Samsung Electronics has reached a last-minute tentative wage deal with its largest labor union, temporarily averting an 18-day strike that threatened to hit the global memory-chip supply chain at a time of already tight AI-driven demand.

The agreement was reached after government-mediated talks just hours before some 48,000 workers were due to walk out, Yonhap reported on Thursday. Union leaders said they would put off the 18-day strike while members vote on the tentative deal from May 22 to 27, meaning the immediate threat has been delayed rather than fully removed.

The dispute centered on how Samsung’s AI-era windfall should be shared with workers. The union had demanded that 15% of Samsung’s annual operating profit be allocated to employee bonuses and called for the removal of a cap on wage bonuses.

The planned strike drew global attention because Samsung is not just South Korea’s biggest company but one of the world’s most important memory-chip suppliers. The company accounts for roughly 36% of the global DRAM market and 28% of the NAND flash market, according to TrendForce figures, making any disruption at its Korean plants a potential shock for AI servers, data centers, smartphones, laptops, and other electronics.

The stakes were also high for South Korea’s economy. Samsung is a pillar of the country’s export machine and financial markets, with reports estimating that a prolonged walkout could have cost the company up to 1 trillion won, or about $660 million, per day and reduced South Korea’s GDP growth by as much as 0.5 percentage points.

Russia-India relations, underpinned by their status as a privileged strategic partnership, are emerging as a benchmark for bilateral cooperation between major powers. The rapid growth in mutual trade and the ambitious goal of reaching a total volume of $100 billion by 2030 indicate a significant new phase.

However, the sustainability and depth of such growth in the long term will be determined not only by trade flows or joint infrastructure projects but also by the ability to create a shared educational and scientific-technological space.

The development strategy for the Russian Far East holds particular significance, representing a point of mutual interest for both Moscow and New Delhi. Russia sees this region as a strategic priority due to its enormous natural resources, its role as the main logistics hub in the Asia-Pacific region, and the importance of strengthening its eastern borders.

India, in turn, views the Far East as a promising direction for investment and expanding its economic influence in Asia. However, despite mutual interest, many promising intergovernmental agreements, including the Program of Russian-Indian Cooperation in Trade, Economic, and Investment Spheres in the Far East of the Russian Federation for 2024-2029, and the agreement on cooperation principles in the Arctic Zone of the Russian Federation, signed by ministers from both countries, lack notable successful implementation examples. 

Attracting foreign workers represents the main solution to this workforce shortage. The existing influx of labor migration of Indian citizens to Russia, which has grown from 8,000 to 36,200 work permits in recent years, is predominantly low-skilled and does not solve the problem of personnel shortages for high-tech segments. Solving this requires moving beyond targeted labor migration toward a comprehensive system of training and subsequent retention of specialists whose competencies meet the specific demands of the Far Eastern economy.

Academic exchange between Russia and India needs fundamental restructuring. Despite an impressive 58.9% growth in the number of Indian students in Russia from 2022 to 2024, there is a serious structural imbalance. More than 95% of students are majoring exclusively in medicine. After completing their education, the majority of graduates return to India without integrating into Russian society and the economy, which minimizes the long-term effect of this educational export.

Paradoxically, entire fields that are hugely popular among Indian applicants in the US, EU, and Australia are virtually unrepresented in Russia. These include critically important areas for technological development such as new materials production, transport engineering, medical chemistry and instrumentation, and information technology. This imbalance is exacerbated by a poorly developed network of inter-university agreements. Compared to the well-established partnerships with Chinese universities, including numerous joint programs and even institutes, interaction with Indian universities appears less intensive. This highlights a strategic weakness in how Russian education is positioned in the Indian market and the absence of targeted, industry-oriented offerings.

This information gap slows practical cooperation in agriculture, logistics, and other areas despite existing political will and framework agreements.

Far Eastern Federal University (FEFU) has been contributing to the process of bridging this gap. It emerged as a unique platform that combines academic traditions of the Oriental Institute, founded in 1899, with the demands of modern economic diplomacy and technological development. As the largest university in the macro-region and a recognized leader in Asian studies in Russia, FEFU serves as a strategic operator for implementing state policies in these fields. 

A pilot model for diversifying scientific and educational cooperation between Russia and India could be the integration of science, education, and production in the agro-industrial complex, which can serve as a benchmark for other sectors. The Far East’s potential in agriculture is enormous: beyond crop production, it includes the development of greenhouse farms and the fishing industry, which saw a 7% increase in transportation in 2025. However, realizing this potential is impossible without modern biotechnologies and specialists skilled in deep processing methods, bioengineering, and aquaculture. FEFU has developed a unique model in partnership with industry leaders, where real manufacturing cases are incorporated into curricula and students can take up internships and participate in joint R&D.

Thus, the strategic priority for the Russian-Indian partnership today is moving beyond trade and isolated projects toward sustainable collaborative ecosystems, with education at their heart. The development of a network of specialized joint educational programs, especially in priority areas for the Far East (agriculture, IT, construction, logistics, tourism), is a direct path to solving the personnel deficit, diversifying the flow of Indian students and, most importantly, forming a common generation of professionals. These specialists will not only possess modern competencies but also serve as living bridges connecting the economies and societies of the two countries.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was furious after a tense call with US President Donald Trump over a new proposal to end the war with Iran, Axios reported on Wednesday, citing three sources familiar with the matter.

One US source briefed on the conversation said Netanyahu’s “hair was on fire” after the call, which took place after Trump delayed a planned “very major attack” on Iran, saying Gulf leaders had asked Washington to give diplomacy more time.

The US president has since said that the US and Iran were “right on the borderline” between a deal and renewed war.

Netanyahu is “highly skeptical” of the negotiations and wants to resume the war in order to further degrade Iran’s military capabilities and weaken the country by destroying critical infrastructure, Axios reported.

Trump, however, claimed that Netanyahu “will do whatever I want him to do” on Iran, while insisting he has a good relationship with the Israeli leader.

Tehran has confirmed that it is reviewing an updated proposal. However, Iran’s Foreign Ministry insisted negotiations were continuing on the basis of the 14-point plan previously dismissed by Washington.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said this week that “dialogue does not mean surrender,” adding that Tehran would not retreat from “the legal rights of the people and the country.” Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said talks could succeed only if the US ends its “piracy” against Iranian ships and agrees to release frozen funds, while Israel must end its war in Lebanon.

Israeli forces intercepted the Global Sumud Flotilla in international waters as it approached Gaza on May 18, preventing the vessels from reaching the enclave and detaining more than 400 activists from around 40 countries.

The mission had set out from Türkiye to challenge Israel’s naval blockade and draw attention to Gaza’s humanitarian crisis. Those detained included citizens of Italy, the UK, Canada, Türkiye, Greece, France, Spain, Germany, the Netherlands, South Korea, Ireland, and New Zealand.

The controversy escalated after Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir released videos showing detained activists zip-tied and kneeling with their foreheads to the ground while he walked among them, mocked them, and described them as supporters of terrorism.

The US has no obligation to give Israel anything and should cut off all aid to the Jewish state, conservative American journalist Tucker Carlson has said. Washington’s association with what he described as Israel’s “many crimes” has damaged America’s global reputation, he argued.

Speaking to Israeli Channel 13 in an interview aired on Tuesday, Carlson said that he was “disgusted by the way that Israel treats Arabs, like animals or subhumans,” and argued that the Jewish state has “lost its morality.”

“I think we should stop all aid to Israel, all special deals for Israel. Tomorrow,” he said. The US also has no obligation “to lend its moral authority” to Israel, he added. Due to the US-Israeli war on Iran, Washington’s relationship with West Jerusalem, while well-intentioned, “is hurting the US very badly,” Carlson said.

Tucker Carlson on Israeli Channel 13:

I don't think the United States owes Israel anything. I don't think the United States should give Israel anything.

I think we should stop all aid to Israel, all special deals for Israel tomorrow. pic.twitter.com/npc1ZGKetY

— Clash Report (@clashreport) May 20, 2026

“We can’t afford it, and our standing in the world has declined, and we’re implicated in some of the many crimes Israel has committed,” he said.

Carlson previously described the president’s true religion as “Israelism,” after Trump released a series of controversial religion-themed social media posts and feuded with Pope Leo XIV over the war on Iran.

Despite being a staunch Trump supporter during his re-election campaign, the prominent conservative commentator has increasingly criticized the president on foreign policy. He has joined a growing list of disillusioned MAGA supporters such as ex-congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, commentator Candace Owens, and InfoWars host Alex Jones.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has wrapped up a two-day state visit to Beijing, during which he and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, hailed “unprecedented” bilateral ties, describing the relationship as a stabilizing force amid growing global turbulence.

The two leaders held nearly three hours of talks in the Great Hall of the People on Wednesday, covering the full spectrum of cooperation – from trade and energy to international security.

Both Putin and Xi emphasized that the strategic partnership is not directed against any third country, but remains “self-sufficient” and serves as an example of how states should build ties in the modern world.

The summit concluded with the signing of more than 40 intergovernmental and corporate agreements covering energy, transport, industrial cooperation, nuclear technology, education, science, artificial intelligence, and media. Moscow and Beijing also announced joint Years of Education for 2026-2027 and agreed to extend their visa-free travel regime until the end of 2027.

Among the key documents adopted were a joint declaration on deepening the comprehensive strategic partnership and a separate statement backing a multipolar world order based on equality, mutual respect, and international law.

Putin and Xi also addressed major international issues, saying that the root causes of the Ukraine conflict should be resolved in line with the UN Charter. They also said the US-Israeli strikes on Iran violate international law and undermine stability in the Middle East.

Moscow and Beijing pledged to oppose hegemony, unilateral pressure, and what they described as the “law of the jungle” in global affairs, arguing that no country or group of countries should dominate international affairs.

Putin confirmed plans to attend the APEC summit in Shenzhen later this year and invited Xi to visit Russia in 2027.

RT captured some of the most memorable moments from the visit, from the ceremonial welcome in Beijing, featuring an honor guard, military orchestra, and children waving Russian and Chinese flags, to Putin’s meeting with Chinese engineer Peng Pai, whom the Russian president first met during his 2000 visit to China, when Peng was a child.

RT’s crew carried out its special coverage of President Putin’s high-profile visit from a fitting setting – Beijing’s Aman Summer Palace. It sits just beyond the East Gate of the Summer Palace, separated from the imperial gardens by a single wall. Originally used to host guests awaiting an audience with Empress Dowager Cixi, the venue still carries the atmosphere of the late Qing era while naturally coexisting with contemporary China.

The indictment of former Cuban President Raul Castro by the US Justice Department marks the latest escalation in Washington’s pressure campaign against Havana. Is President Donald Trump trying to repeat the Maduro playbook?

What was Raul Castro charged with?

Unsealed on Wednesday, the indictment accuses Castro of ordering the shooting down of two American planes off the coast of Cuba in 1996. Castro and five of his officials are charged with conspiracy to kill US nationals, destruction of aircraft, and four counts of murder, one for each of the Cuban-Americans killed in the shootdown.

Castro, who was Cuba’s defense minister at the time of the incident, “participated in a conspiracy that ended with Cuban military aircraft firing missiles at those civilian planes and killing four Americans,” acting US Attorney General Todd Blanche said at a press conference in Miami on Wednesday.

What happened in 1996?

On February 24, 1996, Cuban fighter jets shot down two light aircraft which Havana said were violating its airspace. The planes – two Cessna 337 Skymasters – were operated by ‘Brothers to the Rescue’, a group of anti-communist Cubans and Americans led by CIA operative Jose Basulto. The group’s official purpose was to help dissidents to leave Cuba, and to “support the efforts of the Cuban people to free themselves from dictatorship through the use of active non-violence.”

However, one of the organization’s former pilots, Juan Pablo Roque, defected to Cuba two days before the planes were shot down and claimed that Brothers to the Rescue was involved in smuggling weapons on to the island to be used by anti-government guerillas.

In a statement on Tuesday, Cuba’s embassy in the US claimed that the organization’s aircraft committed “more than 25 serious, deliberate and systematic violations” of Cuban airspace between 1994 and 1996. With the US refusing to heed Havana’s written warnings, Cuba had “no choice but the direct defense of its borders,” the embassy added.

Ever since the incident, Basulto has pressed the US government to file criminal charges against Castro.

Will Castro ever see a US courtroom?

There is no indication that Castro, who is now 96 years old, will ever appear in an American court. Cuba has limited diplomatic relations with the US, let alone an extradition treaty, and the Cuban government is highly unlikely to hand over Castro, a former president and revolutionary hero, to the US, where he would face the death penalty if found guilty.

Asked about the likelihood of Castro facing trial in the US, Blanche told reporters that “we expect that he will show up here by his will, or by another way.”

How has Cuba responded?

The indictment “only reveals the arrogance and frustration that the representatives of the empire feel toward the unyielding resolve of the Cuban Revolution,” Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel said in a statement on X. “This is a political maneuver, devoid of any legal foundation, aimed solely at padding the fabricated dossier they use to justify the folly of a military aggression against Cuba.”

.@DiazCanelB

The purported accusation against Army General Raúl Castro Ruz, just announced by the U.S. government, only reveals the arrogance and frustration that the representatives of the empire feel toward the unyielding resolve of the Cuban Revolution and the unity and… https://t.co/jWbV1zDauk

— Cuban Embassy in US (@EmbaCubaUS) May 20, 2026

Is the US planning regime change in Cuba?

Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio have made no secret of their desire to overthrow Cuba’s communist government. After indicting and abducting Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in January, Trump warned that Cuba was “ready to fall” next. In an interview with NBC News the day after the Maduro operation, Rubio stated “If I lived in Havana and I was in the government, I’d be concerned.”

Three days earlier, US spies told Axios that they believe Cuba has acquired more than 300 military drones in preparation for an attack on the US military base at Guantanamo Bay and targets as far afield as Key West in Florida. Havana ridiculed the claims, accusing the US of fabricating a “fraudulent case” for military intervention.

While it is unclear whether Trump intends to order such intervention, the Pentagon announced on Wednesday that the USS Nimitz carrier strike group had entered the Caribbean. With more than 60 combat aircraft on board, the Nimitz is ideally placed to and equipped to launch military strikes, should they be ordered. Asked by reporters whether he planned to follow the indictment with military action, Trump replied “I don’t want to say that.”

“The potential for an invasion is much higher than it was 24 hours ago,” Daniel Shaw, a professor of Latin American Studies at City University of New York, told RT. “They’re searching for some kind of legal and media justification to go in there, to take out some of these top leaders, and hoping then that the Cuban people will come into the streets so they can justify further penetration.”

Doesn’t this sound familiar?

The Trump administration followed a similar pattern before kidnapping Maduro in a special forces raid on his Caracas residence in January. After threatening to depose Maduro “the easy way or the hard way,” Trump blockaded Venezuelan waters, deployed the USS Gerald R. Ford to the region, and unsealed an indictment against the Venezuelan president moments before the raid. 

While the Justice Department had charged Maduro with drug trafficking in 2020, the superseding indictment unsealed on the day of the raid added his wife and son, and ‘Tren de Aragua’ cartel boss Nino Guerrero to the list of those charged.

In a social media post on Monday, Diaz-Canel warned that any military action against his country would result in “a bloodbath with incalculable consequences” for the US.

What does the US want from Cuba?

The US has demanded that Cuba cut ties with Russia, China, Iran, and pro-Palestinian armed groups. Last month, a US delegation visiting Havana reportedly urged Cuba to transition from socialism to a market-based economy and open the country to foreign investment. In short, Washington is seeking a complete dismantling of Cuba’s communist system and of its foreign partnerships.

In a Spanish-language video address on Wednesday, Rubio offered Cuba $100 million in aid, and, despite the US blockading the island, blamed Cuba’s government for shortages of electricity, food and fuel. Rubio said that Washington will not allow the Cuban government to distribute the aid, and promised to help Cubans “build a better future,” presumably after the overthrow of the government.

🇺🇸🇨🇺 pic.twitter.com/nwEePVJ1lX

— Secretary Marco Rubio (@SecRubio) May 20, 2026

Cuba’s embassy in Washington accused Rubio of lying “repeatedly and unscrupulously,” while subjecting the country to “cruel and ruthless aggression” via the ongoing blockade.

Shaw, who just returned from a month in Cuba, told RT that he witnessed “hunger, despair, and malnutrition” on the island as a result of the blockade, which he compared to “the tightening of the colonial noose around the neck of the Cuban people.”

Russia is spearheading an international effort to save 80 descendants of the so-called “cocaine hippos” once owned by Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar, Global Union of Zoological Institutions (GUZI) head Svetlana Akulova has said.

Colombian authorities plan to euthanize the animals, which they see as a growing invasive threat.

Akulova, who is also the director of the Moscow Zoo, described the effort as an “unprecedented international campaign” to save the animals.

Escobar imported four hippos from Africa for his private zoo in the 1980s. After he was killed in 1993, the animals were left behind on his abandoned estate and eventually escaped into the surrounding countryside, where they multiplied unchecked.

The herd has swelled to nearly 200 animals and could explode past 1,000 within a decade, according to local authorities. They say the hippos are tearing up riverbanks, disrupting local ecosystems, and increasingly coming into conflict with nearby communities and fishermen.

Environment Minister Irene Velez has defended the planned cull as necessary to protect Colombia’s ecosystems.

Authorities have long argued that relocating the animals was unfeasible, while animal rights activists have fiercely opposed the euthanasia plan. Senator Andrea Padilla called the move “cruel,” writing on X that “massacres will never be acceptable.”

India’s Vantara, one of the world’s largest animal rescue and rehabilitation centers, has joined the Russian-led effort and offered to relocate the hippos to a specially designed sanctuary.

”These 80 hippos did not choose where to be born, nor did they create the circumstances they now face,” Anant Ambani, Vantara founder said in a statement. “They are living, sentient beings, and if we have the capacity to save them through a safe and humane solution, we have the responsibility to try,” he added.

GUZI said it was also working on a “fair distribution” of the animals among accredited institutions to tackle genetic problems caused by the herd’s limited gene pool.

A former AI engineer at Google DeepMind has accused the US tech giant of unfairly dismissing him over protests against the company’s deals with Israel, The Guardian reported on Wednesday. The man described the decision to fire him as discriminatory and filed a claim with a British employment tribunal.

Google’s ties with the Israeli government, including a $1.2 billion AI and cloud computing contract signed jointly with Amazon, have repeatedly sparked employee protests. In 2024 alone, the company fired dozens of dissenting staff members.

According to the engineer, he was called into a meeting with a manager that led to his dismissal after distributing flyers around DeepMind’s London office reading: “Google provides military AI to forces committing genocide” and “Is your paycheck worth this?” He also reportedly sent emails to his colleagues and called on them to unionize.

In October, several media outlets reported that the 2021 agreement Google and Amazon signed with Israel barred the companies from restricting West Jerusalem’s access to their services even in cases it violated their terms of use. The deal also reportedly included clauses explicitly preventing the two tech giants from breaking ties with Israel under pressure from employees, shareholders and activists.

Israel’s contracts with US tech companies have come under increased scrutiny amid accusations that its military campaign in Gaza following the 2023 Hamas attack amounts to genocide. In 2024, Gaby Portnoy, head of Israel’s National Cyber Directorate, credited the Google-Amazon Nimbus Project with enabling “phenomenal things” in combat that he said “constitute a significant part of victory.”

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has summoned Israel’s ambassador in Rome after condemning the treatment of pro-Palestinian activists detained during Israel’s interception of a Gaza-bound aid flotilla.

In a sharply worded statement on Wednesday, Meloni described footage showing Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir taunting the detainees as “unacceptable.”

“It is inadmissible that these demonstrators, including many Italian citizens, are subjected to this treatment that violates human dignity,” she wrote.

While Meloni was among Israel’s strongest EU supporters after the October 2023 Hamas attacks, she has become increasingly critical of its actions in Gaza, describing the humanitarian situation as “unacceptable” and warning that Israel has gone beyond “the principle of proportionality.”

The Israeli ambassador will be asked to provide “formal clarifications,” while Rome demands the immediate release of Italian citizens arrested by Israel, according to the statement. Meloni also demanded an apology over the treatment of the demonstrators and “for the total contempt shown toward the explicit requests of the Italian Government.”

The diplomatic row erupted after Israeli forces intercepted a convoy of vessels that departed from Türkiye carrying humanitarian aid for Gaza. Around 430 activists from more than 40 countries were detained, some for days.

Ben-Gvir posted a video on X on Wednesday showing detainees kneeling with their hands bound. In the footage, the far-right minister appears to mock the activists while urging Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to allow them to remain imprisoned “for a long, long time.”

Netanyahu later sought to distance himself from the incident, saying Ben-Gvir’s conduct toward the activists “is not consistent with the values and norms of the State of Israel.” Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar said Ben-Gvir “caused harm” to Israel with his “disgraceful display.”

In response, Ben-Gvir doubled down and accused Sa’ar of submitting to “supporters of terrorism.”

Israeli officials nevertheless defended the interception, describing the flotilla as a “PR stunt at the service of Hamas.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump could meet on the sidelines of the APEC summit in China in November, Kremlin aide Yury Ushakov has said, while stressing that no talks are currently planned. 

Putin, who has just concluded his official two-day visit to China, told Chinese President Xi Jinping that he plans to attend the APEC summit in Shenzhen on November 18-19. Trump, who also traveled to China last week, has reportedly signaled that he intends to take part as well. 

“Our president has confirmed that he will come to the APEC summit,” Ushakov told reporters on Wednesday. “I think that, in any case, if both leaders are in China, they will probably cross paths and hold some kind of meeting,” he said. 

The Russian presidential aide added that “so far this has not yet been agreed, but given that such a prospect exists, it is unlikely that anyone would refuse it.”  

A potential meeting in China would follow the August 2025 summit between Putin and Trump in Alaska – the first and only face-to-face meeting between Russian and US leaders since the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022. The meeting ended without a ceasefire deal but was described by both sides as productive.   

Since returning to the White House, Trump has alternated between criticizing Putin over the lack of progress toward a Ukraine peace deal and praising their personal relationship. The two leaders have held several phone calls focused on the Ukraine conflict and other major international issues, including the US-Israeli war with Iran. 

Russia has maintained that any peaceful settlement is predicated on Kiev withdrawing from the remaining areas of Donbass that are still under its control.

Former Cuban President Raul Castro has been indicted by the US Justice Department. The indictment came months after US President Donald Trump warned that Cuba would be “next” after Venezuela was targeted for regime change.

Handed down on Wednesday, the widely-expected indictment accuses Castro of ordering the shootdown of two American planes operated by anti-communist Cuban exiles off the island’s coast in 1996. Cuba said at the time that the planes were connected to the US Air Force, and were warned to divert before they were fired upon.

The indictment was handed down shortly before a ceremony in Miami commemorating the incident. 

Castro and five of his officials are charged with conspiracy to kill US nationals, destruction of aircraft, and four counts of murder, one for each of the Cuban-Americans killed in the shootdown.

In a statement earlier on Wednesday, Trump said “America will not tolerate a rogue state harboring hostile foreign military, intelligence and terror operations just ninety miles from the American homeland.”

Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio have repeatedly threatened Cuba with military action this year. After abducting Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in January, Trump imposed a near-total energy blockade on Cuba, before declaring that “Cuba is next” on his list of regime-change targets. 

Earlier on Wednesday, the Pentagon announced that the USS Nimitz carrier strike group arrived in the Caribbean, mirroring the military buildup that preceded the operation against Maduro.

The Justice Department also indicted Maduro before US special forces kidnapped him in a raid on his residence in Caracas.

May 30 marks the 124th anniversary of Cuba’s independence from Spain. In a Spanish-language video marking the occasion, Rubio offered to send $100 million in aid to Cuba, provided it is distributed by “the Catholic church or other trusted charitable groups,” and to help build “a new Cuba,” presumably after the overthrow of the government.

In response, Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez called Rubio a “mouthpiece of corrupt and vengeful interests,” referring to anti-communist exiles “concentrated in South Florida.”

In mid-May 2026, the dispute between Greece and Türkiye again moved from diplomacy into the more dangerous world of maps, laws, and military warnings.

Turkish officials confirmed that work is continuing on a new law on maritime jurisdiction areas, while Greek officials immediately treated the initiative as an attempt to give legal form to Ankara’s Blue Homeland doctrine. The message from Athens was that a unilateral Turkish move concerning maritime zones in the Aegean would be rejected as legally meaningless and politically provocative. Türkiye, meanwhile, says it is not attacking anyone but protecting its maritime rights and organizing state policy in the surrounding seas.

The Blue Homeland doctrine, Mavi Vatan in Turkish, is built around a simple but emotionally powerful idea. Türkiye must not think of its sovereignty only through land borders, because the seas around it are also part of its security, economic, and regional future. The Aegean, the Black, and the Eastern Mediterranean seas are filled with trade, naval movement, undersea infrastructure, and geopolitical competition. If Ankara does not defend its interests there, supporters of this doctrine argue, other actors will draw the maps for it.

Talk moves into law

The Blue Homeland concept emerged from Turkish naval and strategic circles, and its intellectual architects are usually identified as retired admiral Cem Gürdeniz and retired rear admiral Cihat Yaycı. Gürdeniz is widely associated with the birth and popularization of the phrase Mavi Vatan in the mid 2000s, while Yaycı helped transform the idea into a more concrete geopolitical and legal doctrine.

Gürdeniz gave the concept its broader strategic language, turning the sea into a central element of Turkish geopolitical imagination. Yaycı, in turn, worked to give this imagination a more technical and cartographic form. He linked maritime zones, continental shelves, island disputes, and the Eastern Mediterranean into a single strategic picture. In a sense, Blue Homeland is a response to a deep Turkish anxiety that the country was being pushed away from the seas that surround it.

This origin also explains why the doctrine cannot be reduced to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s personal foreign policy. Blue Homeland came from a tradition that saw Türkiye’s future as dependent on becoming a serious maritime power, and was later absorbed by politics and became part of a broader national narrative. That is one of the reasons it has survived different tactical phases in Turkish politics. It speaks not only to Islamists, nationalists or naval officers, but to a wider feeling inside Türkiye that the country has been constrained by a regional order designed by others.

