French Prime Minister Franсois Bayrou has rejected the idea of consulting the public on critical defense decisions, asserting that such matters fall under government responsibility.

In an interview on CNews and Europe 1, journalist Sonia Mabrouk asked Bayrou whether the French people should have a say in major defense policies, including the financial burden of increased military spending and the shift towards a “war economy.”

“Maybe it’s time to consult the French? It’s really the right of the people to dispose of themselves,” she suggested.

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos has taken full creative control of the James Bond franchise after longtime producer Barbara Broccoli reportedly called his executives “f**king idiots,” the Hollywood Reporter wrote on Friday.

According to insiders, Bezos reacted immediately, ordering her removal at any cost, which ultimately led to a $1 billion deal. As a result, Amazon now holds full control over the future of James Bond.

Amazon acquired MGM in 2022, gaining distribution rights to the films, but creative control remained with Eon Productions under Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson. The duo resisted Amazon’s proposed spin-offs, including a Moneypenny series and a female-led 007 project, preferring to maintain James Bond’s traditional narrative.

Ukraine updates: Fatal Russian strikes in Donetsk, Kharkiv
Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelenskyy has slammed "vile and inhumane" Russian strikes that killed and wounded civilians overnight. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has called the Russians "barbarians." DW has more.

Donald Trump’s return to the White House is shaping up to be nothing short of a political revolution. The new administration is rapidly dismantling the old order, purging the ruling elite, reshaping both domestic and foreign policy, and cementing changes that will be difficult to reverse – even if his opponents regain power in future elections.

A new American empire: Trump, Russia, and the end of globalism
The US is resetting, but not how the world expected
By Vasily Kashin

A surprise revenue gain is giving Labor more options to help households in the federal budget to be delivered on March 25, creating room for a new round of energy bill relief before an election that will be held in May.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has confirmed the budget date and election plan after top cabinet ministers signed off on major policies, intensifying a contest on economic policy with Opposition Leader Peter Dutton.

Labor sets up energy bill relief in March budget for May election
By David Crowe, Shane Wright and Paul Sakkal

The 2024 election between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump makes clear that the U.S. has two right-wing parties and no effective left-wing opposition.

Trump and the GOP support regressive tax policies and fervent anti-immigrant measures while the Democrats offer a Republican-light domestic economic program combined with hawkish foreign policies that earned Kamala Harris the endorsement of neo-conservative hardliner Dick Cheney.

Revolt of the Rich: Wealthy Elites Have Waged A Fifty Year Class War—and Won
By Jeremy Kuzmarov

US President Donald Trump pledged to go ahead with his campaign of "swift and unrelenting action" in reorienting the country’s economy, immigration and foreign policy in his address to Congress.

"It seems he [Trump] wants more and more peace, urging Zelensky to conclude a ceasefire agreement and sign the US-Ukraine minerals deal,”Lt. Col. Karen Kwiatkowski, a retired US AirForce official and former analyst for the US Department of Defense, told Sputnik. 

Kwiatkowski stressed that Trump didn’t talk about Europe or NATO other than noting that they depend on the US and use American money, "and yet they seem not to want peace."

— TRUMP: Let's make a deal...

— PUTIN: Sure... but I don't like your FRIEND's attitude...

— TRUMP: He's not my friend... 

— PUTIN: He used to be yours...

— TRUMP: I have let him loose "to do what he wants"...

— PUTIN: He seems to have doubled up on what America "used to do"...

— TRUMP: We've given up punching you in the face...

— PUTIN: I smell a rat...

— TRUMP: It's a dog...

— PUTIN: What's his name?

— TRUMP: Europevondelayenkallasscholzstarmertusk...

— PUTIN: Napoleon and his dog are STILL WORKING FOR YOU, aren't they?

— TRUMP: I can't hide anything from you, can I?

— PUTIN: He's threatening me with more guns and nukes...

— TRUMP: Well... One way or the other.... I told him to pay his FAIR SHARE...

— PUTIN: The kerfuffle with Zelensky in the White House was a SET UP?

