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President Joe Biden said Friday that millions of Americans are "angry" after the Supreme Court brought down his student loan forgiveness program but he announced new measures to ease the financial burden. "I know there are millions of Americans in this country who feel disappointed and discouraged or even a little bit angry," Biden said. "I must admit I do too." Biden announced measures to "provide student debt relief to as many borrowers as possible, as quickly as possible." One measure is a 12-month pause on penalties for missing debt repayments on federal loans used by many students to finance their time in the notoriously expensive US higher education system. This will "protect the most vulnerable borrowers," the White House said. Another is a change to repayment plans by the Department of Education, with a cut in the percentage of borrower's available income that must be paid each month toward loans from 10 to five percent...

At least 48 people were killed when a truck apparently lost control and rammed into other vehicles and pedestrians at a busy junction in western Kenya on Friday night, police said. "So far we can confirm 48 dead and we are suspecting one or two are still trapped under the truck," local police commander Geoffrey Mayek told AFP after the accident on the highway between the towns of Kericho and Nakuru. "Thirty people have been seriously injured and rushed to various hospitals. The numbers could be more but as of now we are sure about 30." Heavy rains are hindering rescue operations, local media reports said. "We are suspecting a truck which was being driven... towards Kericho lost control and rammed into matatus (local minibuses) that were packed at a bus stop, running over those matatus and injuring passengers and pedestrians who were standing by the bus stop." Images posted by local television stations showed several mangled vehicles. "My heart i...

At least 48 people were killed when a truck apparently lost control and rammed into other vehicles and pedestrians at a busy junction in western Kenya on Friday night, police said. "So far we can confirm 48 dead and we are suspecting one or two are still trapped under the truck," local police commander Geoffrey Mayek told AFP after the accident on the highway between the towns of Kericho and Nakuru. "Thirty people have been seriously injured and rushed to various hospitals. The numbers could be more but as of now we are sure about 30." Heavy rains are hindering rescue operations, local media reports said. "We are suspecting a truck which was being driven... towards Kericho lost control and rammed into matatus (local minibuses) that were packed at a bus stop, running over those matatus and injuring passengers and pedestrians who were standing by the bus stop." Images posted by local television stations showed several mangled vehicles. "My heart i...

Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro's political career was in tatters on Friday as Brazil's federal electoral court (TSE) barred the far-right nationalist from public office until 2030 for his conduct during last year's fraught election. Five out of seven justices voted to convict the 68-year-old Bolsonaro for abuse of power and misuse of the media when, in July, before the 2022 election, he summoned ambassadors to vent unfounded claims about Brazil's electronic voting system. Their decision marks a stunning reversal for Mr Bolsonaro, a fiery former army captain who narrowly lost October's election to leftist rival Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. Many in Brazil blame him for creating a nationwide movement to overturn the result, which culminated in the Jan. 8 invasion of government buildings in Brasilia by thousands of his supporters. Jair Bolsonaro has denied wrongdoing, and his lawyers have pledged to appeal to the Supreme Court. On Friday, he described the de...

Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro's political career was in tatters on Friday as Brazil's federal electoral court (TSE) barred the far-right nationalist from public office until 2030 for his conduct during last year's fraught election. Five out of seven justices voted to convict the 68-year-old Bolsonaro for abuse of power and misuse of the media when, in July, before the 2022 election, he summoned ambassadors to vent unfounded claims about Brazil's electronic voting system. Their decision marks a stunning reversal for Mr Bolsonaro, a fiery former army captain who narrowly lost October's election to leftist rival Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. Many in Brazil blame him for creating a nationwide movement to overturn the result, which culminated in the Jan. 8 invasion of government buildings in Brasilia by thousands of his supporters. Jair Bolsonaro has denied wrongdoing, and his lawyers have pledged to appeal to the Supreme Court. On Friday, he described the de...

