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The Knesset has allowed the government to suspend the broadcast of foreign TV channels on security grounds

The Israeli government will ban Al Jazeera, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday, labeling the Qatar-based pan-Arab network a mouthpiece of Hamas. The statement came almost six months into Israel’s war in Gaza. 

On Monday, the Knesset passed a temporary law allowing the prime minister to ban a foreign channel and shut down its offices if it is deemed a threat to national security. Netanyahu, who is recovering from hernia surgery, said he plans to use the law against Al Jazeera.

“Al Jazeera has harmed Israel’s security, actively participated in the October 7 massacre, and incited against Israeli soldiers. It is time to remove the bullhorn of Hamas from our country,” Netanyahu wrote on X (formerly Twitter) on Monday. 

“The terrorist channel Al Jazeera will no longer broadcast from Israel. I intend to act immediately in accordance with the new law to stop the channel’s activity.”

Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi said the channel will be blocked “in the coming days,” adding that “there won’t be freedom of expression for Hamas mouthpieces,” according to the Times of Israel. The legislation will remain in force until July 31, 2024, or until the end of “significant military actions” in the war with Hamas, the Knesset said.

Al Jazeera released a statement, saying that it “holds the Israeli prime minister responsible for the safety of its staff and network premises around the world, following his incitement and this false accusation. The channel said that “such slanderous accusations will not deter us from continuing our bold and professional coverage,” and threatened legal action.

Some Israeli legislators have opposed the law. MK Mansour Abbas argued that Al Jazeera should be allowed to broadcast because it “gives a platform to speakers from Israel, even to military spokespersons.”

The US also voiced concerns about the new law. “We believe in the freedom of the press … and that includes those who are reporting in the conflict in Gaza. So we believe that work is important,” White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters.

Al Jazeera correspondent Shireen Abu Akleh was killed while covering an Israeli raid in the West Bank in 2022. In December, Samer Abudaqa, a cameraman working for the channel, was killed during the IDF operation in Gaza. Al Jazeera blamed the Israeli army for both deaths.

Israel declared war on Hamas after the Palestinian militants carried out a surprise cross-border raid on October 7, killing some 1,100 people and taking more than 200 hostages. Dozens of captives were subsequently released through prisoner swaps during a weeklong ceasefire in November.

More than 30,000 Palestinians have been killed since October 7, according to the Hamas-run Health Service in Gaza.

The US president seemed to disavow the highly controversial move just a day after making it

US President Joe Biden has rejected criticism over his annual proclamation of March 31 as Transgender Visibility Day, which this year coincided with Easter Sunday. His ambiguous remarks on the matter, however, were perceived by his critics as a flat denial of the move he had made just a day before.

Biden was pressed on the matter by reporters and asked about the criticism, voiced by Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson, who called the step “outrageous and abhorrent’ tradition-busting moves.”

The president stated the speaker was “thoroughly uninformed” on the matter, producing what appeared to be a flat denial to a follow-up question on how exactly Johnson was “uninformed.”

I didn’t do that.

The remarks re-ignited the criticism, with Johnson taking to X (formerly Twitter) to poke fun at the president and posting a screenshot of Biden’s proclamation of March 31 as the Transgender Day of Visibility.

“This you, Joe Biden?” the speaker wrote.

This you, @JoeBiden? https://t.co/p7zmhlhQLm pic.twitter.com/ZIT6v7tiHO

Some, however, translated the president’s remarks as an attempt to explain that he was not the one to introduce the tradition in the first place, rather than a denial of his own move.

The proclamation dates back to 2009, when then-President Barak Obama introduced it shortly after assuming office, marking March 31 as Transgender Visibility Day. The date will not coincide with Easter Sunday for decades to come.

The White House appeared to back this position as well, with Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre insisting any backlash over the president’s move was “misinformation.”

“So surprised by the misinformation that’s been out there around this and I want to be very clear: every year for the past several years on March 31, Transgender Day of Visibility is marked,” she stated, adding that the nature of the situation was evident “for folks who understand the calendar and how it works.”

“Easter falls on different Sundays, right, every year, and this year it happened to coincide with Transgender Visibility Day. And so that is the simple fact. That is what has happened. That is where we are,” she explained.

Still, the affair has triggered a storm of criticism from prominent Christians and conservatives alike, getting further aggravated by the fact that the Biden administration has opted to ban children participating in the Easter Egg design contest from using religiously themed designs.

The former prime minister of Pakistan had been sentenced to a 14-year term for illegally selling state gifts

A Pakistani court on Monday granted the country’s former prime minister Imran Khan leave to appeal his conviction for graft and suspended his 14-year jail sentence, according to Reuters, citing his lawyer.

Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi were each handed a 14-year sentence on January 31 – just a week ahead of Pakistan’s February 8 elections, which Khan’s party alleges were rigged. Khan has been in prison since August last year on several charges.

According to his lawyer, Barrister Ali Zafar, the Islamabad High Court said the couple’s sentences for corruption will remain suspended until a final decision on the convictions.

“No evidence backs up this conviction,” he told reporters, claiming that was the reason why the court suspended the sentence on first hearing of the appeal.

Khan and his wife were charged with unlawfully selling state gifts, worth more than 140 million rupees ($500,000), while Khan was prime minister from 2018 to 2022. A list of these gifts reportedly included perfumes, diamond jewelry, dinner sets, and seven watches, mostly Rolexes.

Despite the suspension, 71-year-old Khan will remain in jail on multiple other sentences imposed on the politician ahead of the polls, and which also disqualified him from holding any public office for ten years.

In another such prosecution, the former PM was given ten years in prison for leaking state secrets. Khan claimed that the cable he released contained evidence of collusion between the Pakistani military and US officials to have him removed from power in April 2022.

A former cricketer-turned-politician, Khan was ousted in a no-confidence vote in 2022, with the opposition accusing him of mismanaging the economy and foreign policy. Since then, the former leader has fought dozens of legal battles.

Khan repeatedly denied the allegations and claimed that he was overthrown as a result of a conspiracy. His Tehreek-e-Insaf party (PTI) also maintained that the cases were based on made-up charges to keep him out of politics. The PTI was barred from the election, forcing its candidates to run as independents.

On March 3, Pakistan’s newly formed government elected Shehbaz Sharif, who heads the country’s Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party, as prime minister, following a general election. The vote took place amid protests by Khan’s supporters, who insist the election was a sham. This is the second term for Sharif, who was first elected prime minister in April 2022, after Khan was ousted in the no-confidence vote.

Despite his deep and long-standing ties with American politics, the Israeli PM seems to have fallen out of favor in Washington

Since the attack by militarized groups affiliated with the Palestinian movement Hamas on Israel on October 7, and the subsequent conflict in Gaza, special attention from the media has been drawn to the transformation of relations between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the administration of US President Joseph Biden.

For experts analyzing the relationship between Netanyahu and the US authorities in historical retrospect, the current “cooling” did not come as a particular surprise. It would be useful to examine Netanyahu’s biography and political career, which is closely linked to the US.

American boy Ben Nitay

Benjamin Netanyahu, a dominant figure in Israeli politics, has had a career marked by resilience, controversy, and strategic acumen. As the longest-serving Israeli prime minister, Netanyahu’s political journey encompasses several terms in office, starting from 1996 to 1999 and then from 2009 onwards, with his leadership persisting through various coalitions and political climates.

Netanyahu was born in 1949 in Tel Aviv. His mother, Tzila Segal (1912–2000), was born in Jerusalem, and his father, Warsaw native Benzion Netanyahu (Mileikowsky; 1910–2012), was a historian specializing in the Jewish Golden Age in Spain. His paternal grandfather, Nathan Mileikowsky, was a rabbi and Zionist writer. The activities of his grandfather and father had a significant influence on the formation of Netanyahu’s nationalist ideas.

Between 1956 and 1958, and then from 1963 to 1967, his family lived in the US in Cheltenham Township, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Philadelphia, while his father, Benzion Netanyahu, taught at Dropsie College. After finishing high school in 1967, Netanyahu returned to Israel to enlist in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), during which time he participated in a series of military operations and was wounded multiple times. In 1972, he completed his service and was discharged.

