Ukraine says Russian strikes hit Kharkiv, killing two

Update Ukraine says Russian strikes hit Kharkiv, killing two
Russia has escalated its bombardments of Ukraine despite US President Donald Trump urging Moscow to end its three-year invasion. (AP)
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Updated 11 June 2025
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Ukraine says Russian strikes hit Kharkiv, killing two

Ukraine says Russian strikes hit Kharkiv, killing two
  • The State Emergency Service of Ukraine said eight children were wounded in the attack
  • Peace talks in Turkiye last week failed to yield a breakthrough toward ending the conflict

KYIV; killed two people and wounded 54 including children early Wednesday, authorities said, as Moscow pushed ahead with its relentless attacks after rejecting an unconditional ceasefire.

“Seventeen strikes by enemy UAVs (drones) were carried out in two districts of the city tonight,” Kharkiv Mayor Igor Terekhov said on Telegram, later adding that 37 people were wounded and “several people were rescued from houses engulfed in flames.”

The State Emergency Service of Ukraine said eight children were wounded in the attack.

Russia has escalated its bombardments of Ukraine despite US President Donald Trump urging Moscow to end its three-year invasion, with Kyiv launching retaliatory attacks deep inside Russian territory.

After a previous overnight barrage of more than 300 drones and seven missiles on Tuesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky urged Kyiv’s Western allies to respond with “concrete action.”

“Action from America, which has the power to force Russia into peace. Action from Europe, which has no alternative but to be strong,” Zelensky wrote on social media.

Peace talks in Turkiye last week failed to yield a breakthrough toward ending the conflict, with Russia rejecting calls for an unconditional ceasefire and demanding Ukraine give up its territory and bid to join NATO.

But the two sides agreed to swap more than 1,000 prisoners of war and hand over the bodies of dead soldiers, swapping groups of captured soldiers on Monday and Tuesday.

Kharkhiv, which lies less than 50 kilometers from the Russian border, has been hit by a surge in large-scale nighttime attacks over the past week.

Wednesday’s strikes left a five-story building on fire in Slobidskyi district, while several houses were hit in Osnovyansky district, Mayor Terekhov said.

He said “there may be people trapped under the rubble.”

The attack came after Russia pummelled the city on Saturday in what Terekhov called “the most powerful attack” on Kharkiv since the start of the war.

Four people were killed and more than 50 wounded as homes and apartment blocks were hit overnight and guided bombs were dropped on the city on Saturday afternoon.

Ukraine is also stepping up its drone attacks on Russia, targeting military production and bases.

On Tuesday, one person was killed and four others wounded in a drone attack that destroyed a convenience store in the Russian region of Belgorod, according to Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov.

Nevertheless, the two sides carried out a second prisoner of war swap on Tuesday.

The deal should see the freeing of all captured soldiers under the age of 25, as well as those who are sick or severely wounded, though neither side has specified the number of soldiers involved.

But Zelensky has said it is “pointless” to hold further talks with the current Russian delegation – who he previously dismissed as “empty heads” – since they could not agree to a ceasefire.

As a condition for halting its invasion, Russia has demanded that Ukraine cede the territories Moscow says it has annexed and forswear joining NATO.

It has also rejected a proposed 30-day unconditional ceasefire sought by Kyiv and the European Union, arguing that this would allow Ukrainian forces to rearm with Western deliveries.

Ukraine is demanding a complete Russian withdrawal of from its territory and security guarantees from the West.


UK sanctions Russian spies for ‘threats, aggression’

UK sanctions Russian spies for ‘threats, aggression’
Updated 15 sec ago
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UK sanctions Russian spies for ‘threats, aggression’

UK sanctions Russian spies for ‘threats, aggression’
AFP

“GRU spies are running a campaign to destabilize Europe,” said Lammy

LONDON: Britain on Friday slapped sanctions on the GRU Russian intelligence agency and 18 named agents accused of “spreading chaos and disorder” on the orders of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“GRU spies are running a campaign to destabilize Europe, undermine Ukraine’s sovereignty and threaten the safety of British citizens,” Foreign Secretary David Lammy said in a statement, adding “Putin’s hybrid threats and aggression will never break our resolve.”

UN: Over 11 million refugees risk losing aid because of funding cuts

UN: Over 11 million refugees risk losing aid because of funding cuts
Updated 16 min 27 sec ago
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UN: Over 11 million refugees risk losing aid because of funding cuts

UN: Over 11 million refugees risk losing aid because of funding cuts
  • Agency highlights deadly confluence of factors pummeling millions of refugees and displaced people globally
  • UN refugee agency has said it needs $10.6 billion to assist the world’s refugees this year

GENEVA: Massive cuts to humanitarian budgets risk leaving more than 11 million refugees without desperately needed aid, the United Nations warned Friday.

