Home Blog Page 170

Russian missile attack on Zelenskyy’s hometown kills at least 10; dozens wounded

Diplomat Times
-
0
Russian missile attack on Zelenskyy’s hometown kills at least 10; dozens wounded

Russian missile attack on Zelenskyy’s hometown kills at least 10; dozens wounded

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian missiles hit civilian buildings in a central Ukrainian city overnight, killing at least 10 people, regional officials said Tuesday as rescuers searched for at least one person still believed to be trapped under the rubble.

Kryvyi Rih mayor Oleksandr Vilkul said that the death toll had risen to at least 10. He said that one person is still believed to be trapped under the rubble and 28 were wounded.

The strike involving cruise missiles hit a five-story residential building, which was engulfed in fire, Gov. Serhiy Lysak of the Dnipropetrovsk region wrote on Telegram.

The devastation in President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s hometown is the latest bloodshed in Russia’s war in Ukraine, which began in February 2022, as Ukrainian forces are mounting counteroffensive operations using Western-supplied firepower to try to drive out the Russians.

Images from the scene relayed by Zelenskyy on his Telegram channel showed firefighters battling the blaze as pockets of fire poked through multiple broken windows of a building. Charred and damaged vehicles littered the nearby ground.

READ MORE : Russia says Ukraine is launching major attacks; Kyiv accuses Moscow of misinformation

“More terrorist missiles,” he wrote. “Russian killers continue their war against residential buildings, ordinary cities and people.”

The aerial assault was the latest barrage of strikes by Russian forces that targeted various parts of Ukraine overnight.

Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, was attacked with Iranian-made Shahed drones, and the surrounding region was shelled, local Gov. Oleh Syniehubov said on Telegram. The shelling wounded two civilians in the town of Shevchenkove, southeast of Kharkiv.

The mayor of Kharkiv, Ihor Terekhov, separately reported early Tuesday that the drone strike damaged a utilities business and a warehouse in the city’s northeast. Neither Terekhov nor Syniehubov referenced any casualties within Kharkiv.

Oleksandr Syrskyi wrote on Telegram that Russian forces are “losing positions on the flanks,” while Ukrainian troops were conducting “defensive” operations in the area.

For weeks, Ukrainian officials have been reporting small gains west of Bakhmut, which was largely devastated in the war’s longest and bloodiest battle before Moscow’s forces took control last month.

Over the last day in Ukrainian-held areas of Donetsk, nearly a dozen frontline towns and villages came under increased shelling as Ukrainian troops pushed forward, Zelenskyy’s office said.

Also Tuesday, the Russian Defense Ministry published a video showing what it said was a German-made Leopard 2 tank and U.S.-made Bradley fighting vehicle captured from Ukrainian forces. According to the ministry, the video was shot by Russian soldiers after fierce fighting in the southern Zaporizhzhia, and a soldier is seen pointing at the immobilized vehicles. It wasn’t immediately possible to verify the video’s authenticity.

Like the Bakhmut area, battle zones in Zaporizhzhia are one of several places along the roughly 1,000-kilometer (600-mile) front line where Ukrainian forces have been intensifying their counteroffensive operations.

Vladimir Rogov, an official with the Moscow-appointed administration for parts of Zaporizhzhia that Russia controls, alleged that the Ukrainian counteroffensive had failed, and told state news agency RIA-Novosti that Ukrainian forces “continue to suffer colossal losses when they make new attempts to advance.” He did not elaborate, and his claims could not be immediately verified.

On Monday, Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar said the country’s troops recaptured a total of seven villages spanning 90 square kilometers (35 square miles) of eastern Ukraine over the past week — small successes in the early phases of a counteroffensive.

Russian officials didn’t confirm those Ukrainian gains, which were impossible to verify and could be reversed in the to-and-fro of war.

The advance amounted to only small bits of territory and underscored the difficulty of the battle ahead for Ukrainian forces, who will have to fight meter by meter to regain the roughly one-fifth of their country under Russian occupation.

