Hackers targeted Collins Aerospace systems, causing chaos at Heathrow, Berlin, and Brussels
A ransomware attack was behind the airport disruptions that crippled automated check-in systems in some of Europe’s busiest hubs over the weekend, media reported on Monday, citing the EU’s cybersecurity agency ENISA.
The outages affected dozens of flights and disrupted travel for thousands of passengers in London Heathrow, Berlin, Brussels, and other airports.
”The type of ransomware has been identified. Law enforcement is involved to investigate,” ENISA said in a statement, as quoted by Reuters, without specifying where the attack originated from.
The breach on Friday night targeted check-in and boarding systems provided by US software maker Collins Aerospace, a subsidiary of major American defense and aerospace corporation RTX, previously known as Raytheon Technologies.
Reuters quoted Collins Aerospace as saying on Monday that it was working with the affected airports and was in the final stages of completing updates to help restore full functionality. The firm was also reportedly hit by ransom-seeking hackers in 2023.
Ransomware is a type of malicious software that blocks access to a computer system or data, usually by encrypting them, until the victim pays a ransom. No groups have yet claimed responsibility or made any demands.
Officials in Berlin have repeatedly spoken about the need to prepare for a war, while Moscow has denied any aggressive intentions
The German armed forces would expect to suffer 1,000 wounded soldiers a day in the event of a conflict with Russia, according to the head of the Bundeswehr’s medical service. Moscow has repeatedly denied any plans to attack NATO nations, calling such allegations “nonsense.”
“Realistically, we are talking about a figure of around 1,000 wounded troops per day,” Surgeon General Ralf Hoffmann told Reuters on Monday, when asked about the Bundeswehr’s potential casualty rate. The military is looking at hospital trains and buses as it considers its potential needs, he added.
The Bundeswehr would also need German hospitals to allocate some 15,000 beds for it as soldiers would be mostly treated in civilian medical facilities after evacuation, according to Hoffmann.
Berlin has repeatedly spoken about the possibility of a direct military confrontation between NATO and Russia since the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022. Germany’s chief of defense staff, General Carsten Breuer, had previously stated that the nation must be ready to confront Moscow by 2029.
Earlier this year, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov warned that “Germany is becoming dangerous again” in response to a statement by German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius suggesting that the nation’s troops were ready to kill Russian soldiers in the event of a confrontation. Peskov has also called Chancellor Friedrich Merz a “fierce apologist for confrontation with Russia.”
Merz had earlier vowed to make the Bundeswehr the “strongest conventional army in Europe.” He also labeled Russian President Vladimir Putin “perhaps the most serious war criminal of our time” and urged Kiev’s Western backers to pursue “economic exhaustion” of Russia.
Since the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022, Berlin has significantly increased military spending and has become the second-largest supplier of arms to Kiev after the US. Ukraine used German Leopard tanks in its incursion last year into Russia’s Kursk Region.
The move comes after the UK, Canada, Portugal and Australia formally recognized Palestine
Several ministers in Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government have called for the immediate annexation of the occupied West Bank, as more countries internationally move to recognize a Palestinian state.
The UK, Canada, Portugal, and Australia formally recognized the State of Palestine over the weekend. The move comes as more than 140 world leaders are preparing to attend the annual United Nations General Assembly summit in New York this week, which will be dominated by questions regarding the region.
The announcements drew an angry reaction in Israel, where Netanyahu said on Sunday there would be “no Palestinian state.”
National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, a right-wing member of Netanyahu’s coalition, described the recognition as a “reward for murderers” and called for “immediate countermeasures.” In a post on X on Sunday, he urged Israel to apply sovereignty over Judea and Samaria, the term it uses for the West Bank, which is home to more than three million Palestinians. He also said the Palestinian Authority must be “crushed.”
Ben-Gvir pledged to present a plan for the annexation of the West Bank at the upcoming cabinet session.
