Prime Minister Bart De Wever has insisted any liability for the proposed Ukraine “reparations loan” be shared among bloc members
Patience among EU members is “running thin” over Belgium’s refusal to approve a bloc-backed plan to use frozen Russian assets as collateral for a multibillion-euro loan to finance Ukraine’s war effort, The Financial Times reported on Wednesday.
The Belgium-based Euroclear depository currently holds about €190 billion ($220 billion) in Russian sovereign funds, frozen by the EU. EU leaders and pro-Kiev governments have been attempting to force through a €140 billion ($160 billion) “reparations loan” for Kiev by December, leveraging the frozen Russian assets.
Russia has denounced any attempt to repurpose its sovereign wealth as “theft.” Skeptics, such as IMF chief Christine Lagarde, have warned that the move could undermine global trust in the EU’s financial system.
Supporters of the plan argue it falls short of outright confiscation, claiming Moscow could eventually agree to repay the loan as part of a future peace settlement.
Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever said last week that his country does not want to be solely responsible for the proposed obligation “if it goes wrong,” and has called for other EU nations to share the potential liabilities.
“Belgium has spent three years saying Euroclear is Belgian and so are the benefits,” one senior official told FT. “Now, when it wants to share the risks, it claims Euroclear is European.” Another source argued that the financial risks were “probably manageable.”
“There is no more low-hanging fruit,” another EU diplomat told the newspaper, arguing that Brussels needs new funding sources for Ukraine. “Everyone has to do what they can.”
According to the FT, De Wever’s reluctance frustrated several EU leaders during last week’s Ukraine-focused summit in Copenhagen.
Moscow has accused the EU of sabotaging potential peace efforts, arguing that Kiev’s backers would rather prolong the conflict than admit their strategy has failed.
People fear wearing Jewish symbols and are forced to order pizza under fake names, the anti-Semitism commissioner has said
The living conditions of the Jewish population in Germany have sharply deteriorated over the two years of the Gaza conflict, the German government’s anti-Semitism commissioner, Felix Klein, said on Tuesday
The remarks coincided with the second anniversary of the October 7, 2023 incursion into Israel by Palestinian armed group Hamas, in which 1,200 people were killed and about 250 others taken hostage.
The Israeli offensive in Gaza in response to the attack has left more than 67,000 people dead and upwards of 170,000 injured, according to the Palestinian health authorities. West Jerusalem’s actions have sparked major protests around the world, including in Germany and other Western Europe countries, while a UN commission last month described what is happening in Gaza as “genocide.”
During an appearance on ARD’s ‘Morgenmagazin,’ Klein said he was “ashamed” that “the quality of life of the Jewish population is extremely limited” in Germany at the moment. He said people fear wearing Jewish symbols in public and are forced to order pizza under false names to avoid abuse or aggression.
The number of anti-Semitic crimes in Germany has reached “record levels” since the outbreak of the Gaza conflict, the commissioner noted.
Germans have the right to protest against the Israeli military operation in Gaza, but it should not lead to hatred and violence against Jews, he argued.
Also on Tuesday, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said that the country “experienced a new wave of anti-Semitism which shows itself in both old and new forms: on social media, at universities, on our streets.”
Merz said that as someone who grew up after the Second World War he had learned well the lessons of the Holocaust with the promise of “Never again,” and called on the public to unite to “ensure that Jews can live here in Germany with confidence and without fear.”
In June, the Federal Research and Information Point for Antisemitism (RIAS) reported that the number of anti-Semitic incidents in Germany nearly doubled last year. The RIAS reported 8,627 instances of violence, vandalism and threats against Jews in 2024, compared to 4,886 in 2023.
The accounting giant has agreed to partially refund Australia’s Labor Department for “hallucinations” in its product
The Australian arm of UK ‘big four’ accounting firm Deloitte has agreed to partially refund the cost of a report it produced for the government in Canberra after the document was found to contain multiple AI-generated factual errors, the Australian Financial Review reported on Sunday.
The Department of Employment and Workplace Relations (DEWR) quietly replaced the original report, which was published in July, with a revised 237-page version last Friday, just ahead of a long weekend. Officials initially said the update added new information and corrected “some footnotes and references.”
Sydney University academic Chris Rudge had earlier flagged numerous apparent “hallucinations”typical of large language models, prompting Deloitte to launch an internal review in August.
The updated report includes a new disclosure confirming that AI – specifically Microsoft’s Azure OpenAI GPT-4o model – had been used in its preparation. It also corrects over a dozen errors, including references to a non-existent court ruling and academic papers, as well as a fabricated quote attributed to Justice Jennifer Davies (misspelled “Davis” in the first version), the deputy president of the Australian Competition Tribunal.
