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Roy Siemens

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Roy likes politics. Knowledge is power, Roy constantly says, so he spends nearly all day gathering information and writing articles about the latest events around the globe. He likes history and studying about war techniques, this is why he finds writing his articles a piece of cake. Another hobby of his is horse – riding.

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Sweden has officially become the 32nd state to join NATO after it completed its accession process in Washington.

The handover of documents took place at a ceremony two years after Sweden applied to join the military alliance following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Swedish PM Ulf Kristersson said that “unity and solidarity” would be Sweden’s “guiding lights”.

NATO today “is stronger than ever,” President Joe Biden said.

“NATO stands more united, determined, and dynamic” Joe Biden said, adding that “together with our newest ally Sweden – NATO will continue to stand for freedom and democracy for generations to come.”

“This has been a little bit of a road but we’ve known from day one that we would be here one day,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said.

Image source: NATO

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg posted on X that Sweden brings with it “capable armed forces and a first-class defence industry” and that the alliance had become “stronger and safer”.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky also welcomed Sweden’s accession to NATO, saying “one more country in Europe has become more protected from Russian evil.”

Russia has vowed to take unspecified political and military measures in response to Sweden’s move.

Sweden applied to join the defense alliance after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 – but its request was blocked by two members.

Turkey initially withheld approval in a row over what it called Sweden’s support to Kurdish separatists. It eventually lifted its veto in January of this year.

Hungary’s PM Viktor Orban accused Sweden of being hostile to it and delayed its approval until last week, when the Hungarian parliament eventually voted to ratify the bid.

All NATO members are expected to help an ally which comes under attack.

Anthony Blinken recalled Sweden’s 200-year policy of non-alignment which lasted until Russia invaded Ukraine, saying that NATO expansion was not “foreordained” or “foreseeable”.

Finland formally joined in April 2023, doubling the length of the alliance’s border with Russia.

On March 11, a flag-raising ceremony to mark Sweden’s accession will take place at the NATO headquarters in Brussels.

The USA has carried out its first airdrop of humanitarian aid for Gaza Strip, with more than 30,000 meals parachuted in by three military planes.

The operation, carried out jointly with Jordan’s air force, was the first of many announced by President Joe Biden.

President Biden promised to step up aid after at least 112 people were killed as crowds rushed a convoy on February 29.

The airdrop comes as a top US official said the framework of a deal for a six-week ceasefire in Gaza was in place.

On March 2, C-130 transport planes dropped more than 38,000 meals along the coastline of the territory, US Central Command said in a statement.

“These airdrops are part of a sustained effort to get more aid into Gaza, including by expanding the flow of aid through land corridors and routes,” it added.

Other countries including the UK, France, Egypt and Jordan have previously airdropped aid into Gaza, but this is the first by the US.

Vice-President Kamala Harris will meet Israeli war cabinet member Benny Gantz in Washington on March 4 to discuss a truce and other issues, Reuters quotes a White House official as saying.

Image source: AFP

In February 29 incident, 112 people were killed and more than 760 injured as they crowded around aid lorries on the south-western edge of Gaza City.

Hamas accused Israel of firing at civilians, but Israel said most died in a crush after it fired warning shots.

Hamas meanwhile said an Israeli bombardment had killed at least 11 people at a camp in Rafah in southern Gaza on March 2.

World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called the attack “outrageous”. The Israeli army said it had carried out a “precision strike” against Islamic Jihad militants in the area.

The UN’s World Food Programme has warned that a famine is imminent in northern Gaza, which has received very little aid in recent weeks, and where an estimated 300,000 people are living with little food or clean water.

The Israel military launched a large-scale air and ground campaign to destroy Hamas after its gunmen killed about 1,200 people in southern Israel on October 7 and took 253 back to Gaza as hostages.

Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry says more than 30,000 people, including 21,000 children and women, have been killed in Gaza since then with some 7,000 missing and at least 70,450 injured.

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North Korea’s Kim Jong-un has said unification with South Korea is no longer possible, and that the constitution should be changed to designate it the “principal enemy”.

Kim Jong-un also said three organizations dealing with reunification would shut down, state media KCNA reported.

South Korea’s President Yoon Suk Yeol said it would respond “multiple times stronger” to any provocation from North Korea.

The two Koreas have been divided since the Korean War ended in 1953.

They did not sign a peace treaty and therefore have remained technically still at war ever since.

In a speech delivered at the Supreme People’s Assembly, Kim Jong-un said that the constitution should be amended to educate North Koreans that South Korea is a “primary foe and invariable principal enemy”.

He also said that if a war breaks out on the Korean peninsula, the country’s constitution should reflect the issue of “occupying”, “recapturing” and “incorporating” the South into its territory.

Kim Jong-un – who replaced his father, Kim Jong-il, as North Korean leader in 2011 – said the North “did not want war, but we also have no intention of avoiding it”, according to KCNA.

He said he was taking a “new stand” on north-south relations, which included dismantling all organizations tasked with reunification.

Speaking to his cabinet on January 16, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol said that if the North carried out a provocation, the South “will retaliate multiple times stronger”, pointing to the South Korean military’s “overwhelming response capabilities”.

Kim Jong-un’s comments came as relations significantly weakened on the Korean Peninsula in recent months.

In November, North Korea fully suspended a five-year military deal with the South aimed at lowering military tensions. It promised to withdraw all measures “taken to prevent military conflict in all spheres including ground, sea and air”, and said it would deploy more forces to the border region.

The South had partly suspended the agreement days earlier after Kim Jong-un claimed to have successfully launched a spy satellite into space.

The rhetoric – and provocative actions – from the North have only escalated since then.

At year-end policy meetings, the North Korean said he needed to “newly formulate” the North’s stance towards inter-Korean relations and reunification policy, adding that the stated goal was to “make a decisive policy change” related to “the enemy”.

He also threatened a nuclear attack on the South, and called for a build-up of his country’s military arsenal.

North Korea has also launched missiles in recent weeks, as well as live-fire exercises close to South Korean territory.

In a report published last week for 38 North, a US-based organization with a focus on North Korea, former State Department official Robert Carlin and nuclear scientist Siegfried S Hecker said they saw the situation on the Korean Peninsula as “more dangerous than it has ever been” since the start of the Korean War in 1950.

The two countries have boosted ties recently, with both isolated by Western powers, and last September Kim Jong-un visited Russia where he met Vladimir Putin.

Muhammad Abu Salmiya, the director of the Gaza Strip’s main hospital raided by Israeli soldiers, says the facility has now run out of oxygen and water, and patients “are screaming from thirst”.

He said the conditions were “tragic” in Al-Shifa hospital, where there were more than 650 patients, 500 medical staff and 5,000 displaced people.

Israeli tanks were surrounding the hospital in Gaza City, Abu Samlmiya said, with drones buzzing overhead and Israeli soldiers still moving around inside, as their search of the complex lasted a second day.

Israel’s army said its operation against Hamas was proceeding in a “discreet, methodical and thorough manner”.

