Trump on key foreign policy issues such as Washington’s war on Iran and support for Israel. Since leaving the news network, Carlson’s podcast has routinely garnered millions of views and featured high-profile interviews, including a 2024 conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
In an exclusive interview with RT’s Rick Sanchez on Wednesday, Carlson said he had “got old enough and insulated enough from the normal levers of control to say what I really think is true.”
What are you going to do about it? Kill me? OK, I’m not afraid of that. I’m a Christian. So I’m just going to keep talking.
Carlson blamed “neocons” within the American “war lobby” for pushing the US toward destruction.
“This Iran war, the war with Russia – these are the things that will destroy the US, and I live here and my family’s been here for 350 years, and… I don’t want to see my country destroyed,” he said.
Another prominent right-wing influencer who was highly critical of hawks within the Republican Party and US involvement in foreign wars, Charlie Kirk, was assassinated last year.
Kirk, a co-founder of the nonprofit Turning Point USA, was fatally shot by a sniper while addressing a crowd at Utah Valley University. Family members and officials said Tyler Robinson, the man charged with Kirk’s murder, had become more left-wing and radicalized in the years before the shooting.
The murder prompted debate over incitement and inflammatory political rhetoric amid a rise in political violence targeting public figures in the US, including multiple attempts on Trump’s life.
Watch the full exclusive interview with Tucker Carlson below:
Berlin’s Foreign Intelligence Agency (BND) and the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) will now target adversaries
The German government is expected to grant the country’s intelligence agencies greater powers, including offensive cyber capabilities against foreign adversaries, according to Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt.
NATO member states have on multiple occasions accused Russia of hacking government servers, jamming aircraft GPS signals, and redirecting Ukrainian drones into their airspace, with little to no evidence. Moscow has dismissed the allegations as warmongering aimed at justifying the “rabid militarization” of Europe.
Berlin’s Foreign Intelligence Service (BND) and the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) are set to undergo “historic reform,”Dobrindt told Bild.
The legislation will transform “intelligence services into genuine intelligence agencies,” he said, adding that “this is a revolution in our security architecture because, for the first time, we are giving the intelligence services operational powers.”
Dobrindt cited hybrid threats supposedly faced by Germany, as well as “attempts at destabilization through sabotage, espionage, cyberattacks, and covert operations by foreign powers.”
The reform reportedly envisages allowing the BND and BfV to infiltrate computers and smartphones, including via Trojan viruses, and to actively combat attackers’ infrastructure in case of a cyberattack.
The spy agency would also be given greater access to communication and video data, which would be analyzed with the help of artificial intelligence, according to the media outlet.
Dobrindt is to present the reform to the German cabinet on Wednesday. The minister reportedly stressed that the BND and BfV need stronger “operational capabilities and active powers” to fight modern state terrorism and extremist groups.
Dobrindt announced an imminent cabinet decision to expand the powers of the BND in mid-June, while inaugurating a new hybrid warfare center in Berlin.
Last December, Sueddeutsche Zeitung reported that the German government was seeking to authorize the BND to conduct cyberattacks, sabotage, and other offensive operations abroad.
Additionally, under the plan, the intelligence agency would also be vested with broader domestic surveillance powers, with agents to be allowed to enter suspects’ homes to secretly install spyware on computers and other devices, according to the report.
The AH-64 Apache sparked a large wildfire and prompted evacuations after coming down near Fort Hood in Texas
Two pilots have been killed after a US Army AH-64 Apache attack helicopter crashed in a field in central Texas and burst into flames, sparking a large wildfire and prompting evacuations in the surrounding area.
The helicopter, based at the Fort Hood military installation, went down near Salado at around 1:35 PM local time on Wednesday, according to the US Army and the Bell County Sheriff’s Office. Both crew members aboard were confirmed dead.
“It crashed into a field, and you could tell it was a violent crash,” sheriff’s office spokesman Cliff Coleman told reporters.
The impact sparked an uncontrolled grass fire that spread across roughly 100 acres. The blaze was about 45% contained by 5 PM local time, according to the Texas A&M Forest Service. The authorities ordered evacuations in the area as firefighters worked to contain the flames.
Footage from the scene showed burning debris scattered across scorched ground as emergency crews tackled lingering fires.
JUST IN: Two Pilots Killed After Fort Hood Apache Helicopter Crashes In Central Texas
An AH-64 Apache attack helicopter based at Fort Hood crashed Wednesday afternoon near Salado in Bell County, Texas, killing both pilots on board.
No people on the ground were injured and the helicopter did not strike any buildings or other structures, according to local authorities.
The Apache can carry up to 16 Hellfire missiles, 76 rockets and 1,200 rounds of ammunition for its 30mm cannon. The US Army describes its latest AH-64E variant as its most advanced attack helicopter, with the fleet expected to remain in service for decades.
It remains unclear where the helicopter was coming from or where it was headed.
The US president says taxpayers should not pay for surgeries and hormone treatments for children
US President Donald Trump has ordered an end to federal funding for so-called “gender-affirming care” for minors through two major government healthcare programs.
The move comes amid a broader rollback of transgender-related policies introduced under previous administrations.
The new restrictions will apply to Medicaid, a joint federal-state health insurance program primarily serving low-income Americans, and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), which covers children whose families do not qualify for Medicaid but may struggle to afford private insurance.
“We are not going to pay for our innocent children to undergo these barbaric surgeries and practices, which result in unthinkable and irreversible harm to their young bodies,” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Tuesday.
The restrictions are due to take effect on October 13 and will cover puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and surgical procedures. Children already receiving hormone therapy will be allowed a tapering-off period of up to six months, while federal coverage for mental-health services will remain in place.
Individual states will still be able to use their own funds to pay for the treatments.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) said the decision followed a review by the Department of Health and Human Services that found significant gaps in evidence supporting medical gender transition for minors and raised concerns about potentially irreversible effects.
“Children deserve our protection, not experimental interventions that pose serious risks and convey no proven benefits,” CMS Administrator Mehmet Oz said, arguing that ending federal funding would save taxpayer money and protect minors from potentially irreversible harm.
The agency said the procedures could carry risks including infertility, impaired sexual function, and reduced bone density. It also pointed to changing medical guidance, including the American Society of Plastic Surgeons and the UK’s Cass Review, which have raised concerns about limited evidence of benefit in minors and possible risks outweighing perceived advantages.
The move is part of a broader rollback of transgender-related policies since Trump returned to office. His administration has moved to restrict medical transition procedures for minors, bar transgender athletes from competing in women’s sports, and restrict people with gender dysphoria from serving in the US military.
At least 27 US states have already enacted restrictions on gender-transition treatment for minors, while several major hospitals have stopped offering some such procedures amid legal challenges, funding pressure, and changing medical guidance.
Drones and munitions have repeatedly sparked blazes in forests, olive groves, and farmland since the June ceasefire, firefighters have told The Guardian
Israel has been intentionally igniting wildfires in forests and agricultural land across southern Lebanon using drones and various munitions, Lebanese firefighters have claimed to The Guardian.
Large areas of woodland, olive groves, and farmland have burned in the nearly two months since the June 17 ceasefire largely halted fighting between Israel and Hezbollah. Hussein Fakih, the head of civil defense in the Nabatieh region, estimated that fires have affected 30-40% of land in some areas close to the front line.
He said Israeli forces began setting fires immediately, alleging that drones have dropped incendiary materials while white phosphorus shells and illumination flares have been fired into woodland.
On Tuesday, Israeli forces dropped flares over a wooded area outside Khiam, sparking fires, according to Fakih. A drone later struck near firefighters attempting to extinguish the blaze, forcing them to withdraw.
The allegations come alongside evidence of extensive destruction across Israeli-occupied parts of southern Lebanon. A visual investigation by the Financial Times and journalism nonprofit Lighthouse Reports found widespread damage to homes, schools, farmland, forests, and essential infrastructure. Satellite imagery indicated that much of the destruction occurred after Israeli forces had established control over evacuated villages in mid-April.
Israeli forces subsequently pushed deeper into southern Lebanon and established what officials have described as a security buffer zone. By June, Israel reportedly controlled around 2,000 square kilometers of Lebanese territory – roughly one-fifth of the country.
Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam has repeatedly demanded a complete Israeli withdrawal and pledged to restore essential services so displaced residents can return.
Americans are played against each other while political leaders fail to represent them, the conservative journalist has told RT
Conservative journalist Tucker Carlson has accused the US political establishment of turning Americans against each other, telling RT that key decisions are made by unelected officials and the system no longer represents ordinary voters.
Speaking to Rick Sanchez on Wednesday, Carlson said Americans are “encouraged to hate” their fellow citizens as Republicans and Democrats are pitted against one another.
“The truth is, it’s not the differences between us that are the problem, it’s the consensus at the top,” Carlson said, accusing the two parties’ leaders of “collusion against the American people” and acting against the interests of their own supporters.
Carlson, who backed Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential election, has since distanced himself from the Republican Party amid disagreements over the US war on Iran and Washington’s relationship with Israel. In June, he said there was “no chance” he would support the party in the November midterms, while also ruling out backing the Democrats.
Carlson has pledged to help establish a third party, describing the current system as a “one-party state posing as a democracy,” and last week presented a ten-point vision for America. He has ruled out a presidential bid himself, telling Sanchez: “I’m not planning to run for president, that’s for sure.”
He went on to claim that major decisions in Washington are not made by officials chosen by voters, but “by the permanent bureaucracy, the deep state.”
Carlson described the system as a “fraud,” saying Americans are given the illusion that elections offer meaningful political choice. He said the US therefore needs an alternative, although he acknowledged that he does not know what form it should take.
The former Fox News host also accused the country’s broader leadership of pursuing interests disconnected from those of ordinary Americans. He claimed the US government had been “hijacked” by people using it “for their own purposes,” describing the underlying problem as a “bad leadership class.”
The prosecution is reportedly close to slapping national security charges on close aides to the PM over the so-called Qatargate affair
Israeli Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara is expected to decide whether to charge two close aides to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over alleged lobbying on Qatar’s behalf, local media has reported citing sources.
The so-called Qatargate affair erupted early last year, when Israeli Channel 12 dropped a bombshell investigation alleging that the closest advisors to the PM were paid by Doha to promote Qatari interests to the top security and political authorities in the country. The investigation implicated Yisrael Einhorn, Ofer Golan, Jonatan Urich, and Eli Feldstein, with the latter official already arrested over alleged involvement in the theft and leak of classified documents prior to the publication.
Urich and Feldstein were both detained and questioned last March over the allegations, while Einhorn, who resides in Serbia, refused to return to the country. Golan, a longtime spokesman for Netanyahu, has survived the longest among the implicated officials, departing from his role only this April.
The AG is now expected to decide whether to proceed with the charges against Urich and Feldstein, Israeli media reported on Tuesday. While the Mossad and Shin Bet intelligence agencies have not submitted their assessment on the affair yet, unnamed Justice Ministry officials told Channel 13 there was “sufficient evidence” to charge the suspects over contacts with a foreign actor.
In June, Urich was also indicted over his alleged involvement in leaking classified documents to the press. The charges are related to the leak of IDF military intelligence materials to German tabloid Bild in September 2024 in an apparent effort to reinforce Netanyahu’s claims that it was not him but the Hamas militant group that dragged their feet on the deal to release Israeli hostages held in Gaza.
Apart from Netanyahu’s aides, the affair could hit Mossad director Roman Gofman, media reports have said. Prior to taking over the agency this June, Gofman served as Netanyahu’s military secretary and could have a conflict of interest over his close ties to the suspects. Justice Ministry officials are now reportedly deliberating whether the intelligence chief should be barred from signing off on the impending assessment from his agency.
The Qatargate affair has left a new major dent in the reputation of Netanyahu, who has been facing assorted corruption allegations for over a decade. The ties between his aides and the Qatari government appear to have been quite long-standing, with the implicated officials allegedly helping Doha regain its positions in the Gulf as early as amid the 2017-2021 diplomatic crisis, as well as develop a strategy to improve its reputation ahead of the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
The city is probing prediction markets, claiming that they could encourage minors to gamble
New York City Council is investigating Polymarket, Kalshi, and other predictive market platforms for “deceptive and predatory” marketing practices, accusing the industry of encouraging gambling and insider trading.
Council Speaker Julie Menin notified Kalshi, Polymarket, Coinbase, and Gemini Titan of the investigation on Tuesday. In a letter to Polymarket seen by Bloomberg, Menin referenced “troubling” news reports suggesting that the company and its competitors “target young adults – and thus potentially minors – with false, deceptive, and unconscionable advertising.”
According to the reports, Polymarket allegedly paid influencers to promote its platform without disclosure, produced videos showing fake trades on its site, presented losing bets as winners, and encouraged insider trading.
“Prediction markets aggressively entice consumers to bet and wager on sports, politics, culture, weather, and pretty much anything. We refuse to let New Yorkers, especially our young people, become collateral damage,” Menin said in a statement on Wednesday.
Prediction markets have snowballed into a $240 billion-per-year industry, counting the annual trading volume of Kalshi, Polymarket, Coinbase, and Gemini Titan. By allowing customers to bet on politics and world events – for instance the likelihood that a world leader will be ousted by a certain date – they have reportedly become rife with insider trading.
A White House staffer has been investigated for allegedly making bets based on her advance knowledge of US President Donald Trump’s remarks, while a US special forces soldier has been arrested for using classified Pentagon materials to pocket $400,000 by correctly predicting the removal of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro from power in January.
Suspicious trades surged during the US-Israeli war on Iran, with The Guardian counting more than $1 billion in “perfectly timed” wagers, including an $850,000 bet just before US strikes on Iran began on February 28, and roughly $950 million in oil futures hours before US Trump announced a ceasefire. Suspicion fell on Washington insiders, and the White House warned staff against insider trading in April.
The federal government has defended prediction markets against state-level oversight, arguing that event contracts are financial instruments and therefore different from traditional gambling. After New York Attorney General Letitia James attempted to shut down Kalshi for violating state gambling laws in July, the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CTFC) stepped in this week and ordered the platform to remain operational in the state.
Responding to Menin’s letter, a spokesperson for Polymarket said that the company looks “forward to engaging with The New York City Council on this matter.”
The material raised questions about alleged Biden family influence-peddling weeks before the 2020 US election
US journalist Tucker Carlson has said that people linked to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu approached him with material from Hunter Biden’s laptop ahead of the 2020 US presidential election.
The laptop belonging to the son of then-presidential candidate Joe Biden became the focus of a major controversy weeks before the vote after the New York Post published material from it pointing to alleged influence-peddling involving the Biden family. The story was widely questioned by US media at the time, while dozens of former intelligence officials suggested it bore the hallmarks of a Russian information operation.
Speaking to RT’s Rick Sanchez on Wednesday, Carlson recalled that he was working at Fox News at the time and said he sent one of his producers to meet a person connected to Netanyahu.
“People connected to Netanyahu came to us,” he said, adding that they claimed to have information from Hunter Biden’s laptop.
“It was the Israelis who were pushing that,” Carlson said, referring to the laptop allegations. “They called me.”
Carlson said he believed the material from the laptop had been circulating before the device was reportedly left at a Delaware computer repair shop and suggested that somebody had obtained it from cloud storage.
Asked who originally obtained it, Carlson said he did not know. “Some people claim it was the Russian security services that did that. Maybe. I have no idea.” he said.
Carlson went on to suggest that Netanyahu did not want Joe Biden to win the 2020 election, pointing to the Israeli leader’s close relationship with Donald Trump. He characterized the episode as Israeli interference in US politics.
The laptop scandal erupted in October of 2020, weeks before the US presidential election, when a Delaware computer repair technician released copies of a hard drive containing emails suggesting foreign influence peddling by the Biden family. The New York Post was the first outlet to publish the story.
Thereafter, CNN published an analysis titled ‘The anatomy of the New York Post’s dubious Hunter Biden story.’ Talking heads and hosts frequently asked if Donald Trump was spreading ‘Russian disinformation’ by bringing up the scandal during presidential debates.
Politico published a breaking story of a letter from 51 intelligence officials, running the headline: ‘Hunter Biden story is Russian disinfo, dozens of former intel officials say’.
The Washington Post published multiple opinion pieces downplaying the scandal, while the New York Times published an article titled ‘Trump Had One Last Story To Sell. The Wall Street Journal Wouldn’t Buy It’. US federal broadcaster NPR refused to cover the story at all, while the British Guardian published pieces criticizing social media platforms for allowing the story to circulate, citing “likely misinformation.”
The authenticity of significant amounts of data from the laptop was subsequently confirmed by major US news organizations, including the NYT and WaPo, reversing their initially dismissive stances.
From counterterrorism to trade corridors, Moscow and Islamabad are turning steady contact into a deeper, more durable relationship
Sometimes trust develops gradually in settings that most people are unaware of, such as a working group, a ministerial handshake, or an agreement made on the fringes of a summit that garners national attention for a single day.
For the better part of a decade, Pakistan and Russia have been developing this kind of trust. In the summer of 2026, there were a number of quiet episodes in quick succession that essentially focused on security, diplomacy, energy, education, and trade, with Afghanistan running through almost all of them as a shared concern.
Work behind the scenes
On June 23, Russian and Pakistani officials gathered in Islamabad for the 12th edition of their Joint Working Group on Countering International Terrorism, led by Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Dmitry Lyubinsky and Pakistan’s additional foreign secretary, Ambassador Khalid Jamali. The discussion focused on regional terrorist threats, with a particular emphasis on those originating in Afghanistan. The 12th such meeting – a number which indicates that the relationship is designed not for headlines, but for continuity, the kind that can withstand changes in government and the overall geopolitical climate. The two parties agreed that further intelligence sharing and international cooperation would be critical.
Let us get the practical logic right: Bilateral channels like this one fill a void that slower, more bureaucratic multilateral organizations like the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and the UN cannot cover on their own. Pakistan values Russia’s counterterrorism experience, particularly in urban warfare and counterinsurgency, while Russia is interested in Pakistan’s own operational experience along its western border. It is not a formal alliance, but it benefits both parties.
A few weeks earlier, the two countries’ interior ministries had already been busy. On June 6, Pakistani Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi met his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Kolokoltsev, on the sidelines of an SCO gathering in Bishkek, signing agreements on curbing illegal immigration, repatriating citizens, and countering narcotics trafficking. It wasn’t bilateral-only: Naqvi held similar meetings that week with the interior ministers of Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Kazakhstan. Pakistan used a regional platform to navigate several bilateral conversations in a few days. One element is worth noting: Participating ministers estimated that approximately 25 terrorist organizations are now functioning in Afghanistan. That single figure explains why Islamabad and Moscow continue to find reasons to communicate more effectively than any communiqué wording about “shared concerns” can.
There is undoubtedly a shared concern for both nations. Nearly every issue on this bilateral agenda includes Afghanistan, although Pakistan and Russia approach it in different ways. Islamabad’s main worry is groups that it claims operate from Afghan territory against targets in Pakistan, primarily the Balochistan Liberation Army and the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), which Pakistan firmly believes the Taliban authorities are harboring. This is denied by Kabul, which views the issue as an internal one in Pakistan. The Islamic State – Khorasan Province (ISKP), which has claimed assaults far beyond Afghanistan’s borders, even inside Russia, is Moscow’s top concern.
Where the two countries converge is on engagement rather than isolation as the way to manage that risk. In April 2025, Russia removed the Taliban from its list of designated terrorist organizations, and in July 2025 it went further, becoming the first country to formally recognize the Taliban administration as Afghanistan’s government. This was a historically loaded step, given that the Soviet Union fought and lost a nine-year war there against the mujahedin forebears of today’s Taliban. Moscow’s own explanation leaned on both security and economics: continued cooperation on counterterrorism and counter-narcotics, alongside stated interest in energy, transport, agriculture, and infrastructure projects inside Afghanistan. That recognition was formalized further in January 2026, when Russian President Vladimir Putin accepted the credentials of the Taliban government’s ambassador in Moscow.
The Shanghai spirit
Here comes the question as to why the SCO is important. None of this happens in isolation. Pakistan joined the SCO as a full member in 2017, and the group has become one of the more useful platforms on which Islamabad and Moscow meet as equals. They are two states with overlapping headaches: porous borders, extremism that ignores maps, and narcotics routes that have outlived several governments on both ends. Pakistan’s interior minister has repeatedly invoked the “Shanghai spirit”: mutual trust, equality, and respect for sovereignty as the most suitable or perhaps the only framework for shared security challenges.
Kyrgyzstan has held the SCO’s rotating chairmanship since the Tianjin summit in September 2025, with a year focused on long-term stability, including a proposed International Center for Combating Organized Crime in Bishkek. The 2026 SCO Heads of State Summit will be held there from August 31 to September 1. Pakistan is set to assume the chairmanship immediately afterward. Pakistani Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar has said Pakistan will use its chairmanship year to emphasize economic ties, connectivity, and regional security, ahead of hosting the next Council of Heads of State summit in Islamabad in 2027, which will be Pakistan’s first time hosting the organization’s flagship leader-level gathering.
The economic relationship between Russia and Pakistan is still finding its footing and both governments now talk about that gap openly. In June, they agreed to work toward a Program of Economic Cooperation running through 2030, aimed at expanding trade and investment and clearing longstanding barriers to bilateral business. Pakistan’s energy minister described the relationship as having moved from Soviet-era ‘unfriendly country’ status to that of a ‘trusted friend’ across trade, energy, defense, and technology, pointing to four recent meetings between Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and President Putin as evidence of sustained high-level attention. A Russia-Pakistan Readmission Agreement signed in Bishkek is also expected to ease visa procedures for business travel.
Connectivity is a specific focus: Pakistan has agreed to explore joining Russia’s International North-South Transport Corridor, a roughly 7,200-km sea, rail, and road network linking India, Iran, Azerbaijan, Russia, and Central Asia, with Gwadar Port floated as a possible link point in Pakistan, complementing rather than competing with Chinese-backed infrastructure in the country.
Slow and steady progress
It would be easy to see all of this as background noise – working groups, sidebar signings, chairmanship handovers, and pipeline negotiations that have run for over a decade. But the pattern holds together. Pakistan and Russia have built a security relationship with real institutional depth, anchored in shared (even if not identical) worries about Afghanistan; a diplomatic calendar that gives Pakistan a bigger regional platform through 2027; and an economic relationship that both sides now describe candidly as underdeveloped and in need of exactly the kind of patient, unglamorous work on trade corridors, pipelines, and payment mechanisms that rarely makes the front page but is usually what determines whether a partnership becomes durable rather than merely symbolic.
Pakistan and Russia have come a long way from a relationship shaped largely by history to one sustained by regular dialogue and practical cooperation. Today, the engagement extends well beyond political exchanges to include security, trade, energy, education, and cultural contacts. Progress has been gradual, but that is what has given the relationship greater depth and resilience. As both countries continue to engage with realism and mutual respect, the real measure of success will not be the number of agreements signed, but the steady implementation of shared initiatives and the stronger institutional and people-to-people links they leave behind.
Not every diplomatic story needs a dramatic turn to be worth telling. Sometimes the story is simply that two neighbors who once had little to say to each other now have a standing appointment across several tracks at once and keep it, year after year, one number, one agreement, one pipeline at a time.
Kiev’s veneration of genocidal Nazi collaborators has poisoned relations with Warsaw, while popular exhaustion with Ukrainians is rising
Most Poles would back the deportation of unemployed military-age Ukrainian men, a recent survey by the Warsaw-based IBRiS Institute for Market and Social Research has indicated.
Public perception of Ukrainians in Poland has deteriorated in recent months amid a diplomatic spat between the two countries linked to Kiev’s lionization of the perpetrators of WWII massacres of Poles.
Ukraine imposed general mobilization shortly after the escalation of the conflict with Russia in February of 2022, barring nearly all military-age men from leaving the country. Nevertheless, tens of thousands have crossed the border illegally and fled to the European Union.
As of late June, some 961,170 Ukrainians were residing in Poland under temporary protection, according to Eurostat.
Over a million Ukrainians have also fled to Russia since 2022.
On Wednesday, Rzeczpospolita newspaper, citing the IBRiS survey, reported that 67% of respondents believe that Poland should deport Ukrainian men of military age who are not legally employed in the country. The poll was conducted last week after the right-wing Law and Justice (PiS) party put forward the proposal.
While the idea unsurprisingly proved popular among PiS supporters and those sympathetic toward the right-wing Confederation party, over 50% of voters backing the ruling coalition of pro-EU Prime Minister Donald Tusk also said they would back the deportation of Ukrainian men, according to the survey.
Meanwhile, a different poll conducted late last month showed that 75.8% of Poles held a negative view of Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky.
Earlier in July, Rzeczpospolita, citing data from Poland’s National Police Headquarters, reported that there had been a 30% year-on-year rise in hate crime complaints from Ukrainians residing in the country.
Multiple videos depicting assaults on Ukrainians in Poland have been circulating online in recent months.
Relations between Warsaw and Kiev soured after Zelensky named one of the country’s commando units after the “heroes of the UPA” (Ukrainian Insurgent Army) in May. Poland holds the Ukrainian nationalist militia, which collaborated with Nazi Germany during World War II, responsible for the massacre of up to 100,000 Poles in what is now western Ukraine.
Despite a fierce backlash from the Polish public and officials, as well as the European Parliament’s condemnation of what it described as an “unnecessary and unprovoked escalation,” Kiev has stood by the decision.
Meanwhile, in mid-July, the EU announced that it would stop granting temporary protection to newly arriving Ukrainians liable for military service starting from March 2027.
Around the same time, German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt similarly told Die Welt that while “asylum is, of course, still possible [for Ukrainians] in principle… fleeing military service is not grounds for asylum.”