The US Supreme Court dealt President Joe Biden a significant political setback Tuesday when it overruled his landmark program to cancel the student debt of millions of Americans. The court said President Biden had overstepped his powers in cancelling more than $400 billion in debt, in an effort to alleviate the financial burden of education that hangs over many Americans decades after they finished their studies. The conservative-dominated court voted six to three in the ruling, saying the president should have obtained specific authorization from Congress to launch the program. It said Joe Biden was mistaken in using a 2003 law, the Higher Education Relief Opportunities for Students Act, to justify the debt relief plan. Six Republican-led states sued saying the 2003 act, which aimed to help former students who joined the military after the September 11, 2001 attacks, does not authorize President Biden's loan cancellation. "We agree," Chief Justice John Roberts wrote...

Indian-origin Congressman Ro Khanna slammed the US Supreme Court's decision to ban the consideration of race in university admissions, overturning decades-old affirmative action policies. The Supreme Court justices voted along ideological lines in a 6-3 decision that struck down the policy - a decision praised by Republicans, including former President Donald Trump, and slammed by Democrats. Mr Khanna in an interview said the US Supreme Court did a "terrible disservice" to the future leaders of this country. "What is not being talked about is how this will harm students, not just Black or Latino students, but also white and Asian American students. Consider students going to Harvard who want to become the future political leaders of this country, the future presidents, senators, you think they are going to have a better chance of doing that if they are in classes that don't have adequate representation from African Americans or Latinos. They (Supreme Court) ar...

President Joe Biden on Thursday said he "strongly" disagreed with the US Supreme Court's ruling banning the use of race and ethnicity in university admission policies, which came as a major blow to a decades-old practice that boosted educational opportunities for African-Americans and other minorities. The ruling "walked away from decades of precedent," he said, adding universities "should not abandon their commitment" to create diverse student bodies. "Discrimination still exists in America," said Biden. "Today's decision does not change that. It's a simple fact that if a student has had to overcome adversity on their path to education, colleges should recognize and value that." "I believe our colleges are stronger when they are racially diverse... We cannot let this decision be the last word." Asked by reporters if Thursday's decision by the conservative-dominated panel -- which also voted last year to ov...

President Joe Biden on Thursday said he "strongly" disagreed with the US Supreme Court's ruling banning the use of race and ethnicity in university admission policies, which came as a major blow to a decades-old practice that boosted educational opportunities for African-Americans and other minorities. The ruling "walked away from decades of precedent," he said, adding universities "should not abandon their commitment" to create diverse student bodies. "Discrimination still exists in America," said Biden. "Today's decision does not change that. It's a simple fact that if a student has had to overcome adversity on their path to education, colleges should recognize and value that." "I believe our colleges are stronger when they are racially diverse... We cannot let this decision be the last word." Asked by reporters if Thursday's decision by the conservative-dominated panel -- which also voted last year to ov...

Experts have recovered "presumed human remains" from the remains of the Titan sub that imploded during a dive to the Titanic wreck, the US Coast Guard said Wednesday. "United States medical professionals will conduct a formal analysis of presumed human remains that have been carefully recovered," the agency said in a statement after parts of the wreckage were unloaded in eastern Canada. (Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.) from NDTV News-World-news https://ift.tt/v3osgFV

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Wednesday evening reiterated his commitment to a "truly ambitious" free trade agreement (FTA) with India as he hosted a special reception to celebrate India Global Forum's UK-India Week 2023 in the garden of 10 Downing Street here. The 43-year-old British Indian leader interacted with business leaders and celebrities, including boxing champion Mary Kom, musicians Shankar Mahadevan and Zakir Hussain, and Bollywood actor Sonam Kapoor, as part of what he dubbed as the start of an Indian summer for the UK. "Prime Minister (Narendra) Modiji and I agree there's huge potential here. We're making great progress together on the 2030 roadmap and we want to strike a truly ambitious trade deal that benefits both our nations, bringing tremendous opportunities to businesses and consumers, both in India and here at home," said Sunak, who was joined at the garden party by wife Akshata Murty and mother-in-law Sudha Murty. "It...

