The Ukrainian leader has demanded an additional €70 billion from the EU to continue the war with Russia
Italian far-right MEP Roberto Vannacci has accused Vladimir Zelensky of treating Europe like an “ATM” after the Ukrainian leader requested another €70 billion ($79 billion) in aid.
Zelensky demanded more money on Friday, just months after the EU approved a massive €90 billion loan to support Ukraine through 2027. “The war will cost 155 billion euros next year. And we need at least 70 billion euros more from you – for defense, for weapons, and for our resilience. This is a realistic amount,” he said at an EU summit in Brussels.
Vannacci said Italian taxpayers should not have to foot the bill for further aid to Kiev.
“Zelensky has found some suckers who give him all the billions he asks for, so he just keeps on asking for more,” the MEP said in a video on social media on Friday. He argued that Zelensky’s demands have continued to mount, citing Kiev’s alleged budget shortfalls of €27 billion in 2026 and €32 billion in 2027, followed by a fresh €70 billion demand on top of the €90 billion loan approved in April.
Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico has also rejected the proposed funding, stressing that Bratislava would not participate in another EU financial mechanism for Ukraine. Hungary has adopted a similar position, Fico said, according to Slovakia’s TASR news agency on Friday.
Slovakia, Hungary, and the Czech Republic secured exemptions from the financial obligations of the previous €90 billion loan, which EU leaders agreed late last year and finalized in April 2026. Fico has argued that the loan, which is intended to be repaid using future Russian reparations, is effectively a gift that EU members will never recover.
Moscow has long argued that Western military aid only burdens the European taxpayer and prolongs the conflict – which Russia sees as a NATO-led proxy war fought using Ukrainian manpower.
Protests over rising living costs and demands for increased education spending have swept the country for weeks.
The bell tower of the 143-year-old town hall in the French city of Limoges collapsed on Saturday evening after the building was set ablaze amid nationwide protests over the rising cost of living. The incident came as clashes between police and demonstrators escalated across France, with officers firing tear gas as tens of thousands took to the streets demanding economic relief and education reform.
The unrest followed weeks of student-led protests that began last month at a high school in Creteil, near Paris, over teacher shortages and deteriorating school facilities. Initially focused on education reform, improved learning conditions and increased funding, the movement has since converged with broader demonstrations against inequality and the rising cost of living. Labor unions have also joined the protests amid opposition to the government’s proposed 2027 budget and concerns over public spending cuts.
In Limoges, a city in west-central France, masked protesters set fire to the 19th-century town hall, AFP reported, citing a regional official. Videos circulating on social media show the building’s bell tower giving way and collapsing as flames engulf its supports.
The fire caused extensive damage, with the roof collapsing onto the lower floors and much of the facade destroyed. Local officials described the historic building as largely destroyed. No injuries were reported among those who had been inside.
🔴🇫🇷🔥 ALERTE INFO | Le clocher de la mairie de Limoges s’est effondré. https://t.co/gVB9oUXoB1
“The roof has collapsed onto the lower floors, except in the west wing, and two-thirds of the exterior has already disappeared,” local prefect Maurice Barate said, as quoted by AFP.
Violent clashes were reported in Paris, Marseille, Rennes, Toulouse and Angers.
Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu said 1,200 people had been arrested nationwide, while Interior Minister Laurent Nunez reported that 150 police officers had been injured.
Footage from Paris showed police confronting protesters, while masked demonstrators threw objects and fireworks.
In Marseille, protesters broke into city hall, smashing open the door and spray-painting the walls, according to local newspaper La Provence. Fires were also reported in several cities, including at a tourist office in Lyon.
French President Emmanuel Macron has urged demonstrators to remain calm and respect people and property, while authorities have blamed violent incidents on what they describe as ultra-left groups.
Police tactics have also drawn scrutiny following reports of serious injuries among young protesters.
À la mairie du 7e arrondissement de Lyon, deux mariés font un clapping avec les manifestants, chaudement applaudis https://t.co/mWVjkHrnqF
Nunez has warned that security forces could use intermediate weapons, including stun grenades, if violence erupts during Saturday’s demonstrations.
Marseille : plusieurs dizaines de manifestants ont pénétré brièvement samedi dans le hall de la mairie, sur le vieux port, après avoir enfoncé la porte en criant "c'est la Révolution, on prend la Bastille". Ils ont été dispersés par des forces de l'ordre ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/QMtEYxYZTK
The protests echo the 2018 Yellow Vest movement, mounting further pressure on Macron as high public debt pushes French borrowing costs to 20-year highs.
Discover-Tech exploited digital advertising infrastructure to track targets and deliver spyware, according to two research teams
Israeli ad tech company Discover-Tech exploited online advertising infrastructure to track targets and help deliver spyware to dozens of devices belonging to Al Jazeera staff and members of other entities, according to investigations by the Canadian cybersecurity watchdog Citizen Lab and New York-based ad security firm Confiant.
