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Keir Starmer, the British Prime Minister, arrived in Kyiv on Thursday, pledging long-term security support for Ukraine, including a "100-Year Partnership" treaty set to be signed with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. This treaty will cover defence, science, energy, and trade, reports AP. UK's Starmer in Kyiv for security talks with Ukraine This unannounced visit marked Starmer's first trip to Ukraine since becoming Prime Minister in July, although he had visited in 2023 as opposition leader and met Zelenskyy twice in London. With the war entering its third year next month, Starmer's visit is part of a broader diplomatic push, coinciding with several other European officials' visits to Kyiv ahead of Donald Trump's inauguration. Upon arriving at Kyiv’s railway station on a cold morning, Starmer reiterated the need for continued support: “We’re a long way into this conflict. We mustn’t let up.” He later laid flowers at a war memorial and visited a burn treatment hospital. Meanwhile, Russian drone attacks caused minor damage in Kyiv, though Ukrainian air defences successfully downed the drones. The UK has committed over £12.8 billion ($16 billion) in military and civilian aid to Ukraine and has trained over 50,000 Ukrainian troops. Starmer is also set to announce an additional £40 million ($49 million) for Ukraine's postwar recovery. British PM's brother Nick Starmer dies However, the U.S.'s future support under Trump remains uncertain, as the president-elect has questioned the costs of aiding Ukraine and shown an interest in negotiating with Russia. This uncertainty has led Ukraine’s allies to intensify their support in anticipation of potential shifts in American policy. The 100-year pact aims to provide lasting security to Ukraine, preventing it from being vulnerable to Russian aggression, as seen in Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014 and the 2022 invasion. The agreement includes collaboration on defence, particularly maritime security, drone technology, and tracking stolen Ukrainian grain. Starmer emphasized that the partnership not only serves the current moment but invests in the future, fostering technology, scientific progress, and cultural exchanges. He also stated that this partnership strengthens ties between the UK and Ukraine, which have only grown stronger since Russia’s invasion. There's no honeymoon for new UK leader Keir Starmer after a summer of unrest Zelenskyy and Starmer also planned to discuss France’s proposal for foreign troops to monitor a potential ceasefire. Zelenskyy has conditioned such a plan on a clear timeline for Ukraine’s NATO membership, a topic of contention with Trump, who has expressed support for Putin’s stance on NATO expansion. As the war nears its third year, both sides are intensifying their military efforts, with Ukraine pushing offensives in Russia’s Kursk region and Moscow continuing to target Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.

Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Wednesday his government will take the “strongest action possible” if Russia has harmed an Australian who was taken prisoner while fighting for Ukraine. Video posted on social media in December showed Oscar Jenkins, 32, dressed in a military uniform with his hands bound being questioned and struck by a Russian interrogator. Australian authorities were seeking comment from Russia on reports that the Melbourne school teacher had been killed since he became a prisoner of war. Albanese said Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade officials were seeking “urgent clarification” of Jenkins’ circumstances. “We call upon Russia to immediately confirm Oscar Jenkins’ status. We remain gravely concerned,” Albanese told reporters. “We will await the facts to come out. But if there has been any harm caused to Oscar Jenkins, that is absolutely reprehensible. And the Australian government will take the strongest action possible,” Albanese added. Jenkins had no previous military experience before joining the Ukraine defense forces early last year. While other Australians have been killed in combat in Ukraine, none has died in Russian captivity. Albanese did not elaborate on what action Australia might take if Jenkins has died. Monash University political scientist Zareh Ghazarian said the maximum extent of Australia’s response was likely to be expelling Russia’s ambassador, withdrawing the Australian ambassador from Moscow and imposing additional sanctions against Russia. Opposition leader Peter Dutton, who could become prime minister in elections due by May 17, said the Russian and Australian ambassadors should be sent home if the Russians killed Jenkins. “If there is confirmation that Oscar Jenkins has been killed, the government should take the strongest possible action and that is the ambassador should be withdrawn and that the ambassador here in Australia should be sent packing,” Dutton told reporters. Read: Iran denies plot to kill Trump, rejects U.S. assassination claims “We should send a very clear message to Russia and to other similarly minded regimes that Australians are sacrosanct, that they deserve to be protected by their government and if they’re harmed in this way and if they’re brutally executed, as seems to be the suggestion in this case, and we wait for confirmation, then there should be a strong reaction from the prime minister,” Dutton added. Australia’s military involvement in Ukraine has involved training missions, but no Australian combat troops have been involved in the war. Australia has been one of the most generous donors to the Ukraine war effort outside NATO. Three months ago, Australia announced it will give Ukraine 49 of its aging M1A1 Abrams tanks valued at 245 million Australian dollars ($152 million). The tanks brought the total value of Australia’s military assistance to Ukraine since Russia’s 2022 invasion to over AU$1.3 billion ($804 million). Australian officials questioned Russian Ambassador Alexey Pavlovsky about Jenkins in the Australian capital Canberra on Monday. The Russian Embassy responded to a request for comment on Wednesday by referring The Associated Press to a press briefing given in Moscow by Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova on Dec. 25. Read more: South Korea's impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol arrested over martial law declaration Zakharova said the ministry was “checking information on the detained Australian citizen,” whom she described as a "mercenary." “We will certainly share any facts, if there are any,” Zakharova said. “Regarding the current and overall situation, the captured foreign mercenaries will be called to account. We regularly inform you about the mercenaries’ crimes and their punishment in accordance with the Russian legislation, especially when they are involved in acts of atrocity against civilians,” she added.