Follow Us: Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Youtube |

Who is Casper Ruud whom beat by Novak Djokovic in French Open Final

Shasi Kumar
-
0
Who is Casper Ruud whom beat by Novak Djokovic in French Open Final

Who is Casper Ruud whom beat by Novak Djokovic in French Open Final

SPORTS (DT)- Casper Ruud born December 22nd 1998 in Norway. He is righthanded and started playing tennis at the age of 4 and my home club is Snarøya Tennisclub.

He started his professional career in 2016.

When he captured the Osaka Mayors Cup in Osaka, Japan, he started the 2016 season as the world #1 ranked junior. Shortly after he won his first professional title at the Paguera, Spain Futures February 2016.

Casper’s first breakthrough on the ATP Tour came in September 2016 when he won his first career ATP Challenger in Seville. With his win, Casper became the 5th youngest player to ever win a Challenger title!

Regarded as one of the best young talents on the ATP Tour, Casper took the tennis world by storm in February 2017 by making the semi-finals of the ATP 500 level Rio Open in Rio de Janeiro. On his way to the semi-finals, Casper beats two top-100 players and held a match point in the semi’s against a top 30 player.

READ MORE : Novak Djokovic wins his 23rd Grand Slam title by beating Casper Ruud in the French Open final

In 2018 he continues to play the challenger tour with some good results. In the Fall of 2018 Casper and his team starts a collaboration with The Rafa Nadal Academy in Mallorca.

He also qualifies for three grand slams and winning first round in Australian Open and French Open. He ends the year as ATP #112.

In 2019 he reaches semis in ATP 500 Rio and ATP 250 in Sao Paulo and moves on to reach his first final in ATP 250 in Houston. He qualifies into ATP Masters 1000 Rome and reaches third round. In French Open he reaches third round were he loses to Federer.

Moving on to the hardcourt he reaches the quarterfinal in St Petersburg and qualifies to Masters 1000 Paris and to the Nextgen ATP Finals. He ends 2019 as ATP #54.

In 2020 he starts the year in ATP Cup in Perth by beating Isner (ATP #18) and Fognini (ATP #12) breaking into top 50.

In the South American swing he wins his first title in Buenos Aires ATP 250 and becomes the first Norwegian to win an ATP title and he reaches his career high of ATP #34 and the highest ranked Norwegian player in history.

Ruud has a career-high singles ranking of world No. 2, achieved on 12 September 2022, making him the highest-ranked Norwegian in history.

Casper Ruud’s Family 

Ruud is the son of former professional tennis player Christian Ruud.

Father, Christian, is his coach and achieved career-high No. 39 on ATP Tour. Mother, Lele Catharine. Casper Ruud has two sisters, Caroline and Charlotte. He grew up in the Snarøya district of Bærum, with Rafael Nadal as his tennis idol.

He is Top-ranked tenis player in Norwegian history. He is 6 feet and his weight 77 Kg. If he wasn’t a tennis player, he would be a pilot according to ATP bio.

Casper Rudd Likes eating Thai, Japanese and Italian food, as well as steak.

His social media accounts are here Twitter Instagram Facebook

Casper Ruud’s girl friend

Casper Ruud’s girl friend’s name is Maria Galligani.

Casper Ruud has been dating his girlfriend Maria Galligani since 2018. Over the years, the young couple, both of whom are from Norway, have traveled all over the world together for Ruud’s tournaments, and Galligani has been right by her boyfriend’s side as he has climbed the world rankings.

Galligani seems to be close with Ruud’s family, including his sisters, Caroline and Charlotte. She has sat with them in Ruud’s family box at many tournaments and has posed for photos with the family after his wins.

CASPAR RUDD with his girl friend, and his family. Photo : Caspar Rudd Instagram

If you really like this information, like and share with your friends

Source : (ATP and CR) with Wikipedia

Follow Us: Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Youtube |

Novak Djokovic wins his 23rd Grand Slam title by beating Casper Ruud in the French Open final

Shasi Kumar
-
0

Novak Djokovic wins his 23rd Grand Slam title by beating Casper Ruud in the French Open final

PARIS (AP) — Novak Djokovic made clear for years that this was his goal. What drove him. What inspired him. The biggest titles from his sport’s biggest stages were Djokovic’s main aim and now he finally stands alone — ahead of Rafael Nadal, ahead of Roger Federer, ahead of every man who ever has swung a racket.