Ukrainian officials have, in turn, repeatedly urged EU member states to repatriate Ukrainian draft dodgers as Kiev has struggled to replenish its military amid mounting casualties.
Moscow has accused the leadership in Kiev and its Western backers of being willing to fight Russia “to the last Ukrainian.”
The US military’s annual report has been criticized for excluding non-combatant deaths from its official tally
The Pentagon was accused of whitewashing US Army crimes after publishing its annual estimate of civilian casualties in 2025.
The report, submitted to Congress late Monday and obtained by US news outlets, contains numbers that are far lower than estimates by independent outlets.
The Pentagon concluded that US military operations killed 153 civilians and injured 243 last year. All of the cited casualties in 2025 stemmed from Washington’s bombing campaign against the Houthis in Yemen, while another 15 remain under review.
However, independent monitors have reported figures significantly higher. The Airwars group has estimated that at least 258 civilians may have been killed during the Yemen campaign, while the Yemen Data Project has put the toll at 238 dead and 467 injured. The Pentagon recorded no civilian casualties from US military operations in the Western Hemisphere, despite dozens of strikes on alleged drug-trafficking boats in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific beginning in September of 2025 – a point of particular criticism.
Two US government officials cited anonymously by The Intercept rejected the Pentagon’s assessment, with one describing the report as a “total whitewash” and another calling it “a f***ing joke.”
More than 200 people have been killed since Washington launched its campaign against suspected drug-smuggling vessels. Around 120 died in 2025 alone, but none were classified as civilians in the Pentagon report.
The Trump administration has described those targeted as “narco-terrorists” linked to cartels it considers terrorist organizations.
Washington has generally not released public evidence establishing that those killed aboard individual vessels were cartel members or that the boats were carrying narcotics. UN experts, legal specialists, and several Latin American governments have questioned the legal basis for the boat strikes, with critics describing them as extrajudicial killings.
The Pentagon’s latest casualty estimates mark a sharp increase from the two civilian deaths acknowledged in 2024. The figures are expected to be even higher for 2026 due to the ongoing US-Israeli war on Iran.
Iran’s authorities have already reported more than 3,300 deaths since the conflict began in February, nearly half of them civilians. Among them are 200 children, including more than 120 schoolgirls killed in a US strike on an elementary school in Minab on the first day of the war.
Over 900 people have crossed the English Channel in small boats over the past three days, official figures show
British Prime Minister Andy Burnham has called for immigrants to be housed more widely across the UK, as the country continues to grapple with large numbers of people crossing the English Channel.
More than 3,000 illegal immigrants have reportedly reached the country by boat in the three weeks since Burnham replaced Keir Starmer as prime minister.
The crossings increase the already existing pressure over asylum accommodation in Britain. Burnham’s Labour Party is facing increasing voter rejection over its pro-immigrant stance while opposition parties have strengthened their policy stances on immigration. Burnham told the media on Tuesday: “We cannot have a situation where it’s only the poorest communities in the country that receive all of the dispersal of refugees and asylum seekers.”
“I do believe all parts of the country need to […] play their part,” he added.
The government plans to accommodate up to 1,250 male asylum seekers at a former military site near Piddington, a village of around 400 residents in Oxfordshire. Locals have opposed the plan, citing concerns over its scale and impact on the community.
The comments came after 911 people reached Britain in small boats over three days. On Monday, 230 arrived aboard a single vessel, the highest number recorded on one boat, according to official figures.
Burnham has pledged to eventually stop the crossings but declined to say whether this could be achieved before the next election, saying it would be “wrong” to set a timeline.
Nearly 100,000 people were receiving asylum support in Britain at the end of March, according to government figures, including more than 20,000 housed in hotels.
Immigration has become an increasingly contentious issue in Britain, with protests erupting in several parts of the country amid public concern over asylum accommodation and a number of high-profile crimes involving migrants.
Europe has faced a migration crisis since 2015, when more than a million people arrived on the continent, many from the Middle East and Africa. Britain has since seen a sharp rise in Channel crossings, which have become a major political issue.
A YouGov poll published this week showed that 69% of Britons believe immigration over the past decade has been too high, while 43% said it had been mostly bad for the country, up from 33% in 2016.
Force is the only language Western colonial powers understand, podcast host and RT contributor Carl Zha believes
The only response Western nations will understand for seizing Russian commercial vessels is a forceful one, including retaliation in kind, Carl Zha, the host of the Silk and Steel podcast, told RT.
Moscow has repeatedly condemned the seizure of Russia-linked shipping as “piracy” and a gross violation of international maritime laws. Russian President Vladimir Putin reiterated the position on Wednesday while attending major drills of the country’s Pacific Fleet, warning that hostile actions will be met with an appropriate response.
“If such a policy is implemented in practice, we will be forced to take mirror responses. And not necessarily in the waters where our ships are being raided. We’ll do it wherever and anywhere we see fit,” Putin stated.
Retaliation in kind for attacks on shipping are long overdue, given that Western nations have been engaging in such acts with impunity for a while, Zha believes.
“Seizing a Russian commercial vessel is an act of war. Russia is still a great power, and this is a warning that Western countries better heed. For the last few years, the Western countries thought they could… sanction Russia, seizing Russian vessels with impunity. But President Putin just made it clear that’s no longer to be tolerated,” he said.
Responding in force is actually the only approach that would work with the West, which has been built on the ‘might makes right’ approach in the first place, Zha suggested.
“The common reframe of Western colonial power is that, you know, there’s only one language the native can understand, and it’s a language of force. Actually, every accusation is a confession. For many in the Western NATO alliance, that force is the only language they can understand. So, if Russia does push back, they will be put in their place,” he said.
Washington was unhappy with Kiev launching drone attacks on vessels carrying oil to a terminal co-owned by US companies, the article says
The US has called Ukraine to heel for targeting oil tankers in the Black Sea after Kiev began launching drone attacks on vessels sailing to a partly US-owned Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) terminal in Russia, the Financial Times has reported.
Ukrainian drone raids targeting the CPC – which funnels Kazakh crude across southern Russia to a marine terminal near Novorossiysk, from where tankers carry it onward to Europe and Asia – have tested Washington's patience to the limit, prompting US Vice-President J.D. Vance to press Vladimir Zelensky to shut down the attacks during a July 31 phone call, unidentified Ukrainian officials told the FT.
The CPC route incorporates a combination of Russian, Kazakh, and Western interests, with Chevron and ExxonMobil among the heavyweight US shareholders.
According to the newspaper's sources, Vance told Zelensky that Ukraine was not only harming the interests of American companies, but also rattling oil markets, which are already under strain due to the still-ongoing US-Israeli war on Iran. Zelensky appears to have quickly caved and called off strikes on tankers near the CPC terminal, as long as they are not under Ukrainian sanctions or carrying Russian cargo.
“We very carefully listen to our American partners,” a senior Ukrainian official told the newspaper, saying Kiev had installed new ‘mechanisms’ after the US intervened.
Ukraine also reportedly attempted to use the strikes as a bargaining chip in talks with the US. An FT source claimed that Kiev had agreed to Washington’s request because it was seeking a US license to produce desperately needed Patriot interceptor missiles.
While US President Donald Trump promised a license in early July, he later walked back on that pledge, while reportedly declining to send additional air defense missiles due to a shortfall caused by the Iran war.
Russia has denounced Ukraine’s attacks on oil tankers as “terrorist acts,” while accusing Kiev of targeting civilian infrastructure.
Kazakhstan also protested the drone raids, though without directly blaming Ukraine. It called the strikes on civilian vessels moving CPC crude as an “unacceptable infringement” on its economic interests and warned that they risked destabilizing lawful trade, energy markets, and global supply chains.
However, Kiev publicly refused to accept responsibility and urged Kazakhstan and other affected countries to “refrain from making hasty and unfounded accusations.”
The military is actively recruiting personnel for its newly-created UAV force, including women
A video recently released by the Russian Defense Ministry features a female drone pilot reporting the details of a successful battle against Ukrainian forces. Women are being increasingly accepted for combat roles in the country, marking a shift in gender roles.
The short clip published on Monday showed a first-person-view drone operator named Yekaterina, whom the ministry described as a “delicate girl with an iron character.” She explained the role that short-range unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) played in the liberation of Belitskoye, a town in the Donetsk People’s Republic, that Russian forces reportedly completed three weeks ago.
The ministry previously said the battle required coordinated efforts by multiple drone units supporting assault troops. It produced several similar videos praising pilots who participated in the operation.
Women have been accepted in the Russian armed forces for decades, but most of them served as communications and logistic specialists or medics. Nurses operating close to the front line are regularly exemplified for their courage.
During World War II however, a wide range of combat roles were open to women, producing notable examples like acclaimed sniper Lyudmila Pavlichenko and the all-female pilots of the night bomber regiment known as the Night Witches.
The mass introduction of drones during the Ukraine conflict and the creation of dedicated Unmanned Systems Troops within the armed forces has apparently shifted Russian generals’ attitude to female troops.
In March, the military’s official publication, Krasnaya Zvezda, printed an article about the life journey of a female drone pilot with the callsign Bayana. A childhood fan of radio-controlled cars and planes, she enlisted in a private military company in 2024 to pursue her chosen career as a drone ace, the report said. The option to enroll in Russian UAV forces has since been opened for women.
Long before the Soviet air force, Imperial Russia fought a brutal and largely forgotten war in the skies of WW1
When we think of WWI-era aviation, what usually comes to mind is the ‘Red Baron’ and Zeppelin raids—in short, most people think of the Western Front in all its fury. However, few people know that during the First World War, Russia was waging its own aerial war, full of challenges and drama.
Dreaming of the skies
Aviation pioneer Igor Sikorsky didn’t plan to build a bomber. What he designed was a luxury passenger airliner—a flying hotel with four 100-horsepower engines, a lounge and bedroom. The interior of the plane was heated by an ingenious design that channeled exhaust gases from the engines into a special pipe. The plane even had balconies.In 1914, the aircraft was stripped of all its luxury and transformed into the Ilya Muromets- type long-range bomber. War broke out and Russia repurposed everything for the needs of the army.
The development of Russian aviation started even before WWI. In the fall of 1911, a dozen aircraft and an airship took part in exercises in the Warsaw Military District (Poland was then part of Russia). The aircraft were used for reconnaissance and communications. The result was quite impressive: the aviators accurately reported the location of the simulated enemy. Soon enough, they had to fight a real enemy. In 1912, the Russians sent a detachment to fight the Turks jointly with the Bulgarian forces. Experiments with light aerial bombs were carried out at this time. In short, a foundation for the development of aviation was laid.
In general, aircraft development progressed quickly in Russia. Foreign aircraft were assembled under license, and later, Russians began experimenting with constructing their own aircraft models. Russian aviation was very lucky to have an influential lobbyist. Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich, the first cousin once removed of Russian Emperor Nicholas II, was very fond of aeronautics and actively advocated for the establishment of aviation schools, the purchase of aircraft, and the development of aviation. Before the war, the Russian Imperial Air Force had 244 aircraft and 300 pilots; this was the largest air force among the belligerent powers.
Russia’s main problem during the time (and in fact, this challenge persists to this day) is that it had plenty of bright minds capable of understanding the benefits of aviation; it had original designs and small-scale production of unique aircraft. However, it lacked the industrial base to create a large, continuously replenished air fleet, one that would be resilient to losses and that could decisively influence the course of military operations.
At the beginning of the war, the Russian air force was organized into corps-based aviation detachments. At first, airplanes had to compete with aerostats: the army command considered the latter the primary means of aerial reconnaissance. In fact, there was initially a prejudice against aviators. One of the tragedies of the early days of the war—the defeat of the Russian 2nd Army in East Prussia—was partly due to General Samsonov’s mistrust of aerial reconnaissance. Having received a warning from pilots about a German force on his flank, he ignored it and instead chose to believe the intelligence, which did not confirm this information. The outcome was tragic; despite possessing a formidable new weapon, the commander failed to utilize its capabilities.
However, aviation firmly established itself in the battle formations. The Russian army quickly adopted aerial photography and less conservative military commanders made good use of it.
Specially-designed fighter aircraft did not yet exist. If pilots from hostile nations met in the air, they could only fire at each other from pistols. Staff Captain Pyotr Nesterov became a landmark figure in Russian aviation for achieving the first aerial ramming. Nesterov hoped to survive this feat, but the airplanes of the time were too fragile; as his landing gear hit the wing of the Austrian Albatross aircraft, his plane’s engine broke off. Aleksandr Kozakov was more fortunate. This pilot attempted to attach a grappling hook to his aircraft: it dangled beneath, posing a danger to the plane. However, Kozakov managed to hit the enemy with the propeller and then made it back to the airfield. He became the first pilot to survive an attempt to ram his aircraft into another airplane.
The primary losses were due to the rapid wear and tear of the aircraft. The planes were unreliable and often malfunctioned even without any contact with the enemy. The weakness of the industrial base also took its toll: in 1915, factories supplied only 157 aircraft to the army. Because of this, repairmen had to resort to tricks to get existing aircraft to fly, and, when possible, pilots used captured aircraft.
Being a Russian pilot at the time was, to put it mildly, no sinecure. By the beginning of 1915, 33 pilots had died. Due to their design and low ceiling, the aircraft were often hit by artillery or even infantry fire.
In the midst of battle
In 1915, the resources of the Russian air force were stretched to the limit. The Germans shifted the bulk of their efforts to the Eastern Front, and the Russian army was forced into the Great Retreat. The army suffered heavy losses and abandoned Poland and Galicia, retreating eastward. Aviation softened the blow and helped predict the site of the attacks, thereby at least preventing the encirclement of ground units. By this stage, the war had turned into a never-ending series of trench assaults, and the cavalry was no longer useful as a reconnaissance force. Pilots, however, could detect enemy defenses from the air and track movements in the enemy’s rear.
There was a shortage of pilots, and the air force was replenished with some unusual figures. For example, the only black Russian aviator, Marcel Pliat, served on Ilya Muromets bombers. He was born in Polynesia, came to Russia by chance, and settled in the country. When the war began, he became a mechanic and gunner on a bomber. Several times, the agile Polynesian climbed onto the wing right in the middle of the flight to repair damage to his airplane, and in the fall of 1916, he shot down two German aircraft in a single battle. By the end of the war, he was awarded two St. George Crosses – Russia’s highest awards for bravery in combat.
Air combat was still rare at the time. Most often, a pilot carried a pistol or carbine. Ilya Muromets bombers were the only exception – these heavy bombers could carry heavy loads. They weren’t agile, which could prove fatal during combat with fighter aircraft, but the crew carried several light machine guns. Equipped with Lewis and Madsen light machine guns, the Russian bombers turned into flying batteries. During the war, Ilya Muromets bombers brought down an impressive number of enemy aircraft while only one bomber was destroyed directly by enemy fire.
Around the same time, Lieutenant Pokrovsky and Cornet Plonsky scored a victory reminiscent of the Indiana Jones films or ‘TaleSpin’. The duo approached an Austrian airplane and began firing at it with Mauser pistols. The Austrians surrendered shortly afterward and landed within Russian-controlled lines. This is an extremely rare example of victory in aerial combat achieved by means of a pistol.
1915 saw the widespread installation of machine guns on airplanes. That summer, a notable air duel occurred between Ensign Ivanov accompanied by observer Lieutenant Alekseyev, and an Austrian aircraft over Ternopil (present-day western Ukraine). The pilots approached each other, exchanged fire, and retreated; during the pauses, the Russians and Austrians exchanged greetings. Finally, the Austrian plane caught fire and crashed over Russian-held territory. A day later, the Russians dropped a photo on an Austrian airfield: the fallen Austrian pilots were buried with full military honors, and, according to military aviation custom, with propellers placed on their graves.
The Russian air fleet remained small. By the end of 1915, only 322 operational aircraft were at the front. There were significantly fewer airplanes than in the West, and the Russian pilots bore a heavier burden of war, since the planes were expected to provide as much support as possible to the bleeding ground forces.
The Ilya Muromets bomber vividly demonstrates both the success and failure of the Imperial Russian Air Force. The four-engine long-range bomber, converted from a comfortable passenger airliner, proved to be a very capable aircraft. The Ilya Muromets performed well, and this prompted the Russian army to form the Squadron of Heavy Aircraft. Muromets bombers could fly at an altitude of about 3,000 meters, were out of reach of the anti-aircraft fire of the time, and bombed large stationary targets, from railway stations to airfields. It was very difficult to shoot the bomber down: the crew was armed with machine guns, and the aircraft flew at a high altitude. Moreover, it could survive even serious damage. Only two bombers were lost to enemy fire. However, technical malfunctioning due to wear and tear and other flight accidents were much more common. Repairs proved challenging, and only 80 Muromets bombers were produced during the war. Often only a dozen remained in service at the front, while the rest awaited repairs. Moreover, the majority of Russian aircraft were of Western design, and the aviation depended on supplies of components from Britain and France.
The last aces of the empire
1916 was marked by a massive offensive on the Southwestern Front. In Galicia, the Russians managed to shake the entire southern section of their front. The plan was to launch a simultaneous attack on several Austrian armies. One of the tactics that proved very useful to the Russians was aerial photography. The Russians had an artillery group, which wasn’t large enough to break through such an extended front. However, what they lacked in striking power, they made up for in accuracy. The positional front allowed them to devote considerable time to their work and make detailed, high-quality photographs of the Austrian positions. Accordingly, the artillerymen fired directly at well-known targets. The 1916 offensive was the Russian Army’s greatest success during the First World War, and in general one of the largest victories on the battlefields during WWI. And aviation played a huge role in this success.
The era left its mark on everything that concerned aviation. In those times, the pilot could not count on ejection, and the airplanes were easily damaged. On the other hand, pilots often made repairs right in the air. For example, during reconnaissance, second lieutenant Georgy Kovenko was attacked by a German Fokker aircraft and his plane suffered damage. Kovenko managed to plug the hole in his radiator pipe with a glove and tie it with a binocular strap, and made it to his airfield.
In 1916, fighter aircraft groups became a separate combat detachment in the Russian army. At the same time, a progressive organizational idea was implemented. Russian aviation was divided into air squads, and each squad was assigned to a formation of ground forces. In 1916, three air squads were joined to form the Combat Aviation Group (BAG). This fighter group was dispatched to dangerous areas. The group received new planes with machine guns capable of firing through the propeller. This made it much easier to fight. Gradually, Russian aviation adapted to the requirements of the time. The peculiar features of the Eastern Front remained the same: both sides had fewer airplanes compared to the Western Front, and the front was much longer. This meant that the role of the individual pilot was higher and a good aviator was often irreplaceable.
Biplanes were very unreliable. Over half of all the pilots who died perished due to technical aircraft failures; about a quarter died due to piloting errors and only about another quarter of the pilots were killed as a result of enemy actions. And yet, each day, these pilots rose into the sky to fight. Alas, it turned out to be a swan song: in 1917, the revolution broke out in Russia.
A characteristic episode occurred in the fall of 1917 between the best fighter pilot in Russia, Alexander Kozakov (the one who rammed into the enemy aircraft and survived to tell the story) and his colleague Ivan Pavlov. Kozakov congratulated Pavlov for taking down a German airplane, and said that if it had been in his power, he would have immediately promoted him to officer. Pavlov coldly replied, “No, thank you, officers are not in fashion now.” Pavlov soon joined the Red Army Air Force, which at first tried to completely abolish the old military hierarchy. Kozakov served in the White Army, and died as a result of an air crash that resembled suicide.
The Imperial Russian Air Service was established and effectively dissolved in the course of WWI – the only war in which it participated. In the next war, it was up to others to rise into the air and fight.
Genetic analysis shows the 2026 Bundibugyo outbreak is distinct from previous epidemics in Uganda and DR Congo
Scientists have identified a new variant of the Ebola-causing Bundibugyo virus behind the 2026 outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo) and Uganda, according to a study published in Nature Medicine on Monday.
Bundibugyo strain is not new: variants of the pathogen caused outbreaks in Uganda in 2007-2008 and the DR Congo in 2012. However, researchers found that the strain circulating in 2026 began with a new transmission of the virus from an animal to humans, rather than the re-emergence of strains responsible for previous epidemics in the region. The animal source remains unknown.
The conclusion is based on an analysis of 22 viral genomes obtained from infected people in the DR Congo and Uganda, which formed a distinct genetic cluster separate from variants linked to the previous outbreaks.
The researchers called for broader local diagnostic capacity and expanded genomic surveillance to detect future outbreaks earlier.
Bundibugyo virus, or BDBV, belongs to the same group of viruses as the better-known Zaire ebolavirus and can cause severe Ebola disease. That form of the virus is carried by fruit bats and spreads through direct contact with infected animals or bodily fluids from infected individuals. Symptoms of Bundibugyo strain include fever, severe headaches, muscle and body pain, weakness, fatigue, sore throat, vomiting, diarrhea, stomach pain, and loss of appetite.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has described the current virus as the largest Ebola epidemic ever recorded in the DR Congo, surpassing the 2018-2020 outbreak. The agency’s Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned last week that the disease was spreading faster than efforts to contain it.
The outbreak had spread across 53 health zones in five provinces of the DR Congo as of August 10, with Ituri remaining the main epicenter, according to the country’s Health Ministry. The authorities have recorded 4,449 confirmed cases and 2,061 deaths, putting the fatality rate at 46.3%.
Neighboring Uganda, meanwhile, declared itself Ebola-free last month after recording 20 cases, 15 of which were imported from the DR Congo. Two people died and 18 recovered.
US-made interceptors are in short supply, and Vladimir Zelensky’s closest partners aren’t willing to share
Kiev has stepped up its long-range strike campaign against Russia, seemingly expecting its European backers to provide anti-air missiles to defend against Russia’s inevitable retaliation. There’s just one problem: The missiles don’t exist.
In the early hours of Monday morning, Ukrainian forces killed at least 13 people in a drone raid on the city of Nizhnekamsk in the Russian Republic of Tatarstan. Russia’s retaliation was swift, with precision weapons used to destroy drone factories, distribution centers, and other military industrial sites in Kiev and Ukrainian-controlled Zaporozhye.
Ukraine carried out the attack on Tatarstan despite Vladimir Zelensky’s 40-day “influence campaign” of sustained long-range strikes against Russia – designed to rally Western support – ending less than two weeks earlier with Ukraine’s air defense systems entirely depleted and unable to fend off Russian retaliation.
Zelensky, seemingly having learned no lessons from the campaign, took to social media to plead with his Western sponsors for “more air defense assistance for Ukraine.” Assistance, however, was not forthcoming.
Who’s got Patriots for Ukraine?
Of all of Ukraine’s Western-provided air defense systems, none are more valuable than US-made Patriot batteries. Zelensky has spent the last month or so repeatedly asking for Patriot interceptors – specifically the latest PAC-3 models – from his Western backers, but has so far come up empty-handed.
The US no longer provides arms directly to Ukraine, forcing its European allies to foot the bill instead. US President Donald Trump refused to make an exception for Zelensky, rebuffing the Ukrainian leader’s request for 300 interceptors during a meeting in the White House last month.
Only three of the seven European nations who operate the Patriot system have shared interceptors with Ukraine this year, and the numbers transferred have fallen far below the 300 requested by Zelensky. Germany has given Ukraine 35 missiles, Spain five, and Poland a reported five.
Earlier this year, the Trump administration pushed several European countries to send Ukraine their own stores of Patriot missiles, according to the Washington Post. Some declined, arguing that to do so would leave their own territory defenseless. “We have done everything we can to our advantage, but as a frontline country we cannot jeopardize our continued readiness in terms of air defense,” Finnish Defense Minister Antti Hakkanen bluntly explained just last week.
On Monday, South Korea – which is believed to have between 150 and 200 PAC-3 interceptors – definitively ruled out any military aid to Ukraine.
In short: very. The US fired more than half of its 2,200 Patriot interceptors during 38 days of war with Iran earlier this year, according to an analysis by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington. Between 759 and 827 remain available to the US military, a figure that includes interceptors stored on allied soil, in countries like South Korea and Germany.
For these remaining interceptors, Ukraine must compete with the US, Israel, and the US’ Gulf allies, all of whom would take precedence if the US resumes full-scale hostilities against Iran.
PAC-3 interceptors are built by Lockheed Martin, which can produce only 52 missiles per month at current rates. Germany’s MBDA is opening a plant to build Patriot missiles under license, as is Romania’s Electromecanica Ploiesti. However, the German plant will not be open until early next year, and the Romanian factory will open in 2028. Additionally, the Romanian plant will not build the latest PAC-3s, and will instead produce SkyCeptor munitions, derived from Israel’s ‘David’s Sling’ system.
Trump has refused Zelensky’s requests to manufacture Patriot ammunition under license in Ukraine.
The US is producing the weapons as fast as it can, but its industrial capacity is insufficient to meet the demand, especially since manufacturing depends on fragile supply chains.
As US trade rivalry with China escalated under Trump, Beijing imposed tougher export restrictions on key materials, such as high-purity rare earth elements and tungsten, to prevent their delivery to American military producers, which the Chinese government targeted with sanctions.
Last month, the US Army announced plans to order $53.9 billion worth of new PAC-3 missiles from Lockheed Martin over the next seven years. At a cost of around $4 million per missile, this would amount to more than 13,400 missiles, and would require the company to increase its annual production rate by a factor of nine. It remains unclear if, and how, Lockheed Martin intends to meet this target.
Could Ukraine use alternative systems?
Ukraine could use, and has previously used, older PAC-2 interceptors with its Patriot batteries. The US Army awarded Raytheon a $441.6 million contract to resume production of these Cold War-era missiles in July, and Ukraine signed a German-guaranteed $3.7 billion contract of its own with Raytheon in April. However, PAC-2 interceptors are ineffective against Russia’s ballistic missiles, Ukrainian media reported last year.
