As expected, the motion failed to get the two-thirds majority it needed to pass. Only 175 members of parliament backed the motion, while 360 voted against and 18 abstained.

Romanian nationalist Gheorghe Piperea, the lead sponsor of the motion, had criticized among other things the Commission’s refusal to disclose text messages between von der Leyen and the chief executive of vaccine maker Pfizer during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The decision-making has become opaque and discretionary, and raises fears of abuse and corruption. The cost of obsessive bureaucracy of the European Union such as (tackling) climate change has been a huge one,” Piperea told the parliament on Monday.

During the debate on her leadership, von der Leyen defended her record in parliament, rejecting criticism of her management of the pandemic and asserting that her approach ensured equal vaccine access across the EU.

Although the censure motion had little chance of success, it was a political headache for von der Leyen as her Commission negotiates with US President Donald Trump’s administration to try to prevent steep US tariffs on EU goods.

It was the first time since 2014 that a Commission president has faced such a motion. Then President Jean-Claude Juncker also survived the vote.

The post EU’s von der Leyen survives parliament confidence vote brought by far-right appeared first on Free Voice Gazette.

These were some of the striking scenes at a mass protest last week against gentrification and the rising cost of living in the Mexican capital city, which some have blamed on an influx of foreigners from the United States and Europe.

While the demonstration was largely peaceful and reflected growing anger about inequality in the Mexican capital, those who vandalized stores in the city’s wealthier neighborhoods and used anti-immigration language were criticized by Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum as being xenophobic.

“No to discrimination, no to racism, no to classism, no to xenophobia, no to machismo, no to discrimination. All human beings, men and women, are equal, and we cannot treat anyone as less,” Sheinbaum said at a Monday press conference.

The US Department of Homeland Security, which has been carrying out an immigration crackdown in the US, reacted to Friday’s protests with an ironic post on X: “If you are in the United States illegally and wish to join the next protest in Mexico City, use the CBP Home app to facilitate your departure.”

The rallies in Mexico City mirror protests that have erupted in cities like Barcelona and Paris against skyrocketing costs, which have been blamed on overtourism, short-term home rentals, and an influx of people and businesses with higher purchasing power.

Frente Anti Gentrificación Mx, one of several groups that helped organize the protest on Friday, compared gentrification on its social media to a new form of colonization in which “the state, institutions, and companies, both foreign and local, provide differential treatment to those with greater purchasing power.”

Anti-gentrification activists say thousands of people in the Mexican capital have been forced out of their homes in recent years as tourists and remote workers, many of whom are believed to be American, take over popular neighborhoods like Roma and Condesa.

But a spokesperson for Frente Anti Gentrificación Mx pushed back against Sheinbaum’s suggestion that their campaign was xenophobic, saying the demonstration was meant to highlight the plight of those priced out of their homes and to demand reforms from the government.

“In Mexico, housing costs have risen 286% since 2005 … while real wages have decreased by 33%,” said Morales, citing data from the National Institute of Statistics and Geography and the Federal Mortgage Society.

She acknowledged that many people have been moving to Mexico for a variety of reasons, from the appeal of its culture to the relative affordability of its houses. At the same time, she urged potential newcomers to consider how such a move could affect the local community.

Not a new phenomenon

Immigration is not the sole cause of Mexico City’s gentrification, which is a phenomenon that has happened for decades, say experts.

“In the debates, there’s a confusion about gentrification being when foreigners arrive. And that’s not true,” activist and lawyer Carla Escoffié said, noting that other causes include inequality, deficiencies in housing policy and land privatization.

“Not all foreigners gentrify, nor are only those who gentrify foreigners, nor is a significant migration process necessary for gentrification to occur. Gentrification is based on inequalities in such a way that it’s not the same thing,” she added.

But the arrival of short-term rentals like Airbnb, and remote work policies during the pandemic, have turbo-charged the gentrification debate in recent years.

“Since 2020, a new phase of gentrification has begun, one that has worsened,” said Escoffié. “It’s been driven by digital nomads and short-term rental platforms like Airbnb.”

Airbnb defended its activities in Mexico City on Tuesday, saying it helped generate more than $1 billion in the local economy last year, and arguing that guests who booked accommodations also spent money on shops and services in the capital.

Mexico City’s government signed an agreement with Airbnb and UNESCO in 2022 to promote the capital as “a global hub for digital nomads and creative tourism.” Sheinbaum, who was the mayor of Mexico City at the time, presented the initiative as a way to boost the local economy.

The appeal was especially attractive for US citizens, who can stay in Mexico without a tourist visa for less than six months before requiring a special temporary residency permit, according to experts. In 2022, 122,758 temporary residency permits were granted to foreigners for Mexico, according to the National Institute of Migration, up from 97,825 in 2019.

But for many residents, the Mexico City initiative was another sign of the displacement happening around them.

A global trend

Anger about gentrification is not unique to Mexico City. Local governments from tourist destinations in Europe, such as Spain’s Canary Islands, Lisbon and Berlin, have announced restrictions on short-term rentals in the past decade.

Barcelona’s leftist mayor, Jaume Collboni, said that by November 2028, the government will scrap the licenses of the 10,101 apartments currently approved as short-term rentals in the popular tourist destination.

