Distinction Matter - Subscribed Feeds

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.

The world is now facing the most critical moment since the end of World War II, the Polish prime minister has said

Europe has entered a “pre-war era” in which any scenario is possible and the threat of war is no longer a thing of the past, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said in an interview with European media outlets on Friday.

Tusk was asked whether war is inevitable in light of recent remarks from a number of Western politicians about Russia potentially attacking NATO. He replied that “literally any scenario is possible.”

“I don’t want to scare anyone, but war is no longer a thing of the past. It is real and in fact it started over two years ago,” Tusk said.

“I understand that it will sound devastating, especially to the younger generation, but we have to mentally prepare for the arrival of a new era. We are in a pre-war era. I am not exaggerating.”

The Polish prime minister went on to say that the West needs to do everything it can to provide Kiev with equipment and ammunition, because the world is now in the most critical moment since the end of World War II. 

“The next two years will decide everything,” Tusk said, adding that if the bloc does not provide enough arms for Ukraine and it is defeated, “no one in Europe will be able to feel safe.”

While urging the cultivation of “transatlantic ties” regardless of who the next US president is, Tusk argued that the EU should be more independent from NATO and self-sufficient in terms of defense.

“We will be a more attractive partner for the United States if we are more self-sufficient in defense,” he said.

Claims by Western officials that Russia may attack NATO are “nonsense,” President Vladimir Putin stated on Wednesday. He noted that Kiev’s backers have tried to drum up support for additional aid by claiming that Russia will not stop if Ukraine is defeated on the battlefield.

US “satellites” in Eastern Europe have no reason to be afraid, Putin said. Talk of a potential Russian attack on Poland, the Czech Republic, or the Baltic states is just propaganda by governments that seek to scare their citizens “to extract additional expenses from people, to make them bear this burden on their shoulders,” he added.

CEO Pavel Durov claims to have banned thousands of users for inciting violence after the Crocus City Hall attack

Telegram has clamped down on users that spread calls to commit acts of terrorism, and will implement technological hurdles to limit the activity in the future, the messenger app’s founder, Pavel Durov, wrote on Thursday.

Russian-speaking Telegram users have been bombarded with anonymous messages this week, in which strangers attempt to persuade them to commit acts of terrorism, Durov said. The app’s administrators reportedly took steps to deal with this within an hour of receiving the first complaints on Sunday.

“As a result, tens of thousands of attempts to send such messages were stopped, and thousands of users participating in this flash mob faced permanent bans of their Telegram accounts,” the Dubai-based entrepreneur said.

Starting next week, Russian, Belarusian, and Ukrainian users will be able to limit who is able to send private messages to them, Durov added. Telegram also plans to deploy ‘AI-related’ mechanisms to process complaints faster.

Telegram is no place for spam and incitements to violence.

The messenger app has come under increased scrutiny after last Friday’s terrorist attack at the Crocus City Hall outside of Moscow claimed 143 lives, including three children. Four suspects, who were described by President Vladimir Putin as “radicalized Islamists,” were intercepted while fleeing towards the Ukrainian border.

The suspected perpetrators of the massacre were allegedly approached by the organizers through a now-deleted Telegram group, which was operating in the name of the Afghanistan-based splinter organization of Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS), according to law enforcement sources cited by Russian media.

Telegram is the most popular information source among young people in Russia, and also the number one messaging app in Ukraine. It was created as an instant-messaging platform by Russian entrepreneurs Pavel and Nikolay Durov in 2013. What sets it apart from similar applications is the ability to create public broadcast channels and discussion groups.

Ukrainian military intelligence chief Kirill Budanov said on Wednesday that Telegram is a double-edged sword, as it allows Kiev to “spread its message” in Russia, but may have a “destructive effect” inside Ukraine. Officials in Kiev have called for it to be banned, lamenting the fact that Telegram has enabled people to bypass government censorship after President Vladimir Zelensky used martial law to place all media under the state’s umbrella.

READ MORE: Telegram a national security issue – Ukraine’s top spy

In Russia, the Kremlin has urged Durov to “pay more attention” to the misuse of the platform, with spokesman Dmitry Peskov noting on Thursday that “this unique and technologically phenomenal service… is increasingly becoming a tool for terrorists.” Asked whether Telegram could be banned, however, he said there are no plans to do so.