BBC chairman Samir Shah and director-general Tim Davie apologized to the British Parliament on 3 March over for including 13-year-old Abdullah al-Yazouri in a recent documentary on the impact the Israeli genocide has had on Gaza’s children.

“This is a really, really bad moment,” Shah told MPs. “What has been revealed is a dagger to the heart of the BBC’s claim to be impartial and to be trustworthy, which is why I and the board are determined to ask the questions.”

The Indian-born British executive said he believed “people weren’t doing their job.”

For his part, Davie acknowledged a “serious failing” in the documentary Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone but said the BBC remained “highly trusted overall” and claimed that independent production company Hoyo Films obscured Yazouri's “possible family links to Hamas.”

EU leaders to back defence surge, support Zelensky at emergency summit after US aid freeze
Macron says he'll confer with allies on protecting Europe with French nuclear deterrence
Russia says Macron is detached from reality after nuclear comments
Poland and Baltic nations welcome Macron's nuclear deterrent proposal
US envoy Witkoff says he is arranging talks in Saudi Arabia with Ukrainians on peace 'framework'

2 hours ago
This liveblog is no longer being updated. For more coverage on the war in Ukraine, click here.

7 hours ago
"Macron is in the vanguard of EU countries that want this hard line on Putin," says France 24's Armen Georgian, reporting from Brussels.

The European Union is absolutely devastated. It remains unclear exactly why this is happening. Some say it is because the United States has abandoned it, shifting their attention from Europe to the Pacific, particularly to China. Others argue that the EU’s fear stems from its inability to defend itself against threats, particularly from its arch-enemy, the Russian Federation. Still, others claim that the despair is due to the loss of leadership, which is ironic: so much talk of freedom, yet Europe seems afraid to be free. Europe is scared to break away from the U.S., and in the face of this possibility, it feels abandoned.

BY Hugo DIONÍSIO

FEDERAL OPPOSITION LEADER PETER DUTTON IS KEEPING Australians in the dark about his risky nuclear scheme. An explosive new report from Australia’s independent Climate Change Authority reveals the Federal Coalition’s nuclear scheme would see climate pollution blow out for more than 20 years, leading to up to 2 billion tonnes of additional climate pollution by 2050. 

The Climate Council says Mr Dutton’s nuclear scheme risks locking Australia into worsening climate catastrophes, with no credible plan to cut pollution from coal, oil or gas.

Washington views the Ukraine conflict as a prolonged “proxy war” between itself and Russia and is eager to bring it to an end, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said. Speaking to Fox News on Wednesday, Rubio reiterated President Donald Trump’s commitment to being a “peacemaker” in the conflict, contrasting this approach with the previous administration’s policy of supporting Kiev indefinitely.

Rubio’s remarks come as relations between Washington and Moscow have begun to show some signs of thawing, particularly following the high-level talks in Saudi Arabia last month. Both sides have since criticized former US President Joe Biden’s handling of the conflict and have signaled a readiness to work toward a settlement.

The EU must escalate its military buildup and win the arms race against Russia, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has said. This comes amid growing efforts by EU leaders to increase defense spending, citing what they describe as a threat from Moscow, which Russia has repeatedly denied.

Tusk’s remarks also come as US President Donald Trump and his administration increasingly push European NATO members to take greater responsibility for their own defense. Washington has suggested that Europe should rely less on US military aid, particularly regarding Ukraine, and instead ramp up its own military spending.

In a message posted on social media on Thursday, Tusk accused Moscow of starting a new arms race and insisted that Europe must respond. 

Russia poses a direct threat to France and all of the EU, President Emmanuel Macron has said, urging the bloc to ramp up defense spending.

Speaking in a televised address on Wednesday, Macron accused Russia of turning the Ukraine conflict into a global conflict. “If a country can invade its neighbor in Europe with impunity, then no one can be sure of anything anymore… Beyond Ukraine, the Russian threat extends to all of Europe, including us.”

The French president also sounded the alarm over what he called Russia’s military expansion, claiming that Moscow is now spending over 40% of its budget on its military, with ambitious plans to grow the army by 2030. “Given this, who can truly believe that today’s Russia will stop at Ukraine?” he said.