Residents in the Catalan capital have documented how renting by the day is more profitable for landlords than renting by the month, which has triggered evictions and the transformation of homes into short-term tourist accommodations.

In Mexico City, Airbnb has over 26,500 listings, according to the rental platform, many of which are concentrated in the areas most affected by gentrification. These listings are concentrated in the central neighborhoods of Condesa, Roma, Juárez and Polanco, according to Inside Airbnb, a project that provides data about Airbnb’s impact on residential communities.

In response to mounting criticism and the protests of 2022, the local government introduced new regulations, but experts argue they fall far short.

Airbnb, meanwhile, says the city needs regulations that support home sharing, not prohibition. It argues that many people in Mexico City rely on the platform as a financial lifeline, with 53% of its hosts saying the service helped them stay in their homes and 74% of hosts saying it helped cover essential expenses.

Activists are now bracing for when Mexico opens its doors to soccer fans for the next World Cup in 2026, which Morales fears could result in the state prioritizing business dealings over residents. “Given the critical state we’re in, who would come up with this?” she asked.

The post Critics slam Mexico’s gentrification protests as xenophobic. Activists say they’re fighting for their human rights appeared first on Free Voice Gazette.

As expected, the motion failed to get the two-thirds majority it needed to pass. Only 175 members of parliament backed the motion, while 360 voted against and 18 abstained.

Romanian nationalist Gheorghe Piperea, the lead sponsor of the motion, had criticized among other things the Commission’s refusal to disclose text messages between von der Leyen and the chief executive of vaccine maker Pfizer during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The decision-making has become opaque and discretionary, and raises fears of abuse and corruption. The cost of obsessive bureaucracy of the European Union such as (tackling) climate change has been a huge one,” Piperea told the parliament on Monday.

During the debate on her leadership, von der Leyen defended her record in parliament, rejecting criticism of her management of the pandemic and asserting that her approach ensured equal vaccine access across the EU.

Although the censure motion had little chance of success, it was a political headache for von der Leyen as her Commission negotiates with US President Donald Trump’s administration to try to prevent steep US tariffs on EU goods.

It was the first time since 2014 that a Commission president has faced such a motion. Then President Jean-Claude Juncker also survived the vote.

The post EU’s von der Leyen survives parliament confidence vote brought by far-right appeared first on Free Voice Gazette.

These were some of the striking scenes at a mass protest last week against gentrification and the rising cost of living in the Mexican capital city, which some have blamed on an influx of foreigners from the United States and Europe.

While the demonstration was largely peaceful and reflected growing anger about inequality in the Mexican capital, those who vandalized stores in the city’s wealthier neighborhoods and used anti-immigration language were criticized by Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum as being xenophobic.

“No to discrimination, no to racism, no to classism, no to xenophobia, no to machismo, no to discrimination. All human beings, men and women, are equal, and we cannot treat anyone as less,” Sheinbaum said at a Monday press conference.

The US Department of Homeland Security, which has been carrying out an immigration crackdown in the US, reacted to Friday’s protests with an ironic post on X: “If you are in the United States illegally and wish to join the next protest in Mexico City, use the CBP Home app to facilitate your departure.”

The rallies in Mexico City mirror protests that have erupted in cities like Barcelona and Paris against skyrocketing costs, which have been blamed on overtourism, short-term home rentals, and an influx of people and businesses with higher purchasing power.

Frente Anti Gentrificación Mx, one of several groups that helped organize the protest on Friday, compared gentrification on its social media to a new form of colonization in which “the state, institutions, and companies, both foreign and local, provide differential treatment to those with greater purchasing power.”

Anti-gentrification activists say thousands of people in the Mexican capital have been forced out of their homes in recent years as tourists and remote workers, many of whom are believed to be American, take over popular neighborhoods like Roma and Condesa.

But a spokesperson for Frente Anti Gentrificación Mx pushed back against Sheinbaum’s suggestion that their campaign was xenophobic, saying the demonstration was meant to highlight the plight of those priced out of their homes and to demand reforms from the government.

“In Mexico, housing costs have risen 286% since 2005 … while real wages have decreased by 33%,” said Morales, citing data from the National Institute of Statistics and Geography and the Federal Mortgage Society.

She acknowledged that many people have been moving to Mexico for a variety of reasons, from the appeal of its culture to the relative affordability of its houses. At the same time, she urged potential newcomers to consider how such a move could affect the local community.

Not a new phenomenon

Immigration is not the sole cause of Mexico City’s gentrification, which is a phenomenon that has happened for decades, say experts.

“In the debates, there’s a confusion about gentrification being when foreigners arrive. And that’s not true,” activist and lawyer Carla Escoffié said, noting that other causes include inequality, deficiencies in housing policy and land privatization.

“Not all foreigners gentrify, nor are only those who gentrify foreigners, nor is a significant migration process necessary for gentrification to occur. Gentrification is based on inequalities in such a way that it’s not the same thing,” she added.

But the arrival of short-term rentals like Airbnb, and remote work policies during the pandemic, have turbo-charged the gentrification debate in recent years.

