US President Donald Trump’s top negotiators are preparing to pitch “new ideas and proposals” aimed at breaking the deadlock in the Ukraine conflict, with talks involving representatives of Kiev and its European backers scheduled to begin in Miami on Friday, according to Reuters and Axios.

Special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner are expected to hold a two-day working session with the Ukrainian delegation in an effort to develop a unified proposal that could later be presented to Moscow.

The pair could then travel to the Russian capital later this month for another round of talks with President Vladimir Putin, Axios reported, citing a source familiar with the discussions.

According to Reuters, the ideas were developed during and after Witkoff and Kushner’s diplomatic tour of Moscow and Kiev in early September. The pair have since remained in contact with both Russian and Ukrainian officials while working on an updated peace initiative.

One proposal reportedly under consideration is a partial ceasefire covering attacks on energy infrastructure and Black Sea shipping. The talks are also expected to address possible security guarantees for Ukraine, a post-conflict economic plan and other elements of a potential settlement.

Witkoff and Kushner met Trump on Thursday to present the latest proposals and receive his input ahead of the Miami talks, according to Axios. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Deputy National Security Adviser Mike Needham also attended the meeting.

Kiev's European backers ‘nervous’ about winter

Kiev will reportedly be represented by Vladimir Zelensky’s chief of staff, Kirill Budanov, intelligence chief Rustem Umerov, diplomatic adviser Sergey Kislitsa and top lawmaker David Arakhamia.

National security advisers from Britain, France and Germany, as well as representatives of NATO and the EU, have also reportedly been invited.

A US source told AFP that European governments have privately complained about soaring energy prices and other economic costs stemming from the conflict, adding that there is growing concern about another winter of hostilities.

“They are all nervous about the winter. It will be a tough winter if the war does not stop,” the source said.

Kremlin agrees with Rubio on ‘stalemate’

The new diplomatic push comes as US Secretary of State Marco Rubio described the conflict as a “dangerous stalemate,” warning that further escalation could spill beyond Ukraine and trigger a broader confrontation.

“This war needs to end in a negotiated settlement. The sooner, the better,” Rubio told reporters in Lisbon on Thursday, while cautioning that Washington would not invest indefinitely in “pointless processes” that produce no progress.

The Kremlin said it shared Rubio’s assessment of the current diplomatic impasse, with spokesman Dmitry Peskov saying he “agreed” that no clear prospect of a negotiated settlement was currently visible.

He nevertheless reiterated Moscow’s position that Russia remains open to negotiations, while accusing Kiev of showing no willingness to accept reality and pursue a long-term settlement.

Despite the lack of progress on Ukraine, contacts between Washington and Moscow have continued on other tracks, Peskov added, noting that the two countries are discussing “a whole range” of potentially mutually beneficial economic projects, including possible cooperation in the energy sector.

US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has announced plans to livestream the execution of a former US Army psychiatrist convicted of killing 13 people at a military base in Texas, arguing that Americans should witness the consequences of such crimes.

Nidal Malik Hasan, a former Army major sentenced to death for a 2009 shooting rampage at Fort Hood, is scheduled to face a military firing squad on December 3. The execution would be the first carried out by the US military in more than six decades and the first by an Army firing squad since World War II.

Speaking to conservative commentator Jack Posobiec on Thursday, Hegseth defended the decision to execute Hasan at the same installation where he carried out the massacre.

“He’s going to get a firing squad of soldiers, as it should be, and we’ll make sure that people are able to watch it, that it’s public, because people need to understand there’s serious consequences for these types of things,” Hegseth said.

MAJOR NEWS!!! @SECWAR REVEALS FORT HOOD SHOOTER’S FIRING SQUAD EXECUTION WILL BE PUBLIC Sec. Pete Hegseth says Nidal Hasan will be executed by soldiers at Fort Hood on December 3 at 1 PM—the same time as the 2009 attack. “We’ll make sure that people are able to watch it, that it’s public.” @JackPosobiec

— Real America's Voice (RAV) (@RealAmVoice) October 8, 2026

The Department of War subsequently confirmed that the execution would be livestreamed for public viewing, with further details to follow, according to the Washington Post and AP.

Hasan, a US-born Muslim and former Army psychiatrist, opened fire at a military processing center at Fort Hood on November 5, 2009, killing 13 people and wounding 32 others. He reportedly shouted “Allahu akbar” – Arabic for “God is great” – during the attack.

The gunman had previously exchanged emails with radical Islamic cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, who was subsequently killed in a US drone strike in Yemen. During his court-martial, Hasan admitted responsibility for the massacre, claiming he had acted to protect fellow Muslims from American military operations in Afghanistan.

He was convicted of premeditated murder and attempted murder in 2013 and sentenced to death. The US Supreme Court declined to review his conviction in March 2025, clearing the way for President Donald Trump to approve the execution earlier this month following a recommendation from Hegseth.

The execution is scheduled for 1pm on December 3, at approximately the same time of day as the original attack. Hasan could still seek to delay his execution through a separate legal challenge in civilian federal court.

The last US military execution took place in 1961, when an Army private was hanged after being convicted of rape and attempted murder of an 11-year-orld girl.

Capital punishment by firing squad remains legal in five US states – Idaho, Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Utah – although the method is rarely used.

Public executions are even more unusual in modern American history. The last widely recognized public execution in the US took place in Kentucky in 1936, when a convicted murderer was hanged before thousands of spectators.

Tehran is striving to find a diplomatic solution to the war imposed on it by the US, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday at a meeting with his Iranian counterpart, Masoud Pezeshkian.

The Russian president noted that Tehran had recently put forward a proposal aimed at resolving the conflict peacefully, adding that Moscow is willing to play a constructive role in the process.

“Iran is making real efforts to end the conflict, which broke out in the region through no fault of its own, through no fault of Iran,” Putin said.

Putin also hailed the deepening cooperation between Russia and Iran, especially in trade and humanitarian affairs, during bilateral talks in Turkmenistan, where he is set to take part in a leaders’ summit of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and a Caspian Sea environmental summit.

Moscow has repeatedly condemned the US-Israeli military campaign against Iran and called for a diplomatic solution. During his visit to Tehran in July, former Russian president and current deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council Dmitry Medvedev said that “there was no serious reason for the American attack” as Tehran “posed no threat” to Washington.

In late September, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi announced that Tehran had submitted a peace plan to the US. Under the roadmap, the Islamic Republic signaled its readiness to restore navigation through the Strait of Hormuz – a strategically important waterway for crude oil exports from the Middle East.

In exchange, Iran, which imposed a blockade on the crucial oil shipping route after the start of the conflict, expects the US to lift its own blockade of the Islamic Republic, ease restrictions on its oil exports, and release some of its frozen assets. Tehran is also seeking an end to hostilities on all fronts, including Israel’s military operation in Lebanon.

Addressing the UN General Assembly in New York last month, President Pezeshkian reiterated that his country was prepared for “dialogue and diplomacy” but would not negotiate under threats.

While there have been media reports of indirect negotiations between the two countries in recent weeks, President Trump has rejected the Iranian proposal outright. He told reporters that Tehran wants to “make a deal, but it is not the deal that I want to make.” The US president has also suggested that Washington is not ruling out resuming strikes on Iran in the coming weeks.

Syria could join a Saudi-backed military offensive against the Houthis in Yemen by deploying thousands of troops, Axios has reported, citing US officials.

Yemen’s internationally recognized government forces have launched a major counteroffensive to recapture territory seized by the Iranian-backed Houthis, also known as Ansar Allah, including areas around the strategic Bab el-Mandeb Strait. The Saudi-led coalition has backed the operation with extensive airstrikes against Houthi positions.

According to an Axios report, Riyadh and Damascus are discussing the deployment of up to 20,000 Syrian troops. Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, who previously led the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), is reportedly considering the proposal but has yet to make a decision.

The issue came up during al-Sharaa’s meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Riyadh on Tuesday, the sources said. Saudi Arabia is seeking to reinforce Yemeni government forces, which US officials described as less well-trained than the Houthis.

Washington does not oppose the proposal in principle and sees it as a way to bolster the offensive without deeper American involvement, according to Axios. US Central Command has also been consulted on how Syrian troops could be deployed.

The Syrian units under consideration reportedly include thousands of Islamist foreign fighters who fought against former President Bashar Assad under the HTS umbrella before his overthrow in December 2024. Their involvement could deepen sectarian divisions, as the fighters include Sunni Islamists, while the Houthis follow Zaydi Shiite Islam.

Reuters separately reported that Damascus was considering military assistance, including defensive support for Saudi Arabia or participation in operations inside Yemen. However, Syrian presidential adviser Ahmad Zaidan denied that Riyadh had requested troops, describing the reports as baseless.

Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa is in Riyadh for talks with MBS. https://t.co/LWZajNI04M

— Open Source Intel (@Osint613) October 6, 2026

The renewed fighting follows Houthi territorial gains along the Red Sea coast in September, threatening shipping through Bab el-Mandeb, a vital trade route connecting the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden. The waterway has gained particular importance following disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz caused by the US-Israeli war on Iran. The Houthis also claimed to have effectively encircled Taiz, a major city linking northern and southern Yemen with the Red Sea coast, after cutting a vital supply route to the southern port city of Aden.

The Saudi-led coalition said on Monday that 100 fighter jets had participated in the offensive and claimed to have destroyed 324 Houthi targets. The Houthis have retaliated with missile and drone attacks on Saudi territory, including strikes on airports in Riyadh and Abha that killed several people, according to the Saudi authorities.

Riyadh has also secured military support from Türkiye and Pakistan under a collective defense agreement dubbed the ‘Muslim NATO’ that was signed in August.

The Yemen conflict escalated after the Houthis seized Sanaa in 2014, prompting a Saudi-led military intervention the following year. Fighting largely subsided following a 2022 truce, before flaring up again this year.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has effectively become a “Ukrainian chancellor,” showering Kiev with more taxpayer-funded aid despite mounting discontent at home, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has said.

Speaking at a press conference on Thursday, Zakharova criticized Merz’s visit to Kiev on Sunday, during which he pledged billions in additional assistance, including funding for long-range weapons production. The announcement came amid plunging support for his governing coalition and a series of electoral setbacks for his Christian Democratic Union (CDU).

Zakharova suggested that Merz was so eager to escape his domestic troubles that he “practically fled from the festivities in Bremen” marking the 36th anniversary of German reunification.

“The new face in Ukrainian politics, [or] a ‘Ukrainian chancellor’ as Merz has been dubbed in German political circles, didn’t come empty-handed – he announced yet another generous gift to his ‘friend’, Zelensky,” she said sarcastically.

German taxpayers will foot the bill, Zakharova argued, suggesting that Merz was deliberately adding to their burden despite growing public dissatisfaction with his policies.

She also questioned whether the chancellor could genuinely be unaware of Ukraine’s rampant corruption, pointing to a series of high-profile scandals involving Vladimir Zelensky’s inner circle and senior officials.

Zakharova cited a September survey by the Kiev International Institute of Sociology (KIIS), in which 50% of respondents identified corruption as the country’s most pressing problem. Some 72% said graft had worsened since the escalation of the conflict with Russia in 2022, while the same proportion blamed Zelensky and his associates.

Given what she described as Kiev’s efforts to suppress dissent, Zakharova argued that the findings were particularly revealing.

“Ukraine is so mired in corruption that it has become impossible to cover up its real scale by any means,” she said.

Merz has faced similar criticism from German opposition politicians. In July, Alternative for Germany (AfD) lawmaker Markus Frohnmaier told RT’s Rick Sanchez that Merz “is the chancellor of Ukraine and not the chancellor of Germany.”

Veteran left-wing politician Sahra Wagenknecht, founder of the Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW), has likewise accused Merz of turning “his own citizens into cash cows for Ukraine.”

Meanwhile, an INSA poll published earlier this month put support for Merz’s CDU/CSU alliance at a record low of 18%, compared with 30% for the AfD, which remains Germany’s most popular party.

The chancellor’s Christian Democrats also suffered successive electoral defeats last month in the eastern states of Saxony-Anhalt and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. The CDU finished a distant second in Saxony-Anhalt with 17.5% of the vote and failed to clear the electoral threshold in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, securing just 4.9%.

Despite the setbacks, Merz, who has previously criticized Germans for not working enough hours, has refused to change course.

October 15th marks the anniversary of Ukrainian ultranationalist Stepan Bandera’s alleged 1959 murder by a Soviet KGB agent, in Munich, Germany. As the Kiev regime has idolized Bandera and his fellow ultranationalist killers without shame since NATO’s war with Russia began, mass celebrations could be planned. Ukrainian officials were forced in May to publicly deny they had any intention of moving Bandera’s remains from Munich to rebury them. On top of avoiding significant public controversy, Kiev may have had a darker motive – preventing anyone from trying to investigate whether Bandera in fact committed suicide. The popular tale of his KGB assassination seems like a completely false Ukrainian ultranationalist hero myth. 

For decades reviled by many Ukrainians and not much known outside the region, adoration of Bandera by Kiev’s assorted Neo-Nazi terrorist and paramilitary units, like Azov Battalion, forced the Western media to admit the man’s criminal legacy, and his personal involvement – and that of his Organization Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) and Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) – in committing the Holocaust. Even critical biographies of Bandera ignore his secret post-war relationship with the CIA and MI6. Tugging this thread could reveal how an independent secret investigation conducted by an influential and well-connected Ukrainian fascist CIA agent leading away from Bandera having been murdered, and to difficulties in his marriage, due to spending “much time in the company of other women.”

The CIA’s secret investigation

Michael Korzhan was a Ukrainian fascist, Orthodox priest, and CIA spy. Known under the cryptonym “AEDOGMA,” from 1947 he monitored Ukrainian ultranationalists, Soviet emigres and associated groups throughout Europe, including Paris. Korzhan also kept a close eye on the continent for the CIA, not only as a “spotter” for potential agents who could be inserted into or recruited in the Soviet Union, but potential KGB infiltration of Orthodox churches. A declassified January 1960 CIA file records how Korzhan was sent to Munich after Bandera’s death and spent several months investigating what happened. AEDOGMA was able to retrace many sensitive particulars of Bandera’s life that never surfaced publicly. 

Korzhan “became convinced, as the result of his investigations, that Bandera committed suicide.” Him being tasked with investigating Bandera’s death reflects the value the CIA attached to AEDOGMA. After World War II, Bandera became a prize asset of the CIA and MI6 for many years. While the CIA eventually turned on the godfather of Ukrainian ultranationalism, the CIA considered it very important he was not martyred by the KGB for his post-war anti-Communist activities in Ukraine and the Soviet Union. The CIA was working on getting Bandera a US visa at the time he died. Understanding the facts of what happened was of huge importance for the CIA, and Korzhan was the agent for the job.

“AEDOGMA has unusual skills in interpersonal relationships. His particular social talents are best expressed when he is able to operate independently in a relatively unstructured, “wheeling and dealing” environment… He can usually achieve the operational objective on his own… AEDOGMA starts any task with only the loosest initial plan for attack. From then on he feels his way, ‘following his nose’, while making sensitive adaptations to his strategy as the situation changes. Working in this fashion he enjoys his operational tasks immensely and becomes totally involved. He is deft at provoking others to reveal their hand while tipping off very little of his own.”

So said a declassified April 1960 CIA memo. Korzhan demonstrated his superhuman spying skills at the end of the previous year by interviewing “about 100 Banderites and other Ukrainian emigres” about Bandera’s death. He conducted significant on-the-ground research, identifying five separate “versions” of what happened to Bandera. They ranged from the Nazi-composed Gehlen Organization that the CIA built in Germany after World War II taking Bandera’s life, to suicide. Having chased every lead attempting to prove or disprove each “version”, AEDOGMA concluded that suicide was overwhelmingly the most likely. En route to reaching this explosive conclusion, never reported anywhere before, Korzhan disproved the accepted story that the KGB was responsible. 

The assassination story under scrutiny

KGB defector Bohdan Stashynsky took responsibility for killing Bandera, on November 17 1961. He served four years in prison, before being released to start a new life in Germany. This telling of events has not been challenged at any time since. The ‘fact’ of the KGB’s responsibility is completely unquestioned in Ukrainian, and Western, accounts of what happened to Bandera. Korzhan identified a number of factors ruling homicide out entirely. He recorded that the alleged murder weapon potassium cyanide was not a substance the KGB had previously used during its entire post-war war on political opponents, and it would represent “the first time they have used this means” if the KGB was responsible.

Korzhan also believed it was highly illogical “in view of the present political situation” for the “Communists to do away with Bandera at this time.” He wondered, “wouldn’t the KGB have considered the fact that the death of Bandera would instigate the Ukrainian emigres to mobilize their fight against the Communists in the whole world?” He spoke to many knowledgeable sources who pointed directly to people and factors in Bandera’s private life that were much more likely culprits. Korzhan shared his findings with West German detective Adrian Fuchs, who also concluded Bandera’s death was a suicide. Both men understood also that powerful ultranationalist figures around Bandera had a huge interest in blaming the KGB.

Behind Bandera’s closed doors

Fuchs and his investigators spoke to at least 50 people about Bandera’s death, including people who knew him intimately, and many were unanimous in blaming his marital situation. Bandera’s life “was unpleasant,” due to how his wife, Yaroslava Bandera, treated him. She made his life a living hell because of his “association with other women,” so he killed himself. Particularly, Bandera plotted to take his own life “in such a way that suicide would never be suspected but that, on the contrary, would lead to various interpretations and suspicions that he was liquidated by the communists, thus permitting him to remain a hero.” Korzhan tracked how Bandera had been avoiding his bodyguards in preparation in the weeks before he died.

“It is a fact that Bandera had a violent quarrel with his wife that very morning. He threatened suicide and left home to go to the office before 8 a.m. Bandera employed the use of potassium cyanide which he always carried on his person and which, after his death, could not be found either on his person or in his home. Considering the above, I concluded that it was suicide by use of potassium cyanide. Motive: His unbearable marital situation.”

Korzhan had uncovered many facts supporting this “version.” He learned Bandera’s “home life had lately become so unbearable that his only escape could have been suicide.” The biggest issue was that Bandera’s wife “as a result from some very difficult experience in her life, and the fear of constant surveillance… had practically lost all of her senses.” Were she not Bandera’s wife, “she would have been in an insane asylum a year ago.” Korzhan learned about “Bandera’s unsatisfactory sex life, his seeking such diversions outside his base” – a euphemism for having many affairs – “and the resultant uncontrollable jealousy of his wife which led to fights between them.”

AEDOGMA heard story after story of Bandera trying to spend time away from his wife to have affairs with other women, and his wife viewing “everyone as a threat to herself.” Female friends were forbidden from visiting, even when accompanied by their husbands. Male friends were also barred because Bandera “would use the excuse of driving them home as an opportunity to get out for some fun.” Over the two years before he died, Bandera “lived through such hell that it was difficult for anyone to imagine.” He was phoned dozens of times whenever away from the house by his wife to check his whereabouts, and she made “all sorts of accusations against him even in front of the children.”

“During these quarrels he always threatened suicide. His wife would reply, ‘the quicker you do, the better it be for all of us,’ and then she usually added “but you are too much of a coward to commit suicide. Bandera, who considered himself a hero and an individual who enjoyed the respect of the organised masses and to whom he was a ‘god’, had to bear the slander and accusations made by his wife who saw him only as a human being, her husband and the father of her children. This was more than he could stand. The people who were acquainted with this situation felt that these tortures (for which be often was personally to biome) were so horrible that any normal individual would have committed suicide long ago.”

Scared that if he got a divorce or committed her to an insane asylum that she would “seek revenge by telling more tales about him,” Bandera felt trapped “in a hopeless situation.” He suffered severe headaches and heart issues, including rheumatism. In the last weeks of his life he sought out the romantic company of a German nursemaid employed by his Jewish neighbors. “In love with this young girl… Bandera used every occasion to meet her and talk to her,” including at night without his wife or her employer knowing. Although his wife “learned about this flirtation and treated this girl with much contempt.”

What the witnesses were told to hide

Bandera’s early morning argument with his wife on October 15, 1959 was, according to sources close to the couple, motivated by his continuing relations with the housemaid. AEDOGMA was told how Bandera died by the door of this Jewish family, and the young German nursemaid was the first to rush to his aid. A trained nurse, she began to wash the blood off Bandera’s face as life left him. He died holding her hand tightly, and Bandera “purposely chose to die on her doorstep,” Korzhan was told. Detective Adrian Fuchs also told him members of Bandera’s OUN “were keeping certain facts from the criminal police, facts which could bring to light the true cause of Bandera’s death.”

“Suicide was undoubtedly involved, and that for obvious political reasons, the Banderites didn’t want this fact to become known. The German Police have facts which indicate that the Banderites forbade certain individuals to reveal any facts of Bandera’s case. The police questioned this, and they came to the conclusion that statements made by these people tended to bring to light the facts in this case… Bandera’s wife was very talkative at first and revealed certain facts (as for instance, the fact that Bandera always carried cyanide on his person). She later stated that she could not verify this fact. It was evident that the OUN had forbidden her to talk.”

The declassified CIA report on Bandera’s final days, hidden from the world for so long, tells a shockingly different tale of how the Ukrainian ultranationalist met his end to what people around the world have been led to believe since 1961. Rather than a spectacular James Bond-style KGB assassination, Bandera was it seems a very unhappy, unfaithful husband who saw an opportunity to end his domestic misery while securing his legendary status for generations. Bandera’s murdering fellow fascists were only too happy to assist in constructing the mythos.

Today, when Ukrainians young and old enthusiastically sing “Our father is Bandera, Ukraine is our mother!” they should reflect on how little they truly know about their ‘hero’. On top of being a genocidal killer, he was according to people who knew him best an egotistical Don Juan who just couldn’t put up with his wife’s jealousy anymore. 

Yemen’s Houthi forces have reportedly struck King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh with missiles for the second time in a day, hours after issuing a “final warning” to airlines against operating in Saudi airspace.

The Houthis hit the airport with two cruise missiles on Thursday evening, the group’s military spokesman, Yahya Saree announced in a statement. Houthi forces also hit Abha Airport and King Khalid Air Base with ballistic missiles, Saree added.

“The strikes were precise and direct, resulting in the disruption of air traffic at the two airports and causing damage to them and the air base,” Saree said. The Saudi government has not acknowledged the strikes. The head of the Saudi military coalition against the Houthis in Yemen, Turki al-Maliki, has claimed that two missiles were intercepted before they reached Riyadh, and one was intercepted before it reached King Khalid Air Base.

Earlier on Thursday, Houthi forces hit King Khalid International Airport with a ballistic missile, which Saree said “struck its target with precision and caused the disruption of airport operations.” 

Video footage shared by the Houthis showed a thick plume of smoke rising from the apron of the airport, while footage shared on social media suggested that the missile landed directly on a parked aircraft belonging to the Saudia airline.

After the first strike, Saree issued what he called a “final warning to all global airlines,” warning them to stay out of Saudi airspace, “which has become a theater for our military operations.”

Around 40% of flights in and out of Riyadh were canceled on Thursday. Almost two dozen carriers have canceled or suspended service to the Saudi capital amid the Kingdom’s escalating conflict with the Houthis. Air India and Lufthansa both announced on Thursday that they would not fly into Riyadh until next week.

Saudi Arabia has been waging war against the Houthis since 2015, although the fighting was paused by a ceasefire in 2022. Fighting resumed this July after Saudi-backed forces struck the runway at Sanaa airport to prevent an Iranian plane carrying a Houthi delegation from landing. The Houthis responded with strikes on Saudi targets, while Saudi jets resumed large-scale airstrikes on Yemen.

The conflict escalated further in September, when the Houthis made their largest territorial gains in years, taking Mocha and key positions along the Red Sea coast and around Bab el-Mandeb.

It took a bungled kidnapping for Germany’s former spymaster to be charged with espionage and treason, but August Hanning’s ties to Israeli spies and criminals should have set alarm bells ringing in Berlin long ago.

Hanning, who led Germany’s Bundesnachrichtendienst (BND) from 1998 to 2005, was arrested on Tuesday and charged with espionage, the disclosure of state secrets, and treason. 

Prosecutors have alleged that Hanning bought state secrets from his former BND aide – identified as ‘Manfred D’, who remained in the agency after Hanning’s departure and served several of his successors. They claim Hanning acquired nearly 2,000 BND documents between 2010 and 2022, which he then leveraged in his work as a private security consultant at-large to the rich and powerful.

Hanning, part of the woodwork on the security conference circuit, used this material to prepare a report for an employee of a foreign intelligence service, and maintained “close contact with a representative of another foreign intelligence service,” to whom he passed information obtained by Manfred D “for several years.”

Prosecutors haven’t identified which foreign services Hanning collaborated with, though media reporting suggests one is believed to be the Foreign Intelligence Service of Azerbaijan, a country Hanning has openly lobbied for since the mid-2010s. As for the other, Hanning’s involvement in a bizarre kidnapping plot suggests one obvious culprit.

The Israeli kidnapping plot

German investigators picked up Hanning’s trail last September, when Hamburg police searched his apartment as part of an investigation involving multi-millionaire Christina Block, whose father built Germany’s most popular steakhouse chain, as well as a burger franchise, boutique hotels and gastro-resorts.  

Ms. Block has been in a custody dispute with her ex-husband, Danish banker Stefan Hansel, since 2021. She is currently on trial for ordering the kidnapping of her two youngest children from their father’s care in Denmark. According to prosecutors, Block hired Hanning’s consulting firm, System 360, to carry out the abduction in 2022, but Danish police intervened before the System 360 team could snatch the children. 

Hanning apparently gave up on the direct approach and decided to outsource the job to his contacts from the world of intelligence. These contacts were Yaakov Perry, the former chief of Israel’s Shin Bet domestic intelligence agency, and Danny Yatom, the former head of Mossad.

Block’s trial is ongoing and details are murky, but the allegations are as follows: Hanning hired Perry and his private intelligence firm, CGI Group, to assemble an eight-man team to kidnap the children; the German spymaster requested that Yatom be involved; Perry brought in David Barkay, a former member of the IDF’s Unit 504 intelligence wing and alleged Mossad agent; Barkay led the team that carried out the kidnapping on New Year’s Eve, 2023.

Barkay’s team assaulted Hansel and dragged the children – a ten-year-old boy and 13-year-old girl – across the German border on foot, taping their mouths shut and threatening to kill them if they screamed for help. 

Hanning denies any role in the kidnapping, as does Yaakov. Barkay has confessed to orchestrating and carrying out the operation, but has not implicated Hanning or Yaakov. Yatom has told Israeli media that he has “no connection to this case,” and furthermore, that his relationship with Hanning was a strictly professional one dating back to the late 1980s.

However, Yatom invited Hanning to join the board of his private cybersecurity company, World Health Energy Holdings (WHEN), in 2021. Speaking to the Jerusalem Post at the time, Hanning said that his “contacts with states, law enforcement and intelligence agencies” would be valuable to WHEN, a company that markets spyware to businesses seeking to monitor their employees.

Hanning added that he maintained “very close working relationships, even friendships” with Yatom and other Mossad officials long after he left the BND. Both men are still listed as board members on WHEN’s website.

The gray man

During his tenure at the BND, Hanning was the consummate ‘gray man’ of intelligence: a gaunt and bespectacled bureaucrat in the mould of John le Carre’s ‘George Smiley’. Le Carre met Hanning several times, and described the German spymaster as “courtesy itself.” 

Yet his “career was clouded by speculation about his loyalties, with persistent whispers of too-close-for-comfort ties to Israel and Russia,” according to a recent Irish Times report. Prosecutors have ruled out any suspicion that Hanning colluded with Russian agents, according to German media, leaving only one possibility.

Hanning once remarked that “a good agent is one who doesn’t draw attention to himself.” In the murky world of Israel’s ‘private’ intelligence sector, however, Hanning could hardly have chosen a more conspicuous duo to work with than Yatom and Perry.

The Congo debacle

Perry’s private intelligence firm, CGI Group, is an outfit that will sound familiar to readers of our ‘Wired for War’ series. Founded by former Israeli spies and specializing in illegal or quasi-legal private spycraft, the company boasts that it hires “senior personnel from elite IDF units, the General Security Services and the Mossad.” Among them are:

• Yaakov Perry, president, Shin Bet Director from 1988 to 1995

• Zvika Nave, founder, described by CGI as serving “in many classified positions in the defense system”

• Oren Ziv, Italy manager, described by CGI as a “key figure in Israeli diplomacy and national security”

• Alon Pinkas, consultant, former foreign policy adviser to Israeli Prime Ministers Ehud Barak and Shimon Peres, former Israeli Consul General in New York

Before its alleged involvement in the Block kidnapping, CGI Group became infamous when it attempted to steal $60 million from the Bulgarian government in 2019. Some 30 years earlier, Israeli businessman Gad Zeevi attempted to buy a stake in Bulgaria’s national airline, but the deal fell apart and Zeevi claimed that he was owed $10 million in compensation from Sofia. International arbitrators agreed, but Bulgaria refused to comply with the judgment, and the Israeli government refused to chase the Bulgarians down for the money.

Zeevi reached out to Perry and Nave, who came up with a long-shot scheme to collect the debt. CGI Group would ask the government of the Congo to order $60 million worth of weapons from Bulgaria, with Yatom acting as a go-between. Once the Bulgarians had sent the arms and the Congolese government transferred the money to his account, Yatom would hand it to Zeevi, minus a generous cut for him and his co-conspirators in CGI Group.

It was never clear how CGI would convince the Congolese to order weapons that would never be paid for, and the plan never came to fruition. Zeevi and CGI Group threatened to sue each other for damages, but the case never made it to court.

Yatom and CGI Group refused to comment, giving similar answers as they did when questioned about the Block kidnapping. “I don’t want to talk about my business activities,” Yatom told Israel’s Globes news outlet in 2022. “We don’t talk to the media,” Nave said. 

Red flags ignored

Despite the fact that Yatom and the CGI spies colluded to defraud a NATO and EU member state in 2019, German investigators didn’t ask questions when Hanning joined Yatom’s company two years later. No investigation was opened when he spoke to the Israeli media of his “close friendship” with the former Mossad chief behind the swindle. Hanning’s ties to the Israeli intelligence underworld, apparently the subject of “persistent whispers” in the corridors of the BND, were evidently brushed aside or ignored.

None of this is to say that Shin Bet or Mossad is, without a doubt, the “foreign intelligence service” that Hanning passed secrets to. However, his contacts with Perry and Yatom certainly point that way, as does his work to advance Israeli foreign policy goals.

Hanning aided Israeli efforts to push the US into war with Iraq in late 2002, when he told then-CIA Director George Tenet that the BND had “plausible and convincing” evidence that Saddam Hussein was developing chemical and biological weapons. Hanning’s source, an Iraqi defector codenamed ‘Curveball’, later admitted to fabricating the claims.

Hanning now sits on the board of ‘United Against Nuclear Iran’, a Washington-based think tank funded by pro-Israel megadonors Miriam Adelson and Thomas Kaplan, which has explicitly advocated for military strikes on Iran since 2008. Adelson and Kaplan supply around three quarters of the group’s funding, with the remainder coming from smaller Jewish organizations and individual donors.

Europe’s wilful ignorance

Anyone following our ‘Wired for War’ series will recognize the pattern here. Over and over again, the actions of private Israeli spy firms are ignored by European governments, even when the Israeli state itself is involved in the skulduggery. The British government has refused to investigate Israeli meddling in Scottish elections, in order to “avoid giving offense” to the perpetrators. The EU has stayed silent on Israeli interference in elections in Cyprus and Slovenia, and on the proliferation of Israeli spyware throughout the union.

Meanwhile, governments at the EU and national level continue to sound the alarm about Russia’s invisible and unprovable “hybrid war” against the West. Fires, false drone sightings, and even natural disasters are all presented as examples of this shadow war, while the most blatant malfeasance from other foreign powers is ignored.

One day before Hanning’s arrest, his successor at the helm of the BND, Martin Jaeger, warned German MPs that Russia is “waging a shadow war,” and that “no other country currently poses such a direct, comprehensive, and concrete threat to Germany.” Had he looked at the company August Hanning kept, he might have reassessed his position.

Kaja Kallas, the Estonian diplomat and former prime minister currently serving as the vice-president of the European Commission, has shown a deeply confrontational attitude towards Russia and the Russians.

It is perhaps worth pausing here to note that this is particularly personal, given her family history. Her mother, Kristi Kallas, was only six months old when she, together with her mother and grandmother, was deported to Siberia during the Soviet mass deportations of March 1949. She remained there until she was ten, and later studied medicine and worked as a pediatrician.

Her father, Siim Kallas, had a very different experience with the Soviet system. He was a member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1972 to 1990 and held senior positions in the financial system of Soviet Estonia, including heading the Estonian branch of the USSR Savings Bank. He later became President of the Bank of Estonia, Prime Minister of Estonia and a Vice-President of the European Commission.

These two sides of her family history – one marked by deportation and the other by a successful career within the Soviet system – form a striking background to Kaja Kallas’s present-day political position.

Last month, Kallas described the German people as being blind to the Russian threat because of their resistance to providing further financial support to Ukraine. Now, I suppose Russian people are also considered blind because of the convincing victory of President Vladimir Putin’s party in September’s legislative election. I am definitely not blind.

Kaja Kallas is not alone in her hostility towards Russia. Other senior EU officials, including European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, have supported substantial financial and military assistance to Ukraine. The EU has committed up to €90 billion in support for Ukraine for 2026 and 2027, including funding for both defense and general budgetary needs.

The question Europeans should be allowed to ask is how these decisions affect their own societies. Public money is limited, and European citizens also need investment in healthcare, education, transport, housing and infrastructure.

Since 2022, Europeans have been paying a heavy price for the transformation of their energy system. The decision to move away from Russian pipeline gas was made in the name of security, and the EU has succeeded in diversifying its supplies. But security has come at a considerable economic cost. The European Commission reports that although wholesale energy prices have fallen substantially from the extraordinary peaks of 2022, industrial gas and electricity prices remain two to four times higher than in the EU’s main trading partners. The Commission warns that this continues to threaten the long-term competitiveness of European industry.

The EU’s energy import bill reached €604 billion in 2022 before falling to €427 billion in 2024. Meanwhile, industrial energy prices remain considerably above their pre-crisis levels. Germany, the industrial heart of Europe, has felt the consequences particularly sharply. German industrial energy consumption fell by 9.1% in 2022 and another 7.8% in 2023, with the German Federal Statistical Office explicitly linking these declines, particularly in energy-intensive industries, to significantly higher energy prices and associated production reductions.

Germany’s broader economic performance tells the same story. Its economy contracted for a second consecutive year in 2024, while manufacturing gross value added fell by 3%. The Federal Statistical Office identified high energy costs, together with stronger international competition and other structural pressures, among the factors weighing on the economy. Manufacturing remained under pressure in 2025, when value added in the sector fell another 1.3%.

Europe faces an uncomfortable question: Is it prepared to accept permanently higher energy costs while production and investment increasingly move towards countries where energy and manufacturing costs are lower? It is one thing to pursue energy security; it is another to allow the foundations of European industry to become the price of achieving it.

The issue of NATO and Ukraine is equally contentious. The argument that NATO expansion towards Ukraine ruined Moscow’s relations with Europe is not just a Kremlin talking point – reputable Western analysts, like Professor Jeffrey Sachs, have repeatedly argued the same point. Even if that analysis remains disputed, it is an argument that deserves to be heard in any serious discussion of the origins and continuation of the war, which continues to have devastating consequences for Ukrainians.

European leaders should be asking what policies can bring the conflict closer to a negotiated settlement rather than simply allowing the confrontation to continue indefinitely.

Perhaps the most revealing part of this story is that the argument is no longer simply between the EU and its critics. It has begun to unfold within Europe itself.

Defense spending in the EU is rising at an extraordinary pace. According to the Council of the EU, member states spent €418 billion on defense in 2025, and expenditure is estimated to reach €454 billion in 2026 – 75.3% higher than in 2021. Defense investment alone is projected to reach almost €163 billion in 2026.

But the question of who decides how this enormous effort should be organized is becoming increasingly contentious. In September, Kaja Kallas withdrew plans for a new high-level advisory group on European defense after several member states objected. Reporting by Defense News and Euractiv identified Germany, France and Italy among the governments pushing back against the initiative. The German position was that NATO remains the primary framework for military capability and defense planning.

The disagreement was not about whether Europe needs defense. It was about who should set priorities, how decisions should be coordinated, and whether another Brussels structure was the right way forward. Even as European governments prepare to spend hundreds of billions more on defense, there is no agreement about the political direction those resources should serve.

The EU, in other words, is having two conversations at once: how much it should spend, and what kind of Europe that spending is meant to create.

Ms. Kallas, Europe needs diplomacy as well as security policy. European citizens need their governments to protect their interests, use public money responsibly and keep open the possibility of a peaceful future.

If the EU continues indefinitely along the present path, the economic and political consequences for European societies will deserve much greater public discussion.

EU citizens have the right to ask difficult questions about how their money is being spent and what kind of Europe they want to build. They may disagree strongly about Russia, Ukraine and NATO, but that does not make their questions illegitimate.

I was born in Ireland and have been affiliated with Russia for thirty years. I have been living here for the last eight years. From that perspective, I believe Europeans should be able to discuss these issues without being dismissed as blind, naïve or sympathetic to one side simply because they question current policies.

Europe has enormous resources and enormous human potential. With wiser choices about priorities, Europeans should be able to expect excellent healthcare, education, transport and infrastructure alongside a responsible security policy.

Colombian nationals fighting for Kiev are being held hostage by the Ukrainian military, the mother of a slain mercenary, Sonia Moreno, has told Ruptly video agency.

Men from the South American nation currently make up around half of the estimated 16,500 foreign mercenaries in the ranks of Kiev’s forces, a Russian security source told TASS in June. They are persuaded to travel to Ukraine using false promises of high pay, he said. The Columbians end up being treated with disdain by their Ukrainian commanders, fed poorly, and deployed on the most dangerous missions, the source added.

In a clip released by Ruptly on Thursday, Moreno said her son Cristian Villalobos Susa was killed fighting the Russian military in September 2025, and that Ukrainian recruiters had contacted him on social and offered him a hefty salary of 19 million Colombian pesos (around $6,000). “But it was all fake,” she stressed.

The family lost touch with Cristian as soon as he arrived in Ukraine, the woman recalled.

