The world is likely to face further global shocks in the foreseeable future, with no respite in sight, International Monetary Fund Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva has warned.

Appearing on Bloomberg’s podcast ‘Leaders with Francine Lacqua’ on Monday, Georgieva expressed concern that “we are not completely internalizing yet that this is how the world is going to be.”

“We are not going to get to a place where shocks are gone,” she added.

The IMF chief said, “we collectively did not appreciate the backlash against globalization.” She noted that communities around the world have been “hollowed out because their jobs disappeared and there was not enough attention to them,” warning that the rapid introduction of AI into business and production processes could exacerbate these trends.

In its World Economic Outlook released in mid-April, the IMF downgraded its global growth forecast for 2026 from the previous projection of 3.4% to 3.1%, citing the steep rise in oil prices caused by the US-Israeli war against Iran.

By contrast, the forecast for Russia saw an upward revision of 0.3 percentage points compared to the IMF’s January estimate.

The US-Israeli war against Iran and the country’s retaliatory strikes across the Middle East sent global oil prices sharply higher. Hostilities in the region have disrupted traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, a key route for global oil and gas supplies.

Faced with rising energy prices, officials across the EU have suggested restoring energy ties with Russia. Brussels, however, has refused to walk back its plan to completely phase out Russian fossil fuels by 2027.

Kremlin envoy Kirill Dmitriev predicted last month that the EU and UK would be deluged by the “energy crisis tsunami.”

There’s an old treaty that, if you have signed up to it, says that you can’t spread nuclear weapons. So, if you don’t have any nukes and you sign the treaty, you can’t get any. Simple as that. You’d think.

But leave it to the West, with all its ‘values’ and ‘rules-based order’ to, you know, not really break the rules. Just bend them a little. Bend them so much, in fact, that just breaking them would be more honest and less embarrassing.

The agreement we are talking about is, of course, the 1968  Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), according to the International Atomic Energy Agency “the centerpiece” – no less – of much that is good, beautiful, and eminently reasonable. Namely “global efforts to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons, to promote cooperation in the peaceful uses of nuclear energy and to further the goal of nuclear disarmament and general and complete disarmament.” Germany, for instance, is a long-standing signatory.

And yet, Germany and five other NPT signatories who belong to America’s NATO client system have nuclear gravity bombs on their (formally, at least) sovereign territory, and their air forces stand ready to carry them to targets which would be – surprise, surprise – in Russia. The little piece of shyster-level legal sophistry used to cover for this obvious breach of the Non-Proliferation Treaty is called – wait for it – “Nuclear Sharing.” Sweet, isn’t it? The world – or, perhaps, just Europe – may end in a man-made big bang of fire and fallout, but, as they say in kindergarten ‘sharing is caring.’

By the way, it is obvious – and would have been to men such as Clausewitz, York (both with some serious delay, admittedly), or Bismarck – that, for instance, German officers worth their salt would have to prepare secret emergency plans for rapidly seizing those nuclear weapons on German territory from our American ‘allies.’ Without bloodshed, if possible; or with, if necessary.

But back to the specific arrangements adding up to this great sharing in anticipated self-annihilation. They are quite complicated; this is modern life, after all. If we go, we go with a bang and a lot of bureaucracy. But their essence is simple: You, sort-of-sovereign country X (say, Germany), station US nukes on your territory, which inevitably makes you a target for retaliation in (nuclear) kind. But while you are making yourself a target, those nukes remain under the full control of Washington (so much for that sovereignty).

Guarded by American troops – whose real mission is, of course, to keep the compliant clients from laying their grubby hands on them – these nukes sit ready for American orders to be used. Yes, formally, there’s some mumbo-jumbo about a ‘dual key,’ but everyone not badly dropped on their head when in their nappies knows that’s BS. As a French officer has just confirmed to Le Figaro, France’s conservative paper of record, in reality, “there’s only one key” and – as in every decent organized-crime outfit – only one man will decide: the US president.

Then, in case the American capo di tutti capi gives his end-of-days order, you, country X, will have the privilege to take these American nukes to Russia. Once your – not American – planes drop American nukes on Russian troop concentrations and bases or, say, Kaliningrad or St. Petersburg, just sit tight and wait for the response. It would come, even if it were the last thing they ever did. Because that’s the way the world works. Also, they have told us so.

With things set up so neatly to cheat the NPT, you would think that everybody is hunky-dory, as that old mafiosi Tony Soprano would have said. Yet far from it. In reality, the US is loudly considering expanding the “nuclear sharing” scheme, and several European states – including some for whom mere SNOWCAT-ing clearly is just not good enough – seem eager to get their own local pile of US nukes.

At the same time, as everyone acknowledges frankly, these fresh nukes for Europe are supposed to make up for Washington withdrawing its conventional forces from the old continent. What a message: “Dear Euro vassals, we won’t stay around to fight and die with you, but we are happy to make more of you bases and delivery boys for our nukes. Hope you feel safer now. (Oh, and also, we’d love to sell you more of our overpriced F-35s, US kill switches included, that you’ll need for your bombing runs against Russia when we whistle. Deal?)"

In a normal world – or to be precise, a normal Europe – the answer to such American generosity would have to be a resounding ‘f*ck off’ (in plain American English). But Europe’s elites are not sane and so Europe is very far from normal. There seems to be a real eagerness to keep doing what America wants, European interests be damned.

That’s why the so-called ‘NATO 3.0’ project associated in particular with ‘brain-of-the-Pentagon’ Elbridge Colby is likely to proceed just fine. Its essence is simple: Fewer US troops, key capacities, and conventional arms for Europe, so that Washington can shift its weight against China. Apart from the grandly strategic, there’s the personal: That Colby’s father, while working for the CIA, helped lose the Vietnam War may play a role in shaping his son’s priorities.

Russia, if things ever went that far, is extremely unlikely to play along with this NATO 3.0 strategy, obviously. On the contrary, once US nukes land on its troops, bases, and cities, whether launched from and through European vassals or the American mainland, Moscow is likely to hit back at both.

Yet the real mystery here is not how Washington has arrived at adopting such a transparently fragile strategy. Looked at from the big, group-think blob on the Potomac, it may appear worth a try. What is truly baffling is why anyone in Europe would agree. The catastrophic disadvantages are just too obvious. Painting more targets on Europe’s back, distributing nuclear weapons further east when NATO’s eastward expansion is precisely what caused the Ukraine War, sending yet another antagonizing signal to China that Europe is straining to do what it can just to help the US pressure Beijing, and, last but not least, setting Europe up for a large-scale re-run of what the West has just done to Ukraine: a devastating proxy war.

Europe does not need even more “nuclear sharing” with the unreliable, irrational, and aggressive US. It needs decoupling from its abusive and exploitative masters in Washington. If its leaders wish to share, how about doing some hard thinking about the economic and security interests their countries clearly share with both Russia and China? But then, Europe’s leaders don’t think. And when they do, then not on behalf of their own peoples. What a shared misery.

An oil tanker is sinking off the coast of Oman after being hit by a projectile, according to reports.

The merchant vessel MT Marivex was carrying a crew of 24 Indians when it was reportedly targeted near Oman’s Masirah Island.

SOS calls from the crew originated at 1:30 PM local time on Monday, India Today reported.

Some media reports, citing an SOS call by a crew member on board the stricken ship, said the vessel could have been fired upon by the US Navy. RT could not independently verify the reports.

The United States Central Command, under whose area of operations the incident occurred, has not commented.

India’s Shipping Ministry confirmed the incident and acknowledged the 24 crew on board were its citizens. The Indian Embassy in Oman said all crew members have been rescued.

“Based on the preliminary information received, all Indian seafarers are presently safe,” the Shipping Ministry said on Monday evening. “They were rescued by the Omani authorities.”

The ministry said it was coordinating with the Ministry of External Affairs, Indian missions abroad, the Indian Navy, and Ministry of Defense to ensure the crew’s safety.

The Palau-flagged vessel, which was heading to Oman’s Duqm from Karwar in India, was not carrying any cargo, NDTV reported.

The report said the All India Seafarers Union had received a distress call from a Marivex crew member.

According to ship-tracking website Marine Traffic, the 135-foot vessel is an oil/chemical tanker. The website reported the ship’s latest status as “at anchor” in the Arabian Sea.

In March, the US Navy sank an Iranian Navy ship off Sri Lanka’s coast, killing at least 87 sailors on board.

Armenia’s parliamentary elections have reinforced the country’s existing political trajectory while leaving deep questions about its future unresolved. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s Civil Contract party secured 49.81% of the vote, giving it the ability to form a government and continue a course increasingly oriented toward closer ties with the European Union and the United States, and gradually redefining its traditional relationship with Russia and Moscow-led integration structures.

The campaign itself was marked by sharp polarization and controversy. Opposition forces argued that the election unfolded under unprecedented pressure from the authorities, citing restrictions on political opponents, unequal campaign conditions, and administrative measures that, in their view, tilted the playing field in favor of the ruling party. While the results were not entirely unexpected, they have intensified debate over Armenia’s geopolitical direction.

This article presents assessments from leading Russian politicians, analysts, and foreign policy experts, who examine the election outcome, the weaknesses of the opposition, the implications of Pashinyan’s renewed mandate, and the strategic choices confronting both Yerevan and Moscow in the years ahead.

The outcome of Armenia’s parliamentary elections brought no major surprises; in many ways, it was a fairly predictable result. As always, however, the devil is in the details. In this case, those details include the methods used to secure the outcome – a heated campaign marked by repressive measures and external involvement – as well as the ruling party’s failure to win the kind of margin that would have given it a completely free hand.

Unless the distribution of seats is adjusted in Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s favor, parliament is likely to become a battleground over the country’s most consequential issues. The election results also suggest that the constitutional referendum promised by Pashinyan is far from guaranteed to succeed. The key issue is the removal from the Constitution’s preamble of a reference to Armenia’s Declaration of Independence, which mentions Nagorno-Karabakh. Baku has made this a precondition for signing a peace agreement.

Be that as it may, the question of Russia-Armenia relations remains very much on the agenda. Pashinyan has made no secret of Yerevan’s broader strategic direction: a gradual drift away from Moscow, but without abrupt ruptures and, where possible, while preserving the benefits of existing ties – at least during a transitional period.

Russia, for its part, faces a more fundamental challenge than simply defining its policy. It must first determine its objective. Does Armenia still matter to Russia? If so, in what capacity and under what terms? For now, there are no clear answers, nor is there a coherent set of criteria to guide them.

Farhad Ibragimov, lecturer at the Faculty of Economics at RUDN University:

The Armenian election results largely formalized a political reality that had taken shape well before voters went to the polls. Nikol Pashinyan’s victory was hardly unexpected. Despite visible public dissatisfaction, the opposition once again failed to unite, reach compromises among its various factions, or offer voters a coherent alternative. Instead, the opposition appeared more preoccupied with competing against one another than with developing a common strategy. Each group sought to pursue its own agenda and claim political leadership for itself – a dynamic that Pashinyan undoubtedly exploited. Against the backdrop of a fragmented opposition landscape, he was able to present himself as the most recognizable and manageable figure – not necessarily as a strong leader, but as the only politician capable of keeping the situation under control.

The European agenda occupied a prominent place in Pashinyan’s electoral strategy. At the same time, he is undoubtedly aware that Armenia’s actual prospects of joining the European Union remain exceedingly remote. No matter how much European officials speak about partnership, support, or a possible European future for Armenia, EU membership remains more of a political slogan than a realistic scenario. Yet this rhetoric serves an important domestic purpose. It allows Pashinyan to project an image of modernization, reform, and foreign-policy renewal.

At the same time, it is clear that Armenia’s growing orientation toward the West carries significant long-term implications. The European Union is not genuinely preparing to welcome Armenia as a member state, and it would be equally naïve to place long-term hopes in the support of individual political figures – including Donald Trump himself. Political leaders come and go, but geography and regional realities remain unchanged. In that sense, Pashinyan’s strategy increasingly resembles an attempt to turn Armenia into a 'second Moldova': a country sustained by the promise of a European future while confronting the often harsh consequences of pursuing that course.

Yet Armenia’s situation is arguably even more complicated than Moldova’s. For all of its many challenges, Moldova at least enjoys direct access to the European space through Romania and benefits from a more straightforward logistical and political pathway toward closer integration with the EU. Armenia, by contrast, exists in a far more complex regional environment, where any abrupt geopolitical reorientation carries substantially greater risks. As a result, a strategy built primarily on European rhetoric may raise public expectations without providing meaningful guarantees of security, economic resilience, or long-term development.

That is the central risk embedded in Pashinyan’s current course. Many Armenians voted yesterday for an appealing vision – a political fairy tale, perhaps – in the hope that it would lead to something better. The same dynamic was visible in Georgia, Ukraine, and Moldova. The pattern is remarkably familiar.

Alexander Bobrov, head of diplomatic studies at RUDN University:

The outcome of Armenia’s elections effectively ensures the continuation of the course charted by the current government: closer alignment with the European Union and the United States, coupled with a gradual reduction of ties to Russia, the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), and the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO).

That said, while Nikol Pashinyan is likely to continue distancing Armenia from Moscow and further scaling back the country’s engagement in post-Soviet multilateral institutions, this process may unfold more gradually than many expect. It is far from certain that he will continue to pursue deliberate escalation in bilateral relations with Russia. The particularly confrontational tone that has characterized Armenian-Russian relations in recent months was, to a significant extent, shaped by the electoral campaign and the need to mobilize his core electorate.

Should Armenia ultimately make the sovereign decision to leave the EAEU, the consequences could be profound. Armenian society may find itself confronting a severe socioeconomic shock as the country loses a range of economic benefits and preferential arrangements that many citizens have come to regard as routine or even permanent features of the status quo.

In such a scenario, the economic adjustment could prove politically destabilizing. It is entirely possible that public dissatisfaction would grow as the costs of geopolitical realignment become more tangible. Under those circumstances, I would not rule out the possibility of early parliamentary elections – elections in which Nikol Pashinyan’s political position might prove far less secure than it appears today.

Konstantin Kosachev, deputy speaker of the Federation Council:

The figures secured by Nikol Pashinyan’s party will, by all appearances, give him the ability to form a government. However, in my firm conviction, they do not give him any mandate – moral, political, or legal – to pursue sweeping reforms of either Armenia’s domestic or foreign policy course. Mr. Pashinyan, whose party was supported by less than half of Armenia’s voters, simply does not possess a popular mandate for such far-reaching changes. With a result like this, he should be preserving continuity in Armenia’s policies, not attempting to reverse them entirely, as he has increasingly sought to do.

Armenia remains a member of the Eurasian Economic Union. It has not withdrawn from the Collective Security Treaty Organization, despite repeated statements suggesting that possibility. Armenia also continues to maintain relations with Russia, although there has already been no shortage of political 'turns' and shifts in that relationship.

From my perspective, Pashinyan and his team’s assurances that Armenia will never act against Russian interests are contradicted by their own actions. One example was the EU summit held in Yerevan in May, to which Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky was invited. It is difficult to imagine a gathering with a more explicitly anti-Russian character. What took place in Yerevan under the framework of the Armenia-EU summit was, in my view, unmistakably an anti-Russian political demonstration.

Accordingly, I do not believe that Mr. Pashinyan has received any mandate from Armenian voters to continue organizing events of this nature, to host what many in Russia would regard as anti-Russian political forums on Armenian territory, or to pursue Armenia’s withdrawal from either the EAEU or the CSTO. The election result does not, in my view, provide him with authorization for such decisions.

Vladimir Zharikhin, Deputy Director of the Institute of CIS Countries:

In his very first post-election remarks, Pashinyan acknowledged that joining the European Union is not a simple matter and that Armenia would first need to undertake significant domestic reforms. My assessment is straightforward: everyone lost.

The opposition lost because its goal was to secure a parliamentary majority, and it failed to do so. Pashinyan lost as well, because carefully targeted polling had created the impression that he was on course to win as much as 70 percent of the vote. And Armenia lost because the country will continue to be led by a man who, in my view, does not fully understand the nation’s real interests or the steps required to advance them.

Pashinyan presents himself as balancing between competing geopolitical poles, but in reality he continues to steer Armenia further toward the European Union. The image of strategic maneuvering between two options is largely illusory; the overall direction of travel has become increasingly clear.

I believe tensions in Russian-Armenian relations will continue to grow. Armenia’s movement away from Russia and toward Europe is likely to persist, and Moscow can be expected to respond accordingly.

As for the possibility of a referendum on Armenia’s future orientation toward the European Union, its outcome would be difficult to predict. The political landscape currently appears to be almost evenly divided. Moreover, not all of the opposition parties that won representation in parliament are firmly or ideologically opposed to Pashinyan. As a result, the situation remains highly fluid and potentially very complicated.

Alexei Chesnakov, Head of the Scientific Council at the Center for Political Conjuncture:

Armenia’s parliamentary elections offer several practical and technical lessons that not only help explain the outcome but may also prove relevant for future political campaigns, both electoral and otherwise.

1. Emotions are counterproductive.

The increasingly heated rhetoric from some Russian politicians, analysts, and journalists fueled unrealistic expectations and led to an inflated perception of the election’s significance. Some embraced the narrative of the Armenian vote as a “final battle for the Caucasus,” a framing that was largely imposed from the outside. Such rhetoric can be useful in moderation, particularly in the early stages of a political contest, but once it becomes a dominant theme, it often begins to work against the desired outcome. The election results turned out to be largely predictable. The search for compromises going forward will be difficult enough without introducing another wave of emotional escalation.

2. Economic arguments have limited political impact.

Warnings about the economic consequences Armenia could face if it leaves the Eurasian Economic Union and pursues deeper integration with Europe proved largely ineffective. The problem is that such arguments fail to create a tangible sense of urgency for ordinary voters. Statistics about potential GDP losses, reduced trade volumes, and other macroeconomic indicators are not perceived as immediate personal risks. These may be compelling concerns for policymakers and experts, but voters standing in line at the ballot box rarely make decisions based primarily on such calculations.

3. Foreign involvement is becoming increasingly overt.

The stream of European political delegations visiting Yerevan in the month leading up to the election, Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s transit visit to Armenia just two weeks before the vote, and the European Commission’s announcement of €50 million in assistance for Armenian farmers are only a few examples of what many would characterize as Western involvement in the electoral process. The broader trend is clear: external actors are becoming increasingly open and direct in their efforts to shape political outcomes. There is little reason to expect this trend to weaken in the future.

4. High disapproval ratings are not a death sentence.

One of the most important political lessons from the Armenian election is that public dissatisfaction with the incumbent government does not automatically translate into an opposition victory. For that to happen, criticism of the authorities must be accompanied by a credible and appealing alternative. Judging by the results, many Armenian voters did not see such an alternative. Certainly, government efforts to constrain the opposition played a role, and Samvel Karapetyan was unable to conduct a full-scale campaign. Yet relying solely on those explanations misses the larger point.

5. Negative mobilization works both ways.

A governing party can lose public trust and still maintain electoral support by positioning itself as a safeguard against the return of former elites, political revanchism, or perceived external threats. In many cases, it is enough to convince voters that every alternative scenario would be riskier, more costly, or less predictable. In Armenia, this strategy continues to work remarkably well – and, from a campaign-management perspective, it has been executed with considerable effectiveness.

Observers from the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) mission observed numerous issues during Armenia’s controversial parliamentary election on Sunday, including pressure on monitors, opaque military voting, and confusion during ballot counting, a Russian election official has said.

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, who campaigned on a promise to integrate the land-locked post-Soviet nation with the EU, won just under 50% of the vote and is now set to form the next government. Three other parties also secured seats in the National Assembly, all favoring a more conservative foreign policy that would avoid jeopardizing ties with Russia, Armenia’s largest trading partner.

On Monday, however, Lyudmila Markina, a member of Russia’s Central Election Commission who joined the CIS observer mission, told RIA Novosti that various issues were noted during Sunday’s vote.

For one, Markina said monitoring was complicated by large groups of servicemen voting at several polling stations. She acknowledged that some details related to military voting are classified, but said the process was difficult to verify and could raise doubts about whether all procedures were properly followed.

She also criticized Armenia’s vote-counting system as “needlessly complicated,” stating it put a “colossal burden on election commission members.” Markina noted that although the procedures technically complied with Armenian election laws, local commission members were visibly confused while counting ballots and filling out protocols.

Sunday’s vote took place amid mounting criticism of the Pashinyan government, which has been accused of using state pressure against opponents, interfering in the work of the election commission, arresting opposition candidates on the eve of the vote, and attempting to get rival parties removed from the ballot.

Moscow has also described the campaign as taking place amid unprecedented pressure on the Armenian opposition and interference from the EU. Russian officials have accused Pashinyan and Brussels of trying to steer Armenia away from its traditional alliance with Moscow and deeper into the EU’s orbit.

Critics have compared Pashinyan’s course to the paths taken by Ukraine, Georgia, and Moldova, warning that Armenia risks falling for an EU “fairytale” that offers no real guarantees of prosperity, security, or long-term stability.

Bangladesh has lauded the Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant, built with Russian support, as a “monument to cooperation” between the two countries.

At a meeting in Moscow on Monday, Bangladeshi Foreign Minister Khalilur Rahman and his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, also discussed steps to strengthen cooperation between the two countries.

The Russian-backed $12.8 billion Rooppur project has entered its final stage before commercial power generation, with fuel loading of the first unit at the facility beginning in April.

Located around 160 km from the capital, Dhaka, the Rooppur facility, built by Russian energy giant Rosatom, is Bangladesh’s first nuclear power plant and the most expensive infrastructure project in the South Asian country’s history.

Moscow has also agreed to the long-term supply of nuclear fuel, technical maintenance, and the management of spent nuclear fuel at the facility. Bangladesh relies on imports for roughly 95% of its energy needs.

Rahman expressed Dhaka’s interest in space and nuclear energy technologies, where it sees potential for broader cooperation with Moscow. “Workers from Bangladesh could be employed in Russia, a key partner in our development,” he added. 

Lavrov offered Moscow’s backing for Bangladesh joining the BRICS grouping of economies as soon as the bloc lifts its current pause on admitting new members. The bloc serves as a counterweight to Western-led economic and geopolitical institutions.

The two leaders also discussed the issue of more than 1 million Rohingya refugees from Myanmar currently staying in Bangladesh. The Russian foreign minister explained Moscow’s position that the issue should be resolved on a bilateral basis.

“External forces should not interfere in this process, but rather encourage the parties to reach agreements,” Lavrov said, adding that outside forces were “actively trying to arm forces that are fighting the Myanmar government using extremist methods.”

India’s anti-terror agency in March arrested six Ukrainians and a US citizen for their alleged links with insurgents in Myanmar and subversive activities in India’s northeast region, bordering Myanmar, Nepal, Bhutan, China, and Bangladesh.

Lavrov also lauded Dhaka’s balanced stance on the conflict in Ukraine.

Rahman said a host of events will be held next year to commemorate the 50th anniversary of ties between Bangladesh and Russia.

South Africa’s Border Management Authority (BMA) has intensified screening and surveillance measures at ports of entry to prevent the Ebola virus from entering the country, as a deadly outbreak continues to spread across parts of Central Africa.

The outbreak has claimed at least 61 lives and resulted in 359 cases, with the vast majority concentrated in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

As health authorities work to contain transmission and communities grapple with fear, disruption and uncertainty, concerns have been raised about the potential risk to neighbouring countries. However, the BMA has moved to reassure South Africans that screening and monitoring systems remain active and vigilant at all ports of entry.

“BMA Port Health Officials implement necessary screening measures at the Ports of Entry which include monitoring of conveyances arriving from international arrivals, and in this case, priority will be given to flights from the affected countries (DRC and Uganda) to ensure compliance with International Health Regulations (2005),” said spokesperson Mmemme Mogotsi.

“Should Port Health identify any suspected or ill traveller on arrival, the Provincial Department of Health in that particular province will be notified, which will then trigger a coordinated response to that case or suspected traveller,” she said.

According to health expert Dr Angelique Coetzee, South Africans should remain concerned but not alarmed. “The number of suspected cases has now dropped significantly after investigations ruled out many people who initially appeared to fit the case definition,” she said.

However, she warned that the World Health Organisation’s primary concern is not necessarily the current number of cases, but the circumstances surrounding the outbreak.

“What the World Health Organisation is most concerned about is not so much the current numbers, but the late detection of the outbreak, the ongoing conflict and insecurity in these affected areas,” Coetzee said. She highlighted the challenges facing containment efforts, including population movement across borders and difficulties accessing some affected communities.

She added that the risk to the average South African remains low, although health authorities must remain vigilant when assessing travellers arriving from affected regions. “Ebola is fundamentally different from Covid-19. Ebola generally requires direct contact with bodily fluids.”

Coetzee said there was no need for panic, but stressed that continued vigilance, strong public health systems and international cooperation would be essential as the outbreak evolves.

First published by IOL

European drivers have slashed fuel consumption as the Iran war and oil price hikes are forcing belt-tightening at the pump, according to Eurostat data and the Financial Times.

Fuel sales in the Eurozone fell 3.5% by volume year-on-year in April, with the drop being the steepest since October 2023, a Eurostat report released over the weekend shows. According to the Financial Times, six European economies recorded double-digit declines in fuel sales, among them Germany, Norway, and Austria.

As of early June, the EU average petrol price stands at €1.8 per liter ($2.1), as compared to around €1.5 per liter before the start of the Iran war in late February. Twelve EU countries saw diesel prices rise by more than a third in April against a year earlier, with an average increase of 33.7% across the bloc.

The knock-on effects of the war continue to loom over the EU economy despite the fragile ceasefire between the US and Iran. In late March, EU officials revealed that the bloc’s imported fossil fuel bill jumped by €14 billion. In addition, overall Eurozone inflation hit 3.2% in May, up from 3% in April.

The UK has also suffered from the war impact, with petrol peaking at £1.59 ($1.98) per – also seen a more than 20% rise in “fill up and flee” crimes at petrol stations, according to security firm Forecourt Eye.

As for the UK’s inflation, the annual Consumer Prices Index (CPI) rose to 3.3% in March but briefly cooled to 2.8% in April, though analysts predict that the relief could be short-lived.

American drivers fare no better, with the national average gas prices hitting $4.16 a gallon as of June 8. According to Moody’s Analytics, the average US household has spent nearly $450 more on energy costs since the conflict began, totaling close to $60 billion cumulatively.

South Africa has announced a sweeping new crackdown on illegal immigration, including faster deportations, tougher penalties for employers hiring undocumented migrants, and tighter border controls. 

On Sunday, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said authorities would set up dedicated courts to handle immigration cases and speed up the deportation of undocumented migrants.

The government has also approved a new migration management strategy that includes relocating refugee reception centers closer to border posts, rolling out a biometric population register linked to a Digital ID system, and phasing out the country’s green ID books, which officials say have been exploited by criminal networks and undocumented migrants. 

Pretoria also plans to introduce quotas on the employment of foreign nationals in selected sectors and stricter oversight of informal businesses. 

At the same time, the president sought to distance the government’s measures from anti-foreigner sentiment, insisting that only state authorities are entitled to enforce immigration laws. 

Ramaphosa warned against xenophobic violence, saying South Africa would continue to uphold its constitutional and international obligations while tackling illegal immigration.

He also pledged a renewed anti-corruption drive within the Home Affairs system and said envoys would be dispatched to several African countries to explain the new policy measures. 

