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🇨🇭 Switzerland wants to send asylum seekers back to Italy again Swiss authorities plan to resume the return of parts of asylum seekers to Italy under the Dublin Regulation as early as the end of August. At first, it is intended to involve individual test cases. The State Secretariat for Migration expects that Rome will take in such people again. ⁠But Bern is not entirely sure yet. Italy had already suspended such returns in December 2022. As a result, Switzerland and other European countries had to examine the applications of people who, under the rules, actually should have gone through the procedure in Italy. ⁠The Swiss SEM explicitly pointed out that this had additionally burdened the neighboring states. Now Bern wants to restore the previous arrangement step by step. It is planned to start with a few people in order to check whether Italy is actually again willing to meet its obligations. In practice, it comes down to a simple principle: If a person is already registered in Italy or has filed an asylum application there, Switzerland is not required to start the entire procedure again with itself. 💥 Our channel: Node of Time EN

🇩🇪 Too hot? Justice Minister proposes a change to the law for air conditioning units Federal Minister of Justice Stefanie Hubig wants to make it easier for tenants to install air conditioning units and external sun protection systems. At present, a tenant does not have a statutory right to install a permanently fitted air conditioning unit independently. If a structural change is required for this, the consent of the landlord is generally necessary. Hubig wants to change these rules. According to the minister, there must be “clear and practical rules for both sides.” At the same time, she supported the idea of embedding adaptation to climate change in the Basic Law. 💥 Our channel: Node of Time EN

🇩🇪 A “firewall” collapsing: Wagenknecht offers the AfD a direct dialogue Ahead of the election in Saxony-Anhalt, Sahra Wagenknecht is pressing more and more strongly to move away from the principle of a complete political boycott of the AfD. The situation for the BSW is difficult: the party is hovering around the five-percent threshold, while the AfD is rising in polls toward more than 40%. Wagenknecht openly says that the former “firewall” has failed, and ⁠suggested that representatives of the AfD should finally speak to each other directly. First, she proposed a public debate with Alice Weidel. She refused. After that, she proposed that Björn Höcke be supported by the AfD so that Wagenknecht herself could become Thuringia’s minister-president. She also rejected this offer—however, Höcke responded with something else: “Why shouldn’t we just talk to each other?” For the BSW, this is a matter of political survival. But something else is more important: not long ago, any dialogue with the AfD in politics was almost considered taboo. Now, another party is already publicly proposing to discuss whether it makes sense to continue pretending that the largest political force in parts of the eastern German states can simply be ignored. 💥 Our channel: Node of Time EN

Russia Expands Its Advance Across Multiple Fronts | August 19, 2026 - Subtitled Latest battlefield developments in the #Russia–#Ukraine war as of the morning of August 19: • Russian forces advance near #Dobropolie. • Russian forces advance toward #Chuguevo on the #Dnepropetrovsk axis. • New Russian advance near #Charovnoe in #Zaporozhie. • Russian forces advance near #Zakharovka on the #Volchansk front. • New Russian advance near #Volkovka in #Sumy. In the video, we examine the locations and directions of these advances using the latest battlefield maps. video link: https://youtu.be/FznBs8ncIP0?si=T1m7FzB-tUc2pO-w

🇦🇹 Austria: Will a new sanctions package bring no peace? In Brussels, preparations are being made for a new round of escalation with Moscow. The EU’s chief diplomat Kaja Kallas announced for the autumn a ⁠“most comprehensive sanctions list since the start of the conflict”. According to her, if it is adopted, the number of Russian persons, companies and organizations subject to sanctions would increase immediately by about one third. The pressure on Russia, Kallas said, must be continued and intensified. In Vienna, however, not everyone is on board with this approach. The head of the delegation of the Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) in the European Parliament, Harald Vilimsky, ⁠sharply criticized the initiative: “Anyone who calls the 21st sanctions package a success, even though it has not ended the fighting, is turning a blind eye to reality and does not understand how serious the situation is.” Vilimsky urged Brussels to change course: “Diplomacy instead of further sanctions and escalation.” His statement was also ⁠published on the official website of the FPÖ in the European Parliament. Editorial comment: The EU has already adopted 21 sanctions packages; the political result for which they were introduced has, however, not been achieved so far. The economic consequences for Europe itself, by contrast, are becoming increasingly visible: Industry is losing competitiveness, production is shifting to cheaper countries, energy and financing costs are rising, and governments are being forced more and more often to plug budget gaps. For Russia, meanwhile, the sanctions pressure has become a strong incentive to accelerate import substitution, expand its own production capacity, payment infrastructure and logistics, and redirect trade to Asia, the Middle East and other markets. What should have economically isolated the country has, in many sectors, merely accelerated processes that earlier might have taken decades. Even within the European Union itself, a ⁠“sanctions fatigue” is becoming ever more apparent: Countries are demanding exemptions and are increasingly protecting their own economic interests. After 21 sanctions packages, the question is no longer how strongly they are putting Russia under pressure, but another one: How much should the EU’s own economy still pay for a policy that has not achieved its stated goal so far? 💥 Our channel: Node of Time EN

