NEWS

During the first meeting of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr’s recently downsized vaccine panel, the group voted to stop recommending flu vaccines containing thimerosal, a vaccine preservative.

In a lengthy June 24 X post that preceded the meeting, Kennedy, who spent two decades as an anti-vaccine movement leader, described thimerosal using terms such as “toxic” and said hundreds of studies identify it as a carcinogenic “potent neurotoxin”. He also said there are high doses of mercury in flu shots recommended to pregnant women and children.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunisation Practices’ (ACIP) two-day meeting on June 25 and 26 included discussion of vaccines containing thimerosal before its vote on flu vaccines.

ACIP is an independent group which provides vaccine recommendations the CDC director reviews and decides whether to formally adopt. Earlier in June, Kennedy dismissed 17 ACIP members, replacing them with seven new members, including people who’ve expressed doubt about vaccine efficacy and promoted anti-vaccine falsehoods.

Doctors and scientists who study vaccines have been researching thimerosal’s use for decades. Here’s what we know about the vaccine preservative and its removal from flu vaccines.

What is thimerosal? 

Thimerosal is a mercury-based preservative used in some vaccines.

Many people – particularly those who are pregnant or breastfeeding – encounter warnings about consuming mercury, such as in seafood. But those warnings are about methylmercury, which is found in certain kinds of fish and is known to be toxic to people when consumed at high levels.

Thimerosal contains ethylmercury – a single-letter difference that might not sound significant, but is.

Human bodies can break down and excrete ethylmercury quickly, meaning it is less likely to cause harm. By contrast, methylmercury is more likely to accumulate in the body and cause harm.

In vaccines, thimerosal is added to prevent harmful microbes such as bacteria and fungi from growing in vaccine vials.

“Introduction of bacteria and fungi has the potential to occur when a syringe needle enters a vial as a vaccine is being prepared for administration,” the CDC’s website said. “Contamination by germs in a vaccine could cause severe local reactions, serious illness or death. In some vaccines, preservatives, including thimerosal, are added during the manufacturing process to prevent germ growth.”

Thimerosal has been at the heart of Kennedy’s anti-vaccine activism for 20 years.

In 2005, Kennedy wrote an article co-published by Rolling Stone and Salon that alleged leading health agencies including the CDC and US Food and Drug Administration had colluded with vaccine manufacturers to conceal a study that found thimerosal “may have caused autism in thousands of kids”. Scientists and researchers said Kennedy’s argument was inaccurate and misleading. Continued research has found no link between thimerosal and autism. Kennedy’s article was removed from Rolling Stone, and Salon retracted it in 2011.

In 2015, Kennedy wrote a book opposing thimerosal’s use in vaccines.

Which vaccines use thimerosal? 

Thimerosal is not used in the vast majority of vaccines.

All vaccines the CDC routinely recommends for children age six or younger are available without thimerosal.

Children receiving the routine paediatric vaccine schedule “can get completely immunised without any thimerosal-containing vaccines”, said Dr Mark Sawyer, a paediatrics professor at the University of California San Diego School of Medicine and a paediatric infectious disease physician.

Some childhood vaccines have never contained thimerosal. These include the measles, mumps and rubella – or MMR – vaccine, the varicella or chickenpox vaccine, the inactivated polio vaccine and the pneumococcal conjugate vaccine.

Thimerosal was removed from most vaccines – including all childhood vaccines – as of 2001, the CDC said.

Thimerosal is still used in vaccines today, but not as widely.

The preservative is in only a small fraction of influenza vaccine vials, specifically the multi-dose vials that constitute a small portion of the US flu shot supply, Dr Jake Scott told PolitiFact. Scott is a Stanford University School of Medicine infectious disease specialist.

The FDA said thimerosal use has declined as vaccine manufacturers have developed more single-dose vaccines that do not require preservatives.

Scott said the CDC lists 12 influenza vaccine formulations for the 2024 to 2025 flu season, which will also cover the 2025 to 2026 season because no new flu vaccines have been licensed. Of those 12 vaccines, just three are multi-dose vaccines that contain thimerosal at 25 micrograms – equal to 25 millionths of a gram – per dose, he said.

CDC’s supply data shows single-dose, thimerosal-free syringes make up about 96 percent of the US flu vaccine supply, leaving roughly 4 percent as multi-dose vials, Scott said.

“Single-dose syringes are the default for paediatrics and prenatal care, so real-world exposure is even lower,” he said.

Because flu vaccines with thimerosal constitute a small portion of the influenza vaccine supply, public health experts told The Washington Post the committee’s vote to stop recommending them would have a limited impact, although it could make flu shots more expensive and less accessible in some parts of the US.

What does research show about thimerosal?

Because anti-vaccine activists’ focus has centred on whether thimerosal causes autism, numerous scientific studies have investigated a potential link and found no causal relationship between the preservative and autism.

When scientists evaluated thimerosal’s potential impacts and risks they found:

• Giving infants vaccines containing thimerosal “does not seem to raise blood concentrations of mercury above safe values in infants” as the ethylmercury “seems to be eliminated from blood rapidly via the stools” after vaccination.
• Three controlled and two uncontrolled observational studies “consistently provided evidence of no association” between thimerosal-containing vaccines and autism.
• “No scientific evidence exists that thimerosal-containing vaccines are a cause of adverse events among children born to women who received influenza vaccine during pregnancy.”

Vaccine researchers told PolitiFact that thimerosal was removed from vaccines out of an abundance of caution, not because research proved that thimerosal was unsafe.

Thimerosal was removed from vaccines because people thought it might cause problems, said Rachel Roper, a microbiology and immunology professor at East Carolina University. But ultimately, “studies were done and it was shown to be safe”.

There’s no evidence to date that thimerosal “causes any harm whatsoever”, Sawyer said.

A suicide bomber rammed an explosive-laden vehicle into an army convoy in Khbyer Pakhtunkhwa province, officials say.

More than a dozen soldiers have been killed and dozens of people were wounded in a suicide attack in northwestern Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, officials said.

Saturday’s attack was carried out in Khadi Market, Mir Ali, North Waziristan, according to a local media outlet, Khyber Chronicles, which quoted security sources.

Security officials said the attacker detonated explosives near a bomb disposal unit vehicle, killing 13 people.

At least 24 personnel, including 14 civilians, were also injured in the attack, the report said.

“A suicide bomber rammed an explosive-laden vehicle into a military convoy,” a local government official in North Waziristan district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province told the AFP news agency separately.

Children among the injured

“The explosion also caused the roofs of two houses to collapse, injuring six children,” a police officer posted in the district told AFP.

It was one of the deadliest single-day attacks on security forces in recent months in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

There was no immediate comment from the Pakistani military.

The attack was claimed by the Hafiz Gul Bahadur armed group, a faction of the Pakistan Taliban, or TPP.

Pakistan has witnessed a sharp rise in violence in its regions bordering Afghanistan since the Taliban returned to power in Kabul in 2021, with Islamabad accusing its western neighbour of allowing its soil to be used for attacks against Pakistan – a claim the Taliban denies.

About 290 people, mostly security officials, have been killed in attacks since the start of the year by armed groups fighting the government in both Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, according to an AFP tally.

Thousands of protesters have gathered in Thailand’s capital to demand the resignation of Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra amid growing anger over a leaked phone call with former Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen.