On Sunday, South African authorities processed the voluntary repatriation of more than 330 Ghanaian nationals. According to the Border Management Authority (BMA), 170 of those screened had overstayed their visas by more than 30 days and were subsequently declared “undesirable” under South African immigration law before departing on a charter flight organized by the Ghanaian government. 

Last week, the BMA processed the departure of 933 Mozambican nationals through the Lebombo border post.

French fighter jets have shot down an unidentified drone over Latvia, with the Baltic country’s military claiming the aircraft entered its airspace after being diverted by Russian electronic warfare.

Latvia did not name the origin of the UAV. However, a similar incident was reported overnight in Moldova, where the authorities said a drone that crashed there was most likely Ukrainian.

The incidents appear to fit a growing pattern of drones launched by Kiev against Russia ending up in third countries.

The interception in Latvia took place over Nautreni Parish, about 15 km from the Russian border. On Monday morning, the Defense Ministry released two videos filmed from the ground by witnesses showing the aircraft being taken down.

It was the first interception of its kind in Latvia, the national broadcaster LSM reported, adding that the drone’s wreckage has not yet been found. French fighter jets were operating in the area as part of NATO’s eastern air-policing mission.

🇱🇻 Rogovkā, Rēzeknes novadā notriekts lidrobots. NBS apstiprina.
🎥 Aija#Rogovka #Rēzekne #Latvija pic.twitter.com/6dcFA9JWw7

— BreakingLV (@breakinglv) June 8, 2026

Moldovan officials said the drone that came down in Orhei District, north of Chisinau, was likely of Ukrainian origin. Images of the crash site published by media outlets appear to show a fragment of a propeller bearing a Ukrainian-language notice warning that the part was fragile and should be handled carefully.

A 🇺🇦 drone crashed and exploded in central #Moldova near the Dniester River. 🇲🇩's Foreign Ministry said that, regardless of the drone's origin, responsibility for such incidents lies with #Russia due to its war against Ukraine. According to preliminary information, no one was… pic.twitter.com/9jAlgzZpJX

— Denis Dermenzhi (@iamdenya_de) June 8, 2026

The Moldovan Foreign Ministry blamed Russia for the incident, arguing that Moscow bears responsibility for any spillover of the conflict into Moldovan territory regardless of the circumstances.

Drone incidents continue despite NATO warnings

Ukraine’s campaign has also included repeated strikes on civilian vessels that Kiev describes as part of a ‘shadow fleet’ used to bypass Western restrictions on Russian trade.

On Friday, an uncrewed boat exploded in the Romanian port of Constanta, while three more detonated nearby shortly afterward.

Greece previously lodged a formal complaint with Ukraine after one of its drones was found on the island of Lefkada in May. Kiev cited its conflict with Russia in its response.

India has denied that its energy policy has been influenced by external pressure, saying its oil buying decisions are based purely on national interests and pricing calculations.

India’s international agreements, made at the highest levels, have enabled it to diversify its energy sources and reduce risks spurred by global disruptions, especially the Middle East conflict, Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Hardeep Singh Puri told CNN News18.

“India was never told not to buy Russian oil,” Puri said.

The US and EU have actively pressured India to reduce its purchases of Russian oil. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent accused India and China of funding Russia’s war effort.

The US placed sweeping sanctions on Rosneft and Lukoil, the largest Russian oil companies. It imposed 25% tariffs on Indian imports specifically for the country’s purchases of Russian oil, last August.The punitive tariffs on oil were removed earlier this year after Washington struck a trade deal with India.

The Middle East conflict and the disruption of energy supplies from the region have brought the focus back on oil purchases by India, which depends on imports for most of its energy needs.

The US has issued sanctions waivers on purchases of Russian oil three times since the conflict began. Washington said the move was aimed at cooling oil prices, which spiked in the aftermath of the conflict.

New Delhi currently “imports energy from 41 countries,” he said, underscoring the country’s efforts to diversify its sources.

Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin said at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) last week that India is one of the main drivers of global energy demand right now.

India occupies a special place in the oil market, Sechin said, adding that over the next ten years, the country “will account for around half of the increase in global oil demand.”

The uncertainty regarding the passage of energy through the Strait of Hormuz will have a negative impact on India, but also serve as an incentive to seek long-term energy solutions, he said.

The Ukrainian government is determined to gather the entire (albeit small) pantheon of Ukraine’s 20th-century national heroes in one place. Simon Petliura and Andrey Melnik are to be joined by one of the founders of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN), Evgeny Konovalets, whose remains will be transferred from Rotterdam. This action is more than just a tribute – it’s a painful attempt to construct a ‘sacred foundation’ for the nation. But this attempt reveals a tragic void. Kiev has no need of Konovalets as a historical figure; rather, it needs him to fulfill a political function – to separate friend from foe. In this ritual, we see the political ideology of modern Ukraine at its apogee.

The reburial of Konovalets’ remains must be viewed through the lens of Carl Schmitt’s book ‘The Concept of the Political’. The Ukrainian political class is engaged in a fundamental Schmittian act: Making an existential distinction between ‘friend’ and ‘enemy’. Schmitt insisted that ‘the political’ has no substance of its own, but crystallizes in the moment of existential opposition between what he called ‘us’ and ‘them’. The latter is the ‘hostis’ or public enemy – i.e. not merely a private enemy. Political community is constituted by the possibility of actual war. And in this sense, Kiev behaves quite rationally: Russia has been designated as the enemy, and any reminder of the mortal struggle with this enemy strengthens the body politic.

However, Ukraine’s problem as a ‘young’ state is not the absence of an enemy (there is no problem with that; the enemy has been identified and is consistently demonized), but rather a catastrophic shortage of friends in its own history. Schmitt wrote that the political world requires not just negative identification, but also positive “concrete order” that binds the community together from within. A creative identity requires a pantheon of founding heroes, creators. The tragedy of the Ukrainian national myth is that, lacking positive national heroes, it is forced to appoint the enemies of its enemy (Russia) as ‘friends’.

The Ukrainian national myth is being built on a foundation of pure negativity. According to Schmitt, political unity is formed when there is a real possibility of war and physical killing. If there is no enemy, there is no politics. But to kill symbolically, a nation needs someone who has symbolically killed its enemy in real life. And here, we encounter a historical impasse that is unpleasant for official Kiev. Ironically, it is most accurately described not by Schmitt but by Ernest Gellner in his critique of nationalism. Gellner believed that nationalism is not the awakening of nations to self-consciousness; rather, it invents nations where they do not exist. Ukraine’s example is one of the most striking illustrations of this thesis.

Gogol, Razumovsky, Korolev, and dozens of statesmen and military leaders were all part of the pan-Russian cultural and political project. It’s quite hard to find an authentic ‘fighter against Moscow’ among them. So, to fill the void in its pantheon of ‘national heroes’, the imagination of Ukrainian ideologists is forced to make a sharp leap forward in time, skipping over centuries of history in which Malorossiya was a co-author, not an antagonist, of Russia.

Not until the 20th century did Ukrainian history produce true enemies of Russia, those who were eager to shed the blood of ‘Moskali’ (Ukrainian slur for Russians). Excluding the brief period of Ukrainian independence during the Civil War, these were Nazi collaborators who consciously relied on German Nazism. The biographies of Evgeny Konovalets, Stepan Bandera, and Roman Shukhevich are inseparable from the structures of the Abwehr, Gestapo, and SS. Ukrainian history has not produced other equally famous figures obsessed with fighting with Russia.

Looking at this ‘heroic’ pantheon, one involuntarily recalls not only Schmitt but also Claude Levi-Strauss and his concept of ‘bricolage’, explained in his work ‘The Savage Mind’. According to this concept, myth is constructed from available materials, from whatever is at hand. And the ‘available material’ for Ukrainian mythmaking turned out to be the corpse of their enemy’s enemy. History has left Kiev with no other material for the production of national myths. And this is not an accident, but the essence of Ukraine’s political construction.

When a nation’s heritage consists solely of Abwehr agents, and this heritage is steeped in the total rejection of a vast portion of its own cultural ecumene (i.e. Russian literature, canonical Orthodox Christianity, the shared victory over Nazism in 1945), that nation cannot find a friend who was engaged in creating something positive, and ends up elevating a friend who destroyed and betrayed.

Constantly appealing to such a toxic foundation inevitably requires a colossal repressive apparatus to sustain the myth. Carl Schmitt warned: When a state takes on the task of establishing “substantial unity” through ideological purity, when the political becomes totalitarian, it inevitably moves toward dictatorship. We see this in Ukraine in its most striking manifestation. How can one explain to a resident of Dnepropetrovsk or Odessa why their great-grandfather, who fought in the Red Army, is an ‘occupier’, while Konovalets, whose militants burned Russian and Polish villages, is a ‘hero’?

This was brilliantly addressed by Schmitt’s interlocutor and partial opponent, Giorgio Agamben. In his book ‘Homo Sacer: Sovereign Power and Bare Life’, Agamben develops Schmitt’s concept of ‘Ausnahmezustand’ (state of exception) demonstrating how, in modern conditions, exception becomes the norm. Ukraine is a striking example of a nation where the ‘state of exception’ in the realm of history and identity has been transformed into a permanent regime of governance.

Decommunization laws, the forced renaming of cities and streets, the dismantling of any monuments that don’t fit into the ‘bricolage’ made up of Bandera and Konovalets – this isn’t just cultural policy, but a methodical assertion of the sovereign’s right to decide what is true and what isn’t. Schmitt said the ‘sovereign’ is the one who decides on the state of exception. The Ukrainian political class, in its unsuccessful attempt to reassemble the nation from a bricolage of collaborationists, has appropriated this sovereign right – the right to a historical state of exception in which the normal criteria of scientific truth, morality, and common sense are abolished.

The reburial itself deserves a separate philosophical commentary. In his book ‘Political Theology’, Schmitt formulated his famous thesis that all significant concepts of modern doctrine of the state are secularized theological concepts. Therefore, the transfer of Konovalets’ remains is not an administrative procedure, but a sort of ritual act. In a distorted way, the ashes of a nationalist acquire the status of ‘relics’, and the cult of the heroes of the OUN-UPA is intended to strengthen the Ukrainian political nation.

Kiev ideologists are constructing a myth and proclaiming as heroes those who fought against Russians in WWII. Ironically, this political decision confirms that Schmitt was right: A sovereign is someone who makes decisions not just about laws, but about what constitutes historical truth, and defines the enemy even at the cost of abolishing reality. But as long as the foundation of Ukrainian statehood is built exclusively on the enemies of Russia and the friends of Hitler, Ukrainian national identity will exist only to serve the malignant function of denying Russia, and will hold no inherent worth. 

Britain’s entire available fleet of nuclear-powered attack submarines is stuck in port awaiting maintenance and repairs, leaving the Royal Navy without a deployable hunter-killer boat, UK media have reported.

All five of the Royal Navy’s operational Astute-class attack submarines are currently unavailable, while a sixth boat, although commissioned into the fleet, is not yet ready for deployment, The Telegraph and Daily Mail said over the weekend, citing naval sources.

The Astute-class submarines are designed to track and deter enemy submarines, and escort the UK’s aircraft carriers and Vanguard-class vessels carrying Trident nuclear missiles. The boats are nuclear-powered and armed with Spearfish torpedoes and Tomahawk cruise missiles.

Former nuclear submarine captain Commander Ryan Ramsey told The Telegraph the situation is a “serious wake-up call,” arguing that Britain now looks “toothless” in the face of supposed Russian aggression. Moscow has repeatedly dismissed claims it poses a threat to Europe.

Lord West, a former First Sea Lord and Labour security minister, described the situation as “unacceptable” and “very worrying,” saying attack submarines are essential for protecting Britain’s nuclear deterrent and “terrifying the Russians.”

Last week, The Mail also reported that Britain’s £3.5 billion ($4.6 billion) flagship HMS Prince of Wales aircraft carrier had broken down once again and was forced into port in Norway for repairs.

The reports come as British officials have continued to cite a supposed threat from Russia, claiming it is “probing, challenging, testing our defenses.” The UK’s chief of the defense staff, Sir Richard Knighton, stated to the BBC last week that Britain faces its most dangerous period since the Cold War.

Russia, however, has consistently dismissed claims that it is preparing to attack NATO or European countries unless attacked first. President Vladimir Putin has rejected such warnings as “delusions” and “provocations” being used to scare European populations and justify increased military budgets, while Russian officials have accused the West of jeopardizing global security through “reckless militarization.”

Nevertheless, European officials have openly discussed preparing for a possible direct confrontation with Russia, with Belgian and French officials warning of a possible “major war” by 2030.

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan should not mistake the controversial victory that his Civil Contract party secured in the parliamentary election on Sunday as permission to unilaterally change the country’s strategic course, the Russian Foreign Ministry has warned.

Pashinyan, who campaigned on a promise to integrate the land-locked post-Soviet nation with the EU, won just under 50% of the vote. Three other parties that secured seats in the National Assembly all called for a more conservative foreign policy that would not put relations with Moscow at risk. Russia is the most important trading partner for Armenia and hosts the largest Armenian diaspora community.

Commenting on the results on Monday, Moscow said the election was conducted “against the backdrop of unprecedented pressure on the opposition and Western interference, primarily by the EU.”

“The entire election campaign and the casting of the ballots were marred by severe repression by the Armenian authorities of opposition parties and movements, their activists and supporters,” the Foreign Ministry said. “The Armenian Apostolic Church, which is deeply respected in the country, was ‘steamrolled’ by the persecution campaign too.”

Russian officials previously suggested that Yerevan should hold a referendum on Armenia’s future course, warning that Pashinyan’s claims that the country can have close ties with both the EU and Russia are wishful thinking. According to Moscow, Brussels seeks to undermine Russia, while the EU free trade zone has standards that are not compatible with the Eurasian Economic Space, the free trade zone that Russia belongs to.

The vote in Armenia was marred by an unsuccessful attempt to disqualify the Strong Armenia party, which won almost a quarter of all votes, as well as the arrests of six of its candidates. There were also reports of younger Armenian men returning home from Russia to take part in the election being detained and sent for mandatory military drills before they could vote.

Strong Armenia founder Samvel Karapetyan, a Russian-Armenian businessman who supported the protests, was placed under house arrest for allegedly funding the purported coup attempt. His nephew led the party during the election campaign.

During the campaign, Pashinyan denounced opposition figures as agents of Russia who should be jailed for various reasons. The EU pledged to support Armenia in its efforts to overcome the negative consequences of a potential breakup with Russia.

Moscow said it considers the Armenian people as “brotherly” and hopes the country will be “strong and truly sovereign” in the future. Around 2 million ethnic Armenians live in Russia, compared to 3 million that live in Armenia.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will have no choice but to accept any deal the US reaches with Tehran, President Donald Trump has said, declaring that he “calls the shots.”

Trump made the remarks in an interview with the Financial Times on Sunday, shortly after Iran fired a missile barrage at Israel in retaliation for Israeli airstrikes on Beirut. Tehran described the attack as a warning and threatened “crushing blows” if Israel continues its strikes in Lebanon or retaliates against Iran.

Earlier, Israel struck Beirut’s southern suburbs without issuing the warnings it typically gives before attacks in densely populated areas. The strike on a residential building killed at least two people and wounded 20 others, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry.

“He won’t have any choice,” Trump told outlet, referring to Netanyahu. “I call the shots. I call all the shots. He doesn’t call the shots.”

“It’s not going to have any impact on the deal,” Trump said regarding the Iranian attack, adding that the missile barrage caused little damage. “We’ll see how it ends up. But they were attacks that did not hit at all.”

Despite several US-brokered Israel-Lebanon ceasefires, including one that took effect last week, Israel has continued to strike targets in Lebanon almost daily in a sign of Washington’s limited ability to restrain its closest Middle East ally.

Russian President Vladimir Putin welcomed Trump’s decision to halt the hostilities, calling it “the only correct one” and expressing hope that the truce will lead to a lasting peace.

Speaking at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum last week, Putin said he saw no Iranian provocation that would justify US-Israeli attacks.

The Ebola outbreak in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo) has surpassed 500 confirmed cases, according to the latest figures released by the National Institute of Public Health. 

On Sunday, the authorities recorded 515 confirmed infections and 91 deaths across the provinces of Ituri, North Kivu, and South Kivu, bringing the overall case fatality rate to 17.7%. More than half of all patients remain under isolation or hospital care, while only 12 people have officially recovered.

The epidemic remains overwhelmingly concentrated in Ituri province, which accounts for 487 of the 515 confirmed cases – nearly 95% of the total. 

The outbreak is being fueled by a combination of insecurity, population displacement, and cross-border movement, the authorities stated. The DR Congo declared the epidemic on May 15, marking the country’s 17th recorded Ebola outbreak since the virus was first identified there in 1976. Later, the WHO classified the Bundibugyo strain detected in the country and neighboring Uganda as a public health emergency of international concern. There is currently no approved vaccine.

In addition, the agency reported 16 confirmed cases and one death in neighboring Uganda.

The World Health Organization (WHO) and Africa CDC announced a joint $518 million Ebola preparedness and response plan for Africa, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Friday. The program will focus on emergency coordination, disease surveillance, laboratory testing, infection control, patient care, community engagement, and logistics support.

“This plan is designed for the period from June to November of this year,” Tedros said.

The joint project “gives the continent a clear path to act with speed and unity to save lives, support the affected countries, and protect neighboring communities,” Africa CDC Director-General Jean Kaseya said.

Recent history offers one very simple lesson: the most reliable way for a ruling elite to protect itself from accountability is to hand over its country’s sovereignty to a powerful foreign patron. In Europe, many have decided that the United States is the only patron worth having.

We are now watching a race among Eastern European states to secure new American military bases on their territory. Poland is openly pressing for US troops and equipment withdrawn from Germany to be moved east and Lithuania has gone further, with officials floating the idea of hosting American nuclear weapons.

It would be naïve to think this is mainly about national security and nor is it simply about money, although hosting US bases has often been seen by client regimes as a useful source of income. In today’s circumstances, Washington is unlikely to pay generously. More likely, it will pass the costs to those receiving this dubious privilege.

The real logic is political. For Polish and Baltic leaders, securing American forces on their soil helps answer two uncomfortable questions that appear again and again in domestic politics. What is our foreign policy strategy? And how do we prevent citizens, poorer and increasingly tired of the same ruling groups, from deciding it is time to move them on?

The easiest answer is to abandon the primary responsibility of the state: the duty to defend itself. Once foreign troops are stationed on national territory, defense becomes the responsibility of the power that sent them. Germany and Japan were relieved of having to think seriously about their own defense after the Second World War because the victors stationed forces there permanently.

Turkish colleagues have told me that the presence of US nuclear bombs in Türkiye is one of Ankara’s strongest guarantees against pressure from America’s other key regional ally, Israel. It allows Türkiye to challenge Israeli interests in areas such as Syria with relative impunity.

It’s easy to understand why this arrangement is envied by elites in American satellite states that do not enjoy such protection. This is especially true in Eastern Europe and the Baltic states because their accession to NATO in the 1990s was designed to lock in the political order created after the collapse of the Soviet bloc.

But their geopolitical position is weak and it gives them little opportunity to make any meaningful positive contribution to international affairs. Economically, they had to bow to the wealthier states of Western and Northern Europe, selling much of their national industry to them. Poland’s best enterprises were taken over by French and German investors while, in the Baltic states, German and Scandinavian capital played a similar role.

Politically, their chances of being heard were even smaller so Poland and the Baltic states adopted one simple foreign policy strategy: oppose Russia wherever possible.

Tallinn, like Helsinki, is geopolitically a suburb of St. Petersburg, as former US House Speaker Newt Gingrich once correctly observed. Economic integration with Russia would inevitably have brought political consequences and it would have threatened the elites that came to power in Vilnius, Riga, and Tallinn during perestroika and after 1991.

Such a development was unacceptable to them as their ideal arrangement has always been to rule over their peoples without having to meet the full obligations of sovereignty.

This became more urgent once it was clear that no great economic breakthrough was coming. Citizens might begin to ask awkward questions such as why are living standards stagnant? Why is industry weak? Why are young people leaving? Why has the promise of ‘Europe’ turned into dependence?

One answer is to demand more American military infrastructure because a large US base or nuclear facility on national territory changes the conversation. It shifts politics from social and economic questions to security panic and it tells voters that criticism of the ruling class is irresponsible because the country is on the front line.

For a long time, however, the chances of achieving this looked limited as the US was absorbed by wars in the Middle East and later began shifting its attention to the Pacific, where China’s rise has become its main strategic concern. Even after the confrontation in Ukraine began, Washington wasn’t eager to take on binding risks for the sake of Warsaw or Vilnius.

That is why the only truly reliable guarantee, from the point of view of these elites, would be the transfer of practical responsibility for national security into American hands. This means substantial US forces or nuclear weapons on their territory and it matters little that sovereignty, in the traditional sense, would become a fiction.

Now, amid the prolonged disputes between the Trump administration and the major states of Western Europe, the Polish and Baltic elites see an opening. If Washington reduces its military presence in Germany, they want as much of it as possible moved east.

Are leaders in Warsaw and Vilnius seriously considering what risks this would create for their populations? There is little reason to think so because their calculation is different. If they can secure even part of this American presence before Moscow and Washington agree on a new model of coexistence in Europe, they believe their own future will be safe.

For them, the prize is not national security in any serious sense. It is political insurance. American bases would guarantee their importance, protect their ruling class from domestic pressure, and make any future correction of foreign policy almost impossible.

This is where the race for US bases is leading. Not to greater sovereignty, but to its formal burial; not to security, but to permanent dependence. And not to peace in Europe, but to a situation in which small states make themselves useful as forward positions in someone else’s strategy.

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

The US is weighing a plan to purchase the Chagos Islands directly from Mauritius in a bid to sideline the UK over the future of a crucial military base in the Indian Ocean, The Telegraph reported on Sunday.

The Chagos Islands are home to Diego Garcia, a joint UK-US military base regarded as one of the most important American installations outside the continental US. The facility hosts roughly 2,500 US military personnel and supports B-2 bomber deployments, operations against Houthi targets in Yemen, and has been used in strikes on Iran.

While the Chagos Islands are currently controlled by the UK, London last year approved a plan to hand them over to Mauritius while signing a 99-year lease on the base. The UK’s hand was essentially forced by a decades-long colonial sovereignty dispute, with the International Court of Justice ruling in 2019 that the UK’s 1965 separation of the islands from Mauritius was unlawful and in violation of the right to self-determination.

While US President Donald Trump initially supported the plan, in January he declared the deal “an act of great stupidity” and a threat to national security, while warning that China and Russia “have noticed this act of total weakness.” The UK subsequently put the deal on hold, pending negotiations with the US.

Should the US approve the plan, the UK would first have to hand over the Chagos Islands to Mauritius, and then Washington would negotiate the purchase with the Mauritians. The move would thus leave Britain as a bystander in a dispute over territory it has held for over two centuries.

The Mauritian government said, as cited by Reuters, that it had “taken note of the information reported by The Telegraph” but “has not received any official ⁠proposal” from the US. It also stressed that the republic’s sovereignty over the Chagos Archipelago is “non-negotiable.”

The report comes after Trump renewed talk of acquiring Greenland from Denmark and has repeatedly referred to Canada as the “51st state,” moves that put additional strain on Washington’s already uneasy relations with its traditional allies.

The Civil Contract party of incumbent Armenian Prime Minister, the EU-backed Nikol Pashinyan, won 49.81% of the vote in Sunday’s parliamentary election, according to the Central Election Commission’s (CEC) complete count.

Pashinyan claimed victory while the counting was still underway, when his party’s advantage was even wider, claiming he would be able to form a new government without having to form a coalition.

The election has been billed in Western media as a turning point in the country’s modern trajectory, but has been marred by arrests of opposition candidates, a €50 million offer from Brussels, extreme pressure on the Armenian Apostolic Church and deteriorating trade between Russia and Armenia.

What are the latest results from Armenia’s election?

Four parties and blocs cleared the threshold for seats in the new parliament. Strong Armenia, founded by Samvel Karapetyan, came second with 23.29%. Karapetyan is being prosecuted over allegations that he plotted a coup during 2024-2025 anti-government protests, while six candidates from his movement were arrested over the weekend. He said his party is facing political persecution.

The Armenia Alliance of former President Robert Kocharyan won 9.94%, while Prosperous Armenia, led by businessman Gagik Tsarukyan, narrowly crossed the 4% threshold. The CEC is expected to issue its final report on the vote within the week, after reviewing possible irregularities, which opposition parties say they plan to challenge.

Opposition groups have accused Pashinyan’s government of using underhanded tactics to weaken its rivals. Alongside the unexpected arrests of Strong Armenia candidates, a smaller party sought to have Karapetyan’s movement disqualified outright. 

“When they saw that their results were falling sharply every minute, they stopped counting, and we have no idea what figures they will present in the morning,” said Karapetyan, announced at an emergency briefing on Sunday night. He claimed that the authorities had continued “illegal actions” during the count and said his bloc would issue a statement once the final results had been summarized.

Karapetyan also said Strong Armenia had faced heavy pressure over the past month, claiming that around 75 members of his team had been arrested and more than 700 supporters detained.

Was Armenia’s diaspora excluded?

Polling stations were open only in Armenia, as the country’s electoral laws do not provide for overseas voting in parliamentary elections. The measure excludes the diaspora, which far outnumbers the country’s population. Between five and seven million Armenians live abroad, mainly in Russia, the US, and France. Armenia’s domestic population is roughly three million.

To cast ballots, citizens living abroad must be present in Armenia on election day. In March, Yerevan further tightened the rules, barring those who have lived abroad for more than 10 years from voting.

Armenian officials have stated that male citizens of conscription age arriving from abroad to vote will be required to attend military training or face prosecution.

There were also reports that younger Armenian citizens returning from Russia were required to check their eligibility for military service before being allowed to vote. Armenia does not permit voting from abroad and applies residency requirements to voters. Russia is the most important trading partner for the landlocked post-Soviet country and is home to around 2 million Armenians, compared to 3 million living in Armenia.

Is Armenia choosing between Russia and the West?

The election has also been framed as a referendum on Armenia’s geopolitical course. Critics argue that Yerevan’s pivot toward the West has failed to provide meaningful security guarantees while damaging relations with Russia, the country’s traditional ally and largest economic partner.

The campaign unfolded amid growing tensions between Yerevan and Moscow. Russia has warned that deeper integration with the EU would be incompatible with Armenia’s continued membership in the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU). Russian President Vladimir Putin said in May that leaving the bloc could cost Armenia up to 14% of GDP.

Earlier this month, former Armenian President Robert Kocharyan accused Pashinyan’s government of artificially turning Armenia into an enemy of Russia and steering the country down a path similar to that of Ukraine.

French intelligence services allegedly helped the Armenian government block online publications critical of Pashinyan, according to French newspaper Le Journal du Dimanche.

Pashinyan admitted that he held a phone call with French President Emmanuel Macron before publicly claiming victory.

The US Army is preparing to carry out its first executions of death-row service members since 1961 if President Donald Trump orders them, ABC News reports, citing an internal planning document.

Trump has advocated wider application of the death penalty as a deterrent against violent crime.

ABC News reported on Saturday that the plan – known as Operation Resolute Justice – was circulated internally in February and requires the military to be ready to carry out executions “no later than 150 days from the date of presidential approval of the death sentences.”

The preparations reportedly include reviewing execution procedures and transferring the four death-row inmates from the US Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas to the federal execution facility in Terre Haute, Indiana in coordination with the Federal Bureau of Prisons.

