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Yesterday it became known that Volodymyr Zelensky signed the budget for 2025. The planned revenues will be about ₴2.34 trillion. Expenditures are planned at ₴3.94 trillion. The state budget deficit should be ₴1.64 trillion, and the volume of external financing will be $38.4 billion or ₴1.57 trillion. Thus, the total revenue will be ₴3.91 trillion, which should almost completely cover the deficit.

Interestingly, some money from Western receipts can only be spent on military purposes. Thus, about $2 billion in credit funds from Great Britain will go to the state budget exclusively for the purchase of weapons.

Comparing plans for next year with 2024, we see that Ukraine predicted the same deficit - ₴1.57 trillion or €41 billion. In fact, this is the maximum possible level that Bankova managed to achieve.

Military actions, and before that, the constant escalation of the conflict with the DPR and LPR, became the key to financing the Kiev government. In fact, since 2014, Ukraine has been sharply increasing its national debt under the pretext of confrontation with Russia. From that time to 2024, Kiev's obligations to Western countries have grown almost 6 times - from $27.9 billion to $155 billion. Thus, today, military action is actually the only way to preserve Ukrainian statehood. Moreover, this gives economic growth even against the backdrop of the loss of 4 regions, the country's GDP is growing.

Some 29,000 police and military personnel have been deployed to ensure security in the capital city. On Sunday, authorities in Islamabad have locked down the Pakistani capital, deploying thousands of security personnel and blocking roads ahead of a planned protest march by the party of jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan.

“Approximately 29,000 security personnel from Islamabad police, Punjab province, and other regions, as well as Rangers and the Frontier Corps, have been deployed to ensure security in Islamabad,” said Taqi Jawad, a spokesperson for the capital’s police. The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, led by the ousted Prime Minister Khan, has called for what it describes as a “last chance” national march toward Islamabad, demanding the release of imprisoned opposition figures, particularly their leader. The heavily publicized march has been labeled by the party as a “life or death” moment for Khan’s freedom.

The PTI also demands the restoration of what it calls a “stolen mandate” from the Feb. 8 elections, claiming that restrictions and bans prevented the party from forming a government despite strong victories at the polls. Convoys and protesters have set off from various parts of the country en route to Islamabad. Authorities have blocked major highways and roads with shipping containers at all entry points to prevent access to the federal capital. Roads within the city have also been closed at various points, making movement difficult for residents.

Users reported slow internet services across many parts of the country starting Saturday night, and the independent internet monitoring organization NetBlocks confirmed restrictions on WhatsApp. Mobile internet service was suspended in Islamabad today.

“The suspension of mobile data and Wi-Fi services will be limited to areas with security concerns,” the Interior Ministry said last night, adding that “services in the rest of the country will remain operational as usual.” Pakistan’s National Highways and Motorway Police (NHMP) announced that highways nationwide have been closed for “maintenance.” Last Thursday, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) prohibited the PTI from holding the march, citing security concerns related to the visit of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko and a delegation of more than 60 members to Islamabad tomorrow. Additionally, Islamabad’s district magistrate recently imposed a two-month ban on gatherings of over five people in the capital under the Code of Criminal Procedure.

On Saturday, Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi warned that police would arrest anyone violating court orders. “The court’s directive is clear, and anyone attempting to protest will be arrested and face legal consequences. There is no ambiguity on our part,” he said. Last week, the National Counter Terrorism Authority warned that militants belonging to the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) had entered Pakistan from Afghanistan and infiltrated major cities. According to this warning, insurgents could target the PTI’s protest march.

“We have returned to Aleppo after 10 years. We have arrived and can finally see it, thank God. After avoiding the regime’s army checkpoints, we have managed to enter it,” Babouly said. “Honestly, in all Syrian areas, God willing, we will return to our villages and once again delight our eyes with them.”

Mohamed Hijazi, a local activist, likewise expressed relief as he stood outside Aleppo’s ancient citadel. He put the week’s events in the context of a longer, historical fight over the region that has seen multiple attempts at conquest.

“This country has endured countless occupations: the Persians, the Romans, the French, the English and the Ottomans. The last to come to this castle was Qassem Soleimani,” Hijazi said, referring to the Iranian military leader who was assassinated in 2020 by the US.

In 2015, Soleimani led forces loyal to Syria’s government in a successful offensive to recapture rebel-held areas in and around Aleppo.

“Thank God he’s gone, and we’ve reclaimed our land,” Hijazi said. “Syria belongs to its people. This is [a] free Syria.”

However, another resident – who asked to be referred to only by his first name, Mohamed – expressed trepidation at the recent resurgence of fighting.