The researchers said Discover-Tech used a sprawling network of online ads to identify potential targets, monitor their activity and facilitate the compromise of their devices.
“The core finding is the weaponization of ad infrastructure for advanced staging, preliminary targeting, and payload delivery, characterized by exceptional technical sophistication, robust anti-interception measures, and surgical micro-targeting,” Confiant said in its findings.
Devices belonging to staff at the international news network Al Jazeera were among those infected through malicious ad placements, which operated silently, without visible pop-ups or suspicious links. The Qatar-based media network condemned “the spyware attacks targeting a number of its staff,” describing them as an “assault on press freedom,” and called for those responsible to be held accountable.
The investigation also linked the malicious activity to Israeli spyware developer Candiru, which has been blacklisted by the US and rebranded as Integrity Labs, and Israeli surveillance technology provider Intelos. The companies allegedly exploited ad inventory on major platforms, including Google, Russia’s Yandex and US ad tech platform Beeswax to track targets and compromise consumer devices.
Discover-Tech used a system called Controlium to turn routine ad auctions into a surveillance tool. Over four months, it served ads across nearly 200,000 websites and mobile apps on Android and iOS devices in dozens of countries. According to Confiant, the company generated about 10 million ad impressions daily, harvesting device fingerprints, IP addresses, authentication tokens, cookies and other personal data, including without consent where required under EU privacy rules. Citizen Lab also identified a group linked to Discover-Tech, dubbed Dark Cartographer, which allegedly exploited vulnerabilities at mobile carriers and matched advertising IDs with phone numbers to track subscribers on a large scale.
Geographic data revealed sharp spikes in traffic that researchers said pointed to targeted intelligence-gathering operations rather than routine commercial advertising. Palestine was the most heavily targeted territory, where Discover-Tech accounted for nearly 2% of all digital ad impressions, peaking at around 10% on April 7. The activity also reached sensitive networks, including the Armenian prime minister’s office, international organizations, courts, universities and defense institutions. Investigators detected targeted connections to Candiru servers in nine countries, with Belgium accounting for 56% of recorded activity, followed by the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Mexico and Spain.
Confiant described the campaign as highly sophisticated, citing its anti-interception measures and precise targeting capabilities. Citizen Lab said the findings provided the first public technical evidence that spyware could be delivered through online ads without users clicking on anything, a technique researchers dubbed “AdFection.”
The alliance’s race to be ready by 2029 raises a dangerous question: when does the ability to fight become the temptation to strike?
On October 5, 2026, at the Warsaw Security Forum, NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR) Alexus Grynkewich unveiled a military strategy titled ‘Theory of Victory’.
The strategy covers the next few years and outlines NATO’s preparations to counter a potential “Russian attack.” While the details are likely classified, the main points have been made public. Here are the key publicly disclosed aspects of NATO’s ‘victory’ plan:
Economic exhaustion of the adversary: The development of military and industrial capabilities that would make continued hostilities costly and futile for the aggressor. Here, NATO is positioning itself as the defending party.
Destruction of support infrastructure: Strikes against the enemy’s infrastructure, targeting not only the attacking forces but also the entire system sustaining the armed forces – logistics, command centers, supply lines, and reserves.
2029 as the operational readiness benchmark: By 2029, the US Armed Forces and NATO’s European allies must complete the main preparations for countering potential global threats and must be ready to address any external challenge.
NATO’s technological superiority: This point emphasizes achieving comprehensive technological dominance through the widespread use of drones and AI-driven combat management systems.
That’s the ‘theory of victory’; now, it has to be put into practice. Certain types of political documents don’t present any interest as long as they’re stored in bureaucratic folders – no one cares about numbers, timelines, logistics, and readiness levels. But once they enter the public domain, they quickly acquire symbolic meaning. A “defense plan” becomes a “war plan,”“deterrence” turns into “targeting,” and a simple date on a calendar becomes a prophecy. This is precisely the case with this strategy. Formally, NATO’s plan doesn’t contain anything sensational: it talks about strengthening the eastern flank, preparing equipment and resources, expanding exercises, aligning industrial capabilities with evolving needs, setting readiness targets, integrating air and missile defense systems, creating logistical routes, and developing crisis response scenarios. All of this has been part of NATO’s alarmist yet necessary routine for decades. However, this time, something new has been added: a deadline!
And the deadline – 2029 – resonates not just as an administrative milestone but as a psychological turning point.
The question that comes to mind is both simple and unsettling: how dangerous is it to prepare society, the military, and politics for a threat that may be driven by fear rather than grounded in reality? ‘Being prepared’ is one thing; but can it lead to the idea that ‘since we’re prepared, we can be the first to act’?
