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A bus carrying a group of tourists fell from a bridge near Venice late Tuesday killing at least

A leading think tank revises down its growth forecast for the domestic Irish economy this year.

Ukraine trained its Neptune missiles on Russian targets in the illegally-occupied Crimean peninsula on Tuesday in a fresh attack, according to reports. Russia’s Ministry of Defence said in an update that a Ukrainian Neptune missile was shot down over the northwestern part of the Black Sea off the coast of the Crimean peninsula. The attack was carried out around 8.30pm local time. A Ukrainian drone also targeted Russia’s Black Sea port city of Sevastopol. Debris from the drone landed on the roof of an apartment building but there were no injuries, said Mikhail Razvozhayev, the Russia-appointed governor of Sevastopol. Russian emergency services were determining how to remove explosive materials from the site, Mr Razvozhayev said. "Specialists from the Sevastopol emergency services are now on site and a decision will be taken on moving explosive materials," he said, adding that all forces and services remain on “full combat alert". The Crimean peninsula, which Russia illegally annexed from Ukraine in 2014, has been a frequent target since Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion in February 2022. Crimea has served as a key Russian hub in the war. In a separate attack in the early hours of Wednesday, the ministry said Ukraine hit Russian territories in the border areas with a total of 31 drones. “Air defence systems on duty over the territory of the Belgorod, Bryansk, and Kursk regions intercepted and destroyed 31 Ukrainian aircraft- type unmanned aerial vehicles,” the ministry said on its official Telegram channel. Ukrainian officials have not issued a comment on the reported attacks. It has generally maintained silence on the offensive on Russia and Russian-controlled territories that Moscow blames on Kyiv. However, it has routinely maintained that targeting Russian infrastructure in its region aids the military counteroffensive launched against the full-scale invasion. Last week Russia accused Ukraine’s Western allies of helping plan and conduct a missile strike on the Black Sea Fleet’s headquarters on the annexed Crimean Peninsula. “There is no doubt that the attack had been planned in advance using Western intelligence means, Nato satellite assets and reconnaissance planes and was implemented upon the advice of American and British security agencies and in close coordination with them,” Russian foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said at a briefing. Read More Ukraine-Russia war – live: Putin suffers loss of 261 troops in 24 hours as Kyiv offensive gains momentum Ukraine advances on southern front as Zelensky assesses preparations for winter Russia facing ‘functional defeat’ in the Black Sea – but Kyiv allies warn they are running out of ammunition Putin’s ‘punishment battalions’ full of convicts and drunk recruits: ‘They’re just meat’

It is thought to be the largest number of people ever to arrive in the Spanish archipelago in one go.

Ukraine has made gains in the south, one of the country’s top generals has said. General Oleksander Tarnavskyi said in a Telegram post that Ukraine forces had advanced in the Tavria sector. Tarnavskyi, head of the southern group of forces, said his troops had conducted 1,198 assignments in the past 24 hours and that Russian forces had sustained losses of 261 men and a further 10 being taken prisoner. Earlier, a UK defence minister said Russian navy ships have been forced to disperse to ports where they “cannot have an effect on Ukraine” inwhat he described as a “functional defeat” for the Kremlin. James Heappey, speaking at a security event in Warsaw, said the Russian navy had been forced to disperse to ports from which “it cannot have an effect on Ukraine”. He added that, despite the disappointment among Ukraine’s Western allies about the pace of Kyiv’s land offensive, the naval success was “every bit as important” as the land breakthrough in Kharkiv Oblast region. Read More Russia facing ‘functional defeat’ in the Black Sea – but Kyiv allies warn they are running out of ammunition Putin’s ‘punishment battalions’ full of convicts and drunk recruits: ‘They’re just meat’ Elon Musk’s mockery of Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky ‘unhelpful’

At least 21 people have been killed after a passenger bus plunged from a bridge near Venice in an “apocalyptic” accident, say Italian authorities. The vehicle, which was carrying people returning from work, was travelling from Venice to Marghera when the shocking accident took place at the bridge in Mestre on Tuesday. “It completely went off the road, it flew off the bridge. It was a bus; it was a highway. We are in mourning,” Venice mayor Luigi Brugnaro told Italy’s national broadcaster RAI.

