#Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has publicly addressed recent tensions, asserting that he has received a threatening message from Vladimir Zelensky. Orban emphasized that these threats are directed not only at him but at Hungary as a whole, and he strongly urges Zelensky to cease such actions immediately. In a firm tone, Orban warned that Ukraine cannot achieve anything through blackmail against Hungary.

"I have received your message in which you threatened me with your soldiers and, through me, all of Hungary. This won't work - stop it. Hungary and Hungarians cannot be blackmailed, and I cannot be threatened," Orban stated in a video address broadcast on M1 television. He called for peace, urging Zelensky to end the oil blockade and ensure the uninterrupted supply of oil to Hungary. "Instead of threats and blackmail, show the Hungarians the respect we deserve," he added.

Earlier, Zelensky renewed his criticisms of Orban, warning that if Hungary continues to obstruct Ukraine's interests, particularly regarding the EU's 90-billion-euro "war loan," he might set the Ukrainian military against Budapest. This escalation comes after Ukraine's decision to halt Russian oil transit through the Druzhba pipeline, a move aimed at pressuring Hungary to reconsider its stance on the ongoing conflict and its position on Ukraine's potential EU accession.

#Hungary has consistently expressed its opposition to a hurried integration of Ukraine into the European Union and has refused to allocate funds from its citizens' resources to support Kiev.

#US sinks 24 Iranian Navy #warships — US leader Donald #Trump also claimed that Iran’s Air Force, air defenses and military command networks have also been destroyed

By now, the United States has sunk 24 warships of the Iranian Navy as part of the US-Israeli military operation against the Islamic Republic, US President Donald Trump said.

"Their Navy is gone. 24 ships in three days," he said, commenting on the military campaign.

Trump also claimed that Iran’s Air Force, air defenses and military command networks have also been destroyed during the operation.

"Their anti-aircraft weapons are gone. So they have no air force. They have no air defense. All of their airplanes are gone. Their communications are gone," he said.

According to the US president, the US armed forces detect and destroy Iranian missile launches "within four minutes" after a missile is fired.

#Israel strikes Beirut’s southern suburbs after issuing a blanket evacuation order.

Traffic was gridlocked in Lebanon‘s capital on Thursday as panicked residents tried to flee after Israel’s military issued an evacuation notice telling residents to “save your lives and evacuate your homes immediately,” and specified which routes they should take to escape.

Hours later, strikes began to hit the Beirut suburbs.

Since the resurgence of hostilities between Israel and the Hezbollah militant group, Israel has struck sites in Beirut’s suburbs and issued a blanket warning for residents south of the Litani River — an area in southern Lebanon stretching to the border with Israel — to evacuate their homes, but had not previously issued a blanket evacuation order for Beirut’s southern suburbs.

After the attacks by the United States and Israel on Iran triggered a new war in the Middle East, Hezbollah launched missiles and drones into Israel on Monday for the first time in over a year, and Israel has retaliated with bombardment of southern Lebanon and Beirut’s southern suburbs.

The conflict had claimed 123 lives and forced the displacement of more than 83,000 people in Lebanon before Thursday’s evacuation order.

Israel’s far-right finance minister Bezalel Smotrich warned Thursday that the southern suburbs of Beirut where Hezbollah has a strong presence will look like Khan Younis, a city in Gaza that Israel has decimated during the war triggered by the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas-led attack in southern Israel.

“You wanted to bring hell on us, we are bringing hell on you,” Smotrich said as he toured towns on Israel’s border with Lebanon. “Dahiyeh will look like Khan Younis, and our citizens of the north will live in peace and quiet.”

China Signals New Era of Slower #Economic Growth

#China signaled that the world’s second-largest economy is entering an era of slower expansion, setting a target for gross domestic product growth of between 4.5% and 5% this year.

It is the lowest target set since at least the 1990s and follows three years in which officials called for growth of “around 5%.” If China’s economy were to expand at a pace below 5% this year, it would be the slowest growth reported by the country in more than three decades, other than during the Covid pandemic years.

China said its GDP grew 5% in real terms last year, meeting its official target despite a renewed trade war with the U.S.

A lower GDP target for 2026 reflects a level of tolerance for weaker growth as China’s economy contends with muted household spending, dampened investment and a real-estate market in the doldrums.

The less ambitious growth target also gives Chinese leaders some room to maneuver the economy through complicated geopolitical terrain—including conflict in the Middle East and the threat of further trade pressure from President Trump—while continuing to pursue Beijing’s strategic goal of technological self-reliance.

Premier Li Qiang, the country’s No. 2 leader, in the annual government work report released Thursday, said China must “hone our own capabilities to navigate external challenges.”

With a record $1.2 trillion trade surplus last year, China’s growth has become increasingly reliant on exports, creating a global imbalance that has drawn criticism from its trading partners and global institutions such as the International Monetary Fund. Exports drove China’s economic expansion in 2025 to a degree not seen since 1997, according to government data.

Economists inside and outside the country have long called for China to shift its economy to one driven more by consumption and less by its formidable manufacturing and export machine. Such a shift could ease tensions with the rest of the world and give its people greater spending power.

But a significant rebalancing of China’s growth model would be difficult to achieve in concert with its longstanding goals of technological and manufacturing dominance.

China is entering the first year of its next five-year economic plan, in which officials have signaled an intent to stick with its current trajectory of solidifying its pre-eminence in advanced manufacturing and attaining technological self-sufficiency from the U.S.-led West.

