The future of the UN The US begins paying off multi-billion dollar debt to the UN
The US plans to pay the equivalent of just over 8 billion kronor of the almost 50 billion kronor the country owes the UN. This is reported by the AP.
This is the largest payment the US has made since the Trump administration demanded extensive reforms in exchange for its continued support.
The Trump administration paid just over 1.5 billion kronor to the UN in February, after Secretary-General Antonio Guterres sounded the alarm that the UN is facing "imminent financial collapse" unless all 195 member states pay their dues.
The climate threat Extreme weather in Europe Bombs and grenades from the world wars pose a danger in European forest fires
The severe forest fires that raged in Europe during the summer have led to an increased risk of old rusty bombs and mines from the First and Second World Wars becoming dangerous. This is reported by the AP.
Reports of ammunition exploding in the heat have come from France, Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands.
Expert Sarah Njeri says that stable temperatures and predictable rainfall have previously rendered unexploded ordnance and buried weapons harmless.
– Climate change means that what was previously stable is now being dug up and reactivated.
Weekend Interviews Italian Prime Minister: Thought the relationship with Trump would be better
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is surprised that the relationship with US President Donald Trump has deteriorated.
In an interview with the New York Times, the right-wing leader says that she and Trump agree on many issues, including migration policy. That's why she thought the cooperation would work well.
– Things have become different, she says.
Trump has been harsh on several European countries, including Italy. This summer, he and Meloni were in an open verbal spat with each other. In the interview, the Prime Minister says that she is an extremely honest person.
– I never say anything I don’t mean.
Pope Leo XIV Vatican invests billions in its own energy plant
The Vatican is to build its own renewable energy plant, Reuters reports, citing sources with insight. The plan is to spend the equivalent of around SEK 1.1 billion to be able to supply the Holy See with energy from, among other things, solar power within two years.
According to the sources, the plant could become one of Italy’s largest.
The plans are advanced, and the idea is that solar panels will be mounted several meters up in the air so that the land below can be used for agriculture.
Life-threatening crazy trips a trend on social media – boys dead in Ireland
Last week, five teenage boys died in Ireland after they collided head-on with another car on the motorway. The boys were driving on the wrong side of the road and the other car was carrying four family members who were seriously injured.
The death has sparked a huge debate in Ireland and highlighted a trend on social media where people film themselves driving their vehicles in a fast, reckless and dangerous manner. According to The Guardian, clips of police chases and violent crashes are popular.
Several of the boys who died in the crash had previously posted clips of their own crazy antics.
Social media giant TikTok told Sky News that it was investigating content that could be linked to the fatal crash.
Ryssland trappar upp it-kriget inför franska valet
Frankrike
har länge varit en stark röst för Ukraina i kriget mot Ryssland. Här
tas president Volodymyr Zelenskyj emot av Macron i Paris i januari i år. Foto: Michel Euler/AP/TT
Russia steps up cyberwar ahead of French elections
Agneta Liljeqvist/TT
Published 14.02
France has long been a strong voice for Ukraine in the war against Russia. Here, President Volodymyr Zelensky is received by Macron in Paris in January this year. Photo: Michel Euler/AP/TT
With eight months left until the French presidential election, Russia is stepping up its attempts to influence France.
Several presidential candidates have been subjected to smear campaigns directed by Russian intelligence, according to French authorities.
– The aim is to divide and polarize, says an expert.
Over the course of a few days, around the turn of July and August, several top French politicians were subjected to smear campaigns. In early August, fake and anonymous X and Tiktok accounts appeared claiming that former Prime Minister Gabriel Attal, who is one of the top candidates for the 2027 presidential election, was suffering from the neurological disease Parkinson's, among other things. A few days earlier, a similar campaign had begun circulating claiming that Édouard Philippe, also a strong contender for the election, was suffering from dementia.
European Parliament member Raphaël Glucksmann, who has been openly critical of Russia, was also subjected to smear campaigns, in which his wife was accused, among other things, of bribing French newspapers to write positively about her husband. Glucksmann is tipped to run as a left-wing candidate in the presidential election.
“The Defense and National Security Agency (SGDSN) has informed me that I was the target of an attack carried out by the Storm1516 group, directly orchestrated by the GRU (Russian military intelligence service),” Glucksmann wrote on X after the incident.
Influencing the election
According to the French agency Viginum, which is tasked with combating foreign information influence on the Internet, the influence campaigns against French politicians can be linked to networks with ties to the Russian intelligence service GRU.
Since Russia's large-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, disinformation campaigns have increased against both France and other EU countries. After Ukraine, France is the country in Europe most exposed, according to figures seen by The Economist.
There are several reasons why the country is a target, according to Frederick Fooy, an expert on Russian and Chinese information influence at the Psychological Defense Agency.
“France is a large and important EU and NATO country that has supported Ukraine for a long time. This is of course a red flag for Russia,” says Fooy.
Another reason is the polarization in France, where extreme parties have become increasingly popular and political division is a fact. Russia wants to influence the country to move in a more pro-Russian direction. Ahead of next year's elections, several opinion polls signal that far-right politician Marine Le Pen could win.
Le Pen has previously shown support for Russia by defending the annexation of the Crimean Peninsula in 2014 and criticizing EU sanctions, although she has recently outwardly distanced her party from Moscow.