This is where the controversy over 152 small islands, islets, and reefs becomes so sensitive. In Turkish nationalist and strategic discourse, these formations are often described as territories whose status was not clearly defined by international agreements. Greece rejects this argument and insists that the sovereignty of its islands is not up for discussion.

The memory of the 1996 Imia/Kardak crisis still hangs over both countries. That confrontation began around small uninhabited islets, but it nearly pushed Greece and Türkiye into open conflict. In the Aegean, escalation can begin with a patrol boat, a helicopter, a fishing vessel, a television broadcast or a nationalist post on social media. When geography is tight and political nerves are exposed, escalation can move faster than diplomacy.

The current situation is especially fragile because the dispute is moving from rhetoric into legislation. A speech can be corrected, and a military exercise can end, but a law has a different political weight. If Ankara codifies Blue Homeland, it will not automatically change international law, yet it may change Turkish politics. It would make future compromises harder and allow nationalist forces to accuse any government of giving up rights that had already been written into law.

When no one is looking

The issue’s flashpoint potential is exacerbated by its timing. The Aegean is no longer living inside a stable international environment where major powers can freeze local conflicts and force allies back into predictable channels. The global order is going through a harsh transformation, where the war around Iran has turned the wider Middle East into a zone of constant military and economic nervousness. That conflict and the resulting shipping crisis has shown that maritime space has again become one of the main arteries of war.

This wider crisis changes how Ankara and Athens view the same sea. When the region is calm, Greece and Türkiye can keep their disputes inside the diplomatic space and NATO channels. But when the Strait of Hormuz demonstrates how quickly maritime routes can become battlefields, every coastal state starts thinking in terms of strategic depth. Türkiye looks at this chaos and sees one more argument for Blue Homeland. Greece looks at it and sees all the more reason not to allow grey zones to appear in the Aegean.

There is also the Trump factor. As the most important member of NATO, you would expect Washington to act as a manager of conflict between allies, but it currently has its hands full with the Iran war and the domestic pressures that come with it. A potential escalation between Greece and Türkiye is unlikely to get any reliable American mediation.

For Ankara, this can look like a window of opportunity to formalize Blue Homeland and push its maritime claims with greater confidence. For Athens, it’s a threatening moment when the political umbrella of NATO security is wavering.

A war in the Aegean is not necessarily coming, but the trigger for such a war has become easier to activate. A legal bill in Ankara, a Greek military statement, a patrol near a disputed reef, a media campaign about occupied islands or a naval incident that might once have been contained – any of those, unfolding in a world where everyone is already armed and on edge, and a local dispute can easily stop being local.

Türkiye believes it has reasons to be firm. From Ankara’s point of view, Greece uses its islands, many of them located very close to the Turkish coast, to claim maritime zones that would leave Türkiye with limited room in the Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean. Turkish officials and analysts often argue that a long continental coastline cannot be trapped by small islands lying just off that coast. They present Blue Homeland not as expansion, but as resistance to what they see as an unfair regional order.

Greece sees the same argument as revisionism. For Athens, the islands are inhabited communities, military positions, historical spaces, and sovereign territory. If Greece accepts that their status or maritime effect can be negotiated under pressure, many Greeks fear that the entire Aegean order could begin to unravel.

Each side has built its own story around this dispute – and each one sees itself as being on the defensive and the other one as being the threat. Turkish officials argue that Greece wants to imprison their country along the Anatolian coast, while Greek officials warn that Türkiye wants to revise borders and treaties through pressure.

Escalation as the only option?

The media environment is pouring even more fuel onto the fire. While pro-government outlets in Türkiye usually maintain some restraint, nationalist channels and social media accounts often don’t. They speak about “stolen islands,” “occupation” and “humiliation.” Greek media and political voices often respond with the same emotional force, warning that Ankara is preparing a direct challenge to Greek sovereignty.

NATO cannot easily solve this problem, even though both Greece and Türkiye are members of the alliance. Membership reduces the chance of a full-scale war, but it does not remove the dispute. NATO can call for restraint, provide military communication, and help avoid accidents, but it cannot make rulings on the sovereignty of islands. The alliance wants unity, but it can’t do anything about an age-old rivalry between two of its members.

The EU has influence, but not the kind of influence that could bring about a settlement – because Greece and Cyprus are members, but Türkiye isn’t. In fact, it’s a long-time aspirant, often feeling bitter over other countries cutting the ‘membership queue’ – there’ve been 15 of them since Ankara applied to become part of the bloc. So for Türkiye, Brussels is part of the diplomatic environment, but it’s on the Greeks’ and the Cypriots’ side and not a neutral judge of the EU, so Athens and Nicosia expect European solidarity. Ankara, however, often sees EU statements as Greek and Cypriot positions in European language.

Sooner or later, Athens and Ankara will have to deal with the maritime question seriously, simply by virtue of immutable geography. The Aegean cannot remain governed in crisis mode forever, and they will have to choose between a difficult diplomatic process and a future in which every small incident risks becoming the spark of conflict.

For now, the region is living through controlled escalation. Neither side appears to want war, but both are making moves that reduce flexibility and increase suspicion. This is the most dangerous kind of calm – where governments can say that everything is under control, while the political space for de-escalation is shrinking by the day until conflict becomes the only possible development.

The Blue Homeland naval doctrine has become a statement of Türkiye’s place in the region and its refusal to accept what it sees as maritime confinement. Greek resistance to it is, in turn, the defense of a national map, a historical memory, and a state identity built around the islands of the Aegean. At its heart, this dispute is about national dignity – and that is what makes it so dangerous.

Trump-endorsed Republican candidate Ed Gallrein has defeated Representative Thomas Massie in a primary election in Kentucky, in a result that the Israel lobby spent tens of millions of dollars to secure.

Gallrein defeated Massie by 54.9% to 45.1% in Tuesday’s election, and will face off against Democratic candidate Melissa Strange this November. Massie had comfortably held Kentucky’s fourth congressional district since 2012, and easily fended off five primary challenges in the intervening years, but this year faced intense pressure from the president and pro-Israel megadonors.

Massie’s insistence that Donald Trump release the full, unredacted Epstein files and refusal to back the ‘One Big Beautiful Bill’ spending package angered the president, who announced last year that he would back “a wonderful American Patriot” to contest the primary.

Gallrein’s campaign was boosted by the powerful Israel lobby, with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), the Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC), and other special interest groups and donors pouring $15.5 million into the race, according to Federal Election Commission (FEC) filings.

Massie is a vocal critic of US aid to Israel, and of Israel’s influence over American politics via lobbying groups like AIPAC. The election, he said last week, is “a referendum on whether Israel gets to buy seats in Congress.”

The unprecedented outlay by AIPAC and the RJC helped make the election the most expensive primary in American history, with almost $33 million in total spent on advertising.

In his concession speech, Massie mocked the role of the Israel lobby in Gallrein’s victory. “I would have come out sooner but I had to call my opponent and concede and it took a while to find Ed Gallrein in Tel Aviv,” he said, to cheers from his supporters.

🚨 JUST IN — REP. THOMAS MASSIE CONCEDES: "I would've come out sooner, but I had to call my opponent and concede."

"And it took a while to find Ed Gallrein in Tel Aviv."

"I have called and conceded the race." pic.twitter.com/8Y70wGzp36

— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) May 20, 2026

The result further cements Trump’s hold over the Republican Party. In another primary election in Kentucky on Tuesday, Trump-backed candidate Ralph Alvarado beat four challengers to replace outgoing Rep. Andy Barr. Last week, Louisiana Senator Bill Cassidy lost a primary election to the Trump-backed Julia Letlow, while Trump has also waded into next week’s primary in Texas, endorsing former state Attorney-General Ken Paxton to take on Senator John Cornyn.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and former German Chancellor Angela Merkel have done “unimaginable damage” to the EU through a series of disastrous policies, former Polish Prime Minister Leszek Miller has said.

Miller, who was responsible for Warsaw’s 2004 accession to the EU, took to X on Tuesday after Merkel received the newly created European Order of Merit award, presented to her by von der Leyen during a ceremony in Strasbourg.

“Merkel and von der Leyen are two German women who have caused unimaginable damage to the European Union. I hope that justice will still catch up with them,” Miller wrote.

Merkel led Germany from 2005 to 2021 through multiple crises. Among her most divisive policies was the decision to admit large numbers of asylum seekers during the 2015 migration crisis.

Merkel also took part in negotiating the 2014 and 2015 Minsk accords between Russia and Ukraine, admitting in 2022 that the agreements were intended in part to “give Ukraine time” to strengthen its military. Moscow said it was “deceived” by the deal’s European guarantors.

Von der Leyen, meanwhile, has become one of the EU’s most polarizing leaders over her backing for aid to Ukraine and sweeping sanctions on Russia that critics say have fueled inflation and put pressure on European industry.

Critics also accuse von der Leyen of centralizing power and sidestepping traditional EU decision-making processes, particularly through efforts to weaken or abolish member states’ veto powers.

“The European Union is not made up entirely of idiots, but Ms. Kallas undoubtedly hails from that species,” Miller wrote.

The remarks echo Russian criticism of the current EU leadership. Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in 2025 there were “no prospects for meaningful dialogue with the bulk of these elites in Europe,” while former President Dmitry Medvedev has described European leaders as “destructive and narrow-minded people.”

The South African government has condemned what it called the “illegal abduction” of its nationals aboard the Global Sumud Flotilla, a civilian-led humanitarian mission bound for Gaza that was reportedly intercepted by Israeli forces.

The Department of International Relations and Cooperation (Dirco) said it viewed the incident with “grave concern”, warning that South African citizens may now be detained or imprisoned in Israel following the seizure of the vessel.

”The Government of South Africa notes with grave concern reports that following the illegal seizure of the Global Sumud Flotilla (GSF) bound for Gaza, South African nationals have been abducted in international waters and may now be facing detention/imprisonment in Israel,” the department said.

The flotilla was described by the government as a peaceful humanitarian initiative aimed at drawing international attention to the worsening crisis in Gaza while delivering aid to Palestinians affected by the ongoing conflict.

”It must be underscored that the Flotilla, a civilian-led initiative embarked upon a peaceful and humanitarian mission,” Dirco said.

”Its participants aim to draw attention to the severe and urgent humanitarian needs of the Palestinian people in Gaza and to deliver vital aid to alleviate the widespread suffering of a people living under occupation and genocide.”

“The safety, security and physical integrity of all unarmed participants aboard the Flotilla, including South African citizens, are of paramount importance,” the department added.

The department further warned that “any forceful detention of these vessels in international waters constitutes a grave breach of international legal norms and fundamental human rights.”

Pretoria said it would engage relevant stakeholders and organisations linked to the flotilla in efforts to secure the release of those affected.

South Africa also called on the international community to ensure the protection of humanitarian missions and adherence to international law.

”We further call upon the international community and all relevant parties to uphold their obligations under international law and to ensure the safe and unimpeded passage of humanitarian missions,” Dirco said in conclusion.

🚨 SOS - Aqir (Munki) Name Intercepted
SOS: the israeli occupation has again illegally and violently intercepted our international fleet of humanitarian vessels and abducted our volunteers as they undertake a legitimate mission to break the illegal siege on Gaza and open a… pic.twitter.com/baTm9bjI5U

— Global Sumud Flotilla (@gbsumudflotilla) May 18, 2026

First published by IOL

The UK government has denied easing sanctions on Russia after coming under fire for issuing a temporary license allowing imports of Russian-origin diesel and jet fuel. London said the move was necessary to stabilize energy markets disrupted by the Middle East conflict.

The license, which takes effect on Wednesday, effectively reverses a pledge by Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s government to ban imports of fuel made from Russian crude abroad, leaving a route for sanctioned oil to enter the British market through refiners in countries such as India and Türkiye. Western nations have imposed sanctions and price-cap measures on Russian oil exports since the 2022 escalation of the Ukraine conflict in an effort to reduce Moscow’s revenues.

The decision follows a similar move by the US, which on Monday extended a sanctions waiver allowing limited purchases of Russian seaborne oil to help vulnerable countries cope with supply disruptions after the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz during the US-Israeli war on Iran.

The license has sparked a wave of criticism from the Conservative Party. Former Conservative cabinet minister David Lidington rushed to brand the government decision to weaken sanctions on Russian oil “an appalling betrayal of Ukraine.” He was echoed by Tory leader Kemi Badenoch who posted on X that “after 18 months of ‘standing up to Putin’, the Labour government quietly eased the restrictions.”

Starmer’s cabinet then rushed to dismiss the accusations, framing them as a misunderstanding stemming from poor communication. “We’ve handled this clumsily,” a Business and Trade Department official, Chris Bryant, told the Commons, apologizing for “giving the wrong impression.”

The prime minister himself, who is facing a crisis at home and calls to resign, claimed the licenses were “short-term” and insisted that the government was in fact tightening sanctions by simultaneously introducing “a strong new package” of restrictions targeting Russian LNG and refined oil products.

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Aleksander Novak said the moves by Britain and the US showed that the Western sanctions policy was beginning to crack under pressure from the Middle East energy crisis.

“Without Russian oil and oil products, global markets cannot cope today,” Novak told Vesti on Wednesday.

Moscow has repeatedly signaled that it is ready to plug any oil supply gaps triggered by the Middle East conflict. Some Asian countries have already moved to secure Russian crude since Washington first eased the restrictions.

Nearly 600 suspected Ebola infections and at least 139 suspected deaths have been reported during the latest outbreak in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo), the World Health Organization (WHO) announced on Wednesday. 

Congolese Health Minister Samuel Roger Kamba has reported the country has so far recorded 543 suspected Ebola cases. 

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned that the outbreak could worsen rapidly, citing several factors driving the spread of the virus. According to the WHO, the number of cases is expected to rise further because Ebola had likely been “circulating for weeks” before health authorities detected the outbreak. Cases have already been identified in several urban areas, while healthcare workers are among the dead, raising fears of transmission inside medical facilities. 

“The province of Ituri is highly insecure,” Ghebreyesus stated. 

The African state continues to grapple with instability as the M23 rebel group maintains control over parts of the region, fueling ongoing clashes and humanitarian crises. 

Ghebreyesus also warned that the outbreak involves the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola, for which there are currently no approved vaccines or treatments. The affected area is a mining zone with constant population movement, increasing the risk of the virus spreading further across the region. 

African countries are also tightening Ebola prevention measures. Burundi, Zambia, and Tanzania have strengthened border controls, surveillance, and testing capacity, while Rwanda temporarily closed its border with DR Congo.

DR Congo and Uganda confirmed their first Ebola cases on May 15. The WHO declared the outbreak a global public health emergency on Sunday.

Senior Ukrainian police officials have been detained on suspicion of accepting regular bribes from underground porn studios.

Among the high-ranking law enforcement figures arrested on Wednesday in western Ukraine were the police chief of Ivano-Frankovsk Region and his deputy, as well as deputy police chiefs from the Ternopol and Zhitomir regions, authorities said.

A fifth suspect works in the Interior Ministry’s garage and served as a personal driver for a deputy minister, officials said. Investigators allege that he acted as an intermediary and money courier in the corruption scheme.

The anti-graft operation, carried out by several agencies together with the National Police’s internal investigations division, targeted the production of adult content, an illegal but reportedly thriving industry in Ukraine. The suspects are accused of receiving monthly payments of around $25,000 per studio in exchange for shielding porn producers from law enforcement scrutiny.

Investigators seized six luxury cars, five expensive Swiss watches, and cash worth roughly $510,000 while executing search warrants connected to the case, Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko said.

Opinion polls have suggested that widespread government corruption is seen by many Ukrainians as an even greater threat to the country than the conflict with Russia. Last week, Andrey Yermak, a former chief of staff to Vladimir Zelensky, was arrested in a money-laundering case. He was released on Monday after backers posted bail of $3.2 million on his behalf.

Yermak is linked to a broader investigation into an alleged criminal network said to have been led by Timur Mindich, a longtime associate of Zelensky who fled Ukraine last November shortly before being indicted.

Nigerian anti-graft authorities have arrested former Power Minister Saleh Mamman, days after he was sentenced in absentia to 75 years in prison for fraud and money laundering linked to major state-backed electricity projects.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) said Mamman was arrested early Tuesday in the Rigasa area of Kaduna State after “weeks of intensive surveillance and intelligence gathering.” 

“For us, getting the convict to serve his jail terms is extremely important in view of the seriousness with which we are tackling corrupt practices,” EFCC Chairman Ola Olukoyede told reporters, adding that Mamman would be transferred to the correctional authorities.

Mamman was found guilty on May 7 on all 12 counts related to the diversion of funds meant for the Zungeru and Mambilla hydroelectric power projects meant to boost Nigeria’s chronically unreliable electricity supply, with planned capacities of 3,050MW and 700MW, respectively.

The Federal High Court in Abuja held that Mamman and his associates diverted at least 22 billion naira (about $16 million) from funds allocated to the projects. Mamman was absent from court during the ruling, prompting Judge James Omotosho to order national and international security agencies to arrest him and hand him over to the authorities. The judge also ordered the forfeiture of the former minister’s Abuja properties and foreign currencies recovered from him. The EFCC said the former minister went “underground” after he was sentenced.

Former Accountant-General Ahmed Idris is also facing trial over an alleged 109 billion naira fraud, while former Petroleum Minister Diezani Alison-Madueke is on trial in London on bribery charges linked to her tenure from 2010 to 2015.

The Pentagon has once again refused to admit responsibility for a strike on an Iranian school that killed more than 170 people, most of them children, despite pressure from US lawmakers.

The Shajareh Tayyebeh elementary school in southern Iran was hit on February 28, the first day of the US-Israeli bombing campaign against the Islamic Republic. According to Iranian officials, 175 people were killed, most of them children.

US officials initially offered conflicting explanations, with President Donald Trump even suggesting the strike was “done by Iran.” Investigations by media outlets and analysts later concluded that the school was likely hit by a US-made missile.

An internal military probe reportedly found US forces likely used “outdated targeting data” that misidentified the school as part of a nearby Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps naval base. The Pentagon later elevated the investigation but has since only said that it is ongoing.

“It’s been 80 days or thereabouts since the initial bombing campaign that struck the girls’ school. It’s really pretty clear what happened there,” Representative Adam Smith, the top Democrat on the committee, said.

He accused the Pentagon of “endless stalling,” noting that it previously moved much faster to acknowledge “these types of mistakes” even before completing formal probes.

“Can you at this moment acknowledge that that mistake was made and that we were responsible for it?” Smith asked Cooper, who replied that “the US does not deliberately target civilians” and reiterated that the investigation is ongoing.

Cooper deflected, saying “it’s a complex investigation” and claiming that the school was located “on an active IRGC cruise missile base,” while promising lawmakers a report once the probe is complete.

Archived copies of the school’s official website, however, indicate that the school was adjacent to – not inside – the military compound and separated from it by a fence visible in satellite imagery. Reacting to Cooper’s remarks, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei called his claims “an appalling lie.”

“This shameless distortion is a clear attempt to obscure the severe reality,” he wrote on X on Wednesday, calling for accountability and describing the strike as “a grave violation of international humanitarian law” and “a clear war crime.”

The claim by U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) that the targeted #Shajareh_Tayyebeh Elementary School in #Minab was located within a "missile launch facility" is a baseless fabrication and an appalling lie.

This shameless distortion is a clear attempt to obscure the severe…

— Esmaeil Baqaei (@IRIMFA_SPOX) May 19, 2026

The tragedy sparked international outrage. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova accused the US of “cruelty, cynicism, and dehumanization.” Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez expressed solidarity with the victims of the “massacre.”

“We may have to give Iran another big hit… I’m saying two or three days, maybe Friday, Saturday, Sunday, something, maybe early next week, a limited period of time, because we can’t let them have a new nuclear weapon,” he told reporters on Tuesday.

China has extended visa-free travel for Russian citizens through the end of 2027, the Chinese Foreign Ministry announced on Wednesday, signaling closer cross-border ties between the two nations. The statement came a day after Vladimir Putin arrived in Beijing for a two-day visit.

Russia and China have steadily expanded cooperation across trade, finance, energy infrastructure, manufacturing, technology and investment. Visa-free travel arrangements and new air routes have further boosted tourism and business exchanges, while universities and regional authorities continue to deepen joint research, investment and cross-border commercial initiatives.

“China has decided to extend its visa-free policy for Russian citizens until December 31, 2027, in order to further facilitate people-to-people exchanges between the two countries,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun told journalists.

Guo stressed that holders of ordinary Russian passports can enter China without a visa for business, tourism, family visits, and exchange programs for stays of up to 30 days. Beijing introduced the simplified entry regime for a one-year trial period last September.

In December, Russia granted Chinese citizens visa-free entry for stays of up to 30 days. 

Earlier this year, official data from Federal Security Service showed that Russian citizens made 2.5 million trips to China in 2025, marking a more than 30% increase compared to the previous year, and nearly returning to the pre-pandemic level of 2.6 million recorded in 2019.

Chinese citizens accounted for more than half of the 1.64 million foreign tourists who visited Russia in 2025, according to the country’s border control. In the fourth quarter alone, the number of Chinese tourists rose 23.8% year-on-year following the introduction of the visa-free regime.

The Russian Defense Ministry has released footage showing road-mobile missile launchers taking part in this week’s large-scale nuclear exercise. The drills, conducted jointly with Belarus, coincide with President Vladimir Putin’s state visit to China.

As both events were scheduled well in advance, military observers have suggested that the timing was intentional and meant to signal to NATO that Russia’s nuclear deterrent could not be disabled by a decapitating strike similar to the one carried out by the US and Israel against Iran at the start of their bombing campaign in late February.

The footage published on Wednesday shows a military convoy escorted by attack helicopters moving into a wooded rural area before preparing to launch a cruise missile from an Iskander-M system. The weapons platform is part of the nuclear-sharing arrangement that Russia and Belarus introduced in 2023 amid the standoff with the West over NATO’s plans to admit Ukraine into the bloc.

In its announcement on Tuesday, the Defense Ministry said the troops are training to use nuclear weapons “in the conditions of aggression,” adding that all three components of Russia’s nuclear triad are involved in the exercise. The maneuvers include 64,000 Russian troops, 7,800 military vehicles, 200 missile launchers, 140 aircraft, 73 warships, and 13 submarines, including eight strategic missile carriers.

Putin typically oversees major military drills personally in his role as commander-in-chief. This week, however, he traveled to China to formally extend a key partnership treaty and discuss major bilateral and international issues with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

On paper, Libya is one. It has one flag, one UN seat, and – as of April 11, 2026 – its first unified budget in 13 years. Yet, beneath lies a deepening fracture. While the international community celebrates the 190-billion-dinar “breakthrough,” the reality is a tale of two Libyas. This is functional fragmentation, where rival governments share a bank account while remaining at each other’s throats for the keys to the state.

The paradox of the April 11 agreement is that this technical “breakthrough” effectively serves as a survival kit for the status quo. By allocating 190 billion dinars ($30 billion) across a divided landscape, Central Bank Governor Naji Issa has created a budget trap. This financial lifeline allows the Tripoli-based Government of National Unity (GNU) and the Osama Hammad-led administration in the East – the Haftar family’s administrative arm – to maintain their patron-client networks without political compromise.

This financial “truce” seems to be the centerpiece of a pragmatic, Washington-driven strategy. Massad Boulos, US senior adviser for Arab and African affairs, has pivoted toward unifying Libya’s purse and perimeter before tackling leadership. The most striking manifestation was the Flintlock 2026 military exercises in Sirte on April 14. For the first time, forces from both East and West trained side-by-side under US Africa Command (AFRICOM) – a development that would make Muammar Gaddafi turn in his grave.

Yet, this outside-in integration risks mistaking coordination for cohesion. While Boulos frames these milestones as the bedrock of a future state, they currently formalize a duopoly of power. The presence of Saddam Haftar alongside Lt. Gen. John Brennan in Sirte confirms a US shift toward transactional realism, prioritizing “stabilization” over suffrage. By strengthening technical committees while the 6+6 Committee remains deadlocked over election laws and candidate eligibility, the international strategy is inadvertently building a more efficient cage.

Institutions now work together just enough to keep rival elites in place, indefinitely suspending the elections Libyans have been waiting for.

In her briefing to the UNSC on April 22, Hanna Tetteh, head of UNSMIL, warned against the “profoundly negative consequences for the country’s unity” resulting from this split. She pointed out that the “persistence of two constitutional bodies and two parallel Supreme Judicial Councils” amounts to the weaponization of the judiciary – which, until last year, was the final glue holding Libya together. This dangerous rift now allows for unilateral decisions regarding the appointment and transfer of senior judicial officers and, even more critically, the relocation of key judicial bodies from Western to Eastern Libya. This newly created legal environment further entrenches institutional fragmentation, making the current split legally binding and pushing the country toward a permanent partition.

Ultimately, the April 2026 milestone of a unified budget is less a bridge to stability and more a tombstone for the electoral process. While Western capitals issued celebratory statements, Tetteh’s warning served as a stark reality check. In her briefing to the UNSC she laid bare a “distorted political economy” where national wealth is being weaponized to legitimize and maintain the status quo rather than fund a transition. By granting this 190-billion-dinar seal of approval, the international community has inadvertently signaled to Libya’s rival elites that the ballot box is optional; they no longer need to win an election to access the state’s coffers, they only need to maintain the stalemate.

While the macro-strategy by Washington leans toward a shared-power status quo, a more granular technical breakthrough emerged on April 29, 2026, in Rome. Facilitated by UNSMIL, the smaller Dialogue Small Group – an eight-member working group representing authorities from both the East and West – reached a consensus on restructuring the High National Elections Commission (HNEC) board. They agreed on a mechanism to fill long-standing vacancies and recommended that the attorney general nominate an independent judge to serve as chairperson. On the surface, this resolves the critical first step of the UN roadmap, a milestone Tetteh championed in her mission to respond to the 2.8 million Libyans registered voters.

This “Boulos Doctrine” has already met a fierce local resistance. On April 6, the High Council of State officially voted to issue a “firm rejection” of the proposal, a sentiment echoed by the Grand Mufti and powerful Misratan groups, who view it as a family-led duopoly that trades national sovereignty for a manufactured stability.

