World, US, Culture, Market, and Sci-Tech News Aggregation from MSM and Independent News
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- In NATO talks, Trump team puts onus on Europe to defend itself The Washington Post
- Rubio Visits NATO Amid Tensions With Europe: Trump Administration Live Updates The New York Times
- Rubio downplays NATO rupture on European make-up mission NBC News
- Turmoil churns below the surface as Rubio meets NATO allies politico.eu
- Rubio: US is committed to NATO, but Europe must spend more on defence Reuters
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Washington is as active as ever in the military bloc, the secretary of state has said
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has reassured NATO member states that Washington remains committed to the military bloc, insisting however that the members must drastically increase their defense spending.
Rubio made the remarks at NATO’s foreign ministers’ meeting in Brussels on Thursday.
President Donald Trump had previously threatened to withdraw the US from NATO if its member states failed to increase their military spending. He has pushed for a hike to 5% of gross domestic product (GDP) from the current 2%.
Belgium’s anti-austerity national strike grounds flights – The Straits Times
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France’s Le Pen convicted of embezzlement, barred from 2027 presidential race – The Tribune India
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French far-right leader Marine Le Pen was convicted of embezzlement on Monday and banned immediately for five years from running for public office, in a watershed moment that will rule her out of the 2027 presidential race unless she successfully appeals beforehand.
The French court’s ruling was a catastrophic setback for Le Pen, the National Rally (RN) party chief who has been a front-runner in opinion polls for the 2027 contest.
The judge also gave Le Pen a four-year prison sentence — two years of which are suspended sentence and two which will be served under home detention. She also received a 100,000-euro ($108,200) fine.
Latvia to provide 1,500 combat drones to Ukraine. – The Kyiv Independent
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Europe’s Attacks On Free Speech, Elections Prove Vance Right– thefederalist.com
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It’s been a banner week for authoritarians in Europe, and it’s only Wednesday.
On Monday, a French court banned Marine Le Pen, the leader of the right-wing National Rally party and the frontrunner in the 2027 presidential election, from seeking public office for the next five years. The same day, The Telegraph reported that a toddler had been booted from a U.K. preschool for being insufficiently supportive of LGBT politics. Over the weekend, a British couple revealed they had been arrested based on complaints they expressed in a WhatsApp chat about their daughter’s public school.
This is exactly the kind of crackdown on free expression that Vice President J.D. Vance chastised complicit European leaders about in February, in an address at the Munich Security Conference. This week’s insanity further proves Vance’s dire warnings were right.
Vance called out the U.K., Germany, Sweden, and the European Union for censoring and criminalizing the free expression of their citizens, citing police raids against Germans for comments posted online and the prosecution of a British man who dared to pray in silence outside of an abortion facility.
‘The law is the same for everyone’: Macron addresses Le Pen verdict for first time and criticises threats against judges – as it happened | Europe– www.theguardian.com
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Excerpt:French President Emmanuel Macron has commented for the first time since Marine Le Pen was found guilty of embezzlement and barred from running in France’s next presidential election.
Opening a weekly meeting of French ministers, Macron addressed the court’s decision by recalling the three things government spokesperson Sophie Primas said.
They were “that the judiciary is independent”, “that the threats made against judges are absolutely unbearable and intolerable”, and that “the law is the same for everyone”, Politico reports.
Macron also stated that “all defendants have the right to legal recourse,” Primas said.
Judge who sentenced Marine Le Pen under police protection amid online threats– www.euronews.com
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A torrent of online abuse has been directed at Bénédicte de Perthuis, the judge who presided over the Paris court on Monday.
While far-right politician Marine Le Pen vowed to appeal the conviction she was handed on Monday, the judge who presided over her case has faced a torrent of intimidating online reactions.Bénédicte de Perthuis, the judge who sentenced Le Pen for embezzling EU funds and barred her from running in France’s 2027 presidential election, was placed under police protection on Monday night over alleged death threats she received, domestic press reported.
