🗣 NATO Chief: Only US pressure can force Russia to ceasefire

NATO Secretary General states that only American leadership can "change Putin’s calculus" and bring Moscow to the negotiating table.

"It may not be today or tomorrow, but we will get there," he told Fox News.

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🚨🇻🇪 Venezuela warns US: We have 5,000 Russian missiles

President Maduro has announced Venezuela possesses 5,000 Russian-made Igla-S man-portable air-defense systems.

The claim comes as a direct response to US military deployments—including stealth jets and Navy ships—to the Caribbean, which Caracas calls a "dress rehearsal" for an operation to oust Maduro.

"No fewer than 5,000 in key air defense positions to ensure peace," Maduro stated during a televised ceremony with military leaders.

White House claims its presence is for counter-narcotics operations, having destroyed several vessels allegedly smuggling drugs from Venezuela.

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🇬🇱 Denmark reaffirms Greenland status: Not for sale, not leaving kingdom

Danish Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen firmly stated that Greenland will remain part of Denmark, adding that any future status change must be decided by the Greenlandic people — not foreign powers.

He acknowledged past neglect in Arctic security and vowed to ramp up investment, aligning with US President Trump's call for stronger allied presence in the region.

"I fully agree with Trump in that context, that we have to do more investing in the security and also in new capabilities in the Arctic. And I think we have to do it together," Poulsen said.

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🇻🇪 Congress 'left in dark' on Venezuela strikes — GOP senator

Senator Todd Young has publicly criticized the Trump administration for conducting seven military strikes off Venezuela — killing at least 32 people — without adequate congressional briefing or oversight.

"Congress isn’t hearing enough — in any form," he told Axios.

He has demanded oversight hearings and meetings with Sec. Rubio and Hegseth, emphasizing that "Congress needs to assert its constitutional prerogatives."

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👀 US government eyes stakes in quantum computing firms

Several quantum tech companies, including IonQ, Rigetti, and D-Wave, are in talks to give the Commerce Department equity in exchange for federal funding, signalling an expanded role of the Trump administration in strategic tech sectors, The Wall Street Journal reports.

💵 Funding could be $10M+ per company, with deals potentially including equity, warrants, IP licences, royalties, or revenue sharing. The move follows similar arrangements with Intel and rare-earth producers, where the government has become a major shareholder.

Quantum computing is seen as the critical next-gen tech for everything from drug discovery to materials science, with companies like Google, IBM, and Microsoft investing heavily.

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❌💵 EU squabbles over spoils of €140B loan—before it’s even approved

While European leaders posture as united supporters of Ukraine, behind closed doors they’re already fighting over how to carve up a massive €140 billion loan—funded by frozen Russian assets, Western media reports.

The divide:

👉 France, Germany, and Italy insist the money must be spent on European weapons—a thinly disguised subsidy for their own arms industries.

👉 The Nordic/Baltic states and the Netherlands argue Ukraine should be allowed to buy more effective American systems, like Patriots.

The Russian Foreign Ministry has repeatedly called the freezing of Russian assets in Europe theft, noting that the EU is targeting not just private funds but also state-owned Russian assets.

Russia also believes that arms shipments to Ukraine hinder a settlement, directly involve NATO countries in the conflict, and constitute a "play with fire."

Lavrov has repeatedly stressed that any shipments containing weapons for Ukraine will be considered a legitimate target for Russia.

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🔹 US imposes sanctions on Russian companies Lukoil and Rosneft

🔹 US canceled meeting with Vladimir Putin in Budapest — Trump

🔹 US Senate fails 12th vote to end government shutdown

🔹 NATO Chief: Only US pressure can force Russia to ceasefire

🔹 Venezuela warns US: We have 5,000 Russian missiles

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🪖💥❌ Russia's FSB captures Ukrainian saboteur before bridge attack in Karelia

The Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) said on Thursday that it had detained a pro-Ukrainian saboteur, who was gathering information about the deployment of Russian armed forces units and carrying out reconnaissance of a railway bridge in Karelia.

The detainee collected information about the deployment of units of the Russian armed forces and "conducted reconnaissance of the railway bridge in order to commit a sabotage and terrorist act," the statement read.

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🇨🇳 China’s gold grab: Betting against weaponized dollar & US tariffs

China is going all-in on gold, with its on-warrant holdings soaring 25-fold in 2025, to signal a decisive break from the US Empire and the dollar-based trading system, Swiss-based economic expert Claudio Grass tells Sputnik.

💬 “They genuinely want to separate from the US dollar because it has become a political weapon. With Russia, the world has seen that private property rights are not respected on a political level,” the expert on monetary history notes.

🏆 US tariff wars = Gold price hike

The US administration’s raging tariff wars are “essentially a form of nationalization driven by insecurity,” emphasizes the pundit.

💬 “They create insecurity, and insecurity is also a driver of the fiscal gold price,” adds Grass, who is also an independent precious metals advisor.

The trend to hoard gold is a fast-growing one, he points out, as central banks, with the exception of the US Federal Reserve, now hold more gold than American treasuries.

💬 “The new old world reserve currency is physical gold,” notes Grass.

💵❌ BRICS’ gold play against dollar

The BRICS nations are intent on side-stepping the US, and establishing their own trading hubs, and, possibly in the future, their own currency, Grass speculates.

💬 “They are likely to use gold to back their currency and to establish more trust in it. Consequently, they need a system that allows for physical delivery and pickup in different jurisdictions among the member states, creating a liquid gold system.”

The yuan’s internationalization is still a question mark, according to Grass, but “BRICS countries might trade in Yuan down the line, with gold playing a key role in boosting trust and stability in the system.”

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🇺🇸JD Vance visits Christianity’s holiest site in Jerusalem

US Vice President JD Vance visited the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, joined by representatives of the Armenian, Greek, and Latin Patriarchates — the traditional custodians of the site.

He paused to pray at the Stone of Anointment, where Jesus’ body is said to have been prepared for burial.

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🙅‍♀️ ‘No particular problems for Russia’ — Russian MFA spox shrugs off new US-EU sanctions

🗣 Taking aim at Washington’s sanctions on Rosneft and Lukoil, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said the move was “entirely counterproductive”, adding that the measures won’t cause any real damage.

Commenting on the EU's new sanctions, she noted that Brussels’ restrictive measures have “largely exhausted themselves,” and warned that Moscow would respond in a measured but decisive way.

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🇷🇺 Putin: Russia strengthens digital rights protection

Russia is “consistently implementing a set of measures to protect citizens’ digital rights” and “introducing advanced methods of ensuring cybersecurity,” Vladimir Putin said in a written greeting to participants of the Eurasian Ombudsman Alliance meeting in Moscow.

👉The president noted that the rapid development of AI and digital technologies brings not only new opportunities but also “serious risks.”

✅Putin emphasized that “Russia remains open to sharing experience and active cooperation with foreign partners” in safeguarding digital rights.

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