Zelenskyy Furious as Trump Announces Deal to buy Russian Diesel

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Donald Trump is on a fresh collision course with Volodymyr Zelenskyy and European allies after his stunning agreement to buy Russian diesel upended years of US and western pressure on the Kremlin to end its war against Ukraine.

Zelenskyy reacted furiously to Trump’s announcement of the deal with Vladimir Putin on Friday, calling it “absolutely terrible” and “not fair and not honest”.

The Ukrainian president said “back room deals” with the Russian leader would give Putin more chances on the battlefield. On Saturday morning, Ukrainian officials reported that a Russian attack had killed 12 people in the south-east, including three children, and Moscow claimed its troops were advancing in the east.

In a move likely to create a fresh crisis with Washington’s Nato allies, Trump announced the deal with Putin on his Truth Social network, saying it was essential to reduce fuel prices in the US, which have soared as a result of his decision to go to war against Iran.

“I have just concluded a highly successful discussion with President Vladimir Putin, of Russia,” he said, to deliver millions of tonnes of diesel fuel over the next few months. (Read more from “Zelenskyy Furious as Trump Announces Deal to buy Russian Diesel” HERE)

World Health Organization Says No Sign of Plague Spreading in Russia

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World Health Organization (W.H.O.) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Tuesday that his agency has seen no evidence of plague spreading after a suspected lab leak incident in Siberia, although he said this assessment was highly dependent on information from Russian authorities, and he hinted they have been less forthcoming than W.H.O. would prefer.

In fact, Tedros’ statement primarily repeated what Russian officials have told him:

In response to W.H.O.’s verification request under the International Health Regulations, the Russian health authorities reported that no case of plague had recently been registered in Irkutsk oblast. They informed W.H.O. that an epidemiological investigation had been conducted, preventive and control measures implemented, and identified contacts placed under medical observation and tested. They reported that no high-threat pathogens had been detected among the contacts and that medical observation of all identified contacts had been completed.

W.H.O. has remained in contact with the Russian health authorities and has offered technical support. W.H.O. has requested further information to clarify the cause of the severe pneumonia, the pathogen that prompted the public health measures, and media reports of a second employee with pneumonia of undetermined cause.

Tedros concluded by emphasizing that “timely, complete, and transparent information sharing under the International Health Regulations” is essential to providing “an accurate assessment of potential public health risks.” (Read more from “World Health Organization Says No Sign of Plague Spreading in Russia” HERE)

Putin Orders Military Leaders to Target Civilians and Nuclear Facilities, Zelensky Warns: ‘No Rules Now’

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Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered his generals to abandon the rules of war and step up attacks on civilian targets and nuclear energy sites, Ukrainian officials have warned.

“He [Putin] said there are no rules now,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, speaking from a bomb shelter at a school in the capital, Kyiv, told the Financial Times on Thursday.

Ukrainian intelligence had intercepted information that Russia has now scrapped the constraints governing earlier air strikes as Moscow desperately seeks to regain the advantage after four and a half years of war.

Such attacks are intended not only to destroy infrastructure, but “to pressure people” and instil fear in civilians, Zelensky said.

With the front line now largely static and Russia unable to capture the eastern Donbas region, Putin is now pursuing “massive attack[s], massive killing,” the war leader added. (Read more from “Putin Orders Military Leaders to Target Civilians and Nuclear Facilities, Zelensky Warns: ‘No Rules Now’” HERE)

Flydubai Hijacker Was Barred by Oman, Flagged ‘Security Risk’ — Intended to Crash Jet in Israel

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The Omani co-pilot accused of trying to crash a Flydubai passenger jet carrying more than 170 people, nearly all of them Israeli, had previously been barred from flying over concerns about extremist views and identified as a security risk — and has indicated to investigators that he intended to crash the aircraft in Israel, according to reports Friday.

The Wall Street Journal reported Friday, citing people familiar with the matter, that Oman had barred the co-pilot from flying over concerns that he had adopted radical ideological views. Despite the ban, the Omani national was later hired by Flydubai and allowed to serve as first officer on the sensitive route connecting the United Arab Emirates and Israel.

ABC News provided further details about the earlier warning signs, reporting that the co-pilot had been identified as a security risk while working as a trainee for Oman Air in 2024 after extremist materials were discovered in his possession, according to senior intelligence and law enforcement officials.

He was subsequently removed from flying but allowed to continue working for Oman Air in an administrative role, according to the report. Investigators are now trying to determine how he was later permitted to fly for Flydubai and ultimately became first officer aboard Wednesday’s flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv.

Now in UAE custody, the suspect is cooperating with authorities and “has indicated that his intent was to crash the aircraft in Israel,” ABC reported, citing sources briefed on the investigation. He was transferred to the UAE from Saudi Arabia on Thursday. (Read more from “Flydubai Hijacker Was Barred by Oman, Flagged ‘Security Risk’ — Intended to Crash Jet in Israel” HERE)

Iran Turns Tables on Trump Admin after Dramatic Warning amid Escalating War

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Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf rejected claims by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent that Iran faces an imminent economic collapse, arguing instead that Washington is heading toward a debt crisis of its own.

Responding on X to Bessent’s assertion earlier Wednesday that Tehran could have “nothing left to trade” within two weeks, Ghalibaf used memes to point to what he saw as U.S. economic vulnerabilities.

Among them was a mock financial model titled “Trajectory of Stress on the House,” which contended that ballooning national debt, rising Treasury bond yields and energy costs will place mounting strain on the American financial system.

Ghalibaf also paired the mock formula with a cartoon depicting Bessent as Wile E. Coyote running off a cliff.

