måndag 10 augusti 2026
söndag 9 augusti 2026
Latest news
Political situation in Kosovo
Kosovo takes down Ukrainian flag after Zelensky's words
Kosovo has taken down the Ukrainian flag from a facade in the capital Pristina, Ukrainian Pravda reports.
"We always have solidarity with those affected by war, violence and persecution [...] but no one should insult our state and the sacrifices of our people," writes the mayor Përparim Rama on Facebook.
This comes after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's first state visit to Serbia this weekend.
During a press conference with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, Zelensky said that Ukraine is determined not to recognize Kosovo, which declared independence from Serbia in 2008. Vucic, in turn, said that Serbia supports Ukraine's territorial integrity, including in the Russian-occupied territories.
About half of the UN countries have recognized Kosovo's independence, including all EU countries except Spain, Slovakia, Romania, Greece and Cyprus.
Kosovo takes down Ukrainian flag after Zelensky's words
Kosovo has taken down the Ukrainian flag from a facade in the capital Pristina, Ukrainian Pravda reports.
"We always have solidarity with those affected by war, violence and persecution [...] but no one should insult our state and the sacrifices of our people," writes the mayor Përparim Rama on Facebook.
This comes after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's first state visit to Serbia this weekend.
During a press conference with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, Zelensky said that Ukraine is determined not to recognize Kosovo, which declared independence from Serbia in 2008. Vucic, in turn, said that Serbia supports Ukraine's territorial integrity, including in the Russian-occupied territories.
About half of the UN countries have recognized Kosovo's independence, including all EU countries except Spain, Slovakia, Romania, Greece and Cyprus.
Putin's Russia
The last war-critical party in Russia is on the way out
The social-liberal Yabloko, the only legally registered party in Russia that openly criticizes the Ukraine war, is being forced out. The independent Moscow Times reports.
The party's candidates and their families are receiving death threats. A local politician has posted several of the threats he has received, including a picture that someone took at his house.
"If you say anything bad about United Russia (Putin's party, editor's note) one more time, I'll crush your fucking skull... I might visit your mother... I'll kill you," the threat reads.
The nationalist Rodina party has taken Yabloko to the Supreme Court to ban the party ahead of the State Duma elections in September.
- Yabloko is full of traitors who work for the West and have Western values, says party leader Alexei Zhuravlyov.
Yabloko has no representation in the Duma or the Federation Council, and only five out of nearly 4,000 seats in the regional parliaments.
The last war-critical party in Russia is on the way out
The social-liberal Yabloko, the only legally registered party in Russia that openly criticizes the Ukraine war, is being forced out. The independent Moscow Times reports.
The party's candidates and their families are receiving death threats. A local politician has posted several of the threats he has received, including a picture that someone took at his house.
"If you say anything bad about United Russia (Putin's party, editor's note) one more time, I'll crush your fucking skull... I might visit your mother... I'll kill you," the threat reads.
The nationalist Rodina party has taken Yabloko to the Supreme Court to ban the party ahead of the State Duma elections in September.
- Yabloko is full of traitors who work for the West and have Western values, says party leader Alexei Zhuravlyov.
Yabloko has no representation in the Duma or the Federation Council, and only five out of nearly 4,000 seats in the regional parliaments.
Syria's new government
Russia returns its military bases in Syria
Russia and Syria have agreed on the future of the two Russian military bases in Syria, the Syrian Foreign Ministry said, according to several media outlets.
The civilian parts of the Hmeimim air base and the Tartus naval base will be taken over by Syria, and the military parts will be converted into joint training facilities.
The Financial Times describes it as a "significant strategic setback" for Russia, which has tried to retain control of the two bases after the Syrian transition of power in 2024.
Russia supported former President Bashar al-Assad militarily during the Syrian civil war. He went into exile in Russia after current President Ahmad al-Sharaa took power.
The Kremlin has not commented on the agreement.
Climate Threat Wildfires in Canada
Experts: Canada must get used to wildfires
Canada is enduring another summer of devastating wildfires that have ravaged millions of hectares. Experts AFP spoke to say this is the new normal.
“We will have to live with this,” said Normand Lacour, who worked for decades at Quebec’s forest fire authority.
A quarter of the world’s taiga forest is in Canada, and the country is warming twice as fast as the global average. That makes it particularly vulnerable to “intense and very widespread” wildfires, says Patricia DeRepentigny, a geography professor at the University of Ottawa.
Recent fire seasons have been among the worst on record, most notably the summer of 2023, when an area the size of Syria burned.
Typhoon Dolphin
Over 300,000 evacuated from Typhoon Dolphin in China
On Sunday evening, local time, Typhoon Dolphin moved across China's east coast. 390,000 people have been evacuated from the city of Taizhou in Zhejiang province, and over 30,000 from the Shanghai area, writes AP.
Shanghai's Hongqiao and Pudong airports have canceled more than 1,300 flights, 60 percent of total air traffic, during Sunday.
According to authorities, 200 to 400 millimeters of rain are expected to fall in the coming days.
Dolphin has also hit Japan, the Philippines and Taiwan, where thousands had to evacuate. In Okinawa in southern Japan, several people were injured and tens of thousands of households were left without power.
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Russia returns its military bases in Syria
Russia and Syria have agreed on the future of the two Russian military bases in Syria, the Syrian Foreign Ministry said, according to several media outlets.
