Moldova may lose Russian supplies due to problems with transit through Ukraine

Moldova says that Russian energy giant Gazprom may completely halt gas supplies to the country “at a certain stage,” and the government is already considering such a scenario, Energy Minister Viktor Parlikov said on Monday.

In an interview with Vocea Basarabiei TV channel, he noted that in such a case, Chisinau would also have to “deal with an energy crisis in Transdnistria.”

Moldova reportedly sends the entire volume of gas it receives from Russia to a hydro power plant on the left bank of the Dniester in Transdnistria, its breakaway self-governing region, receiving cheap electricity in exchange.

“Now all the gas that reaches the left bank of the Dniester is de facto free. The advantage of this situation is that we buy electricity at a better price than at its alternative cost,” he said.

READ MORE: Germans warned of potential energy crisis next winter

Parlikov warned of the impact from a termination of the contract with Gazprom. Domestic power generation can only cover 20% of Moldova’s electricity demand. Chisinau is currently buying electricity at $73 kilowatt-hour from Transdnistria compared to $93 KWh for imports from Romania.

“There will be consequences that all of us will have to deal with on the right bank. There are 250,000 people living on the left bank of the Dniester, most of them citizens of Moldova. They will not go to Moscow or Ukraine, we will also have to take care of them,” the official added.

In 2021, Moldovan national energy company Moldovagas signed a five-year contract with Gazprom for supplies of 3.3 billion cubic meters of gas annually. Of this volume 1.1 bcm was designated for Moldova and 2.2 bcm to Transdnistria.

But in October, Gazprom slashed gas supplies to Moldova by 30% to 5.7 million cubic meters per day, citing the refusal of Ukrainian state energy company Naftogaz to provide gas delivery services through the Sokhranovka entry point. Ukraine shut down the Sokhranovka station in May, a key gas transit route which handled about a third of the Russian gas flowing through the country to European customers.

For more stories on economy & finance visit RT's business section

The EU has offered to help cover a small fraction of the reconstruction efforts following quakes that left more than 50,000 dead

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has estimated that devastating earthquakes which struck the region in February inflicted around $104 billion in damage in Türkiye alone, appealing for assistance from abroad while saying that no country is capable of handling such a disaster on its own.

Addressing an international gathering of aid donors for both Türkiye and Syria, which was also affected by the tremors, Erdogan gave some idea of the massive damage done by the February 6 quakes, saying that his country would aim to rebuild some 319,000 homes just over the next year. 

“More than 51,000 people became victims of the earthquakes, more than 105,000 were injured. According to preliminary data, the damage from them exceeded $104 billion,” the president told the Brussels-based conference on Monday. “It is not possible for a single nation to tackle a crisis of this scale on its own. We will never forget the solidarity that all our friends... have shown in these difficult days.”

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At the same event, European Union Commission head Ursula von der Leyen said the body would provide €1 billion ($1.07 billion) to aid Türkiye’s rebuilding efforts, and another €108 million ($115 million) for humanitarian aid in Syria, where around 6,000 were killed in the quakes. 

The UN Development Programme (UNDP) offered a similar estimate for the damage in Türkiye, saying the country would have to cobble together at least $103.6 billion to rebuild destroyed homes and infrastructure, or 9% of its 2023 GDP forecast. Other agencies of the UN have appealed for relief money following the disaster, hoping to raise $397 million for Syria and a further $1 billion for Türkiye, though the latter project had only reached around 10% of its goal as of March 6, according to UN Resident Coordinator Alvaro Rodriguez. The Syrian fund has raised about half of its target. 

Moscow has also assisted in rescue and rebuilding projects, sending first-responders to the region in the immediate aftermath of the quakes along with heavy equipment to help clear away rubble and search for victims. Both Russian and Syrian officials were excluded from Monday’s donor conference, however, amid growing tensions between Moscow and Western nations over the conflict in Ukraine, as well as outstanding disputes with Damascus related to its civil war with rebel insurgents. The EU maintains extensive sanctions on both countries, and said it would only provide funds for early recovery efforts in Syria, but not long-term reconstruction, so long as there is no dialogue with the Syrian government.

READ MORE: Fatal earthquake hits South America

Florida state law mandates that the attackers will be sentenced to life behind bars

Three men have been found guilty of first-degree murder for the slaying of Florida rapper XXXTentacion, who was fatally shot during a robbery in 2018. A fourth suspect previously acknowledged his role in the plot, but has not been sentenced. 

After meeting for its eighth day of deliberations on Monday, a jury returned guilty verdicts for Trayvon Newsome, 24, Dedrick Williams, 26, and Michael Boatwright, 28, finding all three responsible for the murder and armed robbery of the 20-year-old rapper, whose real name was Jahseh Onfroy.

Onfroy was shot dead near a South Florida motorcycle and boat dealer in June 2018, with two masked assailants seen in surveillance video firing on the artist before robbing him for a Louis Vuitton bag containing $50,000. They sped off in a SUV with two other suspects, with Boatwright believed to have been the main shooter alongside Newsome, while Williams and another man, Robert Allen, remained in the vehicle.

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Allen already pleaded guilty to second-degree murder last year after cooperating with prosecutors, even testifying against the other defendants, but has yet to be sentenced. 

Under Florida law, first-degree murder carries a minimum sentence of life in prison, with the death penalty reserved for the most egregious offenders, meaning the three men convicted on Monday are likely to spend the rest of their lives in custody. Their sentencing is set for April 6, though given the legal requirements it is all but a formality. Allen could face between 25 years and life in prison for his role in the killing, but it remains to be seen whether his assistance will result in a lesser punishment.

An attorney for Williams, Mauricio Padilla, told the Associated Press that his client did not receive a fair trial, claiming he was barred from sharing key witness testimony with jurors. 

“It is obvious from the days the jury was deliberating that they had questions, and I only wish I would have been able to properly defend my client,” he said.

During the trial, defense lawyers also questioned the police probe into the shooting, accusing detectives of ignoring other possible suspects, including Canadian rapper Drake, with whom Onfroy had an ongoing feud on the internet. Prosecutors, however, insisted their evidence against the four men was overwhelming.

