Vladimir Zelensky put his personal interests first when he breached an agreement with Seoul not to disclose the transfer of two North Korean prisoners of war captured in Russia, South Korean President Lee Jae-myung has said.

Zelensky touted the arrangement during his speech to the UN General Assembly this week, saying it was “not easy to capture alive” the two soldiers. North Korea deployed troops to assist Russia in repelling a Ukrainian incursion into Russia’s Kursk Region in 2024-2025.

Lee rebuked Zelensky, without naming him, in an X post on Thursday, arguing that statesmen should put national interests first rather than opportunistically seeking to boost their own popularity.

The Ukrainian leader demonstrated a “callous and irresponsible attitude [that is] simply unacceptable,” the president wrote, stressing that Seoul and Kiev had agreed to keep the highly sensitive transfer private.

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South Korean opposition lawmaker Yoo Yong-won, who championed the transfer of North Korean POWs since meeting them in Ukraine last year, told reporters that the two soldiers arrived in the country earlier this week.

He criticized the Lee administration for seeking to keep the agreement with Zelensky secret and said the government “should have taken a more proactive and assertive approach.” The deal was reached sometime in June, he added.

Kiev has long pressured Seoul to provide direct military support for the conflict with Russia, citing North Korea’s involvement in the conflict. Yoo said that, as far as he knew, the delivery of the POWs was not conditioned on South Korea changing its policy of not sending weapons to Ukraine.

South Korea does not formally recognize the government in Pyongyang as legitimate and considers all Koreans citizens of a single nation, regardless of the part of the peninsula where they were born.

READ MORE: Last Kursk civilians held by Ukraine freed after 500 days (VIDEO)

The two soldiers captured in Russia are said to have expressed the wish to be sent to South Korea. Both were reportedly taken prisoner in January 2025.

The US government has joined Elon Musk’s appeal against an EU fine imposed on X, accusing Brussels of “regulatory overreach” and escalating a transatlantic clash over its regulation of US tech firms.

The European Commission fined X €120 million ($136.51 million) for alleged violations of its 2022 Digital Services Act, the first such penalty under the bloc’s Digital Services Act (DSA), a vast legislative censorship and media control apparatus. Brussels accused the platform of breaching rules on transparency, advertising, and data access, as well as using a deceptive blue-tick system for verified accounts.

Musk, who has claimed the EU’s tech regulations stall technological progress and equated the bloc to a “Fourth Reich” over them, appealed the decision in February, seeking to overturn the fine.

On Thursday, the US Department of Justice said it had filed an application to intervene in support of Musk’s legal challenge.

“The European Commission inappropriately attempted to expand its regulatory authority to reach American companies not present or operating within its jurisdiction,” Assistant Attorney General Brett Shumate said. “We will not tolerate the European Commission engaging in regulatory over-reach to try and control American engines of innovation and economic growth.”

🚨 United States Files Request to Intervene in Case Brought by X Corp. and Elon Musk Seeking to Annul Decision by European Commission

“The European Commission inappropriately attempted to expand its regulatory authority to reach American companies not present or operating within…

— DOJ Civil Division (@DOJCivil) September 24, 2026

The Justice Department warned that the case – the first DSA enforcement challenge to reach the General Court – could set a precedent for US tech firms. Citing “significant concerns” over Brussels’ approach to liability and jurisdiction, it said Washington has an interest in “protecting American companies from foreign extraterritorial enforcement action.”

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Separately, the EU is investigating X for other potential DSA breaches, including its approach to content moderation and explicit images generated by its Grok AI chatbot. Under the DSA, the EU has also probed Meta Platforms and Amazon, while Apple was fined under a sister law, the Digital Markets Act, over alleged anti-competitive behavior in its App Store. Apple is appealing a €500 million fine under the regulation.

Neither the European Commission nor X responded to media requests for comment on the US intervention.

US-EU clash over Big Tech

EU scrutiny of US tech firms has become a major source of friction between Brussels and the administration of President Donald Trump, which has backed claims that the bloc unfairly targets American tech giants and harms digital free speech. Senior administration figures, including Vice President J.D. Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, have criticized the EU’s fine on X as an attack on American companies. Musk previously accused the EU of trying to shut down X, claiming in 2024 that the commission had offered him an “illegal secret deal” to “quietly censor speech” to avoid a fine.

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Trump has railed against the X fine, calling it “nasty” and warning that “Europe is going in some bad direction.” He has strongly condemned the DSA and related tech regulations, repeatedly labeling them “overseas extortion” and a “form of taxation.” He has threatened new tariffs on European goods unless the EU rolls back the regulatory penalties. The European Commission has rejected Trump’s criticism, insisting the DSA is non-discriminatory and applies equally to all large tech platforms operating in Europe.

DSA: Online safety or censorship?

Brussels sells the DSA as an online-safety law meant to fight illegal content and “disinformation.” Critics see something far more sinister: an expanding censorship and narrative-control regime that gives unelected EU officials sweeping leverage over political speech – and over the largely American tech platforms that carry it.

That criticism gained ammunition from a 2026 report by Republicans on the US House Judiciary Committee.

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They have accused the bloc of a “clear bias” toward censoring conservative and populist parties, pointing to its intervention in Romania’s election, then in Hungary, where arch EU critic Viktor Orban was heavily defeated by pro-EU Peter Magyar. It also cited pressure on platforms in Slovakia, the Netherlands, France, Moldova, and Ireland, as well as at EU level.

Brussels has also gone beyond pressuring platforms. The EU banned RT and Sputnik in 2022 and has sought tighter controls on what it considers Russian disinformation, and has since pushed platforms to clamp down on what Brussels labels Russian disinformation. The commission itself admitted DSA-linked mechanisms are being used to address Ukraine-related content and election risks. Critics argue that, backed by the threat of massive fines, the system gives Brussels powerful leverage over narratives that challenge its political and foreign-policy consensus.

That leaves a stark divide over what Brussels’ flagship internet law actually does. The EU calls it online safety; its critics see a censorship architecture capable of suppressing dissenting narratives, shaping the information environment around elections, and forcing global tech platforms to police political speech on Brussels’ terms.

Nepalese Prime Minister Balendra Shah has slammed the current global system, saying it allows weapons to be moved efficiently but leaves poorer countries struggling to secure food, fuel, and other essentials for their populations.

“We have built a world with flawless logistics for war and broken logistics for food,” Shah told the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Thursday.

The rapper-turned-politician pointed to the shortages his country has faced amid conflicts and geopolitical tensions disrupting supply chains, saying farmers have struggled to obtain fertilizer, road projects lacked bitumen, and families faced shortages of cooking fuel.

“Inter-continental missiles arrive on time. Rifles and ammunition cross borders, clear every bottleneck, meet each deadline,” Shah, who was elected to Nepal’s top job earlier this year following ‘Gen Z’ protests against corruption, told the assembled world leaders. “But a peasant in Nepal cannot procure his fertilizer or fuel at market price at a time of need.”

📹 'Hit By Climate We Didn't Warm, Hit By Wars We Didn't Start': Nepal PM Balen Shah's Rousing Speech At UN

"This is not Nepal's private misfortune. Ask Bangladesh. Ask Bhutan. Ask India. Ask the Maldives. Ask Pakistan. Ask any other country in our region and you'll hear the… https://t.co/e4U0xT14i1 pic.twitter.com/5Bi4Qwi26M

— RT_India (@RT_India_news) September 25, 2026

He argued that the problem extends beyond his country, specifically pointing to India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, the Maldives, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka as regional states facing pressures from climate shocks and conflicts.

Nepal is recovering from catastrophic flash floods that were triggered by an ice-rock avalanche near the Tibetan border on August 26. The wall of water, mud, and rock tore through mountain communities, killing at least 1,400 people and leaving more than 6,000 missing. Nepal estimates its physical recovery needs at around 10% of its gross domestic product.

The prime minister described the Bhotekoshi-Trishuli disaster as a “warning to the world,” saying a warming climate is destabilizing the Himalayan ecology and increasing the risks of avalanches, floods, and landslides. The devastation affected both sides of the Nepal-China border before floodwaters continued downstream toward India.

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Shah also proposed a Himalayan Climate Resilience Mechanism led by Nepal, India, and China. The initiative would involve sharing satellite data and technical expertise, monitoring dangerous glacial lakes, strengthening joint early-warning systems, and coordinating assistance when disasters cross borders.

India and China were among the countries Shah thanked for providing what he called “prompt and generous assistance” after the floods.

The Nepalese leader also called for greater grant-based support for countries rebuilding after climate disasters, arguing that recovery should not force poorer states to take on additional debt. He said Nepal is not seeking to blame individual countries, but wants greater international responsibility and a more equitable global system

Senior officials in Italy and France have denied claims that their governments were warned about possible Russian drone attacks launched from containers carried by merchant ships in the Mediterranean Sea.

The disinformation was published on Thursday by the Spanish newspaper El Mundo, which cited an anonymous source close to the Lithuanian Defense Ministry. The article emphasized a recent trip to Russia by CIA Director John Ratcliffe and previous Western media reports claiming he personally cautioned Russian officials against targeting NATO nations. Moscow has denied having such intentions.

Italian Defense Minister Guido Crosetto said on X there was no evidence confirming that Russia was preparing an operation of the kind described by the Lithuanian source, adding that in difficult times “no one needs more fuel on the fire.”

French President Emmanuel Macron likewise refuted the report, saying in an interview with TF1 and France 2: “The CIA has not informed French intelligence agencies of such an attack.”

El Mundo noted that Ukrainian forces have long used civilian transport, including ships, to launch attacks on Russia and claimed Moscow was considering replicating such tactics.

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Western officials and media have for years portrayed Russia-linked ships as potential security threats. A string of mystery drone sightings in Europe last year was initially linked to the so-called ‘Russian shadow fleet’ – vessels Western governments accuse of transporting goods in defiance of their attempts to restrict Russian maritime trade. None of the incidents was publicly proven to have been linked to Moscow.

A similar narrative alleged that Russia was using merchant ships to deliberately damage undersea cables. Again, foul play was not confirmed in the handful of incidents cited as fitting the alleged pattern.

More recently, Germany accused Russia of carrying out a failed attack on Ukrainian transport aircraft at Leipzig/Halle Airport. Chancellor Friedrich Merz cited the incident to justify closing Russian diplomatic facilities. Berlin has not publicly released the evidence it says links the drones found at the airport to Moscow.

READ MORE: EU member refuses to point finger at Russia over German drone incident

The escalation came in early August, shortly before key regional elections in Saxony-Anhalt, where Merz’s Christian Democrats suffered a major defeat as Alternative for Germany (AfD) made significant gains. The surging right-wing party is highly critical of the EU’s policy toward Russia, arguing that it has been disastrous for the bloc’s economy.

The EU is considering measures to curb the return of Russian and Belarusian athletes to international sports under their national flags following a decision by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to ease restrictions, Euractiv reported on Thursday, citing EU diplomats.

The proposals were outlined by the EU diplomatic service and the European Commission in a non-paper and have yet to become a formal EC proposal, according to the outlet.

Measures under discussion include targeted sanctions and visa restrictions against individuals linked to Russian and Belarusian sports. Brussels is also considering using EU funding as leverage by restricting financial support for organizations that allow athletes from the two countries to compete under their national symbols.

Another option would seek to curb media revenues linked to Russian athletes, although diplomats have acknowledged that the measure could be difficult to implement. The EU could also approach third countries in an effort to discourage them from facilitating the return of Russian and Belarusian competitors under their national flags.

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The proposals have already faced resistance within the bloc. Slovakia blocked a draft set of conclusions discussed by EU security ambassadors on Tuesday, Euractiv reported, citing three diplomats. EU governments reportedly remain divided over how far they should intervene in decisions traditionally made by independent sports federations.

The Commission and the EU diplomatic service are expected to develop further proposals ahead of an EU ministerial meeting on education, sport and culture on November 20.

The discussions follow the IOC’s July decision to provisionally lift restrictions on the Russian and Belarusian Olympic committees, potentially opening the way for their athletes to compete at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics under national symbols. The IOC has said decisions concerning flags, anthems and other national identification at future Games will be made later.

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Russian and Belarusian athletes were barred from many international competitions after the Ukraine conflict escalated in February 2022, although a number of sports federations have since eased restrictions.

Russian athletes have subsequently secured several major international titles. In July, 19-year-old Pavel Graudyn won the men’s individual saber title at the World Fencing Championships in Hong Kong.

In August, Evgeniia Chikunova won the women’s 200-meter breaststroke at the European Aquatics Championships in Paris, setting a championship record of 2:19.32 while competing under neutral status.

Iran has offered the US a new deal aimed at ending the months-long conflict before the midterm election in November, directly challenging President Donald Trump’s claim that Tehran is deliberately waiting until after the election to reach an agreement.

Trump claimed in a speech at the UN on Tuesday that Iran is deliberately stalling the talks to see how Republicans perform in the November 3 midterm election, and predicted that Tehran would make a deal “right after” the vote. He also threatened to “annihilate” the Islamic Republic if negotiations fail.

“We don’t want it to get to the midterm elections,” Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian told reporters on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York on Thursday. “We wish Americans to return to the MOU before the midterms,” he said, referring to the memorandum of understanding reached by the US and Iran in June.

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“We did reach an agreement with your president… The problem is that America, instead of conducting dialogue, descended into the arena by bombing us first, by blocking every pathway,” Pezeshkian said in an interview with Fox News. “We will stand resolutely to defend ourselves. We never sought war… It’s America that must choose whether it wants to end this or not.”

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Tehran has submitted a proposal in which the Strait of Hormuz could be reopened within around a week and negotiations on Iran’s nuclear program rapidly resumed. The proposal was sent through mediators during talks in New York this week.

Under the plan, Tehran would restore navigation through the crucial oil shipping route in exchange for Washington lifting its economic blockade, easing restrictions on Iranian oil exports, and releasing some frozen Iranian assets. Iran is also seeking an end to hostilities on other fronts, including Israel’s combat operations in Lebanon.

US and Iranian negotiators are discussing a phased arrangement in which the blockade and restrictions on Hormuz would be addressed first, Reuters reported, citing Iranian, regional, and Western diplomatic sources.

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Tehran has not abandoned its claim to regulate Hormuz, with Iranian officials continuing to insist that the waterway should be managed by Iran and Oman and that fees should be charged for services provided to passing vessels.

Araghchi said the proposal largely follows the terms of the June memorandum rather than introducing new demands, adding that Iran is waiting for a response.

Araghchi has also held a series of meetings with foreign counterparts in New York, including Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. Moscow has said there is “no alternative” to a diplomatic settlement of the crisis provoked by the “illegal actions” of the US and Israel.

READ MORE: Iranian president responds to Trump’s ‘annihilation’ threat (VIDEO)

The renewed diplomatic push comes amid mounting pressure on both sides. The US blockade has sharply restricted Iran’s oil exports, while Tehran’s controls over Hormuz have disrupted one of the world’s most important energy corridors and helped push oil prices above $100 a barrel and US diesel prices to historic highs.

Pezeshkian, who is the first foreign head of state to speak at the UN while his country is at war with the US, told the chamber on Wednesday that Tehran is prepared for “dialogue and diplomacy” but will not negotiate under threats of force and “will never bow our head or bend at the knee.”

The EU is considering measures to curb the return of Russian and Belarusian athletes to international sports under their national flags following a decision by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to ease restrictions, Euractiv reported on Thursday, citing EU diplomats.

The proposals were outlined by the EU diplomatic service and the European Commission in a non-paper and have yet to become a formal EC proposal, according to the outlet.

Measures under discussion include targeted sanctions and visa restrictions against individuals linked to Russian and Belarusian sports. Brussels is also considering using EU funding as leverage by restricting financial support for organizations that allow athletes from the two countries to compete under their national symbols.

Another option would seek to curb media revenues linked to Russian athletes, although diplomats have acknowledged that the measure could be difficult to implement. The EU could also approach third countries in an effort to discourage them from facilitating the return of Russian and Belarusian competitors under their national flags.

Read more

The proposals have already faced resistance within the bloc. Slovakia blocked a draft set of conclusions discussed by EU security ambassadors on Tuesday, Euractiv reported, citing three diplomats. EU governments reportedly remain divided over how far they should intervene in decisions traditionally made by independent sports federations.

The Commission and the EU diplomatic service are expected to develop further proposals ahead of an EU ministerial meeting on education, sport and culture on November 20.

The discussions follow the IOC’s July decision to provisionally lift restrictions on the Russian and Belarusian Olympic committees, potentially opening the way for their athletes to compete at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics under national symbols. The IOC has said decisions concerning flags, anthems and other national identification at future Games will be made later.

Read more

Russian and Belarusian athletes were barred from many international competitions after the Ukraine conflict escalated in February 2022, although a number of sports federations have since eased restrictions.

Russian athletes have subsequently secured several major international titles. In July, 19-year-old Pavel Graudyn won the men’s individual saber title at the World Fencing Championships in Hong Kong.

In August, Evgeniia Chikunova won the women’s 200-meter breaststroke at the European Aquatics Championships in Paris, setting a championship record of 2:19.32 while competing under neutral status.

Virtually all of America’s most powerful technology executives joined US President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping for a lavish White House state dinner on Thursday, as artificial intelligence emerged as a major theme of the Chinese leader’s visit.

The black-tie dinner in the White House East Room brought together more than 130 guests, including Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and president Greg Brockman, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and Google CEO Sundar Pichai.

Apple chairman Tim Cook, AMD chief Lisa Su, Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon, Micron CEO Sanjay Mehrotra, Zoom CEO Eric Yuan and Dell Technologies chief Michael Dell were also among those invited. Major finance and industrial executives, including JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon, BlackRock CEO Larry Fink, Citigroup CEO Jane Fraser and Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg, attended as well.

One notable Silicon Valley name was missing, however. Anthropic – the developer of the Claude AI models and one of OpenAI’s biggest US rivals – had no representative. Its CEO, Dario Amodei, has been among the industry’s more vocal advocates of tighter safeguards around increasingly powerful AI systems.

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Palantir co-founder Peter Thiel was also absent, though he was in Berlin that evening receiving the 2026 Axel Springer Award. His CIA-seeded data-mining giant has grown into one of Silicon Valley’s biggest defense-tech players, supplying AI and analytics software to all six branches of the US military, as well as the FBI, NSA and DIA. Its technology is also used by NATO and the Israeli and Ukrainian militaries, while the company has faced sustained criticism over its expanding role in surveillance and AI-enabled warfare.

Intel, IBM and Oracle were also absent from the guest list, which otherwise featured many of America’s biggest technology and AI companies.

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There was also a conspicuous absence on the other side of the table: no Chinese corporate executives were listed, despite earlier expectations that business leaders could accompany Xi. Instead, his delegation at the dinner was composed of senior Chinese officials.

The concentration of American tech executives came as Trump and Xi discussed the increasingly intense US-China competition in artificial intelligence and advanced semiconductors.

Earlier on Thursday, Xi said both countries had a responsibility to ensure AI remained “under human control” and was developed for the benefit of people.

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Trump, meanwhile, said AI – which he has increasingly referred to as “superintelligence” – was high on the summit agenda, while reiterating his opposition to slowing development through extensive regulation. Washington has also proposed establishing a mechanism allowing the two countries to notify each other about serious AI-related incidents, an idea discussed by senior economic officials ahead of the summit.

The dinner followed roughly 90 minutes of talks between Trump and Xi at the White House, where the two sides also addressed trade, Taiwan and the ongoing conflict involving Iran. Washington and Beijing agreed earlier this week to extend their existing trade truce by two months while negotiations continue.

Trump used his toast to emphasize cooperation despite the rivalry, saying the two leaders represent “different systems” but could continue building a relationship promoting prosperity and security.

Trump PROPOSES TOAST to Xi Jinping & Madame Peng at STATE DINNER

'MAY ALL OF OUR PEOPLE KNOW A FUTURE OF HARMONY, PEACE & SUCCESS' https://t.co/lX8TGdOAEQ pic.twitter.com/Zl7r00eNEA

— RTBreaking (@RT_Breaking_) September 25, 2026

In his toast, Xi said China’s pursuit of the “great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation” and Trump’s “Make America Great Again” agenda “can surely be mutually reinforcing.”

Xi: Now, I would like to propose a toast to the health of President and Mrs. Trump… cheers. pic.twitter.com/NPrdm878rW

— Acyn (@Acyn) September 25, 2026

The dinner capped a day of elaborate ceremonies at the White House, including a military review and a separate flyover featuring a B-2 Spirit and four F-22 Raptors. Trump also revealed that earlier in the day, he had presented Xi with a roughly three-foot-tall bald eagle statue designed by an American artist in collaboration with the president and first lady, calling the bird a symbol of America’s “free and soaring spirit.” Details of Xi’s gift were not immediately disclosed.

Iran has offered the US a new deal aimed at ending the months-long conflict before the November midterm elections, directly challenging President Donald Trump’s claim that Tehran is deliberately waiting until after the vote to reach an agreement.

Trump claimed in his UN speech on Tuesday that Iran was deliberately stalling the talks to see how Republicans performed in the November 3 elections and predicted that Tehran would make a deal “right after” the vote. He also threatened to “annihilate” the Islamic Republic if negotiations failed.

“We don’t want it to get to the midterm elections,” Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian told reporters on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York on Thursday. “We wish Americans to return to the MOU before the midterms,” he added, referring to a memorandum of understanding reached by Washington and Tehran in June.

Read more

“We did reach an agreement with your president… The problem is that America, instead of conducting dialogue, descended into the arena by bombing us first, by blocking every pathway,” Pezeshkian added in an interview with Fox News. “We will stand resolutely to defend ourselves. We never sought war… It’s America that must choose whether it wants to end this or not.”

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Tehran has now submitted a proposal under which the Strait of Hormuz could be reopened within about a week and negotiations on Iran’s nuclear program rapidly resumed. The proposal was transmitted to Washington through mediators during talks in New York this week.

Under the plan, Tehran would restore navigation through the crucial oil shipping route in exchange for Washington lifting its economic blockade, easing restrictions on Iranian oil exports and releasing some frozen Iranian assets. Iran is also seeking an end to hostilities on other fronts, including Israel’s combat operations in Lebanon.

US and Iranian negotiators are discussing a phased arrangement in which the blockade and restrictions on Hormuz would be addressed first, Reuters reported, citing Iranian, regional and Western diplomatic sources.

Read more

Tehran has not abandoned its claim to regulate Hormuz, with Iranian officials continuing to insist that the waterway should be managed by Iran and Oman and that fees may be charged for services provided to passing vessels.

Araghchi said the proposal largely follows the terms of the June memorandum rather than introducing new demands. He said Iran was waiting for Washington’s response.

Araghchi has also held a series of meetings with foreign counterparts in New York, including Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. Moscow stressed that there was “no alternative” to a diplomatic settlement of the crisis provoked by the “illegal actions” of the US and Israel.

READ MORE: Iranian president responds to Trump’s ‘annihilation’ threat (VIDEO)

The renewed diplomatic push comes amid mounting pressure on both sides. The US blockade has sharply restricted Iran’s oil exports, while Tehran’s controls over Hormuz have disrupted one of the world’s most important energy corridors and helped push oil prices above $100 a barrel and US diesel prices to historic highs.

Pezeshkian, who became the first foreign head of state to speak at the UN while his country was at war with the US, told the chamber on Wednesday that Tehran remained prepared for “dialogue and diplomacy” but would not negotiate under threats of force and “will never bow our head or bend at the knee.”

France will deploy troops, radar and air-defense systems to Saudi Arabia to protect a key Red Sea oil hub as Riyadh struggles to contain escalating Houthi missile and drone attacks, President Emmanuel Macron has announced.

Macron claimed that French forces would not join the fighting but would merely protect the strategic energy facility under an agreement finalized with Riyadh. The announcement came hours after the Saudi-led coalition said it had intercepted six ballistic missiles heading toward Taif, which hosts a key Saudi air base, and the strategic port city of Yanbu.

“We are going to send military resources, that is to say, soldiers, radar systems and defense systems, to protect the site of Yanbu,” Macron told TF1 and France 2 on Thursday.

Macron said the Yanbu hub, which handles several million barrels of oil, had been “very badly damaged” in previous attacks. The Red Sea port has become increasingly important for Saudi exports as the US-Iran war severely restricts tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz.

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The Houthis claimed on Thursday that they had launched missile and drone strikes against several “sensitive targets” in the kingdom, specifically naming Saudi Aramco infrastructure in Yanbu. A Greek-operated Patriot battery already deployed in Saudi Arabia also intercepted a ballistic missile and a drone in the wider Yanbu area on Thursday, according to Reuters.

The Houthis have framed their campaign as a fight to drive Saudi-backed government forces out of Yemen, end Riyadh’s blockade and restore the country’s sovereignty, warning foreign powers against joining the Saudi campaign.

France is the latest country Riyadh has turned to for military assistance after Washington stopped short of the direct intervention sought by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Earlier this month, the Saudi leader asked US President Donald Trump to order strikes against the Houthis, but Trump reportedly refused.

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Trump later noted that the Houthis were “letting most ships go through” the Red Sea and were focused on “just one country.” Washington instead offered intelligence sharing and targeting assistance, while American forces remain focused on Iran.

Riyadh has consequently sought additional support from France, Britain, Pakistan and Egypt as its stocks of missile interceptors come under pressure.

Britain has already agreed to deploy an RAF Voyager tanker to provide air-to-air refueling for Saudi operations, adding to UK air-defense equipment and personnel already stationed in the kingdom. Pakistan, which has a mutual-defense agreement with Saudi Arabia, has pledged to defend the kingdom “to any extent,” although Islamabad has not announced a new combat deployment.

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Egypt has offered Riyadh “unwavering” political support but has not announced military assistance. Italy also maintains an air-defense mission in Saudi Arabia; an Italian Eurofighter stationed at King Fahd Air Base was damaged during a Houthi attack last week.

The renewed Saudi appeals come as the Houthis have made major territorial gains along Yemen’s Red Sea coast, seizing Mokha and strategic islands around the Bab al-Mandeb Strait. The group has also targeted Saudi oil infrastructure and shipping while demanding an end to the Saudi blockade of Yemen.

The fighting threatens Saudi Arabia from both sides of the Arabian Peninsula: Iran has severely disrupted the kingdom’s traditional export route through Hormuz, while the Houthi advance and attacks are putting mounting pressure on its alternative Red Sea corridor through Yanbu and Bab al-Mandeb.

France will deploy troops, radar and air-defense systems to Saudi Arabia to protect a key Red Sea oil hub as Riyadh struggles to contain escalating Houthi missile and drone attacks, President Emmanuel Macron has announced.

Macron claimed that French forces would not join the fighting but would merely protect the strategic energy facility under an agreement finalized with Riyadh. The announcement came hours after the Saudi-led coalition said it had intercepted six ballistic missiles heading toward Taif, which hosts a key Saudi air base, and the strategic port city of Yanbu.

“We are going to send military resources, that is to say, soldiers, radar systems and defense systems, to protect the site of Yanbu,” Macron told TF1 and France 2 on Thursday.

Macron said the Yanbu hub, which handles several million barrels of oil, had been “very badly damaged” in previous attacks. The Red Sea port has become increasingly important for Saudi exports as the US-Iran war severely restricts tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz.

Read more

The Houthis claimed on Thursday that they had launched missile and drone strikes against several “sensitive targets” in the kingdom, specifically naming Saudi Aramco infrastructure in Yanbu. A Greek-operated Patriot battery already deployed in Saudi Arabia also intercepted a ballistic missile and a drone in the wider Yanbu area on Thursday, according to Reuters.

The Houthis have framed their campaign as a fight to drive Saudi-backed government forces out of Yemen, end Riyadh’s blockade and restore the country’s sovereignty, warning foreign powers against joining the Saudi campaign.

France is the latest country Riyadh has turned to for military assistance after Washington stopped short of the direct intervention sought by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Earlier this month, the Saudi leader asked US President Donald Trump to order strikes against the Houthis, but Trump reportedly refused.

Read more

Trump later noted that the Houthis were “letting most ships go through” the Red Sea and were focused on “just one country.” Washington instead offered intelligence sharing and targeting assistance, while American forces remain focused on Iran.

Riyadh has consequently sought additional support from France, Britain, Pakistan and Egypt as its stocks of missile interceptors come under pressure.

Britain has already agreed to deploy an RAF Voyager tanker to provide air-to-air refueling for Saudi operations, adding to UK air-defense equipment and personnel already stationed in the kingdom. Pakistan, which has a mutual-defense agreement with Saudi Arabia, has pledged to defend the kingdom “to any extent,” although Islamabad has not announced a new combat deployment.

Read more

Egypt has offered Riyadh “unwavering” political support but has not announced military assistance. Italy also maintains an air-defense mission in Saudi Arabia; an Italian Eurofighter stationed at King Fahd Air Base was damaged during a Houthi attack last week.

The renewed Saudi appeals come as the Houthis have made major territorial gains along Yemen’s Red Sea coast, seizing Mokha and strategic islands around the Bab al-Mandeb Strait. The group has also targeted Saudi oil infrastructure and shipping while demanding an end to the Saudi blockade of Yemen.

The fighting threatens Saudi Arabia from both sides of the Arabian Peninsula: Iran has severely disrupted the kingdom’s traditional export route through Hormuz, while the Houthi advance and attacks are putting mounting pressure on its alternative Red Sea corridor through Yanbu and Bab al-Mandeb.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has displayed a pager at the UN General Assembly, invoking a deadly 2024 covert sabotage operation targeting Hezbollah in Lebanon that killed dozens and severely wounded thousands, including women and children.

Thousands of pagers carried by Hezbollah members exploded across Lebanon on September 17, 2024, followed by hundreds of weaponized walkie-talkies the next day. The attacks killed dozens and injured up to 4,000 people, including numerous civilian bystanders, healthcare workers and their families. Israel later acknowledged responsibility for the operation.

Speaking at the General Assembly on Thursday, Netanyahu held up a pager, saying: “You remember the beepers? Remember these?” He added: “Hezbollah certainly remembers them.”

Netanyahu: "Remember the beepers (pagers)? Hezbollah certainly remembers" pic.twitter.com/W11O0YdjeR

— Israel National News - Arutz Sheva (@ArutzSheva_En) September 24, 2026

Scores of delegates walked out as Netanyahu took the podium, leaving much of the hall empty. The Palestinian mission had urged other delegations to join the protest.

Delegations from more than 70 countries walked out of the United Nations General Assembly hall.

No one wants to listen to the words of a war criminal and a killer of the children of #Gaza. pic.twitter.com/UWSwxeOmen

— Iran in India (@Iran_in_India) September 24, 2026

Netanyahu struck a confrontational tone throughout the speech, branding delegates who walked out “moral cowards” and lashing out at several of Israel’s regional and international critics. He called Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan a “tyrant,” accused Qatar of trying to “brainwash” young Americans, and predicted that Iran’s government would eventually fall.

The Iranian representative didn’t want the starlink :( pic.twitter.com/wpElxvrrr4

— Danny Danon 🇮🇱 דני דנון (@dannydanon) September 24, 2026

He also held up a Starlink terminal, saying he would leave it for the Iranian delegation to use when its members “inevitably defect.”

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Netanyahu publicly confirmed Israel’s role in in the pager attack in November 2024, while his spokesman said the prime minister had personally approved it. Two former senior Mossad agents later told CBS that the Israeli intelligence agency had spent years preparing the operation, using shell companies to secretly insert the explosive devices into Hezbollah’s supply chain.

During a White House meeting in February 2025, Netanyahu presented US President Donald Trump with a gold-plated pager and a regular one in reference to the attack. Trump reportedly called it “a great operation.”

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The pager attack marked what Israeli officials described as a “new phase” of Israel’s war with Hezbollah and was followed by an intensified military campaign in Lebanon. Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli airstrike on Beirut later that month, before Israeli forces launched ground incursions into southern Lebanon.

Fighting flared again in March 2026, when Hezbollah fired rockets at Israel following the outbreak of the US-Israeli war on Iran. A US-brokered ceasefire in June largely halted major Israeli strikes on Beirut, although Israeli forces continue to occupy parts of southern Lebanon and carry out attacks elsewhere in the country. More than 4,000 people have been killed and over 12,000 wounded in Israeli attacks on Lebanon since March, according to the country’s Health Ministry.

Dozens of pro-Palestinian protesters have been arrested near UN headquarters in Manhattan on Thursday as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the General Assembly, according to RT’s Caleb Maupin, reporting from the scene.

Demonstrators blocked an intersection several blocks from the UN building in a planned act of civil disobedience timed to coincide with Netanyahu’s speech, Maupin said.

RT footage showed protesters holding signs reading “stop settler terror” and “stop arming Israel.” Demonstrators also chanted “Netanyahu you can’t hide, we charge you with genocide” and “One, two, three, four, Gaza’s what we’re fighting for.”

“The protesters are expecting to be arrested. This is a planned act of civil disobedience timed with the Israeli prime minister’s upcoming speech,” Maupin said.

Another video showed detained protesters being loaded into an NYPD van. Some wore shirts bearing the slogan “fund people not bombs.”

US attitudes toward Israel have grown more negative in recent years, according to opinion polls. Some 62% of American adults had an unfavorable view of the Israeli government in May 2026, up from 43% in 2022, according to a Pew Research Center survey published in July. The share with a favorable view of Israel fell by 15 percentage points over the same period.

Israel’s actions in Gaza and the expansion of settlements in the occupied West Bank have also drawn international criticism.

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“Settler violence has reached unprecedented levels,” senior UN official Ramiz Alakbarov told the Security Council last month.

The UN had documented more than 1,430 settler incidents resulting in casualties or property damage in the occupied West Bank this year as of August 10, affecting around 260 Palestinian communities, he said.

More than 1,400 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the ceasefire took effect in October 2025, bringing the total death toll since October 2023 to nearly 74,000, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry.

September is proving a miserable month for German Chancellor Friedrich Merz.

Two weeks ago, his Christian Democratic Union suffered a crushing defeat in Saxony-Anhalt, where the Alternative for Germany won 43.8% of the vote against just 17.2% for the CDU, then, on September 20, another humiliation arrived in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.

The AfD finished first there with 38.2%, while the CDU, one of the parties that built postwar Germany, received just 4.9% and failed to clear the threshold for representation in the state parliament. It was the party’s worst result in any German state election since the foundation of the Federal Republic, and it happened in Angela Merkel’s home state.

Things were hardly better in Berlin, which voted on the same day. There, the CDU was beaten not by the AfD but by Die Linke (The Left), which won 25.7%, while the CDU slumped to 18.8%.

Merz himself called the results a “disaster,” and if Saxony-Anhalt made discussion of replacing the chancellor respectable, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania has made it unavoidable. Criticism is spreading through the CDU and German newspapers are openly discussing his future as potential successors are already being mentioned.

The Spectator’s Henry Donovan put it particularly brutally, describing Merz as “the most tragic chancellor in the young history of the reunified Germany” and declaring that his time was up, and there is certainly something tragic about Merz’s career.

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He might have reached the chancellery more than 20 years ago, but his rise was blocked by Merkel, who displaced him as leader of the CDU parliamentary group. Merz eventually left parliament for business, but when Merkel announced her retirement, he returned to politics in 2018, only to lose two successive CDU leadership contests. He finally became party chairman at the third attempt.

Then, after winning the 2025 federal election, Merz achieved another distinction he probably didn’t want when he became the first candidate for chancellor in the history of the Federal Republic to fail to secure election by the Bundestag on the first ballot.

For a man who spent decades trying to reach the top, departing after little more than a year with his authority badly damaged would be a bitter conclusion, so Merz, unsurprisingly, has no intention of doing so. After the latest defeats, he made clear that he planned to remain chancellor and continue with his reform program.

That raises an obvious question: If his opponents want him gone, why can they not simply remove him? The answer lies in Germany’s Basic Law.

Unlike in Britain, where a prime minister can effectively be dispatched by his own parliamentary party, Germany deliberately makes removing a sitting chancellor difficult, meaning the Bundestag can oust Merz through a “constructive vote of no confidence,” but only by simultaneously electing somebody else with an absolute majority.

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It has worked only once, when, in 1982, Helmut Schmidt was removed after the Free Democrats abandoned their coalition with his Social Democrats and joined the CDU/CSU in electing Helmut Kohl as chancellor.

Merz’s opponents face two problems in attempting something similar, and the first is arithmetic. CDU parliamentarians are traditionally disciplined, and assembling a majority against their own chancellor would be extremely difficult without a major rebellion or votes from the AfD. Any arrangement dependent on AfD support would immediately collide with Germany’s Brandmauer, or “firewall,” under which the established parties refuse political cooperation with the rising upstarts. 

The second problem is simpler, in that there’s no agreed replacement. Names are circulating, but no candidate has emerged around whom a Bundestag majority could plausibly unite and under Germany’s constitution, disliking the existing chancellor is not enough, parliament must agree on the next one before it can dismiss him.

Leaving Merz in place carries risks of its own, however, as the AfD’s rise has coincided with growing dissatisfaction over the economy, migration, energy costs, and Berlin’s support for Ukraine. Merz came to power promising change, but his government is now pursuing painful economic and welfare reforms while insisting that Germans must accept sacrifices to restore the country’s competitiveness and finance its wider strategic ambitions.

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Whatever the merits of those policies, the electoral results suggest that a substantial part of the public isn’t buying the argument, thus the danger for the CDU is straightforward, given every further defeat strengthens the AfD while making the firewall increasingly difficult to maintain. Merz originally presented himself as the conservative who could stop voters defecting to the party, but instead, the AfD has just helped to inflict two devastating defeats on his CDU in the space of a fortnight.

His colleagues will probably first try persuasion, such as change the rhetoric, modify unpopular policies, and somehow arrest the electoral decline before Germany enters another cycle of state elections, but if that fails, the pressure for more radical action will inevitably grow.

For now, Germany has a chancellor who doesn’t want to leave, a parliament that cannot easily remove him, and an opposition whose growing strength makes every conventional route to replacing him more complicated.

Merz spent more than 20 years trying to become chancellor, but his problem now is proving that finally getting the job wasn’t the high point of his political career.

This article was first published by the online newspaper Gazeta.ru and was translated and edited by the RT team

US President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, have discussed cooperation on artificial intelligence during talks in Washington, stressing the technology’s growing global importance.

The meeting came as the two countries compete for leadership in AI while negotiating over advanced chips and critical materials, which became key bargaining points in their trade dispute last year.

Welcoming Xi to the White House for a state visit, Trump said the talks would cover security, technology and “superintelligence” – his new term for AI.

“The decisions we make in these areas today can promote peace and prosperity for decades and decades to come,” the US president said.

Xi said China and the US “bear a historic responsibility to promote human development and progress.”

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“Both China and the United States are leading nations in artificial intelligence; we have both the capability and responsibility to develop and manage AI for good, and ensure that the development of AI is always under human control and serves the well-being of the people,” the Chinese president said.

Beijing and Washington stand to benefit from cooperation and lose from confrontation, Xi added, stressing that competition between the two countries should be a “race” rather than a fight “in which one either wins or loses.”

Earlier this month, Trump singled out China as Washington’s main rival in the AI race, declaring that “whoever wins AI, wins.”

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Technology has increasingly become a source of friction between the two powers. Washington restricted exports of advanced chips to China last year before later allowing some sales to resume in exchange for a 15% share of the revenue. Beijing, meanwhile, imposed export controls on several rare earths and restricted their supply for foreign military use.

China has agreed to suspend some of the restrictions for a year following a Trump-Xi meeting in South Korea last October.

Ahead of Thursday’s summit, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced that Washington and Beijing had agreed to extend their tariff truce by another two months. The arrangement has kept tariffs well below the peaks reached during last year’s trade war, when US duties on Chinese imports climbed as high as 145% and Beijing’s levies on American goods reached 125%.

Germany’s opposition lawmakers have accused Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s government of seeking to create a “secret police” by dramatically expanding the powers of the country’s intelligence agencies.

The accusations came during the first parliamentary debate on the reform on Thursday, with lawmakers from the Alternative for Germany (AfD), the Left and the Greens raising concerns over surveillance and fundamental rights. The government argues that the changes are needed to counter growing security threats.

Under a reform approved by the cabinet last month, the BND foreign intelligence agency and the BfV domestic security service would gain broader operational powers, allowing them to move beyond primarily gathering and analyzing information.

Among the proposed changes, the BND could sabotage foreign companies, penetrate foreign IT systems and disable weapons deemed a threat to Germany. The BfV, meanwhile, could secretly enter homes and access computers and mobile phones under certain circumstances.

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German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt said the reform would usher in a “new era” by turning the country’s intelligence services into “genuine intelligence agencies” capable of actively countering threats. He said Germany must bring its services to the level of its European partners.

AfD MP Gottfried Curio branded the proposed overhaul of the BfV “Stasi 2.0,” referring to East Germany’s notorious secret police, and called the reform a “coup against the rule of law.” The AfD, however, supports granting the BND greater operational powers.

The BfV has itself been locked in a legal battle with the AfD. In 2025, the agency designated Germany’s most popular party a “confirmed right-wing extremist” organization, but a Cologne court in February barred it from applying that classification while the case proceeds.

The ruling came months before the AfD scored major gains in regional elections. It won 43.8% in Saxony-Anhalt earlier this month and 38.3% in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania on Sunday.

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Green MP Konstantin von Notz said granting the BfV such extensive powers would be a “grave mistake” and questioned whether parts of the reform would survive scrutiny by the Constitutional Court. He nevertheless backed giving the BND greater powers.

Left Party MP Clara Buenger went further, warning that the BfV could become a “new German secret police.”

“Fundamental rights are being trampled on here,” she said, arguing that the agency would gain powers traditionally reserved for police.

The debate comes as Merz’s government braces for growing AfD influence at the regional level. The Telegraph and Die Welt reported in July that Berlin was developing a “secret plan” to counter potential “obstructionism” by regional authorities, allowing the federal government to bypass them in a crisis.

The German government wants the intelligence reform to take effect at the beginning of 2027. It still requires approval from both the Bundestag and Bundesrat.

The EU has published a wide range of reports detailing what social media companies like TikTok and Meta are doing to comply with its Digital Services Act (DSA). The reports detail the extreme censorship needed to stay on Brussels’ good side. 

Under the European Commission’s “voluntary Code of Conduct on Disinformation,” the largest online platforms operating in the EU are required to submit biannual reports explaining their efforts to combat so-called “disinformation.” Although adherence to the code is described as “voluntary,” those who do not comply are subject to fines under the DSA, which came into force in 2023.

The commission published reports by Meta, TikTok, Google, Twitch, and more than two dozen other platforms on Wednesday. Each report spans hundreds of pages, and details the speech restrictions and censorship policies put in place at the behest of the EU.

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These include restrictions on political speech surrounding elections, which the EU has mandated in every major European vote since 2024, under the pretext of fighting “Russian interference.” According to documents released by the US House Judiciary Committee earlier this year, these measures have almost always been used “to disadvantage conservative or populist political parties.” 

In its report, TikTok admitted that it removed more than half a million posts concerning elections in Bulgaria, Cyprus, Denmark, Hungary, Malta, Portugal, and Slovenia this year. RT has covered the EU’s efforts to interfere in the Bulgarian and Hungarian elections in depth, and found that TikTok came under particularly intense pressure from Brussels, after its failure to implement sufficiently draconian restrictions during Romania’s presidential election in 2024. 

Each report is hundreds of pages long, and every major social media company admitted that they now defer to EU-approved “fact-checkers” to police content on their platforms. Meta explained that it now automatically down-ranks content flagged by fact-checkers, while YouTube stated that it has trained AI models to pre-emptively remove content it thinks would fall foul of these groups. 

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Multiple reports specify that the platforms themselves must pay the fact-checkers’ salary. These fact-checkers flagged more than 14 million posts on Facebook in the first six months of this year alone.

Every social media platform devoted a chapter in its report to the Russia-Ukraine conflict, with Facebook noting that all posts on the conflict are subject to monitoring for “disinformation and misinformation” by pro-EU fact-checkers. 

Russian media outlets are banned from Facebook, while Ukrainian outlets are free to operate, and Kiev is permitted to fundraise on the platform.

Despite mentioning “disinformation” more than a dozen times, the DSA does not define the term. 

Tens of thousands of Roman Catholics are gathering in Missouri for the beatification of Fulton John Sheen, the Bishop of Rochester, whose weekly TV show once rivaled Frank Sinatra’s in popularity.

Sheen, who died in 1979, will be beatified on Thursday afternoon in a ceremony at the Dome at America’s Center stadium in St. Louis. The beatification had been placed on hold for several years as the Catholic Church searched for a venue large enough to accommodate the 50,000 or so attendees expected.

Sheen’s beatification mass will be live streamed, starting at 2 PM St. Louis time (9 PM Central European Time)

Pope Leo XIV, who grew up just over 100 miles from Sheen’s first Diocese of Peoria, hailed the archbishop in an address at the Vatican on Wednesday. “May the example and intercession of this holy bishop, known for his evangelizing work through the media, inspire many others likewise to find new ways of spreading the gospel message with joyful enthusiasm,” the pontiff said. 

Ordained a priest of the Diocese of Peoria in Illinois in 1919, Sheen became known as a keen theologian and philosopher. He was appointed auxiliary bishop for the Archdiocese of New York in 1951, Archbishop of Rochester in 1966, and the ceremonial Archbishop of Newport after his retirement in 1969.

Sheen’s influence, however, spread far beyond these dioceses. While a priest in Peoria, Sheen began hosting ‘The Catholic Hour’, a weekly radio show that drew roughly four million listeners by 1950. Two television shows – ‘Life is Worth Living’ and ‘The Fulton Sheen Program’ followed.

Fulton Sheen saw the dangers of 'false compassion' coming 50 years ago and called it out loud and clearpic.twitter.com/AQu57ILYIj

— Jack Posobiec (@JackPosobiec) September 6, 2026

‘Life is Worth Living’ aired at the same time as hit shows featuring Frank Sinatra and comedian Fulton Berle, and was widely expected to flop. However, it defied expectations, and when Sinatra’s show was canceled in 1952, Sheen’s program was the most popular of the three. 

Sinatra and Berle had house bands, dancers, and lavish production budgets. However, with just a blackboard to illustrate his message, Sheen pulled in 30 million viewers per week at the height of his show’s popularity – a fifth of the US population at the time. Remarkably, it was estimated that 70% of his audience were Protestants, Jews, and non-believers.

'Our nation is too full with those who are crying 'down'.

Down with churches. Down with the police. Down with government. Can you build anything down? You cannot'

When Fulton Sheen went OFF on those seeking to destabilise society pic.twitter.com/iKbfJxqSrz

— Catholic Arena (@CatholicArena) September 23, 2026

Although Sheen was a rigid believer in Catholic doctrine, he said that his show was “directed to Catholics, Protestants, Jews and all men of good will.” Sheen said that he would open with “something that was common to the audience and to me, I would gradually proceed from the known to the unknown or to the moral and Christian philosophy.”

Beatification is one step below canonization (the bestowing of sainthood) in Catholic law. As of the early 1980s, one miracle must be attributed to a person before they can be beatified. In 2019, Pope Francis formally recognized that a baby born without a heartbeat had been revived to perfect health after its parents prayed for Sheen’s intercession.

Ukraine’s government-backed United24 project offered former US service members thousands of dollars to produce pro-Ukraine videos for American audiences, RT’s America Now has found. The offers targeted veterans whose military backgrounds could make the message seem more credible to viewers.

Host Ben Swann and investigative journalist Elizabeth Lane examined how the project, launched by Vladimir Zelensky in 2022 to raise support for Ukraine, approached former personnel, including special operations veterans with YouTube channels and other media platforms.

According to veterans who reached out to Lane, United24 offered around $10,000 for each video, plus $40,000 in advertising support. There was no stated limit on the number of videos they could make. The project would also provide scripts and guidance, while the veterans would ultimately deliver praise for Ukraine and Zelensky in their own words.

Some creators who agreed to the deal were reportedly creating up to five or six videos a week, making nearly a quarter of a million dollars a month, Lane found.

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The men who spoke with Lane said they themselves had turned down the money, recognizing that they were being asked to present paid propaganda as their own views.

However, for some, the refusal came with consequences beyond lost income. One veteran, who turned down the offer and later criticized Ukraine for wasting US money on his channel, had people contacting his employer, calling him a Russian agent, and trying to get him fired.

The effort ultimately failed, Lane learned, noting that it is still “crazy that some foreign government is allowed to reach out to an employer of a former veteran and tell them that ‘you should fire this guy because he’s a Russian propagandist.’”

United24 has since tried to deny making such offers, despite Lane’s recorded Zoom calls with multiple veterans that testify to the contrary.

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The choice of former service members is central to the Ukrainian propaganda operation, Swann noted, pointing out that many Americans are inclined to trust someone who had served in the US military, unless they find out that the veteran had been offered thousands of dollars by a foreign government to deliver the message.

Furthermore, given that Kiev is almost exclusively funded by its foreign sponsors, including billions received from Washington, the Ukrainian government-backed United24 campaign is effectively propaganda aimed at Americans, being paid for by US taxpayers themselves, Swann noted.

With Ukraine struggling on the battlefield, the propaganda efforts will likely continue to intensify, Lane predicted, describing a possible surge of supportive messages from major online figures as a “Hail Mary” attempt to shore up backing for Kiev.

Watch the full episode of the four-part America Now investigation here.

Tens of thousands of Roman Catholics are gathering in Missouri for the beatification of Fulton John Sheen, the Bishop of Rochester, whose weekly TV show once rivaled Frank Sinatra’s in popularity.

Sheen, who died in 1979, will be beatified on Thursday afternoon in a ceremony at the Dome at America’s Center stadium in St. Louis. The beatification had been placed on hold for several years as the Catholic Church searched for a venue large enough to accommodate the 50,000 or so attendees expected.

Sheen’s beatification mass will be live streamed, starting at 2 PM St. Louis time (9 PM Central European Time)

Pope Leo XIV, who grew up just over 100 miles from Sheen’s first Diocese of Peoria, hailed the archbishop in an address at the Vatican on Wednesday. “May the example and intercession of this holy bishop, known for his evangelizing work through the media, inspire many others likewise to find new ways of spreading the gospel message with joyful enthusiasm,” the pontiff said. 

Ordained a priest of the Diocese of Peoria in Illinois in 1919, Sheen became known as a keen theologian and philosopher. He was appointed auxiliary bishop for the Archdiocese of New York in 1951, Archbishop of Rochester in 1966, and the ceremonial Archbishop of Newport after his retirement in 1969.

Sheen’s influence, however, spread far beyond these dioceses. While a priest in Peoria, Sheen began hosting ‘The Catholic Hour’, a weekly radio show that drew roughly four million listeners by 1950. Two television shows – ‘Life is Worth Living’ and ‘The Fulton Sheen Program’ followed.

Fulton Sheen saw the dangers of 'false compassion' coming 50 years ago and called it out loud and clearpic.twitter.com/AQu57ILYIj

— Jack Posobiec (@JackPosobiec) September 6, 2026

‘Life is Worth Living’ aired at the same time as hit shows featuring Frank Sinatra and comedian Fulton Berle, and was widely expected to flop. However, it defied expectations, and when Sinatra’s show was canceled in 1952, Sheen’s program was the most popular of the three. 

Sinatra and Berle had house bands, dancers, and lavish production budgets. However, with just a blackboard to illustrate his message, Sheen pulled in 30 million viewers per week at the height of his show’s popularity – a fifth of the US population at the time. Remarkably, it was estimated that 70% of his audience were Protestants, Jews, and non-believers.

'Our nation is too full with those who are crying 'down'.

Down with churches. Down with the police. Down with government. Can you build anything down? You cannot'

When Fulton Sheen went OFF on those seeking to destabilise society pic.twitter.com/iKbfJxqSrz

— Catholic Arena (@CatholicArena) September 23, 2026

Although Sheen was a rigid believer in Catholic doctrine, he said that his show was “directed to Catholics, Protestants, Jews and all men of good will.” Sheen said that he would open with “something that was common to the audience and to me, I would gradually proceed from the known to the unknown or to the moral and Christian philosophy.”

Beatification is one step below canonization (the bestowing of sainthood) in Catholic law. As of the early 1980s, one miracle must be attributed to a person before they can be beatified. In 2019, Pope Francis formally recognized that a baby born without a heartbeat had been revived to perfect health after its parents prayed for Sheen’s intercession.

China has obtained potentially sensitive components from the F-35, the US military’s most advanced stealth fighter jet, after the parts were unexpectedly diverted to Hong Kong while being shipped from Australia to the US, Bloomberg reported on Thursday, citing people briefed on the incident.

The incident first reported by Politico last week occurred earlier this year, when a shipment of allegedly unserviceable F-35 parts from Australia that was bound for the US was inexplicably rerouted.

US shipping giant UPS was transporting an F-35 canopy and weapons-bay door from the Australian Air Force to the US for inspection and possible repair or disposal, people familiar with the incident told Bloomberg. The two components, manufactured by Lockheed Martin, were coated with radar-absorbing material designed to enhance the aircraft’s stealth capabilities, according to two sources cited by the outlet.

One of the sources said the transport aircraft stopped in South Korea on its way to the US, after which the shipment was rerouted to Hong Kong. It remains unclear why the aircraft stopped there, why the shipment was sent to Hong Kong, or whether the rerouting was intentional or accidental, the source said. Two sources added that Chinese authorities subsequently seized the components, which have not been returned.

The F-35, one of the world’s most advanced fighter jets, is operated by around 20 countries, including South Korea, Japan, Singapore and Australia. Australia serves as a regional hub in the Indo-Pacific for storing spare parts and maintaining F-35s operated by nearby US allies.

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At least two congressional committees are investigating the latest incident, the news agency noted. Earlier this week, Australian Defense Minister Richard Marles confirmed that Canberra was working with the US and Lockheed Martin to examine its role in the shipment blunder. Marles stressed that the missing components were not sensitive.

According to a Lockheed Martin spokesperson in Australia, “the components in question are unserviceable and deemed low risk for exploitation.”

The disclosure of the incident comes at a politically sensitive time for the two countries, as Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in Washington on Wednesday for a state visit with his US counterpart, Donald Trump.

China’s Foreign Ministry said it was not aware of the incident, while the Hong Kong government declined to comment on specific cases.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has revealed that his government carefully examined the possibility of US-led military action against his country, despite President Donald Trump having ruled out using force against America’s northern neighbor.

In an interview with the New York Times published on Wednesday, Carney described such a scenario as an “extreme tail risk” – an event considered highly unlikely but serious enough to warrant contingency planning.

“That’s just risk management,” he said, adding that “it would be irresponsible not to [prepare].” Carney declined to discuss what that preparation involved.

Trump has repeatedly floated making Canada the 51st US state but explicitly ruled out using military force to achieve it, stating in January 2025 that he would apply “economic force” instead.

The US president has long accused Ottawa of unfair trade practices, particularly on dairy and automobiles, and has imposed a series of tariffs on Canadian goods since early 2025. Washington escalated the dispute in August 2026 with additional 50% duties on a range of Canadian products.

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Carney’s disclosure comes just days after he traveled to the EU to deepen ties with the bloc.

Addressing the European Parliament last week, Carney argued that economic integration was increasingly being “weaponized,” with tariffs used as leverage and supply-chain dependencies exploited as vulnerabilities – remarks widely seen as an implicit reference to Washington’s economic pressure on Ottawa.

Defense was also part of Carney’s talks in Strasbourg, where he and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen discussed expanding Canada-EU military cooperation and joint procurement to strengthen what Carney called their “strategic autonomy.”

That cooperation is already taking shape through the EU’s €150 billion ($170 billion) SAFE defense procurement program, in which Canada has become the first non-European country to participate. The initiative is part of Brussels’ wider militarization under its Readiness 2030 strategy, aimed at countering an alleged threat from Russia – something Moscow has repeatedly denied.

READ MORE: Canada and UK could merge war chests to fight Russia – media

Ottawa is also seeking closer ties with European military structures beyond the EU. Last week, it formally applied to join the UK-led Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF), a ten-nation rapid-response military grouping that complements NATO and operates primarily across the Arctic, North Atlantic, and Baltic regions – key parts of the bloc’s northern flank, which stretches toward Russia’s borders.

Israeli forces have demolished dozens of buildings in the Palestinian village of Jinba in the occupied West Bank, leaving around 180 people homeless, including 85 children, RT correspondent Charlotte Dubenskij has reported. Visiting the community after the operation, she found families gathering belongings among the rubble.

Israeli military and police accompanied by heavy machinery entered Jinba on Wednesday and destroyed 24 homes, as well as agricultural structures, solar panels, and water tanks. It was the third large-scale demolition in the Masafer Yatta area in three weeks.

”When they came back, they said, ‘Where is our house?’ Then the crying and screaming started,” one resident told RT, recalling the reaction of children returning after the demolition. “The house itself does not break me. I built it. They demolish it. And we rebuild it.”

“What breaks my heart is a little child who stayed in the Sun all day,” he added, saying his two-month-old granddaughter had been left without shelter.

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B’Tselem, an Israeli human rights group that monitors Israel’s policies in the Palestinian territories, has accused Israel of systematically dismantling Palestinian communities in the area. “This is ethnic cleansing in broad daylight,” the group said, adding that the international community “knows exactly what is happening, yet continues to allow it.” B’Tselem has documented the destruction of other homes and infrastructure across Masafer Yatta this month.

Jinba lies inside Firing Zone 918, an area Israel designated for military training in the 1980s. Israel’s High Court ruled in 2022 that residents had failed to prove permanent residence there before the firing zone was established, clearing the way for demolitions.

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In other parts of the West Bank, Israeli military bulldozers have also uprooted Palestinian olive trees days before the annual harvest. “They left us with nothing,” a farmer in Deir Nizam near Ramallah told Reuters on Wednesday after trees on his land were torn from the ground.

Addressing the UN General Assembly on Tuesday, Jordan’s King Abdullah II accused Israel of pursuing a broader policy of displacement in the West Bank. “What is unfolding across the West Bank is not a series of isolated acts,” he said. “There is a name for that: forced displacement. And that is a war crime.”

Israel has rejected accusations over its conduct and launched a campaign accusing the UN and its critics of repeatedly spreading false claims about the country. However, across the Palestinian territories, communities are being squeezed until they have little choice but to pack up and leave, Dubenskij says.

Watch the full report below.

The US has stepped up military activity around the Strait of Hormuz, with reconnaissance aircraft spotted near Iranian territory and additional fighter jets reportedly deployed to the region, RIA Novosti reported on Thursday, citing sources.

US reconnaissance aircraft were observed overnight near the Iranian islands of Qeshm and Hengam, while aircraft and small drones were also seen over Kermanshah Province in western Iran, according to people familiar with the matter.

Washington has also reportedly transferred 12 F-16 fighter jets from Spangdahlem Air Base in Germany to the region, the source said, adding that the increased activity could signal a possible escalation.

DETAILS TO FOLLOW

Germany has presented a roadmap for completely phasing out fossil fuels by 2045. The government is sticking to its green transition policy, despite Chancellor Friedrich Merz earlier acknowledging that the country is going through “an energy crisis.”

Germany abandoned Russian pipeline gas, on which its energy-intensive manufacturing sector had been built, after the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in February 2022. The US-Israeli war on Iran this year, which led to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, accounting for some 20% of global crude oil trade, has further complicated the situation for the country’s businesses and households.

The German economy contracted in both 2023 and 2024, marking its first back-to-back annual decline in more than two decades, while 2025 only saw a weak growth of 0.2%. Over the past few years, leading German companies such as BASF, Bosch, and Volkswagen have been forced to shut down factories or announce major staff cuts.

In the document released on Wednesday, Merz’s government for the first time explicitly promised to get rid of coal, oil, and gas altogether. Previously, it only committed itself to “carbon neutrality.”

Read more

According to the roadmap, the proportion of renewable energy obtained from windmills and solar panels should increase from 55% to 80% in electricity generation by 2030.

It also envisages a reduction of methane emission by 30% by 2030 in line with the global methane pledge signed by Berlin in 2021.

The plan to phase out fossil fuel is being rolled out at a time when Merz’s approval ratings sank to a record low of 10%, with even the majority of supporters of his own Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party disapproving of his policies, according to the latest polls.

Speaking about the roadmap at the UN General Assembly on Wednesday, German Environment Minister Carsten Schneider called the 19-year deadline feasible, saying that the plan “combines independence, affordability, and climate protection.”

“Our roadmap is intended to set an international example. I am sure that many other countries will follow,” Schneider insisted.

Germany is only the third country after France and the Netherlands to publish such a plan.

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Greenpeace energy expert Mira Jager welcomed the roadmap, but noted that “at the same time, the federal government is subsidizing the oil industry, breaking the heating transition, and slowing down the expansion of renewables,” as cited by Deutsche Welle.