Let’s talk about the potential threat. The rhetoric, plans, and timelines all point to a specific year: 2030. Various Western ‘seers’ suggest that this is when ‘Eastern hordes’ will charge westward. In other words, Western analysts anticipate a Russian assault on NATO countries around this time. At the same time, NATO leadership candidly states that currently, the threat from Russia is assessed as minimal. But by 2030, Russia will be ready!
It’s tempting to call this the “mythical Russian threat,” but the term “mythical” has been used so often that it has lost its meaning. It seems to create a divide between those who “believe in the threat” and those who “perceive reality.” However, geopolitics rarely fits neatly into black-and-white categories. A threat can be simultaneously real, exaggerated, distorted, and dangerous, precisely because it contains a kernel of truth.
In reality, Russia doesn’t even have the personnel and resources to attack NATO – unless one assumes such an attack would be suicidal in nature. Nevertheless, the existence of an external enemy provides excellent justification for any political initiatives, and this concept seems to have been embraced by NATO as the primary driver for development.
According to NATO’s charter, it is strictly a defensive alliance. Article 5 discusses collective defense, not preemptive strikes. Regional plans, exercises, troop movements, and forward basing are designed as deterrents: to demonstrate to potential adversaries that aggression would come at too great a cost. However, active preparation for defense and the resulting substantial military buildup could offer politicians new options that might tempt them to act.
Finally, measures that one state views as protective can be perceived by another as a threat to its security. This sets off a spiral of escalation and mutual intimidation, pushing both sides into a standoff where they’re heavily armed for ‘deterrence’ yet unable to pass each other without starting a conflict. Although NATO’s plans may appear defensive on paper, they trigger this very mechanism – especially when accompanied by public rhetoric like “Russia could attack in a few years,”“Europe must be prepared by 2030,” or “the window of opportunity is closing.” While these statements may reflect genuine concerns, they also create a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Of course, in defense planning, timelines are essential. Without them, the military risks becoming a bureaucratic museum, while the defense industry could turn into a shop selling antique rifles. However, deadlines have a downside; they turn preparedness into a race. In public discourse, 2029 begins to sound less like a guideline and more like a deadline. By 2029, forces, equipment, munitions, logistical routes, command structures, trained reserves, integrated air defense systems, intelligence networks, and industrial capacities should be in place. This goal is quite reasonable for a military document.
But it raises a key question: what happens if someone in NATO eventually says, “We’re ready!”? This may first emerge as a report or assessment and may then be proclaimed as a political achievement; next, it may be used as an argument, and in times of crisis it may very well become a temptation to act.
The logic of preemptive action always appeals to those who fear they might miss the boat. ‘If we wait, our adversary will grow stronger. If we strike now, we can avert a major war’ – this reasoning is as old as time and often deeply manipulative; it appears rational until it leads to death and destruction.
Preemptive “threat prevention” is an oxymoron. According to this logic, to prevent a war, one must start a war; to avoid a strike, one must strike first; to protect the status quo, one must disrupt it. Most importantly, no one can guarantee that retaliation will be limited, that escalation will stop at the desired threshold, that nuclear weapons will not be used, that allies will remain loyal, or that the public will bear the costs of the war.
The temptation exists. But can we halt escalation before it spirals into a full-blown crisis? There may still be a chance.
Firstly, transparency is crucial. We’re not talking about the disclosure of combat plans, but about clear signals regarding the kinds of actions that are considered defensive; limitations on certain military exercises; the types of forces that are not intended for a first strike; and the types of communication channels that will remain open even during crises.
Secondly, rules for de-escalation are necessary. These could include notifications about military activities, major exercises, limitations on movements near borders, incident verification mechanisms, military hotlines, and agreements on the actions of drones, aircraft, and vessels in contested areas.
Thirdly, political leaders must consistently distinguish readiness from resolve. There is a difference between being prepared to defend oneself and launching a preemptive strike. This distinction needs to be emphasized not just in official documents but also in public statements.
Fourthly, we need responsible journalism and analytical insight. What’s required is neither naive reassurance – claiming there’s no threat – nor panic-driven claims that war is imminent. The goal should be to reflect the complexity of the world. A threat can be considered significant, but it may not necessitate war; and deterrence can be firm without leading to aggression.
And lastly, we must work to restore at least minimal arms control frameworks. Without them, each side will feel compelled to run faster, even if the race leads both to jump off a cliff.
The year 2029 could be when Europe becomes stronger and more resilient. Or, it might be the year when someone declares, ‘We’re ready, and we can do anything!’ The former concept is about deterrence; the latter is deterrence in its perverted form. It’s crucial for all parties in this race to understand this clearly.
Foreign Minister Wang Yi has urged West Jerusalem to reverse settlement expansion and allow humanitarian aid into Gaza during talks with President Isaac Herzog
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi has urged Israel to halt and reverse the establishment of settlements in the occupied West Bank, describing the Palestinian issue as the “greatest historical injustice of this century,” according to a statement released by Beijing following his meeting with Israeli President Isaac Herzog.