Demonstrators took to the streets on Saturday, outraged by a June 15 conversation in which Paetongtarn urged Hun Sen – the current Cambodian Senate president who still wields considerable influence in his country – not to listen to “the other side” in Thailand, including an outspoken Thai army general who she said “just wants to look cool”.

The army commander was in charge of an area where a border clash last month led to one Cambodian soldier being killed. The man was killed on May 28 following an armed confrontation in a contested area.

The leaked phone call with Hun Sen was at the heart of Saturday’s protest and has set off a string of investigations in Thailand that could lead to Paetongtarn’s removal.

Protesters held national flags and signs as they occupied parts of the streets around the Victory Monument in central Bangkok. At a huge stage set up at the monument, speakers expressed their love for Thailand following the intensified border dispute.

“It looks like this is going to be a pretty well-attended rally, certainly a loud voice … Lots of speeches, lots of whistles, lots of noise, all calling in full voice for Prime Minister Paetongtarn to resign,” said Al Jazeera’s Tony Cheng, reporting from Bangkok. “They say this conversation has undermined Thailand, has undermined the military, and they are insisting that she step down – it does put her in a very tricky position.”

Many of the leading figures in the protest were familiar faces from a group popularly known as Yellow Shirts, whose clothing colour indicates loyalty to the Thai monarchy. They are longtime foes of Paetongtarn’s father, former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who reportedly has a close relationship with Hun Sen.

“The political scientists we’ve been speaking to over the last couple of days think it is going to be very difficult for Paetongtarn to survive as prime minister, but the problem then is who would replace her,” Cheng said.

Hun Sen addresses supporters

In Cambodia, Hun Sen on Saturday promised to protect his country’s territory from foreign invaders and condemned what he called an attack by Thai forces last month.

At a 74th anniversary celebration of the foundation of his long-ruling Cambodian People’s Party, Hun Sen claimed the action by the Thai army when it engaged Cambodian forces was illegal.

He said the skirmish inside Cambodian territory was a serious violation of country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, despite Cambodia’s goodwill in attempting to resolve the border issue.

“This poor Cambodia has suffered from foreign invasion, war, and genocide, been surrounded and isolated and insulted in the past but now Cambodia has risen on an equal face with other countries. We need peace, friendship, cooperation, and development the most, and we have no politics and no unfriendly stance with any nation,” Hun Sen said in an address to thousands of party members at the event in the Cambodian capital, Phnom Penh.

There is a long history of territorial disputes between the countries. Thailand is still rattled by a 1962 International Court of Justice ruling that awarded Cambodia the disputed territory where the historic Preah Vihear temple stands. There were sporadic though serious clashes there in 2011. The ruling from the UN court was reaffirmed in 2013, when Yingluck was prime minister.

The scandal has broken Paetongtarn’s fragile coalition government, costing her Pheu Thai Party the loss of its biggest partner, the Bhumjaithai Party.

The departure of Bhumjaithai left the 10-party coalition with 255 seats, just above the majority of the 500-seat house.

Paetongtarn also faces investigations by the Constitutional Court and the national anticorruption agency. Their decisions could lead to her removal from office.

Sarote Phuengrampan, secretary-general of the Office of the National Anti-Corruption Commission, said on Wednesday that his agency is investigating Paetongtarn for a serious breach of ethics over the Hun Sen phone call. He did not give a possible timeline for a decision.

Reports said the Constitutional Court can suspend Paetongtarn from duty pending the investigation and could decide as early as next week whether it will take the case. The prime minister said on Tuesday she is not worried and is ready to give evidence to support her case.

“It was clear from the phone call that I had nothing to gain from it, and I also didn’t cause any damage to the country,” she said.

The court last year removed her predecessor from Pheu Thai over a breach of ethics.

In 1948, as the foundations of the Israeli state were being laid upon the ruins of hundreds of Palestinian villages, Albert Einstein wrote a letter to the American Friends of the Fighters for the Freedom of Israel (AFFFI), condemning the growing Zionist militancy within the settler Jewish community. “When a real and final catastrophe should befall us in Palestine the first responsible for it would be the British and the second responsible for it the terrorist organisations built up from our own ranks. I am not willing to see anybody associated with those misled and criminal people.”

Einstein — perhaps the most celebrated Jewish intellectual of the 20th century — refused to conflate his Jewish identity with the violence of Zionism. He turned down the offer to become Israel’s president, rejecting the notion that Jewish survival and self-determination should come at the cost of another people’s displacement and suffering. And yet, if Einstein were alive today, his words would likely be condemned under the current definitions of anti-Semitism adopted by many Western governments and institutions, including the controversial International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition, now endorsed by most Australian universities.

Under the IHRA definition, Einstein’s outspoken criticism of Israel — he called its founding actors “terrorists” and denounced their betrayal of Jewish ethics — would render him suspect. He would be accused not only of delegitimising Israel, but also of anti-Semitism. His moral clarity, once visionary, would today be vilified.

That is why we must untangle the threads of Zionism, colonialism and human rights.

Einstein’s resistance to Zionism was not about denying Jewish belonging or rights; it was about refusing to build those rights on ethno-nationalist violence. He understood what too many people fail to grasp today: that Zionism and Judaism are not synonymous.

Zionism is a political ideology rooted in European colonial logics, one that enforces Jewish supremacy in a land shared historically by Palestinian and other Levantine peoples. To criticise this ideology is not anti-Semitic; it is, rather, a necessary act of justice and a moral act of bearing witness. The religious symbolism that Israel uses is irrelevant in this respect. And yet, in today’s political climate, any critique of Israel — no matter how grounded it might be in international law, historical fact or humanitarian concern — is increasingly branded as anti-Semitism. This conflation shields from accountability a settler-colonial state, and it silences Palestinians and their allies from speaking out on the reality of their oppression. Billions in arms sales, stolen resources and apartheid infrastructure don’t just happen; they’re the reason that legitimate “criticism” gets rebranded as “hate”.

READ: Ex-Israel PM accuses Netanyahu of waging war on Israel

To understand Einstein’s critique, we must confront the truth about Zionism itself. While often framed as a movement for Jewish liberation, Zionism in practice has operated as a colonial project of erasure and domination. The Nakba was not a tragic consequence of war, it was a deliberate blueprint for dispossession and disappearance. Israeli historian Ilan Pappé has detailed how David Ben-Gurion, Israel’s first Prime Minister, approved “Plan Dalet” on 10 March, 1948. This included the mass expulsion and execution of Palestinians to create a Jewish-majority state. As Ben-Gurion himself declared chillingly: “Every attack has to end with occupation, destruction and expulsion.”

This is the basis of the Zionist state that we are told not to critique.

Einstein saw this unfolding and recoiled. In another 1948 open letter to the New York Times, he and other Jewish intellectuals described Israel’s newly formed political parties — like Herut (the precursor to Likud) — as “closely akin in… organisation, methods, political philosophy and social appeal to the Nazi and Fascist parties.”

Einstein’s words were not hyperbole, they were a warning. Having fled Nazi Germany, he had direct experience with the defining traits of Nazi fascism. “From Israel’s past actions,” he wrote, “we can judge what it may be expected to do in the future.”

Today, we are living in the very future that Einstein feared, a reality marked by massacres in Gaza, the destruction of civilian infrastructure, and the denial of basic essentials such as water, electricity and medical aid. This is not about “self-defence”; it is the logic of colonial domination whereby the land theft continues and the violence escalates.