At least 21 people have been killed after a passenger bus plunged from a bridge near Venice in an “apocalyptic” accident, say Italian authorities. The vehicle, which was carrying people returning from work, was travelling from Venice to Marghera when the shocking accident took place at the bridge in Mestre on Tuesday. “It completely went off the road, it flew off the bridge. It was a bus; it was a highway. We are in mourning,” Venice mayor Luigi Brugnaro told Italy’s national broadcaster RAI.

Ukraine has achieved the “functional defeat” of Vladimir Putin’s prized Black Sea fleet with intensified attacks in recent weeks, a UK defence minister has suggested – but warned that Western allies are running out of ammunition to help Kyiv repel Russia’s invasion. Speaking at the Warsaw Security Forum from the Polish capital on Tuesday, James Heappey said the kneecapping of the major Russian naval force – including the recent strike on its Crimean headquarters – was “every bit as important” as Ukraine’s gains in Kharkiv last year. While “nobody can pretend otherwise” that Ukraine’s counteroffensive has progressed slowly, the UK’s armed forces minister told delegates it was “simply wrong” to suggest there has been no progress at all – with gains “every single day” after breaching Russia’s “enormous defensive belt and minefield”. But comparing Kyiv’s relatively minor gains to those achieved last year “diminishes the importance of what has happened in the Black Sea over the last couple of weeks, where a Russian submarine and a Russian ship have been put out of action, and the headquarters of the Black Sea fleet has been put out of action too”, he said. “The functional defeat of the Black Sea fleet – and I would argue that is what it is because it has been forced to disperse to ports from which it cannot have an effect on Ukraine – is an enormous credit. And [it is] every bit as important – every bit as much progress – as what was happening in the Kharkiv Oblast last year.” The Black Sea fleet, of huge symbolic value to Russia, has been an increasing target of Ukrainian drone attacks in recent weeks. Throughout the war, the fleet has been used to launch missile attacks on Ukraine and to threaten Kyiv’s vital shipped grain exports. With Russia finally pulling out of a UN-brokered grain deal in July, Kyiv has since sought to establish a new corridor hugging the coastline, through which two Marshall Islands and Cameroon-flagged vessels were said to be the latest ships to sail to the port of Odesa on Tuesday. And the UK’s Ministry of Defence said on Monday that the Black Sea fleet was “[struggling] to deal with concurrent threats”, with Russia resorting to using air power to “project force” over the area as fleet activities relocate from under-fire Sevastopol to Novorssiysk, some 322km (200 miles) east. But Mr Heappey and Nato’s most senior military official, Admiral Rob Bauer, were among those to warn that Kyiv’s allies are running out of ammunition, with the latter lamenting that “the bottom of the barrel is now visible” and urging nations to “ramp up production in a much higher tempo”. “We need large volumes,” the admiral said. “The just-in-time, just-enough economy we built together in 30 years in our liberal economies is fine for a lot of things – but not the armed forces when there is a war ongoing.” Also warning that Western stockpiles are “looking a bit thin”, Mr Heappey said: “If it’s not the time when there is a war in Europe to spend 2 per cent on defence, then when is?” Underscoring such warnings, US president Joe Biden – who is struggling to pass a package of aid for Ukraine through Congress – convened a phone call of G7 and Nato leaders on Tuesday in which he expressed determination to secure the funding, with Rishi Sunak also vowing to support Kyiv for “as long as it takes”. The comments came as Ukraine’s airforce claimed to have destroyed 29 of 31 drones launched by Russia and one cruise missile, most of them targeting the regions of Mykolaiv and Dnipropetrovsk in the south and east, in an overnight barrage of attacks lasting three hours. With counteroffensive operations continuing in Zaporizhzhia and near Bakhmut, president Volodymyr Zelensky also visited troops and commanders in the northeast near Kupiansk, where the Ukrainian military says Russian forces have also been staging attacks. Meanwhile, a report alleged that hundreds of drunk, insubordinate and mutinous Russian soldiers have been pressed into penal units known as “Storm-Z” squads and sent to the frontlines as punishment for their behaviour. “If the commandants catch anyone with the smell of alcohol on their breath, then they immediately send them to the Storm squads,” one soldier told a Reuters investigation, which cited 13 people with knowledge of the matter, including five fighters in such units. Read More ‘Keep an eye on Crimea’: Ukraine’s costly battlefield gains ‘prelude battle to retake peninsula’ How Ukraine’s forces have surged back against Russia Putin’s ‘punishment battalions’ full of convicts and drunk recruits: ‘They’re just meat’ Elon Musk’s mockery of Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky ‘unhelpful’

