Some 1.6 million illegal aliens have final deportation orders, the agency’s acting director has said
There are 1.6 million illegal immigrants with final deportation orders in the US, about half of whom have criminal convictions, acting Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Director Todd Lyons has said.
Lyons announced the figures during a hearing before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on Thursday, amid intense criticism by the Democrats and left-wing activists of the crackdown on illegal immigration by the administration of President Donald Trump.
Of those with final deportation orders, approximately 800,000 have criminal convictions, according to the ICE chief.
The final deportation order marks the point when the US authorities are legally allowed to expel a foreigner has who violated immigration laws. However, individuals can still appeal the deportation or request a delay.
The orders in question have not been issued by ICE or the Department of Homeland Security, but came “through an immigration judge with the Department of Justice separate from Immigration Customs Enforcement,” Lyons clarified.
According to the acting director, there are “16,840 final orders at large in the state of Minnesota,” where tensions have been running high after the fatal shootings of two US citizens, Renee Good and Alex Pretti, by federal agents during recent enforcement operations. The incidents sparked a public outcry and nationwide protests.
During the hearing, Republican Senator James Lankford defended the ICE agents, arguing that they “have stopped that chaos” through their work and that the thousands of arrests are happening by the book.
On Thursday, Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan, announced the conclusion of ICE operations in Minnesota. “A significant drawdown has already been underway this week and will continue to the next week,” he said.
Minnesota Governor Tim Walz welcomed the announcement in a post on X, insisting that “immigration is the core of who we are.” According to the governor, there will be a “long road to recovery” for the state after the recent events.
White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson told Fox News earlier this week that Trump is “keeping his promise to carry out the largest mass deportation operation in history,” which will focus on “the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens.”
Less than half of the respondents believe humans should make life-and-death decisions on the battlefield, a poll commissioned by Politico suggests
One in three Germans favor the use of autonomous AI-powered weapons systems in war instead of human decision makers, a new poll commissioned by Politico has suggested. Less than half of the respondents believe humans should make life-and-death decisions on the battlefield.
The results, which were published on Friday, come amid a massive military buildup, with Chancellor Friedrich Merz seeking to make the German military “the strongest conventional army in Europe.” This reportedly includes contracts worth €900 million ($1.05 billion) for kamikaze drones.
The current coalition led by Merz, in its coalition agreement, no longer explicitly excludes the idea of allowing AI to make lethal decisions without human oversight, unlike the previous government led by Olaf Scholz.
According to the Politico poll, 33% of Germans would prefer AI systems in weapons even if their decision-making process is not entirely transparent; 47% believe humans still need to be in control.
The survey was conducted by London-based polling company Public First on behalf of the media outlet from February 6-9 and involved at least 2,000 respondents from Germany, as well as the US, UK, Canada, and France. In all other nations, the number of those that favor AI-powered weapons did not exceed 22%; the number of those that prefer human control was 52-57%.
The results could indicate a major shift in German public opinion. In 2021, a poll conducted by a campaign against AI-powered weapons suggested that only 19% of people approved of using these types of weapons systems. Around 70% expressed ethical concerns over their use.
German officials have set 2029 as the deadline for the armed forces to be “war-ready,” citing the supposed ‘Russian threat’. Moscow has dismissed the speculation as “nonsense” aimed at justifying increased military budgets.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said last year: “with their current leaders, modern Germany and the rest of Europe are transforming into a Fourth Reich.”
This year’s half-time show was so chock-full of liberal agenda, conservatives decided to create their own alternative
There weren’t just two football teams going head-to-head during Super Bowl LX. There were two distinct cultural movements clashing at a time of great upheaval in the United States.
At a time when American cities are teeming with ICE agents searching for illegal migrants from South America to round up and eject from the country, it doesn’t take a political analyst to predict that Bad Bunny’s performance at the Super Bowl halftime show would serve as a lightning rod in the country.
Bad Bunny – real name Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio – is a three-time Grammy Award winner from Puerto Rico who was chosen to entertain American football fans during one of the most-watched sporting spectacles in the world. In the past, the entertainer has made critical remarks about the ICE raids so many were anticipating something similar during the Super Bowl.
Earlier this month, for example, Ocasio won a Grammy Award and during his acceptance speech taunted the Trump administration by saying, “Before I say thanks to God, I’m going to say: ICE out.” He then gave a nod to the millions of immigrants who “leave their home, land, their country, to follow their dreams.” He casually ignored the fact that in their effort to “follow their dreams” so many immigrants chose to break the law and enter the US illegally.
During the Super Bowl halftime show, the Puerto Rican avoided any mention of ICE and the current war on illegal immigration. But that doesn’t mean his 15-minute performance was void of political messaging. Instead, he threw his support behind a different political flashpoint: cultural diversity, the exact thing that an increasing number of political conservatives say is destroying the American way of life.
Many on the political right fear that the US is being destroyed from within by so-called ‘white replacement’ in which immigrants are flocking to America for the precise purpose of making the white population a minority. MAGA adherents are of the opinion that the main reason that the Democrats opened the floodgates to illegal migration in the first place was to bolster the number of Democratic voters.
At the end of his halftime set, Martínez Ocasio’s backup dancers appeared on stage hoisting flags of countries in South America. This also appeared strange and out of place to many conservative commentators, who wondered what place foreign flags have at one of America’s greatest national traditions. In any case, having a Super Bowl halftime show where the main performer sings entirely in Spanish and waves other nations’ flags is an obvious political statement that should not be tolerated at a sporting event where 78% of the viewers speak English.