The failure of the outside-in approach is mirrored by the quiet collapse of the UN’s own “bottom-up” experiment. Launched in December 2025, Tetteh’s Structured Dialogue was pitched as an inclusive, four-track engine for national consensus involving over 120 diverse participants, including the late Saif Al-Islam Gaddafi’s political team.

However, as the process nears its early-June deadline, the engine is idling. Members of the dialogue have revealed that while the tracks for reconciliation and human rights have produced lofty recommendations, the more critical tracks – security and the formation of a unified temporary government – remain deadlocked.

This internal paralysis is what ultimately forced the UN to pivot toward the “Small Group” meeting in Rome. By retreating from a 120-member inclusive dialogue to a closed-door smaller gathering, the UN has essentially admitted that its broad social roadmap has lost its way. The mission is no longer trying to solve the Libyan crisis through popular consensus; it is instead hunting for a technicality that can be sold as “progress” to the Security Council, even as the broader political foundation crumbles.

The unified budget is thus becoming the operating capital for a permanent partition. Without a single judicial authority to validate the law, or a unified government to secure the desert hinterlands, Libya remains a country on paper only. It is tragic proof of a new geopolitical reality: while you can successfully unify the bank accounts of rival generals, you cannot buy the soul of a nation. Libya is no longer a failed state in the traditional sense; it is something far more haunting – a functioning bureaucracy of division.

Russia and Equatorial Guinea have signed a memorandum on cooperation in the field of nuclear energy, Russia’s state nuclear corporation Rosatom has said. 

The agreement was signed in Moscow on Tuesday during a meeting between Rosatom Deputy Director General Nikolay Spassky and a delegation from the African nation led by Foreign Minister Simeon Oyono Esono Angue. 

According to Rosatom, the memorandum provides for the creation of joint working groups on projects in nuclear energy and non-energy applications of nuclear technologies. The deal also includes cooperation in specialist training. 

Rosatom has been actively expanding its presence in Africa in recent years, including through the construction of Egypt’s El Dabaa nuclear power plant, the continent’s first large-scale nuclear energy project. 

Lavrov said Moscow remained open to expanding military-technical ties with the African state and was ready to respond to the country’s defense needs. 

“We are always ready to continue military-technical cooperation. We have a strong tradition of this [in this area],” the Russian foreign minister said.  

Angue said Equatorial Guinea highly values Russia’s role in training military specialists, stressing that African nations are facing growing terrorist threats and need to strengthen their defense capabilities. 

“Terrorism is gaining momentum, [and] African countries, need to strengthen our capabilities, the ability of our forces to resist any threats, including those from terrorism,” the minister said. He added that Equatorial Guinea particularly appreciated Russia’s involvement in training national specialists and supporting the country’s security sector. 

A joint operation by Nigerian and US forces has killed at least 175 Islamic State militants, including senior commanders, in the northeast of the West African nation, the authorities have said.

Nigeria’s military said on Tuesday that the strikes were conducted over several days against Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) fighters, destroying weapons, checkpoints, and financial networks across the region. US Africa Command (AFRICOM) confirmed the operation and said no American or Nigerian troops were harmed.

“The removal of these terrorists diminishes the group’s capacity to plan attacks that threaten the safety and security of the U.S. and our partners,” AFRICOM said in a statement.

The latest strikes come days after Abuja and Washington announced that a joint military operation in the Lake Chad Basin killed senior Islamic State commander Abu-Bilal al-Minuki, who US President Donald Trump described as the group’s global second-in-command.

Nigerian President Bola Tinubu said the operation showed “effective collaboration” between the two countries in the fight against terrorism.

Nigeria’s northeast has been the center of a long-running insurgency by Boko Haram and ISWAP, which have targeted military bases, villages, schools, and transport routes. The country has also seen a surge in mass kidnappings and deadly raids in recent months, despite increased security measures, including a state of emergency declared by the government.

The Trump administration sent troops to Nigeria in February in what was described as an advisory and training role, though the recent operations indicate a more active role. AFRICOM commander Gen. Dagvin Anderson told a congressional hearing on Tuesday that Nigeria played a pivotal role in developing targets, intelligence, and operational support for the operation.

Recent threats directed at Russia’s Kaliningrad Region by Lithuanian Foreign Minister Kestutis Budrys are “borderline crazy” and reflect a “maniacal” hostility toward Russia among Lithuania’s leadership, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said.

In an interview with Neue Zurcher Zeitung published on Monday, Budrys described NATO as the “strongest organization ever created” and called for a more aggressive approach toward Moscow. Russia, he claimed, had left behind only a “toxic and corrupt” legacy in the former Soviet republic.

“We must transform our fear of the threat into a sense of empowerment,” Budrys said, voicing confidence in NATO’s mutual defense commitments and, in particular, Germany’s readiness to fight for Lithuania.

“We must show the Russians that we can penetrate the small fortress they have built in Kaliningrad,” he added. “NATO has the means to raze the Russian air defense and missile bases there to the ground if necessary.”

Responding to the comments, Peskov told Russian media that Budrys’ statement did not merit serious analysis. He suggested that Lithuania is being led by “unbridled” politicians who are incapable of sober strategic thinking, which he said ultimately works in Russia’s favor.

Later in the day, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov echoed Peskov’s remarks, arguing that Western officials resort to such hostile rhetoric to assert their relevance. “But unlike the philosopher [Rene Descartes] who said ‘I think, therefore I am’ these people simply are,” the diplomat joked.

The remarks come as the European Union debates whether to resume diplomatic engagement with Moscow. Russia says the ball is in Brussels’ court since it chose to suspend contacts over the Ukraine conflict. Budrys’ Estonian counterpart, Margus Tsahkna, has urged Western nations to increase pressure on Russia instead, telling Bloomberg last week that “now is not the moment to talk or negotiate.”

A hardline position toward Russia remains prominent within the EU leadership, including in the office of the bloc’s foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas. The former Estonian prime minister was jettisoned to Brussels in 2024 after her domestic approval ratings dived in the wake of a scandal over her husband’s business interests in Russia.

Almost two out of three violent attacks against politicians in Germany in 2025 targeted members of Alternative for Germany (AfD), government data shows. An MP from the right-wing party blamed the development on what he called a years-long defamation campaign.

AfD politicians were targets in a total of 121 cases last year, almost twice as many as all other major German political parties combined, the federal government said in a response to a parliamentary inquiry by AfD MP Martin Hess. The party was also the most frequent target of non-violent politically motivated offenses, the data suggested. The total number of crimes committed against the AfD in 2025 surpassed 1,800.

Around 60% of violent politically-motivated crimes were committed by left-wing suspects, Nius media outlet reported, citing police data provided by the government. Only 11% of offenses were reportedly attributed to right-wing suspects.

Hess, the MP and a former police officer, blamed the “unacceptable development” on what he called a targeted effort to discredit his party.

“Those who constantly defame, delegitimize and dehumanize the AfD and its supporters shouldn’t be surprised when enemies of democracy see in this a call to violence,” he said. The government maintained it saw no indication that the attacks on the AfD were “systematically planned,” according to Nius.

The right-wing party professes an anti-immigration platform and opposes Berlin’s sanctions on Russia. It has faced a boycott from the mainstream German parties, with some of its opponents labeling it “unconstitutional.” The AfD has nevertheless surpassed the CDU in terms of public support, becoming the most popular party in Germany, according to a poll last month.

Moscow and Beijing have signed around 40 cooperation documents and issued two major declarations during Russian President Vladimir Putin’s two-day summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing.

Putin’s official visit came just days after Xi’s summit with US President Donald Trump and coincided with the 25th anniversary of the Russia-China Treaty of Good-Neighborliness, Friendship and Cooperation, a landmark agreement that laid the foundation for the countries’ strategic partnership.

The Sino-Russian talks were held in a “traditionally warm, comradely and constructive atmosphere” with agreements focusing on “the further deepening of our economic cooperation,” Putin said at a press conference following the negotiations. 

Xi hailed the talks as “in-depth, friendly and fruitful” and noted that relations between China and Russia have “reached a new milestone.” The Chinese president said that Beijing and Moscow should align their national development goals and cooperation in energy, artificial intelligence and technological innovation for the sake of the prosperity of both.

• Putin and Xi signed a joint declaration on strengthening the Russia-China comprehensive strategic partnership, pledging to expand military, technological, trade, and economic cooperation.

• The two leaders also adopted a declaration on global multipolarity, calling for a new model of international relations based on equality, mutual respect, and mutually beneficial cooperation.

• Moscow and Beijing additionally launched a joint “Year of Education” initiative designed to deepen long-term academic and cultural ties through expanded student exchange programs.

• Putin said a significant share of the agreements focused on economic cooperation. Bilateral trade exceeded $240 billion last year and expanded by a further 20% in the first four months of 2026. 

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Russia and China have built an expansive economic partnership while deepening coordination within BRICS, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, the G20 and the UN Security Council. Both governments say their growing network of bilateral projects and multilateral cooperation is aimed at shielding their economies from external pressure and advancing a more “multipolar” world order.  

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s two-day visit to Beijing, which began on Tuesday, is expected to further strengthen ties between the neighboring powers.  

RT examines the key pillars of Russia-China economic cooperation. 

Booming trade

Bilateral trade has exceeded $200 billion for three straight years, surpassing $240 billion in 2025. Trade turnover reached $85.2 billion in the first four months of 2026, up nearly 20% year-on-year, according to customs data. 

Financial integration

Russia and China have largely phased out Western currencies in bilateral trade, with nearly all transactions now conducted in rubles and yuan. Moscow says the transition has reduced reliance on “unfriendly” dollar- and euro-based financial infrastructure, making trade between the two countries more resilient to external pressure and sanctions. 

Energy as backbone of partnership 

Despite Western restrictions, China has expanded energy trade with Russia, becoming the main buyer of Russian oil. Moscow is now among Beijing’s leading suppliers of crude, pipeline gas, LNG and coal. The two countries declared a “no-limits” partnership in 2022. 

The launch of the Power of Siberia pipeline in 2019 marked a major expansion of Russian gas exports to China, with the route reaching full design capacity in December 2024. Moscow and Beijing are also advancing the planned Power of Siberia 2 pipeline via Mongolia, which could significantly boost supplies from western Siberian fields previously serving Europe. 

Combined with existing and future routes, Russian gas exports to China could eventually exceed 100 billion cubic meters annually, strengthening long-term energy integration between the two economies. 

Alongside pipeline deliveries, Russia has expanded LNG shipments from Arctic and Far Eastern projects including Yamal LNG, Arctic LNG 2 and Sakhalin-2, with cargoes increasingly shipped via the Northern Sea Route. 

Infrastructure development

Russia and China have expanded cross-border transport links in recent years, including the opening of railway and highway bridges across the Amur River in the Far East. The two countries are also developing what officials describe as the world’s first international cross-border cable car linking Heihe and Blagoveshchensk. 

Beyond traditional infrastructure, Moscow and Beijing are exploring a cross-border hydrogen freight corridor for heavy-duty zero-emission trucks along major trade routes.

Many of these projects align with China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), Beijing’s sprawling Eurasian infrastructure and connectivity strategy.

Manufacturing, technology, and investment projects

Moscow and Beijing are expanding cooperation in manufacturing and high-tech sectors including aviation, nuclear energy, the digital economy, and joint innovation projects. A recently updated agreement on the promotion and mutual protection of investments has also strengthened the legal framework for long-term cooperation.

According to the Russian Direct Investment Fund, more than 90 joint projects worth around 18 trillion rubles ($253 billion) are currently being implemented under the bilateral investment commission across sectors including infrastructure, energy and logistics.

Western sanctions have pushed both countries to accelerate joint technological development and reduce dependence on Western platforms and equipment. China has also increased investment in Russian industries ranging from agriculture to telecommunications, including 5G and digital logistics.

Other areas of cooperation

Beyond trade and industry, Moscow and Beijing are expanding cooperation in tourism, education, and regional development. Visa-free travel arrangements and new air routes have boosted tourism and business travel, while universities and regional authorities continue to deepen joint research, investment, and cross-border business initiatives.

The US Senate has advanced a resolution aimed at curbing President Donald Trump’s authority to continue military operations against Iran without congressional approval or a debate on the rationale, cost, strategy, and clear end goal.

The chamber voted 50-47 on Tuesday to take up the war powers resolution, which would require Trump to end the hostilities against Iran, marking the first time either chamber has moved this measure forward since the conflict began in February.

Four Republicans – Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, Rand Paul of Kentucky, Susan Collins of Maine, and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska – joined almost all Senate Democrats in supporting the eighth attempt to advance the measure. Senator John Fetterman of Pennsylvania was the only Democrat to vote against it, while three Republicans did not vote. Cassidy, who previously opposed the measure, switched sides after losing a primary race in which Trump endorsed his opponent.

Even so, Democrats say the vote is politically significant, arguing that it forces Republicans to go on record over an increasingly unpopular and costly conflict. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer urged lawmakers to back the resolution, accusing Trump of acting “like a toddler playing with a loaded gun.”

The push comes after the 60-day deadline set by the 1973 War Powers Resolution expired on May 1. The law requires the president to obtain congressional authorization within 60 days of introducing US forces into a conflict or end their involvement, with a possible additional 30 days for withdrawal.

Critics have rejected this argument, pointing to the continued US naval blockade of Iranian ports and the fact that US forces remain positioned for possible renewed strikes. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has also told lawmakers that the administration believes the ceasefire pauses or stops the 60-day clock, an interpretation that Democrats and some Republicans have questioned.

The administration of President Donald Trump is reportedly set to tell European NATO members that the US will reduce the military capabilities available to the bloc in the event of a major crisis, including an attack on a member state.

Although the composition of the forces assigned under the NATO Force Model is classified, the Pentagon has decided to “significantly scale down” its commitment, Reuters reported on Tuesday.

The plan is expected to be announced at a meeting of defense policy chiefs in Brussels on May 22, according to three anonymous sources familiar with the matter. The US is expected to be represented at the meeting by Alex Velez-Green, a senior aide to Undersecretary of War Elbridge Colby.

The adjustment of the NATO Force Model has reportedly become a key priority for Colby’s team ahead of the next NATO leaders’ summit, which will take place in Türkiye in July. Despite pushing the Europeans to take the lead on conventional forces, Colby previously said the US would “strenuously oppose” them in developing nuclear weapons to replace the US nuclear umbrella.

The White House has reportedly drawn up a NATO “naughty and nice” list to reward those who supported the US-Israeli war against Iran and punish those who did not, including by shifting troops, scaling back exercises, or redirecting military cooperation.

Earlier this month, the Pentagon canceled the planned rotation of 4,000 troops into Poland, shortly after announcing the withdrawal of 5,000 soldiers from Germany. US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has also reportedly canceled the deployment to Germany of a battalion specializing in long-range missiles.

Moscow has condemned the militarization of Europe, arguing that Western governments are using “ostentatious Russophobia” to justify turning the EU into a military bloc and to divert attention away from domestic issues.

Beijing stands as Moscow’s “most powerful strategic partner,” with Russia’s massive natural reserves and cheap energy making it a perfect fit for cooperation in artificial intelligence development, Kremlin investment envoy Kirill Dmitriev has said.

Speaking to journalists at Tsinghua University in Beijing on Tuesday, Dmitriev, who heads the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), said that Russia and China maintain “a comprehensive investment partnership.”

“Russia has a number of very strong competitive advantages” as it is “a leader in the world in terms of resource reserves” and “can provide the cheapest energy for artificial intelligence in the world,” he said. “We communicate with Chinese partners on projects in the fields of AI, logistics, and infrastructure.”

Speaking to Tsinghua University students on Tuesday, Dmitriev estimated that Russia could fuel AI development and operation ten times cheaper than any other source.

“It was a smarter, more intelligent, more efficient way to think about AI,” including regarding “open sourcing models,” he said. DeepSeek “broke the monopoly of some of the countries who tried to create technology monopoly,” he said.

China and the Global South are now the drivers of global growth, but certain nations are still “not willing to give up constructs that they have to protect their position,” Dmitriev added.

Brussels should strip fighting-age Ukrainian men of “temporary protection” status, Ylva Johansson, the bloc’s special envoy for Ukrainians in the EU, has said.

A total of 4.33 million Ukrainians were living under temporary protection status in the EU as of March 31, 2026, according to the bloc’s statistics agency, Eurostat. Around a quarter of them were men aged between 18 and 64, the data showed, indicating that the bloc could be hosting up to a million of men Kiev deems to be of fighting age.

Ukraine announced a general mobilization shortly after the escalation of the conflict with Russia in 2022, barring men between the ages of 18 and 60 from leaving the country. Last year, Kiev relaxed the restrictions, allowing men aged 18 to 22 to cross the border.

“It does not seem quite logical that many fighting-age men, who have no right to leave Ukraine, immediately get temporary protection once they cross the border, maybe even illegally,” Johansson told the German state-funded DW broadcaster last week. “I think this is a bit of a controversial signal that we are sending to Ukraine, because we are also supporting Ukraine in a military way,” she added.

Ukraine has had to rely on mandatory – and often forced – mobilization to replenish its military ranks amid chronic troop shortage and mass desertions as well as draft dodging.

The recruitment drive has grown increasingly brutal over the years, with hundreds of videos showing draft patrols abducting men from streets and even shops. Tens of thousands of Ukrainians have fled to the EU to avoid being conscripted.

CNN reported in December that over 30,000 people had crossed into Romania alone since the Ukraine conflict escalated in February 2022. Moscow has previously accused Kiev’s Western backers of waging a proxy war “to the last Ukrainian” against Russia.

President Donald Trump and pro-Israel groups have helped unseat Representative Thomas Massie, a hardline conservative who broke with the president over Israel, Iran, and the Epstein files, in what became the most expensive US House primary in history.

Ed Gallrein, a retired Navy SEAL and farmer who previously ran unsuccessfully for the Kentucky state Senate in 2024, defeated Massie after pro-Israel groups poured more than $10 million into Tuesday’s Republican primary.

Massie is firmly in the latter camp. In his 14 years in Congress, Massie has opposed every gun control measure that has come before the House of Representatives, pushed to abolish the Department of Education, and voted to deny citizenship to the children of illegal immigrants. On foreign policy, he has backed the withdrawal of US troops from the Middle East, voted against multiple military aid packages for Ukraine, and in October 2023 was the only Republican to vote against a resolution guaranteeing American support for Israel’s war on Gaza.

Why does Trump want Massie out?

Trump endorsed Massie in the 2022 Republican primary, calling him a “conservative warrior” and a “first-rate defender of the Constitution.” However, the two had an uneasy relationship, with Trump branding Massie a “third rate Grandstander” and suggesting he be thrown out of the GOP for opposing the president’s $2 trillion Covid-19 bailout bill in 2020.

The relationship worsened during Trump’s second term. After Massie opposed Trump’s ‘One Big Beautiful Bill’ spending package last year, Trump described the Kentuckian as a “negative force who almost always Votes ‘NO’,” and promised that “we will have a wonderful American Patriot running against him in the Republican Primary.”

Massie’s opposition to Trump’s war on Iran and his insistence that Trump release the full, unredacted Epstein files further angered the president. At a rally in March, Trump gave Gallrein his “complete and total endorsement,” describing him as a “true American hero.”

Ed who?

Trump’s endorsement of Gallrein is illustrative of the president’s recent embrace of the ‘Never Trump’ neocons who despised him a decade ago. Gallrein left the Republican Party after Trump secured the presidential nomination in 2016, vowing not to rejoin the GOP until the party was rid of him. Now, with Trump cozying up to the interventionists, Gallrein is once again content to associate himself with the president.

Gallrein is a relatively unknown figure. His campaign website lists a series of generic Republican policy priorities – “unleash our economy,” “secure the border once and for all,” “end the woke agenda” – and Trump seems to have chosen him not on any specific virtues, but because he is anyone but Thomas Massie. At the endorsement rally in March, Trump devoted more time to attacking Massie than promoting any of Gallrein’s policies, telling the crowd “he’s got to be voted out of office as soon as possible.”

How is Israel involved?

Massie’s persistent criticism of Israel has made him a target of wealthy pro-Israeli donors, who have spent more than $9 million bankrolling Gallrein’s campaign. According to Massie, more than 95% of Gallrein’s donations have come from pro-Israel lobbyists and interest groups. Beyond direct donations to Gallrein, these megadonors have spent a total of $15.5 million on the primary, with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) pitching in more than $4.1 million, the Republican Jewish Coalition’s ‘RJC Victory Fund’ spending $3.9 million, and MAGA KY – a super PAC funded by pro-Israel philanthropists Paul Singer and Miriam Adelson – spending $7.9 million, according to Federal Election Commission (FEC) filings.

“Their position is more war, it’s more strife, it’s more bombs, it’s more foreign aid, and those are the things that I’ve been voting against,” Massie told Tucker Carlson earlier this month. “So the real reason that this race is a serious race, and I may lose, is because a foreign lobby has fully funded, to the extent that they’ve never done in any Republican race ever before, my opponent.”

Massie has accused AIPAC of controlling Congress, telling Carlson in 2024 that every US lawmaker “has an AIPAC person… like a babysitter” who works to ensure that they vote in line with Israel’s interests. He has since voted against military aid to Israel, boycotted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s address to Congress, and introduced legislation that would force AIPAC to register as a foreign agent.

Who won?

Massie had easily defeated every primary challenger in his 14-year career in Congress. However, he had never faced such a concerted campaign against him, and several late polls showed him neck and neck with Gallrein.

However, after polls closed, early results showed Gallrein leading by a growing margin, prompting Massie to concede.

“I would have come out sooner but I had to call my opponent and concede and it took a while to find Ed Gallrein in Tel Aviv,” Massie told a crowd of supporters, as the race neared a 55% to 45% result.

With the results in, two key questions remain: Are Republican voters more loyal to Trump than to ‘America First’ principles? And can the Israel lobby buy whatever congressional seats it wants?

Croatian President Zoran Milanovic has refused to approve Israel’s new ambassador to Zagreb, citing disagreements with the Israeli government’s actions.

The presidential office announced the decision on Monday.

“The proposed Ambassador of the State of Israel has not received, nor will he receive, the consent of the President of the Republic Zoran Milanovic due to the policies pursued by the current Israeli authorities,” it said in a statement.

Israel deviated from established diplomatic norms by announcing their proposed ambassador before he was approved by the Croatian president, it added. “Public or political pressure, in this case from the Israeli side, will not alter the President of the Republic’s decision.”

The term of Israel’s current ambassador to Zagreb, Gary Koren, expires at the end of the May. Israeli diplomat Nisan Amdor, whom West Jerusalem last year selected to replace him, will instead arrive in Croatia next month as charge d’affaires, a post not requiring presidential approval, Ynet reported on Monday.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar responded by accusing the president of using “hate-filled language about Israel and Zionism.”

Moscow has also been critical of the Israeli blockade and bombing of the Palestinian enclave, likening it to collective punishment of both Hamas and the local civilian population. The only way out the crisis is to enact a two-state solution, Russian President Vladimir Putin has said.

A senior official from the administration of US President Donald Trump personally intervened to help former Polish Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro, wanted by Warsaw on criminal charges, flee to the US, Reuters has reported.

US Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau instructed senior US State Department officials to facilitate and approve a visa for Ziobro, the outlet wrote on Monday, citing people familiar with the matter.

Landau reportedly learned of Ziobro’s case earlier this year from US ambassador to Warsaw Tom Rose and believed the ex-minister was being unjustly prosecuted. Landau reportedly described the matter as “a national security issue,” Reuters added.

Granting a visa to a politician facing criminal charges in a US-allied country is “highly unusual,” the outlet noted. Poland’s current Justice Minister Waldemar Zurek expressed surprise at the report on Tuesday, saying that Warsaw expected its American allies to discuss such a matter. He insisted that Warsaw will “do everything” to bring Ziobro to justice in Poland.

Ziobro faces multiple criminal charges tied to alleged abuse of power while in office. Prosecutors accuse him of leading a criminal group that diverted public money to purchase Israeli-made Pegasus spyware, which was allegedly used to surveil political opponents and journalists. Ziobro could face up to 25 years in prison if convicted.

Poland issued an arrest warrant for Ziobro last November while he was in Budapest. The politician remained in Hungary after then-Prime Minister Viktor Orban granted him political asylum.

Following his election victory in April, Hungary’s new prime minister, Peter Magyar, pledged to extradite Ziobro to Poland upon taking office. On the day of Magyar’s inauguration, Ziobro flew from Milan to New Jersey, according to Polish media reports.

Russia will respond to efforts by European NATO members to build up their nuclear war capacity, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov has told TASS.

The Russian diplomat was referring to the new “forward nuclear deterrence strategy” unveiled by French President Emmanuel Macron in March. Under the plan, France aims to expand its atomic arsenal and move its nuclear weapons to other European NATO states as part of “circumstantial deployments.”

“Paris’ false slogans about strengthening its allies’ security are leading to exactly the opposite [results],” Ryabkov said. Nations that would host French nuclear weapons on their territory would come “under closer scrutiny of our military responsible for strategic deterrence,” he stated, adding that “the general security level of those nations would… not increase.”

Moscow “cannot ignore an obvious buildup of the nuclear component of NATO’s joint potential,” the deputy foreign minister stated.

In March, the Finnish government also announced it would seek to amend the national legislation to allow for importing and hosting nuclear devices for “defense purposes.” The Kremlin warned at the time that the step would only lead to an escalation of tensions and prompt a response from Russia.

Ryabkov described both the potential French-Polish drills and the Finnish government’s plans as “elements of a general process of accelerated militarization of Europe openly aimed against our country.”

Moscow has stated that it has no intention of attacking any NATO nation, but warned that it would aim its nuclear arsenal at countries hosting such weapons directed at Russia.

Riot police clashed with anti-government protesters in Bolivia’s administrative capital, La Paz, on Monday. The massive rallies sparked by rising costs of living and fuel shortages escalated into calls for Bolivian President Rodrigo Paz to step down just six months after taking office.

A centrist Christian Democratic Party conservative, Paz scrapped decades-old fuel subsidies that had drained Bolivia’s foreign reserves but has so far failed to stabilize fuel supplies. Thousands of farmers, miners, teachers, laborers, and indigenous activists have spent weeks protesting over rising living costs, stagnant wages, economic instability, and alleged plans to privatize state-owned companies.