READ MORE: Adidas braced for substantial losses following Kanye split

A newly enacted law will still allow for redactions to keep some highly classified information under wraps

US President Joe Biden has signed a bill that directs the federal government to declassify material related to the genesis of the Covid-19 pandemic, with the White House suggesting “potential links” between the virus and a high-security research lab in China.

Biden put his name to the legislation on Monday night, after it breezed through both chambers of Congress without opposition earlier this month. The law requires the Office of the Director of National Intelligence to release information on the origins of the health crisis, and states that a declassified report must be forwarded to lawmakers within 90 days. 

“We need to get to the bottom of Covid-19’s origins to help ensure we can better prevent future pandemics,” the president said in a statement, adding that his office would “continue to review all classified information” related to the pandemic, including any “potential links to the Wuhan Institute of Virology,” a major Chinese laboratory.

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However, while Biden noted that the intelligence community would share “as much of that information as possible,” he also invoked his power to “protect against the disclosure of information that would harm national security,” indicating some records would have to remain secret. Until confirming that the president had signed the bill on Monday, the White House refused to reveal whether Biden supported the measure.

A number of senior officials have suggested Covid-19 may have originated due to a leak from the laboratory in Wuhan, China, with FBI Director Christopher Wray recently saying the virus “most likely” emerged from the facility. Though he cited no publicly available evidence, his comments followed reports that the Department of Energy had also changed its position on the origins question, now supporting the lab leak theory, but only with “low confidence.”

At least four other US federal agencies and a “national intelligence panel” have judged that the pandemic likely spread from animals to humans by natural means, while two remain undecided, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Beijing has repeatedly denied claims that the virus escaped from the biosafety level 4 lab – which stores the most lethal pathogens under strict security protocols – rejecting the theory as a way to smear China’s image abroad. Foreign Ministry officials have accused Washington of “spreading myths” about the pandemic, and recently called on the World Health Organization to launch a new origins probe in the US mirroring similar investigations conducted in China.

READ MORE: WHO chief predicts end of Covid-19 pandemic

Violent unrest has continued across the country after lawmakers failed to depose the government over the debated bill

The French government has survived two parliamentary no-confidence votes over President Emmanuel Macron’s decision to push through a controversial pension reform bill without lawmakers’ approval. The failed motions on Monday were followed by renewed violent unrest overnight.

The first no-confidence motion, tabled by a small group of opposition lawmakers, garnered significant support in the National Assembly, dominated by Macron’s centrist alliance. The motion fell just nine votes short of the 287 required to pass. The second motion, put forward by the right-wing National Rally party, was backed by only 94 lawmakers.

Despite failing to pass the motions, some opposition lawmakers urged the government to resign anyway. “The government is already dead in the eyes of the French,” left-wing MP Mathilde Panot said after the votes. “It doesn’t have any legitimacy anymore.” 

READ MORE: French MPs threatened with guillotine ahead of crucial vote

In wake of the no-confidence votes, France’s top police trade union, the SGP Police FO, warned that officers might no be able to contain the ongoing unrest. “We’re starting to run out of steam on the police side,” the union said, bemoaning the so-called “punch actions” by protesters, such as suddenly blocking roads and causing other disruptions.

1.
Le syndicat Unité SGP Police FO s'inquiète des "actions coups de poing" qui se multiplient dans le pays après le 49.3

"Les manifestants sont ultra-mobiles, se déplacent rapidement. On court un peu partout. Et on commence à pic.twitter.com/0ELxvRuM72

— 🍓Sined Warrior🐭🍓 (@SinedWarrior) March 20, 2023

The protests apparently lived up to expectations, with assorted chaotic footage emerging overnight. Multiple videos from the French capital city of Paris show barricades erected in the streets, with various objects set on fire.

#Paris brûle toujours, plusieurs corteges sauvages sont en cours dans la capitale. #reformesdesretraites #revolution#ToutCramer#greve20mars #reformedesretraites #reformeretraites#MotionDeCensureTransPartisane#DirectAN pic.twitter.com/D8zHk9wYZh

— Jules Ravel (@JulesRavel1) March 20, 2023

The police were pictured repeatedly charging the crowds, beating individual protesters, apparently without attempting to detain them.

#Paris, charge et matraquage en série de la BRAV-M dans un cortège sauvage aux alentours de châtelet. #reformesdesretraites#blocage#DirectAN #ToutCramer#greve20mars #reformedesretraites #reformeretraites#MotionDeCensureTransPartisane pic.twitter.com/kMAk9DOfWP

— Jules Ravel (@JulesRavel1) March 20, 2023

The unrest is expected to continue across France into the coming days, with trade unions calling for a “maximum mobilization” and a “general strike” expected to kick off as soon as Tuesday.

Plusieurs dizaines d’interpellations violentes juste derrière la Bourse à Paris, lors d’une manifestation sauvage contre la #ReformeDesRetraites. Et la police (BRAV) a toujours autant de mal avec la liberté de la presse… j’ai fini par prendre un gros coup de bouclier dans le dos pic.twitter.com/6AkKiBIL8i

— THOMAS DIETRICH (@thomasdietrich0) March 20, 2023

Macron opted last week to push through the long-debated bill, raising the retirement age in France from 62 to 64, without parliament’s approval. The move only further fueled ongoing strife across France, with violent protests raging for weeks as trade unions voiced their opposition to the proposed measure.

The bill, however, is still pending a review by the Constitutional Council before it can be signed into law. While the body has powers to dismiss certain articles within a bill, should it deem them to be unconstitutional, the council rarely actually does so.

Canberra is once again serving, and paying for, Washington and London’s regional ambitions

Last week, amidst a great deal of pomp and ceremony at a San Diego, California naval base, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese signed off on the AUKUS submarine deal with the United States and the UK.

Under this extraordinary arrangement, Australia agreed to pay $368 billion for eight nuclear-powered submarines to be manufactured mostly in America and Britain. The staggered delivery dates stretch decades into the future.

