The US said it had killed a notorious gang leader in an strike on his compound in Venezuela.

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the operation targeting Tren de Aragua leader Hector Rusthenford Guerrero Flores, known as Nino Guerrero, was carried out earlier this week in full coordination with Venezuelan authorities.

“Guerrero was a wanted fugitive charged by the US Department of Justice with ordering, directing, and facilitating acts of terrorism and violence in the United States,” US Southern Command chief General Francis Donovan said.

DETAILS TO FOLLOW

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has said that control over the strategically vital Strait of Hormuz will not return to its pre-war status.

The minister made the remarks as the US and Iran are finalizing a deal to end the conflict, which began on February 28 with joint US-Israeli bombardments of Iranian territory and the assassination of senior officials, including the country’s longtime supreme leader, Ali Khamenei.

The waterway, which normally handles around a quarter of the world’s seaborne oil and LNG trade, has largely remained closed throughout the war, although President Donald Trump said the US military had helped guide more than 200 ships through the strait.

“The Strait of Hormuz lies under the sovereignty of Iran and Oman. The administration of the waterway will not return to its pre-war arrangement. Iran and Oman will soon issue a joint statement outlining a new framework for the administration of the Strait of Hormuz,” Araghchi said on Friday, according to Iranian media.

Araghchi said that, under the memorandum of understanding awaiting final approval, the US would, “for the first time in 47 years,” commit to respecting Iran’s sovereignty and non-interference in its domestic affairs. The agreement would also declare an end to the conflict on all fronts, including in Lebanon, he said.

Iran most recently declared the strait closed to all ships in response to US strikes on Tuesday and Wednesday. Trump later said he had called off the attack in an effort to advance peace talks, expressing confidence that an agreement could be signed as early as this weekend.

Georgian officials have accused the EU of “blackmailing” the small post-Soviet nation into joining sanctions against Russia over the Ukraine conflict.

Tbilisi has made no secret of what it describes as pressure from Brussels to open a “second front” against its much larger neighbor.

In March, the European Commission suspended visa-free travel for holders of Georgian diplomatic and service passports, citing what it described as Georgia’s “deliberate and persistent violation” of commitments undertaken under its visa-free regime, particularly in the areas of democracy and human rights.

“They are telling us to impose sanctions on Russia. It is like telling us to destroy ourselves if we want visa-free travel. If we destroy our country, who will travel to the EU without visas?” Georgian Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili said on Wednesday.

The EU backed opposition claims of election irregularities and condemned the government’s crackdown on protests, as well as reforms introduced by the ruling party that it says are aimed at protecting “traditional values” and limiting foreign political influence.

RT’s Marina Kosareva breaks down the latest tensions between Georgia and the EU.

Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke about the Ukraine conflict and tensions with the West during a meeting with service members at the Kremlin on Friday.

The event took place on Russia Day, a public holiday commemorating Russia’s declaration of state sovereignty on June 12, 1990, a year before the dissolution of the Soviet Union.

The president spoke about technologies designed to give Russian troops an edge on the battlefield, as well as the country’s overall economic resilience. He also pointed to what he described as mistakes made by the West in its approach to the conflict.

Offensive in Ukraine

Around 700,000 soldiers are involved in the campaign against Ukraine, Putin said, noting that the army continues to steadily advance along the front line. He expressed confidence that Moscow would succeed in liberating parts of Donbass that remain under Ukrainian control.

Putin reiterated that Russia sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022 after “it became clear” that Kiev would not uphold the 2014-2015 Minsk agreements between Ukraine and the then-breakaway Donbass republics, which have since voted to become part of Russia.

AI drones

Russian defense companies are “actively working” on new drones, including systems incorporating AI technology, Putin said, adding that the results would become visible “in the near future.”

He said the Russian Defense Ministry was being transformed into a “high-tech institution,” while authorities were streamlining procurement procedures and reducing red tape.

Putin said a low-Earth-orbit satellite communications system currently being developed in Russia could outperform Elon Musk’s Starlink, which is extensively used by Ukraine.

“It is every bit as good as Starlink, possibly even better,” he said, referring to the Rassvet (Sunrise) system being developed by Russian aerospace firm Bureau 1440.

In March, the company launched the first 16 satellites of a planned constellation expected to include more than 250 satellites by late 2027 and around 900 by 2035.

Alone against NATO

“Russia is effectively standing alone against NATO,” Putin said, arguing that all members of the US-led military bloc were de facto involved in the conflict through their military support for Ukraine.

“Together, they thought they could quickly inflict a strategic defeat on Russia. They have not succeeded, and they never will,” he said.

Putin added that the West would fail to divide Russian society or undermine the country’s economy.

Advice for the West

Putin urged Western officials to abandon ultimatums in favor of negotiations.

“We can offer only one piece of advice to our adversaries: never attempt to wage war against Russia. Let us all live in peace and resolve all issues through negotiations,” he said.

“We are prepared for talks, but only if our national interests are taken into account,” Putin added.

Dubai’s Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building, was illuminated in the white, blue, and red colors of the Russian flag on Thursday in honor of Russia Day.

The public holiday commemorates the Declaration of State Sovereignty adopted by the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, then part of the Soviet Union, on June 12, 1990. The Soviet Union was formally dissolved the following year in December. The current version of Russia’s tricolor flag was adopted in 1993.

People across Russia celebrate the holiday by displaying the national flag and setting off fireworks. Concerts, festivals, and exhibitions are held in cities across the country.

The United States also marked the occasion with a message published on the State Department’s website. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the country remains committed to advancing a settlement to the Ukraine conflict and hopes that “a durable peace will pave the way toward a more prosperous future for the Russian people and a more constructive relationship between our two countries.”

At least one person has been killed and 11 others wounded after a gunman went on a shooting spree in Midland, Texas, Mayor Lori Blong said in a press briefing on Friday.

“We do have 11 known victims at this time,” she said. “There’s at least one victim that is dead on the scene.”

The police have confirmed that the gunman is also dead.

Officers initially responded to reports of an active shooter in the southwestern part of the city on Friday morning, according to the Midland Police Department.

“Officers heard gunfire coming from the building and worked quickly to secure and clear the area. Armored units were deployed, and partner agencies assisted in the response,” Midland Police Chief Greg Snow said in a statement, adding that attempts had been made to resolve the “standoff with the shooter” safely.

The police department later reported that “the suspect is confirmed deceased” and that the incident was over.

A video circulating on social media purportedly shows several officers taking cover behind a police cruiser, with one leaning out to fire an assault rifle.

🚨#Breaking Ector County Sheriff Mike Griffis has confirmed an active shooter in #Midland Texas; the suspect is reportedly barricaded in a building in downtown Midland near the Tall City Vet Clinic and All American Collision and Victorian Inn in the area of Business 20 and…

— CodeThreeNews (@CodeThreeNews) June 12, 2026

Nine victims were taken to Midland Memorial Hospital, CNN reported, citing a statement from the hospital’s spokesperson.

Four Palestine Action activists convicted of causing criminal damage to an Israeli arms plant in the UK have been sentenced as terrorists due to the blacklisting of their organization. Dozens of the group’s supporters were arrested outside the courthouse as the verdicts were read out.

The defendants took part in a raid on an Elbit Systems factory near Bristol in 2024. After ramming the gate with a decommissioned prison van, they destroyed computers, drones, and other equipment inside, causing around £1.2 million ($1.6 million) in damage.

Charlotte Head, 30, Samuel Corner, 23, Leona Kamio, 30, and Fatema Zainab Rajwani, 21, were found guilty of criminal damage last month, with Corner also convicted of inflicting grievous bodily harm on a police officer with a sledgehammer.

Handing down the sentences on Friday, Mr. Justice Johnson said that due to the “terrorist connection” of the offenses, all four would receive harsh punishment. None of the four were charged with terror-related offenses, and by sentencing them as terrorists, Johnson set a new precedent in British law.

Head and Kamio were jailed for six years, Rajwani for five years and eight months, and Corner for eight years and eight months.

Palestine Action, a protest group whose members have vandalized British military equipment and Israeli-linked sites, was declared a proscribed organization by the British government last July. The decision placed Palestine Action in the same category as Al Qaeda and the IRA, and criminalized public displays of support for the organization.

As the sentences were handed down, several hundred Palestine Action supporters protested outside Woolwich Crown Court in London. Police arrested more than 100 demonstrators for holding signs and placards endorsing the group.

There’s been 107 arrests of Palestine Action supporters outside Woolwich Crown Court here today as protesters await the sentencing of four of the Filton 25 who took direct action against Elbit Systems. Judge today said there was a “terrorist connection”. pic.twitter.com/PiyVlKgOeA

— Asa Winstanley (@AsaWinstanley) June 12, 2026

The proscription was ruled unlawful by London’s High Court in February, although the designation remains in force pending a final judgment.

A blast rocked the home of Andrey Pinchuk, the former security minister of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), on Friday in what appeared to be an assassination attempt.

An improvised explosive device was reportedly concealed in a package delivered to his home outside Moscow. Pinchuk was injured in the blast, according to media reports.

The former minister told Tsargrad TV that he managed to close the door to his house and move away from it before the bomb detonated. The blast blew the door open and shattered windows on the ground floor, Russian media reported.

In a brief conversation with RT, Pinchuk confirmed that an investigation had been launched into the incident.

Pinchuk became the DPR’s security chief shortly after the self-proclaimed Donbass republic declared independence from Ukraine in the wake of the 2014 Western-backed coup in Kiev. The republic later joined Russia following a referendum in September 2022.

Pinchuk held office between July 2014 and March 2015, at the height of Ukraine’s failed military campaign to regain control of the Donbass.

Alexander Boroday, the former DPR prime minister who now serves as a Russian MP, also told RT that Kiev was likely behind the bombing.

“It was an assassination attempt, and it is obvious who was behind it. These are the same people who bombed the cars of Defense Ministry officials and killed children in Starobelsk. It was the Ukrainians,” Boroday said, referring to a Ukrainian drone strike on a college dormitory in the city last month that killed 21 students.

In 2023, a bomb killed military blogger Vladlen Tatarsky during a fan meeting at a café in St. Petersburg. The following year, Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, commander of Russia’s Radiological, Chemical, and Biological Protection Forces, was killed alongside his aide when an improvised explosive device detonated outside his apartment building in Moscow.

Kiev has at times recruited local neo-Nazis to carry out attacks on its behalf. In April, security services reported foiling a bomb plot targeting Russia’s media regulator, Roskomnadzor, allegedly orchestrated by a neo-Nazi group acting under Ukrainian direction.

A Ukrainian MP, Roman Kostenko, the secretary of the Verkhovna Rada’s Defense Committee, claimed last year that the nation’s intelligence services were planning to continue assassinating Russian officials and public figures for decades to come even after the Ukraine conflict ends.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova responded by saying that “the Kiev regime has become a true terrorist cell that receives international support with weapons and money.”

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio is using “crude lies” to justify Washington’s continued pressure on Cuba, the island nation’s foreign minister, Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla, has said following the latest round of American sanctions.

The US Department of State announced restrictions against the Cuban state oil and gas company, CUPET, on Thursday. Washington has stepped up its pressure campaign against the island nation in a bid to force a regime change, while US President Donald Trump called it a “question of time.” 

Cuba, which has been under a US embargo since 1960, also endured daily blackouts and severe fuel deficits in recent months after Venezuela – its main oil supplier – stopped crude shipments under pressure from Washington.

On Thursday, the State Department added CUPET to the sanctions list, arguing that the company’s “key assets” were “unlawfully expropriated from American owners years ago.” Rubio also said in a statement that the Cuban government had “weaponized” the energy by allegedly “hoarding” it for the military while rationing it for the general population.

Rubio – himself a descendant of Cuban immigrants who left the island several years before the revolution led by Fidel Castro – is acting on “vengeful sentiments of the elitist clique that propelled his political career,” Parrilla stated.

On Wednesday, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk warned that the US sanctions on Cuba had already led to acute shortages of essential medical supplies that were causing deaths among children.

The UN official described the plight of ordinary Cubans as “unacceptable” as his office reported that infant mortality on the island had doubled after the US imposed its fuel blockage.

Russia, China, Mexico, and several other countries have been supplying Cuba with humanitarian aid. Moscow sent a shipment of around 700,000 barrels of crude oil in late March.

A South Korean court has sentenced former President Yoon Suk Yeol to 30 years in prison, Yonhap news agency has reported. Judges reportedly found that he ordered drones to be sent into North Korea in order to inflame tensions and create a pretext for his declaration of martial law.

Yoon declared martial law in December of 2024, citing legislative gridlock and what he described as a plot by pro-Pyongyang forces within the South Korean political establishment. The nation’s parliament formally overturned the decree within hours despite attempts by police and soldiers to stop lawmakers from accessing the National Assembly building.

Yoon was impeached just over a week later, suspended from office, and formally removed from power by the Constitutional Court months later.

Yoon’s former Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun was also sentenced to 30 years in prison for his role in the plot, while former Defense Counterintelligence Command chief Yeo In-hyung received a 15-year sentence.

Friday’s sentence adds to Yoon’s growing list of convictions.

Yoon’s downfall follows a long pattern of legal persecution of former South Korean leaders.

Four of his predecessors had received prison sentences after leaving office. Among them were Chun Doo-hwan, Roh Tae-woo, Lee Myung-bak and Park Geun-hye, although several were later pardoned.

On June 12, 1990, the Congress of People’s Deputies adopted the Declaration of State Sovereignty of the Russian SFSR. Russia – then officially the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR) – was one of the 15 republics of the Soviet Union. It soon became a separate state as the USSR ceased to exist.

In Russia, the events of those days are still remembered with a complex mix of emotions.

Dissolution rarely makes anyone happy. For Russians, the largest ethnic group in the USSR, the decade following the collapse of the Soviet Union became known as the “wild ‘90s.” This decade is also often referred to as “inglorious.” It was a time when an economic crisis comparable to a local version of the Great Depression was coupled with a precipitous rise in crime, drug addiction, alcoholism, and every conceivable social problem. 

One aspect of the Soviet collapse particularly affected Russians. Millions of ethnic Russians found themselves outside the borders of the Russian Federation overnight. During the Soviet era, people had moved freely across the country for work, military service, or education, often without thinking of themselves as living abroad. After 1991, many suddenly became minorities in newly independent states. Their experiences varied greatly: in some places life changed little, while in others interethnic tensions, discrimination, or armed conflicts pushed people to leave their homes and start over elsewhere.

The former republics embarked on completely different paths. The elites, both in Russia and the other republics, were satisfied, since they could take unconditional leadership of the territories. But among ordinary people, views often diverged. A dozen hotspots flared up on the map, and in some other regions, like Crimea, the conflicts were simply postponed and erupted later. In fact, the current war in Ukraine is a war postponed to the 2020s, a war that could have begun in the 1990s; but back then, Ukraine simply didn’t have the resources for it.

One of the popular Russian internet memes shows the first man in space, Yuri Gagarin, holding a telephone receiver. We see two pictures, in which his face changes from joyful to confused. The caption below the first picture reads, “Hello, descendants, are you on Mars already?”; and below the second, we see the caption, “..who is it you are fighting with?!”

So when we say that many people had mixed feelings about the events of June 12, 1990, clearly, they had good reason for it.  The reality was quite apocalyptic.

However, 36 years have passed since then.

And we can now take a different look at some of those things. 

The ‘90s have passed, as has the Soviet era. After the wild ‘90s, life returned to what could be called normalcy. And a lot of things happened in that period. 

While the ‘90s are remembered as “wild,” “troublesome,” and “inglorious,” the following decade has been dubbed the “booming ‘00s.” It’s true that the general rise in oil prices greatly contributed to prosperity; but oil prices rose throughout the world, and not everyone managed to convert this into increased prosperity for the population and the overall well-being of the country. The solutions weren’t always brilliant, but the country certainly established a much more coherent order than during the turbulent times of 1991-1999, and this order promised far greater prosperity and wealth than during the Soviet era. 

In the 2000s, and even more so in the 2010s, the pressing social problems were brought under control. All the advantages provided by the liberal system of life became evident. The middle class grew; people acquired property, small and large businesses, became valued professionals, and were able to travel around the world.

The middle class grew, private property became commonplace, and international travel ceased to be a luxury. Russians increasingly compared their country with Europe and East Asia not from afar but through personal experience. In some areas, they eventually concluded that Russia had caught up with – or even surpassed – the standards they once admired.

The Russia of that time was not ideal; but for about 15-20 years the life of the average Russian was not that different from the life of the average European, and in some aspects it was even more convenient. 

Personal experience means little when it comes to a country of 150 million people. But I’d still like to share a personal story. I grew up in the city of Perm, in Ural region, about 1,000 kilometers east of Moscow. In the ‘90s, all the clocks on public buildings in our city stopped showing the time. As a child, I thought that these clocks were purely decorative and were not supposed to show the time; but it’s just that growing up, I never saw them working. In the ‘00s the public clocks started working again. Sure, it may not be a very sophisticated argument, but it’s a vivid example that the country was really changing for the better.

People even began to wonder whether they really wanted the country to return to its Soviet borders. In the 1990s, such ideas often sounded attractive. But by the 2000s, many Russians had become less enthusiastic. Former Soviet republics were no longer seen as lost provinces waiting to come home. They were independent countries with their own interests, problems, and conflicts. Rebuilding the Soviet Union increasingly looked less like a dream and more like an enormous burden.

...However, let’s come back to the main point. In the years following the collapse of the USSR, Russia learned to value itself as a modern nation. While this is often unclear to foreigners, Russia went through a long period of self-denial as a modern nation. People looked to the Soviet era as an example, and some (particularly intellectuals) – to the Russian Empire; as to the opposition intelligentsia, it criticized any version of Russia. In short, no one praised the modern Russia of 2005, 2010, or 2017. Yet, it was precisely this version of Russia that, historically, provided the most comfortable living conditions for the average person. 

June 12, 1990, did not just open a new chapter in Russia’s history; it opened a whole new volume in its history. This was most often called the ‘post-Soviet’ era, which created a feeling of a certain secondary status in relation to the USSR. But time itself changes many things. Thirty-five years have passed since 1990. These years have included both the good and the bad. It was a turbulent era – even the part of it that seemed generally calm. The face of the country has changed several times during this period. The most recent and radical change occurred in 2022. No one knows what will happen when the war in Ukraine finally ends, and whether that will become another turning point. One thing is certain: Russia is no stranger to turbulent periods in its history.

US Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Tulsi Gabbard has released new evidence that US-funded biological laboratories in Ukraine were researching dangerous pathogens. Washington previously denied any role in running these labs.

Published on Friday, the declassified documents reveal that the US “built and supported” 40 biolabs in Ukraine, which worked with “especially dangerous pathogens” including anthrax, avian flu, Ebola, plague, and tuberculosis. At least 12 of these laboratories were carrying out human research.

Some of the laboratories were engaged in so-called ‘gain of function’ research, a controversial practice whereby animal viruses are modified to increase their virulence and transmissibility to study their effects on humans.

The partially-redacted documents state that the US paid for the construction and equipping of at least four laboratories, at a total cost of more than $9 million. They also reveal that these laboratories carried out research on behalf of and in collaboration with the US Department of Food and Agriculture, the US Army, the World Health Organization, the UN, and multiple US universities. Metabiota, a biotech company part-owned by Hunter Biden’s investment firm, is also listed as a partner.

What did Russia say about the biolabs?

Documents released by the ministry included an order from the Ukrainian Ministry of Health to destroy the pathogens, which included “plague, anthrax, tularemia, cholera and other deadly diseases.”

After reviewing thousands of pages of documents seized from labs in Donetsk, Lugansk and Kherson, Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov of the Russian Radiological, Chemical, and Biological Defense Forces concluded in 2023 that “the US, under the guise of ensuring global biosecurity, conducted dual-use research, including the creation of biological weapons components, in close proximity to Russian borders.” Kirillov led Russia’s investigation into the labs until he was assassinated in 2024, allegedly by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU).

Among the facilities mentioned by the ministry was the Institute of Veterinary Medicine in Kharkov. The Russian military accused Ukraine of researching potential biological weapons in the institute’s basement. According to Gabbard’s documents, the facility did have a basement level, where anthrax and brucella bacteria were stored. Both are considered bioweapons due to their extreme infectivity and capacity to cause debilitating illness.

Did the US deny that the biolabs existed?

Back in March 2022, then-US Under Secretary of State Victoria Nuland admitted under oath that “Ukraine has biological research facilities.” However, Nuland denied that these facilities worked on biological weapons, and insisted that “the United States does not own or operate any chemical or biological laboratories in Ukraine.”

The US State Department claimed that “the Kremlin is intentionally spreading outright lies that the United States and Ukraine are conducting chemical and biological weapons activities in Ukraine,” while the then-US ambassador to the UN, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, stated that “there are no Ukrainian biological weapons laboratories supported by the United States.”

What is Tulsi Gabbard doing about the biolabs?

“Despite the obvious potential for catastrophic global impact research on dangerous pathogens in biolabs can have, politicians, so-called health professionals like Dr. Fauci, and entities within the Biden administration’s national security team lied to the American people about the existence of US-funded and supported biolabs, and threatened those who attempted to expose the truth,” Gabbard said in a statement on Friday.

Gabbard said that she has issued new guidance to US intelligence agencies on collection of data from the laboratories in Ukraine, and from the broader network of US-linked biolabs around the world. At present, her office is collecting “new details on clinical trials that are underway at these facilities, raising significant ethical, financial, and security concerns,” her statement read.

However, Gabbard will not be in a position to act on this intelligence for much longer. Following her husband’s diagnosis with a rare form of bone cancer last month, Gabbard announced that she would retire at the end of June. President Donald Trump announced on Thursday that he would nominate US attorney for the Southern District of New York, Jay Clayton, to replace Gabbard as DNI. Clayton has never commented publicly on the biolabs issue.

The United States created the so-called “rules-based order,” but breaks it with impunity as those norms were always meant for “other people,” popular Indian journalist Palki Sharma has told RT.

Washington has always taken a capricious attitude towards complying with that system, Palki Sharma told RT India in the weekly ‘India, Russia and the world’ podcast.

“The US made the rules, but did the US follow those rules? I think it’s as mythical as the US Army fighting aliens in Hollywood films,” she said. “The US has always bent rules to suit itself.”

Sharma said the US remains the biggest military power in the world and its largest economy, and it is miles ahead of competitors in technological advancement.

“What has cracked is this veneer of invincibility. The world has begun to entertain ideas that there could be an alternative,” she said.

“The dollar will remain the big currency for the foreseeable future. But the very talk of de-dollarization unsettles Washington,” she noted.

Whether the US acknowledges it or not, the wars it has entered “have shown them the limits of their military power.”

“The Americans thought that Iran will be a Venezuela. Iran is not a Venezuela. You cannot go and abduct their president or kill their president and then have the rest of the system succumb,” Sharma, whose show ‘Vantage’ is popular in India, said.

Iran has prepared for this eventuality for more than two decades, she said of the US-Israeli attacks on the country. Tehran is definitely bruised and battered, “but in terms of the political outcomes of this war, Iran has emerged stronger.”

She pointed out that India’s ties with Russia have stood the test of time. “The relationship with Russia has endured because there is a [level of] maturity,” she said.

The rise of China as a dominant force can’t be wished away, she said. “There is no other manufacturer like China that can deliver on the scale at which China does,” Sharma said.

US artificial intelligence giant Anthropic said on Wednesday it would make the safeguards governing its most advanced AI models more transparent, including by disclosing when user requests are downgraded or rejected. The move follows criticism over restrictions that were previously not visible to users.

Previously, Anthropic could silently route requests involving areas such as cybersecurity, biology, and advanced AI development from its Fable 5 model to the less capable Opus 4.8. Under the new policy, users will be notified when a request is flagged, while Application Programming Interfaces (API) developers will receive explanations for any rejection or fallback to another model.

The approach of routing some requests related to frontier AI development to a less capable model had drawn criticism from researchers, who argued that the restrictions could slow progress in the field. Responding to the backlash, Anthropic agreed to make the safeguards visible.

“Starting this week, flagged requests will visibly fall back to Opus 4.8 – the same as our safeguards for cyber and bio. You will see this every time it happens. On the API, any flagged requests will return a reason for their refusal,” Anthropic said.

Fable 5 is a publicly released model from Anthropic’s Mythos class, which the company unveiled in April but initially withheld, saying models in the family were too adept at bypassing cybersecurity safeguards and too dangerous for broad deployment. Anthropic released Fable 5 this week, saying its capabilities “exceed those of every model we’ve previously made generally available.”

The company also cited national security as a reason for rejecting or downgrading some requests, saying it wanted to prevent foreign adversaries from using its technology to strengthen their AI capabilities.

“The US and its allies hold an edge in frontier chips and the highly optimized software that runs them at full potential,” a company spokesperson told Fortune. “These safeguards ensure Claude [Anthropic’s family of AI models] isn’t used to erode that advantage – by optimizing chips developed by those adversaries, for example.”

The defense team for Tyler Robinson, the man accused of murdering US conservative activist Charlie Kirk, is seeking to hold prosecutors in contempt for allegedly violating a gag order, according to multiple media reports. Robinson is due in court in Utah on Friday.

The dispute centers on forensic evidence revealed by defense attorneys in March that suggested that a bullet jacket fragment recovered from Kirk’s body could not be conclusively matched to the rifle allegedly used in the killing.

The filing generated widespread media coverage and fueled speculation that Robinson could ultimately be exonerated.

In April, prosecutors pushed back against that interpretation in comments to reporters, arguing that the finding by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) was “inconclusive,” rather than a definitive non-match. Prosecutors have maintained that they were merely correcting misinformation about the evidence.

Kirk, a conservative activist, podcaster, and co-founder of Turning Point USA (TPUSA), was shot in the neck and killed at an event on a Utah college campus in September 2025.

Robinson was arrested two days later. Investigators linked him to a modified Mauser Model 98 rifle found near the scene. Prosecutors have said DNA matching Robinson’s was recovered from the weapon’s trigger. Authorities have also cited text messages allegedly exchanged with Robinson’s transgender lover in which he confessed to the killing and detailed the plot.