The two officials met on Thursday on the sidelines of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA) summit in Baku, Azerbaijan.
Wang said achieving peace and reconciliation in the Middle East remained a cornerstone of Chinese foreign policy, stressing that a two-state solution was the only viable path toward resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The Chinese diplomat also warned that the humanitarian situation in Gaza remained critical despite the ceasefire reached a year ago.
“The immediate priority is to fully open access to Gaza,” Wang said, arguing that two million civilians must not be left struggling to survive or exposed to a worsening humanitarian catastrophe.
He added that Israel should “stop and reverse” its efforts to forcibly establish settlements in the West Bank.
Herzog, meanwhile, said Israel wanted peace but continued to face “security threats.” In a post on X, he claimed Iran and its regional allies were the primary dangers.
The meeting comes amid continued Israeli settlement expansion in the West Bank, which Israel occupied during the 1967 Six-Day War. Most countries consider the settlements illegal under international law, a position Israel disputes, citing historical claims and security concerns. Settlement construction has long been a major obstacle in negotiations over a Palestinian state.
According to figures compiled by UN agencies and settlement monitors, more than 750,000 Israeli settlers lived in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, in 2025. The same year, the Israeli authorities approved 54 new settlements and established 86 additional outposts.
Settlement expansion has also coincided with rising violence against Palestinians. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs documented 1,828 settler attacks causing casualties or property damage in 2025, up from 1,420 in 2024 and 1,189 in 2023 – the highest annual total since monitoring began in 2006.
China has repeatedly backed Palestinian statehood and sought a greater diplomatic role in the Middle East. Beijing brokered the restoration of diplomatic relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran in 2023 and hosted talks between rival Palestinian factions in 2024, although the resulting reconciliation agreement has yet to be implemented.
Kiev has accused Washington of cutting the Ukrainian military off from the satellite communications services provided by Elon Musk’s company
US President Donald Trump claimed on Friday that he did not order restrictions on Ukraine’s military access to Starlink satellite services, adding that he did not believe SpaceX CEO Elon Musk had done so either.
Ukrainian state and military officials earlier this week accused SpaceX of abruptly restricting access to Starlink satellite communications services and Starshield, its military-grade version, which Kiev relies on for frontline drone operations. Musk responded that Starshield is owned and controlled by the US government. The billionaire stressed that Starlink should be used only for civilian and defensive purposes, arguing that employing its systems for offensive operations would be “inappropriate for a commercial company.”
The development followed US President Donald Trump stepping up pressure on Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky to halt strikes on Russian oil refineries, which he blames for surging global energy prices. Trump has also repeatedly urged the Ukrainian leader to hold a long-overdue presidential election.
At the same time, Washington lifted sanctions on Russian diesel exports following talks with the Kremlin, prompting criticism from Zelensky. On Friday, the US President stated that he waived penalties aimed to target Moscow’s economy and countries purchasing Russian energy, which had been signed into law just a month ago.
“Well, I don’t know if it was anybody because it wasn’t me, and I don’t think it was Elon,” Trump said when asked who had been behind the alleged suspension of the Starlink systems. “And from what I understand, it’s the same as it’s always been.”
Reuters reported on Thursday, citing officials briefed on the matter, that people “inside the White House” had instructed the Pentagon to impose speed restrictions on Starshield terminals. The report did not name the people who allegedly issued the directive, while a senior US official told Bloomberg at the time that Trump had not personally ordered restrictions on Ukraine’s use of Starshield.
On Friday, The Telegraph cited four sources familiar with the discussions as saying that Musk had approached Trump with the proposal to introduce speed limits on the system. One of the sources told the newspaper that Trump “agreed” with the suggestion, paving the way for the Pentagon to execute the slowdown.
The reports came as Washington continued to ramp up pressure on Kiev to accelerate efforts to reach a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine. Earlier this week, Zelensky claimed that the US had threatened to stop sharing intelligence with Kiev if it continued to ignore Trump’s demands to halt strikes on Russian energy infrastructure.
Ukrainian officials have also complained about receiving no advance warning from the Americans before Russian missile strikes. The White House has not confirmed the claims.
Media reports emerged earlier this month that the US had also threatened to halt the procurement system that provides Ukraine with weapons to press authorities in Kiev to stop attacks on Russian energy infrastructure.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said earlier this week that Russia was unaware either of the Starlink slowdown for the Ukrainians or that intelligence sharing had been cut off. Peskov noted that “overall, of course, it would be better if such amazing technology… was not used for military purposes at all.” Moscow has persistently condemned Western military aid to Ukraine, arguing that it only serves to prolong the conflict without changing the outcome.
Israel Katz is being investigated over the alleged abuse of activists from the Gaza-bound aid flotilla, the Rome Public Prosecutor’s Office has said
Italy has expended its probe into the alleged torture and sexual abuse of activists from the Gaza-bound aid flotilla by Israel’s security forces to include Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz and twelve other high-ranking military, police and prison officials, the Rome Public Prosecutor’s Office has said.
