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Jailed former prime minister Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf party-backed independent candidates Babar Saleem Swati and Suriya Bibi on Thursday took the oath as the Speaker and Deputy Speaker respectively of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provincial assembly. Mr Swati, 62, who was elected from PK-37 Mansehra-II constituency in the provincial polls on February 8, secured 89 votes against 17 obtained by the Pakistan Peoples Party candidate Ehsan Ullah Khan. Similarly, Suriya Bibi, 40, who won from the Chitral's PK-1 seat, secured 87 votes in the elections and won the slot of Deputy Speaker. Suriya is the first woman elected on a general seat in Chitral's history after securing 18,914 votes against the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl 's (JUI-F) Shakeel Ahmed, who could get only 10,533 votes. Outgoing speaker Mushtaq Ghani administered the oath of the new custodian of the house. The Chief Minister designate Ali Amin Gandapur will take oath of the leader of the house in the KP

Three-time former prime minister Nawaz Sharif on Thursday took oath as an ordinary lawmaker in the 16th session of Pakistan's National Assembly, days after giving up his bid to lead the country for a record fourth time. A quirk of fate following the poor show in the electoral battle led Nawaz, 74, the supremo of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party to abandon his claim to the prime minister's position to his younger brother Shehbaz, 72. Mr Sharif is back in Parliament after seven long years when he had to step down as the premier following his disqualification in 2017. His terms as the prime minister include the first from 1990-1993, then 1997-1999, and the last from 2013-2017, none of them for a complete five years. He returned from London to Pakistan in October last year, ending his self-imposed exile to lead his party in the February 8 elections. However, he could not achieve his ambition to become Pakistan's prime minister for a record fourth time since hi

President Joe Biden said his annual medical examination had gone well Wednesday, joking that doctors thought he looked too young even as scrutiny increases over the 81-year-old's age ahead of November's US election. The White House said a summary of the test results from the Walter Reed military medical facility outside Washington would be released later in the day, with the outcome closely followed for details about America's oldest ever leader . "They think I look too young," Biden told reporters when asked if the medical exam had raised any concerns ahead of a likely rematch with 77-year-old Donald Trump in November. "No, there is nothing different from last year," when his exam said he was fit for duty, Biden added after an event at the White House.  Biden took a short helicopter ride to the medical center that is often used by US presidents and left after just over two and a half hours, saluting naval staff and donning sunglasses before leaving

Dutch prosecutors said Wednesday they were putting two Pakistani nationals on trial for incitement to murder anti-Islam MP Geert Wilders, asking Islamabad for legal help in the matter. Judges in September last year sentenced Pakistani cricketer Khalid Latif to 12 years behind bars for urging people to murder Wilders after the firebrand lawmaker sought to arrange a competition for cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed. The Public Prosecution Service said it was prosecuting two Pakistani nationals, one a religious leader, 55 and one a political leader, 29, "who have called upon their following to murder a Dutch member of Parliament." "This was done both during meetings and on social media through video and text messages," it said in a statement. The religious leader allegedly called for Wilders' murder as his followers would be "rewarded in the afterlife", while the political leader said since Latif's conviction it was "up to his own followers t

Director James Cameron's "Avatar" movies are populated by a species of outsized blue beings resembling humans, except with tails. So why does our species lack a tail, considering that our evolutionary forerunners in the primate lineage had them? Scientists on Wednesday identified what might be the genetic mechanism behind the tailless condition of us and our ape ancestors - a mutation in a gene instrumental in embryonic development. The tail was a feature of most vertebrates for more than half a billion years, and its loss may have offered advantages as our ancestors moved from the trees to the ground, they said. The researchers compared the DNA of two groups of primates: monkeys, which have tails, and hominoids - humans and apes - which do not. They found a mutation in a gene called TBXT that was present in people and apes but absent in monkeys. To test the effects of this mutation, the researchers genetically modified laboratory mice to have this trait. These mice end

Israelis voted Tuesday in twice postponed municipal elections that could offer a gauge of the public mood nearly five months into the war against Hamas in Gaza. Soldiers had already cast their ballots over the past week at special polling stations set up in army encampments in Gaza as fighting rages. Polls opened at 7:00 am (0500 GMT) and closed at 10:00 pm (2000 GMT). More than seven million people were eligible to vote in the elections for local councils across most of Israel, in Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank, in Jerusalem and in parts of the annexed Golan Heights. The vote, first scheduled for October 31, has been pushed back to November 2024 in towns and villages bordering the besieged Gaza Strip or Lebanon, where Hamas ally Hezbollah has fired rockets at Israel almost daily since the start of the Gaza war. Nearly 150,000 Israelis have been displaced by hostilities in those areas. Amit Peretz, 32, a Jerusalem city council candidate, said Jerusalem's diverse