“Since 2020, a new phase of gentrification has begun, one that has worsened,” said Escoffié. “It’s been driven by digital nomads and short-term rental platforms like Airbnb.”

Airbnb defended its activities in Mexico City on Tuesday, saying it helped generate more than $1 billion in the local economy last year, and arguing that guests who booked accommodations also spent money on shops and services in the capital.

Mexico City’s government signed an agreement with Airbnb and UNESCO in 2022 to promote the capital as “a global hub for digital nomads and creative tourism.” Sheinbaum, who was the mayor of Mexico City at the time, presented the initiative as a way to boost the local economy.

The appeal was especially attractive for US citizens, who can stay in Mexico without a tourist visa for less than six months before requiring a special temporary residency permit, according to experts. In 2022, 122,758 temporary residency permits were granted to foreigners for Mexico, according to the National Institute of Migration, up from 97,825 in 2019.

But for many residents, the Mexico City initiative was another sign of the displacement happening around them.

A global trend

Anger about gentrification is not unique to Mexico City. Local governments from tourist destinations in Europe, such as Spain’s Canary Islands, Lisbon and Berlin, have announced restrictions on short-term rentals in the past decade.

Barcelona’s leftist mayor, Jaume Collboni, said that by November 2028, the government will scrap the licenses of the 10,101 apartments currently approved as short-term rentals in the popular tourist destination.

Residents in the Catalan capital have documented how renting by the day is more profitable for landlords than renting by the month, which has triggered evictions and the transformation of homes into short-term tourist accommodations.

In Mexico City, Airbnb has over 26,500 listings, according to the rental platform, many of which are concentrated in the areas most affected by gentrification. These listings are concentrated in the central neighborhoods of Condesa, Roma, Juárez and Polanco, according to Inside Airbnb, a project that provides data about Airbnb’s impact on residential communities.

In response to mounting criticism and the protests of 2022, the local government introduced new regulations, but experts argue they fall far short.

Airbnb, meanwhile, says the city needs regulations that support home sharing, not prohibition. It argues that many people in Mexico City rely on the platform as a financial lifeline, with 53% of its hosts saying the service helped them stay in their homes and 74% of hosts saying it helped cover essential expenses.

Activists are now bracing for when Mexico opens its doors to soccer fans for the next World Cup in 2026, which Morales fears could result in the state prioritizing business dealings over residents. “Given the critical state we’re in, who would come up with this?” she asked.

The post Critics slam Mexico’s gentrification protests as xenophobic. Activists say they’re fighting for their human rights appeared first on Free Voice Gazette.

The massive aerial assault involved 741 drones, Ukraine’s Air Force said, eclipsing the previous record number of 539 drones, set on July 4, by hundreds – but it was largely repelled, with the damage limited and no immediate reports of deaths.

“This is a demonstrative attack, and it comes at a time when there have been so many attempts to achieve peace and cease fire, but Russia rejects everything,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky wrote on Telegram.

“Our partners know how to apply pressure so that Russia will be forced to think about ending the war, not new strikes. Everyone who wants peace must act.”

The barrage, which mainly targeted the city of Lutsk, in northwestern Ukraine, was so intense it caused Poland’s military to scramble aircraft in its airspace. It comes after weeks of intensifying aerial strikes on Ukraine by Russia.

“Last night, our region was again subjected to a mass attack,” Ivan Rudnitskyi, the head of the military administration in Volyn region, home to Lutsk, said on Telegram. “Virtually everything was flying towards Lutsk.”

Ukraine’s Air Force said it destroyed 718 of the drones. There were no immediate reports of fatalities. One woman was hospitalized with chest injuries in the city of Brovary, near Kyiv, its mayor said.

Ukraine launched 86 drones towards Russia overnight, according to the Russian Ministry of Defense.

Moscow’s scaled up assault on Kyiv follows a remarkable 48 hours in the White House, where Trump vented his anger about Russian leader Vladimir Putin’s lack of commitment to a peace deal and pledged more support for Ukraine.

“We get a lot of bullsh*t thrown at us by Putin, if you want to know the truth,” Trump said in a Cabinet meeting. “He’s very nice all of the time, but it turns out to be meaningless.”

Kyiv urgently needs more US-made Patriot interceptor missiles to repel Russian attacks.

“We’re going to send some more weapons (to Ukraine),” Trump said on Monday evening. “We have to — they have to be able to defend themselves.”

“They’re getting hit very hard. We’re going to have to send more weapons,” Trump added. “Defensive weapons, primarily, but they’re getting hit very, very hard.”

A Pentagon spokesman later said that “at President Trump’s direction, the Department of Defense is sending additional defensive weapons to Ukraine to ensure the Ukrainians can defend themselves while we work to secure a lasting peace and ensure the killing stops.”

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth did not inform Trump before authorizing the weapons pause last week, according to five sources familiar with the matter.

The post Russia launches record drone attack on Ukraine after Trump criticizes Putin appeared first on Free Voice Gazette.

The UN has warned that the fuel crisis is at a critical point, with the little supplies that are available running short and “virtually no additional accessible stocks left.”

“Hospitals are rationing. Ambulances are stalling. Water systems are on the brink. And the deaths this is likely causing could soon rise sharply unless the Israeli authorities allow new fuel in – urgently, regularly and in sufficient quantities,” the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said.

