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☆ Pornhub users searched 'Stormy Daniels' a record 650,000 times the day Trump was arraigned: report
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-05 | by ( Mia Jankowicz | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Searches for "Stormy Daniels" surged on Pornhub the day Donald Trump was arraigned. Pornhub says a record 650,000 people searched her name on the site on Tuesday, per TMZ. Data shared between the company and TMZ shows that as news of the Trump indictment broke, searches for "Stormy Daniels" rose steeply, peaking at 631,254 last Friday. But her popularity grew even more on the day of the arraignment, reaching beyond 650,000 searches, Pornhub told TMZ. Search traffic for "Stormy Daniels" also grew on March 21, the day that Trump — inaccurately — predicted he was to be arrested.

☆ An ex-aide to former GOP Gov. Larry Hogan was shot dead in a confrontation with the FBI after a 3-week manhunt on fraud charges
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-04 | by ( Mia Jankowicz | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Its unclear whether he was shot by the FBI, or if he shot himself. He was soon deemed a fugitive by US Marshals, as CBS Baltimore reported, with a warrant issued for his arrest. After McGrath went missing, the US Marshals Service and the FBI teamed up to offer a $20,000 reward for information on his whereabouts. Around 6.30 p.m. on Monday, FBI agents encountered McGrath at an intersection and opened fire, The Baltimore Banner reported, citing the FBI. CBS News reporter Mike Hellgren posted pictures from the scene:In a statement Monday night, the FBI said it was reviewing an agent-involved shooting, the Post reported.

☆ Florida Democrats are trying to use Ron DeSantis' book laws against his own recently published book
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-04 | by ( Mia Jankowicz | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Florida Democrats are challenging Ron DeSantis' book under his own education laws, per The Daily Beast. They argue that the book could run afoul of his own laws on race and gender concepts in schools. Ron DeSantis by requesting his new book be reviewed under laws pushed through by his own party, The Daily Beast reported. DeSantis vocally backed the Florida Board of Education's successful effort to ban Critical Race Theory in state classrooms in 2021. It's unclear how many school districts in Florida currently stock DeSantis' book.

☆ Russian soldiers are shocked by the 'horrible reality' in Ukraine and often regret going, says YouTuber who spoke to more than 200 after they were captured
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-24 | by ( Sophia Ankel | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

He told Insider that there are common themes among captives: ignorance and regret. Zolkin, a former lawyer, became a YouTube hit last March when he started posting interviews with captured Russian soldiers. He said he always asks the Russian soldiers, on camera, if they want to be interviewed beforehand. "Unfortunately, they are all in the vacuum of Russian propaganda, and nobody tells them what is actually going on," Zolkin told Insider. He said many of the Russian soldiers he interviewed have also since been brought back home.

☆ Putin claimed the UK is ramping up nuclear tensions by sending Ukraine depleted uranium armor-piercing shells. The UK says that's nonsense.
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-22 | by ( Mia Jankowicz | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The component: depleted uranium armor-piercing shells, which have no role in nuclear weaponry. Depleted uranium, a by-product of the nuclear enrichment process, is used in making penetrating tank shells because it is extremely dense. "There is no way that you could create a nuclear reaction or a nuclear explosion with depleted uranium." The UK MOD also cited research that it says shows the health risk of depleted uranium munitions is "likely to be low." Depleted uranium is much less radioactive than the original fuel.

☆ A massive explosion in Crimea destroyed a cache of Russian cruise missiles, a key weapon in its attacks on civilian infrastructure, Ukraine says
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-21 | by ( Mia Jankowicz | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Ukraine's MOD said that Russian Kalibr missiles were destroyed in a blast in Dzhankoi, Crimea. Meanwhile, Russia said it had foiled a drone attack in the area. Ukraine said that Kalibr missiles are a key weapon in Russia's attacks on its civilian infrastructure, according to the Kyiv Independent. The paper cited military officials as saying dozens of Kalibr missiles were located on ships in the Black Sea as of January. A composite image appearing to show wreckage from a claimed drone attack in Dzhankoi, Crimea, on March 20, 2023.

