A rat-borne pathogen has killed three people and sparked a public health panic
A hantavirus outbreak on a cruise ship in the Atlantic Ocean has caught global media attention and triggered a lot of COVID trauma. The Dutch-flagged passenger ship the MV Hondius was cleared on Wednesday to dock in the Canary Islands, after three passengers were evacuated at Cape Verde.
Seven people aboard the MV Hondius have fallen ill with hantavirus since the vesse
A rat-borne pathogen has killed three people and sparked a public health panic
A hantavirus outbreak on a cruise ship in the Atlantic Ocean has caught global media attention and triggered a lot of COVID trauma. The Dutch-flagged passenger ship the MV Hondius was cleared on Wednesday to dock in the Canary Islands, after three passengers were evacuated at Cape Verde.
Seven people aboard the MV Hondius have fallen ill with hantavirus since the vessel left Ushuaia, Argentina, on April 1: three people have died, one is critically ill, and at least three others have symptoms, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
Those evacuated at Cape Verde will be taken to the Netherlands for treatment. Two are suffering acute symptoms, while the third was in close contact with a passenger who died last week. Suspected cases of hantavirus have cropped up in France, Germany, and Switzerland, all among patients who left the ship at earlier ports of call, or had contact with passengers.
What is hantavirus?
Hantaviruses are a family of viruses that cause disease in humans, usually hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS) and hantavirus cardiopulmonary syndrome (HPS). They are named after the Hantan River in Korea, where scientists first identified the pathogen when UN troops deployed along its banks fell ill with HFRS.
The ‘Andes strain’ circulating aboard the MV Hondius is typically found in Argentina and Chile, and causes HPS, rather than the less-deadly HFRS.
What are the symptoms of hantavirus?
Patients suffering with HPS may exhibit flu-like symptoms, including fever, extreme fatigue, muscle aches, stomach pain, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, or shortness of breath. As the disease progresses, patients can develop an elevated heart rate, irregular heartbeat, hypertension, and buildup of fluid in the lungs and chest cavity.
How is hantavirus spread?
Hantaviruses are carried by rodents, and spread to humans through contact with their droppings, urine, or saliva. Different species of rodents carry different hantaviruses: in the case of the Andes strain, it is carried by the long-tailed pygmy rice rat.
According to the WHO, the Andes strain is the only hantavirus that can be transmitted from human to human. “When it occurs, transmission between people has been associated with close and prolonged contact, particularly among household members or intimate partners,” the organization stated on Wednesday.
How did the virus get on the cruise ship?
Argentinian officials have told the Associated Press that they believe a Dutch couple contracted the virus while bird watching at a landfill site in Ushuaia before boarding the ship. As an investigation is ongoing, the officials insisted on remaining anonymous.
According to the ship’s operator, Oceanwide Expeditions, there are a total of 149 passengers and crew on board the vessel. This figure includes 23 British citizens, 17 Americans, and 13 Spaniards. One Russian and five Ukrainians, all crew members, are aboard the ship.
Hantaviruses infect between 10,000 and 100,000 people globally per year, according to the WHO. Fatality rates vary from strain to strain: so-called ‘old world’ European and Asian strains kill less than 1% of those infected. ‘New world’ North and South American strains kill up to 50%. The Andes strain has a fatality rate of 40%.
Have hantavirus outbreaks happened before?
Hantavirus outbreaks rarely make the news in Asia and Europe, where fatalities are relatively rare. However, ‘new world’ strains have caused panic ever since they were first identified in 1993. After a “mystery flu” caused 33 cases – 17 fatal – of HPS in the Four Corners region of Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah, scientists established that hantaviruses in the western hemisphere are far deadlier than their ‘old world’ cousins.
A 2012 outbreak in California’s Yosemite National Park infected 10 people and killed 3; a cluster of cases in California and New Mexico last year killed four people, including Betsy Arakawa, wife of Oscar-winning actor Gene Hackman; and localised outbreaks are common in Argentina. There were 86 confirmed hantavirus cases in Argentina last year, leading to 28 deaths.
Unlike the Covid-19 pandemic, there is no evidence to suggest that the hantavirus outbreak on the MV Hondius originated in a research laboratory. However, hantavirus samples have escaped a lab before. In 2011, more than 300 vials of Hantavirus, Hendra virus, and Lyssavirus went missing from the Queensland Public Health Virology Laboratory in Australia.
