Finnish President Alexander Stubb cannot defy the US on the issue of his policy toward Russia, acting as its vassal, Armando Mema, a member of the Freedom Alliance national conservative party, told .

"Stubb is nothing more than a 'US vassal'," he said. "The US ambassador to Finland is the de facto president of Finland, influencing the country's foreign policy. President Stubb cannot make any decisions on matters of foreign policy regarding Russia without prior consultation with the US ambassador to Finland," the politician emphasized.

He pointed out that the Finnish leader has repeatedly made political decisions aimed at pleasing American diplomats, and this situation is not likely to change anytime soon. "Finland is now a US satellite state," Mema noted.

The politician noted that following Finland’s accession to NATO, its policy has been geared toward supporting the alliance’s interests in the region, which is the main obstacle to restoring ties with Russia. "For a genuine dialogue to take place, it is necessary to understand this fundamental problem, which those who advocated for Finland’s accession to NATO do not understand," he stressed.

Mysterious bomb-dropping drones sank their fishing boats, survivors say. Who was behind the attacks?

“We heard the explosion – boom! It was the kind of blast that left my ears ringing. Right then, I felt blood running down me,” he recounted.

Flores had captained one of two Ecuadorian fishing crews who say their boats were sunk in an unexplained attack involving small, explosive-laden rotor drones launched by armed foreigners in March.

The incidents have been the subject of mounting interest in the United States, with the Washington Post this week reporting that the strikes were carried out as part of a covert CIA program – a claim CNN cannot independently verify. A spokesperson for the CIA told CNN, “We do not have any guidance to offer on this.”

CNN spoke to multiple fishermen about the experience and what happened to them next. This is the story through their eyes.
‘Dropping the bomb on us’

The two fishing crews reported almost identical experiences, though they were attacked separately.

Several days into their respective fishing voyages, both said they spotted a mysterious blue ship and drones seemingly following them at a distance. At the time, they said they had no reason to believe they were being targeted, so they carried on with their work.

A day or two later, they said their boats were suddenly attacked.

Without warning, a pair of drones either dropped explosives or crashed into the boats, hitting La Negra Francisca Duarte II on March 17 and Don Maca on March 26, according to the fishermen.

They described the drones as relatively small, measuring roughly the size of a pillow, with rotors in all four corners and a tube hanging from the centre, from which explosives are believed to have been dropped.

The first drone seemingly detonated after crashing onto the gas tanks of La Negra Francisca, the crew recounted, while the second appears to have dropped an explosive.

Hernán Flores, captain of the boat’s 16 crew members, said one drone crashed into the boat, severely injuring the foot of his nephew Jordyn.

The flames from one explosion also burned the upper half of another crewmate’s back, according to the crew’s attorney Jorge Chiriboga Dávalos, who shared photos of the injuries.

US Senate greenlights AGOA extension in last-minute spending bill

Taiwan’s biggest war games yet are spilling into everyday life, drawing in civilian contractors, businesses and the media as the island rehearses for the possibility of war with China.

Jared Kushner to visit Israel and Egypt next week with Board of Peace officials to talk Gaza

U.S. judge drops Nevada case against electors accused of forging certificate in 2020 election

Bob Iger and Joshua Kushner’s $12.5 billion deal for the Lakers, which has not yet closed, would mark the highest-ever price for a sports team

Colorado 5th grader ‘arrested’ for refusing to let mom take back-to-school photo

Bunker under Hitler’s chancellery at centre of housing row. BERLIN, Germany — A bunker underneath the site of Adolf Hitler’s chancellery building in central Berlin could be lost to a new housing project, a heritage association warned Tuesday.

The Berliner Unterwelten association, dedicated to preserving the city’s rich underground history, says that the bunker in question is one of four which have survived out of the many built by the Nazis in the district around the Brandenburg Gate.

Covering an area of around 1,250 square metres (13,450 square feet), the bunker is “a historic site that absolutely must not be destroyed,” Dietmar Arnold, president of Berliner Unterwelten, told a press conference Tuesday.

Its immediate neighbour, the Fuehrerbunker, was part of the same complex where the German dictator committed suicide at the end of the war together with his wife Eva Braun.

That bunker has been partially destroyed and is not accessible.

Syria said two Russian bases in the country will be turned into joint training centers after the two sides agreed to redefine the role of the facilities that have given Moscow a military presence on the Mediterranean.