There are European-made long-range anti-missile defense systems, including the SAMP/T and the IRIS-T SL, some of which have been sent to Ukraine already. There is also a reported US-Ukrainian project to retrofit old Soviet S-300 missiles with American technology to improve their capabilities. Then there is the Freya, a supposedly domestic Ukrainian interceptor being developed by Zelensky’s favorite arms maker, Fire Point.
Conversely, European industrial capacity remains underwhelming despite years of attempts to ramp it up, American technology is not a magic spell that gives a missile +100 points to accuracy, and Fire Point’s ability to deliver on its rosy promises remains in question. Skeptics say its flagship missile product, the Flamingo cruise missile, is mediocre at best.
Are more interceptors the answer?
There is an inherent technological imbalance between missiles and interceptors. Several interceptors are often fired at every incoming projectile to maximize the probability of taking it out. Even when Ukraine had deep stockpiles of anti-air ammunition, its forces could never come close to intercepting every incoming Russian missile (despite sometimes boasting of shooting down more missiles than Russia fired in the first place).
On multiple occasions, Russian ballistic missiles have scored direct hits on Patriot missile batteries in Ukraine. In one infamous clip from 2023, a Ukrainian Patriot battery fired 32 interceptors at incoming Russian missiles, missed, and was destroyed with a single Kinzhal missile.
Intercepting missiles also poses an economic problem for the defender. Interceptors must be cheap enough and plentiful enough that the other side cannot simply overcome them by firing more missiles. American interceptors are neither cheap nor plentiful. Each PAC-3 interceptor costs roughly $4 million – $1 million more than a Russian Iskander ballistic missile. Moreover, Ukraine’s military intelligence agency, the HUR, believes that Russia builds up to 840 Iskanders per year – compared to 600 PAC-3s built by Lockheed Martin.
The math is not on Ukraine’s side, especially considering Russia also builds up to 180 Kinzhal hypersonic missiles annually, and has already met its yearly production quotas for its newest Tsirkon and Oniks ballistic missiles this month, all according to the HUR.
The mood in Kiev is apparently one of panic and denial. Rather than aborting Ukraine’s campaign of long-range strikes against Russian civilian infrastructure, Zelensky is doubling down, and intensifying his demands for air defense ammunition. Meanwhile, the Ukrainian military has stopped publishing the numbers of Russian missiles it intercepts. It can be assumed that this number is close to zero, as it was on August 1, when Zelensky admitted that “only one ballistic missile” out of 30 was intercepted, “simply because there are no interceptors for the Patriot systems.”
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte has said that he is working to get Ukraine the air defenses it “urgently needs,” but Rutte can’t create interceptors out of thin air, and as winter draws closer and Russia likely prepares to target Ukrainian energy infrastructure, the full cost of Zelensky’s long-range PR campaign could soon become apparent.
The ruble-linked A7A5 has reached nearly $140 billion in turnover since its creation, PSB chairman Pyotr Fradkov has said
Russia has created the largest stablecoin not pegged to the US dollar through its A7 cross-border payment system, the chairman of Promsvyazbank (PSB), Pyotr Fradkov, has said.
PSB launched A7 in October 2024 in response to the US and EU sanctions imposed on Russia over the Ukraine conflict, including the disconnection of almost all of the country’s banks from the SWIFT international settlement network. The domestic payment system now services 2,000 money transfers on a daily basis and already accounts for some 20% of all foreign transactions by Russian companies.
Fradkov said in an interview with RBK on Monday that PBS takes great pride in A7 becoming “the first to issue a stablecoin tied to the ruble” after making A7A5 available to its customers in September 2025.
“This is a small piece of the global stablecoin market, but it is the largest non-dollar stablecoin. The turnover of A7A5 since its inception has reached nearly $140 billion,” he said.
A stablecoin is a type of cryptocurrency that aims to maintain a consistent value relative to a specified asset. A7A5 is tied to the Russian ruble at a one-to-one ratio.
“The total capitalization of all stablecoins is estimated at around $312 billion. About 99% of that is linked to dollar-denominated instruments. Only 1% accounts for other currencies, and within that percentage, we are the largest with a capitalization of A7A5 at about $570 million,” the banker said.
Its European euro-linked counterpart is second, being valued at $440 million, with a Brazilian stablecoin in third place but far behind, with a capitalization of $52 million, he said.
With further development of A7A5 and other products, “a target of 10% of the market is quite substantial” for A7 in the future, Fradnov said. “If such an ambitious goal is set, it would mean not just trading within Russia but using payment mechanisms in international trade,” he stressed.
The success of the Russian stablecoin has been proven by the reaction to it from Western regulators, the PBS chairman suggested.
“A7A5 has already been included in the EU sanctions lists as an independent infrastructure project. This confirms that competition today is not only between individual financial instruments but also between entire payment ecosystems,” he said.
Worsening drought and food insecurity could leave millions requiring assistance, the SADC has said
A severe El Nino could deepen the humanitarian crisis across Southern Africa by worsening drought, hunger, water shortages, and disease outbreaks, the Southern African Development Community (SADC) has warned.
SADC Executive Secretary Elias Magosi said seasonal forecasts pointed to a high likelihood of an El Nino event that could surpass the intensity and impact of the 2023/24 phenomenon.
Addressing the opening of the SADC Council of Ministers meeting in Durban on Wednesday, Magosi said the region needed to strengthen its preparedness as climate-related disasters continued to threaten communities and infrastructure.
”Earlier this year, devastating floods claimed lives, damaged critical infrastructure, displaced communities, and disrupted trade across parts of our region.”
Magosi said the expected El Nino could further worsen food and nutrition insecurity while increasing fertilizer and energy costs, putting pressure on government finances and increasing humanitarian needs.
“These interconnected shocks threaten to undermine hard-won development gains and hinder our aspirations for regional integration, industrialization, and inclusive economic growth.”
Magosi said the region could no longer rely solely on responding to disasters once they had occurred and needed to invest more in measures that would allow it to anticipate and withstand climate-related shocks.
”We must therefore move from reacting to disasters to investing in resilience through strengthened early warning systems, anticipatory planning and action, climate-resilient infrastructure, disaster risk financing and resilient recovery efforts,” he said.
Stronger early warning systems and anticipatory planning would allow governments and regional structures to prepare for potential emergencies before they escalated.
Magosi also highlighted the need for infrastructure capable of withstanding climate-related shocks, as well as financing mechanisms that could support countries during disasters and the recovery period that followed.
The SADC Humanitarian Emergency Operations Centre in Nacala, Mozambique, was identified as an important part of the region’s response capacity, he said.
”Adequate financial and human resources must be provided to enable the Centre to co-ordinate contingency planning, emergency response and recovery efforts effectively and swiftly,” Magosi stressed.
The Ukraine conflict has shown that the West’s SWIFT network has become a political pressure tool, PSB’s Pyotr Fradkov has said
Russia has the capability to set up its own comprehensive cross-border payment network that would be domestic in origin, but international in function, the chairman of Promsvyazbank (PSB), Pyotr Fradkov, has said.
In October 2024, PSB launched the A7 system of international payments, which according to its website, now services 2,000 transactions of various sizes on a daily basis and already accounts for some 20% of all foreign trade settlements by Russian companies.
The creation of the system was a response to the sanctions placed on Russia by the US and EU after the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in February 2022, which included the disconnection of almost all of the country’s banks from the SWIFT global settlement network, Fradkov said in an interview with RBK on Monday.
After the restrictions were introduced, it became obvious that Western financial instruments “can be a tool for political pressure and influence,” the banker explained.
In such conditions, Russia “needs to create its own payment framework – domestic in origin, but international in function. We have plenty of both technical solutions and financial capabilities,” Fradkov insisted.
“PSB, together with the A7 cross-border payment system, is developing one of these projects for a new payment architecture where payment does not depend on the approval of a third party,” he said.
The goal of the A7 system is “to form our own payment infrastructure capable of conducting international operations independently of external restrictions,” the PSC chairman explained.
“The system is designed in such a way that, even after being sanctioned repeatedly, in various forms and types, the company continued its activities in processing payments for our clients,” he said.
Frabkov explained that from a legal point of view “no sanctions are being violated [by A7] because there is no such thing as a cross-border payment. It’s precisely that which has restrictions. There are distributed liquidity pools that exist worldwide in various currencies. If you take the jurisdiction of each individual country where we operate, then within it, this is absolutely normal, standard business that complies with all the regulations of that country.”
A7 is designed not only to bypass sanctions, but also be a competitive product on the international market that can be conveniently used by other countries to trade not only with Russia, but also with each other, he said.
According to the banker, it is important that Russia is “not unique” in developing a domestic settlement system as “many countries are following this path – Indonesia, Brazil, and others.”
“We are witnessing a global shift where the international payment infrastructure is beginning to be replaced by a list of national systems,” he noted.
Russia told the group’s trade ministers in India that the exchange will be a digital trading platform and remove external intermediaries
BRICS countries are working on setting up a grain exchange, backed by Russian President Vladimir Putin, that could challenge the hegemony of Western commodity exchanges over global agricultural trading and prices.
Russia presented the framework of the BRICS Grain Exchange at a meeting last week of the bloc’s economy and trade ministers in Jaipur, India, touting it as a “unified digital trading platform where producers and buyers of agricultural crops could deal with one another directly.”
Russia’s Union of Grain Exporters and Producers, which first proposed the establishment of the exchange in 2023, has estimated that trading of agricultural and related products could eventually exceed $1 trillion. Putin backed the initiative in 2024 and said it could eventually evolve into a full-fledged commodity exchange.
“The BRICS Grain Exchange is an opportunity for our countries to determine the fair value of their products themselves,” Russian Deputy Economic Development Minister Vladimir Ilyichev said in a statement.
Russia Unveils BRICS Grain Exchange Blueprint in Jaipur
RT India dives a little deeper into the agri-trade model and why it matters 📹 pic.twitter.com/C866legEYh
BRICS countries contribute about 42% of the global agricultural and food output, and are home to more than two-thirds of the world’s small and marginal farmers.
However, global trading and price discovery in agricultural commodities is dominated by Western futures exchanges such as the Chicago Board of Trade and Euronext.
“The reduction of the number of intermediaries will directly influence the attractiveness of prices for all parties,” Ilyichev said. “Today, every additional link in the supply chain builds in its own margin. As a result, the farmer gets less for their product, while the buyer pays more than they would with direct settlements.”
The BRICS ministers discussed their respective positions on the exchange and readiness to implement the initiative. India, which holds the BRICS presidency this year, is hosting the group’s annual summit on September 12-13.
At least 17 members of a “large group” of bandits were also killed in a “fierce” gun battle lasting more than two hours, officials have said
More than 200 armed bandits launched an attack on a security base in northwestern Nigeria on Monday, killing at least 30 people, including police personnel, civilians, and a local vigilante, the authorities have said.
The “large group” of assailants, riding motorcycles, raided the Makuku camp in Kebbi State’s Sakaba Local Government Area at about 6 AM local time, the Nigeria Police Force said in a statement on Tuesday. The facility houses personnel from the Special Intervention Squad and Police Mobile Force.
Police reinforcements, backed by the Nigerian Army and Nigerian Air Force, engaged the assailants in a “fierce” gun battle lasting more than two hours, according to the statement. “The force sadly lost ten personnel in the line of duty, while one vigilante member and two civilians also lost their lives in the attack,” the police said.
Police spokesperson Ani Iniedu said at least 17 bandits were also killed and several motorcycles destroyed. Inspector-General of Police Olatunji Rilwan Disu praised the “gallantry and sacrifice” of the officers and ordered additional forces into Sakaba and neighboring communities.
The attack occurred near Kebbi’s border with Zamfara State, a center of armed banditry where criminal gangs move through forests and remote settlements to raid villages, steal livestock, and kidnap people for ransom.
Africa’s most populous nation has battled overlapping security crises for more than a decade, with militants, including those linked to Boko Haram and Islamic State West Africa Province, carrying out attacks and mass abductions.
On Sunday, the Nigerian Army announced that troops have rescued 33 people abducted by gunmen in Zamfara. It also followed the August 5 rescue of 308 abductees in northern Nigeria – the country’s largest single-day rescue operation.
The Makuku assault follows a series of deadly attacks on security forces in recent months. In March, suspected militants ambushed personnel responding to warnings of an imminent attack in Kebbi State’s Shanga area, leaving nine soldiers, a police officer, and a civilian dead, according to the state government. No group claimed responsibility, but the authorities identified Lakurawa, an Islamic State-linked group active in Kebbi and neighboring Sokoto State, as the likely perpetrator.
Last October, gunmen ambushed a security patrol in neighboring Zamfara State, killing five police officers and three members of a local paramilitary force, the authorities said.
The British newspaper claims Moscow has shunned military dialogue with London, contrary to Russian public statements
British officials and diplomats fear an unintended maritime escalation with Russia and are pressuring senior military leaders to restore direct communication with their Russian counterparts, The Times reported on Tuesday.
According to the newspaper, former British chief of the defense staff Tony Radakin and his successor, Richard Knighton, have repeatedly sought contact with Russian Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov but have been unable to speak with him for four years. Their last reported conversation took place in 2022. There has likewise been no direct contact between the two countries’ defense ministers since October of that year.
Moscow has repeatedly said it does not rule out diplomacy with Western countries despite regarding many of them, including the UK, as “unfriendly.” Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov wrote in a keynote article in June that Russia is “not opposed to contacts with any party.”
The Times cited sources as saying that “senior officials and diplomats are nervous about the lack of communication” and are concerned that “a misunderstanding in the high seas could be the trigger for a wider conflict with Russia.”
The newspaper cited a recent incident in which Russian frigate the Admiral Grigorovich fired warning shots near a British yacht in the English Channel. Both Moscow and London said the shots were intended to prevent a possible collision.
A military hotline linking the UK armed forces with the Russian Defense Ministry’s situation center remains operational. Diplomatic communication is also possible through the two countries’ embassies.
Relations between London and Moscow had deteriorated significantly long before the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022. Russia has accused Britain of playing a major role in worsening tensions, including by supporting the 2014 Western-backed change of government in Kiev.
In 2021, the Royal Navy destroyer HMS Defender sailed through waters off Crimea that Russia considers its territorial sea, with London claiming it was exercising the right of innocent passage through Ukrainian waters.
Since the escalation in 2022, the UK has become one of Kiev’s leading military backers and has supplied Kiev with advanced weapons, including Storm Shadow cruise missiles. Moscow has alleged that such systems require Western expertise to program and launch.
Then-British Prime Minister Boris Johnson discouraged Ukraine from going through with a peace agreement negotiated with Moscow during talks in Istanbul in the early weeks of the conflict.
Alongside France, the UK co-leads the so-called ‘coalition of the willing’, a group of countries supporting Kiev’s terms for resolving the conflict and advocating for deployment of NATO forces in Ukraine in the future.
In an article written for Politico Europe that the outlet ultimately declined to publish, Lavrov accused Britain and other Western European governments of pursuing expansionist policies while portraying Russia as the aggressor. He argued that such an atmosphere was “scarcely the climate for substantive dialogue.”
The celestial event will be visible across much of Europe and northwestern Russia
A rare solar eclipse will sweep across parts of Russia and Europe on Wednesday, with the Moon set to completely block the Sun in some areas and obscure much of it across a wider region.
The event will be livestreamed on RT starting at 19:50 Moscow time (16:50 GMT). The broadcast will take place from the Lakhta Center in St. Petersburg, the tallest building in Russia and Europe.
Where and when can the solar eclipse be seen?
The event will be the first total solar eclipse visible from mainland Europe since 1999. Totality will pass through Greenland, Iceland, and parts of Spain, where the Moon will completely cover the Sun, briefly darkening the sky and revealing its outer atmosphere, known as the corona.
What else is happening?
Several other notable astronomical events are also taking place around the same time, including the peak of the Perseid meteor shower and a planetary alignment, although they will be best observed at different times.
In Russia, some of the best views are expected in St. Petersburg. The Moon will begin moving across the Sun at around 20:00 Moscow time and will obscure roughly 80% of the solar disk at the peak at about 20:50. The Sun will set only minutes later, putting the eclipse low over the northwestern horizon.
Murmansk, Arkhangelsk, and Kaliningrad are also expected to see a substantial partial eclipse, while the effect will weaken sharply farther southeast. In Moscow, only a tiny portion of the Sun is expected to be covered shortly before sunset.
Elsewhere in Europe, the eclipse will range from total to deep partial depending on location. It will unfold through the late afternoon and evening, with the greatest eclipse occurring at around 17:46 GMT. Britain is expected to see most of the Sun obscured, with the anticipated drop in solar generation even prompting the country’s largest household energy supplier, Octopus Energy, to ask customers to reduce electricity use during the evening peak.
Wear special glasses to see it in person
Experts warn that the Sun should not be viewed with the naked eye or through binoculars, telescopes, or other optics without proper protection, as even very dark sunglasses cannot prevent retinal damage.
Viewers are advised to use dedicated eclipse glasses and solar filters, or use smoked glass, a welding mask, or old floppy disks or CDs. Optical instruments should only be used with filters designed specifically for solar observation. Smartphone cameras also require protection, as photographing the Sun directly can damage the sensor.
Rescue efforts are underway after a vessel carrying 90 passengers and five crew members capsized on Lake Kariba, police have said
A boat carrying dozens of people has capsized on Lake Kariba in Zimbabwe, prompting a major rescue operation, police said on Tuesday.
The Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) initially said the vessel had 90 passengers and five crew members on board. The authorities did not immediately provide official figures for those rescued, injured, or killed, saying the information would be released once operations at the scene are completed.
However, local outlet ZBC News later reported additional details, citing officials involved in the emergency response. The outlet said at least 15 bodies had been recovered and more than 70 people rescued, while nearly 30 remained unaccounted for.
ZBC cited Mashonaland West Permanent Secretary for Provincial Affairs and Devolution, Josphat Jaji, as saying that 114 tickets had been issued for the journey. The cause of the accident has yet to be officially established.
Lake Kariba, one of the world’s largest man-made reservoirs, lies along the border between Zimbabwe and Zambia and is widely used for fishing, tourism and passenger transport.
The lake has seen several serious boating accidents recently. In March 2025, another boat capsized during a storm, leaving one fisherman missing while another survived by clinging to floating cooler boxes.
Watch 😢
Breaking news Zimbabwe
Boat capsizes in Lake Kariba. Over 90 people on board. Reports say over a dozen bodies retrieved, almost 40 still missing, others have been rescued
Fatal boat accidents are not uncommon elsewhere in Africa, with overloading and inadequate safety measures frequently cited among the contributing factors.
In September, at least 29 people were killed when a wooden boat carrying around 90 passengers capsized in Nigeria’s Niger State. Officials blamed overloading and a collision with a submerged tree stump. None one was reportedly wearing a lifejacket, which is believed to have contributed to the high death toll. Emergency teams rescued 50 people, while others were reported missing.
Bucharest is seeking to justify higher defense spending by parroting the purported “threat from the East,” the embassy has said
Romanian officials have presented pieces of foam plastic as supposed evidence that drones recently shot down over the country were Russian, Moscow’s embassy in Bucharest has said.
Speaking to the Izvestia newspaper on Wednesday, the mission responded to Romania’s accusations that Russian UAVs have on numerous occasions strayed onto its territory during attacks on Ukrainian military-related sites.
During a meeting at Romania’s Foreign Ministry on the matter, Russian diplomats were shown “pieces of foam plastic” and were asked to regard them as evidence of the drones’ supposed Russian origin. “Naturally, we were provided with no facts linking these drones to our country,” the embassy said.
The mission suggested that the incidents amounted to a “prearranged performance” involving shooting at training targets, intended to justify Romania’s military buildup and higher defense spending. “The local political establishment has long pursued this goal and is actively implementing it in practice,” the embassy said, adding that Bucharest is purchasing expensive Western-made weapons with taxpayers’ money, justifying it by the alleged “threat from the East.”
Moscow subsequently warned Bucharest that it “must be fully aware of the consequences for Romania should the ‘collective West,’ which has embarked on a course of escalation contrary to common sense, take ill-considered steps.”
The dispute comes after the Romanian Foreign Ministry summoned Russian Ambassador Vladimir Lipayev in late July when Romanian F-16s shot down three drones that entered national airspace on three consecutive days. Officials in Bucharest blamed Russia, while Moscow said no evidence or technical flight data was provided to prove its involvement.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian drones aimed at Russian infrastructure have on numerous occasions fallen on NATO territory over the past several months, with Kiev acknowledging Ukrainian ownership in most cases but blaming Russian electronic warfare for diverting them. NATO nations have mostly refrained from criticizing Kiev.
In most cases, Romania continued to attribute its own incidents to Russia, including in May when a drone hit an apartment building in Galati, injuring two people. Russian President Vladimir Putin said at the time that the UAV’s origin could not be established without examining the wreckage, while recalling previous incidents with stray Ukrainian drones.
Pointing to earlier incidents in the Baltics, Putin noted that “the initial reaction was exactly the same as it is now in Romania: ‘Alarm! The Russians are coming!.. Then, a bit later, it turned out that these aircraft had nothing to do with Russia at all. They were Ukrainian drones that had gone off course.”
The train line is expected to generate jobs, an Afghan Economy Ministry representative has told RT India
Afghanistan’s Taliban government has said it will ensure the safety of a prospective rail route linking Russia to India, which would give Moscow access to the Indian Ocean.
“Yes. Afghanistan is in a vital geographical location. This project will create employment in Afghanistan,” a spokesman for the Taliban’s Ministry of Economy, Abdul Rahman Habib, told RT India’s head of news, Runjhun Sharma, in a rare interview. “We support such projects.”
The full interview will be aired soon.
The Russia-India rail route was mooted by Russian Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin, who said last week that Moscow wants a rail link to the Indian Ocean to reduce risks from maritime disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz.
Khusnullin had said any options providing access to India would be acceptable, and suggested that routes could be explored through Turkmenistan, Iran, Afghanistan, and Pakistan.
Afghanistan is a resource-rich but landlocked country with no direct sea access. A rail link to the Indian Ocean, and India itself, would help Kabul increase its trade revenues.
The Taliban has largely brought peace to Afghanistan since taking power in Kabul following the withdrawal of US forces in 2021 after 20 years of war.
Moscow and the Taliban government signed a military cooperation pact in May, aimed at strengthening Russia’s influence in Central Asia.
India is the second-largest buyer of Russian crude oil, which has to transit the Bab-el-Mandeb chokepoint on the Red Sea and pass through the conflict zone around the Strait of Hormuz and Oman.
New Delhi and Moscow are also traditional friends, who share a robust defense relationship. Both nations have set a $100 billion goal for their bilateral trade by 2030.
The transaction landscape is undergoing a “global shift” as it breaks into multiple competing systems, PSB chairman Pyotr Fradkov has said
Cross-border payments have become a tool of “new warfare,” as countries increasingly seek to shield their international trade from foreign pressure, Pyotr Fradkov, chairman of Russia’s Promsvyazbank (PSB), has said.
Russia has accelerated its transition from a Western-dominated financial framework after the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022, unprecedented US and EU sanctions, and the move to freeze Moscow’s sovereign assets abroad.
In an interview with the Russian business daily RBK published on Monday, Fradkov argued that while the world remains “within the existing paradigm of the global payment system,” alternative mechanisms are already rapidly emerging.
“The entire world has faced the reality that payments have become the most complicated topic in finance. This is essentially a tool of ‘new warfare,’” he said.
Fradkov noted that while Russia is to some extent trying to move away from the dollar, this alone will not eliminate dependence on foreign financial infrastructure because export transactions conducted in rubles – expected to exceed 53% for 2025 – or digital assets still rely on external compliance procedures, giving outside actors potential leverage.
He argued that this vulnerability is pushing countries toward a different model. “We are witnessing a global shift where the international payment infrastructure is beginning to be replaced by a list of national systems,” Fradkov said, citing the examples of Russia’s state-backed A7 cross-border payment system, China’s CIPS network, and the growing use of stablecoins.
The banker argued that a modern payment framework can involve a combination of traditional banking, digital assets, and stablecoins, while stressing that it should not merely respond to existing restrictions but also establish a “modern system that can be competitive in the international market.”
Regarding stablecoins, Fradkov warned that they should not be regarded as “a given and assume that this toolset will be used for decades,” adding that some tokens – such as USDT, which is pegged to the US dollar – are tied to the American economy and compliance architecture.
Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin said in January that national currencies accounted for 85% of the country’s foreign-trade settlements in the first ten months of 2025, with the ruble used in more than half of transactions. Moscow has also improved its Mir national card system, and recently legalized cryptocurrency trading for foreign operations.
“Piracy and robbery” against Russian maritime trade will not go unanswered, the president has said
Russia could seize ships carrying Western cargo in retaliation for similar actions against Russian maritime trade, President Vladimir Putin has warned.
There have been several incidents in recent months in which Western militaries have seized vessels that their governments accused of being part of a so-called Russian ‘shadow fleet’.Putin warned on Wednesday during a meeting with Pacific Fleet commanders that Moscow could take retaliatory measures wherever it deemed necessary.
“Some nations are violating the Law of the Sea by trying to restrict the movement of our civilian traders. They recently came up with the idea of seizing our ships and selling off our plundered property. This is certainly nothing short of piracy and robbery,” Putin said.
“If such a policy is implemented in practice, we will be forced to take mirror responses. And not necessarily in the waters where our ships are being raided. We’ll do it wherever and anywhere we see fit,” he added.
Pacific Fleet Commander Adm. Viktor Liina reported in response that the Russian military has detailed information about Western commercial traffic.
