Prompts to AI Isn't Protected by Copyright: Case Dismissed

Giving instructions to a computer program does not grant you exclusive rights to generic internet memes.

A court in Moscow, Russia rejected a copyright claim on a neural network-generated images based on Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa and the Statue of Liberty, saying that their generation is not creative work, but a technical process, reported RIA Novosti. The decision, handed down on August 02, 2026, sets a clear legal precedent for AI art in Russia. 

The plaintiff claimed that by processing a reproduction of da Vinci’s masterpiece and a photo of the Statue of Liberty in a neural network, he created the art objects Mona Lisa with Wine and Statue of Liberty with Wine, which the defendant used on T-shirts, hoodies, sweatshirts, and thermal mugs, which he sold on his website. 

The plaintiff asked the court to order compensation from the individual entrepreneur for violating the author’s exclusive rights to the design works. 

The defendant denied the claim, arguing that the plaintiff’s use of images with minor modifications to the original works was insufficient to qualify the resulting images as creative work and therefore not protected by copyright. 

The plaintiff insisted in court that he had purchased photographs to create the works, in which he replaced the Statue of Liberty’s torch with a wine glass and added a background to the image. He also altered the position of the Mona Lisa’s hand, the mouth, and the contours of her face, increased the volume of her hair and tousled it, added bags under her eyes and applied patches, and placed a wine glass in her hand with painted nails, according to the court filings. 

The court noted that the disputed images had been created by artificial intelligence (AI), and since it lacked consciousness, it could not be said that the AI exerted creative effort. 

According to the court, the idea of tousled hair, a puffy face, a glass of wine in hand, and the replacement of the Statue of Liberty’s torch with a glass of wine are not new and are often used in art and media. 

“The objects presented by the plaintiff cannot be independent objects of copyright protection, since giving prompts to artificial intelligence are simple mechanical actions and are purely technical in nature. In this case, giving commands to a computer programme to apply an existing idea (repeatedly implemented) to a previously existing work cannot be considered a creative contribution. His contribution is limited to clarifying the commands, which is not considered creative”, the court stated. 

And so, Presnensky District Court dismissed the plaintiff’s copyright claim.

As seen in the examples below, these types of edits are incredibly common across the Internet!

Holiday Horror

The Ukrainian terrorist regime continues to murder Russian civilians.

On Monday, a Ukrainian drone struck a crowded Arkhipo-Osipovka beach near the Russian Black Sea resort of Gelendzhik, executing seven people (including three children) and injuring dozens more. Locals have described scenes of panic as the attack on the village of Arkhipo Osipovka sent vacationers scrambling for cover. 

“People ran away. At first, they started screaming and began fleeing from there. I can still hear those women’s cries in my ears”, one man who witnessed the blast told RT. 

No one expected such an attack “on a beach with children”, a local woman said, calling the strike an act of “treachery”. 

Russian Children’s Rights Commissioner Maria Lvova Belova said on Tuesday that a fourth child had died from injuries. Regional authorities earlier reported that 58 people had been wounded, 21 of whom required hospitalization. 

Acting deputy chief surgeon Aleksey Kovalenko at the Ochapovsky Regional Clinical Hospital said four of 14 adult patients “are in serious condition”, many of them with “combined trauma – shrapnel wounds plus burns”. The youngest patient is 19, while the oldest is 63, he added.

In Arkhipo Osipovka, locals and tourists have been laying flowers and toys in memory of the victims, creating makeshift memorials. 

“We came to leave a toy. Children died. Unfortunately, we witnessed all of this”, one man said. 

“I have tears in my eyes. I am a pensioner, and I feel very sorry for the children and the people”, an elderly woman told RT. 

Kiev has intensified long-range attacks on Russian civilian infrastructure in recent months. Moscow has described the strikes as terrorist attacks deliberately targeting ordinary citizens. 

On Monday, another Ukrainian drone strike claimed the lives of at least five people and wounded at least ten others near the town of Chekhov in the Moscow Region.