Since the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) launched their raid on Al-Shifa on November 15, they have released several photos and videos of what they say are Hamas weapons and equipment.

On November 16, they said they had found an “operational tunnel shaft and a vehicle containing a large number of weapons”.

Muhammad Abu Salmiya said Israeli troops had blown up Al-Shifa’s main water line.

“Sniping operations continue, no-one can move from one building to another, and we have lost communication with our colleagues,” he said.

Gaza Strip

Gaza’s Hamas-controlled health ministry reports that Israeli bulldozers “destroyed parts of the southern entrance” of the medical complex.

Israel launched a major military campaign in the Gaza Strip to destroy Hamas in retaliation for the October 7 cross-border attack by hundreds of gunmen. Israel considers Hamas a terrorist group, as does the US and European Union.

At least 1,200 people were killed in Hamas’s assault on Israel and about 240 others were taken hostage.

Since Israel started its counter-attack, Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry has said at least 11,400 people have been killed in the territory and the UN has warned of a “humanitarian disaster”.

On November 16, the IDF announced that the body of one of the hostages had been found near Al-Shifa.

The IDF identified the victim as Yehudit Weiss, saying she had been kidnapped from her home in Be’eri – a kibbutz in southern Israel.

At the same time, there have been reports of a major phone and internet outage in Gaza believed to have been caused by telecom companies running out of fuel supplies.

The IDF said their soldiers were continuing their “complex” operation against Hamas at the hospital.

The official reiterated the IDF’s claim that there was a “well-hidden terrorist infrastructure in the complex”.

Hamas has repeatedly denied that its fighters have been operating inside the hospital.

On November 16, Osama Hamdan, the most senior Hamas leader in Lebanon, ridiculed the Israeli weapons claims, saying that all the arms had been brought in and planted in the hospital by Israelis.

The Israeli government has not commented on Osama Hamdan’s allegation.

In a separate development, Israel has dropped dropped leaflets in the Khan Younis area of southern Gaza, warning people in four towns to evacuate their homes and head to shelters.

If that is an indication of an upcoming military operation around the southern city of Khan Younis, it could be a real concern to the hundreds of thousands now sheltering there.

Before the war, Khan Younis was home to about 300,000 people – a number that has now grown to one million after Israel urged civilians to move south for their safety.

At least 250 people are reported killed and 1,590 wounded in Israel after the Palestinian militant group Hamas launched its biggest attack in years.

Dozens of gunmen from Gaza infiltrated southern Israeli communities after dawn under the cover of heavy rocket fire.

They have taken both Israeli soldiers and civilians hostage, and some have been brought back to Gaza.

Israel has responded with a wave of air strikes on Gaza that have killed 232 people and wounded 1,600, according to authorities.

PM Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel was “at war” and vowed that Hamas, which rules Gaza, would “pay an unprecedented price”.

The Israeli military has mobilised tens of thousands of reservists and is now expected to launch a ground operation in Gaza.

Meanwhile, fighting is continuing with militants who still hold pockets of southern Israel. Barrages of rockets are also being fired at Israeli cities and towns, with Tel Aviv and Rishon Lezion among those hit in the evening.

Israel’s nightmare scenario – armed Palestinian militants at large in the south of the country – began early on Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath and the day of the festival of Simchat Torah.

It is believed that dozens of gunmen crossed into Israeli territory in a number of different locations. Some cut through the perimeter fence from Gaza and others entered by sea.

How they managed to penetrate one of the most heavily fortified borders in the world is unclear.

Videos shared on social media showed shooting as the militants arrived in Israeli villages and towns, including the town of Sderot, which is only 1 mile from Gaza.

People in a number of communities called in to Israeli news stations, saying they were trapped in their homes or were taking cover elsewhere.

The leader of one regional council in southern Israel, Ofir Liebstein, was killed in an exchange of fire with militants when he went to defend his community.

Videos were also shown of Israelis being taken as hostages – an unprecedented development.

Hamas claimed that it had captured 53 “prisoners of war” including senior officers, and that many were being held in tunnels – which have been prime targets for the Israeli military in previous conflicts with militants in Gaza.

An Israeli military spokesman confirmed that “soldiers and civilians” had been abducted, and some soldiers had been killed – including the commander of Israel’s Nahal infantry brigade Col. Jonathan Steinberg. However, he denied reports that a top general had been kidnapped.

Videos were also circulated of Palestinians driving captured Israeli military vehicles in Gaza.At the same time as the infiltration, militants in Gaza began launching thousands of rockets towards Israel, reaching as far as the cities of Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.

Some rockets evaded Israel’s Iron Dome missile defence system and damaged residential buildings and vehicles.

Residents said they did not remember a situation like this for a long time, with streets in Tel Aviv locked down and empty.

At a meeting of his security cabinet, Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu said: “Our first objective is to clear out the hostile forces that infiltrated our territory and restore the security and quiet to the communities that have been attacked.”

“The second objective, at the same time, is to exact an immense price from the enemy, within the Gaza Strip as well. The third objective is to reinforce other fronts so that nobody should mistakenly join this war.”

Dozens of Israeli warplanes and other aircraft have been carrying out strikes in Gaza in response to the attack, causing large explosions.

The Israeli military said it targeted 17 Hamas military compounds and four operational headquarters in the first few hours of what it called “Operation Iron Swords”.

Later, missiles destroyed the 11-storey Palestine Tower in downtown Gaza City, which houses Hamas radio stations in the rooftop.

The Israeli air force said it struck “military infrastructure in two multi-storey buildings used by senior Hamas terrorist operatives for carrying out terrorist activity”, and that it had warned occupants to evacuate before the attack.

There has been strong international condemnation of the Hamas attacks.

President Joe Biden called them “unconscionable” and declared that Israel “has the right to defend itself and its people, full stop”.

“There’s never a justification for terrorist attacks and my administration’s support for Israeli’s security is rock solid and unwavering,” he added.

UN Secretary General António Guterres said he was “appalled by reports that civilians have been attacked and abducted from their own homes”.

The leader of the Wagner mercenary group Yevgeny Prigozhin was on the list of passengers on an aircraft that has crashed, the Russian Federal Agency for Air Transport (Rosaviatsiya) has said.

Earlier, Wagner-linked Telegram channel Grey Zone reported that the private plane, which belonged to Prigozhin, was shot down by air defences.

Grey Zone posted later that 62-year-old Yevgeny Prigozhin died “as a result of actions of traitors of Russia”.

Prigozhin led a failed mutiny against the Russian armed forces in June.

The crash comes on the same day that senior Russian general Sergei Surovikin was reportedly sacked as air force chief.

Gen Surovikin was known to have good relations with Prigozhin and had not been seen in public since the mutiny.

The aircraft was flying from Moscow to St Petersburg, with seven passengers and three crew.

It is said to have come down near the village of Kuzhenkino in Tver region, about half-way between Moscow and St Petersburg.

Grey Zone said local residents heard two bangs before the crash and saw two vapour trails.

Tass news agency said the plane, an Embraer Legacy belonging to Yevgeny Prigozhin, caught fire on hitting the ground.