Only a few hundred ethnic Armenians, mostly the sick and the elderly, are left in the region of Nagorno-Karabakh, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has said, describing “deserted" and "surreal” streets after nearly 80 per cent of the population fled in a few days. Teams of ICRC staffers roamed Karabakh’s main city with megaphones looking for those who remained in the enclave, which has operated for three decades as a de facto Armenian state despite being internationally recognised as being part of Azerbaijan. Last month Baku launched a lightning military operation to take control of the separatist region. More than 100,000 ethnic Armenians have fled to neighbouring Armenia over the last week, fearing reprisals. The most vulnerable are among those who had stayed behind, ICRC team lead Marco Succi said from the Karabakh capital known as Stepanakert by Armenia and Khankendi by Azerbaijan. "The hospitals....are not functioning; the medical personnel left; the water board authorities left; the director of the morgue also left. So this scenario, the scene is quite surreal,” he said. He described finding one bed-ridden cancer patient who had just undergone a colostomy, was on her own and had run out of medication. She was showing signs of malnutrition, despite being left provisions. “Neighbours had left her with food and water several days beforehand, but her supplies were running low. She had finished all her medication and could not take care of herself,” he said. “The neighbours could not take her with them, and while she waited for help, she had started to lose all hope.” Video footage from the main city showed empty streets littered with abandoned prams, suitcases, and children’s toys. In the border regions of Armenia, families who fled told The Independent they fled with whatever they could carry with them. “I just have the clothes I’m standing in,” said Gregory Ayvazyan, 58, a PE teacher who was picking through a pile of donated clothes in Goris. The Armenian authorities, who are struggling to house and support the tens of thousands who are now homeless and jobless, have accused Azerbaijan of instigating "a direct act of ethnic cleansing and depriving people of their motherland." Azerbaijan's Foreign Ministry strongly rejected the accusations, arguing their departure was "their personal and individual decision and has nothing to do with forced relocation." On Tuesday, Armenia's parliament voted to join the International Criminal Court (ICC) which could bring it one step closer to instigating war crimes investigations against Baku. But the move adds further strain to the country's ties with its old ally Russia, which brokered a peace deal between Armenia and Azerbaijan following a war in 2020 and has peacekeeping troops deployed in the region. Armenian officials have argued the move has nothing to do with Russia and was prompted by Azerbaijan's aggression towards the country. Earlier this year the ICC issued an arrest warrant for President Vladimir Putin over events in Ukraine and so Kremlin called Yerevan’s decision to join the court an "unfriendly step”. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Moscow had questions for its current leadership - which will now have to arrest Putin should he visit Armenia, due to an outstanding ICC warrant against him. The exodus of ethnic Armenians closes a centuries-old chapter of history and a thirty-year fight for independence by the majority-Armenian population, which ignited shortly after the collapse of the Soviet Union when a bloody war erupted between Azerbaijan and separatist Armenian fighters, resulting in an Armenian win and the displacement of Azerbaijani citizens. In 2020, Baku launched a military operation to take back the 4,400km enclave, a war in which thousands of people died. Russia brokered a fragile truce, but in December Azerbaijan cut one of the only supply roads and enforced a blockade on Nagorno-Karabakh, strangling food, fuel and water supplies. And then on 19 September, they launched a 24-hour military offensive which forced the outgunned separatists, weakened by the siege, to lay down their weapons and agree to dissolve. Amid reports that Karabakh Armenian officials had been arrested, and fearing reprisals, tens of thousands of Armenians fled to neighbouring Armenia. The United Nations sent its first delegation to Nagorno Karabakh in decades this week and said that only between 50 and 1,000 Armenians were left. In Armenia, Joe Lowry, spokesperson for the UN’s migration agency said “it’s kind of a hidden humanitarian emergency right now because 100,000 people are dispersed all around [Armenia]”. “They are going to face immense strain from, firstly, the goodwill of people that are sheltering them and, secondly, on the national services that are there - healthcare, education, jobs, accommodation.” In Nagorno Karabakh, the ICRC’s Mr Succi said they were trying to bring in essential food to the area and medical supplies to local hospitals which were now unstaffed. He described helping evacuate an 85-year-old lady and her two daughters who cleaned up their house and arranged clothes and food in the fridge as they left. “Despite speaking through tears as she left, she told us: ‘I hope any people coming to live in my house stay well, and never experience war.’ These moments reveal the trials and tribulations of people left behind in the rush,” Mr Succo said. Read More The Body in the Woods | An Independent TV Original Documentary The harrowing discovery at centre of The Independent’s new documentary Armenia's parliament votes to join the International Criminal Court, straining ties with ally Russia Last bus of fleeing Armenians leaves Nagorno-Karabakh: ‘It’s a ghost town’ Armenians describe escape after fall of Nagorno-Karabakh

The UK and Nato say ammunition production must be ramped up so Ukraine can defend itself against Russia.

