The U.S. Department of Treasury on Friday sanctioned Ekaterina Zhdanova, an accused Russian money launderer who allegedly helped her country’s oligarchs move funds out of Moscow using cryptocurrency to evade Western sanctions.  

According to an official Treasury announcement, Zhdanova allegedly also helped ransomware groups and other “illicit actors” launder their gains.  

“We remain focused on safeguarding the U.S. and international financial system against those who seek to exploit this technology [cryptocurrency], among other illicit finance risks in the virtual assets ecosystem,” said Brian Nelson, undersecretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence. 

Zhdanova has reportedly used cryptocurrency exchanges such as Garantex to shift large sums of money across borders. She also is accused of transporting cash physically, as well as using traditional businesses as fronts for her operation, including an international luxury watch business that was not identified by name in the Treasury’s announcement.  

Her main clientele are Russian elites living outside of the country. According to one allegation, a Russian oligarch based in the United Arab Emirates contacted Zhdanova to move more than $100 million; she did so by using physical cash and virtual currency.  

Once an account becomes based in a country that is not sanctioned, a Russian oligarch can transfer the money all over the world, undermining international restrictions that were imposed in the aftermath of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.  

The new sanctions placed on Zhdanova mean that she is now blocked from accessing any property of hers in the U.S., and banks and cryptocurrency exchanges that continue to do business with her will be exposed to sanctions themselves.  
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Ukrainian farmers say Russian drones have been targeting grain storehouses in central Ukraine in an attempt to harm the country’s infrastructure and economy. Anna Kosstutschenko has this story from Ukraine’s Odesa and Cherkasy Regions. VOA footage by Pavel Suhodolskiy.
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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his daily address Thursday that he is grateful to the United States for “the new and very powerful sanctions” on more than 220 Russian “entities that work on aggression.”

The U.S. imposed sanctions Thursday on more than 100 people and firms from China, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates who aid Russia in obtaining tools and equipment that are vital for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The Ukrainian leader said every sanction “must work in full, so that there is no chance for Russia to circumvent sanctions.”  Zelenskyy said, “The power of sanctions is the power of the world.”

Russian shelling on Thursday killed two more civilians — an 81-year-old woman and a 60-year-old man — in southern Ukraine’s Kherson region, according to local authorities, marking the latest deaths in Russia’s assault on the area.

The shelling targeted several villages, Governor Oleksandr Prokudin said. Four others were injured in the strikes, which also damaged buildings.

The two deaths came after one person died Wednesday in Russian shelling in the region’s capital, which is also called Kherson. Prokudin called the damage left by the assault “an apocalyptic scene.”

Ukraine recaptured the city of Kherson last November after nearly nine months of Russian occupation. The Kherson region is a strategic area in the war, given its proximity to the Crimean Peninsula, which Moscow annexed in 2014 and is now where Russia has based significant logistic operations.

Meanwhile, Russia on Thursday said Ukraine was “playing with fire” after Ukraine launched a drone attack near the Zaporizhzhia nuclear station. The plant has been under Russian control since March 2022.

Russian forces shot down nine Ukrainian drones, according to Russia’s Defense Ministry.

Kyiv “is carrying out criminal and irresponsible provocations,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said.

The International Atomic Energy Agency has regularly warned about the risk of a nuclear accident at the plant.

As Ukraine’s counteroffensive of more than four months slowly continues, General Valery Zaluzhny said the two sides had reached a stalemate.

“Just like in the First World War, we have reached the level of technology that puts us into a stalemate,” he told The Economist, adding, “There will most likely be no deep and beautiful breakthrough.”

Moscow rejected that characterization of the war, with Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov saying, “Russia is steadily carrying out the special military operation. All the goals that were set should be fulfilled.”

Some information for this report came from Reuters, The Associated Press and Agence France-Presse.
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Record-breaking winds in France and across much of western Europe left at least seven people dead and injured others as Storm Ciarán swept through the continent Thursday. The storm devastated homes, causing travel mayhem and cut power to a vast number of people.

Winds of more than 190 kph slammed the northern tip of France’s Atlantic coast, uprooting trees and blowing out windows. Huge waves slammed into French ports and shorelines, as wind flattened street signs and ripped off roofing. Felled trees blocked roads around western France.

