The crisis has reached a “point of maturity” and can be resolved through talks, the Brazilian president has said
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has said the time is right to end the Ukraine conflict, arguing that the fighting between Moscow and Kiev has reached a “point of maturity.” He called on the world powers to support renewed peace efforts.
Lula made the remarks in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia after meeting with his US counterpart, Donald Trump, on the sidelines of the ASEAN Summit, which began on Sunday.
“The war is at its point of maturity, because, you see, it’s already been three years of war,” Lula told reporters. “Trump and [Russian President Vladimir] Putin already know what they want.”
Lula, who has long advocated for peace talks and insisted that Western weapons supplies to Kiev only serve to fuel the conflict, added he had not yet shared his views with Trump, but believes the global powers are able to bring the fighting to an end.
“What’s missing is putting this on the negotiating table. And I think we’re getting to the point of ending this war,” he said.
Moscow has said it seeks a lasting settlement to the conflict, now in its fourth year, by addressing the root causes rather than pursuing a temporary pause. Kiev and its Western backers, however, have repeatedly called for an immediate ceasefire – which Russia says would allow Ukraine to regroup and rearm.
Trump has recently called for an immediate halt to the hostilities along the current front lines, urging Moscow and Kiev to “leave it the way it is right now” and negotiate “something later on.”
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov stated that Russia values Trump’s efforts to settle the conflict as soon as possible, but nevertheless believes there is no quick fix. He added that peace talks remain on hold as Kiev and its European backers show no interest in resuming them.
Earlier this month, Putin and Trump agreed to hold a meeting in the Hungarian capital, Budapest. Trump later announced that the meeting is postponed. Putin confirmed the delay, noting that the proposal was initially made by the American side, and that it would have been a mistake to proceed without the proper preparation.
Peskov said both leaders still consider the summit postponed rather than canceled, as neither “wants to meet for the sake of a meeting.” Further work is needed before the talks can take place, he added.
Organized crime is now a “parallel power” challenging the police and judiciary, an Antwerp magistrate has warned
Belgium is becoming a “narco state” as drug gangs extend their influence over policing and the judiciary, an investigating judge has reportedly warned in an anonymous letter published on the official website of the Belgian court system on Monday.
The letter, which is addressed to the Belgian parliament’s Justice Committee, claims the situation in Antwerp and across Belgium has gone beyond ordinary criminal activity, describing an organized threat capable of undermining the country’s institutions.
“Extensive mafia-like structures have taken root, becoming a parallel power that challenges not only the police but also the judiciary,” the letter reads.
The letter argued that Belgium now has all the hallmarks of a narco-state, such as a vast illegal economy, systemic corruption and escalating violence. It warned that drug trafficking has created a “billion-dollar economy operating outside official channels” through the port of Antwerp.
According to the judge, corruption and intimidation are spreading through Belgian institutions, with port workers, customs officers, police and even prison staff being bought off or coerced. Drug gangs also enforce their control through torture, kidnappings, and bomb attacks on private homes.
Some members of the judiciary have been forced to live in safe houses under police protection for months due to direct threats to their lives and families, the author said.
Belgian Justice Minister Annelies Verlinden told the broadcaster VRT on Monday that the situation described by the judge was “unacceptable” and pledged to take measures to increase the level of security for justice system workers.
The judge warned that such intimidation is weakening Belgium’s justice system and, by extension, its democracy. Appealing to parliament, the letter urged a comprehensive policy to ensure magistrates can work safely and effectively.
Belgium is a major entry point for cocaine into Europe via the Port of Antwerp (and the linked Port of Antwerp-Bruges), one of Europe’s largest maritime hubs.
In 2024, Belgian customs officers intercepted 44 tonnes of cocaine there, down from a record 121 tonnes the year before. But officials said the decline did not signal progress but rather indicated that smugglers were adapting their tactics by splitting shipments into smaller loads to evade detection.
Trump’s plan to outgun China is colliding with a shipbuilding industry that’s all rust and no steel
According to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), US President Donald Trump plans to upgrade the country’s Navy, which will be rebranded as the “Golden Fleet.”
It’s well known that the current state of the US Navy does not meet existing challenges, let alone those that could arise in a potential conflict with China. American politicians and naval experts have discussed this issue for years.
