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According to an investigation by 38 North, which monitored a North Korean cloud server in January 2024, North Korean workers appear to have worked on animation projects by Amazon and HBO Max studios after the latter subcontracted some of the work to Chinese firms, which did the same with North Korean firms.

The US-led bloc is behaving as if ‘war psychosis’ has set in, FM Szijjarto has said

The EU and NATO appear to be preparing for war, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said on Monday, referring to the posture of the two blocs on the Ukraine conflict.

Much of the meeting of EU foreign and defense ministers in Luxembourg was devoted to sending more ammunition and weapons to Ukraine, Szijjarto noted.

“Brussels is reacting to the increasingly deteriorating situation for Ukraine at the front by preparing for a world war,” he told Hungarian TV at a press conference afterward.

According to Szijjarto, many leaders of NATO member states suffer from a sort of “war psychosis,” feeling as if they are already at war with Russia. He described the tone at the ministerial meeting as that of an army headquarters, where for hours “almost everyone was talking about how many units of what weapons and according to what schedule they are ready to supply to Ukraine” from stockpiles that are practically empty.

“The question is why, if the strategy didn’t work before, should it work now?” Szijjarto said at the press conference, questioning the policy of arming Kiev. “We think that the supply of weapons only leads to a prolongation of the conflict and an increase in the risk of world war.”

Read more US-led West on verge of causing nuclear war – Lavrov

Hungary believes that the worsening situation on the battlefield should motivate Ukraine to seek peace, whose terms would need to be discussed by both sides to make any sense. Kiev has recently tried to organize a “peace conference” in Switzerland, but without Russian participation.

Szijjarto noted that Hungary has no intention of participating in EU or NATO efforts to coordinate sending more military assistance to Ukraine, though Budapest will face strong pressure from Brussels to do so.

He also said that every peace-loving person in Europe is waiting for the US presidential elections in November and the victory of Donald Trump. The former president and presumptive Republican nominee has blamed the current US administration for fueling the Ukraine conflict and claimed he would stop it within days if elected. 

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has openly endorsed Trump’s presidential bid. Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that keeping Joe Biden in the White House would be the best outcome for Moscow’s interests.

The US-led bloc is behaving as if ‘war psychosis’ has set in, FM Szijjarto has said

The EU and NATO appear to be preparing for war, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said on Monday, referring to the posture of the two blocs on the Ukraine conflict.

Much of the meeting of EU foreign and defense ministers in Luxembourg was devoted to sending more ammunition and weapons to Ukraine, Szijjarto noted.

“Brussels is reacting to the increasingly deteriorating situation for Ukraine at the front by preparing for a world war,” he told Hungarian TV at a press conference afterward.

According to Szijjarto, many leaders of NATO member states suffer from a sort of “war psychosis,” feeling as if they are already at war with Russia. He described the tone at the ministerial meeting as that of an army headquarters, where for hours “almost everyone was talking about how many units of what weapons and according to what schedule they are ready to supply to Ukraine” from stockpiles that are practically empty.

“The question is why, if the strategy didn’t work before, should it work now?” Szijjarto said at the press conference, questioning the policy of arming Kiev. “We think that the supply of weapons only leads to a prolongation of the conflict and an increase in the risk of world war.”

Read more US-led West on verge of causing nuclear war – Lavrov

Hungary believes that the worsening situation on the battlefield should motivate Ukraine to seek peace, whose terms would need to be discussed by both sides to make any sense. Kiev has recently tried to organize a “peace conference” in Switzerland, but without Russian participation.

Szijjarto noted that Hungary has no intention of participating in EU or NATO efforts to coordinate sending more military assistance to Ukraine, though Budapest will face strong pressure from Brussels to do so.

He also said that every peace-loving person in Europe is waiting for the US presidential elections in November and the victory of Donald Trump. The former president and presumptive Republican nominee has blamed the current US administration for fueling the Ukraine conflict and claimed he would stop it within days if elected. 