Einstein warned about what many still refuse to see: a state established on principles of ethnic supremacy and expulsion could never transcend its foundation ethos. Israel’s creation in occupied Palestine is Zionism in practice; it cannot endure without employing repression until resistance is erased entirely. Hence, the Nakba wasn’t a one-off event in 1948; it evolved, funded by Washington, armed by Berlin and enabled by every government that trades Palestinian blood for political favours.

Zionism cannot be separated from the broader history of European settler-colonialism. As Patrick Wolfe explains, the ideology hijacked the rhetoric of Jewish liberation to mask its colonial reality of re-nativism, with the settlers recasting themselves as “indigenous” while painting resistance as terrorism.

READ: Illegal Israeli settlers attack Palestinian school in occupied West Bank

The father of political Zionism, Theodor Herzl, stated in his manifesto-novel Altneuland, “To build anew, I must demolish before I construct.” To him, Palestine was not seen as a shared homeland, but as a house to be razed to the ground and rebuilt by and for Jews alone. His ideology was made possible by British imperial interests to divide and dominate post-Ottoman territories. Through ethnic partition and military alliances embellished under the 1917 Balfour Declaration to the ironic Zionist-Nazi 1933 Haavara Agreement, the Zionist project aligned perfectly with the West’s goal, as per the 1916 Sykes-Picot Agreement.

Israel is thus criticised because of its political ideology rooted in ethnonationalism and settler colonialism. Equating anti-Zionism to anti-Semitism is a disservice not only to Palestinians, but also to Jews, especially those who, like Einstein, refuse to have their identity weaponised in the service of war crimes. Zionism today includes Christian Zionists, military allies and Western politicians who benefit from Israel’s imperial reach through arms deals, surveillance technology and geostrategic partnerships.

Zionism is a global power structure, not a monolithic ethnic identity.

Many Jews around the world — rabbis, scholars, students and Holocaust survivors and their descendants — continue Einstein’s legacy by saying “Not in our name”. They reject the co-option of Holocaust memory to justify genocide in Gaza. They refuse to be complicit in what the Torah forbids: the theft of land and the murder of innocents. They are not “self-hating Jews”. They are the inheritors of a prophetic tradition of justice. And they are being silenced.

Perhaps the most dangerous development today is, therefore, Israel’s insistence on linking its crimes to Jewish identity. It frames civilian massacres, apartheid policies and violations of international law as acts done in the name of all Jews and Judaism. By tying the Jewish people to the crimes of a state, Israel risks exposing Jews around the world to collective blame and retaliation.

Einstein warned against this. And if Einstein’s vision teaches us anything, it is this: Justice cannot be compromised for comfort and profit. Truth must outlast repression. And freedom must belong to all. In the end, no amount of Israel’s militarisation of terminology, propaganda or geopolitical alliances can suppress a people’s resistance forever or outlast global condemnation. The only question left is: how much more blood will be spilled before justice prevails?

The struggle for clarity today is not just academic, it is existential. Without the ability to distinguish anti-Semitism from anti-Zionism, we cannot build a future where Jews and Palestinians all live in dignity, safety and peace. Reclaiming the term “Semite” in its full meaning, encompassing both Jews and Arabs, is critical. Further isolation of Arabs from their Semitic identity has enabled the dehumanisation of Palestinians and the erasure of shared Jewish-Arab histories, especially the centuries of coexistence, the Jewish-Muslim golden ages in places like Baghdad, Granada/Andalusia, Istanbul, Damascus and Cairo.

Einstein stood up for the future for us to reclaim it.

The way forward must be rooted in truth, justice and accountability. That means unequivocally opposing anti-Semitism in all its forms, but refusing to allow the term to be manipulated as a shield for apartheid, ethnic cleansing and colonial domination. It means affirming that Jewish safety must never come at the price of Palestinian freedom, and that Palestinian resistance is not hatred; it is survival.

And if Einstein would be silenced today, who will speak tomorrow?

OPINION: Palestinian voices are throttled by the promotion of foreign agendas

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.

Canada had approved a 3 percent digital tax last year in June, and the first set of payments is due on Monday.

United States President Donald Trump has announced that the US is immediately ending trade talks with Canada in response to the country’s digital services tax on technology companies, marking a clear escalation of pressure tactics.

Trump, in a post on his Truth Social platform on Friday, called the Canadian tax a “direct and blatant attack on our country” and said, “Based on this egregious Tax, we are hereby terminating ALL discussions on Trade with Canada, effective immediately.”

He added, “We will let Canada know the Tariff that they will be paying to do business with the United States of America within the next seven day period.”

Canada had approved the Digital Services Tax Act on June 20, 2024, and it came into force shortly after on June 28. Under this, Canada will charge a tax of 3 percent on the digital services revenue a firm makes from Canadian users above 20 million Canadian dollars ($14.6m) in a calendar year.

Businesses have been calling for a pause, saying it would increase the cost of providing services, as well as risk drawing the wrath of the US government. But the Canadian federal government so far has refused and is proceeding with the plans. The Canadian Revenue Authority is set to start collecting the tax on Monday and will cover revenue retroactively from 2022.

Last week, Finance Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne suggested to reporters that the digital tax may be negotiated as part of broader, ongoing US-Canada trade discussions, Bloomberg News reported. Those discussions seemed to have been going well, and a trade deal was expected in July. Now, the status of that deal is unclear.

Carney’s office issued a brief statement on Friday saying, “The Canadian government will continue to engage in these complex negotiations with the United States in the best interests of Canadian workers and businesses.”

‘Escalation’

“This is definitely escalation from Trump,” said Vina Nadjibulla, vice president of research and strategy at the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada. “But we have seen this tactic before. Canada will need to work behind the scenes to find an off-ramp without giving in to his demands,” she said.

“Digital tax is also part of Trump’s negotiations with the European Union [which has similar levies]. Canada will need to coordinate with the EU and other partners as it contemplates its response,” Nadjibulla added.

Rachel Ziemba, adjunct senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security, told Al Jazeera that while Trump’s declaration was unfortunate, it was “not surprising”, adding that it would also act as a scare tactic for the European Union, with whom the US is still negotiating its trade deal.

Tariffs on Canadian goods are bad for both the US and Canada as they increase the cost for businesses and ultimately consumers, experts say.

Canada is the second-largest trade partner for the US after Mexico, and last year, it bought $349.4bn of US goods and exported $412.7bn, according to US Census Bureau data. Canada has already been hit by Trump’s tariffs on steel and aluminium, as well as some auto parts and cars. The Canadian economy has started to slow down, and unemployment is at a high 7 percent.

In an emailed statement to Al Jazeera, Candace Laing, president and CEO of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, said that while “some last-minute surprises should be expected” as negotiations approach deadlines, “our position on the Digital Services Tax has been consistent, but primarily for the reason that it’s self-defeating in nature”.

“That said, it’s a pivotal time for Canada-US relations. The tone and tenor of talks has improved in recent months, and we hope to see progress continue,” Laing said.

On May 21, the forest department of the western Indian state of Gujarat released results of the country’s first lion population estimation since 2020. According to the census, India’s wild lion population – exclusively concentrated in Gujarat – has risen by 32 percent over the past five years to 891 lions.