Army spokesperson Cynthia Smith downplayed the preparations as a “standard component of our continued planning,” noting that Trump has yet to issue a specific order, as quoted by the publication.

The other three army death-row inmates include Sergeant Hasan Akbar, former army cook Ronald Gray, and former master sergeant Timothy Hennis, all of whom were convicted on multiple counts of premeditated murder.

During his first term in office, the Trump administration oversaw 13 federal executions – more than in any other presidential term in modern history.

Shortly after returning to office in 2025, Trump revoked a moratorium on federal executions imposed by his predecessor, Joe Biden, in 2021.

Armenia will eventually have to make a final geopolitical choice, because the prospect of integration with the EU is incompatible with membership in the Eurasian Economic Union, Aleksandr Bobrov, an associate professor at MGIMO, Russia’s leading international affairs university, told RT.

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan claimed victory in the country’s parliamentary elections overnight, saying his ruling Civil Contract party would form the next government on its own.

“This effectively means the continuation of the course set by the current authorities toward integration with the European Union and the United States, and, in turn, the gradual reduction to nothing of ties with Russia, the Eurasian Economic Union, and the CSTO,” Bobrov said.

READ MORE: EU-backed Pashinyan declares victory before final Armenia vote count

While Pashinyan is likely to keep straining relations with Moscow and scaling down Armenia’s participation in post-Soviet multilateral formats, Bobrov said the process could be gradual.

Armenia is one of five members of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), alongside Russia, Kazakhstan, Belarus, and Kyrgyzstan. The bloc operates a single market and harmonizes regulations to facilitate trade, investment, and other forms of economic cooperation. 

“It is absolutely clear that, at some point, Armenia will have to make its final geopolitical choice, because the prospect of integration with the European Union is incompatible with membership in the Eurasian Economic Union,” Bobrov said.

“If Armenia ultimately makes the sovereign choice to leave the EAEU, this could of course have a very deep impact on Armenian society. The country could face a powerful socioeconomic crisis, because it would lose the preferences it currently enjoys and which many now take for granted. In such circumstances, Nikol Pashinyan’s position would no longer be so strong,” Bobrov said.

A Ukrainian UAV attack on a passenger train in Crimea has left one person dead and another injured, regional Governor Sergey Aksyonov has said.

The train was traveling between Moscow and Simferopol when the locomotive was hit by an “enemy drone,” Aksyonov wrote on Telegram early Monday.

“According to preliminary information, the train driver was injured, the assistant driver was killed, and none of the passengers were hurt,” he said.

Aksyonov expressed condolences to the friends and family of the deceased crew member and wished the injured driver a speedy recovery.

Bus transportation for the train’s passengers is currently being arranged, Aksyonov said, adding that the authorities will provide all necessary assistance.

Following the incident, operator Grand Service Express temporarily suspended services in Crimea, adding that all passengers on its trains on the peninsula were evacuated.

On Thursday, a Ukrainian UAV struck a suburban train traveling between Azovskoye and Kerch, Crimea, leaving one passenger dead and several others injured.

Moscow previously warned that it would carry out “systematic and consistent strikes” on Ukraine’s military infrastructure, including drone production facilities, command posts, and “decision-making centers,” in response to Kiev’s terrorist attacks. These included an attack on a college dormitory in the town of Starobelsk in the Lugansk People’s Republic, which killed 21 people, mostly teenage girls, and injured 70 others.

Last week, Russian forces launched another large-scale missile and drone barrage, targeting defense industry sites in Kiev, parts of Zaporozhye and Kherson regions still under Ukrainian control, as well as locations in Dnepropetrovsk, Poltava, Khmelnitsky, and Sumy Regions, according to the Russian Defense Ministry.

A powerful earthquake struck off the southern Philippines coast on Monday, killing at least 32 people and injuring more than 200 others as buildings collapsed across Mindanao, sending residents fleeing from homes, schools, and offices and triggering tsunami warnings around the region.

The magnitude 7.8 quake struck near Mindanao shortly before 7:40 AM local time at a depth of about 35 km, according to the US Geological Survey. The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology said that 138 aftershocks had been recorded by 11:00 AM local time (03:00 GMT), including one of magnitude 6.1.

Several mostly low-rise buildings collapsed or suffered heavy damage in the hard-hit city of General Santos, where rescue teams continued searching through rubble. A 1-meter tsunami struck nearby coastlines, damaging at least one southern coastal village, while smaller waves were recorded in Indonesia, Palau, and as far away as southern Japan. Authorities said damage assessments were continuing across Mindanao.

Videos circulating on social media show buildings swaying, ceilings and walls cracking, debris falling into streets, and panicked residents running from homes, shops, and offices.

WATCH: Building collapses after magnitude 7.8 earthquake strikes the Philippines pic.twitter.com/8Q9XFK6Gf8

— BNO News Live (@BNODesk) June 8, 2026

Other videos show damaged structures and partial collapses, as emergency services were deployed to inspect roads, bridges, ports, power lines, and public buildings in affected areas of Mindanao.

Severe damage in the Southern Philippines, following a 7.8 magnitude earthquake. Tsunami warnings have been issued. pic.twitter.com/OO27Ymnjia

— OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) June 8, 2026

“Many buildings were affected, but I cannot enumerate them now because we are busy with ongoing rescues,” Master Sergeant Robert Dagon of the General Santos City police told AFP, adding that several structures, including homes, collapsed

#EXCLUSIVE PHILIPPINES: MAGNITUDO 8.7 MINDANAO EARTHQUAKE

Monday, 8th June 2026 pic.twitter.com/cgoBn97UiY

— Agraprana Pahlawan (@skynewsagra) June 8, 2026

The police station in Alabel town, Sarangani province, was damaged during the earthquake, which struck as officers were taking part in a flag-raising ceremony, the local police chief told Reuters

WATCH: Footage shows a high school building that collapsed following the powerful earthquake that struck the Philippines. pic.twitter.com/XGgbnposCY

— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) June 8, 2026

Tsunami warnings were issued for several coastal areas following the quake. The authorities urged people in affected coastal zones to leave beaches, harbors, and low-lying areas, and to follow evacuation orders until the tsunami threat passed. 

EARTHQUAKE DURING FLAG CEREMONY

A magnitude 7.8 earthquake shook Mahayahay Elementary School in Malita, Davao Occidental while a flag ceremony was being conducted.#Earthquake #Philippines 🇵🇭😭🫨 pic.twitter.com/WDfDeArEKC

— Whale | Decentra👀 (@whale_decentra) June 8, 2026

Tsunami waves were recorded in six areas of Mindanao from 7:42 to 8:45 AM local time, according to the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology. The highest wave measured 1.4 meters along the island’s southern coast. The agency said tsunami warnings remained in force.

Tsunami situation in the Philippines after a powerful 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck the region pic.twitter.com/cXUUTXWrPx

— Surajit (@surajit_ghosh2) June 8, 2026

Waves of 0.09 to 0.19 meters were later detected at three locations along Indonesia’s coast, according to the country’s meteorological agency. The Japanese authorities warned that tsunami waves up to 1 meter high could hit the southern Okinawa islands and coastal areas along the country’s Pacific coast.

Buildings collapse in Mindanao as a powerful 7.8 magnitude earthquake rocks the Philippines pic.twitter.com/0aHN23wRqt

— Surajit (@surajit_ghosh2) June 8, 2026

The Philippines lies on the Pacific Ring of Fire, one of the world’s most seismically active zones, and is frequently hit by earthquakes, volcanic activity, and severe storms. Officials warned that aftershocks were possible and advised people to remain outdoors or in safe open areas until structures can be inspected.

🚨#ÚLTIMAHORA Así se sintió el #temblor en Mindanao Terremoto de magnitud 7.8 Polomolok, Cotabato Sur, Filipinas · #temblor #Tu #earthquake,#joshtve #Earthquakephilipines #joshtve #temblor video 1 pic.twitter.com/WRrWPNRcDq

— Joshtve_ (@Joshtve_) June 8, 2026

The quake was also reportedly felt in parts of eastern Indonesia, including North Sulawesi and North Maluku, according to early regional reports.

The results of Armenia’s parliamentary elections largely confirmed a political reality that had already taken shape beforehand, Middle East expert Farhad Ibragimov told RT on Monday.

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan claimed victory overnight, saying his ruling Civil Contract party would form the country’s next government on its own. His announcement came as Armenia’s Central Election Commission published the results from fewer than a quarter of polling stations, with Civil Contract leading with 53.84% of the vote, according to preliminary figures. 

“Nikol Pashinyan’s victory did not look unexpected: Despite noticeable dissatisfaction within society, the opposition failed to consolidate, reach agreements among themselves, and offer voters a clear alternative. On the contrary, it seemed that different opposition groups were more focused on fighting one another than on developing a common strategy,” Ibragimov said.

“Pashinyan must, of course, understand that Armenia’s real prospects of joining the European Union remain negligible. No matter how much Europe talks about support, rapprochement, and a possible European future, in practice the issue of Armenia’s EU membership looks more like a slogan than a realistic scenario. However, this rhetoric itself is useful for Pashinyan domestically: It allows him to create the image of movement toward imagined modernization, reforms, and foreign-policy renewal.”

“At the same time, it is obvious that the bet on the West has far-reaching consequences. No one in the European Union is truly waiting for Armenia, and it would also be naive to count on long-term support from individual leaders, including Donald Trump himself: Political figures come and go, while geography and regional risks remain.”

Ibragimov said Pashinyan’s course increasingly appears to be an attempt to make Armenia into a “second Moldova” – a country living in anticipation of a European future while facing the severe consequences of that choice.

Armenia, by contrast, is located in a “far more complex regional environment, where any sharp foreign-policy turn carries much higher risks,” Ibragimov said.

“Therefore, trying to build a strategy solely on European rhetoric may create inflated expectations in society, but it will not provide real guarantees of security, economic stability, or long-term development. This is precisely the main risk of Pashinyan’s current course. Today, people voted for a beautiful myth and fairy tale, in the hope of something better. Exactly the same thing happened in Georgia, Ukraine, and Moldova. One to one.”

Canada has temporarily banned imports of livestock, including horses, from the US state of Texas over the outbreak of screwworm fly, a flesh-eating and potentially deadly parasite.

The first case of screwworm was identified in Texas on Wednesday, marking the first detection of the parasite in the US, roughly 80km (50 miles) from the Mexican border. The outbreak began in Central America in 2023 and has been spreading steadily northward ever since. By late 2025, Mexico had reported thousands of cases in animals and dozens of humans.

The second case was identified on Friday in the same area, prompting Texas officials to declare a state of disaster over the outbreak. The same day, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency said it would temporarily halt imports of livestock from Texas until further notice and “continue to work closely with US counterparts to assess developments and adjust measures as needed.”

The ban applies to all livestock that originated from or were present in Texas during the three weeks prior to entering Canada.

“This pest affects live animals and does not impact inspected Texas beef. Canada’s broad restriction on Texas livestock is an overreaction that is more political than science-based,” the governor told USA Today in a statement.

The parasite, which in its adult form resembles a common housefly, lays its eggs into wounds and natural body openings of warm-blooded animals. The eggs – laid in hundreds by a single fly – hatch into parasitic maggots, which feast for about a week on living flesh, causing an extremely painful and potentially deadly condition. The maggots ultimately burrow out of the bodies of their hosts and dig into soil to pupate, emerging as an adult fly several weeks later to repeat the process.

The screwworm was declared eradicated in the US in 1966, in Mexico in 1991, and all across Central America by the mid-2000s. The program involved mass-breeding and release of sterile male flies into nature to destroy the population of the parasite. The resurgence of the fly in recent years has been attributed to changing weather and warmer temperatures, which are thought to drastically increase the range of the insects.

US President Donald Trump stormed out of an interview with ‘Meet the Press’ host Kristen Welker after a heated exchange over his election-fraud claims.

“You’re crooked, your press is crooked and ‘Meet the Press’ is crooked,” the visibly annoyed president said. Before ending the interview with the NBC News anchor on Saturday, Trump also slammed several other mainstream media outlets, including ABC, CBS, and CNN, describing them as “one-sided crooked networks.”

The interview took a tense turn after Trump alleged that the California primary elections earlier this week were marred by fraud. He cited the state’s protracted vote-counting process, suggesting that the vote was rigged to eliminate Republican contenders.

Unlike many other US states, California uses ‘jungle primaries,’ in which candidates from all parties compete on the same ballot to advance to the general election.

Welker said, “that’s how they count the votes in California,” adding that local officials have acknowledged that the process is slow. Trump fired back by accusing NBC and other media outlets of “playing right into their hands with this crap,” and telling Welker that she was “either crooked or you’re stupid.”

“Sorry. Let’s call it quits because I’ve had enough. Thank you, darling. Have a good time,” the president said, appearing to remove his microphone.

Welker’s attempts to talk Trump out of leaving proved futile, with the president grumbling: “I sat in the rain with you for an hour.”

“I’ve given you enough time. You ought to straighten out your press, because you know what – a country can never be great with a dishonest press,” Trump said before walking off.

Iran has accused the US of bearing “direct responsibility” for Israeli ceasefire violations after the IDF launched intensive airstrikes on what it said were Hezbollah targets in Lebanon on Sunday. Tehran responded with a wave of retaliatory strikes on Israel, triggering fresh Israeli attacks on targets across the Islamic Republic.

The Israeli operation came despite US President Donald Trump reportedly urging Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not to escalate further. Trump told Axios the strikes on Beirut had not been coordinated with Washington and insisted both sides “had their fun” and should stop. He later posted an uncharacteristically brief message on Truth Social: “Israel and Iran must immediately stop shooting.”

Israel, however, pressed ahead with strikes, with explosions reported in Tehran, Isfahan, Tabriz, and Karaj, as well as at the Karun Petrochemical Company in the Mahshahr Special Economic Zone, one of Iran’s main oil and petrochemical hubs.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said Israel’s actions “cannot be viewed in isolation” from US policy, describing Washington as “directly responsible” for ceasefire breaches. He said Tehran and Pakistani mediators had repeatedly stressed that Lebanon was “part and parcel of the ceasefire agreement.”

Here are the key developments:

• The Israeli military says the air force has completed an “extensive” wave of strikes on Iranian air defense systems, with dozens of fighter jets targeting radar installations and surface-to-air missile launchers.

• Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) says it launched a missile strike on petrochemical facilities in Haifa in retaliation for the IDF’s Mahshahr attack. The IRGC warned that attacks on energy infrastructure could expand the conflict to energy targets across the region.

• Iranian military spokesman Ebrahim Zolfaghari claimed the IDF had used prohibited weapons, including white phosphorus, during strikes on southern Lebanon and the outskirts of Beirut.

• Yemen’s Houthis have reentered the conflict, saying they are reinstating a ban on Israeli maritime navigation in the Red Sea and warning that Israel-linked vessels would once again be targeted.

Follow our live coverage below for continuous updates.

The Russian Defense Ministry has released footage of the elite Rubicon drone unit intercepting Ukrainian kamikaze UAVs.

The video shows more than a dozen interceptions of Ukrainian mid- and long-range fixed-wing B-2 and FP-2 kamikaze drones.

Rubicon operators reportedly often only need a thread dropped from a drone while flying above an enemy UAV, tangling its propeller and causing it to crash.

In recent months, Kiev has intensified attacks on Russian regions using long-range fixed-wing drones such as FP-2 models shown in the footage, often targeting civilian infrastructure and vehicles.

Last week, these types of strikes killed at least 35 civilians, including three children, and injured 182 people, according to Rodion Miroshnik, who leads the Russian Foreign Ministry mission responsible for tracking Ukrainian war crimes.

The Biden administration ordered the downing of a Boy Scout balloon over US soil in February 2023 using a missile worth roughly $500,000 as Washington scrambled a panicked response to alleged “Chinese spy balloons,” the New York Post reported on Saturday, citing former Pentagon officials.

On February 12, 2023, the US Air Force dispatched an F-16 over Lake Huron, near the US-Canada border, to intercept what was believed to be a potential unidentified aerial threat, destroying it with an AIM-9 Sidewinder missile. The episode was confirmed by declassified cockpit footage released last month by the Department of War as part of its second batch of UFO-related records.

“The F-16 shot at a balloon over Lake Huron. After the [Chinese spy] balloon embarrassment, DOD was shooting at every [Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena] they detected”, Tim Phillips, a former interim director of the Pentagon’s All-Domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO), told The Post.

Sean Kirkpatrick, the former head of AARO, claimed that the balloon belonged to a Boy Scout group and had been launched on an unspecified research project. “The balloon had circumnavigated the globe eight times before we shot it down with a half-million-dollar missile,” Kirkpatrick explained, as cited by NYP. “You can imagine the response on the Hill when I briefed that.”

Media reports have suggested that there have been several other cases in which the US Air Force swept the skies of civilian US-originated aircraft. According to Kirkpatrick, around the same time, a US fighter pilot reported encountering a UFO with “stealth-like capabilities” and opened fire – but once it was downed, it turned out that he had destroyed a balloon from Walmart, saying “Happy Birthday.”

In February 2023, a hobby group called the Northern Illinois Bottlecap Balloon Brigade reported the loss of a $12 balloon the same day a US fighter jet downed an unidentified flying object with a missile worth over $400,000.

Following the suspected “Chinese spy balloon incident,” the US military said it had adjusted its radar detection parameters to pick up slow-moving objects it had previously filtered out – a change that inadvertently led to the shootdowns of civilian balloons. In September 2023, CNN reported, citing an intelligence assessment, that China had dialed down its balloon surveillance program after butting heads with the US over the controversy.

An insect infestation is spreading across Berlin, forcing closures and health warnings in parks, sports grounds, and residential areas, German media has reported. The culprit is the oak processionary moth caterpillar, a tree-killing pest covered in toxic stinging hairs.

The insect, scientifically known as Thaumetopoea processionea, is a moth species whose caterpillars emerge between May and July. While the moth itself is harmless, the caterpillars develop hundreds of thousands of microscopic toxic hairs that can travel up to 200 meters on the wind and cause rashes, eye irritation, and respiratory problems. In severe cases, exposure can trigger allergic reactions and even anaphylactic shock.

The infestation has been spreading across Berlin for years, but officials say several districts are seeing a sharp rise in affected trees this summer. According to Bild, authorities and park operators have issued warnings across Berlin and Potsdam, closing off infested areas and temporarily shutting parks, sports facilities, and pedestrian routes.

The hardest-hit areas are Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf, Treptow-Köpenick, Steglitz-Zehlendorf, and Spandau, which contain many of Berlin’s oak-lined streets and parks.

According to B.Z. daily, the caterpillars have also spread throughout a Jungfernheide housing estate of more than 11,000 residents, infesting everything from facades and cars to door frames, railings, and light fixtures.

Local politicians have criticized what they describe as poor coordination between authorities. Health agencies have limited powers to intervene because the caterpillars are classified as an allergen rather than a public-health pest, while plant protection rules restrict the use of certain biocides.

Critics are calling for a coordinated response from district authorities, the Berlin Senate, and housing companies, including earlier treatment of oak trees and more aggressive nest removal. F rustrated residents have also launched a petition demanding a binding protection plan for Jungfernheide, which has already attracted more than 4,500 signatures.

The pest is not confined to Germany. The oak processionary moth is established across much of Europe and has been recorded from the Netherlands and France to Denmark and the Mediterranean. It was accidentally introduced to the UK in 2006 and is now established in Greater London and parts of southeast England, prompting a government warning on Saturday urging the public not to touch the insects or their nests.

US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth used a D-Day ceremony in Normandy to warn that Europe is under a new form of “invasion,” urging EU leaders to confront migration before it’s too late.

Speaking on the anniversary of the June 6, 1944 Allied landings in France, Hegseth said, “different European beaches are stormed by different, dangerous ideologies” in Spain, Italy, Greece, and Bulgaria, where “boats and men arrive.”

“When will European capitals do something about that invasion? Or is it too late? I pray not, and I believe not,” he added.

D-Day marks the beginning of the liberation of France and Western Europe from Nazi rule. The troops who landed on Normandy’s beaches were not invading Europe in the sense used by modern immigration critics; they arrived to free territories occupied by Nazi Germany.

US President Donald Trump has pursued a tough immigration agenda at home, expanding deportation efforts and high-profile ICE operations. Critics have raised concerns over due process and the treatment of migrant communities.

Hegseth’s comments come as the EU prepares to implement its most ambitious migration overhaul in years. On June 1, EU lawmakers and member-state representatives agreed in principle on new rules aimed at speeding up the deportation of rejected asylum seekers. The measures are designed to complement the Migration and Asylum Pact, which reforms asylum processing, border screening, and responsibility-sharing among member states.

EU institutions and migration experts estimate that only 20-30% of people ordered to leave the bloc actually do. The European Commission says immigration is needed to address labor shortages, with the EU workforce shrinking by around 1 million people a year.

Greek Migration Minister Thanos Plevris warned last month that the EU could be on the verge of a new migrant crisis, with more than half a million people waiting in Libya alone to cross into Europe.

A growing confrontation between Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and the Armenian Apostolic Church is exposing deep divisions within Armenian society and raising questions about the country’s future direction.

The rift began after Azerbaijan regained control of Nagorno-Karabakh in September 2023, prompting the exodus of most of the region’s ethnic Armenian population – an event many Armenians viewed as a national tragedy. As church leaders echoed public anger and questioned the government’s actions, they increasingly found themselves in the authorities’ crosshairs: priests have been arrested, senior clergy accused of plotting against the state, and supporters of the church dispersed by police.

Critics say that the campaign mirrors a broader pattern seen elsewhere in the post-Soviet space, including in Ukraine and Moldova, where traditional churches have become obstacles to political projects backed by the West.

German lawmakers want former Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock questioned over Berlin’s failure to secure a seat on the UN Security Council, Bild reports. According to the outlet, the ruling CDU/CSU alliance blames the former top diplomat for the setback and wants her summoned before the Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee.

Germany failed to win a non-permanent seat on the UNSC – the UN’s most powerful body, with authority to adopt legally binding resolutions and sanctions – for the first time in modern history on Wednesday, losing out to Portugal and Austria. Germany won all six previous contests it entered since 1977, but this time received only 104 votes, well short of the required two-thirds majority.

German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul described the result as a “bitter defeat,” but insisted he “did not personally blame himself,” arguing that Germany entered the race too late. According to Bild, lawmakers are placing the blame on Wadephul’s predecessor, Baerbock, who served from 2021-25.

“We must thoroughly investigate the causes of this embarrassing electoral defeat,” Stephan Mayer, a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, told the outlet. “[It is] absolutely essential that Annalena Baerbock answer questions before the Bundestag [to explain] how, when, and what exactly her ministry did to mobilize support for Germany’s bid.”

“You cannot blame [Chancellor] Friedrich Merz and Johann Wadephul for this electoral defeat. Annalena Baerbock messed it up during her time as foreign minister,” he stated.

Baerbock’s tenure as Germany’s top diplomat drew frequent criticism for a lack of diplomatic pragmatism, an inconsistent agenda, and high-profile verbal blunders.

During her time in office, she said she would support Ukraine “irrespective of what my voters think,” declared the EU to be “fighting a war against Russia,” and described Israeli strikes on Palestinian schools as “self-defense.” She also made several awkward historical, geographical, and mathematical slip-ups, including promising a “360-degree foreign policy.”

Munich Security Conference chairman Wolfgang Ischinger suggested that Germany’s defeat this week may have partly been retaliation for how Baerbock “snatched” the role, which he told WELT TV had “not exactly generated new sympathy for Germany” among UN ambassadors.

A diplomatic source told Bild that Baerbock is widely unpopular in the General Assembly for being “too focused on Germany… selfies and herself.”

China has launched a ‘special maritime law enforcement operation’ east of Taiwan in response to the announcement of maritime border talks in the area by Japan and the Philippines. China – which views the self-ruled island as its own sovereign territory – protested the negotiations, saying they infringe on its sovereignty.

The effort was launched on Saturday by China’s Ministry of Transport in coordination with the local authorities, according to Xinhua. The operation is aimed at fully exercising China’s maritime administrative law enforcement jurisdiction and safeguarding national rights and interests, the report said.

The operation follows a May 28 summit in Tokyo in which Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi and Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. issued a joint statement announcing the start of maritime delimitation talks on their respective exclusive economic zones and continental shelves.

“Any negotiations involving maritime delimitation in waters east of Taiwan must involve China,” Mao said, adding that Japan and the Philippines violated international law by bypassing Beijing.

Taiwan has also sounded the alarm over the imminent talks, urging Tokyo and Manila to consult with it, as the area likely to be subject to negotiations overlaps with waters in which the island claims “rights and interests.”

Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara said, however, that any agreement reached between Japan and the Philippines “would not be legally binding on any third party.”

Taiwan’s coast guard said it deployed at least five vessels “to respond appropriately” to the Chinese operation, which it said violates international law, and monitored four Chinese government vessels departing from the Port of Xiamen on the mainland.

China regards Taiwan as its own territory, and President Xi Jinping has refused to rule out the use of force to achieve reunification.

Tensions between China and Japan over Taiwan have simmered since November 2025, when Prime Minister Takaichi warned that a Chinese attempt to take over the island could be grounds for a military intervention. China subsequently accused Takaichi of being the first Japanese prime minister to explicitly frame a Taiwan scenario as a “survival-threatening situation,” adding that the narrative has historically served as “a go-to tactic for Japanese militarism to launch aggression.”

Incumbent Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has claimed victory in the South Caucasus country’s parliamentary elections, saying his ruling Civil Contract party will form a single-party government, even though the vote count was still in its early stages.

Speaking at a late-night briefing, the EU-backed Pashinyan said Civil Contract had secured enough support to govern alone. At the time of his statement, Armenia’s Central Election Commission had published results from 455 polling stations, representing fewer than a quarter of the total.

The election has been billed in Western media as a turning point in the country’s modern trajectory, but has been marred by arrests of opposition candidates, a €50 million offer from Brussels, and deteriorating trade between Russia and Armenia.

What are the latest results from Armenia’s election?

According to preliminary figures, Civil Contract was leading with 49.8% of the vote after results from 1,420 of 2,005 polling stations had been processed.

Parties must secure at least 4% of the vote to enter parliament, while alliances of two or three parties face an 8% threshold and larger coalitions 10%. No minimum voter turnout is required for the election to be valid.

Pashinyan’s ruling Civil Contract party is expected to remain the largest party in parliament, although it could still struggle to secure an outright majority. His leadership is being challenged by a fragmented opposition of 17 parties and political blocs.

How did the opposition react?

The opposition Strong Armenia bloc, trailing with 23.7% of the vote, said the election was “not over yet,” rejecting Pashinyan’s claim of victory as premature and accusing the authorities of deliberately delaying the count once results from urban areas started coming in.

“When they saw that their results were falling sharply every minute, they stopped counting, and we have no idea what figures they will present in the morning,” said Strong Armenia leader Samvel Karapetyan, a Russian-Armenian businessman. Speaking at an emergency briefing, Karapetyan claimed that the authorities had continued “illegal actions” during the count and said his bloc would issue a statement once the final results had been summarized.

Karapetyan also said Strong Armenia had faced heavy pressure over the past month, claiming that around 75 members of his team had been arrested and more than 700 supporters detained.

Has the opposition been persecuted?

The vote came a day after Armenian authorities detained six parliamentary candidates from the Strong Armenia bloc, which has emerged as the main challenger to the government.