An 11-week Israeli blockade on humanitarian aid earlier in the year pushed the enclave’s population of more than 2 million Palestinians towards famine and into a deepening humanitarian crisis. Limited aid deliveries resumed into the besieged enclave in May but aid groups have said it is not nearly enough to meet the scale of the needs.

The director of the Al-Ahli Hospital, south of Gaza City posted a photo on social media Wednesday of multiple newborn babies sharing a single incubator which was taken at another facility, Al-Helou.

“This tragic overcrowding is not just a matter of missing equipment — it’s a direct consequence of the relentless war on Gaza and the suffocating blockade that has crippled the entire healthcare system,” Dr. Fadel Naim wrote in a post on X.

“The siege has turned routine care for premature babies into a life-or-death struggle. No child should be born into a world where bombs and blockades decide whether they live or die.”

The director of Al-Shifa Hospital in northern Gaza said the shortages were forcing them to close kidney dialysis sections so they could focus on intensive care and operating theatres.

Footage from inside the hospital showed doctors using flashlights as they treated patients.

Another facility, the Nasser Medical Complex, said it had 24 hours of fuel left and was concentrating on vital departments such as maternity and intensive care.

Fuel vital for basic services

In addition to fuel shortages, difficulty finding replacement parts for the generators that power Gaza’s hospitals risks is forcing more to shut down.

The Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in central Gaza issued an urgent statement that the facility’s main generator had broken down due to a lack of spare parts, forcing it to rely on a smaller backup unit.

“Fuel will run out within the coming hours, and the lives of hundreds of patients are at risk inside the hospital wards,” the statement said.

“The hospital’s shutdown threatens to disrupt healthcare services for half a million people in the Central Governorate.”

Beyond hospitals, fuel is essential to keep basic services running in Gaza. The territory relies heavily on imports for cooking, desalination and wastewater plants, and to power the vehicles used in rescue efforts.

Israel has restricted the entry of fuel throughout the conflict, and has previously claimed Hamas could use it to launch weapons.

The aid group Doctors Without Borders (MSF) warned of what it called “an unprecedented humanitarian crisis” unfolding in Gaza, in a statement Tuesday and called for a ceasefire and the entry of far greater levels of humanitarian aid.

“Our teams have worked to treat the wounded and supply overwhelmed hospitals as indiscriminate attacks and a state of siege threaten millions of men, women and children,” MSF said.

“We urge Israeli authorities and the complicit governments that enable these atrocities, including the UK Government, to end the siege now and take action to prevent the erasure of Palestinians from Gaza.”

The post Desperate Gaza doctors cram several babies into one incubator as fuel crisis reaches critical point appeared first on Free Voice Gazette.

The blaze, fanned by winds of up to 70 kilometers per hour, could be smelled in the center of Marseille, residents said, as thick clouds of smoke hovered over the city.

“It’s very striking – apocalyptic even,” said Monique Baillard, a resident of Les Pennes-Mirabeau, a town north of Marseille where the fire, which has now burned across around 350 hectares, started.

Wildfires, which have become more destructive in Mediterranean countries in recent years due to climate change, were also raging in northeastern Spain, where large parts of the country were on high alert for fires.

Last week there were fires on the Greek island of Crete and in Athens, as much of Europe sweltered in an early summer heatwave.

As the fire was spreading, residents of Marseille’s 16th borough, which borders Les Pennes-Mirabeau, were also instructed by the prefecture to stay home, close doors and shutters and put damp cloths on any openings.

“The fire that started in Pennes-Mirabeau is now at the gates of Marseille,” mayor Benoit Payan said on X.

One bank worker reached by phone said: “The sky is grey with ash, and the smell of fire is very strong in the center of Marseille.”

Residents were told not to evacuate unless ordered to, to leave roads free for rescue services.

“At this stage, populations must remain confined,” the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur prefecture posted on X. “Close shutters, doors, keep your property clear for emergency services, and do not travel on the roads.”

The local fire service said on X that 168 firefighters had been deployed to fight the blaze. Fire engines and helicopters were also being used.

A spokesperson for Marseille airport, France’s fourth-busiest, said planes had not been taking off or landing since around midday and some flights had been diverted to Nice, Nimes and other regional airports. It was unclear when the airport would reopen.

Train lines heading north and west from Marseille were suspended due to a fire near the tracks, the SNCF train operator said.

Meanwhile, a wildfire that started near Narbonne, in southwestern France, was still active on Monday, fanned by winds of 60 kilometers per hour.

Some 2,000 hectares have burnt, the local prefecture said.

The post Wildfire threatens Marseille, shuts down airport in southern France appeared first on Free Voice Gazette.

If he’d had things his way, the 20-year-old, small-time drug dealer would have moved to Russia to join its military. He’d heard that he could make good money fighting for what he saw as a just cause but feared his lack of spoken Russian would hold him back.

As it happened, Earl was able to join the war from the comfort of his home in England’s Midlands. All it took was a simple “Hi” to an anonymous Telegram account called “Privet Bot” that was inviting Europeans to join the “resistance” against Ukraine’s allies.