The “major biosecurity breach” was not acknowledged by the lab until 2023, and an investigation was launched the following year. Australian Health Minister Tim Nicholls said at the time that it was unclear whether the samples had been “lost or otherwise unaccounted for,” and the investigation is ongoing.
Is there a hantavirus vaccine?
There is currently no widely available hantavirus vaccine. While vaccines against two strains of the virus that cause the less deadly HFRS exist in China and Korea, none have been approved in Europe, and testing on a vaccine against HPS-causing strains is in its infancy.
Researchers in the US have developed a DNA vaccine against the Andes strain, which they say proved “safe and induced a robust, durable immune response” in human trials in 2023. British government scientists are also working on hantavirus vaccines in an effort to prevent a future pandemic from what they ominously call a “Disease X.”
There is no specific treatment or cure for hantavirus, and hospital care mostly focuses on managing symptoms and improving patients’ chances of survival by providing oxygen, mechanical ventilation, or dialysis in severe HFRS cases.
Should I be worried about hantavirus?
No, at least according to the WHO. At this stage, “the risk to the rest of the world is low,” WHO chief Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters on Wednesday. Hantavirus spreads slower than Covid-19, making containment easier, and scientists believe that people who are infected but asymptomatic do not easily transmit the virus.
As of Wednesday afternoon, everyone remaining on the boat is asymptomatic, Spanish Health Minister Monica Garcia told reporters. Once the MV Hondius reaches the Canary Islands, anyone not showing signs of illness will be repatriated, she added.
Canada brings minerals, energy and rhetoric as Brussels chases post-American relevance without a clear strategy of its own
The EU’s latest summit of its leaders had one objective: to show how the rest of the West is moving on while the US under President Donald Trump is neck-deep in a relationship drama. Right now it’s with Iran, but before that it was Venezuela. And it looks like Cuba may be next.
Until now, the EU has been acting like they’re i
Canada brings minerals, energy and rhetoric as Brussels chases post-American relevance without a clear strategy of its own
The EU’s latest summit of its leaders had one objective: to show how the rest of the West is moving on while the US under President Donald Trump is neck-deep in a relationship drama. Right now it’s with Iran, but before that it was Venezuela. And it looks like Cuba may be next.
Until now, the EU has been acting like they’re in an on/off relationship while still keeping their toothbrush in Trump’s bathroom because it wasn’t quite ready to make a clean break. It still isn’t. But now it’s found one of America’s exes willing to come hang out at slumber parties so they can dish to each other about him on the down-low. About how they’re all working together now as besties and leaning on each other to move on without him, making him big mad.
Enter Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, who said at the EU meeting in Armenia that the “international order will be rebuilt… out of Europe.” It would be helpful if he, or someone, anyone who thinks they’re in the driver’s seat of this so-called world order, could actually define it for the rest of us. Because the paying public wouldn’t mind knowing exactly what we’re financing. Granted, there’s no better way to assure compliance than to avoid defining any terms.
It was just a few months ago in Davos that Carney was saying that the international order was a scam. “We knew the story of the international rules-based order was partially false, that the strongest would exempt themselves when convenient, that trade rules were enforced asymmetrically. And we knew that international law applied with varying rigor depending on the identity of the accused or the victim,” Carney said to rapturous applause from the exact same people who had, until that moment, treated the notion as gospel.
Better late than never. But what’s taking its place now? What Carney – the former head of British and Canadian central banks and the G20’s Financial Stability Board in the wake of the 2008 global financial meltdown – is suggesting sounds like something close to late Roman or Hegelian political metaphysics: “Ordo mundi in me consistit.” Or “the order of the world rests in me.” And the EU seems keen to hop aboard that float without checking where the parade is actually going, letting Carney lead the way in defining this new world order that he has yet to spell out.
So Carney became the first non-European leader to be invited to an EU political community summit. Where he was promptly mugged by European Parliament President Roberta Metsola with a request to speak to the EU parliament almost before he could disembark onto the tarmac. Because the EU can’t organize pints in a pub, never mind a coherent strategy. So it would be great if he could do some of the heavy lifting as everyone else nods while leaning over their laminated briefing papers.