The fiery fallout came her way as some took offence at what they claim is political revanchism — despite de Perthuis herself emphasising that the role of the court and her as a judge was to treat Le Pen’s case like any other.
“Equality before the law is a pillar of democracy. Elected officials enjoy no impunity,” said de Perthuis on Monday, before she issued a judgment, which she had worked on with two other high-profile judges.
China calls for ‘fair and binding’ Ukraine peace deal: A push for lasting stability – BLiTZ – Fears None But God
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U.S. reconsiders Ukraine peace deal strategy, looks to pressure Moscow and Kyiv – Reuters – Investing.com
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Crisis in Sweden as nuclear bunkers are readied for WW3 clash | World | News– www.express.co.uk
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Sweden has announced a £7.7million plan to modernise its civil defence bunkers after warning Swedes to prepare for the risk of war. The Scandinavian country which shares a border with Russia has 64,000 such bunkers. Space is said to be sufficient enough for seven million people, almost three quarters of Sweden’s 10.5 million population.
The country’s Civil Contingencies Agency (MSB) is reported to be inspecting the shelters, some of which can accommodate thousands of people. The bunkers offer protection against the blast and heatwaves triggered by a nuclear weapon as well as radioactive fallout, gas from chemical or biological weapons and bomb fragments.
MSB said on Monday (April 1) that the modernisation work would take two to three years, with work already underway on 25 of the 80 largest shelters.
Sweden’s action comes amid rising tensions over the war in Ukraine and doubts over US President Donald Trump‘s commitment to defending Europe.
Military Analysis: Europe’s Firepower is Far Behind U.S., Russia, and China | The Gateway Pundit– www.thegatewaypundit.com
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After eighty years of relying on the U.S. for defense, the EU’s combined military power remains dwarfed by the U.S., Russia, and China.
Recent media reports have claimed that Europe is bolstering its defenses to counter Russia, increasingly independent of U.S. assistance.
These headlines, while attention-grabbing, often gloss over a critical clarification: Europe is not a unified political entity. It is a continent—a geographic space—lacking its own institutions or a standing army.
When such claims surface, they could plausibly refer to three distinct entities: NATO, the US-led transatlantic alliance with its collective defense framework; the European Union (EU), a political and economic union with limited military integration; or a broader notion of “greater Europe,” encompassing all nations on the continent, including non-EU and non-NATO countries like Russia itself.
For this article, I assume these claims point to the EU’s militarization efforts. And for the analysis, I am employing this PMEI framework—Political, Military, Economic, and Infrastructure—widely used in strategic and national security contexts, to provide a comprehensive lens to assess the EU’s complex systems, identifying strengths, vulnerabilities, and interdependencies across these critical domains.
France Cracked Down on Far-Right Corruption—And Team Trump Is Triggered – Mother Jones– www.motherjones.com
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Far-right French politician Marine Le Pen has not proven to be as lucky as Donald Trump was in skirting consequences of breaking the law.Alexis Sciard/IP3/ZUMA
Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.After a French court found far-right leader and former presidential frontrunner Marine Le Pen guilty of embezzlement on Monday—a conviction that will bar her from holding political office for five years—some of President Donald Trump’s closest allies are boosting baseless conspiracy theories alleging that Le Pen’s conviction is part of a global scheme to keep right-wing populists from holding office.
Le Pen is reportedly accused of wrongfully diverting $5 million in funds earmarked for the European Parliament to staffers of her nationalist, xenophobic party, the National Rally, over a 12-year period. The verdict makes her ineligible to run in the country’s next presidential election in 2027—and comes after she was polling at 37 percent, more than 10 points ahead of her closest challenger. Le Pen has run for that office three times before, and became more popular as right-wing political parties across Europe rose in prominence in recent years; in the 2022 presidential runoff, Le Pen earned 41.5 percent of votes to President Emmanuel Macron’s 58.6 percent. (Macron is term-limited.)