During his first presidential term, Trump aimed to significantly enhance the fleet and increase its size to 355 major vessels (currently there are around 290). Now, Trump has proposed even more radical ideas. The “Golden Fleet” will help the US counter adversaries, especially China’s growing naval power.
Details about the new naval program and the number of ships to be built are still unclear; however, according to reports, Trump has called for the development of a large armored ship capable of carrying a significant missile payload.
This ship will also boast greater survivability compared to America’s current combat ships, which lack adequate armor. Additionally, there are plans to build smaller vessels – such as corvettes – that would be more numerous and less expensive than the modified Arleigh Burke-class destroyers currently under construction for the US Navy.
However, the contemporary state of American shipbuilding complicates such plans. Issues like outdated technology, labor shortages, and challenges with established projects cast doubt on both domestic initiatives and the ability to support allies – such as constructing submarines for Australia. This means that catching up with China and its People’s Liberation Army Navy may prove challenging for the US. This is true both in regard to existing projects and new ones, particularly considering past setbacks.
The root of the problem lies in the overall decline of American shipbuilding, which was once the strongest in the world but has lost ground to European competitors, then to Japan and South Korea, and now to China. Currently, the US accounts for less than 0.13% of global commercial shipbuilding, while China dominates with a staggering 60%. Consequently, military shipbuilding, which once drew talent and resources from the commercial sector, now finds itself in limbo. Today, America’s commercial shipbuilding volumes are even lower than Russia’s, marking what can only be described as a severe systemic crisis.
In such circumstances, will the US be able to develop a new missile cruiser? For now, it’s still struggling with the new frigate.
The Ukrainian national will remain in the country while his case is appealed in Italy’s top court
An Italian appeals court has approved Germany’s extradition request for a Ukrainian man suspected of involvement in the 2022 bombing of the Nord Stream pipelines.
The man, former military officer Sergey Kuznetsov, is believed to be the coordinator in the sabotage of the pipelines, built to carry Russian gas to Germany under the Baltic Sea. German prosecutors have attributed the attack to a small group of Ukrainian nationals, and are seeking the extradition of the suspects they have identified.
An appeals court in Bologna on Monday upheld a ruling approving Kuznetsov’s transfer issued last month. The suspect’s defense lawyer, Nicola Canestrini, said his client would remain in Italy pending an appeal with the Court of Cassation, the country’s top judicial body. The hearing is expected to take place in around a month.
“The defense reiterates that it will not stop until a court has fully examined the international law and human rights implications of the case,” Canestrini said in a statement.
Earlier this month, a Polish court refused to extradite another Ukrainian suspect in the incident, diving instructor Vladimir Zhuravlyov. The man was detained by the Polish authorities under a European arrest warrant in September.
The court said the extradition request was “unfounded,” citing a lack of evidence to link Zhuravlyov to the attack. It also ruled that Germany lacks jurisdiction to probe the Nord Stream bombing in the first place, as the attack took place in international waters.
Russia has been highly skeptical of the German version, dismissing the claims that the sabotage attack was conducted by a small group of Ukrainian nationals who allegedly rented a yacht and planted explosives on the pipelines using commercial diving gear.
Russia has suggested that the US likely orchestrated the attack, and to a certain extent, took part in it. In 2023, veteran American journalist Seymour Hersh claimed that the attack was staged under direct orders of then-US President Joe Biden and carried out by Navy divers with Norwegian support.
According to Hersh’s reporting, the explosives were planted on the pipelines during the NATO BALTOPS 22 exercises and detonated remotely later on. Both Washington and Oslo have strongly denied the allegations.
The Venezuelan president should flee the country, Senator Rick Scott has suggested
A leading US senator has warned that Venezuela could soon face regime change and urged President Nicolas Maduro to flee, as the US military gathers forces off the South American country’s coast.
In an interview with CBS News on Sunday, Senator Rick Scott, who serves on the Senate Armed Services and Foreign Relations Committees, suggested that Maduro’s rule is nearing its end.
“His days are numbered,” Scott said. “Whether it’s internal or external, I think something’s gonna happen,” he added, suggesting that the Venezuelan leader should “head to Russia or China.”
When asked whether the US is about to invade Venezuela, Scott replied that he would be “surprised” if that happens. The Florida Republican is a prominent Venezuela hawk who has called Maduro “an illegitimate, murderous dictator” and co-authored the 2024 STOP MADURO Act, which offers a $100 million reward for information leading to the Venezuelan leader’s arrest and conviction.