The Jewish state must immediately open more border crossing points to tackle a spreading famine, the ICJ’s judges have ruled

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has ordered Israel to allow uninterrupted shipments of food into Gaza. Before issuing the legally-binding order, the Hague-based court warned that “famine is setting in” in the besieged enclave.

Issued on Thursday, the order commands Israel to take “all necessary and effective measures to ensure, without delay, in full cooperation with the United Nations, the unhindered provision…of urgently needed basic services and humanitarian assistance,” including food, water, and medicine.

The ruling comes two months after the court ruled that “the state of Israel shall take all measures to prevent the commission of genocide in Gaza,” including by blocking humanitarian aid shipments.

“The court observes that Palestinians in Gaza are no longer facing only a risk of famine … but that famine is setting in,” the judges wrote in Thursday’s ruling. Israel can help alleviate this looming famine “by increasing the capacity and number of land crossing points and maintaining them open for as long as necessary,” they noted.

The Israeli military controls all entry and exit points to Gaza except the Rafah crossing between the enclave and Egypt. However, Cairo allows Israel to determine when the crossing can be opened, and Israeli troops inspect every truck that passes. Every other crossing has been shut since Israel imposed a siege on Gaza immediately after Hamas militants attacked the Jewish state on October 7, and aid groups say that the trickle of supplies passing the Rafah crossing is insufficient to feed Gaza’s starving population.

A UN-backed report warned last week that more than 70% of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents are facing “catastrophic hunger,” and that famine conditions now exist in the northern part of the enclave. At least 27 children have already starved to death, the ICJ judges noted on Thursday.

Thursday’s order was requested by South Africa, which filed a legal action last year accusing Israel of committing “systematic” war crimes and genocide in Gaza. Israel denies that it is committing genocide and insists that its military campaign against Hamas – which has killed more than 32,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children – is legitimate self defense.

The marine mammals should be given inherent human rights, the king of New Zealand’s indigenous Maori people has urged

The king of New Zealand’s indigenous Maori people has signed a ‘Declaration for the Ocean’ that calls for whales to be granted legal personhood as part of a plan to protect them, AFP reported on Thursday.

The declaration reportedly recognizes the mammals as legal persons with the inherent right to freedom of movement, natural behavior, and expression of their unique cultures. The declaration has been made with the intent of helping whales recover their depleted population.

“The sound of our ancestor’s song has grown weaker, and her habitat is under threat, which is why we must act now,” King Tuheitia Potatau te Wherowhero VII was quoted as saying.

He was echoed by high chief Travel Tou Ariki, who said: “We can no longer turn a blind eye. Whales play a vital role in the health of our entire ocean ecosystem … We must act with urgency to protect these magnificent creatures before it’s too late.” 

Whales have traditionally had cultural significance for the Maori as supernatural beings and as harbingers of spiritual growth. Some tribes see the mammals as the descendants of Tangaroa, the god of the ocean.

Whales are some of the largest mammals on earth, with blue whales reaching up to 30.5 meters (100 feet) in length and weighing up to 200 tons. Many of the species are endangered.

The move to grant whales personhood would not be without precedent. In 2017, New Zealand passed a groundbreaking law granting personhood status to the Whanganui River and Mount Taranaki volcano, both of which are important to the Maori people.

The Maori are the second-largest ethnic group in New Zealand and currently make up about 17% of the country’s total population, or about 900,000 people.

They have no intention of serving in the IDF, and the patience of seculars is about to run out

The Ultra-Orthodox community of Israel is generally exempt from compulsory military service. Over the years, the state has tried to change this. These attempts have largely failed, in part because the country failed to pass a law that would regulate their service. 

Yanki Farber, a Haredi journalist from the city of Bnei Brak, central Israel, is not a typical representative of the Ultra-Orthodox community, which currently stands at 1.25 million people, or roughly 12.5% of the population.

When he was 18, Farber enrolled into the IDF, and after his release around three years later, he has on occasion been called up to the reserves. When the events of October 7, 2023 took place – with Hamas militants launching a deadly attack on southern Israeli communities – he put on his military uniform again and went to serve.