The civilian parts of the Hmeimim air base and the Tartus naval base will be taken over by Syria, and the military parts will be converted into joint training facilities.
The Financial Times describes it as a "significant strategic setback" for Russia, which has tried to retain control of the two bases after the Syrian transition of power in 2024.
Russia supported former President Bashar al-Assad militarily during the Syrian civil war. He went into exile in Russia after current President Ahmad al-Sharaa took power.
The Kremlin has not commented on the agreement.
Climate Threat Wildfires in Canada
Experts: Canada must get used to wildfires
Canada is enduring another summer of devastating wildfires that have ravaged millions of hectares. Experts AFP spoke to say this is the new normal.
“We will have to live with this,” said Normand Lacour, who worked for decades at Quebec’s forest fire authority.
A quarter of the world’s taiga forest is in Canada, and the country is warming twice as fast as the global average. That makes it particularly vulnerable to “intense and very widespread” wildfires, says Patricia DeRepentigny, a geography professor at the University of Ottawa.
Recent fire seasons have been among the worst on record, most notably the summer of 2023, when an area the size of Syria burned.
Typhoon Dolphin
Over 300,000 evacuated from Typhoon Dolphin in China
On Sunday evening, local time, Typhoon Dolphin moved across China's east coast. 390,000 people have been evacuated from the city of Taizhou in Zhejiang province, and over 30,000 from the Shanghai area, writes AP.
Shanghai's Hongqiao and Pudong airports have canceled more than 1,300 flights, 60 percent of total air traffic, during Sunday.
According to authorities, 200 to 400 millimeters of rain are expected to fall in the coming days.
Dolphin has also hit Japan, the Philippines and Taiwan, where thousands had to evacuate. In Okinawa in southern Japan, several people were injured and tens of thousands of households were left without power.
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Climate Threat Global Challenges
Severe Drought in Puerto Rico – Drinking Water Rationed
A severe drought has hit the self-governing American island nation of Puerto Rico in the Caribbean, reports the BBC.
The authorities have now introduced a rationing system in which households have been divided into two groups. Running water is turned off alternately for one group for 48 hours, then the other.
A total of 180,000 households are affected by the rationing, and residents are forced to fill up water cans when they have running water. No end date has been set.
– The situation is beyond our control. It is a result of weather conditions, says Governor Jenniffer González.
Old, Leaky Pipes Exacerbating Water Shortage
Puerto Rico’s government blames drought for water shortages, but poor and underfunded water infrastructure is exacerbating the problem, CBS News reports.
About two-thirds of the drinking water produced on the island is never paid for or is wasted in leaks and old pipes, according to the island’s water authority.
So far in 2026, 118 days of water outages have been recorded. Poor Puerto Ricans are forced to pay for bottled water, and the elderly and sick are forced to rely on neighbors and relatives to carry water home for them.
Trump's USA
The future of the USA
Intelligence veterans in a counter-movement against Trump
Hundreds of former intelligence and security officials in the US are sounding the alarm about Donald Trump's increasingly autocratic tendencies, reports the Financial Times.
Authoritarian leaders often follow the same rules of the game when they centralize power, according to Paul Kolbe, former CIA director in the former Soviet Union and the Balkans.
- Everything we are seeing in the US now resonates with that, he says.
He and more than 400 other people with the same professional background make up the network The steady state, which was formed in 2016.
Membership has increased significantly during Trump's second term, but many remain anonymous for fear of reprisals.
- Half of our members do not want to be identified, and they are people who have worked in war zones, says founder Steven Cash.
The President's New Construction
Watershed controversy continues – Trump pressures prosecutors
The controversy over the renovated watershed in Washington DC continues, writes The Hill. On Saturday, Donald Trump posted Truth Social photos that allegedly show how the coating was vandalized with a knife.
Last week, state attorney Jeanine Pirro dropped charges against the people accused of vandalizing the watershed. She stated that the construction company – which got the job without a contract after doing pool work at Trump's golf clubs – did a poor job.
This has made Trump furious with Pirro, a former Fox News host and Trump loyalist whom he handpicked. He is urging her to withdraw her decision to acquit the defendants.
– She made a big mistake. I don't understand why she did something so stupid, he said earlier this week.
Middle East Crisis Gaza War
Trump's Gaza Summit: The Agreement is the Only Way Forward
The Trump administration sees no alternative to the plan for Gaza that Israel today rejected, AFP reports.
- The alternative we are offering is the only way forward, says Nickolay Mladenov, Gaza representative in Trump's so-called peace council, to Israel's Channel 12.
He adds that further discussions are underway and that he hopes for a positive outcome.
The council's 15-point plan includes Hamas handing over its weapons to a newly formed Palestinian governing body and that Israel should begin withdrawing its forces.
Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu states that the IDF will not begin leaving Gaza until Hamas has been "really" disarmed.
Netanyahu Rejects Trump's Gaza Plan
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is not as big a fan of the plan for an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza as Donald Trump is, several media outlets report.
The plan was developed by the US president's so-called peace council and consists of 15 points.
- Israel rejects the 15-point document. The IDF will not implement any withdrawal until Hamas has truly disarmed and will continue to repel threats against our forces and our citizens, Netanyahu said at a government meeting.
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