Video footage showed riot police firing tear gas as protesters hurled projectiles, firecrackers, and homemade explosives near government buildings. The footage also captured arrests and a burning vehicle.

Local media have reported that more than 100 people were arrested during the Monday unrest.

Supporters of socialist former Bolivian President Evo Morales joined the protests, marching through major streets and avenues while calling on the government to prevent what they described as US interference in the country’s internal affairs.

“The US gives Rodrigo Paz instructions, and Rodrigo Paz uses military police to carry out massacres,” Feliciano Vegamonte, leader of the Confederation of Peasant Workers said during the march, adding that “the current president has been bathed in the blood of Indigenous people.”

The political crisis in Bolivia deepened after the 2019 turmoil, when Morales was ousted following a disputed election in which he secured a highly controversial fourth consecutive term. Prior to that, he had narrowly lost a referendum on removing term limits, which at the time capped the tenure of both the president and vice president at two terms.

On Sunday, Morales supporters occupied an airport in Chimore to prevent his alleged arrest by what he described as US-backed forces. The move reportedly led to 57 arrests and came shortly after Morales claimed that Washington was planning to detain him.

More video footage captured hundreds of demonstrators loyal to Paz marching through La Paz on Monday night condemning the anti-government protests and calling on the authorities to declare a state of emergency.

The EU will turn to a long-term strategy involving cow dung to stave off a looming fertilizer shortage, rather than supporting farmers with immediate measures like suspending tariffs on Russian and Belarusian imports, Politico wrote on Monday.

The US-Israeli war on Iran disrupted shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, which handles an estimated one third of the global fertilizer trade, and a fifth of the world’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) – a commodity important in the production of nitrate fertilizers. The key waterway was blocked during planting season in the Northern Hemisphere, with analysts warning of a potential global shortage of crucial crop nutrients and a delayed world-wide food shock.

As the EU had already secured fertilizer supplies this crop season, any knock-on effect for the bloc’s farmers and consumers is likely to be delayed, Politico wrote.

The European Commission’s latest roadmap to parry the upcoming shortage is a long-term plan that has been around for years, with just a few emergency additions such as state aid for affected farmers, the designation of fertilizers as a crisis-relevant commodity and a promised boost for the EU farm budget, the outlet wrote.

“Manure can be a contribution, but it can never substitute the urea-based, the nitrogen-based fertilizers,” Politico cited Italian MEP and AGRI Committee member Herbert Dorfmann as saying.

Fast-acting measures to aid farmers, such as suspending taxes on carbon-intensive imports or tariffs on Russian and Belarusian fertilizers were dismissed as “too politically toxic,” the outlet said.

Since 2021, Russia has increased sales of mineral fertilizers to BRICS countries by 71%, and now holds first place worldwide in exports of the commodities and second place in output, Russian Association of Fertilizer Producers head Andrey Guryev said earlier this year.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has arrived in Beijing. He has travelled to China for a two-day official visit at the invitation of Chinese President Xi Jinping. The trip coincides with the 25th anniversary of the signing of the Russia-China Treaty of Good-Neighborliness, Friendship and Cooperation.

The visit comes less than a week after US President Donald Trump’s trip to China. The American president arrived in Beijing for a two-day state visit last week but did not achieve any major breakthroughs in talks with Xi.

The Kremlin has dismissed speculation that the timing of Putin’s trip is linked to US-China contacts, saying that there is “no connection whatsoever.” Preparations for the visit began shortly after Putin and Xi held a video call in February, Kremlin aide Yury Ushakov said earlier this week.

The Russian president was met on the tarmac by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, as well as an honor guard and a group of children waving Russian and Chinese flags. Some of the honor guard members drove to the tarmac on motorcycles ahead of the Russian president’s arrival.

The presidential delegation includes senior officials, ministers, and the heads of major Russian companies. Around 40 bilateral documents are expected to be signed during the visit, including a joint statement on deepening the comprehensive strategic partnership between the two countries, according to Ushakov.

Meetings between the two presidents are scheduled for Wednesday. According to Moscow, Putin and Xi will hold both one-on-one and expanded-format talks focused on “the most important and sensitive issues” in bilateral relations, as well as major international developments.

The government of Greenland has condemned an unofficial visit by a US doctor to assess the island’s healthcare system during an American diplomatic trip to Nuuk.

The controversy comes amid US President Donald Trump’s repeated threats to take over the autonomous Danish territory.

The four-day visit by a US delegation, including US Ambassador to Denmark Kenneth Howery and Trump’s special envoy to Greenland, Jeff Landry, began on Sunday. The stated goal is to attend a business forum and open a new US consular office in the capital, Nuuk.

The controversy erupted after physician Joseph Griffin, part of the delegation, told Danish broadcaster TV 2 on Monday that Landry had personally invited him to Nuuk to help “assess the medical needs” of Greenland.

Griffin insisted he was acting as a “volunteer” and planned to speak with Greenlanders to learn “how healthcare is practiced here.”

Landry has become a controversial figure in Greenland after repeatedly criticizing the island’s healthcare system and backing Trump’s February proposal to send a US hospital ship to the territory, a plan firmly rejected by officials in Nuuk.

He also previously vowed to be “very aggressive in delivering healthcare to remote parts” of the island, while stating that the hospital ship proposal had been discussed with the Pentagon.

The dispute comes amid Trump’s push to bring Greenland under greater US control, supposedly on national security grounds. The president has described the mineral-rich Arctic territory as strategically vital for countering Russia and China, while White House officials earlier this year said military force to acquire the island was “always an option.”

In an apparent snub to the US delegation, Greenland Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen has refused to participate in the opening of the new US consulate.

Residents of the western Ukrainian city of Lviv have fought back against heavy-handed conscription officers on two separate incidents, according to videos circulating on social media.

Ukraine continues to rely on mandatory mobilization to replenish troops amid the conflict with Russia. The practice dubbed ‘busification,’ referring to the vans commonly used by patrols to abduct unwilling conscripts, has been causing increasing resistance from the public.

Just last month, a draft raid member was stabbed to death by a Lviv resident. New clips showcasing the growing discontent go viral every week.

In one incident shared Tuesday by the local Telegram channel Lvivich, a confrontation unfolded on a busy road after a vehicle used by draft officials became stuck in traffic. Footage appears to show a young woman tearing off one of the car’s windows with her bare hands while another window is kicked out from inside the vehicle.

As a crowd gathered around the car, the officers eventually released the man they were apparently attempting to whisk away. Moments later, the man punched the last intact window on the car’s right side.

A second video, apparently filmed from a nearby apartment bloc, showed several men blocking a black van from leaving the area. Unlike the first confrontation, the encounter appeared largely verbal, with shouting between the two sides but no visible physical violence.

According to the footage, the civilians succeeded in obtaining personal belongings from inside the vehicle before the patrol departed.

Mandatory mobilization has become a major source of public tension in Ukraine, where critics have accused recruitment officers of abuse of force and corruption. Ukrainian media have previously reported that the Defense Ministry is considering rebranding territorial recruitment centers, which conduct the draft, and potentially transferring more responsibilities to the Interior Ministry.

The Russian ruble has become the world’s best-performing currency against the US dollar in the second quarter of 2026, boosted by a surge in oil revenues, Bloomberg has reported. 

Data compiled by the outlet showed the ruble had climbed about 12% since the start of April to around 72.6 per dollar, its strongest level since February 2023.

For a second straight year, the currency has diverged from official and market forecasts that predicted depreciation, prompting some analysts to argue the ruble is overvalued, the report said on Tuesday.

The ruble’s strength has become a defining feature of Russia’s current economy, driven by sanctions-related imbalances in financial markets and tight monetary policy aimed at offsetting the costs of the Ukraine conflict, according to Bloomberg. While a stronger ruble helps curb inflationary pressures, it is also weighing on exporters’ earnings and state budget revenues, the report added.

Russian Economy Minister Maksim Reshetnikov said last month the ruble could remain stronger “than many would like” in the coming years under the current economic model, noting that exchange rates previously favored by exporters had largely reflected persistent capital outflows.

“Now it is clear those outflows no longer exist, and net foreign assets are accumulating within our financial system,” Reshetnikov said at the time.

Demand for foreign currency has remained weak amid high domestic interest rates and subdued imports, nearly 60% of which are now settled in rubles.

Net foreign-currency sales by Russia’s largest exporters tripled to $7.3 billion in April, central bank data showed, after the average price of Russia’s Urals crude climbed sharply. The Bank of Russia said higher oil prices had boosted hard-currency revenues this month.

First Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov said earlier that the ruble’s appreciation is putting pressure on non-commodity, non-energy exports. Sberbank CEO Herman Gref has echoed that view, calling such a level the “equilibrium” rate for the Russian currency.

In 2018, on the day the 2026 FIFA World Cup was awarded to the US, Canada, and Mexico, I vowed that under no circumstances would I work at it in any capacity, from commentator to host, journalist to presenter.

The reason was simple: five years of non-stop lawfare against the sport’s global governing body (FIFA) and the bullying of delegates to vote against the preferred candidate, Morocco. I stayed true to the promise I made live on air with Capital Sports, by saying no to a match commentator and host contract in February this year. A couple of weeks after turning down the gig, the US and Israel unleashed an unprovoked war on Iran, with Canada giving active support. Using FIFA’s own logic that was applied to Russia and Belarus, this summer’s event has to be postponed.

Not all are equal

Having been party to the process of freezing Russian football clubs and teams from international competition in the days following the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022, I took zero pleasure from being the person to break the news that UEFA (Europe’s governing body) had ‘pulled the trigger’. At that moment, Capital Sports was live on air with the then CEO of the All-Russian Footballers Union. The deal, worked out between the Russian Football Union (RFU), UEFA, and FIFA, gave us all a sense of relief.

It was sensible, pragmatic, and based upon the safety of players, officials, and fans. That Russian troops had gone into a neighboring nation was, to football officials, a secondary concern. Were war ever an actual concern, then the nations of the Coalition of the Willing, part 1, who took part in the illegal and actual full-scale invasion of Iraq 23 years ago this March, would be all out in the cold. Italy and Spain would not have won their World Cups in 2006 and 2010 respectively, and the US would not have been awarded hosting rights for 2026. Yet the three aforementioned nations, plus another 48 including the UK, Latvia, Lithuania, Kuwait, and Afghanistan, have continued to be welcome in the football fraternity.

However, this is not 2003 and the idea of staging a mega-event in two nations up to their knees in blood is not just reprehensible from a moral standpoint, or appalling from a human one, it’s patently unsafe. Award-winning sportswriter Andrew Flint told Capital Sports in December: “It’s a fact that football grounds are too wide open for attack… safety cannot be guaranteed for players and fans alike.”

‘The Washington Candidate’ runs FIFA

In November 2010, two good things happened to football: Russia and Qatar were awarded World Cup hosting rights for 2018 and 2022 respectively. At the time I warned, live on Irish state broadcaster RTE Radio 1, that it would be bad for FIFA and Russia. Bad enough that England lost the race to host the 2018 jamboree, but Washington was infuriated at losing to Qatar. The pair of crybullies couldn’t accept that the world’s most popular sport was not theirs to rule. Moscow, immediately, landed in the crosshairs of the Anglosphere and their European lackeys, with constant attacks on Russia – from doping scandals to regime change pushes and everything in between – that lasted until the tournament kicked off at Luzhniki Stadium. Qatar’s ‘punishment’ continued throughout its well-received event. However, by 2018, football’s global governing body had been gutted. The US had its people in charge of FIFA after a decapitation strike by Donald Trump’s first predecessor, Barack Obama.

To those of us working in and reporting on sport, it was clear that Obama used lawfare to bring FIFA to heel. As well as the FBI arresting or detaining dozens of FIFA officials, they forced out the president, Switzerland’s Sepp Blatter, and UEFA’s top dog Michel Platini. France’s Platini, one of the sport’s all-time great players, was universally accepted as Blatter’s heir apparent for the FIFA top job. By the end of 2015, Obama had effected a complete clearout of anyone willing to stand up to the US, and in February 2016 UEFA Secretary General Gianni Infantino, the Swiss-born son of Italian immigrants, took over and immediately passed a raft of reforms handed to him from Washington. Infantino had been lockstep with Platini, but he was ready to ‘play ball’ with the new sheriff in town.

On the eve of the World Cup in 2018, delegates from national associations gathered in Moscow to vote for hosting rights of the 2026 tournament. The US-Mexico-Canada bid won despite the vast majority of delegates opposing it. Almost all wanted Morocco to win and the anger was such that Spain abstained, its delegate telling me: “It’s a sham. Washington got their man and he’s handed them this. It’s not the Manchurian Candidate, it’s the Washington Candidate.”

So who is this teflon man who runs the world’s game on behalf of the US?

“We’ve made it the cup of shame,” a caller to Britain’s Talksport radio wailed last December. This after the Trump administration removed visa bans on three of the seven Iranian delegates from attending the World Cup draw. Iran had threatened to boycott the high-profile gala in order to bring sense to the senseless. Trump was promised a “big shiny trophy” another caller opined. For his generosity, the US leader received the inaugural FIFA Peace Prize, to compensate for not winning the Nobel Peace Prize. Football fans around the world groaned, but Infantino “had to pay homage to his boss,” according to former football club owner Simon Jordan.

Last May, Infantino arrived two hours late to the 75th FIFA Congress in Asuncion, Paraguay, having spent the previous days in Trump’s entourage during the US president’s trip to Saudi Arabia and Qatar. Point of note, Infantino owns an apartment in Qatar and two of his kids go to school there. UEFA delegates, in a pre-planned display of theatrical strop, walked out. Arrive two hours late for a meeting and you raise the European ire, murder 150+ children in an Iranian school, silence. Flatten a country and kill tens of thousands, FIFA will send you money for the development of facilities on stolen land and UEFA will allow your clubs and teams in competition.

Infantino knew it was theater, nothing more. Because the UEFA delegates are still silent when citizens of Algeria, Cote d’Ivoire, Senegal, Tunisia, and Cape Verde, as well as Iran, all face visa discrimination. All six countries have qualified to play in this summer’s event, but some of their players and staff might not be allowed into the US. And just last month, Canada refused entry to Iran’s football federation president for the FIFA congress in Vancouver. The same congress where Infantino tried, and failed, to get the Israeli FA president and his Palestinian counterpart to shake hands. 

And yet, one FIFA insider told me that Infantino is a man “at war with himself.” Infantino has, in a private capacity, contributed to charities for refugees in Lebanon, Gaza, Jordan, and at least two other countries in the region. He has “gotten wealthy Qataris to send humanitarian relief to the West Bank. I have no time for the man, but give him this much,” the person told me on condition of anonymity. They reminded me that not only is Infantino’s wife Lebanese, but he is too, having received his citizenship this year. So, then, why are the US and Canada still allowed to host the World Cup and why is Israel still in UEFA competition?

Although some UEFA member nations have spoken out against the inclusion of Israeli teams and clubs in European competitions, not one has refused to play against them. Criminal hooligans attached to Maccabi Tel Aviv have been banned from many European stadia and cities, yet even common sense and public safety went out the window as British politicians cried anti-Semitism this year when local police in Birmingham wanted to reduce the chances of disorder at a game in 2025.

When Ireland was drawn to play Israel in the UEFA European Nations League, set to take place this autumn, the government and Football Association of Ireland (FAI) issued mealy-mouthed excuses that didn’t wash. “Sport should be above politics,” said the CEO of the FAI, an organization which three years earlier refused to allow Russian children to play in European competitions. A refusal that the head of UEFA said was “directly discriminating” against Russian kids. After parroting the government line on Israel, the FAI was duly rewarded by the government, with Dublin giving the debt-laden outfit ‘extra time’ to repay a €1.5 million loan. Complicity in war crimes paid off for Irish football.

If the global outrage at the continued devastation of Gaza, the invasion of Lebanon, and attacks on Iran are not enough reasons for FIFA to reconsider hosting a major event in the US this summer, then nothing will be. There has never been such a scandal-ridden, yet totally overlooked, World Cup in history. While Russia and Qatar were, rightly, scrutinized for a variety of reasons from human/workers rights to construction delays and corruption in the bidding processes, the US-Canada-Mexico version has skated completely free by comparison. Not a single mainstream football ‘writer’ has asked questions over fan safety in the US or Canada, in relation to the war on Iran. No nations, apart from Iran, have stated they will boycott the tournament. And Iran did so only after Trump threatened it.

Football lives inside an incestuous, self-obsessed, and isolated bubble. The sport is riddled with corruption on all levels, from doping to match-fixing, child abuse to money laundering, although there has never been a moment greater than right now for those who genuinely love the sport to make their voices heard. Allowing the US and Canada to host the World Cup this summer is peak football and peak insanity. Lives will be put at risk, legacies destroyed, and only the refusal of qualified countries to participate will make an impact. And the chance of that happening? About as much as my replacing Gianni Infantino as FIFA boss, zero.

The US has imposed emergency travel restrictions on foreign nationals arriving from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo), Uganda and South Sudan due to an Ebola outbreak. 

The US Department of Health and Human Services Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced Monday that non-US passport holders who visited any of the three countries within the past 21 days will be barred from entering the country.

The move comes after the DR Congo and Uganda confirmed their first Ebola cases on Friday. On Sunday, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the outbreak a global public health emergency.

US authorities have confirmed that an American working in the DR Congo has tested positive for Ebola and is being evacuated to Germany for treatment. Six other Americans exposed to the virus are also under medical monitoring. 

Bundibugyo virus is a rare strain of Ebola first identified in Uganda in 2007. Scientists believe it is naturally carried by fruit bats and can spread to humans through contact with infected animals before transmitting between people through bodily fluids. There is currently no approved vaccine or targeted treatment.

The WHO has reported that nearly seven tons of emergency medical supplies and equipment has arrived in Ituri Province in the DR Congo from Kinshasa, alongside a team of 35 experts to support frontline Ebola response efforts in the province.

Russia’s public health watchdog, Rospotrebnadzor, said that Russian specialists will travel to Uganda to conduct an epidemiological investigation and provide logistical support to the country’s Health Ministry. Moscow will also supply Ebola diagnostic tests developed by its research institutions. 

The citizens of 11 African countries already face a complete suspension of both immigrant and nonimmigrant visas, effectively barring general entry into the US.

Former South African ambassador to Qatar and humanitarian activist Faizel Moosa has been detained by Israeli authorities while taking part in a civilian flotilla carrying aid to Gaza, according to his family.

According to a statement released on Monday, Moosa was part of the Global Sumud Flotilla, an international civil society initiative aiming to deliver essential supplies and draw attention to the ongoing blockade of Gaza, which activists say restricts access to food, medical assistance and other critical resources for civilians.

The family expressed deep concern about his safety and wellbeing, noting that Moosa has diabetes and depends on chronic medication.

”Any disruption in access to his medication, proper nutrition, and medical care places him at serious and immediate risk. He undertook this mission out of a deep commitment to humanity and justice. Our only concern now is his safety and that he is returned home without harm,” said a family spokesperson.

The family has called on the South African government to act urgently. They specifically urged Minister of International Relations and Cooperation Ronald Lamola and the Department of International Relations and Cooperation to seek information about Moosa’s condition and whereabouts, ensure his medical needs are met, and pursue diplomatic channels to secure his release.

”His detention raises serious humanitarian and diplomatic concerns. We urge members of the public, civil society, and the media to amplify this call and support the campaign to bring him and all the other participants home safely. This is not just a diplomatic matter, it is a matter of life, dignity, and humanity. We urge immediate action to ensure his safe return and the release of all those detained,” read the statement.

The Israeli Navy has begun to intercept the activist mission sailing to the Gaza Strip to challenge Israel's naval blockade. pic.twitter.com/YXeSwxPDOd

— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) May 18, 2026

First published by IOL

Russian President Vladimir Putin has embarked on an official visit to China this week – the latest milestone in a relationship that Moscow and Beijing have described as a “no-limits partnership.”

Putin’s trip comes as the two countries celebrate the 30th anniversary of the China-Russia strategic partnership of coordination, and the 25th anniversary of the Treaty of Good-Neighborliness and Friendly Cooperation.

Here is how three decades of pragmatism, Western pressure, and mutual economic need allowed China and Russia to build one of the world’s most consequential partnerships outside of the traditional Western-dominated international system.

Soviet chapter: From comrades to combatants

The relationship between the Soviet Union and Communist China kicked off in the late 1940s and early 1950s as a bond of ideological brotherhood. The Soviet Union acted as China’s ‘elder brother,’ helping the country to recover from devastating consequences of World War II and Civil War, with Soviet technicians pouring into the mostly rural country, helping build factories, railways, and the rudiments of an industrial base.

Beijing subsequently accused Moscow of “revisionism” – an apostasy from orthodox Marxism-Leninism, with the two countries descending into open rivalry. The stand-off culminated in 1969 as the two nuclear powers engaged in an undeclared war over the border island of Damansky (known as Zhenbao in China) on the Ussuri river.

The Long Thaw

Ties started to normalize in the mid-1980s as reformers Mikhail Gorbachev and Deng Xiaoping ascended to power in their respective countries. Moscow and Beijing held a series of grinding talks on mitigating border disputes, with relations improving due to the Soviet decision to start pulling troops from Afghanistan and end support for Vietnam’s presence in Cambodia.

The new era of rapprochement began during Gorbachev’s trip to Beijing in 1989 – the first visit by a Soviet leader in 30 years.

Partnership takes shape

The Soviet Union’s collapse in 1991 did not derail an upward trend in relations, with China swiftly recognizing nascent Russia. The tendency was supported by both countries needing one another: China wanted shipments of sophisticated Soviet-designed weaponry and access to Russia’s vast resources, while Moscow – which was undergoing a painful transition to a market economy – needed cash.

Trade boom

In 2001, the two sides signed the Treaty of Good-Neighborliness and Friendly Cooperation, agreeing to cooperate on tackling common threats and improving global stability. A couple of years later, the sides extinguished the last remnants of the border dispute.

New era in energy cooperation

The start of the Ukraine crisis in 2014 and sweeping Western sanctions against Russia only drew Moscow and Beijing closer.

In May 2014, Gazprom and China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) signed a landmark 30-year $400 billion agreement to supply 38 billion cubic meters of natural gas annually through the Power of Siberia pipeline, which came online in December 2019.

“No limits partnership”

In early February 2022, less than three weeks before the escalation of the Ukraine conflict, Putin and Chinese leader Xi Jinping released a joint statement declaring that the “friendship between the two States has no limits” and that “there are no ‘forbidden’ areas of cooperation.”

In addition, China continued to ship cars, electronics, trucks, and other goods to Russia while filling the market vacuum left by the exodus of Western companies.

In a video address to the Chinese people prior to this week’s visit, Putin said that Russia-China trade turnover had exceeded $200 billion, with most transactions being carried out in national currencies.

The brief detention of a former chief of staff for Vladimir Zelensy last week was a sign of mounting pressure from Kiev’s Western backers, former diplomat and ex-Prosecutor General’s adviser Andrey Telizhenko has told RT. According to him, the development reflects a possible redistribution of political influence inside Ukraine

Andrey Yermak, a longtime confidant of Zelensky, was placed in pre-trial detention in connection with a money laundering investigation conducted by Western-backed anti-corruption agencies. He was released on Monday after posting bail set at $3.2 million.

Telizhenko said he never expected Yermak to remain in custody for long, arguing that the case was primarily political in nature.

“The guy is filthy rich. He has billions of dollars, the same as Zelenskyy, stacked up in his pocket around the globe,” he alleged. “So this was just a show for the public.”

According to the former diplomat, the prosecution reflects efforts by Washington to eliminate Yermak’s political influence and shift and clear the way for other figures, particularly former military intelligence chief Kirill Budanov, whom he described as having close ties to US intelligence agencies.

Although Yermak formally resigned from his post last November amid corruption allegations, Telizhenko argued that his real influence stemmed from his close relationship with Zelensky rather than his official title. On paper the head of the presidential administration is “a pencil pusher job” focused on bureaucratic duties, Telizhenko explained.

“The problem is Ukraine is divided between the British, Brussels, Washington, DC – it’s different groups,” Telizhenko told RT, arguing that Western cliques are competing for control over Ukraine’s future.

UK employers axed 100,000 jobs in April, the steepest monthly drop in five years and the latest sign that a weakening labor market is being dragged down by the prolonged conflict in Iran.

Data released by the UK’s Office for National Statistics (ONS) on Tuesday showed employers struggling with soaring energy costs after oil and gas prices jumped following the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz during the US-Israeli military campaign against Iran.

Tax data showed the number of payrolled employees in Britain fell by 100,000 in April, after a revised decline of 28,000 in March, a drop far steeper than economists’ forecasts for a fall of 10,000.

The figures added to evidence of a weakening labor market since the end of 2025, with the ONS revising down its estimates for the previous four months. The agency’s director of economic statistics, Liz McKeown, said retail accounted for much of the fall, adding to signs businesses are scaling back hiring as economic uncertainty deepens.

Separate ONS data showed the unemployment rate in the UK rose to 5% in the three months to March from 4.9% previously, defying expectations for it to remain unchanged, while wage growth slowed.

Earlier this year, the International Monetary Fund warned the UK is “especially exposed” to the Middle East conflict because of its reliance on gas-fired power.

According to a recent Reuters estimate, the US-Israeli war on Iran has already cost global businesses at least $25 billion. European firms accounted for the largest share of downgraded forecasts as soaring energy prices and supply chain disruptions hit companies across the region. Many are based in the EU and Britain, where energy costs were already elevated after the bloc reduced Russian oil and gas imports following the escalation of the Ukraine conflict.

Nigeria’s leading fuel marketers have pushed back against a lawsuit by Dangote Petroleum Refinery seeking to annul fuel import licenses, warning the legal action could destabilize supply and competition in the country’s downstream sector.

Last week, Dangote filed a lawsuit in the Federal High Court in Lagos against the government, aiming to nullify import licenses issued by the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) to independent marketers and the state-owned Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC).

Dangote argues that the permits undermine its operations and violate the Petroleum Industry Act by allowing imports despite its refining capacity.

