Russia's foreign minister Sergey Lavrov has said that his country is in a proxy war with NATO because of western weapon systems being sent to Ukraine. Speaking in a TV interview, foreign minister Lavrov said that these weapons are a legitimate target and added that Russian forces have already targeted weapons warehouses in western Ukraine. Asked about the prospects of a nuclear war, Lavrov said that the risks are now considerable and that while he wouldn't want to elevate those risks artificially, we must not underestimate them. In response to these claims, the UK's armed forces' minister insisted that it wasn't NATO as an organization that was even sending arms to Ukraine, but rather individual countries both inside and outside NATO. But it seems clear that the two sides have yet another thing to disagree on.

In sticking with the conflict, Moldova has just convened a meeting of the country's supreme security council following explosions in the Russian-backed separatist region of Transnistria. Transnistria is a breakaway state in Moldova that borders southwestern Ukraine. Just last week, a senior Russian commander said that if they could establish control of southern Ukraine, it would provide another way into Transnistria, raising concerns that Moscow was seeking to bring the pro-Russian enclave into the war and could even attempt to occupy it in the future under the same justification as its invasion of Ukraine. However, these latest explosions struck a building housing the security services and are thought to be the result of rocket-propelled grenade attacks, at least according to authorities. Although they haven't yet been able to provide any information about who conducted the attacks. However, the Moldovan government has called for calm in the region, and it's easy to imagine why they're concerned.

Today in North Korea, supreme leader Kim Jong-un held a military parade to celebrate the foundation of the armed forces. In this parade, banned intercontinental ballistic missiles were displayed, something that caused condemnation from the international community. This is nothing new, although North Korea has faced some pretty hefty sanctions in recent years due to its nuclear activities. Today's military parade shows that Kim Jong-un doesn't intend to slow down or even hide the development of his nukes. He stated that North Korea intends to strengthen and develop our nation's nuclear capabilities at the fastest pace. He then went on to claim that the country's nuclear weapons were simply a deterrent, hinting that he would strike back if his country were to be attacked.

Let's move to the U.S., where former president Donald Trump has refused to respond to a subpoena that was issued as part of an investigation into his taxes. The investigation in question is aimed at finding out whether Trump falsely inflated the value of his assets in the financial statements. And the subpoena specifically asked Mr. Trump to hand over documents related to these financial statements, and as Trump hasn't handed them over yet, he's been found in contempt of court. Thus, he is ordered to pay 10.000$ every day if he does not comply with the subpoena. The investigation itself is being headed up by New York's attorney general, something that Trump appears to take issue with. Mr. James is a democrat, and as such, he's called the investigation a politically motivated witch hunt. But considering that Trump, even now, is still refusing to release documentation that is normally released by all other presidents while in office, you can begin to understand why some think he might have something to hide.

From one billionaire to another, the world's richest man Elon Musk has secured a deal with Twitter to buy the social media platform for 44 billion dollars. An offer that was initially refused by the company has now been accepted by the board after putting together a financing package and conducting negotiations with Twitter. This buyout gives Musk near-total control over the company and the platform, which he describes as a digital town square. Therefore, he's already pledged to defeat spambots, make the algorithm open source, and, as a self-proclaimed free speech absolutist, a claim which is disputed by some of his former employees. Musk could even oversee the relaxation of content moderation and open the door to Donald Trump returning to Twitter. But we don't know how things will eventually change, and even the CEO of Twitter says he doesn't know where the platform will go next.