On the very day the “Freedom 250” concert series was announced, rapper Young MC became the second artist to publicly back out of the government-sponsored festival taking place on the National Lawn in Washington, D.C.. His exit following Morris Day‘s statement earlier Wednesday that he and the Time would have nothing to do with the newly announced patriotic series, an outgrowth of an Independence Day initiative tarted by the Trump administration.

Meanwhile, a third artist that had been announced Wednesday morning, C+C Music Factory frontman Freedom Williams, posted a fired-up, profanity-laced eight-minute message in which he initially said he’d planned to back out of the show after learning about Trump involvement. Then Williams backtracked and said C+C Music Factory might well go ahead with the gig after all, to show he was impervious to the backlash and could not be told what to do by angry commenters.

Young MC’s message to fans on social media Wednesday night was short and to the point: “I HAVE INFORMED MY AGENTS THAT I WILL NOT BE PERFORMING AT THE FREEDOM 250 EVENT,” he wrote. “The artists were never told about any political involvement with the event. And despite the claims by the organizers that the event is non-partisan, Spin magazine describes it as ‘Trump-backed.’ I hope to perform in D.C. in the near future at an event that is not so politically charged.”

Russia signed a landmark nuclear agreement with Kazakhstan on Thursday to build the Central Asian country’s first-ever commercial power plant, marking a major geopolitical and economic victory for President Vladimir Putin, according to reports.

The $16.5 billion project, signed during high-level bilateral talks in Astana between Putin and Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, will be backed by a Russian export loan covering roughly 85% of the total cost, Reuters reported.

Rosatom, Russia’s state-run nuclear corporation, will lead construction near the village of Ulken in southeastern Kazakhstan along the shores of Lake Balkhash.

Rosatom secured the primary construction mandate after beating out competition from China National Nuclear Corp., France’s EDF and Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power, the outlet said.

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The pact directly advances the Kremlin’s efforts to anchor its economic and geopolitical influence within former Soviet states amid Western sanctions.

According to the World Nuclear Association, Kazakhstan is the world’s largest producer of uranium.

For Kazakhstan, the facility is intended to stabilize a long-term domestic energy supply, since it has struggled with old coal-reliant power infrastructure and electricity deficits for more than two decades.

“The agreement signed today on the construction of the Balkhash NPP has an important role,” Tokayev said at the signing ceremony.

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Putin called the deal “a flagship project in the field of peaceful nuclear energy” and said “the commissioning of the plant will make a significant contribution to the energy supply of the Kazakh economy, helping to provide businesses and households with affordable and clean energy.”

“I would like to point out that, as we agreed with the president of Kazakhstan, we are not simply talking about the creation of a nuclear power plant or construction; we are talking about the creation of an entire industry, including education, personnel training, and so on,” he added.

According to Kazakhstan’s atomic energy agency, the massive facility will feature two advanced VVER-1200 Generation III+ reactors.

Total development costs are estimated at $16.5 billion, with officials noting that approximately $2 billion of the sum will be allocated toward security systems and foundational infrastructure.

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Construction is scheduled to begin in 2027, with the first reactor slated to become operational by early 2034.

The project follows a 2024 national referendum in which Kazakh voters formally approved development at the Balkhash site.

However, the pivot to atomic energy is sensitive for local citizens. The nation hosted hundreds of Soviet nuclear weapons tests at the Semipalatinsk site between 1949 and 1989, leaving behind severe public health crises and environmental pollution.

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Distrust increased over the 1986 Chernobyl disaster in Ukraine, after which tens of thousands of Kazakh workers fell ill assisting in cleanup operations.

According to Bloomberg, the two countries also signed a currency swap arrangement Thursday.

Bank of Russia Gov. Elvira Nabiullina and National Bank of Kazakhstan Gov. Timur Suleimenov signed the ruble-tenge swap agreement.

The Israeli army has already expanded its control of Gaza by 11 percent over the ‘Yellow Line’, beyond the terms of the ‘ceasefire’.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has instructed the Israeli army to expand its control of the Gaza Strip to 70 percent, according to remarks aired by Israeli media.

“At this point, we are fully in control of 60 percent of the territory of the Gaza Strip … and my directive is to get to … 70 percent,” Netanyahu said in footage recorded by Channel 12 and aired on Thursday.

When someone in the audience shouted that Israel should take the entire besieged enclave, the prime minister said “we are going in order”, according to The Times of Israel. “First 70 percent,” he said without disputing that a complete takeover could take place. “We’ll start with that.”

The Israeli army had in mid-March quietly sent maps to aid organisations showing it had already expanded its control to about 11 percent beyond the so-called “Yellow Line” demarcating areas of the enclave occupied by Israeli troops. That line was agreed in a United States-brokered “ceasefire” in October 2025. That meant it controlled 64 percent of the Palestinian territory, instead of 53 percent.

Due to the Israeli army occupation, Palestinians cannot access about two-thirds of Gaza. A further seizure of the territory would force two million of them, already living in disastrous conditions, into an even smaller territory after enduring two years of genocidal war.

Despite the nominal truce reached last year, Israeli bombing in Gaza continues with near-daily attacks. An Al Jazeera tally from October to April counted at least 2,400 Israeli violations. Earlier on Thursday, health authorities said an Israeli air raid killed at least 10 people, including four children, and wounded 20 others.

According to the United Nations Office for Humanitarian Affairs’ (OCHA) latest report, the humanitarian situation for civilians in Gaza remains critical, with displaced families living in overcrowded tents, schools or damaged structures. Clean water is scarce, and poor waste collection is increasing health risks, including the spread of rats and insects. Many neighbourhoods across Gaza are also still dangerous, with frequent air strikes, shelling and shootings happening in or near residential areas, the report said.

Last week, the high representative overseeing the US-founded Board of Peace for Gaza, Nickolay Mladenov, warned that the deteriorating status quo in the enclave risks becoming “permanent”.  Speaking to the UN Security Council, he urged the international body to use “every means at its disposal” to press Hamas to disarm and to push Israel to uphold its commitment under the October ceasefire, pointing to its continued killings and restrictions on humanitarian flow.

The war that Israel launched following the October 7, 2023, attacks on southern Israel by Hamas and other armed Palestinian groups has killed more than 72,775 Palestinians. The Israeli military continues to maintain a strict security regime, and many hundreds more have been killed in the past seven months. Conflict monitors warn that since the US-Israel war on Iran started in February, Israeli bombardment of Gaza has accelerated.