Image source: Wikimedia Commons

The aircraft had been in the air for less than half an hour, it added.

Senior Wagner commander Dmitry Utkin was also on the passenger list, aviation officials said.

An investigation has been launched into the crash and emergency services are searching the scene.

Another news agency, Interfax, said all 10 bodies had been recovered.

Grey Zone reported that a second business jet owned by Yevgeny Prigozhin landed safely in the Moscow region.

The mercenary boss founded Wagner in 2014, and it now has about 25,000 fighters.

The group has been active in Ukraine, Syria and west Africa, and has gained a reputation for brutality.

Yevgeny Prigozhin headed the mutiny on June 23-24, moving his troops from Ukraine, seizing the southern Russian city of Rostov on Don, and threatening to march on Moscow.

The move came after months of tension with Russian military commanders over the Ukraine conflict.

The stand-off was settled by a deal which allowed Wagner troops to move to Belarus or join the Russian army.

Yevgeny Prigozhin himself agreed to relocate to Belarus but has apparently been able to move freely, making public appearances in Russia and releasing a video of him purportedly in Africa.

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The long-awaited Durham report has strongly criticised the FBI’s handling of its investigation into alleged ties between Russia and the 2016 Trump campaign.

In a 306-page report, special counsel John Durham said the FBI’s inquiry had lacked “analytical rigor”.

John Durham concluded the FBI had not possessed “actual evidence” of collusion between Donald Trump’s campaign and Russia before launching an inquiry.

The FBI said it had addressed the issues highlighted in the report.

“Donald Trump” (CC BY-SA 2.0) by Gage Skidmore

In the report, John Durham – who was appointed by then-Attorney General William Barr in 2019 – accused the FBI of acting on “raw, unanalysed and uncorroborated intelligence”.

Among the investigative mistakes the FBI made were repeated instances of “confirmation bias”, in which it ignored information that undercut the initial premise of the investigation.

The report noted significant differences in the way the FBI had handled the Trump investigation when compared with other potentially sensitive inquiries, such as those involving his 2016 electoral rival Hillary Clinton.

John Durham noted that Hillary Clinton and others had received “defensive briefings” from the FBI aimed at “those who may be the targets of nefarious activities by foreign powers”. Donald Trump had not.

“The Department [of Justice] and the FBI failed to uphold their important mission of strict fidelity to the law,” the report concluded.

In a statement, the FBI said it had “already implemented dozens of corrective actions”.

“Had those reforms been in place in 2016, the missteps identified in the report could have been prevented,” the statement added.

The FBI investigation into alleged ties between the Trump campaign and Russia, which was carried out by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, led to dozens of criminal charges against Trump campaign staff and associates for crimes including computer hacking and financial crimes.

It did not, however, find that the Trump campaign and Russia had conspired together to influence the election.

Writing on his social media platform, Truth Social, Donald Trump said the Durham report showed that the “American public was scammed”. He cited the report’s conclusion that there had not been enough evidence to warrant a full investigation by the FBI. Donald Trump has long claimed that members of the “Deep State” are targeting him unfairly.

In 2022, Donald Trump said he believed the Durham report would provide evidence of “really bad, evil, unlawful and unconstitutional” activities and “reveal corruption at a level never before seen in our country”.

The Durham report falls short of the blockbuster revelations and prosecutions that some Trump allies hoped for from the inquiry.

The four-year investigation has resulted in three prosecutions. They include an FBI attorney who pleaded guilty to altering evidence while applying for permission to eavesdrop on a former Trump campaign official.

Two other people were acquitted on charges of lying to the FBI.

Donald Trump cited some court filings by the Durham team as part of a lawsuit he filed against Hillary Clinton and several other Democrats and government officials, alleging that they had plotted to undermine his 2016 presidential bid by spreading rumours about his campaign’s ties to Russia.

A judge dismissed the lawsuit as frivolous in January and ordered the former president to pay nearly a million dollars in penalties.

Another unidentified object has been shot down over Canada, PM Justin Trudeau has confirmed.

The Canadian prime minister said the latest object “violated Canadian airspace” and was shot down over Yukon in north west Canada.

Both Canadian and US aircraft were scrambled to track down the object which PM Trudeau says was taken out by a US F-22.

He says he gave the order and he spoke with President Joe Biden.

“Canadian forces will now recover and analyse the wreckage of the object,” he wrote on Twitter.

He thanked the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) which earlier said it had been monitoring “a high-altitude airborne object” over northern Canada. NORAD carries out air defence for the US and Canada.

Image source: NARA & DVIDS Public Domain Archive

It is not clear what the object is.

But, its appearance over North America comes just a week after a suspected Chinese spy balloon was shot down after violating American and Canadian airspace.

On February 10, another object was shot down over Alaska at the orders of President Biden.

In a short statement, the military said US troops, including from the Alaska National Guard, were still conducting search and recovery activities on sea ice for the object.

It said it had no further details about the object’s capabilities, purpose or origin but confirmed the FBI is helping with the recovery near the Alaskan town of Deadhorse.

“Arctic weather conditions, including wind chill, snow, and limited daylight, are a factor in this operation, and personnel will adjust recovery operations to maintain safety,” it added – and that the rescue operation will continue as weather permits.

The latest incident comes a week after the American military destroyed a Chinese balloon off the coast of South Carolina.

China has denied the balloon – which first entered US airspace on January 28 – was used for spying purposes, saying it was a weather device gone astray.

The US, however, said the balloon is part of a fleet of surveillance balloons that have flown over five continents.

The balloon incident has strained US-China relations, with Secretary of State Antony Blinken canceling a planned trip to Beijing.

On February 10, Chinese officials accused the US of “political manipulation and hype”.

In an interview on February 9, President Biden defended his handling of the Chinese balloon, maintaining that it was not “a major breach”.

Six people have been killed and eighty one wounded in an explosion in a busy area of central Istanbul, Turkish authorities have said.

The explosion happened at about 16:20 local time on November 13 in the shopping area of the Istiklal street, in the Taksim Square area. Turkey has blamed Kurdish rebels.

A suspect – a Syrian woman – has been arrested, the interior minister said.

Vice-President Fuat Oktay earlier said the blast was thought to be a terrorist attack carried out by a woman.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the perpetrators would be punished.

Speaking at a news conference in Istanbul, he condemned what he called the “vile attack” and said “the smell of terror” was in the air.

(AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag told Turkish media a woman had sat on a bench in the area for more than 40 minutes, leaving just minutes before the blast took place.

On November 14, Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said a Syrian national – Ahlam Albashir – suspected of having left the bomb had been arrested by police. She was among 47 people detained by police. He accused the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) of responsibility.

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The PKK denied any role in the bombing, saying “we will not directly target civilians”. The militant group has been battling for decades to achieve Kurdish self-rule in south-east Turkey. Turkey, the EU and US regard it as a terrorist organization.

No one has so far claimed responsibility for the blast.

Government minister Derya Yanik wrote in a tweet that a government ministry employee and his young daughter were among the victims.

In the wake of the attack, condolences to Turkey have poured in from around the world.

