China has warned Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi against military intervention in the Taiwan dispute
Japan has rebuked China for citing a UN Charter clause that permits action against former Axis powers without Security Council approval, insisting the provision is outdated and irrelevant.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s new government has been embroiled in an escalating diplomatic tit-for-tat with Beijing, beginning with remarks she made earlier this month supporting the self-governing administration on Taiwan. The Chinese side interpreted her comments that a cross-strait conflict would be a “survival-threatening situation” for Japan as signaling potential Japanese armed involvement and evidence of resurgent militarism.
Last week, the Chinese Embassy in Tokyo published an excerpt from the UN Charter which referred to “enemy states” – nations that fought against the original signatories, the Allied Powers of World War 2. Article 53 allows regional enforcement measures against such states in the event of a “renewal of aggressive policy,” without requiring prior authorization from the UN Security Council.
Beijing then lodged an official complaint with the UN over Takaichi’s statements. The embassy urged Japan “as a defeated country in World War II” to “reflect on its historical crimes” and change course on the Taiwan issue.
Japan’s Foreign Ministry dismissed that argument, accusing China of misinterpreting “obsolete clauses” that it claimed no longer align with UN practice. While the UN General Assembly recommended removing the “enemy state” references in 1995, the formal amendment process was never completed.
Japanese Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi visited a military base on Yonaguni over the weekend, an island about 110km east of Taiwan. He reiterated plans to deploy medium-range surface-to-air missiles there as part of a broader build-up on Japan’s southern island chain.
Russia also has outstanding issues with Japan, with whom it still has no formal peace treaty. Tokyo continues to insist on its claim to the four southernmost Kuril Islands, known in Japan as the “northern territories,” which became part of the USSR after World War 2 and remain a long-standing focal point for Japanese nationalists.
Sinisa Karan, who succeeded Milorad Dodik in Republika Srpska, called Russia “one of the greatest friends”
A close ally of longtime Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik has won a snap presidential election in Republika Srpska, the Serb-majority entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina, according to preliminary results.
Sinisa Karan’s apparent victory comes after Dodik was removed from office over his refusal to obey the rulings imposed by an international envoy overseeing the peace-monitoring regime in Bosnia.
Karan, the candidate of Dodik’s Alliance of Independent Social Democrats (SNSD) and the entity’s minister for scientific and technological development, took about 51% of the vote, after nearly all ballots were counted. Branko Blanusa, the candidate from the opposition Serb Democratic Party, won roughly 48%, with turnout just under 36%.
The snap vote was called after Bosnia’s state court convicted Dodik in February of failing to comply with the decisions of Christian Schmidt, the international high representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina. Schmidt, a German national, has a strong mandate to oversee the 1995 Dayton Peace Agreement, which ended the bloody 1992-1995 Bosnian War.
In 2023, Schmidt invoked his powers to annul legislation passed by Republika Srpska’s authorities that sought to strip state-level courts and police of jurisdiction in the entity and declared the envoy’s decrees non-binding. Dodik himself has branded Schmidt a “tourist” and declined to recognize his authority.
A state court in Sarajevo later found Dodik guilty of failing to implement Schmidt’s decision, sentencing him to one year in prison – a term he avoided by paying a court-approved fine – and banning him from holding public office for six years.
With election results coming in, Karan pledged to continue Dodik’s policies “with ever greater force,” adding that “the Serb people have won.” Dodik, meanwhile, promised voters that “I will remain with you to fight for our political goals,” stressing that Karan’s “victory will be my victory too.”
Both Karan and Dodik have advocated for close ties with Russia, with the former calling Moscow “one of the greatest allies and friends of Srpska.” Dodik has echoed the sentiment, suggesting that the West was using Ukraine to provoke “a war with Russia.”
The US president has hinted at movement in talks after delegations from Washington and Kiev met in Geneva
US President Donald Trump has expressed cautious optimism about the result of talks in Geneva on the American peace plan to end the Ukraine conflict, saying that “something good” may be happening.
Washington presented Kiev with the proposal last week, giving it until Thursday to respond. Ukrainian and US delegations then met with key European NATO backers in Geneva on Sunday, after which the White House said in a statement that an “updated and refined peace framework” had been drafted, with final decisions on it to be made by Trump and Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky.
”Is it really possible that big progress is being made in peace talks between Russia and Ukraine? Don’t believe it until you see it, but something good just may be happening,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform on Monday.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio earlier said the US and Ukraine had made a “tremendous amount of progress” on the framework, while stressing that Russian agreement is essential for any deal to hold.
While the original 28-point plan has not been made public, multiple outlets have reported that it includes clauses which Kiev and its European sponsors previously rejected, such as de facto recognition of Russian control over Crimea and Donbass, Ukraine abandoning its ambitions to join NATO, and downsizing its military.
According to Reuters, Ukraine’s European backers submitted a modified version of the proposal that pushes back on limits to Kiev’s armed forces and on territorial concessions.