In response, the Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers Association of Nigeria (DAPPMAN) said the licenses are legal instruments essential to the West African nation’s fuel supply chain.

“These licenses exist to protect supply security, not to disadvantage any single producer,” the association said in a statement on Sunday. Invalidating the permits retroactively could introduce “uncertainty into the entire downstream supply chain at a moment when Nigeria can least afford it,” it added.

The refinery, Africa’s largest with a 650,000-barrel-per-day capacity, was inaugurated in May 2023 and began commercial operations in 2024. It has been central to the Nigerian government’s efforts to boost domestic refining and reduce import reliance.

Former Belgian diplomat Etienne Davignon has died before being due to stand trial over the 1961 assassination of Patrice Lumumba, the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s first prime minister and an anti-colonial figure.

Davignon died at the age of 93, the Jacques Delors Institute, where he served on the board, confirmed on Monday. He was the last surviving Belgian official accused in the case. The cases against other suspects ended after their deaths, Reuters reported, citing court officials.

The Lumumba family said the decision to move the case toward trial remained part of the historical record. Their lawyers said they were preparing further legal action including a civil case against the Belgian state.

A Brussels court ruled in March that Davignon should face trial. He was a junior diplomat in Congo at the time, and, according to prosecutors, participated in the unlawful detention and transfer of Lumumba and denied him the right to an impartial trial. Davignon rejected the allegations.

A Belgian parliamentary inquiry in 2001 found that Belgium bore “moral responsibility” for Lumumba’s death, a finding later acknowledged by the government in an official apology. In 2022, Belgium returned a gold-capped tooth – the only known remains of Lumumba – to his family.

Davignon was among ten Belgians originally accused in the investigation. Human Rights Watch said the case included allegations of illegal transfer, “humiliating and degrading treatment,” and deprivation of a fair trial. 

Estonia has shot down an alleged Ukrainian drone over its territory for the first time, the NATO and EU member state’s defense minister, Hanno Pevkur, has said.

Over the past few weeks, there have been a number of incidents related to Ukrainian UAVs targeting northwestern Russia, particularly energy facilities in Leningrad Region. Some of the aircraft eventually crashed in Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania and Finland.

Moscow has warned that if it turns out that the Baltic States and Finland “deliberately provide their airspace” to Kiev’s UAVs, Moscow has the right to self-defense in response to an “armed attack” under Article 51 of the UN Charter.

Pevkur told the outlet Delfi on Tuesday that “this is the first time we have shot down a drone ourselves.”

The downed UAV had been deployed by Kiev to target Russian territory, the minister claimed.

“We activated the necessary measures, and a Baltic Air Policing fighter jet shot the drone down” over Lake Vortsjarv in the southern part of the country, he explained.

Baltic Air Policing is a NATO mission to guard the airspace of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.

There is yet no information about possible injuries or damage stemming from the incident, Pevkur said. Various Estonian agencies are on their way to the site where the debris of the drone fell, he added.

On Tuesday, temporary flight restrictions were introduced at Pulkovo Airport in Russia’s second largest city, St. Petersburg, due to drone incursions.

“The easiest way for the Ukrainians to keep their drones away from our territory is to control their activities better,” the minister suggested.

Tallinn “will start dealing with this very quickly now,” he said of the drone incursions.

Earlier on Tuesday, Moscow’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) revealed that, according to its data, Latvia has given Ukraine permission to use its territory for potential drone attacks against Russia.

The SVR warned that “the coordinates of decision-making centers on Latvian territory are well known, and the country’s NATO membership will not protect the accomplices of terrorists from just retribution.”

A US federal jury has rejected Elon Musk’s lawsuit against OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and other tech executives, dismissing claims that they unlawfully enriched themselves by abandoning the company’s founding mission, several news outlets reported Tuesday.

Musk accused Altman, OpenAI president Greg Brockman and other executives of improperly turning the organization from a nonprofit research lab into a profit-driven business. According to the lawsuit, as cited by news agencies, the tech mogul said he had invested $38 million in the venture and sought $150 billion in damages, along with the removal of the company’s current leadership. He reportedly vowed to donate any compensation granted in the case to OpenAI’s nonprofit arm.

In a ruling delivered on Monday, the nine-member jury reportedly found that Musk had waited too long to file his lawsuit and missed the statutory deadline. Although the jury served in an advisory capacity, Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers later adopted the verdict as the court’s own and dismissed Musk’s claims, according to reports.

According to the OpenAI defendants, as cited by Reuters, Musk only wanted to control OpenAI, and he was told in 2017 that the company would need financing that came with being a for-profit.

Commenting on the verdict, Musk once again claimed that “Altman and Brockman did in fact enrich themselves by stealing a charity.”

“The only question is WHEN they did it!” he said in a post on X, vowing to appeal the ruling, which he described as “incredibly destructive and creating a precedent to loot charities.”

The current choreography of great-power diplomacy has prompted a familiar round of speculation. Russian President Vladimir Putin arrives in China only days after his US counterpart Donald Trump’s own high-profile visit to Beijing, and commentators are already speaking of a new “great triangle” between Russia, China and the United States.

The timing, however, is largely coincidental because Putin’s visit was planned long in advance. Meetings between the Russian and Chinese leaders are now routine and form part of an increasingly institutionalized partnership. Trump’s trip, by contrast, had already been postponed several times, most recently because of the war with Iran. The American president was clearly reluctant to arrive in Beijing while trapped in the role of a wartime leader unable to control events. Even so, he didn’t manage to come to town as a triumphant statesman because Iran hasn’t yielded, and Washington’s position remains uncertain.

Yet from the perspective of the broader international system, the triangular comparison is understandable. Russia, China and the United States are today the three powers with the greatest capacity to shape global affairs. Their strengths differ as America retains unmatched military and financial reach, while China possesses industrial and economic weight on a historic scale. Meanwhile, Russia continues to wield enormous geopolitical and strategic influence far beyond the size of its economy. Thus, any interaction between the three inevitably affects the wider international balance.

Still, the similarities end there and, in practice, the relationships themselves are fundamentally different in character.

The United States and China are strategic rivals, and that rivalry isn’t temporary, and Trump’s latest visit to Beijing underlined how deeply the relationship has changed. For decades, both sides benefited from a kind of economic symbiosis in which commercial interests outweighed political disagreements but that era is now over.

As a result, the Trump–Xi relationship is becoming one defined by managed divergence rather than convergence, but tensions will rise and fall and escalation and partial stabilization will alternate. Neither side wants a catastrophic rupture, because the economic consequences would be enormous, but both now seem to accept that long-term competition is unavoidable.

The Russia–China relationship is built on an entirely different foundation.

Moscow and Beijing view themselves not primarily as rivals, but as strategic partners shaped by a shared geopolitical environment across Eurasia. Both countries see the Eurasian landmass as the central arena of 21st-century politics and the most dangerous military conflicts are already unfolding there, from Eastern Europe to the Middle East, while the most consequential future confrontation could emerge in the Pacific and Indian Oceans.

Against that backdrop, Russia and China increasingly regard stable cooperation as a strategic necessity.

That’s also why weakening that relationship has become a major objective for Washington. Many American strategists openly insist that the United States must drive a wedge between Moscow and Beijing in order to preserve global primacy. In practice, however, US pressure has often produced the opposite result, pushing the two Eurasian powers into even closer alignment.

None of this means the relationship is free of friction and it’s clearly not. Russia and China are both major powers with long histories, strong national interests and their own strategic ambition which means disagreements over trade, investment, logistics and regional influence are inevitable. But the crucial difference is that these disagreements aren’t existential in nature.

Unlike US-China relations, where competition increasingly revolves around limiting and constraining the other side, Russia and China don’t fundamentally view each other as adversaries so while practical disputes may cause irritation, delays or bargaining, but they don’t threaten the relationship itself.

That stability is precisely why meetings between Putin and Xi generate less global drama than summits involving Trump. There’s little suspense because the basic direction of the relationship is already clear. The two countries have spent years building a relatively deep level of political trust, something increasingly rare in international affairs.

In today’s world, predictability has become an unusual commodity, yet that may ultimately be one of the greatest advantages of the Russian-Chinese partnership. While relations between Washington and Beijing are defined by uncertainty and suspicion Moscow and Beijing have constructed something far steadier: a relationship whose trajectory no longer depends on atmospherics or temporary political moods.

And in an increasingly unstable international environment, that alone makes it significant.

This article was first published by Rossiyskaya Gazeta, and was translated and edited by the RT team 

These days all the world is closely following the high-level international meetings in China. US President Donald Trump just completed his first state visit to China since his trip in November 2017. On May 19, another top foreign guest will arrive on a two-day state visit: Russia’s President Vladimir Putin.

Unlike his American colleague, Putin has always regarded Beijing as one of his preferred international travel destinations; the last time he was here was less than a year ago, in September 2025. The two sequential trips symbolize the growing importance of China as a global player; Beijing has become an indispensable actor in critical dimensions of world politics and economy.

More than ‘business as usual’

The two summits are not a sudden and unexpected outburst of diplomatic activities. Since the beginning of the year, China has seen many top foreign statesmen, including South Korea’s President Lee Jae Myung, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, his Canadian counterpart Mark Carney and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, not to mention a long string of foreign ministers, defense ministers and other high-ranking officials.

While the sheer number of foreign leaders going to China is impressive, what is even more so is the diversity: Major powers and mid-size states, close neighbors and remote overseas lands, and Global North and Global South nations.    

The flood of high-level guests demonstrates the fast-growing breadth of China’s international connections and its principles of equal and open major-country diplomacy, featuring non-alignment, non-confrontation and non-targeting of third parties. It also reflects China’s clear stance: Managing differences through dialogue, pursuing stability through cooperation and promoting win-win outcomes through practical actions.

It sends a strong message to the world that China has been consistently acting as a builder of peace, contributor to development and defender of international order, fulfilling its responsibilities as a major country. China’s principles are reflected in the four strategic visions outlined by President Xi Jinping: The Global Development Initiative, Global Security Initiative, Global Civilization Initiative and the Global Governance Initiative.

Overall China-US trade experienced a visible decline in 2025, but nonetheless accounted for $414.69 billion with a lot of potential for further growth. The China-Russia trade was more modest, but still impressive – $228.1 billion in 2025. From January to April in 2026, it demonstrated a nearly 20% increase and continues to grow. No wonder then that the May state visits of US and Russia’s presidents go beyond diplomatic “business as usual.”     

If we take a closer look at the current state of China-Russia-US relations, is a Beijing-Moscow partnership by definition hostile to US national interests? Does China have to choose between Russia and the US? Is late American diplomat Henry Kissinger’s approach to the global geopolitical triangle – maintaining good relations with China taking advantage of its then distance from the Soviet Union – still valid or should it be dismissed as archaic and misplaced?

No ‘zero-sum game’ anymore

Some claim that there is a natural affinity between China and Russia, nations opposed to US or other Western hegemony. Trump probably does not share this rather primitive world outlook personally, but it is nonetheless very typical for the US political mainstream, especially the segment closely associated with the Democratic Party. This rigid view of the world clearly does not hold water and contradicts the real-world picture.

The political and economic systems in China and in Russia are very different. China is a socialist country, while Russia has moved to capitalism since early 1990s. Russia’s political institutions have been created in the image and likeness of Western examples, not Chinese ones. Besides, social and political similarities have never guaranteed foreign policy unity.

Maybe, the real legitimate concern in the US should be about the deepening economic interdependence between China and Russia. But as mentioned, the China-US trade is almost twice the China-Russia trade; it is also much more diverse involving large numbers of small and mid-size enterprises on both sides. Beijing holds almost $700 billion of US Treasury bonds and is looking for a substantial increase in direct investment in America. Trump’s visit will undoubtedly be a major boost to bilateral cooperation between the two most powerful economies of the modern world. However, the political and business leaders in Russia expect that at some point, the China-Russia economic cooperation may fully match the current level of China-US interaction.

Around 1.5 million tourists from China visited the US in 2025, while about 834,500 chose to go to Russia. And one should not underestimate the powerful attraction of the US movie industry, pop music and the English language.

Are the US concerns grounded in the geopolitical proximity of Beijing and Moscow? The latter two nations often hold the same position in international institutions like the UN Security Council, they actively promote multilateral groupings like BRICS and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, and jointly call for a multipolar international system.

Still, this meeting of minds is not anything close to the monolithic Soviet-Chinese cooperation of 1950s. Beijing and Moscow have distinctly different nuclear doctrines and different attitudes to strategic arms control.

It would be wrong to conclude that the relations within the China-Russia-US triangle can be described as a “zero-sum game.” A degree of competition between Moscow and Washington for attention from Beijing is unavoidable and natural, but it does not mean that the Kissinger approach would work out half a century later in a completely different environment.

For instance, if China buys less from America, it does not necessarily mean that it will automatically buy more from Russia. If Moscow is successful in reaching out to Washington, it does not imply that it will lose its appetite for upgrading its ties to Beijing.

None of the three would be interested in global economic or financial instability. An economic tide is likely to raise all the three boats, while an economic storm might wreck all three. Even on the most sensitive and potentially divisive matters like the conflict in the Middle East, there is considerable overlap in China, Russia and US positions: None of them would like to see Israel wiped off the map, or the Strait of Hormuz staying closed indefinitely.

International affairs these days fit less and less into any of these theoretical frameworks; they represent a complex mix of unipolarity, bipolarity, multipolarity and no polarity. Academics might fight for the best theoretical frameworks explaining the contemporary international system and forecasting its future evolution, but politicians should focus on working together where there are even minimal opportunities for joint efforts.

It is all about trust

So, what is the most important difference between China-Russia and the China-US relations? In my view, what really matters is whether China, Russia and the US can trust one another. At the end of the day, it is trust that defines what is possible and what is not in relations between the three major powers.

Does trust exist in the China-US-Russia geopolitical triangle?

The answer is definitely positive in the case of China-Russia relations. The predominant public views of each other are essentially positive, especially among the younger generation. According to the most recent survey conducted in May by the Global Opinion Research Center at Renmin University of China, within the Russian and Chinese age group between 18 and 35, the overwhelming majority view bilateral relations as friendly (85.5% in China and 87.5% in Russia), have positive views of the other nation (76.4% and 78%) and are optimistic about future cooperation (73.7% and 77.7%). The strong personal relations between their top leaders also add to the stability and predictability of bilateral relations.

Regretfully, in the case of China-US relations, the answer is less encouraging. Although the recent survey by Pew Research Center shows that 27% of Americans now hold a favorable view of China, the figure suggests that considerable room for improvement still exists. There are many reasons why the two nations cannot fully trust each other. The trust, if it ever existed between Beijing and Washington, was badly damaged over the last couple of years by inconsistent and unpredictable US policies.

This is not only about the personality of Trump though his personal style, undoubtedly, brings more uncertainty into US foreign policy. However, the core problem is about the current state of American society and politics. As long as this society remains deeply divided, it is very hard to expect a predictable, consistent and trustworthy foreign policy to come out of the US.  

The odds are that due to these deep social and political divisions, the US will remain a difficult foreign policy partner in years to come. Still, it will remain an indispensable player in many areas of international life, which means that both Beijing and Moscow should keep trying to engage Washington wherever possible, short of yielding to excessive US demands or accepting inappropriate US ultimatums.

It will be a long and bumpy road for both China and Russia. However, as Confucius put it, “It doesn’t matter how slow you go as long as you don’t stop.”

This article was first published by CGTN.

At least four people were killed and more than 30 injured when protests over soaring fuel prices in Kenya turned violent on Monday, according to the East African country’s Interior Ministry.

The unrest coincided with a public transit strike called by transport operators after the country’s energy regulator announced significant fuel price increases last week, leaving commuters stranded and major roads blocked.

Protesters burned tires and lit bonfires on key highways in Nairobi, Mombasa, Nakuru, Eldoret, and other urban centers, while also preventing motorbike taxis from operating, according to footage shared on social media.

Kenyan Interior Minister Kipchumba Murkomen said the protests were “hijacked by political actors,” involved looting and violence, and targeted government projects and supporters. He warned that “the full force of the law will be brought to bear” on the organizers of the violence.

“It is very regrettable that there are politicians in this country who measure the success of opposition to the government by the number of innocent lives lost in the demonstrations they organize,” the minister said in a statement.

Kenya: Police unleash tear gas on demonstrators as nationwide protests against soaring fuel prices continue, with anger mounting in the streets over deepening economic hardship. pic.twitter.com/ac6q0dGxlZ

— African News feed. (@africansinnews) May 18, 2026

Late on Monday, Kenya’s Energy Ministry and Transport Ministry officials held talks with representatives of major transport associations, including the Association of Matatu Transport Owners and the Federation of Public Transport Sector.

Violent protests over economic grievances are nothing new in Kenya. Demonstrations against rising living costs and policy changes have at times escalated into clashes between security forces and protesters. In 2024, dozens of protesters were killed when rallies against a now-abandoned Finance Bill turned deadly.

Russia and its ally Belarus are conducting nuclear drills this week to simulate a response in the event of “aggression” against them, the Defense Ministry in Moscow has said.

The exercise will run from Tuesday and Thursday and involves the Strategic Missile Forces, the Northern and Pacific fleets, the Strategic Aviation Command, and elements of military forces in central and northwestern Russia, the ministry said in a statement.

A total of 64,000 Russian troops, 7,800 military vehicles, 200 missile launchers, 140 aircraft, 73 warships and 13 submarines, including eight strategic missile boats, are participating. The exercise includes “joint preparation for the use of nuclear weapons deployed in Belarus,” the statement said.

Minsk released a statement previewing the exercise on Monday. Belarus has been hosting Russian nuclear weapons since 2023, with the deployment described by the two nations as mirroring a similar practice by the US, which keeps some its arsenal in other NATO states.

Washington has canceled the planned deployment of nuclear-capable Tomahawk missiles to Germany and ordered a drawdown of its military presence in the country in apparent retaliation for Berlin’s criticism of the war with Iran.

Despite the growing rifts between Western nations, some European governments are determined to maintain a confrontational stance towards Russia.

Just this week, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Kestutis Budrys urged aggression against the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad, claiming that NATO members “must show the Russians that we can penetrate the small fortress they have built” there. In an interview with Neue Zürcher Zeitung, he said the bloc “has the means to raze the Russian air defense and missile bases there to the ground if necessary.”

NATO member Latvia has given Ukraine permission to use its territory for potential drone attacks against Russia, Moscow’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) has said.

Ukrainian UAVs have targeted northwestern Russia on numerous occasions in recent weeks, particularly energy facilities in Leningrad Region, although some of the drones eventually crashed in Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, and Finland.

The SVR said in a statement on Tuesday that Ukraine “does not intend to limit itself to using the air corridors provided to the Ukrainians armed by the Baltic states.”

“The plan is to also launch the UAVs from the territory of these countries” against Russia in order “to significantly reduce the time it takes to reach the targets and increase the effectiveness of the terrorist attacks,” the statement read.

Ukrainian drone operators have already been deployed to Latvia at the Adazi, Selija, Lielvarde, Daugavpils, and Jekabpils military bases, the agency said.

The agency expressed bewilderment about the “naivety” of the Latvian authorities, pointing out that modern reconnaissance methods and study of debris means the location from which a UAV was launched can be pinpointed with high accuracy.

The SVR warned that “the coordinates of decision-making centers on Latvian territory are well known, and the country’s NATO membership will not protect the accomplices of terrorists from just retribution.”

“Ultimately, the ‘caveman-like Russophobia’ of current Latvian leaders proved to be stronger than their capability for critical thinking and their sense of self-preservation,” it added.

The SVR said Ukraine is planning more drone attacks against Russia to demonstrate to its “ideological and financial supporters in Europe” that it is still capable of fighting and inflicting damage on the Russian economy.

Latvian President Edgars Rinkevics insisted that Riga isn’t allowing Ukraine to launch attacks on Russia from its territory or use its airspace. The country’s foreign minister, Baiba Braze, called the report by the Russian spy agency “a disinformation campaign.” Ukrainian Defense Ministry spokesman Georgy Tikhy accused the SVR of making “false statements."

During the raid, NATO jets were scrambled in Latvia after an unidentified drone entered the country’s airspace. Russia retaliated against Ukraine on Monday, carrying out a large-scale missile and UAV strike against military-related targets in the country.

Earlier this month, a government crisis erupted in Latvia after a drone hit oil storage facilities in the country. Prime Minister Evika Silina first sacked Defense Minister Andris Spruds, saying that he had “failed to deliver on… promise of a safe sky over our country,” but was later forced to resign herself due to the threat of a no-confidence vote.

Unlike top officials in Lithuania, Estonia, and Finland, Spruds previously declined to criticize Kiev for the drone incursions, saying they will continue as long as the conflict between Russia and Ukraine remains unresolved, and insisting that Moscow it to blame.

A military court in St. Petersburg has sentenced a local true crime podcaster to 12 years in prison after she was manipulated by Ukrainian operatives into conducting an arson attack on a police facility.

Diana Chistyakova, 30, hosted a small YouTube podcast focused on criminal psychology and high-profile crime cases. The sentence was handed down on Monday over an incident which took place in October.

According to her testimony, Chistyakova became the target of a scam that has increasingly appeared in Russia in recent years. Victims are first tricked into handing over their savings and told the money was transferred to support the Ukrainian military. The scammers then convince them they are under investigation for terrorism-related offenses and can avoid prosecution by carrying out a “covert operation.”

Authorities said Chistyakova was instructed to prepare Molotov cocktails and attack vehicles belonging to a police unit responsible for transporting suspects to court hearings. She was reportedly apprehended while trying to ignite her third firebomb, having failed to cause damage with the first two.

В Петербурге девушка попыталась сжечь отделение полиции

29-летняя блогерша Диана Чистякова из Санкт-Петербурга бросила две бутылки коктейля Молотова в отделение полка охраны в районе Купчино. Девушку вскоре задержали.

По версии силовиков, её обманули мошенники, вынудив… pic.twitter.com/Ux7c4dSfRx

— Activatica (@Activatica) October 23, 2025

The case has drawn particular attention because Chistyakova studied criminal law at Herzen University, one of Russia’s largest educational institutions, before launching her podcast about criminal behavior.

Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) has repeatedly reported cases involving individuals allegedly manipulated by Ukraine-based operatives into committing acts of sabotage inside Russia. In several incidents, authorities claimed suspects unknowingly carried explosive devices disguised as ordinary packages.

Israeli forces have seized least 39 out of 51 at boats of the Global Sumud Flotilla carrying humanitarian aid to Gaza, the organizers of the action have said.

Yachts with more than 420 activists from 39 countries aboard departed from the port of Marmaris in Türkiye last week, with the stated goal of breaking the Israeli naval blockade of the Palestinian enclave.

On Monday, the organizers of the flotilla issued a post on X, saying that “military vessels are currently intercepting our fleet and Israel Occupation Forces are boarding the first ⁠of our boats ⁠in broad daylight.” In a later message, they said Israeli troops had “illegally and violently” seized their ships and “abducted our volunteers.”

Among the hundreds of those detained was Irish doctor Margaret Connolly, the sister of Irish President Catherine Connolly, the organizers said.

The Israeli Navy has begun to intercept the activist mission sailing to the Gaza Strip to challenge Israel's naval blockade. pic.twitter.com/YXeSwxPDOd

— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) May 18, 2026

Israeli servicemen boarded the vessels some 250 nautical miles (463 km) from Gaza, off the coast of Cyprus. According to the EU nation’s rescue services, the incident happened outside of Cypriot territorial waters. The country’s president, Nikos Christodoulides, said Israel had not informed Nicosia of its plans to act against the flotilla.

West Jerusalem denies withholding supplies for Palestinians in Gaza, almost 2 million of whom have been displaced since the outbreak of the conflict between Israel and Hamas in October 2023. It also earlier dismissed the flotilla as a stunt, saying that the activists had rejected an offer to pass the aid they were carrying to Israel or international organizations so that it could be delivered to Gaza via official channels.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan described the interception of the flotilla as “piracy and banditry” and demanded that Israel to release those detained, including more than 40 residents of Türkiye.

NATO should strike Russia’s Kaliningrad to make a point to Moscow, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Kestutis Budrys has said.

Kaliningrad Region is a Russian exclave of over a million people, which sits on the Baltic Sea coast and borders NATO member-states Lithuania to the north and Poland to the south.

In his interview with Swiss newspaper Neue Zurcher Zeitung on Monday, Budrys insisted that the Europeans “need to turn our fear of the [Russian] threat into a sense of self-empowerment.”

“We must show the Russians that we can penetrate their small fortress that they have built in Kaliningrad,” he said.

The minister claimed that “NATO has the means to raze the Russian air defense and missile bases there to the ground in an emergency.”

The Kremlin has repeatedly reject claims of them harboring aggressive plans against Europe as “nonsense,” saying that they are only being made by Western politicians to distract the public from domestic problems and justify increased military spending. A clash with NATO is only possible if Russia is attacked first, they said.

Speaking about incursions into Lithuanian airspace by Ukrainian drones targeting northwestern Russia, Budrys complained that “we obviously lack air defense” and called upon NATO to fix that.

Russian Security Council Secretary Sergey Shoigu said last month that either Western air defenses are proving ineffective against Ukrainian UAVs or the Baltic States – Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia – and Finland “deliberately provide their airspace, thereby becoming open accomplices in aggression against Russia.”

In the latter case, Moscow has the right to self-defense in response to an “armed attack” under Article 51 of the UN Charter, Shoigu stressed.

Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing on Wednesday for talks expected to focus on expanding economic and strategic cooperation, as the two countries mark the 25th anniversary of a landmark friendship treaty.

Moscow and Beijing are expected to sign dozens of agreements during the two-day visit, highlighting the increasingly close alignment between the two powers on foreign policy, trade, and opposition to what they describe as Western unilateralism.

RT looks at where Russia and China align on global politics.

Multipolar world

Moscow and Beijing have increasingly aligned around the idea of a “multipolar world” – a global order they say should no longer be dominated by the West and the US in particular.

Both countries have accused Washington of abusing sanctions, military alliances, and the global financial system to preserve its dominance, while arguing that emerging powers should play a greater role in international decision-making.