The US said it stood “shoulder-to-shoulder” with its NATO ally in “countering terrorism,” according to a statement from White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre.

French President Emmanuel Macron wrote in a tweet in Turkish: “We share your pain… We are with you in the fight against terrorism.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, also writing in a tweet in Turkish, said: “The pain of the friendly Turkish people is our pain.”

Countries including Pakistan, Italy and Greece also expressed their solidarity.

Istiklal street – one of Istanbul’s main arteries which is usually packed with shoppers – was previously targeted by a suicide bomber in 2016.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed an accord to annex four more areas of Ukraine, after self-styled referendums condemned by Ukraine and the West as a sham.

So-called votes were held in Luhansk and Donetsk in the east, and in Zaporizhzhia and Kherson in the south.

Photo Reuters

Vladimir Putin has delivered a major speech at the Kremlin.

A stage was set up in Moscow’s Red Square, with billboards proclaiming the four regions as part of Russia and a concert planned for the evening.

The event echoes Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014, which also followed a discredited referendum and was heralded by a Kremlin signing followed by a presidential victory speech in parliament. That initial annexation has never been recognized by the vast majority of the international community, and nor will this.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the “pseudo-referendums” were worthless and did not change reality.

“The territorial integrity of Ukraine will be restored. And our reaction to recognition of the results by Russia will be very harsh.”

No independent monitoring of the Russian process took place and election officials were pictured going from door to door escorted by armed soldiers.

Separate agreements will be signed with the two Russian-backed separatist leaders from the east and the two Russian-appointed officials from the south.

As with Crimea, Russia’s two houses of parliament will formally ratify the annexation treaties next week. Vladimir Putin is expected to address to the upper house of parliament on October 4, three days before his 70th birthday.

The US has said it will impose sanctions on Russia because of the staged referendums, while EU member states are considering an eighth round of measures, including sanctions on anyone involved in the votes.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said on September 29 that people in occupied regions of Ukraine had been taken from their homes and workplaces by threat and sometimes at gunpoint.

“This is the opposite of free and fair elections. And this is the opposite of peace, it is a dictated peace,” she said.

The exercise began across 15% of Ukraine on September 23 with only a few days’ notice. Russian state media argued that the use of armed guards was for security purposes, but it was clear that it had the added effect of intimidating residents.

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Russia does not fully control any of the four regions it has decided to annex. Although most of Luhansk remains in Russian hands, Moscow only controls 60% of Donetsk.

Seven months after Russian forces invaded Ukraine from the north, east and south, war is still raging on front lines in all four areas. The capital of the southern region of Zaporizhzhia is firmly under the control of Ukraine’s government, and a counter-offensive is under way in Kherson.

Although Russian-appointed officials have been calling for annexation for several months, Ukraine’s series of military successes in September appear to have forced the Kremlin’s hand.

The Ukrainian army has recaptured large swathes of the north-east and on September 29 said its forces were encircling Russian troops in the strategically important city of Lyman, in Donetsk.

Last week, Vladimir Putin announced a military call-up and threatened to use all means at his disposal, including nuclear weapons, to defend what he considered Russian land. By annexing occupied areas of Ukraine, he will be able to argue that Russian territory is coming under attack from Western weapons, in the hope that some governments may halt their military aid to Kyiv.

However, Ukraine’s foreign minister has warned the sham votes will not have any influence on the battlefield.

Vladimir Putin has admitted that mistakes have been made in his drive to mobilise hundreds of thousands of Russians to bolster his troops on the front lines. Some 2,400 protesters have been arrested in dozens of cities and there has been an exodus of Russian men streaming across the border.

Kazakhstan alone reported 98,000 arrivals by September 27, and there have been long queues on the border with Georgia. From September 30, Finland has announced it will significantly restrict Russians entering for tourism or for onward travel to other EU countries.

Japan’s former prime minister Shinzo Abe has been killed after being shot twice at a political campaign event.

Shinzo Abe, 67, was in the process of giving a speech when a gunman attacked him from behind.

The event was taking place in the southern city of Nara. The former prime minister was making a campaign speech outside a railway station for Kei Sato, an incumbent member of the upper house of parliament.

Image source kremlin.ru

Kei Sato is standing for the ruling party, the Liberal Democrats, in elections for the Upper House scheduled for July 10.

The above image shows Shinzo Abe stepping up to make his speech as aides applaud.

But they are seemingly unaware of another figure in the background, a casually dressed youngish man with a black cross-body bag.

At 11:30 local time footage of the event shows the man moving forward, minutes after the former prime minister starts his speech. Shots ring out and Shinzo Abe falls to the ground, visibly bleeding.

As terrified spectators duck down, security officials tackle the 41-year-old suspect, who makes no attempt to run. They wrestle him to the ground and take him into custody.

Bystanders care for Shinzo Abe as he lies bleeding and he is airlifted to Nara Medical University Hospital for treatment. Media reports say he is able to speak in the minutes after the attack but subsequently loses consciousness.

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The former prime minister was in cardiac arrest on arrival at the hospital. Unsuccessful attempts were made to resuscitate him and he was given a blood transfusion, but was pronounced dead at 17:03.

Doctors say he received two wounds that damaged an artery, and suffered major heart damage.

Both wounds were deep, and blood loss was the cause of death, they add.

No bullets were found during surgery.

Eyewitnesses say they saw the man carrying what they describe as a large gun and firing twice at Shinzo Abe from behind.

The weapon, which was reportedly a handmade gun, was seized when the suspected attacker was arrested. Strict firearms laws in Japan make purchasing a gun extremely difficult.

The suspect has been identified as Nara resident Tetsuya Yamagami. Local media reports say he is believed to be a former member of Japan’s Maritime Self-Defense Force, Japan’s equivalent of a navy.

When questioned, he said he had been “dissatisfied” with Shinzo Abe and had intended to kill him.

Media reports say that an explosives team later raided the suspect’s house to gather evidence.

It is unclear how the suspect came to know about Shinzo Abe’s attendance at the rally as it was confirmed only late on Thursday night.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has visited Turkey for the first time since the 2018 murder of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi in its Istanbul consulate.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan embraced the prince before they held talks aimed at repairing a deep rift.

Turkey’s president once indirectly accused Prince Mohammed of ordering Saudi agents to kill Jamal Khashoggi. He denied any involvement.

Image source: Wikimedia Commons

Turkey is currently seeking trade, investment and assistance to help it deal with a worsening economic crisis.

It has also worked to improve relations with the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Israel after years of tensions.

Following their talks, a joint statement said the two men discussed improving relations and investment in sectors from energy to defence, among others.

The Saudi crown prince wants to end his international isolation and restore his powerful regional role.

He also visited Jordan and Egypt this week as part of a Middle East tour and next month will meet President Joe Biden, who promised in 2019 to make Saudi Arabia “the pariah that they are” over Khashoggi’s murder.

Jamal Khashoggi, a US-based Washington Post columnist and prominent critic of Prince Mohammed, was last seen entering the Istanbul consulate on October 2, 2018, where he had gone to get papers needed to marry his Turkish fiancee, Hatice Cengiz.

