Prigozhin: Onetime felon, hot-dog vendor and ally of Putin turns guns on him in his ‘march to justice’

Prigozhin: Onetime felon, hot-dog vendor and ally of Putin turns guns on him in his ‘march to justice’

Prigozhin and Putin go way back, with both born in Leningrad, what is now known as St Petersburg. During the final years of the Soviet Union, Prigozhin served time in prison – 10 years by his own admission – although he does not say what it was for. Afterward, he owned a hot dog stand and then fancy restaurants that drew interest from Putin. In his first term, the Russian leader took then-French President Jacques Chirac to dine at one of them.

Read more
Uganda: Once the Pearl of Africa, it’s now the altar on which politics smothers environmental democracy

Uganda: Once the Pearl of Africa, it’s now the altar on which politics smothers environmental democracy

Unfortunately, over most of Africa, what I have so far written is obtaining. Some rulers stick to power and rule from abroad, but when elections are held, they win by over 90 per cent of the vote even when they do not interact with the citizens. A good example is President Paul Biya of Cameroon, one of the longest ruling leaders in modern Africa.

Read more
Russian President Putin flees Moscow as Wagner mercenaries advance to capital, reservists join insurrection

Russian President Putin flees Moscow as Wagner mercenaries advance to capital, reservists join insurrection

In Moscow, there was an increased security presence on the streets. Red Square was blocked off by metal barriers. In a series of hectic messages overnight, Prigozhin demanded that Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and the chief of the general staff Valery Gerasimov should come to see him in Rostov.

Read more
Why superrich Britons beg to be taxed: ‘I see it as a problem if you’ve so much money that you no longer need a functioning society’

Why superrich Britons beg to be taxed: ‘I see it as a problem if you’ve so much money that you no longer need a functioning society’

On both sides of the Atlantic, the Patriotic Millionaires are notable for being unusually public and unusually frank – US chair Morris Pearl, a former MD at investment firm BlackRock, has described how the Covid-19 pandemic made him personally wealthier, and how he doesn’t check his bank balance because he doesn’t need to.

Read more
Trump’s war on truth confronts another test with voters as US faces another campaign riddled with lies

Trump’s war on truth confronts another test with voters as US faces another campaign riddled with lies

As a candidate, Trump made misinformation a major campaign tactic, routinely using falsehoods to demean his rivals, as he did when he bizarrely asserted that Ted Cruz’s father may have played a role in the Kennedy assassination. Cruz is now an unapologetic Trump supporter.

Read more
American intelligence clear Chinese Wuhan Institute lab of direct link to origins of Covid

American intelligence clear Chinese Wuhan Institute lab of direct link to origins of Covid

The origins of the coronavirus pandemic have been a matter of furious debate in the United States almost since the first human cases were reported in Wuhan in late 2019. US President Joe Biden in March signed a bill declassifying information related to the origins of the pandemic.

Read more
Wagner mercenary lord claims Russian Southern Military District capture as Putin vows to crush ‘mutiny’

Wagner mercenary lord claims Russian Southern Military District capture as Putin vows to crush ‘mutiny’

In Russia’s first armed insurrection since the Chechen wars 20 years ago, heavily armed fighters from Prigozhin’s Wagner militia were in control of the streets of Rostov-on-Don, a city of more than a million people close to the border with Ukraine.

Read more
Russian Wagner mercenary chief warns President Putin: This is not a military coup, but a march of justice

Russian Wagner mercenary chief warns President Putin: This is not a military coup, but a march of justice

Yeveny Prigozhin posted a video of himself in Rostov-on-Don at the Russian military headquarters that oversees the fighting in Ukraine. He claimed that his forces had military facilities in the city under their control, including the airfield. Other videos posted on social media showed military vehicles, including tanks, on the streets outside.

Read more
Fear rises in Moscow as Russian mercenary head plots ouster of army chiefs and…President Putin

Fear rises in Moscow as Russian mercenary head plots ouster of army chiefs and…President Putin

Yeveny Prigozhin posted a video of himself in Rostov-on-Don at the Russian military headquarters that oversees the fighting in Ukraine. He claimed that his forces had military facilities in the city under their control, including the airfield. Other videos posted on social media showed military vehicles, including tanks, on the streets outside.

Read more