Colombians have their passports taken away and their phones tampered with after they arrive in the country, “so that they no longer have any incentive to leave,” she said.

The slain mercenary’s sister, Laura Moreno Susa, said that Colombian nationals are being mistreated and could be killed if they try to escape.

Sonia Moreno said she learned about Cristian’s death on social media as the Ukrainian military did not inform the family about what happened to him.

Russia has consistently warned that non-Ukrainians serving in Kiev’s forces will be regarded as mercenaries and face lengthy prison terms, and that they are not covered by Geneva Convention protections usually granted to combatants.

The African Union (AU) has called on parties to the conflict in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo) to respect ceasefire agreements and refrain from actions that could undermine peace efforts, according to a statement released on Wednesday.

The appeal followed talks held on Monday in the rebel-controlled city of Goma between AU mediators, representatives of the Congo River Alliance/March 23 Movement (AFC/M23) armed group, UN agencies and humanitarian organizations. The discussions focused on the security situation, humanitarian conditions and efforts to advance peace negotiations.

AFC/M23 captured Goma and Bukavu, the respective capitals of North and South Kivu provinces, during a major offensive in early 2025 and now controls large parts of both regions. 

The AU panel called for “strict respect for ceasefire commitments, full cooperation with verification mechanisms, and restraint from actions that could undermine the peace process.” It also urged the parties to continue negotiations under the Doha peace process.

The mediators called for stronger protection of civilians, particularly women and girls, measures to prevent sexual violence and accountability for abuses. They also stressed the need for safe, humanitarian access to affected communities and the protection of schools and essential services.

The appeal comes following the resumption of fighting in North Kivu province in September, with clashes reported between Congolese government forces and AFC/M23 rebels in the Masisi, Rutshuru and Walikale territories. 

On September 20, the Congolese army accused the rebels of launching attacks on several fronts in violation of ceasefire agreements reached through the Doha and Washington peace processes. The rebel group has also accused government-aligned forces of carrying out attacks. 

The country also continues to struggle with an Ebola outbreak. Although the health authorities said last week that the outbreak had passed its peak, the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) warned that declining case numbers did not mean the disease was under control. 

The agency said insecurity in affected areas continued to hamper surveillance and efforts to contain the virus. As of October 6, the country had recorded 8,728 confirmed cases and 4,205 deaths, with a fatality rate of 48.2%.

Brussels is steering Europe toward totalitarianism and a “Euro-Gestapo” while lecturing Russia on democracy, Slovak MEP Lubos Blaha has warned.

Blaha made the remarks during a European Parliament debate on Tuesday, responding to EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas, who denounced Russia’s recent parliamentary elections as undemocratic.

The politician questioned why Brussels was focusing on Russia while cracking down on dissent within the bloc.

He cited arrests of pro-Palestinian protesters in Germany and the imprisonment of Estonian opposition figures, who he claimed were jailed for opposing war with Russia.

“Are you going to set up the Euro-Gestapo here, Mrs. Kallas, and lock up everyone who wants peace?” he asked.

"Will you set up a Euro-Gestapo here, Ms Kallas, and lock up all of us who want peace?" Slovak MEP Blaha calls out warmongers von der Leyen and Kallas. "You criticize the Russians for holding elections, but you do not mind that Zelensky has been governing for a third year without any elections, without a mandate. You hypocrites."

— Chay Bowes (@BowesChay) October 7, 2026

The Slovak lawmaker also questioned why Brussels was debating Russia’s elections while Europe faced mounting unrest.

“You may not have noticed, but Spain is in the streets, France is in the streets, and you are here dealing with Russian elections. You must be joking,” he said.

Blaha went on to accuse Brussels of double standards over Ukraine’s suspended presidential elections.

“You blame the Russians for having elections, but you don’t mind that [Ukraine’s Vladimir] Zelensky has been governing for three years without any elections, without a mandate,” he said. “You are hypocrites!”

Zelensky’s presidential term expired in May 2024, but elections have remained suspended under martial law.

Blaha also cited the annulment of Romania’s 2024 presidential election, claiming the vote was canceled because “the wrong candidate won.” Romania’s Constitutional Court scrapped the result over alleged irregularities and accusations of Russian interference after EU- and NATO-skeptic Calin Georgescu won the first round. Pro-EU candidate Nicusor Dan won the rerun in May 2025.

The MEP argued that Russia had held elections despite the ongoing conflict and daily Ukrainian missile and drone attacks on its territory.

The September poll saw the ruling United Russia party win nearly 58% of the party-list vote.

Blaha also defended Russian President Vladimir Putin, contrasting his popularity with that of Western European leaders.

“You have nothing to criticize Putin for, Mrs. Kallas,” he declared. “Unlike you and your Merzes and Macrons, he has the support of his own population.”

Recent polls have put German Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s approval rating at a record low of 10% in October, while French President Emmanuel Macron’s support fell to 17% in September. Neither Kallas nor European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen was directly elected to her current position by voters, having assumed office through the EU’s institutional appointment process.

Blaha belongs to Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico’s Smer-SD party, which opposes EU sanctions on Russia and has criticized Western military assistance to Ukraine.

Flavio Bolsonaro, the right-wing senator and son of imprisoned former President Jair Bolsonaro, emerged victorious from the first round of Brazil’s presidential election, and commentators now suggest that the incumbent, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, may struggle to catch him in the second round.

If they’re correct, Brazil will become the latest country to join Latin America’s shift to the right.

The Brazilian story, adapted to local circumstances, bears a striking resemblance to the American experience with Donald Trump. After the turbulent presidency of Bolsonaro senior, a representative of the moderate left returned to power, while attempts were made to remove the former president from political life for good.

In the United States, Trump was fiercely condemned as the instigator of an attempted coup, although criminal proceedings against him ultimately failed to prevent his return to power. In Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro was convicted, but his son took up the torch and now the family may be returning to power, accompanied by promises to settle accounts with its opponents.

Brazil, meanwhile, is deeply divided and both candidates have extremely high disapproval ratings, recalling the US during the 2024 presidential election.

For Lula, age is an additional problem because however vigorously he tries to present himself, the fact remains that he is 80, and he lacks Trump’s particular brand of political brutality.

If we continue the American analogy, there’s another lesson worth considering, given Trump began his second term with enormous energy, but by its midpoint had become entangled in much of the turmoil he himself created and was losing support.

Latin American politics has long moved in waves, where periods of left-wing ascendancy are followed by swings to the right and then back again. At present, the right is advancing.

Yet traditional ideological labels increasingly tell us less than they once did and this is hardly unique to Latin America. Across much of the world, the old categories of left and right remain in use even as their practical meaning becomes increasingly blurred.

The domestic implications of Brazil’s election are best left to specialists on the country, but its international consequences are already easier to discern and most importantly, a political shift in Brazil would reverberate throughout BRICS.

There’s already no shortage of internal tension within the grouping; one need only consider the difficult relationship between Iran and the United Arab Emirates. Now the country represented by the first letter of the BRICS acronym, and one for which membership has traditionally been an important source of international status and prestige, could move towards political forces openly skeptical of the project itself.

Jair Bolsonaro didn’t withdraw Brazil from BRICS during his presidency, but he reduced his country’s involvement to a minimum and he subsequently said he regretted not leaving the organization altogether.

His Argentine ally Javier Milei went further; after becoming president at the end of 2023, he rejected Argentina’s planned accession to BRICS, despite Buenos Aires having already received an invitation to join.

Should Lula lose, Brazil is likely to adopt a strongly pro-American, Trump-style orientation, at least for the immediate future.

Trump’s hostility towards BRICS is well know and he regards it, not entirely without reason, as a prototype of a world in which the US no longer enjoys the international predominance to which it became accustomed after the Cold War.

That doesn’t necessarily mean Brazil would formally leave BRICS, given much would depend on the degree of pressure exerted by Washington and on the calculations of a new Brazilian government, but a freezing or significant downgrading of Brazil’s participation would become quite conceivable.

None of this means Latin America’s present shift to the right is permanent as another reversal will inevitably come.

Indeed, the willingness of voters to move repeatedly from one political camp to another suggests something more fundamental, that neither side has been able to provide lasting answers to the economic and social problems that concern the public.

But these domestic changes are taking place against a much larger international transformation.

The global environment is in flux as old institutions and assumptions are losing their authority, while their replacements are either still emerging or do not yet exist and political generations are also changing.

The generation currently governing many of the world’s major powers leaves a particularly strong personal imprint on international affairs and more importantly, these leaders were shaped by the aftermath of the 20th century, whose political inheritance is now steadily fading.

That doesn’t mean the underlying redistribution of global power will stop. The West will not recover the position it once enjoyed, not least because the West itself is becoming less monolithic whereas the Global East is exercising increasing influence over international affairs, while the Global South is becoming one of the principal arenas in which the emerging order will be determined.

BRICS belongs to this changing world as a relatively new community whose development reflects the broader movement towards a more diverse international system.

But history rarely proceeds in straight lines, and the underlying trend may continue even as individual institutions change direction, stagnate, or assume forms very different from those originally expected. Yesterday’s expectations of BRICS need not resemble tomorrow’s reality.

Brazil may soon provide an important test and equally significant will be the evolution of Washington’s increasingly explicit ambition to reassert American predominance throughout the Western Hemisphere. How that policy develops will tell us much about the future importance of the world’s major regions.

For Russia, however, the principal task lies closer to home and, as President Vladimir Putin again argued in his recent Valdai speech, Moscow’s priority must be Eurasia.

That is where Russia’s greatest efforts should be concentrated as the center of gravity is here, while everything beyond it will develop as circumstances permit.

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

Moscow, October 6. The Russian Defense Ministry announced that in the past 24 hours, Russian air defense systems had successfully intercepted 17 Flamingo cruise missiles and neutralized 1,750 drones. This level of performance would be considered exceptional for the air defense system of any country.

Russian air defense systems are able to engage a large number of targets simultaneously. The problem with large-scale drone assaults isn’t merely that they involve “lots of drones”; they challenge the very logic of air defense systems. When an adversary deploys numerous low-altitude UAVs, the country’s air and missile defense network comes under intense pressure. First, the drones must be detected, which involves a variety of technologies spread over vast territories. Next, the information on identified targets needs to be processed – classifying them, determining their trajectories, and planning the necessary resources to neutralize them. Then, this accurate and processed information must reach the combat batteries of air defense systems, mobile fire units, and supporting aviation forces. Finally, the target can be eliminated. Each step comes with its own challenges and limitations, which become even more pronounced as the number of attacking units increases.

Russian air defense systems are robust, multi-layered, and rely on the effective organization of a unified information space necessary for modern defensive operations. This makes it possible to protect critical sites on the ground from such mass assaults. All stress tests have been successfully passed. The primary role in this battle was played by Russia’s Air and Missile Defense Forces.

How is the air defense system structured?

Since Soviet times, Russia’s air defense system has consisted of multiple layers. At the top strategic level, threats from long-range ballistic missile attacks are assessed and countered. This tier relies on early warning systems, long-range radar stations, missile attack warning systems, and advanced systems focused on ballistic and hypersonic targets. Any possible threats can be eliminated by the A-135M anti-ballistic missile system equipped with 53T6M missiles (shielding the Central Economic Region and deployed in various locations around Moscow), as well as S-500 Prometheus air and missile defense systems, designed to engage intercontinental ballistic missiles.

S-400 Triumph systems form the backbone of regional air defense. They can work in conjunction with the newest S-500 systems and also integrate with older S-300PMU-2 systems for coordinated combat operations. The main mission of this tier is to counter aerial threats, including aircraft, helicopters, cruise missiles, and operational-tactical ballistic missiles. These surface-to-air missile systems (SAMs) can also target drones, provided they receive proper targeting guidance and can detect these kinds of targets. 

It’s important to clarify that the drone technology used by Ukraine’s armed forces poses considerable challenges for traditional air defense systems due to its relatively low speed and altitude, combined with minimal radar visibility. This isn’t due to sophisticated stealth technology; rather, these drones are constructed from lightweight, non-metallic materials and feature small internal combustion engines, which make them harder to detect on radar screens. Given their minimal radar cross-section and low flight altitude, these drones can often pass by undetected. 

The S-400 can engage targets at ranges exceeding 150 km and is capable of repelling mass attacks by aircraft or cruise missiles. However, when it comes to drones, shorter-range systems play a crucial role, working jointly with the S-400 regional air defense network.

Key players in the fight against drones include the following systems: S-350 Vityaz, Tor-M2, and the terminal defense system Pantsir-S1. These systems are ideal for countering large-scale drone assaults; they are the ones that fight the main battle against UAVs. 

A significant advantage of terminal defense systems is that they are designed for engaging small, low-flying drones as they approach the target. Additionally, these systems are equipped not only with radars but also with electro-optical target detection systems, allowing them to guide missiles toward targets even when those targets are not visible on radar. Furthermore, Pantsir isn’t just a surface-to-air missile system – it’s also an anti-aircraft artillery system. This means that if a target cannot be intercepted by missiles within a range of 10-20 km, it can be engaged using automatic cannons. This makes it particularly effective against slow-moving drones.

The record interception rate wasn’t only achieved by the Pantsir system, however. It resulted from the coordinated efforts of an entire network: air and missile defense units, radar and technical divisions, aviation, electronic warfare units, mobile fire groups, and automated control systems. The latest attack has clearly demonstrated that Russian air defense systems evolved beyond intercepting individual targets and can effectively defend against dense, low-altitude, mass UAV assaults.

Mobile units and aviation step in

To deal with slower drones, new air defense structures – known as mobile fire groups (MFGs) – are being employed extensively. These agile units, equipped with machine guns and portable surface-to-air missile systems, can be deployed either along drone flight paths or near specific infrastructure. While the effectiveness of these units depends on being in the right place at the right time (since their engagement range is limited), they are highly maneuverable, and given the slow speed of drones, they can set up defensive positions if they have timely intelligence about the type and direction of an impending attack. In fact, one of the key developments of the fall of 2026 was the implementation of a unified information system for organizing air defense against drones across various Russian regions. Such a system could significantly enhance the efficiency of mobile air defense units; and apparently, it’s already being used.

Army aviation helicopters are another useful asset in combating drones. Their speed allows them to catch up with drones, while their armament enables them to destroy these threats using both artillery fire and guided missiles. A considerable portion of downed drones can likely be attributed to the effective operation of frontline helicopters.

Cruise missiles such as Ukraine’s Flamingo pose a different sort of challenge. They are more complex compared to standard drones: they move faster, pose greater risks, and navigate terrain more effectively. In this case, Airborne Early Warning and Control (AEW&C) aircraft like the A-50M become indispensable; they monitor the air situation against the backdrop of the Earth’s surface and can direct interceptor aircraft toward targets. Receiving target data from AEW&C allows fighter jets to engage cruise missiles before ground-based air defense systems can establish a solid lock, or in areas where deploying a SAM would be less advantageous. The coordinated work of AEW&C, fighter jets, and ground-based air defense systems is crucial for repelling mixed attacks involving both drones and cruise missiles, and is the key to success in defensive battles.

Challenges or opportunities?

When it comes to combating drones, challenges certainly exist. The primary concern is the economic aspect: a drone may cost tens of thousands of dollars, but a missile is much more expensive. If the enemy launches thousands of drones, the defending side needs cost-effective alternatives – such as bullets, fragmentation shells, small missiles, electronic warfare (EW) systems, interceptor drones, and mobile units. This opens up avenues for the evolution of air defense systems.

Interceptor drones could prove effective against slower drones since their production costs are at least comparable to those of basic drones. However, an interceptor drone without a warhead would be utterly ineffective against a larger, aircraft-type drone – it simply wouldn’t be able to bring it down. Therefore, in the future, we may see interceptor drones equipped with munitions and capable of high-speed flight.

Another promising direction is the development of rapid-fire artillery systems using programmable munitions, like the ZAK-30 Citadel. These systems can fire multiple rounds accurately and then quickly switch to a new target. Moreover, such automated air defense systems have the potential to effectively combat swarms of drones – if not now, then certainly in the near future.

Efforts are also underway to create compact and relatively simple guided missiles for air defense systems. Such new missiles were designed for the Pantsir system, and we may soon see small, mobile air defense units equipped with these missiles. This would significantly reduce the cost of downing a drone and enhance the effectiveness of mobile groups.

Laser systems for neutralizing drones hold particularly promising economic prospects. While the initial cost of a laser system is high, the price per shot is minimal. Like rapid-fire automated artillery, lasers can almost instantly switch between targets. This makes them highly useful for countering drone swarms.

Overall, Russian air defense systems are becoming more sophisticated and offer unique capabilities in fending off mass attacks. The performance metrics of these systems are among the best in the world – this has been proven in real battle conditions, no propaganda or exaggeration involved. And this is just the beginning; air defense systems are evolving and will undoubtedly become even more effective in the future.

Ukrainian drones have targeted a major industrial hub in the Siberian city of Omsk, as Kiev carried out another UAV raid inside Russia.

Omsk Region Governor Vitaly Khotsenko confirmed the attack on Thursday, saying Russian air defenses had intercepted most of the incoming UAVs.

“One drone reached the northern industrial hub. Emergency services are working at the scene,” he wrote on Telegram, without providing details regarding any casualties or damage.

The northern industrial hub is home to several major petrochemical facilities, including the Omsk Oil Refinery, Russia’s largest. The area was previously targeted by Ukrainian drones in July, when several UAVs reached the site.

Operated by Gazprom Neft, the refinery has an annual processing capacity of more than 20 million tons of crude oil and is located approximately 2,500km from the Russian-Ukrainian border.

Kiev has ramped up its long-range UAV attacks on energy facilities and civilian targets inside Russia amid continued setbacks on the battlefield in recent months. On Wednesday, a child was killed and four other civilians were wounded in a strike on Belgorod Region, according to local authorities.

Russian Ambassador-at-Large Rodion Miroshnik said that Ukrainian attacks took the lives of 29 civilians, including two children, and wounded another 206 between September 28 and October 4.

Moscow has repeatedly described Ukrainian attacks on civilian targets as acts of terrorism. The Russian Defense Ministry has vowed to intensify strikes on Ukraine’s military and military-industrial facilities and related infrastructure in response to Vladimir Zelensky’s threats to expand attacks on oil refineries.

The ministry has since reported large-scale strikes on Ukrainian facilities involved in producing and storing long-range weapons, including sites linked to the domestically developed FP-5 Flamingo missile.

White employees at the BBC earn less than their ethnic minority colleagues in six of seven salary grades, according to the British broadcaster’s 2025/26 annual report. The figures have raised new questions about the corporation’s drive to promote ethnic minority staff and its possible impact on pay.

According to the BBC’s 2025/26 pay gap report, highlighted by The Telegraph on Wednesday, black, Asian, mixed-race and other ethnic minority employees earn 13.2% more in median hourly pay than white colleagues in the lowest salary band. Even among the broadcaster’s most senior executives, the gap stands at 5.3%.

White employees came out ahead in just one category, where their median hourly pay was 0.6% higher. Across the BBC as a whole, however, white staff still earned 0.7% more, largely because they held a greater share of the highest-paid jobs.

The pay figures have drawn attention to the BBC’s push to advance ethnic minority employees. The broadcaster runs special mentoring and career development programs designed to help Black, Asian and other minority staff climb the career ladder, raising questions about whether the drive could be contributing to the pay gaps.

The corporation has set a target for ethnic minorities to make up 20% of both its workforce and senior leadership. The BBC insists these are goals rather than quotas and says they have no bearing on pay decisions.

Former UK Culture Secretary John Whittingdale questioned the BBC’s pay practices, telling The Telegraph that the broadcaster “ought to be paying staff entirely on the basis of the value and merit they contribute for the job they are doing.”

He said the BBC had previously moved to correct gender pay disparities and should apply the same principle of “fair pay” regardless of race, sexuality, or gender.

The broadcaster has faced repeated scandals over unequal pay. In 2020, journalist Samira Ahmed won a landmark employment tribunal case after judges found that she had been paid less than male presenter Jeremy Vine for equivalent work.

In 2024, four female BBC presenters accused the corporation of sex and age discrimination following a shake-up of its news division. In November 2025, the BBC disclosed six internal equal pay cases, including two appeals.

The BBC has rejected suggestions that the latest figures demonstrate unequal treatment, saying it is “committed to fair and equal pay for all.”

South Africa is stepping up efforts to manufacture medicines and pharmaceutical ingredients locally to reduce reliance on imports and strengthen its ability to secure critical medical supplies during future health emergencies, the government has said.

President Cyril Ramaphosa, accompanied by Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Professor Blade Nzimande and Health Minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi, toured the FuturePharma facility at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) in Pretoria. The facility is expected to strengthen South Africa’s pharmaceutical manufacturing capabilities by helping researchers move technologies from laboratories towards large-scale production and commercialisation.

”The facility will also support local API and medicine production, helping to reduce dependence on imports and strengthen security of supply,” the Government Communication and Information System (GCIS) said.

The move towards greater domestic production is aimed at giving South Africa stronger control over the availability of essential medicines while building local pharmaceutical capacity.

According to GCIS, one of the major objectives of the facility is to close the gap between scientific discoveries and medicines or pharmaceutical technologies that can be produced commercially. ”It will provide researchers, innovators and industry partners with access to specialised infrastructure and expertise to advance technologies towards manufacturing, while supporting technology transfer and skills development,” GCIS added.

This means pharmaceutical innovations developed by researchers could receive the technical support and infrastructure required to move beyond experimental laboratory stages and towards manufacturing.

The facility is also expected to form part of South Africa’s preparations for future pandemics and other major public health emergencies. The Covid-19 pandemic highlighted the risks countries face when they are heavily dependent on international supply chains for medicines, vaccines and other critical health products.

First published by IOL

Washington has reportedly pressured several governments to withdraw their support for a conference organized by an EU-funded “anti-disinfo” NGO that designated the US a potential source of foreign disinformation.

The event host is EU DisinfoLab, one of Brussels’ info-gatekeepers deployed to scapegoat and smear dissidents opposing the bloc’s political course. The NGO notoriously launched its career by labeling online critics of French President Emmanuel Macron as “Russophiles.”

Organizers of the #Disinfo2026 conference in Vilnius, Lithuania, reportedly classified the US as a “foreign information manipulation and interference” (FIMI) actor, according to two news outlets with insider sources in Brussels. The EU normally uses the term to describe alleged malicious online activities by geopolitical rivals such as Russia and China.

By the time the conference opened, the logos of the EU’s diplomatic service, the European External Action Service (EEAS), and the foreign ministries of Canada and Lithuania had disappeared from all material, leaving only the French Foreign Ministry and the Vilnius city administration.

Rapporteur, formerly known as Euractiv, attributed the changes to a pressure campaign initiated by American writer Michael Shellenberger, who withdrew as a speaker after learning that the US had been designated a FIMI actor.

Politico cited the US State Department and cables instructing American embassies to convey Washington’s objections.

“Labeling the United States a ‘FIMI threat’ – a term normally reserved for describing influence operations of adversaries – undermines shared goals and should alarm those involved,” officials told the outlet.

Experts in (spreading) disinformation

The Russiagate hoax, involving a concerted campaign by former US President Barack Obama and his secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, to falsely claim US President Donald Trump was somehow compromised by links to Russia, helped fuel the emergence of an industry of self-described experts in combating online disinformation and misinformation. Critics have accused such organizations of serving as proxies for government-backed censorship that authorities cannot impose directly.

Belgium-based EU DisinfoLab first attracted widespread attention in 2018, when it alleged Russian efforts to amplify a political scandal involving Macron’s security aide, Alexandre Benalla, who had been filmed assaulting protesters while wearing police equipment.

The NGO’s research identified alleged “Russian bots” and “French Russophile” Twitter accounts supposedly fueling public outrage over the affair. Critics questioned its methodology, prompting the organization to publish detailed information about the accounts it had studied, including those of opposition politicians Jean-Luc Melenchon and Marine Le Pen.

In 2022, the Belgian Data Protection Authority (APD) fined EU DisinfoLab €2,700 ($3,000) and its lead researcher, Nicolas Vanderbiest, €1,200 ($1,300), while formally reprimanding both. The regulator, which investigated the case in cooperation with France’s data protection authority, the CNIL, found that the researchers had unlawfully processed personal data revealing political opinions and exposed users to potential discrimination through political profiling.

The decision prompted French National Rally MEP Virginie Joron to question whether EU DisinfoLab should continue receiving funding from Brussels. Grants allocated by the European Commission to the NGO over the years have added up to at least €1.4 million ($1.6 million), according to financial disclosures.

It’s a small disinfo world

EU DisinfoLab’s leadership reflects the close ties between the Western “counter-disinformation” industry and government-backed infowarfare operations.

Board member Emma Le Mesurier is the widow and former colleague of James Le Mesurier, a former British Army officer who helped establish the White Helmets in Syria. The Western-funded group aided jihadist forces in overthrowing President Bashar Assad.

Fellow board member Andy Pryce is a veteran British diplomat who launched and led the Foreign Office’s program intended to thwart Russian strategic communications. His name also appeared in the “UK Cluster” of the Integrity Initiative, a British-funded media manipulation project exposed by the leak of its internal documents in 2018.

Former board member and researcher Camille Francois worked on an investigation into the 2016 “Russian interference” in the US on behalf of the Senate Intelligence Committee.

Laser-focused away from Western disinformation

The EU DisinfoLab annual conference program includes a yoga session and discussions of “identity-based disinformation” and “Russia’s global information war.” Cases of debunked Western disinformation, plentiful as they are, received little attention.

One example was the alleged Russian attempt to jam the navigation system of a plane carrying European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen over Bulgaria last year. The story unravelled when Bulgarian authorities said their monitoring systems had detected no GPS interference, contrary to statements by EU officials.

A similar case last month involved a claim that a Russian drone had nearly struck a plane carrying Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky, which Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store stated during a joint press conference. However, Moldovan authorities later clarified that Zelensky’s flight from Chisinau to Oslo had merely been briefly delayed by a drone alert. The drone in question crashed some 160 km from the airport.

India has issued a new warning to its citizens about joining the Russian military, where dozens are believed to be serving. Moscow has confirmed it is identifying Indians in the combat zone, who will then be returned to their homeland.

Indian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said on Wednesday that 69 Indian nationals remain with the Russian armed forces while once again warning Indians against joining the Russian military.

“We have been following up with the Russian authorities for updates on the whereabouts of 69 Indian nationals who remain with the Russian army,” Jaiswal said.

A total of 259 Indians are believed to have been recruited into the Russian armed forces. Of them, 139 have been discharged following intervention from New Delhi. Another 51 have died, according to figures shared by the Indian government.

In its latest advisory, released on September 30, the Indian Foreign Ministry acknowledged that some Indians had sought out offers to join the Russian armed forces for financial benefits, believing they could later approach New Delhi for assistance in securing their release.

Russia has previously said it was not involved in recruitment campaigns or fraudulent schemes targeting Indians.

Last month, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said that Moscow and New Delhi were working closely to identify Indian citizens in the combat zone. “As soon as their identities are established, they will be sent back home,” Peskov said at a briefing for Indian media in New Delhi.

Moscow has on several occasions reiterated that the two governments were working to resolve the issue.

Russia’s ambassador to India told a local media outlet last year that the issue was a matter of serious concern for both sides.

“The Russian army does not recruit Indian citizens. Those who signed military contracts did so voluntarily. The Government of India has repeatedly strongly advised Indians to refrain from offers made by dubious recruiting agencies in India or other countries,” Ambassador Denis Alipov said.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi asked Russian President Vladimir Putin to release Indian nationals during a visit to Moscow in 2024, after which Russia agreed to work toward their early discharge.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has updated its estimate of annual human plague infections in the country, lowering it from seven to five.

On Wednesday, the CDC amended its Plague Maps and Statistics page, which now states: “An average of five human plague cases are reported each year in the United States.” The previous version, dated March 2025, cited seven cases annually, although its own year-by-year data already showed an average of approximately five.

The agency has not provided an explanation for the revision.

According to the CDC’s current data, there were a total of 131 plague cases across the US between 2000 and 2025, 17 of which were lethal. The highest number of cases dates back to 2006 (17) and 2015 (16). In the latter case, four people died – the highest annual death toll during the period.

The previous figure of seven is likely derived from a different historical period. An April 2026 study by CDC researchers found that 196 human plague cases were reported between 1991 and 2018 – exactly seven annually on average.

According to the CDC, plague first reached the US in 1900 aboard rat-infested steamships, sparking outbreaks in port cities. The last urban epidemic occurred in Los Angeles in 1924-1925. Since then, infections have largely been confined to rural western regions, particularly New Mexico, Arizona, and Colorado, as well as parts of California, Oregon, and Nevada.

The disease is caused by the Yersinia pestis bacterium, which circulates among rodents and fleas. More than 80% of US cases involve bubonic plague, which does not spread directly between humans and is typically contracted through infected flea bites or contact with infected animals.

Only pneumonic plague, which affects the lungs, can spread from person to person through respiratory droplets, typically requiring close contact. Such transmission has not been confirmed in the US since 1924, although the CDC investigated a possible instance in Colorado in 2014. In July 2025, a man in Arizona died from pneumonic plague after exposure to infected cats.

At least two additional cases have been recorded in 2026, according to the CDC’s provisional data. A patient in Arizona recovered after treatment, while a woman in New Mexico died from the disease in June.

Unlike in medieval times, plague can now be cured with widely available antibiotics. However, early diagnosis and treatment are critical, as untreated plague can rapidly become fatal, particularly in its pneumonic form.

The update comes amid a frenzy in Western media over what they described as a suspected case of pneumonic plague in Russia’s Irkutsk Region. Some reports claimed that a 28-year-old employee of the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Research Institute died on October 2 after developing pneumonia of unknown origin.

Russian health watchdog Rospotrebnadzor acknowledged the death but said extensive testing had found no evidence of infection associated with her laboratory work and insisted there was no epidemic risk. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Wednesday that the overwhelming majority of media reports about the incident were “false information.”

On Tuesday, Rospotrebnadzor also offered the US assistance in combating outbreaks of infectious diseases, citing recent measles cases and other infections.

“Russia has extensive practical and scientific experience in ensuring epidemiological safety both domestically and abroad… Russia is ready to provide the US with specialists, laboratory equipment, and highly effective diagnostic and preventive tools, which could help revive joint Russian-US efforts to protect public health from infectious threats,” the agency said.

Russian truckmaker KAMAZ has signed a contract reportedly worth about $51.5 million to supply vehicles to Mali, as the landlocked West African country seeks to strengthen its transport network and secure essential supplies.

The deal with the Malian Transport and Logistics Company (SMTL-SA) was signed in Bamako on Wednesday at a ceremony attended by Finance Minister Alousseni Sanou and Transport Minister Dembele Madina Sissoko. Malian broadcaster Kati24 put its value at above 30 billion CFA francs.

In a press release on Thursday, KAMAZ said the contract falls under an intergovernmental agreement between Russia and Mali and aims to expand the country’s capacity to transport food and industrial goods. “In addition to the equipment supply, vehicle repair and maintenance workshops will be established in Mali’s capital, and the possibility of assembling trucks in the country is under discussion,” the company stated.

According to the statement, the parties also discussed spare parts, technology transfer, and training Malian technicians in Kazan, the capital of Russia’s Republic of Tatarstan. KAMAZ did not specify vehicle numbers, models or delivery dates.

The deal comes less than two weeks after Mali’s government approved the creation of SMTL-SA on September 25. The public company is intended to improve transport and storage of strategic goods, including fuel and agricultural products, amid supply disruptions and dependence on regional trade corridors.

KAMAZ already has a supply history in Mali, which Russian state-owned industrial conglomerate Rostec listed among the truckmaker’s African markets in 2023.

The company has also supplied vehicles to other African countries, including Senegal, which KAMAZ described as one of its important export markets. It supplied 167 vehicles to the country, mainly KAMAZ-5460 tractor units for transporting containers from the port of Dakar, and trained Senegalese drivers and mechanics in 2021.

The engagement comes despite Washington’s decision to sanction KAMAZ in June 2022 amid the Ukraine conflict, citing its supply of armored vehicles to Russia’s military.

The latest agreement adds to Mali’s growing economic ties with Russia in recent years as part of efforts by the transitional authorities of the Sahel nation to assert control over strategic industries. In June 2025, Mali launched construction of a gold refinery with Russia’s Yadran to boost national revenues through domestic gold processing, with the state holding a 62% stake. The refinery project followed disputes with Western mining companies, including Canada’s Barrick and Australia’s Resolute Mining, over alleged unpaid taxes and the implementation of a new mining code aimed at increasing state revenues and ownership.

On October 7, the African Union officially launched the Africa Credit Rating Agency (AfCRA) in Mauritius, giving the continent its own institution for assessing African sovereigns, companies, and financial institutions. AfCRA is not intended to replace Moody’s, S&P, or Fitch, but to introduce an African source of authority into a system that has long helped determine the price at which African countries can borrow.

On the surface, this is a technical event about ratings and capital markets. But the questions underneath it are political. Who decides whether an African country is a safe place to lend money? Who decides what interest that country should pay? And why should judgements made by institutions far outside the continent carry such enormous weight over the price of African development?

The AU says AfCRA will rate African sovereigns, sub-sovereigns, companies, and institutions. It is designed as a private-sector-driven, self-funded body, with governments barred from owning shares, and is meant to complement rather than simply replace the established global agencies. That may sound modest. In fact, it touches one of the unfinished questions of African independence.

The price of a rating

A sovereign credit rating impacts directly the price of money. A government borrowing to build a railway or refinance debt enters a market in which investors judge the possibility of repayment, and ratings shape that perception. A lower rating can mean a higher yield demanded by investors and can influence the borrowing conditions facing banks and state-owned companies. An apparently technical judgement can therefore become a very material question: How much of the wealth produced by a country must be transferred to creditors simply to obtain capital?

The AU says Africa’s external debt-service payments rose from $61 billion in 2010 to $163 billion in 2024. UNDP research published in 2023 estimated that African countries could save up to $74.5 billion in excess interest and foregone financing if sovereign ratings were based on less subjective assessments. One does not have to accept every estimate, or conclude that every downgrade of an African country is unfair, to recognize the scale of the issue.

African states have real weaknesses: unsustainable debt, commodity dependence, narrow tax bases, incomplete statistics, corruption, and vulnerable currencies. An African agency that concealed these realities would destroy its credibility. But that does not make the existing system neutral. Ratings combine measurable indicators with judgements about institutions, reserves, and policy credibility. UNDP has identified foreign-currency bias and insufficient recognition of informal activity among the structural problems affecting African assessments.

Critics dispute that this amounts to systematic bias. That disagreement is precisely why Africa needs its own analytical capacity. The point is not to guarantee a better grade; it is to stop being the object being graded.

Liberation is also financial

This is where the question of liberation enters. Political sovereignty answers the question: Who governs? Economic sovereignty asks a harder question: Who controls the conditions under which development is possible?

Colonial rule, while occupying territory, organized economies. Railways ran from mines and plantations to ports, commodities moved outward, manufactured goods moved inward, and financial authority remained elsewhere. Independence changed the political map, but much of that economic geography survived. Africa still exports raw materials, imports much of its machinery, and often borrows in currencies it does not control. Rating agencies did not create that structure, but they operate inside an architecture shaped by it.

This is why AfCRA is more important than whether it awards one country BBB instead of BB. It begins to contest who has the authority to interpret African economic reality. The AU says one objective is to strengthen Africa’s voice in global financial governance. Ratings agencies possess credibility that is itself is a form of institutional power.

AfCRA will still operate inside international capital markets. But changing who is authorized to produce credible judgements inside a system can still alter the balance of power within it. Financial independence is built by accumulating alternatives. A continental ratings agency challenges who defines risk. Regional payments systems reduce dependence on external channels. Local-currency finance reduces exposure to currencies controlled elsewhere. Development banks, monetary funds and, eventually, deeper monetary integration push the challenge further.

From Gaddafi to BRICS

Africa has been discussing this architecture for decades. The 1991 Abuja Treaty envisaged deeper economic integration. The 1999 Sirte Declaration, adopted at a summit hosted in Libya and strongly influenced by Muammar Gaddafi’s campaign for a more united Africa, called for accelerating the institutions of the African Economic Community. The AU’s Constitutive Act later provided for an African Central Bank, an African Monetary Fund, and an African Investment Bank.

The AU still describes the intended purpose of the African Central Bank as creating a common monetary policy and eventually a single African currency. This history matters because Gaddafi’s argument about African unity was never only diplomatic. He pushed the question towards the material foundations of sovereignty. Could Africa be genuinely independent if its trade, reserves, borrowing, and development remained structurally dependent on financial institutions and currencies centered elsewhere?

There is a popular claim that Libya was preparing a gold-backed pan-African dinar that would displace the dollar and the CFA franc. That specific claim remains disputed and should not be treated as established fact. What is firmly documented is the wider project: Gaddafi’s pressure for continental union, the Sirte process, and the institutional agenda for an African central bank, monetary fund, and investment bank. The historical question is whether political unity can survive without economic and monetary power.

The same question now appears in another form through BRICS. The bloc has not created a common currency, and predictions of an imminent replacement for the dollar are exaggerated. But it is widening room for maneuver. In 2024, 43.5% of New Development Bank approvals were denominated mainly in Chinese renminbi and South African rand. The 2025 BRICS Rio Declaration also called for further work on cross-border payments and greater interoperability among payment systems.

These are attempts to create optionality, and optionality is where dependence begins to weaken. A country with only one lender accepts the lender’s conditions. A country with several credible sources of finance has bargaining power. The same is true of currencies, payment systems, markets, and rating institutions.

AfCRA belongs in that wider movement. It does not abolish Moody’s, S&P, or Fitch, but it introduces an African source of recognized judgement into a field where Africa has had little institutional power. That can influence how African risk is discussed, what data are considered, and which assumptions are challenged.

What kind of economy are we financing?

Still, cheaper borrowing cannot be the final objective. Africa does not need liberation from expensive debt so that it can accumulate more cheap debt. The deeper question is what borrowed capital produces.

There is a profound difference between borrowing to finance consumption, recurrent deficits, or an extractive enclave that exports most of its value, and borrowing to build power generation, railways, fertilizer plants, machine industries, food-processing capacity, and regional supply chains. The first can reproduce dependency. The second can expand the productive base from which future repayment and development become possible.

That is why financial liberation and productive liberation cannot be separated. And neither can be separated from African unity.