A UN investigator concluded Khashoggi had been “brutally slain” by a 15-strong team of Saudi agents sent from Riyadh, and that his body had been dismembered.

She made that judgement after listening to purported audio recordings of conversations inside the consulate made by Turkish intelligence.

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While President Erdogan did not directly accuse Prince Mohammed, he claimed he knew the order to kill Jamal Khashoggi had come “from the highest levels of the Saudi government”.

US intelligence agencies concluded that the crown prince had approved an operation to capture or kill Jamal Khashoggi.

Saudi prosecutors blamed “rogue” agents and said the prince had had no knowledge of the operation.

A year after the killing, a Saudi court found five unnamed people guilty of directly participating in the killing and handed them death sentences that were later commuted to 20-year prison terms, while three others were jailed for seven to 10 years for covering up the crime.

Hatice Cengiz condemned the decision to welcome Prince Mohammed to Turkey and vowed to continue her fight for justice.

“The political legitimacy he earns through the visits he makes to a different country every day doesn’t change the fact that he is a murderer,” she tweeted.

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Image source: Wikimedia Commons

A Russian-owned superyacht was ordered to leave Fiji for the US after a court upheld a FBI warrant.

The vessel allegedly sailed to Fiji to escape seizure.

US police had for months been tracking the 350ft Amadea – linked to sanctioned oligarch Suleiman Kerimov.

Agents had boarded the boat upon its arrival in Fiji in April, but the boat’s owner had launched a legal battle to stop the seizure.

They had argued the warrant contravened the Pacific island’s local law.

However on June 7, Fiji’s Supreme Court dismissed that argument and ordered the boat’s removal, pointing out the giant yacht’s docking in the port of Lautoka had cost the local government “dearly”.

US authorities in their submission had argued that the $300 million boat was estimated to cost about $25-30 million to keep running per year.

For the public benefit, it was better for the boat to be removed, Chief Justice Kamal Kumar said.

The judge found the vessel had sailed into Fiji waters “without any permit and most probably to evade prosecution by the United States”.

The defence team for the boat’s registered owners, Millemarin Investments, had argued the boat was not the property of Suleiman Kerimov’s and instead belonged to another Russian businessman, who is not facing sanctions.

However, US authorities allege that Suleiman Kerimov still has a beneficial connection to the boat.

The FBI alleged the boat had also tried to escape detection “almost immediately” after the war began by turning off its automated tracking system.

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US authorities first sanctioned Suleiman Kerimov in 2018 over a slew of money-laundering charges. The Russian has been sanctioned by other nations since, including by the EU block after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

On June 7, Fiji’s Director of Public Prosecutions said the court ruling demonstrated his nation’s commitment to external assistance requests and international law.

The court accepted the validity of the US warrant and agreed that issues concerning money laundering and ownership need to be decided in the court of original jurisdiction,” said Christopher Pryde.

Western authorities have stepped up a crackdown on the assets of dozens of Russian oligarchs in the wake of the Ukraine invasion in February.

Israeli police have attacked mourners at the funeral of Al Jazeera reporter Shireen Abu Akleh, whose killing in the occupied West Bank has caused a surge of anger.

The journalist’s coffin almost fell as police, some using batons, waded into a crowd of Palestinians gathered around it.

Police said they acted after being pelted with stones.

Image source: Twitter

Shireen Abu Akleh was shot dead in disputed circumstances on May 11, with Israel and Palestinians trading blame. The killing has been widely condemned.

Footage showed a standoff between police and Palestinians gathered around the coffin in the hospital compound, before officers push the crowd back, with some beating and kicking mourners. Police said officers “were forced to use riot dispersal means”.

A spokesman for UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said he was “deeply disturbed” by the confrontations between Israeli security forces and Palestinians and the behavior of some police.

White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki also said the images of police hitting mourners were disturbing.

“We regret the intrusion into what should have been a peaceful procession,” she said.

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The Palestinian Authority and Al Jazeera claim Shireen Abu Akleh was shot dead by Israeli forces, while Israel said it was not yet possible to determine what happened and that she could have been killed by Palestinian gunfire.

An Israeli military interim report on May 12 said the fatal shot could have come from “massive fire from Palestinian gunmen”, or possibly from “a few bullets” fired by a soldier “at a terrorist who was firing at his vehicle”.

Shireen Abu Akleh, a 51-year-old Palestinian American, was a veteran correspondent for Al Jazeera’s Arabic news channel and had reported on the Israel-Palestinian conflict for two decades.

The journalist was given the rarity of a funeral at the compound of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on May 12, where her coffin was brought draped in the Palestinian flag. President Abbas paid tribute to her, describing her as a “martyr of the free word” who “sacrificed her life” to defend the Palestinian cause.

He said Israel was “fully responsible for her killing” and that he would refer the case to the International Criminal Court, which investigates potential war crimes.

Israeli PM Naftali Bennett has accused President Abbas of “throwing blame at Israel without any basis”.

Shireen Abu Akleh was in the Jenin refugee camp early on May 11 to report on the Israeli raid. The Israeli military said the operation was to apprehend “terrorist suspects”.

It said: “Tens of Palestinian gunmen fired at and hurled explosive devices toward the soldiers. The soldiers responded with fire toward the gunmen and hits were identified.”

Another Palestinian journalist, Al Jazeera producer Ali Samoudi, was shot and wounded during the violence.

Image source: Reuters

The first war crimes trial since the beginning of Russia’s invasion has been started in Ukraine.

A 21-year-old soldier appearing in the dock is accused of killing an unarmed civilian.

Vadim Shishimarin appeared at a preliminary hearing in Kyiv. He faces life in prison if convicted.

Ukraine says it has identified thousands of potential war crimes committed by Russia.

Russia has denied targeting civilians and made no comment on the trial.

Prosecutors say Vadim Shishimarin was driving in a stolen vehicle with other soldiers in the north-eastern Sumy region when they encountered a 62-year-old cyclist using a phone.

According to the prosecutors, the soldier was ordered to shoot the civilian to stop them from telling Ukrainian defenders about their location.

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It is not clear how the Russian was captured or what the nature of the evidence against him is.

Vadim Shishimarin spoke to confirm basic details such as his name. He is yet to enter a plea, and the trial will reconvene next week.

Hundreds of bodies have been found in regions previously occupied by Russia.

Some of Ukraine’s allies, such as the UK and US, have joined the country in accusing Russia of carrying out genocide.

After the hearing, state prosecutor Andriy Synyuk told Reuters: “This is the first case today. But soon there will be a lot of these cases.”

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On the 63rd day of Ukraine’s defense against a full-scale Russian invasion, Moscow has decided to cut off gas exports to Poland and Bulgaria.

Hours after this decision, Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission president,warned that the Țera of Russian fossil fuel in Europe” is coming to an end.

Ursula von der Leyen said it showed Russia’s “unreliability” as a supplier.

Political leaders in Warsaw and Sofia had already said Russian energy giant Gazprom’s move amounted to “blackmail”.

