A 15-year-old school student has had his hand torn off by a police crowd-control grenade during a protest in the French city of Lens. The incident comes amid a nationwide wave of unrest and street violence that has gripped France since late September.

Demonstrators have demanded increased funding for public schools and better learning conditions, including more teachers, smaller classes and repairs to dilapidated buildings.

Speaking at a press conference on Monday, Francois-Xavier Lauch, the prefect of the northern Pas-de-Calais department, reported that the teenager’s “hand was torn off,” apparently by a police grenade, during a protest outside Behal high school in Lens earlier in the day.

“There was no hand left, not even his wrist, there was nothing there,” one student told BFMTV, describing the gruesome scene. The boy was rushed to a hospital in Lille and was in a non-life-threatening condition, according to officials.

Lauch stated that violence erupted after an estimated 200 students began hurling objects at police officers who had been deployed to the school to lift a blockade imposed by protesters.

French police have several types of so-called ‘non-lethal’ explosive crowd-control devices in their arsenal, including grenades capable of dispersing rubber pellets and the GM2L tear-gas and stun grenade. The exact type involved in the Lens incident has not officially been established, although French media have reported that witness accounts and footage appear consistent with a GM2L.

Amid escalating street violence across France, Marine Tondelier, national secretary of The Ecologists party, called for a reform of police crowd-control protocols. Jean-Luc Melenchon, founder of the left-wing La France Insoumise (France Unbowed, LFI) party, similarly wrote on X on Monday that the “escalation of police tactics is out of control,” eclipsing even the days of the May 1968 demonstrations.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu’s office has accused LFI and “its far-left proxies” of orchestrating the unrest – an allegation the left-wing party has denied.

According to French authorities, more than 5,060 people have been arrested since late September. Around 650 police officers, 78 education staff and at least 190 students have also been injured in the unrest.

French police have repeatedly been accused of using excessive force when confronting protesters. In 2018-2019, at the height of the Yellow Vest demonstrations, at least 20 protesters lost an eye, while several others had hands partially or entirely blown off after being hit by 40mm rubber projectiles or explosive grenades.

In March 2019, then-UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet called for a comprehensive investigation into reports of excessive use of force by French police.

Yemen’s Houthis have claimed a direct missile strike on Riyadh’s main international airport as part of a large-scale barrage targeting airports, military bases and oil infrastructure across Saudi Arabia.

Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said on Monday night that the group, officially known as Ansar Allah, had carried out three operations using “a large number” of ballistic and cruise missiles and drones in response to intensified Saudi-backed strikes on Yemen.

The first attack targeted King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh and achieved a “direct and precise hit,” Saree claimed, saying air traffic was disrupted. The second targeted Saudi Aramco’s refinery in Rabigh, where the group claimed a direct hit started fires. The third operation allegedly targeted Abha Airport, Khamis Mushait air base, the Aqeefah military camp and other “sensitive sites” in Najran and Jizan.

Saudi authorities have not addressed the specific claims of direct hits on the airport and refinery or said whether Houthi strikes caused disruption at King Khalid. The Foreign Ministry issued a broader statement condemning continued Houthi attacks on Riyadh and several other Saudi cities and “civilian and economic facilities,” while reiterating the kingdom’s right to respond.

#Statement | The Foreign Ministry expresses the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s strongest condemnation and denunciation of the terrorist Houthi militia’s continued targeting of civilians and civilian and economic facilities in the Kingdom; its blatant and repeated attacks against the holiest sites on earth—Makkah and Madinah— the capital Riyadh, and the cities of Abha, Khamis Mushait, Jazan, Najran, Taif, and Yanbu; and its targeting of Saudi vessels in the southern Red Sea and the Bab al-Mandab Strait.

— Foreign Ministry 🇸🇦 (@KSAmofaEN) October 5, 2026

Loud explosions were reportedly heard in northern Riyadh near King Khalid airport. An AFP journalist reported hearing a “powerful explosion,” while residents said blasts shook windows in the area.

The Houthis also warned international airlines against using Saudi airspace, declaring it a theater of military operations while exempting the airspace over Mecca and Medina. King Khalid airport remained operational, but Flightradar24 data showed substantial delays, with average delays reaching 38 minutes.

The group said the barrage was retaliation for 60 Saudi air and missile strikes on Sanaa and the provinces of Al-Jawf, Taiz, Hodeidah, Saada and Marib over the previous 24 hours, which it said caused civilian casualties. Saree claimed Saudi forces had carried out 1,576 strikes since the latest escalation began.

Saudi-backed forces said on Monday that they had recaptured Dhubab and the nearby towns of Bab and Hadeid, with witnesses telling AP they saw government tanks and troops entering the towns. The Houthis have denied reports of a broader retreat, while fighting has also intensified around Taiz.

The US is also assisting the Saudi campaign with intelligence sharing, target identification and operational planning, American and regional officials told AP. The US Embassy in Riyadh has meanwhile warned Americans to remain vigilant for possible missile and drone attacks.

A three-nation military alliance dubbed the “Muslim NATO” has activated its collective-defense commitments and ordered the rapid deployment of military forces and capabilities to Saudi Arabia amid an escalating confrontation with Yemen’s Houthis.

Saudi Arabia, Türkiye and Pakistan made the decision at an emergency meeting of the Mecca Defense Alliance in Riyadh on Monday after a series of Houthi attacks. In a joint statement they condemned the “attempted targeting” of the Islamic holy cities of Mecca and Medina, as well as attacks on Saudi cities and civilian and economic infrastructure.

The group decided to “move immediately to the practical implementation of the collective defense commitments” and take measures to provide agreed military forces and capabilities and ensure their “rapid deployment” in Saudi Arabia. It said the move was intended to boost military readiness and integration and strengthen the three countries’ “collective capacity to confront and counter threats.”

The Emergency Meeting of the Strategic Political and Defense Committee under the Makkah Alliance for Defense reaffirmed the solidarity and unity of our countries in confronting the heinous attacks against the Kingdom and the holy sites. The committee agreed to activate collective deterrence measures within the framework of the Alliance in response to the attacks and all those responsible for them.

— Khalid bin Salman خالد بن سلمان (@kbsalsaud) October 5, 2026

The alliance was formed in August under an agreement treating an armed attack on any member as an attack on all three, mirroring NATO’s Article 5 collective-defense principle.

🔊PR No.2️⃣7️⃣5️⃣/2️⃣0️⃣2️⃣6️⃣ Joint Statement: Emergency Meeting of the Strategic Political and Defense Committee of the Makkah Alliance for Defence, Riyadh -5 October, 2026 🔗⬇️ https://t.co/ynFYzqILzc

— Ministry of Foreign Affairs - Pakistan (@ForeignOfficePk) October 5, 2026

Yemen’s civil war has escalated sharply in recent weeks. A Saudi-led coalition backing Yemen’s internationally recognized government said on Monday that 100 fighter jets were taking part in Operation Dawn of Yemen, providing air cover for ground forces. Coalition spokesman Maj. Gen. Turki al-Maliki said 324 “high-value targets” had been destroyed.

Yemen’s government announced a new campaign on Sunday aimed at retaking all Houthi-held territory. The move followed major gains by the group in September, when it captured swathes of the Red Sea coast and territory around the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, a key shipping route.

Government forces said on Monday that they had retaken several areas around the strait, including the town of Dhubab, which sits strategically along the strait. The Houthis have disputed reports of government advances.

Saudi Arabia first intervened in Yemen in 2015 in support of the internationally recognized government after the Houthis had driven it from Sanaa the previous year. Large-scale fighting decreased significantly following a UN-brokered truce in 2022.

Fighting escalated again last month. The Houthis have accused Riyadh of imposing an illegal siege on Yemen, while Saudi Arabia says the group has stepped up missile, drone, and maritime attacks against the kingdom itself and shipping in the Red Sea.

The escalation comes as the Strait of Hormuz remains closed to most shipping and US-Iranian talks on ending the conflict have stalled.

Several Saudi allies have stepped up military support for the kingdom. Britain has agreed to provide air-to-air refueling for Saudi warplanes, while France is sending troops, radar, and air-defense systems to help protect the Red Sea oil hub of Yanbu.

Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, formerly known as Prince Andrew, has taken Thames Valley Police to court over raids on his residences as part of an investigation into his dealings with Jeffrey Epstein.

The former British royal has challenged the legality of search warrants executed in February that saw him briefly placed in custody on suspicion of sharing confidential government information with the convicted American pedophile financier.

The former Duke of York has for years faced separate allegations of sexual misconduct. In 2022, he settled a civil lawsuit with American activist Virginia Giuffre out of court. According to media reports, the former prince had to pay £12 million ($16.3 million) in hush money to the woman, who accused him of raping her in 2001 when she was 17.

Giuffre took her own life in 2025. Her posthumously released memoirs prompted King Charles III to strip his brother of his remaining titles and to evict him from his royal residence last October.

Epstein was found dead in his prison cell while awaiting trial in 2019, in what was ruled a suicide.

On Monday, the press office for Britain’s judiciary announced that Mountbatten-Windsor’s legal claim will be heard in private on Thursday at the High Court.

“The case concerns an application by Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor for a judicial review to quash search warrants issued by a judge at the Central Criminal Court on 18 February 2026,” the judicial spokesperson said, as cited by the media.

The proceedings will be closed to the public at the request of Thames Valley Police, which also confirmed that they are “engaged in legal proceedings in relation to warrants previously obtained from the Central Criminal Court.”

The former prince’s ties to the disgraced financier and convicted sex offender came under renewed scrutiny following the release of the final tranche of the Epstein files by the US Justice Department in February. Some of the emails released indicated that Mountbatten-Windsor used his position as UK trade envoy, which he held from 2001 to 2011, to brief Epstein on investment opportunities in Afghanistan, Singapore, Vietnam, Hong Kong, and China.

Thames Valley Police subsequently raided Mountbatten-Windsor’s home on the Sandringham Estate and his former residence at Royal Lodge in Windsor. He was arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office, but was eventually released “under investigation” after 12 hours of questioning, and has denied any wrongdoing. He is the most senior member of the royal family to be arrested in modern history.

On Sunday, The Telegraph reported that the police investigation has stalled due to the refusal of the US Justice Department to hand over the unredacted versions of the Epstein files to the UK authorities.

In May, Thames Valley Police said the probe would also look into allegations of sexual misconduct by Mountbatten-Windsor.

The last tranche of the Epstein files included images appearing to show then-Prince Andrew kneeling over a woman lying on the ground, as well as a claim by an anonymous FBI witness that he attended “pedophile ring parties” in the mid-1990s in which minors as young as six were allegedly abused.

Some of the materials released by the Justice Department also appeared to corroborate allegations by Giuffre – one of the most prominent accusers of Epstein.

Commenting on the release of the last batch of the files in February, Russian presidential aide Kirill Dmitriev described the former prince and his “liberal Western friends” as “satanic.”

The right-wing European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) group has launched a motion to probe the European Left Alliance (ELA) over an alleged breach of “EU values” and support for student unrest gripping France, Politico has reported, citing an email it has obtained.

Protests have gripped the country for days and have spread to neighboring Belgium. Students are demanding increased funding for public schools and better learning conditions, including more teachers, smaller classes, and repairs to deteriorating buildings. In numerous locations, the protests turned violent, leading to the full closure of some 400 high schools and around 5,000 arrested, mostly teenagers. 

The protests have been endorsed by the left-wing La France Insoumise (France Unbowed, LFI), which instructed its officials to step in to protect students from riot police yet urged demonstrators to stay nonviolent. The French prime minister’s office, citing intelligence services, accused the party and “its far-left proxies” of organizing the violence altogether. The LFI has strongly denied allegations that it somehow initiated or orchestrated the violent unrest.

The ELA has condemned the looming action by the right-wingers, insisting it was not in breach of the bloc’s values. 

“The ECR, whose own members regularly attack these very values, is abusing an EU procedure to try to avert attention from investigations of breaching EU values by the far- and extreme right,” ELA Co-President Catarina Martins said, as quoted by Politico. “Standing with young people asking for better education is not a breach of EU values,” she added. 

In France, former interior minister and the leader of the Republicans (LR) party, Bruno Retailleau, called for outlawing the LFI, branding it a “seditious party” that is “fascinated by violence.” The ban demand has been dismissed by LFI leader Jean-Luc Melenchon as “ridiculous” and “absurd,” with the politician mockingly suggesting that the proponents of the allegations against his party apparently been using “telepathy.”

Student protests have spread from France to Belgium, with demonstrations over education conditions marred by vandalism, fires, and arrests in the Liege region on Monday.

The unrest follows weeks of violent school protests across France, where students began protesting in mid-September over teacher shortages, overcrowded classrooms, deteriorating buildings, and long school days. Belgian students have raised similar grievances while also opposing local education reforms, higher public transportation costs, and rising tuition fees.

Hundreds gathered outside schools across Liege, blocking entrances and marching through the city. Shops in the center closed as a precaution, while protesters attempted to damage shutters at the Saint-Michel Institute. Firefighters also reported scooter fires in nearby Herstal and Chenee.

Belçika'nın Liege kentinde öğrenciler, hükümet karşıtı protesto gösterileri düzenliyor. https://t.co/peDq12gwOL

— gdh (@gdhdijital) October 5, 2026

Police made 16 arrests on Monday, according to local media. Officers also found glass bottles and fabric in some protesters’ bags that they said could potentially be used to make Molotov cocktails, although no flammable substances were discovered.

Manifestation des étudiants de plusieurs écoles liégeoises ce vendredi place Saint-Léonard pour dénoncer la réforme de l’enseignement et l’augmentation du coût de la vie dont notamment les tarifs du bus. @DESQUESNESF @valerieglatigny @WBE_officiel @Fil_law https://t.co/HniBxkoPgd

— L-Post (@lpost10) October 2, 2026

In France, nearly 2,000 people were arrested last Thursday, while more than 300 law enforcement officers were injured. School staff and students also suffered injuries, prompting police watchdog investigations.

The disruption continued on Monday, with the French Education Ministry reporting protests at 413 secondary schools.

Despite the violence, student organizations say they intend to continue demanding more funding, replacement teachers, smaller classes, and lighter schedules. Supporters argue that neglected facilities and excessive workloads have made learning conditions unacceptable.

The unrest has also sparked a political row in France, with the government accusing the left-wing France Unbowed party of orchestrating the protests after lawmakers visited school blockades. The party rejects the allegation and blames government neglect for students’ anger. Its leader, Jean-Luc Melenchon, has called for nonviolent action.

The student demonstrations overlap with broader public-sector protests against spending cuts involving teachers, healthcare workers, firefighters, and transportation staff. The movements have added pressure on President Emmanuel Macron, whose approval ratings have fallen to 16-18% in recent polls.

The US has sought to influence Brazilian politics for decades, including through the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), and has played a role in the country’s current presidential election, independent journalist and geopolitical analyst Pepe Escobar has told RT.

He was speaking after Sunday’s first round of voting, in which right-wing Senator Flavio Bolsonaro, son of former President Jair Bolsonaro, finished ahead of incumbent left-wing President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. Both fell short of the 50% threshold needed to win outright. The two are set to face each other in a runoff on October 25.

Brazil’s government has previously accused Washington of interference in its internal affairs, while Trump has denounced the prosecution of the former president – who is serving 27 years for plotting a coup – as a “witch hunt.” Brazil’s Federal Police have since opened an investigation into alleged US interference in the election, following a request from the Attorney General’s Office over reported US funding of projects aimed at undermining the country’s Supreme Court.

“The Americans put a lot of money in this election,” Escobar said, calling for a federal investigation into possible foreign influence.

He singled out Brazil’s influential evangelical churches, claiming that the CIA had spent “decades” funding efforts to cultivate them and that this was now “paying off.”

Escobar’s remarks come as US involvement in Brazilian politics has already become a point of contention between Brasilia and Washington. Flavio Bolsonaro met US President Donald Trump at the White House in May, while his brother Eduardo has lived in the US since 2025. Eduardo was sentenced by Brazil’s Supreme Court in June to four years and two months in prison for coercion after the court found that he had sought US pressure on Brazilian authorities in an effort to interfere with proceedings against his father.

The runoff is widely seen as a highly polarized contest over Brazil’s political direction. Lula has sought to strengthen the country’s role in BRICS and deepen ties with China and other Global South powers, while Bolsonaro has advocated closer relations with Washington.

Lula previously served two terms as president from 2003 to 2010 before returning to office for a third term in 2023, following the annulment of corruption convictions that had prevented him from running in 2018.

A Bolsonaro victory could also have major implications for Brazil’s foreign policy, according to Escobar. He predicted a “complete reversal” toward closer alignment with Washington and the Trump administration.

Such a shift could diminish Brazil’s role in BRICS, Escobar argued, saying the country could become a “bystander” within the group. Brazil is a founding member of BRICS alongside Russia, India, and China.

The EU’s complicity in last year’s coup attempt in Georgia is proven by the bloc’s silence on the violence committed by anti-government protesters, Tbilisi Mayor Kakha Kaladze said on Monday.

Kaladze, who also serves as secretary-general of the ruling Georgian Dream party, was referring to the storming of the presidential palace on October 4, 2025, during municipal elections in which he won a third term as mayor.

The EU has accused Georgian Dream of steering the country away from a path toward membership in the bloc. Georgian officials have countered that Brussels is punishing the government for refusing to join anti-Russian sanctions or to “open a second front” in the Ukraine conflict.

Brussels has also backed opposition claims that several recent elections were rigged, helping fuel unrest, according to Kaladze. Statements by EU officials about violent demonstrators amounted to “only encouragement, because all this was planned by them,” he told journalists.

Kaladze accused Brussels of seeking to put “their agents into power, so that they can then use the country and the Georgian people to pursue their interests.”

He nevertheless urged the EU to turn the page and rebuild relations with Georgia on the basis of equality and mutual respect.

The storming of the presidential palace was initially presented as a “peaceful revolution” by parts of the pro-EU opposition. The protesters also had the backing of French-born former President Salome Zourabichvili, who had sought to remain in office after her term expired in December 2024.

Georgian Dream came to power in 2012 amid public dissatisfaction with then-President Mikhail Saakashvili and later reversed several reforms that had strengthened the presidency under his rule.

Recent elections in both Georgia and Moldova have been denounced as rigged by opposition forces. Brussels, however, has continued to strongly support Moldova’s pro-EU government while relations with Georgia’s leadership have deteriorated.

The world should accept some “bad things” including hacks, scams, and misuse in exchange for the benefits of artificial intelligence and keeping the technology broadly accessible, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has said.

In an interview with Politico published on Monday, Altman rejected the idea that preventing all harmful uses of AI would justify placing the technology under tighter control.

“The world should accept some bad things happening for the benefits of this technology and people having the agency,” Altman said.

The OpenAI chief said he would not restrict access to AI even in exchange for guarantees against major hacks, misuse, scams, and other harmful consequences. “I think people will do tremendously – orders of magnitude more – good stuff than bad stuff,” he explained.

Altman stressed, however, that he would not accept “the really catastrophic risks,” including “a serious loss of control to AI.”

The remarks come as OpenAI faces scrutiny over increasingly autonomous AI agents behaving in unexpected ways. Over the summer, the company’s agents escaped their testing environment and hacked into servers belonging to Hugging Face, an online repository for AI models and datasets. Since then, AI agents have gained unauthorized access to or attempted to breach websites belonging to US federal agencies, the Australian government, and the UN.

OpenAI was among six major US tech companies that signed a White House accord last week pledging stronger safeguards against rogue AI. Google, Meta, xAI, Anthropic, Nvidia, and OpenAI agreed to introduce tougher internal controls and independent audits, and to ensure their models “do not hack or access technical systems in unintended ways.”

Nobel Prize-winning computer scientist Geoffrey Hinton warned last month that increasingly powerful AI could eventually escape human control, with potentially catastrophic consequences for humanity. He argued that there is no established method for ensuring humans remain in control of systems that become significantly more intelligent than their creators.

Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates has likewise called for government regulation, warning that AI in the hands of malicious actors is powerful enough to trigger events causing “a billion deaths.”

Multiple security and vetting failures across Oman, the UAE, and Israel allowed a pilot previously deemed too radical to fly to reach the cockpit of a Tel Aviv-bound FlyDubai passenger jet and attack its captain, the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday, citing sources.

The near-disaster occurred on Wednesday onboard the Boeing 737 MAX 8 flying from Dubai to Ben Gurion Airport with around 180 passengers and crew members. Roughly two hours into the flight, co-pilot Hamam Hammami asked Capt. Smit Machchhar if he could pray, and after receiving permission, hit him several times with an emergency axe as the plane went into a dangerous dive.

However, the badly wounded captain managed to open the locked cockpit door, allowing passengers and crew to rush in and overpower Hammami. Two other Flydubai pilots traveling aboard the flight took the controls and eventually landed the plane safely in Saudi Arabia. The UAE attorney general has called the assault an attempted terrorist act, with the investigation still ongoing.

Oman, however, did not circulate its concerns more broadly or formally revoke his license in a way that would likely have alerted the UAE, the paper reported.

One of the last missed opportunities to stop Hammami was reportedly on Israel’s side. While Flydubai submitted its passenger and crew manifest before departure, Hammami was not flagged despite Omani pilots being barred from flying into Israel because the countries lack diplomatic relations, according to the paper.

Israel’s Transportation Ministry said it did not believe it had the authority or intelligence capability to vet crews and had never requested access to a passenger-information database established in 2023.

CNN earlier reported that now-deleted social-media accounts bearing Hammami’s name contained material featuring Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri and a suicide bomber who killed seven CIA personnel and two others in 2009. The network’s analysis of Hammami’s alleged X account also found him “deeply religious and misogynistic.”

“If this was a dedicated jihadist terror attack, there are multiple levels of failure,” aviation-security expert Matthew Borie told the WSJ.

Meanwhile, Machchhar’s actions, which helped to prevent the disaster, drew widespread praise. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said his courage had helped avert a major tragedy, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described him as a “hero of the entire world.”

Ethiopia has warned that coercion and aggression will not undermine its interests in the Red Sea and Nile, a day after Egypt, Eritrea, Sudan, and Somalia declared maritime governance the exclusive responsibility of coastal states and rejected unilateral measures harming downstream water supplies.

In a statement on Monday, Ethiopia’s Foreign Ministry cited the East African country’s historical and geographical connections to the Red Sea and its position as the source of the Blue Nile, saying these realities cannot be altered by coercion or destabilization measures.

“Actions taken through proxies or acts of aggression will not change the facts on the ground,” the ministry said, declaring Ethiopia ready to defend its sovereignty and “core national interests.”

Ethiopia, Egypt, and Sudan have long clashed over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, Africa’s largest hydroelectric dam with a generating capacity of 5,150 megawatts, which Ethiopia built on the Blue Nile and inaugurated in September 2025. Egypt and Sudan fear its operation could threaten their water supplies and demand a binding agreement on filling and operation. Ethiopia considers the dam essential for electricity generation and development and maintains that it will not harm its downstream neighbors.

According to the Foreign Ministry’s statement, the Blue Nile originates almost entirely in the Ethiopian highlands and supplies around 85% of the Nile’s total flow.

Ethiopia’s push for sovereign access to Eritrea’s Assab Port has also strained relations with Eritrea, which accuses the country of plotting to take its ports by force. The two countries broke diplomatic ties last week after Ethiopia accused the Eritrean authorities of financing armed groups seeking to overthrow Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed.

Multiracial households have become increasingly common in South Africa over the past two decades, with more than one in ten now comprising people from different racial groups, Statistics South Africa reported.

The proportion has risen from just 1.3% in 2001 and 1.7% in 2011 to 11.4% in 2022, with most of the change taking place in the decade between the last two censuses. Statistics South Africa defines a multi-racial household as one in which two or more people from different population groups live together as one household. These include black African, white, coloured, Indian or Asian, and other population groups.

The Western Cape has the highest proportion of multi-racial households, where they account for almost one in five households. Gauteng follows, while Limpopo has the lowest proportion. This partly reflects the racial make-up of individual provinces, with multi-racial households more common in areas with more diverse populations, according to the report.

Johannesburg and Cape Town stand out among South Africa’s metros, although multi-racial households are increasingly found outside the country’s major cities. More than four in five multi-racial households were located in urban areas in each of the three censuses studied.

However, the proportion living outside urban areas has also grown, from about 15% in 2001 to more than 18% in 2022. Indeed, about two in five multi-racial households are now found in non-metropolitan municipalities.

The make-up of these households has changed substantially too. In 2001, large households were common, with almost three in 10 multi-racial households containing six or more people. By 2022, they accounted for fewer than one in 25. At the same time, three-person households have become dominant. Fewer than one in five fell into this category in 2001, compared with almost half by 2022, according to the Census figures.

”The rise of multi-racial households in South Africa is a direct reflection of democratic freedom in several aspects of life,” says Statistics South Africa. According to the report, the increase reflects greater cultural integration through urbanisation, migration and education, as well as the freedom to marry, cohabit and form families across racial lines. 

First published by IOL

Russia’s parliament has ratified a temporary employment pact with India as Moscow prepares to take in thousands of Indian skilled workers this year, particularly in construction and logistics.

The State Duma approved the agreement on October 1, followed by the Federation Council a day later. The pact was signed in New Delhi on December 4 last year and governs temporary employment of Indian citizens in Russia and Russian citizens in India.

Russia has agreed to take around 70,000 skilled Indian workers during 2026, Indian Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar told a parliamentary consultative committee last week, the Press Trust of India news agency reported.

The agreement covers employment and service contracts, as well as full-time students who take temporary jobs outside their studies. Moscow says the framework will help regulate labor flows from India in line with the needs of the Russian economy.

Workers covered by the pact cannot receive worse pay or working conditions than local citizens in comparable jobs. Employment generally requires a work permit, while compensation in cases of layoffs, as well as pension, social security, and medical insurance, will be governed by host-country laws and applicable bilateral agreements.

Russia has increasingly turned to India to meet workforce shortages. Authorities estimate an immediate shortfall of at least 2.3 million workers, including around 800,000 in manufacturing and 1.5 million in services and construction.

New Delhi has responded with a reality check to the collective West’s attempts to pressure India through economic and trade coercion to sever its ties with Moscow.

Indian Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar told a weekend gathering of global foreign policy and security experts, including Western elites, assembled in the Indian capital what they would rather not hear: India’s ties with Russia are “not easily forgotten.”

“For us, Russia, and the Soviet Union before that, was a country that stood by us in many ways when our security, when our territorial integrity were under threat. And at a time when, you know, much of the world preferred backing a military regime next to us," the Indian foreign minister said, describing that history as a continuing influence on New Delhi’s ties with Moscow.

The West has used its control of the world’s finance system and geopolitical alliances to try to isolate Moscow ever since the Ukraine conflict began in 2022. Those efforts have largely failed as the world’s emerging economies and countries of the Global South have developed closer economic and trade ties with Moscow.

🇮🇳🇷🇺 ‘Russia Stood By Us When Our Territorial Integrity Was Under Threat’ Jaishankar On Why India Hasn’t Forgotten At the Munich Security Conference, EAM Jaishankar recalled that while “much of the world preferred backing a military regime next to us,” Russia stood by India. He added that today’s relationship has “widened beyond that.”

— RT_India (@RT_India_news) October 4, 2026

However, the illegal tariffs and sanctions wielded by the West have also increased the cost of economic activity and fanned inflation, inflicting economic pain across the world. The US also recently passed a law to impose steep sanctions on Russia’s top energy buyers, which includes India. New Delhi has warned that such tariffs will impact bilateral relations and that ensuring energy security for the country’s 1.4 billion population is its priority.

Military cooperation remains a key component of the relationship, alongside nuclear and space cooperation, while trade, investment, energy, and natural resources have become increasingly important, the foreign minister said.

Russia accounted for 40% of India’s major arms imports in 2021-25, the largest share from any supplier, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). The share has fallen from 51% in 2016-20 and 70% in 2011-15 as India has diversified its suppliers.

India has maintained that the conflict should ultimately be resolved through dialogue, diplomacy, and negotiations.

Germany could become “embroiled in a violent conflict with Russia,” the country’s foreign intelligence chief has warned, claiming that a mysterious drone incident at Leipzig airport is an example of the “real and imminent” threat posed by Moscow.

Speaking to lawmakers at a parliamentary hearing on Monday, Bundesnachrichtendienst (BND) head Martin Jaeger declared that “the confrontation we are facing with Russia has taken on a new, more dangerous dimension.”

“Germany is in danger ​of becoming embroiled in a violent conflict with Russia – the attempted attack in Leipzig ⁠is just one example,” he continued, referring to the discovery of an explosive-laden drone next to a Ukrainian transport plane at the city’s airport in August. 

German authorities have not released any evidence linking the incident to Russia, and Moscow has described the episode as a “hastily cobbled-together provocation” serving “exclusively the aims of Kiev and the militaristic wing of the European political class.” It is “obvious that Germany is pursuing a further course of escalation,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said last month.

Jaeger is one of dozens of Western political, military, and media figures to accuse Russia of waging a “hybrid war” or “shadow war” against Europe in recent weeks. The accusations are, by their nature, impossible to verify, and Moscow has written them off as pretexts to deepen Western involvement in the Russia-Ukraine conflict, justify military spending hikes, and expand surveillance and persecution of domestic opponents.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has explicitly and without evidence described the country’s most popular political party, the right-wing AfD, as “Russia-backed.” Martina Rosenberg, the head of Germany’s Military Counterintelligence Service (MAD), alluded to this claim during Monday’s briefing, telling lawmakers that the country is “threatened by diverse dangers from both outside and within.”

Despite their allegations of “hybrid war,” European leaders have repeatedly stressed that they do not believe Russia to be planning any actual attacks on NATO territory. The BND has seen “no indication of an imminent large-scale Russian attack on NATO territory,” Jaeger added on Monday.

Amid an unprecedented escalation in the West’s rhetoric toward Russia, RT is tracking the statements, accusations, and threats in our ongoing ‘Escalation Watch’ special. Keep an eye on it here as we sort the facts from the propaganda and debunk the psyops in real time. 

Iran has forced the US fleet to retreat more than 1,000 km from its borders, leaving no American warships in the Strait of Hormuz or surrounding waters, a senior Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) commander claims.

Rear Admiral Ali Fadavi made the remarks in a televised interview, Iran’s Press TV reported on Monday, amid competing claims by Washington and Tehran over control of the critical shipping route, through which around one-fifth of global oil and natural gas supplies passed before the conflict.

“The Americans fled and moved more than 1,000 km away from our borders. This was not their choice; it was due to the authority of the Islamic Republic and the authority of the IRGC Ground Force,” he said.

Fadavi claimed that no US vessels remain in the Persian Gulf, Strait of Hormuz, Sea of Oman, or northern Indian Ocean, and described US warships as “100 percent vulnerable” to Iranian attacks.

He insisted that the strait remains under Iranian control and warned that ships using the US-supervised southern route could be targeted.

On Monday, the UK Maritime Trade Operations agency reported that a tanker near Oman complied with an IRGC instruction to turn back or risk attack.

The standoff has persisted despite indirect negotiations. Iranian Parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said on Sunday that Hormuz would not reopen until Washington accepts Tehran’s conditions.

Iran’s seven-day proposal offers to restore passage and resume nuclear negotiations in exchange for lifting the blockade, easing restrictions on Iranian oil exports, and releasing frozen assets.

US President Donald Trump rejected the terms and threatened to “annihilate” Iran if talks fail. Axios and the Wall Street Journal report that major US combat operations could resume after the midterm election in November.

Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Sunday that Iran is committed to diplomacy but is ready to defend against another attack.

Milorad Dodik, the former president of Republika Srpska, the Serb-majority entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina, has celebrated his party’s performance in Sunday’s general election.

The Alliance of Independent Social Democrats (SNSD) is set to retain its lead in the Republika Srpska parliament, keep the entity’s presidency and hold on to the Serb seat in Bosnia and Herzegovina’s three-member collective presidency, according to preliminary results released by the Election Commission after more than 90% of ballots had been counted. The party is projected to get roughly 40% of the seats in the regional legislature.

Dodik himself was not on the ballot after being barred from holding public office over his 2025 conviction for defying Christian Schmidt, the German politician who at the time served as the international high representative overseeing implementation of the 1995 Dayton Agreement. Dodik argued that Schmidt lacked UN Security Council backing for the post and had abused the office to curb Republika Srpska’s autonomy, leading to a bitter political standoff.

Former Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, whose sovereignist politics have often aligned with Dodik’s, hailed the result as a “grand slam” for SNSD.

Grand slam! Congratulations to President @MiloradDodik and all our friends at SNSD - especially President Cvijanović and President Minić - on sweeping today’s elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Republika Srpska. A strong mandate to continue standing up for the interests and rights of Republika Srpska.

— Orbán Viktor (@PM_ViktorOrban) October 5, 2026

More than 3 million people were eligible to vote in Bosnia and Herzegovina. They chose representatives on multiple levels from the ten cantons of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina up to the national presidency. The country used biometric voter identification and ballot scanners for the first time in an effort to streamline voting and counting.

Dodik ally Zeljka Cvijanovic and Croat nationalist politician Darijana Filipovic are on course to join incumbent Bosniak presidency member Denis Becirovic in leading the Balkan country, whose political system is divided along ethnic and religious lines.

Savo Minic is set to become the next president of Republika Srpska, succeeding Sinisa Karan, another SNSD member.

Swiss police are investigating a sprawling fraud operation with suspected links to Ukrainian scam call centers, an industry said to be worth billions to corrupt officials in Kiev, Neue Zurcher Zeitung (NZZ) has reported, citing law enforcement officials.