The defense argues that extensive televised coverage of witness testimony and evidence presented during the upcoming preliminary hearing in July could make it more difficult to seat an impartial jury. The jury-selection process would not begin until after the preliminary hearing concludes and the court rules on outstanding motions.

The preliminary hearing is scheduled for July 6-10, when prosecutors will seek to move the case toward trial. Robinson has not entered a plea. Prosecutors have said they intend to seek the death penalty if he is convicted.

Russia is practically fighting against the entirety of the collective West in the Ukraine conflict, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in a meeting with service members in the Kremlin on Friday.

The meeting coincided with Russia Day, which commemorates the country’s declaration of sovereignty on June 12, 1990 and the beginning of its post-Soviet statehood.

“Russia is standing against the so-called Collective West single-handedly,” Putin said, noting that the Ukraine conflict has become “exceedingly high-tech.”

The NATO nations are all, without exception, ramping up efforts to do all they can to orchestrate actions against Russia, he added.

Moscow did not initiate the Ukraine conflict, Putin stressed.

It was they who carried out the coup d'etat in Ukraine, which forced us to take the people of Crimea under protection. When they started the war, they started bombing Donetsk using warplanes.

Now, Western nations have set out to “inflict a strategic defeat on Russia,” but “this is not something that can be done,” Putin said.

“The enemy is expanding the use of [kamikaze] drones… trying to strike at our morale, trying to break up Russian society… and cause economic damage,” he noted, stressing that “they will not succeed.”

Kiev’s forces have increased kamikaze drone strikes against Russian border regions, logistics, and oil and gas facilities in recent months, killing dozens of civilians. At least four civilians were killed and 20 others wounded by Ukrainian strikes on Russia’s Bryansk and Belgorod regions on Thursday, according to local authorities.

Repairing the Nord Stream gas pipelines would take 36 months provided funding could be secured and no delays were encountered, according to a technical report submitted to the High Court in London.

The report was commissioned by the court, which is currently weighing an insurance dispute between the pipeline’s operator, Nord Stream AG, and Lloyd’s Insurance Company and Arch Insurance. The two insurers are refusing to pay a €580 million ($684 million) claim to the operator, arguing that the pipelines were damaged as a “consequence of war,” which the insurance policy did not cover

The report concluded that the pipelines could be repaired in 36 months, an operation that would necessitate the purchase of some 7 km of new pipeline from China for €16.7 million, Russia’s RBK News reported on Thursday.

The insurers have argued that two Russian pipelaying vessels could be used in the repair operation to drive down costs. Nord Stream AG has challenged this, arguing that the vessels are now located near Vladivostok on Russia’s east coast, and relocating them to the Baltic Sea would increase the total repair bill.

Both of the individual pipelines making up the Nord Stream 1 project and one of the two lines comprising Nord Stream 2 were destroyed in a series of underwater explosions off the Danish island of Bornholm on September 26, 2022. Nord Stream 1 transported Russian gas to Germany since its opening in 2011, while Nord Stream 2 was completed in 2021, but had its certification revoked by Berlin in 2022, several days before Russia’s military operation in Ukraine began.

German investigators have reportedly settled on the theory that the pipelines were destroyed by Ukrainian saboteurs, but American journalist Seymour Hersh maintains that they were blown up by the CIA and US Navy. The head of Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), Sergey Naryshkin, has blamed “professional saboteurs from the Anglo-American special services,” referring to the US and UK.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has argued that the US – which has been trying to pressure Europe into swapping Russian gas for pricier American liquefied natural gas (LNG) for two decades – had the most to gain from the destruction of the pipelines.

Elon Musk’s rocket company SpaceX raised $75 billion after pricing 555.6 million shares at $135 each in the largest initial public offering on record, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The deal cemented SpaceX’s place among the world’s most valuable publicly traded companies.

The $135-per share price matched the level SpaceX had previously indicated and implied a market capitalization approaching $1.8 trillion at the time of the offering. At that valuation, Musk, already the world’s richest person, could become the first individual in history to amass a fortune exceeding $1 trillion.

In its IPO filing, SpaceX cast itself as more than a launch and satellite communications company, outlining ambitions that include orbital data centers, lunar infrastructure, asteroid mining, and ultimately cities on Mars as potential drivers of future growth beyond its core businesses.

The offering was structured as a fixed-price, take-it-or-leave-it deal for investors.

The transaction outpaced previous high-profile listings, making it the largest initial public offering on record, ahead of Saudi Aramco’s $29 billion listing in 2019, Alibaba’s $25 billion debut in 2014 and Meta Platforms’ Facebook offering of $16 billion in 2012. SpaceX’s valuation also dwarfs its closest rivals, including Virgin Galactic at about $576.9 million and Blue Origin, a private company estimated by analysts and private transactions at up to $100 billion.

SpaceX was worth roughly $63 per share, less than half the IPO price, according to Morningstar as cited by The Guardian, with strategists arguing that investors were pricing in overly optimistic assumptions and that the valuation had become detached from fundamentals. 

Investor Steve Eisman, known for predicting the 2008 US housing crash, warned about risks from the company’s heavy spending and told CNBC that its valuation appeared to reflect speculative expectations around artificial intelligence-related ambitions. 

Senator Elizabeth Warren also urged the Securities and Exchange Commission earlier this week to scrutinize SpaceX’s governance and valuation, citing concerns over investor protection and concentrated control.

Four civilians were killed and more than 20 others wounded by Ukrainian drone and artillery attacks on the Russian border regions of Bryansk and Belgorod on Thursday, according to the local authorities.

Two people lost their lives and two sustained injuries after Ukraine shelled the settlement of Suzemka in Bryansk Region, acting governor Egor Kovalchuk wrote in a post on Telegram.

One of the fatalities was the head of the Bryansky Les (Bryansk Forest) biosphere reserve, he said.

Another “barbaric attack” by Ukraine targeted the village of Belaya Beryozka, killing one civilian and injuring three others, Kovalchuk wrote.

Seven people were wounded in the settlement of Starodub after a petrol station was struck, the acting governor wrote.

In Belgorod Region, a Ukrainian UAV hit a passenger bus in the village of Voznesenovka, killing a woman and wounding 11 other people, according to the local operational headquarters.

A total of ten districts of Belgorod Region were targeted by artillery and drones on Thursday, with 72 drones shot down by air defenses, acting governor Aleksandr Shuvaev said.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said earlier this week that Ukraine has intensified its attacks on Russian civilians due to frustration over its continued setbacks on the front line.

“Such a desperate venting of anger will not be able to turn the tide on the battlefield and prevent the inevitable defeat of the Kiev junta,” she insisted.

Moscow previously warned that it would carry out “systematic and consistent strikes” on Ukraine’s military infrastructure, including drone production facilities, command posts, and “decision-making centers,” in response to Kiev’s terrorist attacks, including one in the Lugansk People’s Republic on May 22.

Last week, Russian forces launched a large-scale missile and drone barrage, targeting defense industrial sites in Kiev, parts of Zaporozhye and Kherson regions still under Ukrainian control, as well as locations in Dnepropetrovsk, Poltava, Khmelnitsky, and Sumy regions. Another major raid by Moscow in late May involved the deployment of two state-of-the-art intermediate-range hypersonic Oreshnik systems.

So the Baltic and Nordic countries recently hosted a regional summit. And Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky dropped by, having apparently traded his lawn ops uniform for that of a nightclub bouncer.

If the Western press is to be believed, he was there to “share drone technology” with them. Who better to lead their defense initiatives than a guy who keeps crashing his drones into their countries? 

The Associated Press headlined that Zelensky says he’s now “ready” to open his great lockbox of wisdom. So reading all this, you’d think that he’d been summonsed there as some sort of sage, who has technological knowledge that these European nations simply cannot be without or otherwise procure. The Ukrainians themselves are scrambling so hard to be a part of this success that it now takes a literal army of recruiters with shovels to pry them away from their TVs these days. Can’t really blame them – special events are always better on TV than in person: Taylor Swift, Woodstock, wars…

The Western press has been making much of Ukraine’s drone expertise, with the talking point now being that the student, Ukraine, has now become the master. All the biggest and best-paid weapons development minds on the planet working for Western defense contractors, endlessly flush with taxpayer generosity – and we’re supposed to believe that none can hold a candle to Ukraine and its drones.

The goal of defense contractors is to make money – not to win wars. Wars are inevitably won these days by lower tech guerrilla warfare, despite always beginning with an opening act of big-gun shock and awe.

It’s not that Ukraine has special tech that the major players can’t produce – it’s that the big guys can’t see a profit motive for doing so, compared to providing their more conventional hardware. The day that they do, they won’t need Ukraine or Zelensky.

But this notion of the West needing Ukraine for its defense conveniently provides a nice excuse to keep the cash flowing from Europe into this concept of Ukraine being the frontline defender of all of Europe.

Small problem, though. They can’t seem to control their own weapons when the Western training wheels come off their operations.

Western officials have been pretty careful when talking about drones straying into the Baltics and Nordics, routinely neglecting to mention the actual citizenship of these drones. Clearly it’s because they’re Ukrainian and it’s inconvenient to include that minor detail when they’re trying to make the Ukrainians look like weapons geniuses. So instead, these Western officials keep spinning that aggravating fact by specifying that the stray drones are from the conflict with Russia – an elegant obfuscation.

“Russia changes direction of the drones by different systems, including systems of electronic warfare… They can change the direction to divide us in Europe,” Zelensky said, ignoring the reality that Ukraine is officially about as much a part of “Europe” as Russia is at this point. Which is the first, but not last, clue that this summit may as well have taken place in Narnia.

So they’re all saying that it’s Russia’s fault that Ukrainian drones ended up in Europe, insinuating that Russia has the technological ability to “push” drones that aren’t Russian wherever they want, kind of like Yoda from Star Wars who can move stuff at will – except this version apparently only works when the plot needs it to. Because on the other hand, when it comes to redirecting those same Ukrainian drones away from Russia and Russian interests, Moscow mysteriously loses that magical ability.

Meanwhile, it sounds like the Finnish prime minister is trying out a new remix of these talking points, but just ends up looking and sounding like a dad on parent-teacher day trying to defend their screwup of a kid, and promising that they’re working on the situation at home. Like, “We’ve had a talk, and we’re making sure that he’s getting the tutoring that he needs.” Also, like most parents of cockups, they think that he’s a budding genius who has a lot to teach grownups – and everyone needs to indulge this fantasy.

“We understand that drones spilling into our airspace have been part of Ukraine’s self-defense. And Ukraine has a right to defend itself. So because we are unhappy about these incidents, we have very good dialogue about this with President Zelensky – thank you for that. And we are working together,” Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo said.

Are any of these officials claiming that Russian is doing voodoo on Ukrainian drones ever going to give us a PowerPoint on how that actually works scientifically? Or are they just going to keep treating us like we’re dumb sheep who take everything they say at face value despite constantly lying to us?

Because the actual European military scientists that I’ve spoken with say that their latest claims are a total farce. Any interest in proving them wrong? Or is ‘Russian drone interference’ the new ‘Russian hackers’ – smoke and mirrors to propagandize the cause of the moment against the enemy du jour?

No wonder the Ukrainian drones are confused. Maybe they’ve been taking piloting lessons from EU narratives.

India has demanded that Washington take measures to protect the lives of civilians after repeated US attacks on merchant ships off the coast of Oman.

India’s concern was conveyed to US Chargé d’Affaires Jason Meeks, who was summoned to the Ministry of External Affairs in New Delhi for the second time this week.

New Delhi registered its “strong protest” over the continuing attacks with Meeks, the ministry said in a statement. Conveying its condemnation of the use of lethal force against civilian shipping, Meeks was told to “convey India’s strong concerns to his authorities and to ensure that US forces operating in the region take all necessary measures to prevent the loss of civilian life.”

Meeks, the deputy chief of mission at the US Embassy in New Delhi, was first summoned to the Ministry of External Affairs on Wednesday after three Indian crew members on board the MV Settebello were killed when US forces fired at it for allegedly trying to run the blockade around Iran.

Speaking earlier on Friday, a ministry spokesman demanded: “These attacks must cease” and called for dialogue and diplomacy for a return to peace.

❗45 Minutes Later! US Chargé d’Affaires Jason Meeks Leaves MEA After Meeting

This marks the second time the US mission has been summoned in about 48 hours by the MEA. Three Indian seafarers, initially reported missing, have now been confirmed dead following one of the US… https://t.co/YTZDNNSmlb pic.twitter.com/NYDsqVJPBO

— RT_India (@RT_India_news) June 12, 2026

Diplomatic circles have called the US actions illegal, and domestic pressure has mounted on the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to stand up to the United States after another ship, the MV Jalveer, was fired at on Thursday. It was the third such attack this week.

None of the ships involved were sailing under the Indian flag, but their crew were mostly from the South Asian nation, and US attacks are seen as disproportionate in the country. India has the world’s second-largest seafaring workforce, and the attacks endanger Indians working aboard merchant ships more than those from other nationalities.

Kanwal Sibal, a former foreign secretary, was unequivocal in his criticism of the US actions and India’s lack of a strongly-worded response. “These are illegal actions even if the ships are not Indian-flagged,” he posted on X.

“If India and the US cooperate on maritime security in the Indian Ocean, hold elaborate naval exercises, subscribe to the concept of the Indo-Pacific, the US can’t be indifferent to killing Indian seamen in the Indian Ocean whatever the circumstances.” he added.

Speaking to RT on Thursday, Rajesh Sharma, whose only son Aditya Sharma was killed in the US strike on the Settebello, said, “They hit it with a missile, and that was not a way to control the cargo ship.”

“You can send your navy person[nel] to the ship,” Sharma said. “You can arrest the crew members. There are a lot of ways, but hitting a cargo ship with a missile is foolishness and madness.”

Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Jansa has lifted an embargo on arms sales to Israel after allegedly enlisting the help of an Israeli private intelligence firm to oust his left-wing, pro-Palestine predecessor.

Jansa’s government announced the decision on Thursday, adding that it would also overturn an entry ban on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyah, National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich.

“This will restore the conditions for a normal political dialog with Israel,” the Slovenian Defense Ministry said in a statement, adding that the move would help “strengthen the role of the Republic of Slovenia in the efforts to achieve a lasting peace in the Middle East.”

Former Slovenian Prime Minister Robert Golob barred the export of military goods to Israel and banned the import of goods from illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank in August. One year earlier, he had recognized the State of Palestine and declared Israel’s war on Gaza to be “genocide.”

The videos, which Black Cube admitted to filming, weakened Golob’s standing ahead of the election, but Svoboda managed to beat Jansa’s Slovenian Democratic Party by a margin of 0.67%. However, Golob’s coalition lost its majority and was unable to form a government. Jansa, who served three previous stints as Slovenia’s prime minister, built a right-wing coalition and took office last week.

Slovenia’s Intelligence and Security Agency (SOVA) has since determined that Black Cube deliberately attempted to “influence democratic elections” by releasing the videos. “This interference was most likely commissioned from within Slovenia,” the agency concluded, without directly accusing Jansa of hiring the Israeli spies.

While it is unclear whether the Israeli government knew about or officially sanctioned Black Cube’s work in Slovenia, Israeli officials welcomed Jansa’s return to office and reversal of Golob’s policies.

“I commend Slovenian PM Janez Jansa for his swift and just decision to lift the distorted anti-Israeli measures taken by Slovenia’s previous government,” Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar wrote on X on Thursday, hailing Jansa as “a bold leader and a true friend of Israel.”

European nations should stop moralizing about India’s foreign policy stances, considering the West’s own ambivalence on other issues, Indian Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar has said.

The top Indian diplomat was responding to queries about New Delhi’s foreign policy vis-a-vis the Ukraine conflict and Russian oil purchases while in Finland, where he was on a state visit on Thursday.

“I buy oil based on cost and availability,” he said in response to a question on India increasing its oil purchases from Russia since 2022. “So at that point of time, much of the oil available in the market was Russian because Europeans were essentially buying oil from the Middle East, which was our traditional supplier.”

Jaishankar then went on to call out the West’s lack of moral clarity on other geopolitical questions.

“No European country has been attacked with Indian weapons. I wish I could say that for Europe weapons vis-à-vis India,” he said.

📹 'Europeans Sell Weapons Used to Attack India': EAM S. Jaishankar Rebuts Criticism of India's Russia Policy

Responding to a question on New Delhi's alleged "moral ambiguity" over 🇷🇺, Jaishankar argued that European countries have supplied weapons later used against India,… pic.twitter.com/3FDBbOqXtF

— RT_India (@RT_India_news) June 12, 2026

“Europe sells weapons, which are used to attack India. Not just now but for many years. We Indians have never done anything to endanger Europe. I think that’s a reasonable point,” Jaishankar elaborated.

He reiterated that New Delhi became a major buyer of Russian oil only after the US imposed sanctions on Moscow in 2022. New Delhi currently imports energy from 41 countries.

“At that time, the US specifically asked India to buy Russian oil to stabilize the oil market,” the minister said.

“Right now, if you see, after having first put tariffs on us for buying Russian oil, the US then again lifted its sanctions... Let’s not pretend there’s some great principle involved here. I don’t think making this about sanctimony is really warranted,” he said.

The US also extended sanctions waivers on Russian oil purchases three times after the US and Israel attacked Iran, in order to curb soaring global energy prices.

Jaishankar said earlier this week that “many Western countries are increasingly embracing the idea of “strategic autonomy,” a stance India has repeatedly advocated.

Two Brazilian football players from Russian club CSKA Moscow have been targeted by the pro-Kiev Mirotvorets (‘Peacemaker’) website, which publishes personal details of individuals it deems ‘enemies’ of Ukraine.

Matheus Reis de Lima, 31, and Joao Victor da Silva Marcelino, 27, as well as their Russian teammates Danila Kozlov and Vladislav Tropo, were added to the controversial database on Thursday, according to media reports.

The moderators of the website accused the athletes of supporting the Russian military and infringing upon Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.

According to Mirotvorets, they were blacklisted for participating in an action, entitled ‘Everyone Matters’, organized by one of the sponsors before a Russian Cup match between CSKA and FC Krasnodar in March, and raised money for the rehabilitation of Russian servicemen who participated in the Ukraine conflict.

Matheus Reis spent five years with one of the top Portuguese sides Sporting Lisbon before joining CSKA this winter. Joao Victor competed for Benfica in Portugal and Nantes in France after arriving in Europe from Brazil. Both of the players are defenders.

Launched in 2014, Mirotvorets is nominally independent, but the site is closely linked to Ukrainian state security services and has been branded a ‘kill list’, as several people listed on it – including journalists and politicians – have later been killed or died under suspicious circumstances. Russian officials have denounced the database as extremist.

A number of sports figures appeared on the database following the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022, with some recent additions being members of Russia’s team at the 2026 Winter Paralympics and the president of football’s world governing body, FIFA, Gianni Infantino, who criticized the ban on Russian athletes

Residents of EU countries will ultimately suffer from the bloc’s decision to cut economic relations with Russia, a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) representing Slovakia, Judita Lassakova, has said.

She spoke to the news agency TASS during the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) last week; the interview was published by the agency on Friday.

“This will not end well,” she said about the sweeping economic restrictions imposed by Brussels on Moscow since the escalation of the Ukraine in February 2022.

“We live on the same planet, and by erecting walls and borders, we only distance ourselves from each other and destroy the last remaining channels of communication. And all this will lead to situations that will ultimately harm ordinary citizens, the people,” the MEP warned.

Despite the refusal to purchase energy from Russia straining the EU’s economy, Brussels announced its 21st sanctions package against the country earlier this week.

“Of course, it’s high time to start listening to common sense” when it comes to dealing with Russia, she stressed, singling out Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico as “one of those sensible voices” in the EU.

After returning to power in 2023, Fico stopped Bratislava’s military supplies to Kiev and consistently called for the removal of sanctions targeting Russia and restoration of ties between Brussels and Moscow. He was the only EU leader to attend this year’s Victory Day parade on Red Square on May 9.

Officials in Moscow have repeatedly decried the EU’s restrictions as an illegal attempt to contain Russia’s long-term development.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said recently that although the sanctions have had some “negative impact” on the Russian economy, the country has “gained significant experience in minimizing their effects.”

Mozambique’s Zinave National Park has received nine female white rhinos from South Africa in a major conservation operation aimed at restoring the species more than 40 years after its local extinction, the National Administration of Conservation Areas (ANAC) has reported.

The relocation was carried out by ANAC, the Peace Parks Foundation and Exxaro Resources, with support from the South African authorities. 

The restoration of the ecological system of the park started in 2022, “with the reintroduction of the first rhinos,” park administrator Antonio Abacar said.  

Abacar noted the transfer strengthens efforts to restore biodiversity and further reinforces Zinave’s position as Mozambique’s only national park home to the Big Five – the lion, elephant, buffalo, leopard, and rhinoceros. 

The arrival of the animals increases Zinave’s white rhino population to 39. The park is also home to 22 black rhinos, with both species now breeding in the reserve. 

“By returning the white rhinos to Zinave, we are not only guaranteeing the future of a keystone species, but also restoring the balance of ecosystems and creating investment opportunities in the wildlife economy,” Pejul Calenga, ANAC Director-General, said as quoted by AIM. 

Zinave National Park, established in 1973 in Mozambique’s southeastern Inhambane Province along the southern bank of the Save River, spans about 4,000 square kilometers and forms part of the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Conservation Area linking protected ecosystems across Mozambique, South Africa, and Zimbabwe. 

Other African countries have also been working to restore rhino populations lost to poaching. In April, Uganda began reintroducing southern white rhinos to Kidepo Valley National Park, 43 years after the species was wiped out there. The first two animals were moved from Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary as part of a phased plan to relocate eight rhinos, according to the Uganda Wildlife Authority. 

An Israeli cyber company suspected of interfering in French local elections and targeting pro-Palestinian candidates also allegedly meddled in votes in New York City and Scotland and ran operations in Angola and Togo, officials in Paris have said.

Last month, a Reuters report claimed that French authorities believed Israeli firm BlackCore was behind an online smear campaign targeting three French mayoral candidates from the left-wing, pro-Palestine France Unbowed party (LFI) – in Marseille, Toulouse, and Roubaix – ahead of March local elections.

French Interior Minister Laurent Nunez later confirmed that a probe was underway but would not reveal the focus of the investigation.

On Thursday, France’s government disinformation detection agency, Viginum, suggested that BlackCore may have been operating well beyond France.

Viginum said it detected BlackCore-linked accounts targeting John Swinney, the first minister of Scotland, who has described Israel’s campaign in Gaza as a “man-made humanitarian catastrophe” and said a genocide may be unfolding in the Palestinian enclave.

The Viginum chief acknowledged that the probe “did not make it possible to identify the sponsor or sponsors, if indeed they exist, behind this foreign digital interference.” However, French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu said Paris had asked Israel for explanations on BlackCore’s actions and for help identifying whoever may have been behind the smear campaign.

BlackCore has described itself as “an elite influence, cyber, and technology company built for the modern era of information warfare” that provided governments and political campaigns with “cutting-edge strategies, advanced tools and robust security to shape narratives.” After press scrutiny, its website and LinkedIn page went offline.

The controversy comes against the backdrop of increasingly strained France-Israel ties, with Paris condemning West Jerusalem over its strikes in Lebanon, a former French mandate territory, which have led to mounting civilian casualties.

France has also barred Israel’s right-wing national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, from entering the country, after he posted a video of himself taunting blindfolded and zip-tied activists from the Global Sumud Gaza aid flotilla, which included French citizens.

The Canadian government has proposed a bill that would ban social media for children under the age of 16, with potential exemptions for platforms that demonstrate “sufficient safeguards.”

Ottawa unveiled the proposed legislation, dubbed the Safe Social Media Act, in a press release on Wednesday.

If passed, social media platforms would be required to implement age verification and reduce children’s exposure to harmful content, including child sexual exploitation, non-consensual intimate imagery, self-harm promotion, bullying, hate, violence, and terrorist or extremist material.

The bill would also regulate AI chatbots, requiring them to “mitigate the risk” of harmful outputs, and require better reporting from platforms in crisis situations, such as when users communicate intent to harm themselves or others.

A new digital safety regulator would be established to oversee and enforce the rules.

The bill comes amid growing international efforts to regulate children’s online activity.

Late last year, Australia became the first nation to ban children under 16 from accessing major social media platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube. Brazil and Indonesia introduced their own restrictions in May.

Social media giants such as Meta Platforms, TikTok, and YouTube have come under growing scrutiny in recent months, including in a landmark product liability trial in Los Angeles over allegations that they deliberately designed their platforms to be addictive for children.

Court filings have also alleged that Meta’s Facebook failed to adequately police accounts involved in the sexual exploitation and trafficking of minors, with some illicit content reportedly remaining online until after 16 violations had been recorded.

Romanian Defense Minister Radu Miruta has urged Ukraine to program its maritime drones to self-destruct if they veer into the country’s territorial waters.

The official made the remarks after a drifting Magura-type kamikaze naval drone exploded in Romania’s Black Sea port of Constanta on Friday, while two others detonated at sea about 145 km (90 miles) east of the city. The Ukrainian Navy blamed Russian signal jamming for the incidents.

Speaking on TVR on Thursday, Miruta said that “maritime drones can be programmed so that, if control is lost, they are unable to enter Romanian territorial waters and will self-destruct once they are 12 nautical miles from the coast.”

“This should be a default feature built into the system from the moment the drone is launched into the water,” he added.

Earlier this month, a Turkish fishing vessel was attacked and sunk near Crimea, leaving one sailor dead. On June 5, UAVs struck two cargo ships in the Sea of Azov, killing four Azerbaijani nationals on board. Moscow said Ukraine was behind the attack.

In November 2025, Türkiye condemned Ukrainian attacks on tankers within its exclusive economic zone, saying they posed “serious risks to navigation, life, property and environmental safety in the region.”

