Six Bulgarians face long UK jail terms for spying for Russia

Six Bulgarians face long UK jail terms for spying for Russia
Six Bulgarians, members of a sophisticated spy network dubbed "The Minions", were before court Wednesday for sentencing, facing up to 14 years in prison for spying for Russia. (AFP/File)
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Updated 07 May 2025
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Six Bulgarians face long UK jail terms for spying for Russia

Six Bulgarians face long UK jail terms for spying for Russia
  • The group launched operations in the UK as well as Austria, Spain, Germany and Montenegro
  • The group also kept the US military base Patch Barracks in Stuttgart, Germany, under surveillance

LONDON: Six Bulgarians, members of a sophisticated spy network dubbed “The Minions,” were before court Wednesday for sentencing, facing up to 14 years in prison for spying for Russia.
The four men and two women either pled guilty or had been convicted of charges of conspiracy to spy at Russia’s behest with their sentences due to be handed down on Monday, after four days of hearings at London’s Old Bailey court.
Between 2020 to 2023, the six-person cell targeted journalists and a Kazakh former politician, and plotted to kidnap and honeytrap targets, tracking them across several European nations.
It was “industrial-scale espionage on behalf of Russia,” Metropolitan police counter-terrorism Chief Commander Dominic Murphy said in March.
Ringleader Orlin Roussev, 47, along with his second-in-command Bizer Dzhambazov, 43, and Ivan Stoyanov, 32, pled guilty to spying.
Barrister for the prosecution, Alison Morgan, on Wednesday laid out their roles in different operations, stressing they knew they were spying for Moscow.
London-based Katrin Ivanova, 33, Vanya Gaberova, 30, and Tihomir Ivanchev, 39, were convicted in March after a trial lasting more than three months at the Old Bailey court.
Two of the group were in court on Wednesday, with the rest appearing by video link from their detention centers.
They had dubbed themselves “The Minions” after the cartoon yellow characters in the film “Despicable Me” who work for the dastardly Gru. The six also worked for the GRU, the acronym for the Russian military intelligence service.
The group launched operations in the UK as well as Austria, Spain, Germany and Montenegro.
But UK police were able to retrace six operations thanks to more than 100,000 messages found on Roussev’s Telegram account, which led police to his seaside home in the eastern town of Great Yarmouth.
Roussev received his instructions from Jan Marsalek, an Austrian fugitive who reportedly fled to Russia in 2020 after becoming wanted for fraud in Germany.
Marsalek, the former chief operating officer of payments firm Wirecard, was acting as a proxy for Russian intelligence services.
One operation targeted investigative journalist Christo Grozev, from the Bellingcat website, who uncovered Russian links to the 2018 Novichok chemical weapon attack in the English town of Salisbury and the downing of a Malaysia Airlines aeroplane four years earlier.
The group had planned “disruptive activity” at the Kazakh embassy in 2022, discussing a plan to spray the building with fake pig’s blood.
Roussev received more than 200,000 euros ($227,000) to fund his activities.
After the gang was busted in February 2023, police found huge amounts of spyware equipment in his home, including cameras and microphones hidden in ties, a stone, even a cuddly toy and a fizzy drinks bottle.
In messages to Marsalek, Roussev claimed “he will find the resources” to “keep the Russians happy” such as by kidnapping someone, Morgan said.
“The defendants were deployed to gather information about prominent individuals whose activities were of obvious interest to the Russian state,” she added.
Murphy said in March that police had found “really sophisticated devices — the sort of thing you would really expect to see in a spy novel.”
Journalist and UK-based dissident Roman Dobrokhotov, and former Kazakh politician Bergey Ryskaliev, granted refugee status in Britain, were also among their targets.
The group also kept the US military base Patch Barracks in Stuttgart, Germany, under surveillance, believing Ukrainian soldiers were being trained there in using the Patriot air defense system.
Ties between Britain and Russia have been strained since Moscow’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
British security minister Dan Jarvis warned the convictions should “send a clear warning to those who wish to do the UK harm.”


Bangladesh’s Islamist party projects force with a big rally in Dhaka

Bangladesh’s Islamist party projects force with a big rally in Dhaka
Updated 7 sec ago
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Bangladesh’s Islamist party projects force with a big rally in Dhaka

Bangladesh’s Islamist party projects force with a big rally in Dhaka
An interim government headed by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus said the next election would be held in April
Jamaat-e-Islami said earlier it would mobilize 1 million people on Saturday

DHAKA: Hundreds of thousands of supporters of Bangladesh’s largest Islamist party rallied in the capital on Saturday to show their strength ahead of elections expected next year, as the South Asian nation stands a t a crossroads after the ouster of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

An interim government headed by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus said the next election would be held in April but his administration did not rule out a possibility of polls in February as strongly demanded by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party and its allies.

Jamaat-e-Islami, which had sided with Pakistan during Bangladesh’s war of independence in 1971, said earlier it would mobilize 1 million people on Saturday.

While Hasina was in power from 2009 until she was toppled in student-led protests last year and fled to India, top leaders of Jamaat-e-Islami were either executed or jailed on charges of crimes against humanity and other serious crimes in 1971.