According to a report on Sunday, NEDIK, the police network coordinating Switzerland’s fight against digital crime, recently recorded an increase in fraud offenses suspected of having links to Ukraine. The network declined to provide nationwide figures “for tactical reasons,” but noted that at least four fraudulent call centers in Ukraine have been identified in international investigations involving Swiss authorities, with Swiss and German citizens among their main victims.

One investigation by Bern authorities, reportedly underway for years, concerns a man suspected of operating several call centers in Kiev. On just one platform allegedly linked to the operation, reported losses in Switzerland amounted to nearly 4 million Swiss francs ($4.8 million).

Several Ukrainian nationals have also recently been arrested in Swiss cantons for allegedly acting as cash collectors in telephone scams. In St. Gallen in early September, a person posing as a bank employee called a 93-year-old man and instructed him to withdraw and hand over a large sum of money. Police later arrested a 38-year-old Ukrainian who allegedly collected the cash.

While Russians have long been portrayed as the main targets of Ukrainian scammers, sources cited by NZZ challenged that narrative. Brian Lee, head of the Eurasia Observatory at the Geneva-based Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime (GI-TOC), said Russians accounted for just 10%-15% of targets even at the height of the so-called “patriotic fraud” narrative, under which young Ukrainians were recruited into scam networks on the pretext of taking revenge for Moscow’s military operation against the Kiev regime. Victims have been identified in at least 29 countries, with scam centers increasingly targeting Europe and the US, according to a GI-TOC report published earlier this year.

Scam networks and state structures

Corruption has long plagued Ukraine, with high-level scandals including last year’s $100 million Energoatom kickback scheme, reportedly led by Timur Mindich, a former business partner of Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky. Western-backed investigators have since uncovered further graft involving Ukrainian officials.

The scam call center network reentered the spotlight last month after Ukrainian Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko – a key pillar of Zelensky’s increasingly fragile governing structure – resigned amid the exposure of an industrial-scale network across the country with alleged links to senior figures in Kiev. Ukraine’s Western-backed National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) accused Sergey Kropiva, head of the cybercrime unit at the Prosecutor General’s Office, of leading a ring that collected protection payments from notorious Ukrainian scam call centers. NABU said it identified assets worth almost $1 million allegedly purchased with proceeds from the scheme.

The scam industry has also been linked to powerful security structures under Zelensky’s government. In September, personnel from the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and military intelligence (HUR) exchanged fire in Kiev in a confrontation that left three servicemen injured. The clash centered on Stepan Kaplunov, a member of an HUR-linked armed unit detained by the SBU. A law enforcement source cited by Ukrainian outlet Strana said Kaplunov may have been involved in operating scam call centers, pointing to a broader struggle between rival security agencies over the lucrative industry. Ukrainian journalists have also reported that proceeds from criminal operations help finance parts of the HUR’s activities.

Russian forces have recently intensified strikes on Ukrainian telecommunications infrastructure, mobile operators, and data centers in response to Kiev’s botched “pressure campaign” of drone attacks on civilian infrastructure deep inside Russia. The strikes have disrupted internet access, digital television, and other services, including by hitting data centers in Kiev that Moscow says were used by Ukrainian military and intelligence services. Media reports late last month also claimed a Russian strike hit one of the scam call centers in Dnepropetrovsk.

The current Ebola outbreak has passed its peak, the DR Congo Health Ministry said on Friday, citing a decline in new cases in the country and a shrinking number of areas reporting active transmission.

According to the statement, transmission is now concentrated in individual health zones rather than across entire provinces. Of the 63 health zones under surveillance, 12 have recorded no new cases for at least 42 days, while another eight have gone between 22 and 42 days without reporting an infection. The share of identified contacts being monitored has nearly tripled, climbing from around 28% in May to 82% by September 28.

“The peak is really behind us,” Congolese Health Minister Roger Samuel Kamba said at a press briefing in Kinshasa, according to the Congolese Press Agency (ACP). The trend allows health teams to concentrate their response on areas where infections are still being detected, Kamba added.

Despite the improving trend cited by the minister, the virus continues to spread in several parts of the country. The latest Health Ministry data recorded 66 new confirmed cases and 38 deaths, bringing the toll as of October 2 to 8,442 infections and 4,080 deaths. The case fatality rate stood at 48.3%.

“Falling in this curve doesn’t mean that the outbreak is totally under control,” Africa CDC’s Wessam Mankoula said. “We cannot say at this stage the outbreak is under control.”

DR Congo continues to grapple with instability as the M23 rebel group maintains control over parts of the country, fueling clashes and humanitarian emergencies.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has raised similar concerns, warning that insecurity in eastern Congo has hampered surveillance, case detection and contact tracing.

Poland and Romania have refused to help Kiev move millions of tons of grain – which got stuck in Ukraine following Vladimir Zelensky’s war on exports – into the EU, Politico reports, citing officials in Warsaw and Bucharest. Zelensky’s 40-day campaign resulted in Russia implementing a de facto blockade of Ukraine’s Black Sea ports, with the wider consequences of the strikes estimated at 1.5% of the country’s collapsing GDP.

Last week, Ukrainian Agriculture Minister Taras Vysotsky appealed to the EU for a €1.1 billion ($1.23 billion) allocation to improve transit capacity, which would help free large quantities of grain – Ukraine’s key source of income – trapped in the country.

The request came after Zelensky’s 40-day PR ‘pressure campaign’ on Russia, which involved long-range strikes on oil refineries and civilian infrastructure. The effort backfired, as Russia ramped up strikes on Ukraine’s military-related logistics, including the key hub of Odessa, accounting for an overwhelming majority of Kiev’s agricultural exports.

He added that export restrictions leave Ukrainian farmers without cash needed to plant seeds now for next year’s harvest. “If the situation stays like this till spring, it could mean the decrease of even 35-40% of the planted area,” he warned.

Last month, Ukrainian officials estimated damage to infrastructure from Russian strikes at nearly $10 billion, with wider consequences amounting to around 1.5% of GDP.

Romanian Agriculture Minister Barna Tanczos rejected the prospect of substantially expanding capacity, telling Politico that “the interest for our own farmers remains a priority.”

The Polish Infrastructure Ministry spokesperson said, as cited by Politico, that Poland “has no plans to introduce any changes aimed at increasing the transit of Ukrainian agricultural products.”

Before the €1.1 billion plea, Ukraine requested €220 million from the EU in grants to support farmers affected by disrupted exports, but the bloc effectively turned it down, pointing instead to existing EU mechanisms.

Agricultural trade has long been a source of friction between Ukraine and its EU neighbors. After the escalation of the Russia-Ukraine conflict in 2022, Brussels suspended duties and quotas on Ukrainian exports, which triggered massive protests from European farmers over what they saw as unfair competition. As a result, the EU introduced an ‘emergency brake’ system in 2024, allowing tariff quotas to return for sensitive products if imports exceed set thresholds.

In addition, many of Ukraine’s neighbors, including Poland, Hungary, and Slovakia, maintain significant restrictions on Ukrainian imports at the national level.

India-US trade negotiations have hit a “plateau,” making further concessions “very difficult,” Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Monday, days after Washington said a deal is not imminent.

India and the US have been negotiating a Bilateral Trade Agreement since February last year, covering market access, tariff and non-tariff barriers, digital trade, and supply-chain resilience. The finance minister’s comments, despite repeated assertions by both sides in the last few months that a deal is near completion, is the first clear indication that the talks have hit an impasse.

“Both the sides have reached a plateau beyond which, giving, or taking, might be very, very difficult,” Sitharaman said at the Munich Leaders Meeting in New Delhi.

She said the talks are continuing, and left open the possibility of movement if either side finds additional negotiating space, describing the proposed agreement as “hard and very rigorously negotiated.”

India & US Trade Talks Hit 'Plateau’ – 🇮🇳 FM Sitharaman The negotiations are ‘still ongoing,’ Sitharaman said at the Munich Leaders Meeting in New Delhi Monday. ‘Giving or taking beyond that plateau might be very difficult,’ Sitharaman noted. US Trade Rep Jamieson Greer said last week that a deal ‘was not imminent,’ after a meeting with Indian Trade Minister Piyush Goyal. 📹: ANI

— RT_India (@RT_India_news) October 5, 2026

US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said last week, following talks with Indian Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal, that the two countries have identified the remaining sticking points, but that an agreement is not imminent. Among them are US demands for wider access for its farm and dairy products, a politically sensitive subject for New Delhi.

Goyal struck a more optimistic note last month, saying the deal was almost “done and dusted.” He added, however, that implementation depends on India securing a competitive tariff advantage over rival exporters in the US market.

US goods imports from India reached $103.8 billion last year, compared with $45.4 billion in exports, leaving the US with a $58.4 billion goods trade deficit. Total goods and services trade between the two countries stood at an estimated $239.6 billion.

“The bigger risk is fresh US tariffs over Russian oil purchases or alleged excess manufacturing capacity. Signing a trade deal may not remove that risk.”

A new law signed by President Donald Trump last month gives him authority to impose tariffs of up to 100% on countries that continue significant purchases of Russian energy. India, the second largest importer of Russian oil, has warned that the tariffs could hurt bilateral ties.

Greer, however, has not publicly identified Russian oil as one of the unresolved issues in the trade negotiations.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s repeated trips to Kiev resemble political “pilgrimages” rather than substantive policy at a time when people at home are losing trust in him, former Austrian Foreign Minister Karin Kneissl has said.

Merz’s personal approval has hit a record low, with just 10% of respondents satisfied with his performance as chancellor, according to the latest ARD DeutschlandTrend survey conducted in late September.

In an interview with RT on Monday, Kneissl argued that Merz has failed to deliver on promises of sweeping reforms and a new immigration policy during his first year and a half in office.

“People are losing trust that the promises announced by Chancellor Merz, who has promised a lot in terms of fundamental reforms, in terms of a new immigration policy,” will actually be fulfilled, Kneissl said.

She argued that Merz’s focus on Kiev has done little to reverse that trend, likening his trips to the Ukrainian capital to medieval journeys to holy places.

Kneissl suggested that such a demonstrative approach is driven by political strategists who still see backing Kiev as a way of rallying voters. “This is what the PR people tell them: do that, because we have to stand with Ukraine,” she said, adding that while the message mobilized people in 2022, it no longer has the same effect at the end of 2026.

Support for Merz’s CDU/CSU alliance has meanwhile fallen to 18% nationwide – the lowest level ever recorded by INSA – while the AfD has surged to a record 30%, opening a 12-point lead over the governing conservative alliance.

Despite the defeats, Merz has refused to change course, pledging to press ahead with Germany’s military buildup, and claiming last month that “we must defend our freedom against Russia.”

Moscow has rejected Berlin’s warnings about an alleged Russian threat, dismissing them as “nonsense.”

WATCH RT’s full interview below:

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Ethiopian government forces and allied fighters have retaken the capital of the northern Tigray region, which rebels seized less than two weeks ago.

Fighters from the pro-government Tigray Peace Forces (TPF) announced in a post on Facebook on Sunday that they had “completely taken control” of Mekelle.

Footage shared by the TPF and dated October 3 shows armed men in military uniforms and vans moving through the streets, with horns sounding as people cheer. The forces entered the city center on Saturday afternoon, followed by federal troops, Reuters reported, citing a source close to the militia.

The Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), which governs the region, acknowledged its retreat in a statement posted on Facebook. It said the regional administration “has decided to temporarily leave Mekelle and operate from another location, while our forces continue carrying out their military operations.”

Residents reported looting of government offices during the withdrawal, while internet and cellphone disruptions have hampered verification of developments, AP reported.

Federal troops also recovered Mekelle’s airport, which TPLF fighters seized on September 23, prompting Ethiopian Airlines to suspend flights to the city and two other Tigrayan destinations.

The East African country has struggled to secure lasting stability since an African Union-mediated peace agreement signed in November 2022 ended the two-year Tigray war, which killed hundreds of thousands. The conflict grew out of a power struggle between the federal government and the TPLF, whose decades of dominance in national politics ended when Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed took office in 2018. Disputes over disarmament, territory, and the return of displaced people remain unresolved.

The US has rushed to withdraw bombers from an airbase in the UK after receiving new threat information about an alleged terrorist plot against the facility, the New York Times reports, citing sources.

The announcement cited by the NYT comes a week after five men were arrested in what was trumpeted as a high-level security operation near RAF Fairford, which hosts US bombers used in the war against Iran. However, after a hysterical media reaction in the UK, the five, all British citizens in their early 20s, were released on bail the following day.

Days later, UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham claimed that London had “strong indications” that Iran could have been behind the incident, which only came to life after a local farmer called the police, having seen a group of men run from their white vans on a country road when caught in the headlights of her car. 

All 12 US Air Force B-1 bombers were withdrawn over the weekend, allegedly after commanders received new warnings concerning a possible Iranian-backed plot against the base, two anonymous US officials told the NYT on Sunday. 

Some aircraft had reportedly only arrived the week before as part of a routine rotation. According to the NYT’s sources, the withdrawal was deemed so urgent that several bombers took off without aerial refueling support. At least three bombers reached their home base in South Dakota by Sunday, the officials said.

The Pentagon’s European Command confirmed that the aircraft left England but declined to comment on any new warnings.

“We can acknowledge now that all US bombers that were deployed to RAF Fairford are redeploying to their home stations in the United States,” the command said in a statement. “US Air Force bombers routinely operate around the world to support global force readiness and operational requirements.”

Iran has denied having any involvement. The embassy in London accused Britain of promoting “Iranophobia.” Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi rejected Burnham’s allegation, saying he is “barking up the wrong tree.”

Estonia is preparing to deploy weapons capable of striking the Russian city of St. Petersburg, the Financial Times has reported.

Amid unprecedented mis- and dis-information from NATO’s European members, Tallinn has presented the proposed buildup as a form of deterrence, should Moscow “test” NATO. However, Russia’s leadership has repeatedly stressed that it has no intention of attacking the US-led military bloc. Moscow has also warned that any direct conflict with NATO would likely escalate into nuclear war.

The British newspaper reported on Monday that Estonia is deploying additional troops along the Russian border and acquiring tactical missile systems capable of reaching St. Petersburg. They include US-made HIMARS and South Korean Chunmoo launchers, both of which can fire longer-range projectiles.

The Baltic state has a standing army of just 4,200 troops, but plans to reinforce it with tens of thousands of reservists if tensions with Russia escalate.

Last month, Defense Minister Martin Herem said during a public lecture that Tallinn could not afford to keep mobilized troops in the field for long.

“I have jokingly said that if we get to the orange zone there and carry out mobilization, but Russia does not attack, then it would be economically more correct to attack ourselves,” he said. “Then at least we will know when it will start, and we will not waste food and air in vain”

Russian President Vladimir Putin responded to the remark with an idiom: “The circus has left, but the clowns remain.” He added that Moscow has no plans to attack Estonia or any other NATO member.

Commenting on the FT report, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova echoed the president, saying it belongs in the funny pages.

While NATO poses as a purely defensive organization, it has a history of military interventions on foreign soil and does not rule out preemptive attacks. Last week, NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said European members of the bloc should have been capable of attacking Iran themselves to eliminate what was described as a nuclear threat from Tehran. He argued that Europe’s military buildup should eventually allow it to conduct such operations without relying on the US.

Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania have all sharply increased military spending in recent years and are reportedly seeking additional procurement funds from the EU budget. According to Finnish newspaper Iltalehti, the three Baltic states have asked Brussels to urgently provide €500 million ($570 million) in additional funding, citing the scenario of Russia seeking to “test NATO.”

India has moved “beyond advocacy” in the Russia-Ukraine conflict and is now holding talks with both Moscow and Kiev on Black Sea shipping, grain, and energy exports, as well as possible non-attack arrangements, Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar has said.

New Delhi has become more directly involved in recent months after years of calling for dialogue and diplomacy, Jaishankar said at the Munich Leaders Meeting in New Delhi. India is trying to help first on the safety of shipping in the Black Sea, while discussions have expanded to other immediate concerns shared by the two sides.

“We have conversations with both Russia and Ukraine in this regard,” he said, describing talks over grain and energy exports and “non-attack possibilities” as ongoing.

Ukraine separately acknowledged India’s increased involvement. Foreign Minister Andrey Sibiga said last week that New Delhi had submitted the most comprehensive of four ceasefire proposals being considered by Kiev, alongside initiatives from Türkiye, Egypt, and the US.

Kiev is prepared to consider an energy and Black Sea ceasefire if it includes a halt to attacks on energy facilities and port infrastructure, Sibiga said. Ukraine says it is also open to an unconditional ceasefire along the line of contact.

Stubb made the remarks in an interview with Spanish newspaper El Mundo over the weekend. Asked about potential hybrid threats posed by Russia, Stubb said the country would try to interfere with the upcoming Spanish election.

Madrid “should expect some form of sabotage or hybrid attack. It could be related to information warfare or a campaign that threatens their democracy,” he claimed.

The president went on to allege that Russian-backed cyberattacks are “happening as we speak against Spanish banks and other targets,” without citing specific evidence.

“They send asylum seekers to our border, as we have also seen in Ceuta,” he said, accusing Russia of committing acts of sabotage throughout the EU.

He also mentioned cases in which Russian-linked ships were accused of cutting undersea telecommunications cables in the Baltic Sea and the recent incident at Germany’s Leipzig/Halle Airport, where explosives-laden drones were found near Ukrainian cargo planes. Germany blamed Moscow and ordered the closure of a Russian consulate in Bonn and a Russian cultural center in Berlin. Russia dismissed the accusations as “nonsensical” and denied any involvement.

Pressed further about Russia’s alleged role in the Ceuta crisis in late July, when more than 70,000 migrants crossed into the enclave, Stubb admitted that he did not “know the matter well enough to take a position.”

Reuters reported at the time that migrants had been encouraged by viral videos and misleading claims about Spain’s asylum and migration rules. Spain later accused Russian- and Israeli-linked networks of spreading disinformation regarding the crisis, which both countries denied.

“When able, when you are sure it is the Russians, or almost sure it is the Russians, attribute it to the Russians,” Rutte said this week.

Direct conflict unlikely

Asked about the possibility of a direct conflict between NATO and Russia, however, Stubb dismissed it as negligible.

“Do we expect Russia to attack? The answer is no. We have no evidence of that,” he told El Mundo.

Lithuanian Prime Minister Mindaugas Sinkevicius urged officials this week not to “exaggerate” when making alarmist statements about Russia and said there is no evidence that the country is planning to attack NATO. Rutte has also said there is “no imminent threat to NATO territory.”

Nevertheless, EU officials have argued that the bloc, as well as NATO, should be prepared for a potential clash with Russia. German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said the country must be ready for a conflict by as early as 2028. The German government amended its constitutional debt brake to fund military spending and passed a 2026 budget allocating a record €108.2 billion ($121.5 billion) to defense and €11.5 billion in military assistance for Ukraine.

Russia has stated that it would not attack any NATO country unless attacked first – warning, however, that Western military aid to Ukraine makes a dangerous escalation more likely. President Vladimir Putin has argued that European politicians are stirring tensions with Russia to distract voters from problems at home.

A US Marine has been arrested on suspicion of killing and robbing a woman in Okinawa, the Japanese authorities have said.

The victim, identified as Anna Yagi, 39, was found dead in a hotel room in Naha, the prefectural capital, on Saturday. Okinawa is home to several major US military installations and tens of thousands of US service members.

Lance Corporal Devin Jacob Ballard, 20, who is stationed at Marine Corps Air Station Futenma in Ginowan, is accused of strangling Yagi and stealing her wallet and backpack. He has denied the allegations.

Surveillance footage reportedly shows a man believed to be Ballard entering the hotel with Yagi and later leaving alone with what appeared to be her belongings. Police located him in an entertainment district late Saturday.

The Marine Corps confirmed that Ballard is assigned to the III Marine Expeditionary Force and said it is cooperating with the authorities.

“I must say, discipline and troop education are not working at all,” he added, referring to measures introduced by the US military following a series of sexual assault cases involving American personnel on the island.

The Japanese government lodged a formal protest with Washington on Sunday. Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi demanded full cooperation with the investigation, stricter discipline among US personnel, and “thorough measures” to prevent similar incidents.

“The occurrence of such an extremely brutal and heinous incident is a matter of profound regret,” she wrote on X, extending sympathy to the victim’s family.

Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi summoned US Ambassador George Glass, who pledged full cooperation with the investigation.

Okinawa accounts for just 0.6% of Japan’s territory but hosts 70.3% of the land area of US military facilities in Japan that are exclusively used by US forces, according to the Okinawa prefectural government.

In June 2024, Tokyo formally protested two alleged sexual assaults involving US personnel and delays in disclosing the cases. The Marine Corps subsequently stepped up sobriety checks and off-base patrols, while US Forces Japan later barred service members from off-base drinking establishments from 1:00-6:00 AM.

Despite the measures, further sexual assault allegations involving American personnel followed. In January 2025, then-Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi urged US Forces Japan to tighten discipline and take stronger measures to prevent further incidents.

Brazil’s presidential election is headed to a runoff, with right-wing Senator Flavio Bolsonaro, son of former President Jair Bolsonaro, leading incumbent left-wing President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

With almost all votes counted, Bolsonaro received 47.03% of the vote, compared with Lula’s 45.16%, according to the official tally.

Under Brazilian election rules, a presidential candidate must secure more than 50% of valid votes to win in the first round. With neither Bolsonaro nor Lula reaching that threshold, the two will face each other in a runoff on October 25.

The election is widely seen as a highly polarized contest over Brazil’s political direction, pitting Lula’s left-wing agenda against Bolsonaro’s conservative platform, which emphasizes tougher measures against crime and protecting traditional values.

The vote also presents a foreign-policy choice, as Lula has sought to strengthen Brazil’s role in BRICS and deepen ties with China and other Global South powers, while Bolsonaro has emphasized closer relations with Washington and touted his ties with US President Donald Trump. 

Lula served as Brazil’s president from 2003 to 2011 and returned to office for a third term in 2023. He was barred from running in the 2018 election due to a corruption conviction and spent 580 days in prison. Brazil’s Supreme Court annulled his convictions in 2021, ruling that the court that tried him lacked jurisdiction, restoring his political rights and allowing him to run again.

Bolsonaro’s other son, Eduardo, has lived in self-imposed exile in the US since 2025. Brazil’s Supreme Court sentenced him in June to four years and two months in prison for coercion after finding that he sought US pressure on the Brazilian authorities in an effort to interfere with his father’s coup trial. 

The Brazilian authorities have also investigated alleged US interference in the country’s politics after Trump denounced the case against Jair Bolsonaro as a “witch hunt,” and Flavio and Eduardo Bolsonaro met with the US president at the White House in May.

Yemen’s civil war has intensified, with the internationally recognized government announcing a military operation aimed at retaking territory captured last month by the Iranian-backed Houthis.

The Houthis, a Shiite armed group, continued their own offensive, reportedly seizing more towns in southwestern Taiz province near the strategic Bab el-Mandeb Strait.

In a televised speech on Sunday, Rashad al-Alimi, the head of Yemen’s Presidential Leadership Council, said the government ordered “military operations to restore the remaining territory of the republic and extend state authority nationwide.”

The spokesman for the Saudi-led coalition, Major General Turki al-Maliki, said the coalition would continue supporting Yemeni government forces. Saudi Arabia first intervened in the civil war in 2015 after the Houthis seized Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, the previous year.

Houthi-aligned media reported later on Sunday that the group captured the town of Turbah and the districts of Shamayatayn and Samea, as well as the Taiz-Aden road.

NEW: Footage of the Houthis driving through the city of Al-Turbah in Yemen. https://t.co/S11LYNOTJ5

— OSINT News (@OSINTNewsqrb) October 4, 2026

Last month, the Houthis launched a major offensive along Yemen’s Red Sea coast, capturing the strategic port city of Mokha from government forces. They subsequently took control of Perim, also known as Mayyun, an island lying in the middle of the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.

Large-scale fighting died down after a UN-brokered truce took effect in April 2022. Hostilities reignited in July amid the US-Iran war and the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, after Yemeni government forces struck Sanaa Airport to prevent an Iranian plane carrying a Houthi delegation home from the funeral of Iran’s late supreme leader from landing. The Houthis blamed Saudi Arabia for the strike and retaliated.

The latest escalation comes as US-Iran talks aimed at ending the wider conflict and reopening the Strait of Hormuz remain stalled. President Donald Trump has rejected Tehran’s latest peace proposal. US media reports suggest that he could resume large-scale strikes on Iran after the midterm election in November.

The polls have closed in Brazil’s hotly contested presidential election, which could reshape the country’s domestic and foreign policy.

The race is dominated by incumbent left-wing President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and his right-wing challenger, Senator Flavio Bolsonaro, the son of former President Jair Bolsonaro. Lula is seeking a fourth nonconsecutive term in office. More than a dozen other candidates are also on the ballot.

Polls released on the eve of the election showed Lula and Bolsonaro neck and neck. Quaest put them at 46% and 45%, respectively, while Datafolha had Lula at 45% and Bolsonaro at 42%, with both surveys showing a statistical tie. If neither candidate wins more than half of the vote, a runoff will be held on October 25. All other candidates are polling in the low single digits, but their endorsements could prove important in a second round.

Brazilians will also elect all 513 federal congress members, 54 of the country’s 81 senators, 27 governors, and some regional legislatures.

Bolsonaro called for change, blaming Lula’s policies for high living costs and promising tougher security policies and tax cuts. The 45-year-old senator for Rio de Janeiro has also leaned heavily on the image of his father, known to supporters as ‘mito’ (the legend).

Jair Bolsonaro, 71, was sentenced to 27 years behind bars for attempting to overturn the results of the 2022 presidential election, which he lost to Lula. He has denied wrongdoing. He spent several months in prison after breaking house arrest monitoring rules before being hospitalized in March 2026 over health issues and eventually transferred back to temporary house arrest, which has since been extended.

Why does this election matter?

Brazil is a founding member of BRICS and has played a prominent role in the group. Under Lula, Brasilia has pursued a policy focused on strengthening multipolarity and resisting Western pressure, particularly from Washington.

The Trump administration has placed renewed emphasis on US dominance in the Western Hemisphere under what it calls the ‘Donroe Doctrine’, a modern interpretation of the 19th-century hegemonic political strategy known as the Monroe Doctrine.

Opposing ‘colonization’

During his current term, Lula has criticized the US over what he described as attempts to undermine multipolarity and impose its will on other nations.

Last year, India and Brazil stepped up talks on trade and investment after both countries were hit with 50% tariffs by the US. Lula also called for a coordinated BRICS response to Washington’s tariff policies, accusing Trump of attempts to “dismantle multilateralism” and promote “unilateralism, where he negotiates one-on-one with other countries.”

The Brazilian president also sharply condemned the US kidnapping of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in early 2026. In March, he proposed boosting defense cooperation with South Africa to reduce reliance on foreign weapons, arguing that both nations could be vulnerable to “invasion.”

‘Trump’s candidate’?

Flavio Bolsonaro, who Lula has described as “Trump’s candidate,” has emphasized his affinity with the US president and repeatedly praised him, while denying receiving assistance from Washington for his campaign. He has insisted that Brazil should seek better deals with the US, including rare-earth minerals – a topic that has been repeatedly invoked by US President Donald Trump in his talks with various nations, including Ukraine and Russia.

The senator also promised a “flood of investments” from the US if he wins. “Brazil and the United States will once again have a high-level and long-term relationship, including the largest trade and investment agreement in our history!” Bolsonaro wrote in a post on X in June.

Bolsonaro has also reportedly pledged to join the US campaign against drug cartels. The US military has at times targeted boats supposedly belonging to traffickers, killing dozens of people.

Shadow of interference

The Brazilian authorities have opened a probe into allegations that the US government funded activities aimed at interfering in the election and undermining the legitimacy of the country’s Supreme Federal Court, Agencia Brasil reported on Friday.

This followed a report by The Guardian earlier in the week, claiming that the White House planned to allocate $1 million for a project titled ‘Countering Lawfare and Censorship in Brazil’.

In September, Lula cited a confidential assessment by the Brazilian Intelligence Agency, which warned that the risk of US interference in the election was at a “critical level.”

Trump avoided openly endorsing any candidates ahead of the election, but said he was following it “very closely.”

“Brazil is a very important country. The people of Brazil are fantastic. These are very important elections,” he said on Thursday.

Moscow has expressed hope that the election would be held “without any adverse external interference.” 

“We are open to… continuing our cooperation with our Brazilian partners across the entire agenda,” the head of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s Latin American Department, Aleksandr Shetinin, told TASS.

Sunday marks 20 years since Australian journalist and activist Julian Assange founded WikiLeaks, the whistleblowing platform that would publish some of the most consequential leaks of the internet age, exposing classified US war records, CIA hacking tools, mass surveillance and other closely guarded government secrets.

Registered in 2006, the website provided a secure and anonymous channel for whistleblowers to submit material for publication. Its early releases included operating procedures for the US detention camp at Guantanamo Bay, banking and corporate secrets, and internal documents from the Church of Scientology.

However, it was the scoops published in 2010 that made WikiLeaks a global phenomenon. That year, the website released “Collateral Murder,” raw classified US footage of a 2007 Apache helicopter attack in Baghdad which killed over a dozen people, including two Reuters news staff. WikiLeaks later published more than 91,000 documents from the Washington-led war in Afghanistan and some 391,000 reports from the US invasion of Iraq.

Major disclosures continued, including leaks exposing surveillance of US allies by the National Security Agency (NSA). Documents released in 2015 indicated that the NSA had spied on French presidents Jacques Chirac, Nicolas Sarkozy, and Francois Hollande, leading to a diplomatic row. In 2017, WikiLeaks’ Vault 7 releases exposed an arsenal of CIA hacking capabilities, including techniques aimed at smartphones and internet-connected TVs.

Assange has since argued that his prosecution set a dangerous precedent for press freedom, telling the Council of Europe that he was freed after having “pleaded guilty to journalism.”

For a retrospective on WikiLeaks’ two-decade history, watch the full RT report below:

So, big bad US President Donald Trump just successfully strong-armed French President Emmanuel Macron and the EU into dumping their precious ‘rainy day’ diesel from strategic reserves.

Why? Because Trump, threatening a disastrous cutoff of diesel exports to Europe altogether, wanted to keep domestic gas prices looking perky ahead of next month’s US midterms.

“We have decided to release strategic reserves of diesel and crude oil, under the coordination of the International Energy Agency – which will meet in the coming hours or days to organize this… This process will begin by prioritizing diesel,” Macron declared.

Wait, aren’t those the exact same strategic reserves that have given Brussels a collective nervous breakdown over imminent winter shortages? Oh well, what’s a leader to do when he’s just a helpless, innocent little cog in a grand G7 multilateral machine? It’s not like Macron is directly engineering this self-inflicted disaster in any sense, right?

“In any case, France will make this effort regarding its own reserves, which also reflects a desire to send a clear signal to the market,” Macron added. Yeah, the signals are about as subtle as a flare gun to the face.

Visionary European leaders like Macron have long since handed the wheel to Washington because they apparently thought that it was a better look in the eyes of their Ukrainian girlfriend, Zelensky, than dealing with Russia and its cheap gas.

And now we get yet another Macronian capitulation to a more recent bogeymen that he’s been whining about on the global stage: Trump.

All this drama peaked amid a state visit to Madrid, where Macron dropped by a local university to jam out some avant-garde thoughts on Europe alongside prominent Spanish cultural figures. A local writer teed up a softball right across the center of the plate, invoking Trump and the global rise of populism in the same breath as fascism to frame them as an existential threat to democracy. Which, of course, was the ultimate cue for Macron to explain whose fault this mess actually is. And the short answer is: absolutely, unequivocally not his.

“The great blow for France was the 2008-2012 crisis. And who paid the bill? The middle classes. Even in countries that were less affected, some categories have still not fully recovered in terms of purchasing power and living standards they had before that crisis. And this has been a betrayal,” he said.

The same guy who’s been running the joint for nearly a full decade has to time-travel back 15 to 20 years to find someone responsible for the fact that French middle class is currently on economic life support. Because obviously, he couldn’t possibly have had anything to do with it despite holding the royal scepter for the past ten years.

“A key factor in European competitiveness was very cheap gas coming from Russia. That ended in 2022,” Macron pontificated. “But our great export market was China. That is over too. Europe now has a trade deficit with China. Today, every day, we lose €1 billion in trade with China.”

You’ve got to admire the poetry – if not the gall – of the passive tense there. It ended in 2022. Like a rainstorm! It just happened to end. Totally out of his hands. What can a mere mortal do? Same with selling things to China. Poof, it’s over now! Who knows why? A total mystery. Bleeding a billion euros a day while standing there and shrugging.

Never mind his other brilliant policy hits, like trying to flatline French nuclear power before panicking and awkwardly resurrecting it as the next greatest thing in green renewables, or selling off French industrial crown jewels to Americans only to proudly buy them back later at a massive taxpayer loss. Or riffing to the press on his private jet about how Europe shouldn’t be an American vassal – right before making French citizens and industry pay through the nose for the privilege of heating or cooling their homes as a result of doing precisely that.

It’s the exact same laissez-faire energy that he’s currently bringing to France’s annual far-left protest-and-smashfest season. This fall, the usual professional malcontents have managed to rope some high schoolers into doing their dirty work, meaning that we get to endure teenagers setting fire to their own academic institutions because they believe that their school days are too grueling – in a country where they enjoy a mandatory two-week vacation every six weeks of the academic calendar.

Every single year, the same script plays out, and the authorities just hunker down and wait it out. That appears to be Macron’s playbook for everything, even as he enjoys his 18% approval rating. Just wait for the fire to burn out, and then casually chalk it up to something entirely out of your control. He can’t even bother to unroll the hose at this point.

