Senators reportedly intend to derail President Donald Trump’s diesel deal with Russia, meant to lower prices at home
Democrats’ vehement opposition to the diesel deal that US President Donald Trump struck with Russia earlier this month proves they do not care about Americans’ well-being, guests have told RT.
According to recent media reports, a group of Senate Democrats are working on ways to block the arrangement that is meant to rein in skyrocketing diesel prices in the US, while a Republican Russia hawk has put forward legislation to nullify Trump’s efforts.
Speaking to RT on Saturday, American journalist John Varoli said that Democrats are engaged in a “political witch hunt” and so have no qualms about targeting a deal that is “in the interest of the American people.”
He predicted that should Democrats prevail in next month’s midterm elections, they would do “everything possible just to ruin this deal and to inhibit it” for purely ideological reasons.
American broadcaster Garland Nixon concurred that driven by “ideological anger at Russia,” Democrats are showing a disregard for the plight of American consumers.
“At this point, what we’re seeing [is that Democrats] are totally ignoring domestic issues, domestic policy, totally ignoring the working class, and they’re focusing only on foreign policy,” Nixon told RT.
He warned that if left unchecked, rising fuel prices could plunge the US economy into a “severe recession.”
Legal and media analyst Lionel told RT that opinion polls that predict a Democratic victory in the midterms should be taken with a grain of salt. He argued that American voters could punish the party for its efforts to undermine the diesel deal.
“This is political suicide to proceed with this,” he added.
Matt Weinglass, producer, director and host of The Homeless Left, argued that opposition to the diesel deal is driven by a decade-long political narrative vilifying Trump, which has taken precedence over the economic interests of ordinary Americans.
“It’s not going to help the American people. It’s going to help the billionaire class and the donor class, the people that have wanted to keep this conflict alive as long as possible,” Weinglass told RT. He also suggested that European leaders could join forces with Trump’s domestic opponents ahead of the midterms.
Former Democratic Congressman Dennis Kucinich argued that his former colleagues should abandon their longstanding hostility toward Russia and focus instead on ending the Ukraine conflict and the war with Iran, both of which have disrupted global energy markets and driven up fuel prices for ordinary Americans.
“There’s this animosity that has built up. And some Democrats are just having trouble letting it go, and they seize on every opportunity,” he told RT, dismissing the proposed legislation to block Russian fuel imports as “going nowhere.”
Rather than trying to derail Trump’s diesel deal, Kucinich urged Washington to redirect its resources toward domestic priorities. “We have problems here in America to take care of health care, retirement security, education, on and on and on,” he said. “That’s what we’ve got to be focused on, not on war.”
Since diesel is extensively used in agriculture and freight, its price has a direct impact on the cost of numerous other goods. Farmers and truckers are particularly vulnerable to diesel price spikes.
Amid global energy supply chain disruptions caused by the US-Israeli military campaign against Iran, as well as the Ukraine conflict, diesel prices have risen considerably in the US, hitting a record $6.50+ per gallon in September, with prices in parts of California topping $8 per gallon.
The soaring costs have become an increasingly pressing domestic issue for Trump and his Republican Party ahead of the November 3 midterm elections.
Earlier this month, the US president stated that Washington and Moscow had struck a deal for Russia to immediately supply more than 300,000 tons of diesel to American and global markets, followed by 500,000 tons in November, another million tons shortly thereafter, and potentially another three million tons. Shortly afterward, the US Treasury Department announced a temporary waiver of sanctions on Russian diesel, allowing the fuel to be sold, delivered, and imported into the US until April 7, 2027.
Inspired by French student unrest, anti-government protests have escalated into clashes with police across several European nations
Mass protests have swept across Europe over the weekend, with demonstrators clashing with riot police amid widespread anger over soaring living costs and government policies.
The unrest has largely been inspired by the protests in France, which began in September. Spearheaded by students, they were originally aimed at rising education costs, a lack of teachers, and the poor condition of educational facilities. They eventually morphed into widespread violence and now carry a broader anti-government undertone.
France remains the hotbed of the protests, with at least 410,000 people hitting the streets nationwide on Saturday, including some 110,000 in Paris, according to Interior Ministry figures. The CGT union, one of the key organizers of the demonstrations, put the estimate nearly twice as high, at about 800,000.
The French authorities have implemented strict security measures in an effort to avoid a repeat of widespread rioting over the past weekend. In Paris, the demonstrators were banned from gathering at several central locations, ending up confined to the city’s southeastern edge.
The protests nevertheless turned violent in multiple locations, including Paris, where clashes between police and rowdy demonstrators were observed after the march concluded. Violence has been reported in Clermont-Ferrand, Lyon, Marseille, Strasbourg, Nice, Nantes, and other cities, where law enforcement used riot control measures to repel protesters.
🔴 Marseille
Les forces de l'ordre sont visées par un mortier de feu d'artifice.
#24octobre https://t.co/E0yOMFTTvI
Nearly 1,000 people were arrested across France on Saturday, according to authorities, as several cities reported looting, vandalism and attacks on police. Some 70,000 officers were deployed nationwide to contain the unrest.
A Grenoble, en marge de la mobilisation du 24 octobre, des casseurs sont entrés et ont pillés un magasin alimentaire.