The only time the performer spoke in English was to say, “God Bless America,” before reading out the names of all countries on both continents.
He also held up a football emblazoned with the words: “TOGETHER, WE ARE AMERICA.”
It’s unfortunate that the message of brotherly love quickly turned into utter degeneracy. Critics were particularly appalled by the immoral lyrics of the music, especially the song “Tití Me Preguntó” (“My Auntie Asked Me”), which sings the praises of promiscuity.
In the song, Bad Bunny celebrates his many sexual conquests, singing “let the ones I already f**ked smile” and brags about a girl who “came by plane” from Barcelona and says his “d**k is on fire.”
The chorus responded in typical libertine fashion, “Today I have one, tomorrow I’ll have another, hey, but there’s no wedding.”
The lyrics were aired live to millions of viewers of all ages.
US President Donald Trump was not impressed with the performance.
“The Super Bowl Halftime Show is absolutely terrible, one of the worst, EVER! It makes no sense, is an affront to the Greatness of America, and doesn’t represent our standards of Success, Creativity, or Excellence. Nobody understands a word this guy is saying, and the dancing is disgusting, especially for young children that are watching from throughout the U.S.A., and all over the World,” the US leader fumed on Truth Social.
Today, millions of Americans – many of them born and bred conservatives - share that same opinion. In fact, Turning Point USA, the conservative youth movement founded by the late Charlie Kirk, decided to throw their own alternative halftime party, which was notable by the excess of white faces, both in the audience and on the stage.
“We want to celebrate America; we do not want to crap on it,” Turning Point spokesman Andrew Kolvet said, previewing the organization’s alternative halftime event on ‘The Charlie Kirk Show.’ “When the other guys are doing their queer celebration, speaking Spanish – whatever you want to do, that’s fine – but we’re going to be celebrating this country.”
At the same time, One Million Moms, a Christian group, announced a boycott of Bad Bunny’s performance over his support of LGBTQ+ rights.
It’s unfortunate that the one American tradition that should unite the American people seems to pull them further apart year after year as the halftime show dabbles more and more in utter depravity. Some observers have gone so far as the call it ‘satanic.’ For some reason, the producers of the event willfully push divisiveness and degeneracy on the audience instead of just giving Americans a wholesome show. The solution to the madness of organizing dueling halftime events underscored the notion that the US is, in fact, becoming two separate warring camps inside of one country. Whether all of this ends in some sort of civil war is anyone’s guess, but the current trend does not look promising for the future of the nation.
The restoration of the teams to international competitions would make things “a little bit better,” Luc Tardif has said
The head of the International Ice Hockey Federation, Luc Tardif, has said he would like Russia and Belarus to return to international competition “as soon as possible.”
Since 2022, the International Olympic Committee has banned Russian and Belarusian national teams and allowed some individual athletes to compete under neutral status after passing a strict vetting process. The sanctions applied to the 2024 Paris Olympics and the current 2026 Winter Games in Milan-Cortina, Italy.
“We want as soon as possible Belarus and the Russians back. Because first, it will mean that the world will be a little bit better,” Tardif told a press conference in Milan on Thursday.
The hockey boss cited the “geopolitical situation” and concern for the “security” of the athletes as the reasons for the IOC not allowing the teams from the two countries to participate. He admitted, however, that the decision to exclude Russia and Belarus may also be political.
“We try to keep the politics away from our competition, but sometimes that’s not so easy,” he lamented.
Russian officials have repeatedly accused Western nations of exerting pressure on sports federations to exclude Russian athletes for political reasons. President Vladimir Putin has said the IOC leadership is “flagrantly flouting the Olympic ideals they should be defending,” while Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has accused the West of engaging in “sports aggression.”
Pavel Bure, the former NHL great and special representative of the Russian Ice Hockey Federation, recently argued that “without Russia, the level of the world championship has significantly decreased.”
Russia has historically dominated international ice hockey, with five IIHF World Championship golds since 1993 and an Olympic gold in 2018. The national team is part of the sport’s unofficial “Big Six” alongside Canada, the Czech Republic, Finland, Sweden and the US. Many Russians compete in the NHL, 65 are currently active, including Washington Capitals captain Alexander Ovechkin, who in November became the first player to score 900 NHL career goals.
Hospitals have been suffering from rolling blackouts and stockpiles are reportedly set to run out within weeks
Mexican ships carrying humanitarian aid have docked in Havana, challenging a US blockade that has sparked a severe energy crisis in Cuba. Rolling blackouts and enforced fuel rationing have severely disrupted key services, including hospitals.
The Mexican deliveries arrived on Thursday, two weeks after US President Donald Trump threatened tariffs on any country selling or supplying oil to Cuba. US pressure has halted Mexican oil shipments, while Russia has offered crude and refined oil as a “humanitarian lifeline” to the import-dependent island, whose existing Venezuelan and Mexican fuel stocks are expected to run out within weeks.
In Havana, residents are turning to homemade charcoal stoves, electric motorcycles, and, where affordable, solar panels to cope with power outages of up to 12 hours a day and a deepening fuel shortage, local media say.
The fuel crisis in Cuba deepened after US forces seized Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in early January, cutting off Caracas’s oil exports, a key supply to the import-dependent island.
Six of Cuba’s 16 thermoelectric power plants, including two of the three largest, are offline for maintenance or repairs, cutting thermal generation – about 40% of the country’s energy mix – to half capacity, according to Latin Times.
Another 40% comes from generators, which President Miguel Diaz-Canel said have been offline for a month due to the US oil embargo.