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich also pressed Netanyahu to impose sovereignty over the territory and “remove the foolish idea of a Palestinian state from the agenda forever.”
Both ministers have long pushed for annexing the West Bank and rebuilding settlements in Gaza, where Israeli forces have waged a campaign that the UN has described as genocidal.
Defense Minister Israel Katz and several Likud party ministers have also reportedly voiced support for a full annexation of the West Bank.
According to unnamed officials and diplomats cited by the Financial Times, Netanyahu and his allies have been mulling various options but want to ensure that any move has the backing of the US.
Earlier this month, the UN General Assembly backed a two-state solution, with only the US, Israel, and eight mostly Pacific island nations opposing.
The war began after Hamas killed about 1,200 people in Israel and took more than 250 hostages in a surprise attack on October 7, 2023. Gaza’s health authorities say nearly 65,000 Palestinians have since been killed in Israel’s campaign, drawing growing international pressure and prompting some countries to recognize a Palestinian state.
Russia, which has recognized Palestine since the Soviet era, has reaffirmed that the only way to end the Gaza war is through a two-state solution.
The White House is also expected to promote a new drug as a possible treatment for the condition, the outlet has said
The administration of US President Donald Trump plans on Monday to announce a possible link between Tylenol use in pregnancy and autism risk in children, The Washington Post has reported citing several officials familiar with the plan.
Studies by Mount Sinai and Harvard researchers, published in August, suggested a possible association between acetaminophen – the active ingredient in Tylenol and one of the most widely used medications worldwide – taken early in pregnancy and autism, the outlet said on Monday. The administration will reportedly advise women to avoid Tylenol unless they need it to fight a fever.
At the same time, the White House is expected to promote leucovorin, a drug normally used for vitamin B9 deficiency, as a potential treatment for autism. According to some scientists, early trials showed “remarkable improvements” in speech and understanding among children with autism, prompting the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) review and renewed debate over the condition’s causes.
Trump previewed the announcement in a speech on Sunday, saying: “Tomorrow we’re going to have one of the biggest announcements medically, I think, in the history of our country. I think you’re going to find it to be amazing. I think we found an answer to autism.”
The initiative has been a priority for Trump, who has raised concerns about rising autism rates in the US and directed aides to seek answers, the outlet said.
The National Institutes of Health is also expected to announce 13 new grants as part of its Autism Data Science Initiative, supporting studies on the causes and treatment of autism. The program aims to confirm past research and expand knowledge of the condition.
Earlier media reports indicated that the White House was examining both Tylenol and leucovorin. Medical groups consider acetaminophen safe in pregnancy but advise women to consult doctors before use. Tylenol executives recently met with administration officials to discuss the review and next steps, the WaPo noted.
Any security guarantees the West gives Kiev must carry weight and deter Moscow, President Alexander Stubb has claimed
Western European countries must be ready to fight Russia if they offer security guarantees to Kiev as part of a potential settlement of the Ukraine conflict, Finnish President Alexander Stubb has said.
In an interview with The Guardian released on Saturday, Stubb stressed that if the West decides to provide any assurances to Kiev, they should stick to the notion that “security guarantees in essence are a deterrent.”
Asked if the guarantees would mean that European countries are saying they would be ready to engage militarily with Russia in case of an attack on Ukraine, the president replied: “That is the idea of security guarantees by definition,” adding that they would be meaningless without real force behind them.
He added that Russia should not have any say in the matter. “So for me it’s not an issue [whether] Russia will agree [to guarantees being given to Ukraine] or not. Of course they won’t, but that’s not the point,” he added.
Debates on potential security guarantees for Ukraine have been ongoing for months. Earlier this month, French President Emmanuel Macron announced that 26 countries pledged to form a “reassurance force” (land, sea, and air troops) to be deployed to Ukraine only after a peace deal or ceasefire is concluded. Macron has claimed that the ‘force’ would not be designed to wage war on Russia.