Carney is smart enough to go along with it. He’s walking around with all the air of a chick with double D’s preaching unity and moral values while European leaders nod and drool over the assets. Because everyone knows what’s under that modest turtleneck and demeanor: sweet, sweet energy and minerals.
“Bound by a shared history and common values, Canada and Europe are natural partners,” Carney said at the summit. Whatever, bro. Get that bag! No one’s looking at your values. They’re just being polite.
But Carney knows that, too. He’s Pamela Anderson running along the Baywatch beach in slow motion, knowing that people aren’t tuning in for the plot. Which is why his office’s readout cut to the chase: “The leaders discussed deepening collaboration in priority areas such as secure supply chains, critical minerals, energy, and digital technologies. Prime Minister Carney emphasized Canada’s competitive advantages in these sectors.”
Trade diversification for Canada away from the US is long overdue, and it’s clear that Carney sees a rare opportunity to leverage the EU’s rupture with both the US and Russia to cash in. It’s about time.
But the concern for Canadians is that he gets a little too chummy with their ideology while he’s at it. We’re talking here about the same guy who published an opinion piece in a Canadian national newspaper during the Freedom Convoy protests against Liberal government Covid restriction overreach (officially admonished by the courts), and suggested they were stooges of foreign interests – a bold assumption later officially denied by Canadian intelligence.
So the concern is that Carney is still too easily prone to bandwaggoning. And the EU is just one giant nonstop ideological tailgate party. For instance, what exactly does Carney mean by “digital services” cooperation with the EU? It’s not a stretch to imagine moves toward a digital panopticon that controls movement, resources, and behavior, when Covid already gave governments a trial run for that kind of social management – particularly in an era of increased dissent as a result of misguided leadership and institutional corruption and self-dealing.
That said, Carney also seems capable of using globalist language and agenda points as a convenient cover. Like when he announced, in meeting with Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky in Armenia, that Canada would pledge $270 million more “for Ukraine” in the form of munitions. The EU cheered, while the reality is that it’s also a tidy way for Canada to boost GDP and manufacturing jobs making this ammo. Specifically, Canada has the minerals and the joint ventures at home with the US (via General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems in Quebec) and the Czech Republic (via the Colt CZ Group’s Colt Canada) to produce it. But wrap anything in a Ukrainian flag and enough summit delegates will applaud before reading the fine print.
Here’s hoping that Carney can at least show the EU how to use globalism as rhetorical cover while still pivoting toward the self-interest of its own people. Otherwise, it serves no practical purpose at all. It’s an abandoned shopping mall with flickering fluorescent lights still flickering, escalators still humming, muzak still echoing through empty corridors. Carney should be leading the charge in slipping out the back carrying whatever value remains – to prepare it for the wrecking ball.
The US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission claims that the newspaper favored diversity goals over merit in promotion decisions
The New York Times has been sued by a US government agency over allegations that its diversity policies led to discrimination against a white male employee in a newsroom promotion decision.
The lawsuit, filed by the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) in federal court in Manhattan on Tuesday, centers on
The US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission claims that the newspaper favored diversity goals over merit in promotion decisions
The New York Times has been sued by a US government agency over allegations that its diversity policies led to discrimination against a white male employee in a newsroom promotion decision.
The lawsuit, filed by the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) in federal court in Manhattan on Tuesday, centers on the appointment of a deputy real estate editor in 2025. The agency alleges that the newspaper violated federal law by passing over the employee because of his race and sex.
According to the complaint, the senior editor, who had worked at the paper since 2014, was more qualified for the position but was excluded from the final round of interviews.
The EEOC said the decision was influenced by the newspaper’s publicly stated diversity goals, including a 2021 initiative aimed at increasing the number of women and people of color in leadership positions. “Every candidate who advanced through to the final interview process was not a white male,” the agency said.
EEOC Chair Andrea Lucas said federal law “does not allow race or sex-based employment decisions,” adding that there is “no diversity exception” to the anti-discrimination rules.
The NYT rejected the allegations, calling the case politically motivated and vowing to “vigorously” defend itself in court. Company spokesperson Danielle Rhoades Ha said the newspaper’s hiring practices are merit-based and that “neither race nor gender played a role” in the appointment.
The case comes amid a broader campaign against diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies by US President Donald Trump, who has argued that these programs discriminate against white employees and promote “woke bias.”
