- Ukraine is fighting Russia anywhere it can – even in the deserts of Africa CNN
- Ukraine is pushing back Putin with a masterclass of combined-arms warfare The Telegraph
- Ukraine Reportedly Opens New Drone Front Against Russia in Africa UNITED24 Media
- CNN: Budanov is strengthening Ukraine’s international role by countering Russia Українські Національні Новини (УНН)
- Mali Ukraine Russia Buffalo News
Ukraine faces ‘toughest winter’ since Russia’s full-scale invasion, UN official tells BBC
A senior UN official tells the BBC there is a race against the clock to ensure access to power and water through winter.
Explosion hits another EMCO weapons site in Bulgaria; probe underway – Reuters
- Explosion hits another EMCO weapons site in Bulgaria; probe underway Reuters
- Bulgaria investigates fire at weapons site that owner calls sabotage BBC
- Bulgaria: Fire at factory making munitions for Ukraine DW.com
- Fire at ammunition depot in Bulgaria raises fears of neglect or sabotage AP News
- Explosion hits second weapons storage site in Bulgaria in weeks Yahoo
Saudi Arabia shuts down key oil pipeline, blaming drones from Iraq
Riyadh has increased use of East-West pipeline since start of war on Iran to bypass closure of strait of Hormuz
Saudi Arabia has shut down a critical oil pipeline, accusing militants in Iraq of launching drone attacks on the export route being used to bypass the lockdown of the strait of Hormuz.
The world’s largest crude oil exporter has increased its use of the 745-mile (1,200km) pipeline running across the Arabian peninsula, which links Abqaiq, near the Gulf, to the port of Yanbu, on the Red Sea, since the US-Israeli war against Iran began.
Continue reading...From black-clad agitators to an appeal for ‘Tommo’s Mum’: an unsettling week with the Patriot Platform
A militaristic operation with features of influencer culture, the new anti-migrant movement seems to show a shift in tactics and rhetoric
Shortly after 7am last Saturday in the English coastal town of Dover, livestreamed footage distributed by Britain’s newest anti-migrant movement showed dozens of men in paramilitary outfits jumping out from the backs of vehicles, their faces covered beneath balaclavas, their hands in black gloves.
Within an hour, hundreds more masked agitators, dressed head to toe in black, some wearing silver crosses around their necks, were marching through the town’s streets, clapping and chanting “Stop the boats” and “Christ is king”, blockading the busy port for hours.
Continue reading...Sweden’s extremely close election could see far right enter government
Latest poll shows 0.3-point gap between left and right blocs, with country’s reputation as global champion of human rights said to be at stake
Sweden goes to the polls on Sunday in an extremely close election that could see the far right enter government for the first time if the country’s rightwing parties can form a majority.
Opinion polls show the centre-left opposition alliance ahead, with Magdalena Andersson of the Social Democrats the favourite to become prime minister again after four years in opposition, but her bloc’s lead has narrowed considerably in the final days of the campaign.
Continue reading...Artist delights in beautiful ‘mess’ and dead trees of England’s rewilding sites
Rebecca Howard spent two years visiting projects and painting landscapes that feature in West Sussex exhibition
Rewilding areas do not usually conform to traditional notions of beauty in England’s green and pleasant land. Detractors may bewail the beaver-felled trees, untidy scrub, deadwood, weeds, mud and “mess”.
But a new exhibition highlights the aesthetic delights that can be discovered on rewilding sites where fungi grows on dying trees, water buffalo gather in new wetlands and brown-watered beaver pools flood once-desiccated fields.
Continue reading...Death toll from Philippines ferry fire rises to 35, as officials warn toll will grow
The deadly fire had begun in the ferry’s cargo hold, then tore through the ship within seconds
The bodies of passengers killed in a ferry fire off the Philippines arrived at a port near the resort town of Coron, Palawan, on Saturday morning, as the country’s coast guard warned the death toll of 35 would grow.