☆ Russia's former president suggested firing a hypersonic missile at The Hague after Putin's ICC arrest warrant: 'Look carefully into the sky'
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-20 | by ( Mia Jankowicz | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Dmitry Medvedev suggested striking The Hague with a hypersonic missile in a furious post on Monday. It came after the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Russia's Vladimir Putin. On Friday, the ICC issued an arrest warrant for Putin relating to the "unlawful deportation" of children from occupied areas of Ukraine. Medvedev also claimed that the arrest warrant for Putin heralds the collapse of international law, calling it "a grim sunset of the whole system of international relations." While the US' own relationship with the ICC has been fraught, on Friday President Joe Biden said the arrest warrant for Putin was justified.

☆ Russia gives awards to Su-27 pilots who knocked out a US drone this week, after Western officials slammed the incident as 'unsafe and unprofessional'
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-17 | by ( Mia Jankowicz | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Russia decorated the two pilots whose intercept took down a US Reaper drone over the Black Sea. US and EU officials have described the incident as "unsafe and unprofessional" on Russia's part. The accolade comes after US European Command accused the pilots of making an "unsafe and unprofessional" intercept. The incident forced the Reaper to crash into the Black Sea, increasing tensions between the US and Russia. Russia claims that the drone was flying with its transponders turned off, and that it was violating airspace restrictions Russia says it made public in relation to its military activities.

☆ North Korea's intercontinental ballistic missiles could hit central US in just 33 minutes, says Chinese study
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-17 | by ( Mia Jankowicz | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

North Korea's ICBMs can conceivably penetrate the US missile defense system, a Chinese study found. The study simulated the launch of a Hwasongpho-15 missile towards Columbia, Missouri. The study simulated the firing of a Hwasongpho-15 missile from the central North Korean city of Sunchon, towards Columbia, Missouri, per the SCMP. The report, released mid-February, came ahead of a series of North Korean test-firings this week. On Monday, two strategic cruise missiles were fired from a submarine off North Korea's eastern coast, according to Al-Jazeera.

☆ Russia convicted a soldier who admitted killing a civilian in Ukraine — not for killing anyone but for spreading illegal 'fake news'
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-16 | by ( Mia Jankowicz | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

A Russian court sentenced a soldier after he confessed to killing a civilian in Ukraine. Daniil Frolkin was tried under Russia's "fake news" law, which outlaws claiming that Russia is committing atrocities. Daniil Frolkin was given a suspended sentence in a military court in Khabarovsk, in eastern Russia, according to the news site Siberia.Realities, an affiliate of Radio Free Europe. In June, Ukraine's Office of the Prosecutor General announced Frolkin was suspected of killing a civilian there — something that Frolkin initially denied. It outlaws contradicting the Kremlin's official version of events in the war — in which Russia commits no atrocities and stringently avoids harming civilians.

☆ Ukraine says it shot down a Russian supersonic bomber over the war's bloodiest battlefield: video
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-15 | by ( Mia Jankowicz | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Ukraine's forces shot down a Russian Soviet-era bomber, officials said on Wednesday. The feat took place near Bakhmut by the 93rd separate mechanized brigade, officials said. Later in the clip a number of missiles then appear to be shot from the pilot's landing location. The Su-24 is a Soviet-era bomber. As of Wednesday, 352 Russian aircraft had been documented by the site as having been destroyed, damaged or captured during the war.

☆ Russia is recruiting female convicts to serve in Ukraine amid growing battlefield losses, reports say
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-14 | by ( Mia Jankowicz | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Reports have emerged of Russian efforts to recruit female convicts to fight in Ukraine. Ukrainian officials said a carriage full of female prisoners was seen heading towards Donetsk. The report suggested that Russia was seeking to find new sources of fighters against a backdrop of heavy losses. The region borders occupied Ukraine by way of the Kerch bridge that connects Russia to Crimea. Prigozhin later announced that he was ending this policy, amid reports that inmates were put off by the mounting death toll.