With the island producing barely a third of its energy needs, the government last week imposed emergency measures: diesel sales halted, gasoline heavily rationed, jet fuel unavailable, state offices shortening hours and public services limited to essentials. Residents are also awaiting humanitarian food shipments to state-run stores, where goods are distributed through ration cards amid severe shortages.
“Some items, like sugar or rice, may not be available for weeks,” local resident and Russian national Elena Lapina told Russia’s Aif newspaper. “Prices in these stores are low, but basic staples needed for daily life are still in short supply.”
Fuel distributors now sell gasoline in US dollars with a 20-liter limit, as tight supplies trigger rolling blackouts, hospital disruptions, and shortages of medicines, including antibiotics.
Earlier this week, Moscow’s embassy in Havana announced that Russia is preparing to send a shipment of oil and petroleum products to Cuba.
International airlines, including Russian carriers, have been warned they may be unable to refuel at Cuban airports for at least a month amid the island’s energy crisis. Hundreds of Russians face canceled flights and disrupted trips, with some returned to Moscow.
Cuba, under a US embargo since 1959, consumes about 100,000 barrels of oil daily, with Mexico, Venezuela, and Russia supplying most imports.
Instructors sent by Moscow have played “a key role” in improving the security situation and training troops, Faustin-Archange Touadera told RT
Russian instructors have played a key role in improving security and stabilizing the Central African Republic (CAR), the country’s president, Faustin-Archange Touadera, has said.
Speaking to RT, he noted that cooperation with Moscow has helped to achieve an agreement to disarm armed groups and strengthen the country’s defense forces.
“The Russian instructors have helped us a lot, and they have contributed to the restoration of peace,” Touadera told RT.
The president explained that Russian instructors were also instrumental in training personnel and expanding the armed forces, which grew from around 5,000-6,000 soldiers to 25,000-26,000 across the country.
“The buildup of troops in the state with the support of Russian instructors made a significant contribution to improving the situation. They played a key role in this,” he highlighted.
The president said that the security agreement with Moscow had proved to be “the right choice,” adding that Russia “consistently supports the CAR in its struggle and in matters of protecting its sovereignty.”
Touadera also described the broader partnership between Bangui and Moscow, noting that Russia helped lift the embargo on arms supplies and diamonds, provided grants in petroleum products, and delivered humanitarian aid such as wheat, which helped lower bread prices nationally. He also noted that many CAR citizens now study in Russia in both military and civilian fields.
In addition, the president criticized international media reporting on the country. “The international press is filled with lies about the CAR,” he stated, saying some outlets go to “great lengths to slander” the African country. “The purpose is unknown, but we are fighting for the truth to prevail,” he said.
Touadera noted that RT “helps convey accurate information to viewers,” saying that the channel’s reporting allows audiences to see the true situation in the country.
Diplomatic ties between Russia and the CAR were established in 1992, while diplomatic relations between the Soviet Union and the CAR were first established in 1960 – the same year the African state gained independence from France. Relations developed further in later years, including military and political cooperation. The CAR maintains an embassy in Moscow, while Russia operates a diplomatic mission in Bangui.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has boasted of being fearless in the face of germ risks
US Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has said he is not afraid of germs, recalling that he used to snort cocaine off toilet seats. He added that he continued attending addiction recovery meetings during the Covid-19 pandemic despite quarantine restrictions.
Kennedy Jr. is widely known for his anti-vaccine stance and for challenging mainstream medical and scientific consensus.
“I mean for me, I said this when I came in, ‘I don’t care what happens, I’m going to a meeting every day’,” Kennedy said while speaking about his recovery on Theo Von’s podcast This Past Weekend, which aired on Thursday. “I’m not scared of a germ, you know. I used to snort cocaine off of toilet seats. I know this disease will kill me if I don’t treat it, which means going to meetings everyday, it’s just bad for my life. For me, it was survival.”
Kennedy Jr., the nephew of former US President John F. Kennedy, has previously said he began using drugs in the months after his father, Robert F. Kennedy Sr., was assassinated during the 1968 presidential campaign.
In 1983, he was arrested at Rapid City airport, in Iowa, for possession of 0.2 grams of heroin that had been found in his carry-on luggage. After pleading guilty, Kennedy Jr was sentenced to two years’ probation, ordered to attend Narcotics Anonymous, and required to complete 1,500 hours of community service.
Following an unsuccessful independent presidential bid, he joined Trump’s 2024 campaign, with the latter vowing to let him “go wild” on healthcare policy. Kennedy Jr. became US Health Secretary in February 2025.
He founded the anti-vaccine group Children’s Health Defense and has gained prominence in the US for questioning the safety and effectiveness of childhood vaccinations, promoting the claim that vaccines are linked to autism. He was also a vocal critic of the Covid-19 response measures recommended by the World Health Organization, including the strict lockdowns and rapid rollout of vaccines.
Despite this, Kennedy denies being opposed to vaccination, noting that his own children are immunized. During his confirmation hearings, he stated that he simply advocates for stricter studies and safety testing of vaccines.
Scientists say a failed supernova resulted in a quiet transformation of a once-bright massive star
A star in the Andromeda galaxy 13 times the mass of the Sun has quietly turned into a black hole after failing to go supernova, according to a new scientific paper.
Massive stars can become black holes following a supernova, a spectacular cosmic event. At the end of their life cycle, when nuclear fusion in the core can no longer counteract gravity, it collapses. The resulting shockwave expels the outer layers. The core either turns into a black hole immediately or forms a neutron star that can later pull in more mass and collapse.