That corresponds to a full third of the number reached last year by the UN refugee agency, UNHCR.

In a new report, the agency highlighted a deadly confluence of factors pummeling millions of refugees and displaced people globally: “rising displacement, shrinking funding and political apathy.”

“We are right now facing a deadly cocktail,” UNHCR’s head of external relations, Dominique Hyde, told reporters in Geneva.

“We are incredibly concerned for refugees and displaced populations around the world.”

Dramatic aid cuts by the United States and other countries have left UNHCR and other aid organizations facing gaping shortfalls.

UNHCR has said it needs $10.6 billion to assist the world’s refugees this year, but so far it has received just 23 percent of that amount.

As a result, the agency said it was seeing $1.4 billion of essential programs being cut or put on hold.

The impact, Hyde cautioned, risks being that “up to 11.6 million refugees and people forced to flee are losing access to humanitarian assistance provided by UNHCR.”

The agency said families were being forced to choose between feeding their children, buying medicines and paying rent.

Malnutrition is especially severe for refugees fleeing war-ravaged Sudan, where the UN has been forced to reduce food rations and nutrition screening, she said, decrying the “devastating impact for children who have fled to Chad.”

The cuts have also forced UNHCR to pause the movement of new arrivals from border areas to safer locations in Chad and South Sudan, “leaving thousands stranded in remote locations,” the agency said.

Health and education services for refugees are also being scaled back worldwide.

In camps in Bangladesh hosting nearly a million Rohingya refugees from Myanmar, education programs for some 230,000 children risk being suspended.

UNHCR also said its entire health program in Lebanon was at risk of being shuttered by the end of the year.

Funding for aid programs is not the only issue.

Last month, UNHCR announced it would need to cut 3,500 staff – nearly a third of its workforce worldwide – amid the budget shortfall.


UK MPs demand government respond to ICJ Israel ruling

UK MPs demand government respond to ICJ Israel ruling
Updated 29 min 39 sec ago
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UK MPs demand government respond to ICJ Israel ruling

UK MPs demand government respond to ICJ Israel ruling
  • In letter, they remind PM that Britain has not issued its position on ‘groundbreaking’ statement from year ago
  • 16 organizations also demand govt action to halt UK complicity in Israeli violations of Palestinian rights

LONDON: A group of 112 MPs has written to UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer asking for the government to publish its response to the International Court of Justice’s advisory ruling on Israel’s occupation from July 19, 2024.

The letter, also addressed to Foreign Secretary David Lammy and Attorney General Lord Hermer, demanded that the government issue its reply to the ruling immediately, and “address the unlawful situation occurring in the OPT (Occupied Palestinian Territories), as well its own obligations under international law.”

Calling the ICJ judgement “groundbreaking,” the letter said it “made crystal clear determinations” that Israel’s “presence in the OPT, including Gaza, is unlawful and its policies and practices are incompatible with international law.”

It added that the opinion declared that “all Israeli settlements are illegal and must be withdrawn immediately,” that “Israel owes full reparation for all damage of its illegal acts since 1967,” and that “other states are obliged to not provide any sort of aid or assistance that maintains Israel’s unlawful presence in the OPT, referring to Gaza, the West Bank, and East Jerusalem.”

Signatories include former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, former Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell, Sir Winston Churchill’s grandson Lord Soames, and three bishops of the Church of England.

They reminded the government that the Foreign Office stated in the aftermath of the ruling’s release that it would consider the matter “carefully before responding,” and that: “The UK respects the independence of the ICJ ... The UK is strongly opposed to the expansion of illegal settlements and rising settler violence.”

The letter continued that the ICJ’s ruling established the “unlawfulness” of Israel’s actions as fact, and that the UK has a “legal duty to ensure that the government and British entities take all necessary steps to ensure that we are not complicit with this unlawful situation.

“This is particularly pertinent given the seriousness of the situation, the continued and increasing Israeli violations of international law, as well as the increase in illegal settlements.”

It added: “Between November 2023 — October 2024, Israel established 57 new settlements and outposts. However, the UK needs to not just denounce the rise in settlements but the mere existence of them, as regards the ICJ advisory opinion.

“The failure of the government to publish its response on the advisory opinion and address the unlawful situation occurring in the OPT, as well its own obligations under international law to avoid complicity, needs to be rectified.”

So far, beyond the Foreign Office’s pledge to respond, the government’s only comment on the matter has been an Oct. 22 statement that: “The UK does not disagree with the central findings of the International Court of Justice’s Advisory Opinion on the Legal Consequences arising from the Policies and Practices of Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem.”