Vladimir Putin prefers to speak softly and carry a big stick. He should know that the Ukrainians aren't intimidated at all and they certainly don't give a damn. And they won't stop killing Russians until Putin brings hurt and pain directly to Ukrainians. 

I say, an eye for an eye!

Fog of War: Kiev Hides Their Losses

Taking Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky at his word, it seems battlefield miracles are now part of military strategy: 5,000 soldiers have apparently risen from the dead. 🧟🧟🧟🧟🧟

In his latest update, Zelensky claimed Ukraine only suffered "about 50,000 soldiers killed and… about 400,000 wounded", along with "a huge number" of troops who simply vanished. He revealed the number – which is lower than the estimate he offered six months ago – in a July 28 interview with Fox News recorded during his visit to the United States. 

Because that figure sits comfortably below previous estimates, we are left with a spectacular statistical reduction of 5,000 fatalities – proving that in modern warfare, the only thing more unpredictable than the front lines is the accounting.

The fatality count contradicts a statement Zelensky made on February 04 of this year, when in an interview with French television network France 2, he updated the official number to 55,000 Ukrainian soldiers killed on the battlefield. On February 16, 2025, he told NBC that around 46,000 Ukrainian servicemen had been killed, while claiming that Russian losses were 14 times higher. 

The Ukrainian military have been suffering from chronic manpower shortages amid mounting casualties, widespread draft evasion, and desertion. The latest publicly available official data showed that nearly 290,000 desertion cases had been recorded in Ukraine between 2022 and the autumn of 2025.

Therefore, it shouldn't surprise anybody that Zelenskyy undercounts Ukrainian casualties. Obviously, it is to primarily protect operational security from Russian intelligence and prevent public panic that could hurt domestic morale and troop recruitment. Additionally, keeping the reported loss ratio favorable helps maintain crucial Western military aid by projecting that the war remains winnable. 

According to Moscow, Kiev is losing tens of thousands of soldiers each month on the front lines. Russian Defense Minister Andrey Belousov estimated in December that nearly 500,000 Ukrainian servicemen had been killed or wounded in 2025 alone. Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov also suggested that total Ukrainian military casualties, including those killed, wounded, missing and captured, have already exceeded 1 million. 

Russian President Vladimir Putin estimated last month that the Ukrainian military could be losing up to 40,000 soldiers a month through deaths and injuries, adding that Kiev was able to replenish its ranks with only about 30,000 recruits through its increasingly violent forced-mobilization campaign.

Citing Russia’s Defense Ministry, TASS reported on Friday that the Russian Armed Forces have destroyed a total of 673 Ukrainian combat aircraft, 284 helicopters, 193,518 unmanned aerial vehicles, 669 surface-to-air missile systems, 30,380 tanks and other armored combat vehicles, 1,766 multiple rocket launchers, 35,963 field artillery guns and mortars and 67,917 special military motor vehicles since the start of the Special Military Operation. 

Ukraine Warns About The New Threat Triad

Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky, on Monday, issued a stark warning about what he described as three growing threats facing Ukraine as the war with Russia continues, namely, North Korea, Iran, and China. 

He explained that North Korea has supplied munitions and thousands of troops, Iran has provided drones and ballistic missiles, and China is assisting Russia with satellite and targeting technology. 

Even if it is true, what's the big deal? The West has been standing shoulder to shoulder with Ukraine providing money, weapons and even combatants (labelled as independent volunteers) to Ukraine all this while. 

Zelensky fears that this four-power axis gravely threatens Ukraine.

To be sure, Russia is more than capable of handling Ukraine by themselves. My only misgiving is that Russia is taking their sweet time to vanquish, destroy, and annihilate Ukraine once and for all!

Top seeds Pearly Tan-Thinaah Muralitharan got their Taipei Open campaign off to a solid start after easing past Japan's Mao Hitasue-Kanano Muroya 21-15, 21-17 to advance to the next round on Wednesday. The Malaysians cleared the opening hurdle in only 38 minutes.