A team led by Columbia University astronomer Kishalay De believes a far less dramatic black hole birth that was not accompanied by a supernova was recorded by NASA’s NEOWISE mission in our neighboring galaxy 2.5 million light-years away.
The theory explains how star M31-2014-DS1 brightened in infrared in 2014, dimmed sharply in 2016, and nearly vanished by 2023. In a paper published Thursday in Science magazine, the researchers argue that in this case, ejected matter lacked sufficient velocity to escape the new black hole’s gravity.
”Ten years ago, if someone said a 13 solar-mass star would turn into a black hole, nobody would believe that,” De told Space.com. “It was completely outside what was considered the norm.”
Black holes are so massive that even light cannot escape them. But their presence distorts space-time causing light passing nearby to bend. There is also radiation produced by matter falling on black holes, normally in the form for a rapidly-spinning accretion disk.
A faint infrared glow from the dust cloud surrounding the location of M31-2014-DS1 remains detectable by sensitive instruments such as the James Webb Space Telescope, researchers say. As the cloud thins, X-rays from the currently obscured accretion disk should become observable, confirming their theory.
”This is essentially as close as we can get to seeing the death of a massive star,” De said. “In the end, I think it teaches us a lot more about stellar physics by not exploding.”
The move by Sweden and Denmark comes as tensions with the US have escalated over President Donald Trump’s push to acquire the island
Sweden and Denmark will send a group of warplanes to take part in a NATO exercise centering on Greenland and the Arctic, officials in both countries have announced. The move comes as US President Donald Trump presses the EU on handing over control of the island to Washington, citing national security concerns.
On Friday, speaking ahead of the Munich Security Conference, Danish Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen said Copenhagen would deploy four F-35 fighter jets to NATO’s Arctic Sentry mission. He stressed that the US-made jets would “strengthen the overall presence in the region,” adding that the US was also expected to contribute to the mission.
A day earlier, Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson confirmed the country’s participation in the exercise, saying Stockholm would contribute JAS 39 Gripen aircraft “in the area around Iceland and Greenland.” In a separate statement, the Swedish military said an unspecified number of ground troops would also be deployed to the island.
The announcements come after a major rift between the US and European NATO members over Trump’s push to acquire Greenland, an autonomous Danish territory with around 55,000 people. At one point, he suggested that the US could resort to military force to accomplish the goal, though he later walked back on his statement.
EU nations have rejected Trump’s demands, saying that “Greenland belongs to its people” and urging the US to respect its sovereignty. Later, Trump signaled the sides had come to a “framework of a future deal,” with reports suggesting that the US would control parts of Greenland by designating them as sovereign military base areas.
Trump has argued that the US needs Greenland to deter Russia and China in the Arctic. Moscow has indicated that it has no stake in the row but warned of a response in case of the militarization of Greenland and vowed to protect its interests in the Arctic.
The government’s move to outlaw the group triggered a wave of bizarre arrests and was “disproportionate,” the British High Court has found
The UK High Court has ruled that the government’s decision to ban the activist group Palestine Action as a terrorist organization was unlawful.
The ruling, delivered on Friday, found the proscription of the group “disproportionate” and in breach of rights to freedom of expression and assembly, and is being seen as a blow to London’s counterterrorism policy.
The ban took effect in July 2025 after Palestine Action activists broke into the RAF’s Brize Norton base and damaged two aircraft in protest against British military support for Israel’s war in Gaza. The designation placed the group alongside Islamic State and Al-Qaeda, making membership or support punishable by up to 14 years in prison. Even displaying the group’s name on clothing or placards became a criminal offense carrying a six-month sentence.
The proscription followed a relentless pressure campaign launched by pro-Israel groups such as We Believe in Israel, the Israeli Embassy in London, as well as lobbyists from Israel’s largest private arms manufacture Elbit Systems, according to internal government documents.
Since the ban, more than 2,700 people have been arrested for expressing support for Palestine Action at demonstrations, according to campaign group Defend Our Juries. Those detained included pensioners, a former magistrate, and retired doctors, with hundreds subsequently charged under terrorism legislation.
The crackdown also prompted the largest coordinated prison hunger strike in the UK in decades, with activists refusing food for up to 73 days to protest the terrorism designation and their prolonged detention.
The legal challenge was brought by Huda Ammori, one of the group’s co-founders. Her lawyers argued the ban was unprecedented and disproportionately targeted peaceful protest. In a 46-page judgment, Dame Victoria and fellow justices concluded that “the nature and scale of Palestine Action’s activities falling within the definition of terrorism had not yet reached the level, scale and persistence to warrant proscription.”
The ban, however, will remain in force pending a government appeal. Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood expressed disappointment with the ruling and confirmed the government intends to fight the judgment in the Court of Appeal.
The incident was reportedly the cause of a temporary airspace closure in Texas
The US military used a highly classified laser-weapon system to shoot down a party balloon, multiple outlets reported on Thursday, citing sources in the administration of President Donald Trump. The incident triggered an airspace closure over the Texas border city of El Paso.
The episode reportedly took place on Monday when Customs and Border Protection (CBP) deployed a Pentagon-loaned counter-drone laser at Fort Bliss, near El Paso International Airport, to target suspected Mexican cartel drones. Reuters reported the system used was the AeroVironment LOCUST, a 20-kilowatt directed-energy weapon the US military has been testing to counter drones and other aerial threats.
However, when debris from suspected drones was analyzed, at least three objects were identified as mylar balloons used at parties, sources told Reuters and Fox News.
While no official confirmation of the laser deployment was made, reports claimed the episode triggered a scandal in the Trump administration. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) reportedly “went nuclear” because CBP allegedly used the system without its clearance, posing risks to commercial aircraft.