Creating polarization
The influence campaigns can take different forms. They can involve pure smear campaigns, such as President Emmanuel Macron allegedly having had dealings with the notorious American sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. But they also involve spreading disinformation that creates even greater polarization and contradictions in countries, says Fooy.
“Russia has become more aware of the cracks and contradictions that naturally exist in all societies, and it is often these that it tries to exploit by polarizing and fragmenting.
Another tactic is to try to flood information environments and the internet with AI-generated nonsense, explains Fooy, in order to, among other things, tire out news and media consumers.
– Consumers are being exhausted so that they stop thinking critically about sources or stop caring about news media at all, he says.
But it is not just Russian information influence that has increased recently. Since 2022, various types of hybrid activities have become more common, ranging from sabotage to cyberattacks across virtually all of Europe.
In early August, an explosive-laden drone was found at Leipzig-Halle airport in Germany, and authorities in the country do not rule out that a foreign power is behind it.
According to James Pamment, head of the Psychological Defense Research Institute at Lund University, Russia has stepped up its operations as pressure on Putin increases.
– Russia has become more aware of the cracks and contradictions that naturally exist in all societies, and it is often these that it tries to exploit by polarizing and fragmenting.
Another tactic is to try to flood information environments and the internet with AI-generated nonsense, Fooy explains, in order to, among other things, tire out news and media consumers.
– It tires consumers out so that they stop thinking critically about sources or stop caring about news media at all, he says.
But it is not just Russian information influence that has increased recently. Since 2022, various types of hybrid activities have become more common, ranging from sabotage to cyberattacks across virtually all of Europe.
In early August, an explosive-laden drone was found at Leipzig-Halle airport in Germany, and authorities in the country do not rule out that a foreign power is behind it.
According to James Pamment, head of the Psychological Defense Research Institute at Lund University, Russia has stepped up its operations as the pressure on Putin increases.
– Russia is waging a form of hybrid warfare against Europe and the country is constantly escalating its attempts and taking greater risks, he says.
Pig heads in Paris
As an example, Pamment mentions the pig heads that were placed outside several mosques in the Paris region in September last year. Several people, residing in Serbia, were arrested for the action, but according to French investigators, the traces lead to the Russian intelligence service GRU.
– They recruit professional criminals to come to France and carry out this type of action, says Pamment.
So what is the purpose of these operations? Fooy believes that an overall goal is to reduce, and preferably end, support for Ukraine and remove sanctions against Russia. But also to destabilize and create tensions within and between countries.
– Russia wants to divide and polarize both NATO and the EU, with a particular focus on the transatlantic link between Europe and the US, says Fooy.
Facts
French presidential election 2027
France will hold presidential elections on April 18, 2027, with a decisive second round on May 2.
So far, more than 30 politicians have officially announced their candidacy. More are expected to announce that they will run in the election. Incumbent President Emmanuel Macron is not allowed to run, as he has already served two terms.
Here are some of the most highly tipped:
Marine Le Pen, 58, candidate of the far-right National Rally party. Running for the fourth time.
Gabriel Attal, 37, party leader of Macron's centrist Renaissance party and former prime minister in his government.
Édouard Philippe, 55, party leader of the centrist Horizons party and mayor of Le Havre. Former prime minister in Macron's government.
Bruno Retailleau, 65, leader of the right-wing Republicans party.
Raphaël Glucksmann, 46, MEP tipped to be the candidate of the united left. Has not officially announced his candidacy.
François Hollande, 72, MEP for the Socialist Party and former president (2012–2017). Has not officially announced his candidacy.
Jean-Luc Mélenchon, 74, leader of the far-left Unrestrained France party. Running for the fourth time.
North Korea-Russia relations Ukraine: Putin may ask Kim for 50,000 soldiers
Russian President Vladimir Putin may ask North Korea's Kim Jong-Un to send an additional 50,000 soldiers to Russia, the deputy head of Ukraine's HUR military intelligence service, Vadym Skibitsky, told CNN. Putin is expected to make the request when the two leaders meet in September.
This would significantly expand the countries' military cooperation and be another sign that Russia's resources are being strained, the TV channel writes.
According to the intelligence service's assessment, the North Korean soldiers would not be fighting on Ukrainian territory, but instead would be reinforcing Russian positions behind the front.
The information is denied by Kim's sister Kim Yo Jong, who calls it a "baseless and fabricated scenario." So far, around 25,000 North Korean soldiers have been sent to Russia.
The fighting Germany rages against Putin: “Terrorizing civilians”
Germany condemns Russia after the country again bombed Ukrainian cities.
– Putin is deliberately terrorizing civilians and attacking civilian infrastructure with robots and drones, says German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul during a visit to Kyiv.
On Friday, at least 16 people were killed in a Russian attack that, among other things, hit a shopping mall. Saturday’s attacks on Kyiv, Odessa and Zaporizhzhia, among other cities, have cost at least five Ukrainians their lives.
Ukraine attacks new Russian retail giant – warehouse in flames
The Ukrainian military carried out an attack on the Samara region in southern Russia last night, writes the Kyiv Independent. Drones hit, among other things, a large warehouse belonging to the company Ozon, the country’s second largest e-commerce giant, which started a fire.
The Russian authorities state that several people were injured in the Ukrainian attack. The Russian governor did not mention which facilities were hit, but the area is home to several oil facilities that Ukraine has previously attacked.
Ukraine accuses Ozon of selling and transporting goods to the Russian army. Similar accusations and attacks have previously been made against the large company Wildberries.