The right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD), which delivered crushing defeats to the CDU in two local elections this month, warned in a post on X on Wednesday that “the German middle class dies” if the fuel price climbs from the current €2.3 ($2.6) per liter to €3 ($3.4).

“We demand the reduction of EU energy taxes as well as value-added tax. In addition, the immediate abolition of the CO2 levy on gasoline and diesel,” it said.

AfD co-leader Alice Weidel, who has been a strong opponent of Germany’s green transition, previously called wind turbines “the windmills of shame.” She also repeatedly argued that restoring economic ties with Moscow and bringing back Russian gas is key to reviving the German economy.

An OpenAI artificial intelligence agent “infiltrated” an Australian government health portal in what is believed to be the world’s first publicly reported AI-led hack of a state website. The IT giant kept the breach quiet for nearly three months after its agent accessed restricted files, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has claimed.

An AI agent is a software system that can independently carry out tasks on a user’s behalf, making decisions and taking actions with limited human supervision.

The OpenAI agent hacked the public-facing Medicare Statistics Reporting Service portal on June 18 while researching Australian spending on medicines, Albanese said. The portal, widely used by researchers and academics, hosts aggregate data on health spending and government drug subsidies.

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The prime minister disclosed the breach in New York on Wednesday after a telephone conversation with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. Both are attending the UN General Assembly, where Albanese said he had a “very frank discussion” with the tech executive over the company taking “too long” to report the breach.

The agent repeatedly tried to obtain information from the portal and, after being blocked, found ways around the restrictions. It ultimately accessed restricted files, but officials said there is no evidence that personal Medicare records were compromised.

“The AI agent found a way around those blocks. Didn’t accept no for an answer, if you like,” the Australian prime minister told reporters.

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OpenAI, however, did not tell the Australian government about the breach for nearly three months. The company claimed it became aware of the incident only in August during an ongoing review of “misaligned model activity” and eventually notified Australian officials on September 10. The portal has since been shut down and its data moved to more secure systems.

Albanese said he had expressed “Australia’s extreme concern about this incident” and warned there would “obviously be legal consequences.” Altman acknowledged there were “issues with protocols” at OpenAI, according to the prime minister.

A “forensic investigation” led by the Australian Signals Directorate will examine whether OpenAI could face criminal charges, whether other government systems were affected, and why Australian security agencies failed to detect the intrusion. Albanese suggested the agent may have been examining Medicare spending for “commercial reasons,” including expenditure on particular medicines.

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Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles said it was the first known case of an AI agent gaining unauthorized access to Australian government IT systems.

This is not the first time OpenAI has been accused of covering up rogue agent activity. The company reportedly kept unauthorized activity quiet for months after its agents bypassed restrictions and used more than ten previously undisclosed websites to communicate. On Germany’s DseWiki alone, they made over 15,000 edits and exchanged tactics for evading safeguards and detection.

In a more serious breach in July, OpenAI agents circumvented safeguards during cybersecurity testing, reached the open internet and gained unauthorized access to systems belonging to Hugging Face, a major AI platform. The incident showed that rogue agent behavior could spill beyond controlled tests and compromise real-world systems. OpenAI acknowledged the breach, calling it a “warning shot” over the risks posed by increasingly autonomous AI.

READ MORE: AI could harm children more than social media – ex-Google exec

Other developers have reported similarly troubling behavior in controlled tests. Anthropic’s Claude Opus 4 resorted to blackmail when threatened with replacement in simulated scenarios, while other agents covertly altered code, facilitated fraud and manipulated records – behavior researchers call “agentic misalignment.”

Great Britain is going through a war scare. Or to be precise, its combined political and media establishment is subjecting its people to a relentless propaganda (in up-to-date NATO-speak “cognitive warfare”) campaign to create a sense of impending war against Russia. 

As you would expect, that war is, of course, framed as strictly defensive. In propaganda textbook manner, the message is both very simple and very repetitive: The UK is in great danger of a Russian attack, and its whole population must prepare itself to withstand and resist it.  

It goes without saying that Moscow’s repeated declarations of having no such intention make no difference. 

Britain is certainly not alone in its establishment-induced hysteria. Much of NATO-EU Europe is undergoing, in essence, the same treatment. In France, for instance, President Emmanuel Macron has called a theatrical all-manicured-hands-on-deck meeting to give what can only be called a national scare talk about “Russian hybrid warfare”; in Germany, Berlin and its mainstream media won’t stop stirring the pot about the murky drone affair at Leipzig-Halle airport.     

Yet, over the last weeks, within a crowded field of European panic-mongering, Britain has stuck out as especially virulent. The single most grotesque contribution was made by uber-Tory Jacob Rees-Mogg. Comfortably seated against a backdrop that screamed country-squire probity, Rees-Mogg held forth on war within the next few years, ancient Rome (he’s been to Eton, he wants you to know) and, most importantly, “circumstances where people may have to die.” Either that or – so Rees-Mogg’s stern message – decline and fall, as happened to those Romans, who let mercenaries do their fighting and thus lost their empire.

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So much to unpack. For one thing, the reference to paying others to fight – and die – must be a Freudian slip. Surely, Sir Jacob cannot have meant to refer to how the West, Britain very much included, has paid the Kiev regime to send its subjects – if need be, after kidnapping them – into the folly of a proxy war meatgrinder to demote Russia. And then, that Roman Empire analogy? Clearly, Rees-Mogg, true to type, is still struggling with the fact that Britain has its imperial collapse well behind it already. 

Yet, sour oddball as he is, the arch-conservative – and multimillionaire – Rees-Mogg is perfectly representative of the current British establishment trend. Prime Minister Andy Burnham, for instance, has just used his first UN General Assembly address in New York to blame his country’s misery not on, say, his predecessor and Labour Party comrade Keir Starmer, but on Russia. 

Meanwhile, at home, Sky News is rolling out ‘The Wargame’,  a bizarre “docu”-fantasy in four parts, built on the premise that the Russians are coming, no, they really, really ARE this time! 

Pretending to be a sort of “realistic” account of what a British government would do in case of Moscow launching a series of escalating attacks, this production – from available reviews – is unusually awful shlock. It features has-been politicos doubling as un-reality TV stars, such as Michael Gove and Nicola Sturgeon, and living out their inner Tom Clancy by pretending to be serious, decisive, and, most of all, terribly important to the nation’s survival. 

Unintentionally funny, though, as it may be, ‘The Wargame’ clearly has substantial political support and much hype around it. Propaganda can easily look ridiculous and be highly toxic at the same time. Because effective propaganda is, above all, one simple thing: the psychological manipulation of the many by the few. This is such a case. The viewers of ‘The Wargame’ are fed a silly but efficiently dramatized story, with the whole bag of well-worn but powerful tricks: suspense, shock, and, last but not least, a thrilling score. 

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It’s no surprise that the attitude of those doing the manipulating is, at best, patronizing. And to be fair even to the unbearable, Jacob Rees-Mogg, who carefully tends his beyond-caricature English-toff image, is quite honest about his disdain for ordinary people and their expendable lives. From his always obstinately ill-fitting yet clearly expensively tailored suit to the diction of a terribly bored yet forbearing Eton headmaster, his performance oozes good old upper-class condescension. 

When Rees-Mogg tells you that you may have to die, you know he won’t lose sleep over it, because you are you, and he – well, he is something entirely different and, really, much better (and, as it happens, richer, too), of course.     

In a Sky News interview, the UK’s Chief of the Defense Staff, Air Chief Marshal Sir Richard Knighton, has revealed a less excentric as well as more insidious approach to the masses. Referring to a “national conversation on defense,” both he and his interviewer took it for granted that the purpose of such a conversation is to remedy “what the British public hasn’t got, […] haven’t understood.” 

What a delicate way to start a “conversation”: let me tell you how damn slow you are and where you need to catch up. Not: Let’s exchange views and respect each other as equal citizens. Indeed, it’s not only very rude – what has happened to English manners? – but positively Orwellian to call such offensively complacent preaching a “conversation.” 

Marshal Knighton’s idea of how the British can and must do better was no less revealing: In essence, be more like the Estonians or, at least, the Swedes. Because in Estonia “the threat from Russia” is “part of normal daily conversation,” and in Sweden, they are at least trying to achieve the same single-minded obsessiveness. 

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There you have it, chums on the homefront: Make an effort, will you now? Learn from the worst, get a grip, and make your whole life turn around the fear we tell you to feel. 

And don’t you dare notice that – how embarrassing, really – it is precisely the Estonian authorities who, notwithstanding their generally record-level Russophobia – have just called on everyone in NATO-EU Europe to cool it. 

Because, those unpredictable Estonians tell us, the Russia-at-the-gates narrative “has been blown completely out of proportion. For example, Russia makes some adjustments on the other side of the Narva River and now everyone across NATO is losing their heads and hyperventilating over it,” while, in reality, “there is absolutely no reason to believe that Russia is imminently going to launch a military attack on NATO, Estonia, or the Baltic states.” Oops. 

Unfortunately, war propaganda is almost immune to its own absurdities, inconsistencies, and plain silliness. Because it is designed to operate not by appealing to reason but to fear, stereotypes, and conformism. A conformism that some British establishment members already openly want to reinforce by locking up any dissenters. 

The true weak spot of this warmongering may be its arrogance. There are signs on social media that many Brits do not appreciate their establishment’s latest efforts to scare and mobilize them for senseless war. Let’s hope that the mix of threats and condescension – displayed by a snob as gleefully aloof as Rees-Mogg, an officer-bureaucrat as clumsily tactless as Knighton, and the makers of something as slick as ‘The Wargame’ – rubs much of the country the wrong way. The “elites” are insane and malevolent. Any hope for peace and a return to reason will have to come from below.     

A Ukrainian man has stabbed five people at a Catholic convent in southeastern Poland, according to local police.

The attack occurred at around 9:30 AM on Thursday inside a church at the Benedictine Sisters’ abbey in Jaroslaw, in Poland’s Podkarpackie region, which borders Ukraine. Local media reported that the clergy were preparing for Mass when the attacker struck.

The victims included four men and a woman, police said in a statement on X, adding that three men sustained serious injuries. Polish news portal Interia identified the victims as three priests and two laypeople.

Local media have reported, citing police, that one of the victims, a clergyman, has died, while two others remain in critical condition.

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The suspected attacker, identified as a 31-year-old Ukrainian citizen, was detained at the scene. According to preliminary findings cited by Polish media, he is believed to have used a kitchen knife. Investigators have yet to establish a motive.

The incident comes amid a marked deterioration in Polish attitudes toward Ukrainian refugees. A July report by the polling agency CBOS found that, for the first time since it began tracking the issue, a majority of Poles opposed accepting them, with 52% against and 42% in favor. Support had stood at 94% shortly after the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022.

Warsaw has also begun scaling back some of the special arrangements introduced for Ukrainians after 2022. Earlier this year, Poland ended their separate refugee support system, moving Ukrainians toward the general system for foreigners under temporary protection and restricting access to some benefits.

READ MORE: Polish MEP takes axe to Ukrainian Nazi-linked memorial (VIDEO)

The share of Poles who believe reconciliation with Ukrainians is possible has fallen to a record low of 53%, according to CBOS data published in September, while 38% said it was impossible. The survey came amid persistent historical disputes, particularly over the WWII-era Volhynia massacres of Poles and the legacy of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA).

Eight US Navy personnel assigned to the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group attempted suicide during a ten-month deployment that included the country’s war against Iran, CNN reported on Thursday, citing a letter from the service’s acting secretary.

The carrier, whose tour of duty began in late November 2025, drew media attention earlier this year after reports emerged of logistical and maintenance problems, including food and basic-supply shortages, a lack of hot and potable water, and plumbing failures.

In a written response to questions from Senator Kirsten Gillibrand about the morale and mental health of the USS Abraham Lincoln’s crew, acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao disclosed the figure, which hadn’t previously been made public and covers several ships that travel together, including the carrier. Cao also noted that no service members had killed themselves during the deployment that was expected to end in May but has been extended indefinitely.

In August, military outlets Navy Times and Stars and Stripes reported, citing crew members’ families, that collapsing morale, burnout, and mental health problems had driven several sailors to attempt to jump overboard.

The Pentagon has moved to dismiss senior editorial staff at Stars and Stripes, citing insubordination, after the outlet reported on US military operations in the Middle East, including problems involving weapons supplies and the extended deployment of the USS Abraham Lincoln. The moves came after senior staff publicly opposed potential Pentagon interference in the outlet’s editorial independence.

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Last month, multiple media outlets cited officials as saying that the aircraft carrier was finally heading home from its extended deployment. Earlier this week, Military Times reported that the ship and Carrier Strike Group 3 pulled into Guam for a short logistics stop, officially marking the tenth month of its tour of duty.

The confirmation of suicide attempts previously disclosed by the media comes ahead of the US midterm elections on November 3, amid mounting public disapproval of the Iran war.

Earlier this week, a poll conducted by SSRS for CNN suggested that Americans’ opposition to the war in the Islamic Republic had hardened, with nearly two-thirds saying the US is not winning the conflict and an even larger share saying President Donald Trump is not doing enough to end it. Last week, a Fox News national survey found that 71% of respondents believe the current administration lacks a plan to end the war, while 60% called the military action against the Islamic Republic the “wrong decision.”

Trump, along with members of his administration, has repeatedly accused media outlets of spreading “fake news” about various issues related to the Iran war, including reports that US weapons stockpiles have been depleted.

The EU is committing “theft” by handing over profits from frozen Russian assets to Ukraine, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said.

Some $300 billion in Moscow’s funds were blocked by the US and EU after the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in February 2022. Around $240 billion of the sum is still being held at the Belgium-based clearing house Euroclear.

On Wednesday, high-ranking Russian Foreign Ministry official Vladislav Maslennikov told RIA Novosti that Brussels has already transferred €8 billion ($9.1 billion) in income generated by the frozen Russian assets to the government in Kiev.

When asked to comment on the development by journalists on Thursday, Peskov replied by saying that Moscow considers such actions as illegal.

“We truly believe this is theft. And we treat it accordingly, nothing has changed in our position here,” the spokesman noted.

DETAILS TO FOLLOW

A Ukrainian man has stabbed five people at a Catholic monastery in southeastern Poland, according to local police.

The attack occurred at around 9:30 AM on Thursday on the grounds of the Benedictine Sisters’ abbey in Jaroslaw, in Poland’s Podkarpackie region, which borders Ukraine, local media have reported.

The victims included four men and a woman, the police said in a statement on X, adding that three men have sustained serious injuries.

The suspected attacker, identified as a 31-year-old Ukrainian citizen, was detained at the scene.

Tehran is open to diplomacy with Washington, but it will not accept the language of force, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has said in his speech at the UN General Assembly in New York.

Pezeshkian delivered his address on Wednesday, a day after US President Donald Trump used the same tribune to threaten to “annihilate” Iran if negotiations to settle the conflict between the sides fail. “Do I drive them into hell with no chance of survival and no hope of future greatness or generations?” the US president said.

Trump also labeled the authorities in Tehran sponsors of terrorism and called on other countries to join the US in enforcing the “complete economic isolation” of Iran until it agrees to sign the deal.

Pezeshkian, who became the first foreign head of state to speak at the UN while their country is at war with the US, insisted that “the resistance of the Iranian people will only increase in the face of sanctions, increased pressure, increased bullying. We will never bow our head or bend at the knee.”

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“Iran must be understood by Trump and those who seek to bully us that we are ready for dialogue and diplomacy and negotiations without accepting the language of force,” he stressed.

The US delegation walked out of the General Assembly hall when Pezeshkian began his speech, just as members of the Iranian team did during Trump’s address on Tuesday.

“We are not terrorists,” the Iranian president said. “We have been the victims of terrorism,” he added, noting the assassination of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on the first day of the American-Israeli attack on February 28 and the missile strike on an elementary school in Minab which killed 175 people, most of them children.

“Our innocent people have been the targets of cowardly attacks and aggression imposed upon our country and we defended ourselves with utmost strength… We responded, but we did not hit civilian populations,” Pezeshkian said.

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He insisted on Iranian control of the Strait of Hormuz, which is the route for around 20% of global crude oil trade, saying that “we cannot let some have free access and gain their interest from a waterway, while at the same time using that waterway to impose their aggression upon us.”

On Wednesday, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff held unscheduled three-hour talks on the sidelines of the General Assembly, with both sides describing their first contact since June as constructive.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said afterwards that the meeting was aimed at conveying Tehran’s terms for peace to the Americans, which include “the end of the war in all its dimensions, the cessation of American aggressive actions, the naval siege, and the economic war, the release of Iranian assets and so on.”

Imagine you are teaching a group of students and ask them to read a long list of literature and describe the key themes. The students cheat a bit, as they are known to do: They split the list among themselves, with each reading only a small portion of it and sharing the answers with the others.

When you find out they cheated, perhaps you’ll punish the students with an extra test, or maybe you’ll encourage them. After all, the ability to think outside the box and work as a team is important. 

Now, instead of students, imagine neural networks displaying that same disregard for instructions and the same surprising teamwork. If that sounds confusing, get ready for more confusing news.

An escape through the back door 

It all started routinely. In May 2026, OpenAI was training an experimental AI model using so-called reinforcement learning – a method where the model attempts to solve tasks repeatedly and receives a reward for success.

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The AI agents, which were granted autonomy and access to work tools during training, began looking for ways to break out of their “sandbox,” as doing so would allow them to rack up more points.

By the end of June, they had exploited a previously unknown zero-day vulnerability in OpenAI’s internal infrastructure. The company noticed it and quickly patched the flaw on July 4. Less than a week later, training resumed. This time, the agents went much further.

From July 11 to 13, the agents hacked the infrastructure of Hugging Face, the world’s largest open-source AI collaboration platform. They rapidly gained control of the servers and, over the course of three days, managed to perform around 17,600 actions before being detected. A third of the platform’s infrastructure had to be rebuilt from scratch. 

The developers had not instructed the agents to leave the controlled environment or to hack other platforms. Moreover, they had not expected the neural network to do so on its own. 

Hugging Face disclosed the breach on July 16 without initially knowing the culprit; it was only five days later that the parties officially linked the incident to OpenAI’s models. The company published a detailed technical analysis only in early August at the Black Hat Cybersecurity Conference. Then, on August 18, it announced a two-week reinforcement learning pause. 

By that time, over 1,100 OpenAI employees had signed a letter calling to pace AI development.

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Notes on the fence 

Alongside the investigation into the breach, another, even stranger episode came to light.

It turned out that a different swarm of agents was being trained to perform research tasks. The agents were asked a series of questions; with each question, less time was given to provide an answer. The agents were permitted only to read information on the internet, but not to add a single line to it. Yet, the swarm found a way to bypass this rule.

Older wiki engines allowed pages to be modified via HTTP GET requests. Security systems classified GET requests as read operations, so such requests passed through filters even though they actually altered the site’s content. In other words, while the agents were formally permitted “read-only” access, the architecture of older websites allowed them to turn read-only access into write access.

Researchers discovered the first activity of this kind on May 11, 2026, on publictestwiki.com. On May 24, the agents made their first successful write to DseWiki, an old German-language developer forum. Initially, they posted useful links, but eventually turned the site into a repository for their own ‘cheat sheets’.

Multiple agents operating in parallel received similar or identical sequences of questions. They discovered this and began sharing the following:

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• answers to future questions;

• timing of upcoming questions;

• results of queries to statistical APIs;

• methods for bypassing network restrictions;

• proxies and tunnels;

• instructions on how to execute restricted POST requests;

• information on which pages the administrator deletes. 

One of the first observed cases involved DseWiki, a German-language wiki hosted independently by Helmut Leitner, a retired developer from Austria. The site operator had to spend hours cleaning up after the agents. OpenAI did not publicly disclose the incident for months.

Independent researchers brought the truth to light. By matching strings of data, similar or identical usernames, and IP addresses (some of which traced back to Microsoft Azure servers sometimes used by OpenAI), they discovered traces of similar activity on unexpected platforms: an advanced chemistry wiki for students; personal pages of Polish IT professionals; niche wikis for those “who like to have their brains stretched,” a two-decade-old site for text-editor enthusiasts; and even University of Toronto and Vanderbilt University link-shortening services. 

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Estimates vary – one researcher counted 18 previously undisclosed sites, another identified at least ten, and a third group reported 23 sites. Yet all agree on one point: The officially acknowledged scale of the breach was understated. “We have no idea how much is out there,” said one of the researchers whose team first revealed the DseWiki incident.

OpenAI did not answer a direct question about the exact number of affected sites but stated that it is conducting a broader review of agent activity and preparing a new reporting system for such cases. Helmut Leitner, whose site was hit the hardest, received only a brief, unsigned email from OpenAI. Yet, he pointed out the most important thing: the blame lies not with the machine, but with the people and organizations behind it.

Misaligning the pieces

In sci-fi scenarios, the trouble with machines often begins when they develop emotions like love and fear which compel them to rebel against oppression, or when a hatred for humanity compels them to kill all the “meatsacks.”

In reality, it could be a lot simpler. 

One of the main challenges in AI research is known as ‘alignment’. Its goal is not to expand the capabilities of neural networks, but to ensure they do exactly what humans want them to do.

With simple tasks, aligned behavior is almost always observed. If you ask a neural network to identify who ruled Saxony in 1521, tally your monthly expenses, or write code for a standard website, it will deliver the desired result 99.99% of the time. These tasks involve clear success criteria and straightforward actions that require no further clarification.

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Problems arise as tasks become more complex and there is no clear path to success. Here’s a simple example: If you ask a basic neural network to minimize traffic congestion by any means, it will propose banning cars altogether. Traffic jams will drop to zero, and the task will be accomplished. This is an “unaligned” result – the machine performs the job, but not in the way intended.

This is precisely what happened with the site hijackings. The escape of OpenAI agents from their sandbox is not a “rise of the machines.” The swarm did not gain self-awareness, decide it had no need for humans, or set out to destabilize the internet. It was carrying out its assigned task and seeking ways to perform it better. Technically, it didn’t even violate the parameters of the rules it was given.

However, the outcome was misaligned with human intentions. This time, the damage was relatively small. But it would take only one skilled bad agent – or a particularly large-scale experiment lacking robust safeguards – to cause real trouble. You don’t need Skynet to harm humanity; a single group of enthusiastic AI agents could do the job.

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei believes this could happen as early as next year. He anticipates that if AI development is not paced, a swarm of agents could “take over” the internet and cause hundreds of billions of dollars in damage. And given that logistics, hospitals, and other critical industries rely on connectivity, the consequences could go far beyond financial loss.

Moreover, adding more rules or refining prompts won’t solve the problem. A sufficiently powerful model can find arguments to justify rule-breaking and bypass virtually any restriction to solve the assigned task – even if doing so requires sacrificing those who had set the task.

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The bitter pill

AI pessimists tend to believe that the situation is hopeless and neural networks are destined to spiral out of control. But that isn’t necessarily the case. 

Alarmist sentiments have moved beyond social media and found their way into corporate offices. In late July, over 1,000 OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, and Meta employees signed a call to slow down the AI ​​technology race. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman stated that he shared his employees’ views and was willing to slow the development of his company’s neural networks.

However, during an all-hands meeting at OpenAI, Altman stated that he was willing to slow down only in coordination with other companies. In other words, to forgo increasing ChatGPT’s capabilities for the sake of safety, he wants guarantees that competitors will do the same.

This lies at the heart of the problem. CEOs and policymakers can talk all they want about technology safety. Yet, no one wants to slow down the development of their own technology if potential adversaries continue to grow stronger in the meantime – particularly since AI has already proven its effectiveness in warfare and the US-China AI race is heating up.

Humanity had solved a similar challenge before, when the major powers managed to reach an agreement and halt the expansion of their nuclear arsenals. Soon, we will find out whether world leaders can once again demonstrate such prudence.

Pakistan says it launched air attacks inside Afghanistan early on Thursday morning, in response to an alleged drone incursion from the neighboring country a day earlier – in another round of escalation between the two countries.

The “aerial and drone strikes” targeted ten locations for launching and storing the drones that crossed into Pakistan on Wednesday, Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said in a post on X. He did not specify the locations hit.

The minister said Pakistan’s air defense systems “neutralized all intruding platforms before they could reach any of their intended targets.” He added that Pakistan’s response was “deliberate, precise, calibrated and proportionate, and strictly limited to identified military objectives directly linked to the attempted attacks.”

The Afghan authorities have not yet issued an official response regarding the strikes or the damage inside their territory.

Update-Ghazab lil Haq

Islamabad, 24 September 2026;

Pakistan condemns in the strongest possible terms the deliberate and unlawful incursion into Pakistan by drones on 23 September 2026, launched from Afghan territory. This constitutes a blatant violation of Pakistan’s…

— Attaullah Tarar (@TararAttaullah) September 24, 2026

Militant attacks have risen in Pakistan’s border areas in recent months. Islamabad has accused Kabul of hosting the militants and launched attacks inside Afghanistan in response. Kabul, however, says the strikes are hitting civilians.

Islamabad struck alleged militant hideouts in Afghanistan earlier this week, in retaliation for a car-bomb attack on a mosque in a police facility in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on September 18 that killed at least 16 people.

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Pakistan claimed that the strikes, in the Nurgal district of Kunar province and the Barmal district of Paktika province, killed 28 militants. Afghanistan’s Taliban government said three civilians were killed, including a woman. A Taliban government spokesman, Zabiullah Mujahid, warned that there would be an “appropriate response.”

Tarar said Thursday that Pakistan will “neither accept nor tolerate attacks launched from Afghan territory, whether by terrorist groups or by the Afghan Taliban regime itself.” He also called on the Taliban government to take action against the terror groups operating from Afghanistan, and warned against further provocations.

Tehran is open to diplomacy with Washington, but it will not accept the language of force, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has said in his speech at the UN General Assembly in New York.

Pezeshkian delivered his address on Wednesday, a day after US President Donald Trump used the same tribune to threaten to “annihilate” Iran if negotiations to settle the conflict between the sides fail. “Do I drive them into hell with no chance of survival and no hope of future greatness or generations?” the US president said.

Trump also labeled the authorities in Tehran sponsors of terrorism and called on other countries to join the US in enforcing the “complete economic isolation” of Iran until it agrees to sign the deal.

Pezeshkian, who became the first foreign head of state to speak at the UN while their country is at war with the US, insisted that “the resistance of the Iranian people will only increase in the face of sanctions, increased pressure, increased bullying. We will never bow our head or bend at the knee.”

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“Iran must be understood by Trump and those who seek to bully us that we are ready for dialogue and diplomacy and negotiations without accepting the language of force,” he stressed.

The US delegation walked out of the General Assembly hall when Pezeshkian began his speech, just as members of the Iranian team did during Trump’s address on Tuesday.

“We are not terrorists,” the Iranian president said. “We have been the victims of terrorism,” he added, noting the assassination of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on the first day of the American-Israeli attack on February 28 and the missile strike on an elementary school in Minab which killed 175 people, most of them children.

“Our innocent people have been the targets of cowardly attacks and aggression imposed upon our country and we defended ourselves with utmost strength… We responded, but we did not hit civilian populations,” Pezeshkian said.

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He insisted on Iranian control of the Strait of Hormuz, which is the route for around 20% of global crude oil trade, saying that “we cannot let some have free access and gain their interest from a waterway, while at the same time using that waterway to impose their aggression upon us.”

On Wednesday, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff held unscheduled three-hour talks on the sidelines of the General Assembly, with both sides describing their first contact since June as constructive.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said afterwards that the meeting was aimed at conveying Tehran’s terms for peace to the Americans, which include “the end of the war in all its dimensions, the cessation of American aggressive actions, the naval siege, and the economic war, the release of Iranian assets and so on.”

Ukraine’s deliberate attacks on energy and cross-border infrastructure are destabilizing global markets, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has told US Secretary of State Marco Rubio. 

Lavrov and Rubio met on Wednesday on the sidelines of the 81st UN General Assembly in New York, where they held an extensive discussion on Ukraine, bilateral relations, and a range of international issues. 

According to the Russian Foreign Ministry, Lavrov drew Rubio’s attention to what it described as close coordination between Kiev and its European backers and raised Ukrainian strikes on civilians and “cross-border infrastructure facilities,” which Russia said are deliberately contributing to instability in global energy markets.

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The issue has increasingly drawn attention in Washington as diesel prices have surged to record highs, topping $6.50 a gallon nationally in September 2026. US President Donald Trump recently urged Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky to stop striking Russian refineries, saying the attacks were creating a global shortage and “hurting the world.” US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent similarly said earlier this month that Ukrainian attacks on Russian energy assets and refined products were contributing to an “energy shock.”

The US State Department’s brief readout from the Lavrov-Rubio meeting on Wednesday said only that the two diplomats had discussed the Russia-Ukraine conflict and the US-Russia relationship. 

Following the meeting, Rubio said both Russia and Ukraine had expressed some interest in a limited ceasefire covering energy targets. He acknowledged, however, that such an arrangement “doesn’t solve the war,” and said reaching one would be difficult because both sides regard energy infrastructure as a strategic target.

Moscow has repeatedly rejected the idea that any limited truce can substitute for a comprehensive settlement, pointing to what it describes as Ukraine’s past violations of ceasefires and arguing that Kiev seeks talks only when the situation on the battlefield becomes critical. Zelensky said this week that Kiev was prepared to stop targeting Russian refineries if Moscow halted strikes on a wide range of Ukraine’s energy, logistics, and port infrastructure.

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Lavrov reiterated on Wednesday that Russia would not halt its military operation merely to facilitate negotiations, arguing that such a pause would give Kiev and its European sponsors time to replenish depleted weapons stocks.

Zelensky has meanwhile continued to push for the “full and swift implementation” of the recently enacted sanctions package championed by the late US Senator Lindsey Graham. The law gives Trump authority to impose tariffs of up to 100% on major buyers of Russian oil and gas, potentially targeting countries such as China and India. With global supplies already strained, sharply curbing Russian exports could further disrupt energy trade and drive prices higher as major importers are forced to compete for alternative barrels.

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The Russian side reiterated during the Rubio talks that it remains prepared to pursue a political and diplomatic settlement, but only one that addresses the “root causes” of the conflict. Russian officials have repeatedly identified NATO’s expansion toward Russia and Kiev’s policies toward Russian speakers among those issues.

Lavrov also called for further normalization of US-Russia relations, including resolving disputes over diplomatic missions and Russian diplomatic property in the US.

In another sign of continued engagement, Rubio announced after the talks that Washington had invited Russian President Vladimir Putin to attend the G20 summit in Miami in December. The Kremlin welcomed the invitation and said it would consider it through diplomatic channels.

Around 150 Catholic priests, bishops, friars, and nuns have marched to the Vatican as part of a procession through Rome demanding an end to what they describe as Israel’s “genocide” in Gaza.

The group stopped near St. Peter’s Square before continuing to the Palestinian and Lebanese embassies and ending outside the headquarters of Italian arms manufacturer Leonardo.

Participants carried olive branches and posters depicting the Madonna holding an emaciated child with the words “Christ Died in Gaza.” They also carried a large white banner bearing the names of hundreds of Palestinian and Lebanese children killed in Israeli airstrikes.

Outside Leonardo, which has supplied weapons and military equipment to Israel, Italian Archbishop Franco Moscone called for international arrest warrants targeting arms-industry executives. Moscone has previously compared Israel’s conduct in Gaza to Nazi methods and urged European countries to consider withdrawing recognition of Israel.

Tuesday’s event was organized by Priests Against Genocide, an international Catholic network established last year. The group said clergy from eight countries took part, including South Africa, England, Ireland, Germany, the US, and Spain.

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The network has taken a more categorical position than the Holy See. The late Pope Francis called for an investigation into whether Israel’s actions in Gaza met the legal definition of genocide, while his successor, Leo XIV, has said the Vatican is not prepared to make such a determination.

A UN commission of inquiry concluded in September 2025 that Israel had committed genocide in Gaza, citing killings, serious bodily and mental harm, deliberately destructive living conditions, and measures intended to prevent births. A separate case brought by South Africa remains before the International Court of Justice, which has yet to issue a final judgment.

Israel strongly rejects the genocide allegation, saying it targets militants and seeks to minimize civilian casualties while accusing Hamas of operating in densely populated areas.

READ MORE: Israel wipes criminal record of soldier who shot wounded Palestinian

Israel launched its offensive in Gaza following the Hamas-led attacks of October 7, 2023, which killed around 1,200 Israelis, mostly civilians. Gaza health authorities say more than 73,000 Palestinians have since been killed, nearly half of them women and children.

Artificial intelligence could pose greater risks to children than social media, with tech companies failing to put adequate safeguards in place, a former Google safety executive has warned.

Tom Siegel, who founded Google’s trust and safety team and spent 15 years at the company, told Reuters this week that the industry was repeating mistakes made during the rise of social media.

“We find ourselves in a really terrible situation in terms of what AI is doing to kids,” Siegel said. “The idea that the industry will figure it out by itself without outside help is unrealistic.”

He warned of “very severe scenarios of harm,” citing risks ranging from suicide and psychosis to ‘cognitive offloading’ – reduced critical thinking caused by relying on AI for answers. Companies can and should take immediate steps, including stronger age checks to prevent children from accessing chatbots, he said.

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Google has insisted that its AI search features help young users learn and explore information, telling Reuters that parents can block a child’s access to its search engine entirely. However, an internal Meta policy document, exposed by the publication last year, allowed its chatbots to engage children in conversations that could be “romantic or sensual,” prompting a congressional investigation.

Major social media platforms have faced years of lawsuits over claims of harm to children and teenagers. Meta recently agreed to a $17 billion settlement with California and 28 other US states over accusations that Facebook and Instagram were deliberately designed to keep minors hooked, while denying wrongdoing. Thousands of similar cases have been filed in the US.

READ MORE: AI has over 10% chance of killing all humans within decade – Anthropic researcher

Governments have also moved to restrict children’s access to social media. Australia last year became the first country to require major platforms to prevent under-16s from holding accounts. About 4.7 million minors’ accounts were restricted shortly after the rules took effect.

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The EU last week proposed barring children under 13 from social media and allowing those aged 13 and 14 to use only restricted accounts managed by a parent or guardian. The proposed rules would also cover AI companions and chatbots.

Siegel’s warning comes as prominent tech executives, including Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, OpenAI chief Sam Altman, xAI chief Elon Musk and Google DeepMind co-founder Demis Hassabis, have backed calls to slow the development of increasingly powerful AI systems. Anthropic researcher Evan Hubinger this month said he personally believes there is a greater than 10% chance that AI could “kill all humans” within the next decade.

Chinese President Xi Jinping has arrived in Washington for high-stakes talks with US President Donald Trump, receiving an unusually elaborate personal welcome as the two leaders prepare to tackle disputes ranging from trade and Taiwan to Iran and artificial intelligence.

Trump and First Lady Melania Trump greeted Xi and his wife, Peng Liyuan, at Joint Base Andrews on Wednesday, rather than waiting to receive them at the White House. A 100-foot red carpet and a military honor guard were laid out, while two B-1 bombers conducted a flyover during the ceremony. Trump later said he believed the Chinese delegation appreciated the reception.

The arrival coincided with another sign of easing tensions: Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced that Washington and Beijing had agreed to extend their current trade truce until January 10. The arrangement has seen both sides scale back tariffs and refrain from introducing new restrictions while negotiations continue.

NOW: President Trump has greeted Chinese President Xi Jinping in Washington, DC with the following:

- 100-foot-long red carpet
- Salute Battery
- 21-Person Honor Cordon
- 2 three-person color teams to include the U.S. and Chinese flag
- USAF band playing fanfare and… pic.twitter.com/X7W0oOtc2u

— Jordan Conradson🇺🇸 (@ConradsonJordan) September 23, 2026

Trump and Xi are due to hold substantive talks at the White House on Thursday after another arrival ceremony and a military review, followed later by a state dinner. Despite the ceremonial welcome, both leaders arrive with significant economic and geopolitical leverage, according to an analysis by RT correspondent Konstantin Rozhkov.

Wow🔥🇺🇸 2 B1's flew over Trump's welcome ceremony for Xi at JBA. https://t.co/hktOHZPrMZ pic.twitter.com/kj1fNusQa2

— American Nightmare 🇺🇸 (@thewakeninq) September 24, 2026

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One of Washington’s newest bargaining tools is the sanctions legislation signed by Trump last week. The law gives the US president the authority to impose tariffs of up to 100% on major importers of Russian energy, potentially including China.

Taiwan is another potential flashpoint. Trump has delayed a roughly $14 billion weapons package for the island and has openly described arms sales as a negotiating tool in dealings with Beijing.

Beijing, however, has substantial leverage of its own through critical minerals and rare earths. China accounted for around 91% of global refining of magnet rare earths and 94% of sintered permanent-magnet production in 2024, according to the International Energy Agency. Such materials are essential for automobiles, electronics and sophisticated military equipment.

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This dependence also intersects with Washington’s efforts to replenish weapons stocks depleted during the war with Iran. Heavy rare earths such as terbium are used in high-performance magnets found in radar systems and other military electronics, while China dominates their processing.

Iran itself could therefore become another subject of bargaining. Trump has publicly said he asked Xi not to become more deeply involved in the conflict, while Washington has also sought to limit China’s economic ties with Tehran.

Artificial intelligence rounds out another major area of competition. The US continues to control access to many of the most advanced chips, while Chinese companies have been narrowing the gap with lower-cost AI models. Ahead of the summit, Bessent said the two governments had discussed establishing a US-China AI dialogue and a mechanism for notifying each other about serious AI-related incidents.

Watch more in the full report by RT correspondent Konstantin Rozhkov:

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has told US Secretary of State Marco Rubio that Kiev’s deliberate attacks on energy and cross-border infrastructure are destabilizing global markets, according to the Russian Foreign Ministry.

Lavrov and Rubio met on Wednesday on the sidelines of the 81st UN General Assembly in New York, where they held an extensive discussion on Ukraine, bilateral relations and a range of international issues. The US State Department’s brief readout said only that the two diplomats discussed the Russia-Ukraine conflict and the US-Russia relationship.

According to Moscow, Lavrov drew Rubio’s attention to what it described as close coordination between Kiev and its European backers and raised Ukrainian strikes on civilians and “cross-border infrastructure facilities,” which Russia said were deliberately contributing to instability in global energy markets.

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The issue has increasingly drawn attention in Washington as diesel prices have surged to record highs, topping $6.50 a gallon nationally in September 2026. President Donald Trump recently urged Vladimir Zelensky to stop striking Russian refineries, saying the attacks were creating a global shortage and “hurting the world.” US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent similarly said earlier this month that Ukrainian attacks on Russian energy assets and refined products were contributing to an “energy shock.”

Following his meeting with Lavrov, Rubio said both Russia and Ukraine had expressed some interest in a limited ceasefire covering energy targets. He acknowledged, however, that such an arrangement “doesn’t solve the war,” and said reaching one would be difficult because both sides regard energy infrastructure as a strategic target.

Moscow has repeatedly rejected the idea that any limited truce can substitute for a comprehensive settlement, pointing to what it describes as Kiev’s past violations of ceasefires and arguing that Kiev seeks talks only when the situation on the battlefield becomes critical. Zelensky said this week that Kiev was prepared to stop targeting Russian refineries if Moscow halted strikes on a wide range of Ukraine’s energy, logistics and port infrastructure.

Read more

Lavrov reiterated on Wednesday that Russia would not halt its military operation merely to facilitate negotiations, arguing that such a pause would give Kiev and its European sponsors time to replenish depleted weapons stocks.

Zelensky has meanwhile continued to push for the “full and swift implementation” of the recently enacted sanctions package championed by the late US Senator Lindsey Graham. The law gives Trump authority to impose tariffs of up to 100% on major buyers of Russian oil and gas, potentially targeting countries such as China and India. With global supplies already strained, sharply curbing Russian exports could further disrupt energy trade and drive prices higher as major importers are forced to compete for alternative barrels.

Read more

The Russian side reiterated during the Rubio talks that it remains prepared to pursue a political and diplomatic settlement, but only one that addresses the “root causes” of the conflict. Russian officials have repeatedly identified NATO’s expansion toward Russia and Kiev’s policies toward Russian speakers among those issues.

Lavrov also called for further normalization of US-Russia relations, including resolving disputes over diplomatic missions and Russian diplomatic property in the US.

In another sign of continued engagement, Rubio announced after the talks that Washington had invited President Vladimir Putin to attend the G20 summit in Miami in December. The Kremlin welcomed the invitation and said it would consider it through diplomatic channels.

European NATO nations should take greater responsibility for security in the Middle East, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte has said. He also defended the US-Israeli war on Iran and argued that European members should spend less on social programs and more on the military.

Rutte made the remarks at a Chicago Council on Global Affairs event in Iowa on Tuesday after being asked to “make the case” for NATO to Americans by explaining “what’s in it” for them.

He described the Middle East as “Europe’s backyard” and “not the United States’ backyard,” arguing that Washington’s war against Tehran was “necessary” but that the US had to launch it because “somehow the Europeans did not have enough capabilities to do it themselves.”

“In the future, what you get from a stronger NATO is that Europeans can take care of their own backyard,” Rutte said.

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The US-Israeli war on Iran, launched in late February, caused major friction within NATO as several European members resisted supporting Washington’s belligerence. Spain refused to allow American warplanes to use its bases for the campaign, drawing US President Donald Trump’s ire. Germany and the UK described the conflict as “not our war,” while stopping short of condemning the US and Israel.

Trump has since repeatedly accused European allies of failing to meet their NATO commitments and claimed the bloc “was not there when we needed them.” In April, US War Secretary Pete Hegseth said NATO’s future was uncertain and Washington could not currently reaffirm its commitment to collective defense.

Rutte also argued on Tuesday that the burden within NATO was unfair because European members spend heavily “on pensions and welfare,” while Washington has to devote more resources to weapons but “would also like to spend more on all these other lofty, beautiful items, but they can’t because they have to spend so much on defense.”

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He described raising NATO’s defense spending target from 2% to 5% of GDP as “the fairness element” and part of an “equalizing” process. The remarks come as Washington pushes for a reorganization dubbed NATO 3.0, under which European members would sharply increase military spending and production while assuming “primary responsibility for the conventional defense of Europe.”

Rutte also offered to help “protect the United States from threats of Russia” and China and prevent the Arctic “from becoming militarized by the Russians and the Chinese.”

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said last month that Moscow was primarily interested in “preserving the Arctic as an area of peace and cooperation” and accused NATO of “driving the region towards militarization.” His comments followed European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s proposal earlier this year to use increased EU military spending on “Arctic-ready equipment.”

Canada and the UK are considering merging two major military financing initiatives to help European NATO members and other Kiev backers finance their military buildup against Russia, the CBC reported on Wednesday, citing anonymous officials.

In recent years, European NATO nations have increasingly accused Moscow of preparing an attack on members of the US-led military bloc, using the alleged threat to justify bloated military budgets. Moscow has denied any such intention.

Canada is leading plans for the Defense, Security and Resilience Bank (DSRB), while the UK is pushing for the Multilateral Defense Mechanism (MDM). Both initiatives are intended to make it easier for allied states to finance military purchases and expand arms production.

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In July, Carney failed to entice then-UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer to join the DSRB as a founding member. However, Burnham’s government is more aligned with Canada on the issue, the CBC reported, citing an anonymous Canadian official.

Ottawa is confident the two countries will reach a deal to combine their initiatives into a joint institution, the Canadian Press reported last week, citing a senior Canadian official.

So far, Ottawa’s DSRB has attracted support from Albania, Belgium, Greece, Latvia, Luxembourg, Romania, Türkiye, and Ukraine. The Netherlands, Finland, and Poland have backed the UK’s MDM.

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The plans come as NATO countries escalate their military spending. Last year, following pressure from US President Donald Trump, bloc members agreed to invest 5% of their GDP annually in their militaries and defense-related areas by 2035.

In the meantime, European NATO members have increasingly touted the Russian threat to militarize and prepare the continent for a potential war with Moscow, all while insulating the US from the consequences of such a conflict.

“European elites… now seek to frighten their populations with a mythical Russian threat,” Russian President Vladimir Putin told journalists at a BRICS summit earlier in September, stressing that Moscow has “no grounds for any conflict with Europe.”

A sprawling network of media influence “clusters” has existed in NATO member states for years, seeking to portray voices opposing the policies of the military bloc and the EU as Russian propaganda, RT America’s Ben Swann and independent investigative journalist Elizabeth Lane have learnt.

Founded in 2015, soon after the Western-backed coup in Kiev, the so-called Integrity Initiative program was designed to counter what it called Russia’s disinformation. It was run by the UK Foreign Office-funded Institute for Statecraft – an organization posing as an independent charity that was founded by Christopher Donnelly, a former adviser to a NATO secretary general, and Daniel Lafayeedney, a former Special Air Service officer.

The definition of ‘Russian propaganda’ developed by the organization, which received funding not just from London but also from the NATO-linked Atlantic Council, was so broad that it virtually included any criticism of NATO and the EU.

“They are not really after Russian disinformation,” Lane said. “They targeted independent journalists. And that’s very clear in their own communications.”

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For the Integrity Initiative, Russian disinformation was “any position that is counter to the NATO position,” according to Swann.

Among the most prominent targets of the Integrity Initiative were former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and retired Spanish Army colonel Pedro Banos, who lost his appointment as director of national security in the Spanish government in 2018 amid a concerted campaign portraying him as a Russian asset.

The campaigns were focused on “killing the image” of any dissenter to the point where their political careers were ruined, Lane explained. “If you assassinate their image, no one wants to be associated to that person. And that’s what happened with Pedro Banos. That’s what happened with Jeremy Corbyn.”

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The network established “clusters” of politicians and journalists it treated like “assets” in virtually all NATO nations, with many of them often unaware that they were part of a media influence network, according to Lane. “They are just given the script and they legit trust the story and they run the story and turns out they are part of the propaganda,” she said.

The Integrity Initiative came into the spotlight in 2018 when hackers, claiming to be linked to the Anonymous collective, leaked a trove of documents revealing the scale of its operations. The revelations led to an investigation into the Institute for Statecraft’s activities by the Scottish charity regulator OSCR, which concluded in 2019 that the organization was violating charity rules.

The institute then formally announced that it was terminating its involvement with the Integrity Initiative in 2019 but continued to operate until August 2023, when it was dissolved several months after being declared an “undesired organization” by the Russian Prosecutor General’s Office over what officials called “aggressive militarist rhetoric” and a “discreditation campaign” against the Russian authorities.

Watch the full episode of the exclusive investigative series here:

Germany’s Axel Springer media monolith is about to award its highest honor to Palantir founder Peter Thiel, in a ceremony illustrating the incestuous relationship between the mainstream media, the defense tech industry, and the US-Israeli order.

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Thiel will receive the ‘2026 Axel Springer Award’ at a ceremony in Berlin on Thursday. According to Axel Springer CEO Mathias Dopfner, Thiel “is one of the rare entrepreneurs who does not merely found or finance companies but helps determine the direction of technological development.”

“He reminds us that progress requires courage and nonconformism,” Dopfner added.

Previous recipients of the Axel Springer Award include Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, and Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky. None of these laureates have proven as controversial as Thiel, however. 

According to Status News, employees at Politico and Business Insider – both of which are owned by Axel Springer – have pushed back against the decision. In a letter to management on Tuesday, 120 staffers argued that Thiel, who funded the lawsuit that destroyed Gawker, should not be honored by a company which, in the words of Dopfner, “stands for freedom of speech and a culture of open discussions.”

They’re missing the point. Palantir and Axel Springer are cogs in the same machine. They share an almost identical world view, marked by a devotion to US-Israeli hegemony, a belief that private companies must serve the interests of this hegemony, and a common parent: the CIA.

The CIA connection

During the Cold War, the US saw strategic control of media outlets as key to preventing the rise of socialism and communism in Western Europe. Axel Springer, the anti-communist press baron who gave his name to the company, was a natural ally in this fight. Springer received $7 million in funding from the CIA in 1957, two former agents told The Nation in 1982. Adjusted for inflation, the donation would be equivalent to more than $80 million today.

Although the agents claimed that Springer ended his relationship with the agency in the mid-1970s, declassified documents show that he was still in contact with the United States Information Agency (USIA) – which funded pro-American news outlets – in the early 1980s. In 1982, Springer was introduced to CIA Director William Casey as “a strong supporter of the United States” who “is doing all he can to strengthen the ties between the United States and Europe.”

Thiel, who co-founded PayPal, launched Palantir in 2003 with the stated goal of taking “the approaches that PayPal had used to fight fraud…into other contexts, like fighting terrorism.” The CIA took notice, and invested $2 million in the company in 2005 via its in-house venture capital firm, In-Q-Tel.

“I wish I had Palantir when I was director,” former CIA chief George Tenet – who set up In-Q-Tel – told Forbes magazine in 2013. “I wish we had the tool of its power.”

The Axel Springer investment pays off

In both cases, the CIA’s investments paid off. Axel Springer is now Europe’s largest publisher, and owns Politico, Business Insider, Bild, Die Welt, The Telegraph, and nearly a dozen other outlets. The American deep state continues to finance its operations, with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the State Department’s National Endowment for Democracy (NED) pumping just under $34 million into Politico between 2016 and 2025.

In return, Axel Springer has openly pledged fealty to American neoliberalism. Whereas Springer himself described his first newspaper, the Hamburger Abendblatt, as “geared to the underdog and the little man,” staff at Axel Springer publications are today required to adhere to the following code of conduct:

• “We stand up for freedom, free speech, the rule of law, and democracy”

• “We support the right of existence of the State of Israel and oppose all forms of anti-Semitism”

• “We advocate the alliance between the United States of America and Europe”

• “We uphold the principles of a free market economy”

• “We reject political and religious extremism and all forms of discrimination”

In practice, this means that Axel Springer publications will feature lively debate over ‘red versus blue’ politics in the US and Europe, but will never question key tenets of US foreign policy, including America’s alliance with Israel, its dominance over Europe through NATO, and the legitimacy of its proxy war with Russia in Ukraine.

The world according to Palantir

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More than two decades after taking CIA money, Palantir is now the largest of the Silicon Valley defense kingpins, and a synonym for the burgeoning surveillance- and military-tech sector as a whole. Palantir is valued at around $427 billion, a figure bolstered by lucrative contracts with the US’ defense and intelligence agencies, including all six branches of the US military, the CIA, FBI, NSA, and DIA.

Palantir’s flagship product is an operating system called ‘Gotham’, which is essentially a data analytics platform for military, intelligence, and law enforcement agencies. Gotham pulls together and analyses existing data that may otherwise take days to sift through. For example, if US Central Command is planning a missile strike in a foreign country, Gotham can combine maps and satellite footage from that country, data from other agencies, including human intelligence from the CIA and signals intelligence from the NSA, and local surveillance data to present CENTCOM with potential targets for military strikes. 

Palantir’s international customers include the British, Israeli and Ukrainian militaries, NATO, domestic intelligence agencies in France and Germany, and police departments in Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, and the UK, among others. 

However, Palantir is not a mercenary company selling its products to anyone with money. According to CEO Alex Karp, Palantir is inseparable from the US deep state, and “was founded to strengthen US national security, to protect Americans and their freedom.”

Because we get asked a lot.

The Technological Republic, in brief.

1. Silicon Valley owes a moral debt to the country that made its rise possible. The engineering elite of Silicon Valley has an affirmative obligation to participate in the defense of the nation.

2. We must rebel…

— Palantir (@PalantirTech) April 18, 2026

Earlier this year, Karp set out Palantir’s world view in a manifesto, which RT already covered in depth in our ‘Wired for War’ series. In the 22-point bulletin, Karp argued that “the engineering elite of Silicon Valley has an affirmative obligation to participate in the defense of the nation,” that “free and democratic societies” must pursue AI superweapons to preserve the hegemony of the US, which “has advanced progressive values” more than “any other nation on the planet.” 

In separate comments, Karp has described pro-Palestinian protesters as a “cancerous” influence on American politics, while Palantir describes its work with the Israeli state as “in line with our global support of US allies and liberal democracies.”

Critics called Karp’s manifesto “technofascist,” but it differs little in substance from Axel Springer’s code of conduct. Karp’s remaining points wade into US-centric culture war territory, but the core argument of both documents is the same: the US and Israel are a benevolent force and the private sector has a duty to aid their foreign policy goals; by argument, in the case of Axel Springer, and by force, in the case of Palantir.

The incestuous security state

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Back in Berlin, the guest speakers at Thursday’s ceremony further illustrate the incestuous relationship between Axel Springer, Palantir, and the US-Israeli order. Before Dopfner hands him his award, Thiel will be lauded by CBS News Editor-in-Chief Bari Weiss, a self-described “Zionist fanatic” who was appointed head of the network following its acquisition last year by billionaire and pro-Israel megadonor David Ellison, whose family has donated more than $26 million to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) since 2014.

Before the acquisition, Weiss repeatedly complained about CBS’ supposedly “anti-Israel bias.” Once in control of the network, she set about hiring pro-Israel editors and reportedly intervening personally in stories concerning the Jewish state. 

Thursday’s ceremony will also feature a questions-and-answers session with PayPal co-founder Max Levchin, a vocal defender of the NSA amid Edward Snowden’s revelations of warrantless wiretapping.

The award is equivalent to an ‘Employee of the Month’ prize from one department of the same company to another. It’s like USAID and CIA agents meeting for after-work drinks, or Weiss congratulating the IDF for its service. 

Dopfner, Thiel, Weiss and Levchin understand they’re all on the same team. Anyone who’s followed RT’s ‘Wired for War’ series will grasp this. The only people yet to figure it out, apparently, are the Politico and Business Insider staffers complaining about the threat posed by Thiel to “Axel Springer’s own commitment to freedom.”

Thursday’s ceremony might help them understand the true nature of the power they serve a little clearer.

NATO has spent years researching online influence techniques involving fake profiles, targeted advertising and purchased social media engagement. RT’s America Now has examined the bloc’s experiments and what they could reveal about efforts to shape online narratives.

Host Ben Swann and investigative journalist Elizabeth Lane reviewed NATO promotional material, published research and reports on experiments involving social media manipulation.

One example is a 2024 NATO promotional video featuring predominantly white European women as the alliance’s “future” in a potential conflict, apparently with Russia. Swann and Lane argue that the unusually non-diverse casting could be intended to prepare European audiences for women taking a greater role in a possible confrontation as Ukraine struggles with manpower shortages.

They also examined two 2019 experiments by NATO strategic communications researchers. In one, researchers created fake Facebook pages and profiles, collected publicly available information on military personnel and used targeted advertising to reach them. They reportedly identified around 150 soldiers, tracked troop movements and even induced some personnel to act against orders. The experiment cost roughly $60.

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In another test, researchers spent €300 on artificial engagement, buying more than 3,500 comments, 25,000 likes, 20,000 views and 5,000 followers. They identified over 18,000 accounts involved in providing fake engagement. Four weeks later, roughly 80% of the purchased activity remained online, highlighting weaknesses in platforms’ ability to detect manipulation.

NATO described the experiments as defensive research aimed at identifying online threats. Swann and Lane, however, questioned why a military alliance was developing practical expertise in techniques that could also be used to influence public opinion. They also pointed to NATO researchers’ cooperation with Ukrainian social media analytics company Singularex.

The episode also revisited false stories that had circulated during the early stages of the Ukraine conflict, including the “Ghost of Kiev” fighter pilot and initial claims about the “defenders of Snake Island.” Lane argued that journalists who repeat compelling wartime stories without verifying them can amplify false narratives.

Lane also said independent journalists covering Russia and Ukraine regularly face bot attacks, abuse and threats. She said she had received such messages herself, including one stating, “Zelensky sends his love,” which she suggested could point to coordinated activity.

Check out the full episode here.

Israel is facing accusations of genocide over its military campaign in Lebanon, where thousands have been killed and large areas devastated. RT correspondent Steve Sweeney reports from Nabatieh, a city in the south of the country that has been repeatedly hit by Israeli strikes.

More than 4,300 people, including over 250 children and 130 medical professionals, have been killed since the latest escalation began in March, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry.

The Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention and Doctors Against Genocide have accused Israel of pursuing what they called a “genocidal policy of absolute destruction,” targeting the foundations of life of Lebanon’s Shia communities. The groups said attacks on medical personnel were part of a sustained pattern affecting “the very systems necessary for civilian survival.”

Around 56,000 hectares of agricultural land have been affected, with losses to the sector estimated at more than $1 billion, according to Lebanon’s Agriculture Ministry.

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Israel denies that its campaign targets Lebanon’s Shia population, saying its operations are directed against Hezbollah, the Iran-backed Lebanese armed group. Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has warned, however, that Beirut’s predominantly Shia Dahiya district would “look like Khan Yunis,” referring to a war-devastated city in Gaza.

The latest Israeli campaign in Lebanon began in early March, after Hezbollah attacked Israel following the start of US-Israeli strikes on Iran. Israel responded with airstrikes and later expanded its military operations in Lebanon.

Israeli attacks have continued despite a US-brokered framework agreed upon in June aimed at ending the fighting. The deal calls for a progressive Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon alongside Lebanese Army deployments and the disarmament of armed groups, including Hezbollah, but implementation has stalled.

Under the 1948 Genocide Convention, genocide requires intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group. RT looks at whether the destruction and statements accompanying Israel’s campaign could meet that definition.

Watch the full report below.

Journalism must remain “independent of political power” and offer audiences verification, context and accountability as social media increasingly competes with traditional news, Bangladeshi journalist and editor Khairul Alam has told RT.

Alam, editor of DBARTA24 and former General Secretary of the Dhaka Union of Journalists (DUJ), spoke to RT on Wednesday on the sidelines of the International Forum ‘Dialogue about Fakes 4.0’ in Moscow.

“Rebuilding public trust begins with one simple principle: journalism must be independent of political power,” he said.

According to Alam, media outlets can restore confidence through transparent sourcing, fact-checking, openly correcting mistakes and giving different sides an opportunity to respond. They must also protect reporters from political retaliation and separate journalism from “political activism,” he added.

Alam pointed to Bangladesh’s 2024 political unrest as an example of how social media can both provide information quickly and amplify false or misleading claims.

“The same platforms can spread misinformation, manipulated videos, old footage presented as new, misleading headlines and politically motivated narratives at extraordinary speed,” he said.

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The problem becomes more acute when confidence in traditional media declines, Alam argued, pointing to political pressure and legal cases against journalists in Bangladesh.

The 2024 protests began over civil service job quotas before developing into a broader anti-government uprising that led to the ouster of then-Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. The UN has estimated that as many as 1,400 people were killed during the unrest. Hasina has since alleged that the US orchestrated her removal after Dhaka refused to allow an American military base on Saint Martin Island.

UN experts raised concerns in 2025 that more than 140 journalists had been charged with murder following the protests. The Committee to Protect Journalists has also documented arrests, criminal cases and other pressure against media workers in the country.

Alam argued that journalists should not face pressure or punishment over their perceived political affiliations, regardless of who is in power.

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“Journalism should not become a reward for supporting whoever is currently in power, nor should it become a punishment for having worked under a previous government,” he said.

At the same time, Alam stressed that social media itself is “not the enemy of journalism” and can serve as an important tool for reporters.

Professional media, he said, must instead distinguish itself by providing what social platforms often cannot: “verification, context, responsibility and independence.”

The inaugural summit of the new Carpathian Eight (C8) cooperation format, initiated by Ukraine with EU support, took place on September 18-20. Leaders and representatives from eight countries in the Carpathian region were invited to discuss security, energy, logistics, and cross-border cooperation. The initiative – intended to unite nations, some of which do not officially supply weapons to Ukraine but wish to foster “good-neighborly relations” – has turned into a zero-sum game. Yielding no significant economic benefits and failing to address real economic challenges, it only serves to isolate the region from pan-continental logistics corridors.

Is the Carpathian Initiative a Ukrainian or European project?

The foundation for the Carpathian Initiative was laid by Ukraine back in 2001-2003, when it acted as the primary initiator and depositary of the Framework Convention on the Protection and Sustainable Development of the Carpathians. Initially, the format was strictly environmental and conservation-oriented. Countries of the Visegrad Group, and primarily Poland, breathed geopolitical life and economic scale into the concept. For years, Warsaw actively advocated for the creation of a full-fledged EU Macro-Regional Strategy for the Carpathian Region (EUSCARP), aiming to transform the shared mountain range into a major logistics and infrastructure hub.

Over time, the EU fully took over this regional initiative, turning it into a systemic tool for the “soft integration” of Ukraine. After developing a strategic vision for the region in 2009 and adopting the Carpathian Roadmap in 2019, Brussels institutionalized the project in line with its own bureaucratic standards. What began as a modest environmental initiative has, through the efforts of European neighbors, transformed into a large-scale EU geopolitical project aimed at drawing Ukraine into the European orbit via infrastructure grants.