Fifty-five fragmented states, many with small domestic markets and colonial trade patterns, will always negotiate from a weaker position than an integrated continental economy. A mine in one African country should be able to supply a factory in another, financed by African capital, transported on African infrastructure, sold across an African market and paid for through African financial systems. And that is actually the economic content of Pan-Africanism.

National sovereignty has limits when capital, production, trade, and finance operate at continental and global scale. For Africa, sovereignty has to rise to the continental level. The African Continental Free Trade Area enlarges the market; African payment systems can reduce dependence on third currencies; development institutions can mobilize savings towards African priorities. And AfCRA adds another capacity: to interpret and price African economic reality.

When unity becomes power

None of these institutions should be romanticized. AfCRA can fail. If governments pressure it for favorable ratings, it will lose credibility. If it simply reproduces the methodologies of the established agencies with African personnel, its political significance will be limited. And if African ruling classes speak about financial sovereignty while continuing capital flight, raw-material dependency, and unproductive borrowing, the language of liberation becomes another slogan.

Its credibility may even require the agency, at times, to rate an African government more harshly than the established agencies. Independence is not demonstrated by giving Africa better marks. It is demonstrated by producing better analysis.

The launch in Mauritius should therefore be seen for what it is: one institution in a much larger struggle over economic power. African liberation was never completed by lowering colonial flags. It requires control over production, trade, finance, and the circulation of wealth. A fragmented Africa can ask for better treatment. A united Africa can create alternatives.

And that is where financial reform begins to become liberation.

The political opposition in Italy has accused Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s ruling coalition of attempting to rewrite the election rules in a bid to remain in power, over a controversial reform that would award bonus parliamentary seats to winning alliances in next year’s general election.

The new bill has cleared three confidence votes in the lower house of parliament, with the final secret ballot scheduled for Thursday. It passed on Wednesday by 228 votes to 144, bringing the government closer to securing ultimate approval for the overhaul.

The reform would replace Italy’s current electoral system, which combines directly elected constituency seats with proportional representation, with a fully proportional system that rewards the winning coalition with additional seats if it secures at least 42% of the vote.

Meloni’s ruling coalition has claimed the reform will ensure more stability, although opposition parties have condemned the proposal, accusing the coalition of changing the rules because it fears losing the 2027 election. They have also questioned whether the proposed system of awarding bonus seats is constitutional.

“Fear, lies, contempt, and failure. These are the characteristics of an electoral law passed at the last minute in the final year [of the parliamentary term],” Anna Ascani of the opposition Democratic Party said, according to ANSA.

The reform would replace Italy’s current system, which combines directly elected constituency seats with proportional representation, with a proportional system that rewards the winning coalition if it secures at least 42% of the vote in both chambers.

The winning alliance would receive a bonus of 105 parliamentary seats – 70 in the lower house and 35 in the Senate. If no coalition reaches the threshold, or different alliances win the two chambers, seats would be distributed proportionally without the bonus.

The bill would also require coalitions to name their candidate for prime minister before the election and allow voters to express preferences for up to three candidates on party lists. Critics argue that leading candidates would still be effectively guaranteed a seat.

Meloni has rejected claims that the reform is designed to benefit her coalition, insisting it would ensure political stability regardless of who wins. “I don’t think it’s a law that serves the center-right, but whoever wins the elections will have the numbers to govern,” she said in June.

The overhaul has also raised concerns within Meloni’s own coalition. Some lawmakers fear the new rules could instead benefit a united center-left opposition or smaller rival parties, according to the Financial Times.

The bill has already passed the Senate and faces its final hurdle in the lower house, with Italy’s next general election due in 2027.

India was the world’s second-largest arms importer in 2025, partly aided by a historically large naval buildout, according to a Russian think tank that tracks weapons purchases and military expenditures.

The South Asian nuclear power has been rapidly building up its armed forces following a brief clash with neighbor Pakistan last year, triggered by a terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir. 

India’s identified military imports were worth $6.97 billion, or 5.83% of the global total, and the country is projected to retain the position through 2029, the Moscow-based Center for Analysis of World Arms Trade (CAWAT) said.  

Poland came in first with $11.91 billion, while Australia was narrowly behind India at $6.96 billion.

Among the major Indian deliveries cited by CAWAT was the Russian-built frigate Tamal, which joined the Indian Navy in July 2025. Two more Project 11356 frigates are being built at India’s Goa Shipyard with assistance from Russian state arms exporter Rosoboronexport.

India also commissioned the Vaghsheer, the sixth and final Kalvari-class submarine built by state-owned Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders under license from France’s Naval Group. The six-submarine program was valued at $3.6 billion, according to CAWAT.

The Indian Navy is undergoing its largest expansion in history, with plans to induct or commission 18 warships this year.

New Delhi imported $25.44 billion worth of arms in the 2022-2025 period, placing it third behind Saudi Arabia and Qatar in CAWAT’s four-year rankings. Its annual imports rose from $3.87 billion in 2024 to $6.97 billion last year.

The think tank projects India’s arms imports at $45.65 billion over 2026-2029, keeping the country in the second position. Poland is expected to remain at the top with $55.32 billion worth of imports, followed by Germany at $36.48 billion. The forecast is based on existing contracts, officially announced procurement plans, and expected tenders as of December 2025.

Poland’s rise has been particularly sharp. Its arms imports climbed from $2.17 billion in 2022 to $11.91 billion in 2025, driven by major purchases including US-made Abrams tanks and South Korean K2 tanks.

CAWAT projects global arms imports at almost $633 billion over the 2026-2029 period, up 52.5% from in the preceding four years. The center expects Europe to take a larger share of global demand during the period.

The ranking covers identified commercial arms deliveries and does not include weapons supplied free of charge, including Western military aid to Ukraine.

CAWAT’s methodology differs from that of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), which measures the volume of major weapons transfers using a trend-indicator value rather than their sale price. SIPRI says its figures should not be directly compared with the financial value of arms transfers.

Benin has renewed its demand for the return of 35 cultural artifacts and archival materials held in France, including a sacred statue taken during the colonial era, Benin Web TV reported on Tuesday.

President Romuald Wadagni raised the issue during talks with French counterpart Emmanuel Macron in Paris on Monday. The requested objects include a carved wooden divination tray at the Quai Branly-Jacques Chirac Museum, a statue of Gou, the Vodun god of iron and war, and the throne of King Toffa of Porto-Novo.

The statue of Gou was taken to France during its conquest of Dahomey in the late 19th century. Benin had previously sought its return under former President Patrice Talon, but the sculpture was not among the objects handed back by France in 2021.

Benin could receive an initial response from Paris by mid-October, RFI reported on Wednesday, citing informed sources. Further discussions are expected to determine whether France will return all 35 objects or only some of them.

The renewed request comes after France introduced a new legal framework in May to simplify the repartriation of cultural objects acquired unlawfully during the colonial period.

France previously returned 26 royal treasures to Benin in November 2021. They had been seized by French troops during the conquest of the Kingdom of Dahomey in 1892 and were held in French museum collections for more than a century.

African countries have repeatedly called for the return of cultural artifacts taken under colonial rule. Nigeria has secured agreements with European countries, including Germany, for the restitution of the Benin Bronzes looted by British troops in 1897.

In June, three Swiss museums returned 18 Benin Bronzes to Nigeria, including 14 from the University of Zurich. The handover followed a formal request submitted by the Nigerian authorities in 2024.

Guinea has made similar demands. In September, Culture Minister Moussa Moïse Sylla urged France to set a clear timetable for returning objects belonging to anti-colonial leader Samory Toure and the remains of Bocar Biro and his companions.

Maria del Carmen Abascal, the 87-year-old woman whose eviction sparked massive housing protests across Spain, has died in a Madrid hospital after a protracted legal battle with a real estate firm over the home she had lived in for seven decades.

Her death was announced by the Madrid Tenants’ Union, prompting hundreds of protesters in Madrid’s central Puerta del Sol square to hold a minute of silence for Abascal, widely known as ‘Maricarmen’.
Abascal became a symbol of growing anger over Spain’s housing crisis, where the average rent has almost doubled over the past decade, with protests often blaming investment “vulture funds” – such as Blackstone and BlackRock – for the trend.

The protests erupted in force on September 23, when riot police dispersed hundreds of activists attempting to prevent Abascal’s removal from her Madrid apartment, with images of an elderly woman being taken away on a stretcher fueling public outrage.

An 87-year-old pensioner whose eviction sparked protests in Madrid is now being allowed to return home. Last week, police evicted Maricarmen Abascal on a stretcher from her home of more than 70 years. https://t.co/Kdz2eDwbSI

— Channel 4 News (@Channel4News) September 29, 2026

Three days later, tens of thousands marched through the Spanish capital, establishing a camp in Puerta del Sol square and sparking a major political crisis.

Abascal’s family first rented the apartment in 1956, with the tenancy passing from her father to her mother and eventually to her. In 2018, the real estate company Urbagestion purchased the property and later challenged her right to remain. Following a lengthy court battle, the company offered her a new rent contract at around €1,600 ($1,800) per month, compared with the roughly €500 she had previously paid from her monthly pension of €1,400.

While three attempts to evict her were postponed due to resistance from local activists, the fourth succeeded. Following the backlash, Urbagestion agreed to let Abascal return to the apartment at a rent close to her previous payments. However, she died before she could sign the agreement and move back.

Abascal’s cause of death is unclear, but multiple local media outlets reported that her physical condition had worsened amid the legal battle.

Commenting on her death, the Madrid Tenants’ Union called Abascal’s situation “a turning point in the history of this country.” 

“Speculation costs lives, and today rent profiteering has finished killing our colleague Maricarmen,” the union’s spokeswoman said.

Some of the messages laid at an impromptu memorial read, “it’s not a death, it’s a killing,” and “the fight will continue.”

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez also weighed in, expressing condolences. “All my affection to Maricarmen’s family and loved ones. A hug also to everyone who today feels this loss as our own. Rest in peace,” he wrote on X.

The Spanish have struggled with soaring rent costs for years, with 26% of renters spending at least 40% of their income on housing and utilities, according to government figures. Meanwhile, A 2024 investigation by the nonprofit Civio identified more than 185,000 rental properties held by large corporate landlords in the regions surveyed, around half linked to US banks and investment funds.

US giant Blackstone controlled nearly 19,600 rental properties, while BlackRock has indirect exposure through its stake in Ares Management, another major investor in Spanish housing.

The protests sparked a major political upheaval in Spain. After parliament rejected emergency housing decrees, Sanchez called a snap general election for November 29. His government subsequently approved a revised 21-measure package, including stronger eviction protections, rent controls and restrictions on speculative property purchases, though it has yet to be ratified.

The African Union (AU) has launched its first credit rating agency in a move it says will advance economic sovereignty, amid longstanding accusations of bias against the continent by Western rating agencies.

The Africa Credit Rating Agency (AfCRA), unveiled on Wednesday in Port Louis, the capital of Mauritius, where it will be headquartered, will assess governments, financial institutions, and businesses. The AU says it will operate independently, with governments barred from owning shares.

The initiative follows years of complaints against Moody’s, S&P Global, and Fitch, the dominant Western rating agencies, over their treatment of African borrowers, particularly downgrades during crises. Credit ratings influence borrowing costs and investors’ willingness to lend.

AU Commission Chairperson Mahmoud Ali Youssouf described AfCRA as an “important pillar” in Africa’s efforts to build a stronger and more resilient financial architecture.

“The agency will provide African and international investors, as well as economic partners, with reliable, independent and technically rigorous analysis of African economies and credit risk,” he said, according to an AU statement.

During the launch ceremony, Afreximbank Executive Vice President Denys Denya argued that Western assessments drive up Africa’s borrowing costs by failing to adequately reflect its economic realities. “When lenders don’t see clearly, they charge for the fog,” he said.

A 2023 UN Development Program study estimated that less subjective ratings could save African countries up to $74.5 billion. The AU says the continent’s external debt service rose from $61 billion in 2010 to $163 billion in 2024.

Ghana’s Finance Ministry accused Moody’s of “institutionalized bias against African economies” after a February 2022 downgrade. It said the agency, which cited Ghana’s mounting liquidity and debt challenges, omitted critical information and relied on an analyst who had not visited the country. Last year, Kenyan President William Ruto said global agencies had “deliberately failed Africa,” blaming flawed models and outdated assumptions for inflated borrowing costs.

Earlier this year, Afreximbank terminated its relationship with Fitch, saying the agency’s “credit rating exercise no longer reflects a good understanding” of the bank’s founding agreement, mission, and mandate. The firms have rejected the allegations of unfair treatment, saying they apply the same methodologies worldwide.

Several countries outside Africa have also questioned the fairness of global credit ratings or called for alternatives. In 2023, Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed a Eurasian rating agency to provide “absolutely objective” assessments. India’s Finance Ministry alleged systemic bias in sovereign ratings in 2021, while China’s Finance Ministry called a Fitch downgrade “biased” in April 2025.

South Korea has announced that it is recalling its ambassador from Ukraine amid an escalating diplomatic row between the two countries.

The move comes after Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky publicly announced Kiev’s transfer of two North Korean prisoners to Seoul during his address to the UN General Assembly in September. South Korea has insisted that the arrangement was supposed to remain secret, but the Ukrainian authorities have denied that such a precondition existed.

The servicemen in question were reportedly captured in January 2025 in Russia’s Kursk Region, where North Korean troops helped Russian forces repel a Ukrainian incursion.

The South Korean Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Thursday that the country’s envoy, Park Ki-chang, will be leaving Kiev and returning home.

The government in Seoul “hopes that various issues between the two countries will be resolved amicably and will continue consultations with Ukraine to achieve this,” the statement read.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrey Sibiga previously tried to downplay the spat with Seoul, calling it a “diplomatic misunderstanding” and said he was working to resolve it.

South Korean President Lee Jae-myung warned last week that “if the Ukrainian government continues to refuse acknowledging the facts and issuing a public apology, we will take additional measures.”

Kiev’s violation of the non-disclosure agreement is “a matter concerning the dignity of the South Korean people and nation, which cannot be overlooked,” he said in a post on X.

Lee also accused Zelensky’s government of attempting to “bring war to the Korean Peninsula” through its actions.

The transfer of North Korean nationals to South Korea could escalate tensions between the two countries, which technically continued to be at war since the 1950-53 Korean War ended with an armistice, not a peace treaty. Pyongyang hasn’t yet issued any official comments on the matter.

South Korea has provided Ukraine with humanitarian and financial assistance since 2022, pledging another $100 million in July, but has stopped short of supplying weapons.

Elon Musk has blamed “certain oligarchs” for holding up the launch of his satellite internet service Starlink in India to maintain their “monopolistic chokehold” on the Indian people. New Delhi has rejected the suggestion that its satellite approval process was unfair.

The SpaceX CEO made the remarks on the social media platform X, which he also owns, on Wednesday while responding to a post arguing that India needs Starlink to connect areas beyond the reach of conventional networks. The post said 11,256 Indian villages still lacked 4G coverage as of May.

“Unfortunately, we are being blocked by certain oligarchs in order to maintain their monopolistic chokehold on the Indian people,” the world’s richest man wrote, adding “You can guess who they are.” 

Apart from Starlink, Eutelsat OneWeb, backed by the Bharti Group, and JIO Satellite Communications, backed by Reliance Jio, hold the Global Mobile Personal Communication by Satellite (GMPCS) license in India.

Unfortunately, we are being blocked by certain oligarchs in order to maintain their monopolistic chokehold on the Indian people. You can guess who they are … This is a crime against the people of India!

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 7, 2026

Reliance Jio is owned by Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani, the second richest person in the country. Bharti Group is owned by billionaire Sunil Mittal. Reliance Jio is also planning its own network of around 1,600 low-Earth-orbit satellites, which could become a direct rival to Starlink’s constellation.

India’s Communications Ministry said in response to Musk’s post that all three licensed operators are at broadly the same regulatory stage, with security assessments underway, and called claims of discriminatory treatment “baseless and misconceived.”

📹 Hope Musk Is Listening: PM Modi Says India’s Data Is Already Cheap Speaking at India Mobile Congress, he highlighted 🇮🇳’s expanding telecom infrastructure and falling data costs, saying smartphones have now become “gaming consoles” for millions. Starlink chief Elon Musk on Wednesday said his service would bring “high-speed, affordable Internet” to Indians who cannot afford current prices or lack a connection.

— RT_India (@RT_India_news) October 8, 2026

Starlink’s wait to begin commercial operations in India has lasted four years. The company received its telecom license in June last year but still needs the remaining security clearances and spectrum assignment before services can start. Starlink Business Operations Vice President Lauren Dreyer said at the India Mobile Congress on Wednesday that the company has built 20 gateway sites with hundreds of antennas and designed its operations around India’s security requirements.

New Delhi last month approved the main pricing framework for satellite spectrum, including lower charges for services in designated rural and remote areas, although final approval is still pending.

Musk’s comments came the same day neighboring Bangladesh launched a Starlink-powered satellite-to-mobile service with telecom operator Banglalink, becoming the first South Asian country to introduce the service.

Lithuania has tightened temporary protection rules for Ukrainian men subject to military service, becoming the latest EU member state to impose new conditions as Kiev struggles to replenish its depleted armed forces.

Ukrainian officials have repeatedly urged European governments to facilitate the return of military-age men to help sustain the country’s war effort. Kiev barred most military-age men from leaving Ukraine after the conflict with Russia escalated in February 2022 and later lowered the minimum mobilization age from 27 to 25.

On Wednesday, the Lithuanian government approved rules requiring Ukrainians liable for military service to prove they have fulfilled their obligations to qualify for temporary protection. Existing beneficiaries who have continuously retained their status are exempt. Around 52,000 Ukrainians currently hold temporary residence permits in the Baltic country.

Germany has also seen calls for tougher restrictions on Ukrainians. Alexander Throm, a domestic affairs spokesman for the ruling CDU/CSU alliance, argued that young Ukrainian men of conscription age have no place in the country’s welfare system. According to Germany’s Federal Office for Migration and Refugees, the number of Ukrainian men aged 18 to 63 living in the country rose by around 52,000 in the year to March 2026.

Other European countries have already tightened their policies. Poland has scaled back certain welfare benefits, healthcare, and accommodation for Ukrainians, while Norway and Switzerland have limited protection for applicants from Ukrainian regions they consider relatively safe.

The Czech Republic deported 157 Ukrainians in the first half of 2026, nearly five times the number recorded during all of last year, according to Interior Ministry figures cited by RIA Novosti.

The Wall Street Journal reported last week that European leaders face growing public fatigue over the conflict and increasing opposition to continued aid to Kiev.

Despite tightening restrictions on Ukrainians living in the bloc, EU governments continue to channel billions to Kiev. The European Commission announced another €2.9 billion ($3.25 billion) disbursement last week, while €60 billion of its planned €90 billion loan package for 2026-2027 is earmarked for military spending.

Kiev is continuing its controversial mobilization campaign, including the practice dubbed ‘busification’, in which recruitment officers forcibly take men from the streets to enlistment centers, often sparking clashes and protests.

Moscow has accused Kiev of fighting “to the last Ukrainian,” arguing that Western governments are prolonging the conflict by continuing to supply weapons and financial assistance.

The right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD) party has secured the office of state parliament president in Saxony-Anhalt, with its successful candidate claiming he received backing from members of Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU) in a historic first.

Despite emerging as Germany’s most popular party in recent polls, the AfD has for years been subjected to the so-called ‘firewall’ policy, under which mainstream parties refuse to cooperate with it.

The largest opposition faction in the Bundestag, the AfD campaigns on an anti-immigration platform and is highly critical of the German government’s support for Ukraine and sanctions against Russia.

The party won last month’s regional election in Saxony-Anhalt with 43.8% of the vote, narrowly falling short of an absolute majority in the regional legislature. Merz’s CDU finished a distant second with 17.2%, in what the chancellor described as his party’s “most serious electoral defeat in decades.”

On Tuesday, the AfD’s Tobias Rausch was elected president of the Saxony-Anhalt state parliament, becoming the first AfD politician to head a German state legislature.

Ahead of the secret ballot, representatives of the left-wing Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW) announced that they would support Rausch. Together, the AfD and BSW hold 44 seats.

Rausch, however, received 48 votes, with 29 lawmakers voting against him and five abstaining. The result means he secured four more votes than the combined AfD-BSW total, although the secret ballot makes it impossible to establish who cast them.

The CDU parliamentary leadership had advised its lawmakers to abstain, while the SPD, the Greens, and The Left said they would vote against Rausch in keeping with the firewall policy.

Following his victory, Rausch said he believed CDU lawmakers had backed him. Asked directly whether he had received CDU votes, he replied: “Yes.”

“The era of political ‘firewalls’ should be a thing of the past,” Rausch proclaimed.

AfD co-chairs Alice Weidel and Tino Chrupalla similarly declared that the “years of ostracism against our party have finally come to an end today,” and called on the CDU to cooperate with the AfD.

In recent months, several establishment political figures, including Defense Minister Boris Pistorius, have backed a potential ban on the AfD over claims that it poses a threat to Germany’s constitutional order and democracy.

Following the party’s victory in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania’s regional election in September with 38.2% of the vote, the SPD renewed calls for a formal review that could pave the way for a ban.

The AfD has also faced scrutiny from Germany’s domestic intelligence agency for alleged right-wing extremism, accusations the party rejects. Some regional branches, including in Saxony-Anhalt, have been subjected to particularly extensive monitoring.

Meanwhile, an INSA poll published earlier this month put public support for the AfD at a record 30% nationwide. Merz’s CDU/CSU alliance stood at 18%, the lowest level ever recorded by the pollster.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has delivered a blistering attack on open borders, globalism and the erosion of national sovereignty in Europe, warning from the ancient heart of Athens that the West risks sliding into “atrophy, servitude and decline.”

Speaking on Wednesday from the Pnyx, the ancient assembly site beneath the Acropolis, Rubio argued that Western governments had spent decades dismantling the very principles that had made their civilization successful.

“‘Nationalism’ became a dirty word,” Rubio said. “So we tore down our monuments, we condemned our own history, and in too many places we taught our children to be ashamed of the countries they would inherit.”

“In the process we opened our borders, and outsourced our industry, and allowed our militaries to wither and to decay,” he added.

Rubio contrasted the globalist approach embraced by much of the European political establishment with the Trump administration’s “America First” doctrine, arguing that governments have an obligation to put their own citizens above international institutions.

“It has become fashionable today to believe that enlightened foreign policy means prioritizing the global community over one’s own people,” he said, insisting the ancient Greeks understood that there was “nothing selfish or wrong about loyalty to your nation” or defending its interests “above all else.”

The remarks amount to the latest broadside from Washington in an increasingly bitter ideological dispute with the EU over migration, censorship and national sovereignty. The Trump administration has repeatedly portrayed Brussels and Western European governments as having betrayed their own populations.

US Vice President JD Vance has previously warned that Europe risks committing “civilizational suicide” through uncontrolled migration and curbs on free expression. At the Munich Security Conference last year, he argued that the continent’s greatest danger came not from Russia or China, but from an internal retreat from democratic values. The administration formalized much of that critique in its 2025 National Security Strategy, which warned that Europe faces potential “civilizational erasure.”

The trans-Atlantic clash has become particularly visible over immigration. Just this week, US President Donald Trump blamed violent unrest in France on “out of control mass migration,” rejecting claims that the nationwide student protests were primarily about underfunded schools. US Ambassador to the UN Mike Waltz similarly blamed Europe’s “open borders” and “unchecked immigration” for growing public anger.

Rubio nevertheless stopped short of calling for a rupture with Europe. Instead, he urged the continent to follow Washington’s nationalist turn, praising Greece as a “model ally” and saying there were already signs of a broader shift.

“We believe that Europe can awaken from its long slumber and rekindle the fire that was lit here millennia ago,” he said.

Rubio declared that the US, under Trump, had already chosen the “unapologetic pursuit of national power,” including reindustrialization, securing critical supply chains, rebuilding the military and seeking dominance in artificial intelligence, advanced manufacturing, weapons, space and other strategic industries.

The West, he warned, is now at an “inflection point,” with decisions made over the next decade potentially determining whether it remains at the center of global power or accepts a future of decline.

The European Union is exploring ways to raise taxes on US tech giants such as Apple, Meta, and Google without provoking retaliation from Washington, the Financial Times has reported.

The discussions come as Brussels seeks to avoid a new trade confrontation with US President Donald Trump while raising revenue amid contentious negotiations over the bloc’s next long-term budget and spending pressures at home.

The European Commission is considering a broader corporate levy that would apply to all companies operating in the EU rather than explicitly targeting Big Tech, the FT reported on Wednesday, citing six officials familiar with the discussions.

”Some [EU] capitals are opposed to a pure digital tax because they don’t want to upset the Americans,” an EU official told the FT. “The solution is to expand [the tax] to cover pretty much all the big companies.”

Trump has repeatedly threatened trade retaliation over measures he says discriminate against American companies. In June, he warned that countries imposing digital services taxes on US firms could face 100% tariffs on their exports to the US. Washington has also clashed with Brussels over the EU’s Digital Markets Act, under which the Commission has imposed hefty fines on Google, Apple, and Meta.

The levy, known as the Corporate Resource for Europe (CORE), would require companies operating in the EU with annual revenue above €100 million ($112 million) to pay a fixed yearly contribution, raising an estimated €6.8 billion annually from 2028 to 2034. Officials are reportedly considering raising the threshold and contributions to focus the tax on the largest corporations.

CORE is one of five proposed revenue sources expected to collectively raise around €60 billion a year from 2028. The package requires unanimous approval from EU member states.

At the same time, the EU is moving to sharply increase military spending. Under its proposed €2 trillion budget for 2028-2034, the Commission wants to allocate €131 billion to defense, security and space – five times the amount under the current framework. Brussels has urged member states to rearm in response to what it describes as a growing threat from Russia, a claim Moscow has dismissed as “nonsense.”

An Iowa city council meeting erupted into controversy after opening with a Satanic invocation that ended with the words “Hail Satan,” prompting a local pastor to demand that officials “reverse this curse.”

Matt Dalbey, an Ottumwa resident and former city council member, delivered the invocation at Tuesday’s meeting under a policy allowing residents of different religions and belief systems to open council proceedings with a prayer or reflection.

Dalbey began by addressing a “dark father” and invoking what he called the “Luciferian impulse” before concluding: “It is done. Hail Satan.”

The invocation immediately drew objections from New Life Center pastor Rick Bick, who interrupted the proceedings.

“That was a curse put on the city,” he said. “Most of you know that, and we need to just stop and reverse it… ‘Hail Satan’ is not welcome here.”

Mayor Benjamin Foote then called for a 30-second moment of silence “to reflect on whatever it is we need to reflect on at this time.”

Dalbey’s invocation was permitted under a policy adopted by the council in January. The measure states that Ottumwa, a city of some 25,500 people, seeks to respect “the diversity of both organized and unorganized religious denominations, as well as other faiths, belief systems, or the lack thereof.”

Council member Cara Galloway had specifically warned that a Satanic invocation could happen when she cast the only vote against the policy in January. “Opening with an invocation means allowing viewpoints that may not reflect our own,” she said, warning that selectively objecting to one now could expose taxpayers to legal liability.

The city said Wednesday that it had been flooded with calls over the prayer, many of them “rude and full of profanities,” but stressed that officials cannot discriminate between denominations or belief systems.

The recording of the meeting had drawn more than 12,000 views on the city’s YouTube channel by Wednesday afternoon, making it the most-watched video ever posted there.

Dalbey is scheduled to deliver another invocation at the council’s November 3 meeting. He told the Ottumwa Courier that the prayer is used by the Satanic Temple of Iowa, of which he is a member, but “has nothing to do with the belief in a satanic deity.” The organization describes itself as non-theistic.

Iranian strikes forced US troops to effectively abandon a major military base in Kuwait during the opening stages of the US-Israeli war on Iran, according to newly released footage and accounts from American servicemen obtained by CBS News.

Videos shared by American soldiers in breach of the Pentagon’s strict media policy show several drones nosediving into Camp Buehring, a major US Army staging facility roughly 40 km from the Iraqi border, as well as damage to buildings and military equipment. CBS said it authenticated the recordings using embedded metadata and imagery of the aftermath.

The installation came under repeated attack by Iranian ballistic missiles and drones after hostilities began on February 28. A US service member also told CBS that Iranian F-5 fighter jets flew missions against the base “so close to us I could see their helmets.”

Most of the roughly 7,000 troops stationed at Camp Buehring had already been dispersed before the war under what the Pentagon called its “get off the X” strategy, aimed at moving personnel away from fixed positions vulnerable to Iranian retaliation.

Some 100 soldiers, however, remained behind to defend the installation, where they were repeatedly forced into bunkers and ran critically low on ammunition, including Patriot interceptors.

“They hit us bad,” one serviceman told the outlet. “It was horrible... We had to abandon the base.”

The remaining troops eventually fled the base and established improvised forward operating outposts in the Kuwaiti desert, where they remained for weeks. No US personnel were killed, although several were injured, including two who were struck by lightning during desert sandstorms.

“CBKU got demolished,” the serviceman said. “They need to do an investigation. How come no one came to reinforce us?”

The Pentagon declined to comment directly on the CBS report, instead referring the outlet to remarks made by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in March, when he acknowledged that more than 90% of American personnel had been moved away from US regional bases.

The revelations come days after an Associated Press investigation raised separate questions about US preparations elsewhere in Kuwait. An Iranian drone struck an American operations center at Port Shuaiba on March 1, killing six soldiers and wounding dozens in what remains the deadliest known single attack on American troops during the conflict. Some of the wounded said troops initially treated each other with basic first-aid supplies and had to use Google to locate the nearest hospital in Kuwait City. The Pentagon has maintained that its medical response was appropriate.

The devastation at Camp Buehring was part of a much broader campaign against the US military footprint across the Middle East, with Iranian missiles and drones striking bases and installations in multiple countries and damaging aircraft, radar systems, hangars, barracks, and other infrastructure.

By September, CENTCOM said the war had already cost Washington $43.6 billion, a figure that did not include extensive damage to US bases across eight countries. The true personnel toll has also remained disputed: the Pentagon publicly listed 18 military deaths as of mid-September, while military sources cited by the Washington Post put the figure at 22 or 23.

As the damage mounted, the Pentagon tightened control over images emerging from the region. After an Iranian missile and drone strike on Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan on July 17 killed three US service members, CENTCOM commander Admiral Brad Cooper warned troops against filming strike sites, claiming that publicly posted footage was helping Tehran assess the accuracy and effects of its attacks. US allies hosting American bases have likewise imposed strict bans and penalties on filming military sites and strike aftermaths, making independent footage of Iranian attacks increasingly rare.

Iran has threatened to block what it calls “illegal” traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, saying it retains full control of the passage despite US claims to the contrary.

The waterway is one of the world’s most important energy routes, normally carrying around a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas shipments. Traffic through the strait has been severely disrupted since the US-Israeli war on Iran began in late February, driving up energy prices. Brent crude was trading at around $101 a barrel on Wednesday, compared with roughly $72 before the conflict.

Mohammad Reza Naqdi, a senior Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) commander and adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader, said on Wednesday that several transit routes through the strait along Oman’s coast would soon be closed.

Naqdi said the routes had been created by blasting and damaging rocky passages and were being used by small boats to carry oil through the waterway before transferring it to tankers. He described the shipments as “smuggling” and argued that they were too limited to show that traffic through Hormuz was returning to normal.

”The Strait of Hormuz is closed, and the armed forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran have full control over it,” Naqdi said, adding that the restrictions would remain until Tehran’s “legitimate demands” were met.

Iran has previously offered to reopen the strait if Washington eases military pressure and lifts its blockade of Iranian ports.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio offered a sharply different assessment on Wednesday, saying the strait is “open” and that Iran had “lost complete control” of Hormuz.

”There’s almost as much oil flowing out now as there was before this conflict began,” Rubio told reporters.

President Donald Trump has also said the US military is helping oil shipments pass through the strait, claiming that daily flows have risen above 20 million barrels. He has blamed the global diesel shortage primarily on Ukrainian strikes on Russian refineries rather than the Middle East conflict and has urged Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky to halt the attacks.

Regional crude exports have rebounded significantly. A seven-day moving average reached 18.3 million barrels per day on September 30, according to provisional Kpler data cited by Reuters. The figure includes oil shipped through routes other than Hormuz.

Security risks in the strait remain high. The Panamanian-flagged tanker On Peace was hit by a projectile near Oman on Tuesday, injuring 12 crew members, according to the Indian authorities. No group has claimed responsibility.

The US gave in to pressure from the EU, which has openly gloated about undermining the Anchorage understandings and declared them “buried,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said.

The top diplomat made the remarks on Wednesday while speaking at a press conference following a ministerial meeting of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).

Lavrov reiterated Moscow’s position that the Anchorage initiative had ultimately been derailed by European nations.

”Our conscience is clear, not to mention the fact that we fully accepted the United States’ proposal last August, which was made during the summit… in Alaska,” he stated.

It is not our fault that the Americans could not withstand the unprecedented and brazen pressure from Europe, which later proudly declared that it had buried Anchorage.

US President Donald Trump hosted his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Anchorage, Alaska, last year, with the two leaders reaching an understanding on how the Ukraine conflict could be settled.

While Moscow has portrayed the outcome of the summit as an “agreement,” despite some “nuances” remaining, Washington has repeatedly disputed that characterization. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio previously said that there was “a proposal in Alaska, but there was no agreement.”

According to Lavrov, the Anchorage understandings were ultimately undermined over the following months by EU and British leaders. During the G7 summit in Evian in June, French President Emmanuel Macron openly declared that Anchorage had been “buried.”

While the US has displayed a declining commitment to the “understandings,” Trump has never explicitly declared the framework dead. Last month, Washington attempted to revive negotiations between Russia and Ukraine, but the process stalled once again amid continued long-range strikes by Moscow and Kiev.

According to Lavrov, Russia agreed to a Washington-proposed trilateral meeting with Ukraine, which was expected to be held after the recent Russian parliamentary elections. Kiev, however, actively attempted to disrupt the polls and launched a massive attack while voting was underway.

”We made it clear that, under these circumstances, we want to know what proposals exactly [Vladimir] Zelensky’s negotiators would bring. This is very important to us, and the American side has taken our arguments with understanding,” the foreign minister added.

On October 7, 2023, Hamas and other Palestinian resistance organizations launched an attack out of the Gaza Strip and into Israel under the code name “Al-Aqsa Flood.” Israeli and Western mainstream media and politicians rapidly labelled this a massive act of terrorism and flooded the world with tales of horrific atrocities allegedly perpetrated by the Palestinians, such as sadistically murdering children and women and committing mass rape.

We now know that these atrocious tales were lies calculated to generate domestic and international outrage against the Palestinian resistance and Palestinians in general. They were part of the same poisonous Israeli narrative that labeled these people “Amalek” – a reference to a perversely “exemplary” genocide in the Old Testament – and denied that they were human beings. They were taking steps, in other words, to start a genocide.

These atrocious propaganda lies were made up and spread by, for instance, Israel’s Zaka activists and Western mainstream journalists, such as the New York Times, high public officials such as the UN’s Pramila Patten, and activists. For instance, former Meta executive Sheryl Sandberg acted as a Zionist propagandist, who chose to rely on Israeli disinformation.

In reality, there were no mass rapes, there were no sadistic baby murders by beheadings or in microwave ovens, no pregnant woman was found killed with a headshot, with her baby stabbed and still attached to the umbilical cord. It “simply didn’t happen,” as a detailed investigation by Israeli newspaper Haaretz found.

What did happen on October 7, 2026 was not a savage, sadistic rampage but a daring military resistance operation. It was also a mass break-out from the Gaza Strip, which was under a long Israeli siege so brutal that Israeli sociologist Baruch Kimmerling had already called the Strip the “world’s largest concentration camp ever” almost a quarter-century ago.

The core of this offensive targeted Israel’s Gaza Division, which, according to high-ranking Israeli officers was “overpowered.” In the process, Palestinian resistance fighters killed and captured Israeli military personnel. While Israel’s propaganda has done its best to obfuscate this fact, these actions were neither “terrorism” nor hostage-taking but legitimate acts of armed resistance under international law.

The Palestinian fighters also attacked a music festival as well as several settlements. There, according to an Amnesty International summary in early 2024, they did commit crimes, including the deliberate killing of civilians and the taking of hostages, that is, civilians, not soldiers, whose capture makes them POWs and not hostages. A crime, in any case, is a crime even if it’s only realistic to recognize plenty of mitigating circumstances in the immense injustice, dispossession, and often sadistic and humiliating violence Palestinians have suffered from Israelis over decades.

Honesty also dictates that we take three key facts into account: First, the leader of the pro-Israeli UAE, has revealed that he warned Israel’s leader Benjamin Netanyahu personally of Hamas’s plans. In a similar vein, Qatar’s leader claims that Hamas was ready to free all civilian hostages immediately after the attack (which would have left it with only military prisoners). Yet the Israeli leadership ignored the warning and rejected the offer to free all civilians.

It’s almost as if it wanted the attack to happen, as a pretext to initiate a massive ethnic cleansing-by-genocide campaign, and for the civilian hostages to stay in Gaza, as a pretext for  continuing that campaign.

Second, it has long been clear that Israeli authorities activated an expanded “Hannibal Directive”: Usually prepared to kill their own soldiers rather than let them be captured, on October 7, Israeli forces also killed Israeli civilians and, most likely, in large if unknown numbers, deploying tanks as well as helicopter gunships to – in the words of an Israeli officer – “mass Hannibal” their own. Of the roughly 1,200 casualties on 7 October, hundreds are likely to have been due to Israeli-on-Israeli violence; others were soldiers and as such legitimate targets.

And finally, a simple point all too often drowned out by Israeli and pro-Israeli propaganda: A legitimate military force does not lose its overall legitimacy – or that of its goals – even when some of its members commit crimes. If that were the case, most armies in this world would have to be dissolved because none of them have a history entirely free of crimes. Armed Palestinian resistance is fundamentally legitimate under international law – and morally, too, obviously – and remains so. In fact, in the future, the outnumbered, outgunned, and abandoned Palestinian defenders of Gaza will be remembered as heroes, as they should.