Ukrainian Diplomats Looted $1.28M in War Aid

Senior Ukrainian diplomats within the Foreign Ministry allegedly siphoned off at least 37 million hryvnias (approximately $1.28 million at the time) in Western aid after the ministry's coffers were flooded with monetary contributions to support the country in its conflict with Russia, anti-corruption investigators in Kiev revealed on Monday. 

The Western-backed ⁠National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and ⁠Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO) – which Vladimir Zelensky’s government unsuccessfully sought to put under direct control last year – alleged that officials looted the monies for personal gain. 

The operation was supposedly led by a former State Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who served from 2020 to 2024, identified in reports as Oleksandr Bankov (right), alongside other current and former officials. 

Other NABU investigations have also uncovered extensive suspected corruption involving senior officials in the Defense Ministry, Energy Ministry, and other government bodies with access to large financial flows.

My good friend Hashim Adnan (right), who was in Hat Yai, Thailand with his golfing buddies, passed away yesterday. 

We had actually planned to meet on August 13, but sadly, we won't get the chance. I shall miss him.

My heartfelt condolences to his family! Al Fathihah!

Russia Has No Right to Exist

Ukraine’s new commander-in-chief, Major General Mikhail Drapaty, declares that Russia has no right to exist.

On Wednesday, the YouTube documentary channel Ukrainer W released an interview with Drapaty originally recorded in 2023. 

Speaking to journalist Karina Pilyugina, the general (right) said that he had long anticipated a war with Russia. 

“We see that you cannot call them neighbors. It is a nation, together with its leadership, that has no right to exist. Over thousands of years, nothing has changed there in civilizational terms – neither its mentality nor its imperial ambitions”, he said.

Vladimir Putin's Special Military Operation in Ukraine is already 4 years, 5 months, and 3 days. It is taking forever. Regrettably, his military strategy in Ukraine is one of calculated moderation. 

Putin should stop pulling his punches!

This is the exact opening statement made by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Thursday, July 23, 2026, to reporters on the sidelines of the ⁠ASEAN meeting of foreign ministers in Manila, Philippines. 

"The problem with Iran is every time they make a deal, the people that are in charge there either break it or want to change it. It looks like they're not ready to make a deal. So they're going to continue to pay a price. Every night the price gets higher and higher, and that's what's happening now", he added emphatically, when addressing escalating US-Iran tensions and open military conflict.

Oh, really? 😆😆😆

Americans are natural liars, fibbers and prevaricators!!!

UK MPs Seek Ban on Russian Cartoon

Russophobia, a blatant form of racism and xenophobia, is running rampant in the UK. 

In fact, the anti-Russian sentiment has descended into absurd, laughable territory because British MPs have ganged up to seek to ban the popular Russian children’s cartoon "Masha and the Bear" from being shown in the UK, claiming it acts as a tool of Russian soft power. 

The animated series, loosely based on a traditional Russian folk tale, follows the adventures of a mischievous little girl and a retired circus bear. It is one of the most popular children’s shows online, with one episode, Recipe for Disaster, viewed more than 4.6 billion times on YouTube. 

Last month, Netflix acquired the rights to two more seasons of the show and extended licensing agreements for existing seasons and spin-offs. The cartoon is available in Britain on ITVX. 

In response, a cross-party group of British parliamentarians have written to UK Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy, arguing that some scenes in the cartoon contain “propaganda content” and supposedly normalize Soviet military imagery for children, referring to a couple of scenes in which Masha appears in what they described as a tank-crew helmet, Soviet-style clothing and a border guard cap. 

The lawmakers also referenced past accusations against the cartoon, including Ukraine’s claims that Russian-language children’s content is a threat to national security and Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna’s recent accusations that the cartoon embeds “militaristic” themes in entertainment for children. 

Animaccord, the studio behind the show, have rejected the accusations as false and defamatory, stressing that the series contains no political messaging and has never received any state funding. 

A spokesperson for the company said the cartoon has entertained families in more than 100 countries for nearly two decades and is built around “friendship, kindness and imagination”. 

