Leader Kim Jong Un says it’s to honor those who have fought alongside Russia against Ukraine
State-run Korean Central Television says the groundbreaking ceremony took place on Thursday.
Kim sought to justify sending troops to the Kursk region in western Russia, adding that the memorial will symbolize their strengthening relationship, “forged at the cost of blood.”
Russia’s ambassador to North Korea reportedly attended along with soldiers who have served in Russia. The families of soldiers who have died in the fighting also took part.
Ukraine’s intelligence agency reportedly said recently that as many as 13,000 North Korean troops are stationed in Kursk.
Observers say Pyongyang is also building the memorial to foster more national unity.
Hadush Gerberslasie Kebatu had been staying at The Bell Hotel in the Essex town, with the incident fuelling weeks of protests at the site.
The Ethiopian national was found guilty of two counts of sexual assault, attempted sexual assault, inciting a girl to engage in sexual activity and harassment without violence earlier this month. District judge Christopher Williams said Kebatu posed a “significant risk of reoffending” when he sentenced him to 12 months in prison in September.
Sky News understands Kebatu was being released from HMP Chelmsford as he was due to be immediately deported.
He was released on the expectation that he would be picked up by immigration enforcement, but it is currently unclear what happened next. It is understood that the Home Office was ready to take Kebatu to an immigration removal centre.
Essex Police launched a manhunt for Kebatu after he was accidentally freed on Friday morning, and the force said in a statement that the asylum seeker boarded a train to London shortly after midday.
“We were informed by the prison service at 12.57pm today of an error this morning surrounding the release of an individual,” Essex police said in a statement.
The force added that “fast-paced enquiries have shown that the man boarded a London-bound train at Chelmsford Railway Station at 12.41pm”.
HANGU: At least three policemen, including a senior officer, were killed on Friday as twin blasts hit Hangu district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, police said.
Police identified the officer as SP Operations Asad Zubair and said at least three policemen were injured when the blast targeted his vehicle.
District Police Officer Khanzeb Mohmand confirmed the fatalities and said the wounded had been shifted to DHQ Hospital Hangu.
This was the second of two successive explosions which occurred close together.
The first blast occurred beside a police checkpoint in Ghulmina and caused no casualties, though a room near the checkpoint was destroyed.
The second explosion, about two kilometres away in Darband, targeted the police team that had gone to inspect the earlier site; SP Asad Zubair and three personnel were martyred in this attack.
The injured were shifted to DHQ Hospital Hangu. A bomb disposal squad and police commandos have launched a search operation in the area.
Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi condemned the attack on the police vehicle in Hangu and paid tribute to SP Operations Asad Zubair and two police personnel who embraced martyrdom.
He expressed heartfelt condolences and sympathy to the bereaved families.
He said the sacrifice of SP Asad Zubair and the two policemen would not go in vain, adding that SP Zubair and the personnel had attained the highest rank of martyrdom.
The country has witnessed a surge in cross-border terror incidents since Taliban rulers returned to Afghanistan in 2021, particularly in the bordering provinces of KP and Balochistan.
The two provinces which share a porous border with neighbouring Afghanistan faced the brunt of the terrorism incidents in Pakistan, accounting for more than 96% of the total violence across the country.
In August, the incidents in the country surged by 74% compared to July, according to a report by the Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies (PICSS). The Islamabad-based think tank recorded 194 fatalities from militant attacks during the month.
Turkey: Court dismisses opposition party’s corruption case
After a year-long legal crackdown on the CHP opposition party, a judge said corruption suspicions against it have “no basis.” Istanbul Mayor Imamoglu, seen as a challenger to President Erdogan, is still under arrest.
Ozgur Ozel waves to supporters at a CHP rally The case in Ankara against the Republican People’s Party (CHP) and its chairman, Ozgur Ozel, was seen as a test of the country’s shaky balance between democracy and
A court in Turkey has dismissed a graft case against the country’s main opposition party, the social democratic CHP, ruling that the lawsuit lacked merit.
The case sought to annul the party’s 2023 congress, during which longtime leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu was ousted CHP leader Ozgur Ozel elected. It alleged vote-buying and procedural violations.
However, the judge rejected the lawsuit, saying it had “no basis.”