Just five days later, Earl arranged for a group of men to set fire to a warehouse in east London, choosing the target because of its links to Ukraine. The next month, Earl was arrested and charged with aggravated arson and an offense under the UK’s new National Security Act, to which he pleaded guilty. A second suspect, Jake Reeves, would plead guilty to aggravated arson and another National Security Act charge.

More than a year on, six others stood trial between May and July at London’s Old Bailey in relation to the attack.

On Tuesday, three were convicted by the jury of aggravated arson, while a fourth – the man who prosecutors said drove them to the site – was acquitted of that charge, which he denied.

Of the two men accused of failing to inform the police of a potential terror attack, one was acquitted on two counts and the other found guilty on one count and cleared of a second.

British prosecutors said the “Privet Bot” account was associated with Wagner, a Russian mercenary group that has fought in Ukraine and maintained Moscow’s footprint in Africa. The account is now defunct, but correspondence revealed in the trial showed the length to which operatives went to recruit foot soldiers in the “shadow war” against the West.

Russia has not relied on well-trained agents in this campaign, but a network of low-level criminals: some sympathetic to Moscow’s cause, others simply wanting cash. Whereas espionage and sabotage used to take years to recruit and plan for, these operations now require just a few hours on Telegram and some cash. Analysts say this tactic is a dark spin on the modern “gig” economy: Hostile states use a young workforce that is temporary and flexible. The work is on-demand, just-in-time, no-strings-attached.

This has created headaches for those tasked with keeping Europe safe. Ken McCallum, the head of MI5, Britain’s domestic intelligence service, warned last year that Russia is on a “mission to generate mayhem on British and European streets.” Richard Moore, then head of MI6, the foreign intelligence agency, put it more bluntly: “Russian intelligence services have gone a bit feral.”

Some messages were deleted by the suspects, and investigators could not establish the identity of all the anonymous accounts involved. Where reproduced, some exchanges have been edited for clarity and length.

The crime

Earl made money dealing cocaine, with about £20,000 ($27,000) in cash and more in cryptocurrency to show for his exploits. But he wanted to make it big, and that meant getting out of England. One place in particular caught his eye.

It is not clear when Earl first became interested in Russia. On June 23, 2023, he joined a Telegram group called “AP Wagner Chat.” That same night, Yevgeny Prigozhin – then the head of Wagner – declared what would prove to be a short-lived mutiny against Russian President Vladimir Putin. Prigozhin died in a plane crash two months later.

Earl joined both smaller pro-Russian Telegram chats and larger groups such as “Grey Zone,” which boasted some 500,000 subscribers, and, according to British investigators, functioned as Wagner’s de facto mouthpiece. At least eight times between 2023 and 2024, the trial jury heard, the account promoted “Privet Bot,” encouraging people to join operations across Europe.

The account soon gave Earl his first target: a warehouse in Leyton, east London. The site was run by a Ukrainian man, whose businesses included delivering Starlink internet terminals to Ukraine – crucial technology for Kyiv’s war effort.

In case Earl was not sure what kind of work he was getting into, “Privet Bot” told him to watch the series “The Americans” – a Cold War drama in which Russian spies, embedded in Washington, DC, conduct dangerous missions for the Soviet Union.

The new world

Earl may have imagined himself as a Cold War-era spy, but much of that world has faded.

Landsbergis said it was like drones replacing legacy equipment on the battlefields of Ukraine. “They’re just cheaper, and as efficient to (achieve) your stated goals.”

Russia’s shift to this tactic may initially have been out of necessity. With hundreds of its diplomats and agents expelled from European countries in the wake of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Moscow had to get creative in how it conducted its operations.

But the tactic proved fruitful: Attacks like that in Leyton are cheap to set up, often deniable, and below the threshold likely to trigger a response under NATO’s Article 5.

The foot soldiers

Earl was committed to the mission; he just needed recruits. He found one in Reeves, a 23-year-old from Croydon, south London. It is not clear how Earl and Reeves first came into contact.

By day, Reeves worked as a cleaner at London’s Gatwick Airport. But in his ketamine-fueled nights, he became increasingly fascinated with his contact, Earl, whom he believed to be a Russian national, or at least a Russian speaker, with ties to the Kremlin.

While lacking Earl’s ideological fervor, Reeves could still help his cause by finding him willing foot soldiers. Prosecutors alleged he recruited Nii Mensah, now 23, another Croydon local who said he was “down for da cause,” as well as a large payday. Mensah appears to have recruited Jakeem Rose, also now 23, who lived near Mensah. Now they just needed a driver.

The night

Paul English took a laxative on the evening of March 20, 2024, to prepare for his bowel cancer screening the next morning. Planning for a quiet night, the 61-year-old would instead find himself driving “cross-legged” across London.

His neighbor’s son, Ugnius Asmena, needed a favor. He and his mates needed a lift around the city. Might English be able to help out?

As English recalled in his police interview, Asmena’s offer was simple: £500 for a night’s work – half up front, the rest later. All he had to do was take him to Croydon, pick up a couple of others, then head north across the River Thames. English agreed, because he was “skint,” or broke. Soon after, he was driving towards Leyton with Asmena in the front, and two others – Mensah and Rose – in the back, prosecutors said.

