World, US, Culture, Market, and Sci-Tech News Aggregation from MSM and Independent News
To the despair of the European establishment, the Alternative für Deutschland (AfD), the most hated political force in Germany, keeps showing robust signs of life, whether in its impressive showing in a state election on Sunday or in a recent courtroom victory. On Sunday, the AfD more than doubled its previous vote share for the parliament of Baden-Württemberg, a key industrial state in western Germany. On February 26, a German court enjoined the country’s domestic spy agency from classifying Germany’s second most popular political party as a “confirmed right-wing extremist” organization. The “confirmed right-wing extremist” designation has been a key tool in the campaign among establishment and left-wing politicians to ban the AfD entirely.
The AfD’s fate should not be a matter of indifference to American conservatives. The globalist elites must be broken everywhere if they are to be permanently broken at all.
Growing numbers of the German public defy their overseers and welcome the AfD as an antidote to the EU-Davos philosophy of open borders and the deindustrialization and immiseration that go under the banner of climate-friendly energy policy. The AfD polls second nationally to the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). The CDU was once the cornerstone of postwar conservatism, but its leaders have pulled it to the left in order to marginalize the AfD. In February 2025, Chancellor (and CDU party head) Friedrich Merz cobbled together an ideologically incoherent governing coalition whose sole purpose is to shut the AfD out of power, despite the AfD’s receiving the second largest share of the German vote. The establishment proudly refers to this exclusionary strategy as the “firewall,” which allegedly protects German democracy from falling into the hands of purported neo-Nazis.
The Leader of the Scottish Conservative Party has dropped his support of the Scottish assisted suicide Bill, vowing that he will now vote against it as “the risks are too great”.
Russell Findlay MSP previously supported the Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill, which, as written, would legalise assisted suicide for adults resident in Scotland with no prognosis requirement specified; however, he now opposes the Bill due to numerous concerns with it.
This now means that the leaders of the three largest parties in Holyrood are opposed to the assisted suicide Bill.
Findlay is the third MSP who supported the Bill last year to now oppose it, meaning that if only four more MSPs change their minds and commit to voting against the Bill, it will fail.
Ukraine Deploys Armed Ground Robots as Drones Intensify Attacks mezha.net
from news.google.com
A chilling new signal believed to be tied to Iran has begun appearing across the radio spectrum in Europe, with shortwave listeners in the United Kingdom reporting mysterious encrypted broadcasts shortly after the death of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Amateur radio enthusiasts say the transmissions resemble a classic “numbers station,” a type of coded broadcast historically associated with espionage and covert intelligence operations.
The signal has been designated “V32” by the monitoring group ENIGMA2000, which tracks suspected intelligence transmissions around the world.
Shortwave listeners say the station broadcasts strings of encrypted numbers late at night and early in the evening.
The transmissions have reportedly been heard clearly across the United Kingdom and parts of Europe, with signals bouncing off the ionosphere and appearing on the frequency 7910 kHz (7.910 MHz) in Upper Sideband mode.
Monitors have described the broadcast as a male voice, possibly synthetic, speaking in Farsi while reading out sequences of numbers.
Russia has reportedly provided Iran with information that could help the regime target U.S. military assets across the Middle East, a development that adds a dangerous new layer to a war that is already widening by the day.
U.S. intelligence officials believe Moscow passed along information that could be used against American warships, aircraft and other military positions in the region. The officials told The Associated Press there is no indication Russia is directly ordering Tehran how to use the information, but the disclosure still marks the clearest sign yet that Moscow may be trying to assist Iran as the conflict intensifies.
The report lands as U.S. and Israeli forces continue pounding Iranian targets and as Tehran keeps launching retaliatory attacks against American positions and U.S. partners in the Gulf.
The White House believes the United States is “well on its way” toward controlling Iranian airspace and expects its core military objectives could be completed within four to six weeks. President Donald Trump has also taken a harder public line, demanding Iran’s “unconditional surrender” as the campaign moves deeper into its second week.
Sweden and China Strengthen Ties as China Eastern Airlines Resumes Direct Flights Between Stockholm and Shanghai with A330 Travel And Tour World
from news.google.com
… Keir Starmer is expected to promise to protect the British public from the economic impact of the war after oil prices surged past $100 a barrel for the first time since 2022.
“No matter the headwinds, supporting working people and their families with the cost of living is always top of my mind,” the prime minister said ahead of a visit on Monday to a community centre in London.
Starmer added:
People are also rightly worrying what this means for life at home – their bills, their jobs, their communities.
I want to address those concerns head on. I will always be guided by what is best for the British public. And no matter the headwinds, supporting working people and their families with the cost of living is always top of my mind.
BERLIN — Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s party has made a disappointing start to a year packed with German state elections, suffering a narrow defeat in an important industrial region after a prominent candidate powered the environmentalist Greens to a come-from-behind victory.
