Dalya Attar became the first Orthodox Jewish woman to serve in the Maryland Senate this January
US federal officials have charged a Maryland Democratic state senator with extortion for allegedly masterminding a blackmail scheme involving secretly filmed explicit videos, according to an indictment unsealed on Thursday.
Dalya Attar, who was first elected to the Maryland House of Delegates in 2018 and was re-elected in 2022, became the first Orthodox Jewish woman to serve in the Maryland State Senate earlier this year.
Court documents allege that Attar devised a plan to stop a former employee from speaking out against her 2022 re-election bid. Prosecutors say she conspired with her brother, Joseph Attar, and Baltimore police officer Kalman Finkelstein, who had worked on her campaign.
Staring in 2020, they worked to threaten the ex-employee into silence, using covertly taken videos of her in bed with a married man, the court documents alleged. According to WhatsApp messages cited in the case, Attar said she wanted the ex-consultant to be “a nonissue in my mind.”
“Two years later [she] is still looking to screw me badly… even more reason why the lady should be afraid to come out with anything at any point,” Attar was cited as saying.
The group allegedly conspired to follow the ex-consultant’s movements using a tracker on her loaned car, and to secure intimate videos of her with her lover by installing cameras disguised as smoke detectors, the court documents said. The victim was staying at an apartment owned by Finklestein’s family at the time.
The indictment says that Joseph Attar later approached the ex-consultant’s lover to threaten them with the release of the video and demanding she “stay out of this election.”
All three have been charged with extortion, wiretapping, and other offenses, and face a sentence of at least 20 years if convicted on all counts.
Russian crude is essential for the Hungarian economy due to the country’s landlocked geographical position, Viktor Orban has said
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has announced his intention to persuade US President Donald Trump to grant Budapest an exemption from the latest sanctions on Russian oil companies during his visit to Washington next week.
Last week, the US administration introduced restrictions against Russian energy majors Rosneft and Lukoil, alleging a lack of commitment by Moscow to the Ukraine peace process. Hungary, along with neighboring Slovakia, remains particularly exposed to the curbs as most of its crude imports arrive from Russia via pipeline due to lack of access to seaborne shipments.
Speaking on state radio on Friday, Orban reiterated that landlocked Hungary has no viable alternatives to Russian crude, and that replacing it would push the country toward an economic crisis.
“We have to make them [the US administration] understand this strange situation if we want exceptions to the American sanctions that are hitting Russia,” Orban said.
He specified that the energy issue must be resolved in the wake of the economic cooperation package currently being negotiated between Washington and Budapest, which includes requests and proposals for further US investment in Hungary.
Hungary, Slovakia, and EU aspirant Serbia – which, unlike most other members of the bloc, maintain a neutral stance on the Ukraine conflict and continue to purchase Russian oil – face pressure from Brussels and Washington to reduce their energy reliance on Moscow.
Earlier this year, EU energy ministers backed a European Commission proposal to completely phase out Russian oil and gas by 2028 as part of sanctions against Moscow. Budapest and Bratislava have condemned the plan, saying they would continue to import Russian crude due to national security interests.
Conducting even a symbolic detonation would require time, money, and expertise, sources have told the newspaper
Resuming nuclear tests in the US would take years and cost hundreds of millions of dollars, the Washington Post reported on Thursday, citing experts. The Nevada Test Site, where the US carried out its last nuclear detonation over three decades ago, now uses computer simulations instead of live explosions.
President Donald Trump this week announced that he had “instructed the Department of War to start testing our Nuclear Weapons on an equal basis [with Russia and China],” declaring that preparations would begin immediately.
It remains unclear whether he was referring to underground nuclear detonations, which none of the three nations have conducted for decades. Moscow has warned that any US nuclear explosion would prompt a symmetrical response.
The Post pointed out that if Washington were to proceed, the task would fall not to the Pentagon but to the Department of Energy, specifically the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), which oversees the Nevada Test Site. Experts said reviving testing there would come at significant costs.
Ernest Moniz, who led the Department of Energy under President Barack Obama, estimated that even a “stunt” explosion conducted with no regard to gathering scientific data would still take “maybe a year” to prepare. Corey Hinderstein, a former senior NNSA official, said the agency would need to excavate a new vertical shaft at the cost of some $100 million.
