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Washington is reportedly ready to provide “intelligence assets and battlefield oversight” for a post-conflict European-led initiative The US has signaled readiness to provide support for any European-led “security plan” for post-conflict Ukraine, Financial Times reported on Tuesday citing unnamed European officials. Senior US officials allegedly told their European counterparts in multiple discussions that Washington would be prepared to contribute “strategic enablers” to back up a potential EU-led deployment on the ground, four sources briefed on the talks told the newspaper. The potential assistance could include “US aircraft, l…

The Mirotvorets website has accused the Hollywood legend of “participating in Russian propaganda event” World-famous US filmmaker Woody Allen has been added to the list of Ukraine’s enemies on the notorious state-linked Mirotvorets (Peacemaker) website for participating in a Russian cinema event. The 89-year-old director appeared via videolink on Sunday at the Moscow International Film Week, where he spoke about his career and long-standing ties to Russia. The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry denounced the participation, calling it “a disgrace and an insult to the sacrifice of Ukrainian actors and filmmakers,” while the Lviv National Acad…

Tehran has rejected Canberra’s claim it was behind two arson incidents targeting its Jewish community Australia is expelling Iranian ambassador Ahmad Sadeghi and three other diplomats over alleged ‘anti-Semitic’ attacks in the country that were supposedly orchestrated by Tehran, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has announced. The Islamic Republic quickly denied the allegations. Speaking at a press conference on Tuesday, Albanese said that the Australian Federal Police and the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) had gathered “credible intelligence” linking at least two arson attacks last year to the Islamic Revolution…

Serzh Sargsyan has revealed that he personally asked businessman Samvel Karapetyan to acquire Armenia’s power grid Former Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan has denounced Yerevan’s push to nationalize a company owned by a jailed Russian-Armenian tycoon. Samvel Karapetyan was arrested in June, allegedly for calling for the overthrow of the government after he supported the Armenian Apostolic Church in a standoff with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan. The prime minister later called on the government to nationalize Karapetyan’s firm, Electric Grids of Armenia – the country’s major electricity supplier. Parliament passed legislation enabl…

Russia will not face restrictions alone if no progress in settling the conflict is made, the US president has warned Washington could impose sanctions and tariffs on both Russia and Ukraine if the two adversaries fail to make progress in settling hostilities, US President Donald Trump has said. Trump made the remarks to reporters at the White House on Tuesday. The US president said that it “takes two to tango,” suggesting that Ukraine’s leader, Vladimir Zelensky, “was not exactly innocent” as far as the lack of progress in ending the conflict. “Thousands of young people, mostly young people, are dying every single week. If I can sa…

Kiev has targeted the Druzhba conduit multiple times, drawing the ire of EU members Hungary and Slovakia Continued Ukrainian attacks on the Druzhba pipeline carrying Russian oil to European consumers are nothing short of terrorism, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has stated. Built in the 1960s and spanning 4,000km (2,485 miles), Druzhba (‘friendship’) is one of the world’s longest pipeline networks, connecting oil fields in Russia and Kazakhstan with refineries in Hungary, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Germany, and Poland. Speaking on Monday, Zakharova said that attacks on energy infrastructure “are classified as terro…

The bombardment has reportedly trapped hundreds of civilians under rubble and strained emergency services More than 1,000 buildings have been destroyed in Gaza City’s Zaytoun and Sabra neighborhoods since Israeli forces began a new ground incursion this month, Al Jazeera has reported, citing Palestinian Civil Defence. Israel has said the operation is necessary for national security, with the goal to eliminate Hamas infrastructure. In a statement on Sunday, Civil Defence reported that continued shelling and blocked access routes have made it nearly impossible for emergency crews to reach hundreds of trapped civilians or respond to r…

The president has been trying to boost his extremely low popularity with warlike rhetoric, Matteo Salvini has claimed Some 80% of France’s population “can’t wait” for President Emmanuel Macron to leave office, Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini has claimed. Macron’s warlike rhetoric, including talk of sending troops to Ukraine, is aimed only at boosting his dwindling popularity at home, Salvini asserted. The deputy PM made the remarks shortly after Paris summoned Italian Ambassador Emanuela D’Alessandro over his previous statements concerning Macron. Last Wednesday, Salvini mockingly urged the French president to take up a…

