NATO chief Rutte urges Zelenskiy to mend his relationship with Trump

 NATO chief Mark Rutte said on Saturday he told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy that he needs to find a way to restore his relationship with U.S. President Donald Trump after their clash at a White House meeting on Friday.

The confrontation flared over differing visions of how to end Russia's three-year-old invasion, with Zelenskiy seeking strong security guarantees from a Trump administration that has embraced diplomacy with Vladimir Putin's Russia.

The meeting, which Rutte described as "unfortunate", plunged ties between Kyiv and its top military backer to a new low.

"I said: I think you have to find a way, dear Volodymyr, to restore your relationship with Donald Trump and the American administration. That is important going forward," Rutte told the BBC, commenting on a call he had with Zelenskiy on Friday.

He said he told Zelenskiy that "we really have to respect what President Trump has done so far for Ukraine", reminding Zelenskiy that Trump was the one who provided Javelin anti-tank weapons to Ukraine in 2019 that had enabled the country's forces to fight back after Russia's invasion.

FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Donald Trump meets with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., February 28, 2025. REUTERS/Brian Snyder/File Photo© Thomson Reuters

"Without the Javelins in 2022, when the full-scale attack started, Ukraine would have been nowhere", said Rutte. "I told him we really have to give Trump credit for what he did then, what America did since then and also what America is still doing."

Quizzed on some of the accusations traded between the leaders on Friday, the NATO chief declined to comment in detail, saying the U.S. was very invested in the military alliance, including in its mutual-defence clause Article 5.

Rutte called Trump a friend but did not directly address questions about whether Trump was right when he accused Zelenskiy of gambling with World War Three, or when he said Zelenskiy either needed to strike a deal or the U.S. would be "out".

"I am absolutely convinced that the U.S. wants to bring Ukraine to this durable peace...And obviously, what they need to get there is to make sure that we'll all work together on this," he said.

Asked whether NATO allies would be capable of filling the gaps should the U.S. withdraw its military support from Ukraine, Rutte replied: "Let's move beyond this question. It is crucial that we stay all in this together - the U.S., Ukraine, Europe, that we bring Ukraine to a peace, this is exactly what President Trump is fighting for, what we all are fighting for."

https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/world/nato-s-rutte-urges-zelenskiy-to-mend-his-relationship-with-trump/ar-AA1A38Bd

'France's Macron is ready to discuss nuclear deterrence for Europe'

 French President Emmanuel Macron has said he is ready to start discussions on nuclear deterrence for Europe, hinting France could help to protect other EU countries, given the security threats posed by Russia.

European leaders will meet in London on Sunday to discuss a peace plan for Ukraine and they will attend a European Union summit on Thursday.

The bloc is grappling with U.S. President Donald Trump's willingness to embrace Russian diplomacy and the implications of an extraordinary clash between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and Trump at the White House on Friday.

Macron told Portuguese TV RTP in an interview he posted on X on Saturday that if Europe wanted to move towards "greater autonomy" in matters of defence and nuclear deterrence, then its leaders should start a discussion about it.

"I am available to open this discussion...if it allows to build a European force," he said. "There has always been a European dimension to France's vital interests within its nuclear doctrine."

French far-right leader Marine Le Pen was swift to react to Macron's comments.

"The French nuclear deterrent must remain a French nuclear deterrent," she said as she visited the Farm Show in Paris on Saturday. "It must not be shared, let alone delegated."

Defence Minister Sebastien Lecornu reiterated Macron's stance that France's vital interests include a “European dimension”, but also that it was under the exclusive control of the French head of state.

"Our nuclear deterrent is French, and it will remain so: from the design and production of our weapons, to their implementation by decision of the President of the Republic," he said on X.

"It protects the vital interests of France, which the head of state alone can define."

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/france-s-macron-is-ready-to-discuss-nuclear-deterrence-for-europe/ar-AA1A3baL

Andrew Cuomo running for New York City mayor after resigning governor post in disgrace

 The politician was accused of sexually harassing several women who worked for him and misleading the public about Covid-19 deaths

Andrew Cuomo announced on Saturday he is running to become mayor of New York, more than three years after he resigned in disgrace as governor of New York after being accused of sexually harassing a number of women who worked for him and misleading the public about Covid-19 deaths.

Cuomo, 67, denies the allegations. He is among the most well-known of a number of candidates challenging embattled Mayor Eric Adams to become the Democratic Party's nominee in the primary election in June.

"I know what needs to be done and I know how to do it," Cuomo said in a video message, saying the city needs a bold plan to address crime, mental illness and other concerns, and calling for a permanent increase in police numbers and the construction of thousands of affordable homes.

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Adams is seeking a second term even as he faces calls to resign by senior Democrats after he was indicted last year on corruption charges and then courted US President Donald Trump, a Republican, as he seeks to have the indictment dismissed. Adams, 64, has pleaded not guilty.