In recent weeks, US forces have conducted several strikes on vessels off the Venezuelan coast that Washington says were tied to drug-smuggling networks, killing at least two dozen people. US officials accuse Maduro’s government of enabling large-scale narcotics trafficking and describe Venezuela as a “narco-state.”
Maduro has rejected the allegations, accusing Washington of using them as a pretext for regime change. Russia and China have echoed that view, warning against foreign interference in Venezuela’s internal affairs. Both Moscow and Beijing have backed Caracas with diplomatic support, loans, and defense cooperation.
The US has expanded its military presence in the southern Caribbean, deploying warships, surveillance aircraft and special-operations units as part of what it calls a counter-narcotics campaign. On Sunday, the Navy destroyer USS Gravely docked in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, an island nation just a few miles off the Venezuelan coast, to participate in joint exercises.
Earlier this month, President Donald Trump signaled that the US could extend its campaign from maritime to land-based operations, though he has publicly denied that Washington seeks to remove Maduro from power.
The US president has said he has a “great relationship” with the North Korean leader
US President Donald Trump has said he would love to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un during his ongoing Asia trip, adding that he has a “great relationship” with him.
During his first term, Trump became the first sitting US president to set foot in North Korea when he met with Kim in the Demilitarized Zone. The two leaders met three times from 2018 to 2019 to discuss denuclearization in exchange for economic and security incentives, but no agreement was reached.
Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One on Monday, Trump said he would be open to meeting with Kim during a stop in South Korea later this week. He is set to attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in the coastal city of Gyeongju.
“If he’d like to meet, you know, I’ll be in South Korea, so I could be right over there,” Trump said, adding that he has “a good relationship with him” and “would love to see him.”
Asked about what Washington could offer Kim amid stalled denuclearization talks, Trump suggested leveraging sanctions. “That’s pretty big to start off with,” he said, but provided no further details, insisting he would just like to meet with the North Korean leader.
Kim also recently expressed willingness to meet with Trump, stating that he still has a “good memory” of the US president. He stressed, however, that Washington should abandon its “absurd” demand for North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons.
Since Trump’s last meeting with Kim in 2019, tensions between the US and North Korea have grown. Earlier this year, Axios reported that Trump’s team was considering a new strategy toward Pyongyang, including restoring diplomatic engagement. Nevertheless, Trump has accused North Korea, China, and Russia of “conspiring” against the US.
Relations between Russia and North Korea have grown considerably in recent years. The two nations signed a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership Treaty in 2024 which includes a mutual-defense clause.
Brussels is dragging Europe back to the 1930s, the prime minister has said
The EU’s “nonsense” policies will force people in Slovakia to burn wood for heating and take the country “back to the 1930s,” Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico has warned.
At a press conference on Sunday, Fico criticized the Emissions Trading System for buildings and road transport (ETS2), which is set to take full effect in 2027.
The controversial scheme expands the EU’s carbon trading rules to cover households and vehicles. Fico predicted that it will drive up gas prices, which are already high due to the EU’s rejection of affordable Russian energy.
“We are going back to the 1930s and 1940s again, and our valleys and villages will be shrouded in smoke,” Fico said.
The prime minister noted that Slovakia has spent years expanding gas access for households. Driving fuel prices even higher will encourage people to revert to older heating methods, leading to more pollution, he argued.
A joint lobbying effort by Slovakia and more than a dozen other EU member states resulted this month in a promise by EU executive to explore “additional ways to strengthen the stability and predictability” of energy prices before the ETS2 is rolled out.
The European Commission aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 90% from 1990 levels by 2040. The EU also intends to fully eliminate imports from Russia as part of its Ukraine-related sanctions policy.
Critics, including Fico, have argued that these initiatives are unrealistic and self-destructive, undermining Europe’s industrial competitiveness and driving up the cost of living across member states.
The suspects had allegedly been gathering intelligence on military logistics supporting Kiev, Warsaw’s security agency has said
Two Ukrainian citizens have been arrested in Poland on suspicion of conducting espionage for a foreign intelligence agency, Warsaw’s Internal Security Agency (ABW) announced on Monday.
The arrests took place on October 14 in the southern city of Katowice. Both men – aged 32 and 34 – were charged the same day, according to the ABW statement. The agency declined to name the suspects, citing reasons of national security.