German foreign minister says Ukraine peace talks at ‘deadlock’, but China disagrees– www.euronews.com
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The German foreign minister says that US President Donald Trump’s efforts to secure a truce in Russia’s ongoing war against Ukraine are at a deadlock, but her Chinese counterpart claims that it is encouraging that peace talks between Washington and Moscow continue.Arriving in Kyiv for an unannounced visit, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said that “due to the deadlock” between the US and Russia on a ceasefire deal, European allies’ continued support for Ukraine in the war is “absolutely crucial”.
Yet at the same time, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, on a visit to Moscow, was quoted as saying Tuesday that “certain results have been achieved” in Washington’s attempt to stop the Kremlin’s full-scale invasion, now in its fourth year.
In an interview with Russian state news agency RIA Novosti, he said that Beijing supports the goal of “a fair, long-term, binding peace agreement acceptable to all parties involved”.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Wang is scheduled to meet with Putin and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Tuesday, but no further details were given.
Ukraine to deploy thousands of combat robots in 2025 to boost battlefield power – TVP World
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Zelensky Urges Europe to Unite Behind Ukraine, 3 Years After Bucha Massacre– www.themoscowtimes.com
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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday visited Bucha, where Russia’s army is accused of murdering hundreds of civilians three years ago, urging European allies to unite to prevent fresh massacres.
Following Russia’s retreat from the Kyiv suburb of Bucha after a month-long occupation ending March 31, 2022, AFP journalists saw the bodies of at least 20 civilians lying on a street after being shot dead, some with hands tied behind their backs.
It was the first in a string of macabre discoveries in towns abandoned by Russian forces, which sparked an international outcry and war crimes investigations. Moscow has denied responsibility, accusing Ukraine of staging incidents.
“Please remember that Bucha is not ‘somewhere in Ukraine’; it is something that can happen in any European country if our unity does not work now to genuinely hold Russia accountable for this war,” Zelensky said at a ceremony.
Poland charges Ukrainian man with spying for Russia – Al Arabiya English
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Le Pen conviction ‘a very big deal’ – Trump — RT World News– www.rt.com
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Excerpt:US President Donald Trump has said that the criminal prosecution of French opposition leader Marine Le Pen reminds him of his own legal battles under the Biden administration.
On Monday, Le Pen, the ex-leader of the conservative National Rally (RN) party, was sentenced to four years in prison, two of which will be suspended, and was barred from holding public office for five years. The embezzlement conviction effectively bars her from the 2027 presidential race.
When asked by reporters in the Oval Office about the verdict, Trump replied, “That’s a very big deal.”
“I know all about it, and a lot of people thought she wasn’t going to be convicted of anything,” Trump said.
“But she was banned [from] running for five years, and she’s the leading candidate. That sounds very much like this country,” he added.
Trump has often claimed that the court cases and investigations into his activities were part of a politically motivated “witch hunt” led by the Biden administration and the Democrats.
Sweden pledges $1.6 billion in new Ukraine aid, including air defense– www.yahoo.com
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PARIS — Sweden announced additional military aid for Ukraine to the tune of 16 billion Swedish kronor ($1.6 billion), in response to a Ukrainian request for capabilities in air defense, artillery, satellite communications and the maritime domain.
The new military aid package, Sweden’s biggest yet, brings support for Ukraine’s defense to 29.5 billion kronor this year, the government said on Monday. The Nordic country said it has provided 80 billion kronor of military aid to Ukraine since 2022.
“We are stepping up the support and we are increasing it in strength and scope, and there are strong reasons to do this in light of the very serious situation in Ukraine,” Minister for Defence Pål Jonson said at a press briefing in Stockholm on Monday. “Russia has the initiative in the war, and we need to support Ukraine to break that trend right now.”
The Swedish government has proposed to provide 40 billion kronor in aid in Ukraine in 2025, partially by moving funds earmarked for 2026 to this year.