Cuomo entered politics in the 1980s helping his father, Mario Cuomo, win three terms as New York governor, an office he himself won in 2010.

He also served in US President Bill Clinton's cabinet as housing secretary, and, before becoming governor, served a term as New York's attorney general.

As governor, Cuomo signed bills legalising same-sex marriage and recreational marijuana, and in New York City he oversaw an expansion of Pennsylvania Station and an overhaul of LaGuardia Airport.

He was known for making daily public briefings in the early days of the coronavirus pandemic, which killed thousands of New Yorkers, but his response to the crisis became the beginning of his political downfall.

In an audit, New York state's comptroller found Cuomo's administration had pressured the Health Department to deliberately undercount Covid-19 deaths of state nursing home residents.

Cuomo had signed a US$5.1 million deal for a book about his leadership during the pandemic, but the state ethics board revoked its approval after saying Cuomo wrongly used state employees and resources to write it.

Cuomo has said he did nothing wrong or unethical, and has sued the ethics board, which has sought the US$5.1 million from him, in litigation that continues.

In August 2021, Cuomo resigned a week after New York Attorney General Letitia James released the results of an investigation which concluded that Cuomo had sexually harassed 11 women.

He said he had done nothing wrong, but apologised to anyone he made uncomfortable by what he described as clumsy attempts to be affectionate or funny.

https://www.msn.com/en-xl/news/other/andrew-cuomo-running-for-new-york-mayor-after-resigning-governor-post-in-disgrace/ar-AA1A3BCJ

DOGE fires federal tech team that built free tax-filing site as non-critical

 The Trump administration has pulled the plug on a team of tech-savvy civil servants that helped build the IRS's free tax-filing service and revamped websites across government, according to an email sent overnight to employees.

In an email to employees of the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) seen by Reuters, the GSA's Director of Technology Transformation Services Thomas Shedd said the team -- known as 18F -- had been identified as "non critical."

A GSA source said the roughly 90 18F employees were immediately locked out of their devices.

First launched in 2014 under former President Barack Obama, the 18F team was housed within GSA and helped federal agencies improve their digital services.

It was tasked with improving federal website accessibility, modernizing technology, enhancing data access, and making the government's customer service experience more user-friendly.

Billionaire Elon Musk, who leads the Trump administration's Department of Government Efficiency team known as DOGE, earlier this month responded to a post on X that called 18F a "far left government-wide computer office" by saying the group has been "deleted."

The IRS's free direct-file tax website is currently still online.

https://www.marketscreener.com/news/latest/Musk-s-DOGE-fires-federal-tech-team-that-built-free-tax-filing-site-49210342/

Hungary's Orban pushes direct Russia talks, opposes EU summit declaration

 Hungary's prime minister has urged the European Union to start direct discussions with Russia on a ceasefire in Ukraine and drop plans for a joint declaration at an extraordinary EU summit next week, saying differences in the bloc "cannot be bridged".

Under President Donald Trump, the United States has started talks with Russia on ending its war in Ukraine, but without Kyiv or the EU at the table. Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy clashed in a White House meeting on Friday.

In a letter to European Council President Antonio Costa dated Saturday, first reported by German daily Welt and seen by Reuters, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said of the EU that there were "strategic differences in our approach to Ukraine that cannot be bridged".

The European Council did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

"I am convinced that the European Union - following the example of the United States - should enter into direct discussions with Russia on a ceasefire and sustainable peace in Ukraine," Orban, a Trump ally, said in the letter.

He said this approach could not be reconciled with the draft conclusions for next Thursday's EU summit, set to focus on additional support for Ukraine, European security guarantees and how to pay for European defence needs.

"Therefore, I propose not to attempt adopting written conclusions on Ukraine," Orban said, alluding to the fact that decisions at EU summits need to be taken unanimously.

Since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Orban has emerged as a vocal critic of EU sanctions against Moscow and the bloc's financial and military support for Ukraine.

Slovakia's Prime Minister Robert Fico is another EU leader who has pushed for fast peace talks. On Saturday, he called the bloc's "peace through force" strategy unrealistic and said the necessity of an immediate ceasefire should be in the EU summit's conclusions.

He also wanted a demand for the reopening of Russian gas transit through Ukraine to be included, after falling into dispute with Kyiv this year when it halted the shipment of gas, forcing Slovakia to find different routes.

"If the summit does not respect that there are other views than continuing the war, the European Council on Thursday may not be able to agree on conclusions on Ukraine," Fico said in a Facebook post.

According to the latest draft statement prepared for the summit, member states were to confirm that there cannot be any negotiations on Ukraine without Ukraine, and that any peace agreement for Kyiv must be accompanied by "robust and credible security guarantees" for the country.

The declaration was also to call for additional military aid.

Friday's clash between Trump and Zelenskiy flared over differing visions of how to end the Ukraine war, with Zelenskiy seeking strong security guarantees from an administration that has embraced diplomacy with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

European leaders lined up afterwards to show solidarity with Ukraine's president.

