List of All Articles with Tag 'world'

A top official in Germany’s economy ministry said a nationalized firm — formerly part of Gazprom PJSC —

Thousands of Armenians streamed out of Nagorno-Karabakh after the Azerbaijani military reclaimed full control of the breakaway region while Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was set to visit Azerbaijan Monday in a show of support to its ally. The Azerbaijani military routed Armenian forces in a 24-hour blitz last week, forcing the separatist authorities to agree to lay down weapons and start talks on Nagorno-Karabakh's “reintegration” into Azerbaijan after three decades of separatist rule. While Azerbaijan pledged to respect the rights of ethnic Armenians in the region and restore supplies after a 10-month blockade, many local residents feared reprisals and said they were planning to leave for Armenia. The Armenian government said that 4,850 Nagorno-Karabakh residents had fled to Armenia as of midday Monday. “It was a nightmare. There are no words to describe. The village was heavily shelled. Almost no one is left in the village,” said one of the evacuees who spoke to The Associated Press in the Armenian city of Kornidzor and refused to give her name for security reasons. Moscow said that Russian peacekeepers in Nagorno-Karabakh were assisting the evacuation. In an address to the nation Sunday, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said his government was working with international partners to protect the rights and security of Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh. “If these efforts do not produce concrete results, the government will welcome our sisters and brothers from Nagorno-Karabakh in the Republic of Armenia with every care,” he said. Demonstrators demanding Pashinyan's resignation continued blocking the Armenian capital's main avenues Monday, engaging in occasional clashes with police that sought to disperse the protests. Nagorno-Karabakh came under the control of ethnic Armenian forces, backed by the Armenian military, in separatist fighting that ended in 1994. During a six-week war in 2020, Azerbaijan took back parts of Nagorno-Karabakh along with surrounding territory that Armenian forces had claimed during the earlier conflict. After a Russia-brokered armistice, a contingent of about 2,000 Russian peacekeepers was sent to the region to monitor it. In December, Azerbaijan imposed a blockade of the only road connecting Nagorno-Karabakh with Armenia, alleging that the Armenian government was using the road for mineral extraction and illicit weapons shipments to the region’s separatist forces. Armenia charged that the closure denied basic food and fuel supplies to Nagorno-Karabakh’s approximately 120,000 people. Azerbaijan rejected the accusation, arguing the region could receive supplies through the Azerbaijani city of Aghdam — a solution long resisted by Nagorno-Karabakh authorities, who called it a strategy for Azerbaijan to gain control of the region. On Sunday, French President Emmanuel Macron pledged support for Armenia and Armenians, saying that France will mobilize food and medical aid for the population of Nagorno-Karabakh, and keep working toward a ‘’sustainable peace’’ in the region. "France is very vigilant about Armenia’s territorial integrity because that is what is at stake,” Macron said in an interview with France-2 and TF1 television, accusing Russia of complicity with Azerbaijan and charging that Turkey threatens Armenia’s borders. Since the start of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Azerbaijan has relied on strong backing of its ally Turkey, which has offered political support and provided it with weapons. Erdogan's office said he will travel to Azerbaijan's Nakhchivan exclave for talks with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev to discuss Turkey-Azerbaijan ties and regional and global issues. Nakhchivan is cut off from the rest of Azerbaijan by Armenian territory but forms a slim border with Turkey. During his one-day trip to the region, Erdogan will also attend the opening of a gas pipeline and a modernized military base, his office added in a statement. ___ Associated Press writers Aida Sultanova in London, Andrew Wilks in Istanbul and Angela Charlton in Paris contributed to this report. Read More Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide First refugees from Nagorno-Karabakh arrive in Armenia following Azerbaijan's military offensive UNGA Briefing: There's one more day to go after a break — but first, here's what you missed Aid shipments and evacuations as Azerbaijan reasserts control over breakaway province