A truck driver was killed when his vehicle was hit by a tree in northern France’s inland Aisne region, Transport Minister Clement Beaune said. Meanwhile, a 70-year-old man in the port city of Le Havre, Normandy, died in a fall from his balcony. Local media outlet FranceBleu quoted a prosecutor as saying it appeared the man was closing his shutters against the wind when he fell. At least 16 people were injured in France, seven of them emergency workers.

About 1.2 million French households lost power, electrical utility Enedis said in a statement. That includes about half of the homes in Brittany, the Atlantic peninsula hardest hit by Ciarán. Enedis said it would deploy 3,000 workers to restore power when conditions allowed.

The wind reached up to around 160 kph on the Normandy coast and up to around 150 kph inland. Fishing crews put their livelihoods on hold and stayed ashore. Local authorities closed forests, parks and beachfronts in some regions.

Local trains were canceled across a swath of western France, and all roads in the Finistère region of Brittany were closed Thursday morning. Beaune, the transport minister, urged people to avoid driving and exercise caution when traveling across areas with weather warnings.

”We see how roads can be fatal in these circumstances,” he told broadcaster France-Info.

Much of Spain was battered by heavy rains and gale-force winds, city parks were closed, and several trains and flights were canceled. Emergency services in Madrid said a woman died after a tree fell on her. Three other people were slightly injured in the incident on a city center street.

Two people were killed by falling tree branches in central Ghent, Belgium, including a 5-year-old child. A 3-year-old was slightly injured in the same incident, said the Ghent prosecutor’s office in a statement. Another branch hit three German tourists in the central Ghent Citadel Park, killing a 64-year-old woman. Her daughter was seriously injured but the father was unhurt.

Belgian media reported a man was seriously injured when a wall collapsed due to the storm in the port city of Antwerp.

A storm warning was issued for the North Sea coast in Germany, and a warning of high winds for part of the Baltic Sea coast. Authorities said a 46-year-old woman was fatally injured by a falling tree in the Harz mountains in northern Germany. Weather alerts were also issued for much of Slovenia as the storm advanced, and the Adriatic port of Koper was closed to traffic.

Thousands were also without power in the United Kingdom. Sharp gusts blew roofs off buildings and toppled trees. Some had to evacuate their homes as Ciarán pummeled the south of England.

Hundreds of schools closed in the southern coastal communities of Cornwall and Devon, as downed trees and flooding hindered morning commutes.

Rail companies urged commuters to work from home if possible because of the potential for falling trees and debris on the tracks. P&O Ferries said tourist traffic was being sent away from the Port of Dover, which has suspended sailings. A major road in town was partly closed for public safety.

The Maritime and Coastguard Agency urged people to keep away from the coast.

“Stay out of dangerous situations,” the agency tweeted. “A selfie in stormy conditions isn’t worth risking your life for.”

Simon Partridge, senior meteorologist at U.K. government weather agency the Met Office, said the worst for England appeared to be over by midmorning. The storm is “starting to lose the energy it had when it first arrived,” he said.

Britain’s Environment Agency urged people to prepare for inland flooding, as some river levels remain high and the ground is saturated. By just after midday, there were 82 flood warnings, meaning flooding is expected, and 197 flood alerts, meaning flooding is possible, in place across England.

“Flooding of low-lying coastal roads is also possible and people must avoid driving through flood water, as just 30 centimeters of flowing water is enough to move your car,” said the agency’s flood duty manager, Ben Lukey.

The Met Office said the mean sea level pressure reading for England and Wales in November is the lowest ever, breaking a record from 1916.

On the Channel Islands, winds were between 144 kph and 160 kph for a full three hours. They smashed windows, damaged cars and tore roofs from buildings. Flights from airports on the islands of Jersey, Guernsey and Alderney were canceled.

“The hailstones were quite a bit heavier and bigger than a golf ball and we’ve had three windows damaged by them — in my daughter’s bedroom, a landing and a bathroom,” said Suzie Phillips, a homeowner in Jersey.

Jersey Police tweeted that 35 people were relocated after their homes were damaged and three others were hospitalized. They said trees were down across the island.

Dutch media reported that several people had been hit by falling trees in the Netherlands. One person was killed in the southern town of Venray.
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Russian shelling on Thursday killed two more civilians — an 81-year-old woman and a 60-year-old man — in southern Ukraine’s Kherson region, according to local authorities, marking the latest deaths in Russia’s assault on the area.