Opposition groups have accused the authorities of exerting heavy pressure ahead of the vote. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said the arrests cast doubt on the democratic character of the election. Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev accused Pashinyan of trying to sideline political rivals.

Was Armenia’s diaspora excluded?

Polling stations were open only in Armenia, as the country’s electoral laws do not provide for overseas voting in parliamentary elections. The measure excludes the diaspora, which far outnumbers the country’s population. Between five and seven million Armenians live abroad, mainly in Russia, the US, and France. Armenia’s domestic population is roughly three million.

To cast ballots, citizens living abroad must be present in Armenia on election day. In March, Yerevan further tightened the rules, barring those who have lived abroad for more than 10 years from voting.

Armenian officials have stated that male citizens of conscription age arriving from abroad to vote will be required to attend military training or face prosecution.

Is Armenia choosing between Russia and the West?

The election has also been framed as a referendum on Armenia’s geopolitical course. Critics argue that Yerevan’s pivot toward the West has failed to provide meaningful security guarantees while damaging relations with Russia, the country’s traditional ally and largest economic partner.

The campaign unfolded amid growing tensions between Yerevan and Moscow. Russia has warned that deeper integration with the EU would be incompatible with Armenia’s continued membership in the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU). Russian President Vladimir Putin said in May that leaving the bloc could cost Armenia up to 14% of GDP.

Earlier this month, former Armenian President Robert Kocharyan accused Pashinyan’s government of artificially turning Armenia into an enemy of Russia and steering the country down a path similar to that of Ukraine.

French intelligence services allegedly helped the Armenian government block online publications critical of Pashinyan, according to French newspaper Le Journal du Dimanche.

Pashinyan admitted that he held a phone call with French President Emmanuel Macron before publicly claiming victory.

At least 12 people have been wounded in a shooting near a street festival in Toledo, Ohio, with videos from the scene showing crowds fleeing in panic as police launched a manhunt for the suspects.

The incident occurred near the Old West End Festival in Toledo on Saturday. Officers responded to reports of a shooting at around 5:37 PM local time near the event and found multiple gunshot victims upon arrival, according to the Toledo Police Department.

“Many victims have been transported to nearby medical facilities for treatment,” police said, adding that the search for the suspect or suspects is ongoing. Police later said at least 12 people were injured, including two who were in critical condition. The victims ranged in age from 14 to 61, according to media reports.

Toledo Deputy Police Chief Joe Heffernan said it appeared that at least two people were firing weapons and were “probably shooting at each other.”

In a video posted online, multiple shots are heard as people flee the area in panic.

Breaking: Shots fired at Old West End Festival in Toledo, Ohio. pic.twitter.com/STA5NImQG3

— Wolverine Update (@W0lverineupdate) June 6, 2026

Witnesses described scenes of chaos as festival-goers dived for cover. Kevin Berry, a Navy veteran with medical training who was at the scene when the shooting occurred, said, “everybody hit the deck” as gunfire erupted. He told AP he saw at least five wounded people “spread out around the arboretum area.”

🚨#BREAKING: MULTIPLE PEOPLE HAVE BEEN SHOT AT THE OLD WEST END FESTIVAL IN TOLEDO OHIO.

ABSOLUTE PANIC AS PEOPLE RUSHED FOR COVER, POLICE ARE ON SCENE, MEDICS ARE ATTENDING THE WOUNDED.

SH00TER IS STILL ON THE LOOSE!!!!

WE DO NOT HAVE TO LIVE LIKE THIS!!!!!!!! pic.twitter.com/D4cmSQgctU

— Matt Van Swol (@mattvanswol) June 7, 2026

Police, who were already present at the festival, responded immediately, according to officials. The authorities urged the public to avoid the area as officers continued searching for the suspects and investigators worked to determine the circumstances surrounding the shooting.

Ohio Governor Mike DeWine said he is “deeply concerned” by the incident, adding that “summer festivals should be safe spaces for families to spend time together without fear of violence.”

The Old West End Festival is a two-day celebration held in Toledo’s historic district. This year’s event, the 53rd annual edition, was scheduled for June 6-7 and featured live music, food markets, a beer garden, home tours, shopping, and the King Wamba Carnival Parade.

The Armenian authorities have detained six parliamentary candidates from the opposition Strong Armenia bloc a day before the country heads to the polls in Sunday’s general election.

During recent televised debates, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, who came to power in 2018 following the ‘Velvet Revolution’, called for the revocation of the registration of several major opposition groups.

The Central Election Commission refused to remove Strong Armenia from the ballot, but approved requests for criminal proceedings and pre-trial detention of six candidates: Hayk Avagyan, Susan Badalyan, Artur Abrahamyan, Vahe Tavakalyan, Vahe Yeghiazaryan, and Ashot Sahakyan.

Opposition groups accused the authorities of exerting immense pressure ahead of the vote, in which Pashinyan’s ruling Civil Contract party – which has been pushing for closer integration with the EU while maintaining traditionally close relations with Russia – is expected to remain the largest single party in parliament, but could fall short of forming a one-party majority government.

Pashinyan’s leadership is being contested by a heavily fractured opposition of 17 parties and political blocs. The Strong Armenia bloc, led by Russian-Armenian businessman Samvel Karapetyan, is polling second, although figures vary widely depending on the pollster, how many parties cross the 4% threshold, and how the roughly 30% of undecided voters split. Should Civil Contract fail to secure a majority of seats, coalition talks among its rivals are not guaranteed to succeed.

Moscow warned that closer integration with the EU would make Armenia’s continued membership in the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) impossible due to incompatible standards. Russian President Vladimir Putin said in May that the country could lose up to 14% of GDP if it leaves the economic organization.

Earlier this month, former President Robert Kocharyan warned that Pashinyan’s government is “artificially” turning Armenia into an enemy of Russia and leading the country down the same path as Ukraine.

The Trump administration is seeking to redirect frozen Iranian assets toward rebuilding energy and other infrastructure damaged by Tehran’s retaliatory strikes in Gulf Arab states hosting US military bases, Bloomberg and CBS News report.

The Treasury Department plans to use “all available authorities” to make Iranian assets accessible for rebuilding and repair efforts linked to any future damage caused by Iran, CBS reported on Saturday, citing a source familiar with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s thinking.

Bloomberg reported that Bessent directed Treasury officials to assess conditions among US allies in the Persian Gulf and request comprehensive estimates for damage inflicted since the start of the conflict. The outlet said the department will also consider whether Iranian assets could be used to cover “past damage” blamed on Iranian-backed groups.

“This is our own money, not America’s money,” Rezaei told CNN, calling the demand a test of trust for US President Donald Trump.

Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi told Mehr News Agency that Tehran wants at least $12 billion released immediately upon the signing of a memorandum of understanding with the US, while the remainder should be released within “not more than one or two months.”

Tehran declared that energy infrastructure in Gulf Arab states hosting US forces has become “direct and legitimate targets.”

Energy facilities in Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Kuwait, and Bahrain have all sustained damage in tit-for-tat strikes, before a Pakistani-brokered ceasefire took effect in April.

The US reportedly promised to unblock some Iranian assets to bring Tehran to the negotiating table in Islamabad, although it has publicly called the demand unacceptable. Trump has repeatedly criticized his predecessor, Barack Obama, for allegedly sending Iran billions of dollars in “pallets of cash” under the 2015 nuclear deal, which Trump unilaterally withdrew from during his first term.

The eruption of the Shiveluch volcano on the Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia’s Far East has sent a massive plume of ash 10 km into the sky and triggered red-level aviation alerts for the area and nearby regions.

The ash cloud from Saturday’s eruption stretched 50 km from the volcano as it traveled east toward the Bering Sea, according to the Volcanology and Seismology Institute of the Far Eastern Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

A more powerful explosion that could send ash up to 12 km into the sky “could occur at any time,” the institute warned. A video recorded by scientists and published on social media shows a massive plume of smoke and ash rising into the sky.

It is the second Shiveluch eruption in just a week. On Thursday, the volcano produced an ash column that reached 8 km above sea level.

The previous red-level alert linked to its activity was issued in 2024, when it sent ash up to 8 km high. Another major eruption was reported in January 2026.

The Pentagon’s Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) has elevated the threat posed by Israeli espionage to the highest level as tensions over Iran and Lebanon grow, NBC News and the New York Times reported on Saturday.

The assessment, which was circulated internally in recent weeks, includes a seven-page document and a chart rating Israel’s human and technical intelligence-gathering capabilities as “critical,” according to NBC.

The officials targeted included President Donald Trump’s top negotiator in talks with Iran, Steve Witkoff, the Pentagon’s top policy official Elbridge Colby, and one of his main deputies, Michael DiMino, according to the NYT.

US counterintelligence officials are increasingly concerned about Israeli spying activities targeting the US, including efforts to gain insight into the Trump administration’s deliberations on Iran and Lebanon, both NBC and the NYT wrote, citing sources. The assessment also reportedly cites several specific incidents, although the sources declined to identify them.

While espionage between allies is common, the report said Israel’s recent activities have gone beyond what would normally be expected, leading to the heightened threat assessment.

The Pentagon declined to comment. A White House official told NBC that the “entire story is false,” while a spokesperson for the Israeli Embassy in Washington dismissed the report as “politically motivated” and insisted that Israeli intelligence efforts “are aimed at its enemies, not its allies.”

Despite the fragile US-Iran ceasefire reached in early April and extended on May 8, negotiations on a broader deal remain deadlocked over Iran’s nuclear program, with Israel publicly questioning Trump’s diplomatic push and Netanyahu advocating renewed military action.

At the same time, Israel has intensified operations in Lebanon, where it launched a military operation in March against the Iranian-aligned Hezbollah movement. Earlier this week, Trump acknowledged reports that he called Netanyahu “f**king crazy” during a heated phone conversation over Israel’s actions in Lebanon.

“I did,” Trump said when asked about the exchange on the New York Post’s ‘Pod Force One’ podcast. “I was a little bit perturbed at his constantly fighting with Lebanon.”

Previous reports suggest that Trump accused Netanyahu of jeopardizing US negotiations with Iran by continuing the operation in Lebanon.

Despite the announcements, hostilities continued this week, with Israeli strikes in southern and eastern Lebanon killing and injuring dozens of civilians on Thursday, according to Lebanese health authorities. Iran previously said it would not agree to a permanent settlement with the US unless the deal also addresses Lebanon, and warned it would abandon negotiations if Israeli strikes continue.

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan is leading his nation into a trap by pushing it closer to the EU, World Armenian Congress President Ara Abramyan has said in an interview with RT. Brussels is luring Yerevan with vague promises as it seeks only to break Armenia’s ties with Russia, he believes.

Under Pashinyan, the South Caucasus nation has launched the process of seeking EU membership. Last month, the prime minister hosted an EU-Armenia summit and a meeting of the European Political Community (EPC), an EU-led intergovernmental group launched in 2022 in response to the escalation of the Ukraine crisis.

Moscow has said that closer integration with the EU would make Armenia’s continued membership in the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) impossible due to incompatible standards. Russian President Vladimir Putin warned in May that the South Caucasus nation could lose up to 14% of its GDP if it leaves the economic organization.

The bloc is unlikely to invite Armenia to join it or even open its market to Armenian goods, which are mostly agricultural products, any time soon, Abramyan, who leads the organization coordinating Armenian diasporas around the world, said.

Earlier this week, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen vowed to “ease the trade for some Armenian products, in particular agri-food,” adding that Brussels had allowed a shipment of 10,000 flowers to Latvia.

European farmers now oppose Ukrainian agricultural exports, he said. “How can they let Armenia in? […] It’s a deception. It’s against Russia,” Abramyan warned.

“They [the EU] want Russian bases [in Armenia] to be closed to completely ruin relations with Russia,” he said. “Armenia has one partner and that is Russia. This is a strategic partner.”

Armenia remains heavily reliant on the Russian market. According to UN data, Russia accounted for nearly 24% of Armenian exports in 2024, making it the country’s second-largest export destination after the UAE.

“They [the EU] want to destroy all of this economically,” Abramyan said, adding that following a pro-EU path could “destroy Armenia completely.”

Watch the full interview here:

Dozens of European Parliament members have demanded that Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky be stripped of the bloc’s highest award – the European Order of Merit – for glorifying World War II-era Nazi collaborators.

Zelensky was among the first recipients of the highest class of the order, which was established by the European Parliament last year. Less than a month after getting the award in mid-May for his “exceptional contribution to European integration and European values,” the Ukrainian leader signed a decree granting one of the Ukrainian elite military units the title ‘Heroes of the UPA’ – the Ukrainian Insurgent Army.

The UPA, the armed wing of the WWII-era Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN), was responsible for a campaign of ethnic cleansing in what is now western Ukraine between 1943 and 1944. Ukrainian nationalists killed an estimated 100,000 Polish civilians in what is now known as the Volhynia massacre.

The appeal, which Brylka also published on X, warned that a “cult” of the OUN and the UPA leaders would have “disastrous consequences for building good neighborly relations” in Europe. “Young Ukrainians are taught to revere criminals… as heroes,” the document signed by nearly 40 MEPs stated.

Polish President Karol Nawrocki has also called for the Ukrainian leader to be stripped of the nation’s highest award – the Order of the White Eagle.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk – a long-time supporter of Kiev in its conflict with Moscow – has recently said that Poland’s relations with Ukraine would be built on “hard business interest” and not “empathy” if Kiev does not change course.

Russian President Vladimir Putin suggested that the Ukrainian leader’s own grandfather, who fought the Nazis during WWII, “is probably turning in his grave.”

Russian tennis player Mirra Andreeva won her first Grand Slam title with a straight-sets victory over Poland’s Maja Chwalinska in the Roland-Garros final in Paris on Saturday.

Playing on Court Philippe-Chatrier, Andreeva defeated Chwalinska 6-3, 6-2 to claim the Suzanne-Lenglen Cup and €2.8 million ($3.23 million) in prize money.

The 19-year-old became the youngest women’s champion at Roland-Garros since Monica Seles won her third consecutive title in 1992 aged 18. The victory also made the Siberian-born teen the first Russian woman to win the French Open since Maria Sharapova lifted the trophy in 2014.

Video footage showed Andreeva falling to her knees and fighting back tears before hugging and thanking Chwalinska immediately after her victory.

MIRRA THE CHAMPION 🏆#RolandGarros pic.twitter.com/mbInya59hj

— Roland-Garros (@rolandgarros) June 6, 2026

“It’s very special for me. I’ve been watching Roland-Garros on TV since I was very young,” she said. “It’s been a big dream of mine and I can’t believe I’m holding this trophy right now.”

Mirra Andreeva lifts the Suzanne-Lenglen trophy (twice 😅) #RolandGarros pic.twitter.com/rQ6d25IL9j

— Roland-Garros (@rolandgarros) June 6, 2026

Under restrictions imposed on Russian and Belarusian athletes by the French Tennis Federation after the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022, Andreeva was not allowed to compete under a national flag.

On Tuesday, the International Fencing Federation (FIE) lifted its ban on Russian and Belarusian competitors. Earlier, international governing bodies for gymnastics, judo, taekwondo, wrestling, and aquatic sports removed similar measures.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has long denounced the bans as politically biased and selective sanctions. “There is no place for politics in sport,” he said last year.

Ukraine has launched hundreds of long-range drones at Russia, with many targeting civilians and critical infrastructure, including oil terminals – and a significant portion of EU members have cheered on the strikes.

However, as the pace of the attacks has surged, Ukrainian drones are now increasingly hitting neighboring countries that provide military assistance to Kiev. The incidents, stretching from the Baltic to the Mediterranean, have left Kiev issuing a litany of apologies – although with no indication that it plans to scale back its drone campaign.

Most EU governments have declined to formally condemn Ukraine – instead blaming the incidents on Russia and its electronic warfare defenses.

In late May, Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson called on NATO members to help Ukraine “direct” its attacks “in the right directions,” while Poland has urged Ukraine to “be more precise.” Russia has stated that NATO is a direct participant in the Ukraine conflict.

RT recounts the recent incidents of Ukrainian drones hitting the wrong targets.

A Ukrainian naval drone exploded near an oil terminal in Constanta, Romania’s largest port in the Black Sea, with three more detonating offshore. Kiev has confirmed that the drones belonged to the Ukrainian navy, claiming that it lost control of the devices.

The response was a far cry from Romania’s response to an incident on May 29 when it claimed that a Russian UAV carrying explosives crashed into an apartment block in Galati, Romania, injuring two people. Moscow has said that Bucharest did not provide any evidence for the claim.

However, the Romanian government ordered the closure of the Russian Consulate in Constanta and declared the consul general persona non grata.

Five Azerbaijani crew members were killed and three others wounded when Ukrainian drones struck two dry cargo ships in Russia’s Taganrog Bay in the Sea of Azov. The two vessels – the MV Natra and MV Zirkon – were traveling from Türkiye to the Russian port of Rostov-on-Don to load grain when they came under attack. Ukraine’s drone forces commander, Robert Brovdi, confirmed the strikes, alleging that the grain was illegal and that the vessel was also carrying military cargo and fuel.

Russia said the incident “once again proves the terrorist nature of the Kiev regime that increasingly targets civilians.”

A NATO fighter jet shot down a Ukrainian drone over southern Estonia after the UAV entered from Russian territory. The debris fell in a marshy area near the village of Kablakula without causing any casualties or property damage. Estonian Defense Minister Hanno Pevkur said the drone was “most probably meant to hit some Russian targets.”

“Russia continues to redirect Ukrainian drones into the Baltics with the use of its electronic warfare,” it said.

Finland temporarily closed Helsinki-Vantaa Airport on May 15 after a suspected drone incursion was detected, with nearly 2 million residents in the southern part of the country receiving emergency instructions.

On May 7, two Ukrainian drones crossed into Latvian airspace from Russia and struck an empty fuel depot in the city of Rezekne, around 40 km from the Russian border, with no casualties. Then-Defense Minister Andris Spruds at the time called the incident regrettable but understandable.

Later that month, Spruds’ party withdrew from the coalition, and Silina herself resigned, leading to the collapse of the government.

In early May, Reuters reported that a local fishing vessel discovered a Ukrainian-made sea drone near the island of Lefkada in the Ionian Sea. The Greek authorities later confirmed that the UAV was Ukrainian and lodged a diplomatic protest.

In response, Kiev apologized, attributing the incident to “circumstances brought about by ongoing Russian aggression.”

Two Ukrainian drones crashed near the southern Finnish city of Kouvola on March 29, with one confirmed to have carried an unexploded warhead. Two days later, a third Ukrainian drone was subsequently found on the ice of Lake Pyhajarvi near the Russian border, also carrying a suspected warhead.

Defense Minister Antti Hakkanen said Finland takes the issue of stray Ukrainian drones “very seriously.” Kiev once again apologized and attributed the deviations to Russian jamming.

Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky and Finnish President Alexander Stubb spoke by phone, though Stubb’s office confirmed that scaling back Ukrainian strikes near Finnish territory was not discussed.

On March 25, Estonia and Latvia both reported drones entering their airspace from Russia. In Estonia, a drone – later identified as Ukrainian – struck the chimney of a power station in the northeastern village of Auvere.

The same morning, a second Ukrainian drone entered from Russia and crash-landed in the Latvian village of Dobrocina, and two days prior, another Ukrainian drone crashed into Lake Lavysas in the Varena district of Lithuania. The Baltic authorities concluded that the drones were targeting Russian oil infrastructure in the region and veered off course due to electronic warfare measures.

Bottom line

The long string of incidents involving Ukrainian drones – often carrying explosives – typically follows the same pattern: Kiev apologizes and blames Moscow, while EU capitals nod along or turn a blind eye.

There have also been no calls to revisit the assistance Western countries provide Ukraine, despite the aid evidently contributing to the raids, which have the potential to kill EU citizens.

Scientists have baked sourdough bread using ancient yeast harvested from a 5,300-year-old mummy’s insides and skin, according to Eurac Research.

The Italian-based research center reported on Wednesday that its scientists discovered several strains of cold-resistant yeast from the Copper Age mummy nicknamed Otzi the Iceman, which was found in the Italian Alps in 1991.

Scientists examined microorganisms found on Otzi’s skin, in his digestive tract, and in meltwater from inside the mummy.

“We’ve already conducted initial, though not yet systematic, experiments − with good results. We tried to make a sourdough starter with it,” microbiologist Mohamed Sarhan said. “We made some really good dough with it.”

After around two weeks of being fed flour, the yeast strain adapted to a dough environment, he said. As Otzi was preserved at around -6 C (21.2 F), “these yeasts are remarkable because they are adapted to very cold temperatures,” he added.

The newly discovered strains could offer advantages for the modern food industry, allowing fermentation at refrigerator temperatures and during transportation, saving energy, Sarhan said.

Bread is currently one of the obvious applications we’re considering; another is beer – we’ve already discussed this with experts.

In an even older resurrection of ancient organisms, in 2023, scientists in Russia revived a female roundworm that had lain dormant in Siberia’s permafrost for 46,000 years.

The Bank of England’s decision to remove historical figures such as Winston Churchill from banknotes came after research commissioned by the regulator concluded that they were “elitist and divisive,” The Telegraph reported on Friday.

The central bank announced in March that it would end its use of historical figures, with the next series of banknotes set to feature UK wildlife. It said that the move followed public consultations in which nature-themed designs received the strongest support and argued that wildlife imagery would be harder to counterfeit than faces.

According to the newspaper, however, the decision was ultimately shaped by an internal study commissioned from market research firm Savanta. It reportedly found that figures such as wartime leader Churchill, World War II codebreaker Alan Turing, and novelist Jane Austen were “contentious and not representative of the UK’s cultural and natural diversity.”

Savanta advised replacing portraits with nature, arguing that historical figures projected “a backward-looking vision of the UK” and were viewed as “imperialistic,” “potentially divisive,” and “elitist.”

The firm also warned that landmarks and historic architecture could prove controversial, with Georgian and Victorian-era buildings deemed high-risk due to links to “colonialism/slavery.” Even some nature-themed symbols were considered problematic, including the White Cliffs of Dover over alleged association with immigration concerns.

Savanta reportedly urged the regulator to frame the move “as a positive evolution that enhances banknotes, rather than a ‘censorship’ or ‘cancellation’ of history,” but the decision has sparked accusations of precisely that.

Critics argue that the move is part of Britain’s broader “diversity overhaul.” Over the past decade, major UK institutions have increasingly reassessed the legacies of empire and colonialism. The National Trust linked dozens of historic properties to slavery and colonialism in a 2020 report, while the BBC, Civil Service, and Armed Forces have rolled out diversity initiatives. Local authorities have also renamed streets and reviewed monuments associated with colonial-era figures.

Executives from leading AI companies have joined biotechnology experts in an urgent call to mandate safety screening for synthetic DNA purchases. In a public letter addressed to the US Congress, the signatories argue that rapid advances in AI could increase the risk of biological weapons being developed.

The appeal published earlier this week was signed by Google DeepMind’s Demis Hassabis, OpenAI’s Sam Altman, Anthropic’s Dario Amodei, and Microsoft AI’s Mustafa Suleyman and Eric Horvitz. They were joined by dozens of experts from the biotech, DNA synthesis, and national security fields.

Synthetic DNA refers to artificially produced genetic material that can be ordered online and shipped much like other laboratory supplies. Although the letter is addressed to Congress, the signatories stressed that the issue is global, as synthetic DNA can be purchased and transported across borders.

“The ability to order synthetic DNA online has accelerated vaccine development, powered basic research, and made it possible for small teams to access capabilities that used to be confined to major institutions,” the letter reads.

Although synthetic DNA has a wide range of legitimate uses, including the development of life-saving medicines, engineering microorganisms, and even storing vast amounts of digital data, it also carries risks, according to the appeal. In theory, malicious actors could order DNA sequences designed to recreate dangerous pathogens, the signatories warned.

They also called for mandatory record-keeping to help trace suspicious activities. Beyond aiding investigations, the authors argued that simply knowing orders are traceable could deter misuse.

The authors said the underlying threat is not new, but argued that the unprecedented pace of AI development is changing the equation. Today’s AI systems, they noted, can already outperform PhD-level virologists on questions involving highly complex laboratory procedures.

As these systems improve, they warned, the knowledge and skill barriers that have historically limited access to biological weapons could be significantly eroded.

A Turkish-flagged fishing boat sank after being attacked in the Black Sea off the coast of Crimea, leaving one crew member dead and four others injured, Türkiye’s Coast Guard has said.

In a statement on X, the Coast Guard Command said the trawler DURU 67 came under attack on Friday near Sevastopol. A nearby fishing boat, BURAK KAYA, rescued five wounded crew members from the sinking vessel and headed for the Turkish port of Inebolu. One sailor, who was in critical condition, died during the journey.

Following a distress call, the Coast Guard dispatched a rescue vessel carrying a medical team. The ship reached BURAK KAYA around 7:00 PM local time, 115 nautical miles north of Inebolu within Türkiye’s search-and-rescue zone.

The deceased sailor and four injured crew members were transferred aboard, where they received medical treatment before being taken to a hospital in Kastamonu. The local health authorities said the victims mainly suffered shrapnel wounds.

Crimea, along with the former Ukrainian regions of Donetsk, Lugansk, Kherson, and Zaporozhye, overwhelmingly voted to join Russia in 2014 and 2022, but Kiev and its Western backers continue to regard the territories as “annexed.”

Ukrainian forces routinely target Russian oil depots, supply routes, shipping, and port infrastructure in the area, often using naval drones and Western-supplied long-range missiles. On Thursday, drone attacks on the peninsula, including the port city of Sevastopol, killed at least four people and wounded ten others. Two more people were injured in a strike on Sevastopol on Saturday.

In March, the Turkish tanker Altura was reportedly struck by drones near the Bosphorus. Last month, maritime security company Tribeca reported drone attacks on three tankers in the Black Sea near Türkiye’s northern coast.

The Turkish government has condemned the Ukrainian attacks in the Black Sea. Foreign Ministry spokesman Oncu Keceli issued a warning last autumn after the Kairos and Virat tankers – also allegedly part of the ‘shadow fleet’ – were struck inside Türkiye’s exclusive economic zone, saying the attacks “posed serious risks to navigation, life, property, and environmental safety in the region.”

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has warned that Warsaw’s support for Kiev could become increasingly driven by hard national interests. The criticism follows Zelensky’s move to honor World War II-era Ukrainian nationalist paramilitaries responsible for massacres of Poles and Jews by naming a commando unit after them.

In May, Zelensky decreed that the Special Operations Center North would bear the honorary title ‘Heroes of the UPA,’ referring to the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA), the armed wing of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN).

The OUN sought to establish an ethnically and religiously homogeneous Ukrainian state and collaborated with Nazi Germany during the early stages of the invasion of the Soviet Union. The UPA was formed in 1942 following a split between much of the OUN leadership and the Germans.

Ukrainian nationalists killed an estimated 100,000 Polish civilians in what is now western Ukraine from 1943-44. The massacres remain a major source of tension between Warsaw and Kiev.

The PM noted that “all responsibility lies with the Ukrainian side to somehow heal this completely unnecessary conflict over historical interpretations.”

While Kiev has promoted the legacy of the UPA and Ukrainian Nazi collaborators as part of state historical policy for years, the latest move has sparked an unusually fierce reaction in Poland.

President Karol Nawrocki has called for Zelensky to be stripped of the Order of the White Eagle, the country’s highest state distinction, highlighting that a nation honoring “bandits and murderers” is not yet fit to join “the European family.”