If Djokovic could wait this long to hold this record, he certainly could wait for the half-hour or so it took to straighten out his strokes in the French Open final. And so, after a bit of a shaky start in thick, humid air and under foreboding charcoal clouds Sunday, he imposed himself. The opponent at Court Philippe Chatrier, Casper Ruud, never really stood a serious chance after that.

Djokovic earned his men’s-record 23rd Grand Slam singles championship, breaking a tie with Nadal and moving three in front of the retired Federer, with a 7-6 (1), 6-3, 7-5 victory over Ruud that really was not in doubt for most of its 3 hours, 13 minutes.

READ MORE : Novak Djokovic laments fans who ‘boo every single thing’ after lengthy French Open win

Djokovic, a 36-year-old from Serbia, puts this one alongside the French Open titles he earned in 2016 and 2021, making him the only man with at least three from each major event. He has won 10 trophies at the Australian Open, seven at Wimbledon and three at the U.S. Open.

Also worth noting: Djokovic is again halfway to a calendar-year Grand Slam — winning all four majors in one season — something no man has achieved since Rod Laver in 1969. Djokovic came close to pulling off that feat in 2021, when he won the Australian Open, French Open and Wimbledon and made it all the way to the title match at the U.S. Open before losing to Daniil Medvedev.

Djokovic will resume that pursuit at Wimbledon, which begins on the grass of the All England Club on July 3.

He has now clutched the trophy at 11 of the last 20 Slams, a remarkable run made even more so when considering that he did not participate in two majors during that span because he did not get vaccinated against COVID-19. Djokovic was deported from Australia in January 2021 before the Australian Open, and he was not allowed to fly to the United States ahead of last year’s U.S. Open under a rule that since has been lifted.

Getting to 23 not only sets the mark for men, but it also lets Djokovic equal Serena Williams, who wrapped up her career last year, for the most by anyone in the Open era, which began in 1968. Margaret Court won some of her all-time record of 24 Slam trophies in the amateur era.

At 20 days past his 36th birthday, Djokovic is the oldest singles champion at Roland Garros, considered the most grueling of the majors because of the lengthy, grinding points required by the red clay, which is slower than the grass or hard courts underfoot elsewhere.

Nadal’s 22nd major arrived in Paris a year ago, two days after he turned 36. He has been sidelined since January by a hip injury and had arthroscopic surgery on June 2.

As if all of that weren’t enough, Djokovic’s triumph on Sunday also means he will return to No. 1 in the ATP rankings on Monday, replacing Carlos Alcaraz. Djokovic already has spent more weeks at the top spot than any player — man or woman — since the inception of computerized tennis rankings a half-century ago.

It was Djokovic who eliminated Alcaraz in the semifinals on Thursday, wearing him down over two thrilling sets until the 20-year-old Spaniard’s body cramped up badly. Alcaraz continued to play, but the scores of the last two sets of the four-set match told the story: 6-1, 6-1.

This was the third Slam final in the past five events for Ruud, a 24-year-old from Norway, but he is now 0-3. He lost to Nadal at the French Open a year ago and to Alcaraz at the U.S. Open last September.

Perhaps due to an awareness of all that was at stake, Djokovic, in his 34th major final, was the one who got off to a shaky start.

Djokovic’s scrambling and stretching and bending and twisting on defense shows up on the scoreboard, for sure. But all of the long points also sap a foe’s energy and will.

Helps as well, maybe, that Djokovic knows all the little ins and outs. He complained to chair umpire Damien Dumusois about how much time was being allotted for changeovers — a little extra rest never hurt anyone, right? Djokovic took the 25-second serve clock down until it expired and occasionally beyond that, so much so that one voice from the seats exclaimed, “Serve it!” And Dumusois warned him for the time-taking in the third set.

When he broke Ruud to lead 3-0 in the second set, his powers now on full display, Djokovic jabbed his right index finger against his temple over and over and over. He wheeled to face his nearby box in the stands, where the guests included his coach, Goran Ivanisevic; his wife and two children; his agent; and even seven-time Super Bowl champion Tom Brady.