Putin open to contacts after Trump criticism: Kremlin– thehill.com
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Russian President Vladimir Putin says he’s open to staying in touch with the White House after critical comments from the U.S. president toward Russia’s leader, which have been rare amid his efforts to get peace talks rolling.
Putin criticized Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday, suggesting he may not be a legitimate leader, and therefore unable to represent Ukraine in peace talks.
Trump said Sunday he was “very angry” and “pissed off” at Putin’s remarks about Zelensky, and threatened to impose new tariffs on Russian oil exports.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov indicated on Monday the remarks would not derail ongoing discussions related to Ukraine.
“We are working to implement some ideas in connection with the Ukrainian settlement. This work is ongoing,” Peskov said, per The Associated Press.
Trump Threatens Europe and Canada if They Band Together Against U.S. – The New York Times
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President Trump said in a middle-of-the-night social media post early Thursday that he would come after the European Union and Canada if they banded together to “do economic harm” to America, opening a new front in the unfolding trade war.
“If the European Union works with Canada in order to do economic harm to the USA, large scale Tariffs, far larger than currently planned, will be placed on them both in order to protect the best friend that each of those two countries has ever had!” Mr. Trump wrote.
His threat creates a new problem for the European Union, which is already trying to respond to his tariffs on steel, aluminum, autos and potentially a broader array of goods and services.
Mr. Trump on Wednesday said that all cars and certain automobile parts that are shipped into the United States would be subject to a 25 percent tariff.
NATO members considering deploying air and naval forces to Ukraine – WaPo — RT World News– www.rt.com
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Several European nations are reportedly shifting away from the idea of sending ground troops to the country
France and the UK are leading discussions on sending a military force to Ukraine, with the focus shifting to a potential deployment of air and naval forces amid ongoing ceasefire negotiations, the Washington Post reported on Sunday, citing sources.
The two countries seek to send a European-led ‘reassurance force’ to Ukraine to secure cities and key sites away from the front lines and to provide logistical support and training to the Ukrainian army.
As part of the effort, a French-British military team plans to visit Ukraine in the coming weeks to assess the number of troops needed and potential deployment locations, the WaPo says.
According to unnamed diplomats familiar with the matter, “the European focus has also shifted to air and sea power” due to concerns over whether the West would be able to maintain a large deployment of ground troops, while some NATO members have proposed using their assets to patrol the skies or the Black Sea.
However, some European officials doubt that a ceasefire – a precondition for deploying troops – will be reached soon, a WaPo source said. According to the paper, some diplomats describe the discussions about sending the military to Ukraine “as an exercise in preparation and leverage.”
Several European countries are reportedly hesitant to send troops without a promise from the US to intervene in case of an escalation, with European officials seeking American support in the form of air defense assets, intelligence, and heavy airlift. However, US President Donald Trump has not provided assurances, with officials from his team offering mixed signals over whether the option is even on the table.
While Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, recently described the initiative as “simplistic,” a French official familiar with the matter told the WaPo that the discussions are proceeding “in perfect harmony with our American partners, who are interested in this approach and have told us it’s a good one.”
Russia has warned against any unauthorized deployment of foreign troops to Ukraine, which it would consider to be legitimate targets. Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said Moscow is opposed to the idea of deploying NATO troops to Ukraine, regardless of whether they are “under a foreign flag, under the flag of the European Union or national flags.”
Ukraine-Russia war latest: Trump ‘very angry’ with Putin for stalling ceasefire and threatens more sanctions – The Independent
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Trump Putin: Russian newspaper fires salvo at Trump for not fulfilling ‘obligations’ after his ‘angry with Putin’ remark– timesofindia.indiatimes.com
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Reacting to US President Donald Trump’s caustic remark about Vladimir Putin that he was “pissed off” at Putin for delaying agreement with Ukraine to end the ongoing war, Moskovsky Komsomolets, a leading pro-Kremlin paper, accused Trump of not fulfilling “obligations” to stop Ukrainian strikes on Russian energy infrastructure.