Russia and China have promoted deeper cooperation through platforms such as BRICS and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, presenting them as alternatives to Western-led institutions and as pillars of a more balanced global order.

Taiwan

Russia backs the One China policy, under which Beijing views Taiwan as an inseparable part of Chinese territory. While most countries formally adhere to the policy, continued US military support for Taipei has fueled rising tensions between Washington and Beijing.

Middle East

Moscow has condemned the US-Israeli attack on Iran as “entirely unprovoked aggression.”

China, the main buyer of Iranian crude, has lost much of that supply since the US and Israel launched attacks in February. Russia has since ramped up oil exports to China to help offset the shortfall.

Both Moscow and Beijing have repeatedly called for the conflict to be resolved through dialogue and a diplomatic settlement.

Ukraine

Russia has described the conflict as a NATO-backed proxy war triggered by the US-led bloc’s expansion toward its borders and growing influence over Kiev after the 2014 Western-backed coup.

Moscow has insisted that any durable peace deal must include Ukraine’s return to a neutral, non-aligned status, as well as its demilitarization and “denazification,” alongside the withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from all territories that voted to join Russia in 2022.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is not interested in attacking European NATO states and is instead patiently waiting until their hostile and deeply unpopular leaders are replaced by their own citizens, former CIA analyst Ray McGovern told RT’s Rick Sanchez.

In an interview published on Monday, the former analyst noted that Russians are growing increasingly frustrated with drone attacks facilitated by Kiev’s backers. Moscow has said that Ukrainian UAVs are increasingly being built with the help of Europe’s military-industrial complex and attack via NATO members’ territory.

“We’re very fortunate in having such a cautious, perspicacious person as Vladimir Putin in office,” McGovern said. “He’s not going to be sucked into something that would be most dangerous.”

The Russian president is aiming to outlast the “three blind mice” – French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, and UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, he added.

“The Europeans are going to do away with these clowns that they have at the top,” McGovern said. “Starmer’s on his way out. Macron will be out next year. Merz is about the most unpopular chancellor that Germany ever had. So I think the Russians play the long game… I wish we all had the patience that Vladimir Putin seems to have.”

Watch the full interview with former CIA analyst Ray McGovern on RT’s Sanchez Effect below.

I’ve been back in my hometown of Vancouver, Canada, for a few days now. The big wall-to-wall news story has been about a moron who was speeding around on a jet ski in the harbor off the downtown coast where pods of whales have been swimming around – and ended up using a grey whale as a jump ramp. The whale seems no worse for wear, while the jackass crashed out. I can’t remember the last time that I’ve heard such mass outrage.

This is Vancouver, after all. Home of “save the whales.” Greenpeace was literally founded here in 1971. People here have parked themselves in trees for days on end to save them from being chopped down for development. How could some jackass end up possibly slamming into a whale when anyone with working eyes can see that orcas are everywhere right now, putting on aquarium-like shows in their natural habitat. The answer is simple, really. The whims of a select few have been accommodated for far too long. That is, until something disastrous happens and jolts some people out of their slumber to notice that the institutions have failed to uphold even the most basic common sense. The incident is a metaphor for the whole place these days.

I remember when I was growing up here in the 1980s and wokeism used to mean fighting the good fight for the rights of the oppressed. Labor unions pushing back against creeping demands by the state and its corporatist cronies to give more for increasingly less. Defending animals and nature incapable of advocating for themselves. Equality of opportunity for all was the name of the game. And helping those who fell through the social safety net to get back on their feet.

But then, like the whale jumper, some folks took things too far in their own self-interest. Cottage industries of lobbyists and NGOs popped up to cash in on pushing grievances not towards any constructive resolution benefiting society, but instead to permanent profit for themselves.

And now, like the whale show spectators, average people are finally showing signs of being horrified by the results.

So after clinging to its failure for far too long, the same government has now thrown in the towel on decriminalization of drugs. The original goal was to “reduce stigma and fear of criminal prosecution that prevents people from reaching out for help, including medical assistance.” Turns out that giving them a safe place to shoot up, then when that didn’t work giving out free needles, then when that failed just giving them free drugs – all under the pretext that feeding their addiction at the public expense will get them clean – was a major bust. Now the mop-up job is more daunting than ever.

The mess is obvious to anyone without an agenda or a business model based on persistence of the debacle. Homelessness and drug carnage has now merged with the migrant crisis caused by the same woke institutions destroying their own longstanding immigration point system that was the envy of the free world. Because it wasn’t quite free enough, apparently. But now because they treated borders like an option, the borders and boundaries are left to everyday citizens to enforce themselves. Like when an Indian migrant was caught washing his clothes in a protected river, as onlookers yelled at him in a futile attempt to try to explain the concept to someone who could barely even understand the language itself.

Colony Farm is now “ƛ̓éxətəm Regional Park,” the public swimming pool built and named for the 1973 Canada Games, and where I trained as a young competitive swimmer, is now called “təməsew̓txʷ Aquatic and Community Centre,” and the Pattullo Bridge is now the “stal̕əw̓asəm Bridge.” Try plugging that into your GPS.

But the final straw seems to be indulging the natives to the point of making tribal leaders de facto co-governors of the province while doing nothing to repeal the provincial legislation that implements DRIPA – the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act – leaving the average citizen convinced that somewhere between “consultation” and “consent,” the average homeowner may eventually need three permits, two environmental assessments, and a hereditary chief’s blessing just to build a garden shed on their own property.

It’s all become so absurd that you have to wonder how anyone still defends it with a straight face. But sprawling ideological movements rarely collapse without a fight, and the modern alphabet bureaucracy is no exception. Too many people remain invested in propping it up, if only because admitting the excesses would require rethinking years of assumptions, social loyalties, and their own identities. Like the guy who launched his jet ski off a whale, the woke crowd spent years thinking that they could mow down everything without wiping out.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has recorded a video address to the people of China ahead of his official visit to Beijing, replacing the article or interview that he usually presents to local media ahead of important foreign trips.

In the message, Putin said he was “delighted” to be visiting Beijing again at the invitation of Chinese President Xi Jinping, whom he described as his “long-time good friend.”

“Regular mutual visits and Russia-China top-level talks are an important and integral part of our joint efforts to promote the entire range of relations between our two countries and unlock their truly limitless potential,” Putin said.

Putin is due to visit China on May 19-20 at the invitation of Xi. The trip coincides with the 25th anniversary of the signing of the Russia-China Treaty of Good-Neighborliness, Friendship and Cooperation.

Putin said Russia and China are expanding cooperation in politics, the economy, defense, and humanitarian exchanges, adding that these issues will shape the agenda of the upcoming talks in Beijing.

“I deeply appreciate President Xi Jinping’s commitment to long-term cooperation with Russia,” Putin said. “I am convinced that our warm and friendly ties enable us to chart the boldest plans for the future and bring them to life.”

Kremlin aide Yury Ushakov said Putin would travel with a high-level delegation that includes senior officials, ministers, and heads of major Russian companies. Around 40 bilateral documents are expected to be signed during the visit, including a joint statement on deepening the comprehensive strategic partnership between the two countries.

Putin also welcomed the introduction of a mutual visa-free regime between Russia and China, saying it would facilitate business and tourism exchanges and create new opportunities for personal contacts between Russian and Chinese citizens.

“The close strategic relationship between Russia and China plays a major, stabilizing role globally,” Putin said. “Without allying against anyone, we seek peace and universal prosperity.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit to China on May 19-20 is expected to mark a new milestone in the deepening partnership between Moscow and Beijing. The two sides are reportedly preparing to sign around 40 agreements, and issue a joint statement on expanding their comprehensive strategic cooperation.

Since Chinese President Xi Jinping took office in 2013, the two leaders have met more than 40 times, repeatedly producing major agreements and driving Russia-China ties to new heights.

RT looks back at some of the key meetings that have shaped relations between the two countries over the past decade.

March 2013

Russia became the first country visited by Xi after he took office. During talks with Putin, the two leaders discussed issues ranging from trade and technology cooperation to the crisis in Syria. Moscow and Beijing signed more than 30 agreements covering energy and humanitarian and cultural cooperation, including a deal to expand oil trade and an action plan under the Treaty of Good-Neighborliness, Friendship, and Cooperation.

May 2014

Putin’s state visit to Shanghai marked a watershed moment in Russia-China energy ties. In the presence of the two leaders, Russian energy giant Gazprom and China’s CNPC signed a landmark $400 billion gas deal under which Russia agreed to supply China with 38 billion cubic meters of gas annually over 30 years.

May 2015

Xi visited Moscow for Victory Day celebrations marking the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II. The visit also produced a series of agreements linking China’s Belt and Road Initiative with the Eurasian Economic Union, a Moscow-led economic bloc of which Russia is a founding member.

September 2015

Putin traveled to Beijing for celebrations marking the end of World War II, with the visit also serving as a platform for extensive talks between Russian and Chinese officials. The trip resulted in nearly 30 signed documents, including 16 agreements between Russian and Chinese companies. Russian energy giant Rosneft alone signed deals with an estimated investment potential exceeding $30 billion, according to CEO Igor Sechin.

June 2016

Economic ties between Russia and China deepened further during another state visit by Putin to Beijing. The two sides signed a broad range of agreements covering energy, high speed rail development, aircraft manufacturing, and major investment projects.

July 2017

During Xi’s visit to Moscow, Putin awarded the Chinese leader the Order of St. Andrew, Russia’s highest state honor, in recognition of his role in strengthening the comprehensive partnership and strategic cooperation between the two nations. Putin described Xi as a “big friend” of Russia who had consistently supported closer ties between Moscow and Beijing.

June 2018

Xi returned the gesture by awarding Putin the Chinese Order of Friendship, making him the first foreign leader to receive the honor. The Chinese president described Putin as a “founder” of modern Russia-China relations and the “most recognizable and respected” foreign leader in China.

June 2019

Russia and China declared that their comprehensive partnership and strategic cooperation had entered a “new era” in a joint statement issued during Xi’s visit to Moscow. The declaration said the two countries had elevated bilateral ties to their highest level, setting an example of good neighborly relations and mutually beneficial cooperation.

Moscow and Beijing also pledged to deepen coordination on defending their core national interests, sovereignty, and long term development strategies.

February 2022

Russia and China described their relationship as a “no limits” partnership, emphasizing that their cooperation has “no forbidden areas” and is not constrained by traditional alliance structures. The phrase was formalized in a joint statement issued by Putin and Xi, in which the two sides pledged deeper coordination on security, economics, technology, and global governance while opposing what they described as Western dominance in international affairs.

March 2023

Russia became the first country visited by Xi after securing a third consecutive term as Chinese president. Beijing attaches “great importance” to ties with Moscow, Xi said at the time, describing the relationship as rooted in “historical logic” and driven by the two nations’ shared goals and interests.

Putin hailed the “major progress” in bilateral relations, noting that annual trade between Russia and China had surged from $87 billion to $185 billion over the previous decade.

May 2024

Putin chose China for his first foreign trip after securing re-election in 2024, describing ties with Beijing as a model of good-neighborly relations. Xi said the partnership had become a key pillar of global “strategic stability” and a driving force behind the democratization of international relations.

May 2025

Xi Jinping joined Russia’s Victory Day celebrations once again, a decade after first attending the commemorations in Moscow. During the visit, Xi said Russia and China had found the “right” model for cooperation and pledged to work together toward a more just and balanced system of global governance.

September 2025

Vladimir Putin traveled to China to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, describing the visit as a tribute to the sacrifices and heroism of the Russian and Chinese peoples during the conflict. The memory that “our ancestors paid an enormous price for peace and freedom” remains the foundation of modern Russia-China relations, he said.

Xi Jinping described ties between the two countries as a model of “eternal” friendship and mutually beneficial cooperation.

US President Donald Trump has postponed what he described as a “very major attack” on Iran, saying Gulf leaders had asked Washington to give negotiations with Tehran another “two or three days.”

Trump said the strike had been scheduled for Tuesday, but that he had ordered the Pentagon to stand down for now after Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and “some others” urged him to allow more time for diplomacy.

“We were getting ready to do a very major attack tomorrow,” Trump told journalists. “I’ve put it off for a little while, hopefully maybe forever, but possibly for a little while, because we’ve had very big discussions with Iran.”

The president claimed that the Gulf states believe Tehran is “getting very close to making a deal,” adding that any agreement must prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons.

Trump also instructed the US Department of War to remain ready for a “full, large-scale assault” at “a moment’s notice” if Washington does not receive what it considers an acceptable deal, according to his earlier post on Truth Social.

The announcement follows a series of threats by Trump, who warned Iran over the weekend that “the Clock is Ticking” and that “there won’t be anything left” of the country unless it accepts Washington’s demands.

Indirect talks between Washington and Tehran have remained stalled since a fragile ceasefire was established in early April, following a month of hostilities initiated by the US and Israel.

“The Islamic Republic of Iran enters into dialogue with dignity, authority, and the preservation of the nation’s rights, and under no circumstances will it retreat from the legal rights of the people and the country,” Pezeshkian wrote.

Iran previously accused the Trump administration of taking a “maximalist approach,” while insisting that its own nuclear program is peaceful and that it will not dismantle its enrichment capabilities entirely. Tehran has also demanded sanctions relief, reparations, an end to Israel’s campaign in Lebanon, and recognition of what it calls its sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran is allegedly ready to hand over its highly enriched uranium stockpile to Russia, the Saudi news broadcaster Al Hadath has reported. The idea was floated as part of the latest peace proposal Tehran sent to the US via Pakistan, the outlet said on Monday, citing a leaked document it had obtained.

Indirect talks between the two sides mediated by Islamabad have been stalled since a ceasefire was established in early April. It followed a month of hostilities initiated by the US and Israel against the Islamic Republic in late February. Both Washington and Tehran have since repeatedly put forward proposals to end the conflict while dismissing each other’s demands.

According to the report, Iran is allegedly ready to freeze its nuclear program for a long period of time but only on the condition that its highly enriched uranium will be transferred to Russia instead of the US. Tehran still rules out dismantling its program completely, Al Hadath added.

Iran retains more than 400 kg of uranium enriched to 60%, according to International Atomic Energy Agency estimates. Weapons-grade levels typically require 90% enrichment and higher.

“Not only did we make such an offer; we already implemented it once before, back in 2015. Iran has complete trust in us, and not without reason,” Russian President Vladimir Putin told journalists earlier this month. Moscow has never violated its agreements, he stressed, and continues to cooperate with the Islamic Republic on its peaceful nuclear energy program.

Washington has reportedly already dismissed Iran’s latest proposal as insufficient, Axios reported on Monday, citing an unnamed American official briefed on the issue. According to the official, Tehran made only “token” improvements on the previous version.

US President Donald Trump has repeatedly insisted that Iran’s highly enriched uranium should be handed over to America. Last week, he told Fox News that the issue was “more for public relations” and getting the Iranian stockpile would just make him “feel better.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin will travel to Beijing this week with a high-level delegation for talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping focused on bilateral ties, trade, energy cooperation, and global affairs, Kremlin aide Yury Ushakov has said. 

The May 19-20 visit coincides with the 25th anniversary of the Russia-China Treaty of Good-Neighborliness, Friendship and Cooperation, which Ushakov said reflects relations that have reached an “unprecedentedly high level.” 

Ushakov told reporters on Monday that the delegation will include senior ministers, top Kremlin officials, and the heads of major Russian state corporations and banks, among them Central Bank Governor Elvira Nabiullina. 

According to Ushakov, Putin and Xi will hold both one-on-one and expanded-format talks focused on “the most important and sensitive issues” in bilateral relations, as well as major international developments. 

Around 40 bilateral agreements are expected to be signed, including a joint statement on deepening the comprehensive strategic partnership between the two countries.  

The two leaders are also set to adopt a separate declaration on promoting a “multipolar world” and “a new type of international relations,” Ushakov said. 

The Kremlin aide also dismissed speculation that the timing of Putin’s trip was linked to US-China contacts, stating that there was “no connection whatsoever” and that preparations for the visit began shortly after Putin and Xi held a video call in February. 

US President Donald Trump made a two-day visit to China last week, where he discussed Iran, Taiwan, trade relations and other issues with Xi. Despite both sides describing the talks positively, the visit produced no major breakthroughs on key disagreements between Beijing and Washington.

Three men were killed in a shooting at the Islamic Center of San Diego on Monday, and two suspected teenage shooters are also dead, law enforcement officials said. The attack is being investigated as a hate crime, according to police.

Police responded to reports of an active shooter at the mosque, located at 7050 Eckstrom Avenue in San Diego’s Clairemont area, at about 11:40am local time. Officers later said the threat had been “neutralized” after a large emergency response around the Islamic Center.

One of the victims is believed to have been a security guard who investigators said played a “pivotal role” in preventing the attack from becoming “much worse,” according to FOX 9, citing law enforcement.

Graphic aerial footage from the scene showed a body lying in a pool of blood at the entrance to the facility.

🚨 NOW: ACTIVE SHOOTER situation at Islamic Center in San Diego results in 2 dead, more injured, and someone spotted laying in a pool of blood, aerial view shows

Absolutely horrifying.

Police have rushed the scene.

Pray for any victims 🙏🏻

h/t @RapidReport2025 pic.twitter.com/WjaEHWz0Ac

— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) May 18, 2026

The mosque complex includes Al Rashid School, but officials said no students, teachers or school staff were injured. Aerial footage from the scene showed children being escorted away as police surrounded the area.

NEW: Children at a nearby school are escorted out by police after an active shooter was reported at the Islamic Center of San Diego.

2 teen suspects are dead from what appear to be self-inflicted gunshot wounds, according to police.

Officials say at least 3 adult male victims… pic.twitter.com/fTkpiHEas3

— Fox News (@FoxNews) May 18, 2026

San Diego Police Chief Scott Wahl said the two male suspects, aged 17 and 19, appear to have died from self-inflicted gunshot wounds.

“There were no officers involved in firing their weapons,” Wahl said at a news briefing, while cautioning that the investigation remains “still very preliminary at this point.”

San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria said emergency personnel were working to protect the community and secure the area, while California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office said the governor had been briefed and urged the public to follow local authorities’ guidance.

Russian and Belarusian gymnasts have been cleared to return to international competition after being banned for over four years, the World Gymnastics Executive Committee announced on Monday. The decision reverses a ruling that had been denounced by Moscow and Minsk as politically motivated.

Following the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022 and the imposition of sweeping Western sanctions on Russia and Belarus, Olympic federations barred athletes from the two countries across dozens of sports. Some restrictions were later eased, allowing select competitors to take part under a neutral status.

Russian officials have repeatedly accused Western countries of politicizing sport and pressuring federations to exclude their athletes. Earlier this year, President Vladimir Putin denounced what he described as selective sanctions against Russian competitors, arguing that the differing treatment compared with other conflicts exposed political bias and corruption within international sports bodies. He has also insisted that athletes should be granted equal access to competition based solely on merit, stressing that “politics has no place in sport.”

World Gymnastics said in a statement that Russian and Belarusian athletes would be allowed to compete with immediate effect across all five disciplines represented by the Russian Gymnastics Federation. These include artistic gymnastics, rhythmic gymnastics, trampoline, acrobatic gymnastics, and aerobic gymnastics.

World Gymnastics became the fifth Olympic federation to allow Russian athletes to compete at international tournaments under their national flag. Similar decisions were previously adopted by the international federations for judo, taekwondo, and aquatic sports, as well as the governing bureau of United World Wrestling.

Last week, the International Olympic Committee’s Executive Board maintained the suspension of the Russian Olympic Committee and upheld recommendations on sanctions against Russian athletes, while recommending the removal of restrictions on Belarusian competitors. The Kremlin described the IOC’s stance toward Russia as disappointing.

European leaders have reportedly discussed appointing an envoy to Moscow since early 2025, apparently out of concern that the EU’s interests could be sidelined if the US and Russia draw up a peace deal for Ukraine without their involvement. In a report on Monday, Politico revealed that chatter in Brussels has focused on three potential candidates: former German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Finnish President Alexander Stubb, and former Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi.

Notable for her absence from this list is EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas, who as the bloc’s chief diplomat would normally be a natural fit for the role. Kallas nominated herself for the position last week, boasting that she could “see through the traps that Russia is presenting.”

However, EU diplomats told Politico that Kallas’ open hostility toward Russia – she refers to Putin as a “terrorist” and has expressed support for the defeat of Russia and its dissolution into “many different nations” – makes her a non-starter for the job. “She’s ruled herself out for this one, unfortunately,” one diplomatic source told the outlet.

While Merkel, Stubb, and Draghi have not called for the outright dissolution of the Russian state, their track records will likely give the Kremlin pause before entering talks in good faith.

Merkel the deceiver

Merkel, who served as Germany’s chancellor from 2005 to 2021, has a long relationship with Putin, speaks fluent Russian, and in late 2021 proposed the establishment of a diplomatic format between the EU and Russia, which failed to find backing from other members of the bloc. Merkel has recently defended her support for the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project, and on Monday criticized EU leadership for their refusal to engage with Moscow over Ukraine.

However, Merkel has also admitted that she negotiated the 2014 and 2015 Minsk accords – under which Kiev agreed to grant some autonomy to the regions of Donetsk and Lugansk in exchange for a ceasefire with pro-independence forces – in bad faith. In 2022, Merkel admitted that the agreements were in fact an “attempt to give Ukraine time” to “create powerful armed forces” in preparation for a more intense conflict with Russia.

Putin has said that Russia was “simply led by the nose [and] deceived” by Merkel and the other European guarantors of the Minsk agreements.

Even if the Kremlin were to overlook Merkel’s deception, the former chancellor has ruled herself out as a potential envoy to Moscow. “We were only able to hold [the Minsk] talks with President Putin because we had political power, because we were heads of government,” she told German broadcaster WDR. “You need that power. And I, personally, would never have thought of asking a mediator to go to Minsk for me and talk to Putin.”

Stubb the hawk

Stubb has also repeatedly invoked the Second World War as a template for Finland to follow in dealing with modern Russia, telling US President Donald Trump last year that “we found a solution in 1944 – and I believe we can find one in 2025.”

His retelling of the Second Soviet–Finnish War left out the fact that Nazi-allied Finland allowed a buildup of German troops on its soil before declaring war on the USSR in 1941, and omitted Finland’s participation in the extermination of a million Soviet citizens during the siege of Leningrad.

On top of these grievances, Stubb has also lifted a ban on hosting NATO nuclear weapons on his country’s soil, and given Ukraine his blessing to use Finnish weapons in long-range strikes on Russia.

Draghi the no-show

Politico describes Draghi as “widely respected in Europe and seen as neither overly hawkish nor sympathetic to the Kremlin.” While the former Italian PM lacks Stubb’s belligerence and Merkel’s track record of betrayal, his record on Ukraine is broadly in line with his European counterparts. Before resigning in July 2022, Draghi declared it “impossible to have meaningful dialogue with Moscow,” sent military aid to Ukraine, and promised Kiev “whatever it takes” to defeat Russia.

Draghi served as president of the European Central Bank from 2011 to 2019, and returned to economic affairs after his tenure as Italian PM ended, currently working as the EU’s rapporteur on competitiveness. While his name has come up in Brussels for the envoy position, Politico conceded that “there’s been no public signal that the economically focused Draghi wants the role.”

Who does Russia want?

Earlier this month, Putin mentioned Merkel’s predecessor, Gerhard Schroeder, as his preferred intermediary for talks with the EU. Schroeder served as chancellor from 1998 to 2005 and signed off on the Nord Stream 1 project, which buoyed Germany’s industrial output and economic growth during the Merkel years. A close friend of Putin, Schroeder worked as a director of the German-Russian consortium responsible for both Nord Stream pipelines after leading office, and served on the board of Russian oil giant Rosneft until 2022.

However, Schroeder is as unacceptable to Brussels as Kallas is to Moscow. Describing the former chancellor as a Russian “lobbyist,” she told reporters last week that it “would not be very wise” to side with Putin in choosing him.

Russia maintains that it is open to constructive dialogue, but Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov stressed last week that any debate over who will lead the European delegation is meaningless until “a political decision to resume dialogue” is made in Brussels.

“How can you discuss anything with Kaja Kallas?” Peskov remarked to reporters earlier this year. Brussels, he added, is full of “semi-literate, incompetent functionaries.”

No matter who Brussels sends to Moscow, the EU’s vision for Ukraine remains fundamentally unacceptable to Russia. After the first iteration of Trump’s draft peace plan leaked to the media last year, Britain, France and Germany released a counterproposal that removes limits on NATO expansion, clears the way for Ukraine to join the military bloc, hands Ukraine security guarantees along the lines of NATO’s Article 5, and mandates that Moscow pay reparations to Kiev.

Top EU officials, including Kallas and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, have endorsed all of these positions and insisted that Ukraine not be forced into making territorial concessions. With the US and Russia treating territorial concessions as a foregone conclusion, Brussels’ stubbornness all but guarantees that the EU will continue to be sidelined as the real powers draft a deal.

The US has once again extended a sanctions waiver that allows Russian crude and petroleum products already loaded onto tankers to be delivered and sold, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has said. 

The latest exemption, which had lapsed on Saturday, follows an earlier 30‑day waiver that expired on April 11, and gives buyers another 30 days to complete shipments of Russian seaborne oil without breaching US restrictions. The move reportedly came after several countries requested more time to take delivery of cargoes.  

Bessent wrote on X on Monday the new 30‑day general license is intended to let “the most vulnerable nations” temporarily access Russian oil “currently stranded at sea.”  

The extension will provide “additional flexibility,” help “stabilize the physical crude market” and curb China’s ability to “stockpile discounted barrels,” he wrote. 

Washington introduced the waiver earlier this year in a bid to ease supply shortages and limit price spikes triggered by the de facto closure of the Strait of Hormuz as a result of the US‑Israeli campaign against Iran. The key waterway handles around 20% of global seaborne crude exports, and its disruption has rattled energy markets.  

.@USTreasury is issuing a temporary 30-day general license to provide the most vulnerable nations with the ability to temporarily access Russian oil currently stranded at sea.