India’s lion conservation efforts have long been focused on the Gir forest and surrounding areas of Gujarat, especially since the creation of the Gir National Park and Sanctuary in 1965. Today, lions have dispersed and established separate satellite populations outside the Gir region and are found in 11 districts in Gujarat.

But for the first time, the census counted more lions across nine satellite populations (497) than the core population (394) in Gir. These include three new populations in neighbouring districts of Gir, including the Barda Wildlife Sanctuary, areas around Jetpur city, and areas around Babra and Jasdan towns — all in Gujarat.

The census report has earmarked Barda Wildlife Sanctuary as a “second home” for the big cat in Gujarat, echoing the stance of the state and central governments, which also have argued in favour of developing and managing Barda to host more lions. Indeed, that is one of the primary goals of the 29,277 million Indian rupee ($341m) Project Lion conservation programme announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government in March.

But the surging number of lions masks challenges that confront the future of the species in India, say experts, and questions remain over whether the country is doing enough to minimise human-animal conflict and ensure the long-term conservation of the animal. On June 25, a lion mauled a five-year-old boy to death in Gujarat’s Amreli district, after dragging the child away from a farm.

We unpack the key findings of the census and the key battles ahead for the big cat in India.

How were the lions counted?

As per the Gujarat Forest Department, the lion population estimation was conducted over two 24-hour recording schedules from May 11-13. The state’s lion landscape was divided into 735 sampling regions, each entrusted to an enumerator and two assistant enumerators. Lions were located and photographed with digital cameras, and cross-verified with adjacent sampling regions to avoid duplication, according to the report.

Yadvendradev Jhala, an expert on big cat conservation and formerly with the Wildlife Institute of India (WII), however, cautioned that “double counting” cannot be ruled out, and at the same time, some lions might have been missed “due to the time constraint” imposed by the two-day exercise.

Ravi Chellam, a veteran wildlife biologist involved with lion conservation since 1985, questioned the logic of a methodology that required field staff to stay alert for 24 hours on two consecutive days. “One can well imagine the fatigue levels and diminished state of alertness of the field staff,” he said. “I find it difficult to believe that reliable and accurate data can be collected with such an approach.”

According to both experts, there are more robust and reliable scientific methods, like combining photographs of lions with the use of whisker patterns – similar to human fingerprints – to identify individual lions.

Still, Jhala said that the actual count is likely not very different from the census number.

What’s behind the sharp rise in lion numbers?

Experts say that a combination of the Gujarat state government’s policies and the adaptability of lions has contributed to the successful rise in the numbers.

According to Jhala, lions will continue to expand their population as long as there is food and cover available, and the animals aren’t attacked. “There is food in the form of livestock, dead carcasses for scavenging, as well as feral cattle for predation,” he said.

The Gujarat government’s “compensation for livestock loss is almost near market value and is revised regularly to reflect current market rates,” Jhala said. This has allowed continued human-lion coexistence.

Meanwhile, the new census shows that the coastal Gujarat district of Bhavnagar and adjacent areas along the state’s coast – far from the dry deciduous habitats of Gir – are now home to 212 lions. The thorny shrubs of the invasive Prosopis juliflora species (a kind of mesquite) along the coast provide “refuge for lions through the day, and they can come out at night to feed in agropastoral landscapes,” Jhala said.

How many more lions can Gujarat host?

Since 2010, Gujarat’s lion population has more than doubled, and their territorial range has increased by 75 percent, from 20,000 to 35,000 square kilometres (7,700 to 13,500 square miles). However, only 1800sq km falls under protected areas, of which only 250sq km is exclusive to lions.

According to the census, 45 percent of lions recorded were found in non-forested areas such as wastelands, agricultural lands and near human habitats.

“They run the risk of falling into open wells, being run over by heavy vehicles and trains, getting electrocuted and also contracting infections,” Chellam said. He pointed out that lions have been regularly documented in unusual locations such as the terraces of homes, in the basement parking lots of hotels, and on busy highways.

Chellam argued that “the region as a whole has far exceeded its carrying capacity.” He says it’s not sensible to have an “increasing lion population in what are essentially human habitations”.

Jhala agreed. “The question is: How much are people willing to tolerate a large carnivore in their neighbourhood?”

What is the impact of soaring lion numbers on the people of Gujarat?

According to a human-lion conflict study in the Conservation Biology journal published in November, there has been a 10 percent annual increase in the number of villages in Gujarat reporting livestock attacks and a 15 percent increase in livestock killed per year.

The paper uses data collected from 2012-2017. Jhala, who a co-author of the study, anticipates growing human-lion conflict.

“It’s not easy to live with a large carnivore,” he said. “You learn that you can’t let your kids roam around in the fields at night, that you need to clear the vegetation near your huts, that going out for defecation in the field during twilight hours is to be prevented, that you need walled corrals for your livestock.”

Chellam agreed. “While the increase in the number of lions is viewed by many, and especially the government, as a positive sign, the reality is that more and more lions are risking themselves as well as the lives of tens of thousands of people,” he said. “There have been numerous instances of people harassing lions and also an increasing trend of lions attacking people.”

Is Barda a ‘second home’ for the lion?

As per the census report, for the first time since 1879, the Barda Wildlife Sanctuary has an established lion population (17) within its range. While the Gujarat government pitches Barda as a “second home” for lions, Chellam and Jhala say its small size and proximity to Gir mean that it fails the test of what qualifies as a geographically distinct habitat that can sustain a “second” lion population.

“The satellite population in Barda counts as a range expansion for lions, but it cannot be considered a separate population since they are contiguous with Gir,” Jhala said.

“The whole point in translocating lions to establish a ‘second’ free-ranging population is to ensure geographical isolation, to mitigate the risks of having the entire population of an endangered species at a single site,” Chellam explained.

Barda is 100km from Gir, and just 200sq km in size, compared with 1,400sq km of core protected area in Gir. “It [Barda] is a small area with a very low-density prey population. It is incapable of hosting a viable population of lions,” he added.

“The risks are numerous and include cyclones, floods, forest fires, disease outbreaks, political decisions, droughts, poaching, violence and wars.”

Why aren’t lions being moved outside Gujarat?

That’s a question that has piqued conservationists – and frustrated even the Supreme Court of India.

In April 2013, the country’s top court ordered the Gujarat state government to translocate a few Asiatic lions to Kuno National Park in the neighbouring state of Madhya Pradesh within six months to create a geographically separate, free-ranging lion population. Kuno, with its large tracts of forests and grasslands, was identified as having the perfect landscape and prey base for lions.

Though the Gujarat government assured the top court that it would comply with the order, 12 years later, the order is still to be implemented, and neither the federal nor the state government has faced any consequences. “It is very disappointing to see the levels of impunity with which the state government of Gujarat and also the government of India have been operating when it comes to the translocation of lions to Kuno,” Chellam said.

According to Jhala, it is also a failure on the part of wildlife biologists and conservationists. “You cannot do conservation without the government. I think biologists have failed in convincing the government that Kuno is an ideal place to have a second home for lions,” Jhala said.

Haven’t cheetahs been moved to Kuno?

On September 17, 2022, eight Southeast African Cheetahs were flown in from Namibia to Kuno National Park as part of India’s efforts to reintroduce the cheetah to the country. Cheetahs had previously gone extinct in India in 1952.

However, the introduction of cheetahs to Kuno set off a debate over whether that would impede plans to also move lions to the Madhya Pradesh reserve.