An accountability court in Pakistan on Tuesday indicted jailed former prime minister Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi in the 190 million pounds Al Qadir corruption case. Judge Nasir Javed Rana conducted the hearing at Rawalpindi's high-security Adiala jail where the 72-year-old Pakistan-Tehreek-Insaf founder is currently incarcerated in multiple cases. The judge read the chargesheet in Khan and Bushra's presence in the courtroom. The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had initiated an investigation against Khan, his wife, and others regarding the alleged acquisition of hundreds of canals of land under the name of Al Qadir University Trust, resulting in a reported loss of 190 million pounds to the exchequer. During the hearing, the court said that statements of 58 witnesses will be recorded in the case, Geo News reported. The judge asked Khan if he was guilty or not while framing charges against him. "Why should I read the charge sheet when I know what's writ

A New York medical school will scrap tuition fees after receiving a "transformational gift" worth $1 billion from a wealthy benefactor, the Albert Einstein College of Medicine's parent organization said in a statement. The charitable donation is one of the largest ever publicly received by an educational institution in the United States and will see the almost $60,000 undiscounted annual tuition fee become zero. The school, and its affiliated hospital the Montefiore Medical Center, are located in the Bronx -- New York City's poorest borough, where health outcomes are some of the worst in the state, according to official statistics. A clip of the announcement being made on campus, posted to social media, showed an auditorium of students reacting rapturously, cheering, screaming and applauding. We are profoundly grateful that Dr. Ruth Gottesman, Professor Emerita of Pediatrics at @EinsteinMed , has made a transformational gift to #MontefioreEinstein —the largest to

In a pre-Ramzan gesture, a UAE-based Indian businessman and philanthropist has donated 1 million dirhams (approximately INR 2.5 crore) to ensure the release of 900 prisoners from jails across the Gulf nation. Firoz Merchant, 66, who is the owner of Pure Gold Jewellers, donated the money to the UAE authorities, a testament to the holy month's message of humility, humanity, forgiveness, and kindness. "Prominent Dubai-based Indian businessman and philanthropist Firoz Merchant of Pure Gold has donated close to Rs 2.25 Crores (AED 1 million) to ensure the release of 900 prisoners from jails across the Arabian nation," said a statement from his office. Under the aegis of The Forgotten Society initiative founded in 2008, Merchant has already been instrumental in obtaining the release of 900 prisoners across the UAE since the beginning of 2024, including 495 prisoners from Ajman, 170 prisoners from Fujairah, 121 prisoners from Dubai, 69 prisoners from Umm Al Quwain and 28 from

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Sunday his country's victory "depends" on Western support and that he was "sure" the United States would approve a critical package of military aid. He also said 31,000 Ukrainian soldiers had been killed in two years of war with Russia, in a rare admission of military losses.  "Whether Ukraine will lose, whether it will be very difficult for us and whether there will be a large number of casualties depends on you, on our partners, on the Western world," Zelensky said.  He spoke at a press conference in Kyiv dedicated to the second anniversary of Russia's invasion at a time when Ukraine has been weakened by a shortage of ammunition and the blocking of US aid in Congress.  "There is hope for Congress, and I am sure that it is going to be positive, otherwise I do not understand the world we will start to live in," Zelensky said.  The aid has been blocked amid resistance from Republicans. For

Seeking to enhance maritime security and interoperability, coast guard personnel from India, the Maldives and Sri Lanka have embarked on a four-day trilateral exercise to identify emerging maritime challenges in the Indian Ocean Region. Indian Coast Guard ship Samarth and ICGS Abhinav along with Sri Lanka Naval Ship Samudura reached here on Thursday for the exercise 'DOSTI-16' that is being held between February 22 and 25. Bangladesh is participating as an observer. The sea exercise under #DOSTI -XVI involving five Coast Guard ships from #India , #Maldives and #SriLanka conducted today at Male, #Maldives . @giridhararamane @MEAIndia @HCIMaldives @MNDF_Official pic.twitter.com/D6TJeE8rez — Indian Coast Guard (@IndiaCoastGuard) February 24, 2024 MNDF welcomes participating ships from India and Sri Lanka for the Trilateral Joint Exercise "DOSTI-16" from Feb 22-25. Coast Guards of Maldives, India, and Sri Lanka, along with observers from Bangladesh, join in