But Farber is an exception, not the rule. Historically, Ultra-Orthodox Jews, who were a minority when the State of Israel was established in 1948, received exemptions from military service. Back then, it was agreed that they would serve the state by praying, even though some did enroll in the IDF, especially in times of war and in cities that were attacked by Arab armies.

In the 1990s, when their population started growing, Israel tried to encourage them to serve, but despite their efforts, the IDF only managed to recruit 31 individuals in 1999. 

Over the years, the situation has significantly improved. In 2016, the total stood at 2,850. Recently, the military announced that it has around 6,000 Haredi soldiers in its ranks. The events of October 7 have also given the numbers a boost, though this is still just a drop in the ocean.

“The majority of the Haredis do not serve because they are afraid that in the military they will be exposed to a variety of different opinions,” Farber said.

“Over there, they are likely to encounter soldiers from the LGBT community, Druze and the Bedouins. They will serve with women – and this encounter can change their minds. This can weaken their religious beliefs, something the rabbis are worried about,” he added.

But Ronen Koehler – an Israeli colonel in the reserves and one of the key activists in Achim Laneshek (Brothers in Arms), an organization that unites reservists who fight for equality in military service – says the roots of the problem run much deeper.

“It is true that the rabbis of the Ultra-Orthodox don’t want to expose their younger generation to modernity [by sending them to the IDF – ed.]. But what’s also true is that the more students they have, the more money their yeshiva [religious school] receives. They treat it as a business, and they have no plans to loosen their grip.”

In 2021, it was estimated that Israel spent $83 million annually on its 54,000 young yeshiva students. In addition, it forked out $248 million a year on religious students with families. This budget was increased in 2023 to cater to the fast-growing population of Haredis, and experts believe these funds will continue to grow.

This excessive spending frustrates Koehler, but he is also fuming about the repercussions of this policy on Israeli society.

“They sit in the yeshiva until the age of 26 [after which they are automatically exempt from military service – ed.]. They do not study core subjects. Nor do they learn for a certain profession. So when they finish their studies, they don’t have a job. They can’t integrate into the market, they become a burden on the economy, and the whole country is paying the price.”

However, for Koehler, it is not only about money. It is also about equality and principles.

“It is unacceptable that an 18-year-old secular boy who has just finished his studies will go to the IDF, where he will spend three years of his life, whereas his religious peer will not do the same. I am not saying they [Haredis – ed.] all need to go to combat units. But they do need to serve the state, by either volunteering in hospitals, schools, by serving in cyber units, or anything else.”

Oddly enough, the Israeli government, led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, looks at it differently.

In December 2023, two months after the outbreak of the war, the Knesset passed a law that increased the age at which exemption from military service is granted, pushing it from 40 to 41 for ordinary reservists, and from 45 to 46 for officers.

In addition, the Knesset is considering the possibility of increasing the number of days reservists are obliged to serve. Right now, Israeli reservists give the state 54 days over the course of three years. The plan is that they will now need to serve 42 days a year, or 126 in total.

“This policy contradicts any common sense,” Koehler said. 

“It is clear that now [because of the war – ed.] the army needs more people – no complaints there. But instead of solving the issue by increasing the number of recruits, they burden those who already serve even more. It creates inequality and frustration because those who do enlist don’t have a life and they also face a tough attitude from their employers,” he added.

This frustration has translated into action. Last Thursday, thousands gathered in Tel Aviv to demand equal treatment regarding IDF service. Protesters urged the government to enlist Haredis and pass a law that would regulate their service.

But the government seems to be dragging its feet. For years, liberal groups have appealed to the High Court of Justice, urging it to force the government to adopt a law that would equate Haredis to seculars when it comes to military service. They also want the state to stop financing religious institutions that don’t send their students who are ineligible for an exemption to the military.

In 2017, it was finally ruled that the chapter in the security service law that dealt with the postponement of Ultra-Orthodox service should be repealed. Each year, however, the government was allowed to prolong it, until in 2023 it finally expired. The government of Netanyahu, which relies on religious parties, was given until March 31, 2024 to come up with a concrete law that would regulate the conscription of Haredis – but the prime minister asked on March 28 for an extension of 30 days to normalize the law. His attorney general has expressed a different opinion, urging the High Court to cut the funding for the yeshivas and begin the enlistment of Haredis on April 1.