Netanyahu returned to the US at the end of that same year to study architecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). After a brief return to Israel to participate in the Yom Kippur War, he went back to the US and, under the name Ben Nitay, earned a Bachelor of Science degree in architecture in February 1975, followed by a Master of Science degree from the Sloan School of Management at MIT in June 1976. 

Simultaneously, he pursued a Ph.D. in political science until his studies were interrupted by the tragic news of his brother’s death in the same year, who had participated in the Entebbe raid, an anti-terrorist operation to free hostages taken on a flight from Tel Aviv to Paris in Uganda. Netanyahu’s close circle noted that the years of service in the IDF and then the death of his brother further hardened his position regarding the Palestinian issue. 

After spending a few months in Israel, ‘Bibi’ returned to the US again and started working as an economic consultant for the Boston Consulting Group, where he met and befriended Mitt Romney, a Republican politician who would later serve as the Massachusetts governor, run against Barack Obama in the 2012 presidential election, and then become the junior senator from Utah in 2019.

Thus, it can be noted that before starting out in Israeli politics, Netanyahu had formed a significant career and connections in the US, which later determined the priority directions of his foreign policy.

The rise of a young politician

In 1978, Netanyahu returned to Israel. From 1978 to 1980, he led the Jonathan Netanyahu Anti-Terrorism Institute (named after his late brother), a non-governmental organization focused on the study of terrorism. From 1980 to 1982, he was the marketing director of Rim Industries in Jerusalem. During this period, he established his first connections with several Israeli politicians, including Moshe Arens. In 1982, Arens became the Israeli ambassador to the US and took Netanyahu with him to Washington as his deputy. From 1984 to 1988, Netanyahu served as the Israeli ambassador to the UN. 

In 1988, Netanyahu returned to Israel and was elected to the Knesset as a member of the Likud party. He quickly rose through the party ranks, holding several ministerial positions, including deputy minister of foreign affairs.

In 1996, Netanyahu became the youngest person ever to hold the post of prime minister of Israel, after defeating Shimon Peres in highly competitive elections. His first term was marked by a tough stance on security issues and a cautious approach to the peace process with the Palestinians, despite signing the Hebron and Wye River agreements, which facilitated the implementation of the Oslo Accords.

After losing the 1999 election to Ehud Barak and taking a brief break from political leadership, Netanyahu returned with renewed force. He served as minister of foreign affairs and minister of finance in Ariel Sharon’s government, advocating for economic reforms and a hard line against the Palestinian intifada.

Netanyahu’s political resilience was fully demonstrated when he regained the Likud leadership and then the prime minister’s office in 2009. He then served several consecutive terms until June 2021, leading Israel through numerous challenges, including security threats, diplomatic isolation, and internal issues.

Netanyahu’s tenure has been characterized by a hard stance on security issues, particularly regarding Iran and its nuclear program, as well as a firm policy on combating terrorism. His government expanded Israeli settlements in the West Bank, leading to international criticism and tension with the Palestinians. Domestically, Netanyahu has championed a neoliberal economic policy, which spurred economic growth but also increased social inequality.

He faced numerous corruption charges, leading to widespread protests and calls for his resignation. Despite these challenges, Netanyahu has proven to be a political survivor, using his diplomatic skills, media experience, and a deep understanding of Israeli society to maintain his power.

He returned to lead the country’s government in December 2022. But this time, he decided to consolidate his power and initiated a legal reform at the beginning of 2023. This move has sparked significant controversy and protests in Israeli society. The reform involves a series of changes in the Israeli judicial system, which supporters explain as necessary to strengthen democratic principles and the balance of powers, while critics see it as a threat to democracy and the independence of the judicial system.

The cataclysms of Bibi’s relations with American authorities

Netanyahu’s relations with the US have been and remain a central aspect of his political career, reflecting a complex interplay of diplomacy, personal relations with US leaders, and at times, contentious political disagreements. These relationships have spanned the administrations of several US presidents, from Bill Clinton to Joe Biden, and have been characterized by both close cooperation and notable frictions.

Netanyahu’s first term as prime minister (1996-1999) coincided with the presidency of Bill Clinton. The two leaders had a rocky relationship, primarily due to disagreements over the peace process with the Palestinians and Israel’s settlement policy. The US sought to advance the Oslo Agreements and was often at odds with Netanyahu’s more security-oriented approach. 

Relations between Netanyahu and the US improved during George W. Bush’s presidency, especially when Netanyahu was finance minister. The Bush administration’s strong stance on combating terrorism after the September 11 attacks aligned with Netanyahu’s security policies. Moreover, Bush’s support for Israel’s right to self-defense resonated with Netanyahu’s governmental and personal philosophy.

Significant tension rose during Barack Obama’s presidency. Firstly, Bibi was displeased with Washington’s support for protest movements and state coups in the Middle East during the Arab Spring. The Israeli prime minister was convinced that the revolutions would lead to power in Arab countries falling to proponents of radical Islamist movements, which in turn would lead to problems and conflicts with his country. However, in the White House, his concerns were disregarded, and the countries’ positions on this issue were diametrically opposed.

Another major point of contention was the nuclear deal with Iran (JCPOA), which Netanyahu vehemently opposed, claiming it would not prevent Tehran from developing nuclear weapons. Making an unprecedented move that underscored the depth of these disagreements, Netanyahu addressed the US Congress in 2015, criticizing the agreement – an action viewed as a direct challenge to Obama’s foreign policy and a breach of diplomatic protocol.

Donald Trump’s presidency marked a high point in US-Israel relations under Netanyahu. Trump’s decisions to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, move the US Embassy there, and acknowledge Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights were significant policy shifts that Netanyahu welcomed and celebrated. 

This period was characterized by strong personal rapport between Netanyahu and Trump, with whom Bibi had become friends during his time as Israel’s ambassador to the UN in New York, as well as alignment on many policy issues, including a tough stance on Iran and shared skepticism toward traditional multilateral approaches to peace and security. It was under Trump that Netanyahu was able to normalize relations with several Arab countries through the Abraham Accords; it appeared that ties would be strong with Washington, and that relations with Arab countries would also improve.

Reviewing the history of Netanyahu’s relations with American authorities, one can easily discern a pattern. Bibi prefers and understands Republican presidents, whereas with Democrats, values and visions clearly clash. The logic of the relationships has not changed with the arrival of the experienced Democrat politician Joe Biden to the Oval Office.

Sworn “Friends”: Netanyahu and the Democrats

The relationship with the current Democratic administration did not start off well, as the new White House incumbent contemplated returning to the JCPOA with Iran, condemned the policy of illegal expansion of Israeli settlements on Palestinian territories, resumed funding for the UN’s Middle East agency for Palestinian refugees and works organization (UNRWA), and openly supported the two-state solution. Although Netanyahu and Biden had been closely acquainted for over four decades, their political views were very different. 

After another escalation of relations between Israelis and Palestinians in May 2021 and a series of internal crises in Israel, Netanyahu was forced to “take a break,” and on June 13, 2021, the new government of Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid was sworn in. The new authorities tried to mend relations with the Democrats, but the onset of Russia’s military operation in Ukraine prevented this. Washington demanded that everyone join the anti-Russian sanctions and isolate Moscow. Israel, like all of the US’ Middle Eastern partners in the region, did not agree.

But Netanyahu’s “break” was not long, and by December 2022, he had returned to Israel’s political Olympus, forming the most right-wing cabinet in decades. Things with Washington got even worse. Bibi and his government were condemned for their neutral stance on the Ukrainian conflict and, moreover, for the aforementioned judicial reform, which the US considered a “threat to democratic values and freedoms in Israel.” On March 20, 2023, Biden had a phone conversation with Netanyahu, during which he once again raised the significance of democracy for US-Israel relations and directly offered support in finding a compromise on the judicial reform issue.

But the crisis only deepened. After the suspension of the judicial reform, Biden told the media that Israel “can no longer go down this path” and expressed hope that the Israeli prime minister would abandon his plans. To top it off, the American president noted that he did not intend to invite Netanyahu to the White House “in the near future,” which aggravated him. The following day, Netanyahu responded: “Israel is a sovereign country that makes its decisions according to the will of its people, not based on pressure from abroad, including from the best friends.”