The recently retired Brady is widely viewed as the NFL’s “Greatest of All-Time” — or “GOAT,” for short — and there has been a debate in the tennis world for quite some time over which among Djokovic, Nadal or Federer deserves that sobriquet.

If the barometer is Grand Slam championships, no one can argue against Djokovic’s status at the moment.

President of India tweet and wish him congratulations 

 

Follow Us: Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Youtube |

Ted Kaczynski, known as the Unabomber for years of attacks that killed 3, dies in prison at 81

Diplomat Times
-
0
Ted Kaczynski, known as the Unabomber for years of attacks that killed 3, dies in prison at 81

Ted Kaczynski, known as the Unabomber for years of attacks that killed 3, dies in prison at 81

WASHINGTON (AP) — Theodore “Ted” Kaczynski, the Harvard-educated mathematician who retreated to a dingy shack in the Montana wilderness and ran a 17-year bombing campaign that killed three people and injured 23 others, died Saturday. He was 81.

Branded the “Unabomber” by the FBI, Kaczynski died at the federal prison medical center in Butner, North Carolina, Kristie Breshears, a spokesperson for the federal Bureau of Prisons, told The Associated Press. He was found unresponsive in his cell early Saturday morning and was pronounced dead around 8 a.m., she said. A cause of death was not immediately known.

Before his transfer to the prison medical facility, he had been held in the federal Supermax prison in Florence, Colorado, since May 1998, when he was sentenced to four life sentences plus 30 years for a campaign of terror that set universities nationwide on edge. He admitted committing 16 bombings from 1978 and 1995, permanently maiming several of his victims.

READ MORE : Top Indian wrestler accuses government of silence over sexual harassment probe

Years before the Sept. 11 attacks and the anthrax mailing, the Unabomber’s deadly homemade bombs changed the way Americans mailed packages and boarded airplanes, even virtually shutting down air travel on the West Coast in July 1995.

He forced The Washington Post, in conjunction with The New York Times, to make the agonizing decision in September 1995 to publish his 35,000-word manifesto, “Industrial Society and Its Future,” which claimed modern society and technology was leading to a sense of powerlessness and alienation.

But it led to his undoing. Kaczynski’s brother, David, and David’s wife, Linda Patrik, recognized the treatise’s tone and tipped off the FBI, which had been searching for the Unabomber for years in nation’s longest, costliest manhunt.

Authorities in April 1996 found him in a 10-by-14-foot (3-by-4-meter) plywood and tarpaper cabin outside Lincoln, Montana, that was filled with journals, a coded diary, explosive ingredients and two completed bombs.

As an elusive criminal mastermind, the Unabomber won his share of sympathizers and comparisons to Daniel Boone, Edward Abbey and Henry David Thoreau.

But once revealed as a wild-eyed hermit with long hair and beard who weathered Montana winters in a one-room shack, Kaczynski struck many as more of a pathetic loner than romantic anti-hero.

Even in his own journals, Kaczynski came across not as a committed revolutionary but as a vengeful hermit driven by petty grievances.

“I certainly don’t claim to be an altruist or to be acting for the ‘good’ (whatever that is) of the human race,” he wrote on April 6, 1971. “I act merely from a desire for revenge.”

A psychiatrist who interviewed Kaczynski in prison diagnosed him as a paranoid schizophrenic.

“Mr. Kaczynski’s delusions are mostly persecutory in nature,” Sally Johnson wrote in a 47-page report. “The central themes involve his belief that he is being maligned and harassed by family members and modern society.”

Kaczynski hated the idea of being viewed as mentally ill and when his lawyers attempted to present an insanity defense, he tried to fire them. When that failed, he tried to hang himself with his underwear.

Kaczynski eventually pleaded guilty rather than let his defense team proceed with an insanity defense.

“I’m confident that I’m sane,” Kaczynski told Time magazine in 1999. “I don’t get delusions and so forth.”

He was certainly brilliant.

Kaczynski skipped two grades to attend Harvard at age 16 and had published papers in prestigious mathematics journals. His explosives were carefully tested and came in meticulously handcrafted wooden boxes sanded to remove possible fingerprints. Later bombs bore the signature “FC” for “Freedom Club.”

