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Rising concerns over increasingly aggressive military maneuvers by China have prompted Taiwan to extend the mandatory military service period most of its young men must serve. But former conscripts interviewed by CNN say Taipei will need to do far more than that if it is to make the training effective.

‘Just because I tweet something does not mean people believe it or will act accordingly,’ the Tesla boss told a jury.

Bill Browder joins CNN’s Erin Burnett to discuss Mikheil Saakashvili, the ex-president of Georgia who is currently imprisoned on abuse of power charges that he claims are false.

Washington says the Iraq and Afghanistan veteran was a deserter from the American military

The US Navy confirmed on Friday that a member of its elite SEAL force was killed in eastern Ukraine, but said that Naval Special Warfare Operator Daniel Swift was in “active deserter status.”

Swift died on January 18, from injuries sustained in combat with Russian forces, an unnamed US Navy official told reporters in a background briefing.

“We can confirm the recent death of a US citizen fighting in Ukraine,” the State Department said in a statement, which did not name Swift. “We are in touch with his family and providing all possible consular assistance. Out of respect for the privacy of the family during this difficult time, we have nothing further to add.”

Swift’s service record showed that the Oregon resident enlisted in 2005 and received medals for taking part in the Global War on Terrorism, and the campaigns in both Afghanistan and Iraq, according to Time magazine. He was listed as going absent without leave (AWOL) in March 2019.

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US national dies in Ukraine – media

President Joe Biden’s administration has officially discouraged Americans from enlisting in the “foreign legion” formations set up by the government in Kiev. At least eight US citizens who did so anyway have been killed in the fighting over the past year. 

Unofficially, US, UK and other NATO special forces have been active in Ukraine since before the hostilities escalated in February 2022. French media testified to the presence of British and American special operators in April. This was confirmed in December by General Robert Magowan, former commandant of the Royal Marines since promoted to general staff duty. Magowan said the Royal Marines had engaged in “discreet operations” in a “hugely sensitive environment and with a high level of political and military risk.”

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Poles killed in Ukraine to get ‘American’ burial – media

In August, British media revealed the existence of the ‘Mozart Group,’ an ostensibly private and crowdfunded outfit led by Andrew Milburn, a retired US Marine Corps colonel. Milburn has since inadvertently revealed the Ukrainian army’s massive casualties in the Donbass and had some choice words for the leadership in Kiev.

Washington maintains that the US is not a party to the conflict, though it has committed billions of dollars in financial aid and military supplies to Ukraine and publicly pledged to support Kiev “for as long as it takes” for Russia to “lose.” Moscow has warned the West that sending weapons and “mercenaries” to Ukraine will only prolong the conflict and risks a direct confrontation.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis violated US and state constitutions in removing elected state attorney, judge finds.

The Stagecoach co-founder, her husband and two members of her family strongly deny the allegations.

A half century after Roe vs Wade, March for Life supporters on Friday celebrated the Supreme Court’s dismantling of that constitutional right to abortion and heralded the political struggle set loose by the court’s decision. President Joe Biden pledged to do all in his limited power to restore core abortion rights.

Larry Ray preyed on his daughter’s college classmates, abusing, torturing and even prostituting his victims 

Larry Ray, an ex-con who groomed, abused, brainwashed, and otherwise manipulated his daughter’s college roommates into a cult-like subservience for nearly a decade, has been sentenced to 60 years in prison for his crimes, US Attorney for the Southern District of New York  Damian Williams ruled on Friday.

Ray was found guilty in April of racketeering, extortion, sex trafficking, forced labor, tax evasion and money laundering. Calling the convicted predator a “monster,” Williams described how he “took control over his victims’ minds and bodies and then extracted millions of dollars from them” through a pattern of systematic physical and psychological abuse.

While prosecutors had asked for a life sentence, reasoning that the damage Ray had done to his victims merited it, the prisoner’s age, 63, means he will almost certainly die in prison.

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‘Sex cult’ abuser Larry Ray guilty on all counts

Ray met his victims after he moved into his daughter Talia’s Sarah Lawrence College dormitory upon his release from prison in 2010. Installing himself as the father figure of the house and charming the young students with colorful tales from his life, he would initiate hours-long philosophical discussions, prying into their minds to find levers he could use to control them.

The older man was soon breaking his acolytes down with tactics common to predatory cults. Turning them against outside friends, family and interests, he forced them to confess nonexistent transgressions against him, claiming they had stolen or broken his possessions, even poisoned him, and that they had to make restitution. They were brainwashed into claiming their own family members were drug dealers who had sexually abused them as children.

They were ordered to plead with their estranged parents for money as if their lives depended on it, made to open and max out credit lines, or pressed into service as literal slave labor doing construction. One woman was forced into prostitution, with Ray using extreme violence to keep her from straying while he made millions of dollars off her body. At least four of Ray’s “followers” attempted suicide during his control over them, only for him to further torture them during their “recovery.”

Far from expressing remorse, however, Ray complained during sentencing that the three years he’d spent in jail had been “hell,” even appearing to choke up at one point as he described his alleged suffering. 

Zoran Milanovic responded to criticism on his stance on Ukraine and objected to Brussels’ treatment of his country

Croatian President Zoran Milanovic called out the European Union for treating its members like developmentally-challenged children, telling reporters on Friday that his tolerance for such behavior was approaching its limit.

Speaking at a joint press conference with Hungarian President Katalin Novak in Budapest, Milanovic had some choice words for EU foreign policy commissioner Josep Borrell when it came to Croatia’s participation in the peacekeeping mission in neighboring Bosnia.

“Borrell sent Croatia a memo last month filled with lies, in which he treats us as if we were retarded – excuse my language, as if we had special needs – so he would prevent us from even a symbolic presence in the Althea mission. I’m trying to stay polite, but at some point enough is enough,” he said.

“This kind of treatment is deeply irritating,” Milanovic added. “Today they do this to Hungary, tomorrow it will be some other, bigger country they want to bring into line. They did it to Poland until recently, too. Poland now gets a pass due to the situation in Ukraine, but their turn will come again tomorrow.”

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NATO waging ‘proxy war’ against Russia – Croatian president

Brussels has sought to compel the governments in Warsaw and Budapest to accept EU policies on migration and “rule of law” by threatening to withhold funds that Poland and Hungary were rightly entitled to.

One of the biggest problems for the EU is the way Brussels treats member states, the Croatian president insisted. 

“I think Croatia and Hungary are within the framework of European values, which can’t be the same for every state,” Milanovic said. “If the EU wants to progress, it has to accept this diversity.” The current approach by Brussels is “seriously problematic,” he added, noting that it may soon be tested on a member state bigger than Hungary, which the EU won’t be able to treat the same way.

Milanovic also commented on the backlash to his comment earlier this week, when he called the conflict in Ukraine a “proxy war” against Russia – for which he was complimented by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

“When I call it a ‘proxy war’ in which Ukraine is the biggest victim, and that only Washington and Moscow can negotiate its end, I am merely quoting Ukraine’s current defense minister, who said NATO is fighting Russia with Ukrainian blood. But no one wants to hear that,” the Croatian president said. “I won’t allow us to be turned into a little dog that just goes around in a big pack and keeps barking.”

Failure to provide German battle tanks at meeting may signal growing divisions within NATO over supplying such weapons.