However, the Kremlin said Russia had been forced into the action by the “unfriendly steps” of Western nations.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov added that Russia remains a reliable energy partner.

Gazprom’s cut-off follows Poland and Bulgaria’s refusal to pay for gas in Russian roubles – a demand made by President Vladimir Putin in March, which was designed to shore up the faltering currency battered by Western sanctions.

In a statement issued on April 27, Gazprom said it had “completely suspended gas supplies” to Poland and Bulgaria in line with the decree issued by President Putin.

Gazprom also warned the countries – which are transit states for Russian gas – that any unauthorized withdrawal of gas intended for other European nations would see supplies reduced by an equivalent amount.

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Polish state gas company PGNiG confirmed that Gazprom’s supplies to the country had been halted and warned that it reserved “the right to seek compensation”.

Poland’s President Andrzej Duda said “appropriate legal steps” will be taken against Gazprom.

Russia was seeking to “foster divisions” between Western allies.

Bulgarian PM Kiril Petkov said the country was reviewing all of its contracts with Gazprom, including for transit of Russian gas to Serbia and Hungary, emphasizing that “one-sided blackmail was not acceptable”.

Sofia, which relies on Gazprom for more than 90% of its gas supply, said overnight it had taken steps to find alternative sources but no restrictions on gas consumption were currently required for Bulgarians.

Ursula von der Leyen, speaking in Brussels, said Gazprom’s move was “unjustified and unacceptable,” but emphasized that the bloc was “prepared for this scenario”.

She also hit out against reports carried by the media outlet Bloomberg which alleged 10 European energy companies are preparing to make payments for Gazprom gas in roubles, and that four energy companies have done so already.

The EU leader said such moves would be “high risk” for the corporations and would constitute “a breach of our sanctions”.

“Our guidance here is very clear,” she said.

While the EU has been firm that it will not comply with Vladimir Putin’s demands that payments be made in roubles, Hungary has reached a workaround deal with Gazprom.

The countries will pay into a euro-denominated account with Gazprombank, a subsidiary of the energy giant, which in turn will deposit the amount in roubles.

Dmitry Peskov refused to say how many other countries have agreed to make payments in this way.

Ahead of Gazprom’s announcement, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s chief of staff accused Russia of “beginning the gas blackmail of Europe”.

Meanwhile, Vyacheslav Volodin, speaker of the Duma – the lower house of Russia’s parliament – praised Gazprom’s move and urged it to take similar action against other “unfriendly” countries.

Europe depends on Russia for more than a third of its gas needs and Gazprom holds a monopoly on pipeline supplies in Russia.

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Russian warship Moskva that was damaged by an explosion on April 13 has sunk, Russia’s defence ministry has said.

According to a ministry message, the flagship of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet, was being towed to port when “stormy seas” caused it to sink.

The 510-crew missile cruiser was a symbol of Russia’s military power, leading its naval assault on Ukraine.

Kyiv says its missiles hit the warship. Moscow has not reported any attack. It says the vessel sank after a fire.

The blaze caused the explosion of the warship’s ammunition, Russia says, adding that the entire crew were later evacuated to nearby Russian vessels in the Black Sea. It provided no further details.

Image source: Wikimedia Commons

After saying initially the warship was afloat, late on Thursday, April 14, Russian state media broke the news that the Moskva had been lost.

“While being towed… towards the destined port, the vessel lost its balance due to damage sustained in the hull as fire broke out after ammunition exploded. Given the choppy seas, the vessel sank,” state news agency Tass quoted the Russian defence ministry as saying.

Ukrainian military officials said they struck the Moskva with Ukrainian-made Neptune missiles – a weapon designed after Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014, and the naval threat to Ukraine in the Black Sea grew.

A senior Ukrainian official said as many as 510 crew could have been on board the Moskva.

On the first day of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24, the Moskva gained notoriety after calling on a small garrison of Ukrainian border troops defending Snake Island in the Black Sea to surrender – to which they memorably radioed an expletive-laden message of refusal.

Originally built in the Soviet-era, the Moskva entered service in the early 1980s. The vessel was actually laid down in Ukraine’s southern city of Mykolaiv, which has been heavily bombed by Russia in recent days.

The guided missile cruiser was previously deployed by Moscow in the Syria conflict where it supplied Russian forces in the country with naval protection.

It reportedly had 16 Vulkan anti-ship missiles and an array of anti-submarine and mine-torpedo weapons.

If the Ukrainian attack is confirmed, the 12,490-tonne Moskva would be the biggest warship to be sunk by enemy action since World War Two.

It is the second major vessel Russia has lost since the start of its invasion. In March, the Saratov landing ship was destroyed by a Ukrainian attack in the harbour of Berdyansk, a Sea of Azov Ukrainian port seized by Russia.

US journalist Brent Renaud has been shot dead in the town of Irpin, outside Kyiv, Ukraine, police say.

The 50-year-old was a journalist and filmmaker who was working in the region for Time.

Kyiv’s police chief Andriy Nebytov said Brent Renaud had been targeted by Russian soldiers. Two other journalists were injured and taken to hospital.

It is the first reported death of a foreign journalist covering the war in Ukraine.

One of the injured journalists, Juan Arredondo, told an Italian reporter he had been with Brent Renaud when they came under fire.

Photographs are circulating online showing a press ID for Brent Renaud issued by the New York Times.

In a statement, the newspaper said it was “deeply saddened” to hear of Brent Renaud’s death but that he had not been working for the newspaper in Ukraine.

Image source: Twitter

Brent Renaud last worked for the publication in 2015, the Times said, and the press ID he was wearing in Ukraine had been issued years ago.

Time editor-in-chief and CEO Edward Felsenthal and Ian Orefice, the president and chief operating officer of Time and Time Studios, said they were “devastated by the loss”.

“As an award-winning filmmaker and journalist, Brent tackled the toughest stories around the world often alongside his brother Craig Renaud,” the statement said.

Brent Renaud had reported from Afghanistan, Iraq and Haiti. He won a Peabody Award for his work on a 2014 series on Chicago schools, Last Chance High.

He often worked alongside his brother, Craig, also a filmmaker. It is not known whether Craig also travelled to Ukraine.

Brent Renaud’s death comes less than two weeks after Ukrainian journalist Yevhenii Skaum, a camera operator for the Ukrainian television channel LIVE, was killed when a TV transmission tower in Kyiv was hit by shelling. 

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Defiant residents in the Ukrainian city of Melitopol have gathered near the occupied district administration to protest against the alleged abduction of Mayor Ivan Fedorov by Russian forces.

Ukrainian officials have posted video saying it shows Ivan Fedorov being led away blindfolded on March 11.

In a message, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky accused the Russians of “moving to a new stage of terror”.

Melitopol, a small city in south-eastern Ukraine, was one of the first to fall to the Russians.

Image source: Twitter

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Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, arguing it felt threatened by its neighbour’s intent on joining Western-led organisations such as the NATO military alliance.

In his message on March 11, President Zelensky called Ivan Fedorov a “mayor who bravely defends Ukraine and the members of his community”.