Leaders of the G7 nations on Saturday called on Russia to "fully clarify" how Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny came to die in prison last week. Their statement came hours after a spokesperson for Navalny's team said the Russian authorities had finally handed over his body to his mother following his death in an Arctic prison colony. "We call on the Russian government to fully clarify the circumstances around his death," said the statement. "We also pay tribute to the extraordinary courage of Alexei Navalny and stand with his wife, children, and loved ones," it added. "He sacrificed his life fighting against the Kremlin's corruption and for free and fair elections in Russia." (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/1Z5SU4T

With a power-sharing deal already inked, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz and the Pakistan Peoples Party are moving ahead with plans to form a coalition government by March 2 and hold the presidential election before March 9, according to a media report on Friday. The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) led by three-time Prime minister Nawaz Sharif will be backed by the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) of former foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari has agreed to form a new government after the February 8 elections resulted in a hung Parliament. Former prime minister Shehbaz Sharif, 72, is set to return to the top post after his elder brother Nawaz, decided to nominate the PML-N president for premiership. The party has clarified that the three-time former prime minister did not want to lead a government in which the PMN-L does not have a majority in Parliament. Both parties won fewer seats than candidates backed by jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan. Quoting sources, The News I

The UK government announced Friday that it would introduce stake limits for online slot games in a toughening of regulations designed to help protect people from the dangers of gambling. From September, adults will be restricted to £5 ($6) per spin while 18 to 24-year-olds will be limited to £2. As of now, there are no limits on stakes, unlike on physical gaming machines in casinos and betting shops. The Department for Culture, Media and Sport described the move as a "landmark moment" for the regulation of online gambling. It said in a statement the laws would "counter the increased risk of significant harm and life-changing losses" from online slots. However, Charles Ritchie, who co-founded the charity Gambling With Lives after his son took his own life after battling gambling addiction, said the games would "remain highly addictive". "They are high-speed products, and really until there is action taken on the speed of play then they will remai

Israel is seeking Palestinians who are not affiliated with Hamas to manage civilian affairs in areas of the Gaza Strip designed as testing grounds for post-war administration of the enclave, a senior Israeli official said on Thursday. But Hamas said the plan, which the Israeli official said would also exclude anybody on the payroll of the internationally recognised Palestinian Authority, would amount to an Israeli reoccupation of Gaza and was doomed to failure. The Israeli official said the planned "humanitarian pockets" would be in districts of the Gaza Strip from which Hamas has been expelled, but that their ultimate success would hinge on Israel achieving its goal of destroying the Islamist faction across the tiny coastal territory that it has been governing. "We're looking for the right people to step up to the plate," the official told Reuters on condition of anonymity. "But it is clear that this will take time, as no one will come forward if they t

Alexei Navalny's mother Lyudmila on Thursday accused Russian investigators of planning a "secret" funeral for her son and said she would not agree to it. "They want this to be done secretly, with no farewell. They want to bring me to the edge of a cemetery, to a fresh grave and say: here lies your son. I don't agree to this," she said in a YouTube video. There was no immediate response from Russian investigators. Navalny, 47, Russia's best known opposition politician, died suddenly in an Arctic penal colony last week. His team and family have alleged that the Kremlin murdered him, an allegation the Kremlin has angrily rejected. His mother said she had been shown his body and death certificate. Navalny's team said the death certificate stated that the opposition politician had died of natural causes. (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:

US firm OpenAI debuted a tool last week that can generate highly realistic snippets of video from just a few lines of text, leading content creators to wonder if they are the latest professionals about to be replaced by algorithms. Reactions to the tool, called Sora, have ranged from head-over-heels enthusiasm to alarm over the future direction of the industry. YouTuber Marques Brownlee called it "frightening" and "threatening" to see an AI doing his job. On the other hand, Caleb Ward, one half of AI filmmaking duo Curious Refuge, told his YouTube followers he could not wait to get his hands on the tool. Yet both Ward and Brownlee agreed that it was a massive moment for their industry. "I can't stress enough how big a deal this is for the filmmaking and creative world," said Ward, who recently went viral with a trailer he created for a Wes Anderson-style Star Wars movie. OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, said in its announcement that Sora was n

