The former royal has reportedly moved to Sandringham after losing his titles
The UK’s former Prince Andrew, the brother of King Charles III, has been booted out of his Royal Lodge residence in Windsor following the stripping of his royal titles over his alleged links to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, the BBC reported on Wednesday.
Buckingham Palace had previously said that Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, the former Duke of York, would move out of Royal Lodge in October, the same month he was stripped of his title, but the move was later postponed.
He is expected to return in the coming weeks to collect his remaining belongings, but his permanent residence is now the Sandringham estate in Norfolk, according to the outlet.
According to the Sun, Mountbatten-Windsor left the 31-room, £30 million ($37 million) property late on Monday and arrived in Norfolk under cover of darkness.
The former prince remains under scrutiny over his Epstein connections. The British police are assessing allegations reported by the BBC that a woman was sent to the UK by Epstein for a sexual encounter with Andrew at Royal Lodge in 2010, claims he has denied. The woman, who was in her 20s at the time, reportedly said she spent a night at the residence – the first claim of a sexual encounter at a royal home from an Epstein survivor.
The former prince’s ties to Epstein have come under renewed scrutiny following the release of millions of pages of documents and images by the US Department of Justice. A recent tranche includes images appearing to show Andrew kneeling over a woman lying on the ground, alongside email exchanges with Epstein from years after the financier pleaded guilty to soliciting a minor.
Separate emails released last week indicate that Epstein invited Mountbatten-Windsor to dine with a 26-year-old Russian woman.
Pressure is mounting for Andrew to testify before the US Congress. US Vice President J.D. Vance told the Daily Mail on Tuesday that he would back bipartisan efforts to summon the former prince over his Epstein connections.
The latest release of documents has done little to quell intense speculation regarding Epstein’s network, as lawmakers and the public continue to sift through heavily redacted files for new clues about the extent of his crimes and the influential circles he moved in.
The core claim of Russian interference was false and exemplified Brussels’ use of political censorship, the document said
The European Commission used unproven claims of Russian interference to overturn the results of Romania’s 2024 presidential election, a US House report has suggested.
Romania’s Constitutional Court annulled the election’s first round after intelligence services alleged anti-establishment candidate Calin Georgescu’s lead resulted from foreign meddling. A House Judiciary Committee report cited the case on Tuesday, calling it the “most aggressive censorship steps” taken by the EU executive in recent years.
The report referenced internal TikTok documents submitted to the European Commission that contradicted claims of a Russian-backed pro-Georgescu campaign on the platform. TikTok stated it found no evidence supporting the allegation, which was foundational for the court’s ruling.
“By late December 2024, media reports citing evidence from Romania’s tax authority found that the alleged Russian interference campaign had, in fact, been funded by another Romanian political party,” the document noted. “But the election results were never reinstated, and in May 2025, the establishment-preferred candidate won Romania’s presidency in the rescheduled election.”
Join RT later on Wednesday to follow the committee’s hearing.
Last February, US Vice President J.D. Vance cited the controversy in his speech at the Munich Security Conference, in which he accused the EU and the UK of a democratic backslide and warned that the US may reconsider its commitments to traditional allies due to diverging values.
The damning new US report said the European Commission is conducting a “comprehensive decade-long effort” to pressure social media companies to limit freedom of expression in the name of combatting ‘hate speech’ and ‘disinformation’. The campaign “has established sufficient control of global online speech to comprehensively suppress narratives that threaten the European Commission’s power,” and directly affects constitutionally protected rights of American citizens, it stated.
Moscow promised to halt strikes on Kiev and other cities until February 1 amid harsh winter conditions
Russian President Vladimir Putin kept his promise on a weeklong pause in strikes on Kiev and other major Ukrainian cities amid a winter power crisis, US President Donald Trump has said.
Last week, amid reports that Moscow and Kiev had reached an ‘energy ceasefire’, Trump announced that he personally asked Putin to agree to a partial pause in strikes “because of the extreme cold.”