The UK government have not publicly backed the MPs’ demand, with officials saying platform catalogs are a matter for broadcasters, as long as they comply with local regulations. 

The lawmakers’ demand has also been widely mocked online, with users ridiculing the idea that a children’s cartoon about a little girl and a bear could pose a threat to Britain. 

Others have accused the MPs of wasting time on culture-war theatrics instead of addressing more serious problems. 

Russian officials have ridiculed past attacks on the cartoon, suggesting that Western critics are trying to find non-existent “militarism” in the series because they fear Russia’s cultural influence and have no good shows of their own. 

“When they cannot create their own proper content, they try to destroy good foreign content – that is, Russian content”, Russian MP Vitaly Milonov has said. 

The push to prohibit "Masha and the Bear" comes amid escalating restrictions on Russian media and culture in the West.

Andoni Iraola for Liverpool and Martin O'Neill for Celtic

Andoni Iraola is the new Liverpool head coach. 

The appointment of the Basque as the Reds’ boss ahead of 2026-27 was sealed on Thursday. 

North of the border, Martin O'Neill is the Celtic manager, it was asserted on Friday. It's a no-brainer really that O'Neill is set to continue at Parkhead on a one-year contract after two successful interim spells culminated in a league and cup double last season. 

Russia’s battlefield performance in Ukraine since December shows it can contest territory but cannot hold it, it has been claimed. 

Moreover, Ukraine's ability to impede the flow of Russian supplies and personnel to the front lines has grown in recent days, from the southern regions of Zaporizhia and Kherson to the eastern front, and has forced the Russian army to a standstill, according to Western analysis. 

Meanwhile, Ukraine has continued to strike refineries and munitions factories deep inside Russia, weakening its war effort. 

This war in Ukraine as described above was reported by Ukrainian fanboy John T Psaropoulos for Al Jazeera on June 05. This correspondent has been gleefully writing fiction about the Ukraine war right from the beginning. 

If you will believe, according to his May 29 report, the scale of Russian combat losses in Ukraine has increased nearly threefold compared to last year. 

To be honest, everything he wrote is pure fantasy! His texts serve as a highly delusory, if not deceitful narrative. And preposterous doesn't even begin to cover it!

Russia has actually gained the edge! Dominance confirmed.

Let me spell it out again: Russia is winning!

More World Leaders Flock to Beijing

On February 02, I blogged that in January, world leaders had flocked to China. In fact, five of them. 

The visits to China – China Daily refers to them as the "China travel rush" – have not stopped. 

In February, two leaders descended upon the Middle Kingdom (Zhōngguó, 中国). They were Uruguayan President Yamandu Orsi (1st-7th) and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz (25th-26th). [Note that the month was relatively quiet owing to the Spring Festival break].   

And in March, Chinese President Xi Jinping's diplomatic schedule was focused domestically during this month. He and other senior officials were engaged in the annual "Two Sessions" political meetings, which are the annual plenary sessions of the National People's Congress and the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. 

The following month, distinguished travelers who journeyed to China included: Thailand’s Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn (April 04-11); Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez (April 11-15); Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi (April 12-14); To Lam, General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam and President of Vietnam (April 14-17); and Mozambican President Daniel Chapo (April 16-22).

And in May, Tajikistan President Emomali Rahmon was in China, completing a four-day state visit to Beijing from 11th to 14th. 

Of course, the US didn't want to be left out. And so, its president invited himself to China. He was there from May 13 to 15, and incredibly, he was well-behaved.

Russian President Vladimir Putin was there as well for a two-day state visit, running from May 19 to May 20. And more than 40 documents and cooperation agreements were signed between China and Russia.

Then, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif travelled to China for a four-day official trip from May 23 to 26.

And Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić too from May 24-28. 

This isn't just about China being "open". 

As global uncertainty deepens, the world is gravitating toward a country that, weathering its own storms, continues to project a clear sense of purpose and progress.

The high-profile visits to Beijing by world leaders underscore China's leverage and centrality in shaping a multipolar world order. And Xi Jinping is at the centre of it all.