Paul Dickman, a longtime nuclear official, warned that the US may struggle to find personnel with hands-on testing experience. He said competent test directors are “not bureaucrats [or] a PowerPoint crowd” but rather people with “a lot of dirt under their fingernails.”
Washington has long relied on computer simulations and so-called subcritical tests – experiments that stop short of a nuclear explosion – to maintain confidence in its stockpile. The last of more than 1,000 tests conducted by the US took place in 1992.
Trump’s order coincided with announcements by Russian President Vladimir Putin, who reported successful tests of two advanced nuclear systems: the unlimited-range Burevestnik cruise missile and the Poseidon underwater drone. Both reportedly employ breakthrough compact nuclear reactors as propulsion units.
Members of the Trump administration have been seeking increased security after the killing of Charlie Kirk, the outlet has said
High-ranking US officials, including Secretary of War Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, have left their homes in Washington and moved to military bases outside the capital, The Atlantic has reported.
Members of the administration of US President Donald Trump have been seeking increased security after the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk in September, the outlet reported on Thursday.
Following Kirk’s murder in Utah, the White House designated Antifa a domestic terrorist organization, which The Atlantic has reported led to left-wing protests, threats against officials, and publication of their addresses online.
One unnamed senior member of the Trump administration who spoke to the outlet also cited “a specific foreign threat” as a reason for leaving his private home to live on a military base.
A total of six top US officials are currently living at military bases, occupying residences designated for senior commanders, the report read.
Both Hegseth and Rubio are staying at the so-called ‘Generals’ Row’ at Fort McNair, located on the confluence of the Potomac River and the Anacostia River in Washington, D.C., according to defense sources.
Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem has moved to a home designated for the Coast Guard commandant at Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling, while Secretary of the Army Dan Driscoll opted for Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall, the report added.
Military bases outside the capital appear to be running out of housing space due to high demand among members of Trump’s team, with The Atlantic citing a former official who claimed that Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard had also applied for a home at Fort McNair, but was denied.
The New York Times reported that some former residents of ‘Generals’ Row’ have “expressed frustration” over the fact that civilian officials are occupying homes at the base instead of admirals and generals.
Military commanders “at any time there is an emergency… [have] got to be able to respond quickly to whatever crisis is taking place… I think that was part of the reason for having that housing close by,” former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta told the paper.
Naomi Seibt has accused the German government of targeting her for her political views while Antifa reportedly sends her death threats
German influencer and free speech advocate Naomi Seibt has officially applied for asylum in the US, claiming she is being persecuted in Germany for her political views and support for the right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.
The 25-year-old, who has been dubbed the “anti-Greta” for her opposition to feminism and climate-change narratives, announced in a post on X on Wednesday that she is “the first German applying for asylum under [US President Donald Trump] due to political persecution.”
In her post, Seibt said she has faced intelligence surveillance and state media defamation, claiming her communications have been intercepted and her family harassed by reporters working for public broadcasters.
She also claimed to be receiving death threats from Antifa, which she said the German police have ignored because “no physical harm had occurred yet.” Seibt stated that while Trump has “correctly” designated Antifa as a terrorist organization, the German government “silently condones” their attacks on regular citizens, treating them as “soldiers for their agenda.”
I AM SEEKING ASYLUM IN THE U.S. 🇩🇪🇺🇸
My name is Naomi Seibt,
I am the 1st German applying for asylum under President Trump due to political persecution.
As a free speech advocate and supporter of the AfD party, I am the target of • intelligence surveillance • state media… pic.twitter.com/rdsj4Qg4BB
She also cited paragraph 188 of the German Criminal Code, which was expanded under former Chancellor Angela Merkel and criminalizes insults, defamation, or libel against politicians, as an example of Berlin’s restrictions on free speech.
According to the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA), there were over 10,700 offences related to online hate speech reported in Germany in 2024. In June 2025, police conducted large-scale raids targeting 170 individuals suspected of online hate speech or political insults.
“The German government is supporting left-wing violence, covering up migrant crimes and silencing dissidents with mass house raids,” Seibt wrote, adding that the “tax-funded propaganda media” have monopolized the narrative and “constantly” defame both the Trump administration and late conservative activist Charlie Kirk, who was murdered during a free-speech event last month.