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Wednesday evening reiterated his commitment to a "truly ambitious" free trade agreement (FTA) with India as he hosted a special reception to celebrate India Global Forum's UK-India Week 2023 in the garden of 10 Downing Street here. The 43-year-old British Indian leader interacted with business leaders and celebrities, including boxing champion Mary Kom, musicians Shankar Mahadevan and Zakir Hussain, and Bollywood actor Sonam Kapoor, as part of what he dubbed as the start of an Indian summer for the UK. "Prime Minister (Narendra) Modiji and I agree there's huge potential here. We're making great progress together on the 2030 roadmap and we want to strike a truly ambitious trade deal that benefits both our nations, bringing tremendous opportunities to businesses and consumers, both in India and here at home," said Sunak, who was joined at the garden party by wife Akshata Murty and mother-in-law Sudha Murty. "It...

A Canadian-flagged ship on Wednesday brought ashore debris from the Titan submersible that imploded while on a voyage to the century-old wreck of the Titanic earlier this month, killing all five people on board. Shattered fragments wrapped in white tarp pulled up by a crane off the Horizon Arctic vessel. Video from the Canadian Broadcast Corporation showed what appeared to be the nose of the submersible and other shattered fragments wrapped in white tarp pulled up by a crane off the Horizon Arctic vessel at the St. John's harbor in Newfoundland on Wednesday morning. The debris is expected to shed more light on the cause of the catastrophic implosion that killed everyone on board - OceanGate Expeditions CEO Stockton Rush; British billionaire Hamish Harding; Pakistani-born businessman Shahzada Dawood and his 19-year-old son, Suleman; and French oceanographer Paul-Henri Nargeolet. It was not immediately clear where the debris was headed. Canadian and US authorities have in the...

A Canadian-flagged ship on Wednesday brought ashore debris from the Titan submersible that imploded while on a voyage to the century-old wreck of the Titanic earlier this month, killing all five people on board. Shattered fragments wrapped in white tarp pulled up by a crane off the Horizon Arctic vessel. Video from the Canadian Broadcast Corporation showed what appeared to be the nose of the submersible and other shattered fragments wrapped in white tarp pulled up by a crane off the Horizon Arctic vessel at the St. John's harbor in Newfoundland on Wednesday morning. The debris is expected to shed more light on the cause of the catastrophic implosion that killed everyone on board - OceanGate Expeditions CEO Stockton Rush; British billionaire Hamish Harding; Pakistani-born businessman Shahzada Dawood and his 19-year-old son, Suleman; and French oceanographer Paul-Henri Nargeolet. It was not immediately clear where the debris was headed. Canadian and US authorities have in the...

The biggest threat to Russia is the regime of President Vladimir Putin, jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny said on Tuesday, in his first comments since an aborted Wagner mutiny. "There is no bigger threat to Russia than Putin's regime," Navalny wrote on social media. "Putin's regime is so dangerous to the country that even its inevitable demise will create the threat of civil war," he wrote. "The fact that the war started by Putin could destroy and break up Russia is no longer a dramatic statement." The rebellion by Wagner mercenary group chief Yevgeny Prigozhin sparked Russia's largest political crisis in decades. Prigozhin, embroiled in a long-running feud with Russia's military leadership over the war, ordered his forces to march on Moscow, before abruptly telling them to turn around. "It's not the West or the opposition that shot down Russian helicopters over Russia... that put Russia on the threshold of a civil war,...

A "potentially hazardous" asteroid, roughly the same length as the London Eye, is set to skim past Earth on Wednesday, according to a report by The Independent . NASA is tracking the movement of the huge rock, named 2013 WV44, which measures 160 metres in diameter. The US space agency's Centre for Near-Earth Object Studies said that the asteroid will pass within 3.3 million kilometres of Earth, which is quite close in terms of celestial objects but poses no threat to Earth. The space agency first discovered the asteroid in 2013 and a team of astronomers said that it travels at 11.8 km per second roughly 34 times the speed of sound. According to The Independent, the asteroid will make its closest approach to Earth at 9 am BST on June 28 (1.30 pm IST). Last month, NASA warned about a bus-sized asteroid that was expected to make its closest approach to Earth. According to NASA's Asteroid Watch page, the 39-foot bus-sized Asteroid 2023 JL1 will pass by Earth at a ...