“From April 24 to August 6 of 2026, 1,001 ships passed through the Russian exclusive economic zone, including 379 with flags of unfriendly nations,” he said. “That includes 273 general cargo ships and 71 tanks, including 26 under the British flag and nine under the French flag.”
The UK and France have carried out several interdictions of supposed Russian ‘shadow fleet’ vessels. In June, The Telegraph reported that British authorities were considering selling around 100,000 tons of Russian crude seized from a sanctioned tanker and using the proceeds to benefit Ukraine.
The term ‘shadow fleet’ is used by Western governments to describe vessels they accuse of helping Russia circumvent sanctions, particularly the price cap imposed on Russian oil. Moscow rejects the designation, saying it has no basis in international law and violates Russia’s right to conduct maritime trade.
Western governments have targeted hundreds of vessels with unilateral sanctions and have increasingly resorted to physically intercepting and detaining some of them.
Kiev has also broadened its use of the “shadow fleet” label, applying it to various Russian commercial vessels targeted in Ukrainian drone strikes, including tankers and cargo ships.
Notable ‘shadow fleet’ detentions
At least a dozen vessels have been detained by Western nations since last year as part of their campaign targeting Russian trade. The list of incidents includes:
In March 2025, Germany seized the tanker Eventin carrying some 100,000 tons of crude. German courts later blocked the government’s attempts to sell the Panama-flagged ship.
In April 2025, Estonia detained oil tanker the Kiwala, claiming it had no valid flag. Weeks later the ship was released.
An oil tanker going by the names the Pushpa, Kiwala, Boracay, and others was targeted by France in September 2025, but resumed its voyage towards the Suez Canal the next month. Western media claimed it was linked to the mass hysteria over “mystery drone sightings” in Europe.
In March 2026, French-backed Belgian forces boarded the oil tanker Ethera. It reportedly remains impounded under a €10 million ($11.6 million) bail.
Sweden seized the cargo ship Caffa in March 2026 for allegedly carrying “stolen Ukrainian grain.” Earlier this month the country’s top court agreed to the government’s request to transfer the ship to Ukraine.
British forces for the first time directly seized a ‘shadow fleet’ ship in June 2026, when they targeted the oil tanker Smyrtos. Previously, the UK only provided assistance to France for such operations. The ship’s Indian master, Ajay Pant, remains in British custody pending a criminal trial for violating the UK’s anti-Russian measures.
Police say an unknown number of people could remain trapped at the site near Rustenburg
At least 14 suspected illegal miners have been killed and eight others injured after the walls of an excavation collapsed at a dumping site in South Africa’s North West province, the authorities have said.
The suspected ‘zama zamas’ – a local term for illegal miners – were digging for platinum-group metals at Nkaneng, near the mining city of Rustenburg, when walls of heaped earth gave way on Monday night, the South African Police Service (SAPS) said in a statement. Police said a company had been granted a permit to extract the metals at the site.
“[The] authorities are continuing to assess the situation amid concerns that an unknown number of illegal miners may still be trapped underground,” North West provincial police commissioner Lieutenant General Arthur Adams said. According to the commissioner, most of the dead are believed to be Basotho nationals from neighboring Lesotho.
SAPS said three of the injured were arrested on suspicion of illegal mining after being discharged from hospital, while five remained under police guard as they received treatment.
The site lies in the heart of South Africa’s platinum belt, about 130 km northwest of Johannesburg.
Mikateko Mahlaule, chairman of the parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Mineral and Petroleum Resources, called the deaths a “painful reminder” of the hazards surrounding illegal mining and demanded stronger action against the industry. He also urged the authorities to expand lawful opportunities for small-scale and artisanal miners while enforcing health, safety, and environmental rules.
#sapsNW [NORTH WEST SAPS CONFIRMS 14 DEATHS OF ILLEGAL MINERS]
The Provincial Commissioner of the South African Police Service (#SAPS) in the North West, Lieutenant General Arthur Adams, has confirmed the deaths of 14 illegal miners at the Nkaneng dumping site in Bojanala… pic.twitter.com/jvAvzgxDiZ
Illegal miners in South Africa are commonly called zama zamas, a Zulu expression loosely translated as ‘chance takers’. Tens of thousands are believed to work in abandoned commercial mines or makeshift excavations, often without safety equipment and sometimes underground for weeks. The authorities have linked parts of the illicit industry to criminal syndicates, gang violence, undocumented migration and illegal firearms.
South Africa launched operation Vala Umgodi (Close the Hole) in December 2023 to target illegal mining networks. The campaign is led by SAPS, with 2,200 South African National Defense Force personnel deployed in March 2026 to support operations across five provinces, including North West. As of June 2025, police said the operation had led to more than 27,000 arrests.
The latest Nkaneng deaths follow several mass-casualty incidents linked to illicit mining. In 2023, at least 31 suspected illegal miners died in a methane explosion at a disused mine in Free State province. At least 87 miners also died during a months-long standoff at an abandoned gold mine near Stilfontein in late 2024 and early 2025.
Police restricted supplies to force the miners to surface, prompting fierce criticism of the authorities. A court-ordered operation eventually recovered 78 bodies and brought 246 survivors above ground.
From fifth-generation fighters to hypersonic missiles and satellites, RT looks at the capabilities of the expanding force
The Russian Aerospace Forces (VKS) mark their anniversary on Wednesday. One of the youngest branches of the Russian military in its current form, the VKS were established 11 years ago.
While its aviation arm traces its lineage through the Soviet and Imperial Russian air forces, the modern VKS are a significantly broader and more complex branch of the military.
The formation of the VKS began in the late 1990s, when the Russian Air Force was merged with the country’s Anti-Aircraft Defense Forces, receiving aviation assets of the Russian Ground Forces a few years later. The VKS took its current form in 2015, when the Air Force was merged with the short-lived Aerospace Defense Forces, established in 2011.
The VKS, which currently have some 165,000 active duty personnel, has three distinctive sub-branches – the Air Force, the Anti-aircraft and Missile Defense troops, and the Space Forces.
The VKS oversee fighter, frontline, and long-range aviation, the aerial component of the Russian nuclear triad, anti-aircraft units, and assorted space-related assets. It also has dedicated mechanized infantry units under its direct command. Originally intended to guard rear installations, the VKS were ultimately expanded into two full-fledged regiments, often jokingly referred to as ‘Spacemarines.’
As the Russian Aerospace Forces mark their anniversary, RT looks at its arsenal.
Air superiority
The Sukhoi Su-30 and Su-35 jets are Russia’s key air superiority aircraft. The 4.5-generation fighter jets are heavily modernized successors of the Su-27, modern variants of which are still widely used by the military. The entire stock is expected to be modernized to the Su-35 standard by the end of the decade.
The aircraft are complemented by the fifth-generation Su-57 multirole fighter, which boasts both air superiority and long-range strike capabilities. In recent years, the military has received more planes of the type, with the current fleet estimated at some 35 mass-produced aircraft, as well as ten prototype jets. The Russian Air Force is expected to have at least 76 mass-produced Su-57 jets by late 2028.
The Su-34 fighter-bomber has become the backbone of Russia’s frontline aviation, seeing extensive use in the Ukraine conflict. The introduction of the Universal Correction and Guidance Modules (UMPK) winged upgrade kits, which are fitted onto old-school freefall bombs, has greatly expanded the capabilities of such planes, turning the munitions into high-precision weaponry and drastically increasing their range.
The aircraft, colloquially known as ‘Hell Duckling’ thanks to its distinctive cockpit shape, is slated to replace aging Su-24M planes. The aircraft, however, are still in active use within the Russian military and operate alongside their modern counterparts.
The veteran Su-25 jet remains the key tool in Russia’s close air support inventory. The plane, however, has largely lost its prominence amid the Ukraine conflict, given the extremely dense anti-aircraft coverage on both sides, as well as the new threat posed by drones for low-altitude flying planes.
The frontline strike helicopter, by contrast, has shone during the ongoing conflict. Assorted long-range guided weaponry has allowed such aircraft as the Kamov Ka-52 and Mil Mi-28 to dominate the battlefield, striking moving armored and soft vehicles, as well as stationary targets with pinpoint accuracy, while remaining largely out of reach of short-range anti-aircraft systems.
The strike helicopters have also been extensively used in anti-aircraft roles, hunting down fixed-wing drones, which have been launched by Kiev’s forces en masse on an almost daily basis in recent months. The helicopters are able to intercept drones with air-to-air missiles, as well as onboard cannon armament.
Russia maintains a fleet of different long-range aircraft dating back to the Cold War era, namely the Tupolev Tu-22M3, the Tu-160 jets, and the true veteran, the Tu-95 turboprop strategic bomber. All of the aircraft in this class have been deeply modernized and effectively share only airframes with the original Soviet-era planes. The strategic aircraft are part of the Russian nuclear triad and are capable of carrying missiles with thermonuclear warheads.
In recent years, the Russian long arm received a somewhat unconventional addition – the modernized MiG-31K jets. The high-altitude interceptors have been transformed into carriers of Kinzhal aeroballistic hypersonic missiles, seeing action in the Ukraine conflict to strike high-value targets.
The VKS are responsible for anti-aircraft and missile defense save for the shortest-range systems used directly by units subordinate to Russia’s ground forces. The inventory includes assorted systems filling different roles.
The S-300 and S-400 systems are the key elements in the medium-to-long range anti-aircraft defenses. The systems within the family, and the upcoming S-500 in particular, are believed to have capabilities to strike targets even in low Earth orbit, potentially serving as an anti-satellite weapon.
On the tactical level, the Pantsir-S system and its derivatives have emerged as one of the key tools in the Russian inventory. The system has proven to be highly efficient in the Ukraine conflict, providing cover to frontline troops and installations deep in the country’s territory alike.
The space component of the VKS is, rather unsurprisingly, the most secretive sub-branch of the entire force. The Space Troops are responsible for launching military satellites, maintaining long-range communications, gathering electronic intelligence, and providing early warning for missile attacks.
It remains unclear whether the force actually has any strike capabilities in the domain, given that Moscow has long argued against the militarization of space. Recently, however, several unconfirmed Western media reports alleged that Russian military satellites approached other space vehicles and attempted to jam their communications.
US trade adviser Peter Navarro says he faced intense online attacks for comments which many viewed as insulting
US trade adviser Peter Navarro, whose uncouth and culturally insensitive remarks have often irked India, has claimed that he was “firebombed” online amid the backlash over his comments last year.
Navarro, who has acted as US President Donald Trump’s attack dog, invited the blowback after he repeatedly hurled insults at India and Prime Minister Narendra Modi as he tried to pressure New Delhi.
“I actually got firebombed by the Indian continent on the internet with all sorts of nasty little attacks,” Navarro told reporters at the White House on Tuesday. “And all I would say is, don’t do that.”
The Trump aide repeatedly labelled India an “oil money laundromat” of the Kremlin and the “maharajah of tariffs” as Washington’s frustration mounted over its inability to isolate Russia and coerce India into finalizing a trade deal. He even called the Ukraine conflict “Modi’s war,” as he tried to shame New Delhi into stopping its Russian energy purchases.
India, the world’s most populous nation, has maintained that its energy purchases are driven by economic considerations and the need to secure reliable supplies for its 1.4 billion people.
New Delhi has also held back on signing a trade deal with Washington despite months of negotiations and the threat of steep tariffs from the Trump administration.
However, as he failed to get his way with New Delhi, Navarro’s railings crossed diplomatic limits. His use of an insensitive caste-based comment that “Brahmins are profiteering at the expense of the Indian people” – an argument designed to widen the societal faultlines in the South Asian country – was widely seen as going beyond the pale.
His criticism of Modi for “getting in bed” with leaders such as Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping was also viewed as personal and crude.
On Tuesday, Navarro suggested that he was the aggrieved party. “That’s not how we resolve problems here in America,” he told reporters.
He also struck a different tone about India-US relations, responding to a question by saying: “The [US] president and your [Indian] prime minister have a very good working relationship… They are going to work that out amongst themselves, and it’s not for me to get between that.”
India’s purchases of Russian oil hit record highs last month, and reports have said New Delhi is unlikely to be deterred by a new US sanctions bill that could see steep tariffs imposed for continued Russian energy imports.
Octopus Energy has asked customers to avoid using dishwashers and washing machines
Britain’s biggest household power supplier, Octopus Energy, has asked customers to cut electricity use for two hours on Wednesday to cope with a solar eclipse during peak demand.
A total eclipse of the Sun – the first visible from mainland Europe since 1999 – will occur on August 12 from 15:00 to 19:00 GMT (4-8 PM London time). The UK is expected to experience a deep partial eclipse, with around 90% to 96% of the Sun obscured.
The National Energy System Operator (NESO), which runs Britain’s grid, estimates solar generation could fall by up to 1.3 gigawatts – equivalent to the power used by around 1 million homes.
With the eclipse partly coinciding with peak evening demand, Octopus Energy asked its roughly 8 million UK customers on Monday to avoid using appliances and devices such as dishwashers, games consoles, and washing machines from 6-8 PM.
The voluntary scheme offers households that comply one hour of free electricity on August 16. Customers who share photos on social media showing what they did outside instead of using power can also win free solar panels and installation or a £12,000 ($16,200) cash alternative.
Octopus believes that if enough households delay electricity use during the eclipse, it could reduce the need for Britain’s grid operator to fire up additional gas-powered stations to replace lost solar generation.
Solar Energy UK recently reported that solar accounted for 14.4% of UK electricity generation in July, a monthly record, while a single-day record of 19.5% was set in late May. NESO data shows renewables now account for around 40% of Britain’s energy mix, up from 30% five years ago.
Persistent energy woes
The news comes as the UK – a major Western sponsor of the Kiev regime and leading advocate of sanctions on Russia – continues to grapple with high energy costs after largely cutting itself off from cheap Russian energy following the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022.
Direct imports of Russian coal, crude oil, and refined petroleum products fell to zero by mid-2022, forcing British suppliers to accelerate the shift to renewables and secure alternative imports. Growing reliance on costly liquefied natural gas (LNG) has left Britain paying premiums on the global market and more exposed to price volatility.
Greater dependence on wind and solar has brought its own challenges, as output fluctuates with weather and daylight, requiring backup capacity. According to Ofgem, the average household energy bill this year is expected to be around £1,862 – almost 50% higher than in 2021.
The US war against Iran put further pressure on Britain this year. In May, it was forced to delay some sanctions on Russian oil and LNG to help contain soaring prices as the conflict disrupted global supplies.
London issued a trade license allowing imports of jet fuel and diesel refined from Russian crude in third countries, while another waived restrictions on shipping LNG from two Russian terminals. Former Bank of England Deputy Governor Howard Davies recently warned that Britain could be heading toward an energy crisis comparable to the 1970s, when oil prices quadrupled following the 1973 Arab-Israeli War and an embargo by Arab producers on Western nations.
Moscow has warned that sanctions, particularly those targeting energy, are illegal and self-defeating, and will backfire on the countries that impose them. Russia has also signaled that it is prepared to fill oil supply gaps caused by the Middle East conflict and resume deliveries to European countries, but says it has received no response.
Krasnodar Region was attacked by hundreds of UAVs overnight, local governor Veniamin Kondratyev has said
Two people, including a child, have been killed and a dozen others wounded in another large-scale Ukrainian drone raid on Russia’s Krasnodar Region, local governor Veniamin Kondratyev has said.
The region was targeted by hundreds of UAVs overnight, Kondratyev wrote in a post on Telegram on Wednesday.
Civilian facilities and private homes in Novorossiysk, Anapa, Gelendzhik, and the Temryuksky district suffered damage in the raid, he added.
“Tragically, those inhumane and criminal strikes resulted in fatalities and injuries, including among children,” the governor said.
An eight-year-old was killed during an attack on Novorossiysk, with another child among the injured, Kondratyev wrote.
Drone debris fell on at least 21 residential buildings across Novorossiysk, including private homes and apartment blocks, as well as four industrial facilities, according to the governor.
Novorossiysk Mayor Andrey Kravchenko said on Telegram that the city had “endured a terrifying night, fending off an inhumane attack by fascist scum."
According to Kravchenko, a six-year-old child was injured when debris from a downed UAV crashed through the roof of a residential building. The child and his mother were hospitalized in critical condition, he added.
An overpass in Novorossiysk collapsed as a result of the attack, forcing traffic to be suspended, the mayor said.
In the coastal village of Volna in Temryuksky District, a man was fatally wounded during the raid, Kondratyev said. Emergency medics arrived at the scene but were unable to save him, he added.
Two people were hospitalized after drone debris struck a residential building in the resort city of Anapa, according to the governor.
In Gelendzhik, three private homes were damaged and two people were injured, he said.
The raid on Krasnodar Region comes as Kiev has intensified its long-range drone attacks on Russian civilian infrastructure in recent months.
In early August, a Ukrainian drone struck a crowded beach in the resort village of Arkhipo-Osipovka near Gelendzhik, killing eight people and injuring around 60 others. Earlier this week, a UAV strike on the city of Nizhnekamsk in Russia’s Republic of Tatarstan killed 13 people and wounded dozens more.
Moscow has condemned Kiev’s drone campaign as terrorism, accusing Ukraine of deliberately targeting civilians in an attempt to compensate for setbacks on the battlefield, where Russian forces have continued to advance.
Russia has responded by intensifying long-range missile and drone strikes against Ukraine’s military-industrial facilities and logistics infrastructure. Moscow maintains that it does not target civilians and that its strikes are directed solely at military targets and infrastructure supporting Kiev’s forces.
Family members are sounding the alarm over conditions aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln operating in the Middle East
Sailors on a US aircraft carrier operating near Iran attempted to jump overboard amid exhaustion and low morale caused by extended operations, several news outlets have reported, citing crew members’ families.
Families have expressed concern over living conditions and mental health on the USS Abraham Lincoln, whose deployment began in late November and was expected to end in May but has since been extended indefinitely. The ship reportedly went long periods without regular port visits for replenishment, maintenance, and rest.
Annabelle Loma told Military Times on Tuesday that the ship’s ombudsman had informed her that her husband had tried to jump off the carrier. “He thinks he’ll get a dishonorable discharge, and just because he was burnt out,” she said.
Maria Rodriguez, the wife of another sailor, said her husband had intervened in a separate incident, preventing a shipmate from going overboard.
According to Stars and Stripes, active-duty sailors and family members described a bleak atmosphere aboard the ship, detailing reports of suicidal thoughts and at least one case in which a crew member was prevented from jumping overboard.
“We’ve just been turning and burning the whole time we’ve deployed,” a sailor told the publication, noting that morale, which was high at the beginning of the deployment, had declined.
MS NOW cited families as saying last week that the crew had struggled with food shortages and that the ship’s store often lacked basic supplies such as toothpaste, soap, and deodorant.
The US Navy said in a statement on Monday that it was “continuously conducting assessments to monitor and sustain the psychological readiness of every sailor.”
Acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao said the USS Theodore Roosevelt carrier strike group was preparing to relieve the Lincoln but did not provide a timeline, citing operational security.
The US and Israel launched their war against Iran with a wave of airstrikes on February 28. Iran, however, withstood the bombardment, while peace talks have largely stalled as the vital Strait of Hormuz remains closed to most shipping.
Polls show that US President Donald Trump’s war has been consistently unpopular among Americans. According to an Economist/YouGov survey released on Tuesday, the president’s approval rating dropped to 33%, its lowest level recorded by YouGov since he returned to office in 2025.
Taylor Farms, which supplies major grocery store and restaurant chains, has also been linked to a separate Cyclospora outbreak
A major US produce supplier has recalled jalapeno products sold through major grocery store and restaurant chains amid a Salmonella outbreak, according to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Taylor Farms has also been linked to a separate multistate outbreak of another foodborne illness.
The recalled products contained jalapenos grown in the Mexican state of Sinaloa and distributed by Coast Citrus Distributors, according to the FDA. A number of retailers, including Hannaford, Kroger, Stop & Shop, Target, Trader Joe’s, Walmart, and Whole Foods, received recalled products across 26 states. An investigation into the outbreak is still underway.
At least 345 people have contracted Salmonella since mid-June, according to health authorities, with dozens of hospitalizations reported.
People usually contract Salmonella infections after consuming food contaminated with the bacteria. Symptoms commonly include diarrhea, fever, and abdominal cramps. Young children, older adults, and people with weakened immune systems are at greater risk of developing serious complications.
Last month, Taylor Farms de Mexico also removed shredded iceberg lettuce sourced from central Mexico from the US market after health authorities identified the produce as the source of a cyclosporiasis outbreak, a parasite-borne intestinal illness. Investigators linked illnesses to people who had eaten at Taco Bell restaurants in multiple states.
The outbreak, which began in May, has sickened at least 6,358 people across 15 states, according to the CDC. In total, 278 people have been hospitalized and two deaths reported. Health officials have warned that the true number of infections is likely higher, as some people recover without medical care and are never tested for Cyclospora.
Cyclosporiasis can cause prolonged diarrhea, as well as bloating, gas, stomach cramps, nausea, fatigue, and other gastrointestinal symptoms.
Taylor Farms was also the supplier of yellow onions implicated in a 2024 E. coli outbreak linked to McDonald’s Quarter Pounders.
Multiple news organizations said the US president put reporters’ lives at risk by secretly switching planes
Several major news outlets have claimed that US President Donald Trump effectively used journalists covering his travels as decoys last month when he secretly switched planes due to a suspected Iranian assassination plot.
Initial media reports said Trump abruptly switched from his Qatari-gifted Boeing 747-8 to an older Air Force One while returning to the UK from a NATO summit in Türkiye after receiving intelligence about a potential plot to assassinate him. The switch was reportedly made because the older aircraft has more advanced life-support and security systems.
On Monday, several outlets reported new details, alleging that Trump had boarded the older Air Force One before being secretly transferred in an airport catering truck to a smaller military aircraft, which flew him to the UK. Once there, he reportedly re-boarded the older Air Force One, creating the impression that he had traveled aboard it the entire time.
News organizations including Reuters, CNN, the Washington Post, and the New York Times argued that the move potentially put the lives of journalists and administration staffers traveling aboard the presidential plane at risk. According to CNN senior reporter Aaron Blake, journalists felt they had been treated like “unwitting and unknowing decoys very much in the line of fire.”
President Bill Clinton used a decoy plane while traveling to Pakistan in 2000, but reporters traveling with him were briefed about the arrangement off the record beforehand.
Trump, who has often accused journalists of spreading lies about him, said on Tuesday that he had acted on the advice of the Secret Service and the military. White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said last month that although the new Air Force One was “perfectly safe for the president’s travels,” it was slated for additional enhancements.
The Department of Justice attempted to subpoena New York Times journalists over their reporting on the new Air Force One, while the Pentagon recently revoked the security clearance of former Air Force chief Frank Kendall, whom it accused of leaking classified information about the aircraft to the media.
The US and Israel killed dozens of Iranian political and military leaders in targeted strikes, including the country’s longtime supreme leader, Ali Khamenei. Iranian officials vowed to avenge their deaths, while protesters in Tehran and other cities called for Trump to be killed.
The University of Alberta moved to close the endowment after a scandal over SS veteran Yaroslav Hunka receiving a standing ovation in parliament during Vladimir Zelensky’s 2023 visit
Canada’s University of Alberta has won a legal battle to dissolve a research trust named after Ukrainian SS veteran Yaroslav Hunka, whose standing ovation in the Canadian parliament from lawmakers, then-Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky sparked an international scandal.
The controversy erupted during Zelensky’s 2023 visit to Ottawa, when then-House Speaker Anthony Rota introduced Hunka, who served in the Waffen-SS Galicia Division during World War II, as “a Ukrainian hero, a Canadian hero” to rapturous applause from the packed parliamentary chamber.
Hunka’s division was formed by Nazi Germany in 1943 largely from Ukrainian volunteers and has been linked to brutal anti-guerrilla operations in Poland and Soviet Ukraine and massacres of civilians. Nevertheless, the assembled Canadian lawmakers gave Hunka two standing ovations, joined by visiting German Ambassador Sabine Sparwasser.
After Hunka’s past came to light, the incident became an international embarrassment for Ottawa, drawing condemnation from multiple countries, Jewish rights groups, and the UN. Rota eventually resigned, while Trudeau issued a public apology.
Shortly after the scandal erupted, the University of Alberta acknowledged that it administered a research fund named after Hunka, a CAD30,000 ($21,500) endowment established with a donation from his son to support research into the history of the Ukrainian Catholic Church. It had remained largely obscure until the scandal, with no known beneficiaries.
The school apologized and announced plans to shut down the fund, but Hunka’s family opposed the move, arguing that his Waffen-SS service had been disclosed when the donation was made and that the university knew of his wartime record when it accepted the money. Citing a former university official, the family also noted that nine other university endowments were associated with Galicia Division members and, to their knowledge, had not been terminated.
The university argued that public reaction to Hunka’s Waffen-SS service meant continued association with his name could damage its reputation and public trust. The dispute went to court this spring.
In a ruling on Friday, Court of King’s Bench Justice Debra Yungwirth sided with the university, finding that the controversy had created sufficient reputational concerns to justify terminating the trust.
“The university did not terminate the Hunka Trust because it determined that Yaroslav was a war criminal or anti-Semitic,” she wrote. “The House of Commons incident, and the public response that followed, made it clear that maintaining the Hunka Trust was not in the university’s best interests.”
In an email to the Edmonton Journal, Hunka’s lawyer Julian Savaryn said his client is “disappointed” and considering an appeal.
Canada has a sizable ethnic Ukrainian community, partly due to post-World War II migration that included members of anti-Soviet forces, some of whom had collaborated with or served Nazi Germany. Among the Canadian lawmakers who gave Hunka a standing ovation was Chrystia Freeland, one of the country’s most prominent political figures of the past decade and a descendant of a known Ukrainian Nazi collaborator.