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said there had been at least 11 confirmed incidents involving Ukrainian drones on NATO territory over the previous three months. She argued that Western states were engaging in “political self-harm” by continuing to send weapons to Kiev.

Russia has no plans to attack NATO territory, the bloc’s senior military commander has said, despite warnings from some European officials that members should prepare for a potential armed clash with Moscow.

Individual NATO member states have adopted plans to drastically increase their defense spending since 2022, citing the Ukraine conflict. Russia, however, has repeatedly stated that it would not attack the US-led bloc unless attacked first.

“I’ve watched the intelligence very closely,” General Alexus Grynkewich, Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR), said during a panel discussion at the ILA Berlin Air Show on Thursday, as cited by the Financial Times.

“Russia is not looking for a conflict… They do understand the term ‘defensive alliance,’ and they do understand that we have a number of asymmetric advantages,” the general added.

Some officials in the West have expressed concern that Washington has been distracted by the protracted conflict with Iran, and that US President Donald Trump’s recent plan to reduce the number of American troops stationed in Germany would send “the wrong signal” to Russia.

Czech President Petr Pavel also recently urged the bloc to “show its teeth,” while Lithuanian Foreign Minister Kestutis Budrys argued that NATO must demonstrate its readiness to “break into” Russia’s Kaliningrad Region, an exclave on the Baltic Sea. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov condemned these statements as “borderline crazy” and evidence of “maniacal” hostility toward Russia.

Speaking at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum last week, Russian President Vladimir Putin once again denied any intention of invading NATO territory.

“What reason would we have to attack Europe and wage war against NATO? As I have said before, it is not only pure insanity but also a deliberate provocation,” he said.

Former German Navy chief, retired Vice Admiral Kay-Achim Schoenbach, warned earlier this week that the EU could “sleepwalk into the role of a belligerent.” Peace and stability in Europe can only be achieved “with, and not against, Russia,” he said.

Polish officials from the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party have urged the Ukrainian city of Vinnytsia to rename a street honoring Stepan Bandera, the nationalist leader whose movement was responsible for the massacre of more than 100,000 Poles during World War II.

Relations between Poland and Ukraine have soured since late May, when Vladimir Zelensky named a commando unit after the “Heroes of the UPA,” the military wing of Bandera’s Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN).

On Thursday, council members in the Polish city of Kielce urged their chairman to formally ask Vinnytsia to remove Bandera’s name from the street, describing it as a “blemish” on Polish-Ukrainian relations. The street, formerly named after Leo Tolstoy, was renamed in 2022 as part of Ukraine’s broader campaign to eliminate Russian-linked place names.

“In Poland, Stepan Bandera and the legacy of the OUN-UPA are unequivocally associated with mass crimes against defenseless civilians,” the officials wrote in a letter published on the broadcaster Telewizja Swietokrzyska’s website.

Polish historians and public consider the OUN leader to be “unequivocally responsible for the genocide of Polish civilians, including in Volhynia,” they added.

The latest dispute comes amid worsening ties between Poland and Ukraine following the “Heroes of the UPA” controversy. Despite the backlash, Kiev has no plans to rename the military unit, Liga.net reported on Thursday, citing a government source.

Moscow has long maintained that the current government in Kiev glorifies Nazis at the state level. Russia has repeatedly stated that the “denazification” of Ukraine remains one of its key objectives and conditions for a peace settlement in the conflict.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei has denied US President Donald Trump’s claim that the country’s leadership has approved a preliminary peace deal.

The remarks came after Trump said on Thursday that a settlement could be signed as early as this weekend, likely in Europe, and that Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei had approved the terms.

The president said he had called off “scheduled” strikes on Iran after two consecutive days of bombardment, which marked the biggest escalation since a truce was announced in April.

Speaking to Iranian media on Thursday, Baghaei described recent reports as “speculation,” adding that “the relevant authorities must review every detail of the text.”

Axios reported on Friday, citing diplomatic sources, that the memorandum of understanding (MOU) discussed by negotiators calls for an immediate reopening of the Strait of Hormuz by Iran without any tolls, and for some US sanctions relief based on compliance by Tehran.

Washington will also lift its blockade of Iranian ports, which would allow shipping via the key waterway, which accounts for around 20% of global crude oil trade, to fully resume within 30 days, the sources said.

It’s unclear if the draft MOU addresses the issue of Iranian assets frozen by the West, the outlet added.

Iran has repeatedly insisted that its nuclear program is entirely peaceful and rejected Trump’s demand that it hand over its enriched uranium.

If the MOU ends up being signed, it will be called the ‘Islamabad Agreement’ due to mediation by Pakistan and Qatar, Axios claimed.

On Thursday, Iran’s Fars news agency reported that Tehran considers as legitimate targets “all interests related to economic holdings managed by Elon Musk” in the Middle East, including a regional Starlink ground station. Musk’s satellite internet plays a key role in the US military operation against Iran, being used to carry out strikes with high-tech ordnance and direct surveillance drones. The Iranian military previously warned other US tech companies, including Nvidia, Apple, Microsoft, and Google.

This week’s resumption of hostilities triggered another spike in global oil prices as the US continues to grapple with high inflation and the war with Iran remains unpopular with the American public. Trump has repeatedly claimed in recent weeks that his team was close to reaching a deal with the Iranians, but no breakthrough materialized.

The EU appears to be willing to sacrifice both the well-being of its people and its own fiscal stability for the sake of military buildup justified by an alleged Russian threat. The bloc’s members push forward with their defense budget increase plans despite record debt levels, with some of them also implementing major social spending cuts.

French President Emmanuel Macron vowed last year to double the nation’s military budget by 2027, accelerating the original plan to do so by 2030. Paris is implementing the scheme despite its government’s debt reaching 115.6% of its GDP, according to the European Commission data. The nation has the third-worst debt-to-GDP ratio in the euro zone, behind only Greece and Italy.

The cumulative debt-to-GDP ratio of the euro zone is also projected to surpass 90% next year, according to a report by the European Fiscal Board this week.

Germany has an economy that is reeling from the two-year-long recession of 2023-2024 and is projected to grow by a mere 0.5% in 2026. It is still clinging to Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s vision of making its army the “strongest” conventional force on the continent to allegedly stand up to a looming Russian threat – something that ordinary Germans appear to be increasingly skeptical about.

Watch the full report here:

There was never a chance that Washington’s man in FIFA, football’s world governing body, was going to do the right thing and postpone the World Cup. Nor that he would strip the US and Canada of hosting rights after their attack on Iran. The FIFA president, Lebanese-Swiss Gianni Infantino, is doing what’s right for his sport, his ‘shareholders’, and a compliant sports media will assist the most bigly sportswashing psy-op ever. 

Sports media, no fur coat and no underwear

The term “fanboys/girls with laptops” is attributed to our former Capital Sports guest, Irish journalist Paul Kimmage. The ex-pro cyclist ‘spat in the soup’ of the sport he loved by exposing rampant doping in ‘Rough Ride’, to date, the finest sports book ever written. His target: the press pass wearing, goodie bag hungry mob of oddballs so in thrall to the stars they report on, that no crime or offence can be mentioned.

Some have landed top media management spots in FIFA, from where they dispense largesse [access and goodie bags] to those desperate to be favored. And media organizations, in order to ensure their reporters and commentators are granted permission to cover the World Cup, will ‘play ball’. What FIFA wants, FIFA gets, and the media will give it up happily.

Selling out to avoid missing out

It’s been interesting to witness my peers brag about covering this upcoming ‘show’. From LinkedIn to Instagram, so many decent folk are making sure everyone knows they’re going to the World Cup and their previous posts critiquing US or Israeli military adventures, or indeed FIFA, have either been edited or removed.

I asked one woman, who will work with a European broadcaster, where was her excellent takedown of the awarding of the FIFA Peace Prize to US President Donald Trump? It had garnered hundreds of likes and comments on LinkedIn, yet, had vanished.

“My agent,” she replied, with a smiley face emoji, explaining that they were warned that any social media posts critical of the US or US government could mean a refusal at border control.

I guess I was lucky that I turned down the chance to work at the event, though my decision was formed pre-Iran attacks. I couldn’t morally perform a Men in Black on my brain and scrub my social media, articles, broadcasts, and soul clean.

Here was a man with backbone, courage, someone I could relate to. Okay, the headline was weak as English tea (Removing the US as World Cup host would be eminently sad – and entirely justified). And then, he turned full fanboy!

– Messi, mascots, tickets and Trump: 48 questions for the 48-team World Cup (April 1)

– Lionel Messi exits Miami game before World Cup with possible injury (May 25)

– World Cup 2025: a visual guide to the stadiums across the trio of host nations (June 1)

And he outdid himself, also on June 1, with a real doozy to show he was chugging the FIFA Kool Aid: “Gathered around a laptop, the USMNT create their World Cup journey’s first memeable moment.”

Alexander is not the worst, he’s just an example of what was already underway before the June 11 kick-off – and what is now in full swing. The media has already gone into overdrive with superlatives for the brand ambassadors of fizzy drinks and sportswear. We are already being encouraged to forget that the US, with the collusion of Canada and a clatter of other countries taking part in the jamboree, are complicit in the ongoing killing of Iranians, Palestinians, Russians, Lebanese, and more. The football is now on, and the brainwashing has already begun.

In the last two weeks, I’ve chatted with 19 fellow sports journalists and commentators, asking if they were off to the World Cup. From 6 different countries, working with a range of outlets from TV to radio to newspapers, they happily engaged.

Only three weren’t going, as they were covering it from home. Of the others, every single person felt “uneasy” or “not at all happy” to be going, telling that it was their job and that they had to “pay the mortgage.”

I asked the travelling 16 if they disagreed with the World Cup going ahead. Fourteen felt it should be postponed, two said it should be removed from the US and Canada, and given solely to Mexico. Those two, I should add, are French. All said they felt nervous about safety and that the fans will be ripped off.

One reporter, from BBC, said the only bonus is no English hooligan violence.

“As the old joke from 1994 goes, they’ll lose on small arms fire alone,” he joked. He was referring to asides made when the English team failed to qualify for the last time a World Cup was held in the US.

Yet the potential for a terrorist attack at a mega-event (World Cup or Olympic Games), has never been higher, or more expected.

Bombs and bedlam

The last successful terrorist attack, pardon the phrasing, at a mega-event  was at the Atlanta Olympics in 1996. That was by an anti-abortion activist and resulted in a single death. Atlanta will host seven games this summer, including a semi-final. Although combined intelligence agencies and police forces foiled a reported Osama Bin Laden plot at the 1998 World Cup in France, and Russia’s FSB thwarted several drone attacks in 2018, everyone was caught out on July 18 that year.

From my commentators spot in Moscow’s Luzhniki Stadium, I saw uniformed people leap onto the field and thought, they shouldn’t be here, something’s wrong. A wave of panic hit the media zone and a prominent British commentator took off his headset and stood up to leave. It left a sour taste in the mouths of those there to cover the game.

Later, I was not alone in being infuriated when NPR’s Scott Simon called this dangerous precedent “a conspicious act of bravery.” I hope he’ll be happy if similar idiots or terrorists carry out a copy cat “act” this summer.

Entering end game

There is a real chance that there will be at least 3-5 occurrences like this, though they could be far more dangerous. The clowns who illegally entered the field of play in Moscow in 2018 may have cost Croatia the title, but at this World Cup, lives could be lost.

The Center for Strategic and International Studies gave their usual rundown of threats to the World Cup in regurgitated AI slop, which one FIFA insider told me is “what we all know anyway… and they offer zero insight.” FIFA are so concerned with safety, that they lumped in around $650 million to bolster security in host cities. In Russia and Qatar, this wasn’t needed. The US and their subordinate to the north are actively involved in wars in Palestine, Lebanon, and Iran. A lot of people are ready to make a statement, FIFA know this.

The sentiment is echoed in fan group WhatsApp group chats, many are truly worried for their safety.

In an Eintracht Frankfurt ‘Nationalmannschaft’ [German National Team] group with over 1,000 followers, a debate has been raging over the wisdom of following their side in North America. One man, from Wiesbaden, made the point that the danger isn’t the German matches in Houston, Texas and East Rutherford, New Jersey, but the middle one against Cote d’Ivoire in Toronto. “It is a soft underbelly and the most dangerous. It could be bombs and bedlam,” he noted.

Yet, for sports media, the genuine fears of fans are hidden. England’s sports media is missing in action. They previously lied about and sneered at Qatar, Russia, Brazil, and South Africa. For the BBC in 2022, the biggest danger for ‘fans’ was not being able to drink beer in Qatar. In Russia, it was being murdered at passport control or disappeared to a gulag. It’s crickets for this World Cup.

The flash has already gone off, and most of the sports media seems happy to forget what came before. The biggest ever sportswashing event kicks off on June 11 and all we can hope for is no terrorist attacks, and some good football. I’m already halfway there.

US President Donald Trump has cancelled planned strikes on Iran, saying talks with the Islamic Republic are moving forward with the country’s top leadership. The announcement came just hours after he again threatened to hit Iran “very hard.” 

Tensions between Washington and Tehran have surged in recent days despite a nominal ceasefire agreed in April. The US launched strikes on Iran on Wednesday after a US AH‑64 Apache helicopter was lost near the Strait of Hormuz – an incident Washington blamed on Tehran. Iran denied responsibility and responded with a missile barrage targeting American bases in the region.

In a post on Truth Social on Thursday, Trump said the “scheduled strikes and bombings” had been canceled because of negotiations “brought to the highest level of Iranian leadership and approved.” He said “discussions and final points” had been agreed by all sides involved, including the US, Israel, Saudi Arabia and several other regional states.

🚨 President Donald J. Trump on cancelled scheduled strikes against Iran. pic.twitter.com/iIijh6j5m2

— The White House (@WhiteHouse) June 11, 2026

The US‑led naval blockade of Iranian ports in the Strait of Hormuz “will remain in full force,” Trump added. 

Earlier in the day, the US president had vowed to hit Iran “very hard tonight” and “at some point” seek to take control of Kharg Island and other oil infrastructure, stating that Washington could “assume total control of their oil and gas markets.”

The ambassadors of Britain, France, and Germany visited the Russian Foreign Ministry on Thursday to present their governments’ Ukraine “peace” position, despite Moscow’s insistence that the three countries are not mediators but direct backers of Kiev.

The conference with Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin reportedly lasted around 90 minutes. French Ambassador Nicolas de Riviere said afterwards that the conversation had gone well, while the British and German envoys declined to comment.

The meeting comes as Kiev's European backers have been trying to force their way back into Ukraine diplomacy after Washington signaled it could step back from mediation efforts. Moscow has dismissed the move as hollow, arguing that the EU and the E3 (Britain, France, and Germany) are arming, funding and politically shielding Kiev while posing as peace brokers.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said that during the meeting, Galuzin accused the three governments of pursuing a “destructive policy” aimed at pushing Kiev to keep fighting Russia “on behalf of, at the expense of and with the direct assistance” of the Western “coalition of the willing.”

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said ahead of the meeting that he consented to the envoys’ talks with his deputy largely out of curiosity. Russia has “never refused dialogue,” he said, but doubted the ambassadors would say anything new after their leaders’ recent statement with Zelensky.

Moscow has rejected that statement as a demand for Russia’s “capitulation.” Lavrov said Britain, France, and Germany have repeatedly undermined earlier settlement efforts, including the 2014-2015 Minsk accords and the 2022 Istanbul draft deal.

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has also dismissed the latest E3 proposal as a repackaged version of Zelensky’s “peace formula,” which Russia rejects as unacceptable. She said the plan is aimed not at peace, but at further militarizing Ukraine and Europe.

The European Commission should have revealed the details of its Covid-19 vaccine contracts with drugmakers to the public, an adviser to the EU’s highest court has declared. Among the contracts was a deal with Pfizer that commission President Ursula von der Leyen negotiated via text message.

In an opinion published on Thursday, Advocate General Athanasios Rantos argued that the commission’s insistence on secrecy made it impossible to know whether its vaccine negotiators had any conflicts of interest with the pharmaceutical companies that they procured the shots from.

The commission signed six advance purchase agreements with pharmaceutical companies – including Pfizer, AstraZeneca, and Moderna – between 2020 and 2021. The contracts were worth a combined €71 billion ($82 billion).

When Green MEPs and more than 3,000 members of the public demanded information about the negotiation process, the commission redacted the names of all of its negotiators and many of the contract clauses. The commission’s lawyers have argued that these redactions were made to protect the negotiators from “conspiracy theorists.”

Last year, the court ruled against von der Leyen in the ‘Pfizergate’ case, which centered around her negotiations with Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla. In 2021, von der Leyen told the New York Times that she had been negotiating a €35 billion deal for 900 million Covid vaccine doses with Bourla via sms messages.

The newspaper sued for access to the messages, arguing that von der Leyen could have used sms messaging to bypass EU transparency laws. The commission claimed that the messages had been lost, but the court ruled last May that the EU’s executive body failed to provide “credible explanations enabling the public and the Court to understand why those documents cannot be found.”

Von der Leyen survived a no-confidence vote initiated by right-wing parties in the European Parliament over the scandal last July.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has ruled out mixed-gender tank crews in a pilot program that would allow women to serve in frontline armored units, following objections from influential rabbis, according to media reports. 

Several Religious Zionist rabbis have reportedly opposed the initiative on religious grounds, warning they would discourage enlistment if it proceeds. 

In response to the criticism, the IDF said on Wednesday that tank crews would remain single sex, while insisting it “needs every male and female combat soldier,” according to the Times of Israel. 

The IDF added that more than two years of fighting on multiple fronts had placed a “significant burden” on reserve forces. 

Since the October 2023 Hamas attack, the IDF has been fighting in Gaza while also carrying out military operations in southern Lebanon, exchanging direct strikes with Iran, and trading missile and drone attacks with Yemen’s Houthis. 

The military has publicly acknowledged a shortage of troops and reportedly said it urgently needs around 12,000 additional recruits, mostly to fill combat roles. 

The rabbis’ opposition was outlined in an open letter criticizing the court’s decision. They argued that integrating women into armored formations would conflict with religious norms and called on the military to assign religiously observant recruits to alternative army jobs. 

Many members of the Religious Zionist community serve in the Armored Corps and other frontline units through the so-called Hesder program, which combines religious studies with military service. 

Despite the IDF’s statement, Israeli media reported on Thursday that additional religious institutions had joined the campaign against the integration of units.

The final results of Armenia’s parliamentary elections are due to be announced this weekend. Vaagn Hovakimyan, head of the country’s Central Election Commission, has said ballots will be recounted until Friday, after which complaints and appeals will be considered. The official results are expected on Sunday and those who reject the outcome will then have one day, June 19, to appeal to the Constitutional Court. “Further action will then be dictated by the court,” Hovakimyan said.

Narek Karapetyan, leader of the Strong Armenia electoral list, has said his movement will decide on its next steps once it is clear whether another opposition force, Prosperous Armenia, led by businessman Gagik Tsarukyan, has entered parliament. At present, it appears to have fallen short of the 4% threshold. The opposition Armenia bloc has already said it is ready to challenge the result.

The vote brought to a close a peculiar election campaign. Its oddity didn’t lie in the use of administrative resources, including pressure on opponents, nor in the visible influence of external factors, because such things are now common almost everywhere. The unusual feature was the central narrative of the political struggle, where the campaign was presented as a choice between Russia and the Eurasian Economic Union on one side, and the West and the European Union on the other.

However, this is a phantom choice.

As far as Russia is concerned, it is, of course, for the Armenian people and their elected authorities to decide what kind of relationship they want with Moscow. Friendship cannot be imposed, and if a country wishes to go its own way, then so be it. This time, however, Moscow has made clear from the outset what Yerevan stands to lose if it chooses that path and the intention is obvious: Armenia should make its decision with full knowledge of the consequences.

The EU side of the equation is less clear because the problem is simple: no one has invited Armenia to join the bloc. At least, not in any serious form.

Nevertheless, the question of “EAEU or EU” became the central theme of the current dispute. Russia contributed to this, in part, by putting future relations in the stark terms of choose now. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has been much more evasive, and his line is that Armenia is not leaving anything, remains involved in Eurasian integration, and will continue to do so until there is clarity on EU prospects. In other words, as soon as Brussels gives the signal, Armenia will move in that direction, but until then, everything should remain as it is, because the current arrangement remains useful.

Pashinyan’s tactics, and those of his party, deserve a separate analysis, but the more interesting question is broader. How does the EU, now burdened by enormous internal problems and drawn into a large military-political crisis, remain such a powerful magnet for neighboring societies?

After the end of the Cold War, EU integration became one of the most successful political projects in modern European history. It came to be seen, if not as a blueprint for the whole world, then at least as a model to be extended across neighboring regions of Europe and Eurasia. The EU’s achievements were obvious, in that if offered economic and political stability, high living standards, social protections, and an attractive image of the future.

That perception has proved remarkably durable even though the European Union of the late 2020s bears little resemblance to the idealized image of a quarter-century ago: that image continues to work. For Brussels, the reputation of the EU as a successful, attractive and forward-looking union is not merely a pleasant accessory, it’s an instrument of influence. It has helped the EU pursue its own development goals and shape the political choices of states around it.

Today, amid growing internal and external crises, this instrument is even more important. But the question for countries drawn into Brussel’s orbit is whether the old assumptions still apply.

The successes of European integration in the second half of the twentieth century and in the early years of this century weren’t simply the result of the wisdom and talent of the project’s architects. Above all, they were the product of a unique historical moment, the aftermath of the Second World War, the structure of the Cold War, American patronage, the Soviet threat, and then the unexpected gift of the Soviet collapse, which produced an enormous political and economic “peace dividend.”

Competition for the post-Soviet space existed before, but for a time it could be disguised with the language of shared development and common interests. That camouflage has gone and the situation is now harsh and largely unambiguous.

The previous logic was based on the assumption that by sheltering under the umbrella of European integration, a country could protect itself from geopolitical turbulence. But first, that umbrella is becoming increasingly symbolic as the EU can no longer offer firm guarantees to anyone. Second, the opposite may now be true, because by entering this game, a country can be certain of becoming a target for the hard actions of opposing sides.

For countries such as Armenia, the question is therefore not whether the EU remains attractive, because it obviously does. Nor is it whether Russia can compel affection, because it can’t. The question, instead, is whether the European path being imagined by political elites and voters actually exists in the form they suppose, and whether the price of pursuing it has been honestly understood.

If a nation looks at the risks and decides they don’t matter, then so be it. After all, as the old line goes, “we sing a song to the madness of the brave.”

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

Some councils in England have advised residents not to attach the national flag, St. George’s Cross, to public property, citing safety rules, community-cohesion concerns, and the need to maintain a welcoming environment, local media have reported.

The warning comes ahead of the World Cup, which kicks off on Thursday. England is set to play its first match, against Croatia, on June 17.

The debate widened on Wednesday when the Independent Monitoring Boards (IMB), which oversees prisons and immigration detention facilities, published a report warning that England flag badges worn by staff at detention centers could be perceived by detainees as a sign of “bias or even intimidation,” particularly in the light of recent anti-immigration protests in which flag displays were prominent.

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage seized on the debate, writing on Facebook: “Do you wear an England badge? Do you fly an England flag outside your home? According to our political class, you are now intimidating migrants!”

The controversy has its roots in the ‘Operation Raise the Colours’ campaign, which is believed to have emerged in Birmingham in August 2025 before spreading across England. Supporters said the initiative was intended to promote patriotism and national pride by attaching St. George’s Cross and Union flags to lampposts, bridges, and other public spaces, while critics argued it was linked to anti-immigration sentiment and attempts to mark territory in communities with large migrant populations.

The UK has seen major anti-immigration protests and riots in recent years, with right-wing politicians and activists accusing authorities of failing to control illegal migration and adequately address crimes committed by migrants and other ethnic minorities.

Ground-level footage from around the globe which millions of Pokemon Go users gathered over the years was likely fed to the US military, augmenting its satellite mapping for potential use in warfare, Google whistleblower Zach Vorhies has told RT.

Released in 2016 by San Francisco-based firm Niantic, Pokemon Go became one of the gaming industry’s first successful forays into augmented reality, using players’ smartphone cameras and GPS to overlay digital creatures onto real-world locations.

“I don’t think that anybody that was playing Pokemon Go had any vision that their data was going to be used in order to kill people. But that’s what it’s being used for today,” Vorhies told RT on Thursday, arguing that user data was exploited “to play a more deadly game, that of warfare.”

“There’s been a lot of reports that a lot of these Pokemon Go players were snooping around foreign military bases, because there was some sort of very valuable creature that they had to take a snapshot of,” Vorhies said.

Google likely shared this data with the US military to help it build “ground level information” that augments satellite imagery, he said. Two-dimensional pictures can be used to help reconstruct 3D terrain, adding details that would be obscured to photographs taken from space, he added.

With this, they’re able to get a more complete picture of the battlefield.

The whistleblower argued that artificial intelligence giants like OpenAI are getting rid of their internal transparency mechanisms in order to better aid what he called the US “deep state.” The top US AI companies have signed deals with the US War Department, the Pentagon said last month.

Watch the full interview here:

The congressional inquest into Jeffrey Epstein’s network of influential associates has heard testimony from Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and Epstein’s longtime executive assistant, Lesley Groff, as House investigators examine how the convicted sex offender maintained ties to prominent figures after his 2008 conviction for soliciting prostitution from a minor.

In his closed-door testimony on Wednesday, Gates told the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee he had not understood the full extent of Epstein’s crimes. He said he had agreed to meet him in 2011 because he believed the financier could help connect him with wealthy donors and advance his philanthropic initiatives. Those fundraising opportunities never materialized, he said, describing his association with Epstein as a “grave error in judgment.” He claimed after he ended contact in 2014, Epstein tried to use knowledge of his extramarital affairs to pressure him to re-engage.

While no public evidence has linked Gates to Epstein’s criminal conduct or placed him on the latter’s private island, critics have questioned his decision to associate with the convicted sex offender. Released correspondence suggests the two men met repeatedly over several years, while Gates’ ex-wife Melinda reportedly viewed Epstein as a serious concern and cited her former husband’s dealings with the financier among the factors behind their 2021 divorce.