Russian forces have expressed ‘panic’ following significant Ukranian advances in the Verbove area. On September 22, a VDV source warned that there is a “real threat” of Ukrainian forces encircling Russian forces, according to a US-based war monitoring think-tank, The Institute for the Study of War. The source said that Ukrainian forces were within 7km of encircling the 56th VDV Regiment and that the regiment would be in a difficult position if its commander did not make a decision to withdraw from Novofedorivka to other previously prepared positions. A VDV-affiliated source reported to the think-tank that Ukrainian forces broke into Verbove on September 22 and continued attacking the settlement with armored vehicles as of yesterday, September 24. The source later reported that Ukrainian forces occupy half of Verbove as of September 24. The source also accused the Russian Ministry of Defense (MoD) of trying to conceal Ukraine’s tactical progress in Verbove, rhetorically stating: “For how long can Shoigu’s MoD hide the breakthrough in Verbove?” The Ukrainian General Staff reported that Ukrainian forces captured new unspecified locations near Verbove on September 24. Read More Drones attack Russia’s Tula region where thousands suffered power cut Russia ‘weaponised food and deliberately caused starvation’ in Ukraine A Kremlin critic was transferred to a Siberian prison and placed in a 'punishment cell,' lawyer says Heartwarming moment Russian bomb victim, 6, learns to ride bike again

Vladimir Putin wants the Ukrainian counteroffensive halted by early October and has instructed Russia’s defence minister Sergei Shoigu to improve the situation, according to a Kremlin insider cited by a US-based think-tank monitoring the war. “Putin reportedly gave Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu a deadline of one month until early October 2023 to improve the situation on the frontlines, stop Ukrainian counteroffensives, and have Russian forces regain the initiative to launch an offensive operation against a larger city,” the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said in an intelligence update on Sunday. It said the Russian military command is likely ordering relentless attacks with the hope of forcing the Ukrainian counteroffensive to culminate, even at a high cost to Russian military capabilities, if the claims are true. The ISW said it has previously seen situations wherein the Russian defence ministry, “fearing the imminent loss of Putin’s favour”, has amped up its efforts to purge commanders offering honest but negative views. Russia launched what it called a “special military operation” in Ukraine in February last year, bringing its neighbour under a full-scale invasion and causing thousands of deaths and displacing millions. Mr Putin had first acknowledged the Ukrainian counteroffensive in June this year and claimed that the war-hit nation’s troops will not make significant gains against the strong Russian defences. He had also claimed Ukrainian troops would suffer heavy losses of personnel and western military equipment. But the initiative in which Kyiv is looking to push back all Russian forces from Ukraine’s territory, including the occupied areas, is now well into its fourth month and has registered some important territorial gains this month. President Volodymyr Zelensky has acknowledged the counteroffensive was slow, but added that is was “important that we are moving forward every day and liberating territory”. A study by the Royal United Services Institute, a London-based think-tank, found Ukrainian forces average 700-1,200m of progress every five days. That gives Russian forces time to dig in and especially to mine territory as they pull back. The 3rd Assault Brigade, composed entirely of volunteers and considered one of Ukraine’s best and most experienced corps, has been fighting almost nonstop in the east since January, while less-experienced units received new training and modern weapons to fight in the south. Read More ‘Panic’ grips Putin’s military and milbloggers over Ukraine’s advances on battlefield Ukraine-Russia war – live: ‘Panic’ among Putin’s troops as they ‘face threat of encirclement’ in Verbove Drones attack Black Sea, Crimea and parts of Russia where thousands suffered power cuts Russia ‘weaponised food and deliberately caused starvation’ in Ukraine Ukraine is building an advanced army of drones. For now, pilots improvise with duct tape and bombs