En plus des canettes, des chips, des pizzas, et tout autre type d’aliments sont jetés à la foule. Certains récupèrent les aliments et s’enfuient en courant. La… https://t.co/JyckQUAPAj
— Le Dauphiné Libéré Grenoble Sud Isère (@LeDL_Grenoble) October 24, 2026
🚨🇫🇷 MONTPELLIER : des manifestants tentent de FORCER un barrage de police, sans succès ! (Aury Bouzar) https://t.co/fnR9GRDc7P
Albania is another hotspot. Riot police repeatedly clashed with demonstrators in Tirana on Saturday as thousands gathered for renewed anti-government protests. Months of unrest have escalated into a nationwide movement fueled by soaring living costs, unemployment, corruption and deteriorating public services. Student-led demonstrations demanding cheaper education and better university conditions have intensified pressure on Prime Minister Edi Rama, whose resignation has become a central demand of the protesters.
Italy
Mass protests have also been held across Italy, which endured a wave of violence last weekend. Bracing for renewed unrest, the government deployed an additional 500 troops to Milan, where luxury boutiques were boarded up in an effort to prevent a repeat of looting and clashes.
Italy sends 500 military troops to Milan and business have boarded up in preparation for more riots. https://t.co/UxACjcaEBK
Still, violence erupted at many locations across the country, including Rome, Naples, and Bologna, with police seen deploying water cannons and using tear gas to try to disperse rowdy protesters.
A group of protesters forced their way into the Colosseum in Rome, briefly occupying the ancient landmark before being forced out by security guards. Elsewhere in the capital, demonstrators hurled bottles and firecrackers at police barricades.
Chaos in Rome. Masked rioters storm the Colosseum, forcing the entrance barriers. "Peaceful protest" they say. Unbelievable. https://t.co/9KROPmUWTe
Major anti-government demonstrations have been held in Brussels, Belgium. The country was one of the first to feel the spillover effects of the French unrest, with local youth also embarking on violent protests for the sake of better conditions in the education system.
The clashes in Brussels appeared to be less violent and much smaller compared to the previous weekend. Still, police were seen using pepper spray and tear gas to disperse demonstrators, even though they had reported no major incidents by the end of Saturday afternoon.
Spain
Spain has joined the weekend of protests too, with a massive pensioners’ demonstration held in Madrid. Thousands took to the streets of the Spanish capital, demanding better pensions and closing the gender gap, as well as regular indexation to inflation.
🚨 BREAKING: THOUSANDS PROTEST FOR HIGHER PENSIONS IN MADRID
Retirees marched in central Madrid demanding stronger public pensions, higher minimum payments and protection against a shift toward private pension funds. Attendance estimates ranged from 25,000 to 50,000. https://t.co/XikzAZDifO
While the pensioners' protest was orderly and peaceful, violence hit Spain’s second-largest city of Barcelona, where an unauthorized youth protest was staged. The rally was reportedly organized and coordinated through social media. While law enforcement managed to break up the main gathering, the protesters dispersed in smaller groups across the city, engaging in looting and arson, chaotic footage from the scene suggests.
Portugal
Lisbon also saw mass demonstrations on Saturday, with thousands marching against soaring rents and unaffordable housing. Protesters erected dozens of tents in the capital’s central Rossio Square despite police warnings and a crackdown earlier in the week, when officers dismantled a previous encampment and arrested 55 activists.
Grupos de extrema izquierda vuelven a montar la acampada en la plaza del Rossio, en Lisboa, tras días de su desalojo por la Policía portuguesa. https://t.co/cz4PCMz0el
Rebranded Confucius Institute chapters were trying to “infiltrate the minds of American students,” Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has claimed
The Pentagon has designated cultural programs linked to China’s Confucius Institute as a national security threat, according to US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth. He claims that the centers, which largely offer Chinese language courses on American college and university campuses, serve as a front for Beijing’s “propaganda” campaign – an allegation Chinese officials have previously denied.
In a video posted on Facebook on Friday, Hegseth said that while the US Congress had previously “banned” the Confucius Institutes from American educational institutions, they “came back disguised in new forms” and under new names.
Hegseth was apparently referring to several measures passed by Congress in recent years that stripped universities that hosted Confucius Institutes of federal funding. The pressure from the lawmakers has led to the closure of multiple centers on US soil.
According to Hegseth, over the past two months, the Department of War has “systematically dismantled” 80 new Chinese-backed cultural centers across 30 universities, adding “these sleeper organizations to our list of institutions that threaten our national security.”
The official alleged that the targeted entities had sought to “steal intellectual property and to infiltrate the minds of American students,” but stopped short of providing any concrete evidence.
Back in 2020, the US Department of State designated Confucius Institutes as a “foreign mission of the People’s Republic of China,” requiring the institutions to regularly provide information regarding their Chinese personnel, recruitment, funding, and operations to the US government. The US Department of State characterized the China-funded cultural centers as “part of Beijing’s multifaceted propaganda efforts.”
Later that year, then-US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo alleged that the centers were working to recruit “spies and collaborators” at US colleges, and expressed hope that “we will get them all closed out.”
China’s Foreign Ministry at the time accused Pompeo of deliberately undermining cultural and educational exchanges “by discrediting Confucius Institutes… [out of] ideological bias and political expediency.”
Beijing urged Washington to “abandon the Cold War zero-sum mentality… [and to] stop interfering with normal people-to-people and cultural exchanges.”
Confucius Institutes have similarly come under government pressure in several other Western countries in recent years.
Last year, Australian media reported that six local universities had shut down Beijing-backed cultural centers amid government scrutiny, reducing the number of such entities in the country by half.
In 2020, several media outlets, including The Times, claimed that Sweden had become the first European nation to close all Confucius Institutes and related classrooms.
Senate threats over Russia sanctions waivers can scare companies off, hurting fuel supplies and driving up costs for everyone
With Americans struggling from soaring energy prices, and businesses across the country trying to keep their heads above water, the Democrats’ apparent priority is to threaten companies that might help ease the pressure.