A "potentially hazardous" asteroid, roughly the same length as the London Eye, is set to skim past Earth on Wednesday, according to a report by The Independent . NASA is tracking the movement of the huge rock, named 2013 WV44, which measures 160 metres in diameter. The US space agency's Centre for Near-Earth Object Studies said that the asteroid will pass within 3.3 million kilometres of Earth, which is quite close in terms of celestial objects but poses no threat to Earth. The space agency first discovered the asteroid in 2013 and a team of astronomers said that it travels at 11.8 km per second roughly 34 times the speed of sound. According to The Independent, the asteroid will make its closest approach to Earth at 9 am BST on June 28 (1.30 pm IST). Last month, NASA warned about a bus-sized asteroid that was expected to make its closest approach to Earth. According to NASA's Asteroid Watch page, the 39-foot bus-sized Asteroid 2023 JL1 will pass by Earth at a ...

As news broke on Saturday that mercenary Wagner troops were careering towards Moscow in a short-lived rebellion, several businessmen from southern China began frantically calling factories to halt shipments of goods destined for Russia. While the mutiny - the biggest test of Russian President Vladimir Putin's leadership since his February 2022 invasion of Ukraine - quickly faded, some of these exporters are now left questioning their future dependence on Beijing's closest ally. "We thought there was going to be a big problem," Shen Muhui, the head of the trade body for the firms in China's southern Fujian province said, recalling the scramble among its members exporting auto parts, machinery and garments to Russia. Though the crisis has eased, "some people remain on the sidelines, as they're not sure what will happen later," he added, declining to name the companies pausing shipments. China has sought to play down the weekend's events and voi...

Pakistan Army on Monday announced that three officers including a Lieutenant-General were sacked and action was taken against three major generals and seven brigadiers for failing to protect key military installations during the May 9 violence following the arrest of former prime minister Imran Khan. Supporters of Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party vandalised over 20 military installations and government buildings, including the Lahore Corps Commander House, Mianwali airbase and the ISI building in Faisalabad. The Army headquarters (GHQ) in Rawalpindi was also attacked by the mob for the first time. Addressing a press conference, military spokesman Major General Arshad Sharif said the army conducted two probes into the protests by PTI supporters and took action. "After a deliberate accountability process, keeping the requests of in-court inquiries in view, disciplinary proceedings were initiated against those who failed to keep the security and honour of garrisons,...

Pakistan Army on Monday announced that three officers including a Lieutenant-General were sacked and action was taken against three major generals and seven brigadiers for failing to protect key military installations during the May 9 violence following the arrest of former prime minister Imran Khan. Supporters of Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party vandalised over 20 military installations and government buildings, including the Lahore Corps Commander House, Mianwali airbase and the ISI building in Faisalabad. The Army headquarters (GHQ) in Rawalpindi was also attacked by the mob for the first time. Addressing a press conference, military spokesman Major General Arshad Sharif said the army conducted two probes into the protests by PTI supporters and took action. "After a deliberate accountability process, keeping the requests of in-court inquiries in view, disciplinary proceedings were initiated against those who failed to keep the security and honour of garrisons,...

Ukrainian forces have recaptured another formerly Russian-held settlement on the southern front between the two armies, deputy defence minister Ganna Malyar said Monday. "Defence forces returned Rivnopil under our control. Let's push on," the minister posted on her Telegram account, referring to a rural community in the Donetsk region. This month Ukraine launched a counteroffensive against the Russian troops occupying around a fifth of its territory in the south and east of the country. President Volodymyr Zelensky has admitted that the advance has not gone as fast as had been hoped, despite Ukraine starting to deploy more Western-supplied weapons and tanks. But there has been a breakthrough in the Mokri Yaly river valley, south of Velika Novosilka in the Donetsk, and the recapture of Rivnopil would be a continuation of this advance. Russian forces had confirmed that there was fighting for Rivnopil on June 16, two weeks after the official launch of Ukraine's summ...