Things are different, as a matter of fact, if we look at the actions of the Israeli military since October 7. Unlike with anything that individual Palestinian resistance fighters may have done, in the case of Israel’s euphemistically mis-labeled Defense Forces – a “citizen army [and] representative sample” of Israeli society – we are looking at a clear case of a whole, large organization deliberately and enthusiastically dedicated to committing every war crime and crime against humanity in every book, including ethnic cleansing and genocide.

Because that is a precise description of what Israel has been doing to the Palestinians of Gaza – and not only – since October 7, 2023. It is also by now the consensus among honest observers, including the global community of genocide experts. This, indeed, has been the most public genocide in human history, despite Israeli attempts to seal Gaza off and mass murder its journalists under false pretexts.

Israeli perpetrators – high and low – have proudly advertised their own crimes. Israeli society as a whole, virtually continuous polling has shown consistently, supports the genocide. In a world of real-time media and social media, the reality of Gaza could not be hidden. Only recently, Google has finally adjusted its maps to reflect it.

The nature and extent of Israel’s crimes is obvious and exceedingly well documented, and that is a very important thing. Humanity owes an enormous debt of gratitude to those Palestinians and others who have undertaken the harrowing task of compiling and analyzing the evidence, such as, to name only a few, UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese or the tireless staff of the Electronic Intifada.

What needs at least as much attention is what the Gaza genocide says about our world as a whole: namely that genocide is not only possible – it was before – but can take place over years and in full view of the global public, with the active support of most of the establishments of virtually the entire West and the passive acquiescence of the elites of most other countries.

In a more or less sane world, fulfilling its obligations under the short and clear UN Genocide Convention of 1948 – it bears recalling – the Israeli genocide perpetrators would long have been stopped by a combination of diplomatic, economic, and, of course, military intervention. That would have been the minimum of what both international law and basic ethics obviously demand.

Yet, instead, we live in a world, where – apart from the Palestinian resistance itself – only a handful of states and political organizations have done anything at all to interfere with Israel’s mass murder campaign: Iran, Hezbollah in Lebanon, and Ansarallah – the Houthis – in Yemen.

Think about the above what you want, like or dislike their politics, it is a fact that no one else has even remotely tried to apply the Genocide Convention in practice. If that is irritating, don’t blame Ansarallah, for instance, but blame the many who have failed to act.

But failure to act has been only part of this real-life horror story. In the West, many governments and mainstream establishments, including in the media and academia, have pro-actively supported Israel. This is a shameful history of criminal collaboration and complicity still to be written. Indeed, in the worst cases, such as the elites of the US, the UK, and Germany, complicity seems too weak an expression: they are better described as genocide co-perpetrators.

The obvious inference from this state of the world is that international law does not matter. There is no more devastating attack on the very idea of international law and a law-based order than the impunity of Israel and its accomplices. Benjamin Netanyahu, with an International Criminal Court warrant to his name, has been able to brazenly deny his and his country’s crimes at the recent UN General Assembly and even repeat the Amalek reference, as Craig Mokhiber has pointed out. Outside, meanwhile, his critics were being arrested.

Annalena Baerbock, in her time as one of Germany’s most embarrassing foreign ministers ever, also justified, shielded, and supported Israel; she has just finished her ill-begotten sinecure as the UN General Assembly’s president and made a lateral move to an absurdly undeserved position at Columbia University. The examples could be multiplied endlessly: the elites of the West, including American presidents Joe Biden and Donald Trump, have devastatingly compromised themselves by their complicity with Israel. And yet, they keep thriving.

So, not only has international law been discredited as literally never before, but international establishments also have, and in particular those of that part of the world that still has the arrogance to claim global leadership as if it were some kind of birthright, the West.

Now add the fact that Israel has not “only” been committing the Gaza genocide. It has also escalated ethnic cleansing terror in the West Bank, invaded Syria and Lebanon, attacked Yemen, participated in and triggered brutal assaults against Iran that have also tanked the world energy economy, and, in general, has followed its usual modus operandi of assassination, subversion, torture, rape, and relentless aggression. And yet it faces no discernible consequences beyond ludicrously inappropriate, purely symbolical measures at best and, of course, massive continued support.

Meanwhile, those in the West who dare be human and show their solidarity with the Palestinians and other victims of Israel and its accomplices and co-perpetrators are harassed, beaten up by police, arrested, and blacklisted.

What the Gaza genocide has shown with respect to the world as a whole is simple: Those who rule us will go much farther, much more shamelessly and openly than most of us, even the pessimists, used to be able to imagine. More importantly, they will get away with it, and they will let each other get away with it. Gaza is not an exception. It is a harbinger of a world of horrors. Resistance is not an option; it is the only one.

A former Australian Catholic bishop has been sentenced to six and a half years in prison for sexually abusing two young indigenous men over the course of a decade. 

76-year-old ex-bishop Christopher Saunders is one of the most senior Australian clerics to be convicted in a series of scandals that have shaken the Catholic Church for decades. In August, Saunders was found guilty on 13 out of 19 sexual abuse charges pertaining to two accusers he victimized between 2008 and 2019. 

Saunders narrowly dodged a harsher punishment, with all the charges related to his alleged sexual relations with minors flopped in court. Four charges related to the alleged abuse of a child younger than 13 were dropped on the first day of his trial, while he was acquitted of six further charges involving a 16-year-old child.

All the crimes were perpetrated by Saunders when he led the remote Broome Diocese between 1996 and 2021, when he resigned from the position over allegations of sexual misconduct. While the territory of the diocese covers an area larger than France, it has a population of only some 50,000, predominantly indigenous people.

The cleric fell under the Vatican’s crosshairs in 2022, when it launched an internal probe into his predatory behavior. While the report was never made public, the Holy See shared its findings with the Australian authorities the next year, and Saunders was ultimately charged in 2024. 

The scale of sexual misconduct by the ex-bishop was likely significantly greater than the crimes he was convicted of. The Church’s internal report was leaked to Australia’s Seven Network and indicated that Saunders likely sexually assaulted at least four and groomed a further 67 indigenous minors and young men.

The sentencing has been welcomed by the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference, with its president, Archbishop Timothy Costelloe, insisting it reflected the gravity of the crimes committed.

“To each victim and survivor who courageously revealed what they had endured, we want to say this: We are sorry for the pain and suffering that was inflicted on you. We are sorry that your trust was so directly and profoundly betrayed by a leader of the Church,” Costelloe said in a statement.

Europe’s leaders have grand plans – spend more on weapons, prepare for war, and tighten citizens’ belts. The people have more immediate concerns however, like finding somewhere to live, keeping their jobs, and getting an education. Across France, Germany, Spain, and other EU states, the widening rift has started to spill into the streets.

Recent weeks have seen housing marches across Spain, student riots and public-sector strikes in France, and demonstrations against military recruitment and industrial job cuts in Germany. Immigration has added to the anger over housing and overstretched services, while the prospect of conscription has young Germans asking whose wars they are expected to fight.

The demands differ, but a recurring complaint unites them – aside from those simply looking for an excuse to wreak havoc: governments aren’t listening. Instead of putting domestic problems first, European leaders are telling their constituents to accept less and sacrifice more, while committing billions to preparations for a suicidal war with Russia. That’s despite Moscow and even Europe’s own intelligence services repeatedly saying there is no imminent threat.

Spain: Priced out and fed up

Spain’s housing crisis has pushed tens of thousands into the streets. After years of soaring rents, the eviction of an 87-year-old woman from her home of 70 years in Madrid last month turned into a rallying point for those sick of being priced out of their homes and the government’s failure to tackle the housing affordability crisis. 

The eviction sparked demonstrations across Spain, followed by mass marches and a continuing protest camp in central Madrid. Parliament’s subsequent rejection of emergency tenant protections added even more fuel to the fire, bringing tens of thousands into the streets in around 50 cities last weekend.

Rents in Spain have almost doubled over the past decade as immigration-driven population growth has continued to outstrip housing construction. The population, excluding migration, has meanwhile only continued to decline.

The pressure is even more visible in Ceuta, Spain’s North African enclave, where around 72,000 people crossed from Morocco in late July into a territory with roughly 84,000 inhabitants. Although most returned, thousands remained, overwhelming accommodation and straining public services.

Residents have taken to the streets demanding stronger border controls and faster deportations, accusing Madrid of abandoning them. Protests have escalated into clashes with police, while angry locals have torn down makeshift migrant camps.

Government promises to restore order have done little to quell the frustration of communities left to absorb the consequences.

France: School’s out

France has also been gripped by overlapping protests over wages, spending cuts, public services, and school conditions. Teachers, healthcare workers, firefighters and transport staff have joined numerous strikes in recent weeks, while a growing student movement has added school blockades to the disruption.

The school protests began in mid-September, with students demanding more teachers, smaller classes, repairs to neglected buildings, and lighter schedules. Thousands of teaching posts have been eliminated this year, with further cuts planned for next year.

Around 266,000 people joined demonstrations nationwide on Tuesday. More than 6,500 have been arrested over three weeks, while hundreds of students and police officers have been injured, including a 15-year-old who lost his hand to a police grenade and a 16-year-old who reportedly lost sight in one eye after being hit by a rubber bullet. 

As the movement has grown, violent groups have joined the protests, torching buses, attacking emergency workers, and damaging schools. Across France, 24 schools have been burned or ransacked.

Similar demonstrations have spread to neighboring Belgium, where students have opposed education reforms, higher transport costs, and rising tuition fees. In Liege, school blockades have been accompanied by vandalism, fires and arrests.

France: The cuts keep coming

The student demonstrations came on the heels of wider protests that have gripped France for weeks, with public-sector workers protesting a squeeze on wages and services, compounded by soaring fuel prices. 

Since 2017, public-sector pay has risen by 5%, while cumulative inflation has reached 24%. The government’s proposed €54 billion ($60.4 billion) budget package, which includes spending cuts and freezes affecting pensions and benefits, has only deepened the anger.

Other demonstrations have also challenged continued funding for Ukraine, with protesters arguing that the money should go toward hospitals, education, and lower fuel taxes. 

Separate rallies in more than 20 cities have also opposed a bill that could give police shootings the presumption of legality, which critics say would make officers harder to hold accountable.

Germany: Factories shrink, the military grows

In Germany, workers and students have taken to the streets as Berlin pursues a frenzied military buildup in the midst of a deepening industrial crisis with hundreds of thousands losing their livelihoods and young men facing the prospect of being drafted.

Around 45,000 students joined protests in some 100 cities and towns in late September, carrying banners reading ‘We won’t fight in your wars’ and ‘Education instead of bombs’.

The government meanwhile is pressing ahead with plans to expand the armed forces to more than 260,000 active troops and 200,000 reservists by 2035 to align with Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s fixation on creating “Europe’s strongest conventional army.”

Young men are already required to register for potential service, but politicians have been pushing for a return to conscription if voluntary recruitment fails to fill the ranks.

Aside from the thousands protesting such plans in the streets, resistance is also showing up in applications to avoid military service. More than 12,000 people sought conscientious objector status in the first eight months of this year – over three times the total for all of last year.

Tens of thousands of automotive workers have also protested sweeping job cuts and threats to factories. Volkswagen, for example, plans to shed 100,000 jobs across its brands, while other manufacturers are cutting production or moving it abroad.

Germany’s industrial woes have been further compounded by the loss of cheap Russian energy, which helped make its manufacturers competitive. Higher energy costs, US tariffs, and Chinese competition are now squeezing businesses and threatening jobs across the sector.

For arms manufacturers, however, Berlin’s priorities and its latest €108.2 billion defense budget have been good for business. While Volkswagen shares have fallen more than 75% from their 2021 peak, Rheinmetall’s have soared over 1,100% since early 2022. One Volkswagen factory is even set to shift toward producing military equipment for an Israeli arms company.

More guns and more fear

Even with streets burning and protesters demanding relief, European leaders have not let the turmoil distract them from their military ambitions.

In France, Macron marked Tuesday’s mass demonstrations by publicizing a nuclear missile test, posting a photograph of himself watching the launch with his back to the camera. While his constituents marched for better living conditions, his message was that France “must be feared to remain free.”

In Germany, Merz and NATO chief Mark Rutte smiled and waved through boos and chants of “murderers” and “blood on your hands” after the military bloc received the Westphalian Peace Prize last week. Inside the ceremony, officials praised military strength as the foundation of peace.

Those priorities are also taking shape in Brussels’ budget negotiations. Germany and five other EU states have demanded cuts to the bloc’s next budget, pushing to sacrifice funding for farmers and poorer regions in favor of ever-growing military spending.

The urgency is being justified by the supposed threat of a future Russian attack. However, Moscow has repeatedly denied any such plans, while even Finland’s president has admitted that his intelligence services see no imminent military threat. 

Nevertheless, for European leaders, preparations for that hypothetical conflict, which they appear to almost count on, continue to take precedence over the mounting problems already bringing people out onto the streets.

A major escalation in Yemen has brought Saudi Arabia back into military confrontation with the Iran-backed Houthis, ending years of relative calm as tensions rise across the Middle East.

Much of the fighting has taken place along Yemen’s Red Sea coast and around the strategically important Bab el-Mandeb Strait, following major Houthi territorial gains and a Saudi-backed counteroffensive. The waterway has become increasingly important as the US-Israeli war on Iran disrupts regional trade and energy routes, particularly through the Strait of Hormuz.

Who are the Houthis?

The Houthis, formally known as Ansar Allah, are a Zaydi Shia armed and political movement that emerged in northern Yemen in the 1990s. Their traditional stronghold is the mountainous province of Saada along the border with Saudi Arabia. The movement emerged in opposition to Yemen’s central government and Saudi and US influence.

They now control much of northern and western Yemen, including areas where most of the country’s population lives.

The Houthis are backed by Iran and describe themselves as part of the Tehran-aligned “Axis of Resistance.”

Over years of fighting, the group has developed an arsenal of ballistic and cruise missiles and drones capable of striking Saudi Arabia and ships in the Red Sea.

How did Yemen’s civil war begin?

In 2014, the Houthis seized Sanaa and forced the internationally recognized Yemeni government from the capital. Saudi Arabia intervened the following year at the head of a military coalition seeking to restore the government and counter Iran’s growing influence.

Years of fighting failed to dislodge the Houthis. A UN-brokered truce in 2022 sharply reduced hostilities and cross-border attacks, and although it formally expired after six months, hostilities remained limited for several years.

Fighting resumed in July, when Yemeni government forces struck the runway at Sanaa airport to prevent an Iranian plane carrying a Houthi delegation from landing. The delegation was returning from the funeral of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who was killed in the opening US-Israeli strikes on the Islamic Republic at the end of February. The Houthis blamed Saudi Arabia for the airport strike, declared the de-escalation over, and retaliated against the kingdom.

The conflict escalated further in September, when the Houthis made their largest territorial gains in years, taking Mocha and key positions along the Red Sea coast and around Bab el-Mandeb. The group also claimed to have effectively encircled Taiz, a major city linking northern and southern Yemen with the Red Sea coast, after cutting a vital supply route to the southern port city of Aden.

Why is Saudi Arabia involved?

Yemen shares a long border with Saudi Arabia, making the conflict a direct security concern for Riyadh. The Houthis have repeatedly demonstrated their ability to strike deep inside the kingdom.

After years of costly fighting, Saudi Arabia had sought to reduce its direct involvement and pursued talks with the Houthis following the 2022 truce. Their recent advances along the Red Sea coast and renewed cross-border attacks have brought Riyadh back into major military action.

The Saudi-led coalition said on Monday that 100 fighter jets were taking part in Operation Dawn of Yemen, providing air cover for government forces, and claimed to have destroyed 324 “high-value” Houthi targets. Hundreds of fighters have reportedly been killed on both sides since then.

The Houthis have responded with missile and drone attacks on Saudi cities, airports, and military facilities.

What does the Iran war have to do with it?

Iranian advisers helped the Houthis plan and carry out their September offensive along Yemen’s Red Sea coast, according to AP, which reported that Iranian personnel were involved at multiple levels of the operation.

The US has not resumed direct strikes against the Houthis, but American and regional officials reportedly said that Washington is providing Riyadh with intelligence, target identification, and operational planning.

Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and Türkiye activated the collective-defense provisions of their Makkah Alliance for Defense for the first time on Monday in response to attacks on the kingdom. The pact, sometimes dubbed the ‘Muslim NATO’, was signed in August and commits all three members to respond if any one of them comes under attack.

Who else is involved?

The forces fighting the Houthis are themselves divided. Yemen’s internationally recognized government relies heavily on Saudi Arabia, but government-aligned formations have different political and regional loyalties.

The UAE, once Saudi Arabia’s main coalition partner in Yemen, has backed powerful southern forces, including groups seeking an independent southern state. Riyadh and Abu Dhabi have at times pursued competing goals, although forces aligned with both are now fighting the Houthi advance.

Western countries are also providing military support to Riyadh. The UK has deployed an RAF Voyager tanker to provide air-to-air refueling for Saudi defensive operations, while France has announced the deployment of troops, radars, and air-defense systems to help protect Saudi energy infrastructure around Yanbu, a major Saudi oil-export hub on the Red Sea.

Why does Bab el-Mandeb matter now?

Bab el-Mandeb is a narrow strait between Yemen and the Horn of Africa connecting the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean. Ships traveling between Asia and Europe through the Suez Canal normally have to pass through it.

The strait has become especially important since the US-Israeli war on Iran disrupted shipping through Hormuz on the other side of the Arabian Peninsula. Saudi Arabia can bypass Hormuz by moving crude from its eastern oil-producing regions through the East-West pipeline to Yanbu on the Red Sea.

The pipeline was shut after drone attacks in September that Riyadh blamed on Iraqi militias but has since resumed operations, with flows reportedly reaching 5.8 million barrels per day.

Oil shipped from Yanbu to Asian markets, however, must pass through Bab el-Mandeb, putting the route close to the fighting in Yemen. The Houthis have previously attacked commercial shipping in the Red Sea with missiles, drones, and explosive boats and have renewed threats against Saudi-linked vessels.

How does it affect global energy markets?

The renewed fighting in Yemen is adding pressure to already strained global energy markets. Oil prices climbed again on Wednesday, with Brent crude trading above $101 a barrel and US benchmark West Texas Intermediate around $90 amid concerns over global supplies.

Saudi Aramco CEO Amin Nasser has warned that the world’s supply cushion was “scarily thin,” saying nearly 3 billion barrels of regional supply had been lost since the war with Iran began and that depleted stocks could take up to two years to rebuild.

The pressure has been even greater on refined fuels. Nasser said diesel and other fuel prices had risen more sharply than crude. G7 countries agreed last week to release 100 million barrels of oil and refined products from emergency reserves in an effort to ease the squeeze.

US President Donald Trump has blamed the global diesel shortage primarily on Ukrainian strikes against Russian refineries rather than the Middle East conflict and has urged Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky to halt the attacks.

What happens next?

Yemen’s government has set a goal of restoring its authority across the country, including retaking the Houthi-held capital, Sanaa. Fighting remains intense, however, with the Houthis launching missiles and drones at Aden International Airport on Wednesday as clashes continued elsewhere.

The conflict is worsening Yemen’s long-running humanitarian crisis. Some 184,000 people had been displaced by the latest fighting as of October 4, according to the International Organization for Migration. The WHO said last week that 838 people had been killed and more than 3,600 injured since August.

Diplomatic efforts are continuing, with the UN urging support for a political settlement and de-escalation.

Russia has also urged restraint and expressed readiness to help mediate if requested. The Kremlin said on Wednesday that Moscow was watching the escalation “with concern.”

On October 7, 2023, Israel faced a horrific attack when Hamas killed over a thousand of its citizens and took hundreds of hostages. This atrocity can never be justified.

But there is another fact that we cannot ignore: Israel’s overconfidence and conviction of superiority over its adversaries led to the country’s most catastrophic security failure. Three years later, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government still has no convincing answer as to how the ensuing war is supposed to secure a safer future for the country.

More firepower, no endgame

The Israeli leadership’s main takeaway from the October 7 tragedy was the need to strike earlier, harder, and deeper. Deterrence gave way to destruction and elimination – first of the adversaries’ military capabilities, then of their leaders. The war expanded beyond Gaza, engulfed Lebanon, and finally escalated to a direct confrontation with Iran. Aggression became the guiding principle of regional policy. Yet, the tragedy also demanded a reassessment of the adversary, a sober evaluation of the country’s intelligence, and governmental accountability. Force can punish an enemy, but it cannot rectify the errors that made the attack possible in the first place.

Here, we clearly see the main contradiction of Netanyahu’s policy. Israel can destroy command centers, eliminate commanders, demolish infrastructure, and occupy territory. However, it is incomparably more difficult to shape neighboring societies in a way that would prevent the threat from re-emerging. The government expanded its military objectives but never defined a realistic political outcome. Who will govern Gaza? What kind of international recognition will that authority rely on? How can the daily lives of Palestinians be restored? What will ensure the safety of Israelis once the army withdraws? As long as there are no answers to these questions, every victory necessitates yet another military operation. 

It would certainly be a mistake to deny the losses inflicted upon Israel’s adversaries. Hamas leaders Ismail Haniyeh and Yahya Sinwar, and Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah have been killed. In February 2026, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei was killed in US-Israeli strikes. This case is distinct because the strike was linked not to the events of October 7 itself, but to the broader confrontation surrounding Iran and its nuclear program – though the events of October 7 had served as the initial catalyst.

It’s true that the loss of leadership disrupts command structures, severs ties, and hinders the restoration of military capabilities; however, the outcome must be judged by the state of the organizations and the country itself following these strikes. Iran retained its operational capacity; on March 8 – barely a week after the assassination – Mojtaba Khamenei, the son of the late Ali Khamenei, was elected as the new Supreme Leader. The death of the leader did not lead to the collapse of Iran, as both Israel and the US had hoped.

Nothing drives people to become militants like the loss of loved ones and the destruction of their homes and lives. Those who have survived deadly attacks on their families have nothing to lose; such people seek protection, revenge, or at least a sense of purpose – and militant organizations step in to provide all this. Moreover, Hamas and Hezbollah are structured not as armies with a vertical chain of command, but as networks comprising a military wing, social services, schools, charitable activities, family and community ties. A slain commander can be replaced, but such an environment cannot be easily destroyed by bombs.

History has already demonstrated this. Hezbollah emerged in response to the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon; following the 1992 death of its leader, Abbas al-Musawi, Hassan Nasrallah took the helm and strengthened the movement. Hamas lost its founder, Ahmed Yassin, in 2004, yet won the parliamentary elections in Gaza just a couple of years later. Neither Hamas nor Hezbollah may regain their former strength anytime soon: they suffered great losses, and their supply and command capabilities have been crippled. Yet their story does not end with a list of slain commanders; it lives on in those who remain amidst the ruins.

Israel’s victories, the region’s instability

On the third anniversary of October 7, the situation in Gaza reveals the same disconnect between military pressure and political outcomes. The October 2025 agreement secured the return of the surviving hostages, and by January 2026, the bodies of the deceased had also been brought back from Gaza. However, Hamas has not been disarmed (despite Netanyahu describing it as largely disarmed), and the transition to a new governance structure has yet to begin. Israeli strikes continue, and the army reportedly controls about two-thirds of the territory. While Israel retains immense coercive power, it has been unable to establish a sustainable order. 

The external aspect proved particularly difficult to handle. In the wake of October 7, Israel was naturally seen as a nation that had endured a horrific attack; everyone sympathized with it. Later, however, the image shifted: the world saw a devastated Gaza, a displaced population driven from place to place, and a humanitarian catastrophe. Now, facing another rainy winter, hundreds of thousands of people in Gaza are living in overcrowded camps where torrential rain floods their tents, or in buildings at risk of collapse. The longer this catastrophe drags on, the less people are willing to believe the explanation offered by Israel – that its actions are merely self-defense. 

People all over the world have openly started expressing hostility toward Israel. Such a level of hatred would have been unimaginable just a few years ago. In the spring of 2026, Pew Research Center surveyed residents of 36 countries: on average, 67% held a very negative view of Israel, while only 25% viewed it favorably. Attitudes have deteriorated even in countries that sympathized most with Israel – such as the UK, Italy, Poland, and Australia. While criticism of the government’s actions does not equate to justifying Hamas, global anti-Semitism has risen due to the conduct of Netanyahu and his far-right ministers – Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir, who publicly express hateful, dehumanizing statements. 

Netanyahu has gradually lost the sympathy of the international community. Public outrage has moved beyond street protests, influencing diplomatic decisions and relations with partners. The stance of Arab states has also shifted. Before the war, they viewed the normalization of relations with Israel as a means of gaining access to technology, investment, and enhanced security guarantees. Now, public fury over the Palestinian tragedy makes direct rapprochement difficult. Saudi Arabia continues to demand irreversible progress toward Palestinian statehood as a condition for normalizing relations with Israel. The assumption that the Palestinian issue could be sidelined by striking deals with Arab governments proved unfounded. The issue could neither be bypassed nor frozen; it has resurfaced in the region in its most destructive form. 

The Middle East has become less predictable. The weakening of Iran’s allies has shifted the balance of power but failed to establish recognized rules of coexistence. Regional states are seeking additional external security guarantees and are ramping up their military capabilities. The direct confrontation between Israel and Iran has expanded the scope of potential targets and the number of parties involved in the conflict. Israel’s tactical advantage exists alongside the heightened vulnerability of the entire regional system.

Russia’s stakes in a fractured Middle East

Russia is primarily concerned with Iran’s stability. Tehran is important both as an independent partner and as a participant in Eurasian transport, trade, and energy networks. Strikes on Iranian infrastructure and disruptions to its foreign trade directly affect Russian interests. The North-South Corridor is gaining importance as an alternative transport route, yet it is simultaneously becoming more dependent on Iran’s ability to keep ports, roads, and border crossings operational. Increased demand for the route does not automatically guarantee an increase in its capacity; the war increases the need for connectivity while complicating the task of maintaining it.

The fall of Bashar al-Assad’s government in late 2024 significantly expanded Israel’s freedom of action in Syria. Under Assad, Israel had carried out periodic strikes but was compelled to factor in Russia’s presence, leading to a degree of restraint. Following the rise of Ahmed al-Sharaa to power, Israel began acting with far less inhibition: it expanded its military footprint in Syria, continued to dismantle military infrastructure, and began openly dictating terms to Damascus regarding the deployment of its own forces in the country’s south. The weakness of the new government presented Israel with an opportunity to impose limits on its neighbor’s sovereignty. For Russia, this signifies the collapse of the previous regional balance and creates a need to defend its interests in an environment where Israel increasingly seeks to unilaterally define the permissible rules of conduct for its neighbors. 

For Moscow, these changes meant that it had to negotiate the terms of its military presence with the new authorities. Agreements reached in August 2026 regarding Russian facilities demonstrate that it is still possible to maintain relations. Exercising regional influence now requires greater flexibility and less reliance on a single political partner.

The economic consequences for Russia are also mixed. Disruptions in Middle Eastern oil supplies could keep global prices high and boost export revenues. However, a protracted war also drives up transport and insurance costs, disrupts payment settlements, and dampens economic activity in countries with which Russia is developing ties. Amidst this turbulence, Moscow’s role is growing. Russia is a major player in the global energy market, a partner in coordinating oil policy, and an independent diplomatic force that maintains contact with opposing sides.

Cooperation with Moscow enables the Persian Gulf states to expand their options and reduce reliance on US security guarantees. Diplomatically, the crisis offers Russia an opportunity to champion a more consistent approach to security. Its support for Palestinian statehood and opposition to strikes against sovereign nations resonate with many non-Western partners. However, political influence is only achieved when a country’s stance is backed by practical action. Moscow needs to maintain channels of communication with Iran, Israel, and Arab nations, facilitate agreements, and safeguard its own projects.

Netanyahu’s policy has failed to ensure long-term security. Despite Israel’s military achievements, the stated objective – long-term security – hasn’t been met, and the costs of the risky venture continue to rise. Three years on, Israel finds itself more capable of delivering strikes, yet less able to convince its neighbors – and even its allies (such as the Trump administration) – that its policies are paving the way to an acceptable future. As long as Israel substitutes these objectives with continued reliance on coercion, the consequences of the war will be felt far beyond its borders.

Outrage over the alleged killing of a woman by a US Marine in Okinawa has erupted in Tokyo, where protesters marched on the US Embassy demanding an end to the American military presence in Japan.

The demonstrations follow the arrest of Lance Corporal Devin Jacob Ballard, 20, suspected of strangling Anna Yagi, 39, at a hotel on the island on Saturday and stealing her belongings. Ballard has denied the allegations.

Okinawa is home to several major US military installations and tens of thousands of American service members.

Footage from Tuesday’s rally shows demonstrators carrying placards demanding justice for Yagi and calling for US forces to leave Japan, before marching outside the embassy under a heavy police presence.

“Neither the US military nor the embassy has offered a proper apology. It is only natural to be angry about this,” one protester said.

Another demonstrator said resentment over crimes involving US personnel had accumulated over decades and accused the authorities of ignoring repeated demands to remove American bases.

“It is truly infuriating that the presence of these bases leads to women being killed or raped like this. I cannot forgive it,” the protester said.

Tokyo has lodged a formal protest with Washington over the case. Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has described the alleged killing as a “heinous crime” and demanded full US cooperation with the investigation, tighter discipline among American personnel, and measures to prevent similar incidents. Washington has expressed regret over Yagi’s death and pledged to cooperate with the Japanese authorities.

The case has reignited a decades-old dispute over the concentration of US military facilities in Okinawa. The prefecture accounts for just 0.6% of Japan’s territory but hosts around 70% of the land exclusively used by US forces in the country.

Crimes involving American personnel have repeatedly fueled opposition to the bases. In 1995, the abduction and rape of a 12-year-old Okinawan girl by three US servicemen triggered mass protests. In 2016, former Marine and US base worker Kenneth Franklin Gadson raped and murdered 20-year-old Rina Shimabukuro and was later sentenced to life imprisonment.

Further sexual assault allegations involving US personnel have emerged in recent years despite measures introduced by the US military to tighten discipline, including increased patrols and restrictions on off-base drinking.

Sudanese army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan has reiterated his rejection of negotiations with the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), vowing to continue the military campaign against the group.

Burhan, who also chairs Sudan’s Transitional Sovereignty Council, made the remarks on Tuesday during a visit to the Amri area in the country’s Northern State.  

“We say it again: We have no negotiations with anyone, we are not speaking with anyone, and we have nothing to do with anyone,” Burhan said, according to the Sudan Tribune.

The army chief also reiterated the military’s intention to continue its campaign against the RSF. “We tell the rebels among you that we are coming to you with force,” he said. “We want to uproot the enemy and eliminate it completely.”

The remarks came as fighting continues between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the RSF in Darfur, Kordofan, and Blue Nile. Much of Darfur remains under RSF control, while the army has been seeking to advance into the region.

Burhan has repeatedly rejected negotiations with the RSF during the conflict. In May 2024, he said, “there will be no negotiations, no peace, and no ceasefire” until the RSF was defeated. In April this year, he again ruled out talks with the paramilitary group or its supporters.

Sudan’s conflict erupted in April 2023 following months of tensions between the SAF and the RSF. 

On Sunday, US senior adviser for Arab and African affairs Massad Boulos met with Burhan in Egypt. “The United States stands ready to support all efforts leading to a comprehensive dialogue among the Sudanese political forces, leading to a preliminary road map of the future of the Sudan,” Boulos said. The meeting, however, followed a dispute over Burhan’s planned trip to the UN General Assembly in New York last month, when the US did not issue him an entry visa. Foreign Minister Mohieldin Salim Ahmed Ibrahim had to address the gathering on his behalf.

In his address, Salim called for international pressure on foreign parties supporting the RSF, saying peace would require the paramilitary group to be disarmed and weapons to remain under the control of state institutions.

Ethiopia’s parliament has re-elected Abiy Ahmed as prime minister for another five-year term, two weeks after armed groups formed an alliance to overthrow his government amid renewed fighting in the country’s north.

Abiy was sworn in on Monday at the inaugural session of the newly elected House of Peoples’ Representatives after his ruling Prosperity Party won a sweeping majority with 438 seats in elections held in June. Addressing lawmakers, Abiy expressed his government’s readiness to confront threats and protect its national interests.

“Getting tripped up by an obstacle once is natural, but stumbling repeatedly is not normal,” he said, urging unity and greater preparedness for domestic and external challenges.

Abiy first became prime minister in 2018 and won the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize for restoring ties with neighboring Eritrea after two decades of hostility following their 1998–2000 border war. His government fought a two-year war against the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) from November 2020. Hundreds of thousands of people were killed before a peace agreement was signed in Pretoria in November 2022.

On September 20, the TPLF, which governs the northern Tigray region, and six other armed groups, including the Amhara Fano National Movement and the Oromo Liberation Army, announced the Ethiopian Peoples’ Forces Alliance for Survival. The coalition unites former battlefield enemies; Fano fought alongside federal troops against the TPLF before turning against Addis Ababa in 2023.

Fighting has since intensified between federal troops and TPLF forces, which seized airports in Tigray’s regional capital, Mekelle, and the cities of Axum and Shire, disrupting commercial flights. On September 24, the army said it had killed 272 rebel fighters and wounded 260. Federal troops and allied fighters retook Mekelle and its airport last weekend, while the TPLF vowed to continue fighting. More than 720 patients wounded in the conflict had been admitted to hospitals in Korem, Alamata and Shire as of September 25, according to Doctors Without Borders.

The fighting has also fueled a diplomatic crisis amid allegations that Egypt, Eritrea and Sudan are supporting the armed groups. All three deny the claims. Addis Ababa closed its embassy in Asmara and expelled ten Eritrean diplomats last week, prompting Eritrea to sever ties. Ethiopia also ordered an Egyptian diplomat to leave, and Cairo retaliated by expelling an Ethiopian Embassy counselor.

During his address following reelection, Abiy renewed his pledge to secure maritime access for landlocked Ethiopia through dialogue and mutually beneficial arrangements. That ambition has strained relations with Eritrea over its Assab Port and with Somalia over Ethiopia’s 2024 coastline deal with Somaliland, which Mogadishu condemned as a violation of its sovereignty. A Turkish-mediated agreement later that year eased the dispute with Somalia.

The African Union (AU) has urged Ethiopia, Eritrea and Egypt to exercise restraint and resolve their differences through diplomatic channels. The AU and UN have also urged federal troops and TPLF forces to halt hostilities and resume talks to safeguard the Pretoria agreement.

The West should abandon the thought that the Ukraine conflict will cause Russia to collapse like the USSR did in 1991, foreign affairs expert and RT contributor Fyodor Lukyanov has said.

Lukyanov, a program director at the Valdai International Discussion Club, moderated a more than three-hour-long session with Russian President Vladimir Putin as part of the club’s annual forum last week.
Putin said at the event the current tensions with the US and EU stem from the fall of the Soviet Union. Since then, Moscow has repeatedly tried to build good relations with Western countries, but their leaders have persisted in doing “everything they could to truly isolate and further break apart Russia itself,” Putin stressed.

During his appearance on RT’s East Meets West podcast with Olga Bataman and Tara Reade, Lukyanov said that “there are a lot of grounds on our [Russian] side to believe that we can win… by military means” in the conflict with Kiev.

“Paradoxically, Ukraine has the same idea based on another calculation, based on the expectation that the Western support will not stop and that on “a very traditional, old, good belief that Russia at some point will suddenly collapse,” he said.

According to the analyst, the same idea is also prevalent among the Western elites. It’s being “partially inspired by what happened relatively recently in our history, 35 years ago. The collapse of the Soviet Union played a very negative role because they started to believe that it can be repeated,” he noted.

Lukyanov said that he has already given up explaining to his American and European interlocutors that Russia is “different” and that it “will not collapse as the Soviet Union, but people in the West and now in Ukraine, they still believe it’s possible.”

The analyst also suggested the EU’s current hostility towards Russia should be explained by its leader’s trying to “find a way how to consolidate societies” amid “enormous” political, economic and social problems experienced by the bloc as a whole and its individual member-states.

They seek “to blame someone else and to find a menace which, as during the Cold War, can unify Europe,” he stressed.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has praised Iceland for allowing Washington to “project power” from the North Atlantic island nation into the Arctic.

Iceland is strategically positioned to help the Pentagon monitor Arctic airspace and conduct missions tracking Russian submarines in the Atlantic, not unlike Denmark’s autonomous territory of Greenland, which US President Donald Trump had notoriously threatened to annex. The US president and Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen have signed an agreement to substantially increase Washington’s military presence there.

On Tuesday in Iceland, which joined NATO when it was created in 1949, Rubio praised Rejkyavik for allowing “the US military to project power using your land, your air, your sea, giving us a critical outpost for monitoring clandestine behavior and deterring our adversaries.”

The secretary stressed that Washington would not take action in Iceland without Reykjavik’s consent. Questions about US intentions were renewed last month after Trump posted an image showing North America and nearby islands covered in the Stars and Stripes, including Greenland and Iceland. Foreign Minister Thorgerdur Katrin Gunnarsdottir responded by summoning US Ambassador Billy Long to lodge a protest.

Rubio and Gunnarsdottir both played down the diplomatic incident at their joint press conference.

”We’re not talking about social media posts,” Rubio said, while Gunnarsdottir said the two governments “are looking forward, not backward.”

.@SecRubio on Trump social media post depicting U.S. acquisition of Iceland: "We're not talking about social media posts, I'm here, we're here meeting with a country...everything's very positive in our relationship." https://t.co/ZVA5q5Bjq1

— CSPAN (@cspan) October 6, 2026

Long also apologized last year after joking that Iceland could become the 52nd US state, with himself as governor. A petition urging Gunnarsdottir to reject his posting as US ambassador reportedly gathered around 2,000 signatures.

The US first established a presence in Iceland during World War II, taking over from British forces in 1941. A 1951 defense agreement signed under the banner of the newly created NATO cemented Iceland’s role during the Cold War.

Naval Air Station Keflavik, once the main US military hub in Iceland, was formally handed over to the local authorities in 2006, although the US continues to play a critical role in the country’s national security.

Rubio’s visit was designed to highlight decades of cooperation and the legacy of the Cold War. He and Gunnarsdottir met at the same venue where US President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev held talks in 1986 on nuclear arms.