According to an October 22 Washington Post report, Senate Democrats are preparing to investigate American companies involved in US President Donald Trump’s decision to ease sanctions on Russian diesel. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee has reportedly asked businesses to preserve relevant documents ahead of possible congressional investigations, should Democrats regain control of Congress in the November midterms.
For a party that claims to champion working Americans, this is a peculiar way of demonstrating its concern.
Diesel is the lifeblood of the American economy. It powers the trucks that carry food to supermarkets, the tractors that harvest crops, the machinery that builds homes and roads, and the locomotives that move freight across the vast country.
Yet the people who depend on it have too often been treated as an afterthought by the Washington establishment. They live and work in the industrial towns, farming communities and sprawling rural counties that coastal political elites dismiss as flyover country.
Just recall Hillary Clinton’s infamous 2016 description of millions of Trump supporters as a “basket of deplorables” – a perfect crystallization of the contempt that many ordinary Americans felt was directed at them by the Democrats.
A decade later, that perception is unlikely to be helped by the Democratic lawmakers’ threats to investigate businesses for participating in an arrangement intended to bring additional fuel to the market.
The timing makes those threats extra galling. America is facing an energy crunch aggravated by the Trump administration’s own military campaign against Iran. There is no reason to pretend otherwise. Yes, the president’s decisions helped disrupt global energy markets, and Americans are entitled to demand answers about their consequences.
But recognizing that responsibility does not mean opposing every subsequent attempt to alleviate the damage.
Trump’s decision to temporarily ease restrictions on Russian diesel represents an effort to increase available supplies at a time when the market desperately needs relief. It is a pragmatic response to an immediate economic problem, whatever one thinks of the circumstances that created it.
And now Democrats are determined to make that response costly for the companies willing to participate.
Congress has every right to examine whether the administration acted within its legal authority. But threatening private businesses with investigations for engaging in transactions authorized by the federal government is another matter entirely. If those companies comply with the law, why should they have to fear becoming targets of a future congressional majority?
The actual volume of Russian diesel involved is almost beside the point. Moscow initially pledged to release some 300,000 metric tons of diesel, with further shipments promised in the following months – a modest quantity compared to America’s enormous fuel consumption.
But that’s not what the markets will be reacting to. They react to expectations, regulatory certainty and the willingness of businesses to undertake transactions without fearing political retaliation. And now, even a lawful, government-authorized energy deal could expose companies to years of investigations simply because a different party took power.
Just imagine the chilling effect.
Today, the dispute concerns a relatively small quantity of fuel from one supplier. Tomorrow, the same approach could be applied to other commodities, trading partners or commercial arrangements that fall afoul of Washington’s shifting ideological priorities.
In effect, the Democrats want to hold American energy security hostage to domestic political warfare.
And for what? The ostensible objective is to keep pressuring Russia.
For years, Moscow has faced sweeping Western sanctions, restrictions on financial transactions and efforts to shut its energy exports out of international markets. None of this has forced Russia to accept any of the West’s demands.
Russia has shown it can adapt and endure economic pressure. While not entirely painless, sanctions have consistently failed to produce the political outcome their advocates have called and hoped for.
Meanwhile, Moscow has repeatedly signaled that it remains prepared to negotiate to reasonable counterparts that would take Russia’s own security concerns and national interests into account. Whether those positions are acceptable to Washington is a matter for diplomacy – and refusing to talk altogether is not diplomacy.
Trump is willing to acknowledge that Russia remains a major power with which the US must eventually find a workable relationship. It’s the baseline level of recognition of political reality one expects from the leader of a major world power.
What the Democrats are doing is the international-politics equivalent of pressing their hands to their ears and shouting ‘La La La’ at the top of their lungs.
The truck driver paying more at the pump, the farmer counting operating costs for the next season and the small-business owner watching expenses climb have little interest in Washington’s political theater. They want affordable fuel, predictable costs and a government that remembers whom it is supposed to serve.
Threatening investigations to discourage companies from helping supply the American market is not sending the message the Democrats seem to think it’s sending. It suggests that, to them, political obedience matters more than keeping the country running.
And ordinary Americans could once again be left paying the bill.
Right-wing firebrand Marine Le Pen is widely seen as the front runner in the election scheduled for next spring, according to several polls
France’s presidential hopefuls are turning burning streets, smashed storefronts, and accusations of police brutality into campaign ammunition, RT’s Oumaima Ichchar has reported.
While right-wing firebrand and potential front runner Marine Le Pen blames collapsing state authority, her left-wing rival, Jean-Luc Melenchon, accuses the government of failing to hear the voice of the people.
Nationwide protests began in September over underfunded schools and rising living costs, and escalated into widespread violence last week. Rioters have torched cars, looted or damaged thousands of businesses, and set fire to Limoges’ 143-year-old city hall. The clashes have also left hundreds of protesters and law enforcement officers injured and led to thousands of arrests.
In some of the most brazen incidents, a 15-year-old boy lost a hand to a police grenade, while a 17-year-old girl permanently lost sight in one eye after being struck by a projectile in Mulhouse. Macron, meanwhile, blamed radical-left militants and criminals for much of the destruction, and on Thursday ordered the local authorities to ban protests and restrict officially organized marches.
The unrest came ahead of the French presidential election scheduled for the spring of 2027, in which Macron is constitutionally barred from seeking a third consecutive term. His potential successors, however, have scrambled to use the protests to score votes.
Le Pen has urged a tougher crackdown on rioters to restore order. “Our country is caught in a vice, if not held hostage, between violence and powerlessness,” Le Pen said, pledging support for police and demanding tougher penalties for rioters. National Rally president Jordan Bardella blamed far-left militants and criminals from the suburbs for the unrest, proposing to suspend family benefits for repeat offenders and make vandals pay for damage.