The Princess of Wales revealed Tuesday that her cancer is in remission after an emotional visit to the hospital where she received treatment last year. In a statement on social media, the princess offered her heartfelt thanks to those who helped her and husband Prince William navigate the treatment. She described her time as a patient as being "exceptional.'' “It is a relief to now be in remission and I remain focused on recovery,'' she wrote. ”As anyone who has experienced a cancer diagnosis will know, it takes time to adjust to a new normal.'' It was the first time the princess had offered any detail on her diagnosis. Earlier, she had simply said she had completed her chemotherapy, without offering any information on her prognosis for the future. Kate, as she is commonly known, conducted the solo engagement at the Royal Marsden Hospital in London, a world-leading state-of-the art cancer center known for its pioneering research. She expressed her gratitude to the medical team for their support even as she spoke with other patients receiving chemotherapy and immunotherapy. Read: Princess of Wales returns to public life after chemotherapy “It’s really tough,'' she said of chemotherapy. ”It’s such a shock.” During the visit, the princess shared her experiences with Katherine Field, 45. Gesturing to her arm and chest, she discussed the port mechanism used to deliver the drugs. “I got so attached to it,” Kate said, joking that she had been almost reluctant when told that she "you can have it taken out” now. Her Kensington Palace office stressed that she would continue to return to public-facing engagements, albeit gradually. The palace described the visit as reflecting her “own personal cancer journey.’’ The royal family was hard hit by health concerns last year, beginning with the announcement in January 2024 that the king would receive treatment for an enlarged prostate and Kate would undergo abdominal surgery. In February, Buckingham Palace announced that Charles was receiving treatment for an undisclosed type of cancer. Six weeks later, Kate said she, too, was undergoing treatment for cancer, quieting the relentless speculation about her condition that had circulated on social media since her surgery. Read more: Kate, the Princess of Wales, makes first public appearance after cancer treatment She announced in September that she had completed chemotherapy.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that he has held further discussions with French President Emmanuel Macron about the possibility of Western troops deploying in Ukraine to safeguard any peace deal ending the nearly three-year war with Russia. Zelenskyy’s disclosure came before an official visit to Kyiv on Tuesday by German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius. He arrived in Kyiv on an unannounced visit following a meeting in Warsaw on Monday with his counterparts from France, the United Kingdom, Italy and Poland. Germany and the four other countries are Europe’s five top military spenders. Pistorius told German news agency dpa that his visit to Kyiv aims to underscore Germany’s strong support for Ukraine at a time when U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s term beginning next week looks set to bring deep changes to Washington’s policy on the war. Pistorius said that his visit “is a signal that Germany, as the biggest NATO country in Europe, stands by Ukraine — not alone, but with the group of five and many other allies.” Trump has criticized the cost of the war for U.S. taxpayers through major military aid packages for Ukraine, and vowed to bring the conflict to a swift end. He also has made it clear that he wants to shift more of the Ukraine burden onto Europe. Macron prompted an outcry from other leaders, and he appeared isolated on the European stage, after his remarks almost a year ago floated the possibility of putting Western troops in Ukraine. Pistorius told reporters in Kyiv that the Warsaw meeting didn’t discuss Macron’s remarks about troop deployments. Zelenskyy has said that Ukraine needs security guarantees to bolster any peace agreement — an issue he said late Monday that he discussed with the French leader. “As one of these guarantees, we discussed the French initiative to deploy military contingents in Ukraine,” Zelenskyy said. “We considered practical steps for its implementation, possible expansion and involvement of other countries in this process.” Read: NKorean troops in Ukraine gain battlefield experience, cementing alliance with Russia Potentially sending European troops as peacekeepers to Ukraine is fraught with risk. Such a move may not deter Russia from attacking Ukraine again in the future, which is the fear of Ukrainian officials, and could drag European countries into a direct confrontation with Moscow. That, in turn, could pull NATO — including the United States — into a conflict. Russia’s