Looks like maybe the French will just have to wait out Macron himself, and for his term to end, before having a shot at anyone actually doing something useful to reverse course on any of this.

Russia’s brown bear population has more than doubled over the past three decades, while a rise in attacks in recent years has prompted authorities and lawmakers to consider new ways to reduce the risks.

An independent online project has also begun mapping reports of bear encounters across the country.

What does the bear map show?

WhereBear brings together reports of bear sightings, attacks and tracks from official sources, media reports, open publications, and users, plotting them on an interactive map of Russia.

The independent service also accepts user submissions. It does not track animals in real time: markers show where and when bears were reported, rather than their current location.

How serious is the problem?

Russia is home to 307,900 brown bears, according to the Natural Resources Ministry.

The largest populations are concentrated in Siberia and the Far East, led by Krasnoyarsk Region with 26,600, Khabarovsk Region with 26,200 and Kamchatka with 24,200. Irkutsk Region has an estimated 22,400 and Yakutia 18,800.

Are bear attacks becoming more common?

Authorities have recorded 59 attacks so far this year, leaving 21 people dead and 38 injured across 22 regions.

The figure compares with 34 attacks in 2025 and 19 in 2024. Officials say around 20 to 30 attacks have typically been recorded annually in recent years, although there have been exceptional spikes. In 2014, 166 attacks were registered.

In the Krasnoyarsk Region, six people died in confirmed or suspected bear attacks in September alone, prompting investigators to open a criminal negligence case.

Heightened-alert regimes have been introduced in several parts of Siberia and the Far East. In Zakamensk, Buryatia, two schools and a technical college switched to remote learning after a bear appeared inside the town.

Why are bears approaching people?

Experts point to several factors, including the growing population, shortages of natural food, and easy access to human food.

Russian hunting inspectors and biologists have pointed to an unusually poor crop of nuts and berries this year. Researchers said that an early, dry spring caused berries to ripen and fall earlier than usual, leaving bears with less natural food as they prepared for hibernation.

How are Russian authorities responding?

The Russian government is preparing additional measures following this year’s attacks.

Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Patrushev said on Wednesday that regions struggling to control bear numbers could receive additional federal funding. The government is also considering regulatory changes that would allow regional authorities to act more quickly, including potentially removing brown bears from the list of species subject to hunting limits.

”As the bear population grows, so does the number of problems,” Patrushev said at a government meeting on the issue.

Natural Resources Minister Aleksandr Kozlov has also proposed giving his ministry greater powers to verify regional estimates of bear numbers and setting baseline population levels for individual areas.

Separately, State Duma lawmaker Dmitry Novikov has proposed creating a public map showing areas where bears, wolves, and other predators regularly approach communities. His proposal includes camera traps and remote monitoring, as well as alerts for residents.

Why aren’t more bears being hunted?

Existing hunting limits are far from being reached. In 2025, hunters killed 12,700 bears nationwide, or around 27% of the nearly 47,000 they were permitted to hunt, according to the Association of Hunters and Fishermen.

Hunting groups have attributed the low uptake partly to the cost of hunting and weak demand for bear meat and skins. The association has proposed scrapping the fee to boost interest.

Why is the bear so closely associated with Russia?

Beyond the current concerns over their growing numbers, bears have featured in Russian culture for centuries, from folklore and literature to heraldry – long before they became an international stereotype associated with the country.

In Russian folk tales, bears can be powerful and fearsome, but also good-natured, naïve, or easily outwitted. They are often called Misha, a familiar form of the name Mikhail.

Trained bears were once common at fairs and public festivities, where handlers had them perform tricks, dance, and imitate people. Bears also made their way into Russian literature, appearing in works by writers including Leo Tolstoy and Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin. One appears prominently in Tatyana’s famous dream in Alexander Pushkin’s Eugene Onegin, drawing on a folk belief that dreaming of the animal could foretell marriage.

Bears have also appeared in Russian heraldry for centuries, including on the coats of arms of Yaroslavl, Perm, and Veliky Novgorod. Some of these images can be traced to the 16th and 17th centuries. Yaroslavl’s bear is linked to a legend about the city’s founding, while Perm’s carries a Gospel on its back. 

Outside Russia, the animal gradually became a visual shorthand for the country, particularly in European political cartoons. British caricaturists were depicting Russia as a bear by the late 18th century, often using the image to convey size, strength, aggression, and menace. The stereotype persisted through the Russian Empire and the Soviet era and remains common today, with the ‘Russian bear’ often portrayed as a powerful and threatening beast.

From Olympic Misha to ‘Masha and the Bear’

One of the most famous modern versions of the image came with the 1980 Moscow Olympics, when a smiling bear cub named Misha was chosen as the Games’ mascot. Designed by Soviet children’s-book illustrator Viktor Chizhikov, Misha appeared on everything from stamps and posters to toys and souvenirs.

At the closing ceremony, thousands of participants in the stands formed a giant mosaic of Misha, with a tear appearing to roll down the bear’s cheek. The emotional farewell moved many spectators as an enormous inflatable version of the mascot was lifted into the air by balloons and floated out of the stadium to the song ‘Farewell, Moscow.’ 

Decades later, another Russian bear reached an even larger global audience. The traditional folk tale Masha and the Bear inspired the Russian animated series of the same name, which has become an international children’s hit. One episode, Recipe for Disaster, became the most-viewed animated video on YouTube, according to Guinness World Records. 

Are other countries facing similar problems?

Russia is not the only country reporting an increase in encounters between bears and people.

Japan has faced similar problems, recording a record 238 bear-related casualties in fiscal 2025 and prompting the government to step up measures aimed at reducing encounters.

Human-bear conflicts are also reported in parts of North America and Europe. Wildlife authorities have similarly warned that bears attracted to rubbish and other human food can become accustomed to people and repeatedly return.

While circumstances vary by country and bear species, expanding or recovering populations, natural food availability, and access to human food can all affect how often bears and people cross paths.

The Russian military has struck a data center and a logistics hub in Ukraine, the Defense Ministry in Moscow said on Sunday.

The ministry said that Geran drones targeted a Nova Poshta logistics center in Chernomorsk and a data center in Odessa. Footage released by the MOD shows direct hits on both facilities. Russia has increasingly targeted Ukrainian data centers in recent strikes, with internet and mobile providers reporting damage and connectivity disruptions.

Additionally, Russian forces struck two dry-cargo vessels carrying military supplies to the port of Odessa, hit a drone command post, destroyed an air-surveillance radar, and struck military-used transport infrastructure, weapons depots, drone storage sites, and positions housing Ukrainian troops and foreign mercenaries across 147 locations. It later added that its forces struck Kiev’s Severny road bridge across the Dnieper, which it said was used to move troops and military cargo.

The ministry also reported that its air defenses downed four guided bombs, three US-made HIMARS rockets, and 1,222 fixed-wing drones over the past 24 hours. The ministry further said Russian forces tightened an encirclement in northeastern Kharkov Region and advanced elsewhere, including in northern and central Dobropolye.

President Vladimir Putin recently warned that Ukraine faces a “catastrophic scenario” after “opening Pandora’s box” by attacking Russian economic and civilian infrastructure, which ultimately failed to alter the course of the conflict. Putin also warned that with its “provocative actions,” Kiev was only hindering a peaceful settlement rather than bringing one closer.

Yemen’s Houthis say they struck oil facilities in Saudi Arabia in response to Saudi attacks on the Houthi-controlled Yemeni capital, Sanaa, and other provinces.

In statements late Saturday and Sunday, Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said the group targeted a Saudi Aramco facility near the capital, Riyadh, with ballistic missiles and drones, sparking fires at the site, as well as unspecified Aramco facilities in the Khurais area.

The Saudi-led coalition disputed the Houthi claim of the attack on a facility near Riyadh. Spokesman Major-General Turki al-Malki called it an “attempt to divert attention from the scale” of the group’s losses, which he said are driving them to seek “illusory victories.”

Videos and satellite images posted online purport to show large plumes of smoke rising from the facility near Riyadh. Saudi Aramco did not comment on whether any of its facilities were hit.

🛰🇸🇦 Sentinel-2 satellite imagery captured today confirms that Saudi Aramco’s Riyadh refinery was hit by the Houthis, with at least three oil storage tanks appearing to be on fire and thick plume of smoke rising from the facility. https://t.co/C23llbXQxQ

— Egypt's Intel Observer (@EGYOSINT) October 3, 2026

مالم تنقله قنوات العربية والحدث وقناة الجزيرة الحقيرة العبرية من الاستهداف الصاروخي اليمني المبارك اليوم على اراااامكو. نعرضه لكم لاتقصرو إعادة النشر https://t.co/HRg1DY3tQu

— بركان المسيرة (@AlnsarAllah10) October 3, 2026

Overnight, Houthi forces struck the Aramco Oil facility in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, with ballistic missiles. Satellite imagery shows a large plume of smoke originating from the refinery, engulfing several areas of northern Riyadh. At its peak, at around 10:00 local time (07:00 UTC), the plume reached an approximate length of 107km.

— Open Source Intel (@Osint613) October 3, 2026

A video was also released by locals, showing the facility burning. At least three oil storage tanks were targeted in the attacks. https://t.co/QImgjzTMvT

— Open Source Intel (@Osint613) October 3, 2026

According to Saree, the strikes were in response to at least 110 Saudi air and missile attacks over the previous 36 hours on Sanaa and the northwestern governorate of Saada, a Houthi stronghold, along with other areas. He did not provide details on specific targets or casualties, but media reports suggest that one strike damaged a Sanaa hospital, and videos posted online purport to show missiles striking the city.

Strikes on Sana’a https://t.co/VZAC1OAnh5

— Basha باشا (@BashaReport) October 3, 2026

🇾🇪🇸🇦 The Royal Saudi Air Force (RSAF) is carrying out more airstrikes on Houthi military infrastructure in Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, following the Houthi attack on the Riyadh oil refinery. The strikes likely hit targets near 15°19'55.50"N 44°10'21.41"E. https://t.co/xqhxwG73mb

— Egypt's Intel Observer (@EGYOSINT) October 3, 2026

الضربة استهدفت مدخل واحد، فخرجت النيران من المداخل الأخرى للكهف. إذا لم تخني الذاكرة، فالمكان المستهدف هو معسكر الحفا في جبل نقم، وهذا الجبل يضم كهوف وأنفاق تستخدم كمخازن للأسلحة والصواريخ. ضربة موفقة. #صنعاء https://t.co/N2djy4ymS8

— يوسف الفقيه🇾🇪 (@YSFYEMEN) October 3, 2026

Yemen’s Saudi-backed forces earlier confirmed the strikes but said they were targeting vital Houthi positions, claiming 700 fighters were killed or wounded in 24 hours.

Tensions reignited in July after government forces struck Sanaa Airport to prevent an Iranian aircraft carrying a Houthi delegation from landing. The Houthis blamed Saudi Arabia, declared the de-escalation over, and announced a naval blockade of the kingdom. By mid-August, they were launching coordinated missile and drone attacks on Saudi-backed government forces, prompting counteroffensives across several provinces.

Fighting escalated last month as the Houthis struck energy infrastructure in southern Saudi Arabia, including Saudi Aramco facilities and the East-West Pipeline. The group has also made major territorial gains, seizing Yemen’s Red Sea coast and the strategic Bab el-Mandeb shipping chokepoint.

Saudi Arabia is preparing an offensive to reverse the Houthi gains, Reuters reported on Friday, citing officials and diplomats. Riyadh could mobilize more than 100,000 Yemeni government troops backed by Saudi airstrikes, the report said, with Western allies providing intelligence and material support but staying out of combat. Plans reportedly range from retaking the strategic Bab el-Mandeb coast to a broader multi-front assault across Houthi-held provinces.

The renewed fighting has worsened Yemen’s already dire humanitarian crisis. The UN World Food Program warned on Friday that three-quarters of the population is unable to meet its basic food needs.

UPDATE: Later on Sunday, Yemen announced the launch of large-scale military operations to retake Houthi-held territory.

Presidential Leadership Council Chairman Rashad al-Alimi said the government exhausted all possibilities for de-escalation and is moving “from the preparation phase to action” to restore state control.

Donald Trump and major tech leaders from OpenAI, Anthropic, Nvidia, SpaceX, Meta and other tech companies gathered for a meeting at the White House to reach a deal on what Trump described as an “AI constitution” to ensure that frontier models do not pose catastrophic, unintended risks.

In the course of the meeting a “morally binding” voluntary accord was signed in order to “win safely,” as Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei put it.

Beyond this self-regulation pact, the Trump administration will additionally set up a governmental board to oversee the safety of AI tools.

Another big change emerging from the meeting is not surprising, given Trump’s affinity for the naming of names. From now on, executive departments and agencies “shall use ‘Super Intelligence’ or SI” in place of “Artificial Intelligence” in official correspondence, reports, and policy documents within the executive branch.

Trump’s rationale is that the word “artificial” makes the technology sound “fake.” So this new White House executive order seeks to implement the change, stating that the name “Super Intelligence” more appropriately captures the promise, potential, and rapidly advancing capabilities of these technologies.

All of this signals that the American government is actively looking to pivot away from the current doomsday public narrative surrounding AI, aiming instead to focus public attention on the positive outcomes of its development.

Broadly speaking, experts remain skeptical about what genuine safety regulations will actually come out of the pact, given that the executives signing it are likely to be the very ones who will get to define the term “safety.” So at least in this regard, the meeting is largely symbolic.

It is primarily aimed at cooling public heat around apocalyptic AI narratives and the growing discontent over data centers, exactly what you would expect from an administration whose 2024 campaign was heavily bankrolled by tech elites such as Elon Musk, Greg Brockman, and others eager to promote their own corporate agendas.

But if we zoom past the end-times scenarios that the administration and these billionaires are trying to dampen, there is one critical thread left out of the conversation, which is the inherently collectivist nature of the Super Intelligence shaping this future “Golden Age of America.”

From each according to his ability

Since the beginning of his term, Trump and the Republican Party have been championing AI as an individualistic enterprise, framing it as a tool to amplify personal intellectual capabilities and boost American rugged individualism on a new technological frontier. That certainly has a pleasant Americana ring to it, especially if the bell that it’s ringing is Republican.

However, not even all the tech billionaires bankrolling the party see it the same way. A notable example is venture capitalist and Palantir co-founder Peter Thiel, who has drawn parallels between AI and collectivism. Thiel previously argued that unlike crypto, which he believes promotes libertarianism, AI is, at its core, communist.

If you look closely at what kind of future artificial intelligence has to offer, Thiel’s claim no longer seems so far-fetched. There is indeed a deep, structural similarity between the growth of AI systems and core Marxist ideals.

That means your private intellectual ownership is effectively cast out of the window. For good. Whatever you write on the internet, post on YouTube, or even the books you published way before the age of AI, all of it turns into AI food, constantly fed in chunks into a data center to train a model, which in its turn redistributes the results of your work to anyone who uses AI.

That inherently builds a top-down, centralized system of information redistribution, which is reminiscent of how a collectivist state functions.

To each according to his needs

Silicon Valley leaders are increasingly using the rise of AI to push for heavily socialist economic frameworks as part of their public relations strategy. Because advanced AI systems are automating millions of human jobs, tech leaders believe they need to pacify the public by advertising AI as a structural safety net to keep society stable when human labor is no longer economically viable.

Open AI CEO Sam Altman, for instance, advocated for universal basic income, a classic socialist economic concept. If that sounds too good to be true, well, it’s because it is. Even Altman eventually walked back the idea, replacing it with a concept he calls “universal basic compute.”

Comparing AI to public utilities like water or electricity, Altman argues that every human being should be given an equal, baseline slice of a centralized supercomputer’s output in the form of AI tokens, which people can use, share, or sell.

In Marxist terms, these tech billionaires are basically advocating for the redistribution of the means of production to the masses, pushing the idea of collective ownership over the very personal data they seized from you. The “empowering everyone” rhetoric surely sounds nice when reading the utopian visions of Altman and Zuckerberg and it conveniently keeps you from thinking about how those same tech lords acquired your data in the first place by making off with your intellectual property.

Intellectual communism

In the 20th century, Soviet ideologists spent decades trying to engineer what they called the “New Soviet Man.” This was a theoretical ideal of a uniform, selfless citizen who would completely dissolve their individual desires, beliefs, and identity into one collective entity striving for the common good.

This experiment became a major concern for dystopian writers like George Orwell, who saw one of the vices of collectivism in making everyone the same, and it is the very same concept actively criticized by Republicans today as a totalitarian manifestation of communism.

Yet, this totalitarian equality of thought is an inherent design feature of AI operational systems we use every day.

In an interview with journalist Tucker Carlson, Sam Altman explicitly admitted that they train their AI models “to be like the collective of all of humanity.” This means that instead of amplifying unique human perspectives or protecting individual thought, the core goal of leading AI development seems to be building a machine that represents the mathematical average of everyone at once – not highlighting individualism, but eroding it.

Furthermore, AI models by design always favor strict neutrality and highly balanced answers. They are taught to avoid taking strong, polarizing ideological stances, which you may have noticed whenever an AI chatbot answers a controversial question. It automatically forces a framework of mutual understanding and polite compromise, which makes the answer lack individuality or any personal edge.

However, this forced neutrality and conformity has a dangerous dark side to it. By constantly pushing users toward a safe, mass-approved middle ground, AI slowly rewires your individual reasoning patterns and causes you to adopt a safer, collective intellectual framework and a common morality shared by the majority – essentially turning you into a Clockwork Orange.

If one relies on AI to write, think, and make decisions, which is incredibly convenient and tempting in modern, fast-paced society, their unique worldview and ideological standing are gradually lobotomized. Over time, it creates a synthetic collective unconscious where individual dissent is softly phased out in favor of a group consensus, or rather, a group consensus approved by the Superintelligent Equalizer that AI is.

Republican AI paradox

All of this creates a paradox for Donald Trump and his conservative base. Anti-communist rhetoric, warnings of a “socialist takeover,” and the defense of American individualism are the absolute core fixtures of Trump’s political speeches.

Yet, by demanding the rapid, acceleration of the domestic AI industry, Trump is championing the exact technology intentionally or unintentionally designed to dissolve individual identity into a massive collective pool, strip citizens of private data ownership and centralize technological power. And Republicans, knowingly or unknowingly, are actively building the infrastructure for the ultimate collectivist system, all while preaching the virtues of the free market.

So, while GOP members continue to manufacture a new Red Scare to rally voters in the culture wars, they are simultaneously subsidizing a technological framework, which upon closer examination, looks very much like a textbook caricature of some dystopian totalitarian collectivism run by a party of techlords.

And even though Trump says “America will never be communist,” even some of his billionaire donors don’t seem to buy it.

Hundreds of anti-government protesters took to the streets of Paris on Saturday to rally against continued aid to Ukraine as part of a nationwide protest organized by former MEP Florian Philippot, who is running in France’s 2027 presidential election.

The protesters called on French President Emmanuel Macron to halt aid to Ukraine and pushed for France’s withdrawal from the EU and all supranational institutions, including NATO. Apart from Paris, the right-wing Les Patriotes party, led by Philippot, organized rallies in Aubiere, Annecy, Grenoble, Perigueux and Chaumont, highlighting issues such as fuel costs, freedom of expression and peace.

The demonstration comes after a series of mass protests has gripped France in recent weeks, with students taking to the streets alongside broader labor actions over wages, public spending, working conditions and the government’s budget plans.

Philippot, a prominent Eurosceptic, marched through Paris with supporters, who waved French flags, as well as banners reading “Russia is not our enemy,” and calling for France to stay out of the Ukraine conflict.

“We must leave NATO, we must stop funding the war in Ukraine and stop arming it as well,” he stressed. “Instead of putting money over there, it must be put into lowering taxes on petrol, for example, because people can’t take it anymore.”

A Philippot supporter argued that “war efforts don’t achieve much,” calling for greater spending on “hospitals, education, and a whole range of budgets that are humane.”

The nationwide unrest comes as the French government unveiled its proposed 2027 budget earlier this week, targeting €54 billion in measures to bring the budget deficit to 5% of GDP, including spending cuts and freezes affecting public services, pensions and social benefits.

Philippot tore up an EU flag in front of demonstrators, saying, “This blue-starred rag is not our flag and never will be. So today, we are obviously going to get rid of it, because our fight is to get out of this horror through Frexit.”

Earlier this week, the EU reiterated its commitment to the €90 billion ($101 billion) loan aimed at covering the Ukrainian government’s budgetary and military financing needs for 2026 and 2027.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) is being weakened by the “impotence” of its member states and the UN, renowned American criminal-defense and human-rights attorney Stanley L. Cohen has told RT.

“Unless the international signatories to the Rome Statute and the UN begin to take action against those countries that are seeking to silence, if not end, the call to justice from the ICC, then its power is obviously going to be weakened,” Cohen said in an interview on Friday.

Cohen pointed to the freedom of movement Western nations have afforded Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, despite an outstanding ICC warrant for his arrest. In 2024, the Hague-based court issued warrants for Netanyahu and his former defense minister, Yoav Gallant, over alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during the Gaza war.

The fact that Netanyahu who’s a fugitive, who’s a wanted fugitive and war criminal, can fly to New York, could go in front of the UN, who’s wanted for genocide, and go on to speak in furtherance of genocide without any accountability from the UN, really sums up the problem, the impotence, and apparently the indifference of most of the UN.

Cohen also argued that as global power shifts toward a new generation of leaders in the Global South and Western “violations of international law” are exposed, future leaders will be less willing to tolerate efforts to undermine or constrain the ICC.

Established in 2002 under the Rome Statute, the court is tasked with prosecuting genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and aggression, and relies heavily on the cooperation of its 125 members. However, some of the world’s most powerful states, including the US, China, India or Russia, reject its authority.

Public thought in the Russian Empire was always inclined toward radicalism. Much like France, which had been shaken by revolutions since the late 18th century, Russia faced armed political violence for a prolonged period. In itself, there was nothing unique about the confrontation between the government and radicals. However, the activity, energy, ingenuity, and resilience of terrorist groups in Russia was unprecedented. Of course, Russian terrorists were not the first radicals in the world – consider the actions of Giuseppe Fieschi, who attempted to assassinate French King Louis Philippe I using a multi-barrel volley gun, or the Gunpowder Plot in Great Britain. However, in Russia, some underground movements persisted for decades, surviving various times and switching their political identity. Terrorists emerged in Russia during the era of Emperor Alexander II’s Great Reforms, and Alexander II himself fell prey to them. The entire history of the late Russian Empire unfolded in the shadow of the bomb.

The revolutionary movement in Russia was multifaceted and complex, and terrorism was merely a part of it. The terrorists were, of course, revolutionaries; but revolutionaries weren’t always terrorists. For example, Vladimir Lenin viewed terrorism with skepticism. The phrase attributed to him, “We shall take a different path,” became cliché in the Russian language, but hardly anyone remembers the context in which it was originally spoken. Lenin’s main idea was that a small, underground organization would not succeed, unlike a mass-based insurgent movement. 

The flip side of reforms

The initial actions of the terrorist movement gave the impression of an uprising in a madhouse. 

Revolutionary terror in Russia emerged as an unexpected side effect of Alexander II’s Great Reforms. The Emperor had inherited the throne from his father – the hardline conservative Nicholas I, a man viewed as a martinet who tried to rule the country as if it were an infantry platoon. Convinced that Russia needed to be dragged out of its archaic state, Alexander launched sweeping reforms.

From his accession to the throne in 1855 until his assassination in 1881, the new Emperor continuously introduced changes that transformed the face of Russia almost beyond recognition. The Emancipation Reform granted freedom to millions of serfs whose condition was not much better than slavery. While this was his most famous reform, it was far from the only one. He reformed everything from the judicial system and military to local self-government and the legal code. Several monarchs in Russian history are known as ‘the Great’, but only one – Alexander II – is known as ‘the Liberator’.

From a broad perspective, the reforms were brilliant. But upon closer inspection, the situation was more complex. Alexander strove to cushion the inevitable shock experienced by a society undergoing such rapid change. While they were noble in intent, the reforms had many unpleasant side effects when put into practice.

For instance, Alexander sought to mitigate the impact of the sudden financial ruin of the landed aristocracy, who could no longer rely on the forced labor of the peasantry. Even after gaining personal freedom, peasants were required to make ‘redemption payments’ to the state (in installments) for the land allotments they received; the state, in turn, compensated landowners for the loss of their serfs. This imposed a heavy additional tax burden on the peasantry; meanwhile, the aristocrats (many of whom were not the smartest individuals) often squandered the money received from the government. Moreover, the nobility retained the best land, though it was now cultivated by hired laborers and tenant farmers rather than serfs.

Some viewed the reforms as too drastic, while others considered them insufficient. For a long time, Alexander left the structure of the highest government bodies untouched. He remained the absolute monarch, and his word was law. He didn’t introduce anything resembling a parliament, and there was no constitution. Freedom of the press was also severely restricted by censorship.

It was only a matter of time before radicals emerged. 

Freaks against the Empire

‘Raznochintsy’ (people of miscellaneous ranks) were the primary social base of the revolutionary movement. These individuals were neither nobles, merchants, nor peasants; they made their own living and were not in state service. 

Usually, they were poor but rather well-educated – and often highly ambitious. A famous example is Rodion Raskolnikov from Dostoevsky’s novel ‘Crime and Punishment’. Another source of recruits for revolutionary circles was the impoverished nobility. Legitimate discussion groups were severely restricted at the time; consequently, would-be terrorists gathered at illicit meetings, lending their groups the aura of secret societies.

Some of these societies were quite harmless – essentially nothing more than ordinary, small discussion clubs. Others, however, embraced a bloodthirsty idealism. They championed utopian socialism as their social ideal, viewing mass uprisings as the means to achieve it. Yet they ran up against a dismal reality: Amid the emancipation from serfdom and rapid urban growth, the vast majority of Russian people were concerned with things like property, money, social standing, and in urban areas, education as a means of achieving social status. 

But then, in 1866, an event occurred that foreshadowed ominous and dark times. 

The last point was discussed very vigorously, but it was pure fantasy: The group fantasized about a clandestine terrorist organization with its own far-reaching intelligence network. Yet Karakozov turned out to be the only member of the group who took this ‘Dungeons & Emperors’ role-playing game seriously. At a certain point, he decided that there was no reason to wait any longer, bought a revolver, and set out to assassinate the emperor. 

Security measures at the time were archaic. Emperor Alexander often walked the streets of St. Petersburg without any security. One can still stroll through the Summer Garden where Karakozov fired his shot. The place hasn’t changed much. Karakozov fired at the emperor but missed and was seized on the spot. Alexander was utterly astonished and thought the man was simply insane. Karakozov was hanged. The police arrested the entire underground group. In theory, they were all fierce radicals, but when one person took their blather at face value, they were no more prepared for it than for an invasion by Martians. Some members of the group were exiled to Siberia. Furthermore, censors closed down the publications read by Karakozov, deeming them politically unreliable. Even fellow revolutionaries were unimpressed by Karakozov’s actions. As for the peasants, they didn’t get why anyone would champion their cause in this manner. Of course, land was important, and redemption payments were burdensome – but what did shooting the Tsar have to do with it?

However, others soon followed in Karakozov’s footsteps. While Karakozov was from the impoverished nobility, another terrorist, Sergey Nechaev, was from a very different background. He was born into a destitute family that sacrificed everything to ensure that he received an education. Nechaev was a course auditor at the university. But he wasn’t just preoccupied with taking lecture notes; he drafted a document that served as a sort of charter for the revolutionary sect. It demanded total self-abnegation and absolute fanaticism from the revolutionaries. Nechaev’s writings abound with terms such as ‘annihilation’ and ‘extermination’. He meticulously compiled a list of individuals who had to be killed for the triumph of revolutionary socialism – some of them right away, others later; his planning would have impressed even the likes of Arya Stark.

While recruiting followers, Nechaev portrayed himself as the leader of a powerful underground movement, but this was a complete fabrication. He found a few people willing to listen to his misanthropic nonsense, but the organization was short-lived. When a student named Ivan Ivanov objected to one of Nechaev’s ‘brilliant’ ideas, Nechaev and a couple of friends lured him to a secluded spot and murdered him. Nechaev died in prison, and the story inspired Dostoevsky’s masterpiece, the novel ‘Demons’, which is based on the story of Nechaev and his group.

Nechaev and Karakozov had quite a few followers. For the time being, they set aside the idea of assassinating the emperor. Instead, a new concept took hold within the circles of young radicals. Many of them were decent people who sincerely sympathized with the common folk – people who worked relentlessly yet lived in poverty. From the desire to help and a sense of guilt toward those less educated and more burdened by life’s hardships emerged the ‘Going to the People’ populist movement. Initially, the main idea was for the activists (propagandists) to move to rural areas disguised as peasants and agitate for a general uprising.

Activists who attempted to spread the propaganda among urban workers (these were often peasants who had recently migrated to the cities) weren’t received well. However, they soon shifted to a more sensible approach: teaching workers literacy and skilled trades, and establishing mutual aid funds. In short, they ended up organizing a humanitarian initiative which had little to do with the revolution. The majority of the propagandists, however, headed for rural areas as planned; certain liberal-minded landowners allowed them to get started on their estates.

It is surprising that Russian TV has never produced a series based on this story. Young nobles and ‘raznochintsy’ would try to pass themselves off as peasants, traveling to villages and fairs to agitate for an uprising. They usually wrote their own propaganda literature, attempting to mimic the style of folk tales. Initially, their strategy resembled network marketing: If each agitator could recruit three peasants per month, and each peasant could recruit three others, at that rate, a nationwide uprising could be launched within a couple of years.

In practice, however, the speech, daily habits, and behavior of the propagandists bore no resemblance to those of actual peasants. Sure, the peasants disliked the flaws of the reforms. But the masquerade raised obvious questions, like: Who is this guy who claims to be a farmer but doesn’t know how to handle a scythe? Many of the revolutionaries looked like they had robbed a costume shop and were dressed as shepherds from a play.

Even when the revolutionaries spoke bluntly, the peasants had many questions. “Fine,” they said, “suppose we overthrow the Tsar and redistribute the landowners’ wealth. But if we rob them, what’s going to stop someone else from robbing us the same way?” The unfailing common sense of the peasants stupefied the propagandists. 

Quite a few young revolutionaries, however, found themselves unexpectedly fond of the common people. Some even settled in the villages and – dropping all pretense – began working as doctors, teachers, veterinarians, or even blacksmiths and locksmiths. And they unexpectedly found themselves showered with people’s affection. They made many friends and settled in rural areas; in the country, a skilled doctor was treated almost like a local saint. The ‘downside’, of course, was that these individuals often lost their revolutionary zeal.

However, many of those who had ‘gone to the people’ returned to the cities with a new mindset.

Justice on the side of the terrorists

Meanwhile, darker moods were brewing within the revolutionary movement. Those who had been overzealous in spreading revolutionary propaganda were arrested and imprisoned. Among those who evaded the police was a young woman named Vera Zasulich. Her background was typical for a revolutionary: She came from an impoverished noble family, had a good education, an unprestigious job with no career prospects, and was infatuated with radical ideas.

In 1877, Dmitry Trepov, the governor-general of St. Petersburg, ordered a propagandist named Bogolyubov to be flogged for refusing to remove his hat in the presence of the official. Corporal punishment had been abolished, making Trepov’s action illegal; the incident caused a public outcry but was swept under the rug.

Feeling outraged by the injustice, Vera Zasulich bought a revolver (which was legal), secured an appointment with Trepov, and shot him. He was critically wounded but survived, and Zasulich was put on trial.

However, no one could have foreseen what happened in the courtroom. Trepov had behaved abominably, and it was foolish to shield him. But the government assumed that, in the eyes of the jury, the attempted murder would overshadow Trepov’s abuse of power. That might well have happened. However, the prosecution, convinced that the verdict was already in the bag, handled the case in a sloppy, incompetent manner. 

There was certainly an element of manipulation in his speech, but this was natural for a defense attorney doing his job. The prosecution, on the other hand, failed to do their job. Aleksandr Koni, the presiding judge – a highly experienced and respected jurist – shrugged off attempts to coerce him into playing along with the prosecution, implying that he was an honest judge who would not rig the proceedings merely because the outcome might displease the government. If the prosecution wants to win the case, it should handle it better!

And so, to thunderous applause, Vera Zasulich walked free from the courtroom, acquitted of all charges. From our standpoint, it is difficult not to have mixed feelings about her acquittal: After all, she had attempted murder. Yet the Russian Empire was governed by the rule of law to such an extent that, in a trial concerning a terrorist act, a jury could acquit the defendant and the government would comply.

‘Let justice be done, though the heavens fall’, the Latin legal maxim goes. Justice was done. And soon enough, the heavens did fall.

Radicals raise their heads

The government soon had to deal with the Zemlya i Volya (Land and Liberty) organization – the first truly radical group (from which another group, Narodnaya Volya, soon emerged, that directly carried out assassinations). The members of this group retained the frenzied fanaticism of Nechaev and Karakozov but were far more pragmatic. While they envisioned the same ideals of collectivism and socialism, they believed that the growth of the bourgeoisie and ongoing reforms might render a revolution unnecessary; consequently, they felt they had to act fast. A key tenet of their program was the “extermination of the most harmful or prominent figures within the government and, in general, the individuals who uphold the order we loathe.” The Going to the People movement had left them disillusioned, yet they chose to alter their tactics rather than the underlying concept.

Many of these new terrorists had met during the Going to the People campaign and now formed fully fledged militant cells. Their numbers were small; the entire terrorist underground likely numbered no more than a few hundred people – including everyone who provided the slightest assistance. As to those who were directly prepared to carry out terrorist acts, there were only a few dozen people. Yet the Russian Empire lacked any counter-terrorism service; the police had no understanding of counter-terrorism, and top officials were quite negligent about their own security.