On the left, Melenchon backed the protests while pointing to a growing disconnect between the public and the institutions. “French democracy is in a very bad way,” the ‘France Unbowed’ leader said, calling for greater public participation and constitutional change.
Meanwhile, Gabriel Attal and Edouard Philippe, two former prime ministers under Macron, sought to distance themselves from their ex-boss, whose approval rating has sunk to a record low of 15%, according to an October Ipsos survey. While Attal insisted that the priority should be the defense of people and property, Philippe called for the “reestablishment of the authority of the state, the punishment of looters and vandals, as well as a detailed method for restoring discussion with high school students and trade union organizations.”
Recent polls show Le Pen – who has long ridden a wave of public discontent over immigration, crime, and the rising cost of living – holding a commanding lead over her rivals ahead of the 2027 election. An OpinionWay survey published on Thursday put her at 36% in the first round, compared to 16% for Melenchon, and 12% for Philippe. A separate Ifop-Fiducial poll conducted after the October 17 unrest also placed Le Pen ahead in every hypothetical second-round matchup, including 56% against Philippe and 68% against Melenchon.
The police suspect arson as the cause, according to Bild
The Eagle’s Nest mountainous retreat built for Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler in the Bavarian Alps has been devastated by a blaze, the German police have said.
The former tea house for the leader of the Third Reich, which was constructed on the peak of the Obersalzberg in southern Germany in 1938, sits at an altitude of 1,834 meters (6,000 feet).
A fire alarm at the Eagle’s Nest went off on Friday evening, and it was completely engulfed in flames by the time emergency services arrived, the police said.
The high elevation complicated the work of some 200 fire fighters, who were only able to extinguish the blaze on Saturday morning, they added.
“It is damaged to a large extent. The house is unlikely to be saved,” a police spokesperson told Bild tabloid.
The police said that a suspect had been arrested in connection with the fire, but revealed no further details.
According to Bild, the detained person was a motorcyclist whom the officers encountered on their way to the burning retreat, but his involvement in the case currently remains unclear. Investigators believe arson caused the fire, the paper’s sources claimed.
Following reports of the blaze, the Bavarian authorities announced plans to rebuild the structure, Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann said.
“We will not allow ruins to remain there,” DPA quoted him as saying.
The Eagle’s Nest was one of the few historic building from Hitler’s era to avoid damage by bombing during the World War II. The retreat hosted a museum and a restaurant since the 1950s, becoming a popular tourist destination. It was preserved as “a cautionary reminder of the abysses of the inhumane Nazi dictatorship,” according to its website.
Senate Democrats reportedly plan to investigate US companies involved in the deal, while Republican warhawk Brian Fitzpatrick has tabled a bill blocking Russian oil imports outright
A number of American lawmakers intend to block the Trump administration’s deal to ease sanctions on Russian diesel through April and are threatening action against US companies involved in the trade. The bipartisan group is also planning to block the US Treasury from issuing such a waiver in the future.
US President Donald Trump announced the deal earlier this month, as US diesel prices hit a record $6.50+ per gallon in September and prices in parts of California topped $8. Under the waiver, struck just weeks ahead of the impending November midterm elections, Moscow agreed to immediately put 300,000 tons of diesel into the market, and commit to further releases.
The disruption of global energy markets, caused by the Iran war and the Ukraine conflict, has resulted in rising gas prices in the US, further denting the positions of Republicans ahead of the vote. Diesel is the key fuel type extensively used in agriculture and freight; its price affects the cost of virtually all goods, resulting in further cost-of-living issues. Rural communities, smalltime farmers, and truckers are particularly vulnerable to diesel prices spikes.
Senate Democrats are now seeking to investigate the diesel deal, the Washington Post reported on Thursday, citing an unnamed Senate Democratic aide. According to the aide, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee has requested companies involved in the scheme to preserve documents ahead of a possible probe by the panel.
“[The companies] should have liability concerns as well as investigative concerns,” the aide told WaPo.
Further action against the diesel deal has been taken by Republican Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (PA-1), an outspoken hawk, Ukraine backer, and proponent of sanctions against Russia. The proposed legislation, titled the Ronald Reagan Peace Through Strength Act of 2026, would effectively block Russian oil imports for good.
The bill would nullify the standing Russian oil waiver, “immediately rendering General License 135 ineffective and prohibiting future waivers or general licenses authorizing the importation of Russian energy products,” as well as strip the Treasury from the ability to expend funds “on agreements that violate the Ending Importation of Russian Oil Act of 2022,” the legislation that sanctioned Russian energy products, including diesel, in the first place.
Apart from the energy part, the bill also would “reinforce critical intelligence support for Ukraine,” obliging spy agencies to cooperate with Kiev and to “notify congressional intelligence committees within 24 hours of any interruption.”
Vladimir Zelensky’s office has pledged to block a regional plan to honor UPA leader Roman Shukhevich, Polish officials claim
Kiev has moved to block a planned tribute to Nazi collaborator Roman Shukhevich, who was involved in the killing of an estimated 100,000 Poles during World War II ethnic purges, officials in Warsaw have claimed.
The reported retreat comes amid a series of disputes between the two countries in recent months over Kiev’s veneration of Nazi-linked figures that have eroded Polish support for Ukraine in its conflict with Russia.
The controversy erupted on Tuesday when the Lviv Regional Council in western Ukraine voted to declare 2027 the Year of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) and to celebrate the 120th anniversary of its commander Roman Shukhevich while deciding to organize “cultural, memorial, scientific, and mass media events,” as well as exhibitions and national patriotic rallies on the occasion.