The FAA ordered a ten-day airspace closure over El Paso on Wednesday, though its X post did not mention the laser, and the restrictions were lifted seven hours later with minimal explanation.
US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy on Wednesday praised the episode as a joint FAA-Pentagon counter-drone effort but did not explicitly confirm the laser’s use. The FAA, Pentagon, and White House did not respond to media requests for comment.
The FAA and DOW acted swiftly to address a cartel drone incursion.
The threat has been neutralized, and there is no danger to commercial travel in the region.
The incident came amid heightened cross-border tensions between the US and Mexico, with Trump accusing Mexican authorities of failing to curb drug smuggling and threatening military intervention.
Speaking to reporters on Thursday, President Claudia Sheinbaum said Mexico had requested explanations from the US over the El Paso airspace closure, stressing there was no Mexican involvement.
“There were different reports, but when the Foreign Ministry asked directly, we still didn’t get an answer, so they will have to explain,” she said, noting official US statements referred only to “cartels,” not Mexico.
Trump has accused several South American countries of failing to curb drug smuggling and last month ordered an operation in Venezuela to kidnap President Nicolas Maduro on drug-trafficking charges.
Kathy Ruemmler has cited media attention as a “distraction” after unsealed files showed her close ties with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein
Kathy Ruemmler, the top lawyer at Goldman Sachs and former White House counsel under Barack Obama, has announced her resignation from the bank, after newly unsealed files revealed her close personal relationship with sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Following the revelations of her affinity for ‘Uncle Jeffrey’, Ruemmler told the Financial Times on Thursday that she would step down as chief legal officer and general counsel at the Wall Street investment bank as of June 30, 2026, because “the media attention... was becoming a distraction.”
In a statement to Reuters earlier this month, Ruemmler said she knew Epstein as a defense attorney, and that this was “the foundation” of their relationship. She claimed she had not had any knowledge of criminal conduct on his part.
The latest documents suggest, however, that she exchanged extensive communications with Epstein from 2014-19, long after his 2008 guilty plea to soliciting prostitution from a minor.
“Am totally tricked out by Uncle Jeffrey today! Jeffrey boots, handbag, and watch!” she wrote in January 2019, as quoted by the FT. Other emails suggest she accepted Hermes bags, fur coats, wine, spa appointments, haircuts, and plane tickets from him.
Records also suggest that Epstein called Ruemmler when he was arrested on July 6, 2019. At the time, she was a defense attorney at law firm Latham & Watkins. She joined Goldman Sachs in 2020.
She held senior positions on Goldman’s internal reputational risk and conduct committees, the bodies responsible for policing behavior at the firm.
Ruemmler’s departure from the bank represents one of the most high-profile corporate downfalls from the sweeping disclosures of Epstein’s emails, the FT said.
The latest batch of documents released by the US Justice Department from the Epstein Estate has triggered political upheaval in several countries, including the UK, where several key figures resigned from Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s team over his appointment of former UK envoy Peter Mandelson, who is now under criminal investigation over his links to Epstein.
At this year’s conference, the Western establishment is taking on Russia and Donald Trump
The most ardent defenders of the Western “rules-based international order” are meeting at the Munich Security Conference on Friday and Saturday. This year the focus isn’t just on Russia; it’s also on US President Donald Trump and the “populist” threat in Europe’s own backyard.
Friday’s events kick off with an address by German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who’s currently pressing the EU leadership to circumvent their own rules to save his flagging economy and rearmament program. EU foreign affairs chief Kaja Kallas then heads a panel on “the international order between reform and destruction,” right as France and Italy want her sidelined in any potential negotiations with Russia.
After discussions on trade, maritime security, and climate change, Moldovan President Maia Sandu takes part in a panel on “hybrid warfare,” less than two weeks after it emerged that the EU – and not Russia – interfered in the 2024 election that brought her to power.
In a report published earlier this month, Munich Security Conference Foundation President Wolfgang Ischinger stated that “the United States’ evolving view of the international order” is the most important issue to be debated this weekend. Populists like Trump, he argued, have taken a “wrecking ball” to the post-WWII liberal order, and America’s former allies need to respond to this threat.
To that end, US Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a ‘democratic socialist’, will feature on a panel about the “rise of populism,” while US Senators Lindsey Graham and Richard Blumenthal – both advocates for maximum American involvement in the Ukraine conflict – with discuss “the state of Russia.” Graham has previously called for the assassination of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The move is expected to restore cross-border movement and trade with Somalia, President William Ruto has said
Kenya has announced plans to reopen its land border with neighboring Somalia, nearly 15 years after it was shut in response to deadly cross-border attacks by the Al-Qaeda-linked militant group Al-Shabaab.
The government originally closed the Mandera Border Post, located in the East African country’s far northeastern region, in 2011 as part of heightened security measures.
The militant group has waged a long-running insurgency against Somalia’s government and has repeatedly targeted Kenya. In 2013, gunmen carried out the Westgate shopping mall attack in Nairobi, killing an estimated 71 people during a four-day siege. Two years later, gunmen stormed Garissa University College in northeastern Kenya, killing 148 people and injuring dozens in one of the deadliest terrorist attacks in the country’s history.
Security incidents tied to Al-Shabaab have continued in recent years. In November 2025, two Kenyan Border Patrol Unit officers were killed when their vehicle struck an improvised explosive device planted by the militant group near the Somalia border in Garissa County.
In a post on X on Thursday, Kenyan President William Ruto said the border will reopen in April to restore connectivity and revive cross-border trade.
