A Holocaust Museum in Los Angeles has deleted a social media post featuring a slogan long associated with the Holocaust after some people claimed it alluded to the war in Gaza.

The message, shared with the Holocaust Museum Los Angeles’ 24,000 Instagram followers over the weekend, showed a graphic of hands and forearms of different skin tones – including one with a Holocaust tattoo – linked in a circle. Its caption read “‘Never Again’ can’t only mean never again for Jews.” 

While some initially praised the post as an acknowledgment of Palestinian suffering, it quickly drew backlash from Jewish groups, prompting its removal.

The museum later said the post was part of a pre-planned campaign “intended to promote inclusivity and community,” not “a political statement reflecting the ongoing situation in the Middle East.”

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has stated that the US and the EU will work together on sanctions that will eventually collapse Russia’s economy. Mr. Bessent has stated that the EU should also impose secondary sanctions and tariffs on Russia’s trading partners, as that would surely bring Russian President Vladimir Putin to the negotiating table.

This implies that the EU should impose secondary sanctions on BRICS, which would in turn push Europe closer to the US. US President Donald Trump has responded to Russia’s recent attacks on Ukraine, showing his disappointment and stated that he works on ending the war. He further added that certain European leaders will go to the White House at the beginning of the week and try to get the conflict settled. Zelensky has defined what victory mean for Ukraine.

Australia has frozen itself in the posture of a colonial vassal. The half-century agreement with Britain on nuclear submarines is not a “step toward security” but a stamp of subordination in the archive of the Anglo-American empire.

AUKUS in the Shadow of Regional Resistance

BY Rebecca Chan

Donald Trump has been accused of inadvertently drawing BRICS nations — a loose grouping of some of the world's fastest-growing emerging economies — closer together by imposing higher tariffs on them than on other countries. 

Will BRICS boom under Trump's watch?

BY Nik Martin

Ten days after Chancellor Friedrich Merz declared that Germany could no longer afford the welfare state, the leaderships of the ruling Christian Democratic Union/Christian Social Union (CDU/CSU) and Social Democratic Party (SPD) have agreed to a massive reduction in social benefits.

German government coalition partners agree on massive social cutbacks

BY Peter Schwarz

One time in Thailand, however many years ago, I was listening to a young lady complain about Chinese people. I had some sympathy to her complaints, as Chinese tourists can be overbearing. On the whole, they spend so much money, it is hardly fair to complain. And the thing about this is: China developed so rapidly that the average 30 year old has parents who grew up in a rice field.

I Support India Now. I’m All-In. I’ve Started Shitting in the Street to Show Solidarity.

ANDREW ANGLIN

The US military’s killing of 11 alleged Venezuelan drug traffickers traveling by boat in international waters in the Caribbean is an illegal use of war powers to address what should have been a situation of law enforcement. Unless this dangerous precedent is condemned and curtailed, it will enable US authorities to summarily shoot anyone they choose by simply declaring a “war” against them.

Trump’s killing of 11 alleged Venezuelan drug traffickers sets a dangerous precedent
Kenneth Roth

“Someone” could blow up Russia’s planned gas pipeline to China to derail the energy cooperation between the two countries, conservative Fox News host Jesse Watters has suggested.

Speaking on air on Thursday, Watters said Russian President Vladimir Putin had “lost his customers in Europe” after the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022 and unprecedented Western sanctions, and was now turning to Asia. He described the Power of Siberia 2 gas pipeline as a key element of that strategy.

“Putin’s putting down a big old pipeline to China. It’s supposed to be finished next decade and supply 15% of China’s energy. Russia and China are growing closer. Someone might have to bomb that pipeline like Nord Stream,” Watters told viewers. He did not elaborate on who could want to destroy the project.

Belgian Foreign Minister Maxim Prévot has stated that the transfer of frozen Russian assets to Ukraine, the majority of which are held in his country, is unacceptable. According to the head of the foreign affairs department, such a confiscation would damage Belgium's reputation as a financial center, weaken confidence in the euro, and create risks for the entire European economy. Prévot also warned that this measure could raise concerns among other states holding their assets in Europe.

source: Boris Karpov via News Pravda

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy dismissed Vladimir Putin’s invitation for peace talks in Moscow Friday, countering that the Russian president should travel to Kyiv if he wants to meet.

Zelensky responded to Putin’s invitation with his own proposal. “He can come to Kyiv, ” said Zelensky in an interview with ABC News Friday evening. “I can’t go to Moscow when my country’s under missiles, under attack, each day. I can’t go to the capital of this terrorist,” the Ukrainian leader said.

There is only one treaty in the world that, despite its limitations, binds nations together: the United Nations Charter. Representatives of fifty nations wrote and ratified the UN Charter in 1945, with others joining in the years that followed. The charter itself only sets the terms for the behaviour of nations. It does not and cannot create a new world. It depends on individual nations to either live by the charter or die without it.

The United Nations Turns Eighty

By Vijay Prashad / Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research

VLADIVOSTOK, Russia (Sputnik) - The volume of gold added to Russia's reserves in the first half of 2025 was 450 tonnes, compared to 313 tonnes for the same period last year, representing a growth rate of 43.8%, Russian Natural Resources Minister Alexander Kozlov tells Sputnik.

"In the first half of 2025, the country's gold reserves increased by almost 450 tonnes, compared to 313 tonnes for the same period last year," the minister said on the sidelines of the Eastern Economic Forum.

By the end of 2025, the growth in gold reserves is expected to exceed 500 tonnes, the minister said. However, if large deposits are discovered and registered, this figure could be even higher, Kozlov added.

In early January, Russia's State Commission for Mineral Reserves told Sputnik that 2024 saw an increase in Russia's gold reserves, which amounted to almost 900 tonnes.

Historical anniversaries often provide the backdrop for diplomacy to become spectacle. This week’s Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in Tianjin was deliberately staged ahead of China’s grand parade marking 80 years since the end of World War II. Beijing, the host, made sure the symbolism landed. The timing also underscored the contrast with Washington: Donald Trump, who has long admired military parades, is already planning a lavish one next July for America’s 250th anniversary, after his low-key attempt last summer fell flat.

Fyodor Lukyanov: Russia and China anchor a new world order where the West is optional
The SCO summit shows how the world is shifting away from the West

Activist Greta Thunberg on Wednesday expressed her contempt for the international community for its continued inaction on ending the mass suffering being inflicted on Gaza by the Israeli government.

Thunberg, who is a passenger on the Global Sumud Flotilla attempting to break through the Israeli blockade of Gaza, told Middle East Eye that her decision to join the voyage was "the bare minimum" she could do as Palestinians are facing mass starvation.