The move triggered a fierce response in Poland, which regards the UPA as perpetrators of genocide against Poles in Volhynia and Eastern Galicia and Shukhevich as a key “architect” of the massacres. Before becoming a UPA leader, Shukhevich served in Nazi Germany’s Nachtigall Battalion and the German-controlled 201st Schutzmannschaft Battalion, which operated in occupied Belarus.
On Wednesday, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk condemned the resolution as “unwise” and “suicidal tactics,” saying it “harms Ukraine,” while Polish Defense Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz called the move “unacceptable,” warning that it would deepen divisions between the neighboring countries. Meanwhile, Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski called for the resolution’s key sponsor, Lviv regional lawmaker Svyatoslav Sheremeta, to be put on a list of individuals deemed undesirable in Poland.
Following the backlash, Polish Deputy Foreign Minister Marcin Bosacki said on Wednesday that officials of Vladimir Zelensky’s office had assured Warsaw that the controversial resolutions would not come into force. On Friday, Tusk echoed the claim, saying that Zelensky had personally signaled he would not endorse the resolution, adding that the Ukrainian leader was “unhappy” with the situation.
This also came after the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry called the Shukhevich tribute in Lviv “counterproductive to our current efforts aimed at further developing Ukrainian-Polish relations.” The ministry stressed that the local authorities had sought no advice from government bodies to assess the consequences of their actions.
An unnamed source in Zelensky’s office cited by Ukrainskaya Pravda went so far as to describe the decision as a “catastrophe.”“Ukraine looks erratic. We have just resolved the previous crisis – and now this,” the source said, accusing regional officials of pursuing “cheap one-day hype” despite knowing all too well what the resolution would lead to.
While senior Ukrainian officials apparently distanced themselves from the controversy, the Lviv council’s original announcement remains accessible as of Saturday. Sheremet also previously defended the resolution, saying “This is our history, our heroes, and we must duly honor their memory.”
The dispute is the latest in a series of heated clashes between Kiev and Warsaw over Ukraine’s continued veneration of nationalist figures that collaborated with Nazi Germany during World War II.
In May, Zelensky awarded an elite Ukrainian special operations unit the honorary title “Heroes of the UPA,” prompting another diplomatic uproar, with Polish President Karol Nawrocki stripping the Ukrainian leader of the Order of the White Eagle, Poland’s highest state decoration.
The US State Department is pulling staff from Middle East embassies as the Pentagon is reportedly relocating troops from regional bases
US President Donald Trump has threatened to launch another military operation against Iran, as Washington quietly withdraws diplomatic personnel and relocates troops from bases across the Middle East in moves resembling preparations ahead of the initial US-Israeli strikes in February.
“We may do another little Epic Fury, or they’ll agree,” Trump declared during a campaign rally in Florida on Friday, referring to the military offensive launched against Iran on February 28.
“If they’re smart, they’ll just say, let’s get down to business,” he added, before expressing doubt that Tehran would agree to Washington’s demands.
The Pentagon officially declared Operation Epic Fury over on May 5, despite the continuation of the conflict. The administration has sought to avoid formally characterizing the hostilities as a war, maintaining that the fighting had diminished. Trump reiterated on Friday that previous US strikes had “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear enrichment capacity and defeated the country “militarily, financially and otherwise.”
Trump’s latest threat comes as the US State Department has announced staffing reductions at four more embassies across the Middle East, citing alleged threats from Iran and Yemen’s Houthis.
The diplomatic missions in Jordan, Lebanon, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates will remain open but operate with fewer personnel. Unlike in Saudi Arabia, where nonessential staff and their families were ordered to leave earlier this week, personnel at the other embassies are not required to depart.
A separate intelligence memo sent to Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Friday claimed that Tehran had intensified efforts to target Americans abroad.
“The lethal plotting efforts by the Iranians against US citizens have reached advanced stages in both the Middle East and certain other countries,” Director of National Intelligence Jay Clayton wrote in the document obtained by AP and Axios.
The memo did not publicly identify specific targets or provide evidence substantiating the alleged plots. US officials have denied that the diplomatic withdrawals are connected to preparations for renewed strikes against Iran.
However, the drawdowns coincide with reports that the Pentagon has quietly begun relocating troops from bases in Jordan, Qatar and Kuwait. NBC News reported the movements on Wednesday, with CBS subsequently confirming the reductions.
Similar precautions were taken before the February 28 offensive, when the Pentagon evacuated troops from vulnerable installations ahead of anticipated Iranian retaliation. Tehran subsequently accused Washington of using Gulf residents as “human shields” after American military personnel reportedly relocated to civilian hotels and office buildings.
The Pentagon reportedly presented Trump with options for renewed strikes against Iranian nuclear facilities, underground military installations and strategic islands, including Kharg Island, a major oil export hub.
Trump has pledged not to launch new attacks before the November 3 midterm elections, while keeping military action on the table if Tehran refuses Washington’s demands.
The man was released from pre-trial detention after delays in questioning the teenage victim and was later accused of another rape
A Syrian migrant arrested in Germany on suspicion of raping a teenage girl was released after just 40 days in pre-trial detention and later accused of raping another woman, local media reported on Thursday.
In the wake of the latter episode, the man went into hiding but was eventually captured by the authorities several months later. He was subsequently convicted of raping the teenager and is still standing trial over the second allegation.
The 26-year-old, identified by Bild as Ahmad A., was initially apprehended in late February 2025 over the rape of a 16-year-old girl at a Munich asylum center. However, the teenager could not undergo judicial questioning in time due to her psychological condition.