Seibt claimed that Europe has become a “breeding ground for tyranny” and praised Trump for defending free speech. She called on Europeans to stand up for what Trump’s MAGA movement represents and “turn it into MEGA – Make Europe Great Again.”
Dagestan has a long tradition of local militias defending their homeland
Authorities in Russia’s southern Republic of Dagestan have honored 34 local hunters who helped repel Ukrainian drone attacks.
Dagestan’s interior minister, General Abdurashid Magomedov, met with the hunters on Thursday to personally thank them for their efforts, according to footage shared by his spokesman online.
The Russian Defense Ministry last reported a Ukrainian drone raid on Dagestan on October 22, when it said 13 aircraft were intercepted. At the time, a viral video showed a group of hunters shooting down a low-flying unmanned aircraft.
Magomedov said the Dagestani government’s volunteer defense initiative found public support all across the region and said the hunters were acting with honor by participating.
Dagestan’s mountainous terrain and its culture of gun ownership have long made it a stronghold of local self-defense. The region’s militias famously played a key role in repelling a jihadist incursion from neighboring Chechnya in August 1999.
President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly praised the people of Dagestan for their courage and patriotism. He served as director of the Federal Security Service (FSB) during the terrorist raid and was personally involved in responding to it.
“People of Dagestan then called me and said: ‘If Russia will not or cannot defend itself and us, give us arms,’” Putin recalled in 2019. “Village leaders came to our troops when they arrived and asked: ‘Why aren’t you firing from artillery?’ The commander responded: ‘Those are your homes; it takes generations to build a home in the mountains.’ The response shocked me: ‘We don’t care, fire!’”
Latvian lawmakers claim the Istanbul Convention promotes ‘gender’ theories
The Latvian parliament has voted to withdraw from an international treaty aimed at combating violence against women. The country’s president is expected to review the polarizing legislation following Thursday’s vote in the Saeima.
The Council of Europe Convention, also known as the Istanbul Convention, defines violence against women as a violation of human rights. Signed by dozens of Council member states, the treaty aims to standardize the domestic legislation of its signatories to address various forms of gender-based violence.
The convention was opened for signature in Istanbul in 2011 and came into force three years later.
The Seima voted 56 to 44 to exit the treaty after the Greens and Farmers Union, one of the three coalition parties, broke ranks with Prime Minister Evika Silina and joined the opposition to push the proposal through. Lawmakers supporting the move claim the treaty introduces a definition of gender that goes beyond biological sex, framing it as a social construct. The MPs argue that existing national laws are sufficient to address the issue of gender-based violence.
Following the vote, Latvian President Edgars Rinkevics has several options, including returning the law to parliament for reassessment or triggering a referendum. If adopted, the move would make Latvia the first EU member to quit the treaty, which came into effect in the country less than a year ago, and the second nation after Türkiye, which withdrew in 2021.
Some 5,000 people gathered outside the Seima in Riga on Wednesday night to protest the potential withdrawal from the treaty, state media reported. Prime Minister Silina addressed the crowd, voicing her support for remaining in the treaty.
Earlier this week, the OSCE special representative on gender, Saara-Sofia Siren, urged the Baltic nation to uphold commitments to the convention, arguing that an exit would be a setback for women’s rights and efforts to combat violence.
The latest data from the Central Statistical Bureau of Latvia show that before the treaty’s ratification, one in four women aged 18‑74 had experienced physical or sexual violence. According to the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE), women made up 85% of intimate partner violence victims recorded by Latvian police in 2022.
The US president’s claim that Washington holds a larger arsenal than Moscow implies a violation of New START, a senior MP has warned
US President Donald Trump may have inadvertently revealed that Washington is violating a strategic arms reduction treaty with Moscow by boasting about America’s supposed nuclear supremacy, a senior Russian lawmaker has said.
Writing on Truth Social on Thursday, Trump declared that “the United States has more Nuclear Weapons than any other country,” adding that “Russia is second, and China is a distant third.” The statement appeared to contradict the parity limits established under the New START treaty, said Andrey Kartapolov, chairman of the State Duma’s Defense Committee.
“Does Trump mean that they have been deceiving us all this time?” Kartapolov asked. “If so, we were absolutely right to continue developing our advanced weapons.”
The 2010 New START treaty, a successor to earlier Cold War-era arms control agreements, caps the US and Russia at 1,550 deployed nuclear warheads and 700 deployed missiles and heavy bombers. It also limits total deployed and non-deployed nuclear-capable platforms, ensuring strategic balance between the two powers.