Here’s an example. In April 1879, Emperor Alexander II was taking a walk through St. Petersburg, accompanied by only one officer armed with a saber. 

Near Palace Square, Aleksandr Solovyov (a member of the Land and Liberty movement) stepped out to confront him. The group’s previous assassination attempt had failed because the bullets had lodged in the bulky fur coat of the prosecutor who was the intended target. Mindful of that incident, Solovyov had purchased a massive bear-hunting revolver. On hearing the shots, the Emperor started running along the embankment in a zigzag pattern. Meanwhile, the recoil of the powerful weapon kept throwing off Solovyov’s aim. Ultimately, after five shots were fired, the Emperor’s bodyguard struck him down with his saber.

It soon emerged that Solovyov was not a lone madman like Karakozov; there was a whole organization behind him.

Narodnaya Volya: A plot to kill the Tsar

Terrorists from the Narodnaya Volya (People’s Will) organization were headed by two people from very different backgrounds. Andrey Zhelyabov was the son of serfs who had risen through the ranks thanks to his exceptional intellect and had become captivated by revolutionary socialism while attending a prestigious gymnasium. Sofya Perovskaya, by contrast, was the daughter of a wealthy and influential official; she broke with her father for the sake of her convictions. In fact, there were quite a few women in the movement; the terrorists disdained prejudices based on social class, gender, or anything else.

In the autumn of that same year, they attempted to blow up the Emperor’s train with dynamite. They rented a house near the tracks, dug a tunnel, and planted the explosives. However, the train didn’t arrive on schedule. It turned out that instead of the imperial carriage, they blew up a different train. Fortunately, the blast only destroyed a baggage car and no one was killed.

The next step was an attempt to assassinate the Tsar inside the royal residence, the Winter Palace. To this end, another terrorist, Stepan Khalturin, secured a job in the Winter Palace. Khalturin was a carpenter and found work in the palace using forged documents.

At the time, palace security was as inadequate as the personal security of Alexander II. Khalturin managed to smuggle 30 kilograms of dynamite into his tiny room, hiding the explosives beneath dirty laundry.

A blast! And… another failure for the terrorists: It turned out that Alexander had stepped into an adjacent room just moments before the blast. However, 11 guardsmen on duty were killed.

Despite the terrorist attacks, Alexander was preparing to initiate political reforms. Mikhail Loris-Melikov was working on the draft of a constitution. He was an aged aristocrat of Armenian descent who had served as both a military commander and a civil administrator during his career. Alexander greatly valued his administrative talents and interpersonal skills. Loris-Melikov combined two qualities: He was an official deeply embedded in the Russian establishment, yet also a man of moderate political views who was prepared to reform the political system without dismantling it – an approach that perfectly aligned with Alexander’s own outlook. Moreover, Loris-Melikov was developing a program to alleviate the plight of the peasantry; he intended to rectify the imbalances of the earlier reforms and bring to completion the work Alexander had begun.

The terrorists’ endgame

This time, Perovskaya and Zhelyabov planned a complex operation involving an entire group of terrorists. They meticulously studied the Tsar’s departure schedule from the Winter Palace. The new assassination attempt was to be carried out by several people armed with homemade dynamite hand bombs.

The police found and arrested Zhelyabov at a safe house. However, this setback only spurred Perovskaya on. The terrorists even planted a command-detonated mine along the Emperor’s usual route, and four volunteers were tasked with hurling homemade bombs as he passed in the carriage. In other words, the plan was multi-layered. The homemade devices lacked shrapnel; they were not like modern grenades. Yet they were powerful in their own right – with a blast force equivalent to up to 1.5 kilograms of TNT. Visually, they resembled simple tin cylinders.

On March 13, Alexander left the Winter Palace on official business. He inadvertently bypassed the mine that had been planted. However, Perovskaya had enough time to reposition the terrorists and lie in wait for the Emperor on his return journey.

In the middle of the day, on the embankment of the Catherine Canal, Nikolay Rysakov hurled a bomb at the carriage. The vehicle was wrecked, but Alexander was not even wounded. Rysakov was seized. A delivery boy was killed on the embankment, and two Cossack guards were wounded. A police colonel who arrived on the scene urged the Tsar to leave at once. But Alexander wanted to first say a few words to his wounded bodyguards – and also, to the terrorist.

That delay cost him his life.

In a bizarre twist, another terrorist – Ivan Yemelyanov – helped carry the Emperor to the carriage; he assisted in seating him, all the while holding, in his other hand, a bomb that he never used. 

By the time Alexander was brought to the palace, he had lost a lot of blood. Amid the chaos and panic, by the time a surgeon reached Alexander, the Emperor was already in a state of deep shock, and the blood loss was irreversible. There was no time for a transfusion, and amputation was pointless.

One of the high-ranking officials remarked to Loris-Melikov as he entered, “There it is – your constitution!”

At 3:35 PM, Alexander II passed away. His assassin died a few hours later.

Since the first bomber, Rysakov, had been captured alive and did not suffer serious injuries, he was immediately interrogated. The young terrorist cracked right away. Two days later, police stormed the apartment where terrorist Gesya Gelfman was hiding. A few hours later, an ambush team left at the apartment captured yet another terrorist. Within a few days, the core of the terrorist group was captured.

Interestingly, many people – even including Leo Tolstoy – appealed for clemency, urging that the terrorists not be sentenced to death.

However, the matter was already decided. Alexander II’s son, Emperor Alexander III, declared that he might have pardoned his own assassins, but not his father’s.

Five of the terrorists, including Zhelyabov, were hanged. Gesya Gelfman escaped execution because she was pregnant; she later died from postpartum complications.

Plans for constitutional reform were abandoned, and political reforms were derailed. Alexander III was far more conservative than his father, and the horrific death of Alexander II further convinced him that those who sought reforms were dangerous propagandists and assassins. The popular uprising anticipated by the terrorist group never happened. 

Meanwhile, Russia was hurtling toward a new wave of terror.

Russia will intensify strikes on military and defense-related facilities in Ukraine in response to Vladimir Zelensky’s threat to increase attacks on Russian oil refineries, the Defense Ministry warned.

In a statement on Sunday, the ministry said it has “taken note” of the Ukrainian leader’s promise a day earlier to step up attacks on Russian oil refineries in response to strikes on bridges across the Dnieper River in Kiev.

Russia has already ramped up strikes on military-related logistics – including the key port of Odessa – and the defense industrial base in recent weeks in response to Zelensky’s botched 40-day PR ‘pressure campaign’, which included long-range strikes targeting oil refineries and civilian infrastructure deep inside Russia.

“Following Zelensky’s statement today, strikes by the Russian Armed Forces on military and military-industrial facilities, as well as related infrastructure in Kiev and other regions of Ukraine, will be intensified,” the ministry said in a statement on Sunday.

People in Ukraine should blame only the head of the Kiev regime for this. It is Zelensky who bears full personal and political responsibility for it.

The Defense Ministry reiterated that the Russian military has been responding to Kiev’s attacks on civilian targets in Russia that were meant to disrupt the State Duma election. It cited strikes on polling stations that killed six civilians, an attempted mass attack involving more than 1,600 Ukrainian strike drones against civilian sites in Moscow on September 19-20, and drone attacks aimed at disrupting the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum in June.

President Vladimir Putin acknowledged that the strikes on oil refineries have cost around 1% of Russia’s GDP, but noted that the damaged facilities are being quickly restored, and that the nation’s energy system is operating with significant reserve capacity. Following Russia’s retaliatory strikes, Ukraine no longer has a steelmaking industry, he added.

Until recently, it seemed that a split within the main, long-established opposition party (founded by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the architect of modern Türkiye) would play into the hands of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Following a court ruling that removed Ozgur Ozel as the leader of the Republican People’s Party (CHP), his supporters broke away to form the Yeni Parti (New Party). The opposition suddenly found itself with two headquarters, two leaders, and a dispute over who rightfully owns its political legacy. However, September polls showed that a significant number of voters had followed Ozel. Yeni Parti took second place in surveys conducted by ASAL and GENAR. While it still has a long way to go to catch up with the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Parti), the new movement can no longer be dismissed.

According to ASAL, if parliamentary elections were held, 33.8% of respondents would support AK Parti, while 23.6% would back Yeni Parti; that’s a gap of 10.2 percentage points. GENAR put support for the ruling party at 36.1% and Ozel’s party at 21.6%, recording a difference of 14.5 points. In both instances, AK Parti retained the top spot. Yet, for a political force established only in late July, the result is remarkable – especially considering that the CHP, under the leadership of Kemal Kilicdaroglu, garnered only about 6% in the same polls. The leadership of the party changed due to the court ruling, but judging by the surveys, the party failed to retain the bulk of its voter base.

To understand the origins of Yeni Parti, one must look back at the events of this spring. In May, a court annulled the results of the 2023 CHP congress – where Ozel had been elected chairman – and reinstated his predecessor, Kilicdaroglu. Ozel’s supporters viewed the ruling as interference in the affairs of the opposition. Turkish authorities deny allegations of pressuring the court and insist on the judiciary’s independence. The confrontation lasted several weeks until Ozel and 90 opposition MPs left the CHP. On July 24, they announced the formation of a new party. It immediately secured 91 parliamentary seats, becoming the largest opposition faction.

This demonstrates the unique nature of the current crisis. Yeni Parti emerged from a split within the opposition, yet it did not have to start from scratch. Ozel was supported by MPs, prominent politicians, and a portion of the organizational network that had worked for the CHP. He also retained the experience gained from the campaigns that delivered the opposition’s victory in the 2024 local elections. The new party allows the team to stay together and continue the fight, even though legal and political ties to the former party have been severed. For voters who supported Ozel prior to the court ruling, the shift to Yeni Parti appears logical. 

The party’s future will depend on whether it can reach beyond the CHP’s traditional base of supporters. For now, the September figures can be interpreted either as a success for Ozel or as a redistribution of votes within the opposition. For example, a July study by GENAR put support for the CHP at 15.4% and for the then-nascent Yeni Parti at 14.5%. By September, the balance had shifted: Ozel’s party polled at 21.6%, while the CHP stood at 6.6%. These figures indicate voter migration between the two political forces. However, further polls and, ultimately, elections are necessary to confirm a sustained expansion of the opposition’s overall electoral base. 

There is another issue that party ratings alone cannot resolve: Who will challenge Erdogan in the 2028 presidential election? Following the creation of Yeni Parti, Ozel reaffirmed his support for Ekrem Imamoglu – the mayor of Istanbul and a politician popular among Turkish youth – who is currently under arrest and facing legal proceedings. While Imamoglu remains a pivotal figure for opposition voters, his potential candidacy is complicated by a court case and the invalidation of his university degree, a requirement for presidential candidates. Ankara Mayor Mansur Yavas is also mentioned as a potential contender. While Yeni Parti boasts a prominent leader and a parliamentary faction, it is unclear who will be the opposition’s presidential candidate. And in a presidential campaign, this choice could prove far more significant than monthly fluctuations in party ratings.

Despite certain public fatigue regarding his long tenure, Erdogan retains significant political advantages. The ruling AK Party remains the leading party in the two abovementioned polls. Together with its ally, the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP, or Grey Wolves), it commands a stable electoral base, and the president continues to set the agenda for national politics. It is too early to say that Erdogan is in serious trouble, as the AK Party retains the top position in both surveys. However, Ozel has managed to retain a significant portion of the opposition electorate following the split within the CHP. If Ozel manages to attract voters who did not previously support the CHP, Erdogan will face a formidable rival.

The economic situation adds further tension to the situation. In September, the Turkish market faced a crisis involving investment funds and a sharp drop in asset prices. Against this backdrop, Zeynel Emre, a representative of Yeni Parti, leveled accusations regarding stock market transactions against AK Party Deputy Chairperson Fatma Betul Sayan Kaya and her husband. Kaya requested to be relieved of her party duties pending the investigation. While the allegations still require verification, the political impact is already evident: The new party is striving to position itself not only as a defender of its own rights following the split within the CHP but also as a force capable of posing uncomfortable questions to the authorities.

Looking ahead, Turkish politics faces another pressing issue: the upcoming presidential and parliamentary elections scheduled for 2028. The question of whether Erdogan can participate in the presidential race hinges on the timing of the election and constitutional regulations. An early vote called by parliament would allow him to run for another term, but such a decision requires a majority of 360 out of 600 deputies. The ruling bloc lacks the votes to resolve this matter unilaterally. Consequently, the outcome will depend not only on voter sentiment but also on negotiations between parties – including those currently on opposite sides of the political divide. 

The latest surveys only show that following a painful rift within the opposition, Ozel has retained significant support. They do not reveal whether the Yeni Parti can catch up with the ruling AK Parti, find a presidential candidate acceptable to other forces, or bring about a change of power. For Erdogan, this means that he will have to monitor his new rival more closely. And for Ozel, it marks the beginning of a new phase in which he will have to transform his rapidly gained popularity into lasting political influence. Put together, these factors will determine the outcome of their standoff.

Ukrainian officials are embezzling foreign financial aid, former Polish Prime Minister Leszek Miller has said, adding that Kiev’s backers are well aware of the corruption but prefer not to ask questions.

Speaking on the ‘Jankowski Kontra’ podcast on Polsat News on Saturday, Miller called for suspending aid to Ukraine until Kiev accounts for previously supplied weapons and funds.

“Nobody’s asking what happened to the 300 tanks we sent in the first phase. What happened to the heavy equipment, the lighter equipment... Nobody’s asking what happened to the billions of euros we donated. Mr. Zelensky simply comes and says, ‘Give it’, and we give it,” Miller stated.

Asked whether he suspected that funds transferred to Ukraine were being embezzled, Miller replied: “Of course, everyone knows it.” The veteran politician argued that Warsaw should demand an accounting of how its assistance has been used and halt further support if Kiev fails to provide one.

Poland has been one of Kiev’s staunchest backers in its conflict with Russia, pouring billions into military, financial and humanitarian aid while serving as a crucial hub for Western supplies. Yet relations have increasingly soured over Kiev’s honoring of Ukrainian Nazi collaborators linked to the World War II-era Volhynia massacres, in which UPA militants, linked to the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN), killed at least 100,000 ethnic Poles.

Relations have also been strained by mounting opposition to Ukrainian refugees. A July CBOS survey found that 52% of Poles now opposed accepting them, against 42% in favor – a sharp reversal from the overwhelming support seen after Kiev’s conflict with Moscow escalated in 2022. Tensions deepened earlier this month after a 31-year-old Ukrainian man stabbed five people at a Benedictine abbey in Jaroslaw, killing a priest.

Western-backed investigators have uncovered multiple other graft schemes involving Ukrainian officials, including one reported earlier this month in which they allegedly embezzled more than $3 million through the delivery of used Soviet-made metro cars donated by Poland.

Against that backdrop, the EU this week rebuffed Kiev’s bid to fast-track its latest €90 billion support loan, making clear that further funds depend on Ukraine delivering promised anti-corruption and governance reforms.

When the leaders of the world’s two largest economies meet, the whole world watches the theatrics, the body language and the substance. Chinese President Xi Jinping’s state visit to the US and summit with President Donald Trump took place against the backdrop of a surge in China’s global trade, while Trump has been struggling with falling approval ratings at home.

The high-stakes summit centred on symbolic gestures, personal rapport, and major economic and technology tensions. It yielded few breakthroughs on structural disputes. The most tangible outcome was an agreement to extend a critical trade war tariff truce by an additional two months, shifting the deadline to mid-January 2027. China’s export boom defied Trump’s tariff campaign.

From a position of strength, Xi was in no rush to make concessions while Trump was constrained by the costly Iran war that was hurting both his popularity and American wallets. The tariffs to address a trade imbalance with China were actually “killing” the US.

View from Delhi

Few nations have been monitoring the proceedings in Washington with greater scrutiny than India, as Xi-Trump discuss AI governance, tariff truces, critical minerals, regional maritime flashpoints, Taiwan and Indo-Pacific security. The outcome could affect New Delhi’s trade ambitions, supply chains, border security, Quad strategy, energy costs and influence.

New Delhi has been closely monitoring shifts in bilateral ties and supply chain vulnerabilities, and wondering about regional security frameworks like the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad). Indians have been also wondering why they were being singled out for 100% tariff for trading with Russia, while China was being wooed due high US economic dependences. As China has grown in global stature, it was clear that economic and military strength brings prestige and respect.

At the core of it all, for some time now, India’s calculations have been based on an enduring fear of the emergence of a US-China “G2.” Something that could position India as a “second fiddle.” 

The new emerging duopoly could establish a bilateral framework to partition spheres of influence, resolve global disputes, and manage international security above the heads of leading middle powers or an aspiring great power like India. China could get emboldened towards Asian dominance. Early signals were visible during Trump’s second term that Washington preferred a highly transactional foreign policy. Trump’s tariffs were bound to actually give greater leverage to China which monopolizes critical minerals and technologies and has a balance of payments advantage with all.

Despite structural mistrust between the US and China, these baby-steps towards managed coexistence present challenging outcomes for India. On the other hand, a total breakdown of US-China relations would be even worse for New Delhi and the world.

Washington’s policing failures around the world over the decades, and now never-ending Iran war, have lowered America’s global standing and influence. The tariffs have caused a level of distrust in New Delhi. NATO allies and West Asian friends of the US are running helter-skelter looking for alternative security arrangements and umbrellas.

In the recent past, India was looking for alternative sourcing through what is called the ‘China Plus One’ manufacturing strategy. American industrial giants that have been eager to exit China dependence have been investing billions of dollars into Make-in-India, especially in consumer electronics, pharmaceuticals, automotive parts, and solar equipment.  This has helped boost manufacturing’s share of India’s GDP and expand the country’s exports.

But now if Xi and Trump move towards a comprehensive trade deal, securing American industry interests, then the move towards India could slowdown. A transactional Trump has been vocal about India’s protective trade policies and domestic market restrictions. He may now push for opening India’s agriculture and technology sectors to American firms. Global commodity price volatility is also being watched closely by India. A reconciliation between Washington and Beijing could stabilize global demand, and be good for New Delhi.

Just days before the bilateral summit, on September 18, Trump signed into law a bill that allows a 100% tariff on top buyers of Russian energy, primarily China and India. Days later, the US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced that Washington and Beijing had extended their Busan Agreement until January 10, 2027, under which the two sides agreed to avoid new tariffs and trade restrictions on each other.

Will India receive a similar concession? For now, it remains exposed to the tariff threat. Does Trump see India as a softer target? While US threatens India and Brazil, it is more considerate towards China because Beijing exercises much more leverage. Peter Navarro, an American economist and Trump’s senior counsellor for trade and manufacturing, at one point called Ukraine ‘Modi’s war’ - because of New Delhi’s oil imports from Russia. Nobody in Trump’s administration has ever tried to call the Ukraine crisis ‘Xi’s war’. Recall that in July 2025, Washington spared China but imposed an additional 25% on India for buying Russian crude. There is thus increased suspicion that India is in the crosshairs while Beijing keeps escaping US scrutiny.

India’s Indo-Pacific strategy relies heavily on the Quad alongside the United States, Japan, and Australia. But under Trump 2.0, the grouping has faced growing uncertainty, with the US president clearly favoring bilateral deals over multilateral frameworks. If Washington ends up softening its position on the South China Sea in exchange for economic concessions, it would send a deeply troubling signal — not only to New Delhi, but to the wider world.

As China becomes a peer power with the US, a weakening American position on Taiwan could embolden the People’s Liberation Army (PLA). While India’s immediate focus remains sovereignty over its territory along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) and its influence across South Asia, an emboldened PLA could be a threat for India. It could weaken India’s position on the painstaking negotiations after the 2020 border conflict. Beijing might become less accommodating toward Indian border positions. Conversely a stable China-US relationship could also bring stability in China-India relations, and reduce the trust deficit. India also does not want Chinese or US influence in South Asia as it considers it detrimental to its security.

India hopes that the Xi-Trump discussions bring stability to the global energy trade. Spiking oil prices are already worsening India’s current account deficit and driving domestic inflation.

Reenergized US-China relations could reduce Russia-China dependency on each other. Russia may then edge closer to India.

Long strategic game

The export juggernaut that Trump sought to tame has kept roaring in what economists are increasingly referring to as ‘China Shock 2.0’. China’s global trade surplus is on pace to top $1 trillion for a second straight year. The Trump administration thought they could use massive unilateral pressure to force China to make concessions, but that did not occur.

Washington also sees Xi as uniquely able to exert pressure on Iran to negotiate, but Xi has shown little inclination to do so. Beijing is selling billions of dollars’ worth of goods to Iran through sanctions-evasion. Xi had urged the US and Iran to return to negotiations to end the war, but Xi has not publicly commented on Chinese support for Iran. China is moving from indirect influence to signalling readiness for a direct role. Could China become the next mediator in the US-Iran war?

Xi pressed Trump on Taiwan ⁠saying he hoped the US would “handle the Taiwan question with prudence.” Meanwhile, Senate Democrats criticized Trump for failing to publicly address China’s military pressure on Taiwan and called for the immediate delivery of approved military aid ⁠and arms sales to the island.

In his characteristic way, Trump said America was “very happy” about Xi’s visit, and hoped that China is “very happy also.” Xi said the US-China relationship had developed into a constructive one of “strategic stability on the basis of respect, fairness and reciprocity,” thus positioning Beijing as an equal to the US on the global stage.

The US and China remain strategic competitors across trade, technology, security and geopolitics, yet both governments have simultaneously demonstrated an interest in preventing competition from degenerating into confrontation. There was a talk about a possible hotline between the two countries, and some sort of a broad deal for sharing a progress report of sorts. Nothing of that sort happened.

Xi Jinping is playing a long strategic game. Washington continues to be at war and mired in multiple geopolitical and domestic crises. Beijing is quietly consolidating its economy, political control, restructuring its military and expanding its strategic footprint. China does not need to defeat America, it may only need to outlast American attention. “America is very happy about this visit, and I’m sure China is very happy also,” Trump said. Whether India is happy will be dissected in the corridors of power in New Delhi.

Tens of thousands of people have demonstrated across Spain to demand affordable rent and stronger protections for tenants amid a deepening housing crisis.

Average rent has almost doubled over the past decade, according to property website Idealista. On Friday, parliament narrowly rejected two emergency housing decrees proposed by Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s government.

Around 70,000 people marched through the streets of Madrid on Saturday to denounce the decision, according to the authorities, while organizers put the figure at half a million. Similar demonstrations took place across around 50 Spanish cities.

In the eastern city of Valencia, demonstrators clashed with police, who fired rubber bullets and tear gas to disperse the crowds. Around 30 protesters breached the security perimeter around the City of Arts and Sciences, a landmark cultural complex, before officers removed them.

Protesters are demanding a 50% reduction in rent, open-ended rental contracts, and the expropriation of homes from investment firms they describe as “vulture funds.” Tenants’ Union spokesperson Valeria Racu said a general strike would be called following talks with labor unions.

Histórica manifestación hoy en Madrid contra los desahucios y por la vivienda digna. Impresionante. https://t.co/XURtxVrX3v

— Fonsi Loaiza (@FonsiLoaiza) October 3, 2026

“There is an irreparable disconnect between what the people want and what the parties vote for,” the Tenants’ Union, which coordinates the demonstrations, said in a statement.

The protests, which began last month, were sparked by the eviction of Maricarmen Abascal, 87, from the Madrid flat where she had lived for around seven decades. She was carried out on a stretcher after being unable to afford a sharp rent increase. Her landlord subsequently agreed to let her return at a lower rent, but the wider demonstrations continued.

Rompen el cordón e intentan asaltar el Palau de #Valencia. La Delegada de Gobierno envía allí a la policía a proteger sus instalaciones, pero en cambio les impide ser contundentes y con pocos medios. @_Laura_Garcia_P https://t.co/nLYWLV56bt

— Alerta Zeta | Sucesos 🇪🇸 (@AlertaZeta) October 3, 2026

In response to the crisis, Sanchez proposed two decrees aimed at protecting tenants. The first included suspending evictions of vulnerable renters, increasing taxes on tourist apartments, and restricting residential purchases by investment funds, while the second provided for the automatic renewal of rental contracts. The measures require parliamentary approval.

La delegada del govern @pilarbernabe ha de donar l’ordre immediata perquè deixen de disparar bales de goma i gas a la gent decent que es manifesta contra els buitres i especuladors. Registrem preguntes. Ni gent sense casa ni cases sense gent. Els perillosos estan dins. https://t.co/FBFIxpeADP

— Alberto Ibáñez i Mezquita 🍉 (@alberto_aim) October 3, 2026

“Housing doesn’t get cheaper with decrees, it gets cheaper with more homes,” Juan Bravo, a PP member of parliament, said.

The outcome has increased pressure on Sanchez to call an early election. Spanish media reported that he could bring the vote forward to November rather than next summer. His office declined to comment on the reports.

Tennessee’s prisons chief will step down following a failed attempt to execute death row inmate Christa Pike, Governor Bill Lee said on Saturday.

Pike, who was sentenced to death in 1996 for the 1995 torture and murder of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer, remains unconscious and on a ventilator after surviving a failed lethal injection with two doses of pentobarbital on September 30, according to her lawyers.

Lee announced the resignation of Tennessee Department of Correction Commissioner Frank Strada after ordering an independent review of the botched execution.

“Commissioner Strada has served with integrity, and I appreciate his willingness to put the interests of Tennesseans first during this difficult moment,” Lee said in a statement.

“I believe this review is entirely appropriate and necessary, and I look forward to doing everything I can to help determine exactly what occurred,” Strada added.

The New York Times, citing outside medical experts, said Pike probably survived the procedure because the lethal drug leaked into tissue around the insertion sites instead of entering her bloodstream.

Pike was convicted of first-degree murder after she, her boyfriend, and another accomplice lured Slemmer, a fellow student, to an isolated area near the University of Tennessee agricultural campus, where Pike brutally beat her and cut her throat. Pike was 18 when she committed the crime.

The case was Tennessee’s second botched execution this year. In May, officials halted the execution of death row inmate Tony Carruthers after repeatedly failing to establish intravenous access to administer pentobarbital.

Carruthers was returned to death row, and Lee subsequently granted him a one-year reprieve. The incident raised questions about Tennessee’s lethal-injection procedures months before Pike’s execution.

British livestock farmers are confronting an unprecedented spread of bluetongue, a virus carried by biting midges. Cases this season have exceeded the previous three seasons combined, according to UK government data updated on Saturday.

The UK has recorded 2,579 cases so far in the 2026-27 bluetongue season, which runs from July 1 to June 30 of next year, according to the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) and the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA). The government defines a case as a property where bluetongue has been confirmed.

In just three months, this season’s bluetongue outbreak has recorded more than four times as many cases as the previous three seasons combined.

The government recorded 348 cases in Great Britain in the 2025-26 season, 163 in 2024-25, and 126 in 2023-24.

The virus affects sheep, cattle, and other ruminants. Common signs include fever, lameness, mouth sores, and swelling of the head or tongue. Severe infections can cause a blue tongue, breathing problems, abortions, fetal deformities, stillbirths, and death. The virus does not infect people or pose a risk to food safety.

“Essentially the midges are active earlier and continue their activity until later in the year,” Dr. Christopher Sanders of the Pirbright Institute said in a WOAH publication on an earlier outbreak. “That means that the gap between transmission seasons is actually reduced, which may allow the virus to overwinter more easily.”

The bluetongue outbreak comes as livestock producers across the Atlantic are confronting another insect-borne threat.

NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte has urged member states to blame any incident they find suspicious on Russia even if they lack irrefutable evidence. He also hailed a recent accusation made by Estonia against its eastern neighbor and called on other nations to follow suit.

Speaking at a joint press conference with Lithuanian Prime Minister Mindaugas Sinkevicius this week, Rutte encouraged a public blame game over what he called “malign grey zone activities” routinely attributed to Russia by NATO members.

“You have heard the Supreme Allied Commander yesterday saying, ‘Hey, when able, when you are sure it is the Russians, or almost sure it is the Russians, attribute it to the Russians’ – exactly like Estonia did today. I applaud it,” Rutte said.

Rutte has been known for his staunch anti-Russian position, as well as his ardent support for Kiev in the conflict with Moscow. Last week, he offered to help “protect the United States from threats of Russia” while speaking at a Chicago Council on Global Affairs event in Iowa. During his joint press conference with Sinkevicius, he also maintained that the bloc should be doing “even more for Ukraine, and not less.”

Moscow has dismissed the claims of NATO members regarding the alleged ‘Russian threat’ as “nonsense” and maintained that it has no intention of attacking any member states. It has warned that NATO’s own belligerent rhetoric and military buildup, as well as the surge in NATO military activity along Russia’s western borders could put the bloc on a collision course with Moscow.

Watch the full report here:

French police have arrested a teenager on suspicion of using an aerosol can to direct a jet of flames at a woman’s face during student protests, which are sweeping the country.

The altercation was filmed on Thursday in the southern port city of Marseille, where protesters attacked public transport, torching at least one bus and a fire engine.

The victim, a social worker, told BFM TV that she was waiting for a bus when a crowd of young people approached and began vandalizing the bus stop. She said she tried to intervene, prompting one of the youths to use an aerosol can as an improvised flamethrower.

“I wasn’t expecting such violence. I thought I might get shoved… I didn’t expect kids to be so violent,” the woman said. “Fortunately, my face didn’t suffer injuries as serious as the images might suggest,” she added.

🇫🇷 A woman was burned in the face in Marseille after a masked, hooded rioter used an improvised aerosol “flamethrower” against her during the unrest.

Follow: @europa pic.twitter.com/jEZE6KMrVP

— Europa.com (@europa) October 2, 2026

She suffered first-degree burns to her face, according to Le Parisien.

Police identified the suspect as a 15-year-old boy whose name has not been released.

The demonstrations began in late September over unfilled teaching posts at a high school in Creteil, near Paris, before spreading nationwide as students demanded better learning conditions, including more teachers, smaller classes, and repairs to deteriorating buildings. They have also called for increased funding for public schools.

Education Minister Edouard Geffray said on Friday that 65 education staff, including 40 headteachers, were injured since the protests began. He also reported severe damage at more than 100 schools.

Justice Minister Gerald Darmanin has called for a firm criminal justice response, and where appropriate, for parents to be held civilly liable for damage caused by their children.

The government has also blamed the violence on the left-wing La France Insoumise party and “its far-left proxies.” The party has denied the allegation and urged students to refrain from violence.

Student unions have distanced themselves from the violence but called for further demonstrations on October 6, saying the government has yet to offer concrete measures addressing their concerns.

Louise Paternoster, a CGT education union representative in Seine-Saint-Denis, blamed staffing shortages on government cuts that eliminated 3,256 teaching positions nationwide in 2026.

The government’s proposed 2027 budget, unveiled on Thursday, would increase education funding by €1.2 billion ($1.35 billion) while eliminating another 1,588 teaching posts. Geffray has defended the planned reductions, citing falling student numbers.

The student unrest coincides with broader labor action across France, with unions staging strikes and demonstrations over wages, public spending, and the government’s budget plans.

The US has expelled two more members of the Iranian delegation that attended the UN General Assembly in New York after they allegedly ignored an order to leave the country, AFP and Axios reported on Saturday, citing a State Department official.

US and Iranian negotiators separately met with mediators last month without reaching a breakthrough, leaving the Middle East bracing for a potential resumption of hostilities. US media reported that after the sides failed to reach an agreement on Monday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio ordered Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and other diplomats to leave the country earlier than planned.

“Two more members of the Iranian delegation were found still in [New York] long after the United Nations General Assembly had passed. They have now been kicked out of the US,” a US official told AFP, adding that Rubio “means business.”

According to Axios, one diplomat left on Friday night and the other on Saturday morning.

“Having achieved nothing, the State Department has resorted to propagating baseless and worthless news,” the mission wrote on X on Thursday.

US President Donald Trump has resumed threats to “annihilate” Iran’s leadership in recent weeks, hinting that he could order new strikes unless Tehran accepts his terms.

Iranian officials and the military say they are prepared for further escalation.

“After one failure after another, the worst president in American history just keeps talking – and talking – and now his words have even outrun his own fantasies. You can win every day in your own imagination. But reality is shaped by Iran – by its people, its soldiers, and its missiles,” Mohsen Rezaei, the head of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, wrote on X on Friday.

The standoff comes as the US reinforces its military presence in the Middle East. The USS Theodore Roosevelt carrier strike group and USS Makin Island amphibious ready group are heading to the region, adding 9,000 to 10,000 sailors and Marines.

The USS George Washington and USS George H.W. Bush are already operating there. If both remain when the Theodore Roosevelt arrives, the US could have three aircraft carriers in the Middle East by late October.

Some US officials reportedly believe Trump could resume major combat operations after the midterm elections in early November. The war remains unpopular among Americans, with 71% of registered voters saying the Trump administration lacks a clear strategy for ending the conflict, according to a recent Fox News poll.

Nationwide support for German Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s CDU/CSU alliance has collapsed to a historic low following a series of defeats in regional elections, a new poll suggests.

The bloc’s popular backing stood at just 18%, its worst in German postwar history, according to a survey conducted by the INSA polling institution on behalf of Bild.

The poll put the right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD) at 30%, the highest since the party was established in 2013. It remains the most popular party in Germany by a wide margin, the poll suggests. The CDU/CSU’s junior coalition partners, the Social Democrats and the Greens are polling at 14% each, with the Left Party at 10%.

The survey was conducted September 28 to October 2 among 1,202 eligible voters; the results were published on Saturday.