Israel intercepted dozens of yachts in international waters and arrested more than 800 volunteers from various countries in October 2025 and May 2026, who were attempting to break West Jerusalem’s naval blockade of the Palestinian enclave. They were held for days before being deported.
The investigation was launched by Rome earlier this year after some 50 Italian nationals, who were part of the Global Sumud Flotilla missions, complained about being mistreated in Israeli detention, among other things reporting at least 15 cases of sexual abuse and rape. The probe had initially beeen centered on the country’s far-right national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir. A similar inquiry was initiated by France.
The Rome prosecutor's office said in a statement on Friday that the case against the Israeli officials concerns suspected torture, kidnapping, personal injury, robbery and damage.
The activists detained after the 2025 mission reported beatings, injuries, death threats, insults and accusations of terrorism, the statement read. The participants of the second mission claimed to have been subject to even harsher treatment by Israeli security forces, including beatings in the dark and the use of tasers and rubber bullets, it added.
Prosecutors said they had sent a request for judicial assistance in the investigation to Israel in June, but it remains unclear if they received a response from West Jerusalem.
Italian law allows crimes committed abroad against Italian citizens to be prosecuted by Rome. If the probe finds the charges warranted, the country could formally request a trial of the Israeli officials.
Katz and Israeli military chief Eyal Zamir, who is now also under investigation, haven’t yet commented on the development. Ben-Gvir brushed off the Italian probe in June, saying that he would “continue to stand proudly alongside our fighters.”
West Jerusalem has repeatedly rejected accusations of mistreating the activists and described the flotilla missions as political provocations designed to aid the Palestinian armed group Hamas. The Israeli prison service said that the detainees were held “in accordance with the law, with full regard for their basic rights.”
Israel claims the blockade of Gaza is necessary to prevent weapons from getting into the enclave. It also denies withholding supplies for Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, almost 2 million of whom have been displaced since the outbreak of the conflict in October 2023, according to UN figures.
West Jerusalem sent its forces into Gaza in retaliation for a Hamas-led incursion in which some 1,200 people lost their lives and 250 others were taken hostage.
Israel’s airstrikes and ground offensive have cost the lives of more than 74,000 Palestinians, including at least 21,000 children, in Gaza over the past three years, the local health ministry has said. Over 1,500 deaths happened despite a US-brokered ceasefire being in effect in the enclave since October 2025.
The US president has invoked a national-interest exemption to suspend sweeping penalties under the Lindsey Graham bill
US President Donald Trump has suspended sweeping new sanctions against Russia that he signed into law just a month ago, invoking a national-interest exemption to waive penalties targeting Moscow’s economy and countries purchasing Russian energy.
In an executive order issued on Friday, Trump waived sanctions and tariffs mandated by the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act, including proposed 500% tariffs on imports from Russia and 100% tariffs on major buyers of Russian oil and gas.
“I have submitted to the Congress a certification that the issuance of such a waiver is in the national interests of the United States and a report explaining the basis for the certification,” Trump wrote.
China and India, the two largest buyers of Russian crude oil, were expected to be among the countries hardest hit by the legislation.
The bill, championed by the late Senator Lindsey Graham, has been described by supporters as a “bone-crushing” measure aimed at driving Russian energy exports out of the global market. Hawkish US lawmakers argued that existing restrictions had allowed Moscow to circumvent economic pressure.
Trump lifted sanctions on Russian diesel exports earlier this month in an effort to curb rising energy prices ahead of the US midterm elections. The move sparked outrage in Ukraine and among America’s European allies, prompting a bipartisan group of US senators to accuse Trump of betraying Kiev.
According to US media reports, Trump decided to ease sanctions after Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky refused to halt strikes on Russian energy facilities, which Trump blamed for high energy prices.
On Friday, US Representative Gregory Meeks introduced a bill in Congress seeking to block the diesel agreement with Russia. The Democrat accused Trump of “cozying up to [Russian President Vladimir] Putin and striking self-enriching deals instead of standing with Ukraine.”
Trump has defended the agreement as beneficial to American consumers and consistent with his “America First” agenda. In response to the backlash, he attacked Zelensky as “not a good guy for us to deal with” and suggested that Ukraine needed “a new president.”
Russia has maintained that it has adapted to mounting Western economic pressure, while describing the Graham bill as a hostile move that would undermine Trump’s efforts to broker peace between Moscow and Kiev.
“[Russian] diesel has begun reaching global markets, and it will have a certain positive effect on stabilizing oil markets,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday.
Kirill Dmitriev, Putin’s investment envoy and a negotiator on Ukraine, hailed the waiver as “an important and historic moment.” Economic cooperation serves the interests of both countries, “contributes to global economic stability, and lays the foundation for building trust and achieving lasting peace,” he wrote on X.