Merz’s center-right Christian Democratic Union was long confident of winning back the governor’s office in Baden-Württemberg, a region of more than 11 million people in southwestern Germany that is home to automakers Mercedes-Benz and Porsche, among many other companies. The country’s first and so far only Green governor, Winfried Kretschmann, is retiring after 15 years in charge of a traditional conservative heartland.
A CDU victory long looked likely despite the unpopularity of Merz’s 10-month-old federal government, which has struggled to get Germany’s stagnant economy moving. But the party’s poll lead shrank ahead of Sunday’s election thanks to a Green campaign focused on Cem Özdemir, a longtime federal lawmaker and former German agriculture minister.
The UK has decided to spend resources on policing kids aged 13-17 on whether they are posting politically incorrect material online. Throughout this campaign, they hope to instill fear in the younger generation that what you retweet or like might get you convicted under the Terrorism Act.
According to Action Counters Terrorism:
Terrorist-related offending can include:
displaying the signs, symbols and slogans of terrorist groups
creating extremist content that celebrates terrorists or terrorist groups
sharing extremist content that celebrates terrorists or terrorist groups
encouraging other people to commit terrorist crimes
threatening acts of violence for terrorist causes online.
Defence secretary John Healey has twice declined to rule out Britain joining strikes on Iran, when asked by Sky News.
He also said he’d had the option of deploying HMS Dragon to the Mediterranean for weeks.
Interviewed at RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus, the minister was asked by Sky’s Europe correspondent Ali Bunkall if he could rule out Britain joining the conflict in an offensive capacity.
The U.K.’s Finance Minister Rachel Reeves has delivered her latest update on the state of the U.K. economy and public finances, with the chancellor having to concede that growth will be lower than previously expected this year.
Addressing the House of Commons on Tuesday, Reeves said “the government has the right economic plan for the country,” which was met by immediate jeers from opposition lawmakers.
A plan, she said, that was “even more important in a world that, over the last few days, has become yet more uncertain,” amid the escalating conflict in the Middle East.
Differing opinions on the U.S.-Israel strikes against Iran have emerged in Europe, with key Western allies standing strong with the United States, despite some voices bemoaning the escalation and calling for restraint.
Alice Weidel and Tino Chrupalla, joint chairs of the AfD parliamentary group in the German Bundestag, issued the following statement:
“We have noted with great concern the attacks by Israel and the USA on Iran. We call on all warring parties to exercise absolute restraint. The civilian population and civilian infrastructure must be protected. International law and international humanitarian law must be fully respected. The renewed destabilization of the Middle East is not in Germany’s interest and must be stopped,” wrote the party in a statement.
The AfD’s stance on Israel, one of the two main actors currently attacking Iran, has been at odds with many other European conservative parties, which are often extremely pro-Israel.
VLADIMIR Putin is reportedly willing to accept a deal on Ukraine, according to a senior aide to President Zelenskyy.
Ukrainian Chief of Staff Kyrylo Budanov made the surprise claim during an interview on Ukrainian television.
“At the last talks, the Russian side said, for example, that they would accept the security guarantees offered to Ukraine by the United States,” he said.
The Kremlin has not confirmed the remarks.
If accurate, they would represent the most significant shift in negotiations since the conflict began four years ago.
It remains unclear what form those US security guarantees would take.
The United Kingdom has confirmed that an Iranian kamikaze drone impacted one of its airfield’s in Cyprus, marking the first time the ongoing hostilities in the Middle East have directly impacted one of the nation’s military installation. The attack came just hours after UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer — alongside French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz — indicated that they were open to joining offensive strikes against Iranian missile and drone targets.
The impact was confirmed at RAF Akrotiri, a Royal Air Force installation located within the United Kingdom’s Sovereign Base Area in southern Cyprus.
Austria Targets “Right-Wing Extremism”, Ignores Left-Wing and Islamist Violence The European Conservative
from news.google.com
The Chagos Islands deal fell into disarray Wednesday amid conflicting U.K. government messages about whether ratification was paused for talks with the United States over the strategic Indian Ocean military base Diego Garcia.
Foreign Office Minister Hamish Falconer had told members of Parliament that ratification of the deal to cede the islands to Mauritius had been paused while discussions with Washington continued.
A U.K. government spokesperson later denied there was any formal suspension of the process, insisting no deadline had ever been set and reiterating that Britain would not move forward without American backing.
PARIS — France’s far-right leader Marine Le Pen said she won’t run for president next year if a Paris appeals court orders her to wear an electronic bracelet over alleged misuse of European Union funds.
Le Pen said she hopes the appeals court clears her in key verdict set for July 7 — a ruling that may derail her presidential ambitions.
“I know very well that the decision regarding this candidacy isn’t mine to make,” she said Wednesday evening on news broadcaster BFM TV.
Le Pen, 57, is challenging a March 2025 verdict that found her and other members of her National Rally party guilty of misusing EU Parliament funds in the hiring of aides from 2004 to 2016 who allegedly worked for the party instead of doing parliamentary tasks.
The crude oil shipment destined for MOL Group is already being loaded at the state-owned Janaf’s Omišalj terminal, the Croatian oil company announced on Wednesday, per a report from HVG. According to the statement, this will not be the only shipment, as seven more tankers will arrive by the beginning of April.