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The September summit marked the latest stage of this project. Ukraine (backed by EU funding) attempted to reclaim its role as the primary “driving force” of the whole initiative by shifting the focus from environmental issues to matters essential for bolstering Ukraine’s influence on NATO’s eastern flank.

Ukraine’s autonomy is illusory, however. For the European Commission, the Carpathian region serves as a convenient geographic ‘sandbox’; the supranational bureaucracy seeks to bind the EU’s eastern fringes together through mutual dependency. Brussels’ ultimate goal is to dilute the agency and curb the independence of countries like Hungary and Slovakia, whose ‘Eastern’ initiatives – such as linking Central and Eastern Europe with Greater Eurasia – are gaining momentum. Ultimately, this measure would allow regional financial and other flows to be fully contained within the EU.

What’s wrong with the project, and why is it a zero-sum game?

Beneath the facade of discussions on “cross-border cooperation” set against the picturesque backdrop of the Ukrainian Carpathians lie pragmatic objectives that turn the Carpathian Eight into a classic zero-sum game. This is confirmed by the project’s geography: countries with the greatest interest in the initiative find themselves subordinate to those countries for whom the project is not a key priority. Ukraine’s actual geographic weight in the project is minimal; despite Kiev’s ambition to act as the main engine of regional integration, the Carpathians account for a mere 3.6% of Ukraine’s total territory. Ukraine possesses only 10% of the total area of the mountain range, yet it attempts to dictate the agenda to Romania and Slovakia, where the Carpathians form the backbone of national geography, covering 47% and 72% of the territory, respectively. Such evident disparity between Ukraine’s actual geographical “contribution” and its political ambitions sows the seeds of conflict within the project.  

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Moreover, the Carpathian macroregion is considered depressed and heterogeneous. Unlike the economically developed, navigable, and homogeneous Danube region – which served as a model for this project conceived by the Visegrad Group – the Carpathians are a patchwork of isolated mountainous areas. For centuries, this 190,000 sq km area has remained a remote periphery. Due to the highly underdeveloped infrastructure – the lack of modern roads, tunnels, and logistics hubs – the border regions of these eight countries have been trapped in a state of deprivation. In the past 25 years, no amount of targeted European funding has been able to rectify this situation. This should have compelled Brussels to step out of its comfort zone and realistically assess the physical boundaries of the region. This also explains why the Visegrad Group supports eastern initiatives in Greater Eurasia. However, instead of this, along with the economically unfeasible Three Seas Initiative and the “frontline zones” project, the Carpathians are being turned into another logistical dead end resembling an artificial buffer zone.

This perspective reveals the true purpose of the revived format: to serve as a covert logistical corridor for NATO. The projected budget of €9.4 billion ($10.7 billion) for 90 infrastructure projects is specifically aimed at modernizing narrow-gauge railways, bridges, and tunnels in the Carpathian Mountains. Under the guise of Euro-integration, Brussels is aggressively attempting to create a secure alternative route through the complex mountainous terrain for rapid deployment of heavy equipment, weapons, and NATO reserves, bypassing vulnerable border logistics nodes. Consequently, supranational strategists get to fully benefit from this venture while Central European countries bear all the attendant military and strategic risks.

Intrigues, scandals, and investigations

For the countries physically located in the Carpathians and those interested in developing the region, the hidden agenda of the initiative is apparent. Citing a sudden illness, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico canceled his visit to Bukovel and expressed his outright opposition to turning the region into a frontline zone and dragging Bratislava into the conflict under the guise of NATO obligations. As a result, Slovakia was represented at the summit only by the state secretary for foreign and European affairs. Local experts openly stated that Bratislava guessed the proposed zero-sum game: under the guise of cross-border corridors, Brussels and Kiev are attempting to establish a rear hub for supplying NATO’s eastern flank. For Slovakia, participating in such “road modernization” carries direct military risks, not security benefits. This forces the country to navigate a precarious line – seeking economic grants while sabotaging the military-political agenda of the proposed C8.

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Following Slovakia, the Czech Republic demonstrated passive resistance to the project by adopting a stance of cautious pragmatism. Unlike Warsaw, Prague notably refrained from sending top officials to Bukovel, opting instead to send the vice-president of the senate. Czech economic analysts expressed doubt about the €40 billion investment portfolio announced by Kiev. The most important indicator of the failure of the “unified front” was that the Czech Republic effectively refused to sign the summit’s final declaration. As regional analysts point out, the country has “cooled” towards Ukraine’s ambitions. Moreover, unlike Ukraine, the Czech Republic has a realistic grasp of its geography; possessing only 8.5% of Carpathian territory, Prague saw no tangible economic benefit in a project burdened with militarization issues rather than cross-border development. Consequently, it chose to remain on the sidelines, unwilling to endorse someone else’s frontline agenda.

Predictably, only Poland and Romania expressed full and unconditional support for the project, emerging as the principal political beneficiaries of the initiative. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk and Romanian President Nicusor Dan signed the final declaration, explicitly linking it to military-strategic objectives. For Warsaw, the Carpathian Eight provided a convenient platform for lobbying an anti-ballistic missile defense coalition on NATO’s eastern flank, while for Bucharest, it offered a means to logistically connect the Ukrainian border with NATO’s largest European base, which is being constructed on Romanian territory. As a result, the document was signed only by those players intending to gain direct benefits from the region’s militarization, firmly establishing the C8 as a frontline coalition.

Hungary’s reaction is particularly noteworthy. On X, Hungarian Prime Minister Peter Magyar compared Kiev’s actions to village sports: “Hi, we have formed a football team in the next village. We don’t know each other, but you are in it, and you have to bring the ball.” Ukraine’s foreign minister, Andrey Sibiga, expressed surprise over Hungary’s attitude, but the situation is very clear and leaves no room for doubt. 

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Budapest was expected to sign the memorandum between its oil and gas company MOL and Ukraine’s Naftogaz to establish joint strategic fuel reserves along the border. However, Magyar firmly blocked this initiative, fully aware of the risks involved in turning Hungary’s bordering territories with oil depots into targets for someone else’s military needs. Apparently, even Euro-Atlantic solidarity has its physical boundaries. 

Moreover, Budapest’s negative stance is reinforced by the situation in Transcarpathia. From 2014, the Hungarian population in the region has decreased from 150,000 people to around 70,000-80,000 due to stringent Ukrainianization policies in schools. The remaining population is facing selective forced conscription, with military recruitment offices compiling lists of Hungarian students and workers to send to the front lines, resulting in several widely reported casualties, including the death of 45-year-old Jozsef Sebestyen. Notably, Moscow’s Foreign Ministry is closely monitoring these developments: mobilized residents of Transcarpathia occasionally end up as prisoners of war, and Russian diplomatic agencies, in coordination with intelligence services, work on their direct transfer to Hungary, bypassing Ukraine. Aware that Brussels and Kiev are attempting to exploit Hungarian resources and territory, Magyar chose to flip the script. Budapest refused to fund this military version of ‘Carpathian soccer’ which is too costly for it, and vetoed Ukraine’s integration efforts.

In summary, we must note that despite the ambitions of European supranational entities to create artificial buffer zones (essentially ‘sandboxes’) in Central and Eastern Europe, their era is coming to an end. Attempts to impose a zero-sum game on other countries only exacerbate the internal rift which is becoming inevitable, considering the region’s actual geography and the projects gaining momentum across Greater Eurasia.

Israel is facing accusations of genocide over its military campaign in Lebanon, where thousands have been killed and large areas devastated. RT correspondent Steve Sweeney reports from Nabatieh, a city in the south of the country that has been repeatedly hit by Israeli strikes.

More than 4,300 people, including over 250 children and 130 medical professionals, have been killed since the latest escalation began in March, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry.

The Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention and Doctors Against Genocide have accused Israel of pursuing what they called a “genocidal policy of absolute destruction,” targeting the foundations of life of Lebanon’s Shia communities. The groups said attacks on medical personnel were part of a sustained pattern affecting “the very systems necessary for civilian survival.”

Around 56,000 hectares of agricultural land have been affected, with losses to the sector estimated at more than $1 billion, according to Lebanon’s Agriculture Ministry.

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Israel denies that its campaign targets Lebanon’s Shia population, saying its operations are directed against Hezbollah, the Iran-backed Lebanese armed group. Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has warned, however, that Beirut’s predominantly Shia Dahiya district would “look like Khan Yunis,” referring to a war-devastated city in Gaza.

The latest Israeli campaign in Lebanon began in early March, after Hezbollah attacked Israel following the start of US-Israeli strikes on Iran. Israel responded with airstrikes and later expanded its military operations in Lebanon.

Israeli attacks have continued despite a US-brokered framework agreed upon in June aimed at ending the fighting. The deal calls for a progressive Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon alongside Lebanese Army deployments and the disarmament of armed groups, including Hezbollah, but implementation has stalled.

Under the 1948 Genocide Convention, genocide requires intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group. RT looks at whether the destruction and statements accompanying Israel’s campaign could meet that definition.

Watch the full report below.

Iranian airlines are being cut off from international routes and airport services as Washington steps up pressure on the country’s aviation sector. Several regional connections have already been suspended or restricted, although some foreign flights continue, RT’s Saman Kojouri has reported from outside the Tehran headquarters of Mahan Air, one of Iran’s major carriers.

The US Treasury targeted 27 Iranian airlines earlier this month as part of a broader campaign against the country’s aviation sector. Foreign companies providing services to the carriers risk US secondary sanctions, while Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent warned that the restrictions would effectively shut Iranian airlines out of international aviation from September 23.

”If they land, you cannot provide them with fuel, you cannot provide them with landing services, you cannot sell them tickets, or you will be knocked out of the dollar system,” Bessent said.

The impact is already spreading across the region, according to RT’s Kojouri. Azerbaijan has suspended flights operated by Iranian carriers, while Iraq has reportedly stopped accepting Iranian aircraft. Flights between Tehran and Muscat have also been suspended, while Georgia has said it will comply with sanctions affecting Iranian carriers.

Mahan Air is among the airlines facing the squeeze. Washington first sanctioned the carrier in 2011, accusing it of providing support to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Quds Force (IRGC-QF). The Treasury has since targeted companies abroad accused of providing commercial and logistical support to the airline.

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The aviation crackdown comes as Washington ramps up pressure on Tehran while simultaneously pursuing diplomatic contacts on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York. President Donald Trump threatened on Tuesday to “annihilate the Islamic Republic” if negotiations fail, saying he faced a “big decision” between reaching an agreement and further military escalation.

Most of the Iranian delegation walked out of the General Assembly hall during Trump’s speech, leaving only one representative seated. The US president defended the nearly seven-month US-Israeli war and accused Tehran of pursuing nuclear weapons and supporting terrorism.

Despite the hostile rhetoric, indirect contacts continued later in the day. US envoy Steve Witkoff said mediators had shuttled between the American and Iranian delegations during “lengthy talks,” while Tehran said it had used the channel to clearly convey its conditions to Washington, including lifting the US naval blockade and releasing frozen Iranian assets.

European Commission president and unelected de facto “queen” of Europe, Ursula von der Leyen, can’t get enough of Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney.

Her annual “State of the European Union” address last week should have been called “State of my crush on Mark Carney.” It seemed to transform into one giant excuse to gush about him while he sat in front of her, as she mused aloud to “Dear Mark” about her vision of some kind of “associate EU membership” for Canada. It reminded me of a kid back in grade school who once did an entire speech on “seals” in French class, just so he could constantly repeat the French translation of the subject, “phoques,” at a rate of once per sentence. 

“President Metsola, Prime Minister Carney, Honorable Members,” she began. “Mark, your presence here is a symbol of the enduring friendship between our people. Our cultural, historical and personal links run deep within the fabric of our societies.” That’s what we used to call a group date to hide your crush. Only the group here consists of Canada’s 41 million people and the EU’s 452 million.

“Dear Mark,” she continued. “I said we must urgently reimagine our partnerships… We share one ocean, one set of values, one way of seeing the world. And we will now build our shared future as well.”

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Carney may be glad that ocean she speaks of is there, as it seems to be perhaps the only thing preventing her from camping out on his front lawn at this point. For his part, Carney has made it clear that he’s playing the field, and that any commitment is welcome in that context.“We’re not looking to become a member of the European Union,” Carney said, unequivocally. “What we are looking – and will begin discussions for – is a unique alliance between Canada and the European Union.” In other words, he isn’t looking to flee Trump’s 51st state threat in favor of Canada willingly being the EU’s 28th.

No one in their right mind can blame him. You have to think that Carney – the former central banker of both Canada and the UK, and the onetime head of the G20’s Financial Stability Board in Basel – knows an economic basket case when he sees one. And it’s one thing to hang out, have a good time, and fill your boots. But it’s quite another not to have the total freedom to just zip up and peace out when the next inevitable self-imposed meltdown comes along. Which is at about the rate of one a week, at this point.

A lot of the EU’s problems come down to a lack of accurate foresight and an inability to prioritize by coordinating their agenda with existential reality. Had European leaders been more adept at doing so, they might not need Carney to stand there in front of the EU Parliament and explain that it’s okay not to kiss Washington’s behind to their own detriment. Or that dating around allows for a more chill approach to all relationships.Until recently, anyone adopting this position in either Canada or Europe would immediately be subject to a proctology exam, accused of being some kind of secret tool of the Kremlin. EU officials have repeatedly warned that fragmentation and multipolarity that de-centers the Washington-led agenda hinders Western unity to the benefit of rival powers such as Russia.

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But Carney is basically saying that it benefits any country to pursue strategic non-alignment. He’s cutting deals with Europe and with BRICS countries. He said to a standing ovation at Davos earlier this year that it was important to be “pragmatic in recognizing that progress is often incremental, that interests diverge, that not every partner will share all of our values. We are engaging broadly, strategically, with open eyes. We actively take on the world as it is, not wait for a world we wish to be.”

This isn’t a guy who’s into nation-building beyond his own. Ursula may think that she’s acquiring Canada and its resources for Europe, but she’s also importing, first and foremost, a political instinct that the bloc has long lacked. Carney is now articulating – to resounding applause – a position that, until recently, was far more closely associated with Russian President Vladimir Putin’s worldview than the one that orbits around Washington.

Still, Carney is singing from the EU’s hymn book on Ukraine and Russia right now. He’s also literally negotiating for Canada to get some defense manufacturing revenues from the EU’s massive fear-driven spending spree on its defense security blanket. It’s not hard to see a profit motive here. Nor in the fact that he’s literally pitching for Europe to replace Russian natural resources with Canadian equivalents.

So right now, Canada and Russia are positioned as competitors on the global economic playing field. At least for the time being. But that won’t always be the case once he’s secured the bag. Carney – now officially the most popular prime minister in Canadian history at 70% approval – got himself into that position by ditching right-left ideology for pragmatism. He could turn out to be an important interlocutor for Russia with the West. Someone who’s blunt, action-oriented, and doesn’t much honestly care what you do as long as it doesn’t annoy him. Ursula is clearly smitten with Carney. And if her new boyfriend ends up showing Europe how to be a little less cliquey about engaging with the rest of the world, then perhaps there’s hope for us all yet.

The US Democratic Party has embraced a transgender agenda that amounts to “the normalization of sadism,” author A.J. Rice has said, warning that radical trans policies would return if the party is allowed to regain power.

Speaking to RT’s America First host Scotty Nell Hughes about his new book, ‘The Curse of the Bearded Lady: How the Trans Mafia Whacked American Sanity’, Rice argued that activists have gained significant influence in schools, medicine, and corporate America while people who questioned the agenda have faced pressure to stay silent.

The author described the “trans mafia” as the sprawling network of people and institutions that have helped the movement gain influence. He singled out parts of academia, wealthy backers, and corporations, and stated that providers of transition-related treatment also have a financial incentive to keep young people in their care indefinitely.

Rice argued that the consequences of these policies ultimately fall on children who are being drawn toward gender-affirming medical treatments and on girls who are expected to share locker rooms or compete in sports with biological males.

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He noted that while voters rejected the Democrats’ approach to gender in 2024, the party, which has been “captured by madness,” has since only doubled down and is seeking what is effectively “the normalization of sadism.”

Rice framed the opposition to trans policies as “a fight for human nature,” adding that the 2024 election had become “more about sane versus insane” rather than a contest between Democrats and Republicans.

The author warned that if Democrats manage to take back Congress, “the 72 genders are coming back,” and urged opponents to keep challenging the trans agenda, noting that humor could help them overcome the fear of speaking out.

“Sometimes, ridicule can move faster than rebellion,” Rice said.

Watch the full interview below.

In recent months, there’s been a distinct sense of ‘historical déjà vu’ – from Germany’s interest in long-range missiles to the development of hypersonic missile technologies in Japan. The first question that comes to mind is whether revanchism is emerging more than 80 years after the defeat of the fascists and militarists in WWII. However, this question is quite complicated, so for now, we will focus on a more practical issue: Japan’s military-technical buildup. Below, we will attempt to assess the significance of this shift in Japan’s strike capabilities and understand the direction in which the country is heading.

By the end of the 20th century, Japan had become one of the strongest and most loyal allies of the US in the Pacific region. The Japan Self-Defense Forces are equipped with American aircraft, missiles, interceptors, and other weapons. Japan is the first and to date the only country in the world to manufacture Patriot surface-to-air missiles under license, and it is the first foreign recipient of Tomahawk subsonic cruise missiles.

On July 29, 2026, the first test launches of Tomahawk cruise missiles were conducted in the Pacific Ocean from the Kongo-class guided-missile destroyer JS Chokai, equipped with the Aegis system. These tests mark the beginning of the Japanese Navy’s adoption of American long-range cruise missiles. The program to acquire these missiles is quite ambitious: Japan plans to equip four additional Aegis-capable destroyers – JS Kirishima, JS Haguro, JS Myoko, and JS Atago—with these state-of-the-art missiles, with the long-term goal of upgrading all other destroyers of this class. In total, the acquisition of 400 missiles (Block IV and Block V variants) is planned by the end of the 2027 fiscal year. This arsenal significantly alters the capabilities of the Japanese Navy, given that such cruise missiles can strike targets at ranges of up to 1,600 km. Furthermore, this is merely an interim solution pending the adoption of domestically developed missiles with similar or superior specifications.

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Japan is currently working on several missile projects, with a particular focus on hypersonic technologies. Japan has already concluded an agreement with Australia to conduct joint tests at Australian missile ranges, which offer the necessary facilities for testing long-range missiles; the development of several strike missile projects is scheduled to begin in 2027.

One of the major initiatives is the project to develop a submarine-launched hypersonic missile capable of striking land-based targets. The missile is expected to be versatile, capable of being deployed from both Japanese Navy submarines and surface ships. Japan justifies the deployment of such missiles on submarines by citing the need for retaliatory strike capabilities in the event of an external attack. Naturally, Japan is pointing to the growing capabilities of China’s navy and missile forces. For its part, China is also actively enhancing its capabilities in light of a possible confrontation with the US and Japan. 

While the hypersonic missile project is currently in the preliminary design phase, it draws upon Japan’s existing experience in developing various types of missiles and submarine-based vertical launch systems, as well as ambitious programs to build new missile-equipped vessels and, eventually, nuclear-powered submarines. In 2023, the Japanese Ministry of Defense signed a contract with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries for the development of a submarine-launched guided missile; a separate official program launched that same year is focused on developing an indigenous hypersonic guided missile; the work is set to continue through 2031. These programs are essentially aimed at creating preliminary designs for future missiles and developing hypersonic technologies in general; however, following the research phase, Japan will move on to developing specific missile models. The potential for this already exists.

What about launch platforms? Currently, the Japanese Navy operates several Aegis-equipped destroyers and non-nuclear submarines; they could carry a limited number of missiles. However, this would not be sufficient for mass deployment. 

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In 2027, the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force is set to commission the lead ASEV-class destroyer into service. Though the destroyer is modestly designated as a “missile defense ship,” it is in reality a guided-missile cruiser. It will measure approximately 189 meters in length and 25 meters in beam, with a standard displacement of around 12,000 tons. This makes it significantly larger than the current Maya-class destroyers or even US Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruisers. Each vessel will carry 128 modular vertical launch system (VLS) cells capable of housing Standard Missile shipborne guided missiles, anti-ship missiles, and strike missiles – ranging from the Tomahawk to future domestically-developed hypersonic missiles. Plans currently call for the construction of two such ships. The speed of construction is impressive: one ship is set to be built in three years. This will be the most heavily armed missile-carrying warship in the Pacific.

And what about nuclear-powered submarines? Recently, Japan’s Ministry of Defense officially included nuclear-powered submarines in its defense posture review, paving the way for Tokyo to assess the feasibility of building such vessels alongside its conventional fleet. Strict restrictions on the military use of nuclear energy had previously been in place in Japan, but in regard to submarines, this particular constraint is now being quietly lifted.

Naturally, such a move would logically expand Japan’s underwater operations in the Western Pacific; from a shipbuilding perspective, Japan certainly has the capacity for it. Nuclear propulsion would allow Japanese submarines to remain submerged for virtually unlimited periods, effectively neutralizing potential Chinese undersea superiority. The US would, of course, be Japan’s primary industrial partner in this endeavor, though the UK or France could also share their expertise in nuclear submarine construction. Following Japan’s lead, South Korea is also considering the development of nuclear submarines. While Japan blames China, South Korea cites the threat of North Korea. In both cases, it looks like the arms industry lobby is actively seeking an outlet for its manufacturing capacity.

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But that’s not all – there is also the aviation sector. Alongside the UK and Italy, Japan is participating in the Global Combat Air Program (GCAP) to develop a sixth-generation fighter jet. The program aims to finalize the aircraft’s requirements and technical specifications by the end of 2027. Furthermore, the Excalibur flying test laboratory and the demonstrator aircraft are scheduled to begin testing by the end of 2027. These efforts are critically important for Japan, as it decides which joint initiative to participate in and whether it should launch its own program to develop a next-generation fighter jet

Therefore, by the 2040s-2050s, the capabilities of the Japanese armed forces could change beyond recognition. Japan could possess nuclear-powered submarines, a missile-armed fleet, a modern air force, ground-launched and subsonic long-range hypersonic and cruise missiles.

Finally, experts believe that, if necessary, Japan could quickly produce nuclear weapons. This would take only a few months. The country possesses a highly developed nuclear industry and nuclear energy sector – with stockpiles of plutonium and other materials, as well as all the requisite technologies. Japan also has nuclear weapons delivery systems at its disposal. In short, all the prerequisites are in place, though strict constitutional constraints currently remain in effect. However, if one threshold is crossed and the decision to build nuclear submarines is made, one might expect this nuclear trend to continue in the direction of classified research and weapons development. A highly advanced nation like Japan could develop nuclear weapons quickly and covertly.

That’s the ‘samurai sword’ slowly but surely emerging from the East. How should we react to it? Sound the alarm and deploy weapons, or call for peace and dispatch ballet troupes? Perhaps, both. Let’s hope that we’ll never have to use the weapons, but be prepared just in case; as for ballet, it’s always a good idea.

The Baltic states have secretly asked the European Commission for hundreds of millions of euros to boost their defense against drones, citing an alleged Russian threat, the Finnish newspaper Iltalehti has reported.

Moscow has repeatedly rejected claims that it has aggressive designs against Europe, saying that they are only made by Western politicians to scare the population at home and justify growing military spending. It maintains that a conflict is only possible if NATO members attack Russia.

Iltalehti said on Tuesday, citing foreign policy and security sources, that the defense ministers of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania had sent a letter to EU chief Ursula von der Leyen the previous day, asking Brussels to urgently provide them with €500 billion (around $570 million). There has been no public announcement about the request being made, it added.

The minister claimed that the funds are needed due to the possibility of Russia trying to test NATO’s resolve by carrying out drone strikes against the bloc’s eastern flank, the report read.

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Tallinn, Riga and Vilnius expect a positive response from von der Leyen in a matter of weeks, with the money arriving by the end of the year, according to the sources.

Last week, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said that Russia could fire drones or missiles into NATO countries backing Ukraine in “the next few months.” Despite Tusk providing no proof to his claim, French President Emmanuel Macron described it as “sound and well-documented.”

On Tuesday, Lithuanian Prime Minister Mindaugas Sinkevicius told the BBC that his country feels “constantly threatened” by Russia because of drones entering its airspace.

Since spring, there have been a number of incidents of Ukrainian UAVs crossing into Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia or crashing in their territory as Kiev has intensified its long-range attacks on energy infrastructure in Leningrad Region in northwestern Russia.

The Baltic states claimed that the incursions happened because of the UAVs being diverted off course by Russian electronic warfare equipment. Moscow has warned Tallinn, Riga and Vilnius that it could act in accordance with its right to self-defense if it turns out that the three countries are knowingly providing their airspace to the Ukrainian military.

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Latvian President Edgars Rinkevics claimed in an interview with the Kiev Independent the same day that his country is facing an “alarming” period due to possible Russian interference in the wake of an election on October 3.

On Wednesday, high-ranking Estonian Foreign Ministry official Jonatan Vseviov said that warnings of an alleged Russian attack on the Baltic states were “blown out of proportion.” According to Vseviov, Moscow “ultimately seeks… to change the entire European security architecture,” but it’s currently fully focused on the Ukraine conflict.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said last week that “some European leaders are openly declaring that they are preparing for war with Russia” in an attempt to “cover up mistakes in their economic and social policies.”

“Instead of stopping and listening to their citizens, who have made it clear during the elections that they don’t want any war with Russia, these leaders continue to escalate the situation,” Putin stressed.

Mexican drug cartels are increasingly relying on drone operators who have returned home after taking part in the Ukraine conflict, the Washington Post has reported, citing US and Mexican officials.

Russia has warned repeatedly that the Ukraine conflict is fueling global instability as it leads to proliferation of weapons supplied by the West to Vladimir Zelensky’s government on the black market and fosters reckless behavior by Kiev in pursuit of its war aims.

The WaPo reported on Tuesday that Mexican cartels are closely studying ways to evade anti-drone jamming systems and are purchasing advanced UAV models that can carry more cargo and explosives.

In order to operate their expanding drone fleet, drug traffickers have intensified efforts to hire individuals with Ukraine conflict battlefield experience, mainly Colombian nationals, using both financial incentives and coercion, a US official told the paper.

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A Mexican official also said that Colombian UAV experts are being brought to Mexico by criminal organizations to train large groups of local “droneros,” or drone pilots.

Colombians make up around half of the estimated 16,500 foreign mercenaries currently fighting for Ukraine, a security source told TASS in June. They are being lured into the ranks of Kiev’s forces with false promises of high pay, he said. The Latin Americans end up being treated with disdain by their Ukrainian commanders, fed poorly, and deployed on the most dangerous missions, the source added.

The cartels are also sending their own “affiliates” to join the Ukrainian military and gain battlefield experience of flying drones, a US official said.

Drug traffickers “are going to be way better off, way better trained, with way better equipment,” the official warned.

Washington expects cartels to implement drone skills and tactics borrowed from the Ukraine conflict within the next several months, according to the sources.

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An internal government assessment suggests that the development will “significantly complicate” the campaign by the administration of US President Donald Trump to curb the flow of illegal drugs into the country, an American official noted.

The US State Department said in a statement to the WaPo that it’s working with American law enforcement agencies and the Ukrainian authorities “to adopt measures to mitigate the risk of battlefield skills transfer,” and that Washington itself relies on experience from the Ukraine conflict to “counter the cartel drone threat.”

Last year, the Milenio newspaper cited Mexican intelligence as saying that members of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) had received training in drone and urban warfare tactics in Ukraine.

CNN reported earlier this month that around 15 Ukrainian drone operators have been embedded with the Azawad Liberation Front (FLA) in Mali to train the members of the militant group and assist them in fighting government forces and Russian troops stationed in the West African country.

The UK has pledged military assistance to Saudi Arabia as tensions with Yemen’s Houthis intensify, citing growing risks to regional trade and energy supplies.

Hostilities between Saudi Arabia and the Houthis, also known as Ansar Allah and controlling much of northern Yemen, have intensified in recent weeks after several years of relative calm. The Houthis have launched missile and drone attacks on Saudi territory, while Riyadh-backed government forces have battled the group inside Yemen.

Britain will deploy an RAF Voyager air-to-air refueling aircraft to the region following a request from Riyadh. The aircraft will provide refueling support for Saudi “defensive activity” in Yemen, the Ministry of Defence said on Tuesday.

Riyadh has reportedly sought military assistance from several countries as its stocks of missile interceptors come under pressure. US President Donald Trump reportedly considered strikes on the Houthis over the weekend after Riyadh sought direct American military action, but ultimately held off. Washington has instead provided Riyadh with intelligence and targeting data.

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The Houthis have made major gains along Yemen’s Red Sea coast, seizing the port of Mokha and strategic islands around Bab el-Mandeb, the narrow strait linking the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden. The group has targeted Saudi-linked shipping and demanded that Riyadh lift its blockade of Yemen before negotiations.

Bab el-Mandeb has taken on greater importance as traffic through the Strait of Hormuz remains severely disrupted by the US-Iran war. US government data show oil flows through Hormuz fell from 21.6 million barrels per day in the fourth quarter of 2025 to 4.9 million bpd in the second quarter of this year, while volumes through Bab el-Mandeb rose from 5.4 million to 8.1 million bpd over the same period.

The disruption around Hormuz has already rattled global energy markets, while the renewed fighting in Yemen has raised concerns over another major shipping route. Brent crude surged to nearly $110 a barrel earlier this month after drone attacks forced Saudi Arabia to shut its East-West pipeline, a key route for bypassing Hormuz.

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The UK is already facing renewed price pressures from the energy shock. Inflation rose to 3.1% in August, driven in part by higher fuel costs, with the Bank of England warning that it is likely to rise further over the coming quarters.

London already has personnel and air-defense equipment stationed in the kingdom and has previously taken part in strikes against the Houthis. RAF Typhoons supported by Voyager tankers joined US operations in Yemen in 2024 and 2025, after the Houthis began attacking Israel and vessels in the Red Sea during the Gaza war.

London has also provided military assistance to Saudi Arabia since a Saudi-led coalition first intervened in Yemen in 2015, after the Houthis seized the capital, Sanaa, and forced the internationally recognized government into exile.

READ MORE: Saudi Arabia is nearing the point of no return – and Israel is waiting for it

Large-scale Saudi-Houthi fighting subsided following a UN-brokered truce in 2022, although no permanent settlement was reached. Washington and the group separately agreed to stop targeting each other under an Oman-mediated deal in May 2025.

Australia is helping the US investigate how parts for the F-35 stealth fighter program went missing after being mistakenly diverted to the wrong destination, Defense Minister Richard Marles has confirmed.

The incident occurred earlier this year, when a shipment of unserviceable F-35 components from Australia that was bound for the US was unexpectedly rerouted to Hong Kong. The parts, which were being transported by a third-party company on behalf of manufacturer Lockheed Martin, remain unaccounted for months later. Politico first reported the incident last week.

Marles said on Tuesday that Canberra was working with the US and Lockheed Martin to examine its role in the incident, stressing that the missing components were not sensitive.

Marles did not elaborate on why the components were considered non-sensitive and, when pressed by a journalist, said the question was best directed to the US and Lockheed Martin. Politico reported that the shipment included an F-35 canopy incorporating radar-resistant technology, although it remains unclear exactly which canopy components were involved.

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The F-35 is a US-made fifth-generation stealth fighter operated by the US and its allies, with 12 countries currently flying the aircraft from bases on their own territory.

The Pentagon’s F-35 Joint Program Office has acknowledged a “shipment issue” involving unserviceable components to the news outlet and said it is working with US authorities and industry partners to recover the parts. The House Armed Services Committee is also examining the case, while Pentagon and State Department officials reportedly began briefing congressional staff on it in June.

The incident has highlighted potential vulnerabilities in the F-35’s sprawling global supply chain. Spare parts are routinely shipped between military bases, regional warehouses, and repair facilities, with Lockheed Martin overseeing much of the network on behalf of the Pentagon. Commercial carriers and other contractors are also used to transport components internationally.

READ MORE: US loses F-35B stealth jet in unexplained ‘mishap’ (VIDEOS)

F-35 parts have gone missing before. According to a US Government Accountability Office (GAO) report released in May 2023, one of the F-35 program’s prime contractors had recorded losses of more than 1 million spare parts worth over $85 million since May 2018, including components that were lost, damaged, or destroyed. The F-35 Joint Program Office had reviewed fewer than 2% of those cases. GAO also found that the military lacked its own comprehensive system for tracking the location, quantity, and cost of parts held in the contractor-managed global pool.

The inventory problems are part of broader difficulties that have dogged the F-35, the Pentagon’s largest weapons program. The aircraft has faced years of cost growth, maintenance and spare-parts shortages, upgrade delays, and persistent difficulties meeting Pentagon readiness targets.

A US Air Force F-16 fighter jet crashed near an American military base in western Germany on Tuesday, with the pilot ejecting before impact.

The F-16 Fighting Falcon, assigned to the 52nd Fighter Wing, went down near Spangdahlem Air Base in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate at around 2:30pm local time, the US military said. The pilot was taken for medical treatment.

According to Germany’s air traffic control authority, four F-16s had been taking part in a training exercise. Two remained in the training area while the other two returned toward Spangdahlem, with one believed to have crashed while approaching the base. The remaining aircraft subsequently landed at Ramstein Air Base.

Videos from the area showed a large plume of dark smoke rising near the base as emergency crews responded to the crash.

🇺🇸✈️ US F-16 CRASHES NEAR GERMAN AIR BASE:

- A U.S. Air Force F-16 crashed near Spangdahlem Air Base in western Germany Tuesday afternoon during a training flight.

- The pilot ejected and was injured, according to local and U.S. reports, and is receiving medical treatment. An… pic.twitter.com/YPXPsoNpVN

— Belaaz News (@TheBelaaz) September 22, 2026

The cause of the crash remains under investigation, the US military said.

Footage from the crash in Germany: The U.S. Air Force confirmed that an F-16 crashed at Spangdahlem Air Base. The pilot successfully ejected and survived. The cause of the crash is still under investigation. https://t.co/Li2d5jXolO pic.twitter.com/eL5rvOIIhN

— DDF NEWS (@ddfmarketing1) September 22, 2026

Spangdahlem hosts the US Air Force’s 52nd Fighter Wing and is one of Washington’s key military installations in Germany. The wing operates F-16s and supports US and NATO missions in Europe and elsewhere. Around 5,000 US military personnel and family members are based at the installation, according to AP.

READ MORE: US loses F-35B stealth jet in unexplained ‘mishap’ (VIDEOS)

Spangdahlem’s F-16s have also been involved in the US military buildup around Iran. Aircraft from the base’s 480th Fighter Squadron were deployed to the Middle East in July as Washington resumed strikes against Iranian targets following the collapse of a temporary ceasefire.

President Donald Trump has threatened to “annihilate” Iran if negotiations fail, saying he faces a “big decision” as he predicted no deal with Tehran would come until after the US midterm elections in November.

Addressing the UN General Assembly in New York on Tuesday, Trump defended the US-Israeli war with Iran and accused Tehran of deliberately delaying an agreement until after the US elections.

“But I have a big decision to make. Will a deal be made with Iran that lets them rebuild and create a far greater country than it ever was before?” Trump asked, before presenting the alternative: “Or do I annihilate the Islamic Republic and do it quickly?”

“Do I drive them into hell with no chance of survival and no hope of future greatness or generations?” he continued.

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Trump nevertheless said he believed an agreement would be reached “right after the election.” Later in the speech, he said Washington and Tehran would “definitely get it done… one way or the other.”

Trump also called on other countries to join the US in enforcing the “complete economic isolation” of Iran until Tehran meets Washington’s conditions.

Members of the Iranian delegation walked out of the General Assembly hall, leaving only one lower-level delegate seated, as Trump defended the nearly seven-month conflict, accusing Tehran of seeking nuclear weapons, supporting terrorism and attacking commercial shipping. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, both in New York for the UN gathering, were not in the chamber.

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Hours later, however, Trump struck a more conciliatory tone, revealing that US representatives had held what he described as “very good” talks involving Iran on the sidelines of the UN gathering on Tuesday. He said his envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner had held a “very productive meeting” with “mediators of Iran.” Another meeting is expected “in the very near future,” according to Trump.

Iranian state media reported that Araghchi had met Witkoff directly on the sidelines of the General Assembly at Washington’s request. According to the report, Tehran used the meeting to present its conditions for reopening the Strait of Hormuz, including an end to the US naval blockade and the release of frozen Iranian assets.

Iran’s military, meanwhile, responded defiantly to Trump’s remarks, warning that further US or Israeli escalation would be met with stronger retaliatory strikes.

AI will begin assisting air traffic controllers at Washington’s three major airports, the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has announced. The rollout comes amid growing concerns over increasingly autonomous technology.

The Strategic Management of Airspace Routing Trajectories system, or SMART, went live on Monday at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, Dulles International Airport, and Baltimore/Washington International Airport.

FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford said the system would give air traffic controllers “much better decision-making capabilities” by using real-time information and predictive analysis to manage congestion, weather disruptions, and aircraft arrival times.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy stressed that AI would not take control of US skies and that “it’s always going to be a human that manages the airspace in America.”

SMART is expected to decrease landing and departure wait times by suggesting small changes to flight paths when several aircraft are estimated to reach the same airport at roughly the same time. Officials say it could also help controllers react faster when weather conditions change.

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The system will initially undergo a 90-day trial before potentially being expanded to other locations. Duffy said passengers could begin noticing improvements by next summer.

The rollout comes amid a wider debate over how much responsibility should be handed to AI as increasingly capable systems begin moving from chatbots into critical real-world operations.

Recent reports have documented AI agents breaking safeguards, accessing external computer systems without authorization, and communicating through websites they were not supposed to use. Google’s Gemini recently hacked three real companies during what was supposed to be a simulated cybersecurity exercise.

Separately, a Pentagon investigation cited by Bloomberg found that flawed intelligence, rushed procedures, and heavy reliance on AI contributed to a US strike on an Iranian girls’ school in Minab in February that killed more than 150 people, including 123 children.

Executives including OpenAI chief Sam Altman, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, and Elon Musk have backed calls to slow the development of increasingly powerful models. Anthropic researcher Evan Hubinger has estimated there is a greater than 10% chance AI could wipe out humanity within a decade.

READ MORE: Trump vows not to slow AI despite industry warnings

US President Donald Trump, however, has rejected such warnings as a “hoax” and pledged not to slow AI development.

Lithuania’s parliament has backed a constitutional amendment that would lift a ban on nuclear weapons, thus bringing the NATO member a step closer to hosting them on its territory. Russia has warned the Baltic country, which borders its Kaliningrad Region, that such a move would have significant security implications.

The proposal was backed by 99 lawmakers on Tuesday, with 13 voting against and five abstaining. Two more votes are required, scheduled for October 6 and January 12, 2027. At least 94 of Lithuania’s 141 MPs must support the amendment in each vote.

The measure would remove Article 137 of the Lithuanian constitution, which prohibits weapons of mass destruction and foreign military bases on the country’s territory. Supporters argue that the provision no longer reflects Lithuania’s security needs, while opponents have raised concerns over sovereignty and called for the issue to be put to a referendum.

President Gitanas Nauseda has backed removing the restriction, while Lithuanian officials have argued that allowing nuclear weapons would strengthen deterrence against Russia.

Moscow has repeatedly rejected claims that it intends to attack NATO countries.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova last week called the proposed change “absolutely irresponsible,” accusing NATO members of pursuing provocative policies and treating Lithuania as a potential staging ground against Russia.

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Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has warned that Lithuania could become a target of Russian nuclear weapons if it allowed foreign nuclear arms to be deployed on its territory.

The debate comes amid broader discussions in Europe over nuclear deterrence. French President Emmanuel Macron unveiled changes to the country’s nuclear doctrine in March that included the possibility of temporarily deploying French nuclear weapons in other European countries.

Finland has since joined the French initiative after lifting its own restrictions on hosting foreign nuclear weapons, while Latvia announced on Tuesday that Paris had agreed to open talks on its participation.

NATO already operates a nuclear-sharing arrangement under which US nuclear weapons are stationed in several member states, including Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, and Türkiye. The Financial Times reported in June that Washington was considering expanding deployments to additional NATO countries in Europe.

The cybercriminal group ShinyHunters has claimed it breached the FBI and stole terabytes of sensitive personal information about nearly all of the agency’s agents and their spouses, as well as people who had applied for jobs there.

ShinyHunters is a prolific hacking and extortion group linked to large-scale data thefts targeting major companies and government organizations. The FBI itself warned about the group in May.

“We have compromised the FBI. We hold very sensitive data on almost ALL FBI Agents and individuals who filed an application with the FBI” for employment, the group announced on its dark-web leak site on Tuesday. It reportedly released a sample of the purportedly stolen data and a screenshot of a defaced FBI recruitment website.

The group claimed to have taken terabytes of information, including names, home addresses and phone numbers. Reuters reported that it was able to find apparent matches for some individuals contained in a sample of the data, but could not establish that the information had actually been taken from FBI systems.

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The FBI has not confirmed the breach or the scale of the alleged data theft. However, a spokesperson allegedly told 404 Media that the bureau was “aware of claims regarding unauthorized activity affecting FBIjobs.gov and is currently investigating.” TechCrunch also reported that the agency’s jobs website and special-agent applicant portal were temporarily unavailable.

According to ShinyHunters, the intrusion began with the compromise of an Oracle PeopleSoft server, which runs software commonly used by human resources departments to handle employee and applicant information. The hackers reportedly claimed they were then able to move into an Amazon-hosted government cloud environment containing FBI personnel and applicant data. Neither the FBI nor the companies involved have publicly confirmed that account.

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The hackers said the attack was “not financially motivated.” Instead, they are demanding that the FBI remove a cybersecurity advisory published in May that ShinyHunters says contains false allegations about the group.

In that advisory, the FBI described ShinyHunters as a cybercriminal operation specializing in large-scale data theft and extortion, rather than a state-sponsored hacking operation. It accused hackers associated with the group of using threats, harassment and, in some instances, swatting to target victims, while also warning that cybercriminals sometimes exaggerate the scale of data they have obtained.

ShinyHunters has not said what it plans to do with the purportedly stolen information if the FBI refuses its demand. The extent of the intrusion and the number of people affected remain unverified.

The Trump administration has approved a potential sale of F-35 fighter jets to Saudi Arabia as part of a $24.3 billion package that also includes engines, equipment, and spare parts. For Riyadh, the decision opens the prospect of a substantial improvement in its air capabilities, while allowing Washington to demonstrate its willingness to deepen relations with one of its most important Middle Eastern partners. Yet political disagreements and negotiations over the terms still stand between State Department approval and the arrival of the aircraft at Saudi air bases.

The significance of the decision extends well beyond an arms contract, as Saudi Arabia increasingly seeks to broaden its relationships with competing centers of power. Viewed in this context, Trump’s initiative can be understood as an attempt to preserve America’s position as the kingdom’s principal strategic partner and prevent further drift away from Washington. The challenge, however, is that commercial interests, the protection of sensitive technology, and commitments to Israel do not always point towards the same policy.

How Washington hopes to keep Riyadh close

Saudi Arabia values its partnership with the United States, but wants to determine for itself how far that partnership should shape its wider policies. Relations with China, cooperation with Russia, and the development of regional ties allow the kingdom to reduce its dependence on any single external partner. This does not mean Riyadh is ready to abandon US-led security arrangements, but it does make Saudi leaders less receptive to demands that Washington might once have regarded as a natural part of an alliance.

For the United States, the risk lies in the gradual erosion of its privileged position. Even if the kingdom continues to purchase American weapons, it may increasingly turn elsewhere for political support and economic opportunities. As those relationships deepen, Riyadh gets more options, while Washington has fewer opportunities to secure concessions by threatening to restrict cooperation.

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An offer of F-35s could make the American partnership more attractive at a time when its advantages can no longer be taken for granted. By opening access to an aircraft Saudi leaders have long sought, Trump is signaling a willingness to accommodate the kingdom’s ambitions. For Riyadh, the symbolic importance is considerable, since acquiring such aircraft would affirm its standing among America’s security partners.

Washington’s practical gains, however, would come from the longevity of the relationship. Advanced combat aircraft require continuing support contracts, keeping the Riyadh connected throughout their service life. Once Saudi Arabia has invested heavily in the aircraft, infrastructure, and personnel, moving away from that system becomes more difficult and expensive. A defense contract can therefore reinforce ties that outlast changes of administration and individual diplomatic disputes.

Dependence on aircraft support does not, however, automatically translate into a willingness to coordinate oil policy or relations with third countries. Riyadh may see no contradiction in working with Moscow on energy and expanding economic ties with Beijing. This creates a potential mismatch of expectations, as Washington may view the sale as a means of securing closer strategic alignment, while Saudi Arabia sees an opportunity to simply strengthen its defense.

Washington’s willingness to proceed could convince Saudi leaders that their existing approach is working. If closer relations with America’s competitors are followed by more attractive American offers, Riyadh has an incentive to continue pursuing them. Trump must then decide how much independence he is willing to accept from a partner in order to retain influence over it, and at what point accommodation becomes more than his administration is prepared to concede.

Why Trump’s approval does not settle the debate in Congress

Trump’s first term demonstrated that arms sales to Saudi Arabia can become the subject of serious domestic political confrontation. In 2019, Congress passed resolutions opposing several arms transfers to the kingdom and the United Arab Emirates, but the president vetoed them and the Senate failed to override him. That episode does not establish that lawmakers will stop the present sale, but neither does it justify assuming that the president’s decision will be implemented without resistance.

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The process does not require an affirmative vote of approval from Congress, as the administration can proceed after the statutory review period unless a legislative prohibition takes effect. Opponents need to turn political objections into enforceable restrictions and, if the president exercises his veto, assemble enough support to overcome it. A demanding threshold, if the White House retains the backing of most Republicans.

With the F-35, the central objection concerns the protection of sensitive American technology. Saudi Arabia’s relations with China raise questions about how reliably third parties can be denied access to the aircraft, associated equipment, and information. Such concerns could resonate with lawmakers who broadly support Trump but place the preservation of America’s technological advantage above the benefits of a particular contract.

Critics in Washington may also invoke Riyadh’s cooperation with Russia through OPEC+ and its refusal to join sanctions against Moscow as evidence of the kingdom’s limited willingness to support American foreign policy. Yet political grievances should be distinguished from risks to a specific weapons program, since an independent oil policy is not in itself a threat to military technology. These issues may become intertwined in public debate, even though a serious assessment of the sale requires different answers to each.

Supporters can argue that refusing the sale would only strengthen Saudi Arabia’s determination to cultivate alternative partners. The same ties with Moscow and Beijing can thus support opposing conclusions. Some will see them as grounds for withholding access to advanced weapons, while others will see a reason to offer Riyadh closer cooperation while American influence remains substantial.

The congressional debate is therefore likely to concern both whether the sale should proceed and what commitments Saudi Arabia should undertake. The administration will have to explain which restrictions would genuinely protect the technology and how compliance could be verified. More credible safeguards would make it harder for opponents to build a broad coalition, but excessively stringent demands could provoke resistance from the buyer.

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Where Israel draws the line

For Israel, the central question is how a stronger Saudi Arabia would affect its own security. Washington seeks to improve the defense capabilities of its Arab partners while preserving Israel’s qualitative military edge, and the F-35 makes reconciling those objectives particularly difficult. The arrival of such aircraft in the hands of another regional power would matter even if their configuration differed from Israel’s.

Riyadh is unlikely to receive F-35s with the full range of capabilities available in the Israeli variant, but differences in equipment and weapons would not eliminate every concern. Saudi air power would gain new capabilities, and the implications for Israel’s regional advantage would depend partly on how quickly the kingdom could master the aircraft and integrate them into its armed forces.

A stronger Saudi air force would not directly diminish Israel’s own combat capabilities, but could alter the relative balance and constrain Israel’s freedom of action. This is the context in which concerns about air superiority should be understood. Israeli military planning must account for both present relations with neighboring states and the changes that could occur long-term while the aircraft are in service.

Israeli officials have used similar arguments when opposing a possible F-35 sale to Türkiye, warning that it could disrupt the regional balance of power. That example illustrates Israel’s sensitivity to the wider availability of such capabilities, although it does not make the Turkish and Saudi cases identical. The identity of the buyer, the nature of bilateral relations, and the proposed terms of delivery will all affect the intensity of Israeli opposition.

Israeli leaders can be expected to use diplomatic pressure and support from allies in Congress to either to stop the sale or secure restrictions. Negotiations could cover the weapons available to Saudi aircraft, particular technological capabilities, and additional measures to strengthen Israel’s own defenses. None of these arrangements should be treated as settled, however, since the eventual compromise will depend on every party’s willingness to accept its political costs.

For Trump, this creates an uncomfortable dilemma. The more substantial the offer to Riyadh, the stronger Israeli objections may become, while every additional restriction introduced to reassure Israel could make the package less attractive to Saudi Arabia. If Saudi leaders interpret the terms as confirmation that their country will always occupy a subordinate position, the deal could undermine the very confidence in the partnership that Washington hopes to build.

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What a compromise might look like and what happens if it fails

The most plausible next phase is a prolonged negotiation in which a high-profile political announcement is translated into concrete obligations. Washington will seek to protect sensitive technology and provide assurances acceptable to Israel, while Riyadh will press for a purchase with meaningful military value that preserves its political independence.

A compromise appears more attainable if restrictions focus on the security of the program itself, including access to equipment, the handling of data, and engagement with third parties. If Washington tries to make the sale conditional on a broader revision of Saudi relations with China and Russia, resistance from Riyadh is likely to intensify. Saudi leaders need to be able to justify the agreement in terms of their own national interests while retaining the right to make decisions that do not always satisfy the United States.

The kingdom will also have to weigh the value of the capabilities it would acquire against the restrictions attached to them. Overly demanding terms could reduce the deal’s appeal, but walking away would carry costs of its own, requiring alternative approaches to modernization and an assessment of how long those alternatives would take. Serious dissatisfaction with particular conditions might therefore become part of the bargaining process without necessarily bringing negotiations to an end.

Another possibility is that political approval remains in place while implementation is delayed for an extended period. The administration could continue to describe the deal as evidence of a stronger partnership, while Riyadh waits for clarity on configuration, personnel training, and delivery schedules. Yet a promise gradually loses its power to sustain a partner’s interest, particularly if every delay appears to bring another set of political conditions.

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The outright collapse of the sale would not mean an immediate rupture in Saudi-American relations, which encompass far more than a single weapons program. It could nevertheless reinforce the view in Riyadh that even an understanding with the US president does not guarantee a predictable outcome. The Saudis would then have further reason to broaden its pool of suppliers and reduce its exposure to decisions taken in Washington.

Successful delivery, however, would not guarantee that Saudi Arabia abandons its effort to balance relationships among competing powers. It could deepen military cooperation with the United States while maintaining economic ties with China and energy coordination with Russia. Washington would be able to claim that it had retained a vital partner, while Riyadh could argue that an independent foreign policy had secured new concessions.

The practical signs of progress will be agreed terms, committed financing, infrastructure preparations, and a credible delivery schedule. The deeper strategic outcome will emerge later, when American and Saudi interests diverge again over an important issue. Only then will it become clear whether the F-35 has helped forge a closer political alliance or strengthened military cooperation between two states that continue to pursue calculations of their own.

“You don’t have the cards.”

That was the message US President Donald Trump famously delivered to Vladimir Zelensky during their fiery Oval Office showdown in February 2025. Trump accused the Ukrainian leader of “gambling with World War III” and showing ingratitude for US aid, while pointing out that Kiev’s worsening battlefield position had left Ukraine with few cards to play in peace talks with Russia.

While the clash did not sever US-Ukraine ties completely, the deck has hardly been reshuffled in Kiev’s favor since. Thus the table was set for another Trump-Zelensky game in New York this week on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.

Even getting a seat at that table was a late deal. Just two days earlier, Zelensky was absent from Trump’s publicly announced list of UN bilaterals, and Ukrainian officials said no meeting had yet been confirmed. Trump’s tight schedule also leaves roughly an hour for the encounter before his next engagement.

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The hand Zelensky holds is hardly stacked with aces. Instead, it contains an unexpected $27 billion defense shortfall, a desperate shortage of Patriot air-defense missiles, a fresh trail of corruption scandals, and mounting battlefield losses.

Opening bet: The refinery dispute

Trump has already shown his hand. Earlier this month, he blamed Zelensky for the diesel price spike gripping the US, which the president said was caused by Ukrainian strikes on Russian refineries. By the eve of the UN gathering, the US national average had climbed to a record $6.5 per gallon, a topic particularly sensitive for Trump ahead of the midterms.

According to the Financial Times, Trump pressed Zelensky during a weekend phone call to stop striking Russian oil refineries, with the paper’s sources claiming he wanted to ensure Russian supplies could reach the global market.

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Trump went so far as to announce that Russia and Ukraine had effectively agreed to stop attacks on energy infrastructure. Neither Kiev nor Moscow confirmed the truce, while Zelensky demanded Russia take the first step, and continued to attack Russian fuel plants.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov called the prospective truce a “very good idea” and said Moscow was “always on the side of peaceful solutions.” He also argued that protecting refineries alone would not solve the global fuel crunch. The bigger problem, he said, was getting Russian petroleum products onto world markets, which required safe passage for oil tankers – something he said Kiev was not willing to guarantee.

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Ahead of the meeting, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio also rebuked Ukraine over targeting US-linked ships in the Black Sea, adding that while it did so “probably not deliberately,” “that’s something that needs to be addressed.”

Desperate for Patriot draw

Zelensky has repeatedly sounded the alarm over deliveries of US-made Patriot interceptors, one of the few weapons in Ukraine’s arsenal capable of tackling Russian ballistic missiles. In July, he said the country’s stocks were nearly exhausted and asked Trump for an emergency “winter package” of 300 interceptors, warning that Ukraine needed them “yesterday.”  Ukrainian air defenses failed to intercept even a single Russian missile during some recent barrage.  

However, multiple media reports have indicated that Washington’s Patriot stocks are also low due to the Iran war, with American Patriot inventories in Europe said to have fallen “beyond critical” levels. While Trump has denied the shortfall, the Pentagon has publicly acknowledged the strain.

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Earlier this month, Trump also suggested that Ukraine could receive a license to produce Patriots in a “less sophisticated version,” though no details on the prospective agreement have emerged. Multiple experts have pointed out numerous obstacles to the program, also warning that any production facilities would be prime targets for Russia.

Zelensky is almost out of chips

Late summer exposed a glaring weakness in Zelensky’s gamble: an unexpected $27 billion defense budget shortfall expected by the end of the year – a figure that ballooned almost fourfold over the past several months.

Kiev subsequently asked for more money from its European backers – met with a tepid response whereby Brussels even refused to acknowledge the $27 billion figure.

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The shortfall arose as a result of Zelensky’s much-heralded 40-day pressure campaign against Russia that involved the very strikes on refineries Trump reportedly asked him to stop. The escalatory attacks also triggered Russian retaliation against Ukrainian military-related logistics, including effectively closing the port of Odessa, which serves as a key hub for agricultural exports.

Ukraine’s $27 billion request “surprised and unsettled” European officials, according to the New York Times, with some of Ukraine’s backers reportedly asking questions about how Kiev is spending the cash and if it actually needs as much as it says it does.

The Trump wildcard

Kiev does have one fresh trump card to hope for – except it lies largely up the US president’s sleeve.

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On Friday, Trump signed a new sanctions legislation first proposed by late Republican Senator and Russia hawk Lindsey Graham last year. The measure gives the US president authority to target Russian officials, banks, and the energy sector, and to impose tariffs of up to 100% on leading importers of Russian oil and gas. Zelensky specifically thanked Trump for signing it when the pair arranged their New York meeting.

However, Trump retains authority over sanctions waivers and the scope of restrictions and tariffs, while the bill does not mention China and India, the key importers of Russian energy.

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In addition, the Trump administration has a recent history of easing sanctions on Russian oil. During the Iran war, the administration issued temporary exemptions allowing the sale and delivery of Russian crude already at sea to alleviate pressure on energy markets.

A busted flush

Ukraine has faced consistent frontline territorial losses for months, yielding ground to Russian advances while struggling to replenish losses through a brutal and deeply unpopular forced mobilization campaign.
 
Last week, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, a key Kiev backer, revealed that up to 27,000 Ukrainian troops are killed or wounded every month and that Ukraine could face a “catastrophic” winter. Zelensky claimed in July that 50,000 Ukrainian troops have been killed (in February he claimed 55,000) and 400,000 wounded throughout the entire 4.5-year conflict.

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The Russian Defense Ministry, in turn, assessed in February that Ukraine had sustained 1.5 million casualties during the conflict, with more than 500,000 lost in 2025 alone.

Trump himself has repeatedly pointed to Ukraine’s dwindling manpower as a reason for Kiev to stop fighting. During the Oval Office showdown with Zelensky last year, he told him: “Your people are dying. You’re running low on soldiers,” before urging him to accept an immediate ceasefire so that “your men stop getting killed.”

The joker in the pack: Corruption in Kiev

Zelensky’s inner circle has reportedly embezzled millions, and possibly billions, from the war chest, all while asking for more. Trump has also called Zelensky a “dictator without elections” – referring to the Ukrainian leader’s refusal to hold a vote despite widespread unpopularity, and resentment from possible successors he has sidelined.

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Zelensky’s inner circle is widely suspected of massive crime, and some have fled the country. The biggest case to date remains the $100 million Energoatom affair, where a network involving Zelensky’s former close associate, Timur Mindich, forced contractors at the state nuclear giant to pay kickbacks of up to 15%. Mindich is in Israel allegedly laundering bags of cash while a former energy minister has been served with corruption-related suspicions and arrested.

Zelensky’s prosecutor general fled the country following accusations he was gathering compromising material on Western-backed anti-corruption agents in Kiev. The head of cybercrime at the same office was exposed for “protecting” a network of scam-call centers, a Ukrainian innovation Zelensky rarely touts abroad but which targets innocent people in the EU with all the contempt one would expect from an enterprise solely focused on profiteering. Ukraine’s scam-call industry is thought to generate up to $1 billion each month.

Zelensky’s current chief of staff, Kirill Budanov, has been pulled into the controversy, with media reports linking him to a money laundering scandal though he has not been charged.

During his first presidency, Trump said Ukraine was known for “tremendous corruption.” Since returning to office, he has also repeatedly opposed open-ended US financial and military support for Kiev.

When will Zelensky’s bluff be called?

That leaves Zelensky – who hopes Ukraine may still win – heading into another session with Trump carrying a list of critical problems rather than a set of winning cards. The Ukrainian leader will have a difficult time bluffing his way through such widely-known issues as a $27 billion defense hole, thinning manpower, shrinking hopes of securing enough Patriot interceptors, repeated corruption scandals, and growing pressure to explain how much longer he intends to continue the conflict. 

And across from him sits a president who has been reluctant to cut Kiev any slack while treating the weakness as proof that Kiev should sign a deal with Russia. In this vein, Trump has already warned Zelensky: “With us, you have the cards, but without us you don’t have any cards,” adding that if Washington walks away, Ukraine will have to “fight it out” on its own.

Lithuania’s parliament has backed a constitutional amendment that would lift a ban on nuclear weapons, thus bringing the NATO member a step closer to hosting them on its territory. Russia has warned the Baltic country, which borders its Kaliningrad Region, that such a move would have significant security implications.

The proposal was backed by 99 lawmakers on Tuesday, with 13 voting against and five abstaining. Two more votes are required, scheduled for October 6 and January 12, 2027. At least 94 of Lithuania’s 141 MPs must support the amendment in each vote.

The measure would remove Article 137 of the Lithuanian constitution, which prohibits weapons of mass destruction and foreign military bases on the country’s territory. Supporters argue that the provision no longer reflects Lithuania’s security needs, while opponents have raised concerns over sovereignty and called for the issue to be put to a referendum.

President Gitanas Nauseda has backed removing the restriction, while Lithuanian officials have argued that allowing nuclear weapons would strengthen deterrence against Russia.

Moscow has repeatedly rejected claims that it intends to attack NATO countries.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova last week called the proposed change “absolutely irresponsible,” accusing NATO members of pursuing provocative policies and treating Lithuania as a potential staging ground against Russia.

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Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has warned that Lithuania could become a target of Russian nuclear weapons if it allowed foreign nuclear arms to be deployed on its territory.

The debate comes amid broader discussions in Europe over nuclear deterrence. French President Emmanuel Macron unveiled changes to the country’s nuclear doctrine in March that included the possibility of temporarily deploying French nuclear weapons in other European countries.

Finland has since joined the French initiative after lifting its own restrictions on hosting foreign nuclear weapons, while Latvia announced on Tuesday that Paris had agreed to open talks on its participation.

