The French navy has diverted an oil tanker, suspected of being part of Russia's sanctions-busting shadow fleet, towards the port of Marseille-Fos for further investigation, according to reports. The office of the prosecutor in the southern French city of Marseille, which handles matters related to maritime law and is investigating the case, said on Friday that the ship had been diverted, but did not specify where to.
"We are open, available, and interested," "I wouldn't consider it a smart choice for Italy and Europe to exclude themselves," "For us, there is a constitutional compatibility issue ... This certainly doesn't allow us to sign tomorrow."
The Kremlin says it is seeking to clarify all the nuances of the offer from Washington. Russian President Vladimir Putin has been invited to join United States President Donald Trump's board of peace, purportedly aimed at resolving global conflicts as well as overseeing governance and reconstruction in Gaza. The invitation, which emerged on Monday, was extended as Russia's nearly four-year war on Ukraine continues and a peace deal there remains elusive.
The Foreign Secretary said: "The Arctic is the gateway for Russia's Northern Fleet to be able to threaten the United Kingdom, to threaten Western Europe and Norway, to threaten the United States and Canada. "So it's a whole transatlantic security depends on our Arctic security," she added. Cooper explained that Nato needs to "double down" and "do what we've done in other areas", to make sure that "we really strengthen the security of the high north".
Moscow notifies the United States in advance to avoid triggering a retaliatory strike. More important, without a nuclear payload, the missile has limited military value; Russia has other weapons capable of inflicting similar damage at a fraction of the cost. The most logical reason for Russia's use of this weapon at this time is to remind America that it is still a superpower and that Putin is still in control.
If your travel plans in the near future involve making your way to Russia, the U.S. State Department has some information they would like to share with you. More specifically, they have some information that they would like to share with you in order to convince you not to go. In late December, the agency issued its highest possible warning against visiting the country in question. Or, as the agency's website bluntly declares: "Do not travel to Russia for any reason."
Well, you take a map, take a look at the map of the world, or take a look at a globe from looking from the North Pole down and you can see why Greenland is the opposite end of the bookend. The other end is Alaska. You look to the other side of the world and you've got Russia and all of their adventurism around the Arctic.
The North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, has praised his troops fighting abroad as forging an invincible alliance with Russia in a new year's message, state media said on Thursday. Pyongyang has sent thousands of troops to support Russia's nearly four-year invasion of Ukraine, according to South Korean and western intelligence agencies. At least 600 have died and thousands more have sustained injuries, according to South Korean estimates.
Most dramatically, first Israel and the United States bombed Iran's nuclear facilities. Some commentators feared that President Trump's decision to bomb Iran would drag the United States into the "forever wars" in the Middle East that presidential candidate Trump had pledged to avoid. The tragic war in Gaza had become a humanitarian disaster. After years of promising to reduce engagement with the region from Democratic and Republican presidents alike, it appeared that the US was being dragged back into Middle East once again.
Zelenskyy said Ukrainian intelligence had observed that Belarus was deploying equipment in Belarusian settlements near the border, including on residential buildings to assist Russian forces in carrying out their attacks. Antennae and other equipment are located on the roofs of ordinary five-storey apartment buildings, which help guide Shaheds' [Russian drones] to targets in our western regions, he said. This is an absolute disregard for human lives, and it is important that Minsk stops playing with this, he added.
Eight years ago, Trump's said that "China and Russia challenge American power, influence, and interests, attempting to erode American security and prosperity." The new NSS doesn't name Russia as a threat to the U.S. - stating instead that "strategic stability with Russia" is a goal of American policy. Europe is presented as a bigger challenge; the U.S. should "help Europe correct its current trajectory," which the NSS says has been damaged by immigration and a risk of " civilizational erasure."
Belousov said that Russia's war spending is on track to reach about 5.1% of the country's GDP in 2025, out of an overall defense budget that reaches 7.3% of its annual GDP. The country's nominal GDP in 2024 was about 201.2 trillion rubles, and is expected to grow 1% this year to about 203 trillion rubles, or $2.52 trillion. Russian independent media, however, reported that the economic ministry has forecast a GDP of about $2.7 trillion for the year. A war budget of 5.1% would therefore be somewhere between $128 billion and $137.7 billion.