A notorious Italian mafia boss has died while receiving medical treatment for cancer after being arrested early this year, according to media reports. Matteo Messina Denaro was known as the last “godfather” of the Cosa Nostra or the Sicilian mafia. He was arrested in January after being on the run since 1993 and was suffering from colon cancer at the time of his arrest. He is believed to have ordered dozens of Mafia-related murders for the Cosa Nostra. Messina Denaro’s condition worsened in recent weeks and he was transferred to the San Salvatore hospital in L’Aquila from a maximum-security prison in central Italy. He had requested no aggressive medical treatment, Italian news agency ANSA reported on Monday. The medics had stopped feeding him after he was declared to be in an irreversible coma. A fugitive for the past 30 years, Messina Denaro was arrested at a private hospital in the Sicilian capital of Palermo, where he had been receiving treatment for cancer under a false name. He was sentenced in absentia to a life term for his role in the 1992 murders of anti-mafia prosecutors Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino. He also faced a life sentence for his role in bomb attacks in Florence, Rome and Milan which killed 10 people the following year. Messina Denaro was accused of helping organise the kidnapping of a 12-year-old, Giuseppe Di Matteo, to try to dissuade the boy’s father from giving evidence against the mafia as well. The boy was held for two years, then murdered. Nicknamed “Diabolik”, he was once considered a candidate to be the Sicilian mafia’s “boss of bosses”, after the deaths of Bernardo Provenzano in 2016 and Salvatore “Toto” Riina in 2017. According to medical records leaked to the Italian media, he underwent surgery for colon cancer in 2020 and 2022 under the false name “Andrea Buonafede”. A doctor at the Palermo clinic told the La Repubblica newspaper that Messina Denaro’s health had worsened significantly in the months leading up to his capture. Messina Denaro, who had a power base in the Sicilian port city of Trapani, in western Sicily, was considered Sicily’s Cosa Nostra top boss even while he was a fugitive. Police said in September 2022 that he was still able to issue commands relating to the way the mafia was run in the area around Trapani, his regional stronghold, despite his long disappearance. The son of a mafioso, Messina Denaro was born in the southwestern Sicilian town of Castelvetrano in 1962. He followed his father into the mob and was already carrying a gun at 15 years of age. Police said he carried out his first killing when he was 18. The Castelvetrano clan was allied to the Corleonesi, led by Salvatore “The Beast” Riina, who became the undisputed “boss of bosses” of the Sicilian mob, thanks to his ruthless pursuit of power. Nicknamed “U Siccu” (The Skinny One), Messina Denaro became his protege and showed he could be just as pitiless as his master, picking up 20 life prison terms in trials held in absentia for his role in an array of mob murders. He himself once claimed to have murdered enough people to fill a cemetery. He went into hiding in 1993 as a growing number of turncoats started providing details of his role in the mob, but investigators believe he rarely wandered far from Sicily. Police said he spent much of 2022 hiding in Campobello di Mazara, a town of about 11,000, a short drive from his mother’s house in western Sicily. He communicated with other mafiosi via “pizzini”, small pieces of paper, sometimes written in code and distributed by messengers, some of which were intercepted by police. He never married, but was known to have had a number of lovers. He wrote he had a daughter, but had never met her. Despite his notoriety, prosecutors have always doubted Messina Denaro became the Mafia “boss of bosses”, saying it was more likely that he was simply the head of Cosa Nostra in western Sicily. Additional reporting by agencies Read More Matteo Messina Denaro: The last ‘godfather’ of the Cosa Nostra arrested after 30 years on the run Watch moment Italy’s most infamous mafia boss Matteo Messina Denaro is arrested Italian police announce arrest of most-wanted mafia boss Matteo Messina Denaro On the run for decades, convicted Mafia boss Messina Denaro dies in hospital months after capture Pope blames weapons industry for Russia-Ukraine war and 'martyrdom' of Ukrainian people Giorgio Napolitano, former Italian president, 1st ex-Communist in that post, has died, at 98

Ukraine’s advance on the southern frontline’s Verbove area has triggered “panic” for a Russian source affiliated to Vladimir Putin’s elite military unit VDV, according to a US-based war monitoring think-tank. The Ukrainian General Staff reported that its forces captured new unspecified locations near Verbove on 24 September and top general Oleksandr Tarnavsky said more breakthroughs are coming for the war-hit nation that is deep into a counteroffensive against Mr Putin’s troops. A VDV-affiliated source reported that Ukrainian forces broke into Verbove on 22 September and continued attacking the settlement with armoured vehicles as of Sunday, as per The Institute for the Study of War think-tank. The source later said Ukrainian forces occupied half of Verbove as of Sunday. “For how long can Shoigu’s MoD hide the breakthrough in Verbove?” the source said, accusing the Russian ministry of defence of trying to conceal Ukraine’s tactical progress in Verbove. Territorial advancement and control of Verbove will help Ukraine’s critical counteroffensive goal of advancing further towards southern and eastern regions. Verbove is a few miles east of Robotyne, that was retaken by Ukraine earlier this month. This comes as Russian military bloggers are complaining about the battlefield situation in the continuing war against Ukraine, the war-torn country’s defence ministry has revealed in a video that compiles their Telegram messages. Russia’s war bloggers, an assortment of military correspondents and freelance commentators with army backgrounds, have enjoyed broad freedom from the Kremlin to publish their views about the war, now in its 20th month. Mr Putin even made one of them a member of his human rights council last year. “A lot of you are wondering how the war’s going. At first we thought about explaining it to you from our perspective. Then we realised we couldn’t improve on what the Russians are saying,” the ministry said in the video and took a dig on the war frontline updates given by Russian bloggers with millions of followers. “Does anyone out there have enough balls to start telling the truth to higher management, I don’t understand?” read the first Telegram message from early August by a Russian military blogger known as “the 13th”. “You f***ing wait until the Ukrainians come to Crimea, and then I’ll see how you make excuses there.” Another Russian military blogger, known as Romanov whose comments were shared in the Ukrainian ministry’s video, said there are no words for the military assault in Ukraine’s Kherson. “What kind of c**p is happening right now in the Kherson direction... The enemy is rolling out in boats along the Dnieper,” he was heard saying in a Telegram message from 23 August. In another post two days later, the military blogger complained Russian troops were “being cut to pieces” there and efforts were being made to evacuate, but the brigade commander “is afraid to report to the top about the current situation”. On 30 August, a Russian military blogger was heard saying in a warning message on Telegram that the Russians should “not expect anything good and it will only get worse”. “To tell the truth, I am no longer so confident in some kind of ‘Victory’ while the whole country is dancing to sounds approaching the cries of the country’s leadership,” the blogger who goes by the name “13th” said. Several of Russia’s military bloggers with closer access to the battlefield situation – virtually and otherwise – have been actively sharing details on the casualties and attacks in Ukraine and its territories controlled by Mr Putin’s forces. Read More Ukraine-Russia war – live: Drone attack south of Moscow after two killed in Kherson shelling Ukraine is building an advanced army of drones. For now, pilots improvise with duct tape and bombs Russia ‘weaponised food and deliberately caused starvation’ in Ukraine Heartwarming moment Russian bomb victim, 6, learns to ride bike again Inside Putin’s attempts to indoctrinate Russia’s youth by encouraging ‘self-sacrifice’