The events of October 7 did nothing to improve Netanyahu’s already tense relations with Washington. The Biden administration supported Israel, increasing its military presence in the region. The US House of Representatives approved a bill to allocate $14 billion in aid to Israel, and assistance in ammunition and weapons for Israel was also notably increased. However, the American authorities were extremely displeased with the IDF’s ground operation in Gaza. Multiple attempts to pressure Netanyahu and conclude a ceasefire agreement were unsuccessful. The Israeli PM disregarded all of the Biden administration’s “red lines.”

The trip of Netanyahu’s rival Benny Gantz to the US on March 4 and his negotiations with American officials were not coordinated with the PM. Many saw this as an attempt by the US to remove Netanyahu and replace him with Gantz, which only exacerbated the disagreements between the countries. 

By April 7, the current conflict between Hamas and Israel will be six months old, but there’s still no resolution in sight. Washington, along with regional players Qatar and Egypt, tried to reach a ceasefire agreement before the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, but all was in vain. 

On March 7, in a conversation with Democratic Senator Michael Bennet, Biden said, “I told Bibi: we’re going to have a ‘come to Jesus’ meeting.” In an interview with MSNBC on March 9, he explained that in the south of his home state of Delaware, the expression “come to Jesus” is used to mean “a serious meeting.” “I’ve known Bibi for 50 years, and he understood what I meant,” the US leader stated, adding that “in my view, [Netanyahu’s] doing more harm to Israel than helping it, by making the rest of the world go against what Israel stands for. And I think that’s a big mistake.”

Netanyahu responded by saying: “I don’t know what the president meant, but if he meant that I am pursuing policies against the majority of the Israeli public and that it harms Israel’s interests, then he is mistaken on both counts.” “We will go there. We will not back down from this. You know, I also have a ‘red line.’ You know what that ‘red line’ is? To ensure that October 7th never happens again. It will never happen again,” Bibi added, referring to the operation in the Palestinian city of Rafah, which Washington opposes.

In summary, it can be noted that indeed, Netanyahu’s relations with the Biden administration are deteriorating against the backdrop of the war in Gaza and global turbulence. The White House does not want to understand that Netanyahu places the interests of his government above all else, even if they conflict with American interests. Or perhaps it understands but is unwilling to make attempts to find a compromise.

Despite the current “cooling” and certain disagreements, the common strategic interests and long-term ties between the countries support a strong partnership capable of withstanding challenges and changes on the international stage. For Netanyahu himself, the US is an important and necessary partner, with whom he is intimately familiar. Moreover, many in the Israeli corridors of power anticipate a victory for Donald Trump in the November election, believing that should he return to office, relations between the countries will be mended.

The Islamic Republic of Pakistan has seen rising calls to boycott Western companies over the Gaza conflict

A crowd chanting anti-Israel slogans set fire to a KFC fast food restaurant in the Pakistan-administered region of Kashmir on Friday night, leading to the arrest of more than 50 people, AFP reports, citing police.

The police chief of the city of Mirpur told the outlet over the weekend that nearly 400 protesters had gathered at the height of the demonstration, sparking clashes with law enforcement.

“We had told them that they can only protest in a certain area. But, when their numbers started growing, they made their way over to KFC,” Kamran Mughal told AFP, adding that nine police officers were injured when the demonstrators pelted them with rocks.

The crowd then set fire to the fast-food restaurant, shouting that they were burning KFC as people ran out onto the street to escape the fire.

A KFC branch set on fire in Mirpur, AJK.#Pakistan #AJK #Kashmir #KFC pic.twitter.com/VmFDeF77l2

The building did not completely burn down, according to the AFP. Videos circulating on social media show smashed windows, broken furniture and damaged equipment.

Pakistan, an Islamic republic, has seen growing calls to boycott KFC in recent months amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict.

Originally known as Kentucky Fried Chicken, KFC is the world’s second-largest restaurant chain after McDonald’s, with over 22,000 locations globally in 150 countries as of December 2019. Its parent company, Yum Brands, has been hit by boycotts over its decision to continue doing business in Israel and its investment in Israeli start-ups.

READ MORE: McDonald’s and Starbucks say Gaza conflict is hurting business

Numerous major Western brands, and particularly US fast-food giants, have lost customers and seen profits dented in Muslim countries due to boycott campaigns targeting companies seen as supporting Israel’s war in Gaza.

Israel launched its operation in Gaza following an incursion by Hamas militants into the southern part of the country last October. During the attack, over 1,200 people were killed and scores of hostages were abducted. The Israeli campaign has left at least 32,000 people dead, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. UN Human Rights Council rapporteur Francesca Albanese has accused Israel of “genocide” in the enclave.

Republicans in the lower chamber are looking for ways to sell the bill to their base

The US House of Representatives is likely to vote on the $61 billion Ukraine aid bill, with some “innovations” added, after it returns from recess on April 9, Speaker Mike Johnson has said.

The Louisiana Republican has been under tremendous pressure to call a vote since mid-February, when the White House’s request was approved by the Senate. Speaking with Fox News on Sunday evening, Johnson signaled that he might finally do so next week.

“When we return after this work period, we’ll be moving a product, but it’s going to, I think, have some important innovations,” he said.

Among the ideas under consideration are converting a portion of the grants into a loan, which was endorsed by the prospective presidential nominee Donald Trump, and using the Russian property seized under the Rebuilding Economic Prosperity and Opportunity (REPO) for Ukrainians Act.

“If we can use the seized assets of Russian oligarchs to allow the Ukrainians to fight them, that’s just pure poetry,” Johnson told Fox. “Even Trump has talked about the loan concept, where we’re not just giving foreign aid, we’re setting it up in a relationship where they can provide it back to us when the time is right.”

The White House originally requested the Ukraine funding in October, as part of a $100 billion bundle including military aid to Israel and Taiwan. It was originally delayed by the Republican ouster of House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and the election of Johnson, who vowed to vote on single-item bills only. 

Since then, however, multiple Republican members of the House have abruptly resigned their seats, threatening the party’s already slim majority. Speaking with Trey Gowdy – himself a former member of Congress, who resigned in 2018 to take a job at Fox – Johnson argued that the party can ill afford any dissent.

“What we have to do in an era of divided government, historically, as we are, you got to build consensus. If we want to move a partisan measure, I got to have every single member, literally. And some things need to be bipartisan,” Johnson said.

Last week, Johnson agreed to ram through a $1.2 trillion omnibus funding President Joe Biden’s agenda through September, in exchange for symbolic concessions. 

While some Republicans oppose pouring more money down the Ukraine drain, they are outnumbered by supporters of the Kiev government, and the bill has a good chance of passing with the support of Democrats. 

Afghanistan is expected to participate in the annual event, devoted to economic cooperation between Moscow and the Islamic world

The Taliban has been invited to participate in an upcoming economic forum in Russia, according to Moscow’s special presidential envoy on Afghanistan. Zamir Kabulov confirmed to TASS on Monday that Taliban representatives plan to take part in the event.

The 15th international ‘Russia-Islamic World: KazanForum’ will be held on May 14-19 in Kazan, the capital of Russia’s Republic of Tatarstan. It is the main platform for economic cooperation between Moscow and the countries of the Islamic world, according to the forum’s website.

Kabulov did not provide any further details, but said that cooperation between Russia and the Taliban government in Afghanistan on countering international terrorism “is carried out on a regular basis.” 

It is not the first time that the Taliban has been invited to the Kazan forum. Kabulov, however, who also serves as the director of the second Asian Department at the Russian Foreign Ministry, clarified last year that the Taliban’s participation “absolutely does not mean” its recognition by Moscow.

Russia’s Foreign Ministry told TASS on Monday that the issue of withdrawing the ‘terrorist organization’ designation from the Taliban is currently being worked out, with the final decision to be made by the country’s top leadership.

Although Russia has not formally recognized the Taliban, which took power in Kabul in 2021 during the final stage of the withdrawal of US troops, Moscow was among the first to establish contacts and agree business deals with the new government. Not a single country officially recognizes the Taliban government.

READ MORE: World must work with Taliban – Moscow

The Taliban first came to power in Afghanistan in the 1990s but was ousted in 2001 during the US-led invasion. The Taliban insurgency continued for 20 years, culminating in a march on Kabul in August 2021, during which internationally recognized President Ashraf Ghani was forced to flee the country.

After assuming power once again, the Taliban promised not to allow any discrimination against women. The group, however, soon adopted a set of regulations restricting female participation in public life. The move has drawn criticism from the UN and international human rights organizations.