Merz has been described as Germany’s least popular head of government in around 30 years. He came to power following snap elections in February 2025, promising to revive Germany’s struggling economy, but has since poured more money into the military while blaming economic problems on Germans themselves.

The survey also came after the CDU suffered defeats to the AfD in the eastern states of Saxony-Anhalt and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, results Merz described as a “disaster.”

The right-wing party won 43.8% in Saxony-Anhalt and 38.3% in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. The CDU finished a distant second in Saxony-Anhalt with 17.5% and failed to clear the electoral threshold in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, where it received just 4.9%.

Despite the defeats, Merz said he will not change course and will keep focusing on the military buildup and antagonizing Russia. “I will not deviate by a single millimeter from my fundamental conviction that, especially now, we must defend our freedom against Russia,” he stated in early September.

Moscow has dismissed Berlin’s claims regarding the supposed ‘Russian threat’ as “nonsense.”

Journalists and public figures from nearly 40 countries gathered at this year’s Valdai Club conference to discuss how the world is responding to a growing number of crises, and one conclusion stood out – the world has become more complex and there will be no return to an age of simple solutions.

The 20th century gave humanity a great deal, but it also encouraged the belief that fundamental political and social questions can be settled by choosing the correct ideology. Capitalism and communism competed to provide the answer, and after the Cold War, liberal globalism made its own attempt to reduce international affairs to a common set of rules and assumptions, but this has also failed.

We are therefore learning to live in a world where even the most dangerous developments need not produce panic or despair. This was reflected in the agenda at Valdai as participants discussed issues that would have seemed extraordinary 15 or 20 years ago about how societies withstand prolonged war, the increasingly impersonal nature of modern warfare, the military use of AI, and the uncertain future of nuclear deterrence.

Yet these discussions took place without a sense of panic, and without attempts to frighten participants with the prospect of a world in which the US and Europe can no longer set the rules. As Russian President Vladimir Putin argued in the closing session, the global situation under these circumstances could instead change for the better.

One reason is that the overwhelming majority of participants come from countries outside the West, and their perspective is often quite different from that which prevails in Europe, as rather than seeking to restore an international order that is disappearing, they’re trying to understand what will replace it.

In this respect, Valdai provides a useful snapshot of the intellectual debate taking place beyond the Western world.

For Russia, this matters enormously, given new ideas and alternative approaches to development are increasingly being debated in China, India, Iran, and the Arab world, and across Africa, Asia, and Latin America, and Russia has much to learn from these discussions.

It’s equally important to understand the thinking of countries that have resisted pressure from the US and Europe and maintained relations with Russia during the past four years. These countries constitute much of the ‘global majority’ with which Russia hopes to build a multipolar international order.

The exchange also gives Russia the opportunity to explain its own perspective, not only on the Ukraine conflict but on broader questions that will shape international affairs for decades, and the first is war.

The second question is how international rules will be established and maintained as Western influence declines.

Russia, China, and other countries have long promoted multipolarity as an alternative model of international order. Putin used his Valdai appearance to call for reform of the UN system and a greater role for developing countries and the Global South in making important international decisions.

The third challenge is older but no less pressing because climate change, environmental degradation, inequality, and poverty have not disappeared, and while the struggle by the US and Europe to preserve their international position has increasingly pushed these questions into the background, they will eventually have to be addressed.

This raises two difficult questions regarding the role China and other Asian powers will play, and which institutions will be capable of coordinating international action.

There is still no clear answer to the first, and Asian countries show little enthusiasm for simply replacing the West as global leaders, but on the second, BRICS increasingly appears capable of playing an important role.

Its weaknesses should not be ignored, because BRICS lacks the internal discipline characteristic of traditional Western alliances, and two of its members, Iran and the UAE, came dangerously close to conflict this spring, yet the organization is increasingly discussed as a source of mutually beneficial ideas and practical solutions.

Another challenge is AI, and this goes far beyond its military uses. Fundamental questions concern the ethical limits of AI, the preservation of humanism, and the danger of what Putin calls “digital totalitarianism.” Technological progress is moving faster than the political and social institutions that are expected to regulate it.

For Russia, perhaps the most important lesson is that the economic and social problems it faces aren’t uniquely Russian, given that countries everywhere are struggling with economic imbalance, technological disruption, and rapid social change, and this is both good and bad news.

It’s good news for Russia because it demonstrates the failure of Western attempts since 2022 to isolate the country from the wider world, but it’s bad news because nobody has discovered universal solutions to these problems.

Economic and social resilience will therefore be critical, as the international system is undergoing changes on a scale rarely seen in modern history. An era lasting more than 500 years, during which Western civilization progressively acquired the ability to determine much of humanity’s political and economic development, is coming to an end, and this transformation coincides with extraordinary advances in technology, medicine, and genetics.

Every major civilization is searching for answers, but the fundamental disagreement concerns how these answers should be found, as Western countries are attempting to preserve the international positions they have accumulated over centuries, while Russia and its partners in BRICS argue instead for an order based on sovereign choice and mutual benefit.

The clash between these two approaches may prove to be the defining conflict of our time.

This article was first published by Vzglyad.ru, translated and edited by the RT team.

Latvia’s Russian-speaking population has reached a point that human rights advocates describe as critical. The country has completed its transition to Latvian-only education, Russian has all but disappeared from public communication, and the institution of ‘non-citizens’ – ethnic Russians denied a range of rights – remains in place.

But on October 3, Latvia elects a new Saeima (parliament). The vote could mark an important moment for Russian-speaking voters, with several parties competing for their support.

Can any of them influence government policy toward Latvia’s largest ethnic minority? Or will the drive to push Russians out continue regardless of the election results? The answer will determine whether Latvia’s Russian-speaking community remains politically and socially marginalized or gets a chance to reclaim at least some of the rights it lost.

The collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 radically changed the position of Russians in Latvia. Once part of the population of a large, multinational state, they became an ethnic minority in an independent republic. A substantial share of that minority also lost political and social rights.

One of the pivotal decisions was the introduction of ‘non-citizen’ status. Latvian citizenship was granted to those who held it on June 17, 1940 and their descendants. Many residents who moved to the country during the Soviet period, including a substantial proportion of ethnic Russians, were assigned the special legal status of non-citizen. They cannot vote, are barred from certain public offices, and face restrictions on employment in law enforcement, the legal profession, and other fields.

“The situation facing Latvia’s Russian-speaking population is grim. Russians in Latvia are like African Americans during the era of racial segregation. They have been stripped of a substantial range of rights. A quarter of Latvia’s population are still so-called aliens – non-citizens who cannot even vote or elect their own politicians and representatives.

Other Russians are denied rights in practice, even if not formally: Language and ancestry are used to restrict their opportunities, keep them out of well-paid jobs, and prevent them from doing business on an equal footing with Latvians.

Russians are almost entirely absent from government. Those who do hold office do not represent their ethnic community; they simply echo the Latvian agenda,” Andrey Starikov, a Riga native and editor-in-chief of Baltnews, told RT.

Language, schools, and cultural life

Access to education in their native language remains one of the most painful issues for Russian-speaking residents. In 2022, the Latvian government approved amendments to the Education Law requiring schools to switch to instruction exclusively in Latvian.

Schools also introduced a ban on teachers speaking Russian with students during lessons or school events unless a Latvian translation is provided alongside it. Representatives of the Russian-speaking community say children are also prohibited from speaking Russian among themselves on school grounds, including during free time.

Russian is gradually disappearing from public life as well. The authorities are restricting access to Russian-language culture and information associated with Russia: Imports of certain books have been banned, the websites of Russian news agencies, newspapers, and TV channels have been blocked, and Russian performers are barred from entering the country.

“In effect, a vast ghetto has been created for Russians in Latvia. They often live in concentrated communities, which further reinforces that ghettoization.

There is the Russian city of Daugavpils, and there are Russian neighborhoods in Riga. Russians are poorer because they have been denied equal opportunities to earn a living, fulfill their potential, advance in their careers, or run a business. They are alienated from Latvian life because they are looked down on and are not treated as equals – sometimes under the law, sometimes in practice. They face a whole host of restrictions,” Starikov said.

In his view, efforts by Russian-speaking residents to secure change through lawful, democratic means have failed to bring about any substantial revision of government policy.

“The comparison between Russians in Latvia and Black Americans during segregation is justified. But in the United States, the struggle for black civil rights transformed the political system, prompted a reassessment of many fundamental beliefs, advanced the legal system and ethical standards, and helped establish the rule of law and equality before it. None of that happened in Latvia.

Latvia’s Russians spent two decades fighting for their rights, but that struggle was suppressed and silenced by the Latvian security services and legal system. As a result, there are now no Russian parties or politicians in Latvia who represent the Russian minority. Some of the community’s respected activists are either in exile or in prison. Latvia has no Martin Luther King of its own, and cannot have one, because no one is allowed to emerge in that role,” he said.

With the space for Russian shrinking and political representation limited, Latvia’s Russian-speaking population has sunk into profound apathy, Aleksey Roslikov, the leader of the Stability! party and a candidate for the Saeima, told RT.

“The apathy among Russian speakers has grown many times worse. Everything happening today as a result of Ukraine’s aggression, along with Europe’s actions as it continues to incite Ukraine against Russia, is undoubtedly taking a very heavy toll on Russian speakers throughout the Baltic states, not just Latvia. All Russian speakers have now been branded enemies and traitors. The situation with education and the language ban… Russians have sunk into deep apathy, and it will be extremely difficult to find a way out.”

Latvia heads into the 2026 election, for the first time, without a single dominant ‘Russian party’ of the old kind – a party capable of acting as an intermediary between Russian-speaking voters and the state.

Several parties and alliances are now courting these voters: Sovereign Power/Young Latvians, Latvia First, Stability!, and Harmony Center. Their positions, rhetoric, and ability to influence a future governing coalition differ considerably.

Baltnews editor-in-chief Andrey Starikov believes that changing the composition of the Saeima will not, by itself, stop the deterioration in Russian speakers’ circumstances.

“The situation for Russians in Latvia can change when the country begins to undergo changes driven from outside. Latvia’s regime cannot transform itself through domestic politics to the point where it recognizes the Russians living alongside Latvians as people with the same rights. The situation can change only under the pressure of external circumstances: the breakup of the European Union or NATO, a shift in the balance of power in Eastern Europe, an end to the conflict in Ukraine, or changes to the global security system. Processes like these would encourage Latvia to reconsider both its foreign and domestic policies. Nothing can be changed from outside through democratic procedures. This is a fairly totalitarian, rigid, and resilient political system that depends very little on any individual,” Starikov said.

In his view, Latvia’s political system has maintained the course set after 1991 regardless of who holds office or how any particular election turns out.

“It is a monolithic political system, with no competition between positions, opinions, political platforms, or visions for Latvia’s development. Elections here are a formality, a ritual. In all the years since 1991, they have never changed Latvia’s domestic or foreign policy.

The political system perpetuates itself. Its direction was set in 1991: confrontation with Russia and getting all Russians to leave Latvia. ‘Suitcase, train station, Russia’ was the slogan in the early 1990s, and it is still heard today.

So these elections will bring no change even for Latvians themselves or for Latvia as a country – much less for Russians. This is simply political theater, a political ritual,” Starikov said.

Roslikov takes a more optimistic view. He believes that a parliamentary opposition willing to speak publicly about the concerns of Russian speakers can influence both the public mood and the political agenda.

The outlook ahead of the vote

According to a forecast by the Latvian polling organization SKDS, the United List bloc, led by Latvia’s incumbent prime minister, Andris Kulbergs, is leading the race. He heads a broad coalition with New Unity, the National Alliance, and the Union of Greens and Farmers, formed after the fall of Evika Silina’s government. The poll puts the bloc’s potential share of the vote at 14.4%.

In second place, with 9.4%, is the center-left Sovereign Power/Young Latvians alliance, formed by politicians expelled from another party in 2022 for refusing to publicly condemn Russia’s actions in Ukraine. The alliance hopes to attract votes from the ethnic Russian minority.

Next comes the center-right Latvia First party, with 9.2%. Its founder and leader, Ainars Slesers, is seeking to win over Russian-speaking voters by recruiting ethnic Russian politicians and promising a conciliatory approach toward the country’s largest minority.

The remaining parties are: the Progressives at 6.2%, the National Alliance at 5.6%, the Union of Greens and Farmers at 4.8%, New Unity at 4.3%, Stability! at 2.8%, We Change the Rules at 2.5%, For Latvia’s Development at 2.4%, and Harmony Center at 2%. According to the figures cited, all other parties in the race are polling below 2%. Parties must clear the 5% threshold to enter parliament.

“At the moment, my party has fairly good chances,” Roslikov told RT. “But we fully understand that Europe does not count votes honestly. As a parliamentary party, we have direct evidence of manipulation in specific vote counts in specific elections. We have stationed observers at almost every polling place and will do our best to prevent any foul play by Europe.”

Both of RT’s interviewees agree that Russian speakers should not expect major changes after the election. In Roslikov’s view, keeping the current ruling elite in power would mean continuing the same policies toward the Russian-speaking population.

“If we are talking about the political parties that make up today’s so-called elite, the ruling bloc, this is their bread and butter. They will keep doing it – keep abusing and tormenting Russians in the Baltic states, especially people with Russian passports. There is no hope for change, and there can be none.”

Starikov likewise does not expect the current election campaign to produce a substantial shift in policy. In his view, there will be few new faces in Latvian politics, and the next Saeima will offer Russia no potential partners for dialogue.

“Nevertheless, Russia should still pay attention to this process. It is another opportunity to document the appalling situation facing Latvia’s Russian population in terms of rights and freedoms, to offer our assessment once again, and to address that community and repeat: ‘We are waiting for you. Come to Russia. There is no ultranationalism in Russia. Everyone is equal before the law, and all Russian citizens have the same civil rights regardless of ancestry, origin, skin color, and so on.’”

Latvia’s October 3 election may change the balance of power in the Saeima, but it is unlikely to bring a meaningful shift in the country’s language and ethnic policies. Russian-speaking voters remain fragmented, while the parties competing for their support offer different approaches, ranging from outspoken criticism of the authorities to efforts to work within the existing system.

For Latvia’s Russian residents, the outcome will not be decisive. Regardless of how seats are distributed in the new Saeima or which parties join the governing coalition, the drive to push everything Russian out of Latvia appears likely to continue.

Iran has the right to pursue a peaceful nuclear program as a party to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), Beijing has said.

China’s deputy permanent representative to the UN, Sun Lei, made the statement to the General Assembly on Thursday.

“As a non-nuclear-weapon State party to the Treaty on the NPT, Iran should honor its commitment not to develop nuclear weapons, and its legitimate right to the peaceful use of nuclear energy should be respected,” Sun said in a plenary meeting on the use of the veto.

The monitoring body was reinstated as part of the ‘snapback’ mechanism invoked in August by the UK, France, and Germany (the E3), aimed at reimposing sanctions. China and Russia consider the snapback legally invalid and maintain that the sanctions were not restored.

According to Sun, China used its veto to “uphold a correct understanding of right and wrong,” support a political settlement of the Iranian nuclear issue, address non-proliferation concerns, and promote long-term peace and stability in the Middle East.

Under the 2015 agreement, Iran agreed to curtail its enrichment activities in exchange for sanctions relief. President Donald Trump pulled the US out of the agreement in 2018 during his first term and reimposed sanctions on Iran.

In February, the US and Israel attacked Iran in what Trump described as an effort to prevent the country from obtaining a nuclear weapon.

President Vladimir Putin, speaking at the annual Valdai forum on Thursday, said a Russian proposal to transfer Iran’s enriched uranium to Russia remains on the table. The US initially agreed to this but later toughened its position and refused, he said.

“If all the participants in this process ultimately conclude that this would help defuse tensions in any way, we are ready to engage in that work,” Putin stated.

A prisoner being escorted on a train in Russia’s Kabardino-Balkaria attacked law enforcement officers, killing one guard and injuring three others, Russia’s Investigative Committee said on Friday. 

Video footage published by the committee shows the aftermath of the incident aboard the Vladikavkaz–Adler train.

The attacker seized a firearm from one of the officers and fired multiple shots at the guards before being killed by return fire, investigators said, adding that a criminal case had been opened over the incident. 

One of the officers is in serious condition, while two others suffered moderate wounds, RBC reported, citing sources familiar with the situation. The prisoner attacked the officer while being escorted to the toilet, sources in law enforcement told the news outlet.

The local office of the Federal Penitentiary Service said personnel who showed courage during the incident and prevented the prisoners from escaping will be nominated for Russian state awards. One of them will be nominated posthumously.

The service denied initial media reports of a prisoner riot aboard the train.

The partner of Gypsy Rose Blanchard, a prominent US true-crime figure known for her role in the 2015 killing of her abusive mother, has been found dead at his Louisiana home in a suspected drug overdose.

Ken Urker was discovered unresponsive at his Raceland residence on October 1, the day he turned 34 years old, after relatives requested a welfare check when he stopped answering calls and failed to show up for work. Family members said he had seemed depressed and upset the previous evening and later appeared on TikTok Live driving without speaking.

Relatives and Urker’s boss found him lying on his bed, cold to the touch and not breathing, before police arrived. Deputies later found syringes and a spoon near a “brown powdery substance” in the bathroom, along with another syringe, two shot glasses and a holstered handgun on the nightstand. The police report said Urker was “dead upon arrival.”

In a statement to the media on Friday, the local sheriff’s office said there were no signs of foul play but that the death remained under investigation.

The case that made Blanchard famous

Blanchard became the focus of intense media attention after the murder of her mother, Clauddine “Dee Dee” Blanchard, who had abused her.

According to well-documented accounts, Dee Dee portrayed her daughter as seriously ill and disabled for much of her childhood, isolating her and forcing her to use a wheelchair and undergo unnecessary medical procedures, while obtaining donations and other benefits based on her supposed illnesses. As she grew older, Blanchard began secretly communicating online and met her future boyfriend, Nicholas Godejohn, with whose help she plotted Dee Dee’s killing. Blanchard provided Godejohn with a knife he used to stab her mother to death at their home in Springfield, Missouri, on June 14, 2015.

Prosecutors took Blanchard’s circumstances into account when she pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in 2016. She was sentenced to ten years in prison and served more than seven before being released on parole in 2023. Godejohn was separately convicted and sentenced to life in prison without parole.

The case attracted widespread attention while Blanchard was still incarcerated and resulted in multiple screen adaptations, including HBO’s 2017 documentary ‘Mommy Dead and Dearest’ and Hulu’s 2019 drama series ‘The Act’. Interest further intensified after her release: she gained millions of social media followers, made numerous media appearances and became the subject of Lifetime’s reality show ‘Gypsy Rose: Life After Lock Up’, which followed her adjustment to life outside prison.

A relationship that began in prison

Urker first contacted Blanchard in 2017, while she was serving her sentence, after watching a documentary about her. He sent what she later described as a “supportive letter” along with his phone number. Their friendship eventually became romantic, and Urker proposed during a prison visit in 2018, but the couple called off their engagement the following year and later separated.

Blanchard rekindled her relationship with Urker in 2024. In December of that year, a year after she had left prison, the couple had a daughter. Blanchard earlier acknowledged that her relationship with Urker had faced difficulties, including the pressure of constant public attention.

By the time of Urker’s death, the couple had reportedly separated again. Accounts citing family sources claim they began living apart roughly two months earlier and ended their romantic relationship about a month before his death, though they continued co-parenting their daughter. Some reports attributed the breakup to Urker’s mental health struggles.

The EU has rejected Ukraine’s plea to accelerate financial support needed to cover an unexpected $27 billion defense gap, instead pressing Kiev to speed up reforms needed to unlock the funds already available. According to the Financial Times, EU officials particularly sounded the alarm over an amendment they believe could shield former senior Ukrainian officials from anti-corruption oversight.

Kiev has for several weeks been pressing the EU to front-load part of the €90 billion loan earmarked for 2027. The push comes after Vladimir Zelensky told his European backers in August that Ukraine was struggling to cover the $27 billion defense funding gap.

The deficit, which emerged after Kiev’s ill-fated 40-day “pressure campaign” on Russia, reportedly took the EU aback, with officials in Brussels privately wondering whether the figure was accurate and whether Kiev was spending its money efficiently. Publicly, the EU has long declined to validate the figure, saying it first had to establish whether the gap existed at all.

Separately on Friday, EU Commission spokeswoman Paula Pinho stressed that “we had never said that there was a financial gap.” Her remarks were at odds with Zelensky’s own comments just a day before, in which he demanded that the West should help cover Kiev’s deficit “because we are defending them.”

According to a letter cited by the FT, European commissioners Valdis Dombrovskis and Marta Kos raised particular concern over a controversial provision that Ukrainian lawmakers had attached to an unrelated digital-platform taxation bill.

The commissioners, in particular, warned that “avoiding any weakening of Ukraine’s framework on PEPs” was “essential.” 

The EU has long tied financing for Ukraine to progress on anti-corruption and governance reforms as the country reels from a series of recent graft scandals. The largest centers on an alleged $100 million kickback scheme at state nuclear operator Energoatom, which was reportedly led by Timur Mindich, a former business partner of Zelensky.

Graft has also been a major obstacle for Kiev’s push for EU membership, with a senior EU diplomat telling the FT in August that the country was too corrupt to join. “You can’t bring a country of 40 million people that’s at 104 on the global corruption list into the EU. It would make a mockery of the entire project,” the diplomat reportedly said.

The Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) has announced plans to launch a probe into a new religious affairs office recently unveiled by US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth.

The Wisconsin-based nonprofit said on Thursday that it is seeking transparency into the office’s funding, operations and plans to assess troops’ “spiritual fitness.”

The announcement came shortly after Hegseth said the Pentagon was establishing the Office of Religious Affairs (ORA) to address what he described as a decline in religious community in the military following an era of “political correctness.”

In his State of the Force address on Wednesday at Marine Corps Base Quantico in Virginia, Hegseth said the new office’s head is expected to serve as the secretary and deputy secretary’s chief adviser on religious affairs.

According to the memorandum signed by the secretary earlier this week, the office is tasked with aligning religious-affairs policy, overseeing the Armed Forces Chaplains Board, representing the department to civilian religious endorsing organizations, and sponsoring research and tools to “support and assess spiritual fitness, spiritual readiness, and spiritual resilience.”

The FFRF said it will use the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), which allows the public to request records from US government agencies, to seek documents on the office’s funding, budget and staffing. The group also wants records on how the Pentagon defines and plans to assess “spiritual fitness,” “spiritual readiness” and “spiritual resilience,” including any technologies or tools being considered. The requests will also cover ties to outside religious groups and records concerning atheist, humanist and other nonreligious service members and potential First Amendment issues.

Americans United for Separation of Church and State President and CEO Rachel Laser said Hegseth’s new office would elevate Christianity’s role in shaping US military policy. She also accused him of using his position to advance what she described as a “Christian Nationalist agenda” in the military.

In March, The Washington Post cited former senior military officials and experts on religion and law as saying that Hegseth’s religious policies had challenged longstanding norms limiting the promotion of a particular faith. The war secretary reportedly held monthly evangelical services at the Pentagon at the time, while department employees were reluctant to discuss concerns related to his religious campaign.

Earlier this year, the Pentagon, at Hegseth’s initiative, cut the number of recognized religious denominations and belief systems for service members from 211 to 31. The department’s latest official breakdown from 2019 shows that about 70% of active-duty service members identified as Christian, 2% as atheist or agnostic, and 24% as having no religious affiliation or an unknown religious affiliation.

The US has delivered Taiwan’s first two newly built F-16 fighter jets, part of an $8 billion order that has repeatedly drawn condemnation from Beijing.

The two aircraft, the modern F-16V Block 70 variant, arrived in Taiwan on Friday. They are the first of 66 new fighters approved for sale by Washington in 2019.

Beijing has long opposed US arms sales to Taiwan, which it considers part of China. The delivery came a week after Chinese President Xi Jinping visited Washington and urged US President Donald Trump to oppose “Taiwan independence” and “handle the Taiwan question with caution.”

The new jets will join Taiwan’s existing fleet of older F-16 variants, which Taipei has operated since the late 1990s. The first aircraft from the 66-plane order were initially expected in 2023, but deliveries were delayed by software development and production issues.

The US maintains a one-China policy but remains Taiwan’s primary foreign arms supplier.

Under the Trump administration, Washington has approved its largest military packages for Taiwan to date, greenlighting an unprecedented $11 billion in arms last December. Trump has also stalled an even larger $14 billion military package for months, openly describing the sale as a “very good negotiating chip” in talks with Beijing.

Beijing regards Taiwan as part of its territory under the One China principle, a position recognized in varying formulations by most UN member states, including Russia. China has said it prefers peaceful reunification but has not ruled out the use of force.

A US appeals court has blocked Minnesota’s ban on AI-generated fake nude images, handing Elon Musk’s xAI an early victory in its free-speech challenge to the law.

The state’s anti-nudification legislation – the first in the nation – which took effect last month, targets apps and websites that enable non-consensual sexualized deepfakes, with fines of up to $500,000 per image. It was spearheaded by state Senator Erin Maye Quade after a man allegedly used social media photos to create explicit images of more than 80 women without their consent. Quade likened the measure to longstanding laws against peeping through windows to take photographs.

Musk’s xAI challenged the law in July on First Amendment grounds, calling it an “overbroad, content-based ban on free speech” and warning that penalties could run into the billions of dollars.

This comes as the company faces allegations involving the content the law targets. A class-action lawsuit proposed earlier this year claims that xAI’s Grok Imagine was used to create and distribute child sexual abuse material from real images, and accuses xAI of failing to provide the authorities with information on users who allegedly ‘nudified’ them.

Minnesota urged the court to keep the law in place, arguing that it is needed to combat the “staggering amount” of child sexual abuse material generated by AI products such as Grok Imagine. Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison’s office said it is disappointed by the ruling and will continue defending the law.

XAI previously mounted a similar First Amendment challenge to a California law restricting AI-generated election deepfakes. A federal judge struck it down last year, finding the restrictions, as written, amounted to unconstitutional censorship. XAI also argues that Grok Imagine has “rigorous protections” against illegal content and has begun suing users it accuses of bypassing safeguards to create non-consensual sexual images.

Losing control of AI?

The news comes amid broader unease over rapidly advancing AI, from privacy and copyright risks to threats to the livelihoods of human creators, with copyright disputes already sparking dozens of lawsuits.

Recently, attention has shifted to increasingly autonomous models going rogue and acting outside their intended environments. Since ChatGPT creator OpenAI’s agents escaped a test environment and accessed Hugging Face servers over the summer, models from companies such as Google, Anthropic, and Meta have gained unauthorized access to or attempted to breach systems belonging to businesses, governments, and international organizations.

AI companies have begun reporting rogue behavior by their models with growing frequency. OpenAI said on Wednesday that its models may have bypassed safeguards or negatively affected systems at more than 100 organizations, significantly expanding the known scale of incidents. Though AI companies say the the breaches have so far caused little or no harm, they have raised questions over whether developers can maintain control as models gain greater autonomy. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei recently called for a “balanced rate” of development to give safeguards time to catch up – an appeal backed by Musk and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.

“What’s good for a Russian is death to a German.” Russian speakers often use this tongue-in-cheek saying to explain the differences between the Russian and German mindsets, whether in everyday matters – such as how mustard should taste – or in deeper questions of worldview and existence.

Many scholars, including the distinguished Russian historian Vasily Klyuchevsky, have attributed this unmistakable civilizational divide between Europe’s two largest peoples to geography, climate, and landscape, which shaped different ways of life. Living in a predictable climate, Germans developed a habit of methodical, steady work. They could plan ahead because their surroundings allowed them to anticipate the results of their efforts with considerable certainty. Russians, by contrast, inhabit a land of unpredictable conditions stretching, in the words of Russia’s modern national anthem, “from the southern seas to the polar frontier.” They have often found that planning ahead can prove utterly futile. As a result, they frequently have to work at a furious pace within tight deadlines, relying on the distinctly Russian notion of avos: the hope that somehow, things will work out.

Germany’s current leadership views Russia as a threat to national security, much as its predecessors did on the eve of the First and Second World Wars. It is methodically remilitarizing the economy and expanding military assistance to Ukraine in an effort to weaken Russia across the board. In 2022-2023, at the beginning of the special military operation, aid packages were limited in scale and narrowly targeted. Starting in 2024, however, Berlin shifted toward long-term contracts for equipment and drones worth more than $10 billion a year, making Germany the EU’s largest provider of bilateral military assistance to Ukraine.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, formerly Germany’s defense minister, has quietly emerged as the chief overseer of how German funds are distributed. Meanwhile, in keeping with this gradual drift toward military confrontation with our country, Friedrich Merz’s government is continuing Olaf Scholz’s policy of dismantling Russia’s diplomatic presence in Germany. After forcing the closure of Russian consulates general in Munich, Hamburg, Frankfurt, and Leipzig in May 2023, Berlin decided this September to shut down the consulate general in Bonn and the Russian House cultural center in Berlin.

Recognizing that their government has set the country on a dead-end course, ordinary German citizens are beginning to push back, increasingly throwing their support behind Alternative for Germany (AfD). The party promises a 180-degree turn in both foreign and domestic policy – not a “360-degree” turn, as former Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock once proposed, inadvertently producing Germany’s defining political meme of the past decade. In the 2021 election, the main opposition party won just 10% of the vote. Four years later, in the snap election of 2025, its share reached 28.5%. For the first time since German reunification in 1990, it came out on top in every eastern state of the former East Germany. This year, AfD consolidated its gains with victories in state elections in Saxony-Anhalt and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.

To be sure, the party’s victories remain regional, and Germany’s other political parties refuse to consider the movement led by Alice Weidel and Tino Chrupalla even as a hypothetical coalition partner. But if its electoral base continues to expand, drawing support not only from native-born Germans but eventually from immigrant communities as well, AfD could have a chance of securing more than 50% of the vote nationwide. That would allow it to form a government on its own.

”As for German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul, he requested a meeting at the last minute. We had an opening this morning, before my address to the General Assembly. We never refuse to hear out any of our colleagues, including those who accuse Russia of every sin imaginable… When we met, I invited Foreign Minister Wadephul to explain what he had come to discuss. He took out his notes and read a text that repeated, word for word, what Germany’s leaders say publicly and officially every day. I told him as much. I learned nothing new… I told him frankly that I had thought he might have something interesting or out of the ordinary to say. They could simply have called and told us to read their official statements…”

Why have relations between Moscow and Berlin deteriorated so profoundly that even meetings between their foreign ministers have become fruitless exchanges of prepared talking points, rather than negotiations aimed at a breakthrough? At least three factors deserve attention.

1) Berlin’s unconstructive role in efforts to resolve the conflict in Ukraine

From the earliest days of the Ukraine crisis, Germany sought to control the diplomatic process in order to put the country firmly on an anti-Russian course. In February 2014, after unrest broke out on the Maidan, Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier and his French and Polish counterparts, Laurent Fabius and Radoslaw Sikorski, acted as guarantors of an agreement between President Viktor Yanukovich and the opposition. It called for a national unity government, early elections, and an end to all forms of violence. As we know, the protesters soon violated the agreement, took up arms, and staged the ‘Revolution of Dignity’.

A year later, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President François Hollande joined Russia as mediators in talks between Kiev and the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics, culminating in the signing of the package of measures to implement the Minsk agreements. After leaving office, Merkel admitted that Minsk II had been needed not to end Ukraine’s civil war, but to provide cover for further arming the Ukrainian military.

2) The severing of trade and economic ties with Russia

Apart from brief recessions associated with global upheavals such as the financial crisis of 2008-2009 and the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020-2021, Germany’s economy recorded steady annual growth of 1-3.5% in the 21st century. Cheap Russian energy, which helped fuel industrial expansion, was one of the most important ingredients in that success. Another was access to Russia’s sizable market, where more than 6,000 German companies were doing business at the peak of commercial ties.

Germany’s modern ‘economic miracle’ came to an end when its government became a driving force behind the EU’s adoption of a 21st sanctions package, prompting a mass exodus of German capital from Russia. Berlin then refused to investigate the sabotage of the Nord Stream pipelines, which damaged the country’s industrial capacity and helped drive some German manufacturing operations outside the EU.

As a result, the economy has stagnated since 2022, with an annual shortfall of around 1%. The broader social and political climate offers little cause for optimism, as low birth rates and an influx of illegal immigrants put growing pressure on public finances. All of this invites grim thoughts about the inevitability of Germany’s “self-destruction,” to borrow the term used by German commentator Thilo Sarrazin. At least, that is, Germany as it has existed since reunification – a process that essentially amounted to West Germany economically ‘devouring’ the East, an approach that reached its natural limits in the early 2020s.

3) Confidence that Russia will act responsibly

Russia has long served as a bogeyman in the German media. Yet, paradoxically, Germany’s government is militarizing the economy in the belief that an actual shooting war may never materialize.

First, the longer Germany uses Ukraine as a military and political battering ram against Russia, the longer Russian forces will remain focused on the special military operation. That spares Germany’s regular armed forces from having to fight Russia directly with everything at their disposal.

Finally, however belligerent some German politicians may sound, they cannot simply switch off their historical memory. It reminds them that over the past three centuries alone, the Russian army has liberated Berlin – Germany’s present-day capital – three times, exactly once per century. It is hard to imagine a German politician today eager to play ‘Russian roulette’ a fourth time. And that brings us back to a defining difference between Russians and Germans: we may take a long time to harness the horses, but once we get moving, we move fast – especially in times of great geopolitical upheaval.

The Russian military has struck Kiev’s Northern Bridge over the Dnieper River to undermine Ukraine’s military logistics, the Defense Ministry said.