The shelling targeted several villages, Governor Oleksandr Prokudin said. Four others were injured in the strikes, which also damaged buildings.

The two deaths came after one person died Wednesday in Russian shelling in the region’s capital, which is also called Kherson. Prokudin called the damage left by the assault “an apocalyptic scene.”

Ukraine recaptured the city of Kherson last November after nearly nine months of Russian occupation. The Kherson region is a strategic area in the war, given its proximity to the Crimean Peninsula, which Moscow annexed in 2014 and is now where Russia has based significant logistic operations.

Meanwhile, Russia on Thursday said Ukraine was “playing with fire” after Ukraine launched a drone attack near the Zaporizhzhia nuclear station. The plant has been under Russian control since March 2022.

Russian forces shot down nine Ukrainian drones, according to Russia’s Defense Ministry.

Kyiv “is carrying out criminal and irresponsible provocations,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said.

The International Atomic Energy Agency has regularly warned about the risk of a nuclear accident at the plant.

As Ukraine’s counteroffensive of more than four months slowly continues, General Valery Zaluzhny said the two sides had reached a stalemate.

“Just like in the First World War, we have reached the level of technology that puts us into a stalemate,” he told The Economist, adding, “There will most likely be no deep and beautiful breakthrough.”

Moscow rejected that characterization of the war, with Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov saying, “Russia is steadily carrying out the special military operation. All the goals that were set should be fulfilled.”

Some information for this report came from Reuters, The Associated Press and Agence France-Presse.
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North Korea has likely supplied several types of missiles to Russia to support its war in Ukraine, along with its widely reported shipments of ammunition and shells, South Korea’s military said Thursday. 

In a background briefing for local journalists, South Korea’s military said North Korea was suspected of sending an unspecified number of short-range ballistic missiles, anti-tank missiles and portable anti-air missiles to Russia, in addition to rifles, rocket launchers, mortars and shells. 

The contents of the briefing were shared with The Associated Press. 

North Korea has been pushing to expand cooperation with Russia and China in the face of protracted security tensions with the United States and pandemic-caused domestic hardships. In an apparent sign of its economic troubles, the country is moving to close some of its overseas diplomatic missions. 

Last week, South Korea, the U.S. and Japan strongly condemned North Korea’s alleged supplying of munitions and military equipment to Russia, saying such weapons shipments sharply increased the human toll of Russia’s war in Ukraine. Any weapons trade with North Korea would be a violation of multiple U.N. Security Council resolutions that Russia, a permanent council member, previously endorsed. 

Both Russia and North Korea dismissed the weapons shipment accusations as baseless. 

In a private briefing with lawmakers Wednesday, the National Intelligence Service — South Korea’s main spy agency — said that more than a million North Korean artillery shells have been sent to Russia since August via ships and transport planes. The NIS said the deliveries roughly amounted to two months’ worth of shells for the Russians, according to lawmaker Yoo Sang-bum, who attended the NIS briefing. 

The NIS assessed that North Korea has been operating its munitions factories at full capacity to meet Russian munition demands and has also been mobilizing residents to increase production. 

The NIS said North Korea, for its part, is likely receiving Russian technological assistance over its plan to launch its first military spy satellite into space. North Korea’s two recent attempts to launch a spy satellite ended in failure for technical issues. The North failed to follow through with its vow to make a third launch attempt in October, without giving any reason. 

South Korea’s military said North Korea also seeks to receive nuclear-related technologies, fighter jets or related aircraft equipment, and assistance on the establishment of anti-air defense networks from Russia. 

North Korea is currently focusing on enlarging its nuclear arsenal while refusing to return to talks with the U.S. and South Korea. The country’s economy is reeling from major setbacks caused by draconian curbs imposed during the coronavirus pandemic and stringent U.S.-led sanctions.
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Iran’s foreign minister visited Ankara Wednesday amid growing regional rivalry as Turkey seeks to expand its influence from the Caucasus to Central Asia. But for now, the conflict in the Middle East is providing common ground. Dorian Jones reports from Istanbul.
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North Korea has decided to close diplomatic missions in at least four locations across the globe, a significant diplomatic shift that some observers say may indicate severe economic challenges.