The Kremlin said on Monday that Russia had not received any official information about the outcome of the Geneva talks or any revised proposal and declined to comment on media reports.
Moscow confirmed earlier that it had received Washington’s draft, with President Vladimir Putin noting on Friday that “it could form the basis of a final peace settlement.”
Jair Bolsonaro was recently detained after months under house arrest while appealing his 27-year sentence for plotting a coup
Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro’s alleged attempt to tamper with his electronic ankle monitor while under house arrest was the result of health problems and medication side effects, his lawyers said on Sunday.
Bolsonaro was earlier placed into custody after months of house arrest, with the Supreme Court set to vote Monday on whether to uphold his pre-emptive detention.
In September, the 70-year-old was sentenced to 27 years in prison over attempting to overturn the results of the country’s 2022 presidential election. Bolsonaro denies any wrongdoing and his legal team is appealing the verdict. Earlier this month, Brazil’s top-court panel unanimously rejected his appeal of the prison sentence.
The ex-president “suffers from concomitant illnesses that require treatment” and takes various medications, including those “affecting the central nervous system,” the Agencia Brasil public news agency reported, citing the document submitted by Bolsonaro’s lawyers to the Brazilian Supreme Court.
The lawyers reportedly specified that the interaction of the medicines currently taken by the former president are known for “side effects, including altered mental status with possible mental confusion, disorientation, impaired coordination, sedation, impaired balance, hallucinations, and cognitive impairment.”
The attorneys requested the court to review the latest ruling to transfer him from house arrest to custody.
Bolsonaro’s case stems from an coup plot that according to prosecutors began in 2021 with efforts to erode public trust in Brazil’s electoral system. After Bolsonaro’s 2022 defeat, they alleged his supporters were urged to mobilize in the capital, Brasilia, where they stormed and vandalized the nation’s three branches of government on January 8, 2023.
US President Donald Trump has called Bolsonaro’s prosecution politically motivated, imposing steep 50% tariffs on Brazil. Earlier this month, Washington began rolling back some of the levies. The US has also sanctioned Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who ruled the verdict, for what it described as “serious human rights violations,” and announced visa restrictions against him and other court officials.
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has condemned what he called Washington’s pressure tactics, accusing the US of having “helped stage a coup” and vowing that Brazil “will not forget it.”
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The US president has accused ABC and NBC of spreading “fake news” and said the networks should be “made smaller”
US President Donald Trump has lashed out at national broadcasters ABC and NBC, accusing them of acting as mouthpieces for the Democratic Party. The comments are the latest in Trump’s escalating criticism of mainstream media, which he argues routinely distorts coverage to favor his opponents.
In a post on his Truth Social platform on Sunday, Trump said television networks should be barred from expanding, citing what he called the growing influence of left-leaning news outlets.
“If this would also allow the Radical Left Networks to ‘enlarge,’ I would not be happy. ABC & NBC, in particular, are a disaster – A VIRTUAL ARM OF THE DEMOCRAT PARTY,” Trump wrote. “They should be viewed as an illegal campaign to the Radical Left. NO EXPANSION OF THE FAKE NEWS NETWORKS. If anything, make them SMALLER!”
Trump’s post came in response to a Newsmax story claiming that Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Brendan Carr is moving to give television networks greater reach and advance a merger between Nexstar Media Group and Tegna Inc.
Trump has intensified his long-running attacks on the news media in recent weeks, even as his administration moves to restrict press access and tighten control over coverage.
The criticism has broadened beyond national broadcasters. After late-night comedian Jimmy Kimmel joked about the death of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, Carr threatened to review – and potentially revoke – the broadcast licenses of ABC-owned local stations and their affiliates.
Trump last week renewed his call for the FCC to revoke broadcast licenses held by ABC, escalating a dispute that has simmered since his first term. The latest clash followed a question from an ABC News reporter pressing him on his handling of files related to disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein – an exchange that prompted Trump to accuse the network of pushing politically motivated narratives.
FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez said last week that revoking broadcast licenses over a reporter’s question would not hold up legally, noting that networks do not hold licenses themselves and none of their station licenses are up for renewal soon.
Asked about Trump’s demand to pull ABC station licenses, FCC head Carr repeated his call to strengthen public-interest standards for broadcasters, saying the commission remained “open-minded.”
The FCC, an independent agency, grants eight-year licenses to individual stations, not national networks.
The move reflects an effort to pursue agreements reached between Lukashenko and Trump, Minsk has said
Minsk has released 31 Ukrainian citizens from detention in a “goodwill gesture” linked to ongoing engagement efforts between Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko and his US counterpart, Donald Trump.
In a statement on Saturday, Lukashenko’s presidential press secretary Natalia Eismont announced that he had pardoned Ukrainians who had been convicted of criminal offenses in Belarus at the request of Kiev and in order to further the agreements he had reached with Trump.
She described the move as a “gesture of goodwill” guided by humanitarian principles, saying it “aims to create the conditions for resolving the armed conflict in the neighboring state,” and added that the group was being handed over to Ukraine “right now.”