Harvard classmates recalled him as a lonely, thin boy with poor personal hygiene and a room that smelled of spoiled milk, rotting food and foot powder.

After graduate studies at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, he got a job teaching math at the University of California at Berkeley but found the work difficult and quit abruptly. In 1971, he bought a 1½-acre parcel about 4 miles (6 kilometers) outside of Lincoln and built a cabin there without heating, plumbing or electricity.

He learned to garden, hunt, make tools and sew, living on a few hundred dollars a year.

He left his cabin in Montana in the late 1970s to work at a foam rubber products manufacturer outside Chicago with his father and brother. But when a female supervisor dumped him after two dates, he began posting insulting limericks about her and wouldn’t stop.

His brother fired him and Ted Kaczynski soon returned to the wilderness to continue plotting his vengeful killing spree.

Follow Us: Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Youtube

Top Indian wrestler accuses government of silence over sexual harassment probe

Shasi Kumar
-
0
Top Indian wrestler accuses government of silence over sexual harassment probe

Top Indian wrestler accuses government of silence over sexual harassment probe

SONIPAT, India,(Reuters) – An Olympic wrestler on Saturday criticised the pace of a police inquiry into sexual harassment accusations against the chief of India’s national wrestling body.

Vinesh Phogat, a two-time Olympian who has accused Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh of sexually abusing her, said she has also been hurt by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s silence on the issue.

Phogat is one of seven female athletes to have lodged a police case against Singh accusing him of sexually harassing them.

READ MORE : PM Modi highlights ‘HIT’ formula for Indo-Nepal relations, says new agreements will make partnership

Singh, who is also a federal lawmaker from Modi’s ruling party, has denied allegations of making sexual advances, groping and threatening female athletes if they refused to meet him alone.

“I have only felt a deep sense of humiliation since I mustered the courage to protest,” Phogat told Reuters in her first interview since she and fellow wrestlers were forced out of a protest site by the police last month.

Delhi Police have filed two cases against Singh, including one under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act.

Phogat, 28, who is the first Indian female wrestler to win both the Commonwealth Games and Asian Games gold, claims that during training camps and tournaments Singh would use “every possible way to single out young athletes and grope them repeatedly”.

“It was the same disgusting pattern over and over again and I am among the victims,” she said at her residence in northern Haryana state.

In her police complaint, seen by Reuters, Phogat said she contemplated suicide after the “mental trauma” but felt reinvigorated after a 2021 meeting with Modi, who promised to look into the complaints by the female wrestlers.

“It’s been emotionally draining, the PM has not said anything about this case,” Phogat said.

“It’s been emotionally draining, the PM has not said anything about this case,” Phogat said.

She said the accusers had also complained to Sports Minister Anurag Thakur in “greater detail”.

“But he (Thakur) was not just interested in listening to my concerns…he was busy on his phone when I was talking to him,” said Phogat.

Thakur and Modi’s office were not immediately available for comment.

A lawyer and close aide to Singh said all the allegations were fake and fabricated by women to tarnish the chief’s career.

“The fact that no one was listening to us forced me and others to start a public protest as we wanted the nation to know how top athletes were being mistreated,” Phogat said.

The wrestlers took to the streets in January but withdrew the protest after Singh was stripped of all administrative power at the WFI.

They resumed their protest on April 23, but several of them were briefly detained and the protest site was forcibly cleared on May 28.

READ MORE : Twitter to pay verified creators for ads in replies, Musk says

Images of the athletes being dragged away and carried off in buses went viral, sparking criticism from top athletes and opposition politicians.

The wrestlers also threatened to throw their medals into the Ganges – India’s holiest river – before agreeing to meeting with Home Minister Amit Shah and later with the sports minister.

Thakur subsequently said the police would complete their investigation by June 15 and requested the wrestlers not to demonstrate until then.

“We wanted Singh to be dragged out of his home, but because he is a powerful man he is roaming around and we are being told to sit at home,” an emotional Phogat said.

Follow Us: Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Youtube

Twitter to pay verified creators for ads in replies, Musk says

Shasi Kumar
-
0
Twitter to pay verified creators for ads in replies, Musk says

Twitter to pay verified creators for ads in replies, Musk says

WDC (Reuters) – Twitter will soon begin paying verified content creators for ads in their replies, with the first payment block of around $5 million, company owner Elon Musk said on Friday.