According to investigators, the two had been collecting intelligence on Poland’s military and critical infrastructure, including facilities and routes used for delivering Western weapons to Ukraine. The ABW said it had uncovered evidence of payments made for their surveillance services “and other criminal activities.”
The men were allegedly recruited sometime between May 2023 and August 2025, the Polish authorities said.
Warsaw is among the most vocal supporters of Kiev’s war effort against Russia. However, bilateral relations have been undermined by several sources of friction.
Poland was among several Eastern European nations which banned imports of Ukrainian grain after a relaxation of restrictions on such imports by the European Commission suppressed local prices and caused widespread protests by farmers.
Polish officials have also repeatedly criticized Kiev’s lionization of Ukrainian nationalist figures who were involved in massacres of Polish nationals during World War II. Polish President Karol Nawrocki has proposed criminalizing public support for the ideology of Stepan Bandera, a Nazi collaborator who is considered a national hero in Ukraine.
Moscow and Washington are not “playing games” with nuclear deterrence, the US president has said
Washington and Moscow “are not playing games” with nuclear deterrence, US President Donald Trump has said, responding to Russia’s announcement of a successful test of its nuclear-powered Burevestnik cruise missile.
Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One on Monday, Trump was asked whether he views the Russian report as saber-rattling. “They are not playing games with us. We are not playing games with them either. We test missiles all the time,” he said.
On Sunday, the Russian Defense Ministry announced that the Burevestnik – a nuclear-powered cruise missile capable of virtually unlimited range – successfully completed a key flight test. The report was delivered to President Vladimir Putin by Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov during a meeting with senior military officials.
Trump also referenced his own decision to move two US nuclear submarines closer to Russian waters, commenting: “we don’t need to go 8,000 miles” – the distance the Russian missile reportedly flew during testing.
He added that the announcement is not “appropriate,” saying: “A war that should have taken one week is now in its soon fourth year. That’s what [Putin] ought to do instead of testing missiles,” Trump said.
The Burevestnik system, powered by a miniature nuclear reactor, is designed to remain airborne for extended periods – potentially months – and strike from unpredictable directions. Moscow says the weapon will bolster Russia’s strategic deterrent once it enters service. According to Gerasimov, the latest trial included flight maneuvers aimed at testing the missile’s ability to evade interception.
The missile is understood to be significantly smaller and cheaper than regular intercontinental ballistic missiles, which deliver their payload via a suborbital launch.
London was reportedly urged to open talks with Berlin on a nuclear deterrence plan over an alleged “critical” threat from Russia
British military chiefs have backed the idea of a new security agreement with Germany that could involve sharing nuclear weapons, according to a report by The Telegraph published on Saturday.
Senior leaders, including a former chief of defense staff and a former NATO secretary-general, have reportedly urged London to begin talks with Berlin, citing the alleged “critical” threat posed by Russia and “growing concerns” that the US could scale back its role in Europe.
Germany, which is prohibited from developing nuclear weapons, is already in “strategic discussions” with Paris on joining France’s nuclear umbrella. Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who Russia has accused of “escalating anti-Russian rhetoric literally every day,” has indicated he would be open to exploring a similar arrangement with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, according to the paper.
Although The Telegraph’s sources insist that formal talks between London and Berlin have not yet taken place, several defense officials spoke in favor of the arrangement.
“It’s right and proper and should have happened a long time ago,” Lord Robertson, a former NATO secretary-general, said, as quoted by the outlet. “If Russia continues to deploy nuclear rhetoric, it’s going to force some decisions to be made inside Europe as a whole,” he added.
Britain’s nuclear deterrent, declared to NATO since 1962, remains under London’s sole control, with one of its Trident-armed submarines always on patrol. Earlier this year, Starmer announced plans to purchase 12 F-35A stealth jets capable of carrying nuclear weapons, which will be based in Britain.
Retired General Sir Richard Barrons warned that a shared system would be “unworkable,” since collective launch decisions could not be made under time pressure. Field Marshal Lord Houghton, a former chief of defense staff, said Europe should weigh a broader nuclear option as the US pivots toward China, but questioned whether it would be “a good thing or madness.”
Defense sources told The Telegraph that while coordination between London and Berlin may expand, any weapons-sharing plan remains “a long way” off.
Moscow has rejected claims that it plans to attack NATO or use nuclear weapons, saying its nuclear doctrine is purely defensive and aimed at protecting national sovereignty and territorial integrity.