bigger army has largely pinned Ukrainian forces on the defensive along the around 1,000-kilometer (600-mile) front line. Ukraine’s defenses are creaking in the eastern Donetsk region amid a Russian onslaught. Zelenskyy said Ukraine has more than 100 brigades on the battlefield and each of them requires equipment replenishment before potentially increasing the number of troops through a wider mobilization. Ukraine has built up a domestic arsenal of long-range drones and missiles that it uses to hit targets on Russian soil far behind the front line. The targets are usually infrastructure that supports the Russian war effort, such as arms depots, oil refineries and manufacturing plants. The Ukrainian General Staff on Tuesday claimed a series of successful attacks on three Russian regions and Russia’s Republic of Tatarstan, reaching some 1,100 kilometers (almost 700 miles) into Russia. It said in a report that among the targets struck were an oil refinery and a fuel storage depot, a chemical plant producing ammunition, and two anti-aircraft missile systems. Russian authorities did not report any major damage or injuries from recent aerial attacks. The Russian Defense Ministry accused Ukraine of firing six U.S.-made ATACMS missiles, six U.K.-supplied Storm Shadow missiles and 31 drones at Russia’s Bryansk region on the border with Ukraine. Read more: Ukraine claims to have captured 2 North Korean soldiers fighting for Russia All the missiles and drones were shot down by air defense systems, the ministry claimed in an online statement, but it said that the attack "will not go unanswered.” Russia has repeatedly threatened Ukraine and the West with retaliation for the use of Western-supplied longer-range weapons to strike Russian soil.

An emergency task force arrived in Russia’s southern Krasnodar region on Sunday as an oil spill in the Kerch Strait from two storm-stricken tankers continues to spread a month after it was first detected, officials said. The task force, which includes Emergency Situations Minister Alexander Kurenkov, was set up after Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday called on authorities to ramp up the response to the spill, calling it “one of the most serious environmental challenges we have faced in recent years." Kurenkov said that “the most difficult situation” had developed near the port of Taman in the Krasnodar region, where fuel oil continues to leak into the sea from the damaged part of the Volgoneft-239 tanker. Kurenkov was quoted as saying by Russian state news agency RIA Novosti that the remaining oil will be pumped out of the tanker's stern. The Emergencies Ministry said Saturday that over 155,000 tons of contaminated sand and soil had been collected since oil spilled out of two tankers during a storm four weeks ago in the Kerch Strait, which separates the Russia-occupied Crimean Peninsula from the Krasnodar region. Russian-installed officials in Ukraine’s partially Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia region said Saturday that the mazut — a heavy, low-quality oil product — had reached the Berdyansk Spit, some 145 kilometers (90 miles) north of the Kerch Strait. It contaminated an area 14 1/2-kilometer (9-mile) long, Moscow-installed Gov. Yevgeny Balitsky wrote on Telegram. Russian-appointed officials in Moscow-occupied Crimea announced a regional emergency last weekend after oil was detected on the shores of Sevastopol, the peninsula’s largest city, about 250 kilometers (155 miles) from the Kerch Strait. Read: Oil spill in Meghna river threatening environment, vessel still not recovered after 36 hours In response to Putin’s call for action, Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Heorhii Tykhyi accused Russia of “beginning to demonstrate its alleged ‘concern’ only after the scale of the disaster became too obvious to conceal its terrible consequences.” “Russia’s practice of first ignoring the problem, then admitting its inability to solve it, and ultimately leaving the entire Black Sea region alone with the consequences is yet another proof of its international irresponsibility,” Tykhyi said Friday. The Kerch Strait is an important global shipping route, providing passage from the inland Sea of Azov to the Black Sea. It has also been a key point of conflict between Russia and Ukraine after Moscow annexed the peninsula in 2014. In 2016, Ukraine took Moscow to the Permanent Court of Arbitration, where it accused Russia of trying to seize control of the area illegally. In 2021, Russia closed the strait for several months. Read more: Records show slow response to report of California oil spill Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to the head of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s office, described the oil spill last month as a “large-scale environmental disaster” and called for additional sanctions on Russian tankers.