A fund backed by Japan's government has offered to buy out JSR Corp., a firm central to the manufacture of semiconductors, in a deal worth $6.2 billion, the company said Monday. JSR said in a statement its board was in favour of the deal, which would privatise a company that is a key producer of compounds vital to the manufacture of semiconductors. Japan Investment Corporation (JIC), the fund behind the deal, hopes to finalise it by December, but there are regulatory procedures that make a precise timeline hard to predict, JSR said. "This is truly an exciting day for JSR," company CEO Eric Johnson told reporters after the announcement. "With JIC, we aim to be a catalyst for reform in the semiconductor materials space, as well as to improve the biopharmaceutical capabilities" both domestically and globally, he said. The deal, he added, would "enable acceleration and reform" in the chip sector. JIC is an investment fund founded in 2018, with the go...

A fund backed by Japan's government has offered to buy out JSR Corp., a firm central to the manufacture of semiconductors, in a deal worth $6.2 billion, the company said Monday. JSR said in a statement its board was in favour of the deal, which would privatise a company that is a key producer of compounds vital to the manufacture of semiconductors. Japan Investment Corporation (JIC), the fund behind the deal, hopes to finalise it by December, but there are regulatory procedures that make a precise timeline hard to predict, JSR said. "This is truly an exciting day for JSR," company CEO Eric Johnson told reporters after the announcement. "With JIC, we aim to be a catalyst for reform in the semiconductor materials space, as well as to improve the biopharmaceutical capabilities" both domestically and globally, he said. The deal, he added, would "enable acceleration and reform" in the chip sector. JIC is an investment fund founded in 2018, with the go...

Streaming giant Netflix has been slammed by the netizens for dropping the trailer of its new documentary, The Deepest Breath on Twitter, just days after the Titan Submersible imploded, killing all five onboard. Netflix's latest documentary is about Alessia Zecchini, who holds a world record in freediving. The trailer did not go down well with the netizens and they criticised the OTT giant's move to release the trailer at the wrong time. A Twitter user wrote, "I'm not sure this is the best show to advertise during the Titanic submarine thing." Another user wrote, "Probably not the best-timed tweet you've ever done." A third added: "Wow epic timing, and not in a good way. Who decided this was going up?" Watch the trailer here: In freediving, a single breath can be the difference between life or death. The Deepest Breath, a new documentary, premieres July 19 pic.twitter.com/XLeH5D1YMm — Netflix (@netflix) June 20, 2023 Meanwhile, a...

An abortive mutiny in Russia has shown the risks the Kremlin faces from a long, grinding conflict in Ukraine even though it has not handed Kyiv an immediate breakthrough on the battlefield. Many questions still swirl after Russian mercenary boss Yevgeny Prigozhin's Wagner forces returned to base after Friday's mutiny, which was called off the following day under a deal brokered by the president of Belarus. But current and former officials in Kyiv say the mutiny offered a startling glimpse into the strain the Russian political system is under. It revealed that Russian reserve forces were so thin they struggled to respond to the threat. "I think clearly they're not in a safe space regarding the endless continuation of the war," Andriy Zagorodniuk, Ukraine's defence minister from 2019 to 2020, told Reuters. "Remember the concept of the 'forever war' that was in the press? I think they will have to rethink that." A war stretching many more m...

Conservative leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis won Greece's national elections on Sunday with a clear majority, securing a second term during which he vowed to bring about major reforms to transform the country. With nearly all the votes counted, Mitsotakis's New Democracy party obtained a score of over 40.5 percent, well ahead of the leftist Syriza party led by former premier Alexis Tsipras, which scored less than 18 percent. The margin is the widest for the conservatives in almost 50 years, as voters rewarded them for nursing Greece back to economic health after a crippling debt crisis. "The people have given us a safe majority. Major reforms will proceed rapidly," Mitsotakis said, adding that he had "ambitious" targets for a new term that could "transform" Greece. The 55-year-old former McKinsey consultant and Harvard graduate, who steered the EU nation from the coronavirus pandemic back to two consecutive years of strong growth, had already scored...

Pakistan's government aims to generate an additional Pakistani rupees (Rs) 215 billion in taxes and cut spending by Rs 85 billion in the next fiscal year in order to seal International Monetary Fund (IMF) deal, Dawn reported. The government has made changes according to the measures that were dictated by the IMF in a last-ditch effort to secure critical funding. "Pakistan and IMF had detailed negotiations for the last three days as a last effort to complete the pending review," Finance Minister Ishaq Dar told the house as he unveiled the changes on Saturday. But the Pakistan government has not reduced the federal development budget or the salaries and pensions of government employees. This will revise the government's revenue collection target to Rs 9.415 trillion and put total spending at Rs14.48 trillion, he said. The share of the provinces would be increased to Rs 5.39 trillion from Rs 5.28 trillion, reported Dawn. Mr Dar said the government had also lifted im...