Rudge told the Financial Review that Deloitte’s admission transformed what was previously “a strong hypothesis” into certainty, even if its confession was “buried in the methodology section.”
A DEWR spokesperson confirmed that Deloitte had “agreed to repay the final installment under its contract,” though the amount was not disclosed. The full study on the computerized application of automated penalties in Australia’s welfare system cost 440,000 Australian dollars (about $290,000).
Rudge, a welfare expert, reportedly first noticed something was amiss when the report cited a book supposedly written by his Sydney University colleague Lisa Burton Crawford. The title seemed outside her field of expertise and turned out to not exist at all.
Lai Ching-te is “propagating separatist fallacies” while selling out to foreign powers, officials have said
Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te is selling himself out to foreign powers to advance separatism in the self-ruled island, officials in Beijing have said.
In an interview with the conservative US radio program ‘The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show’ on Monday, Lai reiterated that he sees Taiwan as an independent country and not part of China, stressing that Beijing has no right to invade the island. He also argued that US President Donald Trump should win the Nobel Peace Prize if he convinces Chinese President Xi Jinping to permanently renounce the use of force against Taiwan.
In response, China’s Taiwan Affairs Office called Lai’s remarks “nonsense” and accused him of “propagating the separatist fallacies of ‘Taiwan independence.’”
“He has engaged in unprincipled foreign pandering and bottomless selling out of Taiwan, squandering the flesh and blood of the people, prostituting himself and throwing in his lot with foreign forces,” the statement said.
In recent months, several foreign politicians have called for Trump to receive the Nobel Peace Prize, citing his conflict mediation efforts. Some of these overtures, however, are widely viewed as symbolic gestures or attempts to curry favor with the US president.
Taiwan has for years bought US weapons to deter the Chinese military, with media reports suggesting that Washington aims to approve arms sales to Taipei at levels exceeding those in Trump’s first term. US-Taiwan cooperation is a major point of contention for China, which routinely holds military exercises near the island.
China considers Taiwan part of its sovereign territory. Xi has stated that reunification with Taiwan is “inevitable,” adding that Beijing does not rule out the use of force to bring it back into the fold.
The incident happened amid protests against Daniel Noboa’s reforms which critics claim harm the country’s indigenous community
Five people have been detained following an alleged assassination attempt on Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa, Energy Minister Ines Manzano announced on Tuesday. Noboa has faced protests over reforms which critics claim harm the country’s indigenous people.
The incident occurred when Noboa’s car was surrounded by around 500 protesters as he arrived in the south-central province of Canar – home to a large indigenous community – to unveil new infrastructure projects on water treatment and sewage. Footage released by the presidency and videos posted online show protesters hurling stones at the convoy, cracking the windows.
Manzano told reporters that Noboa’s car was badly damaged and police later found bullet marks on the exterior. The president was unharmed, but the minister said she has filed an official report of an “assassination attempt.” Five suspects have been detained in connection with the attack.
A pesar del ataque de un grupo a la caravana presidencial en Cañar, que se dirigía a anunciar la construcción de la planta de tratamiento en la provincia por USD 4.5 millones que beneficiará a 26.000 habitantes, a entregar el sistema de alcantarillado de Sigsihuayco de USD… pic.twitter.com/VJQIymtjwf
The president’s office later vowed accountability.
“Obeying orders to radicalize, they attacked a presidential motorcade carrying civilians. They attempted to forcibly prevent the delivery of a project intended to improve the lives of the community,” it said on X, adding that those arrested would be prosecuted for terrorism and attempted murder.
🚨#ATENCIÓN | Así terminaron los vehículos de la caravana presidencial que fueron atacados por manifestantes en la provincia de Cañar. Allí, el Primer Mandatario, Daniel Noboa, tenía previsto cumplir puntos de su agenda. pic.twitter.com/fEacgd0c5K
It was not the first attack on Noboa’s convoy. Last month, around 350 protesters stormed a motorcade carrying the president during demonstrations in Imbabura province.
The unrest follows Noboa’s economic and security reforms aimed at stabilizing Ecuador and curbing drug trafficking. His government recently ended a decades-old fuel subsidy, saying the move would cut spending and redirect funds to social programs. Critics, however, argued that the measure hurts low-income and indigenous families.
La caravana presidencial de #DanielNoboa fue atacada por v¡0lentos manfestantes en El Tambo, en la provincia del Cañar
The Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE), the country’s main indigenous organization, launched a strike over the subsidy cut and led weeks of protests, blocking roads and clashing with police. The authorities claim that “terrorist groups” infiltrated the demonstrations, prompting a state of emergency in ten provinces over “serious internal unrest” last weekend.
