The pine forests around Irpin are Oleh Bondarenko’s happy place. He discovered them as a child, when his mom sent him to the area for summer camp, and he has been coming back ever since. It’s a place full of memories. Vorzel, Irpin, Bucha, the forests, the fresh air. For me, this is a place of respite,” … Read more
It took a few weeks of sleeping on crates of grenades for a bed and hiding his face from Ukrainians amid a growing sense of guilt, for the Russian junior officer to come to his conclusion: This wasn’t his battle to fight. “We were dirty and tired. People around us were dying. I didn’t want to feel … Read more
Over 100 million people have been forced to flee conflict, violence and persecution, a record figure setting a “staggering milestone,” the United Nations refugee agency said Monday. The number of people forced to flee conflict, violence, human rights violations and persecution has now crossed the staggering milestone of 100 million for the first time on … Read more
A colonel in the powerful Iranian Revolutionary Guards has been shot dead in a rare assassination in Tehran. Two gunman on a motorbike are reported to have shot Colonel Sayad Khodai five times in a car outside his home. So far, no group has claimed responsibility for Sunday’s attack, and a manhunt is under way … Read more
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced a “historic” joint customs control with Poland on Sunday, stressing “unity of Ukrainians and Poles is a constant that no one will break.” “A solution has been reached that is revolutionizing the order on our border,” Zelensky said during his nightly video address. “We are introducing joint customs control with Poland. … Read more
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has told Ukrainian children they should be “immensely proud” of themselves in an open letter published Sunday, as the country has faced Russia’s invasion for three months, leading to the displacement of millions of refugees within Ukraine and abroad. “Many of you have seen or experienced things no child should … Read more
At least one person was killed in a Russian missile attack on Malyn, in the Zhytomyr Region, a senior Ukrainian military official said Sunday. “So far I can’t say anything more specific, except that the information about one victim has already been confirmed. The blow to Malyn is very similar to the one on May 20. … Read more
Two long lines — one of men, another of women — wind around a World Food Programme (WFP) aid distribution site in the Afghan capital, Kabul, in the heat of the mid-morning sun. Many of the people waiting for support in Khwaja Rawash, a middle-class neighborhood near the Kabul International Airport airport, are Afghanistan’s new poor. They … Read more
Public health officials are to announce more UK monkeypox cases on Monday, as efforts ramp up to contain the first multinational outbreak of the virus that has led to cases in at least 14 countries. The unusual outbreak of the rare disease has sparked a wave of contact tracing and testing, with the closest contacts of confirmed … Read more
Israel, Switzerland and Austria are the latest countries to confirm cases of monkeypox, bringing the total number of nations reporting outbreaks to 15. Israel and Switzerland both said they identified one infected person who had recently travelled abroad. Israel is investigating other suspected cases. Monkeypox does not tend to spread easily between people and the … Read more
Spain’s former king Juan Carlos this week returned to Spain for the first time since August 2020 to attend a regatta, after investigations into alleged corruption and money laundering were shelved in March. Hundreds of protesters demonstrated in Madrid on Sunday against tarnished former king Juan Carlos I, whose visit to Spain after almost two … Read more
The Ukrainian government says it will not agree a ceasefire deal with Russia that involves giving up territory. The apparent hardening of Ukraine’s position comes a day after President Volodymyr Zelensky said the war could only be resolved through diplomacy. Presidential adviser Mykhaylo Podolyak said concessions would lead to an even larger and bloodier Russian … Read more
Russian forces shelled three settlements in the Kryvyi Rih district, the head of the Dnipropetrovsk regional council, Mykola Lukashuk, said Sunday. Lukashuk said in a post on his Telegram page “ten shells flew into Maryanske village, and two more strikes hit Apostolove Community.” Infrastructure facilities were not affected, he added. He also reported one Russian missile fell into the Samara River in … Read more
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson will “redouble efforts to provide vital food and humanitarian aid” to Ukraine, his office said Sunday. During a phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Johnson spoke about the “despicable” blockade of the key port city of Odesa, according to the statement. The Prime Minister will work to “ensure that the country was able to export … Read more
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern will visit the United States this week in a bid to boost exports and lure more tourists as the Pacific nation looks to fully reopen its border after more than two years of restrictions. Ardern’s visit comes as US President Joe Biden is on a five-day trip to South … Read more
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is a man on a mission. Since Russia invaded Ukraine in February, he has imposed sanctions on Moscow, agreed to pursue a nuclear-free world with the Pope and taken a diplomatic tour of Southeast Asia and Europe to rally world leaders to protect democracy. But it’s not just democracy in … Read more
No journalist enjoys attempts at censorship. We often face restrictions, but I had never encountered anything like this – a vast list of things the government wanted to ban me saying about an abusive MI5 agent I had spent a long time investigating. I received the list during the months-long legal battle between the BBC … Read more
In their long white gowns, the inspectors of the Taliban’s Ministry for the Prevention of Vice and Promotion of Virtue look more like food safety inspectors than “moral police”. But they’re at the forefront of attempts to mould a new, more “Islamic” identity in Afghanistan, in keeping with the group’s hard-line views. Their role seems … Read more