The AUKUS pact, however, is not just about the purchase of a few over-priced submarines that may be technologically obsolete by the time they are built. The pact also firmly binds Australia to the wheels of the US and UK in respect of security issues in Southeast Asia.  More importantly, this week’s submarine deal represents an important shift in Australia’s foreign policy settings towards craven dependence on the US and UK, and away from its recent rapprochement with China.   

Footage of Prime Minister Albanese gazing in admiration at President Biden and Rishi Sunak in San Diego reflects perfectly the subservience that now characterizes Australia’s relationship with the US and UK.  “I am so honored to stand alongside you both,” he said.

Albanese described the AUKUS deal in his characteristically mangled prose as follows: “The sum of the three is more than one plus one in this case. And I think that the cooperation we’ve had is really exciting.” No mention of abandoning Australia’s foreign policy independence, disturbing regional stability, alienating China or becoming dependent on two waning world powers, one of which hasn't had a military presence in Southeast Asia since the 1970s.

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China responded to this week’s events by reiterating its characterization of the AUKUS pact as being informed by a “typical cold war mentality which will only motivate an arms race, and harm regional peace and stability.”

From an historical perspective, Albanese’s obsequious capitulation to the foreign policy and economic interests of the UK and US should come as no surprise. Australia remains a member of the British Commonwealth, and King Charles III, in his regal capacity as King of Australia, is the nation’s head of state. Unlike other British dominions, Australia has never opted to become a republic. Until the Whitlam Labor government came to power in 1972, Australian Prime Ministers inevitably supported the UK on foreign policy issues. Prime Minister Menzies defended Britain during the Suez crisis, and was dispatched by his British masters to Cairo to lecture President Nasser on the error of his ways. 

When Australia did briefly break free from British domination during World War II, it simply replaced one colonial overlord with another – this time the United States. Australia’s ill-advised involvement in wars in Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan followed, together with decades of wasted opportunities to cement better relationships with neighboring nations in Southeast Asia – most importantly China and Indonesia. And who can forget Prime Minister Holt’s stirring “All the way with LBJ" speech delivered at the height of the Vietnam war – yet another ode to Australian subservience.

Additionally without precedent is the spectacle of Australia being lumbered with overpriced American military hardware in exchange for support for unwise American foreign policy aims. In the early 1960s when the Menzies government urged President Kennedy to escalate the war in Vietnam, part of that disastrous pact involved Australia purchasing the expensive and trouble-plagued F-111 aircraft from its (no doubt very grateful) US manufacturer.

This brings us back to the AUKUS deal itself. It is, of course, the brainchild of former conservative Prime Minister Scott Morrison – who Albanese soundly defeated at the polls in May last year. 

In September 2021, in typically duplicitous fashion, Morrison reneged on a $90 billion deal brokered by former Prime Minister Turnbull to purchase a number of submarines from France – and, at the same time, proudly unveiled the AUKUS security pact. This unprincipled act of diplomacy resulted in a serious breach in Australian-French relations that has still not been remedied.

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Albanese immediately supported the AUKUS pact, despite its far reaching consequences – in part to avoid a political conflict in respect of foreign policy in the lead up to the 2022 election, but also – as this week’s events have made clear – because he craves dependence on the UK and US just as much as Menzies, Holt and Morrison ever did.

It became obvious this week that Albanese – for all his allegedly left-wing radicalism – adheres to exactly the same irrational foreign policy world-view that unreconstructed cold war warriors like Morrison, and those conservative Prime Ministers that preceded him. 

Not only does the AUKUS pact, like most disastrous Australian foreign policy stances, have bipartisan support from both major political parties, but it has also been endorsed by all of the major media organizations in Australia – including the so-called left wing ABC and Channel Nine newspapers, and the undoubtedly right-wing Murdoch press and Sky News. 

In the circumstances, critics of the AUKUS pact have been very thin on the ground in Australia.

Earlier in the week, however, former Labor Prime Minister Paul Keating, in an address to the National Press Club in Canberra, had the audacity to deliver a devastating critique of the AUKUS deal and the Albanese government.  Keating made the following points:

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• the AUKUS deal is “the worst deal in all history” and “irrational in every dimension”
• the San Diego meeting was a “kabuki show”
• the AUKUS trilateral partnership is all about “seeking to maintain US strategic hegemony in Asia” by containing China
• Australia is “shunning security in Asia for security in and within the Anglosphere”
• the UK is “looking around for suckers… (to create a) … global Britain… after that fool Johnson destroyed their place in Europe” and reminded his audience that the UK had “dumped Australia all through the twentieth century”
• “Australia is locking in its next half century in Asia as subordinate to the United States” and Albanese is “a Prime Minister with an American sword to rattle”
• Albanese’s decision to ally Australia with the US “to try and contain China as an economic rival” could have “deadly consequences for Australia” and that the “incompetent” Albanese government had “embarked on a dangerous and unnecessary journey”
• Joe Biden “couldn’t string three words together … but wants to go to war”
• he reiterated his previously expressed view that China did not pose a security threat to Australia and that Taiwan was “a manufactured problem”
• Albanese is being been duped by the “dopes” in the defense and national security establishments
• Albanese could have purchased 40 to 50 conventional submarines for the same money as he is  spending on the 8 AUKUS submarines 

He also claimed that “there was only one payer at San Diego” – namely Australia – and that the AUKUS deal was structured to support the US economy and “bail out British companies.”

The responses of Albanese and his defense and foreign affairs ministers to Keating’s attack have been predictable. They have resolutely avoided dealing with the issues raised by Keating and simply claim he had “diminished himself” by attacking them personally, as well as criticizing him for being “nasty” to the foreign affairs minister, who happens to be a woman. 

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This kind of all-too-common petty ad hominem attack, based on confected outrage or offense - which enables the real issues to be completely avoided - is, of course, what passes for political debate in the West these days.

Paul Keating’s iconoclastic speech last week was both timely and welcome. He single-handedly attempted to initiate a necessary debate on an issue of fundamental importance to Australia’s future and the security of the entire Southeast Asia region.