The delay prompted the Munich Public Prosecutor’s Office to request the suspect’s release in early April. Bild quoted prosecutor Juliane Grotz as saying that continued detention would have violated the “principle of expedited proceedings in detention cases” and would have been “no longer proportionate.”
Without the victim’s testimony, authorities could not determine how much longer the investigation would take, they told Süddeutsche Zeitung.
In July 2025, Ahmad A., who was required to report to police twice a week and barred from approaching the teenage victim, allegedly lured a 29-year-old woman to a secluded location, where he and two Yemeni nationals took turns raping her.
Police arrested the suspects in September 2025, with Ahmad A. subsequently convicted of raping the 16-year-old girl. He was sentenced to two and a half years in prison in November 2025.
The trial over the alleged rape of the 29-year-old woman is still underway, with the next hearing scheduled for October 27.
Ahmad A. maintains that the sexual encounter was consensual, Bild reported, citing his lawyer.
Also in Munich, local police reported in June that they had arrested two young Syrian migrants on suspicion of raping an 18-year-old German woman they had met at a nightclub.
There have been multiple similar cases involving migrants across Germany in recent years.
Under former German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s open-border policies, more than a million people arrived in Germany from Syria, Afghanistan, and Iraq at the height of the 2015 immigrant influx. In recent years, the country has also granted temporary protection to an estimated 1.2 million Ukrainians. Germany ranks as the European Union’s top destination for migrants and the world’s third-largest refugee-hosting country, according to UN data.
Amid rising crime rates and a series of terrorist attacks perpetrated by migrants, public discontent with the German government’s handling of illegal immigration has been steadily growing.
The opposition right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, which advocates stricter immigration controls, has consistently polled as the country’s most popular party in recent months. According to a recent INSA survey, the AfD enjoys the support of 30% of respondents – 12 percentage points ahead of German Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s ruling CDU/CSU bloc.
The US president is “deflecting” and unfairly blaming Kiev’s strikes on Russian refineries for rising global diesel prices, the Ukrainian leader has claimed
US President Donald Trump made “totally false” statements when he blamed rising diesel prices in America on Ukrainian strikes on Russian refineries, Vladimir Zelensky has claimed, accusing him of “deflecting the focus away from Iran.”
Zelensky’s remarks came amid a growing spat with Trump, who has repeatedly accused Kiev of exacerbating the global energy crisis with continued attacks on Russian oil infrastructure.
Russia has historically been the world’s second-largest exporter of diesel fuel, behind only the United States, accounting for roughly 10% of global exports.
Disruptions to Russian supplies have tightened the global market, driving up prices even in countries that do not directly import fuel from Russia, including the US.
“The volume of diesel exports is so negligible from Russia that it has zero impact on prices in the US. That is totally false information,” the Ukrainian leader claimed during an appearance on Steven Bartlett’s The Diary of a CEO podcast on Thursday.
If Trump cares so much about US energy prices, then “why do American companies export energy?” Zelensky asked rhetorically. “Well, because how can the president of the United States ban private sector exports?... It sells and money comes in.”
Zelensky accused Trump of unfairly “deflecting the focus away from Iran” and lamented that “everything gets shifted onto us and I’m made the target as the leader of our country.”
According to Zelensky, “the root of the problem” lies in the Strait of Hormuz, where crude exports and other maritime traffic have dwindled to a trickle following the start of the US-Israeli military campaign against Iran in February.
Earlier this month, Zelensky similarly hit out at what he described as a “weak decision” by the Trump administration after Washington temporarily waived sanctions on Russian diesel exports to ease the global fuel crisis.
Moscow agreed to immediately supply more than 300,000 tons of diesel to American and global markets, followed by 500,000 tons in November, another million tons shortly thereafter, and potentially another 3 million tons, depending on refinery capacity.
Washington struck the deal with Moscow after Zelensky had repeatedly ignored Trump’s requests to stop strikes on Russian refineries. “We said, you can do whatever you want to Russia, don’t hit the refineries, because that’s a world problem that’s caused,” the US president recounted earlier this month.
“And what does he do? He goes and hits the diesel fuel,” Trump lamented, accusing Zelensky of wanting to “make problems for the world.”
Trump also said he found it more difficult to deal with Zelensky than with Russian President Vladimir Putin, suggesting that Ukraine should get a new leader who would not obstruct Washington’s mediation efforts.
Rising fuel prices have become an increasingly pressing domestic issue for Trump ahead of the November 3 midterm elections. US diesel prices surged to record highs above $6.50 per gallon in September, with prices in California exceeding $8 in some areas.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said last week that Zelensky was directly challenging Trump by refusing to accept a deal aimed at easing the global diesel shortage.
In recent months, Ukraine has ramped up long-range strikes on targets inside Russia, including civilian and energy infrastructure, amid continued setbacks at the front. Moscow has denounced the attacks as acts of terrorism and responded with strikes on military-related Ukrainian facilities.
Meta is still paying tens of billions of dollars to settle the data-scraping debacle that defined the 2016 election
‘Cambridge Analytica’ is by now a byword for the social media Wild West of 2016, when regulations were non-existent and unscrupulous brokers sold personal user data to advertisers and political operatives. RT explores the scandal that Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg still can’t dodge.
On October 22, Meta was ordered by a New Mexico judge to pay $25 billion in civil penalties over the collection of personal data from 44 million Facebook users by Cambridge Analytica more than a decade earlier.
The judge concluded that Meta’s misconduct warranted a penalty exceeding $219 billion under state law, but reduced the amount to $25 billion, making it one of the largest fines ever imposed on an American corporation.
Meta, operating at the time as Facebook, knowingly and systematically deceived users about how it managed their personal data and allowed its harvesting by third-party companies like Cambridge Analytica. The jury also found Meta’s senior executive team knew of, and lied about, deceiving users about how it planned to investigate data-harvesting companies after the Cambridge Analytica scandal became public.