Groff said she had considered resigning after Epstein’s 2008 conviction but decided to stay after he convinced her that he had been falsely accused and manipulated her sense of loyalty.

Her account was met with skepticism. During her testimony, lawmakers questioned whether a senior aide who managed Epstein’s schedule, travel, and daily affairs for nearly two decades could plausibly have been unaware of the misconduct. Groff acknowledged arranging massages for Epstein as part of her duties but said she had never met the women involved and was unaware that some were minors. Prosecutors believe that the massages served as a mechanism for recruiting and exploiting young women.

Many Germans want their politicians to be stripped of the special protection against defamation and insults they enjoy under current laws, a recent survey conducted by the INSA polling agency has shown. The issue has come into the spotlight following dozens of criminal cases opened against people calling Chancellor Friedrich Merz names online, with some of them facing thousands of euros in fines as a result.

A person can face up to a year behind bars or a fine for insulting someone under the German Criminal Code. In case of politicians, though, the punishment is tripled if the insult is related to their public position and is “likely to significantly impede their public activities” as stipulated in a separate article.

According to INSA, 43% of Germans would like to see this article, known as Paragraph 188, scrapped. Only 32% wanted to leave it as is, with the rest not giving a specific answer.

The support for the move is particularly strong among the backers of opposition parties, with 67% of Free Democrats’ supporters and 64% of Alternative for Germany (AfD) voters wanting it gone. Supporters of Merz’s Christian Democratic Union were the only ones overwhelmingly supportive of keeping the controversial article in place, with 55% of them opposing any changes, the poll suggested.

Several German news media outlets reported in early June that the police had opened nearly 40 criminal cases over a string of angry comments under a post on Facebook about the chancellor’s visit to a southwestern German city of Heilbronn. Although 15 cases were eventually dropped, others were brought to court, which one man recieving a fine exceeding €2,000 ($2,322) for calling Merz “lying Fritz.”

The chancellor’s office said at the time that Merz himself did not file any charges but maintained that criminal prosecution of those insulting public officials was a “normal” legal procedure that “must be protected.”

Merz, who is known for telling Germans to work more while claiming the welfare state is obsolete and unviable, was ranked the world’s most unpopular leader in April. In May, the German media reported his own party was mulling replacing him because of a record low rating.

Relatives of the deceased Indian sailors killed in a US missile strike on a merchant ship off the coast of Oman on Wednesday are demanding to know why the civilian vessel was targeted.

The Palau-flagged MT Settebello had a crew of 28: 24 Indians, two Pakistanis, one Russian, and one Ukrainian. The US military fired at it with a precision munition for allegedly trying to run the blockade of Iran.

On Thursday, New Delhi confirmed that three sailors had lost their lives, the others were rescued. 

Rajesh Sharma, the father of Aditya Sharma, a deck cadet on the Settebello, was inconsolable when he spoke to RT India.

Sharma told RT that he had spoken with his son after hearing about the strike on another vessel, the MT Marivex, on Monday, and that the family was worried for Aditya’s safety. “In my family it was me, my wife, and my only son… our only son who has left us now,” his father said.

Sharma urged the government to direct all shipping companies “to not move [ships] toward the Strait of Hormuz or the Gulf.”

RT India also spoke to Panna Lal Chaurasia, a relative of another deceased sailor. Speaking from Deoria in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, he said that his brother-in-law, Shivanand Chaurasia, who was killed in the strike, had two young children. Chaurasia added that the family is demanding that the authorities hand over his mortal remains “at the earliest.”

The Settebello was the second commercial vessel to be struck by US forces near the Strait of Hormuz in less than three days. Earlier, on Monday, US forces hit the MT Marivex, which had an all-Indian crew. All of the sailors were rescued following the attack.

A petrochemical tanker reported a fire off the coast of Oman on Thursday after US forces struck it, marking the third such incident this week.

The American and British right want you to believe that the Belfast riots are a violent Irish uprising against mass immigration. In reality, the riots are steeped in the complex sectarianism of Northern Ireland, and the riot leaders don’t even consider themselves Irish.

The violence continued on Wednesday, with more loosely organized mobs of rioters hurling stones and petrol bombs at police, and reports of masked vigilantes hunting down black bystanders, seemingly at random.

To the British government, the riots were a base display of “racist thuggery,” per Northern Ireland Secretary Hilary Benn. To the right-wing commentariat in the US and UK, they were an act of resistance against a system responsible for flooding Irish towns and cities with third-world migrants. American radio host Alex Jones described the riots as the beginning of “the war for the West,” while podcaster Nick Fuentes proclaimed the Irish “the spiritual vanguard of Europe,” and sent “my energy to the rioters in Belfast.”

In the UK, right-wing activist Tommy Robinson celebrated Northern Ireland’s Catholic republicans (who want unification with the Republic of Ireland) and Protestant loyalists (who see themselves as British and wish to remain in the United Kingdom) coming together to oppose mass immigration.

Nick Fuentes says he has Celtic DNA.

"It's Celtic Pride, World Wide.. Those are my people, I'm proud of my people."

"So, I'm sending my energy to the Rioters in Belfast." pic.twitter.com/d2nsTT5IYd

— KaizerRev (@Kaizerrev) June 11, 2026

The only problem is that this didn’t happen.

Why didn’t Catholics riot?

The attempted beheading took place in a Catholic neighborhood of Belfast, and initial online reports suggest that the victim, Stephen Ogilvie, was Catholic. Despite the attack seemingly targeting one of their own, Northern Ireland’s Catholic leaders were most emphatic in squashing any potential unrest within their community. Belfast’s Catholic mayor, Rois Maire Donnelly, instead called on locals to stand with immigrants “now in their time of need.” 

At first glance, this stand-down points to a massive disconnect between Sinn Fein and its voters. Across all Ireland, Sinn Fein voters are the most anti-immigration demographic, with 72% favoring policies that “reduce the numbers coming here.” In the Republic of Ireland, the Sinn Fein strongholds of East Wall and North Strand in Dublin have been the epicenter of anti-immigration protests and riots in recent years, including the blockade of an asylum center in East Wall in 2022. 

Northern Ireland is different

By all available accounts, the riots in Belfast were organized and carried out by Protestant loyalists. Setting aside the pro-immigrant sentiment of Sinn Fein’s leaders, the party’s Catholic republican base was reluctant to join riots organized by loyalists, given that their own communities are often targeted by loyalist mobs. 

Eight months before the attack on Ogilvie, loyalist Ulster Defence Association (UDA) paramilitaries burned Catholics out of their homes in Belfast’s Old Park neighborhood, less than a kilometer from the scene of the stabbing. No matter their views on immigration, few republicans would be willing to join forces with the same paramilitaries who torched their houses less than a year ago, and killed more than 1,000 of their relatives and friends during the Troubles.

WATCH: Multiple cars on fire in Belfast as protests spread after attempted beheading by migrant pic.twitter.com/qcP8qnF2qB

— Rapid Report (@RapidReport2025) June 9, 2026

By taking to the streets with loyalists, republicans would also be lending visible support to broader loyalist political goals, which include the reimposition of a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. Barricaded and manned by British troops until the signing of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, the border was a stark symbol of British occupation and an obstacle to the republicans’ goal of Irish reunification.

Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) leader Gavin Robinson has already called for the closing of “the open, porous border between our country and the Irish Republic,” after it emerged that the Sudanese attacker, Hadi Alodid, had entered Northern Ireland via the Republic.

Why did the Protestants riot?

Unlike the 2023 Dublin riots – which took place after an Algerian immigrant stabbed three children outside a school – and the unrest in Southampton earlier this month after bodycam footage showing the murder of teenager Henry Nowak by a Sikh man was released, the Belfast riots were not spontaneous.

In the hours before the riots, flyers were circulated on social media announcing which roads would be closed, and warning businesses in these areas that they must shut by 5:30 PM with “no excuses.” Masked men set up road checkpoints leading into these zones, and enforced a prohibition on phones and cameras within. Reporting from the Newtownards Road, where dozens of buildings housing migrants were burned out, journalist Aris Roussinos recalled being told to “f**k away off and get on home before you get kneecapped.”

Belfast’s loyalists have both the motive and the means to target immigrants. After centuries in the majority, Protestants are losing the demographic battle to Catholics in Northern Ireland. According to a 2021 census, Catholics now outnumber Protestants by 45.7% to 43.48%, a significant shift from the 48% to 45% Protestant majority in 2011. With Sinn Fein winning its first ever majority in the Northern Ireland Assembly in 2022, the influx of migrants threatens to further erode the loyalists’ already waning power.

Belfast’s paramilitary infrastructure

The loyalists have the infrastructure in place to organize and carry out street level violence. The UDA and Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) operated as British proxies during the Troubles, carrying out deniable attacks against IRA members and Catholic civilians alike. The 2012 De Silva Review revealed “shocking levels of state collusion” between the UDA and the British military and intelligence apparatus, concluding that 85% of the group’s targeting intelligence was supplied by British security agencies. Loyalist paramilitaries were spared the internment without trial that alleged IRA members were subjected to, and British military commanders were instructed to take “a moderate stance” toward the UDA, according to Defense Ministry documents from 1972.

The UDA and UVF are now illegal organizations in the UK, but much of their British-built command infrastructure is still in place. According to leaked MI5 documents obtained by the BBC in 2020, the combined membership of both paramilitaries is estimated at around 12,500. These groups regularly meet with loyalist politicians in Northern Ireland, according to the BBC.

Loyalist paramilitaries have officially denied organizing this week’s riots, but are widely believed to be overseeing the violence. Loyalists issued similar denials during race riots in Ballymena last year – a response to the alleged rape of a minor by a gang of Roma teenagers – but were later confirmed to have taken part in, and according to some analysts, exerted “significant control” over the mayhem.

While the Belfast riots are steeped in Northern Ireland’s endemic sectarianism, they did not take place in a vacuum. Whether in Belfast, Dublin, or Southampton, violent riots are now all but guaranteed after serious incidences of migrant crime. 

The government response in Ireland and the UK follows the same pattern every time: appeals for calm, a harsh crackdown on rioters, and a reframing of the right’s response – and not the crime itself – as the real problem.

This policy is unsustainable. Mass migration is roundly despised by the British and Irish public, Protestants and Catholics alike, and as long as the governments of Ireland and the UK – and the mainstream media dependent upon them – continue to emphasise the reaction over the action, the danger posed to society by migrant crime will magnify. 

However, in Northern Ireland, where the British government’s former loyalist attack dogs are turning on their masters, the intersection of deeply rooted sectarianism and fresh public outrage is creating a dangerous powder keg, which if ignited, could cause an explosion of violence unseen since the darkest days of the Troubles.

The European Union is considering sanctions against Kremlin adviser and historian Vladimir Medinsky, who led the Russian delegation in the latest rounds of US-mediated peace talks with Kiev, EUobserver has reported, citing a draft of the bloc’s 21st sanctions package.

Brussels has been mostly left out of diplomatic efforts initiated by US President Donald Trump following his return to office last year, as most EU member states have opted to back Kiev with weapons and impose sanctions on Russia instead of seeking a resolution to the conflict.

Medinsky, also known for co-authoring a new series of history textbooks introduced in Russian schools and leading an extensive online course on Russian history, has reportedly been described by Brussels as a key figure in what they call Russia’s state propaganda efforts.

Russian Sports Minister Mikhail Degtyarev, Russian Wrestling Federation President Mikhail Mamiashvili and acting head of the Russian Olympic Committee Stanislav Pozdnyakov are reportedly included in the draft sanctions list as well. Musician Aleksander Marshal is also set to face sanctions over performances for Russian servicemen in Donbass.

Earlier this week, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said the bloc was preparing its largest sanctions package in more than two years, targeting over 170 Russian individuals and entities, on top of 81 listings set for approval the following week.

On Tuesday, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the new sanctions package would target Russia’s energy, financial, crypto, trade, and fisheries sectors and bar entry to Russians who have served in the military since the conflict in Ukraine escalated in February 2022.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly stated that the ultimate goal of Western sanctions is to weaken and contain Russia’s long-term development.

Earlier this year, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that although the sanctions have had an overall “negative impact” on the Russian economy, the country has “gained significant experience in minimizing their effects.”

Peskov has also said that sanctions are a double-edged sword, causing damage not only to those they target but also to those who impose them, and contributing to economic stagnation in Europe.

Germany and the EU risk “sleepwalking” into a direct confrontation with Russia by becoming parties to the Ukraine conflict after abandoning diplomatic engagement with Moscow, the former head of the German Navy has warned in an interview with Berliner Zeitung.

Former German Navy chief Kay-Achim Schonbach resigned in early 2022 after triggering a political uproar by arguing that Russia was acting to protect its security interests rather than seeking confrontation with the West.

Looking back, Schonbach said he would not change the substance of his comments, arguing that Europe missed a chance to prevent the escalation of the Ukraine conflict by failing to “respect the Russian Federation’s right to its own vision of a security architecture on its western border.”

Schonbach emphasized that peace and stability in Europe can only be possible “with, and not against, Russia.”

He also raised concerns that given their current trajectory, Germany and the EU could go beyond legitimate support for Ukraine and “sleepwalk into the role of a belligerent.”

“Only in Ukraine is diplomacy categorically rejected,” he noted, arguing that Germany had squandered decades of postwar reconciliation with Moscow through “moralizing and righteous anger.”

Schonbach also said contacts between the German and Russian navies are now “completely severed,” something he said did not happen even at the height of the Cold War.

In Germany, opposition figures from both the right-wing AfD and Sahra Wagenknecht’s BSW have also consistently criticized Berlin’s Ukraine policy, calling for renewed dialogue with Russia, an end to weapons deliveries to Kiev, and a rethink of sanctions that they say have decimated Germany’s own economy.

Moscow has repeatedly denied claims that it plans to attack NATO or the EU, with Russian President Vladimir Putin calling them “nonsense” and “provocation” used to justify militarization.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has also stressed that Russia has no intention of attacking Europe unless attacked first, and has accused German and EU leadership of transforming the bloc into “a Fourth Reich.”

Sudan’s poverty rate has risen to 73%, its human resources minister said on Tuesday. 

Speaking during a press conference in Cairo, Sudanese Human Resources Minister Moatassim Ahmed Saleh announced plans to launch 500,000 youth projects and expand support for female-led businesses as part of efforts to create jobs and restore livelihoods.

Authorities have also established 15 partnerships to support female-led businesses.

In November, around 23 million people were living below the World Bank’s poverty threshold of $3.00 per day, Saleh estimated. “The poverty rate in Sudan rose from 21% to 71% due to the war, according to official reports,” he said. 

Saleh said the government has adopted a five-year plan for 2026-2030 aimed at supporting more than three million small businesses, with over 10,000 projects already prepared for beneficiaries. He also called on Sudanese living abroad to return and take advantage of economic opportunities.

The conflict has devastated local economies and forced millions to flee their homes. 

The poverty crisis has been exacerbated by the collapse of the Sudanese pound, which recently hit a record low against the US dollar. Banking expert Waleed Dalil told Sudan Tribune the currency’s decline reflects the broader impact of the war, which has crippled key sectors of the economy.

In April, Sudan Tribune estimated that direct drone attacks on civilian targets had killed between 480 and 500 people and injured more than 1,200 others since the start of 2026.

US inflation accelerated to a three-year high in May as soaring energy costs linked to the US-Israeli war on Iran pushed prices higher across the economy, according to government data. Food prices also rose sharply.

Consumer prices rose 4.2% from a year earlier and increased 0.5% on a monthly basis, with higher gasoline costs adding pressure on household budgets across the country, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) said on Wednesday. Energy prices accounted for more than 60% of the monthly rise in the Consumer Price Index.

The data comes as the US carried out new strikes on Iran for a second consecutive day in the latest escalation of a bombing campaign launched in late February, as President Donald Trump seeks to pressure Tehran into accepting his peace terms. Brent crude, the international benchmark, rose more than 2% on Thursday to about $95.40 a barrel on fears the conflict could disrupt global energy supplies.

Pump pain deepens

For American drivers, the increase is already showing up at the pump. Gasoline prices climbed 40.5% from a year earlier, turning a $40-$50 fill-up into a $60-$70 hit. The war has added an estimated $59 billion to America’s fuel bills since February, according to CNBC, or roughly $750 per household based on Moody’s Analytics estimates.

The latest rise in energy costs contrasts with Trump’s campaign pledge to curb inflation and cut fuel prices by half within a year of taking office.

Oil industry sounds alarm

Industry executives warn the pain may not be over. “We’re sounding the alarm,” American Petroleum Institute CEO Mike Sommers told Fox Business, citing fuel inventories nearing critical lows.

Some Trump administration officials have dismissed those concerns, industry sources said, noting that oil has yet to approach the $200-a-barrel levels predicted at the start of the war.

With the Strait of Hormuz effectively closed and the conflict showing no sign of easing, executives warn gasoline prices could climb further in the weeks ahead.

From pumps to hot dogs

But the surge extends well beyond the pump. At the breakfast table, coffee prices are up 17.5% from a year ago, according to CBS News analysis of BLS data. Grocery bills have climbed further: tomatoes are up 32%, lettuce nearly 25%, beef 16%, and even hot dogs 11% from a year earlier, the data show.

Trump ‘loves inflation’

Economists say the worst may still be ahead, warning that the data does not yet fully reflect the fallout from the war with Iran.

“What we’ve got is hot, sticky and persistent underlying inflation with the dispersion of price increases broadening again, instead of narrowing,” CNN quoted Diane Swonk, chief economist at KPMG, as saying.

“We’ve yet to hit the full effects of the war on food prices,” she added.

Trump, however, brushed aside concerns, declaring that “the numbers were great.” Asked about the latest figures, Trump told reporters at the White House: “I love inflation” before predicting that “it’s going to come down like a rock” once oil starts flowing freely through the Strait of Hormuz again.

One of the fundamental problems in Russia’s relations with the countries of the former Soviet Union is the persistent belief that Moscow has special obligations towards its neighbors: obligations to interpret their behavior generously, to respond with restraint, and to take their domestic political choices as something it must simply accept.

But this assumption is wrong.

The foreign policy course chosen by the Republic of Armenia is, of course, a sovereign matter for its people and leadership. But it would be strange to imagine that Russia has no sovereign right to respond to that choice entirely at its own discretion. Moscow is under no external obligation to behave as others would prefer. It’s constrained only by its own interests and by its own rational assessment of the situation.

In this sense, the dispute around Armenia’s elections, and the broader discussion of the republic’s so-called ‘European choice’, may offer a useful moment to remind Russia’s friends and neighbors that Moscow’s rights are no different from their own. Indeed, in practical terms they are greater, since Russia bears a far heavier responsibility for development and security across Greater Eurasia and, more broadly, the world.

Let’s be clear from the start. Russia’s reaction to the outcome of Armenia’s parliamentary elections, and to the subsequent steps taken by the government in Yerevan, need not be driven by emotion. Nor must it be guided by a desire to keep Armenia within Russia’s sphere of influence at any cost.

When considering the appropriate strategy towards Armenia, and towards all of Russia’s neighbors along its borders, several options are possible. They are not mutually exclusive.

First, Russia is under no obligation to recognize the results of elections in a neighboring country merely because the government in power, or the political force declaring victory, insists that it must. The example of Georgia shows that perfectly healthy trade and economic ties can exist even in the absence of diplomatic relations, let alone recognition of the official results of a popular vote.

This is especially relevant if those results are vigorously contested by local political forces, as appears likely in Armenia.

Second, Russia may apply economic pressure against any state if it believes that state’s behavior could cause harm to Russian interests. Moscow doesn’t need to wait until the damage becomes irreversible, nor does it have to accept another government’s assurances about its intentions.

Third, Russia’s neighbors, including some of its closest friends and allies, like to speak at length about the multi-vector nature of their foreign policy. Yet they often forget that Russia’s own policy is also multi-vector in that Moscow, too, is free to cooperate with anyone who does not seek to harm it.

Over the past four years, we have not heard any of Russia’s neighbors say that they continued trading with Moscow under Western sanctions out of a desire to help Russia. On the contrary, the word “pragmatism” has become central to the entire foreign policy vocabulary of Russia’s friends and allies in the CIS.

That’s perfectly understandable, that they cooperate with Russia because it is in their interests. But the same principle applies in reverse, and Russia owes nothing to anyone for free.

Fourth, when setting priorities for cooperation with any country, Russia is free to decide what matters most to it. Its neighbors are guided by their own perceptions, interests and political constructions. No one in Moscow is obliged to accept these as the framework for dialogue.

This doesn’t mean the economy is unimportant. It’s very important, and it brings real benefits and offers significant promise. But security remains the top priority, especially when it comes to Russia’s neighbors developing relations with major external powers such as the United States or leading Western European states.

Russia can afford to think this way because it’s the most resource-secure country in Eurasia and it’s therefore able to focus less on profit and more on preserving control over the resources and strategic space necessary for its own security because the security of Russian territory is paramount.

None of this means that Russia must now formulate some grand new doctrine towards its neighbors. In reality, Russia’s strategy is often to have no fixed strategy at all. As anyone with even a passing knowledge of Russian foreign policy history understands, Moscow tends to act according to current interests.

Ultimately, those interests all come down to one strategic task: ensuring the survival and development of the multi-ethnic Russian nation.

These interests must be pursued even when tactical circumstances require dialogue with extremely unpleasant partners. In essence, all foreign policy partners are merely instruments for ensuring the security of Russian territory and advancing Russia’s national development goals and nothing more.

For the rest, including even close and friendly neighbors, their significance depends on Russia’s own priorities. That means Moscow’s policy towards them can be highly flexible and entirely opportunistic and there’s little room here for abstract principles.

If cooperation serves Russia’s current security and economic interests, it should continue, but if the costs begin to outweigh the benefits, then Russia will adjust its behavior. Not in order to punish or humiliate a neighbor, but because a different model has become more advantageous.

It would therefore be a mistake to interpret Moscow’s view of those now proclaiming victory in Armenia’s elections as a simple desire to keep the republic in Russia’s sphere of influence, because the issue is broader than that.

Russia is reminding its neighbors about cause and effect, and it’s also reminding them of an axiom they sometimes prefer not to acknowledge, that Moscow acts according to what it currently sees as its own interests, not according to what others expect from it.

We can’t yet say how relations between Moscow and Yerevan will develop in the wake of Armenia’s parliamentary elections, but no one should doubt that any decision taken by Russia’s top political leadership will be based solely on Russia’s current interests.

Not on fraternal feelings and not on historical sentiment and not on traditional ties, because Russia owes nothing to anyone.

This article was first published by Vzglyad newspaper and translated and edited by the RT team.

A petrochemical tanker reported a fire off the Oman coast on Thursday after US forces fired at it, the third such incident this week around the Strait of Hormuz. 

India’s foreign ministry called the attacks deeply concerning and said all the 20 Indian crew members on board the ship are safe. 

The incident comes after New Delhi lodged a diplomatic protest with the US Charge d’Affairs on Wednesday following the death of three Indians when another tanker was struck.

The US Central Command said it acted against the Guinea-Bissau flagged MT Jalveer as it “attempted to transport oil from Iran through the Gulf of Oman.” 

It said an aircraft fired two Hellfire missiles into the ship’s engine room after the crew “repeatedly failed” to comply with directions from US forces.

India’s Ministry of External Affairs described the incident as a “maritime security incident” and said the all-Indian crew on the Jalveer were safe. “The continuing incidents affecting commercial shipping in the region are deeply concerning,” it added.

❗️All 20 Indian Crew Members Onboard MT Jalveer, Attacked Near Shinas Port In Oman, Are Safe - MEA

Authorities are working with Oman to coordinate their safe evacuation. pic.twitter.com/YKQyW0S53P

— RT_India (@RT_India_news) June 11, 2026

A shipping ministry spokesman said the crew were being evacuated to Shinas port, and that the ministry is monitoring the situation and coordinating with the Indian foreign ministry, diplomatic missions and the Indian Navy. The Omani Navy was helping with the evacuation, India’s embassy in Oman tweeted.

On Wednesday, three Indian crew members of the MV Settebello had died in an attack by US forces in the same area. And on Monday, the MT Marivex was hit but all its Indian crew were safely rescued. All three tankers were allegedly trying to run the US blockade around Iran.

The United States has been enforcing a naval and economic blockade of all Iranian ports since mid-April. Washington says it is in retaliation for Iranian restrictions on the movement of merchant ships through the Strait of Hormuz, through which about a fifth of the world’s energy passed before the conflict began. 

After the death of the crew members on the Settebello, New Delhi also raised its concern at the UN Security Council, pointing out that several Indian nationals had died or gone missing due to attacks in the region.

US President Donald Trump has called on Republicans in Congress to pass a $350 billion military spending package that would also impose sweeping new national voting rules before the midterm elections.

In a Truth Social post on Thursday, Trump urged lawmakers to move “immediately” on what he called “Recon 3.0,” a new budget bill that Republicans hope to pass without Democratic support.

Trump said the money is needed to bring the US military budget to $1.5 trillion and “build the arsenal of freedom.” He said the package would fund the Golden Dome missile shield, the F-47 fighter, the B-21 bomber, drones, space-based military capabilities and new ammunition stockpiles.

The president argued that the spending bill would create hundreds of thousands of high-paying US jobs, rebuild American industry and secure “global dominance” without fueling inflation.

The push comes after the US war on Iran and years of military support for Ukraine have strained American weapons supplies, with the Center for Strategic and International Studies stating it could take three or more years to replace some advanced missiles.

The president also wrote that the bill will include the Save America Act, which would tighten election-security measures and require all voters to show photo identification and proof of US citizenship. It would also largely ban mail-in ballots except in cases of illness, disability, military service or travel.

The president said the Save America Act would also ban men from women’s sports and prohibit “transgender mutilization” surgery for children.