China's real power comes through Xi championing initiatives like the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), the Global Development Initiative, and the Global Security Initiative – in fact, the country offers an alternative model for economic growth and state relations without political conditionality.

Viral Buffalo Saved From Ritual Sacrifice

In Bangladesh, a nearly 4-year-old bull became a national celebrity after videos of its cream-colored coat, pinkish nose, and signature golden comb-over resembling the US president swept across social media. 

The 700-kilogram (1,543-pound) rare albino buffalo, which, unsurprisingly, was nicknamed "Donald Trump", was sold for ritual slaughter for the Eid al-Adha festival but found itself spared. That was because the government, citing security and animal welfare concerns, intervened to cancel the sacrifice, refund the buyer, and relocate the animal to the Dhaka National Zoo. 

It's a happy ending! The viral buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) has become the Dhaka zoo's Eid attraction! 

Russian President Vladimir Putin has framed the growing alignment between China, Russia, and Iran as a lasting obstacle to Donald Trump’s ambitions for global dominance. 

In a video address to the International Security Forum in Moscow, Russia (May 26-29, 2026), he said the three countries are working more closely across military, economic, and diplomatic fronts to push back against US influence and challenge what he described as American hegemony.

I share this perspective. I do believe that working together, the three countries can genuinely help foster world peace!

Predictably, Washington dismissed the comments as propaganda – but the message from Moscow was clear: Russia, China, and Iran want to present themselves as a united counterweight to US power.

The days of Western hegemony are over!

Ukraine's Deadly Drone Strikes

The evil in this world knows no bounds. 

On the night of May 21-22, 2026, three deadly waves of Ukrainian kamikaze drones struck the Starobilsk Professional College of Luhansk Pedagogical University's main building and living quarters in Russia's Lugansk, killing 21 people, who were mostly teenage girls, and injuring 60 others. 

Russian President Vladimir Putin described the killings as a "terrorist act". 

And Russian Parliament Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin revealed on Tuesday that SpaceX CEO Elon Musk’s communication satellite network made it possible for Ukraine to carry out the strikes. Speaking in the State Duma, Volodin condemned the attack as a “crime against humanity”. 

“We must do everything we can to hold to account those who gave the orders, and who directed [the drone strike] at the college”, he said. 

As Ukraine has continued to suffer setbacks on the battlefield, Kiev chose to ramp up attacks on civilian targets in multiple Russian border regions. Kiev has also been mounting Musk’s Starlink satellite dishes on drones to bypass Russian electronic warfare and facilitate long-range attacks.

Over the past week, Ukrainian strikes have killed 51 civilians and injured nearly 200 across Russia, the highest weekly toll recorded this year, according to Rodion Miroshnik, who leads the Russian Foreign Ministry mission responsible for tracking Ukrainian war crimes.

Putin should know the killings will not stop! Russia should just wipe out this evil from the face of the earth!

China Challenges US Sanctions

China has ordered companies to defy US sanctions for the first time, a step that threatens to put its banking sector into the crosshairs of competition between the world’s largest economies.

The decision, announced on Saturday, risks becoming a watershed moment. While China has often railed against unilateral sanctions, it has in the past quietly allowed companies to comply with them to avoid blowback on its own economy and preserve access to the US financial system. 

Beijing is now signaling a far firmer stance against such restrictions by directing companies not to abide by US sanctions on five domestic refiners linked to the Iranian oil trade. 

A commentary on the People’s Daily app, called the announcement “a pivotal step in the transition of China’s foreign-related legal weapon from institutional reserves to practical application”. 

The move represents Beijing’s most aggressive action to date in countering Washington’s financial statecraft. It comes with the US sanctions system already under strain, as Washington vacillates on restrictions against Russia, Venezuela and Iran.

China is deploying a blocking measure introduced in 2021 that was aimed at protecting its firms from foreign laws it deemed unjustified. The refiners – including Hengli Petrochemical (Dalian) Refinery Co. which was sanctioned last month, and several other privately-owned processors – had been facing asset freezes and transaction bans. 