The ruling is expected to ease tensions stemming from a year-long legal crackdown on the party. Applause broke out in the courtroom after the decision was announced
PetroChina, Sinopec, CNOOC and Zhenhua Oil have paused seaborne purchases of Russian crude “at least for the short term” due to fears of secondary sanctions, according to the sources.
None of the four companies responded to requests for comment from Reuters.
Neither the Russian oil companies nor the Chinese government has publicly commented on the reported suspensions.
Industry consultancies offer differing estimates of Chinese state-company imports from 250,000 barrels per day to 500,000 bpd.
President Gitanas Nauseda confirmed the military planes violated Lithuania’s air space on Thursday evening, and said the breach was a blatant infraction on the territorial integrity of the country, which is a member of both the EU and Nato.
The foreign ministry will summon Russian embassy representatives in Vilnius, the Lithuanian capital, to protest over the violation, Mr Nauseda said. “This is a blatant breach of international law and territorial integrity of Lithuania,” he wrote. “Once again, it confirms the importance of strengthening European air defence readiness.
Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda said that Russian military planes violated Lithuania’s airspace on Thursday evening (local time), condemning the breach as a blatant infraction on the territorial integrity of his European Union and NATO-member country.
Lithuania’s foreign ministry will summon Russian Embassy representatives in Vilnius, the Lithuanian capital, to protest the violation, Nausėda said in a post on the social media platform X.
“This is a blatant breach of international law and territorial integrity of Lithuania,” Nausėda wrote on X. “Once again, it confirms the importance of strengthening European air defence readiness.”
There was no immediate comment from Moscow.
The Baltic nations are increasingly worried by neighbouring Russia’s aggression on Ukraine, as a series of mysterious drone incidents and airspace violations by Russian war planes in recent weeks have fuelled concerns that President Vladimir Putin might be testing NATO’s defensive reflexes.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer will push allies to provide Ukraine with more long-range missiles to strike Russian targets at a meeting in London on Friday.
He will host Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky along with the so-called “coalition of the willing”, comprising of more than 20 of Ukraine’s allies who have agreed to provide Kyiv security guarantees once a ceasefire is brokered.
Zelensky has been pleading for weeks for more long-range weapons from the West, a move Russia has warned would escalate the conflict.
Ukraine’s leader is travelling from Brussels, where he met EU leaders on Thursday seeking financial support.Zelensky arrives off the back of two diplomatic wins this week: US President Donald Trump’s decision to finally apply further sanctions against Russia, and the European Union agreeing to fund a Ukrainian budget hole.
Sir Keir is hoping to maintain the momentum by increasing the pressure on Moscow to negotiate an end to the war.
Among the leaders attending Friday’s summit will be Nato Secretary General Mark Rutte, Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and Netherlands’ Dick Schoof. Others including French President Emmanuel Macron will join virtually.
Sir Keir will urge leaders to ramp up the provision of long-range weapons after a successful attack on a chemical plant in Bryansk, Russia, using British-supplied Storm Shadow missiles.
“The only person involved in this conflict who does not want to stop the war is President Putin,” Sir Keir said.
“And his depraved strikes on young children in a nursery this week make that crystal clear,” he added.
Two children were among at least seven killed in a wave of Russian strikes on Ukraine, which hit a nursery in the second biggest city Kharkiv.
Sir Keir will also announce 100 additional air defence missiles will be delivered to Ukraine earlier than planned, as outlined in a £1.6bn deal struck between the UK and Ukraine in March.
“Time and again we offer Putin the chance to end his needless invasion, to stop the killing and recall his troops, but he repeatedly rejects those proposals and any chance of peace,” Sir Keir said.
EPA Volodymyr Zelensky and Italian leader Giorgia Meloni turn towards each other as they sit down during a meeting at the Brussels summit on Thursday.EPA Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky met Italian leader Giorgia Meloni at the Brussels summit on Thursday
Long-range missiles have become a key demand in Zelensky’s talks with allies.
Trump floated the possibility of the US selling Tomahawk cruise missiles to Ukraine, but Zelensky came away empty-handed from a White House meeting last week.
Sir Keir will consult Western allies on how to take Russian oil and gas off the global market.