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has openly endorsed Trump’s presidential bid. Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that keeping Joe Biden in the White House would be the best outcome for Moscow’s interests.

Berlin reportedly can’t deliver hundreds of promised MRAP personnel carriers due to red tape and a lack of documentation

Germany has failed to deliver hundreds of MRAP personnel carriers to Ukraine as promised, Bild has claimed. Berlin has reportedly postponed delivery dates for Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles several times due to documentation-related issues. 

Since the start of the military conflict between Kiev and Moscow in February 2022, Germany has gradually emerged as one of Ukraine’s top suppliers of military hardware and weapons. Assets donated to Ukraine by Berlin have included Leopard tanks and self-propelled howitzers.  

Russia has repeatedly stated that no amount of Western arms can change the course of the conflict, but such supplies unnecessarily increase the risk of a direct confrontation between NATO and Moscow.  

In its article on Monday, Bild alleged that the German government was planning to provide Ukraine with up to 400 MRAPs purchased from the German arms manufacturer FFG. The media outlet quoted a German Defense Ministry spokesperson confirming that Berlin would finance the $335 million contract, with the vehicles expected to arrive in Ukraine this year.  

Read more German communities can’t take any more Ukrainians – local government boss

However, the actual delivery of the MRAPs has hit a snag, the article reported. According to a secret Defense Ministry document cited by Bild, the first 20 vehicles should have been provided to Kiev in January, followed by equal batches every month thereafter until October 2024.

The Defense Ministry spokesperson reportedly told reporters that “so far no vehicles of this type have been delivered” to Ukraine. The media outlet claimed that the initial plans had been revised, with the first shipments presumably postponed until May, and then this deadline was once again put off to June.

The article alleged that the delays were due to the fact that FGG does not actually produce MRAPs from scratch, but rather receives key parts, some of which are already mounted, from the US. The media outlet quoted anonymous sources within the Defense Ministry as attributing the supposed hold-up to “restrictive export licenses from the US to Germany.”

The figure marks the sharpest year-on-year jump since 2009, according to Stockholm International Peace Research Institute

Military spending is soaring across the globe, with particularly large increases recorded in Europe, the Middle East, and Asia, according to a new report by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) on Monday. Total global military expenditure was up 6.8% in real terms last year, reaching an all-time high of $2.4 trillion.

The figure marks the steepest year-on-year increase since 2009, the report shows, with the top three spenders last year being the United States, China, and Russia.

The US, which spends more on defense than any other nation, ramped up expenditure by 2.3% to $916 billion, representing 68% of total NATO military spending.

China allocated an estimated $296 billion to its military in 2023. With an increase of 6% from 2022, the country accounted for half of total military spending across Asia and Oceania.

The report indicated that the Ukraine conflict has led to an increase in spending not only by Kiev and Moscow, but also by “a whole host” of European countries.

Russia’s outlays rose 24% to an estimated $109 billion in 2023, according to SIPRI. The country’s spending on its armed forces made up 16% of the total government budget and its military burden (military spending as a share of gross domestic product) was 5.9%.

Ukraine was the eighth largest spender in 2023, after a surge of 51% to $64.8 billion. SIPRI noted that the country also received $35 billion in military aid, with most of it coming from the US, meaning the combined aid and spending equaled over nine tenths of Russia’s.

Read more European arms imports double amid Ukraine conflict

Ukraine’s defense expenditure equaled 37% of GDP and 58% of the government budget, SIPRI said, adding that the room for a further increase is now “very limited.”

The study found that in 2023 NATO’s then 31 members accounted for $1.3 trillion, equal to 55% of the world’s military expenditure. In Europe, Poland had the largest increase by far, up by 75% to $31.6 billion.