For liberals, however, it might not be enough. 

“They kept on postponing this law year after year. Now the time is up... if this government decides that it will abide by the law [the decision of the High Court – ed.] and passes the legislation, it will be good for everyone,” Koehler said.

“Unfortunately, this government proved time and time again that it has no problem to break the law, and ignore the ruling of the Court. If this will be the case again, anything can happen,” he added.

A number of liberal groups have warned that they will take to the streets in protest if Haredis are not called up to serve – especially now, when the IDF urgently needs 10,000 people to curb the threat of terrorism emanating from Gaza.

Liberals are also expected to demand that the money Israel spends on yeshivas and various religious institutions be significantly reduced. But Farber, who studied in the yeshiva himself, says this approach will never work.

“Applying force will not work. If such a law passes, the Haredis will leave the government, collapse the coalition, and go to sit in the opposition. Over there, they will wait for better days, when another government comes and gives them what they want. One thing is for sure, they won’t send their youngsters to the IDF.”

Koehler is aware of the sensitivities. He doesn’t believe in force either. Rather, he is sure the Haredis can be convinced that military service can benefit them in the long run.

“We need to explain to them that by serving, they end up getting more money that they can use to finance their families. After finishing the military, they have a chance to earn 35,000 NIS [roughly $9,600 – ed.] instead of working as a yeshiva teacher and get 5,000 NIS per month [$1,370 – ed.]. Rabbis will not get it but the younger generation will, and we need to talk to them.”

What happens if convincing the Haredis does not work, and the government, which needs their support to remain in power, keeps on delaying the passage of the law? Koehler promises his camp will not sit idly by.

“We are responsible people and we will not burn the state, if it comes to this. But with each day that passes, we see more and more injustice. We witness more examples of the government acting illegally, and our anger and frustration mounts. One day it might as well explode,” he warned.

The hostilities between Kiev and Moscow cannot be resolved on the battlefield, Gerhard Schroeder believes

Talking to Moscow is the only way to end the hostilities between Russia and Ukraine, former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder told the press agency dpa in an interview published on Thursday. His personal friendship with President Vladimir Putin could play a role in stopping the bloodshed, Schroeder said.

The former chancellor and Russian leader are known to have close ties that stretch back to when Schroeder headed the German government in the late 1990s. In 2014, Putin attended Schroeder's birthday party in St. Petersburg.

Later, Schroeder joined the boards of directors of the Russian operator of the Nord Stream gas pipeline and energy giant Rosneft. He faced a backlash over his ties to Moscow after the conflict between Russia and Ukraine erupted in February 2022 – and resigned from the Rosneft board in May of that year.

Asked about maintaining his friendship with Putin amid the Ukraine conflict, the former chancellor insisted the two matters were entirely distinct.

“I think it would be completely wrong to forget all the positive things that have happened between us in politics in the past,” he told the German news agency, adding that breaking relationships with friends was “not his style.”

Contacts with the Russian leadership could still prove crucial in the future peace talks, Schroeder believes.

“We have worked together sensibly for many years. Perhaps that can still help to find a negotiated solution,” he said, telling dpa that he saw “no other way” to end the conflict.

“It is obvious that the war cannot end with the total defeat of one side or the other,” Schroeder said.

The former chancellor has repeatedly called for a negotiated solution to the conflict and accused the US of forcing Kiev to reject a peace deal with Moscow. In October 2023, he also said that Western Europe had “failed” to seize the opportunity to push for peace in March 2022.

Schroeder himself traveled to Istanbul and Moscow on a “peace mission” in the spring of 2022 and also met Putin in July of the same year. His efforts yielded no results at that time.

In Germany, Schroeder was ostracized by his own party, which deprived him of his parliamentary privileges, but failed in an effort to expel him over his ties to Russia. In 2023, he relinquished his honorary citizenship of Hannover before the city could strip him of it.

Moscow has repeatedly said it is ready for peace talks as long as the situation on the ground is taken into account. Ukraine has insisted on Russian troops withdrawing from all the territories it claims as its own, including Crimea and the four former Ukrainian territories that joined Russian following a series of referendums in autumn 2022. Russia has dismissed such demands as “absurd.”