(Read more from “Iran Turns Tables on Trump Admin after Dramatic Warning amid Escalating War” HERE)

Russia Paying US Recruits $26,000 to Become Cannon Fodder in Ukraine War

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Russia is recruiting frontline troops for its war against Ukraine any way it can, and has duped at least 18 US men into fighting.

Moscow has suffered 1.5 million casualties including 500,000 deaths since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, per estimates from the UK, and aggressively enlists foreigners to prop up its war effort.

Most are sent into the “meatgrinder” — the frontlines where they are mostly cannon fodder, quickly mowed down by Ukrainian drones, soldiers or artillery.

“It has become an entire industry and is very profitable. Russia suffers 30,000–40,000 casualties every month and they are no longer able to cover their losses,” Vitaliy Matvienko, who heads a Ukrainian state project on Russian surrenders, told The Post.

“They recruit foreigners, send them to war, and when they are killed, their deaths do not create any negative reaction in Russian society. In most cases, the families of killed foreign recruits do not receive the compensation they are supposed to receive.”

Agents all around the world have been mobilized and use targeted ads on Facebook, TikTok and Telegram to prey on the poor, vulnerable and ideologically obsessed — earning $24,000 per recruit, plus a cut of their salary. (Read more from “Russia Paying US Recruits $26,000 to Become Cannon Fodder in Ukraine War” HERE)

Finland and Sweden Scramble Fighter Jets Together Against Russia in Historic First

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Finnish and Swedish fighter jets scrambled for the first time on Sept. 24 to intercept supersonic Russian military aircraft flying over the Gulf of Finland, marking a major milestone in Nordic defense cooperation amid heightened tensions with Moscow.

The mission also came one day before Russian President Vladimir Putin dismissed European warnings about the threat from Moscow in the region and mocked Estonia’s new defense minister over the Baltic state’s preparations for a potential Russian attack.

Finnish F/A-18 Hornets and Swedish JAS 39 Gripens were scrambled after Russian aircraft were detected in the international airspace, according to the Swedish Armed Forces.

The Russian formation included a Tu-134 transport plane, a high-altitude, supersonic MiG-31 interceptor designed to detect and engage long-range threats; and Su-30 multirole fighter jets which are designed for air-to-air and air-to-ground combat.

“This is what close cooperation looks like in practice,” Maj. Gen. Jonas Wikman, commander of the Swedish Air Force, said in a statement following the joint operation. (Read more from “Finland and Sweden Scramble Fighter Jets Together Against Russia in Historic First” HERE)

Photo credit: Flickr

Mojtaba Khamenei had to be ‘Pulled from the Rubble’ of Hospital after US Strikes Nearly Killed Him a Second Time: Report

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. . .Mojtaba Khamenei was rushed to a Tehran hospital after the February strikes targeting his father nearly killed him, only to be “pulled from the rubble” again after the United States and Israel bombed the medical center, an Iranian cleric revealed in an interview with Qatari television this week.

After obliterating Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s Tehran compound — which killed the 86-year-old supreme leader and dozens of his top leaders — the allies also reportedly bombed three different hospitals in Tehran on Feb. 28 to launch the war.

The younger Khamenei, 56, was pulled from underneath the rubble of one of the hospitals, before going vanishing to an unknown location — and has not been seen in public or his voice heard since.

“Even after he had been wounded and taken to the hospital, three hospitals in Tehran were bombed,” Mohsen Heydari, a member of Iran’s Assembly of Experts, told Qatari television network Al Araby Thursday.

“Mojtaba Khamenei was in the third hospital and was pulled from the rubble.” (Read more from “Mojtaba Khamenei had to be ‘Pulled from the Rubble’ of Hospital after US Strikes Nearly Killed Him a Second Time: Report” HERE)

UN adds Over 60 Companies to Israel Blacklist

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The United Nations’ human rights office added 61 companies to a blacklist of businesses with activities in Judea and Samaria and eastern Jerusalem, in an annual report released on Friday.

The Database of Business Enterprises now holds details on 214 companies, based in 11 countries, including major operations like Motorola, along with travel apps such as Airbnb, Booking.com and Tripadvisor. Five entities were removed since last year’s publication.

The blacklist is issued by the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.

It was created in 2020 under a UN Human Rights Council resolution mandate during the tenure of Michelle Bachelet, who dropped out of the race for UN secretary-general on Sept. 19, 2026, after the former Chilean president received the support of only one of the 15 UN Security Council members.

“This is a distorted mechanism—created by a deeply flawed body with an automatic majority against Israel. It was established solely to persecute the Jewish state, with no equivalent anywhere else in the world,” the Israeli mission to the UN in Geneva said in a statement. (Read more from “UN adds Over 60 Companies to Israel Blacklist” HERE)

Trump And Xi Found One Thing In Common On AI

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President Donald Trump’s biggest takeaway on artificial intelligence from his meeting with Chinese leadership was a new name for the technology.

Chinese President Xi Jinping “seemed to like” renaming artificial intelligence to “Super Intelligence” during the leaders’ Thursday summit at the White House, where they discussed the technology, the president said in a Friday Truth Social post. State Department staff were instructed to use the new term after Trump announced the change on Tuesday at the United Nations General Assembly, the Hill reported.

“Very productive meeting with President Xi for both the U.S.A. and China. Tremendous things will be happening,” the president said in a Friday morning Truth Social post. “Like almost everyone else, he seemed to like calling the poorly and inaccurately named Artificial Intelligence to a far more accurate and important name, SUPER INTELLIGENCE. That would be ‘SUPER!’ Everyone last night agreed, also.”

However, Xi did not use the term “Super Intelligence” when he spoke about the technology on Thursday.“We have both the capability and responsibility to develop and manage AI for good, and ensure that the development of AI is always under human control and serves the well-being of the people,” Xi said, according to the Hill. (Read more from “Trump And Xi Found One Thing In Common On AI” HERE)