English said he did as he was told: He drove to Leyton, filling a jerry can with gasoline en route, and waited in the car with Asmena, while Mensah and Rose got out to “do their thing.” Minutes later, the pair jumped over the fence and back into the car, leaving English to make their getaway.

Just before midnight, the London Fire Brigade was called to the Cromwell Industrial Estate. The blaze caused more than £1 million in damage, the court heard.

Later that night, Mensah Googled “Leyton fire.”

“Bro lol,” he said to Earl on Telegram. “It’s on the news.”

When the jury returned Tuesday after several days of deliberation, Asmena, Rose and Mensah were each found guilty of aggravated arson, charges they had denied. English was acquitted of the same charge, which he had also denied.

The motive

Burning a warehouse will not on its own tip the balance of the war in Russia’s favor. But cumulatively, such attacks can unsettle Ukraine’s Western backers.

According to a database of alleged Russian “shadow” attacks compiled by the US-based Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) think-tank, the number carried out quadrupled between 2022 and 2023, then nearly tripled between 2023 and 2024.

These alleged attacks have included blazes at a shopping mall in Poland and an Ikea store in Lithuania, cyberattacks on Czech railways, and the vandalism of Jewish buildings in France. Russia has denied allegations of any involvement.

Recalling his time in office in Lithuania, Landsbergis said responding to such attacks felt like playing whack-a-mole: “You catch one and Russia easily replaces them with several others hired through Telegram.”

Galeotti, the Russia analyst, said this alleged campaign has two main goals: To show Europe that there are costs to backing Ukraine, and – even if the operations fail – to cultivate a “general sense of chaos” in Europe.

“Everything that goes wrong, someone sees the ‘dread hand’ of Putin behind it,” Galeotti said. “If nothing else, it makes the Russians seem much more powerful that they really are.”

The fallout

Back in Croydon, Mensah wanted payment. But there was a holdup: Earl said he wouldn’t be paid until the Russians could judge the extent of the damage.

But “Privet Bot” wasn’t happy. It told Earl that he had jumped the gun. “We could have burned the warehouses much better and more if we had coordinated our actions,” it told him. As such, Earl wouldn’t receive the full fee.

Earl’s accomplices grew bitter – none more so than Mensah. Earl couldn’t stump up the cash for the first job, but felt he had something better: an even more lucrative contract for another arson attack – this time in London’s swish Mayfair district.

The targets were a restaurant and wine shop owned by Yevgeny Chichvarkin, a Russian businessman who had criticized the war in Ukraine. Earl went back to his UK contacts.

Reeves was happy to help, messages showed. He couldn’t be “broke forever,” he told his school friend, Dmitrijus Paulauskas, a Russian-speaking Lithuanian who moved to Britain when he was young. Although Paulauskas was not involved in planning the attack, in his messages he said he was “gassed” (excited) that Russia had “integrated into the UK underworld.”

Paulaskas was cleared by the Old Bailey jury on two counts of failing to disclose information about terrorist acts. Another defendant, Ashton Evans, 20, faced the same charges and was found guilty on one count and acquitted on the second.

The end game

While preparing for the attack in central London, Earl began to have grander ambitions. “Privet Bot” was encouraging: “You are wise and clever despite being young! We have a lot of glorious jobs ahead.”

But to recruit more people, Earl needed faster payments from Russia. Most of Earl’s messages to the bot were not recovered in the investigation, but one late-night, Google-Translated outburst had not been deleted, showing Earl pleading with his superiors to equip him to become “the best spy you have ever seen.”

The next day, Earl was arrested by British police. He pleaded guilty to aggravated arson and to an offense under the National Security Act. Reeves was arrested nine days later, and pleaded guilty to similar charges. Sentencing for Reeves and Earl – and the four others convicted – will take place at a later date, the UK’s Crown Prosecution Service said.

The next phase

Historically, Moscow has gone to great lengths to reward and retrieve its spies. But these “gig economy” recruits can’t expect the same.

To Russia, they are disposable; to their home countries, they are traitors. In her summing up, the judge put it starkly: “Our parents and grandparents would have had a simple term for what Dylan Earl and Jake Reeves did: treason.”

Although sabotage is an old crime, Europe has struggled to combat the new ways of committing it. Landsbergis said Europe’s disjointed response meant Russia could act with impunity. Now, Europe should “go after the archer, not the arrows,” he said.

The tempo of Russia’s alleged attacks has, however, slowed in recent months, Galeotti noted, perhaps due to the success of European authorities in thwarting them and bringing the perpetrators to justice. Or, he said, Moscow may be taking stock of what it learned from 18 months of “entrepreneurial” thinking.

“I would love to think that it was just something they tried and then abandoned. But I have a feeling we’re going to see them return to it, having internalized the lessons of the first ‘test’ operations,” he said.

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Starovoit was dismissed by Putin on Monday morning. The decree announcing his dismissal was published on the official Kremlin website, with his deputy Andrey Nikitin appointed acting minister.

Asked by reporters for the reasons behind Starovoit’s dismissal, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov denied this was due to a “lack of trust,” but he did not give any alternative reason.