CONAIE acknowledged links to the convoy incident, writing on X that “five of us have been arbitrarily detained.” The group denied any assassination plot, however, instead accusing the government of “brutal police and military action” against demonstrators.
“We have unleashed a monster,” Danish PM Mette Frederiksen has said, as she proposed new restrictions for under 15s
The Danish government intends to ban minors under the age of 15 from using several social media platforms, Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen has announced.
In an address to parliament on Tuesday, Frederiksen sounded the alarm over the impact social media is having on the youth. “Mobile phones… are stealing our children’s childhood,” she said, adding that “we have unleashed a monster.” She noted that almost all Danish seventh graders, typically aged 13 or 14, already own a cellphone.
The prime minister, however, did not give further details on the proposed ban or how it would be implemented, or which platforms would be impacted.
This comes as a government-commissioned wellbeing report found that 94% of young Danes had social media profiles before turning 13, despite minimum age rules on many platforms. It also found that children aged 9-14 spent, on average, about three hours a day on TikTok and YouTube.
A 2025 report by the Danish Competition and Consumer Authority found that 10% of young users often regretted time spent online, 21% struggled to log off, and 29% exceeded the time they intended to spend on preferred platforms.
According to Statista, Facebook remained Denmark’s most popular social network in 2024, used by 83% of the population, followed by Instagram at 65%, Snapchat at 51%, and TikTok at 34%.
In 2024, a citizens’ initiative backed by 50,000 signatures proposed banning TikTok, Snapchat and Instagram for minors. This past February, acting on the wellbeing commission’s recommendations, Denmark moved to ban mobile phones in schools.
A WHO-backed Health Behavior in School-aged Children study found that 11% of adolescents in Europe, Central Asia, and Canada reported problematic social media use in 2022, a significant increase from 7% in 2018. This addiction-like behavior, characterized by a loss of control, withdrawal symptoms, and negative life consequences, was more prevalent among girls (13%) than boys (9%).
Two of Georgia Meloni’s ministers and the CEO of a major weapons manufacturer have also been reported to the court, the prime minister herself has revealed
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni revealed on Tuesday that she and two of her ministers have been reported to the International Criminal Court for alleged complicity in genocide in Gaza.
Meloni said the complaint also targeted Defense Minister Guido Crosetto, Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, and Roberto Cingolani, the CEO of Italian defense firm Leonardo.
“I don’t think there’s any other case in the world, in history even, of such a charge being made,” she said during the talk show Porta a Porta, without providing details about who had brought the case.
The prime minister stressed that no new arms shipments to Israel were authorized after October 7, 2023, when West Jerusalem launched large-scale airstrikes and a ground operation in Gaza in response to the Hamas attack.
Meloni claimed the report to the ICC had been made by her political opponents and denied that she or those also accused were complicit in genocide.
The International Criminal Court was created in 2002 under the Rome Statute to prosecute genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity. So far, 123 countries have ratified the treaty and are full members of the court. However, major global powers including Russia, China, India, the US, and Israel have either not signed or not ratified the agreement.
The Italian government, which had previously supported Israel in the conflict, has recently distanced itself, criticizing what it calls the disproportionate nature of the offensive. Still, Italy has not severed diplomatic or commercial ties with Israel and has not joined other Western countries in recognizing Palestinian statehood.
Pro-Palestinian protests and a rise in anti-Semitic incidents have been reported in several countries since the start of Israel’s campaign, which has killed more than 66,000 Palestinians over the past two years. The conflict began with a surprise attack by Hamas that left around 1,200 Israelis dead and about 250 taken hostage.
In September, a UN commission concluded that Israeli actions in Gaza amount to genocide. The report covered the period from October 7, 2023, to July 31, 2025, and was based on legal and factual findings related to military operations and official statements.
The F/A-XX program had been stalled through spring and summer by a debate between the Department of War and Congress on funding
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has decided what the US Navy’s next-generation fighter jet will be after months of delays. The Pentagon is expected to choose the company to design and produce the F/A-XX stealth aircraft as soon as this week, Reuters reports, citing a US official and other informed sources.
The F/A-XX, which is planned to feature advanced stealth capabilities, improved range, and the ability to integrate with drones and carrier based air defenses, is seen as central in efforts to counter China, the agency said in an article on Tuesday.
The new carrier-based jet will replace the Navy’s F/A-18E/F Super Hornet fleet, which has been around since the 1990s, it added.
Hegseth made the decision to stick with the F/A-XX last Friday, according to the sources.