However, the legislation still faces major hurdles, including inside Trump’s own party. Senior Republicans have questioned whether Congress can pass another big budget bill before the midterms, while Senate Majority Leader John Thune has said the Save America Act lacks the votes needed under normal rules. Fiscal conservatives could also demand spending cuts to offset the $350 billion military boost.

British Secretary of Defense John Healey has tendered his resignation to Prime Minister Keir Starmer, in the latest blow to the embattled Labour government.

Healey complained in an open letter that Starmer has been “unable, and the Treasury has been unwilling to commit the resources” required for sweeping reforms he sought to implement and to raise the spending level to 3% of GDP by 2030 to meet Britain’s obligation to NATO.

The minister cited the US-Israeli attack on Iran in late February and the increasing strain that European members of the American-led bloc are facing amid doubts about Washington’s commitment as factors necessitating more money for the military.

According to Haley, he resigned in protest at the military budget released in full on Monday that he said “falls well short of what is required” by the ministry to field battle-ready armed forces.

There were rumors that the party could replace its head and vote in a new prime minister, but Starmer’s government has so far survived the turmoil. Britain has seen a string of short-lived prime ministers in recent years. Since the Conservative Party’s Theresa May came to power in 2016, five people have held the position, with Starmer being the first from Labour in the series.

The UK, along with most other members of NATO, committed to boost spending during a leaders’ summit last year. The commitment came in response to pressure from US President Donald Trump, who accused European nations of abusing American protection and failing to pull their weight. The proposed benchmark was set at 5% of GDP, including 3.5% in direct military spending and 1.5% in security-related expenses. The UK said it would reach the milestone by 2035.

EU member states could seek to curtail the powers of the bloc’s diplomatic service, headed by Kaja Kallas, amid concerns among officials that the body is “dysfunctional,” the Financial Times has reported.

The European External Action Service (EEAS) was launched in 2010 as a kind of collective foreign ministry for the EU, overseeing international relations, aid programs, and intelligence gathering and analysis.

France has outlined possible reforms of the EEAS for consideration by member states, the FT reported on Thursday.

One option would return some of the service’s functions to the European Commission and national governments, although this would require unanimous approval by member states. Another proposal, which supporters say could be implemented without changing EU treaties, would limit the autonomy of the EEAS chief and loosen her control over more than 140 missions the EU maintains worldwide.

“Capitals are annoyed and want an effective way for us to act in unison externally,” one of five officials cited by the FT said. “It is clear that [the EEAS] doesn’t work the way it should in today’s world. It is dysfunctional,” another said.

Kallas and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen have reportedly been locked in a tug of war over who should steer EU foreign policy. The former German defense minister is said to have outmaneuvered the former Estonian prime minister in the bureaucratic battle, taking direct control in key geographic areas and pushing for a new intelligence body that would answer directly to her office.

Kallas accused of going off-script on China

Kallas has on several occasions made remarks on sensitive issues, including relations with China, that appeared to reflect her own views rather than the EU’s agreed position, while also advancing proposals some officials considered unwarranted, the FT said.

Last year, Kallas criticized the administration of US President Donald Trump for arguing that Ukraine could not defeat Russia militarily even with continued Western aid and sanctions. “If you’re saying that we collectively are not able to really pressure Russia…, then how do you say that you’re able to take on China?” she asked. The moderator at the Hudson Institute event joked that the remark would be removed from the recording.

EU and China at economic loggerheads

French President Emmanuel Macron made a state visit to China last December, followed by a similar trip by German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in February. The leaders of the EU’s two largest economies brought with them major industrial figures, who signed significant deals with Chinese counterparts.

The EU’s stated policy toward China is to “de-risk” economic ties. However, the turbulence that the Trump administration has added to the global economy, along with the doubts it has raised over NATO protections, has pushed European nations to reassess their positions.

EU chose Kallas as a Russia hawk

Kallas stepped down as Estonian prime minister after her popularity at home sank, partly due to a scandal involving her husband’s business interests in Russia. She joined von der Leyen’s second commission in December 2024 as an official who “eats Russians for breakfast,” as some media outlets put it.

The EU is currently debating who should represent the bloc in any direct negotiations with Russia. When asked last month whether she wanted the role, Kallas said the debate itself was a Russian “trap,” adding that her job description is “in the treaties.”

Israel’s longest-serving prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, will run for office again in the election later this year, his Likud party has announced.

On Tuesday, ABC News Chief Washington Correspondent Jonathan Karl claimed that US President Donald Trump told him he was not sure if Netanyahu should seek another term.

“He’s had an amazing career. Does he want to continue?” the president said as cited by Karl.

According to the journalist, Trump described Netanyahu as “a wartime prime minister” and insisted that “we will very shortly win the war [against Iran] one way or the other.” 

Likud responded to the report by issuing a short statement on X on Wednesday, stating that “Prime Minister Netanyahu will run in the upcoming elections – and with God’s help, he will win.” 

Netanyahu, 76, who returned as prime minister in December 2022 after holding office from 1996 to 1999 and from 2009 to 2021, has also previously voiced plans to take part in the election.

A poll published by the Israel Democracy Institute on Tuesday suggested that 61% of Israelis do not want Netanyahu to run for office again. The same number of respondents also said that they were in favor of introducing a two-term limit for future prime ministers.

Netanyahu, who is currently on trial for corruption, has faced harsh criticism recently from his political opponents in Israel over the handling of multiple conflicts under his leadership.

They argue that the prime minister has failed to achieve his goals of eliminating Hamas in Gaza, neutralizing Hezbollah in Lebanon or containing Iran, despite his claims to the contrary.

The Bundibugyo Ebola outbreak has spread to another health zone in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo), raising the nationwide total of affected zones to 26, the country’s Public Health Emergency Operations Center (COUSP) reported on Tuesday.

As of June 9, the authorities confirmed two Ebola cases in the Tchomia health zone of Ituri Province. The area is situated on the shores of Lake Albert near the Ugandan border and is roughly 50 kilometers south of Bunia, the capital of Ituri Province.

With the addition of Tchomia, 18 of Ituri’s 36 health zones have now recorded Ebola cases. The affected areas include Aru, Aungba, Bambu, Bunia, Damas, Gety, Kilo, Komanda, Lita, Logo, Mambasa, Mangala, Mongbwalu, Nizi, Nyankunde, Rimba and Rwampara.

According to Health Minister Roger Kamba, DR Congo had registered 635 confirmed Ebola cases as of June 9.

In a separate update, the minister announced eight new recoveries, bringing the total number of people who have overcome the virus to 30.

Last week, the Congolese Health Ministry reported that 340 tons of medicine and medical supplies had been delivered to Ituri and North Kivu provinces through a World Bank-funded project, in addition to 150 tons previously transported with UNICEF support.

The agency's experts were among the first to arrive in Uganda in late May to assist the local authorities. Russian-developed PCR tests for the Bundibugyo strain and mobile laboratories have since been deployed in both Uganda and DR Congo.

BrahMos Aerospace has said it is ready to take on orders for supersonic cruise missiles from either the Russian Navy or land forces.

A potential procurement by Moscow would see the system, partly produced in India, being supplied back to one of its original technology partners, underscoring New Delhi’s growing role in advanced defense manufacturing.

The BrahMos comes in land, air, and sea variants and India has already integrated it into its ground, air, and naval forces.

Such an order by Russia would also boost New Delhi’s push for domestic defense manufacturing under the ‘Make-in-India’ initiative.

Named after the Brahmaputra and Moskva rivers, the BrahMos is among the fastest supersonic cruise missiles in the world. It was used to deadly effect by India last year in its short military clash with Pakistan.

“We are ready to fulfill the order if there is an appeal from the Russian side. Either it will be missiles for the Navy, or for ground forces,” BrahMos Managing Director Alexander Maksichev told TASS on the sidelines of the International Naval Salon ‘Fleet-2026’.

“We have sufficient capacities, and we understand what the Russian side wants,” Maksichev said.

The missile was jointly developed by India’s Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and Russia’s NPO Mashinostroyeniya rocket design bureau, which produces the Oniks anti-ship cruise missiles. In 1995, a joint venture, BrahMos Aerospace, was established to produce the missile.

Originally capped at a range of 180 miles, the weapon has since been upgraded for greater reach.

Three civilians have been injured by an overnight Ukrainian drone attack on Russia’s southern Krasnodar Region, Governor Veniamin Kondratyev has said.

Debris from an intercepted UAV sparked a fire at an apartment block in the city of Krasnodar, injuring two people, Kondratyev said in a post on Telegram on Thursday. Several private homes were also damaged and one person injured in the Seversky district of the region, Kondratyev added.  

The Krasnodar regional operational headquarters released footage showing the aftermath of the attack. A video and photos posted on the agency’s Telegram channel show damage to the facade of the residential block, shattered windows, and the aftermath of fires in two apartments.

In total, 330 Ukrainian drones were shot down across Russia overnight as the country came under another large-scale Ukrainian aerial raid, the Defense Ministry reported. The interceptions took place over Moscow, Belgorod, Bryansk, Vladimir, Kaluga, Kursk, Orel, Smolensk, Tver, and Tula regions, as well as over the Crimean Peninsula, the ministry said.

Ukrainian drone raids on Russian territory have intensified over the past year, with Kiev launching hundreds of UAVs targeting residential areas, critical infrastructure, and industrial facilities. Russian officials have described the incursions as terrorist attacks meant to compensate for setbacks the Ukrainian military has been suffering on the battlefield.

In May, Ukraine killed 21 students, mostly young women, in a ‘double-tap’ drone strike on a college dormitory in the Russian town of Starobelsk. Earlier this month, Kiev carried out attacks on a bus and a train carrying passengers from Moscow to Simferopol, killing nine people.

Moscow has responded with “systematic and consistent strikes” targeting dual-use infrastructure, including power grids, military sites, command centers, and drone manufacturing facilities across Ukraine. Russia maintains that it never targets purely civilian sites.

The joint US-Israeli military strikes on Iran and Tehran’s regional retaliation could give the African Union (AU) an opportunity to cement its identity as a defender of the UN charter and international law, but, as African experts argue, it seems to have missed it.

Dr. Wafula Okumu, executive director of The Borders Institute, says the AU’s reaction to the Iran crisis clearly showed that the continental body suffers from what he describes as a “crisis of consistency”.

According to Okumu, the AU Commission chairperson’s “softly-worded” statement on the US-Israeli attack on Iran and its sharp condemnation of Iran’s reaction portrayed Africa as succumbing to “selective Chartersim,” a practice it has long condemned in others.

“The AU appeared not keen on outrightly calling out the US and Israel for attacking Iran. It seemed to be taking a safe and neutral position, but its reaction to Iran’s retaliation lacked the tone of a peacemaker,” Dr. Okumu told RT.

Dr. Okumu notes that the AU’s “unsettling silence” on the breach of Article 2(4) of the United Nations Charter, which prohibits the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state, appeared to be justifying the actions of the aggressors (the US and Israel) against the victim of the aggression (Iran).

He explains that by adopting a posture of neutrality between an aggressor and a victim of that aggression, the AU “inadvertently weakened the very legal norms it purports to uphold.”

“The AU was simply not bold enough to call out the US and Israel for infringing on the sovereignty of Iran,” he said.

‘The current geopolitical settings are confusing for Africa’

Nicodemus Minde, a peace and security governance researcher at the Institute for Security Studies in Nairobi, says Africa is good at the “art of selective application of principle’,’ especially in situations where powerful global players are the aggressors.

Minde argues that it was wrong for the AU to describe Iran’s retaliation as a violation of sovereignty, while failing to apply the same language when condemning the attacks by the US and Israel.

“The AU is a victim of unjustifiable inconsistency. There is nothing wrong with lawfully defending a victim against an aggressor. Africa must move from the periphery and be a bold, universal defender of the rule of law and sovereignty,” said Minde.

According to Minde, as much as it is right for the AU not to take sides in global crises, it is only right for it to side with the law while protecting its interests.

“The current geopolitical settings are complex and confusing for Africa, and the only thing that can shield Africa from being swallowed into the current global conflicts is by defending the law and speaking against violations committed by either the East or the West,” said Minde.

He called for the formulation of a common foreign policy among African Union member states to help the continent navigate shifting geopolitics with principled consistency.

Chepkorir Sambu, a peace and security researcher and law lecturer at Kenya’s Kabarak University, explains that for the AU to become an effective foreign policy actor on the global stage, it should firmly ground its actions in international law and consistently defend the UN Charter.

Sambu says the AU and its leadership should stop living under the unspoken fear of the US and other Western power players, and instead openly call them out when they are wrong.

“What the AU needed in the US-Israel versus Iran crisis was not taking a pro-Iran or anti-West stand, but simply being pro-rule-of-law. We cannot appear to be subtly supporting the actions of the aggressor while loudly condemning the victim,” she argues.

She added, “Africa must be explicit in reaffirming Article 2(4) of the United Nations Charter on the prohibition on the use of force as the cornerstone of international law. A violation is a violation, whether being committed by the US or Iran.”

Sambu argues that the AU should apply the same legal and moral standard to all breaches of sovereignty, regardless of the actor. Condemning Iran’s retaliation is legitimate, but it is legally and morally incoherent without a prior, and equally strong, condemnation of the initial attack.

‘Africa has the power to be the voice of reason’

Dr. Okumu says the time is ripe for Africa’s voice to dominate the global stage and that it matters now more than ever, especially as the world fragments amid great-power competition.

He says Africa should speak with a clear, principled, and unwavering voice, and be part of the geopolitical shifts and realignments without fear.

“Africa, through the AU, must avoid the trap of political expediency and embrace the disciplined legal consistency that is the true source of its authority. The continent has the power to be the voice of reason on the globe, and that power must be exercised,” Dr. Okumu concluded.

All three missing crew members from a chemical tanker struck by the US military in the Gulf of Oman are confirmed dead, Indian Shipping Minister Sarbananda Sonowal said on Thursday.

The Palau-flagged MT Settebello had on board a 28-member crew – 24 Indians, two Pakistanis, one Russian, and one Ukrainian – when the US military fired at it with a precision munition for allegedly trying to run the blockade of Iran. The incident occurred off the coast of Oman, where authorities rescued 25 crew members, while three were initially reported missing.

This was the second attack on commercial shipping by US forces near the Strait of Hormuz. The MT Marivex – also flying the Palau flag – was struck on Monday. The Marivex carried an all-Indian crew, who were rescued after the attack.

It is deeply unfortunate to learn of the tragic incident aboard the Palau-flagged MT Settebello. Sadly, three Indian seafarers initially reported missing are now confirmed dead after bodies have been located and identified.

This is a profound loss to our maritime family. The…

— Sarbananda Sonowal (@sarbanandsonwal) June 11, 2026

New Delhi summoned US Chargé d’Affaires Jason Meeks and lodged a protest after the attack on the Settebello. “The continuing incidents of attacks on shipping in the region are deeply worrisome and a direct result of the ongoing conflict in the region,” the Indian Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday, calling for an “immediate de-escalation of tensions.”

US Marine veteran Graham Platner, who recently covered up a Nazi-style tattoo, has won Maine’s Democratic Senate primary and will face Republican Senator Susan Collins in November.

Platner, a progressive with no previous political experience, won 75% of the vote, garnering support from left-wing Democrats and attracting large crowds with firebrand rhetoric, including promises to “topple the oligarchy” and accusations that his future opponent serves the “Epstein class.” Other Democrats, however, have expressed concerns about whether Platner can defeat Collins in light of his numerous scandals.

Platner, who completed three tours in Iraq with the Marines and another in Afghanistan as a National Guardsman, long had the Totenkopf emblem – the Nazi skull symbol famously referenced in the “Are We the Baddies?” Mitchell and Webb comedy skit – tattooed on his chest.

The candidate said he was unaware of the symbol’s meaning when he got the tattoo in Croatia in 2007 while heavily intoxicated alongside fellow service members. He described it as “a terrifying-looking skull and crossbones,” noting that the National Guard prohibits tattoos that are “extremist, racist, sexist, or otherwise indecent.”

CNN: "[Graham] Platner referred to [his tattoo] as 'my Totenkopf,' which is a reference to the skull and cross bone used by Nazi SS units years before the controversy became public." pic.twitter.com/maQ6FnoEDM

— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) June 5, 2026

In October 2025, Platner covered the tattoo with a different design – a Celtic knot featuring a wolf-like creature that some suggested resembled Fenrir, a wolf from Norse mythology. Critics argued that Nordic-inspired imagery is also popular among some far-right and white supremacist groups.

“If I was ever under the impression that it was a symbol associated with that ideology, I would not have gone through life taking photographs of myself,” said Platner, who describes himself as an anti-fascist.

The Democrat faced accusations of anti-Semitism after he made the refusal to take donations from the pro-Israeli lobby group AIPAC a campaign point. Collins, who is openly pro-Israel, collected almost 20% of her war chest from AIPAC, according to media estimates.

Sen. Susan Collins [R-Maine] has now received >$1.8 MILLION from AIPAC and the Israel lobby. #MESEN pic.twitter.com/edZdINfMhS

— AIPAC Tracker (@TrackAIPAC) June 10, 2026

Platner has also been criticized for old online posts in which he used homophobic slurs and argued that victims of sexual assault in the military should “act like an adult” and avoid getting “blacked out f*cked up.” He later apologized and attributed the comments to struggles with PTSD.

US President Donald Trump has endorsed Collins and branded Platner a “thug” who was “worse than any human being that has ever run for office.”

Trump’s approval rating remains near the lowest level of his political career as the campaign is dominated by concerns about the cost of living, rising energy prices, and the unpopular war with Iran.

A Texas jury has convicted 19-year-old Karmelo Anthony of first-degree murder and sentenced him to 35 years in prison for fatally stabbing fellow student Austin Metcalf during a high school track meet last April.

Anthony’s supporters argued that the case carried racial overtones and maintained the black teenager acted in self-defense during the confrontation with the 17-year-old Metcalf, who was white.

The unanimous verdict was returned on Tuesday at the Collin County Courthouse in McKinney. Anthony will be eligible for parole after serving at least half of his sentence.

The stabbing occurred on April 2, 2025, at a stadium in the Frisco Independent School District that was hosting a multi-school track and field meet. Witnesses told jurors that after it began to rain, Anthony sought shelter under a team tent belonging to another school, which Metcalf represented.

According to testimony, Metcalf approached Anthony and repeatedly told him to leave. Prosecutors said Anthony replied, “Touch me and see what happens,” while reaching into a bag.

During closing arguments, Collin County First Assistant District Attorney Bill Wirskye argued that the stabbing was unjustified and that Anthony had provoked the confrontation.

The defense, meanwhile, sought a reduced sentence under the state’s “sudden passion” provision. Attorney Mike Howard told jurors that Anthony had acted out of “fear and chaos,” arguing that Metcalf had “no legal right” to use force against him.

While the victim’s father, Jeff Metcalf, has repeatedly insisted the case was never about race or politics, some of Anthony’s supporters have continued to view it through that lens.

Emotions ran hot outside the Collin County Courthouse on Tuesday, where supporters of both sides engaged in heated verbal exchanges.

Karmelo Anthony’s grandmother, Toni Hayes shouted “Racist! Bias!” from the passenger side window of the black Acura as it slowly pulled away through the crowd outside the McKinney courthouse.pic.twitter.com/kNx70kbHTn

— Bella (@stockbella) June 10, 2026

Toni Hayes, Anthony’s grandmother, was heard shouting “Racist! Bias!” as she departed the courthouse in a vehicle, according to a video widely shared on social media.

Americans have become less likely to view a range of social behaviors as morally acceptable, according to a new Gallup poll.

Released on Tuesday, the survey found the sharpest year-on-year declines in acceptance of having a child outside marriage, birth control, gambling, sex between teenagers, and animal cloning.

Birth control remained the most widely accepted behavior tracked by Gallup, with 83% of respondents saying it was morally acceptable. However, support fell seven percentage points from 2025, reaching its lowest level since the question was first included in the survey in 2012.

Acceptance of having a baby outside marriage fell nine percentage points to 58%, while support for gambling dropped six points to 57%. The share of Americans who view sex between teenagers as morally acceptable stood at 35%, while acceptance of animal cloning declined to a record low of 27%.

Six behaviors have reached record lows in moral acceptability among Americans: birth control (83%), gambling (57%), the death penalty (52%), medical testing on animals (45%), changing one's gender (38%) and cloning animals (27%).

Birth control remains the most accepted behavior… pic.twitter.com/BsYJefz4QU

— Gallup (@Gallup) June 10, 2026

Despite the declines, majorities of respondents still considered several behaviors morally acceptable, including divorce (74%), sex between unmarried adults (65%), gay or lesbian relations (62%), embryonic stem-cell research (59%), buying and wearing animal fur (57%), and the death penalty (52%).

The poll also highlighted sharp partisan divides, with Democrats far more likely than Republicans to view abortion, gender transition, and gay or lesbian relations as morally acceptable, while Republicans were more supportive of the death penalty.

According to Gallup, Americans remain more accepting of most of the behaviors it tracks than they were two decades ago. However, the polling firm said the findings suggest that a decades-long shift toward greater moral permissiveness has largely leveled off and, in some cases, may be beginning to reverse. The survey was conducted among 1,001 adults nationwide between May 1 and May 17.

The absence of China’s top military leadership from this year’s Shangri-La Dialogue – a key annual inter-governmental security conference focused on the Asia-Pacific region – prompted predictable speculation about worsening US-China relations. Yet a more important development took place away from the conference hall.

Just hours earlier, American and Chinese military officials met in Hawaii under the Military Maritime Consultative Agreement to discuss maritime safety, crisis management, and ways to reduce the risk of incidents at sea. This was in line with the trend of Washington and Beijing rebuilding lines of military communication despite their strategic competition.

Rather than pursuing either liberal-globalist ambitions or a new Cold War against China, US President Donald Trump’s second-term administration appears to be advancing a strategy built on realism and balance-of-power politics.

The end of the globalist consensus

US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s speech at the Shangri-La Dialogue offered perhaps the clearest articulation of this approach.

Hegseth argued that the US has abandoned what he described as the “old toothless, utopian, and globalist course of foreign policy.” Meaning that appeals to universal values and abstract international norms are giving way to a foreign policy centered on national interests, military strength, and strategic realism.

For decades, many US allies relied heavily on American security guarantees while maintaining relatively modest defense capabilities of their own. Hegseth openly questioned this model, arguing that allies should become genuine security partners rather than long-term dependents.

From protectorates to partners

The Trump administration’s emphasis on burden-sharing is about more than budgetary concerns. It also acknowledges a deeper geopolitical reality. For three decades after the Cold War, the US occupied a uniquely hegemonic position in the Indo-Pacific. Today, however, China’s rise, India’s growing influence, and the increasing strategic weight of other regional powers are contributing to a more multipolar environment.

Rather than attempting to restore the conditions of uncontested primacy, Washington increasingly appears focused on preserving an advantageous position within this changing balance. The US remains, or at least still believes itself to be, the strongest military power in the region, but it is encouraging partners to assume greater responsibility for regional security.

This helps explain continued American support for military modernization among countries such as Japan, South Korea, Australia, the Philippines, and India. Critics often portray these efforts as evidence of containment directed against China, yet the Trump administration presents them as an effort to preserve a regional balance in which no single power can dominate the Indo-Pacific.

China remains central to this strategy. Hegseth expressed concern about the country’s growing military capabilities, but his remarks were notably less confrontational than much of the rhetoric that has characterized recent debates in Washington. He emphasized the importance of stable relations, fair trade, and continued military-to-military engagement.

It’s equally important to note what he did not emphasize. Taiwan, one of the most sensitive issues in US-China relations, played little role in his speech. The omission suggested an effort to manage competition without turning every disagreement into a geopolitical crisis.

The recently released US National Defense Strategy identifies four priorities: defending the US and the Western Hemisphere, including Greenland; deterring China in the Indo-Pacific; increasing burden-sharing among allies and partners; and revitalizing the American defense-industrial base.

While identifying China as the primary strategic challenge in the Indo-Pacific, the document also calls for expanded military dialogue, strategic stability, and mechanisms for de-escalation. The US Department of War even acknowledges China’s extraordinary rise and military achievements.

Importantly, the strategy does not seek China’s isolation or humiliation. Instead, it reflects a concern that if any single power were to dominate the Indo-Pacific, it could gain disproportionate influence over the world’s economic center of gravity.

Such an approach also reflects changing realities within the international order itself. The US is no longer operating in the largely unipolar environment of the 1990s. It is adapting to a world in which multiple major powers coexist and compete. Rather than attempting to preserve its slipping primacy, Washington appears to have shifted to maintaining a favorable balance that protects US interests.

China has a different view of the situation, however. It interprets the military modernization of US allies and partners in the region as evidence of continued containment or encirclement. These tensions are likely to persist. Actions that Washington sees as burden-sharing and balance-building will continue to be viewed in Beijing as militarization directed against China, and the ball is in the Washington’s court to convince Beijing otherwise.

Competition between the United States and China will undoubtedly continue, but America’s emerging strategy points to a search for equilibrium rather than dominance, and stability rather than escalation. If sustained, it could offer a more durable foundation for coexistence between major powers than either the hegemonic assumptions of the past or the confrontational mindset of a new Cold War.

Omar Artan, who was set to become the first Somali to referee a FIFA World Cup match but was denied entry by the US, has been honored as a national hero upon his return home.

The 34-year old was detained for some 11 hours by US immigration officials before being sent back to Istanbul, despite having all the necessary paperwork in place and being poised to become the first Somali World Cup referee.

The upcoming 2026 FIFA World Cup, which will be co-hosted by the US, Mexico, and Canada, has been beset by organizational concerns, including shifting US entry policies.

Last year, US President Donald Trump’s administration imposed a sweeping travel ban on citizens of 12 countries, including Somalia.

Artan touched down at Mogadishu’s airport on Wednesday and was greeted by hundreds of people, including local government officials and representatives of the Somali Football Federation. Some were waving national flags and carrying banners featuring photos of him.

Referee Mohamed Atan got a hero's welcome back in Somalia 🇸🇴 they might think they have broken him but they have created a new hero with many open doors for opportunities.