Pope Francis has opened the door for the first time to blessing same-sex unions in a cautious step away from the Catholic Church’s traditional attitude towards gay couples. Maintaining that the Church would crucially not recognise gay marriage, he suggested there could be room for blessings of unions between same-sex Catholic couples distinct from those given at marriages. The Pope made his opinions known in answer to doctrinal questions from five conservative cardinals who challenged him to affirm teaching on homosexuality. Their questions came ahead of a major Vatican meeting where LGBT+ Catholics are on the agenda, and at a time when several progressive priests in a number of countries have begun blessing same-sex couples in defiance of conservative archbishops. The Catholic Church considers homosexuality “intrinsically disordered” and the Pope has long opposed gay marriage, claiming marriage can only happen between a man and woman. However, his remarks could now signal a change in trajectory and represent a shift away from the Church’s traditional intolerance of homosexuality. In a letter, published yesterday, he said: “We cannot be judges who only deny, push back, exclude.” Pope Francis was sent the set of formal questions known as “dubia“ or doubts ahead of the Vatican synod, which will begin on Wednesday to decide the future direction of the Church and the inclusion of LGBT+ Catholics. The Vatican subsequently published a letter Francis wrote to the cardinals on 11 July, where he suggested that such blessings could be considered if they didn’t confuse the blessing with marriage. In his seven-point response, Francis said the Church was very clear that marriages could be only between a man and a woman and that the Church should avoid any other ritual that contradicted his teaching. He said “pastoral charity should permeate all our decisions and attitudes”, adding that “we cannot be judges who only deny, reject and exclude”. “For this reason, pastoral prudence must adequately discern whether there are forms of benediction, requested by one or more persons, that do not transmit a mistaken conception of marriage,” he wrote. “Because when a benediction is requested, it is expressing a request for help from God, a plea to be able to live better, a trust in a father who can help us to live better.” He noted that there are situations that are objectively “not morally acceptable”. The Church teaches that same-sex attraction is not sinful but homosexual acts are. The Pope’s response marks a reversal from the Vatican's current official position. In 2021 the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith said flat-out that the Church couldn’t bless gay unions because “God cannot bless sin”. New Ways Ministry, which advocates LGBT+ Catholics, said the letter “significantly advances” efforts to make the community welcomed in the Church and is “one big straw towards breaking the camel’s back”. Francis DeBernardo, executive director of the ministry, in a statement, said the pope's words implied “that the church does indeed recognise that holy love can exist between same-gender couples, and the love of these couples mirrors the love of God”. With agency inputs Read More Catholic priests have held a ceremony blessing same-sex couples in defiance of a German archbishop 5 conservative cardinals challenge pope to affirm church teaching on gays and women ahead of meeting Women's voices and votes loom large as pope opens Vatican meeting on church's future Things to know about the Vatican's big meeting on the future of the Catholic Church Clergy abuse survivors propose new 'zero tolerance' law following outcry over Vatican appointment 5 conservative cardinals challenge pope to affirm church teaching on gays and women ahead of meeting

Defence Secretary Grant Shapps has suggested recent tweets by Elon Musk mocking Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky are “unhelpful”. The senior Cabinet minister made the comments at a Conservative Party conference fringe event in Manchester, hours after the billionaire entrepreneur used Twitter, now known as X, to take aim at Mr Zelensky’s repeated requests for Western support in the battle against Russia. Mr Shapps, an avid social media user himself, expressed reservations about the owner of X’s recent attitudes to the war. “I think it’s unhelpful, to be blunt,” he said. “I can’t speak for him or his motivations. He’s a free individual, we live in a free world. He can tweet or X what he likes.” “What Ukraine really needs is strong and steady friends who won’t waver,” he added. Mr Musk’s mockery has gone down badly in Ukraine, making it the latest controversial outburst by the high-profile businessman. Read More