Mrs Bongo

Proud to play my small classroom part in raising them from all across Greater Manchester and beyond 🙌

BREAKING: 🇨🇳 President of China, Xi Jinping: “A certain country, obsessed with maintaining its hegemony, has done everything possible to cripple emerging markets and developing nations. Whoever progresses rapidly becomes a target of containment; whoever catches up becomes a threat. But all of this is futile. The world we live in today is a community with a shared future. People do not want a new Cold War; they want a world of lasting peace and universal security."

🚨🇺🇦🇮🇱 Ukraine today asked Israel for clarifications regarding the fact that a vessel allegedly belonging to Russia’s “shadow fleet” docked at the port of Haifa with a shipment of wheat originating from territories that Russia occupied from Ukraine during the war, according to a senior Ukrainian official and another source familiar with the details ❗️Why it matters: This incident could turn out to be a significant violation by Israel of U.S. and international sanctions imposed on Russia and its “shadow fleet” ❓If this is indeed the case, it is a serious incident that contradicts the declared policy of the Israeli government 🚢 Ukraine is demanding that Israel detain the Russian vessel, which Ukraine claims is under international sanctions, and prevent it from leaving the port 🕵️ Behind the scenes: A senior Ukrainian official told me that Ukrainian intelligence identified the preparations of the Russian vessel to depart from the Black Sea with a cargo of grain originating from territories that Russia captured from Ukraine 🇺🇦 Ukrainian intelligence prepared a file with information on the matter and transferred it to the Prosecutor General’s Office in Ukraine on March 20 🇺🇦🇮🇱 On March 27, Ukraine’s ambassador to Israel, Yevgen Korniychuk, met with senior officials at the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem, handed over the information, warned that this constitutes a violation of sanctions, and requested that the vessel not be allowed to dock in Israel 🛳️ A senior Ukrainian official told me that, based on the Prosecutor General’s request, a Ukrainian court issued on April 8 a detention order for the Russian vessel 🏗️ Today, after the Russian vessel docked at the port of Haifa, the Ukrainian Prosecutor General met with Israel’s ambassador to Kyiv, Michael Brodsky, and handed him a request for international legal assistance - and for the detention of the vessel

MAHA going well I see

🚨🇸🇦 BREAKING Saudi Arabia demands Israel be held accountable before the ICJ for the destruction and devastation in the Gaza Strip.

It builds on her great deep dive for @GoodLawProject on how Orban’s thinktanks funded by Russian oil pay vast sums to Roger Scuton Legacy Foundation (whose directors include Michael Gove & James Orr) + £10k/month to Britain’s favourite AI-enhanced failed politician MattGPT

Could MattGPT face scrutiny under the UK’s ‘proceeds of crime’ law? The British right is awash with money from Orban thinktanks…which Hungary’s new PM says was stolen. Brilliant deep dive into Orban’s vast UK network by @McCoolingtons for @thenerve_news. 👏

There's been a lot of very hawkish, ex Tory defence ministers on the radio today, bemoaning the state of our armed forces. Tom Tugendhat and Micheal Fallon to name but two, but all laying the blame at the feet of Keir Starmer. This stems from a supposedly excoriating speech being delivered tonight by Labour Peer, George Robertson. Or, The Rt Hon. the Lord Robertson of Port Ellen KT, to give him his full title. Let's deal with the Tories first, specifically, Micheal Fallon, who was very reluctant to shoulder any of the blame for our current, lax state of the military, despite serving as Secretary of State for Defence for three years [2014-2017]. The current Tory trend, to complain loudly about today's issues whilst entirely ignoring the fact that they caused said problems, is frankly ludicrous. They don't have a leg to stand on. On to the protagonist of this tale, Lord Robertson. What many in the media are not mentioning, is that he currently works for, among others, the Cohen Group — US based 'strategic advisory group' set up by William S Cohen, Bill Clinton's former Sec Def. The Cohen Group advise the private sector on defence issues across the world. They aid with navigating defence procurement and government contracts for multinational corporations. Company secrecy appears to be paramount for the Cohen Group, but we understand that they hold considerable sway within the US and UK defence sectors, both private and at governmental level. So, while this impending attack on Labour's defence policy may be harsh, and certainly somewhat justified, there may also be an ulterior motive for Lord Robertson and his corporate interests in the USA. As for the Tories touring the media to coattail on Lord Robertson's speech, they can get in the sea. Rank hypocrisy. “Don’t explain your philosophy. Embody it.” A quote by Epictetus that typifies the Tory trend of performative morality.