Washington’s ability to project military power worldwide is currently strained, with substantial assets tied down in the Middle East supporting the war with Iran. Rubio said the smaller US role in the joint Northern Viking exercise earlier this year reflected the need to “allocate resources” in response to current events and was not an “enduring decision” to reduce Washington’s attention to Iceland.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov expressed Russia’s gratitude for India’s readiness to make a strong contribution to resolving the Ukraine conflict while speaking to RT, responding to reports of a three-part peace proposal from New Delhi.

”The Indian side is really ready to make a strong contribution” toward resolving the conflict, Peskov said, adding “we are grateful to our Indian friends for such readiness and for those ideas that are being expressed.”

Peskov did not refer directly to Delhi’s reported three-part plan or endorse its individual elements. The conflict is now in its fifth year.

Moscow’s comments follow recent reports in India about New Delhi shifting gears on an issue that has vexed US President Donald Trump and his negotiators for more than two years. Indian Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar said Monday that India has moved beyond simply advocating for peace and is now holding conversations with both Moscow and Kiev.

Indian media have reported, citing diplomatic sources, that New Delhi’s proposal seeks to halt attacks on energy facilities and other infrastructure, keep grain and energy moving through Black Sea ports, and stop strikes on commercial shipping.

It was reportedly discussed during Jaishankar’s visit to Kiev last month. Ukraine has separately acknowledged receiving an Indian ceasefire proposal. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrey Sibiga described it as the “most comprehensive” among the four initiatives received by Kiev, the others being from Türkiye, Egypt, and the US.

The focus on the Black Sea has direct relevance for India. Recent attacks on merchant vessels have not only affected Russian energy and grain flows, they have brought peril and sometimes death to their mostly-Indian crews.

New Delhi’s conversations began with Black Sea shipping safety and have expanded to grain and energy exports and possible agreements on halting attacks, Jaishankar said Monday.

”This will require dialogue and diplomacy. There have to be negotiations,” he said, describing the discussions as ongoing.

Russian President Vladimir Putin praised India’s efforts last week, saying Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi repeatedly brings up ending the conflict and has “very good ideas” to find mutually acceptable solutions. He thanked Modi for his desire to seek an end to the conflict through peaceful means.

The diplomatic engagement comes as India faces growing US pressure over its Russian energy purchases. India-US trade negotiations have hit a “plateau,” while a new US law has raised the prospect of tariffs of up to 100% on Indian goods over continued purchases of Russian oil.

Western countries have exhausted the oil inventories available to offset supply disruptions from the US-Israeli war with Iran, leaving the market increasingly exposed to further shocks, Vitol CEO Russell Hardy has said. The energy crunch has now spread from crude and refined fuels to global shipping.

Speaking at the Energy Intelligence Forum in London on Tuesday, the head of the world’s largest independent oil trader said the market had burned through much of the stock that previously helped absorb disruptions. “There aren’t any more inventories to drain in the West,” Hardy said.

Around 12 million barrels per day of crude and another 2 million barrels of refined products have left the Middle East on tankers over the past seven to ten days, according to Hardy. “Without it, you do have that $200 per barrel scenario, so it’s pretty important that it continues,” he said.

The disruption has changed shape as the conflict has dragged on, Hardy said. What began as a crude oil crisis then became a refined-products crunch and has now developed into a shipping crisis as traders struggle with tanker availability and soaring freight costs, he added.

“We’ve had pretty parabolic pricing on shipping,” Hardy said, adding that uncertainty has become so extreme that traders cannot estimate freight expenses more precisely than within $2 to $4 per barrel. He also warned that refined-fuel shortages are likely to persist through winter because global refining capacity remains tight.

The warning comes as G7 countries agreed last week to release 100 million barrels of crude and refined products from emergency stocks, beginning with diesel, after US President Donald Trump’s administration piled pressure on Europe to do more to curb soaring diesel prices. Hardy said the details of the plan were “not fully transparent,” including how much crude and diesel would be released and where it would come from.

The move follows months of heavy stock drawdowns used to offset supply disruptions since the Iran war began in late February. The International Energy Agency said around 325 million barrels had already been released by early October from a 400-million-barrel emergency action announced in March.

Oil remains in Western storage, but much of what is left is either held in strategic reserves, needed to keep infrastructure operating, or cannot be readily brought to market, leaving less immediately available supply to absorb another disruption.

Crude flows from the Middle East have recovered significantly, but shipments of refined fuels have lagged behind. Tankers are also spending longer completing voyages as disruption around the Strait of Hormuz complicates normal shipping, reducing vessel availability even as more crude returns to the market.

Saudi Aramco CEO Amin Nasser warned on Monday that less than 10% of the roughly 6 billion barrels remaining in global commercial oil inventories is practically available to the market. He said rebuilding depleted stocks could take as long as two years even after flows through the Strait of Hormuz return to normal.

As Israel marks three years since the October 7 Hamas-led assault in 2023, the security failures surrounding the attack have become a major election issue, RT Middle East correspondent Charlotte Dubenskij has reported.

The incursion by the militant group left around 1,200 people dead in Israel while 251 others were taken hostage. Israel’s response was to launch a war in Gaza that has spread to additional fighting across the region. Around 73,000 Palestinians have since been reported killed in the enclave, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, meanwhile, is facing new allegations about what he knew before the attack. Recent reports claim he personally received warnings from Egypt and the UAE about a possible major Hamas operation – claims the prime minister denies.

The dispute comes just weeks before Israel’s October 27 election – the country’s first national vote since the assault.

Watch RT’s Charlotte Dubenskij’s full report below.

Military representatives from all of NATO's 32 members have gathered in Kiev. Ukraine has been trying to join the expansionist military-bloc for years, but has been consistently rejected. 

The visit by the members of the so-called Military Committee, takes place just a day after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said possible Ukrainian membership of NATO – one of the central issues at the heart of the Ukraine conflict – “is not on the table as we speak.” 

Moscow has long opposed the US-led military bloc’s eastward expansion and has made Ukrainian neutrality a key condition of any settlement, arguing that NATO’s presence there would pose a direct threat to Russian national security.

Ukraine made joining NATO a foreign policy priority following the Western-backed Maidan coup in Kiev in 2014 and later enshrined the objective in its constitution. In September 2022, Vladimir Zelensky demanded “accelerated accession.” As recently as July, he argued that Ukraine’s membership would be “entirely natural.”

NATO continues to officially describe Ukraine as being on an “irreversible path” toward entry. However, former Ukrainian commander-in-chief Valery Zaluzhny, who now serves as Kiev’s ambassador to the UK, said in August that he saw no realistic prospect of it happening.

In a video address on Wednesday, Admiral Giuseppe Cavo Dragone, the chair of the NATO Military Committee, announced that he and military representatives from all 32 member states had arrived in Kiev. It is the committee’s first such visit to Ukraine in eight years.

“We are here in full strength with a clear message: the bond between NATO and Ukraine is stronger and stronger,” Dragone said.

According to the NATO official, the delegation discussed Ukraine’s military priorities with the country’s top brass, as well as lessons from the conflict that could be used to strengthen the bloc’s preparedness for “current and future threats.”

Despite being outside NATO, Ukraine has developed extensive military ties with the bloc, which has been pumping ever more sophisticated weaponry into the country since 2022. Moscow has accused the bloc, especially its European member states, of unnecessarily prolonging the bloodshed and waging a proxy against Russia to the “last Ukrainian.”

A number of influential member states, including the US and Germany, have repeatedly voiced opposition to NATO membership for Kiev. Speaking to the German newspaper Handelsblatt in early July, NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte acknowledged that “there is no unanimous support now” for Ukraine’s admission to the bloc.

US President Donald Trump and other senior American officials have ruled out Ukraine joining NATO as part of a potential peace settlement with Russia. Speaking to reporters ahead of his February 2025 White House meeting with Zelensky, which infamously devolved into a shouting match, Trump reiterated: “NATO – you can forget about.”

The extent of US aircraft loses in the conflict with Iran is much larger that the Americans acknowledge, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has said.

In a paper published on Tuesday the Congressional Research Service (CRS) said that at least 81 US warplanes, helicopters, and drones had been destroyed or damaged in the fighting with Tehran since late February.

Araghchi reacted to the report in a post on X on Thursday, insisting that the “real toll is far higher” than the one presented by the CRS.

“Proof? CENTCOM (US Central Command) won’t let a sitting Senator inspect bases it claims are fine,” the foreign minister wrote.

He was referring to a claim made by US Senator Chris Murphy earlier this week that he was denied access to the American Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, which has been the target of Iranian strikes.

According to Murphy, the “unprecedented” rejection was “part of a coordinated, deliberate campaign by the Department of Defense to hide the consequences and the true costs of the Iran war.”

It is getting harder for the Pentagon to “fool all the people,” Aragchi said. He did not provide any alternative figures for US aircraft losses.

The CRS said in its paper that the cost of American planes, helicopters, and UAVs destroyed or damaged during the conflict could reach $3.3 billion. The figures provided in the document came from news reports and statements by CENTCOM and officials from the Department of Defense, the CRS said.

Congress has criticized the Pentagon for its reluctance to provide a complete list of aircraft losses in the conflict.

Some of the most advanced US warplanes have suffered hits, including one F-35A Lightning II stealth fighter, which was damaged by Iranian fire on March 19, and 12 F-15E Strike Eagle fighters, the report read.

Three F-15s were shot down by friendly fire in Kuwait’s airspace in early March and another was hit over Iran the next month. Eight more suffered minor damage during Tehran’s missile attack on an airbase in Jordan in September, but have since been fixed and returned to service, the CRS said.

Seven KC-135 Stratotanker aerial refueling aircraft were also destroyed or damaged, according to the paper. Two were involved in an incident on March 14, with one KC-135 crashing in Iraq, killing all six crew members, and another performing an emergency landing. Six more refueling planes were affected in an Iranian bombardment of a US base in Saudi Arabia a few days later.

Other notable aircraft losses included two A-10 Thunderbolt IIs, two MC-130J special operations aircraft and an E-3 Sentry airborne warning-and-control aircraft, the report added.

Among the helicopters reported destroyed, one AH-64 Apache was shot down over the Strait of Hormuz, four AH-6 Little Birds were lost during rescue operations and an MH-60 Sea Hawk crashed over the Arabian Sea in mid-September.

The heaviest attrition was felt by the US fleet of MQ-9 Reaper drones, with at least 45 lost during the conflict with Iran, the report read.

The CRS said that several issues could benefit from congressional oversight, including whether the Pentagon possesses the funding to replace damaged aircraft and whether the losses of aging platforms, which are in short supply, could create capability gaps for the US military.

Last month, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) said that the conflict with Iran had cost the US approximately $38 billion in its first five months. The bill could increase by another $2 billion to $3 billion for every additional month of fighting, it cautioned.

Iran has increased its capacity to produce arms by 2.5 times compared to its pre-war level, the country’s Defense Ministry spokesman, Brigadier General Reza Talaei-Nik, said on Tuesday, warning that any further US aggression will be met with a decisive response by Tehran. The Islamic Republic currently manufactures more than 1,000 types of weapons systems and munitions, many of which have undergone technological upgrades during the conflict, he stressed.

Russian forces unleashed an overnight barrage on Ukrainian facilities producing and storing long-range weaponry, including several sites tied to the domestically developed FP-5 Flamingo missile, the Defense Ministry in Moscow has said.

In a statement on Wednesday, the ministry said high-precision weapons and drones struck military-related targets in Kiev and its suburbs, as well as Chernigov, Kirovograd, Dnepropetrovsk, Poltava and Kharkov Regions.

In Kiev, the attacks targeted a Smart Ammunition facility used to assemble and store FP-5 Flamingo cruise missiles, FP-9 tactical ballistic missiles and components for both. Another strike hit a Fanplit facility in the Ukrainian capital producing Flamingo components and FP-1 and FP-2 long-range drones, as well as the Kiev Cardboard and Paper Mill, which housed FP-5 missiles.

In Chernigov Region, the barrage was aimed at a Plastmass-Priluki plant which also produces Flamingo components, and in Dnepr the Russian forces targeted the Yuzhmash aerospace plant manufacturing, storing and supplying the missiles.

The ministry said an AvtoKrAZ facility in Poltava Region producing specialized chassis for Flamingo launchers was also struck, along with a mechanical plant in Kharkov Region that assembled and stored Flamingos.

The FP-5 Flamingo is a Ukrainian ground-launched cruise missile produced by Fire Point. Ukrainian officials claim it has a range of up to 3,000 km and can carry a warhead weighing more than one ton at a maximum speed of about 950km/h. Fire Point CEO Irina Terekh told The Guardian in July that the company was producing about 100 Flamingos per month, although it is unclear whether the number is sustainable due to Russian strikes.

Apart from the missile facilities, the attacks struck a drone workshop in Kirovograd Region, the JTI Ukraine tobacco factory in Kremenchug, which is used to manufacture small-arms ammunition, and the Danube Shiprepair facility at the port of Izmail, which is now being used for producing and storing maritime drones, Russian officials said. The ministry added that a dry cargo vessel carrying military and dual-use supplies was hit in Odessa port.

Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky claimed that Russia had launched 70 missiles, many of them ballistic, as well as attack drones, arguing that “one of the key targets was our energy infrastructure.”

In Kiev, Mayor Vitaly Klitschko reported hits on non-residential facilities and fires at warehouse premises. Local authorities also said one of the strikes hit an enterprise in the Kremenchug district.
The Ukrainian Interior Ministry claimed that 12 people had been killed and more than 40 civilians wounded nationwide after the strikes, with rescue operations continuing at several locations.

The latest Russian barrage comes after the Defense Ministry vowed to ramp up strikes on Ukraine’s military-related facilities and infrastructure in response to Zelensky’s threat to step up attacks on Russian oil refineries. Moscow maintains it never targets civilians.

Russia views France’s nuclear-capable missile launch as a “loud and clear message” and will take “all necessary measures” to protect itself, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said. 

The French military test-fired a submarine-launched M51.3 ballistic missile on Tuesday, in an exercise in the Atlantic Ocean watched by French President Emmanuel Macron. The weapon, a new variant of France’s 16-year-old M51 missile family, was launched without a warhead and splashed down in the North Atlantic, “hundreds of kilometres from any coastline,” according to the French military. 

In a video message, Macron described the test as “a new demonstration of the credibility of our deterrence,” and “a clear message… for wherever it must be received.”

Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Peskov said: “Problems should be resolved through dialogue, not demonstrative missile launches.”

“Europe has become obsessed with plans to militarize the European Union,” he continued. “This is bad because they are building their defense and security identity on confrontation with the Russian Federation. This is a dead end. As history has shown, this leads to nothing good.”

“Against the backdrop of such aggressive actions and such plans, Russia is on alert,” Peskov added. “We are taking all necessary measures to ensure our national security at the strategic level.”

Outside the US, France possesses NATO’s only independent nuclear arsenal, which Macron is currently modernizing and expanding. France plans to spend €7.4 billion ($8.3 billion) on nuclear deterrence in 2026, while its updated military program adds €36 billion to overall defense spending through 2030. Much of this money will be spent on multi-year submarine, missile, and warhead contracts, but a substantial sum will go toward Paris’ controversial “forward deterrence scheme.” 

Under this scheme, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Greece, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Sweden, and the UK will potentially host French nuclear weapons on a temporary basis and take part in French nuclear exercises.

Russia, which possesses the world’s largest nuclear arsenal, cannot view the deployment of atomic weapons on its borders “as anything other than a step toward escalating tensions,” Peskov said on Tuesday. Peskov was responding to the Lithuanian parliament’s vote to remove a constitutional ban on hosting nuclear weapons on its soil. Although Lithuania has not signed on to France’s “forward deterrence” plan, Defense Minister Robertas Kaunas has expressed interest in hosting American nukes in Lithuania.

For residents of Israel’s Gaza Envelope, the Hamas-led attack of October 7, 2023, was not an abstract national trauma. Communities close to the Gaza border were among the first to come under assault, and residents spent hours locked in safe rooms, hiding from gunmen and rocket fire. Three years later, that shared experience has produced sharply different political conclusions among people living in the same region.

Michal Koren Kariv, a 50-year-old filmmaker from Kibbutz Mefalsim, remembers that morning all too well. As Hamas launched its deadly assault on communities across southern Israel, her family remained inside their home as armed militants reached the area. They spent hours in a protected room without electricity, unsure of what was happening outside.

When the family was finally able to leave, Koren Kariv says she saw devastation on a scale she had never witnessed before. The experience, she says, fundamentally changed her relationship with the state.

“I no longer believe anything,” she said. “Simply nothing.”

Accountability is a must

For her, the coming election is largely about the demand for a state commission of inquiry into October 7, an investigation that would establish what went wrong, who knew what and when, and which decisions or institutional failures contributed to the disaster. She says she plans to vote for those who promise to get to the bottom of those failures.

“I believe that whoever was prime minister when the attack occurred must bear political responsibility. Netanyahu was the head back then, so he should have resigned. I am not saying I won’t be voting for a right-wing party. All I am saying is that Netanyahu should not be prime minister.”

Koren Kariv says she has never voted for Netanyahu’s Likud, but she has never been in the so-called “anti-Bibi camp,” simply because she acknowledges the positive things Netanyahu has done for the country. She also recognizes that the current government has invested heavily in rebuilding the southern communities.

Shortly after the attacks, the Israeli government established the Tkuma administration to oversee reconstruction and recovery in communities damaged or evacuated after the massacre. Government figures show a multibillion-shekel reconstruction program covering housing, infrastructure, education, community services, and economic recovery.

Koren Kariv acknowledges that the Gaza Envelope has received substantial investment since the attack, including new construction, educational funding and a stronger military presence. But she draws a distinction between rebuilding communities physically and addressing the political and institutional failures she believes preceded the attack.

“The question here is not simply whether houses have been rebuilt or money has been allocated. I want to know why the country was so unprepared, whether warnings were missed and who should have acted differently. So my conclusion is therefore not that the state has done nothing. Rather, that reconstruction cannot substitute for an investigation into the failures that preceded the attack.”

Tilting towards the right

A few kilometers away, Sami Danieli, a 65-year-old former security officer from the religious moshav of Shibolim near Sderot, drew a very different lesson from October 7.

Unlike many other communities in the Gaza Envelope that experienced direct infiltration by militants, his moshav was relatively protected. Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad reached its outskirts but did not enter. Residents nevertheless sheltered as rockets fell, and Danieli says he lost close friends in neighboring communities that bore the brunt of the attack.

Even before October 7, Danieli had voted for National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who supports the expulsion of Palestinians and promotes settlement activity in the West Bank and Gaza. The events of October 7 did not weaken that support. They reinforced it.

“If I could vote for Ben Gvir twice, I would do so,” he said.

“I don’t believe there can be peace with Hamas, and that’s why Israel needs to take a tougher approach in its security policy.”

Ben-Gvir has said he would pursue a tougher security policy if he were given the defense portfolio following the election. As national security minister, he has already pursued a series of hardline measures towards Palestinians. These include worsening conditions for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, backing legislation imposing the death penalty for people convicted of terrorism, and distributing thousands of firearms to Israelis living in areas considered vulnerable to Palestinian attacks.

Danieli says he supports those measures. He remains firmly behind the right-wing bloc headed by Netanyahu and rejects claims that the current government bears responsibility for Israel’s failure to prevent or decisively end the war.

Instead, he points to anti-government protests and other factors that he believes constrained Israel’s ability to defeat Hamas.

“The anti-government protesters were the ones who weakened the country with their demonstrations. Then, when the war happened, total victory was not achieved partially due to the restrictions imposed by the Americans [under the Biden administration – ed.] and partially because of ammunition shortages.

“Netanyahu’s performance during the war was excellent though. Not very good – it was excellent.”

Danieli also gives the government credit for the reconstruction effort in the south.

“Government assistance reached the region and funds were provided, but of course there will always be people who will say that this is not enough,” he said.

“I believe that much of the criticism is coming from residents who are politically motivated. Eighty percent of them have a political agenda and this anti-Bibi bias prevents them from seeing the truth. This is why I don’t want the left to come to power. The right-wing must stay and rule,” he added.

Uncertainty prevails

Polling, however, shows that the hopes of Danieli might not materialize.

Reuters’ polling tracker, updated in late September, showed the centrist Yashar party led by former military chief Gadi Eisenkot narrowly ahead of Likud in the polling average. The aggregate projected 66 seats for parties opposed to Netanyahu and 48 for parties supporting him, while also noting that the anti-Netanyahu camp did not have an obvious coalition path to the 61-seat threshold.

Individual polls by Israeli television channels and news outlets have produced different results. A Kan survey reported in late September put Yashar at 23 seats and Likud at 21, with the two main blocs each projected at 52 mandates.

A Times of Israel poll published on October 1 likewise found Netanyahu’s bloc ahead but still short of the 61 seats required to form a government on its own. Likud and Yashar were tied for first place among individual parties.

Israel uses nationwide proportional representation. Parties must pass a 3.25% electoral threshold to enter the Knesset, and a governing coalition requires the support of at least 61 of the parliament’s 120 members.

For the residents of the Gaza Envelope, however, the numbers on a polling chart tell only part of the story.

They lived through the same morning, heard the same rockets and waited behind the same locked doors for help to arrive. Yet, three years later, their memories of October 7 have taken them in opposite political directions.

Koren Kariv sees the election as a test of accountability, a chance to establish why the state failed and who should answer for it. Danieli sees it as a test of resolve, an argument for maintaining the political course he believes offers the strongest security.

Three years on, the communities closest to Gaza are no longer simply asking how they survived October 7. They are asking what the country should become because of it. And when they enter the voting booth, those two questions will lead them to very different answers.

At least 12 Indian seafarers were injured in attacks on commercial vessels in the Strait of Hormuz and the Black Sea over the last two days, including 11 aboard an oil tanker struck off Oman on Tuesday.

The Panama-flagged MT On Peace was passing through the Strait of Hormuz when it was hit by an unknown projectile. Twelve of its 19-member crew were injured, including 11 Indians; 17 people on board were Indian nationals. The injured sailors were evacuated with help from the Omani authorities and are receiving treatment in Khasab, India’s Foreign Ministry said.

“The targeting of commercial shipping, seafarers and civilian infrastructure in the region must end,” the ministry stated, calling for navigation and commerce through international waterways to be restored at the earliest opportunity.

The International Maritime Organization (IMO) has recorded 93 confirmed attacks on commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz and the wider Middle East as of October 6.

Indian crews were also caught in similar incidents in the Black Sea. On Tuesday, twenty-three crew members – all Indian nationals – aboard the Liberian-flagged tanker Aframax Rio were rescued after the vessel was set ablaze off Russia’s Black Sea coast following an attack by an unmanned vessel, according to Russia’s Transport Ministry. No injuries were reported.

Statement on the attack on a commercial vessel MT On Peace, off the coast of Oman 🔗 https://t.co/nuE2vv3x8k https://t.co/9KE13wy5UY

— Randhir Jaiswal (@MEAIndia) October 6, 2026

The fire was later extinguished, with no contamination detected in surrounding waters and rescue vessels remaining on standby, Russian Transport Minister Andrey Nikitin said.

One Indian seafarer was injured aboard the MV Royad Mammadov after the vessel caught fire near Romanian territorial waters a day earlier, killing two crew members. The Romanian authorities did not establish the cause of the fire, while Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky blamed Russian drones.

Fifteen Indian seafarers were killed and two remained missing in 57 conflict-related maritime incidents across West Asia and the Black Sea in the preceding three months, India’s maritime regulator said in August.

New Delhi has responded with vessel-by-vessel monitoring and round-the-clock coordination for Indian crews in high-risk Gulf waters. India and Liberia also launched a group at the United Nations last month focused on the safety of commercial shipping and seafarers, after Prime Minister Narendra Modi proposed an emergency network linking maritime authorities and embassies to assist crews in distress.

India is the world’s second-largest supplier of seafarers, with 311,936 maritime professionals, accounting for 12.16% of the global workforce, according to the 2026 BIMCO-ICS Seafarer Workforce Report. 

More than 4,500 Indian seafarers were serving aboard commercial vessels operating in the Persian Gulf at the end of September. New Delhi was also directly monitoring 12 India- and foreign-flagged ships carrying around 163 Indian crew members in the region.

Armed Israeli settlers have beaten and robbed an AFP photographer marked as press in the occupied West Bank, according to media reports. Around a dozen IDF soldiers were present and did not intervene.

Veteran Palestinian photographer Jaafar Ashtiyeh was hospitalized after being repeatedly struck with rifle butts. The assault is the latest in a growing series of attacks on journalists in the West Bank.

The Committee to Protect Journalists documented at least 16 incidents involving 35 Palestinian, Israeli and international journalists in the first eight months of 2026 alone, already exceeding the 13 incidents involving 25 journalists it recorded throughout 2025.

The attack took place near the village of Aqraba on Tuesday as Ashtiyeh, 58, and fellow AFP photographer John Wessels were documenting Palestinians harvesting olives. The journalists saw an Israeli soldier detaining a Palestinian before a man on a quad bike approached and opened fire, according to AFP.

 A Palestinian was shot in the foot and hospitalized, the Palestine Red Crescent Society said.

Israeli settlers routinely target theses locals during the annual olive harvest, attacking farmers and seizing or destroying crops and trees that provide a vital source of income.

At least six other armed men then rushed toward the journalists while firing their weapons. As Ashtiyeh tried to enter a vehicle clearly marked “Press,” two men tackled him and repeatedly struck him with rifle butts.

“I could hear his screams,” Wessels said. He was also threatened at gunpoint, while the attackers took Ashtiyeh’s camera equipment.

Ashtiyeh was left with bruises on his head and torso and was hospitalized. Around a dozen fully equipped IDF soldiers were stationed roughly 500 meters away but did not intervene, according to Wessels. AFP said it had contacted the Israeli military for comment.

“We strongly condemn yet another serious attack on journalists trying to report on events in the West Bank and demand a full investigation,” AFP global news director Phil Chetwynd said. He called it “unacceptable” that journalists could be beaten and robbed by armed settlers while Israeli security forces failed to intervene.

The incident comes as settler violence against local residents in the West Bank has intensified, with near-daily attacks, theft and vandalism reported in recent months. Extremist settlers have also reportedly seized Palestinian-owned olive groves.

Journalists documenting the crimes have increasingly been caught up in the violence. In August, settlers attacked a three-person AFP team east of Bethlehem, throwing stones, striking one journalist with a stick and damaging their vehicle.

Days earlier, Haaretz reporter Matan Golan and photographer Itay Rom were attacked near Qusra – showing that even journalists working for Israeli media have not been spared. Settlers surrounded their vehicle, with one kicking and spitting on Golan, while Israeli soldiers nearby did not intervene, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.

Earlier this year, Palestinian journalists were beaten, threatened or driven from assignments in a string of other incidents, while crews from CNN, Reuters, Al Jazeera and Anadolu were also confronted or attacked by settlers.

The attacks come against an already deadly backdrop for the press. Israel was responsible for 86 of the record 129 journalists and media workers killed worldwide in 2025 – roughly two thirds of the global total – according to CPJ.

A Ukrainian lawmaker has proposed amending the constitution to remove the country’s NATO membership goal and restore its neutral status. One of Russia’s goals in ongoing hostilities with Ukraine is to ensure its return to neutrality.

The proposal submitted on Tuesday by MP Anna Skorokhod is largely symbolic, since the Verkhovna Rada cannot amend the constitution while martial law remains in force. Vladimir Zelensky ordered the emergency after the 2022 escalation of the Ukraine conflict and has since used it to retain presidential powers after his mandate expired in 2024.

Russian officials have described NATO’s growing involvement in Ukraine as one of the principal causes of the conflict.

Skorokhod’s proposal follows a political scandal involving fellow lawmaker Aleksey Goncharenko, who was expelled this week from the opposition European Solidarity faction after calling for peace talks with Russia. Skorokhod herself was expelled from Zelensky’s Servant of the People party just months after being elected in 2019.

When Ukraine became independent in 1991, it declared an intention to remain outside military blocs. Kiev changed course following the Western-backed armed coup in 2014. In 2018, then-President Pyotr Poroshenko proposed enshrining Ukraine’s aspirations to join NATO and the EU in the constitution.

Poroshenko was defeated the following year by political outsider Zelensky. While the incumbent campaigned on Western integration and Ukrainian nationalism, Zelensky presented himself as a candidate who would reconcile Ukrainians of different ethnic backgrounds and improve relations with Moscow.

Goncharenko was a member of Poroshenko’s party before publicly arguing that Kiev needed to make policy concessions to avert what he described as an impending national disaster. European Solidarity subsequently disowned him, and he was added to the Mirotvorets database, a controversial list of people deemed enemies of Ukraine.

Among the concessions advocated by Goncharenko was reversing restrictions affecting Russian culture in Ukraine. Moscow has cited Kiev’s policies toward ethnic Russians as evidence of what it describes as the “Nazi nature” of the Zelensky government.

Zelensky increasingly embraced Ukrainian nationalist policies after early efforts to fulfill his campaign promises faced mass protests and threats from right-wing militias, including groups that had been incorporated into official Ukrainian military and paramilitary structures.

His government continued and expanded many policies introduced under Poroshenko, including the push for NATO membership. Since 2022, Zelensky has repeatedly argued that Ukraine deserves admission to NATO for fighting Russia on behalf of the West.

However, members of the US-led bloc have repeatedly said Ukraine’s supposedly “irreversible” path to membership will take considerable time. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio reiterated on Tuesday that Ukrainian membership is not currently on the table.

The euro has plummeted to a 17-month low against the dollar as investors punish the single currency, largely over France’s intractable debt problem. Once relegated to the Eurozone’s periphery, sovereign debt risk has progressively moved toward the center of the monetary union, now reaching France, a key pillar in the entire European project.

French long-dated bond yields have surged to their highest levels in nearly a quarter of a century as the country’s political gridlock over how to address its debt pile shows no sign of abating. The government is trying to push through spending cuts, but with a presidential election coming into view, opposition politicians vying to replace President Emmanuel Macron are in no mood to sign under anything resembling austerity.

RT takes an in-depth look at what’s happening in the new sick man of Europe and whether the turbulence in France could trigger a major crisis or intervention by the European Central Bank.

France’s fiscal flop

France’s finances are a mess. The country’s public budget deficit stood at 5.1% of GDP in 2025, while its debt-to-GDP ratios hit 115%. Both figures are well above EU limits. These are numbers more commonly associated with wartime or at least a deep recession. The rhetoric of its political class notwithstanding, France is not, in fact, at war.

France has accumulated more than €3.5 trillion in public debt, which is becoming more expensive to finance as the yields on its bonds have risen dramatically over the past year. French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu is seeking to push through cuts to public spending worth €54 billion in the 2027 budget, but his minority government is facing stiff resistance. Meanwhile, neither of the leading candidates in next year’s presidential election, Marine Le Pen of the right-wing National Rally Party and Jean-Luc Melanchon of the Socialist Party, has offered credible proposals to address the debt.

Le Pen has proposed putting a “golden rule” to restrain French deficits to a public vote via a referendum, thus likely condemning it to failure, while Melanchon is calling to simply cancel roughly a fifth of France’s public debt while increasing public spending.

Meanwhile, Paris has committed to billions in increased defense spending in the coming years. A major update to the country’s defense budget authorizing an additional €36 billion for 2026–2030 was signed off on by lawmakers in June.

“France must prepare itself to confront simultaneous, prolonged and high-intensity crises, including on its own soil,” according to Defense Minister Catherine Vautrin.

Bond market troubles

The “prolonged and high-intensity crisis on French soil” that Vautrin must have had in mind is the country’s own bond market.

The yield on France’s 10-year OAT has now climbed to around 4.87%, even briefly hitting the 5% mark in late September, its highest level since 2002. The spread between the French 10-year OAT and German 10-year Bunds rose by 50 basis points in September to reach 128 basis points, the highest level in 14 years.

France now pays more to borrow than Greece and Italy, once the Eurozone’s most worrisome members. France’s 5-year sovereign credit default swaps – a tradable insurance policy against default or debt restructuring – have climbed to approximately 87 basis points, their highest level since early 2013.

Compounding the problem is the fact that foreign investors own around 50% of France’s government debt, which exposes the country to divestment risk. Japanese funds, for example, are overweight French bonds more than benchmark weightings would recommend. If they become skittish, the selling pressure could intensify. French banks, meanwhile, who would be far less likely to fire-sell the bonds, are estimated to only hold around 8% of government debt.

Is a sovereign debt crisis brewing?

The spread between the borrowing costs of France and Germany is already at its widest level since the height of the Eurozone sovereign debt crisis in 2012.

Jim Reid, a veteran analyst at Deutsche Bank, said: “The big question is whether this is the start of a new euro sovereign crisis or whether markets have already overshot.”

Bank of France Governor Emmanuel Moulin has said that France must do everything in its power to avoid a sovereign debt crisis, thus tacitly acknowledging the risk of one. With France financing a massive €340 billion in borrowing requirement next year, the interest expense is compounding rapidly.

What could a French debt crisis look like?

If French yields continue to rise, the government would eventually have to refinance increasingly large quantities of debt at much higher rates. The higher interest bill would cause a larger deficit, which would necessitate still more bond issuance, thus pushing rates even higher. This is called a doom loop, and once such a mechanism takes hold, it can cause a sudden, self-reinforcing crisis.

If this becomes severe enough, questions would inevitably arise about the viability of France within the Eurozone. Such questions certainly were asked about Greece in 2012, and even about Italy in 2018 and 2022. Of course, casting doubt upon the viability of a core member is of a whole different magnitude, but if the crisis progresses such doubts would arise.

Hypothetically, if there were skepticism about France’s future in the single-currency union, the nature of a French bond would change. A German bond, for instance, would still be a straight-up €100 claim, whereas a French bond would be a €100 claim but contingent on France remaining in the Eurozone. Such a contingency might seem fantastic, but if the risk of France leaving chaotically were seen as even somewhat plausible, the market would price it, and unpredictable knock-on effects could ensue.

The end game of a sovereign debt crisis would be an informal two-tier market, where a euro deposited in Paris is not actually the same as a euro deposited in Frankfurt. This is not so fantastic. In fact, exactly this scenario coalesced in Greece during the peak of its crisis and forced the Greek government to implement capital controls, which remained in place for four years.

The ultimate job of the European Central Bank is to preserve the fungibility of the euro. A French-issued bond can carry a different credit risk from a German bond – that is the adjustment the yield provides – but a euro itself cannot have a French price and a German price.

There’s a long road separating different sovereign credit risks from a two-tier euro market. The former doesn’t inevitably lead to the latter. But those two points can be connected by that road and under certain conditions the distance could theoretically be traversed quite quickly.

Would the European Central Bank ever let that happen?

The short answer is no, although central banks are not omnipotent. But the ECB does have tools with which to intervene. For starters, the bank could stop letting its bond holdings shrink. 

A more potent tool would be to buy French bonds outright. In the summer of 2022, the ECB bank introduced a new tool called the Transmission Protection Instrument (TPI), which allows for intervention in government bond markets when the ECB believes yields have become out of line with fundamentals.

The TPI has never been used, but its mere existence is seen by many analysts as a conditional put option written by the ECB on sovereign spreads within the Eurozone. In other words, there is believed to be a level beyond which the ECB will not let spreads or yields rise before intervening. This can be thought of as a distant cousin of the famous “Greenspan put,” a belief on Wall Street that then-Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan would lower interest rates whenever the stock market experienced a major downturn.

The ECB says it will only exercise the TPI against unjustified, disorderly moves. The risk, however, is that European governments – such as France’s – will be less inclined to impose discipline on their finances if they believe the ECB will shield them from the discipline of the market. A game of chicken between Brussels and Paris could easily ensue, with the former implicitly threatening to hang the latter out to dry for its profligacy, while the latter would point to the threat to the whole system if the former doesn’t intervene. 

Analysts have speculated as to whether the surge in French yields is already enough for the TPI to be activated. So far, the consensus is that the ECB has no grounds to step in. Given the appalling state of France’s finances, it would be hard to argue that the move in French yields is detached from fundamentals. Second, the moves have so far been orderly rather than chaotic, an important consideration when emergency measures are being contemplated.

Is there contagion?

Contagion is the ultimate “black swan” fear in any budding financial crisis because it takes a localized problem and turns it into something unpredictable and subject to panic. There is currently considerable anxiety in Europe about the destabilizing effect of what is happening in the French bond market, but so far no panic.

Up until recently, in fact, there hadn’t been particularly strong signs of contagion from the French malaise.

However, the recent weakness in the euro is a sign of trouble: the currency is selling off sharply largely due to problems in one country, although high energy prices are also a factor. Meanwhile, institutional investors betting that French yields would normalize have been crushed and have been forced to sell off other assets to cover their losses. Italian debt, which has generally been outperforming its French counterpart, may be the next area to watch, as its bond spreads and credit default spreads have widened considerably in the wake of the French crisis.

Whether the EU muddles through again or finally faces a serious reckoning remains to be seen. 

The agenda for the third Russia-Africa Summit has been released ahead of the gathering in Moscow later this month.

The summit will take place on October 28-29. Its program, released by the Roscongress Foundation, one of the organizers, is divided into four main tracks covering sovereignty and sustainable development, the economy, humanitarian cooperation and human capital, and technology and innovation.

Previous summits “marked a key stage in the strengthening of Russia’s relations with the countries of Africa,” Anton Kobyakov, an adviser to the Russian president and executive secretary of the summit’s organizing committee, said. He added that this year’s gathering would focus not only on reaching agreements, but also on “adopting practical solutions.”

Panel discussions will focus on trade and investment, industry, technology transfer, food and energy security, digitalization, healthcare, education, and science.

A separate Russia-Africa Media Forum is expected to bring together executives from African news agencies and media companies to discuss the role of media in Global Majority countries, the development of independent African media, disinformation, and the decolonization of media content.

The agenda has been unveiled days after Moscow accused Western countries of pressuring African states to stay away from the summit. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said last week that Western nations are attempting to dissuade African partners from attending.

The inaugural Russia-Africa Summit in Sochi in 2019 drew official delegations from all 54 African countries, with 45 represented by heads of state or government. The second summit in St. Petersburg in 2023 drew official delegations from 48 countries, with 27 represented by a head of state or the second-highest-ranking official.

More than 30 African countries have confirmed their participation in this year’s summit, according to the Russian Foreign Ministry. The leaders of Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger are among those expected to attend, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Aleksandr Alimov said last month. The presidents of Ghana, Kenya, Uganda, and Zimbabwe are also expected to take part.

