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Ukraine
RUSSIAN President Vladimir Putin says that a mission of the UN’S atomic agency should inspect Ukraine’s nuclear sites
“as fast as possible”, reiterating claims Kyiv is preparing to use a “dirty bomb”. France, the US and the UK rejected the claim. Putin also said the coming decade would be the “most dangerous” since the end of World War II, saying the period of dominance of the West was coming to an end. “The Ukraine offensive is only a part of the tectonic shifts of the entire world order,” Putin said. Meanwhile, Ukraine said that Kyiv and four regions may have to cut electricity for longer than planned after Russian strikes targeted energy infrastructure. | AFP, Reuters
Britain
WITH an estimated net fortune of
£730 million (R15 billion) that includes multiple properties in Britain and the
US, a string of business interests and a luxury fleet of cars, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and his billionaire heiress wife, Akshata Murthy, are the wealthiest occupants of Downing Street in history, reports say. Murthy is said to be wealthier than even King Charles III due to her £430m stake in her billionaire tycoon father Narayana Murthy’s IT empire. She also holds stakes in businesses including a joint venture with Amazon in India worth £900m a year. Rishi’s father-in-law is ranked the sixth richest person in India and the 654th in the world. | IANS
ELON Musk took control of Twitter and fired its top executives this week. Following the takeover, Musk tweeted that the “the bird is freed”, referencing the company’s logo. He sacked chief executive Parag Agrawal, as well as the chief financial officer and head of safety. Agrawal previously went to court to hold the Tesla chief to the terms of a deal he had tried to escape. The takeover came hours before the court-appointed deadline for Musk to seal the deal. Activists fear a surge in harassment and misinformation, with Musk himself known for trolling other Twitter users. But Musk said he realizes Twitter “cannot become a free-for-all hellscape.” | AFP
Israel-lebanon
ISRAEL and Lebanon leaders have signed a Us-brokered maritime demarcation deal, bringing a measure of accommodation between the enemy states as they eye offshore energy exploration. Leaders from Lebanon, Israel and the US have all hailed the deal as “historic” but the possibility of a wider diplomatic breakthrough remains slim. As a result, there was no joint signing ceremony. Lebanon does not recognise Israel’s right to exist and still considers itself at war with its neighbour. The accord removes one source of potential conflict between Israel and Iran-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah and could help alleviate Lebanon’s economic crisis. | Reuters