NATO already operates a nuclear-sharing arrangement under which US nuclear weapons are stationed in several member states, including Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, and Türkiye. The Financial Times reported in June that Washington was considering expanding deployments to additional NATO countries in Europe.

US military might has turned out to be an illusion in the style of ‘The Wizard of Oz’, former CIA analyst Larry Johnson has said.

The myth of American dominance in the defense sector was shattered by the Ukraine and Iran conflicts, Johnson said in an interview with RT’s Sanchez Effect on Monday.

Before the escalation between Moscow and Kiev in February 2022, “Russia had the perception that the US was very powerful militarily, that it had strategic depth, that its industrial base was such that it could support and sustain a modern war,” he said.

However, the opinion in Moscow has changed since then as Russian forces were able to “solve and defeat” all of the systems supplied by Washington to Kiev’s military, the former CIA analyst told host Rick Sanchez.

“I’m calling this ‘The Wizard of Oz effect’... just like in ‘The Wizard of Oz’ at the end when the curtain gets pulled back and the great and powerful Oz turns out to be this little old guy with a drinking problem behind the curtain. That’s the US,” he said.

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Johnson mentioned a recent report by the Pentagon’s inspector general, which sounded the alarm over “shortfalls” in munitions and a bottleneck in resupply of key weapons.

It was also “an embarrassment” when in August General Dynamics lost a $530 million contract with the Department of War to manufacture shells, the former CIA analyst said.

“They produced exactly zero. Meanwhile, Russia is producing as many artillery shells in one month as all of NATO does in a year,” he stressed.

According to Johnson, Iran has also delivered “enormous damage” to US capabilities in the Middle East since the American-Israeli attack on the country in early February.

Rebuilding the US Fifth Fleet headquarters in Bahrain, which was crippled by Iranian strikes, “doesn’t make economic sense” as Tehran has shown that it’s capable of hitting it again at any moment, he said.

READ MORE: CENTCOM puts price tag on Iran war

”The US has been effectively expelled from the Persian Gulf,” the former CIA analyst noted.

Watch Rick Sanchez’s full interview with Larry Johnson here.

The US seems to be in no rush to bail out Saudi Arabia while renewed hostilities with Yemen’s Houthis are ongoing, RT’s Steve Sweeney reports from Beirut. The New York Times claimed over the weekend that US President Donald Trump had called off air strikes on the Shiite militant group at the last minute.

The conflict between Riyadh and the Houthis reignited in mid-July, with the armed group recently conducting strikes on several “sensitive sites” across Saudi Arabia, including the main airport in the capital. Earlier this month, the organization, officially known as Ansarullah, established control over Yemen’s Red Sea coast, taking positions around the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.

Saudi Arabia has increasingly relied on the key waterway for its oil exports since navigation through another strategically important maritime chokepoint, the Strait of Hormuz, was reduced to a trickle amid the US-Israeli war on Iran.

After a phone call from Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Thursday, Trump initially seemed to acquiesce to his request for help in deterring the Houthis’ advances in Yemen, the NYT cited anonymous US officials as saying. However, on Sunday, as the US military was supposedly all set to bomb selected targets in Yemen, the American president reversed his decision, the publication reported.

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The US carried out weeks of strikes on the Houthis’ positions last year, with the stated goal of restoring freedom of navigation in the Red Sea as well as stopping attacks on commercial vessels and American warships there.

Less than two months into the campaign, Trump announced a cease-fire, saying that Ansarullah had promised not to attack US ships. According to the NYT, the Houthis have kept their word, with Trump’s advisers now “deeply skeptical” about reengaging the Shiite group militarily once again, especially given reported ammunition shortages incurred as a result of the conflict with Iran.

Saudi Arabia’s regional allies Türkiye and Pakistan apparently have little appetite to join the fray either, despite being bound by the recently sealed Mecca defense pact, and are calling for a diplomatic solution instead.

Meanwhile, the Houthis have explicitly warned other countries against getting involved in their conflict with the Saudis. Speaking to AP on Sunday, the group’s spokesperson, Mohamed al-Bukhaiti, said that Ansarullah was “not targeting the United States, or any other nation, in the strait, with the sole exception of the Saudi enemy.” At the same time, he stressed that the Houthis were prepared to fight on multiple fronts, if necessary.

Watch RT correspondent Steve Sweeney’s full report from Beirut below:

The Trump administration has approved a potential sale of F-35 fighter jets to Saudi Arabia as part of a $24.3 billion package that also includes engines, equipment, and spare parts. For Riyadh, the decision opens the prospect of a substantial improvement in its air capabilities, while allowing Washington to demonstrate its willingness to deepen relations with one of its most important Middle Eastern partners. Yet political disagreements and negotiations over the terms still stand between State Department approval and the arrival of the aircraft at Saudi air bases.

The significance of the decision extends well beyond an arms contract, as Saudi Arabia increasingly seeks to broaden its relationships with competing centers of power. Viewed in this context, Trump’s initiative can be understood as an attempt to preserve America’s position as the kingdom’s principal strategic partner and prevent further drift away from Washington. The challenge, however, is that commercial interests, the protection of sensitive technology, and commitments to Israel do not always point towards the same policy.

How Washington hopes to keep Riyadh close

Saudi Arabia values its partnership with the United States, but wants to determine for itself how far that partnership should shape its wider policies. Relations with China, cooperation with Russia, and the development of regional ties allow the kingdom to reduce its dependence on any single external partner. This does not mean Riyadh is ready to abandon US-led security arrangements, but it does make Saudi leaders less receptive to demands that Washington might once have regarded as a natural part of an alliance.

For the United States, the risk lies in the gradual erosion of its privileged position. Even if the kingdom continues to purchase American weapons, it may increasingly turn elsewhere for political support and economic opportunities. As those relationships deepen, Riyadh gets more options, while Washington has fewer opportunities to secure concessions by threatening to restrict cooperation.

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An offer of F-35s could make the American partnership more attractive at a time when its advantages can no longer be taken for granted. By opening access to an aircraft Saudi leaders have long sought, Trump is signaling a willingness to accommodate the kingdom’s ambitions. For Riyadh, the symbolic importance is considerable, since acquiring such aircraft would affirm its standing among America’s security partners.

Washington’s practical gains, however, would come from the longevity of the relationship. Advanced combat aircraft require continuing support contracts, keeping the Riyadh connected throughout their service life. Once Saudi Arabia has invested heavily in the aircraft, infrastructure, and personnel, moving away from that system becomes more difficult and expensive. A defense contract can therefore reinforce ties that outlast changes of administration and individual diplomatic disputes.

Dependence on aircraft support does not, however, automatically translate into a willingness to coordinate oil policy or relations with third countries. Riyadh may see no contradiction in working with Moscow on energy and expanding economic ties with Beijing. This creates a potential mismatch of expectations, as Washington may view the sale as a means of securing closer strategic alignment, while Saudi Arabia sees an opportunity to simply strengthen its defense.

Washington’s willingness to proceed could convince Saudi leaders that their existing approach is working. If closer relations with America’s competitors are followed by more attractive American offers, Riyadh has an incentive to continue pursuing them. Trump must then decide how much independence he is willing to accept from a partner in order to retain influence over it, and at what point accommodation becomes more than his administration is prepared to concede.

Why Trump’s approval does not settle the debate in Congress

Trump’s first term demonstrated that arms sales to Saudi Arabia can become the subject of serious domestic political confrontation. In 2019, Congress passed resolutions opposing several arms transfers to the kingdom and the United Arab Emirates, but the president vetoed them and the Senate failed to override him. That episode does not establish that lawmakers will stop the present sale, but neither does it justify assuming that the president’s decision will be implemented without resistance.

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The process does not require an affirmative vote of approval from Congress, as the administration can proceed after the statutory review period unless a legislative prohibition takes effect. Opponents need to turn political objections into enforceable restrictions and, if the president exercises his veto, assemble enough support to overcome it. A demanding threshold, if the White House retains the backing of most Republicans.

With the F-35, the central objection concerns the protection of sensitive American technology. Saudi Arabia’s relations with China raise questions about how reliably third parties can be denied access to the aircraft, associated equipment, and information. Such concerns could resonate with lawmakers who broadly support Trump but place the preservation of America’s technological advantage above the benefits of a particular contract.

Critics in Washington may also invoke Riyadh’s cooperation with Russia through OPEC+ and its refusal to join sanctions against Moscow as evidence of the kingdom’s limited willingness to support American foreign policy. Yet political grievances should be distinguished from risks to a specific weapons program, since an independent oil policy is not in itself a threat to military technology. These issues may become intertwined in public debate, even though a serious assessment of the sale requires different answers to each.

Supporters can argue that refusing the sale would only strengthen Saudi Arabia’s determination to cultivate alternative partners. The same ties with Moscow and Beijing can thus support opposing conclusions. Some will see them as grounds for withholding access to advanced weapons, while others will see a reason to offer Riyadh closer cooperation while American influence remains substantial.

The congressional debate is therefore likely to concern both whether the sale should proceed and what commitments Saudi Arabia should undertake. The administration will have to explain which restrictions would genuinely protect the technology and how compliance could be verified. More credible safeguards would make it harder for opponents to build a broad coalition, but excessively stringent demands could provoke resistance from the buyer.

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Where Israel draws the line

For Israel, the central question is how a stronger Saudi Arabia would affect its own security. Washington seeks to improve the defense capabilities of its Arab partners while preserving Israel’s qualitative military edge, and the F-35 makes reconciling those objectives particularly difficult. The arrival of such aircraft in the hands of another regional power would matter even if their configuration differed from Israel’s.

Riyadh is unlikely to receive F-35s with the full range of capabilities available in the Israeli variant, but differences in equipment and weapons would not eliminate every concern. Saudi air power would gain new capabilities, and the implications for Israel’s regional advantage would depend partly on how quickly the kingdom could master the aircraft and integrate them into its armed forces.

A stronger Saudi air force would not directly diminish Israel’s own combat capabilities, but could alter the relative balance and constrain Israel’s freedom of action. This is the context in which concerns about air superiority should be understood. Israeli military planning must account for both present relations with neighboring states and the changes that could occur long-term while the aircraft are in service.

Israeli officials have used similar arguments when opposing a possible F-35 sale to Türkiye, warning that it could disrupt the regional balance of power. That example illustrates Israel’s sensitivity to the wider availability of such capabilities, although it does not make the Turkish and Saudi cases identical. The identity of the buyer, the nature of bilateral relations, and the proposed terms of delivery will all affect the intensity of Israeli opposition.

Israeli leaders can be expected to use diplomatic pressure and support from allies in Congress to either to stop the sale or secure restrictions. Negotiations could cover the weapons available to Saudi aircraft, particular technological capabilities, and additional measures to strengthen Israel’s own defenses. None of these arrangements should be treated as settled, however, since the eventual compromise will depend on every party’s willingness to accept its political costs.

For Trump, this creates an uncomfortable dilemma. The more substantial the offer to Riyadh, the stronger Israeli objections may become, while every additional restriction introduced to reassure Israel could make the package less attractive to Saudi Arabia. If Saudi leaders interpret the terms as confirmation that their country will always occupy a subordinate position, the deal could undermine the very confidence in the partnership that Washington hopes to build.

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What a compromise might look like and what happens if it fails

The most plausible next phase is a prolonged negotiation in which a high-profile political announcement is translated into concrete obligations. Washington will seek to protect sensitive technology and provide assurances acceptable to Israel, while Riyadh will press for a purchase with meaningful military value that preserves its political independence.

A compromise appears more attainable if restrictions focus on the security of the program itself, including access to equipment, the handling of data, and engagement with third parties. If Washington tries to make the sale conditional on a broader revision of Saudi relations with China and Russia, resistance from Riyadh is likely to intensify. Saudi leaders need to be able to justify the agreement in terms of their own national interests while retaining the right to make decisions that do not always satisfy the United States.

The kingdom will also have to weigh the value of the capabilities it would acquire against the restrictions attached to them. Overly demanding terms could reduce the deal’s appeal, but walking away would carry costs of its own, requiring alternative approaches to modernization and an assessment of how long those alternatives would take. Serious dissatisfaction with particular conditions might therefore become part of the bargaining process without necessarily bringing negotiations to an end.

Another possibility is that political approval remains in place while implementation is delayed for an extended period. The administration could continue to describe the deal as evidence of a stronger partnership, while Riyadh waits for clarity on configuration, personnel training, and delivery schedules. Yet a promise gradually loses its power to sustain a partner’s interest, particularly if every delay appears to bring another set of political conditions.

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The outright collapse of the sale would not mean an immediate rupture in Saudi-American relations, which encompass far more than a single weapons program. It could nevertheless reinforce the view in Riyadh that even an understanding with the US president does not guarantee a predictable outcome. The Saudis would then have further reason to broaden its pool of suppliers and reduce its exposure to decisions taken in Washington.

Successful delivery, however, would not guarantee that Saudi Arabia abandons its effort to balance relationships among competing powers. It could deepen military cooperation with the United States while maintaining economic ties with China and energy coordination with Russia. Washington would be able to claim that it had retained a vital partner, while Riyadh could argue that an independent foreign policy had secured new concessions.

The practical signs of progress will be agreed terms, committed financing, infrastructure preparations, and a credible delivery schedule. The deeper strategic outcome will emerge later, when American and Saudi interests diverge again over an important issue. Only then will it become clear whether the F-35 has helped forge a closer political alliance or strengthened military cooperation between two states that continue to pursue calculations of their own.

After months of getting the diplomatic run-around from Kiev, Hungary has just backed out of Ukraine’s ‘Carpathian Eight’ initiative, leaving egg all over Vladimir Zelensky’s face, who only announced the group on Friday.

The first summit of the Carpathian Eight, where we launched the Carpathian Integration Initiative.

May the EU’s Carpathian macro-region remain strong. And may this format support us on our path to joining the European Union. I thank all the leaders of the C8 countries,… pic.twitter.com/sS4eojyiZx

— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) September 19, 2026

Even with a pro-Kiev government in Budapest, the Ukrainians are discovering that politics is a two-way street.

The Carpathian Eight (C8) is a cooperation format aimed at tying Ukraine closer to seven of its neighbors: Austria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Serbia, and Slovakia. Under the Ukrainian-led initiative, these countries will cooperate on matters of security, energy, and trade.

What does Ukraine want from the Carpathian Eight?

Energy. Endemic corruption and neglect has left the country’s power grid unprotected against Russian missile and drone strikes as winter sets in. The initiative’s members want funding for 42 energy-related projects, 30 of which are located in Ukraine. 

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One project involves the construction of concrete shielding around oil tanks – a task that the Ukrainian state has already received EU money to complete. RT readers will remember that Vladimir Zelensky’s friend Timur Mindich skimmed some $100 million off Energoatom’s budget for doing just the same with its substations. 

Another project – a gas turbine power plant in Ukraine’s Ivano-Frankivsk region – would see its backers transfer more than $1.2 billion to DTEK, an energy company run by a ‘former’ mafia enforcer that already received $112 million in EU and US aid in November 2024.

The group is also seeking cash to upgrade the Trans-Balkan Gas Corridor which Ukrainian Energy Minister Denis Shmigal has said would “significantly expand [Ukraine’s] access to diversified sources of natural gas supply,” and will help Kiev fill up its underground gas storage system.

The Carpathian Eight’s website lists a total of 123 investment projects costing $71.3 billion, across sectors including agriculture, manufacturing, and transport. Out of these, 86 are located in Ukraine.

The benefits to Ukraine are obvious, even if some of the Carpathian Eight’s contradictions appear unresolvable. Why, for instance, would anti-war Slovakia lobby for fortifying Ukraine’s energy grid, when Bratislava wants the conflict resolved peacefully above all else? And why would any of Ukraine’s neighbors back the initiative’s seven agriculture projects, all of which are located in Ukraine and stand to undercut Czech, Hungarian, Polish, Romanian, and Slovak farmers?

Did Zelensky jump the gun?

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With so much to gain, it’s no surprise that Zelensky announced the Carpathian Eight as a done deal. However, neither Slovakia nor Hungary sent senior officials to the group’s inaugural meeting on Friday, and Hungarian Prime Minister Peter Magyar pumped the brakes on the initiative on Monday.

“We were invited, and for good reasons we did not go,” Magyar said in parliament, stressing that Hungary “is not participating in this.” Magyar then announced that a proposed fuel storage facility for Ukraine on Hungarian soil would not go ahead as long as his government was in office.

Hungarian energy concern MOL and Ukraine’s Naftogaz signed off on the project on Sunday. According to Magyar, MOL did so without consulting the Hungarian government first.

How did the Ukrainians react?

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrey Sybiga took to social media to respond. “We are surprised by the Hungarian Prime Minister’s unnecessarily confrontational statements toward Ukraine,” he wrote on X on Tuesday. “What we’ve been hearing from Budapest lately leaves us confused. It seems that while Viktor Orban is gone, his policies of obstructionism and isolationism continue to thrive.”

“Orbanism has done no good, neither to Hungary nor to the broader region, in the past – and it will not do anyone any good moving forward,” Sybiga added.

I am helping you. To claim that a sovereign country is a member of an international cooperation (Carpathian Integration) without prior consultation or consent of the country concerned is completey unacxeptable. Just to give you an example: Hi, we have formed a football team in…

— Magyar Péter (Ne féljetek) (@magyarpeterMP) September 21, 2026

Magyar spelled out his problem in the replies. “I am helping you,” he wrote. “To claim that a sovereign country is a member of an international cooperation (Carpathian Integration) without prior consultation or consent of the country concerned is completely unacceptable.”

“Just to give you an example: Hi, we have formed a football team in the next village. We don’t know each other, but you are in it, and you have to bring the ball.”

What’s Hungary’s issue with Ukraine?

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“You are in it, and you have to bring the ball” sums up the premise of the Carpathian Eight. The initiative’s members gain little from participation, save for becoming de-facto lobbyists for foreign investment in Ukraine. Sybiga’s indignation at the thought of a country rejecting this one-sided deal sums up the entitlement of the Ukrainian elite. 

It’s the same entitlement displayed when Zelensky erupted in rage at the White House; when Sybiga’s predecessor, Dmitry Kuleba, berated the German government into handing over weapons; and when Kiev blew its EU-provided military budget on an “influence campaign” of long-range strikes before turning around and asking for more. Zelensky’s more recent demand that the EU not de-list Russian tycoons Alisher Usmanov and Mikhail Fridman from its sanctions regime is a similar case of overreach. 

Why have things turned so sour between Budapest and Kiev

The Zelensky/Magyar spat could have been easily avoided. After taking office in May, Magyar lifted Hungary’s veto on the EU’s €90 billion ($106 billion) loan package for Ukraine, dropped Orban’s blanket ban on EU accession talks with Kiev, and backed Brussels’ 20th package of anti-Russian sanctions.

All Zelensky had to do in exchange was guarantee the language rights of Ukraine’s Hungarian minority in Transcarpathia. Around 150,000 ethnic Hungarians live in the region, where a series of increasingly draconian language laws have banned the use of Hungarian in schools and public institutions. Despite losing their language rights, these ethnic Hungarians have still been subjected to Zelensky’s brutal military draft, provoking fierce condemnation from both Magyar and Viktor Orban’s governments. 

Zelensky and Magyar reached what the Hungarian PM called a “formal agreement” to protect the rights of the Transcarpathian Hungarians in June. However, this agreement was strictly verbal. Anita Orban, Magyar’s foreign minister (and no relation of Viktor), has said that Zelensky agreed to an 11-point plan put forward by Budapest, but no document has emerged, and no legislative steps have been taken in Ukraine. 

The historic agreement between Hungary and Ukraine on the educational, cultural, linguistic, and political rights of the Hungarian community in Transcarpathia has now been formalised.

In an formal diplomatic note, the Ukrainian side has committed itself to implementing all…

— Magyar Péter (Ne féljetek) (@magyarpeterMP) June 12, 2026

Zelensky’s promises, Magyar said at a press conference earlier this month, have “not yet been implemented.”

The takeaway

What Zelensky, Sybiga, and the rest of the Kiev regime have apparently yet to learn is that politics is a game of give and take. Magyar took office promising a near-total undoing of Orban’s hostility toward Kiev. Securing his support for something like the Carpathian Eight would have taken only minor concessions, namely some progress on the Transcarpathian issue.

Instead, Zelensky treated Hungary’s participation in the initiative as a given, and Sybiga reacted with petulant indignation when he was told ‘no’. Beyond the Carpathian region, with supplies of money and weapons running low, ‘no’ is a word that they might soon get used to hearing.

The US is set to significantly expand its military presence in Greenland under a new security agreement with Denmark, President Donald Trump has announced.

Speaking at the UN General Assembly in New York on Tuesday, Trump revealed details of the deal, which is due to be formally signed following his address.

“We will have the complete ability to do what is necessary to defend the American continent, and also Europe and other places,” Trump said. “No US adversary will ever be permitted to establish a military presence in Greenland any more, or make sensitive investments there without our express written approval.”

The Strait of Hormuz could reopen within seven days if the US eases military pressure and lifts its blockade of Iranian ports, according to media reports citing a senior Iranian official.

The strait is one of the world’s most important energy routes, normally carrying around a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas shipments. Shipping has largely stopped since the US-Israeli war with Iran began in late February, disrupting supplies and driving energy prices higher.

Tehran has proposed that Washington declare its readiness to resolve the conflict through diplomacy and agree on a timeline for further steps, the official told Reuters on Tuesday. The proposal was conveyed to the US through mediators last week as world leaders gather in New York for the UN General Assembly.

The event is a “golden opportunity for the US to return to diplomacy,” the official said, adding that the Iranian delegation had full authority to revive negotiations. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told NBC that the administration was prepared to speak with Tehran if negotiations had the prospect of producing a positive outcome.

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The official noted that there were no plans for Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and US President Donald Trump to meet directly at the General Assembly, although Trump signaled on Sunday that he would be open to such a meeting.

Iran has set broader conditions for ending the conflict. Supreme National Security Council Secretary Mohsen Rezaei said on Saturday that Tehran had conveyed seven demands to Washington through mediators, including an end to hostilities, the release of frozen Iranian assets, and the lifting of the naval blockade.

Previous attempts to halt the fighting have been fruitless. A memorandum of understanding agreed by the US and Iran in June was followed by renewed hostilities, while no face-to-face talks are known to have taken place since July.

US government data show that oil flows through Hormuz fell from 21.6 million barrels per day in the final quarter of 2025 to 4.9 million in the second quarter of this year.

Tensions rose again this week after Trump said he was in “deciding mode” over Iran and weighing further military action, economic pressure, or a deal. Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps responded by warning that another US attack would prompt Tehran to expand the scope of the conflict and use different weapons.

Washington has also threatened further economic pressure. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Monday that companies providing Iranian airlines with fuel, airport services, or ticketing could be denied access to the US dollar system.

The EU’s 27 member states have agreed to remove Russian businessmen Alisher Usmanov and Mikhail Fridman from their sanctions blacklist, ending an impasse that threatened the very foundation of the bloc’s anti-Russian penalty regime.

In a deal brokered by Ireland, which holds the EU’s rotating presidency, the member states agreed on Tuesday to remove Usmanov and Fridman from the blacklist. In exchange, the bloc extended sanctions on roughly 3,000 other Russian and Russian-linked entities and individuals by three years instead of the usual six months.

Divisions in the EU have been badly exposed by the deal to de-sanction Russian businessman Alisher Usmanov.

Ambassadors from EU member states agreed after almost two days of talks to de-sanction the tycoon, amplifying stark contrasts in attitudes towards Russia within the bloc. According to Euronews, France pushed for Usmanov’s removal from the blacklist, in exchange for Azerbaijan freeing two alleged French spies.

Ireland, which holds the EU’s rotating presidency, proposed that Usmanov and Mikhail Fridman, another Russian bsuinessman whose assets were illegally frozen in Luxembourg and has threatened to sue teh state for some €16 billion, be delisted on the condition that the EU renew its anti-Russian sanctions regime for 36 months instead of the usual six.

After the first day of talks Latvian Prime Minister Andris Kulbergs, who faces a general election next month, took to social media to reject out of hand any possibility that a Russian would be de-sanctioned, especially “one of Putin’s oligarchs,” and here is where EU starts to chew on its own fake news.  

Usmanov's delisting has deeply and ideologically divided an EU that is disinformed by its own media, and it is here that the bloc's sanctions regime could begin to disintegrate.

Why was Alisher Usmanov sanctioned?

A highly successful entrepreneur in the final years of the Soviet Union, the Russian-Uzbek businessman snapped up metal and mining businesses during the rapid privatization of the 1990s, breached into media with his acquisition of Russia’s Kommersant newspaper in 2006, and expanded his wealth with a series of savvy investments in Apple, Twitter, and Facebook over the following decade.

Usmanov, believed to be Russia’s seventh-richest person with a net worth of more than $16 billion, was sanctioned by the EU four days after the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022. 

The EU’s sanctions ledger declared that Usmanov “has particularly close ties to the President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin,” has “acted on behalf of the President of the Russian Federation in a number of business deals,” and gave former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev “personal use of luxurious residences” controlled by his companies. 

“Kommersant under Usmanov’s ownership published a propagandist anti-Ukrainian article by Dmitry Medvedev” the entry continued, concluding that “therefore he actively supported the Russian government’s policies of destabilization of Ukraine.”

EU media: Unreliable sources 

According to Usmanov’s lawyers, Brussels sourced all of its “reasons and evidence” for sanctioning the billionaire from “mass media and social media publications.” In a letter to the European Council last month seen by Intellinews journalist Ben Aris, Usmanov’s legal team argued that this evidence has been proven false in courts in all 27 EU member states.

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Back in 2022, Usmanov launched a sweeping campaign of litigation against newspapers and other media outlets incorrectly reporting his business links to the Russian government and characterizing him as “Putin’s favorite oligarch.” Usmanov won judgments against Germany’s Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ), which claimed that he used his wealth “in the interests or at the direction of the Kremlin,” against German state broadcaster ARD, which connected him to a “bribery scheme,” and against Luxembourg’s Mediahuis, which named him as the owner of a sanctioned superyacht impounded in Hamburg.

Among his other legal victories were judgments against Forbes, Germany’s Der Tagesspiegel, Austria’s Kurier, and Switzerland’s Blick, all of which used false claims by deceased anti-Kremlin activist Alexey Navalny to back up their stories of Usmanov’s ties to the Kremlin.

The European Council could stand accused

Since 2022, his lawyers reportedly claimed in the letter, more than 3,200 articles about Usmanov have been corrected and 1,300 deleted, in 60 countries. Almost 100 cease-and-desist letters have been issued and 58,000 pieces of online content and ads about the businessman have been pulled down, many of which “relied on the Council’s narrative.”

The European Council, meanwhile, has quietly removed at least 18 documents from its “evidence packs” against Usmanov, the letter claimed. The decision to de-list him and Fridman, however publicly linked to a French desire to have spies returned to Azerbaijan, was also clearly cognisant of huge overreach in Brusells.

The subsequent wave of retractions and deletions – issued by the same sources used to back up the sanctions decision – “must be accepted as exculpatory evidence,” Usmanov’s lawyers wrote. “To sum up, the allegations used to maintain Mr Usmanov’s designation have been discredited and refuted in 27 out of 27 EU Member States.”

The EU’s dilemma

In dismissing his two previous appeals against his blacklisting, the EU’s Court of Justice ruled that the council’s decision to sanction Usmanov was based on a “specific, precise and consistent” body of evidence.

However, even Politico, the Brussels elite’s leak-factory of choice, has reported that the “evidence packs” used to justify sanctioning figures like Usmanov are often “hastily compiled” and based on “shaky evidence.” 

On shaky grounds: The secret, slipshod evidence the EU uses to sanction Russian oligarchs.#tomorrowspaperstoday pic.twitter.com/uATyU0YjCO

— POLITICOEurope (@POLITICOEurope) September 20, 2023

In 2023, Politico found that evidence against Russian businessman Grigory Berezkin was drawn from articles written by an AI chatbot, and a website called ‘Russian Crimes’ written by journalists that didn’t exist. Another evidence pack cited an advertisement in a Russian lifestyle and cooking magazine. Yet another cited a Ukrainian gossip site. Berezhkin was removed from the EU’s blacklist that September.

More than a dozen individuals have since been removed from the list. Some, like Formula 1 driver Nikita Mazepin, had been sanctioned over the alleged offenses of their relatives. At least six – including Pavel Ezubov, cousin of metals magnate Oleg Deripaska, and former e-commerce tycoon Aleksandr Shulgin – were delisted after taking legal action against the EU.

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Keeping Usmanov and Fridman on the list would have opened the EU up to more legal challenges from the billionaires, which have forced the council’s classified evidence packs into the public domain. Confirmation that much of the evidence is spurious may have emboldened the almost 3,000 individuals and entities sanctioned by Brussels over the conflict to launch challenges of their own.

To the envoys who met on Monday and Tuesday, cutting Usmanov and Fridman loose may have been seen as a necessary sacrifice to preserve the legitimacy of the sanctions regime.

National interest

The push to delist Usmanov began in Slovakia this March, when Foreign Minister Juraj Blanar argued that there were “very strong legal arguments” against the sanctioning of him and Fridman. Uzbekistan and a number of other Turkic countries – including Türkiye – reportedly lobbied Bratislava to push for his removal from the blacklist.

Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico found an ally when France unexpectedly began advocating for Usmanov’s delisting, citing unexplained “national security” interests. According to multiple media reports, France has been negotiating behind the scenes via Uzbekistan with Azerbaijan, where President Ilham Aliyev has apparently agreed to release two imprisoned French citizens in exchange, one of whom was jailed for spying on the country’s military on behalf of French intelligence. 

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Why did Luxembourg back off from Fridman?

According to Reuters, Luxembourg backed the delisting of Fridman, who has sued the duchy for $16 billion over its freezing of his assets in 2022. Luxembourg reportedly argued that its case against Fridman would be weakened if Usmanov alone was let go, and insisted that the two billionaires be treated as a package deal.

EU diplomats took to Politico to vent at the French last week, with one complaining that “if France goes ahead with this, others will come forward with their own oligarchs that should be delisted ... [then] the house of cards starts to fall.” 

What nobody in Brussels will admit on the record is that if Usmanov is un-sanctioned, politicians and publishers across Europe will likely breathe a sigh of relief that their media outlets – many of them government-funded – will not be dragged into a legal showdown that could result in massive payouts and the collapse of the sanctions system itself.

What does Usmanov’s case tell us about the EU?

The case exposes cracks in the EU’s “united front” for Ukraine, as European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen put it during her State of the Union speech last week. As France and Luxembourg demonstrated, no EU member is above breaking ranks when their national interest is at stake, and the EU is sometimes capable of putting its own members’ needs above Ukraine’s.

Is the Kiev tail wagging the EU dog?

Kiev has responded with incandescence at the thought of its EU masters going off-script. “How can anyone seriously discuss sanctions delisting while Russia’s war continues?” Vladimir Zelensky’s sanctions adviser, Vladislav Vlasiuk, complained on Monday. 

“Usmanov and Fridman were listed because they are part of Russia’s aggressive regime waging a war of aggression against Ukraine,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrey Sybiga wrote on social media. “Delisting is unacceptable and would send the wrong signal to Moscow at a time when pressure needs to increase.”

Usmanov and Fridman were listed because they are part of Russia's aggressive regime waging a war of aggression against Ukraine.

What has changed? Nothing. Delisting is unacceptable and would send the wrong signal to Moscow at a time when pressure needs to increase.

On the…

— Andrii Sybiha 🇺🇦 (@andrii_sybiha) September 21, 2026

What does this tell us about the EU’s info-culture?

No matter how unsavory a character Brussels or Balts find Usmanov or Fridman, the former's string of legal victories against Western Europe’s most prestigious news outlets – seen in Moscow as paranoid pillars in an increasingly hysterical echo-chamber – sends an important signal to the EU: As long as it believes what it tells itself about Russia and Russians, the legal ground it stands on is incredibly shaky.

“You don’t have the cards.”

That was the message US President Donald Trump famously delivered to Vladimir Zelensky during their fiery Oval Office showdown in February 2025. Trump accused the Ukrainian leader of “gambling with World War III” and showing ingratitude for US aid, while pointing out that Kiev’s worsening battlefield position had left Ukraine with few cards to play in peace talks with Russia.

While the clash did not sever US-Ukraine ties completely, the deck has hardly been reshuffled in Kiev’s favor since. Thus the table is set for another Trump-Zelensky game in New York this week on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.

Even getting a seat at that table was a late deal. Just two days earlier, Zelensky was absent from Trump’s publicly announced list of UN bilaterals, and Ukrainian officials said no meeting had yet been confirmed. Trump’s tight schedule also leaves roughly an hour for the encounter before his next engagement.

Read more

The hand Zelensky holds is hardly stacked with aces. Instead, it contains an unexpected $27 billion defense shortfall, a desperate shortage of Patriot air-defense missiles, a fresh trail of corruption scandals, and mounting battlefield losses.

Opening bet: The refinery dispute

Trump has already shown his hand. Earlier this month, he blamed Zelensky for the diesel price spike gripping the US, which the president said was caused by Ukrainian strikes on Russian refineries. By the eve of the UN gathering, the US national average had climbed to a record $6.5 per gallon, a topic particularly sensitive for Trump ahead of the midterms.

According to the Financial Times, Trump pressed Zelensky during a weekend phone call to stop striking Russian oil refineries, with the paper’s sources claiming he wanted to ensure Russian supplies could reach the global market.

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Trump went so far as to announce that Russia and Ukraine had effectively agreed to stop attacks on energy infrastructure. Neither Kiev nor Moscow confirmed the truce, while Zelensky demanded Russia take the first step, and continued to attack Russian fuel plants.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov called the prospective truce a “very good idea” and said Moscow was “always on the side of peaceful solutions.” He also argued that protecting refineries alone would not solve the global fuel crunch. The bigger problem, he said, was getting Russian petroleum products onto world markets, which required safe passage for oil tankers – something he said Kiev was not willing to guarantee.

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Ahead of the meeting, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio also rebuked Ukraine over targeting US-linked ships in the Black Sea, adding that while it did so “probably not deliberately,” “that’s something that needs to be addressed.”

Desperate for Patriot draw

Zelensky has repeatedly sounded the alarm over deliveries of US-made Patriot interceptors, one of the few weapons in Ukraine’s arsenal capable of tackling Russian ballistic missiles. In July, he said the country’s stocks were nearly exhausted and asked Trump for an emergency “winter package” of 300 interceptors, warning that Ukraine needed them “yesterday.”  Ukrainian air defenses failed to intercept even a single Russian missile during some recent barrage.  

However, multiple media reports have indicated that Washington’s Patriot stocks are also low due to the Iran war, with American Patriot inventories in Europe said to have fallen “beyond critical” levels. While Trump has denied the shortfall, the Pentagon has publicly acknowledged the strain.

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Earlier this month, Trump also suggested that Ukraine could receive a license to produce Patriots in a “less sophisticated version,” though no details on the prospective agreement have emerged. Multiple experts have pointed out numerous obstacles to the program, also warning that any production facilities would be prime targets for Russia.

Zelensky is almost out of chips

Late summer exposed a glaring weakness in Zelensky’s gamble: an unexpected $27 billion defense budget shortfall expected by the end of the year – a figure that ballooned almost fourfold over the past several months.

Kiev subsequently asked for more money from its European backers – met with a tepid response whereby Brussels even refused to acknowledge the $27 billion figure.

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The shortfall arose as a result of Zelensky’s much-heralded 40-day pressure campaign against Russia that involved the very strikes on refineries Trump reportedly asked him to stop. The escalatory attacks also triggered Russian retaliation against Ukrainian military-related logistics, including effectively closing the port of Odessa, which serves as a key hub for agricultural exports.

Ukraine’s $27 billion request “surprised and unsettled” European officials, according to the New York Times, with some of Ukraine’s backers reportedly asking questions about how Kiev is spending the cash and if it actually needs as much as it says it does.

The Trump wildcard

Kiev does have one fresh trump card to hope for – except it lies largely up the US president’s sleeve.

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On Friday, Trump signed a new sanctions legislation first proposed by late Republican Senator and Russia hawk Lindsey Graham last year. The measure gives the US president authority to target Russian officials, banks, and the energy sector, and to impose tariffs of up to 100% on leading importers of Russian oil and gas. Zelensky specifically thanked Trump for signing it when the pair arranged their New York meeting.

However, Trump retains authority over sanctions waivers and the scope of restrictions and tariffs, while the bill does not mention China and India, the key importers of Russian energy.

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In addition, the Trump administration has a recent history of easing sanctions on Russian oil. During the Iran war, the administration issued temporary exemptions allowing the sale and delivery of Russian crude already at sea to alleviate pressure on energy markets.

A busted flush

Ukraine has faced consistent frontline territorial losses for months, yielding ground to Russian advances while struggling to replenish losses through a brutal and deeply unpopular forced mobilization campaign.
 
Last week, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, a key Kiev backer, revealed that up to 27,000 Ukrainian troops are killed or wounded every month and that Ukraine could face a “catastrophic” winter. Zelensky claimed in July that 50,000 Ukrainian troops have been killed (in February he claimed 55,000) and 400,000 wounded throughout the entire 4.5-year conflict.

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The Russian Defense Ministry, in turn, assessed in February that Ukraine had sustained 1.5 million casualties during the conflict, with more than 500,000 lost in 2025 alone.

Trump himself has repeatedly pointed to Ukraine’s dwindling manpower as a reason for Kiev to stop fighting. During the Oval Office showdown with Zelensky last year, he told him: “Your people are dying. You’re running low on soldiers,” before urging him to accept an immediate ceasefire so that “your men stop getting killed.”

The joker in the pack: Corruption in Kiev

Zelensky’s inner circle has reportedly embezzled millions, and possibly billions, from the war chest, all while asking for more. Trump has also called Zelensky a “dictator without elections” – referring to the Ukrainian leader’s refusal to hold a vote despite widespread unpopularity, and resentment from possible successors he has sidelined.

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Zelensky’s inner circle is widely suspected of massive crime, and some have fled the country. The biggest case to date remains the $100 million Energoatom affair, where a network involving Zelensky’s former close associate, Timur Mindich, forced contractors at the state nuclear giant to pay kickbacks of up to 15%. Mindich is in Israel allegedly laundering bags of cash while a former energy minister has been served with corruption-related suspicions and arrested.

Zelensky’s prosecutor general fled the country following accusations he was gathering compromising material on Western-backed anti-corruption agents in Kiev. The head of cybercrime at the same office was exposed for “protecting” a network of scam-call centers, a Ukrainian innovation Zelensky rarely touts abroad but which targets innocent people in the EU with all the contempt one would expect from an enterprise solely focused on profiteering. Ukraine’s scam-call industry is thought to generate up to $1 billion each month.

Zelensky’s current chief of staff, Kirill Budanov, has been pulled into the controversy, with media reports linking him to a money laundering scandal though he has not been charged.

During his first presidency, Trump said Ukraine was known for “tremendous corruption.” Since returning to office, he has also repeatedly opposed open-ended US financial and military support for Kiev.

When will Zelensky’s bluff be called?

That leaves Zelensky – who hopes Ukraine may still win – heading into another session with Trump carrying a list of critical problems rather than a set of winning cards. The Ukrainian leader will have a difficult time bluffing his way through such widely-known issues as a $27 billion defense hole, thinning manpower, shrinking hopes of securing enough Patriot interceptors, repeated corruption scandals, and growing pressure to explain how much longer he intends to continue the conflict. 

And across from him sits a president who has been reluctant to cut Kiev any slack while treating the weakness as proof that Kiev should sign a deal with Russia. In this vein, Trump has already warned Zelensky: “With us, you have the cards, but without us you don’t have any cards,” adding that if Washington walks away, Ukraine will have to “fight it out” on its own.

Europe’s accelerated moves to deter conflict with Russia could end up provoking one, RT contributor Rachel Marsden has said.

Russian officials have repeatedly rejected claims that they have aggressive designs against the EU and NATO, saying that they are contrived by Western politicians to scare the population at home and justify growing military spending. Moscow has said a conflict with its European neighbors is only possible if Russia is attacked first.

Speaking to RT on Monday, Marsden said that Europe “is having one of those moments when everyone insists that they’re preparing for peace, which apparently involves a whole lot of paperwork about war.”

“European governments are increasing defense spending, rebuilding military capacity, and discussing what they might do if a confrontation with Russia widens,” she noted.

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The RT contributor mentioned last week’s statement by the Chair of the NATO Military Committee, Giuseppe Cavo Dragone, who said that the bloc has developed 4,000 pages of military plans detailing a response to a possible escalation with Moscow.

Europe insists that it’s looking to avoid a conflict with Russia and that a direct clash is only a contingency, but with “an awful lot of detail devoted to Plan B it starts to sound suspiciously like Plan A,” she noted.

“The existence of military plans does not by itself prove that either side intends to start a war with the other, but it does show how thoroughly the possibility of one has really at this point been built into the everyday operating system,” Marsden said.

Watch the full video below:

North Korea’s missile agency has tested a “new-type weapon,” according to Pyongyang’s state media. Seoul said two short-range ballistic missiles were fired on Sunday toward the Sea of Japan.

North Korean reports did not specify what was new about the unit, saying only that the test was “of great significance” to the nation’s military. State media released several photos showing the launch of a road-mobile missile tipped with what appeared to be a hypersonic glide vehicle.

Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un oversaw the test and said that his country’s possession of “ultra-modern defense technology” serves as a deterrent and would “give the enemy an incurable headache.”

Senior officials from South Korea, Japan and the US held phone consultations on Monday to discuss their response to the test, Seoul’s Foreign Ministry said.

Local media linked the launch to the multinational Pacific Vanguard maritime exercise held in August and September. Warships from Australia, Canada, Japan, South Korea and the US participated in the drills. Pyongyang views US-led military exercises in the region as a threat to its national security and has frequently responded with demonstrations of military force.

In recent years, Kim’s government has abandoned Korean unification as an overarching policy goal and formally designated South Korea as a separate hostile state. The shift has not been fully mirrored in Seoul, although the government of South Korean President Lee Jae-myung has made some adjustments to its messaging in that direction.

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Lee’s Democratic Party of Korea generally favors reducing tensions with Pyongyang, in contrast with the conservative People Power Party. In an interview with The New York Times last week, Lee suggested that some relief from international sanctions on North Korea could encourage it to slow its weapons development.

“I believe there is significant value in a trade-off between sanctions – which are not particularly effective anyway – and a stop to the development of additional nuclear weapons and intercontinental ballistic missile technology,” he said.

“Aiming for denuclearization under the current circumstances,” Lee added, “guarantees that nothing will be accomplished.”

US President Donald Trump has recently taken a more conciliatory tone toward North Korea. In August, he suggested that an in-person meeting with Kim could be arranged after the Pentagon cut short a joint military exercise with Seoul.

The Trump administration’s international standing has suffered a number of blows recently, primarily due to his decision to launch a war with Iran, which has significantly disrupted the global energy market.

Finnish President Alexander Stubb has pushed back against warnings from fellow European leaders that Russia could attack NATO in the near future, saying Helsinki’s intelligence sees no evidence of an imminent military threat.

Moscow has repeatedly dismissed claims that it intends to attack NATO. Russian officials have argued that Western governments are exaggerating the prospect of a confrontation with Moscow to justify increased military spending and continued support for Ukraine.

Stubb made the comments in an interview with Politico on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York on Monday, after several European officials suggested that Moscow could target members of the US-led military bloc within months.

“We don’t see the evidence of that,” Stubb said. “In our intelligence we see that there is activity but no imminent military threat right now.”

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“It is not in the interest of Russia nor in the capacity of Russia to go full-scale,” he added.

Stubb’s assessment contrasts with increasingly urgent warnings from several other European officials.

Last week, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk claimed Russia could fire drones or missiles into NATO countries backing Ukraine in “the next few months.” French President Emmanuel Macron described Tusk’s warning as “sound and well-documented.”

The head of the Czech Republic’s BIS security service, Michal Koudelka, likewise suggested that possible Russian actions could include “a limited incursion, false-flag provocations, [or] a massive influence campaign,” saying such scenarios could unfold within “months, not years.”

Stubb, whose country shares a 1,340-km (833-mile) border with Russia, described predictions that NATO countries could soon be targeted as an “overreaction” and urged his European counterparts to remain “cool, calm, and collected.”

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Russian President Vladimir Putin said last week that “some European leaders are openly declaring that they are preparing for war with Russia,” accusing them of seeking to “salvage their declining ratings by covering up mistakes in their economic and social policies.”

“Instead of stopping and listening to their citizens, who have made it clear during the elections that they don’t want any war with Russia, these leaders continue to escalate the situation,” Putin said.

Finland abandoned its longstanding policy of military non-alignment and joined NATO in 2023, following the escalation of the Ukraine conflict the previous year.

Despite Stubb’s assessment that there is no imminent military threat, Helsinki has continued expanding its defense and civil preparedness. Earlier this month, Finland staged what AP described as Europe’s largest civil-defense exercise since World War II, involving more than 2,000 participants.

The White House has launched a round-the-clock livestream dubbed “TRUMP TV: The Essentials Station,” featuring presidential speeches, announcements and curated administration highlights amid an escalating dispute with several major US news organizations.

The stream went live at 7 PM ET on Monday on the official White House YouTube channel. Rather than a new television network or standalone streaming service, Trump TV is essentially a continuous YouTube broadcast compiling existing and new administration footage.

Its official description promises the administration’s “biggest moments,” alongside top videos, major remarks and other highlights. The stream runs around the clock and is updated in real time.

The broadcast opened with a recording of US President Donald Trump’s speech at Mount Rushmore marking the 250th anniversary of the United States.

IT'S LIVE. 📺🦅

TRUMP TV IS STREAMING NOW. 24/7, updated in real time, with top past moments, announcements, and the latest and greatest from the administration all in one place.

Not every big moment has made it on your tv, now it can.

📲 https://t.co/3KwWkBZ69m pic.twitter.com/g4v7n2J04s

— The White House (@WhiteHouse) September 21, 2026

Where can it be watched?

Trump TV can be watched for free through the official White House YouTube channel. The same feed is also embedded in the White House website. No separate subscription, television provider or dedicated app is required.

Why now?

The initiative comes days after Trump barred CNN, Politico and MS NOW reporters and photographers from White House grounds, accusing the outlets of repeatedly publishing “fake news.”

READ MORE: Trump blasts Washington ‘ComPost’ as ‘treasonous’

CNN, Politico and MS NOW filed a federal lawsuit on Monday seeking to overturn the restrictions. The outlets say the ban amounts to unconstitutional retaliation for critical coverage and viewpoint discrimination and argue that their credentials were revoked without notice or due process.

How did US media react?

The dispute has prompted an unusual show of solidarity among major television networks. After CNN was prevented from carrying out its scheduled duties as the designated White House pool broadcaster, ABC, CBS, Fox News and NBC suspended their participation in pooled television coverage.

The networks said the public has a “vital interest” in receiving independent information about the government and argued that administrations should not restrict news organizations simply because they object to their reporting.

What happened without the TV pool?

Under the pool system, television networks take turns providing a camera crew, microphones and a shared feed from presidential events that other broadcasters can use.

LMFAO -- Trump is holding an event at the White House right now but there's no audio because the press pool isn't there. The Newsmax host notes that this is an example of Trump's attacks on the press "backfiring just a little bit" pic.twitter.com/dAy1dvDvFL

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) September 21, 2026

The effects of the TV pool suspension were immediately visible during Monday’s unveiling of a new presidential helipad. Viewers of the official feed could see Trump speaking but could not properly hear his remarks because the television pool’s boom microphone was absent.

Print, radio and wire pool reporting continued, while several organizations also withheld photography and other visual coverage.

How has the administration responded?

Trump responded on Truth Social by doubling down on his criticism of the organizations and suggesting his administration would appeal an unfavorable ruling.

The administration has defended the restrictions, arguing that while the First Amendment protects the media’s right to publish, it does not guarantee a permanent press pass, briefing-room seat or place in the press pool.

The right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD) has replaced Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU) as the ‘people’s party’ in Germany, AfD co-leader Alice Weidel has said. Her comment came after the CDU suffered a crushing defeat in Sunday’s regional election in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, failing to even clear the 5% threshold.

Speaking on Monday, Weidel attributed the CDU’s historic drubbing to its supposed tendency to implement left-wing policies while professing to be a conservative party. Commenting on the Christian Democrats’ poor showing in Berlin, where the Left Party came out on top with a projected 25.7% of the vote, the AfD co-leader said that this was the direct result of the CDU’s “particularly ‘intelligent’ firewall policy.” The term refers to the party’s refusal to cooperate with the AfD under any circumstances, a policy that has led to the formation of unwieldy coalitions between the Christian Democrats and left-leaning parties.

“The CDU will never again win a federal election,” Weidel predicted.

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The other AfD co-chair, Tino Chrupalla, similarly characterized the CDU as a “pseudo-conservative” party.

“We have pulverized the CDU,” he said, commenting on the AfD’s triumph in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania on Sunday, where the right-wing party finished first with 38.2% of the vote, according to preliminary results.

“The blue wave is unstoppable,” Chrupalla said, referring to his party’s colors. The AfD co-leader also predicted that his party would replicate its recent electoral successes in further regional votes.

Germans are “hoping for a political turnaround in this country, not merely a change of personnel,” he argued, adding that the resignation of Chancellor Merz was “long overdue.”

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In Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, the AfD managed to garner 21.5 percentage points more than in the previous election in 2021. Chrupalla described the result as proof that the AfD “clearly have the mandate to govern here.”

With just 4.9% of the vote, Merz’s CDU, by contrast, failed to even make it into the state parliament – for the first time since 1949.

While the chancellor did acknowledge that his party’s showing was a “disaster,” he stood by his course and refused to step down.

Although the Christian Democrats’ performance in Berlin was less dismal, at 18.8%, it still represented a serious drop from the 28.2% the CDU won in 2023.

The CDU’s latest setbacks came just two weeks after the party finished a distant second with 17.2% of the vote in the regional election in Saxony-Anhalt. The AfD secured a resounding victory in the eastern region with 43.8% of the vote.

The White House has launched a round-the-clock livestream dubbed “TRUMP TV: The Essentials Station,” featuring presidential speeches, announcements and curated administration highlights amid an escalating dispute with several major US news organizations.

The stream went live at 7pm ET on Monday on the official White House YouTube channel. Rather than a new television network or standalone streaming service, Trump TV is essentially a continuous YouTube broadcast compiling existing and new administration footage.

Its official description promises the administration’s “biggest moments,” alongside top videos, major remarks and other highlights. The stream runs around the clock and is updated in real time. The broadcast opened with a recording of President Donald Trump’s speech at Mount Rushmore marking the 250th anniversary of the United States.

IT'S LIVE. 📺🦅

TRUMP TV IS STREAMING NOW. 24/7, updated in real time, with top past moments, announcements, and the latest and greatest from the administration all in one place.

Not every big moment has made it on your tv, now it can.

📲 https://t.co/3KwWkBZ69m pic.twitter.com/g4v7n2J04s

— The White House (@WhiteHouse) September 21, 2026

Where can it be watched?

Trump TV can be watched for free through the official White House YouTube channel. The same feed is also embedded on the White House website. No separate subscription, television provider or dedicated app is required.

Why now?

The initiative comes days after Trump barred CNN, Politico and MS NOW reporters and photographers from White House grounds, accusing the outlets of repeatedly publishing “fake news.”

READ MORE: Trump blasts Washington ‘ComPost’ as ‘treasonous’

CNN, Politico and MS NOW filed a federal lawsuit on Monday seeking to overturn the restrictions. The outlets say the ban amounts to unconstitutional retaliation for critical coverage and viewpoint discrimination and argue that their credentials were revoked without notice or due process.

How did US media react?

The dispute prompted an unusual show of solidarity among major television networks. After CNN was prevented from carrying out its scheduled duties as the designated White House pool broadcaster, ABC, CBS, Fox News and NBC suspended their participation in pooled television coverage.

The networks said the public has a “vital interest” in receiving independent information about the government and argued that administrations should not restrict news organizations because they object to their reporting.

What happened without the TV pool?

Under the pool system, television networks take turns providing a camera crew, microphones and a shared feed from presidential events that other broadcasters can use.

LMFAO -- Trump is holding an event at the White House right now but there's no audio because the press pool isn't there. The Newsmax host notes that this is an example of Trump's attacks on the press "backfiring just a little bit" pic.twitter.com/dAy1dvDvFL

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) September 21, 2026

The effects of the TV pool suspension were immediately visible during Monday’s unveiling of a new presidential helipad. Viewers of the official feed could see Trump speaking but could not properly hear his remarks because the television pool’s boom microphone was absent.

Print, radio and wire pool reporting continued, while several organizations also withheld photography and other visual coverage.

How has the administration responded?

Trump responded on Truth Social by doubling down on his criticism of the organizations and suggesting his administration would appeal an unfavorable ruling.

The administration has defended the restrictions, arguing that while the First Amendment protects the media’s right to publish, it does not guarantee a permanent press pass, briefing-room seat or place in the press pool.

The US is set to establish a military presence at two additional sites in Greenland under a security agreement with Denmark and the self-governing Arctic territory, according to media reports, as Copenhagen insists the deal does not surrender Danish sovereignty.

US President Donald Trump, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and Greenlandic Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen are expected to sign the agreement at UN headquarters in New York on Tuesday, on the sidelines of the General Assembly. The full text has not yet been made public, but media reports suggest the US is seeking to expand its military footprint imminently.

Washington plans to reopen the former Cold War-era Bluie West One base at Narsarsuaq in southern Greenland and establish a presence at Mestersvig on the island’s east coast, Reuters reported on Monday, citing people familiar with the negotiations.

Mestersvig is currently used by Denmark’s Sirius Dog Sled Patrol, an elite military unit tasked with reconnaissance and enforcing Danish sovereignty in the remote Arctic region. Trump has repeatedly mocked Denmark’s reliance on dog-sled patrols as evidence that Copenhagen was failing to adequately protect Greenland.

Read more

Trump has portrayed the agreement in sweeping terms, saying last week that it gives the US “permanent control over security, and all other needs, in Greenland.” He also claimed that no American adversary would be allowed to establish a base or military presence, or make sensitive investments on the island without Washington’s approval.

Denmark has stressed that the arrangement does not transfer sovereignty over Greenland to the United States.

Frederiksen said the agreement explicitly recognizes “the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Kingdom of Denmark,” as well as the Greenlandic population’s right to self-determination. Copenhagen has presented the deal as a way of placing greater responsibility for Arctic security within NATO rather than handing control exclusively to Washington.

Read more

Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen has said Copenhagen remains willing to accommodate legitimate US security interests in the Arctic while maintaining its established “red lines.”

The agreement follows months of tensions triggered by Trump’s repeated demands for US control over Greenland, during which he at times declined to rule out military or economic pressure. Copenhagen and Nuuk firmly rejected any transfer of the territory.

Washington already enjoys extensive military access under a 1951 defense agreement, amended in 2004. During the Cold War, the US operated 17 installations and stationed more than 10,000 personnel in Greenland. Today, its presence is concentrated at Pituffik Space Base, with roughly 150 US military personnel stationed there.

A group of mostly European states and middle powers is seeking to build a new global coalition on artificial intelligence, as countries outside the US-China technology race scramble to retain influence over how increasingly powerful systems are governed.

Leaders representing 20 countries, alongside European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, signed the declaration on Monday on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly High-level Week in New York, calling for frontier AI to remain “under human direction, oversight and control.” The initiative was spearheaded by Finnish President Alexander Stubb and Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store.

The world’s two leading AI powers – the US and China – did not sign. Neither did several major European players, including the UK, France and Italy, although Germany, Spain and a number of smaller EU states joined the initiative. The statement remains open for additional endorsements.

AI can improve people’s lives, advance science and strengthen our economies. At the same time, the rapid development of AI models creates risks that we must manage together.

We can choose to compete, to co-operate, or to step back. I hope we choose co-operation.

President… pic.twitter.com/DR7HaaJDHp

— Alexander Stubb (@alexstubb) September 21, 2026

The declaration warns that advanced AI systems have already circumvented testing safeguards, exploited vulnerabilities and gained unauthorized access to real-world systems. It calls for mandatory pre-deployment testing, independent evaluations with sufficient access to frontier models, common international standards and shared reporting of serious safety incidents.

Read more

It stops short, however, of demanding a pause or slowdown in AI development. Instead, its backers want UN members to explore creating an international institution capable of setting standards, verifying compliance and convening governments when AI systems cross certain capability thresholds.

Stubb acknowledged that bringing the dominant AI powers on board will be crucial, telling Politico that the goal was to create “momentum” and eventually attract both Washington and Beijing.

“I think it will be in the interest of both China and the United States to have some kind of guardrails,” he said, arguing that “humans need to be in charge.” Stubb said his preferred model would resemble the International Atomic Energy Agency, although organizers deliberately left the institutional format open to avoid alienating governments wary of creating another UN body.

Read more

The push comes as Washington and Beijing are increasingly setting the terms of the global AI debate themselves and promoting competing international frameworks. AI safety is also expected to feature when President Donald Trump meets Chinese leader Xi Jinping on Thursday.

Washington’s Pax Silica initiative has expanded to 24 partners and centers on securing semiconductor, critical-mineral and AI supply chains among what the US describes as “trusted” partners.

Beijing, meanwhile, established the World Artificial Intelligence Cooperation Organization (WAICO) in July with 29 founding countries, including Russia, many of them from the Global South. China has paired that initiative with open-weight models, training programs and infrastructure projects, presenting itself as an alternative to Western-controlled AI ecosystems.

Read more

The UN has also launched its own Global Dialogue on AI Governance, meaning the new European-led initiative enters an increasingly crowded contest over who gets to write global AI rules.

Some countries are keeping a foot in multiple emerging AI governance camps rather than choosing a single bloc. Kazakhstan has gone furthest in hedging its bets, joining China-backed WAICO and the US-led Pax Silica initiative while also signing Monday’s “human control” declaration. Kenya and South Africa, meanwhile, are founding members of WAICO and have now backed the new European-led initiative as well.

Occasionally, history does dish out poetic justice. It can also be exceedingly funny, if in a merciless way. Germany’s well-known tragedy – or let’s say, one of them – is that it suffers from a chronic deficiency of irony, so many Germans will fail to see the funny side of what has just happened. And yet, there is something very deserved as well as ironic about the recent catastrophe of the country’s establishment parties in three turning-point regional elections – in Saxony-Anhalt, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, and Berlin.

The stunning successes of the new-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party in two of them (Saxony-Anhalt and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern) have attracted most attention. And rightly so: For one thing, any remaining establishment delusions about marginalizing the AfD out of German politics using a “firewall” are now where they have belonged for a very long time: on the trash heap of history. The last desperate firewalling efforts may continue for a little longer here and there, but it’s a Zombie now: not only ugly and brainless but dead to boot.

While German mainstream media can’t stop fretting and hyperventilating about “democracy-in-danger,” in reality, the end of the “firewall” – that is, a systematic discrimination cartel against a legal party – is, obviously, a very good thing for genuine democracy. Because the “firewall” policy was an insult to the latter, as it de facto partially disenfranchised the voters of Germany’s most popular party.

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And while the “Die Linke” (The Left) party that has won in Berlin is really a semi-establishment party and has not been subject to a firewall but rather helped built it against the AfD, its victory in the capital still also amounts to a great setback for the older mainstream parties.

However, there are other important aspects of the three political earthquakes that have just shaken Germany’s establishment. Most importantly, both parties that make up Germany’s ruling coalition – the mainstream conservatives (CDU) and the centrist social democrats (SPD) have suffered humiliating, and in the case of the CDU even crushing, defeats.

In Berlin, the SPD was trounced so badly it ended up in fifth place. With the city is historically associated with SPD giants such as Ernst Reuter and Willy Brandt, everyone agrees that this is a disaster that may well end the political career of its local candidate.In Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, it is true, the regional SPD leader, Manuela Schwesig, ruthlessly distanced herself from her own party and was rewarded with second place. Not first place, because that went to the AfD. Schwesig’s defeat is now being sold as a success. That tells you much about how desperate the establishment is.

And then there is the CDU. What’s left to say, really? Historically, the CDU was the founding party of postwar (West) Germany, when it was led by a genius of political cunning and hardheaded realism, Konrad Adenauer. Since then, while it has, of course, not always been in charge in first Bonn and then Berlin, the CDU (with its Bavarian cousin CSU, strictly speaking) has been Germany’s default ruling party.

Now, for the first time in its history, the CDU has failed so abysmally that it is no longer represented in a regional parliament: In Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Adenauer’s once proud party which has morphed into Friedrich Merz’s unmerry band of stragglers has not cleared the five percent barrier and is out. The significance of this debacle cannot be overestimated, even if this is a regional result and not (yet) a national one.