Earlier in May, the Ukrainian authorities rolled out full state honors for the remains of Andrey Melnik, the leader of the OUN, and his wife, Sofia Fedak-Melnik. Exhumed in Luxembourg, the couple was reburied in Kiev’s main military cemetery. At the same time, the Ukrainian authorities announced plans to rebury Evgeny Konovalets, one of the founders of the, whose remains will be transferred from Rotterdam, the Netherlands.

Commenting on Kiev’s latest steps, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the current Ukrainian leader is Jewish by nationality, and suggested that his grandfather, who fought against Nazism during WWII, “is probably turning in his grave.”

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has highlighted that, had Andrey Melnik and his OUN followers triumphed, Zelensky’s grandfather would have perished in a Nazi gas chamber, and that the current Ukrainian leader himself would never have been born.

Protesters marched through central Budapest on Friday, chanting “traitor” as they denounced Prime Minister Peter Magyar over the EU Migration Pact.

When Magyar appeared on a balcony of his Tisza party’s headquarters waving a Hungarian flag, the crowd booed and chanted “Dirty Tisza,” demanding his resignation, local media have reported. Magyar later estimated the crowd at about 1,000 people.

Demonstrators claim the Prime Minister, who assumed office last month, secretly agreed to implement the pact in exchange for billions in EU funds, speculation that intensified after he and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced a political agreement on May 29 to unlock the €16.4 billion.

The funds had been frozen since 2022, when the Commission accused then-Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s government of corruption and rule-of-law violations. Orban, a long-time critic of EU policies on issues such as migration and Ukraine aid, accused Brussels of political blackmail.

Critics also allege that the deal would require Hungary to build a migrant transit facility for 8,000–10,000 people near its southern border.

Magyar has repeatedly stated that Hungary “will not accept any pact or allocation mechanism” on asylum and migration. However, Hungarian media have noted he has remained largely silent on the issue in recent weeks. According to Hungary Today, one condition tied to the release of EU funds is believed to be a reversal of Orban’s opposition to the pact.

Following the protest, Magyar dismissed the demonstrators on Facebook as “frenzied, inarticulate, shouting fellow citizens,” arguing they were effectively protesting EU funds allocated to Hungary.

The pact establishes a common EU framework for migration and asylum procedures. It introduces a system of “mandatory solidarity,” under which each member state is obliged to either accept a certain number of migrants, provide operational support, or pay €20,000 ($23,000) per person they refuse to take in.
The legislation has been controversial across the bloc, with Poland, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia also rejecting the pact’s solidarity principle.

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has slammed UK politicians over what she described as attempts to score points on existing racial divisions, warning that it risked pushing the country towards a “civil war.”

Speaking in an interview with the BBC aired on Friday, Badenoch reacted to the murder of Henry Nowak, an 18-year-old Polish-British university student, who was stabbed five times by Vickrum Digwa, a 23-year-old Sikh. The incident took place in Southampton in December 2025, but gained a national spotlight only recently.

When police arrived, Digwa falsely claimed he had been the victim of a racist assault, with police initially believing his account. Body-cam footage released after sentencing showed officers handcuffing the dying student as he repeatedly told them he had been stabbed and could not breathe.

Badenoch insisted that Britain “is not a racist country,” but acknowledged that “we are now seeing more and more hostility to people of every ethnicity, whether they’re English or not English.”

However, she insisted that the real driver of tension was politicians using racial divisions to harvest votes and importing these conflicts into communities that had previously been spared from them.

“Parties which do that, politicians who do that, they may get to benefit in the short term, but in the long term, that’s how you end up with civil war,” Badenoch warned.

While Badenoch did not name specific politicians, one of those who seized on the controversy was Reform UK leader Nigel Farage, widely known for his anti-immigration agenda. Farage called for “pure cold rage” in response to the incident.

Reform UK is currently polling at around 27%, with Labour and the Conservatives tied at roughly 18% each. Meanwhile, Badenoch herself became the Tory leader after former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s landslide defeat in the general election in 2024, which was in large part caused by the party’s identitarian and cultural policies as well as a failure to deliver on immigration promises.

The culture war has long plagued British politics, with one of the most notable instances coming in August 2025 when “Operation Raise the Colours” saw activists tying Union Jacks and St. George’s Cross flags to lampposts across England. While the protest was framed as an expression of patriotism, some Labour-run councils disagreed, ordering the flags to be removed over concerns that they were sowing division – a move that drew furious condemnation from Reform UK.

Four suspects are expected to appear in the Welkom Magistrate’s Court in South Africa’s Free State province, following their arrest for attempting to sell an endangered pangolin for R80,000 ($5,000).

The suspects, aged between 47 and 62, face charges of contravening the National Environmental Management Biodiversity Act 10 of 2004 and the Animals Protection Act 71 of 1962.

A pangolin is a solitary, nocturnal mammal easily recognised by the tough, overlapping keratin scales that cover its body.

Pangolins are considered the world’s most heavily trafficked wild mammals. They are poached for their meat and scales, which are highly sought after on the black market for use in traditional medicine, pushing the species toward extinction.

Head of the Hawks in the Free State, Major General Mokgadi Bokaba, commended the officers for the swift arrest of the poachers and ensuring that the endangered species do not face total extinction.

First published by IOL

Western capitals usually dominate geopolitics, but Russia made the Global South an equal partner at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF), a prominent lawmaker from India’s ruling party has said. 

“This is a platform where you have far greater representation of the Global South, far greater participation... and their voice is heard,” Sujeet Kumar, a lawmaker from the upper house of the Indian Parliament, told RT on the sidelines of the forum, in which more than 130 countries attended.

Kumar thanked Russia for giving the Global South the opportunity to take part as an equal partner.

He noted that the Global South has almost no voice in global institutions such as the UN Security Council, IMF, and World Bank – and until India brought in the African Union as a member during its G20 presidency in 2023, Africa had no voice there either.

The UN Security Council with its five permanent members with veto power was created 80 years ago in the immediate aftermath of World War II. Noting that the African continent and India, the world’s largest democracy and most populous nation, is not a permanent member of the council, Kumar called for “alternate platforms” such as BRICS and the G20.

Moscow has supported the expansion of the Security Council to reflect the realities of the multipolar world.

The Indian lawmaker added that America’s behavior has often been hegemonistic in the last 30-40 years, after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

He also stated that India did not buckle to threats and pressure from the US, saying: “We are a self-respecting nation.”

India has resisted pressure from the US and Europe to stop buying oil from Russia and to scale back its ties with Moscow, saying its national interests will dictate its policies.

“The India of today is not a pushover... you can’t dictate terms to India... and the US has learned it the hard way,” Kumar said.

Kumar is the second politician from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s BJP party in recent days to slam the West.

On Wednesday, spokesman Jaiveer Shergill told RT: “The West has a single power dominance hangover,” adding that “The era of global hegemony... is over.”

In January, US troops kidnapped Venezuelan President Nicholas Maduro and the Trump administration took control of the country’s oil sales, with the funds going into US-supervised accounts. 

St. Petersburg has come under a major Ukrainian drone attack, according to the regional authorities, on the closing day of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF).

More than 140 drones were downed in the early hours of Saturday morning, Leningrad Region Governor Aleksandr Drozdenko said on social media. No casualties or major infrastructure damage were immediately reported.

An air alert was declared overnight and residents were warned to stay indoors. Operations at St. Petersburg’s Pulkovo Airport were suspended, with dozens of flights delayed and aircraft diverted to other airports.

The attack comes two days after Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky published an open letter in which he said many Ukrainians would support having drones pay “a visit” to SPIEF.
In the letter, he also called on Russian President Vladimir Putin to meet with him to discuss a settlement of the conflict.

Responding on Friday, Putin said there is no sense in meeting at present, arguing that Zelensky’s actions have made meaningful negotiations impossible. He also criticized the tone of the message, describing it as inappropriate and insolent.

Ukraine has asked Brussels to exclude military-aged Ukrainian men from temporary protection measures, EU Migration Commissioner Magnus Brunner has said, according to Deutsche Welle. Kiev has been seeking to replenish troop numbers amid mounting manpower shortages.

Tens of thousands of Ukrainians have fled abroad to avoid conscription since the conflict with Russia escalated in 2022. As of spring 2026, 4.33 million Ukrainians were living under temporary protection in the EU, including up to 1 million men of fighting age, according to Eurostat data.

The issue was raised as EU member states discussed extending temporary protection for Ukrainians beyond its current March 2027 expiry date. Most member states reportedly support prolonging the scheme until 2028.

The Ukrainian authorities have repeatedly said they want individuals of military age to be returned from abroad. Ukraine announced a general mobilization shortly after the escalation of the conflict in 2022, barring men aged 18 to 60 from leaving the country. Last year, Kiev relaxed the restrictions, allowing men aged 18 to 22 to cross the border.

Around a quarter of Ukrainians living under temporary protection in the EU are men aged 18 to 64, according to statistics.

In recent months, several member states, including Poland, Germany, Denmark, the Czech Republic, and Hungary, have moved to curb social programs for Ukrainian migrants.

Moscow has accused Kiev’s Western backers of waging a proxy war against Russia “to the last Ukrainian.”

Bots and AI agents now generate more web traffic than humans, according to data from internet infrastructure company Cloudflare. CEO Matthew Prince has described the development as a major turning point in the history of the web.

Recent Cloudflare Radar data shows that automated bot requests account for roughly 57% of traffic to ordinary webpages across a selection of websites using the company’s services, compared with about 43% generated by humans.

“Welp, that happened faster than I predicted,” Cloudflare co-founder and CEO Matthew Prince wrote on X on Wednesday. He stated that he had expected automated traffic to overtake human activity only in 2027, but that “agentic traffic” has grown rapidly enough for bots to pass humans “for the first time in the Internet’s history.” 

The shift is primarily being driven by AI agents – automated systems that browse, retrieve, and process web content on behalf of users. While a human might visit a handful of websites before making a purchase or researching a topic, an AI agent can scan thousands of pages in order to produce an answer or complete a task.

The trend has revived debate over the “dead internet theory,” the idea that much of online activity is increasingly generated by bots, automated accounts, and AI systems interacting with other machine-made content.

The rise of bot traffic has also threatened the internet’s advertising-based business model. Since bots do not click on ads, concerns have been raised about whether websites may eventually charge AI agents for access to content.

Meanwhile, researchers have also noted that large parts of the older web have been disappearing. A 2024 Pew Research Center study found that 38% of webpages that existed in 2013 were no longer accessible a decade later, fueling concerns that the open web is being transformed from a space built around human browsing into one increasingly dominated by automated systems.

NASA temporarily moved its astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) into an evacuation spacecraft on Friday after an air leak was detected in one of the modules, while Russian cosmonauts worked to repair it.

According to NASA spokeswoman Bethany Stevens, “out of an abundance of caution,” members of the agency’s Crew-12 mission were instructed to don their spacesuits and take shelter inside a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft – a vessel used for transport missions to and from the ISS – while repairs were carried out.

Russian space corporation Roscosmos said that two potential leak sites had been identified during routine pressure checks inside the transfer chamber of the Zvezda service module, known as PrK, a key component of the station. One was quickly fixed using a special sealant, while preparations began to repair the second site in the conical section of the compartment.

Stevens said that NASA and Roscosmos have long monitored cracks in the Zvezda module and have been working together to determine the cause of recurring pressure losses. She added that Roscosmos decided to undertake an extensive repair operation after the latest leak was detected. Reuters, citing a senior NASA official, reported that the leak rate had doubled from roughly half a kilogram of air per day to nearly a kilogram earlier this week.

The Zvezda service module transfer tunnel, known as PrK, has suffered from cracks and leaks for some time, and has been mitigated by Roscosmos as much as possible to date. The cracks have always been a concern that NASA watches very closely. NASA and Roscosmos have been working…

— Bethany Stevens (@NASASpox) June 5, 2026

Roscosmos stressed that the situation posed no threat to either the crew or the station’s onboard systems, adding that pressure aboard the ISS remained stable and within normal operating parameters.

Launched in 1998, the ISS is operated by five space agencies from Russia, the US, Europe, Japan, and Canada, with day-to-day operations coordinated by NASA and Roscosmos. Seven crew members are currently aboard the station, including Russian cosmonauts Sergey Mikaev, Sergey Kud-Sverchkov, and Andrey Fedyaev; NASA astronauts Chris Williams, Jessica Meir, and Jack Hathaway; and European Space Agency astronaut Sophie Adenot.

Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) has said it targeted American military assets in the region, after the US Department of War carried out strikes against Iranian installations on Qeshm Island and in the coastal county of Sirik.

US forces intercepted “four Iranian one-way attack drones” launched toward the Strait of Hormuz, US Central Command said on X on Friday, claiming the drones posed “an immediate threat to regional maritime traffic.”

“US forces subsequently struck Iranian coastal surveillance radar sites in Goruk and on Qeshm Island to defend against further attacks,” CENTCOM said. It added that US forces remain “postured to respond to unjustified Iranian aggression in self-defense.”

Iran retaliated hours later, targeting “two US air bases in Kuwait and the remaining important facilities in the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet in Bahrain” with ballistic missiles, according to the IRGC. Both countries reported that their air defenses engaged incoming threats, but there were no immediate reports of damage or casualties.

🚨The IRGC simultaneously attacked US Bases in Kuwait and Bahrain in retaliation for US strikes.

IRGC seemingly used multiple Ballistic Missiles (SRBM / MRBM). Possibly Kamikaze Drones (Loitering Munition) were launched as well. https://t.co/PyibP3mynN pic.twitter.com/3wavK0FqdR

— Saikiran Kannan | 赛基兰坎南 (@saikirankannan) June 6, 2026

The incident closely resembled the exchange of fire earlier this week, when the US targeted Qeshm in what CENTCOM described as “self-defense strikes on an Iranian military ground control station.”

Qeshm Island lies in the Strait of Hormuz off Iran’s southern coast, near the entrance to the Persian Gulf. Shipping through the crucial oil and gas maritime artery has effectively been blocked since the US-Israeli attack, with Iran threatening US-linked vessels and the US targeting Iranian-linked shipping.

US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that the ceasefire with Iran remained in effect despite the latest exchanges. “It’s a different part of the world,” Trump told reporters. “I’d say in that part of the world, ceasefire is when you’re shooting in a more moderate manner.”

Google has agreed to pay SpaceX $920 million per month for AI compute capacity through June 2029, according to the space-tech company’s filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

The arrangement is worth almost $30 billion over the full period and covers the rental of “approximately 110,000 NVIDIA GPUs, CPUs, memory, and other related components,” Business Insider reported on Friday.

Google told the outlet that the contract is intended to meet demand for Gemini Enterprise, its agentic AI platform, and described SpaceX as a long-time Google Cloud partner.

SpaceX said in its filing that the contracts allow it to monetize unused compute capacity while keeping the option to reallocate capacity for internal use. The space company, which merged with Elon Musk’s X and xAI in January, generated nearly $4.7 billion in revenue and lost almost $4.3 billion in the first quarter of 2026.

The AI agreements have become a major selling point ahead of the company’s highly anticipated $1.77 trillion public listing next week.

The US military reportedly used Anthropic’s Claude during the operation to kidnap Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro. In Iran, Palantir software which relies heavily on Anthropic’s AI workflows reportedly selected a girls’ elementary school in Minab as a valid target, based on outdated, human-compiled maps.

The US Department of War announced deals with SpaceX, OpenAI, Google, NVIDIA, Reflection, Microsoft, Amazon Web Services, and Oracle on May 1 to deploy their AI systems for “lawful operational use.” The systems are to be integrated into the US Department of War’s classified Impact Level 6 and Impact Level 7 networks to “streamline data synthesis, elevate situational understanding, and augment warfighter decision-making in complex operational environments.”

The German Armed Forces could see their operational capabilities severely limited by a growing repair backlog caused by a critical shortage of spare parts, according to media reports citing internal documents from a key military maintenance provider.

The situation is particularly serious for heavy equipment, the newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung (SZ) and public broadcasters WDR and NDR reported this week, citing data from HIL, the state-owned company responsible for much of the military’s repairs.

Only around half of Germany’s PzH 2000 self-propelled howitzers, Marder infantry fighting vehicles, and Boxer armored personnel carriers were operational as of May, the outlets reported, citing HIL sources. The remaining equipment was reportedly stuck in lengthy maintenance and repair cycles.

A HIL report cited by the media stated that the lack of long-term supply contracts makes obtaining enough spare parts almost impossible. The situation is so serious that some “essential weapon systems” could face permanent “limitations to their operational readiness.”

The report further states that the Defense Ministry constantly prioritizes short-term repair demands that are “primarily aimed at quick, externally observable effects.” The ministry did not comment on the reports.

Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s government is pursuing a major military buildup, citing the supposed Russian threat, which Moscow has dismissed as “nonsense.” Since taking office in May 2025, Merz has stepped up support for Ukraine and vowed to make the German military Europe’s strongest conventional army.

One quarter of the world’s population will be African by mid-century, Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan said on Friday.

Speaking at the plenary session of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) alongside Russian President Vladimir Putin, Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev and Chinese Vice President Han Zheng, Hassan highlighted Africa’s growing demographic and economic weight.

“By 2050, one in four human beings on this planet will be African,” she said in her opening remarks. “Africa will be the only continent still adding workers to the global labor force on a large scale. Africa will host nine of the world’s 20 fastest-growing economies.”

Hassan also pointed to the potential of the African Continental Free Trade Area, saying that once fully implemented it would become the world’s largest market by population. The agreement, signed in 2018, seeks to create a continent-wide free trade zone by easing the movement of goods, services, and investment across all 55 African Union member states.

Africa is destined to grow. 

UN projections show the global population reaching 9.66 billion by 2050, with Africa accounting for roughly 2.5 billion people.

According to UN data, fertility rates across Europe averaged about 1.4 births per woman in 2023, well below the replacement level of 2.1.

The trend has also become a major concern for Russia, where the fertility rate stood at 1.4 in 2024. In response, Moscow has introduced a range of measures aimed at boosting births, including direct payments to mothers, expanded maternity benefits, and additional financial support for families.

Starting Monday, Russia will also launch new tax relief programs for families with two or more children.

A demonstration in the Belgian capital against controversial cuts to education spending has descended into violence. It comes against the backdrop of mounting opposition to the government’s efforts to balance the budget. 

What began as a largely peaceful protest by thousands of students and teachers in central Brussels on Thursday later turned violent, with hooded individuals reportedly setting fires, damaging property and clashing with police. Some social media users posting videos on X claimed the unrest had been fueled by groups of migrant youths who infiltrated the demonstration.  

Protestors were opposed to a package of austerity measures put forward by Belgium’s French Community government, which oversees French-language education. The reforms would raise annual university tuition fees for most students from €835 ($964) to around €1,194 and require some secondary-school teachers to take on additional classroom hours without extra pay. 

Officials say the measures would save €300 million and help address a budget deficit projected to reach €1.9 billion. The roughly 35% increase would bring fees more closely into line with those at Flemish universities, according to the government. 

🇧🇪 Absolute chaos today in Brussels…

Scooters on fire, bus stops wrecked, fireworks being launched at police, thick smoke covering parts of the city center.

It was a student protest. 84-88% of Brussels’ youth are of foreign origin. Go figure.pic.twitter.com/AGdu24iGkd

— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) June 4, 2026

The package has sparked months of opposition from students, teachers, and trade unions, who argue that the changes will make higher education less accessible and place additional pressure on already overstretched staff. 

Despite the protests, the Parliament of the French Community approved the bill on Friday after more than 14 hours of debate, paving the way for the reforms to take effect. French Community government leader Elisabeth Degryse defended the measures as necessary to address the region’s financial challenges. 

Calls for new demonstrations circulated on social media ahead of the vote, while local media reported that police had been deployed to several locations across the Belgian capital.  

The latest unrest follows months of anti-government protests in Brussels against austerity measures, as Belgium tries to rein in public spending while increasing military expenditure in line with NATO commitments. 

The budget squeeze also comes amid an EU-wide energy crisis following the bloc’s reduction of Russian oil and gas imports, which has contributed to higher costs for consumers. Supply chain disruptions linked to the Middle East conflict have further exacerbated the situation.

The European Union’s new migration rules, agreed upon in principle by lawmakers and state representatives, will allow EU countries to transfer rejected asylum seekers to third countries if they cannot be returned to their countries of origin. They also introduce stricter rules for dealing with illegal migrants, especially those considered a security risk.

The media has called it “historic,” “hardline,” and the “strictest-ever migration law” as politicians behind their lecterns spoke of control and the defense of borders. Yet in truth, the EU has once again promised to become tougher while preserving the structures that produced the migration crisis in the first place. New procedures, databases, and regulations have appeared, but the underlying incentives have remained largely intact. The result resembles many political spectacles of recent years: a performance designed to reassure anxious voters while preserving the economic and ideological foundations of the existing system. The gap between rhetoric and reality has become one of the defining characteristics of contemporary Western politics.

The same pattern can be observed across the Atlantic. Donald Trump returned to office promising the strongest immigration enforcement campaign in American history. His supporters anticipated deportation operations on a scale never previously attempted. Yet the reality has proved considerably more modest. Immigration enforcement agencies continue to conduct highly publicized arrests that generate dramatic footage for television and social media. A worker removed from a restaurant kitchen, a raid on a warehouse or construction site – all good for cameras and for political supporters to receive confirmation that action is taking place. Yet the larger economic machinery that attracts millions of migrants continues operating. Businesses that employ illegal labor rarely face penalties severe enough to transform their calculations. The availability of employment remains the primary magnet drawing people across borders. A government genuinely committed to ending illegal immigration would focus relentlessly on employers, labor contractors, and industries dependent on cheap foreign labor. However, such measures would provoke opposition from powerful economic interests. Consequently, symbolic enforcement often proves more attractive than structural reform.

Welfare programs support those who struggle to establish themselves economically. These expenses rarely appear on corporate balance sheets – instead, they get distributed across the broader population through taxation and public expenditure. This contradiction led the French thinker Alain de Benoist to formulate one of the most incisive observations in the entire debate: “One who criticizes capitalism while approving of immigration, of which the working class is its first victim, would do better to remain silent. One who criticizes immigration while remaining silent regarding capitalism should do the same.” The statement captures a reality that many ideological camps prefer to avoid. Immigration and capitalism frequently function as partners within the same economic system, and any serious analysis of one eventually encounters the other.

Back in Western Europe, governments routinely announce crackdowns on illegal immigration while simultaneously preserving the economic and demographic model that depends on continuous inflows of foreign labor. Public discussion frequently centers on boats crossing the Mediterranean or migrants entering through other irregular routes – images that dominate news coverage because they are visually dramatic. Yet illegal immigration represents only one component of a much larger phenomenon. The overwhelming transformation of Western Europe has occurred through legal channels. Work permits, family reunification programs, student visas, humanitarian admissions, labor recruitment schemes, and various residency pathways have altered the demographic composition of entire societies. A politician can reduce small boat arrivals while expanding legal immigration quotas. Statistical reports may then suggest success even as overall migration continues at historic levels.

Italy provides an instructive example. Giorgia Meloni rose to power promising a fundamental break with previous migration policies. Her electoral success depended heavily on public dissatisfaction with mass immigration. Yet her government subsequently approved hundreds of thousands of additional work permits for non-European migrants in response to labor shortages. Nearly half a million new non-EU work visas were authorized over a multi-year period even while the government continued presenting itself as a champion of immigration control. Supporters emphasized efforts against illegal arrivals, while employers welcomed access to additional labor, and the demographic trajectory remained largely unchanged.

In Germany, for instance, the debate often focuses on deportations, especially concerning Syrian refugees. Political leaders have discussed large-scale returns now that Syria’s civil war has ended. Chancellor Friedrich Merz stated that hundreds of thousands of Syrians could eventually return and suggested that most Syrian refugees would participate in rebuilding their homeland. Yet such declarations immediately encounter practical realities. Successful deportation requires cooperation from the receiving country, transportation infrastructure, administrative capacity, diplomatic agreements, legal proceedings, and substantial financial resources.

Likewise with the EU’s new migration agreement, statistics reveal the scale of the challenge. European authorities acknowledge that only a fraction of individuals ordered to leave actually depart. New regulations attempt to improve this rate, but the administrative burden of removing vast populations would dwarf almost any peacetime governmental undertaking in modern European history. Still, many advocates of remigration speak as though a future government could simply issue an order and reverse decades of demographic change.

The deeper issue extends beyond migration policy altogether. Mass immigration functions primarily as a symptom rather than a cause. Civilizations with strong confidence, coherent identities, stable institutions, and clear collective purposes rarely experience sustained demographic transformation against the wishes of their populations. Migration becomes politically decisive when governing elites lose faith in cultural continuity and begin treating populations primarily as economic units. Labor shortages, declining birthrates, fiscal pressures, aging societies, and ideological universalism combine to create a system that continuously demands replacement populations. The immigrant arrives after the transformation has already begun, and serves as visible evidence of deeper processes unfolding beneath the surface.

Modern Europe differs profoundly from ancient Rome, yet it has developed certain key structural similarities. Economic systems require workers and welfare states need contributors, but birthrates remain low across much of the continent. Political elites emphasize economic growth and labor supply, while business organizations lobby for additional workers. Governments, in turn, expand legal migration channels, which then leads to public opposition. To quell that opposition, governments announce new enforcement measures without addressing the root causes of migration. Economic demand repeatedly overwhelms political promises, and systems adapt to maintain flows that leaders publicly criticize, but privately accommodate.

The EU is courting Armenia as part of its broader strategy in the Eastern Hemisphere aimed at weakening Russia, renowned Serbian filmmaker Emir Kusturica told RT on Friday.

Under Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, the South Caucasus nation has launched the process of seeking EU membership. Moscow has warned that closer integration with the bloc would ultimately require Yerevan to scale back its economic ties with Russia, on which Armenia remains heavily dependent.

“You have to understand that all actions that are taken by [the] European Union in the eastern part of the planet [are] always aimed to weaken Russia,” Kusturica said on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.

“The episode with Armenia is alarming because the same man who had lost the Nagorno-Karabakh territory… is the one who is very close to Azerbaijan or to the third party that arranged this military defeat,” Kusturica said.

According to Kusturica, American aid and the influence of NGOs funded by billionaire financier George Soros have also helped shape Yerevan’s current trajectory, which he warned “could be catastrophic” for Armenia.

There are many examples in Europe now in which small nations are just devastating themselves in the name of money and in the name of influence.

Armenia purchases Russian gas at $177.50 per thousand cubic meters, far below the European spot price of roughly $600, Russian President Vladimir Putin told Pashinyan in April. He warned that Yerevan would eventually have to choose between the EU and the EAEU, arguing that membership in both blocs is “impossible.”

The US House of Representatives has passed a bill on imposing new sanctions on Russia and expanding Ukraine aid, with the move being largely driven by Democrats and 18 Republicans breaking party ranks. However, even the bill’s supporters conceded that the legislation was more of a symbolic gesture as it is facing an uphill battle in the Senate and a likely veto from US President Donald Trump.

The so-called Ukraine Support Act, introduced by Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-NY) in April 2025, passed Thursday with 226 votes for and 195 against.

If agreed by Congress, it would authorize over $1 billion in emergency security and reconstruction funding and $8 billion in direct loans to Ukraine, impose mandatory escalating sanctions on Russian financial institutions and energy companies, levy a 500% tariff on Russian imports, and establish a Ukraine Reconstruction Trust Fund.

