Croatia’s parliament has voted to reinstate compulsory military service, ending a 17-year hiatus. The Balkan country abolished the draft in 2008, shifting to a fully professional army.

The move comes amid a broader trend among NATO and EU members of reviving conscription and boosting military budgets, citing current geopolitical tensions, particularly the Ukraine conflict.

Under the new law, around 4,000 recruits will be called up each year in five groups for two months of basic training at military facilities across Croatia, state broadcaster HRT reported on Friday. The program – estimated to cost €23.7 million annually – will begin in early 2026. Participants will receive around €1,100 per month, plus travel and leave expenses, and credited work experience.

Croatia is “seeing a rise in various types of threats that demand swift and effective action from the broader community,” Defense Minister Ivan Anusic stated earlier this week, as cited by AFP. In June, he explained that the decision to reinstate conscription was driven by “changed global geopolitical and security circumstances, increasingly frequent climate change, natural disasters and similar challenges.”

Croatia joins a growing list of NATO and EU countries reviving or expanding conscription. Sweden brought back the draft in 2017 and plans to raise the reservist age limit. Latvia and Lithuania have reinstated service, while Estonia and Finland have increased their annual recruitment. Poland has also debated similar measures.

Since the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022, Western officials have claimed that Russia could threaten EU states, prompting a military buildup across the bloc. European NATO members agreed to boost armed forces spending to up to 5% of GDP, citing the alleged “Russian threat.”

Moscow has repeatedly dismissed allegations of hostile intent toward Western nations as “nonsense” and fearmongering, condemning what it describes as the West’s “reckless militarization.”

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The US Treasury Department is considering putting an image of US President Donald Trump on a one-dollar coin marking the 250th anniversary of America’s independence.

According to the first design draft revealed on Friday, the coin features Trump’s profile on one side, along with the words “Liberty” and “In God we trust,” and the dates 1776–2026.

The other side shows Trump raising a clenched fist against a backdrop of the US flag, with the inscriptions “Fight, fight, fight,” “United States of America,” and “E pluribus unum.”

The image is a clear homage to a photo taken by AP’s Evan Vucci shortly after Trump’s failed assassination attempt in July 2024, which was widely republished in US and international media.

“Despite the radical left’s forced shutdown of our government, the facts are clear: Under the historic leadership of President Donald J. Trump, our nation is entering its 250th anniversary stronger, more prosperous, and better than ever before,” a Treasury Department spokesperson said in a statement.

“While a final $1 coin design has not yet been selected to commemorate the United States’ semiquincentennial, this first draft reflects the enduring spirit of our country and democracy, even in the face of immense obstacles,” the spokesperson added.

According to the Washington Post, existing US law generally prohibits depictions of living people on currency. In addition, the 2020 Circulating Collectible Coin Redesign Act, which authorized the minting of the anniversary coin, prohibits busts or portraits of people on the reverse side.

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President Trump revealed a termination letter addressed to Fed Chair Jerome Powell in a Tuesday night Oval Office meeting, the New York Times reported Wednesday, citing two people with knowledge of the matter.

Trump was said to have solicited opinions from House Republicans about firing Powell, whom he appointed Fed chair in 2017 during his first presidency. As reported, the meeting was originally scheduled to discuss concerns about crypto legislation, but Trump shifted focus to Powell.

“Jerome Powell is going to be fired. Firing is imminent,” Representative Anna Paulina Luna, Republican of Florida, wrote on X during the meeting.

Trump has publicly denied his firm intentions to remove Powell, despite numerous reports alleging he did so in response to the central bank’s reluctance to cut rates. The existence of a draft dismissal letter points to a more serious level of consideration.

In recent weeks, Trump’s criticism of Powell has intensified. He has called the Fed Chair a “major loser,” a “numbskull,” and a “stubborn mule,” while also slamming the central bank’s $2 billion headquarters renovation.

Presidents cannot remove Fed officials without cause, a protection reinforced by a Supreme Court ruling in May regarding Trump’s authority to remove certain independent agency officials. No president in modern history has attempted to fire a Fed chair.

Powell’s term as chair ends in May, though he can remain on the Board of Governors until 2028.

Briefly after the news surfaced, Trump told reporters that he had no plans to remove Powell and said such a move was highly unlikely unless Powell was forced to leave due to fraud.

[July 16, 12:19 PM]: This article has been updated to include President Trump’s latest comments on Jerome Powell following reports of a potential dismissal.

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A man stopped for running a red light in Kiev was sent to a conscription office after allegedly biting a police officer, the local authorities said Wednesday. It comes amid growing public resistance to Ukraine’s mobilization drive, which some Ukrainians reportedly hope Russia will disrupt.

What was described by Kiev traffic police as a routine enforcement stop escalated when the driver reportedly became combative. Officials said the man was listed in a draft evasion database and was accordingly transferred to military custody.

Footage circulating online appears to show a middle-aged man reading aloud from a Ukrainian Supreme Court decision before apparently biting officers attempting to remove him from his vehicle.

Ukraine relies on mandatory conscription to fill ranks depleted by battlefield losses. While individuals in key governmental or industrial roles may be exempt, many others evade enlistment by going into hiding or seeking illegal passage out of the country.

Andrey Kovalenko, head of Ukraine’s Center for Countering Disinformation, said this week that some individuals have leaked the locations of conscription offices to Russian forces in the hope they would be targeted. Ukrainian officials have reported several recent strikes on enlistment centers.

In a separate mobilization-related case this week, journalist Bogdan Butkevich was reportedly drafted under contentious circumstances. Known for his vocal support of conscription, Butkevich had publicly criticized opponents of the campaign as “bastards” and “scum” and defended violations by conscription officers.

Butkevich’s wife, Marina Daniluk-Yarmolaeva, claimed Wednesday that her husband had until recently worked with Ukrainian military intelligence, but was drafted after falling out with the agency. She said he was inducted despite medical conditions that would normally qualify him for an exemption.

The military intelligence agency HUR has denied any affiliation with Butkevich.

Daniluk-Yarmolaeva claimed that ending the cooperation was ordered by the office of the president, which she said was displeased with Butkevich’s critical remarks about Vladimir Zelensky’s military strategy.

”I don’t know how Zelensky intends to win this war,” she wrote in a social media post. “But I do know that it benefits [his team]. It allows them to tighten control and silence anyone.”

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