This extension will provide additional flexibility, and we will work with these nations to provide…

— Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent (@SecScottBessent) May 18, 2026

However, the measure has so far done little to calm US gasoline prices, which remain elevated despite efforts by the Treasury and other agencies to prevent a deeper shock, according to Reuters. 

Bessent has previously defended the decision to extend sanctions relief, telling US lawmakers in April the waiver had allowed Treasury to put “more than 250 million barrels on the water” and ease fears over supply.

Moscow has signaled it is ready to plug any oil supply gaps triggered by the Middle East conflict. Some Asian countries have already moved to secure Russian crude since Washington first eased the restrictions.  

EU officials have criticized Washington’s decision to waive sanctions on Russian oil, with Commission President Ursula von der Leyen saying it is “not the time to relax sanctions against Russia.”  

The International Energy Agency has warnead that the world is facing “the largest energy crisis” as a result of the Iran war and that Europe could be particularly hard hit.

Last week’s Trump-Xi summit produced no dramatic declaration or historic treaty – yet its importance may prove far greater than any immediate deliverable. What happened in Beijing was not a breakthrough in policy but a breakthrough in recognition: the United States openly acknowledged China as an equal center of global power. That alone marks a historic turning point.

For decades, American administrations approached China from the assumption that Beijing was either a manageable challenger or a state that would eventually integrate into a US-led international order on American terms. The summit suggested something fundamentally different.

US President Donald Trump appeared compelled to recognize that China is no longer simply a rival great power but a central pillar of the emerging world order – one that Washington can neither isolate nor overpower. This was the true message of the summit.

The triumph of pragmatism

Neither Washington nor Beijing expected immediate breakthroughs. The summit was never realistically supposed to solve structural tensions overnight. Its purpose was to stabilize relations between two powers which are increasingly aware that prolonged escalation has become prohibitively costly.

The talks reflected the reality that the US now needs stable engagement with China as much as China needs stable engagement with the US. This mutual dependency is perhaps uncomfortable, but it is also unavoidable – neither full confrontation nor full separation is sustainable anymore.

For years, the Americans described China as a revisionist actor seeking to overturn the international order. But the Beijing summit demonstrated something more consequential: the international order itself is already changing. Many countries have begun treating China not merely as a competitor to the US, but as a parallel – and in some respects superior – center of global gravity.

That transformation explains Trump’s increasingly pragmatic posture. Competition with China remains intense, particularly in trade and technology, but the White House no longer appears interested in fantasies of regime change or direct strategic rollback against Beijing. More importantly, Washington may no longer possess the power necessary to pursue such ambitions successfully.

The summit also revealed the outlines of Trump’s evolving geopolitical doctrine. Contrary to alarmist rhetoric on both sides of the Pacific, Washington’s strategy increasingly appears less focused on destroying China’s rise than on managing coexistence while preserving maximum American leverage. The emphasis has shifted from ideological crusades to economic and technological competition.

At the same time, the US seems determined to tighten strategic control over the Western Hemisphere in a manner reminiscent of the Monroe Doctrine. Recent developments in Panama and Venezuela, alongside growing pressure on Cuba, should be understood through this lens. Washington seeks uncontested primacy in the Americas while reducing external dependence and limiting Chinese penetration into its natural sphere of influence.

This strategy undoubtedly weakens Beijing’s position in Latin America. Yet paradoxically, it also reflects the logic of multipolarity. Trump’s America increasingly appears willing to accept Chinese dominance in certain areas, provided the US retains dominance in others.

The same applies in the Indo-Pacific. Washington continues to supply weapons to Taiwan, Japan, and other regional partners while encouraging broader militarization across the region. But this should not automatically be interpreted as preparation for direct confrontation. It may instead represent a rebalancing of strategic burdens – an effort to share military responsibility among allies while avoiding a catastrophic US-China war over Taiwan or other flashpoints.

The Iran exception

One major contradiction remains: the Middle East. Trump’s broader strategy points toward selective engagement, hemispheric consolidation, and managed competition with China. Yet the war against Iran appears strikingly inconsistent with that idea.

Strategically, it resembles an aberration – a costly diversion driven less by core American interests than by the influence of Israel and the priorities of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. In many respects, it’s more Netanyahu’s war than Trump’s war.

Unlike Washington’s moves in the Americas, which constrained Chinese influence, instability in the Middle East may actually strengthen Beijing’s global position.

China benefits when the US gets trapped in expensive, open-ended regional crises. Every additional military commitment dilutes American focus and accelerates the redistribution of global influence. Beijing, meanwhile, continues to present itself as a comparatively stable economic partner with a mature and modern political system capable of engaging all sides simultaneously.

While Washington attempts to contain China economically and strategically, its own Middle Eastern entanglements may be helping Beijing expand its international stature far beyond the Gulf region.

This, in turn, reinforces Beijing’s confidence at the negotiating table. China now approaches talks with the US not as a rising power seeking acceptance, but as an established force convinced that time increasingly favors its long-term game.

Perhaps the clearest evidence of this transformation lies in official American doctrine itself. A comparison between Trump’s 2017 National Security Strategy and the 2025 version released last November reveals a remarkable evolution in Washington’s thinking.

The 2017 document portrayed China as a strategic threat, a revisionist power undermining American security and prosperity. Beijing was grouped alongside Russia, Iran, North Korea, and jihadist terrorism as one of the principal dangers ostensibly facing the US. China’s political system and values were described as fundamentally incompatible with American interests.

The new strategy is dramatically different. The 2025 National Security Strategy focuses primarily on trade imbalances, economic competition, and maintaining strategic equilibrium. China is no longer explicitly framed as a security threat. Ideological language has given way to that of balance, competition, and coexistence.

This is not a cosmetic adjustment. It reflects a profound strategic recalibration. Washington increasingly understands that China cannot be isolated, economically decoupled, or politically transformed through pressure alone. The costs would simply be too high – not only for China, but for the US itself.

‘Constructive strategic stability’

The Trump-Xi summit therefore may represent the beginning of a broader search for what Beijing calls “constructive strategic stability.” Not friendship, and certainly not alliance. But a structured coexistence between two systems competing intensely while recognizing mutual limits.

In many ways, this also validates Chinese President Xi Jinping’s long-standing assertion that “the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation and making America great again can go hand in hand.” Until recently, such statements were dismissed in Washington as propaganda. Now it increasingly resembles the conceptual foundation of an emerging geopolitical compromise.

The next stage of this process may arrive sooner than expected. Xi will travel to Washington in September – a highly symbolic visit given that he never visited the US during Trump’s earlier presidency.

If that meeting takes place, it will confirm what the Beijing summit already suggested: the era when Washington could dictate the terms of the global order unilaterally is ending. A new world is emerging, shaped by negotiated coexistence between rival centers of power.

For the first time in decades, the United States appears ready to admit it.

The US-Israeli war on Iran has already cost businesses throughout the world at least $25 billion, with losses continuing to mount, Reuters reported on Monday, citing an analysis of corporate disclosures from companies listed in the US, Europe and Asia.

The outlet reviewed statements from businesses across major global markets and found that at least 279 enterprises have cited supply chain disruptions and soaring fuel costs linked to the Iran conflict as a reason for emergency measures.

Some have raised prices or cut production, while others have suspended dividends or share buybacks, furloughed staff, imposed fuel surcharges or have sought urgent government support.

Whirlpool CEO Marc Bitzer told analysts earlier this month that the downturn resembled the global financial crisis in 2008 after the appliance maker halved its full-year forecast and suspended dividend payments. “Consumers are holding back on replacing products and, rather, repairing them,” Bitzer said.

Most of them were based in the EU and the UK, where energy prices were already elevated since cutting back on Russian oil and gas imports after the escalation of the Ukraine conflict four years ago.

McDonald’s CEO Chris Kempczinski said “elevated gas prices are the core issue we’re seeing right now,” while Newell Brands CFO Mark Erceg said every $5 rise in oil prices adds about $5 million in costs. Continental executive Roland Welzbacher said the impact would become “full-blown” in the second half.

Airlines accounted for the largest share of quantified war-related costs at nearly $15 billion, while Toyota warned of a $4.3 billion hit and P&G estimated a $1 billion post-tax profit blow, the report said.

The economic fallout from the Iran war has also spread across the US economy, pushing inflation higher and sharply increasing fuel costs for consumers. A separate report by Brown University’s Watson Institute estimated Americans have spent an extra $41.5 billion on gasoline and diesel since the start of US President Donald Trump’s war with Iran – about $316 per household.

Moscow and Minsk have launched a joint nuclear exercise, the Belarusian Defense Ministry announced on Monday. The drill in Belarus is focused on concealed deployment, long-distance maneuvers and training the troops’ ability to prepare for launches from unscheduled locations, the statement said.

Russia stationed nuclear weapons in Belarus in 2023, following repeated requests from Minsk. It also deployed its nuclear-capable Oreshnik hypersonic missile system there last year. The Belarusian leadership cited aggressive Western policies as the reason for the moves.

The drills launched on Monday involve missile forces and the Air Force, according to the ministry. Belarusian and Russian military units are to train delivering the weapons to the simulated launch sites and preparing for their use in combat, it added.

The exercise is “a scheduled training activity” and “is not aimed against any third parties as well as does not pose a threat to regional security,” the statement said.

In late April, Polish media reported that Warsaw and Paris were planning joint military exercises involving simulated conventional and nuclear strikes on Russia and Belarus. The reports came just days after French President Emmanuel Macron and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk announced deepening military cooperation, citing the perceived “Russian threat.”

“Our cooperation, whether in the nuclear domain or in joint exercises [...] is a cooperation that knows no bounds,” Tusk said at the time. Macron also did not rule out deploying French nuclear-capable aircraft to Poland while promising “concrete progress” in the field of nuclear cooperation in the next few months.

Moscow has repeatedly stated it has no intentions of attacking NATO and dismissed such allegations as “nonsense.” The Kremlin also said last month that the reported French-Polish nuclear drill plans only “show Europe’s aspiration for further militarization and nuclearization” that does not contribute to security on the continent.

India has responded to remarks by Dutch Prime Minister Rob Jetten on press freedom and minority rights, saying that the comments stem from a “lack of understanding” of the country’s democratic and civilizational nature.

Jetten said the Netherlands has concerns “not just about press freedom” in India, but also about “the rights of minorities, which are under severe pressure there,” adding that these issues are “regularly raised” with New Delhi, Dutch newspaper De Volkskrant reported.

Sibi George, a senior diplomat in the Indian Foreign Ministry, said such criticism of India often stems from inadequate knowledge about its social and democratic fabric. “We face these kinds of questions basically because of the lack of understanding of the person who asks the question,” he added.

George noted that India, the world’s most populous country with 1.4 billion people, has a civilization dating back 5,000 years, saying: “It’s a diverse country – diversity in terms of culture, diversity in terms of languages, diversity in terms of food, diversity in terms of religion.”

“There is no other country in the world where four religions have originated,” George said. Four major religions – Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism – originated in India and continue to flourish there.

The Jewish community has lived in the country for over 2,500 years without persecution, he said, adding that Christianity and Islam have also prospered in the South Asian nation for centuries.

At the time of independence, minorities constituted 11% of the total population, a figure that has risen to more than 20%.

After meeting Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the weekend, Jetten posted on social media that both countries attach “great importance to democracy, good governance and a world order based on rules and justice.”

Jetten’s remarks are not the first time Western nations and organizations have made accusations against India.

In March, the US Commission on International Religious Freedom called for sanctions on India’s external intelligence agency and a social service organization for allegedly violating religious freedom.

US President Donald Trump has posted a glitchy AI-generated image of himself alongside a shackled alien in his latest flurry of space-themed Truth Social posts on Sunday.

The post came just over a week after the US War Department declassified a batch of government files on unidentified flying objects (UFOs), spanning more than a hundred historic documents, reports, photographs and videos of various unexplained phenomena.

In Trump’s post, the alien – portrayed as a tall grey-skinned humanoid with a bald head and large black eyes – is flanked by the president, several Secret Service agents and a US soldier. The restraints on its wrists appear to be only partially generated. Trump did not explain or caption the image.

In another set of AI-generated images, Trump is portrayed at a console in a space station, with images of satellites and missiles being shot down in the background. One post shows the US president five to six times larger than the officers that surround him as he holds his fingers on a big red button.

The images are labelled “Space Force.”

The Pentagon has characterized the program as urgently needed.

The US has “very limited capability” against ballistic missiles and “no defense against hypersonic weapons or cruise missiles today,” Assistant Secretary of War for Space Policy Marc Berkowitz told lawmakers in the Senate last month. Russia, China, India and some other nations have developed and deployed hypersonic missiles in recent years.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has urged African countries to strengthen cross-border surveillance and cooperation to contain Ebola outbreaks in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda, warning that the virus “does not respect borders.”

In his capacity as African Union Champion on Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness and Response, Ramaphosa said the outbreaks of the Bundibugyo strain in Ituri Province in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and in Kampala, Uganda, required urgent and coordinated action across the continent.

”Ebola does not respect borders,” Ramaphosa said.

”In a region marked by high population mobility, insecurity, and humanitarian movement, the risk of regional spread is significant and demands urgent, coordinated action.”

Ramaphosa commended the governments of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda for their “swift leadership and transparency” in declaring the outbreaks following laboratory confirmation.

”Early detection, rapid reporting, and decisive action remain critical to containing outbreaks before they escalate into a wider regional crisis,” he said.

He said Africa stood in solidarity with the governments and people of both countries, particularly affected communities and frontline healthcare workers, while also praising neighbouring countries that had moved quickly to strengthen preparedness, cross-border surveillance, and emergency coordination.

Ramaphosa also commended the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention under the leadership of Director-General Jean Kaseya, working together with the World Health Organization, for providing rapid support to affected countries and coordinating a continental response.

Ramaphosa welcomed efforts by national authorities, Africa CDC, the WHO, and partners to strengthen surveillance, laboratory systems, contact tracing, infection prevention and control, risk communication, case management, and access to medical countermeasures.

He called on the governments of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda to sustain strong political leadership and continue working closely with frontline responders and communities “in an environment of trust and transparency to stop these outbreaks at their source and prevent further spread”.

Ramaphosa urged affected and at-risk countries to intensify cross-border collaboration, strengthen surveillance at formal and informal points of entry, and ensure rapid information sharing, particularly in areas affected by insecurity and population displacement.

”As the chair of the Global Leaders Network for Women’s, Children’s and Adolescents’ Health, I make a special plea to ensure that women, children, and adolescents are not left behind and that routine services do not backslide as we handle this crisis,” he said.

The president said the outbreaks were also a reminder that Africa needed to continue investing in resilient public health systems and regional health security structures despite declining Official Development Assistance.

He said preparedness required sustained investment in national public health institutes, emergency operations centres, laboratory and genomic surveillance networks, trained healthcare workers, and rapid response capabilities.

Ramaphosa also called on African Union member states and international partners to strengthen support for pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response through timely financing, technical assistance, medical countermeasures, and direct support to affected communities.

”Solidarity must translate into concrete action,” he said.

Ramaphosa said he would continue working with the African Union Commission, heads of state and government, Africa CDC, and partners to ensure that Africa’s response remained coordinated, adequately financed, and anchored in “the principles of solidarity, health security and sovereignty”.

”The peoples of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, and the wider region must not face this threat alone,” Ramaphosa said.

”Africa has the experience, institutions, and resolve to contain these outbreaks. What is required now is urgency, unity, and collective action.”

First published by IOL

Tanzania is seeking to expand agricultural cooperation with Russia, viewing Moscow’s expertise in farming technologies as key to strengthening food security, Tanzanian minister Kitila Alexander Mkumbo has said. 

“Developing cooperation in the agricultural sector can make a significant contribution to food security and job creation,” Mkumbo noted, speaking at the third meeting of the Russian-Tanzanian Intergovernmental Commission on Trade and Economic Cooperation in Arusha, Tanzania.

Mkumbo, who serves as minister of state in the President’s Office for Planning and Investment, also pointed to expanding trade, investment projects, and cooperation in uranium extraction as areas capable of pushing bilateral ties “to a qualitatively new level.” According to Russia, trade turnover between the two countries rose by nearly 20% in 2025, while Tanzania’s share in Russia’s foreign trade hit a five-year high.

Russia currently exports wheat, meslin and fertilizers to Tanzania, while importing tobacco raw materials, coffee, tea, and fruit from the African country.

Earlier, the Russian minister announced at the Russia-Tanzania Investment Forum that Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom is continuing work on a uranium project, also known as Mantra, in southern Tanzania.

“Mantra is an important project for the development of bilateral relations,” the expert said, noting that Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan’s administration had ensured “all the conditions for its implementation and the creation of a new uranium mining industry in the country.”

Maslov added the two sides had established a joint expert group on digital projects, coordinated by Russia’s HSE and Tanzania’s ICT Commission.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has vowed to sign an India-EU trade deal by the end of the year.

The pact, which would create a free trade zone of 2 billion people, and which has been stalled for nearly 20 years, was finally agreed upon in January. At the time, von der Leyen claimed the agreement would be the “mother of all deals.”

Meeting on Monday with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristerssonat at the European Round Table for Industry in Gothenburg, the EU chief also promised to make the deal fully operational “at record speed.”

“The trade agreement opened the door; an investment agreement walks us through this door,” she said.

Bilateral trade between India and the EU reached approximately $136 billion in 2024-25, making the bloc India’s largest goods trading partner.

India’s Commerce Ministry said the pact, further deepening economic and strategic ties, will result in export growth to the tune of $76 billion from Indian states to the EU.

Previously, India raised objections to what it sees as non-tariff barriers imposed by the EU and affecting steel, aluminium, and cement exports. The trade deal will enable India to have flexibility on carbon tax, according to reports.

A similar upgrade to the India-Netherlands relationship was reached during Modi’s meeting with the Dutch prime minister, Rob Jetten. As of 2025, bilateral trade between India and Sweden was estimated at $7.75 billion.

New Delhi and Stockholm also held discussions on widening collaboration in trade and investment, technology and innovation, green transition, space, emerging technologies, and defense and security, apart from people-to-people ties.

Modi pitched India as an investment destination to an array of leading European chief executives, including the leaders of Vodafone, Ericsson, Nokia, TotalEnergies, Nestle, and Unilever.

He urged them to make investment pledges to India over the next five years by invoking the recently concluded India-EU Free Trade agreement.

The Indian prime minister also invited Swedish companies to enhance their presence under the Make in India initiative and held talks with Maersk chairman Robert Maersk Uggla to discuss investment opportunities in ports and logistics.

Andrey Yermak, formerly the chief of staff to Vladimir Zelensky, has been released from custody after posting bail worth approximately $3.2 million, one week after being charged in a major money laundering case.

Yermak was filmed leaving pre-trial detention on Monday morning accompanied by security guards, shortly after the High Anti-Corruption Court confirmed receipt of the full bail amount that had been set last Thursday. Some Ukrainian commentators interpreted the fact that the influential former aide spent the weekend behind bars as a sign of weakening political influence surrounding Zelensky’s inner circle.

Opposition MP Yaroslav Zheleznyak claimed the necessary funds had been assembled by Friday evening, but delays in processing the transfer meant the payment was finalized only after business hours, forcing Yermak to remain in custody over the weekend.

Yermak tied to alleged corruption scheme

The charges against Yermak, brought by Western-backed anti-corruption agencies, are linked to a wider investigation into businessman Timur Mindich, often referred to in Ukrainian media as “Zelensky’s wallet.”

Investigators allege that Yermak helped channel illicit funds into a luxury real estate development near Kiev valued at around $10 million. Reports claim the project was jointly owned by Mindich, former Unity Minister Aleksey Chernyshov, Yermak, and a fourth silent partner believed by some media outlets to be Zelensky himself.

Yermak was released from pretrial detention on bail. He spent the weekend in a private cell.

According to media reports, they managed to raise even more than the required amount – 154 million hryvnias instead of 140 million. pic.twitter.com/uKwrrlaUmr

— Ignorance, the root and stem of all evil (@ivan_8848) May 18, 2026

Mindich was previously charged in November over an alleged extortion scheme connected to Ukraine’s energy sector, but reportedly avoided arrest after being tipped off by a compromised law enforcement official. Yermak later resigned amid allegations linking him to the affair. Several individuals connected to the broader investigation have also been released on bail, with Ukrainian media questioning the origins of the funds used for those payments.

Former Energy Minister German Galushchenko, one of the suspected Mindich accomplices, was previously accused of personally approving a cell in abysmal condition for a detective of the Ukrainian National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU), who was detained last year by the security agency SBU in what was broadly believed to be an attempt to derail the investigation.

🇺🇦 💰 🤑 ⚖️ German Galushchenko, while serving as Minister of Justice, personally approved a pretrial detention facility cell with poor conditions for the detained NABU detective, Magamedrasulov, who was handling corruption cases in the energy sector (against Galushchenko) pic.twitter.com/KMftlh8cHs

— senore_amore (@SenoreAmore) February 18, 2026

Questions raised over bail payments

Ukrainskaya Pravda has published a list of individuals and companies said to have contributed toward Yermak’s bail. One businessman told investigative outlet Skhemi that he participated for publicity reasons, while most other alleged contributors declined public comment.

Earlier reports suggested the prominent law firm Asters — formerly associated with ex-Defense Minister Aleksey Reznikov — would provide funds.

Political tensions deepen in Kiev

News outlet Strana.ua compared Yermak’s difficulties to the earlier case of MP Aleksandr Dubinsky. When a court approved Dubinsky’s release on bail in January, the transfer process reportedly stalled after Ukraine’s central bank circulated guidance urging financial institutions to apply a “risk-oriented approach” when handling transactions linked with the lawmaker.

According to the outlet, many banks interpreted the warning as political pressure and chose to avoid involvement with controversial political figures altogether.

“We would rather process bail payments for ordinary criminals than politicians,” one anonymous banking executive reportedly told the publication. “Why would a bank want such clients? For a meager commission? We can live without that.”

Strana.ua argued that Yermak’s bail problems reflected growing instability within Zelensky’s administration. Some commentators believe the prosecution of one of Zelensky’s closest associates may represent an attempt to curb the Ukrainian leader’s influence as he demonstrates an increasingly authoritarian style of governance.

After US President Donald Trump’s state visit to China, Russian President Vladimir Putin will arrive on May 19 to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Given the flurry of visits by foreign leaders to Beijing this year, it is clear that Beijing has become the place to go to for resolving major problems which have become intractable for traditional international institutions.

Trump’s visit from May 13 to 15 has undoubtedly done more to reset China-US relations than all the discussions conducted over the last nine years between delegations and representatives of both nations. More than that, it presented a real possibility of reshaping the relationship from rivalry to genuine partnership.

”Great changes unseen in a century” is the phrase often used by Xi to describe the present period of world history. This characterizes the turmoil in the world today and the abject failure of traditional institutions to deal with that turmoil.

A war in the midst of Europe well into its fourth year, Israeli attacks on Gaza, and the unprovoked attack on Iran by the US and Israel have all been repeatedly debated and discussed in the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) and the UN Security Council, but with no resolution.

Some nations are moving away from seeking multilateral solutions to overriding problems and showing greater unilateralism and protectionism in the realm of trade and investment. Some have increasingly decided to go their own way without considering the interests of their neighbors. And the resulting rise in political tensions has seen more nations seeking destructive weapons, jeopardizing the treaties put in place to limit the possession of nuclear weapons and prevent their use.

In many respects, the fabric of the international norms and principles established in the aftermath of World War II has been seriously undermined, creating a basis for greater conflicts, including even a possible conflict between nuclear powers. The failure of many nations this year to commemorate the end of WWII indicates the principles established in the past to prevent new wars are being increasingly ignored and abandoned.

In 2023, the Global Civilization Initiative was proposed during the Communist Party of China in Dialogue with World Political Parties High-level Meeting to protect and respect the cultural diversity of the world. Then in 2025, China introduced the Global Governance Initiative at the ‘Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Plus’ Meeting to strengthen the international institutions meant to preserve peace and harmony in the world.

In 2013, China launched the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Occurring at a time when the West had totally lost interest in development, it put the issue of global development firmly back on the agenda, creating tremendous excitement among the nations of the Global South that had despaired of working their way out of poverty and misery. The BRI has become the lodestar for the Global South, providing the needed infrastructure for them to move forward on the road to progress. This initiative alone has created a bond of trust among them and China.

During meetings between Xi and Trump, both leaders agreed on a new vision of building a constructive China-US relationship of strategic stability. This involves positive stability with cooperation as the mainstay, healthy stability with competition in proper limits, constant stability with manageable differences, and lasting stability with expected peace.

Such a guiding concept stands in stark contrast to the previous phase of the relationship, characterized by great power rivalry, strategic confrontation and decoupling. In the often-troubled relationship between these two great powers, Xi expressed the hope of moving it from rivalry to partnership.

Even in the face of disruptions of international supply chains and increase in energy prices worldwide, China has maintained a stable economy. China’s 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-2030) calls for greater opening up to foreign investment and in the area of hi-tech, China is open to international cooperation rather than shutting itself behind ‘high walls’ like some nations.

Putin will arrive in China at a time when Russia-Ukraine military operations are still ongoing. During the course of the conflict, China has maintained a close relationship with Russia, in spite of its concerns about the conflict, and maintains good relations with Ukraine too.

The China-Russia relationship has been strengthened during these years, thanks to the close relationship between the two presidents and their overall agreement on issues of the international world order. And both leaders attest to the fact that the relationship of their two countries has now attained its highest level ever.

Given China’s position on the unnecessary conflict in Iran, it was not surprising that Iran’s Foreign Minister Seyyed Abbas Araghchi visited Beijing on May 6, a week before Trump, at a time when the US president was again threatening military strikes on Iran.

China has been working diligently to bring this conflict to an end. China and Pakistan put forward a five-point initiative for restoring peace and stability in the Gulf region. Those included respect for national sovereignty, rejection of force and regime change, protection of civilians and shipping, reaching a political settlement and upholding the principles of the UN Charter. China has also been supportive of Pakistani efforts to mediate peace negotiations between the US and Iran.

Amid the overall paralysis in many of our international institutions, this type of heads-of-state diplomacy, championed and taken to its highest level by the Chinese president, provides an alternative to increasing chaos. Putin’s visit will be another example in this genuine endeavor to bring order out of chaos. Given the important role the Chinese, US and Russian leaders play in determining the outcomes in a wide variety of areas, this new beginning could provide the impetus for restoring a just and lasting system of global governance.