When one door closes another opens.He remains the best 👌referee from Africa@soka25east pic.twitter.com/tsFYQsVv7l

— Collins Okinyo (@bedjosessien) June 10, 2026

He thanked his compatriots for their support and vowed to officiate at the next World Cup.

In 2025, the Confederation of African Football named Artan the continent’s best referee of the year. He went on to make the list of 52 referees for the 2026 World Cup selected by FIFA.

The New York Times conducted a telephone interview on Tuesday, when the 34-year-old said he was in Istanbul, Türkiye awaiting a connecting flight. Artan recounted how he had arrived at Miami International Airport on Saturday with a valid visa, but was taken aside by border officials for 11 hours of questioning.

The Somali referee told the newspaper he had all the “right papers,” including documentation from FIFA, but was nevertheless put on a flight back to Istanbul, with no explanation forthcoming.

The NYT quoted the US Customs and Border Protection as confirming that the “traveler, a referee for the FIFA World Cup, was determined to be inadmissible due to vetting concerns.”

The publication suggested that Artan might have attracted particular scrutiny because a Somali national with a similar name is on a US sanctions list over his alleged ties to the Al Shabab terrorist group.

The US has carried out strikes in Iran for the second consecutive day as President Donald Trump seeks to pressure Tehran into accepting his peace terms.

Explosions and impacts were reported across southern and central Iran hours after US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said US Central Command (CENTCOM) “will be busy tonight.”

“Because President Trump said we will be hitting Iran hard – and we will be,” Hegseth told reporters.

The Pentagon chief said the strikes would target “key facilities” in Iran and added that Tehran “has an opportunity to make a deal” with Washington.

Despite Trump’s insistence that the sides were close to a deal, the negotiations had stalled for weeks, with both sides accusing each other of bad faith and ceasefire violations.

Last week, Iran threatened to suspend the talks in response to Israel’s continued airstrikes in Lebanon.

Tehran’s conditions for a peace agreement include the cessation of hostilities “on all fronts,” including Lebanon, where Israel has been waging a war against Hezbollah since early March. Israel and Iran exchanged strikes on Monday.

On Wednesday, the US launched strikes in Iran in response to what it described as the downing of an American AH-64 Apache attack helicopter near the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran denied responsibility for the incident and responded with a missile barrage targeting US bases in the region.

This live feed is over.

Hostilities flared up on the Afghan-Pakistan border overnight as strikes by the Pakistani military killed 13 civilians, Afghan officials have said.

The strikes took place in the Afghan border provinces of Kunar, Khost, and Paktika, according to Zabihullah Mujahid, a government spokesman. It marks the deadliest episode in weeks, following a period of relative calm.

The Pakistani bombing claimed the lives of “11 children, one woman, and one elderly man,” Mujahid posted on X. Fourteen others were injured, he said, including women and children.

An AFP report quoting an unidentified official in Khost said a strike on a house in Spera district killed nine and wounded 11. Residents of a neighboring province said a separate attack claimed three civilians in Barmal district. The deceased were all children, a resident said.

Crime
Last night, the Pakistani military once again violated Afghanistan's airspace and bombed civilian homes in the provinces of Kunar, Khost, and Paktika.
As a result of these attacks, 11 children, one woman, and one elderly man were killed, while 14 other women
2/1

— Zabihullah (..ذبـــــیح الله م ) (@Zabehulah_M33) June 10, 2026

Pakistan has accused Afghanistan’s Taliban government of sheltering armed groups that conduct cross-border raids and terrorist attacks, including the bombing of a mosque in Islamabad in February that killed more than 30 people.Afghanistan has, in turn, accused Pakistan of “unforgivable war crimes.” Low-intensity clashes have continued on the Afghan-Pakistan border despite the two nations agreeing to a truce in late March.

Islamabad has repeatedly said its strikes in Afghanistan are aimed at insurgents carrying out attacks on its territory and that it does not target civilians.

But a United Nations report published last month put the death toll of Afghan civilians at 372 in the first three months of this year. It said 397 people have been wounded in the conflict.

A visit by a far-right lawmaker to an Arab town in northern Israel has sparked controversy after local leaders accused him of staging a political provocation and sought to block the trip. 

Knesset Education Committee chairman Zvi Sukkot of the Religious Zionism party traveled to Tuba-Zangariyye last week under heavy police protection to discuss what he described as “crime and violence” in the local education system.

The leaders of the predominantly Bedouin Arab town in the Galilee region, however, made clear he was not welcome, calling the trip a “racist” political stunt rather than an educational tour, and locked the gates of a local school ahead of his arrival. After being denied entry, Sukkot was filmed using an electric saw during a confrontation outside the school, and the footage quickly went viral. 

“What we least expected was for a member of the Israeli Knesset and the chairman of Israel’s Education Committee to behave in such a way,” Tuba-Zangariyye council head Muayyad Haib told RT, describing the visit as “extremely provocative” and saying it left some children “terrified.” 

Haib said residents opposed the visit because of Sukkot’s previous statements and actions toward the community, adding that the lawmaker proceeded with the trip despite the repeated objections of local officials. 

Sukkot has defended his actions and vowed to push for cuts to state funding for schools, arguing that the State of Israel should not invest “even one shekel” in such an education system. 

The incident has fueled a wider political row, with critics accusing Sukkot of seeking confrontation for political gain.

RT’s Charlotte Dubenskij takes a closer look at the events.  

Italy has launched a probe into far-right Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir’s alleged mistreatment of multinational activists who took part in an aid flotilla bound for Gaza, days after a similar investigation was opened by France. It comes as the EU is considering sanctions on Ben-Gvir over the alleged abuse.

The scandal was triggered by the IDF’s interception of the Global Sumud Flotilla in May, an international civilian initiative set up to break the Israeli blockade of Gaza. Activists have repeatedly attempted to reach the Palestinian enclave over the years, but their vessels have ended up attacked, sunk, burned, bombed, or stopped by Israeli forces.

The enclave remains in dire need of humanitarian assistance. Nearly its entire population of approximately 2.1 million is displaced, while roughly 60% of Palestinians in Gaza have lost their homes during the latest war between Israel and Hamas.

The latest attempt to run the blockade was no exception – the ships were boarded by the Israeli military in international waters off Cyprus and over 400 activists were detained. The detainees were expelled after a few days in custody, alleging widespread mistreatment at the hands of the Israeli forces, including beatings, torture, sexual assault, and outright rape.

While Israel has repeatedly taken an extremely heavy-handed approach to those involved in such endeavors, the latest incident was further aggravated by the actions of Ben-Gvir. The minister showed up at a prison ship housing the detainees waving a large Israeli flag, taunting the kneeling and bound activists and urging the government to jail them for a long time. He also posted the video online.

Multiple nations have formally condemned the treatment of the Global Sumud Flotilla activists, with some also taking aim at Ben-Gvir. France banned the minister from entry days after he published his stunt, citing his “reprehensible actions towards French and European citizens.” Poland also imposed a travel ban on the minister, while Ireland last week barred Ben-Gvir, as well as extreme-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, from entering the country over the flotilla case and anti-Palestinian remarks. 

The Italian probe was openly mocked by the recalcitrant minister, who said he would not “shy away from one investigation or another and will continue to stand proudly alongside our fighters.”

“The land of the Boot has become the land of the flip-flop,” he added, referring to Italy’s geographical shape and an apparent shift in its position towards Israel.

The probes come as the EU is expected to consider imposing restrictions on the Israeli firebrand. The flotilla incident has also reignited the drive for broader measures against West Jerusalem, including the potential suspension of the EU-Israel Association Agreement. 

While the sanctions against Ben-Gvir are expected to be discussed as soon as next week, it remains unclear whether the bloc will adopt them given the lack of consensus. The Czech Republic has vowed to block any anti-Israel initiatives even if it means opposing all the other member states.

“Hochmut kommt vor dem Fall” (arrogance precedes a fall) says a proverb every German knows. That, you may say, is little wonder, considering how the last two world wars started and ended.

But the saying is much older. It is rooted in Martin Luther’s punchy translation of the Old Testament (in the English King James Bible, the relevant passage reads “Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall”). Clearly, the admonition not to preen and strut lest you stumble and fall flat on your silly, overbearing face is addressed to all of us, including, for instance, Americans and Israelis.

Yet recent events at the United Nations have highlighted the pertinence of – to use a term less harsh than arrogance – an over-optimistically biased lack of self-awareness to the case of contemporary Germany. Or to be precise, its political elites. Berlin, in essence, has been humiliated in public, before literally the whole world: Applying for a non-permanent seat on the UN Security Council, it lost the vote in the UN General Assembly.

The rotating non-permanent seats on the UN Security Council are, to put it mildly, not terribly powerful resources. Their value is at least as much a matter of political symbolism and prestige as of practical benefits. But it would be foolish to conclude that Germany’s defeat does not matter. On the contrary, it is precisely the fact that such a seat does not pack a mighty punch that makes the failure to obtain one even worse: How hard can it be? Obviously too hard for the current Berlin team.

Hence, ironically, although objectively the stakes were not that high, this is a massive setback and great embarrassment for official Germany. One reason is that a de facto routine has been broken. You might even say a tradition going all the way back to the last century’s Cold War. Since the 1973 admission as full UN members of both Cold War Germanies, East and West, first West then united Germany (in effect, West Germany after gobbling up its former rival), has held a non-permanent seat six times and, often forgotten now, the former East Germany once. This is Germany’s first ever failure to achieve what had come to look like the default: getting what it wants.

No wonder the Germans have been even glummer than when they lose a football match. Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul, who had traveled to New York to lecture the world and score what looked like an easy win, deplored a “bitter defeat” (but is unwilling to do the right thing and resign).

The staid Deutsche Presse-Agentur (dpa) noted a “resounding” debacle. Influential business newspaper Wirtschaftswoche registered a “harsh setback” for not only Wadephul but also his boss, Chancellor Friedrich Merz. Both – proud of their dull unanimity – have long sought to claim a larger international role for Berlin in Europe, as well as globally. Yet they find their iteration of Germany rejected by the closest thing to a world parliament as no German government has before.

Even worse, while international ‘leadership’ is clearly out of reach, as no one wants German leaders – who would have thought – even more modest ambitions seem unrealistic. An editorial in Spiegel, Germany’s Pravda of radical Centrism, despairs that Berlin might as well say goodbye to its dreams of playing “Mittelmacht” (a middle power) and has now arrived at the glorious status of “Kleinstaat,” literally meaning simply a small state, but in reality, if you know German mentality, a thing comical at best (when it happens to, say, Liechtenstein) and a tragic disgrace when it happens to Germany.

And to be fair, there is something odd about Germany not even maintaining its very moderate clout and prestige at the UN. You don’t have to be a German nationalist to notice a discrepancy between Germany’s economic and demographic weight – both declining badly but still comparatively substantial – and its traditional role as a major player in at least the US vassal version of Europe on one side and its crass humiliation at the UN on the other.

In Europe, an economically stagnant but massively re-militarizing Germany has acquired a new profile as the single Western state most responsible for prolonging the Ukraine war – that is the massive abuse of Ukrainians as cannon fodder in a failed attempt to degrade Russia geopolitically after even the US has shed that role. But much of the world wants this war to end and has no misguided sympathy for the ultra-corrupt Zelensky regime.

Such international observers also note that Berlin is willing to humbly, perversely accept a massive attack on its vital infrastructure by precisely that Zelensky regime and, most likely, several of its NATO ‘allies’ as well. This repulsive mix of aggressiveness and a cowardly failure to protect elementary national interests cannot produce respect or sympathy. It certainly doesn’t say “vote for me, I am reliable.”

Then there is the pronounced German habit of lecturing the world but especially anyone not European or North American on, well, everything you can think of. China, for instance, when it doesn’t simply disinvite Germans as it very understandably now does, gets to hear daft, stale, and holier-than-thou sermons about ‘democratic values’ – from a country where a whole left-wing opposition party (the BSW) hasn’t made it into parliament due to extremely suspicious, systemic-looking miscounts.

And then, there is the icky submissiveness to the US, of course. Even while Berlin has managed to personally antagonize US President Donald Trump – not hard to do, admittedly – it also cannot find clear words about either the Iran war, where it loves to perversely blame and hector the victims in Tehran, or for instance, the harrowing of Venezuela and Cuba. Why would anyone entrust additional power to spineless weaklings?

There are specific solo performances as well: Wadephul’s predecessor Annalena Baerbock is infamous for her inanities, covering areas from elementary geometry (360 degrees and all that) to accidental declarations of war. Indeed, some Germans have long called her “cringe personified.” But is Wadephul really any better? He has just used his pre-voting speech at the UN – the job interview, in essence – to once again unfold his embarrassingly deranged pet theory that states which he deems rogue, for instance Iran, have no right to the protections of international law. Obviously intellectually absurd and shabbily motivated, such plain nonsense, which would make international law superfluous, from a trained lawyer who also happens to be a foreign minister makes Germany look stupid as well as dishonest.

Germany to the world: We are not sending our best to work with you. That’s not a great message when you would like the world to like and trust you because it reeks of haughtiness and disrespect. But there is a worse possibility. What if more and more of our fellow nations on this globe conclude that Baerbock and Wadephul actually are our best?

The Iranian military has been “completely defeated,” US President Donald Trump has claimed, warning Tehran it will “pay the price” for delaying a deal with Washington.  

The warnings came after Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) announced missile and drone strikes on American military facilities in several Arab countries in retaliation for recent US attacks. US Central Command said the operations inside Iran were carried out after an AH-64 Apache helicopter was lost near the Strait of Hormuz, an incident it blamed on Tehran. 

Trump posted on Truth Social on Wednesday that Iran “is all talk and no action,” adding that “The Bully of the Middle East is DEAD!!!” 

He also accused Tehran of taking “too long to negotiate a deal that would have been great for them,” warning that it would now “have to pay the price.” 

Iran’s Military is a complete and total mess. Much of it, like their Navy and Air Force, doesn’t even exist anymore - They have been completely defeated. Iran is all talk and no action. The Bully of the Middle East is DEAD!!! They’ve taken too long to negotiate a deal that would… pic.twitter.com/wW9ULVRoMC

— The White House (@WhiteHouse) June 10, 2026

The exchange of fire marked the most serious escalation since a ceasefire was announced in early April. Efforts to turn the truce into a durable peace have stalled for weeks, with Washington and Tehran repeatedly accusing each other of violating its terms. 

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said the US strikes had jeopardized the negotiations and forced Tehran to “reassess” its participation. He accused Washington of undermining diplomacy through military action and “contradictory messages,” while blaming Israel’s operations in Lebanon for further damaging the process. 

Israel has intensified strikes in Lebanon against what it describes as Hezbollah targets. The IDF attacks reportedly killed at least eight people near Tyre and in Sidon on Wednesday. 

Trump has previously lashed out at Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for derailing Iran talks, reportedly telling him during a phone call “You’re f***ing crazy. You’d be in prison if it weren’t for me.”  

The Indian Foreign Ministry has condemned an attack on an oil tanker off the coast of Oman and called for an “immediate de-escalation of tensions” in the Strait of Hormuz. 

New Delhi also summoned US Chargé d’Affaires Jason Meeks to protest the assault on the ship.

Three Indian crew members are missing following the attack on the vessel, which had 24 on board, New Delhi said.

The Palau-flagged products tanker MT Settebello issued a distress call on Wednesday, reporting a missile attack on its engine room, 20 nautical miles northeast of Sohar in the Gulf of Oman.

The US Central Command (CENTCOM) said in a post on X that  "U.S. aircraft fired precision munitions into the ship’s engine room after the crew repeatedly failed to comply with directions from American forces."

“We condemn the attack on the commercial vessel Settebello off the coast of Oman, earlier today,” the Indian Foreign Ministry said. “Of the 24 Indian crew onboard, 21 Indians have been rescued thus far and three Indians are reportedly missing.”

“The continuing incidents of attacks on shipping in the region are deeply worrisome and a direct result of the ongoing conflict in the region,” the ministry said.

The Indian Embassy in Oman said it is monitoring the situation and “proactively coordinating with the Omani authorities in the ongoing search and rescue operation.” The ship tracking website Marine Traffic has listed the ship’s destination as Fujairah, UAE.

⚡️ 🇺🇸 CENTCOM Confirms Strike on Commercial Tanker Off Oman Coast – Claims ‘Disabled Non-Compliant Vessel’

Three Indian crew are reportedly missing following the strike, the 🇮🇳 MEA stated earlier.

📹: CENTCOM https://t.co/SJx3JKhj0Z pic.twitter.com/JYfYpeO6vn

— RT_India (@RT_India_news) June 10, 2026

This is the second attack on a commercial ship with Indian crew members in the past three days. On Monday, the oil tanker MT Marivex was attacked by US forces south of the Strait of Hormuz. CENTCOM said that the Palau-flagged vessel was transiting international waters in the Gulf of Oman toward Iran when it was targeted. The ship was “attempting to sail to an Iranian port,” it said.

The sea lanes in and around the Strait of Hormuz have become a dangerous environment for merchant ships following the US-Israeli attack on Iran earlier this year.

The Ukraine conflict appears to be an “ethnic cleansing” project aimed at removing the Russian-speaking population from the country’s eastern border regions, US conservative commentator Candace Owens has said.

Owens made the remarks in an interview with Russian filmmaker and TV host Nikita Mikhalkov during a discussion about the roots of the conflict and the West’s attitude toward Russia.

“I think what’s happening in Ukraine is an ethnic cleansing,” Owens said, arguing that it was “obvious” that large numbers of fighting-age men were being killed, and suggested that “the ultimate goal” of those behind the conflict was to move in “other people” to Ukraine’s border regions.

Moscow has long maintained that the conflict stems from the Western-backed 2014 coup in Kiev, which overthrew then-Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, and the subsequent military campaign launched by the new authorities against Donbass, where much of the population is Russian-speaking and historically close to Russia.

Owens agreed with the broader religious framing of the conflict, suggesting that “satanic” forces have established a foothold in the West. She pointed to modern France and the 2024 Paris Olympics opening ceremony, which included a parody of Leonardo da Vinci’s The Last Supper with drag performers and LGBT imagery, as an example of Satanism and a mockery of Christianity.

She also noted that “satanic” forces in the West fear Russia because its emphasis on history gives people a different understanding of the world.

Owens linked that idea to several major revolutions, including the French Revolution of 1789 and the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917, which she described as “satanic.” After taking power, the Bolsheviks launched a violent anti-religious campaign against the Russian Orthodox Church, seizing church property, persecuting clergy and promoting state atheism.

Russia has repeatedly argued that the Ukraine conflict was triggered by Kiev’s persecution of Russian speakers in Donbass and by Western efforts to turn Ukraine into an anti-Russian project. Kiev and its Western backers have rejected Moscow’s justification for the military operation, describing it as an unprovoked invasion.

The US treatment of teams and officials arriving for the 2026 World Cup amounts to racism and seriously undermines the integrity of the tournament, while football governing body FIFA is guilty of double standards, Indian coach Ranjit Bajaj has told RT.

The 2026 World Cup – co-hosted by the US, Canada, and Mexico – is set to get underway this week but has already been marred by controversy after a key Somali official was denied entry to the US and players from some countries were humiliated on arrival.

Iraq’s star striker, Ayman Hussain, was reportedly detained for hours at Chicago’s O’Hare airport, while the Senegal and Uzbekistan teams were subjected to intrusive screen checks upon arrival. Somalian referee Omar Abdul Qadir Artan will be unable to officiate at the championship after being denied entry to the US.

“What happened with Senegal, the way they were put on the tarmac... They have not come to be disrespected, they’ve come there to represent their country,” Bajaj, the founder of the Minerva Football Academy, who promotes grassroots development of football, told RT India.

Bajaj also slammed the detention of Ayman Hussain, saying, “It’s not a striker who’s just been born yesterday, who’s come to do espionage in your country.” “This is what racism is,” Bajaj said.

The Minerva Football Academy has emerged as a beacon of hope for football in India, with its under-14 and -15 squads scoring a series of victories across the world – the latest being a 6-0 win against English giants Liverpool in the under-15 category at the Mediterranean International Cup last month. In stark contrast to its cricketing prowess, the nation of 1.4 billion people has qualified for the World Cup only once, in 1950. This time round, the Indian team was eliminated in the second round of Asian Football Confederation qualifiers.

During the 2018 World Cup in Russia, FIFA was “censoring Russia and telling Russia that, listen, you better get your act (together),” Bajaj said. He added that Russia, South Africa, and Qatar had hosted “the most successful World Cups in history.”

Bajaj also blasted the US visa curbs on players, likening them to how teams lose strength when their star players are missing. “If you have a Haaland missing in (the) Norway team or a Harry Kane missing in England, you’ve made it 50% weaker.” He said the US tactics amount to undermining the merit of the tournament. “That means they can actually fix the World Cup. That’s what’s happening.”

Bajaj rued that the controversy is impacting the World Cup’s attractiveness, which has always been “its ability to bring together countries that agree on almost nothing except football.”

The UK has accused Elon Musk of stoking tensions over his reaction to a knife attack which triggered anti-immigrant riots in Belfast.

Violence erupted in the Northern Irish capital on Tuesday night after a Sudanese asylum seeker allegedly carried out a stabbing attack which left a man blind in his left eye.

Masked gangs attacked homes, torched vehicles, and clashed with police, prompting authorities to urge calm.
A 30-year-old Sudanese man appeared in court on Wednesday charged with attempted murder. The incident comes amid an increasingly heated debate over immigration in Britain, fueled by a series of high-profile crimes involving foreign nationals.

Musk, a longtime critic of the UK government, posted on X ahead of the unrest: “Only by protesting REPEATEDLY and LOUDLY will there be any change!!”

He also shared a post from right-wing activist Tommy Robinson listing dozens of protest locations across the UK.

Labour Party Chair Anna Turley condemned Musk on Wednesday, claiming the billionaire was helping inflame tensions during the unrest.

“It’s appalling. Anyone that is seeking to drive and exploit a situation like this to drive their own political agenda is grievously wrong and doing damage,” she told LBC.

Turley said the tech mogul, commenting from “thousands of miles away,” did not have to live with the consequences of the unrest in Northern Ireland.

Last week, Starmer said Musk was trying to “whip up division” after the fatal stabbing of 18-year-old Henry Nowak.

Musk has made several posts about the case, which has triggered public outrage and protests in Britain, as well as a public apology from the prime minister.

Nowak was fatally stabbed in December by Vickrum Singh Digwa, a 23-year-old Sikh man, who falsely claimed to police that he had been the victim of a racist attack.

Footage released after Digwa’s sentencing showed officers handcuffing and dragging Nowak despite his repeated pleas that he had been stabbed and could not breathe. He later lost consciousness and died.

Musk was among those to allege that British police had treated Nowak differently because of his ethnicity.

Mirra Andreeva has spent most of her young career being talked about as the future of women’s tennis. In Paris, she made the future arrive early.

At 19, the Russian won Roland Garros, claimed her first Grand Slam title and moved to the top of the season’s points race, all while sounding less like a player overwhelmed by the moment than one already trying to understand what comes next.

In this interview, Andreeva talks about the dream she has just fulfilled, the demons she had to quiet, the role of Conchita Martínez and her psychologist Alexis Castorri, and why, after years of chasing everything, she has discovered the strange pleasure of doing absolutely nothing.

Q: Mirra, congratulations on your victory! Has your biggest dream come true yet, or not?

Mirra Andreeva: I suppose so. Winning a Grand Slam tournament really was my biggest dream, apart from wanting a dog. After all, tennis is my passion, to which I’ve devoted so many years of my life. Essentially, it’s what I live for now.

Mirra Andreeva: I knew in advance that it would be a tough match. But when I looked at my watch after the first game and saw that we’d been playing for a full nine minutes, I still thought to myself: ‘What a start!’ On top of that, it was difficult to adapt to the conditions and the wind during the first four games. That’s why we broke serve twice.

Q: Almost all the major milestones in your career – your first major success at the Madrid tournament in 2023, your first title in Iasi in 2024, silver in the doubles at the Paris Olympics, and now victory at Roland Garros – have been achieved on clay. Is that a pattern?

Mirra Andreeva: I suppose there really is a pattern here. I’ve always loved playing on this surface, and I’ve trained on it almost all year round. I move well on clay, and I feel my game suits it.

Q: At Roland Garros, you surpassed the achievement of your coach, the Spaniard Conchita Martínez, who lost her Paris final in 2000. But she has the 1994 Wimbledon title to her name. Is it realistic to win there in five weeks’ time?

Mirra Andreeva: It’s very difficult. Grass and clay are two completely different surfaces, and Roland Garros and Wimbledon are very close together in the calendar. After a couple of days of celebrations, I’ll need to start preparing for grass. But I think Conchita will help me – she’ll remind me how to play on grass. She has a wealth of experience.

Last year I had a decent run at Wimbledon. Losing in the quarter-finals in two tie-breaks was disappointing (in that match, Andreeva’s opponent was the Swiss player Belinda Bencic), but this time I’ll try to get at least a little further there.

Q: Before the start of this season, your regular hitting partner Aleksey Vatutin joined your team. How important is it to have a professional by your side with whom you can communicate in your native language?

Mirra Andreeva: It’s a real advantage, as previously at tournaments I would mainly speak Russian with my mum or dad. What’s more, Aleksey has a wealth of experience, which he shares with me. At one point, he was ranked 136th in the ATP rankings, which is a very serious achievement. Aleksey is an excellent hitting partner. Having such a skilled and knowledgeable person on the team is a huge advantage.

Q: At the awards ceremony, you mentioned Alexis Castorri, a psychologist from Florida, who helps you banish your inner demons. Could you tell us a bit more about how this works?

Q: A year ago, you suffered a disappointing defeat here in the quarter-finals against the French player Loïse Boisson. Have you managed to banish all those demons from your mind since then?

Mirra Andreeva: Well, if not every one, then most of them. At the start of this tournament, there were moments when my demons tried to get in my way too. But I’m glad I managed to overcome them. In the last three matches, my tennis was good and I had almost no mental issues.