Whether a serious public debate will happen or not – it seems unlikely at the moment – Keating, who left office in 1996, has done Australia a great service by drawing attention to the deeply problematic and troubling nature of the AUKUS pact.

Keating has also obliquely reminded Australian voters – at least those who are old enough to remember it - of a time when a few politicians of stature and principle still sat in parliament, and when genuine public debate took place, as a matter of course, in respect of issues of national importance. 

Sadly – if Prime Minister Albanese and his defense and foreign affairs ministers are any indication - that time seems to have long since passed.

Ron DeSantis has blasted a “Soros DA” over the case while getting in an apparent dig at the former US president

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has ripped the New York City prosecutor behind a possible criminal indictment against Donald Trump while sideswiping the former president with an apparent dig alluding to the “porn star hush money” at the center of the case.

DeSantis, who is currently Trump’s top rival for the Republican Party’s 2024 presidential nomination, had been pressured to comment on the New York case since Trump said over the weekend that he expects to be arrested on Tuesday. He finally weighed in when asked by a reporter on Monday about the possible indictment, arguing that Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg was among the US prosecutors who were using their positions to pursue a leftist political agenda after being elected with campaign funding from billionaire George Soros.

“These Soros district attorneys are a menace to society, and I’m just glad that I’m the only governor in the country who’s actually removed one from office during my tenure,” said DeSantis, referencing his firing in January of a prosecutor in Tampa, Florida. He added that Soros-backed DAs “weaponize their office to impose a political agenda on society at the expense of the rule of law and public safety.”

BREAKING: Gov. DeSantis responds to Trump possibly being indicted.

"I don't know what goes into paying hush money to a porn star to secure silence over some type of alleged affair..." but says Alvin Bragg is a Soros-backed DA who is going after Trump for political reasons. pic.twitter.com/M0JiQP3KVb

— Julio Rosas (@Julio_Rosas11) March 20, 2023

While some prominent Republicans, such as former vice president Mike Pence, rallied to Trump’s side over his looming arrest, DeSantis said he wouldn’t get involved in the case “in any way,” suggesting that he wouldn’t try to help block the Florida resident’s extradition to New York. “I don't know what goes into paying hush money to a porn star to secure silence over some type of alleged affair,” the governor said. “I just can’t speak to that.”

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“But what I can speak to is that if you have a prosecutor who is ignoring crimes happening every single day in his jurisdiction, and he chooses to go back many, many years ago to try to use something about porn star hush-money payments. That’s an example of pursuing a political agenda and weaponizing the office.”

Bragg reportedly aims to prosecute Trump over a $130,000 payment that was made to porn star Stormy Daniels to secure her silence during the 2016 presidential campaign. The DA would need to prove that the money was paid for the sole purpose of the campaign, rather than other possible motives, such as avoiding public embarrassment or keeping Trump’s wife from finding out about an affair.

DeSantis has declined to push back publicly after being attacked on multiple occasions by Trump, who has nicknamed him “Ron DeSanctimonious.” A Yahoo/YouGov poll conducted last month found that voters favored DeSantis over Trump in a head-to-head race by a margin of 45%-41%.

The State Department’s annual report blames Russia, glosses over Kiev’s behavior

The 2022 annual human rights report, published by the US State Department on Monday, blames the censorship of media, bans on political parties and extrajudicial executions in Ukraine on the Russian “invasion.” Kiev’s crackdown on the Ukrainian Orthodox Church is not mentioned at all. 

The report notes that businessman Denis Kireev was “allegedly killed during his arrest by the Security Service of Ukraine [SBU] after it obtained a recording of Kireyev allegedly implicating himself in treason.” It goes on to quote the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) saying “the circumstances of [Kireev’s] death remain unclear.”

The head of Ukraine’s military intelligence and Kireev’s bodyguards told the Wall Street Journal that SBU agents seized him, shot him in the back of the head, and dumped his body on a Kiev street as a warning.

No mention was made of the extrajudicial executions of four opposition activists in Ukrainian-held Severodonetsk in May, despite Azov commander Maksim Zhorin boasting about it on social media. 

The State Department claims there were “no reports of disappearances by or on behalf of government authorities” and “no reports of political prisoners or detainees in the government-controlled area of Ukraine.” However, it later quotes the UN human rights mission as saying that Ukrainian “law enforcement agencies and armed forces were responsible for arbitrary detentions and enforced disappearances on government-controlled territory.”

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To UN claims of at least 34 instances of disappearance, detention and torture, the State Department responds by quoting Ukrainian authorities denying “torture or brutal interrogations of detainees in liberated areas; they stated they were conducting stabilization measures to determine whether populations collaborated with Russia.”

In the section on prison conditions, the report notes that martial law allows for coercing confessions and that there were reports the authorities “at times, tortured persons in custody,” before adding this was “usually related to collaboration with Russia.”

The notorious practice of stripping and whipping alleged “looters” taped to lampposts is acknowledged, with a note that some public officials “encouraged” the “extrajudicial punishment,” while some members of the police and Territorial Defense took part in it. At least one person died after being left tied up overnight.

Nazism is mentioned exactly once, to say that Ukrainian law bans “communist and Nazi symbols as well as the manufacture or promotion of the St. George’s ribbon,” as a Russian symbol. The ribbon is part of the medal for victory over Nazi Germany. Another section mentions the existence of “radical groups,” but only to say their members “often perpetrated violence against LGBTQI+ persons,” which the authorities “often did not adequately investigate.”

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Even though Kiev has “banned, blocked, or sanctioned media outlets and individual journalists deemed a threat to national security or who expressed positions authorities believed undermined the country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” the NGO Freedom House continues to rate Ukraine’s press as “partly free.” 

The infamous “kill list” on the website ‘Mirotvorets’, which “reportedly maintains close ties to the security services,” is described as “a database of personal information of journalists and public figures whose statements and activities have been deemed unpatriotic.”

Zelensky’s crackdown on the Ukrainian Orthodox Church was not mentioned at all. Instead, the report links to the 2021 Report on International Religious Freedom, which mainly talks about the treatment of Jehovah’s Witnesses and notes meetings between US government officials and the government-established Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU).