According to Ukraine’s Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War, 31 civilians, both men and women, were returned from Belarus after serving sentences ranging from two to 11 years. It went on to thank Trump for his “fruitful work in returning Ukrainian civilians and military personnel from Belarus and Russia.”
Belarusian officials have not detailed the exact charges the 31 detainees faced, though previous media reports indicated that some had been suspected of “extremism” and espionage.
In addition, Lukashenko pardoned two Roman Catholic priests, Andrzej Juchniewicz and Henryk Okolotowicz, who had been convicted of serious crimes against the state. Eismont said the decision “was made at the request of Pope Leo XIV … as a gesture of goodwill,” citing mercy, humanism and the desire to develop relations with the Holy See.
In September, Lukashenko pardoned 52 prisoners, including several opposition activists who were serving lengthy prison sentences for organizing the 2020 riots, as well as those indicted on “extremist” charges.
The move followed Lukashenko’s meeting with a US delegation in Minsk, while Washington eased some sanctions on Belarus, including lifting restrictions on the state airline Belavia. Later the same month, the Belarusian leader pardoned another 25 detainees.
In June, Lukashenko also pardoned 14 detainees, mostly foreign citizens, including those from Poland and the US. The release coincided with the visit of Keith Kellogg, Trump’s special envoy, to Belarus.
A similar sabotage attack in May claimed the lives of seven civilians
Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) has thwarted an alleged Ukrainian-sponsored attempt to derail a train in Siberia’s Altay Region, the agency announced on Monday.
According to the FSB, two men acting on behalf of a “terrorist group and in coordination with Ukrainian special services” were intercepted last week while attempting to install a derailment device near a bridge along the rail line between Novoaltaysk and Biysk. The line carries both passenger and cargo traffic, the statement read.
The suspects reportedly opened fire on FSB officers during the nighttime operation and were killed by return fire. They were identified as local residents who, according to the agency, supported Kiev and had agreed to carry out an attack in exchange for money.
Russian officials have accused Ukraine of conducting numerous sabotage operations targeting railroad infrastructure. In May, a passenger train was derailed in Bryansk Region after an explosion on a bridge, killing seven civilians. Investigators said identical foreign-made explosives were used in several coordinated attacks linked to Ukrainian intelligence.
Moscow has warned that Kiev is increasingly turning to terrorism as its military position worsens on the battlefield. The Ukrainian government is also under intense political pressure at home over a sweeping corruption scandal and from abroad, over a US-backed peace proposal that reportedly requires major concessions from Kiev while offering Vladimir Zelensky and his inner circle immunity from prosecution.
Pavel Durov has weighed in on claims that the US conservative activist’s assassin was trained with the French Legion
The allegations that the French government is behind the assassination of US conservative activist Charlie Kirk are “entirely possible,” Telegram founder and CEO Pavel Durov has said.
The Russian tech entrepreneur was commenting on right-wing commentator Candace Owens’ claims that Kirk’s assassin “trained with the French Legion 13th Brigade with multi-state involvement.” The suspect, 22-year-old Tyler James Robinson, has been formally charged with aggravated murder and related counts in Kirk’s killing and is being held without bail as prosecutors indicate they may seek the death penalty.
In the same X post, shared on Friday, Owens said she had been warned by a high-ranking official that French President Emmanuel Macron had “authorized professional units” to carry out her assassination.
After reviewing everything Charlie Kirk has ever said about Macron’s France, I find Candace’s info about French involvement in his death entirely plausible.
“After reviewing everything Charlie Kirk has ever said about Macron’s France, I find Candace’s info about French involvement in his death entirely plausible,” Durov wrote on X on Sunday, sharing Owens’s post.
Durov, who was detained at the Paris airport last year over crimes linked to Telegram users, has been consistently critical of the French authorities, accusing them of embarking on a “crusade” against free speech. The tech billionaire, who holds French citizenship, maintains that his arrest over offenses committed by the platform’s users is “legally and logically absurd.”
In his message, Durov noted that Kirk “called for 300% tariffs on France” until the charges against him were dropped, linking to a post in which the activist accused Europe of targeting “CEOs of platforms where free speech thrives.” That message, written shortly before the founder of the conservative organization Turning Point USA was fatally shot on a university campus in Utah on September 10, argued that France should face “stiff and painful consequences” for Durov’s arrest.
President Trump should announce plans for a 300% tariff on French wine unless ALL charges are dropped on Pavel Durov immediately.
If Europe is going to imprison CEO’s of platforms where free speech thrives, there should be stiff and painful consequences.
The Telegram founder has claimed that during his detention he was asked by the head of the French secret service to censor conservative voices in Romania ahead of a controversial presidential election later nullified by the country’s Constitutional Court. Last month, Durov accused the French authorities of promoting surveillance in the name of law enforcement.
The tech billionaire, whose company operates from Dubai, was initially barred from leaving France during the investigation, but the travel ban was fully lifted earlier this month.