“All agreements on the level of President Trump are only worth a few pennies on market day. Moscow is prepared to make a deal with the US president, as ‘the leader of the free world’, and the undisputed boss of Nato and ‘the lord and master of Kyiv’. But right now the leader is not leading, the boss is not bossing and the lord is not directing his vassal,” the paper stated. “The Trump administration is demonstrating a strange passivity, a strange inconsistency and a strange inability to fulfil the obligations it took upon itself,” the report said adding that Moscow has another way of ending the Ukraine crisis in a manner that suits Russia.“If the diplomats cannot move the peace process forward, the military will do all the talking. Putin has made his move, now we wait for Trump’s,” the paper said.
As Trump sees Ukraine peace deal slipping away he lashes out at both Putin and Zelensky– www.washingtonexaminer.com
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TRUMP: ‘VERY ANGRY, PISSED OFF’: With Russian President Vladimir Putin showing he’s in no hurry to make peace with Ukraine and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky balking at the latest version of the proposed mineral deals with the U.S., President Donald Trump is showing his frustration with both leaders as the prospects for a quick, war-ending deal are fading fast.
Trump, as quoted by NBC Meet the Press moderator Kristen Welker, is unhappy with Putin’s latest delaying tactic, calling for “temporary international administration” in Ukraine under the auspices of the United Nations, because Putin claims Zelensky is not the legitimate leader of Ukraine.
“The president told me, quote, ‘I was very angry, pissed off’ when Putin started getting into Zelensky’s credibility and started talking about new leadership in Ukraine,” Welker said in the opening of her Sunday show. “If Russia and I are unable to make a deal on stopping the bloodshed in Ukraine, and if I think it was Russia’s fault, which it might not be. But if I think it was Russia’s fault, I am going to put secondary tariffs on all oil coming out of Russia,” Welker quoted Trump as saying.
Ukraine-Russia war latest: Trump ‘p***** off’ with Putin and threatens more sanctions if ceasefire not agreed – The Independent
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Germany’s leader-in-waiting takes unexpectedly tough line on Trump swerve– www.washingtontimes.com
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Friedrich Merz, almost assured to be Germany’s next chancellor, is ignoring conventional wisdom when it comes to relations with President Donald Trump and his disruptive “American first” agenda for Europe.
Trump says he had “very good” call with Zelenskyy one day after speaking to Putin– www.cbsnews.com
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Washington — President Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy spoke on the phone Wednesday morning in a call that lasted roughly an hour, according to Mr. Trump.
“Just completed a very good telephone call with President Zelenskyy of Ukraine,” the president wrote on Truth Social. “It lasted approximately one hour. Much of the discussion was based on the call made yesterday with President Putin in order to align both Russia and Ukraine in terms of their requests and needs.”
The call comes a day after Mr. Trump’s lengthy call with Russian President Vladimir Putin, in which Mr. Trump said Putin agreed to a 30-day ceasefire against Ukraine’s energy and infrastructure. The commitment fell short of the full ceasefire pushed by the U.S. and agreed to by Ukraine. Hours after Mr. Trump and Putin hung up, Russia launched a series of drone strikes that struck civilian areas and damaged a hospital.
Trump and Putin agree to an immediate ceasefire for energy infrastructure in Ukraine conflict – AP News
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President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed during a lengthy call Tuesday to an immediate pause in strikes against energy infrastructure in the Ukraine war, but the Russian leader stopped short of backing a broader 30-day pause in fighting that the U.S. administration is pressing for.
The White House described it as the first step in a “movement to peace” that it hopes will include a maritime ceasefire in the Black Sea and eventually a full and lasting end to the fighting. But there was no indication that Putin has backed away from his conditions for a prospective peace deal, which are fiercely opposed by Kyiv. And shortly after the call ended, air raid alerts sounded in Kyiv, followed by explosions in the city. Local officials urged people to seek shelter.