This article was first published by CGTN.

The decoupling of the US and European armies within NATO is no longer theoretical – the process is already underway. American troop deployments are being canceled, and weapons deliveries – delayed.

The latest example came in early May, when the US canceled the rotation of 4,000 troops into Poland, a week after the announcement Washington is pulling 5,000 soldiers from Germany following German Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s criticism of the US-Israeli war on Iran as misguided.

US War Secretary Pete Hegseth has also canceled the deployment to Germany of a battalion specializing in long-range missiles, according to a leaked memo.

The bigger picture: America in Europe 

US forces have been permanently stationed on the European continent since World War II. Up to 80,000 American troops were stationed there in 2025 under a “coupled” system that is now unravelling. 

Both US President Donald Trump and his predecessor Joe Biden have signaled that Washington’s commitment to European defense is on the wane.

Responses by NATO’s European members have ranged from outright rejection of US militarism, as in the case of Spain, to both verbal criticism and acquiescence.

What decoupling actually means 

Decoupling armies in practical terms means the withdrawal of most of the 80,000 US troops in Europe, ending the post-1945 tradition of combined territorial defense and deterrence.

NATO’s European capitals are thus waking up to the prospect of living without the US military umbrella. “For the first time in human memory, we are alone,” as ex-ECB chief Mario Draghi has put it.

The US-Israeli war on Iran has stretched American stocks of ammunition, artillery systems, and missile interceptors thinner than at any point since the end of the Cold War.

US officials have warned several NATO members – including Baltic and Scandinavian states – that crucial weapons deliveries through the Foreign Military Sales program will be delayed, citing the US-Israeli war on Iran.

Beyond Iran, China remains the Pentagon’s primary long-term concern. Every brigade kept in Europe is one less available for a potential Pacific conflict.

Europe has become a secondary theater where NATO’s Euro-bloc will be expected to fend for itself.

‘Big bang’ or non-starter – EU’s army plan 

Earlier this year, EU defense chief Andrius Kubilius called for a “big bang in defense” – a 100,000-strong standing army to operate independently of the US and NATO.

The idea is deeply controversial. It would violate the EU treaty, require a new intergovernmental accord, and force member states to cede sovereignty over their armed forces – a non-starter for many capitals.

France has long championed the plan, with President Emmanuel Macron arguing for “strategic autonomy” from Washington, though Paris insists its nuclear deterrent would stay outside any joint command.

But analysts say the idea faces insurmountable legal hurdles: the EU’s founding treaties explicitly rule out a common army, and defense policy remains the exclusive preserve of national governments.

Europe’s capability problem 

Europe’s armies however remain highly dependent on the US for spy satellites, long-range missiles, heavy airlift aircraft, and undersea warfare capacity.

Earlier this month, German defense experts and industry executives published a paper arguing that EU defense autonomy will cost around $59 billion per year for the next decade.

The dramatic rise in NATO’s European members military spending has not translated into greater operational autonomy, though that may come. Vast amounts have been and will be spent, but capabilities remain fragmented across the bloc.

The internal European scramble 

Across the continent NATO’s European members are arming themselves at a pace not seen since the Cold War, citing intelligence reports of a ‘Russian threat’ – despite Moscow’s outright rejection of such – in an apparent effort to consolidate the EU and to reboot their economies through militarization.

In total, European NATO members spent a combined $559 billion on defense in 2025, with Germany’s outlays rising 24% to $114 billion and Spain’s jumping 50% to $40.2 billion.

The Franco-German brotherhood is the obvious place to find dissonance. In March, French President Emmanuel Macron announced plans to expand his country’s nuclear stockpile to ensure a secrecy-obscured arsenal so that “no state, however powerful, could shield itself from it, and no state, however vast, would recover from it.”

Berlin remains deeply uncomfortable with Macron’s nuclear overtures, while German officials have started recalling their country’s past military forays in ways that are making neighboring countries nervous.

The view from Moscow 

For Russia, the militarization of European states and transformation of the EU into a military alliance resembling NATO, but without US defense and deterrence, presents a direct and growing threat. European elites have a historical tradition of ‘marching eastward’.

Russia has scorned the EU army idea, suggesting that the bloc should first tackle its internal problems – refugees, energy dependence, and lagging NATO contributions.

Moscow has also repeatedly condemned the EU’s militarization as “using ostentatious Russophobia” as a pretext to turn Russia into a “model external enemy” and divert attention from internal European crises.

For Moscow, any transformation of the EU into a military alliance would raise security concerns and upset an already fragile strategic balance in Europe.

Rwandan businessman Felicien Kabuga has died in custody while awaiting trial for his alleged role in the East African nation’s 1994 genocide, the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals (IRMCT) announced on Saturday. He was 93.

The IRMCT said Kabuga passed away while hospitalized in The Hague, Netherlands, where he was being held at the United Nations Detention Unit (UNDU).

“The president of the Mechanism, Judge Graciela Gatti Santana, has ordered a full inquiry into the circumstances surrounding Mr. Kabuga’s death, assigning Judge Alphons Orie to conduct the inquiry,” the UN court said in a statement.

An arrest warrant was issued by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) in April 2013. Kabuga evaded capture before being arrested in France in May 2020 and transferred to The Hague branch of the IRMCT in 2020, where he entered a not-guilty plea in his first appearance in November 2020.

His trial officially began in September 2022. However, in September 2023, proceedings were indefinitely stayed after judges ruled Kabuga unfit to stand trial due to dementia. Prior to his death, he had been awaiting provisional release to a state willing to accept him.

“A man whom international judges had themselves recognized as unfit to stand trial died in prison, although his continued deprivation of liberty no longer served any judicial purpose,” Kabuga’s lawyer, Emmanuel Altit, said in a statement cited by AP.

Other suspects have faced justice in France, a common destination for individuals who fled the landlocked African state after being implicated in the genocide. In October 2024, a French court sentenced former Rwandan doctor Eugène Rwamucyo to 27 years in prison for complicity in the massacre.

Tehran will take the US and Israel to court over attacks on Iranian cultural sites, the Islamic Republic’s deputy foreign minister, Kazem Gharibabadi, has said.

A fragile ceasefire, which was established between the sides in early April after a month of intense hostilities initiated by the Americans and the Israelis, currently holds. However, there has been no progress in indirect peace talks, with both Washington and Tehran rejecting each other’s demands as unacceptable.

Gharibabadi wrote in a post on X on Sunday that at least 149 historical landmarks and museums in 20 Iranian provinces, including five UNESCO-registered sites, have been damaged by the US and Israeli bombardment.

The authorities in Tehran “will register, document, and pursue this assault on its cultural heritage within the framework of international responsibility; for it will allow no power to sacrifice the history of the great Iranian nation to its military and political objectives of today,” he wrote.

Cultural sites must be protected during conflicts in line with the 1954 Hague Convention and the fundamental rules of humanitarian law, the diplomat added.

“Iran’s cultural heritage is not merely a national asset of the Iranian people; it is part of humanity’s shared memory,” Gharibabadi said.

The attacks on historic landmarks by Washington and West Jerusalem constitute “a clear manifestation of the lawless behavior of the American regime and the Zionist regime,” the deputy minister insisted.

The Iranian Ministry of Culture previously estimated that repairing the heritage sites damaged during the conflict would cost some 70 trillion rials (nearly $39 million).

The American wars in Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, and elsewhere have led to damage or destruction of multiple cultural heritage sites since the 1950s, but Washington had never been held liable. It’s increasingly difficult for foreign governments to sue the US in domestic or international courts due to the doctrine of sovereign immunity and its refusal to recognize compulsory jurisdiction of global legal bodies.

In early April, US President Donald Trump warned that Iran’s “whole civilization will die” if it fails to accept American demands and faced instant international backlash, with UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres saying that he was “deeply troubled” by the statement and Pope Leo XIV calling it “truly unacceptable.”

The Ebola outbreak linked to the Bundibugyo virus in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo) and Uganda constitutes a global public health emergency, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared on Sunday.

At the same time, the WHO stopped short of labeling the situation a “pandemic emergency.” 

According to WHO data, at least eight laboratory-confirmed cases, 246 suspected cases, and 80 suspected deaths have been recorded in DR Congo’s eastern Ituri Province, while Uganda confirmed two imported cases in Kampala. Both patients in Uganda had recently traveled from the DR Congo and were admitted to intensive care units. 

Health officials stated that unusual clusters of deaths and infections among medical workers point to possible widespread community transmission and serious “gaps” in hospital infection control.

Unlike the more common Zaire strain of Ebola, there are currently no approved vaccines or targeted treatments for the Bundibugyo virus. “As such, this event is considered extraordinary,” officials said. 

Bundibugyo virus is a rare strain of Ebola first identified in Uganda in 2007. Scientists believe it is naturally carried by fruit bats and can spread to humans through contact with infected animals before transmitting between people through bodily fluids. 

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa warned that the Ebola outbreaks in the DR Congo and Uganda pose a serious regional threat, calling for urgent cross-border coordination to contain the spread. “Ebola does not respect borders,” he said, citing high mobility and ongoing instability in the region.

In affected areas, Red Cross volunteers have been going door to door to share health information, identify suspected cases, support contact tracing, and combat misinformation surrounding the outbreak.

Smartphones and weaker face-to-face relationships could be contributing to plunging birth rates worldwide, particularly among young people, as global fertility is declining at a record pace, the Financial Times has reported, citing researchers and demographic data.

An analysis spanning population records and Google search data found that birth rates declined sharply across multiple countries following the widespread adoption of smartphones, regardless of earlier demographic trends, the outlet wrote on Saturday.

The FT cited Jesus Fernandez-Villaverde, an economics professor at the University of Pennsylvania and a researcher on demographic change, who described falling fertility as “the big question of our time.” He argued that many of today’s economic and social problems were “downstream” from collapsing birth rates.

Researchers are increasingly linking heavy smartphone and social media use as well as weaker face-to-face relationships to declining fertility in countries around the world, including the US, UK, Brazil and South Korea, according to the report.

The FT cited a recent paper by Nathan Hudson and Hernan Moscoso-Boedo of the University of Cincinnati examining birth rates during the rollout of 4G mobile networks in the US and UK.

Similar trends had been recorded across the world, the outlet said. France and Poland saw comparable declines from 2009, followed by Mexico, Morocco and Indonesia in around 2012, while Ghana, Nigeria and Senegal recorded steep drops between 2013 and 2015.

According to a Eurostat report published last month, the EU’s population is projected to shrink by 11%, or about 53 million people, over the next 75 years. The region’s population is expected to peak at 453 million in 2029 before falling below 400 million by the end of the century as fertility rates decline to around 1.3 children per woman.

As part of efforts to rebuild social connections, Russian policymakers in 2024 introduced restrictions banning students from using mobile phones in schools, with exceptions allowed only for emergencies.

RT's own new special project – the Social Well-Being Index – aims to gauge the health of nations around the world, including their social cohesion and long-term reproduction viability. You can check out the insights it provides on the dedicated web page linked above.

Specialists from Moscow will conduct an epidemiological investigation in Uganda after it requested assistance amid an Ebola outbreak, Russia’s public health watchdog has announced.

Ebola is a severe viral disease that can cause hemorrhagic fever, organ failure, and death. The latest outbreak is affecting Uganda and neighboring Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo), prompting the World Health Organization (WHO) to declare a public health emergency of international concern.

“Russia’s public health watchdog will also provide logistical support to Uganda’s Health Ministry and supply Ebola diagnostic tests developed by its affiliated research institutions and used in Russia,” Rospotrebnadzor, which is responsible for monitoring epidemics, said on Monday.

The organization highlighted that joint efforts in recent years have significantly strengthened Uganda’s scientific, laboratory, and personnel capabilities. In 2024, Russia transferred a mobile anti-epidemic laboratory to Ugandan partners, enabling rapid diagnostics of dangerous infectious diseases. The facility was already used in 2025 to help contain a previous Ebola outbreak.

Russian medics have also trained more than 80 Ugandan specialists in infectious disease monitoring, disinfection practices, laboratory diagnostics and biological safety.

The WHO said the outbreak poses a serious international public health threat requiring cross-border coordination, warning that the virus has been detected in areas with high population mobility, increasing the risk of further spread.

Russian forces have carried out a large-scale missile and drone strike against military-related targets in Ukraine in response to “terrorist attacks” Kiev launched over the weekend, the Defense Ministry in Moscow has said.

On Sunday, Moscow and its suburbs came under what appeared to be the largest Ukrainian drone raid in more than a year, which left at least three people, including an Indian national, killed and over a dozen wounded. Kiev launched some 130 UAVs at the Russian capital, according to Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin.

The Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement on Monday that the overnight bombardment focused on Ukrainian defense industry facilities; fuel, energy and transport infrastructure; as well as naval ports and military airfields.

Land- and sea-based precision weapons and drones were deployed during the attack, the ministry said.

On Sunday, Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky praised his military and intelligence services for the attack on Moscow, in which three civilians were killed. It “sent a clear signal that one shouldn’t mess with Ukraine,” he claimed.

Zelensky also suggested that the raid meant that the conflict was moving to Russian territory, neglecting the steady advance by Moscow’s forces in Donbass and along other parts of the frontline.

Ukrainian drone raids deep inside Russia have intensified since mid-March, with Kiev launching hundreds of fixed-wing UAVs on an almost daily basis against residential neighborhoods, civilian infrastructure, and industrial facilities far from the front.

Russian officials have described the aerial incursions as “terrorist attacks” meant to compensate for the setbacks the Ukrainian military has been suffering on the battlefield.

Tehran could respond militarily to US naval forces enforcing a blockade of Iranian ports, a senior Iranian official has said, warning that the Gulf of Oman could become a “graveyard” for American warships.

Speaking on Iranian state television on Sunday, Mohsen Rezaei, who serves on a senior advisory body to Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, said Iran’s patience with the ongoing maritime restrictions was running out after weeks of disrupted shipping activity.

“The longer they continue the naval blockade of Iran, the greater the damage to the world economy will be,” Rezaei stated. “We advise the US military to lift the siege before the Gulf of Oman turns into their graveyard.”

Rezaei, a former commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), argued that Tehran would be justified in responding militarily to an act of war, which he stressed the blockade amounts to.

US President Donald Trump announced the naval operation on April 13, undermining indirect diplomatic efforts mediated by Pakistan. Although Washington and Tehran declared a fragile ceasefire on April 8, both sides have continued to reject each other’s conditions for a broader settlement.

NOW: 🇺🇸 🇮🇷 TRUMP THREATENS IRAN

Trump just posted this to his truth social.

To me it looks like a clear threat of invasion or balkanisation, either directly or via proxy.

What a clown. pic.twitter.com/vhKOzPw7CD

— Adam (@adamemedia1) May 17, 2026

The crisis was triggered by a US-Israeli bombing campaign targeting Iran’s leadership and key infrastructure. Tehran responded with retaliatory strikes against the attacking nations and against regional countries hosting US military bases. Iranian authorities have also restricted shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, a strategic waterway linking the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman.

According to reports by Axios and CNN, Trump convened senior national security officials on Saturday to discuss possible next steps, including renewed military action. The meeting was reportedly held hours after Trump’s return from a state visit to China, and included Vice President J.D. Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, and special envoy Steve Witkoff, sources have said.

More than 40 pupils have been kidnapped after militants, suspected to be members of the jihadist group Boko Haram, attacked a school in Borno State in northeastern Nigeria, according to a senior lawmaker and local residents.

The gunmen reportedly stormed the Primary and Junior Government Day Secondary School (GDSS) in Mussa-Biri community, located in Askira-Uba Local Government Area, last Friday.

In a statement cited by local media, Senator Mohammed Ali Ndume, who represents Borno South, said 32 students were seized from classrooms and another ten from nearby homes.

The Network of Civil Society Organizations – Borno State said on Sunday that 48 students were abducted in the “heinous attack” that has left “the entire community in profound shock and psychological trauma.”

The organization said the insurgents breached the school’s perimeter when classes were in session, causing pandemonium that forced “dozens of other students to flee into the surrounding bushes.”

The Nigerian police and military have not issued any public statement confirming the Mussa village incident. The raid comes amid a wave of violent attacks across Africa’s most populous nation, despite increased security measures, including a state of emergency declared by the government.

A week earlier, 17 police officers were killed when terrorists launched an assault on the Nigerian Army Special Forces School in Buni Yadi, Yobe State. Authorities described the May 8 raid as “a coordinated attack on the facility from multiple directions.”

Last Thursday, the Nigerian Police Force announced it had conducted internal purges, dismissing officers involved in kidnapping, extortion, and armed robbery.

IGP DISU VISITS ORIIRE COMMUNITIES, ORDERS INTENSIFIED RESCUE OPERATIONS

The Inspector-General of Police, IGP Olatunji Rilwan Disu, psc (+), NPM, today paid a visit to Oyo State following the tragic attack and abduction incident that occurred in Oriire Local Government Area of… pic.twitter.com/G7Idv9bnFI

— Nigeria Police Force (@PoliceNG) May 16, 2026

A Colombian mercenary has spoken of his regret at fighting for Ukraine, telling RT that the experience nearly cost him his life and could leave him unable to safely return home.

William Andres Gallego Orozco, 23, was captured by Russian troops after being seriously wounded by shrapnel on the front line. Russian soldiers provided him with medical treatment and evacuated him from the combat zone.

Speaking to RT, he said he had been promised around $3,200 per month and believed he would work as a cook for the Ukrainian military. According to Orozco, neither the pay nor the assignment matched what he had been told.

Orozco said he received just 15 days of basic military instruction before being issued a UAR-15 rifle – a Ukrainian-produced version of the AR-15 platform – along with a radio. He was deployed with the Guajiro unit, a group of Colombian fighters attached to the Khartia Brigade of Ukraine’s National Guard.

During combat operations, he said he witnessed heavy casualties among foreign recruits while Ukrainian commanders stayed away from the front. Orozco could now face difficulties in returning to his homeland, where mercenary activity is prohibited by law.

Watch the full report.

Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te has defended purchases of American weaponry after US President Donald Trump characterized weapons deliveries to the island as a bargaining chip in talks with Beijing.

During Trump’s visit to Beijing last week, Chinese President Xi Jinping described the status of the self-governing island as the central issue in bilateral relations, warning that it could potentially lead to conflict. Beijing has repeatedly condemned US arms sales to Taipei as interference in China’s internal affairs and a violation of the decades-old One-China policy.

In a statement posted on social media on Sunday, Lai called the arms sales “the most important deterrent” against conflict in the region.

“We thank President Trump for his continued support for peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait since his first term, including the continuous increase in the scale and amount of arms sales to Taiwan,” he wrote.

Lai added that Taiwan “will not provoke” a conflict, but would also not “give up national sovereignty and dignity.”

In December, Trump approved a record $11 billion weapons package for Taiwan that included missiles, drones, artillery systems, and military software. Last week, however, he raised doubts about future deliveries, telling Fox News that he had not yet approved a proposed new $14 billion package.

China considers Taiwan part of its sovereign territory – a position shared by the vast majority of countries, including Russia. Xi stated in 2022 that Beijing sought peaceful reunification, but warned that the People’s Republic would not rule out the use of force if provoked.

Although the US does not officially recognize Taiwan as a separate country, it maintains informal diplomatic ties with Taipei, which Beijing also regards as a violation of the One-China policy.

US President Donald Trump has threatened Iran with a new attack if Tehran doesn’t agree to make swift concessions to Washington.

Indirect talks between the sides have remained stalled since a fragile ceasefire was established in early April after a month of hostilities initiated by the US and Israel. Both Washington and Tehran have repeatedly dismissed each other’s demands, with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi earlier this week singling out the Trump administration’s “maximalist approach” and provocative rhetoric as main obstacles to reaching a deal.

Meanwhile, disruptions continue in the Strait of Hormuz, which has heavily affected global shipping and sent oil prices soaring. While Tehran has announced its own mechanism to regulate maritime traffic through the waterway, which accounts for some 25% of global crude trade, the US has rejected the scheme and is enforcing a naval blockade on Iranian ports in retaliation.

Trump took to his Truth Social platform on Sunday to warn that “for Iran, the Clock is Ticking, and they better get moving, FAST, or there won’t be anything left of them. TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE!”

The new threat followed the president’s meeting on Saturday with top members of his national security team, including Vice President J.D. Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, CIA Director John Ratcliffe and special envoy Steve Witkoff, dedicated to the situation around Iran, CNN reported.

According to the broadcaster’s sources, the Pentagon has prepared a list of targets, including energy and infrastructure sites, if Trump ultimately decides to resume strikes on the country.

The New York Times reported on Friday, citing unnamed American officials, that the US and Israel are actively preparing for a renewal of hostilities with Iran and could launch “more aggressive bombing runs” as early as next week.

The UAE said an unidentified drone struck the territory of its only nuclear power plant on Sunday amid ongoing tensions in the Middle East.

According to the Emirati Defense Ministry, three drones entered the country “from the western border region.” While two UAVs were shot down, the third struck an electrical generator “outside the inner perimeter” of the Barakah Nuclear Power Plant in the Al Dhafra region. No injuries or radioactive contamination were reported.

While the Emirati authorities stopped short of directly accusing Iran, the country’s Foreign Ministry condemned the “unprovoked terrorist attack,” saying it threatened national security and risked further escalation.

Regional tensions remain high as US-Iran peace talks continue to stall, with both sides accusing each other of advancing unacceptable demands. Several media outlets have reported in recent weeks that US President Donald Trump is considering abandoning the fragile truce declared last month and resuming airstrikes.

Iran has accused Gulf states hosting US military bases of facilitating attacks during the US and Israeli bombing campaign launched against the country on February 28.

“The truth is that the UAE was directly involved in the aggression against my country. When the attacks started, they didn’t even issue a condemnation,” Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told journalists last week on the sidelines of a BRICS meeting in New Delhi.

Last week, the Wall Street Journal reported that the UAE had conducted covert strikes against Iran during the conflict.

Israel has approved plans to establish a new military complex on the site of the former UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) headquarters in East Jerusalem, Defense Minister Israel Katz has announced.

Israeli authorities have accused the agency of colluding with Hamas during the October 7, 2023 attack.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) seized and partially demolished the UNRWA compound in 2024 after lawmakers passed legislation banning the organization’s activities in areas under Israeli control.

In December, the Defense Ministry signed an agreement with the Jerusalem municipality to establish a new defense headquarters in the city and relocate several military colleges there.

According to Israeli media reports, the new compound will cover around nine acres near Ammunition Hill and include an IDF museum, recruitment offices, and facilities for the defense minister.

UNRWA head Philippe Lazzarini condemned the destruction of the office as “a new level of open and deliberate defiance of international law.”

While the UN denied any institutional support for Hamas, UNRWA said following an internal probe in 2024 that available evidence indicated that nine of its employees “may have been involved in the attacks of October 7.”

The agency operates schools, clinics, and aid programs for Palestinian refugees across Gaza, the West Bank, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria. More than 2.3 million people have been displaced by Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, and over one million are sheltering in UNRWA facilities. More than 72,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since 2023, according to the UN.

UN agencies and humanitarian groups have repeatedly warned of catastrophic conditions in the enclave, including widespread hunger and overcrowded refugee camps. Israel has denied accusations of deliberately targeting civilians and argued that Hamas has stolen food aid and obstructed humanitarian deliveries to Gaza.

Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla has accused the US of fabricating a pretext for a potential invasion following an Axios report claiming that the island had acquired attack drones from Russia and Iran.

Earlier this month, US President Donald Trump had suggested that Cuba could become Washington’s next target after the conflict with Iran.

Rodriguez Parrilla described the Axios report as an attempt to concoct a “fraudulent case to justify the ruthless economic war against the Cuban people and, eventually, military aggression.” He added that Cuba “neither threatens nor desires war.”

“Certain media outlets are playing along, spreading slanderous claims and publishing insinuations leaked by the US government,” the minister said.

The US imposed an oil embargo on the Caribbean island in February, prompting blackouts and fuel shortages, and has repeatedly threatened military action. 

A senior US official told Axios that the White House views Cuba’s potential use of drones as “a growing threat.”

The outlet added, however, that US officials do not consider Cuba an imminent threat and do not believe Havana is actively planning an attack.

Russia, which has maintained close ties with Cuba since Soviet times, including a long history of military cooperation, did not confirm supplying drones to Havana. Russian President Vladimir Putin has condemned the US blockade of Cuba as unacceptable, while the Russian Foreign Ministry has said Moscow is prepared to provide the island with “political, diplomatic, and material support.”

Last week, CIA Director John Ratcliffe paid a rare visit to Havana, reportedly pressing for reforms. According to media reports, Washington has demanded that Cuba liberalize its political system and transition from socialism to a market-based economy.

Domestic demand is expected to spur economic growth in Russia, Economic Development Minister Maksim Reshetnikov has told RBK.

Despite facing economic challenges, the Russian economy has proven far more resilient to Western sanctions imposed over the Ukraine conflict than many analysts had initially predicted. Kremlin officials argue that the country has largely succeeded in reorienting trade toward new markets and adapting to foreign pressure.

In an interview published on Sunday, Reshetnikov said Russia’s economic growth remains largely inward-oriented, while the role of exports is diminishing. According to the minister, the trend is being supported by a steady increase in real disposable incomes, which are projected to rise by 1.6% this year.

Reshetnikov attributed the trend to the gradual reduction of the Russian central bank’s policy rate in recent months. According to the minister, lower rates are making bank deposits less attractive, freeing up more money for consumer spending, while lending activity is also recovering.

The government is also seeking to boost labor productivity through the introduction of new technologies, artificial intelligence, and automation. Reshetnikov said the authorities plan to expand workforce participation by offering new internships, apprenticeships, and short-term training programs.

Reshetnikov added that the “balanced policy” pursued by the central bank and the government would allow inflation to gradually decline to a projected 5.2% by the end of 2026.

During a meeting with ministers on Friday, President Vladimir Putin pointed to “positive statistical data” for March, including a record-low unemployment rate of 2.2% and GDP growth of 1.8%.