According to a series of media reports that began emerging last week, North Korea will shutter its embassies in Uganda, Angola and Spain, as well as its consulate in Hong Kong.

North Korean state media have not publicly explained the reasons behind the closures. However, a North Korean ambassador was quoted in The Independent, a Ugandan newspaper, as saying Pyongyang is reducing its number of embassies in Africa to “increase the efficiency” of its “external institutions.”

South Korea’s Ministry of Unification, which handles relations with the North, attributed the closures to strengthened international sanctions against North Korea, which have disrupted the cash-earning operations of its overseas missions.

“This is one aspect that shows North Korea’s difficult economic situation, where it is now difficult to even maintain minimal diplomatic relations with traditionally friendly countries,” a South Korean official told local media outlets.

Before the closures, North Korea had diplomatic missions in 53 places, according to South Korea’s unification ministry.

Many North Korean embassies have been involved in the smuggling of weapons, drugs, and luxury goods, as well as other illicit commercial activity meant to earn cash for their economically isolated government, according to media reports.

Sanctions pressure

North Korea is barred from a wide range of global trade activities under U.N. Security Council resolutions first put into place over its nuclear weapons program in 2006.

As sanctions pressure increased, North Korea expanded its economic ties in Africa, by sending construction workers there and exporting massive, communist-style statues that are erected in public squares.

In recent years, some African countries, including Angola, have taken steps to sever contracts with North Korean construction companies, and requested that North Korean workers leave, in order to comply with U.N. sanctions.

It not clear, however, how those developments may have factored into North Korea’s decision to close its embassies in Uganda and Angola.

In reality, multilateral sanctions pressure on North Korea has remained flat for several years, even as it rapidly expands its nuclear arsenal.

That’s because Russia and China, North Korea’s primary international backers, have refused to support more sanctions at the U.N. Security Council.

Severe economic woes?

Some observers say the embassy closures may instead point to even broader problems with North Korea’s economy.

Thae Yong-ho, a former senior North Korean diplomat who now serves as a South Korean lawmaker, said the closures “prove that North Korea is struggling economically.”

In a Facebook post, Thae said North Korea’s difficulties can be seen as a second version of the “Arduous March,” the famine in the 1990s that may have killed millions.

“North Korea claims their harvest this year was good, but North Korean defectors who fled recently have complained of hunger,” Thae added.

There are no signs of mass starvation in North Korea – but even if there were, the outside world would not necessarily know. Virtually all foreigners, such as aid workers and diplomats, left North Korea during the COVID-19 lockdown and have not returned.

Amid the isolation, North Korea has grown closer to China and Russia. Most notably, North Korea has sent many artillery shipments to Russia for use in Moscow’s war against Ukraine, according to U.S. and South Korean officials.

More profitable ventures?

Those steps are apparently not enough for North Korea to overcome its financial woes, said Mason Richey, associate professor at South Korea’s Hankuk University of Foreign Studies.

“Unless it’s just streamlining, a North Korean version of corporate restructuring – getting rid of non-core lines of business to be able to focus attention where it is most profitable,” he said.

One possibility, according to Richey, is that North Korea has found cyber attacks, such as theft of cryptocurrency, to be a much more efficient means of acquiring cash.

Over the past five years, North Korean hackers have stolen more than $2 billion in cryptocurrencies, according to an August report by TRM Labs, which studies crypto-related financial crime.

“If sanctions make generating money from embassies difficult, and the arms trade in Africa perhaps tougher, and they don’t need that so much anymore because of crypto theft … then why keep open useless embassies that are a drain on North Korean funds?” Richey said.

Lee Juhyun contributed to this report.
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The United States on Thursday imposed sweeping new measures against Moscow over the war in Ukraine, targeting Russia’s future energy capabilities, sanctions evasion and a suicide drone that has been a menace to Ukrainian troops and equipment, among others, in sanctions on hundreds of people and entities.

The latest measures target a major entity involved in the development, operation and ownership of a massive project in Siberia known as Arctic-2 LNG, the State Department said in a statement. The project is expected to ship chilled natural gas, known as liquefied natural gas, to global markets.

Washington also targeted the KUB-BLA and Lancet suicide drones being used by the Russian military in Ukraine, designating a network it accused of procuring items in support of their production as well as the creator and designer of the drones.