To understand how Meta ended up owing an eighth of its annual revenue in just one judgment, it’s necessary to go back to 2013, when Cambridge Analytica emerged from Britain’s shadowy private intelligence sector.
What was Cambridge Analytica?
Cambridge Analytica was founded in 2013 as a subsidiary of SCL Group, a London-based private intelligence firm that has provided data analytics and “behavioural analysis” services to the British Defense Ministry and Foreign Office.
A screenshot from Cambridge Analytica's now-defunct website
Cambridge Analytica CEO and SCL Group Director Alexander Nix has admitted under oath that his companies worked with American and British intelligence agencies, provided psychological warfare training to several Western militaries, employed multiple staff with security clearances in the UK and US, and hired former Israeli spies.
SCL Group’s work for NATO, Israel, Ukraine, and other governments and militaries was extensive, and Cambridge Analytica drew on its parent company’s experience in military psyops to become one of the world’s most effective election influence operations, according to whistleblower Christopher Wylie. On the other hand, SCL insists that its military and political wings were separate entities. Whichever account is true, Cambridge Analytica had been hired by political candidates in 200 elections by 2018, according to company documents. These included parliamentary elections in the Czech Republic, India, and Italy, the Brexit referendum in the UK, and most infamously, the 2016 presidential election in the US.
Cambridge Analytica was paid nearly $6 million by then-candidate Donald Trump’s campaign in the runup to the 2016 election. The company used its unprecedented access to Facebook user data to identify persuadable voters and potential donors, select effective markets for television ads, and target certain Hillary Clinton supporters for “deterrence” – adverts discouraging them from going to the polls on election day.
How did this become a scandal?
Cambridge Analytica did not break any laws to obtain this data. It was scraped from tens of millions of Facebook users who had, unbeknownst to themselves, given a third-party Facebook quiz application access to their messages, their profile data, and that of their friends.
Cambridge Analytica hired a Cambridge University professor, Aleksandr Kogan, to develop a personality quiz app, named ‘This is Your Digital Life’. Between 250,000 and 270,000 American Facebook users took the quiz in 2015, and by accessing their data, but crucially, under Facebook terms, accessing the data of all of their friends on the platform, Cambridge Analytica was able to compile detailed psychological profiles on roughly 87 million users.
Cambridge Analytica employee Christopher Wylie revealed the workings of the scheme to The Observer in 2018, telling the British newspaper that “we exploited Facebook to harvest millions of people’s profiles, and built models to exploit what we knew about them and target their inner demons. That was the basis the entire company was built on.”
Was Cambridge Analytica the only data-scraper doing this?
“Facebook never cared,” Kogan told NBC News in 2018, explaining that “tens of thousands” of developers created apps like his quiz, and sold user data to companies like Cambridge Analytica. Among the developers were CubeYou, which used a “one-click personality test” app to gather information for commercial use, and LocalBlox, which scraped data from 48 million users, which it then sold to marketers.
AggregateIQ, Global Science Research, and Eunoia Technologies all used data gleaned by Kogan for political ends. However, long before these companies existed, Blue State Digital, an American political consultancy, surreptitiously harvested Facebook data, including friends’ data, for use by Barack Obama’s 2012 campaign.
Cambridge Analytica, however, had its work for the Trump campaign exposed at the height of the ‘Russiagate’ hoax, at a time when Democrats and liberal media outlets were convinced that Russia intervened in the election on behalf of Trump. Cambridge Analytica’s data-scraping dovetailed neatly into a narrative of “Facebook bots” and “Russian military hackers” working with the Trump campaign, and the company became a whipping boy for an industry that transcended partisan lines.
I wrote this in Nov 2017. Days after FBI revealed multiple strands of Trump-Russia investigation ran through London & I pulled them apart further. It was also when the attacks against me began in earnest. From Cambridge Analytica, LeaveEU & Russian govt
1/
https://t.co/YQB5slJhe8
US Special Counsel Robert Mueller and the Senate Intelligence Committee eventually investigated claims that Cambridge Analytica helped the Russian government target political ads at American voters, but both determined that these claims were untrue, and neither investigation found any proof of “collusion” between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin.
Has Facebook been punished?
At the time that the information was collected, Facebook had stopped allowing third-party apps to access friends’ data. However, a loophole allowed apps active on the platform before this change to continue harvesting information through 2015. Within days of Wylie’s revelations hitting the headlines, SCL Group and Cambridge Analytica were suspended from Facebook. Two months later, both companies ceased operations, leaving Facebook to handle the fallout.
Facebook initially went into damage control mode, insisting that “People knowingly provided their information” to Kogan’s app, and that “everyone involved gave their consent.”
However, the US Federal Trade Commission determined that Facebook made its privacy settings deliberately opaque, spreading them out over 20 separate screens and opting users into sharing data with third-parties by default. Facebook settled with the FTC for $5 billion in 2019, setting the stage for a series of similar payouts in the following years.
In 2018, Zuckerberg told lawmakers on Capitol Hill that Facebook was aware that user data had been transferred from Kogan to Cambridge Analytica (this transfer was in breach of its policies) since 2015, but opted not to inform users. He said that Facebook asked Cambridge Analytica to delete the data, but never followed up and made sure the company did. “We considered it a closed case,” he told Congress.
The following year, the US Securities and Exchange Commission accused Facebook of misleading investors by presenting “the risk of misuse of user data as merely hypothetical,” when it knew since 2015 that “a third-party developer had actually misused Facebook user data.” Facebook settled the case with the SEC for $100 million.