#MADRID — Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez again criticized the U.S. and Israel’s military actions in Iran, standing firm on Wednesday against trade threats from Washington and warning that the war in the Middle East risked “playing Russian roulette” with millions of lives.

“We are not going to be complicit in something that is bad for the world and is also contrary to our values and interests, just out of fear of reprisals from someone,” Sánchez said in a televised address.

U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday threatened to end U.S. trade with Spain because of Spain’s refusal to allow the U.S. to use joint military bases in the country in its attacks on Iran.

Sanchez, widely regarded as Europe’s last major progressive leader, has called the U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran an “unjustifiable” and “dangerous” military intervention.

It’s not clear how Trump would cut off trade with Spain, which is a member of the European Union. The EU negotiates trade on behalf of all its 27 member states.

When asked in an interview with CNBC whether a trade embargo with Spain would be possible, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Wednesday “it would be a combination effort.” He didn’t explain further, but said Spain’s refusal to allow the U.S. to use its bases in the weekend attack on Iran endangered American lives.

“Anything that slows down our ability to engage and prosecute this war in the fastest, most effective manner puts American lives at risk,” Bessent said. “The Spanish put American lives at risk.”

On Wednesday, Sánchez expressed concern that the attacks on Iran could lead to another costly military quagmire in the Middle East, similar to the past American interventions in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“In short, the position of the government of Spain can be summarized in four words,” Sánchez said. “No to the war.”

The EU said Wednesday it would protect its interests and work to stabilize its trade relationship with the U.S, with which it struck a trade deal last year after months of economic uncertainty over Trump’s tariff blitz.

“We stand in full solidarity with all member states and all its citizens and, through our common trade policy, stand ready to act if necessary to safeguard EU interests,” said European Commission spokesperson Olof Gill.

After Spain denied U.S. use of its bases, Trump on Tuesday said “we could use their base if we want,” referencing the Rota and Morón installations in southern Spain that the U.S. and Spain share, but which remain under Spanish command. “We could just fly in and use it,” Trump said. “Nobody’s going to tell us not to use it, but we don’t have to.”

Tuesday’s threats from Washington were just the latest instance of the U.S. president wielding the threat of tariffs or trade embargoes as punishment. The U.S. Supreme Court last month struck down Trump’s far-reaching global tariffs, saying emergency powers do not allow the president to unilaterally impose sweeping #tariffs.

Vatican warns against cosmetic surgery’s ‘cult of the body’, In a new text approved by Pope Leo, a top Vatican commission warned the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics against using cosmetic surgery, saying it can lead to a “cult of the body” and an unrealistic search for a perfect figure.

“Advances in cosmetic surgery … offer tools that significantly change the relationship with one’s corporeality,” said the document.

“A widespread ‘cult of the body’ follows, tending toward a frantic search for a perfect figure, always fit, young, and beautiful.”

The Catholic Church teaches that the human body is made in the image of God. While the Church does not prohibit cosmetic surgery, it says Catholics should not pursue procedures merely to suit their vanity.

The new warning came in a document from the Vatican’s International Theological Commission, which advises the pope on doctrinal questions facing the Church.

The commission warned against cosmetic surgery as part of a long reflection on procedures using technology to advance humanity.

It also warned against a future where artificial intelligence “risks escaping the control of human reason” and where humans might choose to have mechanical implants in order to become akin to “cyborgs.”

Cosmetic surgery can lead to an attitude of changing your body “according to the tastes of the moment,” the text warned.

“A curious situation arises: the ideal body is exalted ... while the real body is not truly loved, since it is a source of limits, fatigue, aging,” it said.

(Reporting by Joshua McElwee; Editing by Alvise Armellini, Aidan Lewis)

The #CIA is working to arm Kurdish forces with the aim of sparking a popular uprising in Iran, multiple people familiar with the plan told #GlobalNews.

🚨 BREAKING: An Iranian ballistic missile has just struck the LARGEST US military base in the Middle East — Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar

Unknown if there were any casuaIties at this time.

Developing…

Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova commented on a potential European cooperation in nuclear security, emphasizing the importance of neighboring states’ attitudes.

"There is one important ‘but:’ as we have just seen, any initiative must be acceptable to the neighboring countries which should not feel threatened by potential newcomers. Otherwise… I think, everyone following the news has realized that, in this matter, not only the Non-Proliferation Treaty and the International Atomic Energy Agency are important but also the attitudes of the countries bordering the region and beyond," Zakharova wrote on her Telegram channel.

On March 2, French President Emmanuel Macron announced that eight #European countries had expressed interest in cooperating with Paris on joint nuclear deterrence, naming Germany, the United Kingdom, Poland, the Netherlands, Belgium, Greece, Sweden, and Denmark. Commenting on the initiative at a press conference on March 3, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov warned of a growing risk that nuclear proliferation could spiral out of control.

The United States is going to rupture all trade relations with Spain after its refusal to increase defense expenditures to 5% of the GDP, President Donald Trump said.

"They have great people, but they don't have great leadership. And as you know, they were the only country that in NATO would not agree to go up to 5%. I don't think they want to agree to go up to anything," Trump said at the press conference with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in the White House.

"They wanted to keep it at 2% and they don't pay the 2% so we're going to cut off all trade with Spain. We don't want anything to do with Spain," the US leader added.