The U.S. Department of Commerce on Thursday added 13 entities in Russia and Uzbekistan to its export control list for acting contrary to U.S. national security or foreign policy interests.

The U.S. also cracked down on sanctions evasion in the United Arab Emirates, Turkey and China, as the Treasury Department said companies based in the countries continue to send high priority dual-use goods to Russia, including components Moscow relies on for its weapons systems.

The Treasury Department also imposed sanctions on seven Russia-based banks and dozens of industrial firms, including Gazpromneft Catalytic Systems LLC, which Treasury said manufactures chemical agents for advanced oil refining in Russia.

The Kremlin said on Thursday ahead of the action that it expected the West to impose ever tougher sanctions on it over the war, but that there was a growing sense that such penalties hurt Western interests while Russia’s economy was adapting well.

With the sanctions on limited liability company Arctic LNG 2, along with previous measures imposed on the project in September, the U.S. is trying to target Russia’s upcoming energy production, similar to how it targeted its future deep-sea, shale and Arctic oil production after Moscow’s invasion of Crimea in 2014. All of these hard-to-produce projects depend on Western technology.

The U.S., itself a large liquefied natural gas producer that exports to Europe, is also trying to reduce Russia’s LNG shipments to Europe, which has only banned Russian gas sent via pipeline.

Arctic LNG 2 has been expecting to start exporting soon, and it is uncertain how much Russian LNG would be blocked by the new measures. The largest Russian LNG producer, Novatek NVTK.MM, said in September it would start shipments from Arctic LNG 2 early next year.

Thursday’s action marks the first measures Washington has taken directly targeting the Lancet drone, an angular gray tube with two sets of four wings that has been an increasing threat on Ukraine’s frontlines, according to Ukrainian solders.

Washington targeted limited liability company ZALA Aero, a Russia-based manufacturer the State Department said designs, manufactures and sells loitering munition and suicide drones to the Russian Ministry of Defense, as well as A Level Aerosystems CST, a Russia-based entity manufacturing and selling drones under the ZALA brand.

The owner of the companies, Aleksandr Zakharov, was also targeted, as were his wife, daughter and sons, and companies they own. The State Department said Zakharov is the creator and designer of the drones.

Washington has stepped up diplomatic pressure on countries and private companies globally to ensure enforcement of the barrage of sanctions it has unleashed on Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine.

Among those designated on Thursday were Turkish and UAE firms, including companies that sent high-priority goods to Russia and firms that have shipped aviation parts and equipment.

Three Chinese entities — two that the Treasury said have conducted hundreds of shipments of electro-optical equipment, cameras and other items, and one that has shipped radar components to Russia-based firms — were also targeted.

The State Department also imposed sanctions on multiple defense-related entities and procurement companies in the UAE.

Construction companies, Russian officials and a metals and mining company implementing a project to develop the largest titanium ore deposit in the world located in Russia were also hit with sanctions.
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The final Beatles recording is here.

Titled “Now and Then,” the almost impossible-to-believe track is four minutes and eight seconds of the first and only original Beatles recording of the 21st century. There’s a countdown, then acoustic guitar strumming and piano bleed into the unmistakable vocal tone of John Lennon in the song’s introduction: “I know it’s true / It’s all because of you / And if I make it through / It’s all because of you.”

More than four decades since Lennon’s murder and two since George Harrison’s death, the very last Beatles song has been released as a double A-side single with “Love Me Do,” the band’s 1962 debut single.

“Now and Then” comes from a batch of unreleased demos written by Lennon in the 1970s, which were given to his former bandmates by Yoko Ono. They used the tape to construct the songs “Free As a Bird” and “Real Love,” released in the mid-1990s. But there were technical limitations to finishing “Now and Then.”

On Wednesday, a short film titled “The Beatles — Now And Then — The Last Beatles Song” was released, detailing the creation of the track. On the original tape, Lennon’s voice was hidden and the piano was “hard to hear,” as Paul McCartney describes it. “And in those days, of course, we didn’t have the technology to do the separation.”

That changed in 2022, when the band — now a duo — was able to utilize the same technical restoration methods that separated the Beatles’ voices from background sounds during the making of director Peter Jackson’s 2021 documentary series, “The Beatles: Get Back.” And so, they were able to isolate Lennon’s voice from the original cassette and complete “Now and Then” using machine learning.