Following the scandal, Russia repeatedly called for Hunka’s extradition and accused Canada of “whitewashing” the crimes of Adolf Hitler’s regime by failing to prosecute the former SS soldier.
Moscow has also repeatedly condemned Kiev for honoring Ukrainian nationalist figures who collaborated with Nazi Germany and accused its Western backers of turning a blind eye. Ukraine has named streets and erected monuments to World War II-era nationalist figures such as Stepan Bandera, leader of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN), whose factions were implicated in mass killings of Poles and Jews. Russia has cited “denazification” as one of the stated goals of its military operation against the Kiev regime.
Member states approved the interest-free scheme earlier this year to prop up Kiev in 2026 and 2027
The EU is pumping €90 billion ($105 billion) into Ukraine without knowing how the burden of the interest-free loan will be distributed among member states, German MEP Fabio De Masi told the Berliner Zeitung, warning that the money will enrich “corrupt oligarchs” in Ukraine.
Member states gave the green light to the scheme in April, with Hungary, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia securing exemptions.
On Monday, German MEP Fabio De Masi, who co-chairs the Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance party, told the Berliner Zeitung that the “European Commission apparently doesn’t even know the extent to which EU member states will have to guarantee the Ukraine loan.”
He cited the commission’s response to his inquiry, which said that a “breakdown [of the financial burden] by member state” could not be provided.
De Masi said the funds, which are being backed by joint EU borrowing on the capital market, would end up enriching “corrupt oligarchs” in Ukraine.
“One wonders how the German government and parliament could have waved through this bottomless pit of debt without a thorough assessment of the consequences,” he added, as quoted by the daily.
Since the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022, the EU has given more than €216 billion to Kiev. Germany has spent over €43.3 billion, while earmarking an additional €57.6 billion in military aid for the coming years, thus emerging as Ukraine’s top backer within the bloc.
In late June, the European Commission began disbursing the first €3.2 billion tranche as part of the scheme, under which Ukraine is due to receive €30 billion in budgetary aid and €60 billion for its military needs in 2026 and 2027. The installment was soon followed by another 3.9 billion earmarked for drone procurement.
European Council head Antonio Costa previously said Ukraine would only need to pay back the money after it receives reparations from Russia following the conclusion of the conflict. Moscow has dismissed the notion as “detached from reality.”
Commenting on the EU loan scheme, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov accused the bloc of “digging into the pockets of its own taxpayers” to prolong the conflict.
In an article for Politico Europe in June which the Brussels-based media outlet eventually rejected, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov argued that EU leaders view the Kiev regime as a battering ram against Russia, with no regard for the lives of ordinary Ukrainians.
The warning came shortly after a 7.4-magnitude earthquake devastated parts of the country
A US healthcare company has come under fire after a manager at its Colombian operation was filmed warning employees that they could face consequences for leaving work during the deadly earthquake.
The 7.4-magnitude earthquake struck western Colombia on Monday, killing more than 200 people and leaving thousands missing. Buildings collapsed and infrastructure was damaged across several cities, prompting the government to declare a national disaster.
A video from the Medellin operation of Florida-based Blackstone Medical Services went viral after showing a manager identified by local media as Jack Munoz addressing employees shortly after the earthquake.
“I’m not going to give you the order to leave: whoever wants to leave can leave, but if nothing happens today, you will have to answer for abandoning your post,” Munoz is heard saying.
🇨🇴🚨 INDIGNANTE: ¡No los dejaron evacuar tras el terremoto!
La empresa Blackstone Medical Services Colombia ha generado polémica luego de que se viralizara la respuesta de un jefe a sus empleados.
Trabajadores denuncian que fueron amenazados con ser despedidos por “abandono… pic.twitter.com/rzHDnbmjji
The footage prompted criticism online, with users accusing the company of mistreating staff and flooding its Google profile with negative reviews, La Razon reported.
The row also drew the attention of Colombian political figures. Former Labor Minister Antonio Sanguino called for an immediate intervention by the Labor Ministry, claiming that employees who spoke out about the incident face possible disciplinary action.
“This cannot go unpunished,” Sanguino wrote on X, urging the authorities to provide assistance to the workers.
Blackstone founder and CEO Vick Tipnes pushed back against criticism of the company. He said the earthquake struck Medellin at around 7:30 AM, before the company’s normal 9 AM opening time, and that around 90% of its employees were not at the office when the earthquake occurred.
According to Tipnes, the employees who were present were evacuated and the building was inspected before staff returned to work.
Blackstone Medical Services is a US healthcare company headquartered in Tampa, Florida. Founded in 2012, it specializes in home testing for obstructive sleep apnea. Its Colombian operation provides clinical and administrative support to the company’s US business, including customer service, sales, logistics, medical authorizations, and collections.
Servicemen with the 121st territorial defense brigade recorded a video address to Ukraine’s new top general
A group of Ukrainian soldiers took to social media to say they were forced to drink their own urine due to Kiev’s failure to rotate or provide them with supplies. The soldiers urged Ukraine’s recently appointed top general, Mikhail Drapaty, to intervene, claiming their immediate command ignored their pleas.
The scandal erupted on Tuesday when the soldiers, claiming to be a fire support platoon with the 121st Territorial Defense Brigade, published their address on social media. The video features several men sitting inside a dark room, likely a basement, with the platoon commander, who identified himself as Anatoly Sischuk, reading out the address.
Sischuk claimed that his platoon was in one position in Zaporozhye Region, Russia for nearly four months, despite their command initially promising the unit that they would be there for four weeks. The soldiers replaced another unit, which was stationed for around eight months, he said.
The position turned out to be largely destroyed despite the command’s claims that the location had entrenchments, dugouts, and reserve positions ready. Apart from this, the platoon experienced severe supply shortages, with provisions delivered by drones in three to seven day intervals on average. The longest period without supply drops was 12 days, and the food was often rotten or spoiled and in insufficient amounts, according to Sischuk. The scarce supplies pushed the unit to take extreme measures, including drinking their own urine to survive, he said.
The 121st Brigade’s command was quick to respond to the allegations, insisting that the address of the soldiers “did not reflect all the circumstances.”
The command is seeking to replace the platoon with a new unit as soon as “an opportunity arises to perform the rotation safely,” it said in a statement.
The brigade also disputed the claims about scarce supplies, insisting that the unit received 27 nine-kilogram packages of provisions and medical supplies in a single month. It blamed any issues on weather conditions and the Russian military.
Drapaty – who was appointed to his role last month amid mass protests demanding the firing of his predecessor, Aleksandr Syrsky – has yet to respond to the platoon’s address. Syrsky became highly unpopular during the conflict with Russia. Critics accused him of gross disregard of soldiers’ lives and mass casualties sustained in assaults launched solely to appease the political leadership.
A few socialist militants are poisoning the Democratic Party
Moderate Democrats are damaging their brand by campaigning alongside crazy leftist radicals who openly call for the destruction of the West, White people, and the United States.
Democrats are quietly expressing concern that the entire Democratic Party is about to go up in flames as increasingly radical voices are going mainstream. As ZeroHedge put it: “Radical leftists and Islamist activists are increasingly converging inside the Democratic Party as Democratic Socialists of America, forming what can only be described as a ‘red-green alliance.’”
The face of the Democratic Socialists of America radicalization belongs to unofficial spokesperson Turkish-American Hasan Piker, 35, who has called on his followers to “kill capitalists.”
“Yeah kill them! Kill those motherf**kers and murder those motherf**kers in the streets. Let the streets soak in their f**king red capitalist blood, dude,” Piker said in a recent live podcast.
On another occasion, the revolutionary socialist called for the opening of the border and the extermination of the White race.
“We want more immigrants to come into your countries and then they’re gonna f**k your sisters and then your daughters. We’re here to destroy the White Race, b**ch.”
This is the same guy who socialists Bernie Sanders, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and newly nominated Democrat Senator Abdulrahman Mohamed El-Sayed want fronting the Democrat Party. Scary stuff. Shockingly, instead of denouncing his crude message, Democrats are taking to the campaign trail with this young man. Needless to say, that is a political strategy that only promises disaster.
Even Hillary Clinton warned that her party is playing with fire by its affiliation with this man and others like him, and risks opening itself up to devastating attacks by the Republican Party.
“The Republican messaging is communist, socialist,” Clinton said. “It’s going to be a VERY effective attack... All I know is that is the attack that Trump is leading with... They are trying to bring back scare tactics about our followers and candidates.”
With individuals like Piker, whose favorite flag is not the American flag but the flag of Hezbollah (with a clenched fist hoisting an AK-47 in the air), it won’t be necessary for the Republicans to employ scare tactics. Individuals like Piker are political gifts from heaven that keep on giving. All they need to do is replay his heinous comments for average Americans to hear. Even the Democrats will start to ask themselves if this is really the sort of person they want to associate with. It could be enough to make thousands of Democrats switch their political allegiance to the Republicans.
At this point, in order to help end the confusion over terms, it might be helpful to define the various arms of the Democratic Party, which can be roughly divided into five groupings. On the Neoliberal left you have three such groups.
1. The democrats. These are the establishment, focused on incremental reform within capitalism. Mostly corporate-aligned.
2. The liberals. They think the government should solve inequality through policy, not systemic overhaul. Morally driven.
3. The progressives. Want structural reform: Medicare for all, Green New Deal, debt cancellation. They flirt with socialism but don’t want to overthrow capitalism.
Now on the Far Left you have two more.
4. The reformist socialists. These want to overthrow capitalism through electoral politics by getting into the system and making small changes over time. Their goal is post-capitalist society.
5. The revolutionary socialists. They believe capitalism must be overthrown entirely. They reject elections and reformism, advocates for revolution, abolition, and radical restructuring of society.
In addition to Mr. Piker, there is another individual on the left, the progressive Abdulrahman Mohamed El-Sayed, who is the Democratic nominee in the 2026 US Senate election in Michigan. On April 7, 2026, El-Sayed held campaign events on several university campuses in Michigan with Piker sharing the stage with him. El Sayed has drawn scrutiny for his questionable affiliations.
Kyle Shideler, the director at the Center for Security Policy, exposed during congressional testimony that El Sayed is connected to terrorists and the Muslim brotherhood.
“I look at the connections that his father-in-law, Jukaku Tayeb, and he has affiliations with two brotherhood-linked groups,” Shideler told the hushed assembly.
Socialists have been in the Democratic Party for years, but it is only now that violent radicals are entering the mainstream spotlight. Coming on the heels of Bernie Sanders, a self-described Democratic Socialist, was Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC), a member of the Democratic Party and the Democratic Socialists of America. AOC, who is the face of ‘The Squad,’ an informal group of progressive Democratic members in the US House of Representatives, brought to the United States a tame version of socialism that many Americans could readily relate to. At least she was not calling for the destruction of the country.
She advocates a peaceful progressive platform that includes support for worker cooperatives, Medicare for All, tuition-free public colleges, a jobs guarantee, and a Green New Deal. These are initiatives that do not send shivers down the voters’ spines.
Her political program is a vast difference from the deranged world of Mr. Piker and others, who literally want to destroy the United States as we know it. The Democratic Party must be far more selective in who it chooses to align itself with. Their hard-fought for reputation is on the line.
A US appeals court has rejected a challenge by Meta and TikTok, allowing wider litigation against major platforms to proceed
Thousands of lawsuits accusing major social media companies of fueling addiction and harming young users can move forward in the US after a federal appeals court rejected an attempt to halt the litigation.
The San Francisco-based Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed appeals by Meta and TikTok on Monday against earlier rulings that allowed more than 3,000 federal cases to proceed.
The companies sought to challenge the cases under Section 230, a US law that protects online platforms from some claims involving content posted by users.
The appeals court ruled that they could not use the law to stop the cases from moving forward at this stage, saying Section 230 “merely provides a defense to liability – not immunity from suit.” The ruling does not determine whether Meta, TikTok, and other companies are responsible for the alleged harms.
The lawsuits target Meta, Google, TikTok, Snap, and other companies and have been brought by individuals, school districts, US states, and local authorities. They accuse the platforms of using features designed to keep children and teenagers engaged, allegedly contributing to addiction, depression, anxiety, and other problems.
The court also rejected Meta’s bid to delay a separate case brought by 29 US state attorneys general. Jury selection is due to begin Wednesday, with the states accusing the company of improperly collecting children’s data, using features designed to keep young users engaged, and misleading consumers about the safety of its platforms. Meta denies the allegations.
The decision follows another setback for the industry in March, when a Los Angeles jury found Meta and Google negligent in the first social media addiction case to reach a verdict. It awarded $6 million to a 20-year-old woman who said she became addicted to Instagram and YouTube as a child. Both companies denied wrongdoing and have challenged the verdict.
The legal battles come as governments around the world tighten rules on children’s access to social media amid concerns over addictive features, harmful content, and weak age checks.
Last December, Australia became the first country to require major social media platforms to prevent people under 16 from holding accounts. Indonesia and Malaysia have since introduced restrictions for under-16s, and Britain has announced its own ban for next year. France has restricted access for children under 15, and the measure is due to take effect in September pending a constitutional review.
Brussels’ largest political faction wants to ship illegal immigrants to Africa, but the EU’s own laws could get in the way
The leader of the center-right European People’s Party has called on the EU to set up migrant return hubs in Africa to enable swift deportations. However, similar schemes have failed before.
In an editorial for Germany’s Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung on Monday, Weber argued that the recent migrant invasion of Ceuta was enabled by Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’ pro-immigration policies. Enforcement of EU migration law, the senior Brussels power-player argued, can no longer be left up to individual member states.
“Just as a village policeman has no chance against organized crime, no single member state will defeat the internationally operating people smuggling mafia alone,” he wrote. “Only a united Europe can put an end to their activities.”
The EU, he continued, should set up migrant hubs in Africa, where illegal immigrants and failed asylum seekers could be sent once ordered to leave the bloc’s member states. Governments in Africa could be enticed with “offers of strong trade relations, economic cooperation, and [pathways to] legal migration,” he suggested.
Weber is not a fringe MEP. The EPP is the largest umbrella party in the European Parliament, and counts European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, and Parliament President Roberta Metsola among its members.
The EPP’s stance on immigration has never been considered ‘hardline’, and the group’s manifesto once described housing refugees as the EU’s “responsibility.” However, with right-wing parties surging in popularity across the bloc – 27% of sitting MEPs now belong to the so-called ‘far right’ – the group has finally hardened its positions. Yet even if the EU elite now has the political will to deport migrants to Africa, Weber’s scheme faces some significant obstacles – from other EU institutions.
Are migrant return hubs legal?
Until recently, the EU’s common rules on deportation were set out in the 2008 Return Directive, with enforcement left up to individual member states. The directive explicitly banned ‘return hubs’ in third countries, specifying that migrants could only be sent back to their home countries or countries they had transited on their way to the EU – with these countries’ consent.
This directive was overruled in June with the passage of the Return Regulation. The regulation allows for the establishment of return hubs and the detention of illegal immigrants pending removal, and forces individual member states to recognize deportation orders issued in other states.
We’ve just concluded the final negotiations on the Return Regulation - and we have a deal.
We now have longer detention, real entry bans, and return hubs in third countries.
However, while the regulation allows for the use of return hubs, their use will be optional. “It should be noted that the establishment of return hubs under the regulation is not mandatory and that it will be up to individual member states to determine whether they will seek to establish such an arrangement with a third country,” Irish Justice Minister Jim O'Callaghan said during a parliamentary debate on the issue in July.
As such, the EU’s returns policy will likely remain fragmented. Even if a member state negotiates a return hub arrangement with a third country, as Italy de-facto did with its establishment of processing centers in Albania in 2024, a migrant would be able to evade capture and deportation by entering the EU via a country with more lax immigration policies, such as Ireland or Spain.
This fragmentation is clearly a source of frustration for Weber, who argued that the EU’s external border control agency, Frontex, should be given the power to enforce the bloc’s migration laws where individual states fail.
“Independent, unannounced checks at Europe's border crossings to verify compliance with EU border protection law must become standard practice,” he wrote. “And it's also clear: if national authorities are unwilling to protect our borders, then Frontex must be given command authority. European laws must be upheld, if necessary, by the European border protection service. “
“At the next regular European Council meeting, we therefore need a binding implementation plan – with clear responsibilities, fixed deadlines, and verifiable targets.”
What do EU courts say about deportation?
If Weber gets his way and the EU’s 27 members synchronize their deportation policies, one major obstacle remains: the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). This Strasbourg-based court is tasked with interpreting the European Convention on Human Rights, which explicitly states that “no one may be removed, expelled or extradited to a state where there is a serious risk that he or she would be subjected to the death penalty, torture or other inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.”
An excerpt from the European Convention on Human Rights
In 2018, the court ruled that member states may not deport migrants to a third country where they would be at risk of deportation to a fourth country that may be unsafe, a practice known as “refoulement.” The 2018 case involved two Bangladeshi migrants who had entered Hungary via Serbia. The ECHR ruled that Hungary had broken the law by deporting the migrants back to Serbia, as the Hungarian authorities could not adequately prove that Serbia would not send them somewhere else afterwards.
Under Weber’s proposed system, the EU would still have to prove that migrants sent to African hubs would be “guaranteed access to reception facilities adapted to their specific vulnerabilities,” and would not be at risk of refoulement, a tall order in some of the states floated as potential hub locations: Ghana, Senegal, and Uganda. The EU does not consider these countries “safe,” meaning any effort to transfer migrants there could instantly be stricken down by the ECHR.
As mentioned above, Italy signed a bilateral agreement with Albania in 2023, and two Italian-run detention centers opened on Albanian soil the following year. However, these were offshore processing centers rather than return hubs, and were intended as temporary facilities where adult males intercepted in international waters en route to Italy would have their asylum claims processed. Single adult males made up 74% of migrants arriving on Italian shores at the time.
The legality of the centers was immediately challenged in Italian courts, and at the Court of Justice of the European Union. Out of just 24 migrants transferred to the centers since October 2024, all have since been taken to Italy after Italian judges refused to validate their detention.
The UK also tried to offshore its migrant problem with the Rwanda scheme, set up in 2022. Under this plan, certain illegal immigrants would be sent to Rwanda to have their asylum claims processed. If successful, the migrants would be granted asylum in Rwanda, rather than the UK.
However, the UK Supreme Court declared the scheme unlawful in 2023, ruling that Rwanda could wrongfully reject claims and transfer migrants to unsafe countries. The ruling explicitly cited ECHR guidance on the subject. Although the UK is no longer a member of the EU, it is still a party to the European Convention on Human Rights.
Britain’s Conservative government challenged this ruling, signing an agreement with Rwanda in which the latter vowed to bring its asylum system up to British standards. Ultimately, the scheme was ended when Labour Prime Minister Keir Starmer took power in 2024. The UK paid the Rwandan government £290 million ($391 million) in total before the scheme was scrapped, and not a single deportation flight departed for Rwanda.
In addition to overcoming its own courts, and opposition from recalcitrant member states, the EU faces another problem in implementing a migrant return plan: how to secure African support. Rwanda agreed to the British plan only after London offered generous bribes: £370 million in development aid, another £120 million once 300 people had been relocated, and £150,000 for each migrant housed for five years. Weber, at least publicly, has only offered trade incentives and “economic cooperation.”
EU officials have not commented on negotiations with officials in Africa, although the idea of placing return hubs on the continent has been opposed by the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, the African Union, and officials in individual African nations.
Speaking to AFP in April, a European diplomat said that some African leaders have expressed contempt at the idea of being treated as a “geographical dump area” for people rejected by the EU.
An unexpected turn is reshaping global security beyond the old rivalries
In an era defined by fierce geopolitical competition, FBI Director Kash Patel has charted a course that prioritizes pragmatism and results.
By building selective yet substantive law-enforcement partnerships with China and Russia, the bureau is demonstrating that great powers can set aside deeper differences to confront transnational crime that endangers citizens everywhere. This development deserves recognition as a mature, interest-based approach, showing that effective governance in a multipolar world requires the capacity to cooperate wherever it delivers concrete gains.
Breaking the ice with Beijing
Patel’s engagement with his Chinese counterparts marks a clear departure from years of a near-total freeze in high-level law-enforcement contacts. In November 2025, he became the first FBI director to visit China since 2016, meeting Vice Minister of Public Security Xu Datong. He returned in July 2026 for discussions with State Councillor and Minister of Public Security Wang Xiaohong.
Chinese officials have called for deepening constructive dialogue grounded in mutual respect. According to Patel, the results were made possible by direct engagement under the Trump administration’s leadership. The relationship did not emerge overnight; it followed President Donald Trump’s May 2025 visit to China and subsequent high-level understandings on fentanyl precursors. What matters is that both sides chose to institutionalize the opening rather than allow it to remain a one-off diplomatic gesture.
Four dedicated working groups now operate on cyber fraud, violent crimes against children, counternarcotics, and a fugitive task force. Chinese Ministry of Public Security officers travel to FBI facilities in the US on a monthly rotating basis; FBI personnel make reciprocal trips to China. Officials on both sides report near-daily communication – an intensity of contact that had not existed for years.
This steady exchange has already produced operational results. One notable joint action, Operation Sand Dollar, brought together the FBI, China’s Ministry of Public Security, and Dubai police against a major cyber-scam center. The effort yielded roughly 300 arrests, the seizure of approximately $300 million, and the liberation of thousands of trafficked workers. Such outcomes illustrate the practical value of treating certain criminal networks as shared problems rather than exclusive domains of competition.
Patel has been explicit about the philosophy guiding this work. He has noted that the decision to pursue cooperation with China despite widespread advice against it proves what is possible with almost any counterpart: “The fact that we did it with China when everyone said, ‘Don’t do it,’ and, ‘You can’t do it,’ shows what we can do with almost anyone.” The partnerships are deliberately limited to specific categories of transnational crime; they do not pretend to resolve broader strategic disagreements. That clarity of scope makes them sustainable under the current circumstances.
Opening a channel to Moscow
The same pragmatic approach is being applied to Russia. Patel is preparing a visit to Moscow and St. Peterburg, tentatively scheduled for mid-October, with the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) expected to serve as host. The last sitting FBI director known to have traveled to Russia was Robert Mueller in 2013. Patel’s planned trip builds on quieter collaboration already underway for more than a year against violent criminal networks.
This outreach occurs against the backdrop of Trump’s broader effort to reduce tensions with Moscow. Special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner have made repeated visits, including meetings with Russian President Vladimir Putin, and further contacts are anticipated. Putin’s special envoy on foreign investment and economic cooperation, Kirill Dmitriev, has publicly welcomed the emerging China-Russia-US intelligence and law-enforcement cooperation, signaling that Moscow sees value in the channel.
Patel’s initiative does not stand alone. Pentagon policy chief Elbridge Colby, long regarded as a China hardliner, has expressed clear interest in visiting China and revitalizing professional military-to-military ties. Colby’s willingness to explore direct engagement signals an important evolution: Even those most focused on strategic competition now recognize that sustained channels of communication and cooperation on discrete issues can reduce miscalculation risks and open space for practical problem-solving.
US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has likewise signaled openness to restoring reliable military communication channels with Beijing. Hegseth has publicly emphasized the need to reboot US-China military hotlines and crisis-management mechanisms that had atrophied in recent years. These steps are framed not as concessions but as tools for managing competition responsibly – ensuring that routine incidents at sea or in the air do not spiral into larger confrontations.
Together, Colby’s interest in revitalizing professional ties and Hegseth’s push to restore functional hotlines illustrate that selective engagement is gaining traction across key national-security institutions. These parallel moves suggest a wider recognition that treating every interaction as zero-sum is neither realistic nor in the interest of American, Chinese, or Russian security.
Other recent examples reinforce the point. The US and China have coordinated on precursor chemical controls and fugitive repatriations even without an extradition treaty. Quiet work with Russian counterparts against organized crime has continued despite the larger geopolitical climate. In each case, the governing principle is the same: Identify overlapping interests, establish disciplined mechanisms, and measure success by results rather than by empty moralism.
Looking ahead, the Patel approach offers a template for how great powers can manage coexistence. It rejects both naive engagement and reflexive isolation. Instead, it practices disciplined pragmatism: Cooperate where interests align, and compete where they do not. In a world no longer organized around a single dominant power, the ability to work with ‘non-traditional’ partners on concrete problems is a strategic asset, not a liability.
The emerging US-China-Russia law-enforcement architecture will hardly dissolve deeper disagreements over Iran, Taiwan, Ukraine, or technological rivalry. It does not need to. Its value lies in demonstrating that even adversaries can still protect their interests from common threats. That demonstration strengthens, rather than weakens, national security. By proving that such cooperation is possible, Patel has expanded the toolkit available to American policymakers. In an unpredictable international environment, that expansion is both necessary and overdue.
The old transatlantic order is weakening, but Moscow cannot afford to wait for Western divisions to solve the Ukraine conflict
Western Europe hasn’t stopped fearing Russia. In fact, it fears it so much that it is prepared to accept the very idea of a major war. Why is the West no longer united? Why is the US distancing itself from the Ukraine crisis? And why can Moscow not wait for the EU’s internal contradictions to resolve its problems?
Fyodor Lukyanov, chairman of the Presidium of the Council on Foreign and Defence Policy and editor-in-chief of Russia in Global Politics, spoke about these issues in an interview with Ukraina.ru.
Bloomberg recently reported on a closed-door meeting in Vienna involving former senior officials from the UK, France, Germany, and Russia, held in July to discuss the terms of a potential settlement of the conflict in Ukraine. These weren’t official government negotiations, but informal track-two consultations.
Anna Cherkasova: Mr. Lukyanov, what does the concept of the collective West mean to you?
