Ukraine: Russian army defends "the fatherland", says Putin as he celebrates 1945
Russian President Vladimir Putin proclaimed on Monday that his army was fighting in Ukraine to defend "the homeland" in the face of the "unacceptable threat" posed by his Western-backed neighbor, in front of thousands of Russian soldiers marching in Moscow's Red Square to mark the anniversary of the 1945 victory over Nazi Germany.   Shortly before, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky promised that his country would not let Moscow "appropriate the victory over Nazism" and said he was confident in an upcoming victory for Ukraine against Russian forces.
"You are not alone. The EU is at your side" in the face of Russian "aggression", declared to the Ukrainians the President of the European Council Charles Michel, on a surprise visit to Odessa (southern Ukraine) with the Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Chmygal. "We will be with you for as long as it takes," he continued. In Moscow, during the military parade in Red Square, Vladimir Putin reiterated his arguments and accusations to justify his invasion of Ukraine launched on February 24. "I address our armed forces: you are fighting for the homeland, for its future," he said.

United Kingdom: Queen replaced by Charles for Speech from the Throne
Queen Elizabeth II said Monday night that she would be replaced by her son Prince Charles for the traditional speech from the throne in the British Parliament on Tuesday, due to her mobility problems. It is the first time in nearly 60 years that the monarch has missed this solemn appointment of British democracy, where she reads the government's program during a ceremony with great pomp. She had been absent from it in 1959 and 1963, when she was pregnant , and it was also the first time she had been replaced by the Prince of Wales, heir to the crown, a sign of the gradual transfer of her duties to her eldest son, who has already represented it abroad for several years. "The Queen continues to have episodic mobility issues and, after consultation with her doctors, reluctantly decided not to participate in the Throne Speech," Buckingham Palace said in a statement late Monday.

Climate: 1 in 2 chance that the threshold of +1.5degC will be exceeded within 5 years (UN)
There is a one in two chance that the average annual global temperature will be temporarily 1.5degC higher than pre-industrial values for at least one of the next five years, the UN said.  However, a temporary crossing of this threshold over one year is not synonymous with a lasting exceedance of this threshold, as defined in the Paris Climate Agreement. This agreement aims to keep the increase in global average temperature well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and if possible to 1.5 degrees. According to a new climate bulletin published Tuesday by the United Nations' World Meteorological Organization (WMO), the probability of a temporary exceedance of the 1.5degC threshold has been steadily increasing since 2015, when this risk was close to zero. For the years between 2017 and 2021, the probability of exceedance was 10%. It has increased "to nearly 50% for the period 2022-2026", says the WMO. But there is only a low probability (10%) that the five-year average will exceed the threshold of +1.5degC.
 
IN BRIEF
There was no news Monday night of twelve people, including eight Turkish citizens, abducted Sunday afternoon by a gang in Haiti, a new abduction near the capital Port-au-Prince where the vicious activity of gangs has, since the beginning of May, further aggravated an already critical security situation.
Match Group, the parent company of Tinder and OkCupid, on Monday filed a lawsuit against Google, which it accuses of abuse of a dominant position on phones, the latest episode in the rebellion of application publishers against the tech giants.
The Celtics, led by al Horford and Jayson Tatum revanchist, won a crucial 116-108 victory over Giannis Antetokounmpo's Bucks on Monday in the NBA playoffs to tie it at 2-2 in their Eastern Conference semifinals.