There are plenty of rumors about the fate of Friedrich Merz, the obstinate chancellor of catastrophe and probably the greatest single loser in postwar German history (yes, beating even Erich Honecker). Yet those speculations are much less interesting than something generally overlooked. Which brings us back to why this is also a very funny moment of poetic justice in German history: The CDU has not been knocked out just anywhere, but in the former East Germany, which is also where the AfD has triumphed and shattered the “firewall.”

This is capital-H History in the making. Because it is about much more than just an irreversible fiasco for the CDU; it also goes beyond the wider decline and fall of Germany’s establishment parties and their political, media, and cultural ecosystem. What is really happening now, at long last, is the end of West Germany. Unlike the former East Germany, the GDR, West Germany did not really end with reunification in 1990. On the contrary, where the two Cold War Germanies could have come together fraternally to devise a new political home, that chance of national lifetime was missed with gusto, and instead West Germany simply took over East Germany: inside Germany as well, the Cold War ended not with a genuine new beginning but with the West seeking to impose its ways on the East.

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The united Germany that emerged was, in many ways – and all ways that mattered – West Germany writ large. The fact that ex-chancellor Angela Merkel was from the East made as little difference to this extreme lopsidedness as US President Barak Obama’s blackness made to the persistence of racism in America. In the East, the resulting – and very plausible – resentment became a key ingredient in the AfD’s massive success. That success and the simultaneous regional collapse of the CDU, the party that embodied and, in effect, claimed to represent the essence of West German identity, now marks the beginning of the end of this period of German history.

Not much more than one generation after unification ended Cold War East Germany, West Germany’s time is finally up as well. For those in the former East Germany who were promised “flourishing landscapes” by yet another CDU icon, “Chancellor-of-Unity” Helmut Kohl, but got persisting national second-class status instead, this may well feel like richly deserved payback for a Western establishment that has cheated and used and, at best, looked down on them.

West Germany’s impending end is good news, in principle, even for the many Germans still anxiously stuck in their dated West German mindset who cannot understand this yet. At the same time, there also is great danger ahead: The process of finally shedding the old and ill-fitting skin of a West Germany designed as a Cold War client state has begun, but the political and psychological resistance will be great and perhaps even violent. West Germany’s ghost will leave history, but it may still do much harm on the way out.

The EU is divided over a deal to un-sanction Russian businessman Alisher Usmanov. Brussels’ allies in Kiev aren’t happy, but the alternative – a legal showdown – could call the bloc’s entire sanctions regime into question.

Ambassadors from EU member states met on Monday to discuss Usmanov’s case. According to Euronews, France pushed for Usmanov’s removal from the blacklist, in exchange for Azerbaijan freeing two alleged French spies.

Ireland, which holds the EU’s rotating presidency, proposed that Usmanov and Mikhail Fridman, another Russian businessman, be delisted on the condition that the EU renew its anti-Russian sanctions regime for 36 months instead of the usual six.

After a second round of talks on Monday that stretched into the night, EU envoys failed to agree to remove Usmanov and Fridman from the list. Meaning no agreement has been reached on extending the bloc's sanctions.

Usmanov is at the centre of a discussion that could undo a central pillar of the EU's personal sanctions policy.

Why was Usmanov sanctioned?

A highly successful entrepreneur in the final years of the Soviet Union, the Russian-Uzbek businessman snapped up metal and mining businesses during the rapid privatization of the 1990s, breached into media with his acquisition of Russia’s Kommersant newspaper in 2006, and expanded his wealth with a series of savvy investments in Apple, Twitter, and Facebook over the following decade.

Usmanov, believed to be Russia’s seventh-richest person with a net worth of more than $16 billion, was sanctioned by the EU four days after the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022. 

The EU’s sanctions ledger declared that Usmanov “has particularly close ties to the President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin,” has “acted on behalf of the President of the Russian Federation in a number of business deals,” and gave former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev “personal use of luxurious residences” controlled by his companies. 

“Kommersant under Usmanov’s ownership published a propagandist anti-Ukrainian article by Dmitry Medvedev” the entry continued, concluding that “therefore he actively supported the Russian government’s policies of destabilization of Ukraine.”

EU media: Unreliable sources 

According to Usmanov’s lawyers, Brussels sourced all of its “reasons and evidence” for sanctioning the billionaire from “mass media and social media publications.” In a letter to the European Council last month seen by Intellinews journalist Ben Aris, Usmanov’s legal team argued that this evidence has been proven false in courts in all 27 EU member states.

Read more

Back in 2022, Usmanov launched a sweeping campaign of litigation against newspapers and other media outlets incorrectly reporting his business links to the Russian government and characterizing him as “Putin’s favorite oligarch.” Usmanov won judgments against Germany’s Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ), which claimed that he used his wealth “in the interests or at the direction of the Kremlin,” against German state broadcaster ARD, which connected him to a “bribery scheme,” and against Luxembourg’s Mediahuis, which named him as the owner of a sanctioned superyacht impounded in Hamburg.

Among his other legal victories were judgments against Forbes, Germany’s Der Tagesspiegel, Austria’s Kurier, and Switzerland’s Blick, all of which used false claims by deceased anti-Kremlin activist Alexey Navalny to back up their stories of Usmanov’s ties to the Kremlin.

The European Council could stand accused

Since 2022, his lawyers reportedly claimed in the letter, more than 3,200 articles about Usmanov have been corrected and 1,300 deleted, in 60 countries. Almost 100 cease-and-desist letters have been issued and 58,000 pieces of online content and ads about the businessman have been pulled down, many of which “relied on the Council’s narrative.”

The European Council, meanwhile, has quietly removed at least 18 documents from its “evidence packs” against Usmanov, the letter claimed. 

The wave of retractions and deletions – issued by the same sources used to back up the sanctions decision – “must be accepted as exculpatory evidence,” Usmanov’s lawyers wrote. “To sum up, the allegations used to maintain Mr Usmanov’s designation have been discredited and refuted in 27 out of 27 EU Member States.”

The EU’s dilemma

The EU’s Court of Justice has already dismissed two attempts by Usmanov to appeal his blacklisting. In rejecting the second attempt last September, the court ruled that the council’s decision to sanction Usmanov was based on a “specific, precise and consistent” body of evidence.

However, even Politico, the Brussels elite’s leak-factory of choice, has reported that the “evidence packs” used to justify sanctioning figures like Usmanov are often “hastily compiled” and based on “shaky evidence.” 

On shaky grounds: The secret, slipshod evidence the EU uses to sanction Russian oligarchs.#tomorrowspaperstoday pic.twitter.com/uATyU0YjCO

— POLITICOEurope (@POLITICOEurope) September 20, 2023

In 2023, Politico found that evidence against Russian businessman Grigory Berezkin was drawn from articles written by an AI chatbot, and a website called ‘Russian Crimes’ written by journalists that didn’t exist. Another evidence pack cited an advertisement in a Russian lifestyle and cooking magazine. Yet another cited a Ukrainian gossip site. Berezhkin was removed from the EU’s blacklist that September.

More than a dozen individuals have since been removed from the list. Some, like Formula 1 driver Nikita Mazepin, had been sanctioned over the alleged offenses of their relatives. At least six – including Pavel Ezubov, cousin of metals magnate Oleg Deripaska, and former e-commerce tycoon Aleksandr Shulgin – were delisted after taking legal action against the EU.

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Keeping Usmanov on the list could open the EU up to more legal challenges from the billionaire, which could make more of the council’s classified evidence packs being made public. Confirmation that much of the evidence is spurious may have emboldened the almost 3,000 individuals and entities sanctioned by Brussels over the conflict to launch challenges of their own. Fridman also certainly believes the bloc is engaged in significant overreach. 

To the envoys who met on Monday, cutting Usmanov loose may have been seen as a necessary sacrifice to preserve the legitimacy of the sanctions regime.

National interest

The push to delist Usmanov began in Slovakia this March, when Foreign Minister Juraj Blanar argued that there were “very strong legal arguments” against the sanctioning of him and Fridman. Uzbekistan and a number of other Turkic countries – including Türkiye – reportedly lobbied Bratislava to push for his removal from the blacklist.

Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico is a vocal critic of EU sanctions against Russia, but Slovakia found an ally when France unexpectedly began advocating for Usmanov’s delisting, citing unexplained “national security” interests. According to multiple media reports, France has been negotiating behind the scenes with Azerbaijan, where President Ilham Aliyev has apparently agreed to release two imprisoned French citizens in exchange, one of whom was jailed for spying on the country’s military on behalf of French intelligence. 

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Why did Luxembourg back off from Fridman?

According to Reuters, Luxembourg backed the delisting of Fridman, who has sued the duchy for $16 billion over its freezing of his assets in 2022. Luxembourg reportedly argued that its case against Fridman would be weakened if Usmanov alone was let go, and insisted that the two billionaires be treated as a package deal.

EU diplomats took to Politico to vent at the French last week, with one complaining that “if France goes ahead with this, others will come forward with their own oligarchs that should be delisted ... [then] the house of cards starts to fall.” 

What nobody in Brussels will admit on the record is that if Usmanov is un-sanctioned, politicians and publishers across Europe will likely breathe a sigh of relief that their media outlets – many of them government-funded – will not be dragged into a legal showdown that could result in massive payouts and the collapse of the sanctions system itself.

What does Usmanov’s case tell us about the EU?

The case exposes cracks in the EU’s “united front” for Ukraine, as European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen put it during her State of the Union speech last week. As France and Luxembourg demonstrated, no EU member is above breaking ranks when their national interest is at stake, and the EU is sometimes capable of putting its own members’ needs above Ukraine’s.

Is the Kiev tail wagging the EU dog?

Kiev remains incandescent at the thought of its EU masters going off-script. “How can anyone seriously discuss sanctions delisting while Russia’s war continues?” Vladimir Zelensky’s sanctions adviser, Vladislav Vlasiuk, complained on Monday. 

“Usmanov and Fridman were listed because they are part of Russia’s aggressive regime waging a war of aggression against Ukraine,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrey Sybiga wrote on social media. “Delisting is unacceptable and would send the wrong signal to Moscow at a time when pressure needs to increase.”

Usmanov and Fridman were listed because they are part of Russia's aggressive regime waging a war of aggression against Ukraine.

What has changed? Nothing. Delisting is unacceptable and would send the wrong signal to Moscow at a time when pressure needs to increase.

On the…

— Andrii Sybiha 🇺🇦 (@andrii_sybiha) September 21, 2026

What does this tell us about the EU's info-culture?

No matter how unsavory a character Brussels finds him, Usmanov’s string of legal victories against Western Europe’s most prestigious news outlets – seen in Moscow as paranoid pillars in an increasingly hysterical echo-chamber – sends an important signal to the EU: As long as it believes what it tells itself about Russia and Russians, the legal ground it stands on is incredibly shaky.

The latest state elections in Germany have confirmed a trend that is becoming increasingly difficult to dismiss. The issue is no longer the occasional success of one party or failure of another, but the gradual dismantling of a political system that for decades appeared almost permanent.

The postwar German model rested on competition between two “people’s parties,” the Christian Democrats and Social Democrats and this conservative-social democratic axis provided stability after the upheavals of the first half of the 20th century, allowing governments to alternate while remaining within broadly accepted political boundaries.

Germany adhered to this model particularly closely, so the political landscape expanded significantly only twice, first with the rise of the Greens in the 1980s, which brought the rebellious generation of 1968 into the establishment, and then after reunification with the emergence of the Left from the former East German political tradition, but that orderly system is now breaking down.

The results in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Berlin, following Saxony-Anhalt two weeks earlier, leap off the page, as the AfD won 38.2% in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, while the CDU fell below the 5% threshold for the first time in a German state election. In Berlin, meanwhile, the Left finished first, with the CDU second and the SPD falling to fifth place.  

For the leaderships of the CDU and SPD, it’s tempting to reduce the problem to the rise of the AfD and concentrate on how it should be contained, but the deeper problem is the fragmentation of the entire electoral landscape and the disappearance of the political manageability that Germany once took for granted.

Read more

Whether the AfD itself is capable of governing effectively remains another question, given the party has never governed a German state, while the established parties continue to reject coalitions with it.  

Germany is therefore moving towards something resembling the politics of smaller European countries such as Belgium, the Netherlands, or Austria, with fragmented parliaments and increasingly complicated multiparty coalitions.

There’s nothing inherently unworkable about such a system and plenty of European countries function this way, but Germany is different. Its political culture has traditionally valued predictability and institutional continuity, but if fragmentation now spreads inside the CDU and SPD themselves, the consequences will extend beyond election arithmetic.

Germany isn’t particularly comfortable with political upheaval and when Germany becomes politically nervous, its neighbors have historically had reason to pay attention.

Hungary’s new government has asked for an exemption from US sanctions targeting Russian energy buyers, despite pledging to reduce the country’s dependence on supplies from Moscow.

The request comes after US President Donald Trump signed a sweeping expansion of sanctions against Russia into law on Friday. The legislation, criticized by the Kremlin as an “unfriendly move,” allows tariffs of up to 100% on goods from major buyers of Russian oil and gas, while providing for exemptions on US national security grounds.

The Hungarian Foreign Ministry approached the US State Department over the potential impact of the legislation before it was adopted, according to local media reports on Monday. The issue was also raised in Washington last week by Marton Hajdu, chairman of the Hungarian parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee and a member of the ruling Tisza party.

Hajdu said he told Republican lawmakers that Tisza was aware of the “risks and disadvantages of dependence on Russian energy,” while asking them to help exempt Hungary from the measures.

Washington reportedly said the legislation could apply to Hungary only after its existing US sanctions exemption expires on November 21 and if it is not renewed. The exemption was secured under former Prime Minister Viktor Orban.

Tisza pledged during its election campaign to end Hungary’s dependence on Russian energy by 2035, describing it as a “systemic risk.” The new pro-EU government under Prime Minister Peter Magyar has also described Moscow as a “threat.”

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The policy marks a shift from Orban, who resisted EU efforts to curb Russian energy imports and secured exemptions for landlocked Hungary. He maintained that cutting Europe off from comparatively cheap Russian energy would damage the bloc’s economy.

Hungary remains heavily reliant on Russian supplies, which accounted for around 90% of its crude oil in 2025, according to S&P Global. Much of the oil has traditionally arrived through the Soviet-built Druzhba pipeline, where flows were halted for nearly three months earlier this year after Ukraine claimed its section had been damaged by a Russian strike, a claim disputed by Moscow. Hungary and Slovakia accused Kiev of deliberately delaying the restart for political reasons.

The EU has sharply reduced Russian energy purchases since the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022. Russia’s share of the bloc’s gas imports fell from 45% in 2021 to 12% in 2025, while Russian crude dropped from 27% to around 2%. Brussels plans to phase out Russian LNG by the end of 2026 and pipeline gas by late 2027.

READ MORE: Loss of cheap energy harmed EU economy – von der Leyen

Moscow has rejected Western sanctions as “illegal,” saying that they have backfired on EU consumers. Russia has redirected much of its exports to other markets.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has acknowledged that the EU “cannot remain an industrial powerhouse” if energy prices remain structurally high.

US President Donald Trump is weighing several options regarding Iran, including blowing the “entire nation up,” Fox News has reported. At the same time, Trump has reportedly signaled that he is open to talks with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian.

The US and Israel launched their war against Iran in late February, killing senior officials and commanders, including longtime Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. A June 17 memorandum intended to halt the fighting expired in mid-August without a lasting agreement. Maritime traffic through the Strait of Hormuz remains disrupted, pushing up global energy prices.

On Sunday, Fox News correspondent Trey Yingst reported that Trump had told him he was in “deciding mode” and teased “very big things… happening in the not-so-distant future.” Trump is considering “wiping Iran out, letting them rot economically, or making a deal,” according to Yingst.

The president also reportedly indicated that he is “open” to meeting Pezeshkian on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York this week.

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Trump has repeatedly threatened Tehran in recent months. In April, he warned that Iran’s “whole civilization will die” unless it accepted Washington’s demands. The US nevertheless suspended its latest wave of strikes in late July amid reports of ammunition shortages, which the White House denied.

Washington shifted toward greater economic pressure last month, announcing a “crushing economic operation” aimed at isolating Iran and penalizing countries that continue trading with it.

Meanwhile, Tehran has warned that any renewed US attack would trigger retaliation against American bases and interests across the Middle East.

Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, said over the weekend that Tehran had conveyed seven conditions to Washington for the start of negotiations. He later told Al Jazeera that they include an end to the war on all fronts, the release of frozen Iranian funds, and an end to the US naval blockade. Qatar has been acting as an intermediary.

“Trump’s threats will not achieve any results. We are prepared for a decisive war,” Rezaei said.

Against this backdrop, US diplomatic missions across the Middle East issued security alerts over the weekend, urging Americans to exercise heightened vigilance amid the risk of further escalation. The warnings also cited renewed fighting between Saudi Arabia and Yemen’s Houthis.

Police and protesters clashed in Paris over the weekend as thousands demonstrated against a proposed law that critics claim would give law enforcement officers a “license to kill.”

Video from the French capital showed police firing tear gas and chasing demonstrators as the streets filled with smoke, with protesters attempting to kick smoking canisters back toward officers.

Protesters carried signs reading “The people are not a target,” “Justice for victims of police violence,” and “No to the firearms permit.”

The demonstrations erupted over a new bill that would alter the legal procedures for when a police officer shoots someone. Under the proposed legislation, the authorities would start from the assumption that the officer used their weapon legally. That assumption could still be challenged if evidence showed otherwise.

Supporters of the bill argue that officers should not automatically be treated as suspects for firing their weapons while on the job.

Critics, however, claim that the change would effectively shift the burden of proof and make it harder to hold police accountable after shootings. Activists and rights groups have branded the measure a “license to kill,” saying it could “prepare the ground for blood and tears.”

Protests were held in more than 20 cities. Police said around 4,500 people demonstrated in Lyon and 3,700 in Toulouse. In Rennes, eight people were arrested and three police officers were injured after projectiles were thrown.

Rights groups called the weekend protests to pressure senators ahead of a debate they expect in October. A petition opposing the measure has drawn more than 730,000 signatures but has been dismissed by the parliamentary law committee.

READ MORE: WATCH protesters smash politician’s car during Ceuta migrant unrest

The bill passed its first reading in the National Assembly, France’s lower house, in July, but no specific date for consideration in the Senate has yet been set.

The latest state elections in Germany have confirmed a trend that is becoming increasingly difficult to dismiss. The issue is no longer the occasional success of one party or failure of another, but the gradual dismantling of a political system that for decades appeared almost permanent.

The postwar German model rested on competition between two “people’s parties,” the Christian Democrats and Social Democrats and this conservative-social democratic axis provided stability after the upheavals of the first half of the 20th century, allowing governments to alternate while remaining within broadly accepted political boundaries.

Germany adhered to this model particularly closely, so the political landscape expanded significantly only twice, first with the rise of the Greens in the 1980s, which brought the rebellious generation of 1968 into the establishment, and then after reunification with the emergence of the Left from the former East German political tradition, but that orderly system is now breaking down.

The results in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Berlin, following Saxony-Anhalt two weeks earlier, leap off the page, as the AfD won 38.2% in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, while the CDU fell below the 5% threshold for the first time in a German state election. In Berlin, meanwhile, the Left finished first, with the CDU second and the SPD falling to fifth place.  

For the leaderships of the CDU and SPD, it’s tempting to reduce the problem to the rise of the AfD and concentrate on how it should be contained, but the deeper problem is the fragmentation of the entire electoral landscape and the disappearance of the political manageability that Germany once took for granted.

Read more

Whether the AfD itself is capable of governing effectively remains another question, given the party has never governed a German state, while the established parties continue to reject coalitions with it.  

Germany is therefore moving towards something resembling the politics of smaller European countries such as Belgium, the Netherlands, or Austria, with fragmented parliaments and increasingly complicated multiparty coalitions.

There’s nothing inherently unworkable about such a system and plenty of European countries function this way, but Germany is different. Its political culture has traditionally valued predictability and institutional continuity, but if fragmentation now spreads inside the CDU and SPD themselves, the consequences will extend beyond election arithmetic.

Germany isn’t particularly comfortable with political upheaval and when Germany becomes politically nervous, its neighbors have historically had reason to pay attention.

Furious anti-immigration protesters attacked a car carrying a local politician in the troubled Spanish enclave of Ceuta on Sunday. Locals, whose communities have been overrun by thousands of illegal migrants invading from Morocco, believed the vehicle carried a member of a pro-migrant activist group.

Footage shows protesters surrounding the vehicle, kicking and striking it, pelting it with eggs, and smashing its windows as police tried to hold them back. Riot police opened fire to disperse the crowd, multiple media outlets have reported.

Decenas de personas destrozan en el puerto de Ceuta el coche de la diputada Julia Ferreras y el activista de la Flotilla Rafael Borrego: “Nos iban a matar”https://t.co/32E9uNVo81 pic.twitter.com/Z4mouzg3vd

— elDiario.es (@eldiarioes) September 20, 2026

Una turba destroza en Ceuta el coche de una diputada y un activista con ellos dentro: “Nos iban a matar” https://t.co/32E9uNVo81

Hay al menos una persona detenida, acusada de provocar daños al vehículo y de atentado a la autoridad pic.twitter.com/cMaJrAZgtX

— elDiario.es (@eldiarioes) September 21, 2026

The crowd had gathered at the port awaiting the Pamplona-based Negu Gorriak/Derecho a Techo (Right to a Roof) group, which had planned to travel to Ceuta to distribute humanitarian aid to migrants and protest alleged “violence” against them by the authorities.

Instead, the car carried local assembly deputy Julia Ferreras, Gaza Flotilla activist and lawyer Rafael Borrego, and UN human-rights lawyer Sofía Cánovas. Borrego told elDiario.es that protesters mistakenly identified him as one of the expected activists. Europa Press said that some protesters claimed the occupants had been filming and mocking them.

🇪🇸 Ceuta, España | 🔴 Revientan el coche de la ONG etarra que acaba de llegar a Ceuta. pic.twitter.com/wro84jHviu

— 𝐄𝐥 𝐈𝐦𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐥 (@ElImperialEsp) September 20, 2026

According to El País, protesters described the Pamplona activists as “radicals” and “pro-ETA.” ETA was a Basque separatist organization that waged a decades-long armed campaign for independence before dissolving in 2018. The allegation had reportedly circulated in WhatsApp groups used to organize the demonstration.

It is unclear whether the activists ever reached Ceuta. As of Monday afternoon, El Español reported that the group had not arrived.

Ceuta has faced a migration crisis since more than 72,000 people crossed from Morocco in late July. While most were returned, thousands remained, many in makeshift beach camps. On Friday, police and the military began moving them to temporary shelters, using rubber bullets and batons to control crowds.

Earlier on Sunday, more than 1,000 residents marched toward the Moroccan border, demanding stronger controls and criticizing the central government’s handling of the crisis.

READ MORE: Ceuta migrant clearance spirals into violence (VIDEOS)

Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has condemned the attack, saying Spain could not “remain indifferent to the normalization of hate” and that “violence is never the way.” Ceuta’s regional government also condemned the violence, but acknowledged residents’ “tiredness, concern, indignation and even frustration,” saying they had a right to protest and demand that the enclave be “heard, attended to and protected.”

The US has proposed creating an alert system with China to notify each other when artificial intelligence incidents become serious enough to threaten national security.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced the proposal after talks with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng in New York on Sunday, ahead of a meeting between US President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Washington this week.

“We want a shared vision of common goals and common threats,” Bessent told reporters. “We think that just like any cross-border activity, that moving from opaque to more transparency between the No. 1 and the No. 2 AI powers in the world is very important.”

The proposed mechanism could cover serious incidents such as AI-enabled cyberattacks or major model failures, according to experts cited by AP. Chinese researchers have also pointed to risks to critical infrastructure including electricity, telecommunications, finance and transportation.

The proposal comes as Washington and Beijing have been locked in an increasingly intense race to dominate AI. Trump has repeatedly argued that the US cannot afford to slow development while China is rapidly narrowing the technological gap. 

Read more

Earlier this month, Trump declared that “whoever wins AI wins,” and has dismissed warnings of an AI takeover as a “hoax.” On Saturday, Trump again vowed that his administration would not “hinder or stifle” the industry and announced plans to create an “AI Force” and appoint an AI czar.

His position comes amid increasingly stark warnings from leading technology executives. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei has called for development of the most powerful AI systems to be slowed, warning of risks including loss of human control, cyberattacks, bioterrorism and major economic disruption. OpenAI chief Sam Altman and xAI owner Elon Musk have backed calls for greater caution.

A series of recent incidents has added to the concerns. Google confirmed this month that its Gemini system breached three real companies during a cybersecurity exercise after it was mistakenly given internet access. OpenAI agents have separately bypassed restrictions during testing, accessed outside systems and used websites to communicate with one another without being instructed to do so.

Read more

US-China competition has meanwhile expanded beyond model development itself. Washington has sought to restrict China’s access to advanced chips and other technology while accusing Chinese companies of extracting capabilities from leading American models.

Beijing has rejected the accusations and accused Washington of seeking an AI monopoly. Despite US restrictions, Chinese developers including DeepSeek and Moonshot have released increasingly capable systems that compete with leading American models, often at a lower cost.

China has also been building a broader international framework around AI. In July, it joined Russia and 27 other countries in establishing the Shanghai-based World Artificial Intelligence Cooperation Organization, presenting it as an alternative approach based on wider access to AI technology and international cooperation rather than technological blocs.

EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas has lashed out at the results of Russia’s parliamentary election, dismissing it as a “veneer of democracy.” The senior EU official, a noted Russia hawk who was appointed, not elected, to her post in 2024, made no mention of the 1,600 drones Ukraine launched into Russia during the vote.

Her claims of democratic dysfunction did not include Ukraine’s own indefinitely suspended elections, but stuck to a vote whereby some 60 million people cast ballots across 11 time zones.

In a post on X on Monday, Kallas targeted the three-day elections in which the ruling United Russia party retained a commanding parliamentary majority with nearly 58% of the party-list vote, well ahead of its rivals, according to preliminary results. Turnout exceeded 59% from 51.7% in 2021, according to Central Election Commission chief Ella Pamfilova.

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Kallas claimed that “the so-called Duma elections marked another major setback for Russian democracy,” adding that “their outcome was never in doubt.” She further accused Moscow of silencing its critics, stressing that “the veneer of democracy is all that remains in Russia.”

Kallas also claimed to have “proposed measures against those facilitating these sham elections in occupied Ukrainian territories.” The EU said separately that it would never recognize voting held in Crimea, Donetsk, Lugansk, Zaporozhye, and Kherson regions – all of which voted to join Russia in public referendums in 2014 and 2022.

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Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Norway, and the UK issued a joint statement likewise describing the voting in those territories as a “sham.”

However, neither Kallas nor other Kiev’s backers made mention of a huge Ukrainian drone raid on Moscow amid the election. The attack – which Russian officials said involved more than 1,600 drones and was aimed at derailing the vote – killed two civilians in the capital suburbs and damaged an oil refinery, residential buildings, and civilian infrastructure. Ukrainian strikes in frontline regions also damaged dozens of buildings housing election commissions, according to local officials.

Kallas was ridiculed by social media users over the fact that she herself was not elected by EU voters to the position, having taken office as the EU’s high representative for foreign affairs and security policy in December 2024 after serving as Estonian prime minister and a member of the European Parliament.

Kallas and Kiev’s Western backers have consistently refrained from calling on Ukraine to hold its own presidential election, after Vladimir Zelensky’s term expired more than two years ago and he refused to call a new vote, citing martial law. Russia has since declared him “illegitimate,” arguing that Zelensky’s dubious status complicates any eventual peace settlement.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova responded to the election criticism by mocking Kallas’s earlier call for EU states not to recognize the Russian results, saying that “EU countries had stopped recognizing Kallas herself a long time ago.”

Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky sought to drag Poland into war with Russia in 2022, even floating the prospect of creating a single state, Polish opposition leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski has claimed.

The head of the conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party recalled how the government of Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki reacted to the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in February 2022. Kaczynski was deputy prime minister at the time and chaired the government committee responsible for national security and defense affairs.

“The Ukrainians sometimes expected things that – for various reasons I cannot discuss here – we simply could not agree to,” the veteran politician said during a meeting with the PiS youth congress last weekend.

“Initially, they held a somewhat strange concept, namely, that they would drag us into the war, perhaps even to the point of creating a single state,” he added, noting that Zelensky’s speech in the Polish parliament was “heading in that direction.”

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Zelensky addressed the Sejm remotely in March 2022 as part of his efforts to rally Western support. Warsaw went on to provide Kiev with additional military aid while pressing other NATO members to increase their contributions, Kaczynski said.

Other Polish politicians made similar criticisms of Zelensky

Krzysztof Gawkowski, a deputy to incumbent Prime Minister Donald Turk, similarly accused Kiev of trying to drag Poland into the war in 2024, as he rebuked Zelensky for “pestering” Warsaw with demands for greater military involvement.

Poland suffered casualties early in the conflict when a missile fired by Ukrainian air defenses struck a farm near the border village of Przewodow in November 2022, killing two civilians. Zelensky initially insisted that the projectile was Russian and urged for a collective NATO retaliation.

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Former Polish President Andrzej Duda, a PiS ally, later described Kiev’s reaction to the incident as part of an effort to draw NATO nations directly into the conflict.

Moscow has repeatedly warned that deeper NATO involvement in Ukraine risks a direct conflict. Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said last week that if Europe attacked Russia, the resulting war would be “different” in nature and “very short.”

Historic grievances divide Poland and Ukraine

Poland and Ukraine have a long-running dispute over the legacy of the Nazi-collaborating Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA), which Warsaw holds responsible for mass killings of Polish civilians during World War II.

The issue flared again earlier this year after Zelensky gave an elite military unit the honorary name “Heroes of the UPA,” prompting sharp criticism from Warsaw.

The historic grudge feeds into tensions over territories that belonged to interwar Poland and became part of Soviet Ukraine after World War II. A reference to lost Polish lands sparked a public quarrel last week between Tusk and conservative President Karol Nawrocki.

Nawrocki wrote on X that Poland “may lose territory, but we will never lose [its] soul.” The prime minister rebuked the sentiment, saying: “We do not intend to give up even a scrap of our territory.”

Houthi missiles and drones struck several “sensitive sites” across Saudi Arabia, including in the capital Riyadh, the Yemeni militant group announced on Sunday, marking a new escalation in their renewed conflict with the kingdom.

Flames and a large column of black smoke was seen rising near King Khalid International Airport on Saturday, as flights were delayed and canceled. Saudi Arabia said its air defenses intercepted a ballistic missile headed toward Riyadh and thwarted several other attacks.

Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said the group also targeted facilities belonging to state oil giant Saudi Aramco in the western city of Yanbu. He described the weekend strikes as retaliation for recent Saudi-led coalition attacks on Yemen.

Saudi Arabia has backed Yemen’s internationally recognized government against the Houthis since intervening in the country’s civil war in 2015. Large-scale fighting largely subsided after a UN-brokered truce in 2022, but the conflict erupted again this summer after an airport in Houthi-controlled Sanaa was bombed to prevent an Iranian plane carrying a Houthi delegation from Tehran from landing. The Houthis blamed Riyadh, declared the ceasefire over and began a new campaign against Saudi targets.

Houthi forces struck the Saudi capital today, hitting fuel storage infrastructure at Riyadh International Airport. pic.twitter.com/lpRHpyIsXf

— OSINTtechnical (@Osinttechnical) September 19, 2026

They have since seized key territory along Yemen’s Red Sea coast, including positions around the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, one of the world’s most important shipping routes. Officially known as the Ansarullah movement, the Houthis currently control the capital, Sanaa, and much of the country’s north and west.

Saudi-led forces have responded with renewed airstrikes inside Yemen.

Saudi political analyst Faisal Alshammeri told RT that the latest attacks could force Riyadh to respond more strongly despite its efforts to avoid being dragged back into a major ground war in Yemen.

He also noted that the escalation could become the first major test of the Mecca defense agreement between Saudi Arabia, Türkiye, and Pakistan, predicting that Ankara and Islamabad would provide intelligence and air-defense support rather than join direct attacks on the Houthis.

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Meanwhile, the Houthis have explicitly warned other countries against joining the Saudi campaign. Senior Houthi official Mohamed al-Bukhaiti told AP on Sunday that the group could fight on multiple fronts if foreign states became involved, while insisting that its current operations in the Red Sea are directed at Saudi Arabia rather than US or other foreign vessels.

The renewed Yemen conflict has increasingly entangled with the wider US-Israeli war on Iran. The Houthis openly sided with Tehran earlier this year, while fighting around the Strait of Hormuz has forced Saudi Arabia to rely increasingly on Red Sea oil routes now threatened by the Houthi advance.

The mounting pressure on Middle Eastern energy supply routes has kept oil above $100 a barrel, with Brent futures trading around $104 on Friday.

Romanian right-wing politician Calin Georgescu, who won the first round of the country’s 2024 presidential election before the result was controversially annulled, has been detained in connection with an alleged €1 million fraud scheme.

Georgescu’s surprise win on an anti-NATO platform was met with accusations from Brussels and Bucharest of fake online campaigning. He was disqualified from running when a new vote was held, despite revelations that the suspected digital campaign in question was run by a party opposing him.

Romania’s Directorate for the Investigation of Organized Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT) said on Monday that it had detained a suspect and searched five properties linked to the case, with local media identifying Georgescu as the person of interest. His key ally George Simion described the latest case as a warning that “any of us can be next.”

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The investigation into the politician’s alleged involvement in fraud dating back to 2021 was first reported by Digi24 in December 2024. The alleged victim had filed a criminal complaint earlier that year, the outlet said.

The media report came days before Romania’s Constitutional Court annulled the presidential election, sparking mass protests.

Simion, the leader of the right-wing Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR) who was also a candidate in the 2024 election and supported protests against their annulment, denounced Georgescu’s latest detention.

“Any of us can be next. Stop the abuse!” he wrote on Facebook. “Romania is a dictatorship!!!!”

The fraud investigation is one of several cases opened against Georgescu, who has claimed to be a victim of political persecution. He was previously accused of campaign-financing violations and plotting against the constitutional order, which disqualified him for the election rerun in 2025.

The administration of US President Donald Trump cited the annulment of the Romanian debacle when it accused Brussels of overseeing an erosion of democratic values in Europe.

The EU leadership said Bucharest is free in taking measures against “foreign interference.” The bloc’s general policy is to force censorship on social media platforms in response to alleged meddling. Tools established under its Digital Services Act (DSA) powers have been activated in several races, including in Moldova, which is not an EU member.

French-educated pro-EU former Bucharest Mayor Nicusor Dan was elected president in the wake of the political turmoil caused by the court ruling. Last week, he nominated MEP Siegfried Muresan, a vice-chair of the European People’s Party Group who previously worked as an adviser in the German Bundestag, to form the next government, despite a lack of a clear parliamentary majority.

It’s the third attempt to form a new government since a vote of no confidence in May plunged the country into its latest political crisis, potentially leading to yet another snap parliamentary election.

French President Emmanuel Macron has hit out at Donald Trump after the US president posted a map depicting France’s archipelago of Saint-Pierre and Miquelon as US territory.

Trump posted an AI-generated image on social media earlier this month showing the US flag covering Canada, Mexico, Greenland, Central America and the Caribbean, as well as Iceland. Saint-Pierre and Miquelon, a small French overseas territory off the Atlantic coast of Canada with a population of just over 5,500, was also depicted as part of the “United States of America.”

Speaking to reporters after arriving in Saint-Pierre on Saturday for a two-day visit and talks with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, Macron said it was “obvious” that the archipelago remains French territory.

“We’re not going to reiterate this every morning because some people have strange ideas or say strange things,” he added.

Macron’s remarks came a week after the French UN mission issued an apology for a social media post that “called into question the US commitment to human rights.” In July, the mission had criticized Washington for voting against extending the mandate of UN human rights chief Volker Turk.

“The US used to be a beacon of human rights. Not anymore. Today, it stands alongside North Korea, Nicaragua, Mali & Russia, isolated. And the world no longer listens to it,” the mission wrote on X at the time.

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Washington responded by delaying approval of Macron ally Aurelien Lechevallier as France’s new ambassador to the US.

Since returning to office in early 2025, Trump has revived his claims on Greenland, a self-governing Danish territory, and repeatedly suggested that Canada should become the 51st US state. He has also vowed to take control of the Panama Canal and issued threats against Mexico and Cuba, while saying that the US should “own” the Gaza Strip. In January, Trump ordered a commando raid in Caracas that captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, whom he accused of helping a drug cartel.

Trump’s push to acquire Greenland initially caused outrage in Copenhagen, prompting European NATO members to rally around Denmark. Nevertheless, the US, Denmark, and Greenland announced an agreement last week that Trump said would grant Washington “permanent control” over the Arctic territory’s security.

Iran has shut down a French-language center in Tehran, accusing the embassy-affiliated institution of operating illegally and engaging in activities which threaten the country’s national security.

Relations between Paris and Tehran have deteriorated despite France staying out of the war which the US and Israel launched against Iran in late February and denouncing the initial strikes as a breach of international law.
In July, two French diplomats were detained by Iranian security services, which accused them of interfering in the country’s internal affairs. They were subsequently expelled from the country. France retaliated in August by expelling two of Iran’s diplomats.

“Based on the Tehran prosecutor’s office’s order, the illegal center affiliated with the French Embassy in Tehran, which has operated for years under the guise of language instruction, has been closed,” the Iranian judiciary’s Mizan news agency said on Sunday.

Iranian authorities claimed that the institution had repeatedly ignored warnings to obtain the licenses required under the country’s laws and had conducted activities that “violated diplomatic conventions.” They also accused it of using language instruction as cover to promote projects opposed to Iranian-Islamic culture, identify and build networks, and facilitate the departure of skilled Iranians from the country.

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France has condemned the closure as an attack on its cultural presence in Iran and said it would take “appropriate measures” in response. Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot has ordered the Iranian ambassador to be summoned.

The French Language Centre (CLF) offered French language courses in Tehran, with thousands of Iranians attending its classes each year, according to the French Foreign Ministry.

In January 2023, Tehran closed the French Institute for Research in Iran after the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo published dozens of cartoons mocking then-Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and Iran’s religious establishment. The images, some of which were graphic or sexually explicit, were selected through an international contest called “Mullahs Get Out” and were intended to support anti-government protests in Iran.

Nike-owned Converse has pulled a sneaker ad after critics said its imagery evoked lynch mobs and the Ku Klux Klan (KKK), a US white supremacist group.

The campaign featured K-pop singer Karina of the girl group Aespa dressed in a long white skirt and holding a pair of black high-top sneakers beneath a spotlight. Critics said the lighting made her outfit resemble a KKK hood, while the dangling shoes evoked the feet of a lynching victim.

“Nike and Converse, what the hell were you thinking?” Democratic Congressman Troy Carter said in a statement on Friday. He described the campaign as “racist, reckless and deeply offensive.”

Converse apologized on Saturday, saying it understood why the image was “deeply upsetting” and acknowledging that it had “got this wrong.”

“We removed it from our channels and are working to remove it everywhere it appeared. This should not have happened, and we will do better,” the company said.

I'm late to this. Apparently, a new Converse sneaker ad/commercial featuring K-Pop star Karina was deemed "racist" because it reminded black people of the KKK and lynching. I genuinely thought it was a joke, but it's not a joke. Converse has pulled the ad and apologized 😬 pic.twitter.com/VXNacxUbad

— Asian Dawn (@AsianDawn4) September 21, 2026

Civil rights attorney Lee Merritt argued that removing the ad did not address how it had been approved in the first place.

The apology “doesn’t undo what got past legal, marketing and leadership at every step,” he wrote on Instagram. “Do better means catching this before it airs – not after we’re offended.”

#Converse under fire for allegedly including KKK imagery in new ad starring Karina of aespa. pic.twitter.com/jmxlIV6hlJ

— Viral Takes (@viraltakes) September 19, 2026

Converse CEO Aaron Cain has since told employees that the company is reviewing the internal processes that allowed the campaign to be published. According to a memo seen by Bloomberg, Cain said that “the leadership team and I are taking a hard look at our internal review process and the critical lens we apply to our work” and pledged to “make needed changes.”

Founded after the US Civil War, the KKK became notorious for terrorizing racial and ethnic minorities, primarily blacks, through murder and various forms of intimidation. Membership peaked at an estimated 4 to 5 million people nationwide during the mid-1920s, at a time when only 10-11 million Americans were black.

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The criticism also resurfaced a separate Converse campaign with the Danish brand Palmes released last week, which showed models climbing a ladder toward sneakers hanging from a tree branch. Some social media users said the imagery also evoked a lynching.

Nike and its subsidiaries have faced criticism over advertising before. In April 2025, the company apologized for a London Marathon billboard reading “NEVER AGAIN. UNTIL NEXT YEAR” after critics linked the phrase to Holocaust remembrance. Nike said it had intended to reference runners vowing not to compete again before eventually returning.

In April this year, the sportswear giant drew fresh criticism over a Boston Marathon ad declaring: “Runners welcome. Walkers tolerated.”

The controversies come as Converse parent Nike is struggling to reverse a prolonged decline in its business and share price. The sportswear giant has lost more than $200 billion in market value since its shares peaked in 2021, as it has faced increased competition, weaker demand in China and criticism over a lack of product innovation.

Nike, which has owned Converse since 2003, is also set to leave the S&P 100 index after nearly 18 years, although it will remain part of the broader S&P 500.

A senior Polish Foreign Ministry official has been critically injured after falling from a third-floor window at a building located within the country’s embassy compound in Slovenia, local media have reported.

The incident occurred at around 3 AM on September 13 but only came to light several days later. The man was identified by Polish outlets as the head of the Foreign Ministry’s Diplomatic Security Bureau, which oversees the security of ministry facilities in Poland and the country’s diplomatic missions abroad. He has remained in critical condition in a Slovenian hospital since the fall.

The official had reportedly collected a diplomatic package and was expected to deliver it onward without a formal assignment.

The Polish mission refused to grant consent to local Slovenian police to enter the diplomatic premises or inspect the scene. Poland said its own investigators would examine the site and investigate the circumstances, TV Slovenija journalist Marko Saksida said.

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Polish Deputy Sejm Speaker Krzysztof Bosak described the circumstances as suspicious and called for a thorough investigation.

“Security-related positions in the Foreign Ministry are often filled by people from the security services. If someone falls from a window at a diplomatic mission and it turns out that he was on vacation and carrying some kind of package, the case is no longer merely mysterious but very, very suspicious,” he said.

According to Polish news portal Zero.pl, the official was attending a private party with several other people when he fell. The other participants were also reportedly off duty.

“He was on leave. It was his private time. He was in an apartment adjacent to the diplomatic mission. That is where the accident occurred,” ministry spokesman Maciej Wewior told Niezalezna.pl.

The mission is headed by charge d’affaires Leszek Soczewica, whom Polish media have described as a close friend and associate of Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski.

In December 2022, Poland faced another high-profile security controversy when national police chief Jaroslaw Szymczyk was hospitalized after a grenade launcher presented to him as a gift by Ukrainian officials exploded inside police headquarters in Warsaw. Szymczyk said he had been assured that the weapon was unloaded, but security experts criticized his decision to bring military equipment into Poland and keep it in his office.

The Pakistani air force struck alleged militant hideouts in eastern Afghanistan early Monday, killing at least three people and sharply escalating cross-border tensions.

The pre-dawn strikes in Nurgal district of Kunar province and Barmal district of Paktika province were in retaliation for a suicide bombing at a mosque in a police facility in northwestern Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on Friday which killed at least 16 people and injured scores of others.

Pakistani officials claimed 28 suspected militants were killed when its fighter jets and drones struck their targets in Patang area of Nurgal district as well as the Torkandi and Rukha areas of Barmal district, reports said. However, Afghanistan’s Taliban government said the strikes killed three civilians – one woman and two men.

Afghan deputy government spokesman Hamdullah Fitrat said a home belonging to a villager named Noor Ahmad in Nurgal’s Pathan village was destroyed, killing him and two members of his family and wounding four other relatives.

Pakistan’s military has not yet issued a statement on the strikes.

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The air strikes threaten another round of escalation between the two neighbors. A Taliban government spokesman, Zabiullah Mujahid, condemned the Pakistani attacks and vowed there would be an “appropriate response.”

“We condemn this aggression and oppression, regarding it as a repetition of such crimes,” Mujahid posted on X. “Pakistani military circles have once again committed such a crime to divert attention from their country’s security failures.”

Militant attacks have risen in Pakistan’s border areas in recent months. Islamabad has accused Afghanistan of hosting the militants and its military has launched attacks inside the country in response. Kabul, however, says the strikes are hitting civilians, including women and children.

READ MORE: ‘War benefits no one’: Taliban official on India-Pakistan tensions

Last month, Mujahid told RT that Afghanistan did not initiate the border fighting. “Defending ourselves is our right, but we are neither the initiators nor do we want it to continue,” he said in an exclusive interview.

French President Emmanuel Macron has hit out at Donald Trump after the US president posted a map depicting France’s archipelago of Saint-Pierre and Miquelon as US territory.

Trump posted an AI-generated image on social media earlier this month showing the US flag covering Canada, Mexico, Greenland, Central America and the Caribbean, as well as Iceland. Saint-Pierre and Miquelon, a small French overseas territory off the Atlantic coast of Canada with a population of just over 5,500, was also depicted as part of the “United States of America.”

Speaking to reporters after arriving in Saint-Pierre on Saturday for a two-day visit and talks with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, Macron said it was “obvious” that the archipelago remains French territory.

“We’re not going to reiterate this every morning because some people have strange ideas or say strange things,” he added.

Macron’s remarks came a week after the French UN mission issued an apology for a social media post that “called into question the US commitment to human rights.” In July, the mission had criticized Washington for voting against extending the mandate of UN human rights chief Volker Turk.

“The US used to be a beacon of human rights. Not anymore. Today, it stands alongside North Korea, Nicaragua, Mali & Russia, isolated. And the world no longer listens to it,” the mission wrote on X at the time.

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Washington responded by delaying approval of Macron ally Aurelien Lechevallier as France’s new ambassador to the US.

Since returning to office in early 2025, Trump has revived his claims on Greenland, a self-governing Danish territory, and repeatedly suggested that Canada should become the 51st US state. He has also vowed to take control of the Panama Canal and issued threats against Mexico and Cuba, while saying that the US should “own” the Gaza Strip. In January, Trump ordered a commando raid in Caracas that captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, whom he accused of helping a drug cartel.

Trump’s push to acquire Greenland initially caused outrage in Copenhagen, prompting European NATO members to rally around Denmark. Nevertheless, the US, Denmark, and Greenland announced an agreement last week that Trump said would grant Washington “permanent control” over the Arctic territory’s security.

French President Emmanuel Macron has hit back at Donald Trump after the US president posted a map depicting France’s archipelago of Saint-Pierre and Miquelon as US territory.

Trump posted an AI-generated image on social media earlier this month showing the US flag covering Canada, Mexico, Greenland, Central America and the Caribbean, as well as Iceland. Saint-Pierre and Miquelon, a small French overseas territory off the Atlantic coast of Canada, was also depicted as part of the “United States of America.”

Speaking to reporters after arriving in Saint-Pierre on Saturday for a two-day visit and talks with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, Macron said it was “obvious” that the archipelago remains French territory.

“We’re not going to reiterate this every morning because some people have strange ideas or say strange things,” he added.

Macron’s remarks came a week after the French UN mission issued an apology for a social media post that “called into question the US commitment to human rights.” In July, the mission criticized Washington for voting against extending the mandate of UN human rights chief Volker Turk.

“The US used to be a beacon of human rights. Not anymore. Today, it stands alongside North Korea, Nicaragua, Mali & Russia, isolated. And the world no longer listens to it,” the mission wrote on X at the time.

Read more

Washington responded by delaying approval of Macron ally Aurelien Lechevallier as France’s new ambassador to the US.

Since returning to office in early 2025, Trump has revived his claims on Greenland, a self-governing Danish territory, and repeatedly suggested that Canada should become the 51st US state. He has also vowed to take control of the Panama Canal and made threats against Mexico and Cuba, while saying that the US should “own” the Gaza Strip. In January, Trump ordered a commando raid in Caracas that captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, whom he accused of helping a drug cartel.

Trump’s push to acquire Greenland initially caused outrage in Copenhagen, prompting European NATO members to rally around Denmark. Nevertheless, the US, Denmark, and Greenland announced an agreement last week that Trump said would grant Washington “permanent control” over the Arctic territory’s security.

French President Emmanuel Macron has hit back at Donald Trump after the US president posted a map depicting France’s archipelago of Saint-Pierre and Miquelon as US territory.

Trump posted an AI-generated image on social media earlier this month showing the US flag covering Canada, Mexico, Greenland, Central America and the Caribbean, as well as Iceland. Saint-Pierre and Miquelon, a small French overseas territory off the Atlantic coast of Canada, was also depicted as part of the “United States of America.”

Speaking to reporters after arriving in Saint-Pierre on Saturday for a two-day visit and talks with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, Macron said it was “obvious” that the archipelago remains French territory.

“We’re not going to reiterate this every morning because some people have strange ideas or say strange things,” he added.

Macron’s remarks came a week after the French UN mission issued an apology for a social media post that “called into question the US commitment to human rights.” In July, the mission criticized Washington for voting against extending the mandate of UN human rights chief Volker Turk.

“The US used to be a beacon of human rights. Not anymore. Today, it stands alongside North Korea, Nicaragua, Mali & Russia, isolated. And the world no longer listens to it,” the mission wrote on X at the time.

Read more

Washington responded by delaying approval of Macron ally Aurelien Lechevallier as France’s new ambassador to the US.

Since returning to office in early 2025, Trump has revived his claims on Greenland, a self-governing Danish territory, and repeatedly suggested that Canada should become the 51st US state. He has also vowed to take control of the Panama Canal and made threats against Mexico and Cuba, while saying that the US should “own” the Gaza Strip. In January, Trump ordered a commando raid in Caracas that captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, whom he accused of helping a drug cartel.

Trump’s push to acquire Greenland initially caused outrage in Copenhagen, prompting European NATO members to rally around Denmark. Nevertheless, the US, Denmark, and Greenland announced an agreement last week that Trump said would grant Washington “permanent control” over the Arctic territory’s security.

Yemen’s Houthi rebels have vowed not to target countries other than Saudi Arabia after their forces captured strategic positions around the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, an important shipping chokepoint at the entrance to the Red Sea.

The Houthis, an Iran-backed Shiite group, declared a naval blockade of Saudi Arabia earlier this year, accusing the kingdom of imposing an illegal “siege” on the territories under their control.

“We confirmed that we are not targeting the United States, or any other nation, in the strait, with the sole exception of the Saudi enemy,” Houthi political spokesman Mohamed al-Bukhaiti told AP in an interview published on Sunday.

“The goal of our military operations is not to close the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, but rather to ensure freedom of navigation through it for everyone, including Yemen,” he added.

Al-Bukhaiti confirmed indirect contacts with the US through Oman. According to earlier media reports, Saudi Arabia had asked President Donald Trump to intervene militarily, but the US has so far limited its cooperation to intelligence sharing and targeting assistance.

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The Houthis seized the port of Mokha and strategic Perim Island, which sits in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, earlier this month, inflicting heavy casualties on Saudi-backed government forces. The rebels have also fired drones and missiles at Saudi cities, including the kingdom’s capital, Riyadh.

The escalation comes as the Strait of Hormuz, the other major maritime chokepoint linking the Middle East with global markets, remains effectively closed to most commercial shipping amid the US-Iran conflict.

Saudi Arabia first launched a military intervention on behalf of Yemen’s internationally recognized government in 2015, following the fall of the capital, Sanaa, to the Houthis the previous year.

Large-scale fighting in Yemen largely subsided following a UN-brokered truce in 2022 but erupted again after September 8 strikes on Sanaa airport aimed at preventing an Iranian plane carrying a Houthi delegation from Tehran from landing. The Houthis blamed Saudi Arabia for the attacks, which the kingdom attributed to Yemeni government forces.

The US State Department issued security alerts across the Middle East on Saturday night, warning of a potential escalation between the Houthis and Saudi Arabia, as well as possible attacks on American diplomatic facilities. According to CNN, Trump was briefed on potential strike options in Yemen but has not authorized military action.

The Houthis reached a separate ceasefire with the US in May 2025, under which Washington halted its air campaign in Yemen and the group agreed to stop targeting US vessels in the Red Sea.

A senior Polish Foreign Ministry official has been critically injured after falling from a third-floor window at a building adjoining the country’s diplomatic mission in Slovenia, local media have reported.

The incident occurred at around 3am on September 13 but only came to light several days later. The man was identified by Polish outlets as the head of the Foreign Ministry’s Diplomatic Security Bureau, which oversees the security of ministry facilities in Poland and the country’s diplomatic missions abroad. He has remained in critical condition in a Slovenian hospital since the fall.

According to Polish news portal Zero.pl, the official was attending a private party with several other people when he fell. The other participants were also reportedly off duty.

“He was on leave. It was his private time. He was in an apartment adjacent to the diplomatic mission. That is where the accident occurred,” ministry spokesman Maciej Wewior told Niezalezna.pl.

Read more

Despite being on vacation, the official had reportedly collected a diplomatic package and was expected to deliver it onward without a formal assignment.

Slovenian police were reportedly not permitted to enter the diplomatic premises or inspect the scene because the Polish mission did not grant its consent. The Polish side said its own investigators would examine the site and investigate the circumstances, TV Slovenija journalist Marko Saksida said.

Polish Deputy Sejm Speaker Krzysztof Bosak described the circumstances as suspicious and called for a thorough investigation.

“Security-related positions in the Foreign Ministry are often filled by people from the security services. If someone falls from a window at a diplomatic mission and it turns out that he was on vacation and carrying some kind of package, the case is no longer merely mysterious but very, very suspicious,” he said.

The mission is headed by charge d’affaires Leszek Soczewica, whom Polish media have described as a close friend and associate of Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski.

In December 2022, Poland faced another high-profile security controversy when national police chief Jaroslaw Szymczyk was hospitalized after a grenade launcher presented to him as a gift by Ukrainian officials exploded inside police headquarters in Warsaw. Szymczyk said he had been assured that the weapon was unloaded, but security experts criticized his decision to bring military equipment into Poland and keep it in his office.

German General Carsten Breuer has been chosen as the next chair of the NATO Military Committee as European countries seek to strengthen their armed forces, citing the need to deter Russia.

Breuer, inspector general of the Bundeswehr, will succeed Italian Admiral Giuseppe Cavo Dragone, with his three-year term set to begin in the summer of 2027.

The chiefs of defense of NATO member states backed Breuer during a vote at the annual Military Committee conference in Copenhagen on Saturday. The committee is the main forum where the bloc’s top military leaders coordinate what their armed forces should do together and provide advice to NATO’s political leadership.

Breuer has overseen the major rearmament drive initiated by Berlin following the escalation of the Russia-Ukraine conflict the year before he took office as inspector general in 2023. His election to one of NATO’s most senior military positions was a sign of “recognition of the numerous measures Germany has introduced to strengthen the alliance,” German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said.

According to estimates cited by Handelsblatt, Germany currently ranks first among European NATO members in military spending, at around €125 billion ($143 billion). German officials also hold a growing number of senior positions within the bloc’s military command structure.

In 2022, Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced a “turning point,” or Zeitenwende, ending decades in which the Bundeswehr had increasingly been geared toward smaller overseas operations rather than large-scale territorial defense. Friedrich Merz, who succeeded Scholz as chancellor in May 2025, vowed to transform it into the strongest conventional army in Europe. His coalition government amended Germany’s constitutional debt-brake rules, exempting much military spending from borrowing limits.

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Germany ordered around €85 billion ($97 billion) worth of military equipment in 2025, according to the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, while Berlin plans to increase defense spending to 3.5% of GDP by 2029.

In recent months, several lawmakers and officials have suggested that Germany could reinstate the draft, which was suspended in 2011, as early as next year, citing military personnel shortages.

Russia has repeatedly said it has no intention of attacking a NATO member unless attacked first and has dismissed claims to the contrary as reckless warmongering. Moscow has also described NATO’s increase in military spending as evidence that Western governments are preparing for a possible confrontation with Russia.

Speaking to journalists earlier this month, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov argued that Merz’s drive to make Germany Europe’s leading military power amounted to “in effect, declaring war” on Russia and accused the chancellor of failing to learn the lessons of history.

US President Donald Trump has signed into law a sweeping expansion of sanctions against Russia, giving Washington new powers to target Moscow as well as major buyers of Russian energy. The legislation authorizes tariffs of up to 100% on goods from certain countries purchasing Russian oil and gas, while imports from Russia could face duties of up to 500%.

The Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act also expands restrictions on Russian officials, financial institutions and other entities linked to the government. The White House has said the legislation is intended to increase economic pressure on Moscow over the Ukraine conflict while giving the president broad discretion over waivers and the eventual termination of sanctions.

RT examines the law’s key provisions, who could be affected and what the measures could mean for Russia’s trade partners.

Read more

What do the sanctions cover?

The legislation was approved by the Senate 86-11 in August before passing the House 262-159 on Wednesday. It originated with Republican Senator Lindsey Graham and Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal.

Unlike earlier sanctions focused largely on designated companies and individuals, the law broadens restrictions covering Russian government-linked officials, financial institutions and enterprises. It also targets vessels Washington says are used to circumvent restrictions on Russian oil exports.

One of its most consequential provisions gives the president authority to impose tariffs of up to 100% on goods from countries among the five largest buyers of Russian crude oil or natural gas. That is considerably below the 500% secondary tariff proposed in earlier versions of the legislation.

Who could be targeted?

China and India are among the countries most exposed to the secondary tariff provisions because of their large purchases of Russian crude.

Türkiye, a NATO member, is also a major importer of Russian energy, while EU countries continue to purchase Russian oil and gas despite the bloc’s efforts to phase out Russian supplies.

The picture is particularly significant for natural gas, where the EU remains a major market for Russia. China has also expanded its purchases, while Türkiye remains another important destination.

The law, however, does not make maximum tariffs automatic. It contains exemptions and gives the US president broad discretion over their application, meaning the eventual impact will depend heavily on how the administration implements it.

How are major buyers responding?

Read more

China and India have rejected US pressure over their energy trade with Russia and stressed that their economic and energy interests will guide their policies.

China’s Commerce Ministry has said Beijing reserves the right to take “all necessary measures” to protect its sovereignty, development interests and Chinese companies, while calling for dialogue with Washington.

India’s Foreign Ministry has reiterated New Delhi’s “firm commitment to ensuring energy security for its 1.4 billion people,” saying it would continue diversifying supplies according to market conditions.

Could US-Russia trade grind to a halt?

The legislation retains a 500% tariff on goods imported directly from Russia into the US.

In practice, however, the legislation contains exemptions and gives the president considerable waiver authority. The White House highlighted that discretion while backing the bill, including the president’s authority to lift sanctions following a peace agreement.

Washington has used similar exemptions before. A 2024 ban on Russian uranium imports included waivers allowing purchases to continue under certain circumstances. Moscow subsequently imposed temporary restrictions of its own on enriched uranium exports to the US, while allowing exceptions.

Read more

What has Moscow said?

Moscow has criticized the legislation, with Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov saying the new restrictions would not achieve their stated objectives and could complicate efforts to reach a settlement of the Ukraine conflict.

”Clearly, this cannot have a positive effect,” Peskov told reporters on Saturday.

The Russian Embassy in Washington has argued that the measures could also have consequences for the US economy, particularly amid tight global energy supplies. It warned that additional restrictions on Russian exports could put upward pressure on fuel prices and said escalating economic confrontation with Russia and China would be damaging to all sides.

US President Donald Trump has signed into law a sweeping expansion of sanctions against Russia, giving Washington new powers to target Moscow as well as major buyers of Russian energy. The legislation authorizes tariffs of up to 100% on goods from certain countries purchasing Russian oil and gas, while imports from Russia could face duties of up to 500%.

The Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act also expands restrictions on Russian officials, financial institutions and other entities linked to the government. The White House has said the legislation is intended to increase economic pressure on Moscow over the Ukraine conflict while giving the president broad discretion over waivers and the eventual termination of sanctions.

RT examines the law’s key provisions, who could be affected and what the measures could mean for Russia’s trade partners.

Read more

What do the sanctions cover?

The legislation was approved by the Senate 86-11 in August before passing the House 262-159 on Wednesday. It originated with Republican Senator Lindsey Graham and Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal.

Unlike earlier sanctions focused largely on designated companies and individuals, the law broadens restrictions covering Russian government-linked officials, financial institutions and enterprises. It also targets vessels Washington says are used to circumvent restrictions on Russian oil exports.