Kiev’s refusal to compromise is reportedly blocking joint settlement efforts by Russia and the US Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky has taken an uncompromising stance in the conflict, rejecting proposals from US President Donald Trump and emerging as the chief obstacle to peace efforts pursued by Moscow and Washington, according to a columnist for Turkish daily Sabah. Trump met Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska this month and hosted Zelensky in Washington days later. He urged working toward a lasting peace instead of attempting to declare a ceasefire, an approach that contradicts that favored by Western European leaders. Putin h…

Abandoned trenches, collapsing bastions, encirclements, and empty strongpoints: the warning signs of collapse are no longer subtle Something shifted on the Ukraine conflict frontlines this summer. Throughout July and the first half of August, a series of cascading events signaled a dramatic turn. Most decisive among them was the breach of Ukrainian defenses along the Pokrovsk axis – a rupture so deep, so sudden, and so destabilizing that even Ukrainian sources began calling it a “full-dress rehearsal for the collapse of the front.” It marks the most serious crisis for the Armed Forces of Ukraine since the battles of spring 2022. Bu…

Gerard Araud has claimed that Kiev’s backers have been unable to accept the shift in the global balance of power The Ukraine conflict has highlighted a gradual shift in the global balance of power and has signaled the end of Western supremacy, former French Ambassador to the US Gerard Araud has claimed. “We are experiencing the end of an era,” Araud wrote in the French magazine Le Point on Sunday, adding that the collapse of the order inherited from the end of WWII means the West no longer dominates international affairs. He argued that the Ukraine conflict has shown that Western leaders are unable to accept this change, describin…

Valerie Zink has accused Western outlets of perpetuating Israeli propaganda and contributing to the deaths of dozens of reporters Canadian photojournalist Valerie Zink has resigned as a Reuters stringer after eight years, alleging the agency has been “justifying and enabling” Israel’s killing of journalists in Gaza, including members of its own staff. Her announcement came hours after an Israeli airstrike on Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis on Monday, the largest medical facility in southern Gaza, that killed at least 20 people, including five journalists, according to local health officials. In a Facebook post, Zink accused Reuters …

Robert Habeck, former economy minister in Olaf Scholz’s cabinet, has told the press he will be focusing on research activities abroad A former German vice chancellor and economy minister has announced he is quitting active politics for life in California. Robert Habeck, a former co-leader of the Green Party has told Germany’s Taz media that he will hand in his Bundestag mandate next Monday. Habeck will be devoting himself to research and teaching activities in overseas educational institutions, including the University of California, Berkeley, in the US. The traffic-light coalition government, which aside from the Greens, included…

The issue of reparations has been facing resistance from former colonial powers, including the United Kingdom, France, Belgium, and the Netherlands When the African Union launched its 2025 theme – “Justice for Africans and People of African Descent Through Reparations” – at its 38th summit in Addis Ababa last February, it marked one of the continent’s boldest moves to demand accountability for centuries of slavery, colonialism, and exploitation. This dynamic of exploitation is not merely a historical relic; it is perfectly encapsulated by the recent auction of a Martian meteorite. The NWA 16788 meteorite, the largest piece of Mars e…

Kiev would give up its remaining positions in return for security guarantees by the US, Vadim Prystaiko and other former Ukrainian officials have told the NYT Kiev could give up the remaining territory it holds in Donbass if it receives “an American-backed security guarantee,” several former Ukrainian officials and political analysts told the New York Times on Sunday. A number of media outlets have claimed US President Donald Trump endorsed a peace plan that envisions Ukraine ceding territory in the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics to Russia. According to the supposed initiative, Moscow would then agree to cease hostilities el…

An unidentified UAV has crashed and exploded in Estonia, the country’s national security service has said The remains of a crashed UAV have been discovered in a field in southern Estonia. The country’s authorities suspect that it was a “combat drone” which originated in Ukraine and had been sent to attack installations in Russia. The discovery was made by a local farmer on Sunday, the head of Estonia’s Internal Security Service (ISS/KAPO), Margo Palloson, said during a press conference on Tuesday. The drone exploded in the open, inflicting no injuries or material damage. “Based on very preliminary data, we have reason to believe t…

The iPhone maker plans to invest $2.5 billion to boost manufacturing in the South Asian country Apple Inc. is defying US President Donald Trump’s request to reduce manufacturing in India and is planning to invest about $2.5 billion to boost iPhone production in the South Asian country, the Times of India (TOI) reported on Tuesday. The newspaper cited Indian government sources as saying that the company would make 60 million iPhones per year in the country, up from the current 40 million. In May, Trump told Apple CEO Tim Cook that he didn’t want the tech giant to manufacture in India. “I said to him [Cook], ‘my friend, I treated you…