“In some instances, the government publicly criticized international organizations engaging on [sic] international humanitarian law,” is how the State Department describes Kiev’s attack on Amnesty International, after it revealed Ukrainian forces were using civilians as human shields.

The report does, however, admit the existence of corruption in Ukraine, saying it “remained a serious problem for citizens and businesses alike.”

The State Department claims that its annual human rights reports provide “factual, objective information based on credible reports of the events” and represent a “vital resource” for governments, researchers, journalists and advocacy groups.

A pair of initiatives intended to derail a deeply unpopular pension reform scheme were defeated in the National Assembly

Lawmakers in France’s National Assembly stifled two no-confidence motions on Monday, clearing the way for President Emmanuel Macron’s unpopular pension reforms to become law. 

The first motion, filed by a centrist coalition with broad support on the political Left, netted 278 votes in favor of censuring the government, just nine short of the required 287. A second motion filed by the right-wing National Rally party attracted only 94 votes.

Olivier Marleix, the leader of the majority Republicans party, committed his faction to supporting the government, acknowledging what he called “the need for a reform to save our pension system and defend retirees’ purchasing power,” even as a handful of party members defected to back the first no-confidence motion. Agnes Evren, the party’s vice president, had previously promised just five Republican MPs would vote against Macron’s reforms, a far cry from the 30 that would have been required to block the pension package. Several MPs came forward over the weekend to claim they had received death threats from constituents seeking to sway their votes on Monday’s motions. 

READ MORE: French MPs threatened with guillotine ahead of crucial vote

Both initiatives were introduced on Friday after Macron’s government bypassed a vote in the National Assembly to force through the unpopular pension reforms opposed by two thirds of the French electorate. The package would raise the retirement age from 62 to 64 by 2030 and lengthen the required employment period for a worker to receive a full pension upon retirement to 43 years. 

While the reforms passed through the Senate last week, Macron insisted there was “too much uncertainty” regarding their support in the lower house to leave the matter to chance and deployed a constitutional loophole to dodge the vote, a move denounced by union leaders as “a complete denial of democracy.” Several days of violent demonstrations and riots have followed in cities across the nation, while a patchwork of strikes has been declared. 

Bezalel Smotrich has claimed the people is “an invention that is less than 100 years old”

There’s no such thing as Palestinian history or culture, and no such thing as a Palestinian people, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has claimed. The minister, who is tasked with the administration of the occupied West Bank, made the inflammatory remarks on Sunday during a visit to France.

Smotrich was speaking at a memorial event commemorating Jacques Kupfer, a prominent Zionist and activist with the right-wing Likud Party, who died back in 2021. The minister delivered his speech while standing at a lectern draped with a flag depicting a variation of the so-called ‘Greater Israel’ map that appears to include the West Bank, East Jerusalem, Gaza and Jordan, footage of the event, which was widely shared online, shows. 

“Is there a Palestinian history or culture? There is none. There is no such thing as a Palestinian people,” the politician stated, scoring applause from the audience.

The Palestinian people is an invention that is less than 100 years old.

Smotrich, a settler in the occupied West Bank himself, also claimed to be a real Palestinian, while describing his late grandfather as a “13th generation Jerusalemite” and a “true Palestinian.”

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The controversial remarks drew the ire of Palestinian officials, who condemned them as “racist” and “extremist.” Palestine's Foreign Ministry condemned Smotrich’s denial of the existence of the Palestinians, stating that such statements “foster an environment that fuels Jewish extremism and terrorism against our people.” 

This is the second major controversy that Smotrich, well-known for his hardline Zionist stance and repeated anti-Palestinian remarks, has ignited this month. Early in the month, the minister called for “wiping out” the Palestinian town of Huwara, which saw riots by Israeli settlers following the shooting of two settlers by a Palestinian gunman. The rioting claimed the life of at least one Palestinian resident of Huwara. 

The remarks received widespread condemnation, prompting the minister to backtrack and claim he “did not mean that the town of Huwara should be wiped out,” but that Israel should “act in a targeted manner against terrorists and supporters of terrorism.”

The former national security advisor said he considered the International Criminal Court “fundamentally illegitimate”

Former US national security advisor John Bolton has come out against the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) decision to indict Russian President Vladimir Putin, calling the court “fundamentally illegitimate.” 

“I believe and have for many years [that] the International Criminal Court is fundamentally illegitimate,” Bolton told Sky News on Monday, adding that its arrest warrant for Putin is “not something that the United States should cooperate with.”

“It’s a very dangerous institution,” he continued. “It is an exercise of governmental power in a vacuum without any constitutional framework to restrain it.”

The Court's pre-trial Chamber issued a warrant on Friday for the arrest of Putin and Russian Children's Rights Commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova for the “unlawful deportation” of children from “occupied areas of Ukraine.” The charges refer to Russia’s efforts to evacuate civilians away from areas – mostly in the predominantly Russian-speaking region of Donbass – shelled by the Ukrainian military.

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Neither the US nor Russia recognize the ICC’s jurisdiction. Speaking to reporters on Friday, US President Joe Biden said that he believed the arrest warrant was “justified,” but admitted that the court was “not recognized by us either.”

In addition to sanctioning a number of top International Criminal Court officials in 2020, the US maintains the ‘Hague Invasion Act’, giving its military permission to invade the Netherlands were any US citizens detained at the court.

As George W. Bush’s undersecretary of state, Bolton signed the official letter withdrawing the US from its jurisdiction in 2002. As Donald Trump’s national security advisor, he threatened sanctions against anyone cooperating with its investigations into alleged US war crimes in Afghanistan.

While Bolton has maintained for two decades that the ICC is a “direct assault on the concept of national sovereignty,” he argued on Monday that its indictment of Putin could hinder eventual peace talks in Ukraine.

“If you want negotiations to take place, do you think an arrest warrant for Vladimir Putin makes it more likely or less likely he will negotiate?” he asked Sky’s Kay Burley. Instead, he suggested that either Ukraine or a hypothetical pro-Western government in Moscow should try the Russian president. 