☆ Donald Trump says Fox News host Tucker Carlson 'doesn't hate me, or at least, not anymore!' in reaction to show about Capitol riot
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-13 | by ( Mia Jankowicz | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Trump said triumphantly that Fox News host Tucker Carlson "doesn't hate me" anymore on Sunday night. All appears to be forgiven after Carlson broadcasted a misleading edit of Capitol riot footage. This followed revelations this month of a message between the Fox News host and a confidant from 2021, when Carlson said he hated Trump. Dominion says that many of the unearthed messages between Fox News producers and on-air stars like Carlson revealed how little they believed what they were saying. Trump's Sunday night claim that Carlson doesn't hate him after all came in reaction to Carlson's portrayal of 41,000 hours of security footage from the Capitol riot, granted to him exclusively by House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.

☆ In a worrying sign, NATO ally says Russia can fight in Ukraine for two more years at current intensity
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-10 | by ( Mia Jankowicz | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Lithuanian intelligence estimated that Russia can hit Ukraine hard for two more years, per Reuters. Support from Iran and North Korea will also impact how long it can fight intensively, the intel said. Lithuania has long called for greater military support for Ukraine. He added: "How long Russia is be able to wage the war will also depend on the support for Russia's military from states such as Iran and North Korea." Russia has also taken delivery of drones from Iran and ammunition from North Korea throughout the war.

☆ Russian state TV host claims Ukraine's allies are reduced to eating squirrels because they are spending all their money on military aid
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-08 | by ( Mia Jankowicz | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

A Russian TV host claimed that the UK is eating squirrels over Ukraine war-related food shortages. The claim appears to stem from unrelated reports advocating eating grey squirrels. Grey squirrels are an invasive species in the UK, and groups want to preserve native red squirrels. The group campaigns to preserve the country's native red squirrels, which are endangered due to competition by grey squirrels, considered a non-native invasive species. The group's remarks were reported in numerous news outlets — all in relation to efforts to cull grey squirrels without waste.

☆ Russia is losing 5 of its soldiers for every Ukrainian it kills in the war's bloodiest battle, NATO official tells CNN
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-07 | by ( Joshua Zitser | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Russia has lost at least five soldiers for every Ukrainian soldier killed in Bakhmut. Ukraine has also suffered significant losses while defending the ruined city, the official said. Russian forces have lost at least five soldiers for every Ukrainian soldier killed while defending Bakhmut, a military official with NATO told CNN on Monday. The official told CNN that although the ratio was favorable to Ukraine, it had also suffered significant losses. He said that Russia had lost potentially seven times as many soldiers as Ukraine in Bakhmut, per The New York Times.

☆ Russia's entire front line will collapse if it doesn't take Bakhmut, says mercenary boss, accusing regular army of starving his troops of ammo
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-06 | by ( Mia Jankowicz | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Yevgeny Prigozhin said the Russian front line will collapse if Wagner Group men don't hold Bakhmut. In a video circulated over the weekend, he called for more support from the regular Russian army. "If Wagner retreats from Bakhmut now, the whole front will collapse," he said, per Reuters' translation of a video that appeared online over the weekend. Prigozhin went on to complain about "shell hunger" and a lack of support from the Russian army. He has stoked a long-running feud with Russia's regular army leaders over support for his fighters and credit for their role in the war.

☆ A Ukrainian soldier took out 5 Russian tanks in a single day using US-supplied Javelin missiles, Ukraine says
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-01 | by ( Mia Jankowicz | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Eight Russian armored vehicles lie smouldering thanks to one Ukrainian soldier, Ukraine's MOD says. He took out five tanks and three other vehicles in a single day in Donetsk, according to Ukraine. A social media post of the apparent feat included praise for the US-provided Javelin missiles used. During the fighting, the paratrooper took out the five tanks, as well as three infantry fighting vehicles known as BMPs. The Ukrainian MOD's video post was accompanied by text that said: "American weapon in Ukrainian hands works wonders."

☆ A Russian oil depot caught fire hundreds of miles from Ukraine, the possible result of a daring Ukrainian drone attack
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-28 | by ( Mia Jankowicz | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

A fire broke out at a Russian oil facility on Tuesday night, far from the country's borders. Neither Ukrainian nor Russian authorities verified the incident as an attack, though Russian outlets said drones were seen near the oil facility, run by government-controlled oil giant Rosneft. Russia's Ministry of Defence said that there was a drone attack on a site in Krasnodar, though it claimed to have foiled it. "One where NATO is allegedly directly helping Ukraine to attack Russia." Ukraine has previously struck Russian territory with the same modified drones, unnamed Kyiv officials told Politico in December last year.