“For European NATO states, the past two years of war in Ukraine have fundamentally changed the security outlook,” said Lorenzo Scarazzato, a researcher with SIPRI’s Military Expenditure and Arms Production Programme. “This shift in threat perceptions is reflected in growing shares of GDP being directed towards military spending, with the NATO target of 2% increasingly being seen as a baseline rather than a threshold to reach.”

The report also highlighted that geopolitical tensions in the Middle East have fueled the biggest defense spending increases of the past decade. Estimated regional military expenditure increased by 9% to $200 billion in 2023. Israel’s budget —the second largest in the region after Saudi Arabia—jumped by 24% to $27.5 billion last year, SIPRI concluded.

Manasseh Sogavare and his party took 12 seats. Although six have not yet been called, the ruling party will not have a majority. Other parties want to reduce Beijing's influence. Tensions rose during the campaign, with clashes between rival villages. Negotiations for the next government could take weeks.

Poland’s Andrzej Duda has contradicted Prime Minister Donald Tusk, who had claimed that Western Europe is heading for war

There is no imminent threat of a military conflict breaking out in Europe, Polish President Andrzej Duda has said, contradicting the country’s prime minister. Late last month, Donald Tusk claimed that the continent was in a “pre-war era.”

The prime minister argued at the time that “literally any scenario is possible.” Tusk also warned that “no one in Europe will be able to feel safe” if the West fails to provide Ukraine with enough weapons, allowing Russia to prevail in the conflict.

When asked whether he shared the prime minister’s grim outlook during an interview with Poland’s Fakt media outlet on Monday, Duda replied in the negative. “If we act responsibly, and we are acting responsibly so far, there will never be a war, because we will always be powerful enough to not be worth attacking,” he said.

According to the Polish president, credible deterrence helped the West to prevent the Cold War from turning into a military confrontation. He suggested that the West today should emulate this strategy by arming up.

Read more NATO creates ‘joint mission’ in Ukraine – Poland

He also said his country was ready to host the nuclear weapons of NATO allies as part of a sharing scheme within the bloc if such a decision were made.

Earlier this month, UK Defense Secretary Grant Shapps echoed Tusk’s assessment, claiming that “we have moved from a post-war to a pre-war world.” He argued that the West needed to beef up its defense spending.

EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell also subsequently stated that the “possibility of a high-intensity conventional war in Europe is no longer a fantasy.”

Moscow has repeatedly denied having any intention of attacking NATO member states. Russian President Vladimir Putin has dismissed such claims as “nonsense,” suggesting that Kiev’s backers were using the supposed threat of a Russian attack to “extract additional expenses from people, to make them bear this burden [of funding Ukraine] on their shoulders.”

Poland’s Andrzej Duda has contradicted Prime Minister Donald Tusk, who had claimed that Western Europe is heading for war

There is no imminent threat of a military conflict breaking out in Europe, Polish President Andrzej Duda has said, contradicting the country’s prime minister. Late last month, Donald Tusk claimed that the continent was in a “pre-war era.”

The prime minister argued at the time that “literally any scenario is possible.” Tusk also warned that “no one in Europe will be able to feel safe” if the West fails to provide Ukraine with enough weapons, allowing Russia to prevail in the conflict.

When asked whether he shared the prime minister’s grim outlook during an interview with Poland’s Fakt media outlet on Monday, Duda replied in the negative. “If we act responsibly, and we are acting responsibly so far, there will never be a war, because we will always be powerful enough to not be worth attacking,” he said.

According to the Polish president, credible deterrence helped the West to prevent the Cold War from turning into a military confrontation. He suggested that the West today should emulate this strategy by arming up.

Read more NATO creates ‘joint mission’ in Ukraine – Poland

He also said his country was ready to host the nuclear weapons of NATO allies as part of a sharing scheme within the bloc if such a decision were made.

Earlier this month, UK Defense Secretary Grant Shapps echoed Tusk’s assessment, claiming that “we have moved from a post-war to a pre-war world.” He argued that the West needed to beef up its defense spending.

EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell also subsequently stated that the “possibility of a high-intensity conventional war in Europe is no longer a fantasy.”

Moscow has repeatedly denied having any intention of attacking NATO member states. Russian President Vladimir Putin has dismissed such claims as “nonsense,” suggesting that Kiev’s backers were using the supposed threat of a Russian attack to “extract additional expenses from people, to make them bear this burden [of funding Ukraine] on their shoulders.”

Poland’s Andrzej Duda has contradicted Prime Minister Donald Tusk, who had claimed that Western Europe is heading for war

There is no imminent threat of a military conflict breaking out in Europe, Polish President Andrzej Duda has said, contradicting the country’s prime minister. Late last month, Donald Tusk claimed that the continent was in a “pre-war era.”

The prime minister argued at the time that “literally any scenario is possible.” Tusk also warned that “no one in Europe will be able to feel safe” if the West fails to provide Ukraine with enough weapons, allowing Russia to prevail in the conflict.

When asked whether he shared the prime minister’s grim outlook during an interview with Poland’s Fakt media outlet on Monday, Duda replied in the negative. “If we act responsibly, and we are acting responsibly so far, there will never be a war, because we will always be powerful enough to not be worth attacking,” he said.

According to the Polish president, credible deterrence helped the West to prevent the Cold War from turning into a military confrontation. He suggested that the West today should emulate this strategy by arming up.

Read more NATO creates ‘joint mission’ in Ukraine – Poland

He also said his country was ready to host the nuclear weapons of NATO allies as part of a sharing scheme within the bloc if such a decision were made.

Earlier this month, UK Defense Secretary Grant Shapps echoed Tusk’s assessment, claiming that “we have moved from a post-war to a pre-war world.” He argued that the West needed to beef up its defense spending.

EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell also subsequently stated that the “possibility of a high-intensity conventional war in Europe is no longer a fantasy.”

Moscow has repeatedly denied having any intention of attacking NATO member states. Russian President Vladimir Putin has dismissed such claims as “nonsense,” suggesting that Kiev’s backers were using the supposed threat of a Russian attack to “extract additional expenses from people, to make them bear this burden [of funding Ukraine] on their shoulders.”

General Aharon Haliva’s resignation is expected to be the first among many of the Jewish state’s top security brass after the October 7 attack

The head of Israel’s military intelligence agency, Major General Aharon Haliva, has stepped down over the failure of his department to prevent the October 7 Hamas attack, the Jewish state’s military announced on Monday.  

Haliva’s resignation is expected to be the first of many among Israel’s top military brass following the deadly assault last year, which saw Palestinian militants break through border defenses in Gaza, killing over 1,100 people on Israeli territory and taking some 250 hostages. The Jewish state has since launched a relentless assault on Gaza, vowing to eliminate Hamas.  

“The intelligence directorate under my command did not live up to the task we were entrusted with. I carry that black day with me ever since, day after day, night after night. I will carry the horrible pain of the war with me forever,” Haliva wrote in his resignation letter.  

Following the October 7 attack, Haliva repeatedly acknowledged his blame in failing to prevent the assault, as did a number of other top Israeli military officials. 

His resignation was met with approval from Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid, who called it “justified and dignified.” He further claimed that it would be “appropriate” for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to similarly step down. 

Read more Israel promises ‘painful blows’ to Hamas

The Israeli leader has so far refused to accept direct responsibility for allowing the attack to unfold and has not indicated any intent to voluntarily resign over the failure. He has insisted that all investigations into accountability should be saved for when the war with Hamas is over. 

“This debacle will be investigated. Everyone will have to give answers, including me,” Netanyahu said following the attack. “The only thing that I intend to have resign is Hamas. We’re going to resign them to the dustbin of history.” 

So far, Gaza health authorities have estimated that more than 34,000 Palestinians have been killed amid Israel’s siege of the enclave, which has included extensive bombardment as well as a ground incursion. 