“Judging by its specific provisions, the prohibition order primarily targets the concrete US sanctions imposed on particular Chinese firms”, Ji Wenhua, a law professor and adviser to the Commerce Ministry, wrote in an opinion piece for the state-run Economic Daily. “Its central objective is to nullify their legal effect within Chinese territory, rather than simultaneously resorting to more aggressive retaliatory measures”. 

China has long been the single largest buyer of Tehran’s oil shipments, many of them arriving indirectly and through private refiners, and then turned into gasoline, diesel and other oil products. Chinese customs data do not reflect that trade, with the last official shipment recorded several years ago. 

Before Hengli, and wary of the economic and diplomatic fallout, Washington’s efforts to cut off Tehran’s oil revenue had targeted smaller Chinese companies and facilities. Hengli, by contrast, is representative of the most modern of China’s private refiners, with a sprawling oil-processing and chemicals complex in the northeastern province of Liaoning. 

While the country does still have an army of small independent players – the original so-called teapots – the larger entities are now giant operations. Altogether, the private sector accounts for as much as a third of refining capacity, in a country where energy security is a priority. 

The injunction “allows the refineries to seek compensation in Chinese courts from entities that comply with US sanctions, including domestic actors – such as banks, investors, and downstream customers that have ceased dealings – as well as foreign firms with a presence in China”, according to analysts from the Eurasia Group, and adding the move signals Beijing is taking a more assertive approach to countering sanctions. 

“By activating its blocking measures for the first time since adopting the rule in 2021, China is demonstrating a lower threshold for deploying its legal and regulatory toolkit to counter US sanctions”, they said.

Ukraine Proposed Part of Donbas Be Renamed Donnyland

According to a New York Times report published on April 21, 2026, Ukraine had made a proposal to rename a contested part of the Donbas region "Donnyland". 

The name, combining Donetsk, Donald, and Disneyland, was floated by Ukrainian negotiators, with some reports indicating it was suggested informally or partly in jest. The proposal concerned a roughly 2,000-square-mile area in the northwesternmost part of the Donetsk Oblast. 

It was said to be part of diplomatic discussions aimed at appealing to US President Donald Trump's vanity to secure US support. 

As of the latest update on the Special Military Operation in Ukraine, Russia's battle for Donnyland is fast-tracking!

Sivasangari Subramaniam made short work of world No. 17 Farida Mohamed of Egypt to reach the quarter-finals of the Grasshopper Cup Squash 2026 in Zurich, Switzerland yesterday. 

The world No. 6 player, who received a bye in the first round, needed only 12 minutes to beat the Egyptian 11-4, 11-5 in a best-of-three format. It was Sivasangari's second win over Farida in four matches.

The 27-year-old Malaysian will face another Egyptian in world No. 14 Nada Abbas for a place in the semi-finals tomorrow.

The Global Hegemon That Is The Militaristic US

The United States is a global hegemon that proudly wears its hyper-militarism like a badge of honor. Best characterized as being bellicose, belligerent and brazenly confrontational. 

Indeed, the combative country has a hubristic history of military interventions and an indefatigable involvement in color revolutions and regime change, whether overtly or covertly. 

The same jingoistic country maintains a vast worldwide network of between 750 to 800 military base sites in at least 80 countries and territories to enable power projection and facilitate its military's global strategic objective of imperial and imperious domination. 

In this century alone, already ten countries have been at the receiving end of US aggression:

If you haven't already noticed, trigger-happy Donald Trump is involved in every one of them!

[Note: The above doesn't include the "proxy" war in Ukraine between the US and Russia – an admission made by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio himself to Fox News on March 05, 2025].

Among the roster of hawkish US presidents, one is a Nobel Peace Prize winner for 2009 (i.e., Barack Obama!) and another (Trump lah, who else!) who literally begged for the award in 2025! (He didn't get it though – but the "unfit" winner still presented it to him, even if it means breaking the rules).

["Unfit" because she exhorted the US of A to attack her own country, i.e., Venezuela, so that she can be installed as president].