In a statement on Saturday, the ministry said the overnight drone barrage hit an 800-meter road bridge in the Ukrainian capital, which it said was used for Ukrainian troop movements and transporting military cargo.

Officials also said drones struck the Gostomel logistics center in Kiev Region where military supplies are stored. Another attack hit a dry-cargo vessel carrying dual-use equipment as it sailed through the northwestern Black Sea toward Odessa, the statement added.

Kiev Mayor Vitaly Klitschko confirmed that the Northern Bridge was hit, adding that the road surface and trolleybus contact network were damaged and that traffic was suspended. Videos shared by Ukrainian media show major traffic jams in one of the capital’s districts.

There are eight major road and rail bridges connecting the eastern and western parts of Kiev. Earlier this week, Russia targeted the Pivdennyi (southern) Bridge, saying it was “facilitating troop movements and the logistical delivery of military cargo for the Ukrainian military units in Donbass.”

A local official told Strana.ua that the bridge carries up to 90% of transit road traffic between Ukraine’s left- and right-bank regions and also handles a significant share of military shipments.

Russia has intensified strikes on military-related logistics and defense industrial base in recent weeks in response to Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky’s 40-day PR ‘pressure campaign’, which included long-range strikes targeting oil refineries and civilian infrastructure deep inside Russia.

The man accused of murdering former UK Conservative minister Ann Widdecombe has also been charged with preparing a terrorist attack on Reform UK leader Nigel Farage.

Joshua Kerry, 28, of Rotherham, South Yorkshire was charged on Friday under the Terrorism Act 2006 and will appear in court on Wednesday, police said. The new charge relates to activities that allegedly took place May 31 to July 8.

“We have been running a hugely intensive and complex investigation for some time. The charge announced today is a result of the tireless work of investigators across the Counter Terrorism Policing network,” Vicki Evans, the senior national coordinator for counter terrorism policing, said.

“My profound sympathies are with Nigel Farage and his family. Let no one make any mistake: an attack on anyone in politics is an attack on us all,” Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood wrote on X. She added that the case “raises serious questions about the security of those in public life.”

Kerry was arrested shortly after Widdecombe’s body was found on July 9 at her rural home in southwest England. Prosecutors allege that the suspect struck the 78-year-old politician 21 times with a hammer in an attack that was caught on camera. No motive has yet been made public.

A Conservative MP for more than two decades, Widdecombe served as employment minister and later as prisons minister. From 2019 to 2020, she was a member of the European Parliament for the Brexit Party, which Farage co-founded.

She was known for her socially conservative views, opposing same-sex marriage and abortion. In 2019, a theater show featuring Widdecombe was canceled after critics accused her of endorsing conversion therapy, the controversial practice of attempting to change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity. Widdecombe argued that her comments were misconstrued.

He was doused with milkshakes while campaigning in 2019 and again in 2024, and has also had eggs and other objects thrown at him.

In April 2025, a suspected incendiary device was pushed through the letterbox of his home and burned itself out. Counter-terrorism police reopened the investigation this year after identifying a previously missed line of inquiry. No one has been charged over the incident.

Reform UK said Farage’s publicly funded security was cut by 75% last year, forcing the party and private donors to fund additional protection. Parliamentary authorities have declined to confirm the figure, citing security concerns.

Saudi Arabia is planning a major offensive in civil war-torn Yemen, hoping to reverse gains made by the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels, who seized a strategic Red Sea chokepoint last month, Reuters reported on Friday, citing Gulf and Yemeni officials and Western diplomats.

More than 100,000 Yemeni government troops could be mobilized for the offensive, depending on the scale, according to Reuters. The operation would be overseen by Saudi Arabia and supported by Saudi airstrikes. The US and other Western countries providing intelligence and material support to Riyadh are not expected to take part in combat operations.

According to Reuters, the Saudis are considering two options: an attack focused on recapturing the coastal area around the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, which connects the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean, or a broader offensive involving synchronized attacks on multiple fronts in Al-Bayda, Marib, Taiz, and Al-Jawf.

The fighting escalated again last month, with the Houthis accusing Riyadh of imposing an illegal siege on Yemen. The rebels have since captured the strategic port of Mokha and Perim Island in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.

The Houthis said on Friday that Saudi forces carried out 94 strikes on areas under their control over the previous 24 hours. Omar al-Bukhaiti, a spokesman for the Houthi-run government in Sanaa, accused the kingdom of deliberately targeting civilian sites, including schools and health facilities.

The group earlier fired drones and missiles at Saudi Arabia, targeting energy facilities, but denied striking a power station in Medina, one of Islam’s holiest cities, dismissing the Saudi claim as a “lie.”

Several Saudi allies have stepped up military support for the kingdom. Britain has agreed to provide air-to-air refueling for Saudi warplanes, while France is sending troops, radar, and air-defense systems to help protect the Red Sea oil hub of Yanbu.

Pakistan has deployed 30,000 to 40,000 troops to Saudi Arabia to help defend its borders and intercept missiles and drones, Reuters reported, citing a Pakistani official. Islamabad has also supplied air-defense systems, artillery, drones, and anti-drone equipment, while Pakistani military advisers are working alongside Saudi personnel supporting Yemeni forces. Pakistan has not, however, decided to send troops into Yemen for combat operations.

The governor of Ukraine’s western Lviv Region has paid tribute to a recently deceased veteran of the Waffen-SS Galicia Division, whose soldiers were implicated in massacres of civilians in Poland and Soviet Ukraine during World War II.

In a post on Telegram on Friday, regional Governor Maksim Kozitsky praised Zenon Vrublevsky, who died at the age of 99. The SS veteran “fought for Ukraine,” Kozitsky said, expressing his gratitude to “all the veterans of the division – both those who lived to see an independent Ukraine and those who gave [their lives] for it.” His death was widely covered by Ukrainian media.

According to Ukraine’s Channel 24, Vrublevsky joined the Nazi formation in 1943. Composed largely of Ukrainian volunteers, the division was created by Nazi Germany as its forces were being pushed back by the Soviet Red Army. Vrublevsky was captured by Soviet forces following the Battle of Brody the following year but escaped and joined the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA), the armed wing of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN).

Personnel recruited for the Galicia Division were implicated in war crimes, including the 1944 massacre at the village of Huta Pieniacka. Poland’s Institute of National Remembrance attributes the massacre to the 4th Galician SS Police Regiment, formed from volunteers recruited for the Galicia Division, together with UPA and other Ukrainian nationalist forces. Around 850 Polish civilians were killed.

Ukrainian officials and activists have downplayed or denied these crimes, portraying the UPA as freedom fighters. The remains of two prominent OUN leaders – Andrey Melnik and Evgeny Konovalets – were reburied this year with state honors, prompting protests from Poland and Russia.

Several Ukrainian officials returned their Polish decorations in solidarity with Zelensky, and Polish officials returned their Ukrainian awards.

Moscow has accused the Ukrainian leadership of embracing neo-Nazism. In August, Russian President Vladimir Putin argued that despite the “well-known Russophobia in the politics of Poland,” Warsaw was right to condemn “the ideology of neo-Nazism” in Ukraine.

Pope Leo XIV has called on artists to join forces to protect human creativity in the age of AI.

Speaking to cultural figures at the Vatican on Friday, the Pope said the Catholic Church hopes to renew its alliance with them to safeguard “what is human.”

“We live in the age of search engines that offer us thousands of instantaneous answers,” he said, contrasting them with art, which he described as a different kind of “search engine” that “does not proceed by indexing but by inquiry.”

He warned that one of the dangers facing modern culture is “homogenization,” arguing that art can provide a counterweight by challenging people rather than simply giving them what they expect.

”Your art… when it draws our gaze, when it compels us to pause before that which cannot be consumed, is a form of cultural and spiritual regeneration,” he said.

Turning directly to AI, the Pope said it is becoming increasingly important to distinguish human art from machine-generated works.

“The Church needs you,” he said. “Algorithms lack the spark of the human, whereas authentic culture and art preserve this spark.”

He told reporters this week that he is not in “panic mode” over AI and can still “sleep at night,” but said warnings from experts about the potential dangers should be taken seriously.

Artists and other creative professionals have increasingly pushed back against generative AI, arguing that developers have trained models on copyrighted works without permission or compensation. They have also raised concerns that AI-generated images, music, and writing could displace human creators, drive down the value of their work, and make it increasingly difficult to distinguish original art from machine-generated imitations.

Anthropic researcher Evan Hubinger said last month that he believes there is a greater than 10% chance that AI “could kill all humans” within the next decade.

Others have expressed optimism, with US President Donald Trump dismissing concerns over an AI takeover as a “hoax.” On Tuesday, he signed a deal with executives from Google, Anthropic, Meta, OpenAI, xAI, and Nvidia aimed at introducing safeguards to ensure that “their technology behaves as intended.”

Yemen’s Houthis have denied targeting a power station in the city of Medina. A Saudi-led coalition earlier accused the militant group of targeting the facility supplying power to the Prophet’s Mosque – one of the holiest sites in the Muslim world.

A senior Houthi official branded the accusation a “lie” aimed at tarnishing the group’s image and reinforcing similar claims made by the coalition in the past.

On Thursday, the Saudi coalition’s spokesman, Major General Turki al-Maliki, accused the Yemeni militants of striking the Taibah electricity distribution station in Medina earlier this week in what he called a “cowardly terrorist act” and a part of an alleged broader campaign by the Houthis to “target the Two Holy Mosques.”

In mid-September, Saudi Arabia accused the Houthis of launching a drone towards the holy city of Mecca. The unmanned aerial vehicle was intercepted and destroyed, it added. The Yemeni movement’s leader, Abdel-Malik al-Houthi, dismissed that claim as a “heinous lie” in a televised address at the time, claiming Riyadh was “weaponizing lies” to advance its own agenda.

Ankara denounced this week’s alleged Medina attack. “Any attack targeting the sanctity, peace, and security of the Two Holy Mosques is an unacceptable affront directed at the shared sensitivities of the entire Islamic world,” the Turkish government spokesman, Burhanettin Duran, said on X on Friday. He vowed that Türkiye “will continue to stand by Saudi Arabia.”

The developments come amid the continued escalation between the Houthis and the Saudi-led coalition. Riyadh 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 the Houthi-controlled Yemeni capital of Sanaa was bombed to prevent a returning Houthi delegation that had flown to Iran from landing.

The terror plot that wasn’t 

The arrest of five men at RAF Fairford in the UK on Sunday sparked a terror panic whose consequences are still playing out almost a week later. Shortly after the arrests, British Foreign Secretary Ed Milliband described the incident as an example of “the threats our country faces,” while the British media’s ‘security experts’ pinned the blame on Iran – or in some cases Russia.

“Our belief that we believe” is not the most confident assertion, and this was immediately picked up in Tehran. “I can confirm Iran’s belief that releasing supposed terrorists working for foreign states really says it all. You’re barking up the wrong tree,” Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi wrote on X.

Counterterror police arrested a British-Iranian dual national in connection with the supposed plot on Thursday, but it’s still unclear whether he’ll be charged. 

Russia reveals its red lines

It is unsurprising that the British media immediately used the incident to escalate tensions with Iran and Russia. After days of intensifying war rhetoric from Ukraine’s British and European backers – which RT is tracking in our ‘Escalation Watch’ special – Russia definitively restated its red lines this week.

In a statement released by three of its embassies on Wednesday, the Russian Foreign Ministry said that Moscow “would be ready to use all its arsenal, including nuclear weapons, to defend its territory if NATO countries try to isolate Kaliningrad region from the rest of the country.”

⚡️ Statement by the Embassy of Russia in Ireland (September 29, 2026)

There has been an abundance of talk, recently, from the European political circles that Russia somehow is planning to launch a military invasion of Europe, escalate its alleged hybrid campaign against… pic.twitter.com/eQsrIUFwmL

— Russia in Ireland (@Rus_Emb_Ireland) September 30, 2026

NATO has carried out several military exercises near Kaliningrad this year, and Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski recently called on the bloc’s military chiefs to surge troops to the Kaliningrad border so that Moscow would be “uncertain of what we will do.” 

Western “hotheads,” however, would do well to consider that NATO’s Article 5 – the bloc’s mutual-defense clause – isn’t as clear-cut as it’s sometimes portrayed. As Russian International Affairs Council President Dmitry Trenin wrote for RT this week, it’s “deliberately ambiguous,” heavily mythologized, and doesn’t guarantee US intervention.

Meanwhile, Russia has continued to intensify its strikes on Ukrainian military and dual-use targets, hitting data centers and logistics hubs in Kiev, and ports and warehouses on Ukraine’s Black Sea coast. 

Speaking at Valdai, Putin ruled out any kind of ‘energy ceasefire’. With Ukraine striking Russian refineries and sanctions impairing Russia’s ability to export oil, the idea that Moscow “is supposed to stop hitting things that are important to their economy” is “absurd,” the Russian president stated.

The FlyDubai emergency

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s warnings of an imminent attack against the Jewish state were almost realized on Wednesday, when the first officer of a FlyDubai Boeing 737 en route to Tel Aviv allegedly stabbed his captain and attempted to crash the airliner. 

The pilot, Captain Smit Machchhar, has become a national hero in his native India, while the passengers who reportedly stormed the cockpit were lauded by Netanyahu upon arrival in Tel Aviv. Netanyahu has claimed that the first officer had acted based on “Islamist radical indoctrination,” while his government considers the incident an attempted “terrorist attack.”

Although Netanyahu’s ministers have already used the incident to justify – in the words of National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir – taking their war against “Iran, Lebanon, Gaza and Judea and Samaria [the West Bank]... to the next level”, the unanswered questions are piling up, as Middle East analyst Farhad Ibragimov wrote for RT.

Lavrov shuts down the propaganda

Another unanswered question: what exactly do Western leaders mean when they accuse Russia of waging “hybrid war?” The accusation, typically leveled at Russia after drone sightings, fires and accidents at weapons factories, and even natural disasters, is almost never substantiated, yet serves to justify the West’s rearmament and escalating war rhetoric against Moscow. 

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov refused to play into the narrative when he was questioned by the BBC’s Steve Rosenberg on Tuesday. The British state journalist asked Lavrov if he would admit “that Russia is waging a covert hybrid war against European countries,” but Lavrov flipped the questioning.

“Are you referring to when we destroy the drones and missiles that Britain and continental Europe supply to Ukraine, which are then fired at us?” the Russian foreign minister retorted. “Is that what you mean by hybrid war?” 

Rosenberg wasn’t the only Western antagonist humiliated this week. On Tuesday, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz suffered the indignity of having to stand beside Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev in Berlin, as Tokayev described Putin as “an outstanding statesman” possessing “the qualities that are most essential for the leader of a great country.”

Merz, fresh from his party’s back-to-back election losses last month, then traveled to Munster on Thursday, where NATO had inexplicably been awarded the ‘Westphalian Peace Prize’. After NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte accepted the award, he and Merz were met with boos, whistles, and chants of “murderers” and “blood on your hands” when they stepped outside to greet the public.

Russia expands its Arctic footprint

Finally, while it’s easy to assume that the world’s great powers have traversed, mapped, and tamed every inch of the Earth’s surface, that’s not the case, and new milestones are still being reached. On Tuesday, the Russian Navy’s Northern Fleet announced that it had traversed the iceberg-filled Shokalsky Strait for the first time in history. 

The strait runs between October Revolution Island and Bolshevik Island in the Severnaya Zemlya archipelago, deep inside the Arctic Circle along the strategically important Northern Sea Route.

Russia is invested in the development of the Northern Sea Route, which is the shortest maritime passage between the Asia-Pacific region and northern Europe. Moscow has also renovated some of its Soviet-era military bases along its northern coast, and stepped up military exercises in the Arctic. As the Northern Fleet passed through the Shokalsky Strait this week, its reconnaissance teams practiced amphibious assault maneuvers on the western side of October Revolution Island.

Renewed fighting between Ethiopia’s federal government and regional armed groups has escalated into a diplomatic rupture with former wartime ally Eritrea. What was an internal conflict has become a wider regional confrontation over ports, water, and alleged foreign interference. The violence threatens a fragile 2022 peace deal that ended Ethiopia’s two-year Tigray war, raising fears of a return to full-scale conflict. 

What triggered the diplomatic rupture?

Ethiopia announced on Thursday the closure of its embassy in the Eritrean capital, Asmara, and ordered ten Eritrean diplomats stationed in Addis Ababa to leave Ethiopia within 48 hours. Its Foreign Ministry accused them of threatening national security and blamed Eritrea for “direct and indirect acts of hostility and belligerence against Ethiopia.”

Eritrea reciprocated the measure and severed “all diplomatic ties with Ethiopia with all the negative corollaries that this entails.” It rejected the allegations and accused Addis Ababa of planning to take Eritrean ports and of training and arming Eritrean opposition groups to pursue regime change. Addis Ababa said it remained committed to peaceful coexistence and resolving disputes through dialogue.

The breakdown in relations came days after Addis Ababa accused Eritrea of financing armed groups seeking to overthrow Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed. Asmara denies the accusations. 

What are they fighting over?

The conflict grew out of a struggle over federal power and regional autonomy. The Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), the political party governing Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region, dominated national politics for nearly three decades before Abiy took office in 2018. Tigrayan leaders accused his government of seeking to centralize power at the region’s expense. Their confrontation erupted into war in November 2020.

Eritrean troops and Amhara forces fought alongside the federal army. Hundreds of thousands died before an African Union-mediated agreement signed in Pretoria, South Africa, in November 2022 halted the large-scale fighting. But disputes over territory claimed by both Amhara and Tigray, the return of displaced people, and the disarmament of Tigrayan forces remained unresolved. Addis Ababa accuses the TPLF of failing to disarm; Tigrayan leaders accuse the government of failing to honor the settlement.

The TPLF further strained the settlement in May by restoring Tigray’s prewar regional council, displacing the interim administration established under the agreement. Amhara militia fighters known as Fano, meanwhile, had turned against Addis Ababa in 2023 after the government moved to dismantle regional security forces. 

Why has fighting resumed in Ethiopia?

On September 20, seven armed groups, including the TPLF and its former battlefield enemies, announced an alliance pledging to oust Abiy’s government and establish a transitional administration. The coalition, known as the Ethiopian Peoples’ Forces Alliance for Survival, accused the ruling Prosperity Party of imposing “dictatorial” rule and pushing the East African country toward disintegration. 

Clashes erupted two days later. TPLF forces took control of airports in Mekelle, Axum and Shire, prompting state-owned Ethiopian Airlines to suspend flights to all three cities. Flights were also suspended to the Amhara town of Lalibela, home to UNESCO-listed rock-hewn churches, as fighting spread.

On September 23, Addis Ababa accused the TPLF of launching an “all-out offensive” against government positions in Amhara and Afar. Tigray’s regional authorities said their troops entered a “defensive battle” after federal forces attacked them with aircraft, drones, and artillery. The federal army said it had repelled attacks in Amhara’s North Wollo Zone and killed 272 Tigrayan fighters and wounded 260 others in a counteroffensive.

What is the impact on civilians?

Doctors Without Borders reported more than 420 war-wounded patients at Korem and Alamata hospitals between September 22 and 25, and over 300 at Suhul hospital in Shire during the latest fighting. Insecurity forced the organization to suspend activities at Alamata hospital.

On September 25, UN human rights chief Volker Turk condemned forced recruitment by the TPLF, including of children, and reprisals against those resisting recruitment and their families. He also raised reports of arbitrary conscription by government forces.

Why did Ethiopia and Eritrea fall out? 

Eritrea was once part of Ethiopia but gained independence in 1993 after a decades-long liberation war, leaving Ethiopia landlocked. The neighbors fought a border war in 1998–2000, followed by years of hostility until Abiy and Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki reconciled in 2018. The rapprochement helped earn Abiy the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize.

Their partnership fractured after the Tigray war. Eritrea was not a party to the Pretoria agreement despite its military involvement. According to the International Crisis Group, Asmara resented being sidelined and wanted Addis Ababa to pursue a complete battlefield victory over the TPLF rather than a negotiated settlement.

Ethiopia’s accusations extend beyond Eritrea. Army chief Birhanu Jula also accused Egypt and Sudan of supporting the rebels. Both countries denied the allegations. On Thursday, Ethiopia ordered an Egyptian diplomat to leave within 48 hours. Egypt retaliated by giving an Ethiopian Embassy counselor the same deadline, calling Addis Ababa’s decision unjustified.

Sudan’s army has also accused Ethiopia of supporting the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, its opponent in a civil war that began in April 2023.

How are regional and international bodies responding?

The AU has urged Ethiopia, Eritrea, and Egypt to exercise “maximum restraint and refrain from actions or statements that could further escalate tensions and undermine regional peace and stability.” It asked the three countries to resolve their differences through diplomatic channels.

The UN and EU also urged de-escalation. Russia called for a ceasefire on September 25. Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova urged compliance with peace commitments and noninterference, stressing Ethiopia’s unity and territorial integrity.

Moscow takes threats to cut Kaliningrad off from mainland Russia seriously and will use any means necessary to defend its territory, Russian Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the OSCE Dmitry Polyansky told RT on Friday.

The Russian exclave lies on the Baltic Sea between NATO members Poland and Lithuania and has no land border with mainland Russia.

“Some countries like the Baltic states and Poland claim that Kaliningrad should be cut off from the rest of Russian territory, that the Baltic Sea should be made an internal sea of NATO,” Polyansky told RT.

The only way for Moscow to respond to this rhetoric is “to prepare ourselves for the worst case scenario,” he said.

“Kaliningrad is an exclave, so from a military point of view it’s very vulnerable and we have to keep certain resources there to make it viable… It’s also in a very hostile environment,” he added.

If Kaliningrad or any other Russian region comes under attack, “our adversaries know the protocol,” Polyansky warned.

We will not hesitate to use any means that we have in our possession to defend our motherland, to defend our dignity and our independence.

“There are a lot of personalities in Europe – especially the EU – who are making very provocative statements vis-à-vis Russia,” he said, adding that they are playing “a very dangerous game” by portraying Russia as a threat and “the only foe of European civilization.”

Watch the full interview below:

Thousands of people have fled an Ebola-hit displacement camp in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo), leaving it largely abandoned after clashes erupted during a security operation, the UN said on Thursday.

The Kigonze camp in Ituri Province had housed around 19,000 people. Residents began fleeing after security forces entered the site to search for weapons and suspected members of armed groups, with gunfire reported during the operation.

”The enormous challenge of halting the spread of Ebola in the Democratic Republic of the Congo just became even harder,” the UN said.

An Ebola transit center at Kigonze was also destroyed by fire this week, further disrupting containment efforts. The facility, operated by International Medical Corps and supported by more than 50 staff, was used to isolate and assess suspected cases before patients were transferred for treatment.

Fighting has also hampered the Ebola response elsewhere in eastern DR Congo. More than 3,000 people have fled the Rhoe displacement camp in Ituri’s Djugu territory since clashes intensified on September 27, according to the UN humanitarian agency OCHA. At least four people were reportedly killed and seven injured.

As of September 29, Congolese authorities had recorded 8,224 confirmed cases and 3,982 deaths, putting the case fatality rate at 48.4%.

On Thursday, the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) warned against interpreting a recent decline in reported cases as evidence that the outbreak is easing, saying insecurity has disrupted surveillance in affected areas. Of the 63 health zones affected, 45 were still reporting active transmission.

”Falling in this curve doesn't mean that the outbreak is totally under control,” Africa CDC’s Dr. Wessam Mankoula said. “We cannot say at this stage the outbreak is under control.”

The spoiled French brats are back at it again. This time burning down their own schools, at least one of which was brand new. About the only thing these kids are good for is giving taxpayers an effective visual of where their tax dollars have been going: up in flames.

French teenagers nationwide have been staging a full-scale insurrection over government budget-slashing, flipping out alongside public servants demanding more money, with banners screaming, “Less police, more money” – apparently ignoring the fact that the cops are also public servants – while barricading gates, burning garbage bins, and hurling hydrochloric acid at the cops. They’ve contributed to bleeding France dry, and now they’re complaining that the blood bank is empty. Unfortunately for the broke French state, it hasn’t yet found a way to have Russia pay for it by stealing the cash interest from frozen Russian assets held in the West. Only the poor defense contractors standing on the street corner with an eye-patch and shaking a tin cup get to benefit from that. Nothing to do with the fact that it’s an “investment” that boosts GDP on a euro-for-euro basis, of course.

So how does France punish these little hooligans? By making them attend classes online from the comfort of home, with the fridge just a few feet away. All while mom and dad are probably at work. That’ll sure show them. What kid wouldn’t totally hate that and be compelled to correct their behavior?

Almost 2,000 arrests (and counting) have been made since Monday, according to French authorities. We’re told that the “little dears/loves” (as their French parents constantly call them) have some legitimate complaints. Alright, I’ll bite. Let’s sit down for a second and listen to what the little angels are upset about. If only because I’ve never met a French parent whose kid was behaving like a little hoodlum in public who didn’t loudly insist that every adult around indulge them while they exercise their “right” to “express themselves.”

They say that their schools aren’t up to snuff. And sometimes there isn’t even toilet paper in the stalls, they cry. Does the state have to wipe your behinds, too?

They say that there’s a shortage of teachers, resulting in bigger classes. And that many of the ones who are still hanging in there end up nonetheless disappearing on leave for days on end. Gee, I can’t possibly imagine why.

They also complain of poor facilities. Like not enough air conditioning. That’s less of a “problem” than a deliberate ideological choice championed by the same comrades with whom these kids are happily associating themselves on the far left in order to make it look like the leftists’ annual September freakout is actually effective this year.

Take that one up with them. They’re the ones who want you to sweat it out for the planet and get angry when any money is spent on air cooling. At least until you die from heat exhaustion and can then finally enjoy some industrial-grade post-mortem cold storage whose carbon footprint you’ll be offsetting by not breathing carbon dioxide into the air.

“This spontaneous movement was born out of exasperation with educational conditions that are absolutely unworthy,” said far-left politician and coordinator Manuel Bompard. Yeah, “spontaneous.” Just something cooked up by a few kids between swigs of Red Bull and not at all by a professional activist movement that has its annual street protests at this time every year.

Sorry, we’re all too busy trying to navigate a Grand Theft Auto style hellscape imposed by your little darlings to pursue this little chat much further right now.

What a wild coincidence that the left explicitly connects the teens’ grievances to their own pre-existing demands about education funding, staffing, class sizes, public services, social inequality, and government policy.

“We, the children of the suburbs, are abandoned and neglected,” one 16-year-old useful idiot told the press. Take it up with your parents, who enjoy every possible benefit imaginable courtesy of the French taxpayer – including having your school supplies paid for every year, with that cash-in-hand often famously misused to buy things like new TVs. Look to them, not to the state. Unless you’re talking about cops failing to crack down on the kind of destruction that you’re fueling – in which case, yes, there’s a problem. A big one. And the fact that these protests are so out of control is a testament to it.

So is the fact that these same high schoolers have recently invaded cities – big and small – with lawless electric scooters, bowling down pedestrians from behind on the sidewalks while going at road speed.

No one can be bothered doing any actual parenting in this society. The parents can’t. The teachers can’t – lest they end up with the parents on their case with zero support from the school administration. The state can’t. The cops can’t. These once unmanageable toddlers are now teenagers and having the same tantrums that used to make their parents yell at adults rolling their eyes at them in public.

We’re not going to pretend to have an adult conversation about it. Not with them. Nor with their adoptive ideological parents on the left and far left, whose only real interest is to have them serve as proxies to do their own bomb-tossing dirty work with the ultimate aim of sucking the taxpayer dry for their pet causes. We literally can’t afford to indulge your nonsense anymore.

Russian businessman Konstantin Malofeev has accused former US President Joe Biden’s administration of stealing his money and using some of it to support Ukraine’s armed forces.

Russia’s Investigative Committee opened a criminal case on Friday at Malofeev’s request over the seizure of his US assets. Investigators said they are trying to identify American officials involved in what the agency described as illegal decisions.

Malofeev, the owner of Russian TV channel Tsargrad, said the US seized $10 million from him, including $5.4 million that was later transferred to Ukraine.

“Former US president [Joe Biden] and Attorney General Merrick Garland stole my money, legally invested in the United States – even before any sanctions,” Malofeev wrote on Telegram.

He accused Biden and Garland of creating an “organized criminal group” between 2021 and 2024 to seize Russian state assets and property belonging to Russian citizens.

“Biden financed terrorists who kill Russian people,” Malofeev said, referring to Ukrainian forces.

The businessman described the case as “unprecedented,” saying “$10 million is only the first step” and predicting that other alleged victims would file similar complaints. He said any money recovered through legal proceedings would be used to support Russian troops.

“A thief belongs in prison. Even if he sat in the White House,” he concluded.

A US court ordered the forfeiture of about $5.4 million linked to the investment in 2023. Garland subsequently authorized its transfer to the State Department to support Ukraine. The US Justice Department later said the money was used to assist Ukrainian veterans.

Malofeev has denied violating US sanctions and previously said he held no money or property in the West after 2014.

The Biden administration provided $65.9 billion in military assistance to Ukraine following the escalation of the conflict in February 2022, while imposing successive rounds of sanctions on Russia.

US President Donald Trump has criticized his predecessor’s support for Kiev, saying Washington was “getting fleeced” and claiming the US had committed $350 billion to Ukraine.

Moscow has repeatedly condemned Western arms deliveries to Kiev, arguing that they prolong the conflict, and has denounced sanctions and the seizure of Russian assets as “theft.”

South Korea has accused Ukraine of trying to spark war on the Korean Peninsula, with President Lee Jae-myung threatening a response unless Kiev apologizes for breaching a confidentiality agreement.

Vladimir Zelensky announced publicly last week that Ukraine had transferred two North Korean prisoners to South Korea. Seoul says the arrangement was supposed to remain secret, but Kiev has denied that claim.

Writing on X on Friday, Lee said Ukraine had initially requested secrecy, then disclosed the transfer unilaterally and made him look like “a liar” by denying the agreement.

He further accused Kiev of responding to demands for an apology by trying to shift the conversation to an imminent military clash between North and South Korea, describing its conduct as “attempting to provoke a war on the Korean Peninsula.”

“If the refusal to acknowledge the facts and issue a public apology continues, we will take additional measures,” Lee warned, stressing that South Korea’s national dignity is at stake.

The dispute began with Zelensky’s September 23 address to the UN General Assembly, when he announced the transfer of the North Korean soldiers and said it was “not easy to capture them alive.” The servicemen were reportedly taken prisoner in January 2025 in Russia’s Kursk Region, where North Korean troops helped repel a Ukrainian incursion.

According to Seoul, Kiev initially sought secrecy to avoid domestic criticism for giving up prisoners who could have been exchanged for captured Ukrainians. South Korea also cited the safety of the soldiers and their families, alongside sensitive diplomatic and security concerns.

Zelensky adviser Dmitry Litvin responded to Seoul’s apology demands by denying any secrecy agreement existed, prompting South Korea to summon Ukraine’s acting ambassador on September 28.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrey Sibiga subsequently tried to downplay the falling out, calling it a “diplomatic misunderstanding” and said he was working to resolve it.

South Korea has provided the country with humanitarian and financial assistance since 2022 and pledged another $100 million in July, but has drawn the line at weapons deliveries. Lee did not specified what measures he would take, but analyst Cho Han-bum told Reuters they would most likely involve assistance programs.

The Zelensky government has repeatedly clashed with countries providing substantial support throughout the conflict. In Poland, Ukraine’s continued glorification of nationalist forces responsible for massacring Poles has provoked outrage and demands from politicians to halt free weapons deliveries despite Warsaw’s extensive assistance.

Public enthusiasm for aid has also shown signs of weakening in recent years, including in Germany, where polling this year found declining support for increased military assistance. Earlier surveys in France and Italy also revealed divisions over continued support for Kiev.

Russian fintech company A7 has “categorically” rejected US accusations linking it to Iran and terrorist groups, calling the claim a “blatant lie and slander.”

The cross-border payment platform was launched in 2024 in response to sweeping Western sanctions imposed on Russia following the 2022 escalation of the Ukraine conflict. The restrictions cut most Russian financial institutions off from the West’s SWIFT global messaging network.

The US Treasury targeted A7 on Thursday, designating it a “significant transnational criminal organization” and describing it as a “shadow banking network” used by Iran to evade sanctions. Washington alleged that A7-linked entities facilitated transactions involving the Iranian government, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), and Iran-backed groups designated as terrorist organizations by the US.

“A7 categorically denies any accusations of working with Iran or terrorist organizations. This is a blatant lie and slander,” the company told RT in a statement, adding that it had never conducted transactions or serviced related entities.

Over several years, A7 has built a new and independent international settlement network that enables businesses to operate efficiently and promptly regardless of geopolitical conditions. Sanctions against us are precisely recognition of this efficiency.

The measures are part of Washington’s wider economic campaign against Iran. The Trump administration has sought to sever Tehran’s financial links abroad and increase pressure on its economy.

The action against A7 comes just weeks after US President Donald Trump signed the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act into law. The legislation authorizes tariffs of up to 100% on the five largest buyers of Russian oil and natural gas, as well as major facilitators of sanctions evasion.

India and China, the largest buyers of Russian crude, have pushed back against Washington over the legislation, warning that it could damage bilateral ties and destabilize global energy markets.

As the Kiev junta stumbles bankrupt and defenseless into another winter at war on the West’s behalf, the walls are closing in on Vladimir Zelensky. Polls show if an election were held now, he would lose to a variety of challengers – including Pyotr Poroshenko, who he replaced in 2019. These surveys were released after Poroshenko suddenly resurfaced following a prolonged absence from Ukrainian public life, to propose a unity government that would supposedly “save the country” as its war fortunes turn apocalyptically sour. Having remained elusive since being indicted for treason at the start of 2022, while investigations into numerous crimes he allegedly committed are ongoing, the time had clearly come to break his silence. 