On Sunday, European leaders will meet in London to discuss a security backstop to any peace agreement between Moscow and Kyiv.

https://www.aol.com/news/hungarys-orban-pushes-direct-russia-163708971.html

'China's DeepSeek claims theoretical cost-profit ratio of 545% per day'

 Chinese AI startup DeepSeek on Saturday disclosed some cost and revenue data related to its hit V3 and R1 models, claiming a theoretical cost-profit ratio of up to 545% per day, though it cautioned that actual revenue would be significantly lower.

This marks the first time the Hangzhou-based company has revealed any information about its profit margins from less computationally intensive "inference" tasks, the stage after training that involves trained AI models making predictions or performing tasks, such as through chatbots.

The revelation could further rattle AI stocks outside China that plunged in January after web and app chatbots powered by its R1 and V3 models surged in popularity worldwide.

The sell-off was partly caused by DeepSeek's claims that it spent less than $6 million on chips used to train the model, much less than what U.S. rivals like OpenAI have spent.

The chips DeepSeek claims it used, Nvidia's H800, are also much less powerful than what OpenAI and other U.S. AI firms have access to, making investors question even further U.S. AI firms' pledges to spend billions of dollars on cutting-edge chips.

DeepSeek said in a GitHub post published on Saturday that assuming the cost of renting one H800 chip is $2 per hour, the total daily inference cost for its V3 and R1 models is $87,072. In contrast, the theoretical daily revenue generated by these models is $562,027, leading to a cost-profit ratio of 545%. In a year this would add up to just over $200 million in revenue.

However, the firm added that its "actual revenue is substantially lower" because the cost of using its V3 model is lower than the R1 model, only some services are monetized as web and app access remain free, and developers pay less during off-peak hours.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/chinas-deepseek-claims-theoretical-cost-121658741.html

CIA Proxy Agency Confirms Funding Suspended, Forced To "Halt All Partner Support"

 by Dave DeCamp via AntiWar.com,

The National Endowment for Democracy (NED), a US-funded organization that meddles in elections and pushes regime change around the world in the name of spreading democracy, has confirmed reports that its funding from the US government has been frozen, forcing it to suspend operations.

“The [NED] is currently unable to access its Congressionally appropriated funds, which sustain nearly all of its grantmaking and operations. As a result, for the first time in the organization’s four-decade history, it has been unable to meet its obligations and has been forced to suspend support for nearly 2,000 partners worldwide,” the NED said in a statement on Tuesday.

While the NED presents itself as an “independent” organization, it is nearly entirely funded by the US government, which it acknowledged in the statement. The NED claimed that its funding should have been exempt from the Trump administration’s pause on foreign aid.

“Ninety-five percent of NED’s funding is directly appropriated by Congress and is not considered foreign assistance. This funding therefore was not subject to the executive order freezing foreign assistance for a ninety-day review. However, despite being exempt, access to these funds has been inexplicably cut off, forcing NED to halt all partner support and furlough the majority of its staff,” the NED said.

The NED, which was founded during the Cold War in 1983, received $315 million from the US government for the 2025 fiscal year. In 1991, Allen Weinstein, a co-founder of NED, acknowledged to The Washington Post that a lot of what the organization did was done “covertly 25 years ago by the CIA.”

In the 1991 article, Washington Post columnist David Ignatius listed some examples of the NED’s “overt” action that was previously done by the CIA, including “providing money and moral support for pro-democracy groups, training resistance fighters, working to subvert communist rule.”

The NED has been targeted by Elon Musk, who asked his followers in a recent post on X to list “all the evil things that NED has done.” Jim Bovard, a senior fellow at the Libertarian Institute, replied with an article about how he has been critical of the organization for 40 years.

In a 2009 article for the Future Freedom Foundation, Bovard said the NED is “based on the notion that its meddling in foreign elections is automatically pro-democracy because the US government is the incarnation of democracy. 

NED has always operated on the principle that ‘what’s good for the US government is good for democracy.’”

In a 2006 piece for The American Conservative, Bovard detailed NED’s efforts to push for regime change in Latin America.

“In 2001, NED quadrupled its aid to Venezuelan opponents of elected president Hugo Chavez, and NED heavily funded some organizations involved in a bloody military coup that temporarily removed Chavez from power in April 2002. After Chavez retook control, NED and the State Department responded by pouring even more money into groups seeking his ouster,” he wrote.

Bovard continued, “The International Republican Institute, one of the largest NED grant recipients, played a key role both in the Chavez coup and also in the overthrow of Haiti’s elected president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide. In February 2004, an array of NED-aided groups and individuals helped spur an uprising that left 100 people dead and toppled Aristide.”

https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/cia-proxy-agency-confirms-its-funding-has-been-suspended-forcing-it-halt-all-partner