The Investigative Committee of Russia said in a statement that Starovoit’s body was found inside a car in Odintsovo, a suburb of Moscow. He was found with a gunshot wound, the committee said. It said the circumstances of his death were being investigated but the “main theory is suicide.”

Before he became a minister in May 2024, Starovoit was the governor of the southern Russian Kursk region. While he left the post before Ukraine’s surprise incursion, he was partially blamed for security failures in the Russian region.

The dismissal came amid a multi-day disruption to air travel in Russia. Russian Federal Agency for Air Transport said 485 flights were canceled, 88 were diverted and 1,900 were delayed over the weekend and into Monday.

The agency said the cancellations were down to “external interference,” without giving any specifics. But the Russian Defense Ministry said more than 400 Ukrainian long-range strikes were intercepted during the same period of time.

The Ukrainian military said it also struck a chemical plant in Krasnozavodsk, north of Moscow early on Monday. It said the plant manufactures “pyrotechnic devices and ammunition, including thermobaric warheads for Shahed-type” drones.

Another deadly night in Ukraine

At least 12 civilians were killed and more than 90 injured in Russian attacks across Ukraine in the 24 hours to mid-morning on Monday, according to Ukrainian authorities.

At least 29 people, including three children aged 3, 7 and 11, were injured when Russian drones hit a residential building, a kindergarten and a commercial area at 6 a.m. local time Monday (11 p.m. ET on Sunday) in Kharkiv in northeastern Ukraine.

At least 17 more people, including a teenage boy, were injured when the same city was struck with drones again just five hours later, according to Kharkiv mayor Ihor Terekhov.

The Ukrainian Air Force said Russia fired four surface-to-air missiles and 101 Shahed-type drones at Ukraine in the past 24 hours, adding that it downed 75 of the drones either by shooting them down or by jamming.

The Land Forces of Ukraine said on Monday that two of its recruitment offices were hit by Russian drones on Monday, the latest in a string of similar incidents.

Six draft offices across the country have been attacked by Russian drones in just over a week, the Land Forces said in a statement, adding that they believed Russia was attacking the offices in an attempt to disrupt the Ukrainian military’s enlistment process.

At least two people have been killed and more than a dozen injured in these attacks, the statement said.

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The new beginning that Haim now longs for is a grandchild, created from sperm she had harvested from Yotam’s body upon its return home in December 2023.

Yotam, 28, was kidnapped by Hamas-led militants from kibbutz Kfar Aza on October 7, 2023. After spending 65 days in captivity, he was mistakenly shot by Israeli troops on December 15, 2023 along with two other hostages, Alon Shamriz and Samer Talalka, as they attempted to flee their captors in northern Gaza.

Yotam is the only Israeli hostage whose sperm is known to have been retrieved posthumously, and whose family is lobbying to use it to have a child.

Haim says Yotam, a single man at the time of his death, always wanted children. “Yotam really wanted that – he talked about it a lot,” she said.

A total of 205 hostages have so far been returned, 148 of whom were released alive, and 57 returned dead, according to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office. Most had been dead for weeks, if not months, making the men’s sperm no longer viable for use – except for Yotam’s. That’s where his mother saw an unexpected opportunity to have what would be her first grandchild.

Chances of successful sperm retrieval are highest in the first 24 hours after death, with the cut-off time being 72 hours, according to the Israeli government.

There are currently 50 Israeli hostages held in Gaza, of whom at least 20 are believed to be alive. Both Hamas and Israel have accepted a new ceasefire proposal and indirect negotiations on a deal have restarted, raising hopes that more could return home soon.

Uncharted territory

Haim remembers with painful clarity the moment Israeli authorities came to her home and told her about her son’s death. “Yotam was killed. By friendly fire. While escaping Hamas captivity. He was mistakenly identified as a terrorist,” Haim recalled the officers saying.

Half an hour after they broke the news of Yotam’s death, one officer approached Haim and whispered, “you can request sperm retrieval,” Haim said. The process “immediately got started, immediately,” she said.

Yotam’s sperm was retrieved within the necessary window of time. Ten samples were extracted, “enough for five children,” Haim recalled being told by the doctor who performed the procedure.

Haim now faces an uphill battle to get approval to use his sperm to produce a grandchild. If she succeeds, her next challenge would be to find a woman to carry the child and raise it.

Sperm lives on briefly after death, which is why it’s possible for doctors to retrieve it from testicular tissue. Any live sperm cells found are transferred and frozen in liquid nitrogen.

None, however, can be used without approval from a family court, where Haim now faces an uphill battle to continue her son’s lineage.

In Israel, extracting sperm from a dead body is permitted, but there is no law that clearly defines the process of using the sperm for the purpose of producing offspring.

“In Israeli law, we don’t have a law for this procedure,” Nily Shatz, Haim’s lawyer, said, adding that family courts have only approved posthumous use of sperm by parents of the deceased to produce a child twice in the past; however, the second case was later overturned after an appeal brought by the state. “All the other cases were rejected.”