In late March in 1971 Pakistan’s military had launched a violent crackdown on the city of Dhaka, then part of East Pakistan, to quell a rising nationalist movement seeking independence for what is today known as Bangladesh.

The party on Saturday placed a seven-point demand to the Yunus-led administration to ensure a free, fair and peaceful election, the trial of all mass killings, essential reforms and proclamation and implementation of a charter involving last year’s mass uprising. It also wants the introduction of a proportional representation system in the election.

Thousands of supporters of Jamaat-e-Islami had spent the night on the Dhaka University campus before the rally. On Saturday morning, they continued to stream toward the Suhrawardy Udyan, a historical ground where the Pakistani army had surrendered to a joint force of India and Bangladesh on Dec. 16 in 1971, ending the nine-month war.

It was the first time the party was allowed to hold a rally on this ground since 1971. To many, the decision signaled a shift supported by Yunus’ government in which Islamists are gaining momentum with further fragmentation of Bangladesh’s politics and shrinking of liberal forces.

Hasina, whose father was the independence leader and the country’s first president, is a fierce political rival of Jamaat-e-Islami.

The party is expected to contest 300 parliamentary seats and is attempting to forge alliances with other Islamist groups and parties in hopes of becoming a third force in the country behind the BNP, headed by former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, and Hasina’s former ruling Awami League party.

The party has a close connection with a new political party formed by students who led the anti-Hasina uprising. Both Jamaat-e-Islami and the students’ National Citizen Party also promote anti-India campaign.

The Yunus-led administration has banned the Awami League and Hasina has been in exile in India since Aug. 5. She is facing charges of crimes against humanity. The United Nations said in February that up to 1,400 people may have been killed during the anti-Hasina uprising in July-August last year.

UK to fight compensation claims after massive Afghanistan data leak

UK to fight compensation claims after massive Afghanistan data leak
Updated 11 min ago
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UK to fight compensation claims after massive Afghanistan data leak

UK to fight compensation claims after massive Afghanistan data leak
  • Ministry of Defence accidentally released sensitive information on people who worked with British forces against Taliban
  • Breach from 2022 was hushed up by government but thousands now joining lawsuits

London: The UK will resist paying compensation to thousands of Afghans caught up in a data leak scandal, The Times reported on Saturday.

The names and details of around 100,000 people in Afghanistan who worked with UK Armed Forces as part of the US-led coalition in the country were accidentally revealed online by a Ministry of Defence employee in February 2022.

It led to a massive covert program to bring large numbers of Afghans to Britain for fear they could be targeted by the Taliban, it emerged this week.

But the MoD will fight five-figure claims against it for endangering the lives of Afghans caught up in the leak following a review by former civil servant Paul Rimmer, ordered by Defence Secretary John Healey, which suggested that the risk to their safety had “diminished.”

Lawyers for the ministry say taxpayers have already paid enough after billions of pounds were set aside for the repatriation scheme of around 24,000 Afghan personnel and their families to the UK, a source told The Times.

Thousands of Afghans still trapped in their country have been left in fear for their safety after learning about the data breach on July 15.

The leak and accompanying repatriation scheme were kept from public knowledge after the government used a legal device called a superinjunction to prevent reporting on it. 

Before the superinjunction was lifted by a court, the government announced a small compensation scheme for victims of a separate, smaller data leak from 2021, of £4,000 ($5,364) per person.

The MoD will contest compensation claims by law firms representing Afghans affected by the 2022 breach.

The biggest lawsuit, brought by Barings Law, involves over 1,000 Afghan clients. The Times said it has seen WhatsApp messages sent to people in the UK, Afghanistan and Pakistan urging them to register with Barings to join the lawsuit.

The firm’s head of data protection, Adnan Malik, said around 100 people a day are signing up to sue the MoD, and the firm expects to be able to win payouts of “at least five figures” for those who can prove they had been contacted by the ministry confirming that their details were leaked.

Law firm Leigh Day is also suing the government on behalf of hundreds of Afghan clients. “We are currently acting for a number of existing clients and are also being approached each day by dozens more people who have been affected,” Sean Humber, a partner at the firm, told The Times.

The MoD confirmed that around 5,400 Afghans still in their country are eligible for flights to the UK under the Afghan Response Route and the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy.

It expects to have relocated all those deemed at risk from the Taliban and with a right to come to Britain under its various programs by 2029.

An MoD spokesman told The Times: “We will robustly defend against any legal action or compensation. The independent Rimmer Review concluded that it is highly unlikely that merely being on the spreadsheet would be grounds for an individual to be targeted, and this is the basis on which the court lifted its super injunction this week.”


Car rams Los Angeles crowd, injuring 28: fire department

Car rams Los Angeles crowd, injuring 28: fire department
Updated 12 min 15 sec ago
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Car rams Los Angeles crowd, injuring 28: fire department

Car rams Los Angeles crowd, injuring 28: fire department
  • More than 100 firefighters responded to the scene in East Hollywood
  • An earlier report from officials had listed four to five people in “at least critical condition“

LOS ANGELES: An “unknown vehicle” drove into a crowd in Hollywood in the early hours of Saturday, injuring 28 people, the Los Angeles Fire Department said, without providing information on the cause of the incident.

