World Leaders with a PhD: 🇨🇳 Xi Jinping – PhD in Law 🇷🇺 Vladimir Putin – PhD in Economics 🇮🇳 Manmohan Singh – PhD in Economics 🇵🇱 Karol Nawrocki – PhD in History 🇳🇬 Goodluck Jonathan – PhD in Zoology 🇩🇪 Angela Merkel – PhD in Quantum Chemistry 🇵🇪 Pedro Pablo Kuczynski – PhD in Economics 🇪🇸 Pedro Sánchez – PhD in Economics 🇮🇩 Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono – PhD in Agricultural Economics 🇮🇷 Hassan Rouhani – PhD in Constitutional Law 🇮🇹 Mario Draghi – PhD in Economics 🇬🇷 Lucas Papademos – PhD in Economics 🇲🇽 Ernesto Zedillo – PhD in Economics 🇨🇱 Ricardo Lagos – PhD in Economics 🇯🇵 Yukio Hatoyama – PhD in Engineering 🇪🇬 Boutros Boutros-Ghali – PhD in International Law 🇦🇹 Bruno Kreisky – PhD in Law Note: Leaders from the past and present.

Trump says Ukraine continues to lose territory President #Trump said #Ukraine continues to lose territories. "They are losing territory," he said in an interview with the Salem News Channel, referring to Ukraine. During the conversation, Trump pointed out that Zelensky is " a tricky person," noting that the United States wants a peaceful settlement of the Ukrainian conflict. The US leader said that Kiev continues to wage hostilities due to the supply of American weapons through #NATO countries.

NATO says it’s working with US to understand details of troop reduction in Germany #NATO is working with the United States to understand the details of the US decision for a planned drawdown of US troops from Germany, NATO spokesperson Allison Hart says. “We are working with the US to understand the details of their decision on force posture in Germany. This adjustment underscores the need for Europe to continue to invest more in defence and take on a greater share of the responsibility for our shared security – where we’re already seeing progress since Allies agreed to invest 5% of GDP at the NATO Summit in The Hague last year,” writes Hart on X. “We remain confident in our ability to provide for our deterrence and defence as this shift towards a stronger Europe in a stronger NATO continues,” she adds.

Gunfire and blasts rock Mali’s capital and other cities, in apparent coordinated assault Gunmen attacked several locations in #Mali’s capital and other cities early today in a possible coordinated assault, residents and authorities say. Mali’s army says in a statement that “unidentified armed terrorist groups targeted certain locations and barracks” in Bamako and that soldiers were “engaged in eliminating the attackers.” In another statement later, it says the situation was brought under control. Mali has been plagued by insurgencies fought by affiliates of al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group, as well as a separatist rebellion in the north. An Associated Press journalist in Bamako reports hearing sustained heavy weapons and automatic rifle gunfire coming from Modibo Keïta International Airport, around 15 kilometers (9 miles) from the city center, and saw a helicopter over nearby neighborhoods. The airport is adjacent to an air base used by Mali’s air force. A resident living near the airport also reports gunfire and three helicopters patrolling overhead.

Over 3,000 children suffer abuse in Catholic environment in Spain The number of people who suffered sexual abuse as minors in the Catholic environment in Spain exceeds 3,000, the El Pais newspaper reports, citing its own investigation launched in 2018. According to the paper, about 1,600 priests and parishioners are suspected of sexual abuse. El Pais notes that it has shared its findings with the Spanish Episcopal Conference, the Vatican and Spain’s human rights commissioner. A survey conducted by the office of the Spanish rights commissioner in 2023 showed that about 1.13% of adults in the country - some 440,000 people - may have suffered sexual abuse in the Catholic environment.

EU’s militarization becomes ‘magnet for criminals’ The #European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) is recording a growing number of #criminal schemes in the defense sector amid Europe’s accelerated militarization, the agency’s chief Petr Klement told The Financial Times. According to him, OLAF is receiving an increasing number of reports of irregularities in the defense sector, particularly in research projects and procurement. "Huge sums being invested in European rearmament are attracting fraudsters," Klement said. The newspaper emphasized that the agency is investigating fraud and irregularities related to the EU’s general budget, which member states use to fund an increasing number of defense projects. These cases are linked to a 500-million-euro EU project to ramp up ammunition production, the 150-billion-euro EU SAFE militarization programs, and the European Defense Industry Program (EDIP) with a budget of 1.5 billion euros for 2025-2027. Klement declined to comment on the progress of investigations into specific cases, stating that they involve manipulation of public tenders, inflated prices, cronyism, and corruption.

Automatic registration for US military draft to begin in December Eligible men will automatically be registered into the #military draft pool by December as part of an effort to streamline the previous process of self-registration and save money. Most men between the ages of 18 and 25 are already required to register with the Selective Service, but automatic registration was mandated in December 2025 as part of the fiscal 2026 National Defense Authorization Act. The U.S. has not had a draft since the Vietnam War, with military service being voluntary since 1973. But former President Jimmy Carter in 1980 reinstated the Selective Service in the event of a “national emergency,” where the registry could be used to “provide personnel to the Department of War and alternative service for conscientious objectors, if authorized by the President and Congress.” Many have questioned whether a U.S. military draft could take place amid the war in Iran, which is currently in a tenuous two-week ceasefire. Under the new rule, men will be registered automatically within 30 days of their 18th birthdays. Women are still ineligible for the draft, even as lawmakers in the past few years have attempted to attach provisions adding women to the draft as part of the annual defense policy bill. The measures have all been stripped out before a final vote on the legislation.

Macron lectures the world about stability and restraint while France quietly does the opposite behind closed doors. In a single day, #France aligned with #China and #Russia at the UN Security Council to block a resolution that would have enabled action to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. No statement. No transparency. Just obstruction. Hours later, a French tanker sailed through that very same strait. So France blocks collective enforcement, then benefits from the security others are expected to provide. This is what colluding with the enemy looks like on the world stage!

An American pilot with 25 years of experience, a veteran of three wars and hundreds of combat sorties, spoke about Israeli military pilots. He published a post that quickly went viral: “I’ve flown over Iraq, Afghanistan, and Libya. I thought I had seen everything. But when I saw what the Israeli Air Force is doing in Iran, I realized I’m still a student. Precision. Logistics. 200 aircraft in one night. 500 targets. 1,500 kilometers. No aerial refueling from American bases. All the fuel from home. All the weapons from home. It’s like flying from Miami to New York, bombing targets along the way, and returning— while 200 aircraft move simultaneously without a single collision. To the Israeli pilots: You are not just the best in the Middle East. You are the best in the world. And that’s the final word.”

UAE pulls out of Rafale F5 programme, leaving France to fund it alone. Negotiations between #Paris and Abu Dhabi collapsed over access to highly sensitive military technology, particularly optronics systems. The #UAE had offered up to €3.5 billion for a stake in the €5 billion programme, but demanded access to “black box” technologies and joint intellectual property. France refused, choosing to protect full sovereign control over its most advanced systems. Paris will now bear the entire cost of the #Rafale F5 programme alone, a major setback for defense cooperation and a clear signal that top-tier military tech remains off-limits, even for close partners.