Tents were being set up to receive 30 bodies brought from the M/V June Aster, which ran aground near the tourist hotspot after a fire erupted on Wednesday evening and tore through the vessel “in seconds”.
Continue reading...Alleged drone operator charged with murder after mistaken identity shooting in Sydney
NSW police say 18-year-old was operating drone when arrested and likely ‘conducting surveillance on someone or some premises’
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A Sydney teenager has been charged with murder after police accused him of operating a drone as part of a suspected botched gang hit in the city’s west.
Joshua Macdonald, 40, was shot dead at a Merrylands West home on 2 September in what police believe may have been a case of mistaken identity. He was not known to police and had no links to organised crime.
Continue reading...We are setting up a generation to fail at school – Financial Times
- We are setting up a generation to fail at school Financial Times
- Trends in reading scores over three PISA cycles (2018-2025): PISA 2025 Results (Volume I) OECD
- Families' interest in their kids' education is falling around the globe as scores drop, test shows AP News
- Are teenagers growing dimmer? The Economist
- Are you smarter than a 15-year-old? Try these OECD Pisa tests Euronews.com
Karaoke for one: China’s $1 trillion ‘loneliness economy’ gives a glimpse of the world’s future – CNN
Nearly 50,000 Yemeni civilians flee as Houthis advance along Red Sea coast
Global struggle for control of Bab al-Mandab strait threatens to turn Yemen’s on-off conflict into a forever war
Nearly 50,000 people have fled a sudden advance by Houthi forces in western Yemen, with entire villages emptied and families trapped near frontline fighting with depleting food supplies, according to aid workers.
Civilians in the Middle East’s poorest country have found themselves victims of a global struggle for control over one of the most important shipping routes in the world, which threatens to turn Yemen’s on-off conflict into a forever war.
Continue reading...Firewall compromised: has Friedrich Merz blown ‘democracy’s last shot’?
Many fear chancellor is wrong man for the job at a time when Germany’s defences against far right are crumbling
A cataclysm. A 9.0 earthquake. A five-alarm fire. A bitter rejection of Germany’s joyous reunification three decades ago, and a threat to the democratic postwar order.
Sizing up the repercussions of last weekend’s win for the far-right Alternative für Deutschland party in the former communist state of Saxony-Anhalt, German commentators expressed a sense of doom, panic and helplessness in the political establishment.
Continue reading...A stable Afghanistan post 9/11 is in US interests says former US diplomat
Former US diplomat Zalmay Khalilzad says Washington wants to prevent Afghanistan becoming a hub for anti-US groups.
Mexican authorities rescue eight from violent cartel’s secret site
Rescue operation in Jalisco uncovers cartel's hidden clinic, illegal drugs and weapons; six suspected guards arrested.
Court case brought by Zionist federation against journalist Mary Kostakidis ended ‘by consent’
Former SBS newsreader had been accused by Zionist Federation of Australia of breaching Racial Discrimination Act when sharing X posts
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Federal court proceedings brought by the Zionist Federation of Australia (ZFA) against journalist Mary Kostakidis have been discontinued “by consent” with “no order as to costs”.
The former SBS newsreader had been accused by the federation of breaching the Racial Discrimination Act (RDA) by sharing two X posts about a speech by the late Hezbollah secretary general Hassan Nasrallah in January 2024.
Continue reading...Death toll from Philippines ferry fire climbs to 35, with dozens still missing
Access to the burnt-out boat has been slowed by toxic fumes and lingering heat, the country's coast guard says.
Arrest made over the death of black woman found hanged from tree in Mississippi
Tasia Fortune's body was found in the lot of an abandoned home in Mississippi in August.
Arrest made over the death of black woman found hanged from tree in Mississippi
Tasia Fortune's body was found in the lot of an abandoned home in Mississippi in August.
North Korea fires ballistic missiles off eastern coast, Seoul says
South Korea said it was closely exchanging information on the launches with the US and Japan.