Since returning to office in 2025, Trump has signed several executive orders aimed at rolling back DEI initiatives in the federal government and regulated industries. A number of major corporations, including Walmart and Google, have also scaled back or removed DEI commitments from public materials and company policies.
In September, Trump filed a $15 billion defamation lawsuit against the NYT, accusing it of conducting a smear campaign against him and favoring Democrats in its coverage. Trump claims that the newspaper has misrepresented him for years.
Donald Trump has touted “tremendous military success,” but the reality in the Strait contradicts US claims, Sanchez says
With the smoke and blockades disguising what’s actually happening in the Strait of Hormuz, Rick Sanchez decided to shed some light on the situation. US President Donald Trump on Tuesday paused Project Freedom – the military operation launched a day earlier to escort commercial vessels through the Strait of Hormuz – citing the
Donald Trump has touted “tremendous military success,” but the reality in the Strait contradicts US claims, Sanchez says
With the smoke and blockades disguising what’s actually happening in the Strait of Hormuz, Rick Sanchez decided to shed some light on the situation.
US President Donald Trump on Tuesday paused Project Freedom – the military operation launched a day earlier to escort commercial vessels through the Strait of Hormuz – citing the “tremendous military success” of the campaign.
However, Rick’s assessment is that Tehran still holds the strategic edge. Take a look.
The crisis is bound to hit other industries, triggering food shortages and energy lockdowns, Kirill Dmitriev believes
The global aviation shock triggered by the US-Israeli attack on Iran and resulting fuel shortages is a harbinger of even “more severe shocks” that will rock other sectors of the global economy, Kremlin envoy Kirill Dmitriev has warned.
The official, who serves as Russian President Vladimir Putin’s special envoy for investment and
The crisis is bound to hit other industries, triggering food shortages and energy lockdowns, Kirill Dmitriev believes
The global aviation shock triggered by the US-Israeli attack on Iran and resulting fuel shortages is a harbinger of even “more severe shocks” that will rock other sectors of the global economy, Kremlin envoy Kirill Dmitriev has warned.
The official, who serves as Russian President Vladimir Putin’s special envoy for investment and economic cooperation, issued the warning on X on Wednesday. Dmitriev reposted an article by the Kobeissi Letter on the dynamics of the aviation sector shrinkage, which has happened at “an unprecedented pace” already so far in May.
Over the past two weeks, airlines worldwide have cut 2 million seats and cancelled some 12,000 flights, according to the outlet. Turkish Airlines and Air China combined accounted for over a million seat cancellations, while Lufthansa took the lead in flight cancellations, accounting for roughly a third of the figure.
“As predicted, the global aviation shock is spreading quickly and is a HARBINGER of the more severe shocks to come in other sectors,” Dmitriev wrote.
Asked by an X user whether a new COVID-style “lockdown 2.0” was coming, the Kremlin envoy responded affirmatively, suggesting the potential restrictions were bound to hit Europe first.
Energy lockdowns in the EU/UK with euphemistic names and food shortages.
On Saturday, US-based low-cost carrier Spirit Airlines announced it was shutting down immediately over the surge in oil prices. It has become the first major carrier to succumb to the crisis, leaving some 17,000 people without work. The elimination of Spirit Airlines is expected to put a further strain on the industry, since the now-defunct airline was the seventh-largest passenger carrier in North America and the region’s largest low-cost carrier.
The aviation shock is expected to continue spreading, with the disruption in the Strait of Hormuz continuing while the US-Israel tandem and Iran have been balancing on the brink of renewing hostilities with no comprehensive peace deal in sight after a month of negotiations. Later on Wednesday, The Daily Mail reported, citing travel experts, that airlines worldwide could cancel up to 85,000 flights if the war in the Middle East continues.
Tennessee evangelist Perry Stone claims new government documents slated for release could upend the Christian faith
A prominent US evangelist has claimed that government officials held a secret briefing for pastors and urged them to prepare their congregations for the imminent release of information about alien life and unidentified spacecraft, which could shatter Christian faith.
Perry Stone, a Tennessee-based Pentecostal preacher and founder of
Tennessee evangelist Perry Stone claims new government documents slated for release could upend the Christian faith
A prominent US evangelist has claimed that government officials held a secret briefing for pastors and urged them to prepare their congregations for the imminent release of information about alien life and unidentified spacecraft, which could shatter Christian faith.
