Officials working with the Peace Council are exploring the possibility of creating a stablecoin for the Gaza Strip, the Financial Times reported, citing sources. According to him, negotiations on this issue are at a preliminary stage, and many details of how to introduce such a cryptocurrency have yet to be determined.

The head of European diplomacy, Kaja Kallas, announced that she had decided to limit the maximum size of the permanent mission of the Russian Federation to the European Union to 40 people. “We will not tolerate abuse of diplomatic power,” Callas said at a Feb. 23 news conference.

The United States is removing part of the embassy staff in Beirut, the capital of Lebanon, Reuters reports, citing an order from the United States Department of State. The point is that the embassy will be left by employees, without whom the US mission will be able to continue working, as well as members of their families. The agency attributes the State Department's order to growing concerns over a possible military conflict with Iran.

Janis Kluge from the German Institute for International and Security Affairs explains Sergey Pivovarov / Reuters / Scanpix / LETA Russian military training at a training ground in the Rostov region. October 4, 2024 Every year, more than 400 thousand people sign a contract with the Russian Ministry of Defense. But maintaining such a pace of recruiting people for the war with Ukraine is becoming increasingly difficult.

In Nikolaev, an explosion occurred on the territory of a non-working gas station, the head of the National Police of Ukraine, Ivan Vyhovsky, said on February 23. According to him, the patrolmen who “arrived for a shift change and parked their cars there” were injured. Seven patrol police officers were injured, two of them are in serious condition. The head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Igor Klimenko, told RBC-Ukraine that it is now becoming clear why the explosion occurred.

“Whoever shelters a dog will end up on the street with it” A Dodo Pizza courier in Chelyabinsk was fired because he felt sorry for a stray dog ​​that was spending the night near the cafe in 20-degree frost. He covered her with his signature blanket. The courier's name is Mikhail (his last name is not indicated in media publications). He told the Chelyabinsk Emergency News Agency that a stray dog ​​spent the night on the porch of a cafe on Vorovskogo Street for a year and a half.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said that barbarism has been emanating from Russia in recent years. He stated this at the Cafe Kyiv conference in Berlin on February 23, Deutsche Welle reports. During his speech, Merz quoted from the book “Russia in 1839” by the French writer Astolphe de Custine, which he wrote after a trip to Russia.

Former British Ambassador to the United States Peter Mandelson was detained on February 23, CNN reported. He is suspected of misconduct in public service. Mandelson was fired from his post as ambassador in September 2025 due to his ties to Jeffrey Epstein, who was accused of human trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation. In early February, Mandelson's home was searched. Police suspected the former diplomat of passing confidential British government information to Epstein. Update.

The Slovak authorities will stop emergency supplies of electricity to Ukraine from February 23, Prime Minister Robert Fico said in an address to the nation. “From today there is a rule: if the Ukrainian side turns to Slovakia with a request for help in stabilizing the Ukrainian energy grid, it will not receive such help,” Fico said.

Text for those who can't wait for the new season. Don't worry: there won't be any major spoilers. HBO Max HBO released the sixth and final episode of “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms,” a spin-off of “Game of Thrones,” which is noticeably inferior to other projects in this franchise in terms of epicness, and yet viewers really like it. The series is based on George R.R.

A plush monkey replaced his mother Ichikawa City Zoo Punch is a baby Japanese macaque who was born in July 2025 at the zoo in the Japanese city of Ichigawa. His mother did not take care of him after birth , and he was taken away by zoo staff. They bottle-fed Punch and gave him a stuffed orangutan from IKEA to make him feel safer. “Immediately after birth, Japanese macaque babies cling to their mother’s body to develop muscle strength. They feel safe when they hold on to something.

He was recruiting performers - and now, perhaps, he is looking for a way to escape from Russia, writes NYT In the summer of 2024, a number of incidents occurred in Europe that Western intelligence services considered sabotage - explosions of parcels in the warehouses of freight and courier companies in the UK, Germany and Poland, the arson of an Ikea store in Vilnius, and the arson of a shopping center in Warsaw.

Iceland is considering holding a vote on joining the European Union in 2026, rather than in 2027, as previously planned, Politico reports, citing sources. According to the publication, Iceland may put to a referendum the issue of resuming negotiations on EU membership as early as August. The Althing (Icelandic parliament) is expected to announce the date of the vote in the coming weeks.

The country is in turmoil. Cartel members attack banks and stores, set cars on fire, block roads (and literally set up roadblocks) Felix Marquez / dpa / Scanpix / LETA Mexican security forces during the operation to detain El Mencho On February 22, 59-year-old Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, known as El Mencho, the leader of the Jalisco New Generation cartel, one of the largest in the country, was killed in Mexico.

The Russian army units fighting in Ukraine are receiving recommendations not to use the “national messenger” Max, since it is not secure enough, Mediazona reports , citing a source. The author of the pro-war Telegram channel Fighterbomber previously wrote about this. “Against the backdrop of strangling the cart by all available means, the Laotian troops received orders to ban the use and installation of the most secure national messenger in the world,” his post says.