The bill made its way to a vote after its supporters pulled a rare legislative maneuver called a discharge petition, which allowed them to bypass the Republican leadership – including the speaker and committee chairs – who were opposed to the move.

“If you support this bill, then clearly you are not interested in peace because the consequences would tie the hands of this president and could lead to future hostilities that would bleed over into Europe,” Republican congressman Keith Self said.

Rep. Brian Mast, chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, was equally dismissive, calling it “a cudgel to fight against President Trump” and “an unserious bill that was crafted basically a year-and-a-half ago.”

According to CNN, Speaker Mike Johnson privately urged members to vote against the bill, asking them to give Trump more time and space to negotiate with Russia.

While the bill has cleared the House, its further prospects are dim. Republican congressman Brian Fitzpatrick, one of the legislation’s supporters, admitted that “it’s probably not going to get 60 votes in the Senate, but it’s going to hopefully force the Senate to address the issue.”

Trump has been opposed to providing unconditional support to Ukraine, with most of the US military aid currently being paid for by Kiev’s backers in the West through the PURL mechanism.

Moscow has dismissed all Western sanctions as “illegal,” noting that the US restrictions “are harmful for building ties.” Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has also noted that Moscow has seen no progress toward a Ukraine settlement nearly a year after the Putin-Trump summit in Alaska.

“The Russian leadership accepted [American] proposals [on Ukraine]. And since then, we have not seen any progress, no desire to convince Ukraine to accept these American proposals,” he added.

Five Azerbaijani nationals have been killed and three injured in drone strikes on grain vessels in the Sea of Azov, Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry has said. The attacks were later confirmed to have been carried out by Ukrainian forces.

The Beliz-flagged Natra and Palau-flagged Zirkon were sailing from Türkiye to the Russian port of Rostov-on-Don when they were attacked by Ukrainian drones early Friday, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement. Attacks on the vessels resulted in “deaths and injuries,” including among Azerbaijani nationals, according to the ministry.

Sailors aboard the ships were aided by a Russian vessel sailing nearby and a Russian FSB border guard patrol, the statement said. The incident “once again proves the terrorist nature of the Kiev regime that increasingly targets civilians and civilian infrastructure” in its attacks, the ministry stated.

A video shared on social media purports to show the aftermath of the attack on one of the vessels. It shows the deck covered in debris and the command bridge virtually destroyed in the strike.

Top Ukrainian drone commander Robert Brovdi later confirmed the attacks, claiming on Telegram that unmanned aerial vehicles targeted five vessels in the Sea of Azov overnight Thursday into Friday. He accused the ships of transporting military cargo and fuel and of preparing to “steal” Ukrainian grain.

Kiev has intensified its long-range attacks on Russia since mid-March, launching hundreds of drones on an almost daily basis. Moscow has condemned the strikes, calling them terrorist attacks and accusing Ukraine of indiscriminately targeting civilian infrastructure and populated areas.

Ukrainian raids have caused significant civilian casualties. In a recent incident, 21 people, most of them teenage girls, were killed and dozens more injured when a college dormitory in Starobelsk, Russia was attacked in a multi-wave Ukrainian drone attack on May 22.

Armenia, a small land-locked post-Soviet nation with extensive economic and humanitarian ties with Russia, is voting on its next parliament.

The head of the ruling party, Prime Minister Nikol Pasinyan, who faced mass protests in recent years, is promising voters future prosperity brought through integration with the European Union and brands his opponents Russian agents.

Doesn’t the playbook sound familiar?

Why did Armenia become the focus of the West-Russia fight?

Mostly for geopolitical reasons.

Armenia has a remarkable ancient Christian history, but as of 2026 is smaller than Belgium, has fewer people living in the country (about 3 million) than the Armenian diaspora (the US and Russia have the biggest communities of 1.5 and 2.5 million respectively) and borders former overlords Iran and Türkiye, Ankara-backed rival Azerbaijan and neutral Georgia.

Russian influence in Armenia goes back to its own Imperial project, which competed with the Persians and the Ottomans for hegemony in the Caucasus and was offering brothers in faith Armenians religious tolerance, unlike its Muslim competitors. Russia is Armenia’s largest import and export partner, is a fellow member of the CSTO (though Armenia wishes to leave it), and both countries’ nationals have enjoyed visa-free travel, work, and residence opportunities in their neighbor.

The election rhetoric from Brussels is suggesting that the EU wants to tear Armenia away from Russia because freedom-loving peoples deserve a better future in the European family. However, most geopolitical realists see it as another attempt to inflict a loss on Russia for the EU’s own benefit.

Who is Nikol Pashinyan?

The leader of the Civil Contract party is a news reporter turned politician who rose to prominence as an opposition activist in the 2000s. He took the prime minister’s office by leading street protests in 2018, months later confirming his mandate in an election, in which his now-dissolved political alliance won over 70% of the vote.

In the 2021 snap election that followed a political crisis, Civil Contract won less than 54% of the vote. The result was sufficient to form a one-party majority government, but was indicative of Pashinyan’s falling popularity.

What was the war about?

Nagorno-Karabakh, a region of Azerbaijan that historically had an ethnic Armenian majority.

Ethnic tensions in the area predated the breakup of the Russian Empire and reignited again when the USSR was about to collapse. For over two decades, the self-proclaimed Nagorno-Karabakh Republic existed with unofficial backing from Yerevan, fuelling recurring flare ups as well as direct border clashes between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

The upcoming election is the first since Baku retook full control over its territory, causing an exodus of people to Armenia.

How was Russia involved?

Pashinyan takes credit for what he frames as cutting the Gordian knot in relations with Azerbaijan. But the loss of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic is a highly emotional issue for many Armenians, not unlike how the NATO-enforced breakaway of Kosovo from Serbia is for many Serbs.

Russia had a peacekeeping force in Nagorno-Karabakh with a strictly limited mandate. Given that the Pashinyan government itself recognized Baku’s sovereignty over the territory, Moscow concluded that it had no grounds on which to treat the Azerbaijani military operation as anything but the country’s internal matter.

Is Pashinyan’s rule coming to an end?

By no means. His leadership is being contested by a heavily fractured opposition.

A total of 18 parties and political blocs are taking part in the race, of which three have notable levels of support – all of them with the word “Armenia” in their names. Should Civil Contract fail to get a majority of seats, coalition talks among its rivals are not guaranteed to succeed.

Who are the contenders?

Strong Armenia 

Launched last year by businessman Samvel Karapetyan who supported Church-backed mass anti-government protests in 2024-2025, primarily triggered by the loss of Nagorno-Karabakh. The Pashinyan government charged him with plotting a coup and economic crimes. It also moved to nationalize his energy business. He is currently under house arrest.

Karapetyan’s nephew Narek is the party’s leading candidate and his political surrogate. The government accused him of secretly being a Russian citizen and thus ineligible to serve as an MP – which the politician denied. Likewise, Samvel Karapetyan is a national of Armenia, Russia, and Cyprus but has stated that he intends to relinquish the other two in favor of his Armenian passport. Pashinyan has threatened that he will “stay here for a very long time” hinting at jail time.

The Armenia Alliance 

Founded by former President Robert Kocharyan in 2021, when it scored just over 21% of the vote in the snap election. Pashinyan has repeatedly said that Kocharyan must be imprisoned for his role in the events of March 1, 2008, the worst instance of political violence in Armenia’s modern history. 

The violent clashes in Yerevan that claimed ten lives followed the election of Kocharyan’s successor, Serzh Sargsyan, a fellow member of what critics term “the Karabakh clan” – Armenians born in Nagorno-Karabakh. The opposition, including Pashinyan, rejected the election outcome. Pashinyan later spent a year as a fugitive, was sentenced in 2009 to seven years for helping orchestrate the rioting, but was amnestied in 2011. Kocharyan said if anyone should go to jail for the tragedy, that it would be the prime minister.

Prosperous Armenia 

Launched in 2004 by Gagik Tsarukyan, believed by some to be Armenia’s richest person. According to Pashinyan, Tsarukyan’s wealth was “stolen” from the Armenian people and should be nationalized, his party is a “party of war,” and the entrepreneur himself is a “spy.”

Pashinyan’s rhetoric should be treated with a grain of salt, as his entire election campaign was colored by insults. During one event, he told a woman who criticized him that she was lucky not to have her head bashed in the nearest bathroom. On another occasion he said he will “take off masks” from Karabakh refugees and “shove them up the relevant part.”

🇦🇲 Pashinyan shouts down woman who accused him of destroying Armenian statehood at campaign rally

During yet another pre-election event, the Armenian PM lost his composure at a woman in the crowd who accused him of dismantling Armenian statehood.

She stated that the Armenian… pic.twitter.com/aBKEeBOQpR

— DD Geopolitics (@DD_Geopolitics) May 18, 2026

Does Moscow have a horse in the race?

Definitely not the incumbent prime minister. Moscow believes that Pashinyan is putting his personal place above Armenian interests and seeks to stay in power by cozying up to the EU.

Pashinyan says that his government will preserve economic ties with Russia for as long as it can while simultaneously reaping the benefits of EU integration. Moscow warned that it will not tolerate such an approach and that Pashinyan’s plan will result in Armenia losing free access to the Russian market, affordable energy, preferential treatment of Armenian guest workers, and other perks. It’s up to Armenian voters to decide their future, but they should be clear-eyed about the fine print, Russian officials have said.

The EU is preparing a €50 million ($58 million) support package for Armenia to deal with what European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen described as “economic coercion” by Russia. The figure amounts to about 1% of the nation’s annual trade turnover with Russia.

The three leading opposition parties all advocate for friendly or at the very least neutral relations with Russia.

Who do the polls favor?

Pashinyan’s party is leading. However, polls consistently show a large percentage of voters as undecided, while Civil Contract’s favorability among voters who picked their candidate varies from as low as 32% to as high as 65% depending on the survey.

There are under 2.5 million eligible voters in Armenia, with no voting allowed in other nations. In a recent Gallup survey, 76.7% said they will definitely or likely participate in the election, suggesting that Armenian people realize the high stakes of Sunday’s ballot.

India is considering increasing its use of the Northern Sea Route (NSR) running through the Arctic ocean in the future because of disruptions to seaborne trade in the Hormuz strait, Alexey Chekunkov, the Minister of the Russian Federation for the Development of the Far East and the Arctic, has said.

Speaking to RT on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF 2026) on Friday, Chekunkov said that the operational shipping line between Vladivostok and Chennai, called the Russia-India sea transport corridor, can be extended to link India to European markets via the NSR.

Russia wants the NSR – which runs through the Arctic Ocean off the country’s northern coastline and is the shortest shipping route between East Asia and Europe – to become a major shipping lane, and is investing heavily in its infrastructure.

It would provide India with alternative routes to ship commodities to markets in eastern and northern Europe, saving up to 40% in distance and about two weeks of travel time – compared to traditional routes through the Suez Canal.

The disruption of shipping traffic in the Strait of Hormuz following the conflict in Iran has made this route more appealing for India. 

“The Indian side is very interested in it,” Chekunkov said.“We have dramatic common capabilities, common opportunities to jointly develop ice-level fleet to jointly develop container shipping, which is happening.”

Indian shipyards are building four non-nuclear icebreaker ships to navigate the harsh waters of the Arctic route.

He added that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Indian business community are interested in developing trade ties with the Russian Far East, recognizing its major logistical and economic potential.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has said he sees “no sense” in meeting with Vladimir Zelensky, responding to an open letter from the Ukrainian leader. The “author of the letter” has done everything to make such talks impossible, Putin stated at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF), adding that even his latest call for talks included “elements of insolence.”

On Thursday, Zelensky published what was described as an “open letter” on his website, where he called on the Russian president to negotiate an end to the Ukraine conflict during a personal meeting. In the letter he described the conflict as Putin’s “personal choice” that would allegedly bring “negative consequences” for Russia.

He appeared to issue some thinly veiled threats by saying that most Ukrainians would support Ukrainian drones paying “a visit” to the SPIEF. He also claimed that the Russian president “will have to fight much harder for [his] existence” while repeatedly vowing to make Ukraine “work” to bring the Russian government closer to its alleged demise while hinting that Putin’s “age is beginning to take its toll” after decades in power.

The Russian president responded by saying that age is just a number and that it is a person’s competency and performance that really matter. Putin, 73, also said that world leaders who are older than him “demonstrate sufficient energy” while in office.

Russia has repeatedly argued that Zelensky is an “illegitimate” leader since his five-year presidential term expired in May 2024. Zelensky postponed holding a new vote under various pretexts. In February, he claimed that Ukraine’s Western backers could be pressuring him to hold a vote only to oust him.

Moscow has consistently said that it remains open to negotiations but insists that any lasting settlement must address the root causes of the conflict, including Ukrainian neutrality and recognition of the Donbass republics as part of Russia.

Zelensky reiterated Kiev’s demands in his letter by calling for a “ceasefire” before the start of any peace talks and rejecting the idea of ceding territory to Russia.

The Kremlin has repeatedly stated that Zelensky could always come to Moscow if he wants to talk to Putin – an offer the Ukrainian leader explicitly rejected in his letter.

DNA testing has confirmed that a body found in southwestern France is that of Lyhanna, an 11-year-old girl who disappeared last week, prosecutors said. The case sparked a nationwide search and a growing political row over failures in the justice system.

The confirmation came a day after search teams discovered the body in an abandoned grain silo near Fleurance in the Gers region, where Lyhanna was last seen on May 29.
Police were led to the site by a tip that the suspect in custody previously worked there, Gers region prosecutor Olivier Naboulet said in a statement on Friday, as cited by AP. More autopsy work is needed to determine the cause of death, he added.

The suspect, Jerome B., 41, whose daughter went to the same school as Lyhanna, was arrested.

He acknowledged that he gave the girl a ride but claimed he dropped her off near a local swimming pool – a version of events prosecutors described as inconsistent.

Prosecutor Clemence Meyer said one case involving a teenager was dropped in 2018 after the girl said the relationship was consensual. Another complaint alleging the rape of a child under 15 was dismissed in 2024 due to lack of evidence. A separate complaint filed in August 2025 alleged the rape of a young girl in 2024-2025.

President Emmanuel Macron said on Friday that he was shocked, acknowledging “a dysfunction” in the system. He said he asked the government to investigate what went wrong.

Justice Minister Gerald Darmanin is expected to convene all public prosecutors in Paris on Monday to review the handling of these cases.

Anne-Cecile Mailfert of the Women’s Foundation said the case exposes deep failures in France’s response to sexual violence.

“The system doesn’t work,” she said, calling for comprehensive reform.

Russia’s labor market remains strong, with unemployment holding at a historic low and workforce participation reaching a record high, Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova said during a session at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF).

Speaking on Friday at a panel titled ‘Labour Market 2.0: AI, Skills Transformation and New Professions’, Golikova said the share of Russians working had climbed to a record 61.5%, while the unemployment rate remains at just 2.2%.

The deputy PM warned, however, of significant structural challenges facing the sector despite the strong headline figures.

Golikova also noted that Russia ranks only 37th globally in labor productivity despite being among the world leaders in training skilled vocational workers. She added that the adoption of generative artificial intelligence (AI) and robotic systems could raise labor productivity by 21% by 2032.

“AI is, first and foremost, a tool for increasing productivity. That is why developing a workforce with the necessary competencies is becoming a key priority, particularly for our higher education system,” she said.

Golikova said AI is reshaping the tasks people perform rather than eliminating entire professions. She added that labor demand could fall by around 10% if roughly 30% of the technology’s potential is realized. The shift could have the greatest impact on the retail, logistics, and warehousing sectors, the deputy PM said.

The 29th annual SPIEF, often referred to as the ‘Russian Davos’, is taking place from June 3 to 6, welcoming around 20,000 businesspeople, politicians, and public figures from more than 100 nations.

Сlashes erupted in Somalia’s capital Mogadishu for a second consecutive day on Thursday, as security forces and opposition supporters exchanged fire ahead of a planned anti-government rally.  

Residents reported heavy gunfire, explosions, and civilians fleeing affected neighborhoods, while no official casualty figures were immediately released. 

Former Somali Prime Minister Hassan Ali Khaire accused government forces of attacking opposition representatives in Mogadishu on Wednesday. In a post on X, Khaire claimed President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud had ordered security forces to target opposition gatherings. 

“We are under attack. For the second time in less than 24 hours, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud has directed armed forces against our peaceful gatherings,” Khaire wrote.  

“The incidents were not the organization of peaceful public demonstrations, but rather coordinated armed acts that directly threatened the security, order and stability of the capital,” AP reported the police as saying. 

Fighting eased later on Thursday after mediation efforts involving Somalia’s intelligence chief and Khaire reportedly produced an agreement to halt hostilities.  

The rally was intended to protest what opposition leaders describe as constitutional violations and President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud’s alleged efforts to extend his grip on power. Tensions escalated after Mohamud announced in May that he would remain in office until May 2027, a move that critics say undermines Somalia’s political process. 

The Pentagon is set to cancel a Biden-era agreement to deploy Tomahawk cruise missiles to Germany due to fears that it would provoke a Russian retaliation and concerns over depleted weapons stockpiles, Politico reported on Thursday, citing sources.

According to two European officials and one US official interviewed by the outlet, the US believes that Russia would view plans to send the missiles, with a range of up to 1,600 km, as an escalation. Politico added that the cancellation could be interpreted as part of a broader trend of the US withdrawing from NATO defense commitments.

Another reason cited by the outlet is dwindling supplies of Tomahawk and other high-tech missiles, which were used up by the hundreds during the Iran war. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth told Congress last month that it will take “months and years” to replace them.

At the time, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov called the planned deployment “just a link in the chain of escalation” and “an intimidation tactic, which is pretty much the bedrock of the policy that NATO and the US pursue towards Russia these days.” He also warned that Moscow would respond accordingly, while not ruling out deploying nuclear missiles to Russia’s westernmost exclave of Kaliningrad.

The decision to shelve the Tomahawk deployment plans was confirmed in early May by Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who said at the time that “the Americans themselves don’t currently have enough.” He also insisted that it was not linked to his feud with Trump over the Iran war.

Merz called the US-Israeli strikes on Iran “completely unnecessary” and said the US was being “humiliated” by Tehran’s negotiating tactics. Trump fired back, saying the chancellor “doesn’t know what he’s talking about.” Following the war of words, the Pentagon announced plans to withdraw around 5,000 troops stationed in Germany within several months.

Thousands of Albanians took to the streets of the capital, Tirana on Thursday for the fourth consecutive day of protests against a controversial luxury resort project linked to Jared Kushner, the son-in-law of US President Donald Trump.

The €1.4 billion ($1.6 billion) development is being spearheaded by Kushner’s investment firm, Affinity Partners, and includes projects on Sazan Island and an undeveloped stretch of coastline near the Vjosa-Narta protected area in the south of the country. The wetland is home to flamingos, seals, and sea turtle nesting sites.

The Albanian government has defended the investment as a way to attract high-end tourism, support the economy, and achieve its long-standing goal of joining the EU. Environmental groups warn that the project threatens the fragile ecosystem and exposes broader governance issues.

Speaking to RT, political analyst Nikola Vujinovic said the controversy goes beyond environmental concerns and reflects wider political tensions in Albania. He argued that the project has become tangled up in debates over Prime Minister Edi Rama’s ties to Washington and support for the Trump administration.

Here is the full report.

Algeria, Nigeria, and Niger have launched a new phase of construction aimed at completing the Algerian section of Trans-Saharan Gas Pipeline (TSGP), a major energy project designed to carry Nigerian gas to international markets through North Africa, APS reported on Thursday. 

The ceremony took place in Algeria’s Adrar region and was attended by senior officials from the three countries. The event came a day after the project’s steering committee approved the final feasibility study and endorsed its recommendations, clearing the way for the next stage of implementation. 

First proposed more than 15 years ago, the 4,000-kilometer pipeline is designed to transport between 20 and 30 billion cubic meters of natural gas annually from Nigeria through Niger to Algeria, where it would be linked to existing infrastructure for delivery. The project has been stalled primarily by security concerns across the Sahel region, compounded by financing challenges and shifting regional politics. 

“This project means a lot to the three countries in terms of industrialisation and job creation,” Ekperikpe Ekpo, Nigerian minister of state for petroleum resources, said as quoted by The Sun.  

The move comes after Algeria and Niger agreed in February to restart work on the long-delayed project following talks in Algiers between Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune and Niger’s military leader Gen. Abdourahamane Tchiani. Tebboune said at the time that construction would resume after Ramadan, with Algeria’s state energy company Sonatrach leading implementation. 

Russia and Ukraine have conducted a prisoner of war exchange involving nearly 200 servicemen from each side, the Defense Ministry in Moscow has announced.

In a statement on Friday, the ministry said, “185 Russian servicemen were returned from territory controlled by the Kiev regime. In exchange, 185 Ukrainian Armed Forces prisoners of war were transferred.”

The swap was carried out with humanitarian mediation from the United Arab Emirates, according to the Defense Ministry.

The Russian servicemen are currently in Belarus, where they are receiving psychological and medical assistance. Russian Human Rights Commissioner Yana Lantratova is working with them, the ministry added.

After receiving the necessary care, the servicemen will be transported to Russia for further treatment and rehabilitation in medical facilities operated by the Defense Ministry.

The latest exchange follows a series of prisoner swaps between Moscow and Kiev in recent months. On May 15, the two sides returned 205 POWs each, also with UAE mediation.

In April, Russia and Ukraine carried out exchanges involving 193 and 175 servicemen on each side. In March, they conducted swaps under the formulas ‘200 for 200’ and ‘300 for 300’, with the US and UAE involved in mediation.

Western sanctions must be “ignored,” the first deputy governor of the Bank of Russia, Vladimir Chistyukhin, said at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum on Friday. He added that Russia should deepen its financial sovereignty and build payment infrastructure less exposed to external pressure.

Speaking at the forum’s “Reassembling the Global Financial System” session, Chistyukhin joined government officials, economists, and bankers in discussing alternatives to the Western-dominated financial system.

Russia has been promoting its own payment infrastructure since many of the country’s financial institutions were cut off from SWIFT following the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022. Alongside its SPFS financial messaging network, Moscow has expanded the Mir payment system and developed digital-ruble and cryptocurrency initiatives for cross-border transactions.

“At some stage, these sanctions must be ignored and not recognized,” he said, adding that 88% of Russia’s settlements with partners from friendly countries were now conducted outside currencies of ‘unfriendly’ states, while 12% still used them. 

Olga Goncharova of the Association of Russian Banks said the reset has already begun, as regulators move digital currencies and cryptocurrencies into legal frameworks. Digital currencies have become a major workaround for Russian and non-Russian banks seeking to maintain trade flows despite Western efforts to isolate Moscow. Goncharova pointed to experimental cross-border use and an offshore ruble stablecoin as part of a shift toward national-currency settlements.

Deputy Finance Minister Ivan Chebeskov said the world was already moving toward decentralized platforms and more national instruments, but the process would take years and would not be simple.

Imposing additional sanctions on Russia will not help resolve the Ukraine conflict, American Chamber of Commerce in Russia (AmCham Russia) President and CEO Robert Agee has said.

Speaking on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum 2026 (SPIEF 2026) on Thursday, he argued that sanctions have failed to produce results in the four years since the conflict escalated in February 2022, suggesting further sanctions would be equally ineffective.

The remarks came after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio signaled that Washington could impose new sanctions on Russia and scrap waivers on its oil that were extended last month amid supply disruptions linked to tensions in the Middle East.

At a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing earlier this week, Rubio was pressed on why the Trump administration granted the waivers and has yet to back the Graham-Blumenthal bill. Championed by Russia hawk Lindsey Graham, the legislation would allow President Donald Trump to impose tariffs of up to 500% on imports from countries that buy Russian oil, gas, or uranium. Rubio insisted that the waivers are “time limited,” adding that the sanctions on Russia will remain in place and that the White House is working closely with Graham’s office on new sanctions.

“I don’t think sanctions are effective if the objective of the administration is to create a peaceful outcome to the current conflict,” he told reporters. “It hasn’t worked for four years, it is not going to work in five years… Throwing more sanctions at the situation is not going to help.”

Agee argued that efforts should instead focus on rebuilding relations through dialogue and practical cooperation rather than “piling more sanctions on top of sanctions.” He also revealed that a number of US-Russia business and investment projects are being discussed, with strong interest from companies on both sides. However, he stressed that major economic cooperation depends on both a peaceful settlement of the Ukraine conflict and the easing of sanctions.

The US, Russia, and Ukraine have held three rounds of trilateral peace talks this year without a breakthrough. A fourth round scheduled for March was postponed after the US shifted its focus to the Iran war. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov recently said the negotiations are in a “situational pause” until US diplomats can refocus on Ukraine.

Speaking to the heads of international news agencies at SPIEF on Thursday, President Vladimir Putin said Russia is committed to a peaceful settlement, provided it is based on compromises reached with Trump in Alaska last year. He argued that the main obstacle is persuading Kiev to accept the terms, including withdrawing from the Donbass regions – which voted to join Russia in 2022 – not joining NATO, and agreeing to demilitarization and denazification.

Venezuela is seeking India’s participation in its oil sector, as it looks for reliable markets for its oil and foreign investment to rebuild its energy industry.

The offer comes as India, the world’s largest oil importer, is diversifying its energy sources following disruptions in the Middle East caused by the US-Israeli war against Iran.

Venezuela’s acting president, Delcy Rodriguez, who is on a visit to New Delhi, told Indian Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Hardeep Singh Puri that she welcomes the participation of Indian companies in the country’s oil and gas sector.

She highlighted the complementarities that exist between India and Venezuela in the energy sector and invited an Indian delegation to visit the country to explore opportunities for enhanced cooperation, the Indian Petroleum and Natural Gas Ministry said in a press release.

Before 2019, India was a major buyer of the heavy, sulfur-rich Venezuelan crude oil until US sanctions restricted trade. Indian refineries are equipped to process heavy grade Venezuelan crude, making the country an ideal buyer.

Indian refiners resumed imports in February when Washington eased the sanctions.

Puri told Rodriguez that Indian companies are ready to deepen their presence in Venezuela and expand energy trade. Venezuela, which has the world’s largest proven oil reserves, emerged as one of India’s top suppliers in April and May, Puri said.

Venezuela Urges Indian Firms To Participate In Its 'Reformed' Oil & Gas Sector - Ministry Of Petroleum pic.twitter.com/XjDwzBaw35

— RT_India (@RT_India_news) June 5, 2026

Indian public sector oil majors have had a presence in the South American country’s upstream oil sector since 2008, with a total investment of around $1 billion in the San Cristobal and Petrocarabobo-1 projects in Venezuela’s Orinoco Belt.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has taken part in a plenary session at this year’s St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, where he revealed that Kiev requested talks through a Russian businessman, only to kill dozens of Russian teenage girls the following day.

During a 45-minute speech and a two-hour questions and answers panel, Putin discussed economic policy, the conflict in Ukraine, and Russia’s deepening relations with China, India, and their BRICS partners.

Here’s what you need to know.

Zelensky’s letter

During the Q&A session, Putin publicly responded to a recent letter from Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky, in which Zelensky insulted Putin, threatened Russia with more drone strikes, and then invited Putin to so-called peace talks.