Perry Stone, a Tennessee-based Pentecostal preacher and founder of the Voice of Evangelism ministry, made the remarks in a podcast last week, which gained traction only recently.
Citing an unidentified friend, Stone said that “there were a large number of pastors who had been invited to go to a certain state to hear some men in the United States government and others share with them a concern that they had”.
The officials, he said, warned that forthcoming releases would cover non-human spacecraft built of materials “not allegedly a part of our planet”, as well as “very strange reptilian-looking creatures” – details Stone said, “almost sound like something out of a sci-fi movie”. In this vein, he speculated that Steven Spielberg’s upcoming sci-fi film ‘Disclosure Day’ could be loosely based on those secretive documents.
Stone, a vocal supporter of US President Donald Trump, claimed that the pastors were told to expect two contrasting public reactions. “You’re going to have people who are going to say, ‘If there are galaxies, and there are allegedly other creations in the galaxies, then the whole creation story is a myth’” and that some believers would “apostatize and turn from the Christian faith,” he warned.
At the same time, he noted, there would be non-believers who would “freak out” and turn to churches for answers.
Stone also recalled that the rumor generally coincided with reports of the disappearance or death of a dozen people connected to sensitive US nuclear and aerospace research over the past several years. The FBI has yet to provide any definitive explanation, saying it was “look[ing] for connections” between the incidents.
It also comes as Trump has teased releasing documents on UFOs ahead of the midterm elections. In late April, he said that some of the material was “very interesting.”
In 2024, the Pentagon released a report detailing decades of UFO sightings, which it said contained no proof of extraterrestrial life. In February, former US President Barack Obama stated he believed aliens to be “real,” though he added that he had not seen them and that there is no evidence of their existence.
Addis Ababa has dismissed the allegations as baseless, while Abu Dhabi described them as a fabrication aimed at prolonging the war
Ethiopia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have denied accusations by Sudan’s government that they were involved in Monday’s drone strikes on Khartoum International Airport.
Sudanese Foreign Minister Mohieddin Salem and military spokesperson Asim Awad Abdelwahab said on Tuesday that they had “conclusive evidence” tha
Addis Ababa has dismissed the allegations as baseless, while Abu Dhabi described them as a fabrication aimed at prolonging the war
Ethiopia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have denied accusations by Sudan’s government that they were involved in Monday’s drone strikes on Khartoum International Airport.
Sudanese Foreign Minister Mohieddin Salem and military spokesperson Asim Awad Abdelwahab said on Tuesday that they had “conclusive evidence” that multiple airstrikes targeting key sites across the capital originated from Bahir Dar airport in Ethiopia. The officials also presented technical data claiming that a UAV marked S88 and allegedly linked to the UAE had been tracked crossing into Sudanese airspace from Ethiopian territory. Khartoum later recalled its ambassador in Addis Ababa in response to the incident.
In a statement issued by its Foreign Ministry on Tuesday, Addis Ababa dismissed the claims as “baseless” and accused “some belligerents” in Sudan’s civil war of committing “grave violations” of Ethiopia’s territorial integrity and national security.
“These violations include among others the extensive use of TPLF mercenaries in the conflict,” the ministry stated.
The Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) is a political and armed movement from Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region that dominated the East African country’s ruling coalition for decades before being sidelined in 2018. It waged a brutal two-year war against Ethiopia’s federal government from 2020 to 2022, resulting in tens of thousands of deaths and the displacement of millions.
The Ethiopian Foreign Ministry said the Sudanese Armed Forces has provided “arms and financial support” to TPLF fighters to facilitate their incursions.
“It is evident that these hostile actions, as well as the recent and earlier series of allegations by officials of Sudanese Armed Forces, are undertaken at the behest of external patrons seeking to advance their own nefarious agenda,” the ministry said.
A UAE official cited by Reuters described Sudan’s allegations as a “fabrication” and part of a “calculated pattern of deflection – shifting blame to others to evade responsibility for their own actions,” saying that they were intended to prolong the war and obstruct a genuine peace process.
Sudan’s war erupted in April 2023 between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF). The conflict has killed tens of thousands of people and displaced millions.