The US president has said he would welcome his Russian counterpart at the Florida summit despite opposition from European allies.
US President Donald Trump has said he would welcome Russian President Vladimir Putin at the upcoming G20 summit in Florida, despite efforts by Ukraine and other European countries to isolate Moscow.
After returning to office in early 2025, Trump broke ranks with many of his Western allies, who had suspended high-level meetings with Russia over the Ukraine conflict.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio confirmed last month that Putin had been invited to the summit, scheduled for December 14–15 in Miami.
“I don’t know if he’s coming. I would certainly love to have him,” Trump told reporters on Friday when asked whether the Russian leader would attend.
Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said last month that the Kremlin was grateful for the invitation but had yet to decide whether Putin would attend. He added that Russia would “actively participate in the work of the G20.”
The invitation drew criticism from EU officials and a bipartisan group of US senators. “It’s clearly, I think, the wrong path to normalize people who are starting wars,” said Kaja Kallas, the EU’s top diplomat.
Trump:
I would certainly love to have Putin at the G20.
I don’t know if he’s coming. https://t.co/nc7NJMRESQ
Following a phone call with Putin earlier this month, Trump lifted sanctions on Russian diesel exports in an effort to curb rising energy prices ahead of the US midterm elections. The move drew further criticism from Ukraine and its European backers, with Ukrainian leader Zelensky saying he felt betrayed. Trump responded by suggesting that Ukraine should get “a new president” and describing Zelensky as “not a good guy for us to deal with.”
Trump has revived direct negotiations with Russia, which were largely suspended under his predecessor, Joe Biden, following the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022. His efforts to mediate a peace deal between Moscow and Kiev have caused friction with Ukraine and Washington’s European allies.
US presidential envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner have visited Moscow together three times since December 2025, while Witkoff has made eight trips to the Russian capital since Trump returned to office.
Trump and Putin last met in person on August 15, 2025, at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska.
Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov attended a G20 meeting of finance ministers and central bank governors in Asheville, North Carolina, on August 31–September 1, 2026. It was his first in-person appearance at a G20 meeting since February 2022.
The Israeli prime minister is facing mounting accusations over what he knew before the Hamas attack, with a crucial election less than two weeks away
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is facing mounting accusations that he ignored warnings ahead of the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack, as a bitter blame game over one of Israel’s worst security failures emerges in the final weeks of the election campaign.
Former Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar has filed a defamation suit against Netanyahu, accusing him of falsely blaming intelligence officials for the attack despite receiving repeated alerts about security threats.
The Hamas-led assault killed around 1,200 people in southern Israel, with another 251 taken hostage. Israel’s subsequent military offensive in Gaza has killed more than 74,000 Palestinians, according to the local health authorities.
Bar is seeking nearly $1 million in damages, claiming he warned the prime minister of growing danger in the months preceding the assault. He says a long trail of documents will expose Netanyahu’s account of events as false.
“Israel’s worst disaster has become political kryptonite,” RT correspondent Charlotte Dubenskij reported from Jerusalem on Friday, as the country prepares to vote on October 27.
Netanyahu, however, maintains that Bar failed to alert him to the imminent threat on the morning of the attack, despite discussing warning signs with senior military officials. He has accused the former intelligence chief of failing to take measures that could have prevented the bloodshed.
Further questions have been raised by Netanyahu’s former military secretary, Avi Gil, who claims officials attempted to alter the recorded time of a phone call made on the morning of October 7.
The prime minister has also denied reports that he received advance warnings from Egyptian intelligence and UAE President Mohamed bin Zayed. The claims have drawn criticism from political rivals, including former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and former military chief Gadi Eisenkot.
Questions have also emerged over Netanyahu’s handling of the subsequent Gaza war. Former Israeli hostage negotiator Nitzan Alon has suggested that political considerations delayed a deal that could have brought captives home much earlier.
“We could have possibly saved hostages who were killed in captivity, and we missed this opportunity,” Alon said, adding that an earlier agreement might also have saved thousands of lives on both sides.
Katie Zacharia is leaving the role following criticism of her debut briefing and questions about her legal credentials
Katie Zacharia is stepping down as US President Donald Trump’s press secretary after just five days on the job, the White House confirmed on Friday.
A conservative political commentator, Zacharia has faced widespread criticism over her handling of her debut press briefing and allegations that she misrepresented her legal credentials.
Trump cast doubt on Zacharia’s future in the role while speaking to reporters outside the White House. “Honestly, if I were you, I’d reconsider,” he said, adding that he had spoken to her shortly beforehand. “Katie, do you need this? I don’t think you need this.”
Several hours later, White House communications director Steven Cheung said Zacharia would be “transitioning into a new role that will be announced at a later date.”
Zacharia posted a photo of herself with Trump in the Oval Office on X, saying that “it was an honor to work for him.”
President Trump is a kind, wonderful, gracious, thoughtful, enthusiastic, and hardworking man. I wish more Americans appreciated him. No one will ever make America great the way he has and continues to.