Authorities in northern France said on Thursday that two people died and 20 others were injured due to a cold snap bringing snow and ice across northern Europe. One of those killed slipped on a pavement and violently banged their head, authorities from the Nord region said in a statement. The other person had no fixed address and was found dead in the town of Valenciennes, the statement said. The icy weather first hit Wednesday. The statement said rescue services have been called out to deal with traffic accidents, people falling in the snow and ice, flooding and other emergencies. Across the English Channel, weather warnings were in force across the U.K., where temperatures were expected to plummet to -16 degrees Celsius (3.2 degrees Fahrenheit) in some places later on Thursday. Manchester Airport briefly closed its runways due to heavy snow on Thursday morning before reopening. The U.K.'s weather forecasters, the Met Office, warned of more travel disruption to road and rail services in some parts, as well as potential accidents in icy areas. Snow and ice warnings were also in place for northern Scotland and Northern Ireland. Days of snow, sleet and downpours have disrupted airports, rail lines and roads across the country leading to delays and cancellations during the busy holiday period.

The head of Poland's parliament said Wednesday that the country's presidential election will be held on May 18, with a runoff on June 1 if needed. The election will decide whether the pro-European Union Cabinet of Prime Minister Donald Tusk will gain an ally in the presidential palace at a challenging time for Poland and for Europe, with a full-scale war in neighbouring Ukraine. The incumbent right-wing President Andrzej Duda is at odds with the government, blocking legislation and making strongly critical comments. In the latest spat, Duda chose skiing over attending a concert gala marking the launch of Poland's rotating presidency in the EU. Duda is to leave office in August, ending his second five-year term. He cannot seek another term, according to Poland’s constitution. Szymon Holownia, the powerful speaker of the lower house of parliament, or Sejm, has declared he will run for president as head of Poland 2050, a party within the ruling coalition. Austrian FM Schallenberg appointed as interim govt leader He said he was announcing the election date early in the political calendar to allow ample time for procedures and campaigning, which can officially begin from Jan. 15. The powers of the president are limited in Poland, where the government decides on domestic and international policy. The president is the supreme commander of the armed forces, cooperating with the government. He can propose legislation and veto new laws and also has a say on Poland's foreign relations. The chief governing party, the Civic Coalition, has chosen Warsaw Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski as its candidate for president. Tusk, the party's leader and former head of the European Union, has chosen to stay in his government seat. The right-wing opposition party, Law and Justice, backs historian Karol Nawrocki in the election. Nawrocki, now head of a national history institute, IPN, has been a controversial figure. Recent media reports allege Nawrocki had ties to hard-right groups and acquaintances in criminal circles. Nawrocki denies the allegations. Law and Justice was ousted in the 2023 general election after eight years of turbulent, euro-sceptic rule. Duda hailed from the party and was largely its ally. A far-right leader, Slawomir Mentzen, is running in the election for the Konfederacja (Confederation) party.

Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg will temporarily assume the role of interim leader as the far-right Freedom Party works to form a new coalition government, according to a statement from President Alexander Van der Bellen's office on Wednesday. Schallenberg, aged 55, will replace outgoing Chancellor Karl Nehammer, who announced his resignation over the weekend after failing to create a coalition that excluded the Freedom Party. Nehammer plans to step down on Friday, reports AP. Talks on a new 3-party Austrian government collapse as the smallest party pulls out The president's office confirmed that Schallenberg will be tasked with “continuing the management of the chancellery and leading the interim government.” This marks Schallenberg's second brief tenure as Austria’s leader; he previously served as chancellor for less than two months in late 2021 after Sebastian Kurz stepped down. Following that, Schallenberg returned to his position as foreign minister when Nehammer took over. Austrian companies keen to invest in Bangladesh: Ambassador The far-right Freedom Party, known for its anti-immigration stance, euroscepticism, and pro-Russia leanings, emerged victorious in Austria’s parliamentary elections in September. Initially shunned by other political parties, it now holds a central role in coalition negotiations after the Austrian People’s Party, led by Nehammer, reversed its earlier refusal to collaborate with the Freedom Party and its leader, Herbert Kickl. Bangladesh flags visa-related difficulties with Austria On Monday, Kickl was given the mandate to attempt forming a government, which could potentially become Austria’s first far-right-led administration since World War II. However, this process is expected to take weeks or even months, with no guarantee of success. Schallenberg has made it clear that he does not intend to remain in the government if Kickl leads it.

