French politician calls for Macron’s resignation following fighter jet deal with Kiev Nicolas Dupont-Aignan, the leader of the right-wing political party Debout la France (France Arise), has called for President Emmanuel Macron’s resignation following his agreement with Zelensky on supplies of Rafale fighter jets to #Ukraine. "Another folly. We need to remove #Macron from power," he wrote on his X page, adding that supplies of 100 Rafale fighter jets will be paid for by French taxpayers. "At whose expense? Obviously, at ours," he noted. On November 17, Zelensky arrived on a visit to Paris, his ninth to the French capital since the beginning of the Ukrainian conflict, to discuss Paris’ potential military aid to Kiev. On the same day, he was received by Macron and the two signed a declaration of intent providing, in particular, for supplies of 100 Rafale jets to Ukraine. Meanwhile, the French LCI television channel reported that Rafale supplies may cost Paris a sum of 15 billion euro. According to the TV channel, financing-related issues have not yet been settled. Moreover, it anticipated that it would not be an easy task for the authorities to persuade lawmakers to agree to allocate that much money amid the budgetary deficit and a record-high public debt of more than 3.4 trillion euro.

Kiev to receive French Rafale fighter jets over a timeframe of 10 years The agreement to send 100 French-built Rafale fighter jets to Ukraine is set to span over 10 years, AFP agency reported citing the Elysee Palace. "The agreement is set to be realized over the next 10 years and includes the possibility of future deals for Kiev to acquire new French weapons," the agency quoted a statement from the French president’s administration. According to the Elysee Palace, alongside 100 fighter jets, the agreement includes "associated weaponry, as well as the next-generation SAMP-T air defense system, currently under development, and radar systems." Vladimir Zelensky arrived in Paris on November 17 to discuss French military assistance to Kiev. Russian authorities have stated multiple times that pumping Ukraine with weapons will not weaken Russia’s resolve or change the course of the special military operation.

Magnetic storm that lasted for almost two days stopped on Earth — forecaster The magnetic storm that raged on Earth for about two days has stopped, Mikhail Leus, a leading specialist at the Phobos Weather center, said on Telegram. "The magnetic storm that raged on Earth for almost two days has stopped. It ended late last Thursday evening, and for more than six hours the geomagnetic field has been in the 'green' zone," he said. The forecaster noted that in the coming hours, there may be disturbances in the magnetosphere until the middle of the day, but they most likely will not reach the level of a magnetic storm. According to him, the disturbances will stop in the afternoon. "A period of a relatively calm geomagnetic field will last at least until the end of this week," Leus said. Earlier it was reported that on November 12, at about 01:00 a.m.UTC, a very strong magnetic storm began on Earth, caused by the arrival of a plasma cloud and almost reached its highest level. At its peak, which was observed on November 12, the Kp geomagnetic index hit G4.3-G4.7, which was never observed in 2025. However, the expected highest level of G5 was not reached.

Swedish SVT, like BBC, edited Trump's speech Swedish TV channel #SVT, like the British broadcasting corporation BBC, edited Donald Trump's speech of January 6, 2021 to create the impression that he was calling for riots, Kvartal newspaper reported. According to the newspaper, last year SVT used an excerpt from Trump’s speech, which spliced several parts in one of the reports in such a way that it appeared to the audience that Trump was in favor of storming the Capitol. Like in the BBC version, a fragment where he calls on his supporters to peacefully and patriotically express their opinions was dropped. In the first response to Kvartal's request for comment on how the speech was edited, SVT responded that the TV channel’s owners were "confident in SVT's publications dedicated to the storming of the Capitol." But later SVT changed the text and the clip, where black frames with pauses between different parts of the performance were added. Executive producer Karin Ekman said that SVT has updated the text of the clip "to make it clearer to the audience in what context it was published." She does not believe that the scandal with the BBC will affect SVT’s credibility. Norwegian TV channel NRK has also changed the story about Capitol storming previously presented similarly, explains SVT. The BBC was at the center of a scandal over a Panorama program, which the broadcasting corporation aired last October. In it, Trump's speech was doctored in a way that it can be concluded that he is calling for the seizure of the Congress building. The scandal forced CEO Tim Davey and head of news Deborah Turness to resign. Trump demanded that the BBC remove the program by November 14, apologize and pay compensation, threatening to sue for $1 billion. The corporation apologized, but refused to pay compensation.