More than 100 firefighters responded to the scene in East Hollywood assisting three patients in critical condition, six in serious condition and 19 listed as fair, the Fire Department said.

An earlier report from officials had listed four to five people in “at least critical condition.”

ABC News quoted a Fire Department official saying that preliminary investigations pointed to a driver losing consciousness and ramming a large crowd outside a nightclub. However, this could not be immediately verified.

The area where the incident occurred is near Hollywood landmarks including Sunset Boulevard and the Walk of Fame — a sidewalk emblazoned with stars commemorating movie industry figures.


DR Congo, M23 armed group sign ceasefire deal

DR Congo, M23 armed group sign ceasefire deal
Updated 19 July 2025
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DR Congo, M23 armed group sign ceasefire deal

DR Congo, M23 armed group sign ceasefire deal
  • The truce was agreed in a Declaration of Principles signed by the two sides after three months of talks in Doha
  • A separate Congolese-Rwandan peace deal was signed in Washington last month

DOHA: The Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda-backed armed group M23 signed a ceasefire deal on Saturday to end fighting that has devastated the country’s mineral-rich but conflict-torn east.

The truce was agreed in a Declaration of Principles signed by the two sides after three months of talks in the Qatari capital, Doha, which follows a separate Congolese-Rwandan peace deal signed in Washington last month.

“The Parties commit to uphold their commitment to a permanent ceasefire,” including refraining from “hate propaganda” and “any attempt to seize by force new positions,” said the agreement.

The M23, which seized vast swathes of territory in eastern DRC in a lightning offensive in January and February, had insisted on seeking its own ceasefire deal with Kinshasa, saying the Washington deal left out various “problems” that still needed to be addressed.

The African Union hailed the new deal as a “significant development,” saying: “This... marks a major milestone in the ongoing efforts to achieve lasting peace, security, and stability in eastern DRC and the wider Great Lakes region.”

Under the deal, the warring parties agreed to open negotiations on a comprehensive peace agreement.

The deal, which the two sides said aligns with the Washington agreement, also includes a roadmap for restoring state authority in eastern DRC.

Congolese government spokesman Patrick Muyaya said the deal took account of the DRC’s “red lines,” including “the non-negotiable withdrawal of the M23 from occupied areas followed by the deployment of our institutions,” including the national armed forces.

He said a comprehensive peace agreement would follow “in the coming days.”

The deal said the two sides had agreed to implement its terms by July 29 at the latest, and to start direct negotiations toward a permanent agreement by August 8.

Rwandan President Paul Kagame and Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi are due to meet in the coming months to solidify the Washington peace deal, whose terms have not yet been implemented.

Previous ceasefire agreements for eastern DRC have collapsed in the past.

Neighboring Rwanda denies providing military backing to the M23, but UN experts say that the Rwandan army played a “critical” role in the group’s offensive, including combat operations.

Rich in natural resources, especially lucrative minerals, eastern DRC has been racked by conflict for more than three decades, creating a humanitarian crisis and forcing hundreds of thousands of people from their homes.

Thousands were killed in the M23 offensive earlier this year, which saw the group capture the key provincial capitals of Goma and Bukavu.

The front line has stabilized since February, but fighting was still breaking out regularly between the M23 and multiple pro-government militias.


Slightly radioactive Fukushima soil is used at Japanese prime minister’s office to prove safety

Slightly radioactive Fukushima soil is used at Japanese prime minister’s office to prove safety
Updated 19 July 2025
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Slightly radioactive Fukushima soil is used at Japanese prime minister’s office to prove safety

Slightly radioactive Fukushima soil is used at Japanese prime minister’s office to prove safety
  • Officials say the soil meets safety standards set by the Environment Ministry and the International Atomic Energy Agency
  • The government hopes this move will reassure the public of its safety as it seeks to reduce the massive volume of contaminated soil stored near the nuclear plant

TOKYO: Decontaminated but slightly radioactive soil from Fukushima was delivered Saturday to the Japanese prime minister’s office to be reused in an effort to showcase its safety.
This is the first soil to be used, aside from experiments, since the 2011 nuclear disaster when the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant suffered a cataclysmic meltdown following an earthquake and tsunami that left large amounts of radioactive materials spewing out from the facility, polluting surrounding areas.
The government is desperate to set people’s minds at ease about recycling the 14 million cubic meters of decontaminated soil, enough to fill 11 baseball stadiums, collected after massive clean-ups and stored at a sprawling outdoor facility near the Fukushima plant. Officials have pledged to find final disposal sites by 2045.
The Environment Ministry said the 2 cubic meters, now at Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba’s office complex in Tokyo, will be used as foundation material in one section of the lawn garden, based on the ministry’s safety guidelines endorsed by the International Atomic Energy Agency. The soil does not include any from inside the plant.
Despite assurances, there has been much public unease. The government has already been forced to scrap a plan to experiment using some of the soil in flower beds at several public parks in and around Tokyo following protests.