Khartoum has repeatedly accused Abu Dhabi of backing the RSF – allegations the Emirati government denies.
A police officer is among two other suspects arrested after the alleged gang was traced to a safe house
Three suspected ATM bombers have been killed in a shootout with police in South Africa’s North West province. Two other suspects, including a police officer, were arrested.
The three bombers were shot dead by members of the SAPS’ National Intervention Unit (NIU). The provincial police spokesperson, Colonel Adéle Myburgh, confirmed that the susp
A police officer is among two other suspects arrested after the alleged gang was traced to a safe house
Three suspected ATM bombers have been killed in a shootout with police in South Africa’s North West province. Two other suspects, including a police officer, were arrested.
The three bombers were shot dead by members of the SAPS’ National Intervention Unit (NIU). The provincial police spokesperson, Colonel Adéle Myburgh, confirmed that the suspects, who gave chase from Zeerust, fled to their safe house in Magogoe in Mahikeng, where the shootout between police and the suspects took place.
Speaking from the scene, Acting Police Commissioner in the North West, Major General Ryno Naidoo, said there were about 10 to 12 suspects in total.
“The specialised unit was tracking them, and unfortunately, they had already committed the ATM bombing before they could stop them. But then the unit chased them from Zeerust,” he said. Naidoo confirmed that officers had managed to arrest suspects.
“Members managed to arrest some of the suspects on the way, and they are in custody.
“Members then followed the rest of the suspects. They were followed to this location and while waiting for additional backup, the suspects engaged with police in a shooting with high-calibre firearms. Obviously, police had to defend themselves, resulting in the shooting of three of the suspects, who were fatally wounded. There might be other suspects who escaped, but the same team will follow up in this area, and hopefully the others will be located,” Naidoo said.
#sapsNW [UPDATE] An intell driven op resulted in the arrest of five suspects, including a police officer, in connection with an ATM bombing incident reported in the early hours of the morning in Dinokana, Zeerust.
— SA Police Service 🇿🇦 (@SAPoliceService) May 6, 2026
He confirmed two suspects were arrested by police and that the other suspects who are currently being tracked by police will be arrested soon.
“There is one SAPS member who was arrested on the way here. He is in custody. We are still trying to determine if there are any other members involved,” Naidoo said.
The Commissioner further confirmed that while pathology and crime scene experts are still processing the scene, several firearms, an undisclosed amount of money, and explosives were found and will be seized once the scene has been processed.
Naidoo said while these types of crimes might not be as prevalent in the North West as it is in other provinces, they are working hard to curb these crimes.
“A month ago, a suspect headed to Klerksdorp but was arrested before he could bomb an ATM. We are putting measures in place, and with the help of communities, we are hoping to stamp this out. One of the key things is the information from communities, which helps us a lot,” he said.
The suspects are believed to be members of two groups that have assaulted left-wing activists and supposed pedophiles
The German authorities have raided the homes of suspected members of two “right-wing extremist” groups in a nationwide operation spanning a dozen regions.
In a press release on Wednesday, the Office of the Federal Public Prosecutor General reported that earlier in the day, hundreds of federal and state police officers had conducte
The suspects are believed to be members of two groups that have assaulted left-wing activists and supposed pedophiles
The German authorities have raided the homes of suspected members of two “right-wing extremist” groups in a nationwide operation spanning a dozen regions.
In a press release on Wednesday, the Office of the Federal Public Prosecutor General reported that earlier in the day, hundreds of federal and state police officers had conducted searches at around 50 properties in Bavaria, Berlin, Brandenburg, Hesse, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Lower Saxony, North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhineland-Palatinate, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Schleswig-Holstein.
Two “right-wing extremist criminal organizations” – ‘Jung & Stark’ (Young & Strong) and ‘Deutsche Jugend Voran/Neue Deutsche Welle’ (German Youth Forward/New German Wave) – were at the center of the operation.
A total of 36 suspects, many of them teenagers and young adults, are being investigated for alleged membership in a criminal organization, according to the Federal Public Prosecutor General. Eight of them are also suspected of inflicting dangerous bodily harm. However, no arrests have been made so far.
According to the German authorities, the two groups have existed since at least mid-2024 and have relied on social media platforms and online chat groups for recruitment and coordination.