When the song was first announced in June, McCartney described artificial intelligence technology as “kind of scary but exciting,” adding: “We will just have to see where that leads.”

“To still be working on Beatles’ music in 2023 — wow,” he said in “The Beatles — Now And Then — The Last Beatles Song.” “We’re actually messing around with state-of-the-art technology, which is something the Beatles would’ve been very interested in.”

“The rumors were that we just made it up,” Ringo Starr told The Associated Press of Lennon’s contributions to the forthcoming track in September. “Like we would do that anyway.

“This is the last track, ever, that you’ll get the four Beatles on the track. John, Paul, George and Ringo,” he said.

McCartney and Starr built the track from Lennon’s demo, adding guitar parts George Harrison wrote in the 1995 sessions and a slide guitar solo in his signature style. McCartney and Starr tracked their bass and drum contributions. A string arrangement was written with the help of Giles Martin, son of the late Beatles producer George Martin — a clever recall to the classic ambitiousness of “Strawberry Fields,” or “Yesterday,” or “I Am the Walrus.” Those musicians couldn’t be told they were contributing to the last ever Beatles track, so McCartney played it off like a solo endeavor.

On Friday, an official music video for “Now and Then,” directed by Jackson, will premiere on the Beatles’ YouTube channel. It was created using footage McCartney and Starr took of themselves performing, 14 hours of “long forgotten film shot during the 1995 recording sessions, including several hours of Paul, George and Ringo working on ‘Now and Then,’ ” Jackson said in a statement.

It also uses previously unseen home movie footage provided by Lennon’s son Sean and Olivia Harrison, George’s wife, and “a few precious seconds of the Beatles performing in their leather suits, the earliest known film of the Beatles and never seen before,” provided by Pete Best, the band’s original drummer.

“The result is pretty nutty and provided the video with much needed balance between the sad and the funny,” said Jackson.
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Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a bill on Thursday to throw out the Kremlin’s ban on nuclear testing.

Moscow’s move to renege on the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, also called the CTBT, would “mirror” the White House’s position on nuclear testing, Putin said.

The United States is a signatory to the CTBT but has never ratified it. Seven other countries including China, Iran, Israel, Egypt, North Korea, India and Pakistan also never ratified the treaty.

In October, both houses of the Russian parliament passed the bill opting out of the CTBT. Putin’s signing it into law was expected.

Putin has sent a clear message to the West, and some analysts think that restarting nuclear tests after a more than two-decade ban could be a political maneuver to scare off NATO countries from helping Ukraine’s counteroffensive. 

But Putin is still undecided about whether Russia should go forward with nuclear testing, though various experts, he said, have argued to do so.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said last month that the Kremlin would respect the ban unless the United States stages any new nuclear tests.  

Some information for this report was provided by The Associated Press.
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A Russian attack in eastern Ukraine’s Kherson region killed one person, injured two others and damaged buildings in the city center Wednesday, Governor Oleksandr Prokudin said.

“Again an apocalyptic scene,” Prokudin said in a message on the Telegram app. “Broken glass, torn window frames, ruined homes. People with trembling voices telling about what they have been through.”

Earlier Wednesday, Ukraine’s interior minister reported that Russia shelled at least 118 settlements in 10 regions, more than in any other 24-hour period in the past year.

A Russian drone strike reportedly killed another civilian in Nikopol, on the opposite bank of the Dniper River from the Russian-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. Four other people were wounded in that attack, regional Governor Serhii Lysak said.

Russian missile losses

Britain’s Ministry of Defense said in its latest intelligence update on Ukraine Thursday that Russia has likely lost four long range surface-to-air missile launchers to Ukrainian strikes during the past week.

The ministry says the losses indicate that Russia’s integrated air defense system continues to struggle against modern precision strike weapons.

Ukrainian soldiers on trial

Russia said Wednesday that three more Ukrainian soldiers who fought in the city of Mariupol had been sentenced to prison, as it continued to put soldiers held in captivity on trial.

Around 2,500 people were taken into Russian captivity after the fall of Mariupol last May.

The three soldiers were found guilty of killing eight people in Mariupol, Moscow’s Investigative Committee said.

The committee reported the three “detained and shot civilians seen near their combat positions with automatic weapons,” killing seven civilian men and a woman.

One of the soldiers was sentenced to life in prison, while the others were sentenced to 30 years each.