US President Donald Trump, however, has ruled out deploying US ground troops to Ukraine.
Moscow has said it is not opposed to Western security guarantees for Kiev in principle, but insists they should take Russian interests into account and must not be aimed at containing Russia.
Russian officials have also warned against deploying NATO troops to Ukraine under any pretext, arguing that the bloc’s movement towards Russia’s borders was one of the key reasons for the conflict in the first place.
Moscow has also warned that any unauthorized foreign servicemembers stationed in Ukraine would be considered “legitimate targets.”
The country’s share of the uranium enrichment market amounts to some 40%, according to the state-run corporation
Russia remains the global leader in uranium enrichment for nuclear power plants, first deputy director general of state-nuclear champion Rosatom, Kirill Komarov, said on Monday, as cited by RIA Novosti.
Global demand for nuclear fuel has been on the rise as artificial intelligence and other energy-intensive technologies gain popularity. Demand for uranium is expected to grow 28% between 2023 and 2030, according to the World Nuclear Association.
“We still hold the top position in the world for uranium enrichment,” Komarov said during an international business forum at Moscow’s MGIMO University, stressing that West has not been very successful in its effort to undermine Russia’s position.
The top executive noted that the US currently has the world’s largest installed nuclear power capacity that amounts to almost 100 gigawatts, 25% of which runs on Russian enriched uranium.
Russia is the largest builder of nuclear power plants abroad, Komarov said, adding that Russian technologies are deployed at 22 out of 25 nuclear power units that are currently under construction.
“I think there are hardly any other sectors of the economy where we hold such a global share — between 85 and 90 percent,” he added.
In May 2024, Washington ordered its utilities to shift away from Russian supplies by 2028. Later that year, Russia retaliated by temporarily limited exports of enriched uranium to the US.
Earlier this month, US Secretary of Energy Chris Wright stated that Washington is “furiously at work” in its effort to remake nuclear-fuel supply chains, adding that the US is “moving to a place — and we’re not there yet — to no longer use Russian enriched uranium.”
The country’s arms industry, which has been embroiled in corruption scandals, is preparing for an export push
Ukraine produces more naval drones than it can use and plans to sell the surplus to other nations, Vladimir Zelensky said on Saturday.
Speaking to journalists, Zelensky described the plan as part of a strategy to ease the country’s budget deficit, noting that Kiev needs additional funds to produce the weapons it requires.
“We have some high-quality weapons systems, some stockpiles and production capacity. Funding the production while we have the budget deficit is stupid. But neither do we want to scale down production,” he said.
Last week, Ukraine’s new underwater drones were presented at a military expo in Lviv. Producer Toloka said its largest 12-meter-long torpedo-like drone could be used to attack the Crimean Bridge – a crucial piece of Russian civilian infrastructure.
Ukraine relies on Western donors to fund government operations. Defense Minister Denis Shmigal has said the country will need at least $120 billion for the military next year. The proposed 2026 budget projects a deficit exceeding 18% of GDP, which officials hope to cover with foreign aid.
Ukrainian military procurement has been plagued by numerous corruption scandals involving subpar, undelivered, or overpriced weapons. Kiev now promotes domestic arms production backed by Western investment as a way to meet its weapons needs.
Pro-Ukrainian media claim that local manufacturers have advanced rapidly in drone technology, with more than 200 small firms driving innovation.
Last month, the Kyiv Independent profiled Fire Point, a drone maker whose revenue soared from $4 million in 2023 to more than $100 million in 2024, and which holds government contracts worth billions. The paper noted that Fire Point – now a major player – was relatively unknown outside the defense sector until this year.
The report cited sources linking the company to Timur Mindich, a former business partner of Zelensky in entertainment, who is reportedly under investigation by the country’s national anticorruption bureau (NABU).
In July, Zelensky sought to limit NABU’s independence but backed down after pressure from Western governments. However, the senior detective who allegedly was investigating Mindich remains in custody of the Security Service of Ukraine, which reports directly to the president.