It was an honor to work for him. https://t.co/Tp4NizrhE2
According to the New York Times, Zacharia largely read from a script during her first and only press briefing on Tuesday and ended the Q&A session after just five and a half minutes. Critics also accused her of misrepresenting herself as a lawyer after she failed to confirm whether she had passed a US bar exam. Zacharia later claimed to have passed a bar exam in China, where she worked for a Beijing-based law firm in the 2010s.
Zacharia’s five-day stint marks the shortest tenure of any White House press secretary in US history. She succeeded Karoline Leavitt, who had held the position since Trump returned to office in January 2025.
During his first term, Trump fired White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci in July 2017, just ten days after his appointment, following a profanity-laden phone call with a reporter in which he attacked senior administration officials.
At her first press briefing, Zacharia announced that Trump had asked US Ambassador to Greece Kimberly Guilfoyle, the former fiancée of his son Donald Trump Jr., to resign following allegations of misconduct.
Several high-profile officials have left the Trump administration this year, including Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, Attorney General Pam Bondi, Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer, and Navy Secretary John Phelan.
This week did not start well for Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky, who was apparently blindsided by US President Donald Trump’s decision to suspend sanctions on Russian diesel supplies after talks with the Kremlin. The deal won’t alleviate the global diesel shortage, but it’s already cooling speculative markets and easing pressure on Trump ahead of next month’s midterm elections.
Backed into a corner, Zelensky began throwing haymakers. Accusing the American president of empathizing with dictators, Zelensky demanded air defense missiles from the US before vowing to continue his drone campaign against Russia’s refineries – with or without American support.
The US apparently sent a warning signal to Zelensky by throttling the Ukrainian military’s access to SpaceX’s high-speed Starlink and Starshield satellite communications services, which are vital tools in guiding attack drones used against Russia, and in detecting incoming retaliatory strikes. Neither Trump nor SpaceX CEO Elon Musk would take responsibility for the communications drop-off, but even if they had, their message would likely have fallen of deaf ears.
Retaliation was swift, from both Moscow and Washington. Russian forces used missiles and drones to strike six power plants in Kiev, Kharkov, and the surrounding regions, as well as military logistics hubs and data centers. The Ukrainian Air Force reported that it shot down four missiles out of 39, confirming reports that Zelensky launched the refinery strikes knowing Ukraine lacked adequate air defense supplies to repel the retaliation.
Trump went on to savage Zelensky in a Newsmax interview on Thursday. “I’m not a big fan of Zelensky. They’ve destroyed that country,” he said, before accusing the Ukrainian leader of selling missiles given to him by the US “on the open market.”
“Zelensky is not a good guy for us to deal with,” Trump concluded.
Nord Stream trial begins
As Ukraine doubles down on its infrastructure war, the costliest infrastructure attack in history is finally being litigated in a German courtroom. Sergey Kuznetsov, a Ukrainian military officer, went on trial in Hamburg this week, accused of leading the team that sabotaged the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 gas pipelines in September 2022, an act that German prosecutors consider a “war crime.”
Kuznetsov is staying silent, refusing to admit or deny a role in the bombing. The evidence against him is circumstantial, and his lawyers are confident that without a confession, he “cannot be convicted.”
As RT has explored in depth, the prosecution’s version of events is riddled with plot holes and inconsistencies. However, to pick apart the alternative story – that the pipelines were destroyed in a CIA operation – would call the relationship between Washington and Berlin, the foundation of the postwar liberal order, into question.
While a guilty verdict against Kuznetsov would directly implicate the Ukrainian military in a war crime against its largest foreign donor, the trial, at least at this stage, appears set up to avoid this outcome.
Russiagate resurrected
Speaking of reopening old wounds, British Prime Minister Andy Burnham dug up the bloated corpse of ‘Russiagate’ this week to bolster his efforts to undo the 2016 Brexit referendum and rejoin the EU. Burnham claimed that he had “clear” evidence that Russia interfered in the vote, in which Britons voted by 51.89% to 48.11% to leave the union.
Just as the original ‘Russiagate’ claims against Trump fell apart under questioning, Burnham’s allegation crumbled once subjected to some basic scrutiny. The British PM was unable to back up his accusation when grilled in Parliament, and his foreign secretary, Stephen Doughty, humiliated himself on national television when he attempted to evade questioning on the claim.
However, Burnham couldn’t be faulted for his timing and opportunism. As he spoke of Russian bots and influence campaigns in Parliament on Monday, Zelensky, his Polish and Baltic backers, and his army of internet supporters claimed that a Ukrainian strike on a Yandex data center in Russia the previous day had wiped thousands of “Russian bots” from social media.
As it turned out, none of this was true. The strike interrupted the activity of Yandex’ web crawler bots, which archive websites for search users, but with the help of an AI-created graph and some creative interpretation of the word “bot,” the hoax made it all the way to the Warsaw Security Forum.