The decisions came after the same court sentenced three other captured Ukrainian soldiers to life imprisonment Tuesday.

Some information for this report came from The Associated Press and Agence France-Presse. 
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Israel’s ambassador to Moscow gave new details Wednesday of the weekend riot at an airport in southern Russia when a flight from Tel Aviv landed there, saying some of the passengers had to hide in the terminal before being flown by helicopter to safety.

Ambassador Alexander Ben Zvi blamed Sunday night’s unrest on extremist elements resulting from “indoctrination” in the mostly Muslim republic of Dagestan. But he said that overall, there is no antisemitism “on an organized level” in Russia. He added, though, that authorities should take the incident seriously so such actions don’t spread.

“Of course, there has always been, is and will be antisemitism on the everyday level. The important thing is that it doesn’t develop into what we saw in Makhachkala,” Ben Zvi told The Associated Press in an online interview from Moscow. “If all this is under control, I think there will be no problems.”

The angry mob stormed the airport in Makhachkala, the capital city of Dagestan, when the flight from Israel landed there. Hundreds of men, some carrying banners with antisemitic slogans, roamed the building and rushed onto the tarmac looking for Israeli passengers. It took the authorities several hours to disperse the mob, which threw stones at police.

At least 20 people, both police and civilians, were injured and more than 80 were detained. Russia’s Investigative Committee opened a probe on the charges of organizing mass unrest.

Authorities in Dagestan said 17 people were convicted of petty hooliganism and of participating in an unauthorized mass event, neither of which is a criminal charge, sentencing 15 of them to short stints in jail, with the other two ordered to undertake correctional labor.

It remains unclear whether dozens of others detained Sunday night would face any charges and whether any of them would be implicated in the criminal probe.

Ben Zvi said more than 30 people on the flight were Israeli citizens, and none were hurt.

When the passengers got off the plane and passed through passport control, “they apparently ran into some kind of unrest,” he said.

“In the end, most of them ended up in a VIP room, and they hid there and spent some time there” until they could be flown by helicopter to a closed facility, he added.

After spending the night there, the passengers were flown — again by helicopter — to Mineralnye Vody, a city in the neighboring Stavropol region, and from there they traveled onward, he said.

Although no passengers were hurt, “I must say, that both the regional and the federal authorities should take this very seriously, because it could have led to victims. And that really would have influenced the entire situation in Russia,” he added.

President Vladimir Putin blamed the unrest on “agents of Western special services” in Ukraine, saying without offering evidence that they provoked the rampage in Dagestan to weaken Russia.

U.S. National Security Council spokesman John Kirby called Putin’s allegation “classic Russian rhetoric,” adding that “the West had nothing to do with this.” Kirby criticized Putin for not doing more to condemn the violence, which he described as “a chilling demonstration of hate.”

Ben Zvi said he had no information about the unrest being orchestrated from abroad.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office had said Israel “expects the Russian law enforcement authorities to protect the safety of all Israeli citizens and Jews wherever they may be and to act resolutely against the rioters and against the wild incitement directed against Jews and Israelis.”

In the AP interview, Ben Zvi said his country’s relations with Russia relations are normal amid the Israel-Hamas war, even though there are disagreements over some of the Kremlin’s policies in the Middle East.

“There are highs, there are lows. Not always we’re happy with Russia’s position, not always they’re happy with our position. We express it to each other,” he said, citing the recent visit of a Hamas delegation to Moscow as an example of something that Israel “really didn’t like.”
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Britain’s King Charles said Tuesday there is “no excuse” for the “abhorrent and unjustifiable acts of violence” committed against Kenyans during the East African nation’s struggle for independence from British colonial rule.

The monarch made the acknowledgement during a state banquet in Nairobi at the start of a four-day state visit by Charles and Queen Camilla. The visit comes ahead of celebrations marking the 60th anniversary of Kenya’s independence on December 12.

More than 10,000 Kenyans were killed and others rounded up, detained and tortured during the brutal suppression of the Mau Mau uprising at the hands of British authorities between 1952 and 1960.

Charles told the attendees the “wrongdoings of the past are a cause of the greatest sorrow and the deepest regret.” He said that by addressing the past with “honesty and openness,” the two nations could “continue to build an ever closer bond in the years ahead.”

