World
Putin thanks Kim Jong Un for supporting Russian invasion of Ukraine as nations sign mutual defensive pact
Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean supreme leader Kim Jong Un signed a mutual aid pact on Wednesday, bringing the two nations closer than ever since the fall of the Soviet Union.
The pact, which both leaders emphasized is a landmark agreement between the countries, reportedly covers defensive security, humanitarian relief, trade and investment concerns.
Putin thanked Kim on Wednesday for North Korea’s “unwavering support” of the ongoing invasion of Ukraine.
PUTIN TOUCHES DOWN IN PYONGYANG, SAYS ‘HEROIC PEOPLE’ OF NORTH KOREA WILL ‘CONFRONT’ WEST WITH RUSSIA
North Korean supreme leader Kim Jong Un, left, and Russian President Vladimir Putin attend a welcome ceremony at Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang, North Korea. (Photo by GAVRIIL GRIGOROV/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday claimed Putin’s visit was part of a desperate attempt to maintain international allies despite the increasingly drawn out invasion.
“We’ve seen […] Russia try, in desperation, to develop and to strengthen relations with countries that can provide it with what it needs to continue the war of aggression that it started against Ukraine,” said Blinken.
He added that the U.S. will “do everything we can to cut off the support that countries, like Iran and North Korea, are providing.”
DOZENS OF NORTH KOREAN SOLDIERS REPEATEDLY BREACH FORBIDDEN ZONE WITH SOUTH KOREA AHEAD OF PUTIN VISIT
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, right, listens to Russian President Vladimir Putin during their meeting in Pyongyang, North Korea. Putin received a red carpet welcome, a military ceremony and an embrace from Kim during a state visit to Pyongyang, where they both pledged to forge closer ties. (KRISTINA KORMILITSYNA/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
Kim has been enthusiastic about building associations with Russia and China in order to build international legitimacy despite his country’s dismal human rights record.
The hermit country has worked to supply munitions and other military resources to the Russian military since the beginning of the war against Ukraine. Weapons baring marks that indicate North Korean manufacturing have been recovered by the Ukrainian military.
Putin last visited North Korea in 2000, when the hereditary dictatorship was under the control of Kim’s father, Kim Jong Il.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, shakes hands with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un during a meeting in Pyongyang, North Korea. (GAVRIIL GRIGOROV/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
North Korea, officially known as the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, was founded in 1948 with direct influence from Soviet dictator Josef Stalin.
The Kim family — sometimes referred to as the Mount Paektu bloodline — is the hereditary dictatorship of the country founded by communist revolutionary Kim Il Sung.
North Korea operates under the state ideology of Juche, a quasi-communist worldview founded on a cult of personality and enthusiastic nationalism.
World
Google puts AI agents at heart of its enterprise money-making push
World
Landlords allegedly posting ‘Muslim-only’ apartment ads in violation of country’s equality act: report
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Some landlords in England are apparently advertising “Muslim-only” apartments online, according to a local media report.
An investigation by The Telegraph found that alleged listings posted in London on Facebook, Gumtree and Telegram feature phrases such as “only for Muslims,” “for 2 Muslim boys or 2 Muslim girls,” and “Muslims preferred.”
Other ads appeal to Punjabi and Gujarati speakers, while some job vacancies on the platforms are advertised for men only.
Some listings specify “Hindu only,” in addition to posts that likely use religious subtext by stating: “The house should be alcohol and smoke-free.”
IS MAMDANI’S SOCIALIST PUSH FOR RENT CONTROLS ABOUT TO WRECK THE NEW YORK CITY HOUSING MARKET?
On Facebook, a company called Roshan Properties posted dozens of listings stating “prefer Muslim boy,” “one double room is available for Muslims,” and “suitable for Punjabi boy.” A Meta spokesman told Fox News Digital that Facebook then removed the company’s page “for violating the platform’s policies on discriminatory practices.”
Apartment buildings in Westminster, London, U.K. (John Keeble/Getty Images)
The ads run afoul of Britain’s Equality Act 2010, which prohibits discrimination based on religion or belief, race and other protected characteristics.
“These adverts are disgusting and anti-British. It goes without saying that there would be a national outrage if the tables were turned,” Robert Jenrick, Reform UK’s economic spokesman, told The Telegraph. “All forms of racism are unacceptable, and no religious group should get a special exemption to discriminate in this way.”
Houses and properties line Cheyne Walk in Chelsea, London, U.K. Some landlords in the city are illegally advertising for “Muslim only” tenants across the city, an investigation by The Telegraph has found. (Richard Baker/In Pictures via Getty Images)
One landlord told The Telegraph to “go away” when asked about an ad for a “Muslims only” room for $1,150, and whether it was available to renters of other faiths.
A spokesperson for Gumtree told the newspaper that the company has clear policies in place that prohibit unlawful discrimination.
On Facebook, a company called Roshan Properties posted dozens of listings stating “prefer Muslim boy,” (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
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“We take reports of inappropriate listings very seriously,” the spokesperson said. “The ads referenced appear to relate to private rooms within shared homes, where existing occupants may express preferences about who they live with. This is different from renting out an entire property, which is subject to stricter rules under the Equality Act.”
Telegram did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
World
Is Europe too late to the metal recycling game?
Europe’s critical raw materials crisis has a partial answer sitting in the waste stream — but the continent has been too slow to see it.
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Dorota Włoch, CEO of Eneris Surowce, was direct: recycling is no longer optional.
Unlike plastics, metals can be recovered and reused indefinitely, making urban mining — the recovery of raw materials from existing products and waste — increasingly valuable, particularly for batteries.
“From recycling, we recover metallic aluminium and so-called black mass, which is a concentrate of metals, mainly cobalt-nickel. These are some of the most valuable battery metals. And batteries are crucial today, not only in the automotive sector, but also in storing energy from renewable sources such as wind and solar,” she said.
‘Europe is 25 years late’
Włoch put the scale of the problem plainly. “Deposits are critical — any machine can be bought, but natural resources are not. They are non-transferable and non-renewable. If we use them, they simply disappear,” she said.
Europe’s belated recognition of that reality has cost it dearly.
“The regulation of critical raw materials came 25 years after other regions of the world had invested heavily in deposits. Europe was too passive. Today we are catching up, but the regulations are often so demanding that countries like Poland have difficulty implementing them.”
Who benefits most from extraction?
Poland holds significant reserves of raw materials critical to the modern economy, such as copper, coking coal, nickel, platinum group metals, helium, rhenium, lead and silver.
But the minerals needed most for the energy transition, such as lithium, cobalt and graphite, exist only in limited quantities, forcing imports.
Arkadiusz Kustra, dean of the faculty of civil engineering and resource management at AGH University of Science and Technology in Kraków, told a panel at the European Economic Congress that awareness of the full supply chain, and who profits from it, was now essential.
He pointed to Serbia as a case study.
“Serbia has lithium deposits and is already in talks with Mercedes or Stellantis,” he said. Belgrade is using that leverage to attract investment in battery factories and car plants, keeping more of the value chain at home.
The goal, Kustra argued, should be regional supply chains that retain added value locally.
“You can earn the least at the beginning and the most from the end customer,” he said.
The bigger obstacle is Chinese dominance.
“Margins in critical raw materials largely go to the Chinese, who control more than 90% of processing and trading, even though they do not own most of the deposits,” he said.
In the Democratic Republic of Congo — among the world’s most resource-rich countries — Chinese entities control around 90% of deposits.
The panel also pointed to growing interest in new supply partnerships, with Poland eyeing assets in the Congo region and the Americas.
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