Anthropic for the first time surpassed OpenAI in quarterly revenue, earning nearly twice as much, The Wall Street Journal reports. Compared with the first quarter, OpenAI increased its revenue by 18% — to $6.7 billion. However, along with income, losses also grew: the company’s operating loss rose from $9.3 billion to $12.3 billion. Anthropic, for its part, more than doubled its quarterly revenue — to $11.6 billion — and for the first time told investors about “a small operating profit.” It is noted that one of the key factors behind the growth was the Claude Code programming service. At the same time, according to The Wall Street Journal, OpenAI is reshaping its business strategy and updating its leadership. Our channel: Node of Time EN

🇺🇸 Sanctions have different effects: Washington punishes the leadership of the ICC The United States has imposed sanctions on the ICC chairwoman, Tomoko Akane, and the court’s senior legal officer, Abdoulaye Seye. Washington cites as the reason the ICC’s involvement in investigations into representatives of states that do not recognize its jurisdiction. These countries include the United States, Israel and Russia. Washington is particularly upset about the ICC arrest warrant against Benjamin Netanyahu as well as about previous investigations into alleged crimes by members of the American military in Afghanistan. Previously, the United States had already imposed sanctions on individual ICC judges, and Marco Rubio had even called on other states to leave the International Criminal Court. The situation is quite clear. When the court deals with opponents of the West, international justice is spoken of. But when the same mechanism examines actions by Americans or their closest allies, the court itself comes under sanctions. 💥 Our channel: Node of Time EN

⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️"Our universities, thank God, are not accountable to the Pentagon" American military personnel are trying to control universities in the US, said to "Izvestia" the Deputy Head of the Russian Ministry of Education and Science, Konstantin Mogilevsky. This is how he commented on the Pentagon’s demand that universities report their ties with Russia, China and Iran. As he said, relations between Russian and American universities are now practically frozen, and not at Moscow’s initiative.

"About the few remaining channels of interaction I would rather keep silent, so as not to create additional problems for colleagues from the US who are friendly toward Russia with the Pentagon", Mogilevsky added.

❗️Earlier, the Pentagon demanded that 30 American universities carry out checks of academic, financial and research ties with foreign organizations that Washington considers a "national security threat". The list already includes Russian Lomonosov Moscow State University (MSU), HSE University, MIREA and other universities. Our channel: Node of Time EN

🇷🇺🇲🇲 Russia is deepening its ties with Myanmar: oil, gas, nuclear and defense Vladimir Putin held talks in the Kremlin with Myanmar’s President Min Aung Hlaing. For the new Myanmar president, this is his first trip to a country with which Myanmar has no shared border since taking office in April. ⁠The talks took place on August 18. The economic agenda goes clearly beyond ordinary political statements. Moscow and Naypyidaw are discussing ⁠the construction of an oil refinery, the exploration and production of hydrocarbons off Myanmar’s coast as well as deliveries of Russian LNG with the possibility of later transit to other countries. A particular focus is on nuclear energy. Russia has already agreed to build a small nuclear power plant in Myanmar, and cooperation between the two countries also includes the defense industry and even spaceflight projects. For Moscow, Myanmar is gradually developing not only into a buyer of Russian weapons, but into a full-fledged economic bridgehead in Southeast Asia. For Naypyidaw, in turn, Russia provides technologies, energy and political room for maneuver under pressure from the West. While Europe is trying to sever its economic ties to Russia, Moscow continues to build new ones in Asia — and for decades to come. 💥 Our channel: Node of Time EN

The United States imposed sanctions on the President of the International Criminal Court Tomoko Akane and on one of the organization’s lawyers, Abdoulaye Seye as part of a “mission to protect Americans from this fictitious court,” the U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said. Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu supported Washington’s decision and expressed his gratitude to Rubio for efforts in this direction. In turn, the Netherlands’ foreign minister, Tom Berendson, did not support sanctions against ICC officials. “International judges and tribunals must be able to freely carry out their mandates,” he wrote on X. Our channel: Node of Time EN