An American MQ-9 Reaper drone crashed off the coast of Yemen after apparently being struck by a missile fired by Iran-backed Houthi rebels, the Pentagon said Tuesday. It is the second time an MQ-9 -- which can be used for both surveillance and strikes -- was lost near Yemen in recent months, with US officials confirming last year that another was downed by the Houthis. The apparent shoot-down came the same day that the rebels targeted two US-owned merchant vessels as they continue their multi-month campaign of attacks on shipping in the area. "On February 19, a US MQ-9 was downed or went down off the coast of Houthi-controlled areas in Yemen, in the Red Sea," Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh told journalists. "Initial indications are that it was shot down by a Houthi surface-to-air missile," Singh said. The Houthis -- who are opposed to government forces in Yemen and are also part of the "axis of resistance" of groups arrayed against Isra

The United States said Tuesday it disagreed with Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva comparing Israel's campaign in Gaza to the Holocaust, ahead of his meeting with Secretary of State Antony Blinken. "Obviously we disagree with those comments. We have been quite clear that we do not believe that genocide has occurred in Gaza," State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters. (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/CLFvQfX

Gunfire echoed around Palestinian medics, patients and displaced people during what they described as a terrifying and chaotic night evacuation from Gaza's Nasser Hospital after Israeli forces rushed in the hospital. Survivors of last week's assault on the second-biggest hospital in Gaza said they then faced a treacherous walk to safety through the dark, passing corpses along the way. One doctor said a male nurse was detained at an Israeli checkpoint, stripped naked and taken away screaming. "Smoke was everywhere, it was like doomsday, people running everywhere," said Doctor Ahmed al-Mughraby, head of the plastic surgery department, who fled with his wife and children. Mughraby, who has found refuge with his family in a shelter near another hospital where he now works, said Israeli forces had ordered everyone to evacuate except patients unable to walk and medics looking after them. Details of the military assault on Nasser Hospital have been gradually emerging as

Israel's military on Monday published new images and voiced concern about a mother and her two boys -- including a baby who is the youngest hostage seized by Hamas operatives. Hamas announced in November that all three had been killed in an Israeli bombardment but the Israeli authorities have not confirmed the claim. Army spokesman Daniel Hagari said they were "concerned for the welfare" of Shiri Bibas, who was seen on a street camera in the southern Gaza city of Khan Yunis surrounded by seven armed men. ?Footage from Oct. 7 of Shiri Bibas with her 4-year-old child and 9-month-old baby covered in a sheet, being transported by their terrorist kidnappers in eastern Khan Yunis: pic.twitter.com/GPOCxYts6Q — Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) February 19, 2024 Kfir Bibas is the youngest Israeli hostage and was "stolen from his crib" in the community of Nir Oz when he was barely nine months old while his brother, Ariel, was just four, Hagari told a televised briefing.

A woman in Alabama allegedly drove over her seven-year-old child after forcing him to walk home from school as a punishment. According to the New York Post , the incident happened on February 9, when Sarai Rachel James, 27, picked up her son from school and got to know of his misbehavior by the school's principal. As a punishment, she made the boy get out of her car and asked him to walk or run the rest of the way home, which was about eight blocks away.  When she slowed down, the boy tried to grab the door handle of the car before his mother accelerated. Her action resulted in the boy being pulled under the car and run over by the rear tire. Police Chief Michael Abercrombie told People that the boy survived the accident and sustained minor injuries. He suffered abrasions on his back and the side of his head and was transported to the University of Alabama Hospital. ''It was a miracle he was not hurt worse than he was. God was watching over that child that day,'

In a shocking incident, a shirtless passenger punched an air steward in the face after destroying the plane's toilet. The incident happened on February 7, aboard a Thai Airways flight from Bangkok to Heathrow, Metro reported. Footage of the incident which has surfaced online showed the 35-year-old man punching the steward who was knocked so hard he fell to the floor.  Stunned by his vile outburst, other passengers tried to intervene and stop him and finally managed to tie his hands together. A fellow woman passenger sitting just a few seats away managed to capture the ordeal on camera. The video has now gone viral on social media websites.  Watch the video here: A 35yo unruly British man was arrested after his flight from Bangkok to London Heathrow landed following a cowardly attack on a Thai Airways member of staff. The man went berserk minutes after the flight took off on Feb 7 and proceeded to smash up the aircraft's toilet. pic.twitter.com/k391Ab5Phs — ThaiMythbuste