READ MORE: Putin arrest warrant shows international law is collapsing – Medvedev

Bolton is a lifelong advocate for using US hard power against other nations, and throughout his political career has called for regime change or military action in Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Libya, North Korea, Venezuela, and Russia. Last summer, he admitted to CNN that he had “helped plan coups d’etat” around the world.  

The Kremlin is “unfazed” by the charges against Putin, spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday. Peskov has previously called the indictment “null and void from a legal standpoint.”

Four members of the Oath Keepers militia group have been found guilty of felonies for their roles in the 2021 Capitol breach

Prosecutors in Washington have won felony convictions against four members of the Oath Keepers militia for their participation in the US Capitol riot, but jurors have been unable to reach a consensus on whether two other defendants conspired to block congressional certification of Joe Biden’s presidential election victory.

William Isaacs, Connie Meggs, Laura Steele, and Sandra Parker were found guilty on Monday of conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding. They had been accused of entering the Capitol during the January 2021 riot and trying to get into the US Senate chamber before being stopped by police.

Biden’s Department of Justice also filed multiple conspiracy charges against two other Oath Keepers members, Michael Greene and Bennie Parker. Jurors found each of the men innocent on one of the charges and remained deadlocked as of Monday afternoon on the second count, after a week of deliberations.

All six defendants were found guilty of entering or remaining in a restricted area. If the jury isn’t able to agree to guilty verdicts on the remaining conspiracy charges against them, Greene and Parker will face sentencing for only their misdemeanor convictions. Neither man was alleged to have entered the Capitol building, but both were accused of aiding or abetting a conspiracy to obstruct Biden’s election certification.

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Nine other Oath Keepers members were convicted on felony charges, including obstruction of an official proceeding, in earlier Capitol riot trials. Six of those, including militia founder Stewart Rhodes, were convicted of the rare and more serious charge of seditious conspiracy. Like Greene and Parker, Rhodes never entered the Capitol.

The latest trial came amid increasing controversy over the riot. US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, a California Republican, last month released 41,000 hours of Capitol riot surveillance footage to Fox News host Tucker Carlson. The videos had previously been kept under wraps by investigators, including prosecutors who allegedly withheld the footage from defense lawyers for riot defendants. Carlson aired several of the clips earlier this month and argued that many of the election-fraud protestors who entered the Capitol behaved peacefully. “These were not insurrectionists, they were sightseers.”

The former US president’s plea for followers to ‘protest, protest, protest’ his anticipated arrest will get them in trouble, they said

Taking to the streets to protest the predicted arrest of former US president Donald Trump would be walking into a trap similar to the January 6, 2021 ‘Stop the Steal’ debacle, according to a whopping 85% of respondents to a poll posted by conservative commentator Paul Joseph Watson to Truth Social on Sunday.

“Is the potential protest against Trump being arrested a J6-style trap?” the poll asked 1,580 Truth Social account holders. Describing the results as “interesting,” Watson implied that respondents not using the former president’s own social media platform would be even less likely to trust Trump’s calls to “take our nation back.”

The 2024 presidential hopeful first hinted at his looming arrest in a Truth Social post on Saturday, crediting “illegal leaks” from Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office with tipping him off. He has since pleaded for support in multiple all-caps missives, imploring his followers, “WE MUST SAVE AMERICA! PROTEST, PROTEST, PROTEST!!!”

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Mike Cernovich, another ostensibly pro-Trump conservative commentator, advised the ex-president’s fans to stay home on Tuesday “unless y’all really want to become stars in a sequel to January 6th.” 

Originally a nonviolent protest against the certification of the allegedly fraudulent 2020 election results, ‘Stop the Steal’ devolved into a riot as hundreds stormed the Capitol building following a speech by then-president Trump. While the vast majority never even entered the building, let alone damaged property or assaulted government employees, several demonstrators died in the melee and the entire group was portrayed in most media reports as armed, dangerous, and a threat to American democracy. Over 1,000 rally participants have been methodically hunted down and charged in the intervening two years.

“The last time Trump’s biggest fans protested on his behalf, he left them all to rot in jail without so much as a penny from him in legal fees,” conservative author Jesse Kelly reminded Trump fans. “Do NOT go into a blue area and protest for this man.”

While Bragg’s office has refused to confirm or deny a pending indictment against Trump, reports of the DA discussing “security preparations” with several law enforcement agencies ahead of actually placing him in handcuffs surfaced over the weekend. Trump turned down an offer to testify before a grand jury regarding the Stormy Daniels hush money scandal earlier this month, a formality generally understood to be a prelude to charges being filed.

Washington will pull artillery shells and rockets from its own stockpiles to bolster Kiev’s military

The US Department of Defense announced on Monday that it will send Ukraine another $350 million worth of military aid. The further supplies come as Ukraine reportedly gears up for a spring offensive, despite suffering heavy losses in Donbass.

The package is the 34th tranche of military aid doled out to Ukraine by the US since August 2021. It includes ammunition for Kiev’s US-provided HIMARS rocket artillery systems, 155mm artillery rounds, high-speed anti-radiation missiles (HARMs), riverine patrol boats, and other anti-tank and mortar systems.

Amid reports of dwindling stockpiles at home, the Pentagon no longer discloses how much of each ammunition type its arms packages include. These figures have been omitted from every such statement since the beginning of January, but a comparison of the supplemental fact sheets released with each package suggests that the US has sent Ukraine at least 500,000 155mm shells since the beginning of March.

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These NATO-standard shells are in desperate demand, with Ukrainian Defense Minister Aleksey Reznikov claiming earlier this month that his forces need 594,000 per month to fire their Western-provided guns at full capacity. Aside from those provided by the US, Reznikov has asked the EU to provide 250,000 shells per month. 

At a meeting on Monday, however, 18 EU countries committed to providing just a million of these shells within a year, a figure that falls well short of Kiev’s demands.