“Note, the creator must be verified and only ads served to verified users count,” Musk, the billionaire who bought Twitter last October, said in a tweet.

Since Tesla (TSLA.O) CEO Musk acquired Twitter, the platform has struggled to retain advertisers, who have been wary about the placement of their ads after the company laid off thousands of employees.

The move comes as Twitter’s newly named CEO, Linda Yaccarino, an advertising veteran from NBCUniversal, is about to take the helm at the social media platform.

In March, Musk said that the messaging service makes about 5 or 6 cents per hour of attention from users and could raise that to 15 cents or more with advertisements that are more relevant and timely.

Follow Us: Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Youtube

Japan to expand skilled worker visa system to address labor shortage

Um Kwang Ho
-
0
Japan to expand skilled worker visa system to address labor shortage

Japan to expand skilled worker visa system to address labor shortage

Japan (Kyodo News) — Japan’s Cabinet on Friday approved a plan to expand the scope of industries covered by the blue-collar skilled worker visa that creates a path to permanent residency for foreigners, in a major shift in the country’s restrictive immigration policy.

Raising the number of industries to 11 from the current two, the government seeks to start holding language and skill examinations targeting applicants in the newly added sectors from around this fall after soliciting public opinion.

“It is important to promote smooth acceptance of human resources. To address the severe labor shortage, Japan will expand the (visa’s) scope,” Prime Minister Fumio Kishida told a meeting of relevant ministers.

READ MORE : G7 Summit :Ukraine President Zelenskyy arrives in Japan

Currently, only proficient laborers in the construction and shipbuilding sectors can upgrade their status to the Specified Skilled Worker No. 2 visa, which has no limit on how many times it can be renewed and allows holders to bring children and spouses into the country.

Under the revision, foreign workers in another nine industries, including the fishery, agriculture and hotel sectors, who hold the Specified Skilled Worker No. 1 visas, can apply for No. 2 visas, provided they pass Japanese language and technical skills exams.

The No. 1 visa allows a worker to stay in Japan for up to five years and cannot be renewed.

As of the end of March, the number of foreigners in Japan on the No. 1 visa totaled around 150,000 and No. 2 only 11, according to the Immigration Services Agency of Japan.

The current specified skilled workers system was introduced in 2019 to attract foreign workers in response to the country’s severe labor shortage caused in part by a declining birthrate.

After the inception of the system, the government was cautious about expanding the scope of the visa that establishes a pathway to permanent residency as it allows the holder to spend the requisite amount of time in Japan.

But it has received calls to expand the scope of the No. 2 residency status from companies in various industries that wish to retain their foreign workers.

People working as carers, meanwhile, will not be included in the planned change as a visa for foreigners who are certified in Japan exists already. The carer-specific visa can be renewed indefinitely and allows the worker to bring children and spouses into the country.

Follow Us: Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Youtube

Russian Foreign Ministry Responds to Iceland’s Embassy Closure

Roshan Bilung
-
0
Russian Foreign Ministry Responds to Iceland’s Embassy Closure

Russian Foreign Ministry Responds to Iceland’s Embassy Closure

Moscow (DT) – Russia on Saturday said it would “respond” after Iceland became the first country to suspend its embassy operations in Moscow.

“All of Reykjavik’s anti-Russian actions will inevitably prompt a response,” the Russian foreign ministry said in a statement, accusing Iceland of “ruining” relations between the two countries.

“We will take this unfriendly decision into account when we establish our relations with Iceland in the future,” the ministry added.

READ MORE : National Day of Iceland, History & Celebration

Iceland on Friday said it would suspend work at its embassy in Moscow as of August 1 and asked Russia to limit its operations in Reykjavik.

The Icelandic embassy in Moscow has had seven staff members: two sent out from Iceland and five who were hired locally. Iceland’s Ministry for Foreign Affairs told Vísir that the five locally hired staff members will be laid off according to their current employment contracts. Iceland’s Ambassador to Russia Árni Þór Sigurðsson will be relocated to the Icelandic embassy in Copenhagen.