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Saturday that critics calling for Israel not to mount military action in Rafah were effectively telling the country to "lose the war" against Hamas. The Israeli premier, who has vowed to "destroy" the Palestinian group behind the October 7 attack on Israel, also indicated that troops would go in regardless of whether a hostage release is agreed. "Even if we achieve it, we will enter Rafah," he told a televised news conference. Israel has faced increasing calls, including from its closest ally the United States, to hold off sending troops into the southern Gazan city, where some 1.4 million people have fled. The military maintains that it is working to move civilians from the area to minimise casualties, but has not revealed exact details of its evacuation plan. Talks have been held in the Egyptian capital, Cairo, to try to broker a pause in the fighting, while aid agencies are increasingly concerned about the lac

Donald Trump will address supporters at a campaign rally on Saturday for the first time since a New York judge ruled he must pay $354.9 million in penalties for fraudulently overstating his net worth to dupe lenders. The former president, set to appear at an election rally in Michigan, was scheduled to speak at the same time as Nikki Haley, his last remaining rival for the Republican presidential nomination, who was due to hold an event in South Carolina. On Saturday morning, Haley wasted no time in going after Trump after Friday's ruling, which handed him another legal setback in a civil case that imperils his real estate empire. Trump also faces four state and federal criminal trials, including one scheduled to start in New York on March 25, over alleged hush money payments to a porn star. That means Trump will become the first former U.S. president to stand trial on criminal charges. Haley frequently says "chaos" follows Trump, and that he can't be an effective

Ukraine's withdrawal from the city of Avdiivka hands Vladimir Putin a major symbolic victory before Russia's presidential election in March and exposes Kyiv's critical shortages of weapons and soldiers. - Symbol of Ukrainian resistance - Avdiivka, a small industrial city in the eastern Donbas region, has been a symbol of Ukrainian resistance to Russian aggression since 2014. It is close to the city of Donetsk, which pro-Russian separatists control as their capital and whose Moscow-backed fighters briefly took power in July 2014 before Ukrainian forces regained control. The city is now mostly destroyed and abandoned, with the vast majority of its pre-war population of around 34,000 having fled. Avdiivka "has been a symbol of Ukraine's battlefield resolve and Russia's military failures", said analyst Ivan Klyszcz of the Estonia-based International Centre for Defence and Security. But it is "strategically insignificant", added Gustav Gressel,

Switzerland is the world's best nation to build multi-generational wealth. As per a new index by citizenship advisory firm Henley & Partners , Switzerland has 85 per cent of the total opportunity score. The index evaluated the nations on six different parameters including earning potential, career advancement, employment opportunities, premium education, economic mobility, and livability. With 100 points of earning potential, 95 points of career advancement, and 94 points of employment prospects, Switzerland has occupied the top spot on the index. On high livability and economic mobility, Switzerland scored 75 points, while it scored 72 on premium education. Switzerland is followed by the United States of America which scored 82 per cent on the total opportunity score. The US stands equivalent to Switzerland on employment prospects—94 points. However, it dwindled to 93 points on earning potential, 86 points on career advancement, and 68 points on high livability. The empl

A British mechanic who created and moderated sites dedicated to child sexual abuse on the dark web with the help of an Indian-origin staffer has been jailed for 16 years by Chester Crown Court in north-west England. Nathan Bake, 28, sentenced on Wednesday, is one of three UK-based moderators of a site called ‘The Annex' who were identified by the UK's National Crime Agency (NCA) as part of an investigation targeting those behind the site. His staffer, 33-year-old London-based psychiatrist Kabir Garg, was sentenced to six years' imprisonment by a UK court last year. He was also a moderator of the site and sat just below Bake in its hierarchy. “Bake was one of a select number of individuals that played a vital role in ensuring The Annex continued to run and was able to facilitate child sexual abuse on a global scale,” said Daniel Waywell, NCA's Senior Investigating Officer. “He started as a user himself, but worked his way up the rankings by actively sharing a substan