Pam Bondi refused to show up for today’s Oversight deposition — defying our lawful subpoena. We couldn’t care less that she was fired from her job as Attorney General. She is responsible for leading the White House cover-up of the Epstein files. Since she didn’t show up, Oversight Democrats will move to hold her in contempt of Congress. The survivors deserve justice — and we will get answers. Enough is enough.

🚨MELONI SMACKS TRUMP AGAIN🚨 🇮🇹 Meloni: "Trump's words toward the Holy Father are unacceptable. 🇺🇸 Trump: "She is the one who is unacceptable, She doesn’t care if Iran gets nuclear weapons and blows up Italy in two minutes." 🇮🇹 Meloni: "As far as I know, nine nations hold nuclear weapons, yet only one has ever used them. That nation is the United States. Mr. Trump needs to de-escalate. Nobody throws around nuclear threats like Washington does, and he should mind his words."

DENMARK 🇩🇰 is the FIRST NATION IN HISTORY to run 100% on wind and solar energy for a complete calendar month. For 31 consecutive days, 78% of electricity consumption was covered by offshore wind, 14% onshore wind and 8% solar.

🔴 EXPOSED: How Viktor Orbán Bankrolled the Network Around Reform UK As Hungary’s Prime Minister suffers a historic electoral defeat, Byline Times maps out how his government’s funding arm channelled hundreds of thousands of pounds into organisations at the heart of Britain’s hard right. bylinetimes.com/2026/04/14/exp…

This is the world we're living in: 'Trump’s executive order sanctioning Albanese prohibited any American person or entity from providing her with “funds, goods or services” – a description so broad it has been compared to a “civil death”. Her apartment in Washington, bought when she and her family were living in the US capital, has been seized. She can no longer use a credit card anywhere in the world, as almost all such transactions are processed by US-based services. “I go around with cash or I have to borrow from friends or from family members,” she says. 'She accuses pro-Israel activists based in Geneva of hounding her husband, Massimiliano Calì, a senior economist at the World Bank, in a campaign that led to him being removed from his lead position running its Syria file. “The World Bank was completely craven,” Albanese says. “He has stellar records of performance in all his positions.”' theguardian.com/law/2026/apr/1…

🚨IMF FORECASTS
The IMF just revealed its estimate of the scale of the economic impact from the war.
In short, bad for nearly everyone.
But one country faces one of the biggest downgrade to growth - and one of the highest inflation forecasts. Guess which one... Our primer👇

Reform are having a bad. A lady confronted Lee Anderson "The flags went up before the potholes were sorted. You could not tell the truth if your life depended on it. So get your silly little racist flags & stick them where the sun doesn't shine. It's pathetic. You're pathetic."

Big fan of The Times having a data dashboard at the top of their UK section. Helps contextualise the stories beneath and is v aesthetically pleasing.

While the Government is tearing up the greenbelt in its plan to build 1.5 million houses, half that many already exist but are standing empty. And there’s room for another 1.4 million on brownfield land. What’s going on? bigissue.com/news/housing/e…

Over the past year, 10 different US specialists, ranging from scientists working on aerospace, nuclear and UAP research have all gone missing. Most of the cases have been labelled as old person wandering off, or disappearing when hiking… But it’s way too many to be a coincidence especially when many of them worked together, and all happened to work on top US secrets…

If you haven't read this report from @IPPR -do find time The basic tenets of a healthcare system is to reduce mortality where possible, improve quality of life And this is where the UK is at. I will repeat. Flooding a system with lesser trained people in a healthcare system with light touch regulation and nominal supervision costs lives. And we are here now- based on the hubris of a few leading workforce plans for the last decade or so. Still time to change course. @wesstreeting @lengreview @DHSCgovuk

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