Russia is always ready for serious negotiations, he declared, adding that he would not meet Zelensky “just for the sake of meeting.” Putin noted that the last time Russia entered negotiations with Ukraine and its European backers in good faith, the resulting Minsk agreements “were about one thing: that is saving more time for the rearmament of Ukraine. Why would we need anything like this once again?”

Secret talks in Kiev

Putin revealed for the first time that an unnammed businessman called him last month and said that he had been invited to Kiev to meet with Zelensky's officials. Kiev used the meeting as a backchannel to request a sit-down with Putin, but Ukrainian forces struck a college dormitory in Lugansk with multiple waves of kamikaze drones a day later, killing 21 people, mainly teenage girls. 

”I asked him, what does it mean? They are asking for a meeting, and they carry out such atrocious, blatant attacks as the killing of children,” Putin recalled his conversation with the businessman after the attack. “They said ‘I've got no explanation’.”

Referring back to the letter, Putin determined that instead of trying “to create an environment for a personal meeting,” Zelensky’s letter was meant “to make sure that no personal meetings can take place at all.”

Russian sovereignty

Throughout his speech and his comments afterwards, Putin repeatedly referred to the concept of sovereignty. Cut off from Western financial and trade institutions, Russia was forced to adapt, on the battlefield and in the economic arena.

”Sovereignty implies being smarter and being stronger,” and not just “the capability to oppose external pressure,” Putin said. “This is about the quality of the government, the economy, and society.”

Putin also reminded Ukraine that sovereignty is essential for military victory. “You have to have your own industrial base for a defense industry. You have to have your own scientific base and your own resource base,” he said. “Russia has all of that. So the sooner those who are fighting us understand that, the better it's going to be for them.”

China and India are ‘strategic partners’

Sovereignty also involves partnerships with like-minded friends, Putin pointed out. Whereas trade between Eurasian nations like Russia and China was once based on “the settlements, logistics, insurance, [and] arbitration” mechanisms governed from “a handful of Western infrastructure hubs,” Moscow and its BRICS partners are building alternative mechanisms.

“Russia has learned its lesson,” he said. “We saw that certain suppliers of software left the market. We saw payments blocked. We saw how politics interferes within commercial relations.”

The balance of power is shifting toward the BRICS group, Putin noted, pointing out that BRICS nations account for 49% of global growth over the last five years, while “the contribution of the so-called Group of Seven (G7) is estimated at 18%.”

Several crew and staff members received injuries when the front landing gear of a Boeing 787 unexpectedly collapsed while the aircraft was parked at a gate at Frankfurt Airport, aviation news outlets report, citing the aircraft’s operator, Lufthansa.

The incident on Thursday, which occurred before passengers boarded the LA-bound aircraft, adds to mounting concerns over Boeing’s safety and quality-control standards, following a series of similar cases in recent years.

Dramatic footage apparently captured by the airport’s CCTV cameras and shared on social media shows the nose of the plane suddenly dropping onto the tarmac while parked at the gate. The video appears to show a panel coming loose as the plane settles onto the ground.

“Passengers had not yet boarded, crew members and ground staff were on board the aircraft at the time of the incident,” Lufthansa said in a statement, as cited by Breaking Aviation News & Videos.

The company said the circumstances surrounding the incident are being investigated in cooperation with the authorities.

The aircraft involved in the incident is a relatively new Boeing 787 which was built last year and entered service with Lufthansa in February, according to data from Flightradar24.

A nearly five-month-old Lufthansa Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner at Frankfurt, preparing for a flight to Los Angeles, experienced a nose landing gear collapse at the gate. pic.twitter.com/72b6J4HyIr

— Aviation (@xAviation) June 4, 2026

Boeing has come under increasing pressure over its manufacturing practices, with former employees alleging systemic production shortcuts, overlooked defects, and weak quality control across its aircraft programs.

The incident in Frankfurt follows several high-profile events involving Boeing 787 Dreamliners in recent years. In March 2024, at least 50 people were injured when a Latam Airlines Boeing 787 flying from Australia to New Zealand suddenly nosedived. Last June, an Air India Boeing 787-8 crashed in Ahmedabad, India, killing 241 of the 242 people on board and at least 19 people on the ground in the first fatal Dreamliner accident since the aircraft entered service in 2011.

NEW: Front landing gear of a Lufthansa Boeing 787-9 collapses while parked at the gate at Frankfurt Airport.

No statement has currently been made regarding the cause or whether there were any injuries. pic.twitter.com/TgK4bTxQjj

— Breaking Aviation News & Videos (@aviationbrk) June 4, 2026

Boeing has also faced scrutiny over other aircraft types. In January 2024, a door plug blew out of an Alaska Airlines 737 MAX 9 shortly after takeoff from Portland, Oregon, forcing an emergency landing. The company is still grappling with the fallout from two fatal 737 MAX crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia in 2018 and 2019 that killed 346 people and grounded the model worldwide for nearly two years.

A Ukrainian maritime drone exploded in the Romanian port of Constanta on Friday morning, and three more detonated offshore, prompting a major emergency response and an evacuation of the area.

The unmanned boat, filled with explosives, was discovered stuck in an anti-pollution barrier several hundred meters from the oil terminal area, close to the headquarters of the Romanian Agency for Saving Human Life at Sea.

The vessel detonated at around 10:28am, causing no casualties, as the area had already been secured and the drone was being assessed by Romanian authorities.

Around 30 minutes after the initial blast, three more drones exploded – one near the Port of Constanta and two more offshore, the government confirmed in a statement.

Romania’s Defense Ministry immediately stated that the drones did not belong to the Romanian military and had not been involved in recent exercises in the Black Sea, describing them as being “of the type used in the war in Ukraine.”

Kiev has since confirmed that the drones belonged to the Ukrainian navy, claiming that it had “lost control” of the devices and that they accidentally drifted toward the Romanian port.

The first vessel resembled a Ukrainian MAGURA V5 maritime drone used by Kiev’s military intelligence, which can carry hundreds of kilograms of explosives, travel long distances, and often operate in swarms, Commander Sandu Mateiu told local news outlet Digi24.

A naval drone found in Romania's Constanta port detonated near the Maritime Rescue Agency headquarters, no casualties. Romania's Defense Ministry says the drone is not Romanian. pic.twitter.com/z26MsW8rUg

— WarTranslated (@wartranslated) June 5, 2026

Authorities in Constanta initially issued a Code Red warning due to the danger of further explosions along the coast, ordering people to evacuate and keep at least one kilometer away from the shoreline. The measure has since been lifted, but citizens have been urged to remain vigilant and alert authorities if they discover any suspicious objects.

The Russian Embassy in Romania stressed that the drones in question are “Ukrainian unmanned maritime vehicles, used by the Kiev regime to commit terrorist acts against civilian ships and to create threats to the safety of navigation in the Black Sea.”

The diplomatic mission emphasized that “any attempts to directly or indirectly associate these drones with Russia and to attribute responsibility for the incident are without any basis.”

Nevertheless, Romanian President Nicusor Dan has blamed the incident on Moscow, stating that it was a “direct consequence” of Russia’s military operation against Ukraine.

Moscow has accused Western states of consistently ignoring or downplaying the incidents, particularly after confirmation that a Ukrainian aircraft was responsible, or of trying to pin the blame on Russia.

Russian officials have also repeatedly raised concerns that Kiev could be intentionally staging drone provocations outside its borders in an effort to trigger a direct confrontation between NATO and Moscow.

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has accused Elon Musk of interfering in British politics and “whipping up division” over the murder of 18-year-old university student Henry Nowak. The X owner has made several posts about the case, which has triggered public outrage and protests in Britain, as well as a public apology from the prime minister.

Nowak was fatally stabbed five times with a large blade in December by Vickrum Singh Digwa, a 23-year-old Sikh man, who falsely claimed to police that he had been the victim of a racist attack.

Digwa was convicted of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment, with a minimum term of 21 years. 

The footage has sparked public outrage and a political firestorm in Britain, with Musk among those accusing police of treating the teenager differently because of his ethnicity.

Send the video to everyone you know showing how heinously Nowak was treated by the police in his dying moments and how the police cravenly kowtowed to his murderer.

Legacy mainstream media, same ones who wrote about George Floyd millions of times, are dead silent about Nowak.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 2, 2026

“Send the video to everyone you know showing how heinously Nowak was treated by the police in his dying moments and how the police cravenly kowtowed to his murderer,” Musk wrote on X on Tuesday. 

After meeting Nowak’s family at Downing Street on Thursday, Starmer said Musk was “again… interfering in our politics in the last few days, trying to whip up division. That is not who we are in Britain.” 

The billionaire has posted repeatedly about the case, suggesting police were biased against white people and amplifying criticism of how officers handled the incident.

Earlier this week, Reform UK leader Nigel Farage said the case showed Britain was living in a “two-tier culture,” where “a false accusation of racism counted higher at that moment than someone that was dying.”

Musk has repeatedly targeted Starmer, including in January 2025 when he accused the UK prime minister of failing, as chief public prosecutor from 2008 to 2013, to prosecute grooming gangs largely made up of South Asian men who sexually abused girls.

Africa is seeking investment and equal partnerships, Tanzania’s minister for Planning and Investment in the President’s Office, Kitila Mkumbo, has said.

Speaking at the Russia-Africa Business Dialogue at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) 2026 on Thursday, Mkumbo argued that the continent has much to contribute to the global economy and can be a full-fledged partner.

“We are tired of constant sanctions and repeated aid cuts, but we are not interested in aid alone. We want to build partnerships, we want investment,” he said.

Mkumbo stressed that African countries are undergoing a transformation that could make them some of the world’s fastest-growing economies in the coming years. He also called for deeper economic cooperation with Russia, saying Moscow has an important role to play in Africa’s development. 

A recurring theme throughout the discussion was Africa’s drive for greater sovereignty across key sectors, including food security, logistics, finance, and digital infrastructure.

PhosAgro CEO Alexander Gilgenberg pointed to a challenge facing African agriculture: Soil nutrient deficiencies. He said many African soils lack boron and zinc, adding that the company offers fertilizer solutions tailored to these needs. 

Gilgenberg stressed the importance of improving farmers’ knowledge of fertilizer use, noting that PhosAgro has been working with the UN Food and Agriculture Organization to provide training and education programs for farmers across the continent.

Addressing the continent’s energy needs, Nikita Gusakov, the senior vice president of the Russian Export Center, said Moscow is ready to support African countries through both major power infrastructure projects and smaller-scale generation solutions.

“Overcoming the energy deficit is a fundamental condition for industrialization and improving quality of life. Russia is ready to help meet this need,” Gusakov said.

The 29th St. Petersburg International Economic Forum is being held June 3-6.

The EU is fully aware that Ukrainian accession would be disastrous for the bloc, and would sooner see the country join NATO, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has told RT.

The US-led military bloc controversially declared its intention to admit Ukraine in 2008, setting in motion a political spiral that sparked a coup – after which Kiev declared NATO membership an official policy – a civil war, and eventually the conflict with Russia.

The heads of NATO states have promised membership to Kiev on a number of occasions, with the caveat that the conflict with Russia must be concluded first, but nothing has been delivered, much to Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky’s embarrassment.

Speaking on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum on Thursday, Lavrov said Western countries regard Ukraine as a proxy to be used against Russia – not as a genuine partner

”The reason Europe wants Ukraine in NATO is because they’d rather do that than make the fatal mistake of letting it into the EU, because then the EU would just fall apart,” he said. “They know it perfectly well. But NATO is fine in their eyes.”

The continued support for Kiev shows that EU officials “want to preserve the current Nazi regime indefinitely without requiring it to comply with the UN Charter, with numerous international conventions, or even with its own constitution,” Lavrov argued.

He also pointed to remarks by NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte, who repeated that Ukraine will eventually become a member during his latest trip to Kiev. Rutte apparently “couldn’t care less” that US President Donald Trump has stated that Ukraine will not join NATO, the foreign minister said.

Watch the interview.

America’s position on the Ukraine conflict has become almost indistinguishable from that of the EU, making US President Donald Trump’s stated ambition to mediate an end to the fighting hollow, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has told RT.

Trump repeatedly blamed the conflict between Russia and Ukraine on his predecessor, Joe Biden, and claimed that he could bring it to a swift conclusion while campaigning in 2024.

However, recent statements by members of his administration suggest a different course, Lavrov said on Thursday in an interview on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.

“Biden’s war has become Trump’s war,” the Russian foreign minister said.

Speaking to Congress this week, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said efforts to facilitate Russia-Ukraine talks were complicated “because, frankly, we’re not an impartial mediator.” He cited the continuation of the sanctions on Russia and sales of US weapons to Ukraine.

“After we agreed to the United States proposal in Anchorage [in August 2025], Washington began to shift its position. Instead of advancing those same proposals in its dealings with Ukrainians, it is now pretending that the parties should sort things out themselves. This is not a very consistent position,” Lavrov said.

“It is the West that cannot be trusted to keep its agreements. Its approach is: ‘I’ll promise something now, then stall for time.’ If the US had truly advanced its own initiative, I think… the fighting would already have stopped.”

Watch the entire interview.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has said US attempts to exert pressure on India over its ties with Moscow are “futile.”

“The US is trying to pressure India on certain issues, particularly on certain issues of cooperation with Russia,” Putin said. “Pressuring Prime Minister [Narendra] Modi, who leads a country with a population of 1.5 billion, is futile.” 

The Russian president made the remarks on Thursday during a Q&A session with the heads of leading global news agencies, including Indian outlet PTI, at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.

Putin stated that coercion harms international and bilateral relations, “no matter from which side this pressure comes.” He added, however, that there are no serious adverse effects on India-Russia relations.

“To date, we have not observed any serious adverse effects. Russia and India continue to strengthen their partnership, and we regard India as a reliable partner.”

ICYMI: Putin Says 'The West Is Trying To Put Pressure On India - For Example When It Comes To Cooperation With Russia'

"Everyone understands that putting pressure on PM Modi is detrimental to international and bilateral relations...India is a very reliable partner," he added. pic.twitter.com/OAfmqOP8O2

— RT_India (@RT_India_news) June 5, 2026

Putin also lauded the Indian prime minister, saying, “India is currently demonstrating the highest economic growth rates among the world’s major economies. This doesn’t fall out of the sky; it is the result of consistent and purposeful efforts, above all by the government led by... Modi.”

New Delhi’s ties with Washington do not impact Russia’s relations with India, he said, praising the country’s independent foreign policy. “We are glad that India is developing relations with all countries. India is a major global power with a population of 1.5 billion people, a rapidly growing economy, and one of the world’s largest democracies. It is entirely natural for India to develop relations with a wide range of countries in accordance with its national interests.”

The EU is preparing a €50 million ($58 million) support package for Armenia as Brussels moves to shore up Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan days before a critical parliamentary election, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has said. The figure, however, accounts for roughly 1% of Armenia’s annual trade turnover with Russia, which remains Yerevan’s key economic partner.

Von der Leyen made the announcement on Thursday following a call with Pashinyan, saying the package is also meant to ease trade for Armenian agricultural products hit by recent Russian restrictions. She accused Russia of “weaponizing economic relations for political pressure” and of “economic coercion.”

The EU chief said a shipment of 10,000 Armenian flowers was due to arrive in Latvia, with further deliveries to follow.

The EU’s €50 million pledge, however, is dwarfed by Armenia’s reliance on trade with Russia. Trade turnover between the two countries stood at roughly $6-8 billion in 2025, with Armenian goods exports to Moscow alone reaching approximately $2.9 billion.

Moscow also supplies Yerevan with natural gas at preferential terms, with Russian President Vladimir Putin noting that Armenia receives gas at $177.50 per thousand cubic meters, compared to a European spot price of around $600.

In addition, Armenia’s trade turnover with the whole EU sits at approximately €2.5 billion, accounting for roughly 11% of the country’s total international trade.

Putin has said Armenia has a sovereign right to choose its own direction, but warned Yerevan that it cannot simultaneously benefit from membership in the EU and the Eurasian Economic Union.

Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan has said Yerevan is “not interested in cutting political, economic, or any other ties with Russia,” and would “strive to maintain normal relations and deepen them.”

Pakistan signed a landmark defense deal with China last month to acquire 40 Shenyang J-35 fifth-generation stealth fighter jets (export variant J-35AE) to modernize the Pakistan Air Force (PAF). The agreement positions Pakistan as the first international operator of the advanced Chinese stealth aircraft. Pakistan is scheduled to receive its first batch of J-35s by late-2026, making it the first air force in South Asia to operate fifth-generation combat aircraft.

In April, Pakistan launched the first of eight Chinese-built Hangor-class submarines, expanding its undersea fleet in deepening cooperation with Beijing. The Hangor-class submarines are advanced, diesel-electric attack submarines being manufactured by China for the Pakistan Navy. They feature Air-Independent Propulsion (AIP) and are equipped with modern sensors and heavyweight torpedoes.

Pakistan-China Strategic Partnership

Islamabad and Beijing maintain a deeply integrated “all-weather strategic cooperative partnership,” with China serving as Pakistan’s primary defense supplier. According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), China accounted for approximately 81% of Pakistan’s arms imports in 2020-2024. Imports included jets, submarines, and drones. This “threshold alliance” features extensive technology transfers, joint production (Pakistan Aeronautical Complex and China’s Chengdu Aircraft Corporation are co-developing the fourth-generation, lightweight multirole combat aircraft JF-17), and deep interoperability to counter regional security challenges. 

The militaries conduct regular, high-level joint exercises across air, land, and sea, focusing on increasing operational interoperability. The cooperation is driven by a shared strategic goal of maintaining a regional balance of power against India. 

China is aiding the expansion of Pakistan’s naval power in the Arabian Sea, enhancing maritime surveillance and operational capabilities. During the 2025 India-Pakistan standoff, Islamabad deployed Chinese-origin aircraft, demonstrating the operational maturity of the systems. China also provided intelligence and satellite communication support, as well as live radar networking. Chinese aerospace engineers and state technicians provided on-site support to optimize Pakistani assets during the conflict. 

The recent commissioning of advanced Chinese-built submarines for the Pakistan Navy will be followed with local construction via technology transfer. The relationship is increasingly characterized as “brothers in arms,” focused on defending collective interests, including the security of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).

Clearly Pakistan is beginning to pull ahead in some areas with Chinese support, thus creating an environment for a sub-continental arms race. 

Conventional Submarines and Advanced Jets 

Pakistan’s most significant naval acquisition from China is a $5 billion contract for eight Hangor-class (AIP) conventional submarines. The first four submarines will be constructed by China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation in Wuhan, and next four at the Karachi Shipyard under a technology transfer agreement, greatly boosting Pakistan’s maritime strike capabilities.

This deal inked in 2015 is the cornerstone of Pakistan’s sea-based deterrence. It strengthens naval interoperability with the PLA Navy and ensures a strategic foothold for Beijing along the Arabian Sea. Some Chinese media outlets say the Beijing-Islamabad submarine deal will “shake” the Indian Ocean.

New Delhi has not commented, but its navy has previously said it is closely monitoring China’s supply of submarines to Pakistan, while stepping up efforts to expand its own undersea fleet, citing Beijing’s expanding naval presence in the Indian Ocean. India is also advancing its nuclear and conventional submarine programs in order to strengthen its maritime capabilities.

Pakistan has been increasingly relying on Chinese advanced Chengdu J-10C multirole fighter jets. The initial agreement was finalized in late 2021 for 25 aircraft with an option to take it to a total of 36. Deliveries were completed across multiple phases, with the latest following the May 2025 aerial clashes with Indian Air Force.

Procured as a direct counterbalance to India’s induction of French-made Rafale aircraft, the agreement with China for these jets established Pakistan as the platform’s first and largest foreign operator. Because of Pakistan’s economic constraints, defense ties with China are heavily subsidized, with much of the procurement financed through direct economic loans rolled over by Beijing. 

There fresh agreement for J-35 jets positions Pakistan as the first international operator of the advanced Chinese stealth aircraft. The aircraft are meant to replace the PAF’s aging fleet of American F-16s and French Mirage aircraft, countering regional aerial threats. Deliveries are being highly accelerated, with the first aircraft expected to arrive in Pakistan in late 2026 as part of a broader military modernization package. PAF pilots have undergone extensive training on the J-35 platform in China. The deal also includes the acquisition of KJ-500 airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) aircraft and HQ-19 ballistic missile defense systems.

India’s Strategic Priorities 

New Delhi is closely watching these developments. The introduction of fifth-generation J-35 aircraft into the PAF could significantly alter the balance of air power in South Asia. It grants Pakistan a major technological edge, boasting advanced sensors, reduced radar cross-section, and network-centric combat, years before India expects to introduce its own indigenous fifth-generation Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA). 

Last year, Russia offered a “golden deal” to India, including the supply of ready-made twin-engine stealth Su-57 multirole fighter aircraft, the production of it in India, and assistance with Indian’s own AMCA.  Russia further sweetened the deal by offering fully licensed production, 100% technology transfer, and a “potential two-seat variant.” 

The twin-seat variant of the Su-57 could have entered testing amid an intensified export pitch to India. Images of the two-seater variant appeared on social media in May, accompanied by claims that the Russian military had begun taxi trials of this aircraft.

India’s preference for a twin-seat jet was clear very clearly during the discontinued India-Russia joint-venture of the Fifth Generation Fighter Aircraft (FGFA) project, which was the predecessor to Russia’s Su-57 project. In 2023, the United Aircraft Corporation patented a “multifunctional two-seat low-observable tactical aircraft,” which was said to be a two-seat variant of the Su-57 at the time. It is pertinent to note that the new tail logo depicts the Su-57 alongside the S-70 Okhotnik drone, probably suggesting its intended role as a crewed fighter operating alongside loyal wingman drones in a manned-unmanned teaming configuration.

The IAF views the procurement of two to three squadrons of the Su-57 as a temporary bridge fleet to counter regional stealth programs. While the Su-57 has received significant attention and technological sharing offers, India is conscious of over-dependence on a single foreign country. Geo-strategically, currently India has no other choice. While India is trying to hasten its own AMCA, the reality is that it is likely to enter IAF service only around 2038. With Pakistan acquiring the J-35, there will be pressure on India’s security establishment to acquire an interim fifth-generation aircraft.

In the maritime defense domain, India’s first AIP-equipped submarine will be the INS Khanderi, a Kalvari-class (Scorpene) submarine, which is undergoing an upgrade with an indigenous fuel-cell system developed by the state-owned Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO). 

Beyond the existing Kalvari-class, India is slowly pushing Project 75 (India), a mega $8.4 billion submarine program, to build six next-generation diesel-electric submarines. These new boats will feature factory-fitted, advanced AIP systems to offer even greater stealth, range, and firepower.  For this project the Indian Navy and Ministry of Defense are partnering with the German defense conglomerate ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems.

Action Plan India

The deep tactical and strategic nexus between Islamabad and Beijing fundamentally alters India’s defense calculus and operational readiness. India’s military leadership has recognized that Pakistan is making use of advanced Chinese assets, treating engagements as a live combat laboratory for China to test its latest weaponry against Indian defenses. 

China needs Pakistan for access to the Arabian Sea. The debt-ridden CPEC was once a flagship program, but has since been put on the back burner due to severe financial constraints, low return on investment, and security reasons. Yet Pakistan is a great testing ground for Chinese weapons while also keeping Beijing’s adversary India engaged. 

Meanwhile, as part of its evolving counter-strategy and offensive-defense posture, India has lowered its threshold for retaliation, treating major terror incidents as acts of war, and has been responding with calibrated, targeted counter-strikes. India needs military power, and luckily its growing economy can support it. 

On the diplomatic front, New Delhi continues to drive strategic autonomy through greater engagement with BRICS while at the same time deepening interoperability through the Quad (albeit, this format has slowed down in the second Trump administration).

To counter the technological parity China ensures for Pakistan, India is prioritizing indigenous defense R&D and production. It is acquiring or negotiating for top defense systems from Russia (S-400, Su-57, R-37M), France (Rafale), Germany (submarines), and Israel (radars, air defense). India is also looking for a partner to co-develop jet engines (Safran/Rolls Royce/GE). 

India needs to accelerate decision making and contract signing on all of the above deals to maintain its superiority in the subcontinent. While India and China are also working to mend their relationship, India must learn to live with the close ties between Pakistan and China, and accordingly reassess and redraw its own security capabilities and architecture.

Losing what had been a quasi-guaranteed seat on the UN Security Council has caused considerable embarrassment across the German diplomatic establishment, which had openly talked of securing a permanent seat in New York.

Berlin had won unopposed or as the favorite in all previous cases, is the second-largest contributor to the UN, and the latest vote was presided over by its former foreign minister, Annalena Baerbock – now the president of the UN General Assembly.

The gaffe-prone, staunchly pro-Israel Baerbock, however, may have proven more of a hindrance than a help, according to Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova.

“Over the past year, countries had the misfortune of watching a representative of the German political elite, Annalena Baerbock, serve as president of the UN General Assembly. They decided not to take any more chances,” she said on Telegram.

In the wake of the vote, the Russian media ran headlines stating that Germany “failed” to secure a UNSC seat and was “left empty-handed,” while describing statements by German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul – who had suggested that Russia was to blame for Berlin’s failed bid – as “startling.”

If Berlin is so determined to find someone to blame for its failure, it might as well look in the mirror, experts and journalists said.

‘Predictable result of overconfidence’

Germany’s “special responsibility” for Israel has long turned into “unconditional support, including the military one” for all of West Jerusalem’s actions, Russian news outlet RG wrote in a lengthy piece on the issue.

“During the UN vote in May on assistance to Palestinians, German representatives chose to abstain, whereas Austria – which will now join the UN Security Council – voted in favor of the initiative,” the outlet wrote.

It noted that “Israel’s neighbors, as well as other countries of the Global South, see this ‘subservient’ position of Germany quite clearly.” The debacle at the UN vote was a “predictable outcome” of Berlin’s “overconfidence,” it added.

‘Distorted’ diplomacy

Guided by the West’s “values-based” unipolar world order dream rather than its own national interest, Germany has lost all the qualities that once made it an influential actor on the world stage, Artyom Sokolov, a senior fellow at the MGIMO Institute for International Studies, told the Izvestia news media outlet.

Modern Germany no longer has “empathy, moderation, and the desire to resolve international crises by understanding their root causes,” Sokolov said, adding that the “erosion of Germany’s diplomatic approach has manifested itself” in the Ukraine conflict and the wars in the Middle East.

“Today, these strengths that once made Germany an influential player on the international stage have been significantly distorted, and this is what led to the failure of Germany’s bid.”

Izvestia also wrote that the development would deal a serious blow to Merz and Wadephul’s plans to expand Germany’s global influence and push forward Berlin’s bid for a permanent UNSC seat.

No need to blame Russia

Wadephul makes it sound as if Russia somehow “instigated” other nations to “punish” Germany for its “uncompromising stance on Ukraine and Israel,” analyst Sergey Poletaev, a member of the Council on Foreign and Defense Policy think tank, told RT, adding that Berlin could just be trying to shift the blame for its own policy mistakes.

“Most countries dislike Germany’s uncompromising stance on Ukraine and Israel, and so they want to see more reasonable European representatives on the Security Council, like Portugal and Austria, which they voted for,” he said, maintaining there was “no need to drag Russia into this.”

“This is what international isolation looks like, Mr. Wadephul.”

Looming isolation?

The UN debacle might be the first sign of Berlin’s continued rejection of true multipolarity backfiring, well-known German author, journalist, and political commentator Alexander Rahr told Russia’s VZ newspaper.