Several parts of Russia, the Black Sea and the Crimean peninsula came under drone attacks from Ukraine in the early hours on Monday, officials said as the strikes disturbed air traffic operations over Moscow’s two major airports. The Russian air defence systems destroyed four Ukraine-launched drones over the northwestern part of the Black Sea and over the Crimean peninsula, its defence ministry said on Monday. Another four drones were destroyed over Russia’s bordering cities Kursk and Belgorod, the ministry said in a separate post. The officials did not immediately mention any damage or injuries as a result of the reported attacks. Russia’s Tula region also came under drone attack in the early hours of Monday as the country engaged its air defence systems to repel strikes, officials said. The air defence was activated over the region bordering Moscow to its north, reported Russian news agency RIA. According to preliminary information, no damage or injuries were reported as a result of the attack, the Russian ministry of regional security said. The latest morning attacks caused limitation of air traffic as two of Moscow’s major airports – the Vnukovo and Domedovo – trimmed down operations on Monday. Flights flying into these airports were redirected to other airports, the Tass state news agency reported. A Russian city located right after like Bryansk and Kursk, cities that border Ukraine, Tula has witnessed increasing attacks and power outages recently. In late August, the Russian defence ministry claimed its air defences destroyed two drones over the city, but did not provide further details on the damage and casualties from the interception, if any. It also did not share any precise time and location of the attack. Last week, a loud explosion rocked the Russian city and was followed by a major power outage affecting thousands of people in a district. Local residents reported hearing sounds of an explosion in the vicinity right before the lights went out in Zarechensky district. Around 5,000 residents in the district suffered power outages, RIA reported. However, a Russian official said the two incidents of explosion and power outages were not related. The power blackout was caused by technical failure and not related to any sounds of an explosion, the Russian emergency situations ministry had claimed on Thursday. It also rejected the noise heard by residents to be of explosions and speculated it was caused by an aircraft’s transition to “supersonic speed”. The ministry said work to restore power supply to the Zarechensky “will be completed in the near future”. Read More Ukraine-Russia war – live: Drone attack south of Moscow after two killed in Kherson shelling Russia ‘weaponised food and deliberately caused starvation’ in Ukraine Rishi Sunak poised to delay northern phase of troubled HS2 rail link by up to 7 years India had been riding a geopolitical high. But it comes to the UN with a mess on its hands A Kremlin critic was transferred to a Siberian prison and placed in a 'punishment cell,' lawyer says

Singapore’s core inflation moderated further in August from a year ago, reflecting improvements to supply chains and lower

The European Union’s chief trade negotiator warned China on Monday during his trip to the nation that the

The speaker of Canada's House of Commons apologises for honouring a man who served in a Nazi unit.

Australia is considering a “broader definition” of full employment and aims to plug labor market data gaps, a

Oil climbed for a second day as hedge funds piled on bets that tightening supplies will see a