French riots spread
French students took part in a fifth wave of demonstrations this week, which they say are aimed at securing more school funding and better learning conditions. Every wave of protests thus far has descended into rioting and vandalism, and this week’s marches were no different, with participants torching cars and battering police officers with cobblestones and fireworks in Paris.
RT’s Nadege Abderazzak watched heavily armored police baton-charge crowds of rioters in the French capital on Wednesday, noting that officers now outnumber protesters two-to-one at some rallies.
With French President Emmanuel Macron determined to increase military spending and continue arming Ukraine, France’s financial situation is in dire straits, and right-wing National Rally leader Marine Le Pen is on track to win the country’s next presidential election.
Meanwhile, Albanian students have taken a page out of their French counterparts’ book. After large protests demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Edi Rama and opposition leader Sali Berisha over corruption allegations, a crowd of students breached the fence of the Education Ministry in Tirana on Wednesday and torched the building.
Rama’s response has also drawn from the Western playbook, with the Albanian PM accusing protesters of waging “hybrid war” against the country.
What we’re watching
Zelensky may be in Trump’s bad books, but he can still count on the support of Macron, Burnham, and the rest of his European backers, whom he met in Brussels on Thursday and Friday. In his address to the European Council on Friday, the Ukrainian leader asked for another “70 billion euros” for ammunition, missiles, and air defense. Should Ukraine “fall,” Zelensky warned, another 20 million Ukrainian migrants will flood into the EU.
We’ll be keeping an eye on what kind of promises the cash-strapped Europeans make after this blatant shakedown.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will fly to Tehran on Monday for talks with his Iranian counterpart, Abbas Araghchi. The two diplomats are expected to focus on de-escalating the simmering US/Iran conflict in the Middle East, and any progress on this front will likely be reflected in global energy markets.
Lavrov will also meet Serbian Interior Minister Ivica Dacic on Friday, ahead of critical parliamentary elections on October 25. Amid student protests, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic called the election early and stepped down to run as prime minister, a high-stakes move that turned the vote into a referendum on his nine years in power. With pro-Western students and right-wing ‘patriotic’ forces squeezing Vucic from either side, we’ll be keeping an eye out for polls, protests, and interference from the usual suspects.
Photographer Heidi Levine was mobbed despite wearing clear press identification just ten days after an AFP journalist was injured in a similar attack
Washington Post photographer Heidi Levine has been badly beaten by Israeli settlers and stripped of her equipment while covering attacks on Palestinians harvesting olives in the occupied West Bank.
The assault occurred on Friday near the village of Abu Falah, the latest in an ongoing string of attacks staged by organized settler groups. Masked settlers have repeatedly attacked Palestinian villages, hurling stones and setting orchards on fire in an apparent effort to disrupt the autumn harvest. The Israeli military, which is usually present, has taken little to no action against the settlers.
Levine, a veteran photographer who has covered conflicts across the Middle East and elsewhere for decades, was caught in a settler charge on the Palestinians. The mob threw the journalist, who was wearing a blue protective vest clearly marked ‘PRESS,’ to the ground, repeatedly kicking her while stealing her cameras and phone.
“They just kept kicking me and kicking me, like probably 50 times,” Levine told reporters after the incident.
Footage from the scene shows the immediate aftermath, with Levine seen prone on the ground after the settlers were repelled by the villagers. The journalist was badly shaken but apparently spared more serious injuries thanks to her protective vest and helmet.
Severe settler + soldier attack on olive harvesters in Abu Falah. American WaPo journalist Heidi Levine badly wounded. Machine gunfire—at least one Palestinian shot. Tear gas. Soldiers assaulting journalists. pic.twitter.com/He61cNYk0c
The photographer was evacuated by Palestinian paramedics and treated at a hospital in Ramallah for her injuries. Later on, another group of journalists was reportedly pelted with stones by settlers at the site. Oren Ziv, a journalist who also witnessed the attack, reported that at least one Palestinian was wounded by gunfire. It was not immediately clear whether Israeli settlers or the military fired the shots, but the IDF reportedly did nothing to stop the violence.
The Washington Post strongly condemned the attack and called for a full investigation. “While we are relieved that Heidi has received medical care and is safe, we are outraged by this unwarranted attack on a journalist doing her job and urge a thorough investigation and follow-through from authorities,” Matt Murray, executive editor of the Post, said in a statement.
Ten days earlier, veteran Palestinian photographer Jaafar Ashtiyeh, who has been working with AFP, suffered a similar assault during a settler raid on Palestinian olive farmers. The journalist, marked as press, was attacked by armed Israeli settlers, who beat him with rifle butts and robbed him of his equipment. The violence was reportedly witnessed by an IDF unit that did not intervene.
Journalists documenting settler violence have increasingly become victims of it. 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, with the figures already surpassing those recorded in 2025.
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