Despite international criticism of Israel’s response, Netanyahu vowed over the weekend to increase military and diplomatic pressure on Hamas to free the remaining hostages, while threatening to “land additional and painful blows” against the Palestinian militants.

An exceptional heat wave linked to El Niño is negatively impacting the cost of food staples. Rice now costs 52 pesos per kilo, an anomaly at this time of the year, harvest season. By presidential order, the head of state gives the green light to streamline sanitary procedures for other agricultural products as well.

The launchers that Warsaw does possess are under American control, the prime minister said

Poland doesn’t have any US-made Patriot missile systems available to donate to Ukraine, unlike some other NATO nations, Prime Minister Donald Tusk stated on Monday.

The long-range air defense system emerged this month as a priority item on Kiev’s wish list after Russia began targeting Ukrainian power stations with missile strikes in what it called retaliation for drone attacks on its oil infrastructure.

After an EU summit last week, Germany promised to provide an additional Patriot battery, which costs over a billion dollars. Chancellor Olaf Scholz urged other NATO members to donate more Patriot systems to Kiev.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg suggested that members of the US-led military bloc should prioritize arming Ukraine over meeting their own defense obligations to the organization, when he discussed the situation with air defense systems last Wednesday.

“We do not have such an option,” Tusk told journalists on Monday. The battery deployed near the city of Rzeszow “is under the control and disposal of the Americans” and protects southeastern Poland. Warsaw has no such systems to spare, according to the prime minister.

Read more Kiev asks to ‘lease’ Patriot missile systems

He touted Poland’s record of supporting Kiev against Moscow in other ways, calling it a job “done perfectly” and stating that there are many other weapons systems that can benefit Ukraine.

Senior Ukrainian officials have criticized Western arms donors for failing to deliver enough Patriot systems to defend their country. President Vladimir Zelensky has said that Kiev needed at least six to seven units, while Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba has called out the US specifically, stating in an interview that “nobody in Ukraine would believe that the huge US Army doesn’t have at least one Patriot battery” to send.

“Behind closed doors, I tell all of our partners: ‘My dears, anything you want. You want to lease them, so be it. You want them to protect your border, they will. Just give them [to us],’” Kuleba explained last week.

READ MORE: Send more Patriots to Ukraine – Germany

Moscow, which perceives the Ukraine conflict as a US-led proxy war against Russia, has warned that no amount of Western weaponry will change the outcome and that the arms supplies merely prolong the bloodshed and stand in the way of achieving peace.

The launchers that Warsaw does possess are under American control, the prime minister said

Poland doesn’t have any US-made Patriot missile systems available to donate to Ukraine, unlike some other NATO nations, Prime Minister Donald Tusk stated on Monday.

The long-range air defense system emerged this month as a priority item on Kiev’s wish list after Russia began targeting Ukrainian power stations with missile strikes in what it called retaliation for drone attacks on its oil infrastructure.

After an EU summit last week, Germany promised to provide an additional Patriot battery, which costs over a billion dollars. Chancellor Olaf Scholz urged other NATO members to donate more Patriot systems to Kiev.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg suggested that members of the US-led military bloc should prioritize arming Ukraine over meeting their own defense obligations to the organization, when he discussed the situation with air defense systems last Wednesday.

“We do not have such an option,” Tusk told journalists on Monday. The battery deployed near the city of Rzeszow “is under the control and disposal of the Americans” and protects southeastern Poland. Warsaw has no such systems to spare, according to the prime minister.

Read more Kiev asks to ‘lease’ Patriot missile systems

He touted Poland’s record of supporting Kiev against Moscow in other ways, calling it a job “done perfectly” and stating that there are many other weapons systems that can benefit Ukraine.