The ministry also expects to terminate its rental contracts both for the embassy offices and the ambassador’s residence.

“The current situation simply does not make it viable for the small foreign service of Iceland to operate an embassy in Russia,” Foreign Minister Thordis Gylfadottir said.

In a symbolic move, staff could be seen taking down the Icelandic flag hanging from the side of the embassy in Moscow on Friday.

The Icelandic foreign ministry stressed that the decision “does not constitute a severance of diplomatic relations.”

But since commercial, cultural and political ties with Russia were “at an all-time low,” maintaining embassy operations in Moscow was “no longer justifiable,” it said.

Follow Us: Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Youtube |

Via : (Moscow Times and VISIR)

UN peacekeeper killed, 8 seriously injured in northern Mali attack

Mark Kenya
-
0
UN peacekeeper killed, 8 seriously injured in northern Mali attack

UN peacekeeper killed, 8 seriously injured in northern Mali attack

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Attackers killed one U.N. peacekeeper and seriously injured eight others Friday in Mali’s northern Timbuktu region, an area where extremists continue to operate, the United Nations said.

The peacekeepers, all from Burkina Faso, were part of a security patrol that was targeted first by an improvised explosive device and then by direct small arms fire seven kilometers (four miles) from their base in the town of Ber, U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.

The U.N. Security Council, Secretary General Antonio Guterres and the head of the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Mali, El-Ghassim Wane, strongly condemned the attack.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called on Mali’s transitional authorities to identify the perpetrators of the attack and bring them to justice swiftly, noting that “attacks targeting U.N. peacekeepers may constitute war crimes under international law,” Dujarric said.

The Secretary-General expresses his deep condolences to the families of the victims as well as to the Government and people of Burkina Faso. He wishes a speedy recovery to the eight injured.

The Secretary-General recalls that attacks targeting United Nations peacekeepers may constitute war crimes under international law. He calls on the transitional authorities in Mali to spare no effort in identifying the perpetrators of this attack so that they can be brought to justice swiftly.

The Secretary-General pays tribute to the determination and the courage of peacekeepers, who continue to implement their mandates in extremely challenging circumstances in support of the people of Mali.

READ MORE : IDF clashes with Lebanese citizens along Lebanon border

The Security Council also called for a swift investigation and accountability, and underlined that attacking peacekeepers may not only be a war crime but that involvement in planning, directing, sponsoring or conducting such an attack can lead to sanctions.

Mali has been ruled by a military junta since a 2020 coup against an elected president, Ibrahim Boubacar Keita. It has faced destabilizing attacks by armed extremist groups linked to al-Qaida and the Islamic State group since 2013.

In 2021, France and its European partners engaged in the fight against extremists in Mali’s north withdrew from the country after the junta brought in mercenaries from Russia’s Wagner Group.

The Security Council expressed concern about Mali’s security situation “and the transnational dimension of the terrorist threat in the Sahel region.” It urged the Malian parties to fully implement a 2015 peace agreement.

The United States warned Mali’s military government in April that it would be “irresponsible” for the United Nations to continue deploying its more than 15,000 peacekeepers unless the western African nation ends restrictions, including on operating reconnaissance drones, and carries out political commitments toward peace and elections in March 2024.

The warning came as the U.N. Security Council considers three options proposed by Secretary-General António Guterres for the peacekeeping mission’s future: increase its size, reduce its footprint, or withdraw troops and police and turn it into a political mission. Its current mandate expires on June 30.

Dujarric said the peacekeeper killed on Friday was the ninth to die in Mali this year. The secretary-general paid tribute to “the determination and courage” of peacekeepers in Mali who work “in extremely challenging circumstances,” he said.

“This tragic loss is a stark reminder of the risks that peacekeepers in Mali and other places around the world face while tirelessly working to bring stability and peace to the people of Mali,” he said.

Thousands have been killed and over six million displaced by the fighting, according to the U.N.

MINUSMA – the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali – currently has about 12,000 military personnel deployed in the country.

At least 303 MINUSMA personnel have been killed in hostile acts in Mali since the start of the mission in 2013, making it the deadliest U.N. peacekeeping mission in the world.