“This is obviously a sign of weakness of the invaders,” the president said.

“They have moved to a new stage of terror in which they are trying to physically eliminate representatives of legitimate local Ukrainian authorities.”

Ivan Fedorov had said that his administration was not going toc o-operate with the Russians „in any way”.

The mayor said that invading forces had ransacked his offices, exiling his team to another location where they are attempting to continue running their city.

There have been protests in Melitopol every day since the Russian occupation.

On March 12, hundreds surrounded the administration building demanding the mayor’s release.

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Image source Wikimedia

Russian leader Vladimir Putin has described sanctions imposed by Western nations over his invasion of Ukraine as “akin to a declaration of war”.

“But thank God it has not come to that,” he added.

President Putin also warned that any attempt to impose a no-fly zone over Ukraine would be seen as participation in the armed conflict.

He rejected suggestions that he would introduce a state of emergency or martial law in Russia.

Vladimir Putin made the remarks while speaking to a group of women flight attendants at an Aeroflot training centre near Moscow.

Since the start of Russia’s invasion 10 days ago, the West has imposed a raft of sanctions on Russia, including the freezing of President Putin’s foreign assets and the exclusion of a number of Russian banks from the Swift international payments system.

In addition, many multinational firms have ceased operations in Russia.

On March 5, Zara, Paypal and Samsung became the latest global brands to suspend trading there.

The economic measures have already caused the rouble to plunge in value and forced the Russian central bank to double interest rates.

In his latest comments, President Putin sought to justify the war in Ukraine, repeating his assertion that he was seeking to defend Russian speaking communities there through the “demilitarisation and de-Nazification” of the country.

Responding to Western defence analysts’ allegations that the Russian military campaign was going less well than expected, he said: “Our army will fulfil all the tasks. I don’t doubt that at all. Everything is going to plan.”

The Russian leader added that only professional soldiers were taking part in the hostilities and there were no conscripts involved, despite reports to the contrary.

He said efforts to impose a no-fly zone in Ukraine would be considered by Russia to be a step into the military conflict and those responsible would be treated as enemy combatants.

“The current leadership needs to understand that if they continue doing what they are doing, they risk the future of Ukrainian statehood,” he added.

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For his part, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has condemned NATO for ruling out the no-fly zone. However, Western leaders say introducing the measure would be an escalation.

Vladimir Putin also said he had no plans to declare martial law in Russia. adding that such a step would only be taken in “instances of external aggression, in defined areas of military activity”.

“But we don’t have such a situation and I hope we won’t have one,” he said.

There had been rumours that Vladimir Putin was planning to declare martial law, which is when normal civil law is suspended or the military takes control of government functions.

He said there were other special emergency states which could be used in the case of a “large-scale external threat”, but that he had no plans to introduce these either.

Meanwhile, diplomatic moves have continued on the sidelines of the conflict.

Israeli PM Naftali Bennett met Vladimir Putin in Moscow on March 5 and had a three-hour discussion on the war.

Naftali Bennett then headed to Berlin to meet German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. As an Orthodox Jew, he broke Shabbat in order to travel, which is allowed under Jewish law if human life is at stake.

Although Israel is a key ally of the US, Naftali Bennett has tried to preserve a good relationship with Russia. Ukraine’s President Zelensky, who is Jewish, has called on Israel to mediate in the crisis.

The US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, has met Ukraine’s Foreign Minister, Dmytro Kuleba, telling him he was in awe of his courage in standing up to Russia.

The two men met on the Polish-Ukraine border. Dmytro Kuleba reiterated his desire and optimism for more military backing from NATO, including a no-fly zone.

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Image source: Getty Images

France has intercepted and impounded a Russian-flagged car cargo ship suspected of breaching sanctions imposed because of the invasion of Ukraine.

The Baltic Leader ship was heading from the north-western French city of Rouen to St Petersburg in Russia with a cargo of new cars.

It is being held at the Channel port of Boulogne.

According to the Russian state media, the vessel is owned by a subsidiary of a bank targeted in recent EU and US sanctions.

A regional French official said such a measure was rare, but called it a sign of firmness.

The U.S. says the ship was linked to the son of a former Russian spy chief, in one of the first visible displays of the West enforcing sanctions on Moscow over its Ukraine invasion.

The US Treasury Department has issued blocking sanctions against the vessel, saying it is owned by a subsidiary of Promsvyazbank, one of the Russian financial institutions hit by sanctions.

However, the bank has said it no longer owns the Baltic Leader. It told Reuters that the ship was sold to another firm before the sanctions were imposed.

French officials said they were checking whether the vessel was linked to Russian financial interests and that the crew were “being co-operative”.

The process could take up to 48 hours, they added.

The Russian embassy in Paris said it would send a note of protest to the French foreign ministry over the seizure.

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Image source: Wikimedia

More European countries have closed their airspace to Russian flights, as Moscow faces rising pressure over the invasion of Ukraine.

Estonia, Latvia, Slovenia and Romania announced on February 26 they were banning some flights from Russia.

Russia earlier said it would close its airspace to flights from Bulgaria, Poland and the Czech Republic after they issued a ban on Russian jets.

Meanwhile, Russian-owned planes can no longer enter UK airspace.

Estonian PM Kaja Kallas urged other EU countries to issue similar restrictions on Twitter, adding: “There is no place for planes of the aggressor state in democratic skies.”

Slovenian PM Janez Jansa quoted Kallas’s tweet saying that “Slovenia will do the same”.

Latvian Transport Minister Talis Linkaits also said on Twitter that “Latvia will close its airspace to Russian-registered airlines for commercial flights,” adding that the decision would be formally approved at the next cabinet meeting.

The restriction on Russian flights over large swathes of eastern Europe will require Russian airlines to take circuitous routes.

One Aeroflot flight from Moscow to Budapest on February 26 logged a flight time about 75 minutes longer than usual, according to the Flightradar24 tracking website, with a route avoiding Poland.

Commercial airlines are also avoiding airspace around Ukraine, Moldova and Belarus following Russia’s invasion. As the Kyiv airport is closed, many foreigners stuck in Ukraine cannot return home.

In the United States, Delta Air Lines said it would suspend a code-sharing agreement with Russia’s Aeroflot.

The UK’s ban on Russian flights, including Aeroflot planes and private jets, led Moscow to retaliate with a similar curb on British planes.

Virgin Atlantic said avoiding Russia would add between 15 minutes and an hour to its flights between the UK and India and Pakistan.

Moroccan rescuers retrieved a 5-year-old boy from a well where he had been stuck for five days, state media reported late on February 5, but it was not clear if he had survived the ordeal.

They worked through the night to reach the boy, named by local media as Rayan, who plunged 32m (104ft) through the well’s narrow opening four days ago.

Rescuers said they were in an access tunnel less than a metre from the boy.

Fears of a possible landslide complicated the task. At that moment, a rescue official was unsure Rayan was still alive.

Chief rescuer Abdelhadi Tamrani told AFP that the camera showed him from behind lying on his side.

“It is not possible to determine the child’s condition at all at this time. But we hope to God that the child is alive,” he told local TV.