Janaf emphasized in its statement that it is not Russian crude oil that is being supplied to Hungarians, and yet, the company is ready to meet the entire annual demand of refineries in both Slovakia and Hungary.
TRUMP AND ZELENSKY SPEAK: A day after President Donald Trump publicly ignored the fourth anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and barely mentioned the war in his State of the Union address, the president resumed his pressure campaign to convince Volodymyr Zelensky he has little choice but to make a quick deal to end the war before things get worse.
“I just spoke with @POTUS Donald Trump,” Zelensky posted on X yesterday after a phone call with Trump, Steve Witkoff, and Jared Kushner. “I thanked them for all their work and for their active involvement in the negotiations and the efforts to end the war.”
In the 30-minute call, Trump told Zelensky he wants to see an end to the war “as soon as possible,” Axios reported, citing “a Ukrainian official and two other sources with knowledge of the call.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin issued a ruthless attack order in the face of peace efforts(Image: POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
Russia launched a mass overnight onslaught of almost 500 bombs on Ukraine injuring at least 26 people – as the Kremlin dampened peace talk hopes.
At least 420 deadly drones and dozens of missiles were used in the attack, plus anti-ship , ballistic and cruise weapons , many of which were aimed at Kyiv and seven other regions.
Hardly a week goes by now that we don’t get a cautionary tale coming out of Britain, where the political elite are determined either to destroy the nation’s ethnic majority through the mass importation of third-world migrants, or to pretend that there is no ethnic majority to destroy in the first place.
Among the pretenders is none other than Nigel Farage, whose right populist party Reform UK is poised to win an outright parliamentary majority in the next general election. Farage has been a fixture in British politics for a quarter-century now and has always presented himself as counter-establishment. Yet he is also a man who likes to be liked, which means he will not speak candidly about Britain’s migrant crisis and what must be done to save the country.
Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico has announced he will ask the Slovak Electricity Transmission System (SEPS) to stop emergency electricity supplies to Ukraine in retaliation for Kyiv’s refusal to resume Russian crude oil shipments via the Druzhba pipeline.
In a video message posted on social media on Sunday, Fico said he would visit SEPS on Monday to request the suspension of electricity deliveries, further increasing tensions between so-called “dissenting” member states like Slovakia and Hungary, and the European Commission.
“If Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky tells us to buy gas and oil elsewhere than in Russia — even though it is more difficult and expensive, which costs us a lot of money — then we have the right to respond,” Fico told followers.
LONDON — British comedian Russell Brand pleaded not guilty on Tuesday to new counts of rape and sexual assault.
Brand, who was already facing similar charges involving four women, denied the new charges in Southwark Crown Court. The alleged offenses took place in 2009, the Crown Prosecution Service said.
Brand, 50, was charged in April with two counts of rape, two counts of sexual assault and one count of indecent assault. Prosecutors said those offenses involving four women took place between 1999 and 2005 — one in the English seaside town of Bournemouth and three in London. Brand pleaded not guilty to those charges in a London court earlier this year.
Greece–Turkey tensions rise over Chevron energy deal south of Crete libyanexpress.com
from news.google.com
King Charles was warned over six years ago that disgraced former Prince Andrew’s secret financial entanglements were damaging the Royal Family, according to a whistleblower email.
The email has now surfaced amid an escalating scandal that has already seen the former Duke of York arrested and released under investigation.
According to the Daily Mail, an August 2019 email was sent to Charles, then Prince of Wales, through the royal law firm Farrer & Co.
The EU’s top executive body has urged US President Donald Trump not to impose new tariffs on the bloc’s goods and to clarify his position following the US Supreme Court ruling that struck down most of his earlier measures.
On Friday, the Supreme Court ruled that Trump had no authority to impose tariffs under the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA). Trump responded by signing an order imposing a 10% global tariff through a different law and later said he would raise it to 15%. He denounced the justices who ruled against him as “a disgrace to the nation.”
Germany’s Merz says he can’t stand applause for Rubio at Munich conference South China Morning Post
from news.google.com
The European Commission is just giving its daily midday press briefing, and it has confirmed plans to adopt the new, 20th, round of sanctions against Russia by 24 February, the fourth anniversary of the full-scale invasion on Ukraine.
Foreign affairs spokesperson Anouar El Anouni said:
“We keep on working on measures to deprive Russia of the funds, goods and technologies sustaining its war against Ukraine.
This indeed includes the 20th package that you have mentioned, and indeed we aim to adopt it … by 24 February, as the High Representative [Kaja Kallas] mentioned at the last foreign affairs council. Member states are discussing it.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has announced that he met with Democrat senators to discuss plans for ramping up “pressure” on Russia.
Zelensky confirmed that he met with Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI).
The meeting highlights the continued efforts from Democrats to influence Ukrainian leadership as the war with Russia drags on.
In a video included in a post on X, Blumenthal can be heard greeting Zelensky and expressing interest in further cooperation.