The former PayPal chief says US politicians such as Nancy Pelosi should be held accountable for encouraging the doomed operation

The failure of Ukraine’s 2023 summer counteroffensive against Russia was “easily predictable,” according to US tech entrepreneur and venture capitalist David Sacks, who has suggested that the Washington elite should be held accountable for talking up the doomed operation. 

Sacks’ comments came in response to a post on Saturday by Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, who condemned the unnecessary loss of life suffered by Kiev’s forces as they attempted to “attack a larger army” that had superior defenses. 

The failed Ukrainian counteroffensive was “one of the biggest debacles in the history of modern warfare,” Sacks said in agreement, adding that Kiev’s soldiers and tanks had effectively run “headlong into minefields while Russian artillery rained down on them from heavily fortified positions.”  

“This should have been easily predictable,” the former PayPal COO and founder of the Yammer corporate social network stressed.  

According to estimates released in March by the Russian Defense Ministry, the Ukrainian military saw over 166,000 casualties during last year’s failed counteroffensive. Kiev’s overall casualties since the outbreak of the conflict with Russia stand at 444,000, the ministry has claimed.  

Sacks went on to suggest that US officials such as ex-CIA chief David Petraeus, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and current US Secretary of State Antony Blinken should all be held responsible for encouraging the doomed operation. 

“These people are fools who should have no credibility left. But of course the MSM never holds them accountable so we will get more of the same until Ukraine finally collapses,” Sacks surmised. 

Musk, meanwhile, has called the counteroffensive “a tragic waste of life for Ukraine,” suggesting that Kiev should not have attacked Russian forces – which had deployed vast minefields and had stronger artillery – while Ukrainian forces lacked armor or air superiority. 

“Any fool could have predicted that,” the billionaire said, recalling that one year ago he had recommended that Kiev’s forces entrench and apply all resources to defense. 

Musk stated that Kiev would continue to have difficulty holding on to territory, but suggested that Russia was unlikely try to take over the entire country, arguing that it would face “extreme” local resistance in western regions of Ukraine. 

He also warned that if the conflict “lasts long enough, Odessa will fall,” and advised Kiev to reach a negotiated settlement with Moscow as soon as possible, before Russia gains more territory and Ukraine loses all access to the Black Sea. 

Moscow has stressed that it remains open to meaningful talks with Kiev, and has blamed the lack of a diplomatic breakthrough on the Ukrainian authorities, who refuse to accept the “reality on the ground.”

If conflict occurs, Washington will focus on Asia, and European NATO members will be “totally alone,” Rheinmetall’s CEO has warned

Washington has sent a clear message to European NATO members that they can no longer rely on its military protection, the head of German defense giant Rheinmetall has claimed.

For decades, the EU has taken it for granted that the US would come to its rescue in case of war, but “that will no longer happen,” CEO Armin Papperger told The Financial Times. He cited the failure of the US Congress to approve continued military assistance to Ukraine as a signal to Europe that the Americans are not willing to pay for its security.

The US is treaty-obligated to consider an attack on any NATO member as an attack on itself. The so-called Article 5 commitment has been brought into question by former President Donald Trump, who has argued that US protection should be conditional on other bloc members meeting their military spending obligations. Trump claims he said as much to a European leader while in office. US President Joe Biden has denounced the remarks as “dangerous” and “un-American”.

If Trump is reelected as president in November, “the pressure will be higher” on Germany, Papperger said, but the risk will still be there regardless of who wins the presidency.

”The US focuses more on the Asia-Pacific area than on Europe,” he said. If a full-blown armed conflict erupts in the region, “the US will focus on Asia, and then Europe will be totally alone.”

Papperger said his warning to European nations stems from his enduring perception of the world as “dangerous.” It has also shaped his response to the Ukraine crisis and the EU’s intention to ramp up arms production. Unlike people at the helm of other major producers, he did not hesitate to invest in expansion, the Financial Times report noted.

Since the Russia-Ukraine hostilities erupted in 2022, the Dusseldorf-based company’s share price has surged fivefold. Rheinmetall has announced plans to open armor and munitions factories in Ukraine, despite the risk of them being targeted by Russian forces.

READ MORE: Zelensky and the West have found a new scam – and taxpayers will foot the bill

Kiev and its Western backers have claimed that a Russian victory in the conflict would expose NATO members in Europe to a future attack by Moscow. Russian President Vladimir Putin called this argument “simply delirious” last week, considering the vast advantage in military spending that the US-led military bloc has.

Arms maker MBDA cannot produce more munitions without an order from Berlin, Thomas Gottschild has said

Production of Taurus missiles, which Kiev has been pressuring Berlin to supply for use against Russia, is currently suspended, the head of the German branch of European arms manufacturer MBDA has said.

Around 600 of the missiles have so far been produced at a facility in the State of Bavaria, but the company cannot make more of them because it has no current contract with the German authorities, Thomas Gottschild said in an interview with the Augsburger Allgemeine newspaper on Saturday.

The production lines for the Taurus are still available, so MBDA could “ramp up” deliveries of the missiles “at any time,” the executive said. “To do this, however, we would need a new order for these weapons,” he added.

The company cannot make reserves of the missiles because it is prohibited under German law, he explained.

The halt in production is always a “challenge” for the defense industry, Gottschild stressed. “Our suppliers, who are often small and medium-sized enterprises... often cannot afford financially to maintain production lines. So if we were to receive new orders for the Taurus, our suppliers would first have to reposition themselves and, for example, secure the raw materials they need,” he explained.

The Taurus missile has a range of over 500km (around 310 miles) and “is only detected very late by radar” as it moves at a low altitude, the executive said. “This capability profile is in high demand, especially in Ukraine.”

However, Gottschild declined to answer a question on whether Kiev should be given the missiles, calling it a “political decision” that should be made by the German government.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz doubled down on his refusal to provide Ukraine with Taurus missiles in mid-March, telling parliament that “this is a very long-range weapon” that could not be used without the deployment of German soldiers.”

The statement was made just over a week after the publication by RT Editor-in-Chief Margarita Simonyan of a leaked recording, in which high-ranking German officers discussed the possible use of Taurus missiles against the Crimean Bridge, and spoke about maintaining plausible deniability in the event of such an attack on Russian territory.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the leak “once again confirms the direct involvement of… the so-called collective West in the conflict around Ukraine,” while Russia’s First Deputy Permanent Representative at the UN, Dmitry Polyansky, suggested that it revealed Germany’s “new colors,” portraying it as “lying, mean, aggressive, revanchist and Russophobic.”

READ MORE: Here’s the worst part about the leaked German ‘Crimean Bridge attack’ call

The German authorities confirmed the authenticity of the recording, but claimed that Moscow took the conversation out of context in an attempt to cause division among Ukraine’s allies in the West.

Kiev will get used but “still functional” VAB vehicles, the French defense minister has said

France will supply Ukraine with additional surface-to-air missiles and hundreds of armored vehicles from its storage supplies, Defense Minister Sebastien Lecornu has announced. The deliveries of materiel, some of which is over 40 years old, are set to begin this summer.

Speaking on Sunday to the newspaper La Tribune Dimanche, Lecornu said he had been instructed by French President Emmanuel Macron to come up with a “new aid package” to help Kiev’s war effort against Russia.

Supplies will include equipment that was previously used by the French army but “is still functional,” as well as a “new batch of Aster 30 missiles” that are designed to intercept drones, and cruise missiles with a range of 120km.

“To hold such a long frontline, the Ukrainian army needs, for example, our armored vehicles – this is absolutely key for troop mobility and is part of Ukraine’s requests,” the minister said.

“We’re talking in the hundreds for 2024 and early 2025,” he clarified, when asked about the timeframe, adding that he had asked the government defense procurement agency to accelerate the production of Aster missiles.

The French military is currently seeking to replace thousands of VAB (Véhicule de l’Avant Blindé) armored personnel carriers – which first entered service some 45 years ago – with newer types of APC. 

In February, Macron signed a new security pact with Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky, pledging €3 billion in military aid to Kiev for the year 2024 alone.

However, the bilateral security agreement has turned into a “budgetary and political headache” for the government and it is “extremely unclear” how the promise will materialize given public resistance to spending cuts and further aid to Kiev, the French publication Le Monde reported last week.