Media reports have warned for months that the effort to arm Ukraine has depleted military inventories in the US and Europe. With Kiev reportedly ignoring Western advice and refusing to surrender the encircled city of Artyomovsk (called Bakhmut in Ukraine), US and EU officials are now concerned that its forces may lack the ammunition for a springtime offensive against Russia, the New York Times reported last week.

The US has given Ukraine more than $32.5 billion in military aid since last February, out of more than $110 billion allocated by the administration of US President Joe Biden for military and economic assistance to Kiev. Russia has repeatedly warned that such military outlays will not change the outcome of the conflict but make Western nations de-facto participants in the hostilities. 

Washington learned nothing from the 2003 aggression, Ambassador Anatoly Antonov has said

Although the entire world has known for years that the invasion of Iraq was based on false pretenses and a violation of international law, the US continues to insist it was justified in the name of its global hegemony, the Russian ambassador to Washington said on Monday.

Commenting on the anniversary of the attack on Iraq, Anatoly Antonov called it a “dark page in American history,” when the US “once again demonstrated complete disregard for the UN Charter and the norms of international law” and violated Iraqi sovereignty using “open deceit” to justify its actions.

The pretext for the war was “deliberately fabricated,” Antonov said, pointing to the infamous incident when Secretary of State Colin Powell waved a vial of powder at the UN pretending it was a sample of Iraqi WMDs, which did not exist.

“Hundreds of thousands of people died. Millions fled their homes, becoming refugees,” Antonov said. The destruction of the city of Fallujah, the massacres perpetrated by Blackwater mercenaries, and the torture at Abu Ghraib prison, he added, will be long remembered as examples of US “democratization.”

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By sowing chaos in Iraq, the US created fertile soil for the rise of Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS) and other terrorist groups in the Middle East, which still threaten regional and international security, Antonov noted. 

Even now, after 20 years, the US continues to insist that the invasion to overthrow the government of Saddam Hussein was somehow justified, which in Antonov’s opinion is an attempt to convince the world “that the Americans have the right to do whatever they please.”

“This means no state can feel safe if it does something to displease Washington,” Antonov said.

US troops are still in the region “under the guise of the noble counter-terrorism mission,” but are in fact trying to play world police and control both resource-rich Iraq and its neighborhood, the ambassador pointed out.

British, Australian, and Polish troops joined the US in invading Iraq on March 20, 2003, based on Washington’s claims that Baghdad had weapons of mass destruction and was somehow connected to Al-Qaeda, which was blamed for the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Though the conventional Iraqi resistance was broken by May 1, an uprising against the US occupation government continued on for years. 

US troops had officially withdrawn from Iraq at the end of 2011, but returned in 2014 to fight against IS, which had taken over a third of the country.

Amazon has confirmed new cost-cutting, saying an additional 9,000 workers will be let go after firing 18,000 employees in January

America’s Big Tech bloodletting has reached a new round of victims, with online retailing behemoth Amazon revealing that it will cut an additional 9,000 jobs just two months after announcing that 18,000 slots would be eliminated.

Amazon CEO Andy Jassy disclosed the latest job cuts in a message to employees on Monday. Most of the affected positions are in the company’s AWS cloud services, its PXT Solutions business, its advertising operations and its Twitch online gaming platform.

“Given the uncertain economy in which we reside and the uncertainty that exists in the near future, we have chosen to be more streamlined in our costs and headcount,” Jassy said. “The overriding tenet of our annual planning this year was to be leaner while doing so in a way that enables us to still invest robustly in the key long-term customer experiences that we believe can meaningfully improve customers’ lives and Amazon as a whole.” 

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The move came less than a week after Meta, Facebook’s parent company, announced an additional 10,000 job cuts on top of the 11,000 positions it eliminated last November. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg warned of the possibility that “this new economic reality will continue for many years.”

Companies such as Google, Microsoft, Twitter and eBay also have cut thousands of jobs in recent months. US technology firms have been hit hard by rising interest rates and a slowdown in online advertising amid increasing economic uncertainty. Bank of America has predicted that the US economy will slide into recession later this year, while some economists have warned that even a global economic downturn won’t curb high inflation rates.

Nearly 140,000 US technology industry jobs have been cut so far this year, following more than 161,000 such eliminations in 2022, according to a tally by Layoffs.fyi.

READ MORE: Gold surges as US banking crisis rages

Olivier Dubois was taken hostage by an al-Qaeda-linked group in Mali in 2021

French journalist Olivier Dubois was released from captivity in Mali on Monday, after being held hostage for 23 months by militants with ties to al-Qaeda. The release comes several months after France withdrew its troops from the former colony.

Photos posted on social media showed Dubois arriving at Niamey Airport in Niger, and the journalist’s release was confirmed on Twitter by French President Emmanuel Macron shortly afterwards. It is unclear how French authorities managed to secure Dubois’ freedom, but in a follow-up tweet, Macron expressed “immense gratitude to Niger” for the country’s role in negotiations. 

During a trip to the Ivory Coast in December, French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna said that France was doing “everything possible” to free the journalist.

Dubois, who worked for the newspaper Liberation and Le Point magazine, was kidnapped in April 2021 by the Support Group for Islam and Muslims (GSIM), a regional jihadist organization loyal to al-Qaeda. At the time, the group was engaged in a campaign of skirmishes against UN peacekeepers and French troops, the latter of whom were conducting an anti-insurgency operation on behalf of the Malian government.

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Dubois announced his kidnapping in a video posted to social media the month after his capture. A second proof-of-life video was posted last March, and a third was obtained and kept secret by French negotiators at the start of this year, Liberation reported. 

He was the first French national to be taken hostage by rebels in Mali since aid worker Sophie Petronin was freed in a prisoner-swap deal in October 2020.

The French military initially deployed to Mali in 2013 at the behest of the Malian government. After pushing Islamist forces out of the northern half of the country, the military launched Operation Barkhane a year later, expanding its mission to Burkina Faso, Chad, Mauritania, and Niger, all former French colonies.

After some initial successes for the French, jihadist violence increased, and France was ordered to withdraw by Colonel Assimi Goita, who came to power in a military coup in May 2021. France’s mission ended last August, and Goita has since turned to Russia for military assistance.