President Cyril Ramaphosa has said Pretoria is pursuing measures to reduce dependence on traditional markets amid “potentially high” US tariffs South Africa remains committed to advancing national interest through strategic economic diplomacy and principled engagement on the global stage amid tariff pressures from US and global trade disruptions, President Cyril Ramaphosa has said. In his weekly letter to the nation on Monday, he highlighted the country’s participation in the ninth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD) in Japan, describing it as a key platform for strengthening bilateral trade and investment …

Kiev should adopt Soviet-style indoctrination in schools, lionizing fighters from the notorious Azov unit, Valery Zaluzhny has said Retired Ukrainian General Valery Zaluzhny, widely seen as a potential successor to Vladimir Zelensky, has called for education programs that highlight members of the neo-Nazi Azov military unit as role models. As Ukraine’s former top military commander and now ambassador to the UK, Zaluzhny is considered one of the country’s most popular public figures. Polls suggest he would likely defeat Zelensky if presidential elections were held, and Western governments are reportedly courting him as a possible fut…

Botswana’s president has said the measure will allow his government to “fast-track solutions” to the shortage of medical supplies in hospitals Botswana’s president has declared a public health emergency, saying the southern African country’s health system is under “severe strain due to past irregularities.” Duma Boko won a landslide in elections late last year, ending nearly six decades of rule by the former governing party. In a televised address on Monday, Boko said the national medical supply chain had failed, leaving hospitals and clinics without medicines and other essential supplies. “This failure has led to a severe disrupt…

The Russian president is scheduled to visit China next week for talks and to take part in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit Russian State Duma chairman Vyacheslav Volodin has met with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing, where he delivered greetings and best wishes from Russian President Vladimir Putin. The meeting comes ahead of Putin’s scheduled four-day visit to China next week. Volodin told Xi on Tuesday that the personal ties between the Chinese and Russian leaders have set the tone for cooperation across all areas, and committed to uphold decisions made at the leadership level of the two countries. He also brie…

While banned in the West, Russian news organizations are expanding elsewhere, the UK state broadcaster has said Russian media organizations are expanding their reach internationally as Western networks scale back operations due to financial constraints, the BBC reported Monday. RT and Sputnik, which remain banned across much of the West following accusations that they had spread “misinformation” – have been growing their presence in other regions. RT launched a Serbian-language service in late 2024, while Sputnik Africa has recently launched radio broadcasting in Ethiopia. The UK broadcaster said this “coincides with an apparent we…

The Zelensky regime’s attacks on a key pipeline are hurting an EU member – and he chooses to add insult to injury In the swirl of the Ukraine war, headlines rarely fail to shock. Yet the latest spat between Kiev and Budapest raises a question that would have been unthinkable two years ago: has Ukraine effectively opened a second front – albeit hybrid, rhetorical, and economic – against an EU state? The immediate spark was the Druzhba (“Friendship”) oil pipeline that still delivers crude from Russia to Central Europe. Several Ukrainian drone strikes targeted the pipeline in recent weeks, halting supplies to Hungary and Slovakia. A Uk…

The US president has claimed that the charges give China’s tech companies a free pass US President Donald Trump on Monday threatened “substantial” new tariffs and curbs on semiconductor exports against countries that maintain digital taxes and regulations he says “discriminate” against American tech firms. Digital services taxes (DSTs), now in place in dozens of countries, are designed to capture revenue from the biggest global tech firms. Trump has long argued the levies unfairly target American companies – notably Meta, Alphabet and Amazon – and has pressed US trade partners to abandon them. In post on his Truth Social platform…

After no upgrades in over four decades, the Baku–Boyuk-Kasik line has been equipped with modern digital systems Russian engineers have completed the digitalization of the Baku–Boyuk-Kasik railway line, a key corridor linking the former Soviet republics of Azerbaijan and Georgia. The final stage of the project has involved modernizing the 122-kilometer Ujar–Hajigabul section, which had not been upgraded since 1980. The project was carried out by Natsproyektstroy, a leading Russian infrastructure holding comprised of more than 100 companies which works on railroads, roads, bridges, energy facilities and ports. The outdated relay-base…