Ukrainian authorities uncovered a corrupt arms procurement deal worth nearly €36.4 million, the Ukrainian security service announced late Saturday. Former and current “high-ranking officials” in Kyiv’s defense ministry were involved in the plot, dating to 2022, to steal funds meant for procuring 100,000 mortar rounds, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) said in a statement. The … Read more
Italy’s Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani earlier Saturday confirmed Rome’s decision to halt funding for the U.N. agency. Penny Wong, Australia’s foreign minister, made a similar statement on pausing Canberra’s financial support, adding that she welcomed the U.N. agency’s decision to investigate the charges. The U.S. — the U.N. agency’s largest donor — on Friday suspended … Read more
The Kremlin has laughed off an attempt by the CIA to recruit spies from Russia via social media. “Somebody should tell the CIA that VKontakte is much more popular here than the banned X [formerly Twitter] and that VKontakte has a much larger audience,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Tuesday, according to state-run news agency … Read more
A huge Russian fuel export terminal near St. Petersburg was forced to suspend operations on Sunday after a suspected attack by Ukrainian drones, according to media reports. Russian energy company Novatek suspended operations at the giant Ust-Luga Baltic Sea fuel export terminal due to a fire purportedly started by a drone attack, multiple media outlets … Read more
STRASBOURG — MEPs demanded the EU Council explore the possibility of stripping Hungary of its EU voting rights in a clash with Budapest over the rule of law. In a vote Thursday at the European Parliament, a majority of MEPs backed a nonbinding resolution calling on the other 26 EU countries’ governments to use a sub-clause … Read more
Press play to listen to this article Voiced by artificial intelligence. TEL AVIV — “There are no words,” says Simcha Greiniman for what he encountered on October 7 in southern Israel. He repeats slowly: “There are no words.” A hundred days on from the Hamas rampage across southern Israel, and the 47-year-old first responder, like … Read more
TAIPEI — Taiwan has been slow to learn the lessons from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and should be accelerating a shift away from big-ticket warplane and warship projects and switching to agile weaponry like drones and mobile air-defense systems that could cause China major problems, a retired top military official told POLITICO. Lee Hsi-ming, who … Read more
Press play to listen to this article Voiced by artificial intelligence. Western warplanes and guided missiles roared through the skies over Yemen in the early hours of Friday in a dramatic response to the worsening crisis engulfing the region, where the U.S. and its allies are facing a direct confrontation with Iranian-backed militants. The strikes … Read more
The potential reelection of former U.S. President Donald Trump would be a “threat” to Europe, European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde warned. “If we are to draw lessons from history, meaning the way he ran the first four years of his mandate, it’s clearly a threat,” Lagarde said Thursday during an interview with TV channel France 2. “Just look … Read more
Israeli singer-songwriter and Netflix star Idan Amedi was in surgery on Monday evening, after being injured while fighting in Gaza. Amedi was wounded on Monday in the central Gaza Strip, his family members said, according to Israeli news outlet Walla. He was airlifted to the Sheba hospital, where the actor is in a serious but stable … Read more