Jhala, who led the 2022 plan to bring cheetahs back to India, said it was “fantastic” to have the animals back in India – and that lions and cheetahs could easily coexist in Kuno.

“In no way do cheetahs prevent lions from going there. In fact, they would do better than cheetahs, the landscape and prey base in Kuno is perfect for lions,” he said.

Bringing in lions could also be helpful for cheetahs, Jhala added. Kuno has one of the highest leopard densities in the world, at 22 leopards per 100sq km. Leopards pose more of a predatory threat to cheetahs; lions can help reduce leopard density as they prey on leopards, especially the young ones.

Chellam, though, questioned the intentions of the cheetah reintroduction plan, which he alleged was “more to continue to stall and delay the translocation of lions [to Kuno] rather than to conserve cheetahs”.

Like Jhala, Chellam said that lions would do well in Kuno. “Lions are very hardy and robust animals. If the translocation is planned and carried out carefully, there is no reason for the lions not to thrive in Kuno.”

What’s next for the big cat?

“It [lions in Gujarat] is a wonderful conservation story,” Jhala said. “But a lot can be done for the lion as a species. Forget about Kuno; we should try and establish lion populations across its historical range, within and outside of India”. The old range of lions in Asia extended from Persia to eastern India – the last of Asia’s lions outside India were shot and killed in Iran in the 1940s.

The current concentration of lions in just Gujarat, Chellam said, was a “ticking time bomb”.

With lion numbers ballooning in human habitats, he said it was important for the government to recognise that “space and availability of good quality habitats are a severe constraint [in Gujarat].”

Getty Images

CBS

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Doechii / X

Doechii

‘Drowning in vices’

Reuters

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The armed wing of Hamas, Al-Qassam Brigades, released a video message on Wednesday afternoon showing an Israeli captive currently held in Gaza, the Palestinian Information Centre has reported. The footage shows Omri Miran lighting a candle on what he described as his “second birthday” in captivity.

“This is my second birthday here. I can’t say I’m celebrating; it’s just another day in captivity,” said Miran. “I made this cake for the occasion, but there is no joy. It’s been a year and a half. I miss my daughters and my wife terribly.”

He addressed the Israeli public directly, including his family and friends. “Conditions here are extremely tough. Thank you to everyone demonstrating to bring us home safely.”

The captive also urged Israelis to stage a mass protest outside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s residence. “Bring my daughters so I can see them on TV. Do everything you can now to get us home. Netanyahu’s supporters don’t care about us, they’d rather see us dead.”

Screengrab from footage shows Israeli captive Omri Miran

He asked captives released in previous prisoner exchange deals to protest and speak to the media. “Let the people know how bad it is for us. We live in constant fear of bombings. A deal must be reached soon before we return home in coffins.

Miran urged demonstrators to appeal to US President Donald Trump to put pressure on Netanyahu: “Do not believe Netanyahu. Military pressure is only killing us. A deal — only a deal — will bring us home. Turn to Trump. He seems to be the only powerful person in the world who could push Netanyahu to agree to a deal.”

He also mentioned the worsening humanitarian situation: “The captors told me the crossings are closed; no food or supplies are coming in. As a result, we’re receiving even less food than before.”

In conclusion, the captive sent a pointed message to the Israeli leadership: “Netanyahu, Dermer, Smotrich, Ben Gvir — you are the reason for 7 October. Because of you, I am here. Because of you, we’re all here. You’re bringing the state to collapse.”

READ: US synagogues close their doors to Israel MK Ben-Gvir

Here are the key events on day 1,220 of Russia’s war on Ukraine.

Here is how things stand on Saturday, June 28:

Fighting

• Ukraine’s military has said it struck four Russian Su-34 warplanes at the Marinovka base outside Russia’s city of Volgograd, some 900km (550 miles) from the Ukrainian border.
• A Russian missile attack has killed at least five people and wounded more than 20 in Samar in Ukraine’s southeast, in the second strike on the industrial city in three days.
• Russian troops have captured the village of Nova Kruhlyakivka in Ukraine’s eastern Kharkiv region, Russia’s state news agency TASS reported.
• A Russian attack has damaged an “important power facility” in Ukraine’s southern Kherson region, causing power cuts in some settlements in the region, regional governor Oleksandr Prokudin said.
• A Ukrainian drone attack on Russia’s Kursk region injured a war correspondent from Chinese news outlet Phoenix TV, Russian authorities said, as they urged the United Nations to respond to the incident.
• Ukraine’s air force said it downed 359 out of 363 drones and six of eight missiles launched by Russia in an overnight attack.
• Russia’s drone production jumped by 16.9 percent in May compared with the previous month, data from a think tank close to the government showed, after President Vladimir Putin called for output to be stepped up.

Ceasefire deal

• United States President Donald Trump said he thinks something will happen in Russia’s war in Ukraine that would get it “settled”, citing his recent call with Putin but offering no other details.
• Putin said relations between Russia and the US were beginning to stabilise, attributing the improvement to efforts by President Trump. Putin reiterated that he had “great respect” for the US leader and was willing to meet him.
• Putin also said Moscow was ready to hold a new round of peace negotiations with Ukraine, potentially in Istanbul, although the time and venue have yet to be agreed.

NATO

• Lithuania has notified the UN that it is leaving the treaty banning antipersonnel landmines. It joins Latvia, Estonia, Finland and Poland – all NATO and European Union members bordering Russia – in withdrawing from the treaty, citing the increased military danger from their Russian neighbour.
• The Kremlin said Estonia’s stated readiness to host NATO allies’ US-made F-35A stealth jets, capable of carrying nuclear weapons, posed a direct threat to Moscow.
• Putin said Russia was looking to cut its military expenditure from next year, contrasting that with NATO’s plan to raise its collective spending goal to 5 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) in the next 10 years.

Sanctions

• Senator Ron Wyden, the top Senate Finance Committee Democrat, pressed US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to commit to enforcing Ukraine-related sanctions against Russia and to clarify comments about Russia rejoining an international bank payments network.
• Wyden also sought answers on how the US-Ukraine critical minerals deal and investment agreement would help improve Ukraine’s post-war security and not benefit any entity or country that aided Russia’s war effort.
• Ukraine plans to ask the EU to sanction Bangladeshi entities it says are importing wheat taken from Ukrainian territories occupied by Russia, after its warnings to Dhaka failed to stop the trade, a top Ukrainian diplomat in South Asia said.

Who: Chelsea vs Benfica
What: FIFA Club World Cup round of 16
Where: Bank of America Stadium, Charlotte, North Carolina, United States
When: Saturday, June 28 at 4pm (21:00 GMT)

How to follow: We’ll have all the build-up on Al Jazeera Sport from 1pm local (18:00 GMT) ahead of our live text commentary stream.

Chelsea and Benfica meet in the second round of 16 tie at the FIFA Club World Cup in an all-European affair, which could easily have been a fixture straight from the UEFA Champions League.

Between them, the clubs have lifted Europe’s premier club competition on nine occasions, with seven of those titles going to Portuguese giants, Benfica.

Al Jazeera Sport looks ahead to the match that comes with a significant headache for the English club following their late slip-up in the group stage.

What is Chelsea’s annoyance heading into the Benfica tie?