The alleged members of the Jung & Stark and Deutsche Jugend Voran are suspected of advocating violence against left-wing activists and supposed pedophiles. At least some of the suspects are accused of assaulting such individuals, the statement says.
Properties belonging to suspected members of the Deutsche Jugend Voran were previously searched last year, with one of the leaders sentenced to several years in prison.
In January, several media outlets reported that 55 service members from the 26th Parachute Regiment – one of Germany’s elite army units – were under investigation for abuse and bullying, as well as Hitler salutes and Nazi-themed rituals.
Moscow has repeatedly warned of resurgent neo-Nazism in Germany, citing Berlin’s support for Ukraine as well as attempts to reframe the history of World War II and the Soviet Union’s role in it.
In an article ahead of the 81st anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany, Russian Security Council deputy chairman and former president, Dmitry Medvedev, wrote that the process of ridding German society and Europe of Nazi ideology was never completed.
Algeria accounted for the majority of shipments while Nigeria boosted tech imports
Exports from Moscow-based firms to African countries surged dramatically in the first quarter of 2026, increasing 52-fold year-on-year to nearly 586 million rubles ($7.8 million), the Moscow mayor’s office reported on Tuesday.
The increase comes as broader Russia-Africa trade has also expanded, reaching $27.7 billion in 2025, Irina Abramova, director of the Institu
Algeria accounted for the majority of shipments while Nigeria boosted tech imports
Exports from Moscow-based firms to African countries surged dramatically in the first quarter of 2026, increasing 52-fold year-on-year to nearly 586 million rubles ($7.8 million), the Moscow mayor’s office reported on Tuesday.
The increase comes as broader Russia-Africa trade has also expanded, reaching $27.7 billion in 2025, Irina Abramova, director of the Institute for African Studies at the Russian Academy of Sciences, said.
Officials note that the growth is part of a longer-term strategy to support Moscow-based companies entering African markets. “This is not a one-off success,” said Vitaly Stepanov, head of the Moscow Export Center, stressing that targeted support programs for exporters have been in place since 2019.
Algeria emerged as the largest destination, accounting for 89% of total exports. Shipments to the country were dominated by food industry products. Nigeria also featured as a key partner, with Moscow-based companies exporting mainly information technology, telecommunications, and computer-related goods and services.
Electronics and electrical engineering formed the backbone of Moscow’s export structure, making up nearly 60% of total shipments and generating an additional 1.32 billion rubles in revenue for local businesses. Demand was also reported for medical and pharmaceutical products, as well as broader consumer goods.
According to the statement, the total volume of exports of finished goods from Moscow-based companies to African countries in 2025 rose by more than 37%, exceeding 2.2 billion rubles.
In April, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that 81 Russian regions are now engaged in cooperation with African countries, with Moscow, St. Petersburg, the Astrakhan, Novosibirsk, and Leningrad regions, as well as the Krasnodar and Perm territories, among the most active.
Momentum in Russia-Africa trade is also visible beyond Moscow’s export figures. According to the Agroexport agency, Russian wheat shipments to Sudan more than doubled, reaching around 1.7 million tons since the start of the 2025/26 season, compared with 0.7 million tons a year earlier.
Meanwhile, trade with Ethiopia nearly tripled in 2025, surpassing $435 million in total turnover, Russian Ambassador to Ethiopia Evgeny Terekhin said in February.
Ukrainian feminists tried to block the entrance to the exhibition after EU funding cuts and boycotts failed to ban Russian art from being displayed
Russia’s national pavilion has opened at the Venice Biennale in Italy, one of the world’s oldest and most prestigious art festivals, despite EU pressure, funding cuts, boycotts, and a Ukrainian feminist protest that attempted to block access to the exhibition.
It’s the first time Russia has taken part
Ukrainian feminists tried to block the entrance to the exhibition after EU funding cuts and boycotts failed to ban Russian art from being displayed
Russia’s national pavilion has opened at the Venice Biennale in Italy, one of the world’s oldest and most prestigious art festivals, despite EU pressure, funding cuts, boycotts, and a Ukrainian feminist protest that attempted to block access to the exhibition.
It’s the first time Russia has taken part since the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022, as Russian performers, conductors, athletes, and cultural institutions have faced widespread cancellations across Europe. Moscow has called the discrimination an attempt to erase Russian culture from public life.