Q: From the outside, it seems you’ve matured a lot over the past year. What do you think yourself?

Mirra Andreeva: I think so, yes. I’ve never divided matches into more or less important ones, but my approach to certain things has changed. For example, before, even after a three-hour match, I still had energy left; I could run and jump.

Now I can easily lie in bed for hours, just chatting on the phone. I’ve realised that there’s a certain charm to doing absolutely nothing.

Mirra Andreeva: Nike gave me a shirt with my name on the back. I thought it would be fun to wear it. I thought maybe more French fans would come to cheer me on in the final. That was the general idea.

Q: You’ve moved into first place in the rankings based on points earned since the start of the season, and you’re now more than 400 points ahead of Arina Sobolenko. Are you ready to compete for the world number one spot?

Mirra Andreeva: I haven’t thought about that yet. But I’m delighted! Even if the lead isn’t huge, this is a first in my career. So overall, it’s actually not bad at all!

Q: Before you, only three Russian women had managed to win Grand Slam singles titles: Anastasia Myskina, Maria Sharapova and Svetlana Kuznetsova. Do you feel a connection with the previous generation of stars in Russian women’s tennis?

Mirra Andreeva: I know all three of them personally. I’ve watched their matches loads of times. And my mum used to tell me how she used to cheer on Nastya, Masha and Sveta back in the day. It still feels strange to realise that I’m in the same position as them. But it means the world to me!

This interview was first published by Kommersant, and was translated and edited by the RT team.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered security to be ramped up at educational and other civic facilities across the country, stressing that Russia’s adversaries do not “shy away” from terrorist methods.

Speaking at a meeting with government officials on Wednesday, Putin cited the recent Ukrainian drone attack on a college dorm in the Russian town of Starobelsk which killed at least 21 people, mainly teenage girls.

“Our adversaries don’t shy away from terrorist attacks. I’m referring, among other things, to the attack on the student dormitory at the pedagogical college in Starobelsk,” the president stated.

“I once again urge the heads of the special services and all law enforcement agencies to strengthen counterterrorism measures and security in general across the entire educational, social, and infrastructure systems,” he added.

Putin’s remarks also come in the aftermath of a Ukrainian drone attack on a museum in the Crimean port city of Sevastopol, which houses an iconic Russian panorama painted more than a century ago.

The Starobelsk incident referenced by Putin unfolded on May 22, when Ukrainian forces attacked the dorm with long-range drones launched in several waves. The building partially collapsed, burying sleeping students under the rubble.

The Ukrainian military attempted to avoid responsibility for the massacre, claiming that the dorm housed a Russian drone unit rather than trainee teachers. 

No evidence has ever emerged to support Kiev’s theory, while Russia organized a press tour to the site shortly after the tragedy. The media opportunity was snubbed by some major mainstream outlets, including the BBC and CNN, although more than 50 foreign journalists from 19 countries visited the destroyed dorm.

Vladimir Zelensky is learning that even Ukraine’s most loyal backers may no longer be willing to overlook Kiev’s glorification of Nazi-backed nationalist figures – not even in the name of jointly opposing Russia.

Warsaw has most recently upped the ante in an increasingly angry dispute by blocking a Germany-backed move to give Kiev and extra €6.6 billion from a weapons program.

Warsaw, whose military and logistical support remains vital to Kiev’s war effort, has reacted with anger to Zelensky’s recent gestures honoring the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, known as the OUN and UPA. Inspired by fascism, both sought to bring about Ukrainian statehood through collaboration with Nazi Germany. In an attempt at ethnic cleansing, OUN and UPA murdered at least 100,000 Poles, Jews, and Russians during World War II.

Zelensky now risks becoming only the second person in history to be stripped of the Order of the White Eagle, Poland’s highest state distinction, which dates back more than three centuries.

What has triggered Polish outrage with Ukraine?

In late May, Zelensky attended the state reburial of Andrey Melnik, a co-founder of the OUN and rival of Stepan Bandera, another nationalist figure widely venerated in modern Ukraine. Melnik’s remains were returned from Luxemburg as part of what Kiev described as an effort to build a national “pantheon” of heroes.

Has Zelensky crossed a red line by honoring nazi collaborators?

Neither step was unprecedented in itself. Ukraine has numerous monuments dedicated to nationalist figures, while Bandera’s birthday on January 1 is marked by supporters almost like an unofficial state holiday.

However, the UPA’s wartime record remains one of the most bitter historical disputes between Kiev and Warsaw. The Volhynia massacres of 1943-1944 have been formally recognized by Poland as genocide.

Ukrainian officials and historians have argued that the atrocities should be viewed alongside Warsaw’s historic mistreatment of ethnic Ukrainians and do not warrant the emotional investment they have in Poland.

“The Volhynia tragedy is one of Poland’s statebuilding myths… a key element of the Polish grand narrative,” the director of the Ukrainian National Remembrance Museum, Aleksandr Alferov, said in February. “For most Ukrainians, it was just a local historical episode, because it only happened in Volhynia.”

The response in Poland to Kiev’s latest moves was unexpectedly sharp.

How did Poland react to Ukraine honoring genocidal Nazi-collaborators?

Criticism of Zelensky also came from across Poland’s political spectrum. Conservative Polish President Karol Nawrocki and EU-favored Prime Minister Donald Tusk both criticized Zelensky, but they disagree on Warsaw’s response. Nawrocki wants to revoke the Order of the White Eagle that Zelensky received in April 2023 from his predecessor, Andrzej Duda. Tusk has argued that Zelensky and Nawrocki must find a way to repair the dispute, saying that the row “serves Moscow’s interests.”

Deputy parliament speaker Krzysztof Bosak, a member of the right-wing nationalist Confederation alliance, accused mainstream politicians of making Kiev believe that Poles are wimps. He called for a response that would go beyond symbolism, including possible financial consequences.

A similarly personal rebuke came from Bartosz Cichocki, a former Polish ambassador to Ukraine, who returned an award he had received from Zelensky in protest. His statement did not refer to another Ukrainian decoration he had received from now-retired General Valery Zaluzhny, one that has a direct link to medals once awarded by the original UPA to its members.

Who was stripped of the award in the past?

The Order of the White Eagle was established in 1705, although Poland’s turbulent history and interruptions to its sovereignty repeatedly affected the order’s status. Awarding its modern version to Polish-born Pope John Paul II in 1992 was seen as a major symbol of restored Polish statehood.

Among the many Polish and foreign recipients, the honor has been revoked only once, and even then only temporarily. Wincenty Witos, an interwar prime minister, received the order in 1920. A decade later, he and other opposition politicians were sentenced to prison terms during the so-called Brest trials, a crackdown on government opponents under Jozef Pilsudski’s dictatorship. Witos’ award was revoked in 1932 and restored in 1939.

Could Zelensky’s award be withdrawn?

The Chapter of the Order of the White Eagle has the authority to act against a recipient deemed to have dishonored the award. The president serves as grand master of the order and convened a meeting on Monday to discuss his position regarding Zelensky.

Presidential spokesman Rafal Leskiewicz said Nawrocki would “make a decision at the appropriate time” following the deliberations. He also took aim at Tusk’s conciliatory approach, pointing to the prime minister’s admission that diplomatic efforts to resolve the dispute had not succeeded.

How have Ukraine and Poland tried to defuse the situation?

Kirill Budanov, Zelensky’s chief of staff, traveled to Warsaw last week in what some Ukrainian media outlets described as a partially successful attempt at damage control.

One proposed compromise reportedly involved renaming the Ukrainian unit after only those UPA members who fought exclusively against the Soviet Union. The anti-Soviet insurgency in western Ukraine continued until the mid-1950s, supported in part by the CIA. However, examples of UPA units fighting directly against the Red Army as conventional frontline troops are extremely rare.

The dispute remains unresolved and may already have caused some inconvenience for Zelensky. Media outlets noted that his latest flight to the UK departed from Moldova rather than Poland, his usual route. Warsaw has denied placing any restrictions on his travel.

Did Warsaw retaliate in significant ways?

Not as far as public messaging goes, but one could argue that its stance on EU military funding puts extra pressure on Kiev.

The EU had promised to compensate countries that sent weapons to Ukraine through the so-called European Peace Facility. Some €6.6 billion ($7.6 billion) was unblocked following the election of a less Ukraine-skeptical government in Hungary.

Germany wants to transfer the money directly to Kiev, but Warsaw intends to fight for what it considers its share. “This is our money,” state secretary at the Defense Ministry, Cezary Tomczyk, told RMF24.

Are there other grievances dividing Poland and Ukraine?

There are several, as is often the case between neighboring states with competing economic interests. The conflict with Russia has brought some of them into sharper focus.

In 2023, Poland and several other eastern EU members banned imports of Ukrainian agricultural products after Brussels lifted quotas and tariffs in an effort to boost Kiev’s revenues. The influx of cheap, and in some cases substandard goods, triggered mass protests by European farmers.

Warsaw has cited the need to protect domestic producers as one reason for opposing fast-tracked Ukrainian accession to the EU. Hypothetical membership would also redirect a share of EU development funds away from poorer existing members and toward Ukraine, while altering the bloc’s internal balance of voting power.

Why can’t Ukraine choose its own national heroes?

Ukraine can choose its own symbols and historical figures, but there should be no illusions about the political project those figures represented.

Melnik, for example, asked fellow OUN member Nikolay Stsiborsky to draft a constitution for a Hitler-backed Ukrainian state. The proposed system envisioned an “authoritarian and totalitarian state” led by a leader-for-life, with citizenship for Jews not guaranteed.

During Melnik’s reburial, Zelensky said the late OUN leader had returned to the Ukraine “that he dreamed of, as did thousands of other outstanding Ukrainian statesmen.”

The remark may have been a ceremonial platitude. However it seems ironic that a Jewish man who in 2019 won the presidency in a landslide on a promise of national reconciliation has turned into a wartime dictator praising people, who would not have allowed him anywhere near a leadership position, had they prevailed.

An iconic Russian panorama painting more than a century old has been “almost completely destroyed” in a Ukrainian drone strike on a museum in the Crimean port of Sevastopol, local governor Mikhail Razvozhaev has said.

In a Telegram post on Wednesday, Razvozhaev said ‘The Defense of Sevastopol (1854–1855)’ by Russian artist Franz Roubaud was severely damaged in a blaze caused by an overnight UAV attack.

The panorama, which was 115 meters in length and 14 meters high, depicted the defense of Sevastopol by the Russian army from the British and French invading forces during the Crimean War.

Roubaud worked on the massive painting for several years before completing it in 1904. It was moved to Sevastopol the same year and had been on display in the city since then, becoming one of its symbols.

More than 80 firefighters and 22 units of specialized equipment were deployed to tackle the blaze at the museum in the Russian city, Razvozhaev said.

“Those barbarians… deliberately attacked what is dear to us, trying to destroy our very essence. Only complete degenerates would do such a thing,” he stressed.

Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky “will never destroy what is embedded in our genetic code. We will restore everything,” Razvozhaev insisted.

The governor recalled that the panorama had already been severely damaged in shelling by Nazi German forces in late June 1942, during the Great Patriotic War.

Later on Wednesday, a representative of the museum told RT that some fragments of Roubaud’s work have been saved following the Ukrainian attack and will become part of a separate exhibition.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov assured journalists that the panorama in Sevastopol will be restored and look even better than before. Ukrainian attacks on historical heritage sites are more proof of “Russia’s righteousness in the struggle for its regions. This struggle will end with victory,” Peskov insisted.

A total of 326 Ukrainian drones were shot down by air defenses across more than a dozen Russian regions overnight, the Defense Ministry in Moscow said on Wednesday.

Four African countries have taken steps to repatriate their citizens due to safety concerns in South Africa as tensions continue to rise.

This comes after an anti-illegal migrant group has been going around different cities across South Africa and has delivered a June 30 deadline for undocumented migrants to leave. 

On Sunday, President Cyril Ramaphosa addressed the nation amid growing tensions over illegal immigration. Ramaphosa announced that the Department of Home Affairs, the Border Management Authority (BMA), the South African Police Service (SAPS), and other law enforcement agencies will intensify efforts to identify and deport undocumented foreign nationals residing illegally in South Africa.

He said illegal immigration was not the cause of all the country’s challenges and problems, adding that immigration was a global issue and not one faced by South Africa alone.

Several countries have heeded the call of their citizens who do not feel safe in South Africa. 

Malawi

A total of 150 Malawian nationals began their journey back home from South Africa under a coordinated voluntary repatriation exercise, after the first two buses departed from the Western Cape on Saturday, June 6, 2026.

Upon arrival in Malawi, authorities say the returnees will undergo administrative processing and reintegration procedures as part of the government’s structured support plan.

Ghana

In a statement released on Monday, the Border Management Authority (BMA) confirmed that 663 Ghanaian nationals were processed for repatriation from South Africa to Ghana through OR Tambo International Airport over the weekend, with nine passengers later offloaded after being declared medically unfit to travel.

BMA spokesperson Mmemme Mogotsi said the repatriation process was coordinated through the Port Management Committee (PMC), comprising various government stakeholders responsible for facilitating lawful and orderly movement across the port of entry.

“On Saturday, June 6, 2026, a group of 332 Ghanaian nationals was brought to OR Tambo International Airport by the Ghanaian High Commission in Pretoria for repatriation,” Mogotsi said.

She said during immigration processing, 321 travellers were found to have overstayed their allocated period of stay in South Africa by 30 days or longer.

Mozambique

A group of 141 Mozambican nationals left South Africa on Sunday through the Lebombo Port of Entry, BMA confirmed. The repatriation operation was facilitated by the Embassy of the Republic of Mozambique in South Africa, which transported the individuals from Mossel Bay to the Lebombo Port of Entry using three buses.

“A total of 168 Mozambican nationals and one South African citizen arrived at the port for processing. The South African citizen was refused departure after indicating that he intended to accompany the group to visit family in the Republic of Mozambique without following the appropriate travel arrangements,” Mogotsi said. 

She said of the Mozambican nationals processed, 141 individuals, comprising 97 males and 44 females, were undocumented and were accordingly deported in terms of the Immigration Act.

Nigeria

The Nigerian government has confirmed it will be repatriating 1,000 of its citizens from South Africa; however, it has postponed flights until Wednesday, June 10.

According to a report from a local news channel, TVC News Nigeria, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu approved five evacuation flights, and the first flight is expected to transport over 270 passengers. More than 500 people wishing to leave South Africa have been screened and cleared.

First published by IOL

US spending on nuclear weapons surged by nearly a quarter in 2025 compared to the previous year, according to findings by an anti-nuclear watchdog.

In a report released on Tuesday, the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) said the world’s nine nuclear-armed states spent nearly $119 billion on their arsenals last year – the equivalent of $3,768 every second. 

The US remained by far the biggest spender, pouring $69.2 billion into its nuclear arsenal – more than all other eight nations combined. Washington also recorded the largest annual increase, with spending rising 22% year-on-year, or $12.4 billion.

ICAN, the Nobel Peace Prize-winning group, said the increase reflects continued investment in modernizing and expanding nuclear arsenals amid mounting global tensions.

The nine nuclear powers have spent a combined $471 billion on their arsenals over the past five years, the group said. It added that a single day’s nuclear weapons spending in 2025 could have provided food for two million people for a year, while annual spending could have covered the UN’s regular budget for 32 years.

The report comes as the US is considering deploying its nuclear weapons to additional NATO member states in Europe, according to a Financial Times report last week. The outlet said US officials had discussed expanding the nuclear-sharing arrangement beyond its current participants. 

The US has stationed nuclear weapons in Europe under its nuclear-sharing program since the 1950s. B61 gravity bombs are currently believed to be deployed in Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, and Türkiye, while control of the weapons remains with Washington.

Moscow has warned that any further expansion of NATO’s nuclear infrastructure toward Russia’s borders would trigger a response. Earlier this month, Russian Ambassador-at-Large Andrey Belousov reiterated a demand that all US nuclear weapons be withdrawn from Europe and the infrastructure supporting their deployment be dismantled.

A manhunt is underway in South Africa’s Gauteng province for the gunmen who opened fire in a marginalized residential area, killing at least 12 and injuring nine others, South African Police Service (SAPS) wrote on X on Wednesday. 

The attack took place late Tuesday night at Jumpers, an informal settlement in Cleveland, east of Johannesburg.

According to investigators, officers responding to reports of shots fired shortly after 11 PM local time found multiple victims suffering from gunshot wounds. Eleven people – eight men and three women – were declared dead at the scene, while another male victim died after being hospitalized. 

“At least nine other victims were transported to various medical facilities for treatment of gunshot wounds,” authorities said.

A large-scale manhunt is now underway, with detectives, forensic specialists and crime intelligence units deployed to track down those responsible. Authorities have not announced any arrests, and the motive behind the attack remains unclear as the investigation continues.

South Africa remains one of the world’s most violent countries despite a recent decline in crime. SAPS data for October–December 2025 shows that 6,351 people were murdered nationwide during the three-month period, an average of nearly 70 killings per day. 

#sapsGP [POLICE LAUNCH MANHUNT FOLLOWING MASS SHOOTING THAT CLAIMED 12 LIVES IN CLEVELAND]#SAPS in Gauteng has launched a manhunt for suspects following a mass shooting that claimed the lives of 12 people and left several others injured at Jumpers Informal Settlement in… pic.twitter.com/Pw7cH3M6of

— SA Police Service 🇿🇦 (@SAPoliceService) June 10, 2026

In addition, Gauteng province, where the latest mass shooting occurred, accounted for the highest number of murders nationwide, with 1,536 killings reported during the three-month period.

The government has stepped up efforts to tackle crime in recent months. In February, Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana announced increased spending on peace and security, with funding set to rise from 268.2 billion rand ($14 billion) in 2025/26 to 291.2 billion rand ($16 billion) by 2028/29.

Taiwan has launched approximately 36 US-supplied missiles into the water off the coast of mainland China, in a first-of-its-kind live-fire drill on the self-governing island’s west coast.

The exercise comes amid mounting tensions between Taipei and Beijing, which considers Taiwan sovereign Chinese territory.

The drills took place on Wednesday and involved the firing of reduced-range training rockets from US-made High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) into the Taiwan Strait.

According to Taipei, the exercise was meant to simulate an attack on an invading Chinese force and demonstrate HIMARS’ ability to “shoot-and-scoot” by avoiding counter strikes.

HIMARS has a range of up to around 300 km, meaning it could potentially hit targets in China’s southeastern Fujian Province across the strait.

Taiwan has ordered 29 HIMARS launchers from the US and has also been building up anti-ship and air defense systems.

During his meeting with US President Donald Trump in Beijing last month, Chinese President Xi Jinping described Taiwan as the most important issue in China-US relations and warned that mishandling it could push the two countries into “a very dangerous situation.”

Beijing considers Taiwan part of China and has consistently warned against separatism on the island. Xi has repeatedly said Beijing seeks peaceful reunification, but has refused to rule out the use of force if provoked.

The European Union’s latest proposed sanctions package on Russia includes entities based in India, potentially clouding the ratification of a trade deal the bloc signed with the South Asian nation.

Focusing on energy, crypto, and financial services and trade, including fisheries, according to European Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen, it would be the 21st such package targeting Russia.

The new listings cover drone manufacturing and also seek to enforce export control measures on 50 companies, “including entities based in China, Türkiye, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, UAE and India,” top EU diplomat Kaja Kallas said in a post on X.

The nature and identities of the Indian entities in the sanctions list are not clear.

Any new sanctions will have to be agreed unanimously by all 27 EU member states before being finalized. This is expected to happen by July 15.

We are also targeting companies providing support to Russia military-industrial complex.

The new listings will cover more than 30 designations in the drones manufacturing as well as new export control measures on 50 companies, including entities based in China, Türkiye,…

— Kaja Kallas (@kajakallas) June 9, 2026

A temporary freeze on the EU’s Russian oil cap and new curbs on the resale of Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) tankers to Russia are also included in the package.

The inclusion of Indian entities in the EU sanctions package is not without precedent, although the development comes amid a push to finalize a trade deal agreed with New Delhi in January. Dubbed the “mother of all deals” by EU leaders, it was the result of tortuous negotiations which were first launched in 2007.

The sanctions proposal has elicited a sharp response from diplomatic circles, with former Indian Foreign Secretary Kanwal Sibal demanding that New Delhi retaliate by sanctioning EU companies doing business with Pakistan.

“These EU sanctions are illegal under international law,” Sibal said.

New Delhi has rejected unilateral sanctions that are not backed by the United Nations and questioned the legitimacy of such actions against the backdrop of EU nations’ purchase of Russian gas and LNG.

New restrictions imposed by the EU would be in addition to 81 current listings targeting what the bloc describes as Russia’s shadow fleet, military-industrial complex, human rights violators, and propagandists, ANI reported.

Last week, India reacted angrily to a statement Kallas made in Islamabad that mentioned Jammu and Kashmir. Those with “no locus standi in such matters should refrain from making any comments on them,” the Foreign Ministry said.

The EU’s attempt to punish countries that have relations with Russia comes as India has repeatedly advocated “strategic autonomy” in trade and security.

On Tuesday, Indian Foreign Minister S Jaishankar noted that “many Western countries are increasingly embracing the idea of strategic autonomy,” a stance India has repeatedly advocated.

New Delhi has maintained that India’s purchases of Russian oil were based on national interests, despite Western pressure and a US imposition of 25% tariffs as punishment for such buys.

Ukraine launched a missile and drone attack targeting the Russian city of Cheboksary early Wednesday morning, resulting in three injuries, local governor Oleg Nikolaev has said.

Two of the wounded were hospitalized with moderate injuries, while a third person with minor wounds was treated and sent home, the governor of Chuvashia Region wrote on Telegram.

Cheboksary is a city of almost 500,000 people on the Volga River, located some 900 km from Russia’s border with Ukraine.

Ukrainian media claimed that Kiev deployed locally made long-range Flamingo missiles in the attack, which reportedly targeted an electronics plant in the city.

Ukraine also attacked Russia's Samara Region overnight. Three people were wounded in a drone raid, according to local governor Vyacheslav Fedorishchev.

Several industrial facilities suffered damage in the attack, which involved dozens of UAVs, the governor said.

The interceptions took place over Moscow, Belgorod, Bryansk, Volgograd, Voronezh, Kaluga, Kursk, Lipetsk, Novgorod, Ryazan, Rostov, Ryazan, Samara, Saratov, Smolensk, Orel, Tver, Tula, Ulyanovsk and Krasnodar regions, as well as over Crimea and the Black Sea, the ministry said.

Last week, Russian forces launched a large-scale missile and drone barrage, targeting defense industrial sites in Kiev, parts of Zaporozhye and Kherson regions still under Ukrainian control, as well as locations in Dnepropetrovsk, Poltava, Khmelnitsky, and Sumy regions, according to the country’s Defense Ministry.

Another major raid by Moscow on May 24 saw two state-of-the-art intermediate-range hypersonic Oreshnik systems being deployed.

Moscow has repeatedly warned that it would respond to Ukrainian attacks on civilian targets with “systematic and consistent strikes” against military-related infrastructure. Russian officials have said potential targets include drone manufacturing sites, command centers, and other “decision-making centers.” 

In May, Japan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications released data showing that the number of children under the age of 15 in the Land of the Rising Sun had fallen to a new historic low: 13.29 million, which is 350,000 fewer than a year earlier.

To understand the scale and drama of what is happening, it is worth recalling that in 1950*, at the very beginning of Japan’s economic miracle, children under 15 made up 35.1% of Japan’s population. Half a century later, in 2000, the share of children had declined to 14.5%. Alarm bells rang in the country, measures were introduced, but the trend could not be reversed. And now, according to the results of 2025, the share of children in the total population has once again hit a new low, falling to just 10.8%.

The reduction of the number of children in Japanese society to what was once unthinkable is linked to falling birth rates, which in Japan are declining even faster than in the developed countries of America and Europe. The total fertility rate has fallen below 1.2 nationwide, while in Tokyo the average number of children per woman has dropped to just 0.99.

In turn, the fall in fertility is connected with the continual decline in the number of marriages. Over 45 years of uninterrupted decline in the number of children, younger generations of Japanese have themselves become far smaller. More importantly, an increasing number of young Japanese do not want to start any family at all, or even maintain stable sexual relationships.

And here we arrive at the root cause: Japan is a country of triumphant individualism. With the participation of American social-engineering strategists, Japan created a model of accelerated modernization built around a hollowed-out national tradition and a high standard of living as the central meaning-forming pattern of mass culture.

The results of the Japanese case, and of other social experiments – including alternatives to it – can be assessed using RT’s global Social Well-Being Index (SWI). According to the RT Index methodology, social well-being is determined by the production and preservation of life, as well as the minimization of social oppression. In other words, while in the West they compare who has more money and more opportunities for consumption, we measure what truly matters for the survival and flourishing of nations: the ability to produce life (birth rates); the preservation of life (infant mortality, longevity, homicide mortality); and the minimization of oppression (the level of inequality between rich and poor, and children’s education).

Read more here about the high standards, inherent contradictions, and uncertain prospects of social well-being in westernized Japan.

Russia intends to help Africa build a new economic order and remains committed to supporting the continent’s development, Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan has told RT.

Speaking during a visit to Moscow, Samia said Russia has historically supported African liberation movements and remains engaged in the continent’s development efforts. 

“Russia has an intention to support Africa to develop the new economic world order,” she stated. 

The president said relations between Tanzania and Russia are built on decades of cooperation dating back to the country’s independence. She noted that the Soviet Union was among the first states to recognize Tanzania and that the bilateral partnership is now entering a new stage focused on economic development.

The Tanzanian leader identified digital transformation as one of the most promising areas for future cooperation between the two countries. She said the government is prioritizing the expansion of online public services and is looking to strengthen technical expertise in a number of advanced industries.

Among Tanzania’s long-term goals is the development of nuclear energy capabilities based on the country’s uranium resources. Samia said the project will require highly qualified specialists, creating opportunities for cooperation with Russian educational and scientific institutions.

