Russia is using private militias to control migration routes in Africa in order to increase the flow of illegal immigrants to western Europe at favourable times, such as before elections, the British 'Daily Telegraph' alerted yesterday, citing intelligence sources.more
Billionaire and one of the co-founders of OpenAI Elon Musk has sued the company and its chief executive Sam Altman, accusing them of misappropriating their founding mission by putting profits before the good of humanity. According to Musk, the Microsoft-linked company has in effect already created general artificial intelligence (AGI) and is worth $80bn.more
Thousands of people came today to the area around the Orthodox church in Moscow where the funeral of opposition politician Alexei Navalny is taking place. Those gathered chanted his name. There are communication problems at the site. Representatives of the diplomatic corps accredited in Russia attended the ceremony.more
The use of nuclear weapons by Russia in Ukraine or elsewhere is highly unlikely, the US Institute for the Study of War (ISW) assessed in a recent report, referring to Vladimir Putin's address to the nation yesterday.more
The German government is preparing more and more specifically for a possible attack by Russia on Germany or one of the NATO countries. The 13-page document for the Bundestag presents an analysis of the threats leading to the outbreak of war, reports the Bild daily.more
Vladimir Putin today warned of the danger of nuclear conflict if NATO troops were introduced into Ukraine. He spoke about it in his annual address to the nation.more
There were 285 nominations for this year's Nobel Peace Prize, of which 196 were individuals and 89 organisations, the Norwegian Nobel Institute announced yesterday. Last year 351 nominations were received, and in the record-breaking 2016 there were 376.more
Vladimir Putin is an organised crime gang leader, the widow of Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny announced in the European Parliament yesterday. She added that in order to defeat the Kremlin, it is necessary to act innovatively.more
More and more Americans see immigration as the most important issue facing their country. Immigration has become more important than the economy and inflation for the first time since 2019.more
A three-day warning strike by German Lufthansa's technical department ground staff began this morning and is expected to last until Friday evening. By midday today, the industrial action had not affected passenger flights, said representatives of the Verdi trade union.more
A life sentence was heard yesterday at the trial in Amsterdam of one of the most dangerous and longest wanted drug gang bosses Ridouan Taghi. He was convicted of a series of murders from 2015-17. The trial was one of the longest ever - lasting almost six years.more
Portuguese police detained a 36-year-old Pole in Lisbon, wanted on a European arrest warrant for leading a criminal group involved in drug smuggling to Poland. The man was tracked down by police bounty hunters from Silesia and passed the information on to colleagues from Portugal.more
Four primary schools in the southern French city of Beziers introduced uniform uniforms for students from this Monday. Over 700 children are participating in the pilot program. Education authorities want to see if uniforms will help reduce inequality and improve relationships in schools.more
The speech of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland, Radosław Sikorski, at the UN Security Council, pointing out Russia's false narrative about the war in Ukraine, became a sensation and received enthusiastic praise - the American Bloomberg agency reported yesterday.more
Warning strikes are to be held in local transport in many regions of Germany until Saturday. Yesterday, city bus drivers in Schleswig-Holstein, Saarland and parts of Trier went on strike, resulting in many connections being canceled. There are also several hours of disruption in Berlin, the Tagesschau portal reported.more
Serbian police detained a Polish citizen in connection with an attempt to launder over PLN 30,000 in the country. euro - the Serbian Ministry of Internal Affairs announced yesterday.more
For more than 10 years, the US has developed intelligence cooperation with Ukraine, which is now critical for both countries to counter Russia, writes the "New York Times" in a lengthy article.more
'If Vladimir Putin really threatens us, we are ready to double our defence spending; we will never again be a Russian colony,' Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski announced in an interview with US television channel CNN broadcast yesterday.more
In Sweden, 62,000 people have links to gangs, of which 14,000 are active members of criminal groups and 48,000 support them, including by enabling drug trafficking, according to a Swedish police report presented on Friday. This is more than twice as many as previously estimated.more
The boss of Ryanair has said holidaymakers will face higher fares this summer due to new Boeing planes being delivered late. Chief executive Michael O'Leary said the delayed delivery of the planes will constrain capacity for passengers.more
A record number of Russians applied for asylum in South Korea last year, US broadcaster CNN reported yesterday, citing a report published by the Korean Immigration Service.more
Scientists working in the Amazon rainforest have discovered a new species of snake, rumored to be the biggest in the world. A team from the University of Queensland traveled to the Ecuadorian Amazon to search for the previously undocumented northern green anaconda (Eunectes akayima), following an invitation from the Waorani people to observe anacondas “rumoured to be the largest in existence".more
In France, the situation of homeless people who gather in major cities, above all in Paris, is unprecedented and dramatic, the French weekly "L'Obs" alerted. There are already 330,000 of them in the country, twice as many as a decade ago, it stressed.more
The city of Colima, in the west of Mexico, with more than 140,000 inhabitants, is the most dangerous city in the world, according to a report published by the non-governmental Citizens' Council for Public Safety and Justice.more
Ukraine must now rein in its offensive ambitions and try to hold its ground until either Russia is weakened or its Western allies start helping it again in the right way, according to Keir Giles, an expert at the Royal Institute of International Affairs (Chatham House) in London.more