Sixteen organizations, including the Council for Arab-British Understanding, have also written to the government demanding action to halt any UK complicity in Israeli violations of Palestinian rights.

Caabu Director Chris Doyle said: “It is an utter nonsense that a year on from this historic advisory opinion that the government has not issued its formal response.

“Sources have told Caabu that the legal response was drafted months ago. It is also not that complex a legal document based on many previous legal opinions. 

“What it highlights is the government’s continued aversion to hold Israel to account, its failure to uphold international law and respect these international judicial institutions as it claims it does.”

On Wednesday, Lammy appeared in front of the International Development Select Committee, where he was asked why the government had yet to respond to the ICJ ruling.

“It’s an 83-page opinion,” Lammy replied, “so it’s right that the lawyers that you’d expect within government assist and do the work that you’d expect them to do.”


Four pro-Palestinian activists face 2027 trial over UK military base break-in

Four pro-Palestinian activists face 2027 trial over UK military base break-in
Updated 18 July 2025
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Four pro-Palestinian activists face 2027 trial over UK military base break-in

Four pro-Palestinian activists face 2027 trial over UK military base break-in
  • The four are accused of breaking into a Royal Air Force base in Oxfordshire in central England on June 20 and spraying red paint over two Voyager aircraft
  • Police previously said the action had caused £7 million ($9.4 million) worth of damage to two aircraft at RAF Brize Norton

LONDON: Four pro-Palestinian activists will stand trial in 2027 charged with breaking into a British military air base and damaging two planes in protest against Britain’s support for Israel.

The four are accused of breaking into a Royal Air Force base in Oxfordshire in central England on June 20 and spraying red paint over two Voyager aircraft used for refueling and transport. Campaign group Palestine Action said it was behind the incident.

Lewie Chiaramello, 22, Jony Cink, 24, Amy Gardiner-Gibson, 29, and Daniel Jeronymides-Norie, 36, appeared for a hearing at London’s Old Bailey court on Friday ahead of a trial due to start in January 2027.

They are charged with conspiracy to enter a prohibited place for a purpose prejudicial to the interests or safety of the UK and conspiracy to commit criminal damage. None of the defendants were asked to enter a plea at Friday’s brief hearing.

Police previously said the action had caused £7 million ($9.4 million) worth of damage to two aircraft at RAF Brize Norton.

British lawmakers voted to proscribe Palestine Action under anti-terrorism legislation earlier this month. The group has condemned the decision as “authoritarian” and a challenge to the ban will be heard at London’s High Court on Monday.


EU eases Schengen visa rules for Turks; envoy urges further moves

EU eases Schengen visa rules for Turks; envoy urges further moves
Updated 18 July 2025
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EU eases Schengen visa rules for Turks; envoy urges further moves

EU eases Schengen visa rules for Turks; envoy urges further moves
  • Ambassador Thomas Hans Ossowski said the new rules would help address Turks’ complaints over long bureaucratic processes, but warned it was not enough to permanently solve the problems

ANKARA: The European Union has eased rules for Turks to use its open-border Schengen area, the bloc’s ambassador to Ankara said on Friday, calling for the urgent revival of negotiations on visa-free travel for Turks.
For years, Turks have complained about the EU’s visa system. The EU has said the processes — managed by accredited visa agencies — have been slow due to the high number of applications and that it is discussing possible workarounds with Ankara.
Ambassador Thomas Hans Ossowski said the new rules would help address Turks’ complaints over long bureaucratic processes, but warned it was not enough to permanently solve the problems.
“It will be much easier and much faster for Turkish citizens,” Ossowski told reporters in Ankara, referring to the European Commission’s new decision, in effect since July 15, simplifying the path to multiple-entry visas for Turks.
Turks who previously used visas correctly will be eligible for a six-month visa as early as their second application, followed by one-year, three-year and five-year multiple-entry visas.
Turkiye has been an EU membership candidate since 1999 but its accession process has been frozen for years over issues ranging from human rights to democratic backsliding. There have recently been signs of increased engagement and economic cooperation.
Ossowski said the EU had for more than a decade offered Turkiye the prospect of visa-free travel and stressed the need to return to the liberalization process.
“Every other candidate country has visa-free travel except Turkiye,” he said. “It is urgent to re-engage in this process of visa-free travel in the Schengen space and the EU,” he added.
The Commission is ready to restart formal negotiations after the summer and work with Ankara on fulfilling the six remaining benchmarks required by the visa liberalization roadmap, he said.
“We are ready, the Commission is ready to work closely with Turkish authorities,” he said.