The first case was that of a woman who after years of court battles was able to have a grandchild after proving that her son, who was killed in Gaza in 2002, wanted children, according to Shatz. The court, however, declared that the ruling should not be perceived as a precedent, saying legislators must decide on the matter in the future. The second case was that of a couple who are still fighting in court to have a grandchild with retrieved sperm of their late son, who died in 2012.

Extreme caution

Meirav Ben-Ari, a lawmaker in Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, is pushing for a bill that formally allows family members to use retrieved sperm even if the deceased had not specifically stated his wish to have a child posthumously, as long as they can prove the deceased would have wanted a child.

Netanyahu’s coalition is made up of some of the most religiously conservative parties ever to hold power in Israel, including ultra-Orthodox and far-right religious Zionist factions whose agendas are reshaping the country’s legal and social fabric.

Shatz, Haim’s lawyer, said that after the horrors of October 7, it was past time for parliament to pass a law on the issue, especially as families of hundreds of fallen soldiers retrieve the sperm of their dead.

But while Haim longs to be a grandmother, the issue of using the sperm of deceased men remains controversial. It raises ethical, religious and legal questions that lawmakers are yet to address.

For now, cases are assessed individually by the family courts, Shatz said. And since there are varying opinions in government about the practice, each case is viewed with extreme caution, she said.

At the moment, for families to use the sperm of their deceased, they must prove to the courts that the person who died wanted children, even after his death.

Yotam’s family is working to prove that he wanted children by providing testimony from relatives, friends and his therapist, but such intangible proof is likely to be harder for many others to present.

“There’s no logical way (where) usually people say that I want a child, even if I’m going from the world,” Shatz said, noting this isn’t something ordinary men think about, especially when young.

Sperm retrievals soared after October 7

Posthumous sperm retrieval (PSR) in Israel was previously open only to partners – provided other relatives did not object – while parents of the deceased had to apply for legal permission. Following the October 7 attacks, the Ministry of Health loosened the rules.

“In previous years, approximately 15–20 such retrievals were performed annually,” the ministry said.

For Haim, having a grandchild is a way to prove that Israel will keep growing despite the massacre.

“Every mother whose child was killed wants to have something from that child, not just photos. She wants something tangible,” Haim said, her eyes briefly filling with tears. “As the people of Israel, we need to understand today that, after October 7, we need to keep growing – to show our enemies that our way, this continuity of our lives here in this country, and in general, is through the creation of new life.”

“That forces you to be in this situation. That’s what war is doing to us,” he said.

Levine advocates for soldiers to decide early whether they’d like to have children, and for them to preserve their sperm while they are still alive.

Some have also called for soldiers to leave a “biological will,” a testament that lays out an individual’s wishes when it comes to posthumous use of eggs or sperm, whether they are retrieved after death or frozen while the person is still alive.

‘The knock on the door’

Bella Savitsky, whose son Jonathan died in combat on October 7, opted to retrieve his sperm and got approval for it, but it came too late.

Savitsky, a senior lecturer in the School of Health Sciences at Ashkelon Academic College, said studies show a maximum of 36 hours since time of death is the only time that retrieved sperm can be usable, a shorter timeframe than that cited by the Israeli government. This window is narrower in Israel because the hot weather can affect the sperm’s quality in dead bodies, she said.

On October 9, 2023, Savitsky received “the knock on the door” from authorities, telling her that her 21-year-old son had been killed in heavy fighting at an army outpost near Gaza.

“He wanted to get married, to have children, a dog, and a home in the countryside.”

It took many hours for Savitsky to obtain a court order allowing the harvesting of her son’s sperm.

“Altogether, it took 70 hours,” she said. “So, when the posthumous sperm retrieval was done, it was not intact. There was no live sperm.”

Ethical considerations

Sperm retrieval after death undoubtedly raises complex moral, ethical, judicial and religious questions. While technology has advanced, critics say the law has not kept up.

Experts say the controversy stems from the lack of clear consent from the father and the idea of bringing a child into the world who is fatherless from the outset.

“You are bringing into the world a child whose parent is known, named and deceased. This has a significant psychological impact and is different from a single-parent family,” Siegal said.

Some may also object to having children that effectively serve as a monument to the deceased father.

In that case, “the grandparents are seeking a ‘memorial’ – a form of commemoration – or trying to recreate something that cannot be recreated,” Siegal said. There are also religious considerations, as “retrieving sperm is an intrusive act, and in Judaism, there is a critical prohibition against desecrating the dead,” he said.

To mitigate these issues, Savitsky believes that young men should be asked whether they would want their sperm to be posthumously retrieved before they enter army service, but said the ministry of defense may be wary of implementing this as it could dent troop morale.

For Haim, despite the difficulties, the battle to have a grandchild gives her strength in the face of the tragedy she faces after October 7, as well as hope for the future.

In May, the State Attorney’s Office gave a green light in principle for Haim to use Yotam’s sperm. That was a first step towards what may be a long journey for her to have a grandchild. The family still needs to present evidence to prove that Yotam would have wanted a child, Shatz, Haim’s lawyer said.

“In the end, the reality did happen to us on October 7. So now – what will we do with that reality? Cry, wail, say, why did this happen to us?” she asked.

“Yes, a disaster happened. Period. But what else happened? A lot of amazing things also happened. That’s where I’m aiming (for).”

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