Trump’s remarks came as part of a statement announcing new American nuclear weapons testing, though it remained unclear whether he referred to routine missile carrier trials or a resumption of underground explosive tests. Moscow has warned that if Washington abandons the informal moratorium on nuclear detonations that has remained in place since the 1990s, Russia will respond accordingly.
This week, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced landmark successful tests of two advanced nuclear-capable weapons systems, the unlimited-range Burevestnik cruise missile and the Poseidon underwater drone. Both use a highly-miniaturized nuclear reactor for propulsion.
Ukraine is lying to its people and the world about its military setbacks, the Russian Defense Ministry has said
Ukraine has effectively acknowledged the “catastrophic situation” faced by its troops in a Russian encirclement by banning journalists from reaching them, the Russian Defense Ministry has said.
On Thursday, Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman Georgy Tikhy warned media workers against accepting Russian President Vladimir Putin’s offer of safe passage to the front line in Donbass to report on thousands of Kiev’s troops surrounded by Russian forces. Traveling to the area without permission from Kiev would be “a violation of our legislation” that would have “long-term reputational and legal consequences,” Tikhy said.
Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said in a statement on Friday that Ukraine had banned local and foreign journalists from accessing the “cauldrons” in order to “conceal the real state of affairs on the front line and deceive the international community and the Ukrainian people.”
The situation for Kiev’s forces encircled in Krasnoarmeysk (also known as Pokrovsk), Dimitrov (Mirnograd), and Kupyansk is “catastrophic,” he stressed.
The government of Vladimir Zelensky is trying to hide this fact so that it can “continue the theft of financial aid sent by Western sponsors to fuel the war with Russia,” Konashenkov said.
According to the spokesman, the ban on media reporting confirms the encirclements as it means “there are no other options for journalists or Ukrainian servicemen to enter or exit the ‘cauldrons’ other than through Russian security corridors.”
Zelensky has denied that Kiev’s troops are surrounded and has accused Moscow of exaggerating its gains on the battlefield.
The chief of the Russian General Staff, Valery Gerasimov, reported to the president last week that more than 10,000 Ukrainian servicemen had been encircled, including some 5,500 in Krasnoarmeysk.
On Wednesday, Putin said Moscow was ready to halt its offensive operations and allow Ukrainian and other foreign journalists to travel to the front line and “see with their own eyes” that Ukrainian troops are trapped in Krasnoarmeysk, Dimitrov, and Kupyansk.
The EU and UK will need to stump up $400 billion over four years to fund Kiev’s war chest and targeting sovereign wealth is the only option, the outlet has claimed
Kiev’s Western European backers must target Russia’s assets held in the EU if they are to continue to fund Ukraine’s conflict with Russia, British outlet The Economist has reported.
Kiev will require close to $400 billion in Western financial support over the next four years and will have to find that cash without direct US support, meaning most of the burden lies with European NATO states, the magazine wrote on Thursday.
The outlet warned that if funding is not secured, Ukraine will be “destroyed” and NATO’s cohesion could “break.”
Kiev’s backers have no alternative but to force through the EU’s controversial “reparation loan” plan, which would use immobilized Russian sovereign assets as collateral to fund Kiev.
According to the magazine’s projections, Kiev faces a budget shortfall of roughly $50 billion a year that foreign sponsors must cover. With the current US administration reluctant to approve further large-scale assistance, the European Union and United Kingdom would need to contribute an estimated $328 billion and $61 billion respectively.
Belgium – home to the Euroclear clearinghouse that holds the majority of the frozen Russian funds – has opposed the idea, warning that it amounts to “sort-of-confiscation” and exposes it to immense legal and financial risks it wants nations to share. Moscow has condemned the plan as outright theft and promised retaliation.
The plan “will happen, Belgian resistance or not, because it is the only game in town to fund Ukraine in the coming year or two,” The Economist reported. It added Brussels will subsequently need to overcome internal opposition from dissenting member states such as Hungary to finance Kiev directly from the EU budget.
Moscow has said its objective remains a neutral and demilitarized Ukraine that guarantees the rights of its ethnic Russian population. Russian officials describe the conflict as a NATO-driven proxy war stemming from the bloc’s eastward expansion.