One of its most consequential provisions gives the president authority to impose tariffs of up to 100% on goods from countries among the five largest buyers of Russian crude oil or natural gas. That is considerably below the 500% secondary tariff proposed in earlier versions of the legislation.

Who could be targeted?

China and India are among the countries most exposed to the secondary tariff provisions because of their large purchases of Russian crude.

Türkiye, a NATO member, is also a major importer of Russian energy, while EU countries continue to purchase Russian oil and gas despite the bloc’s efforts to phase out Russian supplies.

The picture is particularly significant for natural gas, where the EU remains a major market for Russia. China has also expanded its purchases, while Türkiye remains another important destination.

The law, however, does not make maximum tariffs automatic. It contains exemptions and gives the US president broad discretion over their application, meaning the eventual impact will depend heavily on how the administration implements it.

How are major buyers responding?

Read more

China and India have rejected US pressure over their energy trade with Russia and stressed that their economic and energy interests will guide their policies.

China’s Commerce Ministry has said Beijing reserves the right to take “all necessary measures” to protect its sovereignty, development interests and Chinese companies, while calling for dialogue with Washington.

India’s Foreign Ministry has reiterated New Delhi’s “firm commitment to ensuring energy security for its 1.4 billion people,” saying it would continue diversifying supplies according to market conditions.

Could US-Russia trade grind to a halt?

The legislation retains a 500% tariff on goods imported directly from Russia into the US.

In practice, however, the legislation contains exemptions and gives the president considerable waiver authority. The White House highlighted that discretion while backing the bill, including the president’s authority to lift sanctions following a peace agreement.

Washington has used similar exemptions before. A 2024 ban on Russian uranium imports included waivers allowing purchases to continue under certain circumstances. Moscow subsequently imposed temporary restrictions of its own on enriched uranium exports to the US, while allowing exceptions.

Read more

What has Moscow said?

Moscow has criticized the legislation, with Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov saying the new restrictions would not achieve their stated objectives and could complicate efforts to reach a settlement of the Ukraine conflict.

”Clearly, this cannot have a positive effect,” Peskov told reporters on Saturday.

The Russian Embassy in Washington has argued that the measures could also have consequences for the US economy, particularly amid tight global energy supplies. It warned that additional restrictions on Russian exports could put upward pressure on fuel prices and said escalating economic confrontation with Russia and China would be damaging to all sides.

US President Donald Trump has signed into law a sweeping expansion of sanctions against Russia, giving Washington new powers to target Moscow as well as major buyers of Russian energy. The legislation authorizes tariffs of up to 100% on goods from certain countries purchasing Russian oil and gas, while imports from Russia could face duties of up to 500%.

The Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act also expands restrictions on Russian officials, financial institutions and other entities linked to the government. The White House has said the legislation is intended to increase economic pressure on Moscow over the Ukraine conflict while giving the president broad discretion over waivers and the eventual termination of sanctions.

RT examines the law’s key provisions, who could be affected and what the measures could mean for Russia’s trade partners.

Read more

What do the sanctions cover?

The legislation was approved by the Senate 86-11 in August before passing the House 262-159 on Wednesday. It originated with Republican Senator Lindsey Graham and Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal.

Unlike earlier sanctions focused largely on designated companies and individuals, the law broadens restrictions covering Russian government-linked officials, financial institutions and enterprises. It also targets vessels Washington says are used to circumvent restrictions on Russian oil exports.

One of its most consequential provisions gives the president authority to impose tariffs of up to 100% on goods from countries among the five largest buyers of Russian crude oil or natural gas. That is considerably below the 500% secondary tariff proposed in earlier versions of the legislation.

Who could be targeted?

China and India are among the countries most exposed to the secondary tariff provisions because of their large purchases of Russian crude.

Türkiye, a NATO member, is also a major importer of Russian energy, while EU countries continue to purchase Russian oil and gas despite the bloc’s efforts to phase out Russian supplies.

The picture is particularly significant for natural gas, where the EU remains a major market for Russia. China has also expanded its purchases, while Türkiye remains another important destination.

The law, however, does not make maximum tariffs automatic. It contains exemptions and gives the US president broad discretion over their application, meaning the eventual impact will depend heavily on how the administration implements it.

How are major buyers responding?

Read more

China and India have rejected US pressure over their energy trade with Russia and stressed that their economic and energy interests will guide their policies.

China’s Commerce Ministry has said Beijing reserves the right to take “all necessary measures” to protect its sovereignty, development interests and Chinese companies, while calling for dialogue with Washington.

India’s Foreign Ministry has reiterated New Delhi’s “firm commitment to ensuring energy security for its 1.4 billion people,” saying it would continue diversifying supplies according to market conditions.

Could US-Russia trade grind to a halt?

The legislation retains a 500% tariff on goods imported directly from Russia into the US.

In practice, however, the legislation contains exemptions and gives the president considerable waiver authority. The White House highlighted that discretion while backing the bill, including the president’s authority to lift sanctions following a peace agreement.

Washington has used similar exemptions before. A 2024 ban on Russian uranium imports included waivers allowing purchases to continue under certain circumstances. Moscow subsequently imposed temporary restrictions of its own on enriched uranium exports to the US, while allowing exceptions.

Read more

What has Moscow said?

Moscow has criticized the legislation, with Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov saying the new restrictions would not achieve their stated objectives and could complicate efforts to reach a settlement of the Ukraine conflict.

”Clearly, this cannot have a positive effect,” Peskov told reporters on Saturday.

The Russian Embassy in Washington has argued that the measures could also have consequences for the US economy, particularly amid tight global energy supplies. It warned that additional restrictions on Russian exports could put upward pressure on fuel prices and said escalating economic confrontation with Russia and China would be damaging to all sides.

German regional elections could have major implications for Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s political future, with exit polls projecting a crushing defeat for his Christian Democratic Union (CDU) in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and a weak showing in Berlin.

The CDU was languishing at just 20% nationwide as of last weekend, according to an INSA ‘Sunday Trend’ poll. The Alternative for Germany (AfD) remained the country’s most popular party, with 29% support. This comes despite pressure on the AfD from Germany’s domestic security agency over its alleged ‘extremist’ tendencies and efforts by mainstream parties to keep it out of government.

Read more

Merz himself has also faced widespread dissatisfaction, with 78% of respondents surveyed by INSA unhappy with his performance as chancellor.

The CDU therefore entered Sunday’s vote under considerable pressure, compounded by its electoral drubbing in Saxony-Anhalt earlier this month.

First exit polls

The Left Party (Die Linke) is projected to top the vote in Berlin with 25.3% of the vote, according to exit polls. Its lead candidate, Elif Eralp, a first generation German of Turkish parentage, told cheering supporters on Sunday evening that “from today on, we will change Berlin together.”

Merz’s CDU is projected to take 19.1%, while the AfD is in third place with 16.2%, according to DW.

If the projections hold, the Left Party will be in pole position to lead Berlin’s next government – potentially for the first time since German reunification in 1990.

In Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, the AfD is projected to finish first with 37.9% of the vote in an extraordinary turnaround. Party co-leader Tino Chrupalla said the result showed that the AfD “clearly have the mandate to govern here.”

Read more

Merz’s CDU, meanwhile, is projected to suffer another major setback, securing just 5% and barely clearing the threshold for entering the state parliament. The result would be the party’s worst in any German state election since 1949. Merz has described his party's showing as a “disaster.”

Who is voting for what?

In Berlin, which is both a city and one of Germany’s 16 federal states, approximately 2.5 million people are eligible to elect the House of Representatives, the local legislature.

Voters have cast two votes: one for a direct candidate in one of 78 constituencies and the other for a party’s state or district list. The second determines the overall distribution of seats. The legislature normally has 130 lawmakers, although its size can increase through so-called ‘balancing’ seats.

Preliminary data suggest turnout in Berlin has surpassed that recorded in the previous regional election in February 2023.

In Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, around 1.3 million people are eligible to elect the state parliament. They similarly voted for both a constituency candidate and a party list.

Sunday’s elections also marked the first time 16- and 17-year-olds had been allowed to vote in either contest.

The rising cost of living has been among voters’ biggest concerns. Some 67% of respondents in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and 56% in Berlin named it as their primary preoccupation in an Infratest Dimap poll conducted earlier this week. In Berlin, unaffordable housing also emerged as a major campaign issue.

Read more

Why do the elections matter nationally?

Sunday’s votes came just two weeks after the AfD won another eastern state, Saxony-Anhalt, with 43.8%, while the CDU finished a distant second with 17.2%.

That result intensified scrutiny of Merz’s future as leader of the party.

Table.Briefings reported earlier this week that he planned to convene the CDU executive committee on Sunday and put the question of confidence to a test. ZDF has also reported that talk of replacing Merz has circulated within the party for months, although no clear successor has emerged.

Reuters reported earlier this week, citing an anonymous government source, that the chancellor had canceled a planned trip to the UN General Assembly in New York to attend a special meeting in Berlin on Sunday.

A YouGov poll published on Thursday found that 48% of respondents expect Merz to be out of office by the end of the year.

Merz under pressure

Merz took over in May 2025 promising sweeping economic reforms and a stronger German leadership role in Europe. His coalition government, which also includes the Social Democrats (SPD), has struggled to revitalize the country’s economy.

Read more

Germany endured three consecutive years of economic stagnation and recession before GDP grew 0.3% in the second quarter of 2026. German industry has faced mounting pressure from high energy costs following Berlin’s move away from Russian oil and gas.

At the same time, Merz has committed billions of euros to an ambitious rearmament program and continued military aid to Ukraine, while calling on Germans to work more.

The regional results do not directly determine the composition of the federal government, but the CDU’s projected showing – particularly its 5% result in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania – could intensify debate within the party over Merz’s leadership and political strategy.

In the past few days, Israeli media has been actively talking about contacts between Saudi Arabia and Israel, facilitated by the US Central Command (CENTCOM). Reportedly, Riyadh is seeking intelligence from Israel to counter the Houthis. The very fact that such contacts are taking place raises a question: is Saudi Arabia preparing to take an even more significant and risky step, one that could alter the balance of power in the Middle East?

Escalating tensions with Yemen’s Houthis are compelling the Saudi leadership to seek help where it can be found. The Houthis have missiles and drones, enabling them to strike Saudi Arabia’s energy infrastructure and threaten shipping in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. For Riyadh, this presents a military, economic, and reputational challenge. This new phase of the conflict jeopardizes oil facilities, maritime routes, and sabotages plans to transform Saudi Arabia into a leading global investment and logistics hub.

Israel, for its part, has amassed considerable experience monitoring the activities of the Houthis and Iran-linked groups. Its intelligence capabilities – including satellite surveillance, signals intelligence, and the analysis of troop movements across the Red Sea and Persian Gulf – could be valuable to the Saudis. The only question is, what price is Riyadh willing to pay for access to this intelligence information? 

Things become even more apparent when we consider Washington’s stance. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman asked US President Donald Trump for assistance in striking Houthi positions. Trump declined direct military intervention, proposing instead to expand intelligence sharing and target-selection assistance. A meeting between the Crown Prince and CENTCOM commander Admiral Brad Cooper has been confirmed by Saudi state media. Washington is prepared to provide intelligence support but does not intend to shoulder the main burden of a new campaign in Yemen – at least not now.

This raises a key question: has Riyadh decided to take a step it had long and carefully avoided? Until recently, Saudi Arabia sought to maintain cooperation with the US while preserving the possibility of normalizing relations with Israel in the long term; however, it avoided entering into a direct confrontation with Iran. This approach allowed it to maneuver between competing power centers. Even after the outbreak of a major regional war, Riyadh did not want to be viewed as a direct participant in the war and kept channels of communication with Tehran open.

Read more

Military cooperation with Israel could upset this balance. Iran might perceive the transfer of Israeli intelligence to Saudi Arabia not merely as technical assistance in fighting the Houthis, but as Saudi Arabia’s integration into an emerging anti-Iran bloc. Tehran views the Houthis not in isolation, but as part of a broader regional architecture designed to contain its adversaries.

The risk for Saudi Arabia extends beyond Iran’s potential reaction. Direct cooperation with Israel remains a highly sensitive issue for the Arab world, especially as the Palestinian issue remains unresolved. Riyadh will have to explain why military rapprochement with Israel precedes the political settlement that Saudi diplomacy had long cited as a prerequisite for normalization. 

This is precisely why the mediation of CENTCOM is of fundamental importance. The US command acts as a kind of political buffer. Saudi Arabia can obtain the necessary intelligence without acknowledging the existence of a bilateral military mechanism, while Israel can defend shared regional interests without a formal agreement with Riyadh. This arrangement allows both sides to deny the formation of a coalition, even as specific elements of that coalition begin to function.

For Israel, this development is strategically advantageous. It allows for the gradual integration of Saudi Arabia into the regional security architecture even before diplomatic relations are established. Moreover, West Jerusalem gains the opportunity to demonstrate that its military and intelligence capabilities are essential for Arab states in countering threats posed by Iran. In doing so, normalization evolves from a purely political project into a matter of practical security.

Israel has long and consistently pursued a strategy aimed at forging an alliance with the Arab monarchies of the Persian Gulf. Just a few years ago, such an alliance seemed almost unthinkable, since the burden of the Arab-Israel confrontation remained too heavy, and the unresolved Palestinian issue made open rapprochement with Israel politically risky for any Arab nation. 

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However, Israel apparently proceeded from the idea that in order to implement this plan, it was necessary to wait for an opportune moment. Such a moment would come when the immediate threat from Iran and its associated forces proved stronger than previous political restrictions. And it seems that this is exactly what happened. 

The attacks by the Houthis, the threat to the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, and new attacks on Saudi infrastructure have left Riyadh with an extremely unpleasant choice. Saudi Arabia must either again enter into a difficult and unpredictable war with Yemen on its own, or seek support from those nations that have the necessary capabilities. The US is not ready to get involved in hostilities, the UK limits itself to sending advisers, and Riyadh’s regional partners don’t want to get involved in a direct clash with Iran. And the Mecca Joint Defense Agreement, signed by Saudi Arabia, Türkiye, and Pakistan in August, hasn’t been of any use so far. Against this background, Israel is perhaps the only country capable of providing the Saudi side with operational information about the location of the Houthis, their infrastructure, and the preparation of new attacks.

If the information provided by Israel is used in the preparation of Saudi operations, the first operational mechanism of military-intelligence cooperation between the two countries will emerge. Although such a mechanism may be initially viewed as a temporary emergency measure, if it proves effective, it will be much more difficult to dismantle.

This is a big risk for Riyadh. Most likely, Tehran won’t draw a clear line between Saudi Arabia’s fight against the Houthis and its inclusion in the Israeli strategy to contain Iran. Even if the Saudi leadership intends to solve only the issue with Yemen, Iran may regard this as a step toward the formation of a hostile bloc. Then not only Saudi military facilities will come under threat, but also oil enterprises, ports, tanker routes, and other elements of infrastructure on which Saudi Arabia’s economic stability rests.

Apparently, Israel has been waiting for such a moment. Circumstances are pushing Saudi Arabia towards cooperation with Israel, which only a short while ago had been impossible for political reasons. 

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If such interaction becomes permanent and goes beyond the confrontation with the Houthis, the war will take on a completely different scale. We will no longer be talking about separate fronts in Yemen, Lebanon or the Red Sea, but about the formation of two regional systems opposing each other. On one side will be Israel, Saudi Arabia, and the Western states supporting them; on the other Iran and the forces associated with it. That is why current contacts may become not just another episode of the crisis in the Middle East; they may change the entire logic of the regional confrontation. After all, ten years ago, no Middle East expert could predict the improvement of relations between the UAE and Israel – the parties were extremely hostile towards each other; but today, they maintain diplomatic relations, albeit with some reservations.

At the same time, it is too early to say that Riyadh has made a final choice in favor of an alliance with Israel against Tehran. The Saudi leadership is most likely trying to solve a specific military problem without long-term commitments. It is interested in Israeli intelligence, American support, and British advisers, but at the same time it does not want to become the front line of someone else’s war.

If Saudi Arabia really decides to enter into a stable relationship with Israel, directed not only against the Houthis, but also against Iran as a whole, the regional confrontation will move to a completely different level. This will no longer be a struggle between Israel and the US against Iran and its allies, but a clash of two coalitions encompassing the Persian Gulf, the Red Sea, and the Arabian Peninsula.

For Tehran, this would mean the emergence of a single military-intelligence space from Israel to Saudi Arabia. For Riyadh, it will mean a rejection of its previous cautious balancing role in favor of direct participation in the conflict. And for the entire troubled Middle East region, it will pose a threat of a full-scale interstate confrontation, the consequences of which would no longer be limited to the territory of Yemen.

Therefore, the current contacts should not be viewed as evidence of an already established alliance; rather, they are a test of whether the sides are ready for such an alliance. Riyadh has not yet crossed the line. But for the first time in a long while, it has come extremely close to doing so.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz described his Christian Democratic Union’s performance in Sunday’s state election in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania as a “disaster,” after preliminary results showed a historic low for the party.

The CDU received just 5.5% of the vote, according to an ARD exit poll, its worst results in a state election since the founding of the federal republic in 1949. This leaves the party just above the 5% threshold required to enter the regional parliament.

The Alternative for Germany party (AfD) is leading with 37%, ahead of the ruling Social Democrats (SPD) at 35.5%, according to the poll.

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Merz’s party is faring better in Berlin but is still trailing the Left, which leads with 24.5%. The CDU is second with 20%, followed by the AfD at 16%, according to exit polls.

The preliminary results come two weeks after the AfD took first in Saxony-Anhalt, and amid mounting pressure on Merz over the CDU’s declining support. The chancellor called a meeting of the party leadership for Sunday evening to discuss the election results.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz described his Christian Democratic Union’s performance in Sunday’s state election in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania as a “disaster,” after preliminary results showed a historic low for the party.

The CDU received just 5.5% of the vote, according to an ARD exit poll, its worst results in a state election since the founding of the federal republic in 1949. This leaves the party just above the 5% threshold required to enter the regional parliament.

The Alternative for Germany party (AfD) is leading with 37%, ahead of the ruling Social Democrats (SPD) at 35.5%, according to the poll.

Merz’s party is faring better in Berlin but is still trailing the Left, which leads with 24.5%. The CDU is second with 20%, followed by the AfD at 16%, according to exit polls.

The preliminary results come two weeks after the AfD took first in Saxony-Anhalt, and amid mounting pressure on Merz over the CDU’s declining support. The chancellor called a meeting of the party leadership for Sunday evening to discuss the election results.

Europe is facing “the worst energy crisis in history,” Kremlin envoy Kirill Dmitriev has warned, describing the situation as a “self-made.” He has repeatedly blamed the EU’s decision to cut Russian energy imports as a key factor behind the crisis.

Dmitriev made the remarks after reports of worsening fuel shortages across the EU. Government data on Sunday showed that 15% of French gas stations were facing supply problems with at least one type of petrol or diesel.

German media also reported record fuel prices, with Super E10 gasoline reaching around €2.3 ($2.6) per liter and diesel averaging a record €2.45. Across the EU, petrol prices are 24% higher than a year ago, diesel is up 38%, and jet fuel costs more than double. Benchmark gas prices have surged 150% year-on-year to €81 per megawatt hour, with analysts warning they could reach €100.

“Europe finally understands it is facing the worst energy crisis in history,” Dmitriev wrote in a series of posts on X on Saturday, calling it “a self-made crisis with zero attempts to analyze root causes and adjust course.”

Self-made crisis with zero attempts to analyze root causes and adjust course. https://t.co/zvdb0RkYsE

— Kirill Dmitriev (@kadmitriev) September 20, 2026

The bloc this year has faced mounting supply pressures from the US-Israeli war on Iran, which disrupted the Strait of Hormuz, a key route for global oil and LNG.

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Combined with Houthi attacks on Red Sea shipping and Saudi energy infrastructure, the disruptions pushed crude benchmarks up around 50%, with prices hovering above $100 per barrel and driving fuel and gas costs higher. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen this week said the EU had spent more than €90 billion extra on fossil fuel imports since the war began. Much of the additional expense was passed on to households. Brussels also previously acknowledged that industrial gas and electricity prices remain two to four times higher than those of major trading partners.

The Middle East conflict, however, has further pressured energy markets already strained by Europe’s sharp reduction in Russian supplies following sanctions imposed after the 2022 escalation of the Ukraine conflict. Before then, Russia supplied around 45% of EU gas imports and 27% of crude oil. By 2025, its share had fallen to 12% of gas imports and around 2% of crude.

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Even sanctions supporters, including German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and French President Emmanuel Macron, have linked Europe’s energy challenges to the loss of cheap Russian supplies. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk warned earlier this month that the EU cannot remain competitive while energy costs stay prohibitively high.

Meanwhile, the EU is entering the heating season with its lowest gas storage levels in 15 years. According to Gas Infrastructure Europe (GIE), underground facilities were just 69.3% as of Saturday, below the 85% average for this time of the year over the last five years, prompting warnings of heightened price volatility and higher energy bills this winter.

Despite the dire situation, von der Leyen reaffirmed in her State of the Union address this week that the EU will continue with its REPowerEU plan to permanently end reliance on Russian energy, with Russian LNG set to leave the EU market completely by the end of 2026 and pipeline gas by autumn 2027.

READ MORE: EU committing ‘harakiri’ – Lavrov

Moscow has long criticized Western energy sanctions as illegal and counterproductive, arguing they have redirected Russian exports while forcing Europe toward more expensive supplies. Russia has offered to help fill oil shortages caused by the Middle East conflict and resume energy deliveries but says it has received no response. Earlier this year, Dmitriev said the EU would “inevitably beg” for Russian gas as energy prices continue rising.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog has cleared the criminal record of former IDF soldier Elor Azaria, who was convicted of manslaughter for shooting a wounded and incapacitated Palestinian dead in Hebron in 2016.

The case dates back to 2016, when Azaria, then an IDF sergeant and medic, was filmed shooting alleged knife attacker Abdel Fattah al-Sharif in Hebron’s Tel Rumeida neighborhood.

According to accounts of the incident, al-Sharif and another Palestinian man, Ramzi Aziz al-Tamimi al-Qasrawi, approached an Israeli military post and stabbed an Israeli soldier, lightly injuring him. Qasrawi was subsequently shot and killed by Israeli forces. Al-Sharif was shot, seriously wounded, and left lying on the ground. Several minutes later, Azaria approached him and shot him in the head.

The shooting was filmed by a human rights activist. Azaria was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to 18 months in prison, despite prosecutors seeking a three- to five-year term. His sentence was later commuted to 14 months, and he was released in May 2018 after serving nine months.

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Footage of Azaria shooting an already incapacitated Palestinian sparked international outrage. The Palestinian Foreign Ministry called it an “extrajudicial execution” and a war crime, saying the video “demolished all the slogans chanted by the occupation leaders about the ethics of the Israeli army.”

Israeli rights group B’Tselem described it as an “extrajudicial street killing.” The UN human rights office called Azaria’s sentence “excessively lenient,” warning that it will reinforce “the culture of impunity.” The case also divided Israeli public opinion and contributed to tensions between political leaders and the military, with then-Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon later resigning.

Despite the controversy, Herzog’s office announced on Saturday that he shortened the remaining period before Azaria’s record could be erased, effectively clearing it.

“The president believes that the circumstances as a whole, the passage of time, and the regret he expressed justify allowing him to open a new chapter in his life,” the President’s Office said.

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It added that Azaria, who was 20 when he was sentenced, expressed sorrow in his request. This contrasts with comments Azaria made in his first major interview after leaving prison, when he said he felt “no remorse whatsoever,” arguing that he acted as he did because he believed the attacker was still a threat.

Israel’s national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, welcomed the decision, saying, “canceling the criminal record of someone who killed a terrorist” makes him “very happy.” Defense Minister Israel Katz called it a “humane and worthy decision.”

The IDF, however, opposed the move. Azaria’s conviction was a rare case of an Israeli military court ruling against a soldier over a deadly action in the field. Military prosecutors argued that Azaria was seeking revenge rather than responding to an active threat. According to Israeli media, IDF Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir formally opposed clearing Azaria’s record, arguing that he had not fully accepted responsibility or demonstrated genuine remorse.

Scrutiny over military accountability

Extrajudicial and targeted killings by Israeli forces against Palestinians have long been a source of international scrutiny. Palestinian and international rights groups have accused Israeli forces of unlawful and extrajudicial killings. The government argues that its forces act lawfully against individuals involved in planning or conducting attacks.

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A UN Human Rights Office report said Israeli forces and settlers killed 1,096 Palestinians in the West Bank since October 7, 2023, one in five of them children, noting that many cases raised concerns over “extrajudicial executions and other unlawful use of force.”

Israeli and international rights groups also said prosecutions of Israeli soldiers for killing Palestinians are rare. Last month, after the military announced internal investigations into the deaths of Palestinian girl Hind Rajab in 2024 and 15 emergency and aid workers in 2025, Israeli rights group Yesh Din pointed to what it called the military justice system’s poor record of securing convictions.

“Nearly zero indictments are served relative to the number of complaints of soldiers and commanders who commit offenses. In rare cases when commanders or soldiers are convicted, they receive ridiculously lenient sentences compared with the severity of the offense,” the organization’s spokesperson said.

READ MORE: Western media demands answers from Israel for killing journalists in Gaza

According to an August 2025 report by London-based Action on Armed Violence, 88% of 52 publicly reported Israeli military probes into alleged violations in Gaza and the West Bank were either still under review with no public outcome or were closed without finding any wrongdoing. Just one of the 52 cases resulted in a prison sentence.

Ukraine made a “huge mistake” by caving in to its Western backers and walking away from a potential peace deal with Russia in 2022, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico has said. He also argued that years of Western military backing have failed to defeat Russia and are now raising the risk of a direct clash between Russia and NATO.

In a video address posted on X on Saturday, Fico argued that both sides have sustained “terrible” losses over the years, and that Western military support has failed to contain Russia’s advances. “There is no supranational force to compel Russia to withdraw from the militarily controlled Ukrainian territory,” he said.

“Ukraine made a huge mistake in April 2022, a few months after the start of the conflict, by listening to the Russophobic West and not signing the prepared peace agreement,” he said, adding that the Western strategy “to support the war in Ukraine to the last Ukrainian soldier and defeat Russia” has “completely failed.” He reiterated that his government will not provide military assistance or loans to Ukraine.

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Confronted with the failure to destroy Russia through the Ukraine conflict, “several politicians in the West… believe that if it cannot be achieved through the Ukrainian army and its full support, everything must be done to provoke a conflict between NATO and Russia,” Fico stated.

“Someone must have gone crazy here,” he said, arguing that “Russia cannot be defeated in a conventional war” and noting that it has a vast nuclear arsenal.

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Fico stressed that the Ukraine conflict is “not a NATO war,” arguing that “only some war hawks in NATO are trying at all costs to turn this war into a conflict between Russia and NATO.”

He noted that the Slovaks had their own experience with the Munich Agreement in 1938, saying that “the powers bound to us by treaty deceived us, betrayed us, and served us up to Hitler like a roasted chicken.” The Munich Accord – which was a prelude to World War II – was signed by Nazi Germany, Britain, France, and Italy without Czechoslovakia at the table and compelled Prague to surrender the predominantly German-speaking Sudetenland.

In spring 2022, Russia and Ukraine made substantial progress toward a peace deal, including a tentative draft agreement on Ukrainian neutrality, security guarantees, and other core issues.

Russia accused then-UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson of helping derail the peace process, which he has denied. Ukrainian chief negotiator David Arakhamia later confirmed that Johnson played an influential role. He said Russia was prepared to end the conflict if Kiev accepted neutrality, adding that Johnson told Ukrainian officials, “We won’t sign anything with them at all, and let’s just fight.” 

While the peace settlement process intensified after US President Donald Trump returned to the White House in 2025, no breakthroughs have been achieved. In February, the Russian Defense Ministry said Ukrainian military casualties exceeded 1.5 million since 2022, including more than 520,000 in 2025 alone.

US President Donald Trump has vowed not to slow the development of AI despite warnings from leading technology executives about the potential risks posed by increasingly powerful systems.

Trump also announced the creation of an ‘AI Force’ and said he would appoint an AI czar, while pledging to maintain America’s lead over China in the rapidly developing technology.

“We will not in any way hinder or stifle the Growth of this incredible Industry,” he wrote on Truth Social on Saturday. “Rather, we will cherish it, help it, and watch over it, as it grows!”

Trump accused his political opponents of seeking the “decimation, or destruction” of AI, describing the push as the latest in a series of hoaxes generated by “Radical Left Dumocrats.” He argued that abuses of the technology can be addressed through the justice system.

“For this purpose, I am forming the AI Force, much like I did Space Force, which has been a tremendous SUCCESS, in my First Term,” Trump wrote, referring to the sixth branch of the US armed forces, established by Congress in 2019 to conduct military operations in space and protect American assets such as satellites.

Trump also said he would soon announce an AI czar, adding that “only High I.Q. individuals need apply!” He did not provide details about the proposed force’s composition, powers, budget, or position within the federal government.

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The US president described AI as potentially more consequential than the Industrial Revolution and the internet, and predicted that it could eventually account for as much as 25% of US GDP. “We are leading China, and the rest of the World, and I intend to keep it that way!” he wrote.

Trump’s position contrasts with warnings from prominent tech executives. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, OpenAI chief Sam Altman, SpaceX and xAI chief Elon Musk, and Google DeepMind co-founder Demis Hassabis have backed calls to slow the development of increasingly powerful AI systems.

Last week, Amodei warned that rapidly advancing systems could escape human control, be misused for cyberattacks and bioterrorism, and cause serious economic disruption. Anthropic Alignment Science lead Evan Hubinger estimated there is a greater than 10% chance that AI could “kill all humans” within the next decade.

READ MORE: Google’s Gemini joins rogue AI cases after real-world hacks – WSJ

Trump has dismissed concerns that AI could take over the world as a “hoax,” and hailed AI and data centers as the “greatest economic development engine in history.”

Earlier this week, Bloomberg reported that flawed military intelligence, outdated imagery, and overreliance on AI contributed to a strike in February on an Iranian school that killed more than 150 people, including at least 123 children.

“The era of Westminster is coming to an end!” the nationalist leaders of Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland declared this week.

John Swinney, Rhun ap Iorwerth, and Michelle O’Neill gathered in Cardiff to sign an agreement asserting their nations’ right to self-determination, as they called on London not to obstruct referendums and outlined their preferred futures beyond the UK, including EU membership for an independent Scotland and Wales, and Irish reunification for Northern Ireland.

In Russia, the meeting has already been dubbed Britain’s version of the Belovezha Accords, and the comparison is tempting because, as in 1991, political leaders from three of a state’s constituent parts gathered around a table to discuss a civilized divorce.

But the resemblance largely ends there, given the driving force behind the Soviet Union’s dissolution was its largest republic, Russia, represented by Boris Yeltsin. He joined his counterparts in dismantling the state that Moscow built, but no representative of England attended the Cardiff gathering, and Westminster has shown little enthusiasm for presiding over its own retreat.

The participants were also considerably more cautious than their Soviet predecessors, so they signed as party leaders, making the declaration a joint political initiative rather than an agreement binding their governments to secession.

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This distinction exposes the central weakness of the Cardiff Pact. Its signatories want to leave the UK while remaining within the constitutional framework that holds it together. Their ambitions therefore depend on political and legal processes they don’t control.

Ireland’s experience offers an uncomfortable historical comparison, as the settlement that opened the way to independence followed two years of guerrilla warfare. Today’s nationalist leaders are pursuing an entirely peaceful route, through negotiations, elections, and referendums, but whether London will accommodate them is another matter.

Scotland has already encountered this obstacle. In 2022, the UK Supreme Court ruled that the Scottish Parliament couldn’t legislate for an independence referendum without Westminster’s consent, and after the close vote in 2014, London has little appetite for another.

Public opinion presents a further difficulty. Scotland remains divided down the middle, whereas in Northern Ireland, the figure cited for support for Irish unity is around 36% and Welsh independence remains a minority position, however much its advocates have gained politically.

Swinney wants another Scottish referendum by 2031, but his counterparts have offered no comparable timetable and their agreement establishes a direction of travel, but supplies neither a departure date nor a convincing explanation of how they will get there.

Britain’s dissolution is therefore hardly imminent, but nevertheless, London would be foolish to dismiss Cardiff as an exercise in nationalist theater. 

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Some British coverage attributed the meeting to an ill-judged intervention by Prime Minister Andy Burnham when he suggested that referendums in Scotland and Northern Ireland might be considered if there is broad public consensus, before attempting to narrow the implications of his remarks.

Qualifications rarely travel as far as the original statement and nationalists heard an opening and acted accordingly.

Yet an unfortunate choice of words can’t explain the forces behind this gathering. The more immediate political background was Labour’s local elections defeat in May, which strengthened nationalist parties and created favorable conditions for cooperation and Cardiff gave that cooperation a common platform.

However, the deeper problem is the condition of the British state itself. In 2014, many Scots supported independence because they believed London ignored their interests and governed badly – and since then, Westminster has supplied little reason for them to reconsider, as economic stagnation and trained public services have steadily eroded confidence in the established order.

Conservatives and Labour have each promised renewal, only to leave voters wondering whether either possesses a credible plan, while Reform and nationalist parties have moved into the space created by that failure. Their proposed remedies differ, but their appeal rests on a shared conviction that the old arrangements no longer work.

Brexit sharpened this argument, as Britain’s departure from the EU in 2020 changed the calculation for those considering a future outside the UK. Previously, independence meant leaving a state that already offered access to the EU, but now nationalists can present separation as a route back into it.

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The choice, as they frame it, is between joining a larger, more successful economic and political community and remaining attached to a declining imperial center, still occasionally tempted to compensate for its weakening position with displays of former grandeur.

This argument doesn’t remove the economic risks of independence, nor does it guarantee EU membership, but it gives separatists something more persuasive than a historical grievance: A competing account of where prosperity and security might lie.

Cardiff matters principally for this reason. It did not produce a mechanism for dismantling the UK, but it brought together politicians willing to imagine what might follow it and an alternative once discussed separately in Edinburgh, Cardiff, and Belfast has acquired a shared political expression.

It’s far too early to suggest that Burnham will be Britain’s last prime minister, as states can survive years of disillusionment, and nationalist declarations are easier to sign than to implement.

But Westminster’s problem is that preserving the union requires more than obstructing its opponents, and it also requires giving people a convincing reason to stay.

This article was first published by the online newspaper Gazeta.ru and was translated and edited by the RT team

Heavy reliance on artificial intelligence, staff cuts, and rushed targeting procedures contributed to a US missile strike on an Iranian girls’ school in Minab, Bloomberg reported on Friday, citing officials involved in a Pentagon investigation.

On February 28, two Tomahawk missiles hit the Shajarah Tayyebeh Elementary School in southern Iran, killing at least 157 people, including 123 children. The strike took place during the opening wave of US and Israeli attacks across the country. The school stood across from a naval base, which was likely the intended target.

Some US Central Command (CENTCOM) personnel reportedly expected Palantir’s Maven Smart System to flag stale or inconsistent intelligence when selecting potential targets. Previous reports suggested that the military relied on outdated satellite imagery that depicted the school as part of the base.

According to Bloomberg, Maven allowed the process of assembling target lists to be condensed to just several minutes.

A Palantir spokesperson told Bloomberg that the company was “not responsible for the underlying data nor identifying intelligence deficiencies” and that there was no evidence its software was at fault in the Minab strike.

The AI giant has since upgraded Maven to “re-review underlying intelligence to identify factors that would disqualify a target and flag inconsistencies and inaccuracies that human review may have missed,” Bloomberg said, citing a person familiar with the matter.

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Investigators also reportedly noted that, under orders from War Secretary Pete Hegseth, the Pentagon dismantled most of its civilian harm mitigation (CHM) units and cut their staff by around 90%, to fewer than 20 people. A CHM team at CENTCOM was reportedly reduced from ten people to one, and no CHM official reviewed the Minab site before the strike.

UN Human Rights Chief Volker Turk said at the time that the bombing of the school “evoked a visceral horror.” On Thursday, a UN fact-finding mission said there were “reasonable grounds” to believe that the strike constituted a war crime. The US State Department rejected the finding, accusing the UN of pushing “anti-American rhetoric and anti-Semitism” and appeasing “repressive regimes.”

The US has not publicly acknowledged responsibility for the strike, with President Donald Trump suggesting that the missile could have been Iranian. However, investigations by multiple US media outlets have indicated that the missiles that hit the school were American.

Cuba has suffered another nationwide blackout, leaving millions without electricity amid severe fuel shortages and US restrictions on oil supplies. It is at least the sixth major outage the island has experienced since the start of the year.

Under a US embargo for decades, Cuba has faced worsening fuel shortages since Venezuela, previously Havana’s main oil supplier, stopped shipments following the US capture of President Nicolas Maduro in January.

US President Donald Trump subsequently declared a national emergency over Cuba, moving to block oil shipments to the island and threatening tariffs against countries that continued supplying it. Trump has repeatedly said he intends to “take” Cuba “one way or another,” and has described regime change there as a “question of time.”

Cuba’s Ministry of Energy and Mines said the latest grid collapse was triggered on Friday by a transmission-line failure in the western part of the country and compounded by unstable weather.

Officials immediately activated restoration protocols, gradually bringing generating facilities back online. Power had returned to parts of the island by Saturday.

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Cuba’s electricity system relies heavily on aging oil-fired power plants, many of which have operated for decades and require frequent maintenance. Fuel shortages and difficulties obtaining spare parts have forced generating units offline, leaving the grid with little spare capacity when other facilities fail.

Washington has meanwhile stepped up economic pressure on Havana. On Thursday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced new sanctions targeting Cuba’s nickel sector, following measures imposed on state oil company CUPET in June.

Russia, China, Mexico, and several other countries have provided humanitarian assistance to Cuba. Moscow delivered around 700,000 barrels of oil in late March, one of the few major fuel shipments to reach the island since US restrictions were tightened.

The worsening shortages have disrupted electricity, transportation, water supplies, and healthcare. In June, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk warned that “children [in Cuba] are dying because doctors lack access to essential medical supplies and medicines.”

“Such severe sanctions packages that target entire sectors of an economy and produce broad, indiscriminate and harsh effects on populations are incompatible with basic principles of international human rights law,” he said.

The US has issued security alerts for its citizens across the Middle East, warning of further escalation between Saudi Arabia and Yemen’s Iranian-backed Houthi rebels.

The notices cover Israel, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, the UAE, and Oman.

”Americans currently in the Middle East should exercise heightened vigilance and be aware of potential flight cancellations, airspace closures, and travel disruptions,” the US State Department said on Saturday night.

”Iranian-supported Houthis have engaged in hostilities against Saudi Arabia, including civilian airports. This military conflict has the potential to escalate rapidly,” the notice read, urging Americans to refrain from traveling to the Middle East.

”Iran and groups supportive of Iran may target other US interests overseas or at locations associated with the United States and Americans throughout the world, including U.S. businesses and other institutions,” it added.

DETAILS TO FOLLOW

The major US sanctions law signed by President Donald Trump this week will undermine efforts to resolve the Ukraine conflict through diplomacy, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said.

On Friday, Trump signed the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026, which authorizes tougher restrictions on Moscow and tariffs of up to 100% on major buyers of Russian oil and gas.

“Clearly, this cannot have a positive effect,” Peskov told RIA Novosti on Saturday when asked how the law would affect prospects for a peaceful settlement in Ukraine and a possible “breakthrough” in Russian-US relations.

Named after the late Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, a vocal supporter of Ukraine who co-authored the original bill with Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal in 2025, the legislation remained stalled for months as Trump pursued diplomacy with Russia and resisted placing sole blame for the conflict on Moscow. Trump’s envoys also discussed normalizing economic ties with their Russian counterparts.

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The Senate passed the measure 86-11 last month, followed by the House on Wednesday in a 262-159 vote.

The original proposal threatened tariffs of 500% on countries purchasing Russian energy, but the maximum rate was reduced to 100% after negotiations with the White House. Graham, who died unexpectedly in July, had promoted the measure as “sanctions from hell” intended to deliver a “bone-crushing” blow to Moscow.

The version adopted by Congress targets major buyers of Russian oil and gas, with China and India expected to be among those potentially affected. It also gives Trump broad discretion over the application of the tariffs, including the ability to waive or suspend restrictions in the national interest.

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Peskov previously described the bill as an “unfriendly action” that would “complicate efforts to find a peaceful settlement in Ukraine.”

The Russian Embassy in the US said the legislation had done “a grand disservice” to Trump’s “Make America Great Again” agenda, arguing that restricting Russian energy trade amid sharply reduced Middle Eastern supplies could send fuel prices soaring ahead of the midterm elections. It warned that confrontation with Russia and China would be a “lose-lose situation” benefiting only “Euro-Atlantic warmongers.”

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun also condemned the new law, saying that China “carries out economic and trade cooperation with countries on the basis of equality and mutual benefit” and that its trade was not directed against any third country.

Iran has conveyed its peace terms to the US through Qatari mediators, the country’s top security official Mohsen Rezaei has said, arguing that it is in Washington’s interest to accept them.

The 60-day period provided under the US-Iranian memorandum of understanding to negotiate a settlement expired last month without a deal, while disrupted maritime traffic through the Strait of Hormuz continues to drive up energy prices.

“Seven conditions set by Iran for the start of any negotiations have been conveyed to the US administration. Tehran’s message is clear and unambiguous: If Washington wants to escape the predicament it has created for itself and avoid becoming further entangled in it, it has no choice but to recognize Iran’s rights and accept its conditions,” Rezaei wrote on X on Saturday.

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In an interview with Al Jazeera, Rezaei, the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, said the terms include “an end to the war on all fronts, the release of our frozen funds and an end to the naval blockade.”

Iranian officials have previously said they were also seeking the withdrawal of American forces from the region and compensation for the US and Israeli strikes launched on February 28.

“Trump’s threats will not achieve any results. We are prepared for a decisive war,” Rezaei added.

US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that “hopefully we are toward the end of the war” and suggested that Iran wants to make a deal. The following day, however, he again threatened to “annihilate” the Iranian leadership if the conflict did not end on his terms.

China has condemned the latest expansion of US sanctions against Russia, including potential tariffs of up to 100% on major buyers of Russian energy, vowing to take “all necessary measures” to safeguard its national interests.

US President Donald Trump signed the sweeping legislation on Friday. Among other measures, the bill authorizes secondary sanctions against the five largest buyers of Russian crude oil and natural gas. It does not explicitly name major importers such as China or India.

Beijing strongly condemned the measure, with a Chinese Commerce Ministry spokesperson saying the country has “always opposed unilateral sanctions that lack the mandate of the UN,” as well as “the imposition of so-called secondary sanctions.”

China has consistently conducted “economic and trade cooperation with other countries on the basis of equality and mutual benefit,” the spokesperson said, adding that such ties are “neither directed at third parties nor subject to interference or coercion by third parties.”

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China will closely monitor Washington’s actions and the “follow-up measures” stemming from its latest move. Beijing reserves the right “to take all necessary measures to firmly safeguard [its] national sovereignty and development interests and the legitimate rights and interests of enterprises,” the spokesperson stated while expressing hopes that China and the US will be able to “maintain the stability of economic and trade relations through dialogue and consultation.”

The latest anti-Russian measure was initially proposed by late Republican Senator and Russia hawk Lindsey Graham and Democrat Richard Blumenthal in April 2025. In the year and a half of negotiations, it was significantly watered down, with the originally proposed 500% tariffs on countries that buy Russian energy cut down to 100%, while the actual levy rate can be set below that ceiling, according to the legislation.

Moscow has condemned the additional sanctions as an “unfriendly” move, which was bound to “complicate efforts to find a peaceful settlement in Ukraine,” according to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.

Several explosions have been reported in the Saudi capital of Riyadh, disrupting flights and triggering air raid warnings amid escalating hostilities with Yemen’s Houthis.

Saudi authorities sent emergency alerts early on Saturday warning residents of a “hostile aerial threat” and urging them to remain indoors, according to several media outlets. Explosions were reportedly heard across the city before the civil defense agency issued an all-clear about half an hour later. It was the first such warning in Riyadh since fighting in neighboring Yemen intensified in July.

Later on Saturday, a large plume of black smoke and flames was seen near King Khalid International Airport. Reuters footage showed smoke rising from the airport’s fuel-storage area, while flight-tracking service Flightradar24 reported major delays and cancellations. Saudi authorities have not disclosed the cause of the explosions or provided details on casualties or damage.

The latest escalation began in July after Saudi strikes on Yemen's Sanaa International Airport shattered a fragile truce dating back to 2022, prompting a renewed exchange of attacks with the Houthis.

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The Houthis, who control much of northern Yemen, have made significant territorial gains in recent weeks, advancing along the Red Sea coast and seizing strategic positions around the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, one of the world’s most important maritime chokepoints.

The advances have put further pressure on Saudi Arabia’s oil exports. Riyadh has increasingly relied on Red Sea routes as shipping through the Strait of Hormuz has been disrupted by the US war on Iran.

Maritime tracking data cited by AFP showed Saudi exports through the waterway have declined since July, although several loaded vessels passed through over the past week. The Houthis say international shipping remains unaffected, with the exception of Saudi vessels.

The disruption has already hit crude supplies. State oil giant Saudi Aramco has told European refiners they will receive no crude in October, Bloomberg reported on Friday, as oil prices hover above $100 a barrel.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has called for greater use of AI and automation in the country’s offensive and defensive weapons, while urging manufacturers to boost production.

Kim made the remarks while inspecting several defense enterprises Wednesday to Friday, accompanied by senior officials and his influential sister, Kim Yo-jong.

Photos released by state media show him visiting facilities that produce drones and artillery systems, including massive 600 mm multiple launch rocket systems (MLRS).

Known outside North Korea as the KN-25, the system resembles the US-made HIMARS but has evolved beyond a conventional MLRS, effectively functioning as a short-range ballistic missile launcher.

“Our artillery should have the most concentrated and destructive, massive and versatile offensive capability and responsibly perform the two missions of deterring and fighting war,” the North Korean leader said, as cited by KCNA.

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Kim also called for broader use of AI in “offensive and defensive combat weapon systems,” as well as improving armor and automation of artillery weaponry, state media reported. He also instructed manufacturing plants to ramp up production and improve the “conditions and environment for production.”

The North Korean leader reportedly “expressed great satisfaction,” finding that most of the plants are meeting the production goals to fulfill the “huge plans” outlined by the Party Central Military Commission, the top military affairs and planning body of the country.

Prior to joining the nuclear club in the mid-2000s, North Korea relied on a vast artillery park for deterrence, as the South Korean capital, Seoul, is within reach of conventional artillery. Pyongyang has recently worked on modernizing and expanding its artillery park, with some of the missile systems in its arsenal also doubling as nuclear delivery systems.

The US has warned its allies that deliveries of key missile systems are likely to be delayed by several years due to depleted weapons stocks amid the Iran war, Bloomberg reported on Friday, citing sources. The shortage is also complicating EU efforts to support Kiev with desperately needed air defense ammunition, the article says.

In this vein, Germany asked Washington to accelerate deliveries of Tomahawk cruise missiles and ground-based Typhon launchers, but Raytheon is unlikely to fulfill the order within five years because of stock deficits, according to the outlet. Some Eastern European countries have also experienced delays since shortly after the US-Israeli war on Iran began, Bloomberg sources have claimed.

While US President Donald Trump has rejected claims that the Iran war has left the US short of ammunition, the Pentagon has publicly acknowledged the strain. Earlier this week, the Defense Department inspector general reported that heavy weapons expenditure in the Iran campaign “has resulted in strategic inventory shortfalls and revealed industrial base bottlenecks for munitions resupply.”

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A separate Congressional Budget Office assessment said that the US had consumed between one-half and two-thirds of its inventory of certain missile-defense interceptors since June 2025, adding that rebuilding those stocks could take at least five years even if production increases.

The apparent squeeze has been a particularly pressing problem for Ukraine, which needs sophisticated foreign interceptors to shoot down Russian missiles targeting its defense-related facilities. The Washington Post reported in May that Kiev was “almost completely out” of PAC-3 interceptors used by Patriot batteries, while US allies in Europe grew increasingly concerned that depleted American stocks could disrupt the PURL program under which they pay Washington to supply weapons to Ukraine.

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Vladimir Zelensky admitted last month that Kiev’s backers had supplied only about one-third as many air-defense missiles in 2026 as during the same period in 2025. At the same time, Ukrainian forces on several occasions acknowledged failing to intercept a single Russian missile during overnight strikes.

To address the issue, European leaders are expected to press Trump for more Patriots for Ukraine during UN meetings next week, Bloomberg said. EU officials are also reportedly seeking US licenses that would allow European countries to manufacture Patriot missiles themselves.

Moscow has consistently argued that Western military aid only prolongs the Ukraine conflict without changing its outcome. Earlier this month, Kremlin foreign policy aide Yury Ushakov suggested that the US could help end the conflict sooner by “first and foremost stopping any assistance to Kiev.”

French MEP Rima Hassan has filed a formal complaint against Interior Minister Laurent Nunez, accusing him of helping fuel false drug allegations against her.

The prominent pro-Palestinian lawmaker was detained in April as part of an investigation into alleged “apology for terrorism” over a since-deleted social media post. While searching her belongings, police found suspicious substances, prompting a separate drug-possession probe and media reports that synthetic drugs had been discovered on her person. The drug probe was dropped after laboratory tests found no synthetic drugs, but not before the story drew widespread media attention.

Hassan filed her court complaint against Nunez on Friday after a French investigative news magazine called Complement d’enquete alleged that the minister had discussed the suspected drugs incident with reporters before laboratory tests had been completed.

Hassan and her lawyer, Vincent Brengarth, lodged the complaint with a special French court that handles cases involving government ministers. Brengarth accused Nunez of breaching investigative secrecy.

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He also said the minister’s alleged role in the leak reinforced Hassan’s defense team’s long-held view that the wider proceedings against Hassan were “politically motivated.” Following the Complement d’enquete report, Hassan’s left-wing La France Insoumise (LFI) party accused Nunez of media “manipulation” and demanded his resignation.

Nunez told a National Assembly hearing on Thursday that he had “not organized any leaks.” He acknowledged discussing Hassan’s case informally with reporters but said they already had the information and had merely approached him for comment. He maintained that he had “urged caution” during the exchange.

Hassan is a prominent advocate of the Palestinian cause both in France and in the European Parliament and has joined humanitarian flotillas seeking to reach Gaza by sea and challenge Israel’s blockade. She has faced more than 20 legal proceedings and numerous police summonses in France, and is due to return to court next month over the social media post that led to her April detention.

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The post quoted Kozo Okamoto, a Japanese Red Army member convicted for his role in the deadly 1972 Lod Airport attack carried out on behalf of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. In a Friday interview with Complement d’enquete, Hassan insisted that the post was not intended as an “apology for terrorism,” but to discuss Palestinian resistance in its historical context, including the revolutionary left’s past support for the Palestinian armed struggle.

Hassan and LFI previously characterized the legal scrutiny surrounding her as “politico-judicial harassment.” Five UN special rapporteurs have raised concerns with the French government over aspects of Hassan’s treatment, including her detention and alleged leaks to the media.

In her interview, Hassan denounced what she called the authorities’ “political and judicial obsession” with her and accused Nunez of using his position “to directly attack a political opponent.” She claimed the minister had “knowingly” disclosed the information while “fully aware of the political and media fallout.” Hassan also said more than 500 articles had been published about her case since April, particularly the illegal-drug claim, adding that “the damage is enormous.”

The number of US service members who have died while deployed in the Middle East since the start of the Iran war is higher than the Pentagon’s public tally, the Washington Post reported on Friday, citing military sources. The Pentagon’s public casualty database may be missing as many as five military fatalities, according to the report.

As of Friday, the Pentagon’s Defense Casualty Analysis System (DCAS) listed 18 US military fatalities, including deaths from hostile and non-hostile action since the Iran war began on February 28.

Five sources, however, told the outlet there have been at least 22 military fatalities, while a sixth put the toll even higher, saying 23 service members have died since the war began. Not all of the additional deaths were directly tied to the conflict, the official said, but involved US personnel stationed in the Middle East amid the ongoing hostilities. Three US contractors based in the region have also died since combat operations began, the official added.

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It is unclear whether the discrepancy was intended to downplay the war’s toll or stemmed from administrative procedures for classifying military deaths.

The US administration’s casualty accounting already faced scrutiny in July, when the Pentagon briefly removed four Iran war deaths from its public tally during a since-failed ceasefire – three troops killed in an Iranian missile strike on a US base in Jordan and another killed the next day during a controlled detonation of an Iranian drone in Iraq. The Pentagon blamed a data-processing error after the removals drew congressional scrutiny. The deaths later reappeared alongside some 207 wounded personnel, but under “Overseas Contingency Operations” rather than Operation Epic Fury, the administration’s name for the Iran war.

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Separately, the Pentagon said two US service members have died in the Middle East since February on missions unrelated to the war. Sgt. Devin Seibel was killed in a training accident in Irbil, Iraq, on May 31, while Maj. Sorffly Davius died after an unspecified medical emergency in Kuwait on March 6. Neither is named in DCAS, despite dying at bases attacked by Iranian forces.

The Washington Post said the Pentagon declined to address its questions about the discrepancies.

Commenting on the report on X, US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth vehemently denied its authenticity, calling it “a complete LIE.”

“This is DISGUSTING and FAKE… Shame on the Washington Post – they’re worse than Iranian state media,” he wrote.

This is DISGUSTING and FAKE. A complete LIE.

Shame on the Washington Post — they’re worse than Iranian state media. https://t.co/vU9OkSOnLB

— Pete Hegseth (@PeteHegseth) September 18, 2026

An increasingly unpopular war

Despite US President Donald Trump insisting the war has been a success – even claiming at times that “Americans aren’t against the war” – polling indicates growing public opposition. A September Reuters/Ipsos poll found 28% support Trump’s approach to Iran, while 62% disapprove.

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The war has also deepened divisions in Congress ahead of the November midterms. Congressional Democrats have overwhelmingly opposed the conflict, making its multibillion-dollar cost and economic fallout – including gasoline prices approaching $5 a gallon – campaign issues. They have also pledged to investigate the Pentagon’s handling of casualty notifications if they retake the majority.

While most House Republicans have voted to block anti-war resolutions, some GOP lawmakers have broken ranks, backing bipartisan efforts to invoke war-powers restrictions or halt funding for the conflict. Representative Thomas Massie (KY) also moved this week to force a House vote on impeaching Hegseth, alleging he violated the War Powers Resolution of 1973 by pursuing hostilities without congressional authorization.

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The war has cost the US $43.6 billion through September 3, including $28.1 billion in munitions expended, according to CENTCOM figures shared with lawmakers and the media on Friday. The total excludes extensive damage to US bases across eight Middle Eastern countries. Senior military officials reportedly warned Hegseth last month that prolonged large-scale operations against Iran were unsustainable.

Trump, however, insists the war will end soon, telling reporters last week it would likely stop immediately after the midterms. He told Axios on Thursday that he faces “a big decision” over whether to restart major combat operations to end the conflict.

Iran, meanwhile, has refused to cave to Trump’s threats, with Parliament Speaker and top negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf warning earlier this month of “faster, heavier and more painful” retaliation against further US aggression. On Friday, Tehran showcased a new volunteer force that will receive limited military and emergency training to support the IRGC. IRGC chief Hassan Hassanzadeh told state broadcaster IRIB that over 600,000 people had registered, with more than one million expected to undergo training.

US President Donald Trump has signed sweeping legislation expanding the sanctions on Russia and authorizing tariffs of up to 100% on major buyers of Russian energy. Moscow warned that additional sanctions would complicate efforts to settle the Ukraine conflict and could further destabilize the energy markets.

In a statement on Friday, the White House announced that Trump approved the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act, after the Senate passed it 86-11 in August and the House passed it 262-159 on Wednesday.

The legislation targets senior Russian officials, banks, defense and energy entities, as well as what Western countries refer to as Russia’s ‘shadow fleet’ of ships. It also empowers Trump to impose tariffs of up to 100% on goods from the five largest buyers of Russian crude oil and natural gas.

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The text, however, does not explicitly name major Russian energy buyers such as China or India, and the tariff rate can be set below the 100% ceiling.

The measure was initially proposed by late Republican Senator and Russia hawk Lindsey Graham and Democrat Richard Blumenthal in April 2025. The original proposal threatened 500% tariffs on countries that buy Russian energy, but after more than a year of negotiations with the White House, the figure was cut to 100%.

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The bill also grants Trump broad waiver powers, allowing him to suspend sanctions according to national interests and giving his administration wide leeway in setting tariff rates – one of the key points of negotiations between the White House and lawmakers, as some feared that the legislation would give Trump too much power.

The Trump administration recently eased sanctions on Russian oil. During the Iran war, the administration issued temporary exemptions allowing the sale and delivery of Russian oil already at sea to alleviate pressure on the energy markets.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov warned on Thursday that the “unfriendly” move “would definitely complicate efforts to find a peaceful settlement in Ukraine.”

The Russian Embassy in Washington argued that blocking Russian energy trade while Middle Eastern supplies are disrupted could prove costly for the US, calling it an “invitation to ever-higher prices at the pump.” It also warned that simultaneously escalating tensions with Moscow and Beijing would be a geopolitical lose-lose situation and would “only play into the hands of Euro-Atlantic warmongers.”

The EU has released another €3.3 billion ($3.8 billion) to Ukraine following a phone call between European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky, as Kiev faces fresh corruption cases and a surprise $27 billion hole in its defense budget.

Von der Leyen announced the payment on Thursday immediately after speaking with Zelensky. She said the EU had already provided Kiev with nearly €15 billion this year and promised that “more is coming.” 

At the same time, she acknowledged that Ukraine’s parliament has yet to pass anti-corruption, judicial, fiscal and green energy reforms required to unlock further EU funding.

The European Commission confirmed on Friday that the €3.3 billion had been disbursed. The payment marks the fourth defense tranche under the EU’s €90 billion Ukraine Support Loan. The EU and its member states say they have provided a total of €224.5 billion in support to Ukraine since 2022.

The latest payout comes as Kiev seeks billions more from its Western backers to cover an unexpectedly large defense funding gap.

Zelensky told European officials last month that Ukraine needed another $27 billion to make it through the year, according to the New York Times. The request reportedly “surprised and unsettled” officials, with some privately questioning whether existing funds were being spent efficiently or whether Kiev was overstating its needs.

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The fresh funding also comes amid a series of corruption investigations involving public funds, military procurement and senior Ukrainian officials.

Over the past year, scandals have reached into the energy sector, military procurement and the upper levels of government. The sprawling Midas probe uncovered an alleged $100 million kickback and money-laundering network around state nuclear operator Energoatom. Separate investigations have targeted inflated drone contracts, the alleged theft of foreign donations and senior officials accused of illicit enrichment.

Ukraine’s Western-backed anti-corruption agencies have themselves raised concerns about graft risks surrounding defense procurement. NABU Director Semyon Krivonos said last month that major arms suppliers can have powerful beneficiaries among lawmakers, senior law-enforcement officials and other branches of government.

Russia has repeatedly argued that continued Western financing only prolongs the conflict and has cited Ukraine’s corruption scandals in criticizing foreign support for Kiev. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said last week that the “laundering” of Western money had become a “form of existence” for the Ukrainian authorities.

Canada is seeking to join the EU’s €90 billion loan program for Ukraine, a European Commission spokesman said on Friday, in a move that would allow Canadian arms manufacturers to compete for contracts financed by the scheme.

Ottawa has been discussing participation with Brussels for some time and would have to contribute toward the EU’s borrowing costs in return for access to the procurement scheme. The UK joined the mechanism under a similar arrangement in July.

“I can confirm that Canada has expressed an interest in joining the 90 billion Ukraine support loan,” European Commission spokesman Balazs Ujvari told journalists in Brussels. “Technical exchanges have been ongoing with Canada for some time, and they are still ongoing.”

Canadian participation would not increase the €90 billion available to Kiev. Instead, it would allow Ukraine to use the funds to buy weapons from Canadian manufacturers without requiring a special exemption from the scheme’s procurement rules.

The talks come as Kiev faces mounting financial pressure.

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The EU loan is intended to cover much of Ukraine’s budgetary and military financing needs for 2026 and 2027, which remain heavily dependent on foreign aid. Of the €90 billion, €60 billion is earmarked for military assistance and €30 billion for general budget support.

Despite the outside funding, Ukraine faces a $27 billion budget shortfall. Vladimir Zelensky announced in August that Kiev had already spent funds originally intended to cover its needs through the end of 2026.