“It is unacceptable that fellow Kenyans in Mandera remain cut off from their kin and neighbors in Somalia due to the prolonged closure of the Mandera Border Post,” Ruto wrote.
Ruto said the decision follows extensive security assessments and that a significant deployment of security forces will be in place when the border reopens, to ensure that safety is not compromised.
Kenya and Somalia have periodically discussed reopening the border in recent years. In 2023, the two countries agreed to a phased resumption of operations, but the plans were postponed amid security incidents near the crossing.
Dhaka considers some trade agreements to be unfavorable, BNP leader Tarique Rahman’s adviser has told RT India
The incoming government in Dhaka may renegotiate all unfavorable deals with the US, a top aide to Bangladesh National Party (BNP) leader Tarique Rahman has told RT India.
The comments by Ziauddin Hyder, adviser to BNP chairman Tarique Rahman, come after the party won the Bangladesh election held on Thursday and secured a two-thirds majority in the country’s 300-member parliament.
“This trade issue with the US, it is there for many months now,” Hyder said. “Bangladesh’s government has been negotiating hard. I am sure we will build on this, and take the good ones forward.”
He added, “There are some deals that are not in favor of Bangladesh. We will make sure to renegotiate to increase our trade relationship further.”
When asked about maintaining a balancing act between the US, China, and India, Hyder said, “We will be looking into issues, as opposed to looking into a country. The number one priority will be to protect Bangladesh’s interests.”
Rahman’s aide added that his party seeks good ties with India.
“He [Rahman] would like to navigate very good relations with all neighbors, including India, a large neighbor” Hyder said.
New 🇺🇸-🇧🇩 Trade Deal Dictates Who Dhaka Can Mix With - And It's Certainly Not Russia
The trade agreement signed by the interim government which has secured partial tariff has major strings attached.
The US-Bangladesh trade deal, which was announced just four days ahead of national elections in the South Asian country, has drawn flak from several quarters.
The deal prohibits Bangladesh from buying nuclear reactors, fuel rods, or enriched uranium from any country that “jeopardizes essential US interests,” the Daily Star reported.
If Dhaka enters into a trade deal with what is called a “non-market country” (China or Russia), the US can terminate the pact on the basis of Article 4.3 of the deal, according to the report.
Various compliance requirements restrict Bangladesh’s policy flexibility, experts have said.
Dhaka will have to bring its Export Processing Zones under its general labor law within two years, which will impact garment exports. The ready-made garments sector accounts for more than 80% of Dhaka’s export earnings, employs 4 million workers, and contributes 10% to GDP.
The deal provides for a tariff rate of 19% for exports to the US. India has a lower rate of 18%.
Bangladesh’s garment exports, widely seen as the bellwether of its economy, have been declining for the past two years.
The bloc’s chief, Mark Rutte, previously called on citizens in member states to adopt a “wartime mindset”
People in key NATO nations are reluctant to tighten their belts to fund increased defense spending, despite believing that the world is “heading toward global war,” according to a Politico poll published on Friday.
The poll, which surveyed at least 2,000 people from the US, Canada, the UK, France, and Germany each, found that majorities in four of the five countries think “the world is becoming more dangerous” and expect World War III to break out within five years.
Nearly half of Americans (46%) consider a new world war ‘likely’ or ‘very likely’ by 2031, up from 38% last year. In the UK, 43% share this belief, up from 30% in March 2025.
French respondents matched British levels at 43%, and 40% of Canadians expect war within five years. Only Germans remain skeptical, with a majority believing that a global conflict is unlikely in the near term.
The survey suggested a stark disconnect, however, between the growing alarm and willingness to pay for a defense buildup. While respondents support increased military spending in principle, support fell dramatically when specific trade-offs were mentioned.
In France, support dropped from 40% to 28% when those being surveyed were told about the potential financial and fiscal consequences. In Germany, it fell from 37% to 24%, with defense spending ranking as one of the least popular uses of money.
The survey also suggested significant skepticism about creating an EU army under a central command, with support at 22% in Germany and 17% in France.
While the poll suggests that Russia is perceived as the ‘biggest threat’ to Europe, Canadians view the administration of US President Donald Trump as the greatest danger to their security. Respondents in France, Germany, and the UK rank the US as the second-biggest threat – cited far more often than China.
The findings come after NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte urged members states in December to embrace a “wartime mindset” amid the stand-off with Russia. This also comes amid Western media speculation that Russia could attack European NATO members within several years. Moscow has dismissed the claims as “nonsense,” while accusing EU countries of manufacturing anti-Russia hysteria to justify reckless militarization.
The imprisoned leader is innocent, Delcy Rodríguez told NBC as the US energy secretary visits Caracas to overhaul the oil sector
Nicolas Maduro remains Venezuela’s legitimate leader despite his capture by US forces a month ago, the country’s acting president, Delcy Rodriguez, told NBC News on Thursday.
Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores were seized in a US military raid on Caracas on January 3 and flown to New York, where they are being held in federal custody facing drug trafficking charges. Both have pleaded not guilty. Rodriguez, who served as Maduro’s vice president, assumed power following the intervention.
Rodriguez insisted that both Maduro and Flores are innocent and condemned US actions. At the same time, she has moved to normalize relations with Washington. She told NBC she has been invited to the US capital and is “contemplating coming there once we establish this cooperation.”
US Energy Secretary Chris Wright arrived in Caracas on Wednesday to assess the country’s oil industry and for talks with Rodriguez focused on overhauling Venezuela’s energy sector and revitalizing its economy. He described relations between Caracas and Washington as “at a pivot in history.”