Footage on February 3 from a camera lowered into the well showed that Rayan was alive and conscious, although he appeared to be suffering from some minor head injuries.

Rescue workers have lowered an oxygen mask, food and water into the well but it was unclear whether the boy had been able to use the supplies.

A medical team is also on site, ready to treat the boy. A helicopter has also arrived at the scene.

The rescue effort has gripped the North African country for days, and thousands have gathered at the scene and have been encouraging rescuers.

The mixture of rocky and sandy soils has meant rescuers deem opening the water well’s narrow shaft to be too dangerous.

Instead, bulldozers were used to cut a huge trench next to the well. Rescuers then started digging horizontally to reach the boy.

Image source: Getty Images

Led by Morocco’s Civil Protection Directorate, rescue operations in the small northern town of Tamorot, around 60 miles from the city of Chefchaouen, have been ongoing since February 1.

Rayan’s father was repairing the well at the time of the accident, and has said he and Rayan’s mother were “devastated and very worried”.

“In that one moment I took my eyes off him, the little one fell into the well. I haven’t slept a wink,” he told news site le360 on February 2.

Speaking to Moroccan media with tears in her eyes, Rayan’s mother said: “The whole family went out to look for him. Then we realised that he’d fallen down the well. I’m still keeping up hope that we’ll get him out alive.”

On Moroccan social media, the #SaveRayan has been trending across the country as thousands of people have followed updates from local media and onlookers at the scene.

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France’s President Emmanuel Macron has sparked outrage after using divisive, vulgar language to say he wanted to make life difficult for unvaccinated people.

He told Le Parisien newspaper: “I really want to piss them off, and we’ll carry on doing this – to the end.”

Three months ahead of a presidential election, opponents of President Macron said his words were unworthy of a president.

French lawmakers halted debate on a law barring the unvaccinated from much of public life.

The session in the National Assembly was brought to a standstill for a second night running on January 4 as opposition delegates complained about the president’s language, with one leading figure describing it as “unworthy, irresponsible and premeditated”.

The legislation is expected to be approved in a vote this week, but it has angered vaccine opponents.

Image source: Wikimedia Commons

Mandatory vaccinations are being introduced in several European countries, with Austria leading the way for over-14s from next month and Germany planning a similar move for adults. Italy’s government was on January 5 considering a compulsory vaccine pass for at least anyone over 60.

In his interview with Le Parisien on January 4, President Macron used the vulgar term emmerder to say how he wanted to stir up the unvaccinated. He would not “vaccinate by force” the remaining five million who had not had a dose, but hoped to encourage people to get the vaccines by “limiting as much as possible their access to activities in social life”.

He said: “I won’t send [unvaccinated people] to prison.

“So we need to tell them, from January 15, you will no longer be able to go to the restaurant. You will no longer be able to go for a coffee, you will no longer be able to go to the theatre. You will no longer be able to go to the cinema.”

Ahead of a presidential election campaign in which Emmanuel Macron is yet to announce his intention to run, his remarks prompted a strong reaction from opposition figures.

Right-wing Republicans candidate Valérie Pécresse said she was outraged that the president had accused unvaccinated people of not being citizens.

“You have to accept them as they are – lead them, bring them together and not insult them,” she told CNews.

Party colleague Bruno Retailleau said pointedly: “Emmanuel Macron says he has learned to love the French, but it seems he especially likes to despise them.”

Far-right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen tweeted: “A president shouldn’t say that… Emmanuel Macron is unworthy of his office.”

Meanwhile, leftist politician Jean-Luc Mélenchon described the remarks as an astonishing confession: “It’s clear, the vaccination pass is a collective punishment against individual freedom.”

The latest opinion gave President Macron the edge over his rivals on January 5, with 27% of votes in the first round on April 10, ahead of Valérie Pécresse and Marine Le Pen both on 16%. The poll for Le Figaro/LCI also gave him a run-off victory, with the closest margin of 55%-45% with the Republican candidate.

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Emmanuel Macron’s choice of language is not unprecedented for a French leader.

The same word was used by Georges Pompidou in 1966 when he said it was time to stop annoying the French. Like him, Emmanuel Macron said his role was not to irritate the French, but the unvaccinated was a different story.

PM Jean Castex told parliament later that people everywhere were saying the same as the president. “Our citizens have a sense of exasperation seeing a whole kind of restrictions imposed while others choose to break free of them.”

France has one of the highest Covid vaccination rates in the EU, with more than 90% of the adult population double-jabbed.

For months France has asked people to show either proof of vaccination or a negative Covid test to access many public venues.

However, the French government wants to remove the option to show a negative test in response to record increases in infections, driven by the highly contagious Omicron and Delta variants of Covid.

On January 5, France reported 332,252 new daily Covid cases – the highest number of daily infections recorded in the country since the start of the pandemic.

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Image source: Reuters

Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned President Joe Biden that imposing new sanctions over Ukraine could lead to a complete breakdown in relations.

In a phone call late on December 30, Vladimir Putin said such sanctions would be a “colossal mistake”.

President Biden, meanwhile, told Vladimir Putin that the US and its allies would respond decisively to any invasion of Ukraine.

The call, requested by Russia, was the pair’s second such conversation this month and lasted for almost an hour.

It marked the latest effort to defuse tensions over Ukraine’s eastern border with Russia, where Ukrainian officials say more than 100,000 Russian troops have been sent.

The build-up has prompted concern in the West, with the US threatening Vladimir Putin with sanctions “like none he’s ever seen” if Ukraine comes under attack.

Russia, however, denies it is planning to invade Ukraine and says the troops are there for exercises. It says it is entitled to move its troops freely on its own soil.

Although the two sides exchanged warnings during the call, Russian foreign policy adviser Yuri Ushakov told reporters shortly after that Vladimir Putin was “pleased” with the conversation. He added that it had created a “good backdrop” for future talks.

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US and Russian officials are set to meet for in-person talks in Geneva next month, and the White House said President Biden urged his Russian counterpart to pursue a diplomatic solution.

In a holiday message before December 30 call, Vladimir Putin told Joe Biden he was “convinced” the pair could work together based on “mutual respect and consideration of each other’s national interests”.

His spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said Moscow was “in the mood for a conversation”.

Ukraine’s defense minister told parliament at the start of December that Russia had massed tens of thousands of troops near the border, and could be gearing up for a large-scale military offensive at the end of January.

Russia has argued the military build-up at the border is a protective measure against NATO, the Western military alliance. It wants legally binding guarantees that NATO will not expand further east, and that certain weapons will not be sent to Ukraine or any neighboring countries.

The US has rejected what it styles as a Kremlin bid to control the future of independent countries.

Ukraine has not been offered NATO membership, but has close ties with the bloc.

Tensions between Russia and Ukraine are nothing new. In 2014, Russia annexed Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula and soon after started to back a separatist insurgency in Ukraine’s east that has seen some 14,000 people killed in periodic fighting.

Washington and its European allies have warned Russia to expect severe economic sanctions if troops do cross into Ukraine again.