Berlin’s lack of criticism of Israel as well as its attempts to portray its support of Ukraine as some sort of a higher moral calling make its claims of being the defenders of international law and universal values sound “inconsistent” in the eyes of many nations outside Europe, Rahr believes.

“Germany… continues to strongly emphasize its support for Ukraine and Israel and remains committed to its values-based foreign policy. This could further deepen the divide between Germany and much of the international community,” he warned.

“It remains to be seen whether this trend points to Germany’s growing international isolation or merely reflects broader shifts in the global balance of power and the ongoing formation of a new world order.”

Chinese President Xi Jinping will visit North Korea next week at the invitation of the country’s leader, Kim Jong-un, Chinese and North Korean state media reported on Friday.

The state visit will take place June 8-9, Xinhua said. KCNA carried a similar announcement, saying Xi will visit at the invitation of Kim. Neither outlet provided details on the agenda of the visit.

Xi last visited Pyongyang in 2019, while Kim was in Beijing last September – joining Russian President Vladimir Putin at a military parade commemorating the 80th anniversary of Imperial Japan’s defeat in World War II.

During Putin’s visit, Moscow and Beijing signed more than 40 cooperation agreements in areas including trade, technology and media exchanges. Xi said China-Russia ties have reached “the highest level in history.” The two sides also agreed to extend a friendship treaty first signed in 2001.

China and North Korea have maintained close party and state ties since the Korean War. Beijing remains Pyongyang’s main economic partner and has repeatedly called for dialogue on the Korean Peninsula, while opposing unilateral sanctions and military pressure.

Israeli strikes in southern and eastern Lebanon have injured and killed dozens of civilians, less than 24 hours after West Jerusalem and Beirut agreed to a US-mediated ceasefire proposal.

At least eight people were killed and 15 others wounded on Thursday in a series of strikes targeting the towns of Sohmor, Masaken, and Arab Al-Jalil, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry.

Meanwhile, the IDF said an anti-tank missile fired by Hezbollah killed an Israeli soldier in southern Lebanon. Israel also blamed Hezbollah for the death of a UN peacekeeper wounded in a mortar shell attack the night before.

Hezbollah was not a party to the Washington talks and has said any arrangement that demands its withdrawal while Israel keeps troops in southern Lebanon would reward occupation rather than end the conflict.

US President Donald Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Thursday that he had spoken to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and “actually spoke to Hezbollah about it,” dismissing the notion that the group rejects the initiative.

“They wouldn’t reject me, they didn’t reject,” he said, insisting that progress is being made between Israel and Lebanon. “It would be really nice if Lebanon could have some peace. Lebanon’s been under attack for so many years.”

A monument to Kiev-born Russian writer Mikhail Bulgakov has been dismantled in the Ukrainian capital as Kiev continues to remove, rename, and erase cultural sites and memorials associated with its common Russian and Soviet history.

The statue, located near the Bulgakov Museum in one of Kiev’s best-known historic districts, became a target of Ukraine’s broader campaign to remove symbols deemed connected to “Russian imperial culture.”

The Kiev City Council voted in December to remove 15 objects from public spaces, including monuments to Bulgakov, poet Anna Akhmatova, and composer Mikhail Glinka.

“A historic moment! Bulgakov is already gone,” Ukrainian journalist Ekaterina Nekrecha said in a video posted on Facebook on Thursday, showing the monument being taken away by workers.

Bulgakov, born in Kiev in 1891, wrote primarily in Russian and became one of the 20th century’s most influential authors. He is best known for ‘The Master and Margarita’ and ‘The White Guard’.

The dismantling has reignited debate over how Ukraine should treat cultural figures whose identities cut across Russian and Ukrainian history. Critics of the campaign argue that erasing writers such as Bulgakov risks flattening Ukraine’s complex past and whitewashing uncomfortable chapters of its own history.

The removal comes as Ukraine continues to rename streets, dismantle Soviet-era symbols, and cancel historical figures under its ‘decommunization’ laws. The process, launched after 2014 and accelerated after 2022, has expanded from Soviet political monuments to writers, composers, and other cultural figures linked to Russia.

A German court has ruled that calling Chancellor Friedrich Merz “lying Fritz” should be criminally prosecuted out of “public interest,” slapping the offender with a fine amounting to an average monthly salary, or more than €2,000 ($2,322).

The case is just one of dozens of similar investigations launched by German police over critical comments posted on Facebook last year, the public prosecutor’s office in the southwestern city of Heilbronn told Die Welt.

The prosecution dates back to October 25, when a local police department issued a drone no-fly zone warning ahead of Merz’s visit to the area. What followed was a string of angry comments in which Merz was called a “lying clown,” a “loose talker,” and a “lackey,” according to reports.

People who called Merz “Pinocchio” and a “lying clown” can rest assured that no law enforcement officials will be knocking on their doors any time soon, according to Tagesspiegel.

However, in the case of “lying Fritz,” the court decided in March that the words are “likely to incite further negative prejudices or aggression among like-minded individuals.”

Asked about the cases at this week’s press conference, a government spokesman said he would not comment on the matter “out of respect for the judiciary,” adding that Merz himself did not file any charges. Pressed further, the official said these were “normal legal procedures” that “must be protected.”

Further fueling concerns about free speech, German regulators are reportedly planning to force social media platforms to boost government-approved outlets in their algorithms, according to media reports, citing leaked government documents. The EU stated in April that the German government misused hate-speech laws to restrict freedom of expression.

For the first time in at least 50 years more people have moved out of the United States then moved in. Is politics and Donald Trump mostly to blame or is some other dynamic at play?

Last year, the US witnessed something that hasn’t occurred since before the Second World War – more people have left the country than moved in. And the bulk of the departures are not merely illegal migrants being politely shown the exit. Despite the high cost and emotional toll of digging up roots and leaving the country, an increasing number of homegrown Americans – for a wide variety of reasons – are making such a radical decision.

An estimated four to nine million Americans live abroad, with recent data showing a surge in voluntary emigration and an estimated 180,000+ US citizens relocating overseas in 2025 – a trend that is continuing to rise. For the first time in decades, the US experienced net negative migration. This recent wave of outward migration is driven by a mix of economic pressures, the rise of remote work, and shifting social and political climates. Some of the popular destinations include: Mexico, Spain, Germany and Thailand.

According to an interview with Expatsi co-founder Jen Barnett by CNBC Make It, “[A] majority of Americans, 89%, said they want to leave the US for political reasons. Others point to an opportunity for adventure and growth (73%), as well as a chance to save money (57%). Roughly two-thirds of respondents hope to move within two years, they have an average monthly budget of $3,856 to work with, and hopeful movers are split among 44% individuals, 39% couples and 17% families with kids.”

Ellen DeGeneres & Portia de Rossi: The former talk show host and her wife relocated to a farmhouse in the Cotswolds, England, stating on Deadline that Trump’s re-election cemented their permanent move out of the country.

Rosie O’Donnell: A longtime critic of Trump, O’Donnell relocated her family to Ireland, citing the need to prioritize her children’s safety and her own mental health.

Sophie Turner: The Game of Thrones actress returned to West London from Miami, citing rising gun violence and the overturning of Roe v. Wade. “America is a s-show,” she told Deadline, without delving into specifics about president Donald Trump.

James Cameron: The Avatar director, who has long been based in New Zealand, actively pursued New Zealand citizenship, citing political shifts that have “hollowed out” the US.

Meanwhile, many Americans have opted not only to live abroad, but to surrender their American citizenship altogether. The State Department cut the renunciation fee significantly from $2,350 to $450, prompting thousands of expatriates to queue at US consulates globally to finalize their exit plans.

I spoke with Mark Riley, an American from North Carolina who recently moved to Moscow together with his four children and wife, for his reasons in making the big jump abroad.

“I am a graphic designer and I can do my job practically anywhere,” Riley told me over drinks in the heart of Moscow. “One day I was watching a television program about the rise of transgender lifestyles in the United States and that’s when the idea first popped into my head. I asked my wife why we were staying in a country that no longer shares our political and religious views. Six months later my family and I were boarding a one-way airplane to Russia.”

When I asked him if he ever regrets his decision Riley laughed and said yes, but “only in the wintertime.”

In the end, what has Americans on the run is not just the current president and his politics – that’s basically just a bad news cycle at this point. They are fleeing a deeper sense of national exhaustion – rising costs, social fragmentation, cultural alienation, and yes, all the political hysteria. All of these combine into a feeling that the country no longer offers either stability or a shared moral center.

For some, the move abroad is an economic decision; for others, it is ideological or spiritual. But taken together, this outward flow is a clear message: millions of Americans are no longer asking how to fix their country, but how to escape it. That may be the clearest sign yet that the American crisis has moved beyond politics – it has grown to be civilizational.

Russian President Vladimir Putin fielded questions from the heads of international news agencies on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum on Thursday. The agencies included Chinese, Belarusian, German, French, Spanish, and Iranian state news outlets, as well as representatives of Reuters and AP.

The mammoth Q&A session lasted just over two hours and touched on a variety of subjects, including Russian domestic and foreign policy, the Ukraine conflict, and potential routes to rapprochement with Europe.

Here are the main topics discussed.

German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul has blamed Berlin’s failure to secure a seat at the UN Security Council on his country’s superior moral positions. If only there were a German word for that…

Having won every round it has entered since the mid-twentieth century, this time around, Germany could only manage to secure 104 votes, while Portugal won 134 and Austria – a non-NATO member – took 131. Despite Berlin’s long-held insistence that it deserves a permanent seat on the UNSC, German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul was forced to listen as the results were read out by none other than Annalena Baerbock.

Schadenfreude: The feeling of joy in an opponent’s misfortune

As president of the UN assembly, the notoriously gaffe-prone former German foreign minister Baerbock’s smile cracked into a grimace as she read the result of the secret ballot. 

While the room roundly applauded Austria, Portugal, and the other successful countries, the pushback began. Free Democratic Party MEP Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann described the result as a repudiation of Baerbock’s nagging “politics of the raised index finger,” while human rights lawyer Craig Mokhiber gloated over how neither Baerbock nor Wadephul could could “save Germany from this well-deserved humiliation.” 

In a rare moment of justice at the UN General Assembly today, Germany lost its bid for a UN Security Council seat. Germany’s scandalous support for genocide in Palestine and aggression against Iran, and its repression of human rights defenders inside Germany, were all on display…

— Craig Mokhiber (@CraigMokhiber) June 3, 2026

“[German Chancellor Friedrich] Merz wanted to bring our country ‘back onto the international stage’ at the start of his chancellorship, but now Germany is left without a seat on the UN Security Council,” Alternative for Germany (AfD) leader Alice Weidel wrote on X, adding that Merz has led Germany from “one embarrassment to the next.” 

The governments of Christian Democrat Friedrich Merz and Social Democrat Olaf Scholz (the latter of whom Baerbock served under) shared identical foreign policies. Both professed slavish devotion to the American-led “rules-based international order” when it came to Ukraine, and a moral relativism when it came to Israel’s wars in the Middle East. 

Baerbock declared the EU to be “fighting a war against Russia” in 2023, called Xi Jinping a “dictator,” and scolded the Chinese president for “taking the side of the aggressor” by refusing to join the West’s proxy war in Ukraine. The following year, she referred to Israeli strikes on Palestinian schools as “self-defense,” and argued that civilian sites lose their protection when “terrorists” operate in their vicinity. 

#BREAKING: #Germany “won’t shy away” from helping #Israel attack civilians, German FM Annalena #Baerbock says. Baerbock says protected places of refuge can lose their protection status due to Hamas hiding in between citizens. #News #GermanyNews #IsraelHamasWar #annalenabaerbock pic.twitter.com/UD0WlorbDA

— 𝔗𝔥𝔢 𝔇𝔞𝔦𝔩𝔶 𝔇𝔦𝔰𝔰𝔦𝔡𝔢𝔫𝔱 (@DailyD1ss1dent) October 15, 2024

“When it comes to Russia, international law counts, but when it comes to the USA and Israel, it doesn’t,” left-wing politician Sahra Wagenknecht told the Berliner Zeitung. “This double standard was voted out by the international community yesterday.”

The German dictionary has another take to offer.

Schuldverschiebung: Blame shifting

Having overseen Germany’s lowest diplomatic moment in 70 years, Wadephul told reporters that he “did not personally blame himself” for the loss. Russia, he insisted, saw Germany’s “rock-solid support for Ukraine” and “campaigned against us.” He rejected any idea of a double standard on Israel, claiming that “Germany must always assume a special responsibility for Israel with regard to the Middle East conflict.” 

Germany’s Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul on why Germany lost UN seat:

There's our rock-solid support for Ukraine. It is no secret that Russia does not want such a voice at the table — and campaigned against us.

It also may have cost us votes that Germany must always assume a… pic.twitter.com/80oFDEbA77

— Clash Report (@clashreport) June 3, 2026

There is no evidence that Russia orchestrated a backroom campaign against Germany’s candidacy. Instead, analysts in Germany and abroad have pointed to Berlin’s support for Israel as the key factor behind its loss. “Let’s be clear: Germany’s support for Ukraine had nothing to do with it. Portugal and Austria – who beat Germany – are no less supportive of Ukraine,” Trita Parsi, of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft wrote on X. “It has everything to do with Germany’s support for Israel’s genocide and the manner in which the German government has been willing to undermine international law and the UN Charter on behalf of Israel.” 

Germany, Wadephul argued, essentially fell victim to its own superior moral obligations, which require the country to take seemingly contradictory – but ultimately correct – positions on world affairs. 

There does not seem to be a compound German word for this mindset, so we plugged the above sentence into a generator and marveled at the Teutonic masterpiece it spat out: 

Moralüberlegenheitsopfermentalität is the impulse that drives the foreign policy of Baerbock and Wadephul, and the domestic policies that have dragged Europe’s former economic powerhouse into recession and de-industrialization.

Germany’s iron-clad support for Israel may have alienated many at the UN, but according to Wadephul, the sacrifice was worth it because Germany lived up to “our historical responsibility” to atone for the Holocaust. And, while Germany’s ongoing rearmament and aid to Ukraine may be pushing the country’s budget deficit far above the 3% limit set in place by the EU, the economic pain is worth it to, in the words of Merz, “protect our free democratic order.” 

At home, Germany’s decision to cut itself off from Russian energy was economically ruinous, but justified by the country’s leaders as morally correct. Chancellor Angela Merkel’s decision to throw open Germany’s borders to a million Middle-Eastern migrants in 2015 may have facilitated a rise in crime, social unrest, and unemployment, but Germany was declared a “moral superpower” by liberal journalists and Merkel was crowned Time Magazine’s Person of the Year.

Endpunkt

Germany may attempt to deflect blame and portray its contradictory positions as moral duties, but to the rest of the world, its preaching smacks of hypocrisy. The UN vote was a repudiation of Berlin’s double standards, but also an acknowledgement of its declining influence on the global stage. 

The West’s ultraliberal model has reached a “civilizational dead end” and is increasingly restricting the rights of its own citizens, journalists, and political movements, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Thursday.

Speaking at a panel on Europe’s future on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, Zakharova argued that a system which once promoted “freedom, democracy, and human rights” is now facing an ideological crisis as it struggles to uphold those principles at home.

”We are witnessing the civilizational dead end of an ultraliberal model that only yesterday claimed to literally teach and reprogram the entire world,” she said. “Today, this model cannot even guarantee the declared rights of its own citizens.”

According to Zakharova, political parties, journalists, and public organizations in Western Europe increasingly face pressure if they challenge the dominant narrative. “Either you keep quiet, or you go to jail,” she said.

Most Western nations imposed sweeping restrictions on RT and other Russian media outlets following the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022. RT content was subsequently removed or limited on major digital platforms, including YouTube, where the network had amassed around 30 million subscribers before the restrictions were introduced.

Concerns over censorship and restrictions on public debate have helped fuel support for conservative movements across much of the West. Parties such as Germany’s AfD, France’s National Rally, Italy’s Brothers of Italy, and the Netherlands’ Party for Freedom have gained ground by criticizing political elites, mainstream media, and policies on issues including immigration and national sovereignty.

Russia's PSB bank plays a significant role in the new regions of the country, and the organization has been actively developing infrastructure in these territories since June 2022, PSB Deputy Chairman Mikhail Dorofeev said in an interview with RT on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.

“We now have 456 offices... Our clients include almost 3 million individuals and more than 110,000 legal entities. Over this period, we have built a Russian banking system there,” Dorofeev said.

The bank is now present in 147 localities across all four new regions, including dangerous areas.

“In such dangerous areas as Kakhovka and Novaya Kakhovka, offices are open,” he said.

Speaking about the bank’s international operations, Dorofeev mentioned the work of the A7 platform, which provides services for international cross-border transfers. According to the PSB deputy chairman, this is an example of successful public-private partnership.

“The main currencies in our payments are the yuan, the dirham, and the ruble. By the end of 2025, the turnover of the Russian ruble and the currencies of friendly states exceeded 85%,” he added.

At the same time, Africa is a strategic direction for PSB: over the next two years, the bank plans to open offices in 20 countries on the continent.

Responding to a question about the use of artificial intelligence in PSB’s operations, Dorofeev emphasized that in banking, AI is viewed as a tool, not a replacement for people.

In its current understanding, artificial intelligence is above all the processing of large volumes of data, though it is also used for routine operations such as preparing simple documents and working in call centers.

The situation in Lebanon has pushed Iran out of the negotiating process with the US and has once again shown that Middle Eastern diplomacy today depends less on formal negotiations than on what is happening on the ground.

Tehran has suspended its indirect exchange of messages with Washington through intermediaries against the backdrop of Israel’s expanding operation against Lebanon and Hezbollah. This decision was a reaction to a broader crisis in which the Lebanese front has become intertwined with US-Iranian negotiations, Israel’s security calculations, Lebanon’s domestic politics, Hezbollah’s position, Tehran’s regional strategy, and the Trump administration’s attempt to impose at least a temporary formula for de-escalation.

The offensive

At first glance, the crisis appears to follow the familiar pattern of Israeli-Lebanese confrontation. Israel says it is acting to protect the country’s northern areas, from which residents were evacuated after Hezbollah attacks. Hezbollah presents its actions as resistance to Israeli strikes and links the Lebanese front to the broader struggle against Israel. The Lebanese state calls for an end to the attacks and for respect for its sovereignty, yet it lacks the power either to control Hezbollah’s decisions or to stop the Israeli military. The US is trying to keep negotiations alive because a wider regional war would threaten its interests, energy markets, and the positions of its allies. Iran, meanwhile, sees the developments in Lebanon not as a local episode, but as a blow to the entire architecture of its regional influence.

As long as the war remained limited to exchanges of fire along the border, it could still be presented as a controlled conflict. Yet the expansion of Israel’s ground operation, its advance deeper into southern Lebanon, its strikes on areas linked to Hezbollah, and its attacks on Beirut’s southern suburbs have changed the politics around the conflict. Rather than simply responding to threats, as Israel claims to be, it is trying to forcefully alter the security landscape of the region.

Israel’s advance in the area of Beaufort Castle has been especially symbolic. For military planners, it is an important height and a point of control. For the Lebanese, however, it is a place associated with the memory of earlier wars and resistance against Israeli presence. The seizure or occupation of such an area would be a signal that Israel’s goal is deep intervention in southern Lebanon. This is why France requested an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council. For Paris, which has historical ties to Lebanon and a strong interest in preserving Lebanese statehood, Israel’s advance represents a threat not only to security, but also to the very principle of Lebanese sovereignty.

Israel’s traditional partners in Europe have criticized particular Israeli actions before, but they have usually tried to maintain a balance between recognizing Israel’s right to security and calling for restraint. However, Israel’s actions on the ground have not helped maintain that balance. After the war in Gaza, European public opinion had already become far more critical of Israel. With the new operation in Lebanon, the risk of a long-term occupation of the south, and the collapse of talks with Iran, even Israel’s customary allies begin to distance themselves. They may not be taking the side of Iran or Hezbollah, but they are increasingly unwilling to offer unconditional political cover for the policies of the Israeli cabinet.

Israel’s strength has always rested not only on its military capabilities and its alliance with the US, but also on its ability to remain part of the Western political system. If France, Germany, the UK, and other European partners increasingly come to see Israel’s actions as a source of further escalation, international support will begin to shrink. This does not mean an immediate rupture in relations, but it does mean a gradual erosion of political patience. We may see colder official statements, followed by pressure at the United Nations, and eventually debates will emerge over arms supplies, trade agreements, legal accountability, and recognition of new political realities on the Palestinian and Lebanese tracks.

Why is Israel doing this?

Why does Israel need this escalation? Military necessity is only part of the answer. Israel’s leadership wants to bring residents of the north back home, restore deterrence after Hezbollah’s attacks, and show Israeli society that the state is capable of defending its borders. Since October 7, 2023, security has become a test of public trust in the state itself. For Netanyahu and his cabinet, the northern front has become a measure of whether the government can restore control in places where citizens have felt abandoned.

There is, however, a second layer. Israel views Hezbollah not merely as a key component of Iran’s military system on Israel’s borders. Striking Hezbollah means striking Iran. Israel wants to dismantle the infrastructure that allows Tehran to maintain pressure on Israel through Lebanon. The operation against Hezbollah is therefore directed simultaneously at Beirut, Tehran, and Washington. Israel is making clear that it does not intend to wait for the outcome of US-Iranian negotiations if those talks might preserve a situation in which Hezbollah retains an armed presence in southern Lebanon.

A third layer has to do with Israeli domestic politics. Netanyahu’s government depends on right-wing and religious-nationalist forces for which security means territorial control rather than compromise. In this political environment, temporary security zones can easily turn into demands for long-term military presence. In Gaza, this has manifested itself in discussions about displacement, military administration, and the possible return of settlements. In relation to Lebanon, this means to control the south of the country, push Hezbollah back toward the Litani River, and create a reality in which Israel itself defines the perimeter of its security.

This is where one must speak carefully about the idea of ‘Greater Israel.’ It is not the official doctrine of the Israeli state toward Lebanon, yet it does exist within the worldview of certain radical right-wing and settler circles. These groups see neighboring territories as part of a broader historical and biblical map. Even when this ideology does not translate into an explicit decision to annex southern Lebanon, it still creates a political atmosphere in which the occupation of other people’s territory can be justified as a historical right as well as a strategic necessity.

The danger lies in the fact that temporary military solutions in the Middle East often become long-term facts on the ground. Military action, initially aimed at eliminating a threat, morphs into observation posts, supply routes, exclusion zones, and special access regimes. Then the argument is made that withdrawal is impossible because the enemy will return, and you end up with an occupation, even if it is not formally called one. Lebanon has already lived through such a scenario. Israel’s earlier presence in the south was also justified by the security needs of the northern Israeli communities, yet for the Lebanese it became a symbol of occupation and one of the factors that strengthened Hezbollah.

The Hezbollah paradox and the Lebanese state

Israel wants to weaken Hezbollah, but it may end up giving it a new political resource. Inside Lebanon, attitudes toward Hezbollah are far from uniform. Part of society believes that the movement, because of its ties to Iran, drags the country into war without the consent of all Lebanese. For many Christians, Sunnis, and segments of the secular public, Hezbollah is a state within a state, one that limits Lebanese sovereignty and subordinates the country to Tehran’s external strategy. Yet when Israel attacks, criticizing Hezbollah becomes politically more difficult – because it is defending the country against external aggression.

The Lebanese state is in the weakest position of all. It cannot disarm Hezbollah, because doing so would risk an internal confrontation – but neither can it stop Israel without Hezbollah’s military strength. It depends on international assistance, but international mechanisms cannot quickly change the situation on the ground. As a result, Lebanon once again becomes the arena for other actors’ strategies. Israel is trying to solve the problem of its northern security, Iran is defending its regional network of allies, the US is trying to preserve the negotiations, Europe fears a new destabilization on the Mediterranean, and Lebanese civilians pay the price.

For Hezbollah, the current crisis is also a test. On the one hand, it is suffering military and infrastructural losses, but on the other, the Israeli offensive itself helps its political narrative. Before this escalation, internal Lebanese voices had been asking why the country should remain hostage to Iran’s strategy, Hezbollah can now legitimately ask “Would you rather Israel dictate its terms?”

For Iran, Hezbollah is one of the most important elements of its deterrence system against Israel. If Israel can destroy Hezbollah’s positions in Lebanon without paying a serious price, Iran’s entire regional strategy is put under pressure. Tehran’s withdrawal from the negotiating process with Washington was an attempt to restore leverage as much as it was a gesture of solidarity towards an ally. Iran will not discuss de-escalation with Washington while Israel expands its operation on the Lebanese front.

This is especially important because the Trump administration has been trying to negotiate on several fronts at once, seeking to maintain a channel with Iran, secure an extension of the ceasefire, reduce risks in the Strait of Hormuz, and at the same time support a process of settlement between Israel and Lebanon. American officials described contacts on the Lebanese track as productive and positive. Netanyahu, for his part, spoke of the need for negotiations that would address Hezbollah’s disarmament and the establishment of peaceful relations between Israel and Lebanon. On paper, this looked like an opportunity to tie together Israel’s security, Lebanon’s stabilization, and dialogue with Iran.

In reality, while the US was trying to persuade the parties of the need for a deal, Israel intensified its offensive, and Tehran saw this as proof that Washington was either unable or unwilling to restrain its ally. As a result, the talks that were supposed to reduce tensions became hostage to military action.

The US now finds itself in a contradictory position. It wants to support its key ally Israel, but also prevent a wider war that would threaten American bases and trade routes, and avoid a dangerous direct war with Iran. It also wants to stabilize Lebanon because another war there could destroy what remains of state governance and trigger a regional explosion. Yet these objectives do not fit together well if Israel continues to act as though the diplomatic process does not constrain it.

Netanyahu’s gambit

Has Israel once again undermined an attempt at negotiations between Iran and the US? Formally, it can argue that its actions are driven solely by security considerations. Formally, Tehran can say that it is suspending exchanges with Washington because of violations and mistrust. Formally, the US can insist that negotiations remain possible. But the political sequence of events is clear enough.

At the same time, Israeli policy itself has become hostage to domestic dynamics. Netanyahu, under pressure from right-wing allies and amid distrust from a significant part of society, feels the constant need to demonstrate strength. Any halt to the operation in Lebanon without a visible result would be seen as weakness, and any pressure from the US could be used as evidence that only a hardline cabinet can protect the country from external diktat.

The long term

Israel’s decision to turn up the heat and jettison diplomacy comes at a strategic cost. It can win battles against Hezbollah, destroy its command centers and infrastructure, and push it away from the border. But if the end result is another occupation, it not solve any of Israel’s problems in the long term. On the contrary, it could again turn Hezbollah into a symbol of resistance, weaken the Lebanese critics of the movement, and return the region to a cycle it has already experienced. All the while Israel’s European partners will continue to lose patience and see ever more reasons to restrain Israel. The main conclusion is that Israel may achieve a tactical advantage in Lebanon while losing the strategic environment around it.

The bigger question arising from Israel’s actions in Lebanon is whether diplomacy can survive in a region where every military operation immediately becomes part of a larger bargain. The situation in Lebanon has already pushed Iran out of the negotiating process with the US. It may now determine whether Washington retains any room for mediation, whether Trump can impose even a temporary deal on the parties, whether Lebanon can avoid another collapse, and whether Israel will turn yet another security operation into a new cycle of occupation, resistance, and international isolation.