Chelsea are facing a logistical headache at the Club World Cup after finishing second in their group, forcing an unexpected trip to Charlotte for their last 16 match instead of staying in Miami, where the club thought they would be based for the knockout stage.

Travel, accommodation and training arrangements were, a source told the news agency Reuters, all made with the assumption that the West Londoners would top Group D and play their round of 16 match at Hard Rock Stadium.

The detour to Charlotte means reorganising bookings and schedules at short notice, but the club still intends to return to its Miami base after the match, adding more miles to an already hectic itinerary.

What happened to Chelsea in the group stage?

The Blue opened their Club World Cup campaign with a 2-0 win against Los Angeles. After a 3-1 loss to Brazil’s Flamengo, Chelsea only managed second place despite a 3-0 win over Esperance Tunis in their final group stage fixture in Philadelphia.

How did Benfica fare in the group stage?

Benfica were held to a 2-2 draw in their opening match at the FIFA Club World Cup by Boca Juniors. The Lisbon-based club then won their final two games against New Zealand’s Auckland City (6-0) and Germany’s Bayern Munich (1-0).

Who awaits Chelsea or Benfica in the quarter-finals?

The winner of Saturday’s tie will return to Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia to face the winner of the all-Brazilian clash between Palmeiras and Botafogo.

The #FIFACWC Round of 16 fixtures. 🔢 pic.twitter.com/PSqvYGZW18

— FIFA Club World Cup (@FIFACWC) June 27, 2025

Have Chelsea ever won a Club World Cup?

Yes. Chelsea, who have twice lifted the UEFA Champions League trophy in Europe, have lifted the Club World Cup once.

The Blues lifted the title in 2021 with a 2-1 win against Brazil’s Palmeiras.

Romelu Lukaku and Kai Havertz scored the Blues’ goals, with the winner netted by the latter in extra time.

What happened the last time between Chelsea and Benfica?

The teams competed for the UEFA Europa League title in 2013, with the Blues securing a 2-1 win.

Fernando Torres opened the scoring on the stroke of the hour mark for the Blues with Oscar Cardozo equalising from the spot in the 69th minute.

Branislav Ivanovic settled matters with a 90th-minute winner for Chelsea.

Chelsea team news

Wesley Fofana has joined the squad at the tournament, but the defender continues to recover from a long-term thigh injury and will miss out once again.

Striker Nicolas Jackson serves the second and final game of a two-match suspension for a straight red card in the match against Flamengo.

Reece James, Levi Colwill and Marc Cucurella are all in line for a return.

Benfica team news

Alexander Bah and Manu Silva remain long-term absentees, but midfielder Florentino Luis is in line for a comeback from a shoulder injury, having missed the last two games.

Forward Andrea Belotti returns from suspension.

Benfica possible starting lineup:

Trubin; Aursnes, Silva, Otamendi, Carreras; Barreiro, Sanches; Di Maria, Prestianni, Schjelderup; Pavlidis

Chelsea possible starting lineup:

Sanchez; James, Tosin, Colwill, Cucurella; Caicedo, Fernandez; Neto, Palmer, Madueke; Delap

Head-to-head

This is the third meeting between the sides, with Chelsea winning all of the encounters.

Along with their Europa League success against Benfica, the Blues won both Champions League ties in 2011-2012.

Form guides

Benfica form (all competitions):

D-L-D-W-W

Chelsea form (all competitions):

W-W-W-L-W

The Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have killed 31 people from the Salha area, including children, in the largest documented mass killing in the area, the Sudanese Doctors Network said yesterday.

The network warned that the mass killing of “unarmed civilians” threatens the lives of thousands of people in Salha, south of Omdurman.

It considered the mass killings a war crime and a crime against humanity, calling on the international community to take urgent action to rescue the remaining civilians and open a safe exit for them to leave the Salha area.

It also calls on the international community to pressure the RSF leaders to stop crimes and violations against civilians under their control.

UN: More than 480 killed in Sudan’s North Darfur state in past two weeks

A European Union (EU) summit in Brussels called for a ceasefire in Gaza, but not for sanctions against Israel.

Germany has led member states in blocking action throughout the war, as others express anger.

So what’s behind the EU’s position on Israel and Gaza?

Presenter: Adrian Finighan

Guests: 

Claudio Francavilla – Associate EU director at Human Rights Watch in Brussels

Lynn Boylan – Sinn Fein member of the European Parliament and chair of the European Parliament’s Delegation for relations with Palestine

Giorgia Gusciglio – Europe coordinator of campaigns for the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement promoting economic pressure against Israel

Thirty-three years old, socialist, Muslim – and now, the likely Democratic nominee for mayor of New York City – Zohran Mamdani was barely known a few months ago. Today, he may be the most popular political voice of a generation. How did he get here – and could he be here to stay?

The Department of Homeland Security says the gang-riddled Caribbean country is safe enough for Haitians to return.

The United States government has announced it will terminate special protections for Haitian immigrants.

In a statement issued Friday, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said that, starting on September 2, Haitians would no longer be able to remain in the country under the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) designation.

TPS allows nationals from countries facing conflict, natural disaster or other extraordinary circumstances to temporarily remain in the US. It also gives them the right to work and travel.

The designation is typically made for periods of six, 12 or 18 months, but that can be extended by the DHS secretary.

But under the administration of President Donald Trump, temporary protections like TPS have been pared back, as part of a broader push to limit immigration to the US.

“This decision restores integrity in our immigration system and ensures that Temporary Protective Status is actually temporary,” a DHS spokesperson said in Friday’s statement.

Haiti first received the TPS designation in 2010, when a devastating earthquake killed more than 200,000 people and left 1.5 million homeless – more than a 10th of the population. The designation has been routinely extended and expanded, particularly as gang violence and political instability worsened in recent years.

Since his first term in office, from 2017 to 2021, President Trump has sought to strip TPS for Haitians, even as conditions have deteriorated in the Caribbean island nation.

Today, Haiti faces a protracted humanitarian crisis, with more than 5,600 people killed by gangs last year and 1.3 million displaced. Armed groups now control up to 90 percent of the capital, and food, water and medical services are extremely difficult to come by.

The US Department of State has placed a travel advisory on Haiti, listing it as a Level 4 country, the highest warning level.

Level 4 signifies “do not travel”, as there are life-threatening conditions in the designated area. The State Department advises Americans to avoid Haiti “due to kidnapping, crime, civil unrest, and limited health care”.

The DHS statement, however, notes that Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem “determined that, overall, country conditions have improved to the point where Haitians can return home in safety”.

“She further determined that permitting Haitian nationals to remain temporarily in the United States is contrary to the national interest of the United States,” the statement adds.

An estimated 260,000 Haitians have TPS. The statement advises that those affected can either pursue another immigration status or return home.

But Haitians are not the only group to face the revocation of their temporary immigration status.

In early May, the Supreme Court cleared the way for the Trump administration to revoke TPS for 350,000 Venezuelans living in the US.

Later in the month, the high court also ruled that Trump can revoke the two-year “humanitarian parole” that allowed 530,000 people to legally remain and work in the US. The affected humanitarian parole recipients included Cubans, Haitians, Venezuelans and Nicaraguans, all of whom face instability and political repression in their home countries.

Trump officials have also moved to end TPS for 7,600 Cameroonians and 14,600 Afghans. But critics note that fighting continues to rage in Cameroon, and in Afghanistan, the Taliban government is accused of perpetrating widespread human rights abuses.