American foreign policy, after all, is engineered to maintain absolute global dominance, willingly triggering conflicts to ensure that both allies and adversaries recognize the US military as the undisputed numero uno!

The world will be in a better place if the US ceases to exist. Just saying.

Verdict Issued on Ukraine-backed Moscow Massacre

A Russian court have sentenced 15 men to life in prison over the 2024 Crocus City Hall massacre, the deadliest terrorist attack in the country in over two decades. Russian investigators found that the assault was organized on behalf of Ukraine. 

The Second Western District Military Court delivered the verdict in Moscow on Thursday, nearly two years after four gunmen stormed the Crocus City Hall concert venue on March 22, 2024, opening fire on a crowd gathered for a sold-out show by veteran rock band Picnic, setting the building ablaze and fleeing toward Ukraine. 

The Russian Investigative Committee asserted that the “inhuman crime” was orchestrated in Ukraine’s interests in order to “destabilize the political situation in our country”. 

All 19 defendants – mostly Tajik nationals – in the case were convicted; alongside the 15 life terms, one man received 22.5 years, and three others just under 20 years each. 

The court also found that two unidentified suspects still at large had been organizing cells of Vilayat Khorasan – the Islamic State’s regional affiliate – in Russia, recruiting the 19 defendants. Altogether, one hundred and forty-nine people were killed, one missing and 609 wounded. 

There's no doubt Celtic must collect the three points against Motherwell in Saturday's Scottish Premiership match at Celtic Park. And they did the job they were supposed to as they thumped the Steelmen 3-1.

It was the visitors who actually took the lead just after the half-hour mark when Reo Hatate was caught in possession at the edge of the Celtic box, giving a rival player the chance to smash the ball low past Viljami Sinisalo into the net. 

Five minutes later, a Benjamin Nygren cut-back in to the box was cleared only as far as Yang Hyun-jun, who swept in towards goal and slammed in to level the score.

Then, a corner from sub Luke McCowan resulted in a penalty for Celtic, as Daizen Maeda was hauled to the ground at the back post. Tomas Cvancara stepped up and smashed his spot-kick in to the back of the net in the 72nd minute. 

And goalie Sinisalo launched the ball forward towards Yang, who took it in his stride before he produced a brilliant finish and claimed his second goal in the 79th minute. 

On the same day too, Hearts fell to a shock 1-0 defeat to relegation-threatened Kilmarnock as their lead narrowed to only two points.

And today, third-placed Rangers won 1-0 against St Mirren to help them close the gap on the league leaders to three points. 

With eight games still to go, more twists and turns are to be expected in the final two months of the campaign.

Donald Trump's Alleged Worldview

A cartoon titled "Trump's Map of the World", drawn by illustrator Julian Fiebach and shared by the German magazine Der Spiegel, has gone viral on the Internet. 

The cartoon offers a biting, satirical reimagining of the world map through Donald Trump's eyes and mocks his foreign policy, which is often described as "narcissistic and resource-obsessed". 

The scathing cartoon reduces global geopolitics to an egocentric scribble where nations and continents are labeled not by geography or history but by what they represent in Trump's personal worldview. Through humour and exaggeration, the cartoon mocks the transactional and self-centered approach often associated with Trump's leadership style. 

Instead of depicting nations in the usual way, the sketch presents the world through what appears to be Trump's own way of interpreting it. Many regions are labelled not by their actual names but by resources, business interests, or stereotypes. 

Words such as "oil", "diamonds", "casino", "tea", and "chips" appear across different parts of the map, implying that places are valued mainly for what they can provide economically or strategically. 

At the center lies "Me", an oversized, irregularly shaped landmass dominating what should be North America. This suggests a highly self-focused view of global affairs, where American interests come first and everything else is seen in relation to them. Prominently marked are "Mar-a-Lago" (Trump's Florida resort), "NY" (New York, his birthplace and business hub), a "Casino", and "Wall". 

To the north and east, oil-rich regions are tagged "oil" multiple times, including on distorted versions of the Middle East and parts of Russia. 