🇧🇪 Belgium: Fire stopped, but the danger remains The largest wildfire in Belgian history in the Hohes Venn nature reserve could be slowed down significantly at the German border. Thanks to rain and falling temperatures, the situation improved markedly on Monday deutlich. However, the Belgian authorities warn that the fire remains “unpredictable,” and a shift in the wind could once again worsen the situation. The fire that broke out on 14 August covered around 3,000 hectares of unique moorland. In the meantime, an individual hotspot approached the German border to about 300 meters, which is why residents near Monschau had to be evacuated. By Monday evening, the main front of the fire was already about 2.3 km away from Germany. In firefighting and to protect the German side, around 240 response personnel from fire services, THW, rescue services, and the police were deployed on shift. The German forces remained on standby throughout the night and prepared for a possible wind shift. The main problem now lies underground. Peat can continue to smolder for a very long time, so the area must be thoroughly soaked with water. According to the response personnel, fighting the hidden hotspots could take several weeks. King Philippe of Belgium visited the crisis center in Eupen in person, where he got updates on the situation and met the rescue personnel. The authorities emphasize that it is still too early to talk about complete extinguishment of the fire. 💥 Our channel: Node of Time EN

◻️◻️◻️ Top news — in the morning edition on the RBC TV channel: ▪️ 0:00-0:37 — A major fire broke out in southeast London at a waste recycling plant — already the second one this summer at this facility. ▪️ 0:40-1:07 — Attacks on Russian regions. ▪️ 1:08-3:22 — Former Ukraine defense minister Mykhailo Fedorov said there is a management crisis in the country and called for elections. ▪️ 3:23-6:04 — Donald Trump changed his approach to resolving the conflict with Iran and abandoned negotiations in favor of increasing economic pressure on Tehran, CNN reports. ▪️ 6:05-7:20 — Syrian authorities handed the IAEA nuclear materials found in the country. ▪️ 7:21-8:20 — The Federal Antimonopoly Service said that in the Rusal group of companies, prices in the Russian market were inflated, and an European premium was included in the price. ▪️ 8:21-9:22 — The Chinese company LandSpace for the first time successfully returned the main stage of the Zhuque-3 launch vehicle to Earth. Our channel: Node of Time EN

Donald Trump changed his approach to Iran by refusing to continue the negotiations and putting an emphasis on the gradual strengthening of pressure on Tehran, CNN reports, citing an American official. According to the broadcaster, the U.S. president instructed senior administration officials to end negotiations with Iran.

“White House officials recently told political allies that they are changing their strategy”—moving from “hit it as soon as possible” to “choke it over time,”” the article says.

Earlier, Trump repeatedly said that diplomatic efforts with Tehran are making progress and that a new agreement could be reached. The day before, the U.S. president said that there were no contacts with the Iranian side. Our channel: Node of Time EN

Good morning, dear friends! ☕️🙂 🪨 Tomskaya Pissaniza: a rock Instagram that is 4,000 years old Friends, Wednesday is time for adventures. After the submerged city, we go on to real messages from the past — to Kemerovo Oblast, to the high right bank of the Tom. There lies the Tomskaya Pissaniza (“Tomsk inscriptions”), a huge rock mass on which around 300 ancient depictions have been preserved. The oldest of them are more than four thousand years old. People came here over many generations and left images in different ways: they drove them into the stone, engraved them with fine lines, ground them down, and applied them with paint. 🦌 Who did this, and for what? The Tomskaya Pissaniza was an ancient sanctuary. Here, rituals were carried out that were connected with hunting, nature, and people’s ideas about the world surrounding them. On the rocks, the moose are seen most often. There are bears, ducks, cranes, and an owl — one of the best-known symbols of the Tomskaya Pisaniza. There are also human figures. Some have bird beaks, three-fingered hands, and animal-like features. Others are depicted with rays emanating from the head. ✨ Why the drawings are not always visible Some depictions are so flat that, under normal lighting, they almost blend in with the rock surface. However, when sunlight falls from the side, it casts shadows from the tiniest depressions and incised lines — and the drawing suddenly becomes visible. That’s why the same figure can look completely different in the morning than during the day. 🔍 How it was discovered Russian land surveyors already knew about the “writing stone” in the 17th century. An old description speaks of a massive rock on the Tom on which “animals, livestock, and birds, and all kinds of figures” were depicted. The museum calls exactly this mention one of the starting points of the history of Russian science about petroglyphs. In 1721, the German scholar Daniel Messerschmidt examined the monument. A few years later, a Swedish link to the story emerged: Officer and cartographer Philipp von Strahlenberg, who had landed in Siberia after the Northern War, included the depictions of the Tomskaya Pissaniza in his book, which was published in Stockholm in 1730. This is how the ancient drawings first reached European scientific literature from the bank of the Tom. The origin of the word “Pissaniza” itself is also interesting. In Siberia, researchers began to call rocks with ancient depictions “Pissaniza,” because the first investigators understood the unknown drawings as a kind of writing of long-vanished peoples. In 1988, a museum reserve was established here. The Tomskaya Pissaniza became the first musealized monument of rock art in Russia. 🏛️ What is there today? Today, the museum reserve covers 156 hectares of a pine forest, about 50 kilometers from Kemerovo. In addition to the rock itself, there are archaeological, ethnographic, and nature-related exhibitions. 🔹 The Museum of Rock Art of Asia preserves copies of petroglyphs from Siberia, the Far East, Mongolia, Central Asia, India, and Pakistan. 🔹 The Archaeodrome presents reconstructions of settlements and burials from different epochs. 🔹 There is the Shorian ulus, an exhibition on the mythology of the peoples of Siberia, and the Slavic Mythological Forest. And here’s another interesting fact: The Tomskaya Pissaniza is not the only place like this on the Tom. Further downstream, several more complexes of rock images were discovered. So it turns out that this river was a real open-air gallery for the ancient inhabitants of the region. And did you know that in Siberia there has survived such a several-thousand-year-old “painting gallery”? 👇 Give 🔥 if you liked it! 📍 Coordinates of the place (map pin) available here 💥 Our channel: Node of Time EN