The paper suggested that in order to provide €3 billion, the French authorities would have to “play with the paperwork” or inflate the value of used equipment donated to Kiev.

Macron has previously stated that the West will “do anything we can to prevent Russia from winning this war.”

Moscow has repeatedly warned that deliveries of weapons to Kiev by Western allies will not change the course of its military operation, but will only increase the risk of a direct confrontation between Russia and NATO.

Justice Minister Yariv Levin briefly took the political reins while the Israeli prime minister had a hernia procedure

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said he hopes to “return to action very quickly” after he was diagnosed with a hernia which required a medical procedure under general anesthesia on Sunday.

The Israeli prime minister’s office said a hernia was found during a “routine checkup” on Saturday, confirming that the 74-year-old leader would be briefly incapacitated during surgery on Sunday night. Netanyahu’s deputy and close ally, Yariv Levin, who is also the country’s justice minister, temporarily filled the prime ministerial role during the procedure.

Early on Monday morning, Netanyahu’s office announced that the surgery had been successful and that he was “in good shape and beginning to recover.”

Ahead of the procedure, Netanyahu held a press conference indicating that his condition was not serious. “I assure you that I will get through this treatment successfully and return to action very quickly,” the Israeli leader told reporters.

READ MORE: Netanyahu approves ‘operational plan’ to attack Rafah in Gaza

A hernia is an opening or weakness in the muscle wall, which allows internal tissue or organ, usually abdominal, to protrude outward. Netanyahu’s doctors, however, did not say where exactly the hernia had been discovered.

Israel’s longest-serving leader, now into his sixth term, underwent heart surgery last July, during which he was fitted with a pacemaker. On that occasion Levin also served as acting prime minister while Netanyahu was incapacitated.

Netanyahu’s latest health concern comes as Israel continues to wage war against Hamas in Gaza. The prime minister has vowed to eliminate the Palestinian militant group after it staged a deadly raid into Israel last October, in which some 1,200 people were killed and dozens taken hostage. The Israeli campaign has inflicted heavy damage on Gaza, leaving at least 32,000 people dead, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.

On Sunday, Netanyahu reiterated his resolve to achieve a “victory,” revealing that he had already approved an “operational plan” for a renewed push into the southern Gaza city of Rafah.

Once the US has its claws in a country, it won’t let go easily – and friend or foe, you’ll be left drained and broken

‘March Madness’ is such a NATO thing. The Western military alliance routinely kicks off conflicts in foreign countries during this particular month, most recently Serbia (1999), Iraq (2003), Libya (2011), and Syria (2011). In that last case, it took a few years for the US to actually invade, but the sanctions and the covert support of anti-government forces began right away.

Remember Bashar Assad, the Syrian president who simply ‘had to go’, according to everyone from then-UK Prime Minister David Cameron, and then-Secretary of State John Kerry, to then-Italian Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni Silveri. Whatever happened to Assad, anyway? Turns out that he’s still living a quiet life as president of Syria, and hardly ever finds his name being rolled around in the mouths of NATO’s regime change enthusiasts anymore.

Nearly a decade after mounting a propaganda campaign to support a US-led NATO invasion of the country, the State Department’s special envoy to the conflict, Ambassador James Jeffrey, confirmed in 2020 that the US was no longer seeking Assad’s ouster. Instead, he said, it wanted to see “a dramatic shift in behavior,” evoking Japan’s transformation in the wake of the US dropping a couple of bombs on it during World War II. 

That’s quite the policy shift. But it can be explained in exactly the same way that a guy who lusts after a girl and gets shot down suddenly starts telling people that he was never really into her anyway. The attitude changed because Washington had no choice. It had tried just about everything, and failed.

The anti-Syrian propaganda, now virtually non-existent, had for years been relentless. We were told that Assad had simply lost control of the country, and that the US and its allies couldn’t risk having ISIS terrorists running around as a threat and trying to establish a caliphate in Syria because Assad simply wasn’t able to stop them. And whenever he did try, he was conveniently accused of humanitarian offenses. So of course, here comes Uncle Sam to ‘help’ get rid of ISIS, and also Assad – totally without any humanitarian issues, because American bombs aren’t like that.

In the process, the CIA and Pentagon spent billions of dollars training and equipping ‘Syrian rebels’, many of whom bailed out to join other jihadist groups, including ISIS and Al-Qaeda, taking their shiny new weapons with them. 

There’s a glaring parallel here with Ukraine, which risks following a similar trajectory with Western involvement and patronage. Even before the current conflict, the CIA-linked Freedom House and others had questioned the extent to which far-right extremists controlled the country. Major Western media outlets were publishing pieces referencing Ukraine’s neo-Nazi problem. So it looks like the same argument could someday be used on Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky – that he’s lost control of the country to extremists. And just like the West trained extremists in Syria under the guise of helping, they’ve done the exact same thing in Ukraine by training and equipping the Azov neo-Nazi fighters.

So what happened to those ‘Syrian rebels’, anyway? Since Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan didn’t want a festering jihadist nest right next door, and knowing exactly who those fighters were ever since a NATO base in Türkiye served as a staging ground for the mission to support them, he ultimately airlifted them en masse (an estimated 18,000 of them) to go fight – and die – in another war that NATO had also kicked off in Libya. So, problem solved. But the move raises a question for Ukraine’s future. What are all the Western-trained neo-Nazis going to do when the dust settles in Ukraine, if Russia doesn’t complete its stated mission of de-Nazification?

Former French intelligence chief Alain Juillet has noted that the terrorist troubles in Syria just happened to arise three weeks after Assad’s selection in 2011 of an Iranian-Iraqi pipeline through Syria, rather than a Saudi-Qatari pipeline. The competing pipeline plans would provide a way for either Iran or Qatar to ship natural gas to Europe from the Iranian-Qatari South Pars/North Dome gas field, thus eliminating the high cost of transporting the gas by tankers. So the impetus for intervention was likely economic, as is typically the case. There’s also little question that the West has always wanted to control Syria as a means of containing Iran. 

Not only did that plan backfire, but spectacularly so. By 2015, then-US President Barack Obama, who at one point weighed conducting airstrikes on the country, was asking Syrian allies Russia and Iran to work with the US to “resolve the conflict.” He stated that “we must recognize that there cannot be, after so much bloodshed, so much carnage, a return to the pre-war status quo.” The US had gone from guns ablaze regime-change mode, to asking ‘pretty please’ permission of Syrian allies Russia and Iran to help them do it. 

Both Iran and Russia had entered the conflict militarily at the request of Assad’s government to help stabilize the country, with Moscow first entering the scene when fighting got too close for comfort to its warm water base for the Black Sea Fleet in Tartus. So basically, Russia was called in to help clean up the mess that the US and NATO had made of the country. And by December 2018, when I asked Russian President Vladimir Putin at his annual press conference whether then-US President Donald Trump was right about ISIS being defeated in Syria, he agreed. 

So Trump yanked out the US special forces troops who had been deployed to the country, and declared that America would only keep hanging around where the oil was, in Syria’s eastern oil fields. “Our mission is the enduring defeat of ISIS,” the Pentagon chief said, attempting to reframe Trump’s crass admission. Yeah, right – because it’s not enough that ISIS isn’t really a problem anymore. Uncle Sam has to stick around to make sure that they never come back, ever again. Guess there’s no chance of just heading home and kicking back with a few beers and waiting to see if it’s actually going to be a problem in the future? Nope! Not when so much has been invested in establishing an in-country military footprint that just happens to be right on top of the biggest pile of Syria’s natural resources – the kind that have been the topic of CIA intelligence directorate reports since at least 1986. In December 2023, Syrian Oil Minister Firas Hassan Kaddour evoked the plan to “liberate” the oil fields from US occupation.