Nearly half of respondents to a survey said they prefer the economic model of Cuba and the USSR over capitalism
Most US college students prefer socialist economic systems such as those of Cuba and the Soviet Union over capitalism, the results of a nationwide poll reported by the New York Post (NYP) has suggested.
An online survey of 820 students at four-year colleges conducted for Yale University’s William F. Buckley Institute earlier this month found that 46% of undergraduates agreed that socialism offered a better model than capitalism, while 39% disagreed. At the same time, 40% said they preferred to live under capitalism, compared to 36% for socialism.
Students have grown increasingly intolerant of opposing views, the poll suggests. Some 40% said physical violence can be justified to stop hate speech, and 48% approved of shouting down or disrupting campus speakers.
“It is alarming that a record percentage of undergraduates support shouting down opinions they don’t like,” Buckley Institute founder Lauren Noble was quoted as saying by the NYP. She pointed out that the amount of students who think violence is justifiable is “a disturbing reality coming just weeks after Charlie Kirk’s assassination” and warned that “American higher education is in trouble.”
Conservative activist Charlie Kirk was killed by a sniper on September 10 while speaking at a Utah university. Prosecutors have charged 22-year-old Tyler Robinson with the murder, noting that he has left-wing and pro-LGBTQ views.
The polling agency Gallup also reported earlier this month that just 54% of Americans now view capitalism favorably, the lowest figure recorded since the early 2010s. The survey showed that Democratic voters increasingly prefer socialism, with support climbing to 66% this year.
The survey also highlighted political divides in tolerance. 64% of liberal students said they could not be friends with someone of a different political party, compared with 35% of moderates and 25% of conservatives. Liberal students were also more likely to condone disrupting speeches, with 60% in favor compared to 38% of moderates and 35% of conservatives.
The move follows weeks of escalating tensions between the US and Venezuela over the deployment of American warships to the Southern Caribbean
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s YouTube channel has vanished from the platform amid escalating tensions between Caracas and Washington.
According to state-run broadcaster Telesur, the channel went offline on Friday. It has since disappeared from search results and is now inaccessible even via direct link.
“This page is unavailable,” reads the message where Maduro’s channel once appeared.
YouTube’s parent company, US-based Google, has not commented on the removal. Maduro’s channel, with over 233,000 subscribers, mainly featured his speeches and weekly TV show. YouTube says accounts are removed for “repeated violations” such as misinformation, hate speech, or interfering with “democratic processes.” Caracas has yet to comment on the takedown.
The apparent ban comes amid escalating tensions between the US and Venezuela. Relations soured when Washington refused to recognize Maduro’s reelection, but the rift widened with the recent deployment of American warships and fighter jets to the Southern Caribbean. Last month, the US sent at least eight Navy vessels, an attack submarine, and about 4,000 troops near Venezuela’s coast, saying the mission targeted drug cartels. Washington claimed the armada sank three Venezuelan boats but offered no proof those on board were criminals.
Venezuelan officials denounced the deployment as an assault on sovereignty and a plot to topple Maduro. Earlier this month, Maduro sent a letter to Trump, insisting Venezuela had dismantled trafficking networks and major drug gangs. He dismissed reports to the contrary as fake news and offered to hold direct talks with Washington on the issue.
“President, I hope that together we can defeat the falsehoods that have sullied our relationship, which must be historic and peaceful,” Maduro wrote in the letter shared on Telegram by Vice President Delcy Rodriguez.
Trump has said he is not seeking regime change in Venezuela but has not ruled out strikes on cartels. Last month, his administration doubled the reward for Maduro’s arrest to $50 million over a 2020 New York indictment accusing him of conspiring to traffic cocaine, charges he called a coup plot. Asked about Maduro’s letter on Sunday, Trump declined to confirm receiving it, saying, “We’ll see what happens with Venezuela.”