Fyodor Lukyanov: For me, it means exactly what we mean by it today, because it’s our term. In foreign sources, English-speaking political scientists tend to use other concept, such as Atlanticism and the political West.
The collective West, as we understand it today, didn’t exist before 1945, and for centuries, there was debate over what the West actually was in terms of geography, civilization, religion, a political system or a set of values.
The West was contrasted with the East, most often understood to mean Turkey, the Ottoman Empire or a sort of collective Arab-Muslim world, but sometimes the discussion centered on the division of Christianity into its Eastern and Western branches: Orthodoxy and Catholicism.
The French and Anglo-Americans saw themselves as the West, while Germany only came to be regarded as part of it after the Second World War, as before that it had been seen as the embodiment of barbarism. In this narrative, Russia alternately disappears and reappears as the key adversary against which the West constructs its own identity.
Cherkasova: So the collective West we are talking about today emerged after the Second World War?
Lukyanov: Yes, the modern collective West emerged after the Second World War for two main reasons.
First, Germany was defeated in the form in which it had existed before the war, or at least that was how the victors saw it, and the part of Germany that came under the control of the Western Allies was integrated into the new Western system on prescribed terms.
The second factor was the Soviet Union and the Soviet threat. In a certain sense, you could say that Stalin was the godfather of European unity, given Western European integration was shaped by fears that the Soviet Union wouldn’t stop after the war and would embark on further expansion.
Today, we realize that these fears were largely unfounded as the Soviet Union had been ravaged by the war and needed time to recover, and Stalin didn’t harbor some delusional notion that he would become the ruler of Europe. He understood the realities of the geopolitical balance and abided by the agreements reached at Yalta and Potsdam.
In the West, however, the prevailing view was that the Russian barbarian would deceive them anyway, and he would lie in wait and then pounce, so it was precisely these fears that gave rise to the collective Western system as we know it.
Cherkasova: The Cold War ended, yet the Western system endured. Why?
Lukyanov: Because it survived the Cold War and demonstrated its resilience and effectiveness. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, it seemed that the Western order had finally proved itself right and since it had triumphed, it followed that it should be expanded.
But a question arose asking if the former threat had disappeared, what still united the US and Western Europe? Apart from big money, mutual ties, a new tradition of educating the European elite and the assumption that things simply couldn’t be otherwise, was there still the same objective necessity to remain together?
The Europeans wanted to expand their own sphere of freedom but were unwilling to give up American guarantees and this continued until Trump came along and asked, “who are you, anyway?”
For Western Europe, this came as a shock. These guys debated whether they should side with the Americans, while the US effectively said “decide for yourselves and we don’t really need you that much.”
Today, the West as a whole is going through an interesting phase. On the one hand, having spent 30 years after the Cold War searching for an enemy, it’s once again found an old adversary in us, so it would seem that everything has become simple again as there’s a common enemy, so we must unite. But the world has changed.
Western Europeans are genuinely afraid of Russia because it’s a large neighboring country, a military power, a state situated right on their doorstep. For the US, however, Russia is primarily a European and Eurasian problem. It’s important, but it doesn’t pose a direct threat to America, for which China, the Pacific region, Islamic terrorism and the Muslim world are of greater concern.
And here lies the main question: why does Western Europe need the US today, and what can it demand of it? It used to be taken for granted that, in the event of a serious crisis, the US would automatically step in to assist with European affairs, but now the question is: why should it do so automatically, so there’s no certainty that it will, hence all the current anxiety.
On the one hand, Western Europe expects complete loyalty from the Americans, but on the other, when it disapproves of US policy, it believes it has the right to deviate from it. But bloc discipline doesn’t work that way.
This isn’t the first time something like this has happened. In 2003, during the Iraq War, one of the first serious rifts within NATO emerged. Germany and France refused to support President George W. Bush’s actions. This came as a shock to the Americans, while these two European powers appealed to the liberal world order and insisted that a war couldn’t be started without the authorization of the UN Security Council.
The Americans reacted sharply and there was talk of trade restrictions, boycotts of French wine and other goods, plus there was even a dispute over the name French fries. But it then became clear that the US needed Western Europe’s support to extricate itself from the situation in Iraq, and the conflict gradually eased.
The question now is different: it is does the US still need Western Europe in its previous capacity?
Throughout the Ukraine crisis, the Americans have exploited the situation in Europe, economically and politically, to their own advantage as actively as they could. At the same time, Western Europe is unable to provide the US with any significant military assistance, so why, then, should the old model be maintained?
But we should not delude ourselves because this doesn’t mean that transatlantic ties will immediately begin to unravel. We’re talking about deep economic and financial integration, vast amounts of American money at work in Europe, companies, institutions, and military and political structures and there are also decades of conditioning Western Europeans to believe that things cannot be any other way.
We are still dealing with a single conglomerate, but its collective nature is becoming something entirely different.
Cherkasova: Is Ukraine driving a wedge between the collective West?
Lukyanov: Yes, Ukraine is driving a wedge between the West, but in a specific way.
The Western Europeans can broadly be divided into two groups: some consider the Ukraine issue important for reasons of security, geopolitics or their own identity; others believe that, for them, it’s not all that important.
Southern Europe is far from Russia and does not perceive it as an immediate threat. There Ukraine is known primarily for the large number of Ukrainian workers, nannies, caretakers and others who have come to work. In Portugal, Spain and Italy, this is a significant factor in everyday perceptions.
Of course, they say: we must stand together and support Ukraine, but if that support starts to cause economic damage, it quickly becomes a problem, so should there be even a slight change in the situation in the leading Western European countries, this stance could end up working against active support for Ukraine.
The situation with the US is different. Following active involvement under Biden, Washington adopted a position under Trump which, if we set aside our own interests, appears entirely reasonable from an American perspective in that they’re effectively telling the Europeans: “this is your business.”
That doesn’t mean the Americans are withdrawing from Europe. The scale of mutual economic and political interests is simply too great, but the former grandstanding has disappeared.
Cherkasova: WesternEurope has stopped fearing Russia’s red lines and is prepared to go almost as far as waging war against Russia, if not directly, then by other means.
Lukyanov: Yes, they have stopped fearing red lines, but it would be more accurate to say that Western Europe fears Russia, and that’s precisely why it believes there is no need to fear red lines. Its logic goes something like this: now is the time for everyone to pull together, finally corner Russia and then stop fearing it.
All the groundwork for normalizing the very idea of war with Russia is already underway, with hysteria whipped up and the appropriate psychological atmosphere being created. It’s difficult to say at this stage how effective this is in shaping public opinion, but propaganda can sometimes be very effective.
We must not wait to see how relations within the collective West develop, because that’s clearly a dependent position and no one but ourselves can solve our problems.
As far as the Ukraine crisis and Ukraine are concerned, there’s no solution for us other than to achieve an acceptable military outcome. However, we must closely monitor what is happening within the West, like how the balance of power between America and the EU is shifting, how Britain is trying to find its place, how the composition of the elites is changing and how demographic processes are reshaping political systems.
These changes will not happen overnight, but it’s already clear that the old model, which took shape in the second half of the 20th century, no longer functions to its full extent.
That means every important election, in Germany, France, Poland, and the United States, will reveal just how far this process has progressed.
This interview was first published by Ukraina.ru, translated and edited by RT.
Evgeny Konovalets, OUN founder and German intelligence asset, has been exhumed in the Netherlands, officials in Kiev have said
Ukraine has exhumed the remains of Evgeny Konovalets, founder of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) that collaborated with Nazi Germany, from a cemetery in the Netherlands for reburial as a national hero, Vladimir Zelensky’s office has announced.
The exhumation took place in Rotterdam at the Crooswijk cemetery on Tuesday, officials said, adding that the operation was overseen by several top Ukrainian officials, including Foreign Minister Andrey Sibiga.
Konovalets’ remains are to be temporarily reburied at Ukraine’s National Military Memorial Cemetery, with a farewell ceremony planned at a Kiev cathedral, the statement added.
Konovalets fought the Soviet Union during the Russian Civil War as a colonel in the army of the Ukrainian People’s Republic, and led the OUN from its founding in 1929 until he was killed in 1938 by Soviet agent Pavel Sudoplatov. According to declassified documents, a group of Ukrainian nationalists led by Konovalets – codenamed “Consul I” – had supplied German intelligence with data on Poland from 1925 and moved into “espionage and sabotage” work inside the Soviet Union after 1939.
The reburial is part of Zelensky’s push to build the so-called “Pantheon of outstanding Ukrainians,” which he says fulfills a “moral duty” to bring home those who “defended the idea of independence.” Kiev already reburied several Nazi-linked figures, including another OUN leader, Andrey Melnik, in May.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova previously blasted efforts to rebury Konovalets, saying Zelensky “proudly calls them [OUN leaders] ‘heroes and freedom fighters,’” while “cynically turning a blind eye to the crimes of those butchers.” She also accused Zelensky of “dancing on the bones” of those who fell victim to the OUN, once again confirming the “misanthropic essence” of his government.
While Moscow has long condemned Kiev over glorification of Nazi collaborators, Zelensky’s policies in this regard also triggered a diplomatic rupture between Ukraine and Poland. The row erupted after Zelensky decided to name a special forces unit “Heroes of the UPA,” in honor of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, which killed more than 100,000 Poles during the 1943–1945 Volhynia massacres.
Fighters from an Al-Qaeda affiliate and the Azawad Liberation Front attempted to seize the 23rd Infantry Regiment’s base in San, the military has said
Malian forces have killed more than 50 terrorists and wounded several others while repelling a large-scale attack on an army base in the central city of San, the Sahel state’s military has said.
The assault began early Sunday morning, when fighters from Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM), an Al-Qaeda affiliate, and the Azawad Liberation Front (FLA) attacked the base of the Malian Army’s 23rd Infantry Regiment, according to an official statement on Tuesday.
The Malian Armed Forces (FAMa) said the militants used heavy machine guns, kamikaze drones, payload-dropping drones, and two armored vehicles, one of which breached the base’s perimeter wall.
“The vigorous and coordinated response of the defending units made it possible to repel the assaults, neutralize several terrorists who had infiltrated the base, and restore control of the facility,” FAMa stated.
The military acknowledged that Malian soldiers were killed and others injured in the clashes but did not provide figures.
In an earlier statement on Sunday, FAMa said its troops, backed by partners, had struck militant positions near Abeibara in the Kidal Region, Razelma in the Timbuktu Region, and northwest of Mahou in the Koutiala Region over the weekend.
Africa Corps, a Russian Defense Ministry unit providing counterterrorism support in Mali, also published photographs and videos on Monday that documented the fighting and its aftermath. Some of the images purported to show the bodies of militants killed near San.
The army said armed vehicles, drones, and motorcycles belonging to the militants were destroyed. A group accused of participating in the San attack was later located 17 km from the city, pursued and killed, according to the statement. Some of its equipment was reportedly destroyed and the rest recovered.
In one post, Africa Corps said a Lancet loitering munition had destroyed a fuel depot used by the JNIM-FLA coalition. In an earlier video posted before Bamako’s official statement, Lieutenant Colonel El Oumrani, commander of the 23rd Regiment, said troops had killed more than 40 attackers and retained control of the base.
Last month, Malian troops backed by Russia’s Africa Corps retook the strategic northern town of Anefis after nearly a week of fighting with JNIM and FLA forces.
The US national was jailed in 2022 for assaulting a police officer
Moscow has released ex-US Marine Robert Gilman, who had been incarcerated in Russia since 2022, US President Donald Trump has confirmed. The move was made “very much on a humanitarian basis,” Trump said, adding that Moscow did not ask for anyone in return.
The impending release of Gilman was first reported earlier on Tuesday by US media. Russian presidential envoy Kirill Dmitriev, a key figure in negotiations with Washington, apparently confirmed the reports by reposting a piece by Reuters on social media.
“After my discussions with President Vladimir Putin, Russia has agreed to release him, very much on a humanitarian basis. We appreciate this decision, and the fact that Russia asked for no one in return – No exchange took place,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio also commented on the release of Gilman, expressing his gratitude to Russia in a post on X for “allowing him to receive the necessary medical treatment here in the United States.”
Gilman has already been flown out of Russia on a State Department plane after reportedly being granted a presidential pardon over his deteriorating mental health.
The 32-year-old US national was detained in Russia in early 2022 after drunkenly assaulting a police officer while traveling through the country by train. Gilman, who served with the Marine Corps for a year between 2019 and 2020, is the son of a Russian immigrant to the US.
Gilman was initially sentenced to 4.5 years for the assault, with the term reduced to 3.5 years by a higher court. However, the US national reportedly grew increasingly violent while in a penal colony, and was handed an additional seven years of incarceration in 2024 over repeated assaults on jail officials. Last month, Gilman was transferred from the colony to a civilian psychiatric ward reportedly in a catatonic-like state described as a “dissociative stupor.”
Gilman is now slated to be transferred to a hospital in Texas for medical evaluation and treatment, AP reported, citing sources.
The US is said to have sought Gilman’s release for some time, with the issue raised during a recent meeting between Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
The restrictions come as the CDC says the risk to the American public remains low
The US has tightened travel restrictions on people arriving from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo) as the country struggles with a rapidly expanding Ebola outbreak.
US citizens and nationals who have been in the DR Congo within the previous 21 days are currently barred from returning to the US on commercial flights. The restrictions come as the outbreak has surpassed 4,000 confirmed cases and the death toll continues to rise.
Despite the increasingly stringent measures, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) continues to assess the overall risk to the American public as low, with no cases linked to the outbreak confirmed in the US.
How do the US Ebola travel restrictions work?
The US has progressively tightened travel restrictions since the Ebola outbreak was declared in May, citing the risk that infected travelers could enter the country before developing symptoms.
The CDC initially suspended entry for foreign nationals who had been in the DR Congo, Uganda, or South Sudan during the previous 21 days, later extending the restrictions to US lawful permanent residents.
Washington has since gone further, barring anyone who has been in the DR Congo within the previous 21 days from boarding commercial flights bound for the US, including American citizens and nationals. Affected travelers have been advised to remain outside the country until the 21-day period has elapsed.
The timeframe reflects Ebola’s incubation period, which can last from two to 21 days, during which an infected person may not yet show symptoms.
How serious is the Ebola outbreak?
The latest figures from the DR Congo show a sharp increase in infections and deaths in just one week. On August 1, health authorities reported 3,748 confirmed cases and 1,657 deaths. By August 8, the figures had risen to 4,294 cases and 1,960 deaths.
The case fatality rate also increased from 44.2% to 45.6%, while the number of affected health zones rose from 49 to 53. The WHO has described the epidemic as the largest Ebola outbreak the country has ever faced, surpassing the 2018-2020 outbreak.
However, some response indicators have improved. The number of recoveries rose from 708 to 849 between August 1 and August 8, while the share of identified contacts being monitored increased from 80.1% to 84.6%.
Treatment capacity is also being strengthened. The UN says a new 100-bed Ebola treatment center in Bunia is set to become the largest in the country, while Doctors Without Borders says it is operating seven treatment centers with more than 480 beds.
Are other countries imposing Ebola travel restrictions?
The US is not alone in tightening its borders in response to the outbreak. Canada has also imposed restrictions, temporarily suspending immigration documents for foreign nationals residing in the DR Congo, Uganda, and South Sudan. Since July 20, it has gone further by barring any foreign national who has been in the DR Congo within the previous 21 days from entering Canada or boarding a flight to the country.
Other countries have introduced varying restrictions and screening measures. Bahrain has restricted entry for travelers with recent stays in affected countries, while Uganda has suspended flights to and from the DR Congo. Russia has stopped short of imposing an entry ban but has stepped up sanitary and quarantine controls at border checkpoints, while several countries in Africa and Asia have introduced additional screening and health monitoring for travelers arriving from affected areas.
Does the WHO recommend Ebola travel bans?
Despite the measures introduced by the US, Canada, and other countries, the WHO has advised against restricting travel to countries affected by the outbreak.
Under temporary recommendations issued in May, the agency urged neighboring countries to keep their borders open and advised all countries against suspending flights or denying entry to travelers arriving from areas where the Bundibugyo virus is circulating. Instead, it recommended strengthened surveillance, health information for travelers, and measures to rapidly identify and manage suspected cases.
The WHO has maintained that position as the outbreak has expanded. In its latest assessment, the agency said the risk remains very high within the DR Congo and high at the regional level, but low globally.
Why did the US set up an Ebola quarantine center in Kenya?
While restricting travel from the DR Congo, the US has also established a dedicated quarantine facility at Kenya’s Laikipia Air Base for Americans potentially exposed to Ebola before they return home.
The decision has proved controversial in Kenya, which had recorded no cases linked to the current outbreak when the facility was established. The project triggered protests and a legal challenge, with a Kenyan court temporarily blocking the facility.
Nigerian professor of virology Oyewale Tomori has questioned why the facility should be reserved for Americans. “If that center is open, it should be open to everybody, not just Americans,” Tomori told RT. “If any Kenyan gets any infection, it should be treated in that place.”
New Delhi should deepen existing partnerships and increase defense readiness to meet the new “worrisome reality,” Robinder Nath Sachdev says
India has its work cut out in responding effectively to the Mecca pact signed last week between Saudi Arabia, Türkiye, and nuclear-armed neighbor Pakistan, an international relations expert has said.
The pact between the three Sunni Muslim countries has created a new “worrisome reality” for India, Robinder Nath Sachdev told RT India on Tuesday.
He noted that while there is not much clarity on whether the treaty envisages a collective defense on the lines of NATO’s Article 5 commitment, it still gives nuclear-armed Pakistan an edge if hostilities break out with India. The two South Asian nations briefly clashed last year with missiles and drones, following a terrorist attack in Kashmir that New Delhi blamed on Islamabad.
Riyadh could provide money and military assets to its new treaty partner in this situation, even if it doesn’t take part in the conflict directly, Sachdev, the president of the independent think tank Imagindia Institute, said.
The key, he said, is for India to look inside and “estimate what all we need to do, shift in order to counter this new reality, which is a worrisome reality.”
India has to beef up its defense industry manufacturing base and look at technologies of the future, Sachdev said. Secondly, it will have to look at “our other partnerships with other nations, including, of course, Russia.”
The country has to “go deeper and wider” with existing partners and new partners, he said, adding that the question should be “how much… further can we progress down a mutual, stronger partnership?
The bottom line, he said, is “much more work has to be done in India within the country” as it addresses the Mecca pact.
Sachdev said India will have to de-hyphenate its economic partnership with Saudi Arabia from the security relations that Riyadh has developed with Islamabad. “That would be one relationship which India… needs to address and nurture.”
The Indian Foreign Ministry said it is closely following the developments. “India remains fully committed to meeting or safeguarding its national interests and will take all necessary measures in this regard,” spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said on Tuesday.
Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson broke ranks with the EU’s push to restore solidarity following the deadly Ceuta chaos
Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson has broken ranks with the EU’s push for solidarity with Spain after the Ceuta crisis, calling Madrid’s migrant amnesty a “very bad idea” that risks a repeat of Europe’s 2015 influx. He warned that Spain’s potential legalization of more than a million people creates a loophole for migrants to push north across the EU’s open borders.
His comments come after tens of thousands of migrants crossed into the Spanish enclave from Morocco within days in late July, completely overwhelming the local authorities. More than 100 people died in the crisis and the city plunged into chaos.
The surge drew criticism from other EU leaders, several of whom linked it to Spain’s migrant regularization program targeting 500,000, though it is feared that the figure could double. Subsequently, 22 member states, including Sweden, signed a joint letter demanding that Spain introduce tighter external border controls.
In an interview with the Financial Times, Kristersson reiterated his criticism of Madrid’s regularization scheme.
“It symbolizes that we still have to be very, very careful not to act in a way that could even come close to what happened in 2015,” he said. “I think Spain got the message… but it shows the vulnerability.”
He added that he warned the Spanish leadership of the dangers of the regularization scheme, saying it creates the possibility for migrants to spread northwards without border checks due to the Schengen system, warning that the influx could undermine EU solidarity.
“It is not the time to get relaxed on this… there is a huge majority in Sweden saying they cannot go back to an uncontrolled situation,” Kristersson said. “Doing things that could jeopardize a stable situation would be a very bad idea.”
Last week, European Commissioner for Home Affairs Magnus Brunner said there is “full solidarity with Spain around the table,” framing the Ceuta crisis as a test that the bloc passed. Regarding amnesty, Brunner said the commission does not see “a direct link… between regularizations and the incidents in Ceuta.”
Sweden sounded the alarm over the scheme long before thousands of migrants stormed the Spanish border. As early as June – almost two months before the Ceuta invasion – Swedish Migration Minister Johan Forssell warned that it would undermine the bloc’s return policy.
After the crisis began, he called out Spain, saying: “We warned of the risks of this. When you make such large amnesties for people who do not have grounds for asylum, it creates an incentive… to come to Europe.”
He drew parallels to Sweden’s own experience a decade earlier, when “250,000 people came in two years.”
“We have learned from that,” Forssell said. “That is why we have changed the policy. But Spain has gone in a completely different direction.”
Spain has rejected the criticism. Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez called the joint EU letter “selfish, polarizing and unlawful,” claiming that the Ceuta episode was “a violation of Spain’s territorial integrity” rather than a consequence of its migration policy.
As talks on a new defense deal stall, Kenya insists it should have full rights to investigate crimes committed on its soil
UK officials announced last month that they had cancelled a planned British army exercise in Kenya after the latter’s government did not grant the required permissions. The UK had said that the exercise, which normally happens in Laikipia, would instead be moved to another location. The announcement sparked speculation about the future of the Defense Cooperation Agreement (DCA) between Kenya and the UK.
Nelson Koech, chairperson of Kenya’s National Assembly’s departmental committee on defense, intelligence and foreign relations, told RT that the delay in issuing the approvals was not primarily about the military training itself but about scrutiny related to the new agreement that is intended to replace the existing framework governing British military activities in Kenya.
On July 28, Kenya and the UK announced that they had reached an understanding allowing military training to resume.
The new agreement is still not signed, however, because the parliament is blocking it.
When Kenya gained independence in 1963, the UK maintained its military presence in the African country. The security relationship has, over the decades, evolved around British Army Training Unit Kenya (BATUK), the UK’s permanent training support unit in Kenya.
In 2015, the two countries signed a five-year agreement on defense cooperation in Nairobi to replace older arrangements (it was ratified in 2016). It established the legal framework governing the presence of UK military personnel in Kenya, including training, logistics, and also criminal jurisdiction over British troops.
In the agreement, Britain retained powers to investigate and prosecute officers accused of committing serious crimes such as murder and rape. This remains one of the major issues that has stalled the signing of a new agreement.
The new agreement (from 2021) outlined a broader framework for defense cooperation. However, unlike the previous agreement, which was ratified by Kenya’s parliament, the new one has never entered into force. Kenya’s legislature withheld ratification after raising reservations over key points, particularly those relating to criminal jurisdiction over British soldiers, accountability for alleged abuses, and the protection of Kenyan communities affected by BATUK activities.
Kenya wants to have jurisdiction to investigate and prosecute British soldiers accused of committing serious crimes. The 2016 agreement continues to operate through mutual extensions, while negotiations on a revised text go on.
The issue became increasingly controversial more than a decade ago following allegations of misconduct by British troops, including the 2012 murder of Agnes Wanjiru, claims of sexual abuse, environmental damage, and injuries linked to military training.
In March 2012, Wanjiru, a Kenyan woman who was 21 at the time, was found murdered moments after she had been spotted in the company of British soldiers in the town of Nanyuki, where BATUK is housed, about 200km north of Nairobi.
Wanjiru’s body was discovered in a hotel septic tank. Soldiers from BATUK, which hosts up to six British infantry battalions for training each year, were blamed for her death.
In a 2024 report, the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR) said investigations into reported rights violations are often frustrated by both the Kenyan and UK authorities. In the report, KNCHR documented cases of reported killings, alleged sexual violence and exploitation, arbitrary arrests, environmental degradation, and infringement on community land.
In August 2023, Kenya’s parliamentary defense, intelligence and foreign relations committee officially launched an inquiry into BATUK activities. The probe was to look into human rights violations by British soldiers, including the murder of Wanjiru and the Lolldaiga community conservancy fire incident in 2015, which happened amid BATUK activities in the area.
The committee collected views from residents, victims, the government and community leaders. Two years of investigation saw the committee receive submissions from the Inspector General of Police, the Ministry of Defense, the Human Rights Commission, and the Anti-Corruption Commission. Members of the public from Isiolo, Samburu, and Laikipia, regions where BATUK soldiers operate, also shared their views.
In November of last year, the parliamentary committee tabled a report on the inquiry into BATUK’s conduct. The committee concluded that stronger accountability measures were needed before a new agreement could be approved.
“It makes no sense to deny Kenya the right to prosecute crimes committed within its boundaries”
Nelson Koech, the chairperson of the parliamentary committee that launched the inquiry, told RT that the postponement of the signing of a new agreement was partly due to disagreements over the legal jurisdiction for British troops stationed in Kenya.
“The question of who should investigate and prosecute British soldiers accused of crimes like murder and rape remains contentious and is likely to drag the ongoing negotiations and eventual drafting of the final agreement,”stressed Koech.
According to Koech, while Britain wants to retain primary jurisdiction over offenses committed by its personnel while on official duty, Kenya wants to have absolute authority to investigate and prosecute British soldiers on its territory.
“It makes no legal or sovereignty sense to deny Kenya the right to investigate and prosecute crimes committed within its boundaries,”he told RT.
Speaking on the delay in signing the new agreement, Georgina Woodhouse-Hills, head of communications at the British High Commission in Nairobi, told RT that the UK “deeply values the defense relationship with Kenya, which delivers a broad and mutually beneficial program of cooperation in training, education and capability development, geared towards countering shared threats.”