Peace in Syria was only possible because of Russia helping to eliminate the troublemakers. Has Zelensky considered what his own future might look like if Russia doesn’t actually succeed in doing the same in Ukraine – and that maybe Russia achieving its goals wouldn’t actually be the worst thing that could happen? The Ukrainian president is already being accused of “consolidating power,” by the State Department-backed media, and has canceled presidential elections. If he doesn’t get a handle on the hoodlums, like the ones in the Ternopol regional council busy giving out awards named after famous Ukrainian Nazis to other famous Ukrainian Nazis, then he’s ripe for the Assad treatment. And if he’s too harsh with them, then he risks being accused, like Assad, of undemocratic heavy-handedness. And at the very least, Ukraine ‘winning’ means that Zelensky is going to have to let his new friends hang out and take what they want for as long as they want to – as the Syria case proves. The West lost in Syria and still won’t go home. Imagine if it had actually been able to have free run of the place. Maybe there’s something worse than a Russian ‘win’ for Ukraine: Permanent occupiers who use friendship as a pretext to stick around and suck the country dry.

The item seen as sacrilegious has caused outrage among Muslims in Malaysia

A Molotov Cocktail was thrown at a KK Super Mart, one of Malaysia’s major convenience-store chains, in a city in the east of the country on Saturday, according to police. The company’s top executives have been charged with hurting religious feelings, after its shops sold socks with Allah, the Arabic word for God, printed on them.

Two-thirds of the country’s population of 34-million are Malay muslims and, in Islam, the association of feet with God is deemed highly offensive. Photos of the controversial socks attracted widespread outrage online during the past weeks, also coinciding with the holy month of Ramadan. 

KK Super Mart, which is Malaysia’s second-largest chain of convenience stores, reportedly found 14 pairs of socks with ‘Allah’ imprinted on them, at three locations of its 881 outlets.

Saturday’s attack on one of its stores occurred in the city of Kuantan. Police said the incendiary device caused a small fire at the entrance and nobody was hurt, according to Reuters. City police chief Wan Mohamad Zahari Wan Busu told the news agency that he believes the attack could be linked to the socks, “but we are still investigating.”

Another attack occurred last Tuesday, when a bottle filled with petrol was thrown into a KK Super Mart in Perak state, 100 kilometers north of the capital Kuala Lumpur, according to state media Bernama. That device failed to explode and there were no injuries, local newspaper China Press reported.

Last Tuesday, company CEO Chai Kee Kan, who is ethnic Chinese, and his wife Low Siew Mui, a company director, were charged with “deliberately intending to hurt … religious feelings.” Three representatives of the supplier Xin Jian Chang were also charged. All have pleaded not guilty. If convicted, they could face up to a year in jail and a fine, or may receive a fine only. The hearing is set for the end of April.

KK Super Mart has apologized for the incident, saying it takes the matter “seriously” and has stopped the sale of the product, and that it has also sued the supplier. The supplier has also apologized, saying the “problematic socks” were inside a stack of thousands of pairs with different designs, which had been ordered from a China-based company.

According to the Star newspaper, KK Super Mart has put on display an apology note at its shops across the country.

The new King of Malaysia Sultan Ibrahim Sultan Iskandar, in a rare royal rebuke, has called for ‘stern’ action against those found guilty, “whether this incident was intentional or otherwise, whether the socks were imported or produced in local factories.”

Former president Donald Trump’s campaign has demanded an apology for the “blasphemous” assault on the Christian faith

US President Joe Biden is facing an angry backlash from conservative and religious critics after he made his annual proclamation of March 31 as Transgender Visibility Day – a date which this year coincides with Easter Sunday.

According to the White House, the celebration is designed to “honor the extraordinary courage and contributions of transgender Americans and reaffirm our Nation’s commitment to forming a more perfect Union.”

“Today, we send a message to all transgender Americans: You are loved. You are heard. You are understood. You belong. You are America, and my entire Administration, and I have your back,” Biden wrote in his proclamation on Friday.

As a part of the inclusivity campaign, the White House has also prohibited children from submitting Easter eggs decorated with “questionable content” such as “religious symbols, overtly religious themes” from the traditional Easter Art contest. The event is a core component of the White House’s annual Easter celebration that has been in place for nearly 50 years.

The tradition of celebrating the success of transgender people on the last day of March started in 2009, and will not fall on Easter Sunday again until 2086. However, this year's coincidence has sparked outrage from conservative critics, with some calling it an “absolute disgrace” and going as far as branding  Democrats as “a Satanic cult.”

Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson called the step “outrageous and abhorrent’ tradition-busting moves,” while Jim Blanks, the GOP Senate candidate said that it was “a slap in the face to hundreds of millions of Christians in America and across the globe.” Georgia Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene claimed that “there is no length and the Democrats won’t go to mock your faith, and to thumb his nose at God.”

Former president and presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump has also responded to the controversy, branding the move “blasphemous” and accusing the Biden Administration of “years-long assault on the Christian faith.”

“It is appalling and insulting that Joe Biden’s White House prohibited children from submitting religious egg designs for their Easter Art event, and formally proclaimed Easter Sunday as ‘Trans Day of Visibility,” the Trump campaign said in a statement posted on X (formerly Twitter) on Saturday, demanding an apology from President Biden.

The White House has hit back at the criticism, accusing Republicans of using the occasion to attack President Joe Biden despite knowing that Trans Day was always marked on the last day of March, while Easter Sunday changes from year to year.

“Sadly, it’s unsurprising politicians are seeking to divide and weaken our country with cruel, hateful, and dishonest rhetoric. President Biden will never abuse his faith for political purposes or for profit,” White House spokesperson Andrew Bates said in a statement.

Mapped coordinates show the routes people took to the location from July 2016 until the financier’s arrest in July 2019, according to Wired

Nearly 200 people made multiple trips to disgraced financier Jeffry Epstein’s Caribbean island between 2016 and before his final arrest in 2019, according to data obtained by Wired.

The convicted sex offender trafficked and assaulted minors and women on to Little Saint James, where he would also invite influential and wealthy individuals, earning it the nickname ‘pedophile island’.

A document newly uncovered by Wired cites mobile data provided by Near Intelligence that pinpoints the locations of up to 166 potential visitors or victims, from across the US and the world.

Many of the coordinates mapped by Near Intelligence lead to multimillion-dollar homes in the US. Others trace to lower-income areas where Epstein's victims are known to have lived and attended school, including parts of West Palm Beach, Florida.

Police and a private investigator say they have located around 40 of Epstein’s victims in the area, the outlet wrote, adding it is still unclear how that data was collected or what it was used for.

In January, newly-published legal documents listed some 100 people allegedly linked to Epstein, including former US President Bill Clinton and Britain’s Prince Andrew. The latter reached an out of court settlement with a woman who accused him of sexual assault in 2022.

Epstein was eventually arrested in 2019 and charged with trafficking dozens of minors. He died awaiting trial in a Manhattan jail cell a month later, with his death officially ruled a suicide. Epstein’s girlfriend and reputed ‘madam’, Ghislaine Maxwell, was convicted and sentenced to 20 years behind bars for child sex trafficking in 2022. She is currently appealing the verdict.

The Hungarian PM has said he is making efforts towards reaching a diplomatic solution to the conflict between Kiev and Moscow

Ukraine’s path to peace and security could lie in establishing a buffer zone next to the Russian border, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has said. With the conflict between Moscow and Kiev in its third year, the Western flow of military and financial aid to Ukraine is dwindling, while its army is losing ground.

Orban suggested that now is the time for a ceasefire, Hungarian magazine Mandiner wrote on Friday, quoting the prime minister’s interview with former Austrian Chancellor Wolfgang Schussel in Budapest.

There is no remaining “reasonable dispute between Russia and the West,” Orban added.

READ MORE: EU lawmakers to sue European Commission over funds for Hungary

“People in Europe are not happy that their governments want to provide more financial assistance to Ukraine,” he said, explaining that Europe cannot provide the kind of support that would result in a military victory for Ukraine. EU states have allocated €77 billion ($83 billion) in aid to Kiev, while pledging €144 billion since the beginning of the conflict in February 2022, according to Germany’s Kiel Institute.

Ukraine has lost several strategically important cities in Donbass in the last month. Officials in Kiev have repeatedly cited the lack of Western-supplied munitions as the reason for their battlefield setbacks.

Orban doubled down on his idea of a buffer zone next to the Russian border as Ukraine’s ideal peace solution, provided there are “additional security guarantees.” Without this, he said, “they could lose their country.”

He stressed that Russia will never accept Ukraine joining NATO. Moscow has stated that one of the main causes of the conflict was the expansion of the US-led military bloc towards Russia’s borders.