Other regions are also reduced to commodities, business opportunities, or political rivals. 

The drawing makes fun of Trump's often unconventional ideas about international relations, such as his widely discussed suggestion that the US could purchase Greenland. 

On the other side of the map, a large part of Asia is labelled "Xi Ping", referring to Chinese leader Xi Jinping. This reflects the intense geopolitical and economic rivalry between the United States and China during Trump's presidency. 

Vladimir Putin gets his own sprawling domain labeled "Putin", complete with "war" scribbled nearby, hinting at Ukraine and broader aggression. Europe shrinks to a tiny "EU" sliver attached to the "Riviera", while Africa is reduced to "diamonds". 

Other parts of the world are also portrayed through blunt stereotypes. Scattered islands bear dismissive labels like "idiots" and "cold".

The all-Malaysian clash in the Australian Open quarter-finals yesterday didn't happen.

World No. 22 Aira Azman withdrew due to a hamstring injury, leaving top seed Sivasangari Subramaniam to advance straight into the semi-finals against world No. 12 Nele Gilis of Belgium.

Smart-arse Estonian Figures Out When War Will End

Smart-arse Kaja Kallas has figured out when the Ukrainian war will end. According to her, it will stop only when either NATO or Russia runs out of funds! 💰💰💰

Either that, or when Ukraine runs out of soldiers. 💀💀💀

Yesterday, Celtic won 2-1 against Livingston to keep their Scottish Premiership title hopes alive. 

An Arne Engels corner was headed out to the edge of the box where Marcelo Saracchi took one touch to control the ball before smashing his shot beyond the goalkeeper in the 15th minute for his first Celtic goal. But then Reo Hatate gave away a daft penalty and Livingston equalized from the spot in the fifty-seventh minute. 

Celtic pressed for a winning goal and it came deep into injury time as new signing Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain curled a shot from the edge of the box into the far corner to clinch maximum points. 

Martin O'Neill's side now sit six points adrift of Hearts at the top of the table with a game in hand and face Kilmarnock on Sunday, as they look to continue applying pressure in the title race.

Donald Trump’s 75-country US Visa Suspension Challenged

A group of United States citizens and immigrant rights bodies have launched a lawsuit seeking to challenge the sweeping suspension of immigrant visa processing for 75 countries by the administration of President Donald Trump.

The lawsuit, filed on Monday, argues that the Trump administration has relied on a false narrative to justify the visa processing suspension, one of the most substantial restrictions on legal immigration in the country’s history. 

The lawsuit charges that the policy “constitutes an unlawful nationality-based ban on legal immigration and a new set of discriminatory, unlawful public charge rules that strips families and working people of the process guaranteed by law”, according to a case overview by the National Immigration Law Center, which are among the groups supporting the legal challenge. 

The sprawling 106-page complaint further alleges that the administration relies “on an unsupported and demonstrably false claim that nationals of the covered countries migrate to the United States to improperly rely on cash welfare and are likely to become ‘public charges'”. 

The State Department has described the action, announced in mid-January, as a “pause” on immigrant visa processing on “countries whose migrants take welfare from the American people at unacceptable rates”. 

The department have not revealed the criteria it used to determine which countries were added to the list, which comes amid a wider effort to constrict legal immigration pathways into the US and to deport undocumented citizens from the country. 

According to a January 14 state department cable obtained by the Guardian, the sweeping list cuts across every major region of the world, spanning countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Middle East and eastern Europe. 

Amongst the affected countries include Albania, Algeria, Antigua and Barbuda, Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bahamas, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belarus, Belize, Bhutan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Cameroon, Chad, Colombia, Cuba, Dominica, Egypt, Ethiopia, Fiji, Georgia, Ghana, Grenada, Iran, Iraq, Jamaica, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Lebanon, Liberia, Mali, Moldova, Mongolia, Montenegro, Morocco, Myanmar, Nepal, Niger, Nigeria, Pakistan, Russia, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Syria, Thailand, Togo, Tunisia, Uruguay, Uzbekistan and Yemen.