Pakistan's government aims to generate an additional Pakistani rupees (Rs) 215 billion in taxes and cut spending by Rs 85 billion in the next fiscal year in order to seal International Monetary Fund (IMF) deal, Dawn reported. The government has made changes according to the measures that were dictated by the IMF in a last-ditch effort to secure critical funding. "Pakistan and IMF had detailed negotiations for the last three days as a last effort to complete the pending review," Finance Minister Ishaq Dar told the house as he unveiled the changes on Saturday. But the Pakistan government has not reduced the federal development budget or the salaries and pensions of government employees. This will revise the government's revenue collection target to Rs 9.415 trillion and put total spending at Rs14.48 trillion, he said. The share of the provinces would be increased to Rs 5.39 trillion from Rs 5.28 trillion, reported Dawn. Mr Dar said the government had also lifted im...

Pakistan's National Assembly on Sunday passed a bill to limit the lifetime disqualification of lawmakers to five years, possibly paving the way for the return of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif from London to resume active politics ahead of general elections this year. Mr Sharif, 73, was disqualified for life in 2017 by the Supreme Court and later convicted in corruption cases by the accountability courts. In 2018, the three-time former premier became ineligible to hold public office for life after a Supreme Court verdict in the Panama Papers case. The Elections (Amendment) Bill 2023 apart from reducing the period of disqualification also aims to empower the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to announce election dates unilaterally without having to consult the president. On the time period of disqualification for lawmakers, the bill included an amendment to Section 232 (Disqualification on account of offences) of the Election Act, 2017. The bill was already approved by ...

Pakistan's National Assembly on Sunday passed a bill to limit the lifetime disqualification of lawmakers to five years, possibly paving the way for the return of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif from London to resume active politics ahead of general elections this year. Mr Sharif, 73, was disqualified for life in 2017 by the Supreme Court and later convicted in corruption cases by the accountability courts. In 2018, the three-time former premier became ineligible to hold public office for life after a Supreme Court verdict in the Panama Papers case. The Elections (Amendment) Bill 2023 apart from reducing the period of disqualification also aims to empower the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to announce election dates unilaterally without having to consult the president. On the time period of disqualification for lawmakers, the bill included an amendment to Section 232 (Disqualification on account of offences) of the Election Act, 2017. The bill was already approved by ...

UK fighter jets have been scrambled to respond to Russian aircraft 21 times in the last three weeks, under NATO's air policing operations in Europe's Baltic region, Britain said late Saturday. The Royal Air Force Typhoon fighters, currently operating out of Estonia, are part of so-called "quick reaction alert" aircraft used by the Western alliance to secure its eastern European flank. Their response comes amid heightened tensions with Moscow over its ongoing war in Ukraine, which has been temporarily overshadowed this weekend by a mutiny within Russia by the Wagner paramilitary group. The UK Typhoons, which have been operating out of an Estonian air base since March, were launched to monitor the Russian aircraft when they failed to respond to air traffic agencies, Britain's Ministry of Defence (MoD) said in a statement. They are policing the skies above the Baltics alongside Portuguese and Romanian air forces based in Lithuania, it noted. The Russian aircraft...

After the rebellion launched by the Russian mercenary group Wagner against Moscow, AFP looks back at the previous biggest threats survived by the Kremlin since the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. Failed coup of 1991 In August 1991, four months before the collapse of the Soviet union, president Mikhail Gorbachev survived a failed attempt by Communist hardliners to seize power to prevent the signature of a treaty granting a large degree of autonomy to the 15 republics that made up the USSR. Gorbachev was on holiday at his dacha in Crimea when he was taken prisoner there by the KGB, the Soviet secret police, on August 19. Troops and tanks were also deployed on the streets of Moscow. Over the next three days, tens of thousands of people took to the streets to defend Russian democracy. The resistance centred on the White House, the parliament building in Moscow, which became a symbol of opposition to the putsch.  Boris Yeltsin, the newly elected president of the Russia republic -...