The diplomatic thaw comes as Washington has been openly seeking control over Venezuela’s vast oil wealth. The country holds the world’s largest proven oil reserves, roughly one-fifth of the global total. Wright announced the years-long US embargo on Venezuelan oil “essentially over” and called for a “dramatic increase” in output, with revenues flowing to specific projects.
US President Donald Trump has warned Rodriguez that if she “doesn’t do what’s right, she is going to pay a very big price, probably bigger than Maduro.” Rodriguez previously pushed back against Trump’s threats, declaring she has had “enough of Washington’s orders” and insisting Venezuelans alone would “resolve our differences and our internal conflicts.”
Washington’s actions against Venezuela have drawn international condemnation. Russia’s Foreign Ministry called the operation against Maduro “a flagrant violation of international law,” with UN Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia describing it as “international banditry” driven by desire for “unlimited control over natural resources.”
The man I walked with in the desert just weeks ago was not the ‘war criminal’ described in The Hague’s warrants
The assassination of Saif al-Islam Gaddafi in Zintan on February 3 is the final, bloody exclamation point on the catastrophe of the 2011 NATO intervention. For 15 years, the West dismissed Saif’s early warnings of ‘rivers of blood’ and a ‘darker page’ as the desperate rhetoric of a dying regime; today, those words read like a precise architectural blueprint of Libya’s ruin.
For over a decade, the international community treated Saif as a ghost of the past or a legal nuisance for the International Criminal Court in The Hague. Yet, on the ground, he remained the last tether for millions of supporters known as the ‘Greens’ – a socio-political movement loyal to his father Muammar Gaddafi, Jamahiriya (former state from 1977-2011) and represented by the solid green flag. Far from being a fringe group, this constituency remains a crucial pillar of the fragile stability in Libya’s restive south, where Saif served as the primary mediator between competing tribal interests. His removal from the board now triggers a terrifying realignment of power that threatens to incinerate what little remains of the country’s political process.
I stood among a sea of people in Bani Walid – a crowd so vast it felt less like a funeral and more like a posthumous national referendum. For many mourners, this was a deeply personal surrogate for the funeral they were denied for Saif’s father in 2011 – whose grave is still secret; they came to bury the son, but they were also mourning the fall of an era.
The choice of Bani Walid as a final resting place carries a weight that spans generations. It is here that Saif’s great-grandfather was buried after falling in battle against the Italian occupation in 1911. His younger brother, Khamis, is also buried in the same cemetery after NATO bombed his convoy in October 2011. By deciding to lay Saif in the same cemetery, his family has tied his murder directly to a century-long struggle for Libyan sovereignty.
To the ‘Greens’ his burial was not an end, but a reclamation. At the northern entrance to the city, a towering billboard stands as a defiant gatekeeper, depicting Muammar Gaddafi alongside Saddam Hussein, Khamis, and the local martyrs who fell defending the city in 2011 and 2012. During the funeral RT was informed by an anonymous local official that Saif’s image is to be added to this pantheon. It signalled that their movement is not a ‘fringe’ element, but a solidified nation within a nation, now radicalized by the loss of their only viable political anchor.
Saif’s trajectory over the last decade is a study in survival that defied every script written for him in London or Washington. Long before he was a fugitive, he was the darling of the Western establishment – a painter whose exhibitions in London, Brussels, and New York were attended by the very political and social elites who would later lead the charge for his downfall. This was the ‘reformist’ face of the Jamahiriya – the unique ‘state of the masses’ system of direct democracy established by his father. While the system’s ideological goal was a decentralized power structure, in practice it remained a highly focused regime that Saif sought to modernize from within. He was a man who used his influence not for formal titles, but for high-stakes diplomacy, spearheading charities that successfully negotiated the release of Western hostages across the globe.
The very figures who later joined the choir projecting him as a ‘devil in a suit’ were once the same ones who lauded his humanitarianism and academic depth. He went from being the sophisticated bridge between Libya and the world to a prisoner in Zintan, and finally to a candidate whose legal right to run – upheld by the courts – so terrified the Western powers who knew he would win the vote. They chose to paralyze the entire UN-backed political process rather than allow the vote to proceed.
The man I walked with in the desert just weeks ago was not the ‘war criminal’ described in The Hague’s dry warrants, nor was he the defeated relic his enemies wished him to be. He was calm, secure, and deeply engaged with the future of his country. Libya is not suffering from a lack of authority, but from a predatory system where the bullet remains the final veto over the ballot. The irony is staggering: while Saif was being hunted, Nicolas Sarkozy – the man who spearheaded the 2011 intervention that shattered Libya – has been convicted of illegal campaign financing, involving the very state he helped destroy. One man faced a trial of history and lead; the other faces the comfortable disgrace of European courtrooms. This contrast is the ultimate indictment of the ‘New Libya’ – a place where the architects of chaos remain safe, while those who warned of it are silenced forever.
Beyond the symbolic tragedy, the pragmatic implications for Libya’s South are catastrophic. For years, Saif was the unspoken ‘Third Force’ in the Fezzan – a figure who defined the heavily embedded tribal fabric of the region. Even in his silence, the tribes looked to him almost exclusively; their loyalty was a deep-rooted alignment that neither the Tripoli-based militias nor the eastern-based LNA (Libyan National Army) could ever replicate or buy. His presence in the Hamada area near Zintan was far more than a refuge; it was the primary diplomatic hub for a disenfranchised South. Now, with the ‘anchor’ of the Green movement gone, the fragile equilibrium he maintained by sheer presence has been shattered.