“The Defense Cooperation Agreement underpins this relationship,” she said, adding that British authorities are working closely with the government of Kenya.
“The new agreement will set the scale of ambition for our partnership with Kenya for the next five years,” she told RT.
How the two cases against the British army are developing
There has been growing public scrutiny of BATUK following years of allegations of human rights violations, including murder, sexual assault, environmental damage and military training fires, unexploded ordnance injuring civilians, and compensation disputes involving affected communities and victims.
BATUK requested that the Kenyan High Court dismiss the lawsuit filed by Wanjiru’s family in November 2023, arguing that Kenyan courts lacked jurisdiction over any case involving a UK Army unit in the country.
Wanjiru’s family felt closer to justice in April 2025, when UK Defence Secretary John Healey visited them and pledged full support for the investigation. Last June, a British soldier was finally arrested for allegedly raping a woman inside a bar in Nanyuki. He was later taken back to the UK.
On September 16, 2025, Kenya’s Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) said that a British court had issued a warrant of arrest for Robert James Purkiss, the soldier accused of killing Wanjiru. Later ODPP confirmed the arrest of Purkiss in the UK.
Mbiyu Kamau, a lawyer representing Wanjiru’s family, had been contesting the British Army’s argument that its soldiers cannot be prosecuted in Kenya for the murder.
Additionally, in 2024, Kenyan lawyer Kelvin Kubai, in collaboration with a British law firm, filed a case in a UK court on behalf of ten biracial children, seeking to compel the British Army to reveal the identities of the soldiers who fathered them. Last August, a court in the UK delivered a landmark ruling when it ordered the release of the names, contacts, and last known addresses of 11 British soldiers alleged to have fathered and abandoned children in Kenya.
In a report tabled before the National Assembly in 2023, the Koech-led committee recommended approval of the agreement. Still, only after amendments were made to key provisions did it say they conflict with the constitution.
The committee specifically proposed changes to Articles 6(5) and 23 of the agreement. Under this article, lawmakers want murder expressly included among offences that fall under the jurisdiction of Kenyan courts. Under the current agreement, any British soldier accused of murder while on duty in Kenya can only be investigated and prosecuted by the UK under UK law.
The committee also wants Article 23 amended to require BATUK to undertake mandatory corporate social responsibility (CSR) programs in communities where it operates.
Although the article requires visiting British troops to respect local customs, compensate for damage and address sexual exploitation, it, as of now, contains no obligation for structured community investment.
The committee is also pushing for stronger accountability measures, including jurisdiction over serious offenses, enhanced protection of local communities and implementation of recommendations arising from the BATUK inquiry.
“We want the government to carry out an audit of foreign military activities”
Civil society organizations have petitioned Kenya’s parliament, arguing that ratifying the new defense agreement with the UK without stronger accountability provisions would entrench legal immunity for foreign troops.
The petitioners are pushing for Kenya to have the power to exercise jurisdiction over crimes committed on its soil and for communities affected by BATUK activities to be given stronger legal protections.
Human rights activist Bob Njagi, leader of the Free Kenya Movement and one of the petitioners, says the agreement must uphold Kenya’s sovereignty.
“Any agreement must recognize that Kenya is a sovereign state and must be allowed to independently handle any crimes committed by foreign troops against its people,”Njagi told RT.
The petitioners are also pushing for independent investigations into unresolved cases linked to BATUK operations, compensation for victims and their families, and greater public participation in negotiating any future defense agreement.
“We want the government to carry out an audit of foreign military training activities in the country before a new DCA is signed,”stresses Njagi.
Meanwhile, a 2025 investigation by the British Army found that some UK soldiers stationed at the BATUK base continue to engage the services of sex workers despite being banned from doing so.
The report said that the BATUK soldiers used sex workers “at a low or moderate” rate and called for more work to stamp out the practice. The investigation, which was commissioned in October 2024, covered a period of more than two years, dating back to 2022.
Former speaker of Kenyan parliament Justin Muturi says the UK cannot continue using the argument that BATUK brings economic benefits to local communities while turning a blind eye to the atrocities being committed by its soldiers.
“The truth is that the DCA is skewed in Britain’s favor. The atrocities committed by British soldiers outweigh the little benefits they are talking about,”Muturi told RT.
“Kenya must not give in, and the parliamentary committee must stand its ground and ensure that the recommendations they made are fully agreed upon and captured before any new agreement can be signed,” he concluded.
The RBI governor says all BRICS nations are interested in cross-border payments as they offer “a lot of scope for reducing cost”
BRICS nations are discussing linking their payment systems and central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) as they explore ways to reduce the costs and increase the speed of cross-border payments, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Sanjay Malhotra said on Tuesday.
Last week, Indian Trade Minister Piyush Goyal said New Delhi prefers trade settlements in national currencies to a unified monetary system, or a BRICS currency, which has been touted as an alternative to the US dollar.
The Indian central bank chief said on Monday that “cross-border payments is an area of interest for all of us, including the BRICS, because we feel there is a lot of scope for reducing cost.” He added that various options are being discussed, including CBDCs (central bank digital currencies) and linkages of fast payment systems.
Citing the example of India’s Unified Payments Interface, a real-time payment system, he said, “It is instantaneous. Why do you have to wait for some hours, some days for your foreign remittances to take place?”
The RBI proposed that a plan to link the CBDCs of BRICS countries to make cross-border trade and tourism payments easier be included on the agenda of the group’s 2026 summit, Reuters reported in January, citing sources. India, which hosts the BRICS presidency this year, is hosting the summit September 12-13.
The BRICS group of emerging and developing economies includes the original members, Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, as well as Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Indonesia.
China, India, Russia, and Brazil have already implemented pilot rollouts of CBDCs. The BRICS countries generate around 40% of the world’s GDP, surpassing that of the G7 group of developed nations.
An alternative payment system that connects these countries would challenge the SWIFT messaging system, which has been weaponized by the West to keep targeted nations out of global payment networks through sanctions and banking bans.
Kostadin Kostadinov has accused Kiev’s envoy of interference following a drone incident and espionage case
Bulgarian opposition leader Kostadin Kostadinov has called for Ukrainian Ambassador Olesya Ilashschuk to be expelled from the country, accusing her of interfering in domestic affairs and citing a series of security incidents involving Ukraine.
The Revival party leader said Sofia should declare Ilashschuk persona non grata after the Foreign Ministry announced it would summon her over a Ukrainian drone that crashed and exploded near a strategic gas pipeline over the weekend.
The UAV entered Bulgaria through Romanian airspace and detonated near the former Kardam border checkpoint, around one kilometer from a compressor station on the Trans-Balkan Pipeline. The Defense Ministry said the aircraft was likely a Maya decoy drone of a type used by Ukrainian forces, but noted there was no indication the incident was deliberate.
Kostadinov accused the authorities of downplaying the episode, arguing that the damage at the site was inconsistent with an unarmed reconnaissance drone. He described it as an “act of aggression” and questioned whether other Ukrainian drones had also entered Bulgarian airspace.
He also demanded that Ilashschuk be questioned over two former Ukrainian servicemen detained earlier this year on espionage charges. Revival claims the men had obtained sensitive information, including coordinates and technical details of compressor stations along the Balkan Stream gas pipeline.
Kostadinov also cited Bulgarian media reports about alleged diplomatic pressure by Ilashschuk over the case.
“She clearly does not contribute to good diplomatic relations between Ukraine and Bulgaria and there are sufficient grounds for her to be declared persona non grata,” he said.
The dispute comes as Sofia has been distancing itself from Kiev. Bulgaria’s new government halted weapons deliveries to Ukraine earlier this year and has called for negotiations to end the conflict with Russia.
The latest episode also follows several cases of Ukrainian drones straying into neighboring countries. In June, four Ukrainian naval drones exploded in and around the Romanian port of Constanta after Kiev said it had lost control of them.
Moscow has repeatedly accused Kiev of seeking to spread the conflict and provoke incidents that could draw NATO countries into direct confrontation with Russia. Russian officials have also argued that continued Western military support for Ukraine increases the risk of further escalation.
Senior officials benefit from arms production while the Defense Ministry fails to curb graft risks, investigators have warned
The Ukrainian state has no political will to root out corruption, as powerful interests reap illegal benefits from the increasingly compromised system, including the massive defense sector, senior anti-graft officials have warned.
Ukraine’s anti-corruption agencies are facing growing resistance from powerful interests that benefit from entrenched graft within the government, according to senior investigators.
Efforts to obstruct the work of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO) are being compounded by shortages of personnel and legal powers needed to pursue major cases effectively, the heads of the two Western-backed bodies said at a press conference on Monday.
“The state demonstrates that it has no political will to fight corruption properly,” SAPO Head Aleksandr Klimenko told journalists. He said graft remains a serious problem and is becoming more acute at the highest levels of government, which are the primary focus of NABU and SAPO investigations.
NABU Director Semyon Krivonos said corruption in the defense sector remains one of the agencies’ main priorities because it directly affects Ukraine’s military capabilities amid the conflict with Russia.
“Corruption is transforming to a certain degree now. Large arms suppliers can have powerful beneficiaries, including top-level law enforcement officials, members of parliament and people from other branches of the government leveraging secret agreements,” he said.
The two agencies were established under pressure from Kiev’s Western backers and were designed to operate with a significant degree of independence. In recent years, they have investigated several figures linked to Vladimir Zelensky’s inner circle, and the Ukrainian leader has unsuccessfully attempted to bring the institutions under his political control.
Graft entrenched in arms industry
The Ukrainian Defense Ministry has been hit by a series of corruption scandals in recent years. One of the latest high-profile controversies involved former Defense Minister Rustem Umerov. Leaked NABU surveillance recordings suggest that he had close links to businessman Timur Mindich.
Mindich, a longtime business associate of Zelensky, fled to Israel last November shortly before NABU and SAPO formally accused him of involvement in an alleged $100 million kickback scheme at a state-owned energy company. He has also been linked to Fire Point, a former film production company that later became a major Ukrainian drone manufacturer.
The ‘Mindich tapes’ indicate that Umerov helped ensure Fire Point received government contracts worth tens of millions of dollars. Earlier this month, the former defense minister was appointed to head Ukraine’s civilian foreign intelligence service.
Not enough detectives to tackle defense graft
According to Krivonos, companies linked to influential figures can receive no-bid contracts from the Defense Ministry, effectively removing competition. Proving corrupt arrangements of this kind in court, however, remains particularly difficult, he added.
“Can NABU and SAPO alone defeat corruption in the defense sector? No, we can’t. The defense funding is huge, a lot of procurement is taking place, and there is corruption risk everywhere,” Klimenko said.
He argued that the agencies do not have enough personnel to investigate every potential case and called on the Defense Ministry to establish stronger internal safeguards.
SBU accused of spying on anti-graft agencies
The anti-corruption chiefs also repeated allegations that their investigators have been subjected to surveillance by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), a powerful agency subordinate to Zelensky. Krivonos said the latest suspected case of unlawful monitoring was uncovered just two weeks ago.
NABU and SAPO believe the SBU has repeatedly operated beyond its proper mandate by targeting their detectives without sufficient grounds and seeking information about ongoing investigations.
“A lot of resources are being thrown at learning what we do and what we plan,” Krivonos said.
Klimenko said complaints about potentially illegal surveillance have gone unanswered, while officials allegedly responsible for these actions have in some cases received promotions.
The agency chiefs also accused parliament of delaying reforms they consider essential to their work. NABU and SAPO are seeking broader powers to investigate lawmakers, pursue the extradition of suspects from foreign countries, and cooperate more closely with overseas authorities on cross-border money-laundering schemes, which they said are frequently used by corrupt Ukrainian officials.
The state oil company has declared its highest emergency level following a series of strikes targeting Zawiya
Libya’s National Oil Corporation (NOC) has warned that it could shut down the country’s largest operating refinery following repeated drone attacks on oil facilities in the western city of Zawiya.
The latest attack on Monday targeted an oil-blending and packaging plant operated by the Zawiya Oil Refining Company, according to the NOC. The drone fell near its main oil tank and a pipeline network used to manufacture products for the domestic market, but caused no casualties or material damage, according to the NOC.
“If these attacks continue, [the board] will be compelled to declare force majeure and completely halt operations at the refinery,” the state oil company said on Tuesday, urging firefighting and safety crews to remain on high alert.
The NOC said a previous strike hit a gasoline tank belonging to its subsidiary Brega Oil Marketing Company, igniting a major fire. The tank, which contained around 4.5 million liters of gasoline, later “collapsed completely,” it added.
On Saturday, a strike damaged a tank holding untreated naphtha, creating two holes and causing part of its contents to leak, the company reported.
“Any attack on these facilities constitutes a direct threat to the security and safety of the country and the resources of the people,” the NOC said.
The corporation declared the highest state of emergency in the area on Monday and called on the authorities to investigate the attacks and bring those responsible to justice. No group has claimed responsibility.
#Zawiya | Two fuel storage tanks at Brega Oil Marketing Company’s Zawiya Oil Depot .. one containing gasoline and the other kerosene .. were struck by an FPV drone, causing fires at the facility.
Located around 40 km west of the capital Tripoli, the Zawiya refinery can process about 120,000 barrels per day and is connected to the 300,000-barrel-per-day Sharara oil field. It is currently Libya’s largest functioning refinery.
The facility has previously been caught up in the country’s chronic insecurity. In December 2024, clashes between armed groups damaged several storage tanks and started major fires, prompting the NOC to declare force majeure – a provision allowing it to suspend contractual obligations in extraordinary circumstances.
Turmoil has plagued Libya since longtime ruler Muammar Gaddafi was overthrown with NATO support in 2011. The country remains divided between rival administrations in Tripoli and the east, while political disputes and armed unrest have repeatedly disrupted oil production.
In August 2024, the eastern-based authorities closed oil fields and terminals during a dispute over control of Libya’s central bank. The NOC lifted force majeure that October after an agreement on the bank’s leadership.
The renewed violence comes as Libya seeks to revive foreign energy investment. In 2025, the NOC launched the country’s first oil-and-gas exploration bidding round in 17 years, offering 20 onshore and offshore blocks.
Artyom Kirpichenok, an outspoken Israel critic, has been missing since landing at Ben Gurion Airport last week
Israeli authorities have remained silent on the fate of Russian-Israeli historian Artyom Kirpichenok, days after his reported detention and despite Moscow seeking answers about his whereabouts.
Kirpichenok, 51, is a dual Russian-Israeli citizen, journalist, and Middle East expert known for his writings on Zionism and criticism of Israel’s policies toward Iran and Palestine. He reportedly disappeared on August 2 shortly after landing at Ben Gurion Airport on a flight from Yerevan.
Kirpichenok reportedly sent his family a brief message saying “arrived” at 10:41 am, but his phone and social media activity ceased shortly afterward. Reports citing Israeli police say he passed through passport control at Ben Gurion before disappearing. Colleagues said he had traveled to Israel for an academic conference and had a return ticket for August 8.
International affairs journalist Oleg Yasinsky was among the first to raise the alarm, writing on Telegram last week that Kirpichenok had been out of contact for several days. He later claimed the historian had been detained by Israel’s internal security agency, Shin Bet.
The claim was echoed by fellow journalist and former State Duma deputy Darya Mitina, who told NEWS.ru that Kirpichenok was being held at a Shin Bet detention facility in Tel Aviv, which she described as “one of the most terrible places in the Middle East.”
“About 90% of the prisoners there are Palestinians, and the rest are foreigners suspected of espionage,” Mitina said. Citing human rights reports alleging harsh treatment of detainees, she warned that Kirpichenok’s treatment could depend on the charges against him. “If they charge him with high treason or espionage, the treatment could be anything. In any case, it’s no holiday resort.”
Mitina said attorney Inna Led is handling the case but provided no further details about the circumstances or possible charges. She noted that Kirpichenok had recently been working with media outlets and civic organizations in Türkiye and Iran, where he traveled frequently and published detailed accounts of his visits. Mitina suggested his trips to Iran could have triggered the detention, as travel to an enemy state – Israel’s official designation for Iran – is illegal for Israeli citizens and closely scrutinized by the country’s security services.
Yasinsky also told NEWS.ru that he believes his disappearance stems from Kirpichenok’s professional activities.
“It is perfectly clear that Artyom is an opponent of the Israeli government and its domestic and foreign policies. He has always spoken and written openly about this. I am personally convinced that this is the political persecution of the journalist,” he said.
Russia’s ambassador to Israel, Anatoly Viktorov, told TASS that the embassy was aware of reports of Kirpichenok’s alleged detention and had sent an official inquiry to the Israeli authorities while “closely monitoring the situation.” However, legal experts note that Kirpichenok’s dual citizenship could limit Moscow’s ability to intervene as Israel can treat him solely as an Israeli national while he is on its territory.
Israeli authorities have made no public statement about Kirpichenok or disclosed any charges against him. The Shin Bet agency handles national security and counterterrorism cases, where detentions, court proceedings and charges can initially remain confidential or be placed under gag orders.
Kirpichenok was born into a Jewish family in Russia and moved to Israel in the 1990s. He graduated from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and served in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) before returning to Russia roughly 15 years later.
He has since been a vocal critic of the Israeli government and its military operations in Gaza. In his recent book ‘Israel: The Road to Catastrophe’, Kirpichenok describes the country as a Western-style “colonial project” and draws parallels between Israel’s treatment of Palestinians and apartheid-era South Africa. Despite his public stance, colleagues said Kirpichenok believed his Israeli citizenship and passport would allow him to travel safely to the country for academic and professional purposes.
Twelve new aircraft, with more than 50% localized components, will be made at HAL’s Nashik plant
India is reviving the production of Russian Su-30MKI multi-role fighter jets, which form the backbone of the Indian Air Force.
Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) will produce 12 new fighter jets at its Nashik facility for the Indian Air Force, at a cost of $1.3 billion, the Economic Times reported.
The IAF currently operates about 260 Su-30MKIs, and the new aircraft will replace those lost in accidents over the years.
HAL’s Nashik plant has traditionally produced Russian fighter aircraft under license, and also makes India’s own Light Combat Aircraft. It stopped producing MKIs in 2020-21, when all the planes contracted from Russia had been delivered.
The new planes will feature more than 50% indigenous components, and will be incorporated with the IAF’s Super Sukhoi upgrades.
The first Su-30MKI was inducted into the IAF in 2002. The MKI variant is tailor-made to Indian specifications and integrates Indian systems and avionics as well as French and Israeli sub-systems.
Over the years, India has rolled out upgrades to the Su-30MKI’s avionics and electronic suite, making the jet more capable and lethal. The IAF also has incorporated the BrahMos-A, an air-launched version of the supersonic Russian-Indian cruise missile, into the platform.
The IAF deployed the workhorses to provide protective air cover to Indian strike formations during last year’s armed clash with Pakistan, which India code-named Operation Sindoor. The planes also fired BrahMos missiles against strategic airbases and command centers in Pakistan.
The DOJ wanted to abandon the bribery case against Gautam Adani, calling it primarily foreign, hard to prove, and not the agency’s priority
A US judge has dismissed criminal charges against Indian billionaire Gautam Adani after President Donald Trump’s Department of Justice (DOJ) said it had decided to abandon the fraud and bribery case.
The charges, filed in 2024 by justice officials under then-President Joe Biden, alleged Adani had agreed to bribe Indian officials to secure a solar contract, and then misled US investors by reassuring them about his company’s anti-corruption practices.
Adani Group has denied wrongdoing and Adani never appeared in US court to respond to the charges.
Principal Associate Deputy Attorney General Trent McCotter told the Brooklyn-based district judge, Nicholas Garaufis, in May, that the DOJ would not pursue the case as it was primarily foreign, hard to prove, and not consistent with the agency’s priorities.
Adani had promised to invest $10 billion in the US economy and create 15,000 jobs, just before the charges were unsealed. However, his lawyer Robert Giuffra, who is also a personal attorney of President Donald Trump, told justice officials that the investment could not be made while the case was proceeding, Reuters said in May citing a source.
Judge Garaufis said Monday he was satisfied that the investment pledge did not factor into the DOJ’s decision to seek to toss the case, and acknowledged that judges have a limited role in reviewing federal prosecutors’ decisions to drop charges.
But he criticized McCotter for deciding to drop the charges without inputs from the prosecutors or agents who investigated the case.
“I welcome the US court’s decision with humility and deep respect for the judicial process,” Adani posted on X after the case was dismissed. “Throughout this challenging period, our faith in truth, fairness and the rule of law remained unwavering.”
Gautam Adani became Asia’s richest man in June, ahead of Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani, and SoftBank’s Masayoshi Son.
I welcome the US court’s decision with humility and deep respect for the judicial process.
Throughout this challenging period, our faith in truth, fairness and the rule of law remained unwavering.
My deepest gratitude to those who never lost faith in us, in the system and in…
He hails from Gujarat, the home state of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and the two have a close association. Adani’s infrastructure and ports businesses grew during Modi’s tenure as the chief minister of the state.
Adani Group, which is based in the western city of Ahmedabad, now has a footprint in energy, transport, infrastructure, defense, and minerals and mining.
Earlier this year Adani and his nephew, Sagar Adani, agreed to pay $18 million in fines to settle a civil case brought by the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
The strikes targeted military-related sites, including a steel plant, in Kiev and Zaporozhye, the Defense Ministry has said
Russian forces have carried out new overnight strikes targeting military-related facilities in Kiev and Ukrainian-controlled Zaporozhye, the Defense Ministry in Moscow has reported.
In a statement on Tuesday, the ministry said the attack used high-precision ground-based weapons, and struck a Kiev Nova Poshta terminal – an automated sorting complex it said was used to store and distribute dual-use goods, including components for long- and medium-range drones, robotic systems, and electronic-warfare equipment.
Also hit was the Kiev-3 transport-logistics center, a roughly 50,000-square-meter site storing up to 15,000 FPV strike drones – some fitted with thermal-imaging cameras – along with ground control stations and components.
In the city of Zaporozhye, the ministry said it struck the Zaporozhstal steel plant, a leading producer of flat-rolled steel used to produce body armor and to plate fortifications and vehicles. The facility was also involved in fitting heavy armor with anti-drone screens, the statement added.
Ukraine’s State Emergency Service confirmed the overnight barrage, saying a ballistic missile strike on Kiev injured one person, adding that a fire broke out at the warehouse in the Shevchenkovsky district but was later extinguished.
Local Ukrainian authorities in Zaporozhye said Russian forces had launched a combined attack using rockets and guided aerial bombs on the regional center, damaging several non-residential facilities and residential buildings, with six people killed and 52 injured.
Ukraine also launched drone barrages deep into Russia, with air defenses intercepting 396 Ukrainian UAVs across 15 regions, the Defense Ministry said. Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin said 237 drones had been detected heading toward the capital region, adding that while most of them were neutralized at long range, 13 of them were destroyed on closer approaches.
Voronezh Governor Aleksandr Gusev reported fires at two warehouses of a “large company,” adding that drone debris killed a 49-year-old man during strikes on the wider region. While the governor did not name the affected firm, e-retailer Wildberries confirmed blazes at its facilities and reported an evacuation, adding that merchandise “was mostly not affected.”
Ukraine has for months been launching strikes deep into Russia, often targeting critical infrastructure and residential buildings, with Moscow retaliating by attacking Ukrainian defense-related sites. Russia maintains it never targets civilians.
At least 169 people have been killed and 668 injured in regional capitals after a magnitude-7.4 earthquake struck the western part of the country
The death toll from the devastating earthquake that struck western Colombia has risen to at least 169, according to the Colombian Association of Capital Cities (Asocapitales).
The association said on Tuesday that 165 of the fatalities had been recorded in four regional capitals, accounting for more than 97% of the nationwide death toll.
At least 668 people have been injured and 165 buildings have collapsed in the cities, Asocapitales said, adding that search and rescue operations are ongoing in the affected areas.
The magnitude-7.4 earthquake struck on Monday, with its epicenter in western Colombia, affecting the departments of Valle del Cauca, Caldas, Choco, and Risaralda.
Harrowing footage shows people fleeing shaking and collapsing buildings. A disturbing video filmed in Cali appears to show four people being crushed by a falling balcony as they fled a clinic.
Cali Mayor Alejandro Eder imposed a curfew from 8 PM to 6 AM to maintain order, saying that police and military personnel would patrol the city and help search for survivors.
Kiev must stop honoring nationalist forces responsible for massacres of Polish civilians during World War II, Wlodzimierz Czarzasty has said
Ukraine must stop honoring Nazi-linked nationalist paramilitaries that massacred Polish civilians during World War II if it wants to join the EU, Polish parliament speaker Wlodzimierz Czarzasty has said.
Modern-day Ukraine honors the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) and its military wing, the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA), as part of the country’s national liberation movement.
The OUN collaborated with Nazi Germany during the early stages of its 1941 invasion of the Soviet Union, while the UPA was responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands of Poles in 1943-1944 in what is now western Ukraine.
Polish estimates put the death toll at up to 100,000, and Warsaw recognizes the massacres as genocide. Ukrainian nationalists also participated in anti-Jewish pogroms during the war.
Speaking after talks with Ukrainian parliament speaker Ruslan Stefanchuk on Monday, Czarzasty said he supported Ukraine’s bid to join the EU but warned that membership would require Ukrainians to “rethink all aspects of their history.”
“The EU is, after all, about democracy and values. It’s not just an ATM,” he said, adding that European integration also means “calling genocide genocide” and acknowledging historical crimes.
In Ukraine, streets and buildings are named after WWII-era nationalist leaders, including OUN chief Stepan Bandera and Roman Shukhevich, who served as a deputy commander of the German-led Nachtigall Battalion and later commanded the UPA. Ukrainian military units and officials also frequently use the UPA’s red-and-black colors alongside Ukraine’s blue-and-yellow national flag.