(REUTERS and AP)

Follow Us: Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Youtube

Israeli troops fire tear gas to disperse protesters along Lebanon border

Dr Mohd Ramzan Ali
-
0
Israeli troops fire tear gas to disperse protesters along Lebanon border

Israeli troops fire tear gas to disperse protesters along Lebanon border

KFAR CHOUBA, Lebanon (AP) — Israeli soldiers fired tear gas to disperse scores of protesters who pelted the troops with stones along the border with Lebanon Friday, leaving some Lebanese demonstrators and troops suffering breathing problems.

The tension on the edge of the Lebanese border village of Kfar Chouba began earlier this week over the Israeli military digging in the area that Lebanon claims.

On Wednesday, a Lebanese villager tried to stop an Israeli bulldozer from digging a trench along the border. Once the villager’s legs were covered with sand as the bulldozer moved ahead, U.N. peacekeepers jumped in and convinced the driver to move back. Videos of the elderly man with his legs stuck in the sand dune went viral on social media.

READ MORE : US Secretary Blinken meets with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman

Israel ended an 18-year occupation of southern Lebanon when its troops withdrew from the area in May 2000.

Friday’s protest took place on the edge of Kfar Chouba hills, which Beirut says is Lebanese land occupied by Israel. Kfar Chouba hills and the nearby Chebaa Farms, are areas captured by Israel during the 1967 Mideast War and claimed by Lebanon.

On Friday, some of the protesters tried to break through a fence in the rugged area overlooked by an Israeli military post. Israeli forces fired tear gas to disperse them while Lebanese troops and U.N. peacekeepers later moved in and pushed the protesters back.

“DO NOT CROSS THE BLUE LINE,” read a banner carried by a U.N. peacekeeper in Arabic, English and French, referring to the border drawn after Israel’s withdrawal in 2000. Israeli troops and several vehicles, including a heavily armored Merkava tank, were seen in the area.

Lebanese troops were on alert in the area and reinforcements were brought in.

In a statement, the Israeli military said protesters tried to damage a border barrier and threw stones at Israeli soldiers in the area. The military said forces responded with “riot dispersal means,” which typically means tear gas or stun grenades. The military said it “would not allow any attempt to violate Israeli sovereignty.”

Andrea Tenenti, a spokesman for the U.N. peacekeeping for known as UNIFIL, said peacekeepers are on the ground working to decrease tension in the area.

“We have urged the parties to utilize our coordination mechanisms effectively to prevent misunderstandings, violations, and contribute to the preservation of stability in the area,” Tenenti said. He added that UNIFIL leadership is in contact with the parties, seeking a solution.

“We call upon both sides to exercise restraint and avoid actions along the blue line that may escalate tensions,” Tenenti told The Associated Press.

The protesters later held Friday prayers in the area and then tried to sneak in again, leading to more tear gas fire.

Friday’s tension came a day after the head of the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Lebanon, Maj. Gen. Aroldo Lazaro, chaired a meeting with senior Lebanese and Israeli officers at the U.N. headquarters along the border. The general appealed for restraint along the border and work on reducing tensions.

The Lebanon-Israel border has been relatively calm since Israel and Hezbollah fought a 34-day war in 2006. Despite that, there have been tensions.

In April, Israel launched rare airstrikes on southern Lebanon after militants fired nearly three dozen rockets from Lebanon at Israel, wounding two people and causing some property damage.

Associated Press writers Tia Goldenberg in Tel Aviv, Israel and Bassem Mroue in Beirut contributed to this report.

UPCOMING

IDF clashes with Lebanese citizens along the Lebanon border after they tried to dismantle part of the border fence.

Follow Us: Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Youtube

1...169170171...205Page 170 of 205

Explore

Countries

Crime & War

More

Others

Follow us

© DT Broadcasting Pvt Ltd formerly known as Diplomat Times Pvt Ltd Registered No: U60200DL2024PTC426518 , Diplomat Times International Co. LTD. (Thailand) Registered No: 0105566195031 | PT Diplomat Times International Broadcasting (Indonesia) 4023120636101176 | Trade Mark 4791109 | All Rights Reserved