☆ A Norwegian guy woke Russian diplomats in Oslo after 2 a.m. with an air raid siren on the anniversary of the invasion of Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-27 | by ( Mia Jankowicz | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

A 73-year-old Norwegian man woke Russian diplomats with an 'air raid siren' late on Friday. His noisy protest in Oslo came on the anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. He wanted Russians to wake up to the war, he told Norwegian outlet Nettavisen. On Friday night at around 2.30 a.m. local time, Kjetil Krane carried a loudspeaker out to an apartment block known to house workers at Oslo's Russian embassy, Nettavisen reported. In a video shared by Nettavisen, Krane can be seen wearing a T-shirt that says "wake a Russian" in Norwegian as a newly-awoken resident peers out of a window.

☆ Ukraine says it shot down a Su-25 jet and captured its pilot in revenge for a weekend of shelling: reports
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-27 | by ( Mia Jankowicz | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Ukraine says it shot down a Russian Su-25 jet in Avdiivka, Donetsk on Sunday. The brigade said that Russian forces were losing manpower and equipment in their attempts to advance near the site. After heavily shelling the plant earlier in the war, Russian forces have continually attempted to advance in its direction. Buildings in Avdiivka, Donetsk region, after Russian shelling on February 25, 2023, per the region's military administrator. Also known as a "Frogfoot," the Su-25 originated as a heavy Soviet-era jet designed to provide close air support to ground forces.

☆ Two Germans parked a mangled Russian tank in front of the Russian embassy in Berlin as an anniversary gift
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-24 | by ( Mia Jankowicz | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

A ruined Russian tank has been dumped outside the country's embassy in Berlin. The rusted heap appeared as a vivid symbol on the anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The gesture came on the first anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The destroyed T-72 1B tank sits at an intersection near the embassy on the city's famed Unter den Linden boulevard. A ruined Russian T-72 tank sits on a flatbed truck outside the Russian embassy in Berlin, in February 2023.

☆ Most of Putin's presidental administration is secretly against the Ukraine war but don't dare tell him: report
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-23 | by ( Mia Jankowicz | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Much of Putin's presidential administration is opposed to the Ukraine war, the FT reported. Members of Russia's presidential administration and economic cabinet have told friends they are against the war, according to the Financial Times, whose report drew on the insight of multiple unnamed Putin confidants and former officials. The presidential administration consists of top-level officials who act as the leader's executive office. People close to the president told the FT that Putin's fatal flaw is his weakness for loyalty — valuing this over competence. "They need to be honest with him and they are not," a figure close to Putin told the paper.

☆ Russia spent vast sums paying a network of collaborators before the Ukraine war. Most simply took the money and ran, report says.
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-23 | by ( Mia Jankowicz | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Russia sent masses of cash to pay off officials in Ukraine ahead of the war, the FT reported. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has long said that Medvedchuk was Putin's pick to become his puppet leader in Ukraine. With that supposed wellspring of pro-Russian support in Ukraine, the Kremlin envisioned installing Medvedchuk as leader the moment Kyiv had fallen. But none of it was enough to produce the groundswell that Medvedchuk so confidently depicted to Putin, the FT reported. Medvedchuk was arrested by Ukrainian security services in April last year and handed to Russia in a prisoner swap.

☆ Putin took a swipe at oligarchs who have fled abroad, while asking them to come back and invest in Russia
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-21 | by ( Mia Jankowicz | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Putin aimed a jab at Russian oligarchs living abroad in his state-of-the-nation speech on Tuesday. He pointed out how Western sanctions have hurt them, and said they should now invest in Russia. The annual state-of-the-nation address is a tool to shore up domestic political support and assert Russia's place in world affairs. "It's like 'you've got no friends, you might as well get on board,'" McGlynn said to describe Putin's line of attack. McGlynn also says that there are no Russian oligarchs left "because 'oligarchs' suggests that [these] people have influence like they did in the 1990s.

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