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov later confirmed the truce, adding that a weeklong moratorium would last until February 1 and was aimed at “creating favorable conditions for negotiations,” referring to US-brokered Russia-Ukraine talks in Abu Dhabi.
Speaking to reporters at the White House on Tuesday, Trump said the pause had run “Sunday to Sunday.”“And he hit [them] hard last night. No, he kept his word on that,” Trump added. “It’s a lot… We’ll take anything, because it’s really, really cold over there.”
Asked whether he was disappointed Putin did not extend the ceasefire, Trump said he wanted him to “end the war.”
Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky confirmed on Monday that Russia had not launched targeted missile or drone strikes on major energy infrastructure since the pause began, though he claimed that shelling continued in frontline areas. On February 3, Zelensky accused Russia of violating the truce with overnight strikes, despite Moscow saying the moratorium had already expired.
Ukraine’s power grid system has been under severe strain amid repeated Russian missile and drone strikes, with recurring rolling blackouts and temperatures dropping below -10 C in many regions.
Moscow has said it has been targeting energy infrastructure supporting Ukraine’s defense industry in response to Ukrainian attacks deep inside Russia, including strikes on critical infrastructure and civilian areas. Moscow maintains it never targets civilians.
The leaders held talks in the White House following a public spat over US strikes on alleged drug-smuggling boats
US President Donald Trump held talks with Colombian President Gustavo Petro in the White House on Tuesday, just weeks after the leaders traded insults over drug trafficking and an American military raid in Venezuela.
The US revoked Petro’s visa last year after he denounced Trump’s strikes on alleged cartel boats in the Caribbean as “barbaric” and argued that deportations of Colombian nationals by US immigration officials violated human rights. Trump, in turn, labeled Petro a “drug-trafficking leader.” Both struck a conciliatory tone ahead of Petro’s trip to Washington.
“He and I weren’t exactly the best of friends, but I wasn’t insulted because I never met him. I didn’t know him at all. And we got along very well,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. He added that the leaders discussed sanctions and were working to combat drug cartels, without elaborating.
Petro said the talks were “very positive” despite their differences. “We may be very different from a civilizational or historical point of view, but what we share is a love of freedom. And that’s where the conversation began, with the idea that a pact for freedom could be made,” he said, as cited by the BBC.
The Colombian presidential office said Petro provided Trump with “information and names of criminal structures” linked to the drug trade and presented his country as “a strategic ally” in the fight against cartels. Petro also spoke about the “historic results” his government has achieved in seizing drugs from criminal groups.
Petro, who had condemned the abduction of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro by US commandos in early January, urged Trump to normalize relations with Caracas, according to his office.
Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, pleaded not guilty to drug trafficking charges when they were brought before a New York judge last month.
The country will spend around $40 billion on military equipment despite economic hardships
Germany is planning to spend $41 billion on military space equipment, including spy satellites and offensive lasers, the head of the nation’s Space Command, Major General Michael Traut, has told Reuters.
The move is part of a rearmament push that Berlin says is necessary to counter Russia and China. The EU’s biggest economy, however, is grappling with what the government has described as a “structural crisis.”
Germany plans to spend $582 billion on defense by 2029, in line with Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s vision of making the Bundeswehr the “strongest conventional army in Europe.”
In an interview published on Tuesday, Traut said the procurement would include more than 100 encrypted surveillance satellites, as well as lasers, sensors, and other systems designed to disrupt enemy satellites and ground control stations.
“Space has become an operational, or even warfighting, domain, and we are perfectly aware that our systems and space capabilities need to be protected and defended,” he said.
In 2008 and 2014, Russia and China proposed a global treaty banning weapons in space, but the initiative was never adopted, largely due to opposition from the US.
Germany has announced the defense spending increase amid a recession, with the country’s central bank warning last year that the government is on track for its largest budget deficit since the early 1990s.