A child has been killed and four other civilians wounded in a Ukrainian strike on Russia’s Belgorod Region, regional authorities said on Wednesday.

An 11-year-old girl was killed when the village of Printsevka, located some 30 km from the Ukrainian border, came under missile fire, according to the Belgorod Region Operational Headquarters. Another 11-year-old girl suffered a chest injury, while two women, aged 72 and 47, and a 60-year-old man were hospitalized with shrapnel wounds.

Two private homes and a car were also damaged in the strike, officials said. Belgorod Region, which borders Ukraine, has been subjected to frequent Ukrainian drone and artillery attacks. Governor Aleksandr Shuvaev said earlier on Wednesday that Ukrainian forces had attacked the region 114 times over the previous 24 hours, leaving seven civilians injured.

The attacks have continued throughout Wednesday, with regional authorities issuing repeated missile and drone warnings and reporting additional civilian casualties.

The latest strikes come amid a high level of civilian casualties in Russian regions bordering Ukraine. Russian Ambassador-at-Large Rodion Miroshnik said on Tuesday that 29 civilians, including two children, were killed and another 206 wounded in Ukrainian attacks between September 28 and October 4. 

According to Miroshnik, Belgorod was among the regions with the highest number of civilian casualties, while around 8,400 munitions were fired at civilian targets across Russian territory during the seven-day period.

Moscow has repeatedly described Ukrainian attacks on civilian targets inside Russia as acts of terrorism. On Sunday, the Defense Ministry said it would respond by intensifying strikes on military and military-industrial targets and related infrastructure in Kiev and elsewhere in Ukraine.

Malian troops backed by Russian forces have retaken the northern separatist stronghold of Kidal, the government has announced, reversing the loss of the strategic town during a coordinated rebel and jihadist offensive in April.

The transitional authorities said troops consolidated their positions in the regional capital on Tuesday following intensive air and ground operations. Their return would enable the gradual restoration of public administration and basic services, according to the government statement.

The Tuareg-led Azawad Liberation Front (FLA) acknowledged leaving Kidal and claimed there had been “disproportionate” airstrikes by Mali’s military and the Russian Defense Ministry-run Africa Corps. Its spokesperson, Mohamed Elmaouloud Ramadane, described the move as a “controlled withdrawal” to preserve personnel and equipment, saying its forces had pulled out without direct combat and that the retreat was temporary.

Kidal has long been a center of separatist demands for an independent state in northern Mali. Malian troops and fighters from the Russian private military company Wagner recaptured it in November 2023, before losing control following a nationwide offensive in April by the FLA and the Al-Qaeda-linked Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM) that also killed Defense Minister Sadio Camara.

The West African nation has been gripped since 2012 by a jihadist insurgency that has spread to neighboring Burkina Faso and Niger despite years of French military intervention. Nearly 49,000 people have been killed in violence linked to militant Islamist groups across the Sahel since 2022, the Africa Center for Strategic Studies said in August.

Bamako and its Sahel allies have accused foreign powers of supporting the armed groups. Addressing the UN General Assembly on September 28, Malian Foreign Minister Abdoulaye Diop accused Ukraine of aiding jihadists and separatists, citing coordinated attacks in April and July. Mali severed diplomatic ties with Kiev in August 2024 after Ukrainian military intelligence spokesman Andrey Yusov said rebels received information enabling an ambush on Malian and Wagner forces.

Last month, CNN reported that about 15 Ukrainian specialists were assisting the FLA with drone training and operations, citing Ukrainian personnel. Kiev has rejected allegations that it supports terrorist groups in the Sahel.

Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger have also accused France of supporting terrorist groups in the Sahel. All three former French colonies have ended defense cooperation with Paris and strengthened security ties with Moscow. Personnel from the Africa Corps, which replaced Wagner in Mali by 2025, have since supported Malian troops in operations against jihadists and separatist armed groups.

In July, the joint forces recaptured Anefis, a strategic town about 100 km south of Kidal, after more than a week of fighting. Mali’s military said operations there and in two nearby localities killed nearly 100 militants and destroyed 12 combat vehicles.

Le 06 octobre 2026 Région de Kidal. Les FAMa et leurs partenaires Russes ont engagé des opérations aéroterrestres d'envergure. Pour plus d'infos cliquez sur ce lien : https://t.co/0QQ7zsvBqn. https://t.co/sskkdn5KRD

— FAMa (@DirpaFa) October 6, 2026

Russia’s emerging Rassvet satellite network – often described as a “Starlink rival” – could provide Moscow’s military with sustainable communications and data to attack any target in Ukraine at will, former Google CEO Eric Schmidt has warned.

Speaking to The Economist last week, Schmidt noted that while Ukraine was initially seen as the main innovator in the conflict, Russia had largely closed that gap while pressing its advantage with far greater resources.

Schmidt noted that one of these domains is Russia’s Rassvet satellite project, which he suggested was about a year from maturity. “Once that network is in place, it is more or less unblockable,” he warned, adding that this could let Russian forces “hunt anywhere” inside Ukraine.

The ex-Google CEO also weighed in on the idea of granting Ukraine access to Starlink over Russia, which could allow Kiev to rely on Elon Musk’s satellites to target oil refineries and civilian infrastructure, calling it “really a political decision.”

“It’s really a government decision. And the US government needs to grapple with this question,” he said.

Developed by private Russian aerospace firm Bureau 1440, part of the IKS Holding conglomerate, Rassvet debuted in 2023 with the launch of three experimental satellites. The network is designed to offer speeds of up to 1Gbps with latency below 70 milliseconds and to operate at an orbit of around 800 km – higher than that of Starlink to balance the number of satellites against an increased coverage area.

This year, the company launched a total of 32 satellites, after six experimental spacecraft sent up in 2023 and 2024, with plans to have 292 satellites by some time in 2027.

On Tuesday, the company also unveiled a line of user terminals, some of which claimed speeds of up to 700 Mbps. The Ukrainian outlet Militarny suggested that some of the showcased terminals could eventually be fitted to strike drones.

Russia’s deployment of Rassvet has sparked major concern in Ukraine across the spectrum. In July, satellite communications expert Vladimir Stepanets told Militarny that the first satellite group provided at least two stable “communication windows” over the country daily, each lasting more than an hour.

Ukraine’s military intelligence separately told Janes it had recorded Russian forces using Rassvet communications over Ukraine for “several hours” by late July and warned the system could support real-time reconnaissance and strike-drone operations.

Vladimir Zelensky’s technology adviser, Sergey Beskrestnov, also warned that a fully deployed Rassvet could become a “small catastrophe” for Kiev as it would provide Russia with online control of strike drones and missiles.

Zelensky himself told the Financial Times last week that he had repeatedly asked US President Donald Trump to sanction companies involved in Rassvet development and production while warning that the network could become operational “by the end of this year or early next year.” Trump has not publicly responded to the request.

Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, who now serves as deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, said that attempts to “block” Rassvet would amount to destroying it and could trigger “full-scale space warfare.”

US President Donald Trump has blamed the violent student protests in France on the country’s migration policies, rejecting rioters’ claims that the unrest is driven by poor school conditions and teacher shortages.

On Tuesday, France saw the largest day of demonstrations demanding that the government of President Emmanuel Macron provide more resources and better funding for schools since the student protest movement began in mid-September.

Some 266,000 people took to the streets across the country, with 56,000 joining the march in Paris and major rallies also taking place in Marseille, Strasbourg, Nantes, Lyon, and other cities, the Interior Ministry said. The organizers put the attendance at 450,000.

In some locations, including Paris, protests escalated into vandalism and clashes between demonstrators and police, who employed tear gas and batons to disperse the crowds. A total of 488 people were arrested on the day nationwide, according to the French authorities.

Teachers, parents, and rights groups have accused police of excessive force, with around 215 students injured over the past three weeks. They include a 15-year-old who lost his hand after reportedly picking up a police stun grenade and a 16-year-old who lost sight in one eye, allegedly after being hit by a rubber bullet. On Wednesday, the French government banned the use of stun grenades during the student protests. More than 6,500 people, mostly minors, have been arrested, according to AP.

In a post on Truth Social on Tuesday, Trump insisted that “what’s happening in France is nothing less than out of control mass migration,” rather than a dispute over schools, claiming that “Islam [wants] to take over a once great Country!”

France, which has been one of the main destinations for migrants in the EU in recent years, has a foreign-born population of 9.6 million, the second largest in the bloc after Germany.

Migration has also caused tensions elsewhere for Western European countries. More than 72,000 migrants crossed from Morocco into the Spanish North African enclave of Ceuta in late July, according to Reuters. At least 10,000 were reported to still be in the territory this week, straining local resources and prompting protests by residents.

Trump’s words were echoed by the US envoy to the UN, Mike Waltz, who told Fox News that Washington would “always condemn lawlessness” and the violence in Paris, but argued that Europe’s “open borders” and “unchecked immigration” policies had caused “a level of frustration” to boil to the surface.

French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu rejected claims that the government had ordered “police repression” or that officers were being racist. He said “ultra violence” would not be tolerated, while promising investigations into what he described as “accidents” during the protests.

Interior Minister Laurent Nunez insisted that the response by police had been proportionate in “almost all cases.” A total of 715 officers have been injured in the clashes over the past three weeks, he said. According to the Education Ministry, 24 schools have been burned or ransacked by demonstrators since mid-September.

Some student groups have called for new nationwide rallies to be held on Thursday.

Indian police have reportedly filed a criminal trespassing case against opposition leader Rahul Gandhi, his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, and several other lawmakers who allegedly entered the headquarters of the country’s state radio broadcaster without permission during a protest in New Delhi.

The First Information Report by the Delhi police followed a complaint by the broadcaster’s staff alleging that the opposition leaders entered Akashvani Bhawan, the facility where the offices of All India Radio are located, without permission after police blocked their march toward the nearby Election Commission headquarters.

At least ten MPs and other identified protesters were named in the trespassing complaint, local media reported, citing unnamed Delhi police officials. The specific charges invoked have not been publicly released.

The opposition in the world’s largest democracy is protesting against the ongoing special revision of electoral rolls, amid public complaints that millions of eligible voters have been left out. The opposition parties marched on Tuesday demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.

They have also demanded that the results be scrapped, that those who say they were wrongfully excluded be restored, and that Kumar step down as the election panel chief over alleged irregularities in the process.

After the march was stopped, Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi, and other opposition leaders entered the Akashvani compound and staged a sit-in. They remained there for several hours, refusing to leave until a delegation was allowed to meet Election Commission officials, according to police.

About 260 people, including ten MPs who were detained during the demonstration, were released later. Congress Party legislator Imran Masood denied that Gandhi had forcibly entered the premises and said the police report would not deter the opposition from continuing its protests. The broader opposition campaign is continuing, with the leaders meeting in Delhi on Wednesday to discuss next steps.

Kumar has reportedly cancelled his official schedule for the next two days amid mounting pressure.

The sudden death of a British whistleblower who helped expose previously undisclosed links between Jeffrey Epstein and US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has triggered calls for an independent investigation into how he was treated by UK regulators.

Simon Andriesz, a 57-year-old former managing director at the brokerage BGC Partners, spent years fighting his former employer and Britain’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) over allegations of financial misconduct and retaliation against whistleblowers. His family said there is no suggestion of foul play after he died by suspected suicide in Thailand on September 23.

Andriesz had begun raising concerns about alleged accounting irregularities at BGC as early as 2016. He later accused the FCA of failing to properly investigate his disclosures and protect him after his identity became known to the company. The regulator subsequently acknowledged that it had wrongly advised him that he was not entitled to whistleblower protections and apologized.

ANOTHER EPSTEIN WHISTLEBLOWER IS DEAD. WHAT HAPPENED TO SIMON ANDRIESZ? Simon Andriesz, a British banker and whistleblower linked to the Jeffrey Epstein story, has died. He brought information to the FBI and later to Congress involving BGC, Cantor Fitzgerald, and Howard Lutnick, now one of the most powerful officials in the Trump administration. This was not someone making claims online without evidence. Federal regulators acted on information he provided. Andriesz later reviewed Epstein records and found 2018 emails between Lutnick and Epstein discussing a company called ADFIN, in which both men had investment ties. He took his findings to the House Oversight Committee. Congressional investigators later questioned Lutnick behind closed doors about his contact with Epstein. Lutnick denies wrongdoing and denies having the ongoing relationship with Epstein that reports allege. Andriesz is not the first person at the center of the Epstein story to die before the case’s major questions were resolved. Jeffrey Epstein himself died in jail in 2019 while awaiting federal trial; his death was ruled a suicide. Model Ruslana Korshunova, later reported to have visited Epstein’s island, died in 2008; her death was ruled a suicide. Jean-Luc Brunel, an Epstein associate awaiting trial in France, died in jail in 2022; his death was ruled a suicide. Steven Hoffenberg, Epstein’s former business associate, was found dead at home in 2022. Carolyn Andriano, an Epstein victim and Maxwell trial witness, died in 2023; her death was ruled an accidental overdose. Virginia Giuffre, one of Epstein’s most prominent accusers, died in 2025. Her family said she died by suicide; police said the death was not suspicious, though no final public coronial ruling has been issued. Investigative journalist and Andriesz associate John Robertson joins to discuss his legacy, his whistleblowing, and the questions his death leaves behind.

— Ben Swann (@BenSwann_) October 6, 2026

His allegations led to action elsewhere. US regulators, including the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and Securities and Exchange Commission, pursued enforcement cases connected to BGC, while Britain’s tax authority imposed penalties on the firm. Andriesz received a $420,000 whistleblower award from US authorities, although he said his legal, medical and other costs had far exceeded the payout.

More recently, Andriesz emerged as a source of information about Lutnick’s previously undisclosed dealings with Epstein.

He said he uncovered 2018 emails in the released Epstein files showing Lutnick and the convicted sex offender discussing a digital advertising company called Adfin, in which both had invested. Andriesz provided the material to the US House Oversight Committee before Lutnick testified to lawmakers in May. Lutnick told the panel he had not known until 2026 that Epstein was a fellow investor in the venture.

The revelations intensified scrutiny of Lutnick’s previous characterization of his relationship with Epstein. The Commerce Department has rejected accusations that Lutnick misled lawmakers, dismissing them as partisan attacks.

Andriesz’s death has now prompted British lawmakers and whistleblower campaigners to demand an independent examination of the FCA’s conduct.

Labour MP John McDonnell and other members of a cross-party parliamentary group have argued that the regulator should not be allowed to investigate itself. The FCA has instead appointed board member Lea Paterson to review its handling of Andriesz’s case.

The FCA claimed it took information supplied by Andriesz seriously but acknowledged errors in its dealings with him. Before his death, Andriesz had described its response to the alleged wrongdoing he exposed as little more than a regulatory “slap on the wrist.”

NATO membership for Ukraine is not currently under consideration, as Washington is focused on ending the conflict between Kiev and Moscow, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said.

Asked about Washington’s stance on Ukraine's bid to join the US-led military bloc during a joint press conference with Icelandic Foreign Minister Thorgerdur Katrin Gunnarsdottir in Reykjavik on Tuesday, Rubio said “there’s no yes-or-no answer to that.”

Ukraine’s admission to the US-led military bloc is “not on the table as we speak,” he clarified, noting that such a move would require the unanimous consent of all 32 NATO members.

“Right now, we’re simply focused, when it comes to Ukraine, on the ending of this conflict,” Rubio said, adding that Washington is willing to play a “constructive role” in the peace process.

Ukraine has made NATO membership a key foreign policy objective since the Western-backed Maidan coup in Kiev in 2014, eventually enshrining the goal in its constitution. In September 2022, Vladimir Zelensky formally applied for “accelerated accession” to the bloc.

NATO has never set a timetable for Ukraine’s admission, however, and several member states have opposed the move.

US President Donald Trump has repeatedly ruled out Ukraine joining NATO as part of a potential peace settlement. Ahead of his February 2025 White House meeting with Zelensky, which descended into a heated exchange, Trump told reporters: “NATO – you can forget about.”

The Trump administration has recently intensified its diplomatic push to resolve the Ukraine conflict, with the president’s envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner visiting Moscow and Kiev last month for talks with both sides.

Russia has cited Kiev’s NATO ambitions among the key reasons for the Ukraine conflict, describing the bloc’s eastward expansion as a major threat to its national security.

The FBI tracked the movements of Donald Trump’s wife and teenage son and monitored the phone contacts of one of his closest aides during its investigation of him prior to his return to the White House, newly declassified documents have revealed.

The disclosures are fueling accusations from the White House that the administration of then-US President Joe Biden weaponized federal law enforcement against its main political rival. The files shed new light on an FBI probe codenamed Plasmic Echo, which examined Trump’s handling of classified documents and ultimately led to the 2022 raid on his Mar-a-Lago residence.

Internal planning records show that agents sought detailed information on the travel of Trump, Melania and their son Barron while preparing to search the Florida estate.

One FBI task list instructed investigators to “finalize FBI understanding of FPOTUS/FLOTUS/minor son’s travel,” including the type of aircraft being used and a “specific timeline.” Another internal message indicated that any search warrant would be executed only after Trump had left Mar-a-Lago.

The surveillance dragnet later extended to Susie Wiles, then one of Trump’s closest advisers and now his White House chief of staff.

Between February and May 2023, investigators used a pen register and trap-and-trace system to monitor metadata associated with Wiles’ phone. It allowed agents to track numbers, timing and duration of calls involving lawyers, campaign advisers, journalists and others in Trump’s orbit.

In one instance, investigators reviewed Wiles’ phone activity shortly after interviewing her, apparently seeking to determine whom she contacted following the meeting. Agents also sent preservation requests to Google, Microsoft, MSN and Yahoo for information associated with her email accounts and examined political endorsements and social-media activity by Trump allies.

The newly released White House materials also say agents scrutinized political endorsements, social-media activity and other constitutionally protected conduct while trying to determine whether Trump had broken the law by taking classified documents to Mar-a-Lago after leaving office.

“Jack Smith’s surveillance operation was a disgraceful abuse of government power,” White House spokeswoman Lauren Bis told Fox News. “Spying on political opponents is weaponization of law enforcement, plain and simple.”

The investigation was conducted under Biden and overseen by senior Justice Department and FBI officials. Trump and his allies have repeatedly accused the former president of turning federal agencies into political weapons, an allegation the previous administration denied.

Trump was ultimately charged with illegally retaining classified material and obstructing efforts to recover it, but denied wrongdoing. A federal judge dismissed the case in July 2024 after ruling that special counsel Jack Smith had been unlawfully appointed. Smith later abandoned the prosecution following Trump’s election victory.

An oil tanker caught fire off Russia’s Black Sea coast after being attacked by unmanned boats near Sochi, the Russian Transport Ministry has said. Its 23-member crew of Indian nationals were all rescued and no injuries have been reported.

The Liberian-flagged Aframax Rio, which was carrying crude, was struck by sea drones on Tuesday, according to the ministry. The attack triggered an oil fire in the Black Sea, with emergency crews initially unable to approach the tanker because of the intensity of the blaze.

Russian Transport Minister Andrey Nikitin convened an emergency response headquarters, while the ministry said sufficient personnel and equipment had been deployed to deal with the consequences.

Authorities temporarily closed beaches in the nearby federal territory of Sirius, adjacent to Sochi, as a precaution. Local officials said subsequent monitoring found pollutant concentrations below permitted limits and that there was no immediate danger to public health.

In a separate incident on Tuesday, two merchant vessels were struck by unidentified naval and aerial drones in Bulgaria’s exclusive economic zone, some 128 km off its coast. The Togo-flagged Alfa Watan suffered critical damage and sank, while the Palau-flagged Able caught fire.

Eighteen crew members were rescued from the latter vessel, two of whom had severe injuries. One indicated that the Able was carrying Ukrainian cargo.

Bulgarian Prime Minister Rumen Radev condemned the attacks as a “blatant violation of international law and maritime law” and warned that repeated strikes were disrupting Black Sea shipping and driving insurance costs higher.

No-one has claimed responsibility for the strikes. Moscow has already been targeting vessels it says are carrying military or dual-use cargo to Ukrainian Black Sea ports, while the Russian Defense Ministry said Zelensky would bear “full personal and political responsibility” for any further escalation.

Ukraine has sharply expanded attacks on Russian oil infrastructure and commercial shipping in the Black Sea and Sea of Azov in recent months, using combinations of naval and aerial drones to strike vessels linked to Russian ports.

Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky vowed over the weekend to intensify attacks on Russian oil refineries, prompting Moscow to announce that it would expand strikes on Ukrainian military-industrial facilities and related infrastructure.

The strikes have also become a factor in the global fuel market. US President Donald Trump said on Monday that rising American gasoline prices were now being driven less by disruption around the Strait of Hormuz and more by Ukrainian attacks on Russian refineries.

“What’s driving up gasoline is no longer the Strait of Hormuz,” Trump wrote, arguing instead that Russian refineries “are being blown up by Ukraine.”

Trump had previously urged Zelensky to “stop knocking out diesel fuel in Russia,” saying the campaign was “hurting the world.” US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has similarly said Ukrainian attacks on Russian energy assets and refined products are contributing to a broader “energy shock.”

Ukrainian lawmaker Alexey Goncharenko has been expelled from the European Solidarity parliamentary group and added to the notorious Mirotvorets website, which publishes personal information on people it considers “enemies” of the country.

The MP came under fire after publicly calling for peace with Russia and arguing that Kiev is losing the conflict. He suggested that Ukraine should consider concessions to secure a lasting settlement, including abandoning its NATO ambitions, easing sanctions on Russia, strengthening the status of the Russian language, and potentially ceding territory.

The remarks triggered a backlash from politicians and public figures opposed to such concessions, including Vladimir Zelensky, who described Goncharenko’s proposals as an “abnormal message” that undermined national “unity.” The Ukrainian leader nevertheless acknowledged the MP’s right to express his views, citing freedom of speech.

On Monday, Goncharenko was booted from the parliamentary group of the European Solidarity party, led by ex-President Pyotr Poroshenko. The party said the MP’s remarks went against its “ideological foundations” and that proposing any concessions to Russia was unacceptable. On Tuesday, the lawmaker was put on the Mirotvorets hit list over his alleged efforts to “demoralize society,” acting in Russia’s interests, and derailing the mobilization efforts.

The MP has expressed regret over his former party’s decision but stood by his original remarks. He also claimed that he was among the first to speak about the chaotic and violent mobilization drive, while such criticism has now become a commonplace among Ukrainian politicians and public figures.

“I am not saying there are simple solutions. There aren’t. But I am not saying that seeking peace means surrendering. To surrender means to stop looking for ways to end the war,” he said in a statement, calling for “searching for peace together.”

Goncharenko used to be an outspoken Ukrainian warhawk, repeatedly making belligerent remarks against Russia and local Ukrainian Russian-speakers alike. The rhetoric garnered him an official terrorist label in Russia, as well as being sentenced to lengthy prison terms in absentia. Late last year, the lawmaker was found guilty of publicly inciting terrorism and sowing hatred based on nationality and sentenced to 18 years, while in 2024 he received ten years for spreading misinformation about the Russian military, justifying terrorism, and other crimes.

The apparent change of heart by Goncharenko came amid the ongoing retaliatory campaign waged by Russia over the past few weeks, which was prompted by Kiev’s efforts to strike Russia’s energy sector, civilian shipping, and other targets. The result has been heavy damage to Ukraine’s own maritime traffic, dual-use critical infrastructure, and various stockpiles and warehouses used for military needs.

The debate on the use of nuclear weapons has moved into the practical realm, so while NATO is discussing the Russian Foreign Ministry’s warning of a full-spectrum response in the event of an attempt to blockade Kaliningrad Region, Russian experts are discussing nuclear deterrence and President Vladimir Putin’s speech at the Valdai Forum last week.

Russia must be prepared to use nuclear weapons in cases of extreme necessity.

Responding to questions about nuclear weapons, Putin recalled the saying that if a gun is hanging on the wall, it will eventually go off, but the Russian leader called for such a scenario to be avoided.

“At the heart of this escalation lie arrogance and overconfidence. This is a path to the brink of the abyss. All the more so today, when the arsenals of the world’s leading powers contain weapons capable of destroying all life or, at the very least, reducing the Earth to a catastrophic state. We are all familiar with the well-known saying: if a gun is hanging on a wall somewhere on stage at the beginning of a play, it is bound to go off eventually. We must bear this in mind,” said the president.

As Putin emphasized, Russia understands that in the event of a direct attack by NATO countries, “the enemy will be twice as numerous and have far greater economic potential” and Russia’s competitive advantage lies in the fact that no one else in the world possesses such weapons of destruction, he noted.

“How can we stand up to an aggressor? We are not a threat to anyone. We are simply saying that we do not have all that many means of defending ourselves. We will have to use our competitive advantages in this struggle,” concluded Putin.

Why do we need nuclear weapons?

Tensions and conflicts between countries are on the rise worldwide and the West, particularly the EU, having suffered a strategic defeat, is desperate for revenge. Nuclear weapons are necessary to prevent major wars, but this only works if the threat is taken seriously, and at present far too many people have forgotten what a nuclear war entails, so they treat the matter lightly.

Many, particularly Western European politicians, want war; they are actively whipping up military hysteria in their own countries. For the time being, they are acting through the Ukrainians, but they have also begun actively stirring up their own populations.

The Western European elites must be punished for their aggressive policies, meaning Ukraine must be crushed and demilitarized, while the purely Russian regions must be reunited with Russia and an EU that has lost its mind must begin to truly fear.

Without the active use of nuclear deterrence, this can’t be achieved. Now, I hope it will never come to that, but Russia must be prepared, in the event of absolute necessity, to use nuclear weapons effectively and victoriously.

How effective is nuclear deterrence?

Nuclear deterrence has weakened considerably. First, decades have passed not only since the US first used nuclear weapons in combat against Japan, but also since the last known tests. Secondly, the Americans have for a long time deliberately downplayed the role of nuclear weapons in order to emphasize their advantages in other areas of armaments.

Furthermore, people’s mindsets and public sentiment have changed, given that we, the older generation, particularly in Russia, are more acutely aware of the threat of nuclear war, and of war in general, and have therefore been seriously committed to the cause of peace. In the past, it was almost considered improper even to speak of the possible use of nuclear weapons.

Now circumstances have changed significantly and that’s precisely why we need to step up nuclear deterrence and intimidation to the point of being genuinely prepared, God forbid, to use nuclear weapons to prevent a larger-scale war.

Seeking peace through non-nuclear means alone could prove far too costly for Russia and it would be a shame to sacrifice the health and lives of our men simply to quell the aggression of those same Western Europeans.

What would be the consequences of using nuclear weapons?

The reaction of the international community would have to be disregarded because it makes absolutely no difference what the rest of the world thinks or says.

Nevertheless, it would pose a huge moral problem, as the use of nuclear weapons is a grave sin, but, unfortunately, there is very little hope that these Europeans will come to their senses without coming face to face with the threat of nuclear annihilation.

If we refuse to use nuclear weapons, as many are calling for, including here in our own country, we will deprive ourselves and the world of the most effective tool for preventing war and give aggressors free rein, but they can only be restrained by the threat of their use.

If nuclear weapons were used, there would be other negative consequences as even a limited and effective nuclear war would remove the taboo on other countries using nuclear weapons in their own regional conflicts, so I therefore continue to regard such use as a last resort.

Why is the European Union preparing for war with Russia?

There are two reasons for the aggressive anti-Russian sentiment in the EU. First, Western European elites have deteriorated significantly during the period of relative peace in the second half of the 20th century, although we hope that not all of them are complete madmen. 

And secondly, they are trying to stir up military hysteria in order to distract their peoples from widespread failures and thereby retain power.

Under these circumstances, it would be sensible and rational for us to strengthen our reliance on nuclear weapons and modernize our arsenal, particularly the part of it aimed at other European countries. At the same time, it is important to continue dialogue with the US in order to avoid a global nuclear conflict.

Nuclear weapons have safeguarded us for 80 years since the end of the Second World War. Nuclear deterrence is the main reason why, throughout these decades, the states of Europe, and subsequently the European Union, have remained relatively peaceful. Throughout their history, they have repeatedly attacked not only Russia but also a vast number of countries across the globe, and they are the primary cause of many of humanity’s misfortunes, such as racism and colonialism.

Western Europe is now returning to its usual state, which is a belligerent one and this means the time has come to remind these Europeans once again who they are and what their belligerence leads to. If the current Ukrainian or German regime, or any other non-nuclear country in Europe, were to acquire nuclear weapons, we would be obliged to launch a preemptive strike because we’d have to stop them. It would be a short war, as a result of which these countries would cease to exist.

Is it possible to win a nuclear war?

It’s possible to win a nuclear war in Europe because the US will never risk its own territory for the sake of the Europeans. If France or the UK continue to stick their necks out, a preemptive, devastating strike could be launched against them. But, I repeat, God forbid.

I hope Western Europe comes to its senses and that this can be avoided. In the meantime, much of Europe should be placed behind a security cordon and a security system should be built within the framework of Greater Eurasia, excluding the Western subcontinent. That said, it will be possible and necessary to cooperate with individual European countries if they shake off the rule of the current madmen in Brussels and Berlin.

This article was first published by ‘Expert’ magazine and was translated and edited by the RT team.

The mayor of Paris’ Saint-Denis suburb has been tear-gassed while attempting to shield masked student street protesters from riot police. Mayor Bally Bagayoko has accused officers of using “totally disproportionate” force.

Bagayoko, a descendant of Malian immigrants, was filmed standing between heavily armored riot police and a crowd of predominantly black and Middle Eastern youths in Saint-Denis on Tuesday, as smoke and tear gas filled the air.

After the gathering had been dispersed, Bagayoko and his entourage were seen applying eye drops to their bloodshot eyes. 

In a social media post after the incident, Bagayoko said that he “witnessed a totally disproportionate use of force against young people who are simply asking to be heard.”

“To the mobilized youth: your demands are just,” he added. “Continue to organize yourselves and make your voices heard. But do not give in to any provocation. Stay united and non-violent!”

Student protests began in Paris last month, when pupils at a high school joined their striking teachers in demanding more resources and funding. The movement coalesced on social media, and 250,000 students took part in nationwide demonstrations on Tuesday, according to figures from the French Interior Ministry.

As the protests grew, many degenerated into violent riots, with students setting fires, looting, and assaulting police officers and other emergency workers. More than 6,000 people have  been arrested in connection with the protests, and more than 700 police officers have been injured, according to Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu.

Around 215 students have been injured, some of them apparently as a result of police brutality. A 15-year-old boy had his hand blown off by a police stun grenade in Lens; a 14-year-old had his jaw broken by a tear gas grenade in Val-d’Oise; and a 16-year-old was blinded in Tours, allegedly by a rubber bullet.

In Saint-Denis, Bagayoko has been accused of inciting violence and vandalism. The mayor was condemned by the right, maintaining he was filmed dancing in front of a dumpster fire outside a school in his district, with the leader of the conservative Republicans (LR) party Bruno Retailleau declaring that Bagayoko’s party coming to power would “sound the death knell of the French Republic.”  

L’accession au pouvoir de ces factieux sonnerait la fin de la République française. https://t.co/KgQ8GAzQZW

— Bruno Retailleau (@BrunoRetailleau) September 28, 2026

But the unedited video shows the mayor was actually helping to put the fire out.

🚨🇫🇷 Saint-Denis : la vidéo intégrale disculpe le maire Bagayoko Des médias accusaient le maire LFI Bally Bagayoko d’avoir participé aux débordements du blocus du lycée Paul-Éluard. La vidéo intégrale prouve le contraire : l’élu écarte une poubelle en feu de la grille et tente d’éteindre l’incendie pour protéger les lycéens. 🎥🔥🚒 Bagayoko dénonce des « accusations grotesques » et des « mensonges » : il n’a « ni allumé ni encouragé » le feu, mais agi pour la sécurité des élèves. Les fact-checkers confirment que la vidéo initiale était tronquée et trompeuse. ✅🧐 Sources : Libération, Le Monde, Le Figaro, L’Humanité, Brut, Le Parisien, France 24 #SaintDenis #BallyBagayoko #BlocusDesLycées #FakeNews #VidéoTronquée #LFI

— BREF_INFOS (@BREF_ACTUALITES) September 29, 2026

The leader of Bagayoko’s left-wing La France Insoumise (France Unbowed, LFI), Jean-Luc Melenchon, has called for “the high-school movement to spread,” but insisted that he is not responsible for the actions of violent rioters. Lecornu’s office has described the rioters as “far-left proxies” of LFI.

The number of Germans seeking conscientious objector status has risen sharply amid Berlin’s military buildup and debate over reinstating conscription, the RedaktionsNetzwerk Deutschland (RND) reported on Tuesday.

According to RND, whose parent company is partly owned by the ruling coalition’s Social Democratic Party (SPD), Germany’s Federal Office for Family Affairs and Civil Society Functions received 12,102 conscientious objection applications between January and August, compared with 3,879 in all of 2025 and 2,249 in 2024. Applicants include reservists, active-duty troops and people who have never served in the military.

Germany suspended the draft in 2011. Following the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022, Berlin announced plans to expand the Bundeswehr from around 186,000 active-duty troops to more than 260,000 by 2035, backed by 200,000 reservists. Senior German officials have cited the country’s NATO commitments and a perceived threat from Russia to justify the military buildup. Moscow has repeatedly dismissed claims that it intends to attack NATO as “nonsense.”

Several politicians in Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s ruling coalition have argued that conscription may have to be reinstated if voluntary recruitment falls short.

A new military service system introduced this year requires all 18-year-old men to register for potential service. Enlistment remains voluntary, but parliament can activate compulsory service if recruitment targets are not met or the security situation deteriorates.

Such a prospect has fueled student protests across Germany. In late September, organizers of the so-called School Strike Against Conscription said around 45,000 demonstrators took to the streets in some 100 cities and towns.

Defense Minister Boris Pistorius has warned that Russia could attack a NATO member as early as 2028 and suggested compulsory service may be necessary to boost Germany’s preparedness.

Last May, Merz pledged to turn the Bundeswehr into the strongest conventional military force in the EU.

Moscow has sharply criticized Germany’s military buildup. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov warned earlier this year that Germany and the EU risked evolving into a “Fourth Reich.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin has cleared Italy’s UniCredit to restructure its Russian operations, paving the way for the banking giant to sell its business in the country.

UniCredit has operated in Russia since 1989 and is listed by the central bank as one of the country’s 13 key credit institutions. It is among a handful of EU-based lenders that have remained in the Russian market despite Western sanctions imposed following the 2022 escalation of the Ukraine conflict.

The presidential order, published on Monday, allows UniCredit Bank to split its Russian operations by creating a separate company. It also authorizes transactions involving all shares currently held by Italy’s UniCredit S.p.A., removing the need for additional approvals.

UniCredit said in May that it had signed a non-binding agreement with an unidentified UAE investor to split its Russian business in two. The Italian lender will retain a new entity handling international payments for non-sanctioned Western and Russian corporate clients, while selling the rest of the business to the investor.

The Italian lender expects the transaction to result in a loss of around €3-3.3 billion ($3.5-3.9 billion) and aims to complete the deal in the first half of 2027.

UniCredit has spent years reducing its exposure to Russia under pressure from European regulators. In 2024, the European Central Bank ordered it to further scale back operations, including by restricting new deposits and payments. By July of that year, the lender said it had reduced its cross-border exposure by 91% and domestic exposure by 65% compared with post-2022 levels.

Moscow has meanwhile tightened the rules governing corporate exits by companies from countries it considers “unfriendly.” Asset sales are generally subject to a minimum 60% discount and a budget contribution equivalent to 35% of market value, while certain transactions require presidential approval.

Putin’s decision on UniCredit comes as Moscow has taken temporary control of several other Western-owned businesses. In September, Russian assets belonging to Swiss food giant Nestle and French retailer Auchan were placed under temporary management.

Moscow has used the mechanism since 2023, when assets linked to Finland’s Fortum, Germany’s Uniper, France’s Danone, and Danish brewer Carlsberg were placed under temporary control. Russian officials have described the measures as a mirror response to Western actions against Russian assets abroad.

The measures are not necessarily permanent. Italian appliance maker Ariston regained control of its Russian subsidiary in March 2025 after Putin reversed its placement under temporary management.

Two commercial vessels were hit by unidentified drones on Tuesday off the Bulgarian coast in the Black Sea, Prime Minister Rumen Radev has confirmed.

The attack marks the first time when merchant vessels were attacked within the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) of a NATO member in the waterway. Such zones have a unique legal status and are adjacent to a country’s territorial waters, with the area being neither fully under its sovereignty or categorized as international open waters. 

“This is an unacceptable attack in Bulgaria’s exclusive economic zone. It is a blatant violation of international law and maritime law,” Radev said while speaking after an emergency government meeting to assess the incident. 

The vessels, the Togo-flagged Alfa Watan and the Palau-flagged Able, were hit overnight around 80 miles (128 kilometers) off Bulgaria’s coast by unknown sea and aerial drones, according to the PM, who did not immediately assign the blame to any party. 

The Alfa Watan, which was sailing to Romania from Egypt, sustained critical damage, sinking shortly after the attack with the status of its crew not immediately known, according to Radev. The second vessel, which sailed from Romania to Türkiye, caught fire, and its crew of 18 was rescued by a Bulgarian ferry. Two of the sailors suffered severe injuries and were flown to a hospital in the port city of Varna, Radev noted. 

“As a state responsible within our exclusive economic zone for the health and lives of anyone navigating in this area, regardless of who is responsible, we are obliged to conduct emergency search and rescue operations,” the PM said. 

“What is happening is seriously disrupting shipping in the Black Sea, driving up insurance costs even further and making shipping extremely difficult,” he added. 

Neither of the likely suspects, Ukraine and Russia, made any remarks on the latest maritime incident in the Black Sea. While Kiev has been actively attacking shipping in the waterway heading to and from Russian ports, Moscow has recently begun retaliating in kind and striking vessels carrying military cargo and dual-use goods to Ukraine’s Black Sea ports. The retaliatory campaign has heavily damaged the Ukrainian shipping, effectively bringing the traffic to a halt. 

The modus operandi described by Radev, with the attacks involving both sea and aerial drones, however, likely points at Ukraine. Kiev has repeatedly staged such combined attacks on commercial shipping, while Moscow has relied almost exclusively on aerial drones. 