But the king did not offer a full-fledged apology for the atrocities as many Kenyan activists are demanding.

Kenyan President William Ruto, who hosted the banquet, said the response to African independence movements was “monstrous in its cruelty.” Ruto acknowledged that while Britain has made efforts to “atone for the death, injury and suffering” inflicted on Kenyans, “much remains to be done in order to achieve full reparations.”

Britain agreed to a $24 million settlement in 2013 for more than 5,000 Kenyans who suffered abuse during the revolt.

Charles’s visit to Kenya is his first to a member country of the 56-nation Commonwealth, comprised mostly of former British colonies, since his succession to the throne after the death of his mother, Queen Elizabeth, last year. Her historic 70-year reign began in 1952 when her father, King George VI, died while then-Princess Elizabeth was visiting Kenya with her husband, the late Prince Philip.

Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse.
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French President Emmanuel Macron arrived in Kazakhstan on Wednesday on the first leg of a trip to Central Asia, a region long regarded as Russia’s backyard which has drawn fresh Western attention since the war in Ukraine began.

Oil-rich Kazakhstan has already emerged as a replacement supplier of crude to European nations turning off Russian supply and an important link in the new China-Europe trade route bypassing Russia.

At a meeting with President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, Macron complimented Kazakhstan for refusing to side with Moscow on Ukraine and said the two countries signed business deals, including a declaration of intent for a partnership in the much-sought area of rare earths and rare metals.

Russia has voiced concern at the West’s growing diplomatic activity in former Soviet Central Asian nations. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said last week the West was trying to pull Russia’s “neighbours, friends and allies” away from it. 

“I don’t underestimate by any means the geopolitical difficulties, the pressures … that some may be putting on you,” Macron told Tokayev.

“France values … the path you are following for your country, refusing to be a vassal of any power and seeking to build numerous and balanced relations with different countries in the interest of your people. Such a philosophy is close to France.”

Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, where Macron goes next, have refused to recognise Russia’s annexation of Ukrainian territories and have pledged to abide by Western sanctions against Moscow, while calling both Russia and Western nations such as France their strategic partners.

“We respect our friends, we are here when they need us and we respect their independence,” Macron said. “And in a world where major powers want to become hegemons, and where regional powers become unpredictable, it is good to have friends who share this philosophy.”

In addition to oil, Kazakhstan is a major exporter of uranium, and France’s Orano already operates a joint venture with its state nuclear firm Kazatomprom. 

“We can call your visit historic, very important,” Tokayev told Macron.
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The abbreviation of artificial intelligence (AI) has been named the Collins Word of the Year for 2023, the dictionary publisher said on Tuesday.

Lexicographers at Collins Dictionary said use of the term had “accelerated” and that it had become the dominant conversation of 2023.

“We know that AI has been a big focus this year in the way that it has developed and has quickly become as ubiquitous and embedded in our lives as email, streaming or any other once futuristic, now everyday technology,” Collins managing director Alex Beecroft said.

Collins said its wordsmiths analyzed the Collins Corpus, a database that contains more than 20 billion words with written material from websites, newspapers, magazines and books published around the world.

It also draws on spoken material from radio, TV and everyday conversations, while new data is fed into the Corpus every month, to help the Collins dictionary editors identify new words and meanings from the moment they are first used.

“Use of the word as monitored through our Collins Corpus is always interesting and there was no question that this has also been the talking point of 2023,” Beecroft said.

Other words on Collins list include “nepo baby,” which has become a popular phrase to describe the children of celebrities who have succeeded in industries similar to those of their parents.

“Greedflation,” meaning companies making profits during the cost-of-living crisis, and “Ulez,” the ultra-low emission zone that penalizes drivers of the most polluting cars in London, were also mentioned.

Social media terms such as “deinfluencing” or “de-influencing,” meaning to “warn followers to avoid certain commercial products.” were also on the Collins list.

This summer’s Ashes series between England and Australia had many people talking about a style of cricket dubbed “Bazball,” according to Collins.

The term refers to New Zealand cricketer and coach Brendon McCullum, known as Baz, who advocates a philosophy of relaxed minds, aggressive tactics and positive energy.

The word “permacrisis,” defined as “an extended period of instability and insecurity” was the Collins word of the year in 2022.

In 2020, it was “lockdown.” In 2016, it was “Brexi.t”

 
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