On Wednesday, around 50 members of the anarchist group Pussy Riot and the feminist organization FEMEN rushed the exhibition, waving Ukrainian flags and setting off pink, blue, and yellow smoke flares to protest the display of Russian art.
The demonstrators reportedly blocked the entrance to the Russian pavilion for around half an hour before being dispersed by police.
Pussy Riot и Femen провели протестную акцию у российского павильона на Венецианской биеннале.
В акции приняла участие в том числе Надежда Толоконникова.
В самом павильоне на время акции закрыли двери: предположительно, внутри находился российский посол в Италии.
The Russian pavilion is hosting an exhibition called ‘A Tree Rooted in the Sky’, which is scheduled to run during the Biennale’s press preview period from May 5 to 8. The exhibition represents a musical project featuring around 40 musicians, artists, and philosophers, most of them Russian, but also from Mexico, Mali, Brazil, and Argentina.
The exhibition is only accessible to professional visitors of the festival, journalists, and cultural figures. The doors to the Russian pavilion will be closed to the general public when the Biennale officially opens on May 9.
Russia’s return to the fair was met with a temper tantrum in Brussels. The European Commission has withdrawn a €2 million ($2.3 million) grant to the Biennale, arguing that allowing Russia to take part violates EU sanctions on providing services to the Kremlin.
Italian Culture Minister Alessandro Giuli said he will not attend the opening, and a group of 22 European culture and foreign ministers demanded that Russia be excluded. The entire international jury of the Biennale resigned in protest, postponing the official awards ceremony, originally slated for May 9, to November.
Despite the pressure, the Biennale’s president, Pietrangelo Buttafuoco, stood by the decision to include the Russian exhibition, insisting that the festival should remain “a place of truce.” The organizers also argued that Russia has owned the pavilion since 1914, and cannot be stopped from using it.
Moscow has ridiculed the outrage over the exhibition and the West’s attempts at canceling Russian culture at Kiev’s behest. Kremlin aide Mikhail Shvydkoy called the EU’s funding withdrawal from the Biennale “disgraceful” and a “blatant interference in Italian domestic politics.” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova described it as “a relapse into anti-culture.”
The two nations upgraded their relationship to an ‘enhanced comprehensive strategic partnership’ as their leaders met in New Delhi
India and Vietnam have decided to ramp up bilateral trade between the countries.
A decision has been made to boost trade from $16 billion at present to $25 billion by 2030, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said after a meeting with Vietnamese President To Lam.
Lam, who is accompanied by a high-level delegation, is on a t
The two nations upgraded their relationship to an ‘enhanced comprehensive strategic partnership’ as their leaders met in New Delhi
India and Vietnam have decided to ramp up bilateral trade between the countries.
A decision has been made to boost trade from $16 billion at present to $25 billion by 2030, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said after a meeting with Vietnamese President To Lam.
Lam, who is accompanied by a high-level delegation, is on a three-day trip to India, his first state visit after being elected president in April.
“Through new initiatives in critical minerals, rare earths, and energy cooperation, we will ensure the economic security and supply chain resilience of both countries,” Modi said.
The two countries have also upgraded their relationship to an ‘enhanced comprehensive strategic partnership’.
Trade between India and Vietnam crossed $16 billion in the fiscal year that ended in March 2026.
Addressing the joint press meet with President of Vietnam, Mr. To Lam. https://t.co/ILXwDMIxkl
“Vietnam is a key pillar of India’s Act East Policy and Vision Ocean. In the Indo-Pacific region as well, we share a common outlook,” Modi said.
The Indian prime minister also said New Delhi hopes to broaden its relations with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) with Vietnam’s cooperation.
India’s unified payments interface (UPI) and Vietnam’s fast payment system are also going to be linked soon, Modi informed.
The countries also have exchanged 13 memoranda of understanding (MoUs) across key sectors, including rare earth minerals, culture, cross-border digital payments, health, tourism, and education.
In 2025, India and Vietnam signed an agreement to set up a framework for submarine search, rescue, and support mechanisms. They also signed a letter of intent to strengthen bilateral defense industry collaboration.
The countries are also reportedly holding parleys for a deal related to the purchase of Brahmos missiles, developed by the Indo-Russian joint venture Brahmos Aerospace.
Login