The financial crunch has coincided with a series of high-profile corruption and embezzlement scandals in sectors heavily supported by Ukraine’s foreign backers. The most prominent involved state nuclear operator Energoatom and implicated figures close to Zelensky, prompting a senior-level reshuffle.

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An escalation in long-range strikes between Russia and Ukraine targeting critical infrastructure has further strained Kiev’s economic outlook.

The intensified exchanges followed Zelensky’s failed 40-day pressure campaign against Russia, which included Ukrainian strikes on Russian energy infrastructure and warehouses belonging to major e-commerce retailers.

Moscow subsequently intensified strikes on Ukrainian ports and vessels it said were carrying military supplies, severely disrupting Kiev’s Black Sea exports, previously the country’s main export route.

The FBI temporarily suspended some cooperation with its Canadian counterpart this month after the country’s public broadcaster instructed journalists not to refer to the 9/11 attacks as terrorism without attribution to experts or authorities, the New York Times reported on Friday, citing officials familiar with the matter.

According to the Times, FBI officials canceled meetings with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP). Normal cooperation was restored around the 25th anniversary of the September 11 attacks, after the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) reversed its stance.

In response to the Times report, RCMP Commissioner Mark Duheme said: “We value our relationship with our US counterparts, as we work closely to respond to threats to national security and maintain situational awareness of emerging risks.”

The controversy erupted late last month when a CBC memo was leaked to the Canadian press. The broadcaster explained that its “longstanding language guidance regarding the terms ‘terrorist’ and ‘terrorism’ is a preference for the use of these words with attribution, a practice shared by many of the world’s top journalistic organizations.”

The memo sparked outrage in the US, where nearly 3,000 people were killed 25 years ago when Al-Qaeda terrorists hijacked four passenger planes and crashed two into the World Trade Center towers in New York and one into the Pentagon outside Washington, DC. The fourth crashed in a field in Pennsylvania. FBI Director Kash Patel described the CBC’s stance as a “bastardization of history” and an insult to the victims.

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Following the backlash, the CBC said it was updating its language guidance to “clarify that direct attribution is not required for describing the historic events of 9/11 as terrorism.” The broadcaster denied, however, that any of its news reports had implied that the attacks were not terrorism.

The incident added to a broader feud between the neighbors after talks on a new trade deal abruptly collapsed last month, with both sides blaming each other. US President Donald Trump has repeatedly suggested that Canada should become “the 51st US state” and recently instructed federal agencies to refer to Lake Ontario, which straddles the US-Canada border, as Lake America.

The talks broke down after the two sides failed to agree on tariffs and other issues, including US objections to Canadian rules protecting French-language and domestic cultural content.

Following a falling out with Trump, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney expressed interest in the country becoming the European Union’s first associate member. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen made the offer earlier this week.

Spanish police have begun moving thousands of migrants from makeshift beach camps in the North African exclave of Ceuta in an operation that has quickly descended into chaos, according to media reports.

Crowds surged toward temporary shelters as officers struggled to maintain control, firing rubber bullets into the air and using batons.

The operation began early on Friday, with riot police and the Spanish military deployed to clear the makeshift camps and escort migrants to a new port camp. The facility is the fifth temporary reception center opened in Ceuta and can accommodate around 1,800 people, while an estimated 4,000 migrants have been living on the beaches.

Footage from local media shows hundreds crowding the designated route, with some breaking into a run as officers struggled to control the group. Police fired rubber bullets into the air and struck several people with batons before the situation calmed and migrants continued towards the port under escort.

🇪🇸 Spanish authorities have begun relocating thousands of migrants from makeshift beach tent camps in the North African exclave of Ceuta to a newly constructed temporary center at the city's port

The new port camp, the fifth temporary reception center set up in Ceuta, can… pic.twitter.com/XAeEIhsMqI

— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) September 18, 2026

The port facility is intended for adult men, while minors are being housed separately. Three NGO representatives told Reuters that authorities had been too slow to provide the minimum shelter required under European migration rules and that existing reception centers remained insufficient.

Opposition leader Alberto Nunez Feijoo accused the government of failing to maintain public order, while officials said additional locations would be needed to house migrants who cannot be accommodated at the port.

WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT
Spanish police began moving hundreds of migrants from beaches in Spain's North African enclave of Ceuta to temporary facilities at the city's port, sparking tension as migrants vied for limited spots at the new location https://t.co/uSGcXe6m7M pic.twitter.com/TWI01CwIG6

— Reuters (@Reuters) September 18, 2026

The crisis erupted after more than 72,000 migrants crossed into Ceuta from Morocco on July 30 and 31, with the mass influx overwhelming Spanish border authorities. Most were subsequently returned, but thousands, including unaccompanied minors, have remained in the enclave.

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The mass crossing has since fueled scrutiny of Madrid’s handling of the crisis. Declassified documents released by the Spanish government show that the National Intelligence Center (CNI) warned officials in Ceuta and Moroccan intelligence on July 29 about online calls for migrants to breach the border by land and sea the following day.

A separate Spanish military intelligence report issued once the influx was underway described Moroccan forces as “negligent and passive,” while Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has maintained that the earlier warnings did not indicate the scale or likelihood of what followed.

READ MORE: Spanish spies warned Madrid day before Ceuta migrant invasion

Morocco has denied facilitating the influx. In a statement on Thursday, its Foreign Ministry accused Spanish political groups and media of exploiting the crisis ahead of elections expected in 2027, saying: “Morocco refuses to be used as a pre-election pawn. Nor does it accept being the scapegoat for political score-settling.” Rabat has also questioned why Spain has not returned more irregular migrants despite its offer to readmit them.

Canada is seeking to join the EU’s €90 billion loan program for Ukraine, a European Commission spokesman said on Friday, in a move that would allow Canadian arms manufacturers to compete for contracts financed by the scheme.

Ottawa has been discussing participation with Brussels for some time and would have to contribute toward the EU’s borrowing costs in return for access to the procurement scheme. The UK joined the mechanism under a similar arrangement in July.

“I can confirm that Canada has expressed an interest in joining the 90 billion Ukraine support loan,” European Commission spokesman Balazs Ujvari told journalists in Brussels. “Technical exchanges have been ongoing with Canada for some time, and they are still ongoing,” he added.

Canadian participation would not increase the €90 billion available to Kiev. Instead, it would allow Ukraine to use the funds to buy weapons from Canadian manufacturers without requiring a special exemption from the scheme’s procurement rules.

The talks come as Kiev faces mounting financial pressure.

Read more

The EU loan is intended to cover much of Ukraine’s budgetary and military financing needs for 2026 and 2027, which remain heavily dependent on foreign aid. Of the €90 billion, €60 billion is earmarked for military assistance and €30 billion for general budget support.

Despite the outside funding, Ukraine faces a $27 billion budget shortfall. Vladimir Zelensky announced in August that Kiev had already spent funds originally intended to cover its needs through the end of 2026.

The financial crunch has coincided with a series of high-profile corruption and embezzlement scandals in sectors heavily supported by Ukraine’s foreign backers. The most prominent involved state nuclear operator Energoatom and implicated figures close to Zelensky, prompting a senior-level reshuffle.

Read more

An escalation in long-range strikes between Russia and Ukraine targeting critical infrastructure has further strained Kiev’s economic outlook.

The intensified exchanges followed Zelensky’s failed 40-day pressure campaign against Russia, which included Ukrainian strikes on Russian energy infrastructure and warehouses belonging to major e-commerce retailers.

Moscow subsequently intensified strikes on Ukrainian ports and vessels it said were carrying military supplies, severely disrupting Kiev’s Black Sea exports, previously the country’s main export route.

The war with Iran has cost the US $43.6 billion, with nearly two-thirds of the bill going toward replenishing depleted munitions stockpiles, according to US Central Command (CENTCOM) figures sent to lawmakers and shared with the media on Friday.

The estimate covers costs through September 3. The Pentagon had obligated about $11.2 billion for military operations and projected another $28.1 billion would be needed to replace expended munitions. A further $4.3 billion was allocated for replacing equipment losses.

The $43.6 billion figure does not include the likely billions of dollars needed to repair US bases and other military facilities in the region damaged or destroyed by Iranian attacks, according to Bloomberg.

Iran damaged or destroyed hundreds of buildings and other structures at US bases across eight Middle Eastern countries, according to a Pentagon inspector general report released on Monday. Iranian attacks also damaged or destroyed expensive high-tech radar systems at several US facilities.

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The war “resulted in strategic inventory shortfalls and revealed industrial base bottlenecks for munitions resupply,” the report said.

Most of the munitions expenditure stemmed from efforts to intercept Iranian missile and drone strikes, according to an earlier estimate by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). Around 58% of the estimated spending went toward air-defense munitions such as Patriot, THAAD and other key missiles, putting pressure on interceptor stockpiles, the think tank estimated in June.

Washington may have expended more than half of its prewar inventory of Patriot, SM-3 and THAAD interceptors during the conflict, CSIS wrote in a May update.

President Donald Trump has repeatedly denied reports of munitions shortages and called reports and leaks about depleted US weapons stocks “treasonous.”

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US forces fired 60 to 70 Patriot interceptors and more than a dozen THAAD missiles against an Iranian volley of around 20 ballistic missiles during an attack on a US base in Jordan on September 8, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing unnamed officials.

The expenditure was equivalent to what US forces had used during a full week at other points in the conflict, the newspaper reported. Iran adapted its tactics to force US troops to burn through munitions and used warheads that split into multiple projectiles on approach, the WSJ cited its sources as saying. According to Reuters, the strike damaged multiple US military aircraft.

Germany should demand greater economic benefits from the billions it spends supporting Ukraine, including more arms orders and access to raw materials, Bavarian Minister-President Markus Soeder said on Friday.

Since beginning his second term, US President Donald Trump has pushed European NATO members to shoulder more of the cost of supporting Kiev. He has also touted European-funded purchases of US weapons and Washington’s minerals deal with Ukraine as ways for the US to recoup some of its spending on the conflict.

“Overall, Ukraine should also use the many German aid funds to buy more technology from Germany,” said Soeder, who leads the Bavarian CSU, the sister party of Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s CDU. “And we too, not just the US, should also discuss access to raw materials with Ukraine.”

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Rare earths and other critical minerals covered by Washington’s deal with Kiev are used in a wide range of military and high-tech applications.

Soeder’s view echoes recent comments by German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul, who has argued that Berlin’s support for Kiev should translate into more orders for German arms manufacturers. Germany has earmarked around €11.5 billion ($13.2 billion) in military aid for Ukraine this year.

“It must naturally be the case that the German defense industry benefits,” Wadephul said in a podcast last week.

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The push for more Ukrainian arms orders comes as Germany sharply expands its own military procurement. Berlin ordered around €85 billion ($97.4 billion) worth of military equipment in 2025, dominating European arms procurement, according to the Kiel Institute for the World Economy.

Moscow has portrayed Germany’s military buildup, along with broader rearmament across the EU and UK, as evidence that Western governments are preparing for a possible direct confrontation with Russia. It has long described the Ukraine conflict as a NATO proxy war against Russia.

“The statements Merz made about making Germany the leading military power in Europe again are being put into practice. He is, in effect, setting out to declare war on us,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said earlier this month.

The Ukrainian army is suffering 27,000 casualties a month in its conflict with Russia, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has said, offering a rare public assessment of Kiev’s losses.

Neither Ukraine nor Russia provides regular updates on its battlefield casualties. Kiev’s Western backers also largely refrain from publicizing exact figures or estimates of how many Ukrainian soldiers are being killed or wounded.

Tusk, one of Ukraine’s strongest supporters in Europe, revealed the casualty rate during a speech to the Polish parliament on Thursday. “The new Russian strategy, and above all its new technical capabilities, namely jet-powered drones, are also causing much greater losses on the Ukrainian side,” he said.

Our Ukrainian partners have informed me that recently the monthly figure has been 27,000 killed and wounded, and these are, unfortunately, records in this war, in the saddest sense of the word. If this trend continues, the winter in Ukraine could indeed be catastrophic.

This February, Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky said at least 55,000 Ukrainian soldiers had been killed since the conflict with Russia escalated on February 24, 2022. In July, he put the toll at about 50,000 killed and 400,000 wounded, with “a huge number” still unaccounted for.

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Moscow claims that Ukrainian losses are much higher and has accused Kiev of concealing their true scale from the public. Valery Gerasimov, Russia’s chief of the General Staff, said more than 76,000 Ukrainian troops were killed or wounded during the failed 2024 incursion into Russia’s Kursk Region alone, which lasted around 260 days. On Friday, Russia’s Battlegroup Center said Ukraine had lost nearly 3,000 soldiers in Donbass over the previous week.

According to Russian Defense Minister Andrey Belousov, around 500,000 Ukrainian soldiers were killed or wounded in 2025.

Ukraine has sought to compensate for its high casualty rate by lowering the draft age from 27 to 25, banning most military-age men from leaving the country, and intensifying its mobilization campaign. Draft officers have been filmed detaining potential recruits on streets and at workplaces, regularly using force against those attempting to flee or resist.

A Lebanese woman left with life-changing injuries in Israel’s 2024 pager attack has told RT how she is adapting to her new reality two years after the incident.

On September 17, 2024, thousands of pagers used primarily by Hezbollah members exploded across Lebanon, followed by hundreds of walkie-talkie detonations the next day. The attacks killed dozens and injured thousands. Israel later acknowledged responsibility for the operation.

Zeinab Mistrah, who survived one of the explosions, told RT correspondent Steve Sweeney on Friday that she was not carrying a pager but that one detonated nearby. She lost her left eye, was left with only 10% vision in her right eye, and lost the tips of three fingers on her right hand.

“I’ve actually forgotten how a normal person sees things,” she said. “I simply view the world this way now.”

Before the blast, Mistrah had studied interior design and was preparing to marry. She said her injuries transformed her daily life, making even routine tasks difficult.

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More than a year later, while three-and-a-half months pregnant, Mistrah was injured again when an Israeli missile struck the building where she was sleeping. She said the strike targeted someone below her apartment and left her with a serious back injury that confined her to bed for an extended period.

Mistrah accused Israel of disregarding the danger the pager operation posed to civilians and others nearby. “That is when you realize just how hostile Israel is towards humanity,” she told RT, while also criticizing Washington’s support for Israel. “They didn’t think about whether a pager might be near children or women.”

The pager explosions came after nearly a year of cross-border fighting between Israel and Hezbollah and were followed by an intensified Israeli military campaign in Lebanon. Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli airstrike on Beirut later that month, before Israeli forces launched ground incursions into southern Lebanon.

Fighting flared again in March 2026, when Hezbollah fired rockets at Israel following the outbreak of the US-Israeli war on Iran. A US-brokered ceasefire in June largely halted the hostilities, although Israeli strikes and military activity in southern Lebanon have continued. More than 4,000 people have been killed and over 12,000 wounded in Israeli attacks on Lebanon since March, according to the country’s Health Ministry.

Watch Steve Sweeney’s full report from Beirut.

The US will effectively control Greenland’s security under an agreement reached with Denmark and the self-governing Arctic territory, President Donald Trump has announced.

In a Truth Social post on Friday, Trump said the agreement “gives the United States permanent control over security, and all other needs, in Greenland, completely addressing ALL of our many US concerns.”

“At my direction, we worked with representatives of Denmark and Greenland to guarantee that the United States will FOREVER have the complete ability to do what is necessary in Greenland in order to secure and defend the security of Greenland, and the United States of America,” he added.

“Additionally, from now on, no US adversary can EVER have a base in Greenland, have a military presence in Greenland, or make sensitive investments in Greenland, without our express written approval.”

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Trump promised that the US would be “very protective” of Greenland, describing the deal as “a dream come true for the United States of America.”

Trump’s announcement coincided with a meeting of NATO’s top military officials in Copenhagen, where the alliance’s 32 defense chiefs gathered to discuss strengthening collective deterrence and defense.

Trump has long argued that the US should acquire Greenland from Denmark because of the island’s strategic position and the need to counter Russian and Chinese influence in the Arctic. His demands sparked outrage in Copenhagen and further strained relations with America’s NATO allies in Europe.

The 1951 US-Danish defense agreement already allows Washington to request an increased military presence in Greenland. Although Copenhagen rejected transferring sovereignty over the territory to the US, Danish officials said they were willing to modify existing agreements to address Trump’s security concerns.

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Denmark confirmed that a deal had been reached shortly after Trump’s statement.

“An agreement that strengthens our common security in the Arctic and North Atlantic region and is therefore also good for NATO and Europe. At the same time, it recognizes the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Kingdom and the Greenlandic people’s right to self-determination,” Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said.

“The agreement recognizes Greenland’s interests and our place in international cooperation. It benefits us all,” Greenlandic Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen said.

Danish broadcaster DR, citing the Prime Minister’s Office, said the sides plan to sign the agreement next week on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York.

In February, NATO launched its Arctic Sentry initiative, coordinating and expanding allied military activities across the Arctic, including Danish-led exercises in and around Greenland. The move followed talks between Trump and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte over security in the region.

Moscow has repeatedly condemned what it describes as the militarization of the region.

“Under the pretext of mythical threats from the East, NATO has embarked on the active militarization of the Arctic and is rapidly strengthening its offensive capabilities near our northern borders,” Vladislav Maslennikov, a senior Russian Foreign Ministry official, said on Friday.

The US will effectively control Greenland’s security under an agreement reached with Denmark and the self-governing Arctic territory, President Donald Trump has announced.

DETAILS TO FOLLOW

Zelensky’s state of corruption devours itself

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In what’s become a recurring moment in Ukraine, another one of Vladimir Zelensky’s top officials fled the country this week amid a metastasizing corruption scandal. Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko, who resigned last week after Ukraine’s Western-backed anti-corruption agencies discovered his cybercrime chief was running a protection racket for scam call centers, left Ukraine on Sunday night bound for Paris, according to Ukrainian media. 

Kravchenko, who was personally appointed by Zelensky, has denied any wrongdoing, and accused the anti-corruption agencies, NABU and SAPO, of operating bribery and protection schemes of their own. He claims he’s got evidence of “concentration of undue influence” within the agencies, which he plans to show to Zelensky’s Western sponsors. 

Whether or not they’ll listen is another story. Yulia Mendel, a former communications aide to Zelensky, has spoken out about the mire of corruption in Kiev for months, to no avail. Mendel was scheduled to speak at the European Parliament on Wednesday, at an event promoting “diplomacy instead of escalation,” but found herself barred from the building upon arrival, days after Zelensky personally sanctioned her.

On the day of my speech, I was barred from entering the European Parliament. I directly attribute this to Zelenskyy’s sanctions. But the speech will go ahead anyway, because I know that I represent a huge segment of society that longs for peace and wants to be heard. pic.twitter.com/FWh7WSaUNI

— Iuliia Mendel (@IuliiaMendel) September 16, 2026

RT has covered the byzantine world of Ukrainian graft in depth in our ‘State of Corruption’ series. Read our deep-dive into Ukraine’s multibillion-dollar scam call industry here, and check out our exclusive investigation into the latest luxury property snapped up by Zelensky’s fixers in Germany here. 

Merz nears his end

With his officials falling one by one to corruption scandals and his political rivals smelling blood in the water, Zelensky likely senses his endgame playing out, Russian foreign policy expert Alexander Bobrov wrote for RT on Tuesday. If there’s anyone who knows the feeling, it’s German Chancellor Friedrich Merz. 

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Merz canceled his planned trip to the UN General Assembly in New York next week, after his Christian Democrats’  humiliating loss to the right-wing AfD in state elections earlier this month, Reuters reported on Tuesday. The chancellor’s approval rating has plummeted to 10%, and half of the German public expects him out of office by the year’s end. 

Merz has made steep and unpopular welfare cuts to finance Germany’s ambitious rearmament program, as the country’s economy continues to flatline – thanks largely to Berlin’s self-imposed embargo on Russian oil and gas imports. All of this has played into the hands of the AfD, which has promised an end to “all war-prolonging support measures” for Ukraine, and the deportation of Ukrainian migrants. 

Merz’s Christian Democrats are on track for another wipeout in state elections in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Berlin this weekend. By Sunday night, the chancellor’s departure could be a done deal.

Total Houthi dominance

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Yemen’s Ansar Allah movement, better known as the Houthis, scored some major tactical and strategic victories this week. After a lightning advance along the country’s Red Sea coast last week, the group launched missile and drone strikes on Saudi Arabia’s main oil port of Yanbu, and the Saudi airbase of Khamis Mushait.

The effects of the Houthi campaign were immediately visible at the petrol pumps in Europe. With Saudi Arabia cutting exports, the Houthis have asserted their position as arbiters of global fuel prices. US President Donald Trump reportedly refused to intervene on behalf of his Saudi allies, meaning the Houthis have forced Riyadh into a lose-lose choice: admit defeat so oil flows can resume, or keep fighting and bear responsibility for a global energy crisis. 

In a further humiliation for the Kingdom, the Houthis claimed on Wednesday to have shot down a Saudi F-15 fighter jet using “a locally manufactured surface-to-air missile.” The group claimed three shootdowns of Saudi jets in 2017 and 2018, but Wednesday’s victory was the first backed by video footage. 

War crimes sentence for the West’s Kosovo proxy

As the Saudis desperately search for allies against the Houthis, former Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) commander Hashim Thaci learned first-hand where an alliance with the West leads: to a prison cell.

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Thaci was advised and armed by NATO during the KLA’s brutal secession campaign against Yugoslavia in the 1990s, a campaign that led to NATO bombing Belgrade for 78 days on behalf of the ethnic Albanian militia. Despite serving as prime minister, then president, of the self-proclaimed nation of Kosovo with the West’s blessing, Thaci’s past caught up with him on Wednesday when a war crimes tribunal in The Hague sentenced him to 25 years behind bars for the murder of 96 political opponents and the kidnapping and torture of hundreds of others. 

Thaci was defended in court by some of his former NATO backers, and scores of Albanians rioted on the streets of The Hague when the verdict was handed down. 

RT explored the case against Thaci in detail back in February, and examined just how far NATO and the Atlanticist institutions in The Hague would go to protect him. As it turned out, Thaci should have listened when Henry Kissinger warned: “It may be dangerous to be America’s enemy, but to be America’s friend is fatal.”

In the video, members of the Albanian diaspora are protesting in The Hague after the sentencing of Hashim Thaci and other high-ranking leaders of the unrecognized Kosovo pic.twitter.com/NRiLiSBw1B

— 𝕊𝕡𝕣𝕚𝕟𝕥𝕖𝕣 𝕻𝕣𝕖𝕤𝕤 (@SprinterPress) September 16, 2026

The KLA was officially disbanded and folded into the ranks of the Kosovo security services 27 years ago this week. However, toxic Kosovo legacy lives on in the UK, where the village of Piddington overwhelmingly voted to secede from the Kingdom. The symbolic vote proclaiming the “Principality of Piddington” was held after the British government decided to house more than 1,200 male migrants in a nearby military base.

Piddington’s case for secession is no less watertight than Kosovo’s. Let’s see if NATO sends in the bombers…

NATO 3.0 marches towards war

Joking aside, NATO evidently has its hands full these days preparing for a cataclysmic war with Russia. The bloc’s Military Committee – tasked with turning political statements into war-gamed plans – met in Copenhagen on Friday, with talks scheduled to run until Saturday afternoon.

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RT looked at the ‘NATO 3.0’ doctrine taking shape at the meeting. Under this one-sided rebalancing of the bloc, Europe assumes the cost and risk of NATO’s looming confrontation with Russia, while the US insulates itself from the consequences. Russia has given the Europeans ample warning, with Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stating this week that “if Europe, which talks daily about preparing for war against Russia, attacks Russia, it will be a completely different war, and it will be very short.”

This hasn’t stopped the French and the Germans preparing hospitals and filling blood banks for a “mass casualty” clash in eastern Europe. The Poles and the Baltic states are eagerly going along with these preparations, despite standing to lose the most. Slovakia’s Robert Fico, however, isn’t marching in lockstep with his neighbors. 

“I am deeply concerned that they are merely looking for a pretext for a major conflict between NATO and Russia,” he said on Thursday, before skipping a meeting with Zelensky in Kiev. “The situation has never been as serious and tense regarding the possibility of a pan-European war conflict as it is now.”

What to watch out for

We’ll be watching what – if anything – concrete emerges from NATO’s Copenhagen meeting on Saturday, before switching our attention to Germany where another AfD landslide could deal a death blow to Merz’s chancellorship. 

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You will find up-to-date reporting on the results of Russia’s Duma elections once exit polls are released on Sunday, with a concrete picture emerging overnight and into Monday.

Across the Atlantic, the NYPD are already preparing to shut down roads as world leaders descend on New York for the 81st UN General Assembly. The assembly kicks off on Tuesday, and we expect the conflicts in Europe and the Middle East will top the agenda. 

Watch out for Trump’s opening speech on Tuesday, followed by Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and Zelensky on Wednesday. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will deliver his address on Thursday, with Lavrov taking the lectern on Saturday.

For all this and more, stick with RT. 

The EU has released another €3.3 billion ($3.8 billion) to Ukraine following a phone call between European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky, as Kiev faces fresh corruption cases and a surprise $27 billion hole in its defense budget.

Von der Leyen announced the payment on Thursday immediately after speaking with Zelensky. She said the EU had already provided Kiev with nearly €15 billion this year and promised that “more is coming.” 

At the same time, she acknowledged that Ukraine’s parliament has yet to pass anti-corruption, judicial, fiscal and green energy reforms required to unlock further EU funding.

The European Commission confirmed on Friday that the €3.3 billion had been disbursed. The payment marks the fourth defense tranche under the EU’s €90 billion Ukraine Support Loan. The EU and its member states say they have provided a total of €224.5 billion in support to Ukraine since 2022.

The latest payout comes as Kiev seeks billions more from its Western backers to cover an unexpectedly large defense funding gap.

Zelensky told European officials last month that Ukraine needed another $27 billion to make it through the year, according to the New York Times. The request reportedly “surprised and unsettled” officials, with some privately questioning whether existing funds were being spent efficiently or whether Kiev was overstating its needs.

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The fresh funding also comes amid a series of corruption investigations involving public funds, military procurement and senior Ukrainian officials.

Over the past year, scandals have reached into the energy sector, military procurement and the upper levels of government. The sprawling Midas probe uncovered an alleged $100 million kickback and money-laundering network around state nuclear operator Energoatom. Separate investigations have targeted inflated drone contracts, the alleged theft of foreign donations and senior officials accused of illicit enrichment.

Ukraine’s Western-backed anti-corruption agencies have themselves raised concerns about graft risks surrounding defense procurement. NABU Director Semyon Krivonos said last month that major arms suppliers can have powerful beneficiaries among lawmakers, senior law-enforcement officials and other branches of government.

Russia has repeatedly argued that continued Western financing only prolongs the conflict and has cited Ukraine’s corruption scandals in criticizing foreign support for Kiev. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said last week that the “laundering” of Western money had become a “form of existence” for the Ukrainian authorities.

Russia has demanded that Japan remove US mid-range Typhon missile systems from its territory, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has said, describing the deployment as unacceptable and a threat to national security and regional stability.

In a statement published by the Foreign Ministry on Friday, Zakharova said Moscow sent Tokyo a formal protest note on September 3 after the US deployed the launchers to the southwestern island of Kyushu, 1,300 km from the city of Vladivostok.

“The Japanese side was told to stop this practice and remove the above-mentioned systems from its territory,” she said, adding that Moscow opposes these deployments regardless of the duration.

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The US Army brought Typhon systems to Japan’s Kanoya Air Base in Kagoshima Prefecture in June for the Valiant Shield exercise and kept them there for another drill being held this month. The launchers are slated to leave Kanoya in mid-October but are expected to be stored at US military facilities elsewhere in Japan. No live firing is planned during the deployment.

The Typhon is capable of launching SM-6 missiles, as well as Tomahawk land-attack cruise missiles, which have a range of around 1,600 km. The US developed the Typhon after withdrawing from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, which prohibited US and Soviet ground-launched and cruise missiles with ranges of 500 to 5,500 km.

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Zakharova noted that China recently delivered a similar protest to Japan over its “remilitarization.”

The dispute comes amid another spike in tensions between Russia and Japan over the four southernmost Kuril Islands, which were incorporated into the Soviet Union after Tokyo’s defeat in World War II. Japan still claims the islands of Iturup, Kunashir, Shikotan, and the Habomai Islands, which they refer to as the Northern Territories.

Last month, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi protested President Vladimir Putin’s first visit to Iturup, calling the trip “absolutely unacceptable.”

Days later, Russia conducted missile drills near the southern Kurils involving the cruiser Varyag, the nuclear-powered submarine Omsk, and a Bastion coastal missile system, prompting another protest from Tokyo.

The dispute over the Kuril Islands has been a stumbling block to Russia and Japan signing a peace treaty. Moscow suspended the negotiations in March 2022 after Tokyo took part in the Western sanctions imposed on Russia over the Ukraine conflict.

Spanish police have begun moving thousands of migrants from makeshift beach camps in the North African exclave of Ceuta in an operation that has quickly descended into chaos, according to media reports.

Crowds surged toward temporary shelters as officers struggled to maintain control, firing rubber bullets into the air and using batons.

The operation began early on Friday, with riot police and the Spanish military deployed to clear the makeshift camps and escort migrants to a new port camp. The facility is the fifth temporary reception center opened in Ceuta and can accommodate around 1,800 people, while an estimated 4,000 migrants have been living on the beaches.

Footage from local media shows hundreds crowding the designated route, with some breaking into a run as officers struggled to control the group. Police fired rubber bullets into the air and struck several people with batons before the situation calmed and migrants continued towards the port under escort.

🇪🇸 Spanish authorities have begun relocating thousands of migrants from makeshift beach tent camps in the North African exclave of Ceuta to a newly constructed temporary center at the city's port

The new port camp, the fifth temporary reception center set up in Ceuta, can… pic.twitter.com/XAeEIhsMqI

— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) September 18, 2026

The port facility is intended for adult men, while minors are being housed separately. Three NGO representatives told Reuters that authorities had been too slow to provide the minimum shelter required under European migration rules and that existing reception centers remained insufficient.

Opposition leader Alberto Núñez Feijoo accused the government of failing to maintain public order, while officials said additional locations would be needed to house migrants who cannot be accommodated at the port.

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The crisis erupted after more than 72,000 migrants crossed into Ceuta from Morocco on July 30 and 31, with the mass influx overwhelming Spanish border authorities. Most were subsequently returned, but thousands, including unaccompanied minors, have remained in the enclave.

The mass crossing has since fueled scrutiny of Madrid’s handling of the crisis. Declassified documents released by the Spanish government show that the National Intelligence Center (CNI) warned officials in Ceuta and Moroccan intelligence on July 29 about online calls for migrants to breach the border by land and sea the following day.

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A separate Spanish military intelligence report issued once the influx was underway described Moroccan forces as “negligent and passive,” while Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has maintained that the earlier warnings did not indicate the scale or likelihood of what followed.

Morocco has denied facilitating the influx. In a statement on Thursday, its Foreign Ministry accused Spanish political groups and media of exploiting the crisis ahead of elections expected in 2027, saying: “Morocco refuses to be used as a pre-election pawn. Nor does it accept being the scapegoat for political score-settling.” Rabat has also questioned why Spain has not returned more irregular migrants despite its offer to readmit them.

We have come to regard the countries of Eastern Europe as the most conflict-prone and volatile part of the political landscape surrounding Russia, and there are grounds for this view. 

Immediate neighbors often have the most difficult relationships because the more points of contact there are, the more opportunities for friction, and in Russia’s case, geopolitical logic is reinforced by considerable historical experience of invasion, which means Russia has traditionally sought to ensure that no serious threat can emerge from neighboring countries and that its immediate surroundings remain predictable.

This predictability has been secured in different ways over the centuries, sometimes through direct annexation and sometimes through indirect forms of control. Russia’s western neighbors are small in comparison with it, and their policies have often been driven by fear of their much larger neighbor, whether justified or not.

The acute military and political crisis that began in 2022 seems to confirm that stability between Russia and the rest of Eastern Europe shouldn’t be taken for granted, as countries that joined NATO and the EU in the late 20th and early 21st centuries are now pursuing the most intransigent course, seeking not merely to contain Russia but to marginalize it.

Their own capabilities are limited, so they have increasingly used international institutions, above all an increasingly militarized EU, to push larger member states towards a tougher position. A recent example is Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski’s rhetoric concerning the Baltic region and Kaliningrad.

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The militarization of Eastern Europe is, in this sense, a continuation of a policy pursued since the 1990s, which rested on the conviction that the expansion of Western military and political institutions was an objective historical process, and that enlargement itself would provide security without ever requiring serious military action.

This assumption was convenient for everyone as the new member states regarded NATO membership as a guarantee of their security, and the veteran members in Western Europe and the US were confident that these guarantees would never actually have to be tested. Nobody seriously expected to fight Russia over the states along its borders.

Let us leave aside for the moment the role NATO expansion played in creating the conditions for the conflict over Ukraine, because whatever one’s interpretation of how we arrived here, the question of military guarantees has now moved from theory to practice.

This creates a fundamental problem for NATO. On the one hand, it can’t simply abandon its security commitments, because if these guarantees cease to be credible, NATO loses much of its purpose. On the other hand, Article 5 of the Washington Treaty is less automatic than is commonly assumed and it doesn’t mechanically send every member of the bloc to war.

Eastern European governments understand this ambiguity. They lack confidence that the larger powers would come to their aid, and history gives them reasons for doubt and encourages some of them to push both Russia and their own allies toward firmer positions.

The objective is to bind the major Western powers ever more tightly to their security, which raises the question: What role would Eastern European countries actually play if a direct military conflict with Russia did occur?

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An impartial assessment suggests that they would most likely become both the battlefield and the vanguard, sent into the confrontation ahead of the major Western powers, and elements of this arrangement can already be seen in Ukraine.

Western European societies are neither willing nor prepared to fight Russia themselves, but they have proven to be considerably more comfortable supporting others who are prepared to do so – and Ukraine, for its own reasons, has accepted this role. For the rest of Eastern Europe, however, the calculation is more complicated.

We shall leave aside the Baltic states, where the level of political rhetoric increasingly makes serious discussion difficult, but more established countries with deeper traditions of statehood – Poland, the Czech Republic, and Romania – are perfectly capable of recognizing the danger of being thrown under the bus of military escalation in pursuit of the broader objectives of the European establishment.

This awareness doesn’t necessarily moderate their public rhetoric, but their practical behavior shows a certain degree of caution.

This distinction is becoming increasingly important as military tensions rise. The escalation pursued by Kiev creates a growing possibility of incidents capable of drawing neighboring states more directly into the conflict. For Eastern European countries, encouraging further escalation therefore carries risks, given that they’re likely to bear the immediate consequences of the policies they are advocating.

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Until now, Russia has generally assumed that if any European countries eventually contribute to a settlement, they would be the continent’s other major powers, states large and secure enough not to define their policies primarily through fear of Russia.

In a genuine military crisis, however, the logic could turn out to be the reverse, as the countries with the greatest reason to fear an uncontrolled confrontation may also have the greatest interest in preventing one.

Eastern European governments therefore face an increasingly stark contradiction. They want stronger Western guarantees against Russia, and the natural method of obtaining them is to persuade the rest of Europe that the ‘Russian threat’ is immediate and severe, yet the more successful they are in escalating the confrontation, the greater the possibility that their own countries become the front line.

Rationality doesn’t always prevail in international politics, but this doesn’t mean Russia should write off Eastern Europe as a lost cause – because the countries closest to a conflict may ultimately have the strongest reasons to keep it under control.

This article was first published by Rossiyskaya Gazeta, and was translated and edited by the RT team 

The lone juror who blocked Lindsay Clancy’s acquittal has spoken out for the first time after being doxxed and subjected to an intense public backlash, saying he believes he was targeted in part because he is a black Republican and devout Christian surrounded by jurors he described as liberal activists.

Clancy admitted strangling her children, five-year-old Cora, three-year-old Dawson and eight-month-old Callan, in their Massachusetts home in 2023 before attempting suicide. She has argued that severe postpartum mental illness left her legally insane. Her trial ended in a mistrial earlier this month after 11 jurors backed acquittal on insanity grounds and Michael Desronvil alone refused.

His identity was subsequently exposed online, his relatives were pursued for information and his personal history – including dismissed domestic-violence allegations – was dragged through the media. Desronvil has since had to leave his home and is currently staying at an undisclosed location.

“I didn’t have any doubts,” Desronvil said in his first public statement to News Nation on Thursday, rejecting claims from fellow jurors that he had wavered during deliberations.

“Based on all the physical evidence, key witnesses, and what the prosecution presents, I thought it was enough proof that she knew exactly what she was doing and planned,” he added.

🇺🇸 A single juror blocked an insanity acquittal in the Lindsay Clancy case, and now defends that vote.

Michael Desronvil was the lone holdout after the 6-week, widely publicized Massachusetts trial.

He argues the evidence showed the mother PLANNED the 2023 killings of her 3…

— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) September 18, 2026

Desronvil has also portrayed the furious reaction to his vote as ideological. According to a true-crime host who interviewed him at length off-camera, the juror said he was a conservative Republican on a panel dominated by Democrats and described some of the other jurors as liberal “activists.”

His newly hired lawyer, Edward Paltzik, has leaned into the political divide, describing Desronvil as an “American Hero and Champion of Justice,” a committed Christian and a supporter of President Donald Trump.

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Clancy, meanwhile, has attracted an intensely mobilized following, particularly among women and advocates focused on postpartum mental illness, who view the killings as the catastrophic result of psychosis and failures in maternal mental healthcare.

Several fellow jurors have publicly criticized Desronvil since the mistrial, accusing him of refusing to accept their interpretation of the evidence and having “the hardest time getting off the fact that Lindsay viciously killed her children.”

Following the mistrial earlier this month, Clancy has further strengthened her legal team, bringing in high-profile Boston attorney Martin Weinberg to try to have the case thrown out before prosecutors can put her on trial again.

District Attorney Timothy Cruz has not publicly announced a final decision on a retrial, although Fox News has reported that prosecutors plan to pursue one. Meanwhile, legal experts note that a second trial would likely end in another deadlock as the prosecution would face a significant challenge in finding 12 jurors who would unanimously reject Clancy’s insanity defense.

Clancy’s attorney Kevin Reddington has meanwhile floated alternatives, including a judge-only trial on reduced charges, but says he would not accept any deal that sends her to prison. Her case is due back in court on September 29.

Seven people have been injured in an explosion at a military shooting range in western Sweden, with five suffering serious injuries, according to local media reports. The incident near Karlsborg sparked alarm among parents, who feared that young conscripts may have been among the victims, before officials clarified that those injured were armed forces employees.

In a statement on Thursday, the Swedish Armed Forces said an explosion occurred at the Kraks shooting range shortly after 4:00 PM, injuring several people, some seriously, adding that the incident is being investigated.

National public broadcaster SVT reported that seven men in their 20s and 30s were taken to the hospital, including one by helicopter. Five were being treated for serious but non-life-threatening injuries, reportedly in intensive care, while the other two sustained minor injuries.

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While the authorities would not say what caused the incident, Aftonbladet reported that an explosion occurred in connection with clearing old, unexploded ammunition.

The incident sparked alarm among parents before officials stressed that no conscripts were involved. “We have had some worried mothers and fathers calling, but it is not conscripts who were injured,” Armed Forces spokesman Mikael Agren told SVT.

An emergency department employee at a local hospital described the situation as “chaos,” with reports suggesting that the facility reinforced its emergency and operating departments but did not formally enter emergency mode.

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Kroks range is administered by the local Skaraborg Regiment but is used by units from across Sweden.

The Karlsborg military hub hosts the Unmanned Aircraft System Center, which was opened last year to allow Sweden to catch up in drone warfare, which has become a staple of the Ukraine conflict.

This year, Ukrainian drone operators with frontline experience took part in the NATO-led Aurora 26 exercise in the wider Karlsborg area. However, there is no indication that drones or Ukrainian personnel were involved in the blast on Thursday.

The incident comes as Sweden, like many other NATO members, continues its military buildup; its defense budget has grown by 18% in 2026 alone. In 2017, Stockholm reactivated the draft, citing a deteriorating security environment and difficulties recruiting enough personnel voluntarily; in 2024, it joined NATO, citing the Ukraine conflict.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has criticized Sweden for taking steps to host NATO military infrastructure on its soil, stressing that Stockholm’s policies do not improve geopolitical stability. He also said Russia has no major disputes with Sweden.

Sweden has seen similar training accidents in the past. In March 2024, two conscripts and two instructors suffered shrapnel wounds after a hand grenade exploded near them during an exercise at the Mastocka range in the southwestern part of the country. The Work Environment Authority later found safety deficiencies in the training.

Nearly half of Germans believe Chancellor Friedrich Merz will be out of office by the end of the year, a new survey has indicated, as his approval hits record lows and speculation over his future mounts ahead of crucial state elections.

The YouGov poll, published on Thursday, suggested that 48% expect Merz to leave the chancellery before the end of 2026, while only 31% believe he will remain in office and 21% were undecided. YouGov surveyed 1,611 German adults on September 17.

The findings come amid a sharp decline in support for Merz just 16 months into his chancellorship. He took office promising sweeping economic reforms and a stronger German leadership role in Europe, but his tenure has been marked by coalition disputes and battles over domestic policy. In August, just 13% of respondents told Forsa research institute they were satisfied with his performance, against 85% dissatisfied. Another poll this week put his approval at a record-low 10%, with 88% dissatisfied.

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The discontent comes amid prolonged economic weakness, stalled reforms and criticism of Merz’s focus on foreign and defense policy. Germany endured three consecutive years of economic stagnation and recession before GDP grew 0.3% quarter-on-quarter in the second quarter of 2026. Despite modest gains, investment continued to fall and household consumption remained virtually flat.

After more than a year struggling to agree on key policies, Merz’s coalition in July approved a 34-point economic reform package including austerity measures, tax cuts, pension changes, and tighter sick-leave rules. The move, however, drew public criticism and added to pressure on the coalition. Merz has meanwhile prioritized defense, pledging to build the “strongest conventional army in Europe” in response to what he describes as a Russian threat – a claim Moscow rejects.

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The political crisis deepened after Merz’s bloc suffered a major defeat to the right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD) party in the Saxony-Anhalt state election earlier this month. With crucial elections in Berlin and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania due on Sunday – where the AfD is also expected to make strong gains – German media have increasingly raised the prospect of a Kanzlertausch, or “chancellor swap,” if the CDU suffers further losses. ZDF reported that talk of replacing Merz has been circulating within his own political camp for months.

Politico and Der Spiegel this week outlined several scenarios for Merz, including a voluntary resignation, a constructive vote of no confidence, or the chancellor calling a confidence vote himself. The outlets noted, however, that removing him against his will would be difficult under Germany’s Basic Law, as the Bundestag can oust a chancellor only by simultaneously electing a successor. Media have floated several possible replacements, but none has emerged as a consensus candidate capable of securing support from both the CDU/CSU and its Social Democratic coalition partner.

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Behind the scenes, senior CDU/CSU figures are already positioning themselves for a possible succession fight, according to Der Spiegel. The outlet reports that eastern CDU lawmakers tend to favor CSU leader Markus Soeder, while western members lean toward North Rhine-Westphalia’s Hendrik Wuest, with Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt also discussed as a possible compromise candidate.

Merz has, meanwhile, summoned the CDU leadership to Berlin on Sunday, where he is expected to face questions over his leadership as the election results come in. He has also canceled a planned trip to New York for next week’s UN General Assembly events, with a German official saying “his presence is required” in Berlin – a move some analysts say highlights the precariousness of his position at home.

A suicide car bomber and accompanying gunmen struck a police facility in northwestern Pakistan on Friday, killing at least 16 people – including five police officers – during prayers at a mosque, officials have said.

The vehicle rammed into an outer ⁠wall of the police facility in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province’s Kohat city, provincial police chief Zulfikar Hameed was reported as saying. “It was a suicide attack,” he added.

Police personnel, their family members, and other civilians were offering Friday prayers at the mosque when the attackers struck. The explosion damaged the mosque and nearby structures, and created a crater in the area, reports said.

Security forces were engaged in a gun battle with the attackers and one assailant wearing an explosives-vest was killed, the police said in a statement.

No group has claimed responsibility for the blast. Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif expressed grief over the casualties.

Militant attacks have risen in Pakistan’s border areas in recent months, with violence flaring up after each attack. Fifteen police officers were killed in a similar car bombing and ambush in Bannu in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in May.

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Islamabad has accused Afghanistan of hosting the militants and the Pakistani military has launched attacks inside Afghanistan in response. Kabul, however, says the strikes are hitting civilians, including women and children.

The bombing of a mosque in Islamabad in February killed more than 30 people, and in March, a Pakistani attack on a drug rehabilitation center in Kabul killed hundreds, according to Afghan officials.

Bangladesh’s export factories are cutting production and Pakistan has rolled out fuel subsidies as disruptions to Gulf energy supplies drive shortages and higher costs across South Asia.

The pressure follows disruptions to oil and gas shipments through the Strait of Hormuz after the US-Israeli attacks on Iran. Fighting between Saudi Arabia and the Iranian-backed Houthis has also threatened trade through the Red Sea, another key route for Gulf energy supplies.

Bangladesh has been particularly exposed. The country relies heavily on imported LNG for electricity, and disruptions to supplies from Qatar have forced Dhaka to seek more expensive cargoes on the spot market. The gas and power shortages have triggered blackouts and factory shutdowns.

Asian spot prices for liquefied natural gas (LNG) have climbed close to $30 per million British thermal units from around $10 before the conflict.

The pressure is now hitting Bangladesh’s garment industry, its biggest export sector. A survey by the Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association found that 55% of factories have seen buyers cancel or reduce orders because of gas and power shortages since late August, while 78% partially halted production.

Production delays are also raising costs. One garment producer spent $50,000 to air-freight jackets to a French buyer after delays, Reuters reported. Factories have turned to diesel to keep operations running, and industrial growth and production are slowing, Power Minister Iqbal Hasan Mahmud said this week.

Pakistan is also facing mounting pressure from expensive fuel. Its power sector could require up to 400 million cubic feet of gas a day through winter, while only two LNG cargoes have been confirmed for September.

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Islamabad introduced a nationwide relief program this week offering eligible motorcycle, rickshaw, and small-car owners a subsidy of about $0.36 per liter of fuel within capped quotas.

And in a throwback to restrictions that were imposed in April, markets now have to close by 9 PM, marriage halls by 10 PM, and restaurants by 11 PM local time. Islamabad also banned official dinners, except for foreign visitors and delegations, and the purchase of new government vehicles.

Supply risks remain elevated. Only four commodity vessels crossed the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday, compared with a ten-day average of around 16, although three LNG vessels reappeared outside the strait.

Bill Gates turned the vast financial resources of his foundation into political leverage, using its wealth to pressure governments to spend more on vaccination, former German Chancellor Angela Merkel has said.  

In the Meckel & Matthes podcast released by Handelsblatt earlier this month, Merkel warned that uncontrolled corporate power could leave governments doing “what the corporations order.” She said she first saw the danger not with the rise of artificial intelligence, but when Gates set up his foundation, which had more money “than the development budgets of major industrialized countries.”  

An unelected billionaire had effectively put himself on a political footing with elected leaders, according to Merkel.  

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“He was suddenly received at least as warmly by some heads of state in the world as I was,” Merkel recalled. “And then he also had the power – by virtue of his money – to exert moral pressure.” If governments failed to provide enough funding for the international vaccine alliance, “we were immediately in a bad light,” she said.  

Gates would then tell African leaders that “Merkel had been stingy this year,” she recalled. “And with that, he had gained considerable power.”  

The vaccine alliance Merkel referred to is Gavi, a public-private partnership involving governments, the World Health Organization, UNICEF, the World Bank and private donors. The Gates Foundation was a founding partner, providing $750 million in seed funding, and has since contributed billions of dollars to the organization. Germany became a major Gavi donor during her chancellorship, pledging €600 million for 2016-2020 and another €600 million for 2021-2025.  

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The former chancellor said the foundation had focused heavily on a handful of areas, including vaccination. When she asked Gates about putting more money into education, he told her that the results there were harder to measure because teachers, countries and students differed.  

That left governments with difficult choices over limited development budgets, Merkel said. They still had to fund education while Gates pressed them to put money into vaccination and diseases such as malaria. “That’s the kind of constraint you get caught in,” she said.  

During the Covid-19 pandemic, the Gates Foundation worked closely with major global health organizations and collected extensive funding for worldwide health and vaccine initiatives.  

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The foundation, originally known as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, was renamed the Gates Foundation after Melinda French Gates stepped down as co-chair in 2024, three years after the couple divorced. Their marriage had reportedly been strained in part by Bill Gates’ ties to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. 

Days after Merkel’s remarks, Gates said his foundation had dropped its goal of eradicating measles worldwide, citing growing reluctance to get vaccinated in wealthy countries. “At one point, the foundation wanted to eradicate measles, but the vaccine hesitancy in rich countries has meant that’s not on our list of goals,” he told Reuters, calling it “kind of tragic.”

The “Russophobic” new sanctions bill empowering US President Donald Trump to impose steep tariffs on buyers of Russian energy will lead to ever-higher prices at the pumps for Americans, the Russian Embassy in Washington has warned.

The legislation was championed by the late Senator Lindsey Graham, a Russia hawk and staunch Ukraine supporter who pushed for “crushing sanctions” on Moscow before his unexpected death this summer. Named ‘The Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026’ in his honor, the bill allows the president to impose tariffs of up to 100% on goods from major buyers of Russian oil and gas, potentially including China and India, and additional sanctions on Russia and Iran. It cleared the House on Wednesday, removing the final congressional hurdle before reaching Trump, who has said he plans to sign it.

The Russian Embassy in Washington on Friday warned the legislation will likely backfire on American consumers, particularly as Middle Eastern energy supplies are already disrupted by the US war on Iran.

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“Russophobic instinct underlying the late Senator Graham’s bill… makes a grand disservice to the current Administration’s efforts to Make America Great Again,” the embassy wrote on X. “Destabilizing energy markets by blocking Russian oil and gas trade as Mideast supply is dramatically cut is an invitation to ever-higher prices at the pump close to midterm November elections.”

The embassy also warned that targeting major buyers of Russian energy could deepen tensions between Washington on one side and Moscow and Beijing on the other. It argued that the legislation runs counter to the Trump administration’s diplomatic efforts with Moscow and that simultaneously confronting Russia and China would create a geopolitical “lose-lose” situation for Washington.

Russophobic instinct underlying the late Senator Graham’s bill approved by the House on September 16th (and earlier by the Senate) makes a grand disservice to the current Administration’s efforts to Make America Great Again.

Destabilizing energy markets by blocking Russian oil… pic.twitter.com/TQR4fFxD5C

— Russian Embassy in USA 🇷🇺 (@RusEmbUSA) September 18, 2026

US gasoline prices are already under pressure from the Middle East energy crisis. US gasoline averages $4.43-$4.44 a gallon, over $1.10 more than a year ago, while diesel has hit a record $6.40 nationwide, jumping 77 cents in the first half of September alone.

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Disruptions to tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, a critical route for Gulf oil exports, have constrained supplies, while instability around the Red Sea and Bab el-Mandeb Strait due to Iran-allied Yemeni Houthi advances has threatened another major shipping route. Crude prices have climbed above $100 a barrel, raising concerns about further increases at the pump if disruptions persist.

China and India, the largest buyers of Russian energy, have opposed the bill and defended their purchases. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said on Thursday that Beijing rejects Washington’s “long-arm jurisdiction” as lacking a basis in international law. India has warned that tariffs over Russian oil purchases could affect US-India ties and vowed to “take all necessary measures to protect its trade and economic interests.”

READ MORE: The West is watching the wrong Ukrainian collapse

Moscow has long denounced Western energy sanctions as illegal and self-defeating, arguing that they redirect Russian exports while forcing Western countries toward more expensive supplies. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov warned this week that additional US sanctions would make reaching a settlement of the Ukraine conflict more difficult.

Europe is moving dangerously close to a direct clash between NATO and Russia, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico has warned, accusing the West of seeking a “pretext” for a major conflict between the two sides.

Fico made the comment in a Facebook post on Thursday, which accompanied the remarks he delivered before traveling to Ukraine for a meeting with Vladimir Zelensky and several European leaders.

“I am deeply concerned that they are merely looking for a pretext for a major conflict between NATO and Russia,” he wrote.

Reflecting on the Ukraine conflict, Fico said that the hostilities had “gotten out of control,” while accusing European nations of engaging in increasingly bellicose rhetoric which he said risked dragging the continent into a broader war. “The situation has never been as serious and tense regarding the possibility of a pan-European war conflict as it is now,” he said.

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Fico also warned that Bratislava could face pressure from NATO to commit troops if the bloc’s Article 5 – a collective defense clause applied if a member state is attacked – is invoked. “Can anyone imagine being told to prepare 5,000 soldiers, 10,000 soldiers, and that they would go somewhere to fight? We don’t know with whom, why, or for what reason,” Fico said.

“I don’t want Slovakia to be part of any military conflict because of some Article 5,” he stressed, adding that, though his country still “cares about collaboration and fulfilling obligations”. “As prime minister, I will do everything to ensure that Slovakia is never drawn into a war,” Fico stressed.

Fico has consistently opposed military support for Ukraine since returning to office in 2023 while halting government weapons shipments to Kiev. He has also opposed Kiev’s accession to NATO, and insisted that Ukraine’s EU membership is only possible if it meets all the requirements.

He has also argued that the West’s strategy to “bring Russia to its knees” had “completely failed.” “The European Union does not need more weapons and Russophobia. The European Union needs more diplomacy and concrete plans to help the economy,” Fico said last month.

Russia has accused the EU of rapid militarization, with Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov saying the bloc is directing increasing military capabilities against Moscow while portraying it as an enemy.

President Vladimir Putin has consistently rejected claims that Moscow intends to attack NATO countries, but warned last week that deploying European forces to Ukraine “would mean war with Russia.” Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov also stressed that Russia has no intention of attacking the West but warned that if Europe attacked first, the resulting conflict would be “very short.”

The “Russophobic” new sanctions bill empowering US President Donald Trump to impose steep tariffs on buyers of Russian energy will lead to ever-higher prices at the pumps for Americans, the Russian Embassy in Washington has warned.

The legislation was championed by the late Senator Lindsey Graham, a Russia hawk and staunch Ukraine supporter who pushed for “crushing sanctions” on Moscow before his unexpected death this summer. Named ‘The Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026’ in his honor, the bill allows the president to impose tariffs of up to 100% on goods from major buyers of Russian oil and gas, potentially including China and India, and additional sanctions on Russia and Iran. It cleared the House on Wednesday, removing the final congressional hurdle before reaching Trump, who has said he plans to sign it.

The Russian Embassy in Washington on Friday warned the legislation will likely backfire on American consumers, particularly as Middle Eastern energy supplies are already disrupted by the US war on Iran.

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“Russophobic instinct underlying the late Senator Graham’s bill… makes a grand disservice to the current Administration’s efforts to Make America Great Again,” the embassy wrote on X. “Destabilizing energy markets by blocking Russian oil and gas trade as Mideast supply is dramatically cut is an invitation to ever-higher prices at the pump close to midterm November elections.”

The embassy also warned that targeting major buyers of Russian energy could deepen tensions between Washington on one side and Moscow and Beijing on the other. It argued that the legislation runs counter to the Trump administration’s diplomatic efforts with Moscow and that simultaneously confronting Russia and China would create a geopolitical “lose-lose” situation for Washington.

Russophobic instinct underlying the late Senator Graham’s bill approved by the House on September 16th (and earlier by the Senate) makes a grand disservice to the current Administration’s efforts to Make America Great Again.

Destabilizing energy markets by blocking Russian oil… pic.twitter.com/TQR4fFxD5C

— Russian Embassy in USA 🇷🇺 (@RusEmbUSA) September 18, 2026

US gasoline prices are already under pressure from the Middle East energy crisis. US gasoline averages $4.43-$4.44 a gallon, over $1.10 more than a year ago, while diesel has hit a record $6.40 nationwide, jumping 77 cents in the first half of September alone.

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Disruptions to tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, a critical route for Gulf oil exports, have constrained supplies, while instability around the Red Sea and Bab el-Mandeb Strait due to Iran-allied Yemeni Houthi advances has threatened another major shipping route. Crude prices have climbed above $100 a barrel, raising concerns about further increases at the pump if disruptions persist.

China and India, the largest buyers of Russian energy, have opposed the bill and defended their purchases. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said on Thursday that Beijing rejects Washington’s “long-arm jurisdiction” as lacking a basis in international law. India has warned that tariffs over Russian oil purchases could affect US-India ties and vowed to “take all necessary measures to protect its trade and economic interests.”

READ MORE: The West is watching the wrong Ukrainian collapse

Moscow has long denounced Western energy sanctions as illegal and self-defeating, arguing that they redirect Russian exports while forcing Western countries toward more expensive supplies. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov warned this week that additional US sanctions would make reaching a settlement of the Ukraine conflict more difficult.

Europe is moving dangerously close to a direct clash between NATO and Russia, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico has warned, accusing the West of seeking a “pretext” for a major conflict between the two sides.

Fico made the comment in a Facebook post on Thursday, which accompanied the remarks he delivered before traveling to Ukraine for a meeting with Vladimir Zelensky and several European leaders.

“I am deeply concerned that they are merely looking for a pretext for a major conflict between NATO and Russia,” he wrote.

Reflecting on the Ukraine conflict, Fico said that the hostilities had “gotten out of control,” while accusing European nations of engaging in increasingly bellicose rhetoric which he said risked dragging the continent into a broader war. “The situation has never been as serious and tense regarding the possibility of a pan-European war conflict as it is now,” he said.

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Fico also warned that Bratislava could face pressure from NATO to commit troops if the bloc’s Article 5 – a collective defense clause applied if a member state is attacked – is invoked. “Can anyone imagine being told to prepare 5,000 soldiers, 10,000 soldiers, and that they would go somewhere to fight? We don’t know with whom, why, or for what reason,” Fico said.

“I don’t want Slovakia to be part of any military conflict because of some Article 5,” he stressed, adding that, though his country still “cares about collaboration and fulfilling obligations”. “As prime minister, I will do everything to ensure that Slovakia is never drawn into a war,” Fico stressed.

Fico has consistently opposed military support for Ukraine since returning to office in 2023 while halting government weapons shipments to Kiev. He has also opposed Kiev’s accession to NATO, and insisted that Ukraine’s EU membership is only possible if it meets all the requirements.

He has also argued that the West’s strategy to “bring Russia to its knees” had “completely failed.” “The European Union does not need more weapons and Russophobia. The European Union needs more diplomacy and concrete plans to help the economy,” Fico said last month.

Russia has accused the EU of rapid militarization, with Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov saying the bloc is directing increasing military capabilities against Moscow while portraying it as an enemy.

President Vladimir Putin has consistently rejected claims that Moscow intends to attack NATO countries, but warned last week that deploying European forces to Ukraine “would mean war with Russia.” Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov also stressed that Russia has no intention of attacking the West but warned that if Europe attacked first, the resulting conflict would be “very short.”

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has suggested that he is returning to public life, following a hiatus after his release from British custody in 2024.

The transparency activist spent five years behind bars while fighting a US extradition request that could have resulted in a lengthy sentence in a high-security US prison. He eventually struck a deal that secured his freedom amid a global campaign urging Washington to drop the case against him.

The WikiLeaks account on X announced on Thursday that Assange is “back,” posting a photo in which he is posing in front of a mural depicting him in Sydney, Australia.

Assange reposted the message, confirming his return and saying it is the first post in eight years that he has personally written.

I'm back. https://t.co/2e58azeJkt

— Julian Assange (@JulianAssange) September 17, 2026

His wife Stella said more news will follow next week.

WikiLeaks became a global phenomenon in 2010 after publishing a leaked video showing a US military airstrike in Baghdad in 2007 that killed at least a dozen people.

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Chelsea Manning was arrested and later convicted in 2013 for providing WikiLeaks with the footage and other classified US military materials.

The US espionage case against Assange centered on obtaining the files from Manning, while Britain’s initial efforts to detain him arose from an unrelated case that his supporters said was fabricated.

Assange was granted political asylum by Ecuador in 2012 and spent years inside the South American country’s embassy in London. A change of government in Quito eventually led Ecuador to revoke his asylum and allow British police to arrest him in 2019.

Under the deal reached with the US in 2024, Assange pleaded guilty to a single felony charge of conspiring to obtain and disclose classified US documents. He was sentenced to time already served in London’s high-security Belmarsh Prison. In Britain, he was convicted of violating bail conditions.

READ MORE: Assange returns home (VIDEO)

Since regaining his freedom, Assange has made several public appearances. Months after his release, he addressed the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg, France, speaking about the ordeal he endured.