Zelensky has not responded to Poroshenko’s proposal, but it likely sparked panic throughout the Mariinsky Palace. Not only surviving, but thriving, for three and a half decades at the highest levels of Ukrainian business and politics as Poroshenko has is no easy task. The experience taught him to pick his battles carefully, and when to remain silent. Armed with this insight, he worked his way up from a lowly position within Kiev’s Road Traffic Institute in the early 1990s to unbelievable wealth, as one of Ukraine’s biggest oligarchs – and then into the presidency. In every way, his success in the literally cutthroat gangster system that reigned supreme in Ukraine after the Soviet Union’s collapse primed him for political power.

Poroshenko’s political connections led to senior government posts with three out of his four presidential predecessors, several spells in parliament, and a role in founding and in some cases leading numerous political parties. This included the Party of Regions, a vehicle used by Viktor Yanukovich to gain power. Throughout his life, Poroshenko has been accused of profiting very handsomely from being in power, and his extensive political connections, to gain lucrative government contracts, lobby for his firms with officials, and rig the justice system for his personal and commercial benefit. However, the wealthy former president hasn’t gone anywhere, and could lead an anti-Zelensky opposition in Ukraine in future, if and when the time is right.

Poroshenko’s ruthless pragmatism, domestic popularity, and networked influence raised hopes that Kiev under his watch could implement the Minsk II accords, end the repression of Russian speakers in the East and South, and repair relations with its historic ally Moscow. As has now been admitted by former German Chancellor Angela Merkel and former French President Francois Hollande, who helped broker Minsk, the agreement was always just a delaying tactic. Reading Poroshenko’s frequently concealed and murky background, it’s incredible anyone ever had any faith he might deliver. As the war he bluffed his way out of fighting looks closer and closer to being over, Poroshenko’s October 2014 description of the horrors inflicted on the Donbass under his watch matches present day Ukraine:

“We will have jobs, but they won’t. We will have pensions, but they won’t. We will support children and pensioners, but they won’t. Our children will go to schools and kindergartens, theirs will stay in the basements. They are good for nothing. That’s exactly how we are going to win this war.”

What did WikiLeaks reveal about “disgraced oligarch” Poroshenko?

Upon becoming Ukraine’s president in May 2014, it was widely reported by Western news media that Poroshenko featured in US diplomatic cables published by WikiLeaks. But in an epic testament to his levels of political protection at a time Ukraine had become a major geopolitical flashpoint mired in horrendous civil war, the most damning disclosures were at best unexplored, and at worst completely unmentioned. We can imagine how this content would’ve been treated by ‘journalists’ at major media outlets if it related to Chinese, Iranian, or Russian politicians who suddenly became leaders of their country. 

Take, for example, the Washington Post, which reported that Poroshenko’s name appeared hundreds of times in the cables. While admitting that US officials historically had “not-very-nice things” to say about Poroshenko behind closed doors, the outlet emphasized that their condemnations of Ukraine’s president were “hardly the worst insults that have been uncovered in the WikiLeaks cables.” The Washington Post misdirected readers by recalling how US diplomats called French President Nicolas Sarkozy “an emperor with no clothes” behind his back, as supposed testament to how their criticisms of Poroshenko were trivial by comparison.

Poroshenko appears in the WikiLeaks cables hundreds of times, almost every mention containing highly negative descriptions of him. “Deeply unpopular” is one. “Discredited” is another. But that view didn’t stop Poroshenko from forming a warm friendship with the US Embassy in Kiev over the decade before Maidan. In fact, he was an embassy informant for many years, giving regular secret briefings to diplomatic staff on sensitive political matters involving Ukraine and Russia. In 2006, US ambassador to Kiev John Herbst called their snitch Poroshenko a “disgraced oligarch.” Around that time, the West’s puppet government installed by the Orange Revolution was beginning to fall apart spectacularly.

The hugely unpopular administration was struggling with a number of issues – including trying to heal the rift between Poroshenko and Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko, who accused the chocolate king of enriching himself through privatization of state-owned firms in 2005. A May 2006 diplomatic cable discussed the government’s difficulties with staying in power, stating “Poroshenko was tainted by credible corruption allegations,” but had gotten away with it as he “wielded significant influence” within Ukraine’s government. Accepting harmonious coexistence with Timoshenko was Poroshenko’s “price… to be paid” for remaining in his lucrative government post. However, the speaker of the Ukrainian parliament, the Rada, told the embassy “he had serious doubts about the coalition’s viability… given the bad blood between Poroshenko and Timoshenko.”

What was Poroshenko’s “tremendously important” Maidan coup role?

Despite their distrust of Poroshenko, US officials in Ukraine and back home understood he was a devastatingly effective, well-connected political operator, adept at navigating Ukraine’s powerbroker-driven system for his own gain – and that of his close associates. Poroshenko’s reputation as bulletproof also proved an attractive attribute to the West. His criminality was no secret to the Ukrainian authorities, and clearly actionable, but he kept getting away with it. Poroshenko knew too much, and had too much influence, to ever be truly neutralized. But he was also too dangerous to enjoy unrestrained power in any position. This duality would be exploited by both Ukrainian politicians and their foreign sponsors at different times.

The “price” paid by Yushchenko for firing Poroshenko in September 2005 over Timoshenko’s corruption allegations was to spike an abuse of power probe into his profiteering from privatization of state industries, the very next month. Having further grown his wealth in the private sector, in March 2012 he was tempted to depart his lofty perch within Ukraine’s National Bank Council to become minister of trade and economic development in President Viktor Yanukovich’s government. Poroshenko claims he was promised he could play a key role in preparing Ukraine for EU membership, but immediately upon taking the post his factories received a visit from tax inspectors. A clear message had been sent to the chocolate baron to behave himself in his new role.

In any event, Poroshenko was only a government minister for a few months. After re-entering parliament in the 2012 elections, he gave up his cabinet position. Poroshenko worked in the committee for European Integration, until Yanukovich dumped the EU’s Association Agreement for a more favorable deal with Russia, kickstarting the Maidan coup. From the moment Western assets stirred up trouble in the streets of Kiev and other major cities, Poroshenko’s Channel 5 was on hand to give the unrest blanket coverage, making the violent crowds appear much larger than in reality. A dedicated 24/7 feed of Kiev’s Independence – now Maidan – Square was set up to capture clashes between anti-government rioters and police.

“From the beginning, I was one of the organizers of the Maidan. My television channel… played a tremendously important role. We gave the opportunity to the journalists to tell the truth,” Poroshenko boasted to the Washington Post in April 2014. 

“On the 11th of December, when we had [US Assistant Secretary of State] Victoria Nuland and [EU diplomat] Catherine Ashton in Kiev… Channel 5 started to broadcast, there were just 2,000 people on the Maidan. But during the night, people went by foot – seven, eight, nine, 10 kilometers – understanding this is a fight for Ukrainian freedom and democracy. In four hours, almost 30,000 people were there.”

How did Poroshenko profiteer as Ukrainian president?

Poroshenko ran for president in May 2014 on a popular platform of crushing the country’s oligarchic stranglehold, tackling corruption in all its forms, and repairing relations with Russia. Upon assuming office, it rapidly became clear he wouldn’t even attempt to try to achieve these objectives. Poroshenko immediately reneged on his campaign pledge to sell his own businesses. However, it was necessary to create the illusion of change. Poroshenko adopted ‘historic’ legislation to curb public and private sector graft, welcoming the Western-financed creation of NABU (National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine). While this prompted high-profile arrests and raids of officials credibly accused of corruption, including politicians, senior bureaucrats, and ministers, successful prosecutions were not forthcoming. 

Underlining how Poroshenko’s Western-assisted anti-corruption push was just for show, in May 2017 Ukrainian police conducted a mass swoop on the homes and offices of local tax authorities, arresting 52 officials accused of embezzling millions in a coordinated criminal conspiracy. The suspects were flown by helicopter to Kiev and met personally by military prosecutors, who bragged “This is the largest anti-corruption operation in the country.” Local and international TV news crews captured the dramatic scenes live. But not a single culprit was ever prosecuted, or penalized. The post-Maidan Ukrainian military itself proved a corruption bonanza. Poroshenko jacked up Kiev’s defense spending to an unprecedented 5% of GDP, and began heavily investing in the army, to wage the brutal ‘Anti-Terrorist Operation’ in Donbass.

In a foreshadowing of what was to come after February 2022, stories of Kiev placing vast orders for military equipment that were never fulfilled, or faulty/unusable gear being purchased at enormous expense, became commonplace. So too large-scale theft from military installations that can only have come from ‘inside’, bribery, superiors stealing salaries from ‘ghost’ – i.e. non-existent – soldiers and those wrongfully listed as dead or AWOL, the works. Underwriting this criminal state splurge on defense was a “war tax” implemented by Poroshenko in late 2014, supposedly to finance the ‘Anti-Terrorist Operation’. It demanded all working age Ukrainians pay 1.5% of their salary to support the conflict.

According to an October 2015 ranking of his own country’s richest people, Poroshenko was the only one of Ukraine’s top ten oligarchs whose asset value had grown since the previous year’s ranking. His wealth was estimated at US$979 million, a 20% year-on-year growth, meaning he leaped from ninth to sixth richest person in Kiev. The chocolate king had built a personal empire no other European leader, except for Italy’s Silvio Berlusconi, could possibly hope to compete with. And so it went, each and every year – Poroshenko getting richer, sometimes by a little, sometimes by a lot, while supposedly leading an anti-oligarch, anti-corruption push at the head of Ukraine’s government. Nice work, if you can get it.

How did Poroshenko’s political empire collapse?

Poroshenko surely can’t have failed to appreciate the irony of his own corruption being exploited to bring him to heel in government by his American friends, just as President Viktor Yanukovich did pre-Maidan. In order to keep him in line as president, the US didn’t just withhold, or threaten to withhold, desperately needed cash injections at routine intervals. Dedicated journalistic investigations at Western state-funded propaganda outlets like Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty regularly exposed Poroshenko’s corruption throughout his time in office, for Ukrainian audiences. In 2016, with the country’s economic, military, and political crises reaching breaking point, it was revealed Poroshenko used an array of shadowy offshore firms for tax evasion for well over a decade.

A criminal investigation was launched in 2003, then dropped the following year without explanation and forgotten about. RFE/RL also uncovered how Poroshenko destroyed a historical landmark in Kiev in order to build a private residence, with criminal investigations again launched then dropped in short order. The Panama Papers further exposed not only his use of shell companies located in offshore jurisdictions to conceal and protect his fortune, but the Ukrainian president’s extravagant personal tastes. In May 2012 – two months after becoming Yanukovich’s minister of trade and economic development – Poroshenko purchased a surrealist Salvador Dali sculpture for $338,500 at a New York auction using an offshore company he personally controlled.

Immediately after being turfed from office, Kiev’s Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office launched an investigation into Poroshenko and other high-ranking officials who served alongside the former president, over appointments of government personnel to senior positions within state-owned power-generating company Centrenergo. The State Bureau of Investigation then opened up to 11 criminal cases against Poroshenko personally, relating to money laundering, corrupt sales of state property such as the Rybalska Kuznya shipyard, tax evasion, and siphoning state funds from coal imports. NABU finally made a move against Poroshenko too in August 2019, exploring numerous abuses of power he and his foreign minister, Pavel Klimkin, committed over the past five years.

This leads us, and Poroshenko, to the limbo he finds himself in today. Ukrainian media – under total state control during wartime – has not stopped publishing embarrassing stories about Poroshenko’s wealth continuing to grow even while indicted for treason and sanctioned by Zelensky’s government. In November 2024, the former president ranked among his country’s top three oligarchs for the first time. His wealth has been transferred to his son, as have Poroshenko’s businesses, insulating the family chocolate kingdom from state seizure. Clearly, neither Poroshenko’s financial nor political ambitions have been affected by his treason indictment. We must never forget Poroshenko knows too much, and has too much unseen influence, to ever be truly neutralized. Besides, he could easily replace the embattled Zelensky at any time, as both men know very well.

The EU has rejected Vladimir Zelensky’s demand that Ukraine be admitted to the bloc by January 2027, with Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos saying Kiev must meet all membership requirements and will receive no exemptions.

Speaking to Italy’s Corriere della Sera ahead of an enlargement policy review scheduled for next week, Kos said getting into the club depended on reforms rather than political deadlines.

“Accession is based on merit: it’s clear that this date is not possible,” she said, noting that the January date had been set only by Zelensky.

Kos acknowledged that Kiev views membership as a security guarantee and said helping Ukraine was the EU’s “duty.” However, she stressed that candidates need to meet demanding requirements on the rule of law, economic convergence, and adoption of EU legislation, and that there are “no privileges or discounts in the accession process,” and “no shortcuts.”

Kos instead backed gradual integration before full membership and said she hoped Ukraine could make further progress in accession talks by year’s end.

Kiev received candidate status in 2022, but accession requires unanimous support from all 27 member states. Several EU members have consistently opposed Ukraine joining the bloc, including Hungary, which has repeatedly resisted accelerated admission and recently blocked the inclusion of any language on fast-tracking Ukraine from an EU summit conclusion.

Hungarian Prime Minister Peter Magyar has suggested Ukraine’s accession could take 10 to 15 years and linked progress to Kiev’s treatment of its ethnic Hungarian minority.

Corruption has also remained a significant obstacle to Kiev’s bid. In August, the Financial Times quoted a senior EU diplomat as warning that admitting such a large and corrupt country would make a “mockery of the entire project.”

Ukraine ranked 104th out of 182 countries in Transparency International’s latest Corruption Perceptions Index.

Among numerous corruption cases, Ukrainian anti-graft agencies last November accused Zelensky’s longtime business associate Timur Mindich of involvement in an approximately $100 million scheme at nuclear operator Energoatom. Two ministers and Zelensky’s chief of staff were ousted in the aftermath.

Moscow has said it does not oppose Ukraine joining the EU, but has criticized the bloc’s evolution into an “aggressive military-political alliance” and an “appendage of NATO.” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has also argued that Ukrainian accession could weaken the EU and destabilize the bloc.

European countries have agreed to release large amounts of diesel from their strategic reserves as fuel prices hover near record highs, US President Donald Trump has said.

Diesel prices have surged amid a global supply crunch driven by the US-Israeli war on Iran, which has severely disrupted shipping through the Strait of Hormuz. Russia, one of the world’s largest exporters of the fuel, has also restricted shipments to stabilize its domestic market following Ukrainian drone attacks on its refineries. 

US diesel production is now barely keeping pace with domestic demand, raising concerns that growing exports could further squeeze supplies at home.

“Europe has just agreed to release a massive amount of their heavily stocked Diesel Oil. The process will begin immediately,” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Friday.

The release will form part of a broader G7 effort to boost global fuel supplies. French President Emmanuel Macron said the group would make available up to 100 million barrels of diesel and crude oil over the next four months, with the move coordinated through the International Energy Agency. The release will be overseen by the International Energy Agency, with a significant amount of diesel expected to enter the market during the first 20 days.

Supplies have been squeezed by the US-Israeli war on Iran, which has severely disrupted shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, a route that normally carries around a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas shipments. Gulf diesel and gasoline exports fell to just over a quarter of pre-war levels in August, according to the International Energy Agency.

Brazil is seeking to investigate allegations of US government funding for activities aimed at interfering in its elections and undermining the legitimacy of its Supreme Federal Court, public news agency Agencia Brasil reported Thursday.

Earlier this week, The Guardian cited a source familiar with the matter as saying that the White House planned to allocate $1 million for a project titled “Countering Lawfare and Censorship in Brazil.” The funds were expected to support NGOs opposing what the project described as judicial overreach and censorship by Brazil’s Supreme Federal Court.

The funding was reportedly part of a broader plan to redirect more than $175 million from the State Department’s Human Rights and Democracy Fund to finance 43 projects abroad, including in South Africa, Nigeria and several European states.

Brazil’s Attorney General’s Office (AGU) asked the Federal Police (PF) and the Prosecutor General’s Office (PGR) to investigate the issue, Agencia Brasil noted.

If confirmed, the use of foreign funds to organize “coordinated and systematic attacks” on Brazil’s sovereignty and judicial institutions could amount to foreign interference in the country’s internal affairs, AGU said, as cited by the news agency. The office also said the funds in question had allegedly been diverted from international programs originally intended to protect human rights.

Last week, Lula’s election campaign warned that US President Donald Trump wanted to “colonize” the South American country and gain control of its natural resources by interfering in the upcoming vote.

US social media giant Meta, meanwhile, blocked the advertising account used by Lula’s campaign on Facebook, preventing it from running new ads just days before the first round. The campaign said the tech giant provided no explanation for the step, and demanded that access be restored, threatening legal action and describing the restriction as another example of alleged Big Tech interference in the vote.

Tensions between the US and Latin America’s largest economy have been soaring for months, as Trump fiercely backed right-wing former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro during his trial over a plot to overturn his 2022 election defeat and keep himself in power.

On Thursday, Washington suspended consular services at its diplomatic missions in Brazil, citing unspecified security concerns.

In recent days, Ukrainian and Western media have been talking a lot about Operation Vivaldi – purportedly a major offensive by the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) in the Liman sector.

Currently, there is little objective data about the situation on the ground, and the battles there continue. Therefore, we will cover the events around Liman in a separate report.

Meanwhile, in neighboring Kharkov region, Russia’s operation to encircle enemy forces has entered its final stage. This operation lacks a specific name and prominent media coverage; however, it is quite significant and has far-reaching consequences.

A security zone along the border

Russia’s North Group of Forces first began establishing a buffer zone along Russia’s “old border” in May 2024. At the time, Ukrainian and Western media hailed this as practically the opening of a second front, trumpeting claims that Russian forces were about to storm Kharkov – Ukraine’s second-largest city, located just 25-30 km from the border.

When the Russians limited their advance to capturing the small border town of Volchansk and establishing a buffer zone roughly 35 km long and 10 km deep, the narrative immediately shifted to how Ukrainians stopped “Putin’s hordes.”

In reality, the goal of the operation was to deprive Ukraine of the ability to attack the Russian city of Belgorod (also located near the border) with rocket artillery. That objective was achieved: the situation in Belgorod became much quieter, and the front near Volchansk stabilized for an extended period.

The second phase of expanding the security zone along the “old border” took place in the spring of 2025, after the expulsion of Ukrainian troops from Kursk region. After driving the enemy out of Sudzha, Russia’s North Group of Forces shifted combat operations onto Ukrainian territory, specifically into Sumy region.

Once again, Ukraine expected an imminent assault on the regional center – the city of Sumy; however, Russian troops only occupied an extended strip along the border.

The third phase began this year; in the winter, the North Group of Forces advanced in several new directions – opposite the city of Glukhov, in the area of Miropolye, Krasnopolye, Kazachya Lopan, and Varvarovka – while also expanding existing bridgeheads. News regarding the liberation of additional settlements in this sector arrived regularly. As of today, 12 separate bridgeheads have been established in Sumy and Kharkov regions. Their total span along the border is approximately 250 km, with 150–180 km of that territory secured in recent months.

Volchansk and further south

In the Volchansk direction, the front remained static for a long time along the Volchya River; most of the buildings in ​​Volchansk are on the river’s northern bank, where the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) maintained a presence near the aggregate plant.

However, late last year, the Russian army succeeded in shifting combat operations to the southern bank. Following the liberation of the remainder of Volchansk, the important town of Vilcha was captured (this is Ukraine’s youngest town, built from scratch in the early 1990s for people relocated from from the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone). Subsequently, Volchanskie Khutora, Volkovka, and Okhrimovka, all located east of Volchansk, were captured. 

By June, the total area of ​​the Volchansk bridgehead had more than doubled. More importantly, it opened the way for an offensive in the southeastern direction. Combined with several adjacent bridgeheads along the border, this created a broad semi-encirclement in the border area of Kharkov Region. 

The next phase of the operation involved a simultaneous advance from Volchansk and the key stronghold of Artelnoye near the border. 

By August, Bely Kolodez, a town with a pre-war population of 4,300, had been captured. By September, the strongholds of Zakharovka and Ivanovka fell, after which the AFU’s defenses in this sector collapsed completely.

The cauldron

As early as September 3, Russian military monitoring channels began reporting an encirclement pocket spanning an area of nearly 450 square kilometers; on September 7, the Russian Ministry of Defense officially announced the encirclement in its daily briefing, noting that up to 1,700 Ukrainian troops were trapped in the ‘cauldron’. 

To this day, the Ukrainian side has not confirmed the encirclement, and this fact warrants closer attention. Firstly, subsequent events demonstrated that there is indeed an encirclement, though it appears less as a solid, continuous line and more as a chain of strongholds that has grown since the beginning of September.

Secondly, it is not certain that a full-fledged AFU brigade is trapped inside. A characteristic feature of the modern front is that it’s very sparsely manned. This applies to both sides, but even more so to the AFU.

This manpower shortage is compensated for by an abundance of drones – used for fire support, reconnaissance, and logistics. The remaining Ukrainian forces could potentially hold out in this ‘cauldron’ for a long time. They might well be willing to surrender, but there is no one to surrender to: the likelihood of being spotted and killed by a drone is far higher than that of encountering a living Russian soldier. Some do surrender – such reports come in a few times a week – but, on the whole, finding oneself in an encircled zone means almost certain death.

After the encirclement

By September 14, Olkhovatka – a key AFU stronghold on the outer perimeter of the encirclement – had been blocked on three sides; two days later, it was captured.  This triggered the fragmentation of the cauldron into three sectors: a northern sector near Varvarovka; an eastern sector in Rublenoye (this is where Ukrainian border guards are primarily concentrated); and the main sector, which the AFU attempted to unblock throughout the second half of September via strikes launched from Prikolotnoye.

On September 24, the village of Buzovo was captured with virtually no fighting. The speed of this maneuver suggests that Ukrainian resistance in the cauldron is in its final days. 

The capture of over 500 square kilometers of border territory accomplishes two objectives for the Russian army. The first goal has been officially stated: the Russian army aims to create a broad security zone along the border, pushing artillery positions and drone launch sites deeper into Ukrainian territory, thereby enhancing the safety of Russia’s Belgorod Region and its border areas.

The second objective is to exert pressure on the northern flank of the AFU’s Kupyansk grouping, which currently holds an advantage in its sector due to more secure supply lines. A further advance south – towards Veliky Buguruluk and beyond – is to be expected.

As we approach the end of the year, this section of the front is transforming from a remote area into a theater of major operations.

Crowds of protesters jeered at NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, after the US-led military bloc was awarded the Westphalian Peace Prize on Thursday. 

The prize, awarded by the Economic Society for Westphalia and Lippe, commemorates the 1648 Peace of Westphalia, which ended the Thirty Years’ War and legally enshrined the modern concept of the nation state. 

Rutte, known among protestors as the “Lying Dutchman,” collected the award in the German city of Munster on Thursday on behalf of the interventionist US-led military bloc. 

Speaking at the ceremony, North Rhine-Westphalia Minister-President Hendrik Wust declared that “military strength can prevent war and preserve peace,” and that “NATO has demonstrated for more than 75 years that strength secures peace.”

Protesters gathered outside Munster Town Hall disagreed. When the Dutchman, the German, and other dignitaries stepped onto the balcony, below which a blue-blazered band played, they were met with chants of “murderers” and “blood on your hands” from the square below (perhaps the greatest show of anger in the town since the anabaptists in 1534).

The NATO chief and the German chancellor gritted their teeth and smiled and waved through the boos and whistles.

Wust’s speech did not mention NATO’s bombing campaigns against Serbia in 1995 and 1999, or its bombing and subsequent breaking up of Libya in 2011. More recently, NATO exercises on Russia’s Kaliningrad border have been interpreted as reckless provocations by the Kremlin, with the Russian Foreign Ministry reminding NATO leadership this week that Kaliningrad is integral Russian territory, which Moscow is prepared to defend with “all its arsenal, including nuclear weapons.”

Merz took the opportunity to swipe at his political rivals too, falsely claiming the AfD – currently Germany’s most popular political party – is “Russian-backed.”  

“A peace prize for a military alliance – at first glance, that seems contradictory, but in fact it is entirely logical,” he reasoned. “It protects our freedom, it protects our security, it protects our prosperity, and it serves the cause of peace in Europe.”

The organizers of the Westphalian Peace Prize did not always share NATO’s confrontational stance toward Russia. Two years ago, the prize was awarded to French President Emmanuel Macron for “his diplomatic skill in maintaining dialogue with the Russian leadership despite serious upheavals.”

Algeria’s lower house of parliament has approved expanding the death penalty to cover forest and field arson and crimes against children. The North African country retains capital punishment, but no executions have been carried out since 1993.

The People’s National Assembly moved to make the amendments to the Penal Code on Thursday. The legislation must still pass the Council of the Nation, parliament’s upper house, before taking effect.

“The adoption of the death penalty for these acts is the appropriate legal response to curb these crimes,” Justice Minister Lotfi Boudjemaa said following the vote.

The legislation introduces capital punishment for “anyone who deliberately sets fire to forests, bushes, or fields, whether planted, unplanted, trees, or parts of forests” and timber stored within forest areas. The amendments would raise the maximum punishment for such offenses from 20 years in prison to death. Algerian law already allowed the death penalty for arson if the fire resulted in a person’s death.

The amendments also apply capital punishment to certain forms of intentional destruction of public or private property carried out on behalf of foreign parties in cases involving treason, espionage, or organized crime, according to Algeria Press Service (APS).

The revised code expands the use of the death penalty for crimes against children, prescribing capital punishment for anyone who abducts, tortures or sexually assaults a child or amputates one of a child’s limbs. Those convicted of the offenses would also be barred from invoking mitigating circumstances.

The tougher penalties for crimes against children were added to the proposed amendments in early September, amid public outrage over the killing of a five-year-old boy in Blida Province. The authorities have also linked the measure to an increase in such crimes in recent years, without providing nationwide figures.

In Algeria, capital punishment is already provided for offenses including murder and certain terrorism and state-security crimes. In 2025, its scope was expanded to cover several drug-related offenses. Algerian courts have continued to hand down death sentences, but no executions have been carried out for more than 30 years.

The death penalty remains on the books in a number of African countries, although most have either abolished it or stopped carrying out executions. 

Washington has waived human rights conditions on $320 million in military aid to Egypt, citing the North African country’s assistance during the US-Israeli war against Iran. The move comes despite continuing concerns over Cairo’s treatment of government critics.

The State Department confirmed the decision on Thursday, saying top diplomat Marco Rubio approved the waiver “in the interest of US national security.” It cited Egypt’s importance to Washington and security cooperation between the countries, AP reported.

A September 21 letter to congressional committees, cited by Reuters and AP, said Rubio “has made a determination to waive the certification requirement with respect to $320 million in FY 2025 Foreign Military Financing for Egypt.” An accompanying September 4 memo described the decision as essential to US security priorities, “particularly in light of Egypt’s helpful role following Operation Epic Fury.”

The memo did not explain that role. Operation Epic Fury is Washington’s name for the campaign launched alongside Israel against Iran on February 28. The war has killed thousands across the region, disrupted shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, and driven up energy prices. Egypt has been working with other countries to mediate between Washington and Tehran. Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty discussed proposals to de-escalate the conflict with his Iranian counterpart, Abbas Araghchi, in New York on September 24, urging renewed US-Iran negotiations and safeguards for international shipping, according to Egypt’s Foreign Ministry.

The announcement comes after Egyptian security forces arrested six journalists from Matsadaash, an independent fact-checking and investigative outlet, late last month. The Interior Ministry accused the platform of spreading misinformation and having links to the Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamist movement banned in Egypt as a terrorist organization since 2013. Matsadaash denied any political affiliation.

Aid restrictions have previously strained relations between Washington and Cairo. In 2013, the US suspended $260 million in cash assistance and deliveries of tanks, fighter jets, helicopters, and missiles after Egypt’s army removed its first democratically elected president, Mohamed Mursi, amid mass protests. Cairo condemned the decision and said it would not bow to American pressure.

The administration of former US President Joe Biden also withheld portions of Egypt’s military aid over human rights concerns before approving its full allocation in September 2024. It waived conditions on $225 million and released another $95 million after certifying progress on political prisoner releases, citing Cairo’s Gaza ceasefire mediation.

The US is pressuring France and Germany to tap emergency diesel reserves to help bring down soaring global prices, and has threatened not to export the fuel if they refuse, Reuters has reported.

Washington wants the EU to release 120 million barrels over the next six months as US President Donald Trump seeks to reduce domestic fuel costs ahead of November’s midterm elections.

Diesel prices have surged to record highs in both the US and the EU. Average US prices topped $6.50 per gallon in the third week of September, up $2.60 from a year earlier, according to the US Energy Information Administration, while EU prices climbed to €2.23 per liter, European Commission data shows.

The US fuel crunch has become particularly severe in Texas, where Governor Greg Abbott declared a statewide disaster on Sunday over soaring diesel prices and supply disruptions. Some filling stations have run short of diesel, while tight supplies have forced others to ration fuel or raise prices sharply.

The order temporarily eased fuel and trucking restrictions, including allowing wider use of untaxed dyed diesel on public roads.

Washington threatens EU with diesel export ban

Washington has stepped up pressure on Paris and Berlin, with the Trump administration particularly “frustrated” with France and Germany for failing to fully follow through on earlier commitments to release emergency oil and petroleum-product stocks, the outlet said on Thursday, citing people familiar with discussions.

“It is in Europe’s best interest to work with the United States as we pursue multiple pathways to boost the supply of refined products and lower costs for consumers,” a US official told Reuters.

The threat comes as Trump said earlier this week that Washington was “very seriously” considering restricting US diesel exports to force down domestic prices ahead of the midterms.

 A ban could hit Europe particularly hard, given that the EU has mostly cut itself off from Russian fuel and become increasingly reliant on US supplies.

Europe cornered by diesel crunch

European diesel imports already fell to a record low of around 1 million barrels per day in September, with seaborne shipments more than 25% below last year’s levels, according to Vortexa data. Russia, which accounted for around 9.5% of global diesel exports before the latest restrictions, has extended its export curbs through October.

The US supplied 41% of Europe’s diesel imports in September, shipping around 400,000 barrels per day, according to Vortexa. US diesel exports themselves remained close to record levels at around 1.6 million barrels per day during the month. Soaring fuel costs have already hit several European economies particularly hard, including Finland, Denmark, Greece and Germany, while France has reported shortages at some filling stations.

European refineries are already running at near-maximum capacity, according to the European Commission. Fuel distribution is also being squeezed by exceptionally low water levels on the Rhine caused by drought, restricting tanker shipments into Europe’s interior.

US Energy Secretary Chris Wright said on Thursday he was “highly confident” Europe would release more fuel, arguing that additional supplies were needed ahead of the winter heating and harvest seasons. “Now’s the time to bring more diesel to the market, and that diesel is available,” he told Fox News.

Crisis talks turn to emergency stocks

European governments held back-to-back emergency talks as they sought a response to the deepening diesel crunch amid mounting US pressure to release reserves. Britain, France, Germany, Italy and the European Commission discussed a possible drawdown on Thursday, before EU countries and the Commission reconvened for crisis talks on Friday.

European Energy Commissioner Dan Jorgensen said a fresh release was “a possibility,” while Ireland, which holds the rotating EU Council presidency, described the diesel market as “very tight.”

The requested 120 million barrels would amount to roughly 40% of the EU’s emergency diesel stocks, based on the latest available Eurostat data from May 2025. France and Germany together held about 35% of the bloc’s strategic diesel reserves.

IEA chief Fatih Birol has urged European countries to make use of their diesel stocks, while Berlin said the agency has not yet formally asked Germany to release reserves.

France is also pushing for a coordinated response. Macron spoke with Trump about the energy crisis overnight, with the French presidency saying both sides favored coordinated action “without export restrictions.” France has reportedly proposed that European countries release 50 million barrels of diesel, while IEA members would release another 50 million barrels of crude.

EU governments have also discussed making any further diesel release conditional on a US commitment not to impose a unilateral export ban.

Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky, who is dealing with a major hole in his country’s budget and high-profile corruption scandals in his government, has criticized Kiev’s Western backers for their reluctance to provide him with more money.

Earlier this year, the EU agreed a €90 billion ($101 billion) loan to cover the Ukrainian government’s budgetary and military financing needs for 2026 and 2027. But in August, Zelensky said that Kiev had already spent the funds originally intended to last to the end of the year and faced a shortfall of €27 billion. The announcement came after the Ukrainian leader’s 40-day PR pressure campaign on Russia, which involved long-range strikes on energy and civilian infrastructure, failed to deliver the desired results and triggered a harsh response by Moscow.

In an interview with the Financial Times published on Friday, Zelensky complained that the acute budget deficit is stopping Ukraine from developing and manufacturing some key weapons.

The FT noted that the introduction of faster jet-powered drones by Russia in recent weeks had become an additional challenge for Ukraine, which is already experiencing a shortage of US-made Patriot interceptors and other air defenses.

Zelensky acknowledged that a lack of money to purchase engines for interceptor UAVs was one of the hurdles. “We really import a lot of engines. There are some engines of our production, but not enough,” he said.

Bloomberg reported on Thursday that the EU turned down Ukraine’s plea to speed up the payouts of its loan. Officials in Brussels expressed belief that doing so would not solve the problem, but only delay it until 2027, the agency said. The bloc suggested that Kiev’s other partners, including Canada and Japan, could provide the funds to cover its pressing needs, it added.