Remote, icy and mostly pristine, Greenland plays an outsized role in the daily weather experienced by billions of people and in the climate changes taking shape all over the planet. Greenland is where climate change, scarce resources, tense geopolitics and new trade patterns all intersect, said Ohio University security and environment professor Geoff Dabelko. The world's largest island is now "central to the geopolitical, geoeconomic competition in many ways," partly because of climate change, Dabelko said. Since his first term in office, President-elect Donald Trump has expressed interest in acquiring Greenland, which is a semiautonomous territory of Denmark, a longtime U.S. ally and a founding member of NATO. It is also home to a large U.S. military base. Why is Greenland coveted? Think of Greenland as an open refrigerator door or thermostat for a warming world, and it's in a region that is warming four times faster than the rest of the globe, said New York University climate scientist David Holland. Locked inside are valuable rare earth minerals needed for telecommunications, as well as uranium, billions of untapped barrels of oil and a vast supply of natural gas that used to be inaccessible but is becoming less so. Many of the same minerals are currently being supplied mostly by China, so other countries such as the United States are interested, Dabelko said. Three years ago, the Denmark government suspended oil development offshore from the territory of 57,000 people. But more than the oil, gas or minerals, there's ice — a "ridiculous” amount, said climate scientist Eric Rignot of the University of California, Irvine. If that ice melts, it would reshape coastlines across the globe and potentially shift weather patterns in such a dramatic manner that the threat was the basis of a Hollywood disaster movie. Greenland holds enough ice that if it all melts, the world's seas would rise by 24 feet (7.4 meters). Nearly a foot of that is so-called zombie ice, already doomed to melt no matter what happens, a 2022 study found. Since 1992, Greenland has lost about 182 billion tons (169 billion metric tons) of ice each year, with losses hitting 489 billion tons a year (444 billion metric tons) in 2019. Greenland will be “a key focus point” through the 21st century because of the effect its melting ice sheet will have on sea levels, said Mark Serreze, director of the National Snow and Ice Data Center in Boulder, Colorado. "It will likely become a bigger contributor in the future.” That impact is “perhaps unstoppable,” NYU's Holland said. Are other climate factors at play? Greenland also serves as the engine and on/off switch for a key ocean current that influences Earth's climate in many ways, including hurricane and winter storm activity. It's called the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation, or AMOC, and it's slowing down because more fresh water is being dumped into the ocean by melting ice in Greenland, Serreze said. A shutdown of the AMOC conveyor belt is a much-feared climate tipping point that could plunge Europe and parts of North America into prolonged freezes, a scenario depicted in the 2004 movie “The Day After Tomorrow.” “If this global current system were to slow substantially or even collapse altogether — as we know it has done in the past — normal temperature and precipitation patterns around the globe would change drastically,” said climate scientist Jennifer Francis of the Woodwell Climate Research Center. “Agriculture would be derailed, ecosystems would crash, and ‘normal’ weather would be a thing of the past.” Greenland is also changing color as it melts from the white of ice, which reflects sunlight, heat and energy away from the planet, to the blue and green of the ocean and land, which absorb much more energy, Holland said. Greenland plays a role in the dramatic freeze that two-thirds of the United States is currently experiencing. And back in 2012, weather patterns over Greenland helped steer Superstorm Sandy into New York and New Jersey, according to winter weather expert Judah Cohen of the private firm Atmospheric and Environmental Research. Because of Greenland's mountains of ice, it also changes patterns in the jet stream, which brings storms across the globe and dictates daily weather. Often, especially in winter, a blocking system of high pressure off Greenland causes Arctic air to plunge to the west and east, smacking North America and Europe, Cohen said. Why is Greenland's location so important? Because it straddles the Arctic circle between the United States, Russia and Europe, Greenland is a geopolitical prize that the U.S. and others have eyed for more than 150 years. It's even more valuable as the Arctic opens up more to shipping and trade. None of that takes into consideration the unique look of the ice-covered island that has some of the Earth's oldest rocks. “I see it as insanely beautiful. It's eye-watering to be there,” said Holland, who has conducted research on the ice more than 30 times since 2007. "Pieces of ice the size of the Empire State Building are just crumbling off cliffs and crashing into the ocean. And also, the beautiful wildlife, all the seals and the killer whales. It’s just breathtaking.”