France has also been given 30 days to withdraw from Burkina Faso, and now keeps the majority of its Africa-based troops in Niger.

In addition to Dubois’ release, American aid worker Jeffrey Woodke was set free in Niger on Monday. Woodke was abducted by GSIM fighters in 2016 and driven toward Mali, where he was reportedly held. A US official told CNN that no ransom was paid for Woodke, but his release came a week after Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Niger and announced a $150 million aid package for the Sahel region.

The Russian guru claims he lives healthily on fruit, vegetables and sun rays

A Russian self-styled personal growth coach who advocates a vegan lifestyle has been arrested in connection with the death of his one-month-old son. The child died from apparent malnutrition and a lack of medical treatment.

Maksim Lyutyy, a 43-year-old resident of a village near the Black Sea resort of Sochi, has been placed in pre-trial custody after being charged on Sunday at a local court. 

The mother of the child, Oksana Mironova, was moved from jail to house arrest last week. The infant was pronounced dead on March 8 when his parents took him to the hospital. The child was born at the couple’s home on February 11, investigators said. 

Lyutyy is a fitness coach who provides advice to 64,000 followers on his Instagram page. He reportedly invited clients to a $500 retreat, where he would explain his method for staying fit and living to the age of 150. The technique reportedly involves abstaining from animal products and cooked food, and complementing fruits and vegetables with the direct absorption of solar energy. 

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The coach claimed that he developed his approach after experiencing a spiritual awakening during a trip to India, and said he improved his health by quitting tobacco, alcohol and drugs thanks to the method.

Lyutyy and Mironova, who is in her mid-30s, were apparently mistrustful of the authorities and the healthcare system, and the fitness instructor is said to have assisted the delivery of the baby despite not being a certified medic. 

The child did not undergo the routine medical checks required for babies in Russia, and his very existence came as a surprise to officials. The couple also allegedly refused to call a doctor when the boy’s health began to deteriorate in the days prior to his death.

Lyutyy is suspected of subjecting the child to his specialist diet, denying him milk or formula. He also allegedly forced the infant to endure several 24-hour periods without food, purportedly to boost his resolve.

The charge against Lyutyy qualifies his actions as criminal and akin to physical abuse, but the allegation does not state that he caused his son’s death. 

Lyutyy is facing up to seven years in prison if convicted. Mironova was charged with causing death through negligence, which is punishable by up to two years in prison.

Member states have pledged to send a combined 1 million artillery shells to Kiev within the next 12 months

Eighteen EU nations have agreed to tap their artillery stockpiles and jointly purchase more shells so they can provide 1 million rounds to Ukraine over the next 12 months.

The deal was finalized at a meeting of EU foreign and defense ministers on Monday. Ukraine’s Western allies are racing to ensure that Kiev has the munitions it needs to battle Russian forces after NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg warned last month that the conflict was consuming ammunition at a pace “many times higher than our current rate of production.”

“We are taking a key step toward delivering on our promises to provide Ukraine with more artillery ammunition,” EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on Monday. He added that the orders for 155-millimeter shells would be aggregated and fast-tracked through the EU Defence Agency.

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The plan approved on Monday was based on Borrell’s proposal earlier this month to provide 1 billion euros ($1.07 billion) in EU financial incentives to nations that committed to tapping their ammunition inventories for Ukraine, as well as another 1 billion euros to help fund joint procurement of new shells.

Borrell claimed last month that Russian artillery forces were firing about 50,000 shells a day, and Ukraine didn’t have enough ammo to match Moscow’s firepower. “It is the most urgent issue,” he said at the time. “If we fail on that, the result of the war is in danger.” 

Even if the nations that signed on to Monday’s agreement are able to deliver on their pledges – Estonian Defense Minister Hanno Pevkur told reporters in Brussels that “many, many details” aren’t yet resolved – 1 million rounds would last for only 20 days at the firing rate cited by Borrell. US officials have estimated that Ukraine is currently firing around 4,000 to 7,000 shells daily.

READ MORE: EU must shift to wartime economy – industry commissioner

German politician Michael Gahler, a member of the European Parliament, called the deal to jointly buy ammo for Ukraine a “good, albeit late initiative.” He added, “We have lost time, too much time last year because the reality was that many member states, including my own, remained too passive for too long in spite of strong verbal commitments … We need to deliver to Ukraine as long as it takes for Ukraine to win, and we need to replenish our stocks in time, as soon as possible, in order to be able to defend ourselves.”

READ MORE: Hungary won’t bow to pressure on Ukraine – FM

Russian officials have repeatedly cautioned that sending arms to Ukraine will prolong the bloodshed and risk escalation into a wider conflict.

The continent will become one of the leaders of the emerging multipolar world, the Russian president has said

Moscow is “determined to continue building a strategic partnership” with African nations, Russian President Vladimir Putin has said, expressing confidence that the continent is set to become one of the leaders of the emerging multipolar world.

The president made the remarks at the International Parliamentary Conference ‘Russia – Africa in a Multipolar World,’ which kicked off in Moscow on Monday and brought together representatives of some 40 nations. The conference comes ahead of the second Russia-Africa summit, which is scheduled to take place in St. Petersburg in July.

“African nations are continuously increasing their weight and role in international affairs, and are asserting themselves more and more confidently in politics and economy. We are convinced that Africa will become one of the leaders in the emerging new multipolar world order – all objective prerequisites for this exist,” Putin stated.

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Russia and African nations stand together against “the neo-colonial ideology” imposed by certain powers in the world, Putin went on. “Many states of Asia, the Middle East, and South America stand on similar positions, and together we make up the world majority,” he added.

Moscow is committed to continue building a “strategic partnership” with Africa, while multiple Russian state-owned and private companies are already actively investing into the continent, Putin stressed. “We are ready to jointly shape the global agenda, work together to strengthen fair and equal interstate relations, and improve mechanisms for mutually beneficial economic cooperation,” he said, describing African nations as Russia’s “friends in the full sense of this word.”