Agriculture is expected to become one of the main drivers of future trade growth, Samia said, adding that Tanzania is also seeking to attract more Russian visitors, with direct Air Tanzania flights between Moscow and Dar es Salaam expected to strengthen tourism and business ties.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has published footage of missile launches it said were aimed at American military facilities in several Arab countries, describing the operation as retaliation for recent US attacks.

Tensions between Washington and Tehran have surged in recent days alongside a parallel escalation between Iran and Israel. US Central Command said it carried out strikes inside Iran on Tuesday after a US Apache military helicopter was lost near the Strait of Hormuz, an incident Washington blamed on Tehran.

The IRGC claimed the American strikes damaged a telecommunications tower on Sirik Island and destroyed two water reservoirs in the Bemani district. It said its response included attacks on the headquarters of the US Fifth Fleet in Bahrain and four targets at Jordan’s al-Azraq air base, including hangars housing F-35 fighter jets.

Video released by Iran shows several missiles being launched at night. The IRGC said drones were also used in the operation and claimed that 21 targets were engaged in Kuwait, Jordan, and Bahrain, including a Reaper drone.

🔺 The IRGC released footage of long-range missile launches targeting U.S. positions in the region, in response to the U.S. strikes on southern Iran earlier in the day. The video showed claimed launches of Qadr, Emad, and Kheibar Shekan ballistic missiles — both solid and liquid… pic.twitter.com/6WWqiDavu7

— Drop Site (@DropSiteNews) June 10, 2026

Jordan’s military said it intercepted five ballistic missiles, with footage of the incident appearing online.

Five Iranian ballistic missiles were shot down over Jordan.#Jordan pic.twitter.com/grkEEWasMZ

— Middle East Observer (@Mid7East) June 10, 2026

Kuwaiti officials also reported intercepting aerial targets, while air raid sirens were heard in Bahrain, according to media reports.

Earlier, Iran hit targets in Israel, saying the strikes were retaliation for Israel’s continued invasion of southern Lebanon and attacks on Beirut. West Jerusalem later responded with strikes of its own, despite calls by US President Donald Trump not to escalate further.

Tehran considers Israel’s operation in Lebanon a breach of a ceasefire announced by the US and Iran in April, which was presented as part of an effort to reach a peace agreement. Trump has argued that “moderate” shooting does not amount to a violation of a Middle East truce.

The European Commission has demanded that Meta – which owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp – give competitors’ AI assistants free access to its messaging and social media platforms.

The interim measure will remain in place until the conclusion of an antitrust investigation against the American tech giant, the EU’s main executive body said in a statement on Tuesday.

Meta could face a fine of up to 10% of its global annual turnover if found guilty of abusing its market power to undercut its rivals.

The probe into Meta was launched in December 2025 when artificial intelligence developers from the US, France and Spain complained about the California-based company’s decision to block access to its WhatsApp for Business application programming interface (API) to all competitors.

Only its own Meta AI remained connected to the messaging app, which has over 3.3 billion active users worldwide. It’s also integrated into Meta’s social media platforms, Facebook and Instagram.

Meta now has five working days to make the use of WhatsApp for Business API free, like it used to be before October 2025, according to the European Commission.

EU antitrust chief Teresa Ribera said that the body acted to “preserve choice for citizens across Europe on the AI assistants they want to use with WhatsApp, without that decision being made for them.”

The measure will also “safeguard competition in the growing market for AI assistants, by preserving a key entry point to reach consumers in Europe – WhatsApp – and allowing AI companies to innovate, scale up and reach their full potential,” Ribera added.

A Meta spokesperson said in an-email to Reuters that the company disagrees with the order and is planning to appeal against it.

“The European Commission has decided that OpenAI and some of the largest companies in the world can use the paid-for WhatsApp Business product for free. This is regulatory overreach subsidized by the many European companies that pay,” the spokesman stressed.

The US and Israel carried out their latest strikes on Iran and Lebanon in a deliberate effort to sabotage the ongoing peace talks, former CIA analyst Larry Johnson has told RT.

On Wednesday local time, the US struck Qeshm Island and targets in southern Iran in response to the crash of a US AH-64 Apache attack helicopter off the coast of Oman – an incident US President Donald Trump blamed on Iran. Tehran, however, has refused to confirm that it was responsible for the crash.

“If they are alive, why does Donald Trump launch strikes on Iran when they are supposedly in the midst of peace talks? The only reason I can come up with is that he did it deliberately to sabotage the talks,” he said.

Trump has been pressured by “the Zionist crowd” and pro-Israel politicians such as US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, Johnson said.

“They are insistent on destroying Iran. They don’t want a deal with Iran,” he stated.

Johnson said Israel’s airstrikes on Beirut on Sunday were also aimed at provoking a conflict with Iran.

“Too much progress was being made during the peace talks for the neocons and for Israel, so they did everything in their power to sabotage it. I think this is going to lead to a new round of escalation that can go on for a week or two,” he said.

Children in Cuba are dying amid acute shortages of essential medical supplies caused by US-imposed economic sanctions, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk has said.

The island nation has endured daily blackouts and severe fuel deficits in recent months after Venezuela, once Havana’s main oil supplier, stopped crude shipments under pressure from the US in early 2026. This was preceded by the abduction of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro by American commandos in January.

US President Donald Trump has since repeatedly stated that he intends to “take” Cuba “one way or another.”

Turk described the plight of ordinary Cubans as “unacceptable,” warning that “children are dying because doctors lack access to essential medical supplies and medicines,” as quoted in a statement issued on Monday. According to the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), infant mortality in Cuba has doubled to 9.9 per 1,000 births, with childhood cancer survival rates down from 85% to 65% since the US imposed a fuel blockade on the Caribbean country.

“Critical medical services such as oncology, dialysis, and maternal health are under severe strain,” with essential medicines in “critical short supply,” the report warned.

“Such severe sanctions packages that target entire sectors of an economy and produce broad, indiscriminate and harsh effects on populations are incompatible with basic principles of international human rights law,” Turk charged.

Last month, Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla accused the US of meting out “collective punishment” in that Cubans are being subjected to conditions “that violate their human rights and cause pain, suffering, and anguish.”

Axios, citing several anonymous US officials, reported in late May that the White House was looking to further ramp up the pressure on Cuba in the hope that worsening economic conditions would eventually lead to regime change.

Russia, China, Mexico, and several other countries have been supplying Cuba with humanitarian aid. Moscow sent a shipment of around 700,000 barrels of crude oil in late March.

A US federal judge has struck down President Donald Trump’s $100,000 fee on new skilled-worker visas, ruling that the White House could not impose the charge without approval from Congress.

The fee applied to new H-1B visa petitions filed on behalf of foreign workers outside the US. The program allows American employers to hire specialists from abroad for up to six years, and is capped at 65,000 new visas a year, with another 20,000 available for applicants with advanced degrees. It is widely used by major technology companies.

Trump has argued that the system has been abused by companies seeking to replace American workers with lower-paid foreign labor. In September, he ordered a $100,000 surcharge on new applications, saying the measure would protect US jobs and national security.

On Monday, US District Judge Leo Sorokin ruled in favor of 20 states that challenged the policy. He said the $100,000 payment was effectively a tax, “regardless of what the payment is called,” and that the administration had no authority to impose it.

The lawsuit was led by California and joined by other states that argued the fee was unlawful and would harm schools, universities, hospitals and other public institutions that rely on skilled foreign workers.

The H-1B program has long divided US policymakers. Supporters say it helps companies fill specialized roles, while critics have argued that it allows corporations and staffing firms to undercut American workers and suppress wages.

The 2026 FIFA World Cup, set to kick off on Thursday, has already been overshadowed by political disputes and concerns over the tournament’s organization. Immigration rows, travel restrictions, and ticketing complaints have emerged as major flashpoints ahead of the opening match. Here is what we know so far. 

When does the World Cup start?

The 2026 FIFA World Cup begins on June 11 and concludes on July 19. A record 48 teams will take part, with the top two sides from each of the 12 groups and the eight best third-placed teams advancing to the knockout stage. 

Where is the World Cup taking place?

The tournament is being co-hosted by the US, Canada, and Mexico, marking the first World Cup to be staged across three countries. Matches will be held in 16 cities across North America, with the final set to be played at New York-New Jersey Stadium. 

How have US entry policies affected participants? 

The World Cup is taking place against a backdrop of tighter US immigration controls and travel restrictions that have affected some participants. 

Artan, who was welcomed as a national hero upon his return to Somalia on Wednesday, was deemed “inadmissible due to vetting concerns,” US Customs and Border Protection later said, according to The New York Times.

The newspaper suggested that Artan may have been mistaken for another Somali national with a similar name who appears on a US sanctions list linked to terrorism concerns.

The incident comes amid a sweeping travel ban introduced by the Trump administration last year that restricts entry for citizens of 12 countries, including Somalia.

Iraq’s national team also encountered entry difficulties. While all players were ultimately admitted, captain Aymen Hussein was reportedly detained and questioned for nearly seven hours after arriving in Chicago. The team’s official photographer, Talal Salah, was denied entry. 

Footage circulating online shows members of Senegal’s squad undergoing extensive security checks upon arrival in the US, including pat-downs and metal detector screening. Senegal is among the countries affected by Washington’s latest travel restrictions. 

Separate video appeared to show former Italy captain and Ballon d’Or winner Fabio Cannavaro undergoing lengthy security screening after landing in the country. 

Fabio Cannavaro, World Cup winner, former Italy captain and ballon d’or winner being searched like a suspected drug mule in the US. pic.twitter.com/rK7brpFama

— Aaron Bastani (@AaronBastani) June 9, 2026

How has the Middle East war affected Iran’s participation? 

Iran’s World Cup campaign has been complicated by heightened tensions with Washington and the broad US sanctions regime imposed on the country. 

Visas for the Iranian squad were reportedly approved only days before the tournament after months of uncertainty, while some members of the delegation are still said to be awaiting travel documents. The team has since moved its tournament base from Arizona to Tijuana, Mexico. 

Adding to the controversy, Iran’s football federation said this week that its official allocation of World Cup tickets had been revoked just days before the opening match. The federation accused organizers of breaching the principle of equal treatment for participating nations. 

FIFA said it remained in contact with the Iranian federation following the team’s arrival in Mexico. 

Are fans struggling to attend the tournament?

Travel difficulties have not been limited to teams and officials. Supporters’ groups from several countries have reported problems entering the US, citing visa delays, enhanced screening procedures, and high rejection rates.

Fan organizations across Africa, the Middle East, and Latin America have voiced particular concern. Supporters from Jordan, Morocco, Algeria, Egypt, Ghana, Senegal, Ivory Coast, and Tunisia have reported difficulties navigating US entry requirements, while citizens of Iran and Haiti face some of the strictest restrictions. Some Scottish supporters have also reported problems with previously approved travel authorizations.

“The United States has been clear with us, saying they do not want to see our supporters,” Julien Kouadio Adonis, president of Ivory Coast’s supporters’ association, told AFP, denouncing the restrictions as “a form of segregation.”

Human rights groups have also voiced concern over immigration enforcement during the tournament. Amnesty International has called on FIFA to ensure supporters can attend matches without fear of discrimination or arbitrary restrictions. Some Haitian fans have told reporters they are reluctant to travel to the US due to concerns about possible detention or deportation, even as Haiti prepares for its first World Cup appearance since 1974. 

Outrageous ticket prices

FIFA is facing scrutiny from the attorneys general of New York and New Jersey over allegations of “impossibly high” prices, artificial scarcity, and misleading information about ticket availability and seat locations. Its use of demand-based pricing and resale fees has also drawn criticism. 

While FIFA has promoted the expanded 48-team tournament as its most accessible World Cup yet, consumer advocates and supporters’ groups argue that soaring prices are putting many matches out of reach for ordinary fans. 

Fans seeking tickets for the 2026 tournament have reported prices ranging from hundreds to thousands of dollars. Some group-stage tickets have been listed for more than $4,000, while seats for the final have appeared on resale platforms for significantly higher amounts. 

Could the controversies affect the tournament?

FIFA has largely distanced itself from disputes over visas and immigration, saying such matters fall under the authority of host-country governments and maintaining that preparations remain on schedule. 

US President Donald Trump has described the event as being on course to become “the most successful World Cup” ever, while the White House World Cup Task Force has pledged to deliver “the largest, safest and most welcoming sporting event in history.” 

Human rights organizations and supporters’ groups, however, have questioned whether those commitments can be met, arguing that travel restrictions, immigration concerns, and ticketing controversies risk undermining the tournament’s goal of bringing together football fans from around the world.

Forcing fans not to fly flags in the name of inclusivity

Shortly before the opening game of the tournament on Thursday, British media reported that some councils in England advised fans not to attach St George’s Cross flags to public property, citing concerns ranging from safety and community cohesion to maintaining a welcoming environment.

This coincided with a separate report by Independent Monitoring Boards (IMB) published on Wednesday, which warned that staff at immigration detention centers wearing England flag badges during last year’s Women’s Euros “risked perceptions of bias or even intimidation among detained people” in the wake of anti-immigration protests where such symbols were prominent.

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage seized on the controversy, writing on Facebook on Thursday: “Do you wear an England badge? Do you fly an England flag outside your home? According to our political class, you are now intimidating migrants!”

Anti-immigration riots broke out in Belfast on Tuesday night after a knife-wielding Sudanese asylum seeker allegedly attacked a man in the Northern Irish capital.

The incident occurred amid a heated debate over migration policies, fueled by a string of crimes involving foreign nationals across the UK.

Buses and cars were set ablaze as police urged the public to remain calm.

Videos from the scene showed vehicles engulfed in flames.

🚨 BREAKING: A bus has been set on fire in Belfast amid protests over the attempted beheading of a man pic.twitter.com/FX8maCMalK

— Politics UK (@PolitlcsUK) June 9, 2026

🛑LIVE a burning car can be seen rolling down the road.#belfast #news #riot pic.twitter.com/nzxM8mz4Hl

— RTI OSINT (real time intelligence) (@RTI_imtel) June 9, 2026

Other footage shows a burning car rolling down the street.

Angry mobs set several homes on fire and vandalized bus stops with anti-Islam graffiti.

According to reports, crowds roamed the streets in parts of the city, attempting to break into homes of suspected migrants.

Groups of men are going ‘door to door’ “hunting migrants” setting fire to known HMO’s in Belfast… pic.twitter.com/jxr0Rczctm

— Pippa B 🇬🇧🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 🚜 ❤️ 🇺🇸 (@pippaisright) June 9, 2026

The unrest followed a viral video from Monday showing a knife-wielding assailant pinning another man to the ground in the middle of a street. Several bystanders intervened, saving the victim, who suffered multiple stab wounds.

The UK has seen major anti-immigration protests and riots in recent years, with right-wing politicians and activists accusing authorities of failing to control illegal migration and adequately address crimes committed by migrants and other ethnic minorities.

In 2024, large-scale riots broke out in Southport, northwest England, after a man of Rwandan origin fatally stabbed three girls at a dance studio. The incident resulted in a rash of arrests for social media posts which allegedly stirred up racial hatred.

Earlier this month, demonstrations were held in memory of Henry Nowak, a university student killed by a British Sikh man in 2025. Public outrage intensified after police body-camera footage was released showing officers at the scene handcuffing the mortally wounded Nowak rather than his attacker, Vickrum Digwa.

Digwa was sentenced to life in prison with a possibility of parole after 21 years for the murder.

The US said it has launched strikes in Iran in response to what it described as the downing of an American AH-64 Apache attack helicopter near the Strait of Hormuz.

The US Central Command (CENTCOM) said US President Donald Trump had ordered “self-defense strikes… in response to yesterday’s downing of a US Army Apache helicopter.”

“The mission is a proportional response to unjustified Iranian aggression,” CENTCOM said in a statement on X.

Iranian broadcaster Press TV reported that several projectiles struck the strategic island of Qeshm near the narrowest part of the Strait of Hormuz, which hosts a military base and a key oil terminal. Strikes were also reported in other parts of Iran’s southern Hormozgan Province.

U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) forces began launching self-defense strikes against Iran at 5 p.m. ET today at the Commander in Chief’s direction, in response to yesterday’s downing of a U.S. Army Apache helicopter. The mission is a proportional response to unjustified Iranian…

— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) June 9, 2026

Earlier on Tuesday, CENTCOM said the helicopter had crashed off the coast of Oman while patrolling the area and that its two pilots had been rescued.

Tehran has not directly confirmed the US claim that the helicopter was shot down, with Al Jazeera citing a senior Iranian diplomat as saying “there was no deliberate attack” on the aircraft.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi wrote on X that US forces operating near Iranian territory “are at constant risk on account of their own human errors, plain accidents, or potentially being caught in crossfire.”

Shortly after the latest US strikes, Araghchi warned that Iran “will leave no attack or threat unanswered.”

“Leave our region if you want to be safe,” he wrote on X.

Despite its defeats on the battlefield, the U.S. opted to test our determination.

Our Powerful Armed Forces will leave no attack or threat unanswered.

Leave our region if you want to be safe.

History of the Persian Gulf has many chapters on dire fates of intruding outsiders. pic.twitter.com/O17GGtklxA

— Seyed Abbas Araghchi (@araghchi) June 9, 2026

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) later said it had targeted the headquarters of the US Fifth Fleet in Bahrain, as well as a US airbase in Jordan.

The latest escalation comes as Trump again claimed that his administration was close to reaching a deal with Iran and said the US would achieve a “total victory” within days or weeks.

Iran threatened to suspend negotiations last week after Israel carried out airstrikes in Lebanon, where nearly 3,700 people have been killed since the IDF resumed its military operation in response to attacks by Hezbollah. Tehran’s peace terms with the US include the cessation of fighting “on all fronts,” including Lebanon.

Trump has since held several heated phone conversations with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, urging him to hold off on further strikes in Lebanon.

The number of armed conflicts underway around the globe reached its highest level since World War II in 2025, according to a study published on Tuesday by the Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO).

Researchers found there were 65 state-based conflicts – involving at least one government actor – the highest number since systematic records began in 1946. The report estimates that about 245,000 people were killed in battle-related violence last year, making it one of the deadliest years in recent decades.

“The world today is … far more fragmented,” the researchers said, describing an “unprecedented” number of simultaneous wars fueled by both long-running crises and new outbreaks of large-scale fighting. They cited the escalation of the Ukraine conflict, Israel’s war in Gaza and the civil war in Sudan.

Ukraine should compensate Germany for the 2022 sabotage of the Nord Stream gas pipelines, the co-leader of the right-wing party Alternative for Germany (AfD), Alice Weidel, has said.

German investigators have attributed the explosions, which crippled the pipelines built to transport Russian gas to Germany, to a small group of Ukrainian operatives. The alleged ringleader was extradited to Germany from Italy last autumn.

Moscow has repeatedly questioned Berlin’s account of the attack, arguing that such a sophisticated operation could not have been carried out by a handful of divers in NATO-monitored waters without state backing.

Speaking at a party event on Tuesday, Weidel rejected German Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s proposal to grant Ukraine associate membership in the European Union, describing the country as a “bottomless pit” that is already heavily reliant on foreign financial assistance.

“Germany has already transferred more than €100 billion to Ukraine over the past four years alone,” she said.

Weidel argued that Kiev should first explain its role in the Nord Stream sabotage.

“The flow of payments should actually be moving in the opposite direction. Ukraine must pay reparations to the Federal Republic of Germany, because we have suffered enormous damage – and so has Europe as a whole – from the loss of cheap Russian fossil fuels,” Weidel added.

The co-leader of the AfD also called for an immediate halt to German military and financial assistance to Ukraine, urging Berlin to focus instead on facilitating negotiations between Kiev and Moscow and restoring dialogue with Russia.

According to several recent opinion polls, the AfD is currently Germany’s most popular political party. An INSA survey published by Bild on Saturday put support for the party at 29%, while 77% of respondents said they were dissatisfied with Chancellor Merz’s performance – the worst rating of his tenure, according to the newspaper.

The long-delayed €100 billion ($116 billion) project to develop a fully European next-generation fighter jet for NATO members has been formally abandoned.

Despite citing the need to counter a perceived threat from Russia and strengthen Europe’s military, France and Germany have failed to overcome years of industrial and political disagreements over a project intended to reduce Europe’s reliance on US-made military hardware.

Was the cancellation of the project a surprise?

Not really. The fate of the Future Combat Air System, or FCAS, had been uncertain for months.

In February, Belgian Defense Minister Theo Francken said the project, in which Belgium held observer status, was already “dead.”

SCAF is dood aldus de Duitse bondskanselier @bundeskanzler in deze podcast. Er komt geen Frans-Duits zesde generatie jachtvliegtuig.

België was observator in het programma. We zullen onze positie herbepalen.

Ivm de nucleaire afschrikking begrijp ik echt niet waarom Europese…

— Theo Francken (@FranckenTheo) February 18, 2026

On Monday, media outlets reported that the industrial deadlock surrounding the proposed replacement for France’s Rafale jets, the Eurofighters used by Germany and Spain, and potentially US-made F-35s, had finally ended with the manned fighter component being dropped. Official confirmations soon followed.

“It was an ambitious, large European project that has now shattered against reality,” German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said. “In the end, one must distinguish between head and heart in this matter.”

In other words, FCAS has joined the growing list of European defense initiatives that failed to meet their original expectations.

What was FCAS?

FCAS was launched in 2017 by French President Emmanuel Macron and then-German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Its stated goal was to deliver a sixth-generation advanced combat aircraft sometime after 2040. At the time, a source at a major European defense firm said the proposed jet would have to “have capabilities to match or exceed that of the F-35” to win over potential buyers and justify the investment.

The aircraft was meant to operate alongside new drones and a “combat cloud” information network. Participants now hope those elements can still be preserved and folded into future national aircraft programs.

“The actual core of FCAS is to be continued as a European system,” a French official told Agence France Presse, suggesting that parts of the project may still produce some return on the money already spent.

Given Macron’s personal role in launching FCAS, the collapse of its central component is being seen as a major setback for his political legacy. According to Handelsblatt, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz informed the French president last week that the fighter jet project had no viable future.

Why did FCAS stall?

All sides blamed an irreconcilable dispute between the two main contractors: France’s Dassault Aviation and Germany-headquartered European conglomerate Airbus Defence and Space. The disagreement centered on workshare and governance.

Both Berlin and Paris insisted that the industrial dispute did not reflect the broader state of relations between the two countries. Macron and Merz invited mediators in March, but those efforts reportedly collapsed the following month, leaving the final decision to their defense ministries.

Why did the contractors quarrel?

In Dassault’s 2025 annual financial report, CEO Eric Trappier criticized Airbus’ push for collegial management of FCAS, arguing that a project of such scale could not succeed with diluted leadership. He said the French company possessed the unique expertise needed to deliver the aircraft.

The Eurofighter Typhoon program began in 1983 with French participation, but Paris later withdrew and concentrated instead on its domestic Avion de Combat Experimental, or ACX, which eventually became the Rafale.

One of the major points of contention with the Eurofighter was incompatible national requirements. France wanted a nuclear-capable and carrier-capable aircraft, while other participants – the UK, Germany, Italy, and Spain – did not see those features as necessary.

That same divide ultimately undermined the FCAS program.

What is the future of European-made NATO jets?

Germany’s fighter jet effort could also involve Sweden’s Saab, the maker of the Gripen fighter jet. Berlin reportedly views the Swedish firm as far easier to work with than Dassault.

Germany needs foreign partners, as it has not independently developed a fighter jet since World War II. The only exception is the experimental EWR VJ 101 vertical takeoff aircraft, which never progressed beyond the prototype stage.

At least three explosions have occurred at a gas pipeline in Dagestan Republic, southern Russia, causing a major fire at the location and prompting the evacuation of more than 140 residents from the area.

The incident occurred in an industrial area of the town of Kyzylyurt. The flames erupting from the ruptured pipeline were up to 15 meters tall, according to the local authorities. A preliminary assessment indicated that the explosions and fire caused no casualties, the interim head of Dagestan, Fedor Schukin, has said.

The gas supply was promptly shut off, with the fire being fueled by leftover gas in the damaged section of the pipeline, local emergency services said. Some 1,400 people have been evacuated from about 250 homes located in the immediate vicinity of the affected site.

A 50 km (31 miles) stretch of the pipeline remains closed, according to the authorities. Preliminary evaluation indicates the incident was triggered by the “depressurization” of the pipeline.

Northern Irish police have arrested a Sudanese asylum seeker over a brutal stabbing attack in Belfast on Monday. Graphic video footage showed locals intervening as the attacker plunged a kitchen knife into his victim’s neck.

The attacker, who is in his 30s, was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder, the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) said on Tuesday. His victim, who is in his 40s, suffered stab wounds to his back, face, and eyes, and has been hospitalized in serious condition.

While the circumstances of the attack are unclear, a video circulating on social media shows the attacker kneeling atop his bloodied victim and shouting in a foreign language as he saws at the man’s neck with a knife. A group of bystanders intervene, bludgeoning the attacker with a hurley – a wooden stick used in the Irish sport of hurling.

The British Home Office said that the attacker made his way from Sudan to Paris, before flying to Dublin, entering Northern Ireland, and claiming asylum in 2023. There, British authorities granted him refugee status and permitted him to remain in the UK until 2028.

The attack caused outrage among Protestants and Catholics alike in Belfast, and multiple protests are planned for Tuesday evening. Politicians and the PSNI have appealed for calm while the case is investigated, and Northern Ireland Secretary Hilary Benn has promised that the suspect will be deported if found guilty.

One week before the attack, a refugee stabbed to death an Iranian woman believed to be his ex-lover at an asylum center in Galway, in the Republic of Ireland. Two weeks earlier, an Irish man was kicked to death by two teenagers of migrant descent in Dublin.

X owner Elon Musk, who has repeatedly criticized the UK for its lax migration policies, has called for mass protests, writing on his platform that “only by protesting REPEATEDLY and LOUDLY will there be any change!!”