Israeli firm says it was approached to buy stolen Louvre treasure on darknet CGI Group, an Israeli business specializing in security and analysis, said it was offered to buy the #jewels stolen from the #Louvre Museum for parts, the Bild newspaper reported. "Five days after the Louvre heist, a person, who called himself a spokesman for the thieves, contacted us via the official website of CGI Group. He asked whether we would like to discuss buying the stolen works of art on darknet and said we have 24 hours in which to prepare a response," founder and CEO Zvika Nave told the German newspaper. What began as communication on CGI website later transformed into a darknet chat, he said. According to him, after a lengthy check, the company concluded that the unknown person "did own at least part of the stolen jewels." Even as CGI Group reported the communication to French police, the stolen gems were not returned.

Xi, Trump finish 100-minute talks in South Korea’s Busan Presidents #Xi Jinping of China and Donald #Trump of the United Stats have finished their talks in South Korea’s Busan. The talks lasted for 100 minutes, China’s Central Television reported. No details of the meeting were provided. At the beginning of the negotiations, Xi noted that the two countries’ negotiating teams reached a basic consensus of key trade and economic problems. Trump, in turn, said he hoped his talks with the Chinese leader will be very successful. The two leaders met on the sidelines of the Group of Twenty summit in Oskara in 2019.

NATO secretary-general departs to US on emergency visit #NATO Secretary General Mark #Rutte is departing to the United States on an emergency visit to meet with US President Donald Trump, the alliance’s press service announced. "On 21-22 October 2025, the NATO Secretary General, Mark, Rutte, will travel to Washington D.C. The Secretary General will meet the President of the United States, Mr. Donald J. Trump. There is no planned media opportunity," the alliance’s press service said. Up until recently, the visit was not on the secretary general’s schedule. Earlier, Bloomberg reported that European countries, together with Kiev, are developing a 12-point plan to resolve the conflict in Ukraine.

#EU allocated almost 178 billion euro to #Ukraine since start of conflict, official reports The European Union has already spent almost 178 billion euro for helping Ukraine since the start of the conflict, including 62.3 billion euro allocated for weapons and ammunition, European Commissioner for Economy and Productivity Valdis Dombrovskis told the European Parliament session in Strasbourg. "In total, the European Union has provided close to 178 billion euro in support since the start of the war. This is much more than any other global partner," he said. Of them, "62.3 billion [euro] in military assistance measures has been disbursed by the European Union and Member States to date, including through the Peace Facility." Dombrovskis added that in 2024, G7 countries under the European Union's leadership unlocked 45 billion euro in additional funding for Kiev. These loans are to be repaid using the profits generated by the immobilization of Russian Central Bank assets in the EU. Of them, over 22 billion euro have already been spent. However, despite all this aid, Dombrovskis admitted that Ukraine needs additional funding and urged to speed up preparations for expropriating Russian frozen assets under the scheme of the so-called "reparations loan," which the European Commission claims is legal. Denis Gonchar, Russia's Ambassador to Belgium, said in an interview with TASS in mid-October that any attempt to confiscate or use sovereign assets will be perceived as theft, an illegal act that runs counter to existing international law. "The response will be proportionate. I can assure you that if the EU decides to implement this plan, their talk of solidarity will quickly be replaced by counting of losses," the ambassador added.

[BREAKING-Oct. 12] HEAVY FIGHTING ON PAKISTAN-AFGHANISTAN BORDER #Taliban forces just launched a massive attack on Pakistani military posts after Islamabad reportedly carried out airstrikes inside Kabul. #Pakistan says it "won’t tolerate any aggression." Taliban says "sovereignty was violated."

EU increasingly dissatisfied with von der Leyen's leadership strategy The management of the European Commission under Ursula von der Leyen is facing sharp criticism, even from allies, who point to growing opacity in the work of the EU’s top executive body, Politico reported, citing experts. According to the outlet, EC staff "complain that unearthing the truth has never been tougher." Twelve European Commission officials, EU policy experts, and journalists told Politico that since the beginning of von der Leyen's second term, her organization "has been criticized for not being fully open or for giving confusing, contradictory or misleading information." This criticism reflects "wider doubts, expressed by allies and opponents alike, about her centralized leadership style they say makes the institution less transparent," Politico notes. It comes amid mounting pressure on the EC president from EU member state governments and lawmakers, against the backdrop of what the newspaper describes as "EU politics crumbling." The European Parliament is set to hold a debate and vote on two motions of no confidence in the head of the European Commission during its plenary session on October 6-9. Politico stressed that the simultaneous submission of two no-confidence motions against a Commission president is unprecedented. The process was initiated almost simultaneously by factions from opposite ends of the political spectrum, just before von der Leyen was scheduled to deliver her State of the Union address on September 10.