The former US president’s net worth has jumped $4 billion this year, according to the agency’s Billionaires Index

Former US President Donald Trump is now richer than billionaire financier George Soros, after his social media company’s successful debut on Nasdaq this week added billions of dollars to his fortune.

According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Trump’s net worth has soared by more than $4 billion this year to an estimated $7.8 billion.

Trump ranked 328th on the list at Wednesday’s market close, while the 93-year-old Soros was down in 375th with an estimated $7.2 billion net worth. A hedge fund manager, Soros shot to infamy for crashing the British pound in 1992.

Meanwhile, Trump’s increased wealth also placed him above the likes of billionaire entrepreneur and ABC ‘Shark Tank’ star Mark Cuban ($7.3 billion), Home Depot cofounder Bernie Marcus ($6.9 billion), oil-dynasty heir Gordon Getty ($6.2 billion), and Netflix cofounder Reed Hastings ($5.9 billion).

The former US president’s net worth more than doubled this year thanks to his 58% stake in Trump Media & Technology Group, which effectively went public this week after merging with Digital World Acquisition Corp. Trump Media stock, whose new ticker corresponds to the former president’s initials, has attracted significant attention, gaining nearly 60% in the first half hour of trading on Monday.

This comes as Trump faces hundreds of millions of dollars in growing legal fees and penalties as a result of numerous lawsuits, which the presumptive Republican presidential nominee has denounced as spurious and politically motivated.

READ MORE: Trump platform dominates on stock market debut

As part of a process in which New York State Attorney General Letitia James accused Trump’s business of fraud, Judge Arthur Engoron last month demanded a $454 million bond for the former president to even file an appeal. James was preparing to seize Trump’s Manhattan properties when an appeals court announced on Monday that it would reduce the bond to $175 million and extend the filing deadline by ten more days.

Earlier this month, Trump was forced to raise a bond of $91.6 million to appeal a defamation judgment against E. Jean Carroll. Trump is still appealing the $5 million judgment a jury awarded to Carroll last May after determining the former president had sexually abused her.

Global warming is throwing the Earth off balance and making the days longer, a California physicist has warned

The melting of the polar ice caps is shifting the Earth’s weight towards the Equator and slowing down our planet’s rotation, according to a report in the Nature scientific journal. The report warned that this slowdown could wreak havoc on global timekeeping.

Humanity depends on a network of 450 atomic clocks to keep Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). Network computing, global positioning, and financial markets all require this precise measurement of time to function. However, the Earth’s rotation doesn’t always sync up with this official standard: gravitational drag from the sun and moon, changes to the rotational speed of the planet’s core, and earthquakes can all speed up or slow down the passage of time.

The latest threat to UTC comes from melting ice caps in Greenland and Antarctica, geophysicist Duncan Agnew explained in Nature on Wednesday. Using satellite-based gravitational measurements, Agnew and his team at the University of California discovered that melting ice settles as water around the Earth’s midsection, with this change of mass slowing the planet’s rotational speed.

Since UTC was adopted in 1963, a global consortium of scientists have added 27 ‘leap seconds’ to account for the Earth’s slowing rotation. However, the Earth has spun faster in recent years, and the scientists have considered subtracting a second by 2026. According to Agnew’s research, the planet’s slowdown means that this decision will now be unnecessary until 2029.

“If polar ice melting had not recently accelerated, this problem would occur three years earlier,” Agnew wrote. “Global warming is already affecting global timekeeping.”

Regardless of when this second is subtracted, scientists are unsure how the move will affect computer and network systems. 

“Different web services currently handle leap seconds differently,” Agnew wrote. “Many systems now have software that can accept an additional second, but few if any allow for removing a second, so that a negative leap second is expected to create many difficulties.”

Aside from its impact on timekeeping, the melting of the ice caps is expected to cause a range of problems and opportunities around the world. According to worst-case estimates by the World Bank, a rise in sea levels by 10-100 centimeters by the year 2100 could submerge the entire Maldives archipelago. On the other hand, melting Arctic ice along Russia’s northern coastline could open up the Northern Sea Route to year-round marine traffic, cutting journey times from China to Europe by nearly half and placing Moscow in control of a lucrative shipping lane.