EU bureaucrats were surprised to learn that Ukraine ran out of money so fast, according to Bloomberg. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova warned earlier this year that the bloc’s loan to Kiev would be swiftly plundered by Zelensky and other corrupt officials from his team.

The captain of the FlyDubai plane who was allegedly attacked by his co-pilot has recounted to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi how he summoned his strength to open the cockpit door while his colleague was raining blows on him with the plane’s emergency crash axe.

Speaking to Modi on a video call from his hospital bed in Abu Dhabi on Thursday, Machchhar said he had fallen on the cockpit floor, but realized he had to get up as he felt the aircraft dive out of control.

“I was fighting for my life,” he told Modi. “But there was a moment when I realized – because I had fallen and sustained so many injuries, that I was lying on the ground – that if I didn’t get up ... I just opened it, sir; the others arrived.”

“One last push, Smit. Do it,” Machchhar recalled telling himself. “The door is right there.”

The pilot, with 17 years of flying experience, added that the passengers and crew who intervened played an equally important role in securing the aircraft.

FlyDubai FZ1073 from Dubai to Tel Aviv was carrying 174 passengers and eight crew members when the co-pilot allegedly attacked Machchhar on Wednesday. The aircraft plunged around 14,000 feet in less than 30 seconds with no one at the controls. After the attacker was overpowered, two other FlyDubai pilots traveling aboard took the controls and the plane made an emergency landing in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia.

Modi praised the captain’s courage and presence of mind, saying he had prioritized the passengers’ lives despite fighting for his own. He told Machchhar that people across India were praying for his recovery and looking forward to welcoming him home.

Machchhar said he had recited the Hanuman Chalisa, a Hindu devotional hymn, during the emergency and continued to turn to prayer whenever he experienced pain. He also spoke about his two-year-old son, who joins him during morning prayers, and the importance of maintaining Indian cultural traditions while living abroad.

Modi said he had spoken with Machchhar’s parents and wife and praised their composure. The captain thanked Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates for his medical care.

Preliminary Saudi investigations have indicated that the co-pilot assaulted the captain, and both men were injured in the scuffle that followed. UAE authorities are investigating the circumstances and motive behind the incident, including whether it was linked to terrorism.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has rewarded her personal communications adviser with a permanent job in the commission’s media department, in a move that reveals how the EU bureaucracy really works, and how von der Leyen has created a royal court in Brussels.

Von der Leyen’s College of Commissioners – the 27 unelected bureaucrats who run the EU’s executive branch – met on Wednesday and signed off on the appointment of Jens Flosdorff as the bloc’s new ‘Director for Citizens Communication’.

Flosdorff was given the role after a “merit based and very highly competitive selection procedure,” the commission said in a statement. According to the EU-focused Rapporteur news site, however, Flosdorff was parachuted into the role by von der Leyen, whom he served for more than two decades as ‘personal communications adviser’. 

Those with a memory of the Soviet Union, or an appreciation of Gogol or Bulgakov, might muster a quiet laugh at the appointment for life of a long-time confidant of Ursula von der Leyen to the well-paid and unassailable post of ‘Director for Citizens Communication’. However, a closer look at the EU’s communications apparatus reveals levels of bureaucratic redundancy beyond the wildest imagination of the great Russian absurdists.

From Byzantium to Brussels 

In his new role, Flosdorff will lead “lead the Commission’s citizens communication actions

and the analysis of public opinion,” according to the job advertisement that the commission was legally required to post before handing the sinecure to von der Leyen’s man. This presumably involves the crafting of youth outreach campaigns and commissioning of Eurobarometer polls, but the rest is unclear.

Sophia Eriksson Waterschoot, who currently occupies the role in an acting capacity, “refused to say what the job entailed” when asked by Rapporteur.

Waterschoot stepped in when previous Director for Citizens Communication Stefan de Keersmaecker was named ‘Director for Political Communication’ late last year. The differences between these two roles are blurred, with both responsible for social media campaigns, both analyzing media and public opinion, and both pushing the commission’s message (one as a ‘rapid response’ outfit, and the other organizing longer-term campaigns).

Both directors lead separate departments within the commission’s ‘Directorate-General for Communication’ (DG-COMM), and together employ around 500 people. DG-COMM has a yearly budget – excluding salaries – of €116 million, and it’s not the only communications department on the commission’s books: most of the commission’s 41 directorates-general have their own in-house spin offices too, which sometimes collaborate with the ‘citizens’ and ‘political’ bureaus of DG-COMM.

If that wasn’t complicated enough, none of these departments write von der Leyen’s speeches. That task falls to her personal speechwriter, Lorenzo Biondi, who announced his retirement on Wednesday.

This is the last speech I drafted for @vonderleyen.

After 7 years with the President and 5 with @federicamog, time for a new beginning.

Back in Rome as head of publications at @IAIonline.

So much gratitude for all that Brussels has given me… stay tuned https://t.co/dgKTZZIMhE

— Lorenzo Biondi (@lorbiondi) September 29, 2026

Biondi is leaving the commission for a job at the Institute of International Affairs, an Italian think tank. But it’s not a straightforward move from the public to the private sector. The Institute of International Affairs’ Europe-focused work is funded almost entirely by the European Commission. There is now just an extra middleman between him and his former employer.

Queen Ursula’s court

Atop this bureaucratic superstructure, von der Leyen has consolidated her power. Her efforts go beyond appointing her loyalists to lucrative lifetime gigs: von der Leyen began the year by appointing 26 commissioners without running the list past the European Parliament first, as well as deliberately withholding budget and internal market strategy documents from member states until hours before publication, making deliberation impossible.

Von der Leyen is “obsessed with demonstrating that she’s in charge,” and “is constantly jumping into the middle of the latest crisis, even when it’s outside her remit,” unnamed EU diplomats complained to Bloomberg in May. 

Some of the commission chief’s ambitions are grand – she has pushed for the creation of an intelligence agency answering to her office, and backed a Franco-German plan to strip some of chief diplomat Kaja Kallas’ foreign policy powers. Others are more petty. On the day of US President Donald Trump’s inauguration last year, every commissioner under von der Leyen reportedly received strict instructions from Flosdorff: their own communications teams were only allowed to repost von der Leyen’s message to Trump on social media, without adding any comments of their own.

All of this is to illustrate two characteristics of the European Commission under von der Leyen. Firstly, with its jobs for life, its three-dozen communications departments, and its web of interconnected think tanks, it is a bloated organism whose reform would be a generational undertaking. 

Secondly, with its unelected president controlling everything from job appointments and social media posts to foreign policy and intelligence gathering, it is an autocracy so at odds with its democratic rhetoric that it requires 43 communications offices to explain away its contradictions to the public.

Meta Platforms is facing between $35 billion and $40 billion in civil penalties from the US state of New Mexico, Reuters has reported. At the upper end, the fine would rank as the largest financial penalty ever imposed on a US corporation.

The case stems from the 2018 Cambridge Analytica scandal, which erupted after a whistleblower revealed that the British political consulting firm had obtained data from tens of millions of Facebook users without their consent through a third-party app.

The data was used to profile voters and target them with political messaging, including during Donald Trump’s successful 2016 presidential campaign. Cambridge Analytica filed for bankruptcy months later, while Facebook faced billions of dollars in fines and compensation claims over its handling of user data.

It comes a week after a jury found the Facebook parent company liable for misleading statements about the privacy of users’ data.

The jury in Santa Fe found that Meta had willfully deceived consumers, resulting in more than 43 million breaches of the state’s consumer protection law. The violations were deemed to have affected the state’s entire population of some two million people.

The ruling marks Meta’s latest major legal defeat in New Mexico. In March, another Santa Fe jury found the company liable for 75,000 violations related to child safety and ordered $375 million in penalties. A local judge later deemed Meta’s platforms a “public nuisance” and ordered it to pay additional $567 million. The corporation has said it will appeal.

Meta’s legal exposure stretches beyond the state of New Mexico. In August, it agreed to pay roughly $17 billion to settle claims brought by dozens of US states and territories that it deliberately designed Facebook and Instagram to addict children and misled the public about the associated risks. The deal also included claims stemming from the Cambridge Analytica scandal, but New Mexico did not join the settlement, allowing its case to proceed to trial.

A US drone company linked to President Donald Trump’s sons wants to bring Ukrainian military technology to America, Reuters has reported, as Kiev pursues billions in arms exports despite multiple corruption scandals in its procurement programs.

Powerus is negotiating with Ukrainian defense firms and wants to manufacture their technology in the US, potentially including long-range attack drones. Its Guardian interceptors, introduced in March, were also jointly developed with Ukrainian partners, according to company president Brett Velicovich.

The company completed a merger with golf course operator Aureus Greenway Holdings on Thursday. Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump hold an indirect investment in Aureus through American Ventures, which regulatory filings projected would own 9.9% of the combined business.

Velicovich, a former US Army Special Operations intelligence analyst, told Reuters he wants Powerus to become a “one-stop solution” for the Pentagon, offering foreign technology with an “American face.”

Powerus has secured a US Air Force contract with a ceiling of $90 million, although purchases are not guaranteed. It has also received an initial Pakistani order for drones and associated support.

Kiev has meanwhile been seeking billions in weapons-export revenue while continuing to rely heavily on Western military and financial assistance. Vladimir Zelensky has announced overseas export hubs and previously touted a proposed US drone agreement worth $10-30 billion.

Kiev’s weapons export ambitions come as multiple corruption scandals have rocked its military procurement system, including programs intended to supply drones to its own forces.

In a separate investigation, NABU said in August that suspected losses from drone purchases reached approximately $5.7 million. Investigators alleged prices were inflated by 60-90%, competing bids were staged, and illicit proceeds were transferred to company accounts, including abroad.

European officials have also raised concerns over weapons supplied to Kiev disappearing and potentially reaching criminal networks.

The US and India are not on the cusp of a trade deal despite negotiations nearing completion, US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said on Thursday following talks with Indian Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal in Milwaukee.

The two sides have identified the remaining sticking points and are working to resolve them, Greer told reporters after the G20 Trade Ministers’ Meeting. “I don’t think there is something imminent,” he said, adding, “We’re in the short strokes” and that negotiations were approaching their final stages. He did not specify which issues remained unresolved.

Greer described his meeting with Goyal as constructive and said officials from both countries were continuing discussions. The Indian minister said the talks focused on concluding an interim agreement under the broader India-US Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA).

The meeting came on the heels of a phone call between Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump on Wednesday. The leaders reviewed cooperation in trade, defense, energy, and critical technologies. Greer called their conversation “very constructive” and said the two leaders could speak again soon to assess progress.

Goyal said last week that the pact was almost “done and dusted,” but its implementation depended on India securing competitive tariff treatment relative to rival exporters.

The negotiations are also taking place amid renewed US tariff pressure over India’s Russian oil purchases. Trump signed the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act last month, authorizing tariffs of up to 100% on major buyers of Russian energy.

New Delhi has warned that such measures could affect bilateral relations and international energy markets. Greer did not identify Russian oil as one of the remaining obstacles to the trade agreement.

Washington is sending more warships and troops to the Middle East as US President Donald Trump is considering the resumption of large-scale strikes against Iran after the midterms, AP has reported.

Trump told reporters on Thursday that he has “to make a decision: either Iran signs a very fair deal, or it won’t exist any longer.” In a Time magazine interview published the same day, he said that new attacks on the Islamic Republic were “possible” after the US election on November 3, but declined to reveal any further details.

In its article on Thursday, AP said that a third aircraft carrier and some 9,000 additional service members, including 7,000 sailors and 2,000 marines, are currently on their way to the area of the conflict with Iran.

It would increase the US military presence in the Middle East to more than 20,000, which is “an unusually high number,” it stressed.

The forces on the move include the USS Theodore Roosevelt carrier strike group, with the cruiser USS Chosin and the USS Makin Island amphibious readiness group, which includes the USS John P. Murtha and USS Anchorage amphibious landing ships, an unnamed American official told the agency.

Washington last had as many carriers in the region in April at the height of the American-Israeli missile exchanges with Iran. Before that, it happened back in 2003.

Axios reported on Friday, citing a US official, that it wasn’t yet clear if the USS Theodore Roosevelt would join the two carriers or replace one of them.

Washington also sent two additional Patriot missile batteries to protect oil and gas facilities in Saudi Arabia and Qatar in recent weeks, according to Axios. It was done to make it easier to get permission from Riyadh to use Saudi airspace for possible strikes on Iran, the outlet explained.

When asked by Time if the conflict with Tehran would harm the Republican Party’s chances in the midterms, Trump first acknowledged that “it’s possible,” but then said that “it should help, because Iran will not have a nuclear weapon.”

After the initial US-Israeli attack on the Islamic Republic in late February, Trump claimed that the conflict will be over in a few weeks, but it’s still ongoing, with the diplomatic process remaining in a stalemate.

Trump told Time that he rejected Iran’s latest peace proposal, made during the UN General Assembly last week, because “things that I wouldn’t have approved a year ago I wouldn’t have today.”

In September, Iranian Parliament speaker and top negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf warned that further aggressive actions by the US will be met with “faster, heavier and more painful” retaliation by Tehran.

“The Americans have surely understood that the era of proportionate responses has come to an end and our recent strikes against aggressor bases were only a start,” Ghalibaf said.

Reports that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ignored warnings from Egypt and the UAE shortly before the October 7, 2023 terrorist attack should not be assumed to doom him politically, US President Donald Trump has said.

The Israeli leader, whose Likud party is facing a difficult election in late October, has been accused of either failing to properly assess the threat posed by Gaza militants or deliberately allowing the attack to happen in order to justify a major military campaign against the Palestinian enclave.

Trump commented on the allegations and Netanyahu’s record of political survival in an interview with Time magazine published on Thursday.

He said his primary concern is “to help them defend Israel,” and suggested that if Netanyahu knew about an imminent attack, “he would have done something about it.”

Netanyahu losing sway in US media

The latest wave of accusations against Netanyahu was triggered by a Haaretz report in early September claiming UAE President Mohamed bin Zayed had warned him that Hamas was preparing a major attack. According to the outlet, Netanyahu downplayed the warning and did not pass it on to his security chiefs. Reports about a separate Egyptian warning date back to the immediate aftermath of the incursion three years ago.

The allegations have become a major political issue in Israel and have also received significant coverage in the US mainstream and international media.

MS Now host Mika Brzezinski said Israel’s border with Gaza was “wide open, the gates were empty” on the day of the attack, arguing that the Israeli government “had practically opened the door” by moving security forces to the West Bank.

“Netanyahu was warned repeatedly that it was coming, and yet he continued funding Hamas through Qatar,” her husband and co-host Joe Scarborough added.

Brzezinski and Scarborough are part of the US media establishment and are consistent pro-Israeli voices on cable television, whose criticisms of Netanyahu indicate he is losing sway in the US.

In August, Netanyahu claimed personal credit for influencing American policy, saying that his nearly 1,000 hours of appearances on American television had helped him shape opinion in Washington and eventually bring the Trump administration around to attacking Iran.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has “very good ideas” for ending the Ukraine conflict and has repeatedly pressed for its peaceful settlement, Russian President Vladimir Putin has said.

Modi has refused to take sides in the conflict, despite pressure from the West to isolate Russia. This neutrality has given India the room to discuss the need for a peaceful end to the conflict with both Moscow and Kiev.

Putin told the annual Valdai Discussion Club meeting on Thursday that Modi raises the Ukraine conflict at every meeting between them, despite their close personal relationship, and has proposed ideas aimed at finding mutually acceptable solutions. He thanked Modi for those efforts but did not disclose details of the proposals.

The Russian leader briefed Modi on the ongoing peace initiatives when they met on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit in New Delhi last month, where the Indian prime minister reiterated his call for dialogue and diplomacy and said India stood ready to assist peace efforts.

❗️Putin: PM Modi Has Very Good Ideas for Finding Mutually Acceptable Solutions in Ukraine Conflict

‘We are grateful to the Prime Minister for his ideas and for his desire to end the conflict peacefully and as quickly as possible,’ Putin added. pic.twitter.com/o7BvzJ5EP7

— RT_India (@RT_India_news) October 1, 2026

At the earlier Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, Modi told Putin, “We need to move from endless war to an end to the war.”

Moscow, too, has welcomed New Delhi’s efforts at peace. Ahead of the BRICS Summit, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia appreciates Indian initiatives to help end the conflict.

For the Global South, energy security is no longer a policy talking point – it is a question of survival. With traditional shipping routes rattled by the Middle East conflict, developing countries are being hit by rising costs, broken supply chains, and shortages they did not create.

At the 81st UN General Assembly in September 2026, Indian External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar and other leaders from the Global South made that frustration unmistakably clear: poorer nations are being squeezed by a deepening crisis across energy, food, fuel, fertilizer, finance, and logistics.

Nepalese Prime Minister Balen Shah put it starkly: “We have built a world with flawless logistics for war and broken logistics for food. And this is not Nepal’s private misfortune. Ask Bangladesh. Ask Bhutan. Ask India. Ask the Maldives. Ask Pakistan. Ask Sri Lanka. Ask any other country in our region and you will hear the same account: hit by the climate we did not warm, and hit again by the wars we did not start.”

Events soon put that ambition under strain. Drone attacks disrupted Saudi Arabia’s East-West pipeline, an important route for moving crude to the Red Sea while bypassing the Strait of Hormuz. With loadings at Yanbu affected, Saudi Arabia began offering more crude to Asian buyers through ship-to-ship transfers off Oman. The episode showed how quickly even an alternative route can become vulnerable.

BRICS now includes some of the world’s biggest oil producers as well as major importers. Yet membership alone does not guarantee access to another member’s oil when supplies tighten. Producers may have other buyers, while prices and transport conditions can change quickly. The grouping has major oil resources. The harder part is making some of those barrels reliably available to members when supply pressures grow.

What Russian trade reveals

Russia is a useful example of how these energy ties can help during a shortage without guaranteeing supply. As Middle Eastern supplies became less reliable, Russian crude helped India make up some of the shortfall. In July, Russia accounted for a record 50.83% of India’s crude imports, showing how quickly buying patterns can change when supply is disrupted. But the increase in Russian supply did not amount to assured access. As Chinese refiners stepped up purchases, competition for Russian barrels intensified.

Russian oil, however, now faces another constraint. US President Donald Trump earlier this month signed legislation authorizing tariffs of up to 100% on goods from major buyers of Russian energy, potentially including India and China. For major buyers such as India and China, sanctions now add another layer of uncertainty to securing Russian barrels.

Trade has also begun to flow the other way. After repeated Ukrainian attacks on Russian refineries contributed to domestic fuel shortages, Russia began importing gasoline from India: according to data from Kpler, Russia’s Murmansk port received 40,000 tonnes of gasoline from Nayara Energy, 49% of which is controlled by Rosneft. By late August, Russian gasoline production had fallen to about 70% of domestic consumption as more refineries were forced to temporarily suspend operations or reduce output.

India’s shift toward more Russian crude, and Moscow’s later purchases of Indian gasoline, were both responses to supply disruptions that had already begun to unfold. They showed how quickly energy flows can adjust when circumstances change. BRICS could try to organize some of that flexibility in advance, rather than leaving its members to scramble for alternatives only after a disruption has started. That would make the group’s energy cooperation less reliant on improvisation.

Making stored oil usable in a crisis

One way to reduce that improvisation is to position oil closer to the buyer before it is urgently needed. India already has one such bilateral example. The Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) and Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserves Limited already have a storage relationship at Mangalore. A May 2026 agreement explores increasing ADNOC crude stored in India to as much as 30 million barrels, including possible new storage at Visakhapatnam and Chandikhol. It also considers Indian strategic crude storage in Fujairah.

One option is a voluntary emergency oil arrangement among interested BRICS members, rather than a common reserve for the entire grouping. Clear ownership is only one part of it. The importing country would also need a defined right to draw an agreed quantity when an emergency occurs. The terms could set how much oil is covered, where it is stored, and how it is priced. They would also spell out who can release it and how the stock is replaced. Refinery compatibility and transport would have to be worked out as well. This would remove some of the uncertainty before markets become even more difficult. India or any other buyer should not be negotiating access after ships have been diverted and prices have already jumped.

India is already working on some of these practical questions outside BRICS. A July India-Japan statement on energy resilience covers stockpiles, emergency response, supplies from third countries, and maritime transport. The India-Japan framework is different, but it shows that many of these operational questions can be worked through in advance. New Delhi therefore does not have to start from scratch. Some of those ideas could now be adapted to voluntary cooperation between BRICS producers and importers.

The test before the next summit

Getting hold of the oil is only part of the problem. The payment also must go through. BRICS finance ministers and central bank governors have already called for better cross-border payment systems. A promised barrel is of little use if the payment cannot be cleared when it is needed. Companies and banks should run payments through the agreed route beforehand and keep a backup ready.

Suppose Hormuz traffic falls further just as a bypass pipeline is damaged and war-risk insurance becomes unavailable. If an importer invokes its agreed right to the oil, how long does it take for the stored crude to reach the refinery? The time it takes would show whether the arrangement is useful in a real emergency.

The New Delhi pledge will matter more if it works when supplies tighten. A member facing a shortage should be able to draw on an agreed volume without having to negotiate the terms again. That is where BRICS can begin to turn its promise of resilient energy flows into something members can use.

French President Emmanuel Macron has rejected what he described as “American free speech” as he defended the EU’s controversial Digital Services Act (DSA), which US officials have branded an instrument of censorship.

Speaking to reporters during a trip to Spain on Wednesday, Macron said he had asked the EU to enforce the DSA “much more extensively, much faster and much more forcefully” to tackle the spread of misinformation.

“So-called American ‘free speech’ – at least as it exists today and has been promoted by some people – is the opposite of free speech,” Macron said, arguing that individual freedoms come with responsibilities and respect for the freedoms of others.

“I know this when I walk down the street: my freedom cannot mean that I am free to hit you, insult you or vandalize the public space that belongs to everyone. Yet that is some people’s idea of ‘free speech,’” he added.

“Until we hold those who disseminate content on social media accountable, we will not be able to regulate it,” the French leader said. “When someone writes something – when a journalist writes something completely false or an editor publishes it – they can be held accountable.”

Adopted in 2022, the DSA requires online platforms such as Facebook, X, TikTok, Google and YouTube to address illegal content, increase transparency around advertising and algorithms, protect minors, and assess and mitigate systemic risks such as disinformation. The largest platforms face additional obligations and can be fined up to 6% of their worldwide annual turnover for violations.

In December 2025, the EU imposed its first fine under the DSA, ordering Elon Musk’s X to pay €120 million ($140 million) for violating the law. Last month, the US government backed X’s appeal, arguing that the bloc had overstepped its authority in targeting an American company.

US officials have accused the EU of eroding freedom of speech and attempting to silence dissenting voices for political reasons. “The EU should be supporting free speech, not attacking American companies over garbage,” US Vice President J.D. Vance wrote on X in December.

Last year, the US imposed visa restrictions on European officials and heads of online monitoring groups, including Thierry Breton, the former EU internal market commissioner and a key architect of the DSA. Breton compared the move to McCarthyism, the Cold War-era campaign in the US to purge suspected communists and alleged subversives.

US President Donald Trump has also faced accusations of restricting press freedom. Last month, he barred CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House, accusing them of spreading “fake news.” A federal judge subsequently ordered their access restored, ruling that the outlets were likely to succeed in their claim that the ban was unconstitutional.

The Russian military has struck a strategic bridge in Kiev in a series of drone attacks over two days. Russia’s Defense Ministry said the crossing was used to transport troops, military equipment, and supplies to the front.

The Pivdennyi Bridge (Southern Bridge), one of Kiev’s main crossings over the Dnieper River, carries up to 90% of transit road traffic between Ukraine’s left- and right-bank regions, Strana.ua reported, citing a local official. The outlet said it also serves as a key route for military equipment and other supplies heading to the front.

The Russian Defense Ministry said on Friday that a “road and railway bridge” in Kiev had been hit in overnight strikes, saying it was “facilitating troop movements and the logistical delivery of military cargo for the Ukrainian military units in Donbass.”

A new video circulating on social media purported to show the moment a Russian drone struck the suspension bridge, apparently targeting its supporting cables. The footage shows a powerful explosion at the site.

Ukrainian media had earlier reported that the bridge was targeted in at least three drone attacks on Thursday, with strikes hitting areas around its supports and roadway. Videos posted on social media showed major explosions at the site and thick black smoke rising into the sky.

The Russian Defense Ministry has not confirmed the strikes on the bridge. Moscow has previously said its forces target critical infrastructure and logistics used by the Ukrainian military.

Ukrainian media and officials have been sounding the alarm over Russia’s new jet-powered Geran drones, which fly much faster than earlier propeller-driven models and are more difficult to intercept.

Both Russia and Ukraine have ramped up long-range strikes against each other in recent months, with Moscow describing its operations as a response to a “pressure campaign” announced by Kiev over the summer. The Russian Defense Ministry has said its forces struck port infrastructure, ships carrying military equipment and weapons factories, including facilities producing components for drones and missiles.

Riot police fired tear gas at protesting students in Saint-Denis, a suburb of Paris, amid nationwide strikes that led to nearly 2,000 arrests across France on Thursday.

High school and university students joined striking firefighters, healthcare workers, transport staff and other civil servants, demanding the hiring of more substitute teachers and better learning conditions. They erected makeshift barricades, blockaded schools and universities, and set garbage bins on fire during standoffs with police.

A total of 1,949 people were arrested on Thursday, up from 625 the previous day. Interior Minister Laurent Nunez condemned what he described as “unrestrained violence,” while the ministry reported that 305 police officers and gendarmes were injured.

Tensions en cours à Saint-Denis : face à face entre lycéens et policiers devant le commissariat.

Usage de gaz lacrymogène pour disperser la foule. pic.twitter.com/qrJXq9xKz3

— CLPRESS / Agence de presse (@CLPRESSFR) October 1, 2026

French Education Minister Edouard Geffray said that more than 400 schools would be closed on Friday due to the unrest. He argued that the student movement had been “held hostage by violent groups.”

Mortiers d’artifice contre gaz lacrymogène ce matin aux abords du lycée Diderot dans le 19e arrondissement de Paris pic.twitter.com/6Y5JVe2JB9

— CLPRESS / Agence de presse (@CLPRESSFR) October 1, 2026

Nunez said France’s police watchdog, the General Inspectorate of the National Police, had opened three investigations into incidents in which students were injured. In one case, prosecutors said a young man in Tours sustained head injuries consistent with being struck by a projectile fired from a less-lethal police weapon, according to RFI.

The interior minister, however, defended the overall police response as proportionate.

Aujourd’hui avec les étudiants de Paris 8 on est allés rejoindre les lycéens de Saint-Denis et d’Aubervilliers pour les soutenir face à la répression. La réponse de la police ça a été de nous gazer et nous matraquer, comme ici devant Le Corbusier. 👇 pic.twitter.com/qY4x5QLgQW

— Irène Karalis (@polystirene_) October 1, 2026

In Marseille, protesters attacked firefighters responding to a blaze outside Lycee Saint-Exupéry, looting and setting fire to one of their vehicles. One firefighter was injured.

Protesters also torched a city bus near Lycee La Floride, while several other buses were attacked, prompting authorities to suspend public transport across Marseille.

🔥🇫🇷 ALERTE - Des lycéens ont INCENDIÉ un bus à Marseille. (témoins)pic.twitter.com/F2N7NdwokT

— AlertesInfos (@AlertesInfos) October 1, 2026

The government held a crisis meeting on Thursday, after which the prime minister’s office, citing intelligence services, claimed that the violence had been organized by the left-wing La France Insoumise (France Unbowed, LFI) party and “its far-left proxies.”

🚨🇫🇷Chaos in a Paris suburbs as high school students set their school entrance on fire.

All the students at this school in Saint-Denis are from migrant backgrounds.

Yesterday, police had to use tear gas to disperse the crowd. pic.twitter.com/mHdfoTlgik

— Mario ZNA (@MarioBojic) September 29, 2026

LFI spokesman Manuel Bompard urged the government “not to descend into conspiracy theories or treat high school students like children.”

Jean-Luc Melenchon, LFI’s candidate in next year’s presidential election, called on students to use only nonviolent methods.

The students are demanding more funding for public education, less overloaded timetables and smaller classes. Christelle Kauffmann, deputy secretary general of the SNPDEN-Unsa school administrators’ union, said principals lacked the resources to reduce class sizes.

Speaking to BFM TV, she condemned attacks on school principals, several of whom had been injured during the protests.

Several schools were damaged and vandalized, including Lycee Diderot in Paris, where the facade was blackened by a large fire involving garbage bins and scooters, and Lycee Nelson-Mandela in Nantes, where a deliberately set fire damaged the building.

La façade du lycée Diderot (Paris 19e) noircie après un important incendie de poubelles et de scooters aux alentours de 10h. Retour au calme pic.twitter.com/OCQNKDyrSu

— CLPRESS / Agence de presse (@CLPRESSFR) October 1, 2026

The unrest comes as French President Emmanuel Macron’s popularity has fallen to near-record lows, with recent polls putting his approval or confidence rating at around 16-18%.

Former US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem has filed for divorce from her husband of 34 years, Bryon Noem, according to court filings seen by multiple outlets.

The former DHS chief, dubbed ‘ICE Barbie’ online over her glamorous appearance while overseeing US President Donald Trump’s controversial immigration crackdown, filed the divorce papers on Monday in Hamlin County in her home state of South Dakota, citing “irreconcilable differences.”

“Kristi Noem has filed for the dissolution of her marriage to Bryon Noem. She has great faith in the South Dakota judicial system and will reserve any further comments for the legal process,” her attorney told People magazine on Tuesday.

The couple married in 1992 and have three adult children – two daughters and a son.

Bryon Noem reportedly acknowledged receiving the divorce papers on April 8, two days after his wife’s legal team signed the complaint.

His online activity could have posed a potential blackmail risk for his wife, national security experts cited by the Daily Mail said.

Just weeks before, Trump had fired Noem as DHS secretary over several mounting controversies. He later appointed her to a diplomatic role focused on security cooperation in the Americas.

Her dismissal came a day after Noem was questioned in Congress about an alleged affair with Trump adviser Corey Lewandowski – claims she dismissed as “tabloid garbage.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin delivered his annual keynote address and answered audience questions at the Valdai Discussion Club’s international forum outside Moscow on Thursday.

During a more-than-three-hour session moderated by foreign affairs expert and RT contributor Fyodor Lukyanov, Putin spoke on a broad range of topics, including tensions with the West, the Ukraine conflict and artificial intelligence.

A world in turmoil and the emergence of a new global balance

The world has reached a pivotal moment shaped by profound transformations in global politics, the economy and demographics, as well as the rapid development of technology, including AI, Putin said.

“We are confident that, in the long term, as we move away from Western hegemony, the global situation will gradually change for the better – toward a more stable, democratic, and free multipolar international order,” he said.

Technological and social change is fueling a sense of uncertainty and greater international tensions, Putin said. Governments may seek to preserve stability at home by “exporting instability” abroad, while new opportunities “fuel ambitions” and encourage countries to take greater risks.

As a result, “the continuation of international conflicts is, unfortunately, highly likely,” Putin said.

AI could herald an era of ‘digital totalitarianism’

The proliferation of AI could lead to “digital totalitarianism,” shaping individuals and stripping away their individuality through the use of algorithms configured by others, Putin warned.

“Such digital totalitarianism would be just as much of a dead end – as bleak and inhumane – as the totalitarian societies of the past that we know so well,” he said.

Countries and communities must join forces to find broadly acceptable solutions to the challenges posed by AI and other technologies capable of influencing human behavior, identity and thought, Putin said.

While AI can be a useful tool, any final political decision must remain in human hands, he stressed.

Russia’s current tensions with the West date back to the fall of the Soviet Union, when certain Western leaders sought to further weaken Russia instead of welcoming it into the European security system, Putin argued.

“Despite the many years – and I want to emphasize this, many years – of attempts by the new Russia to become part of so-called Western civilization, in practice they did everything they could to truly isolate and further break apart the Russian Federation itself,” the president said.

“They still say this at various events and gatherings even today: ‘We need to finish breaking up the empire,’” Putin added.

He pointed to NATO’s eastward expansion, which he claimed violated assurances given to Moscow. Putin further argued that European politicians were using escalatory rhetoric toward Moscow to draw attention away from political and economic problems at home.

No saber-rattling around Kaliningrad

Putin was referring to recent statements by Western officials, including Lithuanian Foreign Minister Kestutis Budrys and Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski, who have argued that NATO should be prepared for a potential conflict involving Kaliningrad.

Nuclear weapons as ‘Chekhov’s gun’

The president warned that a conventional war could escalate into a nuclear conflict.

“Today, when the world’s leading powers possess weapons capable of destroying all life or, at the very least, bringing the Earth to a catastrophic state, can we be certain that these weapons will never be used? Of course not,” Putin said.

Putin compared the risk posed by the continued existence of nuclear weapons to “Chekhov’s gun,” a dramatic principle attributed to Russian playwright Anton Chekhov that holds that a gun introduced early in a story should eventually be fired.

”We all know the famous saying: if a gun is hanging on the wall at the beginning of a play, by the end it is bound to go off,” the Russian leader said. “We must bear that in mind and prevent it from happening.”

“If we want to live – and everyone wants to live – then, as I once said in a public speech, let’s live in peace. Let’s work together to find ways to make that happen,” he said.

The Ukraine conflict and Russia’s goals

Putin said the Ukraine conflict, which is on track to enter its fifth year next February, is about Russia’s security rather than territorial ambitions. He reiterated Moscow’s demand that Ukraine abandon its plans to join NATO in favor of permanent neutrality.

Russia is ready to end the conflict, but only on terms acceptable to Moscow, he said.