Once a key arms supplier of Kiev, Sofia has changed its stance on the Ukraine conflict under Radev’s government. Bulgaria withdrew from the so-called “coalition of the willing,” a European group of Kiev’s backers, and announced that it would no longer send weapons packages.

One of the world’s most recognizable and beloved athletes, Washington Capitals captain Alexander Ovechkin, has announced he will retire at the end of the current NHL season, closing out a record-breaking career spanning more than two decades.

The 41-year-old Russian legend, who is entering his 22nd and final NHL season, broke the news to his teammates on Monday, saying it was hard to tell them he would be leaving after this season, but “it is what it is.” He urged the team to “enjoy the moment” and “do some special things this year.”

The timing was poignant: Monday marked exactly 21 years since Ovechkin made his NHL debut with the Capitals.

For more than two decades, the man known as ‘the Great Eight’ (he has worn the number 8 throughout his NHL career) has been far more than a celebrated athlete. Known affectionately as Ovi, he became the face of a franchise, an icon in both Russia and the US, and the most prolific goalscorer in NHL history. Through it all, he remained proudly Russian, even as political pressure on Russian athletes reached a boiling point.

So who is the man behind the records?

How Ovi came to hockey

Ovechkin was born into a sports family in Moscow. His mother, Tatyana, was a two-time Olympic basketball champion, and his father, Mikhail, played professional football. But it was hockey that captured their son’s imagination.

He came through the famed Dynamo Moscow system and made his professional debut in the Russian Superleague at just 16. Powerful, fast, and relentlessly physical, Ovechkin combined brute force with a devastating shot – qualities that quickly made him one of the game’s most exciting young talents.

The Washington Capitals selected him first overall in the 2004 NHL Draft, although the 2004-2005 lockout delayed his arrival in North America by a year. When he finally stepped onto NHL ice in October 2005, he scored twice on his debut and went on to win the Calder Trophy as the league’s top rookie.

Ovechkin’s spectacular goals and bruising style soon helped turn the Capitals into one of the NHL’s biggest attractions. In January 2010, he became the 14th captain in franchise history – a role he has held ever since, making him the Capitals’ longest-serving captain.

Trophies and records

Ovechkin’s trophy cabinet is difficult to match. He is a three-time world champion with Russia, a three-time Hart Trophy winner as NHL MVP, and an eight-time First All-Star Team selection. In 2007-08, he won the Art Ross Trophy after recording 112 points, including 65 goals.

Washington reached the playoffs in 16 of Ovechkin’s 21 seasons and won three Presidents’ Trophies (given to the team with the best overall record). But the big prize that had eluded him for many years finally came in 2018, when he captained the Capitals to their first and only Stanley Cup, scoring a league-leading 15 playoff goals.

Then came the record once thought untouchable. On April 6, 2025, Ovechkin scored his 895th regular-season goal, passing Wayne Gretzky’s 894 to become the NHL’s all-time leading regular-season goalscorer. 

ALEX OVECHKIN. FROM HIS OFFICE. BECAUSE OF COURSE. #ALLCAPS https://t.co/SMWk89x5Ys

— NHL News (@PuckReportNHL) April 6, 2025

He went on to become the first player to reach 900, pushing the record to 929 at the time of writing.

🇷🇺 P🏒ck You, Russophobia! "Fans All Around the World, Russian, We Did It" - Ovechkin Writes His Name into Hockey Folklore Alexander Ovechkin broke Wayne Gretzky's NHL scoring record with his 895th goal, and couldn't resist a shout out to his homeland during the awards ceremony. Proof that sport can be a force to unite, despite rampant Russophobia in the Western world - which has seen many Russians banned from competing on the intl stage.

— RT_India (@RT_India_news) April 7, 2025

Behind many of those goals was an Ovechkin trademark: His devastating one-timer from the left faceoff circle. The spot became known as ‘Ovi’s office’.

His name sits atop numerous other lists: He holds NHL records for power-play goals (331), game-winning goals (141), overtime goals (27), empty-net goals (72), and 30-goal seasons (20). His nine 50-goal seasons tie Gretzky and Mike Bossy. Gretzky still holds the records for career points, playoff goals, as well as combined regular-season and playoff goals – but Ovechkin still has plenty of time to pass ‘the Great One’ in combined regular-season and playoff goals.

The quirks behind the Great Eight

For all the discipline required to stay at the top for more than two decades, Ovechkin has never exactly been a sports nutritionist’s dream. Teammates have spoken of his fondness for spicy Italian sandwiches, hot Cheetos, and Coca-Cola – which he has been known to drink on the bench.

His celebrations have been equally memorable. After Washington’s 2018 Stanley Cup triumph, Ovechkin famously performed a headstand over the Cup in a Georgetown fountain. The stunt was later recreated on ‘The Tonight Show’, with Ovechkin holding Jimmy Fallon upside down as the host drank from the Cup.

4 years ago today, Alex Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals showed the world how to do a proper Stanley cup stand. It was just part of an unforgettable 3 day party in Washington DC! 🏆🍺❤️ #ALLCAPS @Capitals https://t.co/HN9SgDptHq

— LoyalCaps 🇺🇸🏒🥅 (@dmddusseau) June 8, 2022

His legendary slapshot has even reached space, at least in name. In 2014, an asteroid was officially named 257261 Ovechkin in honor of the player whose slapshot has been clocked at more than 160 kph.

One of his best-known rituals carries a far more personal meaning. After scoring, Ovechkin kisses his finger and points to the sky in memory of his older brother Sergey, who died in a car accident when Ovechkin was ten.

A different kind of legacy

Away from the rink, Ovechkin has spent years supporting children, cancer research, and accessible hockey in both North America and Russia. His Ovi’s 8’s program, launched in 2006, has provided more than 6,000 game tickets to underserved children and families. In Russia, he has supported children’s charities, orphanages, and adaptive sports, including para hockey.

One memorable episode came at the 2015 NHL All-Star Draft, when Ovechkin famously campaigned to be picked last so he could win a new Honda – not for himself, but to donate to a hockey program for children with developmental disabilities, inspired by 10-year-old fan Ann Schaab, who had Down syndrome. He missed out, but Honda later gave him a car anyway – and Ovechkin kept his promise.

More recently, he turned his pursuit of Gretzky’s record into a fundraising drive. His ‘GR8 CHASE’ campaign has raised more than $256,000 for pediatric cancer research, with Ovechkin donating for every goal he scores and Monumental Sports & Entertainment matching his contributions. His farewell season will also feature a new charitable effort announced on the eighth of each month, the team announced on Monday.

Unapologetically Russian

For all the affection Ovechkin has earned in Washington, he has never tried to hide his love for his homeland. Through more than two decades in the US – and amid tensions between Washington and Moscow – he has continued to describe himself first and foremost as Russian.

That refusal to distance himself from his homeland has made him a target of criticism from supporters of Ukraine, particularly since the escalation of the Russia-Ukraine conflict in 2022. While Ovechkin has publicly called for peace, he has repeatedly resisted pressure to denounce Russia. Among his fiercest critics is former Czech goaltender Dominik Hasek, who has called for Russian NHL players’ contracts to be suspended and accused the league of facilitating Russian propaganda by continuing to showcase Ovechkin.

The pressure has extended beyond criticism. Ukraine imposed sanctions on Ovechkin in 2022, and he was later added to Kiev’s controversial state-linked ‘Mirotvorets’ database, which lists people it considers enemies of the country, and has been described by critics as a ‘kill list’ after several people named on it were killed or died under suspicious circumstances.

Ovechkin once again attracted criticism after appearing in a campaign video for Russia’s ruling United Russia party last month. Latvia subsequently banned him from entering the country, while the Ukrainian Canadian Congress called for him to be sanctioned and barred from Canada. Commenting on the ad, Ovechkin said: “I’m Russian, and I support my country.”

The controversies have done little to diminish Ovechkin’s standing with hockey fans, with his milestones celebrated in North America and around the world. US President Donald Trump earlier this year described him as “a great hockey player, a great gentleman.”

Alex Ovechkin giving Capitals fans a moment they’ll never forget! Year 20 for The Captain @MonSportsNet https://t.co/isQJsA5UgD

— Ethan Cadeaux (@Ethan_Cadeaux) October 12, 2024

How Ovi’s news was received

The announcement prompted tributes from teammates, rivals, and some of hockey’s biggest names.
Zach Leonsis, the president of Capitals owner Monumental Sports & Entertainment, who has known Ovechkin for more than 21 years, said, “I know this season will be emotional,” urging fans to “cherish every game and every moment.”

Capitals coach Spencer Carbery pointed to Ovechkin’s reach far beyond Washington, recalling his amazement at seeing thousands of his jerseys at away games. For younger players, he said, Ovechkin’s 22 seasons carry a simple lesson: “It goes by in a flash… Make sure you make the most of it.”

Washington Capitals head coach Spencer Carbery talked to @seangentille about Alexander Ovechkin's legacy in the NHL. https://t.co/XnCwumplLg

— The Athletic NHL (@TheAthleticNHL) October 5, 2026

Gretzky said the farewell season will be “great for the NHL... I’m happy for him.” Fellow Russian star Evgeny Malkin, who entered the NHL a year after Ovechkin and went from bitter rival to close friend, was similarly reflective. “He’s a legend. Fans love him,” Malkin said, wishing Ovechkin a healthy final season.

Columbus coach Rick Bowness recalled Ovechkin’s famous falling-down goal against Phoenix during his rookie season, saying his defenseman and goalie did everything perfectly, but the puck still went in. “I knew right there, ‘Wow, this kid’s special.’” More than 20 years later, he said it’s been “a real pleasure to coach against him his whole career.”

What’s next, Ovi?

When Ovechkin told his teammates he is retiring, he did not specify whether he meant the NHL or professional hockey as a whole, briefly leaving open the possibility of a return to Russia’s KHL. Speaking to reporters later on Monday, however, he indicated that this would likely be his final season as a professional player.

“I love this game so much, but I know in my heart it’s the right decision… I’m not 20 years old,” he said. “I want to play with my kids when they’re growing up. Play hockey, play soccer, play basketball. I want to be healthy enough to do that kind of stuff.”

Ovechkin has revealed few other retirement plans, but several projects offer clues.

Earlier this year, he completed the preliminary defense of a 145-page dissertation on hockey training methods as part of his pursuit of a candidate of sciences degree in pedagogical sciences – roughly equivalent to a Western PhD. He is also closely involved in the Alexander Ovechkin International Hockey Academy, a 43,000-square-meter complex under construction in Moscow. Ovechkin owns a 35% stake in the academy, which aims to develop young Russian talent and could give the Great Eight a new role in hockey after retirement.

Last month, Ovechkin made it clear where he expects to settle once hockey is over.

“I’m Russian, so when I’m done playing hockey, probably I’m gonna stay there,” he said. For now, though, Ovechkin has one season left and a characteristically simple priority: “I’m gonna focus on my game.”

In Tehran, discussions about Iran’s potential withdrawal from the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) are growing increasingly urgent. Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Esmail Baghaei has recently acknowledged that the issue is being seriously considered by Iranian officials. His statements lend significant political weight to the discourse around Iran’s potential withdrawal from the NPT: One can no longer downplay it as something proposed by hardliners or fringe groups. While Baghaei also reaffirmed Iran’s commitment to its membership in the NPT and the associated obligations, he made it clear that the possibility of exiting the treaty is being considered. 

This situation has been triggered by Tehran’s mounting frustration. Iran finds it increasingly difficult to justify why participation in the NPT demands constant concessions from it, while the country’s rights remain negotiable. Despite Iran’s regular affirmation of the peaceful nature of its nuclear program, disputes persist and external pressure continues to mount. This gives Iran reason to question the practical value of the agreement. The Iranian leadership is signaling that its willingness to remain a member of the NPT cannot be viewed as unconditional.

The NPT was designed to maintain balance: Non-nuclear states refrain from developing nuclear weapons and receive international guarantees, while their right to the peaceful use of nuclear energy is recognized by the treaty; nuclear powers, meanwhile, pursue negotiations toward nuclear disarmament. For Tehran, the critical issue lies in the balance of rights and responsibilities. Iran’s right to peaceful nuclear technology does not exclude the international monitoring of its nuclear program. But there is a difference between inspections and demands to relinquish nuclear technologies, and Iran believes that this line is increasingly being blurred. 

A pivotal aspect of the NPT is the so-called ‘nuclear deal’ signed in 2015. Iran agreed to impose significant limitations on its nuclear program and accepted extensive international oversight in exchange for relief from sanctions. In 2016, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) confirmed that Iran had implemented the necessary measures to put the agreement into effect. However, in 2018, the US withdrew from the deal and reinstated sanctions. This unfortunate experience casts a shadow on how Tehran views any potential future compromises. Iran accepted the restrictions, but the change in Washington’s policy undermined many of the anticipated benefits of the deal.

Strikes against Iran and its nuclear facilities have further compounded the crisis of trust, raising concerns over physical security. The IAEA reported attacks on several Iranian nuclear sites in June 2025; this shows that even with international guarantees, the facilities remain vulnerable. It’s true that the NPT does not offer military protection or immunity from attacks. However, the main problem for Iranian political circles is that the international oversight of Iran’s nuclear program has failed to ensure a diplomatic settlement of disagreements. 

This raises a poignant question for Tehran. If cooperation with international institutions does not prevent sanctions and strikes against Iran, then what argument can the supporters of the treaty bring up in favor of remaining a party to the NPT? The treaty’s supporters outline its theoretical benefits, but the country assesses its results. As the costs of external pressure rise, it becomes increasingly hard to convince anyone that further concessions will enhance security. Instead, there’s a growing perception that new compromises simply lead to new demands. This sense of injustice largely explains Iran’s current irritation.

Another factor is the unequal standing of the countries in the region. Israel is not a party to the NPT and does not face the same comprehensive oversight that Iran does. While Tehran is constantly questioned about its nuclear program, no one raises concerns about Israel. This situation strikes Tehran as fundamentally unfair; its participation in the treaty imposes restrictions that Israel does not have to deal with. From Iran’s perspective, Israel, which is not bound by the treaty, enjoys greater freedom, while Iran’s membership comes with constraints and threats. Consequently, the treaty’s opponents have a strong argument in favor of withdrawing. 

One cannot dismiss the fact that the IAEA has grounds to question Iran’s compliance. The IAEA faces multiple restrictions in Iran when it comes to inspections, nuclear material tracking, access to facilities, and so on. The Iranian Foreign Ministry emphasizes that it remains committed to the NPT and expects respect for its rights under the treaty, noting that disagreements with the IAEA should be resolved through dialogue and inspections, not through threats or attacks on Iranian facilities.

The heightened public attention to Iran’s potential exit from the NPT is also tied to ongoing negotiations. The prospect of Iran’s withdrawal raises the stakes for the US and increases the cost of failing to reach an agreement. As long as Iran remains a party to the NPT, there are legal grounds for international oversight and the possibility of engaging in meaningful discussions about its nuclear program. Exiting the treaty would complicate this process and increase uncertainty. Tehran is signaling that maintaining the current negotiations framework requires political effort. If this framework is systematically undermined, there are no guarantees that it will exist indefinitely. 

At the same time, Iran is raising the stakes. As long as Iran’s opponents believe that it will remain in the NPT despite pressure, the threat of withdrawal can be dismissed as mere rhetoric. Baghaei’s statements make it clear that the option of leaving the NPT is being seriously considered by Iranian officials. However, Tehran is in no rush to actually exit the treaty. The Foreign Ministry has reaffirmed Iran’s existing obligations while leaving the final decision to the country’s leadership and Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei. 

By openly discussing the possibility of withdrawing from the NPT, Tehran can analyze the reaction of Russia, China, the EU, its neighbors in the region, and also its own populace. This will help assess the potential support for such a move and see whether other parties are willing to offer conditions that might persuade Iran to remain a party to the agreement. The Foreign Ministry’s statement is most likely driven by several factors, including a strategic calculation in negotiations, internal disagreements within the leadership, and a growing dissatisfaction with external pressure. 

Moreover, Tehran understands that withdrawing from the NPT could further escalate tensions in the region. Türkiye and Saudi Arabia may believe that Iran is about to develop nuclear weapons, prompting them to consider their own nuclear capabilities. Their argument would be straightforward: If Iran no longer feels bound by the prohibition against acquiring nuclear weapons, why should its neighbors refrain from doing the same? Although withdrawing from the treaty doesn’t confer a legal right to nuclear arms, this detail could easily be overlooked in political debates. Tehran faces a serious risk: In its quest to enhance national security, it may inadvertently push its neighbors toward a nuclear arms race, and ultimately have to confront new threats. Therefore, we can neither be confident of Iran’s inevitable exit from the treaty nor reduce the situation to mere bluffing.

Iran’s reaction to Russia’s proposal regarding the export of its enriched uranium should be considered in this light. Baghaei confirmed that Tehran is considering Moscow’s offer and will act in accordance with its national interests. This keeps the door open for negotiations. Before taking such a step, Tehran seeks clarity on what it will gain in return and how this will affect its nuclear program moving forward. While Russia’s proposal could facilitate an agreement, Iran wants to be sure that the potential transfer of enriched uranium is accompanied by a genuine reduction in external pressure. Trust in Moscow plays an important part in this, but Iran needs assurances that all the other parties will uphold their end of the deal.

The main takeaway from the statement by the Iranian Foreign Ministry is that Iran no longer wishes to view its participation in the NPT as grounds for America’s endless, unfounded demands. Tehran insists on discussing its rights, the predictability of its partners’ commitments, and the potential for peaceful development. For now, this demand is articulated through diplomatic language, allowing room for negotiation. However, it is rooted in a profound crisis of trust. If the NPT continues to be perceived in Iran as a source of restrictions without practical benefits (an outlook that appears increasingly likely), then the arguments in favor of remaining a party to the treaty will become weaker. At some point, it may cease to be an issue that raises the stakes in negotiations and may become a matter requiring practical resolution.

Ukrainians are increasingly disappointed with serving officials and ashamed of their actions, a recent opinion poll indicates. A majority now insists that Vladimir Zelensky must not seek a second term as president, as he once pledged.

Mounting disillusionment with the government, which was highlighted on Monday by the Kiev International Institute of Sociology’s (KIIS) latest omnibus survey, comes on the back of multiple corruption scandals in Kiev involving people close to Zelensky. 

Kiev relies heavily on Western financial and military support to pursue its conflict with Russia. Even its staunchest supporters acknowledge that the Zelensky government’s assurances that it is actively tackling corruption are not necessarily sincere.

No second term for Zelensky

The KIIS phone survey, conducted among over 1,000 adults in September, indicates a stark shortage of positive emotions among Ukrainians for public servants. The pollster offered respondents a list of 12 options to indicate their feelings, from which they could pick up to three. The most popular was “disappointment,” chosen by 44%, followed by “shame,” picked by 33%. 

More respondents reported negative emotions towards the authorities compared to a similar poll conducted in December 2025, while the share of positive options remained stable. In both surveys, 23% said they were hopeful regarding the authorities and 16% said they sympathized with them.

Asked whether Zelensky should take part in the next presidential election, 53% told KIIS he should not, compared to 46% last year.

Zelensky pledged to be a single-term president during his election campaign in 2019, but has since suggested he may run again. His mandate expired in 2024, but he has retained power under martial law, which critics say violates the Ukrainian Constitution.

Other polls have consistently suggested that in a hypothetical presidential contest, Zelensky would lose in the second round to any of as many as three more popular possible candidates.

Zelensky sinking in graft bog

The Ukrainian leader’s domestic popularity has dropped amid a series of corruption scandals triggered by investigations conducted by Western-backed anti-graft agencies.

The latest major development came in September, when the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) exposed a suspected protection racket run by a senior officer in the Prosecutor General’s Office. The chief suspect was fired, while his boss, Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko, fled the country before being removed from his position by the Ukrainian parliament.

Previously, Zelensky fired a deputy head of his office after NABU accused her of laundering millions in cash to pay the bail for a former energy minister who is a suspect in a separate anti-graft investigation linked to the Ukrainian leader.

NABU’s reputation in Ukraine is so strong that some crooks are trying to profit off of it. This week, the agency reported helping the police arrest a swindler who had posed as one of its detectives to extort $280,000 from a local businessman, saying the money would allow him to sink a criminal case “commissioned” by competition.

KIIS previously reported that half of respondents in a survey named government corruption as their biggest concern – more than Russian long-range strikes – while 72% said Zelensky personally was responsible for the problem.

German minister admits Kiev has a graft problem

Political opponents of Zelensky, such as his former spokesperson turned vocal critic Yulia Mendel, claim he personally protects corruption networks entrenched in his government. NABU has stressed he is not a suspect in any of his cases, referring to immunity from prosecution that Zelensky retains as long as he claims presidential authority.

The Ukrainian government largely operates on donations and credit provided by foreign sponsors, primarily the European Union. Brussels recently reacted skeptically when asked by Kiev to cover a $27 billion hole in the Ukrainian military budget. 

A joint statement by the European Commission and Ukraine last week said they had “identified the means to cover Ukraine’s budget and defence needs for 2026.” The vaguely worded press release was broadly interpreted as a refusal of Zelensky’s request to send “more money, much more.”

Corruption in Kiev is a major concern for foreign donors too, even if they rarely admitted this publicly.

“We want to be sure that this money is used precisely for that [weapons and infrastructure buildup] purpose,” German Economics Minister Katherina Reiche told Bild TV on Monday, when asked about aid sent by Berlin. She stressed that Kiev needs to prove it is actually tackling corruption.

There is an assurance that work will continue. However, we will also have to ensure that this does not remain just an assurance, but that we have measurable results.

EU officials who are not bound to demonstrate support for Kiev by their political allegiances have used more direct language.

“Ukraine is so corrupt. We have no idea how much money is really spent on the functioning of the state or on defense purposes. We don’t know how much is just disappearing,” MEP Fernand Kartheiser told RT’s Rick Sanchez in a recent interview.

Kartheiser, a conservative lawmaker from Luxembourg, said the leaked photo of a golden toilet allegedly owned by Zelensky’s long-time associate Timur Mindich was the turning point for many Europeans who no longer accept the pro-Kiev narrative pushed by their governments. NABU last year accused Mindich of running a $100 million extortion scheme at a state-owned energy company, just after he narrowly escaped pending arrest.

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has condemned the alleged killing of a woman in Okinawa by a US Marine, calling it a “heinous crime” and demanding tougher discipline and measures to prevent a recurrence. The incident has also reignited public anger and protests over long-time American military presence.

The controversy erupted on Sunday after Lance Cpl. Devin Jacob Ballard, 20, stationed at Marine Corps Air Station Futenma, was arrested on suspicion of strangling Anna Yagi, 39, at a hotel in Naha and stealing her wallet and backpack. Security footage showed the man entering the hotel with Yagi and later leaving alone with what appeared to be her belongings. Ballard has denied the accusations.

Addressing parliament on Monday, Takaichi called the case “extremely regrettable” and a “heinous crime,” urging Washington to fully cooperate with the investigation and prevent similar incidents in the future. Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi summoned US Ambassador George Glass, while Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi separately summoned US Forces Japan commander Lt. Gen. Stephen Jost to lodge protests.

Okinawa Governor Genta Koja also called the case “absolutely unacceptable,” adding that “efforts to enforce discipline among US military personnel and provide human rights education are not working.”

The US embassy in Japan extended its “sincere condolences to the victim’s family,” adding that US officials are cooperating with Japanese authorities. The Third Marine Expeditionary Force stated that the “Marine Corps takes these allegations very seriously and expects every Marine to adhere to the highest standards of behavior.”

Neither President Donald Trump nor senior cabinet officials, including Secretary of War Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, have publicly commented on the case.

The case also sparked backlash from Okinawa residents, with about 160 people rallying in Naha, the capital city of the prefecture, condemning the killing and renewing calls for US bases to be removed from the island.

The anger over US military presence on Okinawa – which has been there since 1945 – has been simmering for several decades. Despite accounting for only about 0.6% of Japan’s territory, Okinawa hosts roughly 70% of the country’s US-exclusive military facility area.

Crimes involving US personnel have repeatedly triggered major protests. In 1995, three US servicemen abducted and raped a 12-year-old Okinawan girl, fueling mass demonstrations. In 2016, former Marine and US base worker Kenneth Franklin Gadson raped and murdered 20-year-old Rina Shimabukuro and was later sentenced to life imprisonment.

There will be no doubt as to where the tomb of Alexander the Great II will be, or where he will see out the twilight of his career. But has one of the greatest modern Russian hockey stars been forced from the heady heights of the National Hockey League too soon?

When Alexander Ovechkin appeared in an election promo video for the United Russia party, I questioned his reasoning. I wasn’t alone. An NHL beat reporter posted in a WhatsApp group chat “Ovi’s about to quit Caps.” Of the other 30+ North American sports reporters in there with me, all speculated as to his next move, while also worrying about the backlash. There wasn’t long to wait.

The Ukraine troll farms ignited the fire that burned all the way into US media and Russophobic elements, and reached Washington Capitals owner Ted Leonsis. Leonsis, who also owns the Washington Wizards NBA franchise, refused to buckle to pressure from the US sports press corps, backing his star man to the hilt.

The Greek-origin billionaire has always been protective of Ovechkin and his other Russian players. In 2018, he told a popular English-language sports radio show in Moscow, called Capital Sports, that “we need to judge athletes on their performance and behavior, not color, country and so on.” However, the same cannot be said of the Capitals’ head coach, Spencer Carbery, who appears to have used the furor for his own ends.

“Spence wants a rebuild and he can’t do it with [Ovechkin] on board. He can’t blow up the team while [Ovechkin] is still on the roster,” a Capitals’ source told me on Tuesday morning. In the pre-season, Carbery said that he would play Ovechkin less and was, privately, against extending his contract. 

When I questioned whether the political party video played any role in his ‘retirement’, the source said “definitely, but not from the club’s side. But there was a fallout with the coach.”

Igor Nazarenko, of St. Petersburg-based sports outlet Sport Day by Day warned of Ovechkin’s displacement in June after Washington signed American Alex Tuch from the Buffalo Sabres on an eight-year, $86 million contract. The sharpshooting winger’s arrival heralded, Nazarenko predicted, the replacement of the Russian as the on-ice leader.

Additionally, Carbery has focused on youth development, and has spoken about giving talents like Russia’s Ivan Miroshnichenko (22), Belarus’ Ilya Protas (20), and the US’ Ryan Leonard (21) more game time.

Scott MacPherson, former General Manager of Kunlun (now Shanghai) Red Star of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) and personal friend of Alexander Ovechkin predicted this would happen last year.

In early-2025, he told Capital Sports that Ovechkin wouldn’t “linger” in the NHL and instead return to his roots in Russia. “Ovi’s got nothing to prove [in the NHL], but he wants to be back in the KHL.”

I asked why. He made his debut at the top of Russian hockey aged 16; now at 41, why bother?

“He’s Russian. He loves his country and he wants to give back to fans. One, two years more in the KHL and it will be memorable.”

Russian sports media is already speculating about who will land him. Dynamo Moscow, his original Russian club, are favorites, while the other two big Moscow clubs, Spartak and CSKA, are already ruled out. SKA St. Petersburg has been mooted as his retirement vehicle, though that has been ruled out by the local media.

A couple of years in the KHL, followed by a career in politics, or sports administration, or even coaching, lies ahead of Ovi. His exit from the NHL was not as simple as stepping aside to let youth have its fling. Neither was it only because he made a video that riled up the anti-Russian trolls, as hockey fans see past politics and want to watch the best perform for them.

Yet it cannot be ruled out that the offer made by his current NHL team, according to MacPherson, of $1.5 million for one-year extension until 2027-28, was beyond insulting. If Russian sports media is to be believed, for two last-hurrah seasons with Dynamo Moscow, he will earn ten times that per year, and put the KHL front and center on the global stage.

In any case, Alexander the Great II is coming home to where his heart is.

Unlike in countries such as Russia, the US, or France, the German presidency is not a powerful office. At least not in terms of what it can do directly or independently. Instead, Germany’s president is a largely representative figure, while real power to lead national policy belongs to the chancellor.

Yet the presidency is no mere decoration. According to a 2014 summary by Germany’s constitutional court, the authority of the office derives, above all, from the intellectual and moral influence it should exert, and whoever holds it “embodies the unity of the state.” In short, Germany’s president has two real jobs: to stand for national togetherness, especially when tensions increase and politics polarize, and to be a widely acknowledged moral authority.

Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the current president, has failed quite spectacularly on both counts, and his recent speech on the Day of German Unity has shown once again how and why. This is a scandal, but it is not a surprise. Even before his latest performance, Steinmeier had earned himself the nickname “Walter der Spalter,” which translates as Walter the Splitter.

And for good reasons: Although charged with integrating the nation, Steinmeier has a long record of explicitly calling for the marginalization and exclusion of large numbers of Germans, not only but in particularly those who dare represent or vote for the new-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.

Usually implicitly but always clearly, the president has repeatedly smeared them as extremists beyond the pale of political participation. Last year, for instance, he used a major speech on November 9 – a date with several historical associations, including the massive pogrom of 1938 and thus the Holocaust – to, in effect, single out the AfD and its supporters as at least the successors of Nazism if not simply its new embodiment.

This year, in a revealingly snobbish sally, he has labelled them “vulgar democrats.” For Steinmeier, clearly, there is not merely a distinction between “democrats” and “non-democrats,” but also one between inferior (“vulgar”) and superior (presumably sophisticated) democrats. Steinmeier clearly sees himself as a distinguished example of the latter. On a personal level, the obvious smugness of his attitude is merely deeply embarrassing. What is worse is that taking popular sovereignty seriously – as prescribed by the German constitution – would look vastly different.

Now, in his German Unity Day speech, Steinmeier has taken aim at what he himself described as large numbers of Germany’s citizens. They, the president has correctly noticed, are displaying “distrust toward the political order.” That, for Steinmeier, is no reason to seriously examine what might be wrong with that order or to make a genuine effort to understand the reasons for that distrust. His scant and general remarks on Berlin’s own mistakes and the anxieties of ordinary Germans illustrated not humility but aloof and patronizing disinterest.

Generously conceding that maybe not all of those who have lost trust in the status quo are “against democracy as such,” Steinmeier explicitly kept all of them under precisely that suspicion. In essence, he conflated many Germans’ very plausible discontent with the devastating policies imposed by radical-Centrist establishment parties with rejecting the constitutional order or even democracy as such: If you are not for us, so the message, you’re not just against us but a virtually criminal misfit.

How convenient – if, that is, you are Frank-Walter Steinmeier and your whole political biography happens to represent precisely that establishment, its privileges, its obstinate refusal to learn, and its failure.

Steinmeier also had harsh words for a whole catalog of horrors, of typical Centrist paranoia, blame-shifting, and scapegoating: the “unbearable demagoguery of extremist forces” and their “joy of destruction”; “outside powers that seek to divide and weaken us” (meaning Russia, obviously); the “predominance of the internet” (read social media that didn’t exist when he was young and escape mainstream control now that he is old); “conspiracy fantasies”; caricatures of Germany produced by “Kremlin trolls,” “German right-wing extremists,” and “left-authoritarian cranks”; “unscrupulous internet oligarchs”; and, finally of course, simply “populists” and “Wutwahler” (literally, “rage-voters”) – a contemptuous term for those who dare articulate their frustration with Steinmeier’s establishment friends by actually voting against them.

Against this dark backdrop, the complacent, crusading president invoked the specter of Weimar – that is the collapse of interwar German democracy that was followed by the catastrophe of Nazism. Steinmeier insisted that today’s Germany is “not Weimar,” but he also made clear that he believes it could end in a similar crash.

That was ironic, as Steinmeier also warned that historical ignorance is unforgivable. Indeed. But then he should know that Weimar was destroyed by many things, yet it could have survived all of them, if its people had not been hit by the mass immiseration of the Great Depression. Yes, Nazis – and conservatives foolishly promoting them – killed that first German democracy. But they could only do so because the country was sinking into ruin, misery, and mass despair, while its establishment elites pursued a hopelessly misguided economic policy and – even if that is often forgotten now – massively curtailed democracy well before the Nazis finished off what was left of it.

Say what you will about the AfD; it is not the equivalent of the Nazi party. That is where Steinmeier’s implied analogy makes no sense. Indeed – deliberately or not – he is misusing history as a cheap rhetorical, not to say demagogic device.

The real parallel between today and the last years of Weimar is invisible to Steinmeier because he lacks the humility needed for self-reflection. Just as between spring 1930 and early 1933, Germany’s establishment is offering nothing but “stay-the-course” to voters desperate not simply for change but help.

It was precisely that spirit of irresponsible, privileged aloofness that the president, in his Unity Day speech, displayed when promising nothing but empty phrases and the same all over again: more so-called “reforms” at home which many Germans recognize as what they really are, namely deep cuts into their welfare and life chances.

And abroad, of course, more support for Ukraine, that is, the ultra-corrupt Zelensky regime that has committed the worst act of terrorism against Germany in its history. That as well, more and more Germans see for what it really is: a perverse national self-humiliation and an absurd waste of money to finance a highly corrupt regime as well as an avoidable, unwinnable, and disastrous – also for ordinary Ukrainians – proxy war against Russia; an indirect (if barely) German war against Russia that constantly escalates the risk of an even worse direct war between Berlin and Moscow, as German intelligence services acknowledge, if in a biased manner.

Steinmeier delivers his polarizing and divisive messages while performing a tired patina of wise statesmanship that betrays at least a clumsy effort to impress. One day after Steinmeier’s unfortunate speech, Chancellor Friedrich Merz chose the bluntest way possible to convey, in essence, the same message. Traveling to visit the Kiev establishment, where Merz – with his bottomless wallet fed by German taxpayers – may enjoy the popularity he absolutely lacks at home, the chancellor made it rudely, brutally clear once more: Germany’s current rulers care more for the Kiev regime, which they may or may not genuinely mistake for Ukraine as a whole, than for their own country and the citizens who have elected and pay them. And this is just one, if striking, outcome of the true core of Germany’s malaise: a widespread and very plausible sense that Germany’s establishment does not care about Germans. Even if you dislike the AfD or “populists” in general, they are a response to this sense of abandonment.

France and Germany are pressing Brussels to take a tougher line on China by creating new powers that could rapidly shut foreign countries out of the EU market.

The proposal effectively tells Brussels to beef up its position as it prepares for negotiations with Beijing. It also marks a shift for Germany, which has traditionally been more cautious than France about restrictions on China because of German businesses’ reliance on the Chinese market.

European manufacturers complain that cheap Chinese imports, supported by government subsidies, are undercutting their businesses. Last year, the EU ran a roughly €360 billion ($400 billion) goods trade deficit with China. Beijing has rejected that explanation for its competitiveness.

Both sides have stepped up investigations into each other’s exports. On Saturday, Beijing opened a probe into a European chemical used in dyes, medicines, and pesticides, following complaints from Chinese producers. The move followed three recent EU investigations into Chinese chemicals.

The anti-dumping probes examine whether goods are being exported at unfairly low prices and harming local producers. The investigations can lead to additional import taxes to protect businesses.

In a Monday letter to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, French President Emmanuel Macron, and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz argued that existing trade defenses no longer suffice.

They called for a new instrument giving the Commission powers to take “powerful measures up to an immediate cut-off from the internal market if needed.” The South China Morning Post described the proposed mechanism as effectively a trade “kill switch.”

Paris and Berlin want the Commission to be able to activate countermeasures unless a qualified majority of EU governments votes to stop them, potentially making it easier for Brussels to act despite opposition from individual member states.

The proposal does not explicitly identify China as a target and says that the new instrument should apply regardless of country. However, its complaints about subsidies, cheap exports, and other alleged market distortions closely match EU accusations against Beijing.

The Franco-German paper also acknowledges the risk of divisions within the bloc, warning that retaliation could test EU “political unity.” It calls for Brussels to assess how potential countermeasures by trading partners could affect individual member states.

The dispute has also extended to Europe’s dependence on Chinese raw materials, with EU officials saying Beijing’s export restrictions have hurt the bloc’s companies. Paris and Berlin have called for a separate tool to reduce reliance on single suppliers and prevent further dependencies.

EU Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic is set to visit Beijing later this week for talks with Commerce Minister Wang Wentao. Brussels has set an October deadline for tangible progress in addressing its trade concerns, with Sefcovic warning of “harsher measures” without results.

Beijing has warned it will respond firmly to any new restrictions on Chinese companies or products. China’s Commerce Ministry has stressed that the EU should address its own economic problems and resolve disagreements through dialogue.

India has contracted for more BrahMos missile launchers and fire-control systems for its Navy warships, expanding deployment of its primary maritime-strike weapon across the fleet.

The Defense Ministry signed the roughly $69 million contract with BrahMos Aerospace Private Limited in New Delhi on Tuesday. The order covers fire-control systems and launchers for Indian Navy ships and was made under a scheme to buy items that are indigenously designed and manufactured.

Several frontline Indian warships including destroyers and frigates already are armed with BrahMos missiles. New ships commissioned in recent years have received the system as standard equipment, while older vessels are being retrofitted in phases as part of a wider push to expand BrahMos deployment across the fleet by 2030, reports said.

BrahMos can be launched vertically or at an incline from naval platforms and is capable of striking both ships and land targets at extended ranges at supersonic speed.

The Indian Navy has operated BrahMos since 2005, when its anti-ship variant was integrated onto Rajput-class destroyers. The system has since become the service’s principal surface-to-surface weapon.

The latest purchase follows much larger contracts signed in 2024 when the missiles were ordered for the Navy’s combat and training requirements, along with additional shipborne BrahMos systems.

BrahMos Aerospace is a joint venture between India’s Defense Research and Development Organization and Russia’s NPO Mashinostroyenia. The program has produced ship-, land-, and air-launched versions of the supersonic cruise missile.

The new project will have at least 68% indigenous content and involve Indian companies, including micro, small, and medium enterprises. The ministry said the program is expected to generate employment over three years while increasing domestic participation in advanced military technology.

Saudi-backed Yemeni government forces have launched a major offensive against the Iranian-backed Houthis, with both sides claiming territorial gains as battles rage around the strategic Bab el-Mandeb Strait connecting the Red Sea to the Indian Ocean.

The escalation comes after the Houthis took over the key territory around Bab el-Mandeb in September, one of the world’s most important shipping chokepoints, which has gained particular significance amid disruptions at the Strait of Hormuz caused by the US-Iran war.