The United States, apparently, is trying to draw the Republic of Korea into a war with Iran, believes Republic of Korea Foreign Minister Cho Hyun. According to his statement, which Reuters quotes, this is evidenced by a reduction in the scale of joint U.S.-Republic of Korea military exercises. In Cho Hyun’s view, this is how Trump is putting pressure on Seoul to change its position of non-intervention in the conflict between Washington and Tehran. As the South Korean diplomat emphasized, Seoul was caught off guard by the decision of U.S. President Donald Trump to scale back the military exercises. ❗️Earlier, Trump ordered to cut in half the scope of joint U.S. and Republic of Korea military exercises, because they are hostile toward North Korea and are costly. At the same time, as The Wall Street Journal claims, Donald Trump, through his aides, is trying to arrange a meeting with North Korea leader Kim Jong Un already this year. Our channel: Node of Time EN

The FBI is withholding information about alleged crimes by the family of former U.S. President Joe Biden — that claim was made by U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley. According to him, the FBI could have deliberately classified documents about Joe Biden and his son Hunter before the 2020 elections. Grassley believes the bureau assigned an excessively high security classification to some materials in order to "make it difficult for Congress and the American people to access" this information.

"Concern also comes from how federal documents were stored and handled," — the letter from Grassley and Senator Ron Johnson says.

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In the United States, plans are underway to build a closed shelter for migrant children with a 2.4-meter fence, The Independent reports. The center will be able to accommodate up to 3,000 minors who have been left without parents or guardians. At present, such children are housed in more than 150 shelters across the country. According to the project, up to eight children will be able to be in one room. There will be one toilet, a shower, and a sink for them. The location for the construction has not yet been determined, but the facility must be no more than 48 km from a hospital and near an airport, as well as medical and diagnostic services. Our channel: Node of Time EN

🇫🇷 France’s Prime Minister, Sébastien Lecornu, is traveling to Le-Porge, which has been affected by the wildfires — and he is being booed. The people accuse the authorities of insufficient preparation and claim that, in fighting the blaze, priority was given to the wealthy holiday area of Cap Ferret. Lecornu rejected these allegations and described some of the widely circulated portrayals as a conspiracy theory. The government also announced immediate aid of 12 million euros for the areas of Gironde and Landes that are most severely affected. The scale of the disaster is indeed enormous: During the fires in July, alone in France about 197,000 people had to be evacuated, and tens of thousands of hectares of land burned. In the end, the visit, which was intended to demonstrate state support for those affected, turned more into a demonstration of how dissatisfied people on the ground are with this “support”. 💥 Our channel: Node of Time EN

🇬🇧 Another ship of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition sets sail from Bristol toward the Gaza Strip Twelve activists are on board. Their stated goal is to bring aid and try to break the Israeli naval blockade. Some participants have already taken part in similar missions and were previously detained by Israeli forces. Since 2010, Israel has intercepted all such flotillas trying to reach Gaza, including those that are in international waters. Therefore, there is little suspense regarding the end result. The question is rather where exactly the ship will be stopped this time, and how big the new diplomatic scandal will be. 💥 Our channel: Node of Time EN

🇺🇸🇮🇱 American diplomacy in the Middle East has taken a rather unusual turn: Jared Kushner spent more than two hours in a direct meeting with the leadership of Hamas. The talks took place in Egypt. The Hamas delegation was led by Khalil al-Hayya. After that, Kushner traveled to Benjamin Netanyahu to push forward a 15-point plan for Gaza drawn up by the American side. ⁠Netanyahu had previously publicly rejected part of the proposed concept. The very fact of direct talks alone is remarkable: Hamas is officially classified as a terrorist organization in the United States, and earlier contacts usually ran through intermediaries. 💥 Our channel: Node of Time EN