President Vladimir Putin has said one of the key goals of the Russian military operation is to force Kiev away from its goal of joining NATO – an ambition enshrined in the country’s constitution in 2019. While the Hungarian prime minister condemned the Russian military operation, he has repeatedly spoken out against the EU’s handling of it. Unlike the other EU states, Hungary has not sent any armaments to Kiev, limiting their contributions to humanitarian aid.

Rising cost of living, disappointment with political leaders, and crushing loneliness are souring moods in the Land of the Free

From a sputtering economy and high inflation to a lack of trust in political leadership, Americans are expressing displeasure with many facets of their daily lives.

In the annual World Happiness Report, the United States plunged eight places to 23rd, a historic low for the land famous for its pearly white smiles. It’s the first time since the report launched back in 2012 that the US did not feature among the world’s 20 happiest countries.

So what’s dragging Americans down? Perhaps the best place to start is with the economy, which has left many people in the dust as the rich just keep getting richer. Consumer prices for basic grocery items remain above what they were in January 2021, when President Joe Biden assumed office. Prices for chicken (+26%), bread (+30%), sugar (+44%), and butter (+27%) are enough to trigger many shoppers, while a simple trip to a restaurant has become a rare luxury for many financially strapped consumers. Meanwhile, rent costs have surged by 20% over the same period.

Amid this sticker shock at the checkout line, Americans have also expressed a heavy amount of skepticism with the political system. A comprehensive Pew Research Center survey reveals high levels of dissatisfaction with the three branches of government, the Democratic and Republican parties, as well as the candidates for office.

Among the findings, just 4% of US adults say the political system is working extremely or very well; another 23% report it is working somewhat well. About six in ten (63%) express not too much or no confidence at all in the future of the US political system.

A growing proportion of Americans are expressing contempt for both political parties. Nearly three in ten (28%) express unfavorable opinions of both parties, the highest share in three decades of polling. And a comparable share of respondents (25%) do not feel well-represented by either party.

While trust in government has remained near historic lows for much of the last two decades, today it stands among the lowest levels dating back nearly seven decades. And now, three years after the January 6 protests at the Capitol Building, more Americans believe their country is heading for a political smash-up.

According to a CBS/YouGov poll released in January, 49% of respondents expect some sort of violence in future political contests, like the upcoming showdown between Donald Trump and Joe Biden on November 4. Meanwhile, a full 70% agreed with the statement that American democracy is ‘threatened’.

Not since the Civil War period have the American people witnessed such stark political divisions, and it seems to be just a matter of time before the Blue and Gray battle fatigues are back in style, albeit over entirely different issues.

The Democrats and Republicans are trapped inside of their own iron-clad echo chambers, where they are prevented from hearing their political opponents just across the aisle. This lack of a national dialogue, worsened by an overtly pro-liberal media, is what spawned the so-called insurrection on January 6, and could easily trigger a new bout of violence sometime down the road.

Feelings of loneliness is another thing dragging Americans down. In May 2023, US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy called loneliness a “public health epidemic.” The latest Healthy Minds Monthly Poll from the American Psychiatric Association (APA) reveals that, early in 2024, 30% of adults said they have “experienced feelings of loneliness at least once a week over the past year, while 10% say they are lonely every day.”

Somewhat surprisingly, younger people were more likely to experience these feelings, with 30% of Americans aged 18-34 reporting they are “lonely every day or several times a week, and single adults are nearly twice as likely as married adults to say they have been lonely on a weekly basis over the past year (39% vs. 22%).”

Meanwhile, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that approximately one in ten Americans aged 12 and over takes antidepressant medication. More than 60% of Americans taking antidepressant medication have taken it for two years or longer, with 14% having taken the medication for ten years or more.

So what is it that has put the American people in a grand funk? Needless to say, runaway inflation has prompted a deep distrust of politicians and corporations, which, by the look of things, are only in business to fleece the powerless consumers.

This alienation from the powers-that-be, together with feelings of loneliness, triggered by a disconnected society that increasingly meets only online, has prompted a mental health emergency.

How can the American people begin to fix their broken society? It seems that the only answer is to begin breaking down the walls that separate the various segments of society so that a national conversation can truly begin.

So where are the world’s happiest places to live? According to the World Happiness Report, the majority of the top ten happiest places are primarily northern countries that just happen to have the least amount of sunshine: Finland, Denmark, Iceland, Sweden, Israel, the Netherlands, Norway, Luxembourg, Switzerland, and Australia.

Mikhail Bulgakov’s legacy should be examined over links to “Russian imperial policy,” according to an official statement

The Ukrainian Institute of National Memory has ordered the legacy of renowned novelist and playwright Mikhail Bulgakov to be examined for compliance with the law on “Russian imperial policy.” The ruling represents another step in Kiev’s campaign to erase Russian culture.

Bulgakov, who was born in Kiev in 1891 when it was part of the Russian Empire, wrote in Russian and spent the last two decades of his life in Soviet Moscow, writing novels, plays, and newspaper columns.

According to a statement on the Ukrainian institute’s website, the writer was an “imperialist” in his views despite the years he spent in Kiev and that he “despised Ukrainians and their culture, hated the Ukrainian desire for independence, spoke negatively about the formation of the Ukrainian state and its leaders.”

In 2022, Ukrainian activists succeeded in their attempt to remove a memorial plaque to Bulgakov from the Taras Shevchenko National University in Kiev. The latest decision by the Institute of National Memory could result in more Bulgakov-related monuments being dismantled.

While he is best known for ‘The Master and Margarita’ – published long after his death and also banned in Ukraine – Bulgakov’s novel ‘White Guard’ was set in Kiev during the tumult of 1918. Though the work was banned by the Soviet government, the stage play based on it – ‘The Days of the Turbins’ – was reportedly one of Joseph Stalin’s favorites.

Since the start of Moscow’s military operation in 2022, the campaign to remove all links to Russia and its culture has intensified in Ukraine. As part of this movement, Kiev has passed a law on “decolonization” of street signs, monuments, memorials and inscriptions.

In December 2022, a statue of Catherine the Great was torn down in Odessa, even though the city was founded on her orders in 1794. Several cities, including Dnepr and Chernovtsy, have removed statues and memorial plaques dedicated to classical Russian poet Alexander Pushkin.

Moscow has denounced such policies, saying that attempts to cancel Russian culture and the “forced Ukrainization” of the country violate international norms and infringe upon the rights of around a quarter of Ukraine’s population, who are Russian-speaking.

West Jerusalem has stuck to its policy of silence after allegedly killing 40 Syrian soldiers and Iran-backed fighters

The Syrian Defense Ministry has accused Israel of launching a series of airstrikes near Aleppo on Friday morning. The attacks, which West Jerusalem has not acknowledged, killed around 40 people, according to media reports.

The ministry provided no precise account of casualties or damages, but said that “a number of” civilians and military personnel were killed and wounded.

“Around 1:45 am, the Israeli enemy launched an air attack from the direction of Athriya, southeast of Aleppo, targeting a number of points in Aleppo countryside,” the ministry said in a statement.

Reuters put the death toll at 38, while the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) – an organization based in the UK and affiliated with anti-government militants in Syria – reported 43 deaths.

The SOHR claimed that the strikes targeted concentrations of Syrian soldiers and Iran-backed Hezbollah fighters, as well as a weapons depot located near Aleppo International Airport.

Israel has not commented on the attack, and usually remains quiet about its operations in Syrian skies. Elsewhere, the Jewish state typically takes credit for extraterritorial killings, as was the case later on Friday when an Israeli drone killed Hezbollah deputy missile commander Ali Abed Akhsan Naim in the southern Lebanese region of Bazouriye.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) posted a video of the strike on social media, which showed a missile striking a car allegedly carrying Naim.

Hezbollah militants and Israeli soldiers have repeatedly engaged in tit-for-tat missile and rocket strikes since Israel launched its war on Gaza in October. Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah stated in November that these attacks are aimed at tying up Israeli forces near the Lebanese border and creating “a state of anxiety, anticipation, panic, and fear among the enemy’s political and military leadership.” Shia militia groups in Syria have adopted similar tactics, albeit on a smaller scale. 

The frequency and intensity of these cross-border attacks have increased in recent days, however, with Israeli airstrikes killing 16 people – including seven paramedics – in southern Lebanon on Wednesday. The strikes were launched after Hezbollah fired a barrage of rockets into Israel, killing one person.