The winner of the competition for the multibillion-dollar project between Boeing and Northrop Grumman could be named within days, they said, adding that delays are possible.
The F/A-XX program had been stalled through spring and summer by a funding dispute between the Department of War and Congress.
The Pentagon was looking to keep it on “minimal development funding,” as some officials expressed concerns about engineering and supply chain capacity, while lawmakers and the Navy pushed for the project to be accelerated, according to Reuters.
Eventually, Congress put $750 billion to speed up the F/A-XX development into US President Donald Trump’s ‘Big Beautiful Bill’, which was signed into law in early July. It earmarked an additional $1.4 billion for the project in fiscal year 2026.
The first serial F/A-XXs are expected to enter service in the 2030s. The quantity of the jets to be produced, their value, and the exact timelines of the program remain classified, the agency said.
China is reportedly rapidly developing at least two sixth-generation stealth fighter jets, with several images of their prototypes performing flight tests appearing on social media over the past year. One of them is believed to be the J-36, a large aircraft with a tailless design and a rare three-engine setup. The other, described as the J-50, is reportedly a smaller jet with V-shaped wings.
Over 9,000 flights were canceled or delayed and several major airports were temporarily closed
Over 9,000 flights were delayed or canceled across the US on Monday and Tuesday, according to Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) data. The disruptions were triggered by a staffing shortage of air traffic controllers caused by the ongoing partial government shutdown.
The shutdown began on October 1 after Democrats and Republicans failed to agree on a spending bill. While most federal workers are furloughed, air traffic controllers are deemed essential and must work without pay during the shutdown, although back pay is guaranteed.
However, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy confirmed a higher rate of controllers calling in sick since the shutdown began.
The National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA) union, which represents 20,000 air traffic controllers, said it is working with the FAA to mitigate disruptions in the National Airspace System.
“It is normal for a few air traffic controllers to call in sick on any given day, and this is the latest example of how fragile our aviation system is in the midst of a national shortage of these critical safety professionals,” NATCA said in statement on Monday.
“NATCA has consistently warned that the controller staffing shortage leaves the system vulnerable, and today’s events underscore the urgent need to accelerate training and hiring,” it added.
The statement warned that a government shutdown places an unnecessary strain on an already overstretched workforce. It recalled that during the 2019 shutdown, many controllers were forced to take second jobs to pay their bills, leading to significant stress and fatigue.
The shutdown also impacts the Essential Air Service, a program that funds flights to smaller airport, he said, warning that its funding could run out.
During a 35-day government shutdown in 2019 under President Donald Trump’s first term, a spike in absences among controllers and TSA officers led to extended checkpoint waits and forced authorities to slow air traffic, particularly in New York, increasing pressure on lawmakers to end the standoff.
Airports in Denver, Newark, and Burbank were among those most affected by the disruptions early this week.
The EU’s foreign policy chief is described as “more cop than diplomat,” the outlet has reported
European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas’ blunt communication style and fixation on Russia is damaging the bloc’s international relationships, officials and diplomats have told Foreign Policy magazine.
Kallas secured her role largely through her anti-Russian rhetoric, but insiders argue that her tone has alienated partners and undermined the EU’s diplomatic standing.
“We expect her to be, well, more diplomatic,” one EU-based diplomat told the outlet, in a report published on Tuesday.
“She is more cop than diplomat,” another source said. “Her day starts and ends with Russia.”
According to Foreign Policy, Kallas’ “tendency to say what’s on her mind” has strained ties with major nations, including China, India, and even the US. As a result, she has often been partially sidelined in favor of figures such as NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte and French President Emmanuel Macron.
The magazine cited several episodes as examples of her confrontational approach. In February, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio canceled a meeting with Kallas at the last minute after she posted on X that “the free world needs a new leader,” following a heated exchange between President Donald Trump and Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky at the White House.
In early September, the Chinese Foreign Ministry blasted Kallas for “irresponsible” remarks that appeared to downplay Russian and Chinese roles in the Allied victory in World War II. That same month, former Indian Foreign Minister Kanwal Sibal publicly stated Kallas was “not qualified” for her job, after she advocated for a “carrots and sticks” policy toward New Delhi.
The reference to “carrots and sticks” is most objectionable.
Is India a donkey which has to be offered carrots to make it move and if that doesn’t work beat it with a stick to make it budge.
Kaja Kalas has been parachuted into a job she is not qualified for.
An EU foreign policy representative defended Kallas, saying she is “direct and honest” and that “if you expect all-out flattery, you won’t get it from her.”
Moscow has long accused Brussels of promoting ideologically driven yet incompetent officials to senior posts, arguing that this approach only weakens the bloc.