Senior Ukrainian officials have criticized Western arms donors for failing to deliver enough Patriot systems to defend their country. President Vladimir Zelensky has said that Kiev needed at least six to seven units, while Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba has called out the US specifically, stating in an interview that “nobody in Ukraine would believe that the huge US Army doesn’t have at least one Patriot battery” to send.

“Behind closed doors, I tell all of our partners: ‘My dears, anything you want. You want to lease them, so be it. You want them to protect your border, they will. Just give them [to us],’” Kuleba explained last week.

READ MORE: Send more Patriots to Ukraine – Germany

Moscow, which perceives the Ukraine conflict as a US-led proxy war against Russia, has warned that no amount of Western weaponry will change the outcome and that the arms supplies merely prolong the bloodshed and stand in the way of achieving peace.

Despite ambitious plans to phase out Russian gas, the EU increased purchases in 2023, Reuters reported earlier this month

The predominance of fossil fuels in global energy output is nearing its end, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has claimed, adding that his country aims to produce 80% of its electricity from renewable sources by 2030.

German industry had for decades relied on relatively inexpensive Russian gas, and to a lesser extent oil. However, following the start of the Ukraine conflict in February 2022, energy imports from Moscow fell dramatically, adversely affecting the competitiveness of many German businesses.

In 2020, the European Union unveiled its Green Deal strategy for the bloc to become climate-neutral by the middle of the century.

Speaking at the opening ceremony of the Hanover trade fair on Sunday, Scholz said that the “era of fossil fuels is coming to an end.” German industry will have to reorganize its operations, but not all technological processes allow for swift decarbonization, according to the chancellor.

Read more Bank of America issues $130 oil warning

The German leader stated that “modern, highly-flexible and climate-friendly power plants” were currently being built across the country to replace traditional power sources. Scholz also said that Norway would provide Germany’s industry with “clean energy from wind and hydropower.”

Eighty percent of the nation’s electricity is expected to come from renewables by 2030, including solar power and both onshore and offshore wind, he added.

Scholz said the two years since the start of the Ukraine conflict have been “turnaround years” for Europe, allowing it to “address the necessary changes” to its energy supply.

The EU aims to completely wean itself off Russian fossil fuels by 2027. Last Friday, however, the bloc’s Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators released a report warning against drastic reductions of imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Russia.

In 2023, Russia emerged as the EU’s second-biggest LNG supplier after the US, accounting for 16% of the bloc’s imports.

Earlier this month, Reuters cited calculations based on the EU’s trade statistics as showing that Brussels increased natural gas purchases from Russia in 2023.

The island nation exports more than 50 per cent of its tea to Iran, Iraq, and Palestine. Attacks in the Red Sea have already slowed deliveries, but exporters have not noticed major price increases for now. However, as the war continues, small farmers will likely pay a heavy price.

Moscow has previously warned that such a move would undermine “the legal foundations of European and international law”

The EU is “close to a political agreement” on seizing the profits generated by Russia’s central bank reserves that remain frozen in connection with Ukraine-related sanctions, Belgian Finance Minister Vincent Van Peteghem said on Sunday.

The West immobilized around $300 billion in assets belonging to the Russian central bank following the start of hostilities in February 2022, a move denounced by Moscow as “theft.” Around $280 billion of this sum is held in the EU, primarily in the Belgium-based depositary and clearing house Euroclear.

While the US and UK have called for outright seizure of those funds, numerous reports suggest that EU countries are taking a more cautious approach, citing the lack of a legal basis for such a drastic move as well as fears of Russian retaliation.

Meanwhile, EU officials have been mulling a plan to apply a windfall tax on the profits generated by the assets. According to Eurostat, the reserves frozen in the EU generated €4.4 billion ($4.7 billion) in interest income in 2023 alone. In March, a senior EU official projected, as quoted by Reuters, that €15-20 billion ($16-21 billion) would be generated in after-tax profits by 2027.