The head of the Russian mercenary group Wagner vowed Saturday to take all necessary steps to topple the country's military leadership in Moscow, saying his forces would "destroy everything" in their way. "We are going onwards and we will go to the end," Yevgeny Prigozhin said in a new audio message after vowing to sideline Russia's military leadership. He said his forces had entered the southern Russian region of Rostov but did not provide any proof and AFP could not independently verify his claims. "We will destroy everything that stands in our way," he added. Prigozhin, who has for months been mired in a feud with the defence ministry, on Friday accused Moscow of targeting his forces with deadly missile strikes and vowed to retaliate. He urged Russians to join his forces and punish Moscow's military leadership in the most audacious challenge to President Vladimir Putin since the start of the offensive in Ukraine last year. (Except for t...

Russian leader Vladimir Putin is hoping for a "long-lasting war" in Ukraine and believes time is on his side, French President Emmanuel Macron told CNN on Friday. In an interview with the American channel, he added that Ukraine's ongoing counter-offensive would be crucial in bringing the Kremlin leader to the negotiating table. "I think the purpose of this counter-offensive is to push the Russians to negotiate and come back at the table at obviously better conditions for the Ukrainians," Macron said, speaking in English. Asked if Putin might be ready to accept concessions, Macron replied: "If there is a big change due to the counter-offensive, this is possible. Putin's "preference would be definitely a long-lasting war because I think his certainty is that time is playing for Russia," he added. Earlier on Friday, Macron accused Russia of being "a destabilising force in Africa". The French leader sought to play a role as a media...

Russian leader Vladimir Putin is hoping for a "long-lasting war" in Ukraine and believes time is on his side, French President Emmanuel Macron told CNN on Friday. In an interview with the American channel, he added that Ukraine's ongoing counter-offensive would be crucial in bringing the Kremlin leader to the negotiating table. "I think the purpose of this counter-offensive is to push the Russians to negotiate and come back at the table at obviously better conditions for the Ukrainians," Macron said, speaking in English. Asked if Putin might be ready to accept concessions, Macron replied: "If there is a big change due to the counter-offensive, this is possible. Putin's "preference would be definitely a long-lasting war because I think his certainty is that time is playing for Russia," he added. Earlier on Friday, Macron accused Russia of being "a destabilising force in Africa". The French leader sought to play a role as a media...

Russian authorities on Friday opened a criminal probe into calls to stage an "armed mutiny" after the chief of the Wagner mercenary group accused Russia of targeting his forces with deadly missile strikes and vowed to retaliate. Yevgeny Prigozhin, 62, called on Russians to join his forces and punish Moscow's military leadership in the most audacious challenge to President Vladimir Putin since the start of the offensive in Ukraine last year. The Kremlin said Putin had been informed of Prigozhin's claims and "necessary measures are being taken," while the FSB security service opened a criminal probe into calls to stage an "armed mutiny." While Prigozhin's private military outfit has spearheaded much of Russia's offensive in Ukraine, he has in recent months engaged in a bitter feud with Moscow's military leadership that he alleges has now spilled onto the battlefield. "They (Russia's military) conducted missile strikes at our ...

Russian authorities on Friday opened a criminal probe into calls to stage an "armed mutiny" after the chief of the Wagner mercenary group accused Russia of targeting his forces with deadly missile strikes and vowed to retaliate. Yevgeny Prigozhin, 62, called on Russians to join his forces and punish Moscow's military leadership in the most audacious challenge to President Vladimir Putin since the start of the offensive in Ukraine last year. The Kremlin said Putin had been informed of Prigozhin's claims and "necessary measures are being taken," while the FSB security service opened a criminal probe into calls to stage an "armed mutiny." While Prigozhin's private military outfit has spearheaded much of Russia's offensive in Ukraine, he has in recent months engaged in a bitter feud with Moscow's military leadership that he alleges has now spilled onto the battlefield. "They (Russia's military) conducted missile strikes at our ...