In August, Merz said “the welfare state as we have it today can no longer be financed.” He later urged Germans to work more, arguing that labor costs were too high and productivity too low.
RT is releasing a prophetic 2011 interview with Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, who was killed on Tuesday
Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, the son of former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, was killed on Tuesday, according to sources close to the family and local media.
He had intended to run for president of Libya, which remains divided between rival governments and has been plagued by intermittent civil war since his father was killed in a US-backed uprising more than a decade ago.
In 2011, Saif al-Islam spoke to RT’s Maria Finoshina, condemning NATO’s bombing of Libya. He argued that the West sought to control the country’s oil and gas resources and correctly warned that the violence would not end with his father’s death.
“Their goal is to control Libya. This is the target. And Libyans will not allow them to do that, so the fight will continue,” he said.
He denied involvement in the killing of protesters and accused Western governments and the international media outlets of spreading lies in order to “create chaos” in Libya.
The companies have claimed that foreigners are eager to buy systems developed and tested in Gaza despite an EU arms sale ban
Israeli start-up executives claim that foreign requests to purchase their weapons and related systems are up sharply, the Washington Post wrote on Tuesday. Israel’s strikes on Gaza and Lebanon, as well as attacks on the Hezbollah militant group, have reportedly stoked foreign demand for the weapons and other technology used by Israeli troops.
According to Startup Nation Central, Israeli start-ups brought in a record $15.6 billion in investments in 2025, up from $12 billion in 2024, and industry experts predict that the trend will continue, WaPo said.
The surge in demand for Israeli military technology stands in contrast to the position of many European governments, which have condemned Israel’s conduct in Gaza and in some cases moved to suspend or limit arms exports to Israel over fears they could be used to violate international humanitarian law. Among the nations that have banned or restricted arms sales are Britain, Italy, Spain, Canada, Belgium, and the Netherlands.
“There are governments that are publicly virtue-signaling about Gaza, to placate the street while also sending their defense leaderships to talk with Israeli companies to protect that same street,” Aaron Kaplowitz, founder of 1948 Ventures, a Miami-based venture capital firm that invests in Israeli military tech, told WaPo.
Just a few days earlier, the newspaper wrote that Google had breached its own policies that barred use of artificial intelligence for weapons or surveillance in 2024 by helping an Israeli military contractor analyze drone footage. According to a former Google employee, Google’s Gemini AI technology was being used by Israel’s defense apparatus at the same time the company was publicly distancing itself from the country’s military after employees protested a contract with West Jerusalem.
Google employees became directly involved in providing the Israel Defense Forces with access to AI tools soon after the October 2023 Hamas attack on Israel, which led to Israel’s bombing and ground invasion of Gaza, according to the media.
More than 71,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Israel Defense Forces’ invasion of Gaza, according to local health officials, and much of the enclave’s population has been displaced from their homes.
The White House has reportedly signaled cuts to Iraq’s oil-export revenues if former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki returns to power
The US has warned Iraq of possible economic repercussions if former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki returns to power, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday, citing sources.
Last month, Iraq’s Shiite bloc in parliament nominated the 75-year-old al-Maliki, whom Washington views as too close to Iran, for a third term, likely securing his return once a new president is elected. Al-Maliki served two consecutive terms as prime minister from 2006 to 2014 – the first leader to do so since the 2003 US-led invasion – and previously held other cabinet posts.
The White House has stepped up pressure on Baghdad in recent days, people familiar with the matter told the outlet, and warned that al-Maliki’s return could prompt financial measures, including limits on oil-export revenues.
The leverage dates back to the aftermath of the catastrophic US invasion of Iraq, which placed Iraq’s oil proceeds under US oversight and effectively gave Washington supervision over 90% of the country’s budget. Exports are deposited in an account at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York in the name of Iraq’s Finance Ministry and managed by the central bank, funding salaries, pensions, and government spending.
US President Donald Trump has warned that Washington would “no longer help Iraq” if al-Maliki returned to office, accusing him of pursuing “insane policies and ideologies.” Iran has reportedly urged its Iraqi political allies to resist US pressure.
