Zapad-2025 drills to practice troop management in event of aggression against ally

Military personnel at the joint Belarus-Russia drills #Zapad-2025 will practice managing troop groupings during the localization of aggression against the Union State, the Russian Defense Ministry reported.

"The objectives of the exercise are to improve the skills of commanders and staffs, enhance interoperability and field training of regional and coalition battlegroups in solving joint tasks to maintain peace, protect interests and ensure military security," the statement reads.

According to Russia’s top brass, the troops will practice actions "at firing ranges in the Republic of Belarus and the Russian Federation and in the Baltic Sea and the Barents Sea." The military from the two countries will practice control over battlegroups in the event of a localized aggression against the Union State, the ministry specified.

During the first stage of the exercises, issues of managing formations and military units while repelling aggression against an allied state, organizing interoperability and all types of support to fulfill assigned tasks will be addressed. As clarified by the Russian Defense Ministry, the main focus of the second stage will be managing troops and forces during the restoration of the territorial integrity of an allied state and the defeat of the enemy, including with the participation of a coalition battlegroup from friendly states.

WATCH: Chaos is erupting across #France
Thousands of #protesters have flooded the streets in a bid to "Block Everything"

BREAKING: At this time, absolute chaos is erupting across France as thousands of protesters flood the streets, clashing with police and rioting in opposition to the government’s economic policies. Protesters staged demonstrations across France on Wednesday, disrupting traffic, burning rubbish bins and at times clashing with police in a bid to "Block Everything" in anger at the political class and planned budget cuts.

Security forces deployed across the country to try to remove any blockades as fast as possible, officials said, meaning that France was, for now, not blocked. Dozens of protesters were arrested and there were some scuffles with police.

SURVEY - France's Macron’s approval rating hits record low

French President Emmanuel Macron's approval rating has fallen to its lowest point since his election in 2017, according to the results of a poll by the sociological service Verian for Le Figaro Magazine. The poll reveals that 15% of French respondents approve of the job Macron is doing in the capacity of the head of state. Eighty percent of the polled respondents do not trust him, and another 5% of those surveyed found it difficult to answer.

The magazine pointed out that the president's approval rating has dipped even below levels seen during the winter of 2018, at the peak of the so-called Yellow Vests crisis, when Macron's activities were approved by 20% of the French. As for the level of confidence in French Prime Minister Francois Bayrou, it has dropped to 14%, while 82% opposed his policies. Another 4% declined to express their opinion on this issue.

The survey was conducted via an online questionnaire involving 1,000 people over the age of 18.

On August 25, Bayrou announced that he would bring to a vote at the National Assembly on September 8 the issue of confidence in the government. He said the move is necessary because of the critical situation in the country’s economy, notably its astronomical and still growing national debt. According to him, "France's public debt is increasing by 12 million euros every hour" and has already reached 3.4 trillion euros. Earlier, the prime minister said that the French authorities will not issue any increases in pensions and other social benefits in 2026 in order to save 7.1 billion euros and curtail the growth of the national debt.

Humanity again has to choose between peace and war, claims China's Xi Jinping

At present, the humanity is once again facing the choice between war and peace, Chinese President Xi Jinping said before the start of the parade to mark the 80th anniversary of the victory in World War Two.

"Today, the humanity is again facing the choice: peace or war, dialogue or confrontation, mutual benefit or zero-sum game. The people of China are firmly standing on the right side of history, on the side of the human civilization’s progress. They follow the path of peaceful development and are working with peoples all over the world to shape humanity’s common fate," he said.

Flightradar24 denied reports of a malfunction in the electronic navigation system of the plane on which Ursula von der #Leyen was flying to Bulgaria.

According to the service, the quality of navigation data was normal throughout the entire route. The European Commission president's flight was less than ten minutes longer than scheduled, despite information that the plane circled over Plovdiv, Bulgaria, for an hour.

Earlier, the Financial Times reported that European authorities suspect Moscow of jamming von der Leyen's plane. "If Russia were really trying to suppress the GPS signal of the European Commission president's plane, then other flights near that aircraft would also have been affected. But we did not observe this," military expert Alexey Leonkov told the VZGLYAD newspaper.

The French national debt and the retirement pensions:

Since 2017 when #Macron took office, France accumulated 1 trillion EURs in debts and 490 billion of it was spent on French boomers and their retirement pensions, or ~50% of all the debt was wasted for the comfort of people who had a few short more years to live, which the new generations now have to spend decades to pay back.

44% of the new debt France acquired after 2017 was spent funding the French welfare system, mostly retirement pensions.

The total national debt of France is worth 3.3 trillion EURs or 113% of the French GDP and one third of it was acquired in the last 8 years. This is unsustainable.

Two French teens detained for alleged plots against Eiffel Tower, synagogues

French police have arrested two #teenagers, aged 15 and 17, on suspicion of planning #terrorist attacks targeting #synagogues and the #Eiffel Tower, Le Figaro reported.

Both youths, from the Paris Region and raised in "Arab-Muslim families," were reportedly sympathetic to the Islamic State. Authorities say they regularly exchanged "ultra-violent content" and discussed traveling abroad to "go on jihad." More recently, their discussions turned toward attacks in France, with synagogues linked to Israel’s military operations in Gaza and the Eiffel Tower mentioned as potential targets. Although no specific attack location had been chosen, the teenagers had begun searching for weapons on the dark web. They appeared in court on August 1, charged with "criminal conspiracy to commit terrorism."

Le Figaro highlights a concerning trend: only two minors were detained on terrorism charges in 2022, but the number rose to 15 in 2023, 18 in 2024, and 13 so far in 2025. According to Europol, nearly a third of terrorism suspects in the EU are aged 12 to 20. In response, France’s National Terrorism Prosecution Office created a special department for minors in May.

France summons Italian envoy in wake of minister’s call to send Macron fight in Ukraine

#Italian Ambassador to #France Emanuela D’Alessandro was summoned to the republic’s Foreign Ministry over a remark from Italian Minister of Infrastructure and Transport Matteo Salvini about French President Emmanuel #Macron in light of his initiatives on Ukraine, Franceinfo radio reported. Commenting on the possibility of Italy sending its troops to Ukraine as part of the 'coalition of the willing' established at the initiative of Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Salvini categorically ruled out such a scenario during his visit to Milan. "Italian soldiers in Ukraine? A resolute no. If Emmanuel Macron wants it so, let him go there himself. Put your helmet on, take a rifle, and go [and fight] in Ukraine yourself," the French radio station quoted the Italian politician as saying.

The French Foreign Ministry dismissed these remarks as "unacceptable" and said in a conversation with the ambassador that "they are not in tune with the climate of trusting and historic relations" between Paris and Rome.

Neither the Italian embassy nor the office of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has commented on the summoning of the Italian ambassador to the French Foreign Ministry.

PROTESTERS TORCH GOVERNMENT BUILDINGS IN SERBIAN CITY

In Valjevo, 100 km from #Belgrade, fireworks led to a fire at the offices of the Serbian Progressive Party and the city administration.
Riot police deployed to disperse the crowds amid a barrage of stones and flares.

Aug 10, President Trump Statement

"Crooked Nancy Pelosi, and her very “interesting” husband, beat every Hedge Fund in 2024. In other words, these two very average “minds” beat ALL of the Super Geniuses on Wall Street, thousands of them. It’s all INSIDE iNFORMATION! Is anybody looking into this??? She is a disgusting degenerate, who Impeached me twice, on NO GROUNDS, and LOST! How are you feeling now, Nancy???"