Allowing bad news to occasionally slip through would be better than fostering a climate of total control, a senior diplomat has said

The Ukrainian government should be more open with the public about communicating hard truths about the battlefield situation, a senior US State Department official has said.

In an interview with Politico on Thursday, James Rubin, who leads the Global Engagement Center, a US agency tasked with exposing and countering disinformation, noted that while Ukraine is “moving in the right direction,” it is not yet “a fully-fledged democracy,” which implies certain constraints for media in the country. 

In light of this, officials in Kiev “may [sometimes] resist the kind of freedom of information that’s normal for us,” he said.

The diplomat urged the Ukrainian government to be less restrictive when overseeing the media coverage of the hostilities. “Some days, war reporters report things that aren’t necessarily in the interest of [Ukrainian President] Vladimir Zelensky,” he said, adding that given Kiev’s democratic aspirations, occasional bad news is preferable to living in an overly controlled environment.

Ukraine embarked on a censorship crusade against Russian-dominated internet resources several years before the start of the current conflict, banning the social media network Vkontakte and search engine Yandex among others as early as 2017.

After the outbreak of the conflict in February 2022, Ukraine broadly intensified censorship and propaganda. In late 2022, Zelensky signed a law that significantly expanded the government’s authority to regulate media, outlawing positive coverage of Russia’s actions and allowing for outlets to be temporarily banned.   

The new legislation sparked fierce criticism both in Ukraine itself and in the West. The European Federation of Journalists said it contradicted standards of press freedom common on the continent. 

In June 2023, the Intercept reported that Kiev had imposed extremely tight restrictions on reporter access to the front line, denying or revoking press credentials from both foreign and Ukrainian journalists over their coverage.

Last month, the New York Times also reported that many Ukrainians had grown tired of the telemarathon established by Zelensky shortly after the start of the conflict, which runs around the clock on national television. The paper described the program, which provides a relentlessly optimistic take on battlefield developments, as “little more than a mouthpiece for the government.”

Alisher Usmanov has taken legal action over unlawful raids on his properties in the country 

German authorities have launched a criminal probe targeting two investigators in Frankfurt after Russian businessman Alisher Usmanov filed a complaint over violation of his rights, Bild reported on Wednesday, citing the general prosecutor’s office. 

A criminal case was initiated against two public prosecutors on the basis of pleas lodged by two people, according to the office’s spokesman, Dominique Mies, who said that one of the complainants is a “70-year-old businessman from the Russian Federation.” 

Usmanov’s representative confirmed his filing the complaint, but refused to provide further comments “while legal proceedings are ongoing,” Russian business daily RBK reported. 

The case was launched on suspicion of non-cooperation with public justice and prosecution of the innocent, Bild wrote, adding that Usmanov’s appeal is linked to raids on his properties in Germany carried out in 2022 and declared illegal by a regional court in Frankfurt last May. 

The Frankfurt court previously ruled that searches conducted in the city of Rottach-Eggern, on a yacht in Hamburg, and at the apartment of Usmanov’s friends were illegal, pointing to “serious deficiencies” in the warrants requested by Frankfurt’s Public Prosecutor’s Office at the time. 

The court also invalidated a search at the offices of the businessman’s lawyers in Munich. Commenting on the ruling, Usmanov’s representative said that it confirmed the “baselessness of accusations” against him. 

The Uzbek-born businessman holds a major stake in USM, a Russian investment group with holdings in Metalloinvest, one of the world’s largest iron ore producers, and telecommunications company MegaFon. Usmanov, whose net worth totals $14.4 billion according to Forbes, was added to the US, UK, and EU sanctions lists in 2022. Authorities froze some of the billionaire’s assets.

Brussels explained its blacklisting of Usmanov by saying he has “particularly close ties” with Russian authorities and actively supports Moscow’s policies in relation to Ukraine.

The tycoon lodged an objection with the European Court of Justice, but his appeal was dismissed. German investigators suspect Usmanov of money laundering and tax evasion. The businessman has denied the allegations.

For more stories on economy & finance visit RT's business section