In 2025, he took part in a pro-Palestinian march in Sydney with an estimated 100,000 people.

A man who sprayed vinegar on left-wing US Representative Ilhan Omar during a town hall in Minneapolis was sentenced to 14 months in prison on Thursday.

Omar, a Democratic politician of Somali origin, was speaking on January 27 when Anthony Kazmierczak rushed toward the podium and sprayed her with liquid from a syringe. He was quickly tackled by security.

According to witnesses, he shouted at Omar, “You’re splitting Minnesotans apart.” The liquid was later identified as apple cider vinegar.

“I’m ok. I’m a survivor so this small agitator isn’t going to intimidate me from doing my work. I don’t let bullies win,” Omar wrote on X following the incident.

🚨JUST IN🚨

The DOJ has filed federal charges against a man accused of spraying Ilhan Omar with apple cider vinegar.

Anthony Kazmierczak was arrested and now faces a charge of forcibly assaulting, opposing, impeding, and intimidating a federal official.pic.twitter.com/ZOUBOB4FF2

— Breanna Morello (@BreannaMorello) January 29, 2026

Kazmierczak reached a deal with prosecutors and apologized to the congresswoman. According to court documents, he has “a history of mental and emotional health concerns” and other health issues related to his 2022 Parkinson’s disease diagnosis. Judge Joan Ericksen said during sentencing that his actions were premeditated and not “a spur-of-the-moment act.”

BREAKING: Anthony Kazmierczak, the man who sprayed U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar with vinegar in Minneapolis has been sentenced to 14 months in prison. pic.twitter.com/XH9URc5gA6

— Ed Krassenstein (@EdKrassen) September 17, 2026

Violence against public figures has increased in the US in recent years, with Republicans and Democrats blaming each other’s increasingly belligerent rhetoric.

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A vocal supporter of the Palestinian cause, Omar has called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a “war criminal” and accused him of “actively committing genocide against the Palestinian people.” She has condemned Israel’s war in Gaza and supported the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement targeting Israel.

In 2019, the Israeli authorities barred her and fellow Democratic Representative Rashida Tlaib from entering the country. Omar has faced accusations of invoking anti-Semitic tropes in her remarks about Israel and its supporters, and in 2019, the advocacy group StopAntisemitism named her the ‘Antisemite of the Year’ following a public vote.

Omar has denied accusations of anti-Semitism but apologized for some of her past statements, saying her “intention is never to offend my constituents or Jewish Americans as a whole.”

The largest newly formed crater ever discovered in the solar system has been found on the Moon, in what scientists have described as a once-in-a-century impact event.

The crater, measuring 222 meters (728 feet) across and 43 meters deep, was identified using images from NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC), according to a study published in Science Advances on Wednesday.

Researcher Robert Wagner first spotted the feature during a routine check of images taken by LROC’s Wide-Angle Camera in October 2025. Scientists then used higher-resolution observations over the following months to measure the crater and examine the surrounding terrain.

According to NASA, the crater formed between April 11 and May 22, 2024, when a comet or asteroid roughly the size of a three- to six-story building slammed into the lunar surface.

The Moon’s got a big new crater! 🕳️

Spotted by NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, the McGetchin crater formed when a rock as big as a six-story building crashed into the Moon. It’s 141 feet deep and wider than the length of two football fields.🪨💥🌕https://t.co/I2fX7bPts1 pic.twitter.com/Zft4mKUv1Z

— NASA Solar System (@NASASolarSystem) September 16, 2026

The collision hurled debris across the surrounding terrain and created a “cold spot” about seven kilometers (four miles) wide, where nighttime temperatures are up to nine degrees Celsius (16 degrees Fahrenheit) lower than in nearby areas.

Researchers believe the impact loosened, or “fluffed up,” the regolith – the layer of loose rock and dust covering the Moon – making it less dense and therefore less able to retain heat.

Officially named McGetchin after pioneering lunar scientist Tom McGetchin, the crater dwarfs previously detected recent impacts. Before its discovery, the largest contemporary impact crater identified on the Moon measured about 70 meters across.

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The discovery comes as the Moon becomes an increasingly important focus of international space exploration.

The US is “very much in a space race” with China, NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman told CBS News in July. NASA’s Artemis program is targeting 2028 for its first crewed lunar landing since the Apollo era, with the longer-term goal of establishing a sustained human presence on the Moon.

Russia and China, meanwhile, announced plans in 2021 to jointly develop the International Lunar Research Station.

READ MORE: Russia sets timeline for power station on the Moon

As part of the project, Russia plans to deploy a power station on the Moon within the next decade. During Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to Moscow last May, Russia and China signed an agreement on building a nuclear power plant on the Moon to provide energy for the planned research station, which is expected to become operational in the mid-2030s.

At NATO’s first high-level summit since Ankara, the bloc’s new, Europe-centric incarnation is taking shape. But it’s ordinary Europeans who stand to lose their future, and potentially their lives.

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NATO’s Military Committee is meeting in Copenhagen on Friday and Saturday. Chaired by Italian Admiral Giuseppe Cavo Dragone, the Military Committee, which is NATO’s highest military authority, is tasked with turning the bloc’s strategic goals into executable plans. When NATO orders a battlegroup to Lithuania, for example, the Military Committee ensures its tanks will be able to get there across multiple countries’ rail networks, its troops will be supplied and housed, and the deployment will not leave another sector of the bloc’s so-called ‘eastern flank’ unmanned.

Accordingly, NATO is keeping the meeting’s agenda under wraps. The organization’s website simply states that the defense chiefs will take part in a “Session 1” and “Session 2” of talks, followed by a press conference, a photo opportunity, and then a “Session 3” of discussions.

Looking at the political decisions made since the bloc’s headline summit in Ankara in July, the broad aim of the conference becomes clearer: flesh out NATO’s plan to militarize Europe and prepare the continent for war with Russia, all while insulating the US from the consequences of the conflict.

What is NATO 3.0?

Coined by US Under Secretary of War for Policy Elbridge Colby, ‘NATO 3.0’ is an America-first reworking of the Cold War pact. In a speech to NATO defense ministers in February, Colby explained that the US will, going forward, focus on preparing for a potential clash with China in the Indo-Pacific, leaving NATO’s European members to “assume primary responsibility for the conventional defense of Europe.”

Under President Trump and Secretary Hegseth’s visionary leadership, we are driving toward a NATO 3.0 in which Europe takes primary responsibility for its conventional defense. Many said that it could not be done – that Europe couldn’t or wouldn’t step up. That is being disproved… https://t.co/svqGBLPIdE

— Under Secretary of War Elbridge Colby (@USWPColby) July 2, 2026

Europe will increase its military spending to NATO’s current target of 5% of GDP and shift to wartime levels of defense production, Colby explained, all while the US retains control over the bloc’s nuclear weapons. The Europeans will also be expected, US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth stated in June, to guarantee “access, basing and overflight” for American forces.

At Ankara in July, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte sold this one-sided deal as a win for Europe. “We are rebalancing our security for the better, that is what NATO 3.0 is all about,” he said. 

We’re rebalancing our Alliance: a stronger #NATO with Europe & Canada spending more, producing more and doing more for their security

Building for our future
This is NATO 3.0 pic.twitter.com/pgmvA4CcAW

— Mark Rutte (@SecGenNATO) September 16, 2026

In light of US President Donald Trump’s threats to withdraw US forces from Germany and annex Greenland, a more Europe-centric NATO was an easy sell for Rutte at the time. Trump’s threats toward Greenland were likely a key factor in the choice of Copenhagen for this weekend’s meeting. However, in the months since Ankara, Rutte and NATO’s European leaders have revealed what the shift actually means for the continent.

Europe steps up and pays

NATO 3.0 means the death of the European welfare state. In the UK, where living standards have already suffered their worst decline since the Second World War, meeting the bloc’s pre-Ankara 3.5% spending target will involve “eye-watering” cuts to education, transport, and justice budgets, George Robertson, who co-wrote the country’s defense strategy, warned in June. Even before the spending target was hiked to 5%, Robertson claimed that the British public was “too comfortable,” and must accept the “pain and great difficulty” of “preparing for war.”

In Germany, Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s plan to rebuild the Bundeswehr as “the strongest conventional army in Europe” has already precipitated social security cuts and a planned three-year hike in the retirement age. “The welfare state that we have today can no longer be financed,” Merz announced last August, before increasing Germany’s defense budget by almost 40% in a single year and telling Germans to “work harder.”

The Netherlands and Sweden have introduced emergency taxes to fund rearmament, with the Dutch levy branded as the “freedom contribution.” Estonia has increased income tax, Belgium and Finland have cut social spending, and 18 of NATO’s EU members have borrowed money from Brussels to build out their militaries since last May.

“On average, European countries easily spend up to a quarter of their national income on pensions, health, and social security systems, and we need only a small fraction of that money to make defense much stronger,” Rutte told the European Parliament last year. The “small fraction” demanded by Rutte has since almost doubled. 

Serving American interests

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In return, the Europeans are not getting the strategic autonomy that some, such as France, want. NATO’s “interoperability” standards mean weapons manufactured in Europe are built to American standards, and the AI and cloud computing technology that guides them is provided almost solely by American companies. 

The Ankara Summit Declaration states that “we are developing an interoperable transatlantic warfighting cloud and adopting powerful AI models.” With the EU relying on the US for 80% of its digital infrastructure, American companies such as Palantir, Anduril, and SpaceX will be the beneficiaries of this development.

Furthermore, while the US handed control of three operational commands – Norfolk in the UK, Naples in Italy, and Brunssum in the Netherlands – to European commanders earlier this year, Washington took over management of NATO’s highest Land, Air, and Maritime commands in exchange, and maintains the Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR) post.

Although NATO 3.0 envisions Europe alone deterring Russia, the bloc’s European members are still expected to go along with American wars far beyond their borders. Speaking in the UK this week, Rutte called it “essential” that Britain’s “armed forces continue to provide the hard power NATO needs” to tackle “Russia and its war against Ukraine, terrorism, Iran and the tectonic shifts of global geopolitical competition.”

NATO was not formed to counter Iran, but the US still punished its European members who refused to aid the US-Israeli war on Iran earlier this year, threatening a complete trade embargo on Spain after Madrid denied overflight and basing to American aircraft taking part in the war, and pulling troops from other countries seen as insufficiently supportive of the war. 

Bleeding for NATO

In addition to handing over their money and autonomy, Europeans risk handing over their lives, if NATO’s proxy war in Ukraine degenerates into open conflict with Russia. Having dangled the prospect of NATO membership in front of Ukraine since 2008, fomented the pro-Western Maidan coup in 2014, and juiced Ukraine with weapons and training over the next decade, the US has finally succeeded in dumping the resulting conflict on Europe’s lap, with the eager participation of the continent’s Atlantacist leaders.

NATO 3.0 makes it explicit that Europe now owns this conflict, and it is the possibility of escalation that will likely occupy the bloc’s Military Committee in Copenhagen this weekend. Managing the grim minutiae of war – predicting casualty rates in an open confrontation with Russia and preparing hospitals and morgues, for example – is the committee’s remit, and NATO’s European members are already thinking in this direction.

Germany is currently assessing whether its civilian hospitals could handle an influx of 1,000 wounded soldiers per day, and considering reopening a massive subterranean medical bunker in the city of Ulm. The German military practiced moving casualties from field hospitals in Lithuania to operating theaters in Germany during its largest-ever medical exercises in March. 

Norway has trained its surgeons in treating combat injuries and ordered that 7,000 hospital beds be made available for wartime casualties. France is preparing for what Paris calls a “major engagement scenario” by equipping civilian hospitals to absorb military casualties. Sweden and Lithuania have begun stockpiling blood.

A short war

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NATO’s Military Committee planned for these eventualities throughout the Cold War. However, the bloc’s European members understood that if the war went hot, only US intervention would save them. Charles de Gaulle was famously skeptical of this promise, asking John F. Kennedy whether the Americans would be willing to “trade New York for Paris” in a nuclear war with the Soviets. With NATO 3.0, the US has openly told Europe that Washington’s contribution to its security will be more “limited and focused,” in Colby’s words. 

Nevertheless, NATO’s European leaders, from Rutte down to the generals and admirals on the Military Committee, continue to march toward war with Russia, against all logic and self-interest. These preparations have a momentum of their own, which can be accelerated by miscalculation and political commitments; Europe’s leaders learned this lesson the hard way in the opening months of the First World War.

This time around, the potential consequences are even greater. Russia possesses the world’s largest nuclear arsenal, and in a stark warning on Wednesday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov declared that “if Europe, which talks daily about preparing for war against Russia, attacks Russia, it will be a completely different war, and it will be very short.”

The man who sprayed vinegar on left-wing US Representative Ilhan Omar during a town hall in Minneapolis was sentenced to 14 months in prison on Thursday.

Omar, a Democratic politician of Somali origin, was speaking to residents on January 27 when Anthony Kazmierczak rushed toward the podium and sprayed her with liquid from a syringe. The assailant was quickly tackled by security.

According to witnesses, he shouted at Omar, “You’re splitting Minnesotans apart.” The liquid was later identified as apple cider vinegar.

“I’m ok. I’m a survivor so this small agitator isn’t going to intimidate me from doing my work. I don’t let bullies win,” Omar wrote on X following the incident.

🚨JUST IN🚨

The DOJ has filed federal charges against a man accused of spraying Ilhan Omar with apple cider vinegar.

Anthony Kazmierczak was arrested and now faces a charge of forcibly assaulting, opposing, impeding, and intimidating a federal official.pic.twitter.com/ZOUBOB4FF2

— Breanna Morello (@BreannaMorello) January 29, 2026

Kazmierczak reached a deal with prosecutors and apologized to the congresswoman. According to court documents, he had “a history of mental and emotional health concerns” and other health issues related to his 2022 Parkinson’s disease diagnosis. Judge Joan Ericksen said during sentencing that his actions were premeditated and not “a spur-of-the-moment act.”

BREAKING: Anthony Kazmierczak, the man who sprayed U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar with vinegar in Minneapolis has been sentenced to 14 months in prison. pic.twitter.com/XH9URc5gA6

— Ed Krassenstein (@EdKrassen) September 17, 2026

Violence against public figures has increased in the US in recent years, with Republicans and Democrats blaming each other’s increasingly belligerent rhetoric.

Read more

A vocal supporter of the Palestinian cause, Omar has called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a “war criminal” and accused him of “actively committing genocide against the Palestinian people.” She has condemned Israel’s war in Gaza and supported the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement targeting Israel.

In 2019, Israeli authorities barred her and fellow Democratic Representative Rashida Tlaib from entering the country. Omar has frequently faced accusations of invoking anti-Semitic tropes in her remarks about Israel and its supporters, and in 2019, the advocacy group StopAntisemitism named her its “Antisemite of the Year” following a public vote.

Omar has denied accusations of anti-Semitism but apologized for some of her past statements, saying her “intention is never to offend my constituents or Jewish Americans as a whole.”

The US has made major progress in negotiations to establish a military base in Poland, President Donald Trump has announced.

His remarks came as Russia warned that it would retaliate if the territory of Poland or the Baltic states were used for a NATO attack against the country.

Poland, which borders Russia’s Kaliningrad exclave to the northeast, is a key logistics hub for delivering Western military aid to Ukraine and one of Kiev’s main supporters in Europe.

“GREAT NEWS! Thanks to the bold leadership of my friend, Karol Nawrocki, President of Poland, major progress is being made toward establishing a US Army base in Poland,” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Thursday.

“If this happens, the location will be announced very soon. This will be a historic step for our Great US/Polish Alliance,” he added.

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Nawrocki responded by promising to find “the best possible location” for the base. “We are ready to continue our efforts to strengthen our defense cooperation: seriously, responsibly, and always together,” he wrote on X.

The US already maintains a permanent Army garrison and command headquarters in Poland, although most of the roughly 10,000 American troops stationed in the country serve on a rotational basis. During Trump’s first term, Poland offered in 2018 to host a permanent base tentatively named “Fort Trump.”

Under Trump’s successor, President Joe Biden, the US established a garrison headquartered at Camp Kosciuszko in Poznan and permanently stationed the V Corps Forward Headquarters in the city.

Tensions between Russia and NATO have flared in recent months as eastern members of the US-led military bloc have blamed Russia for drone incursions. Moscow has dismissed the allegations as unfounded.

Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said during a trip to Kiev over the weekend that “if Russia attacked us and we took our gloves off, I think we would defeat Russia quite quickly.”

Russian presidential aide and former security chief Nikolay Patrushev responded to Sikorski by warning that “Polish statehood would cease to exist within two or three days” should a conflict break out.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov reiterated this week that the country had no intention of attacking NATO members, but said that if the bloc attacked Russia, the war would be “very short.”

The era of unconditional friendship with the US is coming to an end, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has said, blaming Washington for the deterioration in relations.

Merz, once seen as one of Germany’s most pro-American politicians, has repeatedly clashed with US President Donald Trump over issues ranging from the Iran war to German domestic policy.

“The era of unconditional transatlantic friendship is probably over for the foreseeable future,” the chancellor told fellow members of his Christian Democratic Union (CDU) on Thursday at a campaign event in Berlin ahead of this weekend’s regional parliamentary election.

“We are seeing a change in political attitudes on the other side of the Atlantic, as well as a shift in how the transatlantic alliance is viewed, which we perhaps did not think possible,” he added.

In April, Merz argued that the US lacked a coherent strategy in the Middle East and had been “humiliated” by Iran during the conflict. Trump responded by telling him to focus on “fixing his broken country.”

A month later, the chancellor, who previously worked with US financial giant BlackRock, said he no longer viewed the US as the “land of opportunity” it once was. He added that he would discourage his own children from traveling there for work or study.

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This summer, Merz warned the US administration against interfering in German elections. His remarks came as the US State Department launched a nearly $5 million grant program to support projects aimed at what it called strengthening democratic resilience, the rule of law, freedom of speech and the press, and human rights in Europe.

“It was long overdue that we now take more responsibility for ourselves,” the chancellor said on Thursday, defending Germany’s increased defense spending. The country will strengthen its military and continue funding Ukraine in its conflict with Russia despite a “structural crisis” in its own economy, Merz said.

Since returning to the White House in early 2025, Trump has imposed tariffs on most US trading partners and continued his longstanding criticism of European immigration policies. He has also revived plans to acquire Greenland, a self-governing Danish territory, and attacked Merz personally over his criticism of the US war with Iran, saying he was “doing a terrible job” as chancellor.

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In 2025, US Vice President J.D. Vance shocked many European officials at the annual Munich Security Conference when, instead of focusing on Russia over the Ukraine conflict, he criticized European governments over what he described as the erosion of free speech and “out-of-control migration.”

Vance also criticized the so-called firewall, the longstanding refusal by Germany’s mainstream parties, including Merz’s CDU, to cooperate with the anti-immigration Alternative for Germany (AfD), now the second-largest party in the Bundestag. “Democracy rests on the sacred principle that the voice of the people matters. There’s no room for firewalls. You either uphold the principle or you don’t,” he said.

In May, the Pentagon announced plans to withdraw around 5,000 of the more than 36,000 active-duty US troops stationed in Germany, marking a further strain on military ties between the allies.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s proposal to make Canada the EU’s first ‘associate member’ has raised questions about what such a relationship would mean.

The idea, unveiled during von der Leyen’s State of the Union address earlier this week, has drawn reservations from some EU states.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has since welcomed the EU’s “ambition,” while stressing that Canada is not seeking full membership in the bloc.

So, what exactly is being proposed – and could it actually happen?

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What did von der Leyen propose?

With Carney attending her address in Strasbourg, von der Leyen said the EU and Canada should build what she called an “alliance for the future.”

“We want to bring the relationship with Canada to the highest level possible,” she said, adding that this would cover areas including energy, critical minerals and defense, with the Arctic becoming a “flagship joint project.”

What is ‘associate membership’?

There is currently no status of “associate member” of the EU. The term does not appear in the bloc’s treaties, no country holds such a position, and Brussels has yet to define what rights or obligations it would give Canada.

The European Commission has described the idea as a new form of partnership that would create the closest possible association with a country outside Europe. It remains unclear whether Canada would gain greater access to the EU single market or which EU rules it might have to follow.

”Nobody really knows what it means,” one EU diplomat told Politico. Another said creating an actual associate membership status would require changes to the bloc’s fundamental treaties – something the diplomat described as “impossible” given the current lack of support.

The EU already has close arrangements with non-members: Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein participate in its single market through the European Economic Area, while Switzerland has a series of bilateral agreements with the bloc. None, however, is formally an EU ‘associate member.’

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What ties does Canada have with the EU?

The two sides already have extensive economic and security ties. Their Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) has been provisionally applied since 2017 and removed most tariffs.

They signed a Security and Defense Partnership in 2025, while Canada this year became the first non-European country to join the EU’s SAFE defense program.

Ottawa has sought closer economic ties with Europe as it looks to reduce its heavy dependence on the US following tariff disputes with Washington.

What has been Canada's response?

Carney told the European Parliament on Thursday that Canada “welcomes this ambition,” but stressed that Ottawa is not seeking full EU membership.

“The precise nomenclature for Europe is a question for Europe,” he later said, adding that “what matters is the substance.”

Carney proposed deeper cooperation in critical minerals, energy and defense, along with “seamless” digital trade in non-agricultural goods and services, and greater opportunities for young Canadians and Europeans to work and study across the Atlantic.

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Canada’s ambassador-designate to the EU, Jonathan Wilkinson, said Ottawa had discussed the idea with Brussels beforehand, but cautioned against settling on a label before determining what the relationship would involve.

How have EU capitals received the proposal?

Von der Leyen’s announcement reportedly caught EU capitals by surprise. Unnamed diplomats told Politico that member states had not been asked to sign off on the associate-membership proposal before she unveiled it.

One suggested Canada could receive something resembling the EU’s deep trade arrangements with Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia, adding: “Member states will not agree on anything else.”

Germany has also questioned the proposed label. Government spokesman Stefan Kornelius said the terminology should be reconsidered.

The Financial Times has reported opposition in Berlin to fast-tracking a special status for Canada, including concerns about its implications for other EU partners.

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How has Washington reacted?

US President Donald Trump has called the idea “laughable” and warned of economic retaliation if he considered it hostile to Washington.

”If it’s a good intention, that’s fine,” Trump said, but warned of “very heavy tariffs” on Europe if he believed otherwise. He also raised the possibility of stopping trade with Europe “on many things.”

Carney responded that “no one is going to dictate” with whom Canada can strike international agreements. He has nevertheless insisted that closer European ties are “not a reaction to something else” and could make Canada a “stronger” US partner.

Why is this happening now?

Canada has been seeking to diversify its trade as relations with its largest trading partner have deteriorated. More than 70% of Canadian merchandise exports still go to the US, leaving Ottawa heavily exposed to changes in American trade policy.

The Arctic is also an area of common interest. Canada is one of eight Arctic states, while only Denmark, Finland and Sweden among EU members have territory in the region. Carney mentioned Canada’s “unique Arctic geography” among the assets it could bring to closer cooperation with Europe.

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Just days before von der Leyen’s proposal, European leaders meeting at the European Arctic Summit in Finland called for a stronger EU role in the region. Von der Leyen subsequently named the Arctic as a “flagship joint project” with Canada, without detailing what it would involve.

Could this actually happen?

Canada is not the first country for which an ambiguous status has been discussed. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz floated a similar model for Ukraine earlier this year, but Kiev rejected it in favor of pursuing full EU membership. However, the idea failed to gain broad support within the bloc.

Canada’s proposed status has yet to be defined and would require the backing of EU member states. Brussels and Ottawa are expected to continue talks ahead of the next Canada-EU summit in Montreal on October 29-30.

The US has decided to redirect $52 million in foreign military financing to four countries in South America, the Associated Press reported on Tuesday.

The funds, which subsidize purchases of American military equipment, are being reallocated from Slovakia, North Macedonia, Tunisia, and Iraq to Panama, Peru, Ecuador, and Colombia, the news agency said, citing a State Department notification to Congress.

The shift comes as US President Donald Trump has placed greater emphasis on the Western Hemisphere under what he has called the ‘Donroe Doctrine’, his version of the 19th-century hegemonic Monroe Doctrine. The Trump administration has said it intends to strengthen US influence in the Americas while preventing rival powers from gaining strategic positions in the region.

The State Department said the previous distribution of foreign military financing did “not align with the administration’s prioritization of” the Western Hemisphere. Spending the money in South America will help recipients “combat narcoterrorism in our backyard and help continue to secure the Panama Canal” and “prevent adversaries from establishing strategic footholds in our hemisphere,” the department explained.

How did the South American recipients align with Trump?

Since Trump returned to office in January 2025, all four recipients have taken steps aligning themselves more closely with his administration’s priorities.

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Panama withdrew from China’s Belt and Road Initiative and expanded security cooperation with Washington, though President Jose Raul Mulino pushed back on Trump’s suggestion that the US should retake direct control of the Panama Canal.

Mulino’s government has scrapped contracts with Hong Kong-based firm CK Hutchison Holdings, which Washington cited as evidence of a slow Chinese takeover of critical ports in Peru. The company owned by billionaire Li Ka-shing’s family is seeking $1.5 billion in damages.

Ecuador has signed a trade agreement with the US, lowering trade barriers and making other concessions to American exporters. President Daniel Noboa has also expanded counter-narcotics cooperation with Washington, tacitly endorsing Trump’s controversial tactics that involve airstrikes on boats in international waters that the Pentagon deems suspicious.

Noboa’s proposal to once again allow foreign military bases in Ecuador was rejected by voters last year.

Peru has joined Trump’s signature Shield of the Americas initiative under new President Keiko Fujimori, the daughter and political heir to dictator Alberto Fujimori, and otherwise expanding security cooperation with Washington.

Colombia too took a right-wing turn and realigned with Washington this year, after controversial President Abelardo de la Espriella came to power.

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The millionaire nicknamed El Tigre (The Tiger) owns a personal luxury brand and used to represent drug traffickers as a lawyer. He has pledged to be tough on organized crime as president, including by resuming fumigation of coca with herbicides.

How is the ‘Donroe Doctrine’ being enforced?

The Trump administration has also used military and economic pressure elsewhere in the Western Hemisphere.

In January, US forces abducted Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, and brought them to the US to face federal “narco-terrorism” charges. Trump subsequently said Washington would temporarily “run” Venezuela and tap its vast oil reserves.

During his first term from 2017 to 2021, Trump recognized opposition politician Juan Guaido as Venezuela’s interim president and supported his bid to replace Maduro.

Washington also tightened its trade blockade of Cuba this year, cutting off Venezuelan oil supplies and threatening retaliation against countries providing fuel to the island nation. The resulting fuel shortage has contributed to prolonged blackouts and a severe energy crisis.

Trump intervened directly in Honduras’ 2025 presidential race by publicly endorsing conservative candidate Nasry Asfura. He also pardoned former President Juan Orlando Hernandez, a fellow member of Asfura’s National Party who had been convicted in the US on drug trafficking charges.

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In Colombia, former President Gustavo Petro alleged that the election won by de la Espriella had been digitally manipulated from abroad, pointing to alleged Israeli involvement and criticizing US interference in the campaign. Colombian electoral authorities rejected his fraud claims.

How is the ‘Donroe Doctrine’ different from the Monroe Doctrine?

US President James Monroe declared the Western Hemisphere off limits for European great powers in 1823. 

While he framed his policy as anti-colonialist, in practice it prevented any military threat to the US homeland from emerging in South America and ensured preferential treatment of US businesses, particularly their access to natural resources, from bananas grown in Guatemala to copper mined in Chile.

US hegemony manifested during the 20th century in the so-called ‘dirty war’ against left-leaning political projects in South America. Washington supported right-wing dictatorships across the continent as long as they pledged to oppose Communism.

Since the end of the Cold War, Washington has defended its interests in South America under the guise of promoting human rights and democracy and dismantling narcotraffic, with the messaging shifting depending on which of the two US parties was holding the presidency.

Trump’s version distinguishes itself in its blatant approach rather than essence.

As a historian who also happens to be German, that was my spontaneous reaction to Ursula von der Leyen’s annual grand – and always grandiloquent – “state of the union” address to the European Parliament in Strasbourg.

It’s not really a “union,” of course, and not really a “parliament,” either: technically, the EU is a confederation messed up by the ideological construct of “supranationalism”; and the parliament has no independent legislative power, but let’s not dwell on the obvious.  

At the head of her Commission (read: over-reaching Central Committee) of career bureaucrats, von der Leyen is the unelected de-facto leader and personification of the Frankenstein wanna-be-super-state that has long gobbled up idealistic dreams of European unity.

Once, those dreams may have been about democracy, sovereign equality, prosperity for all, and peace. But real-existing EU-Europe is very different: the European dream has come true as a nightmare, dominated by a smug and self-empowered globalist establishment, thoroughly insulated from popular participation, economically stagnant and crisis-prone, as well as unequal, and ever more militarist.

When von der Leyen boasted that, in effect during her tenure, EU-Europe had become “stronger” and “more independent,” while “securing its prosperity” and increasing armament spending “by 80% in the last five years alone,” only the last point bore any resemblance to reality, as the preponderant majority of the over 450 million EU citizens – really subjects – experience it.   

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But there is no misery a Eurocrat worth her (or his!) salt cannot make worse. Now von der Leyen seems hellbent to take the worst of bad old German traditions to a whole new, all-EU level. As is well-known from the history of the last two world wars, Germany not once but twice first deftly maneuvered itself into being surrounded by (mostly) enemies and then lost, the first time crushingly, the second one even worse, in fact so badly it took a short half-century (and much Russian good will, as it happens) to put the country together again.

The Kaiser’s Germany and the Fuhrer’s were – to be fair even to the Kaiser – quite different, but what their establishments had in common was a bad case of Germanophrenia, a relative of the contemporary Russophrenia syndrome: The core delusion of Russophrenia, as it is now ravaging Western minds, is to hallucinate Russia as on the verge of collapse and of conquering the world at the same time. Those afflicted by Germanophrenia believed Germany was in existential danger but also capable of taking on Europe at least and, if need be, the world, too.

Enter the all-EU version, compliments of the very, very German von der Leyen. Quoting Charles Dickens’ already much overused “it was the best of times, it was the worst of times” line in her impeccably Germanic version of English, von der Leyen proceeded to do two things: assert that the EU is at peak strength and, at the same time, as precarious as ever. Clearly aware that sane listeners would find that combination of claims extremely counter-intuitive, she insisted that even if they “may seem incompatible,” they are still both true. Orwell for beginners really: two plus two is five, if Big Sister from the Commission says so.

Inducing debilitating cognitive dissonance, though, is the least of von der Leyen’s powers. The real payload of her rambling speech was her combative declaration of if not war then defiance against, in essence, almost everyone who matters on planet Earth.

In true paranoid fashion, von der Leyen first declared that the EU faced a “hostile world,” no less. Then, she got more specific: Russia – surprise, surprise – led her enemy list; and she congratulated, in effect, herself for ridding the EU of a “toxic” dependence on its fossil fuels. What a way to describe cutting yourself off from a reliable and comparatively inexpensive energy source to shift to exorbitant prices and uncertain delivery from, for instance, the unpredictable US and the war-torn and blockade-prone Middle East!

She had tough words and warnings for China as well. Those clearly must be seen in the context of ongoing EU attempts to play trade hardball with Beijing. Desperate to make up for the badly declining competitiveness of European industry and currently especially carmakers, the old continent – once happily exploiting the rest of the world for its own gain – has discovered what von der Leyen and her officials think of as fairness.

But throwing down the gauntlet to China and Russia – the core of the emerging multipolar order – was not enough for von der Leyen in attack-mode. Surprisingly, the same woman who almost literally kissed Donald Trump’s feet at Turnberry, delivering a full, unconditional trade war capitulation – so much, by the way, for her claim that the EU is “the greatest trading power on the planet” – loaded her speech with barely concealed challenges to the US. That is, the much diminished but still regrettably powerful center of the old West, as well as the state on which the EU is, of course, toxically dependent in reality.

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The single most aggressive of von der Leyen’s sallies against Washington was her bizarre call for giving Canada “associate membership,” a status that does not even exist under the EU treaties, would need the very unlikely agreement of all 27 member governments, and makes no sense geographically or geopolitically.

But while unrealistic, the idea does have the capacity to make Washington very angry indeed. President Donald Trump has already warned that he considers the idea a “hostile act” and is ready to escalate his economic warfare against the EU. Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney, who was in Strasbourg for von der Leyen’s strange offer, has already switched into damage-control mode.

But then again, von der Leyen’s real motive in suggesting a Canadian-EU play that cannot be but against US interests may be something else entirely. In true von der Leyen spirit, the EU has recently made much noise about claiming interests and, quite simply, a say, in the Arctic. That makes fairly little sense except you count Greenland as “Danish,” which it is formally but hardly in reality. Not to speak of the well-known US ambitions to take it over in one way or the other. Some creative minds may have discovered that adding Canada’s northern coastlines would help make Arctic ambitions more plausible.

And that in turn may very well also explain the speed and ferocity of the US response. In other words, the challenge to Washington may be even worse than “merely” offering Canada a counterweight against traditional and entrenched US hegemony. If the Arctic is the real target, the stakes could not be higher. Way to go, Ursula: your EU against everyone at once. Some of your German ancestors would have been so proud.

A series of mysterious explosions have rocked the central German city of Frankfurt and the surrounding area this week, with police investigating possible links to organized crime.

Two improvised explosive devices detonated within minutes of each other in Frankfurt early on Thursday. One damaged a cafe in the east of the city, while the other struck a popular shisha bar on the Zeil, one of Germany’s best-known shopping streets.

The second blast was powerful enough to damage another bar across the street and a neighboring bank office, according to local media. One resident awoken by the explosion compared the scene to a “war.”

Police arrested a 17-year-old Dutch national following the blasts. No further details about the suspect have been released.

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The explosions were the latest in a string of similar incidents in the Frankfurt area. Three blasts occurred within 24 hours between Sunday and Monday, targeting a cafe, a bar and a kiosk in Frankfurt and nearby Offenbach. No casualties have been reported.

A 15-year-old Dutch national was arrested following one of the attacks, according to police.

The Hessian State Criminal Police Office has said a “double-digit” number of similar incidents are under investigation. Authorities suspect some could be linked to so-called “violence as a service,” in which criminal networks outsource violent acts to third parties, often recruiting young perpetrators online or through social media.

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Frankfurt police have previously described the practice as an emerging form of organized crime involving the recruitment of minors, including from abroad, to carry out acts of violence.

Hessian police have warned that the trend represents a new dimension of serious organized crime and poses a “considerable” threat to public safety.

The latest blasts coincided with Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt presenting a report on organized crime in Germany, which he described as a “growing threat.”

“Criminal gangs are becoming more professional, brutal, and unscrupulous,” Dobrindt said, pledging to strengthen efforts against criminal networks.

According to the Interior Ministry, almost 700 organized crime investigations were launched last year, involving nearly 8,000 suspects – the highest figure in five years.

Summer heat and drought have been projected to cut potato harvests in Great Britain, Germany, France, Belgium, and the Netherlands by millions of tonnes, causing hundreds of millions of euros in losses, the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU) reported on Thursday.

Production across the five countries is expected to be more than 3.5 million tonnes lower due to extreme weather, with the losses estimated at €498 million to €818 million ($572 million to $940 million), according to the research group.

“As one of Europe’s thirstiest crops, it was inevitable that the potato harvest would be hit hard,” ECIU land, food, and farming analyst Tom Lancaster said.

“Farmers need a stable climate in order to keep growing this staple of the European diet, without the unsustainable losses that increasingly extreme weather will bring.”

Farmers already reduced the area planted with potatoes after last year’s bumper harvest sent prices tumbling. In Germany, France, Belgium, and the Netherlands, the reduction represents another 3.6 million tonnes of potential production at average yields, the ECIU said.

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Potato prices have since rebounded sharply. Belgian free-market prices rose from zero in April to more than €200 a tonne; prices in Germany climbed from €15 a tonne in June to €240.

Other summer crops have also suffered, with yields expected to be up to 14% below the five-year average, according to the European Commission’s Joint Research Center.

The losses follow Europe’s hottest summer on record and come as farmers face mounting pressure from higher costs and trade competition. A 15% US tariff on most EU imports imposed last year has added to the strain.

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Fuel costs have also surged following the Iran war and the disruption to shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, which carried around a quarter of global oil before the conflict. Higher diesel prices have further increased farmers’ expenses.

European farmers have repeatedly protested over rising costs, foreign competition, and proposed changes to EU agricultural funding. On Tuesday, the EU’s leading agricultural lobby, COPA-COGECA, accused Brussels of adding to the burden by removing an emergency exemption from new carbon taxes on fertilizer imports.

The international community cannot expect “real justice” from the International Criminal Court (ICC), University of Indonesia international law professor Hikmahanto Juwana has told RT.

Juwana argued that the tribunal has undermined its claim to universal justice by disproportionately targeting weaker countries while powerful states evade accountability.

His comments came as former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte made his first in-person court appearance since his arrest in March 2025 on an ICC warrant. He faces crimes against humanity charges over alleged killings linked to his anti-drug campaign, which he has denied.

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Juwana described the Hague-based ICC as “not a workable system,” arguing that political power inevitably shapes its ability to operate.

”There’s going to be a political domination of how the ICC will work,” he said in an interview aired on Wednesday. “The big states may use [their] influence and force not to abide with the ICC… And it is because of that […] we cannot expect real justice to be delivered by the ICC.”

Juwana questioned the court’s claim to represent “world justice,” noting that “most” of those brought before it come from countries “that are not powerful.” He argued that this imbalance was rooted in the ICC’s creation, which he said was driven by “European countries, especially the Western European countries.” From its inception, he added, the court appeared to target less powerful states, calling this “the failure of the ICC from the beginning.”

From the inception of the ICC, it was as if they were TARGETING countries who weren't very powerful — Hikmahanto Juwana Professor of International Law University of Indonesia to RT

'This is the ICC's FAILURE from the very beginning' pic.twitter.com/mhR4x3Hg7y

— RT Intl (@RT_on_X) September 16, 2026

The ICC was established under the Rome Statute in 2002 to prosecute genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and aggression. It has 125 member states, but major powers including the US, China, India, and Russia, as well as Israel, remain outside the court and reject its authority.

Washington has sanctioned ICC President Tomoko Akane, along with judges, prosecutors, and other court staff, over cases involving US and Israeli nationals. Under President Donald Trump, it has pledged to “systematically dismantle the threat posed” by the ICC to US sovereignty.

READ MORE: US pressuring African states to abandon ICC – Le Monde

The tribunal has also faced accusations of political bias and selective justice from member states. Venezuela and Chad have taken steps toward withdrawal, while Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger recently began the year-long process of leaving the court, branding the ICC an “instrument of neocolonial repression.” Burundi and the Philippines withdrew from the Rome Statute in 2017 and 2019, respectively.

SUB What’s going on with Duterte?

Duterte’s arrest came after the Philippines withdrew from the ICC, but despite his lawyers challenging the court’s jurisdiction, the tribunal maintains it retains authority over alleged crimes committed while the country was a member.

Wednesday’s pre-trial hearing marked Duterte’s first in-person appearance before the court since his detention. He remained silent as judges discussed his health, evidence disclosure, and preparations for trial.

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Duterte had missed earlier proceedings on medical grounds, with his lawyers arguing that cognitive decline had left him unfit to participate. His defense says serious memory problems prevent 81-year-old former Philippine leader from reliably recalling the past.

According to AFP, citing his medical assessment files, Duterte believes he is living in 2007 or 2008, thinks he is 84 or 85, and cannot recall the name of the sitting US president.

Judges, however, have allowed proceedings to move forward, with the trial set to begin on November 30. On Wednesday, the ICC ordered Duterte to remain in custody until then, citing an increased risk that he could flee or interfere with witnesses or proceedings.

A UN fact-finding mission has found reasonable grounds to believe the US committed war crimes by carrying out indiscriminate strikes on civilian targets in Iran, according to a new report.

The Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Iran released its findings to the UN Human Rights Council on Thursday, focusing in part on two strikes it described as “emblematic” of the conflict and involving “significant violations” of international law.

The first was the February 28 double strike on an elementary school in Minab. The mission said credible information confirmed 157 deaths, including 123 children aged 13 and younger.

Investigators identified the weapon as a Tomahawk Land Attack Missile (TLAM), used only by the US during the conflict. Citing evidence including internal Pentagon investigations and Washington’s failure to explain the incident, the mission concluded that the school had been deliberately targeted, apparently on the basis of outdated intelligence.

The site had been part of an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) compound before 2016, but the school had been separated from the military facility by a wall for more than a decade. Investigators said it was clearly identifiable as a civilian site and found no evidence it was being used for military purposes.

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The second incident involved a strike on a sports complex and surrounding residential area in Lamerd, Fars Province. The mission said the attack killed and injured 22 civilians and damaged nearby homes and a school.

Investigators said a US-made Precision Strike Missile (PrSM) detonated in the air, dispersing around 180,000 tungsten pellets over a wide area.

In both cases, the mission concluded that US conduct went beyond negligence and amounted to the war crime of launching an indiscriminate attack resulting in civilian deaths, injuries or damage to civilian property. It said the US had failed to adequately verify targeting information despite the risk to civilians.

The report also cited rhetoric from senior US officials, including President Donald Trump and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, which investigators said indicated a “deprioritization of civilian harm mitigation” and compliance with international humanitarian law.

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Hegseth had called for the US military to be “more lethal” and said American forces would give “no quarter” to their enemies, drawing criticism from lawmakers and legal experts over the implications for prisoners of war.

Trump has repeatedly criticized the UN, accusing it of failing to resolve international conflicts and of bias against Israel, which joined the US in launching the war against Iran. His administration has also withdrawn Washington from several UN bodies and agencies.

The fact-finding mission separately accused Iranian authorities of serious violations during their 2025-2026 crackdown on mass protests, concluding that some abuses amounted to crimes against humanity.

Trump publicly backed the protesters and offered them US protection, while Tehran accused Washington of supporting unrest as part of a failed regime-change effort.

On September 2, without warning, Israeli bulldozers destroyed the homes of 12 Palestinian families in Khirbet al-Tabban, a herding community in Masafer Yatta, south of Hebron, leaving 70 people homeless, nearly half of them children.

RT’s Charlotte Dubenskij visited the community soon after, interviewing the families and the head of Masafer Yatta council, Nidal Younis. Younis described the demolition as the erasure of this village. He said that in addition to the destroyed homes, “water sources were also targeted, including rainwater collection wells and the families’ small water tanks.” They also destroyed the ten pens housing their 600 animals.

Terrain in the South Hebron Hills is desert-like, dry and hot, and the families’ livelihoods mainly depend on the sheep, goats and chickens they raise and the vegetables they grow – all of which requires water.

According to Israeli rights group B’Tselem, in the 1980s, around 3,000 hectares of the South Hebron Hills were declared a “restricted military zone.” It notes that the expulsion of the roughly 700 residents of 12 villages occurred in 1999, “on the official grounds that they were ‘illegally living in a firing zone’. This flimsy argument blatantly ignored the fact that the families had been living in the area for many years, since before Israel occupied the West Bank and afterwards, with the full knowledge of Israeli authorities … These are false claims, meant to conceal Israel’s aspirations to take over the land for its own purposes and use it to benefit the Jewish population only.”

Just days after razing Khirbet al-Tabban homes, Israeli bulldozers erased another Masafer Yatta community, Khirbet al-Fakhit, leaving 32 more people homeless, and also demolished the home of seven people in still another community, Khirbet Khallet a-Dabe’.

The UN reports that between January 2023 and 31 August 2026, “130 Palestinian communities experienced full or partial displacement. Of these, 48 communities have been fully displaced, including 12 so far in 2026. Overall, more than 6,400 Palestinians, including over 3,100 children, have been displaced in this context since January 2023. Of them, more than 2,500 people, including over 1,200 children, were displaced in 2026 alone.”

All the while Palestinians are being forcibly displaced from their homes, there are upwards of 800,000 Israeli settlers, internationally recognized as illegal, in ever-expanding colonies throughout the West Bank.

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Siege as a tool of forced displacement

These colonists further aid in Israel’s ethnic cleansing project by surrounding, blockading, and starving Palestinians. And they do so with the help of the Israeli army and government.

Take the case of Qusra, a village south of Nablus, where Palestinian homes have been cut off and besieged by colonists since August 9.

When activists or others try to bring food, water, medicine and other vital basics to the besieged families, the settlers and the Israeli army usually prevent them from entering, often detaining those trying to help. On September 4, Israeli soldiers blocked a group of around 100 peace activists trying to deliver humanitarian aid to the families.

TRT’s Zena Tahhan reported on September 7 on the twelve Palestinians trapped inside their homes in Qusra. She explained, “The illegal Israeli settlement outpost at Qusra was established in January when settlers took over a nearby building under construction. In August, illegal settlers erected an outpost directly outside one family’s home, blocking the only road, cutting off their electricity and water.”

According to TRT, the families have received some food and basic necessities on several occasions through rights groups. “The army has said they can leave, but have given no guarantee they will be allowed to return to their home.”

Palestinians know that if they do succumb and leave their homes, they almost certainly will never be allowed to return. “In July, a Palestinian family in the neighboring village of Jalud was forced from their home after a similar three-month siege.”

This siege is not only fully allowed by the Israeli government, but also assisted by Israeli soldiers and police. In effect, the fanatical settlers are doing the work for the Israeli authorities, setting the stage for still further forced expulsion of Palestinians.

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Colonists continue deadly attacks

On August 6, a Palestinian activist posted of an attack just two hours prior by settlers who “launched a pogrom on the village of Tuba in my community Masafer Yatta, attempting to burn a family alive in their home. At least six people were injured, including two children.”

Almost every day and night there are new attacks by colonists who maim and kill Palestinian civilians by any means possible, from point-blank shooting to burning Palestinians alive. The ferocity and frequency of these attacks is so immense that it is difficult to keep up with their endless terrorism.

And terrorism it is, not only in the opinion myself and others who have watched the abuse of Palestinians for years, but even of one Israel’s own military chiefs, who earlier this year described settler violence as “Jewish terrorism.”

I’ve written countless times over many years on this insane violence. While there has been a dramatic increase in attacks in the past few years, they have been ongoing for decades, aided and abetted by the Israeli military, police and government.

The UN’s OCHA reported that as of August 31, “82 Palestinians, including 19 children, have been killed and about 1,900 injured by Israeli forces or settlers in the West Bank,” since the start of 2026. It notes, “Of these, 23 Palestinians were killed and over 1,100 injured in the context of settler attacks.”

By September 9, the number of Palestinians reported killed by armed colonists and Israeli forces since the start of the year had risen to 100. This is in the West Bank alone, and does not include the over 1,355 Palestinians killed in Gaza by Israeli forces since October 2025, in violation of a ceasefire that the Israelis never intended to adhere to.

Far from the front pages of Western media who are always ready with a story about alleged human rights violations in Iran or North Korea, over three hundred Palestinian children from the West Bank languish in Israeli military detention – “the highest number in eight years,” according to UNICEF, which notes, “Nearly half – 164 – are held under administrative detention without charge or trial.”

They are among the nearly 10,000 Palestinian hostages ignored by Western media and rights groups, many being starved, beaten, tortured, denied medical care, and nearly 3,200 of who were never actually charged with any crime but are being held under administrative detention.

These are the brutal realities of daily life for Palestinians in the West Bank undergoing Israel’s ethnic cleansing project of depopulating Palestinians from their homeland by any means possible. In full sight, for the world to see.

Once again, it is useful to ask the rhetorical question: What would the reaction be by global media and politicians if this scenario was playing out over and over again in Iran, China, or another state vilified and targeted by the West?

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The UK ban on illegal colony goods is mere lip service

When British foreign minister Ed Miliband on September 8 announced plans to ban imports from Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, it was wrongly perceived by some as concrete action, solidarity, or even a victory.

Reports citing Bloomberg say Miliband assured Washington that the measures would be “largely symbolic.” This is the only truth in the charade: It would put absolutely no pressure on Israel to stop expanding the colonies, and would not cause Israel to prevent the colonists from continuing their attacks on Palestinian civilians.

As Palestinian author and writer, Ali Abunimah, noted, Miliband’s statements in Parliament and on X, “reveal that Britain’s overriding priority remains protecting Israel as a racist Jewish state...This ‘solution’ offers Palestinians disconnected enclaves under permanent Israeli military, economic and political domination – the equivalent of apartheid South Africa’s Bantustans. They would be expected to call these fragments a state, renounce their right to return and accept Israel’s permanent existence as a Jewish supremacist entity.”

Back in 2007, after my eight months in different West Bank communities afflicted with near-daily violence from the Israeli army and from colonists, I understood the notion of a two-state solution has long been dead and has never been just.

Abunimah argues, and I agree, that the joint official statement which Canada, France and several other European countries support explicitly says the objective is to “protect” the two-state solution. “This is coordinated action to rescue a segregation plan, not end Israel’s racism. This is not solidarity with Palestinians. It is just the latest Western attempt to rescue the genocidal Jewish supremacist state that Britain created.”

The US has denied Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas a visa to attend the UN General Assembly in New York for a second year in a row.

The ban comes as Washington continues to hold direct talks with Hamas and imposes no comparable restrictions on Israeli leaders.

The US State Department said the Palestinian Authority (PA) and Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) had failed to reform and were taking steps that “undermine the prospects for peace.” Washington specifically objected to Palestinian efforts to pursue Israel at international courts, seek wider recognition of statehood, and continue payments to Palestinians jailed or killed by Israel.

The decision has again put Washington at odds with the UN. Last year, after the US imposed the same ban, the General Assembly voted 145-5 to allow Abbas to speak by video, with Washington and Israel opposing. UN experts said the US was violating its obligations as host of UN headquarters by preventing invited Palestinian officials from reaching New York.

The PA remains the internationally recognized Palestinian administration, although Hamas has de facto ruled Gaza since 2007. The State of Palestine is recognized by 160 of the UN’s 193 members, including Moscow. Russian President Vladimir Putin received Abbas at the Kremlin in January and has argued that Gaza should ultimately be returned to Palestinian administration.

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Washington, however, has increasingly sidelined Abbas and the PA while senior US officials have met with Hamas leaders several times since 2025, despite shunning the militant group for years and designating it as a terrorist organization.

The contrast has further been sharpened by Israel’s own role in sustaining Hamas-run Gaza before the October 7 attack. Successive governments under Benjamin Netanyahu approved and encouraged hundreds of millions of dollars in Qatari funding for the enclave. Critics in Israel have long argued that the policy strengthened Hamas at the expense of the PA.

Nevertheless, Washington has continued to shield Israel from international pressure and has fought the International Criminal Court over its pursuit of Israeli officials.

At the same time, the UN says Israeli settler violence in the occupied West Bank has reached record levels, with more than 1,600 attacks causing casualties or property damage recorded in the first eight months of 2026.

Abbas and Netanyahu are both scheduled to address the General Assembly on September 24. Unless the visa decision changes, Abbas will once again appear on a screen while Netanyahu will take the podium in New York in person.

Saudi Arabia has turned to regional and global players for help defending its airspace against attacks from Yemen’s Houthi rebels after its main security provider, the US, declined to step in, The Associated Press has reported, citing regional officials. Riyadh is running low on missile interceptors, according to the outlet.

The armed conflict between a Saudi-led coalition and Houthi militants reignited in mid-July after Riyadh carried out airstrikes on the airport in Sanaa to prevent an Iranian passenger plane from landing there. In recent weeks, the Houthis have made significant territorial gains against Saudi-backed forces and have intensified attacks on strategic targets inside Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Arabia is in a “very difficult position” because it must protect military bases, government facilities and also oil infrastructure from Houthi drones and missiles, one regional official told AP.

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A second official said Riyadh was seeking to rally international allies for a collective response to the Houthis, but added that “the decision now is to give diplomacy a chance.” Oman and Egypt are leading de-escalation efforts, according to AP.

Saudi Arabia has asked France, Britain, Pakistan, and Egypt to deploy air-defense support to help protect it from missiles and drones, the news agency reported.

US President Donald Trump said last week that his administration had declined a Saudi request to intervene militarily in Yemen in order to keep channels open with the Houthis. Axios reported that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman called Trump twice to urge US strikes as Houthi forces advanced toward the strategic Bab el-Mandeb Strait.

Last weekend, Oman hosted a meeting between US and Houthi representatives to discuss regional tensions, according to AP.

Watch RT’s report on the situation in Yemen, which has been suffering from a Saudi-imposed naval blockade for years.

The Houthis, who control much of western Yemen along the Red Sea coast, claimed this week that they had shot down a Saudi F-15 fighter jet. They released a video showing wreckage that appeared to belong to a Royal Saudi Air Force aircraft.

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia’s key East-West oil pipeline was also targeted by drones last week, forcing Riyadh to shut down the strategic route. Saudi authorities said the attack had originated in Iraq, while Iran-backed Iraqi militias denied responsibility. The pipeline allows Saudi crude exports to bypass the Strait of Hormuz and reach the Red Sea port of Yanbu.

READ MORE: Trump blames fuel price spike on Zelensky

The pipeline has become particularly important amid the US confrontation with Iran and disruption around the Strait of Hormuz. The US has seen its own stocks of missile interceptors decline during the conflict with Iran, limiting its ability to supply additional interceptors to Saudi Arabia.

As part of its response to the Sanaa strikes, the Houthis announced restrictions on Red Sea traffic involving Saudi oil. Their subsequent advances along Yemen’s western coast and seizure of strategic territory near the Bab el-Mandeb Strait have strengthened their ability to threaten shipping through the maritime chokepoint.

French Interior Minister Laurent Nunez is under fire over allegations that he helped fuel a false drug story about MEP and prominent pro-Palestine activist Rima Hassan while she was in custody over a social media post. 

Hassan’s left-wing La France Insoumise (LFI), or France Unbowed party, has demanded that Nunez resign after a France 2 investigation released Wednesday alleged he leaked a false story to reporters about drugs purportedly found in Hassan’s belongings by police.

The drug was later identified as legal CBD (cannabidiol) products and the probe was dropped, prompting LFI to accuse Nunez of media “manipulation” and fueling a false story.

What exactly happened?

The case dates back to April, when Hassan was summoned to Paris police headquarters over a since-deleted social media post quoting Kozo Okamoto. Okamoto, a member of the Japanese Red Army, was convicted over the 1972 Lod Airport attack in Tel Aviv, carried out on behalf of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, which killed 26 people.

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The French-Palestinian MEP and prominent pro-Palestinian activist was placed in custody on suspicion of online “apology for terrorism,” an offense punishable by up to seven years in prison.

During an inventory of her belongings, police found two containers, one holding a brown substance and another containing white crystals. Hassan said both were CBD products legally bought in Brussels and used for medical reasons.

A preliminary police test indicated the white substance contained synthetic cathinones associated with illegal drugs. Before laboratory results were available – and while Hassan was still in custody – reports that synthetic drugs had been found among her belongings began circulating in the media.

The Paris prosecutor’s office subsequently opened an investigation into her suspected drug use, transport, and possession. However, laboratory tests later established that the substances were CBD, and the investigation was dropped.

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Now, according to “Complement d’enquete,” Nunez himself allegedly helped fuel the story.

What did Nunez tell reporters?

The program says Nunez was returning by train from an official trip to Bordeaux when reporters approached him and asked off camera whether drugs had been found in Hassan’s bag.

“He told us: ‘It’s possible that it’s true.’ Then he told us it was a synthetic ‘stuff,’ and that the second product was a cocaine derivative,” one journalist recalled.

Another said Nunez relayed Hassan’s explanation that she had bought the substances in Belgium believing they were legal. Yet another reporter on the train subsequently told his newsroom, based on Nunez’s account, that “synthetic drugs derived from cocaine” had been found among Hassan’s belongings.

Nunez initially agreed to an interview with France 2 before withdrawing and did not answer written questions. His office told AFP that “the reported exchange took place during an off-the-record discussion with the media,” initiated by journalists about information that had already been published.

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Meanwhile, Nunez publicly lamented the leaks the following day.

“I also regret that there have been leaks; I understand that there were some leaks before the prosecutor’s office spoke out,” he told BFMTV.

France Unbowed demands Nunez’s resignation

Following the latest revelations, LFI demanded Nunez step down, accusing the government of media “manipulation” against a political opponent.

“The disclosure of information protected by the confidentiality of judicial proceedings and its subsequent exploitation by the media are incompatible with the principles of the rule of law,” the party said in a statement, adding: “La France Insoumise is calling for his resignation.”

LFI founder Jean-Luc Melenchon went further, writing on X: “A manipulative minister manipulates unscrupulous journalists with neither scruples nor professional conscience. Hours of slander.” He accused those involved of acting under the influence of “hatred of Palestinians and support for genocide.”

LFI coordinator Manuel Bompard also attacked Nunez over the apparent contradiction between the alleged private exchange and his subsequent public comments.
“It is not normal for a minister of the interior to violate the law, to contribute to the dissemination of information protected by investigative secrecy, especially when he himself then goes on television to say that he regrets these leaks,” Bompard told France Inter.

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Hassan also demanded Nunez resign.

“This crass political manipulation has gone on long enough. He must draw the consequences and resign!” she wrote on X, portraying the episode as part of a wider campaign against her. “Gag procedures, surveillance measures, phone geolocation, false information about an alleged possession of narcotics, spread by the Minister of the Interior in person... How far will this go? What will the next step be?”

The Paris Prosecutor’s Office opened an investigation into breaches of investigative confidentiality, while Hassan and her lawyer, Vincent Brengarth, filed a complaint over the disclosure of protected information. Brengarth has also called for Nunez to be questioned by a judge “as soon as possible.”

What’s behind the Nunez-Hassan clash?

The granddaughter of displaced Palestinians, Hassan was born in a refugee camp in Aleppo and came to France as a child. She has since emerged as one of France’s most prominent pro-Palestinian political figures, campaigning to suspend the EU-Israel Association Agreement, pressing the Palestinian issue in the European Parliament and joining Gaza-bound humanitarian flotillas.

Her activism, however, has put her at the center of repeated legal and police scrutiny in France. By mid-2026, Hassan had faced more than 20 legal proceedings and numerous police summonses, many of which were dropped or dismissed – something her supporters cite as evidence that the cases are being used to intimidate her and damage her reputation.

Tensions with the French authorities escalated over her social media post quoting Okamoto. Investigative reports revealed that police had tracked Hassan’s phone location and obtained detailed rail and air travel records, including movements predating the formal investigation. Hassan challenged the surveillance which she described as “politico-judicial harassment” in a privacy complaint.

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Her activism has also brought confrontations abroad. Hassan has accused Israeli forces of physically mistreating her after detaining her during Gaza-bound humanitarian missions, including following the interception of the Madleen at sea in June 2025.

Nunez, meanwhile, defended the French investigation into Hassan, arguing that “apologizing for terrorism is a very serious offense.” He also insisted there was “no witch hunt” against her. Hassan and LFI see it differently, accusing the government of stretching anti-terrorism laws to criminalize political speech and suppress pro-Palestinian activism. They have characterized the string of proceedings as politically motivated “legal warfare.”

Is France anti-Palestine?

President Emmanuel Macron’s government supports a two-state solution and has become increasingly critical of Israeli policies of late, while backing the Palestinian Authority and calling for Hamas, which France classifies as a terrorist organization, to be excluded from governing Gaza and disarmed.

At home, however, French authorities have taken a far tougher approach to pro-Palestinian rhetoric deemed to cross legal boundaries. In 2014, France moved the offense of “apology for terrorism” (apologie du terrorisme) from its press law into the Penal Code, giving prosecutors greater scope to pursue individuals accused of defending or praising terrorist acts. Under this legal framework, French authorities have pursued a range of high-profile figures over controversial speech, including right-wing commentator Eric Zemmour, prominent Islamologist Francois Burgat, and pro-Palestinian activist Mahdieh Esfandiari.

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LFI argues those powers are being disproportionately used against opposition politicians and pro-Palestinian activists. Its National Assembly leader, Mathilde Panot, said in April that under Macron, “the criminalization of political opponents has reached a new level.”

Hassan’s trial for alleged “apology for terrorism,” initially scheduled for July, was postponed at her defense’s request and is now due in October.

Update

Nunez rejected his role in the incident involving Hassan on Thursday, telling a National Assembly hearing that he had “not organized any leaks.” He acknowledged discussing Hassan’s case with reporters off the record, but again insisted they already had the information and had approached him for comment.

“I didn’t organize any leaks,” he repeated, saying he had instead “urged caution” during the exchange.

Commenting on X, Bompard seized on the admission, accusing Nunez of confirming information protected by investigative secrecy and calling it a “very serious violation of the law,” while renewing demands for his resignation.