Down here in Australia there’s a world of awe-inspiring wonders to behold, natural and man-made totems so stunning they can make your jaw drop to the floor.

Which, in a rugby context, is a power that David Campese still possesses, in a way that’s part-Alan Partridge with a hint of David Brent.

At times, the once-great wing makes you stand back in bewilderment at some of the things that he’s prepared to commit to air or print, with a seemingly unembarrassable air.

He was at it after the Lions loss to Argentina and he’s been at it again since. Maro Itoje is “not a captain”, he thundered. Itoje is not in the squad for the Force game, but it’s a revelation that a fine leader is not actually a leader at all.

“I don’t know why you play [Marcus] Smith at full-back [against the Pumas], [Blair] Kinghorn is a far better player.” The only problem with that searing contribution is that Kinghorn is still with Toulouse, Campo.

“There’s no [Brian] O’Driscoll at 13,” he continued. Er, well spotted. Andy Farrell, he says, is playing rugby league tactics that could put him in a lot of trouble against the Wallabies. Hmm. Didn’t Farrell’s Ireland beat the Wallabies last autumn?

Campo, to be fair, is an equal opportunities assassin, turning his guns on Joe Schmidt for wanting to play “Joe Schmidt rugby.” As opposed to…

His musings are all part of a Lions show in Australia. Frankly, if he wasn’t piping up you’d be minded to check his pulse. None of what he says – or what anybody else on the outside says – matters, of course.

The only thing that counts now is performance. And if this tour is going to reach lift-off on Saturday then perform the Lions must.

It should be a soaring Lions win. That’s not being disrespectful to the Force, it’s being realistic. The Force finished ninth of 11 in Super Rugby this season, the lowest of the four Australian franchises.

“They’re hard to beat,” said Farrell. Not really. They won four, lost nine and drew one.

Farrell tried to talk them up, suggesting that they weren’t far away in Super Rugby and that nine losing bonus points tells you that they “don’t go away”. But they do, regularly. They actually only got four losing bonus points. They conceded 45 points in two games and more than 50 in three more.

And, against the Lions, they’re missing three of their best players. Lock Jeremy Williams, back-row Carlo Tizzano and wing Potter have not been released from Wallaby camp for this one. Kurtley Beale is out injured. Nic White, the veteran scrum-half, leads the side.

Nike has said it will cut its reliance on production in China for the United States market to mitigate the impact from US tariffs on imports, and forecast a smaller-than-expected drop in first-quarter revenue.

The sportswear giant’s shares zoomed 15 percent at the opening bell on Friday morning after it announced the change in conjunction with its earnings report released on Thursday.

US President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs on imports from key trading partners could add about $1bn to Nike’s costs, company executives said on a post-earnings call after the sportswear giant topped estimates for fourth-quarter results.

China, subject to the biggest tariff increases imposed by Trump, accounts for about 16 percent of the shoes Nike imports into the US, Chief Financial Officer Matthew Friend said. However, the company aims to cut the figure to a “high single-digit percentage range” by the end of May 2026 as it reallocates Chinese production to other countries.

“We will optimise our sourcing mix and allocate production differently across countries to mitigate the new cost headwind into the United States,” he said on a call with investors.

Consumer goods are one of the most affected areas by the tariff dispute between the world’s two largest economies, but Nike’s executives said they were focused on cutting the financial pain. Nike will “evaluate” corporate cost reductions to deal with the tariff impact, Friend said. The company has already announced price increases for some products in the US.

“The tariff impact is significant. However, I expect others in the sportswear industry will also raise prices, so Nike may not lose much share in the US,” David Swartz, analyst at Morningstar Research, told the Reuters news agency.

CEO Elliott Hill’s strategy to focus product innovation and marketing around sports is beginning to show some fruit, with the running category returning to growth in the fourth quarter after several quarters of weakness.

Having lost share in the fast-growing running market, Nike has invested heavily in running shoes such as Pegasus and Vomero, while scaling back production of sneakers such as the Air Force 1.

“Running has performed especially strongly for Nike,” said Citi analyst Monique Pollard, adding that new running shoes and sportswear products are expected to offset the declines in Nike’s classic sneaker franchises at wholesale partner stores.

Marketing spending was up 15 percent year on year in the quarter.

On Thursday, Nike hosted an event in which its sponsored athlete Faith Kipyegon attempted to run a mile in under four minutes. Paced by other star athletes in the glitzy event that was livestreamed from a Paris stadium, Kipyegon fell short of the goal but set a new unofficial record.

Nike forecast first-quarter revenue to fall in the mid-single digits, slightly better than analysts’ expectations of a 7.3 percent drop, according to data compiled by LSEG. Its fourth-quarter sales fell 12 percent  to $11.10bn, but still beat estimates of a 14.9 percent drop to $10.72bn.

China continued to be a pain point, with executives saying a turnaround in the country will take time as Nike contends with tougher economic conditions and competition.

Looming trade deal as prices rise

Nike’s woes come as a trade deal with China could be on the horizon. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessett said on Friday that the administration could have a deal with Beijing by Labor Day, which is on September 1.

Under the deal, the US will likely impose 55 percent tariffs across the board on Chinese goods, down from 145 percent, still a significant burden on businesses.

According to a survey from Allianz Global Trade last month, 38 percent of businesses say they will need to raise prices for consumers, with Nike being the latest.

In April, competitor Adidas said it would need to eventually raise prices for US consumers.

“Cost increases due to higher tariffs will eventually cause price increases,” CEO Bjorn Gulden said at the time.

Walmart said last month that its customers will see higher price tags in its stores as the nation’s biggest big box retailer prepares for back to school shopping season.

Target, which had a bad first quarter driven by boycotts and the looming threat of tariffs, also has been hit as the big box retailer gets 30 percent of its goods from China.

Ukraine’s European allies pledged increased levels of military aid to Ukraine this year, making up for a United States aid freeze, as Russian President Vladimir Putin reaffirmed his ambition to absorb all of Ukraine into the Russian Federation.

“At this moment, the Europeans and the Canadians have pledged, for this year, $35bn in military support to Ukraine,” said NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte ahead of the alliance’s annual summit, which took place in The Hague on Tuesday and Wednesday, June 24-25.

“Last year, it was just over $50bn for the full year. Now, before we reach half year, it is already at $35bn. And there are even others saying it’s already close to $40bn,” he added.

The increase in European aid partly made up for the absence of any military aid offers so far from the Trump administration.

In April, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy offered to buy the US Patriot air defence systems Ukraine needs to fend off daily missile and drone attacks.

The Trump administration made its first sale of weapons to Ukraine the following month, but only of F-16 aircraft parts.

At The Hague this week, Zelenskyy said he discussed those Patriot systems with Trump. At a news conference on Wednesday, Trump said: “We’re going to see if we can make some available,” referring to interceptors for existing Patriot systems in Ukraine. “They’re very hard to get. We need them too, and we’ve been supplying them to Israel,” he said.

Russia has made a ceasefire conditional on Ukraine’s allies stopping the flow of weapons to it and Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov repeated that condition on Saturday.

On June 20, Vladimir Putin revealed that his ambition to annex all of Ukraine had not abated.

“I have said many times that the Russian and Ukrainian people are one nation, in fact. In this sense, all of Ukraine is ours,” he declared at a media conference to mark the opening of the Saint Petersburg Economic Forum on Friday, June 20.

