With democracy on the decline in both the UK and US, Mehdi Hasan makes the case for independent journalism. Mehdi Hasan has had a front seat to US and UK politics for decades. With Britain facing yet another change in prime minister a decade after Brexit and the US looking ahead to its next vote with the midterm elections in November, we get his take on this moment and why independent journalism is needed more than ever. How did Colombia's election split a nation in two? Who's being left out of the World Cup? How is China using AI in the classroom?

In Russia, the impact of Ukraine's missile and drone strikes on energy infrastructure from Moscow to the Black Sea and beyond has long been evident. Drivers in the Russia-annexed Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea banned from filling their tanks so priority can be given to military vehicles. But such is the gravity of the situation it has now been explicitly acknowledged by President Vladimir Putin for the first time. Over the weekend, Russia's president discussed the crisis with senior officials and oil executives. And in public remarks, he was unusually frank. You're well aware that problems persist for both motorists and businesses, he told the meeting.

Is the war entering a new phase? Russian missile and drone strikes on Ukraine have killed at least eight people and wounded 34 others, Ukrainian authorities say, as President Volodymyr Zelenskyy condemned the "horrific attacks". Zelenskyy said on Monday that at least five people were killed and 28 wounded in a Russian missile attack on Dnipro city, an industrial hub around 100 km (62 miles) from the front line, that is regularly targeted by Russian forces. He posted images of a building with shattered windows and a blurred photo of a body lying near a stairwell. "People have traumatic brain injuries, shrapnel wounds, fractures and blast trauma," he said.

Is the war entering a new phase? It was, perhaps, Ukraine's quietest victory over Russia's oldest and closest ally. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged neighbouring Belarus to shut down four Moscow-installed relay stations that help guide Russian drone attacks on Ukraine. The stations - originally cellular communication towers - relay signals for Russian drone operators and allow their unmanned aircraft to exchange information with each other and fly deep into western Ukraine, which has few drone interceptors and NATO-supplied air defence systems. The relayers did "make the signal stronger" and the Russian attacks "more precise", Andriy Pronin, one of the pioneers of drone warfare in Ukraine, told Al Jazeera.

Is the war entering a new phase? Russia-Ukraine war: Why has Putin rejected limits on long-range strikes? Russian President Vladimir Putin says Moscow will continue its more than four-year-long war on Ukraine, rejecting Kyiv's proposals to limit the use of long-range missiles and stop hostilities. In an interview with Russia's state television service on Sunday, Putin said Ukraine had proposed a mutual halt to long-range attacks as a step towards peace. But the Russian president suggested this proposal was made because Kyiv's forces were under pressure along the 1,250km (775-mile) front line.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Sunday that Russia will press ahead with its battlefield aim of fully capturing four Ukrainian regions, rejecting what he said was a new proposal by Ukraine to rein in hostilities in the more than four-year-old war. Putin, speaking to a Russian state television interviewer, also said Russia needed to boost its air defense capacity to counter intensified Ukrainian drone attacks aimed mainly at its oil industry. He said Russia was coping well in tackling fuel supply problems linked to the Ukrainian strikes. He acknowledged earlier on Sunday at a meeting in the Kremlin with government ministers and other officials that the strikes had triggered fuel shortages in various Russian regions but that Russia was dealing with them. In a time of both misinformation and too much information, quality journalism is more crucial than ever. By subscribing, you can help us get the story right.

Ukraine launched a significant drone attack against Russia as the brutal, years-long war between the two enemy nations continues to drag on.

It's a stretch to think that the continent can build a top-tier model, but it has an advantage: Donald Trump. Emmanuel Macron, president of France, discussed AI's risks at the G7 Summit. Earlier this month I attended Vivatech, a huge tech conference in Paris. One fear dominated the discussions: the prospect of ending up stuck using American AI, trained on American values. While the US and China are locked in an AI arms race, France and Germany, which consider their engineering talent second to none, feel boxed out.

Is the war entering a new phase? Russia has reported that it downed 660 drones overnight, as Ukraine maintains a barrage that is straining Russian air defences and energy infrastructure. The number of drones shot down marks one of Kyiv's biggest launches of long-range strikes, Russia's Ministry of Defence stated on Friday. That has stoked concern that Moscow may try to pull ally Belarus into the conflict, launched when it invaded Ukraine in February 2022. The latest wave of Ukrainian drones saw Russia intercept unmanned aircraft over 13 regions, including the capital, Moscow, and the illegally annexed Crimean peninsula, as well as the Black and Azov seas.

Is the war entering a new phase? At least five people have been killed in a Ukrainian attack on Russia and the Crimean peninsula as Kyiv steps up strikes, according to the Russian-appointed governor in the annexed region. Crimea Governor Sergey Aksyonov said two people, including a child, were killed and two others wounded following "overnight enemy attacks" into Thursday. Russia's defence ministry said 269 Ukrainian drones were downed over Russia and Crimea overnight. The head of the Krasnoarmeysk district in Krasnodar Krai said debris from a drone strike triggered an oil depot fire.