France's former President Nicolas Sarkozy is standing trial on allegations of receiving illegal campaign funding from the late Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi during his 2007 presidential campaign, reports AP. Known as the "Libyan case," this trial is the most high-profile scandal involving Sarkozy, and it is scheduled to run until April 10, with a verdict to follow later. Former French President Sarkozy loses appeal on corruption conviction; prison sentence upheld Sarkozy, now 69, faces charges of passive corruption, illegal campaign financing, concealment of embezzled public funds, and criminal association—offences carrying a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison. The former president, who served from 2007 to 2012, denies any wrongdoing, it said. The trial includes 11 other defendants, among them three former ministers. Notably, Franco-Lebanese businessman Ziad Takieddine, accused of acting as an intermediary, has fled to Lebanon and is not expected to attend the proceedings in Paris. Sarkozy’s lawyer, Christophe Ingrain, expressed confidence in a statement, asserting that there was no Libyan financing of the campaign and urging the court to examine the facts objectively, the report added. Gadhafi’s Alleged Agreement The case originated in March 2011 when a Libyan news agency claimed that Gadhafi’s government had funded Sarkozy’s campaign. Gadhafi himself publicly stated, “It’s thanks to us that he reached the presidency,” though he provided no specifics. Despite Sarkozy’s initial welcome of Gadhafi to Paris in 2007, the French leader later became a strong proponent of military intervention in Libya during the Arab Spring in 2011, culminating in Gadhafi’s death in October that year. In 2012, the French news site Mediapart published a purported Libyan secret service document suggesting Gadhafi had approved €50 million in campaign funding for Sarkozy. While Sarkozy dismissed the document as a forgery, French investigative magistrates later deemed it authentic in nature, though conclusive evidence of the alleged transaction remains absent. Official records show Sarkozy’s 2007 campaign cost €20 million, the report also said. Ex-Italian PM says French missile downed an airliner in 1980 by accident in bid to kill Gadhafi Witness Tampering Allegations French investigators delved into numerous trips to Libya made by Sarkozy’s associates, including his then-chief of staff Claude Guéant, between 2005 and 2007. They also examined frequent meetings between Guéant and Takieddine. In 2016, Takieddine claimed to have delivered suitcases containing millions in cash from Libya to the French Interior Ministry, though he retracted this statement in 2020. A separate investigation into alleged witness tampering followed, with prosecutors suspecting efforts to pressure Takieddine into clearing Sarkozy. Both Sarkozy and his wife, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, faced preliminary charges for allegedly influencing Takieddine. Additional Defendants The trial also involves high-profile figures, including three former French ministers, Sarkozy’s adviser, Franco-Algerian businessman Alexandre Djouhri, and Gadhafi’s former chief of staff Bashir Saleh. Saleh, who survived a shooting in 2018 and now resides in the UAE, was previously a key figure in Libya’s financial dealings. Other defendants include Saudi billionaires, a former Airbus executive, and a banker accused of facilitating the alleged money transfers. Shukri Ghanem, Gadhafi’s former oil minister, who reportedly documented payments to Sarkozy in a notebook, was found dead under unclear circumstances in the Danube River in 2012. Additionally, Gadhafi’s spy chief, Abdullah al-Senoussi, now imprisoned in Libya, has corroborated claims that millions were funneled into Sarkozy’s campaign. Sarkozy’s Past Convictions This trial follows two prior convictions for Sarkozy. In 2023, France’s highest court upheld his conviction for corruption and influence peddling during his presidency, resulting in a one-year house arrest sentence with an electronic bracelet. In 2022, an appeals court found him guilty of illegal campaign financing for his failed 2012 reelection bid. The Libyan case, however, is widely regarded as the most damaging to Sarkozy’s legacy, given its international implications and the gravity of the accusations.