“But you know we have an old parable, an old rule: wherever a Russian soldier steps, it is ours.”

“Wherever a Russian soldier steps, he brings only death, destruction, and devastation,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said the next day.

In a post on the Telegram messaging platform on June 21, Zelenskyy wrote that Putin had “spoken completely openly”.

“Yes, he wants all of Ukraine,” he said. “He is also speaking about Belarus, the Baltic states, Moldova, the Caucasus, countries like Kazakhstan.”

German army planners agreed about Putin’s expansionism, deeming Russia an “existential threat” in a new strategy paper 18 months in the making, leaked to Der Spiegel news magazine last week.

Moscow was preparing its military leadership and defence industries “specifically to meet the requirements for a large-scale conflict against NATO by the end of this decade”, the paper said.

“We in Germany ignored the warnings of our Baltic neighbours about Russia for too long. We have recognised this mistake,” said German chancellor Friedrich Merz on Tuesday, highlighting the reason for an about-turn from his two predecessors’ refusal to spend more on defence.

“There is no going back from this realisation. We cannot expect the world around us to return to calmer times in the near future,” he added.

Germany, along with other European NATO allies, agreed on Wednesday to raise defence spending to 5 percent of gross domestic product by 2035.

It was a sign of the increasingly common threat perception from Russia, but also a big win for Trump, who had demanded that level of spending shortly after winning re-election as US president last year.

Of that, 1.5 percent is for military-related spending like dual-purpose infrastructure, emergency healthcare, cybersecurity and civic resilience.

Even Trump, who has previously expressed admiration for Putin, seemed to be souring on him.

“I consider him a person that’s, I think, been misguided,” he said after a moment’s thought at his NATO news conference. “I’m very surprised actually. I thought we would have had that settled easy,” referring to the conflict in Ukraine. “Vladimir Putin really has to end that war,” he said.

In the early weeks of his administration, Trump appeared to think it was up to Ukraine to end the war.

Putin continued his ground war during the week of the NATO summit, launching approximately 200 assaults each day, according to Ukraine’s General Staff – a high average.

Ukraine, itself, was fighting 695,000 Russian troops on its territory, said Zelenskyy on Saturday, with another 52,000 attempting to create a new front in Sumy, northeast Ukraine.

“This week they advanced 200 metres towards Sumy, and we pushed them back 200–400 metres,” he said, a battle description typical of the stagnation Russian troops face along the thousand-kilometre front.

Terror from the air

Russia continued its campaign of demoralisation among Ukrainian civilians, sending drones and missiles into Ukraine’s cities.

Russian drones and missiles killed 30 civilians and injured 172 in Kyiv on June 19.

“This morning I was at the scene of a Russian missile hitting a house in Kyiv,” said Zelenskyy. “An ordinary apartment building. The missile went through all the floors to the basement. Twenty-three people were killed by just one Russian strike.”

“There was no military sense in this strike, it added absolutely nothing to Russia militarily,” he said.

Overnight, Russia attacked Odesa, Kharkiv and their suburbs with more than 20 strike drones. At least 10 of the drones struck Odesa. A four-storey building engulfed in flames partly collapsed on top of rescue workers, injuring three firefighters.

A drone attack on Kyiv killed at least seven people on Monday this week. “There were 352 drones in total, and 16 missiles,” said Zelenskyy, including “ballistics from North Korea”.

A Russian drone strike on the Dnipropetrovsk region on Tuesday killed 20 people and injured nearly 300, according to the regional military administration.

Ukraine focused on drone production

Ukraine, too, is focused on long-range weapons production. Five of its drones attacked the Shipunov Instrument Design Bureau in Tula on June 18 and 20. Shipunov is a key developer of high-precision weapons for the Russian armed forces, said Ukraine, and the strikes damaged the plant’s warehouses and administration building, causing it to halt production.

“Thousands of drones have been launched toward Moscow in recent months,” revealed Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin last week, adding that air defences had shot almost all of them down.

But Ukraine is constantly improving designs and increasing production.

On Monday, the United Kingdom announced that Ukraine would be providing its drone manufacturers with “technology datasets from Ukraine’s front line” to improve the design of British-made drones that would be shipped to Ukraine.

“Ukraine is the world leader in drone design and execution, with drone technology evolving, on average, every six weeks,” the announcement from Downing Street said.

On the same day, Norway said it would invert that relationship, to produce surface drones in Ukraine using Norwegian technology.

Zelenskyy said this Build with Ukraine programme, in which Ukraine and its allies share financing, technology and production capacity, would ultimately work for missile production in Ukraine as well.

His goal is ambitious. “We want 0.25 percent of the GDP of a particular partner state to be allocated for our defence industry for domestic production next year,” he said.

Among Ukraine’s projects is a domestically produced ballistic missile, the Sapsan, which can carry a 480kg warhead for a distance of 500km – enough to reach halfway to Moscow from Ukraine’s front line.

Asked whether the Sapsan could reach Moscow, Zelenskyy’s office director, Andriy Yermak, told the UK’s Times newspaper: “Things are moving very well. I think we will be able to surprise our enemies on many occasions.”

Trouble with club membership

Ukraine’s ambition to join NATO and the European Union, leaving Russian orbit, is what triggered this war, and Russia has said that giving up both those clubs is a condition of peace.

NATO first invited Ukraine to its 2008 Summit in Bucharest. But in February, US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said NATO membership for Ukraine was not a “realistic outcome of a negotiated settlement”, and a “final” ceasefire offer from the White House on April 17 included a ban on NATO membership for Ukraine.

Despite this, on Wednesday, Rutte told Reuters: “The whole of NATO, including the United States, is totally committed to keep Ukraine in the fight.”

Earlier this month, Rutte told a discussion at the Chatham House think tank in London that a political commitment to Ukraine’s future membership of NATO remained unchanged, even if it was not explicitly mentioned in the final communique of the NATO summit.

“The irreversible path of Ukraine into NATO is there, and it is my assumption that it is still there after the summit,” Rutte said.

If that gave Ukrainians renewed hope, this was perhaps dashed by the European Union’s inability last week to open new chapters in its own membership negotiations.

That was because Slovakia decided to veto the move to do so in the European Council, the EU’s governing body. Slovakia also blocked an 18th sanctions package the EU was set to approve this week, because it would completely cut the EU off from Russian oil and gas imports.

Slovakia and Hungary have argued they need Russian energy because they are landlocked. Their leaders, Robert Fico and Viktor Orban, have been the only EU leaders to visit Moscow during the war in Ukraine. Zelenskyy has openly accused Fico of benefiting personally from energy imports from Russia.

In a week of disruptive politics from Bratislava, Slovakia also intimated it could leave NATO.

“In these nonsensical times of arms buildup, when arms companies are rubbing their hands … neutrality would benefit Slovakia very much,” Fico told a media conference shown online on June 17. He pointed out that this would require parliamentary approval.

Three days later, the independent Slovak newspaper Dennik N published an interview with Austria’s former defence minister, Werner Fasslabend, in which he said Slovakia’s departure from NATO might trigger Austria’s entry into the alliance.

“If Slovakia were to withdraw from NATO, it would worsen the security situation for Austria as well. It would certainly spark a major debate about Austria’s NATO membership and possible NATO accession,” Fasslabend said.