Read more EU poised to destroy international law – Kremlin

The same month, the EU’s top diplomat, Josep Borrell, proposed handing over 90% of those profits to the European Peace Facility to be used for procurement of arms for Ukraine. The rest would be transferred to EU budgets to support Kiev’s defense industry.

Now, according to Peteghem, EU nations appear to be close to finding common ground on this plan. The minister said, as quoted by Bloomberg, that the first tax collection could take place as early as July 1. 

However, Politico reported last month that Hungary, Slovakia, Malta, and Luxembourg have challenged the idea of using the funds to aid Ukraine. While the first two countries are opposed to procuring weapons for Kiev altogether, the latter two have reportedly voiced misgivings about not being consulted on such a far-reaching plan. 

Moscow has vehemently denounced the West’s push to use its immobilized funds to support Ukraine. Commenting on Borrell’s proposal last month, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov warned that it could destroy “the legal foundations of European and international law.”

He also noted that transferring the Russian funds to Kiev would tarnish the bloc’s image and cautioned that those advancing the EU’s plan “will be subject to legal prosecution for many decades to come.”

A bill that would force China’s ByteDance to divest ownership of the popular app has been passed by the House of Representatives

TikTok is reportedly planning to legally challenge the US government if it passes a law that would require the app’s Chinese parent company to divest its ownership or face a complete ban of the platform, Bloomberg reported on Monday.

Over the weekend, the US House of Representatives tied the bill that could see TikTok banned to an emergency bill providing aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan. The legislation ultimately passed by a vote of 360 to 58. If approved by the Senate, the app’s Chinese owner ByteDance would have nine months to sell its business or have it barred from US app stores.

“This is an unprecedented deal worked out between the Republican speaker and President Biden,” Michael Beckerman, TikTok’s head of public policy for the Americas, told the company’s US staff in a memo seen by Bloomberg.

“At the stage that the bill is signed, we will move to the courts for a legal challenge,” he reportedly wrote.

Beckerman had previously insisted that the divest-or-ban demands on TikTok were a violation of the First Amendment rights of the app’s 170 million users in the US and that such legislation, if passed, would have “devastating consequences” for the nearly 7 million businesses using the platform.

“This is the beginning, not the end of this long process,” the executive said in Saturday’s memo, vowing to “continue to fight.”

China has also blasted the efforts to ban TikTok in the US, with Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin arguing that such a step would violate international trade rules.

“[The bill] runs contrary to the principles of fair competition and international economic and trade rules,” Wang said last month, accusing the US of “bullying behavior” and of “leveraging state power” against ByteDance.

Read more Beijing slams proposed US TikTok ban as ‘bandit logic’

“When someone sees a good thing another person has and tries to take it for themselves, this is entirely the logic of a bandit,” he said.

A number of American lawmakers have insisted for years that TikTok poses a “national security threat” due to its Chinese ownership, and have insisted on forcing it to sever ties with its parent company ByteDance.

However, some in the US Congress have opposed the legislation targeting the Chinese app, with Republican Representative Thomas Massie of Kentucky arguing that the “cure” presented in the bill is “worse than the disease,” as it would give the White House the power to ban other websites and apps.

Billionaire and owner of X (formerly Twitter) Elon Musk has warned that the bill is “about censorship and government control,” while the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has denounced the legislation as “violating the free speech rights of millions of Americans” who use the platform daily.

The apparent short-range weapons test comes days after Pyongyang claimed a successful trial of a new cruise missile warhead

North Korea launched several ballistic missiles into the sea on Monday, according to officials in South Korea and Japan.

Several projectiles that appeared to be short-range ballistic missiles were fired towards the Sea of Japan from the vicinity of Pyongyang and flew roughly 300km before splashing down, Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff reported. The military branded the incident “a clear provocation” threatening stability and security on the Korean Peninsula.

The Japanese Defense Ministry likewise reported a ballistic missile fired from North Korea and landing off the coast outside of the country’s exclusive economic zone. The Coast Guard said it detected no damage, while the office of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida promised further updates, after analysis of available information is complete.