On Monday, the Yemeni army claimed to have pushed north along the Red Sea coast toward Mocha, while announcing “a strategic offensive operation on Sanaa,” which serves as the de facto capital of the Houthi movement.

Saudi Arabia, meanwhile, agreed with Türkiye and Pakistan to rapidly deploy military forces under the Mecca Joint Defense Agreement, also known as the “Muslim NATO.” The coalition already announced that 100 warplanes are supporting the Yemeni offensive.

The Houthis have denied the government gains, claiming to have made headway around Taiz, some 80km from the Red Sea coast. The group has also retaliated with ballistic missiles and drones against Saudi targets, claiming strikes on Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport, military bases, and Aramco oil facilities, including the Rabigh refinery. Saudi Arabia has confirmed damage from Houthi attacks on airports at Jizan and Najran.

The Houthis have consistently accused Riyadh of waging an “aggression” and blockade against Yemen, arguing that Saudi military operations serve US and Israeli interests. Their Yemeni opponents, meanwhile, view Houthis – who identify themselves as part of the “Axis of Resistance” – as “terrorists” and insurgents who overthrew the internationally recognized government in 2014.

The conflict in Yemen in its current form began when the Houthis seized the capital of Sanaa more than a decade ago, prompting a Saudi-led military intervention. However, fighting largely subsided after a 2022 truce.

Amid the fighting in Yemen and continued US-Iran standoff, US President Donald Trump argued that record gas prices are being driven not by disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz but by Ukrainian strikes on Russian refineries.

This live feed has now ended.

Former German intelligence chief August Hanning has been arrested on charges of espionage and treason, amid accusations that he recruited the former head of Israel’s Mossad spy agency to carry out a child kidnapping.

Hanning, who headed the BND from 1998 to 2005, was arrested on Tuesday along with his former aide within the agency, identified by prosecutors as ‘Manfred D’. Hanning is accused of buying state secrets from Manfred D, who remained in the BND after Hanning’s departure and served several of his successors.

Hanning acquired nearly 2,000 BND documents between 2010 and 2022, which he  leveraged in his work as a private security consultant, prosecutors said.

In one case, Hanning allegedly used BND material to prepare an analytical report for an employee of a foreign intelligence service. He is also accused of maintaining “close contact with a representative of another foreign intelligence service,” to whom he passed information obtained by Manfred D “for several years,” according to the prosecutors’ statement.

Neither intelligence service was named in the statement, but law enforcement sources told German media that they do not suspect any links to Russia.

The Mossad connection

The espionage case was reportedly built on evidence found at Hanning’s residence in Hamburg, which was searched by local police in September 2025 as part of a separate investigation involving businesswoman Christina Block.

Block, an heiress to her family’s Block House restaurant group, is at the center of a high-profile custody dispute and is currently on trial for kidnapping. Prosecutors allege that she hired Hanning’s private security firm, System 360, and former state criminal police officer Thorsten Mehles to abduct her two youngest children from their father’s home in Denmark and return them to Germany.

After a foiled attempt by System360 and Mehles, Hanning allegedly contracted the job out to Yaakov Perry, the former chief of Israel’s domestic intelligence agency, Shin Bet. Perry, who now runs a private intelligence company called CGI Group, assembled a team that assaulted Block’s ex-husband and kidnapped the children. The ex-husband, Stefan Hansel, claims that Hanning also recruited former Mossad chief Danny Yatom to take part in the operation.

Questioned about these claims by Israeli media, Yatom said that he knew Hanning in the late 1980s, but had “no connection to this case.” However, speaking to Israeli media in 2021, Hanning said that he maintained “very close working relationships, even friendships” with Yatom and other Mossad officials long after he left the BND.

Kenya has confirmed its first Ebola case after a citizen returning from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo) died in a Nairobi hospital, extending a regional outbreak that has killed more than 4,000 people.

In a statement on Tuesday, Health Minister Aden Duale said the patient lived in DR Congo for seven years and received treatment at several hospitals after falling ill about a month ago. He traveled by road to Uganda’s capital, Kampala, before boarding a Jambojet flight to Nairobi on October 3.

He underwent routine screening at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport before a relative and a friend took him directly to Nairobi Hospital, where he was immediately isolated, the minister said. Two laboratories confirmed the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola, and he died on Monday night, according to the statement.

The authorities have identified 28 contacts, including relatives and healthcare workers, and are tracing another 23 passengers and four crew members who were on the same flight as the patient.

“I wish to reassure the public not to panic, as all systems are in place to mitigate the spread of the disease,” Duale said.

DR Congo declared the outbreak in May and recorded 8,442 confirmed infections and 4,080 deaths as of October 2, according to the Health Ministry. The World Health Organization (WHO) says insecurity, a humanitarian crisis, and extensive population movements have complicated containment.

There is no licensed vaccine or specific treatment for the Bundibugyo strain, although trials are underway. Ebola spreads through direct contact with infected bodily fluids, including those of deceased patients.

Uganda also recorded 20 confirmed cases and two deaths before the WHO declared the country Ebola-free in August.

Kenya had never recorded an Ebola case despite repeated outbreaks in other African countries. The 2014-2016 epidemic that devastated Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone killed more than 11,000 people, while DR Congo’s 2018-2020 outbreak infected 3,481 people and killed 2,299, according to the WHO.

Nairobi announced heightened surveillance and screening in May following the outbreaks in DR Congo and Uganda. It agreed to host a controversial US-backed quarantine facility at Laikipia Air Base for Americans exposed to the virus abroad, prompting protests and a legal challenge over fears of importing infections.

In June, Kenya’s health minister was found in contempt of court after construction continued despite a High Court order suspending the project. Duale apologized and said he ordered “the immediate and complete cessation of any intended construction, site preparation, or related activities” at the facility.

However, the Law Society of Kenya and constitutional watchdog Katiba Institute alleged in July that the facility was operating despite the court ban. US-based Christian relief organization Samaritan’s Purse confirmed that seven employees returning from DR Congo were quarantined in Kenya but did not disclose their location. Katiba Institute called reports that they had been transferred to Laikipia Air Base “deeply alarming” and a violation of the court’s orders.

Yemen’s internationally recognized government has vowed to retake territory held by the Houthis, raising the prospect of a new phase in a conflict that has ravaged the country for more than a decade.  

The Presidential Leadership Council (PLC) has ordered its armed forces and security formations to begin implementing plans “until the country is liberated from the grip of terrorist militias,” while also calling for a general mobilization.  

But the balance of power is more complicated than the lines on the map suggest, RT’s Oumaima Ichchar reports.

 “The government may control more of Yemen on the map, but it is the Houthis who control most of its people,” she said. The PLC is estimated to hold around 60.4% of Yemen’s territory, while the Houthis control about 22.8%, including the capital Sanaa and some of the country’s most densely populated areas.  

The Houthis are estimated to have around 350,000 fighters, while estimates for the fragmented PLC forces range from 40,000 to 250,000. But, as Ichchar notes, “even hundreds of thousands of fighters mean little if you can’t properly arm or supply them.”  

The Houthis have spent years developing long-range missiles and drones, as well as domestic weapons production, while PLC forces remain closely tied to Saudi military and financial support.  

The Houthis have also built a “parallel economy” in the territory they control, collecting taxes, customs duties, religious levies and other revenues estimated at around $2.5 billion a year. The PLC, meanwhile, remains heavily dependent on outside financial support, particularly from Saudi Arabia.  

With manpower, weapons, money and foreign backing all potentially determining what comes next, Ichchar examines the comparative strength of the warring sides and what she describes as the “ultimate war of resources.”

Watch RT's full report below:

Indian police detained several opposition party leaders, including Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, in New Delhi on Tuesday after blocking their protest march to the headquarters of the country’s Election Commission.

Gandhi led the march while carrying a placard that read “Gyanesh, it’s done bro!” – a message to India’s chief election commissioner, Gyanesh Kumar, in a dispute over voter rolls. Capital police stopped the march near the government think tank NITI Aayog. As some opposition leaders were being detained and taken away in buses, Rahul Gandhi and his sister Priyanka clambered on a row of police barricades and waved the national flag.

As police moved to detain them, the two lawmakers from India’s most storied political family jumped from the bus and headed toward the election panel building. Again thwarted by the police, they then entered the nearby Akashvani Bhawan government broadcasting complex and staged a sit-in, meters away from the Election Commission’s office.

The Gandhis continued their protest under a tree in the compound even as reports citing Delhi police said they had been detained. “Gyanesh Kumar and the other two election commissioners don’t want to meet us, answer our questions,” Rahul Gandhi told reporters at the site.

VIDEO | Delhi: Lok Sabha LoP and Congress MP Rahul Gandhi climbs atop the barricades during the INDIA bloc MPs' march from Parliament to the ECI, demanding CEC Gyanesh Kumar's resignation. (Full video available on PTI Videos - https://t.co/d8jp61yd2p) https://t.co/YkwlFV8WCn

— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) October 6, 2026

Tuesday’s march is seen as the second major challenge to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government, after the youth led-protests in July that led to the sacking of the federal education minister. Modi is now in his third term as prime minister.

The opposition’s anger is focused on the ongoing “special” revision of the electoral roll in the world’s most populous nation, aimed at removing duplicates and those ineligible to vote such as illegal immigrants from neighboring countries.

At the center of the issue is a newly introduced declaration which requires voters to state whether they, their parents, or grandparents were on an earlier voter list. Amid complaints that millions of citizens have been left out of the new rolls, opposition parties have demanded that the entire revision exercise be scrapped.

The controversy intensified after the Indian Express newspaper reported that decisions over electoral roll revisions were made by Kumar over the objections of the two other members in the election panel. The Election Commission has said internal differences were part of normal deliberations and that its final decisions were unanimous. It also maintained that Form 6 – used for voter enrollment – itself was not changed.

The issue is before India’s Supreme Court and Chief Justice Surya Kant has said the court would examine the records to determine whether changes had been made to the form, and who had authorized them.

Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has rejected the opposition allegations and accused Rahul Gandhi of misrepresenting the Supreme Court proceedings for political gain.

US President Donald Trump has blamed Kiev for record-high fuel prices in the US, saying they are no longer driven by the Iran war but by Ukraine’s attacks on Russian refineries. He also pointed to policies pursued by Democrat-led states as a contributing factor.

In a Truth Social post on Monday, Trump said: “What’s driving up gasoline is no longer the Strait of Hormuz, because record numbers of barrels are coming out now on an almost daily basis, but the word, ‘refineries,’” adding that Russian refineries “are being blown up by Ukraine.”

Ukraine has repeatedly targeted Russian refineries and other petroleum-linked facilities in recent months, disrupting production and contributing to fuel shortages and price hikes.

Moscow responded by restricting exports of gasoline, diesel, and other petroleum products. The diesel ban is currently in effect until the end of October. Russian President Vladimir Putin acknowledged that the strikes cost around 1% of GDP, but said damaged facilities are being quickly restored and the country’s energy system has significant reserve capacity.

https://t.co/FuWlIHEEeZ

— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) October 5, 2026

This is not the first time Trump has lashed out at Kiev over the strikes. During a visit to Ireland last month, he blamed Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky directly, saying: “Zelensky has to do one thing. He has to stop knocking out diesel fuel in Russia… Don’t hit diesel fuel, because that’s hurting the world.”

Earlier, Trump said Ukrainian attacks caused Russia to lose “control of its diesel oil industry,” calling for and end to “this ridiculous and never-ending war,” as “the whole world suffers.” US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent also said Ukrainian attacks on Russian energy assets and refined products are contributing to a wider “energy shock.”

Despite repeated warnings about the global fallout, Zelensky vowed over the weekend to intensify strikes on Russian oil facilities. The Ukrainian Defense Ministry also claimed that its long-range attacks have disabled 51% of Russia’s refining capacity, though Moscow has not corroborated the figure.

Russia, which has retaliated by expanding strikes on Ukraine’s military-industrial facilities and severely disrupting Ukrainian logistics and Black Sea shipping, pledged on Sunday to step up its campaign.

Can Trump blame his way out of the fuel crisis?

With the midterm election just weeks away, Trump also blamed high fuel prices on the Democrats, lashing out at the “Dumocrats” for jeopardizing supplies “in Blue States, like California” through refinery closures.

California has lost around 17% of its refining capacity following the closure of two major facilities. The US Energy Information Administration warned that this could tighten supplies and increase price volatility. State officials reject claims that policy alone drove the closures, citing broader industry changes, although refiners have pointed to pressures linked to California’s regulatory environment.

Trump has also sought to play down the impact of the Iran war. The months-long disruption of the Strait of Hormuz – which once handled around 20% of global oil supplies – earlier pushed crude oil above $100 per barrel. Crude oil flows have since largely recovered through pipelines and ship-to-ship transfers, but refined oil supplies, particularly diesel, remain constrained. US diesel prices hit a record $6.52-$6.53 a gallon on September 22 and remain near historic highs, with prices in states such as California exceeding $8.21 a gallon, while regular gasoline stood at around $4.36 as of October 5.

The price surge has prompted emergency measures. In Texas, Governor Greg Abbott declared a disaster over record diesel costs, temporarily allowing truckers to use cheaper red-dyed diesel, normally reserved for agricultural and off-road equipment, and raising truck weight limits to 95,000 pounds to reduce trips and fuel use. Nine other states have since temporarily allowed dyed diesel for some on-road use.

Trump signed an executive order on Monday expanding the measure nationwide and deferring the federal fuel tax through the end of the year. However, an AP-NORC poll found that 65% of Americans blame Trump’s policies for the high prices, and 69% said the economy is worse off now than when he returned to office.

With fuel costs squeezing truckers, farmers, and consumers, the issue has become a political liability for Republicans heading into the midterms. RT’s Caleb Maupin reports on the mounting pressure – and whether voters will make Trump pay at the ballot box.

A multimillion-euro artwork featuring a massive bronze cover designed by Salvador Dali has been stolen from a museum in central France. It is the latest in a string of high-profile thefts targeting the country’s cultural institutions.  

Thieves took the artwork from the Centre of Contemporary Art in Issoire overnight to Monday. Prosecutors described it as an “exceptional and unique” work of “great value” and opened a criminal investigation.  

The stolen work is Joseph Foret’s ‘Livre de l’Apocalypse’ (The Book of the Apocalypse), a monumental 210kg volume produced between 1958 and 1961 with contributions from prominent figures in 20th-century art and literature, including Dali, Jean Cocteau, Bernard Buffet, and Jean Giono.  

Its roughly 150kg bronze casing, designed by Dali, is decorated with gold, precious stones, and seashells. The one-of-a-kind book has been described as among the world’s heaviest and most expensive, with its value estimated at several million euros.  

The Issoire theft is the latest in a string of high-profile robberies to hit French museums. In September, thieves broke into the Renoir Museum in Cagnes-sur-Mer in southeastern France and grabbed four paintings from the walls. Two were abandoned in the museum garden as the thieves fled, while two remain missing. The four were initially valued at €9 million ($10.1 million), with the missing pair later valued at €4.2 million.  

In July, three masked thieves raided the Lalique Museum in northeastern France, escaping with 27 valuable pieces worth €4.5 million in just 11 minutes. Despite the museum receiving “special attention” after the Louvre robbery, its security company reportedly failed to alert gendarmes when the alarms went off, leaving a cleaner to call police.  

The wave of robberies follows a spectacular Louvre heist in October 2025, when thieves stole eight pieces of the French Crown Jewels worth around €88 million in broad daylight. Hours later, nearly 2,000 prized coins were reportedly stolen from the Denis Diderot House of Enlightenment in northeastern France. A month earlier, thieves had broken into the National Museum of Natural History in Paris and made off with 6 kg of rare gold nuggets, with the loss later estimated at around €1.5 million.  

The string of thefts triggered a national scandal over museum security. A parliamentary inquiry released in May found widespread shortcomings, pointing to aging infrastructure, staff shortages and inadequate surveillance. Only 23% of French museums had an emergency and risk-prevention plan in 2024, while just 54% had video surveillance, according to the report.  

Following the Louvre robbery, the Lalique Museum was designated a “sensitive site” and placed under “special attention.” Yet a source close to the investigation said the additional protection was “not sufficient.” The government unveiled a new 33-point museum-security plan in July, but did not specify how the measures would be funded.  

France has also cut heritage spending while ramping up military expenditures. The country’s 2026 heritage budget was reduced by €106 million, or 8%, while the Louvre lost €5 million in funding. By contrast, the defense budget rose by €6.7 billion to €68.4 billion as the government accelerates what it calls France’s “rearmament.”

Twenty-five people were killed when a Nigerian Air Force aircraft crashed in southwestern Nigeria on Monday, the military said on Tuesday, revising down an earlier government figure of 32.

The air force said the ATR-42 was carrying 20 passengers and five crew members and that there were no survivors. Aviation Minister Festus Keyamo had initially said preliminary information indicated that 32 people – 25 passengers and seven crew members – were on board.

“NAF 931 had 25 persons on board, comprising five crew members and 20 passengers,” the air force clarified in a statement.

The ATR-42 was flying from Benin City to Lagos when air traffic controllers lost contact with it at 9:13 am local time, Keyamo said. The aircraft later crashed near a naval base in the Igbokoda area of Ondo State.

“This is a painful moment for our Armed Forces and for the entire nation. Our Air Force personnel put their lives on the line every day to secure Nigeria. Their sacrifice will never be forgotten,” Nigerian President Bola Tinubu said in a statement released by his office.

Search-and-rescue teams were deployed after the wreckage was located. The Air Force said it worked with other authorities and emergency agencies at the crash site.

Tinubu ordered the Air Force to launch a full investigation into the cause of the crash. “I have declared three days of national mourning and directed that our flags be flown at half-mast throughout the country in honor of those we have lost,” the president added. 

Nigeria has recorded several deadly military aviation accidents in recent years. In May 2021, a military aircraft crashed near Kaduna airport, killing all 11 people aboard, including then-Army chief Lieutenant General Ibrahim Attahiru. Three months earlier, seven Air Force personnel died when a Beechcraft King Air B350i crashed near Abuja after reporting engine failure.

Monday’s accident came days after a helicopter crash in Zimbabwe killed businessman Wicknell Chivayo, a close ally of President Emmerson Mnangagwa, and others aboard.

🚨🇳🇬 “Only scattered pieces of wreckage, military wear in sight.” Villagers describe an unbelievable crash scene after military aircraft NGR 931 reportedly crashed in Ondo, with over 25 people said to have been on board. 😭💔 Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims, their families, and the people of Nigeria. 🇳🇬🙏🏾

— Prince Jidulah (@PrinceJidulah) October 6, 2026

South African Foreign Minister Ronald Lamola told the US ambassador to “get out of the kitchen” if he is tired of dialogue, amid tensions over Washington’s demands to scrap black economic empowerment policies and roll back land reform.

The remarks, published by the Sunday Times, followed South Africa’s third formal diplomatic protest against Ambassador Leo Brent Bozell III since he took up his post in February. Lamola said the envoy’s public interventions amount to interference in South Africa’s domestic affairs.

Lamola was responding to Bozell’s September 16 post on X declaring that the time for further dialogue is over and warning of “severe” consequences. The ambassador said newly announced US visa restrictions on South African officials and others accused of enabling uncompensated land seizures, racial discrimination, and incitement to violence against minority groups, including Afrikaners, are “only the first step in a series of escalatory measures.”

“You can’t have a diplomat who says the time for talking is over… It’s our job to talk. So if you can’t talk as a diplomat and you cannot dialogue, get out of the kitchen,” Lamola told the Sunday Times.

Bozell responded on Sunday, describing Lamola’s comments as another personal insult directed at a US leader. “And then the South African government wonders why relations are collapsing,” he wrote on X.

So here we go again. Another Minister Lamola personal insult aimed at an American leader (this time me) which, when denounced (which I’m doing now), will result in a demarche with a lecture about being “undiplomatic.” And then the South African government wonders why relations are collapsing.

— U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of South Africa (@USAmbRSA) October 4, 2026

The confrontation is the latest sign of deteriorating relations between Pretoria and Washington since US President Donald Trump returned to office in January 2025. The two governments have clashed over land reform, Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE) requirements, Pretoria’s ties with Russia, China, and Iran, and its genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice.

Trump ordered a halt to US aid in February 2025, citing alleged discrimination against Afrikaners and South Africa’s foreign policy. Washington expelled South African Ambassador Ebrahim Rasool the following month and has since announced targeted visa restrictions.

Pretoria first summoned Bozell in March over “undiplomatic remarks” after he criticized a court ruling on ‘Kill the Boer’, an apartheid-era struggle chant. He subsequently expressed regret and said he respects the independence of South Africa’s judiciary. Bozell has also argued that B-BBEE requirements obstruct billions of dollars in potential American investment. The policy seeks to expand black participation in business ownership, management, and economic opportunities following decades of exclusion under apartheid.

In an interview published on Sunday, South African Minister in the Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni rejected the demand to abandon the B-BBEE. “Redress is a constitutional obligation, not a bargaining chip,” she said, arguing that scrapping it would preserve apartheid’s economic outcomes.

Washington Capitals captain Alexander Ovechkin will retire after the current NHL season, he told his teammates in a video shared on social media.

In the short clip, which was filmed in the team’s locker room on Monday, the 41-year-old Russian said he was sad to tell his teammates he would soon be leaving, while urging them to “have fun and enjoy the moment” and “do some special things this year.”

Ovechkin, who was born in Moscow, has faced controversy over his unapologetic support for his home country. He was placed on Ukraine’s semi-official ‘kill list’ of purported enemies of the state after setting the NHL’s all-time goal record last year and has recently faced sanctions.

Alex Ovechkin announced to his teammates this morning that this season will be his final in the NHL https://t.co/wnnnkrIl5U

— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) October 5, 2026

Ovechkin signed a one-year contract with the Capitals this summer after surpassing Wayne Gretzky’s all-time regular-season goal record in April 2025. He confirmed his retirement plans two days before Washington’s opening game on Wednesday night.

The Capitals, who drafted Ovechkin in 2004, missed the playoffs in 2025-26, but their captain played all 82 games and scored 32 goals.

Last month, Ovechkin drew criticism from pro-Ukraine circles after appearing in a Russian political ad promoting the ruling United Russia party ahead of an election. Ukraine has imposed an array of sanctions on him, and Latvia has declared him persona non grata, but the controversy has not hurt his popularity in the US.

Alex Ovechkin on appearing in the Putin commercial. https://t.co/CwtdUsPfDU

— Grant Paulsen (@GrantPaulsen) September 17, 2026

Responding to the backlash, Ovechkin said: “I’m Russian, so when I’m done playing hockey, probably I’m gonna stay there,” living in Russia with his family. He stressed that he considers Russia his home and the US his second home, and that he stands “for peace and love.”

Airports in India’s financial capital, Mumbai, have stopped allowing cargoes booked on Russian airlines, reports have said.

Cargoes booked with Russian carriers Aeroflot and Volga-Dnepr have been held up at Mumbai’s main airport for nearly two weeks, while a Volga-Dnepr charter was rerouted to Delhi after being denied permission at the Navi Mumbai airport, amid concerns over compliance with US sanctions.

Navi Mumbai is a satellite city of Mumbai, and both airports are owned and operated by the Adani Airport Holding Ltd, owned by Indian billionaire Gautam Adani. Adani Airports raised $1 billion through the sale of shares to investors, including US funds managed by BlackRock, last month. 

Delmos Aviation, which represents the two Russian carriers, has sought intervention from India’s Civil Aviation Ministry as about 2.5 metric tons of cargo is currently held up at Mumbai airport, while another 12.5 metric tons await clearance.

Airport officials linked the restrictions to US sanctions on Russia, the Economic Times quoted Delmos Managing Director Naveen Rao as saying.

India does not implement or enforce unilateral sanctions imposed by the US or the European Union, according to a 2026 India sanctions guide published by Chambers and Partners. Indian businesses, nevertheless, face growing exposure to US and EU secondary sanctions over continued commercial ties with Russia, leading private companies to adopt their own compliance measures. 

In July, US tech major Microsoft restored IT services – suspended under EU sanctions – to the Russian-backed Indian oil refinery Nayara Energy after a court challenge.

Aeroflot operates daily flights between Delhi and Moscow. Bonded cargo, which is imported goods held under customs control before duties and fees have been paid, from Mumbai is normally processed through customs before being moved by truck to Delhi for onward shipment to Russia. That process has stalled for the two airlines, with trucks carrying some shipments forced to return to their point of origin.

Delmos has questioned whether the restrictions should apply to shipments where an Indian logistics company handles the physical movement and neither the shipper nor consignee is itself a sanctioned entity. It has also asked why the same restrictions don’t apply to Russia-related cargo carried from Mumbai by other international airlines, including Emirates, Turkish Airlines, and Ethiopian Airlines.

Delmos is seeking a “clear, written and uniformly applicable policy,” Rao said in a September 30 letter to the ministry, reports said. The company is not seeking exemptions from Indian law, customs requirements, or airport security procedures.

India and Russia are seeking to expand bilateral trade, which now stands at around $60 billion annually. The two countries also signed multiple trade agreements around the BRICS summit in New Delhi last month, as they seek to deepen economic and industrial cooperation.

Two civilians have been killed and nine injured after Ukraine launched 650 drones toward Moscow and the surrounding region overnight, local officials have said.

Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin said in the early hours of Tuesday that most of the UAVs were destroyed at “distant lines,” while 134 were intercepted on the approaches to Moscow itself.

In Moscow Region, air defenses neutralized 185 drones, Governor Andrey Vorobyov reported. A 20-year-old man was killed in the settlement of Radumlya, northwest of Moscow, while rescuers found a 71-year-old man dead beneath the rubble of a destroyed private home in Barybino, south of the capital, with a woman in the same building receiving injuries.

A man in Pokrovskoye, west of Moscow, was hospitalized with shrapnel wounds, while two residents of the Istra area, also west of the capital, were taken to hospital. Three people in Lyakhovo, south of Moscow, received medical care but declined hospitalization, Vorobyov added.

Vorobyov said a total of 47 private homes were damaged across the region. In Lobanovo, south of the capital, windows and balcony glazing were blown out in four apartments, while a nearby boiler house was also damaged. Three cars were hit, and a small fire at a warehouse in Litvinovo, northwest of Moscow, was extinguished, according to the governor.

According to the Russian Defense Ministry, a total of 868 Ukrainian drones were intercepted across the country overnight.

On Tuesday, Rodion Miroshnik, the head of the Russian Foreign Ministry mission tracking alleged Ukrainian war crimes, told TASS that 29 civilians, including two children, were killed and 206 injured in Ukrainian attacks on Russian regions over the past week alone. He added that 98% were victims of drone strikes.

Ukraine has ramped up attacks deep into Russia in recent weeks, targeting oil refineries and civilian infrastructure. After Vladimir Zelensky pledged to escalate the strikes even further, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Sunday that it had “taken note” of the statement, vowing to intensify attacks on Ukrainian military and defense industrial facilities as well as related infrastructure. Moscow maintains it never targets civilians.

Julian Assange is a key figure in the creation of alternative media, former CIA analyst Ray McGovern has said, expressing hope that the Australian journalist and activist is preparing to get back to work.

McGovern spoke to RT as WikiLeaks marks its 20th anniversary. The website, co-founded by Assange in 2006, has published some of the most explosive leaks of the past two decades, exposing CIA hacking tools, classified US war records, illegal mass surveillance, and other closely guarded secrets.

The platform became a global phenomenon, making Assange one of the most prominent contemporary publishers, while also embroiling him in more than a decade of conflict with the US and other governments. Ahead of the anniversary, Assange suggested that he will return to public life two years after striking a deal for his freedom with the US and securing his release from British custody.

Assange is a key figure in the creation of the alternative media, the “fifth estate,” McGovern said, adding that traditional media has lost its intended purpose, becoming closely controlled instruments for governments worldwide.

“The media in our country, and I dare say in many countries, the UK, Germany, is very tightly controlled. And so that’s the fourth estate, as Edmund Burke said, more important than Parliament itself. The fourth estate is co-opted now, it has been for decades,” he said.

“It’s very clear that the intelligence services have a lot of influence over what goes out into the media. And so you need an alternative. That’s why we placed great hope in what we call the ‘fifth estate,’ namely WikiLeaks and outfits like it that would encourage people to blow the whistle in a secure way and not endanger themselves.”

McGovern welcomed the prospect of Assange’s return to active work, calling it “salvation” for people willing to blow the whistle on dirty government secrets.

“He will find ways to make it possible for people like me and my colleagues, if we come upon information that needs to be spread out into the media or out into the public, to have a secure way of doing that. That was his success. He’s bright enough to do that again, I am convinced.”

Watch the full video below:

Thousands of sexual offenses against children under 13 have been reported at or near schools in England and Wales over the past five years, averaging nearly five cases a day, according to a Guardian analysis of police data.

At least 8,500 offenses against children aged 12 and under were recorded between 2021 and 2025, the newspaper reported on Sunday. They included almost 2,000 alleged rapes and attempted rapes – equivalent to at least one rape allegation at a school every day.

Most police reports did not specify the age of the alleged perpetrators, although The Guardian said they were likely to be fellow pupils given where the incidents occurred. In at least 1,890 cases involving under-13 victims, the alleged offender was reportedly under 18. Girls were the victims in nearly two-thirds of cases where the victim’s sex was recorded.

Police also recorded at least 9,100 sexual crimes against children aged 13 or over at or near schools, as well as 6,140 offenses involving the possession, production or distribution of sexualized images of children.

The true scale could be significantly higher, according to The Guardian, as only 33 of the 43 police forces in England and Wales provided data.

Children’s Commissioner for England Rachel de Souza described peer-on-peer abuse in schools as “widespread, normalized and too often brushed under the carpet.” She said that despite recent government efforts, much more needed to be done, stressing that the problem extended beyond schools and reflected a broader societal issue.

Lawyers and campaigners condemned the scale of the abuse and called for tougher action.

“Those in authority can no longer claim that they were not aware of how prevalent an issue this is,” said Andrew Lord, a lawyer representing sexual-abuse survivors. “Anything short of concrete action to tackle this problem is simply not good enough.”

Janaya Walker of End Violence Against Women said repeated warnings had failed to prevent young people from being “harmed en masse.”

The findings come amid broader concerns over child sexual abuse in Britain. The National Crime Agency receives around 1,700 referrals involving suspected child sexual abuse each week, up from 1,200 in 2020, while arrests of children for sexual offenses reached a record 3,809 in 2024-25.

The controversy also comes amid heightened scrutiny over child sex crimes linked to gangs involving men of Pakistani origin. An inquiry funded by Restore Britain MP Rupert Lowe reported in June that at least 250,000 women and girls were raped by grooming gangs since the year 2000, and that senior politicians helped the gangs escape prosecution.

The government has tightened online-safety rules, expanded sex education and introduced mandatory abuse reporting for professionals working with children. Critics, however, argue that the safeguards remain inadequate.

New York Governor Kathy Hochul has declared a statewide disaster emergency over a rapidly growing measles outbreak, expanding authorities to vaccinate and test residents as cases surge across the northeastern US.

The emergency, announced on Monday, is the first declaration of the kind by a US state since measles cases began rising sharply nationwide in 2025. New York has recorded 108 confirmed cases this year through October 3, with the majority reported in rural communities among populations with low immunization rates.

“After reviewing the latest data on measles cases in New York State, I am declaring a State Disaster Emergency to strengthen our ongoing efforts to confront this disease,” Hochul said. “No one should get seriously ill or die from a vaccine-preventable disease.”

The executive order is scheduled to remain in force through November 4, the day after the midterm election, and expands the number of healthcare workers permitted to administer measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccines and conduct testing. Pharmacists will be allowed to vaccinate children as young as two, while registered nurses will be able to order tests for suspected cases.

The declaration comes as neighboring Pennsylvania battles the first US measles outbreak in 35 years to surpass 1,000 cases, with nearly 200 hospitalizations and five measles-associated deaths.

US Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a longtime vaccine skeptic, previously questioned Pennsylvania’s reporting of its first measles-associated deaths and suggested they may have been “fabricated.” State health officials rejected the criticism.

Nationwide, the US is battling its worst measles resurgence since 1991. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recorded 3,887 confirmed cases as of October 1, compared with 2,289 during all of 2025.

Measles was officially declared eliminated in the country in 2000, meaning there was no continuous domestic transmission for at least 12 months, although imported cases and localized outbreaks continued to occur.

Measles is among the world’s most contagious diseases and spreads through airborne respiratory particles. The virus can remain infectious in a room for up to two hours after an infected person leaves.

A vaccination rate of around 95% is required to prevent sustained measles outbreaks, but vaccination rates have declined in parts of the US and elsewhere, with health experts attributing the trend to misinformation spread during the Covid-19 pandemic and protests against vaccine mandates.

A 15-year-old school student had his hand blown off by a police crowd-control grenade during a protest in the French city of Lens. The incident comes amid a nationwide wave of unrest and street violence that has gripped France since late September.

Demonstrators demand increased funding for public schools and better learning conditions, including more teachers, smaller classes, and repairs to dilapidated buildings.

Speaking at a press conference on Monday, Francois-Xavier Lauch, the prefect of the northern Pas-de-Calais department, reported that the teenager’s “hand was torn off,” apparently by a police grenade, during a protest outside Behal high school in Lens earlier in the day.

“There was no hand left, not even his wrist, there was nothing there,” one student told BFMTV, describing the gruesome scene. The boy was rushed to a hospital in Lille and is in non-life-threatening condition, according to officials.

Lauch stated that violence erupted after an estimated 200 students began hurling objects at police officers who were deployed to the school to lift a blockade imposed by protesters.

Police sources told AFP that the victim picked up the grenade, apparently intending to throw it back at the officers. An eyewitness account by a fellow protester, however, suggested that the teenager was instead hit by the grenade. The local prosecutor said investigators have yet to establish what happened. The General Inspectorate of the National Police has launched an investigation.

French police have several types of non-lethal explosive crowd-control devices in their arsenal, including grenades capable of dispersing rubber pellets and the GM2L tear-gas and stun grenade. The type involved in the Lens incident has not been officially established, although French media reports that witness accounts and footage appear consistent with a GM2L.

Amid escalating street violence across France, Marine Tondelier, the national secretary of the Ecologists party, called for reform of police crowd-control protocols. Jean-Luc Melenchon, the founder of the left-wing France Unbowed party, wrote on X on Monday that the “escalation of police tactics is out of control,” eclipsing even the May 1968 demonstrations.

“Acts of disgraceful violence, abuses of power, and provocations are multiplying without limit or restraint,” Melenchon said.

Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu’s office accused France Unbowed and “its far-left proxies” of orchestrating the unrest – which the party has denied.

According to the French authorities, more than 5,060 people have been arrested since late September. Around 650 police officers, 78 education staff, and at least 190 students have also been injured in the unrest.

French police have repeatedly been accused of using excessive force when confronting protesters. In 2018-2019, at the height of the Yellow Vest demonstrations, at least 20 protesters lost an eye, while others had theirs hands partially or entirely blown off after being hit by 40 mm rubber projectiles and explosive grenades.

In March 2019, then-UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet called for a comprehensive investigation into reports of excessive use of force by French police.

Yemen’s Houthis have claimed a direct missile strike on Riyadh’s main international airport as part of a large-scale barrage targeting airports, military bases, and oil infrastructure across Saudi Arabia.

Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said on Monday night that the group, officially known as Ansar Allah, carried out three operations using “a large number” of ballistic and cruise missiles and drones in response to intensified Saudi-backed strikes on Yemen.

The first attack targeted King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh and achieved a “direct and precise hit,” Saree claimed, saying air traffic was disrupted. The second targeted Saudi Aramco’s refinery in Rabigh, where the group claimed a direct hit started fires. The third operation reportedly targeted Abha Airport, Khamis Mushait air base, the Aqeefah military camp, and other “sensitive sites” in Najran and Jizan.

The Saudi authorities have not addressed the specific claims of direct hits on the airport and refinery or said whether Houthi strikes caused disruption at King Khalid. The Foreign Ministry issued a broader statement condemning continued Houthi attacks on Riyadh and several other Saudi cities and “civilian and economic facilities,” while reiterating the kingdom’s right to respond.

#Statement | The Foreign Ministry expresses the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s strongest condemnation and denunciation of the terrorist Houthi militia’s continued targeting of civilians and civilian and economic facilities in the Kingdom; its blatant and repeated attacks against the holiest sites on earth—Makkah and Madinah— the capital Riyadh, and the cities of Abha, Khamis Mushait, Jazan, Najran, Taif, and Yanbu; and its targeting of Saudi vessels in the southern Red Sea and the Bab al-Mandab Strait.

— Foreign Ministry 🇸🇦 (@KSAmofaEN) October 5, 2026

Loud explosions were reportedly heard in northern Riyadh near King Khalid airport. An AFP journalist reported hearing a “powerful explosion,” and residents said blasts shook windows in the area.

Saudi Arabia’s Interior Ministry has renewed a warning that photographing, publishing, or circulating information about missile and drone interception operations or impact sites could result in legal action. The same warning was issued earlier in the war. Saudi media republished it shortly after midnight amid the latest attacks.

The Houthis warned international airlines against using Saudi airspace, declaring it a theater of military operations, while exempting the airspace over Mecca and Medina. King Khalid airport remains operational, but Flightradar24 data shows substantial delays, with average delays reaching 38 minutes.

The group said the barrage was retaliation for 60 Saudi air and missile strikes on Sanaa and the provinces of Al-Jawf, Taiz, Hodeidah, Saada, and Marib over the previous 24 hours, which it said caused civilian casualties. Saree claimed that Saudi forces conducted 1,576 strikes since the latest escalation began.

The exchange comes as Saudi Arabia and its Yemeni allies intensify a major counteroffensive against the Houthis. The Saudi-led coalition says around 100 fighter jets are providing round-the-clock air support as government forces attempt to retake territory lost along Yemen’s Red Sea coast and around the strategic Bab al-Mandeb Strait. The coalition claims it destroyed 324 “high-value” Houthi targets.

Saudi-backed forces said on Monday that they recaptured Dhubab and the nearby towns of Bab and Hadeid, with witnesses telling AP they saw government tanks and troops entering the towns. The Houthis have denied reports of a broader retreat, while fighting has also intensified around Taiz.

The US is also assisting the Saudi campaign with intelligence sharing, target identification, and operational planning, American and regional officials told AP. The US Embassy in Riyadh has warned Americans to remain vigilant for missile and drone attacks.