In 2022, Meta settled a $725 million class-action lawsuit brought by a group of Facebook users, who alleged that the company violated privacy and consumer protection laws by misrepresenting its data-sharing laws and failing to protect their personal information.
Meta attempted to shut down further legal action over the Cambridge Analytica scandal this August, when it reached an $18 billion settlement with 51 attorneys general across US states, territories, and the District of Columbia. Although the cases concerned the addictive design of Meta’s platforms and their effect on children’s mental health, the settlement included a clause resolving a multistate investigation into Facebook’s sharing of user data with third parties “whether known or unknown,” including Cambridge Analytica.
Even if participating states were to discover new facts about the data sharing, they have now waived their right to sue Meta. New Mexico was one of two states that was not party to this agreement, hence the $25 billion penalty.
Ten years after the fact, it remains unclear how prominent a role Cambridge Analytica played in Trump’s victory over Clinton. The Trump campaign’s use of Facebook and X (then called Twitter) is widely cited as instrumental in his win, but the campaign’s digital director, Brad Parscale, has since said that he stopped using the company’s data several months before election day, considering it inaccurate.
What about Brexit?
Cambridge Analytica worked with Nigel Farage’s Leave.EU organization in late 2015 and early 2016, and carried out some preliminary data analysis for the campaign. However, the data was never used, and the UK Information Commissioner’s (ICO) office concluded in 2020 that the company had no impact on the referendum. As in the US, the ICO found no links between Cambridge Analytica and Russia, and no evidence that Russia interfered in the vote.
Is Zuckerberg in the clear?
The $25 billion judgement handed down on October 22 may be the largest fine ever imposed on Meta, but it does not mark the end of Zuckerberg’s legal woes. In addition to a Washington DC lawsuit holding him personally responsible for the Cambridge Analytica debacle, Zuckerberg’s company is being sued by investors in California over Facebook’s alleged efforts to conceal the misuse of user data by the company.
woah, it gets worse. In the Meta securities lawsuit for Cambridge Analytica cover-up, plaintiffs just posted deposition list. If they have the courage to 'go to the mat' (as Zuckerberg says) like New Mexico AG has done for over $25B, this could be very, very bad for Team Zuck. 1/3
Meta will likely settle the latter case, just as it did with the similar SEC case in 2019. However, should Zuckerberg fight the lawsuit, he could find himself in the dock, as the plaintiffs have sought recorded depositions from him, former COO Sheryl Sandberg, and former CFO David Wehner – all of whom could be forced to shed more light on just how much Facebook knew about the scandal, and when.
The French president claimed terrorists had never targeted people because of their skin color or religion, overlooking numerous murders of Christians and Jews
French President Emmanuel Macron has described a deadly shooting near Paris as the country’s first “racist terrorist attack,” appearing to overlook decades of Islamist terrorism, including the deliberate targeting and murder of Christians and Jews.
A gunman opened fire from a car in Trappes and neighboring La Verriere on Friday morning, killing 26-year-old aspiring MMA fighter Pengo Bossio Wangi and injuring five others, including a 12-year-old girl who was shot eight times. Other victims reportedly included a woman wearing a headscarf, a man of North African origin and two school cleaners of African origin.
The suspect, identified as 39-year-old Kevin T., was arrested after a shooting spree lasting approximately 15 minutes. Police recovered a submachine gun from his vehicle and discovered three gas cylinders wired to a timer in his apartment. He reportedly had 13 previous criminal-record entries but was not on a terrorism watchlist.
Visiting Trappes on Friday evening, Macron declared the shooting a historic “turning point” for France.
“This is the first time there has been a terrorist act aimed at killing our compatriots and our children for the color of their skin or what their religion is thought to be,” he claimed. Macron also alleged that the suspect deliberately spared certain people because of their skin color, citing statements allegedly made after his arrest.
The French leader’s sweeping claim sparked criticism online, with commentators pointing to numerous terrorist attacks targeting people because of their religion.
In March 2012, Islamist gunman Mohamed Merah murdered a rabbi and three Jewish children at a school in Toulouse. In January 2015, ISIS-linked terrorist Amedy Coulibaly stormed a kosher supermarket in Paris, killing four Jewish hostages.
Christians have also been targeted. In 2016, two ISIS terrorists slit the throat of 85-year-old Catholic priest Jacques Hamel during Mass at a church in Normandy. In 2020, a Tunisian Islamist attacker murdered three people inside the Notre Dame basilica in Nice, beheading one woman.
Jihadists have also attacked broader symbols of French secular society. In November 2015, ISIS terrorists killed 130 people in coordinated attacks across Paris, including 90 concertgoers at the Bataclan music venue. In 2020, an Islamist extremist beheaded schoolteacher Samuel Paty for showing caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad during a lesson on freedom of expression.
Following the backlash, the Elysee sought to clarify Macron’s remarks, telling TF1 that he had specifically meant the first racist terrorist attack motivated by skin color, despite his explicit reference to religion.
The shooting comes amid nationwide unrest that has fueled a bitter political dispute over immigration and security. US President Donald Trump has blamed uncontrolled immigration and radical groups for the violence, while Macron has accused the ultra-left of orchestrating riots and denounced anti-immigration rhetoric portraying France as overrun by Islamists.
The Trappes shooting has also intensified political tensions ahead of next year’s presidential election. Communist presidential candidate Fabien Roussel accused the far right of spreading “racist hatred,” while National Rally leader Marine Le Pen condemned the shooting and its “abject motive of racism.”
France’s anti-terrorism prosecutors have opened an investigation into suspected terrorist murder with a racist motive. The suspect’s precise ideological affiliations remain under investigation.
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