Rishi Sunak has announced a surprise round of honors, including Egyptian-born billionaire Mohamed Mansour

UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is facing a backlash and accusations of cronyism for his decision to confer a knighthood on one of the Conservative Party’s biggest donors, who has contributed millions of pounds.

Sunak announced his ‘Easter Honours List’ on Thursday, a step many viewed as unusual as it was made outside of the traditional honors rounds, which are granted at New Year’s or the King’s Birthday.  

The list, which included a number of Conservative MPs, several figures involved in working on artificial intelligence and Oscar-winning film director Christopher Nolan, also featured Egyptian-born billionaire Mohamed Mansour. 

Mansour, who has served as senior treasurer of the Conservative Party since 2022, is a vocal supporter of the prime minister. Last year, he gave £5 million ($6.3 million) to the Conservatives, the single largest donation they had received in over two decades. Mansour’s knighthood was awarded for “business, charity and political service.”

However, the billionaire’s newly-minted title has raised eyebrows among UK political figures, with some accusing Sunak of blatant “cronyism.”

“The nation is sick of the Tories and their obscene cronyism. Bung them a few million quid and a peerage or knighthood is yours. The whole thing stinks like a rotting fish, from the head,” Reform UK leader Richard Tice told The Telegraph. 

Labour Party chairman Anneliese Dodds voiced a similar opinion, telling Sky News it showed “a blatant disrespect for the office [that Sunak] should feel privileged to hold,” adding that giving money should not be an “automatic pass” to knighthood.

Conservative peer Lord Robert Haywood also warned that the public would be “unhappy” with Sunak’s move. “The problem is that you’ve got people who are genuine philanthropists who also give money to a political party, and that’s where the line isn’t differentiated,” he said.

The Telegraph noted that the “highly unusual” decision to award honors before the Easter recess will likely fuel speculation that the prime minister may call a summer snap election, with the knighthoods seen as an attempt to boost support for his party. 

German parliamentary experts have evaluated the implications of an attack on NATO troops in Ukraine, according to a report seen by dpa  

Article 5 of the NATO treaty, which enshrines the bloc's collective military response policy, would not be triggered should any member's troops deployed to Ukraine be attacked by Russia, a report by an a German parliament expert group seen by wire agency dpa has claimed.

Reflecting the principle of collective defense of the 31 NATO members, Article 5 states that an armed attack against one or more of the members shall be considered an attack against all.

“If troops of a NATO member state engage in collective self-defense (Article 51, UN Charter) in favor of Ukraine in an existing conflict (between Russia and Ukraine) and are attacked by the other party to the conflict (Russia) in the course of the battle in the conflict area, this does not constitute a case of Article 5 NATO Treaty,” the experts wrote as quoted by dpa on Friday.

According to the unpublished document, Article 5 of the NATO Treaty can only be triggered if member countries of the US-led military bloc are attacked on or over their own territory.

“A military engagement of French ground troops in favor of Ukraine would be based on the collective right of self-defense under Article 51 of the UN Charter and would therefore be permissible under international law,” the document stated.

Researchers noted that the deployment of ground troops from one NATO country to Ukraine would not automatically make all other members parties to the conflict. Only the state in question would become a party, they concluded.

“If the NATO member state acts unilaterally – i.e. not within the framework of a previously decided NATO operation and outside NATO military command structures – neither NATO as a whole nor the other NATO partner states become parties to the conflict,” the report read.

At the same time, the document indicates that sending NATO troops to Ukraine is acceptable under international law.

French President Emmanuel Macron said last month that he “cannot exclude” the possibility of soldiers from NATO countries being sent to the country. His remarks led to a wave of denials from the leaders of other member states, who insisted that there were no plans to send Western troops to Ukraine.

The report also emphasizes that a Russian military response against targets in France, on the other hand, would constitute an “armed attack” that would establish the “factual requirements for a proclamation of the NATO alliance case.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin has labeled as “nonsense” claims by Ukraine and its backers that Russia will target NATO countries. In another interview, he stressed that Moscow would treat Western troops as “invaders” if they were deployed to Ukraine, and respond accordingly.

Russia’s embassy in Seoul had denounced the sketch in the Korea Herald as a vile and offensive joke

The Korea Herald newspaper has issued an apology for publishing a cartoon mocking the victims of last week’s terrorist attack at the Crocus City Concert Hall that killed more than 140 people. The apology by the South Korea-based English-language newspaper was shared on Friday by Russia’s embassy in Seoul, which had earlier voiced outraged over the sketch.  

The Korea Herald expressed “deep condolences” to the victims of the shooting, adding that it “shares the unfathomable sadness” of the people affected by the tragedy.  

“As such, we deeply regret the publishing of a syndicated cartoon in the March 27 edition. We regret the oversight and recognize and respect the genuine feelings of all those who have been offended,” the paper stated, adding that it acknowledges that its materials must meet “standards of common decency.”  

This came after Moscow’s embassy lashed out at newspaper on Thursday for what it called a “blasphemous cartoon of the terrorist attack in Russia,” saying the appalling piece insulted the memory of the victims.  

The embassy also wondered whether the paper was inclined to mock tragedies in other countries, or whether “such vile jokes [were] reserved only for Russia and its citizens, to whom their authors and those circulating such slander apparently do not extend the standards of the human society.”  

It further stressed it was sure that this “cynical act equally offends the sentiments of South Korean citizens” sharing the grief of the Russian people.   

The Crocus City Hall attack occurred last Friday when a group of gunmen armed with automatic weapons stormed the popular venue ahead of a rock concert, shooting indiscriminately at people and setting the place on fire. The act of terrorism, the worst in Russia since the early 2000s, has so far claimed 144 lives, with nearly 200 injured. Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that the suspects – whom he described as radical Islamists – were caught while fleeing toward Ukraine, where he said certain arrangements had been made to help them cross the border.  

Despite tense relations between Russia and the West over the Ukraine conflict, the attack has sparked universal condemnation and a wave of condolences. People across the world flocked to local Russian diplomatic missions with wreaths and flowers to honor the memory of the victims, with South Korea being no exception.

With the event just three months away, the attack in Russia has prompted Paris to tighten anti-terrorism measures

France has called on its international allies to help enhance security for the upcoming Olympic Games, in Paris, AFP reported on Thursday, citing sources in the government.

According to the report, Paris has asked 46 nations to send 2,185 police reinforcements for the duration of the games in order to take over tasks that require additional specialists.

The French authorities have not yet confirmed that such a request was made, but Polish Defense Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz on Thursday announced on X (formerly Twitter) that his country’s armed forces would “join the international coalition established by France” to provide additional security at the Olympics. He didn’t reveal the size of the contingent Warsaw plans to send, but noted that it would deploy canine units whose job will be to “detect explosives and counteract terrorist activities.”

An Interior Ministry source told AFP that the request for reinforcements is a “classic move for host countries ahead of the organization of major events.” However, the news comes just days after Paris raised the terrorism threat level in the country to its highest level following the deadly attack in Moscow, which killed more than 140 people.

On March 22, four gunmen stormed the Crocus City Hall concert venue just outside Moscow, going on a shooting spree and setting the building on fire. The gunmen had allegedly been recruited on behalf of ISIS-K, an Afghanistan-based offshoot of the terrorist organization Islamic State.

Russian investigators later revealed that the perpetrators had received funding for the attack from Ukraine.

In a press statement following the attack in Russia, French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal said that the threat of terrorism in France is “real and strong,” adding that the country’s intelligence services have foiled 45 terror plots since 2017. He noted that France’s current anti-terror security measures, part of the country’s national security alert system called the Vigipirate Plan, will be tightened in the coming weeks, with security forces maintaining a more visible presence on streets and in front of possible targets such as government buildings, transportation infrastructure, and schools.

The Vigipirate Plan has been in place since 2015, when France faced a series of devastating terror acts linked to Islamic State. They included the attack at the Bataclan concert hall, the Stade de France stadium, and drive-by shootings and suicide bombings across Paris.

This year’s Olympics will run from July 26 to August 11. Around 45,000 French police and gendarmes, 18,000 troops and up to 22,000 private security guards are expected to work at the games, AFP reported, citing official figures.