They will also discuss using frozen Russian assets to provide Ukraine with financial loans, although the plan faced a lack of political consensus and legal hurdles at the Brussels summit on Thursday.
The EU stopped short of agreeing to a proposal to use up to €140bn (£122bn) in frozen Russian assets to financially prop up Ukraine.
However, the leaders agreed to help support Ukraine’s “financial needs” for the next two years.
The US also announced sanctions on Wednesday against Russia’s two largest oil companies, Rosneft and Lukoil, as part of efforts to add financial pressure on Moscow to enter ceasefire negotiations.
Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. It currently controls about 20% of Ukrainian territory, including the southern Crimea peninsular Moscow annexed in 2014.
EU fails to back frozen Russian cash loan – but vows to support Ukraine
It is the second fatal bus fire in two weeks, and authorities are investigating whether a jammed door may have contributed to the deaths.
A passenger bus erupted into flames after a motorcycle crashed into itImage: ANI
At least 20 people died in southern India after a bus caught fire following a collision with a motorcycle, police said.
The incident occurred early Friday near Kurnool, a city in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh.
“Eleven bodies have been identified and nine are yet to be identified,” local police official Vikrant Patil said. “Some bodies are badly charred.”
Concerns over public transport safety Police said the motorcycle rammed into the bus from behind and became stuck under its fuel tank, triggering an explosion that engulfed the vehicle in flames.
“As the smoke started spreading, the driver stopped the bus and tried to put the fire out by using a fire extinguisher, but the fire was so intense he couldn’t control it,” Patil said.
Eighteen passengers escaped, some by breaking windows, but many were asleep when the fire broke out. Police also suspect a jammed door might have been the reason for the high number of deaths.
This marks the second deadly bus fire in India in recent weeks. The Kurnool incident comes less than two weeks after 19 people were killed in the western desert state of Rajasthan when a private bus caught fire.
But they didn’t know it was nearly impossible. They were “fishes” allegedly being targeted by the mafia in an elaborate poker gambling scheme that included X-ray card tables, secret cameras, analysers in chip trays and sunglasses and contact lenses that could read their hand.
In what sounds like an Ocean’s Eleven film plot, prosecutors say these “unwitting” victims were cheated out of at least $7m (£5.25) in poker games – with one person losing at least $1.8m (£1.35m).
The scheme, which US prosecutors described as “reminiscent of a Hollywood movie,” was dismantled in a sprawling federal investigation that led to more than 30 arrests, including members of La Costra Nostra crime families, Portland Trail Blazers basketball coach Chauncey Billups and former National Basketball Association (NBA) player Damon Jones.
FBI director Kash Patel called it a “mind-boggling” fraud scheme that cheated victims in New York, Miami, Las Vegas and other US cities.
Arrests in the scheme were announced Thursday along with those in an alleged basketball betting plot, where professional NBA players are accused of faking injuries to influence betting odds.The technology was everywhere – an X-ray table that read any face-down card, analysers inside chip trays, a rigged shuffling machine that read cards and predicted who would have the best hand, and pre-marked cards that allowed those wearing special sunglasses and contact lenses to read what was in everyone’s hands.
Secretive cameras – built into tables and light fixtures – also helped convey information to those helping in the plot, authorities say.
Then there was also a sophisticated method of communicating and rigging the game, prosecutors allege.
Information from the game would be sent to an off-site conspirator – called an “operator” by prosecutors – who then would send information to another player sitting at the table who was in on the scheme – which prosecutors call a “quarterback” or “driver”.
The United States is considering a proposal for humanitarian aid delivery in Gaza that would replace the controversial US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, according to a copy of the plan seen by Reuters.
The United States is considering a proposal for humanitarian aid delivery in Gaza that would replace the controversial US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, according to a copy of the plan seen by Reuters.
It is one of several concepts being explored, said a US official and a humanitarian official familiar with the plan, as Washington seeks to facilitate increased deliveries of assistance to the Palestinian enclave after two years of war. 2 The United States is reportedly considering a proposal for humanitarian aid delivery in Gaza that would replace the controversial US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.
According to a copy of the plan seen by Reuters, it is one of several concepts being explored, said a US official and a humanitarian official familiar with the plan, as Washington seeks to facilitate increased deliveries of assistance to the enclave after two years of war