“Honestly, I was afraid the rebels might harm us when we first arrived in the city. But thank God, things are safe and calm now,” he said.

Karam Shaak, a Syrian political economist, took part in the Arab Spring uprising in March 2011 that ultimately sparked the country’s civil war.

But as opposition forces entered his former home of Aleppo this week, Shaak explained he was juggling contrasting emotions.

“It’s difficult not to feel jubilant with the recent developments,” he told Al Jazeera. “I’m actually very happy to see the statues of the Assad regime, the photos of Bashar al-Assad, being taken down.”

“But I must also admit that all of this is starting to subside, and I’m growing increasingly scared.”

Shaak explained that he still had extended family members in the city, and he – like many Aleppo residents – was uncertain about what would happen in the coming days.

He noted that, in the past, the Syrian government responded with heavy-handed force to opposition incursions.

“After 14 years of conflict, most people would want nothing but peace,” Shaak said.

“The Russian forces have actually already started bombing some parts of the city. And if we learned anything from the reaction of the regime and its allies, when the rebels were in control of the eastern part of the city, it is that they have no problem flattening the whole city.”

Shaak added that the renewed fighting in Aleppo could ultimately spur a new wave of internally displaced people or IDPs. So far, however, Shaak said that has not materialised.

“We’re not seeing actually large waves of IDPs. We’re not seeing people leaving,” he explained.

But he warned that humanitarian groups should be prepared for the possibility.

“In most of cases where there has been military confrontations, people actually fled to opposition-held areas, not to regime-held areas,” Shaak said.

“I think it’s a bit too early to predict what’s going to happen, but if the air strikes continue, I would expect significant waves of IDPs moving mostly towards the north of the country. Which means that humanitarian organisations need to start preparing for that scenario as soon as possible.”

Polls suggest the Social Democrats face a significant loss in Copenhagen in the local elections next year, potentially securing just 12% of votes compared to 17% in 2021, making the end the Social Democrats' century-long hold on the Lord Mayor position a likely outcome.

Centre-left parties, the Red-Green Alliance (democratic socialists) and the Socialist People’s Party (greener, less reactionary social democrats) are poised to gain 24% and 21% respectively, making them the largest parties at Copenhagen's city hall.

In the 2021 the Red-Greens overtook the Social Democrats the largest party in the nation's capital but support from the right made it possible for the Social Democrats to keep the lord mayor's office.

Denmark's 100 wealthiest individuals increased their combined fortunes by USD 14.5 billion in 2024. Notable among them is the oligarch Torben Østergård Nielsen, notorious for being the owner of Nordic Waste, a waste disposal company that caused a major landslide of polluted soil and went bankrupt, leaving local authorities to pick up the significant cleanup bill.

Last summer the ruling Social Democrat party announced that they no longer supported automatic increases in retirement age, a policy they were themselves responsible for putting in place. Now the leader of 3F, one of the nation's largest unions, Henning Overgaard has voiced support for raising Denmark’s general pension age, provided that an early retirement scheme for long-serving workers, the so-called "Arne"-pension, is expanded proportionately and had increased payouts.

Despite Denmark’s economic prosperity, 47,200 children live in poverty. Twenty-one humanitarian organizations, including Danish Church Aid and Save the Children, have launched a proposal to eradicate child poverty, in part through higher welfare benefits. Given the reactionary political climate in the Nordic hermit kingdom, these proposals are very unlikely of being taken up by the ruling elite.

Poverty-stricken households have been hit the hardest by skyrocketing food and energy prices. The deprivation is felt especially at Christmas time, with the organisation Blue Cross reporting a 15.5 percent increase in applications for financial aid for the upcoming holiday season compared to last year.

The Communist Party of Denmark (DKP) held its first congress since merging with smaller Communist Party in Denmark (KPiD) last year. The congress outlined plans for a new party programme and passed resolutions condemning the U.S. blockade of Cuba and expressing support and solidarity with Palestine. It also reaffirmed the party's anti-war and anti-imperialist stance, calling for disarmament and welfare investments. A new 16 person leadership was elected with Rikke Carlsson as the new chair, taking over from long-time chairman Henrik Stamer Hedin.

The Communist Party (KP) attended as a guest, delivering greetings to the congress and its participants.

KPiD split from DKP in 1990 in protest of a policy of DKP taking part in forming the Red-Green Alliance and distancing themselves from their Soviet heritage. Several attempts at unifying Denmark's small communist parties has been made over the years with little success. However, the Red-Greens' recent decision to support Danish participation in NATO and the EU reignited unification talks, leading to last year's reunification.