Al-Maliki has denounced what he called Washington’s “blatant interference,” insisting that the choice of prime minister is a sovereign matter.
Under Iraq’s power-sharing system, the premiership is reserved for a Shiite politician, while the presidency and parliamentary speaker posts go to a Kurd and a Sunni respectively.
The politician spent 25 years in exile and returned after the US toppled Saddam Hussein’s Sunni-led government. He participated in the US-backed “de-Baathification” program, which critics say fueled sectarian violence and Sunni radicalization.
The US invasion and its aftermath caused widespread violence and disruption across Iraq, with multiple surveys suggesting hundreds of thousands of deaths and long-term social and economic consequences.
Illegal immigrants are being brought into the US to skew vote results in key states, the president has alleged
US President Donald Trump has argued that Republicans should “nationalize” voting in some states, alleging that illegal immigrants are being allowed to participate and skew the results.
In a podcast interview with former FBI deputy director Dan Bongino published on Monday, Trump claimed that the Republican party may never win another election unless illegal immigrants are deported from the US.
“These people were brought to our country to vote, and they vote illegally,” he said, adding that he is amazed that the party is not “tougher” on the subject.
“The Republicans should say: ‘we want to take over, we should take over the voting in at least… 15 places, the Republicans ought to nationalize the voting’,” he said, without elaborating.
When asked by ABC news to comment on what Trump meant, a White House spokesperson reportedly referred to the president’s push to standardize photo ID verification for voting and to crack down on no-excuse mail-in votes.
Trump said that some states were “crooked” with their vote counts in the 2024 election, and again claimed that he also won the 2020 election, which he has long said was stolen.
During Trump’s reelection campaign, Elon Musk also alleged that illegal immigration was being leveraged to skew the balance of votes in swing states.
The tech mogul argued that Democrats were “fast-tracking” giving out US citizenship to illegals, while simultaneously flying them out to swing states to drum up support and cement a “surefire way to win every election.”
Illegal immigration, a keystone issue in Trump’s reelection campaign, has increasingly become a bone of contention in the US.
Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigration has faced a renewed wave of protests ignited by growing outrage over the fatal shootings of two US citizens by federal agents in Minnesota last month.
A UAV “aggressively” approached the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln in the Arabian Sea, the US military has claimed
The US military shot down an Iranian drone on Tuesday after it “aggressively” approached the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln in the Arabian Sea, Reuters has reported, citing US officials.
An Iranian Shahed-139 drone was flying toward the carrier “with unclear intent,” Reuters wrote, citing the US military.
The reported incident comes as a US ‘armada’ led by the Abraham Lincoln is positioning itself in the region and diplomatic efforts to arrange nuclear talks between Iran and the US are underway.
“An F-35C fighter jet from Abraham Lincoln shot down the Iranian drone in self-defense and to protect the aircraft carrier and personnel on board,” a spokesperson at the US military’s Central Command, Navy Captain Tim Hawkins, told Reuters. No Americans were harmed in the incident, he added.
Oil futures rose more than $1 per barrel after the news.
According to Axios reporter Barak Ravid, negotiations between the US and Iranian teams were planned for this Friday, but Tehran has “demanded changes to the venue and format.”“The Iranians want to limit the talks to nuclear issues and not discuss things like missiles and proxy groups that are priorities for other countries in the region,” he claimed.
The Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Jarida reported earlier this week that intervention by Moscow and Ankara had diminished the likelihood of a US attack on Iran and made discussions possible. Russia has repeatedly said it believes the Iranian nuclear issue should be resolved through political and diplomatic means.
Despite his threats of new military action, Trump told reporters on Sunday that he hopes “we make a deal” with Iran. Washington withdrew from the 2015 nuclear accord, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, in 2018 and reimposed sanctions, prompting Tehran to gradually scale back compliance and enrich uranium to 60% purity.