Without Saif to act as this mediating pole, the South risks descending into a multi-sided gang war that will inevitably draw in regional neighbors, turning the Fezzan into a proxy battlefield even more volatile than the coast.
The sea of mourners in Bani Walid last week was a raw manifestation of the popular mandate the Libyan people have been denied. It is no secret that the collapse of the December 2021 elections was triggered by the ‘political earthquake’ of Saif’s candidacy – a candidacy the Libyan courts cleared, but the West could not stomach. All relevant debate and credible analysis projected him as a winner should that vote have gone ahead. This popular mandate was met with direct intervention from Western diplomats.
In a live stream on December 2, 2021, then-UK Ambassador Caroline Hurndall explicitly said that Saif was wanted by the ICC and should face the charges not run for elections. Two weeks after the elections were halted US Envoy Richard Norland blamed “contradictory candidacies” – a clear reference to Saif – for derailing the vote. The international community’s fixation on a ‘roadmap’ toward April 2026 is a cruel mirage if it continues to ignore this reality.
By removing the one figure who commanded a strong lead in any fair vote, the perpetrators have not ‘cleared’ the path for democracy; they have admitted that the current system cannot survive a true popular choice. The Greens have already responded with a ‘Blood Pact’ (Mithaq al-Dam) issued by the Social Council of the Warfalla Tribes in Bani Walid. In Libya’s tribal fabric, both the Warfalla and the Qadhadhfa – Saif’s own tribe – possess a long, shared history in both peace and war, further strengthened by intermarriage, mutual support, and a tradition of collective defense. By killing the one leader who was willing to prioritize the ballot over the bullet, the perpetrators have radicalized an entire movement. The message from the funeral was clear: if the ballot box is only allowed to exist when the ‘correct’ candidate wins, then the ballot box itself has become an instrument of occupation.
In the end, the bullets in Zintan have brought Saif al-Islam’s 2011 warnings to their grim zenith. As he famously cautioned back in 2011, NATO’s intervention did not just topple a man – his father; it dismantled the very foundations of a state, replacing sovereignty with a subordination of fractured tribes and endless blood. For over a decade, Saif survived as a living testament to that failure – a candidate whose mere name on a ballot was enough to paralyze a system that claimed to be democratic yet feared the people’s choice. By removing him, his killers have not secured the status quo; they have destroyed the last symbolic anchor for millions of Libyans who still believed a unified, civilian return to order was possible.
As the desert winds settle over the unprecedented crowds in Bani Walid, it is clear that Libya has not been ‘liberated’ from the ghost of the Jamahiriya. Instead, the country has finally entered the lawless void Saif predicted – a vacuum where the only remaining language is the one he warned would come: the language of the gun.
The immediate aftermath of this assassination may not trigger a sudden explosion on the ground, but its long-term consequences are profound. If elections are ever held – an unlikely prospect for 2026 – the removal of Saif al-Islam creates a massive electoral void. His supporters, once a unified bloc, are now likely to become a disorganized and disillusioned electorate; they will not easily migrate to his rivals, but rather deny their votes to any faction perceived to be complicit in his death. To preserve the movement’s symbolism, voices from within the Greens’ camp are already looking toward the remaining family members: Dr. Mohamed Gaddafi, Saif’s eldest half-brother, who remains a respected figure in Omani exile, or his sister Ayesha, who has maintained a more active political profile – are thought to be favored by the majority.
Yet, the biggest casualty of this murder is the fragile project of national reconciliation. For years, Saif served as an indispensable mediator – a political gravity well that offered a legitimate alternative to the entirely discredited post-2011 elite. Despite his silence, he was the primary driver for reconciliation among Libyans with focus on the Southern tribes, where his influence was a stabilizing factor. While his supporters currently lack a unified military force on the ground, their political withdrawal effectively orphans the peace process.
By killing the man who urged his followers to trust the ballot over the bullet, the perpetrators have dynamited the only bridge that remained between the country’s fractured past and its potential future. The architects of this chaos have ensured that the only remaining language is the one of silent, simmering resentment – and this time, there is no one left to talk the country back from the edge.
Trilateral negotiations will take place next week in Switzerland, spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said
Russia, the US, and Ukraine will hold a new round of peace talks in Switzerland next week, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has announced.
Speaking to reporters on Friday, Peskov said the negotiations to settle the Ukraine conflict will take place in a trilateral format on February 17 and 18. He added that Moscow’s delegation will be led by Russian presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky, who has already participated in several rounds of talks.
Peskov did not provide details on the specific Ukraine-related agenda. However, he noted that Russia hoped to continue discussing economic cooperation with the US but cautioned that any deals are contingent on progress towards the Ukraine settlement.
The last round of trilateral talks took place in Abu Dhabi, the UAE, last week. The Russian delegation was headed by Admiral Igor Kostyukov, the chief of the country’s military intelligence, and included other defense officials. The US side was represented by American envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, while the Ukrainian delegation was headed by national security chief Rustem Umerov.
Peskov described the Abu Dhabi talks as “constructive but difficult,” while Russian presidential aide Yury Ushakov said the territorial issue remains the “main question” of the negotiations, adding that other issues also remain unresolved.
Moscow has insisted that any sustainable settlement will only be possible if Ukraine withdraws from the areas still under its control in Donbass – which voted to join Russia in 2022 – commits to remaining outside NATO, and agrees to demilitarization and denazification. Russia has also demanded that Kiev recognize its new borders, including Crimea. Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky has repeatedly ruled out territorial concessions.
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