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday inaugurated Abu Dhabi's first Hindu stone temple, describing it as a symbol of the shared heritage of humanity and thanking the UAE for scripting a new golden chapter of human history. Speaking at the inauguration of the temple built by the Bochasanwasi Shri Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha (BAPS), the Prime Minister profusely thanked the President of UAE Sheikh Mohammad Zayed Al Nahyan for making the grand temple in Abu Dhabi a reality and said he has not only won the hearts of Indians living in the Gulf nation but also of 140 crore Indians. "I hope that the BAPS Mandir will become a symbol of communal harmony and global unity for the whole world," PM Modi said, addressing a gathering that included UAE Tolerance Minister Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan and spiritual leaders from all faiths. "We do not see hatred in diversity, we consider diversity as our specialty! In this temple, we will see a glimpse of diver

An Indian national was arrested on Tuesday on charges of possessing undocumented gold and silver in Nepal, police said. Acting on a tip-off, police raided a jewellery shop in Pokhara city and arrested its owner Surjit Singh, 40, for smuggling gold and silver. Police recovered unaccounted 7.782 kg gold, 6 kg silver ornament and Rs 68 lakh cash from his possession. According to police, Singh is a resident of Medinipur in West Bengal and was running the jewellery shop. During a preliminary investigation, it was found that there was no supporting document against the recovered gold and silver.  (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/3rxkXy1

Pakistan's caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar on Monday said independents backed by jailed former prime minister Imran Khan emerged as the single largest group in the general elections only because his government provided "a level playing field" to all parties. In the run-up to Thursday's polling day, Mr Khan and his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf party had often repeated the allegation that the powerful establishment and the caretaker government had not been providing a level playing field to all parties and that certain parties and their leaders were given preferential treatment. The National Assembly results showed that independents, backed by PTI won 101 seats, another former prime minister Nawaz Sharif-led Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) got 75 seats, the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) of former foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari grabbed 54 and the MQM-P secured 17 seats apart from others bagging eight seats. "A large number of independent ca

A Belarusian man who set fire to a railway substation in western Russia has been detained on suspicion of pro-Ukraine sabotage, Russian state news agencies reported Monday. Since launching its full-scale assault on Ukraine in February 2022, Russia has detained dozens of people for carrying out sabotage,  including on its vast rail network. The suspect, born in 1998, targeted a railway substation in Tula, about 175 kilometres (100 miles) south of Moscow, the RIA news agency reported. He had already served a prior sentence for "hooliganism" in Belarus, and carried out the arson on orders from a Ukrainian who had promised money, it said. He was detained by security services in the Russian city of Voronezh, where he planned to commit another crime, it reported, citing the FSB security services. AFP was not able to immediately verify the report. Kyiv, which does not typically claim responsibility, often cheers attacks on Russia's railway network, which it argues Moscow u

The US government said it is spending more than $7 million a year to maintain a superyacht it seized from a sanctioned Russian oligarch, and urged a judge to let it auction the vessel before a dispute over its ownership is resolved. Authorities in Fiji seized the 348-foot (106-meter), $300 million Amadea in May 2022, pursuant to a US warrant alleging it was owned by Suleiman Kerimov, a multibillionaire sanctioned by the US Treasury Department in 2014 and 2018 in response to Russia's activities in Syria and Ukraine. Efforts to auction the yacht are being challenged by Eduard Khudainatov, who led Russian state oil and gas company Rosneft from 2010 to 2013. Khudainatov claims ownership of the Amadea, and has said it cannot not be forfeited because he has not been sanctioned. In a court filing late on Friday, federal prosecutors in Manhattan told US District Judge Dale Ho that the $600,000 average monthly maintenance bill for the Amadea has been "excessive," justifying an

US Vice President Kamala Harris said she was ready to serve as leader, in a Wall Street Journal interview published Monday, as voter concerns mount about President Joe Biden's age in an election year. The 59-year-old Harris has faced growing scrutiny about her own abilities as the first in line to the presidency should Democrat Biden, 81, be incapacitated or stand down. "I am ready to serve. There's no question about that," Harris told the newspaper when asked whether voters' concerns about Biden's age meant she must convince them of her credentials. Everyone who sees her on the job "walks away fully aware of my capacity to lead," said Harris, the first Black, South Asian and female vice president in US history. The interview was carried out two days before a stinging special counsel report portrayed Biden as elderly and forgetful. Special counsel Robert Hur's probe into Biden's handling of classified documents said the president should