Read more North Korea fires new type of ballistic missile – Seoul

According to the South Korean news agency Yonhap, it was the fourth ballistic missile test by North Korea this year. In early April, Pyongyang fired what is believed to be a new type of a solid-propellant intermediate-range projectile that can potentially deploy a hypersonic glide vehicle. North Korean state media touted the new platform in mid-March.

Last Friday, Pyongyang reported testing a new type of warhead for a cruise missile and a new anti-aircraft weapon.

In January, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un announced a major policy shift when he stated that his government is no longer seeking peaceful reunification with the South, a goal that he described as misguided. He said that since Seoul considers itself an enemy of Pyongyang, the peoples governed by the two governments cannot be treated as separated parts of the same nation.

READ MORE: US House speaker announces ‘new axis of evil’

The North says it needs advanced weapons systems to protect itself from a possible invasion by the US and its regional allies, including South Korea and Japan.

Numerous districts are struggling with overstretched resources, the head of a local councils’ association has said

Communities across Germany cannot take in more refugees, particularly those arriving from Ukraine, the president of a local councils’ association has told the Neue Osnabrucker Zeitung newspaper.

Germany hosts an estimated 1.15 million Ukrainian refugees, the largest number in Europe, followed by Poland, the Czech Republic, and the UK, according to figures from the UN Refugee Agency dated from last month.

While roughly two-thirds of Ukrainian refugees are employed in Poland and the Czech Republic, that number stands at only 20% in Germany, Deutsche Welle reported earlier this year.

In an interview with Neue Osnabrucker Zeitung on Saturday, local councils’ association president Reinhard Sager, who is also a member of the opposition Christian Democratic Union party, warned that a “number of districts and communities are overstretched by legal and illegal migration.”

“The integration of all the people is no longer possible,” he added. 

Read more EU country’s huge bill for Ukrainian refugees’ pets revealed – media

Sager pointed out that the federal government has slashed funding for municipalities which are faced with formidable costs associated with migrant and refugee accommodation. “If the number of refugees doesn’t quickly decrease noticeably and enduringly, the problems will become ever bigger, and they will come back to bite,” Sager predicted. This could lead to growing support for the far-right Alternative for Germany (AFD) party, he claimed.

Sager demanded that Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s government abolish the so-called citizen’s benefits currently granted to Ukrainian refugees, echoing statements made earlier this year by Bavarian Prime Minister Markus Soder. At present, Ukrainian nationals in Germany are entitled to more than €500 ($545) a month, and children between €357 and €471. This level of assistance is higher than the support provided to other categories of asylum seekers and refugees.

“With all due solidarity, we pose the question to Ukraine whether so many people from the country attacked by Russia must come to us,” Sager stated. He emphasized that the southern German region of Baden-Wuerttemberg alone hosts twice as many Ukrainian refugees as France. Refugee camps could instead be established in western Ukraine, or Poland might be willing to take in more people with the EU’s support, Sager suggested.

According to a poll in February, nearly 50% of respondents said the German government was giving Ukrainian refugees “too much support,” while more than half believed that efforts to integrate newcomers had failed.

Another survey conducted on behalf of the broadcaster ZDF earlier this month showed that less than half of Germans want their government to send more military aid to Ukraine. A poll commissioned by FOCUS magazine last month revealed that 53% of respondents backed Pope Francis’ call for Ukraine to engage in peace negotiations with Russia without any preconditions.

Not only Gaza and the war in Ukraine: the global arms race is also driven by Chinese pressure on Taiwan.. The 6.8% growth represents "the highest year-on-year growth since 2009". China, Russia, India and Saudi Arabia among the world's top five with the United States. Beijing's investments are affecting the other Asia-Pacific nations, especially Japan and Taiwan. Israel recorded an increase of 24%.