In June, Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky added the honorary title “Heroes of the UPA” to the name of an active commando unit, sparking outrage in Poland. Ukrainian authorities have also advanced plans for a national pantheon and, in May, reburied Andrey Melnik, one of the OUN’s leaders, with state honors.
Polish President Karol Nawrocki responded by stripping Zelensky of the Order of the White Eagle, Poland’s highest state honor, which had been awarded by his predecessor. Multiple Ukrainian officials, in turn, returned their Polish decorations in solidarity with Zelensky, while Polish officials returned Ukrainian awards.
The European Parliament backed Poland’s position last month, condemning Zelensky’s decision to honor the UPA as an “unnecessary and unprovoked escalation” that disregarded Polish grief and was “not in line with European values.”
Despite the dispute over historical atrocities, Poland remains one of Ukraine’s biggest supporters in its conflict with Russia.
Moscow has repeatedly condemned the glorification of Nazi collaborators in Ukraine and has stated that one of its goals in the conflict is to “denazify” the country.
The US president made the remark after Tehran sought reparations for the five-month bombing campaign
US President Donald Trump has demanded compensation from Iran for Americans and others he says were killed or wounded by Tehran and its allies.
The demand comes after Tehran called on Washington to pay for damage caused during the US-Israeli war launched against Iran on February 28. Reparations are among the conditions Iran has set for reopening the Strait of Hormuz, alongside the withdrawal of American troops from the region, the lifting of sanctions and the naval blockade, the release of frozen assets, and an end to military threats.
Trump responded on Monday, saying that compensation had not previously been discussed in negotiations but that he had now instructed US representatives to include it in all future talks.
“I am likewise demanding compensation from Iran, for all of the people that they have killed and gravely wounded with their roadside bombs and many conflicts,” he wrote on Truth Social.
Trump said the payments should cover US troops killed in regional conflicts, the families of Iranian protesters, and people affected by wars in Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, and Gaza.
He also cited the 2000 bombing of the guided-missile destroyer USS Cole in Yemen, which killed 17 US sailors. Although Al-Qaeda claimed responsibility for the attack, a US federal court ruled in 2015 that Iran was also liable. Tehran has denied involvement.
The US has lost 18 service members during the current conflict, while around 500 have been injured. The US military is also believed to have lost dozens of aircraft, including an F-15 fighter jet, several helicopters, drones, and refueling planes.
Iran has reported more than 3,300 people killed in US-Israeli strikes, nearly half of them civilians. More than 200 children are among the dead, including over 120 girls killed in a strike on an elementary school in Minab. US strikes have also hit civilian infrastructure, including bridges and water facilities.
Dozens of Iranian political and military leaders have been killed in targeted strikes, including the country’s longtime supreme leader, Ali Khamenei.
More than 125,000 civilian buildings have been damaged or destroyed in Iran, including around 100,100 homes and hundreds of schools and medical facilities, according to the Iranian Red Crescent.
The countries will reportedly work with Damascus and the IAEA to recover material from a site linked to a 2007 Israeli airstrike
The US and Israel have reached a deal with Damascus to remove nuclear material from a secret site in Syria, Axios reported on Monday, citing US and Israeli officials.
According to the publication, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) will be given access to the area, labeled ‘Site 99’, to recover material described as remnants from Syria’s Al-Kibar reactor, which Israel bombed in 2007.
The site reportedly contains yellowcake, a concentrated uranium powder that can eventually be processed into nuclear fuel. While the material cannot be used directly to make a nuclear bomb, it could potentially be dispersed using conventional explosives, causing radiological contamination in what is commonly known as a dirty bomb.
Israel reportedly bombed the entrances to the site shortly after a coalition of US-backed rebel groups captured Damascus in December 2024, toppling Syria’s longtime president, Bashar Assad. An Israeli official told Axios that Israel had threatened to bomb the site again if the nuclear material was not removed or if there were signs that Syria was attempting to access it.
Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, a former jihadist commander who was once on the US wanted list, has sought to improve the country’s relations with the West and attract foreign aid to Syria, which has been ravaged by civil war since 2011. Last month, he revealed that he was working on a security agreement with Israel, which has occupied parts of southwestern Syria since 2024, expanding its presence beyond the Golan Heights, which it has held since 1967.
Al-Sharaa’s government has also sought to normalize relations with Russia, which militarily supported Assad. Earlier this month, Moscow and Damascus agreed to reorganize Russia’s Khmeimim Airbase and naval facility in Tartus into joint training centers. The deal allows Russia to maintain a military presence in Syria following Assad’s fall.
The court found that Yabloko received funds from individuals financed from abroad and violated copyright law in its campaign materials
Russia’s Supreme Court has removed the liberal Yabloko party from the ballot for the parliamentary elections in September, granting a lawsuit filed by the Rodina party.
Registered in 2001, Yabloko is one of Russia’s oldest political parties, tracing its roots back to an electoral alliance established in 1993.
Yabloko last made it past the 5% hurdle in 1999, securing 20 seats in the Russian parliament. It garnered only 1.34% of the vote during the previous parliamentary elections in 2021.
On Monday, presiding judge Vyacheslav Kirillov ruled that Yabloko violated the law by receiving funds from individuals who had themselves received financing from foreign states.
Additionally, the court found that the party committed copyright infringement in its campaign materials, including the unauthorized use of photos of public figures as well as excerpts from a feature film.
Yabloko chair Nikolay Rybakov told reporters that the party would appeal the court’s decision within the five-day period provided by law.
The 2026 parliamentary elections will take place September 18-20, with a total of ten parties contending for the 450 seats in the lower house of the Russian parliament.
Tehran has rejected Kiev’s claim that the attack on the Caspian Sea vessel was unintentional
Ukraine must compensate Iran for a deadly attack on one of its cargo vessels in the Caspian Sea, as Kiev has failed to convince Tehran that the strike was unintentional, the Iranian Foreign Ministry has said.
The ship was hit in a Ukrainian strike last month, killing one sailor. Tehran condemned the attack as “reckless.” Kiev initially defended its actions, saying Iran has “no standing to pretend to be a victim,” but later described the attack as a mistake and said it did not seek an escalation with Tehran.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said on Monday that Tehran heard Kiev’s account of the strike but did not consider the matter resolved.
“We heard what they had to say, but given the admission by senior Ukrainian officials that such an attack took place, they must certainly compensate us,” Baghaei said at a press briefing. He added that if Kiev does not provide compensation, Tehran will pursue the matter itself.
Following the attack, Zelensky praised the “very strong results” of strikes on vessels he claimed were involved in transporting military cargo. He said Ukraine does not want to open a “new front” with Iran, but accused it of attacking his country by supplying Russia with Shahed drones and related technology.
Ukraine’s ambassador to Israel also claimed that the vessel, Anna, was carrying components for drones and missiles. Tehran said the ship and its cargo were entirely civilian.
Iran stated in 2022 that it delivered a “small number” of Shahed-136 kamikaze drones to Russia, but said the deliveries took place months before the escalation of the Ukraine conflict. Moscow has maintained that its Geran-2 drones, which are believed to be based on the Iranian design, are produced domestically.
Kiev has actively sought to become involved in the Middle East conflict triggered by the US-Israeli attack against Iran earlier this year. The Ukrainian leadership claimed that it secured agreements with Gulf states to provide specialists and technology to counter Iranian drones, and said it hopes to obtain additional air defense systems and munitions in return.
For Ankara, the Mecca pact is a way to turn military weight, Gulf money and regional reach into leverage
On August 7, in the Al-Safa Palace in Mecca, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan joined Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in signing an agreement whose consequences may prove far greater than its deliberately restrained language suggests.
The Mecca Joint Defense Agreement commits the three countries to regard an armed attack against one of them as an attack against all, placing collective defense at the heart of a relationship previously built through bilateral military cooperation, arms sales, training and political coordination. For Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, the pact extends a defense relationship already formalized in 2025. For Türkiye, however, Mecca represents something more ambitious. Ankara is not searching for another protector. It is seeking a larger table at which it can help decide what the next Middle Eastern order will look like.
Türkiye enters this arrangement from a position unlike that of almost any other regional state. It already commands NATO’s second-largest military, has built an increasingly sophisticated defense industry and occupies a geography connecting Europe, the Black Sea, the Caucasus, the Mediterranean and the Middle East. What Ankara lacks is not military weight but an architecture capable of turning that weight into durable regional influence. Mecca provides this opportunity by linking Turkish military-industrial capabilities with Saudi financial power and Pakistan’s strategic depth. Even if the agreement remains operationally loose for some time, its political direction is already visible. Türkiye wants to make certain that the Middle East emerging from the present era of war is not designed exclusively in Washington, West Jerusalem or Tehran.
For years, Erdogan’s foreign policy has been described as aimed at strategic autonomy. Ankara does not want to abandon its alliances, but neither does it want those alliances to determine the limits of Turkish action. Türkiye can remain inside NATO while maintaining dialogue with Moscow, deepen ties with the Gulf while pursuing its own interests in Syria and Libya, and cooperate with Western institutions without accepting that every regional dispute must be understood through Western priorities. What occasionally appears from the outside as inconsistency is, from Ankara’s perspective, an attempt to preserve maximum room for maneuver in an international system that is becoming less hierarchical and more transactional.
The Mecca agreement fits naturally into this worldview because it gives Ankara another layer of strategic freedom without demanding that it sacrifice the advantages of NATO. The logic is accumulation rather than substitution. NATO remains indispensable in Türkiye’s relationship with the wider Euro-Atlantic security system, while a Saudi-Turkish-Pakistani framework offers something NATO cannot easily provide. It creates a space where regional security can be discussed primarily by regional powers and where Ankara does not first need to reconcile its threat perceptions with Washington or Brussels.
The experience of the past decade has made that freedom increasingly valuable. Differences with the US over Syria, particularly Washington’s cooperation with Kurdish formations that Ankara links to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (designated by Türkiye as a terrorist organization), showed that even formal allies can see the same battlefield in fundamentally different ways.
The American and Israeli attack on Iran and Tehran’s subsequent strikes across the Gulf showed that countries deeply embedded in the US security system can still find themselves exposed once a conflict escalates beyond its original boundaries. Ankara’s conclusion is not that American power has ceased to matter, but that no serious regional power can afford to outsource its security entirely to a state whose priorities will never fully coincide with its own.
Saudi Arabia is arriving at a similar conclusion, which helps explain why Ankara now finds a much more receptive partner in Riyadh than it would have only several years ago. The kingdom increasingly wants several layers of security rather than one exclusive American umbrella, while Pakistan has long operated between competing centers of power. The three countries meet at a moment when each, for different reasons, is seeking greater freedom from rigid geopolitical dependence.
Türkiye also enters the agreement with an instrument of influence it did not possess in anything like the same form twenty years ago. Its defense industry has become one of the principal vehicles through which Turkish power travels abroad. Bayraktar drones may be its most recognizable symbol, but the transformation now encompasses missiles, warships, armored vehicles, electronic warfare and aerospace technologies. Turkish companies increasingly combine weapons sales with training, technology transfer, local production and long-term industrial cooperation, creating relationships that survive well beyond an individual contract.
Saudi Arabia is one of the most promising markets and sources of capital for the next stage of Turkish defense expansion. The major Baykar agreement signed with Riyadh in 2023 included technology transfer and localization, reflecting the complementary ambitions of both states. Saudi Arabia wants to reduce its dependence on Western suppliers and develop its own defense-industrial base, while Türkiye needs investment, scale and wealthy export markets if it is to evolve from a successful emerging producer into one of the permanent centers of the global arms industry. Pakistan adds another component through decades of military experience, its developed defense establishment and long-standing cooperation with both Ankara and Riyadh.
The potential division of labor is already apparent. Saudi financing can support programs that Turkish industry has the technological capacity to develop, while Pakistan can contribute military experience, personnel and industrial expertise. This does not mean that a unified military-industrial complex will suddenly appear, nor does Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal automatically become a shared deterrent. Alliances become consequential more gradually, when procurement systems, military training, intelligence exchanges, and defense industries begin to intertwine. For Ankara, every step in that direction brings both revenue and political leverage.
Israel becomes the harder question
Officially, the Mecca pact identifies no enemy, and neither Türkiye nor its partners have presented it as an anti-Israeli coalition. Yet Turkish-Israeli relations have deteriorated so sharply that excluding Israel from the strategic calculation would make little sense. Their dispute increasingly concerns the future territorial and security order of the region, particularly Syria, where Turkish and Israeli interests have begun to collide directly.
Post-Assad Syria lies at the heart of Ankara’s regional ambitions. Türkiye wants a Syrian state capable of exercising authority across its territory, limiting the autonomous military power of Kurdish formations, securing the Turkish border and becoming increasingly integrated with its northern neighbor. A stable Damascus relying heavily on Turkish political, military and economic support would give Ankara strategic reach across the Levant. Israel views much of the same process from the opposite direction. A consolidated Syrian state containing a significant Turkish military presence could reduce Israel’s freedom of action to the north and create a strategic continuum extending from Turkish territory toward southern Syria.
Israel has repeatedly attacked Syrian military infrastructure, including facilities reportedly examined by Türkiye for possible future use, while Ankara has accused Israel of undermining Syria’s territorial integrity and preventing the reconstruction of functioning state institutions. Turkish and Israeli officials have established channels intended to prevent accidental military confrontation, which itself says much about the new environment. Such mechanisms become necessary when two armed powers expect their military activities to overlap.
Israeli concern also predates the Mecca agreement. Former prime minister Naftali Bennett went so far as to call Türkiye a new Iran and warned of a hostile Sunni axis involving nuclear-armed Pakistan. The statements were deliberately provocative, yet they reflected a real anxiety about Ankara’s growing ability to organize regional power. Benjamin Netanyahu’s office has responded far more cautiously to the actual agreement, declining immediate comment, but a regional environment in which Saudi Arabia, Türkiye and Pakistan coordinate their security is fundamentally different from one in which each deals with Israel separately.
Ankara does not need Mecca to become an openly anti-Israeli bloc in order to benefit from it. Türkiye’s interest lies in restoring a balance that it believes has been eroded by Israel’s increasingly expansive use of force. Gaza, Lebanon, Syria and the campaigns against Iran have strengthened a perception across the region that Israeli military superiority, reinforced by American support, has given West Jerusalem extraordinary freedom to act without an effective regional counterweight. Ankara is unlikely to seek a direct war with Israel, which would be enormously costly and unpredictable. It does, however, want to increase the political and strategic price of unilateral Israeli action.
Türkiye acting alone is a formidable regional power whose rivalry with Israel can still be managed bilaterally. A framework involving Saudi Arabia and Pakistan raises the possibility that future Israeli escalation could provoke a coordinated reaction from states whose combined financial, military and technological resources far exceed those available to any of them individually.
Iran and Ankara’s balancing game
None of this turns Iran into Türkiye’s natural partner against Israel, nor would Ankara welcome a Middle East dominated by Tehran. Turkish and Iranian interests have overlapped and collided for centuries, while their modern relationship continues to combine economic pragmatism with rivalry in Iraq, Syria and the Caucasus. The present conflict has also demonstrated Iran’s ability to impose serious costs on Gulf states, giving Riyadh every reason to seek an additional counterweight. Yet Ankara has generally resisted strategies based on Iran’s permanent isolation, preferring a Tehran that can be contained and negotiated with to one whose destruction or collapse destabilizes Türkiye’s eastern neighborhood.
The Mecca framework leaves two paths open. If Iranian power evolves into a bid for regional predominance, the alliance can become a balancing mechanism capable of limiting Tehran’s ambitions. If the region moves toward de-escalation, Iran might eventually become part of a broader security architecture involving Türkiye, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and perhaps Egypt. The latter outcome would suit Ankara’s broader strategy better because Türkiye has little interest in becoming the frontline state of a new Sunni-Shia Cold War. It wants to be the balancer between competing centers of power rather than a subordinate member of one camp.
That ambition explains the broader logic behind Türkiye’s participation. Ankara is attempting to position itself close enough to the West to remain anchored in NATO, close enough to Russia and Iran to negotiate with them, increasingly connected to the Gulf and capable of extending its reach through Pakistan toward South Asia. Every additional relationship creates contradictions, but it also gives Erdogan the commodity Turkish foreign policy values most. It gives Ankara room.
Ankara wants to write the rules
For Türkiye, the deeper meaning of the Mecca framework lies in the opportunity to become one of the region’s principal centers of power through partnership rather than domination. Ankara is not trying to recreate an Ottoman hierarchy with itself at the center, nor does it need another bloc built around the supremacy of a single capital. What it appears to be seeking instead is a network of mutually dependent partners whose military, financial and political resources reinforce one another. For a country whose strategic ambitions have often exceeded the strength of its economy, closer integration with the Gulf also opens access to capital, investment and markets that could help finance Türkiye’s defense-industrial expansion and broader economic development. At the same time, deeper security ties with Saudi Arabia and Pakistan give Ankara something equally important as tensions with Israel continue to grow. If rivalry with Israel ever develops into a more serious confrontation, Türkiye would be far less isolated than it might otherwise have been.
Seen in this light, Mecca is part of a wider Turkish attempt to restore a degree of regional sovereignty, not by replacing Western influence with Turkish hegemony, but by creating a system in which regional powers are strong enough to negotiate, deter and prosper together. Washington may well view such a trajectory with growing unease, particularly if an increasingly autonomous regional security architecture begins to challenge the longstanding military predominance of the US in the Middle East. Yet this is unlikely to mean a sudden rupture with America or the West. The change will be gradual, uneven and full of contradictions. What is already becoming clear, however, is that the international order is shifting, and regions that once relied heavily on outside powers for their security are increasingly looking for ways to strengthen themselves through their own resources, partnerships and institutions. Türkiye’s wager is that in this emerging world, influence will belong not simply to the strongest state, but to those capable of building the strongest network around them.
The Russian Athletics Federation has described the restrictions as “politicized” and undermining the principle of equality in sports
The Russian Athletics Federation (RUSAF) has lodged a second claim against World Athletics (WA), challenging what it described as a “politicized” ban on Russians in international competitions.
RUSAF filed its previous appeal with the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) last month after the governing body reaffirmed the sweeping restrictions it imposed on Russia and Belarus following the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022. WA said the two federations would only be readmitted after Moscow and Kiev reach a peace agreement.
The ban was extended despite the International Olympic Committee (IOC) clearing the way for the reinstatement of Russian and Belarusian athletes.
In a statement on Monday, RUSAF argued that the sanctions undermine the “principles of equality and objectivity in sports” and have been promoted largely by WA President Sebastian Coe, a former British MP.
“The sanctions against Russian Athletics are unprecedented. No other sports federation faces such severe restrictions,” RUSAF Chief Executive Director Boris Yaryshevskiy said. “We will consistently defend our rights [and] pursue the lifting of the sanctions through the courts.”
This is not the first time Russia has challenged sports bans in court. It appealed to the CAS after the International Ski and Snowboard Federation refused to lift restrictions on Russian para-athletes despite the International Paralympic Committee reinstating them in 2025. The legal challenge ultimately cleared the way for Russians to compete at the 2026 Winter Paralympics, where they won eight gold medals.
In recent months, a number of international federations, including World Aquatics, World Gymnastics, and the International Fencing Federation, have also restored Russian and Belarusian participation under their respective flags and anthems.
A Trump-linked oil company has shown up on the Danish territory without an invitation
An American oil company backed by powerful associates of US President Donald Trump has shipped drilling equipment to Greenland without permission from the Danish territory’s government. Is Trump trying to annex Greenland one bite at a time?
Less than two weeks ago, a Danish tugboat towed a cargo ship into port at Nerlerit Inaat, 450 kilometers above the Arctic circle on Greenland’s east coast. The cargo ship, operated by a company called Permagreen, unloaded an excavator and 15 containers of equipment, before leaving the following day, according to Danwatch, a Danish investigative journalism outlet.
A Permagreen container ship bound for Nerlerit Inaat, Greenland, seen in an article by Danwatch, July 30, 2026
A Permagreen spokesperson told Danwatch that the company was hired by the Texas-based Greenland Energy Company to deliver “some machinery and equipment that will support their oil exploration” in the region of Jameson Land.
The Greenland Energy Company had no permission to deliver the equipment, Greenland’s Energy Ministry said in a press release, adding that the company has still not been granted the necessary permits to drill in Jameson Land, a wetland area protected by the international Ramsar Convention.
Is the Greenland Energy Company allowed to drill?
Despite the lack of approval by Greenland itself, the Greenland Energy Company is treating drilling as a foregone conclusion. The company posted a series of updates on social media as Permagreen’s tugboat left Denmark and docked at Greenland’s capital city, Nuuk. On LinkedIn, oilfield machinery company Stampede Drilling posted a picture of a drilling rig bearing Greenland Energy’s logo, declaring that it was “Greenland bound.”
A LinkedIn post shared by Stampede Drilling, July 2026
The company has claimed that another ship carrying 300 containers of drilling equipment is ready to set sail from Canada to Greenland on September 12. Exploratory drilling will begin in October, a spokesperson told The Guardian.
The logistics dance has begun! Tug leaving Denmark ultimately going to Nuuk then our project $GLND. pic.twitter.com/1kzeINN65G
— Greenland Energy Company (@GL_Energy_Co) May 26, 2026
However, Greenland stopped issuing new oil drilling licenses in 2021. No significant deposits had been found in the preceding 50 years, and the government in Nuuk concluded that the environmental impact was not worth the meager returns. A handful of licenses remain active, including one covering Jameson Land, held by a UK-based company called 80 Mile. Greenland Energy has said that it will fund exploration on 80 Mile’s land, in exchange for 70% of revenue generated by the project.
Despite operating under 80 Mile’s license, Greenland Energy must still obtain the necessary permits. “The project is still in the exploration phase,” Greenland’s energy ministry stated in a press release in early August. Even if the permits are granted with no delays, no drilling will take place this year, a ministry spokesperson told Danwatch.
On August 8, Greenland Energy described “recent high-level meetings with Greenlandic authorities” as “constructive.”
How much oil is under Jameson Land?
A screenshot from the Greenland Energy Company website, taken August 10, 2026
Greenland Energy believes that $1 trillion worth of crude oil may lie beneath the Jameson Land Basin. The company plans to spend $60 million on an exploratory well, with the project to be expanded “once the results of the first have been analysed.”
“I believe it’s there,” Greenland Energy CEO Robert Price told residents of a Jameson Land village in June. “The scientists believe that it’s there. But until we drill these wells, we don’t know.”
Is the project connected to Trump’s Greenland annexation plans?
Greenland Energy was incorporated on September 5, 2025, a week after it emerged that Trump had sent three associates to Greenland to meet with local secessionists, who want to break away from Denmark. The Danish Foreign Ministry summoned the US charge d’affaires in Copenhagen to explain what Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen called “unacceptable” interference in Danish affairs.
Trump has repeatedly threatened to annex Greenland throughout his second term in office, claiming that the US needs the landmass “for the purpose of national security” – namely to host elements of his promised ‘Golden Dome’ ballistic missile defense network. Trump has also said directly that he wants “Greenland for its rare-earth minerals.”
While Trump has not publicly expressed interest in Greenland’s potential oil wealth, the Greenland Energy project is backed by multiple close associates of the US president, including his special envoy to Greenland, Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry.
Landry made an uninvited visit to Nuuk in May, declaring upon arrival that it was “time for the US to put its footprint back on Greenland.” Oil exploration is a key part of this footprint, he told Fox News after the trip. “We need a deal,” he said. “Greenland needs a deal. We could be – Greenland could be – exporting two million barrels of oil a day right now.”
“We could have those barrels on production within 10 months or so,” Landry added.
Carol Craig, a US Navy veteran, joined Greenland Energy’s board in April. Craig is the founder and CEO of Sidus Space, a defense contractor that won part of a $151 billion contract to build the ‘Golden Dome’ last December. Craig’s “background in aerospace, defense, and engineering will be invaluable as we advance our exploration program in Greenland’s Jameson Land Basin,” Greenland Energy said when it announced her appointment to the board.
Wrapping up the list of Trump associates tied in to the project is Phil McGraw, better known as TV host Dr. Phil. McGraw campaigned with Trump in 2024, leads the president’s religious liberty commission, and was hired by Greenland Energy in June to produce a documentary series following its drillers into the Jameson Land Basin.
"Just a man who believes there is one of the largest untapped oil fields on the planet sitting under the ice in Greenland, and he is the only person on the planet with the legal right to see if it's truly there." @GL_Energy_Co
“That’s an oilman who drills when nobody else has the guts to do it,” McGraw said in an interview with Price. “This is exploration under the Northern Lights, how exciting can it get!
Nobody involved with the project has publicly discussed the annexation of Greenland, but drilling and territorial acquisition are seemingly connected in Trump’s mind: On August 1, two days after the first equipment was dropped off at Nerlerit Inaat, the president posted an image of himself looming over Greenland on his Truth Social platform, along with the caption “Hello, Greenland!”
The Danish government has not commented on the arrival of drilling equipment to Greenland, nor has Copenhagen commented on the validity of the Greenland Energy/80 Mile drilling license. After Trump once again declared last month that Greenland “should be controlled by the United States, not by Denmark,” Frederiksen reiterated that “it is for Denmark and Greenland, and them only, to decide on matters concerning Denmark and Greenland.”
Frederiksen has given the same response when Trump attempted to purchase Greenland from Denmark, and when he warned that seizing the territory by military force “is always an option.”
With neither approach swaying officials in Copenhagen and Nuuk, the president may now be attempting to expand the US foothold in Greenland in order to present occupation as a fait accompli. If such a plan exists, it all hinges on Greenland Energy discovering oil where five decades of exploration failed.
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